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If you like Pirates of the Caribbean or the Brendan Fraiser mummy movies, this poll is for you

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I need to explain this one, because most of you won't believe me.

Other : mostly, they didn't have to. France employed me to study.

Between 18 and 20, I was selected to prepare a competitive exam for two years. There was no tuition, I lived at my parents' and they only paid for some books I needed. At the end of it, my parents paid a bit so that I could go and pass the final steps of the exam.

At twenty, I passed a (very) competitive exam, and was recruited by the French Government to study. For 4 years, I had my own salary, my own health coverage, so I paid for my food, my rent, my taxes, everything. In exchange my only job was to study and I had to promise that I would work for the government for ten years.

I find it amazing that at one point, the state decided that investing in education meant paying people so that they could focus on studying. One of the idea is that the state prepares its own future workers, with an incentive to remain in civil service. It's too bad it's restricted to a very small number of students (less than a thousand a year). I think it should be more widespread, so I try to plant the idea every chance I get.

*this can mean tuition fees** and/or general living costs while enrolled full time in courses

**if you had/have a scholarship that helps pay tuition fees, vote based on how they help with living costs

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Women Self Defense in 1947

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Et si c'est une triangulaire, votez pour le candidat ou la candidate non RN arrivé.e en tête, même si l'autre ne s'est pas désisté.e (le déshonneur et la défaite).

Okay, I don't usually do that, but if anyone who is french and follow me, Go vote the 7th of July.

I don't want the extreme right to be in majority in the assembly.

For context for everyone who isn't French: Macron decided to dissolve the french assembly (they vote and suggest new laws) after the European elections (spoilers: This was a bad idea considering the rise of the extreme right everywhere in Europe), meaning we have to vote to elect some new deputies. And today was the first round... surprise, surprise: the RN (which is the extreme right) was first.

The left, as a response to the European elections, formed a coalition called Le Nouveau Front Populaire (the new popular front), very 1934 of us I have to say and they are second (I think).

The second round is the 7th of July.

GO VOTE.

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If, unlike the editors in the last panel, you ever want to read an aerospace-themed romance novel, I wrote Vortex Street, a 45k Dreamling fic about romance and fluid mechanics in the Sandman universe.

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Part 2 of 7 @endlesshistoriesfest

The Birth of Guilt (or Why Delight Became Delirium)

In which humanity changes, and Delight becomes Delirium.

Rated T | 401 Words | A03 | Masterpost | CW: Religious Guilt/Trauma

This story was inspired by Leonard Schlain’s The Alphabet Versus the Goddess: The Conflict Between Word and Image, in which he theorizes that written language fundamentally changed how human minds work, allowing patriarchal ideas to flourish. In Chapter 6, “Cuneiform/Marduk” he states, “The Seven Tablets of Creation replaced previous creation myths around 1700 B.C. and was recited every spring in Babylon for the next thousand years as the most plausible explanation for how the physical world came into existence....

Dream's appearance in this ficlet is a callack to Delight's brief appearance in Sandman: Overture.

“Babylonians embracing this myth would forever be burdened by guilt; they owed their very existence to the martyrdom of a god.” This myth, along with the Code of Hammurabi, Schlain argues, caused Babylon’s cultural and mental shift towards patriarchal principles and biases.

The illustration is influenced by ancient Babylonian relief carvings & sculpture.

The people didn’t want to believe the story, but it could not be denied. It was clearly etched in stone tablets. That myth was now unchangeable, immoveable, same as Hammurabi’s laws that now ruled their daily lives. Every year, the story was read aloud, in case they had forgotten. The weight of those words seemed to press down on them, heavy as the stone on which it was written, causing a burdensome new emotion, for which they had no name. (But one was guilt, and the other shame.)

As Babylon’s empire spread, the myth was told and retold to more and more people, from Hittites to Aryans and beyond. As they accepted its authority,, they fell under its heavy psychological weight. And as their burden grew, their joy fled from them.

Wherever they may seem to be, the Endless are always bound to those they serve. Delight was walking in her garden, when suddenly she trembled and so did the ground beneath her. Something was shifting. And somehow it was her.

In the chaos of the moment, a familiar voice called out to her: “ Delight? ”

“I can’t come right now,” she rasped. “I’m changing. I’m sorry.”

“... changing? ” Dream’s voice echoed, and then she was alone again.

Delight cried out. She fell to her hands and knees on the soft moss. Beneath her, it began to dissolve. Blooms fell with petal-soft sounds. Something twisted and broke inside her. Pain screamed through her and she screamed, loud and wordless.

When the biting pain had passed, Delirium looked up with eyes that now were of two different colors beneath the sheen of her tears. She saw her garden falling into decay, everything dying, dropping, morphing into nonsense shapes and never-before-seen colors.

She stood and looked around. Her realm was no longer a garden of delight, and she was someone else.

As Delirium stood on wobbly legs, she sprouted wings to keep her balanced. She took a step and then another, wings fluttering, hurrying her along. She couldn’t think of what she’d just been doing. Or why she’d stopped. But she supposed it must not be important, if she couldn’t recall. Giggling, she leapt into the air, letting her wings carry her. Iridescent bubbles of all shapes and sizes rose with her into the maelstrom of color that was the sky.

She was Delirium. This was her Realm. She was herself and she was home.

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Tagging this with gay fandoms sorry

There's currently a European proposition to ban conversion practice in Europe

If you're European please sigh it

If you're not please reblog

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Wargus could not exist in Latin, because the letter W didn't exist. We could switch to Uargus, but let me suggest Gargus.

The G sound from French mutating to W sound in English is a common evolution, that you can see with Guerre/War, Guillaume/William, Gautier/Walter...

Gargus-> Gargo->Gargeria -> Gargerie-> Wargry

really enjoying this series

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"The Sandman" fanart

Screen wallpaper... and yes, the poppies again. Don't think I get over it soon ^___^

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Submitted by @sky-the-snail-fanatic

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I was watching some "Reading the Past" videos for research, and learned about this piece of original 18th century stained glass in Westminster.

HOB?!?

Is that you wrenching that press tight, bruh? Were you having a laugh when you posed for the sketch for this window 400 years later?

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Not to be a Star Trek fan too loud in the Sandman fandom but I know I can't be the only one who screams a little inside when watching Dream talk to Calliope and he says those three very special words: "Let Me Help."

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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass it on to some other writers if you like. Let’s spread the self-love 💜 (i personally hate these sorts of chain-letter things, so no pressure, but i do like to know which of their works a given author particularly loves, so consider this an opportunity to celebrate your work!)

Man, my instinct was "but I haven't written enough to have five favorites" and then i looked at my works page and I was like. Huh. Ok, actually that's wrong somehow.

Anyway.

The Next Level - Sandman/Good Omens crossover.

Originated entirely from that post where Neil said that Aziraphale and Crowley like to hold hands. Wrote it during a work training conference instead of paying full attention. As you do.

Put that Thing Back Where it Came From or So Help Me - Sandman,

My gen Gault and Jed buddy adventure story that took me a while to write but I got there in the end. Unfortunately for me, the readers don't go for gen-fic, so it has a third the reads of my other stuff. QQ

Wash these Sins On Down the River - Dreamling AU, written to go with @teejaystumbles art.

Vampire Hob, mysterious supernatural entity Dream. Gosh this was fun to write have take over my entire brain for like two months.

The Vampire, Formerly of Surrey - for The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison.

I just really wanted more Crow and Doyle, and also there's only eight works in that fandom and I got to deal with my personal feelings about both vampires and chronic illness.

Lowdown and Dirty - for the Foreigner series by CJ Cherryh

Still really proud of this one, even though it's from 2017, before I took my five year fanfic writing hiatus. This was just me going "wouldn't it be fun if Ilisidi Filed Intent on Bren for sneaky political reasons? he would be so hurt and annoyed and inconvenienced."

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Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass it on to some other writers if you like. Let’s spread the self-love 💜 (i personally hate these sorts of chain-letter things, so no pressure, but i do like to know which of their works a given author particularly loves, so consider this an opportunity to celebrate your work!)

Thank you for this tag, @tryan-a-bex and @zzoomacroom!

My favourite work that I've written is The King of Stone, which is not the Sandman fandom but it's the work I put the most work in, most love and most of myself. So, if you feel like reading an interesting AU fandom-blind, give it a chance. Fandom-blind it's basically the story of two men in a world where being hetero is a crime. This trope is not for everyone, but as I said, my favourite work.

To Hold and Dream - Omegaverse AU with professor!Hob and student!Dream, and an unexpected heat.

The Black Void I Cannot Fix - Dark!!! The aftermath of rape.

Marked by Death - Immortal soldier and doctor Hob meets god!Morpheus. Ft. rough sex.

Friend of the Sea - Mermaid!Hob and prince!Dream, a mermaid rescue mission and an exercise in trust.

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Seriously the most important relationship advice ever

btw one of the key components of actually being in a healthy relationship is just asking for things that you want. i keep seeing posts on this website saying 'i really want to do/receive [X] but my partner has never done it'. just ask. 'nobody exchanges love letters anymore' ask. 'i want to have my partner's hair in a locket like the victorians' just ask. 'i want to be bought flowers regularly :((' literally just ask. your partner doesn't know they're being held to these expectations and that you're unhappy unless you tell them. it's so unfair to expect your partner to read your mind. 'it's less special if you have to ask :((' grow up and stop pretending you're the lead in a romcom. when people say communication is crucial they mean it !! just ask !!

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There should be a fanfic writing game called the showrunners challenge where someone writes a story and partway through someone else can play things like "actor leaves after 4000 more words" or "topic now too politically sensitive due to unforeseen world events" or "lost rights to that reference"

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Side Note To Fan Fic Authors

Here’s the thing.

I read a lot of scripts.  A lot.  From professionals to aspiring writers to complete newbies.  Features and pilots.  Specs and treatments.

And 8 times out of 10 the fan fic that I’ve read over the last, oh, 15 years is leagues better than this stuff.  It’s more inspired.  It’s more compelling.  It’s genre bending and creative and heartfelt.  It’s well-paced and intense and funny and sexy and meaningful.  It’s smart and thoughtful and good.  It’s novel-quality.  Better than, sometimes.

Rare is the script I don’t want to put down, but how often have we stayed up until 3am to get to the last chapter of a 100k fic? And it’s not even a fan fic author’s day job.  This is what they do on the side.  In their spare time.  For free.

So my point is, fan fic authors, you’re good.  You’re good writers and great storytellers.  I know it doesn’t always feel like it, especially if you’re one of the authors who’s not a BNF and doesn’t get the notes/hits that a few do.  And  because some people still view fic as “not real writing.” You guys know the shit that gets made into movies.  You’re better than that.  So be better than that.  If writing is what you think want to do, then just know you’re already doing it.   You’ve already started.

And you’re more talented than you might think.