#and with no instruction in English whatsoever

[necromancy-savant]

Who remembers the time in my first year back at college at a new school when, in my first ever Linguistics class, my professor asked me to research alternative terms for "penis" on Urban Dictionary?

@memey-dreams

[sunsetcupid]

SALT AIR.

synopsis: The one where Y/N L/N makes the most of her situation, exploring her summertime hideaway. Her tour guide? None other than Isack Hadjar.

trigger warnings: Use of Y/N; Use of feminine pronouns from the reader’s perspective; Use of swear words in English; Descriptions of romantic acts and behaviors; Suggestive remarks

a message from the author: The second installment of my Sunkissed series is now out! I added a lot of cameos, so keep an eye out.

Out of all the ideas you had formulated in the span of your twenty-one years of living, perhaps running off to a beach town in France wasn’t the smartest. You did it spontaneously, after seeing your boyfriend be unfaithful to you at your own birthday celebration. You had foolishly believed it would fix everything, that a few weeks in the summer air would repair your broken heart.

But the promise of healing had clouded your logic. You didn’t know a single word of French, and because you were traveling solo, you had no help whatsoever. You sighed, bemoaning your fate as you window-watched a family purchase surfboards from a tanned, muscular man.

It had been almost two days since you had arrived in Bénodet, and you had barely ventured out of your bedchambers. You were worried that someone was going to spot you and realize who you were: a tourist who was completely out of her depth. It was absolutely embarrassing.

With a beleaguered groan, you flopped down on the bed, screaming into your pillow. Why had you decided to do this?

And then – You straightened up, an epiphany sparking in your mind, a smile curving over your lips as you looked out the window again.

You were going surfing.

You tightened the straps of your favorite daisy-patterned bikini, smothering sunscreen over your skin liberally. The last thing you needed was a sunburn. You grabbed your glasses off the bedside table and traipsed downstairs, money wadded in your hand.

The man was still there, standing beside the surfboards like he was a professional bodyguard. When he saw you, he asked, “Avez-vous besoin d’aide?”

You grimaced. “I don’t, um…I don’t speak French.”

“Ah, OK. No problem.” The man smiled warmly. “Do you need anything?”

“Uh…Can I get a surfboard, please?” 

“Sure. Ten euros.” You handed him the money, and he stepped back to let you choose which board you wanted. After inspecting them, you selected a bright teal blue one. “My favorite,” the man said, grinning. He outstretched his hand for you to shake it. “I’m Isack.”

“Y/N,” you responded. “Nice to meet you.”

An hour later, and you were soaked to the bone, your hair stuck to your skin as another wave nearly toppled you off of your board. Behind you, you could hear Isack whooping as he surfed, effortlessly scaling another crest. You gritted your teeth, repositioning yourself. 

“Everything OK, Y/N?” Isack asked, maneuvering his board closer to you. 

You gave him a sour look. “Yep. Just peachy.”

“You cannot stay still. Do not lock your body,” he advised you. “Move with the waves. You will keep falling if you do not.”

Great advice, you thought snarkily, but kept the comment locked inside. You knew Isack was trying his hardest to help you. “How do I do that?” you inquired instead.

“Small movements.” Isack carefully lowered himself, dropping down beside you. “Do not wobble. Just move with the waves.” You swallowed, trying to do as he instructed. “No, no. Not like that. Here, let me help.”

He touched your calf gently, tapping it with one finger. “Too stiff. You must loosen up. Bend your knees.” You followed each piece of advice, slowly understanding how to surf, letting the waves guide you. “Drop your arms. Let them be free. Bien, tu vois maintenant?”

You chuckled, warmth spreading through you. “That’s incredible.”

“I know.”

When you had shuffled out of the sea, you had nearly fallen flat on your face. Despite the fact that he had tried his best not to, Isack had doubled over in laughter, sending a flock of birds flying in the air. To express how sorry he was for teasing you, though, Isack had helped you to your hotel, helping you walk up the stairs. “You’ll get used to it in time,” he promised. “You just have to keep surfing.”

“I don’t think I’m ever doing that again,” you said breathlessly. 

Isack let out a low noise of discontent. “Why not? You were good.”

“I kept falling.” You pointed out the obvious. 

“Not when I helped you.” Isack twisted his lips into a pout. “Come on. Don’t you want to be as good as me?” 

You shrugged one shoulder, heading into your bathroom to grab a towel and dry your hair off. “Maybe.”

“Try one more time. If you don’t like it, then you can stop.” Isack begged, small pricks of desperation hinting at his words.

You turned around to him. “Why do you want me to continue so much?” 

Isack raised an eyebrow, confused. “Because…you’re good?”

You hummed under your breath, dropping the towel on your desk. “Fine. Deal.”

Isack’s face split into a grin. “Great. We’ll start again tomorrow.”

“Oh,” you hesitated. “Um. I was planning on exploring Bénodet…So I don’t know if I can…”

“I can help! I’ve lived here all my life,” answered Isack eagerly. “Please?”

You caved immediately. Why not? “Sure.”

Isack knocked on your door bright and early the next morning, dressed in a light flannel shirt and khaki shorts. You were clothed already – thank God – and ready to leave. “Where to first?” he asked.

“I thought you’d know.”

Isack considered this for a moment. “True. We’ll go to Musée du Bord de la Mer, and then we can get ice cream. I know the best spot.”

“Yeah? That sounds great.”

You couldn’t believe it, but Isack hadn’t lied. The parlor he had brought you to had the most delicious pistachio ice cream you’d ever eaten in your life. You could barely contain a low growl in your stomach as it melted on your tongue. The Italians had competition.

“So? What do you think?” Isack implored.

You feigned nonchalance, dropping your spoon into the empty plastic cup. “It’s good.”

He raised an eyebrow, but didn’t push it. A moment later, he stood up, dusting his hands off with a napkin and throwing away the spare trash littering the table. “Ready for more?”

“Of course.” You smiled at him, and were surprised that it was genuine. 

Though the bar was packed with people, it was surprisingly quiet. There wasn’t any music playing, just the low thrum of voices and sounds of cups clinking together. Isack tugged your arm, pulling you over to the bar counter, where two men were busy preparing drinks.

“Hey, Paul,” Isack said, leaning over the table. “Can I get a Shirley Temple?”

A blond with bright blue eyes winked at you. “For the girl?” he teased. “Never seen her before. Where’d you find her?”

Isack rolled his eyes and silenced a huff. “None of your business.”

“So ill-tempered,” Paul clucked, but he handed Isack the drink anyway once he had made it. Isack touched the small of your back, trying to steer you away before Paul could pry any further, but you dug your heels into the floor.

Paul was sweet…and not to mention good-looking.

“I’m Y/N,” you introduced yourself. 

You could feel Isack’s vexation thrum through you like a second heartbeat. He wanted to keep a monopoly over you, but you didn’t owe him anything. In fact, you had barely known him for forty-eight hours, and even though he was the first person to show you kindness in Bénodet, it didn’t mean you’d ignore everyone else.

“Nice to meet you.” Paul shook your hand. 

You hazarded a glance over your shoulder at Isack, who was impatiently tapping one foot on the floor. “How do you know Isack?”

“Oh, we’ve been friends for a bit.”

You could hear Isack mutter something under his breath that sounded an awfully lot like, Yeah, sure. “How long?”

“Since primary school.” Paul flashed a smile at Isack, who didn’t return it. “I’ll leave you be. He looks like he’s about to chew my face off.”

You laughed. “I doubt he would.”

Isack yanked on my arm, this time hard enough to send you involuntarily moving backwards. “Let’s go.”

Once you were out of earshot, you snarled, “What in the name of all that is holy was that?”

“I don’t like Paul,” Isack said simply. “Not right now, at least.”

“Could you please act civil? I’ve been in Bénodet for less than two days, and I’m staying for a few months. It’ll be good for me to make friends. You can’t just take that away from me.” You argued. “I understand your intentions, but…” 

Isack stuttered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize.”

“It’s fine,” you softened. “Want to go to the beach again? We can practice surfing?”

Isack’s face lit up. “I’d love that.”

Once you had made it to the beach – after taking several detours because Isack wanted to show you small things he liked about Bénodet �� it was already dark. The moon was full, casting a silvery glow on the glistening water.

“I’m not sure if it’s safe to surf anymore,” you said to Isack. You could barely make out his form; he was just an inky silhouette. 

He exhaled. “You’re right.”

“I’m sorry.”

Isack met your eyes. “Don’t be.”

“Hey!” A loud voice called from somewhere in the back of you. Isack whirled around, and fear clenched you in a vise for a single, terrifying moment. “Is that you, Isack?”

A loud laugh erupted from Isack. “Gabi?” he said incredulously.

“What are you doing at the beach so late? Don’t tell me you’re fucking surfing again.” Gabi skidded down the sand to where the two of you stood, regaining his footing after nearly toppling over. Suddenly noticing your presence, he did a double take. “And who is this?”

Isack’s face sobered. “This is Y/N. She’s visiting for the summer.”

Gabi grinned. “Someone new, hm?”

“Yeah,” you said, blushing.

“Were you at the beach earlier?” Gabi asked.

You avoided looking at Isack; you could feel the heat of his gaze boring into you. For some reason, his hackles kept rising every time there was another man in your presence. It was annoying – and not to mention frustrating. You preferred it when he was less protective, but you couldn’t deny it was chivalrous. You nodded, forgetting he couldn’t recognize the gesture in the dim lighting. “Uh, yes, I was. I was surfing.”

“Oh? Was Isack teaching you? I’m surprised I didn’t see you earlier.” Gabi bantered easily, cocking his head to one side.

Your cheeks blazed even redder, and you were grateful that it was nighttime. “He was helping me.”

“I’m a lifeguard,” Gabi explained. “Had to save Isack’s ass so many times.”

You blinked. “Is that so?”

“Don’t lie,” Isack grumbled.

“What’s going on?” Another, unfamiliar voice was added into the conversation. “Hi, Isack.”

“Franco,” Isack answered. “What the fuck are all of you doing here?”

“Did you want some peace and quiet with this beautiful young woman you have here?” Franco quipped. Isack narrowed his eyes. “I’m sorry! It’s the truth!”

Gabi swatted at Franco. “Shut up, you idiot. You’re scaring her.”

“I’m not scared,” you defended yourself.

Isack threw his hands up in the air. “I’m leaving.”

“Don’t,” all three of you chorused in unison, then broke out laughing.

“Oh God, you’re turning into them,” Isack said to you in horror. “I’ve got to take you away from them before you start making lewd jokes in front of my parents.”

You stifled a giggle. “Do you still live with your parents?”

Isack uttered a curse. “Good grief. I can’t catch a fucking break, can I?”

“OK, but if we’re being serious, it is late,” you said. “Maybe we should all go home, wherever it may be?”

Franco huffed. “I just got here.”

“Loser,” Gabi retorted, and Franco flipped him off. 

When Isack dropped you off at your hotel door, he could barely make eye contact with you. “I’m sorry about them,” he kept apologizing profusely. “They’re idiots.”

“That’s OK,” you told him, for what felt like the thousandth time.

He shook his head. “At least you got to see Bénodet. Isn’t it beautiful?”

“It is,” you agreed. “Thank you for the tour. You’re an amazing guide.”

Isack smiled. “What about tomorrow? We can make up for the surfing lesson we could not do.”

“That sounds great,” you said without a hint of the sarcasm you would have possessed before. Isack was sweet and real, nothing like James. In fact, you hadn’t thought of James the whole day. You felt a surge of happiness and gratitude for the man standing in front of you.“I’ll see you in the morning.”

“À bientôt.”

Credits: Dividers — @bernardsbendystraws

Taglist (comment if you want to be added): @linnygirl09 @destinyg237 @cars-and-frogs @freyathehuntress @imdyinghelpplease

[reality-detective]

Patriots in the Netherlands are walking the streets dropping flyers at the homes of citizens in hopes of awakening the people. According to Rem64 it is having great success. He sent me the flyer and I translated it to English so everyone can read it. 👇

Message to the population The information below is distributed worldwide by hundreds of scientific, legal and political organizations to inform humanity. Evidence for the stated facts can be found in the detailed evidence reports on StopWorldControl.com

The World Economic Forum wants to shape your life The world's richest come together at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The founder of the WEF, Klaus Schwab, is known for statements such as: We determine the future and We infiltrate governments. The WEF trains Young Global Leaders who are positioned in governments around the world. French President Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and German Chancellor Merkel are Young Global Leaders of the WEF. The Netherlands and Belgium also work closely with the WEF and serve their agenda. Part of this agenda is to replace privacy with transparency. They want every detail of your life to be known soon: what you do, who you meet with, what you eat, what you buy... The WEF announces that new technologies will record everyone's thoughts, feelings and dreams in the cloud , where governments have access to this intimate data. To combat climate change, the WEF wants to abolish all private property. You will have to rent everything: houses, cars, work tools, etc. The WEF calls for blocking sunlight by massively releasing chemicals into the air. The WEF encourages the normalization of pedophilia, while the UN and WHO instruct all schools to teach sexual techniques to small children in kindergarten, so that they start having sex as young as possible, with people of any age or gender. As absurd as these plans sound, they are promoted by the WEF, the UN, the EU, the WHO and companies such as. Google and Facebook. They are part of the sustainability goals of Agenda 2030, which are supported by governments worldwide. All evidence of this can be found on StopWorldControl.com

The World Health Organization wants to rule the world The World Health Organization is being legally restructured as an effective global dictatorship, able to impose binding mandates on all countries whenever they declare a pandemic. However, the WHO is a private organization that operates outside any democratic process. One of the WHO's main backers is Bill Gates, who has no medical training whatsoever, yet is promoted as the medical authority around the world. As the world's largest vaccine dealer, his health advice is to inject everyone all the time, making him billions of dollars. WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus also has no medical training. Yet Gates and Tedros dictate to all the millions of medical experts worldwide what they can and cannot do. Article 18 of the proposed Pandemic Treaty allows the WHO to shut down any source of information that does not align with what they want all of humanity to believe. This means censoring millions of experts in every field. Only what the WHO and Bill Gates say should be heard. Do you want undemocratic organizations to become dictators over your life and over all humanity? Do you want all objective scientific and medical information to be hidden so that you only hear what a single private institution wants you to believe? Do you want to be forced to receive dangerous injections for the rest of your life, without being informed about the risks? If you do not agree with this course of action, we invite you to inform yourself carefully at StopWorldControl.com

The news is determined by investors Many people do not know that all major news agencies are owned by a small group of investors, who determine what can be said in the news. In addition, billionaires such as Bill Gates and George Soros donate hundreds of millions of euros to news organizations around the world, to determine what they broadcast Udo Ulfkotte, an editor at one of the largest newspapers in the world, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung which is published in 148 countries well-known I have been a journalist for 25 years and I have been trained to lie, betray and never tell the public the truth, journalists) are being bribed worldwide by the CIA, billionaires and governments to manipulate the public The world's best-known political commentator, Tucker Carlson, she The news you consume is a lie of the most insidious kind CNN technical director Charlie Chester said: There is no such thing as objective news. All newsreaders are told what to say. He admitted that CNN deliberately creates fear to manipulate their viewers, whether it is about a pandemic or climate change. Texts from Matt Hancock, British Health Secretary, read: We are making everyone scared? The World Economic Forum, the World Health Organization, the United Nations and the European Union, which are owned by the same financial entities that control the news, are calling on governments worldwide to censor any information that does not follow their narrative. Any investigation that exposes their criminal operations should be labeled conspiracy theory or disinformation.

Vital information is hidden Thousands of scientists, doctors and medical organizations are sounding the alarm as millions of people have died and hundreds of millions of people have been disabled after being injected with the experimental vaccines for COVID-19. Data from the US CDC shows that in the US alone, one and a half million people suffered from side effects including death, stroke, heart failure, brain disorders, convulsions, life-threatening allergic reactions, autoimmune diseases, arthritis, miscarriage, infertility, rapid onset muscle weakness, deafness, blindness, etc. Worldwide there is an explosion of turbo cancer and sudden death. Harvard Pilgrim Health Care's famous Lazarus report revealed that overall, only 19% of vaccine side effects are reported. According to this study, the number of adverse events and deaths must be multiplied by a factor of 100 to understand the true prevalence of serious vaccine injuries. COVID-19 has a 99.7% survival rate, comparable to the seasonal flu, and there are many effective medications, such as hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, budesonide, chlorine dioxide and many more. These have hardly any side effects, are completely safe and available everywhere in the world. This means that no vaccine is needed. However, the WHO instructed governments worldwide to ban these drugs for the treatment of corona and to censor any doctor who spoke about it, that vaccines are the only answer.

What's going on in the world? Why are governments controlled by private institutions like the WEF and WHO? Why is vital information hidden? These are not conspiracy theories as claimed, but facts that can be verified on the international website StopWorldControl.com. We work with world leaders in the fields of law, science, medical care, journalism and politics. Our network consists of more than 100 organizations that jointly inform humanity. They include Nobel laureates, presidents and presidential candidates, former generals of the US army, organizations of police officers and investigators, as well as top officials of the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the European Union. We encourage every right-thinking person to inform themselves carefully Visit the website StopWorldControl.com Pass this flyer on to others.

Stand Strong! Stand United! Be Prepared!

✨ 🛡️ 🇳🇱 WWG1WGA 🇺🇸 ⚔️ ✨

[shabbytigers]

i have a functioning german business bank account that is permitted to receive payments on invoices

the degree to which this has been an opaque, anxiogenic, and verging on hostile process that ass-raped precisely the most questionable bits of my executive function really cannot be overemphasized. but here we are, and now i can get fucking paid without risking excommunication by my personal bank, which sucks and needs to be abandoned with prejudice if and when i pull together what it takes to tackle opening yet another new account.

(more specs for those with pathological interest levels)

ing direct, the Legitimate Global Bank, Right?, is bad actually (extremely monolingual and impenetrable, sent me death threats for getting paid, did not suggest that i open a business account or offer help of any kind)

revolut, the Online-Only Eastern Bloc Outfit Targeting Expats Hmmm, is good actually (has honest to god english language versions of everything. i still had to figure out what the fuck jesse was talking about a couple of times by googling things but mostly wrt types of documentation, which is sort of fair bc those are not, fundamentally, things that have translations. in any case it was helpful enough at pointing to gaps that i did eventually manage to connect the dots and take steps to fill them. it also was very nice and accepted the piece of paper that says i’ve applied in lieu of the actual new Gewerbeanmeldung. just, like, has Any customer service orientation or sympathy whatsoever)

the piece of the berlin government where you re-register your business: not too bad actually. they try to offer english (!). admittedly it doesn’t work — weird alt-text pop-up methodology that failed by screen three of a many-screens online form — but i appreciated the gesture. anyway the instructions are simple enough to manage with a sufficiently robust army of spite, stubbornness, terror, and machine translators. ux was hinky but ultimately functional

most of this nonsense is kind of on me for not figuring out how a whole bunch of shit works in a timely manner, but in my defense, it is not in any way intuitive, and guidance is hella scarce. allaboutberlin and portal are good resources that i used to open the business in the first place but, like, i didn’t have accounts with them, there wasn’t any “the noob is moving, better alert them that they have to do x, y, and z about it, even though they literally just got the new business in order and are still feeling triumphant doneness!” flag in their systems, and nothing on my end clued me in that i wasn’t dotting all the is and crossing all the ts, so why exactly tf would i have gone back to those sites looking up shit i didn’t know i didn’t know? to be clear, i was not just drifting along in lala land, i was in fact very busy being brave and proactive on other bureaucratic fronts like “how to invoice a client. no, but correctly” and “what do i have to do about vat despite having figured out that all of this is vat-exempt” and so on. anyway it was a nice classic fucking several stages of difficult unraveling with each stage gating the next stage immigrant’s puzzle

[xclowniex]

i’m american and our country doesn’t have a good track record when it comes to indigenous rights, but i’m very curious as to how new zealand approaches indigenous rights differently. one of my friends grew up in new zealand but she has american parents and moved back here for college, and she performed the haka for me one time because i was curious about it. in the states, this would be considered cultural appropriation (and rightfully so), but is it alright to do in new zealand? she told me that haka is taught in new zealand preschools to both maori and non-maori, and this is very interesting that new zealand does this because in america there’s barely any recognition of indigenous people. is maori culture more prevalent in mainstream (white? mainstream may be the wrong word to use here) culture?

In terms of a non Māori person doing the haka being cultural appropriation or not, it really depends on the situation.

If the person is doing it to make fun of it, then it is bad and disrespectful.

If a person is part of a haka group or representing the country then it's not cultural appropriation whatsoever. The all blacks do a haka before every match and not all of the players are Māori and there are pakeha (white people) who are part of top haka groups who perform it.

We do learn it in most schools. I learnt it as a kid. The reason for it is because it's one of the easiest things to do to introduce children to Māori culture. You also learn and use some te reo Māori in school too. Most basic instructions like listen, stand up, sit down, etc and greetings like good morning, hello, etc were said in te reo Māori more than English where I went to primary school.

I would say no, that it wasn't cultural appropriation for her to do it to show you. If she acted like an expert on Haka or Māori culture, then yes. But if she simply did it to show you it, then no as long as it wasn't one which is reserved only for those of a specific iwi (tribe) to do.

Excusing the Act Party cause of their current BS, the general attitude in New Zealand surrounding Māori culture is that we try to integrate it into our life and county's culture whilst still reserving certain cultural things for only Māori to do.

For example, Māori funeral rites should only be lead by Māori. But everyone is encouraged to learn some of the language and culture.

My favorite thing from Māori culture that I find really useful is Te whare tapa whā wellbeing model

Essentially if one of the walls of your house isn't sturdy, the whole house isn't sturdy, and you should strengthen the wall.

It's been really helpful for me in managing my mental health without medication as the various meds I've been prescribed in the past have too many negative side effects.

I wouldn't say that Māori culture is equal in the mainstream to the same level that pakeha culture is, but it is definitely more mainstream than native amercian culture is in the states and Canada.

There is a government funded Māori channel, Māori are included in most NZ shows.

There is still a long way to go in terms of Māori culture being the norm as well as representation, but it is better that the states.

I guess the only way for you to get an accurate idea is to watch some NZ shows.

I reccomend wellington paranormal as it is super funny. There is also Shortland street if you want to watch a mind numbing, should have ended a decade ago, hospital drama.

[polyhexian]

I'm rewatching Firefly because I haven't seen it in probably ten, fifteen years now... And it's a show I've been worried may not hold up as much as I want it to....

First thing, the opening scene really is still incredible. Even if the CGI in this scene in particular is really rough- odd honestly because it looks just fine in the next scene- but it doesn't need to be. The scene is still raw and the acting is strong. Our young heroes in a defensive war against a much stronger enemy still believing they're going to win when their leaders abandon them. Nathan fillion does such a good job, especially when he stands up above the cover and just stares with these wide eyes that let you see his innocence and hope break into pieces, and the slow mo and fiddle playing as the other soldier beside him takes bullets and falls even after they've been instructed to surrender.... What a good scene

The followup with them robbing the ship is good too. Really tells you everything you need to know about everyone so efficiently.

One of the bigger issues with firefly and its world building is that in this future China and America were reigning powers and today the two primary languages spoken are English and mandarin. It's noteworthy there are no Asian characters in the main cast and very few with speaking roles whatsoever if I recall. There's also the fact that Zoe is a Strong Emotionless Black Woman who also calls Mal sir exclusively. I think this is and has always been a problem, but a lot of this has roots in her character also that makes it unremovable. Mal and Zoe served together in that war they lost, and even THOUGH it's been many years since then, they still behave like soldiers, with their dedication to that command structure indicating that neither of them have been able to move on since. There's a scene I recall from later in the series where Mal and Zoe's husband wash are both captured and being tortured, and her husband is SURE she is going to choose Mal to save (they can only buy one of them) but without any hesitation she chooses her husband. But even then, the decision is based on that implicit and bone deep connection between the two. She knows without question that Mal can handle more torture than wash can, that if she leaves Mal behind he will never waver in his belief that she will be fighting tooth and nail to save him too as soon as she can, while wash, who is not and has never been a soldier, will give up first.

Zoe has always been a favourite character- I always found her and mal's bond via war trauma fascinating and interesting to explore. Even still, it's a particularly tasteless role to cast a black woman in. There's really no way to fix the character without making her non-black, though, which is an entirely new problem.

Not quite finished with episode one yet. But goddamn. It really is so engaging. A lot of shows you may watch the entire 8 episode miniseries and not feel much investment in anyone. Firefly? Man. I ain't even done with the pilot and I'm already invested in these characters. Obviously I already KNOW them, but I remember watching this for the first time. I know how little time it took to become attached. Acting is such a massive part of it, too. The delivery of every line by every character, the expressions, the movement. Everyone SELLS their character. Really really strong. There's a reason it's still relevant today.

[asspull3x]

— @mlembug

For those too lazy to find the A3X GitHub repo and from there the archived forum thread that spawned it, here's some of my personal favorite moments.

Oh my god, I'm considered a noob in these parts and even I know you're an idiot.

Why do you keep referring to the Virtual Console? AFAIK, they work exactly like any other emulator internally.

I don't think you understand how intensive a "megahertz" is.

And now I sit down with a glass of fine wine in front of a fire to read this thread.

Congratulations, you just defined "program" Well, for programs without conditional branching.

Sora reminds me of physics lectures I went to that started off "Assume a horse running on a racetrack is a block of uniform density sliding along a frictionless surface…"

Presumably it's a Hebrew idiom that just doesn't translate into English very well.

What math operation does PUSH represent?

Guys, guys….I think we're getting off track here. Don't you all realise that it's all about TEH MATHZ?

I think his interesting idea is that bsnes should be implemented as a system of linear equations, rather than as an imperative sequence of instructions, and that will make it as fast as ZSNES. I'll give him credit, I've never heard that particular proposal before.

Excuse me, sir, I find this image HIGHLY OFFENSIVE! I think I speak for everybody present when I say that we use SQUARE pixels around these parts - maybe 8:7 at the very most - but none of this 1:2 rubbish!

This thread shall now be about pixel aspect ratio. Anyone else in the 16:10 camp? 😉

PEOPLE HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE PEOPLE HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR DECADES PEOPLE HAVE BEATEN IT TO DEATH OVER THEIR ENTIRE CAREER

pages = (rage function(miscommunication) * (concepts covered + (number of trolls * peanut gallery + 1)^0.65))^trolling potential * scale constant

Ah, now we're getting on to artificial intelligence. Because that's what it would take to perfectly identify what is code and what is data with zero interaction whatsoever.

Very OT, but, I suddenly want to make a game for the asspull.

Mednafen needs a motherboard file. This discussion is moot.

Hard to believe that all happened almost ten years ago.

[mrsbsmooth]

So, um... *blushes* I hear you're doing NSFW headcanons? @longbobmckenzie had some pretty accurate headcanons about me, do you think you can get it right too?

You want them about you?? 😘 tell me if I’m close

NSFW Headcanons: Roberto

Below the cut 🤭

-> S m o o t h. He could talk a royal into bed, but he doesn't. He never has more than one girl on the go at any one time.

-> Vocal. VOCAL. He asks for what he wants, tells her what to do. The groans. Growls. "Yes, yes, like that". Starts in English, but as he gets closer, he switches to Portuguese, muttering curse words she doesn't understand.

-> Extention of the above - phone sex. He's away for long periods but that's not going to stop him from getting his girl off. He's so good at it that he can damn near do it in public, his earphones in, whispering instructions to her as he stays fully composed on his end.

-> Long and quite straight. Uncut.

-> When he's back from a long flight, and he walks in the door, it's on sight. She wants him to keep the uniform on, though. Lose the shirt. Keep the tie. She's wearing the hat.

-> The first time after he walks in is quick and dirty. Bent over the end of the bed, if they even make it that far. The inside of their front door has seen a lot of action. Picks her up with ease, pants around the ankles. Every one of the neighbours knows his name.

-> Cuddle for a few minutes, he missed her. Shower together, maybe dinner, then round two.

-> Goes down just to go down, he's missed her and he wants to take his time. Builds and teases her for ages, might even like to hear about her day while he's going down on her.

-> Loves to touch her thighs while he goes down, running his palm along the outside of her. Just to know she's there.

-> Speaking of, he loves when his girl is soft. He likes when she has a little bit of a tummy, when her thighs are thick, this man loooooves curves, whatever form they come in. As long as he can grab on to her, he loves it.

-> Blowjob he prefers sitting up, like on the couch. Likes to see her, but likes to be comfortable.

-> For no reason whatsoever he's really into 69'ing. Her on top, obviously.

-> Sex is sensual. When he takes her to bed, he can blow her back out if she wants, but he'd prefer to take his time. Touching, kissing, tiny little love bites, he just wants to savour her,

-> Fave position, girl on top. Not because he's lazy, but because he likes to see as much of her body as he can. Plus, he dies over the feeling of her pressing her palms against his chest while she rides him.

-> Power dynamic is wholly equal and fluid. One moment he's got her hands pinned by the wrists, the next she's pulling his hair and telling him exactly what she wants. He goes with whatever she wants, but he takes everything he wants, too.

-> Won't come on her. Prefers to come inside her above everything else.

-> Quick cleanup but fuck the sheets. They're going to sleep straight away and fucking three more times during the night. In the morning, the sheets are barely on the bed, there're clothes and pillows everywhere, and she's asleep on his bare chest, tangled in what's left of the top sheet.

-> He might have to go pretty early, but he never leaves without one last round, morning sex king.

-> That kiss goodbye leaves her wanting round six though. Oof.

How'd I do lol

[distort1xn]

so, when i was still a little distort1xn and at uni, my favourite subject ever was philosophy. it’s why i’m SUCH a proponent for logical thinking and reasoning. now, one of the electives in this class was philosophy of religion, i.e. proving the existence of god (the judaeo-christian iteration of god). the lecturer for this elective was pretty old and not very engaging and loved getting into heated debates that he started himself with students who knew less than him and therefore weren’t his intellectual equals. he’s not the point of this post, but i mention him because he would never give us clear instructions for his assignments and so we often had to do tons of work for very simple essays that could’ve just been written based on our coursework, had he been a better lecturer.

the point is, one day we got an assignment that led me into the depths of our campus library (aside: the library is MASSIVE, multi-levelled – and completely underground; the dark academia bitches go crazy) to do some reading. during this reading, i came across a very interesting paradox that i’ve been thinking about ever since, but i couldn’t remember who posited it, and so haven’t been able to look it back up. now, in one of the episodes of this true story podcast i’m listening to (we’re all insane with devorah), the storyteller talks about leaving the church, and what had convinced her to do that was the epicurean paradox – the very paradox that’s been haunting me for years! adding a screenshot of the gist of the paradox, but don’t worry. i won’t make anyone learn ‘philosophy speak’ (fancy fucking english for zero (0) reason whatsoever). i’ll ‘translate’.

simplification:

if god has unlimited power (omnipotence – ‘all-powerful’), then he must know about all the evil and suffering in the world (omniscience – ‘all-knowing’). being all-powerful must then mean he has the power to change/stop all the evil and suffering. so, why doesn’t he? since he doesn’t, he can’t be as good as christianity paints him to be (omnibenevolent – ‘all-good/-loving’; one of the main positions in christianity is ‘god is love’ to mean god loves his entire creation and he is a universally accepted force of pure goodness and love). conclusion: god cannot be omnibenevolent.

if god is omnipotent and omnibenevolent, then he has the power and goodness to stop and desire to stop all evil and suffering. if he doesn’t, then he doesn’t see all the evil (i.e. he’s not omniscient, which makes him somewhat evil himself if he can find justifications for why certain clearly painful and awful acts don’t ‘count’ as evil and therefore aren’t meant to be stopped).

if god is omniscient and omnibenevolent, he knows about all the evil and suffering in the world and wants to stop it, but since evil still exists, he obviously can’t stop it, so he can’t be omnipotent.

this breaks down literally the entire doctrine of christian belief. christians believe in an all-powerful, all-seeing, all-loving god. but since that god cannot logically exist, christians literally believe in a fantasy.

all of this to say, i don’t reject religion and christianity out of hand. i see it in a psychological sense. we all have our comfort things, our crutches – beliefs and rituals that make us feel safe. i see religion as one of these. which means people murdering, massacring and damning others in its name are not good people, and not just because all of those actions themselves are reprehensible, but because religion isn’t a personal comfort to them. it’s a weapon – and, i feel we can all agree, weapons should only ever be used in DEfence, not OFfence.

this has been philosophy hour with distort1xn. thank you for coming to my ted talk.

[tinas1469]

Got rizz? Tom Holland memes propel popularity of 2023 word of the year

Gen Z slang for charm or attractiveness sees off ‘Swiftie’, ‘situationship’ and ‘prompt’ in judges’ decision

Do women twirl their hair when they’re around you? Do men laugh loudly at your jokes? Have you noticed you’re particularly good at chatting people up? Then you’ve got rizz.

If you’re unfamiliar with the word then get to know it, because “rizz” has been named as the word of the year by Oxford University Press (OUP), the world’s second oldest academic press and the publisher of the Oxford English Dictionary.

The gen Z slang for “style, charm or attractiveness” or “the ability to attract a romantic or sexual partner” beat out other contenders such as “Swiftie” (an enthusiastic fan of Taylor Swift), “situationship” (an informal romantic or sexual relationship) and “prompt” (an instruction given to an artificial intelligence program).

Rizz is believed to come from the word “charisma”, and can be used as a verb, as in to “rizz up”, which means to attract, seduce, or chat someone up, OUP said.

The word was first recorded in 2022 and went viral in June this year after the Spider-Man actor Tom Holland declared in an interview: “I have no rizz whatsoever. I have limited rizz.” He later explained he won over his girlfriend, the actor Zendaya, by playing the “long game”.

As Holland’s comments spawned endless memes, overall usage of the word surged by a factor of about 15, according the publisher. Today, the word is used massively online, with billions of views of the hashtag “rizz” on TikTok.

OUP said the word had “boomed on social media”, showing how the internet can propel initially fringe language into the mainstream. “This is a story as old as language itself, but stories of linguistic evolution and expansion that used to take years can now take weeks or months,” it said.

It said the growth of rizz “speaks to how younger generations create spaces – online or in person – where they own and define the language they use. From activism to dating and wider culture, as gen Z comes to have more impact on society, differences in perspectives and lifestyle play out in language, too.”

This year’s shortlist of eight words was selected by language experts at OUP. That list was then put to a public vote in late November, reducing the field to four finalists, before Oxford lexicographers made the final decision.

More than 30,000 word lovers helped to decide head-to-head competitions between pairs of words or phrases. They selected “rizz” over “beige flag” (a character trait indicating that a partner or potential partner is boring).

The other words that didn’t make the final cut were “parasocial” (a relationship characterised by the one-sided, unreciprocated intimacy felt by a fan or follower for a well-known figure), “heat dome” (a persistent high-pressure weather system over a particular geographical area), and “de-influencing” (the practice of discouraging people from buying particular products or reducing their consumption more generally).

Last year the public was given the opportunity to choose the overall winner, and an overwhelming 93% voted for “goblin mode” – a slang term describing “unapologetically self-indulgent, lazy, slovenly or greedy” behaviour.

Casper Grathwohl, the president of Oxford Languages, said witnessing thousands of people debate and discuss language “really highlights the power it has in helping us to understand who we are, and process what’s happening in the world around us”.

Given that “goblin mode” resonated with so many after the pandemic, Grathwohl added, “it’s interesting to see a contrasting word like ‘rizz’ come to the forefront, perhaps speaking to the prevailing mood of 2023, where more of us are opening ourselves up after a challenging few years and finding confidence in who we are.”

Previous words of the year – chosen by Oxford lexicographers – include “vax” (2021), “climate emergency” (2019) and “selfie” (2013).

Do you know these gen Z slang terms?

POV Short for “point of view”, referring to one’s point of view of a certain situation, including a physical standpoint, an opinion or attitude.

Lore Referring to background information about a person, typically secret or random pieces of information.

Tea Meaning gossip or inside information, used in phrases like “spill the tea”, ie share the juicy information you have.

Hits different When something feels special, or appeals to you in a unique way, it “hits different”.

Sneaky link A secret meeting between two people romantically interested in each other, commonly used to refer to a hookup but also to describe a friends-with-benefits relationship.

Heather Refers to a very desirable person who everyone likes, derived from the Conan Gray song Heather, about being in love with someone who is in love with a girl called Heather.

Pick Me Girl A woman who claims or acts as if she is unlike most other women to gain attention from men.

Slept on To be ignored, overlooked or not appropriately respected.

Girl dinner A low-maintenance way to eat, by picking (usually insubstantial) items from the fridge and arranging them in an aesthetically pleasing way on a plate.

Canon event A trend that started after the release of Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse, referring to a pivotal moment that changes the course of one’s life and therefore cannot be interrupted.

[anarchblr]

“First, to fully comprehend Stirner’s ‘unique one,’ we must go back to Hegel and then to his two or three successors.

In all likelihood, Hegel was a European Restorationist court scholar. As such, the philosophy that he taught in Berlin was grossly conservative and reactionary, and most of his students embraced authoritarianism. However, his method of philosophy was also extremely revolutionary. And this double-edged sword, the Dialectic, divided the rest of his students into camps over every which authority.

The first movement sought to secularize the foundations of social life away from theology. The origins of religion were examined historically, a philosophical critique of religiosity arose, and attacks on Christian morality appeared. Strauss’ The Life of Jesus, Bruno Bauer’s Critique of the Gospels, and Feuerbach's The Essence of Christianity were the three major representatives of this defiance of religious authority.

‘The Divine Being (the Godhead) is nothing other than a shadow of the attributes of man reflected in the heavens.’ [Seemingly a paraphrased quotation from Feuerbach’s Essence of Christianity. Pulling from Marian Evans’ 1881 2nd edition English translation, the closest direct quotation I could find is as follows: ‘The divine being is nothing else than the human being […] contemplated and revered as another, a distinct being. All the attributes of the divine nature are, therefore, attributes of the human nature.’]

With this, Feuerbach turned theology into anthropology and the Christian religion into the religion of Humanity—Humanism. However, upon leaving its sheath, the blade of the Dialectic does not stop at religious authority. Here, perhaps, Max Stirner’s The Unique and Its Property cannot help but emerge.

Stirner went even further and toppled Feuerbach’s idol of the Human, and erected ‘the unique’ or ‘the I.’ He was, of course, anti-Christian, but, at the same time, he was also anti-moral and anti-social. For him, he rejected any and all authority alien to ‘the unique.’

The central idea of ‘the unique’ can be, first of all, summarized as follows: There is no such thing as the Human, one does not need to follow anything alien to oneself—neither God nor the Human, and there is no right whatsoever beyond one's personal right.

‘Your head is filled with ghosts; you have a crack in your cranium! […] You have a fixed idea. …[T]he authority of the people, which one mustn’t jostle […]; the authority of virtue, which one mustn’t even lift a single finger against; …aren’t these fixed ideas, which possess and imprison into madhouses you, whom I ought to pity, you arch-fools!?’ [It should be noted that a translation of Stirner’s The Unique and Its Property into Japanese wouldn’t occur until eight years following this publication, in 1920 with Tsuji Jun’s English-to-Japanese translation. This quotation from Ōsugi Sakae is likely a paraphrased translation of his own making, which I have translated therefrom to reflect his own sentiments—as I will do with every quotation from here on. . .]

These fixed, ghostly ideas—or, more specifically, what is referred to as society, morality, religion, and so on—are, as Stirner puts it, bloodsucking vampires that feed on the blood of the living. Until one uproots these vampires from their heart, until one refuses to obey them, freedom cannot be gained. And this freedom cannot be realized unless we take ourselves to be the beginning, middle, and end of all things. Thereby, when all existing societal fetters are severed, all that remains is just each individual’s ‘I’. This is a sense of the unique.

‘I am unique. There is nothing alien to me.’ Ich hab’ mein’ Sach’ auf Nichts gestellt. [‘I have based my affair on nothing.’] Moral imperatives are, after all, nothing more than a delusion. Yet, there are those who, like bear trainers, rule, direct, and instruct the people of the world in the name of these delusions, making the innocent, unknowing people dance to the clamoring sounds of pipe and drum.”

—Ōsugi Sakae, “The Unique: A Theory of Max Stirner: pt. III & IV” (1912); translated by Alreigen_Senka, 2023

[une-sanz-pluis]

The above analysis therefore leads inexorably to the suspicion that the prince’s account of two specific transactions between himself and his father was a total fabrication. Against this drastic conclusion, it might be maintained that his story would have been easy to discredit if it could be demonstrated that the king had not authorized him to raise troops for any purpose whatsoever. Was the prince referring, in a deliberately misleading way, to some genuine royal commands? In the case of his claim that he had been allocated a contingent of men to serve under him in Aquitaine, two explanations are just conceivably possible. Firstly, he may have been alluding to orders which the king had actually given-perhaps at the beginning of May — but which had long since been superseded. Secondly, he could have been instructed to recruit men to serve under his brother — an order which he would surely have seen as humiliating and provocative. However, even if he had received permission to raise troops for some purpose, it is far more difficult to believe any part of his account of his dealings with his father over the adequacy of his allocation. Even his own story demands far more explanation than it provides. If his intentions were honourable, why could he not simply discuss the matter with the father whom he professed to love and respect so deeply, and who was presumably responsible for the original allocation? He was surely bound to arouse misgivings when he decided to withdraw to his own estates, a hundred miles from London, and to seek the advice of men who can hardly have been other than those who had served with him in his ‘ministry‘ of 1410-11 and who had been removed from office six months previously. It seems almost inconceivable that the king would have ‘cordially agreed‘ to such a scheme in any circumstances, let alone those of June 1412. If, however, the prince was fully aware that he was not to go to Aquitaine, the whole of his account becomes completely meaningless — he was not likely, for instance, to wish to increase the number of his own retainers who were to serve under another man’s leadership in a cause to which he was opposed — and his claim that he wished to ‘provide for the security of his person’ on the expedition can only be regarded as a downright lie.

Peter McNiven, "Prince Henry and the English Political Crisis of 1412", History, vol. 65, no. 213 (1980)

[motsimages]

I watched Joy Ride the other day and while it's entertaining and has some good ideas, it is not as original or fun as I thought it would be. I guess, for some reason, I was not expecting yet another americanada and I don't know if they are aware of it.

After the cut there is a list of things I liked and didn't like. Obviously, all of the spoilers are there:

Things I liked:

Actresses of that age when they start to disappear and that body type that never exists.

Lots of sexual jokes, some actually quite funny or well thought out and respectful (the assisted masturbation is chef's kiss), which is some stereotype breaking for women that age in the US, and Asian women of all ages in general. While it is a very sexual-based comedy, they are very respectful of the one who doesn't want to have sex. They are not mocked or ridiculed. They were given the instruction "have fun" and they all had fun in their own way.

A very gnc character that apparently is non-binary (I read it in comments, I missed it during the movie). Also very clearly neurodivergent with interesting moments and showing that her silly special interest actually helps.

Make up and costuming sometimes is eye candy (the k-pop costuming)

Some scenes are real gems, as are some dialogues. It actually threads quite well some things between them.

There are some international relationships commentary and some "get your head out of your ass, USamerican" (it still falls short to me but it is there).

Deadeye.

Things I didn't like:

As I already said, for a movie that spends quite a lot of time emphasizing about the difference between Chinese-Chinese and Chinese-American, it is still very American: the Chinese-Chinese star of a Chinese show looks very western and speaks in perfect English with his fiancée, his Chinese-Chinese co-star who studied in the US. He is Christian, which fine, there are Christians in China, but I am going to guess they are not like Christians in the US so what was all that "leave room for Jesus" thing? And also, we don't see other beliefs and how they manifest in real Chinese-China so we can't know that Christianity is a minority religion in Asia (unless we already knew).

As a matter of fact, for a story that happens partially in rural China, there sure are a lot of people who speak English quite well, including an old grandmother. Sure, the adopted one who doesn't speak Chinese is at a loss, but they mainly say "oh USamericans never learn other languages" and that's that. She had two friends who were going to serve as interpreters and we barely see that happening. And when we do, they just make up whatever translation they want.

They are all (except Deadeye) terrible people and not very good friends, generally speaking. They use "have a real job and make a career" as a way of showing that you are mature enough and old enough when they tend to behave like teenagers most of the time. They are all very self-centered (which is interesting because an Australian-Chinese makes the point of saying that Chinese people don't hold individuality as a rule, as opposed to USamericans BEFORE they all get angry with each other because of being self-centered).

I can suspend my disbelief for quick travels and no jet-lag for sci-fi and cyberpunk, but not for a more or less realistic set in the present movie. They go from the US to China with no jet-lag. In theory they are only 4 days in China but they travel around it in unsual means of transportation because they can't get on a bus or a train in a way that would take them weeks to reach their destination. They even travel to Korea in those 4 days.

Oh they get their passports stolen. Yes, the Chinese one living in China too, apparently because she worries as much as the others. They do not think of calling the Embassy to fix it as soon as possible, they just keep travelling. They even go to Korea without passports and back to the US. So basically, not having passports doesn't affect their trip in any way whatsoever.

They kind of insist on "respecting someone's decision no matter what" as a good friend behaviour but sometimes your friends make terrible decisions and your job is telling them. The one engaged to a Christian?? She loves sex, she just stopped having sex and pretended she never had sex to be with him. And he lied about that too. And they had been dating for 3 years. When one of them finally confronts her to that (in the worst possible moment and possible way, because as I said, they are all terrible people), another one says "it's her business!" as if it was not one big mistake to base an entire relationship on a lie. And we are not really shown why she likes him other than that he is very hot, so why is she waiting?

That rule, btw, applies to some things only because when it comes to the adopted one saying "I don't want to meet my birth mother", it can be pushed and manipulated.

The men are all eye-candy, which is not necessarily a critique for this kind of movie but they are also very hot according to the Western taste, including having rounder eyes or being bronzed. They criticise the adoped one for not liking Asian men and 1) dismissed her one-time fling with a guy from Kazakhstan because they don't know if that counts as Asia in quite a racist dialogue but I guess it's alright because they're Chinese-American! and 2) they seem to not like real Chinese men either if what we are given is the Western taste of men instead of the Chinese taste.

They constantly tell the Chinese who was adopted that she is so white and criticise her for it, but then they are unaware of their own biases towards other cultures (unless other Chinese people are being racists towards Japanese, for instance). Which could be a good point to make, the way we all have our biases and xenophobia and all that, but they somehow don't know how to make it because it really centers all around "the white one" (adopted). Even after it is found out that she was actually born from a Korean mother and a whole family that had previously accepted as one of their own now rejects her, her friends still mention how white she is. There is a whole story there with the Korea-China relationships and we miss it because it's more important to make jokes.

While they grow more accepting of Deadeye, the scene of bonding between the main character (who didn't like them) and Deadeye felt forced and out of the blue. And also, they are only superficially more accepting. When Deadeye suggest doing their annual best-friends travel to some very US place that they like, they quickly ignore them because it is not as fancy as Paris.

They spend the whole movie mocking the adopted one because she can't eat Chinese food but then they go to Paris and say that they don't have to try French food. It all feels so hypocritical that even comments as silly as this one just add to the whole mess with xenophobia and racism this movie is.

Also, how is the adopted one "so white"? Her white parents wanted her to study Chinese (which she did for one year or so), they introduced her to the only Chinese family so that she had a connexion with her culture. She could have practiced Chinese with them and learned more things about Chinese culture. I guess she didn't do it because she always wanted to fit in, but this is more me putting things together than an actual real explanation in-world.

The message of the movie in the end is basically the same US message of success and hard work. So going to China serves no more purpose than just doing shenanigans that they wouldn't do in the US because that's what travelling is for, I guess.

f you find yoursefl recognising you and your friends in the three girls of this movie, you better find other friends. They all use each other shamelessly, lie to each other, manipulate each other, can't listen to each other and accuse each other of whatever terrible thing instead of facing their own emotions.

[sonicasura]

Against his more introverted tendencies, the hudie hacker decided to attend the next ceremony for the Autobots in person. Trace half-regretted half-appreciated it later when a Decepticon shot at the Autobots in public. He and one of the police captain’s officers helped herd people away when his universe’s version of Starscream shot close to the crowd. The… seeker wasn’t even speaking English for a majority of the attack until he stole the train.

(Trace was not going to call the new transport by name precisely because of its abbreviation!)

He watched the exchange—glad Penumbra shared the translation program she and the other Hackers had for cybertronian languages. Trace tried to think of a way to help, but knew risking things might harm the hostages which included Bumblebee. The hudie hacker looked through his Digi-Memories to at least come up with something! Runnermon was being strangely obtuse about where he was exactly.

His finger stopped on one particular memory. Fucking hell, Trace would use the one Link entrusted him should he ever be incapacitated.

Should things look dicey enough…

——————————————

Things were dicey enough!

The Autobots had gotten the hostages save for Professor Sumdac’s daughter by distracting Starscream. Well, using the AllSpark as bait definitely took up his immediate attention. All six cybertronians played a high stakes version of keep away across several blocks. Starscream got frustrated enough to blast the bots directly.

So so so many windows were shattered yet the damage was minimal compared to what could still happen. Trace found himself jogging after the bots and con like a mad man out of hell. Starscream finally wrestled the AllSpark away by the time he caught up to them all. Ducking behind a corner, he loaded Link’s memory card.

“Activate.” Digital Memories needed firm and simple instructions otherwise the “spirit” inside would act on its own accord. “Ground the enemy of the Junction and Detroit, Link.” He didn’t know if the essentially a hologram copy of his partner was more in tune to him.

But, he wanted to imagine it was for a moment.

***************************

The insane Decepticon was about to unleash the AllSpark’s energy when—something seemed to hit his wings staggering him. Blue energy exploded viciously above Detroit without any severe damage to the city itself.

“Who dares!” Starscream screeched, near snarling at the Autobots below forcing Optimus climb a bit further over to hide. Another slice of air hit the Seeker making him prime one of his rays… Only for him to screech in pain!

The young prime rapidly climbed to see some sort of four-legged beast attacking the Seeker’s wings. It had a white eyeless mask for a face, prominent claws digging into ‘con metal frame. Optimus took his chance to leap onto Starscream while the creature viciously cut at him, retracting its bladed tail for another stab.

Starscream tried to use the AllSpark against them only for Optimus to latch onto it too.

Everything went blue after its casing opened.

—————————————

Sari tried her key desperately hoping to jumpstart Optimus back online. She didn’t know what a Spark was, but there had to be some way to ignite it again! He can’t be—

“You will give the AllSpark to me now—aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” Starscream tried to threaten only for a… lion-size masked fox to slink its claws into his wings rending metal. The fox jumped until it was perched on a nearby roof, air disturbed around it. Clearly. It was no longer tolerating the Decepticon whatsoever.

He tried to growl and fire at it—

Only for a neon white blur to rip his ray off.

It fled with it, but Sari’s attention was split between two creatures (one which wasn’t the neon speedrunner) reviving Optimus. “Come on, come on! Optimus didn’t give up on saving everybody. Even if I kinda had to convince him to go with my plan. I won’t give up on him!” She cried.

The AllSpark’s casing cracked open sending a blue beam toward her key, then into Optimus.

.

.

.

By the time he was okay, the masked fox had disappeared as if it were a ghost. Literally!

It disintegrated into tiny pieces.

—Link’s a Kudamon, by the way. He used to be one of the priest’s for Belphemon’s shrine and tended to stay as a Reppamon.

I figured Link was one of the Kudamon line. Holy Digimon do tend to look over places linked to Demon oriented Digimon in some way. For now, the damage Starscream would've caused had been minimized.

[strategic-social-media]

John 4:25 The woman (the Samaritan at the well) said to Jesus, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called the Christ—the Anointed One); when that One comes, He will tell us everything [that we need to know].

It is not about religion. God never established any religion, ever. God did give us loving instructions for life, like any truly GOOD Father would. Judaism and the rabbinical system, for example, is a construct derived from the Black Magic of Kaballah which the Hebrew people encountered in their captivity in Babylon. It has NOTHING whatsoever to do with the real God. The Babylon Talmud promotes religion, but never the Torah. 

(Torah literally means the loving instructions from your Heavenly Father). Salvation is a PERSON, not a religion. Truth is a PERSON, not a religion or a set of information. Justice is a PERSON. Love is a PERSON. Righteousness is a PERSON.

When the Bible was putting into language, coming to Jesus Himself, they said rightly Come to the knowledge (knowledge means the direct and intimate relational experience of, not a Greek/Roman style of merely head information) of the Truth. This is accurate because Truth is a PERSON. (1 Timothy 2:4)

But without a living and vibrant relationship with Jesus / Yeahua (whose name literally means salvation) -- as archangel Gabriel instructed Joseph, Jesus' future step father, "you shall call his name Salvation, for he will SAVE his people from their sins". 

Religion never make anything truly better. Only the PERSON of Jesus saves. The Bible calls him 'Mighty To Save" (Zephaniah 3:17 and Isaiah 63:1). No one needs the bondage of religion. They need the Person of Jesus (English) / Yeshua (Aramaic) who IS salvation itself.

Zephaniah 3:17: "The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing".

[alarajrogers]

I remember encountering this feeling all the time in college... and generally, the result was that after I sat with the idea for a while, I recognized the merits of what was being suggested. But these were leftist ideas and I've always seen myself as a progressive.

When an Asian guy wrote a column in the college newspaper complaining that "Oriental" was racist (in 1988), my initial reaction was that that was dumb; the word means "eastern", it's always been used to mean Asia vis-a-vis the positioning from English speaking countries, how is that racist? Eventually, though, I realized that the term had such exoticized connotations -- I mean, we almost never used the equivalent term Occidental for Europeans, and how do Africa or South America fit into that schema? "Oriental" was always being used to mean weird, mysterious, "other". Asian just means it's from Asia, and is equivalent to terms like European or African that reference the continent you're from, and is no more "exotic" than they are.

Another column argued that if a guy comes on to his long term girlfriend and she freezes up and does nothing, and he has sex with her, that's rape. I thought that was the stupidest thing I'd ever heard. They're in a relationship already; surely, if she doesn't want sex, she can say no, and if the relationship is such that she freezes up and doesn't want to risk saying no, it's an unhealthy relationship from the getgo. Well, I'm still not sure I'd define that as rape, but over time -- and over developing a thing where I turn nonverbal when I'm too tired -- I recognized that having sex with a person who has frozen up and is giving you no verbal or nonverbal signals whatsoever is a really shitty thing to do, because that's not a normal behavior for a happy human who's enjoying themselves. Unless the person has a fetish for that, like a fantasy of being immobile, in which case they need to have discussed it with you and arranged for how they will convey that they don't want it before you should be going around playing with a fantasy like that.

Finally -- this one was more outrage than cringe. When I first encountered the term privilege in the leftist sense, it was referring to "being able to safely call the cops when you feel like you're in danger is white privilege." This offended the fuck out of me. See, privilege in the normal, non-specialized-to-leftist-spaces sense means either something you earned and should have, or something you did not earn and thus should not have. You can be a child of privilege, a wealthy brat trying to pull "Do you know who my father is?" on store clerks, or you can earn a privilege, like "Because of my good grades and good behavior, I am allowed to go out to the courtyard during study periods instead of having to remain in study hall." (Do kids nowadays even get study hall? It was a school period where you had no instruction; you were able to just sit and do your homework or read your textbook or whatever.)

So to my mind, "calling the cops for help is white privilege" said "white people have not earned the right to call cops for help and should not be doing it", which, I hope you recognize why I found that offensive. It took some time before I realized, leftist spaces have just given the word an entirely new definition, which is "advantage" or something like it. Nothing about being earned or unearned, having a natural right or not. Privilege in the leftist sense only means you're allowed to do something other people can't, or you're given slack other people aren't. In some cases it's something you should not have (it's white privilege that white-sounding names on resumes are more likely to get a job interview than black-sounding names), and in some cases it's something everyone should have (it's male privilege not to be shamed for what you're wearing).

I got over it, in the sense that I now understand the leftist use of the term and that it does not imply that privilege means you don't deserve to have it; it can mean everyone deserves to have it and it's a problem that only you are given it. Which is why I think the term privilege in this context is stupid and we should never have adopted it, and it does turn off a lot of people who know the regular meaning of privilege and take the same offense I did. But I don't find the concept cringy or offensive; it strikes me as a very common-sense concept that is expressed with a terrible word guaranteed to upset people who haven't figured out you have a special meaning for the word.

Imagine one day a new social trend starts spreading. It’s something unbelievably dumb. Not harmful per de, but truly silly to believe. Let’s say, I dunno, healing crystals start going mainstream. Everybody’s talking about their crystals. It becomes impolite to criticize people who believe in healing crystals. They become a big part of people’s personalities, and people on TV start talking about them, and one day years down the line politicians are debating funding for crystal-based medicine. And through it all you are sitting there going, what the fuck is happening. I thought we were all on the same page on this. You want to get along and be friendly and open minded but you cannot pretend to believe in healing crystals, this is nonsense, and when the topic comes up you refuse to lie about it. This eventually starts to have social consequences—they’re that popular!—but what can you do? You cannot pretend a lump of quartz can cure the flu or whatever. It’s just all so unbearably embarrassing.

I think what the centrist/liberal/center-left reactionary turn driven by culture war stuff feels like. And I think the key emotion is probably cringe. Not hate, not fear, though those emotions may reinforce the turn. I think in a lot of cases people who imagine themselves pretty open minded and flexible have as part of their worldview something they thought was bedrock social consensus—on the level of “healing crystals are silly woo”—so bedrock maybe that it didn’t even need to be a conceptual boundary they actually policed in their minds.

For instance, when she started her anti-trans turn, JK Rowling made a big show of not being really anti trans, just arguing that Some People Had Gone Too Far. She wasn’t a frothing religious reactionary, after all. And I believe that’s probably true! I think Rowling probably did have a mental model of sex and gender with a little bit of give in it—of the “we can humor the odd weirdo” type. But as the discussion of trans rights in the UK got more serious over her lifetime, trans people went from “the odd weirdo” to “a recognized minority,” and eventually this ran against a bedrock belief that on some level men are men and women are women and never the twain shall meet. To act otherwise was just too embarrassing. And she wasn’t going to embarrass herself in the name of political correctness.

Other people whose brains have been eaten by the anti-woke mind virus (as @eightyonekilograms calls it) have something going of the contrarian in them, who enjoys yelling “up yours, woke moralists!” or w/e. Im thinking of ppl like Glenn Greenwald here, or Dave Chapelle, people who seem not to feel alive except when people are mad at them. That’s a separate but interesting dynamic. And there are people like Graham Linehan who become totally unhinged through this process of auto-radicalization, moths drawn ever closer to a particular source of validation within their chosen reactionary subcommunity, until they are truly parodies of themselves. That is also an important dynamic, but it’s one that only takes hold after the initial turn has begun.

I think the role of that feeling of cringe, that refusal to entertain an idea because it is too embarrassing (even if it does actually have a decent body of research behind it, unlike crystals) is important to think about, because I am interested in how to get people over it. I know that feeling has affected my own thinking over my lifetime. I wasn’t raised particularly conservative, but I had to learn not to cringe at a lot of feminist thought before I could appreciate it and learn from it. I explicitly didn’t have that cringe when it came to gay people for whatever reason, so it never entered my mind that it might be a problem. I remember being surprised to learn when I was very young that some boys wanted to marry other boys, but my response was “huh. Go figure.” Because for whatever reason I had not picked up that this was something I was supposed to be grossed out by. A general doctrine of empathy, of trying to understand people on their own terms, can help forestall some of this stuff, but it’s not foolproof in either direction—I don’t want to believe crystals have healing powers if it becomes socially popular to do so, just because it is socially popular to do so! And if they do, I don’t want to not believe they do just because it is socially unpopular!

(Obviously the crystals thing is not a one to one metaphor for the trans thing, so don’t read too much into that. Maybe astrology would have been a better analogy. Also I’m not talking just about people whose reactionary turn is predicated on trans issues—I think this dynamic applies to everything from gay rights to the Tridentine Mass. But trans issues are a handy example bc, as the adage goes, somebody posts once about trans people and they never post anything normal again. I think the classic rapid-onset trans derangement syndrome is closely tied to the fact that gender norms are a really deep element of many people’s social-consensus-based worldview, and so challenged to that worldview are felt as really cringe.)

I’m curious if other people who grew more liberal in their thinking over time had a similar experience of having to overcome what was basically a feeling of embarrassment at certain ideas.