#other is a literal government worker but also an investigator

[hanakihan]

Aalto 🤝🏻 Jinchul

Being sunglasses dumbasses who wear them no matter which situation

#solo leveling #woo jin chul #wuthering waves #aalto #which is fucking hilarious because one is an information broker but also illegal #other is a literal government worker but also an investigator #help my two favorites are cringe sunglasses men

[zvaigzdelasas]

Protesters demanding a cease-fire in the Israeli war in Gaza blocked a U.S. military supply ship leaving the Port of Oakland for hours Friday by locking themselves to the vessel. The protesters also blocked the entrance to Berth 20 where the container carrier Cape Orlando is moored. Protest groups say the ship is bound for Israel after being loaded with weapons and military equipment in Tacoma, Washington.

The protest was organized by the San Francisco-based Arab Resource Organizing Center. Police were at the scene of the protest which appeared to number about 200 people, many holding Palestinian flags and signs demanding an end to U.S. military aid to Israel[...]

Three Palestinian supporters were holding on to a rope ladder and refusing to let workers close a door to the military ship. A U.S. Coast Guard negotiator tried to convince them to get off the ship, but protestors refused..[...] Abushamala was one of many demonstrators that blocked a port entrance to the ship. She said she lost several relatives in the war. "One missile killed three generations. An uncle, their son, and their child," said Abushamala. "I'm enraged that our government is still sending aid, missiles to Israel."

Another Palestinian protestor, Noura Khouri, said she also lost a relative in a bombing last week. "It's literally impossible for any of us to sleep, to eat, to work, to carry on with our lives," said Khouri.

Some Jewish people also joined in the protest. "I'm here as a Jewish person, the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors. And I grew up hearing the stories of my grandmother surviving the Nazi's Holocaust, losing her entire family. And today, Israel is weaponizing my history, the history of my family that was killed, to kill Palestinian families in Gaza," said Alameda resident Anna Baltzer.

Just before 3 p.m., authorities removed the three protesters who held onto the rope ladder, and the ship made its way out of the port. Abushamala and other protestors were disappointed. They hope their action will have a lasting impact on lawmakers.

"No more U.S. military aid to Israel. It is within your power. Do not let the fear stop you," said Abushamala.[...]

According to a release from AROC, three protesters who climbed onto the vessel were detained by the U.S. Coast Guard -- the federal agency with jurisdiction on the water. As it is an ongoing investigation, Coast Guard Petty Officer Hunter Schnabel said Friday evening that he could not provide specifics but confirmed "multiple individuals are currently under investigation." The release from AROC called on "communities in cities around the country and across the world to be on alert for vessels carrying similar cargo."

3 Nov 23

[formulatrash]

That anon acting like being a journalist in motorsport is like being an executive in a capitalist establishment. 🤡 It’s like accusing a McDonalds crew member of being pro capitalism because they work in McDonalds. Like??? As if being treated poorly and paid dirt despite working your ass off everyday is not reason enough to he a socialist. I am a socialist precisely because of my experience as a worker in these filthy corporations! Clown anon!

you're absolutely right but a very large number of people in motorsport and the media are obviously very right wing. even when it's wildly against their own interests or totally in opposition to the concept of journalism or whatever.

especially in worlds like motorsport or the car industry. a lot of people don't like actually covering things, they enjoy being there. whether that's at the Frankfurt motor show or the Miami Grand Prix. and if your goal is just being there then you're willing to work for places where you do actively bad stuff because what you make was never the goal.

that's not how it's ever worked for me and this isn't meant to sound morally superior or whatever because honestly, get what you want i guess. but for me being in paddocks or factories or literally driving cars is so that I can write better pieces and find out more. the pass is to make the media, not the pieces a bartering chip for the pass.

in retrospect, some of that is why it was often pretty lonely. because I wasn't playing the same game as quite a lot of people. and it also makes the industry all the more exploitative because people want that lanyard so much they'll do anything for it.

I was thinking the other day that there's been almost no coverage of the investigation into F1 lobbying the EU and British government on behalf of Aramco, via synthetic fuel. It's a really damning link and I'm not just saying this because I'm quoted in the article but I would absolutely be writing about it if I still had somewhere to do it. it's a really shocking scandal, that F1 is helping hold up combustion car bans by contributing (unproven) information about synthetic fuels.

it's not the kind of thing F1 like people reporting. so suddenly all the men who self-style as hard-nosed business journalists in the paddock are being awfully quiet. because it is more important to still be there.

obviously, I am not still there. I did indeed criticise FE one too many times for their liking and fell out of favour. I am not a model for holding onto your pass. but there is also no point pretending that I could have acted differently just to keep it. anyway, this all turned into a bit of a ramble but turns out there's bad people kind of everywhere and often they're holding the controls.

I think that's part of what's upset me about the Watcher thing. these are guys who deliberately set out to make their own media company so they had that control to make things they were proud of, with the production values they wanted, under their own ownership, without having to fire people all the time. and you're asking them to be more like Buzzfeed? that was the bad old days, friends.

#misc asks

[crowandtalbot]

Put this on tiktok but it's likely going to get removed:

AIPAC is behind most of the pro-Irsael to the point of cutting $14 billion from our IRS budget to help fund their military type craziness. Most US politicians are in their pocket and they are also the ones pushing legislation to make criticizing the Israel government illegal in the US and deporting all Palestinians in the US and just a shit ton of other anti-Arabic foreign policy.

Also a reminder that Netanyahu (Israeli Prime Minister, currently under investigation by the International Criminal Court for war crimes from before and after the continued siege of Gaza started) and his extremist administration are pushing for "Greater Israel" which would involve conquering Jordan, Lebanon, parts of Iraq, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. The proposed map looks like this:

There are many ways American imperialism and Evangelical Zionism would benefit from this map. It gives an American ally control of natural gas reserves off the coast of Gaza, it gives access to build the Ben Gurion Canal and the ability to construct an oil pipeline from Saudi Arabia into Europe and dominate the energy sector. It also allows America to funnel its Jewish population out of America without expressly deporting them. There is literally so much wrong with this.

But Americans can protest AIPAC directly and attempt to sever the connection between this lobbying group and our politicians. First by checking if our reps have already accepted AIPAC money (I recommend using opensecrets.org but googling usually works just as well), contacting them, and telling them that if they continue to accept AIPAC and AIPAC affiliate donations you will volunteer for thier opposition in the coming election. Then try to find a candidate running who doesn't accept AIPAC money and volunteer or donate for their campaign. Also, you don't have to be a politician's constituent to contact them. This means you can spam-fax their office or mail them physical form letters demanding action against Israel's genocide. These physical documents must be handled by actual staff and preserved so this is very disruptive for them.

AIPAC also has a website with a contact form and phone number you can call.

I would recommend filling the name and address fields with junk information (nothing too obvious for them to filter out) and then type whatever you would like to say in the actual message part.

And it wasn't hard for me to find a mailing address for them either.

However it is unlikely this is the only office they have, or that office even has many workers in it. Also if I can successfully convince people to pester them like we did to all those republican rallies in 2020, they can ask Google to remove that info and then remove their contact info from their website.

If we can disrupt AIPAC we can do a lot more good, not just for Palestine, but for Israel and other American backed genocides like in Congo and Sudan.

Please re-blog this, don't just like and move on.

#free palestine #free congo #free sudan

[dirtyfox911911]

The Boys but Hogwarts Mystery or something idk

I’m tempted to make additional HPHM character, but everything in story will be taken literally, seriously and in an extremely completionist way.

Let me explain why…

MC is a superhuman. Bio product. Artificially created by government with the help of Dai Ryusaki’s researches. Even Dumbledore is in cahoots with that.

MC is set to cultivate multiple skills - becomes an animagus, enhances their legilimency, does absolutely every chore and event planning around Hogwarts, befriends nearly entire school and solves their problems, becomes Prefect and later Head Girl/Boy, passes OWLs and NEWTs in all O’s, plays and wins the entirety of Quidditch, makes any creature bow and tremble before them, closes every Cursed Vault, becomes a master Duelist, does every investigation for Hogsmeade ever, singlehandly runs and supervises the Clubs, keeps Forbidden Forest in tact, gains obscure titles and achievements for breakfast, does half of the work for both Ministry and St. Mungo.

Not to mention that they also have to deal with at least 8 people having a crush on them.

And all that in a span of 7 Years. Under Dumbledore’s careful watch and guidance.

For best efficiency MC’s “parents” are ordered to distant themselves from MC as much as possible, so MC develops immunity to stress on their own, and Merlin forbid they develop any human feelings or emotions. That’s why MC’s mother is so absent in their life throughout school years.

But the father? Oh, the father.

Peregrine. Peregrine is in fact, is a previous failed experiment. We know from their dialogue with Dumbledore - Peregrine had a painfully similar to MC school life. But somewhere along those years, up to Wizarding War something went wrong. He gained his own consciousness and woke up from Ministry’s influence on him. He found out what he is, and set himself to go against Ministry.

Dai Ryusaki was not a dark wizard, but we found out he feared his own inventions and attempted to prevent others from using it as it was dangerous. Peregrine’s curse has nothing to do with that amulet he’s carrying around, or anything from the outside. Peregrine’s curse occurred inside him because of the experiment and it IS what went wrong.

Peregrine made an underground organization and wants to take Ministry down for what they did to him, and now he gradually can’t take a single sneeze without aggravating himself and setting Ryusaki’s Fury off.

But what about MC? Peregrine can’t tell MC about their true nature. He fears to set MC’s fury as well, and doesn’t wish that upon them. Instead, he attempts to give MC bits of what Ministry took from them - he rebels against Ministry’s ways and dumps at least some parental affections to them. Although he fails at it because there’s so little time left before MC graduates and Ministry will inevitably snatch them to work for them and use as a weapon, and Peregrine is between 5 fires himself. All he can do is rushed and sometimes outright dangerous to himself and others decisions, that are more often than not taken over by R Fury without him even realizing that.

He knows he’s cursed. But he doesn’t always know when it’s showing. And he can’t accept any help because of his big “main character” ego. Despite all that he still dare I say, loves his kids and wants to prevent them from, in his eyes - greater evil.

What about others in the story?

Rakepick is a government experiment that went rogue as well. But she developed a lot more murderous and sociopathic tendencies, and possibly without use of Ryusaki’s research. While Peregrine and MC are set to charm and gather people around, Rakepick is not. She was meant to be efficient worker, problem solver. Until she became a problem…

She was sent to take Peregrine down. She pretended to join R on her own terms, and was meant to dismantle it and their Leader. She would go to any extent, and because of her frivolity she would even take down MC to hit Peregrine where it hurts. But it happened so, that someone else took the blow for MC and we know how that ends…

Rakepick wanted MC down, because she thought MC will end up like Peregrine. She’s not concerned about Ministry’s interests, she thinks that she knows better. However, after everything that went down, during Azkaban events, she sees and realizes where she was wrong, and just simply states that MC “has a good heart, and shouldn’t loose it”.

That concludes her character and her arc.

Jacob was not raised to be Ministry’s secret weapon. He gained a lot of similar to MC talent on his own, but he has too much free will and acts rather emotionally than rationally. That’s why Ministry dismisses him, as they simply don’t see potential in him.

Jacob does a bit of a better job at giving MC family experience, right under Ministry’s nose. Although, it’s still not perfect obviously. And, Jacob acts on the matters on his own, and gets hurt a lot, making mistakes that are inherent if you’re a human being.

Despite turning most of attention to MC for reasons stated above, Peregrine cares about Jacob as well. He desperately wants to be a normal human being, a father at that. Jacob wants to have his family as well. It just happened so, that their family is in this big of a mess.

MC’s mom is a mindless Ministry drone, I will not elaborate, we will never see her.

Who and why joins R? Why are people of R are so against the government, that they are willing to work with Peregrine?

R members we seen were walked over by government in one way or another. They all seem to be typical denizens of Knockturn Alley, but they end up there not because they’re inherently evil. But because, if in this world you fail at following the system - you end up at the bottom. They have no choice, but to live like this, because the system doesn’t give them another chance. Or, they suddenly do have a choice, and it’s to join an organization. It’s not perfect, it doesn’t have your best interests in mind. But it promises to stick it to Ministry, right?

And now, when majority of your organization are these people, they will inevitably do something stupid. So, when you send someone like Shiratori to retrieve your kids, someone like Shiratori will do something stupid, like attack them, or have 0 diplomacy and talking skills.

That’s why R appears to be an evil Cabal. They may not have “bad” intentions, but they just don’t possess better skills and are full of spite and grudge.

__________________

The final conclusion.

THEY ALL NEED THERAPY HAHAHAHAHAHA

Byeeee!

#hogwarts mystery #hphm #hphm year 7 #hphm spoilers #hphm theories #i dont even know #what am I even saying

[paradoxgavel]

Hihi kepler ive seen u post about the uh the disco elysium what is it its so weird its so confusing its great but i also dont know anything about it somehow despite the secondhand info i see from u the more i know the less i know wehhhhhhhh

Ooh okay so! I'm gonna infodump so I'm puttin it under a read more ehehe

Disco Elysium is a. I guess you'd call it a roleplaying game? And it's a mystery game. The character you play as wakes up in a trashed hostel room one day with absolutely no memory of who he is, where he is, the world he's living in, or what he's supposed to be doing. And his psyche is broken apart into different aspects that sorta represent his train of thought. (they're also the stats system in the game! like his sense of empathy. or his ability to visualize things. or his ability to tolerate pain. his hand-eye coordination. his flare for drama. stuff like that.)

Eventually though he finds out he's a cop named Harry du Bois, sent to this hostel to investigate a dead body found hung from a tree in the backyard, and what the big worker's strike in the city has to do with it. But he also finds out that he's... a complete mess. Before he lost his memory, he had a really serious breakdown, got extremely drunk, crashed his cop car into a frozen lake, and lost his gun and his badge.

And the more he learns about himself the more and more painful stuff from his past he dredges up, and he learns that he just... was not doing well. Mentally or physically. And the more he learns about the world he's living in, the more and more messed up it gets. Things are. not great. where he's living. For a multitude of reasons. But there are a lot of folks who are just... trying their best to be good and compassionate and look out for each other even as the forces governing their home are downright inhumane.

But assigned to the case with him is a cop from another precinct named Kim Kitsuragi. He doesn't trust Harry at first, but eventually realizes he's serious about his complete amnesia and decides to not only help him with the case, but be there for him while he's figuring stuff out. And the two wind up bonding and solving mysteries and having emotional crises together and trying to navigate the bad situation they're in and keep each other safe. And their relationship is legitimately really nice.

Annnd it's just a really beautiful game with writing that goes from totally goofy silly, to hard hitting political dicussion, to literally so heartbreaking that I've had to pause the game and take a breather before, to oh dang these sad old men love each other so much. It's fantastic! *Really* heavy and touches on a lotta sensitive topics (racism, homophobia, abuse, mental illness, police corruption, VERRRY vivid descriptions of decomposing bodies, and more), so y'know. discretion advised! But it's a really amazing game.

[crazywolf828]

Can you explain to me what this Spy x Family thing is? Seems interesting

Oh I have got you anon.

So, Spy x Family is a manga series that recently got an anime (which looks really good btw) and the bare bones plot is that a spy known as Twilight, or Loid Forger, is trying to keep extremists from sparking a war between his country and the neighboring country. His latest mission he has to investigate a politician by infiltrating his son's school, a prestigious academy.

How does he do this? Easy, he gets married, adopts a kid, and plays family. But no one is really the way they seem...

Let's talk characters

First up is obviously Anya, a six year old orphan that Loid adopts, he plans on using her to get into this prestigious academy to befriend his targets son. The main problem here, Anya's a telepath, she can read everyone's thoughts, so right off the bat she knows her new dad is a spy, then she also learns her new mom is an assassin. She finds this exciting and amazing and wants to help as much as she can, however, she is still six years old. Her perception of the world is a bit skewed which leads to a lot of hijinks.

Then there's Loid, the dad in this whole mess. He really doesn't know how to be a dad, and originally thinks of this situation as a pain (especially when Anya won't do ridiculous amounts of homework). But he grows to learn and honestly cares for his family now. His 'day job' or cover story, is as a psychiatrist who's patients are always oddly violent, often leading him to come home in bumps and bruises. Of course that still doesn't stop his main mission, and several other missions along the way. Like going to the aquarium with his family because some people in his apartment were suspicious of them. It's really cute to see the way he grows, and shows that he cares.

And of course, we can't forget about the mother, Yor, who just so happens to also be an assassin by the name of Thorn Princess. By day she's just a ditzy office worker, worried she'll never find love (something one of her co-workers teases her about constantly). Then she hears that unmarried people are being taken into custody by the government, accused of being spies, so she's quick to try and find a partner.

Some shenanigans happen and her and Loid are running from a group of baddies and we get the best proposal of all time

He literally proposes with a grenade and I love it.

Oh also did I mention they get a dog that can see the future? Anya can read it's mind and one time this six year old and this dog stopped a terrorist attack. Also his name is Bond, yeah after James Bond. Anya has a thing with spy shows.

It's a good manga, can get a little long winded if you aren't into like details about political statuses of their countries, but it more than makes up for it with how purely adorable it is. So yeah, I'd absolutely go give it a read/watch if I were you!

#sorry if this doesnt make sense im like half dead over here #but gods its such a good show #technically ive only read the manga but still #theyre all such dorks #and they love each other #don't mind me #answered #ask #anon #long post #spy x family #loid forger #yor forger #anya forger #their names have gone through so many changes #rip

[mariacallous]

We now live in a time when energy firms talk like celebrities who’ve just lamped someone at the Oscars, or been covertly filmed making racist remarks. On being confronted with the fact that debt collectors in its pay are breaking into the homes of vulnerable customers to forcibly install prepayment meters, British Gas yesterday summoned the full force of theatrical contrition to wail: “This is not who we are.”

You’ll note that statement conforms to the ironclad rule of the this-is-not-who-I-am apology, in that its precise opposite is true. This is, demonstrably, precisely who British Gas are, given that this is what they do. “It’s not how we do business,” explained the firm, faced with an overwhelming stack of evidence that this is indeed how they do business.

As one debt collector trainer cheerily enlightened a new recruit during the Times investigation into the practice: “That person could tell you that their entire family of 50 were in a horrific aeroplane crash and were the sole survivor, and we’d still be saying: that’s a shame, but we are changing your meter.” The bailiff workforce seems to have absorbed this central ethical message. “If every single mum that starts getting a bit teary you’re going to walk away from,” reasoned one, “you won’t be earning any bonus.” How can it not be the way you do business, if doing it is literally incentivised?

Admittedly, it’s not how British Gas present the way they do business to the outside world. The firm’s website and social channels confront users with a perky message: “We’re tooled up to help bring bills down.” For whatever reason, they omit to mention that the tools are a mortise pick, a mass-issued warrant, and a guy who prefaced setting a locksmith on the door of a single father-of-three by telling the undercover reporter: “I love this bit.” (Whether this man is the biggest tool in the British Gas shed is a matter of debate. I imagine the field is hotly contested.)

The chief executive of the energy regulator, Ofgem, yesterday condemned the practice of forcibly entering people’s homes and switching them to prepayment. He also opened an investigation into British Gas, warning: “No energy CEO can shirk their legal and moral responsibilities to protect their own customers, especially the most vulnerable.”

And yet they can, as everyone from charities to Citizens Advice to a select committee inquiry has been highlighting for a long time now. Perhaps in their submissions to this inquiry, British Gas-contracted bailiffs will claim they are in fact engaged in divinely appointed “moral” work, much in the same way a serial killer argues they are simply cleansing the streets of sex workers once they’ve used them. Surprisingly, that’s not currently the line the firm is going with. If warm words could heat homes, British Gas could do itself out of business.

As for who else is looking busy, the business and energy secretary, Grant Shapps, last week wrote a letter to energy companies ordering them to stop the practice. Ironically, for firms that deplore their own demands being ignored, they seem not to have opened it. Maybe companies that decline to engage with the secretary of state’s envelopes could be forced to prepay their taxes? British Gas expects to increase its earnings eightfold this year.

Naturally, those unopened ministerial demands are not the only irony in town. Yesterday, Shell reported global profits of $40bn (£32.2bn), the highest in its 115-year history. The announcement served as a reminder that our government’s longtime refusal to consider extending the windfall tax was opposed, among others, by Shell itself. Last October the firm’s then chief executive Ben van Beurden told the Energy Intelligence Forum that governments needed to tax firms such as his to protect the poorest. “You cannot have a market that behaves in such a way … that is going to damage a significant part of society … I think we just have to accept as a society – it can be done smartly and not so smartly. There is a discussion to be had about it, but I think it’s inevitable.” The then chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, finally took not-especially-smart action in the autumn statement; the government always being the last to know.

Before we conclude, it must be said that British Gas is far from the only firm forcibly fitting prepayment meters, often while people are out at work, and shockingly often in the case of disabled customers who rely on electrically operated equipment to manage their lives. Many firms are driving these already vulnerable people on to prepayment meters, where the rate is disgracefully and unjustifiably higher. This is simply inhumane. The fact that it has continued despite the resultant anguish being highlighted is a sign that something much bigger than the bond between a company and an individual customer is broken.

This week the US president, Joe Biden, called for a “junk fee” prevention act, reasoning: “You shouldn’t have to pay an extra $50 to sit next to your child on the plane, pay a surprise ‘resort fee’ for a hotel stay, pay $200 to terminate your cable plan, or pay huge service fees to buy concert tickets”.

I know it involves taking a vague interest in how people actually live, but you’d think it was even more of a priority for someone in our own government to say that poor people really, really shouldn’t have to pay more for electricity via prepayment meters. If they can’t even get a grip on that part of the problem, let alone the iceberg it’s the tip of, then mounting evidence suggests it might be time for a number of parties in this story to concede: “This actually is who we are.”

[churchyardgrim]

THE ENEMY WITHIN by Christie Golden

oh god it’s been so long BUT WE’RE BACK FOLKS 

u know who is also back? Christie Golden!  and she follows me on twitter oh god run

so this one's not the most fun book of the bunch, a bit serious and plodding, but Golden's writing has improved much since her last two Ravenloft books, and it kept me interested til the end

so we open with government. Most Noble Goodboy Sir Tristan Hiregaard is handed a royal brat of a teenager to supervise, on account of the king having died of plot disease. his own son, Ivaar, is one of those rich kid revolutionaries who care just so much about the plight of the downtrodden, and who haven't quite figured out that a purging of the bourgeoisie would take their own heads off too. his best friend is captain of the guard, and he is by all accounts a tirelessly fair statesman.

the book actually makes me like the guy, which. that's not fair, Ms. Golden. i've seen the cover art, you and i both know what's coming!

anyway what's coming is through a series of realistically stupid events, our boy Triscuit gets Vistani Cursed for something that wasn't his fault, and, totally coincidentally, some strange horrible murders start happening!

we've got a bit of Jack the Ripper here, a killer targeting sex workers and lower class women in gory ways and leaving badly-spelled messages on walls, that sort of thing

Tristan, being the protagonist, shows his Goodboy nature by being horrified and vowing to Find The Killer At All Costs

meanwhile, his kid has an unexpected visitor at this week's meeting of the Nova Vaasan Young Gentleman's Revolutionary Club, which goes something like this:

"hello young sirs, have you heard the good word of our lord and savior Generic Cat God?"

"why no, mysterious masked stranger, we have not."

"you have now! here have some kittens"

cats are a running theme, apparently; our mysterious masked stranger is Malken, supernaturally charismatic and promising to help better the downtrodden of the country through temple-sponsored orphanages and soup kitchens and a free cat to every new convert, and boy howdy is Ivaar wrapped around this guy's finger

but Tristan doesn't have time to talk to his son, or to worry about the new scientologists in town; he's got a MURDER to SOLVE

he does some boring detective work, investigates a Horse Racket, blah blahhhhh blah can we move on now

i'm just saying, Sam Vimes would have had this shit wrapped up within 72 sleepless hours, and he would have been funny about it

anyway Malken, shockingly, is not as benevolent as his silver tongue might suggest to impressionable young noblemen, and the cat god temple is literally the biggest front for organized crime the world's ever seen. dude's been alive for like a month at this point and he's already tied himself up in every single business in Nova Vaasa. he's like if Two Face was an actual italian mobster, it's kinda impressive. Tristan is rapidly running out of allies as his sexy other half steals all his friends with his sexy sexy crimes and murders.

at about the two-thirds mark, Triscuit finally cottons on to the same thing the reader knew from the cover art; which is, Tristan me boy look in a goddamn mirror

yes, that fun Vistani curse got u possessed! sort of. it's not quite a Jeckyl n Hyde situation, Malken isn't literally Tristan's secret inner desires manifesting themselves. he's literally a different person who occasionally gains occupancy over Tristan's body, physically changing it in the process

which is inconvenient! how are u supposed to fight a guy who shares ur own body?

Tristan, being also a wizard of some minor skill, does the dumbass protagonist thing of isolating himself further and not telling anyone ever about this revelation or what he plans to do about it. i can foresee no repercussions for this whatsoever.

i will say that it's a testament to Golden's writing skill that even in the home stretch here the book still manages to give you hope that this might have a happy ending

but god, nope, it is 100% a tragedy. the good kind, where you can see the way the bad decisions snowball from a mile off and it still hurts like fuck when Consequences happen. it's cathartic.

Tristan does some graverobbing for spell components, as one does, and when his best friend guard captain guy tries to stage an intervention like "hey dude you've been working a lot of late nights, and the murders keep piling up, and i've kinda noticed that the killer's handwriting kinda looks exactly like yours just with worse spelling and written with the left hand, are u good?" Tristan does the totally sane thing of accusing him of working with Malken and cracking his skull like an egg

which ow, god, i liked that guy actually

our climax is a tasty tasty mirrorverse boss fight! with Tristan having lost or sacrificed pretty much everything for a chance to end Malken's reign of terror, and Malken taunting him from reflections with philosophical inevitabilities

like goddamn, "I am all that keeps you good" what a line huh

in the end, they settle into equilibrium; batman and joker in one. Malken insists that they need each other, that without the necessary evil personified in another discrete entity, Tristan himself will slide into depravity. there's something to be said here about how heroes necessitate villains; a villain without a hero is successful, but a hero without a villain is merely useless

so they balance each other, though the real loser here is Nova Vaasa itself, being now entirely under the thumb of a sadistic crime lord. in other books (and game modules) it's a wasteland of grassy plains, haunted by beast-men, so perhaps that is the place's ultimate future within the mists. there are some continuity errors regarding Tristan's backstory between this book and the other materials though, so it might be worth treating as just a standalone story.

it's worth a read if you're after a supernatural mystery thriller! the writing is very good, if a bit plodding at times, and if you let yourself feel for the characters it does hurt so good when the genre-required bad things happen to them. i'm almost sad we won't see more of Golden's work in this series, but apparently she's done a metric fuckton of warcraft and star wars novels, so if you're so inclined there's plenty more where these came from

#church's ravenloft reviews #good lord its been a while huh #I GOT DISTRACTED AGAIN and Tapestry of Dark Souls was so depressing and joyless that i had to stop for a while hghdf #not gonna review that one bc it just wouldn't be funny #but next up is a fun one! #ur gonna like it :)

[fdlvh]

Master book post

Raven - psychological, thriller, horror

20.584 words (finished, rewrite hiatus)

A group of friends find themselves inextricably bound by a terrible "accident" that occurred four years earlier in a mountain cabin. Each of the boys is driven by personal motivations not to talk about the incident under any circumstances, they have sworn not to betray each other, and yet... strange events, nightmares and a bit of karma will transport them into a night they will not easily forget.

For us time stops - supernatural, political, romance

140.269 words (finished, rewrite hiatus)

Sky has recently lost her mother in what appears to be a murder destined to remain unsolved, this because her mother's death was not by mortal hand. Dragged into the supernatural world despite the fact that her guardian had done what was necessary to give her a chance at a normal life, Sky will find herself not only having to come to terms with her own nature and her own demons (literally) but also being the straw that broke the camel's back, setting off yet another war between the supernatural government and the rebellion.

Also - slice of life, romance

39.748 words (abandoned)

Cassandra was married to the man of her dreams and longtime boyfriend Zacharia, but not even a year into her marriage she finds herself having to grant him a divorce. Dealing with a shattered heart and hiding her love life when working at a Christian school is not easy enough on its own, especially if the headmaster is your ex. Add to the mix Jaxon, a competitive, overachiever and irritating co-worker, Ford a new friend in her same sentimental situation and it would've been impossible not to fall again even harder, yes, but for the wrong man.

Sommerfell - historical, gay romance

107.083 words (finished)

The Duke of Sommerfell is a young man who loves the classics and traditions. Persuaded by his brother to attend a charity event run by a close friend of his who owns a gentleman's club in London, the duke will find the company of the latter, a man whose name appears to be on everyone's lips: Albion the Earl of Hillsbury, particularly enjoyable.

Hardwicke - historical, gay romance

7.889 words (hiatus)

Thornbell is a second son and being a second son precludes him, a title, wealth and land yet grants him perhaps a far greater gift: that of being able to choose. Devoting himself to an empty life, filled with leisure and resentment, unable to endure the complaints of his younger sisters he will decide to accompany them to the Hillsbury club, there where his dear friend, the earl, will oblige him to make the acquaintance of a charming stranger, Mr. Eastyn Bradshaw from whom he could not be more dissimilar and by whose unrewarding benevolence he will be astounded.

One of a kind/Romans 6:23 - thriller, mystery

Around 130.000 words (ongoing)

The calm small town of Rivers end, an ex-French and English colony, becomes extremely lively when tragedy strikes. An infamous serial killer known as the angel of death seemingly decided to switch play grounds, from the capital Chacsea to detective Langford's jurisdiction. The police station starts an unwelcome collaboration with the FBI task force, one that had been investigating the murders and hunting down the killer for almost three years without any proper lead. Will the joined forces finally catch the religious fanatic that has been terrorizing the public?

Murder in West Vedo - thriller, mystery

(ongoing)

Thirty years after disappearing from the public eye due to the death of Dorotea, his first wife, millionaire Jasper Vilterria throws an exclusive birthday party for his 60th birthday. Among the guests is Elinor Lee, a highly determined journalist interested both in the birthday boy's secret private life and in his wife's archived accidental death case. But a second sudden and suspicious death at the Vilterria mansion ends up disrupting Lee's investigation and priorities. Many years earlier someone had killed Vilterria's wife, and now that a journalist had started poking around again, someone else has been found dead. Could this possibly be the same murderer?

Who was Haylee Stokes? - thriller, mystery

Around 37.000 words (ongoing)

It all begins with a phone call: Martin Sherman, a famous local lawyer and playboy, finds the half-naked corpse of a woman in his bed; the victim is a college student named Haylee Stokes who had been missing for three days. Having to look into the apparently already closed case is Sgt. Keith Merritt of the state police accompanied by his own team of detectives, Sherman's punctilious lawyer Olivia Shaw and a terribly inexperienced local police deputy, Lassiter Vanmeter.

The falling in place - fantasy

12.417 words (abandoned)

Airis's mother always told her stories about strange creatures inhabiting the woods nearby and how they protected themselves from their mischief with a wall. Now an adult and believing them to be simple folk tales for the purpose of admonishing careless children, Airis often travels beyond the wall, part of herself hoping to one day meet one of the creatures from the stories of her childhood.

A God's mistake - fantasy

2.103 words (hiatus)

When after millennia, out of nowhere, Hades decides to take a mortal wife for himself, Persephone sees the whole affair that turned her life upside down happen again to another poor innocent woman, a fact she cannot allow to happen. The story thus simultaneously sees a rewriting of the myth of Persephone's Rape and many others and the story of Amelia, a hapless New York florist. It all begins on a day like any other, Amelia is working as usual in her tiny store alongside her only employee and friend, Andrea, when she realizes that she is in possession of information she should not have known and makes the acquaintance of a mysterious and disturbing gentleman who is obstinate and seemingly obsessed with being close to her.

Kings of the Wild - fantasy, political

(abandoned)

About two hundred years ago legend told of a king who commanded the triarchy of the wild lands, a territory of impossibly great size, which under no other king could have flourished, for him, it was said, had been chosen by the lands themselves. Lands that many foolish and young regents had tried to tame as if the plains themselves had been wild animals, only to be shredded by their sharp teeth and exceedingly unfavorable flora. The dynasty of the legendary king ran aground in time on its shores during its brightest years. Today with the triarchy more divided than ever, led by three different regents, a crown of thorns protruding from the whitest wood remained the only remnant of once such a great kingdom.

Body of water - thriller, psychological

(hiatus)

Bodies keep getting found in very strange places and with very strange wounds. Some hypothetically say it's the work of a serial killer, some that the recent dam opening made old cases float to light. Cannibal activity, an improper use of science, too much curiosity and controversy open many questions, the answer one most unlikely.

The Kellinger case - thriller, mystery

(ongoing)

Crumbling - psychological

2.000 words (finished)

Short story about living life with a loved one suffering from dementia.

The graveyard

Truthfulness: the first rule of ruling - political

22.027 words (abandoned)

Kostantine's older brother abdicates leaving him, a pure hedonist, as the crown prince.

We are Neverland - historical, slice of life

4.971 words (abandoned)

1914, drafting, two brothers escape their hometown, live on the streets and unite with other young men and desertors.

Sun's system - thriller

8.146 words (abandoned)

Sun a millionaire with a love for brain teasers and puzzles builds a thieving organization.

Exalted ones - fantasy, political

17.325 words (abandoned)

Conscripted soldiers, a prince war commander, man made of sand, elves and a land in which the sun never rises.

Family comes first - thriller, mystery

8.527 words (first ever project - finished/abandoned)

The Donovan's are a mafia family with much respect, money and political sway but another family wants them out.

Moreland - historical, gay romance

(scrapped/abandoned/hiatus)

Wes Moreland works in horse races as a stable hand. A gentleman named William (I think) wanted to buy a horse. The theme of animal mistreatment, horse races and tricked outcomes, different social standings romance.

The tiger's eye - thriller

(I don't even know)

A heist to rob the world's biggest tiger's eye goes terribly wrong when multiple people get the same idea.

The Hills - superpowers, thriller, mystery

(abandoned?)

Nighthug (nightbug hehe) is a new hero in the Hills super powered heroes, thing is they recently lost one of their own and don't think it had been an enemy to kill him.

The invention of Christopher Cole - epistolary

(abandoned)

Two men exchange letters, the thing is, one is a woman that hates him and uses the name Christopher Cole faking hurt the other man doesn't remember her and that they were close. She makes him fall in love with Christopher her alias only to break his heart.

Last entry - diary

(abandoned)

A man visiting with a friend the family home in which his uncle disappeared unearthed secrets and terrible things about his family's past.

Waywards - supernatural, romance

(abandoned)

Werewolves, that was it.

Operation Wicked - action, psychological

(abandoned)

A war, bombs, boom.

The unimportant daughter - historical, romance

(abandoned)

It barely had a story.

#writing #books #writer #writerscommunity #book blog #my books

[fumpkins]

Pandemic delays to afflict polar science until late this decade | Science

In March 2020, staff at McMurdo Station, the main U.S. research base in Antarctica, thought the future was bright. Long-planned renovations had begun, including the replacement of decrepit dorms by glossy new lodges capable of housing more than 200 people. But then the pandemic struck, shutting down most of two summer field seasons at McMurdo and other polar research sites, mainly in Antarctica and Greenland. In some places the effects of that shutdown will linger for the rest of the decade, the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced this week, delaying projects and limiting access to one of the rarest resources in geoscience: time on the ice.

In Greenland, the government’s entry restrictions kept most researchers away in the summer of 2021. Although NSF kept its high-altitude Summit Station running year-round, only minimal maintenance occurred, says Jennifer Mercer, NSF’s Arctic section head. Given that nearly 1 meter of snow falls each year on the camp, this summer will require a lot of literal digging out. “We have a constant battle maintaining buildings above grade,” Mercer says.

After the dig-out, research in Greenland will be about back to normal. Not so in Antarctica, where “we’re saturated for a while in key logistics areas,” says Stephanie Short, NSF’s head of Antarctic logistics. No work has been done on the McMurdo renovation for the past 2 years, and space in the old dorms had to be reserved to house possible COVID-19 cases, leaving the agency down by more than 200 beds. “To get back to full strength,” Short says, “we need that lodging building.”

For now, research in Antarctica will prioritize ongoing projects that feature either heavy international participation—such as the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration—or critical annual measurements, says Michael Jackson, head of Antarctic earth sciences at NSF. New starts will be biased toward projects led by early-career researchers. But some new projects will have to be delayed again, he says. “That’s heartbreaking for us,” he says. “Having to call somebody that’s been deferred for 2 years and telling them they’re deferred again—that’s not a good call.”

In 2019, before the pandemic, workers were able to keep Summit station shoveled out.U.S. National Science Foundation

One of those deferred projects is a plan to drill into Hercules Dome, an expanse of ice 400 kilometers from the South Pole. Ice cores from the dome could capture evidence of the last time the West Antarctic Ice Sheet collapsed in a slightly warmer climate, and aid in predicting when it might happen again. When NSF agreed to fund the project in 2020, researchers thought drilling might begin by 2023. Now, 2025 looks more likely, says Eric Steig, the project’s principal investigator and a glaciologist at the University of Washington, Seattle.

Steig says the pandemic hit an enterprise that was already stretched. “NSF is always planning on more projects [in Antarctica] than they are likely to be able to support, so even without COVID we always run into major delays.” And despite the agency’s plan to give priority to early-career projects, he says, many young researchers may be left in the cold, as projects led by senior researchers also typically support many early-career researchers. But there are no simple solutions, and “I have a lot of confidence in the NSF program managers,” he says.

For all the misery of the pandemic, it has also spurred collaboration between U.S. researchers and agencies in Greenland, including the Greenland Institute of Natural Resources. From the start, Greenlandic researchers worked on an NSF project led by Columbia University. It seeks to help several Greenlandic communities understand the effect of climate change on their local sea levels, which are, counterintuitively, likely to fall by century’s end, some by several meters, as land rebounds after it sheds ice weight and the gravitational pull of the massive ice sheet on the surrounding ocean ebbs.

The Greenlandic researchers were able to keep working on the project even without the in-person presence of the Columbia team, says Kirsty Tinto, a Columbia geophysicist. They interviewed community leaders—hunters, fishers, city planners—about how they use the waterfront. And Greenlandic geophysics students got to sail on cruises that mapped harbor sea floors. “All sorts of serendipity happened within this,” Tinto says.

Even before the pandemic, it was a different kind of geoscience project, with its focus on local collaboration and policy. But the pandemic showed its resilience, Tinto says. “I don’t like pandemics. I don’t like global despair.” But, she says, “I do like having my expectations confounded.”

  New post published on: https://livescience.tech/2022/05/08/pandemic-delays-to-afflict-polar-science-until-late-this-decade-science/

#afflict #decade #delays #late #pandemic #Polar #science

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Okay no one on Tumblr that I've seen has been talking about the wine and cheese thing, but that means no one is reflecting on the absolute weapons-grade hilarity of Boris Johnson trying to inchworm his way out of trouble by claiming that he didn't know about it

Like... that wine and cheese party was the Downing Street works Christmas do. Not just any old social, the Christmas social. There were invitations. There was music. Every single worker in Downing Street was invited, even Debbie from accounts. People who didn't work there but were important to the government got invited.

And Boris is therefore claiming that all his mates got together and had a party and DIDN'T INVITE HIM.

Not only that, but they deliberately kept it a secret from him, because no one wanted him there to ruin the party because no one likes him, and I just...

The key difference between Johnson and Trump always came down to this: Johnson wants to be liked. He genuinely does. Trump wanted to be respected and feared and obeyed, he wanted to be seen as powerful and suave and cool. But he didn't care about how liked he was. Johnson, though, really fucking does. He's a deeply pathetic little twat, and he wants people to like him.

So, his choices currently are

Tell everyone in the country that his own friends and coworkers actually cannot stand him, to the point that they arranged an entire Christmas party without him

Admit that he was there and immediately be hated by literally every single human being in the country, including his own voters (hello North Shropshire), because while the rest of us spent Christmas 2020 in a lockdown and unable to see each other and in many cases literally alone, him and his mates held an illegal Christmas party that the police are refusing to investigate

His popularity is now nosediving in the polls, and it really cannot be stated how much that will be burning him.

Also, pro-Brexit Tories are even pissed off with him now. Which is a bit like someone buying a cake called a pus cake with pictures of pus all over the box and a warning sign that says This Cake Contains Pus and Other Bodily Fluids, and then crying because when they tried to eat the pus cake they found it was filled with pus. But also really funny.

Anyway, I'm placing the bet now: we will see a vote of no confidence, OR he'll jump before he has to experience that (because it would kill him), and our next PM will be Rishi Sunak

#politik #the adventures of Big Dog the Clown #long post

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Stories from Black women's customer service hell

The internet age has certainly transformed journalism; these days we mostly think about investigative journalism’s decline, but there are digital investigative outlets that shine like diamonds.

I’m thinking here about Propublica.

Propublica’s Justin Elliott and Paul Kiel wrote a series of blockbuster stories about the monopolist Intuit, a business organized as a cult around its then-CEO Brad Smith, engaged in decades’ worth of dirty tricks to kill free, IRS tax-prep services.

https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-turbotax-20-year-fight-to-stop-americans-from-filing-their-taxes-for-free

Not only did they stay with this story for months on end, digging up incredible stories of corruption, they also shamed the IRS and spurred state AGs into investigating the company.

Then a funny thing happened: Intuit customer service whistleblower revealed another scandal, one that sprawled outside of Intuit and spilled over into the world’s largest blue-chip companies from Disney to Airbnb to Comcast and more.

That was the story of Arise, yet another cult-like business that you have almost certainly interacted with, without knowing it.

On its surface, Arise is an outsource customer service company. Other businesses pay it to staff their phones and answer customer queries.

But Arise is many other things. For one thing, it’s a pyramid scheme: the people who work for it — disproportionately Black women — are not classed as employees, but as “contractors.” They are paid for recruiting their friends to work for it.

https://pluralistic.net/2020/10/02/chickenized-by-arise/#arise

That might sound like a nice way to help a business staff its call-centers, but you need to understand that Arise has no call centers or staff — its workers take calls from their homes.

Those workers aren’t employees — they’re misclassified as “independent contractors.”

If you want to work for Arise, you have to pay them for the privilege. Not only do you have to buy a computer and phone, you have to pay to get trained for each firm whose calls you’ll be taking.

If you quit, you have to pay Arise for “early termination” of your contract.

Believe it or not, those are the best parts of working for Arise. When you are an Arise worker, you can be terminated without notice or cause — forfeiting the money and time you spent for training and equipment. You can get fired by Arise itself, or by any of its customers.

Reps from Arise and its customers listen in on your calls. If your children make noise in the background, you can lose everything. Same if your neighbor’s dog starts barking. Forget about running a fan or air conditioner — the noise is “unprofessional.”

The Arise story prompted outrage from the public — and it sent Propublica’s investigators deeper into the story. They documented how the Department of Labor knew about Arise’s illegal and abusive conduct, and let them get away with it for years.

https://pluralistic.net/2021/01/22/paperback-writer/#toothless

And here’s the most amazing part: Propublica never stopped reporting on this story. This month, Ariana Tobin, Ken Armstrong and Justin Elliott worked with Brooke Stephenson to tell Arise workers’ stories in their own words.

https://www.propublica.org/article/the-women-on-the-other-end-of-the-phone

These stories reveal Arise’s lies about its working conditions, as workers describe how they were unequivocally ordered never to hang up on customers, even in the face of death and rape threats, racist abuse, and sexual harassment.

Arise may tell regulators and reporters that its workers are empowered to hang up the phone if the man on the other end is masturbating, but the women who endure this abuse tell a very different story:

https://www.propublica.org/article/not-allowed-to-hang-up-the-harsh-reality-of-working-in-customer-service

The writers connect Arise’s working conditions with the promises made by temp agencies for generations — companies like “Kelly Girl,” who promised a disposable, attractive, pliable and hardworking woman whom a company could work like a government mule and then discard.

Arise preys on the economically precarious and traps their whole families into literal conspiracies of silence, as spouses and children tiptoe around their homes to spare their mothers the economic catastrophe of being summarily fired.

The powerful words of the women answering these calls are a reminder of the human cost of systemic racism and sexism, and the willingness of the world’s largest companies to exploit it.

While this is a systemic problem, there are ways you can individually help the people you speak to, beyond being courteous and decent and understanding (this being the minimum we all owe one another).

I. Complete the end-of-call survey. Workers can get fired and lose their investment in equipment and training if the people they help don’t do this.

II. After text-based service interactions, reply “No thank you,” after the rep asks “is there anything else I can help you with?” Workers are punished if you close your browser without answering this question.

III. Be organized with all relevant information in hand before you call. Workers are penalized for calls that last too long — even if the reason for the delay is that the caller took forever looking up a key piece of information.

Yes, it’s unfair that workers are penalized if you don’t play along with Arise’s idiotic customer service metrics, but the unfairness accrues disproportionately to workers, and you can shoulder some of that burden.

I’m grateful to Propublica for continuing to bring us this story — and doubly glad to be an annual donor to this charitable nonprofit.

Image: Laila Milevski/Propublica

#pluralistic

[tirsynni]

Okay, keep in mind I’m going to start my RE6 watch in, oh, fifteen minutes and haven’t seen it yet, so this bit of Leon flailing is based on what I have seen. This also relies on both the games and movies (and ignores the books and other bits of canon/pseudo-canon).

Under a cut because this went longer than planned and I think I forgot what I was going for after a bit due to Leon flailiing.

We meet our intrepid hero in RE2 (and technically, RE2 Remake, as they provide different bits of background on Leon). In the original, Leon was late because his girlfriend broke up with him, he got drunk, and overslept. In the remake, he was deliberately told to not come because the outbreak had begun and ended up going to Raccoon City when he couldn’t get a hold of anyone (I think that’s what it was). For the sake of argument, we’re combining the two. He had a girlfriend, she broke up with him because he had this crazy idea to apply to a police officer position in another city because he wanted to investigate insane murders of all things, dealt with the break-up by getting drunk, but was late going to the city because he was told not to come. In at least one RE universe, it’s established that drinking is a possible coping mechanism for him. No further details given.

So we have an inclination there but no further evidence of use. Not yet. In RE2, he still pretty optimistic, helpful, compassionate, and people-focused. Honestly, a pretty sweet guy who just wants to help people (and not be turned into a flesh-eating monster). By the end of the remake, we have some foreshadowing after Ada falls when the shadows fall over him and his face is grim. We have a hint as to what he could be.

The end of RE2 is full of betrayals and pain. He learns about Ada. He is horrified by Annette’s attitude toward the virus and her dismissal of her role in it. He is kidnapped by the government who, instead of helping him and Sherry, threatens her life to force him to work for him. The scene ends with him still bloody, hunched over, and shouting that she is just a child. Fucking ow.

His next bit is in Darkside Chronicles. Still pretty sweet, pretty optimistic, a trained fighter not flinching when attacked by monsters, and there’s a nice contrast between him and the more grizzled Krauser. Krauser is more cynical, more ruthless, not a bad guy (not yet), but unlike Leon, he tends to judge things in certain categories, like victims, weapons, etc. The most interesting bit of contrast between the pair is that Leon is far calmer about the monsters than Krauser, who is terrified and, between that and his career-ended wound, sees the viruses as weapons which can be utilized. At this stage of the game, Leon’s big concern remains helping people, as seen in his defense of Manuela. Even after his betrayal by the government, he looks at Krauser and never thinks of the man betraying him or hurting him. He fearlessly extends his hand to Krauser.

In DC, when the final scene of RE2 is referenced, he never mentions the government’s threats or his own forced employment. There is no canon reference to him telling anyone ever.

RE4 is just... fucking trauma. He deals with it with quips and puns and bad humor, but you can tell he’s frustrated and angry. He’s furious with the bad guys and how they treat Ashley and Krauser. He’s betrayed by Krauser and is confused by how Krauser chose his path (which hurts a bit, honestly). How Saddler uses the parasite to control and hurt him. Confirming Ada is alive and the betrayal inherent in that. There’s just... a lot going on for him in RE4. Still! He maintains his sense of humor, keeping Ashley’s spirits up, and flirting with Hunnigan at the end. He’s still holding on.

ID takes place after RE4. For the first time, he references his horror at how the government destroyed Raccoon City without trying to help survivors. He references his horror about the nightmare that was surviving in Raccoon City. He is, again, betrayed. He, once again, has the nightmare that is his own government thrown back in his face.

Still, he’s hanging on! He’s trying to be optimistic, but you see him faltering when Claire is angry with him at the end. Hell, I swear you see him trying not to cry at certain scenes.

Again, no reference that he’s tried to explain anything to Claire, and... yeah. I can see her trying to fistfight the government over all of this, and Leon repeatedly, desperately hopes to end these horrors without accidentally creating more.

Still holding on, though! Still hanging in there!

Damnation, in my opinion, is when we really see him start breaking for the first time. By the end of that movie, he’s realized how thoroughly the government has manipulated and betrayed him. The government couldn’t act in that country, but they knew he could and would and set him up. He just had to shoot a man to save him. He has Hunnigan, someone he trusts because Leon trusts easily and gets attached to people easily and she’s been working with him for years, insisting that she knew nothing about it. He’s exhausted, hurt, betrayed again, and with Sasha and later by himself, you see him drinking, the former with a flask used by yet another person he wasn’t able to save. No sign of optimism. No joking. With Sasha, he gives the suicide speech which could easily have been intended for both of them: you can’t eat a bullet not because life is good and worth living but because you chose to serve others when you picked up that gun and now you need to live for them.

RE6? More horrific betrayals. More... everything. It starts terrible and then keeps going.

By Vendetta, he gets vacation time and slinks away with a bottle. There is no indication that even by then anyone has any idea how terribly the government has betrayed him, and he’s stuck with them. When he wants to lick his wounds, he doesn’t go to anyone for help. He claimed vacation time, hid himself away, and pulled out a damned bottle.

So we’ve had hints from the start that alcohol was an acceptable coping mechanism in his head, even if we didn’t see any signs of self-medication until the end of Damnation. The guy also hides and tries to treat his wounds by himself. He never tells anyone about how much the government has fucked him over. He does try occasionally to reach out -- to Luis, to Krauser, to Jason -- and it didn’t help any because they all ended up dead

It makes me curious about what would have happened if Chris and Rebecca hadn’t found him in Vendetta. When his vacation was done, would he just have taken a deep breath, trashed the bottles, and greeted his co-workers with a dad joke? It’s also interesting that one of the few times we see him that hostile toward an ally is when he does take that time to tuck himself away and engage in behaviors we don’t see him normally display around others. He’s the guy who either breaks the tension or, if he’s fucked up, just withdraws. I don’t see him as an alcoholic, although that is a popular fan headcanon. That would take it more out of his control, put it more into the public arena. He keeps pain and unhealthy coping mechanisms private, with Chris and Rebecca literally having to hunt him down in a random location when he tucked himself away to drink.

Through his timeline, we see the ongoing betrayals and hits take their toll on him, we see him using humor less and withdrawing more, we see when he picks up that bottle in Damnation.

But we also see him pick himself up in Vendetta when needed and take to the battlefield and stagger to Chris and Rebecca after getting his ass kicked by Arias. By that time, he’s definitely no longer the bright-eyed rookie in RE2, but his core remains the same. 

If Chris could just give him a hug instead of a bottle after Vendetta, I would appreciate it.

#leon kennedy is a cinnamon roll #leon needs a hug #meta #rant was in control in my head #and then went off track when i started flailing about it #be nice to him once #okay canon? #this was supposed to be about his drinking timeline #and just became a rant about why he needs a hug

[dangerousconnoisseurdonut]

Magical Thieves AU

In a Gotham where about 40% of the population have some sort or magical ability and only something like 13% have two abilities, Bruce is a street rat with his honourary sister, Selina, and the two are excellent cat burglars, known as the Cat and the Bat. Selina is a Shadow Magic user; she can blend into the shadows as well as bring her shadow to life in extreme circumstances. She is called a Night Stalker, and is not trusted by many of those gifted with Light Arts. Bruce though, if anyone knew what his real abilities were, he would be locked up in the interest of public safety; he is often referred to as simply a Chaos Courtesan, despite not being a Chaos Mage.

Bruce is one of the 13% that has two abilities; the first one alone would have him be monitored for the rest of his life, Technomagic, an ability that allows him access to computer files, all kinds of electrical data, and possess mechanical devices, and those are only the surface of his abilities, but they are enough to warrant the government being worried about him. His other, arguably stronger ability, however, would have Bruce either locked up in a special facility where he never saw another living person ever again, or killed; Blood Magic. An ability that is hard to regulate as the user can literally use their own blood or that of their attackers/victims against them. They can turn a person’s blood into acid so they are eaten away from the inside out, they can track a person as well as those with Animal Magic, and they can supposedly even control people by binding their blood.

Selina and Bruce have been siblings since they were nine-years-old and Selina found Bruce wandering around, looking for something to eat. Bruce’s parents were from feuding families and when they fell in love, they were both disowned, and they became rather good thieves themselves, until the police caught up with them and killed them in a shoot-out. Selina and Bruce have stuck with each other and managed to become two of the most sought after professional thieves around, and they have been saving for the chance to get out of Gotham for the chance of a normal life. They need just one more good payday and they ca leave for good; unfortunately, that opportunity comes in the form of Roland Daggett and Rupert Thorne (Sofia and Theo work as well, I just thought something different). They are offering the pair a huge payout, in return for what others would call a suicide mission; rip-off the King and Queen of Gotham themselves, Oswald Cobblepot and Barbara Kean. Bruce is all for ignoring this job as this is beyond dangerous, but the pair are also offering papers that will identify the pair as harmless, low-level White Magic users; papers that would cost upwards of $50,000 a piece.

Selina talks Bruce into taking the job and they stake out the place to prepare for Gotham’s social event of the year; The King and Queen’s Masquerade Ball. Selina poses as someone called to do a repair job to get access to the house and they learn the layout of the house, particularly the room that holds their prizes; two beautiful rings that identify Oswald and Barbara as the King and Queen. The night of the ball, Selina attends as a low level socialite and Bruce is a waiter, both wearing one of his blood glamors to help add to their anonymity. Soon, however, a hush falls over the crowd as the King and Queen make their entrance with their respective courts. Barbara enters with her consort Tabitha, her botanist, Ivy Pepper, and her two bodyguards, Bridgit Pike and Ecco Valeska.

Then there’s Oswald with his consort, Captain James Gordon of the GCPD, his engineer, Jeremiah Valeska (Ecco’s half brother), his advisor, Jervis Tetch, chemist, Jonathan Crane, his own bodyguards Jerome Valeska and Victor Fries, his informant (and not-so-secret assassin), Victor Zsasz, and his Chief of Staff, Alfred Pennyworth. Each of them have dangerous magical abilities and none were meant to be trifled with but, if Selina and Bruce want that big payday and those papers, then trifle they must. Some time passes and the pair actually find themselves talking to members of the courts; Bridgit hates these things and enjoys talking to those who feel as uncomfortable as she does, and Bruce finds himself saving Jonathan from an embarrassing situation. Still though, once the Ball really gets going, Bruce and Selina break away to the room where the rings are housed and just as they grab the rings, Bruce feels a frisson of unease shoot up his back; they’ve been caught.

The two Courts enter the room, and Oswald reveals he’s actually flattered that Gotham’s infamous Cat and Bat Thieves have not only targeted him, but gotten so far, though he was suspicious when a random repair worker appeared at the house, given that Jeremiah always takes care of such problems. Still, as he’s an admirer of their skills and he’s in such a good mood from the party, all they have to do is put the rings back and tell him who hired them, they can leave peacefully. Bruce and Selina both know, however, if they show up empty handed, let alone give up who hired them, they will be a pair of dead ducks. When Bridgit throws a small fireball at the pair to scare them,  Bruce and Selina show their magic to protect themselves, and now Barbara finds them very interesting, offering them a fair percentage of what they would have made if they pulled off the heist. The pair still refuse to give up so easily as not having to buy those papers themselves, would save a large chunk of their savings.

Things go from bad to worse however when Jim and Alfred notice the blood charms and there’s just something too homey about them not to be handmade, and they realize that one of the pair is a Blood Mage. Once Oswald is informed of this, he’s ecstatic and informs Jerome to test the pair as the psychotic ginger is a chaos mage, and the only thing that can stand up to them are those of Order magic and Blood magic. Thanks to Jerome, they quickly figure out that Bruce is a Chaos Courtesan, and Oswald and Barbara know they need these two in their Courts. Not knowing this, Bruce and Selina make a break for it, which is helped by the fact Bruce managed to get a small sample of everyone’s blood, giving him a slight edge.

The two are about to take the staircase heading to the front door when Ivy manages to trip Selina, sending her careening down the stairs, thankfully only knocking her out. As Bruce reaches the bottom of the stairs to grab Selina, he instead is grabbed by the two Victor’s, Jim, and Jervis, who are quick to hide him in a small alcove as the other guests come to investigate Selina’s scream from her fall. Oswald and Barbara are quick to act as concerned hosts over the ‘poor dear who had a touch too much champagne and lost her balance’, a story corroborated by Bridgit and Ivy. When no one comes forward to claim her, Tabitha is quick to suggest they look after her, so they move her to a secure room.

Oswald meanwhile joins the other males, and Jervis tries to compel the truth from Bruce, but Bruce still has a vial of Jervis’ blood, and smashes it so that he can temporarily be immune to Jervis’ power. Zsasz and Fries however are quick to point out that Selina is very vulnerable at the moment and it wouldn’t be hard to...

Bruce is quick to reveal everything and give the rings back, not willing to let anything happen to Selina. Oswald orders some of his men to go to the meeting spot where Bruce and Selina were to meet Daggett and Thorne and take care of things. Bruce hopes to be able to leave with Selina once she regains consciousness, but Oswald naturally has other ideas;

Oswald: Let an injured kitten and obviously malnourished bat go wondering off into the night?! The ASPCA would have my head on a platter! Not to mention Barbara would have a separate one for my balls.

Jim: She is an avid animal lover, especially when it comes to cats. Same with Tabitha.

Oswald: Yeah, and I do not want that woman coming after me with her whip.

Bruce, starting to struggle between the two Victor’s: I will look after her; she’s survived worse falls than that! We both have!

Oswald: You see?! The kitten and no doubt baby bat, uh, what do you call a baby bat, anyways?

Jervis, enjoying himself: A pup.

Oswald: Thank you, Jervis; a kitten and a pup who are constantly being abused on the streets of Gotham?! Obviously they need someone to look after them! Do you like bats, Victors?

Victor Z: I think they’re adorable.

Victor F: Yeah, and this one is a real cutie.

Bruce: You can’t do this! Selina and I are people, not pets! We can look after ourselves!

Jim: And I’m the Captain of the GCPD, and I don’t think you can!

Alfred appears: Oswald, Ms. Kean has seen to it that her new kitten is properly situated in her new room, and I have prepared one for our bat whenever you’re ready.

Oswald: Thank you Alfred, if you would please? I wonder how much harder it is to train bats than birds?

Victor F: We’ll figure it out; besides, you always did love a challenge.

Bruce tries to cast one last spell, only to feel a sharp pain in his neck, and know no more.

For all those who liked my Underwater Gotham AU, I thank you and hope you’ll like this one just as much. Please leave a comment if you do!

#Gotham #kings and queens and thieves #oh my #bruce wayne #selina kyle #oswald cobblepot #barbara kean #tabitha galavan #jim gordon #jerome valeska #jeremiah valeska #ecco #ivy pepper #bridgit pike #victor fries #victor zsasz #jervis tetch #jonathan crane #alfred pennyworth

[reading-writing-revolution]

Heather Cox Richardson

October 4, 2021 (Monday)

“hello literally everyone,” the official account of Twitter tweeted this afternoon, after Facebook and its affiliated platforms Instagram and WhatsApp went dark at about 11:40 this morning. The Facebook outage lasted for more than six hours and appears to have been caused by an internal error. But the void caused by the absence of the internet giant illustrated its power at a time when the use of that power has come under scrutiny.

In mid-September, the Wall Street Journal began to publish a series of investigative stories based on documents provided by a whistle-blower.

The “Facebook Files” explore how the company has “whitelisted” high-profile users, exempting them from the rules that put limits on ordinary users. Another article reveals that researchers showed Facebook executives evidence that Instagram damages teenage girls by pushing an ideal body image and that they flagged the increasing use of the site by drug smugglers, human traffickers, and other criminals; their discoveries went unaddressed.

Concerned about declining engagement with their material, Facebook allegedly privileged polarizing material that engaged people by preying on their emotions. It appeared to have encouraged the extremism that led to the January 6 insurrection, lowering restrictions against disinformation quickly after the 2020 election.

Last night, on CBS’s 60 Minutes, former Facebook employee Frances Haugen revealed herself to be the source of the documents. She is concerned, she says, that Facebook consistently looks to maximize profits even if it means ignoring disinformation. Her lawyers have filed at least eight complaints with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which oversees companies and financial markets. Facebook’s vice president of global affairs, Nick Clegg, said it was “ludicrous” to blame Facebook for the events of January 6. Chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg and chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg have not commented.

Lawmakers have repeatedly asked Facebook to produce documents for their scrutiny and to testify about the social media platform’s public safeguards. Tomorrow, Haugen will testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security about the effects of social media on teenagers. Her lawyer, Andrew Bakaj, told Cat Zakrzewski and Cristiano Lima of the Washington Post that Haugen’s information is important because “Big Tech is at an inflection point…. It touches every aspect of our lives—whether it’s individuals personally or democratic institutions globally. With such far-reaching consequences, transparency is critical to oversight, and lawful whistleblowing is a critical component of oversight and holding companies accountable.”

Amidst the outrage over the Facebook revelations, technology reporter Kevin Roose at the New York Times suggested that the company’s aggressive attempts to court engagement reveal weakness, rather than strength, as younger users have fled to TikTok and other sites and Facebook has become the domain of older Americans. He notes that Facebook’s researchers foresee a drop of 45% in daily use in the next two years, suggesting that the company is desperate either to retain users or to create new ones.

While the technology Facebook represents is new, the concerns it raises echo public discussion of late nineteenth century industrialization, which was also the product of new technologies. At stake then was whether the concentration of economic power in a few hands would destroy our democracy by giving some rich men far more power than the other men in the country. How could the nation both preserve the right of individuals to build industries and preserve the concept of the common good in the face of technology that permitted unprecedented accumulations of wealth?

While money is certainly at stake in the issue of Facebook’s power today, the more pressing issue for our country is whether social media giants will destroy our democracy through their ability to spread disinformation that sows division and turns us against one another.

When we began to grapple with the excesses of industrialism, lots of people thought the whole system needed to be taken apart—by violence if necessary—while others hoped to save the benefits the technology brought without letting it destroy the country. Americans eventually solved the problems that industrialization raised for democracy by reining in the Wild West mentality of the early industrialists, protecting the basic rights of workers, and regulating business practices.

The leaked Facebook documents suggest there are places where the disinformation at Facebook could be reined in as the overreaches of industrialization were. When Zuckerberg tried to promote coronavirus vaccines on the site, anti-vaxxers undermined his efforts. But one document showed that “out of nearly 150,000 posters in Facebook Groups disabled for Covid misinformation, 5% were producing half of all posts, and around 1,400 users were responsible for inviting half the groups’ new members.” Researchers concluded: “We found, like many problems at FB, this is a head-heavy problem with a relatively few number of actors creating a large percentage of the content and growth.”

“I don’t hate Facebook,” Haugen wrote in a final message to her colleagues at the company. “I love Facebook. I want to save it.”

While most Americans were busy watching Facebook crash—the falling stock took between $5 billion and $7 billion of Zuckerberg’s net worth—drama in Washington, D.C., was an even bigger deal.

Los Angeles Times reporter Sarah D. Wire noted that the rioters who broke into the Capitol on January 6 ran more than 100 feet past 15 reinforced windows, “making a beeline” to four windows that had been left unreinforced in a renovation of the building between 2017 and 2019. They found the four windows, located in a recessed part of the building, Wire wrote, “by sheer luck, real-time trial and error, or advance knowledge by rioters.”

The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol will likely look into this oddity.

The committee has begun to take testimony from cooperative witnesses. Observers expect fireworks on Thursday when former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, longtime Trump aide Dan Scavino, Trump adviser Steve Bannon, and Trump appointee Kash Patel must hand over documents. Trump has vowed to fight the release of any information to the committee. Chair Bennie Thompson (D-MS) says the committee will make criminal referrals for anyone ignoring a subpoena.

Finally, today, the debt ceiling fight got even hotter. While Congress passed a continuing resolution to fund the government through December 3, the issue of the debt ceiling, which stops the government from borrowing money Congress has already spent, remains unresolved. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the government will be unable to pay its obligations after October 18, and warns that a default, which has never before happened, would be catastrophic.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) insists the Democrats must raise the debt ceiling themselves, although the Republicans raised it three times under former president Trump and added $7.8 trillion to the debt, which now stands at $28 trillion. But when Democrats tried to pass a measure to raise the ceiling, Republicans filibustered it. As Greg Sargent points out in the Washington Post, McConnell is trying to force the Democrats to raise the debt ceiling through reconciliation, which cannot be filibustered. Since they get only one chance to pass such a bill this year, this would force them to dump their infrastructure bill.

McConnell is holding the nation hostage to keep the Democrats from passing a very popular bill, and today, Biden called him on it. McConnell complained that congressional Democrats were “sleepwalking toward significant and avoidable danger,” prompting Biden to demand that Republicans “stop playing Russian roulette with the U.S. economy.... Not only are Republicans refusing to do their job, but threatening to use their power to prevent us from doing our job—saving the economy from a catastrophic event—I think, quite frankly, is hypocritical, dangerous and disgraceful. Their obstruction and irresponsibility knows absolutely no bounds.”

When asked if he could guarantee we would not default on our debts, Biden said, “No, I can’t…. That’s up to Mitch McConnell.” If McConnell doesn’t blink and the Republicans continue to filibuster Democrats’ attempts to save the economy, there will be enormous pressure on the Democrats to break the filibuster.

Meanwhile, every day this drags on, Congress does not pass the Freedom to Vote Act.