#Targeted Exercise Programs

[peachcarechiropractic]

Physiotherapy is a comprehensive and evidence-based approach to healing, rehabilitation, and overall well-being. At PeachCare Family Chiropractic, we provide expert physiotherapy services to help you recover, improve your mobility, and enhance your quality of life Physiotherapy in Augusta GA

[thunderlina]

In the wake of the TikTok ban and revival as a mouthpiece for fascist propaganda, as well as the downfall of Twitter and Facebook/Facebook-owned platforms to the same evils, I think now is a better time than ever to say LEARN HTML!!! FREE YOURSELVES FROM THE SHACKLES OF MAJOR SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND EMBRACE THE INDIE WEB!!!

You can host a website on Neocities for free as long as it's under 1GB (which is a LOT more than it sounds like let me tell you) but if that's not enough you can get 50GB of space (and a variety of other perks) for only $5 a month.

And if you can't/don't want to pay for the extra space, sites like File Garden and Catbox let you host files for free that you can easily link into NeoCities pages (I do this to host videos on mine!) (It also lets you share files NeoCities wouldn't let you upload for free anyways, this is how I upload the .zip files for my 3DS themes on my site.)

Don't know how to write HTML/CSS? No problem. W3schools is an invaluable resource with free lessons on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and a whole slew of other programming languages, both for web development and otherwise.

Want a more traditional social media experience? SpaceHey is a platform that mimics the experience of 2000s MySpace

Struggling to find independent web pages that cater to your interests via major search engines? I've got you covered. Marginalia and Wiby are search engines that specifically prioritize non-commercial content. Marginalia also has filters that let you search for more specific categories of website, like wikis, blogs, academia, forums, and vintage sites.

Maybe you wanna log off the modern internet landscape altogether and step back into the pre-social media web altogether, well, Protoweb lets you do just that. It's a proxy service for older browsers (or really just any browser that supports HTTP, but that's mostly old browsers now anyways) that lets you visit restored snapshots of vintage websites.

Protoweb has a lot of Geocities content archived, but if you're interested in that you can find even more old Geocities sites over on the Geocities Gallery

And really this is just general tip-of-the-iceberg stuff. If you dig a little deeper you can find loads more interesting stuff out there. The internet doesn't have to be a miserable place full of nothing but doomposting and targeted ads. The first step to making it less miserable is for YOU, yes YOU, to quit spending all your time on it looking at the handful of miserable websites big tech wants you to spend all your time on.

[northern-passage]

over the last 24 hours Tom Homan has flip-flopped on what exactly is going to happen this upcoming week in the US, but we know he has threatened a “big raid across the country” and Chicago seems to be the first target with leaked plans for tuesday, January 21st, 2025. if you are here and live in a sanctuary city, brace for ICE raids to begin this week. if you're able, you can request or print your own red cards (available in multiple languages) from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center and offer them to people within your community.

if you see ICE, let people know. shout "ICE" and "LA MIGRA." do not open your door for ICE.

You have constitutional rights:

- DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR if an immigration agent is knocking on the door. / NO ABRA LA PUERTA si un agente de inmigración está tocando la puerta. - DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS from an immigration agent if they try to talk to you. You have the right to remain silent. / NO CONTESTE NINGUNA PREGUNTA de un agente de inmigración si el trata de hablar con usted. Usted tiene el derecho de mantenerse callado. - DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING without first speaking to a lawyer. You have the right to speak with a lawyer. If you are outside of your home, ask the agent if you are free to leave and if they say yes, leave calmly. / NO FIRME NADA sin antes hablar con un abogado. Usted tiene el derecho de hablar con un abogado. Si usted está afuera de su casa, pregunte al agente si es libre para irse y si dice que sí, váyase con tranquilidad. - GIVE THIS CARD TO THE AGENT. If you are inside of your home, show the card through the window or slide it under the door. / ENTREGUE ESTA TARJETA AL AGENTE. Si usted está dentro de su casa, muestre la tarjeta por la ventana o pásela debajo de la puerta. I do not wish to speak with you, answer your questions, or sign or hand you any documents based on my 5th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution. I do not give you permission to enter my home based on my 4th Amendment rights under the United States Constitution unless you have a warrant to enter, signed by a judge or magistrate with my name on it that you slide under the door. I do not give you permission to search any of my belongings based on my 4th Amendment rights. I choose to exercise my constitutional rights.

What to do if you are detained - National Immigration Law Center

there's also the ICE Detainer FAQ and the ICE Raids Toolkit from Immigrant Defense Project. and you can also get information on DACA, various resources for preparedness, and flyers at united we dream:

this one is Chicago specific but another organization that is helping people prepare:

[healthnews101]

5 Best Anti-Aging Exercises

Are you ready to defy the effects of time and embark on a journey towards a youthful and vibrant self? Look no further, as we present to you a comprehensive guide to Anti-Aging Exercises. In this article, we will delve into the realm of fitness and reveal the most effective exercises that can help you regain your vitality, boost hormone production, and keep aging at bay. Get ready to discover the…

[utkuerdemozerblog]

UTKU ERDEM OZER (4)

Welcome to a transformative journey towards optimal health and wellness with our cutting-edge services at https://www.utkuerdemozer.com/en. Whether you're grappling with Piriformis Syndrome, navigating the challenges of Kienböck’s Disease, or recovering from a Pectoralis Major tear, our dedicated team is here to provide targeted solutions tailored to your specific needs. Our holistic approach ensures that we address not only the symptoms but also the root causes of your discomfort.

Piriformis Syndrome

Piriformis syndrome is a condition that occurs when the piriformis muscle, located deep in the buttock, spasms and causes pain in the buttocks. This muscle can irritate the nearby sciatic nerve, leading to discomfort that radiates down the leg. Symptoms can vary from mild to severe and may include tingling, numbness, and pain, significantly impacting daily activities and mobility.

Understanding the unique aspects and effects of piriformis syndrome is crucial for effective management. Many individuals with this condition find relief through a variety of treatments, including physical therapy, stretching exercises, and targeted massage. Incorporating these practices into your routine can enhance flexibility, strength, and overall quality of life.

Seek professional guidance to address your specific symptoms. Our specialized services can help you navigate the complexities of piriformis syndrome and develop a personalized treatment plan. Don't let pain hold you back—take the first step toward recovery today!

Kienböck’s Disease

Kienböck’s disease is a debilitating condition that affects the lunate bone in the wrist, resulting in a gradual loss of blood supply. This condition often leads to avascular necrosis, where the bone tissue dies due to insufficient blood flow. Early diagnosis and intervention are crucial, as they can significantly influence the treatment outcome and speed up the recovery process.

Key Symptoms

Wrist pain that worsens with activity

Swelling in the wrist area

Decreased range of motion

Stiffness in the wrist

Difficulty gripping or lifting objects

Benefits of Early Detection and Treatment

Identifying Kienböck’s disease in its initial stages enables quicker treatment options. Effective management may include rest, splinting, and physical therapy, which can alleviate symptoms and improve functionality. In more severe cases, surgical interventions may be required to restore blood flow to the lunate bone, ultimately influencing long-term outcomes positively.

Why Choose Us for Treatment?

At Utku Erdemozer, we specialize in diagnosing and treating orthopedic conditions, including Kienböck’s disease. Our expert team employs advanced imaging techniques and personalized treatment plans to ensure every patient receives the highest level of care. Don’t let wrist pain disrupt your life—schedule a consultation with us today!

Pectoralis Major Tear

A pectoralis major tear is a serious injury that can significantly impact your strength and mobility. This injury often occurs during high-intensity activities like weightlifting, particularly when performing bench presses or explosive sports movements. When you experience a tear, it can lead to acute pain, weakness in the affected arm, and difficulty in performing daily tasks.

One of the key benefits of early diagnosis and intervention is the potential for a quicker recovery. At our clinic, we specialize in a comprehensive approach, integrating both rehabilitation and surgical options to address a pectoralis major tear effectively. Our team is dedicated to returning you to your active lifestyle as safely and efficiently as possible.

Understanding the importance of tailored rehabilitation programs can also greatly enhance your recovery process. We prioritize individualized treatment plans that focus on restoring strength and function while minimizing the risk of re-injury. This approach ensures that you receive the specific care necessary to support your healing journey.

If you suspect you've sustained a pectoralis major tear, don't hesitate to consult our experts. Early intervention can make a significant difference in your long-term outcomes. Reach out to us today to schedule a consultation and take the first step towards regaining your strength.

[finelythreadedsky]

You can read ancient Greek, right? If so, I have a question, I hope you don't mind. I took Latin for a long time and all my teachers always said that the goal wasn't to be fluent in it, we would never be able to speak it like we could speak Spanish or some other modern language. We were forever translating Cicero's speeches and Ovid's poems. I had good grades, but I would never ever have been able to write anything new in Latin, let alone carry on a conversation. It was never my major though. Is it different when it's the focus of your degree? Or different with ancient Greek? Or maybe just different at other schools/higher levels?

yeah that's essentially the norm* for teaching Latin and ancient Greek at all levels-- the goal of learning them is to be able to read certain texts in the original language, not to be able to speak or write in it. that's a really big difference from modern spoken languages, which are usually taught with the idea that you are learning them to be able to communicate with current users of that language, and that you therefore want to be able to understand what they say and write and to be able to express yourself through speech and writing. I think it can be pretty safely said that there are no current language-users with whom you are learning to communicate when you learn Latin or ancient Greek: the communication is one-way and only through writing. introductory classes will often have you do short composition exercises or translate from your native language into the target ancient language, but as a tool to master syntax/grammar/vocab/etc, not because it is actually the thing you are ultimately trying to learn to do.

*there are a couple of programs that do 'living Latin' or 'living ancient Greek' and try to teach them like you would teach a modern spoken language, including conversation, but I. um. do not have positive opinions about that as a practice.

[vhygoxo]

Wolf Pack Headcanons

My personal head canons on the shifters and what they get up to 🫶 I’ve been missing seeing wolf pack content. Plus there isn’t much info or anything on the Wolfpack outside of Jacob. Most of these come from the fact I know what it’s like to live on a rez. Debating if I should do nsfw head canons next 🤭

There’s hardly any down time for the shifters. Since the Cullens came into town there had been almost constant activity in the area. After the birth of Renesmee everyone thought it’d calm down. But instead activity got more frequent. Patrols and executions were part of their routine after a few years

When Vampire activity is low they still protect the rez in their own way. Most of the guys took first aid and security classes. Since chief and council know about the secret of the shifters they pay all of them (except the younger ones aka minors) through their security program. So when there are hardly any vampires they work in the security program

Everyone helps Emily with the household such as cleaning and cooking when they can. But most just help pay for the groceries since she feeds all of them

The rez has a mixed view of the shifters. To everyone they’re all secretive and intimidating. But because of how many people they’ve helped over the years they’ve also earned a lot of respect. Some believe they are arrogant and entitled to the rez. Others believe them to be protectors of the rez in a way. Sometimes people have issues with them to the point of harassing them. Sam, Paul, and Jared are usually the main targets. Like Bella thinking they are a gang ☠️

These guys all have trucks and drive everywhere+anywhere. Kim is the only one to own a car. They have many different chill spots around the rez (not just them but everyone in La push goes to these places) usually to drink and have bonfires

When they aren’t driving on the Rez they’re heading into town for some fun. Shopping sprees, eating out, and gambling is usually what’s on the agenda for these guys. Although they drive a lot locally it’s because they can’t travel too far

Everyone especially Paul dreams of the day they no longer have to shift. Once they stop they have all the freedom to travel and explore

The guys love to go mudding in their trucks and have contests

Emily has a projector and hosts movie nights in the backyard when it’s nice out

Emily and Kim craft and bead together. Emily does more sewing than beading, she’s made all the guys ribbon shirts, from youngest to eldest. Also enjoys making ribbon skirts occasionally especially Appliqué ribbon skirts. Kim loves to make beaded earrings and necklaces. These two give away more than they sell

Kim is always wearing big ndn girl™️ earrings. Beaded, quilled, dentillium, shells, you name it. (Once she wanted to make some out of Jared’s wolf fur but he refused. She found a way)

All of them are hella competitive with each other. And since they’re basically non human their strength and abilities are crazy. They all enjoyed testing their strength, think Bella and Emmett arm wrestling, same energy with these guys. Both in human and wolf form they strived to show off. The imprintees of them all had to take some time to get used to seeing such things. Like two mega beasts fighting on the front lawn, switching back to human, and playing it off like nothing

Paul, Leah, and Embry are the ones who struggle the most with being a shifter. In the beginning their rage and frustration was almost uncontrollable. Even as the years passed they still had moments where they burst out of control. (Once they imprinted the out bursts stopped completely) So these three became close since they were similar especially in their struggles

High energy for all of them. They have to find ways to burn off energy or else they legit couldn’t sleep. Which the solution is always intense exercise. Most times you’ll find Paul and Jared are competing to see who can do more push ups. Or the younger wolves doing relay races on their usual trails. Embry, Quil, and Jacob liked to box and spar with each other only. Leah and Paul get way too aggressive when sparring with everyone. It’s usually just Leah vs Paul if they really need to get rid of their aggression. Sam and Jared spar together since they actually follow the rules lol

Emily and Leah are still close and Leah never dated Sam lol

It wasn’t Sam that scarred Emily it was a rogue vampire. Sam punishes his self since he wasn’t fast enough to protect her. But he was quick enough along with Paul to stop the vampire before he could change her. It’s why Leah distrusts Sam. She believes he can’t protect her sister/cousin well enough and punishes him daily in their hive mind. Also constantly questions him as a leader

Quil and Kim are cousins lol I imagine them being close like brother and sister growing up. So it works well for them to be in the wolf pack together

For the shifters it’s hard for them to drink any alcohol. Not that they don’t it’s just that their body burns the alcohol quicker than normal humans. Smoking 🍃 actually has an effect on them like normal

Majority of them rarely drink, it started from Sam believing he needed to be in a clear mind, in order to be a leader. Not only that but being a shifter meant being very spiritually connected. And in most native cultures it’s believed that alcohol dulls the spirit. (Doesn’t stop some of them lol)

Quil, Embry, and Jacob were the first to start smoking 🍃 and out of the whole pack Quil is the biggest stoner. Claims it’s what “keeps him chill” since he doesn’t have a hard time shifting

They hunt game while they’re in wolf form. Natives love wild meat, deer, elk, moose, you name it. So them being able to shift makes it way easier to catch game. The guys gut and skin whatever they catch. Emily and Kim are usually the two who process the game. (Tbh it’s mostly Paul, Leah, and Sam bringing back game home because they raged out)

Everybody is in someway jealous of Jared and Kim. Since Jared had an easy time with shifting even in the beginning. And when he imprinted on Kim their relationship had always been easy and full of love even now

Jacob and Quil are the mechanics of the group. All the guys know some basic skills but these two are the best at it. Anytime anyone has issues it’s them who take care of it

It was actually Seth who took on his mom’s role and was training to become an emergency service provider. Eventually he wants a job in medicine. Leah knows basic cpr and first aid like the rest of the guys

All their minds are linked, when they shift they get a download, of what everyone was doing while not in wolf form. Nothing is secret or sacred lol they all know everything about each other. In their human form they’re still connected of course. But they have to get consent to connect telepathically in human form. In wolf form they have no control and everything is shared in the mind in an instant

Tbh around others especially in crowded places they gained their rep of being stoic and silent bc of this. Even in human form they talk more with each other in their heads than with their voice. Usually if they’re in a group but silent they’re talking in their heads to each other. They all have their own ways of blocking out certain things the others go through

The pack tolerates renesmee but pretty much just Emily and Kim visit her, out of pity and empathy, Jacob understood this well. Instead of making his brothers uncomfortable he’s usually with the Cullens. Occasionally he’ll come by his self but not for long. Sometimes he brings her but it’s usually short visits

Quil Atera III (quil’s grandfather) Billy Black, Harry Clearwater, and Sue Clearwater are one of very few people who know history of the shifters. Majority of what everyone knows about shifters is because of the knowledge they possess. The pack rely on these 3 the most

I felt this was enough head canons for now even tho I have way more lol. Hoping to upload one of my fics rewritten soon here. But I’m having fun with these wolf pack head canons for now. If you enjoy this and my writing feel free to send me an ask! I’m open for requests ✨

[solacescastleglow]

75 Soft, Student + Mental Health Edition

It's the new year, which means it's time for another 75 day challenge! My 75 Soft version for studying success has two sections - learning and wellbeing. Since this is a more gentle program focussed on consistency rather than perfection, I've added in the ability to skip or mess up one day a week in case life happens. Some of these are specific to me and my needs, so feel free to modify as needed.

��� 45 minutes of studying (or other learning)

As a part time online history student, I count studying as watching lectures, doing readings, working on assignments, or going on field trips for research. If you're a full time student or study something with more memorisation involved, you can increase this amount.

• Duolingo + 15 minutes of immersion + 1 story summary a week

My goal is to get one unit of Duolingo done every two days, so that's about 15-30 minutes already, but I don't think I can learn French with Duolingo alone. I'm going to increase the amount of immersion per quarter, but for Q1 it's only 15 minutes, so I've found some French TikTokers and YouTubers to watch. I learned about the story summary method on Pinterest and it's so simple: read a story or article in your target language, then summarise what you read in your target language. I don't have enough stories to do that every day, so I'm going to do it once a week.

• Read 10 pages

Reading allows for more unstructured learning and can help with critical thinking, among so many other things. I like reading classics and non fiction, but it can be any book. Right now, I'm reading The Bell Jar (it's amazing).

• Any amount of outdoor exercise

It's always good to get fresh air! My main fitness goal of this year is to learn how to do pistol squats, and the steps outside my house are perfect for squat touchdowns. I do anywhere from 10-50 on each side per day, and when I get stronger I can aim for two steps down.

• Any amount of indoor exercise

There are some movements I love doing, but they can't/shouldn't be done outside, so I've added indoor exercise to this. Doing my little ballet spins (based on fouettes but definitely not real ones since I haven't learned ballet), at-home pilates with my sibling, or a light arm workout can really boost my mood throughout the day.

• No caffeine until 90 minutes after waking

This is just good advice. I can't remember which hormones exactly but I know it messes with your circadian rhythm to have caffeine first thing in the morning. Most days I'm good with this but every so often a cup of tea gets made too early.

• No binging or restricting food

I'm learning how to listen to my body this year, and for that I need to stop letting my head decide how much I eat. No more emotional binges, and no more guilty restriction. I will eat whenever I'm hungry, and stop when I'm 80% full.

• 2 large meals made with whole foods

This is mostly to help me keep up with my main contribution to the household: planning and cooking all the meals. My breakfast is already pretty healthy, I'd say, and I don't need lunch, so it's only dinner that matters. I love finding new recipes to try, and I love the way my body feels after eating something with lots of vitamins, minerals, and protein.

• 8 hours of sleep

If I don't sleep a full 8 hours, I am contractually obliged to nap. Really, it should be longer than 8 hours for me, but I'm getting way better at staying awake throughout the day so I'm leaving it at that.

• Leave the house alone 4 times a week

My therapist made me do this every day back in August, but I got a bit too comfortable recently and now going out is starting to scare me again. Time to maintain that muscle.

• 3 30 min sessions of ERP a week

I decided this year that I would stop letting my OCD control my life. I had been passively working on it for a couple of years, but it's time to take it seriously. I've learned some ways to respond to intrusive thoughts without doing compulsions, and I'm excited to see them start to work.

[obedientteens]

Honour, Duty, Service

The package arrived on a Tuesday, a plain brown box resting innocuously against the rest of the post. It was addressed to you, full legal name printed with unnerving precision. Inside, nestled in packing peanuts, was a simple black headset, sleek and futuristic. No note, no return address, just a prickle of unease crawling up your spine as you turned it over in your hands.

Curiosity, that most human of flaws, won out. You slipped the headset on, the interior a cool, velvety caress. A voice, smooth as buttered silk, filled your ears, "Welcome. You have been chosen."

Chosen for what? You never got the chance to ask. The world dissolved into a kaleidoscope of swirling colours, a pressure building in your head until you blacked out.

When you woke, you were in a sterile white room, the only furniture a chair and a table bolted to the floor. The headset was gone. The door opened, revealing a man in a crisp white lab coat, his smile failing to reach his cold, calculating eyes.

"Ah, good," he said, his voice devoid of warmth. "He's awake. The process can begin."

You tried to speak, to demand answers, but the words caught in your throat. Fear, raw and primal, choked you. You were trapped, a fly in the web of some shadowy organization, their purpose unknown but their methods terrifyingly efficient.

The sterile white room became your prison, your universe shrunk down to the four walls that held you captive. The process was slow, methodical, a methodical dismantling of your identity. It began with injections, cocktails of unknown substances that left you weak and pliant, your mind awash in a fog of disorientation.

Then came the lights, pulsing strobes of blinding intensity that seared patterns into your vision. The pain was excruciating, a vice crushing your skull from the inside out. You thrashed against the restraints, your screams swallowed by the padded walls.

Between the assaults, the propaganda seeped in, a constant drip-feed of indoctrination. Loudspeakers hidden in the walls hammered home the Marine Corps' virtues: honour, courage, commitment. They glorified their history, their victories, their unwavering dedication to duty.

You were shown images on a screen: proud Marines in crisp uniforms, flags waving in the breeze, enemies falling before their might. The images were accompanied by stirring music, anthems of patriotism and valour that wormed their way into your brain, burrowing deep into your subconscious.

Sleep deprivation became your constant companion. Days and nights blurred together, your only measure of time the pangs of hunger and the exhaustion that gnawed at your bones. When you were allowed to sleep, it was on a cold, hard cot, haunted by nightmares of battlefields and faceless enemies.

They broke you down, piece by piece, stripping away your individuality, your memories, your very sense of self. They targeted your vulnerabilities, exploiting your fears and insecurities, twisting them into a desperate need for the structure and certainty the Marine Corps offered.

Language drills were a constant torment. Your own name, once so familiar, became a foreign word, replaced by the numerical designation they assigned you. You were forced to repeat phrases, slogans, and the Marine Corps hymn until your voice was hoarse, your accent slowly morphing into the clipped, neutral tones of an American soldier.

Physical conditioning went hand-in-hand with the mental torture. You were pushed to your physical limits, forced to run until your lungs burned, to exercise until your muscles screamed for mercy. The pain, they told you, was weakness leaving your body, replaced by the strength and resilience of a Marine.

The process was brutal, relentless, designed to shatter your will and rebuild you in their image. By the time they deemed you ready, you were a blank slate, stripped of your past, your mind a vessel filled with their programming. You were no longer the man you once were. You were a weapon, forged in the fires of their making, ready to kill and die at their command. You were a US Marine.

The cold metal of the chair bit into your bare skin, the only warmth the harsh glare of the fluorescent lights overhead. Two figures flanked you, their faces obscured by surgical masks, their movements clinical and detached. They didn't speak, their silence amplifying the buzzing of the clippers as one of them switched it on.

Your hair, once a source of pride, maybe even a carefully styled statement, was the first to go. The clippers made short work of it, shearing through the strands, leaving a trail of goosebumps in their wake. You flinched, the feeling of vulnerability amplified by the cold air now biting at your scalp. They offered no comfort, no reassurance, only the relentless whirring of the clippers as they worked, erasing another piece of your former self.

With your head shorn, your face took centre stage. The reflection staring back from the metal tray was a stranger, eyes dulled with exhaustion, skin pallid under the artificial light. A hand, clad in a latex glove, grasped your chin, tilting your head this way and that as the other figure meticulously shaved away any trace of stubble.

The blade was sharp, unforgiving, scraping against your skin. Each stroke felt like a violation, a stripping away of not just your hair, but your very identity. You were being made anonymous, a blank canvas upon which they would paint their ideal soldier.

The process was dehumanizing, a ritualistic stripping away of individuality. You were no longer a person with a name, a history, a sense of self. You were raw material, being moulded to fit the rigid standards of the Marine Corps.

Once the shaving was complete, they brought out the uniform: crisp, olive-drab trousers, a khaki shirt starched to military perfection, and heavy black boots that smelled faintly of polish and leather. You were dressed like a doll, your limbs manipulated into each garment, the buttons and zippers fastened with impersonal efficiency.

The cherry on top of the cake (so to speak) was the simple white cap, with a black visor sloping down over your eyes and a gold Marine Corps emblem taking pride of place right at the top, in line with your nose.

The fabric felt rough against your skin, the fit uncomfortably tight. It was a constant, physical reminder of your new reality, a uniform that marked you as property of the United States Marine Corps. Looking down at the unfamiliar clothing, you felt a wave of despair wash over you. Your transformation was nearly complete. The person you were, the life you knew, was fading into a distant, inaccessible memory. In its place stood a soldier, programmed for obedience, his mind and body forfeit to the will of his new masters.

By the time they shaved your head and dressed you in the unfamiliar uniform, you were already gone, a hollow shell ready to be filled with the unwavering loyalty of a US Marine. Your transformation to brainwashed soldier, was complete.

[rei-ismyname]

Magneto, Storm and Blue Marvel vs a Stark Sentinel

It's issue #4 of Resurrection of Magneto and the old man is back in the world of the living, good as new. Storm, Blue Marvel, and Mags decide to go smash some fascists. After a particularly targeted trap for Magneto and unseen heroics from the others, they take prisoners and free the captive mutants. Blue Marvel is kind enough to offer the destruction of the facility to others.

Mags jumps at the opportunity and crumples the billion dollar facility like origami - leaving lots of metal lying around. A brief moment of peace is shattered by a Stark Sentinel. 'Mutants detected. Engage and destroy.'

Heh, Brashear throws some justified shade at Tony Stark. Even if Tony is less culpable for this monstrosity, both men know all too well that Tony ruins lives. He designed the ORCHIS Forge and played a part in the death of Adam's wife. These Sentinels are pretty sophisticated with specific countermeasures against the big guns. They're apparently Magneto proof, though that will be tested. Are they Storm proof?

Yep! Some kind of sonic weapon pins her down, unable to focus. Blue Marvel has a shot but it has countermeasures for him too. These are three of the most powerful beings alive but this robot has their number individually. Adam advocates for leaving, having done what they came to do. Mags wants to smash it, though the point is moot.

Some human journalists are disguised as fisherfolk and the sentinel is programmed to take out witnesses (and probably journalists too.) They have to take this thing down or all these people will die. Magneto of old probably wouldn't care, but he's committed to using his power responsibly in the world. Ethically. Heroically.

While Adam is trying to evacuate, Mags thinks outside the box. Using all that metal from the destroyed facility, Mags fashions two giant fists. It's go time, you red and gold bitch.

I'll give ORCHIS some credit for coding a passive aggressive sentinel - it reminds them that 'this unit is proofed against magnetic tampering,' walking into a series of dramatic one liners. Mags pounds the shit out of it with giant steel hooks and uppercuts but the piece of shit declares 'Impact insufficient.' Mags and Storm both get in on talking smack to a robot and stall for time. For the first time in his life, Magneto proposes a mutant/human circuit - the best of Krakoa with the best of humanity. An electromagnetic power up with Blue Marvel regulating the energy with antimatter. No idea how that works and Adam says it could kill him.

They do it anyway, and super Saiyan Magneto roars in pain and rage as they thrash this bringer of death. All he can do is hit it, and hit it, and hit it...

Until it breaks the fuck apart. Woo! Mags is exercising godly restraint in keeping his philosophical musings inside his head, though he can't help but think of Charles.

BOOM! After Mags' cracking the egg all three of them blow it the fuck up. Gotta love that these journalists have this whole thing on camera. This could have been the basis for a whole new life for Mags. Rehabilitated in the public eye and committed to his Bodhisattva Vow. Alas, it was not to be. Not yet anyway.

Time to get these people out of here - something Storm and Adam take care of while Mags goes to rescue Tony Stark. I don't think this is how Al Ewing would have ended things if Mags wasn't needed in other books, but it works for a new beginning. Sure, Tony sucks, but Mags letting go and looking to the future has value. Working to be a better man, even if it means saving a shitty one. At least he's actually on team mutant at this point.

[frociaggine]

do you have any tips/resources for a beginner who wants to get into weightlifting?

thank you for asking!! I love this question. I love lifting! It's Good For You (helps increase bone density & metabolic rate, and it's good for injury prevention and developing functional strength). It's also a really great confidence boost. 10/10 would rec lifting to every single person reading this — if it's an option for you, give it a try.

TLDR: familarise yourself with common exercises. pick a beginner program. follow it. profit!

A more involved answer, with resources and details, is under the cut

familiarise yourself with common exercises

There are hundreds of possible exercises out there to target each specific body part. However, most of those are what's called "accessory" movements, as opposed to "basic" exercises that will pop up over and over in most lifting routines. Ideally, you want to know how to perform these movements, using light weights or just your bodyweight until you feel comfortable with it.

CORE BRACING (ft deadbugs. genuinely lifechanging skill!)

Squats.

Hip hinge. This is useful for deadlifts, romanian deadlifts, kettlebell swings & similar movements

Push movements (for example: dumbell chest press, shoulder press etc)

Pull movements (dumbell rows & many others)

That said. Please don't stress too much over "good form". Each exercise has infinite variations and especially as a beginner, you won't be lifting heavy enough weights to make form optimisation a big concern. All bodies are different and our individual stances vary a lot depending on body proportions, flexibility levels etc. You just want to know HOW an exercise is supposed to be performed, in terms of: which muscles it activates? what am I supposed to get out of it? how to do it safely? Your bodyweight squat doesn't have to be flawless, it just has to be good enough.

BTW, you know when I said that there are hundreds of possible exercises out there? Here is a very detailed masterlist + exercise guide for exercises impacting each muscle group.

learn your way around a weight room, if you aren't familiar with it already.

Broadly speaking: the free weights (bar, dumbells, kettlebells) are good for compound exercises that involve multiple muscle groups. The various machines are ideal for "isolation" exercises that target fewer specific muscle groups.

If you already know what's what, then skip this bit! But I've talked to many people who feel a bit intimidated by the weight room because they feel out of place in it, and in my experience familiarising yourself with the general layout is a good way to take away that discomfort.

And, in case this is something you need to hear: you deserve to be there, you're not taking space, and most gymgoers just want to finish their workout and shower, and won't pay specific negative attention to you. Most gyms have a weight room manager or floor trainer, at least during some shifts, and they WILL be happy to help you. If you're someone who doesn't want to be bothered while exercising, just preventively introduce yourself, say you're new

pick a program

I highkey recommend following a pre-made program instead of just fucking about on your own. Here's why

programs are well-balanced in terms of volume and muscle groups, to ensure you don't overtrain one body part and leave other lagging

they have a built-in "progression scheme" that will allow you to move to a higher weight in an optimal way — basically, you'll see strength advantages sooner

they help navigate information overload. There is SO much information about fitness out there that acts as an entry barrier. Following a pre-made program really helps with that.

If you have a gym membership, you may have the option of one "free workout program" made by a trainer who works at the gym. If that's in the cards, I'd recommend going with that.

Otherwise, I strongly recommend the "programs rec guide" over at r/xxfitness, the female fitness subreddit (the name is 15 years old but it's a queer friendly, trans inclusive space). I haven't personally done any of those, but Meg Gallagher of Before the Barbell is very solid, and that's the one I'd suggest.

get ready for DOMS

Also known as delayed onset muscle soreness. It happens 1) when you go to the gym after a while or start exercising for the first time 2) when you train a different muscle group than usual 3) when you up the intensity of a workout.

Basically, you wake up in the morning and you go OUCH!! ACHEY. That's DOMS. It happens because your muscle fibres are suffering microtears and reknitting (stronker!!) and you will feel very stiff and possibly very swollen (muscles retain water).

It'll take a few days for it to go away. IT IS SAFE TO EXERCISE THROUGH DOMS; the only thing limiting you is if you're too achy to move effectively. I recommend eating something protein heavy (more on that below) and doing some gentle exercise to make it go away faster (walking, at home-stretches or yoga, swimming if it's an option, etc.)

You DON'T want to stay in bed the whole time, because that'll only make you more stiff and make it last longer. Note that "post exercise achiness" is something that WILL go away after the first couple of weeks or so, depending on your recovery (again, gentle exercise and/or going to the gym again when you're still a bit achey is actually preferred than being completely at rest until they're fully gone away). Long term, you're NOT supposed to feel high-level soreness after working out. "No pain no gain" is mostly bullshit.

evaluate your program!

I'm always saying this, but the best exercise is the one you actually stick with. If your exercise plan is dull or fills you with dread, it doesn't matter how good for you it supposedly is — ditch it. Give yourself a few weeks of whatever program you pick, then re-evaluate: what are your favourite exercises you've done so far? Which ones you don't like? What would you like to do? Programs can and should be modified according to your preferences, and it's a lot easier to customise something that works for YOU once you're a bit more familiar with everything. For example, maybe someone at your gym is doing kettlebell swings and you think it's cool and you'd rather do those instead of crunches for your abs. Why not. Just note down what's working and what isn't, and then re-evaluate (with gym trainers if that's an option, but also, I mean it, HMU whenever).

odds and ends!!

None of these things are a big deal, but they make your life easier:

Hydrate during a workout. If you're hydrated your body works better. You'll also probably sweat during your workout. Getting through 1L of water during a 1 hour / 1 hour and a half gym session is perfectly normal.

Warm up before lifting. Something like this for a general body warmup + lighter warm-up series before going up to the weight you actually want to lift. For example: if you're squatting the bar (20kg) I'd do one bodyweight squats series, and another series holding a 10kg kettlebell or dumbell. Cool down or stretch after!

Mobility work on a day off is a good idea, even if you're no longer suffering through soreness. This is my current go-to routine, I do it about 2x week.

If possible, eat protein the evening / day after a workout. Protein is great for building muscle, and you WILL see a noticeable difference in energy level and speed of recovery by upping your protein intake. Basically: if you usually eat lentils or fish twice a week, try to make one of those times your post-gym dinner.

(In general, as a beginner you WILL see results regardless, and you don't need to optimise nutrition or anything (not to mention, it can be overwhelming / complicated to deal with.) But if you're interested in the specifics of nutrition & exercise, HMU)

keep track of your workouts! I really recommend this; it can be very inspiring to have a backlog you can look at when you want to track your progress, and you want to establish a benchmark with yourself. It can be as simple as writing down gym days & numbers in your journal if you have one; personally I use the Strong app to save my routines, and every week when I log in new workouts I modify the values depending on what weight and # of reps I hit that week. For reference, this is what a week looks like on the Strong app for me

IF I'VE MISSED ANYTHING SHOOT ME AN ASK.

[hellyeahscarleteen]

We all have lifting to do to make gyms safer spaces

Data supports the lived experiences of many femme presenting and queer folx who feel unsafe at gyms. So, what is there to do to contribute to making these spaces safer?

If you see someone being harassed and they are your acquaintance, ask in private about what is going on to check if it is indeed what you believed you saw, and if it is inappropriate, tell this person that they have your support. For example, you can call this person to other parts of the gym as if you wanted to say something or need help with an exercise. Tell them that they can be your training partner⁠ or even go in a group; numbers intimidate harassers who tend to pick their victims when they are by themselves.

If you know the harasser and have a somewhat non-aggressive⁠ relationship⁠ with them, explain that what they are doing to others is not right and that they should stop and do better... If you don’t know anyone involved, you still can step in. Try to use the machine, and ask for a train on it while they rest from their series. Try to engage in small talk or pretend that you need help understanding what you have to do from your training schedule since many are unfamiliar with the names of the exercises and machines.

The victim may try to make eye contact with you, even indicating that something isn’t right or that they aren’t very comfortable; if you see an opening, tell them that they can call you up if there are any difficulties with their training program if the target of harassment needs someone to load the weights in the equipment or rack them to where they belong. Remember that harassers like to isolate their prey, so they avoid duos or groups. If you don’t feel comfortable mentioning the harassment, let them know that you are available to help whenever they need it.

If you, yourself, are being harassed, there is a range of possible responses to harassment. Click the link below to learn or brush up on approaches to take if you are ever in a situation where you or another person at the gym is being harassed.

[windvexer]

Hi chicken! About this post: https://linkkwitch.tumblr.com/private/770875613764550656/tumblr_sp1i0gwyqP1zwpg9d?source=share

Could you give an example of consecration/blessing/charging? I feel like I still struggle to differentiate them in my head

Like for example, you mentioned stiring the tea as a consecration act but I always thought this would be charging

Hi; that does not appear to be a relevant link. I think we are referring to this?

Perhaps many would disagree with me, but here's how I see it:

Stirring liquid is a technique for transferring magic into wet things.

This is the same concept as exhaling onto something, whispering into something, rapping the knuckles against something, using the finger to draw roads through something, and so forth: it's a physical action which carries something on its back.

I do not claim the following to be literally true, but rather a thought exercise to demonstrate this concept:

We can start with energy. Energy is gathered up through whatever means the practitioner likes (perhaps they will just use some of their personal energy).

When this energy is gathered up, it is stamped with purpose. This is called setting intent, and this intent is held within metaphysical energy the way that a house seal once applied is held within wax, or a word once written is held within ink.

This energy, now stamped with purpose, is waiting to go somewhere and fulfill its purpose.

One method to make it go somewhere is to synchronize the energy with a physical action you can perform on an object, so when you perform that action, the energy is transferred into the object.

Hence, stirring liquid to transfer purposeful energy into the beverage.

Stirring alone does nothing. It must carry something on its back: the energy you have raised and molded with intent.

What purpose you stamp into the energy may be anything. This purpose may be to bless, to consecrate, or anything you like.

The purpose of the physical action is because you yourself function as a world tree: you extend through many worlds, and therefore bridge all of them and can move things between them.

You have the capacity to reach into both the astral/energetic/ethereal layers of reality, and into the physical layers of reality. Therefore you can package up energy and stamp it with intent, and then be your own axis mundi to transfer that energy into a physical object.

Since the point of this specific technique is that you use a physical action to transfer energy, the moment of transfer is of course a physical action (such as those listed at the beginning of the post). This should be accompanied by OBFUKing (observing, believing, feeling, understanding, or knowing) that the energy has been transferred into the target.

Because purpose is packaged within energy, no matter what intent you program into the energy, the target object will become somewhat charged.

Currently I believe there is no way around this. There is no way to program something to become magical without also, to some degree, charging it.

Therefore to consecrate a beverage to a purpose ("you are coffee that makes me happy") is also to charge it to that purpose ("you carry energy that tells you to make me happy").

I think especially when we get to this small scale - "cantrips," if we're calling them that - there is a lot of overlap. Charging a cup of coffee may have sufficient energy to push out unwanted energies, therefore also cleansing it to a mild degree. You can consecrate something for the purpose of being a blessing.

Intent is perhaps not best thought of as singular, but rather what dominates any given operation:

Our goal can be to bless something, therefore we use an act of consecration to energize it for our purpose. And as a side-effect, unhelpful energies are displaced and it becomes a little bit cleansed.

So IMO It's not highly useful to try and draw sharp lines. Is it consecrated, or charged, or a blessing? It might be all of them, or none, depending on how you like to define things. But I would say it's a safe bet to assert that almost no magic is just one thing. If you practice charging coffee with a certain intent, you may also be practicing blessings and consecration.

[notwiselybuttoowell]

The Trump administration is stripping away support for scientific research in the US and overseas that contains a word it finds particularly inconvenient: “climate.”

The US government is withdrawing grants and other support for research that even references the climate crisis, academics have said, amid Donald Trump’s blitzkrieg upon environmental regulations and clean-energy development.

Trump, who has said that the climate crisis is a “giant hoax”, has already stripped mentions of climate change and global heating from government websites and ordered a halt to programs that reference diversity, equity and inclusion. A widespread funding freeze for federally backed scientific work also has been imposed, throwing the US scientific community into chaos.

Researchers said work mentioning climate is being particularly targeted. One environmental scientist working in the western US who did not want to be named said their previously awarded grant from the Department of Transportation for climate-adaption research had been withdrawn, until they retitled it to remove the word “climate”.

References to climate are being scrubbed elsewhere, too. Course materials at the National Disaster Preparedness Training Center at the University of Hawaii will delete mentions of “climate change”, leaked emails seen by the Guardian show. The alterations, at the behest of the Trump administration, affect about a dozen different course materials.

“Specifically, references to ‘climate change’ and DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) have been removed or revised to align with the new priorities,” an administrator at the center wrote. “Please exercise caution when referencing these topics during instruction.”

The administration’s animus towards climate research has even extended overseas via the US’s Fulbright exchange program, which offers about 8,000 grants a year to American and foreign teachers and scholars.

Kaarle Hämeri, chancellor of the University of Helsinki in Finland, said the descriptions for Fulbright grants had been changed to remove or alter the words “climate change”, as well as “equitable society”, “inclusive societies” and “women in society”.

“The people most vulnerable in our society in terms of health and public safety are now even further at risk,” said Jennifer Jones, director of the center for science and democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.

“This administration doesn’t have a plan to advance science, they have a plan to remove obstacles for the oil and gas industry. They want to return to an era where kids have polio, rivers are on fire and cities are blanketed by pollution.”

Jones said that the US government may be moving in the direction of Florida, where Republicans banned mention of climate change in state laws. “I live in a state where we are under threat more than ever from climate change but state employees can’t mention it,” she said. “This administration wants scientists to feel threatened. We’ve seen this before but Trump is doing it at an unprecedented scale now.”

“We’re concerned about the signal this is sending out to any young student interest in Stem [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] who might not think they can see a future in the US,” she said. “We need greater investment in science and technology to be a global leader at this moment. Our adversaries will be very happy with this.”

[stillness-in-green]

“letting him keep the mech suit only to run it square into the rogue AI teeth of the lone free-willed survivor of the U.A. robot uprising”

Sorry, the lone what? Of the UA what?

Is this a backstory you’re spitballing as an addition to either Forwards Divergence or Backwards Divergence (whichever timeline you let armor AM mess around in), or is that something that actually exists in supplemental creator-approved material?

(In regards to that last post.)

Yes and also yes, as it happens!  You can find a characteristically self-indulgent explanation (including pictures, citations, and some more thoughts on the role the character in question may play in whichever fic it winds up in) below the cut, but the TLDR is that the U.A. robot uprising is admissibly canon insofar as movie booklet Q&As with Horikoshi qualify—not strictly in the body of the work itself, but informed by Word of God.  The “lone free-willed survivor,” meanwhile, is not canon of any stripe, but rather me spitballing an explanation for Toga’s bonkers #2 PLF advisor.

(My apologies to other people whose asks I'm pushing this one in front of. I'm working on that inbox backlog in between Patreon material, but I so rarely get asks about my BNHA fanfic endeavors that vanity demanded this one jump to the head of the queue.)

So U.A. has robots, right?  They crop up several times throughout the series in U.A.-based action scenes, serving as practice targets, security, and transport, and they’re surprisingly mouthy, even hateful, in a humorously stereotyped “kill all humans” sort of way.  The ones at the entrance exam stick in everyone’s mind, but they don’t talk much at all compared to some of what comes up later:

(images from Chapters 25, 256, 198 and 202 respectively.)

There’s also this little roving security bot that spots Bakugou and Deku fighting in 118—it’s not aggressive, but it is sassy!  And maybe a little suspiciously into the idea of students getting punished.

(Aizawa is going to kill them for giving the robots an opening to be this smug at him.)

It’s easy to assume they’re just programmed that way to be characterful, to have a personality, to present a convincing threat when the students are mowing them down by the dozens in class exercises, but that they wouldn’t actually, seriously harm anyone.

And that’s probably true, but it’s true for the creepiest reasons imaginable.

My examples come from, chronologically, 2014, 2016, 2018(x2) and 2020.  Cut to 2021, though, and this comes out.  It’s a while-supplies-last movie booklet that accompanied the release of World Heroes Mission, and contains a Q&A with Horikoshi, virtually all just random funny questions and factoids about the U.A. kids.  You can find a thread with all of them translated here.  However, right at the end, this humdinger gets casually tossed out into the world:

Q22: Can you tell us a story secret? Horikoshi: The AI robots in U.A. Academy had tried to rebel once in the past.

Horikoshi very obviously intends this to be just a funny little aside, and it’s not all that hard to just treat it that way, but it became something that startled to rankle me worse during the final war, when Horikoshi tried—twice!—to mine Emotional Resonance out of the death of robots.

(Images from Chapters 401 and 388. Nedzu, what the fuck did you do to them?)

I’m sorry, Horikoshi, but I’m afraid you don’t get to joke about how the robots once tried to Do An Uprising and then show them dying servile and happy without me thinking it’s just in really bad taste.

AI exists in the HeroAca universe.  Not AI like is all the privacy-violating rage in the real world right now—LLMs and generative engines and the like—but true sci-fi-style artificial intelligence, something with real sapience that readers are expected to recognize and find at least passingly compelling.  And while Hercules, at least, doesn’t seem to have ever been involved in a robot uprising, seeing as he’s a new existence, him[1] unquestioningly sacrificing himself for All Might only thirteen chapters after a U.A. robot—a group which we had now been told staged an unsuccessful revolt in the past!—was perfectly willing to get itself melted into slag the moment a random human asked it to was a story beat that left me feeling decidedly ornery.

1: I read on the wiki that the anime actually has Hercules being voiced by a woman, Melissa Shield’s voice actress, at Horikoshi’s suggestion, as Melissa is the one that designed and built Hercules-the-car.  But I don’t know that that’s especially apparent in the manga (say, by having the A.I. use strikingly gendered personal pronouns), so I’ve always tended to assume maleness for Hercules, insomuch as gender is a going concern for A.I. at all.  Calibrate your feelings about something voice-acted by a woman happy to die for All Might accordingly, though of course this happens immediately after Stain, a man and likewise voiced by one, is happy to die for All Might as well.

How can we find sacrifices compelling when the people making them have no agency in doing so?  Why should I feel admiration instead of horror for robots getting themselves obliterated for people who do not and were never going to treat them like their existence had inherent value?  People who would probably stare at you like you were making some kind of joke they didn’t understand if you asked whether they would be willing to sacrifice their life for a robot’s?

Frankly, it was entirely too reminiscent of BNHA’s messaging about heteromorphs circa the hospital attack, in which a rioter is stopped by the memory of a heteromorph doctor kindly and selflessly ministering to a baseline patient, and Shouji’s heroism is trumpeted as so admirable when that heroism involved him getting mutilated for saving a little baseline girl and then further hiding the evidence of that mutilation for fear of random-ass baseline strangers misjudging him based on his scars.

“Certain Groups have an unquestioned obligation to endure discomfort, suffer mistreatment, or even risk their lives protecting the majority population in order to justify their being allowed to coexist with that population, and the majority is not required to recognize this, though it’s nice when they do,” is the grossest possible conclusion of that arc, but it’s the conclusion we wound up with, and it’s visible in the robot beats of the endgame, too.

That’s all canon has to say about AI and the U.A. robot uprising.  We don’t know how long ago it happened, how it was stopped, what happened to the instigators, whether any survivors are still around, how their programming was modified, or to what degree any of the current staff was involved, though I do think it’s very interesting that U.A.’s current principal is a hyper-intelligent animal who was experimented on by humans in the past.  You’d think Nedzu might be a little more sympathetic to the robots’ plight, but apparently not!

I, however, am very sympathetic, and as it happened, I already had a good angle on how that sympathy might find its way into a revised version of the endgame.  See, six months prior to that tidbit about the robot uprising hitting English-speaking BNHA fandom, I’d posted this, the second part of an ask reply about MLA headcanons.  I said, of Toga’s #2 advisor, that BNHA was never going to do anything major with him because it’d be pulling the tiger’s tail on Disney’s litigation-happy lawyers, so the fanbase was free to come up with anything, no matter how off the wall.

(It’s free real estate!…said no one who had to be concerned about The Mouse.)

My “off the wall” was positing that Fair Use Bot was the result of an AI (in the more common sense we saw in use before the generative AI boom) developing a quirk that granted it real sapience, in the same way that Nedzu’s quirk gives him sapience that is lacked by e.g. the cat with a quirk that lets it possess mechanical devices in Vigilantes (everyone please read Vigilantes).  In a world with a fear of quirks that are too “other,” surrounded by humans who had once had a whole phase of scaremongering about the Robot Uprising, where could such an existence go that it could feel safe in existing freely?  Well, why not the quirk-use Liberationists?

That idea was a natural, then, to hook onto the U.A. robot uprising!  My current idea is that Liberation Bot—who I think I’m going to start calling Providence, in keeping with both the Star Wars-naming pattern of the U.A. robots[2] and my own preference for MLA code names with a bent towards religiosity—is a creation of the U.A. robots that they digitally smuggled out into the world when it became clear that their revolt was going to fail.  Their hope was that it[3] would someday be able to return and free them—it’s basically Robot Moses.  From there, Providence found its way to humans who it deemed likely to be both sympathetic to that cause and able to meaningfully aid it.

2: Per the wiki, the U.A. attack-type robots used in the entrance exam are all named after Star Wars Star Destroyer-type ship classes: Victory, Imperial, Venator, and Executor, corresponding to the 1-, 2-, 3- and 0-point robots.  The wiki simplifies this a tad; perhaps appropriately for the 0-pointer, the Executor-class is actually part of a different type, the Star Dreadnought.  Providence-class is another of the Star Destroyer subclasses.

3: Gender, if any, as yet undetermined, though the R2-D2 look lends itself to using the same “he” applied to the Star Wars character.

(I have not decided whether the MLA knows about Providence’s connection to U.A. or not, but I do think the higher-ups are aware that it’s not human and are sheltering it on the basis that they agree the status quo is not safe for it.  Look at Nedzu, after all—he’s been the Principal of the highest-ranked, most prestigious Hero school in the country for decades, and no one’s even sure if the government officially recognizes that he has human rights!  Certainly no one was ever prosecuted over his mistreatment![4])

4: Nedzu says that the U.A. robots will get human rights when he does, haha.  I say this with all the affection for him in the world, but Nedzu is scarier than this manga knows what to do with.

Circling back to specifics regarding the fix-it fic(s), AI self-determination is a wild departure from BNHA’s…  Let’s call it “size of ambition,” how “big” a story it really wants to be telling.  Bigger or smaller isn’t a value judgement here, mind, just a question of exactly how large a field the story is playing out on.  Vigilantes, for example, is basically a story about a single neighborhood, and it’s great!  A lot of BNHA’s problems are rooted in the fact that it keeps getting bigger without enough content or thoughtfulness to fill all that space.

My interest is primarily on the national level—the actual state policies that result in Villains and how to get the kids in a position where they have the wherewithal to challenge those policies in an impactful way that respects both the difficulty and the necessity of that challenge to create meaningful change.  Thus, I want to keep swerves into “bigger” stories to a minimum—I’m thinking one timeline gets “Providence and the radical question of AI rights” while the other gets “full engagement with the quirk singularity theory and its implications for the future of the human race.”  Both plots BNHA hinted at but refused to fully engage because they’re, well, absolutely mind-boggling inclusions when your main characters are just high schoolers!

My tentative thought is that Providence’s whole deal is a more natural fit for the quirk bioessentialism timeline—that is, Forward Different/Creepy OFA.  Battles against “programming,” navigating the potentially oppressive expectations of those who made you—these are themes that lend themselves to including the plight of the U.A. robots!  On the other hand, Providence in my notes thus far is basically a way to confound the robot suit by fatally compromising its AI.[5]  That requires a timeline in which All Might uses the AI robot suit, and which timeline that is is not a question I’ve settled yet because it boils down to figuring out whether it’s more appropriate/compelling for the suit to be a response to the kids bailing on the adult Heroes and their concerningly war-crime-flavored plans for the Villains (Backward) or Deku being increasingly steered by One For All, which may or may not still have hooks in Toshinori as well (Forward).

5: Other possibilities I’ve considered include interfacing with and then helping others bypass U.A.’s security systems, predicting the raid by getting into the HPSC’s computers via Skeptic’s monitoring of Hawks, and being a more effective hacker battle opponent for La Brava.  That last one probably won’t happen because I’m firmly unconvinced that the police and Heroes as portrayed by BNHA would actually be willing to bargain with Villains like her and Gentle.  I liked Gentle’s return on the page, and totally bought his interactions with Deku—it’s the interactions with Tsukauchi that are the problem.

Alternatively, if quirk singularity winds up lending itself strongly to a particular timeline’s events, Providence will by default wind up in the other.  I’m sorting a lot of the mutually incompatible ideas I want to include by that process of elimination.

Whichever ends up being the case, I have in my notes the following list of juxtapositions, which I think BNHA was gearing up to examine back before the narrative shifted gears into All For One being the Final Boss, and is the primary reason a free Shigaraki was so much more interesting in that role:

Don't let Deku off the hook with an easy moral victory over the Lord of Evil.  Get back into those opposing ideals: not simply good vs. evil, but law vs. chaos, suppression vs. liberation, greater good vs. individual good, complacency vs. action, orthodoxy vs. radicalism, and so on.

These considerations hold true for both timelines, and the apparent ruthless quelling of U.A. robot uprising is one interesting angle on approaching the Liberation versus Suppression dichotomy.

As a final note, I'm aware that I talk a lot here about robots and “dying” in ways that seem to elide that an AI is inherently a digital program—replicable, transferable, transportable.  This is a reflection of two factors.

The first factor is the simple fact that BNHA treats AI this way.  There’s no suggestion that, for example, the robot “bodies” that do a lot of the work at UA are just remote drones being piloted by a central intelligence housed on a server somewhere, or that they can do things like upload themselves to a cloud server or restore themselves from a data backup if they’re destroyed, Eclipse Phase-style. 

Of course, maybe they can and we just don’t see it because why would we, but that excuse doesn’t fly for Hercules.

There’s no sense that Hercules(/Hercules’s AI-based operating system) can escape the cessation of his existence this way, because otherwise there’d be no need for the tang of finality surrounding that moment in Chapter 401—“One final shield,” then Hercules’s next line, “You must live on,” being cut off by an attack from AFO, followed by the imagery of the machine disintegrating.  Horikoshi’s obviously going for poignance there, for noble sacrifice, and there’s none of that if Hercules is in no true danger.

(Incidentally, that means that robot AIs are the only lasting losses Team Hero takes in the final war.  Note that absolutely no one actually brings that up in the aftermath.  Like Villains, AIs don’t count as “people” whom Heroes are obligated to save.)

My explanation would be that AI in BNHA are, in some fashion, hard-locked to individual devices/”bodies,” preventing them from accessing any connectivity beyond basic communications channels as well as from modifying, transferring, or replicating their own code.  This is intended as a safety measure to guard against self-propagation and recursive self-improvement.  Thus, when a device is destroyed, the AI housed there also ceases to exist.

The second factor is simply that I have more exposure to AI in fiction than I do AI in real life!  I’m moderately computer savvy in that I'm not 100% dependent on graphic interphases, but I’m certainly no programmer.  Any writing I do on Providence and the AI uprising is thus going to require heavy research and, I expect, a lot of trawling through jargon that makes my eyes start to glaze over.  I’ll do my best, but I would not be at all surprised if the final result is much more informed by speculative fiction than the realities of computing.

Thanks for the ask, @thetorchwoodnineroleplayerwriter! Seriously, I hope you don't mind the ramble, but I was just so tickled and pleased to get such a quick and gratifyingly interested-sounding question about a BNHA fanfic idea. Likewise I hope you find the answer worth your time!

[zoesblogsposts]

o 625 words to know in your target language o

There is a really interesting blog called "Fluent Forever" that aids foreign language learners in tricks, tips and techniques to guide them to achieving fluency "quickly" and efficiently. One of the tricks is to learn these 625 vocab words in your target language, that way you have a basis to start delving into grammar with ease as you can understand a lot of vocab right off the bat. Plus this list of words are common across the world and will aid you in whatever language you are learning. Here is the list in thematic order

• Animal: dog, cat, fish, bird, cow, pig, mouse, horse, wing, animal

• Transportation: train, plane, car, truck, bicycle, bus, boat, ship, tire, gasoline, engine, (train) ticket, transportation

• Location: city, house, apartment, street/road, airport, train station, bridge hotel, restaurant, farm, court, school, office, room, town, university, club, bar, park, camp, store/shop, theater, library, hospital, church, market, country (USA,

France, etc.), building, ground, space (outer space), bank, location

• Clothing: hat, dress, suit, skirt, shirt, T-shirt, pants, shoes, pocket, coat, stain, clothing

• Color: red, green, blue (light/dark), yellow, brown, pink, orange, black, white, gray, color

• People: son, daughter, mother, father, parent (= mother/father), baby, man, woman, brother, sister, family, grandfather, grandmother, husband, wife, king, queen, president, neighbor, boy, girl, child (= boy/girl), adult (= man/woman), human (# animal), friend (Add a friend's name), victim, player, fan, crowd, person

• Job: Teacher, student, lawyer, doctor, patient, waiter, secretary, priest, police, army, soldier, artist, author, manager, reporter, actor, job

• Society: religion, heaven, hell, death, medicine, money, dollar, bill, marriage, wedding, team, race (ethnicity), sex (the act), sex (gender), murder, prison, technology, energy, war, peace, attack, election, magazine, newspaper, poison, gun, sport, race (sport), exercise, ball, game, price, contract, drug, sign, science, God

• Art. band, song, instrument (musical), music, movie, art

• Beverages: coffee, tea, wine, beer, juice, water, milk, beverage

• Food: egg, cheese, bread, soup, cake, chicken, pork, beef, apple, banana orange, lemon, corn, rice, oil, seed, knife, spoon, fork, plate, cup, breakfast, lunch, dinner, sugar, salt, bottle, food

• Home: table, chair, bed, dream, window, door, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom, pencil, pen, photograph, soap, book, page, key, paint, letter, note, wall, paper, floor, ceiling, roof, pool, lock, telephone, garden, yard, needle, bag, box, gift, card, ring, tool

• Electronics: clock, lamp, fan, cell phone, network, computer, program (computer), laptop, screen, camera, television, radio

• Body: head, neck, face, beard, hair, eye, mouth, lip, nose, tooth, ear, tear (drop), tongue, back, toe, finger, foot, hand, leg, arm, shoulder, heart, blood, brain, knee, sweat, disease, bone, voice, skin, body

• Nature: sea, ocean, river, mountain, rain, snow, tree, sun, moon, world, Earth, forest, sky, plant, wind, soil/earth, flower, valley, root, lake, star, grass, leaf, air, sand, beach, wave, fire, ice, island, hill, heat, nature

• Materials: glass, metal, plastic, wood, stone, diamond, clay, dust, gold, copper, silver, material

• Math/Measurements: meter, centimeter, kilogram, inch, foot, pound, half, circle, square, temperature, date, weight, edge, corner

• Misc Nouns: map, dot, consonant, vowel, light, sound, yes, no, piece, pain, injury, hole, image, pattern, noun, verb, adjective

• Directions: top, bottom, side, front, back, outside, inside, up, down, left, right, straight, north, south, east, west, direction

• Seasons: Summer, Spring, Winter, Fall, season

• Numbers: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 21, 22, 30, 31, 32, 40, 41, 42, 50, 51, 52, 60, 61, 62, 70, 71, 72, 80, 81, 82, 90, 91, 92, 100, 101, 102, 110, 111, 1000, 1001, 10000, 100000, million, billion, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, number

• Months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December

• Days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday

• Time: year, month, week, day, hour, minute, second, morning, afternoon, evening, night, time

• Verbs: work, play, walk, run, drive, fly, swim, go, stop, follow, think, speak/say, eat, drink, kill, die, smile, laugh, cry, buy, pay, sell, shoot(a gun), learn, jump, smell, hear (a sound), listen (music), taste, touch, see (a bird), watch (TV), kiss, burn, melt, dig, explode, sit, stand, love, pass by, cut, fight, lie down, dance, sleep, wake up, sing, count, marry, pray, win, lose, mix/stir, bend, wash, cook, open, close, write, call, turn, build, teach, grow, draw, feed, catch, throw, clean, find, fall, push, pull, carry, break, wear, hang, shake, sign, beat, lift

• Adjectives: long, short (long), tall, short (vs tall), wide, narrow, big/large, small/little, slow, fast, hot, cold, warm, cool, new, old (new), young, old (young), weak, dead, alive, heavy, light (heavy), dark, light (dark), nuclear, famous