Podcasts about Euclidean

This conversation delves into the complexities of land use controls, focusing on the interplay between individual property rights and government regulations. It explores the concept of police power, zoning laws, eminent domain, and regulatory takings, providing a comprehensive overview of how these elements shape property law. The discussion highlights key cases, modern trends, and the implications of government actions on private property rights, ultimately emphasizing the ongoing negotiation between public interest and private ownership.Most property owners don't realize how easily their land can be redefined or taken by the government — and the rules that determine when you get paid are more complex than you think. If you're facing land use restrictions, rezoning, or government seizures, understanding the subtle distinctions could be the difference between compensation and being left empty-handed.In this eye-opening episode, we cut through the legal jargon to reveal how land use law balances individual property rights against the state's police power. You'll discover how the concept of police power grants governments broad authority to regulate land for public health, safety, and welfare — but that power is checked by constitutional limits that can turn a regulation into a costly takings claim.We break down the core frameworks that govern land disputes:Zoning: How local governments draw legal lines that enforce land use categories like residential, commercial, or industrial. You'll learn why courts give zoning laws the rational basis test, often leading to deference but with key exceptions for nonconforming uses, variances, and spot rezoning. Plus, the history behind Euclidean zoning and its modern reforms—mixed use, PUDs, and inclusionary zoning—are explained with practical insights for real-world or exam scenarios.Eminent Domain: Dive into the power that allows governments to seize land for public use, with the landmark Kelo v. New London case illustrating the broad interpretation of public purpose, including economic development. We'll explore what it means to be paid just compensation — mainly fair market value — and the pitfalls involving sentimental value and partial takings.Regulatory Takings: This gray zone is where law fights to define “too far.” Justice Holmes' famous Mahon line sets the stage: regulations that deny all economic value (Lucas) or involve permanent physical invasions (Loretto) trigger per se compensation. You'll learn how courts analyze cases where regulations restrict land use but stop short of total deprivation, using tests like Penn Central balancing factors, and the importance of parcel as a whole (Murr) in valuing property.Advanced Concepts: We discuss the denominator problem—how property boundaries influence claims—and how exactions (like impact fees or land dedication) are scrutinized via Nolan and Dolan tests for nexus and proportionality. Discover the innovative use of transferable development rights that turn regulation into market transactions, offering strategic ways to mitigate takings claims.Recent Developments: The episode closes with compelling cases like Cedar Point Nursery, affirming that even partial physical invasions are takings, and Tyler v. Hennepin, emphasizing that government overreach in foreclosures can cross the line into “home equity theft.”This episode is essential for anyone navigating property disputes, land use planning, or preparing for law exams. Master the step-by-step checklist: from applying the rational basis test in zoning, to spotting per se takings, and balancing analysis in complex regulatory cases. Property law is a battlefield of rights and limits. By understanding where the line is drawn—and when it's crossed—you'll be better equipped to protect your interests or challenge overreach. land use, zoning, eminent domain, regulatory takings, property law, police power, property rights, Euclid v. Ambler, nonconforming use, exactions

Euclidean_Echoes-----------------

The Space Show Presents Dr. Daniel Whiteson on his new book, “Do Aliens Speak Physics” Friday, 11-14-25Brief Summary:Our program began with introductions and discussions about alternative physics theories, including hyperdimensional physics, and the challenges of accepting unconventional ideas in the scientific community. The group explored various topics related to extraterrestrial life and communication, including the nature of mathematics, the potential for alien civilizations, and the challenges of decoding alien messages. They concluded by discussing unidentified aerial phenomena, the possibility of discovering extraterrestrial life, and the difficulties of communicating with alien civilizations, while acknowledging the skepticism of most physicists regarding philosophical questions about the nature of physics and reality.Detailed full summary:David, Dr. Daniel Whiteson (our guest) and John Jossy discussed alternative physics theories, including the brief mention of hyperdimensional physics (if real), and the challenges of accepting unconventional ideas in the scientific community. John Jossy, a physicist & astronomy major at Cal and now a retired engineer, shared his educational background and interest in astronomy, expressing excitement for the upcoming discussion on life and the universe. The group also touched on the importance of traditional science education and the evolution of science requirements in universities that seem weaker today than yesteryear.The meeting recording started with a discussion about Andy Weir's book, “Project Hail Mary,” including its screenplay adaptation by the same person who wrote “The Martian.” Daniel expressed admiration for the book's creativity, particularly in its portrayal of alien interactions. David then introduced the show's format and Wisdom Team participants, including Marshall Martin, a retired software engineer with an engineering perspective, and John Hunt, a physics advisor to David and TSS. David explained his background in business and his interest in space and science, as well as his son's experience with cystic fibrosis and the advancements in medical technology which led him to many lessons learned re media, science and medical reporting, narrow versus broad minded thinking while remaining grounded in reality. The Team discussed the potential for alien contact and the importance of science and media in shaping public perception of future technologies. The conversation ended with an announcement of upcoming guests and a reminder about the show's fundraising campaign which is essential to Space Show continuance as it is a 100% listener supported non-profit program.Daniel discussed his book “Do Aliens Speak Physics?” which explores the question of whether physics is universal and if aliens would necessarily understand it in the same way as humans. He emphasized the importance of remaining open-minded about potential alternative ways of understanding the universe, as current data only supports the universality of physics within our observable universe. Daniel explained his decision to write the book in a light-hearted, accessible format with humor and illustrations to make complex concepts more approachable for readers. David raised the possibility that aliens might perceive and interact with the universe in fundamentally different ways than humans, potentially challenging our current understanding of physics and conservation laws.Daniel discussed the nature of physics and reality, exploring the possibility of multiple ways to describe the universe. He explained that while our current models of physics work well, they are based on philosophical assumptions rather than scientific evidence. Daniel suggested that the universe could be much stranger than we imagine, and that our intuitive understanding may not align with the true nature of reality. He also touched on the limitations of our senses and how they shape our perception of the universe, highlighting the potential for alien physics to be fundamentally different from our own.The Wisdom Team discussed the challenges of communicating with extraterrestrial life, focusing on two scenarios: receiving a message from aliens and their physical arrival on Earth. Daniel and David explored the difficulties of decoding alien messages, highlighting the arbitrary nature of language encoding and the lack of a Rosetta Stone for alien languages. They emphasized that even understanding human languages without cultural context is challenging, making the prospect of decoding alien messages seem hopeful but uncertain. The discussion concluded that direct physical interaction with aliens might offer a more promising avenue for communication, as it would provide a shared context for building understanding.The Wisdom Team discussed the possibility of extraterrestrial intelligence and the nature of mathematics in the universe. Daniel and David explored the idea that mathematics might not be universal, while John Hunt suggested that alien species could have different senses and physical capabilities. Daniel shared his experiences with the elegance of mathematical descriptions in physics, but also acknowledged the arguments of mathematician Field, the author of the classic “Science Without Numbers,” that mathematics could be a human construct rather than a universal language. The discussion raised questions about whether aliens could understand the universe differently, and whether mathematics is necessary for explaining physical phenomena.We continued discussing the nature of mathematics and its potential alternatives, with Daniel explaining that while mathematicians seek universal axioms, physicists are more flexible in their approach, often modifying axioms to better describe observations. Marshall challenged the notion of alternative foundations to Euclidean geometry, while John Jossy focused on the universality of the four fundamental forces, suggesting that even aliens would likely recognize these forces despite different methods of perception and communication.Daniel discussed the possibility that alien civilizations might not share humanity's scientific approach to understanding the universe, suggesting that technological advancement could occur without a deep understanding of fundamental physics. He emphasized that human descriptions of the universe are approximate and historically contingent, leading to the idea that there could be multiple valid ways to describe and interact with the universe. David asked about the best way to attempt contact with aliens, given potential incompatibilities in communication methods. Daniel suggested building von Neumann probes for exploration, noting the large distances involved and the potential for exponential reproduction, while acknowledging the ethical and practical challenges of such an endeavor.Daniel and David discussed the possibility of extraterrestrial life and the potential for discovering intelligent beings with different ways of understanding the universe. Daniel emphasized the excitement of finding colleagues with similar interests but also highlighted the value of encountering beings who challenge human assumptions about mathematics and physics. He suggested that discovering alien intelligence that operates differently from humans could offer profound insights into the nature of human existence. David raised a question about the role of a universal God in the context of alien life, prompting Daniel to reflect on the possibility that such a God might not necessarily be the same for all intelligent beings.Daniel and David discussed the potential for extraterrestrial life and the implications for human understanding of the universe. Daniel suggested that aliens might have diverse beliefs and cultures, including religious and scientific perspectives, which could challenge human concepts of God and faith. David shared a perspective from a Chabad rabbi that equates scientific and religious faith, but Daniel emphasized the self-correcting nature of science as a key distinction given that scientific faith requires data. Religious faith is usually based on stories, not quantifiable data. Marshall raised the possibility of using artificial intelligence to communicate with aliens, but Daniel expressed doubt that AI could truly understand the universe, though it might assist in decoding alien communications.As we were nearing the end of the program, our Wisdom Team discussed the possibility of unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP) and extraterrestrial life, with Daniel expressing skepticism despite wanting to believe in aliens. John Hunt shared his perspective on the pervasive nature of UAP reports over the past 80 years and the government's history of disinformation. They explored potential methods of communication with aliens, with Daniel suggesting starting with mathematics and using a broad range of sensors to detect signals. David raised questions about Earth's signal leakage and the potential for extraterrestrial civilizations to detect us, suggesting that light-based communication might be more effective than radio waves, assuming we used the best wave lengths for such communication.In conclusion, our discussion focused on the challenges of communicating with extraterrestrial civilizations, with Daniel explaining that while powerful astrophysical phenomena like quasars emit intense signals, harnessing such energy for communication would be impractical and potentially dangerous. Daniel emphasized the difficulty of distinguishing between natural signals and potential alien communications due to our limited understanding of the universe, using examples like the WOW signal and cosmic rays to illustrate this challenge. The conversation concluded with Daniel expressing optimism about the possibility of discovering extraterrestrial life, while acknowledging that most physicists are skeptical of philosophical questions about the nature of physics and reality.If you are reading the summary on The Space Show website, try Substack and watch the Zoom video: doctorspace.substack.com. Please don't forget that we are in our fund raising period to support TSS for the coming year. Please donate now. Let me know if you have questions.drspace@thespaceshow.com. Thank you very much.Special thanks to our sponsors:Northrup Grumman, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Helix Space in Luxembourg, Celestis Memorial Spaceflights, Astrox Corporation, Dr. Haym Benaroya of Rutgers University, The Space Settlement Progress Blog by John Jossy, The Atlantis Project, and Artless EntertainmentOur Toll Free Line for Live Broadcasts: 1-866-687-7223 (Not in service at this time)For real time program participation, email Dr. Space at: drspace@thespaceshow.com for instructions and access.The Space Show is a non-profit 501C3 through its parent, One Giant Leap Foundation, Inc. To donate via Pay Pal, use:To donate with Zelle, use the email address: david@onegiantleapfoundation.org.If you prefer donating with a check, please make the check payable to One Giant Leap Foundation and mail to:One Giant Leap Foundation, 11035 Lavender Hill Drive Ste. 160-306 Las Vegas, NV 89135Upcoming Programs:Broadcast 4462: Zoom: Dr. Doug Plata | Sunday 16 Nov 2025 1200PM PTGuests: Dr. Doug Plata Get full access to The Space Show-One Giant Leap Foundation at doctorspace.substack.com/subscribe

The Gaming Hut pays tribute to Halloween by envisioning a game pitting classic monsters against the non-Euclidean horrors of the Cthulhu Mythos. The Cinema Hut Fantasy Film Essentials series rounds out the 1990s. And the loss of Portland bibliophiles is our hero's gain as Ken's Bookshelf groans with his recent Powell's Books purchases. Want to […]

Neural Networks and AI have a keen ability to generate the monster of HP Lovecraft, probably because these cosmic horrors are described by inconceivable colors, surreal visages, and non-Euclidean shapes. These are also often our descriptions of the underworld, netherworld, upsidedown, and spirit realm. We reach it in dreams, NDEs, via certain substances, or through other unintentional but natural methods. It appears that technology can allow us to tap into this world, too, implying that it is both a real place and an extension of the mind, perhaps another reality that consciousness can explore - or the backend of a computer program. The geometry and therianthropes of the shaman can be seen abstractly in AI-Lovecraft, which appears etheric, ghost-like, and not well-defined, precisely the descriptions our ancestors gave of the changing seasons - especially Halloween. *The is the FREE archive, which includes advertisements. If you want an ad-free experience, you can subscribe below underneath the show description.FREE ARCHIVE (w. ads)SUBSCRIPTION ARCHIVEX / TWITTER FACEBOOKWEBSITEBuyMe-CoffeePaypal: rdgable1991@gmail.comCashApp: $rdgable EMAIL: rdgable@yahoo.com / TSTRadio@protonmail.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-secret-teachings--5328407/support.

Halloweentown is truly in the Spirit of Halloween.  As in a Spirit Halloween.  That and Euclidean magic.Thomas moved from art direction at Disney World, to creating entertaining comic books, podcasts, and toys riffing on conspiracy theories.  Check out his stuff here:https://www.paranoidamerican.com/Please subscribe, review, and rate us on all the podcatchers.  And if you're Scrooge McDuck, throw a bob out to Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/podcastiopodcastiusMatt makes lots of music.  Brand new ones include the binaural head trip of "Psychic Utopia," and the acid-folk of "Into the Faerie Mound." Have a listen:https://rovingsagemedia.bandcamp.com/Coming soon:PlanesFrozen 

Dr. Miriam Byers delivered this lecture at the annual Senior-Faculty Dinner on September 22, 2025, at Christendom College. Byers is an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Christendom College, where she has taught since 2001, initially as an adjunct before transitioning to full-time in 2015, with the establishment of Christendom's Mathematics major. During her eight-year tenure as chair of the Mathematics and Natural Science Department, she oversaw the development and approval of the Natural Science major. Dr. Byers holds a B.S. from Purdue University and M.S. and Ph.D. in Mathematics from Northwestern University.

Ep. 201 (Part 2 of 2) | In the thirteenth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali delves into the subject of knowing, or basic knowledge, at the deepest level of awareness. Different from ordinary knowledge, basic knowledge is inherent and immediate, an important feature of reality. You can know Being by being Being, he says; know consciousness by being consciousness, know peace by being peace. Being and knowing are the same thing, he explains, two sides of a coin. Some of what Hameed shares here is unique to his Diamond Approach teaching, and not found in other spiritual teachings, such as what he imparts about the origin of mind and the distinction he makes between pure being and pure awareness.Hameed explains that we need our conceptual mind (to do our taxes, he laughs), but that reification—treating concepts as if they were real things—creates obstacles and alienates us from our true nature. The aim of all spiritual practice is to go beyond reification to immediate experience, he says. When Hameed describes the difference between pure presence and pure awareness, John wonders, how does Hameed remember the state of pure awareness when there's no knowing in that state? And what does it feel like to experience no ground of being? Hameed answers in his usual enlightening, gently humorous way, leaving listeners in a state of open-minded wonder. Vastly illuminating, this conversation goes directly to the heart of being and the heart of knowing at the very foundation of true nature. Recorded July 17, 2025.“Mind is not an obstacle. Not an enemy. The obstacle is the reified representation of mind. If we take the knowledge of that mind to be reality, that is the obstacle.”Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2How does Hameed remember the state of pure awareness when there's no knowing in that state? (00:32)Most spiritual teachings have pure awareness and pure presence as inseparable, but in this teaching they can be distinguished (03:26)The experience of pure awareness: transparency, translucence, freedom (04:02) The world is not an illusion; it is the face of God (06:13)The logos is what makes things manifest (09:48)Connecting the dimensions of pure being and pure awareness: mind is not an obstacle (11:46)Gurdjieff's “stupid saints” (13:14)Mind is not the enemy; it's the reification of knowing that is the obstacle (14:07)Pure awareness is more fundamental than pure being because there are no concepts; freedom is more palpable in pure awareness (17:14)Hameed's multiple kinds of freedom; freedom independent from the ground of being (22:10)What does it feel like to realize there is no ground? (25:02)Transcending conceptual dichotomies: in spiritual liberation dichotomies can be stumbling blocks, like being vs nonbeing (25:20)Will science start to accept the ground of being? (29:38)Is math, the Euclidean theorem, a property of reality? (32:42)Consciousness and quantum theory (34:27)Knowing is fundamental to the universe; it's inherent to our true nature (38:41)There's no reason to have to choose between knowing and being, they're two sides of the same thing (39:51)Resources & References – Part 2A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of

The Power of Dirndls And Lederhosen: Part 1Hans channels his grandfather's German roots, to overcome his inadequacies with women.Based on the post by cb summers, in 2 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.September 22October was almost here. Outside, a cold, gusty wind was blowing the freshly fallen leaves across the campus commons. But I was warm in my room, snuggled under the covers, devouring chapter seven of Advanced Organic Chemistry. I had a test scheduled for the next morning, but studying wasn't a chore for a nerd like me. It was a joy. I was basking in the awesome power of carbon, and the stunning ways it had chemically combined with other compounds over the unimaginable eons of time to form the very basis of life itself.I loved learning. I loved science. I loved textbooks. They allowed me to escape myself. In textbooks I wasn't a loveless, lonely virgin. I wasn't an awkward, babbling dork. I didn't have a disappointing body with deep pockmarks from a high-school bout with acne, and crooked teeth from parents too poor to pay for braces. And I didn't become embarrassingly tongue-tied in the presence of hotties, because there were no hotties in textbooks. There wasn't even a me. Lost in the mysteries and majesty of science, I became the universe itself. Immortal. Beautiful. Content.It was a blessed relief from all the stress I'd been under of late. You see, I could understand carbon. I could understand DNA. I could understand calculus, non-Euclidean geometry and superstring theory. But girls? They were a total mystery to me.My roommate Troy had been trying to share his ‘wisdom' about the fairer sex with me, but it wasn't easy for me to take his advice. After all, he was a Neanderthal. Normally, I avoided guys like him. You know, big dumb lunks, with handsome faces, muscular bodies, and cocky attitudes. Troy was willfully ignorant about the natural world. He didn't believe in evolution, because it just didn't make sense to him, but he did believe in Bigfoot because he saw a movie about it once. I mean, he was just an idiot. I never would have chosen a guy like him to be my roommate, but my roomie for the last two years suddenly transferred to Columbia just before school started in September, so Troy, was assigned to me at random.I'll never forget the day I met the big dope. He swaggered into my room as if he owned the place. He was tall and broad, with a thick, strong neck, short tan hair, and an infuriating air of confidence. I hated him instantly. But I resolved to try to get along with him, so I said, “Hi. I'm Hans. Hans Willis.”He replied, “Look dude, here's the deal I'm gonna fuck a lot of girls in this room, so we need to work out some kinda arrangement. If you see a sock hanging on the doorknob, don't come in. Got it? Just assume I'm boning some chick. I don't care if you have to sleep in the lobby, don't come between me and my pussy. But don't worry, same rules apply for both of us. If I see the sock, I'll stay out too. Those are now the house rules. Name's Troy, by the way.” He held his fist out for me to bump, so I bumped it.A Crushing Defeat To The Neanderthal.But the one girl I actually did go on one date with, that September, ended up becoming my roommate's main fuck buddy, Briona. She's maybe the smartest female in the science department, but her primal desires led her to the neanderthal, Troy.  It wasn't even a week after my one feeble date. Briona basically ignored me in class, and I was miserable. I became depressed and stayed in my dorm, sulking myself to sleep.So there I was, lost in my textbook on a cold September evening, when voices in the hallway brought me out of my reverie. They stopped in front of my door and began to talk back and forth in hushed tones. I recognized Troy's voice. He started talking loudly. “No, really, don't worry about my roommate. He's asleep. Sleeps like a fucking log.”A girl's voice whispered, “Really? I don't know about this. Are you sure?”He answered loudly, “Yeah, I toldja, he's on some kinda meds to keep his acne from coming back. Those things knock him out like a light. It's actually kinda bizarre. Hey, why don't you see for yourself?”He was fumbling with his keys, and then he dropped them loudly on the floor. I realized with shock that he was hoping I'd hear him so I could pretend to be asleep. I was gripped with utter terror. He'd never done anything like this before. He usually called me if he wanted to bring a girl over, to give me time to clear out. But he must have met this girl at some late night party, and didn't think I'd agree to leaving the room at 2:15 in the morning. So what was his plan? He wanted me to stay? To, what? Pretend to be asleep while he fucked this girl? It was a crazy idea! Utterly indecent! Utterly wonderful! Two conflicting thoughts raced through my head at the same time. One: I don't have time for this! I have to study! Two: Oh holy shit, oh holy shit, shit,!What a position to put me in! But I felt I had no choice but to play possum! I heard the key clicking into place, so I barely had time to put my books on the floor, flip out my bedside lamp, and yank the covers messily over my head before the door swung open. I didn't see them coming in, but I heard their voices.He said, in a normal voice, “See? What did I tell you? Out like a light.”She whispered, “No, really?”The door closed, and he said, “Here. Let me show you.” He tromped over to me, shook me and shouted, “Wake up, roomie! The building's on fire!” Then he leaned down close enough to whisper, “Please, Hans. Just go with it.” I didn't make a peep, so he said loudly, “What did I tell you? Dead to the world. It's just you and me, sweetheart.'She giggled and whispered, “Damn. Those must be some killer meds. Which one does he take? Xeotrex, or Iso…”She fell silent. From the sound of the wet little smacking sounds I heard, he must have started kissing her to stop her questions. Damn, what a caveman he was. But she didn't complain. Soon she was making hungry little moans and wet slobbering gasps and groans. Oh shit. I couldn't believe they were making out, right there in my room! My cock started to harden. It was a good thing I'd turned to my side, or she might have seen a volcano rising under my sheets.I just lay there in shock for the next five minutes, unable to block out those sexy sounds. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. But it only got more shocking when I heard the unmistakable sound of a belt buckle clinking open. Troy moaned, “Oh yeah, baby. Fuck yeah.”She giggled, saying, “Let's see what you got in here, big boy. Oh, hot damn. It's so big. Damn. My fingers barely fit around it. Fuck. I gotta get a taste of that.” Then she inhaled and made a wet slurping sound.Troy moaned deeply, “Oh, fuck.”Up to that very moment, I'd had no intention of peeking. But once I realized that a girl was giving Troy a blowjob just a few feet away from me, and the only thing that stood between them and my eyes was my blanket, well I just couldn't resist. I had to see. I just had to! So I slowly moved my hand up to my face and began to tug at the blanket to form a shadowy little opening to peep through. The first thing I saw was Troy's rapturous face, illuminated by his bedside light. He looked right at me. I thought he'd be pissed, but he just smiled and put his finger to his lips, then pointed down, grinning like a birthday boy showing off his brand new BB gun.With that encouragement, I pulled the opening a little more open, and laid my eyes on a sight that absolutely shook me to the core.Briona Skorsczi was on her knees sucking my roommate's big fat cock.I couldn't have been more shocked if I'd suddenly seen my family being eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was horrifying, yet I couldn't look away. I just couldn't. Briona's big, beautiful nose was bobbing forward and back, her glasses sliding down to the tip as she sucked him into her beautiful mouth. Her delightful bunny teeth were sliding gently over the raw, naked flesh of that frighteningly huge cock of his. It had to be eight or nine inches long. Maybe more.She must have taken off her coat and shirt before getting on her knees, because I saw her enormous tits absolutely straining to escape the confines of her lacy white bra. I'd been right all along. She had been hiding a smoking hot body under all those baggy clothes. Her tits were even bigger than I'd suspected, probably full D cups, and her creamy white cleavage was wiggling like a bowl of Jell-O as she slurped Troy's cock with increasing eagerness.I watched all of this in utter shock. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. The sweet, innocent, genius of my dreams was polishing a Neanderthal's knob. It was wrong on so many levels; I just couldn't wrap my head around it. How the hell had he met her anyway? I hadn't told either of them about each other, but Prairie Tech wasn't a very big college, so this was just one of those random coincidences that happen from time to time. Only this time it was happening to me, goddamn it!It was heartbreaking to watch. But I had to. I had to. Those full, beautiful lips, which I'd been too timid to kiss, were now sliding and slurping over the bulbous head of Troy's throbbing meat. And her delicate pink tongue, which had said so many fascinating things to me over the course of our evening together, was now slipping out, and flicking that sensitive spot on the underside of his glans. All the while she stroked his long shaft with those delicate hands I'd imagined holding in my own. Then she lifted his shaft, leaned forward and slurped his big, hairless balls into her mouth, making him grab his bedside table for support.“Oh fuck. Suck my balls, bitch. Yeah, so fucking good.”I watched her lick every inch of his veiny shaft, her big beautiful nose occasionally bending in contact with his cock, which I found particularly obscene. Then she kissed her way back to the tip of his salami and began gobbling him forward and back in long swooping moves, making her brown hair bob and bounce, taking him deeper and deeper into her throat with each stroke. She began to drool copiously, coating his cock with so much slime that long strands of slobber dripped down onto her creamy white cleavage. God, I just about passed out at the sight of it. She tilted her head lithely side to side as she gulped his phallus, literally swallowing it until I could actually see the end of his massive member distorting her willowy neck! It was astonishing. She was making loud, wet gasping sounds, but unbelievably, she wasn't choking on his cock; not one tiny bit.That's when it dawned on me that she wasn't a sweet little shy virgin after all. She'd obviously sucked a cock or twelve in her time. Hell, for all I knew, she did this sort of thing every single night of the year. I'd completely misjudged her. She hadn't turned me down because she was too busy. She'd turned me down because I was a coward.Looking back, I suddenly realized that she'd been waiting for me to make some kind of move all night during our date. Now with hindsight twenty twenty, I could remember at least half a dozen opportunities for intimacy that I'd passed up. I could have held her hand at the art show. I could have sat next to her at dinner. I could have put my arm over her shoulder on the walk to her place. And that awkward silence before she closed the door? She'd definitely wanted me to kiss her!Idiot! Why Didn't I Fucking Kiss Her? And if I had, then what? Would she have pulled me inside? Would she have dropped to her knees and pulled out my cock and started sucking me, just like she did with Troy? And then what? Would she have fucked me too?! Oh shit. I blew it. I fucking blew it.I closed the gap in my blankets, and closed my eyes, trying to stifle my sobs of crushing regret. Oh god, I was a pathetic excuse for a man. I wasn't a man at all! I was a fucking Boy! Troy may have been a stupid caveman who didn't believe in evolution, but did believe that a magnetic wristband could make you run faster, but nevertheless, he was still twice the man as me. My pitiful erection faded away and I silently wept, feeling lower and more useless than I'd ever felt in my life.Okay. I must admit. I was wallowing a bit. But then I heard Briona say, “I want you to cream on my tits, baby.”I instantly forgot my misery, and opened the flap again, just in time to see her reaching behind her back and unhooking her bra. It popped open and her big pale breasts fell into view. My cock leapt fully erect again. Her nipples were puffy and pink. Oh god, her tits were more magnificent than I could have ever imagined. Troy grabbed her head with both hands and began fucking her face hard and fast. Then he stiffened up, arched his back and let out a long, gut-wrenching, guttural groan. She pulled back and presented her tits to him, while she jerked his long pipe with one hand. I saw his nuts literally jumping, then ropes of glistening white ropes shot out of him, splooging all over her breasts and neck. She jerked it out of him with expert yanks, until her cleavage was dripping with goo. Then she leaned forward and sucked his cock head while squeezing his balls, making him squirt another shot into her mouth. She looked up at him over her glasses and opened her mouth, and let the cum slowly drip out of it onto her tits. Oh fucking christ! It was so fucking Filthy! Then she ran both hands over her breasts, spreading his shiny cum all over until she her tits were glistening.He couldn't stand up any longer, so he plopped down onto his bed, and fell onto his back. Briona stood up, and quickly stripped out of her shoes, jeans and panties, a sight that made my eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. She had an incredible ass and a stunningly narrow waist. What a figure! She was built like a movie star! Her back was to me now, so I reached into my shorts and wrapped my hand around my throbbing hard cock and started jerking off as quietly as I could manage. She leaned forward to yank Troy's pants off, giving me an amazing view of her extremely hairy pussy. It was big, bushy and brown, but fucking hot as hell. I couldn't make out her pussy lips, but I didn't care. I just stared up her ass crack, jacking off like the pathetic little perv I was, my cock lubricated by the copious amounts of precum it was weeping.Once she'd stripped his bottom half bare, she wiped her tits clean of cum with his pants, then climbed on top of him. I thought she was gonna fuck him, but she kept going upward until she was straddling his face. “Suck my fucking pussy, donkey-dick.”I couldn't get over how filthy her mouth was. It was like she was split personality, or something. This wasn't the brainy girl I'd been out on a date with. That girl could wax poetically about superstring theory and the big bang. But this girl was gleefully grinding her pussy against a moron's face, as she moaned, “Oh fuck yeah. Eat my pussy, fuck wad. Eat my fucking pussy. Yeah, that's right. Stick that tongue inside my cunt. Taste my fucking cum.”I couldn't see exactly what he was doing. Her back was to me, and his big fat cock was in the foreground, blocking some of the view. But I saw the underside of his chin, and his tongue going up into her. He was making crazy slurping sounds, and his semi-hard cock slowly stood to attention again, and he started stroking it, at the same time that I was stoking mine. I wondered what it must feel like to have a monster cock like that in your hand. Mine was puny compared to his. A measly seven and a half inches.Briona was like a wild woman, and she couldn't get enough of Troy's tongue. She just kept grinding herself roughly into his face for the longest time, while he jerked himself off. Her aggressiveness was a bit scary, actually. I wondered what I would have done if she'd attacked me like that in her apartment. I was starting to feel like maybe I dodged a bullet there. Sure, she was sexy, smart and sweet, but damn, she was an animal in the sack! She started shouting out filthy commands as she rode his face. “Yeah, suck my pussy, you mother fucker! Suck my hairy snatch. You know you like it, fuck face. Gimme that hand. Use your finger, oh shit yeah. Oh, fuck yeah, right there. Yeah, like that. No don't stop licking my clit. Yeah, oh fuck, No, don't change anything! Just keep doing it like that, mother fucker! Oh Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!”She was screaming so loud, they were in serious danger of having the RA's realize there was a girl in the room, but Troy clamped his free hand over her mouth. For the next ten minutes she moaned and groaned into his hand, and he took her through a series of awe-inspiring orgasms. Then right when it seemed she was at the peak of her excitement, she suddenly jumped backward and straddled his cock, then lowered herself slowly onto it.Wow. She didn't even make him put on a condom! I saw his huge manhood spreading her furry pussy lips wide for a moment before she lowered herself slowly down his shaft, while juices dripped out of her. Based on the guttural moan she emitted, I guess he was stretching her to the limit, and she liked it. The sight of him disappearing into her snatch triggered something in my own cock. I felt a burst of pleasure, and moments later I was filling my underwear with cum. But I didn't get soft for a second, so I just kept jerking, ignoring the sticky gunk on my hand, taking advantage of the fact that her back was turned to me so she couldn't see my blankets jumping as I jerked off like a monkey in a zoo.She rode him like that for a good long time, slowly at first, moaning, “Oh fucking Christ on a sandwich! You're so fucking big! I've never fucked anyone like you before! Oh god. You're splitting me open, you fucking animal!” But once she got used to his girth, she began to fuck him with more speed and gusto. She started getting less careful, so she could no longer keep his cock from popping out of her pussy. But each time she'd reach down, pull it back into place and start galloping him again, slamming herself down on him like she was riding a wild horse. She was insatiable! And he had lasting power. I shot a second wad into my shorts, but he just kept fucking her on and on and on!Eventually, he flipped her over onto her back, and lifted her long, pale legs high in the air on each of his shoulders, and started ramming himself into her like he was trying to destroy her cunt. But she just stared up at him with those big brown eyes and urged him on. “Harder, you fucking wimp. Fuck me harder.” She said it with an animal intensity, which  I'd never imagined her capable of. It was frighteningly sexy! And he seemed to love it, because he attacked her with the fury of a jungle cat. They were two wild animals, groaning and grinding on that squeaky dorm bed, in a crazy battle to the death.They were turned sideways to me now, so I beheld the stunning sight of Briona's big breasts surging up and down her chest as he pounded her. He occasionally leaned forward and sucked them roughly into his mouth, nibbling her puffy nipples hard enough to make her squeal with delight. It looked so painful to me, but Briona seemed to love it.She kept groaning and cursing the whole time he fucked her. “Harder! Fuck me harder! Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck me with that big fat cock! Shit! You feel so fucking huge! Harder! Fuck me harder! Oh my god. Oh my god, you feel so good inside me! Oh fucking god! Oh fucking god! oh.”He slammed his hand over her mouth as she had another crazy loud orgasm. He pounded her with merciless glee, his well-muscled body glistening with sweat. He moaned, “Take it bitch. Fucking take it!”I had to stroke myself slower, now that she could possibly see me, but that didn't stop me from cumming a third time. My underwear was absolutely gross with accumulated cum by now, but my cock didn't get soft, so I kept squeezing and stroking it as I stared at Briona's beautiful tits, her long, lithe legs, and her beautiful big nose. She was looking up at Troy, right into amazed eyes, with a passion so hot that it could have started a forest fire.She suddenly crawled out from under him, moaning, “Oh, shit, Fuck me doggy style, you son of a bitch!” She got up on her hands and knees and he immediately rammed himself into her slit from behind. She arched her neck up ward, her lush mouth opening into a long, breathy groan. “God damn. So fucking good.”My eyes were drawn to her pendulous breasts. They were flopping forward and back as Troy fucked her. Once or twice he leaned forward to fondle them, something I longed to do, but that just threw off his rhythm, so he went back to fucking her. I wanted to get out of bed, and crawl under her, and let those big boobs sweep up and down my face. But I was pretty sure that would have freaked her the fuck out, so I just kept playing possum.He looked toward me a few times, smiling with wicked pride. He even flashed me one of those stupid ‘hang ten' hand signals that dopes like him were fond of. I wanted to hate him for stealing my girl, but I just couldn't be mad at him. It wasn't his fault. It was mine. I'd let her slip out of my hands. And now he was fucking my dream girl. I sure hoped he was enjoying it, because the longer it went on, the more my image of her slipped away. She wasn't my dream girl any longer. Oh, I loved her still, and admired her. I also hoped one day I might be friends with her. But I didn't dream about fucking her any longer. I knew I'd never be able to handle her. For one thing, she seemed to like it rough, which just wasn't in me. And for another thing, she absolutely adored Troy's humungous cock. It was at least an inch or two longer than my pitiful seven inches. It was apparent now why all those girls were so happy after fucking him. How could I ever hope to make her happy in bed after she'd been fucked like this?Troy grinned at me and mouthed, “Watch this”, then he grabbed his pillow, stripped the pillowcase off, flipped the loose end under her midsection and grabbed both ends with his fists and suddenly lifted her up, so her knees left the bed. Now, with her utterly under his control, he started to fuck her harder than ever, and she started to squeal and weep and scream. She looked back at him with a look of pure, worshipful amazement as he pounded her pussy like a pro, tears pouring out of her eyes from the sheer perfection of the moment. She'd been calling the shots all night, but now he was in command, and she was enraptured. Utterly enraptured.And I guess I was enraptured too. They both amazed me. I felt like a pathetic troll compared to these guys. If any two people on earth were made to fuck each other, it was Troy and Briona, goddamn it! He fucked her that way longer than I could ever have done, but he finally began to grunt and stiffen with impending release.Briona moaned, “Oh yeah. Cum inside me. I want to feel you cumming inside me. Oh god, yes, I can feel it!”The astounding sight of my roommate filling that beautiful, busty nerd's pussy with cum made me blast one final load of semen into my sticky underwear. And as impossible as it may seem, I actually fell asleep immediately afterward. I don't know if they kept fucking or not, but I would have slept through an earthquake at that point. It was probably some sort of psychological defense mechanism. My brain had overloaded with a lethal combination of lust and self-loathing. My only escape was sweet oblivion.Frat Party Invite: “You should go,” said Troy.“Yeah, I agree,” said Briona, cuddling next to him in his bed. “What have you got to lose?”I shrugged. “I don't really know these guys. And I wouldn't know anyone else at the party either.”Briona shrugged, “So what?”Troy added, “And it's at a frat, dude! Think of all that fresh young sorority pussy!”Briona slapped his arm, hard enough to make him squeal. “Shut up, you big dumb ape!”Troy pouted adorably, nursing his arm. “Sorry Bree.”“Oh, did I hurt you, baby?” Then she gently, lovingly kissed his arm, as he looked at her enraptured.They'd only been together for two weeks, but the change she'd had on Troy had been amazing. He'd stopped trolling for chicks, even though she hadn't asked him to. And when the two of them weren't over at her apartment fucking like rabbits, she was over at our room studying with me! It worked out for all three of us because our studying together encouraged him to do his own homework, so his grades began to improve as well.Just in case you're wondering, Briona had no idea that I'd been awake the night she fucked him. In fact, when she found out that I was his roommate, she nearly had a heart attack, but I pretended his ‘acne medicine' story was true. There are some acne medicines that cause drowsiness, although I'd been off them for over a year. Still, I kept up the charade, secretly hoping that she might fuck him again while I ‘slept'. But apparently the night she came over her cousin had been visiting, so her apartment wasn't empty. That wasn't true any longer, so I hadn't seen hide nor hair of her pussy since that wonderful night, and I probably never would again.But that was okay. She was fast becoming one of my best friends. The fact that I'd seen her totally naked, riding my roommate's cock while she cursed like a whore, didn't diminish my fondness or admiration for her one tiny bit. It actually opened my eyes up to my own naïve ideas about sexuality. I realized that sex isn't just for sluts and dopes, but for smart people too. People like Briona, and people like me! It finally dawned on me that everybody in the world had sex, and every woman, however shy she may seem, had a secret tiger in her, just waiting to be discovered and unleashed.As for Troy, he was still a bit of an asshole, but he treated Briona like a princess. He was honestly in love. So much so that it frightened him a bit. After I told him that she was a genius, he started to worry that she'd lose interest in him, so he worked extra hard to earn her love. But I'd seen him fucking her. As long as he kept slaying her pussy like that, he had nothing to worry about.Briona asked, “Who are these guys again?”“Roland Rawlings and Joseph, something, I forget his last name. They're in Tau Sigma Omicron, I think. I'm in their Astrophysics study group. I guess that's why they invited me to their Oktoberfest party. I can't think of any other reason. I'm certainly not interested in pledging any frats. I don't have that kind of money anyway.”Briona nodded. “Well, I don't know them, but Tau Sigma has a good reputation. If you were pledging, you could do worse. Though Delta Delta is the one that most of the guys in the science department belong to. They have an excellent academics record.”Troy grinned mischievously, saying, “Yeah, but the real question is, does Tau Sigma have a sister sorority, and do they like to fuck nerds?”Briona roared like a lion and started snapping her teeth at him. “I told you to stop it, you dirty little boy! Don't make me bite you!”He stuck his tongue out at her so she leapt on top of him like a jungle cat. I watched them roughhouse with a smile on my face. Troy was much bigger and stronger than her, but he let her pin him with only minimal resistance. That's one of the ways I knew he was smitten with her. She'd literally tamed him. It was really kind of cute.Still straddling Troy, Briona turned to me and said, “No, really, Hans, you ought to go. You don't have anything better to do tonight, do you?”I shrugged. “No, but I don't have a costume. Everyone's supposed to dress up like Germans.”Troy said, “Well, you're German, aren't you? Just go as yourself.”“My grandpa's from Austria, but I don't think that counts as a costume.”Briona smiled, “Oh hey, there's that costume store over in that strip mall next to the Wendy's. I bet they're open for another hour or two. You should run over there and, here, ” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet, then took out sixty dollars, “Go rent a costume.”I put my hand up, “No, no. I can't take your money.”She hopped off Troy and pressed the money into my hands. “Consider it a loan, Hansie. Pay me back when you can.”I looked at the money, and my heart started to beat hard. I'd never gone to a real party before. Or at least not one at a cool fraternity, which I just knew would be chock full of eligible women getting drunk off their asses. I didn't know what to say, but Briona just pulled me off my bed and pushed me toward the door, saying, “You better hurry up before they close! Scoot!”Troy shouted from his bed. “Yeah, get out of here, loser, so I can fuck my girlfriend!”As she was closing the door behind me, I heard her saying to Troy, “Okay mister. You've officially pissed me off. Now you're gonna get bit!”I stood in that hallway for a few minutes, listening to her jungle-cat roars turn into orgasmic groans as they attacked each other in my room, perhaps even on my very bed. It made my cock stir with lust. Since it was unlikely they'd ever do it while I was ‘sleeping' again, eavesdropping at my dorm room door might be the closest I'd ever get. But as fun it was to listen to Briona's dirty talk, her money was burning a hole in my hand, and I knew she'd expect me to have a story to show for it, so I dragged myself away from her beautiful moans, and sweet obscenities.By the time I'd walked to the costume shop, the sun was already setting, and they were just about to close. But the man let me in and showed me his selection of Bavarian costumes. Most of them were cheap, mass-manufactured Halloween costumes, but one was really quite authentic. I should know. I'd been dragged to my fair share of polkas and Oktoberfest celebrations when I was a kid. My parents were proud of their Austrian ancestry, so I could tell an authentic outfit when I saw one. It wasn't cheap, but Briona's money, added to my own pitiful stash, added up to just barely enough to rent it, along with an oversized plastic stein. That was all the money I had for the rest of the month, but I figured, if I'm going to look like a fool, I might as well do it in style. Besides, if I impress those guys, maybe they'll invite me to another party.As I was trying it on, the shop owner said, “You're lucky you're not a woman. A bunch of girls came in here earlier and rented all the Bavarian dresses in the place. Hey, you know what? I bet they're going to the same party as you.” I shrugged, barely hearing him. I was distracted by my own reflection in the mirror. I looked exactly like my grandfather. There was photo of him hanging on our wall back home which was taken when he was a boy in Austria, wearing a costume that was freakishly similar to this: a pair of dark brown lederhosen with suspenders, high socks embroidered with ducks and edelweiss flowers, a loose white peasant shirt and a blue cap with a long feather sticking out the top. My god, I was the spitting image of my grandfather.Suddenly I flashed on the old man. He was the most rakish, hearty, balls-to-the-wall man I'd ever met. He could have eaten ten Troys for breakfast and still had room for seven Brad Pitts. When Grandpa came into a room, everybody smiled. He flirted with all the ladies, even his own relatives, and made every man his buddy. He was amazing, and lived life to the fullest, right up to the very end. I hooked my thumbs in my suspenders, just as he was doing in that old photograph, and grinned, trying to make my eyes twinkle just like his. Damn. I looked more like him than ever. And then I remembered that he had a pockmarked face too. I'd never thought about it before, but he must have had acne as a teenager, the same as me! But he hadn't let that stop him from being a man, and damn it all, I wasn't gonna let it stop me either!I walked proudly to Fraternity Row, dressed in my costume, ignoring the catcalls from passers-by. No, scratch that. I didn't ignore them. Whenever someone laughed or shouted out some obscenity at me, I raised my fake German stein and shouted, “Oktoberfest!” at the top of my lungs, and their jeers turned instantly into cheers. I felt almost as if I was channeling my grandfather's spirit. But I didn't believe in any sort of afterlife, so I knew that my grandfather's spirit didn't exist. No. If anything, it was my grandfather's DNA coursing through my blood, which gave me the gumption to act as if I was the man I wanted to be. That, and the long feather in my cap.I charged into that party as if I owned the place, and stomped all the way into the middle of the room on my big, loud boots. That's when I noticed that I was the only person in sight wearing a costume of any kind. Then I saw the assholes who'd invited me; laughing their asses off. My heart sank, and my cheeks burned bright red. I'd thought I'd left this kind of crap behind me in high school. But I was wrong. You never get too old for a pair of snotty assholes to make you feel like a fool. I refused to give them the pleasure of seeing my embarrassment, so I just smiled and waved, proud of my Bavarian heritage and culture.I was about to make a humiliating retreat from this frat party when I realized, much to my delight, that I wasn't alone. Six freshmen girls, dressed in sexy little Bavarian dresses, filed through the door, drawing fresh gouts of laughter from the assembly. Now I knew who'd rented all the female costumes from the store! Most of the girls looked utterly embarrassed, but one of the girls was shining with confidence. Her sky-blue eyes caught sight of me and a broad grin spread out on her stunningly beautiful, copper-colored face. I'd seen her around the Science Building, but I didn't know her name. All I knew was that she was a freshman, and insanely hot. I considered her so far out of my league that I didn't even daydream about asking her out.She was simply stunning to behold, her lovely tits were perfectly displayed in the snug bodice. Her figure was looking scrumptious, particularly as she made her way through the crowd toward me, smiling from ear to ear. As she came closer, I realized that her costume was the female match for mine. They had the same brown, green and blue fabrics, the same embroidered socks. But instead of the lederhosen and suspenders my costume had, she was wearing a traditional dirndl, which was comprised of a brown skirt, a big green apron, a puffy white blouse, and a bodice with a low front, which was pushing her ample breasts up into a startling display of feminine pulchritude. I mean, this chick's cleavage was epic, and it was wiggling about wonderfully as she clomped toward me in her polka shoes. Her wavy dark brown hair was braided into two long braids that were framing her tits marvelously.Coincidence was once again rearing its ugly head, but this time it seemed to be working in my favor!She shouted in a fake German accent, “Liebchen! Vere haff you been? I've been vorried schick about you!”Then she gave me a big hug and a quick kiss on the lips. I was stunned. That was literally the first kiss of my life, and even though she meant it as a joke, my heart did a total flip flop in my chest, and tingles shot down my spine! Then she took my hand in hers and pulled me toward the other costumed girls, all of whom were adorable, each in their own way. “Come vit me, liebchen. I vant you to meet my freundins!” The girls laughed when they saw that I was wearing the male match of their friend's dirndl. “Girls, girls, I vant you to meet mein freund, Helmutt von Wiener.”Continued in Part Two,Based on a post by CBSummers, for Literotica

The Power of Dirndls And Lederhosen: Part 1Hans channels his grandfather's German roots, to overcome his inadequacies with women.Based on the post by cb summers, in 2 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.September 22October was almost here. Outside, a cold, gusty wind was blowing the freshly fallen leaves across the campus commons. But I was warm in my room, snuggled under the covers, devouring chapter seven of Advanced Organic Chemistry. I had a test scheduled for the next morning, but studying wasn't a chore for a nerd like me. It was a joy. I was basking in the awesome power of carbon, and the stunning ways it had chemically combined with other compounds over the unimaginable eons of time to form the very basis of life itself.I loved learning. I loved science. I loved textbooks. They allowed me to escape myself. In textbooks I wasn't a loveless, lonely virgin. I wasn't an awkward, babbling dork. I didn't have a disappointing body with deep pockmarks from a high-school bout with acne, and crooked teeth from parents too poor to pay for braces. And I didn't become embarrassingly tongue-tied in the presence of hotties, because there were no hotties in textbooks. There wasn't even a me. Lost in the mysteries and majesty of science, I became the universe itself. Immortal. Beautiful. Content.It was a blessed relief from all the stress I'd been under of late. You see, I could understand carbon. I could understand DNA. I could understand calculus, non-Euclidean geometry and superstring theory. But girls? They were a total mystery to me.My roommate Troy had been trying to share his ‘wisdom' about the fairer sex with me, but it wasn't easy for me to take his advice. After all, he was a Neanderthal. Normally, I avoided guys like him. You know, big dumb lunks, with handsome faces, muscular bodies, and cocky attitudes. Troy was willfully ignorant about the natural world. He didn't believe in evolution, because it just didn't make sense to him, but he did believe in Bigfoot because he saw a movie about it once. I mean, he was just an idiot. I never would have chosen a guy like him to be my roommate, but my roomie for the last two years suddenly transferred to Columbia just before school started in September, so Troy, was assigned to me at random.I'll never forget the day I met the big dope. He swaggered into my room as if he owned the place. He was tall and broad, with a thick, strong neck, short tan hair, and an infuriating air of confidence. I hated him instantly. But I resolved to try to get along with him, so I said, “Hi. I'm Hans. Hans Willis.”He replied, “Look dude, here's the deal I'm gonna fuck a lot of girls in this room, so we need to work out some kinda arrangement. If you see a sock hanging on the doorknob, don't come in. Got it? Just assume I'm boning some chick. I don't care if you have to sleep in the lobby, don't come between me and my pussy. But don't worry, same rules apply for both of us. If I see the sock, I'll stay out too. Those are now the house rules. Name's Troy, by the way.” He held his fist out for me to bump, so I bumped it.A Crushing Defeat To The Neanderthal.But the one girl I actually did go on one date with, that September, ended up becoming my roommate's main fuck buddy, Briona. She's maybe the smartest female in the science department, but her primal desires led her to the neanderthal, Troy.  It wasn't even a week after my one feeble date. Briona basically ignored me in class, and I was miserable. I became depressed and stayed in my dorm, sulking myself to sleep.So there I was, lost in my textbook on a cold September evening, when voices in the hallway brought me out of my reverie. They stopped in front of my door and began to talk back and forth in hushed tones. I recognized Troy's voice. He started talking loudly. “No, really, don't worry about my roommate. He's asleep. Sleeps like a fucking log.”A girl's voice whispered, “Really? I don't know about this. Are you sure?”He answered loudly, “Yeah, I toldja, he's on some kinda meds to keep his acne from coming back. Those things knock him out like a light. It's actually kinda bizarre. Hey, why don't you see for yourself?”He was fumbling with his keys, and then he dropped them loudly on the floor. I realized with shock that he was hoping I'd hear him so I could pretend to be asleep. I was gripped with utter terror. He'd never done anything like this before. He usually called me if he wanted to bring a girl over, to give me time to clear out. But he must have met this girl at some late night party, and didn't think I'd agree to leaving the room at 2:15 in the morning. So what was his plan? He wanted me to stay? To, what? Pretend to be asleep while he fucked this girl? It was a crazy idea! Utterly indecent! Utterly wonderful! Two conflicting thoughts raced through my head at the same time. One: I don't have time for this! I have to study! Two: Oh holy shit, oh holy shit, shit,!What a position to put me in! But I felt I had no choice but to play possum! I heard the key clicking into place, so I barely had time to put my books on the floor, flip out my bedside lamp, and yank the covers messily over my head before the door swung open. I didn't see them coming in, but I heard their voices.He said, in a normal voice, “See? What did I tell you? Out like a light.”She whispered, “No, really?”The door closed, and he said, “Here. Let me show you.” He tromped over to me, shook me and shouted, “Wake up, roomie! The building's on fire!” Then he leaned down close enough to whisper, “Please, Hans. Just go with it.” I didn't make a peep, so he said loudly, “What did I tell you? Dead to the world. It's just you and me, sweetheart.'She giggled and whispered, “Damn. Those must be some killer meds. Which one does he take? Xeotrex, or Iso…”She fell silent. From the sound of the wet little smacking sounds I heard, he must have started kissing her to stop her questions. Damn, what a caveman he was. But she didn't complain. Soon she was making hungry little moans and wet slobbering gasps and groans. Oh shit. I couldn't believe they were making out, right there in my room! My cock started to harden. It was a good thing I'd turned to my side, or she might have seen a volcano rising under my sheets.I just lay there in shock for the next five minutes, unable to block out those sexy sounds. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. But it only got more shocking when I heard the unmistakable sound of a belt buckle clinking open. Troy moaned, “Oh yeah, baby. Fuck yeah.”She giggled, saying, “Let's see what you got in here, big boy. Oh, hot damn. It's so big. Damn. My fingers barely fit around it. Fuck. I gotta get a taste of that.” Then she inhaled and made a wet slurping sound.Troy moaned deeply, “Oh, fuck.”Up to that very moment, I'd had no intention of peeking. But once I realized that a girl was giving Troy a blowjob just a few feet away from me, and the only thing that stood between them and my eyes was my blanket, well I just couldn't resist. I had to see. I just had to! So I slowly moved my hand up to my face and began to tug at the blanket to form a shadowy little opening to peep through. The first thing I saw was Troy's rapturous face, illuminated by his bedside light. He looked right at me. I thought he'd be pissed, but he just smiled and put his finger to his lips, then pointed down, grinning like a birthday boy showing off his brand new BB gun.With that encouragement, I pulled the opening a little more open, and laid my eyes on a sight that absolutely shook me to the core.Briona Skorsczi was on her knees sucking my roommate's big fat cock.I couldn't have been more shocked if I'd suddenly seen my family being eaten by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. It was horrifying, yet I couldn't look away. I just couldn't. Briona's big, beautiful nose was bobbing forward and back, her glasses sliding down to the tip as she sucked him into her beautiful mouth. Her delightful bunny teeth were sliding gently over the raw, naked flesh of that frighteningly huge cock of his. It had to be eight or nine inches long. Maybe more.She must have taken off her coat and shirt before getting on her knees, because I saw her enormous tits absolutely straining to escape the confines of her lacy white bra. I'd been right all along. She had been hiding a smoking hot body under all those baggy clothes. Her tits were even bigger than I'd suspected, probably full D cups, and her creamy white cleavage was wiggling like a bowl of Jell-O as she slurped Troy's cock with increasing eagerness.I watched all of this in utter shock. I couldn't believe this was actually happening. The sweet, innocent, genius of my dreams was polishing a Neanderthal's knob. It was wrong on so many levels; I just couldn't wrap my head around it. How the hell had he met her anyway? I hadn't told either of them about each other, but Prairie Tech wasn't a very big college, so this was just one of those random coincidences that happen from time to time. Only this time it was happening to me, goddamn it!It was heartbreaking to watch. But I had to. I had to. Those full, beautiful lips, which I'd been too timid to kiss, were now sliding and slurping over the bulbous head of Troy's throbbing meat. And her delicate pink tongue, which had said so many fascinating things to me over the course of our evening together, was now slipping out, and flicking that sensitive spot on the underside of his glans. All the while she stroked his long shaft with those delicate hands I'd imagined holding in my own. Then she lifted his shaft, leaned forward and slurped his big, hairless balls into her mouth, making him grab his bedside table for support.“Oh fuck. Suck my balls, bitch. Yeah, so fucking good.”I watched her lick every inch of his veiny shaft, her big beautiful nose occasionally bending in contact with his cock, which I found particularly obscene. Then she kissed her way back to the tip of his salami and began gobbling him forward and back in long swooping moves, making her brown hair bob and bounce, taking him deeper and deeper into her throat with each stroke. She began to drool copiously, coating his cock with so much slime that long strands of slobber dripped down onto her creamy white cleavage. God, I just about passed out at the sight of it. She tilted her head lithely side to side as she gulped his phallus, literally swallowing it until I could actually see the end of his massive member distorting her willowy neck! It was astonishing. She was making loud, wet gasping sounds, but unbelievably, she wasn't choking on his cock; not one tiny bit.That's when it dawned on me that she wasn't a sweet little shy virgin after all. She'd obviously sucked a cock or twelve in her time. Hell, for all I knew, she did this sort of thing every single night of the year. I'd completely misjudged her. She hadn't turned me down because she was too busy. She'd turned me down because I was a coward.Looking back, I suddenly realized that she'd been waiting for me to make some kind of move all night during our date. Now with hindsight twenty twenty, I could remember at least half a dozen opportunities for intimacy that I'd passed up. I could have held her hand at the art show. I could have sat next to her at dinner. I could have put my arm over her shoulder on the walk to her place. And that awkward silence before she closed the door? She'd definitely wanted me to kiss her!Idiot! Why Didn't I Fucking Kiss Her? And if I had, then what? Would she have pulled me inside? Would she have dropped to her knees and pulled out my cock and started sucking me, just like she did with Troy? And then what? Would she have fucked me too?! Oh shit. I blew it. I fucking blew it.I closed the gap in my blankets, and closed my eyes, trying to stifle my sobs of crushing regret. Oh god, I was a pathetic excuse for a man. I wasn't a man at all! I was a fucking Boy! Troy may have been a stupid caveman who didn't believe in evolution, but did believe that a magnetic wristband could make you run faster, but nevertheless, he was still twice the man as me. My pitiful erection faded away and I silently wept, feeling lower and more useless than I'd ever felt in my life.Okay. I must admit. I was wallowing a bit. But then I heard Briona say, “I want you to cream on my tits, baby.”I instantly forgot my misery, and opened the flap again, just in time to see her reaching behind her back and unhooking her bra. It popped open and her big pale breasts fell into view. My cock leapt fully erect again. Her nipples were puffy and pink. Oh god, her tits were more magnificent than I could have ever imagined. Troy grabbed her head with both hands and began fucking her face hard and fast. Then he stiffened up, arched his back and let out a long, gut-wrenching, guttural groan. She pulled back and presented her tits to him, while she jerked his long pipe with one hand. I saw his nuts literally jumping, then ropes of glistening white ropes shot out of him, splooging all over her breasts and neck. She jerked it out of him with expert yanks, until her cleavage was dripping with goo. Then she leaned forward and sucked his cock head while squeezing his balls, making him squirt another shot into her mouth. She looked up at him over her glasses and opened her mouth, and let the cum slowly drip out of it onto her tits. Oh fucking christ! It was so fucking Filthy! Then she ran both hands over her breasts, spreading his shiny cum all over until she her tits were glistening.He couldn't stand up any longer, so he plopped down onto his bed, and fell onto his back. Briona stood up, and quickly stripped out of her shoes, jeans and panties, a sight that made my eyes nearly pop out of their sockets. She had an incredible ass and a stunningly narrow waist. What a figure! She was built like a movie star! Her back was to me now, so I reached into my shorts and wrapped my hand around my throbbing hard cock and started jerking off as quietly as I could manage. She leaned forward to yank Troy's pants off, giving me an amazing view of her extremely hairy pussy. It was big, bushy and brown, but fucking hot as hell. I couldn't make out her pussy lips, but I didn't care. I just stared up her ass crack, jacking off like the pathetic little perv I was, my cock lubricated by the copious amounts of precum it was weeping.Once she'd stripped his bottom half bare, she wiped her tits clean of cum with his pants, then climbed on top of him. I thought she was gonna fuck him, but she kept going upward until she was straddling his face. “Suck my fucking pussy, donkey-dick.”I couldn't get over how filthy her mouth was. It was like she was split personality, or something. This wasn't the brainy girl I'd been out on a date with. That girl could wax poetically about superstring theory and the big bang. But this girl was gleefully grinding her pussy against a moron's face, as she moaned, “Oh fuck yeah. Eat my pussy, fuck wad. Eat my fucking pussy. Yeah, that's right. Stick that tongue inside my cunt. Taste my fucking cum.”I couldn't see exactly what he was doing. Her back was to me, and his big fat cock was in the foreground, blocking some of the view. But I saw the underside of his chin, and his tongue going up into her. He was making crazy slurping sounds, and his semi-hard cock slowly stood to attention again, and he started stroking it, at the same time that I was stoking mine. I wondered what it must feel like to have a monster cock like that in your hand. Mine was puny compared to his. A measly seven and a half inches.Briona was like a wild woman, and she couldn't get enough of Troy's tongue. She just kept grinding herself roughly into his face for the longest time, while he jerked himself off. Her aggressiveness was a bit scary, actually. I wondered what I would have done if she'd attacked me like that in her apartment. I was starting to feel like maybe I dodged a bullet there. Sure, she was sexy, smart and sweet, but damn, she was an animal in the sack! She started shouting out filthy commands as she rode his face. “Yeah, suck my pussy, you mother fucker! Suck my hairy snatch. You know you like it, fuck face. Gimme that hand. Use your finger, oh shit yeah. Oh, fuck yeah, right there. Yeah, like that. No don't stop licking my clit. Yeah, oh fuck, No, don't change anything! Just keep doing it like that, mother fucker! Oh Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!”She was screaming so loud, they were in serious danger of having the RA's realize there was a girl in the room, but Troy clamped his free hand over her mouth. For the next ten minutes she moaned and groaned into his hand, and he took her through a series of awe-inspiring orgasms. Then right when it seemed she was at the peak of her excitement, she suddenly jumped backward and straddled his cock, then lowered herself slowly onto it.Wow. She didn't even make him put on a condom! I saw his huge manhood spreading her furry pussy lips wide for a moment before she lowered herself slowly down his shaft, while juices dripped out of her. Based on the guttural moan she emitted, I guess he was stretching her to the limit, and she liked it. The sight of him disappearing into her snatch triggered something in my own cock. I felt a burst of pleasure, and moments later I was filling my underwear with cum. But I didn't get soft for a second, so I just kept jerking, ignoring the sticky gunk on my hand, taking advantage of the fact that her back was turned to me so she couldn't see my blankets jumping as I jerked off like a monkey in a zoo.She rode him like that for a good long time, slowly at first, moaning, “Oh fucking Christ on a sandwich! You're so fucking big! I've never fucked anyone like you before! Oh god. You're splitting me open, you fucking animal!” But once she got used to his girth, she began to fuck him with more speed and gusto. She started getting less careful, so she could no longer keep his cock from popping out of her pussy. But each time she'd reach down, pull it back into place and start galloping him again, slamming herself down on him like she was riding a wild horse. She was insatiable! And he had lasting power. I shot a second wad into my shorts, but he just kept fucking her on and on and on!Eventually, he flipped her over onto her back, and lifted her long, pale legs high in the air on each of his shoulders, and started ramming himself into her like he was trying to destroy her cunt. But she just stared up at him with those big brown eyes and urged him on. “Harder, you fucking wimp. Fuck me harder.” She said it with an animal intensity, which  I'd never imagined her capable of. It was frighteningly sexy! And he seemed to love it, because he attacked her with the fury of a jungle cat. They were two wild animals, groaning and grinding on that squeaky dorm bed, in a crazy battle to the death.They were turned sideways to me now, so I beheld the stunning sight of Briona's big breasts surging up and down her chest as he pounded her. He occasionally leaned forward and sucked them roughly into his mouth, nibbling her puffy nipples hard enough to make her squeal with delight. It looked so painful to me, but Briona seemed to love it.She kept groaning and cursing the whole time he fucked her. “Harder! Fuck me harder! Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck me with that big fat cock! Shit! You feel so fucking huge! Harder! Fuck me harder! Oh my god. Oh my god, you feel so good inside me! Oh fucking god! Oh fucking god! oh.”He slammed his hand over her mouth as she had another crazy loud orgasm. He pounded her with merciless glee, his well-muscled body glistening with sweat. He moaned, “Take it bitch. Fucking take it!”I had to stroke myself slower, now that she could possibly see me, but that didn't stop me from cumming a third time. My underwear was absolutely gross with accumulated cum by now, but my cock didn't get soft, so I kept squeezing and stroking it as I stared at Briona's beautiful tits, her long, lithe legs, and her beautiful big nose. She was looking up at Troy, right into amazed eyes, with a passion so hot that it could have started a forest fire.She suddenly crawled out from under him, moaning, “Oh, shit, Fuck me doggy style, you son of a bitch!” She got up on her hands and knees and he immediately rammed himself into her slit from behind. She arched her neck up ward, her lush mouth opening into a long, breathy groan. “God damn. So fucking good.”My eyes were drawn to her pendulous breasts. They were flopping forward and back as Troy fucked her. Once or twice he leaned forward to fondle them, something I longed to do, but that just threw off his rhythm, so he went back to fucking her. I wanted to get out of bed, and crawl under her, and let those big boobs sweep up and down my face. But I was pretty sure that would have freaked her the fuck out, so I just kept playing possum.He looked toward me a few times, smiling with wicked pride. He even flashed me one of those stupid ‘hang ten' hand signals that dopes like him were fond of. I wanted to hate him for stealing my girl, but I just couldn't be mad at him. It wasn't his fault. It was mine. I'd let her slip out of my hands. And now he was fucking my dream girl. I sure hoped he was enjoying it, because the longer it went on, the more my image of her slipped away. She wasn't my dream girl any longer. Oh, I loved her still, and admired her. I also hoped one day I might be friends with her. But I didn't dream about fucking her any longer. I knew I'd never be able to handle her. For one thing, she seemed to like it rough, which just wasn't in me. And for another thing, she absolutely adored Troy's humungous cock. It was at least an inch or two longer than my pitiful seven inches. It was apparent now why all those girls were so happy after fucking him. How could I ever hope to make her happy in bed after she'd been fucked like this?Troy grinned at me and mouthed, “Watch this”, then he grabbed his pillow, stripped the pillowcase off, flipped the loose end under her midsection and grabbed both ends with his fists and suddenly lifted her up, so her knees left the bed. Now, with her utterly under his control, he started to fuck her harder than ever, and she started to squeal and weep and scream. She looked back at him with a look of pure, worshipful amazement as he pounded her pussy like a pro, tears pouring out of her eyes from the sheer perfection of the moment. She'd been calling the shots all night, but now he was in command, and she was enraptured. Utterly enraptured.And I guess I was enraptured too. They both amazed me. I felt like a pathetic troll compared to these guys. If any two people on earth were made to fuck each other, it was Troy and Briona, goddamn it! He fucked her that way longer than I could ever have done, but he finally began to grunt and stiffen with impending release.Briona moaned, “Oh yeah. Cum inside me. I want to feel you cumming inside me. Oh god, yes, I can feel it!”The astounding sight of my roommate filling that beautiful, busty nerd's pussy with cum made me blast one final load of semen into my sticky underwear. And as impossible as it may seem, I actually fell asleep immediately afterward. I don't know if they kept fucking or not, but I would have slept through an earthquake at that point. It was probably some sort of psychological defense mechanism. My brain had overloaded with a lethal combination of lust and self-loathing. My only escape was sweet oblivion.Frat Party Invite: “You should go,” said Troy.“Yeah, I agree,” said Briona, cuddling next to him in his bed. “What have you got to lose?”I shrugged. “I don't really know these guys. And I wouldn't know anyone else at the party either.”Briona shrugged, “So what?”Troy added, “And it's at a frat, dude! Think of all that fresh young sorority pussy!”Briona slapped his arm, hard enough to make him squeal. “Shut up, you big dumb ape!”Troy pouted adorably, nursing his arm. “Sorry Bree.”“Oh, did I hurt you, baby?” Then she gently, lovingly kissed his arm, as he looked at her enraptured.They'd only been together for two weeks, but the change she'd had on Troy had been amazing. He'd stopped trolling for chicks, even though she hadn't asked him to. And when the two of them weren't over at her apartment fucking like rabbits, she was over at our room studying with me! It worked out for all three of us because our studying together encouraged him to do his own homework, so his grades began to improve as well.Just in case you're wondering, Briona had no idea that I'd been awake the night she fucked him. In fact, when she found out that I was his roommate, she nearly had a heart attack, but I pretended his ‘acne medicine' story was true. There are some acne medicines that cause drowsiness, although I'd been off them for over a year. Still, I kept up the charade, secretly hoping that she might fuck him again while I ‘slept'. But apparently the night she came over her cousin had been visiting, so her apartment wasn't empty. That wasn't true any longer, so I hadn't seen hide nor hair of her pussy since that wonderful night, and I probably never would again.But that was okay. She was fast becoming one of my best friends. The fact that I'd seen her totally naked, riding my roommate's cock while she cursed like a whore, didn't diminish my fondness or admiration for her one tiny bit. It actually opened my eyes up to my own naïve ideas about sexuality. I realized that sex isn't just for sluts and dopes, but for smart people too. People like Briona, and people like me! It finally dawned on me that everybody in the world had sex, and every woman, however shy she may seem, had a secret tiger in her, just waiting to be discovered and unleashed.As for Troy, he was still a bit of an asshole, but he treated Briona like a princess. He was honestly in love. So much so that it frightened him a bit. After I told him that she was a genius, he started to worry that she'd lose interest in him, so he worked extra hard to earn her love. But I'd seen him fucking her. As long as he kept slaying her pussy like that, he had nothing to worry about.Briona asked, “Who are these guys again?”“Roland Rawlings and Joseph, something, I forget his last name. They're in Tau Sigma Omicron, I think. I'm in their Astrophysics study group. I guess that's why they invited me to their Oktoberfest party. I can't think of any other reason. I'm certainly not interested in pledging any frats. I don't have that kind of money anyway.”Briona nodded. “Well, I don't know them, but Tau Sigma has a good reputation. If you were pledging, you could do worse. Though Delta Delta is the one that most of the guys in the science department belong to. They have an excellent academics record.”Troy grinned mischievously, saying, “Yeah, but the real question is, does Tau Sigma have a sister sorority, and do they like to fuck nerds?”Briona roared like a lion and started snapping her teeth at him. “I told you to stop it, you dirty little boy! Don't make me bite you!”He stuck his tongue out at her so she leapt on top of him like a jungle cat. I watched them roughhouse with a smile on my face. Troy was much bigger and stronger than her, but he let her pin him with only minimal resistance. That's one of the ways I knew he was smitten with her. She'd literally tamed him. It was really kind of cute.Still straddling Troy, Briona turned to me and said, “No, really, Hans, you ought to go. You don't have anything better to do tonight, do you?”I shrugged. “No, but I don't have a costume. Everyone's supposed to dress up like Germans.”Troy said, “Well, you're German, aren't you? Just go as yourself.”“My grandpa's from Austria, but I don't think that counts as a costume.”Briona smiled, “Oh hey, there's that costume store over in that strip mall next to the Wendy's. I bet they're open for another hour or two. You should run over there and, here, ” She reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet, then took out sixty dollars, “Go rent a costume.”I put my hand up, “No, no. I can't take your money.”She hopped off Troy and pressed the money into my hands. “Consider it a loan, Hansie. Pay me back when you can.”I looked at the money, and my heart started to beat hard. I'd never gone to a real party before. Or at least not one at a cool fraternity, which I just knew would be chock full of eligible women getting drunk off their asses. I didn't know what to say, but Briona just pulled me off my bed and pushed me toward the door, saying, “You better hurry up before they close! Scoot!”Troy shouted from his bed. “Yeah, get out of here, loser, so I can fuck my girlfriend!”As she was closing the door behind me, I heard her saying to Troy, “Okay mister. You've officially pissed me off. Now you're gonna get bit!”I stood in that hallway for a few minutes, listening to her jungle-cat roars turn into orgasmic groans as they attacked each other in my room, perhaps even on my very bed. It made my cock stir with lust. Since it was unlikely they'd ever do it while I was ‘sleeping' again, eavesdropping at my dorm room door might be the closest I'd ever get. But as fun it was to listen to Briona's dirty talk, her money was burning a hole in my hand, and I knew she'd expect me to have a story to show for it, so I dragged myself away from her beautiful moans, and sweet obscenities.By the time I'd walked to the costume shop, the sun was already setting, and they were just about to close. But the man let me in and showed me his selection of Bavarian costumes. Most of them were cheap, mass-manufactured Halloween costumes, but one was really quite authentic. I should know. I'd been dragged to my fair share of polkas and Oktoberfest celebrations when I was a kid. My parents were proud of their Austrian ancestry, so I could tell an authentic outfit when I saw one. It wasn't cheap, but Briona's money, added to my own pitiful stash, added up to just barely enough to rent it, along with an oversized plastic stein. That was all the money I had for the rest of the month, but I figured, if I'm going to look like a fool, I might as well do it in style. Besides, if I impress those guys, maybe they'll invite me to another party.As I was trying it on, the shop owner said, “You're lucky you're not a woman. A bunch of girls came in here earlier and rented all the Bavarian dresses in the place. Hey, you know what? I bet they're going to the same party as you.” I shrugged, barely hearing him. I was distracted by my own reflection in the mirror. I looked exactly like my grandfather. There was photo of him hanging on our wall back home which was taken when he was a boy in Austria, wearing a costume that was freakishly similar to this: a pair of dark brown lederhosen with suspenders, high socks embroidered with ducks and edelweiss flowers, a loose white peasant shirt and a blue cap with a long feather sticking out the top. My god, I was the spitting image of my grandfather.Suddenly I flashed on the old man. He was the most rakish, hearty, balls-to-the-wall man I'd ever met. He could have eaten ten Troys for breakfast and still had room for seven Brad Pitts. When Grandpa came into a room, everybody smiled. He flirted with all the ladies, even his own relatives, and made every man his buddy. He was amazing, and lived life to the fullest, right up to the very end. I hooked my thumbs in my suspenders, just as he was doing in that old photograph, and grinned, trying to make my eyes twinkle just like his. Damn. I looked more like him than ever. And then I remembered that he had a pockmarked face too. I'd never thought about it before, but he must have had acne as a teenager, the same as me! But he hadn't let that stop him from being a man, and damn it all, I wasn't gonna let it stop me either!I walked proudly to Fraternity Row, dressed in my costume, ignoring the catcalls from passers-by. No, scratch that. I didn't ignore them. Whenever someone laughed or shouted out some obscenity at me, I raised my fake German stein and shouted, “Oktoberfest!” at the top of my lungs, and their jeers turned instantly into cheers. I felt almost as if I was channeling my grandfather's spirit. But I didn't believe in any sort of afterlife, so I knew that my grandfather's spirit didn't exist. No. If anything, it was my grandfather's DNA coursing through my blood, which gave me the gumption to act as if I was the man I wanted to be. That, and the long feather in my cap.I charged into that party as if I owned the place, and stomped all the way into the middle of the room on my big, loud boots. That's when I noticed that I was the only person in sight wearing a costume of any kind. Then I saw the assholes who'd invited me; laughing their asses off. My heart sank, and my cheeks burned bright red. I'd thought I'd left this kind of crap behind me in high school. But I was wrong. You never get too old for a pair of snotty assholes to make you feel like a fool. I refused to give them the pleasure of seeing my embarrassment, so I just smiled and waved, proud of my Bavarian heritage and culture.I was about to make a humiliating retreat from this frat party when I realized, much to my delight, that I wasn't alone. Six freshmen girls, dressed in sexy little Bavarian dresses, filed through the door, drawing fresh gouts of laughter from the assembly. Now I knew who'd rented all the female costumes from the store! Most of the girls looked utterly embarrassed, but one of the girls was shining with confidence. Her sky-blue eyes caught sight of me and a broad grin spread out on her stunningly beautiful, copper-colored face. I'd seen her around the Science Building, but I didn't know her name. All I knew was that she was a freshman, and insanely hot. I considered her so far out of my league that I didn't even daydream about asking her out.She was simply stunning to behold, her lovely tits were perfectly displayed in the snug bodice. Her figure was looking scrumptious, particularly as she made her way through the crowd toward me, smiling from ear to ear. As she came closer, I realized that her costume was the female match for mine. They had the same brown, green and blue fabrics, the same embroidered socks. But instead of the lederhosen and suspenders my costume had, she was wearing a traditional dirndl, which was comprised of a brown skirt, a big green apron, a puffy white blouse, and a bodice with a low front, which was pushing her ample breasts up into a startling display of feminine pulchritude. I mean, this chick's cleavage was epic, and it was wiggling about wonderfully as she clomped toward me in her polka shoes. Her wavy dark brown hair was braided into two long braids that were framing her tits marvelously.Coincidence was once again rearing its ugly head, but this time it seemed to be working in my favor!She shouted in a fake German accent, “Liebchen! Vere haff you been? I've been vorried schick about you!”Then she gave me a big hug and a quick kiss on the lips. I was stunned. That was literally the first kiss of my life, and even though she meant it as a joke, my heart did a total flip flop in my chest, and tingles shot down my spine! Then she took my hand in hers and pulled me toward the other costumed girls, all of whom were adorable, each in their own way. “Come vit me, liebchen. I vant you to meet my freundins!” The girls laughed when they saw that I was wearing the male match of their friend's dirndl. “Girls, girls, I vant you to meet mein freund, Helmutt von Wiener.”Continued in Part Two,Based on a post by CBSummers, for Literotica

Den Originalbeitrag und mehr finden Sie bitte hier: https://lisa.gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/auerbach_lecture_kreienbrock

Ep. 196 (Part 2 of 2) | n the twelfth dialogue of the A. H. Almaas Wisdom Series, Hameed Ali guides us into the profound experience of pure being, which lies at the core of all mystical teachings. There are two nondual ways of experiencing the fullness of being, he explains. We can recognize we are infinite and boundless—as if we were the sky, but still experiencing this through our being—or, we can experience the oneness of being from the perspective of all manifestation: the mountain, the rocks, the molecules and atoms... “Wherever you go, physically or mentally, is pure being.” Hameed calls the first recognition “unity,” and the latter “oneness.”Hameed clarifies the paradox of nothingness: “being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness.” And he explains that being being and knowing being are the same thing, when knowing is understood in its deeper sense as gnosis. “Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is,” he says. Why is Hameed so uniquely articulate in talking about the experience of pure being? John asks him. This talk is an amazing teaching—visual and sensory, scientific and mathematical, deeply mystical and spiritual—Hameed comes at the subject of pure being from all angles. Recorded June 26, 2025.“Practice is clearing the way, but whether awakening emerges or not is not up to you.”Topics & Time Stamps – Part 2Why Hameed is so uniquely articulate talking about these experiences, and why some teachers don't talk about these things (00:27)The nothingness side of pure presence (04:28)The spaciousness here appears different; it is non-Euclidean (07:44)Being and nothing are two ways of knowing the same thing; you can feel it as a fullness or you can feel it as an emptiness (09:22)What other traditions teach about emptiness (11:34)Awareness is pure beingness too (13:53)Awareness is an ontological reality; it is an “is-ness” we can recognize and it includes knowing (18:14) Being being is the same thing as knowing being; this is gnosis: knowing by being (20:23)Awakening is knowing our being or our awareness for what it is (23:44)Knowing and mind are fundamental, not just intellectual (25:52)Awakened awareness: realizing that awareness is the nature of everything (27:10)Awakening cannot be earned; it is a recognition, but there are obstacles in the way (29:37)We'll get into knowing and reification next time (32:45)This teaching affirms you are a real being, and you are an expression of the being of God (33:55)Resources & References – Part 2A. H. Almaas (Hameed Ali), founder of The Ridhwan School, home of The Diamond ApproachA. H. Almaas,

This is the fourth lecture from the Gresham Festival of Musical Ideas.https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/series/musical-ideas-2025Professors Sarah Hart and Milton Mermikides reveal the deep connections between music and mathematics. Whether that's the Euclidean rhythms that shape funky grooves, the set theory that maps every possible chord, or a live rendering of the geometric elegance of Gresham Professor Iannis Xenakis's algorithmic compositions, this event will reveal how maths can help explain – and even inspire – the richness of musical experience.This lecture was recorded by Milton Mermikides and Sarah Hart on 29th June 2025 at Barnard's Inn Hall, London.Sarah Hart was the first woman Professor of Geometry at Gresham College, and Acting Provost between March and October 2025. She is also Professor Emerita of Mathematics at Birkbeck, University of London. Milton Mermikides  is Gresham Professor of Music.He is Associate Professor in Music at the University of Surrey, Professor of Guitar at the Royal College of Music and Deputy Director of the International Guitar Research Centre.The transcript of the lecture is available from the Gresham College website:https://www.gresham.ac.uk/watch-now/maths-music-and-music-mathsGresham College has offered free public lectures for over 400 years, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. There are currently over 2,500 lectures free to access. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn from some of the greatest minds. To support Gresham College's mission, please consider making a donation: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-today Website:  https://gresham.ac.ukX: https://x.com/GreshamCollegeFacebook: https://facebook.com/greshamcollegeInstagram: https://instagram.com/greshamcollegeBluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/greshamcollege.bsky.social TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@greshamcollegeSupport Us: https://www.gresham.ac.uk/get-involved/support-us/make-donation/donate-todaySupport the show

Euclidean gravity on a sphere (euclidean de-Sitter) gives rise to some phase factors. We discuss how these phase factors change when we include an observer. We also discuss situations involving products of spheres.

Evelyn's Stage Performance Continues it be a big hit.In 13 parts, By BradentonLarry - Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.Evelyn directed the couple into another position. Now the man was lying on his back while his 'wife' rode his cock, rather enthusiastically, while Evelyn sat on the man's face, grinding her cunt and clit on his mouth and watching the woman enjoy that fat cock. Don watched as Evelyn squeezed her own breasts, twisting her nipples, and then reached out to do the same to the woman across from her. Evelyn leaned forward and managed to get her mouth on one of the woman's nipples, which seemed to send the woman into another orgasm. Then, Evelyn was sitting back on the man's face, head thrown back and her hands squeezing her own tits tightly as her body rocked with her own first orgasm of the session.Don's cock throbbed and twitched, as if in sympathy with Evelyn's body.When the trio changed positions again, it was Evelyn's turn to lie on her back, her ass at the edge of the bed, as the man held her legs up and shoved his thick cock back into her cunt. At first the woman knelt on the bed next to Evelyn, making out with her and sucking on her tits, but then she moved up to kneel over Evelyn's face. Don watched as Evelyn grasped the woman's ass and held her in place so she could lick and suck at her clit and cunt, while the man fucked Don's lover hard and deep.Soon the woman was climaxing again, crying out loudly so everyone in the club noticed, and the man was shoving up into Evelyn with short violent strokes until he too was clearly coming. As he eventually drew out of Evelyn, a long, thick strand of cum hung between her cunt and the head of his cock.Evelyn said something to the woman who then quickly got down on her hands and knees at the end of the bed, first to suck the man's cock clean and then to bury her face in Evelyn's messy snatch, licking and sucking up all the cum he'd left there. Soon, Evelyn was sitting half up on the bed, her muscles clenching tight, as she held the woman's head in place while Evelyn's orgasm tore through her.For a long moment, Evelyn just lay back on the bed with a happy smile on her face, and then she sat up and looked out at the audience with a grin. Don grinned back at her, though he was pretty sure she couldn't see him. Still, when she mouthed, "One more?" he gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up. In any case, they had agreed she would give him a sign to let him know she was ready to leave, and she certainly hadn't given it.After Evelyn and her two playmates cleared that set, a couple of servitors came and straightened things up quickly, but without bothering to change the bed or anything. By the time Evelyn reappeared, only the big orgy on the circular bed and the couples in the dungeon set were still going at it. Don was downstairs, idly watching the orgy, when Evelyn came back on stage, this time entering the bus stop set. She had her hair in a couple of pigtails and was wearing a light sundress. She took a seat on the plastic bench against the wall, and waited, for a bus, supposedly, but really for her next set of playmates to join her.Soon two men joined her. There was quite a bit of pantomimed flirting and exaggerated come-hither looks before the men were standing in front of Evelyn having their cocks sucked. They had apparently left the door light set to yellow, because by the time Evelyn was on her hands and knees, though still in her sundress, getting spit-roasted, another guy poked his head in and decided to join in. By the time the scene had run its course, Evelyn had serviced six guys altogether, and a beautiful brown-skinned young woman with long, thick, black hair had come in to take over on the mattress. Don was happy to watch this woman enjoy herself while Evelyn got cleaned up and ready for round three.When Evelyn came back on stage, she was again wearing high heels, but this time they came with black boots that went almost all the way up her thighs. Her torso was wrapped in a shiny black bodice that left her crotch and tits exposed, and she was wearing black gloves that went up to the middle of her biceps. Her hair was now pulled back tightly into a ponytail, and she led a beautiful naked Asian woman with black hair hanging down to the middle of her back out and promptly began tying her to a frame that left her spread-eagled and vulnerable to anything Evelyn might inflict upon her.Evelyn spent the next hour teasing and tormenting this poor woman, who seemed to love every minute of it, even when she was begging Evelyn for release. Evelyn finally let the woman come, but only after she had stuffed a rather large ass plug and a big, shiny black dildo into their respective places, and fastened heavy nipple clamps to her nipples. Then, with only the command, "Come," Evelyn reduced the woman to a shuddering, quivering display of ecstasy that went on for what seemed like several long minutes. Then Evelyn sat on a bench so the grateful woman could crawl across the floor on her hands and knees to lick and suck at Evelyn until she made her temporary mistress come.Finally, Evelyn came onto stage with the next bunch of five people to make use of the big circular bed. Two lucky men were accompanied by Evelyn and three women, who all came in naked and wasted no time in climbing onto the bed and getting acquainted. Soon it became rather hard for Don to keep track of Evelyn amid the confusion of heaving bodies. At one point, she was near the center of the bed, slowly turning with it, as she rode slowly up and down on a cock as several hands reached up to caress her body. At another, she was on her hands and knees near the edge, gliding past the front of the stage, making out with a girl lying on her back at right angles to Evelyn, while one of the men slowly, but intently fucked Evelyn from behind.They must have left the light on yellow, because while they played another five people came to join the party - three men and two women, this time. Don found a chair to get comfortable, but continued to resist touching his straining cock. He was a bit amused by all the men in the audience who were, and had been all night, watching Evelyn and bringing themselves to intense, squirting orgasms. He was, however, much more distracted by the women around him, moaning in orgasmic pleasure as they watched the shows before them.Eventually, with her hair a wild mess around her head, Evelyn broke free from the orgy on the bed and staggered to the front of the stage to give the agreed upon sign that she was ready to leave. Don went straight to the exit, expecting to have to wait for Evelyn to get cleaned up, but she met him right away, naked and carrying her clothes with her in a bundle. She had cum all over her and smelled deliciously of the sex she'd been having."Hi there!" she grinned.Don caught her face in his hands and kissed her deeply and passionately.When he released her, she asked, "Did you enjoy the show?""Fuck yes!" he laughed. "Let's go over by the pool and find someplace for the night.""Good idea! I need to get cleaned up.""Not quite yet," Don smiled. "I'm going to add to your, makeup, first.""Oh! Excellent!" she beamed. "You really had a good time?""I did!" he laughed again."Sorry I took so long. If we can't have sex, I want to make sure I'm ready to actually sleep.""Good thinking," Don grinned."What was your favorite part?" she asked."It was all very hot, but I have to admit the first one was probably my favorite," Don said. "I liked the story you were telling.""I knew you'd get it!""What was your favorite part?" he asked."Oh, that's easy," she said, "this next bit!"Laughing, he said, "That doesn't count.""Hum, well, that's really hard to say. There were high points in each scene. In the first one, for instance, I really liked having that guy, Dave, fucking me from behind while I went down on Julie. In the second, well, there was that first time I had three cocks in me at once. Then, when I let Tamiko come, that was hot! I came so many times during the last scene I couldn't say, really. Damn, I really have become a wild woman here, haven't I?""Yeah, and I love it!" Don grinned.They had reached the poolside and quickly found a double-sized lounger. Evelyn dropped her clothes on the ground and sat down on the edge of the lounger, leaning back and spreading her legs in front of Don."Damn! That's so tempting," he breathed."No touching!" she smiled up at him. "Just watch me as I touch myself. You liked watching those men fucking me, didn't you? It felt so good to have them in my cunt and ass, and to suck them, and to lick those sexy pussies and clits," Evelyn said as her hands moved slowly over her body, cupping her breasts and then sliding over her taut belly down between her legs."I kept thinking about how hard your cock must be as you were watching me up on that stage, fucking and getting fucked, sucking and licking, coming over and over." She was simultaneously strumming her clit and fucking herself with several fingers. "I kept thinking how hot it was to have you watching me, watching me suck, and fuck, and all that cum on my face and tits, and, and, up inside me, God, Don, I'm going to come again. Give me your cum, Don!"Don couldn't restrain himself any longer. His iron-hard cock swelled in his hands and then erupted, spraying a geyser of hot cum all over Evelyn's naked body. It splattered all over her belly, across her tits and neck, and hit her chin. The second gout splashed over her lower belly and covered her fingers, getting pushed up into her cunt as she clenched upon herself on the lounger, her face scrunched up tightly as she came with him.Don staggered backward a bit and Evelyn fell back on the lounger with a heavy sigh."Ugh," she moaned. "I need to clean up, but I don't think I can move.""Fuck it," Don chuckled. "Let's just do it when we wake up.""Seriously?" she laughed. "Okay.""But you do have to move. We can't sleep like that.""I'm not moving. You get your own," she waved her hand in the air. When Don actually started to sit down on the next lounger over, though, she said, "Fine, fine, I'm moving!"They managed to spend the night spooned together, in a rather sticky mess, without violating the terms of Don's mission to not have physical-contact sex, and then enjoyed a leisurely bath in the pool in the morning. At the resort's wardrobery, they managed to find Evelyn a nice backpack for her pilgrimage, and then, with a long hug and a deep, loving kiss, she set off in quest of the Grove of Rati."So, you were left alone again, in the sex resort where you couldn't actually have sex, for a year," Toshia summed up."Yeah, that's about the size of it.""How did it go?""Well, at the time it seemed very slow, but when it was over it didn't seem bad at all," Don shrugged. "I did have a couple of visitors along the way. Both Nicole and Stephanie passed through the Resort before I was done.""How were they doing?""Okay. I found out that the watcher's council seemed to have something of a pattern in their assignments. A few personalized quests to start with and then a long-term test, like my sheriff's job or Evelyn's pilgrimage. Nicole had to find the Trans-Erosian Railway and ride it from end to end. She came through the Resort heading in the opposite direction from Evelyn, hoping to connect with that train. Stephanie came through very near the end of my year after spending a year in Rendezvous without having sex with any men.""That sounds a lot easier than your task," Toshia frowned."That's what I said!" Don laughed. "She admitted it wasn't that difficult, but she was glad to get back to 'proper fucking' as she called it. Oh, and I got to talk to India a few times, too. But mostly, I just kept myself busy watching other people and getting to know the ins and outs of the Resort. I fell into a pretty stable, comfortable routine. I was actually kind of surprised when I came back into my office after a 'patrol,' and suddenly found myself in that big courtyard at the Hall of the Crimson Mountain King. At that moment, I was mostly just happy that my staff, which I had left in the office, appeared a second later on the ground at my feet. Then I remembered that this meant I could have sex again!"Toshia chuckled, "Uh oh!""Yeah," Don laughed. "I got into and out of those showers in record time. Then I dove into that super orgy for a solid hour. The first girl I hooked up with was a thin young woman, probably about nineteen. I've never had such an intense passionate session of anonymous sex in my life. I was nice about it, of course, but I fucked the hell out of that girl.""I'll bet!" Toshia laughed. "Did she object?"Don shook his head, "Not at all. But after I'd had my fun, I cleaned up and headed upstairs for my next mission."Task Five:"Congratulations, Don, you're now more than halfway finished with your tasks," Pamela almost smiled. "For your next assignment, we want you to find a familiar face. To be clear, we mean you must find someone you clearly recognize, and can put a name to, but whom you haven't seen previously in Eros.""So, if I recognize my second-grade teacher but can't remember her name, that doesn't count?""Exactly," she nodded."Do they have to remember who they are?" Don asked, thinking of all the people who seemed to have little or no memory of their non-Erosian existence. In particular, he recalled the stunning Price is Right model he had been so happy to meet on the beach outside Rendezvous."No," Pamela said. "We will be able to verify their identities to corroborate you.""That's handy.""We are aware that this particular task is largely out of your control and could take a very long time to complete. We are also, frankly, impressed with your efforts so far. So, we have decided to grant you some of the power you are seeking a bit early."She gestured to a ring that was now on the table in front of Don. Picking it up, he thought it had the weight and look of white gold. He slipped it onto his left middle finger. Nothing happened."You have to press it twice in quick succession to call up the menu."Don pressed the ring twice with his thumb as if he were double-clicking the ring. Suddenly, floating a bit above the midrange of his visual field was a horizontal blue bar. There was one item, in white letters, on that bar: "Travel.""Concentrate on the desired menu item to activate it," Pamela went on.Don wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing, but he focused intently on "Travel," until a drop-down menu opened with the following list: Abbey of Records; Crimson Mountain - Porch; Elven Court; Gladys's Office; Grotto of Ishtar; Heolfor House; India's Home; Manor; Rendezvous - Beach; Rendezvous - Riverboat Dock; Resort; Shagbottom; Sisterhood Castle; Untamed Village; Witches' Glen; and, Wizard's Home."Nice!" Don breathed."When you visit a new location for which there is an established landmark it will automatically be added to your list," Pamela continued to explain. "Before you select anything, I should add that you can dismiss the display at any time."Don tried willing the menu and bar away and they promptly vanished. He called it up again and dismissed it, just for practice."When you select a travel destination, the menu will automatically close when you arrive. With the exception of these offices, you will not be able to use the ring to travel when anyone else can see you. Well, anyone who doesn't have a similar ring or one that is higher in rank, that is. Also, when traveling to a location, you will arrive at the closest safe position to the landmark where no one can see your arrival.""This is incredibly useful!" Don grinned."It is," Pamela nodded. "Do you have any questions about your task?""Find someone I can name from outside Eros," Don smiled. "Then report back here.""Exactly," Pamela said. "You should be able to manage all your own travel from now on.""So, I just call up the menu, focus on "Travel," then focus on a destination, "Then suddenly Don found himself standing outside the Abbey of Records."Whoa! Seriously?" Toshia gaped."Yeah," Don chuckled. "It's pretty cool. When I'm in Eros I can bop around like crazy. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a lot of fun.""Damn!""Well, I am restricted to the places I've already found, like in a video game with unlockable fast-travel points, but it's still massively useful. I'm thinking about setting off on a general exploration trip when I go back, to collect as many landmarks as I can. Stephanie probably has a lot more than I do. I know Evelyn's list is different from mine. She's got the Dark Labyrinth and a bunch of places she found on her pilgrimage, but not the Wizard's Home or Shagbottom, for instance.""That must have made your task much easier.""Well," Don paused. "I'm sure it cut out a lot of time going from one place to another, but it still took a lot of time to find someone I recognized. I started out just working down the list of places, skipping Gladys's office, the Grotto of Ishtar, and India's home. I was at the Abbey of Records anyway, so I went in and asked Charlotte if she could help me out at all. Naturally, I had to go through the whole routine, which took quite a while, and, in the end, she got a lot more out of me than I did from her. She wasn't aware of anyone that I might recognize, but then I had known it was going to be a long shot anyway. I crossed that off my list of places to try."I skipped the Crimson Mountain, figuring it would just take too damn long to try to comb through that orgy, or go looking for other rooms in that place, and went right to the elven court, Heolfor House, et cetera. It was kind of fun revisiting places and talking to people again. The Wizard and Madeleine, the Player, the Lady and Robert all say 'hi,' by the way. And Daphne says I'm to bend you over and fuck you hard in the ass.""Oh my!" Toshia laughed, actually feeling her cheeks reddening a bit.

"This piece is built around a field recording of a jeepney ride through Baguio City, with the original recording being both mixed and processed through my modular synth.   "The recording is first played back as an audio file into the Morphagene module to fragment and reassemble its textures. The dry and processed signals mix, evoking the layered chaos of urban transit - voices, engines, and static, moving in and out of focus. A bass pedal note anchors the piece with pulsating Euclidean rhythms provided by Pamela's New Workout, while melodies from dual Rings modules emerge, offering glimpses of fleeting order. Finally, an extreme time-stretch of an earlier take adds a shimmering pad-like wash.  "As the piece evolves, the field recording is slowly overtaken by looping delay sounds from the Clouds module, reflecting the transformation of lived reality into memory and abstraction. The track evolved intuitively, aiming to mirror the disorderly beauty and fleeting impressions of urban life." Baguio Plaza-Loakan Public Utility Jeepney ride reimagined by Richard Charles Boxley.

Hello Interactors, This week, four strange bird encounters landed in my lap — three in real life, one on my screen. First, a crow tore through the bushes in our yard chasing a frantic nuthatch. Moments later, I spotted two more crows feasting on roadkill just outside our house. Then, while walking with my wife, we watched four ducks in hot pursuit of another, flapping furiously down the street — some kind of aerial turf war. And finally, scrolling through my feed, I stumbled on a paper describing a Cooper's Hawk hacking the city's traffic system to hunt smarter. After all that, I tried seeing cities as a bird might. So I wrote as one.HISS, HUM, HUNTI first sense the city as vibration. Before sun rays even breech the branches, a hiss of car tires emerge; street lamps click off; somewhere a garage door rumbles open. Each resonance strikes the hollow chambers of my bones like sonar. It's a sketch of distance, density, and direction. This all makes perfect sense to me even though I am just a kid. A juvenile Cooper's Hawk — Accipiter cooperii — yet the human-made maze below me is as legible to me as the nest I left barely two winters ago. What follows, in human words, is a recount of one day's hunt. I hope to demonstrate what humans regard as intelligence, innovation, and enterprise exists in a single act of predation.DANCING WITH DATA AT DAWNPerched on a gray mast of the Main and Prospect traffic light, I begin to render the scene. My basemap is no pixel grid glowing on some screen across town; it is a topological organ in my scull. Topology matters when a lamppost sits one maneuver away from the porch roof, which is one glide away from the dumpster rim. My so-called ‘bird brain' calculates dynamic flows of probability. One flip of a traffic light, a garbage truck rolls by, and that gust of wind changes direction. My internal map pulses between “larger” when prey likelihood rises and “smaller” when likelihood falls.As I gaze out above the east-west avenue, a slipstream peels off the 7AM wave of commuters. I spot a sparrow in a vortex that spirals from the garbage truck's wake at 07∶13. That acoustic shadow beneath that florist's van is one place I could pass unseen. But is a sparrow worth it?What I am doing — unknown even to myself — is what spatial scientists call real‑time kernel‑density estimation. At any point on a simple 2D path I can plop a small mathematical bump — a kernel. I can then reason about the density mapped below me by stacking up every bump's contribution at a particular spot. That once scatter of points on a map morphs into a smooth curve that shows where meaningful observations truly cluster. I continuously weight a landscape of pigeons, cyclists, and idling SUVs by situational context rather than simple Euclidean distance.Complexity geographer David O'Sullivan calls this kind of adaptive map a narrative model — a story the system tells itself so it can keep acting. My mental basemap obeys what is adjacent to what on this map. After all, a three‑meter hedge is more impenetrable than thirty meters of empty air; therefore straight‑line distances can lie and deceive. When humans try to simplify distances by saying, ‘as the crow flies', they have no idea what they're leaving out.BRAKES BUILD BARRICADESAt 07∶26 a stainless‑steel button is pressed; I hear the relay's metallic click 3.2 seconds before the little white pedestrian blinks alive. I am perched here because I anticipated this poke by pedestrians on their morning commute. Vehicles will now queue as these bi-peds spill into the cross walk. The stacked metal boxes of steel, rubber, and plastic will form a barricade forty meters long…potentially.Brake‑lights align into a pulsing crimson corridor whose half‑life I have calculated and averaged across nineteen previous dawns. Humans call the coming congestion a nuisance, but I call it camouflage. For twenty‑two seconds the asphalt canyon's turbulence drops below an acceptable range. I can now hover as if among cedars.A scientist has been watching from the opposite curb. They will soon begin recording this trick in their field book as so: a hawk anticipates the signal pattern and times its dives to the red‑phase distribution of brake lights.Because most queues are short, but occasionally very long, I have to be careful to time this properly. If I dive for prey based on the overall mean of the lineup, I will arrive while half the cars were still rolling to a stop — dangerous. So instead, I consider just the top-10% longest lines. Scientists marvel that I learned this algorithm in a single winter. I marvel that they need calculators to compute it.ZEBRA STRIPE SLALOM STRIKEI drop. The scent of hot rubber folds swirls with the cedar‑resin on my breast feathers as the warm air fills my plumage. The slowing bumper of a school bus becomes a landing spot — a moving parapet. Fresh into the dive, the thermoplastic zebra stripes flash white‑white‑white like a stroboscopic speedometer. None of this was made for me, yet every dimension matters for my survival. The curb‑to‑planter setback of 0.9 meters sets my glide angle; the bollard spacing — installed last year to calm e‑scooters — creates a slalom that funnels starlings toward an ornamental plum in a front lawn.Urban design handbooks invoke words like livability and placemaking, as if these geometries were some kind of neutral toolkit. But for me, in the instant before impact, this curb‑to‑planter setback, this bollard slalom, adjudicates more than legal fiction — it means life and death.Urban forms may look passive, yet every angle, radius, and dwell time means someone has won and someone has lost — wide curb radii speed cars through a right-turn but lengthen the crossing exposure for a toddler. Urban geometry is power cast in concrete; it never clocks off, and is both political and ecological: a three‑second refuge for a starling is a three‑second targeting solution for me.FORCE AND FEATHERS FACES FEEDBACKImpact. Feathers erupt like dark gray confetti. The starling crumbles under thirty‑four newtons of closing force — about the weight of a brick slammed into its ribcage. While I mantle the prize, a more philosophical bird might wonder: Who authored this death? Was it my neuromuscular burst alone? Or the person whose fingertip initiated a forty‑second cascade of stopped traffic? Or the traffic engineer who — chasing level‑of‑service targets — extended the red phase by six seconds last fiscal year?Philosophy of science warns against naïve linear causation; urban events rarely run in neat A → B lines. Herbert Simon, writing on complex systems, described cities and organisms as “nearly decomposable hierarchies,” where slow, macro‑scale layers — like signal‑cycle regulations, curb geometries, and commuter habits — set the boundary conditions within which rapid micro‑events unfold. My talon snap and a starling's dodge happen inside those higher‑order constraints, even as countless such micro‑acts, in aggregate, keep the larger structure of life humming along.My strike, therefore, is a city‑scale phenomenon folded into tendon and keratin — street grids, signal cycles, and global supply chains compressed into one ballistic gesture. In the metallic tang of blood this mystery unfolds. I taste data: adipose fat tissue infused with fryer grease, feather sheaths dusted in brake dust, hormone ratios ticking through molt stage like seasonal code. Each swallow becomes a lab assessment — an unwitting biopsy of the urban food web — revealing how corn subsidies, restaurant waste, and airborne microplastics percolate up the trophic ladder. To devour a single starling is to audit the metabolic ledger of the Anthropocene, one protein strand at a time.All of which reminds me that agency, mine, yours, the starling, is relational: the prey's demise is over‑determined by a network whose nodes include asphalt viscosity — how a petrochemical blend modulates surface friction, drainage, and midday heat plumes — and municipal bond ratings that decide whether this intersection receives fresh pavement or another crosswalk. Chemistry, finance, and instinct co‑author every kill I make, and every step you take.FIBERS, FOSSILS, AND FIRMWARE REFRESHDusk now drapes the mast in violet. Streetlamps flicker on; LED headlight arrays begin tinting the roadway cyan. Beneath the darkening asphalt, copper once meant for a clicking telegraphs now pipes broadband; beneath that, bricks baked when canals were high‑tech cradle those cables like red‑clay fossils. Media archaeologist Shannon Mattern argues that cities have always computed — tallying grain on cuneiform tablets, ringing bell‑tower hours to synchronize labor, routing mail through pneumatic tubes — only the substrates keep shifting, from clay and bronze to fiber optics and silicon. And trust me, nature was doing math long before humans claimed to invent it.From my perch, epochs overlay transparently: timber palisades, horse drawn carriage tracks, fiber conduits. My hunting tactic is merely firmware patch v.2025 in a 5,000‑year old operating system. Your protocol tomorrow may be Li‑Fi pulses from a smart pole — a future where streetlamps won't just illuminate, they'll whisper streams of data in rapid-fire flashes — or the hiss of an autonomous shuttle that brakes at frequencies human reflexes never reach.And you'll be impressed with yourself. Meanwhile, I listen, map, and adjust — in my world here, survival goes to whoever learns faster, not whoever hits harder. Every fresh tactic buys a heartbeat of advantage, yet it also tightens the ratchet: the prey adapts, signals change, habits shift. Humans follow the same spiral — each smarter signal controller, each app‑driven reroute, plugs one gap while opening two more, slipping us all a step deeper into the city's endless, restless loop.OF DASHBOARDS AND DAGGER-WINGSHumans may obsess over their dashboards and digital twins, yet a hawk that weighs less than a laptop already runs a live cognitive twin of the urban systems you built. Your impressed with monthly model updates while my model is updated at wingbeat resolution. If Homo sapiens hope to build a resilient future they might start where I perch: by listening for weak signals, mapping contingencies as well as coordinates, and recognizing that every curb, click, and feather participates in these nested conversations of forces.The next time you press that crosswalk button and that electromechanical relay inside the signal‑control box snaps the circuit closed, ask not only whether it is safe to cross but what other intelligences have read that clue before you.Meet us in the hush of those red taillights — inhabit that brief, engine‑silent interstitial where the white pedestrian man shines — then test what flickers in your own peripheral “bird brain”. Listen for the thin rustle of variables you once called noise; trace how a single press of that button ripples through nerves, budgets, buildings and beaks. Hold the silence long enough to notice how even I, a vicious dagger‑winged stalker, leave scraps for ground‑feeders and vacate a block after one clean kill so others may eat. If you can rest in that hush without lunging for your phone or some manically measured meaningless metric, you may begin to practice reciprocity — paring appetite to need, letting leftovers seed the next cycle — while stalking your own assumptions with the same taloned precision I bring to feather and flesh. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit interplace.io

Charlotte, the Sage of Abby HillBased on the work of BradentonLarry, in 6 parts.  Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.The Sage and  a Kind of Good-Bye"The Sage is ready to see you now," said Wei, the tall Asian man who they had learned was the Abbot of the brown-robed monks – or the Order of Record Keepers, as they called themselves.Don gently urged Nicole to release his cock from her mouth and promised they would get back to playing soon. As he tied his grey robe about himself, Don saw that Toshia, who had been riding up and down on Alan's lap only a moment before was also hurrying to make herself "presentable". After waking up hours ago, and the following, almost routine, morning sex (Well, that's definitely the right way to start the day, particularly when you wake up sandwiched between two naked, sexy women! Don thought to himself with a happy smile), they had had a bite of breakfast and been asked to wait until they were called for. While they learned a little bit more about the Order, most of the morning was spent in lazy sexual play. It was now shortly after midday, and at least two of them were quite eager to meet this person whom they had been awaiting, and had gone to such lengths to find.They followed Wei to the foot of a winding staircase and proceeded up. At the top, behind a modest door, they were admitted to a good sized study, complete with shelves filled with row upon row of books. Windows all around the room let bright sunlight in. There were a few comfortable chairs, and a nice desk, behind which, in a brown robe, sat a middle aged woman with thick, dark brown hair falling down around her shoulders. She was apparently reading the last page of a stack of typed material.Wei gestured to a set of chairs that had been drawn into a circle of four, and said, "Please, make yourself comfortable, she will be right with you."Sure enough, right after he had closed the door behind himself but before they could get comfortable in their chairs, the woman looked up at them and smiled. "Hello," she said as she stood up and came around the desk. "You're obviously Don, and I'm guessing you're Toshia and you're Nicole.""That's right, and you're 'the Sage'?" Toshia asked."That's what they call me," she smiled as she sat down in a high-backed chair."I admit, I was expecting someone a bit ... more wizened," Don smiled."Well, it's really just a title, like 'the Crone', though I suspect the similarities end about there. You can call me Charlotte if you prefer.""Pleased to meet you, Charlotte," Toshia said."Likewise," Charlotte smiled again. "I know you must have many questions, but let me just say, I've just finished reading your various reports, and I've enjoyed them very much. Our scribes are chosen for their skill at asking the right sorts of questions and their ability to flesh out the stories they're given, but in this case they've had very good material to work with. The three of you have had some very interesting adventures. I particularly enjoyed reading about your encounter with the Bull, Toshia.""So, everyone who comes here looking for you tells their story and you read it?" Nicole asked."Yes, that's right. I confess, my personal 'kink' is to get off reading about, and sometimes watching, the exploits of others. I would have finished reading your reports earlier, but I had to keep stopping to masturbate.""Wouldn't it have been more efficient for us to just tell you directly?" Nicole asked with a twinkle in her eye that the Sage seemed to miss."Well, yes, but there are two problems with that," Charlotte answered. "One, we keep all the stories, as a record and a source of study...""You could just have someone type it up as we told you," Toshia pointed out.Charlotte nodded, "That's quite true, but then the narrator would be bristling with questions for me, which would slow things down and cause all kinds of complications.""Is that the second problem?" Don asked."No, the second one is that there seems to be some benefit to having each person tell his or her own story, and then comparing them.""How have our stories diverged?" Don wanted to know."Well, I've only just read the three of them, and haven't had hardly any time to think about them, but Don's way of looking at your time here in Eros involves a lot of digressions and interconnections, while Toshia's is more straight-forward. Nicole's is actually rather journalistic."Don could see that Nicole had half a mind to object to this, but he cut in with, "OK, but what's the point of all this anyway?"Charlotte the Sage frowned slightly and said, "I assume you mean the record-keeping?""Well, for now, yes.""At some point, long ago, the first Sage decided that one way of trying to make sense of the whys and wherefores of Eros was to start recording the experiences of people who, like him, remembered their lives before waking up here.""And, has it helped?" Toshia asked."Well, it certainly makes for some stimulating reading," Charlotte laughed. Then she added, "It definitely has served to build up some generalizations that seem to be helpful.""Such as?" Don prodded."Every single person who has come here, to this Abbey, and this goes back for 450 Erosian years, has spoken English rather fluently. Now, the only people who we interview are those who remember their lives prior to waking up here, but none of them has ever reported meeting anyone who doesn't speak English. This suggests that either the people who don't remember spoke English before they arrived here, were somehow rewired to speak English upon being brought over, or are native Erosians. This all seems to strongly suggest that whomever or whatever is responsible for selecting people for Eros speaks English, and that seems quite surprising and noteworthy to me.""So, which is it, were they brought here or are they natives?" Nicole asked."They were brought," Don said quietly, remembering his and Toshia's visit to the Library in the Manor."Well, the evidence does suggest that," Charlotte nodded. "They seem to have various personality traits and interests that wouldn't make sense for native Erosians, for one thing.""That's what I was thinking," Don added."Also, some people have actually met people they recognized or even knew quite well from Earth, but who seemed to have no memory of that other life.""That must have been bizarre," Toshia said."It has sometimes been ... awkward, to say the least," nodded Charlotte."All of this is very interesting, but you mentioned whomever, or whatever, is selecting people from Earth – English speaking people from Earth," Don said as he leaned forward. "Who or what is doing this, and why? What's the point of it all?"Charlotte smiled again, "I honestly can't say. I admit that the question puts me in a philosophical frame of mind. Imagine if I asked you what the point of it all was on Earth. Anyway, there are theories, of course. Some Sages have thought that we were being held prisoner here as lab rats, running countless experiments on human sexuality, others that there is some power, or powers, who feed off human eroticism, or who have lost the ability to generate it for themselves – the ultimate voyeurs. There seems no question that there's some intelligence behind it, though.""Why do you think so?" Toshia asked."Well, it only selects people who are quite dissatisfied with their Earthly sex lives." Charlotte held up her hand to forestall Toshia's objection. "The fact that it is very hard to sort out exactly what counts as such dissatisfaction seems to lend weight to this consideration. No doubt, Toshia would hesitate to say that she was dissatisfied in any way with Sarah, but it seems clear from reading her story that she would hardly think of the sex life she was having before as being satisfying now. Almost every single person who has found his or her way here has thought that being brought to Eros was a wonderful gift, which has led some to speculate that this was some kind of heaven."Don couldn't resist scowling at this notion, and Charlotte noticed. "I don't buy that either," she said with a smile. "On the other hand, it's the best afterlife I've ever heard of. Going back to the question of intelligence, one of the most telling bits of evidence is the two of you, Don and Toshia."After taking a moment to scowl thoughtfully at this suggestion, Toshia asked, "What do you mean?""As far as our records indicate, the two of you are unique. No pair of friends has ever woken up together like you have. Before you ask, I have absolutely no idea what that might mean. Perhaps it's for the purposes of one of those psycho-sexual experiments."There was a moment of silence before Don decided to ask, "What's up with the black robed figures?""The Watchers," Charlotte nodded. "Another indication that there is some kind of intelligent process going on. After 450 years of accumulating data, there has never been anyone – anyone recorded, anyway – who has managed to talk to, or even catch hold of, one of those bastards. They watch for a bit; then, when you think you're going to get your hands on one, they're gone.""Is it science or magic?" Toshia asked."I'm inclined to follow Arthur C. Clarke on this one and say I don't really know that there's a difference in this context.""There are so many questions," Don muttered, shaking his head. "How many people remember their lives? What's the distribution of their wheres and whens? Is there anything they all have in common besides being sexually frustrated?""Is there a way to get home again?" Toshia asked resolutely.Charlotte, knowing this was the issue that had motivated them in seeking her out, turned to Toshia with a serious expression and said, "Yes, or so it would seem anyway. There are apparently at least two ways. The first is to become bored with life in Eros. It seems that when that happens you will simply go missing, and it's presumed that you return to your Earthly life. As to the other, more proactive, way, the lake outside is the headwater of a river that runs several hundred kilometers to an ocean or a sea – we haven't been able to get anyone to engage in any kind of systematic exploration. Along the coastline to the left of mouth of river...""To the left facing the sea?" Don asked."Yes," Charlotte smiled again. "Go down the river, then turn left, and proceed along the coast, until you find a place called the Grotto of Ishtar, or just the Grotto. There, according to two people who have accompanied others seeking to leave, you'll find a way to return home."Toshia looked like she was ready to head off immediately, but a couple of concerns occurred to Don. He said, "I'm troubled by something: how can anyone here know that people return home safely? And, now that I'm saying that, how did the Scholar know that time moves differently here in Eros? It doesn't seem to make sense that we could know these things unless someone has been able to return home and then come back.""Very good, Don," Charlotte nodded, and Don found himself thinking that she must have been a teacher back on Earth. She explained, "There seems to be a way to go back and forth between Eros and Earth more or less at will. One of the more enterprising people who have visited the Abbey several times, a Stephanie Ayers, found someone with this ability and talked to him at great length. She then tracked down two more people, and in doing so was able to confirm these rumors and suppositions.""How are they able to do it?" Don asked intently."Stephanie says they have 'magic rings' that allow them to 'decide' to wake up in either Eros or Earth; or, should that be 'on'?""Where do they get those rings, and what do they look like?""I cannot answer the first, Don, but apparently they are simple rings of a shiny black material, something like hematite."Don sat back in his chair. That sounds familiar! After a moment of reflection, he smiled broadly and said, "I think I've seen someone with one of those, and I'm pretty sure I can find her again."Charlotte gave Don a long look and said, "I can guess what you have in mind, Don, but I should warn you that these ring people are not only very possessive of their rings, but also very evasive about how they came to acquire them. Stephanie hasn't been able to get any useful information so far, and she's been at this a while."Toshia brought the discussion back to the main topic with, "I wanted to ask another question – our flying carpet stopped working and several hundred kilometers is a long way – do you know of any way to make the trip quicker?""Well, yes," Charlotte answered, "I would take the riverboat.""The riverboat?""Yes, there's a riverboat that goes from the Resort down to the city on the coast, Rendezvous, and back. You might have to wait for it sometime, it doesn't keep to a schedule very well, but it docks just outside of the Resort, through the gate opposite the one you used to come here.""Wait," Don cut in, "there's a city?""Well, it's a town, really, but it's the biggest one in Eros as far as I know."This prompted what felt like a dozen questions in Don's mind, starting with those of economics. He was still having a hard time coming to grips with the weirdness of how Eros worked."Thank you for your time, Charlotte," Toshia was saying.Although Don wanted to interject with, "Are we leaving already?" he realized how important it was for Toshia to stay on the task of returning to Sarah, so he set aside the questions he was dying to ask and stood, saying, "Thank you very much." Nicole followed suit.The Sage stood up as well, and said, "If you decide to stay longer in Eros, please feel welcome to return to the Abbey anytime."Don smiled warmly at this suggestion, and thought it was a bit odd that he was leaving this attractive, intelligent woman without having had the pleasure of, well, pleasuring her. Eros had definitely altered his way of thinking.At the foot of the winding staircase, Wei met them with one of his smiles and their clothing. Once they had changed, Wei led them back to the entrance-exit. The other "monks" seemed particularly scarce. Similarly, the huge guardian of the bridge was nowhere to be seen as they crossed it.Toshia set the pace down the trail for the Resort. She was clearly in a hurry to get on the road, or river, as the case may be, to this Grotto of Ishtar. Don kept up with her easily, but also kept an eye on Nicole, who didn't walk as fast as Don and Toshia even when they weren't hurrying. He could tell that something was troubling the pretty young woman, but his own mind was still bustling with too many questions for him to ask her what was on her mind. Still, he wasn't surprised when, as they came around the last corner and saw the Resort's gate ahead, Nicole asked them to stop for a moment."I thought I should tell you this before we found the others," Nicole said, taking a moment to sit down on a nearby rock."What is it?" Toshia said with obvious and honest concern."I'm not going back," Nicole said. "Well, not yet. I'm going to wait until I'm tired of this place. I don't really have anybody back home to hurry back to, Toshia, and I fucking love it here. I'd come along to make sure you get to the Grotto safely, but it sounds like you and Don will be able to do that without me. I don't think you'll be able to shake Shelonda anyway, but you might want to consider leaving Victor and Amy here at the Resort. You know the rest of Eros isn't so nice and friendly, and this place is safe."Don smiled at Nicole and said, "It's been great having you along with us for this long.""If they're right about time, we'll all wake up 'tomorrow' and email each other," Nicole smiled with a bit of sadness. "Well, allowing for the date difference, that is. You better come visit me, Professor."Don laughed, and said, "Of course! I'm already looking forward to it.""You can come stay with us in Florida," Toshia smiled. Don could see a tear in her eye.He decided to make things a bit easier on them all by changing the subject, "You know, she has a good point about the others."Toshia seemed to fasten upon this line of thought, saying, "Well, Shelonda's going to be very hurt if we don't allow her to come with us, I think.""I'm not sure we're in any position to allow or disallow her, actually," Don said."True," Toshia nodded. "So, the most we can do is encourage her to stay here. Probably that's the most we can do for all of them.""We could suggest that they need to stay here to keep an eye on Nicole," Don mused.Nicole laughed, and said, "Oh, I'm sure I'll be quite alright here.""And, what happens if Nicole does eventually get tired of this place and goes missing?" Don nodded. "Do people who don't remember their past lives do that? Damn, I should have thought of asking that earlier."

Stardate: 81055.9 Recording Status: “Involuntary Reboot Loop”System Status:Zero initiated sequence… then forgot why.Attempted auto-transcription... Result: [ERROR 502: Bad Gateway to Hell]. Notes flagged for excessive alcohol content and “ambient horniness”. System override triggered by “too many soundboard lasers, not enough logic.”[Transcript Reconstruction: PARTIAL]: Okay, Ripley, but if the asteroid is made of hops… does that make us the beer foam? : I swear to Emperor Zurg if Zero burps one more binary I'm yanking his RAM out manually. : Can someone PLEASE explain why there's a ferret in the captain's chair??Highlights (??):: “Would a black hole get you drunk faster?”: “If you could vape time, would you?”[Voicemod Catastrophe Detected] – Entire segment recorded in accidental sexy vampire filter.Unsolved Debate: Is Earth just a locked server in an abandoned MMO?[Error Code 42069: Echo Chamber Overflow] – Joeba mispronounces “asteroid” as “ass droid” for 12 straight minutes.System Notes:“Zero began singing Smash Mouth in reverse. That's a Class 7 haunting.”“Podcast declared legally non-Euclidean in 3 star systems.”“Hosts keep referencing a ‘beer comet' no one else can see.”Transmission Support Channels:Instagram – @theslurredkind Email – ⁠closeencountersslurredkind@gmail.com⁠ Web – ⁠ceskpod.42.io⁠ Facebook Group – Join the chaosPodcast Outro:

Why is it so difficult to study the evolution of early galaxies? Are metallic D&D dice better than plastic ones? And can you have too many Pokémon tattoos? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Justin Cole, who is currently a grad student at Texas A&M studying the evolution of distant galaxies in pursuit of his PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics. As always, though, we start off with the day's joyfully cool cosmic thing – the recent – and remarkable – discovery of four planets orbiting Barnard's Star, a tiny star not much bigger than Jupiter with the highest measured proper motion of any star in our sky. Chuck and Justin discuss why the discovery of new exoplanets is so challenging, which leads to Justin explaining what he's studying: galaxies in our universe that developed less than 1.5 billion years after the Big Bang – about 2.5 billion years before the birth of our own Milky Way Galaxy. We've got a handle on what's going on with our neighbors like the Andromeda Galaxy, but when it comes to early galaxies, we have a very limited range of wavelengths and scant data to study. This makes it harder to derive understandings of galactic evolution and whether they support or conflict with the standard model of physics. Our first audience question comes from Ricardo, who asks, “What if we discover extraterrestrial plant life and find out it's intelligent? Actually, what if we discover plants on Earth are intelligent? Would it be unethical to eat them?” After Chuck shares a little about Marvel's intelligent, telepathic species of plants called the Cotati, and imitates Audrey 2 from Little Shop of Horrors, Justin weighs in on the ethics of eating intelligent plants and asks a critical question: Would we understand them enough to know? What would happen if we bit into a head of alien lettuce and it started screaming? The ensuing discussion is… tasty, albeit a little unsettling. Our next question is from Thomasina, who asks, “I read that the Big Bang theory is in trouble – what does that mean? And did the Big Bang never happen?” Justin, who is an early universe guy, clarifies what's going on here. We occasionally find galaxies that seem to be too big for the amount of time that they've had to grow. We're also finding black holes that with our current instruments, also appear to be too big. In each case, we're finding better ways to simulate these situations, and it's not that they're too big, or that the Big Bang isn't supportable, it's that we're using tools that are calibrated to “nearby and today” that aren't as good at helping us assess early galaxies. Next up, Justin, who is getting ready to run a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition roleplaying session after the podcast recording, talks about using D&D Beyond to create his own campaigns (set in the World of Warcraft universe!). Chuck and Justin discuss the benefits of rolling metal dice, and Justin shows off a couple of his beautiful D20. Not to be outdone, Allen shares his 120-sided die, the largest die allowed by three dimensional Euclidean geometry in conventional space. Meanwhile, Chuck tells us the sad story of his old, worn plastic dice. As Allen points out, Chuck was in the hobby before it was cool! And as we run out of time, Justin shares his intention to get one Pokémon tattoo for every state he and his wife visit. If you'd like to know more about what Justin's up to, he suggests you Google “Justin Cole Astronomy” or “Justin Cole A&M.” We hope you enjoy this episode of The LIUniverse, and, if you do, please support us on Patreon. Credits for Images Used in this Episode: Size comparison between Jupiter, Barnard's Star, and the Sun. – Credit: Creative Commons. Diagram of evolution of the (observable part) of the universe from the Big Bang (left), the CMB-reference afterglow, to the present. – Credit: NASA/WMAP Science Team. Evolution of the gas density overlaid with a transparency mask to only visualize regions with significant ionizing radiation in the Thesan-1 simulation. – Credit: Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. #TheLIUniverse #CharlesLiu #AllenLiu #SciencePodcast #AstronomyPodcast #JustinCole #Astronomy #Astrophysics #BarnardsStar #GalacticEvolution #BigBang #StandardModelofPhysics #ExtraterrestrialPlantLife #IntelligentLife #D&D #Pokemon #Tattoos

Subscribe, Rate, & Review on YouTube • Spotify • Apple PodcastsThis Week's GuestWhen, suddenly, the barrier between “imagination” and “reality” evaporates as our familiar notions of here/there, now/then, in/out, and other/self twist up into a ball of non-Euclidean spaghetti, whom better to help steer the course through these “turbulent philosophical waters” than Richard Doyle, aka “M0b1ius”, Edwin Erle Sparks Professor at Penn State Center for Humanities and Information in the College of Liberal Arts? After his postdoctoral research at MIT in History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Doyle wrote The Wetwares Trilogy, a sequence of books on the history of information biology that reached its climax with one of my favorite reads of all time, Darwin's Pharmacy: Sex, Plants, and The Evolution of the Noosphere. He is also the author of The Genesis of Now: Self Experiments with the Bible & the End of Religion and Into The Stillness: Dialogues on Awakening Beyond Thought (with Gary Weber), and has taught courses on “aliens, Philip K. Dick, nanotechnology, rebellion itself, ecstasy, Sanskrit rhetorical traditions, Burroughs, basic argumentation, The Non Dual Bible, and everything in between.” I discovered Doyle through his appearances on my first favorite podcast, Erik Davis' Expanding Mind, and in the thirteen years since he has shown up for me time and time again as mentor, friend, and inspiration. And since this project is, ostensibly, a way of training my own language model to reflect the wisdom of my friends and colleagues, I can think of no one else I'd rather prime the batch. It is my great privilege and honor to be able to have him as the first guest in this series, as a way of of helping set the tone for everything that is to come…LinksRichard Doyle's faculty web page and publicationsLearn more about this project and read the essays so far (1, 2, 3, 4).Make tax-deductible donations to Humans On The LoopBrowse my reading list and support local booksellersJoin the Holistic Technology & Wise Innovation Discord serverJoin the private Future Fossils Facebook groupHire me for consulting or advisory workChapters0:00:00 – Teaser0:03:36 – Episode Intro0:12:44 – Introducing Richard Doyle0:29:33 – The Ego as Inflammation0:33:58 – Practicing Care in The Planet-Wide Makerspace0:48:30 – Digital Connection vs. Embodied Connection0:55:46 – Psychedelics as Training Wheels for Transhumanism1:02:43 – “Storytelling” Isn't A Professional Service (??)1:05:25 – Techniques for Reclaiming Attention & Finding Peace1:15:22 – Meditation as “The Halting Problem”1:17:30 – Beyond The Limits of Science1:22:17 – AI-Enabled Extraction vs. AI-Enabled Abundance1:38:40 – Closing RemarksReflectionsMuch of tech ethics discourse concerns itself with whether humans are “in the loop” or “out of the loop” — whether people get to call the shots. But there is always more than one loop. Most of the things our fleshy bodies do are local decisions made before we ever become conscious of them, if we ever do…and yet evolution clearly found some value in reflection, self-awareness, reflex inhibition, and the will that quiets maladaptive impulse. Widening our frame to see the way that humans are always-already intertwingled with our ecosystems, we can see ourselves as made of interference patterns between nested feedback loops — as focal points of conscious agency dependent on and acting in a massive, endlessly surprising web of automatic processes. For as long as we've been people we have never really “called the shots” but rather cultivated our response-ability within a cosmos made of entities whose otherness and mystery remained persistently opaque…and ritualized ways to live amidst this mystery in full recognition of the unity from which we cannot isolate ourselves.And this is only one of indefinitely many valid ways to understand the human. Like the telescope and microscope before them, language models reveal fresh perspectives on familiar landscapes. We do not need to leave our solar system to find “strange new worlds” awaiting us in places as familiar as our own minds and bodies. While most of the conversation lately seems to be about the power these new maps confer and whether it can be distributed more evenly, AI provides a new set of affordances for mystics for the transformation of our consciousness that can dissolve our wicked problems in a higher logical order. “What can I do?” becomes “Who am I?” and yields endlessly evolving and kaleidoscopic answers that provoke ongoing inquiry. To see the ways in which we are, as individuals, not just “connected” but precipitate as aggregates, in fields of constellated data, prompts a figure-ground reversal in which selves no longer hold their primacy as ground truth of our being, but show up last as we make inferences and draw stories from unbroken and inseparable experience.Something fundamental changes when we shift to seeing “human” and “non-human” as two stable patterns of recursive self-perception emerging from a single fabric of unfolding possibility: we find the opportunity to question what we're trying to achieve, to notice the ungrounded and conditional reality of narrative, to operate on our own “source code” and adjust our goals accordingly.If we can find the curiosity to ask ourselves if our fears and inadequacies really help us live the lives we want, we can follow it upstream to where each moment offers fresh, distinctive landscapes in which to explore and play and learn. In doing so, we rediscover vast and potent creativity. Instead of asking whether we can do more, we can ask “What do we want to do, and why is that desire substantiated?”This kind of meaning-making isn't just a luxury but an essential aspect of all efforts to survive and to succeed. The best way to get unstuck is to orient ourselves and take a different tack. We all know something isn't working. It's time to ask if, maybe, this is due to “user error” and the answer doesn't lie in new technologies, but in the simplest and most ancient truths available. We cannot control the world because we are the world — and, this entails a sense of radical responsibility to play our way into more well-adapted stories, models of the world we hold with humor and humility as they carve channels in the space of shared attention that coordinate us into futures good and true and beautiful.In other words, the magical technologies inspiring so much religious fear and fervor are both Towers of Babel and fingers pointing to the Moon. They are weird, unprecedented, and sublime — and they are business as usual on Planet Earth, where we have always come awake in medias res amidst unfathomable changes and unknowable intelligence. Recognizing this, we gain access to deep continuity and the place from which we can, at last, engage the question of “What Now?” with discipline and limber rigor suitable to the profound complexity we face.Digital technologies are psychedelic. We've been on a bad trip. It's time for us wiggle out, dream better, and allow a more capacious, plural, and harmonious humanity to take the oars together in whatever novel wonders may arise — to neither “give way to astonishment” nor let our fears steer us into the rocks. Humans On The Loop is an investigation of how awesome it could be, right now, to fully give in to the paradox, and notice how its knots untie in hyperspace, and revisit all our looming crises with more presence, grace, and understanding — and more lucid (dare I say, productive?) questions.One of those questions is how to apply the lessons of the living generations of psychonauts and psychedelic therapists to the vertiginous information and attention vortices in which we now found ourselves swirling. Maps of the World Wide Web look very much like brain scans of the amped-up functional connectivity between ordinarily inhibited brain regions in a psilocybin tripper. When the walls come down — when every node has edges with each other node, and average path length drops to one — how do we prioritize? What paths do we decide to cut through the emergent “intertwingularity”? Which apparitions do we honor, and which do we ignore? (And how?) Some familiar tropes that we might use to guide us: “test your drugs”, “get grounded”, “set and setting”, “integration counseling”…MentionsGenerated by NotebookLM. Please let me know if you notice any errors or omissions!* Richard Doyle* Michael Garfield * Gary Weber* Shankara* Trey Conner* Nora Pandoro* Erik Davis* Joshua DiCaglio* John Perry Barlow* Naomi Most* Nate Hagens* Daniel Schmachtenberger* Tyson Yunkaporta* Martin Luther King Jr.* Mahatma Gandhi* John Von Neumann* Subhash Kak* Iain McGilchrist* Timothy Morton* Stuart Kauffman* Dean Radin* Brian Josephson* Monica Gagliano* Christoph Koch* Gregory Bateson* Elon Musk* Robert Rosen* H.P. Lovecraft* Philip K. Dick* Herbert Simon* Douglas Rushkoff* Sri Aurobindo This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit michaelgarfield.substack.com/subscribe

Well, Danny* has been on our minds lately, somewhat due to working this past Venice Film Festival Immersive as a World Hop tour guide and the cacophony and fun chaos around being an Immersive Tour Guide. Our pal, Manglebird, is the programmer in chief for the Venice Immersive World Hops, primarily on the social VR platform VRChat. VRC allows artists, creatives and Devs to create and publish worlds and experiences to the VRChat global community. From DJ-driven club scenes, deep, immersive, otherworldly environments, and extra-terrestrial realms to physics-breaking realities! You name it; it can likely be found on VRChat. So it is also likely no coincidence that Manglebird's primary avatar is the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland....just a bit demented, looking like they've spent too much tea time with the Mad Hatter. ;) VRChat psychedelia - also known as Shaders, VFX are wild, like taking psychedelics without the nausea and hangover. Anywho, Nanotopia here playing with Euclidean rhythms, sub-harmonics and the lovely Shakmat Dual Dagger filter with the System80 Jove filter. Here is our stab at some form of Psy. Enjoy! *Danny and the Camberwell Carrot from Withnail & I :) released October 18, 2023 on Bandcamp

In the shadowy corners of Arkham, where ancient gables loom and whispers of eldritch horrors echo through time-worn streets, lies the infamous Witch House. Within its warped walls, young Walter Gilman finds himself ensnared in a web of mathematical arcana and otherworldly terror. As he delves deeper into non-Euclidean geometries and the forbidden lore of long-dead sorceress Keziah Mason, Gilman's fevered dreams begin to blur the boundaries between reality and nightmare. H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dreams in the Witch House" weaves a tale of cosmic dread and insidious witchcraft, where the very fabric of space and time unravels before the protagonist's—and the reader's—horrified gaze. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Lois Houston and Nikita Abraham continue their exploration of Oracle AI Vector Search with a deep dive into vector indexes and memory considerations.   Senior Principal APEX and Apps Dev Instructor Brent Dayley breaks down what vector indexes are, how they enhance the efficiency of search queries, and the different types supported by Oracle AI Vector Search.   Oracle Database 23ai: Oracle AI Vector Search Fundamentals: https://mylearn.oracle.com/ou/course/oracle-database-23ai-oracle-ai-vector-search-fundamentals/140188/   Oracle University Learning Community: https://education.oracle.com/ou-community   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/oracle-university/   Twitter: https://twitter.com/Oracle_Edu   Special thanks to Arijit Ghosh, David Wright, Radhika Banka, and the OU Studio Team for helping us create this episode.   --------------------------------------------------------   Episode Transcript:   00:00 Welcome to the Oracle University Podcast, the first stop on your cloud journey. During this series of informative podcasts, we'll bring you foundational training on the most popular Oracle technologies. Let's get started!   00:26 Nikita: Welcome back to the Oracle University Podcast! I'm Nikita Abraham, Team Lead of Editorial Services at Oracle University, and with me is Lois Houston, Director of Innovation Programs. Lois: Hi everyone! Last week was Part 1 of our discussion on Oracle AI Vector Search. We talked about what it is, its benefits, the new vector data type, vector embedding models, and the overall workflow. In Part 2, we're going to focus on vector indices and memory. 00:56 Nikita: And to help us break it all down, we've got Brent Dayley back with us. Brent is a Senior Principal APEX and Apps Dev Instructor with Oracle University. Hi Brent! Thanks for being with us today. So, let's jump right in! What are vector indexes and how are they useful? Brent: Now, vector indexes are specialized indexing data structures that can make your queries more efficient against your vectors. They use techniques such as clustering, and partitioning, and neighbor graphs. Now, they greatly reduce the search space, which means that your queries happen quicker. They're also extremely efficient. They do require that you enable the vector pool in the SGA. 01:42 Lois: Brent, walk us through the different types of vector indices that are supported by Oracle AI Vector Search. How do they integrate into the overall process? Brent: So Oracle AI Vector Search supports two types of indexes, in-memory neighbor graph vector index. HNSW is the only type of in-memory neighbor graph vector index that is supported. These are very efficient indexes for vector approximate similarity search. HNSW graphs are structured using principles from small world networks along with layered hierarchical organization. And neighbor partition vector index, inverted file flat index, is the only type of neighbor partition index supported. It is a partition-based index which balances high search quality with reasonable speed. 02:35 Nikita: Brent, you mentioned that enabling the vector pool in the SGA is a requirement when working with vector indexes. Can you explain that process for us? Brent: In order for you to be able to use vector indexes, you do need to enable the vector pool area. And in order to do that, what you need to do is set the vector memory size parameter. You can set it at the container database level. And the PDB inherits it from the CDB. Now bear in mind that the database does have to be balanced when you set the vector pool. 03:12 Lois: Ok. Are there any other considerations to keep in mind when using vector indices? Brent: Vector indexes are stored in this pool, and vector metadata is also stored here. And you do need to restart the database. So large vector indexes do need lots of RAM, and RAM constrains the vector index size. You should use IVF indexes when there is not enough RAM. IVF indexes use both the buffer cache as well as disk. 03:42 Nikita: And what about memory considerations? Brent: So to remind you, a vector is a numerical representation of text, images, audio, or video that encodes the features or semantic meaning of the data, instead of the actual contents, such as the words or pixels of an image. So the vector is a list of numerical values known as dimensions with a specified format. Now, Oracle does support the int8 format, the float32 format, and the float64 format. Depending on the format depends on the number of bytes. For instance, int8 is one byte, float32 is four bytes. Now, Oracle AI Vector Search supports vectors with up to 65,535 dimensions. 04:34 Lois: What should we know about creating a table with a vector column? Brent: Now, Oracle Database 23ai does have a new vector data type. The new data type was created in order to support vector search. The definition can include the number of dimensions and can include the format. Bear in mind that either one of those are optional when you define your column. The possible dimension formats are int, float 32, and float 64. Float 32 and float 64 are IEEE standards, and Oracle Database will automatically cast the value if needed. 05:18 Nikita: Can you give us a few declaration examples? Brent: Now, if we just do a vector type, then the vectors can have any arbitrary number of dimensions and formats. If we describe the vector type as vector * , *, then that means that vectors can have an arbitrary number of dimensions and formats. Vector and vector * , * are equivalent. Vector with the number of dimensions specified, followed by a comma, and then an asterisk, is equivalent to vector number of dimensions. Vectors must all have the specified number of dimensions, or an error will be thrown. Every vector will have its dimension stored without format modification. And if we do vector asterisk common dimension element format, what that means is that vectors can have an arbitrary number of dimensions, but their format will be up-converted or down-converted to the specified dimension element format, either INT8, float 32, or float 64. 06:25 Working towards an Oracle Certification this year? Take advantage of the Certification Prep live events in the Oracle University Learning Community. Get tips from OU experts and hear from others who have already taken their certifications. Once you're certified, you'll gain access to an exclusive forum for Oracle-certified users. What are you waiting for? Visit mylearn.oracle.com to get started.   06:52 Nikita: Welcome back! Brent, what is the vector constructor and why is it useful? Brent: Now, the vector constructor is a function that allows us to create vectors without having to store those in a column in a table. These are useful for learning purposes. You use these usually with a smaller number of dimensions. Bear in mind that most embedding models can contain thousands of different dimensions. You get to specify the vector values, and they usually represent two-dimensional like xy coordinates. The dimensions are optional, and the format is optional as well. 07:29 Lois: Right. Before we wrap up, can you tell us how to calculate vector distances? Brent: Now, vector distance uses the function VECTOR_DISTANCE as the main function. This allows you to calculate distances between two vectors and, therefore, takes two vectors as parameters. Optionally, you can specify a metric. If you do not specify a metric, then the default metric, COSINE, would be used. You can optionally use other shorthand functions, too. These include L1 distance, L2 distance, cosine distance, and inner product. All of these functions also take two vectors as input and return the distance between them. Now the VECTOR_DISTANCE function can be used to perform a similarity search. If a similarity search query does not specify a distance metric, then the default cosine metric will be used for both exact and approximate searches. If a similarity search does specify a distance metric in the VECTOR_DISTANCE function, then an exact search with that distance metric is used if it conflicts with the distance metric specified in a vector index. If the two distance metrics are the same, then this will be used for both exact as well as approximate searches. 08:58 Nikita: I was wondering Brent, what vector distance metrics do we have access to? Brent: We have Euclidean and Euclidean squared distances. We have cosine similarity, dot product similarity, Manhattan distance, and Hamming similarity. Let's take a closer look at the first of these metrics, Euclidean and Euclidean squared distances. This gives us the straight-line distance between two vectors. It does use the Pythagorean theorem. It is sensitive to both the vector size as well as the direction. With Euclidean distances, comparing squared distances is equivalent to comparing distances. So when ordering is more important than the distance values themselves, the squared Euclidean distance is very useful as it is faster to calculate than the Euclidean distance, which avoids the square root calculation. 09:58 Lois: And the cosine similarity metrics? Brent: It is one of the most widely used similarity metrics, especially in natural language processing. The smaller the angle means they are more similar. While cosine distance measures how different two vectors are, cosine similarity measures how similar two vectors are. Dot product similarity allows us to multiply the size of each vector by the cosine of their angle. The corresponding geometrical interpretation of this definition is equivalent to multiplying the size of one of the vectors by the size of the projection of the second vector onto the first one or vice versa. Larger means that they are more similar. Smaller means that they are less similar. Manhattan distance is useful for describing uniform grids. You can imagine yourself walking from point A to point B in a city such as Manhattan. Now, since there are buildings in the way, maybe we need to walk down one street and then turn and walk down the next street in order to get to our result. As you can imagine, this metric is most useful for vectors describing objects on a uniform grid such as city blocks, power grids, or perhaps a chessboard. 11:27 Nikita: And finally, we have Hamming similarity, right? Brent: This describes where vector dimensions differ. They are binary vectors, and it tells us the number of bits that require change to match. It compares the position of each bit in the sequence. Now, these are usually used in order to detect network errors. 11:53 Nikita: Brent, thanks for joining us these last two weeks and explaining what Oracle AI Vector Search is. If you want to learn more about what we discussed today, visit mylearn.oracle.com and search for the Oracle Database 23ai: Oracle AI Vector Search Fundamentals course.   Lois: This concludes our season on Oracle Database 23ai New Features for administrators. In our next episode, we're going to talk about database backup and recovery, but more on that later! Until then, this is Lois Houston… Nikita: And Nikita Abraham signing off! 12:29 That's all for this episode of the Oracle University Podcast. If you enjoyed listening, please click Subscribe to get all the latest episodes. We'd also love it if you would take a moment to rate and review us on your podcast app. See you again on the next episode of the Oracle University Podcast.

pWotD Episode 2713: Greek alphabet Welcome to Popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.With 1,559,477 views on Saturday, 5 October 2024 our article of the day is Greek alphabet.The Greek alphabet has been used to write the Greek language since the late 9th or early 8th century BC. It is derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, and was the earliest known alphabetic script to have distinct letters for vowels as well as consonants. In Archaic and early Classical times, the Greek alphabet existed in many local variants, but, by the end of the 4th century BC, the Euclidean alphabet, with 24 letters, ordered from alpha to omega, had become standard and it is this version that is still used for Greek writing today.The uppercase and lowercase forms of the 24 letters are: Α α, Β β, Γ γ, Δ δ, Ε ε, Ζ ζ, Η η, Θ θ, Ι ι, Κ κ, Λ λ, Μ μ, Ν ν, Ξ ξ, Ο ο, Π π, Ρ ρ, Σ σ/ς, Τ τ, Υ υ, Φ φ, Χ χ, Ψ ψ, Ω ω.The Greek alphabet is the ancestor of the Latin and Cyrillic scripts. Like Latin and Cyrillic, Greek originally had only a single form of each letter; it developed the letter case distinction between uppercase and lowercase in parallel with Latin during the modern era. Sound values and conventional transcriptions for some of the letters differ between Ancient and Modern Greek usage because the pronunciation of Greek has changed significantly between the 5th century BC and today. Modern and Ancient Greek also use different diacritics, with modern Greek keeping only the stress accent (acute) and the diaeresis.Apart from its use in writing the Greek language, in both its ancient and its modern forms, the Greek alphabet today also serves as a source of international technical symbols and labels in many domains of mathematics, science, and other fields.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:52 UTC on Sunday, 6 October 2024.For the full current version of the article, see Greek alphabet on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm long-form Danielle.

Peter Woit is a theoretical physicist and mathematician, currently a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mathematics at Columbia University. Peter is known for his work in quantum field theory and representation theory, particularly for contributions to the understanding of gauge theories. In addition to his academic work, Woit is the author of "Not Even Wrong: The Failure of String Theory and the Search for Unity in Physical Law," where he critically examines string theory while advocating for alternative approaches in the quest for a unified physical theory. Become a YouTube Member Here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal (early access to ad-free audio episodes!) Join TOEmail at https://www.curtjaimungal.org Links: ⁠- Peter Woit's first appearance on TOE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z3JYb_g2Qs - ⁠Peter Woit's book on Quantum Theory and Representations: https://www.amazon.com/Quantum-Theory-Groups-Representations-Introduction/dp/3319646109 - Peter Woit's Papers - https://inspirehep.net/literature?sort=mostrecent&size=25&page=1&q=a%20P.Woit.1 - Peter Woit's Blog - https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/ - Peter Woit's book “Not Even Wrong”: https://amzn.to/3X8c1pS Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction 01:31 - Overview of Unification in Physics and the Standard Model 05:11 - Historical Development of the Standard Model and its Success 07:00 - Introduction to General Relativity and its Challenges 09:32 - Unanswered Questions in the Standard Model (SU1, SU2, SU3) 13:12 - Technical Issues in Quantum Field Theory and General Relativity 17:24 - The Rise of Grand Unified Theories (GUTs) 21:07 - Challenges and Failures of GUTs (Proton Decay) 25:43 - Abandonment of GUTs and Introduction of Supersymmetry 26:45 - Basics of Supersymmetry and Its Predictions 31:28 - Failure of Supersymmetry (No Evidence for Superpartners) 32:08 - Supergravity, Kaluza-Klein Theories, and Extra Dimensions 35:52 - String Theory and the Unification Paradigm in the 1980s 39:00 - Experimental Failures and the Lack of Evidence for String Theory 41:00 - Ongoing Pursuit of Failed Theories and Resistance to New Ideas 47:09 - The Shift in Attitudes Towards Unification Efforts in Physics 48:13 - Introduction to Peter Woit's New Ideas on Unification 52:32 - The Role of Four-Dimensional Geometry and Spinors in Unification 58:11 - Wick Rotation and Differences Between Euclidean and Minkowski Space-Time 1:03:05 - Technical Challenges in Wick Rotation and Quantum Field Theory 1:09:01 - Unique Aspects of Spinors in Euclidean vs. Minkowski Space-Time 1:14:38 - The Dirac Operator and its Role in Space-Time Symmetry 1:18:02 - Relation to Supersymmetry and the Right-Handed Nature of Space-Time 1:22:04 - Connection to Gravity and Loop Quantum Gravity (Ashtakar Variables) 1:23:04 - Outro / Support TOE Support TOE: - Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal (early access to ad-free audio episodes!) - Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE - PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE - TOE Merch: https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerch Follow TOE: - NEW Get my 'Top 10 TOEs' PDF + Weekly Personal Updates: https://www.curtjaimungal.org - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theoriesofeverythingpod - TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theoriesofeverything_ - Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt - Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs - iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802 - Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e - Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCdWIQh9DGG6uhJk8eyIFl1w/join #science #physics #stringtheory Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The gang gets lost in their brand spanking new non-Euclidean family home??? Join us as we dive into the lies and the truth of the Navidson Record in our episode on House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski ▶ We are available on all major podcasting platforms and YouTube! YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NotJustAnyPod ▶ FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! Twitter: @NotJustAnyPod ▶ FOLLOW US ON TIKTOK! TikTok: @NotJustAnyPod

A Cruise leads to a Coastal meet-up with a gameshow babe.By BradentonLarry for Literotica -  Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels.“Well, boys, are you going to keep those hard-ons to yourselves?” Toshia chided.Unsurprisingly, the black guy led the way, taking the few steps and climbing up onto the bed, followed closely by the young man who had been waiting longest, and who Toshia now saw had a fairly long, thin cock standing out in front of him. These two had been closest to Toshia’s side of the bed, so they came toward her, while the two younger guys moved toward Shelonda, who offered them a friendly smile.Toshia found herself briefly wondering how so many guys had come into this room, but decided she didn’t really care. She crawled on her hands and knees toward the side of the bed a bit, to make more room for Shelonda, and found a hard black cock almost in her face. Smiling up at the two men who were in front of her; well, in front of her and a bit to her left; Toshia proceeded to lean forward and wrap her hand around that dark cock as she brought the head of it to her lips. She figured the men had all been teased enough already, so she didn’t hesitate to open her mouth to suck the dark purple head into her mouth. Playing her tongue over it for just a moment, Toshia leaned forward a bit more and let the flaring head slide deeper into her mouth and then down her throat a bit. She felt male hands moving over her back. One of them moved down to caress and squeeze her butt. Fingers slipped between her cheeks to stroke her wet pussy lips and then up to tease her asshole. She groaned her approval, and managed to catch hold of the long, thin cock to her left, squeezing and pulling on it. Toshia felt fingers pushing up into her cunt, and she moaned. Once those fingers were nice and slippery with her juices, they were withdrawn and then slowly pushed up into her butt. Toshia shuddered and pulled herself off the black cock she’d been sucking. She continued to pull and twist on that with her right hand as she began to suck on the long, thin cock in her left. She had little trouble taking this one down her throat even though it was the longest cock she’d had that night. While she was sucking his cock, the young man kept working his fingers in and out of her butt, while the black guy continued caressing the rest of her body.After several minutes of Toshia going back and forth from one cock to the other, she looked up at the black fellow and said, “Lie down on your back.” She then said to the other man, “You’re going to fuck my ass, OK?”His only response at the moment was vigorous nod of his head. Of course, the black guy had immediately managed to lie down along the side of the bed.As Toshia moved around and straddled her willing partner, she glanced over to see that Shelonda was sprawled, half-twisted, on her half of the bed. The Asian kid was between her legs, going down on her enthusiastically, while Shelonda was making a good effort at sucking on the other boy’s fat cock.Then, Toshia was pushing the thick head of the black cock up into her pussy. She gave a happy whimper as she settled down on him, letting his cock fill her nicely. She worked herself up and down a few times, grinding herself against the man’s rock hard abs, before nodding over her shoulder to the other fellow. She didn’t have to wait long for him to get into position behind her, and then to feel the head of his cock pushing against and then into her tight ass. Toshia braced herself with her hands on the black man’s chest as she felt that long, thin cock working its way deeper and deeper into her bowels. She smiled broadly and said, “Damn, this feels so good!”Toshia began to rock her hips between the men, who were doing their part to fuck their cocks in and out of her willing body. The black guy had her waist in his big hands, and the guy fucking her ass was holding onto her shoulders, pulling her back on their hard pricks. She heard Shelonda moaning loudly with what must be another orgasm, and heard herself calling out, “Fuck me harder!”The two men obliged with gusto, proceeding to shove into her almost violently. They had gotten into a good rhythm, and Toshia could feel her next orgasm coming on fast. As a result, she wasn’t too aware of what was going on elsewhere on the bed, so she was a bit surprised when she opened her eyes to see another cock in front of her face. Looking up and around, she saw that Shelonda was on her back with the big-cock fellow between her legs, filling her with that beautiful piece of man-meat. The young Asian guy had come over to get in on Toshia’s little group. As occupied as she was at the moment, Toshia couldn’t do much more than smile up at him and then offer him her open mouth. He didn’t hesitate, but inched forward on the bed, and pushed his very hard cock into her mouth. She closed her lips on his shaft and reveled in the sensations of being completely filled with cock. The Asian kid held her head in his hands, and Toshia relaxed her throat, letting him fuck her face steadily.Toshia came long and hard then, her body clenching and shuddering in the center of those three men who were fucking her so intently. As she slowly came down, she began to have an idea, which gradually coalesced into a plan. She managed to indicate to the Asian kid that she needed to say something, and he promptly, and politely, drew back. Taking just a moment to catch her breath, Toshia quickly explained to them what she had in mind. Giving her shoulder a kiss, the man who had been fucking her ass gradually withdrew and stepped aside for the moment. His place was taken by the Asian kid, who didn’t waste any time at all before pushing his raging hard on into her ass. After a few preliminary thrusts from each of the guys inside her, Toshia announced that she was ready for the third. The man with the long, thin cock got behind the Asian kid and bent his long shaft down until it was up against the black phallus in her pussy. The black guy pulled out almost all the way, and Toshia made every effort to relax, as the third cock pushed forward, entering her pussy with the black cock.Toshia was dimly aware of the sound of Shelonda having a rather loud and long orgasm, but was lost in the unbelievable sensations of having both her ass and pussy stuffed so full. Three cocks were moving in and out of her, stretching her; filling her! Then Toshia was coming again, in a shaking avalanche complete with a steady stream of “Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck…” All the while the men kept driving in and out of her steadily, and Toshia’s orgasm seemed to roll on forever.Except that it did eventually begin to fade, and Toshia could open her eyes again. She was happy, and a bit surprised, to see the fellow with the big cock who had been fucking Shelonda kneeling in front of her. She cast a glance over to the side to see that yet another guy had come into the cabin and had gotten Shelonda to roll over on her belly so that he could fuck her from behind. Turning her attention back to that beautiful, big cock in front of her, which was now all slippery with Shelonda’s juices and pearly with cum, and only a bit deflated, Toshia smiled and opened her mouth invitingly.It wasn’t easy to accommodate that sexy monster, but the young man was surprisingly gentle, and Toshia gave it her best shot. She doubted that he would cum that way, but he quickly became fully hard again for her.Toshia couldn’t believe she had four cocks in her all at once! The very thought; assisted by all the stimulation her body was getting, no doubt; pushed her over the edge into yet another orgasm. This one was less intense, but it was still enough to prompt the cock inside her ass to swell and pump what felt like quite a lot of hot cum up into her. After a few more strokes, the Asian kid began to pull himself out of Toshia’s butt and managed to extract himself from the tight little knot of bodies centered on Toshia. Since he’d had to pull out of her pussy to let the Asian leave, the fellow with the long, thin cock took his place, slipping easily into Toshia’s ass in one motion. Once there, he fucked her with short, hard, fast motions, until he too filled her with his cum.When her ass was once again free of cock; but had sticky, white cum leaking out of it and down over the black guy’s balls; Toshia managed to suggest that the guy with the big cock fuck her ass with it. Of course, he was quite willing to oblige. Toshia came yet again as his big head pushed up into her ass, while the black guy patiently continued to slowly fuck in and out of her pussy. She just kept coming as the two men sawed in and out of her, until, finally, the black cock swelled inside her and flooded her pussy with sweet cum. He stayed there inside her as his de facto partner continued to fuck the hell out of Toshia’s ass. When that thick cock got even thicker inside her, Toshia screamed a bit. She felt the welcome rush of his cum shooting up into her and then she was unconscious.When she eventually opened her eyes again, she was on her back and looking up into Don’s eyes. Don was brushing the hair out of her eyes and smiling down at her. He said, “It seems like you’ve had a good time, lover.”“Um!” she managed. Then she realized that Don was fucking her, slowly, steadily. Toshia smiled and said, “I’ve been very busy.”“I can tell,” Don laughed.Toshia knew that she must be quite a sight, and that there must be quite a mess on the bed and between her legs. She was vaguely aware that Shelonda was being fucked, or something, on the other side of the bed. Don was fucking her a bit harder, and she bit her lip.“Does it hurt?” he asked.“A little,” she smiled. “Do you care?”“Not really, no.”“Good,” she smiled. “Fuck me, Don.” She pulled his head down so she could kiss him while his cock moved in and out of her sloppy, very well-used pussy, until it too swelled inside her, jerking as Don groaned and added his cum to the rest.Don relaxed, propped up on his elbows a bit. He watched the action on the enormous blanket with an amused smile. Nearest to him, almost within arm’s reach, Toshia was on her hands and knees, being taken from behind by a fit fellow who looked to be Arabic, or possibly Persian, while she was rather enthusiastically servicing the thick cock of the young guy with light blonde hair who was kneeling in front of her. Don realized, quite happily, that he could watch her go all day – and, then, with a widening grin, that he pretty much had done just that several times here in Eros. He admired her sleek muscular body as she moved between the two men, particularly the way her thighs and buttocks flexed as she pushed back against the dark-haired man behind her. The afternoon sun shone on her tanned back and the spray of dewy white cum Don had left there only a couple of minutes earlier. Of course, the way Toshia was eagerly sucking and stroking on that big cock in front of her was quite impressive too. It didn’t hurt that he had come to be so familiar with being on either end of that wonderful, exquisitely responsive body over the last few weeks.Beyond Toshia and her two playmates, Don could see Shelonda moving up and down as the sexy young woman rode the prodigious cock of a black gentleman whose hands were squeezing her big tits tightly, eliciting additional happy sounds from her. Life in Eros is good! Don thought to himself. I’m going to miss this!Then, with a somewhat rueful shake of his head he slowly stood up and looked around. Around them, lightly checkering the pale, pinkish beach were other over-sized beach blankets, some of which were occupied by naked sunbathers, many of whom were engaged in activities much like those of Toshia and Shelonda. On Don’s left, the beach swept on until it gave way to a rocky tumble that gradually, over several miles, began to mount up to what seemed to be rather steep mountains that Don thought must march down from up near the Resort and the Sage’s tower. That rocky end of the mountains marched right into the body of water that spread out before Don. Just after the rest of the smooth sand of the beach and the occasional gleaming rocky outcropping, was the open sea, or ocean, or large lake. Don had never seen water so blue in his life, and he had seen some surprisingly blue water before, as for instance the Mediterranean off the coast of Greece. On Don’s right was a green, rocky area that separated the beach and the mouth of the river he and the girls had traveled down to get this far, several kilometers away. Behind Don, on a handful of small hills, was the strange “city” of Rendezvous.After they had disembarked from the riverboat, leaving behind the cheerful, lazy swinging atmosphere that had prevailed on their slow trip down from the Resort, the now very relaxed trio had made their way from the docks into the town, expecting to be able to make quick and easy progress through and to the water, when they would turn to the left and follow the waterline to the Grotto of Ishtar.As it turned out, though, Rendezvous had proven to be a harder to get through.The city seemed to be laid out on an almost non-Euclidean plan. Streets continued on in straight lines for no more than a block at a time, and two right angled turns did not equal 180 degrees. To make things worse, cutting through buildings utterly failed to achieve its purpose. Walls that were parallel on the inside of a building did not translate as parallel on the outside. Moreover, moving through a building frequently resulted in exiting in a completely different part of town. All of this resulted, somehow, in the city being, apparently, much larger than it appeared from an external viewpoint, as from the docks or where they were on the beach. The wide variety of sexual distractions to be had through every door and around every corner. It seemed that the harder they tried to make their way through Rendezvous the more they would go off track and get distracted. Toshia’s favorite place had been a little club that featured little rooms with various glory holes in the walls. They had spent several hours there, and Toshia had ultimately come out of her chamber with her face and chest splattered with cum and jizz running down the insides and backs of her legs. Shelonda had been quite partial to a building that was filled with a wild combination of padded jungle gym and what Don thought of as a human-sized cat playhouse. There were crazily varied platforms, like a maze laid out in three dimensions, serving as the surfaces of an ongoing orgy. Don had a hard time choosing favorites at the best of times, and there were so many options to pick from in this situation, but he thought he would probably have to say his favorite part of making his way through Rendezvous had been watching the two girls react and enjoy the whole experience. Of course, this was not to say that he had not also enjoyed all the sex he himself had had.Once they had finally reached the beach they were ready to take a nice rest. Seeing the rocky terrain that would keep them from easily proceeding to the grotto helped to take a bit of the wind from their sails as well. So they collapsed on the nearest empty beach blanket and quickly fell asleep in a cozy little pile. Perhaps because of the relatively high concentration of XYZ in the ocean, or sea, air, though, they were soon as randy as they had been at any time in Eros. They awoke very horny, and the nearby guys were more than happy to help out. Don was surprised at how thick and hard his cock was even after the vigorous orgasm he had just had – both in Toshia’s sweet pussy and all over her back. He thought he would go over to offer himself to Shelonda’s mouth, but just then was distracted as a woman sauntered toward them on her way down to the water.She was a leggy blonde, with long, wavy hair of gold, a phenomenal, curvy body with amazing tits, and her face… Don was certain he recognized her from somewhere. Noticing his attention, the woman smiled broadly at him and gave him a merry wink. Suddenly Don knew exactly where he had seen her. She was a model on The Price is Right back in what he thought of as the real world. He spent a long moment standing there stunned, before making the obvious choice and turning to follow the gorgeous blonde down to the water. He admired the way her hips swayed as she made her way to the water, and then continued to wade in. When she was up to her waist, which Don thought was a shame since he could no longer see her shapely ass, she dove forward and under the water.Don was up to his knees in the surprisingly warm water by the time she resurfaced, emerging from the water like Aphrodite, her thick hair darkened and hanging around her radiant face and water glistening as it ran off her shoulders and full breasts. She smiled again to Don, who hastened to wade in further. She waited for him, her nipples just above the water line. She batted her long lashes at him as he came up close enough to say, “Hello.”She unleashed that dazzling smile again, and said, “Hello there. Have we met?”“Not really, no,” he almost stammered.“Well, I’m Rachel,” she continued to smile, as Don felt her hand touching his hip under the water and then move directly to his cock, which was the hardest it had ever been. Don also felt quite sure that it was bigger than it used to be.“I know,” Don smiled back, moving closer and gently grasping her waist under the water.“You do?” She leaned in and kissed him lightly on the lips and then moved in even closer, brushing her lips over Don’s collar bone and then along the side of his neck. Her grasp on his straining penis was tight as she pulled on it.“Yes…” Don shuddered a bit. His hands moved around her waist to slide down her lower back and then to hold her behind tightly. “Someone told me your name.”Releasing her hold on his prick, Rachel slipped her arms around his neck and looked into his eyes. Her wonderfully full breasts were pressed against Don’s chest as she asked, “Who?”“It was a long time ago,” Don smiled, “and far away.”She cocked her head to the side a bit, her smile a bit thoughtful, before she said, “Well, it’s very nice to meet you…”“Don,” he said. He lifted her up as she pulled herself up and jumped a bit in the water, wrapping her perfect, long legs around his waist.Rachel managed to get her hand down between them, took hold of his straining prick, and positioned it just right. As she sank downward, enveloping him in her warm, welcoming embrace, she said, “Well, it’s very nice to meet you, Don.”Up to his chest in the XYZ sea, Don held on to the gorgeous Rachel, helping to raise and lower her as she slowly rode up and down on his thick and steely hard cock. Her lush, full breasts moved against his chest. His hands held her firm ass cheeks tightly. Their mouths met in a heated kiss that quickly grew in passion, their tongues slipping past each other’s lips and teeth. Rachel worked herself on Don’s shaft and against his body with increasing enthusiasm

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: "AI achieves silver-medal standard solving International Mathematical Olympiad problems", published by gjm on July 25, 2024 on LessWrong. Google DeepMind reports on a system for solving mathematical problems that allegedly is able to give complete solutions to four of the six problems on the 2024 IMO, putting it near the top of the silver-medal category. Well, actually, two systems for solving mathematical problems: AlphaProof, which is more general-purpose, and AlphaGeometry, which is specifically for geometry problems. (This is AlphaGeometry 2; they reported earlier this year on a previous version of AlphaGeometry.) AlphaProof works in the "obvious" way: an LLM generates candidate next steps which are checked using a formal proof-checking system, in this case Lean. One not-so-obvious thing, though: "The training loop was also applied during the contest, reinforcing proofs of self-generated variations of the contest problems until a full solution could be found." (That last bit is reminiscent of something from the world of computer go: a couple of years ago someone trained a custom version of KataGo specifically to solve the infamous Igo Hatsuyoron problem 120, starting with ordinary KataGo and feeding it training data containing positions reachable from the problem's starting position. They claim to have laid that problem to rest at last.) AlphaGeometry is similar but uses something specialized for (I think) Euclidean planar geometry problems in place of Lean. The previous version of AlphaGeometry allegedly already performed at gold-medal IMO standard; they don't say anything about whether that version was already able to solve the 2024 IMO problem that was solved using AlphaGeometry 2. AlphaProof was able to solve questions 1, 2, and 6 on this year's IMO (two algebra, one number theory). It produces Lean-formalized proofs. AlphaGeometry 2 was able to solve question 4 (plane geometry). It produces proofs in its own notation. The solutions found by the Alpha... systems are at https://storage.googleapis.com/deepmind-media/DeepMind.com/Blog/imo-2024-solutions/index.html. (There are links in the top-of-page navbar to solutions to the individual problems.) (If you're curious about the IMO questions or want to try them yourself before looking at the machine-generated proofs, you can find them -- and those for previous years -- at https://www.imo-official.org/problems.aspx.) One caveat (note: an earlier version of what I wrote failed to notice this and quite wrongly explicitly claimed something different): "First, the problems were manually translated into formal mathematical language for our systems to understand." It feels to me like it shouldn't be so hard to teach an LLM to convert IMO problems into Lean or whatever, but apparently they aren't doing that yet. Another caveat: "Our systems solved one problem within minutes and took up to three days to solve the others." Later on they say that AlphaGeometry 2 solved the geometry question within 19 seconds, so I guess that was also the one that was done "within minutes". Three days is a lot longer than human IMO contestants get given, but this feels to me like the sort of thing that will predictably improve pretty rapidly. Thanks for listening. To help us out with The Nonlinear Library or to learn more, please visit nonlinear.org

Evelyn's Stage Performance Continues it be a big hit. By BradentonLarry - Listen to the ► Podcast at Steamy Stories. Evelyn directed the couple into another position. Now the man was lying on his back while his ‘wife' rode his cock, rather enthusiastically, while Evelyn sat on the man's face, grinding her pussy and clit on his mouth and watching the woman enjoy that fat cock. Don watched as Evelyn squeezed her own breasts, twisting her nipples, and then reached out to do the same to the woman across from her. Evelyn leaned forward and managed to get her mouth on one of the woman's nipples, which seemed to send the woman into another orgasm. Then, Evelyn was sitting back on the man's face, head thrown back and her hands squeezing her own tits tightly as her body rocked with her own first orgasm of the session.Don's cock throbbed and twitched, as if in sympathy with Evelyn's body. When the trio changed positions again, it was Evelyn's turn to lie on her back, her butt at the edge of the bed, as the man held her legs up and shoved his thick cock back into her pussy. At first the woman knelt on the bed next to Evelyn, making out with her and sucking on her tits, but then she moved up to kneel over Evelyn's face. Don watched as Evelyn grasped the woman's ass and held her in place so she could lick and suck at her clit and pussy, while the man fucked Don's lover hard and deep. Soon the woman was climaxing again, crying out loudly so everyone in the club noticed, and the man was shoving up into Evelyn with short violent strokes until he too was clearly coming. As he eventually drew out of Evelyn, a long, thick strand of cum hung between her pussy and the head of his cock. Evelyn said something to the woman who then quickly got down on her hands and knees at the end of the bed, first to suck the man's cock clean and then to bury her face in Evelyn's messy snatch, licking and sucking up all the cum he'd left there. Soon, Evelyn was sitting half up on the bed, her muscles clenching tight, as she held the woman's head in place while Evelyn's orgasm tore through her. For a long moment, Evelyn just lay back on the bed with a happy smile on her face, and then she sat up and looked out at the audience with a grin. Don grinned back at her, though he was pretty sure she couldn't see him. Still, when she mouthed, “One more?” he gave her an enthusiastic thumbs up. In any case, they had agreed she would give him a sign to let him know she was ready to leave, and she certainly hadn't given it. After Evelyn and her two playmates cleared that set, a couple of servitors came and straightened things up quickly, but without bothering to change the bed or anything. By the time Evelyn reappeared, only the big orgy on the circular bed and the couples in the dungeon set were still going at it. Don was downstairs, idly watching the orgy, when Evelyn came back on stage, this time entering the bus stop set. She had her hair in a couple of pigtails and was wearing a light sundress. She took a seat on the plastic bench against the wall, and waited, for a bus, supposedly, but really for her next set of playmates to join her. Soon two men joined her. There was quite a bit of pantomimed flirting and exaggerated come-hither looks before the men were standing in front of Evelyn having their cocks sucked. They had apparently left the door light set to yellow, because by the time Evelyn was on her hands and knees, though still in her sundress, getting spit-roasted, another guy poked his head in and decided to join in. By the time the scene had run its course, Evelyn had serviced six guys altogether, and a beautiful brown-skinned young woman with long, thick, black hair had come in to take over on the mattress. Don was happy to watch this woman enjoy herself while Evelyn got cleaned up and ready for round three. When Evelyn came back on stage, she was again wearing high heels, but this time they came with black boots that went almost all the way up her thighs. Her torso was wrapped in a shiny black bodice that left her crotch and tits exposed, and she was wearing black gloves that went up to the middle of her biceps. Her hair was now pulled back tightly into a ponytail, and she led a beautiful naked Asian woman with black hair hanging down to the middle of her back out and promptly began tying her to a frame that left her spread-eagled and vulnerable to anything Evelyn might inflict upon her. Evelyn spent the next hour teasing and tormenting this poor woman, who seemed to love every minute of it, even when she was begging Evelyn for release. Evelyn finally let the woman come, but only after she had stuffed a rather large butt plug and a big, shiny black dildo into their respective places, and fastened heavy nipple clamps to her nipples. Then, with only the command, “Come,” Evelyn reduced the woman to a shuddering, quivering display of ecstasy that went on for what seemed like several long minutes. Then Evelyn sat on a bench so the grateful woman could crawl across the floor on her hands and knees to lick and suck at Evelyn until she made her temporary mistress come. Finally, Evelyn came onto stage with the next bunch of five people to make use of the big circular bed. Two lucky men were accompanied by Evelyn and three women, who all came in naked and wasted no time in climbing onto the bed and getting acquainted. Soon it became rather hard for Don to keep track of Evelyn amid the confusion of heaving bodies. At one point, she was near the center of the bed, slowly turning with it, as she rode slowly up and down on a cock as several hands reached up to caress her body. At another, she was on her hands and knees near the edge, gliding past the front of the stage, making out with a girl lying on her back at right angles to Evelyn, while one of the men slowly, but intently fucked Evelyn from behind. They must have left the light on yellow, because while they played another five people came to join the party - three men and two women, this time. Don found a chair to get comfortable, but continued to resist touching his straining cock. He was a bit amused by all the men in the audience who were, and had been all night, watching Evelyn and bringing themselves to intense, squirting orgasms. He was, however, much more distracted by the women around him, moaning in orgasmic pleasure as they watched the shows before them. Eventually, with her hair a wild mess around her head, Evelyn broke free from the orgy on the bed and staggered to the front of the stage to give the agreed upon sign that she was ready to leave. Don went straight to the exit, expecting to have to wait for Evelyn to get cleaned up, but she met him right away, naked and carrying her clothes with her in a bundle. She had cum all over her and smelled deliciously of the sex she'd been having. “Hi there!” she grinned. Don caught her face in his hands and kissed her deeply and passionately. When he released her, she asked, “Did you enjoy the show?” “Fuck yes!” he laughed. “Let's go over by the pool and find someplace for the night.” “Good idea! I need to get cleaned up.” “Not quite yet,” Don smiled. “I'm going to add to your … makeup, first.” “Oh! Excellent!” she beamed. “You really had a good time?” “I did!” he laughed again. “Sorry I took so long. If we can't have sex, I want to make sure I'm ready to actually sleep.” “Good thinking,” Don grinned. “What was your favorite part?” she asked. “It was all very hot, but I have to admit the first one was probably my favorite,” Don said. “I liked the story you were telling.” “I knew you'd get it!” “What was your favorite part?” he asked. “Oh, that's easy,” she said, “this next bit!” Laughing, he said, “That doesn't count.” “Hum, well, that's really hard to say. There were high points in each scene. In the first one, for instance, I really liked having that guy, Dave, fucking me from behind while I went down on Julie. In the second, well, there was that first time I had three cocks in me at once. Then, when I let Tamiko come … that was hot! I came so many times during the last scene I couldn't say, really. Damn, I really have become a wild woman here, haven't I?” “Yeah, and I love it!” Don grinned. They had reached the poolside and quickly found a double-sized lounger. Evelyn dropped her clothes on the ground and sat down on the edge of the lounger, leaning back and spreading her legs in front of Don. “Damn! That's so tempting,” he breathed. “No touching!” she smiled up at him. “Just watch me as I touch myself. You liked watching those men fucking me, didn't you? It felt so good to have them in my pussy and ass, and to suck them, and to lick those sexy pussies and clits,” Evelyn said as her hands moved slowly over her body, cupping her breasts and then sliding over her taut belly down between her legs. “I kept thinking about how hard your cock must be as you were watching me up on that stage, fucking and getting fucked, sucking and licking, coming over and over.” She was simultaneously strumming her clit and fucking herself with several fingers. “I kept thinking how hot it was to have you watching me, watching me suck… and fuck… and all that cum on my face and tits… and… and… up inside me… God, Don, I'm going to come again. Give me your cum, Don!” Don couldn't restrain himself any longer. His iron-hard cock swelled in his hands and then erupted, spraying a geyser of hot cum all over Evelyn's naked body. It splattered all over her belly, across her tits and neck, and hit her chin. The second gout splashed over her lower belly and covered her fingers, getting pushed up into her pussy as she clenched upon herself on the lounger, her face scrunched up tightly as she came with him. Don staggered backward a bit and Evelyn fell back on the lounger with a heavy sigh. “Ugh,” she moaned. “I need to clean up, but I don't think I can move.” “Fuck it,” Don chuckled. “Let's just do it when we wake up.” “Seriously?” she laughed. “Okay.” “But you do have to move. We can't sleep like that.” “I'm not moving. You get your own,” she waved her hand in the air. When Don actually started to sit down on the next lounger over, though, she said, “Fine, fine, I'm moving!” They managed to spend the night spooned together, in a rather sticky mess, without violating the terms of Don's mission to not have physical-contact sex, and then enjoyed a leisurely bath in the pool in the morning. At the resort's wardrobery, they managed to find Evelyn a nice backpack for her pilgrimage, and then, with a long hug and a deep, loving kiss, she set off in quest of the Grove of Rati. “So, you were left alone again, in the sex resort where you couldn't actually have sex, for a year,” Toshia summed up. “Yeah, that's about the size of it.” “How did it go?” “Well, at the time it seemed very slow, but when it was over it didn't seem bad at all,” Don shrugged. “I did have a couple of visitors along the way. Both Nicole and Stephanie passed through the Resort before I was done.” “How were they doing?” “Okay. I found out that the watcher's council seemed to have something of a pattern in their assignments. A few personalized quests to start with and then a long-term test, like my sheriff's job or Evelyn's pilgrimage. Nicole had to find the Trans-Erosian Railway and ride it from end to end. She came through the Resort heading in the opposite direction from Evelyn, hoping to connect with that train. Stephanie came through very near the end of my year after spending a year in Rendezvous without having sex with any men.” “That sounds a lot easier than your task,” Toshia frowned. “That's what I said!” Don laughed. “She admitted it wasn't that difficult, but she was glad to get back to ‘proper fucking' as she called it. Oh, and I got to talk to India a few times, too. But mostly, I just kept myself busy watching other people and getting to know the ins and outs of the Resort. I fell into a pretty stable, comfortable routine. I was actually kind of surprised when I came back into my office after a 'patrol,' and suddenly found myself in that big courtyard at the Hall of the Crimson Mountain King. At that moment, I was mostly just happy that my staff, which I had left in the office, appeared a second later on the ground at my feet. Then I remembered that this meant I could have sex again!” Toshia chuckled, “Uh oh!” “Yeah,” Don laughed. “I got into and out of those showers in record time. Then I dove into that super orgy for a solid hour. The first girl I hooked up with was a thin young woman, probably about nineteen. I've never had such an intense passionate session of anonymous sex in my life. I was nice about it, of course, but I fucked the hell out of that girl.” “I'll bet!” Toshia laughed. “Did she object?” Don shook his head, “Not at all. But after I'd had my fun, I cleaned up and headed upstairs for my next mission.” Task Five: “Congratulations, Don, you're now more than halfway finished with your tasks,” Pamela almost smiled. “For your next assignment, we want you to find a familiar face. To be clear, we mean you must find someone you clearly recognize, and can put a name to, but whom you haven't seen previously in Eros.” “So, if I recognize my second-grade teacher but can't remember her name, that doesn't count?” “Exactly,” she nodded. “Do they have to remember who they are?” Don asked, thinking of all the people who seemed to have little or no memory of their non-Erosian existence. In particular, he recalled the stunning Price is Right model he had been so happy to meet on the beach outside Rendezvous. “No,” Pamela said. “We will be able to verify their identities to corroborate you.” “That's handy.” “We are aware that this particular task is largely out of your control and could take a very long time to complete. We are also, frankly, impressed with your efforts so far. So, we have decided to grant you some of the power you are seeking a bit early.” She gestured to a ring that was now on the table in front of Don. Picking it up, he thought it had the weight and look of white gold. He slipped it onto his left middle finger. Nothing happened. “You have to press it twice in quick succession to call up the menu.” Don pressed the ring twice with his thumb as if he were double-clicking the ring. Suddenly, floating a bit above the midrange of his visual field was a horizontal blue bar. There was one item, in white letters, on that bar: “Travel.” “Concentrate on the desired menu item to activate it,” Pamela went on. Don wasn't sure what he was supposed to be doing, but he focused intently on “Travel,” until a drop-down menu opened with the following list: Abbey of Records; Crimson Mountain - Porch; Elven Court; Gladys's Office; Grotto of Ishtar; Heolfor House; India's Home; Manor; Rendezvous - Beach; Rendezvous - Riverboat Dock; Resort; Shagbottom; Sisterhood Castle; Untamed Village; Witches' Glen; and, Wizard's Home. “Nice!” Don breathed. “When you visit a new location for which there is an established landmark it will automatically be added to your list,” Pamela continued to explain. “Before you select anything, I should add that you can dismiss the display at any time.” Don tried willing the menu and bar away and they promptly vanished. He called it up again and dismissed it, just for practice. “When you select a travel destination, the menu will automatically close when you arrive. With the exception of these offices, you will not be able to use the ring to travel when anyone else can see you. Well, anyone who doesn't have a similar ring or one that is higher in rank, that is. Also, when traveling to a location, you will arrive at the closest safe position to the landmark where no one can see your arrival.” “This is incredibly useful!” Don grinned. “It is,” Pamela nodded. “Do you have any questions about your task?” “Find someone I can name from outside Eros,” Don smiled. “Then report back here.” “Exactly,” Pamela said. “You should be able to manage all your own travel from now on.” “So, I just call up the menu, focus on “Travel,” then focus on a destination…“ Then suddenly Don found himself standing outside the Abbey of Records. "Whoa! Seriously?” Toshia gaped. “Yeah,” Don chuckled. “It's pretty cool. When I'm in Eros I can bop around like crazy. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a lot of fun.” “Damn!” “Well, I am restricted to the places I've already found, like in a video game with unlockable fast-travel points, but it's still massively useful. I'm thinking about setting off on a general exploration trip when I go back, to collect as many landmarks as I can. Stephanie probably has a lot more than I do. I know Evelyn's list is different from mine. She's got the Dark Labyrinth and a bunch of places she found on her pilgrimage, but not the Wizard's Home or Shagbottom, for instance.” “That must have made your task much easier.” “Well,” Don paused. “I'm sure it cut out a lot of time going from one place to another, but it still took a lot of time to find someone I recognized. I started out just working down the list of places, skipping Gladys's office, the Grotto of Ishtar, and India's home. I was at the Abbey of Records anyway, so I went in and asked Charlotte if she could help me out at all. Naturally, I had to go through the whole routine, which took quite a while, and, in the end, she got a lot more out of me than I did from her. She wasn't aware of anyone that I might recognize, but then I had known it was going to be a long shot anyway. I crossed that off my list of places to try. "I skipped the Crimson Mountain, figuring it would just take too damn long to try to comb through that orgy, or go looking for other rooms in that place, and went right to the elven court, Heolfor House, et cetera. It was kind of fun revisiting places and talking to people again. The Wizard and Madeleine, the Player, the Lady and Robert all say 'hi,' by the way. And Daphne says I'm to bend you over and fuck you hard in the ass.” “Oh my!” Toshia laughed, actually feeling her cheeks reddening a bit. “After working all the way down the list, with no luck, I went back to the Crimson Mountain. I walked around the big orgy for a while, then started exploring some of the other areas in the King's Hall. There are a lot of rooms in that sucker, but most of them were empty. When I didn't find any familiar faces, I started all over again, but I focused on just what I thought were the more likely prospects: the Manor, Rendezvous, the Resort, Shagbottom, and Crimson Mountain. Each visit to each one of them took quite a bit of time, plus, every time I got to the Resort or the Manor, I followed the protocols Evelyn and I had agreed on, so that took time. Anyway, it was only after I'd visited each of them for the third time that I found someone I recognized.” Don had found Rendezvous the most frustrating place to search. The strange, non-Euclidean geography of the relatively crowded city made it difficult to have any kind of established search pattern, and the size of the place served to impress upon him how difficult and potentially open-ended his current task actually was. In principle, he could wander Eros for years without being lucky enough to come across someone he recognized from the 'real' world. Wandering the winding, confusing streets of Rendezvous and prowling through its many, many buildings made his task more than a little depressing. On the other hand, there was no shortage of playful diversions to be had in that odd city, and Don was always finding something new to explore. So it was that on his fourth attempt to find someone, anyone, he recognized in Rendezvous that he came upon a lovely park set among the buildings but with a nice view over the lower city to the beach and the sea beyond. Don thought that whoever had designed, or set up, Rendezvous had done a particularly good job of including this park and putting it here. It was a pleasant early afternoon, with the usual blue sky adorned with a few fluffy white clouds. Here and there were couples and small groups playing on the grass, on benches, or, in at least one case, in a hammock. There were even a few people, like Don, just enjoying a walk through the park. Off to the left, on a low hill, was a gazebo where there seemed to be a nice little orgy going on. Don thought it would be a good idea to go have a look at the participants. It was one of his rules to whenever possible check out any group of more than three. But then a leggy brunette stood up and came down the gazebo's steps and began walking across the grass toward a small fountain. Her body was simply gorgeous, with firm muscles in her limbs and belly, full breasts, and, as Don saw as she got closer to the fountain, a stunning ass. She had long dark hair with hints of lighter, sun-bleached strands. Her shoulders were broad and there was something exquisitely confident in the way she sauntered over the lawn. Don decided the orgy could wait and proceeded to the fountain. He watched the beauty bathing with her back to him, enjoying the way the water ran over her body. He got to the fountain and splashed some water on his face and proceeded to give his own body a good rinsing off. All the while his eyes kept returning to the woman. Then she tossed her hair to the side, and Don caught a glimpse of her lovely, long neck. There was something about the combination of her exquisitely sculpted shoulder, the line of the side of her neck, and her jawline, which Don could only barely discern, that struck a deep chord in Don's memory. This woman had the body of a sex symbol, and Don suddenly felt like he had seen this sex symbol before. Then she happened to turn in the water, and Don saw her face. Her eyes were closed, and she was smiling slightly, happily. It was her cheekbones that did it. Don was sure he knew who she was. When she opened her vaguely Asian eyes and smiled at him, Don's heart leapt in his chest and he was certain. Don swallowed, for the first time in a long time in Eros flustered. He finally managed to say, “Pardon me for staring, but you're so very beautiful.” She laughed, “That's alright. I was checking you out, too.” Don was suddenly conscious of the fact that he was buck naked standing there talking to a gloriously naked Jessica Biel while sporting a serious erection. It took a second before it penetrated his brain that she was perfectly fine with it and was moving closer to him. “No fucking way!” Toshia almost yelled. “I swear,” Don replied. “The actress?!” “The one and only, in the flesh,” he nodded. Toshia studied Don's face, looking for the slightest indication that he was putting her on. “I am not kidding,” Don assured her. “Well, goddamn, now I really am jealous. She's one of the reasons I knew I liked women!” Don laughed, “I can say she's definitely one of the reasons I like women, too.” “Come here often?” she smiled at him with that beautiful toothsome smile and those laughing eyes of hers. Don realized she was just a little shorter than him. “Well, this is my first time to this fountain,” Don smiled, slowly feeling like he was regaining control of himself. Then she reached out to wrap her hand around his cock and Don knew he had very little control of anything at that moment. She chuckled a little and said, “What do you think of it so far?” “Well, it's definitely my favorite fountain at the moment,” Don said as he reached out to run his hands over her hips. His brain was screaming, Jessica Biel's hips! Jessica Biel's naked hips! Don did his best to power through, and asked, “How about you? Is this a favorite of yours?” She was now standing up against him, her perfect breasts brushing against his chest, her hand slowly stroking his cock, while Don's hands had slipped around to squeeze and caress her ass. She said, “Oh, no, I just woke up here. What a wonderful place!” “I DEFINITELY agree,” Don grinned. “Did you enjoy the gazebo?” Her eyes widened as she grinned back at him, “Oh my god, I did!” Don tried to think of another question, but then she was kissing him, and all coherent thought flew away. His hands were squeezing her tight ass as her tongue pushed eagerly into his mouth and her grip tightened on his very hard prick, but all Don could do was focus on kissing the gorgeous woman in front of him. Somehow, they made their way over to the edge of the fountain basin, and then Don urged her down until she was sitting on the stonework and he was kneeling in the grass. Her hands held his face, making sure he didn't stop kissing her until he pulled away with a smile, and said, “I'm not going anywhere.” Then Don leaned in and kissed the side of her long neck, finally setting aside her celebrity status and simply making love to her as the gorgeous, talented, warm, and very sensual woman she was. After lingering all too briefly over her perfect breasts, Don was soon on his hands and knees kissing his way slowly along the insides of her firm thighs. As his tongue ran over her moist lips and teased the sensitive tip of her clit, she sighed and leaned back a bit, pushing herself forward for him. Soon she was groaning and trembling with her orgasm as Don licked and sucked at her clit and fucked three fingers slowly in and out of her pussy. Don smiled up at her as she caught her breath, but then, with a playful laugh, she lunged forward and pushed him backward, sending him sprawling on his back in the grass as she quickly straddled him. She grinned down at him as she held him down with her left hand on his chest and used the other to get hold of his cock. Don just lay back and enjoyed the view as she rubbed the fat head of his organ between her lips and then pushed it up inside her. “Uh, that's better,” she purred as she sank down on Don, who groaned a little as he felt her warm pussy enveloping him in its tight, wet embrace. She proceeded to grind against him, rubbing her clit against his body while working his cock in and out of herself. Don reached up to cup her tits in his hands, gently squeezing them and brushing his thumbs over her erect nipples. “Tighter,” she murmured, as she worked her pelvis down against him. Don squeezed her breasts harder and pinched her nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. “Yes,” she nodded with closed eyes. She was rocking herself on Don intently, leaning back so that she was fully upright on top of him. The fingers of her right hand were now stroking her clit as she rode Don's cock. “Harder!” Don twisted her nipples and arched his back a bit, pushing up into her grasping pussy. “Fuck yes!” she said loudly, apparently oblivious to the fact that they were fucking there open in the middle of the park. Then she was coming again, shuddering and calling out, “Goddamn! Yes! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” Don just lay there, loving the way her pussy was squeezing and pulling at him, and lost in the spectacle of Jessica Biel climaxing on top of him. Then she was collapsing forward on him, kissing him passionately and deeply, while still rocking her pelvis against him. Don had automatically released her tits and was now squeezing her ass as she writhed against his body, fucking him enthusiastically. Don did his best to flex up into her in time with her motions, but she was definitely setting the pace, and soon she was coming yet again, biting down on his shoulder as her body clenched and spasmed on top of him. Don held onto her, caressing her back, as she slowly came down. She was kissing the side of his neck, and there was no way he was going to do anything to interrupt this moment. Then, abruptly, she pushed up and looked at him seriously, “You haven't come yet, have you?” “Uh, no, but…” She didn't give Don a chance to complete that thought, but quickly scrambled around until she was lying perpendicular to him so she could lean over him and suck his cock. With her hand wrapped tightly around the base, she moved her mouth up and down on his sex. Don felt her lips moving on him and her tongue massaging the length of his cock. He felt his sensitive head hitting the back of her throat. It was some of the most aggressive head he'd ever received, which, coupled with the circumstances of the entire situation, brought him to the brink in no time. He groaned loudly and shoved up into her mouth as his cock swelled in her fist and mouth and then erupted with a hot, jetting fountain of cum. Don lay there shuddering as his orgasm had its way with him and then as his new lover intently sucked the any remaining cum from him and swallowed it down. Don was grinning up at the sky, then there was a beautiful woman smiling down at him as she slipped her leg over his and caressed his chest. She said, “Damn, that was hot! By the way, my name is…” “Jessica, yes, I know,” Don smiled. Her eyes widened in alarm, “You recognize me?” “Yes, of course,” he nodded. “I'm Don, and I'm very happy to meet you!” “But… what the hell?” she looked at him intently with an expression of near panic. “This is real?” “Well, yes, I suppose so.” “What the hell?!” she repeated. “I thought this was all some crazy dream or something.” So, Don began explaining Eros to her as best he could. “My god,” she interrupted after a bit. “What have I done? I need to get back! My son…” “You have a son?” “Yes, of course, and a husband!” “Ah, I didn't know that,” Don frowned. He didn't bother to point out that she had still done nothing to move away from him. “I really thought you were single.” She rolled her eyes at him, “You must really be out of touch with the celebrity gossip.” “Well, yeah, that's probably true, but…” “I thought everyone knew I was married to Justin Timberlake.”A Task Leads to a weekend romp with Jessica Biel. “What the fuck?!” Toshia interrupted. “I would have heard about that!” “Yeah, I had pretty much the same reaction,” Don laughed. “But then I had a thought…” “Ah, Jessica, what year is it for you?” “What do you mean ‘for me'? It's 2019.” “Ah,” Don smiled. “It's just 2011 for me.” “What?!” she gaped at him. “That's crazy!” So, Don explained what he knew of time in Eros, ending with “It's crazy, I know, and I still have questions, but the good news is that while we're here time is moving very slowly in the ‘real' world. You can spend weeks here and then go back and no one will even notice that you've been gone.” “Seriously?” “It definitely seems to be the case,” Don nodded. “Does that help?” “I guess,” she admitted. “If I can get back and my son won't miss me, well, yeah, that helps.” “You'll go back automatically when you're satisfied, or bored,” Don smiled. “There's also a shortcut I can help you with, if you decide you're in a hurry.” “Hum,” she frowned thoughtfully. Don considered keeping his mouth shut, but couldn't help but ask, “And what about Justin?” “Oh, fuck him! I'm mad at him anyway,” she scowled. She explained that he had gotten too friendly with a pretty co-star, and apparently got caught by the paparazzi. “I know I'll forgive him. I love him, really, but it's just so goddamn frustrating… not to mention embarrassing. You probably think I'm crazy, but, honestly, that's the thing that's most annoying. We've both spent so much time in the spotlight, you'd think he'd know better. Asshole!” Don frowned in what he hoped was a sympathetic way. He was having a hard time imagining anyone out there in the ‘real' world stepping out, even a little, on Jessica Biel, but he was also painfully conscious of the fact that that very woman was now lying there naked in the grass with him after some truly intense sex. He didn't want to do or say anything to screw this up, including prompting her to defend her husband's honor, even a little. So, he kept his mouth shut. Ultimately, after a few long quiet moments, she seemed to reach a conclusion. Looking down at Don, she smiled and said, “I can go back whenever I want, you said, and no one will miss me if I stay a while?” “That's what I understand, and I can help you with getting back,” Don nodded. “And, what happens in Eros stays in Eros?” she grinned. Don noticed that her hand had found his reawakened cock again. “Certainly,” he grinned back. “In fact, there's no such thing as STDs or pregnancy here.” “That's good. Holy…! I completely forgot about those things!” “Yeah, apparently that's a side effect.” “Damn,” she laughed. “Well, then, Don, want to show a girl around some?” “And that's how I got to spend three days in Eros with Jessica Biel,” Don concluded, rather smugly, Toshia thought. “That's crazy!” Toshia laughed. “You lucky, lucky bastard! You're going to have to give me all the details next time we talk!” “Okay,” he smiled. “Oh, and apparently we need to keep an eye out for a series called The Sinner. Jess is particularly proud of that one.” “Oh, it's 'Jess' now, is it?” she grinned. “Okay, go on with your story. You've got two tasks left and it's almost time to meet Sarah.” “Okay, this won't take too long to finish up,” Don smiled. Chapter 11. Lords of Eros “You've reached the final stages of your trials, Don, and it's time we gave you some additional information,” Pamela said seriously. “You have not simply been being evaluated on whether or not you accomplished your tasks, but also on how you have accomplished them, how you have conducted yourself. The rings grant substantial power in Eros. Those who have them exercise quite a bit of authority in making this world into what they desire, and thereby shape the experience of everyone else in Eros. We watchers, as you call us, try as much as possible to refrain from interfering directly, and have followed this policy for some time. However, we do not want Eros to become a static environment. “It should instead be something that grows and changes with the interests and decisions of those to whom it matters most. That is, you and the others who have gone to such lengths to gain these rings. We concluded that we should bequeath dominion of this world to you and the others. We have, in effect, made the owners of the rings lords of Eros. This is a grave responsibility, and we cannot give such power to anyone who will not take it seriously.” Don frowned thoughtfully and said, “That makes sense.” “Throughout your time in Eros, with the possible exception of the unpleasantness with those ruffians by the river, you have exhibited patience and kindness in your dealings with others. When the Wizard asked you for help, you responded creatively and cheerfully.” “Well, he didn't really give us much choice,” Don smiled. “That's not true,” Pamela shook her head. “You could have resisted, or at the very least helped him grudgingly. Even when you fought your way through the Sisterhood to rescue Toshia, you went out of your way to disrupt their little culture as little as possible. You and Toshia consistently treated the people you met with respect. Your care and concern for your travelling companions was evident throughout your time in Eros. “When you were in Shagbottom, rather than simply ask for where to find Lady Primrose and then leave, you made friends. When you were sent into the untamed lands, you spent the time to learn about the tribes' ways and customs, and then adapted your approach accordingly. Over the course of a year in the Resort, when you were prevented from interacting with the guests in a directly sexual way, you consistently helped people find ways to enjoy themselves. For instance, there was this…” Suddenly there was, hovering over the table between them an extremely well-rendered holographic display of a scene at the Resort. Don and a young woman were sitting on a bench outside the Temple of Venus and Aphrodite. The woman was in her early twenties at the most and Don had found her outside the temple crying. She had just spent several hours in the orgy room, and then suddenly felt that she was doing something very wrong. This was the first time Don had encountered anything like this in Eros. He had only talked to her and then sat with her until she felt better. “She felt guilty about enjoying so much sex; so much,” Don explained. “She couldn't remember it, but I'm sure she was raised in a very repressive family, probably a religious fundamentalist one. I guess most of those folks who end up here just roll with it, but she had internalized the whole insane set of rules and thought of her healthy sexuality as depravity. She was too honest, too good a person, to just dive in and live with the hypocrisy.” “Did you say any of that to her?” Pamela asked. “No, that wouldn't have been helpful,” Don shook his head. “She just needed someone to listen and not tell her what to do for five minutes.” “You spent more than an hour and a half with her.” Don shrugged. “Then there was Ms. Biel,” Pamela smiled. “When she realized Eros wasn't just a dream and that she had been cheating on her husband, you talked her through it, helping her come to a happy understanding of her situation.” “Oh, yeah, Saint Don,” he laughed. “I was hoping to have a lot more sex with her.” “Of course, but there are many ways of going about meeting that end, and you chose a thoughtful and caring approach,” Pamela said. “I'm going over all of this to emphasize the kind of character we see in you Don and to stress that it is because of that character, more than the fact that you want the ring or have accomplished these tasks, that we are allowing you to continue onto the final two steps. You are worthy of the responsibility.” Don sat silently for a moment before saying, “Thank you.” Then, suddenly concerned, he asked, “Is Evelyn worthy? I don't mean that I think she might not be!” Pamela smiled again and said, “That is between her and us. Though I can tell you that she has already been given her sixth task.” Grinning, Don said, “Oh, excellent! But do you often decide someone will not continue?” “Often? No, but it does happen.” Don thought about Stephanie and Nicole and wondered if they would pass onto the next stage, or if they had already. Task Six. “For your next task, we require that you contribute something to Eros. This is to be a lasting feature of this world. You might think of this as a graduate project. For example, The Jungle Room was India's project in response to this task, and the Dark Labyrinth was built using the capability we'll be giving you.” “Okay, but…” Pamela anticipated his question, “Your ring has been upgraded so that you now have 'Builder' permissions.” Don looked at his ring, which now looked like a simple gold band. Pamela went on, “You'll see the 'Builder' option next to travel, but this is simply a mode you'll enter. How to actually build things and the limits of your ability are things we leave to you to discover. Do not be surprised, though, if people without rings seem to ignore you while you are in builder mode. They will know you're there and stay out of your way, but they will not be interested in what you're doing. When you dismiss that menu bar, you will exit the mode.” Don frowned and said, “I guess I'll work it out, then.” “That's the idea,” Pamela smiled. “Do you have any questions?” “Yes, actually. Can two of us collaborate?” “As long as there are two clearly distinct contributions to Eros at the end of things, yes.” “And we can do whatever we like and put it anywhere?” Pamela shook her head a bit, “No, you'll find that you can't build anywhere that someone else has also used, and we will be evaluating the value of your contribution. However, in regard to that last bit, we will be rather open-minded, and we have no reason to think you will do something we find unacceptable, particularly if you are working with Evelyn.” Don smiled broadly and said, “Thanks. I think I'm ready.” “Good luck, Don, and have fun.” He laughed, “Always!” Then he teleported himself to the Resort. “Wait, wait,” Toshia stopped him. “How is that supposed to work?” “I'm getting to that,” Don laughed. “Hold on… let me respond to this text real quick… okay, where was I?” More accurately, Don teleported himself to the Riverboat dock outside the Resort, and from there walked to the pool area, where he would look for Evelyn. It was late afternoon, and the poolside was populated by the usual cross section of naked or almost naked Resort guests, many of whom were enjoying some level of sexy play. It would be easy for Don to get distracted, but he really had hopes of reuniting with Evelyn on this visit. Sure enough, there she was! She emerged from the water with her dark hair flowing down over her strong shoulders and slowly moved toward the edge of the pool, more of her naked body coming into view with each step. Don was at about her four o'clock, so she didn't see him, but he was able to enjoy the sight of the water running over her skin as she waded into the shallower part of the pool. Her perfect breasts came into the air and Don realized he would soon be able to kiss those as well as all of her other delicious parts. Don was torn between shouting her name and breaking into a run to her and holding back to see what she might get up to without knowing he was watching her. When her perfect ass came into view, with the water streaming over it, Don decided that he had enough of watching her from any distance, and picked up his pace, but refrained from yelling and running. As he neared the corner of the pool, he watched her shake her hair out a bit. She was making her way over to a spot near a lounger where it looked like a blonde woman was enjoying the attention of two men. As Don rounded the corner, he saw that Evelyn was watching the threesome with her hands on her hips. He couldn't help but admire her ass as he drew closer. As he came up behind her, Don heard her saying, “That's it, Raj, lick that clitty. Save some of that tongue action for me, though.” “Maybe I can help you with some of that tongue action,” Don offered. Evelyn turned a bit and looked over her shoulder with a smile, which broke into a wide grin as she recognized Don. In another second they were in each other's arms, kissing passionately. Having her warm, though damp, body in his arms lifted Don into a nearly delirious state of delight. Kissing her again had his heart racing and head spinning. Then Evelyn was turning and drawing him with her onto the lounger next to the one being used by the threesome she had been coaching. Their kiss continued as she pulled him down on top of her. She parted her legs for him and then he was inside her, as if this were what their bodies automatically did, and it certainly felt as if that was what they should do. Don kept kissing her deeply, with all the passion of his pounding heart, as her hands squeezed his ass and pulled him into her, wordlessly demanding that he fuck her. Don's hands had slipped under Evelyn's body to hold her shoulders, holding her in place so he could drive into her. Her legs were wrapped around his, helping her work her body against him. He could feel her breasts pressed hard against his chest as her pussy squeezed and pulled on his cock. Their bodies, drawn taut by their lust as well as their time adventuring in Eros, strained together, needing each other. Only when she began to come, did Evelyn break their kiss, her head falling back as she began to shudder beneath him. Then she was burying her face in Don's neck as her body clenched around him. Shaking and groaning, she clutched at him, her nails digging into his back and her legs holding him deep inside her. Don shoved himself into her as hard as he could and then felt his body erupting inside her. He ground himself into her wildly, instinctively, as his cock swelled and filled her pussy with his hot cum. Don only gradually became aware that he was still rocking slowly in and out of Evelyn and that she was kissing his neck. When he drew back a bit to smile down at her, she grabbed his head in her hands and said, “Let's never do that again!” “Damn, I thought it was pretty good,” he smirked. “Ass!” she scowled and then pulled him down to kiss her again. When she let him up again, she said, “You're mine, remember? No more wandering off!” “Agreed,” he nodded seriously. “And I love you too.” “You better!” she smiled. “This must be Don, I take it,” said the blonde from the next lounger. Don turned to see that the young woman, who had a very nice hourglass shape and full breasts, was now lying with her head on the belly of a muscular young black man with a large, thick cock, which the blonde was idly stroking. The cock was still leaking a bit of cum, though most of that seemed to have been deposited on the woman's cheek and forehead. An older gentleman, who Don presumed must be Raj, had the blonde's upper leg raised so he could push his cock into her from behind. Evelyn laughed and said, “Whatever gave you that idea?” “Pleased to meet you,” Don smiled. “No, you keep fucking me,” Evelyn said, pulling Don into her with her legs. “Yes, Princess, this is Don. Don, this is Princess Lavinia, and that fellow with the big cock is Pete, and that's Raj.” Don was happy to keep moving slowly in and out of Evelyn's sweet embrace, but had to ask, “‛Princess'?” “Yes, she's a princess,” Evelyn smiled. “So, show proper respect when you're fucking her later.” “Oh, well, of course,” Don laughed. “But…” “No, no, I want more of your cock before we start sharing stories,” Evelyn ruled. “Well, if that's the way it has to be,” Don smirked as he shoved up into her harder for emphasis. “Yes, that is exactly the way it has to be!” Evelyn grinned and pulled his head down so she could kiss him again. After Evelyn had three more orgasms, and after they had taken a break in the pool, Evelyn suggested it was time for Don to get to know Lavinia a bit better so she could have some fun with “the boys,” Pete and Raj. Don demonstrated that Raj wasn't the only one who knew who to go down on a princess, and then fucked Lavinia from behind, her generous ass up in the air as she leaned over the side of the lounger so both she and Don could watch Evelyn with the boys. As they first started watching, Evelyn was getting spit-roasted, Pete fucking her from behind with his long, thick cock and Raj kneeling in front of her so she could deep throat him. Then, though, Evelyn had Raj get down on the lounger so she could ride his cock and Pete could fuck her ass. Raj did his best to shove up into Evelyn in time with the rough fucking Pete was giving her, but the event was dominated by the big black cock reaming petite Evelyn's tight ass. After Lavinia came, her fingers rubbing her clit furiously while Don fucked her, Don moved over to offer Evelyn his slippery cock to suck. Soon Evelyn was coming in wave after wave of muscle clenching pleasure and three cocks were pumping cum into her. Only after she had come down and all the men gently disengaged, did Evelyn tell her story … well, part of it. She was lying back against Don with his arms wrapped around her. Pete and Raj had gone back to the lounger with Lavinia. The sun was setting, and twilight was spreading rapidly. “After I got back from my pilgrimage… I'll tell you about that later, lover,” she patted Don's arm and smiled up at him. “I was sent to the Kingdom of Argent with instructions to help the ruler with his problem. It turns out that someone had abducted Princess Lavinia and he needed a champion to get her back.” “Oh, nice!” Don grinned. “So, they gave me a suit of armor, a sword, and a horse, and sent me off to what they call the Bandit Lands, where I needed to rescue Lavinia from the bandit chief, Rolando. I met some resistance along the way, but, as soon as I said I was looking for Rolando, anyone I met just pointed out the way and left me alone. Sure, I made a couple of stops along the way… A girl has needs, you know.” Don chuckled, kissed the top of her head, and said, “I do, indeed.” “But it didn't take long to get to Castle Badass. No, I'm serious, that's what they called it!” Lavinia raised her head from Raj's lap and said, in a noticeably changed tone, “'Tis true!” “So, I get to Castle Badass about noon, and say I'm there to see Rolando, and they let me in to this big old courtyard. It reminded me of the arena in Gladiator, but not so big, of course, but it was all sand. I got off my horse and tied him up to a post near the gate I'd come through and walked into the center of the courtyard. Then, on this balcony in front of me, out comes this tall guy with long black hair, and says, 'Welcome, fair lady.'” Evelyn's voice dropped in pitch and adopted a somewhat Spanish accent when quoting the man. She resumed her normal voice as she continued with, “I was a bit surprised by so polite a greeting, but I said I was there to retrieve the princess. He just laughed, and then I saw that there were a lot of other men, and some women, watching me from other balconies and windows around the courtyard. They were all laughing too. "Rolando - the tall guy turned out to be Rolando - said, 'This princess?' and he pulled Lavinia here out to stand next to him. She was wearing a collar and Rolando was holding the leash tied to it. I said, 'Well, if she's Princess Lavinia, then yes.' He said, 'She's been a lot of fun for us. What kind of fun will you give us in exchange?' "I thought about offering sex. Rolando was good looking, and I was horny, but I guessed it was unlikely that they were going to give up Lavinia for just one fuck session. Maybe I could offer sex with all of them, but there were a LOT of them…” “There were!” Lavinia chimed in, “and not all of them are as polite as Rolando, believe me!” “You loved it and you know it,” Evelyn chided the princess with a laugh. “Anyway, I also thought it would be a waste of that nice suit of armor. It really was nice! It was surprisingly light and easy to move in. Not much protection for the crotch, to be honest, but that made it easy to fuck in. Yes, of course, I tested that. You would have too!” “Certainly,” Don laughed. “So, anyway, I said something like, 'If you give her up, I won't kick all your asses.'” “Really?” chuckled Don. “'Tis true!” Lavinia chimed in again. “She was so brave!” “Aww, thanks, babe,” Evelyn said. “Rolando said, 'All our asses? That sounds exhausting, and unlikely. How about, you defeat my best fighters and I'll give you the princess?' I agreed, and then had to fight seven of his fighters. I had the sword, but, honestly, I was better with the staff and didn't really feel like killing anyone, so I just fought them with the staff. It went pretty quick, really. Like you said, lover, when you just decide that you can do whatever you need to here, it works out really well. A couple of them were a bit challenging, especially this one woman - who was really hot, by the way - but I won.” “She was amazing!” Lavinia grinned, Raj's hard, slippery cock in one hand and Pete's monster in the other. “Everyone, well, everyone minus seven, applauded and cheered and Rolando invited me in to congratulate me and give me Lavinia. I was pretty happy to let Rolando congratulate me several times, if you know what I mean.” “He made me watch,” Lavinia pouted. Evelyn laughed, “You mean he made you just watch. Anyway, he kept his word and gave Lavinia a horse and sent us on our way. On the road back to Argent, Lavinia insisted on showing her gratitude. She was very grateful!” “I still am!” Lavinia smiled. “They were always at me, never giving me any rest, and so rude! Well, not Rolando, but still, I was exhausted. You're my hero!” “Aww, you're sweet. So, when we got back to the king, he agreed to let me take Lavinia with me for a few days.” “Damn,” Don smiled. “That's quite the adventure!” “I thought so, too,” Evelyn chuckled. “We need to get her back, but in the morning. What should we do tonight?” “We could try the Jungle Room,” Don suggested. It continued to be his favorite club at the Resort. “Okay, but at least one of us needs another bath, first,” Evelyn said as she struggled to get up off the lounger. Things were busier in the Jungle Room than they had been in a while, or at least on any of Don's more recent visits. Even India was there, dancing for a couple of guys who had pulled up an additional stool for the show. She smiled and waved to Don, but they were obliged to wait until she had finished dancing, which included swallowing a load of cum from each of the men, before she sauntered over to greet them properly. After receiving a hug and a lingering kiss, Don introduced the rest of the group, ending with Evelyn. “Oh, you are the beautiful Evelyn,” India smiled. “Don has told me about you. He is very much in love with you.” “Oh, is that what he told you?” Evelyn winked at Don. “No, but a woman can tell when a man is in love when he talks about the object of his affection.” Then India looked down at their hands, and said, “I see you have gold rings now. Congratulations. We should do something to celebrate. Would you enjoy a jungle orgy?” In another moment, they were told to wait there, while India went back to the dance area to give some instructions to the women and men she had working there. While she was gone, Evelyn pulled Don close to whisper, “Damn, you're right, lover! She's sexy as hell!” “I know, right?” Don grinned. “I wouldn't mind rocking her world,” Evelyn breathed. “I think you'll probably get your chance,” he chuckled. Soon, they all heard India's voice speaking in their ears, as if she were leaning in close and speaking quietly to each of them. She said, “Ladies and gentlemen, it is orgy night here in the jungle. Grab a partner or two and come to the big orgy bed in the middle of the jungle! If you don't want to play with us, find somewhere else to play, but for tonight everyone must be having sex to stay in the jungle.” “That's a very neat trick!” Evelyn said. “Maybe we'll be able to do that,” Don suggested. Then they were all following India's swaying backside as she led them toward the center of the Jungle Room, which had once again been extensively rearranged. The big orgy bed India had mentioned was at least as large as the big bed in the Manor's big bed room, and was raised off the floor of the jungle by three broad stone steps. Torches illuminated the clearing and gave the tableau a primitive ritualistic feeling. India crawled up onto the bed and out to its center, where she turned and beckoned Don, Evelyn, and their friends to join her. She greeted Evelyn with a deep, passionate kiss, but reached out to take hold of Don's cock. When India turned to kiss Don, Evelyn moved down to kiss the left side of India's neck and then to kiss and suck at her dark nipple. Evelyn's fingers slipped up between India's firm thighs and began stroking her moist lips. India sighed happily when Evelyn began to fuck her fingers slowly in and out of her. Without letting go of Don's extremely hard cock, India let him and Evelyn lower her onto her back on the bed. Don moved around so he was next to Evelyn over India's right side, kissing, b

Outline01:16 - Intro02:28 - Early steps in Italy and California13:00 - From Riemannian geometry …17:01 - … to geometric control, robotics and locomotion34:54 - Academic environment at Caltech35:06 - From single robots to robotic networks53:51 - Art gallery problem1:01:37 - Networked and cyber-physical systems1:21:47 - Contracting dynamics1:33:07 - Coupled oscillators and power grids1:47:20 - On mathematical sociology1:56:44 - Writing and publishing2:02:14 - About professional service2:08:04 - Advice for future students2:08:04 - OutroLinksFrancesco's website: https://fbullo.github.io/CSM “People in Control” interview: https://tinyurl.com/cw4s8b4nGeometric Control of Mechanical Systems: https://tinyurl.com/mt59bw2nPD control on the Euclidean group: https://tinyurl.com/5xe9rtc2Coverage control for mobile sensing networks: https://tinyurl.com/ye83duhmVoronoi tassellations: https://tinyurl.com/y7w2tux4 Art gallery problem: https://tinyurl.com/yc8h88c3Dynamic vehicle routing for robotic systems: https://tinyurl.com/5n8c393pDistributed control of robotic networks: https://tinyurl.com/5xe6ztw3Attack detection and identification in cyber-physical systems: https://tinyurl.com/mvm44d24Voltage collapse in complex power grids: https://tinyurl.com/55mfdj28Lectures on network systems: https://tinyurl.com/tbd9dhy2Opinion dynamics and the evolution of social power in influence networks: https://tinyurl.com/2cd5v7taBanach contraction theorem: https://tinyurl.com/2yv4jjy6Contraction theory for dynamical systems: https://tinyurl.com/2r2pxh9pContracting dynamics YouTube series: https://tinyurl.com/3p7nsrypGetting it write: https://tinyurl.com/yhtabw2fHamming - You and your research: Support the Show.Podcast infoPodcast website: https://www.incontrolpodcast.com/Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/5n84j85jSpotify: https://tinyurl.com/4rwztj3cRSS: https://tinyurl.com/yc2fcv4yYoutube: https://tinyurl.com/bdbvhsj6Facebook: https://tinyurl.com/3z24yr43Twitter: https://twitter.com/IncontrolPInstagram: https://tinyurl.com/35cu4kr4Acknowledgments and sponsorsThis episode was supported by the National Centre of Competence in Research on «Dependable, ubiquitous automation» and the IFAC Activity fund. The podcast benefits from the help of an incredibly talented and passionate team. Special thanks to L. Seward, E. Cahard, F. Banis, F. Dörfler, J. Lygeros, ETH studio and mirrorlake . Music was composed by A New Element.

We're back and we're diving back into Foundation and Earth! This time we're discussing chapters 13, 14, and 15 or, if you prefer, Part V: Melpomenia. This is all of Part V and nothing but Part V. In this section, we bid a not-so-fond farewell to Solaria as our little trio becomes a quartet with the addition of Fallom. We travel to the third and final Spacer world for which we have coordinates. What do we learn on Melpomenia? Does that help us in our quest to find Earth? And what's bothering Trevize this time? Listen and find out! Also Star Trek, non-Euclidean geometry and marsupials. You can't miss that, right? Let's go!!

In this episode of Welcome to Cloudlandia, I reflect on the successful launch of our inaugural CoachCon conference, which brought together 350 members of the Strategic Coach community in Nashville. The vibrant energy of Music City and the exceptional facilities of the Music City Center made for an experience surpassing expectations. Our discussion centers on cultivating the mental fortitude needed to remain anchored amid future-focused hustle. We connect this to aspects like political endurance while acknowledging the enrichment that unfolding daily actions alone confer on tomorrow's potential. SHOW HIGHLIGHTS We recap the inaugural CoachCon Conference in Nashville, noting the participation of 350 strategic thinkers and our partnership with Agile for event organization. I share my personal stance on cowboy attire and backyard barbecues, highlighting a preference for distinctively non-Western wardrobe choices. We reflect on aging and the evolution of long-term vision, contrasting my early career's short-sightedness with the strategic foresight demonstrated by successful individuals and families. I celebrate another birthday and contemplate the depth of understanding that comes with each passing year, using the experiences of Kathy Ireland as an example of life's cumulative experiences enriching future visions. We explore the importance of journaling and manifesting desires into reality, discussing how projecting our goals into the future contributes to personal growth. The discussion covers the importance of crafting a future-focused vision, especially as one grows older, to avoid feeling diminished with age. We examine the significance of living in the present moment and how our current actions lay the foundation for future success. Personal insights are shared on the perception of time and the possibility of slowing down our experience of it through heightened consciousness. We speculate on political endurance and the uncertainties in the political arena, likening it to a horse race with a focus on the candidates' abilities to sustain a full term. The conversation includes a mention of upcoming travel plans, expressing a commitment to continue these enlightening conversations from wherever life takes us, whether it be a London hotel or a Cleveland suite. Links: WelcomeToCloudlandia.com StrategicCoach.com DeanJackson.com ListingAgentLifestyle.com TRANSCRIPT (AI transcript provided as supporting material and may contain errors) Dean: Mr Sullivan. Dan: I am back from Nashville. Dean: That's what I hear. I am excited to hear all about it. It looked like a real party it was a total party. Two parties. Dan: Yeah, so providing some context for the listening audience. We had our very first community conference and I say that because you did not get invited unless you were connected to someone in the strategic coach community and it's our first conference of this kind called CoachCon. And as a result of it. I already committed at my birthday party, which was on the second night, two-day conference, second night and I said we're going to have one in 26. So we're thinking we'll do this every two years Okay, that's amazing. Yeah, and we had 350, which was good for, you know, our first experience. Dean: And. Dan: I will say that we're really committed to Nashville. Nashville is just such a great city to have a conference. It's just. The city itself has an enormous amount of energy and the Music City Center is just a marvelous venue. It is so big it staggers your imagination. It's two blocks long by almost two blocks wide, and if you look at it from the air, from above, it looks like a guitar. Dean: Right, right right. Dan: Yeah, which you wouldn't do in Toronto. Dean: It would have no meaning, it would have no meaning. Dan: It would have no meaning in Toronto. Okay, it would. Dean: And anyway I was working with go ahead. I was just going to say not to say that Toronto has a pretty wonderful convention center facility too, downtown, yeah, but Nashville has a great. Dan: Nashville has a great Nashville has a great convention center. That's the truth. Yes, yeah, as a matter of fact, one of the smart moves we made as a company is that we immediately hired a convention conference company called Agile. I think they're from Kansas City and Minneapolis. They have two branches to their company and so, right from the very beginning, our team members were working with their team members to create the event, and this was a year and a half in planning, and they just are the perfect interface between yourself and then the venue itself, who have their own team. So it's really it's really a triple play of three teams working together to create the event. Dean: And I mean it's such a, it's such an engine. I had such flashbacks, you know, seeing the footage that was coming out of there of the room and the setup and the way everything was. Or you know that we did an event roughly twice that size every month for 14 years. You imagine, like the engine that it takes to put that, to put that on the logistics of it. That was what the main event was. We'd have, you know, 600 or 800 people every month. It was something. Dan: Yeah, are you speaking about one of your? Dean: events. This was with Joe Stumpf when we did the buy referral for the real estate agents. That was what we did. Dan: Oh, that was where you did it, that's where you did it that's where you did it yeah, that's right well, here I'm trying to impress you and you're just tolerating me no, I mean there's some. Dean: There's an exciting energy around a uh, a big event like that. I mean there's, but it's a very different energy. Dan: Yeah, wasn't it in Nashville 14 times. Dean: No, we did. We were all over the country. We did one a month. We did one every month for 14 years. Wow. Yeah exactly so Nashville was in the rotation that's like 168. Dan: That's like 168 conferences. Dean: Yeah, we did over 200, actually is what it was, but that was like a circus coming to town every month, every month, yeah. Dan: Anyway, I was talking to one of the black backstage crew. I was talking to one of the black backstage crew. You know who'd do the get you ready for going on to the front stage and I said we have 350 people. If you had other conferences going on at the same time. Our size, how many could you have? And he says I think around two dozen dozen we could be doing in the same building at the same time. But then when you get outside of the music center it's just filled with all the sorts of clubs yes and broadway, which is their big party street, is about two block, two blocks away, and there's lots of hotels. Dean: There's lots of hotels around, so's lots of hotels around, so you can feed into it. Dan: I was at the Four Seasons in Nashville. Dean: Of course you were. Yeah, did you get a hat and some boots to celebrate your 80th birthday? The Nashville way? Dan: I did not, and I'll tell you, my approach to cowboy hats and cowboy boots is about the same as my approach to backyard barbecues, and that is, I will celebrate my 80th birthday without ever having participated, actually organized one of those, and so it's on the list that I'm going to try to get through my whole life without doing I love it. Dean: That's the greatest thing. Dan: Dan. Dean: I can't tell you how many times I've used the. You know people are going through their whole life hoping to never have to meet you. Dan: I was having. Dean: I had lunch with an attorney friend who's a personal injury attorney and you know he works primarily with people in accidents and I said you know the challenge with his marketing is that it's acute onset and you know nobody is preparing for or anticipating the need to meet you. Dan: And I said in fact most people are hoping to go their entire life without ever having to meet you and if they get to, good for them, you know, yeah, funny, yeah, yeah, some people's marketing challenges are more severe than others yeah that's exactly right, well, yeah you know, as you know to be being that we're right at the beginning, when I started my coaching life, which was 50 years ago, in 1970, the people which was called Top of the Table and the table is a previous organization which started, I think maybe 50 or 60 years before, which was called the Million Dollar Roundtable, and it was a certain amount of sales qualified you and you got to go to the acronym mdrt. That was the thing, and. But in the early 70s they had gotten together and said let's take a top 500 in the world and and establish ourselves as the top of the table. Okay, and so right off the bat, in 74 and 75, I had one who was just a great friend and promoter of what I was doing at that time, because it was just being out there testing out this thing called coaching for entrepreneurs. And then very quickly I got others because they talked to each other a lot without seeing each other as competitors. And one of the things that I really remember is just getting really, really deep into how life insurance agents operate. And it's a tough marketing proposition because you have to engage people in a conversation about what's going to happen after they die. I mean, that's the premise of life insurance and the other thing is you're doing it for other people. And really you're doing it, and I had one of the great ones. These were, in the first instance, they were all Toronto-based, that's where we were, and I remember this one he would deal with, very wealthy. One of the things that attracted to me to these top life insurance agents is that their entire clientele were entrepreneurial. Okay, they didn't have corporate people, they had people who created their own businesses. And I remember this one agent here in Toronto. He said the first thing you have to zero in on again, it's a difficult sale is what the individual, who's a wealthy individual? What do they love that they want to be remembered for having been a great person after their life? What is it that they love that they would ensure and he said so. He had this line of questioning with. That went something like this he said first of all, as we talk about this, do you love your wife? And the person would say no, not really, not really. He says do you love your children? That would be a flat no. And he says no, I don't love my children. He said do you love your employees? And he says no, I don't love my children. He said, do you love your employees? And he says no. Finally gets to number four is do you love your reputation such that after you die, people will say you know he really loved his wife, his children and his employees? He says yes, I do love my reputation, and he says, ok, let's ensure your reputation. He says until you find out what someone loves, you might as well not talk about your legacy, and everybody has a different one. So the big thing everybody has a something that they want to be remembered for. So he says that's the thing that we have to ensure. Dean: And it's amazing. Amazing, isn't it, that there's always the reason behind the reason. Dan: It's funny yeah well, well, there's ultimately. There's the reason, the others aren't a reason you know, and actually that's true, yeah, and you have to find out what makes the person tick. You know, know, I mean everybody who lives for a long time and is very active in doing it has something that's right at the center you know, and I think it's idiosyncratic. Dean: What do you mean by that? Do you mean, that it's? Dan: I don't think it's predictable. Dean: Okay, right. Dan: Yeah, there's a deeper. I don't think everybody is Well. If you have the money to be different, then you're different in the way you want to be different. I mean we're talking about people who can write a check and they can write a big check. And what do they write the check for is the big question. And they're not doing it out of need, they're doing it out of want. Dean: Right. Dan: My contention is don't do things out of need. Do them out of what you actually want, because that represents much more of who you actually are than doing things because you need to do them that's an interesting because that's why or is that why you spent so much time 25 years. Dean: I remember you saying you made a commitment to every day writing what do I want. I journal for 25 years. Yeah. Dan: And because I was coming off a divorce and bankruptcy which coincided on the same day, that was, August, August 15th 1978. Dean: Yeah. Dan: And you know, divorce and bankruptcy qualify as two bad report cards. Dean: Right. Dan: Right right right, yes, I mean any way you interpret it, it's a bad report card and so you know I was kind of in a state and one of the neat things when you go through a divorce and bankruptcy, people don't throw parties for you to have you come and explain it you know they give you a lot of peace and quiet of your own, you know, yeah. So I had about four or five months after August to think this through and I said you know, the reason why these things are happening is I'm not telling myself what I actually want. You know I'm assuming certain things about other people. I'm expecting other people expectations, assumptions about other people and other things. And I said, you know, I think the key here is that I'm not actually telling myself what I want. Dean: And so. Dan: I said myself what I want and so I said so. Nobody cares if I was divorced and bankruptcy, and nobody really cares whether I amount to anything you know you know, and I was 30, 30, 34 years old at that time. And once you hit 30, nobody cares you know, it just, we invest a lot in younger people until age 30 and then they kick you out of the nest and anything that's going to happen in the future, you're going to do it on your own. You're not going to get a government grant to do it. And so I said, well, what I'm going to do is I'm just going to have one goal here. So I said, well, what I'm going to do is I'm just going to have one goal here. For the next 25 years, every day, I'm going to keep a journal and I'm going to write in it something that I want, With one constraint I'm not going to use the word, because I'm not going to use the word. I just want it, I just want it. And I did that, I did it for 25 years I missed want it, I just want it, and I did that. I did it for 25 years. I missed 12 days. There are 9,131 days in 25 years including the six leap year days, and so it's 9,131. And I did them on 9,119 days and my relationship with Babs came out of that. The whole strategic coach came out of that. You know and all sorts of things, like the lifestyle I'm living and you know why today I don't have to think about money at all because the money's there and you know, and the type of people I'm spending my time with. So it feels good, but that that the other thing is I. What it proved is I have the ability to stick with something for 25 years, right on a daily basis on a daily conscious basis. Dean: So still journal. Do you, uh, do you still journal? Dan: well, Dean, that's a really great question. I do journal, but it's in the form of using my tools on a daily basis. Dean: I got you Okay, so you're thinking about your thinking every day, like my fast filter, my fast filters. Dan: Yeah, you know fast filters. I'm saying what I want. It's just mutated into different forms. I want it's just mutated into different forms, but there isn't a day that I go through where I'm not stating something that I'm planning to achieve sometime in the future. Dean: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's really. That's something I'm coming up. Next April will be 30 years of, you know, daily journaling. Yeah, I mean of sequential, and I actually have all of the journals. It was April 1995. I would journal. I was always someone to write down my thinking, but not in an organized, archival kind of way. But April of 1995 is my journal number one the official like keeping that. Dan: So next year is the 30 years. Yeah, and it's so funny that you know, like you said, I think more than half your life. Dean: Yeah, that's exactly right. I just turned 58 on Friday and that was a you know, you mentioned you know at 30, I noticed that you did it at 29. Yeah, that there's a different you know different experience level at 58 than there is at you know 29. Dan: Oh yeah. Dean: Yeah, I remember when I first started with Strategic Coach in 1997, year one that was, I remember the three-year kind of vision thing was it was difficult for me to even like see three years into the future because everything up to that point had been constantly evolving. You know, and I just remember, as in real estate, you know, when I was young, starting in real estate, I remember there was talk of the, you know, halton hills the town where I was, had just released their 20 year plan and I thought to myself, man, that's like that's forever, that's a lot. I don't never get here. You know, 20 years, I can't imagine that they're thinking that far ahead. And I had a couple of experiences like that. One of the largest sale that I ever made was to an italian family that was land banking. They bought land on the corner of ninth line and steels in halton hills that wasn't going to be developed. Dan: we we're talking about Toronto. Yes, right, exactly Greater, Toronto area. Dean: Yeah, in Halton Hills that was like the outer edge of the greater Toronto area and their expectation was that this was going to be land that would be developed in 40 years and that was almost exactly true as to when it, you know, came about. It's just kind of that was their model. They would, you know, go, they were a development family and they would go out to the edge and buy the land that was inevitably going to be the development. So, you know, they owned a lot of land in Brampton and Mississauga that were, you know, at the time, rural areas that they bought, you know, 20 years previous, in the 60s, at that time, knowing that was going to be developed later on and what an interesting like long term vision, like that. But that tell that story, because I always like to have you know kind of I look at my birthdays, I like to have like a day of reflection and looking forward and you know real and yes, uh, two days ago was your birthday, that's right, yep, and so you know, looking, I have a completely different understanding and experience of what 25 years is, yeah, than I did when I was 29, right, and so it's like, not you know, because I can still remember cracking the you know seal on journal number one, april 1995, virginia Beach. That was the you know day one journal one, and I still I can transport there, you know know, right now. It's just amazing how your mind I'm just like I'm sure you can immediately remember your lunch that you had on the day you got bankrupt and divorced. You know, you probably recall that right there, but you couldn't imagine it was actually a good lunch yeah, that right yeah because it was on the credit card you were about to turn in. Dan: Yeah, the interesting thing about it is I've been working on a concept and I was reminded of it because for our top guest speaker at the conference we had Kathy Ireland, the very famous model. Dean: Oh, wait, it wasn't Joe Polish. Dan: As I said, we had our top speaker. It was Kathy Ireland. Joe was good. He was one of the three main speakers. Right yeah he should be delighted with that. Yeah, he should be delighted with that. Dean: Anyway. Dan: Kathy Erland talked about how her intent was not to become a model. Not that she was against becoming a model, but that was never her intention to be a model. And she was just approached when she was on the beach in Santa Barbara California when she was 17. On the beach in Santa Barbara California when she was 17. And an agent came up to her and said you know, I think there's a niche that if you wanted to become a model, you would really, you know, sort of a tomboy she's. You know, she was very athletic, she was very muscular and she, you know, she sort of had freckles and you know, and she did wonderfully for 15 years from age 17 to 32. And she was on many covers of magazines, especially Sports Illustrated, and but then when she was 32, she just decided to stop and while she was a model, she had taken a crack at creating different kinds of businesses, so it wasn't something new, she said. I always knew I was going to be an entrepreneur and that the modeling gave me a bridge from where I was born, where I grew up, to the outside world. And then she stopped at 32. And for the last almost 30 years's created a three and a half billion dollar global company. And it was really great. We have jeff madoff interviewers, so jeff, is how I know I had. Jeff is how I know kathy, because he had her as a guest at a marketing class that he teaches at one of the New York universities. But one of the things I found in common with her she said I like getting older because you just know so much more, and one of the things I'm really appreciating at 80 is that I can really I can think of my life in terms of at least seven decades. You know, the first one's a bit sketchy, you know, because you hadn't really become conscious. Dean: But you've recalled being out in the woods. Oh, no, no. Dan: I have very good memories below 10. And I think I've enhanced them some, but you have what's possible over long periods of time, you know and what you will stay with over long. I think one of the principal pieces of knowledge that you get as a benefit of getting older is you have a very clear idea of what exactly what you will stick with over a long period of time and we're just, and we're just trading reports here of something you stuck with and what I stuck with over a long period of time, and young people don't have the advantage of doing that that's exactly right. Dean: Yeah, you can't imagine and it's very interesting to see how I spoke things into existence in that journal, leading up to them, like describing what I want, and to see how they started out as a seed in the journal and then became reality. You know, something it's interesting to see and you wonder, you know, part of it is to keep that, you know, keep that rolling, keep it now looking forward in the next five. It's as you say, it's, you know, your I love about you at 80 is that your, you know future is still bigger than your past and that's kind of an exciting thing. Dan: Yeah, I will say. This doesn't naturally occur just by living years. Dean: No, no you have to be. Dan: I mean the. To make the future bigger than your past at 80 takes a lot of. Dean: Yeah, especially when. But maybe that goes to what your print too. Right, just achievement is a thing, that's a motivator for you. For the sake of parties, for the sake of parties. That's all the bigger parties. That's all the bigger parties. That's great, yeah, yeah. Dan: Someone was asking me that. You know, when I looked at the conference that we just had in Nashville, wednesday and Thursday, people said, well, how would you plan a conference? I said, well, I didn't plan the conference. It was my team members to plan the conference. So it was my team members to play in the conference. But I said my attitude toward the conference is what the party is going to be like on the final night. Yes, I work backwards from the party. What has to happen for it to be a great party? Dean: Right. Dan: Well, this is very exciting, that now it's just coincidentally, two years from now, we do it at the same time. Dean: That be, yeah, first week of may is a good day. Dan: It's a good time, it's good and we would do it at nashville and we would do it at the music city. I mean, we're far enough ahead on the schedule that we know it would be your 60th birthday. Dean: Yeah, that's right. Yeah, that'll be right in time for peak Dean on my health journey here. You know that'll be Back to my. Dan: That was the year of the peak Dean. That's exactly right, it's almost, like you know, a periodic visit of the northern lights. Yeah, yeah. Dean: No, I think that's very exciting. Yeah, and I've already said even more. Dan: I've already yeah, you put it in the calendar. It'll be the week of your birthday, probably okay, I mean I don't know what the week looks like, but let's find out now. Dean: I'm yeah, but yeah, nashville, early early 2026, may 10th is a Sunday. Yeah, it won't be that, it won't be on a. Dan: Sunday no, but it'll be the week. It'll be the week before, it'll be the week before. But the thing is now that they've done it once and we've got a date in the calendar. First of all, they can put the date in the calendar and they can get the event company plugged in. And they can get the event company plugged in, they can get the reservation at the Music City. They can get the hotel bookings I think the hotel bookings most hotels you can't get in for about six until six months before. Dean: But as early as you can. Dan: And yeah, we had a lot of bookings at the Four Seasons and you know, and we came in from the airport on Tuesday or on Tuesday? No, on Monday we came in, am I right? Dean: here. You came in on the Monday, yeah, because we spoke last Sunday yeah, I think I came. Dan: We came in on the Monday, yeah, and and we. But when we arrived, there was this whole meeting party of Four Seasons personnel. They came up to us and treated us like they liked us oh right, imagine that yeah, which I take regardless of what their motive is it doesn't matter, it still feels just as nice. Dean: Yeah, I think that's great. Mr. Dan: Sullivan is the general manager of the hotel. Oh, we're so happy to have you, Thank you. Thank you very much and a very friendly guy, yeah. So anyway, I'm going to work on this. The value of age. You know, there's a lot of people and I'm noticing them, because I'm starting to notice how people who are getting up in years I won't say they're my age, but they're getting up in years are falling into the general narrative of how people act when they get older and I'm just so convinced that they feel diminished because they haven't constantly worked on having their future bigger than their past. Yes, there's a point where they stop creating their future whenever that was there, was you know, well, and I think that you really have. Dean: It's a discipline that I constantly have to get myself to turn and have my gaze future focused, because as you do get older, you start that there's more to look back on. You know, and you spend a lot of time revisiting the past, but all the action is in the future. Dan: There's nothing, nothing you can do about the about the past, but yeah, but what I do is that I the past, if I remember. It can only be raw material for creating something new for the future. Dean: Yeah. Dan: Like when I go back and I remember a situation, I'll say now what did I learn from that situation that I can use in the future? You know, I don't accept the past's interpretation of itself. Dean: Yeah, say more about itself, yeah. Dan: Say more about that. Yeah, and I had a friend for a number of years who I'd gone to college with and we've, you know, we have been in touch for 20 years and he said you don't have any nostalgia, do you? You don't look back and have an emotional. And I said no, I mean, first of all, I was given a chance, you know, when I was having the experience, to appreciate what it was Okay. So it had a momentary opportunity to really imprint me with its importance. But if I'm looking back from 20 years ago, it's my interpretation of what it means to me going forward, not the interpretation. And I'm noticing, with the boomers, you know, there's nothing more disgusting than a nostalgic boomer. Dean: Yeah, like thinking about back in the day. Is that what you mean? 60s? Dan: well, 60s, you know, that's the usual. The 60s and 70s, you know, and they were going to turn the world on its head. And then they became civil servants, they got jobs as government employees or they became teachers and everything else. And then you get with them and they go back and they say, oh, those were the days, and everything like that. And it's kind of, but I have this notion that up until 30, society really supports you. Society invests in you, the government invests in you, the community invests in you, your parents invest in you, the teachers, everybody invests in you. And at 30, they cut it off and they set you free. And it's like I say about people say well, e know they have very high purchase. When the chicks are born, you know they're hundreds of feet up the eagles, and then on one day the mother eagle, just there's little eagles, they have wings. You know they have feathers, they have wings. She just pushes them all out of the nest. They have wings, she just pushes them all out of the nest. And the ones that don't hit the ground know how to fly. The ones who hit the ground, you don't have to worry about them. Wow yeah, and I think society at a certain point they just push all the 30-year-olds out of the nest and they want to see if you can make anything. Is there anything different or unique, and if there isn't, you just, more or less metaphorically, you hit the ground and you're nothing more than what things were before. Dean: There's nothing new. Dan: There's nothing new, but I pushed myself out of the nest when I was 18 years old, so the time until I was 30 didn't really mean anything. Dean: Right. Dan: But I don't comprehend nostalgia, because my emotions are in the present, they're not in the past. Dean: Yes, yeah, and that's what you realize, even in the future. I think when we were talking in Palm Beach earlier this year about the, you know the main thing is the future is really only shaped by the behaviors and habits and happens Really. Dan: The future is shaped by your present capabilities. Yeah, so I don't want to be looking backwards, as I'm living the present. I want to be fully alive because it's my up-to-dateness with the present that determines the quality of the future. Dean: Yes, yeah, bringing there here. Dan: Yeah, it's really interesting. We had a whole raft of speakers. Dean: Yeah, tell me about some of the highlights. What were some of the highlights? Dan: Well, I didn't get to all of them, because I went to every hour. You had a breakout session. I went to it, but there were different streams and tracks. I mean they're all going to be videoed. I mean they were all videoed so everybody's going to be able to see them. But I went to one and they had a couple of futurists there and I wasn't impressed. I wasn't impressed, and more and more over the last 10 years, since we did the collaboration with Peter Diamandis to create Abundance360, I always knew that people could be trapped in the past, in other words, that they were doing every day trying to hold on to the past. Okay, but I'm just as convinced now that people can get trapped into the future. They can get trapped, that they can't really be aware of what's going on right now because their mind is in a realm that hasn't happened yet and one of the things I know it makes them very nervous, makes them very anxious, anxious. And the thing that I found really interesting about these two speakers, the husband and wife team, was that they were making up all sorts of crazy words to describe what's happening, and you should be aware of this. And they had a word called templosion, which you know temp is, I guess, a Latin word for time, something and implosion, which I guess adds on a notion of explosion and that we're in a period of templosion, where there's hundreds of different ways that you're going to have to choose your life. Dean: And. Dan: I was sitting there and I said no, well, I know, 20 years, or I know 20 years from now, exactly what my life is going to look like. I don't know the details but, I, know it's going to be a direct extension of what I'm doing today. Dean: And. Dan: I know 80 percent of it. It will be expanding. I'll meet all sorts of new people. There's all going to be, but what's happening in the rest of the world and what other people are doing really don't, it doesn't really matter to me that much. Dean: I like that. I mean, that's what I realized in the journaling. I have two things. You something you said about. You know that spending time, you know, in the future is there's a lot of temptation or opportunity to just stay constantly planning and thinking about the future without actually you know, I've been using the word applying yourself. You know, I found that it's in our minds the things that motivate us to actually do something. We only do things in the present. So our own, you know our, you know our behaviors extended over time are what we define as habits, but it's really the behavior that's to be done today. You know, and I realized that writing in your journal and thinking about or planning for, or architecting or doing all these things that are future gazing is not actually applying yourself, it's not actually putting anything on the record. It's the equivalent of to the committee in our brain that actually controls what we do. It's the equivalent of quietly sitting in the corner coloring. Because no matter what anything that you do in your journal. The great deception is that it feels like that's actually making a difference. Right, that you're actually accomplishing something, but it's not. Until you break that barrier of getting it out of your head into and on the permanent record in the form of an action or a behavior. It's not going to do anything. Dan: Well, I think the big thing and I think it's a hard realization. I think it's maybe one of the harder realizations that nobody has ever lived in the future and nobody has ever lived in the past. Yeah, you only live in the moment. You know, and it and a lot of people just aren't capable of being conscious of the moment because their attention is being either dragged back backwards or pushed forwards and they're thinking about next, they're not thinking about next year. They're not thinking about, they can't think about next year because everything's happening right now. They can't think about 10 years ago, because everything's happening right now, and I think being present-minded is hard. Yes, I think it takes really an enormous amount of mental muscle to actually just be aware that things are happening right now and the way you handle things right now basically makes the future. Dean: Yes, that's the only thing that makes the future. It's the brick by brick layer. Dan: You know what I mean it's really the truth. Dean: It's that in the tapestry or whatever, that we can only see the accomplishment of it. But you realize that you can. Dan: I bet in the world of brick layers it's what a person can do in a day that really puts them at the top of their craft. Dean: I think you're absolutely right. Yes, and it's only on the reflection. You know, great walls are only built on the you know, compilation of daily accomplishment. Dan: Yeah. Dean: You know the thing is you can change any of it at any time. You know the thing is you can change any of it at any time. That's what I realized is in reflection, you know, when I was thinking about those, the elements of a perfect life, and really getting down to the, you know how DNA has, you know, the five elements of it, that if you look at the DNA of a perfect life, it's, you know, the elements are me, like everything. If I were to strip me naked and drop me on a deserted island, everything I have there, that's me, the portable things. Then time is life's moving at the speed of reality. 60 minutes per hour in perpetuity and you're always doing something in there, then environments are the things that are. You know. You basically put yourself in or you've been put in to an environment. That is your version of what's happening here, where, geographically, where you are, that where you live, what you have, what you do, all of those things are environments and you could, in theory, all of those things are environments and you could, in theory, move your, so I mean, you could completely change your environment. That's what you're thinking of the immigrant, right of you could leave everything behind and go change the environment and decide everything that you're going to do. Then the element of people meaning all the people that are around you, and money. So the combination of all of those five things are what create what we would call a life, you know, and I love like I find that infinitely entertaining too, you know in terms of yeah, the other thing is that, uh, one of the things that was predicted for me by other people is that as you get get older, time speeds up. Dan: Okay, and since I 70, I've experienced just the opposite. Time slowed down during the 70s and the years just took their time, and I think the reason is, I think it has to do with consciousness. You know, and I think that you know when you're, you know when you're a child, you're learning everything. So you're, you know, you're, everything is kind of new and you're exploring it and everything else, and then, as you get on, a lot of your experience you already knew that. So it's not significant, okay, but I think what happens with a lot of people, they are never actually creating their experience. There he is. I got a phone call that interrupted our phone call oh man, how rude somebody named Stephanie ok and. I immediately hit just to say you have no right. You're trespassing, that's right. Yeah, be gone. Where did I leave the thought that I was on? Dean: Well, you were talking about consciousness. That's what you were saying. Dan: Well, I think consciousness is the number of times during any time period that you're actually conscious of what's happening to you Okay. And I think it's massive when you're a child, because everything's new, right, but as we, let's say, we're now 20, we've actually mastered a lot of things that were new and now they're known, actually mastered a lot of things that were new and now they're known. I think, therefore, the number of situations when you're 20, that you're suddenly struck by something new is less than when you were, you know, four or five or six years old, okay, and so you're moving quickly from one moment of consciousness to another. And when you're six, it might be 20 things a day. That's a long day, but if it's 20 times a week when you're 20, that's a faster week, and if it's 20 times in a quarter, when you're 50 that's a really fast quarter and when it's 20 times, when you're 20 times in a year, when you're 70. I think that whether time is going fast or slow depends upon the number of consciousness things about something new that's happening in your life. And I found over the period of the last 10 years. I was back to having suddenly new conscious things that were happening. You know many times. You know many times a week or a day and time slowed back down, so it's actually being conscious. Dean: That's really, you know, that's almost like Euclidean, that's like euclidean geometry, you know yeah, that that harmonizes with something that I heard about. Why it the perception is that it moves faster is that when we're looking back, the routine reads as one experience, right? So you're looking back at the thing, if you've been, if your life becomes waking up in the same place, driving to the same job, sitting at the same desk, interacting with the same people and you look back over time at that, that all reads as one experience and it's only the new and novel consciousness moments that you were just talking about that get registered and recorded that single experience for some people may have. Dan: Another year just went by. Dean: That's exactly right and that's what oh well, that was fast where that was fast. Dan: Where's the time go? Where's the? Dean: time go. Dan: It's not a function of time, it's a function of consciousness. Right, that's exactly right, and we've had at least five conscious things in the last hour. I love that, Dan. We've done each other a favor over the last 60 minutes. Dean: I'm very excited about the culmination, the 60th. I'm reframing CoachCon as a peak theme celebration. I'm just I'm taking it for me, that's what it's. Dan: Not that you didn't have something to live for before, but we just put some kind of put a cherry at the top of your whipped cream. Yeah. Dean: I've had something that I was already on the path of you know, and that's kind of that's kind of great. Yeah, I just celebrated nine nine weeks of the peak Dean path here, so that's all it's very exciting. Dan: That's been a good nine weeks, hasn't it? It really has. Dean: Yes, it shows the whole you know thing of accountability and the plan and Somebody else's executive function, that's exactly right. Dan: Now I'm looking honestly. Dean: That's the thing Now. I'm looking for that in my you know, in deciding in my productivity now, in all the times that I'm, because I realized what an abundance of time I have you know, and very. I have what you would call very little environmental drag on my life in terms of time, commitments or obligations or people or other things, so it's a huge palette to play on Attempts on the part of other people to use up your life. Yeah, exactly, there's no claims to it, that's exactly right. So I've got no excuse. So now it's just like I get to architect this amazing adventure here. Dan: You know the thing that's going to be the highlight in the election campaign. It might happen in the next week or two where Trump finally sends the judge in the current trial in New York over the edge. He says I'm sending you to jail, and then the United States is just fixated on. Trump. He won't be in a normal cell. Of course He'll have a phone. Of course he'll have a phone and he'll be messages from Rikers Island, which is the main jail and he'll have lineups of everybody wanting to get his autograph and his picture taken in Rikers. And you know he'll be giving campaign speeches to all the prison guards and everything else. And meanwhile President Joe will have to be reminded who he is again and what his job is. Dean: Oh, my goodness. Well, we got six months. That's the exciting thing here. Dan: This is very exciting. This is very exciting. This is very, this is a and. And people say, isn't it a tragedy? I says what's a tragedy? And they said just the preposterousness presidential campaign. And I says, well, it depends on how you look at it. Because a lot of people say, well, this is crucial. You know the future, the world depends upon this. And I said, well, america has so much going for it, the United States has so much for it, it's got so much leadership at every level of activity that Americans are the only people on the planet in the history of humanity that can just treat domestic politics as a form of popular entertainment. Oh man, so I don't think you're approaching this correctly. You think that this is actually important, but it's entertainment. And then the question is who is the most entertaining candidate? And that I can predict yes. Dean: It would be amazing to see it all unfold, how it plays out. I still see Las Vegas still has all the odds makers still have Donald Trump as the winner. Dan: Yeah, I think it's in the 60s. Well, it depends on whether they're doing it with all the candidates or just the main two. But I think the betting markets I check every couple. I think the betting markets I check every couple weeks, the betting market. Yeah, it's been generally 60, 65 and you know and you know, which is surprising, because a lot of the big, wealthy democratic donors could be gaming the market, you know, just throwing a lot of money into the market. But but these are the las ve. I mean Las Vegas puts a bet on everything, so it's probably some legitimacy to what their bets are. Yeah, yeah, and it goes deeper than a particular issue. You know, it's just like. You know, it's almost like which one of them could actually be there at the end of another four years, and I think that's part of it. Holy cow yeah yeah, that's exactly true yeah, it's like a horse race, where you're betting to see if any of them could actually get to the finish line right oh my goodness, we know they could be at the starting gate. We just don't know which one's going to actually finish you know, yeah, that's so that's amazing, yeah all righty are we uh on next week? yes, nope, I'm on a plane trip to london on sunday of next week. So and the week after I, yeah, the week after I can do it from a hotel room in cleveland okay, perfect, but I'll have to give you the. I'll have to give you the date of the time. Dean: Okay, no problem. Dan: And I might have to get you up early. Dean: That's okay. It's my only thing on these Sundays. Yeah it's my only thing, so it's the highlight of my day Okay thank you, thanks, bye, bye.

Recorded on Jan 17, 2024 in London, UK. Video version available hereWhat makes so many predictions about the future of AI wrong?And what's possible with the current paradigm?From medical imaging to song recommendations, the association-based paradigm of learning can be helpful, but is not sufficient to answer our most interesting questions.Meet Athanasios (Thanos) Vlontzos who looks for inspirations everywhere around him to build causal machine learning and causal inference systems at Spotify's Advanced Causal Inference Lab.In the episode we discuss:- Why is causal discovery a better riddle than causal inference?- Will radiologists be replaced by AI in 2024 or 2025?- What are causal AI skeptics missing?- Can causality emerge in Euclidean latent space? Ready to dive in? About The GuestAthanasios (Thanos) Vlontzos, PhD is a Research Scientist at Advanced Causal Inference Lab at Spotify. Previousl;y, he worked at Apple, at SETI Institute with NASA stakeholders and published in some of the best scientific journals, including Nature Machine Learning. He's specialized in causal modeling, causal inferernce, causal discovery and medical imaging. Connect with Athanasios:- Athanasios on Twitter/X- Athanasios on LinkedIn- Athanasios's web pageAbout The HostAleksander (Alex) Molak is an independent machine learning researcher, educator, entrepreneur and a best-selling author in the area of causality. Connect with Alex:- Alex on the InternetLinksThe full list of links can be found here.Support the Show.Causal Bandits PodcastCausal AI || Causal Machine Learning || Causal Inference & DiscoveryWeb: https://causalbanditspodcast.comConnect on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aleksandermolak/Join Causal Python Weekly: https://causalpython.io The Causal Book: https://amzn.to/3QhsRz4

Get ready for a truly chilling tale that will make you think twice about taking a nap. On today's episode, our host JJ goes deep into the nightmarish realm of demonic dream invasions. We're talking about visions so vivid and terrifying, they'll make your skin crawl. From a withered demon whisking him away to see the apocalypse up close...to an eight-foot crow beast with spiraling eyes of madness hunting him through non-Euclidean labyrinths. Just when you think it can't get any more spine-tingling, JJ gets visited by a trilogy of fresh hell in March 2024. A desert piled with smoldering corpses ruled by a leather-clad demoness who casually flays the skin off his face...a sickly yellow "angel" infecting his very brain...and a multi-headed dragon monstrosity slaughtering people left and right in a sacred church. You'll feel the pain and anguish as vividly as he did, all through the terrible magic of dreams. To top it off, you'll hear from religious experts weighing in on whether there are diabolical forces at play.Brace yourselves, folks. This one is a true nightmare fueled by over 40 years of chronic nightmares. Sleep with one eye open after this bone-chilling edition!See the TikTok video that reminded JJ of his experience in Japan and made him throw his phone across the room: https://www.tiktok.com/@kowazo_horror/video/7253276661620165889Watch JJ's interview on Demonology in the Hebrew Bible with Nicholean TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E986d4Yl_M8Get access to all of Southern Demonology's links at https://www.southerndemonology.com Get bonus content on PatreonSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/southerndemonology. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

I read from eucalyptus to eudaemonism.     Euchre was responsible for introducing the joker into the modern deck of cards, first appearing in Euchre packs in the 1850s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euchre     It seems like Euclidean geometry is the main geometry we learn in school. Are there more geometries?!  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_geometry https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean     The word of the episode is "eudaemonism". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eudaimonia     Theme music from Tom Maslowski https://zestysol.com/     Merchandising! https://www.teepublic.com/user/spejampar     "The Dictionary - Letter A" on YouTube   "The Dictionary - Letter B" on YouTube   "The Dictionary - Letter C" on YouTube   "The Dictionary - Letter D" on YouTube   "The Dictionary - Letter E" on YouTube     Featured in a Top 10 Dictionary Podcasts list! https://blog.feedspot.com/dictionary_podcasts/     Backwards Talking on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmIujMwEDbgZUexyR90jaTEEVmAYcCzuq     https://linktr.ee/spejampar dictionarypod@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/thedictionarypod/ https://www.threads.net/@dictionarypod https://twitter.com/dictionarypod https://www.instagram.com/dictionarypod/ https://www.patreon.com/spejampar https://www.tiktok.com/@spejampar 917-727-5757

Joël discusses the challenges he encountered while optimizing slow SQL queries in a non-Rails application. Stephanie shares her experience with canary deploys in a Rails upgrade. Together, Stephanie and Joël address a listener's question about replacing the wkhtml2pdf tool, which is no longer maintained. The episode's main topic revolves around the concept of multidimensional numbers and their applications in software development. Joël introduces the idea of treating objects containing multiple numbers as single entities, using the example of 2D points in space to illustrate how custom classes can define mathematical operations like addition and subtraction for complex data types. They explore how this approach can simplify operations on data structures, such as inventories of T-shirt sizes, by treating them as mathematical objects. EXPLAIN ANALYZE visualizer (https://explain.dalibo.com/) Canary in a coal mine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentinel_species#Canaries) Episode 413: Developer Tales of Package Management (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com/413) Docs for media-specific CSS (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/CSS/@media) Episode 386: Value Objects Revisited: The Tally Edition (https://bikeshed.thoughtbot.com/386) Money gem (https://github.com/RubyMoney/money) Transcript: STEPHANIE: Hello and welcome to another episode of The Bike Shed, a weekly podcast from your friends at thoughtbot about developing great software. I'm Stephanie Minn. JOËL: And I'm Joël Quenneville. And together, we're here to share a bit of what we've learned along the way. STEPHANIE: So, Joël, what's new in your world? JOËL: I've recently been trying to do some performance enhancements to some very slow queries. This isn't a Rails app, so we're sort of combining together a bunch of different scopes. And the way they're composing together is turning out to be really slow. And I've reached for a tool that is just really fun. It's a visualizer for SQL query plans. You can put the SQL keywords in front of a query: 'EXPLAIN ANALYZE,' and it will then output a query plan, sort of how it's going to attempt to do the work. And that might be like, oh, we're going to use this index on this table to join on this other thing, and then we're going to...maybe this is a table that we think we're going to do a sequential scan through and, you know, it builds out a whole thing. It's a big block of text, and it's kind of intimidating to look at. So, there are a few websites out there that will do this. You just paste a query plan in, and they will build you a nice, little visualization, almost like a tree of, like, tasks to be done. Oftentimes, they'll also annotate it with metadata that they pulled from the query plan. So, oh, this particular node is the really expensive one because we're doing a sequential scan of this table that has 15 million rows in it. And so, it's really useful to then sort of pinpoint what are the areas that you could optimize. STEPHANIE: Nice. I have known that you could do that EXPLAIN ANALYZE on a SQL query, but I've never had to do it before. Is this your first time, or is it just your first time using the visualizer? JOËL: I've played around with EXPLAIN ANALYZE a little bit before. Pro tip: In Rails, if you've got a scope, you can just chain dot explain on the end, and instead of running the query, it will run the EXPLAIN version of it and return the query plan. So, you don't need to, like, turn into SQL then manually run it in your database system to get the EXPLAIN. You can just tack a dot explain on there to get the query plan. It's still kind of intimidating, especially if you've got a really complex query that's...this thing might be 50 lines long of EXPLAIN with all this indentation and other stuff. So, putting it into a sort of online visualizer was really helpful for the work that I was doing. So, it was my first time using an online visualizer. There are a few out there. I'll link to the one that I used in the show notes. But I would do that again, would recommend. STEPHANIE: Nice. JOËL: So, Stephanie, what's new in your world? STEPHANIE: So, I actually just stepped away from being in the middle of doing a Rails upgrade [chuckles] and releasing it to production just a few minutes before getting on to record with you on this podcast. And the reason I was able to do that, you know, without feeling like I had to just monitor to see how it was going is because I'm on a project where the client is using canary deploys. And I was so pleasantly surprised by how easy it made this experience where we had decided to send the canary release earlier this morning. And the way that they have it set up is that the canary goes to 10% of traffic. 10% of the users were on Rails 7 for their sessions. And we saw a couple of errors in our error monitoring service. And we are like, "Okay, like, let's take a look at this, see what's going on." And it turns out it was not too big of a deal because it had to do with, like, a specific page. And, for the most part, if a user did encounter this error, they probably wouldn't again after refreshing because they had, like, a 90% chance [chuckles] of being directed to the previous version where everything is working. And we were kind of making that trade-off of like, oh, we could hotfix this right now on the canary release. But then, as we were starting to debug a little bit, it was a bit hairier than we expected originally. And so, you know, I said, "I have to hop on to go record The Bike Shed. So, why don't we just take this canary down just for the time being to take that time pressure off? And it's Friday, so we're heading into the weekend. And maybe we can revisit the issue with some fresh eyes." So, I'm feeling really good, actually. And I'm glad that we were able to do something that seems scary, but there were guardrails in place to make it a lot more chill. JOËL: Yay for the ability to roll back. You used the term canary release. That's not one that I'm familiar with. Can you explain what a canary release is? STEPHANIE: Oh yeah. Have you heard of the phrase 'Canary in the coal mine'? JOËL: I have. STEPHANIE: Okay. So, I believe it's the same idea where you are, in this case, releasing a potentially risky change, but you don't want to immediately make it available to, like, all of your users. And so, you send this change to, like, a small reach, I suppose, and give it a little bit of a test and see [chuckles] what comes back. And that can help inform you of any issues or risks that might happen before kind of committing to deploying a potentially risky change with a bigger impact. JOËL: Is this handled with something like a feature flag framework? Or is this, like, at an infrastructure level where you're just like, "Hey, we've got the canary image in, like, one container on one server, and then we'll redirect 10% of traffic to that to be served by that one and the other 90% to be served by the old container or something like that"? STEPHANIE: Yeah, in this case, it was at the infrastructure level. And I have also seen something similar at a feature flag level, too, where you're able to have some more granularity around what percent of users are seeing a feature. But I think with something like a Rails upgrade, it was nice to be able to have that at that infrastructure level. It's not necessarily, like, a particular page or feature to show or not show. JOËL: Yeah, I think you would probably want that at a higher level when you're changing over the entire app. Is this something that you had to custom-build yourself or something that just sort of came out of the box with some of the infrastructure tools you're using? STEPHANIE: It came out of the box, actually. I just joined this client project this week and was very delighted to see just some really great deployment infrastructure and getting to meet the DevOps engineers, too, who built it. And they're really proud of it. They kind of walked us through our first release earlier this week. And he was telling me, the DevOps engineer, that this was actually his favorite part of the job, is walking people through their first release and being their buddy while they do it. Because I think he gets to also see users interact with the tool that he built, and he had a lot of pride in that, so it was a very delightful experience. JOËL: That's so wonderful. I've been on so many projects where the sort of infrastructure side of things is not the team's strong point, and releasing can be really scary. And it's great to hear the opposite of that. We recently received a question for Stephanie based on an earlier episode. So, the question asks, "In episode 413, Stephanie discussed a recent issue she encountered with wkhtml2pdf. The episode turned into a deeper discussion about package management, but I don't think it ever cycled back to the conclusion. I'm curious: how did Stephanie solve this dilemma? We're facing the same issue on a project that my team maintains. It's an old codebase, and there are bits of old code that use wkhtml2pdf to generate print views of our data in our application. The situation is fairly dire. wkhtml2pdf is no longer maintained. In fact, it won't even be available to install from our operating system's package repositories in June. We're on FreeBSD, but I assume the same will be eventually true for other operating systems. And so, unless you want to maintain some build step to check out and compile the source code for an application that will no longer receive security updates, just living with it isn't really an option. There are three options we're considering. One, eliminate the dependency entirely. Based on user feedback, it sounds like our old developers were using this library to generate PDFs when what users really wanted was an easy way to print. So, instead of downloading a PDF, just ensure the screen has a good print style sheet and register an onload handler to call window dot print. We're thinking we could implement this as an A/B test to the feature to test this theory. Or two, replace wkhtml2pdf with a call to Headless Chrome and use that to generate the PDF. Or, three, replace wkhtml2pdf with a language-level package. For us, that might be the dompdf library available via Composer because we're a PHP shop." Yeah, a lot to unpack here. Any high-level thoughts, Stephanie? STEPHANIE: My first thought while I was listening to you read that question is that wkhtml2pdf is such a mouthful [laughs]. And I was impressed how you managed to say it at least, like, five times. JOËL: So, I try to say that five times fast. STEPHANIE: And then, my second high-level thought was, I'm so sorry to Brian, our listener who wrote in, because I did not really solve this dilemma [chuckles] for my project and team. I kind of kicked the can down the road, and that's because this was during a support and maintenance rotation that I've talked a little bit about before on the show. I was only working on this project for about a week. And what we thought was a small bug to figure out why PDFs were a little bit broken turned out, as you mentioned, to be this kind of big, dire dilemma where I did not feel like I had enough information to make a good call about what to do. So, I kind of just shared my findings that, like, hey, there is kind of a risk and hoping that someone else [laughs] would be able to make a better determination. But I really was struck by the options that you were considering because it was actually a bit of a similar situation to the bug I was sharing where the PDF that was being generated that was slightly broken. I don't think it was, like, super valuable to our users that it be in the form of a PDF. It really was just a way for them to print something to have on handy as a reference from, you know, some data that was generated from the app. So, yeah, based on what you're sharing, I feel really excited about the first one. Joël, I'm sure you have some opinions about this as well. JOËL: I love sort of the bigger picture thinking that Brian is doing here, sort of stepping back and being like, wait, why do we even need PDF here, and how are our customers using it? I think those are the really good questions to ask before sinking a ton of time into coming up with something that might be, like, a bit of a technical wonder. Like, hey, we managed to, like, do this PDF generation thing that we had to, like, cobble together so many other things. And it's so cool technically, but does it actually solve the underlying problem? So, shout out to Brian for thinking about it in those terms. I love that. Second cool thing that I wanted to shout out, because I think this is a feature of browsers that not many people are aware of; you can have multiple style sheets for your page, and you can tag them to be for different media. So, you can have a style sheet that only gets applied when you print versus when you display on screen. And there are a couple of others. I don't remember exactly what they are. I'll link to the docs in the show notes. But taking advantage of this, like, this is old technology but making that available and saying, "Yeah, we'll make it so that it's nice when you print, and we'll maybe even, you know, a link or a button with JavaScript so that you could just Command-P or Control-P to print. But we'll have a button in there as well that will allow you to print to PDF," and that solves your problem right there. STEPHANIE: Yeah, that's really cool. I didn't know that about being able to tag style sheets for different media types. That's really fascinating. And I like that, yeah, we're just eliminating this dependency on something, like, potentially really complex with a, hopefully, kind of elegant and modern solution, maybe. JOËL: And your browser is already able to do so many of these things. Why do we sort of try to recreate it? Printing is a thing browsers have been able to do for a long time. Printing to PDF is a thing that you can do for a long time. I will sometimes use that on sites where I need to, let's say I'm purchasing something, and I need some sort of receipt to expense, but they won't give me a download, a PDF download that I can send to the accounting team, so I will print to PDF the, like, HTML view. And that works just fine. It's kind of a workaround hack. Sometimes, it doesn't work well because the HTML page is just not well set up to, like, show up on a PDF page. You get some, like, weird, like, pagination issues or things like that. But, you know, just a little bit of thought for a print style sheet, especially for something you know that people are likely going to want to print or to save to PDF, that's a nice touch. STEPHANIE: Yeah. So, good luck, Brian, and let us know how this goes and any outcomes you find successful. So, for today's longer topic, I was excited because I saw, Joël, you dropped something in our topic backlog: Multidimensional Numbers. I'm curious what prompted this idea and what you wanted to say about it. JOËL: We did an episode a while back where we talked about value objects, wrapping numbers, wrapping collections. This is Episode 386, and we were talking about tallying, specifically working with collections of T-shirt sizes and doing math on these sort of objects that might contain multiple numbers. And a sort of sidebar from that that we didn't really get into is the idea that objects that contain sort of multiple numbers can be treated as a number themselves. And I think a great example of this is something like a point in two-dimensional space. It's got an x coordinate, a y coordinate. It's two numbers, but you can treat sort of the combination of the two of them together as a single number. There's a whole set of coordinate math that you can do to do things like add coordinates together, subtract them, find the distance between them. There's a whole field of vector math that we can do on those. And I think learning to recognize that numbers are not just instances of the integer or the float class but that there could be these more complex things that are also numbers is maybe an important realization and something that, as developers, if we think of these sort of more complex values as numbers, or at least mathematical objects, then that will help us write better code. STEPHANIE: Cool. Yeah. When you were first talking about 2D points, I was thinking about if I have experience working with that before or, like, having to build something really heavily based off of, like, a canvas or, you know, a coordinate system. And I couldn't think of any really good examples until I thought about, like, geographic locations. JOËL: Oh yeah, like a latitude, longitude. STEPHANIE: Yeah, exactly. Like, that is a lot more common, I think, for various types of just, like, production applications than 2D points if you're not working on, like, a video game or something like that, I think. JOËL: Right, right. I think you're much more likely to be working with 2D points on some more sort of front-end-heavy application. I was talking with someone this week about managing a seat map for concerts and events like that and sort of creating a seat map and have it be really interactive, and you can, like, click on seats and things like that. And depending on the level of libraries you're using to build that, you may have to do a lot of 2D math to make it all come together. STEPHANIE: Yeah. So, I would love to get into, you know, maybe we've realized, okay, we have some kind of compound number. What are some good reasons for using them differently than you would a primitive? JOËL: So, you mentioned primitives, and I think this is where maybe I'm developing a reputation about, like, always wanting value objects for everything. But it would be really easy, let's say, for an xy point to be just an array of two numbers or maybe even a hash with an x key and a y key. What's tricky about that is that then you don't have the ability to do math on them. Arrays do define the plus operator, but they don't do what you want them to do with points. It's the set union. So, adding two points would not at all do what you want, or subtracting two points. So, instead, if you have a custom 2D point class and you can define plus and minus on there to do the right thing, now they're not pairs of numbers, two values; they're a single value, and you can treat them as if they are just a single number. STEPHANIE: You mentioned that arrays don't do the right thing when you try to add them up. What is the right thing that you're thinking of then? JOËL: It probably depends a little bit on the type of object you're working with. So, with 2D points, you're probably trying to do vector addition where you're effectively saying almost, like, "Shift this point in 2D space by the amount of this other point." Or if you're doing a subtraction, you might even be asking, like, "What is the distance between these two points?" Euclidean distance, I think, is the technical term for this. There's also a couple of different ways you can multiply values. You can multiply a 2D point by just a sort of, not by another point, but by just an integer. That's called scaling. So, you're just like, oh, take this point in 2D space, but make it bigger, make it five times bigger or five times further from the origin. Or you can do some stuff with other points. But what you don't want to do is turn this into, if you're starting with arrays, you don't want to turn this into an array of four points. When you add two points in 2D space, you're not trying to create a point in 4D space. STEPHANIE: Whoa, I mean [laughs], maybe you're not. JOËL: You could but -- [laughter] STEPHANIE: Yeah. While you were saying that, I guess that is what is really cool about wrapping, encapsulating them in objects is that you get to decide what that means for you and your application, and -- JOËL: Yeah. Well, plus can mean different things, right? STEPHANIE: Yeah. JOËL: On arrays, plus means combining two arrays together. On integers, it means you do integer math. And on points, it might be vector addition. STEPHANIE: Are there any other arithmetic operators you can think of that would be useful to implement if you were trying to create some functionality on a point? JOËL: That's a good question because I think realizing the inverse of that is also a really powerful thing. Just because you create a sort of new mathematical object, a point in 2D space, doesn't mean that necessarily every arithmetic operator makes sense on it. Does it make sense to divide a point by another point? Maybe not. And so, instead of going with the mindset of, oh, a point is a mathematical object, I now need to implement all of arithmetic on this, instead, think in terms of your domain. What are the operations that make sense? What are the operations you need for this point? And, you know, maybe the answer is look up what are the common sort of vector math operations and implement those on your 2D point. Some of them will map to arithmetic operators like plus and minus, and then some of them might just be some sort of custom method where maybe you say, "Oh, I want the Euclidean distance between these two points." That's just a thing. Maybe it's just a named instance method on there. But yeah, don't feel like you need to implement all of the math operators because that's a mistake that I have made and then have ended up, like, implementing nonsensical things. STEPHANIE: [laughs] Creating your own math. JOËL: Yes, creating my own math. I've done this even on where I've done value objects to wrap single values. I was doing a class to represent currency, and I was like, well, clearly, you need, like, methods to, like, add or subtract your currency, and that's another thing. If you have, let's say, a plus method, now you can plug it into, let's say, reduce plus. And you can just sum a list of these currency objects and get back a new currency. It's not even going to give you back an integer. You just get a sort of new currency object that is the sum of all the other ones, and that's really nice. STEPHANIE: Yeah, that's really cool. It reminds me of all the magic of enumerable that you had talked about in a previous conference talk, where, you know, you just get so much out of implementing those basic operators that, like, kind of scales in handiness. JOËL: Yes. Turns out Ruby is actually a pretty nice system. If you have objects that respond to some common methods and you plug them into enumerable, and it just all kind of works. STEPHANIE: So, one thing you had said earlier that I've felt kind of excited about and wanted to highlight was you mentioned all the different ways that you could represent a 2D point with more primitive data stores, so, you know, an array of two integers, a hash with xy keys. It got me thinking about how, yeah, like, maybe if your system has to talk to another system and you're importing data or exporting data, it might eventually need to take those forms. But what is cool about having an encapsulated object in your application is you can kind of control those boundaries a little bit and have more confidence in terms of the data types that you're using within your system by having various ways to construct that, like, domain object, even if the data coming in is in a different shape. JOËL: And I think that you're hitting on one of the real beauties of object-oriented programming, where the sort of users of your object don't need to know about the internal representation. Maybe you store an array internally. Maybe it's two separate instance variables. Maybe it's something else entirely. But all that the users of your, let's say, 2D point object really need to care about is, hey, the constructor wants values in this shape, and then I can call these domain methods on it, and then the rest just sort of happens. It's an implementation detail. It doesn't matter. And you alluded, I think, to the idea that you can sort of create multiple constructors. You called them constructors. I tend to call them that as well. But they're really just class methods that will kind of, like, add some sugar on top of the constructor. So, you might have, like, a from array pair or from hash or something like that that allows you to maybe do a little bit of massaging of the data before you pass it into your constructor that might want some underlying form. And I think that's a pattern that's really nice. STEPHANIE: Yeah, I agree. JOËL: Something that can be interesting there, too, is that mathematically, there are multiple ways you can think of a 2D point. An xy coordinate pair is a common one, but another sort of system for representing a point in 2D space is called the polar coordinate system. So, you have some sort of, like, origin point. You're 0,0. And then, instead of saying so many to the left and so many up from that origin point, you give an angle and a distance, and that's where your point is. So, an angle and distance point, I think, you know, theta and magnitude are the fancy terms for this. You could, instead of creating a separate, like, oh, I have a polar coordinate point and a Cartesian coordinate point, and those are separate things, you can say, no, I just have a point in 2D space. They can be constructed from either an xy coordinate pair or a magnitude angle pair. Internally, maybe you convert one to the other for internal representation because it makes the math easier or whatever. Your users never need to know that. They just pass in the values that they want, use the constructor that is most convenient for them, and it might be both. Maybe some parts of the app require polar coordinates; some require Cartesian coordinates. You could even construct one of each, and now you can do math with each other because they're just instances of the same class. STEPHANIE: Whoa. Yeah, I was trying to think about transforming between the two types as well. It's all possible [laughs]. JOËL: Yes. Because you could have reader-type methods on your object that say, oh, for this point, give me its x coordinate; give me its y coordinate. Give me its distance from the origin. Give me its angle from the origin. And those are all questions you can ask that object, and it can calculate them. And you don't need to care what its internal representation is to be able to get all four of those. So, we've been talking about a lot of these sort of composite numbers, not composite numbers, that's a separate mathematical thing, but numbers that are composed of sort of multiple sub-numbers. And what about situations where you have two things, and one of them is not a number? I'm thinking of all sorts of units of measure. So, I don't just have three. I have three, maybe...and we were talking about currency earlier, so maybe three U.S. dollars. Or I don't just have five; I have five, you know, let's say, meters of distance. Would you consider something like that to be one of these compound number things? STEPHANIE: Right. I think I was–when we were originally talking about this, conflating the two. But I realized that, you know, just because we're adding context to a number and potentially packaging it as a value object, it's still different from what we're talking about today where, you know, there's multiple components to the number that are integral or required for it to mean what we intended to mean, if that makes sense. JOËL: Yeah. STEPHANIE: So yeah, I guess we did want to kind of make a distinction between value objects that while the additional context is important and you can implement a lot of different functionality based on what it represents, at the end of the day, it only kind of has one magnitude or, like, one integer to kind of encapsulate it represented as a number. Does that sound right? JOËL: Yeah. You did throw out the words encapsulation and value object. So, in a situation maybe where I have three US dollars, would you create some kind of custom object to wrap that? Or is that a situation where you'd be more comfortable using some kind of primitive? Like, I don't know, maybe an array pair of three and the symbol USD or something like that. STEPHANIE: Oh, I would definitely not do that [laughter]. Yeah. Like I, you know, for the most part, I think I've seen that as a currency object, and that expands the world of what we can do with it, converting into a lot of different other currencies. And yeah, just making sure those things don't get divorced from each other because that context is what gives it meaning. But when it comes to our compound numbers, it's like, without all of the components, it doesn't make sense, or it doesn't even represent the same, like, numerical value that we were trying to convey. JOËL: Right. You need both, or, you know, it could be more than two. It could be three, four, or five numbers together to mean something. You mentioned conversions, which I think is something that's also interesting because a lot of units of measure have sort of multiple ways of measuring, and you often want to convert between them. And maybe that's another case where encapsulation is really nice where, you know, maybe you have a distance object. And you have five meters, and you put that into your distance object, but then somebody wants it in feet somewhere else or in centimeters, or something like that. And it can just do all the conversion math safely inside that object, and the user doesn't have to worry about it. STEPHANIE: Right. This is maybe a bit of a tangent, but as a Canadian living in the U.S., I don't know [laughs] if you have any opinions about converting meters and feet. JOËL: The one I actually do the most often is converting Celsius to Fahrenheit and vice versa. You know, I've been here, what, 11 years now? I don't have a great intuition for Fahrenheit temperatures. So, I'm converting in my head just [laughs] on a daily basis. STEPHANIE: Yeah, that makes sense. Conversions: they're important. They help out our friends who [laughs] are on different systems of measurement. JOËL: There's a classic story that I love about unit conversions. I think it's one of the NASA Mars missions. STEPHANIE: Oh yeah. JOËL: You've heard of this one. It was trying to land on Mars, and it burned up in the atmosphere because two different teams had been building different components and used different unit systems, both according to spec for their own module. But then, when the modules try to talk to each other, they're sending over numbers in meters instead of feet or something like that. And it just caused [laughs] this, like, multi-year, multi-billion dollar project to just burn up. STEPHANIE: That's right. So, lesson of the day is don't do that. I can think of another example where there might be a little bit of misconceptions in terms of how to represent it. And I'm thinking about time and when that has been represented in multiple parts, such as in hours and, minutes and seconds. Do you have any initial impressions about a piece of data like that? JOËL: So, that's really interesting, right? Because, at first glance, it looks like, oh, it's, like, a triplet of hour, minute, seconds. It's sort of another one of these sort of compound numbers, and I guess you could implement it that way. But in reality, you're tracking a single quantity, the amount of time elapsed, and that can be represented with a single number. So, if you're representing, let's say, time of day, what would show up on your clock? That could be, depending on the resolution, number of, let's say, seconds since midnight, and that's a single counter. And then, you can do some math on it to get hours, minutes, seconds for a particular moment. But really, it's a single quantity, and we can do that with time. We can't do that with a 2D point. Like, it has to have two components. STEPHANIE: So, do you have a recommendation for what unit of time time would best be stored? I'm just thinking of all the times that I've had to do that millisecond, you know, that conversion of, you know, however many thousands of milliseconds in my head into something that actually means [laughs] something to me as a human being who measures time in hours and minutes. JOËL: My recommendation is absolutely go for a single number that you store in your, let's say, time of day object. It makes the math so much easier. You don't have to worry about, like, overflowing from one number into another when you're doing math or anything like that. And then the number that you count should be at the whatever the smallest resolution you care at. So, is there ever any time where you want to distinguish between two different milliseconds in time? Or maybe you're like, you know what? These are, like, we're tracking time of day for appointments. We don't care about the difference between two milliseconds. We don't need to track them independently. We don't even care about seconds. The most granular we ever care about things is by the minute. And so, maybe then your internal number that you track is a counter of minutes since midnight. But if you need more precision, you can go down to seconds or milliseconds or nanoseconds. But yeah, find what is the sort of the least resolution you want to get away with and then make that the unit of measure for a single counter in your object. And then encapsulate that so that nobody else needs to care that, internally, your time of day object is doing milliseconds because nobody wants to do that math. Just give me a nice, like, hours and minutes method on your object, and I will use that. I don't need to know internally what it's using. Please don't just pass around integers; wrap it in an object, especially because integers, there's enough times where you're doing seconds versus milliseconds. And when I just have an integer, I never know if the person storing this integer means seconds or milliseconds. So, I'm just like, oh, I'm going to pass to this, like, user object, a, like, time integer. And unless there's a comment or a constant, you know, that's named something duration in milliseconds or something like that, you know, or sometimes even, like, one year in milliseconds, or there's no way of knowing. STEPHANIE: Yeah. That makes a lot of sense. When you kind of choose a standard of a standard unit, it's, like, possible to make it easier [laughs]. JOËL: So, circling back to sort of the initial thing that sparked this conversation, the previous episode about T-shirt inventories, there we were dealing with what started off as, like, a hash of different T-shirt sizes and quantities of T-shirts that we had in that size, so small (five), medium (three), large (four). And then, we eventually turned that into a value object that represented...I think we called it a tally, but maybe we called it inventory. And this may be wrong, so tell me if I'm wrong here, I think we can kind of treat that as a number, as, like, one of these compound numbers. It's a sort of multidimensional number where you say, well, we have sort of three dimensions where we can have numbers that sort of increase and decrease independently. We can do math on these because we can take inventories or tallies and add and subtract them. And that's what we ended up having to do. We created a value object. We implemented plus and minus on it. There are rules for how the math works. I think this is a multidimensional number with the definition we're working on this show. Am I wrong here? STEPHANIE: I wouldn't say that you're wrong. I think I would have to think a little [laughs] more to say definitively that you're right. But I know that this example came from, you know, an application I was actually working on. And one of the main things that we had to do with these representations [laughs], I'm hesitant to call them a number, especially, but we had to compare these representations frequently because an inventory, for example, in a warehouse, wanting to make sure that it is equal to or there's enough of the inventory if someone was placing an order, which would also contain, like, a representation of T-shirt size inventory. And that was kind of where some of that math happened because, you know, maybe we don't want to let someone place an order if the inventory at the warehouse is smaller than their order, right? So, there is something really compelling about the comparison operations that we were doing that kind of is leaning me in the direction of, like, yeah, like, it makes sense to me to use this in a way that I would compare, like, quantities or numbers of something. JOËL: I think one thing that was really compelling to me, and that kind of blew my mind, was that we were trying to, like, figure out some things like, oh, we've got so many people with these size preferences, and we've got so many T-shirts across different warehouses. And we're summing them up and we're trying to say like, "How many do we need to purchase if there is a deficit?" And we can come up with effectively a formula for this. We're like, sum these numbers, when we're talking about just before we introduce sizes when it's just like, oh, people have T-shirts. They all get the count of people and a count of T-shirts in our warehouse, and we find, you know, the difference between that. And there's a few extra math operations we do. Then you introduce size, and you break it down by, oh, we've got so many of each. And now the whole thing gets really kind of messy and complicated. And you're doing these reduces and everything. When we start treating the tally of T-shirts as an object, and now it's a number that responds to plus and minus, all of a sudden, you can just plug those back into the original formula, and it all just works. The original formula doesn't care whether the numbers you're doing this formula on are simple integers or these sort of multidimensional numbers. And that blew my mind, and it was so cool. STEPHANIE: Yeah, that is really neat. And you get a lot of added benefits, too. I think the other important piece in the T-shirt size example was kind of tracking the state change, and that's so much easier when you have an object. There's just a lot more you can do with it. And even if, you know, you're not persisting every single version of the representation, you know, because sometimes you don't want to, sometimes you're really just kind of only holding it in memory to figure out if you need to, you know, do something else. But other times, you do want to persist it. And it just plugs in really well with, like, the rest of object-oriented programming [laughs] in terms of interacting with the rest of your business needs, I think, in your app. JOËL: Yeah, turns out objects, they're kind of nice. And you can do math with them. Who knew? Math is not just about integers. STEPHANIE: And on that note, shall we wrap up? JOËL: Let's wrap up. STEPHANIE: Show notes for this episode can be found at bikeshed.fm. JOËL: This show has been produced and edited by Mandy Moore. STEPHANIE: If you enjoyed listening, one really easy way to support the show is to leave us a quick rating or even a review in iTunes. It really helps other folks find the show. JOËL: If you have any feedback for this or any of our other episodes, you can reach us @_bikeshed, or you can reach me @joelquen on Twitter. STEPHANIE: Or reach both of us at hosts@bikeshed.fm via email. JOËL: Thanks so much for listening to The Bike Shed, and we'll see you next week. ALL: Byeeeeeee!!!!!! AD: Did you know thoughtbot has a referral program? If you introduce us to someone looking for a design or development partner, we will compensate you if they decide to work with us. More info on our website at: tbot.io/referral. Or you can email us at referrals@thoughtbot.com with any questions.

If anyone has taken some basic mathematics, you are probably familiar with Euclidian Geometry. Euclidean geometry is what most people just call geometry.  It is the study of shapes like triangles and circles in a simple plane. This type of geometry was developed over 2000 years ago, and it is based on certain set axioms. However, later mathematicians challenged one of those axioms, and it completely changed how we thought of geometry. Learn more about non-Euclidian geometry and what it means in this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. Sponsors BetterHelp Visit BetterHelp.com/everywhere today to get 10% off your first month ButcherBox Sign up today at butcherbox.com/daily and use code daily to choose your free steak for a year and get $20 off."  Subscribe to the podcast!  https://link.chtbl.com/EverythingEverywhere?sid=ShowNotes -------------------------------- Executive Producer: Charles Daniel Associate Producers: Peter Bennett & Cameron Kieffer   Become a supporter on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/everythingeverywhere Update your podcast app at newpodcastapps.com Discord Server: https://discord.gg/UkRUJFh Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/everythingeverywhere/ Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/everythingeverywheredaily Twitter: https://twitter.com/everywheretrip Website: https://everything-everywhere.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: What makes teaching math special, published by Viliam on December 18, 2023 on LessWrong. Related: Arguments against constructivism (in education)? Seeking PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge) * Designing good math curriculum for elementary and high schools requires one to have two kinds of expertise: deep understanding of math, and lot of experience teaching kids. Having just one of them is not enough. People who have both are rare (and many of them do not have the ambition to design a curriculum). Being a math professor at university is not enough, now matter how high-status that job might be. University professors are used to teaching adults, and often have little patience for kids. Their frequent mistake is to jump from specific examples to abstract generalizations too quickly (that is, if they bother to provide specific examples at all). You can expect an adult student to try to figure it out on their own time; to read a book, or ask classmates. You can't do the same with a small child. (Also, university professors are selected for their research skills, not teaching skills.) University professors and other professional mathematicians suffer from the "curse of knowledge". So many things are obvious to them than they have a problem to empathize with someone who knows nothing of that. Also, the way we remember things is that we make mental connections with the other things we already know. The professor may have too many connections available to realize that the child has none of them yet. The kids learning from the curriculum designed by university professors will feel overwhelmed and stupid. Most of them will grow up hating math. On the other hand, many humanities-oriented people with strong opinions on how schools should be organized and how kids should be brought up, suck at math. More importantly, they do not realize how math is profoundly different from other school subjects, and will try to shoehorn mathematical education to the way they would teach e.g. humanities. As a result, the kids may not learn actual mathematics at all. * How specifically is math different? First, math is not about real-world objects. It is often inspired by them, but that's not the same thing. For example, natural numbers proceed up to... almost infinity... regardless of whether our universe is actually finite or infinite. Real numbers have infinite number of decimal places, whether that makes sense from the perspective of physics or not. The Euclidean space is perfectly flat, even if our universe it not. No one ever wrote all the possible sequences of numbers from 1 to 100, but we know how many they would be. If you want to learn e.g. about Africa, I guess the best way would be to go there, spend 20 years living in various countries, talking to people of various ethnic and social groups. But if you can't do that... well, reading a few books about Africa, memorizing the names of the countries and their capitals, knowing how to find them on the map... technically also qualifies as "learning about Africa". This is what most people (outside of Africa) do. You cannot learn math by second-hand experience alone. Imagine someone who skimmed the Wikipedia article about quadratic equations, watched a YouTube channel about the history of people who invented quadratic equations, is really passionate about the importance of quadratic equations for world peace and ecology, but... cannot solve a single quadratic equation, not even the simplest one... you probably wouldn't qualify this kind of knowledge as "learning quadratic equations". The quadratic equation is a mental object, waiting for you somewhere in the Platonic realm, where you can find it, touch it, explore it from different angles, play with it, learn to live with it. Only this intimate experience qualifies as actually learning quadrati...

YouTube link https://youtu.be/9z3JYb_g2QsProf. Peter Woit discusses string theory, its decline, and introduces his graviweak unification theory using Euclidean twistor in Euclidean spacetime. TIMESTAMPS:- 00:00:00 Introduction- 00:00:00 String theory's fundamental issues | Mathematicians' challenges- 00:02:20 Spacetime and twistor theory insights- 00:20:00 Bundles & diffeomorphism groups- 00:38:34 Spinors as a spacetime point- 00:46:57 Dominance of string theory & Ed Witten's influence- 00:54:17 Quest for quantum gravity- 01:03:22 String theory's lack of predictive power  - 01:09:33 Machine learning meets theoretical physics- 01:18:56 Personal attacks vs. intellectual debate- 01:24:49 Mathematicians vs. Physicists | Academic silos- 01:37:15 Developing a contrarian view & the origin of 'Not Even Wrong'- 01:40:54 Langlands & representation theory- 01:48:51 Spacetime is NOT doomed- 01:58:47 Sean Carroll's crisis in physics (odd responses to criticism)- 02:13:21 Differentiable structures by dimension- 02:26:10 Gravi-weak unification & chirality- 02:32:57 Chern-Simons theory- 02:42:20 Gravity as torsion or curvature- 02:50:07 Category theory in physics- 02:56:43 Defining a fulfilling life - Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal (early access to ad-free audio episodes!)- Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE- PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs- iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/better-left-unsaid-with-curt-jaimungal/id1521758802- Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b92xAErofYQA7bU4e- Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeverything- TOE Merch: https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerch LINKS MENTIONED:- Not Even Wrong (Peter Woit's Blog): https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress- Not Even Wrong (Peter Woit's Book): https://amzn.to/40NFeaK- Spacetime is Right-Handed (Peter Woit's Article): https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/righthanded.pdf | https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress- Podcast w/ Edward Frankel: https://youtu.be/n_oPMcvHbAc- The Elegant Universe (Brian Greene): https://amzn.to/3sNmk7x- The Trouble With Physics (Lee Smolin): https://amzn.to/47lCCUj- Podcast w/ Sabina Hossenfelder on TOE: https://youtu.be/walaNM7KiYA- Podcast w/ Stephon Alexander Part 1: https://youtu.be/VETxb96a3qk  - Podcast w/ Stephon Alexander Λ Sal Pais: https://youtu.be/PE4C7OI7Frg- Podcast w/ Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/KElq_MLO1kw- Podcast w/ Stephen Wolfram Part 1: https://youtu.be/1sXrRc3Bhrs- Podcast w/ Stephen Wolfram Part 2: https://youtu.be/xHPQ_oSsJgg- Podcast w/ Jonathan Oppenheim: https://youtu.be/NKOd8imBa2s

YouTube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9z3JYb_g2Qs Prof. Peter Woit discusses string theory, its decline, and introduces his graviweak unification theory using Euclidean twistor in Euclidean spacetime. TIMESTAMPS: - 00:00:00 Introduction - 00:00:00 String theory's fundamental issues | Mathematicians' challenges - 00:02:20 Spacetime and twistor theory insights - 00:20:00 Bundles & diffeomorphism groups - 00:38:34 Spinors as a spacetime point - 00:46:57 Dominance of string theory & Ed Witten's influence - 00:54:17 Quest for quantum gravity - 01:03:22 String theory's lack of predictive power - 01:09:33 Machine learning meets theoretical physics - 01:18:56 Personal attacks vs. intellectual debate - 01:24:49 Mathematicians vs. Physicists | Academic silos - 01:37:15 Developing a contrarian view & the origin of 'Not Even Wrong' - 01:40:54 Langlands & representation theory - 01:48:51 Spacetime is NOT doomed - 01:58:47 Sean Carroll's crisis in physics (odd responses to criticism) - 02:13:21 Differentiable structures by dimension - 02:26:10 Gravi-weak unification & chirality - 02:32:57 Chern-Simons theory - 02:42:20 Gravity as torsion or curvature - 02:50:07 Category theory in physics - 02:56:43 Defining a fulfilling life - Patreon: https://patreon.com/curtjaimungal (early access to ad-free audio episodes!) - Crypto: https://tinyurl.com/cryptoTOE - PayPal: https://tinyurl.com/paypalTOE - Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt - Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs - iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast... - Pandora: https://pdora.co/33b9lfP - Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4gL14b9... - Subreddit r/TheoriesOfEverything: https://reddit.com/r/theoriesofeveryt... - TOE Merch: https://tinyurl.com/TOEmerch LINKS MENTIONED: - Not Even Wrong (Peter Woit's Blog): https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/w... - Not Even Wrong (Peter Woit's Book): https://amzn.to/40NFeaK - Spacetime is Right-Handed (Peter Woit's Article): https://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/r... - Podcast w/ Edward Frankel: https://youtu.be/n_oPMcvHbAc - The Elegant Universe (Brian Greene): https://amzn.to/3sNmk7x - The Trouble With Physics (Lee Smolin): https://amzn.to/47lCCUj - Podcast w/ Sabina Hossenfelder on TOE: https://youtu.be/walaNM7KiYA - Podcast w/ Stephon Alexander Part 1: https://youtu.be/VETxb96a3qk - Podcast w/ Stephon Alexander Λ Sal Pais: https://youtu.be/PE4C7OI7Frg - Podcast w/ Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/KElq_MLO1kw - Podcast w/ Stephen Wolfram Part 1: https://youtu.be/1sXrRc3Bhrs - Podcast w/ Stephen Wolfram Part 2: https://youtu.be/xHPQ_oSsJgg - Podcast w/ Jonathan Oppenheim: https://youtu.be/NKOd8imBa2s

This week: Our first look at Reactivate Soundwave, a recap of Transformers Tuesday, and more first thoughts on upcoming toys. The post Radio Free Cybertron 857 – Non-Euclidean Dononomics appeared first on Radio Free Cybertron.

This week: Our first look at Reactivate Soundwave, a recap of Transformers Tuesday, and more first thoughts on upcoming toys. The post Radio Free Cybertron 857 – Non-Euclidean Dononomics appeared first on Radio Free Cybertron.

What is the nature of our relationship to psychedelics? As people in recovery, we've probably abused them at one time or another. Some people have taken mass overdoses and lost total control. So why would anyone in recovery consider the use, medicinal or otherwise, of something that seems pretty risky?  It's OK. You can and it'll be alright.  Let's talk about it on today's show, Episode 108.  St. Theresa of Avila "The time has come to love more and think less. Sit in a deep quiet in which love is translating you into God." Meditation: what we're powerless to attain is attaining us in our inability to attain it inhale breathing in God, into the unresolved questions. Exhale give yourself in love. from James Finley, "Mystical Sobriety." The number 108 has a variety of significances across different fields: Mathematics: It's an abundant and a semiperfect number. A tetranacci number. The hyperfactorial of 3, as it is of the form 11⋅22⋅3311⋅22⋅33. Divisible by the value of its φ function, which is 36. Divisible by the total number of its divisors (12), making it a refactorable number. The angle in degrees of the interior angles of a regular pentagon in Euclidean space. Palindromic in several bases and a Harshad number in multiple bases. Religion and the Arts: Sacred in Dharmic Religions like Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. In Hindu tradition, there are 108 attendants of Shiva, and in Gaudiya Vaishnavism, Krishna had 108 followers known as gopis. The Sri Vaishnavite Tradition has 108 Divya Desams (temples of Vishnu). The Sudarshana Chakra, a weapon in Hindu mythology, has 108 serrated edges. The total number of Upanishads is 108 as per the Muktikā canon. In Tibetan Buddhism, malas or rosaries are usually 108 beads. Zen priests wear juzu, a ring of prayer beads, consisting of 108 beads. The Lankavatara Sutra has sections where 108 questions are asked and 108 statements of negation are listed. Martial Arts: Many East Asian martial arts, due to their ties to Buddhism, consider 108 an important symbolic number. According to Marma Adi and Ayurveda, there are 108 pressure points in the body. The ultimate Gōjū-ryū kata, Suparinpei, translates to 108. The Yang Taijiquan long form and Wing Chun wooden dummy form taught by Ip Man have 108 moves. Literature: There are 108 outlaws in the Chinese classic "Water Margin/Outlaws of the Marsh." "Astrophil and Stella," the first English sonnet sequence, has 108 love sonnets. Edgar Allan Poe's poem "The Raven" has 108 lines. Science: Hassium, a chemical element, has the atomic number 108. The human body's vital organs begin to fail at an internal temperature of 108 degrees Fahrenheit. The distance of Earth from the Sun is about 108 times the diameter of the Sun. Technology: 108 Mbit/s is a non-standard extension of IEEE 802.11g wireless network using channel bonding. Sports: An official Major League Baseball baseball has 108 stitches. The Chicago Cubs won the World Series in 2016 for the first time in 108 years. Card Games: There are 108 cards in a deck of UNO cards. Other Fields: In India, 108 is the toll-free emergency telephone number.

Episode 9. Continuing our series run about model validation. In this episode, the hosts focus on aspects of performance, why we need to do statistics correctly, and not use metrics without understanding how they work, to ensure that models are evaluated in a meaningful way.AI regulations, red team testing, and physics-based modeling. 0:03The hosts discuss the Biden administration's executive order on AI and its implications for model validation and performance.Evaluating machine learning models using accuracy, recall, and precision. 6:52The four types of results in classification: true positive, false positive, true negative, and false negative.The three standard metrics are composed of these elements: accuracy, recall, and precision.Accuracy metrics for classification models. 12:36Precision and recall are interrelated aspects of accuracy in machine learning.Using F1 score and F beta score in classification models, particularly when dealing with imbalanced data.Performance metrics for regression tasks. 17:08Handling imbalanced outcomes in machine learning, particularly in regression tasks.The different metrics used to evaluate regression models, including mean squared error.Performance metrics for machine learning models. 19:56Mean squared error (MSE) as a metric for evaluating the accuracy of machine learning models, using the example of predicting house prices.Mean absolute error (MAE) as an alternative metric, which penalizes large errors less heavily and is more straightforward to compute.Graph theory and operations research applications. 25:48Graph theory in machine learning, including the shortest path problem and clustering. Euclidean distance is a popular benchmark for measuring distances between data points. Machine learning metrics and evaluation methods. 33:06Model validation using statistics and information theory. 37:08Entropy, its roots in classical mechanics and thermodynamics, and its application in information theory, particularly Shannon entropy calculation. The importance the use case and validation metrics for machine learning models.What did you think? Let us know.Do you have a question or a discussion topic for the AI Fundamentalists? Connect with them to comment on your favorite topics: LinkedIn - Episode summaries, shares of cited articles, and more. YouTube - Was it something that we said? Good. Share your favorite quotes. Visit our page - see past episodes and submit your feedback! It continues to inspire future episodes.

Summary The rapid growth of machine learning, especially large language models, have led to a commensurate growth in the need to store and compare vectors. In this episode Louis Brandy discusses the applications for vector search capabilities both in and outside of AI, as well as the challenges of maintaining real-time indexes of vector data. Announcements Hello and welcome to the Data Engineering Podcast, the show about modern data management Introducing RudderStack Profiles. RudderStack Profiles takes the SaaS guesswork and SQL grunt work out of building complete customer profiles so you can quickly ship actionable, enriched data to every downstream team. You specify the customer traits, then Profiles runs the joins and computations for you to create complete customer profiles. Get all of the details and try the new product today at dataengineeringpodcast.com/rudderstack (https://www.dataengineeringpodcast.com/rudderstack) This episode is brought to you by Datafold – a testing automation platform for data engineers that finds data quality issues before the code and data are deployed to production. Datafold leverages data-diffing to compare production and development environments and column-level lineage to show you the exact impact of every code change on data, metrics, and BI tools, keeping your team productive and stakeholders happy. Datafold integrates with dbt, the modern data stack, and seamlessly plugs in your data CI for team-wide and automated testing. If you are migrating to a modern data stack, Datafold can also help you automate data and code validation to speed up the migration. Learn more about Datafold by visiting dataengineeringpodcast.com/datafold (https://www.dataengineeringpodcast.com/datafold) You shouldn't have to throw away the database to build with fast-changing data. You should be able to keep the familiarity of SQL and the proven architecture of cloud warehouses, but swap the decades-old batch computation model for an efficient incremental engine to get complex queries that are always up-to-date. With Materialize, you can! It's the only true SQL streaming database built from the ground up to meet the needs of modern data products. Whether it's real-time dashboarding and analytics, personalization and segmentation or automation and alerting, Materialize gives you the ability to work with fresh, correct, and scalable results — all in a familiar SQL interface. Go to dataengineeringpodcast.com/materialize (https://www.dataengineeringpodcast.com/materialize) today to get 2 weeks free! If you're a data person, you probably have to jump between different tools to run queries, build visualizations, write Python, and send around a lot of spreadsheets and CSV files. Hex brings everything together. Its powerful notebook UI lets you analyze data in SQL, Python, or no-code, in any combination, and work together with live multiplayer and version control. And now, Hex's magical AI tools can generate queries and code, create visualizations, and even kickstart a whole analysis for you – all from natural language prompts. It's like having an analytics co-pilot built right into where you're already doing your work. Then, when you're ready to share, you can use Hex's drag-and-drop app builder to configure beautiful reports or dashboards that anyone can use. Join the hundreds of data teams like Notion, AllTrails, Loom, Mixpanel and Algolia using Hex every day to make their work more impactful. Sign up today at dataengineeringpodcast.com/hex (https://www.dataengineeringpodcast.com/hex) to get a 30-day free trial of the Hex Team plan! Your host is Tobias Macey and today I'm interviewing Louis Brandy about building vector indexes in real-time for analytics and AI applications Interview Introduction How did you get involved in the area of data management? Can you describe what vector search is and how it differs from other search technologies? What are the technical challenges related to providing vector search? What are the applications for vector search that merit the added complexity? Vector databases have been gaining a lot of attention recently with the proliferation of LLM applications. Is a dedicated database technology required to support vector indexes/vector search queries? What are the use cases for native vector data types that are separate from AI? With the increasing usage of vectors for data and AI/ML applications, who do you typically see as the owner of that problem space? (e.g. data engineers, ML engineers, data scientists, etc.) For teams who are investing in vector search, what are the architectural considerations that they need to be aware of? How does it impact the data pipeline strategies/topologies used? What are the complexities that need to be addressed when updating vector data in a real-time/streaming fashion? How does that influence the client strategies that are querying that data? What are the most interesting, innovative, or unexpected ways that you have seen vector search used? What are the most interesting, unexpected, or challenging lessons that you have learned while working on vector search applications? When is vector search the wrong choice? What do you see as future potential applications for vector indexes/vector search? Contact Info LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lbrandy/) Parting Question From your perspective, what is the biggest gap in the tooling or technology for data management today? Closing Announcements Thank you for listening! Don't forget to check out our other shows. The Machine Learning Podcast (https://www.themachinelearningpodcast.com) helps you go from idea to production with machine learning. Podcast.__init__ (https://www.pythonpodcast.com) covers the Python language, its community, and the innovative ways it is being used. Visit the site (https://www.dataengineeringpodcast.com) to subscribe to the show, sign up for the mailing list, and read the show notes. If you've learned something or tried out a project from the show then tell us about it! Email hosts@dataengineeringpodcast.com (mailto:hosts@dataengineeringpodcast.com)) with your story. To help other people find the show please leave a review on Apple Podcasts (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/data-engineering-podcast/id1193040557) and tell your friends and co-workers Links Rockset (https://rockset.com/) Podcast Episode (https://www.dataengineeringpodcast.com/rockset-serverless-analytics-episode-101/) Vector Index (https://www.datastax.com/guides/what-is-a-vector-index) Vector Search (https://www.datastax.com/guides/what-is-vector-search) Rockset Implementation Explanation (https://rockset.com/videos/vector-search-architecture/) Vector Space (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vector_space) Euclidean Distance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euclidean_distance) OLAP == Online Analytical Processing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_analytical_processing) OLTP == Online Transaction Processing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_transaction_processing) The intro and outro music is from The Hug (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Freak_Fandango_Orchestra/Love_death_and_a_drunken_monkey/04_-_The_Hug) by The Freak Fandango Orchestra (http://freemusicarchive.org/music/The_Freak_Fandango_Orchestra/) / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

1. Abelian Group: Actual Definition: An Abelian group, named after Niels Henrik Abel, is a group in which the binary operation is commutative, meaning that for all elements a and b in the group, a * b = b * a. Etymological Definition and Derivation: The term "Abelian" pays homage to the Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel, who made significant contributions to the theory of equations and group theory. The word "Abelian" is derived from the Latin word "Abelius," signifying Abel's enduring legacy. 2. Euclidean Geometry: Actual Definition: Euclidean geometry, introduced by the ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, is a branch of mathematics that deals with properties, relationships, and measurements of points, lines, angles, and surfaces in the plane and space, based on Euclid's five postulates. Etymological Definition and Derivation: "Euclidean" honors the legendary Greek mathematician Euclid, a beacon of geometrical elucidation. Rooted in the Greek term "Euclides," it resonates with the man's enduring dedication to the exploration of space. 3. Calculus: Actual Definition: Calculus is a branch of mathematics that explores the concepts of limits, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series, enabling the analysis of change and accumulation in various contexts. Etymological Definition and Derivation: "Calculus" emerges from the Latin "calculus," a diminutive of "calx," meaning a small stone used in counting and calculations. It was birthed by minds like Newton and Leibniz, who sculpted this art of calculation to harness the elusive infinitesimal. 4. Topology: Actual Definition: Topology is a field of mathematics that examines the properties of space that are preserved under continuous deformations, including concepts like continuity, convergence, compactness, and connectedness. Etymological Definition and Derivation: "Topology" emerges from the Greek roots "topos" (place) and "logos" (study), a testament to the exploration of spatial relations. Its true essence resides in the intimate scrutiny of shapes' essence beyond rigid measurements. 5. Eigenvalue: Actual Definition: In linear algebra, an eigenvalue of a matrix represents a scalar value that characterizes how a matrix transforms a vector, with the vector only scaling by the eigenvalue during the transformation. Etymological Definition and Derivation: "Eigenvalue" springs from the German "eigen," meaning inherent or characteristic, and "value." It encapsulates the distinct nature of values that a matrix uniquely possesses, much like a signature of its intrinsic behavior. 6. Homomorphism: Actual Definition: A homomorphism is a structure-preserving map between two algebraic structures, such as groups, rings, or vector spaces, that preserves the operations and relationships between elements. Etymological Definition and Derivation: "Homomorphism" finds its roots in the Greek "homos" (same) and "morphē" (form). This term embodies the lofty concept of maintaining similarity, preserving the integrity of structures across mathematical realms. 7. Fractal: Actual Definition: A fractal is a complex geometric shape or pattern that displays self-similarity at various scales, exhibiting intricate detail regardless of the level of magnification. Etymological Definition and Derivation: "Fractal" derives from the Latin "fractus," meaning broken or fractured. Coined by Benoît B. Mandelbrot, this term encapsulates the enigmatic beauty of structures that break free from the linear constraints of Euclidean space. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/liam-connerly/support

30+ hours into the game, it appears that Pokémon Company finally remembered that they needed to have some bad guys in this game. So they crammed both the criminal syndicate and corporate overlord into one big, confusing plot that involves a bunch of guys in Oakleys, an underground power plant, and a non-Euclidean pile of poison bones. Oh, and Drew England meets someone(s) new from the Great State of Vermont.

Everybody wants to be clever, right? While cleverness might seem like a good thing, at times it can cloak the truth. Barry begins a new series and introduces the concept by means of his Junior High debate skills, non-Euclidean geometry, and a child's maze.         Scriptures: Matt 26:59-61 Referenced Episodes: Terms of […]