#The Age of Immorality

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/happy-90th-gloria/

Happy 90th Gloria!

A writer near my age admitted on Facebook that though she loved the feel of paper between her fingers and the smell of a new book, she’d shifted to an e-reader. No longer comfortable with small print, she needed an electronic device to adjust for size.    Much in life is a tradeoff.  The earth has a polar wobble, which is natural, but growing more pronounced because humans are pulling quantities of water from the aquifer. Global construction is at an all-time high. That makes sand, a key ingredient in cement, a valuable commodity. The scarcer it becomes, the more illegal mining grows.  Today,  quarrying sand is a $200 billion to $300 billion industry, making it more valuable than gold, logging, and fishing combined. Developments in technology may ameliorate some of these challenges. Reading devices that adjust print size is an example.  Sometimes, though, the remedy poses new problems. Think of all those passwords we need to maintain our internet accounts.     A woman In my late 80s, I’d like to see the world slow down. Is there technology for that?  In his book, Successful Aging, Daniel J. Levitin warns that clinging to the past isn’t good for human health.  Old folks should keep looking forward. That’s easy for him to say.  He’s not at the end of the line trying to keep up. On the plus side, Levitin writes that old folks have an edge over the young. Wisdom enables them to make good decisions. They’ve lived long enough to discern patterns in nature and human behavior.  A newborn may cry, terrified by its first glimpse of the sun, but adults head for the beach hoping for enough sand to throw down a towel.   Lacking experience, young people’s judgments are prone to err. Many, for example, criticize Joe Biden’s slow response to the tragedy unfolding in Gaza.  As the head of a powerful country, they presume he has levers to pull to affect change. Yet not since Teddy Roosevelt’s interventions in Latin America during the 1900s has an American President imagined he could interfere with another nation’s sovereignty and escape paying a political price–the incursions being short-lived or ending in failure. The heady era of being a dominant player among weaker countries is history. Today, democratic nations exercise diplomacy rather than brute force.  Biden has an edge on that score.  He knows the world players, the genesis of foreign quarrels, and the cards each country’s leader is likely to hold.  True, he hasn’t sold Benjamin Netanyahu on a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine. But Netanyahu isn’t thinking about the future. An unpopular figure in his country, he clings to power because of the war, holding fast to it the way a man lost at sea clings to an ice float even though it’s melting.  Youth may see Biden’s politics in the current conflict as uncaring, but their viewpoint may be too simple.  The suffering in Gaza is unconscionable, agreed. But, so far, Biden has kept our alliances intact in the Middle East; held Iran at bay; secured world trade by monitoring the Suez Canal, and made talks about a two-state solution credible. Not bad for a man forced to dance with wolves. In a bad world, only a fool looks for rainbows.  Hal Brands in an edition of Foreign Affairs argues that given the current morality,  “…the only way to protect a world fit for freedom is to court impure partners and engage in impure acts.” (“The Age of Amorality,” by Hal Brands, Foreign Affairs March/April, pg. 106.) Brands’ advice may be repugnant to young minds and old ones as well, but the difference between youth and age is that the latter is more pragmatic.  Older people know that facing reality doesn’t mean giving up ideals.  It means they may see taking a step backward as a prelude to moving forward.  Nothing I’ve written diminishes the contributions young people make in the world.  Innovation flows from their plastic brains the way stars burst from a supernova.  I doubt an 80-something could have invented Bitcoin. Because our complex problems require complex responses, neither youth nor age should be banished from the stage.  We achieve more when we make room for each other.   Gloria Steinem turns 90 this month.  After the loss of Roe v. Wade, she hasn’t given up on women’s rights.  When a fan asked if she was planning to toss her torch to someone else, her reply was unequivocal.  “I’m holding on to my torch. I’ll let other people light theirs from mine.”  (Successful Aging, by Daniel J. Levitin, Random House, 2020, (large print edition by Penguin) pg. 662.)  Happy Birthday, Gloria!

[kakashi-fangirl-ita-blog]

The beauty of tumblr is enjoying Spamano and USUK fanarts in peace without seeing dumb comments from puritan american teenagers who think their view on the anime is the only acceptable one

[jtownraindancer]

ignoring literally everything else about this scene just to appreciate his profile ✌🏻😌

[scarycranegame]

hey guys look at my plethora of proship memes i found on pinterest (ft. my horrible horrible art i did while sleep deprived)

also the firey in the third one is in fact firey jr; i have some silly headcanons about him (also rest in rip he didnt get to join tpo.t; fly high king)

[the-unconquered-queen]

Thinking about the age gap between Tyril x elf!MC.

Thinking about how Tyril is the elven equivalent of 25 even though he's about 75 actual years old.

Thinking about how we don't know how old MC is but we do know that they are within two years of Kade's age (or even the same age—I think I found an inconsistency) and that the two of them were orphaned and subsequently adopted about 20 years ago, which MC says is as long as they remember (despite the fact that on more than one occasion MC has mentioned remembering their parents, most notably in b2 they mention remembering their parents' teachings, which means MC wasn’t an infant when they were killed).

Thinking about how Tyril said MC is young for an elf.

Thinking about how by elven standards, 20 human years makes one "very small" (equivalent of a 6 y/o).

Thinking about how elven years must work very oddly because if their average lifespan is 300 years, then an elf who is 30 (random guesstimate for MC—they're likely a little bit younger) would be the equivalent of 10, which tracks with the "very small" comment, but which would not make MC the adult they very clearly are (and keep in mind that elves reach maturity at 50, which would be the equivalent of 16 in human years).

And also thinking about how I either have MC's backstory mixed up or there are some small inconsistencies that make it very difficult to tell but even disregarding the math above, the best I can reason is that Tyril is one of those dudes in their 20s who goes after the barely legal teenagers 😬

[wazzuppy]

i adore cardcaptor sakura and i always will, but i still find some of the decisions in it so bizarre.

like okay, tomoyo has a crush on sakura, cool, but why are they also second cousins? like i'm pretty sure neither of even KNOW and it doesnt have any plot significance, so why are they second cousins?? i know some people don't consider that distant of being related to really matter, but like,,,, clamp didn't HAVE to write it that way. so why did they???

[ghostwise]

ZevWarden Week 2023 - Day 2, Secrets Kept and Told

🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿🌿

Death From Head to Foot :: 721 words tags: guilt, ptsd, canon-typical violence, zevran arainai/male mahariel

It was bound to happen eventually.

Zevran does not know the man, but the man knows him, and that is his own error. An Antivan Crow never blows his cover. A Crow should strike from the shadows, vanishing after a swift and lethal blow with none the wiser. No witnesses. But here he is, and here the grieving stranger, bent on his destruction.

Had he not come to this city, Zevran would have never known that this particular iteration of Vengeance stalked the world, with his name upon its lips.

Worse still, Hamal meets his would be assailant first.

Damn it all.

"Do you regret his death?" Hamal asks him, days after the fact.

An easy question. Zevran is alive and his attacker is dead. The Warden is safe and unharmed. All should be well. And yet…

Zevran gives a terse shake of his head. "It was him or me. And you were quicker in dispatching him than I would have been."

Hamal observes him for a moment. "What's wrong?"

He doesn't immediately reply.

It's true that the incident bothers him still. It does him no good to brood over it, however; he should have put it from his mind straight away. Such childish moping helps no one. Now Hamal is concerned, and Zevran knows better than to try to insist everything's fine.

Experience has taught both of them how to navigate these fraught moments of conversation. So he gives.

"It was his right," he says sharply. "I killed someone dear to him. He reacted accordingly."

"As did I," Hamal returns, carefully.

"I know that," Zevran says. "Thank you, by the way."

Hamal's brow furrows. "Creators, now I am worried. Zevran, what's the matter?"

"It is going to happen again."

In the resulting silence, Zevran lets out a sigh, and explains.

"In all of our travels together," Zevran gestures in a wide arc at their surroundings, "How many times do you think we have passed through a city or town where I have killed someone? In truth, it happens more often than I care to comment on."

Hamal hesitates before answering. "This troubles you."

"No, in fact," Zevran replies. "What troubles me is that you cannot understand how much I am guilty of. Not because I would ever keep it from you—but because if I listed off my every sin we would never have time to discuss anything else! And then things like this happen without warning, and it—damn it all. How can I expect you to answer for so much?"

Perhaps it is a testament to how long they have been together, that Zevran no longer glosses over his emotions, his anger, his sadness. He doesn't need to. Not with him.

Hamal looks away for a moment. Through the muddle, it clicks.

"You wanted to kill him yourself," he says gently.

"I was the target. I should have handled it."

"How is this different from any other time you have killed to protect me? Or I you, for that matter?"

The question knocks a bitter laugh out of Zevran. He looks away. Worse still, he realizes that Hamal is right; this was different. And now Zevran can only remember every stupid, cruel decision he made when he was an angry and lost young man.

It had not been a contracted killing.

It had been a simple murder. A common fight gone wrong, bravado and his cunning Taliesen egging him on. A version of himself Zevran cannot think about without his stomach turning. No wonder the man had been so bent on killing him. No wonder.

"Shit," Hamal murmurs, and sets a warm hand on his shoulder. "Zev, you do not need to talk about it if you do not want to. I don't mean to pry. Just tell me what I can do to help you right now."

In an instant, the feeling swells and fades. Zevran shuts his eyes. His shoulders slump minutely; he is grateful for the escape.

"Just… forget I said anything," he says. "Please, amor, forgive my bad mood. I will be fine. Really."

And I will tell you later, he thinks, as Hamal gives him a reassuring squeeze, what a horror it is you have married; and you will love me all the same, I know; and I you, more and more all the time…

[intimate-mirror]

have you heard of Antarctica? the Moon? Madagascar in antiquity?

[bittersweetbonbon]

ppl will claim wholeheartedly to love fantasy cultures in video games and their implications and then turn around and cover marina ida's whole stomach up

[girlbob-boypants]

If we haven't heard any public updates that means that the BioWare employees who got laid off without severance haven't been paid for almost 8 months. They haven't been able to show any of their work from the last 3-4 years on DAV because of NDAs. Keep that in mind.

[kartoonatic]

Appreciating Simon and Betty's ending because sometimes loving someone with your whole heart doesn't prevent you from being blind to their inner struggles. Sometimes you mess up a relationship even while trying your hardest because you failed to stop for a moment and truly consider their needs from their perspective. And it doesn't make you a horrible person and it doesn't mean you were using them and sometimes it's even still an overall good experience for both of you. And still, you two are not gonna work out, and you've changed and it's time to move on.

[claysoralexam]

hiiii went thru a little artstyle change

[anneapocalypse]

I feel like I should apologize for Merrill and Isabela not making into onto the "unhinged wlw" poll but let's be real here. "does piracy offscreen somewhere" and "does a blood magic with her own blood" barely qualifies as unhinged relative to some of the people on that list.

[landoffreaksandfrogs]

Do you think it's weird to be romantically attracted to your pre-scratch self, or do you think the signless only platonically hates kankri? Better yet, does kankri think it's problematic to be romantically attracted to your pre-scratch self?

[andromedasummer]

sudden flashbacks to childhood as i remember the first book series i ever loved, Roman Mysteries. which in retrospect. has a lot. a lot. a LOT of issues

[etoile-gracieuse]

made myself mad (saw stupid twitter discourse calling real life people "minor-coded" for being short and or baby faced/calling real life regular degular ass relationships between ppl the Same Age predatory for said "minor-coded"-ness and felt the top of my head blow off like a looney tunes character) and typed out a post abt it except then real life hit. and i remembered that actually whatever 14 year olds are saying on twitter Does Not Fucking Matter