#Organization Hierarchy Management

[orangescrumblog]

What's Coming in Orangescrum: Q4 Feature Roadmap for Cloud & Self-Hosted

Explore Orangescrum's Q4 feature release, including Organization Hierarchy, Business Unit Management, Program Portfolio Management, and more. Enhance team collaboration, scalability, and project management efficiency with powerful new tools.

[barra400]

June pt. 5

CW: badly drawn gore

[recsspecs]

A good structure is something you can trust.

It relieves you from the burden of remembering and keeping track of everything. If you can trust the system, you can let go of the attempt to hold everything together in your head and you can start focusing on what is important: The content, the argument and the ideas. By breaking down the amorphous task of “writing a paper” into small and clearly separated tasks, you can focus on one thing at a time, complete each in one go and move on to the next one . A good structure enables flow, the state in which you get so completely immersed in your work that you lose track of time and can just keep on going as the work becomes effortless (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975). Something like that does not happen by chance.

- How to Take Smart Notes (Sönke Ahrens)

[baejax-the-great]

One of the things missing in Veilguard is any sort of meaningful power struggle. By keeping to the poorer parts of the city-settings, we don't really deal with corrupt or powerful nobles. By defanging the Crows, an organization who famously has lethal squabbles between factions, they turned them into some weird, benevolent family organization. Even the assassin trying to make "evil" power plays doesn't actually manage to kill any of his targets, and his ruthless relatives? Also don't kill him in revenge. In the end, the status quo is maintained. Nothing has changed.

In Tevinter, we have the Threads, an organized crime unit who we know runs "protection" rackets on the locals and is involved in some kind of smuggling (it's Tevinter--so presumably this would involve slavery and dangerous artifacts, but it's Veilguard, so I guess not). Instead of them beefing with the Shadow Dragons, who presumably ruin some of their deals with their pesky "freeing the slaves" thing, and instead of their main issue being with any sort of law enforcement, something which doesn't exist in Veilguard beyond one singular templar who does all of jack shit the entire game, their main power struggle is with the Venatori, who are evil just to be evil.

And instead of the Veilguard siding with law enforcement or the threads and enlisting their help to, idk, unseat the corrupt head of the templars or otherwise deal with the venatori shit, the threads are highly favored by the storyline, and in the end the only real choice is to make Neve a thread or to make her... idk, the same Neve? The game calls her an "inspiration", but it's not like she's part of any organization, so we can't call her a figurehead. It's just like, see that random citizen right there? She rules. And I don't really see how that increases the power of the rule of law, because even if one good person is working within rule of law to get things done, she's not part of the system, and everyone already know the system is corrupt in Minrathous. Random citizens in fucking Ferelden know the system is corrupt in Minrathous, or they would if they weren't all dead. Neve is now just playing on hard mode to appear righteous, which, good for her, but I'm sorry, won't inspire all that many people who are still paying "protection" money to the local mafia.

(Putting Neve in charge of the Threads is an absolutely whackadoodle decision by the devs that I don't even know how to respond to. She has a single Thread contact. Presumably the Threads have a hierarchy. She has never demonstrated interest in being a smuggler. Being a detective really has no overlap with being a crime boss. Telling a group of criminals that they are all detective's helpers now is sure to go over like a lead balloon. What the fuck was that. Why did that happen.)

Maevaris and Dorian arguing came out of nowhere and lasted a fairly long time, which was interesting, but after the most recent election in the states, Maevaris's position sounds unbearably naive and trite, and this hardly counts as a power struggle as they both say they will support the other depending on what some random outsider thinks should happen. (That is soooo not a basis for a system of government. Why would Maevaris OR Dorian cede their power to Rook, someone they don't know and who doesn't matter)

The power struggle within the Wardens is also very stupid and easily solved. The First Warden is a moron. He dies (kind of). For some reason the extremely hot and competent couple who we first encounter in the middle of nowhere are next in command, so, phew. Problem solved there. A question of what the Wardens will do now that the Blights are over would have been interesting. Do they keep recruiting lest the Blight somehow reoccur and nobody remembers the Warden secrets? Or do they disband? Do they set themselves to seeking a cure and nothing else?

The closest you get to that is deciding what the griffons will do, which, again, why the fuck is Rook deciding that, but also there are 13 of them, in two or three more generations they will be dead unless a lot of mages bone up on genetics real fast.

Who is left? We have Rivain, which is just pointless in this game. I played as a Lord of Fortune, but you could drop that faction and not a single thing changes in the game. Pirates who don't loot valuable artifacts because they are elvhen? Give me a fucking break.

Same for the Mourn Watch. There is pretty much nothing going on in that region. You could excise it from the game and nothing changes in the slightest. There is not a single excuse for them not using the Eluvians to help the Veilguard earlier in the game, given just how little they have going on.

The Veiljumpers are just missed opportunities all over the place. They could have had factions debating whether to join the god of vengeance in fucking up the human civilizations as payback for, you know, everything. They could have had people joining Cyrion in thinking that a Forgotten One might be the best way to face down the gods, given they'd done it before. There could have been a HUGE cultural impact on "what do we do now that we know our gods are evil fuckfaces--what do we keep and what do we throw away," but Veilguard ain't that deep. They could have had knowledge of a super-weapon or some elvhen bullshit that would help the Veilguard fight the gods... but nah.

In DAO, your decisions not only affected the political futures of the various regions, but they decided who would help you and how. Did the dwarves have golems? Did you have templars or mages? That whole wolf thing with the Dalish that I no longer remember that well? And the Dalish deciding to help changed how they were viewed in Ferelden. The mages helping you meant the monarch would treat them favorably. It fucking mattered.

In Veilguard, the only situation remotely close to that is the dragon decision at the beginning, which was one of the fucking dumbest plot points in a video game I have ever played. It was the first thing that made me set my controller down and go... what? What the fuck? The idea that Rook, a nobody, is the only person singularly capable of driving back a dragon in the entire north is laughable. What the fuck was Dorian up to that day? How is Rook more capable than every single Crow? How is it the two companions you sent to the other city were absolutely useless? If Lucanis/Neve + two companions were unable to drive a dragon away, what makes them think Rook would be the deciding factor? What makes them blame Rook when they themselves couldn't fucking do it? Neve in particular was a big part of fucking up that ritual and releasing the gods, so why is Rook taking all the fire for this?

AND WHY IS THEIR RESPONSE TO A BLIGHT TO FIND A SINGLE DRAGON HUNTER? HEY DIPSHITS, THE DRAGON IS HUNTING YOU. YOU DON'T NEED TO WORRY ABOUT THAT PART. YOU NEED AN ARMY.

But Treviso or Minrathous being spared doesn't change the global political situation at all. It would have been really interesting if it did. Tevinter hobbled? How many kingdoms would be salivating to take a bite out of their territory? With the trade princes of Antiva being absolutely fucked over by the Blight, who is taking over that trade? Who is getting rich?

Nobody, I guess, because why would Rook know or care about that, because, as previously mentioned, they are a nobody who doesn't matter and honestly shouldn't be listened to.

The stakes in this game are nothing because the bad guys are all so obviously bad that you know, as a video game player, that you are going to defeat them. Oh, the Antaam are just mindless, faceless brutes fucking up Treviso? Okay, let's kill them. Venatori again? I'm pretty sure they aren't the heroes of this game. There's no power struggle, and in the end all we've done is revert to the status quo, (except i guess Treviso is no longer occupied).

Except for the south. The south is dead. but we didn't have anything to do with that for some reason. Couldn't even be bothered to house some refugees in our safehouse that was built specifically to house refugees. The Inquisitor, who has access to the eluvians, couldn't figure out how to get other people through them or something so... sorry, every single Orlesian, Fereldan, and Marcher.

[togglesbloggle]

For the Reverse Unpopular Opinion meme, Lamarckism!

(This is an excellent ask.)

Lamarck got done a bit dirty by the textbooks, as one so often is. He's billed as the guy who articulated an evolutionary theory of inherited characteristics, inevitably set up as an opponent made of straw for Darwin to knock down. The example I recall my own teachers using in grade school was the idea that a giraffe would strain to reach the highest branches of a tree, and as a result, its offspring would be born with slightly longer necks. Ha-ha-ha, isn't-that-silly, isn't natural selection so much more sensible?

But the thing is, this wasn't his idea, not even close. People have been running with ideas like that since antiquity at least. What Lamarck did was to systematize that claim, in the context of a wider and much more interesting theory.

Lamarck was born in to an era where natural philosophy was slowly giving way to Baconian science in the modern sense- that strange, eighteenth century, the one caught in an uneasy tension between Newton the alchemist and Darwin the naturalist. This is the century of Ben Franklin and his key and his kite, and the awed discovery that this "electricity" business was somehow involved in living organisms- the discovery that paved the way for Shelley's Frankenstein. This was the era when alchemy was fighting its last desperate battles with chemistry, when the division between 'organic' and 'inorganic' chemistry was fundamental- the first synthesis of organic molecules in the laboratory wouldn't occur until 1828, the year before Lamarck's death. We do not have atoms, not yet. Mendel and genetics are still more than a century away; we won't even have cells for another half-century or more.

Lamarck stepped in to that strange moment. I don't think he was a bold revolutionary, really, or had much interest in being one. He was profoundly interested in the structure and relationships between species, and when we're not using him as a punching bag in grade schools, some people manage to remember that he was a banging good taxonomist, and made real progress in the classification of invertebrates. He started life believing in the total immutability of species, but later was convinced that evolution really was occurring- not because somebody taught him in the classroom, or because it was the accepted wisdom of the time, but through deep, continued exposure to nature itself. He was convinced by the evidence of his senses.

(Mostly snails.)

His problem was complexity. When he'd been working as a botanist, he had this neat little idea to order organisms by complexity, starting with the grubbiest, saddest little seaweed or fern, up through lovely flowering plants. This was not an evolutionary theory, just an organizing structure; essentially, just a sort of museum display. But when he was asked to do the same thing with invertebrates, he realized rather quickly that this task had problems. A linear sorting from simple to complex seemed embarrassingly artificial, because it elided too many different kinds of complexity, and ignored obvious similarities and shared characteristics.

When he went back to the drawing board, he found better organizing schema; you'd recognize them today. There were hierarchies, nested identities. Simple forms with only basic, shared anatomical patterns, each functioning as a sort of superset implying more complex groups within it, defined additively by the addition of new organs or structures in the body. He'd made a taxonomic tree.

Even more shockingly, he realized something deep and true in what he was looking at: this wasn't just an abstract mapping of invertebrates to a conceptual diagram of their structures. This was a map in time. Complexities in invertebrates- in all organisms!- must have been accumulating in simpler forms, such that the most complicated organisms were also the youngest.

This is the essential revolution of Lamarckian evolution, not the inherited characteristics thing. His theory, in its full accounting, is actually quite elaborate. Summarized slightly less badly than it is in your grade school classroom (though still pretty badly, I'm by no means an expert on this stuff), it looks something like this:

As we all know, animals and plants are sometimes generated ex nihilo in different places, like maggots spontaneously appearing in middens. However, the spontaneous generation of life is much weaker than we have supposed; it can only result in the most basic, simple organisms (e.g. polyps). All the dizzying complexity we see in the world around us must have happened iteratively, in a sequence over time that operated on inheritance between one organism and its descendants.

As we all know, living things are dynamic in relation to inorganic matter, and this vital power includes an occasional tendency to gain in complexity. However, this tendency is not a spiritual or supernatural effect; it's a function of natural, material processes working over time. Probably this has something to do with fluids such as 'heat' and 'electricity' which are known to concentrate in living tissues. When features appear spontaneously in an organism, that should be understood as an intrinsic propensity of the organism itself, rather than being caused by the environment or by a divine entity. There is a specific, definite, and historically contingent pattern in which new features can appear in existing organisms.

As we all know, using different tissue groups more causes them to be expressed more in your descendants, and disuse weakens them in the same way. However, this is not a major feature in the development of new organic complexity, since it could only move 'laterally' on the complexity ladder and will never create new organs or tissue groups. At most, you might see lineages move from ape-like to human-like or vice versa, or between different types of birds or something; it's an adaptive tendency that helps organisms thrive in different environments. In species will less sophisticated neural systems, this will be even less flexible, because they can't supplement it with willpower the way that complex vertebrates can.

Lamarck isn't messing around here; this is a real, genuinely interesting model of the world. And what I think I'm prepared to argue here is that Lamarck's biggest errors aren't his. He has his own blind spots and mistakes, certainly. The focus on complexity is... fraught, at a minimum. But again and again, what really bites him in the ass is just his failure to break with his inherited assumptions enough. The parts of this that are actually Lamarckian, that is, are the ideas of Lamarck, are very clearly groping towards a recognizable kind of proto-evolutionary theory.

What makes Lamarck a punching bag in grade-school classes today is the same thing that made it interesting; it's that it was the best and most scientific explanation of biological complexity available at the time. It was the theory to beat, the one that had edged out all the other competitors and emerged as the most useful framework of the era. And precisely none of that complexity makes it in to our textbooks; they use "Lamarckianism" to refer to arguments made by freaking Aristotle, and which Lamarck himself accepted but de-emphasized as subordinate processes. What's even worse, Darwin didn't reject this mechanism either. Darwin was totally on board with the idea as a possible adaptive tendency; he just didn't particularly need it for his theory.

Lamarck had nothing. Not genetics, not chromosomes, not cells, not atomic theory. Geology was a hot new thing! Heat was a liquid! What Lamarck had was snails. And on the basis of snails, Lamarck deduced a profound theory of complexity emerging over time, of the biosphere as a(n al)chemical process rather than a divine pageant, of gradual adaptation punctuated by rapid innovation. That's incredible.

There's a lot of falsehood in the Lamarckian theory of evolution, and it never managed to entirely throw off the sloppy magical thinking of what came before. But his achievement was to approach biology and taxonomy with a profound scientific curiosity, and to improve and clarify our thinking about those subjects so dramatically that a theory of biology could finally, triumphantly, be proven wrong. Lamarck is falsifiable. That is a victory of the highest order.

[otkuhotgirl]

─── 𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆

# with vice-admiral smoker.

the point of your lover's weapon has a small piece of sea-prism stone. you, wickedly, happen to find it'd be just as useful on your heels.

⎰ & KINKTOBER, day nine. smut (mdni!) boot worship. tights. teasing. choking. office!sex. afab!reader. no y/n used.

WC: 2k.

the path of a marine officer was complicated; oftentimes disappointing. the naive trust in the justice code had died ages prior, buried underneath piles of bitter dirt, destined to rot alongside the witnessed corruption, lodged within the walls of the organization whose code he once chose to surrender his freedom to follow. smoker grew harsher, more prone to snapping; the character of his career and the never-ending growth in pirate activity all but a fuel. tashigi — meekly — pointed out that perhaps the cause of such annoyance came from a tendency to overwork himself. hina — on her hand, revolted — stated that he needed to get laid.

the latter proved to be correct.

yet, the road that led him to you had done it so in an agonizing pace. as quite a known, high in hierarchy, marine officer, the pursuit of love had to be engulfed in wariness. smoker was one responsible for the capture of an innumerable amount of pirates, most harmless to those with certain skill yet for sure lethal to a common civilian. escapes were more often than not ruled out, but one could never be too sure, meaning that a relationship engaged with an individual unable to fend for themselves was improbable — which left him with either pirates, revolutionaries, or a co-worker. marines, however, either incompetent or insufferable, save for a select group.

smoker had not once envisioned himself in a loving embrace with those of shared values and career, for the thought alone of finding one interesting enough seemed but a wild dream. that was, of course, until he caught a glimpse of you.

rather than losing himself in the reasoning forbidding him from pursuing a long-term partner, smoker had started to weigh the pros and cons of dating a fellow vice-admiral. distance was an obnoxious obstacle, for the pair of you were commanders of marine bases on divergent directions. transponder snail was not quite a viable method of communication either — at least, not when one aimed to share romance-coated sentences — for the call could be wiretapped, and the embarrassing contents of the conversation overheard. and, at last, you were only ever saw in cases of obnoxious, general reunions or unrecommended straying from your patrols.

it happened to be one of the pros — you were far more daring. smoker had no respect for twisted orders, and more often than not decided to act with no regard for the upper heads’ plans whatsoever, yet somehow he had managed to find a partner with a behavior twice as rascal — distance was an obstacle you did not bother to counter. your strength absolved him of worry, for you were far more capable than most. but what had convinced him altogether was the sheer urge to have an ever-current carnal connection with one he nurtured something for — and those tights. he adored tugging at them; vanishing his fingers amidst conjured smoke to tease the bare flesh under the fabric; staining it with the ash of his cigar. smoker had never spared much thought to one’s thighs until he was given the opportunity to leave yours red; figure spasming due to the violent pinch of his large fingers.

he had commanded his subordinates to dock and re-stock, the interval of time required for the log pose to adapt being one above a week. it was but a matter of days until your fleet was seen at shore, having followed the vivre card leading to him. smoker had his legs spread, a sour figure growing restless at your absence, a veil of spiraling nicotine all but staining the walls of his office.

languid, sensual-esque knocking; the echoing of heels against the ground. he opened an eye, failing to contain the pleasure born from your arrival. the marine’s coat hand from your shoulders, usual tights hugging the delicious flesh of your legs as you strutted in his direction, wearing an expression that promised nothing but trouble.

“we have full-on uniforms to use for a reason,” he scolded, though his tone held neither sharpness nor annoyance.

“is that so?” you hummed, sitting on his table, legs crossed. smoker’s hand went to your thigh as though second instinct, gripping it with non-forethought strength. “you first.”

he grinned. whenever the weather warmed up, smoker was one to rest shirtless in his office, and the occasion at hand was far from different. the point of your boot brushed against his bare chest, and he ceased the roaming of his fingers on your ankles upon noticing you have never used that piece — at least, not with him.

“new boots?” smoker inquired, aware that one valued having their partner pointing out appearance shifts — no matter how minor.

your face lit up as though a forest fire, a malicious smile surging on your lips as you leaned forward, playfully kicking his abdomen. “you liked it?”

“it’s black leather,” he stated, not quite able to differentiate it from your previous ones.

“wanna see what it can do?”

the smile offered was mischievous; borderline diabolical. instincts alight due to the unspoken promise of trouble. unpredictable endeavor of sexual character that had his member twitching regardless of the warning goosebumps. smoker retreated from your figure, making use of the comfortable armrests at his sides. aware that he’d regret his decision, smoker spurred you on, nodding his head with a grin.

the sole of your boot applied pressure to his chest, forcing his back to meet the leather surface of his seat. that position was far from distasteful. smoker adored having you on his table, whether splayed or bent, vulnerable to the assault of his cock; perhaps crawling with your ass up, teeth tugging his zipper down. he did not mind the perspective of having you on more comfortable surfaces — a soft mattress, a large couch — yet his office remained his most favored spot. smoker was obsessed with the sight of your juices smearing the wooden table; of pressing you against the wall, shoving himself so deep he had your head hitting the harsh surface. whatever thought you had in mind, so long as it had you in such a position — sitting on his table, biting your lip with hooded eyes —, he was pleased with it.

until he flinched at the touch of your heel. the smoke once conjured had vanished, as though a gust of wind traveled past his power, dismantling the veil that had once covered the lightning of his office. smoker hissed, trapped under your foot; squirming with gritted teeth.

“sea-prism stone heels?” he snarled, gripping the armrest.

“stole the idea from you,” you teased, dragging the heel against his bare chest. “thought we could match.”

smoker’s fingers curled in the hole straps of your tights, tearing through the fabric in an attempt to drag you closer. yet, your grip on the edges of the table was steel-made; unmoving, regardless of his insistence. power and strength were drained without distinction, the man left at your entire mercy with a mind much too hazed to react in equal fervor.

“no spite in storage?” you cooed, tilting his chin up with the point of your boot, aware of that being far from the truth.

smoker was livid. yet not at you; rather at himself. his underwear was but a narrow prison, constricting his aching cock. he trailed his eyes down your bare shoulders, to the enticing inches of flesh of your thighs, wrapped around black, thin straps. when your other foot started to hover above his belt, slim heel threatening to angle itself down on his covered erection, smoker had to convey the urge to moan. it was pathetic; maddening. you were but reducing him to a puddle of meek sensation, condescending tone with lascivious-wrapped orders, and rather than to struggle and regain his dignity, he was willing to fold.

his eyes shone with uncovered rage, and that all but excited you twice as much, the point of your heel moving his chin to the sides, dragging itself far closer to his sealed lips.

“take these heels off me,” he ordered, though the bark lacked its usual fierceness. you dared pretend to ponder it over, a faux expression of concentration; an index tapping on your chin.

“so mean,” you pouted, sighing dramatically. “didn’t you adore it?”

prolonged time spent for the innuendo to be understood; the light drag of your boot on his lower lip. smoker’s expression shifted into one of pure disturbance, yet his treacherous cock twitched under the pressure of your other heel, denying him the right of pretense.

“c’mon,” you edged him, all but threatening to step on his face.

perhaps it had been the numbing effects of the sea-prism stone; perhaps smoker had lost his mind to lust; for his lips met the sole of your boot a second thereafter, pressing a short-lived kiss against it. he shuddered, tongue lolling out as his eyes caught a glimpse of your blown-wide ones, as if you were struggling to believe that he had conceded to your wish. smoker coated the leather of the tip with saliva, roaming his tongue from the covered region of your fingers.

trembling hand settled on your leg, raising and drawing it closer, as a lustful mouth left a trail of wet kisses throughout the entire extension of your boot. he dared use the other one to grip the bare flesh, pinching and squeezing — a promise. you trembled, growing hot with the sight. smoker observed you through his eyelashes, making out with your boot, inching his head forward until his nose brushed against your knee and your heel hovered above his flexed abdomen. you gasped when his teeth nipped at your tights, tearing through the straps; tongue claiming the exposed flesh of your knee. when smoker guided a set of fingers closer to your intimacy — the other ones busying themselves with the grip of your ankle —, and had his thumb pressed against your clothed clit, you trembled. when he closed a fist around the crotch and threatened to rip it, the surprise had your heel pressing itself with regained fervor against his cock.

smoker stiffened, his breath growing labored. his teeth met the leather of your boot, tugging at it as though a wild beast, a muffled grunt of pleasure vibrating through the material. he could sense your own excitement; feel it dampening his hand, for you went to visit him without panties. that made him rut against the heel, yet again trailing desperate kisses through the extension of your boot, licking and witnessing the gradual dripping of saliva.

the prolonged contact with the sea-prism stone had his limbs growing limp, threatening to reach a point of uselessness. the merest act of raising a questioning eyebrow had demanded an insane amount of energy. he felt close to slipping out of consciousness, as though poisoned. your legs trembled — or perhaps, that had been his own hands —, and you parted them as much as your flexibility permitted, the sea-prism stone inching out of touch as a consequence.

without it, the return of his usual strength was but automatic. smoker’s smirk was borderline crooked when he witnessed your anticipating — yet shrinking — behavior; fear and lust overlapping. he tugged down at the material of your shorts, ripping it in two, all but turning it into a minuscule skirt. no longer restricted to the limits of his chair, smoker raised himself to his full height and gripped your neck, pushing your back against the table. you gasped at the sudden lack of air; the strength that would not give.

“lost your big words?” he taunted, spreading your legs further. “you were enjoying yourself then, weren’t you?”

you attempted to nod, eyes rolling due to the pressure. your voice came out rough, strained, even, for you knew that smoker demanded vocal replies. “i– i was.”

his smile was all teeth and malice. “i will be enjoying this.”

smoker grabbed your spit-coated ankle, holding it high above his shoulder, careful not to allow the heel to touch his hand. he kept the other leg spread, forcing his own knee against it while his fingers undid the button of his pants, allowing it to slip off. smoker struggled to grow accustomed to his own strength due to the previous extended restriction, and his underwear, too, fell prey to his vicious grip, the waistband snapping in two alongside the rest of the fabric. the man scoffed before releasing the pressure on your throat for the briefest instance, enough to have you draw-in a desperate breath before he tightened the grip yet again.

withdrawing with his shaft free of its previous cuffs, he positioned at your entrance, grinning at your alarmed reaction. smoker slammed himself inside, not minding the fact that your tights were still on. his tip tore through the straps, the length invading your cunt without further ado. smoker hissed when your walls enveloped him, the wetness added to the material of your tights creating an odd, yet welcoming texture. you clenched around his cock, and would have screamed at the sudden invasion if you happened to have enough air in your lungs.

the first thrust had him deep, balls hitting your ass. he released the pressure on your throat in order to set a ruthless pace, the table underneath cringing at the used strength. for your own pleasure — and for the perspective of witnessing the roll of those teary eyes — smoker licked the sole of your boot yet again, biting down on the tip; scraping his teeth down against the leather. you mewled when he brushed your g-spot — again and again, without mercy —, arching your back and gripping the edges of the table.

“that’s it,” he rasped out, leaving a bite mark on your boot, aiming for his teeth to reach your flesh. “that’s—shit, where you belong.”

the jerk of his hips was coated in brute force, a repeated pattern, base-to-tip; in-and-out. he hammered through your walls without an ounce of mercy, the cacophony of your pleasure the most ethereal music he had ever heard. the regained clenching had him know you were close, and smoker deprived you of air yet again, aware that the choking sensation would lead you to the edge. no warning was ensued on his part, and as soon as your high coated the sensible skin of his cock, smoker shot his load inside, chasing the ends of his orgasm regardless of the shared stimulation, grunting at the sight of your mixed essences dripping out of your cunt.

he was careful not to collapse into you, elbows pressed on the table in order to support his weight. smoker pressed a kiss on your sweat-coated temple, raising himself ever-so-slightly, eyes scanning the room.

“what are you searching for?” you inquired tiredly, your voice rough due to the strength of his grip.

“my weapon,” he replied, grinning down at you. “after all, you wanted us to match.”

[cyberclouddream]

The 6th House and Bad Fortunes

In Hellenistic astrology the 6th house is referred to the “place of bad fortune”, connected to disease and decline in vitality. Here it’s more associated with hardships and illness than daily routines and activities. This is due to it being twelve houses away from the 7th house, which would mean imprisonment to significant commitments, like our health and vitality.

It represents the challenges that arise when our creative and romantic aspirations meet reality. By addressing the issues related to health, routines, and service we can transform the challenges here into opportunities.

Aries Rising

- tedious jobs that demand grinding

- may clean up after others or work beneath your skill level

- burnout because of perfectionism

- overworking with little recognition

- hypochondria; frequent doctor’s visits or checkups

- nitpicky with coworkers

Remedies: balanced diet; prioritize and delegate tasks; activities that promote self-improvement; face issues head-on; eliminate distractions; learn to say no

Taurus Rising

- passive-aggressive co-workers

- people-pleasing overload

- headaches or skin problems

- jobs that lack beauty or creativity

- indecisive career path

- superficial relationship with colleagues

Remedies: make workplace aesthetically pleasing; distinguish supportive relationships from toxic ones; take proactive steps to manage burnout; stay physically active

Gemini Rising

- jobs full of manipulation, power struggles, or drama

- unhealthy or overwhelming intensity at work

- anxiety, digestive issues, or fatigue

- strong desire for control over work environment and tasks clash

- help others with hidden agendas

Remedies: stop avoiding hard tasks; let go of grudges; find a life outside of work; channel rage into work; get regular check ups

Cancer Rising

- dissatisfaction in routines

- overcommitting to responsibilities

- lack of exercise, weight issues, digestive problems

- conflict with traditions or authority

- too much optimism

Remedies: learn to focus on tasks; be wary of escapism; be honest about what you can handle; establish flexible routines

Leo Rising

- rigid rules or strict hierarchies in workplace

- relentless pursuit for success

- issues with bones, joints, or skin

- missing opportunities for joy

- feelings of isolation and loneliness

Remedies: drop guilt about labor and delegate tasks; don’t take work too seriously; reassess goals if feeling stagnant or underappreciated

Virgo Rising

- jobs that feel misaligned with values or ideals

- alienation at work

- inconsistent health practices; issues with circulation, nervous system, or sudden changes in well-being

- rebel against routine tasks or authority figures

- difficulties with structure or traditional methods

Remedies: make decisions instead of overthinking; engage more with colleagues; address and change when there’s discomfort; stop idealizing job or coworkers; embrace structure

Libra Rising

- neglect important tasks and responsibilities

- elusive health issues; frustration when seeking health solutions; often feel tired without clear reason

- sensitivity leads to overwhelming emotional labor

- lack of structure in workplace

- romanticizing hardships, sacrifices, or struggles

Remedies: stop dreaming and start doing; get real about health issues; don’t overindulge in pleasures; don’t let feelings dictate work ethic; confront conversations and conflicts head-on

Scorpio Rising

- rush into tasks without proper planning

- take on too much workload at once

- headaches, high blood pressure, or injuries over overexertion

- struggles with monotonous tasks

- inconsistent motivations

Remedies: think before you speak to not burn bridges; learn to collaborate; own your mistakes; get organized

Sagittarius Rising

- stuck in unfulfilling jobs that lack progress

- overindulge in comforts; overeating or neglecting physical activity

- resistance to new opportunities and changes at work

- jobs that offer little financial security

- neglecting mental health

Remedies: don’t cling to routines or methods; avoid complacency; don’t overindulge in comfort foods or luxuries; don’t expect people to read your mind

Capricorn Rising

- erratic work performance

- overwhelmed by too many projects

- headaches, digestive issues, or anxiety

- resist structured routines

- prioritize mental stimulation over exercise or proper nutrition

Remedies: don’t take on too many tasks at once; confront workplace drama; avoid procrastination; make time for resting well; think before you speak to avoid misunderstandings

Aquarius Rising

- difficulty separating feelings from workplace

- fluctuating health issues, like digestive problems or issues linked to their emotional state

- prioritizing helping others over their own needs

- home dynamics effect work

- lack of professional boundaries

Remedies: don’t play victim; set emotional boundaries at work; don’t beat around the bush; avoid overindulgence; be realistic about your limitations

Pisces Rising

- snuggle with recognition at work

- desires for leadership clash with authority

- neglect health for status and appearance

- difficulties maintaining routine

- dramatic responses to setbacks, like unnecessary stress

Remedies: quit trying to be the center of attention at work; limit drama and theatrics; don’t let your pride blind from constructive criticism; be a team player; avoid overcommitting because of your passion;

[roach-works]

Why did wheat become a widespread staple crop given that it's difficult to harvest/transport/etc? This is not meant to be snarky or combative in any way, it's a genuine question. Are there any books you'd recommend for learning more about this kind of economic and technological history? Thanks.

sorry, i've long since forgotten all the actual books i've read about it, but i will always recommend This Guy:

also as very much a non-expert, my semi-informed opinion on Wheat is that growing complicated and difficult compared to going to the grocery store, and doesn't stack up very well to living in a food forest like north and south americans managed, either.

however, wheat is a grass, and grass grows in a lot of places that people also like to live in, and so wheat farming isn't as crazy a venture as it might otherwise seem.

in a lot of climates, it's possible to plant the grass, harvest the grass seeds, and store the seeds long enough to get you through the part of the year where there's nothing much to eat. if you manage your social and material technology right, you can store a lot of the seeds, and you can even transport them around before they rot, meaning you can now export the seeds from places where grass grows into places where it doesn't. the stalks of the grass that you can't eat provides food for the animals you need to help you grow the grass. and transport the seeds, too.

the social structure required to grow wheat in bulk (a steep and violent hierarchy) does three things: feeds everyone in it with enough extra that the guys on the bottom of the organization can survive to grow more wheat next year, and allows the guys on the top can sequester the rest as profit, consolidating their power. the third thing is that as land is converted to wheat fields, it stops yielding any other food but wheat, which locks people into the system for good. once a people depend on a staple cereal grain for their main source of calories, there isn't an easy way back: forests are chewed away for more wheat fields and those woodlands that remain are shifted towards hardwoods for agricultural tools, rather than food forests with fruit/nuts/shrubs, and even those maintained as game preserves still can't support the needs of entire villages.

in arid and semi-arid conditions, it's even harder to step away from dependence on grain farming because there the agricultural development is along rivers where the land can be irrigated, and the population of people supported by grain production is extremely concentrated into those small areas rather than spread across the entire biome.

in the northern parts of eurasia where grain couldn't be produced at scale because it was too rocky and too cold, people mostly went fishing, and when they grew stuff it was hardy root crops like beets and turnips.

DISCLAIMER: this is all very approximate. but now you know as much as i know.

P.S actually here's the last thing about wheat: it probably all started as a way to reliably source and produce beer, which was invented a long time before bread. bread was invented from wheat when the guys who were producing the beer seeds wanted to start exporting beer seeds to people who wanted beer far away, so they baked the seeds into tablets you could easily transport and then ferment with water once you got to your destination. eventually the traders who were transporting the beer kits started eating them, too, and crackers as a snack food really took off. look up the wikipedia article on beer if you don't believe me.

[anya-nya-nya]

why is there almost no fics about omegaverse in this fandom??

light NSFW, GN! reader, alpha! reader, omega!Aventurine, omegaverse, mention of alcohol, mention of Aventurine’s past > mention of SA, slavery

Omega! Aventurine hated his heats, as after slavery he could associate any type of intimacy only with pain and disgust. He hates his scent - citrus and honey, an unique aroma typical to Avgins’ omegas, as it was one of the reasons why he got so popular during days of captivity. The fact his body could still yearn for anything sexual felt especially revolting.

So he started to hide his identity from the very first moment he became a member of IPC. Special hormone blockers to prevent heat and perfume to disguise his signature scent were the first things he bought on his first salary. The higher he steps in the staircase of the inner hierarchy of the company, the more expensive his meds become, as Aventurine always prefers to find the best quality to guarantee himself out of this whole mess. Yet no matter the price tag on the package the rules on instructions inside the boxes always were the same for every drug - not compatible with alcohol.

But who is he, if not a risky gambler? Every night in the casino he was making bets not only with other players around, but with himself too, as every new shot was a raise.

And apparently, his organism was fed up - drinked up? - with it, as one day he woke up to a dizzying headache that wasn't the regular hangover Aventurine had in the mornings. He forgot how rabid the ache is - or maybe it was the pile up effect of all the previous heats he successfully skipped.

Aventurine never bothered to learn how to make a proper nest - there were simply no materials in the cages he lived in before. And though his current penthouse has enough pillows and blankets to prepare a proper spot, all Aventurine managed to do is gather enough soft fabric around himself to sprawl weakly on the top. One of his hands slided to fumble against the floor and find the phone. Before all he becomes too overwhelmed with need, he needs to at least write a message - a cocky one, with tease but hint of serious urgency - to warn other Stonehearts about his absence from work.

Yet as his fingers hover over the screen, another contact comes to a blurry sigh - of course, you. An Alpha he meets during work and suddenly becomes too friendly with, despite his attempts to never let anyone come too close to his facade. You weren't practically lovers, Aventurine didn't even reveal his dynamic to you yet, but there was definitely something unspoken between you two that made his heart ache in hope during long lonely nights when he thought about all the attention and care you provide for him without expecting or even demanding anything back.

Though right now thoughts about you echoed as an ache somewhere lower than his heart was.

Fuck the IPC; He would ask you to write them something, as all the strength left on his body was aimed to send you a few short messages with begs to come. It felt so humiliating - to look at the screen with evidence of his vulnerability - but it felt so good when you finally arrived and cared for him.

Maybe the reveal of his true identity wasn't as smooth as he planned, but you're here, pulling him closer in this soft embrace and kissing him softly. Helping him build something more comfortable to lay in before even asking if he wants you to help with the heat itself too with that slight embarrassment that was more alluring for Aventurine than any claiming confidence could ever be. The worry in your care was sincere, even simple strokes of your hand in his blonde mane had more honesty than his whole treatment back to you all this time was - and once again he felt unworthy of having someone as you. At this point he can endure erection in his boxers for a bit more just to sink in the warmth your hugs provide.

So the answer to your question was a meek but positive one. Just don't take off too much clothes from him right now - give Aventurine more time to reveal the scars of his past when he would be more prepared.

He was indeed born blessed with luck if now he has a chance to lie down in the softest nest and learn from the start about how good it's supposed to feel under alpha. Would appreciate more hugs and kisses after you would help him with frustration, but there's no way Aventurine would let you walk away after one round. The need is still high, and now he's corkscrewed not only from heat itself but from the purest pleasure he never experienced with anyone but you.

[coolcoolcoolbutwtf]

Fentons family's guide Section on being an evil assistant to a supervillain

_________________________________________

Fentons family's guide to being an evil assistant to a supervillain

Guide by Jazmin Fenton in case of employment with a supervillain.

Being an evil assistant or henchmen is surprisingly a very stable source of an income stream all things considered.

You just need to find a boss. A as in singular it's very important, who is pathetic and or stupid enough to constantly have their large scale plan failing even without the hero's Involvement.

And while their large scale plan for taking over the world with a weapon of mass destruction could be feasible if only they didn't think to actually use it. Using it to threaten the world leaders for sway is the correct way. It is the most unused method the one being used most is the method of actually using the weapon of mass destruction for mass destruction.

You as the evil assistant then have the responsibility to make sure that the villain doesn't/ can't use said device to destroy the world. The heroes can help. Later then take the blame for the failure absolving you of involvement.

Being a good evil assistant is babysitting the evil boss.

_________________________________pg 9___

"Oh man never thought I'd actually need to use the 'Fenton guide' Jazz made me." Danny mumbled quietly and heaved a sigh of relief when he had found it among his hastily packed together bag.

Jazz had been the one making both of their emergency bags when she had told him about the guide. He hadn't appreciated it then now he truly did now with everything going on.

God he missed Jazz so much. He wanted to see her so badly he wanted to hold her hand like when they were kids. He really wanted her hand to squeeze his back in reassurance that everything was going to be fine.

Danny tried holding back his sobs at the thought. He couldn't stop the mist in his eyes or his hands shaking holding the little booklet.

But he wanted her safe and far away from everything even more. He wanted his friends to be safe with his sister. It didn't matter if he had to be far away working getting those crystals every way he could think of. His friends and sister needed money to keep them safe, hidden and taken care of. They needed that money and crystals and if Danny had to choose between his morals and fright he would always choose his true family. Morals be damned.

• • •

He hadn't expected the costume to be so good in quality. That had surprised him the most the second being how easy it would be getting a job with villains. Turns out working as an "meta" henchmen who knew everything from fighting to logistics and machinery was a rarity in this dimension. Who would have guessed it with all the metas and enhanced humans going about? And omg they even have aliens in this dimension!

Getting the money for the crystals had been going surprisingly smoothly. Everything had been going so smoothly that of course it had to be ruined! The villain Danny was working for had gotten noticed and promptly got beat. Which meant he didn't have an employer anymore at least until a breakout was orchestrated. So no more job until then.

And Danny had finally managed his way to the middle hierarchy in that organization! Now he would need to go looking for evil henchmen positions again! It wasn't even a good season to go looking for openings in other organizations.

Damn it that bat furry in Gotham and his flock of birds. Don't they get how hard it is for a henchmen to find descant work!?

Maybe he should go with the duo villain and assistant type next time.

Thank you so much for reading I hope it was enjoyed!

Danny in the lair after having saved his villain boss from Batman after said villain had their scheme blown up in their face. Danny knew the plan would fail miserably but at this point he didn't care. He stopped trying to help when it came to schemes ages ago.

+Some art

Idk if I've posted this idea before but I've had this thing bouncing around in my head for a while.

[elwenyere]

Something that's important to me about the relationship between Melshi and Kino is that they're both exercising the tiny amount of free will left to them to try to help others in a system that maximally constrains their ability to care for each other.

For the Melshi we first see in Narkina, a big part of staying free happens in the mind - in learning and communicating the truth, in refusing to take comfort in illusions and instead naming the dehumanizing operations of the system. By offering to Keef/Cassian the narrative of power he's developed ("never look at the numbers"), he's trying to give Cassian a way to hold onto the relative autonomy of clear, uncompromising thinking: they can keep us here as long as they want, but we don't have to believe their lies. By the time we meet him, Melshi already seems very familiar with Kino's reaction to his brand of shop talk (so familiar that I suspect Kino is not the first authority figure who's found Melshi profoundly irritating), and when Kino throws him against the wall, Melshi doesn't resist or fight back, but he does look Kino in the eye. He knows why Kino needs to do this, and as his little rueful shrug to Cassian suggests later, he's easier on Kino's need for self-delusion and displaced frustration than he is on the guards' willful misrepresentations and casual cruelty.

For Kino, moving people toward freedom is a question of organization, discipline, and management. He runs a tight ship because he's trying to get his guys the best deal he can, and he encourages them all to throw their weight into the work they're assigned because he thinks that's the best chance to get his floor through their sentences as efficiently as possible. That goal makes Melshi into a troublemaker (as his remarks threaten to undercut people's faith that good behavior matters), and Kino seems to be in the habit of throwing Melshi around to manage the expression of discontent and muttering on the floor. But of course the bigger threat Melshi poses is to Kino's faith in the system itself, and thus his belief that by maintaining order he's protecting his men - from more frying or from railing it in despair (thus his much more out-of-control response to Melshi's "they set them all free" after a whole floor's been killed for no discernible reason). Kino wants to get out himself, yes, but he also wants to get his guys out, and that's why it's Ulaf's death and the doctor's confession that provides the final push in his radicalization: he has to admit that he's been enforcing the rules of a bad-faith system, and the way he's been trying to get his men home was never going to work.

This is very compelling to me because the progression of the Narkina arc reveals that the structure of antagonism in which we first find Melshi and Kino (with Melshi needing to speak out to feel internally free and Kino needing to keep his men aligned around a shared purpose to feel that he's fulfilling his external responsibilities) is in crucial ways environmental: it's a manifestation of the forced competition and hierarchy imposed by the distribution of power in the prison. Once Kino accepts that he needs a new set of tactics to liberate the floor, and once Melshi steps up to fight for what he likely on some level still thinks is a dream, any lingering animus is quickly set aside for cooperation. Melshi is the one to throw Kino a wrench, and Kino is the one to hand Melshi a blaster. Their different methods and theories of power put them in conflict while they were still operating within a system that tried to foreclose any development of solidarity; but they share an impulse toward freedom and care for others, and Andor suggests that's finally stronger than their personal differences.

I do think if they'd met outside of Narkina, Kino would still find Melshi annoying though.

[lintwriting]

I was here when mouthwashing was just a demo. here are some things I noticed.

I caught on to the fact that Curly was likely innocent and that Jimmy was an unreliable narrator based on the "Take Responsibility" word scramble and Jimmy's asshole behavior. Because of this, I also did not think there would be supernatural horror, I thought it’d be man-made and psychological, which I was right about.

What I did not expect was the subtle depiction of how workplaces fail victims of rape and misogyny.

What I did not expect was how backgrounded the late stage capitalism critique ended up being.

late stage capitalism: a red herring

From the Demo, you focus a lot on the corporation as the main antagonist, probably because Wrong Organ devs were hiding the villain protagonists.

Ominous posters, a Polle monster chasing you, those ominous TV commercials glorifying working for a corporation, the fact that all this horror was over fucking tooth-rotting mouthwash. Really paints the picture of a corporate horror or conspiracy a la “Time to Orbit: Unknown,” where every chapter unveils a new corporate conspiracy for money and power.

but instead, in mouthwashing, the capitalist aspects are merely plot devices to explore the horror surrounding mismanagement and its consequences.

A power tripping coworker and an enabling manager who got him the job. An eager-to-please kid and an established supervisor willing to take advantage. Flaws in how the hierarchy is decided, leading to the one person who shouldn’t have had power getting the power. Lack of sensitivity training (or whatever that’s called) surrounding things like Title IX concerns, such as the uneven gender dynamics or what to do in the event of a crime or the fact that the person doing the psych evals isn’t getting any evals.

Notice that none of these things are unique to capitalism, they’re issues you’d have to plan for in any workplace/organization, whether that be socialist or capitalist or whatever. The capitalism exacerbates the issues or catalyzes the consequences of them like a plot device, but the issues don’t originate from there.

For example: the lack of any woman other than Anya.

Yes, this was most likely exacerbated by late stage capitalism understaffing to cut corners, leading to skeleton crews, but that the crew we DO have is mostly male is more related to misogyny or gender roles.

Perhaps women don't want to work on these freighters because of the danger of being trapped in a confined space with men. Maybe the jobs required for these freighters, like mechanic or pilot, are male-dominated. Or maybe the hiring manager had a bias where they viewed men as more competent, etc. The fact of the matter is that the cause is the same when you dig down deep into it: misogyny.

Or the layoff. The laying off of the crew is its own form of evil, but its consequences aren’t the ones being explored within this story. Most of the crew die of the horrors within the ship before they ever have to face it. In fact, the horrors within the ship don't really even have anything to do with the layoff at all. It’s a bit of a red herring.

Rather, the actual cause of this game’s horror is the mismanaged fallout of Jimmy’s assault. Most obviously in that scene where we see Curly for the first time, wherein Curly doesn’t take Anya’s safety concerns seriously, even when Jimmy is actively threatening to make everyone disappear so neither of them have to face the consequences of the assault.

I initially misread that scene as Curly evilly conspiring to let Jimmy crash the ship so neither of them would take the fall, hence us finally seeing Curly's “true face.” Because I read what Jimmy said as inherently threatening and serious, I thought Curly had agreed to that awful plan and only got cold feet at the last minute.

It’s only from reading other comments that I realized Curly had most likely assumed Jimmy was blowing hot air and needed to cool down in that scene. Or that he was making an inappropriate joke akin to his 'sexually attracted to cartoon horses' thing and wasn't being serious. Curly didn’t realize Jimmy was actually talking about a real plan until it was too late stop it (makes me wonder if Jimmy was actually attracted to the horse, too).

Thus, it goes from a story about corner-cutting late stage capitalist megacorps to a story about cartoonishly evil, power-tripping men to a story about how we enable these men with failures in our system.

Much like how the beginning of the game, when Jimmy crashes the ship, a failure in the safety systems is what allows the crash to happen (Seriously? One pilfered key is all you need to send your ship into a crash?), a series of social safety nets had to have failed to let him into the cockpit in the first place. The true face is not Curly conspiring to crash the ship out of cowardice and greed, but his inability to face what his friend has done.

[mmani-e]

This week's set of Danganronpa Demix designs :) we're only like 2 parts left from me really refining these bad boys and getting the full set out in hopefully no more than a month's time. These guys were complex, but quite fun to draw. Tsumugi's my favorite out of this set.

No Design documentation today, but my goal is to finish it by Wednesday this coming week. For now, have some few sentence blurbs for each of them.

Gonta - Raised by lions, the inherent wildness of being raised in the savannah was tempered by respect of a distinct hierarchy. Wants to become a butler, as his want to become a gentleman never disappeared, translating into more of a gentleman servant than a gentleman bug catcher.

Tsumugi - Obsessed with tennis anime as a kid and young teenager, managed to copy straight-up anime moves at some point. Anime moves that caused injuries and at one point... well, she was in the clink for a reason... a couple of reasons actually.

Rantaro - Flashy illusionist and escape artist whose costumes are designed by committee: a committee of the man's sisters! Sisters who want to see their dear brother pick up a girlfriend already. So they gave him a 2000s-era criss angel-type getup.

Tenko - Totally grim and capital E-vil leader of her master's old dojo, an organization led by herself, and helmed by the lost and abandoned of society. Hurt souls she has trained to become a personal army, and weird women's support and self-defense dojo that's pretty effective, if you can look past Tenko's insanity and schemes.

Ryoma - Little freaky, funny guy, once a legend in the cosplay scene, and now out of retirement. Ryoma has an unmatched skill for portraying funny little creatures, but when push comes to shove, he has a pair of stilts he uses to cosplay as the bigger folk. Not that it's any trouble for him.

Kirumi - Goth lady with a pronounced love of spiders. While working as a maid part-time, Kirumi was tasked with cleaning out a particularly horrifying shed for a rich client that had become a spider's den. With her usual brand of selfless devotion, she steeled herself before facing the horrors of - what ended up becoming - a multi-day arachnid affair. By the end of it, she came out of the experience knowing a lot more of spiders than maybe any human being on the planet and a new, peculiar, special interest.

[stickthisbig]

"But Sabine," I have been asked, and I genuinely have been asked this, this isn't just a rhetorical device, "you've studied so much about cults, you'd never join a cult, right?"

You are correct that I know an unreasonable amount about cults and cult psychology. That's why I need you to know this:

You are not immune to a cult.

First off, "cult" is a post hoc description, not a productive category. You don't register as a cult somewhere. Some people do start off to start a cult, I'm not gonna lie and say that's never happened, but if it says Join Our Cult on the flyer, it's probably an improv show or a LARP. You think you know what a cult looks like, but all the things you'd name would be negatives that you associate with things you don't like. There are loads of very devout Christian churches who believe things that you hate, and they're not cults. Other people disagree with me about this, but not all MLMs are cults; a pyramid scheme and a cult aren't the same thing (until they are). You find these people distasteful and you think they're harmful, so you associate malfeasance with them. If they're tacky and gross, must be a cult.

It also means that some of y'all literally wouldn't recognize a cult if you walked into one. When people are talking about getting great results through group living and you like what you see, they're just an organization with good ideas. Did you know I was taking a government management training in the year of our Dark Lord 2025 and it held up a Synanon youth center as one of its examples??? I felt like I was going fucking crazy, and the instructor clearly just didn't know he had anything to worry about.

A cult is never just some people you don't agree with. A cult is always about coercion and control, and it is insidious by its very nature. What's gonna happen when it's that cool barista who wants you to come to this meeting? What's gonna happen when it's just some nice ladies from your mom's church who want you to come and have tea? What's gonna happen when it's just a rabbit hole you fall down on the internet, but man, it sure makes a lot of sense, doesn't it?

Don't fucking convince yourself knowing what happened at Waco is gonna save your life. Learn some actual signs, which you should just be following so you're not a fucking chump in general:

Does everyone you meet understand you? It's fine to think you can see yourself among a group of people, but do they think the same thing immediately?

Do they want to introduce you to their leadership right now?

Do they want you to commit to a lot really quickly? Does it seem like they don't want you to leave the premises?

Do they have secrets about the world that you only really glimpse? Do they answer your questions about their faith/exciting business opportunity/social club in generalities when you're asking for specifics?

Are they asking for money? Are they giving you a lot of free materials? Does it seem like the materials aren't really free, but a ploy to ask for money?

Are these all the same steps not to get screwed at a car dealership? (Yes)

Are they offering psychiatric or addiction services but it sure doesn't seem like there's a doctor around here anywhere? Do they say they have a natural cure? (Still very bad at a car dealership)

In a real social organization that's just folks having a good time, at least one person isn't gonna like you, or they're gonna be cold, or they're gonna acknowledge you and move on. The vast majority of legit religions will just give you the tenets of their faith flat out and/or explain their worldview to you, and if they have hierarchies or advanced mysteries, most people who follow that religion can at least say something like "yeah idk you have to go to classes for that I think, those guys are a little weird but good for them".

Stop thinking that book learning and judgmental looks will save you when the question requires street smarts. You are not immune to cults for the exact same reason that you are not immune to propaganda. Your sense of security in your moral superiority is like delicious catnip to manipulative people in general and to cults in specific. You don't want to join a cult? You're better off just learning to doubt people's motives than reading yet another book about fucking Scientology. You already know what Scientology does. You probably won't have a huge problem avoiding that one.

Shit, if I avoid a cult, it'll almost certainly because I was so damn deep into the Southern Baptist church that it ruined my ability to experience faith in any meaningful way, not because I watch a lot of documentaries.

And we're not even gonna discuss the time I was forced to go to AA

(My favorite book about this is the graphic novel anthology American Cult, it will change your mind about everything you thought you knew about cults and their victims)

[sarabethsilver]

Am I the only one who thinks Jess and Lorelai are nothing alike?

Aside from what I'd consider surface-level similarities, like a propensity for sarcasm or many opinions on music, these two have nothing in common. Yes, they both had bad childhoods... but they were bad in opposite ways, and these two emerged with diametrically opposed worldviews.

Let's consider the Big Five personality traits, just to give us a framework. At a basic level, are their personalities compatible?

Extraversion. Well, that's an easy one. Lorelai is the quintessential extrovert. She thrives on social interactions, she tries to befriend everyone she meets, and she adores chit-chat. Jess, on the other hand, could not be more of an introvert if he tried.

Agreeableness. This includes one's ability to cooperate and trust others. Lorelai believes in the goodness of others. She trusts her friends, her coworkers, and her entire town. She places a high value on community, and she gets along with pretty much everyone. Jess has no such trust in others, and he's famous for NOT getting along with people. I don't see him placing much value on community. I think that's why he ends up working at a job with exactly four other people, because that's probably his max capacity for trusting others.

Neuroticism. One's tendency to experience negative emotions. Lorelai is, at baseline, a happy person. She finds great joy in small things. She wakes up in a good mood most days. Jess, for the majority of the time we know him, does not. I would describe him as irritable, withdrawn, and/or anxious most of the time. Even when good things happen to him, he doesn't trust it. He anticipates being disappointed, and when that happens (Jimmy re-abandoning him, Luke kicking him out, Luke guilting him into Liz's wedding, Rory using him in a revenge scheme)... Jess is sad but unsurprised. These events fit with his worldview, and with his general mood state. Lorelai, on the other hand, gets her heart shattered by her parents each and every time; she always tries to trust them, and then she's hurt all over again when she can't.

Conscientiousness. Jess and Lorelai are both incredibly smart and hard-working, and they both end up thriving in careers they're passionate about. But conscientiousness also includes organization and adherence to social norms. Lorelai believes in systems. She works at the same place for nearly two decades, progressively moving up the hierarchy. She diligently works at her education over many years. In short: Lorelai trusts that taking the 'right steps' in an organized manner will yield results. Jess has no such faith in systems. He obviously doesn't trust formal education. Jess is hard-working, but he's far more spontaneous when it comes to his career; he bounces from one job to the next. His success comes by his own hand: a short novel he wrote alone.

Openness to experience. They're probably more alike on this trait. Lorelai and Jess are both intellectually curious, they both have passionate interests, and they're both great at problem-solving. But there are important differences, too. Lorelai strongly prefers her familiar routine. She is highly intolerant of change, even on a small scale. Jess has never had a routine. He's pretty damn tolerant when his life is repeatedly turned upside down, and seemingly goes wherever the tide takes him. He manages to find something he enjoys and/or feels productive in, no matter where he is.

I think their personalities are very different, and then I think those opposite childhoods shaped them further.

Lorelai's childhood was characterized by hyper-judgmental parents trying to micromanage every facet of her existence. When Lorelai CHOSE to leave, it was a specific rejection of her parents trying to force her into a specific lifestyle. Outside of rejecting that, Lorelai broadly trusts the world at large. Her late adolescence was defined by a world that 'caught' her; Lorelai is surrounded by love, acceptance, and support as she pursues her dreams. The entire town envelops her in this protective bubble. Hence: her belief that the world is good and people are trustworthy.

Jess' childhood was characterized by parents who could not care less about anything he does. When Jess was FORCED to leave, it was another data point to prove that people cannot be trusted. His late adolescence was defined by a world that rejected him. Jess is surrounded by people who are disinterested at best, angrily rejecting at worst. And when he's at his most vulnerable, he is ejected from his last remaining safety net. Hence: his belief that people and systems at large cannot be trusted. You can only rely on yourself. I'd argue that even Adult Jess has boundaries about a mile high.

So no, I don't think Lorelai rejected Jess because she was reminded of herself. I think she fundamentally struggled to understand any part of his worldview. And it was all made perfectly clear that first night: Lorelai, with her abundance of trust in the good will of others, simply wanted Jess to understand how lucky he was to have Luke. And Jess, who had long since learned that nobody can be trusted, looked at her like she was speaking another language. It wasn't their similarities that drove them apart; it was their differences.

[cassatine]

my conclave review i guess! i was going to gush in chat but then. too many words.

so literally all i knew about it going in was (1) a cardinal vapes in it (2) probably it's about a conclave?? (3) good vibes according to dashboard osmosis. the cinematography was a+, which i always appreciate. i liked that on one level it's a perfect comedy, really fucking funny in a sort of understated way. the beginning kinda reminded me of the death of stalin, what with the inciting event being the guy at the top of the hierarchy dying… somehow excellent comedy setup. at the very beginning, when lawrence & co struggle a bit to take the ring off the pope's corpse and it's all so ritualized, that's when i knew it was going to be Funny.

but beyond the fact that it was funnier than i expected... i liked the layers. most of all i think i liked the earnestness. ralph fiennes mid-crisis of faith, hating his job, trying to be a moral man in a system that is broken?? chef's kiss. the other cardinals of note were also nicely layered, like adeyemi? it would have been so easy to just stop at his being homophobic and treat his having had a kid being revealed as comeuppance but the way he cries and asks lawrence to pray with him… he sucks and it's a good thing he's taken off the race but it also happens for the wrong reason. bellini who's lying to himself and everyone else over not wanting to be the pope when he so clearly does and still letting himself be bought by the promise of a nice post… and yet he is not just an hypocrite. he sees he failed. he apologizes. he is only human. tedesco could have been a one note villain but he's the coolest dude around, and on a fundamental level that's part of what makes him dangerous: he's a reactionary and a bigot but he makes it kinda sexy. you want to like him; he's fun to watch and he has style, something the other cardinals probably wouldn't recognize if it hit them in the face. benitez. well. benitez is jesus. sister agnes was neat, it's a bit sad we don't really get to know her but she's indispensable and i love that for her. like. here's a bunch of dudes with all the decisional power who expect her to just exist in the background doing the menial work and then her printer expertise ends up being vital, and in general lawrence wouldn't have managed as well without her support… noice.

the end feels a bit easy, like lbr benitez being elected pope because he made a nice speech is ludicrous, but also… it works for me?

(1) on some level the film is about the difficulties of trying to be a moral person in a system that does not reward being moral. sure it's about faith and doubt and the limitations of organized religion. it's about catty bitches vying for power in a ritualized way that, on some level, speaks of an institution that ossified, that resists change (and on that note: benitez, obviously-the-best candidate only gets elected because people skirt the isolation rules, because the outside world intrudes. also because he is jesus.) it's stated near the beginning that the pope hadn't lost faith in god but in the church, and through the movie we can see why, all the machinations and the thirst for power and the fallibility of the men within the institution. through lawrence we see how much easier it would be to just… stop trying, to do the convenient thing, the easy thing, rather than the right thing, and to find justifications for that: better not make waves and better not make a scandal, for the sake of electing a blandly liberal pope rather than tedesco. and who would disagree? sure, better a bland liberal than reactionary tedesco. but then comes the ethical quandary: should the goal of avoiding one evil mean closing your eyes to another? should you forsake your sense of right and wrong for the greater good? too often i think we are told to prioritize the greater good, and maybe sometimes we should. but maybe sometimes we shouldn't. maybe sometimes we should hold to our principles. in the end, benitez being elected pope isn't going to miraculously make the catholic church and its agents unproblematic. but it is a win, and it happens because lawrence kept choosing to do (what he believes is) the right thing, the moral thing, even when it's not easy, even when it's inconvenient, even when he's told he's being naive and hurting the greater cause. and i appreciate that message.

(2) as i said: benitez is jesus. the film is a parable… it's a story about how jesus showed up, completedly unexpected, in the middle of the church his disciples built, and because the church is made up of people and people are flawed and faillible and too busy with things like power, they did not notice jesus walking among them. at least not until god (metaphorically) shone a light on him. like yes sure the way benitez ends up the one elected is ludicrous but!! it took an act of god. not the bombs per se. but the tragedy of it intruding into the isolated conclave? the windows exploding, the light coming in, this is what allows the true stakes to become clear again, and for benitez's love thy neighbour speech to take place at all - a speech contrasted with tedesco's own, all the style stripped from him, making it clear he is a man who reaches for hate and not compassion. it's a parable!! it takes a tragedy. it takes an act of god.