#How Optimism Works

[empresa-journal]

Is Optimism (OP) worth $1.31?

Interest in Optimism (OP) is high. For example, both CoinGecko and CoinMarketCap gave OP a $1.31 on 21 September 2023. Optimism was CoinMarketCap’s 13th most trending cryptocurrency on 20 September 2023. Conversely, Optimism was CoinGecko’s seventh most trending cryptocurrency on the same day. Moreover, CoinGecko named Optimism the 42ndlargest cryptocurrency, while CoinMarketCap labeled OP the…

[whenthelightisrunninglow]

how's the other guy holding up

[artgletic]

case study of the self-identified god

[beneathsilverstars]

Consider: In the same way that Siffrin gets jealous/is resentful of Odile casually being able to see her culture as separate from herself, Loop resentful towards Isabeau feeling like he could destroy his pre-Changed self. Not exactly in a "Siffrin literally exists right here and I can't escape him" way, but being able to throw away how your previous self shaped you despite how much youve changed.

ouuuughgj that’s so true… isabeau didn’t like himself so he decided to change and totally reinvented himself…. loop got changed and didn’t get to choose what to keep or get rid of, and they’re haunted at every moment by their past mistakes and relationships, and the things they lost affect them even more strongly than the things they kept, and they hate themself more than ever..,,, ouuuuu

[lenodrysalad]

"Eddie said he's straight! Buck said Eddie was straight! Buck said he's not in love with his best friend! They shut down Buddie in the show it isn't happening ya'll are delusional! Queerbait! Queerbait! Blah blah blah"

I feel like I'm going insane. I'm sure we're all tired of people shouting "media literacy" every five seconds, but like... Yeah, develop some media literacy, please.

I'm saying this as someone who doesn't usually like romance, despite being subjected to it in basically every piece of media. As someone who doesn't generally look for love stories. As someone who loved Buddie but didn't consider any serious possibility of it becoming canon before season 7/8, who refused to believe Buddie was truly happening until I couldn't deny it anymore: this episode is loud.

Please understand how narrative arcs work. How character arcs work. How character development works. How serial broadcast television works. Understand how writing works. Consider context; take the whole episode, the whole season, and the whole series into account instead of treating things like they exist in isolation.

I'm too tired to go through the step-by-step details of the episode to prove why these, "they said it on screen, therefore..." takes are shortsighted and ignorant; plenty of people have done that already.

But that episode, even if we do take it in isolation, is textbook. Do people really take everything characters say at face value? Do people not watch other character's reactions? Listen to what else is being said? Watch what is being shown? Consider the implications? Themes? Narrative devices?

Consider that maybe, just maybe, characters can be unreliable narrators, or believe something to be true only for that belief to change later. These things don't happen in one episode. There's such a thing as set-up, foreshadowing, the starting point of a plot. 911 is a serial drama, therefore it is going to have A) long-form story and character arcs, and B) drama.

Characters are not going to move in straight lines, or talk in therapy speak, or solve every problem in an hour. They are not always going to be right, or self-aware, or truthful, or rational. Direct dialogue does not equate to honest dialogue.

Also, saying, "well in real life, people do this, I do that, their feelings would be this, yadda yadda yadda" means nothing. Your experiences are not universal, and more importantly, this is a work of fiction. Realism is whatever the story says it is; it's going to do whatever creates the most dramatic, interesting, developmentally beneficial, or emotionally satisfying story. Whether you like that story or not is irrelevant to the fact that stories are not going to cater to all your expectations or real-world experiences.

To people pointing to Tim or the actor's interviews as "proof" they're shutting down Buddie: again, please understand how broadcast television works. They are not going to tell us everything that's going to happen before it happens. They are going to play the neutral zone, the "wait and see," the "will they/won't they." They are going to lie. That is television production 101. You can compare what they've said in the past with canon and list all the contradictions, misdirection, and twists you didn't see coming because they didn't spoil it for you. Watch the show. That is the canon.

They're also not catering to fandom--people they already know are devoted to the show, familiar with Buddie, and consistently tuning in. They're introducing the idea of Buddie to the general audience, people who likely haven't considered the possibility before. The GA has to see that Buddie is an option, so the show needs to manifest it as if it's a brand new concept. This episode pulled the pin on that grenade in a very obvious way; the idea that Buck could be in love with Eddie and that Eddie could not be straight has been planted. The next seed will be Eddie's feelings. Now the show needs to water it and let it grow.

One last thing. Been seeing a fair amount of hand-wringing and condescension over people interpreting this episode differently. As if this is some sort of "gotcha" for bad writing, baiting, or people being stupid. Listen, genuine complaints about this show's writing aside, different interpretations or inferences are completely normal. This isn't unique. That is how people interact with stories, through personal biases, experiences, emotions, and expectations. That isn't inherently a bad thing. It's totally fine to have your own views; media is all about interpretation.

However, it is also true that just because you have an interpretation, that doesn't make it true. Not all interpretations are equal in their validity, evidence, or warrants. The show has an intention, it has a story in mind. If you don't see it, sure, that could be a failure of the writing, but it could also very well be a failure of your analysis, especially when the show hasn't finished telling the story. Looking at one thing in isolation and forming your whole conclusion based around that makes for poor critique.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see who's right.

[iirulancorrino]

The Green brothers are doing effective altruism better than maybe 95% of people who identify online as effective altruists.

[a-loose-collection-of-ants]

I love your depiction of Hamilton and Lafayette, it’s so funny! Lafayette is so sweet and happy and Hamilton just has beef w/ the entire world. I can’t wait to see more of their brotherly relations in ur AMAZING art style

God, they're so narrative foil coded

Seriously though, there's some fantastic contrast between them. They're just similar enough (both roughly the same age, both insecure and glory hungry, + their "shared father" or whatever Lafayette said) - and yet they manage to be exact opposites at the same time.

I could say more but I think this bit from Mike Duncan's biography about Lafayette basically gets at what I'm trying to say:

"Like Lafayette, Hamilton grew up without a father. He also lost his mother to a fatal illness at almost the same age Lafayette lost his. But where the tragedies of Lafayette’s childhood made him the heir of a fabulous fortune, the tragedies of Hamilton’s illegitimate childhood left him systematically cut out of his family’s inheritance. So where the dark clouds of Lafayette’s life were lined with silver, the dark clouds of Hamilton’s life were simply dark. Lafayette emerged from childhood buoyant and effusive, Hamilton cynical and reticent. But even though Hamilton started life a penniless bastard on the periphery of European civilization, and Lafayette started life an insanely wealthy heir in the heart of a great kingdom, they fell into an easy friendship. French was not the only language the two young men shared. The also shared a code of personal honor and a desire to prove themselves to the world." -Mike Duncan, Hero of Two Worlds, The Marquis de Lafayette in the Age of Revolution

Now, I am not qualified to speak on the real figures, but I do like to write. So, there is a narrative opportunity here that drives me insane.

Like, cast Hamilton as brilliant, but overly cynical with a habit of assuming the worst in people, and give him a negative character arc where he comes close to recognizing the potential good of humanity but ultimately falls into his more authoritarian tendencies. Then contrast him with Lafayette who's more naive. He's not quite sheltered but unfamiliar with the sort of selfishness and greed he'd have encountered if he grew up in a more vulnerable financial position. In coming to America he, like Hamilton, is forced to reckon with contempt, greed, and the failings of democratic government. But, unlike Hamilton, still manages to come out of it with a generally positive opinion of humanity.

I'm just saying, if I were writing history to contain ✨themes ✨ they are a perfect opportunity.

[cementcornfield]

the thing i'm learning about being a sports fan is just.... you really have no control over this thing that you love so much and you've invested so much time/energy/emotion in! and that is so hard to accept! you can do all your little good luck rituals, you can critique the players and the coaching and the scheme to hell and back, you can learn as much as you can about how the game works....but it doesn't change a thing. all you can do is sit there and watch the players do the best they can! (and even then there's only so much each individual player can control!)

you just have to practice radical acceptance i guess! what's gonna happen will happen and you just have to sit back and enjoy as much of it as you can 🫠🫠

[fairies-ask-legend-answers]

I'm making a small adjustment

I'm making a decision to hopefully help speed things along on here. I'm going to focus a little less on making sure my art looks perfect. Perfect lines, perfect hands, perfect hair... the hands and hair really get me sometimes

If I keep posting at this rate I won't have all these asks answered for at least a couple years or possibly longer 👀 💧

I completely underestimated what having a blog like this would require so I'm going to have to improvise for everyone's sake. Possibly messier drawings, a very limited amount of time that I can accept requests... things like that

[shallowseeker]

Okay, so because of this ask, I've been thinking about the Musca stuff from Optimism again.

In the episode, Sam struggles to express his feelings directly. Instead of just telling AU Charlie, "I want you here because you remind me of someone I loved," he frames it through the case of the week, telling her that, actually, she is the one that needs community. His indirect approach highlights how hard it is for him to be open about his emotions or what he really needs. Even his initial emotional plea to AU Charlie is cloaked through old Charlie's connection to Dean:

CHARLIE: He'll be fine. Your brother, I mean. He's got other friends, right? SAM: Plenty. Uhm, he used to have a pretty damn good wingman. CHARLIE: So call that guy to check on him. SAM: That guy was you. CHARLIE: No, it wasn't. SAM: Right, I, uh, sorry. I didn't mean that.

Framing the Musca’s situation as AU Charlie’s (or even Cas’s, who is a more obvious comparison) is a red herring—because at its core, the episode is about Sam’s communication issues. It isn’t even about going off or not going off. It’s about simpler issues: like picking up the phone, like talking. Like saying what you mean:

SAM: Got to say, I do feel kind of bad for the Musca. I mean, he could have been happy if he'd stayed with his people. Didn't have to go off on his own just because.. CHARLIE: Okay, I get it. I am just like the bug and I shouldn't go out on my own. But your nifty metaphor has holes. I wasn't looking for love. I found it and I lost it. And I didn't kill people and literally nest in their body parts so...(Scene cuts to other Musca removing the body of the dead one) SAM: Okay, yeah I know, I know, How about this? Don't leave.

Aside/// Cas is literally a defector from the angels, and he’s living in someone else’s body. But while he does struggle at times with longing to be a stand-in for Jimmy, his guilt doesn’t stop him from forming his own bonds. Even his connection with Claire is messy, honest, and uniquely his. It's mired in guilt, not fear. (It can be argued that Cas maybe too fearlessly tries to interact, including giving her a silly gift.)

He's a bit like how Charlie views herself:

CHARLIE: But your nifty metaphor has holes. I wasn't looking for love. I found it and I lost it. 

Sam is like that too ofc. He found love and he lost it. The Musca is like Sam in that both feel out of place. The Musca is an outcast, struggling to fit in, just like Sam struggles with with feeling like a freak and with making new connections. I wonder if Sam often feels like "he failed to fly?”

Because of what happened at Stanford (and maybe even with Ruby), maybe Sam doesn’t feel comfortable building relationships on his own anymore. (Bc of his experiences, he also views many of Dean’s friends with cold, logical, uncharitable-but-semireasonable suspicion.)

But overall, it feels like he tends to embed himself into relationships that have already been formed by those he’s close to, like Dean or Mary (BMoL, AU hunters). It’s as if he’s more comfy stepping into pre-existing circles, often finding himself within Dean’s orbit or tied to Cas's extended family (Kelly, Jack, Claire), and even Jody and the girls & the AU hunters.

Sam's past betrayals, especially with Brady and losing Jess, make it hard for him to open up to people outside his family. He’s more comfortable in relationships that are already established by people he trusts, like Dean. This makes them inherently safer. I think work relationships have a similar function in that it creates a bubble of safety around other people's trustworthiness.

In a way, Sam tends to "nest" through the pre-set relationships of others.

[adorablegorilla]

The best Arknights YouTuber is Eha because he straight up gives Yuri Fanfic recommendations in the middle of his video

[backonrepeat]

Gortash, who escapes the Hells after years of torture, and hires Karlach (a red tiefling) as his bodyguard because better the devil you know.

Karlach, late teens, orphaned and trying to find her place in the city, imprinting on Gortash (a thug from the Lower City, making his way up on the world) like a baby duckling, ignoring the parade of red flags.

Them working together well and getting along, despite opposite personalities and morals, because Gortash (who grew up unloved by his parents and abused by devils) enjoys being the object of Karlach's earnest, honest flattery and loyalty too much, and Karlach (poor street urchin with little to no formal education) sees Gortash scheme with politicians and criminals, design clockwork machines, and climb the social ladder with ease, and thinks the sun shines out of his ass.

If Gortash keeps the worst of his dealings hidden from Karlach, well, that's just good business sense. She's still young and green, she'll toughen up as she grows older and the reality of the world grinds her optimisim to dust. And if Karlach turns a blind eye to her boss' cruel streak, to the boxes of smuggled weapons coming in and out of the warehouses, and the dead bodies floating down the Chiontar, it's because they probably did something to deserve it, after all Gortash has been nothing but good to her.

Maybe Gortash starts to wonder if a little bit of goodwill could be leveraged to achieve more power. After all, a couple of kind words and small favours have worked wonders to ensure Karlach's loyalty. Maybe he can allow himself a kindness or two, ease the leash, raise the boot, just a smidge. Only for the harshness of reality to slap him in the face once again, the deal falls through, his enemies gain ground, he loses money and men, his plan pushed back, because he, for one instant, believed Karlach's rainbow coloured worldview.

So he tightens his grip on power even more, doubles down on his cruelty, and decides: Karlach must go. And when Zariel offers her deal, a soul for an ongoing supply of infernal steel, he sells her off without hesitation.

[silverskye13]

My brother in law let me borrow Sonic Frontiers [also read: asked me if I had access to a PS5 and when I said yes, handed it to me and said "play this"] and now my two biggest gaming nightmares are merged into one! [Fast paced gaming mechanics and open world map structures]

Anyway, I've been playing for 8 hours.

[redbean-nom]

theory. the girl clones aren't altered jango clones, they're arla clones (this may also be why omega is blonde)

[doodlejoltik]

my favourite writing device is having an un-Rei-liable narrator

[watermelinoe]

why does every medical practitioner think they know more than you