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purgemarchlockdown · 5 months

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Milgram and The Rose Bride

(CWs: Child Abuse, Cults, Unhealthy Relationships, Bullying, Sexism, Discussions of Ownership in the context of Marriage, minor mentions of sexual abuse and minor mentions of sexual abuse in relation to Minors)

(Spoilers for Utena!)

Alright so, since I'm putting this on the Milgram blog, most likely most people who see this don't know what the Rose Bride is and what that means so lets answer that question.

The Rose Bride is a concept in the 90s Psychological Shoujo Anime Revolutionary Girl Utena, in which the main premise is that a bunch of highschoolers are dueling for marriage (ownership) of the Rose Bride so that they can revolutionize the world.

Now, the thing is, The Rose Bride is a Real Person, and the implications of her ownership and the environment that Allows for that to happen are explored through the series, and the reason why I'm bringing it up in relation to Milgram is this.

"In the end, all girls are the rose bride."

Let's talk about Mahiru for a bit since her being so focused on romantic love makes it a lot easier to explain what I mean by this.

In T1 we get this interrogation from Mahiru:

T1Q20: What do you think about smoking? I've never smoked before, but I might copy him if who I love smokes.

This is a deeply concerning sentence, Mahiru has just stated that she is willing to do something incredibly physical destructive to herself if the person she loves is doing the same. This connects back to her thoughts on having "matching love."

We fought sometimes, I was happy to get hurt Let's have matching pain, this sickness is pretty bad This is a claim of responsibility From the two of us with matching love

Now, the Rose Bride has to anything the person who is engaged to her tells her to do. The Rose Bride is not allowed any sort of Autonomy or Agency.

(Transcript Link for Utena Scripts)

Touga: The Rose Bride, cooking? Touga: You shouldn't do such things as cooking. Touga: You should only take care of the roses here. Touga: This birdcage is your territory. Touga: And you are the beautiful little bird which lives here. Touga: I want to possess this birdcage, and everything in it.

Touga: Himemiya Anthy is the Bride of the victor of the Duel. Touga: While she was engaged to you, the Code required her to obey you.

I Love You:

What am I supposed to do now? If you won’t tell me, I can’t be me

Mahiru is also probably the most traditionally feminine out of the entire female cast. With her priorities being love, romance, and having children.

(Mahiru Interrogation)

T2Q1: What's your opinion on Marriage? Mahiru: It's something I really dream of.

T2Q10: Do you like children? Mahiru: Yup. I always dreamed of having the older being a girl, and the younger being a boy.

Mahiru is willing to do Anything for love, even if it gets her hurt in the process. That's what she's Supposed to want, that's what is Supposed to bring her joy, that's what is Supposed to bring everyone joy. (Mahiru T1 VD)

Es: I honestly have no interest in those matters. Mahiru: What? No, no. There’s no such thing as that. Being in love is like a landmine. It’ll explode someday, you know? The only thing that differs is whether it happens earlier or later in life. It’ll happen to you too. Even if you don’t have any interest in it now, one day it’ll explode for you as well. All because you’ll have that fateful encounter with your special someone.

Love is what Everyone Wants and if you say you Don't you just haven't found the right person.

Mahiru: Yeah, yeah. You’ll deny it at first. I mean, I was like that as well. Before then, I always admired soap operas and shoujo manga because I thought that they depicted a world different from our own.

Voice: Once upon a time... Voice: ...there was a princess grieving over the deaths of her mother and father. Voice: Before this princess appeared a prince traveling upon a white horse. Voice: His appearance gallant, and his smile gentle, the prince enveloped the princess

The amatonormativity in Mahiru's worldview is clear. People are Supposed to fall in love and have the Normal Idealized Heterosexual Romance and there's Nothing Else Outside of That At All.

Mahiru: Yeah, yeah. You’ll deny it at first. I mean, I was like that as well.

Anthy: But I've been engaged to you, Utena-sama. Utena: I've told you to stop mentioning stuff like "engagement" and the "Rose Bride." Anthy: Nevertheless... Utena: Look, no matter how you look at me, I'm a regular wholesome girl. Utena: I'm only interested in wholesome boys, not a bride or stuff like that.

And Mahiru does a lot to preserve a "marketable" quality to her actions and behavior. TIHTBILWY is formatted like a magazine, something that is sold and bought by consumers. Erasing the messiness of her relationship or even Romanticizing those qualities to seem appealing.

Giving you love to the point of pulling you down It's just because I still get worried, please forgive me Even when I test you, even the times we do the breakup ritual, Is because I love you

Voice: but because of the strength of her admiration for the prince, Voice: the princess made up her mind to become a prince herself! Voice: But is that really good for her?

The story of the Prince in Utena is one that is a fabrication, it hides and excludes multiple Very Important parts of the story all in the favor of portraying the Ideal Fairytale Heterosexual Romance.

Unlike Utena who chooses to become a "Prince" (which is a concept I'll get into in a bit.) Mahiru is trying to make Herself the Rose Bride. She orientates her life around who she loves, she's willing to accept a lot of abuse for the sake of an Ideal Relationship, she even actively downplays her intelligence and strength! Something that is explored in detail by this post by archivalofsins you should check out.

Now that isn't to say Mahiru isn't a horrible partner. She is, and this is why. Mahiru is Expecting this sort of incredibly idealistic fairytale romance from her partner, an ideal that no person can possibly live up to without harming the people they care about and themselves!

Do you really think you know what love is? If you do, let's just overheat together The things that I only want to say to you, and the things that I want from you Is love

My emotions are out of control, that’s inconvenient? I don’t care!

You can't live up to this and you shouldn't want to! It's an unrealistic and unachievable ideal with a horrific power imbalance to boot! Yet Mahiru is Trying to conform to these ideals, trying to conform to the unrealistic expectations of women and relationships in society, and that's why she's here in the first place.

"He who believes friendship exists is a fool."

So these toxic and unhealthy ideals and expectations are at the core of Mahiru's character and her situation. But there ideals are perpetuated by an environment that promotes this sort of behavior, one that isn't unique to Mahiru's situation.

Muu Kusunoki is a 16 year old teenage girl who is both a victim of bullying and someone who bullies others for her own gain.

She also might of had a homoromantic relationship with her murder victim.

Let’s meet up inside the pain, a place just for me Postmortem makeup to hide my heart, how to solve it is a secret The stabbing of the little devil’s voice, counterattack being a suicide note “I love YOU”

I wonder who that reminds me of.

I'll get into Shiori in a second, but it's important to note that Muu introduces a concept that's present in Mahiru's story but is particularly present in Muu, the concept of the cycle.

Saionji: No... I was to be the one to rescue her from the coffin this time. Saionji: No! I am the one who will save her this time. The castle said to contain eternity... Saionji: the power to revolutionize the world...

The concept of eternity and nostalgia in Utena tends to be depicted as a coffin, one you need to break out of to grow.

Touga: If the egg's shell does not break, the chick will die without being born. Touga: We are the chick; the egg is the world. Touga: If the world's shell does not break, we will die without being born. Touga: Break the world's shell! Touga-Juri: For the sake of revolutionizing the world!

The duelists want the Rose Bride so that they can gain the power to revolutionize the world. Who she is does not Matter as much as what she can Give Them.

Now, this idea is particularly present in characters like Shidou and Kotoko who position themselves as saviors, not for the benefit of others but for what they Get out of that arrangement, thematically fitting the concept of the prince.

However, Muu is not the prince, she is not a savior. In fact she always positions herself as the victim, as someone pitiful and weak. (Crying B)

Muu: Hey… Prison guard, when you say “I”… Who are you talking about? Es: [breaking down] Muu: Prison guard? Es: [stumbles] Muu: Prison guard. What’s wrong? Prison guard! [shakes Es] Hey! Prison guard! Es: Shut up! Don’t touch me! Muu: [cries] You’re so cruel… I… Even though I was just worried about you… [cries again] I can’t take it anymore. I hate you, prison guard!

Es pain and breakdown is caused by something Muu said, and yet when Es very sharply tells her not to touch them because their uncomfortable with it. Muu immediately starts crying and talking about how much They got hurt because of what they did, when Es is currently unresponsive due to what she did to them, albeit unintentionally.

Muu needs to to be the victim, After Pain shows all the bad things that happened to her and not Any of the bullying she participated in. It's Not My Fault is a whole song about how everything she did was right actually and that everyone else was wrong.

Now, Muu isn't a master manipulator or anything. She's an impulsive 16 year old. If Muu was a master manipulator she wouldn't be here, would she? She'd be still in school taking the honey up as she was before Rei did whatever she did.

Muu gains power by being pitiful and weak so she'll be loved, and by its' very nature it's self-destructive. She cannot be Happy because if she Was this wouldn't work anymore. She Must be in a worse situation, she must be the victim, or else no one would pity and love her.

I am innocent as everybody desires

Juri: You're just like Shiori... Juri: ...cruelly innocent.

Muu cycles from being "weak and pitiful" to being "queenly and powerful" and tends to hurt herself in the process. This attempt at grabbing power and love through pity Harms Muu, and she seems to even be drowning in a lot of self-hatred and self-pity, and is looking for external validation to confirm that she's "good."

But I guess some of it is my faultMaybe it’s ok as it is I want to feel “alive”, is it ok if I breathe?

Hey, what if If I am a bad girl Don’t hate me. Don’t even try to proof from “After Pain”

And, in an attempt to gain power and control, Muu traps herself in a coffin.

Shiori: This is me, the real me! Shiori: And not the underdog that was living a miserable life in the shadow of the bright shining Juri! Shiori: The real me that surpasses the light. Shiori: Yes, this is the me that controls Juri.

But, it isn't all her fault.

Again, Muu really was bullied, horribly so if were judging by her lyrics in After Pain and the sequences we see in it.

If I was gone, If I had just disappeared I overheard, I found out How much I’m not needed

T1Q4: Is there something you hate? Scary people and ghosts. And right now, school.

Muu isn't lying about this, and Rei isn't fully sympathetic either, she did Hurt Muu and Muu really did want to apologize to her.

T1Q9: Do you have apologetic feelings for who you killed? A: The person who did the wrong thing first should apologize.

Shiori: Juri-san was so kind to me. Shiori: But I thought she was kind to me because she looked down on me, Shiori: and that she had pity on me for being plain and useless. Shiori: That's pathetic! Shiori: So I wanted to change my relationship with Juri-san. Shiori: But what I did with him made me more miserable than before. Shiori: I should have wanted it for myself! Shiori: But now... Shiori: Now I'm on equal terms with her. No, I've won! Shiori: I always had a place in Juri-san's heart. Shiori: I'm the winner! Shiori: What shall I do? I'm so delighted to know my friend's secret I almost can't bear it! Shiori: She suffered alone, looking at my picture in secret... Shiori: That was Juri-san? Poor thing! Shiori: No good! It's still no good! Shiori: How could you look at me like that?!Shiori: Why did it all turn out this way?

The school as a whole is letting a horrible environment of bullying and toxicity be left to rot and fester. You Really Can't create a healthy friendship in a world like that, it just won't let you. If your not friends with someone because you gain something from them, you'll suffer.

Muu: Wow, poor thing,.. I’ll teach you! Friends aren’t like that, you know. Rather than using each other for something, we just get along because we’re comfortable around each other. That’s all. Es: Well, I’m sorry about that. Muu: Haruka-kun is really nice! He accepts anything I say, he listens to anything I tell him. For me, that’s really comfortable. Es: And that’s… “friendship”? Muu: What do you mean? Of course we’re friends! Haruka-kun is happy with it, so it only has benefits for both of us! Es: I, as someone who has no friends, can’t judge, of course, but isn’t that just exploitation? Muu: Exploitation…? Um, I don’t really understand, but… I do help him pick out clothes [in return], and I recently gave him a hairpin I didn’t need anymore as a hand-me-down!

Akio: But sincerity by itself changes nothing. Akio: Without power, one finds themself merely depending on others to live.

Jackalope describes this relationship as a "Master-Servant" relationship and it seems like this is the type of friendship Muu is familiar with. She's emulating how her friendships were in school, just with someone else as the servant and her as the master.

T1Q1: What is a friend? A: Someone who properly listens to what I say.

Now this doesn't completely absolve her obviously, what she did was still Very Bad and even though she Breaks the hourglass in her MVs. She doesn't really leave it.

Muu does not want to accept responsibility for her actions, she believes herself to be justified and in the right, even when she has Done Wrong.

This unwillingness to accept when something she did is wrong and the unhealthy environment of Milgram that assigns strict moral value to people's actions and has no nuance in its judgement...leads her back into the cycle she was trapped in.

“A girl who cannot become a princess is doomed to become a witch.”

Now we've tackled the gender roles and horribly toxic cycles and ideals, so, what happens when you Can't work within those confines, or even want to break out of them? Just, hypothetically, if you cannot become a princess (which is everyone because the ideal of a princess is so incredibly unrealistic that anyone who aspires to be it would destroy themselves in the process) or Don't want to be a princess, what happens?

Well.

You become something Other.

Something Evil and Unnatural.

Something that needs to be Punished and Harmed.

So, now, this is where I have to mention that Utena as a show deals with underage sexual abuse, I didn't mention this for the other sections since they were not as relevant to those discussions. However since this section deals with the abuse received by the Rose Bride it feels important to mention.

I will not be referring to it in the context of Amane's due to how we don't have information in the text pointing to Amane being a csa victim. This is for the sake of Tact, as it feels wrong to speculate about it here and I do not feel like I'm the right person to examine this.

It will, again, be mentioned and alluded to, so stay safe and do what's good for your health.

So, Amane Momose is repeatedly dehumanized throughout her story.

This is a consistent theme with her, she is treated as something subhuman and terrifying.

In Purge March, Amane is consistently depicted as scary, threatening, or otherwise evil.

There's even a section in her T2 VD where Amane calls herself "evil," though it is done in a roundabout way while she's talking about Shidou (who I will get to in a bit.)

A: Both pain and illness are trials. According to our teachings, those who run from them are the worst evil there is. That’s one of the four great principles. No matter who you are, that cannot be forgiven. E: What are you…? A: Oh – speaking of which, there is one among the prisoners right now. An evil existence that’s trying to steal people’s trials away from them.

Shadow: The witch roams this world of darkness even now. Shadow: Seeking the young and noble, to sacrifice them anew! Shadow: Surely the light presents an obstacle to the witch, to her dominion over the dark. Shadow: Beware! Beware! She is still somewhere in this world...

Not only that, but Amane is The Cat, a symbol constantly associated with sin and impurity throughout the MVs with Kazui and Yuno.

And is implied to have actually Been asked if she was human by her parents.

(Amane T1 VD)

Amane: Yes. It is only natural for a person(/human) to apologize to another for breaking a promise. Es: … Amane: Why are you looking so doubtful? Are you not human?

I promise! A good girl that keeps a promise is like, mwah!

Amane is not to be considered human, she's even collared and leashed in her Prisoner design, the medal and bow on her outfits in the MVs being another "collar" of sorts.

Amane Needs to be Restrained and Domesticated or else she'll bring harm to the people around her. She isn't good enough to be a "good girl" and seems to Know This.

Only if, only if, only if I could be a good girl

It's always "I can be a better girl" or "I can be a good girl" and not "I am a good girl," and the line above implies its impossible for her to be one. It's not something she can do.

When she gets punished by her parents its to make her a "better girl," and to "change" her into a "good girl." It is love, for they are not leaving her to die as an animal.

(Amane Interrogations)

T2Q9: What does love mean to you? A: To spread mercy with no limits.

But it’s not scary at all, because it’s love I can really think it’s great. See isn’t it a great thing?

Even though these punishments keep on Almost Killing Her!

It's what she needs to go through to be good! And even if she doesn't even believe its possibly anymore what else can she do? Run? Running away from trials is a sin! One of the worst there is! She can't allow herself to be more sullied than she already is.

Plus she knows this is love, she isn't scared anymore, it's childish to be scared of it.

Akio: A child like you can't appreciate my ideals. Akio: The Rose Bride exists because of ideals you don't comprehend.

Plus there's a sort of comfort in it, she knows what happens next. She idealizes Milgram somewhat in T1, believing that it's possible for this world, that resembles her abusive environment so much, could be Good.

Amane: Ah, I am looking forward to it! Seeing whether your judgement will align with that of these higher standards! If that is the case, maybe Milgram would be the right world for us to live in, rather than the outside world! Milgram relies on your judgement, isn’t that right? In that case, you could become the mediator for a far more righteous world!!

There's a comfort in Milgram's strict forgiven/unforgiven verdict system with a (theoretical) possibility of growth! And she later takes comfort in the same religious doctrine that Harmed her when Es does declare her as unforgiven.

If your so used to a situation, even if it harms you, why would you ever want to leave it? It's scarier if you leave it, you don't know what will happen next. At least at home, Amane knows what to do so she can get off a bit longer without getting hurt.

If you become a bad girl, monsters will come out This is the magic that stops that from happening

Akio: Anthy, the sword. Akio: That's right. You're a good girl, Anthy.

Amane's suffered for twelve or so years, an eternity trapped in a coffin. A cycle of abuse and pain and horror and fear. Why would she Ever want to leave it when what she's seen of the outside world is so horrible?

Amane: In fact, there have been people who said that to me. I’ve been told things like, “You’re being deceived.” “You can still make it right now.” “You’re crazy.”

People are always positioning themselves as stronger than her, people are always positioning themselves as smarter than her, people are always positioning themselves as Her Prince.

Shidou: I…… I just don’t understand. If everything about MILGRAM is true…… why did a child like you have to become a murderer? Just imagining what sort of circumstances must have led to that, it makes me so sad…… Amane: ……*sigh*. Is that right. I don’t think I’m going to get along with you, Shidou-san. I don’t agree with the fact you refuse to acknowledge that I have my own free will, and that I should be held accountable for my actions, just because I’m a child. I may have only been alive for 12 years, but all the choices I’ve made, even if they weren’t the best ones, were entirely my own. What point is there in you getting sad when I have no regrets myself? ……please give me back my test. It seems you don’t have the concentration levels required to be my teacher. I’m going to get Kotoko-san to teach me instead. Shidou: Amane…… I don’t think that’s true. However smart you may be…… you’re still just a child.

Utena: Cut it out with that "Rose Bride" or "possession" nonsense. Utena: That girl is an ordinary girl named Himemiya Anthy! Touga: Is she? Touga: Is it true that you're an ordinary girl? Utena: You don't like it, do you? Utena: Being the Rose Bride or whatever... Anthy: I... Utena: Go ahead, speak your mind! Anthy: My mind... Utena: Yeah! Utena: You hate being treated as the Rose Bride, right? Utena: Tell him clearly! Anthy: All right. Anthy: I hate being treated as the Rose Bride. Utena: What's so funny?

Amane: You are treating me as a child after all. Because I’m a child, you believe that I must have been brainwashed. It’s not like that. I, too— children, too, understand everything! Please don’t just decide that people must be unhappy.

What she wants doesn't matter! When has it ever mattered? The people who say it does, don't like it when she acts in a manner they don't expect and her parents have made it Very Clear that what she does isn't important to them.

Any sort of happiness she could possibly get tends to come from things that are outside of her cult. And because of that, she isn't supposed to have them, and she is wrong for wanting them in the first place.

And yet...Amane cares so much about having free will and autonomy though, it's her main argument in her T1 VD and her biggest problem with her treatment.

Amane: I see. Then, are the things that I as a twelve-year-old think irrelevant? Are you going to cast aside the feelings that I know I have in this very moment, purely based on the fact that I have not yet lived for a very long time? Judging these things based on someone’s age will not take you very far. Do I, at age twelve, not have my own will?

That's the thing with Amane Momose, she doesn't want to be a "princess."

T2Q13: If you could be reborn, would you still choose to be yourself? A: Obviously.

She wants to stay as her, no matter what. In spite of all of this she doesn't want to be anything else But Her. Even if it gets her hurt.

Amane helped the cat because she wanted to, she saw it hurt and couldn't look away.

Utena: Hey, save her! Utena: It's too cruel! Utena: Save her! Utena: Save her...

And in the eyes of god, she was wrong for doing so.

Dios: She can no longer be saved.

’Tis ordained, thou shall follow thine destiny

But again, Amane doesn't want to die.

T1Q12: What is the meaning of life? A: I think it is something you learn for the first time when you look behind yourself when it ends. I do not want to have regrets then, so I live on with all my might.

This was the tipping point of her, how much more is she willing to suffer? How much longer is she willing to stay here? Because she will die, it's not an if, its a when.

So, she decides, to break out of her coffin, and while it is partially due to how she was given a righteous reason to kill her mother. It is a crime that is mainly motivated by self-preservation and hatred.

Amane: Furthermore, isn’t it condescending of you to assume that just because I happen to be a child, I am incapable of hating someone enough to kill them?

Unfortunately for her, the audience isn't as willing to accept that.

I talk about it in more detail over here but we are Constantly positioned in the place of her abusers. From framing to her opinions on us, ever since we voted her guilty in T1 for the primary reason of "making her realize her mistakes." we mimic her parents.

Since she cannot become a princess, she becomes a witch, and is forced right back into that cycle she desperately tried to escape.

And Someday, Together, We'll Shine

So, that's a bit of a downer. But even so we have hope!

It's not exactly easy when the system built is so counter-productive to everyone's wellbeing and development that it often makes them worse instead of better.

But Amane has made a promise to live. Muu Does want to have genuine relationships with the people around her. And Mahiru has admitted her relationship wasn't as ideal as she initially thought.

And sometimes, you just need to see a possibility for something outside of all this to be able to get out of it.

Anthy: What will you be doing in ten years? Utena: I dunno. But... Anthy: But? Utena: But I hope we can be together like this drinking tea then. Anthy: Yes. I hope so too. Utena: I'm sure that'll be great. Utena: Let's have tea and laugh together ten years from now, okay? Utena: Promise? Anthy: Yes. Definitely.

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zeloinator · 6 months

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Have some good pictures of Ellaeuxlynn Estara~ Her glow up into a gallant MCH Knight!! She has a resting bitch face 90% of the time but dont let that fool you~ shes just bad at expressing emotions <3

#oc; Ellaeuxlynn Estara #ffxiv #ffxiv elezen #elezen oc #elezen hours #ff14 #final fantasy xiv #mm I lovem herm so so so ooooo much she has been rotated around hyoer speed today #ffxiv mch #emerald weapon fits her sooo much and the dark green plus browns outfit colors im thriving

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racefortheironthrone · 9 months

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Do you think the term 'fridging' has become overused, and if Brienne does sacrifice herself for Jaime, would that not count?

I think that one of the useful things about the term fridging is that the website "Women in Refrigerators" is still up so we can know exactly what Gail Simone wrote when she coined the term back in the 90s. To quote her:

"Hi. This is a list I made when it occurred to me that it's not that healthy to be a female character in comics. I'm curious to find out if this list seems somewhat disproportionate, and if so, what it means, really. These are superheroines who have been either depowered, raped, or cut up and stuck in the refrigerator. I know I missed a bunch. Some have been revived, even improved -- although the question remains as to why they were thrown in the wood chipper in the first place. I know I missed a bunch -- I just don't know my comics deaths the way I should. I'm not editorializing -- I'm just curious to find out what you guys think it means, if anything. The preceding letter was written and sent by me when I realized one day that most of my favorite female comics characters had met untimely and often icky ends. The history of the idea and this site are listed here, and the responses from various comics professionals are listed here. An important point: This isn't about assessing blame about an individual story or the treatment of an individual character and it's certainly not about personal attacks on the creators who kindly shared their thoughts on this phenomenon. It's about the trend, its meaning and relevance, if any. Plus, it's just fun to talk about refrigerators with dead people in them. I don't know why.

In Simone's original meaning, "fridging" specifically applied to superhero comics, it involved a spectrum of violence from depowering to sexual assault to physical assault to mutiliation to murder, and it was disproportionately gendered. Notably, the qualification that "fridging" is done in order to motivate the (disproportionately male) protagonist rather than as part of a heroic character arc for the woman being fridged, came around a little later, mostly from those creators who were responding to Simone's initial provocation. However, you can see that this particular qualification was an idea floating in the aether at the time Simone was writing her first foray.

Do I think the term has become overused? It's certainly spread to more genres outside of superheroes, but I don't think that's an over-extension, since we're usually talking about the same phenomenon happening in "heroic" subgenres of fantasy, sci-fi, romance, etc.

Does this apply to Brienne sacrificing herself to save Jaime?

No.

Brienne's self-sacrifice is the logical and emotional climax of her own character arc, one rooted in chivalric romance in which Brienne seeks to play the role of the tragic knight. She is introduced as an existential true knight, someone who finds life in Westerosi society a constant trial and humiliation but who longs to escape into a world of song and story through glorious deeds:

"Because it will not last," Catelyn answered, sadly. "Because they are the knights of summer, and winter is coming." "Lady Catelyn, you are wrong." Brienne regarded her with eyes as blue as her armor. "Winter will never come for the likes of us. Should we die in battle, they will surely sing of us, and it's always summer in the songs. In the songs all knights are gallant, all maids are beautiful, and the sun is always shining."

As in real-world chivalric romance, the structures of Westerosi chivalric romance are built around tragedy: the Dragonknight doesn't get to settle down with Naerys, but gives up his life to save King Aegon IV, and it's the doomed chaste romannce and the stubborn attachment to duty that makes it all so damn chivalrous.

Thus, from Brienne's introduction to now, we see Brienne looking for someone worthy to sacrifice her life to save:

she starts with Renly, except that she can't save him from the magic (although that does mean that she doesn't learn how unworthy he was) and becomes blamed for his death instead.

then she shifts to Catelyn, except that she can't save her because Catelyn sends her away so she's not there during the Red Wedding.

Jaime and Brienne's ASOS trek across the Riverlands, from the revelations of his backstory to him jumping into the bear pit to his quest-giving at the end, is entirely about setting him up as the third of three lord/lady-coded characters that Brienne could sacrifice herself for. And lo and behold, we have a situation where Jaime and Brienne are about to come face-to-face with Lady Stoneheart, a scenario we've already seen be grounded in questions of sacrifice and honor.

So unless GRRM somehow fucks up and makes the conclusion of Brienne's arc more about Jaime than Brienne, it's not a case of fridging.

#comics #comics meta #gail simone #women in refrigerators #fridging #asoiaf meta

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feralfemmefrotting · 2 months

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Former Zionist War Minister Avigdor Lieberman paints the criminal cabinet of "Israel" as losing the North in a statement yesterday.

Current Zionist War Minister Yoav Gallant is introducing conscription so controversial that orthodox settlers are blocking a "Tel-Aviv" highway in protest and the chief sephardic Rabbi is threatening the immigration of his entire community.

There's video evidence of Palestinian resistance groups destroying so many "Israeli" armed vehicles that they're deploying US made M-113's from the 60s, and footage of them destroying those as well.

Everyday that passes makes it more abundantly clear the genocide of Gaza is a contemptible, egotistical, hissy fit being thrown by the supposedly strongest bastion of American imperialism in the world as revenge for their military failure against the indigenous guerilla resistance.

They cannot win against an enemy they are supposedly superior to, and take out that failure on the citizenry. This is not only a collection of war crimes more staggering and deliberate than practically any other geopolitical location and period outside central Africa, it is a psychological condemnation of every bloodline and persons complicit to generations of a violent, settler colonial lifestyle.

When the samurai were ousted in the Meiji restoration, they came back in force and took over the government during WW2. The conclusions children of IOF casualties will find to explain the genocide they cannot swallow makes me deeply anxious. Even worse though; and even more likely the reality; is the conclusions they'll simply inherit from their war criminal parents, and intensify in response to any defeat at the hands of the resistance.

We already have "Israeli" settlers planning settlements for the Gaza strip in conventions

We already have "Israeli" settlers rumoring an invasion of Lebanon for revenge against Hezbollah

This entire situation is a demonstration of the psychological profile of the colonizer, the dehumanization you inflict upon yourself to commit such acts of violence. This is a mirror to every white North American. In one way or another we are reflected in the "Israeli" and if you cannot come to terms with that, unoackage it, and overcome that profile of violence and dehumanization that is enstilled in you then you are doomed to complacency in this genocide or the next.

That is to say nothing of the concentrated trauma of the Palestinian people, and leave 90% of this conversation unspoken.

#gaza genocide #free gaza #gaza strip #tel aviv #from the river to the sea palestine will be free #gazaunderattack #news on gaza

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terrence-silver · 1 year

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Read somewhere that the only reason Terry Silver was shown to be kind towards his staff, namely helping Carla at the begining of Season 4, was because he's been through therapy and mellowed his ways or some crap. Like Terry Silver was ever unkind towards his staff even before therapy?? He was there chilling with his secretary in the 80's and talking to her like a friend from his tub at the height of him being coked out of his mind. Truth is, Terry was always nice and oddly nice towards his employees. That is just fact. Okay, sorry, rant over.

Agreed.

I think Terry Silver just has gallant, old money manners in general when he wishes to --- he has them the way one has a weapon; he can produce and utilize it whenever and however he sees fit because a battle can be fought with many tools, and he's a master of all at his disposal --- and this includes the time pre-therapy, post-therapy, mid-therapy, in the 80's, 90's, 00's, present day, whenever, however. Always. I think him being the typical evil rich guy shouting at the pool boy or something is a gross mischaracterization and blatantly missing the point.

Out of character galore.

He is nice towards his people. Emphasis on the his. Those he pays. Keeps around. Those he trusts to run his household(s) and mansions. His tasks. His businesses. Important chunks of his life, if we're honest. A wise man once said it is prudent to be polite towards the one tasked and charged with serving you your food, because one never knows how they could tamper with it and this is a belief I feel Terry firmly holds to. Don't shit where you eat. Quite literally. Don't openly mistreat your staff because you never know ways in which they can retalliate and if he loathes one thing it is having no control over someone's actions and it so happens, being nice affords you a lot of control. He might be shouting at a Dynatox agent half way across the world, but he isn't going to shout at someone bringing him his cocktail and placing it down on the edge of his jacuzzi, because one is far away and the other could be an immediate threat.

What kind of captain wants mutiny inside of his ship?

And I do think that all his life, he was actually a surprisingly good boss to work under when one filters out everything else about him and just exists in that liminal space where he's a boss and someone's a worker --- he's bafflingly okay as an authority figure, creepily so --- shockingly so, all things considered, to the point that if some maid working for him was told all about his otherwise bad dealings and practices, she might not even believe it because Mr. Silver is just the salt of the earth and it rings true in the 70's, 80's, present day and constantly. He might even come off as oddly relaxed and jovial at times and that being his underling came with some amazing perks and rewards, so long as you don't cross lines, fail him and betray him, of course.

Naturally.

Even then, I picture Terry smarmy enough to where he can cleverly gaslight and convince the one who failed it is their doing and that he's taking disciplinary actions because he was given no choice. Truly, regretful. Ah, well. Hell, he might have them apologizing to him. But, this chastising usually never has him raising his tone. Not once. He is nice. He understands niceness, like one understands a cavity in their tooth and the outline of its shape when they push the tip of their tongue inside of it.

N i c e.

He is nice.

Margaret Spencer chats with him while he's bathing and one almost gets the impression of friendship and intimacy with all the mutual teasing going on, on equal footing --- like an elderly aunt from overseas berating her unruly American nephew. She is never subjegated or submissive, because Terry is nice, and Terry seems infinitely amused by their interactions. Milos knows Terry Silver's contacts enough to address John Kreese and ask him if he wants coffee right from the threshold of the door. With Snake and Dennis, we aren't certain if they're just some kids that co-habitate under his roof, if they're proteeges, his own personal wind-up jesters, his hired thugs or all four. Even with Mike Barnes back in the days, the way he initially greets him is genuinely inviting, offering the chance of a lifetime, with all the rewards and opportunities it entails; sponsoring him, cheekily sharing pleasantaries, joking around offering him cars, welcoming him to LA, giving him allowance like an overly (and worryingly kind) host.

This isn't nessecarily a bad boss. Not on the surface. Not until he's crossed.

This can all coexist with the fact that he was still a morally repugnant and corrupt individual who relished in the pain of others, but I don't think Terry needed therapy to be genuinely polite towards his people or to understand the power of charm and the perks of some hefty lovebombing, because he didn't need to therapy to understand a gallant approach inspires awesome loyalty that can't be bought with mere money. So, no, I don't think there's an era in his life, in truth, where he wouldn't help a maid or approach them with this disarmingly cavalier attitude where the staff themselves aren't certain if Mr. Silver is just the nicest man ever or if they're imagining things. Mr. Silver is almost like a...friend. Working for him is like being in a family.

#terry silver #carla the maid #margaret spencer #milos dadok #snake and dennis #mike barnes #kk3 #cobra kai #character analysis #tw; lovebombing

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gardenofshadcws · 11 months

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Voyage of the Nautilus Day 90

In Latitude 47° 24’ and Longitude 17° 28’, Part 5

A calm sea has never been quite so ominous

And Nemo pulls himself out of his depressive funk long enough to info dump about nautical history with his boyfriend, just like old times.

The Avenger just brings to mind Thor, The Hulk, and Captain America lying on the seafloor covered in barnacles. Why am I like this.

A Mass Execution, Part 1

“My eyes never left the captain” Just like old times. See, everything’s fine!

Orrr not. Aronnax is finally seeing all the red flags and I hurt

“a hate so monstrous or so sublime that the passing years could never weaken it.” I hurt

Ohnoohnoohno

The narwhal thing seems so long ago

“My hot rich science boyfriend has been killing people? :O”

But seriously, poor Aronnax. He’s had an image of Nemo as the savior of humanity built up in his head since the beginning, and in one paragraph that all comes crumbling down

I hurt a LOT

“Scum” ow, Nemo, don’t talk to gallant Ned like that”

“I’m going to sink it.”. “You wouldn’t!”. Um Pierre you literally just came to the realization that he’s done exactly that at least three times that you know of

“I’m the law, I’m the tribunal! I’m the oppressed, and there are my oppressors! Thanks to them, I’ve witnessed the destruction of everything I loved, cherished, and venerated—homeland, wife, children, father, and mother! There lies everything I hate! Not another word out of you!”

I was going to say something snarky but I am just internally SCREAMING NEMO MY POOR PROBLEMATIC BB THIS BOOK WAS A COMEDY WHAT HAPPENED MY SOUL IS DYING

#voyage of the nautilus #20000 leagues under the sea liveblog #20000 leagues under the sea #books

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sirjuggles · 1 year

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Worm Reading - Part 3, Arc 3 Agitation

This naming convention seems a little repetitive but I assume at some point I'm going to post an update that doesn't coincide with the same Arc number and then I'll be glad I did it this way to keep track.

Notes I took along the way while reading Arc 3 (this one got long sorry):

I forgot to mention last time, but Rachel's dogs are all Good Puppers who listen to their momma and I hope nothing bad happens to them! (something bad will almost assuredly happen to them and I'm gonna be unhappy about it when it does)

I keep forgetting the Undersiders are just high school kids. Gah reading YA fiction is weird beyond a certain point, because I remember when I felt like "yeah it makes sense for kids this age to be having adventures" but now I'm at the point of like "When I was five years older than you I still lived with my parents and borrowed the car when I needed to go somewhere, you are a child what are you doing robbing banks??" (that's more an issue of lived experience on my part but still)

Taylor keeps talking about "oh this is just an undercover operation I'm not really a member of this team of villains" girl you are PLANNING A HEIST ROBBERY. You spoke to one of the big superheroes once and he was a little skeptical on how you looked like a bad guy. The Good Guys do not think you are a Good Guy, and nothing you have done would convince them convince them otherwise!

Ooh ok we get some info on the Protectorate Youth League. Aegis seems basic, though tough to deal with in a hand-to-hand fight. Clockblocker is MUCH more interesting, because I firmly believe any time shenanigans can be broken with the right application. Vista is a reality warper, and even worse a YOUNG reality warper, so the potential for horrifying power is there. Kid Win is a nerd on a flying skateboard, I hope he has dumb 90's catchphrases. I'm actually really curious about Gallant, he's got a relationship with Glory Girl who we already saw is not to be trifled with, plus emotion-manipulating blasts are a great story mechanic for adding chaos. Shadow Stalker VS. Grue nemesis showdown I am totally here for it! I already kinda don't like Brian so I hope she's super catty and causes him a ton of trouble.

Worldbuilding tidbit! Manton Effect! So most powers aren't able to affect living beings, unless it's a power that specifically affects living beings? That seems... arbitrary. That does remind me of a question I had earlier about Alec's power, and how delicate his control over it is. So far he doesn't seem interested in things like practice, but I wonder if given practice he could, say, control people's fingers with enough precision to make them type out a message? Or, more to the point, if he could send a nerve signal to send someone's heart into a lethal rhythm or trigger a seizure?

Have I mentioned I don't like Brian? It was implied that he's abusive towards Rachel, and beyond that he's just got an all-too-familiar energy of "I know you want me to like you" and he is smart enough to use it to manipulate the people around him. When Alec was training with him, Alec pointed out that the example Brian was referencing didn't happen the way he said it did, and he just brushed it off. He seems to be in the habit of reinterpreting events the way he wants them to be, in a way that is often referred to as gaslighting (though isn't technically in line with the original usage of that term).

Oh Taylor talking to her dad before going out for the night was heartbreaking. God this is so hard for both of them, but that conversation was actually kind of a step in the right direction? Shame it had to be brought about because it's actually a cover story for this whole new bunch of dangerous trust-violating stuff that's probably about to blow up in her face.

OH SNAP SHE'S MEETING ARMSMASTER I DIDN'T SEE THAT COMING

#ArmsmasterWasRight

Hm who are the two murderers on the team? I seem to remember Rachel basically blew up her foster home when she bailed, so that wouldn't surprise me. It could honestly be any of the other three... I think Lisa has the bloodthirsty streak but I don't think she's physical enough. I don't like Brian and I could see him killing someone in the dark. Honestly though I suspect it's Alec! He's been noted to have a sadistic streak about using his power, and we haven't actually seen him in action.

God Taylor's gotta come up with a better cape name than Bug. It's so bad.

Holy jeez I cannot overstate how horrific what she just did to Clockblocker is. Bugs under eyelids and in nose arghhhhh no no no no no.

Whole fight scene is great, I will refrain from commenting on every bit.

Yeah I definitely still love Tattletale. Her work on the GG sisters was beautiful.

Interlude 3 - Wards: Hahaha after all that chaos nice to see that the corporate heroes don't just get to brush off all the property damage they caused.

Huh. Aegis actually seems cooler than I thought. His power basically makes him an invincible punching bag, but he seems to do a pretty reasonable job of making leadership calls for the team and also brushing off holes in his lungs and detached retinas.

Hm. There's some of the stuff around the weight of obligation on Panacea that I was expecting. Yeah. That sucks and there's not a good answer.

I keep going back and forth on Gallant. I see him as sort of a Bruce Wayne rich handsome playboy who's also a superhero. Except he's ALSO got awesome emotion-reading powers. He was a little awkward with Panacea, but I can't decide if he's trying to flirt with her or just trying to be kind. Feels like he's got a bigger role to play here, but I'm not yet sure in what capacity.

Side note, I do sorta love the implication that there's this big fancy high school where all these superpowered kids go on the other side of town from what we've seen so far. I bet there's fanfic out there of the social scene drama that goes on at that school that we just don't see in Worm. What would life have been like if Taylor had been able to transfer over there to get away from her bullies? Might she have fallen in with the Wards? This all could have gone so different....

#parahumans #worm #wormblr #wildbow #Worm Readalong #mine

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chaifootsteps · 8 months

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Ok, so there’s one point I wanted to make: Lackadaisy shouldn’t be compared to Vivziepop’s work because they’re of a completely different quality.

Whereas Vivziepop’s work is fast-paced, crammed full of movement and questionable humor, Lackadaisy has the measured pacing of animation from the 80’s/90’s. Not only is the animation itself not compromised (frame rate etc.), but it also successfully manages to convey a storyline without characters needing to speak at times, and makes use of beautifully painted backgrounds.

Do you know what people should be comparing Lackadaisy to? Over the Garden Wall. That’s the quality we got from an indie team, and it’s beautiful.

Yeah, Lackadaisy doesn't deserve to be compared to Vivzie on a quality level.

On a Goofus and Gallant kind of level? Definitely.

#Anonymous #vivziepop critical #actual blog post

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a-hearts-a-heavy-burden · 10 months

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Severe weather warning for my area

Is there any way y'all can help me get a room tonight so I can be out of the heavy rain?

It's about $90 to $100 for a night

Even if a few ppl help I should be okay

I forgot to add my PayPal link

#homelessness #homeless #help #financial insecurity #financial assistance #queer #lgbt #severe weather #paypal #dear hearts #scared #hope

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christopheroshea · 7 months

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I have never been too interested in home media collection, let alone Thomas home media. Now I do recognise that they were the backbone of selling the show during the classic era but I wasn’t one of those who went out of their way to collect all there is as an adult.

That said, I was randomly thinking about my childhood days of watching Thomas, among other British 80’s and 90’s preschool shows, and I wanted to share my first exposure to certain episodes because I knew those who were interested in home media might be interested.

All My Childhood VHS’s

None of them I currently still own

All the following were released for VHS, but I had the DVD releases:

The rest of the model series I’ve watched on TV blocks on Nick Jr. The episodes ‘Mavis’, ‘Gallant Old Engine’ and ‘Toad Stands By’ I didn’t watch until after I read the original ‘The Railway Series’ stories in this omnibus book:

Beyond the model series, the only DVDs I have now are all the specials sans ‘Day of the Diesels’.

#before I saw toad stands by on tv I sang ‘pop goes old ollie’ to the tune of good king wenceslas #before seeing gallant old engine my first exposure to rheneas was a magazine story #i can’t remember the name of said magazine story for the life of me #thomas the tank engine #thomas and friends

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someonelookingpraediti · 1 year

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2022 Yearly Roundup

Stats Total books read: 95 'New' books read: 90 5 star books: 32

My reading goal this year was 72 new-to-me books, 6 per month. I smashed my yearly goal, and hit my monthly goal 11 out of 12 months. The only month I missed, October, was the month I re-read The Raven Cycle instead. I think I did pretty well!

A Gathering of Shadows - V.E. Schwab ★★★★☆

The Cruel Prince - Holly Black ★★★★★

The Wicked King - Holly Black ★★★★★

The Queen of Nothing - Holly Black ★★★★★

How the King of Elfhame Learned to Hate Stories - Holly Black ★★★★☆

Lore - Alexandra Bracken ★☆☆☆☆

Pandora - Susan Stokes-Chapman ★★★★★

Skyward - Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★

A Long Fatal Love Chase - Louisa May Alcott ★★☆☆☆

Practical Magic - Alice Hoffman ★★★☆☆

These Violent Delights - Chloe Gong ★☆☆☆☆

Only a Monster - Vanessa Len ★★★★☆

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue - V.E. Schwab ★★★★★

The House with Chicken Legs - Sophie Anderson ★★★☆☆

The Atlas Six - Olivie Blake ★☆☆☆☆

Galatea - Madeline Miller ★★★☆☆

Gallant - V.E. Schwab ★★★★★

Cemetery Boys - Aiden Thomas ★★★★★

The Devil Makes Three - Tori Bovalino ★★★☆☆

A River Enchanted - Rebecca Ross ★★☆☆☆

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke ★★★☆☆

Tithe - Holly Black ★★★★★

Valiant - Holly Black ★★★★★

Ironside - Holly Black ★★★★★

Piranesi - Susanna Clarke ★★★☆☆

Half a Soul - Olivia Atwater ★★★★☆

The Ladies of Grace Adieu - Susanna Clarke ★★★☆☆

Ten Thousand Stitches - Olivia Atwater ★★★★★

Longshadow - Olivia Atwater ★★★★½

The Lord Sorcier - Olivia Atwater ★★★★★

The Latch Key - Olivia Atwater ★★★☆☆

Portrait of a Thief - Grace D. Li ★★★★★

The Lost Sisters - Holly Black ★★☆☆☆

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief - Rick Riordan ★★★☆☆

Percy Jackson and the Sea of Monsters - Rick Riordan ★★★★☆

Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse - Rick Riordan ★★★★☆

Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth - Rick Riordan ★★★★★

Percy Jackson and the Last Olympian - Rick Riordan ★★★★★

Book of Night - Holly Black ★★★☆☆

The Ravens - Danielle Paige and Kass Morgan ★★★★☆

The Monarchs - Danielle Paige and Kass Morgan ★★★☆☆

Starsight - Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★

Cytonic - Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★

Legion - Brandon Sanderson ★★★☆☆

Skin Deep - Brandon Sanderson ★★★★☆

Lies of the Beholder - Brandon Sanderson ★★★★☆

Skyward Flight - Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★

Firefight - Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★

Calamity - Brandon Sanderson ★★★★½

Mitosis - Brandon Sanderson ★★★☆☆

The King’s Renegal - Emily Wilson and Celia Oliva ★★☆☆☆

The Foxhole Court - Nora Sakavic ★★★★★

The Raven King - Nora Sakavic ★★★★★

The King’s Men - Nora Sakavic ★★★★★

Arcanum Unbounded - Brandon Sanderson ★★★☆☆

Dawnshard - Brandon Sanderson ★★★☆☆

Defending Elysium - Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★

Perfect State - Brandon Sanderson ★★☆☆☆

Firstborn - Brandon Sanderson ★★★★★

Snapshot - Brandon Sanderson ★★★★☆

These Hollow Vows - Lexi Ryan ★★★☆☆

These Twisted Bonds - Lexi Ryan ★★☆☆☆

Gild - Raven Kennedy ★☆☆☆☆

The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune ★★★★★

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir ★★★☆☆

Harrow the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir ★★☆☆☆

In Deeper Waters - F.T. Lukens ★★★★☆

Ariadne - Jennifer Saint ★★★★☆

Violet Made of Thorns - Gina Chen ★☆☆☆☆

Northanger Abbey - Jane Austen ★★★★☆

Nettle and Bone - T. Kingfisher ★★★★☆

The Dark Tide - Alicia Jasinska ★★★★★

A Prince of Troy - Lindsay Clarke ★★☆☆☆

Wake the Bones - Elizabeth Kilcoyne ★★★★★

The Raven Boys - Maggie Stiefvater (re-read)

The Dream Thieves - Maggie Stiefvater (re-read)

Blue Lily, Lily Blue - Maggie Stiefvater (re-read)

The Raven King - Maggie Stiefvater (re-read)

Opal - Maggie Stiefvater ★★★★★

Call Down the Hawk - Maggie Stiefvater ★★★★☆

Mister Impossible - Maggie Stiefvater ★★★★☆

Greywaren - Maggie Stiefvater ★★★★★

The School for Good and Evil - Soman Chainani ★★★☆☆

A World Without Princes - Soman Chainani ★★☆☆☆

Vicious - V.E. Schwab ★★★★★

The Last Ever After - Soman Chainani ★★★☆☆

Nothing but Blackened Teeth - Cassandra Khaw ★★★★☆

Firstborn - Brandon Sanderson (re-read)

Upon a Waking Dream - J.S. Bailey ★★☆☆☆

The Secret Gift - Bethany Atazadeh ★★★★☆

A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens ★★★★★

Godkiller - Hannah Kaner ★★★☆☆

Vengeful - V.E. Schwab ★★★★☆

The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories - various authors ★★★★☆

Wintersong - S. Jae-Jones ★★★☆☆

#2022 #yearly roundup #roundup #reading

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proxylynn · 10 months

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"How to make a woman happy: a man has to be like a friend; a father; a brother, a chef; an electrician; mechanical; a masseur; a photographer; a stylist; a great listener; nice; athletic; sensitive; sincere; attentive; creative; generous; intelligent; strong; passionate; funny; thoughtful; makes surprises; gallant; send love messages; makes compliments; eat what what she cooks; don't look other girls; and never forget birthdays, anniversaries and valentine's day."What the boys thinks about this?

Mal: Hey, luv. What ya think about this?

Lynn: *grabs this list and a pencil, crossing stuff out*

Liu: What's it say now?

Lynn: *clears throat* How to make a woman happy: a man has to be a friend; sincere; and funny.

Charlie: You crossed out like 90%.

Lynn: Yeah. Because all that other junk falls into being sincere and a good friend. Besides, who wants a Mr. Perfect or a boyfriend that makes you think of your dad or brother? That's weird. I just want an equal. I think any girl or guy or nonbio wants that.

Douglas: That. That is why you're awesome, sweet thing.

#ask op #yan house

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mariacallous · 1 year

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The Covid-19 pandemic played a key role in the global supply chain logjam of the last 18 months that has disrupted commerce and fueled a cost-of-living crisis around the world. And it seems that no pipeline escaped its impact. After years of trying to raise awareness about a shortage of dogs with the necessary genetic, physical, and emotional attributes to work as bomb-detection dogs in the United States, experts say that pandemic-related turmoil has complicated the situation even more.

The US sources 85 to 90 percent of its detection canines from overseas, particularly from European countries like Germany and the Netherlands. Dogs receive advanced training in a number of sub-specialties including bomb and drug detection and search and rescue. But their breeding, genetics, environment, and training during early life are all crucial to producing dogs with the mental and physical characteristics that will protect them on the job and enable a good quality of life.

“The canine nose is the best technology we have for locating explosives, so we need to have a very consistent and high-quality source of dogs,” says Sheila Goffe, vice president of government relations at the American Kennel Club. "We used to talk about, well, what if there's a global crisis or geopolitical issues, we’re not going to be able to get all of these dogs we’re importing from Europe. And then it happened.”

In congressional testimony in March 2016, Cindy Otto, executive director of the Penn Vet Working Dog Center at the University of Pennsylvania, warned the Senate homeland security committee about these risks. “By outsourcing our national security requirements we give up control of the type of dogs, the health of the dogs, and the early training of the dogs,” she said at the time. “We also are at risk for supply interruption due to politics, disaster, or disease.”

Today, she says that she sees progress toward expanding the domestic supply of detection dogs in the US. Expanded federal contracts for projects at Johns Hopkins Advanced Physics Laboratory, Auburn University, Gallant Technologies, K2 Solutions, and others are working to develop new technologies and procedures to support an expanded network for domestic detection dog breeding. And programs like the American Kennel Club's “Patriotic Puppy Program” are working to teach existing US breeders about the requirements and criteria for specifically focusing on detection dogs. But she adds that the progress has been incremental and takes years of foundational work to bear fruit.

“I wish we were way further along, but certainly the pandemic slowed the research down, slowed all the programs down," Otto told WIRED. “It restricted the inflow of dogs from overseas and slowed progress in this country to establish alternatives—it just beat us all up.”

Last month, the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a nearly 100-page report about working dogs and the need for federal agencies to better safeguard their health and wellness. The GOA says the US federal government had approximately 5,100 working dogs, including detection dogs, across three federal agencies, as of February. Another 420 dogs “served the federal government in 24 contractor-managed programs within eight departments and two independent agencies,” the GAO report says.

The report also underscores the demands placed on detection dogs and the potential for overwork if there aren't enough dogs available. "Working dogs might need the strength to suddenly run fast, or to leap over a tall barrier, as well as the physical stamina to stand or walk all day," the report says. “They might need to search over rubble or in difficult environmental conditions, such as extreme heat or cold, often wearing heavy body armor. They also might spend the day detecting specific scents among thousands of others, requiring intense mental concentration. Each function requires dogs to undergo specialized training.”

As institutions emerge from pandemic restrictions, they are scrambling to make up lost time on two equally important components of the problem: developing procedures for reliably producing successful detection dogs and actually breeding and raising puppies. Auburn University focuses on the former.

“At Auburn, we were fortunate that the pandemic did not force us to stop doing research altogether, but we were affected by scheduling issues, supply chain issues, all the things that slow the pace of progress down,” says Skip Bartol, associate dean of research and graduate studies at the Auburn University College of Veterinary Medicine. “There is not yet a road map to a complete solution to domestic sourcing for detection dogs, but what we are trying to do is establish best scientific practices. Everything from making sound genetic decisions about the breeding of detector canines to their development as puppies to how early environment affects their lifelong potential.”

Problems with procurement and breeding during the pandemic mean that the population of bomb dogs working in the US right now may be aging and stretched even more than usual. And the bottom line, for now, is that the US is still heavily reliant on procuring detection dogs from other countries. As the University of Pennsylvania's Otto puts it, “It's a combination of factors, but there is definitely still a very unmet need.”

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