#Data Center Raid

[zahnffxiv]

we cleared m1s!! there was a bit of an incident while we were trying to figure out how a later mechanic worked, but our warrior managed to drag us across the finish line!! i'll have to make a better showing next time; don't count meowt yet!!

[bytetrending]

Graid Technology apresenta soluções avançadas de proteção de dados na COMPUTEX 2025

A Graid Technology, renomada por suas inovações em armazenamento e proteção de dados, revelou soluções de ponta durante sua presença na COMPUTEX 2025, em Taipei. Com foco em proteger informações em ambientes empresariais de alto desempenho, a empresa explora ao máximo as tecnologias de armazenamento NVMe e aceleração por GPU. As soluções apresentadas pela Graid combinam inteligência computacional…

[odisauv]

A classic raid night with my FC back in Shadowbringers

[virtualizationhowto]

RAID 5 vs RAID 6: Which one is the best?

RAID 5 vs RAID 6: Which one is the best? #homelab #RAID5vsRAID6Comparison #RAIDLevelsExplained #DataProtectionWithRAID #OptimalRAIDForSSDs #UnderstandingParityData #RAIDDataRecovery #ChoosingRAIDLevel #RAIDForBusinessServers #RAIDForDataCenters

Using a single “hard drive” is bad when it comes to the availability of your data. If you lose that single hard drive and have no backup, you have no means to recover it. Combining multiple disks forms a “raid array” to achieve specific benefits, such as resiliency against failures. RAID, or Redundant Array of Independent Disks, is designed to increase storage performance and data security,…

[1americanconservative]

@MJTruthUltra

She tried to flee the US and Kash Patel said nope lol

🚨 BREAKING: The 71st Foreign Suspect was Arrested from the Minnesota $250M from the “Feeding Our Future” Fraud Scheme by the FBI

• Hibo Daar, a 50-year-old “immigrant” of Eden Prairie, Minnesota, was arrested by the FBI at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, as she attempted to flee the US to Dubai, following a raid on a St. Paul nonprofit, New Vision Foundation.

• This “nonprofit” was linked to the $250 million pandemic meal fraud scheme. Daar is the 71st defendant charged in this, which stole federal child nutrition program funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.

• Daar was the executive director of Northside Wellness Center, a Minneapolis-based organization that received nearly $1.8 million in fraudulent meal reimbursements.

Federal authorities say out of that $1.8M, she only spent only about $2,000 of this amount on food, with the rest her family pocketed.

• Daar claimed to serve approximately 1 million meals to children, including 40,000+ meals to children every week in, but investigators found out her meal site was entirely fake, supported by fraudulent invoices and meal count sheets.

• She was discovered to writing checks to Hadith Ahmed, a Feeding Our Future employee who has pleaded guilty, as bribes, and sending emails with falsified data to Aimee Bock, the convicted former executive director of Feeding Our Future.

GOOD! Rot it prison!

[the-twilight-sword]

Diluc & The Power in Nod-Krai

The Fatui's rulers, the Harbingers, monitored Diluc's progress from the shadows. The prowess with which he laid waste to numerous Fatui strongholds caught their attention and forced them to take action. Diluc narrowly escaped death at the hands of the Harbingers thanks to a third-party observer from the north, who was part of a vast underground intelligence network. The observer claimed to have been watching Diluc for some time, and approved of his methods. After his close encounter with death, Diluc took a long hard look at his past and the anger he had harbored for so long. Acknowledging his shortcomings, he decided to join the underground intelligence network. Just like when he first joined the Knights of Favonius, Diluc committed himself fully to his work. His talents and skills saw him rise steadily through the ranks into the upper echelons of the network. The network was made up of volunteers, and many of its members had willingly given up their prior positions and reputations to join. Some had even abandoned their names. Diluc - Character Story Four

I've long wondered what this third-party intelligence network in the north could be. For a while, I considered the Treasure Hoarders the most likely group, because of the way Kaeya uses them for intelligence. But after the On The Trails of Behemoths event, I'm convinced this group is one in the same as the "organization whose details may not be disclosed" the Traveler gets commissioned to collect data for in the event.

[This could be the Voynich Guild- Paimon's line about Helka's practice of note-taking certainly matches the famed Voynich Manuscript. "Speaking of, you were taking all those photos and drawing in your notebook while (Traveler) was fighting. It all looked pretty professional!" But for the sake of the post, it doesn't matter.]

Mavuika acquires 'intel' about the phenomenon in the sky seen above the Stadium of Sacred Flame.

"Such fragments are known as 'Ancient Moon's Remnants,' relics of Secret Source technology from the era of the Ancient Dragons. Coincidentally, a small squad of Fatui infiltrated our borders around the same time it appeared. Our investigation revealed them to be the subordinates of The Doctor. Their stronghold is in Nod-Krai, a land with a long history not far from Snezhnaya. The people there can use a very special power. It is said that this mysterious power predates even the seven elements of Teyvat."

Now, I want you to recall what phlogiston is. Yohualtecuhtin, Lord of the Night says, "Phlogiston is Teyvat's primordial form of energy. The Heavenly Principles used phlogiston as a basis for the creation of Elemental energy... to develop a power to better counter the Abyss." She continues, relating to the Light Realm and Human Realm, "Light refracts into seven different colors, which we collectively refer to as a rainbow. Elemental energy is a similar concept. It's essentially the modern counterpart of Phlogiston…"

We know from the AQ that the Fatui have been covertly researching phlogiston when we raid the Phlogiston Extraction Research Center, and it doesn't seem likely to be Capitano at the head of this. It might be Pantalone- Citlali's SQ shows that Fatui under him are active in Natlan- but I think it's Dottore, matching what Mavuika mentioned regarding the Ancient Moon's Remnants.

What's the primordial sea then? The Lethe to our Phlegesthon? The "cosmic ocean" mythological motif is known to frequently feature the struggle between fire and water, so primordial seawater may only be half-made of our water equivalent. In the "Diary of a Soldier Abroad" we find in the Phlogiston Extraction Research Center, we see our soldier contrast boring phlogiston with Fire-Water; clearly, this is meant to be vodka, but it might make an interesting allusion.

Dottore & Phlogiston are connected. Dottore & Nod Krai are connected. Diluc and Nod Krai are connected. Before I string these all together, let's talk about Divine Nails.

Divine Nails are dropped by Celestia to purify Abyssal corruption, as evidenced in the lore of the Staff of the Scarlet Sands, the Amethyst Crown, and in Nahida's SQ. She says they have "the ability to purify and stabilize powers that shouldn't exist in Teyvat." and speaking on the Oozing Filth, says "Forbidden knowledge that its light has shone upon is kept here forever in a different form…"

Let's keep track of our motifs here- this is Dvalin's tear before and after the Traveler purifies it.

There's the Statue of the Seven before and after activation

We have Deshret's Primal Embers and Primal Torches

Then there's the Lumenstone, and the Oozing Concretion.

"What flows within this nameless, voiceless azure crystal? The secrets of the heavens? Or the whispers of the abyss?" - Lumens: Stone of Light

The Chinese name for the Lumenstone shares the name of Pyroxene, a real-life groups of minerals whose name means "fire-stranger", named for their tendency to appear as impurities within lava.

When it comes to the Canned Knowledge Capsules, which vary in colour based on their amount of elemental energy, the purple ones give off no such elemental signature. We also see that the Court of Desolation contains the same mud as the Chasm.

"The Abyss manifests its power in a manner that is most devastating to the place in question. In Sumeru, it was forbidden knowledge. In Natlan, it was monstrous creatures." —Nahida: About Haborym

I believe that there exists a delicate balance of the "red" substance, phlogiston, and the "blue" substance we see in Divine Nails. When they're out of balance, the "red" and "blue" give us a corrupted "purple". Think the defiled statue, or the tainted blood on Dvalin's back.

And then think of Elynas' heart; Elynas' brother, Durin, also has a warm, red heart, and it's possible that other corrupted, Abyssal-adjacent dragons like Ursa the Drake have it too.

Dottore and the Delusion

Krupp, adjutant of Dottore in his posthumous robot form

Il Dottore has two major motifs; the plague doctor's mask, and the vial.

I would focus on the blue vials, which are present in both the manga and the current game. I contrast them with the red eyes he and Krupp share.

His goal in Mondstadt at the time of the manga is still being theorised on. On the surface, he seems to be only vaguely interested in using Mondstadt as a source of human test subjects, before turning his attention to the strange power displayed by Diluc. He has his subordinates attempt to capture Diluc, but they fail, and that's that.

The subtext is deeper.

He's likely the one who orchestrated the death of Crepus Ragnvindr, using his birdlike devices to draw the ire of Ursa the Drake, forcing Crepus to use his Delusion (which then backfired on him). He may have made one of his segments take the place of Eroch at the Knights of Favonius, a traitorous figure who contributed to Diluc's radicalisation against the knights. (We know Il Dottore can change his appearance from The Night-Bird Falls at the Curtain's Call)

[I think it's possible that Il Dottore is using Ursa the commit the sin of influencing human evolution, just as Jakob Ingold and Rene de Petrichor used Elynas.]

Now let's talk about Crepus' Delusion

It's different from every Delusion seen thus far. The case is unique- perhaps being the Nod-Krai-specific case- and the symbol it shows is not the Fatui insignia. In fact, it resembles the alchemy crafting bench's possible representation of the planet Teyvat lies on and its three moons.

Alice even uses a red version

And it doesn't seem to utilise the elements, but a purple-black fire reminiscent of the Oozing Mud.

This power could relate to the Frostmoon Scions of Nod-Krai

The inspirations are important here- Genshin's phlogiston is based on the real-life theory of phlogiston developed by 18th-century scientist Georg Ernst Stahl to explain combustion. In his time, oxidization were not understood and chemistry operated on an alchemical model. Similar to Genshin's phlogiston, Stahl's theory gives a solid and liquid form to the earthy substance phlogiston is paired with- terra lapidea (stony / rocky earth) and terra fluida (liquid earth), with terra pinguis (oily / fatty earth) being the combustible fire element that escapes into the air, visible to us as flame.

But as chemistry advanced, this theory was supplanted by oxygen theory.

In 1766, Englishman Henry Cavendish isolated a gas that he called "inflammable air" because it burned readily. Priestley noted that when inflammable air and common air were ignited with a spark in a closed vessel, a small amount of "dew" formed on the glass walls. When Cavendish repeated the experiment, he found that the dew was actually water. Cavendish explained the results in terms of phlogiston and assumed the water was present in each of the two airs before ignition. For Lavoisier, combustion meant combining with oxygen; however, until he could explain the combustion of inflammable air, some would still doubt his new chemistry. In June 1783, Lavoisier reacted oxygen with inflammable air, obtaining "water in a very pure state." He correctly concluded that water was not an element but a compound of oxygen and inflammable air, or hydrogen as it is now known. To support his claim, Lavoisier decomposed water into oxygen and inflammable air. Now that the composition of water was known, the last objection to discarding phlogiston could be eliminated. - The Chemical Revolution of Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier

The disproving of phlogiston theory is tied directly to the discovery of the composition of water; of oxygen, and hydrogen. The fiery, reactive element and the watery, inert element. In fact, our real-world understanding of hydrogen as the "first" of the elements mirrors Genshin's phlogiston which refracts into the seven elements of Teyvat. The simple structure of the hydrogen atom and the spectrum of light produced from it or absorbed by it helped us understand the atomic structure of our world's elements.

I think the blue substance that constitutes the Lumenstone and the Divine Nails are a sort of opposite to phlogiston, and that these two substances balance and neutralise one another, coming together to form the water of the primordial sea.

[honesty-my-policy]

Resources/Sources against HAMAS + more [re-organization of previous posted resources]

LONG POST - WILL PUT A READ MORE - SEE UNDER IT FOR MORE RESOURCES.

Sources/places that have uncensored footage from the Oct. 7th attack. For anyone who needs a reality check or needs to smack someone with a reality check.

THIS FOOTAGE IS UNCENSORED AND HIGHLY DISTURBING BUT IMPORTANT TO HISTORY. I HAVE WATCHED A LARGE COMPILATION AND IT STILL RUNS THROUGH MY MIND ALL DAY.

https://www.october7thattack.com/

https://oct7th.org/

https://www.hamasvideo.com/

https://theworldwatch.com/tags/hamas/

https://www.hamas-massacre.net/

important websites + articles they have posted

UN Watch - https://unwatch.org/about-us/our-work/

Fact Checking UNRWA Claims About Teachers and Education

Hamas stole 36,000 liters of fuel from UN warehouses

Group of 3,000 UNRWA teachers celebrates Hamas massacre and rape

UN staff celebrate Hamas massacre

The Case against UNRWA from UN Watch - link

2023-Report-UNRWA-pdf - link

Report: Red Cross Statements ‘Overwhelmingly’ Biased Against Israel - link

Honest Reporting - https://honestreporting.com/about/

Desperate Media Accuse Israel of ‘War Crime’ Over Killing of Terrorists in Daring Hospital Raid

Media Accused Israel of ‘Strike’ on Palestinians Who Died in Gaza City Aid Truck Stampede

Council on Foreign Relations -https://www.cfr.org/about

What is HAMAS? Link

The Sunni-Shia Divide - link

MeForum - https://www.meforum.org/about/

A Primer on Hamas; Part 4: Who Are the Palestinians? - link

Countering ‘Pro-Palestine’ Propaganda Part 4: Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing - link

Countering ‘Pro-Palestine’ Propaganda Part 5: Gaza is an Open-Air Prison - link

Countering ‘Pro-Palestine’ Propaganda Part 6: Palestinian Refugees’ Right of Return - link

Israel Can Trust Hamas - To Keep Its Promises - link

The Rhetoric of Nonsense - link

The Wilson Center - https://www.wilsoncenter.org/about

Digital Deception: Disinformation’s Impact in the Israel-Hamas War - link

Hamas: Words and Deeds… - link 

Hamas over-reporting civilian casualties in Gaza, again - link

Misc Articles (find the about page yourself if you care enough) -

Hamas use of human shields in Gaza (pdf) - link

Intelligence Reveals Details of U.N. Agency Staff’s Links to Oct. 7th Attack - link

Don’t erase our history: The Jewish people are indigenous to the land of Israel - link

Hamas’s October 7th Attack: Visualizing the Data - link

Teaching Terror: How Hamas Radicalizes Palestinian Society - link

Why Hamas is an Unreliable Source and How Many Reporters Fail to Disclose this - link

Misc Resources -

The Complete List of the 1030 Jewish Expulsions in Human History (pdf) - link

Educational Posts made by rootsmetal -

Palestine and the Holocaust

Hamas's Islamism

we are treated differently

evidence (there's plenty)

teaching hatred

united nations

lies about 1948

was there peace before 1948?

HAMAS Guidelines to Social Media (excerpts)

Anyone killed or martyred is to be called a civilian from Gaza or Palestine, before we talk about his status in jihad or his military rank. Don't forget to always add 'innocent civilian' or 'innocent citizen' in your description of those killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Begin [your reports of] news of resistance actions with the phrase 'In response to the cruel Israeli attack,' and conclude with the phrase 'This many people have been martyred since Israel launched its aggression against Gaza.' Be sure to always perpetuate the principle of 'the role of the occupation is attack, and we in Palestine are fulfilling [the role of] the reaction.'

Beware of spreading rumors from Israeli spokesmen, particularly those that harm the home front. Be wary regarding accepting the occupation's version [of events]. You must always cast doubts on this [version], disprove it, and treat it as false.

The interior ministry prepared a series of suggestions specifically for Palestinian activists who speak to Westerners via social media. The ministry emphasizes that conversations with them should be conducted differently from conversations with other Arabs.

When speaking to the West, you must use political, rational, and persuasive discourse, and avoid emotional discourse aimed at begging for sympathy. There are elements with a conscience in the world; you must maintain contact with them and activate them for the benefit of Palestine. Their role is to shame the occupation and expose its violations.

Avoid entering into a political argument with a Westerner aimed at convincing him that the Holocaust is a lie and deceit; instead, equate it with Israel's crimes against Palestinian civilians.

The narrative of life vs. the narrative of blood: [When speaking] to an Arab friend, start with the number of martyrs. [But when speaking] to a Western friend, start with the number of wounded and dead. Be sure to humanize the Palestinian suffering. Try to paint a picture of the suffering of the civilians in Gaza and the West Bank during the occupation's operations and its bombings of cities and villages.

Do not publish photos of military commanders. Do not mention their names in public, and do not praise their achievements in conversations with foreign friends!

Recently I came across a bunch more ancient/old maps of the Middle East, Near East, Levant, Israel, and others. Some are remakes as the old ones were degraded or unable to be scanned, some are historian estimates of what the area looked like at the times, others are actual scans of maps from back in the day. I will link specific maps of interest but also databases below. I will link the maps first and the databases they are from above them.

David Rumsey Historical Map Collection (over 130,000 maps and related images online)

Alte Welt: Städte. (Old world: cities)

No. 1: General map of the countries mentioned in the Bible

No. 2: Map of the journeyings of the Israelites : in the desert

Turkey. Middle East. Ancient World

American Society of Overseas Research (online resources)

The Ancient Near East: The Hellenistic World c. 200 BCE

Neo-Hittite and Aramean States

Iron Age IIIv2 Empires

The National Library of Israel

Specific search for maps of Israel

Map History (part of the virtual library)

Index

Gallica (digital library of the National France Library and its partners + I don’t know if it’s just my browser but switching the language to English didn’t work much so it was mostly in French)

Database

Maps

W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research (Digital Collection)

Palestine of the Old Testament

Historic Map Works

ASIA/recens summa/cura delineata

United Nations Archives

Map Collection of the League of Nations + UNOG

Library of Congress World Digital Library

Map Collection

links to previous posts containing the same resources in case i missed any - link

[ferrocyan]

there's a blue quest in limsa in the drowning wench which unlocks the challenge log. do it. this will give you bonus exp and gil for doing things such as going into dungeons a few times each day, giving people commendations, and many many more things. don't worry abt it too much tho just think of it as a bonus

this is why i'd say even if you're nervous about going into dungeons with other people you should do it anyway, instead of going with npcs in duty support. giving people commendations will help YOU! also as a sprout veterans will often give you their comms especially if there's the first time notification. everyone loves sprouts. don't be scared of messing up too much bc arr dungeons and trials are weird sometimes and even veterans forget how they work. look up guides if you need to but also like, relax ww take it easy

oh and in case you need it, when typing in chat you can hit the tab button, there's a quick chat feature with common phrases that are automatically translated. take a look through it, there are a lot of options. i think this is very helpful but never explained anywhere in the game www

one more thing. hud layouts are personal and different things will work for different people. however i suggest you locate the "cast bar" and make it BIG AND NOTICEABLE. put it near the middle of the screen if you must. you gotta learn to read that thing fast even in the chaos of fights. this is the skill you will use forever

hey, any advice for ppl just getting into ffxiv? there's so much happening I'm a Little intimidated lmao

yes! actually! ok ok

Slow down. Don’t worry too much about terms and mechanics. The very beginning of FFXIV is very good at teaching you how to fight and how to do things, so long as you pay attention (and read your tooltips! Hover over your skills to read what they do)

if you’re getting lost in the lore, Jesse Cox has a very in depth and spoiler free video on Hydealyn’s history. I would argue you don’t need it, because you can coast by and learn everything you need by osmosis, but if you’re one of those ppl who wants a solid background before going forward it’s a great video!

The very beginning is a little overwhelming because you’re doing job AND main story quests at the same time right off the bat. You can do them at the same time and you’ll be fine, but the stories can get tangled, so you can choose to do blue job quests (they will teach you moves and buttons and stuff!! And unlock moves and buttons!) until you can’t do them anymore then use MSQ to get the experience in between. After you’re around 25-35 you can get a hang of spacing those out and just go ham on MSQ

you’re also learning the map which I can’t help you with i got lost in the shroud and ul’dah so often. click the blue text under the quest name to bring up where it is on the map

and it’s throwing new terms at you a lot. If you need them, it’ll come up again. If they’re not 100% necessary, like crafting and materia melding and stuff, it’ll be there for you to figure out whenever you want to.

If you miss a line of dialogue in a cutscene, which I did sometimes because I was speeding and then something important happened, hit / and then click “event” in your chat log. A log of dialogue will appear!

if you miss a cutscene entirely, go into any inn and click on the unending journey book.

when doing your outfits, go into character and then click the button near the top of your outfit display that says recommended gear. Always wear that. You can glamor over pretty looking outfits later

if you go into system -> HUD layout, you can move hud items around. It’s a little complicated, but I had to move a bunch of stuff to get comfortable!

spending your Gil is fine. you’ll earn it back, just save some for aetheryte teleporting fees for now

i swear you can ignore leves. you can. you can

and fates

you can sell any items (like beastkin blood or animal leather) you get from combat at any vendor by dragging it from your inventory into theirs. Keep food (to eat!), and clothes until they’re far too low level. animal parts you are not going to need ever unless you’re into crafting

hall of the novice is good for getting your grips but dungeons at level 15 are way more effective for learning how to play your class in the actual game

don’t be afraid of being a beginner in the beginning dungeons!!! You are either queuing with other beginners or people who know they’re going to be in an arr dungeon with new players. You have a sprout you’re safe people will 90% of the time be super nice. Let people know you’re new and they’ll help! You got this!!!!!!

once you get your chocobo go find “my feisty little chocobo” it will let the bird fight with you AND OR HEAL YOU (HELPFUL <-BLACK MAGE)

say hi to merlwyb for me-

[alicethehollow]

So my other hyper fixation rn is Final Fantasy XIV. Omg I've been playing that game so much and I'm loving it. I've only finished Heavenward so far and am doing a bunch of things before I start Stormblood but it's soooooooooo good.

I main Tank, more specifically Dark Knight (I'm emo ik). I freaking loooooooooooove Dark Knight's story and I honestly just really enjoy tanking. I think it's actually building my confidence slightly cause as a tank I kinda have to take charge.

Anyway, what I'm doing before Stormblood is all my yellow quests cause I don't want a huge backlog of them by the time I get to Dawntrail AND I'm leveling some alt jobs plus all my crafters and gatherers. Got all my DoH and DoL done recently, so just combat jobs now.

I want one of every role, so I'm going with White Mage, Dragoon, Machinist and Red Mage. I want to level all jobs eventually but for now I think that'll be all. Maybe I'll add Scholar or Dancer, idk.

ANYWAY, this post is getting way too long, so I'll just finish up by saying I play on Light data center on Phoenix. So, like, DM if you wanna raid together or smth idk. Love this game, Dark Knight best job, ok bye!

[spottheantisemitism]

Lizards and Goblins are not neccesarily antisemitic

Jewitches overview

Jewitches already provides examples of goblins and in Tolkien as being these villanious creatures with no Jewish coding and in Shakespeare Goblins are seen more like fairies and are shown positively so off to a good start for team “Goblins aren’t always antisemitic”

Goblins in Final Fantasy

Goblins are hit or miss in Final Fantasy at least according to this summary by a mutual

they have their own culture and focus on invention and hard work which aren’t negative (if arguably positive Jew coding) but they have a faction called the Illuminati (hello new world order conspiracy) which want to take over the world and worships a machine messiah named Alexander that when awakened tries to destroy the goblins that helped wake him to create a better world. Horrified the other goblins then helps the players fight this Alexander

“The Illuminati could be seen as Christians, with Quickthinx being Jesus. Shanoa could be seen as being akin to an angel, as could possibly Alexander Prime. You could be seen as having wrestled God/a God. Or I could be completely full of shit overthinking things.

I do think there's something to be said on how data gained from Alexander and later Omega, would be combined to send G'raha to the First from the Doomed Timeline, saving you and the future”

@arandomshotinthedark remarks in last paragraphs of the above link

while that’s a fascinating analysis, I find the focus on the development of Goblin Christianity out of Goblin Judaism a bit uncomfortable and supersessionist but fascinating plot point nonetheless

Goblins in Harry Potter

Harry Potter’s goblins are greedy bankers who care only for their in-group and their goods. No matter how charitably you slice it that Griphook is just reclaiming a sacred artifact and helps the heroes he still betrays them for the artifact and his hatred of wizards and muggles is treated as his problem and not trauma or paranoia. Rowling truly believes you should shrug off oppression as her essays on house elves show

The video game Hogwarts: Legacy that was written by a literal neo nazi goes further elaborates on this by having the plot center on quelling a goblin revolt. Regardless of your actions and the revelations that the goblins were merely pawns of an evil wizard, you cannot change the way people view goblins even in the more compassionate ending and it implies the only good goblins are two who don’t fight for their rights as those movements with inevitably be corrupted by bad actors. More subtly, goblins artifacts look like judaica, notably you can recover a ceremonial ram’s horn that’s oddly like a shofar. Why a race of beings that live underground and have never kept livestock use a ram’s horn and not the silver or gold they are famed for is never explained. The only explanation is the writer wanted to mock jews

I will disagree with a common criticism of the game being blood libel as there is no child kidnapping. The ‘child’ being kidnapped is the teenage player character and you very much foil the goblins attempt to kidnap you. The fact that the goblins are willing to kidnap a child to keep you from unraveling their plot is bad enough but it’s not blood libel

Goblincore

Goblincore is not antisemitic at all. It’s basically combining being a collector of shiny trinkets and not caring about appearance. Behind the fantasy name is a straight forward aesthetic that opens up “the hoodie and jeans, messy hair don’t care, I collect pop vinyls and old nintendos” aesthetic to people who aren’t cishet men.

I judge movements by their actions and not by what they claim to be hence gamergate is a hate movement, cottagecore is tradwifery for leftist women and goblincore is a -core for queer nerds who want to a less bigoted version of nerd culture or cottagecore without the misogyny. They’re linking goblins to jews they’re enbodying and empathizing with the goblins. If you movement is using the fantasy creature to promote empathy instead of xenophobia then more power to you

Lizards for David Icke

David Icke decided to use science fiction to stoke his antisemitism. Icke believes all major institutions are run by shapeshifting Lizards (aka reptilians) from the moon here to colonize humanity and enslave us. Icke also believed the all popes , all presidents and prime minister and every Zionist was actually a reptilian shapeshifter. Since the overlap between Zionist and jew is significant, Icke all but admitted he sees most jews as subhuman shapeshiftering lizards. Even the staunchest antizionists laugh this nonsense off (Alice Walker not included) and his theories are more popular with Nazis. Considering original Nazis stole from Blavatsky’s mysticism of the aryan descendants of the hypeborean race from antarctica that’s just tradition at this point

Lizards in Dracula

In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Count Dracula is compared to lizard when he crawls up a wall that a human like the narrator Jonathan Harker cannot (until Jonathan manages to do just that rendering the point moot). This a non issue since it was written before the reptilian was a concept. It is however used to dehumanize the count as other not code him as specifically Jewish. It’s xenophobia, not antisemitism. So maybe the people in making lizard jokes and the people smugly accusing them of antisemitism should both cut that shit out

Lizards in she-ra

I was told Double Trouble was an antisemitic stereotype because they only care about money and being good at infiltration and lack morals (same could be said of Marc Spector and yet no one calls him an antisemitic stereotype). Oh and they’re a Lizard creature like the Reptilians in Icke’s screed.

this is so patently ludicrous to the point where I believe this was a psyop to push Jews out of the She-Ra fandom, because oh my G-D this could not be made in good faith.

TL;DR

Goblins often antisemitic but not necessarily, Lizards almost never antisemitic unless Reptilian is used

[imhereformysciencefriends]

3. What about their dynamic appeals to you? - also technopuffy

Size difference.

No, but seriously, size difference aside (though I do like the size difference (a lot ( ._.)), they just struck such an easy chord with each other. Brace yourselves this got long.

So the thing about Technopuffy is that while it is very much me smashing my two favorite characters’ faces together, there is a surprising amount of canon material if you’re looking for it. 

We all know Techno is someone who characters are drawn to when at their lowest. Niki, Ranboo, Tommy, Dream, even people who don’t like Techno will go to him when they’ve struck bottom and have no one else to turn to, like Tubbo accepting his help to look for Michael or Quackity using him at the Red Banquet before resuming their largely-one-sided feud. And the same can very much be said for Puffy! Her son just died in front of her, she killed one of her good friends as a result, she is wracked with grief and anger and regret and a deep sorrow when she first posits the idea that hey, this government/eggpire/people being in control of other people shit sucks. Maybe it’s time to do an anarchy about it.

But what’s interesting with Puffy is that, while she is prompted by hitting what she assumed at the time was her lowest point (she would then proceed to sink lower but shhh don’t worry about that right now), she reached that conclusion all on her own. There was no need for emotional speeches, no screaming matches across the blown out husk of the community center, Techno never once had to rattle her shoulders and beg her to understand him. She collected her own data, made her own observations, and came to the conclusion that “Techno’s probably right about this one actually.”

Not that she fully understood him, at the very start, she was still seeing him through the smoke curtain of server-wide gossip and rumors and his own daunting reputation, but independently of Techno’s efforts, she made the decision to give anarchy a try.

And I think that would be really valuable to Techno!!! As a matter of fact, I know it was, because the next time Puffy logged on he was attempting to recruit her! A touch more subtly than he’d done with Niki (if a giant flaming ANARCHY sign twice the height that she is in her basement can be called “subtle”) but the moment the rumor mill told Techno she was down—not even Puffy, just rumors on the wind—he was interested in having her join. He left the coordinates to his house in her basement.

Let’s repeat that. Techno “paranoid overprepare-er of the century” Blade left the coordinates to his house in Puffy’s basement. She hadn’t said anything!!! She’d told no one she just soliloquized into the empty air and logged off about it, and next thing she knows she’s got Technoblade’s coordinates. Let’s run over the number of people Technoblade has given his coordinates to, yeah? Phil, obviously, Niki, and technically Ranboo if you look at it sideways bc ultimately while Techno suggested bringing Ranboo over, Phil was the one to actually do it. 

And Puffy.

He never told Tommy where he was (and cc!Technoblade even complained that it made no narrative sense for Tommy to know where his house was), he never told Dream about it the guy just figured it out bc he’s a weird little dude, the butcher army only found out bc they raided Phil’s house; Techno told Phil, Niki, Ranboo-sort-of, and Puffy.

That’s fucking huge to me. Techno, who has had his trust fucking tried multiple times at this point, doesn’t even have a face to face conversation with Puffy before he gives her his coords. Doesn’t even need her to explain her motivations to him to be willing to let her join the syndicate. He is instantly, immediately down. 

It’s also worth pointing out that Niki and Puffy are the only people that Technoblade ever actually recruited for the syndicate. Phil was a given, Ranboo was a tagalong for Niki’s initiation, and Connor was likewise just kinda there. Niki and Puffy are the only ones to have received actual invitations. And I just think that’s neat <3 

And that trust is honored!! Puffy goes to his place with no harm on his home or friends, just “leaves a note” that’s a touch too clever for our pig. Techno is smart, his ingenuity has solved equal if not more of his problems than his pvp skills have, but Puffy still kinda buys into the larger-than-life image of him at the start and thinks he’s a bit smarter than he is, leaving a response that’s too subtle for him. 

But her (cursed) mama didn’t raise no quitter, so Puffy recalibrated and immediately started yes-and’ing him with Badboyhalo when he thought he saw Ranboo hiding in the Egg chamber. What are you talking about Bad, you’re crazy, it’s just me and Techno here. Immediate united front. Solidarity in bullying Badboyhalo. And then of course came their mutual care for Ranboo after the poor thing fell into the most obvious trap on the server, and the creation of Team Omelette which I am still inordinately happy about to this day. 

Now, Techno is a giver. We know this. He is someone who gives and gives and gives, and has had that reciprocated and has had that taken advantage of. Puffy? Puffy reciprocates it. He indicates his willingness to help her with the Egg (which was on his own to do list anyway (it’s funny, as much as I love Team Omelette it is very much two ships missing each other in the night. Techno thinks Puffy has not responded to his Giant Flaming ANARCHY Sign in her basement, and is offering an allegiance that is a step removed from the syndicate. Puffy thinks she has responded clearly, and Team Omelette is a step towards genuine connection and collaboration. They both think the other understands this perfectly)) Anyway. He indicates his willingness to help her with the Egg, and she wants to make sure he knows that she appreciates and values what he brings to the table! He repays kindness with kindness and wrongdoing with wrongs, and she meets him on his level. 

So she brings him foxes!!!! She goes on a whole manhunt which made for a very entertaining stream but was a frustrating endeavor in-character, but the man mentioned wanting arctic foxes and by god she’s gonna make sure he knows she appreciates his willingness to help and the trust he has placed in her!!! We all lose our shit about Blitz (for good reason) but very few people talk about the fact that Blitz’s parents were a gift from Puffy. 

And! If you don’t watch Puffy’s streams you don’t know this but!! The area Techno built his house in? Puffy was there first! The little castle turret Techno called an eyesore and probably leftover from Tommy wasn’t Tommy’s at all, Puffy built that thing and, upon revisiting the area, Puffy was the one who tore it down. It feels like such an act of fate, Puffy building her dinky little cobblestone turret in a place that, if gods and schedules were kinder, would’ve eventually become a home for her. She does tear it down though, also calling it ugly, because Technoblade is very particular about his Things and she gets that. She understands and she respects that while Technoblade is extraordinarily generous, that is an act of giving, not of other people taking. His space is his space, his stuff is his stuff, she’s conscientious of it, she’s respectful. 

The ease with which they fell in step with one another still makes me really happy, though it’s that same ease that left their relationship somewhat understated and I think contributes to why I’m the only person that’s as insane about them as I am. Like yeah we got some REALLY COOL Omelette Duo art there at the start but then it kinda dropped off, which like yeah whatever I get but ALSO!! C’mon they’re so cool.

Unfortunately, good writing can’t save bad scheduling. The number of things that needed to happen before Puffy could’ve narratively joined the syndicate and have it make sense kept getting postponed and rescheduled, Techno was in prison for months, Ranboo was a ghost until the end, and obviously real life Techno’s passing put an end to all the character’s storylines. It was a really unfortunate end, but in a kinder world we would’ve absolutely gotten syndicate Puffy eventually, and I can sit here with my little coals and let those keep me warm.

BEYOND the cool narrative stuff they had going on, they’re also just like. A looney tunes ass couple.

Like we all know Technoblade is the Bugs Bunny of the server but let us NOT discount the jokes and japes that Captain Puffy keeps us all in constant supply of. They’re goofsters. They’re sillies. They are the physical embodiment of “excuse me he asked for no pickles.” We’ve got a five foot nothing sheep shouting and shoving and blustering her way around, and a seven foot acolyte of the blood god  running away from social situations because he doesn’t know what to say in them. Captain “I dunno what you’re talking about, Bad, this is perfectly normal to me” Puffy and Techno “Skeppy I need you to run this maze that I definitely made and get the horses at the end. For no reason.” Blade. Captain Puffy has a weird cursed mom (I’m hoping for a Sherbet Above the Sea of Fog situation), Techno’s got his “where I come from… we only have one life” thing. Puffy is quick to yes-and anyone she’s talking to, and Techno loves a good joke.

Switching back slightly more serious: they DO have strengths the other lacks. As much fun as it is to depict Puffy being, like, competent in a fight or whatever bc pirate themes… she’s really not. My girl is not a pvp’er I accept that I have made my peace with it. You know what she is? An extravert. Techno, meanwhile, struggles to be On around other people, but packs a phucking wallop when the situation calls for it. He’s got stability and more or less his shit sorted out when Puffy is desperate and hurting and at her lowest, and can provide that safety and companionship like he has done for so many others. Puffy has drive and her thumb on the pulse in the way that Techno, in his isolation and his house in the middle of nowhere, is often left floundering for clues. 

And they both care. So much!!!! Puffy has a whole arc of determining that her attachments are why she’s in so much pain and trying to disengage with them, and can’t. She tries to stop caring as a self-defense mechanism and she can’t. She can’t stop caring, she can’t stop being attached, she cares so much about everything all the time and she cannot uncurl her fists. And Techno! Doesn’t want to! He knows he’s attached, he knows he cares deeply and truly about everything that’s ever touched him, and he doesn’t want to distance himself. He wants to punch the thing that would make those attachments hurt!  They! Are! People! Who! Care!!!!!!!!!!

And yes they have their differences and no I don’t think it’d be a relationship without any friction at all but!!! They’re!!! SO captivating to me, and I love them, and I think about them a lot, and I think they just work.

Also hot tiny sheep woman x hot giant pig man yes yes mm yes please tasty tasty I am nothing but mortal and when two hot people with likeable personalities exist near each other I want them to kiss.

Anyway, Technopuffy good.

[anniekoh]

Elsewhere on the internet: The media & how to stay informed in 2025 without drowning in despair or disinformation:

US immigration is gaming Google to create a mirage of mass deportations: (by Dara Kerr at The Guardian, Feb 2025)

Manipulating search results to make old ICE raids look like new raids

The lawyer noticed a strange pattern. In almost every state, at least one press release from Ice’s website appeared in Google’s top results. Nebraska, for example, surfaced links for two press releases. One said “ICE executes federal search warrants in Nebraska”, the other said “ICE fugitive operations team arrests 44 absconders”. Both displayed their dates of publication as 24 January 2025 on Google search. But when the lawyer clicked through to the report, the actual dates of publication were August 2018 and June 2008, respectively.

Countering Musk's DOGE Theft: The importance of repetition: (by Jason Sattler at FrameLab, Feb 2025)

The power of repetition extends beyond mere memorization. Each time a frame is activated, it strengthens the words and the entire conceptual structure they represent. When Trump repeats “winning,” he's not just emphasizing victory — he's reinforcing a worldview where everything is a zero-sum competition. Each repetition helps make this framework increasingly natural and automatic for listeners. This mechanism becomes even more powerful in our current media environment. “The news,” as we knew it in the 20th century, just does not exist anymore. Tens of millions of people primarily get their messages from social media or from loved ones who get them through social media. Like our brains, social media is swayed by repetitions – reposts, shares, and views. Each share, retweet, and viral moment creates another repetition, another brain activation. Repetition matters.

America’s Right-Wing Propaganda Problem Might Be Terminal: (by Karl Bode, Dame Magazine, Jan 2025)

Much of “new media” isn’t any better. Recent data from the Pew Research Center found that 40% of Americans under 40 now get their news from online influencers. More than half of those influencers are right-wing men, in part because there’s plenty of money to be made telling millions of people that greed, racism, and sexism are decidedly good things. Republicans have long since cultivated a massive Spanish-language propaganda apparatus Democrats have no answer for.

[aotopmha]

My actual one strong criticism of Dawntrail right now is that I think the event quests have been pretty bland in terms of their actual substance.

As always, we've had some cute and cool rewards for them, but unlike with EW the year before, a majority of them only seem to have a really simple text quest attached to them.

I liked the Christmas event's instance, but the rest kind of have really just been another yellow quest with the reward attached to it.

In previous years, some of them also had some really good writing attached to them, so DT's stand out in contrast with the much more generic execution, as well.

I remember there being a mention of a pretty large chunk of budget going towards new servers or something similar (I suspect the extra data centers to ensure a smooth launch were more expensive than we might think), so I think the events might be one bit of collateral here.

They actually very much also share the same issue with MSQ/questing at large: the gameplay/story ratio is extremely uneven and the cutscenes themselves don't often match the energy of the ideas at play.

(I always think about the cooking contest between the Promises and how that could've been so much more fun with some of that Hildebrand energy we had in EW's patch content thrown in there.)

At this point I really do get the sense MSQ/questing was the collateral for everything else this expansion is planning to do because the instanced content we do get is fantastic and I really hope this means the new Eureka-like/Field Operation, the Relics, Beastmaster, the Deep Dungeon and even the new Cosmic Exploration content are really good.

Spelling all of this out really does put into perspective how much content we are actually set to have (especially since Eureka and Bozja did have raid content attached, as well, so the new area logically should, as well) – and I don't think I've even seen a mention of the trial series yet.

(I just recently realised we literally haven't had even a mention of it, not even a tease. Will it be joined with the MSQ like with EW? Doesn't seem likely because that's not the trend, but I'm curious what they'll come up with for it.)

From what I understand the .2s of an expansion are really important in terms of setting the real tone of the expansion, so to speak – setting the foundation for all upcoming content and direction of everything for the rest of the patch cycle, so the live letter this Friday will be really interesting.

[dertaglichedan]

Trump turns on Los Angeles as ICE agents launch dozens of raids and drag illegal migrants off for deportation

President Trump ramped up his mass deportation crackdown on Saturday as he focused ICE's efforts on Los Angeles. 

Illegal migrants in the sanctuary city were reportedly rounded up in a sweep of early morning raids, a day after Trump visited the area to survey wildfire devastation. 

Arrested migrants were held at ICE detention centers in California, which were expected to fill up so quickly due to Trump's raids that federal agents have been scouting for more detention spaces, the New York Post reported. 

Sources told the outlet that ICE agents are expected to continue sweeping Los Angeles seven days a week, but have avoided areas of the city that were destroyed by recent wildfires.  

On Friday, ICE announced in its daily update that it had arrested 593 criminals and lodged 449 detainer requests, which require law enforcement to hold illegal migrants until ICE can pick them up. 

The agency posted on X late Saturday that it arrested 286 illegal migrants and lodged 421 detainers.  It is not yet clear how many people of these arrests were from that day's raids in Los Angeles. 

The raids in Los Angeles come as Trump has forged ahead with his pledge to carry out the largest mass deportation effort in US history in his first week back in power, arresting well over 2,000 people since his inauguration on Monday. 

On Friday, a senior official in the Trump administration revealed exclusive deportation and detainment data with DailyMail.com, including chilling details of dangerous criminals that were previously walking the streets freely. 

[newx-menfan]

NYX #7 Review

*Spoilers!*

The issue starts with Synch returning to NY….

Synch arrives at the warehouse the NYX’s are currently inhabiting (told you guys- the pages in the preview were going to be the first few pages of this book!) and is apparently PISSED that Prodigy has set up basically a mutant center (feels like a HUGE overreaction…but whatevs…)

Synch is bugging because David’s powers essentially don’t have weaknesses like Synch’s does (Synch retains memories of the people he “synced” with) and feels that David isn’t considering how he’s endangering everyone. (If Empath really ISN’T brainwashing them…. I’m going to be a bit pissed because frankly this plot point is stupid and came literally out of nowhere, with zero buildup!) 

Synch basically has the same feelings Scott did about freeing Xavier in “Raid on Graymalkin”- that optimists like Xavier and David are slanting it so only one kind of mutant revolution can come out of “mutants vs humans” dilemma.

Meanwhile Bilal has been radicalized (who saw THAT coming! 😜), has taken? stolen? a glider, and attacks Ms Marvel; not realizing that it’s his cousin. (Feel like Goblin or someone needs to get those things copyrighted…are gliders like “ghost guns” in the Marvel-verse??? 🤪)

The writers DECIDE this plot is the better one to focus on…because this is basically more or less, now a “stealth Ms. Marvel solo”…

While Ms Marvel is fighting her cousin, Synch accuses David of being an egotist (true!) and they beat the shit out of each other. (Ironically “Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell” came on my Spotify while reading this very moment 🤭)

AGAIN, the Hellion criticism comes up- Synch is undoubtedly one of THE MOST powerful mutants- I get there’s not a lot to “synch” to, but it makes zero sense for him to lose this easily to Prodigy.

Where I could UNDERSTAND the argument that Hellion’s ego compromised him… Synch isn’t Julian and doesn’t have his inflated levels of pride.

Dante cheers Prodigy on while he beats the shit out of Synch and Synch FINALLY syncs to Prodigy’s powers, while talking about his death…. (All of Laura’s ex’s have major trauma, I guess…)

Ms Marvel captures Bilal and he goes on this “purity” rant and that he will die for his cause (reeeaallllyyyy stretching the Islamic extremist stereotypes there, Marvel!😬)

Apparently Bilal was scanning Kamala to gather information for the truthseekers, but the data collected was incomplete.

Prodigy….somehow convinces Synch to see his way and stay…? (Really? That’s the climax?)

The issue ends with Kamala crying about her cousin (who never even APPEARED in previous Ms. Marvel issues or was mentioned 🙄)

Review:

This issue…wasn’t BAD. The problem WITH this book consistently IS that it has great ideas and great MOMENTS…but the overall EXECUTION is disappointing.

David and Everett BEING on opposite sides/viewpoints makes sense. Everett grew up in St. Louis, on the poorer economic scale- where David grew up in a middle class home in Chicago. Despite both being mutants and black- they have VERY different lived experiences, along with the similarity of experiencing trauma and death while with the X-Men.

Can I just say, that I really HATE how this era has written Synch 😒- no one can get his character right. Everett ISN’T an asshole. He literally WANTED to help impoverished communities in Gen X and was the “nice guy” of his team. This is just character assassination. 🙄

It’s not that I couldn’t believe Prodigy and Synch would have different ideologies- but this plot point feels so ham fisted and under developed.

It’s sad because I think this COULD have been an interesting examination into how Hellion and Prodigy, returning back to their fight in issue #4, are more similar than they will admit- both live and die by their ego and sense of morality.

The Bilal stuff is just pointless and poorly handled- I really DON’T understand why they dropped the quiet council/Hellion for…angry, extremist cousin? Who will ultimately be totally forgotten in the Ms Marvel books after NYX is cut? (Sorry but I don’t believe NYX will miss the chopping block at this point)

The ending was lackluster- there’s nothing in David’s speech that would convince Everett to GO WITH Prodigy’s way of advocacy… but a more believable ending would have required taking their time with the story and NOT doing the dumb Bilal plot point (same problem issue #4 had 🙄)

Again- I think the worst part about NYX is HOW MUCH I want to like it. It 100% had potential! But the final product is just always pretty unsatisfactory and surface level writing.

It’s not “X-Force” levels of snoozefest or even “X-Factor” levels of cringe… the SAD thing with NYX IS that it does HAVE its high points…only it’s followed by some really mediocre moments and endings.

What I will never truly understand is- WHY DOES Marvel CONSTANTLY DO THIS- they feature the NXM to help prop up whatever “character of the week” they’re promoting at the moment… and fans always feel unhappy because it’s NOT what they want….

Why not JUST do a straight NXM book, at this point??

They’re done this with Kid Omega…Eyeboy…Glob…Ms Marvel…X23…Baby Cable…ect

And NONE of it (except maybe Laura!) has ever been successful.

Just GIVE us a FUCKING team NXM book already!!

Theories:

I KNOW that I am going to HATE issue #8 guys…

The fact that it’s an event tie-in, guarantees that I am going to be 100% disappointed. (You are all going to have to hear my rant about why I hate comic book events! 😝)

Bilal is OBVIOUSLY going to try and murder Krakellion and somehow Kamala will hog the spotlight, while Laura is basically wallpaper 😒

Oh have the tables turned, I guess…

I guess on the bright side, considering how this issue went…they’ll at least be a couple diamonds in a pile of otherwise coal storytelling…😕

We will get one panel of Laura and Hellion, and the rest of the book will be Bilal drama 😜

[battlecrazed-axe-mage]

hey you look cool as fuck I love the flower crown!! also what is a crystal player I don't play any final fantasy games. is it like one of the world server things or something?? this is a genuine question. thank you

Thank you! :D Yeah, the game is divided up into data centers, and the North American ones are Crystal, Aether, Primal, and Dynamis. For a while they were completely separate, so you had to make a character on the same data center if you wanted to play with your friends.

Then they opened travel between the data centers, which immediately led to each DC being stereotyped for a different purpose--Crystal for roleplay and venues and parties, Aether for hardcore raiding, Primal for pvp matches I think, and Dynamis as the empty one no one really goes to (it's new). Occasionally the more toxic types will gripe about Crystal players being bad at the game and mucking up the Aether raiding scene, but they're not worth listening to. I mean yeah I'm pretty bad at high end content, but some of my friends are incredible!