#retroactive to July 2024!

[anonsally]

I finally got my promotion!

[jewishvitya]

Smotrich claiming that the West Bank settlements are being expanded legally is really funny, for a couple of reasons.

First of all. In 2017, Haaretz published an article talking about the legality of Smotrich's house. It was built on land that was illegal for Israelis to build on. Either belonging to the state, or privately owned by Palestinians.

He was pushing for changes that would make houses like his retroactively legal. It was a law that we called "the expropriation law" or whoever wanted to sound neutral about it, regularization (if I'm translating right). The law would allow to retroactively take away a Palestinian's right to their land if there are Israeli settlements on it. That Palestinian person would be compensated either monetarily, or with different land that would be theirs.

He knows that the West Bank settlements are built illegally. He was trying to legalize around that. This law could have affected around 16 settlements, 2000-4000 residences.

The law passed the Knesset, but our High Court stopped it because it was recognized to be illegal according to international law. It's not the law currently.

This doesn't mean things like this don't happen. In July 8th 2024, 66 dunams around the area of the Evyatar settlement were declared as belonging to the state. The land owners had 45 days to appeal and prove the land is theirs. This is not the first such declaration, even for this specific settlement. Ever since October 2023, these things have been happening at an accelerated rate. The West Bank is seeing more violence from both settlers and the military, and more land is stolen from Palestinians, both through announcements like these and through just... actively, physically, kicking them out.

The second reason it was absurd to hear Smotrich claiming that, is that I know how the expansion works there. At least in the West Bank, where I grew up. I knew people involved. I knew people who were arrested over these activities, repeatedly.

There are different types of settlements. In terms of international law, there equally illegal. But the Israeli government creates a distinction.

The first kind of settlements is those recognized by the Israeli government. They'll be well established. Treated basically as Israeli cities with extra security.

The second kind is what we call ma'ahazim. It translates to strongholds, outposts, or footholds. Those even the Israeli government considers illegal.

This doesn't mean they have no cooperation or resources from the government. Some of them do have that. They'll have military protection to remove Palestinians from the land and keep them away. They'll have government support for building and infrastructure.

Some of them don't have government support. Because these people will never have enough as long as there are Palestinian villages and cities. Their stated goal, explicitly discussed, is to never give up on a single square centimeter of land.

How do they start without government support?

They pick the spot. A hill, a field, whatever. They'll start creating presence there. It can be groups going as if to hang out. If there are Palestinians just... existing on their land, the settlers can get violent. They're forcing the military to both protect them and remove them. Often when the military removes them, they won't even resist, they'll go along with it, planning to come back. It'll create a back and forth. They go, they get removed, they go again, they get removed again. The point is to establish that this is a spot they see as theirs. And it also creates an increased presence of the Israeli military in the area, because it becomes likely that violence will break out there.

They'll start bringing out caravans and just... living there. Again, getting removed, and going back. Trying to wear down the system until they can get any infrastructure or building something. There's usually no solid plan for a town or a city, because these things are rushed.

And once the outpost is established, sometimes it gets approved after the fact - successfully stealing that land - and sometimes it gets demolished, which means the struggle to take over it continues.

This conflict then happens between the government and the settlers. The Palestinians that land belongs to? They already don't have access to it.

Given where Smotrich lives, I think it's easy to assume that he supports these efforts.

If you saw settlers trying to push into Gaza, going against military orders, this is why. They'll go there as a group saying "we just want to pray there" or they'll try to build some weak makeshift structure. They're following that same tactic, because it's been working. They want the aftermath of this war and genocide to be the return of Israeli settlements into Gaza. A Member of the Knesset, Limor Son Har Hamelech, a member of Ben Gvir's party, fully and outspokenly supports this.

Anyway. This was a rant because I hate Smotrich and his people, and sometimes this is how I vent.

[kataang-week]

Kataang Week 2024 is here! 🧡💙

Hello everyone! It’s July 29, so happy Kataang Week! 🥳Here are some reminders and guidelines for the week:

Make sure to first check out the master post for additional details including prompts, corresponding dates, and information on Twitter's Kataang Week part 2 hosted by @ dailykataang.

For those of you who will be posting your works on AO3, feel free to add your fic to our AO3 collection.

For posting on Tumblr, remember to use #kataang week and #kataangtag to help us track your entries. You can also tag the blog (@kataang-week) to notify us. If we haven’t reblogged your post in 24 hours, feel free to send us an ask.

Please create your own original pieces. We do not accept AI-made fanworks.

We only accept new works created for Kataang Week, not works that are retroactively said to be created for Kataang Week. However, you may create something that fills a Kataang Week prompt for an ongoing work like a chapter fic or an ongoing series. See this ask for more information.

If your work contains images, please consider adding alt text to make your work accessible. Adding alt text is NOT a requirement to participate in Kataang week. See this post for more information on images and alt text.

Please remember to post according to the scheduled prompts. Late entries are totally fine, but please refrain from posting for prompts ahead of schedule.

Let’s have a great week! 😊

-The Mods

[snakebites-and-ink]

🐍 Snakebites-and-Ink Master Masterlist 🖋️

INFO

Welcome

About me + my blog

Guidelines/policies

CWs

Old masterposts: 1 2

OTHER PROFILES

My Ko-fi (virtual tip jar)

My whump-writing-focused sideblog: @snakewrites-and-ink

My goblin (fediverse)

My Pillowfort

MY WRITING

✔=Completed | ◐=In progress | ◼=On hold On hiatus from series and miniseries until further notice

Series

⚡ Technically Not Human (working title) ◐ Nolan signs away his freedom and goes to an institution that trains superhumans to serve the highest bidder.

🖱️ Asher the IT Pet ✔ What if someone who was legally a pet were allowed to have a life like a free person?

🤕 Whumper-turned-Caretaker CYOA ✔ What it says on the tin.

Miniseries

♒ Living Weapon Aquarius ◐

🔊 Hero Brainwashed to Villain's Living Weapon ✔

🪶 Sky's the Limit ◼

🦹 Hero Villain Amnesia interactive ◼

🐝 Separate ✔

Events & Collections

❄️ Whumpuary 2024

🎄 Whumpmas in July 2024

🍉 Augusnippets 2024

🎃 Whumptober 2024

🍂 Whumptember 2023 (retroactive)

🌹 Febuwhump 2025 (retroactive)

🌩️ Whumperless Whump Event 2025 (minidrabbles)

☀️ June of Doom + August of Whump Combo Event

✒️ 5 sentence fics + May 2024 challenges

🎼 Seven Songs of Suffering (others' work, hosted here)

Drabbles/Standalones

✒ Pet Whumpee + Broken Dish

✒ Recovering Clone Whumpee

✒ Already Trained

✒ Reluctant Whumper Whumpee

✒ Irresistible

✒ The Psychic's Revenge

✒ Hypnotic Caretaker

✒ Emerald Jewel Wasp-Inspired Whump

✒ Tangled in Thorns

✒ Doppelgänger

✒ Affectionate handler + living weapon

✒ Everything is Fine

✒ Villain being "redeemed"

✒ Work injury caretaking

✒ Caretaker Made Whumper

✒ Ember (not whump)

✒ Vigilante's Recognition

✒ Wish Granted

OTHER STUFF

Tags

My blog’s main tags

Curating your experience

Ongoing games/events

Working on June of Doom + August of Whump combo pieces!

[roguekhajiit]

Magats are so deep in the kool-aid bowl it's surprising they haven't drowned in it yet.

Trump has been recorded live, promising that Christians will never have to vote again so long as they get out and vote for him. Once they do that it will be the last time they ever need to vote.

"In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."

- Donald Trump at Turning Point Action's Believers Summit in West Palm Beach July 26, 2024

Everyone else sees his words for what they are; a threat to our very democracy. But his cultists simply grab themselves another cup of kool-aid and scoff. "Oh, you're just taking him out of context. That's not what he meant at all!"

So let's look at his other claim then, his promise to erase an important part of the 14th amendment.

Amendment 14, Section 1 :

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.

"As part of my plan to secure the border on Day 1 of my new term in office, I will sign an executive order making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic U.S. citizenship."

- Donald Trump, May 2023

So he's gonna what, white out any part of the Constitution or its amendments that he doesn't agree with?

But of course, this plan to do away with birthright citizenship doesn't apply to him or his friends and family. No, because if he made it retroactive, that would mean his sons, his Dad, and even he himself would be stripped of all citizenship. Along with every other fucking white, non-native, racist fucktards who yell "Go back to where you came from" at any person of color they see at their local Wal-Mart. I guarantee they also have a "If this flag offends you, I'll help you pack" bumper sticker on their obnoxiously lifted, compensation prize, Ram 3500.

But his policy, of course, would never apply to himself and his precious white Christian cultists. No, it only applies to people of color. People who look like Kamala Harris and Barack Obama. People with naturally occurring melanin who, as a result, don't need to have a recurring appointment with a spray tan booth.

Of course, it only applies to people who look like his political opponents and their supporters. Why else would he and his cult continue to mail out political smear campaigns naming politicians WHO AREN'T EVEN RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT ANYMORE as the biggest threat to our country?!

Honestly, I think it's time to take a break from the Kool-Aid, folks. Barack Obama isn't living in the basement of the White House telling Joe Biden and Kamala Harris how to run the country. He doesn't have a back stock of Biden clones that he awakens anytime the current one expires. He's in his personal home office writing books.

The current threat to this country isn't Biden or Obama, or Harris. It flocks around a rotten peach and wears a red hat.

[the-olympics-olympics]

Weird Olympic Moments Tournament

To celebrate (?) the Paris 2024 Olympic Games starting in a few weeks, I thought I'd run another Olympic-themed poll tournament. This time, we're diving into history and getting to know some of the stranger, lesser-known stories of the Games.

Polls will run for a week, and the tournament should last until around early September if I'm doing my math right. The first polls will begin Monday, July 15th.

At the end, we'll award a gold, silver, and bronze to the top three.

After many hours on Wikipedia and the IOC website, here's the list of moments I came up with:

Horse vaulting

Pigeon racing

Sarajevo venues damaged in war

Mayor of Montreal says "The Olympics can no more lose money than a man can have a baby," then proceeds to host one of the most financially disastrous Games in history

George Eyser wins six medals after being run over by a train

Solo synchronized swimming

Crowd gets pooped on by 25,000 pigeons

Flame is taken to top of Mount Everest

Margaret Abbot dies without knowing she made history as the first US woman to win gold

Brazilian team has to sell coffee to afford the trip to Los Angeles

A teenager's "dumb idea" becomes Olympic tradition (athletes marching together in closing ceremony)

St. Louis experiments with "purposeful dehydration", denies water to marathon runners

Kanakuri Shizō takes 54 years to finish his race

Mt. Vesuvius moves the Olympics to London

They stop doing the Olympic salute for some reason

IOC President compares a terrorist attack to a vote to ban a racist country

The Olympics goes 88 years without letting women run marathons

Olympic flame transmitted via satellite

Northern Rhodesia declares independence during Olympics, changes name to Zambia

Vancouver 2010 cauldron malfunction

Montreal 1976 stadium is finally paid off in 2006

The curse of the Beijing 2008 mascots

Everest climbers get gold medals

Sochi snowflake malfunction

They hold the Olympics in 1906, then later say it doesn't count

Colorado kicks the Olympics out

Flame hidden from view after anti-gay law

Summer Olympics held during Winter

Haiti and Liechtenstein discover they had the same flag

Riot at the 1924 rugby match

McDonald's gives out more Big Macs than they expected

Chamonix 1924 retroactively named the Winter Olympics

Doves burned during cauldron lighting

Torchbearer takes olympic flame down a ski jump

Medals made of e-waste

Shooter aims for wrong target, loses gold

Olympic torch passed on International Space Station

Alien addresses crowd

Figure skating debuts at Summer Olympics

Olympics held on two different continents

Rio organizers lose key to stadium gate

Baron de Coubertin wins a gold medal under false identity

1960 winter games held in city named for an ethnic slur

Obstacle Swimming

North Korea considered to co-host 1988

Housing complex for American soldiers during the occupation of Japan becomes the Olympic village

Torch design changed mid-relay

Cauldron lit by flaming arrow

Last three seconds of basketball final replayed three times until results changed

St. Louis threatens to hold their own Olympics if they don't get named host city

Fatso the Fat-Arsed Wombat

Balloon racing

Delirious man carried over finish line by coaches, wins marathon

Summer Olympics held in November and December

Olympics postponed for COVID

Blue screen of death appears during opening ceremony

Marathon runner attacked by priest

Guy kicks referee in the face and (maybe) ends up on a stamp

Jet pack flies over stadium

Centennial games not awarded to a very confident Athens

LA 84 gets in trouble for commercializing the torch relay

Olympic flame relit with cigarette lighter

Rower stops for ducks

Nazi propaganda becomes Olympic tradition (torch relay)

Did I miss a great weird moment? Send it to me in an ask and I might do a round 2 or something!

I chose the moments based on my own personal bias (lol)

Heads up that there is one that involves the death of animals, but I will tag any polls with that #tw animal death

Please don't hesitate to let me know if you need anything else tagged, and how to tag it!

Also, a disclaimer that I'm tired and scatterbrained and I work full time, so if this gets a little disorganized I apologize. Shouldn't be too bad though.

Let the games begin, and whatnot

@tournament-announcer :)

[indilaras]

2024 Recap! Template from here (twt).

Looking back on the year and realizing I did some cool stuff is fun! Even on the busier months, I still managed to do at least one relatively "finished" thing, so I'll need to remember that next time I'm beating myself up for never finishing what I started.

Individual works + some thoughts and feelings:

January: 100 Hua Day 4

Fu Hua | Honkai Impact 3rd

the fact that i did four of these in the first month of the year and then my progress going down hill from there is pretty funny ngl

February: akademiya days

Cyno/Alhaitham | Genshin Impact

done for cyhaino week 2024. I continued using the akademiya designs i made up for them in 2023. retroactively headcanoning that cyno wore his hair like that as a student to mimic cyrus <3

March: flowering

Tess/Alinua | Aurora

i just wanted something somft. some early sketches had tess with a flower crown instead and i kinda wanna toy with that idea again someday

April: The General Mahamatra & the Dendro Archon Swapped Bodies?!?

Cyno, Nahida, Alhaitham | Genshin Impact

silly lil April Fools comic. I just think these three should be allowed to prank the entire akademiya, staff and students alike. as a treat.

May: girls' night!

Alhaitham, Cyno, Dehya, Candace | Genshin Impact

genderbent cy and hthm warning. entirely inspired by a meme that my friend made with deep sea girls' night and their glowing eyes from their demos

June: Form Change!

Cure Lovely, Cure Princess, Cure Honey, Cure Fortune | Happiness Charge Precure

happy hachapre anniversary year everyone <3 i still really like the colors and lighting here

July: don't threaten her with a good time

Kira/Misteln | Honkai Impact 3rd

the only other two kirastelners here are too big brained with their analysis of them so i have to provide the balance (memery)

August: 100 Hua Day 12

Fu Hua | Honkai Impact 3rd

i had a period of my life where all i drew were knight girls so this felt nostalgic to work on

September: sun and her world

Dehya/Dunyarzad | Genshin Impact

another just wanted something somft drawing but also i tested out different ways of coloring and really enjoyed it

October: onwards, to the next future

Cure Supreme & Cure Puka | Precure All Stars F

was stuck in WIP hell for a long time. anything for the destruction bnnuys tho.

November: it's mira loving hours <3

Mirabelle Chevalier | In Stars and Time

mira my dear friend mira.. i wanted to get more used to her design before i draw all the cooler stuff in my head so i did this simpler thing as practice

December: desert gang more like dessert gang am i ri--

Candace, Dehya, Cyno, Alhaitham | Genshin Impact

mostly done for chibi practice but also there is a great shortage of butler candehya and maidtham (cyno maid is a little less uncommon in certain circles but. he's still cute in a dress <3) and i will be the one to. serve. get it. like serving a dish you see. bring me to pun jail so i can serve a sentence too--

[sywtwfs]

CAS Dismisses Canadian Appeal in 2022 Olympic Team Event Case

CAS Media Release

The ranking announced by the ISU on 30 January 2024 is confirmed as follows:

United States of America 65 pts (gold)

Japan 63 pts (silver)

Russia 54 pts (bronze)

The Appellants had sought a ruling from CAS re-ranking the figure skating Team Event as follows: re-ranking the figure skating Team Event, as follows: United States of America (Gold); Japan (Silver); Canada (Bronze).

Following the hearing that took place on 22 July 2024, the Panel of CAS arbitrators in charge of the matter deliberated and concluded that the results of the Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva in the Olympic Figure Skating Team Event were correctly disqualified, without any possibility in the ISU Rules to re-allocate points in favour of Team Canada, following the retroactive disqualification of Kamila Valieva.

The Panel issued the Operative Part of the Arbitral Award. The full award, with the grounds for the Panel’s decision, will be issued as soon as possible.

Skate Canada states that they accept the CAS decision.

The ISU statement regarding the medal ceremony:

the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will award the medals during a special ceremony which will be held at the Champions Park in Paris on August 7, 2024 for the gold and silver medallists. Further to today’s decision, the ISU is in contact with the IOC to determine the next steps for the third place.

[nonotnolan]

No Not Nolan's Year in Review

Apparently this is a tradition now, so-- here are the stories of 2023, ranked by the number of likes.   It also helps keep me a bit grounded-- it feels rough when recent stories don't pick up stream, but the year as a whole has still gone quite well. It's also nice to see where all of my work falls, note-wise.  And if you're feeling very nostalgic (or horny?) here is a link to 2021, and here is a link to 2022.

I'm leaving the eBook announcement posts out of my year end review, but I'm calling it out for myself so when I revisit this in December 2024, future-me will remember to grab those. I'm not planning to abandon this account anytime soon-- and I'm certainly not shifting to Patreon or PayPal or what have you. I'm not prolific or popular enough for any of that. The vast majority of my work will continue to remain free and open. I just wanted to prove to myself that I'm good enough of a writer to publish something that I can be proud of-- I have, and I am.

Do authors love notes and reblogs? Yes. But they often enjoy hearing direct feedback even more-- I know I sure do. Consider "messaging authors directly" as a New Year's Resolution. (Please note that begging for someone to write you a story is not feedback. Don't be that guy.)

12) Green Grass - 122 notes - December 2023 Two guys learn first hand that not everyone values the same things. Concise and straightforward. 11) Soul Stones: Long Distance - 192 notes - April 2023 A romantic story of two men using the power of body swapping to close the gap on a long distance relationship. Cell phones have nothing on being there in person. 10) Colony Freedom - 197 notes - September 2023 A slime alien attempts to rebuild its colony from the ground up after its overseers have completely vanished. Can it manage to find enough hosts for its family, or will its cover be ruined? 9) Cuerpo Inc: After Hours Perk - 249 notes - July 2023 Ethan tries to pretend to be Jake for the weekend, but he wasn't counting on Jake's nosy neighbor getting But if he can't be Jake, at least he can still have fun in Jake's body. 8) Summer Break Dullahans - 252 notes - June 2023 Eric was not expecting to find Ben's detached head in the dorms. I'm a big fan of detachable limb stories, so I decided to be a part of the change I want to see. (I'm also very rusty at GIMP / photoshop, but it gets the job done.) 7) The Great Gym Shift - 275 notes - August 2023 A version of The Great Shift, but with a limited radius. A gym instructor is stuck babysitting a bunch of grown men who suddenly find themselves in very muscular bodies. 6) Just Another Sunday - 279 notes - October 2023 A Chronovac story with unaware recipients and a retroactive reality shift that ripples through reality. I'm really happy with this one, though I will freely admit that I lucked out on the photos for this one. 5) An Excellent Choice - 291 notes - February 2023 My Valentine's Day story, dedicated to my boyfriend. As such, the emphasis is on a merging transformation sequence. Two men take advantage of new technology to become a new sum of themselves. 4) Group Project - 331 notes - November 2023 Another work set in the Swapper universe, where college students take advantage of body swapping technology for success or pleasure. This piece features Aiden, who has to hire a nerd to take over his body if he wants to pass his classes. 3) Cursing Fate - 337 notes - January 2023 It's an alien possession story with a dark twist. If you're going to align yourself with an extraterrestrial force, make sure you have something valuable to offer them. 2) Soul Stones: The Easy Life - 412 notes - March 2023 Alfie finds himself in the body of Jordan, one of the most popular athletes on the football team-- but he's not the one who plotted for the body swap to happen. It's one of my favorites for the year, and it's a series I could see myself returning to if the inspiration is right. 1) Rookie Mistake - 482 notes - May 2023 A novice magic user tries out an Astral Projection spell without reading all of the instructions. Things do not play out in his favor.

Special Mentions-

Travis Cordin - 382 notes - February 2023 by @mergeman My boyfriend's Valentine's Day story that he dedicated to me. A raw and electric story about a magic user who gives the resident nerd too much magical power.

Stories I Love (Part 1) and Stories I Love (Part 2) I was not expecting so many people to react to these lists, but these have been getting reblogged like crazy. More importantly, a lot of authors have been reaching out to show thanks and start conversations, which I appreciate even more. Like I said-- I'm not always the best at participating in the community, so I really enjoy hearing from people.

Top 5 All Time-

5) Revenge, Reversed - 517 notes - August 2020 4) Overbearing - 538 notes - May 2022 3) Finals Week - 552 notes - May 2021 2) Gym Merchandise - 610 notes - September 2022 1) Soulmate Swap - 659 notes - August 2022

It's always fascinating to see which stories get a second life through reblogs and new discoveries. Soulmate Swap is one of my heavy hitters, but both Gym Merchandise and Overbearing have gained a lot of momentum this year. Finals Week is starting to slip, though I'm still quite fond of it. I'm quite surprised to see Revenge, Reversed on this list given its age, but it's another one of my personal favorites.

[wutbju]

This is what they say. But their track record is pretty bad on the honesty front.

Subject: Update on BJU's South Carolina Business Filing Status Dear Faculty and Staff, We want to ensure you are informed about a recent administrative issue related to our business registration with the State of South Carolina. Because the Secretary of State did not have a registered agent on file for BJU Inc. by their May 6, 2025, deadline, the University was listed on the Secretary of State's website as administratively dissolved. This is their standard process. When the lawyer who previously acted as our agent retired in June 2024, we hired the same agent BJU Education Group uses. However, there was a communication breakdown, and our filings were not completed. When the agent did not hear from us, they informed the Secretary of State they were no longer our agent, and the Secretary of State posted that we were out of compliance. We have traced how the breakdown occurred and rectified the situation. Once this was brought to our attention over the July 4th weekend, we acted quickly to notify the Secretary of State of our agent and initiate the proper application for reinstatement. The agent filed the necessary paperwork today, and the S.C. Secretary of State's website now says BJU is in good standing. The reinstatement is retroactive to May 6, 2025. This issue had no impact on our charitable filings, which remain current and in good standing. We will improve internal tracking and ensure continuity moving forward.

You're welcome, BJU!

Edited to add: Yes, they are now listed incorporated AS OF JULY 9, 2025. Today. Right now. Not yesterday. Not weeks ago. NOW.

[veranavera]

Tldr; My next trans-pride flag post will jump numbers from my previous post from peak 44 to peak 53. No I didn't forget a post, no you didn't miss one, and no I didn't lose my phone this time - I just reorganized the list of mountains I'm doing

For those of you who are curious about the details:

I reworked the current list of peaks I'm climbing to be a list of 131 of the P1k peaks in the Northern Appalachians. Because of this, some peaks that I climbed this summer that were previously additional peaks are now main peaks. The reason for the change is that I need to focus my efforts and make the 131 a realistic goal for me in my life right now, which is limited by time constraints (working), geographic constraints (living only in the Upper Valley), and life plans (not wanting to spend too much more time in the Northeast (currently thinking about staying through next August or so)). What changed is that now the list is a list of 131 of the P1ks in the region (i.e. nor an exhaustive list), as opposed to the previous cutoff of 1240ft, which was an odd choice in retrospect. The current iteration of the list can be found here:

https://www.peakbagger.com/List.aspx?lid=-948013&cid=39805

That being said, I don't view the current iteration of the list as any easier than the last, I just view it as more realistic for me given that the next time I'm living in my van, I'll almost certainly go to another region and won't want linger in NY/NE for long. What this means is that I'll have a very limited time window after I'm done working to hike more in the Northeast. Meanwhile, while I'm working, I'm simply unwilling to consistently drive 6+ hours each weekend to go bag a peak in Maine or the Catskills that isn't that much more prominent than a peak in NH/VT. Make no mistake, I'm still going to be putting *a lot* of effort into these peaks - this change just makes it so that that effort is as focused and fruitful as it can be

The peaks that have been retroactively added to the main list that I've already done are:

6/131 - West Kill - July 14

20/131 - Bald - July 28

22/131 - Western - July 28

23/131 - Ragged - July 29

24/131 - Megunticook - July 29

**update 2024-04-16**

30/131 - Azure - August 7

**update over lmao**

40/131 - Sugarloaf - August 23

41/131 - Mars Hill - August 24

50/131 - Peak 2620 - October 28

The photos of these peaks I've already posted here, but if you want to see them, feel free to check out my google drive of photos:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xlSe-BeaVVTCi7SD-xil3wXzDJ8zjHUs

Thanks for reading this far :P

[anonsally]

Shitty week at work

Boring chronicle below. I just needed to rant.

My week started off badly.

So, in early autumn of 2023, I'd applied for a promotion (which I was required to do), to be effective July 2024. In my job title, the promotion case is extremely similar to a professor applying for a promotion from Associate Professor to Full Professor. In particular, in addition to my CV, list of publications, and self-statement, external letters need to be solicited from objective scientists (at ranks equivalent to full professor) assessing my work. Five letters are required, at least half of which need to be from people on a list provided by the department/my supervisor; the rest can be from a list I provided but cannot include former collaborators or mentors.

I had initially provided 7 names; these were a mix of people I was slightly acquainted with and people I was not acquainted with at all. Unfortunately, only one of them agreed to write the letter (not surprising; several of the others were in leadership roles and probably didn't have time for this). Two declined and four didn't even bother to respond to the emails HR sent soliciting the letters.

So, in November 2023, HR asked me for more names. At this point, having pretty much exhausted the senior scientists I knew who were in a position to assess my work, I started searching the internet for full professors who work in my field. I provided 6 more names, 4 of whom were total strangers I'd never even heard of before I started searching, and one of whom I don't think I've met but he had collaborated with my supervisor. (My supervisor was also asked for more names.)

At some point several months later, I was informed that I had been told the wrong review period, so that my self-statement didn't include everything it should've. Argh. So there had already been a snafu with this process. But they promised that this would not affect my review.

The department made several hires last year, so my promotion case was a lower priority; the letter from the Dean's office in support of my promotion was finally provided about 4 months late. HR then sent the whole file to the central campus academic personnel office (APO), which is known to have a backlog, in August 2024. (The promotion, if it is ever approved, will be retroactive to July 2024.)

On Monday, I was told that APO had discovered that the case was submitted incorrectly: not enough of the external letters were from people on the department list (i.e., too many were from my list). They had received 7 letters (2 more than the required 5), but at least half must be from the department list. I don't know whether this means they got 4 from my list and 3 from the department list (in which case HR should've just dropped one of the ones from my list! If this is what happened, then I am being penalised for having too many recommendation letters, which is absurd.), or if it was even worse than that... But the upshot is, they have now asked my supervisor for more names. Which means that some important professors are going to be asked to write a letter of recommendation for someone they don't know. In December. I venture to predict that it will not be easy to find someone to do this.

Basically, if I ever get this promotion, it's going to be at least a year late. Like... they are soliciting letters over a month after when they would have solicited them for a promotion to be effective in July 2025, and I was supposed to get my promotion in July 2024. I am furious, too, because I did nothing wrong, this was a bureaucratic snafu (that should've been caught about a year ago), and yet there's a substantial amount of money I have earned that I have to wait several more months for.

So that's how my week started.

The week also ended badly. On Friday, the TA for the class I've been teaching asynchronously this semester said that he suspected academic misconduct. After reviewing the evidence, it looks like 3 of our students cheated... poorly... on an optional quiz (!)... and then two of them lied, unconvincingly, about it. So.

I hate everything.

[diospore]

Here's a summary of how 2024 went! I think I forgot to do this in 2023... Can I retroactively do it? XD

Links to everything below as well as commentary.

January - Goku Smoking Weed (Dream)

This one won January because not only did I not draw shit, but this is the funniest shit in existence to me.

February - All Might as Ophelia

I really do like putting him in situations. I think this is the first time I drew Toshinori as well. Sorry hun, but you're fun to kill badly.

March - Spiderweb Deku

I had the thought of drawing Izuku like the Melanie Martinez song Spiderweb after I read some of the lyrics. I don't really listen to her anymore though.

April - Nomu Deku

Hehe, tormenting him as well. My poor Izuku, getting turned into a nomu just because I felt like it.

May - Shigaraki Memorial

I gotta be honest, Shigaraki's story affected me pretty hard.

June - AFO Pride Icon

Gay gay homosexual gay....

July - AFO in a Dress

Do you think he'd kill me for drawing this? I just wanted to draw him looking hot tbh. Mob wife aesthetic off the charts.

August - Togachako Ophelia

Okay but Togachako ship rewired my entire brain I think. I would've been obsessed with it when I was in highschool.

September - Mind over Matter Redraw

Redrawing an old one from like 2016 was fun. I think I really captured what younger me was going for.

October - AFO's Worst Moment

Tormenting him >:3 But this was really experimental, using only a default palette of neons and pixel brushes.

November - Diavolo as Homura

I blame shoe for this winning. I didn't even like it that much at the time but now I think it's one of my favorite drawings lol.

December - FURSONAUTOCANNIBALISM

(Warning : Gore/Cannibalism)

I think this is my favorite thing I've ever drawn. Younger me would've went JSDGHLSJFHGEUIRGHEOWJNVFJN at it for sure. I really wanted to capture the edgy vent style I used to do as well as actually use it as a proper vent for my frustrations and dysphoria.

[whsprings]

finally called the finance office back about my stupid treatment bill and had to pull a Karen and ask to speak to a supervisor and our exchange was like

me: *explains situation*

her: well we can't do financial aid retroactively, we just haven't updated the billing letters we send out

me: updated?

her: there was a policy change

me: okay so when was the policy change?

her: July 2024

me: ...I was in treatment in July 2024, I am not sure how I was supposed to know there would be a policy change and I wouldn't be able to apply for aid retroactively

her: *sighs*

her: well we can't send out mass emails to all of our patients

me: you literally do that all the time, I got a support group mass email just the other day

her: well not the business office, and policies change all the time

me: 🙄 (might want to get on that)

me: most people can't just pull $X out of nowhere and I don't know how we are supposed to know about changes without being informed

her: *sighs* let me see what I can do and call you back

[7grandmel]

Blog Update - 04/02/2024

TL;DR - Google Form for rip requests and other anonymous comments is open. Link to it can be found on the blog's Pinned Post, which has been overhauled. Tagging system on daily posts has been vastly expanded with individual tags per ripper and more. "Media Player" has been scrapped - rips using tentative names are being edited per their official releases.

Hey everyone! Been a hot minute since I did one of these. I've wanted to make a post talking about the tinkering I've done with the blog for a while, but figured it'd be best to wait until all of it had been done. Well, now's that day - conveniently right as Season 8 of SiIvaGunner is rolling out, fresh out of the oven with Puyo Puyo day.

Let's start with the most recent, but most important change - I've opened a Google Form for requesting rips to be covered on the blog. Tumblr's default Ask box is mighty convenient for me, but over the months I've noticed several users troubled by having to start Tumblr accounts just to submit to the blog, even anonymously! You can of course still use the Ask box if you're a Tumblr user already, but now even non-Tumblr users should be able to request to the blog - or just leave anonymous comments! - completely hassle-free.

Next, to help promote this new request system and to accommodate for all the other changes made to the blog recently, The Pinned post of the blog has been given a pretty significant overhaul, alongside adding the current Eighth season to its per-season filtering buttons. I've done my best to also reword the main body of the post to more properly convey the blog's goals, and to help readers new and old navigate it easier. For instance, I've added descriptors of some of the tags that I use for the blog's contents, as well as links to said tags and their Archive views. Take a look around yourself if you wish!

I've been doing a lot more than than just explain the tags, however - you'll notice that the tags #high quality art and #epic flintstones have been added! To help make this blog the ultimate hub for SiIvaGunner activity on Tumblr, I'll be reposting fanart/official art and just various funny posts under these tags to feature on the blog! If you're only here for the daily posts, you're of course still able to use the prior mentioned navigation buttons on the pinned posts to only see posts tagged as #todays siivagunner. But what if you want to get more specific than even that?

Well, alongside retroactively tagging all fanart and shitpost reblogs with the two aforementioned tags, I've added a few more categorizing tags to all 490+ of the Daily SiIvaGunner posts - most notably, the names of every person credited per rip. This both makes it easier for myself to check how many times a ripper has been featured on the blog prior, and should help you find out more about your favorite rippers on your own! There's also some other miscellaneous tags added, such as tags denoting if a rip has visuals, if a post is covering multiple rips at once, if a rip is a Fusion Collab, and so on - I'll have a post properly denoting all of these tags up sometime in the future.

Finally, back in July of last year I described my thought process for how to handle rips that, due to lacking album releases, lack proper official names per the time of writing - alongside spitballing an idea for a post-navigation "media player". First off, I can say now after six months that I'm not moving forward with the media player concept, as fun of an idea as it was - I don't believe it offered much benefit over what can be done through just using the pinned post's links to begin with. Second off, though, a lot of the rips I've covered with tentative names, primarily rips from Season 7, have gotten official album releases, and thus been retroactively edited to feature their new official names. You can see an example of how this looks with Persona 64, which was previously titled I'll Face Gay Bowser. All mentions of a rip with its tentative name as featured across other posts will also be edited to feature their official release name.

Whew! What a big update! I've been having the time of my life with this blog in the months since the last Update, and the lack of updates here have certainly not been due to a lack of confidence in the blog - I've simply had too many ideas on what to do for them to be properly distilled to just one post! Hopefully this conveys everything I've been doing in the background of it all. If you have any feedback or other changes you'd like to see happen on the blog, please let me know!

[jasper-book-stash]

January 2024 Reading Wrap Up

As y'all know, I started this blog anew to record my thoughts on some books I read. Unfortunately, I have a bad habit of reading a lot more books than the average human should, and they knock each other out of my noggin. This is why I maintain a color-coded spreadsheet with columns to keep track of things. I also took on a winter reading challenge, and I've read most of the 17 books I was looking to read. With that said, let's see where things landed this month!

Religious Text

None applicable.

1/10 - Why Did They Publish This?

None applicable (thank the gods).

2/10 - Trash

Creating Magickal Entities: A Complete Guide to Entity Creation | David Michael Cunningham, Taylor Ellwood, T Amanda R Wagener

This one was...rough. Painful, even. This made me retroactively rate the other occult books I read higher just to cope.

3/10 - Meh

Heartbreaker | Julie Garwood [reading challenge]

I was hoping this one would be fun, considering the author is from Missouri and the summary seemed promising, but the main male character (not the antagonist) came across as a creep the whole time. I hated him very much.

4 to 6/10 - Mid-Tier

Sigil Magic for Writers, Artists, & Other Creatives | T Thorn Coyle [reading challenge]

With all due respect to Mx. T Thorn Coyle…this book sucked. It originated as a zine and tbh it should have stayed that way. There was a lot of fluff to get the page count up that could honestly have been removed (and should have been). I didn’t feel like I came away from this one learning anything new about sigils or how to incorporate them or my writing into my craft.

The Whittiers | Danielle Steel [reading challenge]

Unlike my surprisingly good experiences reading The Wedding Planner, The Whittiers was a sludge to get through. It was a bit annoying to hear Danielle Steel talk so much about how the characters weren't rich when they were clearly living a rather rich lifestyle without much financial problems in the beginning, and I eventually gave up on the book. The characters just...weren't too compelling to trudge through the repetition for.

The Stranger Upstairs | Lisa M Matlin

YOU. This book took a bit too long to get to the point (the plot), but at least part 2 was absolutely riveting and the epilogue was intriguing. I honestly think None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell did this better, even though The Stranger Upstairs is more about a house than a person. Just...read None Of This Is True instead. Trust me.

Liber Null and Psychonaut | Liber Kaos | Peter J Carroll

Part of what I'm doing is research into chaos magic, starting with its foundational texts. And boy howdy, is this a severely middling book to me. Pointlessly obtuse, refuses to get to the point, spends too long sucking Aleister Crowley's dick... But utterly fascinating from a retrospective point of view, seeing what chaos magic looks like now.

7 to 8/10 - Good With Caveats

Dracula | Bram Stoker [reading challenge]

I'm going to beat Bram Stoker with a broom. Good with the caveat that you have to read it with the context of it being a product of its time. Also, post-vampire Lucy Westenra can GET SOME.

Strawberry Shortcake Murder | Joanne Fluke [reading challenge]

I "read" this one in audiobook form, thanks to my library having a Playaway of it. This one…aged a little poorly in some aspects. I might skip into more modern entries to the series rather than trudge through the older stuff to get there.

The Leftover Woman | Jean Kwok [reading challenge]

This one was a fucking TRIP. This book was full of twists and turns and physically pained me at points. It absolutely fucked me up and I was crying by the end, so I was lucky that no one came into work while I was reading it. I can't say much about it for fear of spoiling it, other than that it delivered upon what it promised.

The Midnight Library | Matt Haig [reading challenge]

This did NOT help with the crying! This book also fucked me up! It’s absolutely wild from the get-go. Content warning for animal death early on, though, because that did not help my anxious ass.

Marrying the Ketchups | Jennifer Close [reading challenge]

With all of the things this book was juggling, it ended exactly how it needed to.

Spells for Change: A Guide for Modern Witches | Frankie Castanea/Chaotic Witch Aunt

I was expecting something entirely different from this book.

Condensed Chaos: An Introduction to Chaos Magic | Phil Hine

Exactly what it says on the tin.

Magickal Servitors: Create Your Own Spirits to Attract Pleasure, Power and Prosperity | Damon Brand

Far more effective and to-the-point than Creating Magickal Entities was, but still far from perfect.

9/10 - Very Very Good

The Puppets of Spelhorst | Kate DiCamillo [reading challenge]

This book is one I've been meaning to read since the library got it in. It's an adorable story with great illustrations and plenty of drama for the 8- to 12-year-old in your life. Or for you, if you want a touching low-stakes story with an open ending.

Dog Man: Twenty Thousand Fleas Under The Sea | Dav Pilkey [reading challenge]

From the guy who brought us Captain Underpants comes an adorable graphic novel about…honestly a lot happening, there was a lot. Luckily, even though it’s late in the series, there’s enough context provided that you can get a good grasp of the characters. Doesn’t have much to do with Jules Verne’s Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, though, so I’m deducting a point for that. I read Jules Verne's work and there was nothing about a dog-headed cop in there, nor a cat man who used to be a criminal and is having the worst redemption arc of his life.

Honestly, it was still fun.

Practical Gods | Carl Dennis [reading challenge]

Read for both my reading challenge AND my book club's Pulitzer Prize prompt, this is such a lovely collection of poems and really gets into the crossing of religious belief with modern problems. How does it do this as a book of poetry? I’m not sure! But it did! Definitely worth the multiple prizes it has won. I ordered my own personal copy and I'm waiting for it to arrive.

Gods of Jade and Shadow | Silvia Moreno-Garcia [reading challenge]

I AM GOING TO EAT THIS BOOK BECAUSE I LOVE IT SO MUCH. We love a book in which the main character dies but that's not the end of their story!

Warrior Magic: Justice Spirituality and Culture from Around the World | Tomas Prower

I did a little write-up of this one.

Give-A-Damn-Jones | Bill Pronzini [reading challenge]

This one was great because the titular character respects women and protects minorities and keeps getting into situations. We love a guy who doesn't want to be here! This was the first Western I've read, and I think it was a good pick.

10/10 - Unironically Recommend To Everyone

Well, everyone who's into the genre these fall under, at least.

Sappho: A New Translation | Mary Barnard

I was so worried that this translation would...well, straightwash Sappho, but from what I see, Mary is dedicated to translating them as close to intentional meaning as possible, including Sappho's bisexuality. Hell yeah.

Welsh Witchcraft: A Guide to the Spirits, Lore, and Magic of Wales | Mhara Starling

This is an in-depth look into a Welsh witch's practice. It's delightful to read someone talk about their own craft, and you can really tell that Mhara loves the place she lives in.

Exodus 20:3: A Monster Romance | Freydis Moon

We love a gay angelfucker romance between a trans man and an angel, complete with smut. Honestly, a great time.

The Salt Grows Heavy | Cassandra Khaw

Do you want the mermaid from The Little Mermaid fairy tale to murder people? Do you want a nonbinary plague doctor? Do you want to hear about murderous child cannibals and freakish surgeons? Do you want your protagonist to McFucking Snap? Do you want a happy ending in the weirdest way possible in this setting? Read The Salt Grows Heavy! A mere 112 pages that will fuck you up while you're trying to poop in peace!