Outofambit - Out Of Ambit

Parallel universe theory

(cont) Are these timeline issues fixed in the New Millennium Editions? And if you have a corrected timeline, could you post it here? Thank you!

Fixing the timeline issues was one of the main purposes of the NMEs. So I think it’s safe to say that yes, those issues have been fixed.

No, I don’t have a timeline as such. The general progression of the New Millennium editions, though, is given in the “time fix” at the start of each book. So it goes like this:

So You Want to Be a Wizard: May 2008

Deep Wizardry: July 2008

High Wizardry: August 2008

A Wizard Abroad: Mid-July through early August, 2009

The Wizard’s Dilemma: Late September, 2009

A Wizard Alone: January 2010

Wizard’s Holiday: April 2010

Wizards at War: Late April / early May 2010

A Wizard of Mars: Late June 2010

…Hope that helps. :)

Space is so creepy and wonderful. Who the hell needs hell when there’s space.

Like there’s an old constellation called Eridanus that you can see in the southern sky, and its not a very interesting constellation. It’s a river. It’s actually the water that’s pouring out of Aquarius, so in the sky it’s kind of boring. It’s a path of stars.

But within Eridanus, in between the stars, there’s a place where the background radiation is unexplainably cold. Because after the Big Bang, there was all this light that scattered everywhere, and it’s the oldest light in the universe, but we can’t see it. It’s so dim that it only shows up as a glow of microwaves, so to us, it just looks like the blackness of the night.

But there’s this spot in Eridanus where that little glow of ancient microwaves isn’t what it should be. It’s cold and dark.

And it’s enormous. Like a billion light year across. Of mostly just emptiness. And we don’t know why. One theory is that it’s simply a huge void, like a place where there are no galaxies. Voids like that do exist. Most of them are smaller, but they’re a sort of predictable part of the structure of the universe. The cold spot in Eridanus, if it were a void, would be so enormous that it would change how we understand the universe. 

But another theory is that this cold spot is actually the place where a parallel universe is tangled with our own. 

“Every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution and for life - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way for them to get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.”

Lawrence M. Krauss (via thorosofmyr)

Success! India’s First Mars Probe Is In Orbit And Working

“India has managed to do what few other nations have accomplished: putting a satellite into orbit around another planet — and it did so a lot cheaper than the competition.

The $70 million Mangalyaan, or “Mars craft” in Hindi, began circling Mars after a 24-minute engine burn to slow it down enough to be captured by the Red Planet’s gravity.”

Read more from NPR.

see, the thing about the young wizards series is

the thing about diane duane is

she infuses everything with so much life. she gives everything thoughts and feelings and personality. she makes you care about them, makes them matter. from grass chorusing “grow grow grow” to planets explaining how they show affection towards fellow celestial bodies by resonating

it’s beautiful, and it’s vital in the truest sense of the word. and I love it. it’s important on a level that I can’t even fully comprehend. it’s almost spiritual

I never thought of myself as a spiritual person, never felt moved by something larger than me. but the things I’ve read about in this series? the intention and compassion and wonder for all things

that’s something I can believe in

Sharks may not be as solitary as originally thought. Researchers have discovered the fish congregating and interacting with others of their own species in ways that suggest they have long-lasting friendships.

PHOTOGRAPH BY TANYA HOUPPERMANS

There was a point where, whenever I ran into my stalker...

…I wanted to greet her with “Fairest and fallen, greeting and defiance, now and always.”

Not because I thought she was literally the Lone Power.  But because she was clearly one of those people the Lone Power was acting through and loving it.  And because dealing with her seemed to be part of my Ordeal.

And honestly because remembering that there are malevolent forces in the universe that use people like her to hurt people (and that she would willingly hand herself over to such forces if she believed in them, she was that kind of person), and that those malevolent forces of the universe can be named, greeted, and resisted, even resisted politely, was very important.

If you ever hear me say anything starting with “Fairest and fallen…” you know I’m serious.  I may be wry, I may be half-joking, but some part of me is deadly serious if you hear those words come out of my mouth.  It means “I know you.  I know what I’m looking at.  I know where your evil comes from, even if you don’t.  And I won’t put up with it, and I won’t stand by and let this happen.”

The Young Wizards books are among a type of books I’ve read that hide deep and meaningful truths about the universe in the guise of ordinary children’s books.  That’s my favorite type of book, ever.

I once read someone on dduane’s tumblr saying that when she was a kid, she would repeat the Wizard’s Oath over and over again, hoping it would make her a wizard.

I wrote to dduane telling her that I hadn’t read them as a kid.  But when I grew up, I found that the Wizard’s Oath had already somehow become etched onto my heart, and it only took reading the words to remember how it happened.  She said she gets that response from adults now and again.

There are many versions of the Wizard’s Oath, and some fans (including me) have made our own recensions.  Each person gets the version they need.  But here’s the one from the first book:

In Life’s name and for Life’s sake, I say that I will use the Art for nothing but the service of that Life. I will guard growth and ease pain. I will fight to preserve what grows and lives well in its own way; and I will change no object or creature unless its growth and life, or that of the system of which it is part, are threatened. To these ends, in the practice of my Art, I will put aside fear for courage, and death for life, when it is right to do so — till Universe’s end.

Here’s a version written for a dinosaur who had been living underground in a dystopian city:

“The Fire is at the heart, and the Fire is the heart; for its sake, all fires whatever are sacred to me. I shall kindle them small and safe where there are none, for the wayfinding of those who come after: I will breathe on those fires about to die in dark places, and in passing, feed those that burn without harm to any; the fire that burns and warms those who gather about it, in no wise shall I meddle with it save that it seems about to consume its cofocals, or to die. To these ends, as the Kindling requireth, I shall ever thrust my claw into the flames to shift the darkening ember or feed the failing coal, looking always toward that inmost Hearth from which all flames rise together, and all fires burn undevouring, in and of That Which first set light to the world, and burns in it ever more…”

And my personal recension:

In the soil, we are all growing, together.  I will moisten the roots of those who need water.  I will never allow the soil to dry out.  I will make room for seeds to grow into plants.  I will allow the soil to consume the parts of me that are no longer needed, and I will reach towards the sun.  I will not touch leaves that may die at my touch, unless it is necessary to prevent some greater harm.  I will love sorrel and tree, fungus and slug, alike.  I will live inside of love, and let love guide me, to the best of my ability.  I will look always to the place where all of our roots reach down as one.