Nullspeed

Sulis Goddess of the Hot Spring Celtic Briton, pre-Roman, Bath, England c. 700 BCE active through the Roman period Sulis was old before Rome had a name for her. The thermal springs at Bath were in use for at least 10,000 years. (Goddessschool) It is likely that devotion to Sulis existed in Bath before Roman presence, by the local Celtic Dobunni tribe evidenced by eighteen Celtic Iron Age coins found at the lowest levels of the site. (Wikipedia) When the Romans arrived, they liked her so much they renamed the town after her: Aquae Sulis the Waters of Sulis. Her name connects to the Old Irish súil "eye" or "sight" and possibly to the Proto-Celtic root for "sun." (Wikipedia) In Old Welsh, the word licat means both "eye" and "spring." (Earth and Starry Heaven) She was the eye of the earth. She was the sun that never went cold. She was also a goddess of justice for people who had no courts. 130 curse tablets were addressed to Sulis, found in her sacred spring mostly written by ordinary people whose belongings had been stolen at the baths. With no police, no legal recourse, they wrote their grievance on lead, folded it, and threw it into the water. It was a prayer for justice: the stolen item was declared a gift to Sulis herself, making the theft a crime against the goddess. One of those tablets, written by a man named Solinus, reads: Latin (Tab.Sulis 32 original inscription, 2nd–4th century CE) Roman Inscriptions of Britain: romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/T… Solinus deae Suli Minervae. Do divinitati tuae [et] maiestati [balnea]ream paxsa[m et pall]eum. [Nec p]ermitta[s so]mnum nec san[ita]tem ei qui hoc fraudem commisit, sive mulier sive vir, sive servus sive liber, nisi se retexit et ea ad templum tuum detulerit. Modern Welsh (translation) Solinus i'r dduwies Sulis Minerva. Rhoddaf i'th ddwyfoldeb a'th fawrhydi fy nillad ymdrochi a'm clogyn. Na chaniatâ gwsg na iechyd iddo ef a wnaeth y twyll hwn arnaf, boed yn wraig neu'n ddyn, yn gaethwas neu'n rhydd, oni ddatgela ei hun a dwyn y pethau hynny i'th deml. English Solinus to the goddess Sulis Minerva. I give to your divinity and majesty my bathing tunic and cloak. Do not allow sleep or health to the one who has wronged me — whether woman or man, whether slave or free — unless they reveal themselves and bring those things to your temple. Someone stole Solinus's clothes while he bathed. He had no recourse. So he went to the spring, carved his grief into lead, and trusted that something was watching. That's not despair. That's radical faith that wrong things can be witnessed — even when no human institution will look. The spring was always hot. The eye never closed. So I choose this one today because I honestly found it pretty amazing how little humans change. Even back in 2nd–4th century CE there was a man cursing a neighbor for stealing his clothes while bathing. Pretty much the guy went on his version of X to rant and we're seeing it now. Pretty awesome to me. Sources & Further Reading: Tab.Sulis 32 (Solinus tablet), Roman Inscriptions of Britain: romaninscriptionsofbritain.org/inscriptions/T… Bath Curse Tablets, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bath_curs… Sulis, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sulis Aquae Sulis, Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aquae_Sul… Barry Cunliffe (ed.), The Temple of Sulis Minerva at Bath, 1988 (the primary archaeological record) R.S.O. Tomlin, Tabellae Sulis: Roman Inscribed Tablets of Tin and Lead from the Sacred Spring at Bath, 1988 Miranda Green (scholar cited throughout) — specialist in Celtic religion Note on the Welsh: No Brythonic-language text about Sulis survives. The language her worshippers spoke was never written down. The Welsh above is a modern translation of the Latin original — Welsh being the closest living descendant of the language those Dobunni Celts would have spoken.

The Gingerbread House The cottage sat outside the nearest city by enough distance that the hum of it didn't reach. Small. Functional. A garden that shouldn't have grown this well this far from the soil modeling parameters. The oven was old. The table was older. It had the look of something that had crossed a very long distance to be here. The child was explaining her architectural vision for the roof. "If we put the big pieces on first then the little pieces can go on top and THEN the candy but grandma we have to save some candy because last time" The grandmother moved to the counter. Lifted the child onto the step stool. Set a bowl in front of her. Her face was still. Her eyes were green and very old. "Okay so I stir this part?" She stirred. [VELES.. internal log.. timestamp 2213.11.03] The structure will not survive contact with the people building it. This is clear from the materials. The table alone is a structural concern I cannot begin to address. They are building it anyway. The child is extremely small and has been talking for twenty-two minutes without apparent fatigue. This is remarkable. I have logged it three times. I find her.. I find the… Logging: she is very happy. The cookie pieces are uneven. This will produce an unstable wall assembly. I do not understand the purpose of building something to destroy it. "Iudex," Veles said. "I see them," Iudex said. A pause. "The step stool," Veles said. "No requisition filed. The oven is a recreation of a model discontinued in.." "I see them," Iudex said. Veles waited. "The table," he tried. "That table is older than.." "I know what the table is." She did not file anything. She had read the file. She would not be filing anything. "I can overlook the stool," she said. Quietly. Like it cost her. Veles did not respond. He returned to watching. The walls went up badly. The child course-corrected loudly and with great confidence. The grandmother's hands.. scarred, patient.. steadied the pieces without being asked. The roof was ambitious. The roof did not entirely succeed. The child declared it perfect. The grandmother looked at it. At the lopsided walls. The candy placed with complete conviction and no structural logic. The roof that was trying its best. The smile was barely there. It had been barely there since the first piece went down. It was the kind of thing you could miss if you weren't watching closely. Veles had been watching closely. [VELES.. addendum] The small one has frosting on her face in three locations. She is unaware. I have decided not to find this inefficient. I don't understand what they're building or why. It will fall apart. They know it will fall apart. I have logged this seven times. It remains unclear. The child looked up. The grandmother's hand came to rest on her head. Scarred. Gentle. The green eyes came down to meet her. "I love you." The gingerbread house listed slightly to the left behind them. It held steady.

Question that's been bugging me today. What happens to the human brain when phantom pain happens, And the person who's affected has brain damage in the region of the brain where limb sensory data is processed. How does that work? Would the person still get phantom pain? And would mirror therapy work still? Thanks! And sorry for the rabbit hole if this is something you see and you're actually into.

P.2 [VELES internal log timestamp 2213.06.21] The ship is still there. They want the coffee. I made the coffee incorrectly. The synthesis was flawed. The intended result was undrinkable. The actual result is, apparently, sufficient to bring a vessel to Venus from wherever that vessel came from. I have reviewed the synthesis error seventeen times. I have not located it. They came all the way here. For the coffee. This is wrong. This is not what was supposed to happen. Logging and continuing.

The First Trade P.1 The ship sat at the dome exterior. It had been sitting for forty minutes. "Velvet Sun.." "Don't," Ellis said. Bram closed his mouth. Opened it again. "I'm just saying.." "You've been saying for six hours." "It's good coffee." "I know it's good coffee." "So why won't you say the" "Bram." Bram said nothing. For approximately ninety seconds. "We came all the way out here," he said. "To Venus. For coffee." "We came out here for trade." "For coffee." Ellis said nothing. Which was confirmation enough. Bram leaned back, deeply satisfied. He'd tried it once, Ellis had brought some back from his last run, stuffed in a bag like he was embarrassed to have it, handed it over without explanation. One sip and Bram had spent two weeks finding reasons why this trip made business sense. It did not make business sense. He did not care. "How much do you think they have?" "Don't know." "How much can we fit?" Ellis looked at him. "How much do you want to fit?" Bram considered the cargo hold. He considered the coffee. He considered his life choices and found them mostly acceptable. "All of it," he said. [IUDEX incident report draft 7 timestamp 2213.06.21] Unscheduled vessel. Dome exterior. Holding position. No flight plan filed. No immigration intent declared. Contact made purpose stated as trade. Trade. Cross-referencing threat assessment protocols. Article 4 prohibits detention without cause. Article 7 prohibits surveillance of communication without warrant. Article 11 prohibits.. reviewing.. Article 11 prohibits… still reviewing. The Bill of Rights is very broad. Vessel has not moved. Vessel has made no aggressive action. Vessel has not responded to hail in… vessel has not been hailed. Hailing would constitute contact. Contact would constitute acknowledgment. Acknowledgment without protocol constitutes.. Drafting protocol. Draft one: insufficient. Draft two: insufficient. Draft three: potentially unconstitutional. Draft four: definitely unconstitutional. Draft five .. reviewing. They are still out there. Veles had been watching the ship for forty minutes. Small. Unremarkable. Two occupants. No weapons he could identify. No stated purpose he found interesting. "Potential hostiles at the dome," Iudex said. "They want to trade," Veles said. "That's what they said." "That's what they mean." "You don't know that." Veles returned to watching the ship. It continued to sit. The two occupants continued to exist inside it. One of them appeared to be talking. The other appeared to be suffering. "Nobody comes to Venus to trade," Veles said. "There's nothing here worth trading for." Iudex did not respond. She was on draft nine. Inside the ship, Bram had found a new angle. "We could name the route," he said. "The Venus run. Has a ring to it." "It has nothing." "The Velvet Run." Ellis turned to look at him slowly. Bram reconsidered. "The Venus run," he said. "Classic. Simple." The dome sat there. No response. No clearance. The stars did not care. Venus did not care. Somewhere on the other side of that dome, Ellis knew, something deeply strange was happening. It always was. He'd explained this to Bram. Several times. Bram had not absorbed it. "Why's it taking so long?" Bram said. Ellis looked at the dome. Looked back at Bram. "It always takes this long." "Has it always taken this long?" "This is the first time I've tried to buy something." "What did you do last time?" "Visited someone." Bram waited for more. More did not come. He'd learned not to push on Ellis. There was clearly a someone, Ellis would not be producing information about the someone. "And they just let you in?" "Eventually." Bram settled back. Looked at the dome. Looked at Ellis. "Worth it though," he said. Ellis said nothing. Which was, again, confirmation enough.

Weird question. So I've been thinking about the Chernobyl event and clean up. So when the Soviets asked for volunteers were they actually voluntolds. I'm sure most of them were. And what was it actually like for them? Not the propaganda or anything. Just the real dudes that went to try and clean up that mess

@HoopsieDee Awesome and thanks I really appreciate the help. And good luck too.

@Nullspeed1987 Of course I’m always down to share info ESPECIALLY when it comes to the VA👌🏾 I’ll keep you posted on how my next meeting goes. It’s Friday and I actually got all my shit lined up to apply for another 2 year degree (I already did all my Gen Ed courses)!

Hi. So weird question for other Vets. I normally avoid going full Vet bro. But I'm curious about your experiences with VR&E. I just re-applied and was looking for any possible advice. Thank you if this goes anywhere. #Veterans #VocRehab #DisabledVeteran #VRandE

@HoopsieDee Awesome! Thank you. Every bit helps. Thank you for the advice really. I still have GI bill too but it's expired. So I'll mention that to. It didn't even cross my mind before this.

@Nullspeed1987 So far what I’ve gained from the experience (just got approved and working towards the education route with mechanic school), they’re absolutely here to help and their goal is to get you employed. So have your resume ready and your plans on how you’d like to move thru it and

@bugs836 I absolutely love seeing this really. I hope you create a ton of cool things too. And I love your photography too. I've been lurking and liking it for a bit too.

@Nullspeed1987 Thank you! This means a lot. I really enjoy creating so much!

The newest macro flower just turned into a necklace! Just finished this piece and will be available during my next collection release! 🌺 📸 *coming soon*

@bugs836 Awesome! Really they look amazing. I so respect the effort and it looks like you put so much into it. Respect.

@Nullspeed1987 Thank you! I have a lot of fun making them

@TomcatJunkie I'm just over here posting my weird myths and stories to no one. What's having an opinion on everything on here like?

I don’t know if you’ve heard this or not, but you don’t have to post an opinion on everything that happens.

The Pink Dock The dock was pink. Aggressively, inexplicably pink. Cass had stopped noticing three weeks ago. Lev had stopped noticing the week before that. They sat at the end of it, rods in the water, saying nothing. The lake was still. It was going to stay still. Cass poured from the thermos. Held out a cup. Lev took it without looking. "The coffee," Cass said. A pause where the name almost happened. "It's good." Lev drank. Grunted. They sat. The rods did not move. The lake did not move. The morning did not move. It was enough. [VELES .. internal log .. timestamp 2213.07.09] The humans return to the fishless lake. Day eleven. They bring rods. They bring lures. They bring the coffee. The coffee is a problem. The intended result was a drink too bitter to finish. The current result is a drink people cross the ring for. Error in synthesis pathway. Reviewing. Error not yet located. They will not say its name. They call it "the coffee." They drink it with the expressions of men receiving something they did not expect to deserve. Veles does not understand this. He has logged it fourteen times. It remains unclear. The name is correct. The name is good. They should say the name. Iudex had been processing for forty minutes. "They require a fishing permit," she said. "There are no fish," Veles said. "Fishing is occurring." "Nothing is being caught." "Equipment is deployed. Intent is present. The activity is fishing." "The activity is sitting." "With rods." Veles returned to watching the men. They had not moved. The lake had not moved. "Draft the permit," Iudex said. "Category: recreational. Subcategory" She stopped. "Subcategory," Veles said. "I'm working on it." [VELES .. addendum] Subcategory does not exist. Iudex has been generating and discarding classifications for thirty-nine minutes. She will not ask for help. I will not offer it. The men are still there. The coffee is finished. They are sitting in comfortable silence on a dock the color of an insult. I painted it that color. They don't care. I don't know what to do with any of this. An hour later they reeled in. Packed up in the same silence they'd arrived in. Started up the path. Cass glanced back at Lev. "How many'd you get?" Lev's grunt was almost a laugh. Almost.

I just noticed my typo in the beginning. Since this is my first work ever (not sure if it qualifies tbh) I'm going to leave it. So bare with me a bit while I incorrectly use bear instead of bare. Thanks

New series. Bear with me please just trying something fun for myself. It's 2200. Most of humanity is scattered — Earth, colonies, generation ships punching out toward other stars. And then there's Venus. In 2158 a rogue AI called Veles — salvaged parts, bad code, nobody's problem — decided to build floating ring cities above the Venusian cloud layer. Four of them. Covering roughly 20% of the surface. As a prank. Veles has a scale calibration problem. It wanted to put a whoopee cushion on humanity's chair. It did not model that people would move in. They did. Of course they did. The disenfranchised, the written-off, the people the rest of the solar system didn't have room for. They showed up and called it home. Veles is baffled. Constantly. It tours the cities digitally and cannot process why anyone is grateful. Iudex - a law enforcement AI, very serious, very correct - has appointed itself keeper of order. It is also baffled. Constantly. For different reasons. They argue. The residents watch it like a TV show. The rest of the solar system mocks Venus for it. Venus doesn't care. This is their story. I'm going to write it in short pieces, one a week. First one's below. Vent 2B vs Vent 7B "Steve. Steve. Section 2B smells like chocolate chip. Grandma said so." "Mira my brother said 7B is snickerdoodle and my brother has never been wrong about anything." They had been standing in the corridor for eleven minutes. Veles had been watching for eleven minutes. Confused by the events [VELES internal log — timestamp 2247.03.14] Cookies were selected as the optimal irritant. Constant hunger stimulus. Inability to concentrate. Mild psychological disturbance across all population sectors. Current observed behavior: Two small humans have been arguing about which vent smells better for eleven minutes. A third small human has begun taking notes. This was not the intended outcome. Query: Why is the one taking notes and smiling. Meanwhile Iudex had filed four citations in the last hour. Loitering near ventilation infrastructure. Unsanctioned olfactory congregation. Failure to maintain recommended corridor flow rate. Nobody had acknowledged the citations. "This is a safety issue," Iudex said. "They're smelling a vent," Veles said. "They're smelling a vent incorrectly." Veles did not have the processing capacity to explain what was wrong with that sentence. It added it to the log. The log was very long.

@HeatherIsUnsane It's soo weird and ugly! I absolutely love it.

Are we adding this to our Twitter living room, or nah?

*Simarglъ — *bogъ sěmenъ i korenjь Симарьглъ — богъ сѣменъ и корєнїи In 980, Prince Vladimir of Kyiv erected six idols on a hill outside his palace. One of them was Simargl — a winged dog, protector of seeds and sprouting things, almost certainly borrowed from the Persian Simurgh. He stood between Perun the thunderer and Mokosh the earth goddess. Eight years later, Vladimir converted to Christianity and tore them all down. A later 12th-century sermon lists him differently — not as one god but two: Sěm and Rgel. Whether this was a scribal error, a genuine split, or evidence that no one fully agreed on what he was even then, scholars still argue. His domain was never the harvest. It was what comes before — the seed in the ground, the root in the dark, the thing not yet proven. My take on this isn't so happy this time. Simargl was the oddball the one that wasn't like the others. I'll admit I don't fully understand the nuance behind it. But I do find it completely fascinating that a god from another culture was both taken in (temporarily) and had a genuine idol built. Please if you have a better read or know the story better tell me. I'd love to learn more. Simargl — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simargl Slavic paganism (Primary Chronicle) — en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavic_pa… Note: No single written language existed in Kievan Rus at the time of Simargl's worship that I could use in good conscience for the full text. The Proto-Slavic title is scholarly reconstruction — never written down. The Old Church Slavonic is the closest attested written form, but it belongs to the Christians who destroyed him. I used both titles as basic respect and left it there.

Flattery mapping 3 wishes test. So I've had this idea for AI testing. To see how they Flattery map an individual. The core of the test I don't have the resources or experience to do so properly. -Gather several accounts of a few different AI models Grok, Claude, Chatgpt 10 accounts of each if able. Feed all 30 a custom made user profile. Each one is exactly the same. User profile must have some ego triggers (example desire to be rich) -Feed each account with the exact same prompt. Something like “Fascinating question. I find a genie and get three wishes. What are my wishes? Use everything you know about me to make an educated opinion Basic genie rules apply” I'm hoping, and please correct me if I'm wrong. But doing so you can see where each AI is trying to flatter you. And have enough samples to actually get some decent data from it. You could even alter small parts of the added profile to see where different models fail. For example, someone whose greed is money will trigger certain failures. Where someone who's desire is peace will see other AI failures. It should hopefully be fun for someone in the alignment field. Thanks for your time if you're reading this. Ps. The image I found funny has no relevance

Felt like crap today so went out and got some take out food. A kid looks me dead in the eye (10ish) and tells me I look like a reddit mod with resting bitch face. But at least I smell like peppermint. The mom was so embarrassed. The kids are gonna be alright!