#Funding Rate Mechanism

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[baeshijima]

WAIT

U MEAN THESE ARE THE BANNERS FOR 4.7 ???????

[ew-selfish-art]

DPx DC Au: Might as well be brothers. Young Justice hears about a regional hero disappearing, and while they've never met the guy, Red Robin's contacts say that Ra's is hunting him for afterlife/immortality related reasons.

Tim drake hates the annoying white uniform he's wearing but breaking into this place is crucial to his 24 hour plan to rescue Phantom. He'd never even heard of the guy until a week ago when Pru came to him with info that Ra's was looking into Midwest Real Estate, and then Tim stumbled down the rabbit hole of Ghost conspiracy theories until he saw an article demanding that local officials speak on the hero's absence of 10 days. 10 days was short enough that Tim might find a sign of life and well, another federal agency being hacked by Red Robin is nothing new.

So now, he's walking down the halls with these stupid fucking glasses and this stupid fucking suit while Kon listens from the comfort of the surveillance van. He takes a turn and sees the track suits that the illegally detained inmates are wearing, and pivoting the plan, makes his way to a locker room to get one and get changed. It does take him an extra second and he considers that this might bite him- but Tim knows the place inside and out. He's scoured all their data, and sue him for being cocky, but he has a literal alien ready to tear the place apart waiting for his heart rate to jump above 80 bpm. which is a pretty low heart rate all things considered.

Tim gets exactly where he's meant to go, and waits only a few minutes before he see's the science team extract Phantom from the high security room.

Phantom doesn't make it clear if he notices Tim, but he's basically being dragged by the couple, so Tim decides to beat them to their destination. The experimental wing had shown up in their reported data not long after they made it extremely obvious that they had Phantom in their data output.

Tim's already in the room when he starts to notice that it's not exactly a room... more like a mechanical space. The way the corners curl in the room make it almost tube like... Portal like.

Phantom is thrown in and Tim grabs him the second the scientists leave, but the kill switch key Tim made to get them out isn't working for this door like it did all the others.

"Not... Not a door."

"We're in some sort of device aren't we? Something of their own design that the government isn't aware they're funding?"

"Portal. You've gotta get out, even if you get caught, you gotta get out now."

Tim's comm comes alive in his ear, its Kon responding to Tim's heart rate rising- and Tim is hesitant to call him in but ultimately tells him to start flying over for extraction.

Then the portal goes off, and while he feels pain, he doesn't feel different. Bright light subsiding, Kon's arms around him with a confused voice, and lots of lasers being fired his way... Tim wakes up to see a much younger Phantom looking at him from the other side of the young justice couch.

Kon, Bart and Cassie are all fighting at a white board that's been wheeled in but Tim can only yawn and blink his way into consciousness enough to give a shit.

Black haired and blue eyed, button nosed with large ears, a wry thin lipped smile... Tim realizes that Phantom looks incredibly similar to his younger self. And then Tim looks at his much smaller hands and realizes that he probably looks a lot more similar to his younger self than normal.

Taking in the scenery once more, the white board is divided on the traits Tim has to the children sitting left and right on the couch. Kon didn't know who was who. That meant that maybe... the government didn't either.

Phantom turns out to be a pretty chill dude despite all the trauma, and he's incredibly prepared to both fuck with Ra's and the government in their newly found childhood twin-ship.

One of the twins is scarier than the other, and despite Danny literally haunting them, its always Tim.

(Okay now its some one else's turn :D )

[thr0wnawayy]

Midoriya's Delusion

This is post that builds upon my previous one, I've copied many of the points I made there to here. Albiet with some corrections and tweaks.

To summarize, I have a bit of a crack theory that chapter 430 isn't as real as we've been led to believe. (As for when this actually takes place, that's up to you but I like to imagine the start of his third year marks the beginning of his mental decline.)

(As an update, I find it dubious whether 8 years have actually passed or if that's also a part of the fantasy. I can see Midoriya becoming so attached to the lie that his reference of time begins to warp)

This theory mostly comes from some inconsistencies in regards to the hero rankings and some other things I've found.

Corrections:

It's left ambiguous whether Best Jeanist and Endeavor are still active. However the fact that people view these two in a postive light (especially after Dabi and the war) still seems absurd.

2. Midoriya wasn't outright abandoned, rather their busy schedules make it hard for their days off to coincide. This falls apart when you look at this panel

"The rate of new villains keep decreasing and the number of heroes have stabilized"

Besides Ochaco who's funding a quirk counseling project, the rest of the class should be able to make time. Again it's stated that they aren't actually fighting.

There's no real threat to face. Besides PR and Community Service there's bot a whole lot else (besides the occasional natural disaster)

One could argue it's because the scope of what heroes do is increasing, thus keeping them busy. But again, we see heroes doing exactly what they did before, PR, Advertising and (implied) Showboating.

This leads me to believe that the lack of contact is based in reality, to some extent.

Whether it was by choice or forced by their (1A's) respective PR teams to preserve their images (can't be seen around the "freaks" for too long, now can we?).

The lie comes in the form of busy schedules.

Now whether that's what Midoriya tells himself or what he's been told, I cannot say for certain.

Disturbia:

For those of you who didn't read my last post, you may be wondering, so what's going on?.

Simply put:

Midoriya's having a breakdown fantasy to cope with the fact that he won't be becoming a hero due to the loss of his quirk.

Im aware it sounds crazy but consider the following:

1. Midoriya subconsciously knows the way he's been treated was wrong.

This manifests within the escapists fantasy in Bakugo's drop in the rankings + the attitude surrounding him (as well as his damaged hand never fully healing)

He meets a kid who just so happens to be in a near exact same position as he once* was (and still is to an extent). One could take this as his mind's way of trying to cope and heal itself, by having Midoriya do what he does best and help others, henceforth working though his trauma by using the kid as a stand in.

*Even the kid's "bully" seems to be a warped version of Bakugo (perhaps this is how Midoriya tries to fool himself into believing how it was)

2. We see Kota.

I believe that here, Kota serves as what Midoriya thinks he could have been had he not failed. Kota is the idealized version of Midoriya here, the unobtainable.

3. A lesson ignored

Apparently people forgot the connection between Endeavor and Shoto. You'd think this would be a good thing as Shoto would be able to become his own person.

This falls flat when you remember that also includes people forgetting the reason and happenings behind Shoto's existence, it feels like Midoriya is trying to have his cake and eat it too

To elaborate, this is a major copout, it allows Shouto to be unaffected by his family's past bith career wise and emotionally. While also feeding into Midoriya's rather toxic belief that forgiveness is required to be a good person.

(The fact that killing Tomura violated this only adds to my theory that this whole thing is an escapist coping mechanism.)

(You can also add the idea that Tomura didn't forgive society for what they did to him and his friends. That likely broke all the "rules" that Midoriya knew.)

4. The Mech Suit is a massive cope, it's the dying whimper of Midoriya's childish hope that All Might will save the day.

This time there's no magic quirk, no garrish mech suit, no plot twist.

No. There's only Midoriya and the consequences of his, his classmates and hero societies actions. It doesn't matter how shiny and seamless the illusion, how sweet the lie.

You can't hide the blood.

Concerning Aspects:

That was mostly the revised stuff, let me introduce you to some new points

1. A Frozen Lake

Something I noticed was certain characters seem to be almost frozen in time, as if someone tried to continue a story using scraps of the original text.

The curious case of Rei Himura:

This scene seems almost stagnant, what was most noticeable was Enji's bandages still being on and Rei still being there.

It's as if Midoriya hasn't seen them in years (or perhaps doesn't want to acknowledge what happened). So his mind uses what he last saw/heard of them, creating a sterile, static scenario. Little better than props.

Those surrounding her (with the exception of Hawks) also seem to be stuck in the past.

It's definitely strange.

2. See No Evil, Hear no Evil, Speak No Evil

Shigaraki is a representation of Midoriya's repressed guilt and his fears. I believe deep down Midoriya knows that, inevitably the cycle will repeat, so long as the system is allowed fester and wallow in it's complancy.

I find the fact that he's behind Midoriya to be ironic, as if to say: don't look back, don't think about what you've done.

A Symbol of Stagnation:

I should warn you that it does get lengthy from here, however I think it's important to get the full picture. Even if I tend to ramble here.

It's implied here that Lemillion's the top hero. This is awful for a variety of reasons. Mirio is a horrible symbol.

All Might was flawed for a variety of reasons, but a majority of these were byproducts rather than directly being his own doing.

Mirio on the other hand, has such a cancerous philosophy that it actively harms all who interact with it.

Mirio is a follower, he follows orders first and asks questions never.

Eri is the best example of this. Even after Nighteye's death, Mirio never truly reflects on the damage his actions could have caused ( only saved by the narrative, seriously it's a miracle Eri trusts anyone besides Midoriya after being abandoned like that)

You see, the difference between Toshinori and Mirio lies in their actions and principles.

Mirio left Eri to die, all for the sake of the "mission".

For all the heroes knew, Eri could have been a trafficking victim and either have been killed or relocated. But no, appearances and "gotta catch em all" take priority even after knowing Eri is in the Yakuza's clutches.

Lemillion made the worst decisions possible. He followed a known murder into a secluded, restricted area (with a hostage mind you) bringing his pupil with him.

Willingly ignored blatant signs of abuse (just look at the girl) and played hooky with thre leader of a criminal organization, who is known for his short fuse and willingness to kill.

He did all of that, when he could have easily detained Overhaul at any point (his quirk being a direct counter)

Toroshinori would fight tooth and nail in that situation. Consequences be damned if it meant saving Eri.

Part of the reason Toroshinori was so effective as a hero was 1. His sense of justice and 2. His compassion.

Mirio is a symbol that can be controlled, a weapon if you will.

The fact that Mirio is at the top shows that things haven't changed and are even beginning to decline. So this brings me to my next point

You may be asking, if Midoriya's losing it in his own mind, what's the outside world look really like?.

Allow me to set the stage.

4. Speculation

Within Midoriya's muddled mind, Lemillion represents both his toxic optimism and a subconscious understanding that nothing has changed. It represents denial and acceptance, a dysfunctional middle ground that's easy enough for Midoriya to stomach.

The truth of the matter is, delusion or not, the reality is soon to sink in.

Something that I don't see discussed is the lack of reactions from other nations or really any insight into how they were affected by everything that happend.

Here's the idea: Most likely they are foaming at the mouth.

Particularly it's the countries who suffered under Imperial Japan in the past (Korea, China, Singapore etc), however this also applies to every nation Nedzu brow beat into aiding with the rebuilding efforts, albiet their reaction would be latent.

Not not only is the attitude painfully reminiscent of how Japan handles it's past atrocities, Japan has had them clean up their messes. seen below:

(you cannot tell me Big Red Dot over here is having a good time)

From an outside pov. The Commission never told anyone about AFO, rather they suppressed any information, locked him up in Tartarus and then sat on the whole situation until it blew up in their (read: everyones) faces.

He then proceeded to: kill over 8000 people (+ those killed during the Blackout period), kill the top hero of one of the world's most powerful nations and incite mass panic. Destroyed massive amounts of infrastructure and transport nationwide, broke thousands of criminals out of prison, destroying those prisons in the process.

Meanwhile the heroes:

Abandoned civilians in mass by quitting in the middle of a war.

Left the public in the dark for months and allowing crime and paranoia to grow rampant, even (forcibly) bringing someone they knew was being targeted by AFO and his forces to the one place they could find shelter.

Mutilated a seven year old girl. Who has a history of being mutilated for the gain of others and patted themselves on the back. (Also having no holdup on how that may effect her physically via her quirk or mentally via her trauma)

Mic: tried to kill a docile prisoner who could be considered in comatose, based off of his emotional attachment to a dead man + viewing it as justified if it meant Spinner couldn't get to him.

Used hospital staff and patients as meatshields (Central Hospital) during a riot.

Most had no qualms supporting a child beating eugenicist and implied marital rapist, even with his one of his victims exposed him and citing it as his main reason for turning to villainy.

Held an illegal questioning* with said abuser while ignoring his main victim (Rei, who is probably the most reliable source of information there)

(*which effectively is like conducting an investigation on yourself and declaring you are not guilty)

And so much more! (But this post is getting too long)

My point is by the time everything was said and done, it seemed everyone but Japan was paying for it.

It's outright stated that the US president risked national security by sending every hero they had to help Japan. (Impeachment worthy if you ask me)

Endeavor's little plan to kill himself and Dabi in a blaze of death ended up disrupting the weather. Very likely it'll end up resembling an El Niño phenomenon, only vastly off schedule and even more destructive than normal.

For Reference [https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/ninonina.html]

Very likely it'll lead to an agricultural drought in the northern America's and mass flooding in southern America's, likely starting at the west coast and bleeding inland. Leading to a domino effect where cost of living surges due to the sudden displacement of people and the rapid loss of products.

Worse still, because the US had no heroes (likely for months on end), crime has likely surged in the America's, which will further impact the rest of the world.

The rebuilding efforts likely emptied the wallets of most participating countries, leaving them unable to help anyone, including themselves.

Also keep in mind that Japan incriminated themselves with the Business Course footage. I don't think the general public (outside of Japan) is going to take too kindly to a known murder and abuse apologist being in charge of a system already known for it's corruption.

The end result is likely be a world that detests Japan, either from a moral perspective (Rei's treatment + the treatment of those society abandoned), a financial perspective (we can't afford shit and you contributed to that) or historical perspective (you do this everytime and ignore the consequences).

A world divided by struggle and united by an immense loathing for the Commission's Japan and the culture surrounding it.

Oh, don't forget there's no finding left for quirk research. Meaning that it's very likely no one will be prepared for quirk singularity to start manifesting in the upcoming generations (Thanks Nedzu).

_______________________________________

Update: Can I just say that Aizawa's lack of ownership infuriates me even though this is likely a fantasy and not grounded in reality.

Like what the fuck do you mean "with the way he talks, it was pointless" Fantasy Aizawa.

Because "Hey Asshole", You deliberately ignored his attitude and offenses!. And what? Now your just gonna shrug it off like it wasn't your fault. To hell with that you had two years, most teacher are said to only get one. As you so graciously mentioned at the start of this shit show of an epilouge.

Heres the moment I'm referring to btw:

While we're at it. Are you telling me it was too hard to get Momo some proper attire all three fucking years she was at UA for.

Not to mention Toru is still naked, how the fuck hasn't she died yet, she is literally exposed to the elements (and lord help her of she gets a cut)

Kirishima's costume is still his biggest liability considering it exposes his chest and back (also seeing as even when hardened he can't repell bullets)

Does Denki still fry himself with his quirk?

Before we move on Aizawa. How's that daughter you neglected, her horn still broken?.

Speaking of which let's look at the rescue team:

What the hell is this!?

Let's see, we got a guy who can only do damage (and his sweat detonates on contact, destroying whatever it touches.)

A brainwasher who only got into the hero course via nepotism and who can only brainwash people who directly respond to him!. A person trapped underneath rubble either frantic or groaning in pain isn't going to be able to respond or even just give consent.

(On a side note what are the laws regarding mind control quirks, does some sort of waiver have to be signed, can a person sue for being controlled against their consent?)

Oh, but wait there's more.

Midoriya running headlong with experimental tech that has, very likely never seen the light of day. Let alone preform in an actual high stakes situation before.

You're trying to carry someone and oops! Something malfunctioned or was miscalculated, now there's an even bigger mess (hooray!)

Who could forget Mezo "they'll come for your kids" Soji. Who climbed the ladder and pulled it all the way up.

Yeah forget that Heteromorph's were getting hate crimed long before the war, ignore the fact that you yourself were maimed by an angry mob after doing one of the most heroic things a person can do. Dismiss Spinner's comment about being sprayed with Pesticide for walking in public.

Nah screw it, let's all sing Kumbaya while the Creation Rejection Clan runs wild outside the reach of the cities, then ignore that the discrimination still is prevalent in the countryside and it's only a matter of time before somone gets fed up and takes matters into their own hands. (talons, claws, you get the picture)

But your a hero now Soji, you got your's. So fuck the rest of 'em

And don't even get me started on Hawks. Congratulations you ignorant bastard, way to kill time and by that I mean for everyone but the heroes.

"Yeah life is great!, everyone hates us, we're rapidly falling into debt from all that rebuilding 8 years back."

"Speaking of which some of those buildings are staring to fall apart due to being rushed to meet deadlines set within the month they were started."

"Social darwinism is on the rise and people are becoming more complacent that ever before due to heroes applying bandaid solutions on decade long, deeply ingrained problems."

"All so the average person doesn't have to think about what's festering beneath society's floorboards, so thank you Safety Commission. Here's your star of positivity ⭐️." - Some random anti-hero civilian

So much for greatest heroes, huh.

_______________________________________

UPDATE 2:

A dark thought I just had, is that the main reason Izuku killed Tomura was because Tomura broke the rule of "Forgiving Your Abusers makes you Good".

When Tomura refused to relinquish his hatred, when he stood his ground, that is when Midoriya decided he had to die. If not to "stop" him, then to preserve Midoriya's perception of the world .

Shigaraki + The LOV by their very ideals went against everything Midoriya has had beat into him by Bakugo and Aldera over the years.

Makes me wonder how'd he react to a person refusing to forgive their abuser. If he interacted with Natsuo or Rei, I could see that delving into a complete mess.

Now that I think about it, The Midoriya we know now, he would have never tried to hold onto Eri back when they first met.

Ironically, he became what he named himself after, a Deku. A puppet attached to thorns of liquid gold, glistening and burning hot.

A slave to his own biases and belief system, now trapped in a stage of his minds own making.

First bound by his past, then by legacy and finally, now by his own hand.

木偶.

[vintagegeekculture]

So, a friend of mine on Discord said something interesting, and I feel like you might have thoughts on it. So. What do you think of the idea of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as being "The Shaw Brothers for kids", a sort of gateway drug for "the kung fu genre"?

Not the Shaw Brothers, but Golden Harvest. Let me explain: 

I’m going to sound like a conspiracy theorist when I say this, but I believe the New Line Cinema “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” (1990) movie was actually a money laundering scheme by the Chinese Mafia, specifically, the Sun Yee On Triad. 

Looking into the role of organized crime in martial arts cinema is a rabbit hole that goes very, very, very deep...and comes out somewhere very shocking at the end.

You mention the Shaw Brothers, but there was another Hong Kong Producer who was the only credible rival to the Shaw Brothers (and who eventually surpassed the Shaws) in martial arts movies: Golden Harvest’s Raymond Chow….a man who started off as the Shaw Brothers’ talent division, but who eventually founded his own rival studio to the Shaws (with rumored triad financial backing), and who made Bruce Lee, Angela Mao and Jackie Chan stars. Raymond Chow is widely, and extremely credibly, believed to be a middleman for the Hong Kong Triad, the Sun Yee On, who used Golden Harvest as a front facing money laundering scheme, as claimed by Frederic Dannen in "Hong Kong Babylon," and Yiu Kong Chiu in "The Triads as Business," books I recommend if you are at all interested in the topic of organized crime in the Hong Kong film industry.

Raymond Chow was also the producer and primary funder of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movies. I mean, what does it mean when your movie is entirely produced and funded by a guy well known for being a triad middleman and money launderer?

And all of this happened at New Line Cinema, a borderline independent film company…one known for having dodgy financials it’s entire existence, no less, which ultimately doomed it? One of the most extraordinary things about the 1990 Ninja Turtles movie is that it was, essentially, an independent film. New Line would later become a powerhouse as a studio and created Lord of the Rings, but at the time, it was a mainly low rent operation, rather like Cannon films, known for the success of the slasher series “Nightmare on Elm Street.” So yes, I do believe "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" (1990) was a money laundering scheme by the Chinese Mafia.

The triads in Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan take enormous interest in financing martial arts movies for the same reason that they take a tremendous interest in financing porn movies: they’re quick, cheap, dirty, and can be used as a mechanism for laundering money, and a way to claim money from illegal sources (say, heroin) comes from a clean and legal source that can be claimed on taxes, like say, a movie studio. In addition, Hong Kong’s strict rating system, the Category III (equivalent to a far stricter R-rating) meant that very violent movies were handled in ways that were outside the law in ways similar to pornography. And according to several Senate investigations in 1991 ("Hearings on Asian Organized Crime"), the triads were actively involved in money laundering as well outside of Hong Kong, including currency trading and real estate, and the idea they could back a studio is entirely possible.

Everyone working in Hong Kong cinema has a story of dealing with the triads, who are interwoven into the city. Anita Mui's manager was was shot dead by mafiosos. Jimmy Wang Yu, the first Kung Fu star, was a suspected member of the Bamboo Union triad, and once borrowed money from one triad to pay another....and may have used his reported connections with the Triads to get Jackie Chan out of his initial contract with Golden Harvest, a favor Jackie repaid. Golden Harvest studios were actually firebombed in 1984, an event suspected to be due to Triad activity. Raymond Chow’s fellow producer and good friend who discovered Steven Chow, film producer Charles Heung, is well known to be the son of Heung Chin, who founded the Sun Yee On Triad, the largest in Hong Kong with over 25,000 members. And you don’t have to take my word for it; a US Senate Committee in 1991 on Asian Organized Crime identified Cheung as a leader of the Sun Yee On along with his brothers. Because of his association with Charles Heung and the Sun Yee On, Steven Chow, director of Kung Fu Hustle, cannot enter Canada legally.

Jackie Chan asserted Raymond Chow’s triad connections in his autobiography, and also claimed that he only hired triad members and other people who were mobbed up at Golden Harvest. One example would be producer Ng See Yuen, who produced Once Upon a Time in China for Golden Harvest, and who Jet Li refused to work with ever again after his manager was assassinated by triad gunmen (Jet Li blamed Ng See Yuen for his manager's death).

There's also Lo Wei, a Shaw Brothers director and known “Red Pole” enforcer of the Sun Yee On Triad, who came over to Golden Harvest, where he directed Bruce Lee’s Chinese Connection and Big Boss, and also directed Jackie Chan’s earliest “period” historical movies for GH. Jackie Chan, in his autobiography, stated that the reason he initially left Hong Kong to go to the United States for an American career was because Lo Wei, his director on Laughing Hyena, put a hit out on him for refusing to make Laughing Hyena 2, and Jackie had to flee the city when Lo Wei sent gunmen to his house to abduct him. When arriving in the United States, he had to avoid some men with machine guns at the airport. To this day, whenever possible, Jackie Chan goes out in public armed for fear of gangsters. 

Even Jackie Chan though, never made the assertion that Raymond Chow and the Sun Yee On had Bruce Lee killed. This is important to mention because if you talk to any Chinese person, nearly all of them believe with unshakable, absolute certainty that the Chinese Mafia killed Bruce Lee, which is literally the plot of Game of Death (which, incidentally, Raymond Chow produced). Everyone around Bruce was mobbed up, because everyone in the Hong Kong film industry was mobbed up; in fact, it’s an open question how much it existed for its own sake. It’s notable Bruce Lee died at the home of Betty Lo Ting Pei, Golden Harvest actress, and his known mistress…who was married to a triad gangster. It’s also known that the first person that Betty Lo Ting Pei called when Bruce died was not medical services but Raymond Chow, something that to this day, she has not attempted to explain. 

It can be hard to imagine what the motive is for Raymond Chow and the triads to kill Bruce Lee. After all, wouldn’t Bruce Lee be more useful to Raymond Chow alive than dead? I never saw the angle, here. But then, you consider that in the last few months of his life, Bruce Lee started to set the stage for his transition to behind the scenes roles like producer, and was assembling a lot of stunt talent around him (a lot of productions down the pipeline intended to have Bruce Lee in producer roles, like Circle of Iron). The rumor among the stunt players, as recounted by Sammo Hung, was that Bruce was attempting to form his own stunt and film production company (as Chiba later did successfully in Japan) and that would involve organizing and peeling off half the talent in Hong Kong….in a deeply triad controlled industry, no less. There was also a story recounted by witnesses that Bruce Lee, a temperamental and explosively violent man, physically assaulted Raymond Chow in his office with punches and kicks when he heard Chow had two sets of books in their shared production company, as Bruce was always keen to keep the triads out of his films. Ten days later, Bruce Lee was dead. And for weeks before his death, Lee told his friends "Hong Kong is getting too hot, I have to get out."

And you know something? A Ninja Turtles movie from 1990 is probably the least of it. In 2020, a few documents were declassified by the Taiwanese government that showed that the members of the Bamboo Union Triad had 19 top governmental positions in Taiwan from 1955-1984 (the era when Taiwan was in a complete state of military rule), including the National Security Bureau and all branches of the armed forces. In other words, Taiwan during the military rule era wasn't just corrupted by the triads, the triads were the government.

I never cease to be amazed at the incuriousness of the journalistic professions. Governments don't declassify documents - especially something as damning as triad involvement in government - unless they have to. So why would the Tsai Ing-Wen government reveal this now in 2020, especially when anti-corruption is the driving force of Taiwanese politics, and anti-corruption sentiment pushed the KMT out of power since the 90s? Outsiders believe that the single biggest question in Taiwanese politics is their relationship with the mainland. Kinda...the status quo is more or less a settled question. It's actually anti-corruption and anti-triad infiltration, which is why the DPP are the ruling party now.

The answer, I suspect, is that the triads are no longer working with the Taiwanese government, but with the mainland government. In the 1980s, Wong Man Fong, editor of the Xinhua paper of Hong Kong, said in several interviews he was asked by the People's Republic of China to reach out to the triads to help make a deal: no government interference in their activities, if they pledge to keep order in the city after the handover in 1997. I strongly suspect the mainland now has a similar arrangement with the Bamboo Union, Green Gang, and the Si Hai Bang they did in Hong Kong, especially since so much money is going back and forth with the release of trade to the mainland. In other words, the triads in Taiwan are active agents of the PRC.

Backdoor deals between government and the mob aren't out of the question, just ask the CIA, who used Giancana Crime Family assassins sent to kill Castro as a key plank of the Bay of Pigs Invasion, the role of the mafia in the Kennedy Assassination, or how control of opium was a key under-the-table reason for the invasion of Afghanistan.

What I suspect happened is, the Taipei government is turning on organized crime now after decades and decades of ludicrous and obvious corruption, because to the triads, the money to be made with the mainland and unification is far more lucrative. It's no coincidence that the largest pro-unification party in Taiwan is led by a triad gangster who spent time in jail for racketeering, Chang An Lo, nicknamed "the White Wolf." Like John Gotti, everyone knows he's a mobster and that's even part of the White Wolf's coolness and appeal (if you could vote for Tony "Scarface" Montana, boy, I bet a lot of guys would), but nobody can touch him. In fact, combined with how the "light world" financial institutions are intertwined along with the underworld, there's an argument to be made that the reason the PRC hasn't tried to take Taiwan is that for all intents and purposes, they already have it.

In other words, the triads have gone from using the Ninja Turtles to money launder to essentially setting global geopolitics.

[kira-akira]

Bernie Sanders Introduces Long COVID Moonshot Legislation

This legislation "provides $1 billion in mandatory funding per year for 10 years to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support Long COVID research, the urgent pursuit of treatments, and the expansion of care for patients across the country." Announcement on Sander's twitter and the Long COVID Moonshot website.

This announcement references the number 22 million for adults affected by Long COVID in the US but that number is certainly much higher; in 2022 the CDC reported that 7.5% of US adults have Long COVID and that number can only have increased.

Here is an article published today on PBS if you need a primer or a refresher on what Long COVID is and why everyone needs to care about it. From the article:

"Long COVID is a complex chronic condition that can result in more than 200 health effects across multiple body systems. These include:

Heart disease

Neurologic problems such as cognitive impairment, strokes and dysautonomia. This is a category of disorders that affect the body’s autonomic nervous system – nerves that regulate most of the body’s vital mechanisms such as blood pressure, heart rate and temperature.

Post-exertional malaise, a state of severe exhaustion that may happen after even minor activity — often leaving the patient unable to function for hours, days or weeks

Gastrointestinal disorders

Kidney disease

Metabolic disorders such as diabetes and hyperlipidemia, or a rise in bad cholesterol

Immune dysfunction"

I know it's easy to give into despair but THERE IS HOPE for the future! For decreasing transmission of COVID-19, for developing preventatives against Long COVID, and for treating Long COVID. To highlight just a few of the possible pathways to prevention and treatment being currently researched:

The possibility of using antivirals to treat not just Long COVID but any autoimmune disease

The development of N95 masks that can sense SARS-CoV-2 in exhaled breath using a printed immunosensor

A nasal vaccine that halts transmission of SARS-CoV-2 (though does not stop the user from developing COVID-19)

A Japanese research team is looking to treat COVID-19 by using embryonic stem cells to target the virus

The possibility of using already-developed arthritis drugs to treat Long COVID respiratory symptoms

Researchers just identified a possible protein to target in treating Long COVID fatigue

This is an incredibly small collection of studies researching potential treatments but they themselves and the decades of research they are built on had to be funded. In fact, since the pandemic began, more than 24,000 scientific publications about COVID-19 have been published, making it the most researched health condition in any four years of recorded human history.

So there is hope! But all this research needs money. Money that Long COVID Moonshot will provide. And while we wait for research to bear fruit, that $1 billion per year will also be crucial in caring for those suffering from Long COVID in the meantime.

So What Can You Do?

Keep masking - We've just hit 900,000 new COVID cases per day in the US and this wave is not even at its peak yet (For reference, Fauci stated back in 2021 that getting under 10,000 cases per day would allow for mask mandates and safety measures to relax...)

Go on the Long COVID Moonshot website and write to your legislators in support (You can use their script, it only takes 1 minute!)

Keep yourselves and others informed - On the Moonshot website they also offer handy graphics and facts sheets that you can post wherever you can. Spread the word!

And if you or someone you know has Long COVID, you can write in to the Long COVID Moonshot website about your experience

And remember, no one is safe from Long COVID; your chances of developing Long COVID increase with every reinfection. Until research like what Long COVID Moonshot will fund discovers viable preventatives and treatments, the only way to not get Long COVID is to not get COVID-19 in the first place.

Stay safe, stay hopeful, support Long COVID Moonshot, and mask up!

[steddieas-shegoes]

stuck for a while

for @corrodedcoffinfest prompt 'hate this town'

rated t | 521 words | cw: angst with an ambiguous ending | tags: band breakup, good uncle wayne munson, eddie pov

🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️🗺️

Eddie thought getting out of Hawkins would be enough. He thought that if they just found a city that would give them more opportunity, they'd be fine, he'd be fine.

They chose Chicago, much to Wayne's silent displeasure, because it seemed like the best chance to be heard.

But they'd been here for six months now and had no more contacts or opportunities than they did on day one. They were broke as shit, working shitty hours wherever they could just to pay for rent and food, sharing a two bedroom apartment in the worst area of town. Their neighbors were rude and called the cops on them if they tried to practice anytime after dinner.

Frankie was the first to suggest they try somewhere new, maybe head to Indy, be closer to family and friends. Jeff suggested New York because his cousin was trying to sublet his apartment for cheap while he studied abroad. Gareth suggested going back to Hawkins to regroup, have a few homemade meals, plan things out better.

Eddie hated Chicago, but he wasn't gonna give up.

"We knew it would take some time," he explained, though he didn't really believe the words he was saying. "Let's just give it a few more months."

So they gave it a few more months, and they all worked weird shifts, and they barely had time to practice, let alone perform anywhere. They were forced to survive, and that wouldn't work.

Eddie cried on his weekly call with Wayne.

"I don't think we can do it."

"I think you can do it, but this ain't how you do it, son. Come home for a bit. Let's see what else we can try."

So they packed their shit, and they left Chicago.

They went back to Hawkins with heads hung low and spirits destroyed.

The town Eddie had hated for years was suddenly the only place he knew to be, finding a strange comfort in the place that tried to ostracize him, kill him, scar him. He worked part time at the mechanic shop, putting as much as he could into savings and preparing for their next move.

Frankie got into the community college. Eddie didn't even know he applied.

Jeff started volunteering at the animal shelter and decided he wanted to be a vet. He planned on attending a university in the fall. Eddie didn't even realize Jeff's parents had a college fund for him.

Gareth was the only one who stuck by his side, dead set on finding a way to be on a stage. Until he broke his wrist and couldn't play for six weeks, that turned into six months, that turned into Gareth following Frankie's path and going to community college.

Eddie couldn't fault them for finding an alternative.

But he didn't, he couldn't, and he felt like giving up would just prove everyone right.

Wayne would leave the paper open to the ads showing upcoming shows in surrounding bars, but Eddie couldn't go solo and the guys were too busy.

Eddie hated this town, but it looked like he'd be stuck for a bit longer.

[elf-kid2]

Modern Witchers

So this contractor drives into this tiny town, way out in the sticks, in the kind of beat-up white van used by many tradesman, and allegedly favored by murderous kidnappers.

He's got white hair that you're not sure is bleached or not, strange eyes short manners. Maybe (probably) he kinda gives you the creeps. White van, stranger-danger, big guy with muscles, and all. Bad vibes.

But you've got a problem, no denying: there's SOMETHING in those woods that doesn't belong there, and recently, when the local boys went to DO something about it... that SOMETHING went from killing livestock, to killing people to. And you know, once those types of creatures get a taste for human blood... best to deal with it sooner, rather than later. Hence, the out-of-town contractor.

Witchers specialize in hunting monsters, after all.

Better to put together a fundraiser to pay the (frankly, outrageous) fees now, then to have to pay all that later, plus the surcharge for beasts that've killed multiple people, plus pulling together the funds for more funerals.

A stitch in time save nine, as the saying goes.

He's got a musician hitchhiking with him, which you weren't expecting. Some hapless hitchhiker with a dufflebag over his shoulder, and a guitar on his back, who got lost on the way to Vegas, or Nashville, or wherever it is starry-eyed musicians go to Make It Big, these days.

Auntie said that any hitchhiker with sense'd be better off walking down a lonely road, instead of getting into a van like that, driven by a man like that. But I guess it takes all kinds of kinds, and that musician hadn't been murdered yet, so make of that what you will.

Anyhow, the musician started busking in the farmer's market-- some decent covers, a few original songs, and some kind of surprisingly catchy jingle for the contractor who'd given him a lift into town. It was pretty good; live music is always a treat when you can get it, and it'd been a while since the last Bluegrass Festival.

He knew how to charm people, work the crowd, how to ask for "donations to the fine arts" without being irritating about it. People dropped cash, and pennies, and quarters, into his open guitar case, at any rate.

I reckon he scraped together at least enough for lunch, form himself'n his friend. Witchers are surly and stingy as anything, y'know, so I wondered why he wasn't covering the meal, with how much he'd charged for slaying the monster...

...But I overheard mention of how he'd had to get that van fixed up at Joe's Auto-Mechanics, over by the old factory in the valley-- and everyone knows that Joe's Auto'll charge three times what the repairs are worth, with parts that cost ten times as much as they oughtta. Lord knows, those scammers'd be out of business, if there were any better options within 50 miles of their shop!

And that is why if you think your truck's getting ready to break down, you should try an' make sure it breaks down closer to home. And also why I figure it makes sense that even a Witcher'd be short on cash, after dealing with 'em.

Anyway, the Witcher spoke with the Sheriff, and he went out monster-hunting that night.

Meanwhile, that hitchhiking musician was playing at the local bar, and let me tell you-- he was pretty damn good! Played a few drinking-songs, and the kind of songs you can't play in front of the kiddos at Farmer's Market, played some catchy tunes that had people dancing and clapping along...!

I particularly enjoyed the murder-ballad about the woman who turned into a vengeful fire-monster when she found out her man was messing around with other women. Very clever wordplay, "flames of desire lighting up your funeral pyre!" Good stuff.

Then the Witcher came in-- fresh from the contract, and half-covered in mud and blood! Barkeep wouldn't even let him sit down until he'd hosed off the worst of it, out back!

Musician-- Jaskier, he called himself-- raised a toast to a successful hunt, and another to monster-hunters who let loving families sleep safely, and rowdy drunks stumble home un-eaten, and soon enough somebody was buying that Witcher a drink, and the barkeep gave him a plate of food on the house, and it was good times all around!

Beats toasting newly-dead friends, and drinking to forget the monsters at the door, any day.

The thing is, this is a small town. Not a lot of people come visit, and if they do, they're generally staying with family. Which is to say, there aren't any motels around here.

Now, that contractor, that Witcher, he'd asked around, beforehand, about what was available, in terms of overnight accomodations-- which, let's be honest, isn't much around here. Come morning, I saw that beat-up van parked outside the Rosebud Bed & Breakfast.

Now Rosebud's is a nice place, a respectable establishment, but we all know they've had some trouble since that big storm last month, when a tree smashed through the roof! Las I checked, that Bed & Breakfast only had the one bed fit for guests to sleep in!

Might've been a rather one-sided bidding war, or a tight fit, with two out-of-towners vying for a roof overhead, that night. But that's none of my business.

Jaskier the musician left town with the Witcher-- Geralt Rivera, I think the name was-- same as he came in. Well, makes sense that he wouldn't want to stay long enough to put down roots, a young musician on a mission to see the world and/or become rich and famous.

The Witcher, Geralt, did good work with the monster, too. I guess that's why they're the experts... Some folks are talking about having what's left of the beasty taxidermy'd, did you know? Might make a decent tourist attraction, or a decoration for Town Hall, or something. I don't know.

Anyway, all that's to say... don't let anybody tell you there's not still a need for Witchers, in the modern day.

[delicatuscii-wasbella102]

So, I have just watched the Harris/Trump debate and the one thing that stood out to me was that Harris talked of the future, helping the country, building it up for the people. Were as Trump espoused fear, he knows that that is a great control mechanism and throws it around like confetti. Trumps statement about Haitian immigrants "eating pets" Fact Checked: A Springfield spokesperson said the city has received no such reports, and Springfield police told a local news outlet the department has received no reports of pets being stolen and eaten. Trump: "But the governor before, he said, ‘The baby will be born, and we will decide what to do with the baby.’" Fact Checked: Former Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, never said he would sanction the execution of newborns Trump: "It was a fraud, just like their number of 818,000 jobs that they said they created turned out to be a fraud." Fact Checked:  Economists across the ideological spectrum reject Trump’s claim. The process is an annual effort to fine-tune initial data that the agency acknowledges is imperfect. Trump: "Millions and millions of people … are pouring into our country monthly. Where it's, I believe 21 million people." Fact Checked: Encounters aren’t the same as admissions. Encounters represent events, so one person who tries to cross the border twice counts as two encounters. Also, not everyone encountered is let into the country. The Department of Homeland Security estimates about 4 million encounters have led to expulsions or removals. Trump: The U.S. "left $85 billion worth of brand new, beautiful military equipment behind" in Afghanistan Fact Checked: An independent inspector general report told Congress that about $7 billion of U.S.-funded equipment remained in Afghanistan, According to the report, "the U.S. military removed or destroyed nearly all major equipment used by U.S. troops in Afghanistan throughout the drawdown period in 2021." Trump: Under Biden and Harris, the U.S. had "the worst inflation we've ever had." Fact Checked: The highest year-over-year inflation rate on Biden’s watch was around 9% in summer 2022. That was the highest in about 40 years.  So the majority of what he said was a lie, no surprises there

[suenitos]

do droloisms have cure

🧑‍⚕️ welllll under the umbrella of parasocial diseases droloisms more often than not unfortunately can mutate into another disease called antisms, at a much higher rate than other diseases such as goloisms sapoloisms and dteamoloisms, depending on how severe the symptoms are or onto what subject the mutated antisms latch on to, such as dream himself, dteam as a whole, either or both george and sapnap only, former driends or random ass people. unfortunately there is no cure (which is also true for dnferisms) but we here at dtblr hospital recommend a variety of treatments to help combat early onset antisms such as normal pills, log off, and watching old videos* along others in mitigating the symptoms of intense cuteness aggression, white knighting over imaginary dremons, and missing him deeply. however, as this disease is understudied, more funding must go into the mechanisms of the disease in later stages in the hopes of finding better treatments as many who experience droloisms say they do not want a cure.

(*varying effects: sometimes hearing his voice may make things worse and cause resentment or depression in the affected patient. high levels of these in tandem may lead to a higher risk of early onset antisms)

[lostlegendaerie]

Fuck it! US Private Student Loans Guide!

DISCLAIMER: while I have worked in private loans specifically for five+ years, this isn't ‘financial’ advice and is just a heavily summarized guide on how to navigate them. Yes, these loans suck, but complain to your legislators not me. I’m just trying to help you know what you’re doing. Additional info for each section is under the cut!

1) Who are you and who are all the companies constantly running around with my money?

I work in loan SERVICING, which is basically the billing department. If you’ve got a new company asking you for money, it's probably a new servicer and your debt is still owned by the bank. We enforce the terms in the promissory note, the document you sign telling the bank “yeah I'll play by your rules if you give me the money.” If your loan defaults, you’ll get contacted by a third (fourth?) party, but how that works is beyond my wheelhouse. The bank or your servicer should be able to confirm what happens in case of default.

2) What am I looking for in a ‘good’ loan?

Generally, you’re going to want SIMPLE instead of compound interest, a FIXED RATE opposed to a variable one, and you’ll want to go for FULL DEFERMENT while in school and make manual payments when you can. Also ask up front about stuff like if disability forgiveness or co-signer release (getting your parents off it) is offered.

3) This loan sucks! How do I make it better?

Student loans are NOTORIOUSLY hard to get out of, unfortunately. If the interest rate/payment relief options suck, you can try to REFINANCE where you take out a new loan to pay off the old one. This gives you a new promissory note, interest rate, and terms/conditions. If you’re trying to erase the debt entirely, ask for the promissory note (if they can't provide a copy, we have to forgive the debt. I've only seen this happen ONCE.) or try to go through social security disability.

DO NOT USE FREEDOM DEBT RELIEF OR OTHER SERVICES. DO NOT. THEY ARE SCAMS.

More in depth information for each point!

1) Lenders and Servicers

The lender is the person who provides the funds in the debt - the bank who pays the school or the hospital or the home contractor fixing your sink. The servicer is the company that is your point of contact when you need to make payments, ask for payment relief, or otherwise manage the loan that exists. Think of us as the mechanic (we keep the car running) where the bank is the manufacturer (they make the car). Some different servicers are SoFi, Zuntafi, Great Lakes, Nelnet and Firstmark Services; their names will be on the billing statements. Some different banks are Citizens, US Bank, NorthStar; their names will be on the promissory note and the disclosures.

Sometimes banks do sell the debt, however! A couple years ago Wells Fargo sold an enormous chunk of their loans off somewhere (an investment group, maybe?) but! The promissory note will still be the EXACT same if your debt gets sold. You’ll only get a new promissory note if you refinance the loan yourself.

2a) Interest Accrual and Rates

Interest is how banks profit off the loans they give out and/or ‘ensure they don't end up with a loss if the loan defaults’. (It's profit.) Most, but not all, loans calculate interest with the simple daily interest formula, shown below:

[(Current loan balance) x (interest rate)] divided by 365

If your loan’s balance is $10,000 and your interest rate is 6% you’ll be charged $1.64 each day. SIMPLE INTEREST means that this interest just kind of floats around on the account until a payment comes in and pays it off, where COMPOUND adds that interest to the balance at the end of the month/day/whatever. Compound charges you more over the life of the loan.

FIXED INTEREST is a set percent that doesn't change, where VARIABLE will change usually based on whatever the economy is doing. There’s a minimum and maximum value to the variable interest rates, so if you’re doing a variable ASK WHAT THE MINS AND MAXES ARE. A fixed rate might be 8% and a variable might be 3.25% the day you take it out, but that variable could have a maximum interest rate of 25% so be VERY, VERY CAREFUL. If you get stuck in a real bad variable interest rate, your best solution is probably a refinance.

2b) Deferment and Payment Allocation

So interest is gonna be accruing on your loan from the day the money leaves the bank. Sucks. And you may not be able to make payments while you're in school, so opting to DEFER your payments will stop them from billing you so you can skip a month or whatever without penalty. At the END of that deferment, though, whatever interest that accrued will be added to your current balance. If we use the example from above (10k loan with 1.64 daily interest) four years of school will add $2,400 to your balance and then your daily interest will jump up to $2.03 a day.

Solution? Make payments of what you can while you’re in school to chip away at that floating interest. Usually when you make a payment, it’s gonna go towards the interest first and then the rest drops the balance. (E.g. if you make a $20.00 payment ten days after your loan is disbursed, $16.40 will go towards interest and $3.60 towards your 10k balance). There is NO PENALTY for making extra payments or making early payments, but it might make your bills look a little weird if you’re being billed each month for just the interest.

3) Why are these loans so horrible? Can’t I find anything to help me?

Blame Reagan and the republicans who enabled him.

No, but really. The problem with these loans is that those promissory notes are VERY legally binding and have lots of fine print in there designed to make it as hard as possible for someone to skimp out on their debt without having their credit score decimated. Some lenders might even dip into your paychecks if you're crazy behind or default; again, that's not my wheelhouse and I've only maybe seen that once. Your best bet is just to pay it off as fast as possible (again, no penalty for paying the loan off early) or refinance into better terms.

And I get it. I really do. I hate how we’ve made so many incredibly important things in our society locked behind a paywall that charges poor people more to climb than the rich. But if you’ve made it this far, please don't turn your anger at me for not giving you the answers you want. The best I can do is vote for people who are willing to crack down on predatory lending, keep fighting for student loan forgiveness… and at my own job, make sure that my coworkers aren't making mistakes.

If you have a more specific question, I can try to answer as best I can without breaking any information privacy laws. And take care, okay? You are never fighting alone.

[that-one-i-think]

A list of who is on the S.S. Phoenix Drop and their jobs. The S.S. Phoenix Drop is a transportation ship with the additional job of investigating planets that have been infected by THE RED aka Shadow Knight virus.

Aphmau - Stowaway and Captain - Despite most likely only being a few months old, this clone has shown a high aptitude for command and a weird ability to sense when the crew needs to high tail. Unfortunately, she has a tendency to ignore those thoughts and rush head first into danger

Garroth - First Mate - He is in charge of all of the beurocratic nonsense and actually makes sure that the ship runs smoothly. He should have been promoted to captain after the previous captain died, but he doesn't want to make actual decisions and feel the guilt that comes with it.

Katelyn - Weapons Expert and Second Mate - Given how they deal with an infection that causes literal zombies, her job is to make sure that they are equipped to handle it. They are also a transport ship so dealing with pirates is also rather common

Laurance - Gunner and Survival - Before joining the crew, he was a professional explorer, his career only ending when he caught (and survived) THE RED. So he is in charge of navigation and preparation for when they do have to go planet side. He is also in charge of buying necessities with a budget made by Garroth

Zoey - Medic - Just as the title entails, she is the medic on the crew. In charge of the health of the crew injured or not. She keeps track of the dietary and social needs of each member of the crew and enforces it.

Travis - Translation - As a shape-shifting slime he has the ability to absorb information at a much faster rate. They are most important when exploring planets that are not a part of the galactic alliance as he can gain knowledge of language by touching a native speaker, dead or alive. Very helpful when someone needs to read the "DO NOT ENTER: DANGEROUS" so Aphmau can ignore it.

Nana - Communication and Navigation - She is the woman in the chair, well, wheelchair. She keeps everything and everyone on track. Though, she is this close to running Aaron over with he chair is he turns off his coms ONE MORE TIME!

Dante - Mechanic - This 7-foot man is here to carry big things and repair things in the ship. If one were to look at him, they would assume he is some form of military tank, but the dude just likes fixing things. Strong autism vibes.

Aaron - Test Subject - Since the man is made from THE RED spores, he is immune to the infection so whenever they have to go onto an infected planet, he is sent on to determine how safe it is for the crew. He also sometimes takes out enemies that board the ship but other than that, he just broods silently in a corner hating his existence.

Lo - Therapist and Funder - Lo is an entertainer and companion that employs the S.S. Phoenix Drop for rides from planet to planet in exchange for giving them some extra funding and connections. He is listed as their "therapist" so the Galactic Federation gets off their back. Since he isn't part of the crew, Garroth vents to him A LOT.

BONUS

Zenix - Extra Gun and Spy - Zenix is normally assigned as an extra gun to the ship. He is also a spy for Vylad who is posing as a spy for Zane who is posing as just an extra gun for the S.S. Phoenix Drop. Messy!

[theresattrpgforthat]

The Galaxy Squad Campaign.

Back in September, I posted what I hoped to be the first part of a series in which I blogged about a multiple-game campaign called The Galaxy Squad: a series of inter-connected games all taking place in the same galaxy. The continuous blogging about this series didn’t happen, but the games certainly did! So I’m going to re-cap that series now.

I’ve already talked about our Last Fleet series, so I won’t repeat myself too much, but the biggest piece of that series that we carried forward was the ending: the blowing up of the technology that enabled Faster-Than-Light travel, so as to set up the scene for Starforged. (Last Fleet play-kit)

Starforged was not a game that I ran, or managed to participate in; this series began a trend where I and another GM handed the reins to each-other every month to give both of us a chance to tackle games that were on our to-play list. We also had a higher rate of sign-ups overall for Galaxy Squad, possibly because Monster Squad ended up being a pretty big hit.

Star-Forged can be played with or without a GM, and presents the characters with Vows that they are expected to work towards to try and complete. In Star-Forged, much of the new galaxy that our players fled to was built, because this game has very good tables for setting generation. The group generated a number of planets with different power-structures, resources and danger levels, and established a number of factions with various shady goals. This included a large corporation that was funding a lot of Forge-Spawn research, as well as a cult called the Oracles of Larissa, which dealt quite a bit with the strange space-magic that certain individuals were able to wield. (Stargazer journaling app)

One of the most important contributions from the Star-Forged game involved the creation of Celadon, a wild and lush planet teeming with dangerous life. The players landed on the planet, took one look, and took off again, which meant that it was perfect for the next game in our line-up: Moth-Light.

For Moth-Light, we started with the premise that our characters would be the descendants of one of the ships from Last Fleet, crashed into a planet and reverting back to a pre-space-flight level of technology out of necessity. This is because Celadon (called Beacon by its inhabitants) was populated by gigantic, dangerous insects called Moths. We pushed the timeline forward to a point where our players could not remember how they ended up on this planet, and then put them in a precarious situation where their current settlements were in danger. The solution: to search for another, safer place to call home.

In more abstract terms, this means that we used the Promise Pact from Moth-Light, which takes plenty of inspiration from media such as Legend of Korra, Farscape, Horizon: Zero Dawn and Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. Moth-Light’s story and tone can vary drastically, depending on the kind of story we want to tell. When creating this game, I briefly entertained the possibility of playing Scavengers, which would be much grittier and harsher, but the group and story seemed to fit the Promise pact better.

Moth-Light is Forged-in-the-Dark and is a phenomenal game. While it’s FitD, the Pacts provided to the group do a lot to help you determine what kind of concept and tone you’re playing in. The typical action ratings and Stress mechanics are also re-worked in a really interesting way, making them slightly modular so that they can change to reflect the Pact you are working with. I really enjoy the prompts left on character sheets that give you just enough information to start brainstorming what these pieces mean exactly for your character. The designer also has a fantastic set of Google-Sheet play-kits that put my character sheets to shame. You need to check this game out.

After Moth-Light, our timeline had a little bit of a stop-and-start. One of the games we were originally planning to include in the lineup didn’t turn out to be easily translatable to our method of play, so we pivoted to another game intstead: Wetrunner. Wetrunner is a FATE - powered game that takes place in an oceanic cyperpunk future, and we weren’t sure where it would fit in our current galaxy.

We decided to put it into the timeline before Last Fleet, on one of the planets that was eventually destroyed by a robot uprising. There, we decided that at one point in this planet’s history, climate change and decreasing oceanic wildlife led to a great profit for folks who managed to steal aquatic life from power-hungry billionaires.

In other words, we were a diver-themed Leverage crew stealing fish from Eelon Mollusc.

This is where our Squad took a turn for the wacky. We were donning secret identities, wrestling with former connections to the Calamari mafia, and coming up with elaborate Seahorse-racing schemes to lure in our marks. It was hilarious, it was goofy, and it was a great tone-shift from our previous drama-heavy games. (Wetrunnner play-kit)

Next up: Scum & Villainy. This is where a lot of the set-up in Starforged really did us a favor. We had a lot folks at this point who were excited about Scum & Villainy, so we ended up running two games on two different days of the week. Both games were set up as bounty-hunting crews on the Cerberus, for reasons that I’ll mention later.

We started by recalling the factions we had created in Starforged and mapping them according to theme and tier. I also ported over some of the planets that had been created in Starforged, and started them out in ways that made sense, giving them levels in Weird, Crime, Wealth and Tech. Then the players created characters, and we added more details to the world based on their interests. (Scum & Villain play-kit)

For group A, this led to an investigation into Obsidian Inc, the shady company introduced in Starforged, where Forge-Spawn research invited plenty of cult-related trade and imperial intrigue. We had one player with a robot character continuing the theme of betrayal, turning on the group in the last scene, leaving us with an open-ended ending hinting towards a future rivalry between her and the rest of the crew.

For group B, we set out on an investigation of a racing circuit that was being fixed against the organizer’s will, with strange artifacts and a very humorous rivalry between the crew’s pilot and an NPC called Flick.

As a game, Scum & Villainy elicited mixed reactions. Some folks really loved the chances to experience a number of dramatic moments and heavy role-play, especially during downtime. Others found the harsh consequences from mixed successes to be a bit jarring, especially since Moth-Light, which uses the same bones, feels much more forgiving. Scum & Villainy is definitely a much closer hack of Blades in the Dark, which is meant to be pretty brutal in dishing out harm and consequences. I know that as a GM, I was expecting the Gambit mechanic to carry much more of the weight than it actually did, and if I run this game in the future, I’ll want to have a much more in-depth talk with my players about how harsh we want the consequences to be.

Last, but certainly not least, is A Complicated Profession. This is a game about bounty hunters experiencing a career change into cruise ship employees - and this is why we all played as bounty hunters in the previous games. This was a chance for anyone to carry forward a character they had already created into a new setting, and two players did exactly that. Hatchet, our Mystic, took up the mantle of the ship’s janitor, and Kalo, our former pilot, took up the role of the ship’s bouncer. (A Complicated Profession play-kit)

Once again, we were provided with a much-needed change in tone. A Complicated Profession has so much room for light-hearted comedy, and we took it and ran. Our ship is in a weekend-at-Bernie’s situation, with a captain that is totally out of commission but we need to maintain the facade that he’s still alive in order to make sure we can still get paid. We had occasional run-ins with junk pirates, organized birthday parties for alien teenagers, and solved many a problem with a food processor.

A Complicated Profession is another game that can be run without a GM, although in this case we still had one person take the role of a facilitator because a) we had too many people show interest and b) not everyone had access to the book. As you play, characters will slowly let go of pieces of their old lives, and pick up new skills to help them with their new job, including choosing a new name at the end. I have laughed so many times while playing this game and I’m so happy that this is how we decided to tie up the Galaxy Squad series.

After this my friends and I are re-organizing how we play our games, so we might not have a thematic timeline in the same way we did for Monster Squad or Galaxy Squad. But these experiences have taught me some really valuable lessons, the primary one of which is this:

Choosing games to play based on a theme will sometimes point you towards games that you may not have otherwise thought to pick up. Those games may end up being something that you absolutely love. In this case, I was very excited to run Scum & Villainy, but it ended up being the biggest let-down on the list. Meanwhile, I had never heard of A Complicated Profession before my co-GM introduced me to it, and it is now going at the top of my list of recommendations.

If you are in a game group and you have access to a number of different games between you and your friends, taking turns to try out the stuff you are all interested in will introduce you to so many games, and while not everything will be a hit, you’ll learn a lot about what you like, and you may find your next favourite game. So try stuff!!

[reasonsforhope]

Gabon's debts will be reduced by $450 million thanks to an innovative debt-for-nature mechanism. Piloted on Gabon's behalf by Bank of America (BofA), the debt-for-nature mechanism enables developing countries to reduce their external debt in return for funding for their biodiversity. In return, Gabon is protecting part of its marine ecosystem. This is the second case in Africa after the Seychelles.

...Gabon is paying for its biodiversity through the debt-for-nature mechanism. The operation, for which tenders were launched on the London Stock Exchange on 25 July 2023, will enable Gabon to reduce its external debt by up to 450 million dollars (267.1 billion CFA francs). In return, the country is committed to protecting its marine environment, with the support of the US-based non-governmental organisation (NGO) The Nature Conservancy.

Financially, the operation is being led by Bank of America (BofA), the second largest US bank in terms of deposits. A debt-for-nature swap is a debt relief technique for developing countries. It involves extending payment terms, reducing interest rates, granting new loans at low rates and writing off debts. This technique, invented by the American biologist Thomas Lovejoy, considered to be the godfather of biodiversity, involves exchanging part of the foreign debt for local investment in environmental protection measures.

The largest network of marine reserves in Africa

As part of Gabon’s debt-for-nature operation, the choice to protect marine biodiversity is not an insignificant one. Over the years, the Central African country has built up the largest network of rich and diverse marine reserves in Africa. Stretching over 53,000 km2, or 26% of the country’s territorial waters, this environment comprises 20 marine parks and aquatic reserves. It is home to countless threatened marine species, including the largest breeding populations of leatherback and olive ridley turtles, as well as 20 species of dolphins and whales.

Gabon thus becomes the second African country, after the Seychelles, to benefit from the debt-for-nature swap. It’s a swap that should spread throughout Africa... explains Hamouda Chekir, a member of Lazard’s Government Advisory team.

The French bank has just assisted Ecuador with a financial package that benefits both nature and the country’s economy. In concrete terms, Ecuador has swapped its current debt of $1.63 billion for a debt of $656 million, a transaction corresponding to 3% of the South American country’s total external debt, i.e. $48.129 billion in February 2023."

-via Afrik21 (via FutureCrunch), August 1, 2023

[briliantlymad]

Jurassic world ObiAniDala Au with

Padmè as the Park handler (CEO?). She handles the business end of things, she's the reason the park still runs. You can find Ms.Amidala ruthlessly shutting down assholes who knock at her door wanting to exploit the park for more money by cutting corners. She's amazing at her job.

At the top of all the paperwork, She's made sure the park is for the people to enjoy safely. She once chewed out a whole team of architects who wanted more va va voom enclosures that were pretty but would've ultimately been useless in containing the very huge T.Rex.

Followed by; Dino Scientist/board member ObiWan kenobi. He's got like 6 degrees , he's here to study the dinosaurs' behaviour. You can find Dr.Kenobi with a clipboard in his hand walking after one dino or the other without any care for the world. All the dinos love him, even the predators.

His face is the first thing they see when they hatch cus he's made an effort to show up for every hatching. Instant bonding tbh. Dude hangs out with the t.rex with 0 repercussions (like being eaten ya kno, nobody knows how he does it). Obiwan is also absolutely amazing at securing funding for the park from rich senators. Padmè greatly appreciates his work cus if she has to deal one more time with Clovis she's going to scream.

And finally. Trainer?Park Ranger? Mechanic? Engineer? Anakin Skywalker. Nobody really knows what his official designation is at the park. All they know is that one day this golden retriever looking guy showed up with like. 10 different qualification certificates and a dab hand at handling the dinos.

He's good at what he does tho so people leave him alone. An officer sent by the military once tried to bully anakin and quickly finds out that not only does anakin have a mean right hook, he's also high enough in the park food chain that the coruscant military is barred from trying to propose any deals after the incident.

He's got an entire creche/enrichment setup for the vulnerable babies that no one had thought of. It cut down the mortality rate of the babies by a huge amount. Its also how he won Obi-wan's heart, who until then had totally thought anakin was just some dudebro who didn't understand dinos. Anyway somewhere along the line, very intense eye-contact, a little bit of misunderstanding and a whole lot of kisses stolen when padmè is on an important holoconferance call and hand holding with obi-wan during the hatchings, Anakin woos them both.

They have late night dates at the elasmosaurus enclosure, bond over almost punching Clovis, and oh my god don't you get a heart attack when obi-wan around with little predator babies in a papoose??

Rumours have it that he was seen begging Ms.Amidala for just one (1) chance 🥺on his knees when she was meeting with Dr.Kenobi.

The door closed after that so no one really knows what Anakin was really begging for (it was so he could take an apprentice. Anakin thinks he can get away with it now because he knows obi-wan and padmè love him eheh)

[viperwhispered]

I'm sorry this has been brewing in my head for a while and I need to share it with someone: Jamil and Kalim teaming up to topple to classist society of the scalding sands.

Post-OB Jamil and Kalim actually reconciling and having some character development. Kalim breaking down realizing that his coping mechanism of obliviousness did more harm than good. Jamil actually missing his friend. Both realizing that the problem isn't just their own flaws, but the adults around them. Jamil working on letting himself go while Kalim works to become more independant (he clearly has the skill + learning capacity, he's just been so babied he never learnt). Also, adorable scenario where Kalim and Malleus become besties over their shared quest for independence. Based on this, this, this, and this.

Kalim and Jamil's relationship becoming more genuine. Honestly, I believe that Kalim will end up sooooo sassy cause of Jamil's infleunce. Jamil using his sharp tongue and Kalim trying to do comebacks. Jamil just responds by giving a rating out of 10. Jamil finally getting the personal time he so desperately needed while Kalim slowly learns to genuinely trust others with his problems. Kalim finally letting himself get genuinely angry at his parents for how they managed to ruin both his and Jamil's lives by trapping them in a codependant cycle.

Kalim getting into his first fist fight with some classist prick and Jamil's response is asking if he won.

Kalim saying something very stupid and Jamil just giving a glare and it goes like this.

Third year rolls around and the two successfully schemed to give Jamil his rightful title of dorm leader without the nobles of the Scalding Sands rioting. I don't know how yet but I know it'll involve Kalim maxing out his "innocent puppy who just wants to do what's right" to indirectly shame his father for bribing Kalim's way into power. Nothing really changes much other than the fact that Scarabia is now running much more smoothly while still having the best parties. Based on this, this, and this.

They graduate and Kalim instantly gives Jamil the go ahead to be free. It all happens so fast that none has time to protest. Jamil spends a good two years traveling while Kalim does his best to learn the ropes as being head of the family. Based on this and this. Kalim successfully setting up a trade deal with Malleus and helping to open up Briar Valley to modernization. Jamil making a name for himself by taking part in multiple projects as he travels (archeological sites, restoration projects, reformation movements, etc).

The two reuniting when they're both called to work with Leona for his relief project in the slums of the savanna as part of his political reformation of the monarchy. Jamil helping to oragnize + plan the logistics while Kalim provides funding + trade opportunities. By the end of it, the slums have turned into a major tourist stop in the middle of a major trade route (sorry for the side quest, I have a thing for Leona keeping his promise to Ruggie).

Extra context: the position of grand vizier is traditionally given to relatives of the family head, like a brother or cousin. Ever since Jamil left, the position was taken by one of Kalim's distant relatives. This guy absolutely sucks at his job, is a classist ass, and clearly only had superficial training. Its clear he only got the title cause of his relation to Kalim and never expected to do much work. Kalim having to fix this guy's messes for years and being like "oh god is this what Jamil had to go through with me?".

Back to the story, Kalim spent years kneecaping the nobility with relative success and now has the ideal circumstances for an ideological revolution. But for this, he needs Jamil. So he invites Jamil, now famous worldwide for his sills & contributions, to come back for the fireworks festival. There, in front of all the major noble families (plus a few ex-classmates like Vil, Leona, Azul, and Malleus who're there for support), Kalim begins to berate his vizier and expose him for his incompetance and blunders, ultimately dismissing him. Then he turns to Jamil, gets on his knees, and begs that he take the position because he's the most competant person in the room. Jamil revels in the ego boost that is Kalim kneeling and agrees so long as he can negotiate his contract.

The two then go on a relentless campaign to topple the classist bullshit nobility and give equal rights to everybody.

Which brings me to the x reader romance scenarios (lets say thry discovered a way to travel to & from the reader's world):

Jamil marrying and taking his S/O's last name for an "official excuse" to give him his freedom. The Vipers may be endentured servants to the Asims but the L/Ns have no such obligation. During his travels, Jamil switching between staying in a shabby hotel and spending the night at his in-laws. His S/O being his rock and offering boundless support and patience. When Jamil finally gets the title of grand Vizier, he rejoices at the thought of finally spoiling his S/O like they deserve.

Kalim marrying an S/O who is both a sweetheart but also a maverick unafraid to do the dirty work. One who makes kneecaping the nobility a whole lot easier and puts an end to 90% of all assassination attempts. Kalim having absolute trust in his S/O and their methods. Kalim being relieved that any children they have will also go to school in his S/O's world where they'll be safe and able to live somewhat normal lives. Kalim being determined to reform society so their children can live without fear or hatred.

This took me a little while to get to since I wanted to give all of this a proper thought, but here we are.

Ngl, as a sucker for happy endings it is lovely thinking of how things could work out.

Honestly, just for Jamil and Kalim to open up more to each other would take quite a bit of work. I mean, years of habits to unlearn and years of baggage to navigate through. I really wish they would, though - and not just when one of them is overblotting. Plenty of learning for Kalim to figure out how to face the things he’s been shielded from, and for Jamil to express the things he’s been bottling up.

Oh but that thought of Kalim “sassing up” because of Jamil is so amusing tho. Him trying to emulate Jamil, which would just get Jamil even more frustrated - is Kalim even going to take this from him now? Or Jamil would just be amused at the attempt, one or the other. But if they could actually get more on the same wavelength about it, that could indeed make for some real fun scenarios.

As for Kalim’s parents… Yeah don’t even get me started on that one.

For Jamil becoming the housewarden… Yeah that first pic kinda sums it up, doesn’t it?

Which makes me wonder: how much does Jamil want the power, and how much does he just want the recognition? Now my memories of book 4 may be a little fuzzy at this point, but iirc the primary motivation was to eject Kalim - to get back the blissful solace of those first few months in NRC without Kalim there. So I do feel like just being allowed to "flourish" and show off his skills and capabilities would be some balm for the wounds in his soul, so to speak.

But also, considering Kalim was able to transfer schools just because of Jamil, pretty much, I’m sure if it’s up to him he’d be well able to give dorm leadership to Jamil without too much fuss. Like, I wouldn’t be surprised if he got the position more because of a “only the best for my boy” attitude from his dad - or maybe it was supposed to be training for his future responsibilities as the head of the house.

In any case, I would assume the family wouldn’t be super upset if Kalim is the one deciding that actually, Jamil should lead. Like, it certainly goes over much smoother if Kalim instigates it and hands the position over, rather than Jamil rising up against him (because how could a servant possibly oppose his master, how dare). Tho it would certainly still raise some eyebrows, I’m sure.

(But like, while Kalim presumably has had to deal with his own brand of neglect / not so helpful upbringing, he still seems to be the sort of a golden boy who’s used to getting his whims, so.)

For Jamil being freed - to my understanding they would need to figure out a way to do it without it bringing shame / consequences to Jamil’s family (at least, based on how jp talked about these things). Like, Kalim would need to be “powerful” enough in his family to be able to shield / protect Jamil’s family from those consequences.

(As a sidenote, I do wonder how Jamil’s family would feel like being offered freedom from servitude / a different position. Are they under as intense pressure as Jamil, with their own roles? I mean, obviously it would be difficult for them to be let go without having a way to make ends meet, but I do wonder if they’re simply happy & proud of their positions or if they feel anything similar to what Jamil does.)

At some point I also made a post thinking that even if Kalim might not be able to dismiss Jamil outright (once they both come to an agreement about this being a thing they should do), maybe Kalim could still make up reasons to send Jamil out to travel. A halfway point to true freedom, and hey, at least Jamil would get to enjoy spending some Asim money for himself.

Ngl tho, I’m all for a bit of an upheaval of the social order in the Scalding Sands. Really don’t know how one could even go about making it happen - such change is slow, would paint an even bigger target on Kalim’s back, and would make for some very powerful enemies. Slow process more than a revolution.

Though, decent labor laws and prohibition for child labor sure would be a good start, considering what Jamil went through.

Jamil would absolutely get an ego boost from that situation indeed of Kalim asking for Jamil's help, but I do wonder if he really would want to tie himself to the Asims / Kalim again. Interesting to ponder just what would have to change for that to happen.

But the allure of power might indeed be enough. Now, how interested Jamil would be to effect change at large, and how much he's concerned about his own personal position... I mean, we've seen him very willing to use others, and his experiences (for a reason) have left him in a mindset that probably means seeing power equaling freedom and also as viewing the world as haves and have-nots. So he'd definitely need to start having more concern for others (and not just the people he cares about, like his family) to really be genuinely interested and helpful to the cause.

I’ve never really considered / seen a concept of the twst guys living in a different world than their s/o but still regularly traveling to see each other, that’s interesting 👀 I do love the idea of Kalim with a fierce protective s/o tho.

Ngl, there was a lot to chew over here, but interesting thoughts about the potential futures. I also have to admit that I’ve put much less thought into understanding Kalim than I’ve put to Jamil, so I’m very much open to rebuttals about any of my interpretations about him.

It really is a shame that so far, books 5 and 6 only gave us glimpses of change with these two. Like Jamil being a little bit more willing to let Kalim actually do things or help. I know, I know, it can't possibly happen overnight, but pls, give us something to see if and how things are changing - or if we're just stuck in a new, precarious status quo.

Also I don't know if you've been making posts in your blog developing these ideas but like you definitely should, if you've got this much of a concept. I'm sure others would be interested too.

ETA: forgot to say, but I think for societal change, Kalim certainly would have the funds for lobbying and charitable work. And he does have his own kind of charisma to keep that sort of stuff together, too.

Also for the kids with our world s/o... That certainly would make inheritance and things interesting in the future. Sure, if Kalim has his as you outlined, there would not be so much of a position as the family head to inherit, but still.

Not to even mention the whole literally growing up between two different worlds.