#Unique Factorization Domain

[feminist-space]

"Balaji’s death comes three months after he publicly accused OpenAI of violating U.S. copyright law while developing ChatGPT, a generative artificial intelligence program that has become a moneymaking sensation used by hundreds of millions of people across the world.

Its public release in late 2022 spurred a torrent of lawsuits against OpenAI from authors, computer programmers and journalists, who say the company illegally stole their copyrighted material to train its program and elevate its value past $150 billion.

The Mercury News and seven sister news outlets are among several newspapers, including the New York Times, to sue OpenAI in the past year.

In an interview with the New York Times published Oct. 23, Balaji argued OpenAI was harming businesses and entrepreneurs whose data were used to train ChatGPT.

“If you believe what I believe, you have to just leave the company,” he told the outlet, adding that “this is not a sustainable model for the internet ecosystem as a whole.”

Balaji grew up in Cupertino before attending UC Berkeley to study computer science. It was then he became a believer in the potential benefits that artificial intelligence could offer society, including its ability to cure diseases and stop aging, the Times reported. “I thought we could invent some kind of scientist that could help solve them,” he told the newspaper.

But his outlook began to sour in 2022, two years after joining OpenAI as a researcher. He grew particularly concerned about his assignment of gathering data from the internet for the company’s GPT-4 program, which analyzed text from nearly the entire internet to train its artificial intelligence program, the news outlet reported.

The practice, he told the Times, ran afoul of the country’s “fair use” laws governing how people can use previously published work. In late October, he posted an analysis on his personal website arguing that point.

No known factors “seem to weigh in favor of ChatGPT being a fair use of its training data,” Balaji wrote. “That being said, none of the arguments here are fundamentally specific to ChatGPT either, and similar arguments could be made for many generative AI products in a wide variety of domains.”

Reached by this news agency, Balaji’s mother requested privacy while grieving the death of her son.

In a Nov. 18 letter filed in federal court, attorneys for The New York Times named Balaji as someone who had “unique and relevant documents” that would support their case against OpenAI. He was among at least 12 people — many of them past or present OpenAI employees — the newspaper had named in court filings as having material helpful to their case, ahead of depositions."

[michanvalentine]

I was mentioned in a pro-Ascendant Astarion post with this quote: "Astarion does not have a well-developed sense of self, and by default, he also lacks many of the skills that a well-adjusted adult should possess." This is the post it’s taken from: click me!

No problem at all—it's public, and I don’t see why anyone shouldn’t reference it. Naturally, the post was in opposition to that statement—generally speaking, I mean—but that’s fine too. Everyone has their own opinion and is free to express it. That’s not the point of my upcoming ramble! xD

It’s just that rereading my own words got me thinking more deeply about the topic and made me want to explore it further.

Now, I’m not a psychologist, but I did study psychology. I took several exams at university and I actually did pretty well, lol. I didn’t complete my studies because life took me elsewhere—most importantly, my daughter was born—but the general knowledge I gained from psychology still follows me in everything I do every day.

So it’s second nature for me to analyze characters from the media I consume through that lens—Astarion included. Of course, this is just my perspective; I can’t say for certain whether the developers intended this for his character or whether they did specific research into his psychological development.

That said, today I feel like going off on a little tangent about this beautiful science. Still in reference to that heart-stealing vampire spawn that I’m aaaaabsolutely not obsessed with.

Let me also add a disclaimer. The concepts mentioned are just examples and cannot be applied literally, as every person is different and reacts differently to situations and stimuli. Likewise, the brain is plastic—neural connections change and adapt, and there is almost never a fixed or definitive condition. Above all, I’m not making any kind of diagnosis! That’s not within my competence! Keep these ideas well in mind!

So, why do I say that Astarion doesn’t have a well-developed sense of self? Let’s take it step by step and talk a little about the concept of the "self". I'm copy-pasting something from another post, lol. Rewriting it from scratch is too much work! xP

The self is quite a complex concept with many facets. Briefly put, it’s shaped by various internal and external factors and reflects a conscious image of "me." In psychology, it’s key to building the Ego of an individual—the capacity to act, understand, organize, and interpret experiences. The Ego provides a sense of uniqueness, coherence, and personal continuity since the self encompasses many "faces." All this forms the personality of an individual, which naturally develops (and changes) throughout life.

Particular attention in the formation of the self is given to sensitive periods, such as early childhood. The self determines the level of self-esteem based on an individual’s assessment of their worth and competence in the characteristics they attribute to themselves (Real Self), their future aspirations (Ideal Self), and what they want to avoid (Feared Selves). The greater the discrepancy between these aspects, the lower the level of self-esteem. Social support and approval, as well as competence in domains deemed important to the self, obviously contribute to perceiving oneself as a person of value.

Astarion, as we know, has had his sense of self fundamentally undermined. For him, the world is divided between those who have power and those who don’t, with the former always being the "winners" in his eyes. The magistrate he once was is long dead, along with his moral compass and the life he used to live—especially after 200 years of servitude to Cazador.

As vampire spawn, akin to a newborn in some respects, Astarion learned to exist solely within Cazador’s world, revolving around Cazador, for Cazador.

There are lines of dialogue within the game that highlight this in a painful and terrifying way. For example, when Tav/Durge directly confronts Cazador, or when Cazador ends up on his knees in front of Astarion after one of his brothers or sisters dies during the ritual. Cazador says: “He [Astarion] is afraid. He’s afraid because all he has ever knows is you and me. And without us, he is nothing.” Or: “And then? What will you be without me? A shade? A specrte in the shadows, devoid of all purpose.”

It’s a terrible thing, but it’s true. Cazador represents everything—Astarion’s entire world—and when he dies, he leaves behind a void that’s even more frightening. And let’s not forget that, in the real world, it takes very little to completely erase a person—and two hundred years in the hands of an abuser is an overwhelming amount of time, a detail that too often gets underestimated or completely forgotten.

The whole matter becomes even more disturbing and painful when Cazador suggests that without Tav/Durge, Astarion would have come crawling back to him with his tail between his legs. To his fucking tormentor. And sadly, it's a painful concept because it really happens in real life—when you have nothing and no one, when you have no means of your own and are completely dependent on another person, no matter how terrifying they are. Cazador is certain that Astarion will return to him, even if it means dying. And it's a concept with a devastating impact.

So Cazador was the domineering father figure, and vampire society functions under strict rules handed down by vampire lords. In this hostile context, without any room for self-expression or choice, Astarion developed a fragmented and damaged self-image. Constantly belittled by Cazador as an individual (small, weak, useless, incapable, all words he uses in the game), always pitted against his brothers and sisters, and degraded from a magistrate to a prostitute (this is important because it’s the only skill—or "talent," as he calls it himself—that Astarion believes gives him any value or power, forming the basis for his self-image). It’s easy to imagine just how high his self-esteem must be, right? Most importantly, he never developed the skills to navigate life as a free individual—at least not in a healthy way.

Good Lord, he thinks that in order to receive support, he has to sell himself to Tav/Durge and offer his sexual services—otherwise, he has no hope of survival! And that’s why I say he doesn’t possess all the skills of a well-adjusted adult. Other glaring examples of this—so glaring they hit you like a punch in the eye—are his inability to say no and to recognize his own limits. And shall we talk about the infamous question: What do you want? The first time, he deflects, and essentially gives the answer the player wants to hear. The second time, he states it plainly: he doesn't know. He doesn't know how to make decisions, he hasn’t done it in 200 years, and the very idea terrifies him to his core. These are all skills that a well-balanced person possesses—let’s not kid ourselves.

Like any mature and well-balanced adult, one knows how to recognize their feelings, define them, communicate them, and most importantly, not fear them. Astarion, on the other hand, is unable—after 200 years of pure shit—to understand what he feels for Tav/Durge, and he won’t be able to until the end of the Pale Elf’s quest. “I don’t know—but isn’t it nice, not to know? You’re not a target, nor a victim, not just one night it's better to forget. But then... whatever in the world could you be?”

So, even if reluctantly (and despite his fear), he ends up leaning on Tav/Durge. He needs a guiding figure to help him figure out what to do because making decisions and acting independently don’t come naturally to him. Especially outside of his talents, sex and survival. He needs to be rehabilitated, re-educated, and to achieve this, he requires a safe and healthy environment where he can experiment and grow, perhaps developing other faces of the self on which to base a new evaluation. Like, I'm not just a slave or a whore: but I'm also a companion, a friend, a lover, a hero and I'm able to listen, to help, to learn, to collaborate, etc.

And let’s not forget that when the fateful confrontation with Cazador is brought up, Astarion explicitly asks Tav/Durge for help. “I need to take the fight to him. And I need you to help me,” he says. How to help him—whether to ascend or not—is up to the player and how they choose to play. But the fact remains: Astarion needs support.

Meanwhile let’s take a look at some of the consequences of low self-esteem:

Difficulty opening up in social settings and communicating one's emotions and needs

Extreme self-criticism

Devaluing or ignoring one’s own qualities

Tendency to constantly apologize and feel guilty for things that are not actually one's responsibility

Tendency to appease others due to perceiving oneself as inferior to one’s peers

Use of negative words to describe oneself

Difficulty making decisions and maintaining personal goals over time

Negative and self-blaming internal dialogue

Belief that success is due to luck, with difficulty attributing accomplishments to oneself

Not believing compliments that are given to them

And now, let’s look at the most common causes for the development of low self-esteem:

Being raised by extremely critical and demanding parents

Being heavily devalued by parents or other authority figures

Being ignored or ridiculed during childhood

Being a victim of physical, sexual, or psychological abuse

Achieving poor academic results

Experiencing episodes of bullying or mistreatment in the workplace

Suffering a financial collapse or a significant breakup

Being subjected to a prolonged period of stress

Suffering from a chronic and persistent medical condition

Suffering from psychological disorders (e.g., anxiety or depression)

Does this remind you of something? Or maybe someone in particular? Does that person, by any chance, have red eyes and pointed teeth?

Naturally, these are just examples, and everything varies depending on the individual, but I believe these points still manage to convey the concept.

They especially give the idea of how much events—and especially the context in which we live—impact our psyche. For example, thanks to neuroscience and increasingly detailed brain imaging, we know that brain areas change according to the factors mentioned above; they train like muscles, so to speak, becoming larger and more reactive every time they are activated.

So, if someone is subjected to chronic stress, the brain areas responsible for managing it will become easily activated, bringing with them a whole series of consequences that affect performance, behavior, perception, thinking, and so on.

Likewise, the more the “right” areas of the brain are activated, the more the brain itself will develop in a healthy and balanced way, forming neural connections that support the tools (perception, thinking, etc) mentioned above.

Meanwhile, other areas—such as those related to stress responses—will remain small and more difficult to activate. (Obviously, brain areas don’t literally “grow” or “shrink” in size, but the connections between neurons (synapses) are strengthened or weakened depending on how much they’re used. This is a principle known as “neural plasticity”: what you use becomes reinforced, what you neglect becomes weaker.)

A curiosity: even our mood influences how we perceive people and the world around us—and consequently, our thoughts and impressions too! xD

This image is heartbreaking, because these brains belong to two three-year-old children—and the differences are significant.

The brain on the right is missing key areas that are present in the one on the left. These missing parts impact the abilities of the child with the smaller brain:

this child will likely be less intelligent as an adult compared to the one with the larger brain,

will be less capable of empathizing with others,

and will be at higher risk of becoming addicted to drugs and involved in violent crimes.

Additionally, the child with the smaller brain is more likely to remain unemployed and dependent on social services, and may develop mental health issues or other serious health problems.

The large difference in size and development between these two brains is not due to illness or injury, but rather to how the two children were treated by their mothers.

The child with the larger, more developed brain was loved by their mother, who was consistently present and attentive to their needs. The child with the smaller brain, on the other hand, was neglected and abused. It is precisely this difference in treatment that explains why one child's brain developed fully while the other’s did not.

Of course, our favorite vampire spawn isn’t a developing child—but the point is that certain environments and experiences have a profound impact and shape many aspects of our lives, making us more or less equipped to face challenges.

At this point, I’d like to focus a bit on the reasoning process in general. It’s easy to believe that when humans think, make decisions, and reflect on a problem or task, they do so in the most rational way possible. And that’s where we go wrong! First of all, the cerebral cortex — the part of the brain responsible for complex cognitive functions such as thinking, awareness, memory, attention, and language — is located in the upper region of the brain. Most stimuli, in order to reach the cortex, must pass through all the lower areas of the brain, which often trigger behavioral responses even before the stimulus reaches rational thought. For example, the activation of the sympathetic nervous system, which is responsible for danger responses. A silly example: how many times have we jumped out of our skin before realizing that the loud, scary noise was just a window slamming shut? First comes the fear response, then the evaluation of the stimulus follows.

As if that weren’t enough, the brain plays other little tricks on us — without us even being aware of it — because that sneaky thing does a whole lot on its own, especially when it comes to thinking and making decisions.

So... Astarion has a very limited perspective—mostly the one offered by Cazador. As we said earlier, the world is divided into those who have power and those who suffer it. Period. But we all know that in between there are infinite shades of gray, and that can’t be denied. In the same way, Astarion believes that Tav/Durge is the exception to the rule—the only kind person in the world, the one and only for him. But as much as it flatters our ego to hear that, we know very well that no one is that special. It’s always Astarion’s perspective that’s extremely limited. And in fact, here too, Tav/Durge has the opportunity to broaden his view, to point out that the world is full of kind people who would care for him if only he opened himself up and showed kindness in return. This narrow way of thinking and seeing things, this resistance to noticing alternatives, fits perfectly into the category of cognitive biases.

Let’s start with the premise that the human brain needs to be both effective and efficient. That means reaching a result in the shortest time and using the fewest resources. Therefore: when we think and make decisions, we don’t always do so rationally. We use heuristics—mental shortcuts—often following patterns we've used before. A silly example: if I have to cook a dish I’ve made a hundred times, I don’t sit down to rethink how and why I should cook it—I just switch off my brain and do it the way I’ve always done. Many heuristics are good and useful—others, not so much. And when they fall into the latter category, they become biases.

There are many types, but let’s look at one that we all, even us Astarion fans, share. xD Confirmation Bias!

Confirmation bias manifests when we tend to search for, interpret, or remember information that supports our pre-existing beliefs, ignoring anything that contradicts them or isn’t completely aligned.

Once a certain mental imprint forms, new experiences only deepen that groove, without any willingness to explore other interpretative modes—in fact, they tend to further crystallize internal beliefs.

We can say that the person is cherry-picking—in a complex set of data and information, they pick out only what resonates with a belief they already hold, which, in some way, is convenient for them.

The reason is easy to see: if I don’t challenge a belief—even if it’s irrational—I’ll save time, create less friction, and reduce internal and external resistance to a given situation.

Because confirmation bias shows up when a person selects only the evidence that supports their point of view, it easily becomes a self-sustaining system, keeping them locked in an interpretive and experiential microcosm that risks becoming increasingly stifling—a self-built prison.

Astarion is stuck on tracks he’s known inside and out for centuries, forcibly carved into his mind—and for him, it’s all too easy to filter everything through that lens. And this cuts him off from a myriad of possibilities, in a completely unconscious way. It’s like throwing a wrench in your own gears. So Tav/Durge represents an opening to a different value system, one that could replace or at least expand our vampire spawn’s worldview. Not without resistance, of course—those brain connections will get you!

So, to conclude, let’s go back to the beginning and to the statement in question.

"Astarion does not have a well-developed sense of self, and by default, he also lacks many of the skills that a well-adjusted adult should possess."

Yes, maybe out of context it might sound bad. I certainly don’t see Astarion as half a man, incapable of thinking or choosing for himself. But I do recognize that he has serious vulnerabilities that need to be treated with care and taken into account. Not when we're playing—when we play, we do what we like and have fun—but when we analyze him as a character. When Astarion, at the end of the Pale Elf quest, in the good ending, thanks us for saving him from himself, what he means, in my opinion, is exactly this: thank you for supporting me when my vulnerabilities, my fears, my blind spots, and my narrow perspective were getting the best of me. Because, let’s be honest, Astarion’s story is also about this—about rediscovery, about learning to live again, about changing, improving, growing, developing relationships, new abilities and skills. Not as a rogue or as a vampire, or within game mechanics—but as a person.

The point is: Astarion has come out of a horrific situation, one that has to have left marks, wounds, infected pus festering beneath the skin. A situation that never allowed him to understand what he liked, what he wanted, who he really was—simply because he couldn’t express himself, couldn’t think about his own needs, couldn’t say no. Couldn’t develop his sense of self in peace and safety.

A situation that left him unable to face the world and the people in it in a healthy way, unable to identify and express his own feelings, unable to say that damn "no" or to make choices. To decide, yes. And in fact, every time he’s asked what he wants to do, his answers are vague—or he says he doesn’t know, or admits that he’s afraid of those damn choices. He’s afraid of freedom, of consequences, and of everything else beyond the four things he knows—the four fucking things Cazador drilled into him, all around power and control.

And I’m really supposed to believe that the one choice he’s absolutely sure about is Ascension? Hell no. Just like he's not sure he doesn't want to ascend!

References

Rogers, C. R. (1961). On Becoming a Person: A Therapist's View of Psychotherapy. Houghton Mifflin. → A foundational text on the concept of the self, self-actualization, and congruence between real and ideal self.

Winnicott, D. W. (1964). The Child, the Family, and the Outside World. Penguin Books. → Explores the importance of a safe environment in the healthy development of the self.

Bowlby, J. (1969–1980). Attachment and Loss (Vols. 1–3). Basic Books. → Describes how early attachment figures shape our internal working models and sense of security.

Erikson, E. H. (1950). Childhood and Society. W. W. Norton & Company. → Introduces the theory of psychosocial development across the lifespan.

Herman, J. L. (1992). Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence—From Domestic Abuse to Political Terror. Basic Books. → Explains complex trauma, victim-perpetrator dynamics, and the long-term effects of abuse.

van der Kolk, B. A. (2014). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Viking. → Offers neuroscientific insight into how trauma reshapes the brain and affects emotional regulation.

Siegel, D. J. (2010). The Mindful Brain: Reflection and Attunement in the Cultivation of Well-Being. W. W. Norton & Company. → Discusses neuroplasticity, integration, and the development of a coherent sense of self.

Kahneman, D. (2011). Thinking, Fast and Slow. Farrar, Straus and Giroux. → A deep dive into heuristics, decision-making, and cognitive biases like confirmation bias.

Malaguti, E., & Morganti, P. (2014). Psychotraumatology: An Integrated Model for Trauma Treatment. (Translated from the Italian). FrancoAngeli. → Addresses the psychological and neurological consequences of prolonged trauma.

[genericpuff]

ARES IN GREEK STORY, HE IS PROTECTOR ALL WOMAN, I HATE HOW ARED KIND SEXIST IN LORE OLYMPUS, I KIND WANT ARES IS STILL FEMINIST, IS HE FEMINIST IN YOUR STORY? I FEEL HE IS BECAUSE HE IS CLOSER HIS MOM AND SEE HOW MOST ZEUS HURT HER

a bit of a dicier answer to your second question but:

Just like the widely spread belief that Despoina is the goddess of frost and Persephone went down to the Underworld willingly, there isn't actually much official source on Ares being worshipped or portrayed specifically as a feminist protector of women. He did have affiliations with figureheads who were naturally closely affiliated with ideas of feminism, such as the Amazons - but whether or not sending off a bunch of women to slaughter others for you is considered "feminism" is going to be up for personal debate. After all, many of his own patrons who prayed to him for strength were war mongers who committed vile acts against women.

As for personal debate and interpretation, Ares is a unique god whose biggest domain over war itself isn't a natural part of the world order like Kore's or Demeter's - rather, war is a consequence of mankind's brutality and lust for power and control, a consequence of violence. As such, his domain can represent protection of women, if the patron who prays to him uses his blessings for such an act or if Ares' own actions align with what we could interpret as "feminism"; it could also be just as easily aligned with the societal expectations at the time of his worship, to use violence and male bravado to protect themselves, their wives, their daughters, their families, even if it's to a dangerous fault (what you could now attribute today to toxic masculinity).

But Ares himself? He has traits and stories that are positive, and traits and stories that are extremely negative, as is the case with every god in Greek myth. How those traits are conveyed in media is often entirely based on the perspective of the writer, not solely on the source material itself, as the source material was always up to interpretation and varied depending on the perspective of the writers of said source material to begin with.

Such is the way of violence. It can be used to protect, just as it can be used to destroy.

As for how that factors into Rekindled: how he's planned to be written is complex and complicated. He's not inherently evil just for being the god of war, but that doesn't make him inherently good either. He tries to do right by his family and those that he loves, as any man in that era would be expected to do, but oftentimes the right thing to do pragmatically is also the wrong thing to do morally, and vice versa.

I hope that when Ares does eventually make his appearance in the story he's treated with the same willingness to accept his complex sides as a character like Kore. In many ways, they share a lot of similarities to each other that I'm eager to explore through their eventual interactions :'3 <3

[mostlysignssomeportents]

American education has all the downsides of standardization, none of the upsides

Catch me in Miami! I'll be at Books and Books in Coral Gables on Jan 22 at 8PM.

We moved to America in 2015, in time for my kid to start third grade. Now she's a year away from graduating high school (!) and I've had a front-row seat for the US K-12 system in a district rated as one of the best in the country. There were ups and downs, but high school has been a monster.

We're a decade and a half into the "common core" experiment in educational standardization. The majority of the country has now signed up to a standardized and rigid curriculum that treats overworked teachers as untrustworthy slackers who need to be disciplined by measuring their output through standard lessons and evaluations:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Core

This system is rigid enough, but it gets even worse at the secondary level, especially when combined with the Advanced Placement (AP) courses, which adds another layer of inflexible benchmarks to the highest-stakes, most anxiety-provoking classes in the system:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Placement

It is a system singularly lacking in grace. Ironically, this unforgiving system was sold as a way of correcting the injustice at the heart of the US public education system, which funds schools based on local taxation. That means that rich neighborhoods have better funded schools. Rather than equalizing public educational funding, the standardizers promised to ensure the quality of instruction at the worst-funded schools by measuring the educational outcomes with standard tools.

But the joke's on the middle-class families who backed standardized instruction over standardized funding. Their own kids need slack as much as anyone's, and a system that promises to put the nation's kids through the same benchmarks on the same timetable is bad for everyone:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/11/28/give-me-slack-2/

Undoing this is above my pay-grade. I've already got more causes to crusade on than I have time for. But there is a piece of tantalyzingly low-hanging fruit that is dangling right there, and even though I'm not gonna pick it, I can't get it out of my head, so I figured I'd write about it and hope I can lazyweb it into existence.

The thing is, there's a reason that standardization takes hold in so many domains. Agreeing on a common standard enables collaboration by many entities without any need for explicit agreements or coordination. The existence of the ANSI/SAE J563 standard automobile auxiliary power outlet (AKA "car cigarette lighter") didn't just allow many manufacturers to make replacement lighter plugs. The existence of a standardized receptacle delivering standardized voltage to standardized contacts let all kinds of gadgets be designed to fit in that socket.

Standards crystallize the space of all possible ways of solving a problem into a range of solutions. This inevitably has a downside, because the standardized range might not be optimal for all applications. Think of the EU's requirement for USB-C charger tips on all devices. There's a lot of reasons that manufacturers prefer different charger tips for different gadgets. Some of those reasons are bad (gouging you on replacement chargers), but some are good (unique form-factor, specific smart-charging needs). USB-C is a very flexible standard (indeed, it's so flexible that some people complain that it's not a standard at all!) but there are some applications where the optimal solution is outside its parameters.

And still, I think that the standardization on USB-C is a force for good. I have drawers full of gadgets that need proprietary charger tips, and other drawers full of chargers with proprietary tips, and damned if I can make half of them match up. We've continued our pandemic lockdown tradition of my wife cutting my hair in the back yard, and just tracking the three different charger tips for the three clippers she uses is an ongoing source of frustration. I'd happily trade slightly sub-optimal charging for just being able to plug any of those clippers into the same cable I charge my headphones, phone, tablet and laptop on.

The standardization of American education has produced all the downsides of standardization – a rigid, often suboptimal, one-size-fits-all system – without the benefits. With teachers across America teaching in lockstep, often from the same set texts (especially in the AP courses), there's a massive opportunity for a commons to go with the common core.

For example, the AP English and History classes my kid takes use standard texts that are often centuries old and hard to puzzle out. I watched my kid struggle with texts for learning about "persuasive rhetoric" like 17th century pamphlets that inspired anti-indigenous pogroms with fictional accounts of "Indian atrocities."

It's good for American schoolkids to learn about the use of these blood libels to excuse genocide, but these pamphlets are a slog. Even with glossaries in the textbooks, it's a slow, word-by-word matter to parse these out. I can't imagine anyone learning a single thing about how speech persuades people just by reading that text.

But there's nothing in the standardized curriculum that prevents teachers from adding more texts to the unit. We live in an unfortunate golden age for persuasive texts that inspire terrible deeds – for example, kids could also read core Pizzagate texts and connect the guy who shot up the pizza parlor to the racists who formed a 17th century lynchmob.

But teachers are incredibly time-constrained. For one thing, at least a third of the AP classroom time seems to be taken up with detailed instructions for writing stilted, stylized "essays" for the AP tests (these are terrible writing, but they're easy to grade in a standardized way).

That's where standardization could actually deliver some benefits. If just one teacher could produce some supplemental materials and accompanying curriculum, the existence of standards means that every other teacher could use it. What's more, any adaptations that teachers make to that unit to make them suited to their kids would also work for the other teachers in the USA. And because the instruction is so rigidly standardized, all of these materials could be keyed to metadata that precisely identified the units they belonged to.

The closest thing we have to this are "marketplaces" where teachers can sell each other their supplementary materials. As far as I can tell, the only people making real money from these marketplaces are the grifters who built them and convinced teachers to paywall the instructional materials that could otherwise form a commons.

Like I said, I've got a completely overfull plate, but if I found myself at loose ends, trying to find a project to devote the rest of my life to, I'd be pitching funders on building a national, open access portal to build an educational commons.

It may be a lot to expect teachers to master the intricacies of peer-based co-production tools like Git, but there's already a system like this that K-8 teachers across the country have mastered: Scratch. Scratch is a graphic programming environment for kids, and starting with 2019's Scratch 3.0, the primary way to access it is via an in-browser version that's hosted at scratch.mit.edu.

Scratch's online version is basically a kid- (and teacher-)friendly version of Github. Find a project you like, make a copy in your own workspace, and then mod it to suit your own needs. The system keeps track of the lineage of different projects and makes it easy for Scratch users to find, adapt, and share their own projects. The wild popularity of this system tells us that this model for a managed digital commons for an educational audience is eminently achievable.

So when students are being asked to study the rhythm of text by counting the numbers of words in the sentences of important speeches, they could supplement that very boring exercise by listening to and analyzing contemporary election speeches, or rap lyrics, or viral influencer videos. Different teachers could fork these units to swap in locally appropriate comparitors – and so could students!

Students could be given extra credit for identifying additional materials that slot into existing curricular projects – Tiktok videos, new chart-topping songs, passages from hot YA novels. These, too, could go into the commons.

This would enlist students in developing and thinking critically about their curriculum, whereas today, these activities are often off-limits to students. For example, my kid's math teachers don't hand back their quizzes after they're graded. The teachers only have one set of quizzes per unit, and letting the kids hold onto them would leak an answer-key for the next batch of test-takers.

I can't imagine learning math this way. "You got three questions wrong but I won't let you see them" is no way to help a student focus on the right areas to improve their understanding.

But there's no reason that math teachers in a commons built around the (unfortunately) rigid procession of concepts and testing couldn't generate procedural quizzes, specified with a simple programming language. These tests could even be automatically graded, and produce classroom stats on which concepts the whole class is struggling with. Each quiz would be different, but cover the same ground.

When I help my kid with her homework, we often find disorganized and scattered elements of this system – a teacher might post extensive notes on teaching a specific unit. A publisher might produce a classroom guide that connects a book to specific parts of the common core. But these are scattered across the web, and they aren't keyed to the specific, standard components of common core and AP.

This is a standardized system that is all costs, no benefits. It has no "architecture of participation" that lets teachers, students, parents, practitioners and even commercial publishers collaborate to produce a commons that all may share and improve upon.

In an ideal world, we'd get rid of standardization in education, pay teachers well, give them the additional time they needed to prepare exciting and relevant curriculum, and fund all our schools based on need, not parents' income.

But in the meanwhile, we could be making lemonade of out lemons. If we're going to have standardization, we should at least have the collaboration standards enable.

I'm Kickstarting the audiobook for The Bezzle, the sequel to Red Team Blues, narrated by @wilwheaton! You can pre-order the audiobook and ebook, DRM free, as well as the hardcover, signed or unsigned. There's also bundles with Red Team Blues in ebook, audio or paperback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/16/flexibility-in-the-margins/#a-commons

[dreamypisces888]

Houses Overlay in Synastry : Some Observations !!!!!!

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Understanding how planetary placements interact between charts can provide insight into relationship dynamics. Let's look more closely at how certain cosmic configurations may play out.

Having Saturn placed in a partner's 4th house of home/family could create a sense of constraint within one's personal space. Tension may arise unless boundaries are respected.

However, when Venus hangs out in someone's 4th, it often lends a feeling of warmth, comfort and affection - like finding a safe haven in each other. A loving connection.

The Moon passing through a person's 4th brings a nurturing quality and sense of emotional security. Her gentle energies can strengthen the bond through small acts of care.

On the other hand, Mars hunkering down in one's private 8th domain amps up the passion big time. While the sparks may fly, maintaining balance is important for intimacy to stay healthy.

The Sun popping into a 5th house of fun suggests enjoying each other's company in a lighthearted way. Yet this isn't always an indicator of deep commitment on its own without other supportive factors.

With Mercury in the 5th, wit and banter are on the menu. Shared hobbies and repartee draw folks together on an intellectual plane.

Likewise, the Moon in the 5th brings a feel-good energy of joy, playfulness and ease. Her maternal/paternal nature may also come through in meaningful ways.

When expansive Jupiter activates the partnership sector, greater blessings can imbue the relationship. His optimistic presence aids whatever vows are made.

And reliable Saturn holding down the fort in the commitment area adds a quality of dedication, structure and follow-through valued in long term bonds.

So in summary, different planetary configurations offer insights, for better or worse. Understanding each unique dynamic can benefit navigating relationships smoothly.

[elminx]

Energy Update: Mercury Rx March-April 2025

Starting on March 15, Mercury enters its first retrograde of 2025. The retrograde runs from 09° Aries to 26° Pisces and makes thrice-repeating conjunctions to Neptune and the North Node and sextiles with Pluto in Aquarius. This is a unique retrograde as it will happen entirely within the retrograde cycle of Venus, both in time and by degree. This retrograde also coincides closely with our eclipse season, which runs from 3/14 to 3/29.

The Basics

Mercury, the planet of communication, technology, and travel, is the fastest-moving planet in our solar system and retrogrades three to four times every year. This means that Mercury’s retrograde cycle is “business as usual” and isn’t something that should be feared. However, it is a change in the energy signature of one of our personal planets, so it’s worth paying attention and making adjustments where necessary.

Retrogrades don’t mean that the planet ACTUALLY is moving backward, of course. It is a shift in our perception of the planetary movement through our skies. In this way, our perspectives and perceptions can get slightly twisted during these times, and it is easy to miss key details or communicate ineffectively.

During Mercury’s retrograde, Mercury traces its path backward in our skies, and it is considered better to go over your work rather than start something new. Mercury passes over these degrees in the sky thrice: the first time during its pre-retrograde shadow, the second time while it moves backward during its retrograde, and again a third time while it moves forward in its post-retrograde shadow. Because of this, we all get the cosmic opportunity to relearn and refocus on certain things that are going awry in our lives.

By comparing the degrees of Mercury’s retrograde to your birth chart, you can understand how Mercury’s retrograde cycle might affect you.

Mercury retrogrades affect some people more than others. By order of significance, these people are most likely to be affected by a Mercury retrograde:

If you have Sun, Moon, or Ascendant in Gemini and Virgo, or Mercury closely conjunct (within 2°) to your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant

If your natal Mercury was in retrograde or out of bounds

If the current retrograde crosses over your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant (in conjunction) or makes a square or opposition

If the current retrograde crosses over your Mercury, Venus, or Mars or makes a square or opposition with them

If the current retrograde makes a trine with one of your personal planets or a sextile to your Sun, Moon, or Ascendant

If you work in a job that involves technology, communication, or travel or are currently undergoing a task that involves one of these domains during this retrograde cycle

If you live with, are in a relationship with, or closely work with a person who meets the above criteria

One can assume that the more of these factors in play, the stronger you may experience the effects of a Mercury retrograde cycle. This isn’t to say that what you experience will be bad or wrong – some people experience a lot of freedom from Mercury’s journey. The more open you are to giving up control and staying open to the ever-changing landscape of a Mercury cycle, the easier it will be.

The Nitty Gritty

Mercury will retrograde from 09° Aries on 3/15 to 26° Pisces on 4/7, a reflection of Venus's ongoing retrograde from 10° Aries on 3/1 to 24° Pisces on 4/12. Notably, Aries is sign #1 in the horoscope wheel and is concerned, to some degree, with new beginnings and pressing onward into the future. At the same time, Pisces is sign #12 and concerned with processing all of the input that came before it to reach completion. Typically, in prograde (forward) motion, the planets all move from Pisces into Aries; this is the demarcation of the start of the astrological year and the point of our Spring Equinox. Instead, Mercury (and Venus) will traverse from Aries back into Pisces in the opposite direction.

I have written about how this point - between 29° Pisces and 00° Aries - is THE pressure point of the year. Not only will Mercury and Venus cross over it three times each during their retrograde cycles, but the Sun passes over it this month, and both Saturn and Neptune will also cross over it this spring before retrograding later in the year and passing over it again in backward motion. Combined with the constant movement of the Moon, this point is traversed 25 times this year. This is a big deal and a significant magical opportunity, which I have discussed in more detail here.

That said, this double personal planet retrograde is the meat of this long-term transit, and we should all be paying close attention to what is coming up during this time. With two personal planets involved in this double transit, this is, by definition, personal. It will show up in many people's lives - if not through Mercury, then through Venus. In a world that has been rapidly changing, each of us likely has something that we need to go back and redo.

This doesn't have to be a bad thing, though it may be triggering to perfectionists and others who are unable to take criticism or admit to their own shortcomings. The big flex right now is to admit mistakes early and often and actively work to fix them.

That's it.

I mean, it sounds so simple. But it becomes much more difficult if you are the only one willing to admit mistakes or attempt to make amends. The pitfall of this double personal planet retrograde is that people will most definitely not be at their best (Venus retrograde) and also be unwilling to talk about it (Mercury retrograde).

I wish I had a brilliant solution or an easy out for those who can see this coming, but there just isn't one. Personal planet retrogrades tend to be hard, and two at once will be exponentially more difficult for many people. Even if that's not you, you will likely have to deal with the aftermath of other people's frustrations over these planetary conditions.

Both Mercury and Venus will pass over Aries and Pisces. Venus is exalted in Pisces and exiled in Aries. Mercury is both in its fall and exiled in Pisces and neutral in Aries. Here, we can see that Venus will have an easier time in Pisces and Mercury while they are in Aries. Said a different way, the Venus retrograde will start more challenging and likely ease with time, whereas the Mercury retrograde will become more complex as it evolves.

Standard Mercury retrograde advice applies: Mercury's main domains are Communication, Technology, and Travel, so if you need to do anything in those three realms, you should expect some delays. Apply that literally and metaphorically as needed in your own life. This can be somewhat remediated by working directly with Mercury, but only to a certain point. Social media tends to go down during Mercury's retrograde cycle - often more than once. Save often and proofread thrice before you hit "Send" on any important communications during this time.

There are a lot of people who advise against travel during Mercury's retrograde periods, but I prefer it. Things often take longer, but the long way around seems to bring me to precisely where I need to be.

I don't want to demonize Mercury retrogrades here. I love Mercury's retrograde cycles and look forward to them every year. You tend to recognize the pitfalls and setbacks if you enter them with a negative expectation. Still, if you enter them with a more open mindset, you are more likely to identify the opportunities that arise.

This is the cosmic right time to work with any of the many res: rewrite, rework, reinvent, renegotiate, redo, retry, renovate, reconsider...

The list goes on.

Mercury's retrograde is undoubtedly not the time to start something new. It is the time to review what has gone before and make the necessary adjustments so that it works better.

We all need that, whether we are willing to admit it or not.

The Details

3/1 - Mercury stations retrograde 26° Pisces, Venus retrogrades 10° Aries 3/2 - Mercury conjunct Neptune 28° Pisces, Mercury conjunct North Node 28° Pisces 3/3 - Mercury enters Aries 3/5 - Mercury in Aries sextile Pluto in Aquarius 3/11 - Mercury conjunct retrograde Venus 08° Aries 3/14 - Total lunar eclipse 23° Virgo 3/15 - Mercury retrogrades 09° Aries 3/20 - Sun enters Aries, Spring Solstice 3/23 - Sun conjunct retrograde Venus 02° Aries 3/24 - Sun conjunct retrograde Mercury 04° Aries 3/25 - retrograde Mercury sextile Pluto in Aquarius 3/27 - Retrograde Venus enters Aries 3/29 - Solar eclipse 09° Aries, retrograde Mercury enters Pisces 3/30 - Neptune enters Aries 4/7 - Mercury stations direct 26° Pisces 4/16 - Mercury enters Aries 4/17 - Mercury conjunct Neptune 00° Aries 4/20 - Mercury in Aries sextile Pluto in Aquarius 4/26 - Mercury exits its post-retrograde shadow

Do you like my work? You can tip me or sign up to be a monthly supporter of my work over on Ko-Fi.

[onionsites]

ONİONSİTES - DRAGON+

Onion sites, also known as Tor sites, are a unique type of website that can only be accessed through the Tor network. The term "onion site" specifically refers to websites that are exclusively accessible via Tor, distinguishing them from traditional websites that can be reached through standard web browsers. These sites utilize a special-use top-level domain name.onion, which designates them as anonymous onion services previously known as "hidden services". The Tor network, short for The Onion Router, is a free and open-source platform that enables users to browse the internet anonymously and access content not typically available through conventional means.

The functionality of onion sites is based on the encryption and routing protocols of the Tor network. When a user attempts to access an onion site, their connection is routed through a series of volunteer-operated servers, or nodes, to conceal their identity and location. This process helps to protect the privacy and anonymity of both the user and the site they are visiting. Onion web list offer enhanced security and privacy compared to traditional websites, making them attractive to individuals seeking to safeguard their online activities from surveillance, censorship, or tracking.

What are onion sites presents both benefits and risks for users navigating the dark web. Understanding the potential advantages and drawbacks is essential for making informed decisions about online activities. Some key points to consider include: Benefits:

- Enhanced privacy and anonymity

- Access to content not available on the clear web

- Protection against surveillance and tracking Risks:

- Exposure to illegal or harmful content

- Potential security vulnerabilities

- Increased likelihood of encountering malicious actors

By weighing these factors and exercising caution while browsing onion sites, users can leverage the unique capabilities of the Tor network while minimizing potential risks to their online security and well-being.

[sethdomain]

Also before i forget there's something about the way you draw c!Tommyinnit that make it stand out from other artist interpretations fanart of c!Tommyinnit. Simplistic yet unique like it was so fucking cool mate.

yeee its cuz i was actually aiming to do that.

No shade to people who likes the fanon, but I've been like on dsmp train since 2020 and if i see the same interpertation over n over again IM GOING CRAYYYZEY and if i have to comply to the woke mob agenda and make my ctommy design fanon-ny again i will DIE.

I used to make my ctommy design so fucking fanony it actually was dead ass ugly and i used to hatessssssss it so much. Because he looks so ugly in a bad and unintresting way. I was miserable. dying, because i was kind of afraid to not comply on how people would interpert him(kind of conventionally ugly cute attractive). I was like, "what if people find me weird for making him like this?" "what if people wont like this design?" MANN i was a pussy, turn out people love my soaping wet cat ctommy that looks super mangy and ugly. I think it was also factored on my worries on making him looks so much like cctommy and it would be weird.

Anyway yeah, the moral of this story is do not be a pussy and you can design the dsmp character however you wanted. Don't let the woke mob stops you from being who you are and making ctommy a fat men, buff guy, hairy guy or trans guy/girl whatever man do whatever, its 2024 and he's now a public domain oc. Damn, maybe you dont see it but im literally slowly making him a smoke/drug addict himbo if you squint.

[tealvneu]

I. Need. More. APOLLO X LUKE

PLEASEEEEE

This is diving more into characterisation/relationship dynamics, so I apologise for the incoming ramble haha!

To start, something that I've always thought interesting is how Apollo is sometimes said to be most Greek of the Greek gods.

He has a lot of domains, and they encapsulate many of the qualities that the Ancient Greeks prided themselves on: music, poetry, healing, truth and reason etc etc. The ideal Greek man, so to speak, which implies that a good number of his domains heavily intersect with humanity. And that's not to say of his other domains that revolve around humans (i.e. disease/plague), plus that one time he got turned into a mortal alongside Poseidon in the myths.

Does this mean that Apollo can be considered the most human of the Greek gods? Not necessarily, but I think it can possibly be said that the involvement of Apollo's numerous domains with humanity might mean that he has more interaction with mortals than the average god. (This will be relevant later, I promise.)

Now as for Luke — we know about his backstory and resentment towards the gods. There's a host of reasons that factor into this resentment, but it boils down to the gods not caring for their kids and not caring to understand them. He wants the gods to understand his pain, to ultimately be seen and have his hurt validated. He'd rather die than willingly enter a relationship with a god who cannot or will not do the above.

Enter Apollo. Remember how I said his domains' intersections with humanity might mean that he interacts more with mortals than the average god? Because of this, I see him as someone who thinks he understands humanity, even more so than the other gods — more importantly (and uniquely), he thinks he understands humanity by getting on their level. But that's not true — even in PJO canon, despite being one of the nicer gods that Percy encounters, we can still see that there's a disconnect between what he thinks of humans, and what they're actually like (before his character development in ToA I mean) .

So put together: a mortal demigod who hates the gods for not caring for and understanding their children, and a god who thinks he understands and cares for humans, but falls short. It's an interesting dynamic imo which is why I wanted to try writing it haha.

Thanks for reading if you've made it this far!

[cyn-write]

RAMSHACKLE; Based on the Pumpkin King's Curiosity

Disclaimer: In my AU, Night Raven College is a College/University so all characters are aged up 4 years. There are also mentions of alcohol.

Ramshackle is one of the oldest dorms in Night Raven History and is based on one of the oldest stories in Twisted Wonderland's history. A dorm that often attracts troublemakers, delinquents, and outsiders, the dorm often houses NRC's worst of the worst. The dorm was shut down over 200 years ago after the mirror stopped sorting students there as no one was "curious enough." But after the arrival of the first female student at NRC, Cynthia Widow, the first Magicless Student, Grace Wilde, and Magic Meniace, Grim, the dorm has reopened and welcomed 10 troublemakers that uphold the Ramshackle name and embody the Pumpkin King's domain.

History

The tale of the Pumpkin King dates back to the beginning of Twisted Wonderland's history. Halloween was the King's domain, but after ruling Halloween for years and years he became bored. The kingdom filled with huants and magic was not stimulating to the king. After a visit to Winterfest domain, he felt rejuvenated and decided he would take over Winterfest! His kingdom was excited to take on this challenge, but they did not fully understand the concept. Despite the warnings from his future Queen, he went through with the takeover and put the Sandy Claws,the ruler of Winterfest, in the care of "The Boogy Man," unknowing the danger. Despite his excitement, the takeover was a failure to others but not him. He was rejuvenated with excitement and returned to Halloween with a new vigor! He and the Sandy Claws came to a truce with the aid of the Pumpkin Queen, and the kingdom reigned for years to come.

The Dorm was the second dorm to be installed to house the troublemakers of NRC. Supervised by ghost, the dorm has an essence of haunts and spooks. The dormleader and vice are the strongest mages in the dorm in magic and spirit, as they have to run a dorm of rulebreakers. The dorms uniforms are based on the residence of Halloween town dressed in black and white with the dormhead being the only member to have color in their uniform. The dorm was often made up of the exciled members of other dorms as well as those placed in it, making for an interesting combination.

After being out of commission for 200 years, the dorm has returned with a new batch of troublemakers thanks to the suddent apperence of 2 female students, a talking magic cat, and merging with Thatch Academy for Troubled Mages. The new dorm has a new style, new faces, and a new Vigor that would make the Pumpkin King proud.

Uniforms

⬇️Ramshackle’s Housewarden Uniform and Designs for the New Ramshackle Uniforms⬇️

The term "uniform" is currently very loosely interpreted by Ramshackle. It is more of an aesthetic with color rules. The aesthetic is "Delinquent Chic" with a main color of black with pops of purple and/or green. There is a variety of selections with each student having a unique uniform to embody the members of Halloween town. Some of the peices are from the students own wardobe while others are refurbished from the attic or scraps from other the other dorms. The unifying factor of the dorm is the headpieces and dorm emblem armband or patch. The headpieces (mask or hairpin) are of one of 7 designs: A witch, a devil, a skeleton, a bat, a pumpkin, a ghost, or a spider. There are a multitude of combinations that could be made and all must be approved by the dorm head and/or Professor Crewel to ensure it fits the dorm's guidelines.

The exception to this “free-for-all” as it is called by most is the Dorm Leaders uniform which was redesigned by Crewel and the current Housewarden. Current Dormleader, Cynthia Widow, has designed a purple gown and overcoat with a web collar, black corset, and spider motifs. Crewel aided in the design and recreation of this uniform. The uniform also has the "kings scepter" and the "Web Crown" which signify its holder as the head of the dorm.

There are designs for the new uniforms for Ramshackle based on the styles of the current students as the original designs were, as Crewel put it, affronts to fashion and sight. Crewel called it "prison chic" with the original uniforms being reminiscent of prison uniforms with the color palette being black and white uniforms with a pop of color somewhere, and the dormleader and vice’s uniforms being closer to "warden" outfits than the school standards. Despite enjoying the cruel joke, Crewel decided to revamp the uniforms to be less.... prisioner and more modern, fitting the current “delinquent chic” of the residence. He, housewarden Cynthia Widow, and Vice Housewarden Grace Wilde have been debating designs, with Housewarden Widow still against the idea of uniforms all together as "The dorm of CURIOSITY should be able to dress as curious as they please." So new uniforms are coming along... slowly.

Note From Administration: "To address the complaints from fellow students and parents, Ramshackle WILL be given a uniform in the same manner as the other dorms starting next year. We are currently designing and updating the uniforms. We are not giving the dorm special treatment. Uniforms will be reinforced next year."

Note from Housewarden Widow: "I'd like to see you try."

Dorm Members

There are 10 members of Ramshackle currently since the merging with Thatch Academy for Troubled Mages.

Housewarden Cynthia Widow

Name: Cynthia (Cyn) Mazikeen Widow

Twist: The Boogy Man from "Nightmare Before Christmas"

Nicknames: Cyn - Friends; Barracuda - Floyd; Reine de l'araignée - Rook; Miss Spider - Lilia; Crowley's Dog (or Crowley's B*tch) - Some... Most Students (and Leona); Boss/Housewarden - Ramshackle Residence

Birthday: January 19th

Class: 1-B

Cynthia Widow is one of the first female students at Night Raven College, and the first student stored into Ramshackle in years. As the first member of Ramshackle, she was the defector for Dormhead, but most of the Housewarden duties are handled by Grace unless it is magical. Cyn is a half-fey student in class 1-B with a love for bugs. She excels in ancient magic and is a member of the board game club. Little to nothing is known about her past but the fact she just "appeared" out of nowhere and has a grandfather she loves and misses dearly. She is often referred to as "Crowley's Dog" as she does a lot of the mage's dirty work. She doesn't mind, though. Beacuse, as long as she does Crowley's dirty work, she can get away with a lot more than she legally should *wink wink*.

Vice Housewarden Grace Wilde (Yuusona)

Name: Grace Elizabeth Wilde

Twist: Yuu! and Jack Skellington from "Nightmare Before Christmas"

Nicknames: Gracie - Friends; Shrimpy - Floyd; Mademoiselle Tirckster -> Mademoiselle Pettie - Rook; Child of Man - Melleus; Henchmen - Grim; Anglefish-Azul (in Private)

Birthday: February 2nd

Class: 1-A

Grace Wilde is the only magicless human in NRC and is often paired with Grim, but after being provided with her service familiar, Kerby, and an alchemist ring from Trein, she is now an independent student. Specializing in animal handling and alchemy. She is the first female student to be sent to NRC and the second to be inducted into Ramshackle. She was named Vice by Cyn as she was dubbed the "mother" of Ramshackle due to her talents with troubled individuals. She is in class 1-A and the horseback riding club. She is also the founder and head of the NRC weekly book club, which she started after accepting the fact that she is never going back to her world (on the account she died there) as a way to learn about this new world through books, and force some of her friends (cough*Riddle*cough) to relax and read. She checks in on the Overblot students often as well as the new Thatch Students since they worry her, and Crowley put her in charge of getting the “comfortable”.

After the first 4 overblots and 60 visits to the nurses office, Trien, Crewel, and Nurse Pinklee "convinced" Crowely that the best way to avoid lawsuits or accidentally get the magicless human killed is to listen to Pinklee's "prescription" and get her some protection. So he gratiously gifted her a certified service familiar!

Name: Kerby the Hound

Twst: Zerro from “Nightmare Before Christmas” and Cerberus from “Hercules”

Nicknames: Kerbs- Grace, Ace, Deuce, Ivy, and Cater; FLUFFY - Ramshackle Residence; Hernch-Dog -Grim; Blobfish - Floyd; Monsieur Kerby - Rook; Good Boy/Example Student - Professor Crewel

Birthday: December 25

Kerby is a Grytrash and has some magical abilities such as his Bark (which can knock people back), he can grow 2 sizes and carry 1 person, and he can dissappere into shadows on comand. Trein and the faculty thought a magical familiar was nessassary to protect the magicless student/student-employee. Plus, they owed it to her after she had dealt with the overblots (AKA Trien and Crewel pressured Crowley for funds). Kerby service familiar is a Psychiatric service familiar that alerts her to panic attacks, aids her in difficult tasks, and acts as a protector (seeing as she has been involved in a multitude of overblots and magic duals). Grace and Kerby are the friendlier faces in Ramshackle and are always willing to provide a helping hand.

Residents of Ramshackle

Name: Grim the Great

Nickname: Grims - Grace; Grimsie - Cyn; Baby Seal - Floyd; Monsieur Fuzzball - Rook; GRIMMM - Ramshackle Residence

Birthday: ???

Class: 1-A

Grim is the feline member of Ramshackle and is often seen with Vice Housewarden Grace (dubbed himself the "Vice-Vice Housewarden"). After his turbulent entrance and a rough start, he was accepted into Ramshackle and recently named an independent student in class 1-A. He has not declared a club and prefers to float around with whichever henchman he has latched to that day. As one of the original members of Ramshackle, he sees himself as a mentor to the newbies, but he is more an encourager of chaos.

Name: Reyna Francessca Bouc

Twist: Salley from Nightmare Before Christmas

Nicknames: Rey -Friends; Tiny Tetra - Floyd; Mademoiselle Electrique - Rook; Doc - Ramshackle Residence

Birthday: June 11th

Class: 2-B

Reyna Bocu is one of the 3 fey triplets that joined NRC with Thatch Academy (Romella <twst Mother Gothel> is in Pomefiore and Rhea <twist Tinkerbelle> is in Ignanhyde). The Doc of Ramshackle is one of the quieter members of the dorm but fits in perfectly. She was a master of combining science, alchemy, and magic, which got her into trouble originally. She was a child protagy with an idetic memory and a fascination with biology. She was so fascinated with the delicatcy of being that she took the idea of life in her own hands. Her lab is off-limits, but there are times a cat that is sewn together can be seen playing with an undead toad, but that is Ramshackle's little secret.

Name: Ivy Calliope Shroud

Twist: Megara form Hercules

Nickname: Ivs - Friends; Lantern Fish - Floyd; Mademoiselle Flamme - Rook; Miss Ivy - Malleus; Sis - Idia.and Ortho; Annoying Girl - Sebek

Birthday: November 1st

Class: 1-D

Ivy Shroud is one of the 25 students who joined NRC when it merged with Thatch. Ivy is the half-sister of Ignanhyde Dormleader and "Vice"- Idia and Ortho Shroud - though few would make the connection based on how Ivy acts, but if the Shrouds were somehow in the same room, aised from the hair, the likeness is uncanny. She is one of the biggest troublemakers of Ramshackle as she often starts fights and leaves school property with a very valuble and very royal Fey. She is a skilled fighter as she studied under both Captian Alina Dobbler and Professor Korra Thatch with fists and swords. She is a student of class 1-D (due to being held back in high school), a member of the Gargoyle Studies Club (She thought it was a fan club for the "Gargoyles" T.V. Series), and a serious gamer when she has time. Ivy fights for her friends and loved ones and does not back down. Despite her attitude, she is an incredible tactician and extremely intelligent (professors often comment that she would be a star student if she showed up).

Other Dorm Residence

Lucifer Locke (Twst Locke) - 2nd year (Half-Fey)

Estella Shocke (Twst Shocke) - 3rd year (Electric EelMer)

Benjamin Barrell (Twst Barrel) - 2nd year (Human)

Marshall Frost (Twst Marshmellow) - 3rd year (Human)

Lysandra DeBrock (Twst Mordue) - 2nd year (Bear Beastwoman)

Dorm Holiday Activates

Halloween Dorm theme: Haunted Doll House (Based on Coraline) - The dorm based on Halloweens KING serves up some serious flights for Halloween. They want to scare the pants off every visitor. Tho Crowley has forbidden them from doing their original idea (a recreation of Halloween Town with accurate dead bodies) because it needed to be PG-13. So Grace suggested theming there haunt after a book. What could go wrong with a Haunted Doll House, especially based on a childrens book??? (Note: Crowley Regretted this decision quickly but it was too late)

Winter Holiday: Dorm Voluntary Outing to the middle of the sea with Dr. Dobbler and Captain Alina Dobbler (Based on 'Treasure Planet' and 'The Lost Empire') or staying on campus for dorm repairs.

Beanfest: The Dorm is off-limits, but they use it anyway.

Ghost Wedding: Ivy is plotting a Missions Impossible-esque ploy to get her brother back. While poor Marsh is forced to offer himself to the ghost bride... he got slapped for having a weird smile. (Note - Marsh is a big teddy bear, and Ramshackle spent the next day consoling Marsh and telling him his smile is lovely)

Fairy Gala: Ivy and Grace are forced into Modeling.

Camp Vargas Survival Camp: Grace and Grim go to both; Luci, Estella, Benni, Lyn, and Marsh are in Athletic, and Reyna, Ivy, and Cyn are all in the Artistic group.

Weekly Game Night and Movie Night - Tournament-style weekly event for all Ramshackle members, members can bring 1 guest to have as their partner. Everyone contributes a thumark, and the winners gets the pot! On weeks everyone is poor: They switch it out for a movie (usually horror or spooky)

Summer Research Trip: The Summer Research Trip is led by the former Thatch Professors (Dr.Dobbler, Captain Dobbler, Dr. Thatch, and Professor Thatch). Since most, if not all, the members of Ramshackle and the other former Thatch students are either banned, cannot, or do not want to go home, the Docs and their wives take the students on an archeological dig in the Jungle's of the Sunset Savana. Since they are now part of NRC, the professor's extended the invitation to other students as well. The excursion last most of the summer and can stay the entire summer if they wish! (based on Tarzan and The Jungle Book)

Glorious Masqurade: Grace and Grim Go as assistance, and Cyn goes as a guest! The only reason this was allowed his beacuse Ramshackle agreed to be on their best behavior so they could make mechanical dead people! All in the name of Halloween!!! (And Marsh and Lyn were put in charge).

Playful land - Grace, Grim, Reyna, and Ivy go to Playful Land and see that Fellow has a very uncanny likeness to a fellow Thatch students... so Ivy gets in trouble "investigating" Fellow and Rey gets introuble "Investigating" the puppets and invading their privacy.

Misc/Notes

After Cynthia and Grace were admitted into Night Raven officially, Crowley went through with negotioations on obsorbing The Thatch Academy For Trouble Mages into Night Raven. He knew if word got out that there were 2 lone female students who attended NRC, it would be an HR nightmare, and the press would have a field day. Thatch has been in negotiations with NRC to join schools for over 5 years, but Thatch not only had female teachers but mostly female students. Crowley turned them down since NRC was traditionally all male, but seeing as circumstances have changed, he went through with the deal! A win-win in Crowley's book. (Extept the Anti-Magic force agent, Detective Cyra Thorne <Twst Enchantress>, attached to the school due to the students' "records." She makes Crowley nervous.)

Crowley allowed the Ramshackle Students to renovate the dorm as long as their overseers (Dr. Dobbler and Captian Alina) approve, so there are a bunch of hidden trap doors, tunnels, and a few labs in the basement that no one is "supposed" to go in but Ramshackle residence.

Cyn, Ivy, and some of the other members throw parties in one of Ramshackle's basements that people pay to go to (They basically run a club), and not everything there is exactly school-sanctioned, but Crowley looks the other way since Cyn does his dirty work.

Grace was put in charge of keeping everyone out of trouble and in one piece (Aka, she was labeled Den-Mom). So whenever someone is in trouble, they go to Grace for help (even if it is over her head). Whenever they throw parties, they find someone to distract her or make her stay in another dorm for the night.

That being said, they have a speak-easy style club run by the ghosts and Cyn. No one knows how they get booze, but it appears every Sunday at 5, and Crowley gets a new bottle of wine on his desk at 6. (AKA, he is bribed, so he doesn't mind)

Ramshackle is very protective of its Den Mom. With her being Magic-less and being not of this world, they treat her as family and protect her from those who dare look down on her (One time Cyn heard a Scarbia guy say she should be kicked out for beimg magicless and he magically dissappered... and reappeaed 4 days later scared of his shadow and trembling at the sight of the Ramshackle emblem).

Somewhere in Ramshackle is a remote to the kitchen t.v. and the person who finds it gets 20 thumarks and control of the Kitchen t.v. for a week.

If you made it this far, thank you!!! I hope you enjoyed reading about Ramshackle and its residence! They are all part of my Twst Fic "A Tale of Two Yuus," and the 4 Oc's highlighted at the top are the 4 main characters. I will (eventually) link all their bios to their sections if you want to learn more about them! If you have any questions, want to interact with one of them, or want tagged once I post chapters, please comment!

Huge thank you to @/cozymochi, @/the-trinket-witch, and @/bunnwich! I commissioned the art of Ivy, Reyna, Kerby, Grace, and Cyn from them!! I did the dorm uniform designs and used base models as mannequins. I also wrote the notes on the designs, so excuse my handwriting.

Comments, Reblogs, and Likes are appreciated!!!

Do not steal!!!

[transient-winds]

divinities, monsters and beasts, oh my!

This post will provide key information pertaining to the AU such as how I’d imagine the world with spirits works and how it would fit in the context of the series. Additionally, here’s some terminology important to note

Spirits is the collective term I’ll be using to describe gods and yokai. 

Ward is the term for humans under a god’s care.

Champion is the term for favored humans by their patron gods.

Spirits and humans coexist with each other. Neither in harmony, nor at war; merely at a standstill. Gods, monsters, and tales of old are largely regarded as fiction by current society except for the unlucky few cursed with the truth. 

—of gods

Before I expand on the gods themselves, let me establish the hierarchy of gods that exist in this universe. The relevance of their ranks/positions in the pantheon is to help explain their relationship with humans and other spirits, their powers, and their limitations as gods. 

Starting from the top, those who’ve originated from the heavens are the Cosmogenic gods. They had been formed before and during the creation of the earth. Next are the Theogenic gods, who were born from other gods such as Izanagi, Izanami, and—in relevance to this AU—Makochi’s matron goddess Yūkakueirin (幽客詠林, lt. the hermit who sang to the grove). With the exception of the aforementioned goddess, the gods that fall under these two categories will not be focused on, but know they exist somewhere within their realms. 

Lastly, the most common type of god in the current time is the Anthropogenic gods. These gods are formed from the collective consciousness of humans and are where almost all of the groups-turned-gods fall under and will hereby be referred to as Makochi Gods. 

Unlike the other two categories—whose energy is drawn directly from the elements of their domains—the anthropogenic gods derive theirs through their humans (wards) to fuel and sustain their divinity due to the nature of their birth. The life phases of these gods go something like this:

They begin as lesser spirits with weak forms, having little to no power to their name, and are often mistaken for low-level yokai with similar features. As their humans start finding their purpose and acquiring members for their cause, their energy builds and grows stronger to hold a physical form.

Once they attain a higher energy level, their physical forms shift to the next phase, called a divine beast. Divine beasts closely resemble those of other high-ranking yokai, their only difference being their origins, abilities, and relation with humans. Gods of divine beast rank have the option of molding a human form they can use to interact in the human realm.

The last stage for an anthropogenic god to attain is a deiform. A deiform is an interim humanoid form that retains elements of the initial divine beast form. It requires a lot of energy to maintain for long periods due to the nature of balancing humanoid features with their divine abilities. Gods who can frequently use their deiforms are known to have wards (their humans) with vital spiritual energy.

—of yokai

Spirits and humans alike mistake the forms of anthropogenic gods for yokai at first glance, as some appearances and life forces can appear similar (especially during the early stages of their existence). However, there are three identifiable factors (in tandem or individually) that can help distinguish a god from a yokai.

1. Appearances. Some gods have forms that look exactly like their yokai counterparts, and there are others that do not— ranging from general size to minute details like lacking body parts or certain colors. The latter makes it simple to distinguish one from the other. 2. Abilities. Humans have been documenting yokai, along with their unique traits and abilities, throughout history. So it's possible for one to distinguish a god from a yokai based on the use of their abilities. Additionally, a god's abilities do affect their physical forms; the elements of their abilities are visible throughout. 3. Life forces. More often than not, divine beasts have life forces stronger than their yokai counterparts. In addition to being fundamentally different-looking in appearance, divine beasts have elements that make them unique to their humans.

—of death and discorporation

All spirits are immortal, but they aren't untouchable. A spirit can lose their physical form (discorporation) when the body is severely injured by another spirit, but their life forces return to the nature of their domains. In those cases, a spirit can be reborn and their bodies reformed due to their remains lingering in their domains. 

The lives of anthropogenic gods, however, are intertwined with their humans. Thus, if a group were to fall—losing its members and their faith towards their goal—their god reverts back to its initial base form until they inevitably discorporate and cease to exist, as they have nothing to return to. The possibility of death looms over all of them, ingrained to the very core of their life forces.

[michanvalentine]

I was asked if I had any thoughts on Astarion's character development in terms of taking responsibility and making choices. And him coming to terms with that part of his past he's ashamed of. In the past I didn't dwell on it in detail, normally I write down on the keyboard what spontaneously passes through my brain. But I think they are excellent food for thought, so I will try to express what I think about it.

Here’s a little ramble, just because I love psychology and think it’s something to always keep in mind when discussing Astarion. If you’re not interested, feel free to skip ahead!

(Let’s talk a bit about the self.

The self is quite a complex concept with many facets. Briefly put, it’s shaped by various internal and external factors and reflects a conscious image of "me." In psychology, it’s key to building the Ego of an individual—the capacity to act, understand, organize, and interpret experiences. The Ego provides a sense of uniqueness, coherence, and personal continuity since the self encompasses many "faces." All this forms the personality of an individual, which naturally develops (and changes) throughout life.

Particular attention in the formation of the self is given to sensitive periods, such as early childhood. The self determines the level of self-esteem based on an individual’s assessment of their worth and competence in the characteristics they attribute to themselves (Real Self), their future aspirations (Ideal Self), and what they want to avoid (Feared Selves). The greater the discrepancy between these aspects, the lower the level of self-esteem. Social support and approval, as well as competence in domains deemed important to the self, obviously contribute to perceiving oneself as a person of value.

I’ll stop here, or this will turn into a full-blown psychology lecture, diving into every possible personality disorder! xD)

Astarion, as we know, has had his sense of self fundamentally undermined. For him, the world is divided between those who have power and those who don’t, with the former always being the "winners" in his eyes. The magistrate he once was is long dead, along with his moral compass and the life he used to live—especially after 200 years of servitude to Cazador.

As vampire spawn, akin to a newborn in some respects, Astarion learned to exist solely within Cazador’s world, revolving around Cazador, for Cazador. He was the domineering father figure, and vampire society functions under strict rules handed down by vampire lords. In this hostile context, without any room for self-expression or choice, Astarion developed a fragmented and damaged self-image. Constantly belittled by Cazador as an individual (small, weak, useless, incapable, all words he uses in the game), always pitted against his brothers and sisters, and degraded from a magistrate to a prostitute (this is important because it’s the only skill—or "talent," as he calls it himself—that Astarion believes gives him any value or power, forming the basis for his self-image). It’s easy to imagine just how high his self-esteem must be, right? Most importantly, he never developed the skills to navigate life as a free individual—at least not in a healthy way.

This is why, even if reluctantly (and despite his fear), he ends up leaning on Tav/Durge. Astarion is a follower, not a leader—not yet, at least. He needs a guiding figure to help him figure out what to do because making decisions and acting independently don’t come naturally to him; they terrify him. Especially outside of his talents, sex and survival. He needs to be rehabilitated, re-educated, and to achieve this, he requires a safe and healthy environment where he can experiment and grow, perhaps developing other faces of the self on which to base a new evaluation. Like, I'm not just a slave or a whore: but I'm also a companion, a friend, a lover, a hero and I'm able to listen, to help, to learn, to collaborate, etc. For instance, I think his lack of attention to detail reflects this to some extent—not just his tendency to be dismissive or distracted. In fact, Astarion isn’t stupid at all; his intelligence and wisdom stats in D&D terms are above average. He knows how to move in the shadows, remain unnoticed, and is highly skilled with his hands. Additionally, we shouldn’t forget that Astarion is an excellent observer of bodies, particularly body language. This is especially common when someone has lived in a stressful environment with abusive parents or partners. Recognizing the early signs of what they fear most—abuse—is crucial for trying to avoid getting hurt. The inflection of a tone, the light in someone’s eyes, the posture of their shoulders, arms, torso, etc. Body language is the most direct and primal form of communication and reveals intentions.

This is a skill Astarion has naturally refined, not only through survival but also by interacting with countless partners. It inevitably helps him sense certain things before others do, often saving him from trouble. So, he’s far from just some clueless fool, no matter how frivolous he might seem at times.

Sure, stress kills neurons, but the issue is deeper than intellect. To execute a plan, one needs to make decisions and lead a group—something he simply isn’t equipped to do yet. This also ties to accountability, an inherent part of decision-making—especially when others are involved.

Throughout the game, Astarion grows and begins to reclaim his rights as an individual. He realizes he’s more than an object to be used (he is no longer small, weak, useless, incapable), and he starts to establish boundaries and discover what he truly wants or doesn’t want to do, always alongside Tav/Durge. By the good ending, he even states that with Cazador gone, he can finally find out who he really is and what he wants from the life he’s regained. He’s still afraid—the road to healing is long, and the trauma is deep—but he’s willing to work on himself, which he couldn’t or wouldn’t do before.

A significant part of Astarion’s defense mechanism is dissociation, the ability to separate himself from the terrible things that have happened to him—or that he has done.

This, in my opinion, is how he managed to survive without completely losing his mind. In the game, there’s even a dialogue choice that highlights how Astarion simply repressed everything inside and kept going—a deeply unhealthy way of coping. And rightly so, the vampiric spawn retorts that it’s easy to judge when you haven’t lived through such a situation.

However, when Astarion comes face to face with his victims, that mechanism begins to falter. This time, he’s forced to confront what he has done directly, with all the consequences it entails. He has to look them in the eye, listen to their harsh words, and endure both their pain and his own—without filters, without excuses. The sequence is heart-wrenching, as we all know, but what I particularly love is Astarion’s comment about the Gur children and how, when he delivered them to Cazador, he felt nothing. I love it because it’s followed by an “oh” that speaks volumes more than all the discussions about ascension up until that moment. That “oh” seems to say, “How the hell is that even possible?!”

Astarion is surprised, first and foremost, because what he felt then isn’t what he’s feeling now. Before, he was numb, alienated—a ghost wandering the streets. But now, he’s not. He’s more awake and lucid than he’s been in the last 200 years. This concept is crystal clear when, upon setting foot inside Cazador’s palace, the vampiric spawn states that everything feels different, even though the place hasn’t changed. It’s not the palace that’s different; it’s Astarion!

And at this point, after speaking with Sebastian and Chessa, Astarion is torn.

On one side, there’s ascension, with all the rational explanations—or justifications for Tav/Durge and himself—about why it must be done. The vampire spawn are too many and too hungry; they’ll cause a massacre, etc., etc. On another side, there’s the need to erase the evidence of what he was, of what Astarion endured, and what he inflicted upon others—what these wretches represent as a mirror reflecting his own helplessness and pathetic state. A victim, essentially. And that, for him, is humiliating because he was, in fact, humiliated for 200 years. He’s deeply ashamed of it.

But yet another part of him holds the desire to do the right thing.

In fact, if asked about the prisoners and what he intends to do, Astarion will say he’s weighing his options. Not only that, but Astarion also gives his approval when Tav/Durge tells Sebastian that their freedom depends on whether or not they know how to control hunger. Adding immediately after that they can succeed. Anyway, at this moment, for the first time, the choice and the responsibility are entirely on Astarion's shoulders—and on his conscience. There are no orders from Cazador to carry out, no Tav/Durge acting on his behalf. The most Tav/Durge can do is help him think clearly in a moment when, between fear, the scent of blood in the air, and power within reach, Astarion might not be the most clear-headed being on the planet. But ultimately, the decision is his to make. The first of many more to come.

However, I believe Astarion truly takes responsibility for his actions when, after freeing the vampire spawn, he becomes the leader of the coven in the Underdark in the ending. In this particular case, the transformation is complete—Astarion is a leader who plans, makes tough decisions every day, manages resources, takes care of his people (his old victims, let's not forget), and continually grows in his independence.

Naturally, returning to the concept of the self, each of the endings—whether he travels across Faerûn with Tav/Durge, becomes a nocturnal vigilante in Baldur’s Gate, or even ascends—offers a perspective on how Astarion has changed and how new experiences have added positive aspects to his self-concept. These enable him to increasingly perceive himself as competent and valuable. At this point, I’m afraid I might have gotten lost in the flood of words, and I’m not sure if I’ve managed to address the proposed topics thoroughly. My apologies—I tend to lose myself in my thoughts and ramble on freely! If needed, feel free to let me know, and I’ll add a follow-up! xD Anyone who made it this far is a true hero, just so you know!

[blubberquark]

Are Game Blogs Uniquely Lost?

All this started with my looking for the old devlog of Storyteller. I know at some point it was linked from the blogroll on the Braid devlog. Then I tried to look at on old devlog of another game that is still available. The domain for Storyteller is still active. The devblog is gone.

I tried an old bookmark from an old PC (5 PCs ago, I think). It was a web site linked to pixel art and programming tutorials. Instead of linking to the pages directly, some links link led to a twitter threads by authors that collected their work posted on different sites. Some twitter threads are gone because the users were were suspended, or had deleted their accounts voluntarily. Others had deleted old tweets. There was no archive. I have often seen links accompanied by "Here's a thread where $AUTHOR lists all his writing on $TOPIC". I wonder if the sites are still there, and only the tweets are gone.

A lot of "games studies" around 2010 happened on blogs, not in journals. Games studies was online-first, HTML-first, with trackbacks, tags, RSS and comment sections. The work that was published in PDF form in journals and conference proceedings is still there. The blogs are gone. The comment sections are gone. Kill screen daily is gone.

I followed a link from critical-distance.com to a blog post. That blog is gone. The domain is for sale. In the Wayback Machine, I found the link. It pointed to the comment section of another blog. The other blog has removed its comment sections and excluded itself from the Wayback Machine.

I wonder if games stuff is uniquely lost. Many links to game reviews at big sites lead to "page not found", but when I search the game's name, I can find the review from back in 2004. The content is still there, the content management systems have been changed multiple times.

At least my favourite tumblr about game design has been saved in the Wayback Machine: Game Design Tips.

To make my point I could list more sites, more links, 404 but archived, or completely lost, but when I look at small sites, personal sites, blogs, or even forums, I wonder if this is just confirmation bias. There must be all this other content, all these other blogs and personal sites. I don't know about tutorials for knitting, travel blogs, stamp collecting, or recipe blogs. I usually save a print version of recipes to my Download folder.

Another big community is fan fiction. They are like modding, but for books, I think. I don't know if a lot of fan fiction is lost to bit rot and link rot either. What is on AO3 will probably endure, but a lot might have gone missing when communities fandom moved from livejournal to tumblr to twitter, or when blogs moved from Wordpress to Medium to Substack.

I have identified some risk factors:

Personal home pages made from static HTML can stay up for while if the owner meticulously catalogues and links to all their writing on other sites, and if the site covers a variety of interests and topics.

Personal blogs or content management systems are likely to lose content in a software upgrade or migration to a different host.

Writing is more likely to me lost when it's for-pay writing for a smaller for-profit outlet.

A cause for sudden "mass extinction" of content is the move between social networks, or the death of a whole platform. Links to MySpace, Google+, Diaspora, and LiveJournal give me mostly or entirely 404 pages.

In the gaming space, career changes or business closures often mean old content gets deleted. If an indie game is wildly successful, the intellectual property might ge acquired. If it flops, the domain will lapse. When development is finished, maybe the devlog is deleted. When somebody reviews games at first on Steam, then on a blog, and then for a big gaming mag, the Steam reviews might stay up, but the personal site is much more likely to get cleaned up. The same goes for blogging in general, and academia. The most stable kind of content is after hours hobbyist writing by somebody who has a stable and high-paying job outside of media, academia, or journalism.

The biggest risk factor for targeted deletion is controversy. Controversial, highly-discussed and disseminated posts are more likely to be deleted than purely informative ones, and their deletion is more likely to be noticed. If somebody starts a discussion, and then later there are hundreds of links all pointing back to the start, the deletion will hurt more and be more noticeable. The most at-risk posts are those that are supposed to be controversial within a small group, but go viral outside it, or the posts that are controversial within a small group, but then the author says something about politics that draws the attention of the Internet at large to their other writings.

The second biggest risk factor for deletion is probably usefulness combined with hosting costs. This could also be the streetlight effect at work, like in the paragraph above, but the more traffic something gets, the higher the hosting costs. Certain types of content are either hard to monetise, and cost a lot of money, or they can be monetised, so the free version is deliberately deleted.

The more tech-savvy users are, the more likely they are to link between different sites, abandon a blogging platform or social network for the next thing, try to consolidate their writings by deleting their old stuff and setting up their own site, only to let the domain lapse. The more tech-savvy users are, the more likely they are to mess with the HTML of their templates or try out different blogging software.

If content is spread between multiple sites, or if links link to social network posts that link to blog post with a comment that links to a reddit comment that links to a geocities page, any link could break. If content is consolidated in a forum, maybe Archive team could save all of it with some advance notice.

All this could mean that indie games/game design theory/pixel art resources are uniquely lost, and games studies/theory of games criticism/literary criticism applied to games are especially affected by link rot. The semi-professional, semi-hobbyist indie dev, the writer straddling the line between academic and reviewer, they seem the most affected. Artists who start out just doodling and posting their work, who then get hired to work on a game, their posts are deleted. GameFAQs stay online, Steam reviews stay online, but dev logs, forums and blog comment sections are lost.

Or maybe it's only confirmation bias. If I was into restoring old cars, or knitting, or collecting stamps, or any other thing I'd think that particular community is uniquely affected by link rot, and I'd have the bookmarks to prove it.

Figuring this out is important if we want to make predictions about the future of the small web, and about the viability of different efforts to get more people to contribute. We can't figure it out now, because we can't measure the ground truth of web sites that are already gone. Right now, the small web is mostly about the small web, not about stamp collecting or knitting. If we really manage to revitalise the small web, will it be like the small web of today except bigger, the web-1.0 of old, or will certain topics and communities be lost again?

[utilitycaster]

Skein of Destiny

Now that I've got your attention with a shitpost I do want to plug the article I worked on that prompted it, and throw out some thoughts that are too speculative for wiki articles!

What we know (ie, the canon stuff; much of this is also in the article with citations)

The skein is a physical manifestation of the concept of fate, with threads representing the fate of individuals - Vax and Caleb have both seen it in two entirely different contexts, and Evontra'vir's roots grow into it.

The idea of destiny and fate as a skein/tapestry/weave is nigh-universal in Exandria. It is consistent among worshipers of the Prime Deities (Raven Queen and Ioun both reference it; The Raven Queen's domain includes fate), the Luxon (Caleb sees the skein within the beacon), and nature (Evontra'vir was a druid of the Gau Drashari). Nana Morri, a hag in the feywild, acknowledges it is the Raven Queen's domain, though she has the ability to see it and influence threads beyond her own from an external perspective; Teven Klask (worshiper of a Betrayer God) identifies Fearne as being "outside the knotted weave." Arcane, divine of pretty much all known forms, fey, fiend, and elemental are all united in this understanding in a way they are not really about anything else.

Destiny and fate as understood in Exandria do not mean "all is pre-determined" (as indicated in the shitpost, this is about the interplay of fate and free will, which have always coexisted). The above entities are also united in this understanding. The Raven Queen notes that Vax, as Fate-Touched, influences the fates of those around him in unique ways not merely limited to his choices, but does grant him many choices herself, and tells Percy when he asks her for answers that "There are a great many deeds ahead of you. It's your choice to take them." Ioun says something similar to Vox Machina, and a core tenet of the Changebringer is "Luck favors the bold. Your fate is your own to grasp." The Luxon and Dunamancy are based on the concept of possibility, of many potential paths taken and not taken, and not only do chronurgy wizard spells and the fate-touched ability share certain mechanics, but also permit a do-over, since the future is not yet known. When Caleb observes the threads he sees multiple branches off of them that are implied to be based on possibility (ie, there is not merely one option). And Evontra'vir in episode 3x74 directly tells Bells Hells that while some things are fated to happen, it will be their choice that determines what happens to the gods; it also tells Ashton they are fated to retrieve the spark, but also to bestow it, a choice that is their own.

All three of the main powers discussed (Raven Queen, Luxon, Evontra'vir) also serve to preserve the cycle of life, death, or rebirth in some capacity.

Some thoughts: Honestly the big one is that while the idea of fate vs. free will or of the future being a series of possibilities rather than one definite path is a very common one in epic fantasy (frankly, the idea of Fate as "everything is predetermined" is a bad one anyway in fiction because then there's no point in telling the story), there is a particular ludonarrative harmony to play with this theme in a TTRPG. There is a general path laid out before you, but it is not ironclad, and you can make choices to attempt to change this. Sometimes you will fail despite your best efforts based on factors beyond your control but sometimes you will experience unlikely success. The narrative is shaped by this interplay of possibility/probability and choice.

Some wild speculation: I think a peaceful parting with the gods (ie, stopping Predathos and then Bells Hells making their choices about the fate of Exandria as stated by Evontra'vir) would still preserve this skein fate (as would of course maintaining the divine status quo), but a failure to stop Predathos will destroy it, and the fabric of the cosmos (the roots of Predathos are between worlds; fate connects all of the inner planes). I desperately need to know why Fearne is said to exist outside of fate, because I don't know if that's a fey thing, a Ruidusborn thing, a Nana Morri thing, or something else entirely. I would be shocked if the Luxon doesn't come up in SOME capacity later in the campaign (or perhaps in the Echoes of the Solstice one-shot coming up), and I'm very interested in seeing what other party members might gain as they gather their allies and resources. And I don't think it's coincidence that the two deities devoured by Predathos pre-Schism included Vordo the Fateshaper (nor Ethedok, the Endless Shadow, whose domain of darkness and winter is thematically associated with the cycle of life and death).

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Mane Kara-Yakoubian

Published: Dec 13, 2024

A review published in Biology Letters highlights that harm toward women is perceived as more severe than similar harm toward men, a disparity rooted in evolutionary, cognitive, and cultural factors.

Maja Graso and Tania Reynolds explore this “feminine advantage” in harm perception, examining how societal responses prioritize harm against women while often minimizing harm against men.

The authors trace this bias to evolutionary pressures. Women’s reproductive roles historically made their survival critical for group continuity, fostering norms that prioritized their protection. These norms persist today, shaping moral judgments. For instance, experiments reveal that people are less willing to sacrifice women than men in hypothetical moral dilemmas, particularly when the women are of reproductive age. This tendency diminishes for older women, reinforcing its evolutionary roots.

Cognitive biases, such as moral typecasting, further reinforce the asymmetry. Typecasting associates women with victimhood and men with agency, making women more likely to be seen as vulnerable and men as perpetrators. This cognitive shortcut leads to systemic blind spots: male victimization is often ignored or trivialized, while female perpetration of harm remains under-recognized. For example, women’s use of indirect aggression, such as social exclusion, is perceived as less harmful, while male victims of intimate partner violence are frequently dismissed or ridiculed.

Cultural shifts, including feminist movements and the push for gender equality, have heightened societal sensitivity to harm against women. While addressing critical issues like workplace harassment, these changes have also perpetuated an imbalance in harm perception. For example, men face harsher judgments for workplace misconduct, even when the behavior is identical to that of women. Similarly, judicial data reveal that men are more likely to be convicted and receive harsher sentences for comparable offenses, reflecting stereotypes of men as aggressors and women as victims.

At a broader level, societal concern is more readily directed toward women’s challenges. For instance, underrepresentation of women in male-dominated fields like engineering is often attributed to discrimination and addressed through intervention, while men’s underrepresentation in female-dominated fields like nursing receives less attention. This disparity reflects assumptions that women need protection and support, while men are expected to endure harm with resilience.

Graso and Reynolds emphasize that these biases are context-dependent, shaped by historical, cultural, and psychological forces. However, failing to address them perpetuates harm against men in areas such as legal systems, workplace dynamics, and social support structures.

The authors call for a balanced discourse that acknowledges the unique challenges faced by both men and women. By addressing existing asymmetries and generating discussions, the authors aim to reduce gender-based conflicts and promote a more holistic understanding of harm perception.

The paper, “A Feminine Advantage in the Domain of Harm: A Review and Path Forward,” was authored by Maja Graso and Tania Reynolds.

--

Abstract

Despite well-documented disparities disadvantaging women (e.g. discrepancies between men and women in salaries and leadership roles), we argue that there are contexts in which disparities disadvantage men. We review the literature suggesting harm to women is perceived as more severe and unacceptable than identical harm to men, a bias potentially rooted in evolutionary, base rate, stereotype-based and cultural shift explanations. We explore how these biases manifest in protective responses toward women and harsher judgements toward men, particularly in contexts of victimization and perpetration. Our review aims to complement the existing literature on gender biases by presenting a balanced view that acknowledges men and women face unique challenges. By understanding these biases, we hope to foster a more equitable discourse on gender and harm, encouraging empathy and validation of suffering irrespective of gender. This holistic approach aims to de-escalate gender-based conflicts and promote effective interventions for both men and women.

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By the same authors:

Abstract

Scientific and organizational interventions often involve trade-offs whereby they benefit some but entail costs to others (i.e., instrumental harm; IH). We hypothesized that the gender of the persons incurring those costs would influence intervention endorsement, such that people would more readily support interventions inflicting IH onto men than onto women. We also hypothesized that women would exhibit greater asymmetries in their acceptance of IH to men versus women. Three experimental studies (two pre-registered) tested these hypotheses. Studies 1 and 2 granted support for these predictions using a variety of interventions and contexts. Study 3 tested a possible boundary condition of these asymmetries using contexts in which women have traditionally been expected to sacrifice more than men: caring for infants, children, the elderly, and the ill. Even in these traditionally female contexts, participants still more readily accepted IH to men than women. Findings indicate people (especially women) are less willing to accept instrumental harm befalling women (vs. men). We discuss the theoretical and practical implications and limitations of our findings.

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Also:

Abstract

Little is known about implicit evaluations of complex, multiply categorizable social targets. Across five studies (N = 5,204), we investigated implicit evaluations of targets varying in race, gender, social class, and age. Overall, the largest and most consistent evaluative bias was pro-women/anti-men bias, followed by smaller but nonetheless consistent pro-upper-class/anti-lower-class biases. By contrast, we observed less consistent effects of targets' race, no effects of targets' age, and no consistent interactions between target-level categories. An integrative data analysis highlighted a number of moderating factors, but a stable pro-women/anti-men and pro-upper-class/anti-lower-class bias across demographic groups. Overall, these results suggest that implicit biases compound across multiple categories asymmetrically, with a dominant category (here, gender) largely driving evaluations, and ancillary categories (here, social class and race) exerting relatively smaller additional effects. We discuss potential implications of this work for understanding how implicit biases operate in real-world social settings. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

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Those who claim to champions of "equality" somehow manage to simultaneously deny that this is a problem at all or insist that it's essentially self-inflicted, using presupposition, denial and circular reasoning that would make any evolution-denying creationist proud.

Here is a practical example.

https://apnews.com/article/mexico-migrants-killed-bus-crash-ec24efef78ae7aa1caed3a1b4b53829e

MEXICO CITY (AP) — At least 16 migrants from Venezuela and Haiti died early Friday in a bus crash in southern Mexico, authorities said.

Mexico’s National Immigration Institute originally reported 18 dead, but later lowered that figure. Prosecutors in the southern state of Oaxaca later said there had been an overcount due to some of the bodies being dismembered, and that the real death toll was 16.

Both sources said the dead include two women and three children, and that 29 people were injured. There was no immediate information on their condition.

That's a weird way to say, "11 men died." Here's a tip: when a report says "people," it means mostly - or exclusively - men.

[dailydemonspotlight]

Loa - Day 78

Race: Jaki/Night

Arcana: Death

Alignment: Dark-Neutral

July 24th, 2024

In many world religions, there exist gods that aren't quite gods, if that makes sense- beings such as Demigods, spirits who possess and represent different parts of existence, demons, the works- but some of the most interesting beings who rest in this strange limbo between mortality and immortality have to be intermediary spirits. Messengers, ghosts, oracles, and, of course, today's Demon of the Day make up those strange ranks of beings that live inbetween- that demon being none other than the Haitian Loa, also referred to as lwa.

Haiti folklore is somewhat obscure, which is unfortunate given how fascinating it tends to be. It follows a very different format to most other mythologies throughout the world, being simultaneously monotheistic and polytheistic. As a form of vodou, and one of the originating factors of Louisiana voodoo that had been brought over due to the slave trade, there isn't a central religious body like the church, and it's practiced almost entirely by oneself. While it does have a generally steadfast set of mythology, for the most part, practice is completely decentralized and unique from family to family, person to person, vodouist to vodouist. While Haitian Vodou mainly developed during the Atlantic slave trade, it's still practiced all over Africa to this day as a form of reclaiming the narrative surrounding it.

The rituals and beliefs of Haitian Vodou revolve primarily around the central deity, the all-knowing creator Bondye, and his servants by which he communicates with humanity, the Loa. Much like how the practitioners of Haitian vodou equate Bondye with God, the loa can be seen as his angels, so to speak, though they differ in many respects as well- they're to be seen less as paragons of divinity and more as unique beings with their own names and lives, and 232 of said loa have had their names actually recorded. All of these Loa have their own domains and abilities, and can be seen as what are roughly deities in their own right, though they differ greatly from the divinity from which they serve and commune with. For example, one such loa is Ibo Lele, a selfish and ambitious man who does everything for his own gain. This also goes into something I mentioned above, as many loa aren't meant to be seen as completely moral figures one must follow.

Why are they revered, then, one may ask? Well, it's to speak with Bondye. Loa are the messengers of the god, after all, and while fickle, they're an incredibly vital part of the tapestry of Haitian Vodou. They're seen as the intermediaries between humanity and Bondye, and they reside between humanity and the incredibly aloof Bondye, being able to manifest themselves through rituals to speak with humanity and attest to their concerns. Said rituals tend to be things such as offerings to the spirit or, more commonly, the possession of a practitioner by a loa to summon the spirit to the material world and commune with it. This possession also plays into the general idea of each loa being its own being, as the possessed person tends to act out according to the loa possessing them. Specific drum beats are intended to summon certain loa, though sometimes another loa may visit first and possess the target, referred to as the chwal.

There are also classifications of loa, though I'll leave you to read into that yourself as, perhaps, a jumping-off point for further research. Overall, though, loa are a fascinating part of an already fascinating folklore that gave birth to one of the most famous religious movements in the Americas to date. In SMT, they're also, rather fittingly, a very recurring demon, but how are they portrayed?

The design for Loa as a demon, appears to be an amalgamation of several different recurring themes in vodou- the skull is a commonly revered item in the religion to connect with one's past, and is frequently seen in vodou artworks throughout the world, and several artworks are made out of skulls as well! Meanwhile, the snake seems to be based on a specific loa from the religion, the most powerful (and first born) loa known as Damballah-Weddo, who is frequently depicted as, what else, a snake. I personally find the design to be really cool looking itself, though that's just me and my edgy eccentricities, but overall, it's a solid and fitting look for an amalgamation of several vodou ideas wrapped into one.