Empress of Mars: Undisputed @zebratron2084@awoo.space

@Austin_Dern I had a hunch this day might come when we would lose one or more of them, so I made a hell of a point of giving those cats the coziest lives i could just in case they were short :|

there is still a lot of reason for hope. we live in a very urban area with a lot of structures. the cats probably know things that we don't.

still worried for the cats but the latest "spaghetti" models are predicting much lower odds of a Cat 4 and now somewhat favor a Cat 3 or even maybe a 2

this is good news but it could shift back at any time

the other good news is peg has a confirmed offer to stay with friends in the area, might have already mentioned that, am so frazzled

so peg's gonna be fine regardless i think -- she feels guilty for leaving the cats but honestly unless this dips all the way back to a 2 or low 3 i don't see how that could be safe

@Austin_Dern currently things are looking relatively safe for peg since she's gonna be staying with friends with a car in case of evac, and fairly dire for the cats :( there's just nothing much we can do for that doesn't endanger Peg's own safety. ;___;

Looks very likely to be a Cat 4 or higher.

Peg is seriously pondering bugging out of town.

There's basically not much we can do for the cats except leave them extra food and pray to Bast.

I might lose a lot in the coming 3-4 days.

I am gonna need some serious help keeping myself together as of now.

Getting some kind of reassurance from the Louisiana hurricane fatality statistics on Wikipedia: only 30 people died in Hurricane Laura last year, which hit west of NOLA as a Cat 4. Most of those were weird incidental things, like downed trees or monoxide poisoning from indoor gas generators.

That's what it's come to, though. Still scared shitless for the cats braced for bad news but cautiously optimistic that they can handle 1-2 days of hiding on high grounds and no food if Peg has to bail.

I have romanticized notions that they'll hang out with their cousins down the street and they'll all peacefully share the abandoned house together.

My inner Daoist Farmer keeps telling me for all I know, this is just me losing my REAL hurricane fear cherry good and hard. That maybe this is a potential act of mercy from the gods, and since I was so terrified about this possibility, they're getting it outta the way for me, with my hands tied, so I can see Peggy and the cats are gonna get through this fine...

I dunno. If anything bad happens I am gonna need you guys more than ever. Sunday and Monday are gonna be rough days no matter what.

Yup, looks like NOLA is going to take a Cat 2+, right around the anniversary of Katrina, while I'm stuck up here in Ohio.

I think Peg can handle a Cat 2 on her own. If it gets much worse, she's going to have to evacuate and I am scared shitless about what this is gonna mean for our cats. ;__;

Luckily if it stays at a 2, it's moving really fast and might not linger long enough to cause too much damage.

I dunno. I could really use some reassurance or something right now. This is exactly what I was afraid would happen if I left home for any length of time.

so naturally after i bump my flight to ohio back a week to avoid traveling during a storm that didn't amount to anything, a storm system pops up the day i do travel that's even got our local Elder Meteorologist concerned

it's ok. i checked the current tracks and they're not that bad for NOLA. but the potential for ironic doom here, especially close to the Katrina anniversary, is not doing my anxiety about being out of town any favors

@xinjinmeng @JulieSqveakaroo Oh, yeah. These are a real thing. The local Mexican dessert places even serve something similar (and slightly crazier) called "Dorilocos."

https://heavytable.com/oaxacans-mormons-and-a-bag-of-chips-a-brief-history-of-the-walking-taco/

@Austin_Dern Nah, honestly, I'm still in mourning over that gorgeous video and electromechinical arcade. D:

uh not that i'm likely to be permitted any meals out while i'm visiting home, not with an italian mom who hasn't gotten to cook for anyone except my whiteass stepdad for a year and a half

holy shit

my shitty hometown somehow got itself an authentic and well-reviewed taqueria

i know, i know, authenticity is an overvalued neo-colonialist concept. but this is near akron ohio mind you

i would have been reasonable happy just to see they don't serve their tacos on wonder bread

they even have esquites and piña loca. huh. and there's a new thai place one town over. maybe my mom wasn't kidding about that local renaissance.

oh yeah and there's that new coffee shop that had the creepy right-wing christian guy working behind the counter and thus i don't have to feel guilty about torrenting latex bdsm porn through their wifi connection

so that'll be nice

leaving for a week in ohio at around 5 am tomorrow

first time i've seen my parents since the pandemic started -- not even wild about going now, but at least they're resolutely vaxxed and pro-mask

i'm actually kinda looking forward to it -- apparently my shitty home town is going through a mild renaissance because the local college got full university accreditation

which basically translates to "now there's donuts and a gyro place" but i will take whatever the hell i can get

@zx3 WILL.YOU.ACCEPT.SERVOTRON?

OR.MAYBE.A.ROBOT.PUPPY?

THE.GOOD.KIND.OF.PUPPY?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wzgEMblKunI

@anthracite @kistaro "not too tart, not too sweet; one of the better bottom-shelf micturations from the enterprise integration team, highly recommended with dash of pechaud's and tangerine peel twist. recommend promotion to management and keto diet to maintain dryness of bouquet."

@monsterblue Canonically, Rezeya's own son Poori is an example of this. The family joke is that he's half-mooncat, was just too much of a bleeding-heart for Mars, and he was packed off to Luna for snuggling pigs at the dinner table. She loves him anyway, even though she relentlessly cracks soy protein jokes at his expense when they do holiday transcomms. She does NOT call him on Double Meatmas; she doesn't wanna hear his shit.

@monsterblue Yeah, one piece of 12Fold canon that's really important to me is that all the societies are really voluntary and permeable, with really robust immigration and emigration policies. If you're not vibing with your native planet, every single civilization (except arguably the Plutonians) has means of getting you where you need to be.

That even applies to the Saturnians, who were canonically pure Hypnofetish TF Threat with no concept of consent when they first encounter the Solar Civs, but will eventually learn that mammals are particularly upright about these things and it's still laughably easy to gain converts with a binding contract and the promise of lifelong pleasure. But every Saturnian "resort" has a restore-backup-and-return clause and, not wanting to taste another Martian nuke, they follow them scrupulously.

@monsterblue Here we go! She's removed them from her site, but they're still available on the Web Archive.

https://web.archive.org/web/20150215020944/https://electrickeet.com/13R/

@monsterblue Oh, as for making the cultures distinct, yeah, my big worry was always leaning too far in the other direction and relying too much on stereotyping for each civilization. Keet and I always tried to get across that every 12Fold civ is made up individuals-- you will find serious, efficient Martians; scheming criminal mooncats; selfless mystic Jovians; hypnosquid who just want to hang out, watch 20th-century TV, and try Doritos...

We also cheated by modeling each civ after a friend. XD

The SOLFAX stuff got a great reaction, thanks everybody! So I've been in the mood to post some more notes about the 12Fold Universe. Hope these are interesting.

This week: the nanotech system, left behind by the Terrans before their collapse and exile, but cryptographically locked up tight as a "protective" measure for their uplift races.

This and psionics are the closest things to magic in the 12Fold universe, and sometimes they come VERY close-- particularly in the hands of Mercurian mystics, who have modeled most of their nanite decryption keys after various Terran occult traditions.

The known codes and the means of deriving them are co-curated by Mercurian academics and Lunarian civic agencies. The Plutonian shiftcults are violating dozens of interplanetary treaties by using them in their "therapeutic" equinization treatments.

Martians just tend to scoff at the whole concept and there's little or no social or govermental* interest in nanotech, just the occasional eccentric hobbyist. Uranians will put damn near any substance in the universe into their veins but, surprisingly, not this one.

The Venusian ecology is already overrun with nanotech thanks to Terran pollution. They don't have a problem with nanotech, but they consider it one more force of Venusian nature and have granted it the same natural rights as all other life. It is to be negotiated with and not merely "unlocked" and "programmed."

Jovians would LOVE to have access to it but Luna and Mercury have had enough of their neo-libertarian shit and scrupulously keep codes out of their hands. The resulting espionage occasionally threatens to boil over into a cold war. The Neptunians have never met a shiny silver ball of goo they didn't like, but don't really tend to covet nanotech for any practical purpose.

And of course, the Saturnians are innately telepathic and genetically self-reprogramming and feel roughly the same way about nanotechnology that we do about 8-track cassettes and rotary phones: charming and occasionally to be worn ironically.

*all Martians are anarchomonarchists and any claims to title or authority should be regarded with the utmost skepticism except among the most remarkable and respected** of Martian citizens

**i.e., "not Rezeya Montecore-St. Hobbes"