#division sum problem

[makingspiritualityreal]

Rahu, Ketu and Saturn are all separating factors in a horoscope, but it is Rahu that makes it most difficult for a person to identify themselves with the traits of a given planet in their lives. The full awareness of it comes to them only around Rahu maturation (age 42). At the same time there is an overidentification with the Ketu planet.

So the person can easily admit to but be internally dissatisfied through their Ketu but be unaware how much they have already developed in their Rahu and be secretly more skilled there than they, or anyone else, can realize.

This can be easily summed up as many planets are ruled by 2 zodiac signs. Naturally, the state of the planet will depend on its condition in one’s chart. The condition will also become extra intense if a planet is in the same house as Rahu (even the loosest conjunction as it is the sign dispositor that matters). That can easily become contradictory, as I can prove to you with the example of my chart.

I have Rahu in Sagittarius, but I have Mercury conjunct my Rahu and Venus loosely too if you adapt the Bhava Chalita interpretation. That creates an interesting contradiction where I use my Ketu skills to channel Rahu. Since Jupiter is the Divine element in every one of us, I tend to always underestimate my gifts, spiritual, creative, intellectual. It takes other people praising me a lot to realize that I can actually handle more things in life than I think, and I have achieved and manifested so much versatility. But my default comfort zone is to just say “I study a lot”.

Below I will give you a brief list on how this will manifest for each Rahu in general.

Aries and Scorpio will make Rahu oblivious to one’s qualities of Mars and overly rely on qualities of Venus. The person will underestimate their own drive and courage and contribution and ability to set a life direction and give credit, attention or even command to others, before realizing their own leadership and active action abilities.

Taurus and Libra will make one’s Rahu unaware of their Venusian skills, thinking they achieved it all through grit of character as there is an over-reliance on Mars, but in reality they have developed more softness and wisdom of natural laws than they know. That connection to people and nature has transformed them as they learn unity instead of division.

Gemini and Virgo are said to be the best points of Rahu as influence of Jupiter on Ketu is so lucky. However, these people tend to take their skills for granted. They often receive so much they think they’re just lucky and they don’t notice till way later that they have actually practiced a lot of things and developed a lot of experience in what they have aptitude for, and thus they have reached a certain substantial worldly level of achievement purely by their own means.

Cancer and Leo Rahu share the trouble of developing their royal divine masculine or Feminine side, as their comfort zone is Saturn, the practical, neuter planet that judges everything by results only. What these natives don’t understand is that there is an inherent magic and kingly and queenly qualities inside every man and woman, that are inborn and deserve to be claimed without needing work or pain.

Sagittarius and Pisces Rahu overly rely on their intellect to problem solve life, as they were most probably praised for these abilities naturally and encouraged to develop it since childhood. What they don’t see is how much more courage it takes for them to develop faith, when no one ever told them that it’s a good idea to have it, and God and Destiny are very real forces operating within our lives. Sometimes you just have to leave something to fate and it doesn’t mean failure, and all of us are more lucky than we even know. Rahu there underestimates the luck factor in life. They also underestimate their divine creativity, that comes from the heart, not the mind.

Capricorn and Aquarius will make Rahu project a lot of their issues on parental figures, as the Sun and the Moon represent the Father and the Mother. Depending on other factors in chart, that can be blame for delay in progress or gratitude for their parents’ help, even a guilt or inferiority complex, that makes them erase their long patient hard work. What’s lacking is the acknowledgement and appreciation of one’s own skill in long term building and overcoming obstacles.

[imjustagoldfish]

Am I the only one whose brain malfunctioned in this moment?

So idk if yall are familiar with the book "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats" by T.S. Eliot. Even if you're not, there's a good chance you're familiar with a musical based on it, "Cats" by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Ya, the one that was turned into a movie and everyone hated it. That one.

Well, there's a poem in the book (and a song in the musical), called "Macavity - the mystery cat". I really like it, it's a vibe, but that aside.

Legend has it that T.S. Eliot based the character of Macavity on our beloved Sherlock Holmes villain, Professor Moriarty. You can see the likeness in the name. Additionally Eliot referenced the word "cavity", since, as the poem states, "when a crime’s discovered, then Macavity’s not there!"

And literally one of the verses is:

"[other naughty cats] Are nothing more than agents for the Cat who all the time just controls their operations: the Napoleon of Crime!"

I don't think I need to make it any more clear. Now the question is: where the fuck am I even going with this? Well, let's just jump to BBC Sherlock for a bit. We know that the writers are huuuge Sherlock Holmes nerds and often times characters in the series literally quote the books ("once you've eliminated the impossible...", "He is the British goverment", "Morphine or cocaine?" to give a few of my favourite examples).

But this...

Oh, this...

In "The Final Problem" there is an exchange going on between Jim Moriarty and Mycroft:

Mycroft: There is in this facility a prisoner, whose intellectual abilities are of occasional use to the British government Moriarty: What, for like really difficult sums? Long divisions? That sort of thing?

This one right here. You know what I'm talking about, right?

Well... there is a verse in the poem by T.S. Eliot, which isn't included in the musical by the way, so it's a sort of easter egg, that goes like this:

And when the loss has been disclosed, the Secret Service say: ‘It must have been Macavity!’—but he’s a mile away. You’ll be sure to find him resting, or a-licking of his thumbs; Or engaged in doing complicated long division sums...

So believe me, when I tell you, my brain completely malfunctioned, when I was watching and I heard Moriarty say this line...

And I need answers!

MOFFTISS, WAS THIS DONE ON PURPOSE???

[gallusrostromegalus]

For An Elephant is Warm and Mushy, what's the deal with Ichigo and Isshin? Cause I hate Isshin, but I want to know what your take is on it. (Sorry if you've already addressed this.)

I think my thoughts on Isshin in AEIWAM are best summed up as such:

To elaborate: I think that, if he had been a father under normal circumstances, Isshin would have been a perfectly competent and even a good father.

...But he's not parenting under Normal Circumstances.

He's parenting as widower (alone) with three psychic (no how-to guides on this!) and traumatized (Especially Ichigo) children, while processing his own trauma (Again, Widower), while in a HIGHLY demanding and stressful career (Emergency care specialist/Surgeon), while technically on the run from the law (he's still wanted for being a deserter), while also in Apex Predator Central (Karkura is CHOCK A FUCKING BLOCK fulla hollows).

And BY GOD, the man is trying! AEIWAM! Isshin does his best to keep his children informed of the dangers of their world while not also risking them breaking his witness protection scheme. He works extremely hard and his best to keep them fed, housed, safe, educated and loved, and he LOVES them SO MUCH. Isshin is NEVER shy always genuine with affection towards his children! Hell, he even reaches out to who he can (Urahara, Ryukken, his neighbors, the kid's teachers) for help because he knows he's in over his head and needs help and that's a hard damn thing for a parent to do, but...

...It's not enough.

He still lies to his children. For perfectly sane and understandable reasons, but he still lies to them. He still doesn't understand his children- He gives them all the love he can, as best he knows how, but Ichigo especially speaks an entirely different love language. He's still not there for his children. Balancing three kids is ROUGH when you're a single parent and I'm afraid Isshin has some old-fashioned notions about gender that cause him to prioritize the twins over Ichigo. And worse, he's not there when Ichigo, and later the twins, start being in mortal danger from the fallout of his connection to Soul Society.

He grit his teeth and moved heaven and earth to rise to the occasion and still managed to fall well short of it.

A+ for Effort

D- for The Actual Results

So. Why DOES Isshin keep failing at healthy communication? Why DOES he make bizarre choices? Why DOES he suck at being a father?

As I was writing I realized the answer is that he was in the right time and place to accidentally learn some VERY bad habits from his friends and colleagues during his heavy involvement in the Soi Fon-Yoruichi Debacle.

This is already a very long post, so the explanation is under the cut:

To be clear: It's not their fault.

It's one of those awful "Its nobody's fault specifically, but the way human minds work means that this sort of conflict and bad behavior was inevitable" situations. The tragedy of being discrete beings.

The crux of Soi Fon and Yoruichi's relationship was that two people who had previously only moderate issues met another person whose own issues massively exacerbated their own in a continuously escalating cycle.

AEIWAM! Soi Fon is the SOLE surviving child of the Fon Clan. He five older brothers were all killed in service to the second division and the Shihon clan. Possibly under Yoruichi's direction, if I understand the timelines right. She was also raised from a very young age to ignore her own needs as a person, use violence as a Solution to her problems, largely starved of affection, and to hero-worship Yoruichi. Girl was already messed up when she walked into the Second division.

AEIWAM! Yoruichi is ALSO a sole surviving clan heir (Yushiro is conceived as a direct result to her vanishing in TBTP) and ALSO taught to use violence as a first solution, but instead of a self-sacrificing mindset, Yoruichi was raised to believe that other people sacrificing themselves for her was normal, good and even virtuous on their part. She was also sort of doted on by her parents, who were thrilled that their last-chance heir was shaping up so well (So far as they knew).

You can see how this was always going to go badly.

Soi fon is desperate to please. Yoruichi thinks this is perfectly normal and desirable behavior, and so she rewards it with copious affection, because Soi Fon responds to that well. Soi fon, receiving her first hit of positive reinforcement in her whole life, promptly falls head over heels for Yoruichi, and works even harder for her. Yoruichi, thrilled to have someone so capable, continues to reward this behavior. The cycle continues, and escalates.

Eventually, the two of them are operating in completely different worlds. So far as Soi Fon can tell, She and Yoruichi are in a Grand Romance, like a knight and her princess in the fairytale stories she used to comfort herself with as a little girl. She assumes this is a normal relationship between lieutenant and captain. So far as Yoruichi can tell, She and Soi Fon are in a Perfectly Normal And Platonic Working Relationship, because this is how every 2nd Division Lieutenant has fawned over their Shihon captain since the division's inception, and she assumes this is perfectly normal.

At some point, Soi Fon realizes that their relationship is really one-sided and she's giving 110% for maybe 4% on Yoruichi's behalf, but she's invested so much and every authority figure in her life is telling her that this is Right and Correct, that she actively chooses the fantasy over reality to cope with her circumstances. At some point, Yoruichi realizes that she's wildly taking advantage of Soi Fon's romantic feelings that she... well. She likes the girl well enough, but not romantically. But She relies so much on Soi Fon to run the 2nd Division and every authority figure in her life is telling her that this is Right and Correct that she actively chooses to play into Soi Fon's fantasy to preserve this very beneficial (for her) status Quo.

...Enter Kisuke Urahara.

Urahara has no horse in this particular race- in fact, he doesn't even know there's a race going on. He's deeply enamored of this ABSOLUTE BABE that's into his schlubby little ass, who's cool and funny and involved in the same insane workplace he is, and when Yoruichi sometimes complains to him about how crazy her lieutenant is, his only frame of reference is... Mayuri. He thinks this is normal, and the romantic relationship between him and Yoruichi continues to grow. She's his unexpected 11 out of 10, he's her fun dirty little secret. It's kinda tawdry, but it is honest.

Then TBTP happens. Kisuke and Yoruichi sorta accidentally frame themselves for treason, then someone (Aizen) very on purpose frames them for treason.

And so far as Soi Fon knows, the woman she loved, the woman she devoted her life to, the woman who (allegedly) loved her back- has lied to and discarded her.

It hurts. It hurts A Lot.

...Enter Isshin Shiba.

In AEIWAM, Isshin becomes a captain the same week TBTP happens, though he's on the other side of the rukongai when that shit goes down, so he shows up to his first captain's meeting with more than half the captains being brand new to their jobs, not totally sure what he or anyone else is doing-

-And there's Soi Fon. Alone and Miserable.

Isshin is an older brother to a younger sister (who never gets a name in canon) and an uncle to her three children, but they all live way out in the middle of nowhere so he hardly ever sees them and seeing Soi Fon at the meeting, exhausted and distraught (And maybe a little bit hungover) activates every single Big Brother And Uncle instinct he's been looking to inflict on someone.

It's VERY easy for him to hear Soi Fon's side of the story, conveniently ignore the part where she actively chose to believe in a romantic relationship she knew didn't actually exist, and cast Yoruichi as The Bad Guy Who Took Advantage Of My Poor Substitute Little Sister.

Soi Fon, who had *almost* been on the verge of being realistic about the breakup, leans into his version of the story, because, again, she's massively starved for affection and Isshin is giving her the type of love her now-dead brothers used to. So Isshin learns Bad Gender Habits here, and Bad Listening Habits, and Bad "Casting People Into Roles Instead Of Treating Them Like People" Habits, and gets rewarded for them with Soi Fon's attention and sisterly affection.

This is also probably where his decision-making skills start to decline- Soi Fon is a Trusted Colleague of his, and he goes to her for advice on Tricky Political Things, because that's what 2nd division DOES. Unfortunately, Soi Fon lives in Information Opsec Paranoia Spy Shit Hell, and gives her advice out accordingly. He starts favoring not giving out details unless he thinks it's REALLY necessary, and using bad-faith decision making. Even More unfortunately, the Gotei-13 is a hot mess of an organization and these habits serve him well.

...Enter Masaki Ishida, and shortly thereafter, Exit Isshin Shiba until he appears in the Human world as Dr. Isshin Kurosaki, and his wife, Masaki Kurosaki.

It's during the "I met a woman who is *technically* an enemy of the state, but she was so cool I fell so hard in love I decided to do a desertion and light treason" mess, Isshin becomes properly acquainted with Urahara and Yoruichi, and eventually, he hears Yoruichi's side of the story. He reverses course, now Soi Fon is the Crazy Ex, and Yoruichi was just doing what was necessary to survive in their demented military-industrial-spy-governement workplace.

Yoruichi doubles down on his "Shut the FUCK up or Yamamoto or worse is gonna come and kill us, and everyone we love" paranoia, because she's also on the run, and when he comes to her for advice on "So apparently the hollows are WAY stronger than I thought, they KILLED MY WIFE, how am I supposed to keep my kids safe?" She advocates teaching them how to recognize and hide from hollows rather than proper self-defense or the truth, because her first fear still is retribution from Soul Society. It's not insane of her- Yamamoto has a very literally fiery temper and can hold grudges for millennia.

So Isshin Tries. But he's also very burdened by paranoid neurotic behavior he doesn't even know he has, and dodgy-if-not-totally-insane advice from his friends.

And that's what I think of Isshin Kurosaki :)

[just-horrible-things]

‘Verse: Resistance, co-author @whump-sprite AU: Chewtoy Alone (alt to Chewtoy)

Necessities [First | Prev | Next]

Ari returns to the Block 2 breakroom to get her feeding chart, spots the drug list on the table, and remembers her antibiotics crisis. Fuck. Probably time to address that.

The coffee machine dispenses another drink, then tells her to refill the beans. She adds a note to the day’s to-do list, as an add-on to the kitchen run.

She sips at the coffee without tasting anything but the heat. Just under three days of pills left. Well. They might all be dead by three days from now. The rest of the staff might come back and shoot everyone. Or the insurgents might take over, god knows what they’ll do. Probably bring their own antibiotics.

She stares at the numbers, and sighs. Excuses, excuses.

Without optimism, she redoes the sums, tapping the numbers into the calculator on her phone. 2.78 days. 

Maybe if she cut 201, maybe… 402… who else… She shuffles through the scattered pages all around her. The problem is she keeps writing things down on whatever page she’s toting around at the time, so everything is all over the place.

201 could probably do without, yeah. Maybe 208, 212, definitely 402. 413, 414… A few quick scribbled numbers, another division tapped into her phone. 

Three and a half days. Not a lot better.

What if she cut everyone who isn’t actively dying? More scribbles. More sums.

Four days.

The problem is, most of the drugs are going into the goners. If she cut her losses and let them just die, she’d have… more than a week for everyone else.

Oh, and 217 isn’t taking them anyway. How does that change the numbers? Not enough, that much she’s sure.

She needs to find more drugs, then. She’s disassembled every first aid kit she can get her hands on, but most of them were the tiny kind they keep in the offices, and didn’t even have any antibiotics. 

Oh, what about the pills she has upstairs? They’re not amox, they’re something else, but it’s all essentially the same isn’t it? She tries to picture the bottle in her head. How full was it when she took a dose this morning? … Did she take a dose this morning?

It must be something like half full. She got a new one when they started reassigning people away, didn’t she? She was worried about the supply. Maybe more than half full. Call it half – so 15 pills.

That’s… not even half a day’s worth, at the current rate. 

She’s pretty sure she could break into some more offices, but could she get into the infirmary? She hasn’t tried yet… they must have more bandages and stuff too.

Still turning her options over in her head, she starts setting up for the food round. Empty bottles get dropped off in a corner as she clears the trolley. She retrieves the big pot from the interrogation room – the sink in there is better than the ones in the break rooms.

She almost forgets the feeding chart, grabbing it and the clipboard at the last minute, then heads for the elevator.

Since there’s no one to tell her not to, she’s put everyone on essentially the same rations. Easier than keeping track of who’s meant to be starving and how badly – and besides, what would the point be?

There’s also no one in the canteen or the kitchens to serve up the slop she usually collects – whatever the fuck that stuff is. But the doors on the store rooms weren’t built to real security standards and Ari’s crowbar got her in without much trouble.

There’s enough bread in the freezers to feed an army. Ari gets a batch out every morning, and the stuff she got out the day before is thawed and ready to serve. She kinda imagined it would come out damp, but somehow it doesn’t.

She doesn’t give enough fucks to try and cook for the prisoners, but there’s loads of canned shit in the stores. Beans, lentils, tomatoes, soups of all kinds, hot dogs, corn, peas, corned beef…

Ari picks a couple of ingredients every meal – avoiding anything that looks like it might need cooking – and just tips out a dozen cans or so into the big pot. Today it’s peas and hot dogs. Sure, the resulting heap of cold ingredients isn’t exactly appetising. But it’s real food, and honestly it looks better to Ari than the unidentifiable shit the kitchen usually serves up. 

Some of the chattier prisoners have questioned the food, but none of them have complained per se. So she figures they probably feel similarly.

The pot, the bread, and a few extra cans of soup go onto the trolley. Oh – and more coffee beans. She nearly forgot. Then she drags it back down to Interrogations. Pill bottles also go on the trolley. One stop at the interrogation room to grab the plastic bowls, and she’s ready to go.

She’ll try the infirmary this afternoon, she’s decided. For now, she’ll skip the amox for everyone who doesn’t really need it. If she gets her hands on more, she can go back to giving it liberally, but she ought to try and conserve it for now.

The first pass is for everyone on the block who can take a bowl and feed themselves. 201, 202. 205 through 208. 

“No drugs today, interrogator?” 201 accuses right off the bat. “Given up on me already? What did I do?” “You don’t need them,” Ari fires back. “Your back’s healing fine.”

211 only gets what food she can drop through the grate. That means mostly bread. Today she puts a couple of hot dogs in a plastic cup and drops that through as well. Probably they’ll fall out when the cup hits the floor, but that’s his problem. 

If she’d been living off bread for a week she’d probably eat hot dogs off the floor.

“Come on,” he cajoles, “you can open the door. I’ll be good, I’ll wait at the back.”

214, 215 – 215 screams a little startled scream like she does half the time the door opens, even though she must be able to hear Ari going up and down the block. 218, 219.

“Can’t you take the chain off? Just so I can eat?” “You can reach your mouth just fine.”

Then up and down again hand feeding, or holding the bowl for the ones who can sort of feed themselves. 203, 204. 209 is crying. “Don’t hurt me,” he whimpers. “Chill,” Ari tells him. “It’s just breakfast. If I was here to hurt you, you’d know about it.”

210, dead-eyed and compliant. A little more awake, perhaps? Not a lot. 212. 213 glares daggers at Ari the whole time, but he eats. 216 threw up yesterday, so she gets a smaller portion, fed slowly. 

217 is also crying. “Are you sure you won’t take the antibiotics? Might bring your fever down…” “No drugs,” 217 mumbles, and flinches at her own courage. Ari sighs. “If I was trying to drug you, you know I could force you.” “No drugs.”

220. The chain that connects his wrists to the wall has enough slack to let him reach the toilet and move around a little, which means it also has enough slack for him to lunge at her if he’s really determined. “Try to bite me and you don’t get fed today,” she reminds him. “Unchain me and you wouldn’t have to get your hands that close,” he grouses. “Do you want this, or not?”

He shuts up, so she feeds him. “You’re scared of me,” he observes between mouthfuls of peas. Ari doesn’t dignify it with a response. “If you weren’t scared, you’d have done worse to me by now. You know you should be scared. I’m going to remember –” Ari shoves the spoon into his mouth hard enough that it clacks on his teeth and the split on his lip starts bleeding a little again. “Just shut up, will you? Eat. Be glad I’m still bothering to feed you.”

He doesn’t know how fucking lucky he is. He’d only been here a day – maybe two? – before the real interrogators fucked off. Probably wouldn’t be so fucking cocky if he’d tasted a bit of real punishment.

Block 4 is much the same as Block 2. She skips 403. Make trouble while you’re being fed, you don’t get fed.

404 refuses food, closing her mouth and turning her head away. “C’mon,” Ari coaxes, “you’re only gonna get sicker if you don’t eat.” The prisoner won’t look at her, and she won’t eat either.

408 licks Ariadne’s hand while she’s trying to feed him a hot dog. She slaps him, and takes the rest of the food away. Fucking typical. He’s always trying to gross her out.

415 turns his head away after a couple of mouthfuls. “I can’t,” he mumbles, “I feel sick.” Ari sighs. She checks her clipboard. He didn’t manage much yesterday either. “What about soup?” she offers. “I got some tomato soup, that’s easy to keep down.” He hums a thready, uncertain sound. “I’ll come back with soup.”

403 is whining as Ari drags the trolley back past his door. Evidently he’s worked out that she skipped over him. She pauses briefly to listen. “I’m sorry, okay? I said I was sorry. Ple-ease. Feed me. Interrogator? Can you hear me? I’m sorry.” “You’re not,” she tells him through the door. He’s always whining, but it doesn’t stop him lunging for the door at the slightest hint of a chance.

Ari dumps the empty bowls into the sink to wash up, and returns to the breakroom to warm a can of soup for 415 like she promised. She brings it to his cell with a couple of slices of bread, settles beside him on the floor, and dips little bits of the bread in the soup for him. He eats, if reluctantly.

“I think I’m dying,” he whispers between bites. “Am – I dying, sir? I don’t want to die…” “I don’t know,” Ari answers honestly. “The pills are meant to help.” He eats a little more, then, “Why? Why me?” Ari shrugs her shoulders. “I dunno. Wrong place, wrong time, I guess.” “I didn’t do anything…” A delayed flinch, as he realises the claim might get him punished. “Not my call,” Ari shakes her head. “There’s no use telling me. I couldn’t let you go if I wanted to.” “Can’t you tell them? Can’t you… please?” “I’m sorry.” There are tears in his eyes. Ari feeds him as much soup as he’ll accept, then leaves him be.

She heats another can of soup for 404, thinking maybe it’ll go down easier. The prisoner turns her head away from that, too. “Look, I even warmed it up for you,” Ari coaxes. “Just let me die,” 404 grumbles. Ari sits back on her heels. She thinks she ought to have something to say to that. Some argument or maybe admonishment. Nothing comes to mind. “I guess,” she allows, and takes the soup away. 

And since it’s already warm, Ari has 404’s portion for lunch. It’s more or less lunchtime anyway, and she doesn’t know what else she’d eat. No point opening another can. Some days she eats the same cold food she serves the prisoners, if there’s a portion left over. She kind of feels like it ought to be somehow humiliating, but it’s not like anyone’s watching.

She eats sitting on one of the desks in the security room, and reflects that she really doesn’t miss her colleagues. Yes, the quiet wears on her nerves. And yes, they’d make the work easier. She could get 211 pinned down. But fuck them. At least this way Ari isn’t being pushed around all day as well. She doesn’t have to do anyone else’s paperwork. Nobody’s getting their hands all over her.

With any luck they’ll all be killed by insurgents and she’ll never have to see them again.

She should check the news, she realises. When did she last check – yesterday? Probably the day before. No, she should finish the last of the food round first. There’s only 407 and 417 left.

Neither of them can handle solid food, so Ari waters down a final can of soup to make a broth. She warms up one bowl at a time to take to the respective cells.

407 manages less than a quarter of her portion, even fed as slow as Ari’s patience can handle. 417 manages less. Ari makes a note to try again later. Maybe she should do an extra meal for them first thing with the amox. She’d have to go to the canteen earlier in the day… or keep cans in the breakroom. That would work.

Finally the morning rounds are done. Almost in time to start all over again.

It’s callous of Ari to be glad she doesn’t have to worry about Blocks 1 or 3, but she is. She’d never get any sleep if she was dealing with eighty of the fuckers instead of forty. But 1 and 3 aren’t her problem because she can’t get in there. She’s tried the doors, but they’re built solidly to keep would-be jailbreakers out, and neither her card nor her crowbar are sufficient.

Everyone on 1 or 3 will be dead by now. It’s been – what – a week? Too long to go without water.

Reluctantly, she checks her to do list. Wash up – once she’s collected the dirty bowls. Wash yesterday’s abandoned wound dressings, which needs to happen before she can do the “medical” round, so soon. Try to break into the infirmary. And oh, yeah, the news. She can do that one over a coffee, which instantly boosts it to the top of the list.

The security computers don’t connect to the internet, but there’s a TV in the lounge. It’s approximately the oldest TV Ari’s seen since she moved out of her mom’s house, but it’s still going strong.

She flicks through channels, pausing on anything that looks like news. Something about atrocities in South America. Something about some bank shutting down. Stray dogs? A crawler headline mentions police “putting down” “civil unrest” while the presenter talks about taxation.

Looks like the party line is still “nothing to see here, business as usual”. Ari can’t really afford to watch until they do a summary, which might have something useful in it. But presumably if the channels were allowed to talk about the insurgency it’s all they would be talking about.

She’d better do some washing up, she supposes.

She takes the tray of used dressings up to the kitchen, because the break room really doesn’t have the facilities to boil water. While the pot’s coming to the boil, Ari rinses the worst of the blood and pus out of the dressings in the sink with a shitload of detergent. Once the water’s boiling, she dumps the whole load in.

She has no idea how long is long enough to boil things – this is some kind of medieval makeshift hygiene and Ari’s well out of her depth. Usually she lets it boil for about half an hour, figuring that surely that has to be long enough. This batch sat out overnight and got flies on, so she gives it an extra fifteen minutes.

While she waits, she raids the storeroom for a packet of crisps. She eats about half, but they taste of cardboard so she abandons the pack half-eaten.

Three or four days. Is she really still gonna be stuck here then, still living the same day over and over?

[Next]

[scotianostra]

July 2nd 1266 saw the Treaty of Perth, where Norway renounced it’s claim on the Hebrides.

The Treaty of Perth brought about peace between Norway and Scotland, settling their respective territorial claims; Scotland gained the Hebrides and the Isle of Man, compensating Norway with a sum of 4,000 marks, together with an annual fee of 100 marks payable in perpetuity, while Norway’s sovereignty over Orkney and Shetland was confirmed.

The Treaty was concluded between the nobles of King Magnus VI of Norway  and King Alexander III of Scotland and signed in Perth. The division of territory had been in dispute for many years, with Kintyre proving a particular problem. However, Magnus’s father Haakon IV had lost the Battle of Largs just three years earlier, giving the Scots the upper hand when the son sued for peace. The route towards a treaty was probably paved by a monk - Reginald of Melrose - while its terms were finalised through negotiations which took place directly with Alexander III in Perth in 1265 and 1266. Magnus’s representatives were Chancellor Askatin and Andres Nikolasson. The treaty was renewed and ratified in Inverness on 29th October 1312.

The Scots were slow to pay up, with the last installment of the 4,000 mark payment not reaching Norway until 1282. It is not known exactly when the annual payments were suspended, but the Norwegians are known to have had difficulties collecting the money owed during the 14th and 15th centuries. The debts were eventually written off as part of the marriage agreement between King James III and Margaret of Denmark in 1468, which ceded Orkney and Shetland the Scottish crown.

The pic shows the seal of Alexander III which without a doubt would have been on the treaty itself.

[gryficowa]

AI:

"This is a very interesting topic that affects both politics and intergenerational dynamics. In the case of presidential elections in 2024, Donald Trump gained the support of many voters, and some of them, including younger generations, can be perceived as responsible for his success. Similarly, in the case of 2004 elections, George W. Bush also had its controversy related to support for the war in Iraq. Here are a few points that can help in understanding this situation:

Criticism of the Y generation: In the case of Bush, some members of the Y generation who supported the intervention in Iraq were criticized for their decisions to contribute to his re -election. Many people thought the war was unjustified and its consequences were catastrophic.

Divisions in society: As in the case of Trump, in 2004 there were divisions among voters. Younger generations may have been more likely to criticize Bush's policy, but some of them could also support him, which led to internal tensions.

Media and narratives: In both cases, the media played a key role in shaping public opinion. In 2004, like now, narratives about war and foreign policy were intensively discussed, which affected the perception of responsibility for election results.

The role of activism: in the case of generation Y, Many people were involved in anti -war movements, which could lead to accusations that their actions contributed to political results, which were incompatible with their values.

To sum up, both in the case of Bush and Trump, younger generations were involved in politics, which led to various reactions and accusations. This phenomenon shows how complicated relations between generations in the context of politics. What other aspects of this situation are you interested in?"

Generation Y are hypocrites in this respect, because they themselves were hated by the X generation for their "political" views and were antagonized for support for Iraq (as we are the zoomers for supporting Palestine)

Generation Y forget about its own what they voted for Bush, because they were 100% like that

Generation Y which masturbates to Harris and accuses the whole generation of zoomers for winning Trump are fucking hypocrites

You do not differ from those who supported the invasions of Iraq and defended Bush, you do it towards Harris, who openly said that he supported Israel, you are attacking the zoomers for criticizing Harris as you were attacked by generation x for criticizing bush criticism

Remember someone and what you thought about the invasion of Iraq, because we think the same, we think about Palestine and US support in fucking genocide

Because shock, there is no such thing as "less evil" in the genocide, if you believe in the times of genocide that someone who supports genocide is a smaller evil then you are a problem, not those who react and criticize who you consider "less evil"

If you think that genocide is a smaller evil "because it does not touch you" then you are already a fucking fascist

People thought like the Nazis (who were Germans) murdered people, because "it doesn't touch me, so it's not my problem"

So congratulations to generation Y, from progressive you have become like those who accepted the Holocaust and as those who have antitagonized you for supporting Iraq, fascism did not get only a generation of zoomers but also you

When criticizing zoomers, you are a hypocrite and we have nothing to discuss

[aromanticduck]

I don't think we should stop teaching kids things like long multiplication/division because there is value in being able to manipulate numbers and correctly carry out an algorithmic process, but I do think we spend way more time on it than we should (at least at my school).

I hate to sound like the 'we basically always have a calculator so what's the point?' complainer kid, but... we very much do have access to a calculator most of the time. So I think kids would benefit from less time cranking out arithmetic problems and more time:

Practising good calculator use

Learning to use things like estimation, inverse calculations, parity, and check digits to spot a wrong answer

Looking at a problem and figuring out which sums to do (we already do this, but there should be more of it and calculator use should be allowed more often)

This is more for younger kids, but taking the time to make sure they understand exactly what each operation actually means (this will make the above point easier because a sentence about sharing something out between different people will scream 'division')

Learning more about the properties of the different operations (which are commutative and which aren't, which are inverses of each other - maybe things like being able to cancel factors before you divide or how multiplying by a and then by b is the same as multiplying by ab, but I know some kids who would really struggle with that)

Problem solving and logical thinking

There's way more, but anyway I think it's less important for a kid to be able to do, say, 34 x 59 by hand than it is for them to be able to recognise something like 93 (accidentally pressing + instead of x) or 3105 (pressing 5 before x instead of after) as a wrong answer.

[sweetfirebird]

Hey, everyone. Remember how Tumblr had a Russian psyop problem a few years ago? Or maybe you are too young and you don't remember. Basically, around 2016-18 there was an effort to undermine efforts to get leftist Tumblr users to vote and/or organize in any way. And it worked.

To briefly sum up the idea of psyops: outside agents will use your language against you to try to convince you to give up or to do what they want. In Tumblr's case, that was the language of social justice and leftist ideals used to silence critics, to create divisions that prevented leftists from working together to achieve change, and to demotivate people and create despair/chaos.

But not only Russia can do this of course. The US government has used this tactic against people for years, like in WWII, or, you know, against the Black Panthers or other civil rights groups and movements.

One could argue that Fox News is also one giant psyop, and you might have seen people on Tumblr argue that the tradwife movement and many influencers are also psyops. Copaganda is also very much a thing, and deliberately so.

Psyop means "psychological operations." In World War II, the army just called it propaganda. For a while, some called it MISO (military information support operations.)

There are three main types, according to the US military anyway: strategic, operational, and tactical.

Famous examples are like, radio programs or leaflets distributed in wartime to lower the morale and resistance of troops and/or the civilian population. Or what is happening Ukraine right now. Or, say, ads in the 1980s convincing white Americans that they needed to brutally incarcerate Black men and that Reagan was great and was saving them. Changing the wording in American textbooks to make it seem like slavery was just a job or that Native Americans willingly went on the Trail of Tears. (My actual childhood textbook.) That kind of shit. Portraying anti-Musk boycotts as inherently violent and scary.

Basically, the ultimate purpose is to convince people to either support something, to fall in line, or to give up.

This can include media narratives, putting out false or misleading information, using individual operatives to stir up trouble and dissent, strategically creating a sense of rising fear or desperation to compromise critical thinking, ads, movies, using nostalgia to influence people, and so on.

On Tumblr, these take a slightly different form.

You might see callout posts targeting individuals and making a whole lot of accusations that are "proven" by the alleged support of other blogs. That these posts are often aimed at trans and/or BIPOC people is surely a coincidence, right? Right?

You might get those anonymous asks wondering if you know that you reblogged something once from someone who may or may not have allegedly once done something terrible and implying you might be terrible too for doing this.

You might see posts calling certain kinds of activities or beliefs cringe. (I swear to you if I see one more post mocking "wine moms" for their activism.... like okay but are those moms still showing up at the protests and the town halls? Focus on other things. It's more productive.)

You will see people nitpicking ideologies or public figures and dismissing them for not being good enough--and look, you absolutely should question public figures and look at their track records and their works, and you should vote or say whatever you feel is best. But these posts will often use derogatory language toward anyone who disagrees, and they will often lack nuance.

*Look for nuance. Nuance is the friend of reason. Always question! Always look for sources!*

There's other stuff but I'm not an expert on the subject. I just want Tumblr users inoculated against this shit.

--As a quick guide: look for repeated words and phrases You know, like how conservatives started tossing "groomer" around. And check for outside sources and not just the original poster. Look *outside of Tumblr* and also *outside of mainstream American news* which is extremely compromised.

Also look to see if the callout posts in particular are holding someone to a standard that they wouldn't hold someone else to. i.e. if the accused weren't Black or trans, would this even have been an issue?

Also, if you want to do more research:

How to Recognize a Psyop in Three Easy Steps (also contains links for further reading)

a Reddit discussion on the subject

Basically, you need to question where information is coming from and why, and why then, and look for nuance or repeated words or phrases. Let's be careful this time. (And that includes me. We all fall for this shit sometimes.)

[blonndiec]

Someone already contradicting themselves but only to save face, they blocked the people who called everything with proofs (and now everybody else is a dick but I guess a dick itself cannot cance/block themselves) and sent other people to “defend them”.

So Dakota Johnson sums up this situation because this public instance was recently “changed” and now it’s being used as a change in narrative to create again a twisted version of what people were saying with PROOF:

And I can really vibe with this because of these screenshots using phrases, wording and narratives that state exactly the opposite to this said “fandom etiquete” that is being posted (these screenshots are mine, by the way):

(For the 2 images at the bottom: First one was the original, then 10 minutes later there was a curious change in wording to make it more relatable, gut wrenching and really tackle sympathy. Quite curious, don't you think? Anyway, I have more from this incident when we can view point 2 of the fandom etiquett and from which I have proof no one was attacked and I'm no acephobe because...really, I'm married to an ace myself. So? Really? Then using these wording and then adding the 'red flag because of using a 'nazi term' - like really, this person wanted me OVER, gone.)

So, given this, I have no problems in asking the hard questions:

So again, to sum it up, I bring Dakota in again:

🌈Let’s stop complicit this behaviors🌈

And also, let's stop falling from this kind of attempts to twist the narrative. That is what is truly TOXIC in a fandom, and DIVISIVE. Right now, I can tell there will be a discourse going around with the likes of 'Poor me, I didn't recognize that this person was only falsely friendly and now I see it was a red flag' to gain sympathy, but never for a second was not a acknowledge, or nothing of sorts that could indicate conversation or closure. No.

And for the record, yes, I did admired them very much and I did sincerely thought if them as a friend. I was there cheering, commenting, and yes, even defending them when a series of events happened with bookmarks, then also motivated them to keep despite them not having the desired engagement. Truly it was this way, and I have nothing to lose or a motive to be lying about this - better, ask yourself why I'm coming forward and think that if that someone considered me their friend...why didn't they came directly to me to ask me 'Hey, this happened, let's talk.'? You don't call acephobe asshole, a karen, a bigot, an Ivanka, acuses of using Nazi term -and more-, to someone you considered a friend knowing you will put them as a person in a very though spot with very damaging lies. So again, I repeat: Le's not fall for vicim narratives only to keep creating lies that will make people feel morally obligated to commiserate.

But what it IS TRUE is that there is a lot of people who have come forward or reached out to me about the 'weird vibes' and lack of sincerity they do feel about this person and also people who had been labeled and discriminated unjustly by this same person in a space that should be all about community, enjoyment and fun about what we love. But we are all the dicks, apparently, not them. Anyway, this is the last time (most probably) I'll be discussing this unless this person starts attacking me again with false accusations or the likes of anything similar to harassment. Which in that case, I will speak about it and report it accordingly.

That’s all.

HAPPY NEW YEARS✨

And here is the whole Dakota Johnson video, because SAME.

[michaelrotonal]

cool math thing i'm wondering about

are there infinitely many primes of the form n^2+1?

you'd think you could figure it out easily but no

list of thoughts on this:

numbers of the form n^2+1 cannot be divisible by numbers that are 3 mod 4.

each prime of the form 1 mod 4 only has 2 values of n where n^2+1 is divisible by it

this is isomorphic to "are there infinitely many gaussian primes of the form n+i?"

each individual prime factor only blocks out at most half of the n values, but every n value hits some prime factor. i feel like there's no way that at some point every n value hits two prime factors.

there are two ways to prove that for any prime, there's a n^2+1 that doesn't include any primes up to it.

way one is by picking an appropriate remainder for each prime, and using the chinese remainder theorem to find an n that works

the other way is just multiplying all the primes up to it and taking that as your n

if you're reading this, i'd like to invite you to reblog with any of your own thoughts you may have on this problem that are not already there

every prime that is 4n+1 can be written as a sum of two squares, but the question is how often is one of those squares 1?

sums of two squares are nice because you can multiply together two of them and make another new one of them

how is this conjecture not on wikipedia yet though. it seems like such a simple thing to ask

[dynared]

My general observation of the Earthspark reactions is that somehow the show managed to be the worst of both worlds.

Season 1, for all its endless faults, did legitimately try to do new things with the settings and characters, based off of the divisive IDW comics, although hardly subservient to them. It didn't work as far as the toy sales went, like, at all, and the rumors from sources such as the Transformers Slag podcast persist that the only reason a Season 2 was greenlit was because the 40th anniversary was this year and Hasbro wanted something on TV for the sake of the optics. But even with all that, they were trying new things.

The problem is that it didn't work, Season 2 (which rumors indicate will be the last season) seems to have had its budget slashed, and a lot of its writing staff let go (most notably Mae Catt, Ms. "I am the Gay Agenda!" getting kicked to the curb) with the show clearly showing elements of a retool. The Decepticons are back to being the bastards everyone knows and loves and Starscream is his stereotypical self again.

The problem is that the retool didn't go nearly far enough. Most of the elements from Season 1 and the skeleton of the big themes of family and the small town are there, but they're now in direct conflict with the more conventional theming of Season 2.

Now you need to couple that with a lower budget, animation courtesy of the brain trust behind Megamind vs. The Doom Syndicate, and in general, a show that doesn't really know what it wants to be anymore, with themes, characterizations, and conflicts all seemingly in conflict with a whole that is assuredly less than the sum of its parts while Hasbro executives are probably wondering if they would have been better off just dubbing Shinkalion episodes while waiting for Transformers One to hit theaters.

The next show that comes out (Which Dollars to Donuts will be a One spinoff the same way Tales of the TMNT is a spinoff of Mutant Mayhem) needs to accomplish a very simple goal Earthspark failed to, and that's just get the kids invested so they can buy the toys. It doesn't need to redefine the core tenets of the franchise only so it can backpedal on them later, nor does it need to use deep comic lore to get those same adults to watch. It just needs to be something that the kids can engage with and actually make them interested in getting some products, via fun visuals or an engaging story that they can get.

It's another reason why I really don't know what they're going to do if One bombs. At that point, it probably will be time for something more in the vein of what Beast Wars was to G1 (Or G Gundam was to the Universal Century Gundam entries), a radical shift from the status quo designed to shock the brand back into relevancy.

[mariaspir]

Why is Joy Womak such a controversial figure in ballet?

Well...

Over the years she has ruined her reputation through various statements, actions, and ongoing behaviours.

She graduated BBA and claimed she was the first American to do that, idk how true that statement is. BBA has a reputation for taking on any foreigner who will pay, the foreigners are placed in a different class from the Russians who trained there from childhood, and they don't graduate with the same technical finesse. Joy, however, was in the Russian division, she clearly has had that level of technical ability at some point in her life. She graduated at the top of her class and went into the Bolshoi, where she expected to be a soloist from day 1. She was not. And she didn't like that, she claimed (publicly, on interviews) that she was asked to sleep her way up or pay a large sum of money if she wanted roles. I can't tell you how much of that is true, I was a kid at the time and honestly have no interest in looking that up. She left Bolshoi in 2014 (in the midst of all the Filin acid attack mess) with her name already tainted and went on to Kremlin Ballet.

I first followed her YT channel back when she was in Kremlin, before she was a soloist. She claimed she was always a principal dancer when she was a coryphee at best. I think there was some sort of agreement that her contract would be that of a soloist to sort out some visa problems, but her workload (and pay as far as I could understand) was that of a coryphee. Her "power" within the company was that of a coryphee as well, not a newbie in the corps, but definitely someone who should respect the higher ranks, and recognize their experience, talent, and seniority. She did none of that. She was constantly complaining about not getting roles while claiming she was better than other dancers who did solos, called other dancers lazy, she accused a prima of "accidentally" hitting her and making her foot bleed, she publicly called another principal a drunk, she claimed that a pianist wouldn't play for her rehearsal because she's American, and she filmed and posted company classes for years, while being told repeatedly to stop from colleagues. Eventually, she did get promoted and then continued complaining about the rehearsal studios, the pay, not getting the roles she wanted, and on and on... The thing is, Kremlin is one of the most prestigious Moscow ballet companies, in the center of Russia, who get graduates from VBA, BBA, Perm, and wherever else they want. If you don't like it, honey, you're replaceable. I don't think leaving was 100% Joy's choice, I wouldn't be surprised if some other members went up to management and had a few words.

After Kremlin, she went to Universal Ballet in Korea, where she again claimed to be a principal, barely posted anything, and left after a year. She worked as a freelancer for a while, in one of those companies that tour Europe and sleep in a bus. She then went on to Boston Ballet, where she was corps de ballet, and was really unhappy about that. Joy thinks that from some divine source she's owed the title of prima ballerina, she thinks she's the next Anna Pavlova, so when her contract in Boston was done, she went back to Russia to Astrakhan Ballet, where her wish finally came true, she was a prima, she danced all the leading roles, her genius was finally appreciated. And then Russia invaded Ukraine.

She, like many foreigners dancing in Russia, got offered a contract in Europe, in her case, a part-time corps contract in the Paris Opera Ballet. Idk if part time is the correct term, basically she was hired as an extra for a specific number of shows, I think it was Ballet Imperial and Who Cares? Anyway, POB has a "competition" (concours) to get promoted, so basically Joy had to present the selected variation (it was something from Lacotte's Paquita), which she did, and didn't get a permanent corps contract. So now she lives in Paris, her "favourite city" (a few years ago, that was Moscow) and does various projects as a freelancer.

She has had a bunch of movies about herself, an autobiography, apparently she runs some non-profit now (wtf is the Joy Womack Foundation), and has a "company" of some sort. Also she used to have some sketchy protein bar company, the Prima Bar (the obsession with being a prima continues). She was recently selected as a member of the Prix de Lausanne 2025 jury (rolling my eyes), which I find ridiculous because she's a no one in the ballet world. I mean, last year they had Darcey Bussell.

In general, I think she's sketchy, dishonest, never content with what she has, and she gives off mlm/the grind never stops vibes. Not a fan. It's insane I've been writing for an hour, and it's just an overview of the most prominent points. I absolutely have forgotten some things.

But I do live for the drama, so keep the juicy questions coming 🤣

[dertaglichedan]

'The FBI will crush you': Suspended Special Agent Garret O'Boyle risks it all to warn Americans about politicized agency

Two years after being wrongly accused of a media leak, O’Boyle waits on the DOJ Office of Inspector General for redemption.

WAUKESHA, Wis.— Contemplating the hellish past two years he and his family have endured at the hands of the FBI, indefinitely suspended Special Agent Garret O’Boyle paused for a moment over his breakfast plate at a favorite local diner.

How does one sum up such a nightmare roller coaster?

Bumped from his upward career-track FBI job based on provably bogus charges, O’Boyle was suspended and lost his security clearance, his salary, his health insurance, his home, and his peace of mind. All thanks to the FBI, which he says knew the charges that started it all were false — but proceeded against him anyway. Who has words for that?

As it turns out, O’Boyle does.

“It’s evil,” he said.

During his days as a patrol officer with the Waukesha Police Department, O’Boyle sometimes walked a beat downtown near the end of his overnight shift. One of his favorite breakfast haunts was Dave’s Family Restaurant on West Broadway.

More than seven years later, O’Boyle, 38, found himself back in a booth at Dave’s, enjoying a hamburger steak, eggs, and hash browns while trying to process and verbalize what the past two years have wrought.

Back then, his goal was to become an FBI special agent, a dream he realized in mid-2018. His attempts to rectify serious problems he found at the FBI were met with a weaponized response — an unpaid suspension and a campaign of retaliation that has devastated him, his wife of 14 years, and their growing family of four daughters.

“I’ve been telling my wife since the beginning of the suspension that we’re different people now,” O’Boyle explained. “We’re changed forever. We’re never going to be the Garret and Heidi that we were. I struggle with that on one end, because we liked our life.”

As a new special agent in July 2018, O’Boyle was assigned to the resident agency in Wichita, Kansas, part of the Kansas City Field Office. He excelled at the work. In his first two years, he was named to the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, was selected for the Kansas City Division’s SWAT team, and became a defensive-tactics instructor.

When the COVID-19 pandemic swept across the globe, O’Boyle saw cracks form in the facade of the FBI as he once imagined it. There were serious problems with how the FBI handled its response to the virus. Several times O’Boyle spoke to supervisors about FBI practices he believed were civil rights violations that ran afoul of the U.S. Constitution and violated federal law.

“It soon became clear that no one within FBI management or leadership took seriously his good-faith protected disclosures of FBI wrongdoing — much less investigated them, fixed the problems or punished the wrongdoers,” said Tristan Leavitt, president of Empower Oversight, a Virginia-based group that advocates for government whistleblowers.

[kamenstrikerace]

HOW NOSTALGIA PANDERING RUINED YGO

On today's topic, we're gonna explain why nostalgia ruined Yugioh and why it became stereotyped 100% because of Konami's bullshit. I call it Alienating 101. You see, I don't care enough to try to explain in too much depth, but let's keep it short.

Let's start off with the reason and why. Konami made new support cards based on one duel from the YGO anime, but people forgot that it's from the manga. The Metal Raiders cards got some support but are all underwhelming and don't feel anything but cheap and uninteresting. Why exactly is that? Well, nostalgia in YGO is just straight-up horse shit. This is mainly because YGO shows past the original were never marketed heavily like the first series. Fanboys in the USA overpraised the first series but overkilled it at the same time.

Konami's current practice of basing Yugioh cards on manga panels rather than promoting creativity is seen as nepotism and detrimental to the game's evolution. You feel this approach limits community creativity and serves primarily to glorify the first anime series, neglecting the potential for new and innovative card designs. This trend frustrates you because it prioritizes nostalgia over fresh ideas and diversity within the game.

In my opinion, Konami just keeps pandering Yugioh cards that are mostly Duel Monsters (first ygo series) way too much towards its fandom. As of this year, Konami has pissed off its fandom and people are fed up. It's also ironic that Ygo fans can't read or explain shit. What is this, the Dragon Ball community?

So what is nostalgia pandering? It's pretty much what happens when you pander nostalgia to anyone who is a baby boomer or a zoomer. But there is something shocking. Yugioh fans are straight-up toxic because most of them are blinded by nostalgia towards shows like DM, GX, or fucking Zexal. In my opinion, YGO shows are often the subject of debate, but in recent years Konami doesn't even explain shit. Most of the reason people view the first YGO this way is because it was the first one that everyone overliked and overlooked the most. Now, I have nostalgia towards 5D's, but unlike DM and GX, I don't consider 5D's as toxic as the first series because 5D's broke the mold for Yugioh in the past and ultimately saved it from doom or cancellation.

But I think the real reason was the 2010s when Konami started to pander this shit everywhere. Take the disaster movie Dark Side of Dimensions, which in my opinion sucked and was nothing more than nostalgia 101 for Duel Monsters fanboys. That movie doesn't deserve to be praised and is trash, in my opinion. The whole movie was nostalgia clickbait gone wrong, and people refused to hate it because if you were part of the 2010s fandom, you would get canceled instantly. I seriously think that movie's fault was Takahashi's.

And let's include YGO ARC-V as well, since that series was straight-up underwhelming due to its choice of nostalgia.

Then we have the fandom finally opening their damn eyes and seeing what's next. On the YGO Organization, I saw this person who told us exactly how Konami is screwing up our childhood. He summed it up perfectly. They print cards based on the anime and manga, and to make things worse, Konami keeps making bad choices in the effect division, with it being once again based off the shows.

See, part of the problem with YGO and its fandom is the influence of mainstream media and the community of other series as well. Nobody cares about newer fans, instead pandering towards the older fans who started the genre 20-40 years ago. Take, for example, Pokemon's community, where Game Freak keeps putting Gen 1 Pokemon in every new game, or the Digimon franchise, where Bandai pandered with movies a couple of years ago. This is because nostalgia for fans of those shows who started it can make money, but in recent years, it started to become a meme. In the 2010s, nostalgia became one of the most problematic things.Konami's focus on nostalgia and its perceived neglect of newer fans can be attributed to corporate greed. They prioritize profit over the integrity of their product and the satisfaction of their fanbase. This approach has led to decisions that favor pandering to older fans who are more likely to spend money on nostalgic content, while potentially alienating newer fans who may not have the same attachment to older series. This strategy has been criticized for undermining the quality and innovation of the Yugioh franchise, leading to frustration and disappointment among fans.

Yugioh fans often struggle to accept realities that challenge their nostalgic views, whether related to the card game or the anime series. This nostalgia can blind them to flaws and shortcomings in newer iterations of the franchise. Some fans may perpetuate stereotypes and illogical arguments, which hinders constructive discourse within the community. It's important to encourage a balanced perspective that appreciates the franchise's history while also acknowledging its evolution and areas for improvement. Promoting open-mindedness and logical reasoning can help foster healthier discussions among fans.

[vigilantempathy]

GO 2 Spoilers: The System's Strategy; Dismantling and Building a Better Universe (?)

Caution: HUGE SPOILERS for S2 of GOOD OMENS!!!

(The System = Heaven, Hell, and Earth, as a cohesive whole with the illusion of inherent separation between components, all under the control of the Almighty, all functioning in keeping with The Ineffable Plan of God. Preserving status quo of The System is the primary function of The System.)

Appreciating the strategic brilliance of the offer made to Aziraphale, and the order the information was presented to him, and how the offer was made.

Aziraphale and Crowley did one intentionally "minor" miracle together and tried to make it as sneaky as possible and it was STILL off-the-charts powerful in a way neither Heaven nor Hell had seen before. In S2 they take on, separately, Heaven and Hell but they each win. And then, when it looks like both sides are ready for war, Aziraphale and Crowley instead negotiate peace. If they stay a team, they could easily take on both Heaven and Hell; neither is a true threat to either of them anymore, so Heaven/Hell would have to bribe them rather than threaten them. Even worse, they could potentially unify Heaven and Hell and Earth and actually pull off some level of universal harmony, and harmony has no place in a status quo built on a myth of division. The worst possible thing for Heaven and Hell would be the realization that they're all the same side, and that Earth is another equal component.

Aziraphale and Crowley also both consistently choose earth, and choose each other, in ways both Heaven and Hell know about and have not been able to find ways around.

Heaven and Hell are more motivated by maintaining the artificial (bureaucratic) status quo in which they are a zero-sum game and Heaven and Hell are the only options and separate options. We often see collaboration between them, and the actions of both are often revealed to be overlapping parts of the same ineffable plan. They're all cogs in the same divine machine. To both Heaven and Hell, life on Earth is of no independent significance; it's just a battleground for Heaven and Hell.

Aziraphale and Crowley successfully teaming up blows all of that to bits. Simply by choosing each other and choosing earth, they can tear it all down.

Beelzebub and Gabriel are allowed to fuck off together because each of them cares, first and foremost, about themselves. They're both fundamentally selfish; neither of them give a damn about a greater good, and certainly neither cares about Earth. Selfishness is why they each made good leaders for their respective sides: they could each see it as "us" vs. "them" and act in self-interest. They were good at keeping The System running. They won't cause problems or get in the way of The Ineffable Plan if they ditch it all and run off together.

But if Crowley and Aziraphale are allowed to run off together, the next time Earth is the battleground, they'll come back to save earth, and if they're a team, they'll likely win. That would dismantle the whole system.

So, strategically, The System (Heaven and Hell, as operants of God and 'opposing' instruments in the same Ineffable Plan) need to either get Aziraphale and Crowley to waive their loyalties to Earth or to each other. The System has nothing it can threaten after Aziraphale/Crowley's little (unthinkably massive) power display, so it has to bribe.

The offer (read: bribe, not threat) has three components: (1) Aziraphale in charge; (2) Crowley can be reinstated as angel; (3) the first project is the Second Coming. These pieces of information are revealed in careful order, and all with the illusion of choice. The components increase in bargaining leverage; the Metatron brings out successively 'bigger guns' in negotiation, and only at points where pushback is anticipated.

Metatron controls like a mofo, mostly by giving the illusion of free choice, just as God controls Satan by giving the illusion of free will in falling: you can have choice, insofar as God allows you to. If God gives free will, how free can that will truly be?

There are three possible outcomes, and all of them reduce the potential threat the Aziraphale/Crowley team poses to The System:

(1) Complete acceptance of the offer: Aziraphale is in charge, Crowley is an angel again, and they're teaming up to work on the Second Coming. (Aziraphale and Crowley are back in The System with undivided loyalty to It. Complete control.)

(2) Partial acceptance of the offer: Aziraphale is in charge, Crowley is an angel again, but the two of them team up to stop the Second Coming and save earth. (Aziraphale and Crowley are back in The System but their loyalty is divided between it and earth. Now Aziraphale and Crowley are back in The System and Earth is leverage to keep them in it.)

(3)Partial acceptance (Aziraphale accepts, Crowley rejects): Aziraphale is in charge and working on the Second Coming. This breaks up the team and disables the threat they posed, and now earth is at risk so earth is leverage to keep Aziraphale in The System. As long as they're separated, they can be leveraged against each other, and as long as earth is at risk, it can be leveraged against them. This is the ideal outcome for The System: keep them separated and keep earth at risk, as this way there are two points of leverage against each of the ineffable husbands and separately they lack the power to do anything about it.

The reason the Metatron gave the info in pieces and in this order and in the ways he does.

(1) Offer Aziraphale power in Heaven to test his loyalty to Heaven: if he chooses Heaven immediately, The System wins.

(2) Offer Aziraphale power in Heaven and the ability to reinstate Crowley. If they both agree here, The System gets both of them, and The System Wins. Reveal the Second Coming project only after both are on board; now they're both back in The System and will stay in it to protect earth. The System wins.

(3) Aziraphale accepts, Crowley rejects. Save the Second Coming project info for the last possible moment Aziraphale can still decline. Aziraphale didn't choose Heaven on it's own, but he did choose Heaven with Crowley. And if Crowley rejects Heaven, then the Metatron can bring out the big guns: Earth is in danger.

They use Aziraphale's goodness and selflessness against him. He chose Crowley, and Crowley chose him, but Aziraphale can't forget the greater good. Even as he's about to get on the elevator, he still turns back to look at Crowley. He's still doubting, he could still say no. So the Metatron brings up the Second Coming, because now Aziraphale knows earth is in danger and he can't abandon humanity. He would never have given up Crowley for Heaven, and only considered Heaven when he was told he could have Crowley with him there. But now that he's lost Crowley, he can't lose earth, too.

They use Crowley's curiosity and imagination and love against him. Crowley would never have accepted: The System counted on it. Crowley can't go back to Eden having eaten the apple: Crowley knows too much, has asked too many questions, has been too curious, and he can't unlearn any of it. He doesn't trust any of it anymore, so there's nothing they can offer him that he'll believe won't be taken away. Six thousand years ago he asked too many questions, and he was punished and tortured for it. He knows what The System does to people who doubt, and he knows how seriously Aziraphale doubts. He loves Aziraphale and has, across the ages, taken major personal losses and punishments and pain and torture to spare Aziraphale embarrassment and paperwork and demotion. He knows they'll hurt Aziraphale, like they hurt him, if Aziraphale rejoins The System. He's trying to protect him. And if Aziraphale's choosing to go back anyone, someone's going to have to rescue Aziraphale when it turns on him, too. He never learns about the Second Coming; they never make it to that step of the offer because Crowley rejects it before that part is on the table.

They make each other great. Aziraphale is a terrible angel (and we love him for it) and Crowley is an awful demon (and we love him for it). They're each useless to their respective sides, but combined could have a decent shot at winning against The System. The System exists to preserve itself. Aziraphale and Crowley as a team could dismantle the system.

But they're part of The Ineffable Plan, too. Wonder if God's biggest plan is to leave the universe to the two of them? Let them dismantle The System and build something new?

Almost like God felt like She didn't build it right the first time, so She made these two and gave them each other and keeps testing them to near-destruction to see if they can dismantle Her work and make something better than She did.

But She had to do it alone. And they'll have each other. Together, they can build a better world.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Marcia McNutt

Published: Nov 14, 2024

Long before the 5 November US presidential election, I had become ever more concerned that science has fallen victim to the same political divisiveness tearing at the seams of American society. This is a tragedy because science is the best—arguably the only—approach humankind has developed to peer into the future, to project the outcomes of various possible decisions using the known laws of the natural world. Since the founding of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) during the Civil War, the most divisive period in US history, science and the NAS (of which I am the current president) have consistently served the nation, regardless of the political party in power. As the scientific community continues to do so now, it must take a critical look at what responsibility it bears in science becoming politically contentious, and how scientists can rebuild public trust.

For starters, scientists need to better explain the norms and values of science to reinforce the notion—with the public and their elected representatives—that science, at its most basic, is apolitical. Careers of scientists advance when they improve upon, or show the errors in, the work of others, not by simply agreeing with prior work. Whether conservative or liberal, citizens ignore the nature of reality at their peril. A recent example is the increased death rate from COVID-19 (as much as 26% higher) in US regions where political leaders dismissed the science on the effectiveness of vaccines. Scientists should better explain the scientific process and what makes it so trustworthy, while more candidly acknowledging that science can only provide the best available evidence and cannot dictate what people should value. Science cannot say whether society should prioritize allocating river water for sustaining fish or for irrigating farms, but it can predict immediate and long-term outcomes of any allocation scheme. Science can also find solutions that avoid the zero-sum dilemma by finding conservation approaches to water management that benefit both fish and farms.

In addition, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine need to examine how scientists may have contributed to the polarization of the use of science. Although scientists must never shirk their duty to provide the foundation of evidence that can guide policy decisions and to defend science and scientists from political interference, they must avoid the tendency to imply that science dictates policy. It is up to elected officials to determine policy based on the outcomes desired by their constituents. It is the role of science to inform these decision-makers as to whether those desired outcomes are likely to result from the policies being enacted.

The scientific community must also better recognize that it may not be helpful to emphasize consensus in policy reports’ recommendations when the underlying values are not universally shared. For example, although science can affirm that climate change is happening and is primarily caused by anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, science can only predict the outcome of the various policies that might be enacted to address the problem. It is up to society and its elected leadership to decide how to balance these options, including the use of renewable energy, climate adaptation, carbon capture, or even various interventions that reflect sunlight back into space.

Last month the NAS Council issued a statement reaffirming its core principles of objectivity, independence, and excellence. This commitment requires including viewpoints far beyond just those of academia in National Academies’ advisory committees. Building trust will require more active listening to affected communities—for example, farmers, fishermen, and conservationists in the water example above. At the same time, the scientific community must fight scientific mis- and disinformation as though lives depended on truth and trust, because they do.

The public and policy-makers can discuss and debate how to respond to the myriad challenges that confront society, but these deliberations need to be informed by the objective, dispassionate evidence that only science can provide. To that end, the NAS stands ready, as it always has, to advise the incoming administration.

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Note: Marcia McNutt is president of the National Academy of Sciences.