#issue 3.2

[konata-in-pony-world]

3.2 ponyville burns

[xthelastknownsurvivorx]

Something else I'm struck with now that you've laid out the two timelines is that based on the current one we're in, Mydei would have no way of knowing his identity of being Castrum Kremonos' crown prince. First, he was alone in the Sea of Souls for 9 years, then met his comrades who probably wouldn't have any reason to believe/know who he truly is, then went to kill the King. Unless Krateros or someone similar figured it out and told him, Mydei would have no reason to piece it together that he was the infant cast into the sea. So, again, unless the writers were being really careless, the two timelines theory seems like the most plausible explanation

Detangling Mydei's Backstories Backstory?

My last post, casting doubt on 3.2's revelation that Mydei's immortality is deliberate on his part, led to some interesting discussion in the comments that definitely reinforced my earlier thoughts that the inconsistencies in Mydei's backstory are too numerous to be accidental. Star Rail is not known for its flawless continuity (Robin and Sunday's backstory, I'm looking at you lol), but usually the inconsistencies are not so overt, and repeated so many times, that they become central to the entire plot of a character.

So I wanted to refine my earlier theory a bit: I'm cautiously optimistic that there are enough signs that the inconsistencies in Mydei's backstory are deliberate, and that the Mydei of the current cycle in Amphoreus is actively experiencing an entanglement between two different timelines, without (yet) consciously recognizing the incompatibility of his own "memories."

When we work from the standpoint that the events of Mydei's backstory can be separated into two distinct timelines, the inconsistencies vanish:

The "Sea of Souls" Timeline

This is the most prominent timeline, and the one that appears most accurate for "our" Mydei. In this timeline, Mydei was thrown into the Sea of Souls as a tiny infant and spent the first nine years of his life there. This is confirmed both in the flashback we're provided early in 3.1, as well as in Mydei's voicelines and character stories.

After nine years, he crawled out of the sea (possibly motivated by witnessing Tribbie's "star" in the sky). On the same day (or very near it), he met with a band of Kremnoan exiles.

Whether this was a larger group already, constituting a small "detachment" army of exiles, or just started with the five exiled friends and Mydei then grew into a small army by picking up other exiles over time, is still unclear. However, at this point, Mydei makes no mention of returning to Kremnos and instead goes straight from "leaving the sea" to "living ten years in exile:"

This is the key point of inconsistency between the two "halves" of Mydei's story--either he lived in Kremnos or he didn't. We can handwave here and say "Yes, he returned to Kremnos with his friends and they just hid their identities, leaving Kremnos years later in a self-imposed exile," but the story gives us absolutely no indication that this realistically could have happened. Mydei never once mentions hiding his identity, changing his appearance, or living a double life in the city, and never explains how he would have had access to the inner city of Kremnos ("as befitting a crown prince") and the royal library, yet still go totally unnoticed by his father or anyone loyal to Eurypon, including Krateros. (There's also no explanation at all for why he would have wanted to return to a city ruled by someone who tried to murder him and where he would have had to live life under a fake identity just to get by, but you know...)

Instead, the game does give us several pieces of information indicating that the five Kremnoan exiles did not return to Kremnos after meeting Mydei:

First, Mydei's character stories confirm that Mydei deliberately hid his name while traveling in exile across Amphoreus, indicating that he knew he would be recognized by Eurypon/Eurypon's loyalists if he didn't hide his identity. This awareness suggests it is extremely unlikely that Mydei could have returned to Kremnos without being identified:

This also suggests that, at this point in this timeline, no one in Castrum Kremnos knew for sure that Mydeimos had survived being thrown into the Sea of Souls and returned. This is further confirmed by a memory fragment where Krateros says there has been a "rumor" that the leader of the exiled Kremnoan army is one who "defied death." Krateros alone makes the assumption that this could be Mydei and decides to defect to aid him:

This memory suggests two things clearly: Mydei was not living in Kremnos at the time Krateros defected, and the exile of all of Mydei's friends must have taken place before they met Mydei, years in the past, as there is no way an entire small army could have been exiled from Kremnos, with Mydei in toe, and not at all attract Krateros's attention until after they were gone.

The idea that Mydei never returned to Kremnos is further enforced by Eurypon, who did not recognize Mydei when he confronted him, to the point that he didn't believe Mydei was even Kremnoan. This suggests that Eurypon not only didn't know Mydei's true identity--he'd never seen him before at all, making it extremely unlikely that Mydei was walking around Castrum Kremnos, talking to Chryseus Leo, and reading in the royal library all under some false identity for years. Eurypon certainly wouldn't have been capable of exiling someone he'd never seen before from Kremnos, in any case!

Therefore, we can assume the series of events in this timeline is pretty straightforward: Mydei entered the Sea of Souls as a baby, came out nine years later, went straight into a life of exile with his five friends, amassed power and support for ten years, and then returned to seek vengeance on his father.

The only remaining question in this timeline becomes "When did Mydei join up with Okhema?"

I think, in this timeline, it makes the most sense for Mydei to have only joined up with Okhema after killing his father. In 3.1, Mydei confirms to Phainon that all his friends died before he was able to kill his father, and that none of them ever made it to Okhema:

Therefore, the final order of events for the more prominent timeline is:

Dumped into the sea as an infant, nine years in the Sea of Souls

Ten years in exile with his friends amassing strength and support

Returns to Kremnos, kills his father, and the last of his friends dies that day

Then he defects to Okhema, leading any of the Kremnoans willing to follow him there.

By itself, this story makes perfect sense. If this was all the information we'd been given, there wouldn't have been any gaps.

Unfortunately, we also have a whole other set of information that massively conflicts with these events, which can only really be explained two ways: Either Hoyo messed up (again) and really dropped the consistency ball when it comes to writing Mydei's backstory... Or there's an entire separate timeline going on. Personally, I'm leaning toward the latter, because there are just too many seemingly deliberate fingers in the story pointing toward the inconsistencies for them to feel entirely unintentional to me.

Therefore, I propose that Mydei's memories are actually getting infiltrated by a second, entirely different timeline:

The "Gorgo Lives" Timeline

From 3.0 all the way to 3.2, we're given numerous pieces of information that point to a wholly different order to the events of Mydei's life, contrasting the story that Mydei tells Phainon in the Garden. At first, these events seem scattered and nonsensical, contradicting the "main" timeline in too many ways to be anything but errors... But when taken as a whole, we can build a second coherent timeline out of these events if we make one assumption: There is a timeline where Gorgo lived longer.

In the second timeline which is intruding on Mydei's memories, there appears to be one key point of divergence: Gorgo did not die dueling Eurypon. Either she never challenged him to the duel, or (more likely) she was never successfully poisoned, and therefore it's possible she won the duel, allowing her to rescue Mydei from the sea.

Working from that possibility, a second complete timeline emerges:

Mydei was thrown into the Sea of Souls as an infant but did not drift there for nine years. Instead, he was rescued and brought back to Kremnos, where he was allowed to grow up in the inner city, with access to both Chryseus Leo, who served as his teacher, and access to the royal library, which he is proud enough of to call "his" library. He is able to lead Phainon and the Trailblazer around Castrum Kremnos even in its ruined state because he grew up there, spending enough time there to know the city like the back of his hand:

This is where we can slot in the inconsistent memories Mydei has of Gorgo:

(By the way, although Mydei writes this scene off as a dream, you can actually hear Oronyx's whisper play in the black screen seconds before this "dream" occurs...)

But okay, let's say this is just a wishful dream. Maybe this scene never happened. If all we got of Gorgo supposedly raising Mydei was this moment in 3.1, I might agree that it was just a dream (other than there being no reason to play Oronyx's sound effect there, but you know). However, in 3.2 they then hit us with this:

That's multiple moments now pointing to a timeline where Gorgo raised Mydei. Once is handwave-able--twice? That's deliberate.

In this secondary timeline, Mydei appears to have grown up as Kremnos's beloved crown prince, being warmly embraced by his people (at least until Kremnos fell into calamity). Apparently his days consisted of eating pomegranates, training for combat, playing with Kremnos's kids, and hanging out with his five friends. We see snippets of this idyllic life (along with his five friends appearing to be roughly the same age as him--something that likely wouldn't be true in the "main" timeline, by the way) on Mydei's long march back into Castrum Kremnos:

I know some people took this to be Mydei hallucinating or just wishfully imagining a life where he was able to be happy with his friends, possibly even some metaphorical "encountering the souls of the departed in a paradise," but I don't think this is true. Every single time Mydei phases in and out of this "hallucination," the visual effect and the sound effect of Oronyx are distinctly played--the exact same sound and visuals that play when Trailblazer activates Oronyx's prayer to jump between timelines.

Mydei himself doesn't seem to quite understand what is happening to him in this moment, as you can hear him stumble and pant as he repeatedly goes through flashes of Oronyx's power. You can listen to comparison video clips on the prior post I made about Mydei's backstory.

Furthermore, if we work from the assumption that these moments actually represent a rupture between timelines, then the rest of the inconsistencies can finally be cleared up:

In 3.0, Mydei says that his choice to leave Castrum Kremnos was not a forced exile but a "self-imposed" one:

And this aligns with what he stated in the Garden of Life to Phainon, that he and his friends "left Castrum Kremnos" to go into this self-imposed exile, rather than having never returned to Kremnos from the sea:

Furthermore, this also aligns with the angry NPCs in the past version of Castrum Kremnos that Trailblazer and Castorice travel back to:

Remember that this version of Castrum Kremnos was supposed to be occurring while Eurypon was still alive, so there is absolutely no way this line makes sense in the same universe where Eurypon didn't even know Mydei had survived. There isn't any way, in "our" timeline, that Mydei could have been both the "crown prince" of Kremnos for these NPCs and completely unknown to his father, the king.

These NPCs, furthermore, directly accuse Mydei of "deserting Kremnos," suggesting that Mydei was living in Castrum Kremnos as their prince, and then abandoned them to join Aglaea in Okhema, getting himself and everyone who went with him labelled as "traitors to Kremnos" in the process. None of this makes sense in the context of a timeline where no one in Kremnos knew he had even survived.

Instead, all of these elements point to a different sequence of events:

Gorgo lived, likely winning her duel and thereby (likely) giving her the right to save Mydei from the Sea of Souls and bring him back to Kremnos. He was raised by his mother as the beloved crown prince of Kremnos. Then, years later, as his father and Nikador both descended into full madness, Mydei and the Kremnoan detachment defected.

But what would have triggered this sudden need to defect after years of leading Kremnos as a well-liked prince?

The flashback between Mydei and Eurypon actually suggests a possible reason:

Apparently, at some point, in some timeline, Mydei knew about Eurypon's plan to break Nikador's divinity into separate parts and seal him away, harnessing the power of their titan for himself.

Yet the Mydei of 3.0 seems to have no idea about any of this, never able to give any explanation for how Nikador has degraded so much nor why Nikador is seemingly unkillable. Castorice, Mem, and the Trailblazer have to come up with the idea to go back in time to the past Kremnos by themselves, because Mydei never makes any mention of there ever having been a plot to break up and seal away Nikador's divinity, even when they walk past the very blades that did the sealing.

Finally, there's one last piece of conflicting information: While talking to Phainon in the Garden of Life, Mydei states that all of his friends died before the detachment could ever join up with Okhema and that all of their deaths occurred by the time he went to kill his father. But this conflicts with the NPCs above, who state that Mydei had already defected to Okhema and joined the Flame Chase Journey as a Chrysos Heir while his father was still alive.

This inconsistency is further reinforced by a memory fragment with Krateros, who confirms that Mydei had joined up with Okhema already before killing his father:

Putting all of this together, the complete series of events for this second timeline becomes:

Infant Mydei is quickly rescued from the Sea of Souls, is instead raised by his mother, and grows up as the crown prince of Castrum Kremnos with his five friends.

At some point, years later, he discovers Eurypon's plot to break up and imprison Nikador's divinity, and he and his friends and supporters defect from Kremnos as a result.

Either they go straight to Okhema (I'm inclined to say that "ten years of wandering" doesn't fit, chronologically speaking, into this secondary timeline) or they do wander a bit, but ultimately, Mydei reaches Okhema and aligns with Aglaea before killing his father.

After aligning the Kremnoan Detachment with Okhema, Mydei returns to Castrum Kremnos to kill his father, possibly to halt Eurypon's evil plan to harness Nikador's power.

At some point in this timeline, presumably before Mydei returns to kill his father, Gorgo is likely still dies (possibly killed by Eurypon and/or Nikador), which explains why the Gorgo in the Sea of Souls seems to be the one convinced that she raised Mydei.

And this is just pure personal speculation, because there isn't enough evidence to really confirm it, but I almost feel like we can even pinpoint how/when the whole decision to defect to Okhema took place. At the end of Mydei's flashbacks to the "peaceful" Kremnos, Peucesta says that Mydei has been away from Kremnos for a while.

Leonnius assumes that Mydei was away on some apparently extended training trip, but this moment specifically ends with Gorgo welcoming Mydei home and asking him one very important question:

Obviously these lines are doing double duty, symbolically welcoming the present Mydei back to the ruins of Castrum Kremnos and asking him whether he's finally ready to take on his role as the "Guardian of Amphoreus." But as the wiki notes, this takes place in a flashback to the past, and for the "Mydei of the past" (aka the Mydei of the alternate timeline), this could very well have been Mydei disappearing from Kremnos to make contact with Aglaea in Okhema, and Gorgo questioning him about his decision to commit himself to the Flame Chase Journey, leading up to an ultimate and permanent defection from Kremnos. (This is just speculation though, trying to tie the last few loose ends together.)

Anyway, when taken from this perspective, that there are two separate backstories here, one from a world where Gorgo lived and the more prominent one where she died, we can sort all the seeming inconsistencies in Mydei's backstory into two surprisingly tidy and complete timelines.

I haven't yet found anything in any Mydei scene that doesn't fit one of these two scenarios, so I'm starting to definitely feel optimistic here that this writing was intentional, and that the "contradictory" backstory we're seeing for Mydei isn't "the worst continuity Star Rail has served up to date," but instead an actual deliberate choice to present us with a character whose memories are a hodge-podge of two divergent timelines, snippets of one timeline constantly erupting and "filling in the blanks" of the other.

I think this would be a fascinating way to lead up to the idea that Amphoreus's world isn't real, that it's a cobbled together story or set of memories that someone is barely holding together, and that it's constantly cyclical in nature, with events repeating with slight variations across times. The idea that Mydei is actually experiencing two different sets of memories crushed together into a tangled jumble and that he's only just now starting to become aware of the discrepancies would be such an excellent way to reinforce the "unreality" of Amphoreus's plot as a whole.

I really hope this is the direction that they take the story... Or at least that I won't one day be looking at all my Mydei posts and sadly thinking to myself that I put a lot more thought into the character's backstory than his own writers did, RIPPPPP. 😂😂😂

Cope with me, people!

[the-fandom-crossroads]

Nahida's Red Pill | Nahida's Story Quest (vod)

Terry and Nahida find a group of dreamers having a little too realistic of dreams. It's time to enter the Matrix and wake everybody up! Join Terry for this 3.2 vod.

You can join us for Genshin streams every Wed at twitch.tv/dougligaming!

[redsugarx]

Hanfu in Components: Hanfu Anatomy, Tops (pt 3.1)

navigation: hanfu in components 1 2 3.1 3.2 4 5 6 ...

Now that you know about the names of different garments, what about the parts of each garment? There are so many confusing terms!!! I gotchu :>

When looking at hanfu and parts of hanfu, it can help to see how the garment is constructed. To do that, we have to look at the pattern of the garment. Sewing patterns are the templates that tell sewists how to cut their fabric into the shapes that are needed to make their clothes. Hanfu sewing patterns are fairly standard. They look roughly like this.

(blue = shoulder fold line // red = center front // green = center back)

To help you understand how this all comes together, when defining different parts of hanfu anatomy, I'll show it on the sketch above, and also on photos of people wearing hanfu, highlighted in green.

身/SHEN1/BODY

This refers to the body of the garment—the part that would cover your torso. Typically there are two pieces of cloth making up the body: one on the left and one on the right.

Once again, one of hanfu’s main defining characteristics is that traditionally, THE SAME PIECE OF FABRIC MAKES UP THE FRONT AND THE BACK. There is no shoulder seam separating the front and back of the garment.

袖/XIU4/SLEEVE

袖 means sleeve (in both technical and colloquial terms). There are many shapes that the sleeve can take: they can be narrow like normal clothing or they can be big and dramatic like the kind you see in cdramas. Like the body, there is no seam separating the front and back of the sleeve—the sleeve piece is draped over the arm and sewn together at the bottom. Another important characteristic is that the sleeves are joined to the body at the bicep or elbow area, NOT at the shoulder. (Short or half-sleeve tops might not have a separate sleeve piece.)

領/领/LING3/COLLAR

領 means collar (in both technical and colloquial terms). This can refer to two things: one, the general shape of the neck area (round, square, standing, cross etc.) and the actual strip of fabric that is attached at the neck to form the collar.

襟/JIN1/LAPEL

This can be translated as collar or lapel; I choose to say lapel to distinguish it from 領. This refers to the area where an open-front top would open. It’ll look different based on the collar type—generally a 對襟/对襟/dui4 jin1/parallel collar top’s jin coincides with the front centerline.

With a 交領/交领/jiao1 ling3/cross-collar top, however, it would coincide with the outer edge of the collar. (Will have a more detailed post about this later.)

下擺/下摆/XIA4 BAI3/HEMLINE

Refers to the bottom hem of the garment. 下 means down/bottom. Note that 擺 can refer to different things in different contexts. If you see someone talk about the 下擺 of a top, they’re talking about this bit.

The following terms only apply to a subsection of hanfu tops and may have fewer images as a result.

衽/REN4/LAPEL EXTENSION

This one is a little harder to translate. Applies to non-parallel lapel tops like cross collar, diagonal-lapel standing collar, and overlapping round collar garments. It’s an extension of the BODY piece on the front, sewn to the vertical center front seam, that overlaps over the other side. (Will have a more detailed post about this later.)

衩/CHA4/VENT

Also called vents or slits—an optional open slit, usually made on each side of a longer shirt or robe, to allow for ease of movement. Might be combined with the word 開/开/kai1/open to form the phrase 開衩/开衩/kai1 cha4/open slit. Mostly applies to longer robes or tops, where the length reaches the knee, so that you don’t have issues with walking.

襴/LAN2/WAIST EXTENSION

Also a little harder to translate. This only applies to 襦/ru2/Ru tops and 襴衫/襕衫/lan2 shan1/Lanshan robes, plus some varieties that were derived off of those two. The 襴/襕/lan2 is an extra rectangle of fabric appended to the bottom of a shirt/top to extend its length. It can be made of a contrasting fabric or the same fabric, and often has pleats on the sides to allow for movement. (Will have a more detailed post about this later.)

緣/缘/YUAN2/TRIM

Refers to the trim or decorative contrasting bits on a piece of clothing. Specific location goes in front of the character. For example, 袖缘 means sleeve trim, aka the cuff. Some specific trims might have their own special names but that’s for another post.

Later post about skirts/pants to come soon!

navigation: hanfu in components 1 2 3.1 3.2 4 5 6 ...

[sleepyorchidmonster]

So, considering Genshin's latest trend of revisiting past storylines that had been mostly glossed over for the past 4 years or so (seriously, I remember freaking out over these things back in 2021)....

Since they've focused on Liyue (Hu Tao's role as a Director of Wangsheng Funeral Parlor), Inazuma (Raiden's dead friends, especifically Chiyo, that was MIA) and now Mondstadt (Albedo's fear of turning evil and destroying the nation + hints at whatever the fuck Venti is hiding), then they'll probably set their sights on Sumeru soon enough.

Sumeru and its unresolved issues of *checks notes* Collei having a vision of Dottore literally BURNING DOWN IRMINSUL at the end of Winter Night's Lazzo.

And, since we're talking about Collei, why don't we address the fact that she wasn't given a major role in the region's Archon Quests, even with her connections to Cyno, Tighnari and Dottore, or her ability to directly empathise with both Wanderer and Nahida, not to mention that line in her trailer "Even if it's a life-or-death situation, I'll never need to rely on their power again" that's not foreboding at all what do you mean haha...

Almost as if the Sumeru Archon Quests we got were a way to save Nahida, redeem Wanderer and heal Collei's Eleazar, establishing key players and setting up the board for what's to come in the future.

And about the whole "Burning of Irminsul Thing", like, I get that it's the fastest way to "Burn the old world for me", as per the Tsaritsa's words in the Shivada Jade Gemstone lore, but what would happen to Nahida?

Since she is a branch of Irminsul, is she technically safe from the flames burning away said branch? Will Mini Durin and Wanderer have to frantically locate the branch that represents Nahida and remove it from Irminsul while the others frantically try to keep the flames at bay?

(I've kind of always interpreted Rukkhadevata's (and Nahida's) connection to Irminsul as something akin to a dryad, so she's an avatar of the tree, and said tree is also directly linked to her life force, so if Irminsul dies, they die.)

Either way, letting Irminsul burn to the ground is all kinds of bad for Teyvat's lore and record-keeping (even if said lore can be easily edited via Irminsul), so everyone will do what they can to stop Dottore while Nahida is preparing for the worst and creating a bunch of fables (Venti has also saved some important details via songs and poems).

Anyway, while we probably won't be getting Sumeru that soon, since we're still in Mond and will probabky end up crash-landing in Nod-Krai soon enough (also you can't just turn such an important detail as the Burning of the WORLD TREE into a flagship event) here are some predictions and rambings:

- We might get a special appearance fron Albedo, Muni-Durin, Amber and maybe Ragbros, both as a nod to the manhua being placed i Mond, as well as Mini-Durin and Wanderer's connection;

- Collei and Wanderer friendship over their mutual dislike of the Doctor;

- Candance and Nilou, Sumeru's only hydro characters that were also heavily featured in the event "Chromatic Ode to Candies and Roses", where they took on the role of both Deshret and Nabu Malikata at Nahida's birthday party, now make up the main line of defense against the flames, once more representing the God-Kings of Sumeru;

- Eremites. Just the eremites. It's been almost 3 years since we've freed Nahida, so I want at least part of the quest delving a bit into how things have improved over this short amount of time. Like, it's impossible to fix so many sistemic issues in so little time, but Nahida has the determination and wisdom to pull it off, so it'd be nice to see the general public's opinion of their archon, especially considering how the eremites went from hating her to being qbsolutely crucial to the success of the 3.2 quest;

- LAYLA ARCHON QUEST APPEARANCE! I still can't fathom how in 3.2. we got a new character that we had never met before, not to mention a student from Rtawahist, A.K.A. the same Darshan as AZAR. Like, can you imagine if Layla's somnambulism somehow confused the Akasha system, to the point where they're technically still capable of dreaming, which allowed Nahida to befriend Night Layla? And Layla's erratic night behavious were part Night Layla shenanigans, part actual reconaissance for their archon? 3.1. Ending but Night Layla crashes the party by showing up at Aaru Village with a bunch of classified documents she stole from Azar? Day Layla being convinced she just traveled there for a project, but also helping Candance defend the village while the others are out?

- Amurta and Vahumana collaboration (they're trying to see if they can use Shouki no Kami to transplant Irminsul, results are still inconclusive);

- The fight plan would basically be Alhaitham, Dehya, Cyno and Sethos vs Dottore, while the others attempt to save Irminsul from the flames. Nahida is protecting Aaru Village with Faruzan, Layla, Jeht, the Pari and some other eremites while offering remote support (the last thing anyone needs is Dottore setting her on fire as well);

- Collei using the Archon Residue to suffocate the flames, which ends up killing two birds with one stone, since the fire may also weaken said Archon Residue;

- Apep appearance (let's say part of her agreement with Deshret involved assisting his allies in dire circumstances, also she is just repaying a favour);

- Dottore versus Aranaras (he's somehow losing).

[blackwaterbbq]

I have looked into the Honkai: Star Rail voice actor situation as much as a layperson conceivably can. I have found this information on where we stand with the remaining mute voices. Reddit rebuffed me (some guy demanded all current voice actors be fired entirely???). So I grant this analysis to you:

In short: everyone on this list was specifically kept away by selectively enforced union regs during the strike that ended June 11. All were willing to come back once that was relaxed, including the already-recast Trailblazers. Anyone not recast in the interim is now available and due to scheduling lag should be back around 3.5.

Currently missing Voice actors, by role:

1) Firefly (Analesa Fisher): Missing from 3.0, minor lines in 3.2.

- 'Actively jonesing to return' is maybe not an official category, but...

- Celebrated strike’s end, voiced Firefly’s anniversary letter, commented on Firefly skin, etc...

- Likely to return, barring behind-the-scenes issues.

2) Dan Heng (Nicholas Leung): Missing significant lines from 2.7-3.3 EDIT: CONFIRMED RETURNING as of July 1 25, likely in 3.5!!

- Most absent role, more so than the Trailblazers!

- No official return announcement; possibly under NDA.

- Confirmed desire to return per his close personal voice acting friends; potential return in 3.4 if he was able to come in by April.

- By far the part most at risk of recast.

3) Himeko (Cia Court): Missing some lines from 2.7 onward.

- Relieved about strike’s end, actively promotes Himeko role on social media.

- Shared useful resources on the voice absences more or less confirming the actors were kept away unwillingly by union rules.

- Likely to return around 3.5. Relatively safe unless some mass recasting occurs.

4) Kafka (Cheryl Texiera): Missing from 3.0, and a single line in 3.2.

- Primarily a live-action actress (It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia (no, seriously), and a Disney sitcom).

- SAG pressures on primarily screen actors may complicate return.

- There's a long history of getting a live action actor for your video game, and then they're unable to finish the project due to conflicting schedules or contracts. If she can't make it back it's likely in the same vein as this. I'd beg the fandom's understanding in this matter.

- Given her relatively minor absence and 5* status (their recasts take longer and are more likely to be soundalikes) seems unlikely to be recast for 3.4 unless she's just confirmed too hard to ever get back.

5) Our Trailblazers (Caleb Yen and Racheal Chau): Missing since ~2.7, replaced starting 3.3 by currently-anonymous actors.

- Caleb Yen:

- A fairly-prolific VA. All signs indicate he wanted to return but risked blacklisting in other roles. Bowing out here preserved a literal lifetime of future work.

- Rachel Chau:

-Seems to have gained SAG union membership IN THE TIME AFTER SHE WAS CAST AS STELLE. She was not bucking union rules to take the role. Union rules seem to have been thrust upon her later. This may have limited her ability to contest union pressure.

- She has already signed on as the protagonist of a new game though!

Again: everyone involved wanted to work. Any strike actions or attempted underhanded unionization drives or whatever you heard were not strictly speaking targeting Honkai:Star Rail. Everyone here was in the same situation Zach Aguilar and Sarah Miller-Crews (voices of the Genshin Travelers) were in. Why the Travelers got to come back while the Trailblazers — and anyone else we may lose in 3.4 — did not is going to be a question that bugs me for a long time to come… my best guess is that Rocket Sound (HSR dubbing company) is less lenient with cross-pressured talent than Side Global (Genshin’s) is. Which sucks as HSR seemed best-situated to deal with a handful of muted voices right up until May 19 or so…

I hope this information helps provide context to someone, anyone. I’ve learned a great deal compiling it so if there are any questions, feel free to ask away.

[usafphantom2]

‘Flying at over Mach 3 is a thermal problem. Everything is too hot, including any air you slow down to interact with the vehicle. You are trying to make the vehicle (and the pilots inside) survive for hours in a pizza oven, while they are getting cozy with two 500 million BTU/hour flamethrowers,’ Iain McClatchie, an aviation and turbine engine expert

Quora.

‘When you look at a graph like this, your first impression might be that the vehicle is this glowing hot thing slicing through the icy -52 C air at 80,000 feet. So naturally, you think of the air as cooling the airplane down.

NO…Not so much. The air has to change to the vehicle’s speed to touch the vehicle, and that requires work. That work heats the air. At Mach 3.2, the stagnation temperature of the air is 740 F, which is hotter than every (labelled) point on the above graph! (The nacelles around the engine afterburners, unlabelled, are in fact hotter than the air around them

Basically, the shocks from the airplane heat the air around it, but the vehicle itself cools the air in contact with it down. Once the airplane passes by, all that disturbed air tumbles to a stop, leaving a path of hot air through the upper atmosphere.

‘So back to life in the pizza oven. The basic solution is (a) leave most of the airframe hot and make it out of stuff like titanium and stainless steel that are strong when hot, and (b) start with a large amount of cold fuel, and then dump heat from critical areas into the fuel before burning it. When decoupling from an aerial tanker, half the SR-71’s weight was fuel.

‘A special type of kerosene fuel, JP-7, was developed for the SR-71 to be good as a heat sink. It boils away at 285 C at 1 atmosphere pressure, which is the upper end of the kerosene range. When the plane tanked up at 30,000 feet, the kerosene might start below 0 C. At speed, it would be used to cool the avionics and cockpit, and by the time it arrived at the engine it would get up to 177 C. It was then used as hydraulic fluid for the various engine actuators, primarily the variable geometry nozzle. By the time it got to the fuel injectors it had gotten up to 316 C (but wasn’t boiling because it was at several atmospheres of pressure). At cruise the burner cans were at 330 kPa (about 3.3x the pressure at sea level), so the fuel still didn’t boil as it left the nozzles but the droplets would have evaporated very quickly.’

McClatchie continues;

‘JP-7 is mostly a mix of hydrocarbons centered around C12H26 (dodecane). The graph above shows the vapor pressure of dodecane as a function of reciprocal absolute temperature. That makes it a bit hard to read. 0.0024, for instance, is 417 Kelvin which is 143 Celsius. Liquids start to boil when their vapor pressure is greater than the ambient pressure. I’ve labelled the boiling point of dodecane at 2900 Pa, which is the absolute pressure at 80,000 feet, and 13000 Pa, which is the minimum absolute pressure in the SR-71 fuel tanks. Note that the dodecane component of JP-7 starts to boil at 162 C at sea level… quite a bit less than the advertised 285 C which is actually when the stuff boils away completely.

‘The flash point of JP-7 is 60 C. The fuel was held in tanks whose walls were formed of the skin of the vehicle. Since fuel vapor against the top skin of the vehicle would be well over 60 C during cruise, if air was allowed in any ignition source in the tank would cause a deflagration and destruction of the vehicle. Instead, nitrogen gas from a 260-liter liquid nitrogen dewar was used to pressurize the tanks. This would have mostly been an issue during descent, when the ambient pressure rose and extra gas was needed to fill the tank ullage space. Click on the full article to read more.

Written by Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[mariacallous]

Kevin Lee’s father used to grunt in affirmation if someone asked if Lee was a girl. He did the same if someone asked if Lee was a boy. Growing up in the 1980s in Guiyang in southwestern China, Lee was relatively withdrawn, in part because he didn’t know what gender he was. He was less sensitive than the girls, he said. But he looked different than the boys.

Lee came out to his parents when they asked him about dating. He said he wasn’t interested in dating men and that he saw himself as male. They said “OK” and ignored the issue. Their response, Lee said, felt like being shoved back inside the closet.

It’s not uncommon for transgender people to get a negative reaction from their parents when they come out. But parental support is particularly crucial in China, where trans people need parental consent to undergo gender-affirming surgery and change their legal gender—even as adults. (If their parents are deceased, trans people must prove that to authorities.) These hurdles often make it harder for trans people to obtain care.

Lee, who wanted to pursue the surgery, said he considered the consent requirement an effort to prevent parents from seeking legal or physical retribution against doctors. “They’ll make a scene,” he said of parents who may not support their child’s decision to undergo surgery. “There will be family members taking out knives to kill doctors. It will become a social issue.”

That was one of the reasons Lee didn’t pursue gender-affirming surgery in China. “My mom is conservative,” he said. Though consent forms can be forged, he didn’t want her to go after the doctor who helped him.

In China, the need to obtain parental consent for gender-affirming care forces families to resolve their differences about the procedure ahead of time, dealing with drama or disagreements inside the family. According to Cherry, an LGBTQ+ organization worker, who requested the use of a pseudonym to protect their safety, the requirement exists to avoid parents causing a stir at the hospital.

It is also the product of a Confucian and patriarchal way of organizing society, Cherry said. For instance, police who want to put pressure on young queer activists often visit their parents’ workplaces and out them—so that the target has to deal with the ensuing family drama. “The person is managed through the family so they don’t become a problem in the public domain,” Cherry said.

The first gender-affirming procedure in China was carried out in 1983. The process entered the mainstream consciousness when Jin Xing, a famous dancer and TV presenter, recorded her surgery in a documentary released in 2000. Her father, a military officer, gave her his unconditional support. He even went to the local police station and demanded that they give Jin Xing a new ID card that reflected her gender.

That kind of parental support is rare. A 2021 report by the Beijing LGBT+ Center, which was shut down in 2023, found that only 3.2 percent of fathers and 5.9 percent of mothers in China “completely supported” their children after they came out as transgender.

Some conservative parents who do not accept their children’s gender identities send them to conversion therapy. A trans woman successfully sued a hospital last year for being subjected to electroshock therapy and being held against her will for three months. “People making policies lived through the Cultural Revolution,” Cherry said. “There’s a fear of not being the same,” they said, referring to the great emphasis placed on collectivism during that time.

Xiaoma, who grew up in the small city of Huzhou in southeastern China and requested a pseudonym to protect her privacy, recalled that before the internet reached her town, her first encounter with trans culture came from tabloids sold by street vendors, which told sensationalist stories about trans people. In phone directories, she saw advertisements for gender-affirming operations alongside those for double eyelids and breast augmentations. When she came out to her parents and told them she wanted to get gender-affirming surgery, “there was crying, there was arguing,” she said.

“There is a saying: Your body, your hair, your skin is from your parents,” said a doctor working in fertility who spoke on the condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to talk to media. Ties between generations are close: “Most parents will think you’re always their child and that they have authority over you,” she said. To her knowledge, gender-affirming surgery is the only surgery undertaken by adults in China that legally requires parental consent. Other major or high-risk surgeries, such as heart surgery, often require a family member’s consent, but it can come from another direct relative or a spouse.

Xiaoma’s parents eventually acquiesced to her gender identity, even offering to help pay for a better doctor for gender-affirming surgery than she could afford on her own. Still, she couldn’t bring herself to ask for their consent. “Acceptance is one thing. Asking them to sign a consent form is another,” she said, since it would require that they actively support her decision rather than simply tolerate it. Xiaoma instead traveled to Thailand, where she could get the surgery without asking for anyone’s approval.

The barrier posed by parental consent has led to the growth of a gray industry of illegal surgeries and hormone replacement drugs in China. People exploring their sexuality and gender identity often turn to sources outside the public medical system for guidance.

When Lee was looking into gender-affirming surgery, he turned to the online forum Baidu Tieba, which is similar to Reddit. He reached out to people posting about which hormone replacement drugs worked and which did not and bought the drugs they recommended. He joined a group organized by drug sellers on the social media platform QQ, where the group’s 1,500-plus members could purchase the drugs.

After taking the medicine, Lee felt strange, and his periods got heavier. When he complained about these side effects, the drug sellers pushed him to get surgery. They told them that unless he did, he’d still be a woman. He believed everything they said. “To put it nicely,” Lee said, “they brainwashed me.”

Lee flew to Shanghai to visit the hospital where these sellers worked; he said he saw them sell the same medicine directly to another patient, a 16-year-old boy, in exchange for cash—far from standard procedure in Chinese public hospitals. Lee left and took a walk along the city’s waterfront, processing what he had seen. He turned it over in his mind. Something felt wrong.

Lee sent the hormone replacement drugs that he bought to a lab for testing. The results revealed that they were substandard anabolic steroids made from a mix of veterinary drugs. “It’s like they sold me an iPhone but just a shell,” he said. “I didn’t know what brand of battery they replaced it with, and it could explode.” When Lee applied to study abroad in Australia, he didn’t initially pass the health tests required to obtain a visa because the drugs had affected his liver and kidneys. “I was responsible for my own ignorance,” he said.

There have been some victories for China’s trans community over the past decade, such as winning a landmark work discrimination case in 2016. But it is still very difficult for trans people to change their gender on the education certificates often required by employers, which in effect outs them. Public medical insurance doesn’t cover hormone replacement therapy and gender-affirming surgery.

In 2022, China released regulations that lowered the minimum age for gender-affirming surgery from 20 to 18 and removed a requirement that people undergo a year of psychiatric treatment before surgery. It also lowered the threshold for changing official ID documents: Though the Chinese government used to require that individuals had undergone full reconstruction of their sex organs, a person can now apply for a new ID after having their reproductive organs removed—a less complex surgery that nevertheless carries medical risk.

However, those looking to change their IDs still face obstruction from local administrators, who are not always up to date on the regulations, slowing down the process.

“I was very willing to go for surgery” after reading the new regulations, Lee said. He chose to have gender-affirming surgery in Thailand rather than in China, in part because he did not want to push for his parents’ consent when he knew they did not approve of his decision. He also wanted to avoid causing them more pain. “I don’t want my parents to be gossiped about on the street,” Lee said. “My parents live in a small city where everyone knows each other.”

Lee flew to Bangkok and stayed in the hospital for four days. While he was undergoing surgery, he dreamed of Burger King. When he woke up, he had a hamburger and then vaped.

The ensuing paperwork did not go as smoothly. After returning to China, he started the process of changing his ID card in the island province of Hainan, where he previously lived and was registered as a resident. It was the start of a legal tug-of-war. The administrators asked him to prove that he was a man. He asked them to prove that he was a woman. They found reasons to delay the process, and he had to keep flying back and forth from Guizhou in southwestern China, where he currently lives.

At one point, Lee lost his temper and told the authorities that he would make a reel on Douyin, the mainland Chinese counterpart to TikTok, or talk to the media about his experience. He eventually received his new ID card.

Though China leaves a route open for trans people to pursue gender-affirming surgery, the government actively discourages open trans activism and advocacy. Under its current leadership, China has seen a rise in nationalist rhetoric and heightened distrust of foreign influence, leading to a crackdown on international funding for local organizations, which often rely on such support.

In 2016, the government passed the Overseas NGO Law, which made it more difficult for grassroots organizations to receive funding from international donors. Organizations such as Cherry’s, which received overseas funding before the law was passed, have had to shrink the scope of their work significantly.

Before 2016, Cherry and their colleagues used to go to schools and universities to talk about sexual diversity. They displayed the Pride flag openly and organized rainbow-themed runs and cycles.

The organization still helps transgender people who are looking into surgery, providing them with information on where to stay, which doctors are friendly, and which hospitals can provide the appropriate medicine. They also put on small-scale gatherings and carry out sexual disease prevention work.

But the organization must now report any gathering with more than 10 people to the police for approval, which is not a given. Ahead of dates the authorities consider politically sensitive, such as International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia or International Women’s Day, Cherry’s organization receives calls from the police checking that it will not hold any events, according to people who work there.

Advocating for the rights of sexual minorities and displaying symbols such as the Pride flag are increasingly considered by authorities as proof of foreign influence. “Anything involving the Pride flag is not allowed,” said Lotus, who works with Cherry and also asked to use a pseudonym for fear of political retribution.

“There are many voices telling us to shut up,” Lotus said. A lot of people online take the attitude “We respect you—just don’t speak out.” Though the comments are made by private individuals, that social media moderators do not delete them shows that the comments reflect an “official stance,” they said.

The main sources of funding for Lotus and Cherry’s organization are now state bodies, including the China’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention and the All-China Women’s Federation, which focus on AIDS prevention rather than trans advocacy. The organization can receive money from these bodies when their work aligns with that objective.

Lotus gestured to a jar near where we were sitting in their office, which contained a miniature Pride flag alongside China’s national flag. “If we only put the Pride flag, there would be a problem.”

Lee now runs his own company, selling prosthetics to trans people. He drives a bright orange electric vehicle that bears a sign saying, “I’m a straight guy.” Despite the red tape that he encountered in his transition, Lee told me that he considers China’s policies to be friendly toward trans people. He pointed to other countries such as North Korea, where transgender issues are not formally addressed in law, or Russia, where trans people are not permitted to change their legal gender. In Thailand, trans people cannot change their ID cards following surgery.

He acknowledged that many trans people were reluctant to acknowledge their past for fear of discrimination. He often fielded questions from other people in the trans community asking him how he dealt with showing his education certificates to employers. But since he is self-employed, he has not faced that issue.

Lee had little contact with his parents before his surgery, and that did not change after he returned to China from Thailand. When I spoke to him in January, he said he planned to travel over the Lunar New Year holiday to Xishuangbanna in southwestern China. I asked him if he planned to see his parents, and he said he might see his father, that they might even travel together. He didn’t think his mother would want to join them.

[trickricksblog08]

The Twin Towers were white elephants that their owner, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, had wanted to demolish for years but could not as the buildings were loaded with asbestos that would have cost millions to remove.

Among other issues, the buildings were not wired for WIFI and the occupancy rate was below 50%. Why on earth would anyone want to lease these antiquated pieces of trash properties?

Why indeed?

In January 2001, Silverstein made a $3.2 billion bid to lease-purchase the World Trade Center complex. Silverstein's negotiated bid was finalized on July 24, 2001, less than 2 months prior to 9/11. The Port Authority agreed to lease the twin towers to Larry Silverstein and he agreed to pay the equivalent of $3.2 billion over the next 99 years. This was the first time in the complex's 31-year history that it had changed management.

The lease agreement applied to One, Two, Four, and Five World Trade Center, and about 425,000 square feet of retail space. Silverstein put up just $14 million of his own money to secure the deal. The agreement gave Silverstein, as leaseholder, the right and the obligation to rebuild the structures if destroyed.

The insurance policies for World Trade Center buildings WTC 1. 2, 4 and 5 had a collective face amount of $3.55 billion and the insurance policy he took out included protection against terrorist attacks.

🔗Vincent Kennedy 🇺🇸

[stariikis]

wordle wars | sim jaeyun

desc ; beating jake in any new york times game is nearly unimaginable. nearly. you've done it before, but it's a rare occurrence. so what happens when you surprisingly beat him in all the games there are to offer on that website?

pairing ; smart!simjaeyun x gf!reader genre ; fluff, established rs, hs setting wc ; 920 notes ; yes this is based on today's games lol. what was that mini crossword though...

“this is boring,” you mutter, probably a little too loudly because your physics teacher glances your way and frowns. lowering your voice, you whisper to your seatmate, busy copying down what’s on the whiteboard. “let’s play wordle.” 

jake gives you a half skeptical, half exasperated look. “we’re supposed to be doing practice 3.2, you know that?” 

unbothered, you stick your tongue out at him and taunt him, “you don’t play now, you automatically lose for today! ‘cause i’m going to get it right now.” 

it’s become a daily habit for you and your boyfriend to exchange a knowing look in the middle of class, and hurriedly type in the familiar link to see who’ll get the five letter word first. fortunately for you, your boyfriend just happens to be your seatmate, and it seems you have escaped the wrath of your teachers knowing about your relationship. because otherwise they would have put you in one corner and him in the other. 

it’s amazing how they haven’t separated the two of you, though, for the amount of noise generated from your side of the classroom. but you’re sure every outburst of uncontrollable laughter makes them regret their decision more and more everyday. 

usually, jake’s the one who figures out the word first, or with fewer guesses. you make a fuss, complaining about how he’s ‘totally cheating his way through’. ‘how?’ he asks, smiling in a bemused manner, and you’ll just accuse him of looking up the word or peeking at your screen. other times, when you win, you (obviously) make a fuss, and seize the chance to gloat about your achievement. 

he may be better at english, but you never lose when it comes to teasing him. 

so, threatened by your previous taunt, jake fiercely types in the link, sliding his laptop so you can’t see his screen. 

“it’s okay,” you jeer, turning up your nose his way. “i don’t need to see your screen to win. unlike someone.” 

“how many times do i have to tell you i don’t cheat??? i’m just smart. you have a skill issue.” 

oh, you’re so going to beat him today. 

you type in the five letters of your favourite starter word, 

heart

the ‘e’ is probably at the end. ugh, these words are stupid, it could be forever until i get it right. 

you sneak a glance at jake’s screen just to provoke him, and you’re met with a competitive glare. 

“no peeking. see? you always do this,” he whines, shoving your shoulder. 

rolling your eyes, you lean back and type,

blume

damn, the ‘e’ isn’t at the end. that’s funny. then it’s at the start. here… what word starts with ‘eb?’ 

ebony

when the letter tiles flip over to reveal a fully green word, you gasp a little too loudly and shake jake’s arm. which earns you a stare from your teacher again, but he says nothing. does he even care about what you do in class? probably not. 

“i got it, in three! it’s hard today,” you giggle, mentally crossing your fingers he doesn’t humble you by getting the word in two. (you’ll actually hide and repent.)

jake immediately turns your way and grins. you can’t tell if he’s acting, or if he’s actually beaten you. “i got it in one.” 

“no way, you liar!” you slide the laptop so you can see his screen. unsurprisingly, he hasn’t gotten it. in fact, he’s already submitted three guesses without figuring out the word. hence, you are victorious. you smugly reach over and flick his arm. 

“yeah yeah, i didn’t. but i’ll beat you in the other games.” 

when he finally gets the word, you move on to connections, and you beat him for this one too, though it takes you both some time. because in what world is ‘fathom’ a unit of length? why is ‘yard’ under that same category and not under ‘____ sale?’ jake mutters something under his breath about how american the system is when you show him the answers. 

strands is easy to you, but for some reason it takes jake some time to realise the theme. (‘you don’t know anything art related, do you?’ ‘obviously not. that’s why i’m in this physics class with you, stupid.’) 

soon enough, class is over, but you haven’t finished playing all the games. on the way home, you challenge each other to set a new high score on spelling bee, see who solves the hardest sudoku first, and battle to get the lowest timing for the mini crossword. 

you beat him for every single one. 

by the time you have to part ways and say goodbye, jake’s rolled his eyes enough times for them to stay stuck there at the top of his head. your teasing just never ends, even until the final moment. 

jake opens his arms for his routinely goodbye hug, and when you give it to him, you can’t help but to whisper, “i think i’m starting to get better at these dumb games. better than you.” 

instead of getting annoyed like you hoped he would, he merely replies with a short kiss on your cheek, “maybe you’re just a genius today, baby. must have donated some of my brain cells overnight. i’ll beat you tomorrow.” 

though the flirtatious quip he deadpans does throw you off a little, you can’t let it affect you. through a slightly blurred vision and warm cheeks, you laugh it off and wave as you walk your separate way home. “you can try.”

more of my works >

[cozy-sims]

Linux update! (And a few Nvidia tips)

After a dreadful day of trying to make this work, I'm reporting that The Sims 2 finally works on my new Linux system! 😭❤️ Admittedly I have made my own life harder setting this up, but the most important thing I've learned from this experience and thought it might worth sharing:

Before you try to install TS2 on your Linux, make sure that you have your graphics card's driver updated!

When I first installed The Sims 2 on Linux it was incredibly laggy and choppy, because the default Nouveau driver didn't work well enough with my Nvidia card. After I installed the Nvidia driver from the built in driver manager, the game just straightup crashed.

Then I had to find out that Mint's driver manager couldn't install the newest driver for my card (RTX 3070), and even when installed, it didn't work. 😂

So if you have an Nvidia card and struggling or planning to install Linux in the future, below the cut are a few useful tips that I've discovered in the depths of the Internet:

Check what driver the official Nvidia site recommends for your GPU. - I did this and it showed driver version 570.

2. I think this is optional, but open your terminal and type the cmd: sudo apt update - this will trigger Linux to update its driver list.

3. Open Driver Manager, and see if the recommended driver (570 in my case is available). For me it was not available, only the 550, this was my issue.

3.1. If you can see your required driver, awesome, install it from the driver manager and skip to step 5. 3.2. If not, you have to use this PPA. -> Meaning you have to open your terminal and enter the following commands (when I list multiple commands to run, first type the first one, press enter, then type the next one, press enter etc.): sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ ppa sudo apt update You can also find installation guide on the link above, but it's basically this. 4. Now you have to restart your system, and repeat Step 3. of this list. The newest driver should show up in your Driver Manager now, install it.

5. After installing, open your terminal and type the following command: inxi -G -> this will allow us to check if the driver works properly. Shock, it did not for me :D When working properly, it should look like this:

Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X: loaded: nvidia gpu: nvidia,nvidia-nvswitch resolution: 1:1920x1080~60Hz 2: 1920x1080~60Hz When not working, it looks like this: Example 1: Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.11 with: Xwayland v: 23.2.6 driver: X: loaded: nouveau unloaded: fbdev,modesetting,vesa failed: nvidia

6. This is the thread that helped me fix this problem. You have to scroll down to the Nvidia Graphics troubleshooting tips.

7. I had to add this "kernel boot parameter": nvidia_drm.fbdev=1 into the system. On this link you can see how to add it either temporarily or "permanently" (meaning you don't have to add it every time you start your system, but it is removable).

To add it permanently, you have to type the following commands into your terminal:

sudo nano /etc/default/grub GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash nvidia_drm.fbdev=1" sudo update-grub

8. After you added it, reboot your system, and when it starts again, check if the parameter is there with the command: cat /proc/cmdline

9. If it's there, run the inxi -G command again, and see if it looks like it should.

10. If not, you might have to update the Kernel version of your Linux, which you can do in the Update Manager/View/Linux Kernels menu. I had to update mine from 6.8 to 6.11.

After all this you should be good to install the game, I made my life so much harder than it was necessarily so I hope my research on how to deal with an Nvidia Graphics card with Sims 2 on Linux is helpful to some of you. 😂

[azari-31]

All the right moves - Joaquin Torres masterlist

Here are a hyperlinks to the new short story with our new Falcon!

Summary: After 3 years of radio silence, Izzy Deveroux shows up unannounced at her friend's door looking for help. Little did she know, her feelings towards the new Falcon didn't fade.

Word count: approx. 8300

Warnings: none, just two idiots having communication issues :)maybe a little bit ooc Joaquin; about parts 3 - one is angst one has a happy ending. You can guess by the titles which is which 😅

part 1 - Back to you

part 2 - The one who left

Part 3.1 - All my secrets away

Part 3.2 - What have they done to us

Playlist with songs I was inspired by

Also, if you're into another Latino man from MCU, here's other work of mine, old one may I add 😅

Two worlds collide - Namor x OC

[nerdygaymormon]

I was listening to a podcast of Sheri Dew and Elder Holland and he talks about his musket talk at BYU. Have you listened to it? If so, what did you think about that part and how he talks about how much he's cried?

I was not aware of this, thank you for bringing it to my attention. For everyone who is interested, here's a link.

He speaks quite a bit about how this has been a tough year for him as he has lost his wife and his health challenges, he speaks a tribute to his wife, he follows this by talking about his faith in the Book of Mormon. He follows up by saying that people wrestle with questions which cause them to lose faith and he mentions race, church history, and LGBTQ issues. He says to cling to what faith you have and these other things will get sorted out.

At 34:32, Sheri Dew asks about his remarks at BYU 3 years ago, which most of us know as his musket fire talk. He speaks for 3.2 minutes, going to 37:52

Elder Holland said what he was trying to get across to BYU leaders is to be loyal to the LDS Church's teachings, not to say things which challenge those teachings or are aimed at church leaders. He knows that some were hurt by his remarks, and that their pain hurts him and he's wept for 3 years. He's wept as he meets with BYU students who experience "gender issues." He loves them. He declared that the BYU campus is safe for everyone. He has spent hours and hours and hours meeting with "kids who struggle with gay issues."

I'm glad he was willing to speak about this, and he spends a lot of time talking about how much he's wept and how he is hurt because other people felt hurt. It's obvious he feels deeply about this.

However, his remarks left me feeling a certain way, and I don't think it's the way he hoped.

If LGBTQ students are so safe at BYU, why is he needing to meet with so many who are struggling?

How did his address to faculty and staff to defend "the doctrine of the family and defending marriage as the union of a man and a woman" help make campus more safe for queer students?

If he recognizes that his remarks hurt many, why is his speech now included in a class required of BYU freshmen?

Did he ever apologize to Matt Easton, the gay valedictorian, whom he publicly called out in his speech?

If BYU is safe for queer students, why can't they have an on-campus student group?

Why are the university's LGBTQ resources located in the Women's Services office and not in the Office of Belonging where other anti-discrimination & inclusion efforts are located?

I'm aware that our top LDS leaders have a policy of not apologizing. I feel that Elder Holland tries to come close to doing so in these comments. Even if he's not apologizing for defending teachings which exclude and marginalize queer people, I wish he would've said something like he wishes he phrased things in a way that was less hurtful.

I know gay individuals who have met with Elder Holland and share that he was caring, and wept with them. He is aware of the hurt and pain they experience in this church.

It sounded like this podcast episode was recorded near the beginning of August, shortly before the latest Handbook changes regarding transgender members was released. I suppose he feels hurt because of the trans members who feel hurt by the latest restrictions, and it causes him to weep. We need more than his tears.

[katyawriteswhump]

love and other catastrophes at the omega cafe (8.2/8) The end 🐈‍⬛

Summary: Steve is a runaway Omega who gets a job at an Omega café, where he’s basically paid to curl up and purr in Alphas’ laps. It’s legal, and he earns a living, rents his own place. He’s getting along fine for a packless Omega. Then Alpha rockstar Eddie Munson turns up for an hour of ‘kitty’ petting, and shatters Steve’s fragile little world… Rating: E; Tags: omega steve, alpha eddie, a/b/o dynamics, fluff and angst, sexual content, very fluffy ending, reference to mpreg. 💚

Chapter 1 on tumblr (also index post)Chapter 2 Chapter 3.1 Chapter 3.2 Chapter 4.1 Chapter 4.2 Chapter 5.1 Chapter 5.2 Chapter 6.1 Chapter 6.2 Chapter 7.1 Chapter 7.2 Chapter 8.1 Complete fic on Ao3 Also, thank you so much @moonjelly69 you are the best and this ending is for you 💚

🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

Chapter 8.2

Steve awoke in the softest-ever nest, with an Alpha body spooned cosily around his, and with gentle nibbling kisses warming his claim mark.

“Morning, Stevie,” whispered Eddie. “You okay?”

Steve’s answer trickled from his happily sleepy soul: “I’m feeling perfect.”

“Not sore anywhere?”

“Uuuuuuh… Gimme a sec?” Steve’s mind started roving through yesterday’s wild ride. The not-so-great parts, he skimmed over. They seemed to have no place in this sun-drenched morning.

Onto the good parts, then.

The bite had hurt. Christ, it was a gooooood hurt. When Eddie drank, the suction created a light sting, and the edges of Steve’s consciousness had flickered and grayed. At the same time, his mind opened up and he’d whirled, weightless, through starry skies, and he’d not been alone there. He’d felt so very safe, like he did now, and Eddie was Steve’s universe, and Steve was his. He’d wailed with a strange, searing joy, and when Eddie replaced teeth with that healing tongue, he’d landed back in his body with a pain-free splash.

Right now, the bite was slightly sore. The emptiness in his tummy and the mess of slick between his legs bugged him way more. Oh, and the lowkey fever simmering beneath his skin. And the fact his hot, hard, naked Alpha had a raging hard-on slabbed against the curves of Steve’s ass rather than wedged inside his pussy.

“I’m hungry,” Steve said, at length. “I sort of want breakfast, tho’ I need your knot more. Jesus! I think your bite induced a mini-heat or something.”

Eddie rubbed Steve’s tummy, and his laugh zinged deliciously across his claim mark: “If I lie here much longer, I’m gonna be in full-on rut. Not that it’s a problem. Just wanna be totally present for you.”

“As long as your dick is constantly present, I’ll be fine. The rest of you is kinda meh, tbh.”

“Bad Omega angling for a light spanking?” Eddie flicked Steve’s ear, and Steve mulled the idea over. That actually sounds kinda hot. “How about I order coffee and muffins,” said Eddie, “then we fuck, have breakfast in nest, then fool around more?”

The weekend was literal heaven. While Steve was slightly woozy, it felt like being happily buzzed, with no hint of headache or nausea. Eddie didn’t spank him. He did spoil him rotten in every other way, including massaging and kissing his feet when they weren’t even cold, and barely letting him out of the nest all day Saturday. Steve’s main discomfort came from not having Eddie inside him. Still, mild heat pangs were completely endurable knowing he had his Alpha to cater to his every whim and fill him at a heartbeat’s notice.

On Sunday, Steve felt up to brunch on the veranda. They made love in every room apart from Wayne’s—who was staying in a hotel, for obvious reasons. They even fooled around in the pool, though only after Steve had planted his hands on his hips and stamped his foot about it.

“I’m totally fine to swim, Eddie! You make me wet constantly. What difference would a dip make?”

He was in such a state of carefree bliss that he only recalled the issue about the filters later. Eddie said he’d take care of it, made a call, and by Monday morning, they owned the apartment. “We need a base in the city, so you can visit your friends. Now we can bathe in your slick to our hearts content.”

“Gross!” said Steve, crinkling his nose. He still loved that Eddie wanted it. The pool seemed fine anyway.

When Eddie announced he was gonna cancel the album-launch gig, however, they had their closest thing to an actual row. “You can’t let your fans down!” protested Steve. “Believe it or not, I can totally handle a few hours without you.”

“Yeah, but can I handle any without you,” growled Eddie. “I’ll literally start rutting against an amp or something.”

“Why don’t you rehearse here? I could get used to your music without flipping out. And get to know the band. It’ll be cool.”

In the event, having Corroded Coffin practice in the apartment was the opposite of cool. Steve curled in the nest with his ear-defenders on, while Eddie’s voice ignited a renewed bout of heat fever. He was soon squirming and sweltering in a state of nigh-orgasmic bliss and his perfume clouded the apartment. As soon as the guys left—pissing themselves laughing at the seam-busting bulge at Eddie’s crotch—Eddie rutted him hard, buried his knot deep, and licked and snuggled him for the rest of the day.

The guys brought gifts for the nest, old tour scarfs and hoodies and the like. The only one who didn’t was Gareth, who seemed kinda grumpy, so Steve didn’t push things. By day three of rehearsals, Steve also made a bit of a breakthrough. Which he told Robin all about, when Eddie went to do his soundcheck at the venue on the day of the concert.

“Music doesn’t make me flip out anymore,” he said, rolling his tongue around a cake-pop. “Eddie’s voice makes me totally puddly, yeah, but he is my Alpha. Yesterday, I stayed in the same room, while they jammed, and yeah, I perfumed like fuck, and Jeff said he was getting horny, and Eddie joke throttled him. It’s like… the feelings still arise, good ones and bad ones, but I can ride them, even control them a little. They don’t overwhelm me anymore.”

“That’s because you’re safe now, Steve.” Robin smiled a hilariously cinnamon-and-coffee-cake-crumbed smile. “You got your soulmate to look after you and can let yourself go. You can finally trust the world around you.”

“I guess.” Steve let this sink in, smiled back and then… narrowed his eyes and twitched his nose. “You reek of Chrissy more than you do cinnamon, Robin!”

“Jesus, Dingus, you finally noticed. Corroded Coffin’s gig is gonna be our third date.” He reached across the table and squeezed her hand, and she squealed nearly as excitedly as he did.

They chatted for ages, including about the divorce papers. Steve’s ex-husband signed them, uncontested, around the same time Hopper’s deputy turned up to arrest him for kidnap. Yeah, they were trumped-up charges, but no less crazy than the attempted murder one.

“It still scares me a bit,” he admitted, “knowing what they tried to do to save face and all. I figure I ought to be more scared, really. It’s hard to be what with—”

“—a super-hot, super-rich Alpha to look out for you?” She picked at her cracked nail-polish and sighed. “I wish I could be all that for Chrissy.”

He was about to remind her how she, in her way, was equally kickass, and hey, Omegas could be badass, too, in a pinch. Most crucially, soulmates came in all shapes and forms and from any designation. Instead, she blurted: “Oh shit-birds, look at the time! I gotta go get ready for the gig, or I’m gonna turn up looking like a corpse.”

Steve had already gotten his outfit sorted—a snug-fitting Corroded Coffin logo vest that he’d had custom printed, with the original blood-red and lime-green transformed into hilariously Omega pastel lilac and sage. Steve was chief groupie now, and he’d even gotten a Corroded Coffin charm dangling from his peach-leather collar. He was gonna rock it with pride beneath his kitty-ear tiara, which totally deserved another outing.

One, hopefully, where nobody got arrested.

Backstage, Eddie couldn’t keep his hands off Steve. He scooped Steve close for a ridiculously erotic kiss—cramming him with tongue and grinding into him. Pitching Steve, yet again, into a happily wibbly, semi-orgasmic state.

While the band had their pre-gig huddle, Steve took his place in the wings at the side of the stage. It was an old-fashioned theatre, so a smallish venue, and he peeped out to spy Robin and Chrissy holding hands and ready to party in the ‘golden circle.’ Carol and Tommy squeezed in alongside a grumpy-looking Hopper and his excited pups. Joyce—who had, surprisingly, said ‘yes’ to her offer of a VIP ticket—had huddled her way into the middle of the group near Hopper. He hoped she’d be okay. The air was thick and hot with aggressive Alpha scents.

Well, he figured it was.

All Steve could breathe was the super-strong zest of his Alpha.

Then Eddie roared onto stage, stuck that first wailing power-chord, and Steve was gone.

Yeah, he danced like a demon, and yeah, he definitely indulged in some apeshit 90s-style head-banging till his hair was wrecked and his tiara fell off. He knew his Alpha scented his joy. Eddie couldn’t stop glancing Steve’s way, and even grinning at him, dopily and lovestruck, and totally ruining some of his goriest brain-matter smeared lyrics.

At the end of the set-list’s final song, the lights dimmed to total dark. Predictably, the crowd clamoured for more. Steve sensed his Alpha dash toward him and grab his hand. Before he could panic about it, Steve was dragged onto the stage and the lights flared up.

“What the hell?” he mouthed. He was laughing too. He should be nervous, but how could he be? He was with his Alpha, and the whole crowd felt like family and pack.

“Want to introduce y’all to someone really special,” drawled Eddie, pulsing Steve’s hand reassuringly. “This is Steve—my Omega and my soulmate. Uuuuh, this next song may be a little rough around the edges. So yeah, indulge us on this one, huh?”

He leaned down and whispered, just for Steve, “You okay, Honey?” Steve nodded. “Cool.”

A roadie dashed on, with a velvet-cushioned seat. Okay, it was genuinely a gold-painted throne. Eddie backed him gently onto it, so he perched like a princess in his wonky tiara. Jeff was facepalming and cackling like he’d gone bananas. And Gareth? Ouch, his face was one total cringe of despair.

Eddie, meanwhile, ditched his electric guitar, and grabbed… Were they goddamn jingly handbells?

Okay, it was totally cheesy. And that was before the naff-tastic song launched off, with Eddie screaming the lyrics as crazily as he jingled.

“These bells gonna chime for you, my little kitty. Wanna marry you now, please say yes, my little kitty. Gonna make your nest a heaven, and daddy your little kitties … If you’ll say yes, yes please please, my little kitty?”

Steve said ‘yes.’

Of course, he did—through tears of happiness and of hysterical laughter at the catastrophically lovestruck Alpha kneeling before him.

….

Epilogue—one year later

Steve arrived at ‘Kitties’ first thing Monday morning, as he always did when they were staying in the city.

When the bell on the door tinkled, Carol looked up from where she was arranging the cake counter. She was eclipsed from Steve’s sight by Chrissy, who threw herself at Steve, shadowed by Robin, who’d soon gotten them both tight in a three-way, totally squealy hug.

“OMG, Steeeeve!” cried Chrissy. “It’s been yeeeears! We missed you so much!”

“It’s been three weeks,” pointed out Steve. “We’ve nearly got the house out west kitted out, so you can come and stay. Seriously, Chrissy, you need to see our nest. The whole room is like a bowl-shaped basket of floofy cushions, with soft lights in the ceiling all color-coded, and—”

Chrissy shushed him: “Don’t ruin the surprise!”

“Tone it down will ya?” Carol sneered. “Monday morning hangover here? Jeeez, I’m scared to make you ditzy O-heads coffee—how hyped up you gonna be after caffeine?”

She returned to her cakes, in no hurry—the café wouldn’t open till noon. No point opening for the ‘graveyard’ shift, when old friends needed a place to catch up. Without the dampeners and chemical ‘fresheners’ turned on, Steve breathed only of friendship and coffee, with hints of sweet pastries and thick double cream. Steve got high on it, while curling on the biggest beanbag with his two besties.

They talked relatively quietly—to stop Carol’s bitching—though there was a lot to share. Chrissy and Robin had set a date for their wedding. Which they wanted to be rather less shouty than Steve and Eddie’s insane nuptials at the crack of midsummer dawn in a full-size replica of Stonehenge. The chorus of super-amped wedding bells was so loud that Eddie claimed to be disappointed they’d not raised a zombie apocalypse.

“Do you want to borrow anything for your ceremony?” asked Steve.

“From the wedding that taste forgot?” sniped Robin. “No thank you, Dingus. My ears are still freakin’ ringing! Oh, but we wouldn’t mind borrowing the apartment for a pool party afterward. That would be cool.”

“She wants to use the chemical analysis from your pool for her Omega-access-to-swimming campaign,” whispered Chrissy, squeezing around Robin’s neck. “Isn’t she the absolute bestest?”

Steve wasn’t gonna argue, and then they got onto some of Steve’s latest gossip. Eddie had finally made peace with Gareth, who’d rejoined the band, although: “He still refuses to play, ‘Marry me, Kitty.’” Gareth had stomped out after the novelty track went viral and became Corroded Coffin’s biggest ever hit. “Gonna admit I still get edgy vibes off him. I know his return makes Eddie happy, so as far as I’m concerned, we’re good.”

The doorbell tinkled again. Eddie’s metallic-wine-with-peaches scent billowed in, followed by Eddie: “If Gareth as much as looks at my kitty wrong, I’ll kick his sorry butt to the moon.”

Soon, Steve was back in his happiest of happy places, curled with his head in Eddie’s lap. Eddie petted Steve relentlessly. Steve’s skin tingled and he purred in undiluted bliss, while Eddie sipped his coconut mocha with extra cream.

Nobody anywhere made it like Carol did, and soon she joined them too, cuddling up with Tommy, who arrived late as usual. Their chatter eventually tailed off into a comfy quiet, broken only by a small chorus of those contented purrs.

Until, Eddie said, “Ya know, dudes, it’s not gonna be so quiet with us in a few months’ time.” He leaned down and whispered to Steve, “Told them yet, honey?”

“Oh my Gooooood!” Chrissy was already bouncing up out of Robin’s lap, hands spiralling like she’d gotten imaginary pompoms.

“Okay. Cat outta the bag, I guess. I’m due in February.” Steve scrambled up to sit, so he could beam point-blank at his husband. Eddie slid a warm hand onto Steve’s teeny bump, which Steve’s most comfy stretchy shorts and looser than usual t-shirt still disguised. He pecked a coconut-y kiss on Steve’s nose.

“Um, yeeeeah.” Carol snapped her gum. “I’m sorry, Sirs, but I’m pretty sure kids are against the Ts and Cs in this place.”

“Yeah, pretty sure.” Tommy nodded as keenly as he always did, when agreeing with his Omega. “If not, I say we write it in. No pups. Not in my… erm, Carol’s café.”

“You’re kidding?” said Eddie, though Steve laughed out loud.

He knew they were kidding. He also loved that Tommy, who didn’t want kids, had found an Omega who didn’t want any either. What were the odds?

“I suppose we could make an exception,” said Carol, “but seriously—your brats start to wail, and you can make your own damn coffee!”

“Deal,” said Steve, “tho’ I really suggest you make the most of the peace while you can, because Joyce is joining us in about ten minutes.”

It was Carol’s turn to squeal: “No way!” Joyce and Hopper had gotten together soon after Eddie’s gig and had already added a new-born pup to Hopper’s army of foster kids.

Yes, everything had turned out absolutely perfectly for everyone Steve cared about. Wasn’t life great?

Steve hunkered down into Eddie’s lap once more, and they both purred so loudly the sofa shook with it.

🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛🐈‍⬛

Thank you so very much for reading. If you enjoyed, every little like and reblog or comment means a lot to me so thank you💚

tags 💚🐈‍⬛💚 @disrespectedgoatman 💚 @bumblebeecuttlefishes

@katethetank 💚 @themoonagainstmers 💚 @chaotic-waffle 💚

💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚

On AO3

[viewofagarden]

[Paraview AU] PVS-03 (Sprout)

Full Name: Sprout Seedley ID #: PVS-03 Gender: Male (He/Him) Relatives: None Classification: Undead Species: Vampire Assigned Researcher: Sam McLaughlin Preferred Foods: Blood, Pastries, and Fruit

Discovery

PVS-03 was discovered in a small farming town in California after reports surfaced of a anomalous phenomenon that effected the livestock. Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday morning, at least one cattle specimen showed symptoms of weakness, fatigue, and lightheadedness, as well as two mysterious bite marks. It was also noted by the locals that some of the fruit from the orchards were drained of their juice, with the fruit itself having fallen to the ground after being sucked dry.

An overnight stakeout revealed this to be the work of a small, red, bat that drained the blood from the cattle and the juice from the fruit. The bat soon revealed it's form to be that of a humanoid figure with red skin and green hair, confirming the existence of the vampire that was rumored among the locals of the town.

PVS-03 was confronted by Paraview agents in the morning after the stakeout, PVS-03 was initially reluctant of being brought to the Paraview facility, but was eventually convinced under the promise of a "steady diet" of non-animal blood and fruit, as the subject stated that he actually found animal blood "gross", but drank it anyway so as to not harm the townsfolk. The agents were also able to convince the subject that the relocation was not a form of punishment for any supposed crime.

Noted Behavior and Abilities

- PVS-03 needs to be fed at least a pint of blood every Monday, Tuesday, and Friday. When approaching the time to feed, subject exhibits symptoms such as fatigue, weakness, and lightheadedness. His skin also notably becomes paler when in this state.

- As noted in the discovery section, different kinds of blood give off different taste sensations of PVS-03. For example, animal blood was reported as tasting "gross", whereas AB blood tasted sweet according to the subject. Every new subject that is admitted to the facility shall undergo a "Blood Taste Test" with PVS-03 during the feeding days, except for subjects who do not produce any blood (Ex: PVS-05 ("Vee")).

- Subject appears to a have once been mortal in the past due to the existence of bit marks on his neck. When questioned, the subject could only vaguely recall the moment where he was turned into a vampire, having mentioned that it was "ages ago".

- After an incident stemming from the cafeteria, PVS-03 has been noted to suffer from a garlic allergy. Cafeteria staff are to avoid giving the subject any food containing garlic, as the subject had become afflicted with nausea and stomach aches upon consuming it. The rest of the subjects were also notified of this dietary restriction via the morning announcements.

- While not dying to exposure from the sun, as most vampire legends stated, PVS-03's skin does appear to be sensitive to sunlight, explaining why the subject seems to prefer being indoors. He has been issued a parasol should he wish to be in the outdoor area of the facility.

- PVS-03 has displayed the ability to transform into a bat, as noted in the discovery section. The bat form weighs 3.2 lbs (1.45 kg) and has a wingspan of 5.6 ft (1.7 m). Subject as also been seen hanging upside down within this form. All staff and subjects are not to attempt to "whack" or "get rid of" any bats they see in the facility. There is a 9 out of 10 chance that the bat they see in question is PVS-03.

- PVS-03 has expressed an interest in cooking and baking, and can sometimes be seen in the kitchen, sometimes alongside PVS-17 ("Cosmo"). Subject is allowed to make the food for the scheduled cafeteria times (breakfast, lunch, and dinner) and assist the cafeteria staff should he desire to.

-PVS-03 and PVS-17 appear to have formed a close friendship since they met, boarding on paramours. PVS-03 has especially noted that PVS-17's' blood is "the best he's ever tasted" in that it's "deliciously sweet". PVS-03 has also exhibited protective behavior towards PVS-17.

- When experiencing "blood hunger", PVS-03 becomes more sensitive to the sound of heartbeats from those around him.

- PVS-03's preferred fruit appears to be strawberries and apples. Dr. McLaughlin has proposed the theory that during his time in California, he drank the fruit from the orchards so as to wash down the taste of the animal blood he was drinking.

- Subject does not like being referred by his last name, claiming it to be "too nerdy". Staff and subjects have been advised to refer to him either by his first name or his identification number.

[atiny-for-life]

#BoycottSpringer

If you're German like me, you'll likely already know the Springer Press is a vile, right-wing media conglomerate that regularly spreads transphobic, homophobic, racist and xenophobic lies, promotes right-wing ideology and violates journalistic boundaries (including illegal violations of privacy).

They're essentially the Fox News of Germany but even more influential since they're not just limited to one type of medium.

Since the early 1960s, people have been trying to take down Springer for spreading right-wing propaganda and misinformation and yet, here we are...

Most people don't know how many media outlets are actually owned by Springer though, so here is a full list (provided by KreativGegenRechts):

Welt TV

Dyn Sport

Rolling Stone Germany, Musikexpress

Metal Hammer

Radio Hamburg

Antenne Bayern

Bild, Welt, B.Z.

Auto BILD

Computer BILD

Sport BILD

ARTE Magazin

Business Insider

Politico

Morning Brew

Stepstone

meinestadt.de

Immowelt

Idealo

kaufDA, MeinProspekt

upday

AWIN (it's an ad-blocking software)

With Germany heading down the same road as the US at the moment, please try to avoid everything listed above. Thank you.

And in case you're unaware how bad it's gotten in Germany recently...

Friedrich "Dipshit" Merz actively violates EU-law by denying asylum to refugees coming to German borders (x)

Our government agreed to GEAS which will allow European countries to lock up refugees (including children) at Europe's borders in "reception camps" (x)

Jens Spahn wasted 3.2 billion euros in taxpayer money to suck up to his "friends" and other politicians tried to cover for him by blacking out the vast majority of evidence in the document of proof before publishing it - an uncensored version was leaked shortly after (x)

The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution has issued a warning that queer people, leftist people, and immigrants are now considered "in danger of life and limb", meaning people belonging to these groups are being actively targeted by right wing youth organizations (x)

Another CDU politician - from the same party as Merz and Sphan (one of the two current ruling parties) - wants a register for mentally ill people - you know, like in Nazi times (x)

Adding to this, another minister wants to give the police direct access to people's psychiatric patient files (x)

Jens fucking Spahn again: he wants direct access to nuclear weapons to "scare Russia" (x)

CDU and SPD want to get rid of refugees' ability to bring their families into the country after arriving here (AS IF THAT WOULD FIX THE INTEGRATION PROBLEM) (x)

The minister for education banned the use of gendered language in her ministry - both internally and externally (x)

Another fucking CDU politician banned the parliament from hanging the PRIDE flag while also banning delegates from attending PRIDE events and then defended it by saying "The most globally persecuted group of people is actually Christians, so I should be putting up the Vatikan flag once a year." (x)

Meanwhile our fucking chancellor topped this by saying the parliament building is "no circus tent" so why would we ever put up the PRIDE flag? (x)

The CDU, once again, wants to cut benefits for the unemployed while giving tax breaks to the rich (because of course they do - they're all FUCKING LOBBYISTS) (x)