#democratized space travel

[goodoldbandit]

Wishing you a Happy New Year!

Sanjay Kumar Mohindroo Sanjay Kumar Mohindroo. skm.stayingalive.in 2025—A Year of Bold Possibilities The world is on the cusp of remarkable transformation, with 2025 set to bring innovations and ideas that will reshape how we live, work, and connect. From AI breakthroughs and sustainability efforts to reimagined workplaces and space exploration, the future is bursting with opportunities. This…

[perseuspixl]

FoxNews Hannity: You’re going to help rescue two astronauts ...?

Space-Elon: They were left up there for political reasons ....

Response from professional Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen;

What a lie. And from someone who complains about lack of honesty from the mainstream media.

Reply from butt-hurt Space-Elon;

You are fully retarded. SpaceX could have brought them back several months ago. I OFFERED THIS DIRECTLY to the Biden administration and they refused. Return WAS pushed back for political reasons.

Professional astronaut Mogensen;

Elon, I have long admired you and what you have accomplished, especially at SpaceX and Tesla. You know as well as I do, that Butch and Suni are returning with Crew-9, as has been the plan since last September. Even now, you are not sending up a rescue ship to bring them home. They are returning on the Dragon capsule that has been on ISS since last September.

[starstuffandalotofcoffee]

I don't want to keep going on on someone else's post but just some notes for calling your reps:

you are almost certainly not the weirdest nor most awkward person to have called them this week. unless you want to be in which case i believe in you.

this is literally their (and their staffers') job; you are not imposing.

even during the day I get voicemail the vast majority of the time. This applies when I call the DC or the local offices. Now granted I live in Lib Land (TM) and specifically am surrounded by federal workers who are highly motivated to scream into the phone constantly (bless) but also, truly, calling after hours is fine. It's volume; unless you have a very unique story to tell (and you might!) if you're going off a script from 5calls or similar a voicemail is just as good as getting a staffer. The key here is call volume.

it takes me like 10-15 minutes max to hit all three of my reps. do it and then give yourself a little treat.

phone >>>>>>>>>>> email, sorry. especially if you're going by scripts. If you must email, customize.

It's recess! are you phone shy but better in person? find a town hall and attend it, which is even more effective than a phone! This is potentially tough for senators if you're in a large state, but with a handful of exceptions in large but mostly rural states (eg: Alaska) your rep should be meeting relatively close to you. If your rep is a dirty coward, Indivisible has been organizing Empty Chair town halls in which they hold space for the rep to actually do their job. In a few cases democratic representatives, especially in more densely populated and small states, have traveled to their colleagues' districts to answer questions, which is great publicity for the democratic party.

[rodspurethoughts]

Virgin Galactic Set to Launch its First Commercial Rocket Plane Spaceflight

🚀 Exciting News! Virgin Galactic gears up for first commercial rocket plane spaceflight, revolutionizing space tourism. Stay tuned! 🌌 #VirginGalactic #SpaceTourism

Image: Virgin Galactic Exciting news for space enthusiasts and adventurers alike! Virgin Galactic, the innovative space tourism company founded by Sir Richard Branson, has announced its highly anticipated first commercial rocket plane spaceflight. This milestone event marks a significant step towards the realization of commercial space travel. With Galactic 01 ready for launch, let’s delve into…

[the-most-humble-blog]

Taint Misbehavin’: The Gender-Neutral Tragedy of the Human Gooch

Also known as: “Yes, Women Have Taints Too, Karen”

Let’s not dance around it.

Let’s not whisper like this is health class with a priest in the back row.

Let’s walk straight into the fleshy Bermuda Triangle and ask:

“Is the word ‘taint’ gender-specific?”

And by the end of this hellride, you’ll be spiritually aligned, anatomically educated, and emotionally compromised.

☠️ What Even Is a Taint?

Let’s get it out of the way:

Medical term: perineum

Street name: taint

Alias: gooch, grundle, the devil’s slip-n-slide, sin canal, the no-fly zone, the forbidden footpath

It’s the stretch of skin between your hoo-ha and your oh-no.

Between the exit wound and the splash zone.

Between your business and your past due notices.

In medical terms:

“The perineum is the area between the anus and the genitals.” In real terms: “The taint taint your genitals, and it taint your butthole.” Hence: taint.

It’s an anatomical gray area. A biological liminal space. A no-man’s-land paved in skin, sweat, and shame.

🧠 The Real Question:

“Do women have one?”

Yes.

Yes, they do.

Unequivocally. Universally. Unapologetically.

That smooth criminal between the peach and the portal?

That’s a taint.

Whether you’re packing meat or melons,

bulge or buffet,

beef curtain or bologna pony —

you got a taint.

🧬 But Isn’t “Taint” a Guy Thing?

Let’s be fair.

The term taint got famous via male-coded locker room vernacular.

It traveled in sweaty gym bags next to Axe body spray and bad decisions.

It’s been used in:

Xbox Live lobbies

Middle school roast battles

Joe Rogan monologues

Divorce court

Why?

Because it’s hilarious.

Say it out loud:

TAINT.

It hits like a cartoon punch.

It sounds dirty, but vague.

You can say it on TV but not in church.

But just because the culture gave the word to men…

Doesn’t mean the anatomy is exclusive.

🚺 Let’s Talk Female Taint

You know what else taint the butthole or the vag?

That smooth little fleshy runway between the two.

That’s right.

That’s the taint.

Scientifically? Still called the perineum.

But culturally?

We never branded it.

Never gave it a nickname.

Never gave it the comedic reverence it deserves.

So what happened?

Society failed the female taint.

📉 Cultural Bias: We Named Everything BUT the Taint

Let’s review:

Boobs: check

Butt: covered

Clit: overanalyzed

Labia: poetic if you're a feminist or an art student

Taint: absolute radio silence

It’s the only part of the female anatomy that hasn’t been objectified, hypersexualized, or used in a Billie Eilish metaphor.

And that’s the tragedy.

We gave the taint to men and let women walk around with an unclaimed flesh strip of mystery.

Not anymore.

💀 Taint Equality = True Equality

The taint is the only body part that:

Isn’t gendered

Isn’t politicized (yet)

Isn’t Instagrammable

Isn’t sacred

Isn’t slutty

Isn’t shamed

Isn’t holy

It’s just… there.

Raw. Unfiltered. Indifferent.

And that’s why it’s beautiful.

It taint one thing. It taint another.

It’s both. It’s neither. It’s us.

📚 Linguistic Warfare: Other Terms for the Taint (Unisex Edition)

Gooch

Grundle

Fleshbridge

Forbidden Fajita

The No-No Tundra

The UnderCooch

Devil’s Hallway

Sin Sled

Emotionless Alley

The Oathbreaker’s Strip

Let’s take back the language. Let’s name the female undercarriage.

Let’s democratize the grundle.

🧼 Taint Maintenance: Because Gender Don’t Matter When You Sweat

Male or female — taint funk is real.

That’s where:

Gym shorts go to die

Sweat turns into regret

Body wash loses its nerve

You don’t need a gender-specific care routine.

You need a loofah, some humility, and the knowledge that if your taint smells like old garlic knots, you’re the problem.

🥇 The Taint Test (For Equality Warriors)

Ask any feminist, activist, or gender studies professor:

❓ “Do women have a taint?” ❓ “Can we say gooch in a female context?” ❓ “If ‘taint’ only applies to men, are we guilty of linguistic patriarchy?” ❓ “Can you reclaim your power if you haven’t acknowledged the zone between zones?”

Watch the hesitation.

Because when it comes to taint talk, everyone’s a coward.

Not you.

You’re still reading.

You’re brave.

You believe in gooch equity.

🤯 TL;DR

“Taint” = slang for perineum, the strip of skin between genitals and butthole.

Scientifically accurate for both men and women.

Culturally, it’s been branded as male — but that’s a lie.

The female taint is real. Untouched. Sacred. Neglected. Powerful.

It’s time to stop acting like the perineum is a gendered mystery.

It taint male. It taint female. It’s humanity’s final frontier.

💣 CALL TO ACTION (You Know What Time It Is)

🔁 Reblog this before someone says “cisnormative taint privilege” unironically

🍑 Share if your gooch deserves more respect than your last situationship

🧽 Screenshot and send to someone who definitely forgot to wash theirs today

🫧 Repost this if you believe in full-body equality — from nipples to Netherrealm

⚖️ LEGAL DISCLAIMER (BECAUSE TUMBLR SOFTIES LOVE TO SNIFF DRAMA):

This post is satire, commentary, anatomy education, performance art, literary disobedience, and a goddamn act of bravery.

It is protected under U.S. law, natural law, and the sacred covenant of locker room humor.

If this offends you, congrats — your gooch is probably neglected.

This post does not discriminate. It exfoliates.

Take a seat. Open a book. Scrub your taint.

We out here equalizing the perineum discourse with no apologies.

[vague-humanoid]

This week, North Carolina Republicans are voting to ban wearing masks in public. The bill passed in the State House easily, was amended and passed in the State Senate, and will next return to the House for a vote on the amended bill. The Republicans also hold a supermajority that could overturn a veto, and killed a Democratic amendment to allow masking for health reasons.

Hot on the heels of student encampments demanding that universities divest from weapons’ manufacturers responsible for mass murder in Gaza, Republicans jumped at the chance to criminalize two of their favorite punching bags, leftists and medically vulnerable people.

Disabled people and allies have met the news with chagrin, as Republicans carry out the long-predicted next step in their war on medically vulnerable people appearing in public and remaining alive.

Unfortunately, as Joe Biden jokes about refusing to put his mask on after a known COVID exposure, and left/labor pundits ignore the topic altogether, “allies” are few and far between. This combination of aggressive targeting and utter lack of solidarity is leaving those who rely on one-way masking to survive more at-risk than ever before.

One-way masking is the last tool available to the public to avoid continual COVID reinfections. Mask mandates have dropped everywhere, even in spaces where disabled people are forced to be in close quarters with infectious people for hours on end, as with air travel. (After a Trump-appointed federal judge struck down the TSA’s authority to mandate masking in April 2022, the Supreme Court actually affirmed the TSA’s authority to do so in October of the same year. Despite this, the Biden White House remained silent.)

[dflogerzi]

Being Clear on My Blog

This is an affirmation just to put out into the ether. And it is how I run my blog. Let me be clear. I do not EVER visit blogs of differing beliefs, political persuasions, or the support of people that I do not hold dear. I leave them be, they are allowed their opinions on their own space. I have NO desire or inclination to engage. I come here to Tumblr for a bit of relief from daily world issues, to visit friends, to enjoy posts by those who resonate and make me happy, and every once in a while, to vent.

Let me be even more transparent. As a norm if you do attack me on my profile or directly I will not respond. As a definite response I just block. I made an exception today, but I am guessing future blocking is going to occur. To demean me in my opinions is not something I really think is at all valid or called for. We all have our beliefs and life experiences on the journey. Mine were a lifetime in the making.

This person called me little. What a major laugh. I adored my whole life... And I lived it very large. It was a massive embrace of growth, even when painful, and I am grateful for all the travels, choices, experiences, and serving to my country both military and the FAA for 30 years.

End of a slightly annoyed rant.

P.S. Gavin Newsom sucks more than any Governor in our US history. And the DEMOCRATS have destroyed the Golden State. And anyone who believes different is living with the squalor and destruction that is now the once beautiful cities that were jewels in the crown of my birthplace.

So over it.

P.S.S. NO ONE can take away my memories, my integrity, or my worth as a person who traveled here on this planet in a lifetlme.

Me. Forever the child of my state. Always...

Edited: To answer the questions I just got in a couple of DM's, this is me and was taken in the Mojave desert in California. Waaaay out in it. That day I went out with a couple of photographers by request. It was not an easy shoot, I had a ton of sand in my toe shoes. But my granddaughter does have pics to one day show her own children, this was grandma. lol... 😉

Little..... pffffft.

[anastasiareyreed]

Try to feel what Ukrainians are going through by imagining a hypothetical situation.

Imagine that you have to leave your home. Not to go on vacation or travel. Not because you are uncomfortable in this house and not because you have found a better place for yourself.

You leave your home because you can already hear gunfire on the front line and you know that the front is rapidly approaching, that any day now the enemy army will enter your city or village and begin to kill and torture civilians and animals, loot houses, destroy everything they see.

All the memories you have, all your stuff, your clothes, furniture, flowers, toys, books, posters. You will have to leave it all behind. You will only have the memories you created during the years of peaceful life.

You won't be able to take everything you own from your home. You'll have to take only the bare essentials. Important documents, medicine, some clothes. And it's good if you have your own transport that can fit a little more. But what if all you have is a suitcase?

You will have to fit your entire life into one suitcase.

And it's scary to admit but I'm afraid that one day I'll have to flee too. I look at all my collectibles of my favorite characters from movies and TV shows. At accessories and toys. At the miniature Christmas tree that stands on the table decorated. At the Christmas lights, comfortable and cozy bed with a soft blanket. At my dog's little bed. At every detail that I personally chose to make this place my home. And something inside me breaks.

For many Ukrainians, this situation is a harsh reality. Today many Ukrainians are already packing their lives into suitcases, while the Christmas tree still shines with lights in the corner of the living room, reminding of the safe times. And somewhere far away the world celebrates Christmas and awaits the New Year, because life goes on.

At this moment their homes are not filled with celebration. There is fear and doom and confusion, life there is divided into "before" and "after". And very soon this life will freeze. Dishes in drawers, clothes that didn't have enough space during the evacuation. All the little things that once gave comfort, remain on shelves and boxes.

Cafes and restaurants where people once gathered, coffee shops where people had their first dates, parks where people once went for walks with their pets... all of these are turning into ghosts. Post offices and shops are gradually closing. The electricity is gradually turning off.

When they leave their homes, they know that russians will enter and destroy everything. For fun. And because of hatred. They will burn furniture, clothes, books and toys. They will destroy gardens and flowerbeds, rob, take away household appliances and expensive things, send them to russia as a gift to their families and friends. They will tear the soul out of every house they enter.

And these Ukrainians will not be able to return because there will be nowhere to go. They will have to seek shelter elsewhere, they will have to start life from a new, damaged page, experiencing all the stages of grief at the same time.

The situation would be different if the partners, who promised Ukraine protection and support, helped not only in words, acting at minimum. If they gave the weapons they promised and in the same quantity as promised. And as often as promised. If they imposed sanctions on russia and didn't continue cooperation with russians. If they didn't allow russia to speak in international arenas and head the UN (like how tf is this even possible). If they treated russia as the terrorist state that it is. If they helped fight against tyranny and Nazism as a real democratic united world that we often see in movies.

I still have faith that the world will wake up and help Ukrainians stop russia. But with every news about Ukrainian civilians and soldiers tortured by russians, with every news about Ukrainians who leave their homes without hope, with every news about shelled children's hospitals, residential buildings and playgrounds my faith weakens. I don't see the world's reaction, russia feels impunity and I feel like everyone doesn't care, like no one understands the scale of this threat to the entire world.

please do not stop supporting Ukraine.

[notwiselybuttoowell]

Lawmakers in Hawaii have passed first-of-its-kind legislation that will increase the state’s lodging tax to raise money for environmental protection and strengthening defenses against natural disasters fueled by the climate crisis.

Hawaii’s governor, Josh Green, supports the creation of the so-called “green fee”, and is expected to sign it.

“This legislation, which I intend to sign, is the first of its kind in the nation and represents a generational commitment to protect our ‘āina [land],” Green said in a statement. “Hawai‘i is truly setting a new standard to address the climate crisis.”

The bill passed on Friday adds a 0.75% levy to the state’s existing tax on hotel rooms, timeshares, vacation rentals and other short-term accommodations. It also imposes a new 11% tax on cruise ship bills, prorated for the number of days the vessels are in Hawaii ports.

Officials estimate the tax will generate nearly $100m annually. They say the money will be used for projects like replenishing sand on eroding Waikiki beaches, promoting the use of hurricane clips to secure roofs during powerful storms and clearing flammable invasive grasses like those that fed the deadly wildfire that destroyed downtown Lahaina in 2023.

The state’s house and senate, both controlled by large majorities of Democrats, passed the measure by wide margins.

Experts say the bill is the first of its kind in the US.

Hawaii already levies a 10.25% tax on short-term rentals. As of 1 January, the tax will rise to 11%. Hawaii’s counties separately charge a 3% lodging tax, and travelers also have to pay the 4.712% general excise tax that applies to all virtually all goods and services. The cumulative tax bill at checkout will climb to 18.712%, among the highest in the nation.

Green, the governor, argued the increase was small enough tourists would not feel much of a difference. As many visitors travel to the state to enjoy the environment, he predicted they would welcome committing dollars to protect shorelines and communities.

“The more you cultivate good environmental policy, and the more you invest in perfecting our lived space, the more likely it is we’re going to have actually lifelong, committed travelers to Hawaii,” he told the Associated Press.

Zane Edleman, a visitor from Chicago, said he could envision the extra cost prompting some travelers to head elsewhere else, like Florida. But, he said, it would depend on how the state shares information about what it does with the money.

“If you really focus on the point – this is to save the climate and actually have proof that this is where the funds are going, and that there’s an actual result that’s happening from that, I think people could buy into it,” Edleman said.

The first draft of the legislation called for a larger increase, but lawmakers pared it back.

[covid-safer-hotties]

Key points you should know:

=Mainstream media coverage of mask bans has given space for politicians’ false claims that masks are associated with wrong-doing, like crime and antisemitism, while overlooking that bans are, in many ways, an effort to suppress the reality of COVID-19. =There are 21 states and numerous municipalities with laws against masks or disguises on the books. People who wear masks would benefit from knowing exactly how they are worded and any legal precedents, as police are often under-informed. =Both Republicans and Democrats are pushing more severe mask bans than ever before in history. Democrats are more likely to give lip service to health needs without offering meaningful protections. Masks can and will be criminalized by police regardless of the language of the law, as arrest trends follow social trends. Police are also permitted by the Supreme Court to make mistakes in enforcing laws.

On August 5, Nyss Fayrchyld traveled from New York City to Nassau County in Long Island with other organizers to testify against a local bill to ban masks. The next few hours were “traumatic” and “volatile,” they recalled, with supporters of the bill “yelling obscenities” at immunocompromised people who testified in masks, calling them ”pro-Hamas thugs and terrorists.”

Police also directed enforcement at people in masks. One masked attendee was arrested on several charges, including second-degree assault, a felony, facing up to nine years in prison. Fayrchyld insists that the person was de-escalating conflict, which seems corroborated by video evidence. Supporters of the ban were also given more time to speak.

Nassau County’s bill passed with a vote of twelve Republicans in favor and seven Democrats abstaining. The law includes a vague medical exemption but also gives police expansive powers to stop, unmask, and arrest people.

Fayrchyld witnessed the type of state-sanctioned hostility that has become increasingly common for people who wish to stay safe during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Nassau County is just the latest jurisdiction to pass a mask ban, after North Carolina and Washington, D.C. early this year.

New anti-mask bills were also recently introduced in Chicago, the New York State legislature, and the federal House of Representatives, which proposes a sentence of up to 15 years. Leaders in New York City and Los Angeles have discussed possible future bans, and other states are enforcing pre-existing anti-mask laws on the books. The University of Virginia has banned masks on campus, unless the person can show documentation of medical need.

While mainstream media stories about mask bans often mention that immunocompromised people might be harmed, these stories also give unskeptical space to politicians’ claims that increased mask-wearing has contributed to all kinds of wrong-doing, from crime to antisemitism. In reality, mask-wearing is increasingly rare compared to early in the pandemic. There are countries with far less violence than the U.S. where wearing a mask is normalized. One analysis found no correlation between mask bans and crime rates. Many pro-Palestine protestors are masking explicitly to prevent spreading COVID-19.

Most media coverage fails to connect the new wave of mask bans to the ongoing political efforts to minimize COVID-19. Overblown concerns about facial recognition and protestors are only possible with a concurrent effort to downplay the threat of COVID-19 and erase signs of it from public life — now a priority for most mainstream politicians.

While the conversation around mask bans has focused on new laws and bills, 21 states and many municipalities have laws banning masks and/or disguises in different settings, which is more than other organizations have reported. Even where these bans have apparent limitations or exemptions, the finer language of the laws leaves all COVID-conscious people vulnerable. And the historic practices of police endanger people even in states with no legal bans.

“We have come so far downhill when it comes to protecting one another that [supporting mask-wearing] is a controversial opinion to have these days,” said disability activist and author Imani Barbarin. The political climate, she said, “creates this perfect storm where it’s going to further criminalize Black and Brown people who need masks to survive.”

The politics and propaganda of mask bans Historically, mask bans tend to come in waves. This current wave has been led by Republicans, with Democrats following closely behind. While Democrats tend to pay slightly more lip service to health needs, their actions undermine their promises.

The Republican effort to ban masks started before the COVID-19 pandemic, with a series of bills aimed at antifascist protestors. In 2011, Occupy Wall Street protestors were arrested for wearing masks. Republican leaders reignited their efforts in early 2023, introducing bills that sought to end the COVID-19 era of masking altogether.

Republicans insist mask bans have been around for a long time. But their recent efforts go further in criminalizing masking than ever before. North Carolina’s new law requires members of the public to “remove the mask upon request by a law enforcement officer,” for any reason, for as long as police want. Previously, the state’s law limited this demand to traffic stops and when police believed someone was committing a crime.

The new provision “smacks of blatant authoritarianism,” said Corye Dunn, Director of Public Policy for Disability Rights North Carolina. North Carolina’s mask ban also adds a new provision requiring a person wearing a mask to “temporarily” remove it at the request of an “owner or occupant” of a “public or private property.”

“Occupant doesn’t mean anything” in state law, Dunn said. She’s concerned that this “dangerous” provision will “embolden bullies and set up people with disabilities to face hostility” from fellow citizens demanding mask removal.

Elaine Nell, who co-founded the group Advocates for Medically Fragile Kids NC, is “angry, sad, and scared” about how the law might be enforced when it takes effect in October, especially in public spaces: “You get jury duty [and you] may not be able to wear a mask.” Nell is also concerned about her medically vulnerable children, who already lead restricted lives. “This may just take away even more,” she said.

Meanwhile, the conservative Manhattan Institute for Policy Research recently proposed a mask ban template focused on protests that don’t include any health exemption. While the Institute doesn’t pretend that COVID-19 is over, the template outlines a grim scenario: “Someone who wears a mask for health reasons probably should not be congregating in large groups of people.”

This statement suggests that immunocompromised people shouldn’t have the right to protest, work, or exist in crowded spaces, harkening back to the “ugly laws” that once forbade disabled people from being in public.

Democrats in the New York legislature proposed a mask ban bill similar to the Manhattan Institute’s template, with a medical exemption that only applies during a “declared public health emergency.” On paper, the federal government ended the COVID-19 emergency in 2023.

Across the country, Democrats are proposing mask bans based on flimsy and inconsistent logic, often citing incidents in which the main aggressors weren’t even masked. New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a former police officer, might be the one Democratic leader willing to make the subtext clear. He has expressed the desire to “go back to the way it was pre-COVID” by banning masks on subways, in stores, and in “other areas where it is not health-related” — as if there are any locations where health is not an issue.

Adams articulated out loud the Biden administration’s consistent priority: to erase the signs of COVID-19, or, as the podcast Death Panel calls it, the “sociological production of the end of the pandemic.” This started in the spring of 2021 when the CDC proposed that vaccinated people no longer need masks. The administration has also steadily chipped away at COVID-19 data collection efforts.

Mask bans are the latest step towards that goal, further disincentivizing the public from wearing them for protection. Biden administration leaders have explicitly associated mask-wearing with unnecessary, humiliating, and “fringe” behavior. And Biden recently insisted that he “ended the pandemic,” just before he reportedly caught COVID-19. His administration has been able to erase almost all signs of COVID-19 besides the viral illness itself.

How police criminalize masking On August 22, Disability Rights New York filed a lawsuit challenging the Nassau County mask ban by invoking the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). But mask ban enforcement won’t rely on the determination of the courts alone. Political propaganda against masking is likely to influence how police criminalize masking, as arrest trends follow social trends more than laws.

Before COVID-19, mask bans were among the obscure laws rarely enforced by themselves, though police have long used face coverings, particularly ski masks, as a pretext to stop and search people. Elijah McClain was stopped by police in 2019 in large part for wearing a ski mask, or “looking suspicious,” and was killed while in custody. Yet Colorado has never had any kind of mask ban, giving police no justification for the stop.

Supreme Court decision Helen v. North Carolina (2014) allows police to be “reasonably mistaken” in their understanding of the laws they are hired to enforce. Police commonly arrest people for legal knives and other weapons due to poor training and bias. People may lose days, weeks, or months of income while in jail — and exposure to a deadly and disabling virus — before prosecutors or judges catch up to police mistakes.

It doesn’t help that anti-mask laws have always been ambiguously written, contributing to “reasonable” misunderstandings and decades of legal testing in the courts. New York’s proposed law would ban masking during “lawful or unlawful assembly or riot.” But “New York, unhelpfully, does not define a local assembly in law,” said Allie Bohm, Senior Policy Counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union of New York.

Bohm is concerned that D.C.’s new law — which outlaws masking while committing a crime or “threats to do bodily harm” — is “just giving police freedom to stop anyone in a mask,” even without justification. Similar laws exist in Arizona, California, Michigan, and many other states.

Bohm’s fears were confirmed by the D.C. law’s sponsor, Councilmember Brooke Pinto, who said the law was intended to give officers “a basis for a stop, for articulable suspicion.” D.C. police officers were sent a memo summarizing the new law without additional formal training, according to emails from the Metropolitan Police Department.

Bohm identified a fundamental legal problem with most mask bans: “We will always be in the position of law enforcement deciding whether the person in front of them is masking for a ‘legitimate’ reason.” Most anti-mask laws assume that police can properly judge “intent” and behavior despite studies showing that such judgment is colored by racial and other biases.

Dunn recalled one North Carolina legislator saying in a hearing, “Nobody is looking to go after ‘meemaw’ at the Walmart,” referring to an older woman. The statement explicitly identified the kinds of “selective enforcement” likely to happen around masking, Dunn said. She has coached the family of one North Carolina Black teenager, whose immune system is suppressed from leukemia treatments, on how to balance his health needs with staying safe during a police interaction — what she calls a “horrifying choice.”

What should people who wear masks do now? (Nadica suggests reading up on illegalism. sorry for interrupting.) Unfortunately, marginalized people might not be able to rely on all of the organizations that have historically fought for their rights. Both the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in New York and the National Urban League support New York’s proposed anti-mask law.

People who wear masks should consider learning the finer details of the laws and precedents in their states and cities, given that police may not be well informed. Does your state require “intent to disguise” your identity for masking to be illegal, as in D.C.? Then you can cite the law and try to assure police that your intention is health-related.

Bohm advises people who wear masks in New York, if confronted by police, to state that they are worried about COVID-19 and ask if they can leave, as there is no current mask ban in effect. Dunn recommends North Carolinians invoke their desire to “prevent the spread of contagious disease,” citing the language of the new law’s very narrow medical exemption. Disclosing a medical condition might seem like a good strategy, but it’s worth keeping in mind police bias: half of people killed by police are disabled.

More broadly, activists need to build solidarity among all of the groups affected by mask bans, including disabled people, pro-Palestine protesters, religious minorities, people of color, and LGBTQ+ people. Some of the laws that ban disguises have been used against trans people.

Barbarin even thinks it would be smart to “hop on personal liberty” as a way to associate masking with American freedom, which she acknowledges is not “in vogue” on the left. The Klan has long been a plaintiff in lawsuits to end mask bans, and Proud Boys, a right-wing extremist group, often cover their faces.

In order to further broaden support against mask bans, the public needs to understand that COVID-19 is still a serious risk. Beyond that, the media needs to communicate that stopping legal bans — or adding medical exemptions — won’t be enough to protect people from police. It will take changing the political discourse around masking altogether.

[archivists-plus-one]

So I've had a running theory for TMAGP for a while now and I think today's episode gave me just enough to somewhat solidify it... 

(Special thanks to @clare-89 for helping out with this!)

Spoilers for The Magnus Protocol up to + including episode 19 below:

Chester - Sulphur (The Soul)

Okay so my theory is that each of the TTS Gang represent/are connected to each of the three alchemical primes, and this is what keeps FR3-D1 'balanced'. And I'm pretty sure I've connected the dots...

I think this is the most obvious of the three - he has had every single case that has been categorised as “transformation” so far, and the other cases he’s had have all related back to The Magnus Institute, been very ‘Eye’ orientated, or mentioned Hilltop Road or interdimensional travel (And the doppelganger case did say it was in Oxford…). Transformation also has a deeper meaning - in alchemy, it is believed that the human soul has the capacity to transform, and the process of doing so is very similar to what happens on an alchemist’s bench. 

Norris - Salt (The Body)

So it was while I was putting this together that I realised that Norris has actually only had four cases so far. His first one, the first case we heard in the show, was about a reanimated body which no longer talked or acted like the person it was.  If that doesn’t say it’s a body lacking a soul or a mind, I don’t know what does. The second one was the first with the infection in episode 3. This one, to me, could have been ‘The Mind’, but it is quite literally about a person losing his mind, and his body being taken over by whatever this weird plant infection is. The liminal space episode has many soulless, mindless ‘bodies’ acting as ‘NPCs’ in the services. And I think the Mr Bonzo case is quite self explanatory.

Augustus - Mercury (The Mind) 

Okay, so we have only had two Augustus cases, and at first I mostly gave him ‘Mercury’ because it was the last one and he had to fit into it somehow, but looking closer at the cases…he does. The violin case from episode 4 had a couple of instances of ‘mind control’, to a degree - The first being when the writer’s tutor is compelled to jump out of the moving carriage, and the second when the writer plays the violin and it appears to compel everybody to murder each other. The case from episode 18, with the person building a ‘house’ in their mind, is, again, also pretty self explanatory. 

But the thing that pulled this all together for me from episode 19 was actually a line from Colin:

If we are to believe that Chester is connected to sulphur, this would absolutely make sense - Sam has been becoming too obsessed with listening to Chester’s cases, particularly about The Magnus Institute, and he has been warned multiple times that it’ll “drive him mad”.

He also says that the world will end with too much mercury. Maybe this is why Augustus is only ‘allowed’ to read out a few cases? And if we’re running with the jmj theory that Augustus is Jonah….well, we’ve seen how too much of him can end the world. And Jonah did have the ability to see into people’s minds.

Another interesting thing here is that “Stasi” was the secret police agency of the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) between 1950 and 1990, and was both hated and feared. Knowing that FR3-D1 is written with German source code, I can’t help but wonder why they would have commissioned the program, and exactly why the OIAR have access to it. And exactly what really happened to Klaus…

Of course, as always, I entirely expect to be completely wrong about everything, but... What am I if not a nerd.

[sleepymccoy]

I've got this short story idea that like I don't really know how I'd write it or if it's truly interesting to me, so I'm just gonna ramble it now

The idea is that there's this other plane of people who can look into a well or seeing glass and view the earth and its people. Each person is a personification of some belief on earth, and their significance in this realm is tied to how influential they are on earth. It's a bit like the Sandman in some aspects there, but much more characters and they don't have to start with D lol

So youve got people like god and Buddha, but there's also charity and commercialisation and scientific research and selfishness and so on. There's a lot of people, and they're all kind of stereotypes of something

The idea is that the pov character is a new concept (maybe something like space travel or internet banking) and she looks into the well and sees nothing. She goes to some other guy who's whole thing is knowledge or truth who's like yeah lol no one can see anything. It's all made up, there's no earth. One person was convincing once and now they're all just pretending they see it so they don't get found out

Emperors new clothes style story there

Thing is the power structure they've made up is an example of a good and balanced world. The reader would know that earth isn't fair like that.

I think the pov character finds out earth is real and finds a way to see it, and realises the path her people have followed is better. So even tho they're lying, they've got democratic socialism in charge, not late stage capitalism. And some other examples. So she goes back and lies too, perhaps even killing the truth and knowledge guy on the way

Maybe. I'm never good at figuring out the end before I get there

[just-dreaming-marvel]

meet your author

Hello my darlings! It’s been a while (two years?) since I have done something like this. I have gained a lot of followers since then, and I feel like I should formally introduce myself.

My name is Bailey (feel free to call me ‘B’ or ‘Bay’). I am your author/host of this crazy blog.

I live in the United States of America (born and raised). Some of you may know the state I’m from already or may guess, but I’m not gonna say it.

I am 26 years old.

I am a 4th grade elementary teacher. I just got my Master’s degree and am currently applying to jobs outside of the classroom, though I have a feeling I will be in the classroom for one more year.

I have some sort of arthritis (the diagnosis keeps changing) as well as a few other health issues.

I am a huge Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars fan.

I have a one year old bernedoodle named Milo who is my baby.

I enjoy:

Playing the piano

Wakeboarding

Traveling

Going to a Disney park

Spending time with my family and dogs

Going to the beach

Watching movies and tv shows

Going to the local soda shops

My favorites:

Food: chips and salsa & french fries

Drink: water & Dr. Pepper

Color: yellow & blue

Animal: dolphin

Actor: Robert Downey Jr. (though Hugh Jackman is close at the moment)

Actress: Emma Stone

Book: Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

Weird facts about me:

I am scared of going down escalators (I can go up them just fine)

I am scared of staircases with open steps

I’ve never had a boyfriend or been kissed (I’m not saving it, people just don’t like me)

Currently, my coworkers are my only friends because all my friends moved or got married and felt like their single friend couldn’t fit in their life anymore (lol that was a lot wow, gosh I need some help)

I am a Chrisitan who is just trying their best in this world. I am not a perfect person and will not go preaching to you. I just feel the need to be honest so that you can know a little bit more about me.

I try to keep this blog a safe space for many people. You will rarely see me post anything political, not because I don’t care about politics, but because I know that it can be overwhelming and that many of us are on here to escape our problems. I am a very outspoken and political person outside of this site, but choose not to be on here. I do not align with Republican or Democratic parties as I often find myself in the middle of the beliefs and wish that people would learn to compromise.

The experiences in my life inspire a lot of what I write. I try to do my best to give stories that are fun, unique, and relatable. 

Thank you all for the continued support! I love and appreciate all of you so very much! I hope that I can continue to keep you coming back for more content.

My asks and dm’s are always open if you ever need anything.

Here’s some pics of me from throughout 2024:

[saturniandevil]

2025 Forecast

AKA my notes on The Astrology Podcast's 2025 Forecast, hosted by Chris Brennan and Austin Coppock. Saddle up, it's a long one!

Overview

This year's forecast is divided into an overview of big planetary shifts and a chronological breakdown, but it doesn't go quarter-by-quarter like in previous years.

Outer Planet Shifts

It's quite rare that such slow-moving planets as Neptune, Uranus and Pluto* all enter new signs in the same year (*Pluto has already ingressed to Aquarius after transiting Capricorn for the past 16 years, but this is the first full year he'll spend in Aquarius). Uranus has been in Taurus since 2018, and Neptune first ingressed to Pisces in 2011. Thus we are seeing major shifts happening all at the same time. These represent major cultural and social changes. In personal charts, this concludes activity in other parts of our charts and begins focus in a new area.

Pluto in Aquarius (November 2024 (final ingress) - January 2044)

Chris has been connecting this to cryptocurrency (Bitcoin started under Pluto in Capricorn) and AI stories, such as Google & other companies rolling out livechats. He predicts that robots, especially humanoid ones, will he ubiquitous in everyday life by the end of Pluto in Aquarius, though Austin is skeptical as to how evenly distributed technological advancements will be. Jobs and labor will surely be affected by the increasing digitization of different industries. Everyone's trying to hitch a ride on the AI train, but it'll take a major scandal before we see regulations put in place or see just how it'll integrate into society. We'll have to train our eyes to recognize the artificially generated, and we'll also have to deal with inefficient bureaucracy that technology alone can't quite fix. In mundane developments, even though the US was founded under Pluto in Capricorn, most of the government structure were put into place under Pluto in Aquarius. Last time Pluto was in Aquarius was the French Revolution (opposite Leo, the fixed signs of sovereigns and heads of state). The current Pluto in Leo generation (baby boomers) were raised definitively in the area of the celebrity, an issue that will likely come into question in the years ahead.

Uranus in Gemini (July 2025 - May 2033)

Uranus trines Pluto during this transit, so these two planets' themes are closely tied over the next decade. Previous Uranus in Gemini periods include the revolutionary war/founding of the USA, its Civil War, and WW2. Term limits were pushed and set under this transit with Washington & FDR; 84 years previous to the founding of the US John Locke wrote his ideas on government. Continuing on the theme of liberal democracy, the King James Bible was published under Uranus in Gemini in the 1600s--an attempt to democratize religion and encourage readers to have their own individual relationship with the text. Uranus was discovered during a Gemini transit in 1781, and was almost named "George" after the King of Britain. In general Uranus in Gemini brings particularly forward-thinking ideas while in Mercury-ruled signs. We should expect to see continued developments in AI controversies and LLMs (large language models), and the role of language overall. We can also expect shakeups in transportation, with technologies like self-driving cars and drones expanding in transportation, war, and everyday life. The burgeoning dominance of electric vehicles space travel are also likely previews into the Uranus in Gemini era, and we can look out for major developments in the realm of social media as well.

Neptune in Aries (March 2025 - March 2039)

Neptune's 165-year cycle means it changes sign about once every 14 years. The last Aries transit was in 1861-1875, and the ingress coincides exactly with US Civil War: Fort Sumter fell the day it ingressed. Neptune gives us dream-logic for its time, trends that are often only clear in retrospect. Austin describes the Neptune in Pisces era as valorizing qualities like acceptance & inclusivity, where the heroic figure of the time is a compassionate mystic/saintly. He predicts Neptune in Aries will valorize "the heroic." Where once suddenly everyone was an astrologer or witch, now, suddenly we're all soldiers/warriors. (This played out literally as mass conscription in the US Civil War & in England in previous Aries Neptune periods.) This period also saw developments in photography, namely war photography in newspapers bringing the goriness of war into every home. Civil War photos were originally shot in 3D and meant to be experienced through viewers, and the first color photo was taken 05/17/1861 when Neptune was at 1Aries, bringing levels of heightened realism and simulation into the conversation. Neptune in Aries faces us with forks in the road--no half measures.

Neptune in Aries can indicate wars remembered for their ideology, as was the case with the Taiping Revolt/Rebllion's bloody conclusion during Neptune in Aries (begun in Pisces). One of the deadliest wars in history (cost at least 20-30 million lives), it was instigated because of an extremist Christian religion. In medical astrology Mars-Neptune contacts can indicate autoimmune diseases where the body attacks itself, and the mundane analogy here is internal conflicts. In antiquity, the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE occurred during Neptune in Aries, Pluto in Aquarius, and the eclipse points moving from Aries/Libra to Virgo/Pisces (all configurations we'll see in 2025). This is considered a catalyzing event for the subsequent Jewish diaspora over the following centuries, as well as the shift from centralized worship to Rabbinic Judaism. In science & engineering, the steam engine, dynamite, first underground railway, Suez canal, mechanical submarine, and the concept of light as EM radiation via Maxwell equations all came about during Neptune in Aries periods.

Saturn in Aries Saturn is entering Aries from May to September this year and will be copresent with/conjoining Neptune over the next three years. Saturn is in fall in Aries, highlighting tensions between patience and impulsivity. We can also expect prominent figures to fall from grace, such as during our last Saturn in Aries in the late 1990s with the scandal around Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinksy. In personal charts, Saturn in Aries people will often chalk up their difficulties to "not trying hard enough," when really it may just be a matter of timing and patience. Famous Aries Saturn people include skater Tony Hawk, daredevil Evel Knievel, directors Francis Ford Coppola and Lily Wachawski, witch-hunting politician McCarthy, writer Margaret Atwood, actresses Zendaya and Lucy Lawless, and activist Malala Yousafzai.

Saturn Conjunct Neptune Saturn and Neptune will get within 1 degree of each other this year, though we don't get an exact conjunction til 2026. We've been seeing the buildup of this since Saturn entered Pisces in March 2023. What's real and bounded, and what's illusory and pervasive? This tension between illusions & structures likely means we'll see increased distrust in authority, such as the public doubting what's reported in news stories or fake news sparking major conflicts, and Chris predicts increasing polarization between aggressive skeptics and religious fundamentalists. Austin uses the analogy of the Mad Max: Furiosa movie--everyone is trying to conscript you to come fight with them for water. Austin notes that Saturn-Neptune contacts punctuate major events in recent Russian history, including the founding of St. Petersburg and the dissolution of the USSR. He also brings up the historical example of ronin, rogue samuari who had some public support as vigilantes, and compares it to Luigi Mangione's alleged assassination of the United Healthcare CEO, saying the public reaction to this event is a prediction of things to come.

Chronological Breakdown

Mars Retrograde: December 2024 and January 2025

We enter the year with Mars retrograde in Leo (opposite Pluto) and moving to Cancer on January 6th, and only getting to Leo on April 17th. This makes an extended transit through those two signs. Observationally, Mars is actually brightest and closest to Earth during its retrogrades, rising as the Sun sets, making him hyper-visible and much more reactive & chaotic than Venus & Mercury retrogrades. And indeed Mars's station on December 6th saw a bunch of major events: an attempted coup in South Korea, the Assad regime falling in Syria, a healthcare CEO assassinated in the US, a contested election in Romania, and the French government collapsing through a no-confidence vote.

Back to 2025, though: Mars entering Cancer on the 6th hearkens back to his last visit to the sign, September 4th-November 3rd of 2024. Events, both mundane and personal, will come back to us during this time. In politics we saw a lot of nativism and racism in US politics while Trump was campaigning, and unfortunately this is likely to resurface. Concerns over homelands & origin showed up in celebrity news with controversy over the New Orleans Superbowl booking Los Angeles-based rapper Kendrick Lamar over NoLa native Lil Wayne.

Mars is in fall in Cancer, and with Saturn in Aries later we get both malefics in fall this year. The trap of Cancer Mars is "nothing's safe enough," while that of Aries Saturn is "nothing is under enough control," and we must be on our toes to avoid falling into either. Mars in Cancer is reactive and impulsive, in contrast to the Saturnian discipline & foresight that Capricorn grants it in exaltation. In personal charts Mars rx in Cancer/Leo can show up as obstacles or frustration, or as an extended expenditure of energy in that area. Retrogrades can also bring things or people back into your life, and how you handle the situation sets you up for the next time you meet.

January 2025

We enter the month with retrograde Mars opposing Pluto on the 3rd and regressing to Cancer on the 6th. On January 15th we get the exact opposition of Mars to the Sun, days after the Full Moon, so that's another time to watch out for in events. The US presidential inaguration is on Jaunary 20th under a Sun-Pluto conjunction.

Electional chart for January:

The chart is for January 10th, at roughly 9:30AM local time to get early Pisces rising. The ruler of the Ascendant, Jupiter, is in the 4th house (♊) in a day chart and makes an auspicious conjunction to the Moon, who herself is separating from a square to Venus (♓). Venus is also exalted in the first house & on the Ascendant. This is also about as far away as we can get from the Mars-Pluto opposition while also avoiding the Sun-Mars opposition later this month. This is good for 4th house matters: not only home and family, but also matters where you're important but not visible, like a director.

Overall, January and February are dominated by the Mars retrograde, a "not so calm" before the storm of springtime.

March & April Venus goes retrograde on March 1st, regressing into Pisces before stationing direct on April 12th. Meanwhile, on March 29th we get an Aries solar eclipse, the final installation in a series going back to October 2023. The next day, March 30th, Neptune waltzes into Aries for the first time in a century. Meanwhile Mercury retrogrades from March 15th until April 7th, backtracking into Pisces while doing so. And if that wasn't enough, Saturn moves into Aries on May 24th. March & April are like a series of cascade reactions, and we'll spend the rest of the year (or few years in the case of Saturn) reacting to, cleaning up the aftermath of, and wrestling with understanding what happened. We'll definitely see major geopolitical events, maybe with bizarre connections, all the while thinking things are going in one direction when they're really going another.

Venus & Mercury Retrograde; Eclipses

Venus's station points are felt most intensely, but like with the Mars retrograde we also experience this as an extended transit of Venus through the signs of Aries and Pisces from January to June. Her retrograde also comes just 5 days after Mars concludes his own. Chris predicts that, unlike the Leo Venus rx a couple summers ago, there may be more fighting around women's issues rather than straightforward celebration. In Aries we already expecting a more combative expression of Venusian issues, and the increased activity in Aries only intensifies this prediction. Venus in Aries is not quiet--she's bold, active, and direct. In personal charts we'll see returns of events from 8, 16, or 32 years ago (last time she was retrograde in Aries), reviewing and revising relationships in the present. What and who do we want? Do we still want that? Under Venus rx we look for an unambiguous "yes." We can also see delays or postponements, scandals, and provocative art & culture. We'll be going back and forth between an exalted, compassionate Venus and a forthright, exiled Venus, choosing between the two on any given day and trying to reconcile them.

With Venus retrograde we can also think of the myth of Inanna (a story based off the Venus rx cycle), who descends through gates of the underworld and returns home to find her consort has taken the throne before she takes it back. We'll likely see stories about women in powerful positions reclaiming something after going through a struggle as Venus stations direct in her sign of exaltation. Specifically, she stations direct on April 13th conjunct Saturn (ironically another signature of Trump's upcoming inauguration), with Mercury retrograde also in Aries & Pisces at the same time. Both these planets are passing over Neptune in late Pisces as well: sometimes we have a lovely, dreamy vision that turns out to be terribly disappointing. Venus and Mercury will both cross Neptune three times, in both Aries and Pisces.

Mercury stations at 0Aries on March 29th, the same day as the solar eclipse, and switches signs with Neptune (leaving Pisces) the next day. The culminating eclipse is marred by miscommunications and illusions. As the last installment of a series begun in October 2023, this eclipse will definitely see developments in Israel's wars on other countries in the region. More generally, in mundane astrology North Node solar eclipses in Aries have coincided with the assassinations of heads of states & movements, as well as the eclipsing/stepping down of leaders...yet another signature of changing/threatened leadership in 2025.

In the middle of March we also get our first Virgo eclipse of this series, corresponding to the September eclipse in Pisces. We'll revisit the areas again in September with a Pisces and Virgo eclipse. The barrier between Aries/Pisces and Virgo/Libra sees a lot of activity in the first half of 2025. We'll definitely remember this year for the crazy Aries activity, though Austin predicts it'll come back to haunt us in 2026.

May-June-July Saturn enters Aries on May 24th, creeping up on Neptune and getting within a degree of him by July (~13th-14th), and then stationing retrograde. An outer planet's first station in a new sign signals what to expect, and Saturn and Neptune both do so in July (on the 13th and 4th respectively). From May 24th to September 1st we have Neptune and Saturn very close to each other and retrograding. Uranus enters Gemini on the 7th.

Jupiter in Cancer He enters in June of 2025, staying there until June of 2026. In this sign of his exaltation, he'll be counterbalancing some of the crazier transits of this year. He's also doing cleanup after Mar's messy transits earlier this year in the Cancer parts of our charts. Jupiter is a little folksy in Cancer--he's not just lavishing the wealthy, but is generous to everyday people as well. The Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) was enacted during Jupiter in Cancer in 2013-14 (a Jupiter under attack!), bringing important healthcare considerations to this placement (A/N: Cancer as a sign of nurturing and protection). In July of 1990 during Jupiter & Venus in Cancer, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed. Chris is wary of being too optimistic, but hopes that something good in healthcare is coming forward. This transit is a Jupiter return (every ~12 years) for the US Sibly chart, and also the repetition of a longer 83-year cycle where he hits the same degree on the same day--the third one since the US's founding, making this an especially potent Jupiter return. You'll notice that's only one year off from Uranus cycles, so we'll definitely see further reevaluations of the US's founding this year.

Generally, exalted planets represent someone at the highest level of their field, and Jupiter in Cancer is a sort of "get rich slow" planet. Success is cultivated, grown, and encouraged. In June & July Jupiter will square Saturn, though, a configuration that corresponds to financial and economic crashes. Jupiter in Gemini saw tech company crashes, but in a new sign we'll likely see new industries affected.

July & August: Outer Planet Teamup

Uranus enters Gemini on July 7th, the last of the slow outer planets to ingress to his new sign. From then til October 21st, we have the rare and powerful influence of several outer planets teamed up: Uranus sextiling Saturn & Neptune and trining Pluto (meaning Saturn & Neptune also sextile Pluto). This is a sort of pilot episode previewing what'll happen when they return in 2026. These planets shift from feminine water/earth signs to masculine air/fire signs, and each outer planet (except Pluto) will retrograde into his preceding sign in October & November, giving us a break from the teamup of big players for a bit. Mars in Libra will aspect all of these outer planets in August, making the configuration especially active then.

September - Eclipse Season Last September we saw our first Pisces eclipse of this series, and we'll have had another development with the first Virgo eclipse in March. Now we're firmly in Virgo-Pisces eclipses for the next 2 years. The September 7th and 21st eclipses will have us think about the big picture vs. granular details--how can we hold them in unison? The major endings & beginnings brought by eclipses are further punctuated by Saturn regressing back into Pisces on September 1st. Maybe a last set of upgrades need to be put in place in our Pisces area, though now our Virgo house is tied in as well.

October, November, December Neptune returns to Pisces October 22nd, Uranus to Taurus on November 7th, and Saturn stations direct for his last pass through Pisces on November 27th. A new chapter of our lives has begun, but we need to do a final check-in before things reach completion. The outer planet demolition team will be back on April 25th, 2026, where it'll stay until 2032-33. Neptune will station in Pisces on December 10th, another important Pisces turning point. Jupiter stationing in Cancer on November 11th is the cherry on top for the year ending where it began (but not to stay!). We end 2025 coming full circle on our sort of last look backwards before plunging for good into new--though not entirely unknown--territory.

[lazywriter-artist]

Unconventional Company

Warhammer/Helldivers/Halo crossover + writing warmup

Slowly Night clutched its wispy black tendrils around the planet and travel became difficult, forcing the Trio of trained soldiers to set up camp for the night. Seated around the fire the Space Marine would reach back into his satchel, digging out a large book as he leaned back some.

His voice, cutting through the settling air, rumbled the question “So pray tell guardsman, have you all finished your prayers? I hadn’t seen even a single one before battle…” He questioned, strangely nonchalant for how confused the other two were left. The other armored figures glanced to each other with small shrugs.

“prayers?” The spartan echoed, he had heard of a variety of religions back home and on various planets but with the mystery shrouding this giant already he really hadn’t taken the ‘marine’ to be much of a religious man. The Helldiver didn’t seem to be a fan of this topic however as he crossed his arms, leaning back with an aura of disapproval. He didn’t really trust this brick wall much already. Was too big of a guy. Never took off his armor…maybe he was an automaton. These prayers sounded very UN-democratic. Hmph.

Though their confusion deepened as the marine looked appalled, gently digging out an almost rosary like item with a large double headed eagle attached “ahah…yes?— your prayers to the God Emperor?” He pressed, the duo again glancing to one another.

“Doesn’t sound very democratic-“ growled the Helldiver as the marine gave off a sudden menacing aura. The spartan swiftly clapped the back of the helldiver’s helmet with his armored hand, clearing his throat to try and recover the situation, “Right! Right!! our prayers! How could we forget!?” He’d swiftly nod with growing anxiety as the Helldiver grumbled in complaint over being hit. The spartan wasn’t about to be ripped in two by this muscle man freak in super armor because the quack Helldivers like this one couldn’t see the writing on the wall.

“How indeed.” Snorted the armor clad wall of a man before allowing his original aggression, hesitantly, to fall away. “But it is only natural when fighting for the God Emperor.” He nodded matter of factly.

“For Liberty ya mean.” grumbled the Helldiver, receiving another smack to the helmet as the spartan cleared his throat once more “RIGHT! Yes! Perhaps you should lead us through one? We are a bit rusty—“

He gulped, worried of the marines reaction, hoping this would smooth it over. Even still he braced for the worst until— the marine seemed to light up? “Of course! I always am ready to show guardsmen new prayers for our God Emperor!” His deep voice bellowed as he would readjust to be closer to the two.

Despite the Helldiver disliking the idea the spartan forced ‘convinced’ him to go along with it, if only to just please this ‘Space Marine’ into not crushing them under his boot— and he had to admit, it was kind of endearing the joy the marine displayed as he traced over the strange words within his book, explaining these ‘prayers’ he picked out for them and how to say them.

…Maybe this wouldn’t be so bad?

Lovely dividers by @squishyowl (Imperial) and myself :) (Helldiver)

Yapping below the cut

Oh BROTHER this one took a lot. Idk y but hey it happens (mostly due to my inability to stay on a project for too long—) but anyhow

This bad boy had say in my inbox for a WHILE and in my notes even longer….i think I ported it over to tumblr around the time I made the original au post, meanwhile it’s been written since about I first made the au, so woof a while ago

This bad boy took a few months on and off again to complete just due to my spelling and grammatical errors and the whole not working 100% of the time on it X.X

But here it is!!! Idk if it was obvious but the crossover is a really fun idea to me and I definitely wanna do more with if- so we shall see 🥰

I’m just a big huge sucker for sci-fi stuff especially sci-fi battle stuff and these three being big poster children for that idk how I couldn’t

Anywho- thank you all for reading and u all are so cool and thanks to my moots who proof read it for me 🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶🫶✨✨✨💪💪💪💪

Everyone have a good day 🫶

[mangledmang0]

Nebula’s Culture Headcanons bc they’re my absolute favoritest favorite ever

—First—CONTEXT: Nebula was born on a planet not too far from Earth, but far enough that scientists haven’t yet located it (still figuring out a name for it). They were raised by scientists who dabbled in dangerous territory, and ended up having a meeting with the astrals. Nebula’s parents thought they could talk their way out of it, no one knew they were dealing with star power-no one had to know, either- but little did they know, Nebula was also interested in the star power. At only 7 years old, they snuck into their parent’s lab and got too close to their experiment… leading to a very bad burn, and the absorption of a small bit of power… Long story short, the astrals let Nebula’s parents live, but told them they had 2 options: The astrals killed Nebula, or Nebula went to space and transitioned into a celestial being. 

-The planet’s civilization is very keen on sticking to tradition when it comes to architecture and construction: using nets as walkways, building near waterfalls and rivers, primarily using wood for their homes, ect.

-The environment is very similar to Pandora’s from Avatar; luminescent leaves, ginormous trees, flowers that retract from touch, ect.

-Homes for civilians usually rest on the ground floor of forests, but also go up into the trees, plains, mountains, or even inside ravines.

-The water has a tangy aftertaste to it.

-Nebula mentioned that they had a resting spot in today’s episode, that spot is their old house, filled with things they found on different planets.

-The planet (due to some complications with the sun(can be viewed below) is pretty much wiped clean of Nebula’s species. The only people who’ve really survived were the people located in ravines and caves.

-The world’s climate experiences similar weather conditions to Earth, just a bit more extreme. Due to the rain feeling like hail all on its own, the leaves and flowers of the world are very strong (some require at least 10 minutes just to rip one leaf/petal off). Instead of snow/hail, the planet experiences something more like icicles falling from the sky. This results in colder regions to be desolate, and lots of traveling merchants to take longer routes just to avoid them.

-The people on the planet, despite avoiding the harsh weather as much as possible, still have the wings on the side of their heads so they can block the precipitation from hitting their face. (I personally like the wings as a feature on Nebula, and i wanted to give it a reason to be there)

-Speaking of: SN’s (temporary name for Nebula’s people) have stronger bones, especially their skulls, but still use head covers+other items to protect themselves from the weather

-Kingdoms aren’t a common thing. There were a few throughout history, but most got shut down fairly quickly. When Nebula went to space, there was only one kingdom standing. and even then, it was more of a democratic system than anything.

-Some castles still stand (albeit most are crumbling a bit), and usually stay abandoned as people pretend they aren’t there (a lot of them aren’t even marked on maps half the time). Though, some are historic sights that people can go and visit.

-SN’s have gods. They believe that the gods are curious of what their mother (the planet) has created, and spy on the people by taking the form of ordinary things (plants, animals, stars, sea rocks, the breeze, raindrops)

-The above is believed by the SN’s because there are multiple accounts of:

Animals that are supposed to die way before the SN’s end up outliving multiple generations, are outlandishly smart, and have a habit of just vanishing in a blink.

Plants staying in the same spot for hundreds of years while showing zero signs of decay or reproduction.

Breezes blowing open doors or windows after prayers from the SN’s.

Rocks stubbornly returning to a river bank or onto the sandy shores of a beach, even if it’s thrown out so far from the land you thought it was lost forever.

-The Sun is slowly dying, and it’s taking the world with it.