#duplicative language

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Ryan Hills and Zach Kessel

Published: Dec 21, 2023

Harvard and its president Claudine Gay are doing damage control amid an ongoing plagiarism scandal, with the embattled leader requesting even more corrections to her past work, this time her 1997 Ph.D. dissertation — the foundation of her academic career.

But the total of seven corrections requested so far still leave dozens of other instances of potential plagiarism unresolved. And scholars who believe their work was plagiarized have told National Review that they were never contacted by Harvard as part of its investigation into Gay’s academic work.

For instance, it does not appear that any of the corrections will address portions of Gay’s doctoral dissertation drawing heavily from the work of Vanderbilt University professor Carol Swain, in some cases reproducing her writing word-for-word without citation.

Swain — who has been outspoken about her feelings on the plagiarism scandal — told National Review that she is concerned with Harvard’s response to the revelations of its president’s academic-integrity issues.

“I have a problem with the way Harvard has reacted to the entire situation, because it seems like — with the assistance of some of their professors and other elites — they’re trying to redefine what is plagiarism,” Swain said, “and they’re making the argument that there are different levels and, by extension, that some of it is acceptable. That is a problem for higher education in America.”

A number of experts and academics contacted by National Review said that the examples of potential plagiarism that have been flagged are serious, and the large number of instances suggest a pattern.

Lee Jussim, a social psychologist and distinguished professor at Rutgers University, said he’s “never seen anything like” the plagiarism scandal involving Gay.

“I can tell you, I expelled a student from my lab when I first got to Rutgers who I caught doing something not all that different — probably less — than what she has done,” he said.

On Wednesday night, the Harvard Corporation announced that Gay is requesting three corrections to her dissertation. The requests come after news outlets published several examples that appear to show Gay failing to cite other researchers and in some cases using their language word-for-word in her dissertation without attribution.

The three corrections to her dissertation come after Gay previously requested four corrections in two of her academic articles.

The Harvard Corporation has not referred to any of Gay’s mistakes as plagiarism, but rather as instances of “inadequate citation” and “duplicative language without appropriate attribution.”

This week, National Review analyzed 30 of the disputed passages, which include many that remain unaddressed in the corrections that Gay has requested to date.

The 30 disputed passages arise from four publications: a 1993 history magazine, her 1997 Harvard dissertation, and two Urban Affairs Review journal articles from 2012 and 2017. In some of the cases, Gay appears to have put her citations in the wrong place or to have failed to put quotation marks around language she took verbatim from other academics. In other cases, she appears to have lifted large swaths of language from other researchers — including some of her Harvard colleagues — without any attribution at all.

Gay is even accused of lifting language from a Harvard colleague for the acknowledgement section of her dissertation.

Prominent academics, plagiarism experts, Harvard students, and the Boston Globe editorial board are now calling for Harvard to take an even closer look at Gay’s academic record, and to be clear about what, exactly, they find.

Harvard’s citation policies are clear that quotations be placed in quotation marks and cited, and that paraphrased material “be acknowledged completely.” The policies prohibit both “verbatim plagiarism”— failing to properly quote and cite specific language — and “mosaic plagiarism,” which involves copying bits and pieces from sources and changing some words “without adequately paraphrasing or quoting directly.”

“Taking credit for anyone else’s work is stealing, and it is unacceptable in all academic situations, whether you do it intentionally or by accident,” a Harvard policy states. The policy was much the same in 1997, when Gay wrote her doctoral dissertation.

The policy appears to be rigorously enforced against the students Gay presides over: During the 2020-2021 academic year, while Gay was serving as dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences, 27 students were forced to withdraw from the university after being found in violation of the school’s academic-integrity policies, the Harvard Crimson reported.

The university first learned of the plagiarism allegations in late October from the New York Post, according to a summary of the Harvard Corporation’s review, portions of which were posted on X on Wednesday night by a reporter with The Chronicle of Higher Education. National Review has requested a copy of the summary from Harvard.

In a statement supporting Gay earlier this month, the fellows of Harvard College wrote that after they became aware of some of the allegations, they initiated “an independent review” of Gay’s published work by “distinguished political scientists.” The review revealed “a few instances of inadequate citation” but “no violation of Harvard’s standards for research misconduct.”

The statement was vague, and did not specify any specific problems with Gay’s work. Gay “proactively” requested four corrections to two articles from 2001 and 2017 “to insert citations and quotation marks that were omitted from the original publications,” according to the statement.

The review of the initial allegations was conducted by a three-member panel of experts who “have no ties to Harvard and are among the nation’s most respected political scientists,” according to a summary released on Wednesday..

A subcommittee of the Harvard Corporation, the university’s governing body, reviewed the rest of Gay’s published work, but didn’t initially review her dissertation, according to the summary. The subcommittee reviewed her dissertation only after media reports flagged potential issues.

The Harvard Corporation said in its summary of its review that Gay’s errors, including the citation errors in her dissertation, were “regrettable.”

“Neither the independent panel nor the subcommittee of the Corporation found evidence of intentional deception or recklessness in Gay’s work, which is a required element for a determination of research misconduct,” under the school’s governing policy, the summary states.

Harvard’s delay in identifying errors in Gay’s doctoral thesis “means that they, almost certainly, did not do a thorough review of her past work,” according to Jonathan Bailey, a plagiarism expert and consultant who publishes the website Plagiarism Today.

“It’s frustrating that Harvard (or even Gay herself) didn’t thoroughly investigate her prior works and, seemingly, just checked and responded to the initial allegations. They had an opportunity to get ahead of this and missed it,” Bailey said.

For Swain, the Vanderbilt University professor whose work Gay’s doctoral dissertation drew heavily from, Gay’s failure to adhere to ethical standards in something as foundational as her doctoral dissertation presents a significant problem for Harvard.

“To earn a doctorate, you have to have a dissertation that’s supposed to be original in some sort of way. You defend it and they hand you a doctorate, but they cannot hand you a doctorate for work that’s plagiarized,” Swain said in an interview with NR. “So that’s the bigger issue that they’re avoiding. And what they are hoping is that people who understand academia won’t raise those questions.”

The 30 plagiarism allegations provided to National Review appear to be the same ones that were previously provided to the Washington Free Beacon. On Tuesday, the Free Beacon reported on a handful of additional allegations against Gay, including alleged plagiarism in two more of her publications.

Attempts by National Review to reach Gay and a Harvard spokesperson on the phone and via email were unsuccessful this week.

‘Between Black and White’

The earliest allegations of plagiarism against Gay stem from a November 1993 article she wrote for a history magazine called Origins. Originally published by a Canadian firm, Origins is now a joint online publication of the Ohio State University and Miami University of Ohio history departments. Origins is not an academic journal.

Gay’s article, Between Black and White: The Complexity of Brazilian Race Relations, is six-pages long and focuses on the lack of collective political action by Afro-Brazilians. At the time, Gay was a recent graduate of Stanford University and a graduate student at Harvard.

Gay’s article doesn’t have any citations, but the piece includes a “Suggestions for Further Reading” section at the end, which mentions five works.

Of the 30 allegations of plagiarism against Gay reviewed by National Review, eleven of them came from her Origins article. In several cases, the language Gay uses in the article is similar to the language used by three other academics, two of whom she included in her suggested readings and one of whom was not mentioned at all.

For example, this paragraph from Gay reproduces language first used in an article by historian George Reid Andrews published a year earlier, but doesn’t attribute it to him. Gay included a book by Andrews in her suggested reading list.

Gay: It was a younger generation of Afro-Brazilians, many with one or more years of university education, that were among the first and most eager respondents to the MNU ‘s organizational call. Their eagerness was in large part a measure of the economic and political exclusion they had suffered under the military dictatorship. As their numbers grew, it was their aspirations and rhetoric which came to define the organization. The movement became an expression of frustration among upwardly mobile Afro-Brazilians denied admission to the middle-class status to which their education and qualifications entitled them. To that extent, the aspirations of these activists were too removed from the lives of the poor to facilitate cross-class linkages.

Compare that to the language used by Andrews in his journal article.

Andrews: a younger generation of Afro-Brazilians, many with one or more years of university study, were starting to organise a new black movement in response to the economic and political exclusion which they were experiencing under the dictatorship. This movement, most vividly symbolised by the Movimento Negro Unificado, created in Sao Paulo in 1978 … This new movement of the 1970s and 1980s was to a large degree the expression of frustration among upwardly mobile Afro-Brazilians denied admission to the middle-class status to which their education and qualifications entitled them. Its activists worked hard at recruiting support in the slums and favelas of the urban periferia, but their rhetoric and aspirations often seemed somewhat removed from the lives of poor and working-class blacks facing the immediate, grinding problems of poverty, crime and hunger.

In at least two cases, the language Gay used in her article is similar to the language that David Covin, an academic and activist, used in a 1990 journal article. Here is one example:

Gay: On June 18, 1978, representatives from a number of Afro-Brazilian organizations, outraged by a series of racially-motivated incidents, joined forces in Sao Paulo to form the Unified Movement Against Racial Discrimination (MUCDR). As their first project, MUCDR organized a July 7, 1978 demonstration to protest two acts: (a) the April 28 beating death of black worker Robson Silveira da Luz, by a Sao Paulo policeman; and (b) the May expulsion of four young black athletes from the volleyball team of the Tiete Yacht Club because of their color. Two thousand people participated in the protest on the steps of the Municipal Theater. The organizers read an open letter to the population in which they outlined their campaign against “racial discrimination, police oppression, unemployment, underemployment and marginalization.”

Compare that to language used by Covin in his journal article from just a few years earlier:

Covin: The earliest manifestation of the MNU was the Unified Movement Against Racial Discrimination (MUCDR). Representatives from a number of Black organizations, entidades, met at the Center of Black Art and Culture in São Paulo on June 18, 1978. They resolved to create a movement to defend the Afro-Brazilian community against racial exploitation and human disrespect. They designated as their first activity a demonstration to be held at 6:30 p.m. on July 7, 1978, at the Chá viaduct in São Paulo. The demonstration was to protest two acts: (a) the torture and assassination of a Black worker, Robson Silveira da Luz, by policemen in São Paulo on April 28, 1978; and (b) the dismissal of four Black male children from the volleyball team of the Tiete Yacht Club in May, 1978, because of their color (Gonzalez, 1982, p. 43). The demonstration was held on the designated date on the steps of the Municipal Theater of Sao Paulo. Two thousand people were present (Gonzalez, 1982, p. 48). An open letter to the population was read.

Gay did not cite Covin or include his work in her suggested reading list.

Harvard looked into Gay’s Origins article as part of its initial investigation but determined that it did not merit correction since the article is 30 years old and the journal generally did not require citations or quotations, according to the summary of its investigation.

Bailey, the plagiarism expert and consultant, called the lack of citations but the inclusion of a suggested reading list in the Origins article “weird.”

Steven McGuire, an advocate for free expression and a fellow with the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, said that not understanding the magazine’s citation standards makes it harder to judge, but it’s notable because similar issues continue to pop up in Gay’s later work, including in her dissertation.

“There seems to be a consistent or ongoing pattern there of at least sloppiness that meets the definition of plagiarism that just doesn’t seem to be acceptable for a professional scholar, let alone someone who is president of one of our most elite academic institutions in this country,” he said.

Benjamin Johnson, a Ohio State University spokesman, said the university has not heard from anyone at Harvard about amending the article, which remains online.

‘Taking Charge’

The 30 allegations of plagiarism reviewed by National Review include three from Gay’s 1997 dissertation, “Taking Charge: Black Electoral Success and the Redefinition of American Politics.”

In at least two cases, Gay is accused of cribbing language without attribution from Bradley Palmquist, an assistant professor of government at Harvard at the time, and from Stephen Voss, who was a colleague in her Ph.D program. One  example includes language that is almost identical to language used by Palmquist and Voss in a paper presented just a year earlier.

Gay: The idea behind the “method of bounds” is that the beginning point for any ecological inference should be the knowledge a researcher has for certain. This knowledge includes the fact that any proportion is by definition bound by 0 and 1. Furthermore, the marginals of a table, Xi (black population density) and Ti (total turnout) dictate the minimum and maximum possible values of the cells in the table. King’s method makes direct use of this information to establish absolute bounds on the values of the quantities of interest.

Compare that to a similar paragraph from Palmquist and Voss.

Palmquist and Voss: The beginning point for any ecological inference should be with the knowledge we have for certain. Almost from the beginning of methodological work in this area, researchers have used the fact that proportions must by definition be between 0 and 1 (Duncan, Cuzzort, and Duncan 1961; Achen and Shively 1995). Recently, Gary King (n.d.) has emphasized the particular advantages of using the precinct-by-precinct constraints. Making direct use of this information to establish absolute (i.e. not probabilistic) bounds on the percentages of the internal cells is entirely straightforward. For any single table (either of a precinct or of a the [sic] state as a whole), the marginals dictate a minimum and maximum possible value for each of the cells.

Gay has requested to add “quotations and/or citations” to portions of her dissertation drawn from Palmquist and Voss, according to Harvard.

In an interview with National Review before Gay requested the corrections to her dissertation, Voss said he did not believe all the allegations of plagiarism against Gay were clear cut and added that he did not take personal offense. He did not publish his paper but presented it at a conference, he said, and the content in question often involved technical language. But, he said, his examples are “considered the smoking gun.”

“We’re not even cited, so a lot of the justifications people have been giving for what Claudine did don’t apply to my paper,” Voss said. “Things like, ‘well, she cited it but just not near where she was using their words,’ or, ‘she quoted them but didn’t point out that these other things were quotes too,’ all these sorts of excuses that were given don’t apply to mine.”

Voss said no one at Harvard gave him a heads up about the allegations of plagiarism or their review of those allegations.

“I’ve not heard from Claudine Gay, and in fact not heard from anyone at Harvard, either when they conducted their investigation or, you know, someone in their public-relations office to try to coach me on how to answer,” Voss said. “I have literally not heard from a single person at Harvard University since this story emerged.”

Gay also is accused of lifting language from a Harvard colleague in her dissertation’s acknowledgment section. In her acknowledgement, Gay wrote that she is grateful to her advisor, professor Gary King, who “reminded me of the importance of getting the data right and following where they lead without fear or favor.” She also thanked her family, “who drove me harder than I sometimes wanted to be driven.”

Jennifer Hochschild, who was a professor at Princeton at the time and who is now at Harvard, used those same phrases in the acknowledgements of a paper she published a year earlier.

Hochschild downplayed the importance of what she said were minor errors on Gay’s part, telling National Review that Gay simply recycled “standard phrases that we all use in acknowledgements.”

“There’s obvious political and ideological — as well as substantive — reasons behind this whole thing, and I wish to hell she’d been more careful,” Hochschild said. “But I think we have more interesting issues to worry about, and I wish you guys were worried about more interesting issues. It’s not quite making a mountain out of a molehill, but a different person in a different context and different political temperature would be treated differently.”

Like Voss, Hochschild told National Review that no one from Harvard reached out as part of their investigation into Gay’s record; she only learned of the allegation when a reporter reached out.

Redefining Plagiarism?

Earlier this month, journalists Christopher Rufo and Christopher Brunet published additional allegations of plagiarism in Gay’s dissertation. They found at least three problematic patterns of usage and citation in Gay’s dissertation, they said.

According to Rufo’s and Brunet’s reporting, Gay appears to have taken language and ideas from Swain, the former Vanderbilt professor. Gay’s dissertation contains nearly word-for-word reproduction of passages from her 1995 book, Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress.

A feature in the September-October 2023 issue of Harvard Magazine titled A Scholar’s Scholar tracks Gay’s career in celebration of her July 2023 ascendancy to the university’s highest leadership position. Her dissertation is described in the piece as having included “significant findings,” but Swain believes the work simply drew from her own research, for which she was never credited.

“That article specifically mentions the areas where her research was so significant, and those were the areas that my research sort of pioneered,” Swain said. “I looked at some of her articles [after the initial allegations] and there was one in particular — in the American Political Science Review — on descriptive representation. I would have expected her to engage my work, to put a citation in the article, because she was building on ideas that came directly from my research.”

Swain said she learned that Gay appeared to have copied her language and ideas after Rufo’s initial thread on X bringing the allegations to light. The university did not contact her over the course of its clandestine investigation into Gay’s writings, which was only brought to light as a result of reporting on the similarities between the Harvard president’s published work and that of academics like Swain.

‘Moving to Opportunity’ & ‘A Room for One’s Own’

There are at least 16 allegations of plagiarism in two of Gay’s Urban Affairs Review journal articles, Moving to Opportunity: The Political Effects of a Housing Mobility Experiment from 2012, and A Room for One’s Own? The Partisan Allocation of Affordable Housing from 2017.

In both cases, Gay is accused of not putting quotation marks around direct quotes and of putting citations in the wrong place – in some cases, she appears to have cited a source on one page, but then fails to cite them when she uses their information again pages later.

In A Room for One’s Own? for example, she cites the work of her Harvard Colleagues, Stephen Ansolabehere and James Snyder Jr., on one page of her 30-page paper, but doesn’t cite them again, even when she seems to use their language and work later in her paper.

For example, Gay’s paper reads:

Gay: Theory predicts an interaction between county partisanship and party control, such that the more Democratic a county, the more LIHTC allocations it should receive when the state is under Democratic control; if the relationship is symmetrical, as Hypothesis 1 predicts, a more Republican county should benefit when the state is under Republican control

Compare that to language in Ansolabehere and Snyder’s paper from 2006:

Ansolabehere and Snyder: Theoretical arguments predict an interaction between partisanship of voters and party control of state government. Democratic counties are expected to receive more transfers when the state is under Democratic control than when the state is under Republican control; and Republican counties should receive more transfers when the state is under Republican control.

In A Room for One’s Own, Gay also uses language that appears to be drawn from a previous paper by Miami University professor Anne Williamson, who told the Post she was “angry” when she first learned that Gay had relied on her work without citation.

Contacted after Harvard announced the initial corrections, Williamson told National Review she was “satisfied that Dr. Gay has pledged to add appropriate quotation marks and citations to articles where she may have inadvertently drawn on my work (and the works of others) without attribution.”

Several academics who have reviewed the allegations and spoke to National Review said they believe that at least some of the allegations clearly constitute plagiarism.

“If you take the material altogether, it seems to me likely that a student who would have been subjected to disciplinary action for failing properly to quote and credit,” Robert George, a Princeton professor, said in an email.

Bailey, the plagiarism expert, agreed that at least some of the allegations “are serious and I would want investigated. The cribbing of Palmquist and Voss’s language stood out, he said. However, he doesn’t believe that several others rise to that level.

“A lot of these didn’t show anything to me other than two writers talking about the same topic in somewhat similar ways,” he said.

Harvard, he said, should be more transparent, including releasing the results of the review its panel already conducted.

“That sounds like a minimal thing to expect,” Jussim, the Rutgers professor, said. “At this point, someone probably should go through everything she’s written, because who knows if all of it has even been uncovered.”

Ultimately, he said, he suspects Gay will be protected. Most high-level university administrators are “not really there for their scholarship,” he said, and that likely includes Gay.

If advancing ideology is Gay’s primary mission as Harvard president, he said, “who cares about any of this?”

A Double Standard?

Harvard has a track record of punishing students for plagiarism in accordance with its official policy, but the prospect of selective treatment for high-profile faculty members and administrators has been raised before.

A 2005 Harvard Crimson editorial complains of a “woeful double standard” between the expectations for students and for faculty, pointing to professor Laurence H. Tribe’s failure “to credit text lifted verbatim from Henry J. Abraham’s book ‘Justices and Presidents’” in his own 1985 “God Save This Honorable Court.”

“For the public face of Harvard and for internal relations as well,” the editors wrote at the time, “it is crucial that the university maintain more consistent disciplinary rules for instances of academic dishonesty.”

In fall 2022, the Harvard Crimson reported that, during the 2020-2021 academic year, 27 students were forced to withdraw from the university after being found in violation of the school’s academic-integrity policies. Ninety-nine of the 138 cases the university’s “Honor Council” reviewed during that period were found to be legitimate instances of academic dishonesty. The academic year on which the Crimson reported coincides with Gay’s time overseeing graduate and undergraduate studies as dean of Harvard’s Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

“I don’t know how Harvard thinks that this situation is currently tenable,” McGuire said. “What Claudine Gay has done appears to violate the standards that they hold their own students to. And Harvard has not even come out and said it’s plagiarism.”

[ Via: https://archive.md/sFCA0 ]

==

The fact that Harvard invented the Newspeak term "duplicative language" specifically to mask their presidents plagiarism is a good indicator of how compromised the school is.

[britcision]

I will never be over the way Iron Bull answered a question about marriage with “well we love our friends like anyone else, we just don’t have sex with them”

Because

You LYING SON OF A BITCH THE IRON BULL

You FILTHY FUCKING LIAR

You ABSOLUTELY have sex with your friends there’s A WHOLE FUCKING ROMANCE OPTION ABOUT IT

You fuck as friends first before becoming romantically involved!

However this has led me to believe that whoever explained what a marriage is to him has fucked up to the point where Bull’s best understanding of human marriage is that he’s married to Krem

Cuz they’re best friends, don’t fuck, and have the kind of bond of trust and kinship other people would kill for

And by extension, also the rest of the Chargers

And not a single Charger, Krem included, would pass up the chance to bully the Iron Bull by calling themselves Bull’s Charging Spouses

[mothvalentino]

// ... lol I make a post about having duplicate anxiety two days ago and suddenly my dash is FULL of posts about the topic like holy shit 😂

[biblicallyaccuratepigeons]

Has anyone ever noticed:

“Come, wayward souls, that wander through the darkness”

“O holy night, the stars are brightly shining”

“There is a light for the lost and the weak”

“It is the night of our dear savior’s birth”

“Sorrow and fear are easily forgotten”

“Long lay the world in sin and error pining”

“When you submit to the soil of the earth”

“Til he appeared and the soul felt its worth”

They’re rhythmically identical, and now that I’m typing it out, Come Wayward Souls kind of mirrors O Holy Night’s theme, even line for line. Even Greg’s part matches up in a similar way with the first bit of the chorus:

“Grow tiny seed, you are gone to the trees”

“Fall on your knees, o hear the angel voices”

I’m pretty sure it’s a coincidence, but I realized it late at night and couldn’t let it go unsaid. Do with this information as you will!

[giantkillerjack]

How uniquely good is the expression work and animation in @worthikids (Ian Worthington's) Bigtop Burger??

So good that I have spent many hours combing through every single frame of animation in this series so far while taking well over 1,000 screenshots so that I can use them as reference for art practice.

Highly recommend for anyone who has like 20 minutes to watch everything that's out so far. So many of the quotes from this just live in my brain now

But I'm not done talking about the animation - I mean, it is absolute next-level delightful shit right down to the cinematography and it is so wild that most of the work on this is done by one guy.

All the characters have great expressions, but ffs every second that Cesare is onscreen, Ian Worthington has animated Chris Fleming's voice-acting and improv SO GOOD that I basically had to watch every single one of those lines on 1/4 speed over and over to make sure I didn't miss anything.

[tstain-i-guess]

FUCK YOU MEAN "THERE'S TWO POLISH DUBS OF ROARY"????

AND I JUST FOUND OUT THE POLISH VA FOR ESPIO WAS IN ONE OF THEM TOO.

[rmorde]

I barely understand what is going on. I only get the following:

The game story kinda follows the episodes (?). Don't see any extra stuff in the narrative yet.

The graphics and music are good. Tho I know, by experience, I will eventually start hating the bg music whenever I roll the gacha.

I think the dialogues are unique (?). If so, no wonder this took a while to be released. The transitions, loading screens, and idle/battle animations are amazing too!

The starter units are R versions of Ita-Kugi-Fushi.

The "Shopkeeper/Rewards (?)" is Gojo while the "Inventory Guy (?)" is Ijichi. I think...

The units I got so far:

Silver Borders = R Gold Borders = SR Rainbow Borders = SSR

There is a one (1) free guarantee SSR ticket that you can actually re-roll again and again as long as the red button isn't clicked. If the white button is used instead, it will roll the gacha again.

I just learned it by accident when the guarantee gave me SSR Panda and I accidentally clicked on the white button. It rolled again and gave me Nanami. That's when I realized it but... I had to say goodbye to Nanami. I have a different target unit.

So, I rolled again the gacha. It gave me a 3rd copy of Gojo. Rolled again and got Todo. Rolled again and finally... I GOT SSR NOBARA!!!

It was worth it... WORTH IT.... Holding back the urge to re-start the entire game just to get Nanami again.

[roleplayerconfessions]

🌴 if you follow duplicates just to pick their knowledge on a part of canon you don't know, lift everything that's not nailed down, and then block them like they can't still see you stealing their shit and don't know exactly what you're doing, congrats! you're an asshole.

[arolesbianism]

Y'know what the most fucked up abt the whole B111-1 detail is to me? Its a god damn coin flip if it implies some seriously heavy details abt her character and just general morals or if it means absolutely nothing. If it's meant to imply that she was the person who volunteered for the memory transferal trial then it'd not only further showcase that she's fully aware of the duplicant situation, but it'd also imply that she's Been aware of Nikola's fun lil project even if only on a surface level. It could also just be that they stole her dna too and she doesn't know shit. As much as I want to argue that it'd make more sense for it to be the latter due to the fact that she's the Only character to have that fun dash number situation in Any of the logs and it's only in the one we can presume to be quite late in the timeline, I can't deny that it could just as easily be an error or meant to imply smth else. In particular, there's a lot of oni logs that had mistakes and inconsistent details that had to be fixed later, so while I dont actually believe it was a mistake, I can't fully deny the possibility. Nails waking up and deciding to write a log that would redefine so much of what we know if they talked abt it in even 2% more detail

[cack1e]

i need to remember this so im putting it here tomorrow i will get in game screenshots for these to put on the wiki and then pass away

[novlr]

How to Write Betrayal

Betrayal is a powerful plot element that is represented in countless stories. The gravity of betrayal brings a profound depth to character dynamics, plots, and themes alike, making it an indispensable tool for writers to explore emotions, conflicts, and the complexities of human nature. Let’s explore some quick tips on how to write betrayal!

Behaviour

Secretive actions

Dishonesty

Becoming emotionally distant

A sudden change in routine

Pushing people away

Nervous or fidgety movement

Frequent lying or making up stories

Unexpected aggression or irritability

Unjustified mood swings or emotional outbursts

Increasingly defensive

Interactions

Disturbed interpersonal relationships

Frequent misunderstandings or fights

Withholding information

Avoiding personal discussions

Insincerity in conversations

Frequently cancelling or missing plans

A sudden shift in relationship dynamics

Quick to deflect or place blame

Frequent subject changes

Gradual emotional detachment

Body Language

Avoiding direct eye contact

Defensive stance and crossed arms

Covering mouth or touching face

Shuffling or restless movements

Forcing smiles or laughter

Constantly looking around or at the ground

Stiff, tense posture

Heavy breathing or frequent sighing

Avoiding touch or skin contact

Exaggerated gestures

Attitude

A lack of concern or empathy

Increasingly personal and hurtful arguments

Erratic or unpredictable reactions

Self-centeredness

Insincerity

Dismissive or negative attitude

Callous disregard for other's feelings

A negative or pessimistic outlook

Inability to handle criticism

Withdrawal from relationships

Positive Story Outcomes

In the wake of a betrayal, a story can manifest various positive outcomes that add depth to the plot and its characters. Relationships can be strengthened, showing their resilience. Characters may discover newfound self-reliance and learn valuable lessons about trust and forgiveness, leading to an increase in empathy and understanding, personal growth, and the reinforcement of personal values. These experiences can encourage a clearer understanding of personal boundaries, prompt self-reflection, introspection, and the development of healthier coping mechanisms. Ultimately, these positive outcomes can bring about improved communication and honesty, forming the silver lining in the cloud of betrayal.

Negative Story Outcomes

The aftershocks of betrayal can reverberate throughout your story. This might include an irreparable fracture of trust and damage to relationships. Betrayal can trigger psychological trauma, leading to an increase in suspicion and insecurity. Feelings of inadequacy or self-blame may surface, and characters can experience a heightened sense of isolation. The fear of forming new relationships or trusting others can become overwhelming. There may also be an escalation of conflict or violence and the reinforcement of negative behaviours or patterns. Damaged self-esteem or self-worth may be another repercussion, and this can encourage destructive coping mechanisms.

Helpful Synonyms

Treachery

Deception

Double-crossing

Duplicity

Backstabbing

Two-faced

Disloyalty

Unfaithfulness

Infidelity

Falseness

Perfidy

Treason

Fraud

Deceit

Slander

Misrepresentation

Falsification

Chicanery

Double-dealing

[metalgeartwo1990]

why do I feel like a fucking monk dying on his life's work everytime I have to write a lab report

[mikeystrawberry]

Today is Dungeons & Daddies’s 5th Anniversary!

I haven’t been listening for nearly that long but the podcast and all its characters means a lot to me. Happy Anniversary!!!

Throwing the cropped sections under the cut because there’s a lot of stuff going on and I know Tumblr likes to throw half the pixel quality out the window. And also so I can ramble a bit about this piece!!!

This piece has been months in the making, possibly an entire year. And by that I mean I’ve had a sketch of the comp scribbled on my whiteboard for ages because I wanted to save this specifically for 5th anni art. Now onto design stuff!

(First off a random thought: I really love how the garlic knot came out, I kind of want it as an enamel pin.)

I knew I wanted to make this a stained glass piece since the beginning, but I was also going to add flowers at one point but quickly dropped the idea. It felt like too much and I also didn’t want to fuss over flower language assignments for everyone. I was also going to add Doodler tentacles, but also dropped that idea pretty early. Kind of on accident, right at the end, I figured out how to make it even more stained glass-like but taking a duplicated lineart underneath the regular layer and turning the brightness all the way down, then setting it to overlay and adding a guassian blur. It’s very subtle but it adds that tiny bit of depth that makes it look more real. As for shading on the lineart/gold, I tried adding more highlight on the characters who died but once I evened everything out it wasn’t as noticeable anymore so I’m throwing that thought here so the attempt at least known lol.

The order of characters only changed a little bit from my original comp, I flipped the Wilsons and the Oaks so the rainbow could work. As for the anchors, specifically in season 2, I lined them up to the teens since the season 1 anchors lined up with each dad:

Tony —> Scary: his death was the beginning of Scary’s betrayal arc and also Willy killed him.

Guitar Pick —> Taylor: it’s not really aligned with Taylor at all, but the anchor was with Glenn so I put it next to his blunt.

Scroll —> Normal: was only because it was the last left to give him, but there’s the whole scene of him and Hermie in the Green Room so it still works!

Garlic Knot —> Link: one of two that he broke, but the more significant of the two with him telling Grant he never wants to see him again.

Small notes on the season 1 anchors: I put the layer of mold in the overnight oats but you can’t really tell with the overlay. And to make the supper bowl more interesting I added the fantasy sodas mix they dumped into it. The lure of actually drawn before so I just traced my own art lol.

As for the other smaller triangles, it took me a bit to figure out what I wanted to put there. I didn’t even think of adding the vehicles until two days ago but I’m so glad I did. I don’t really have my own take on the mascot version of the Doodler (yet?) so I borrowed the design from one of the stickers in their merch shop. Teeny was terrifying as just a front facing head so I made him cute again.

In the outer circles, I put what I felt was the most significant quotes for each family. I really wanted to use “It’s okay to be angry, it’s not okay to be cruel” but it was just a little too long.

That’s all I can think of! If you read all the way through, thank you for indulging me in my excitement to gush over this piece.

[ew-selfish-art]

DpxDc AU: Not all omni-lingualism works the same- Nightwing learns this the most awkward way possible.

Dick has gotten to know Phantom, who is constantly hanging around his brothers on various missions and the guy seems like a genuine delight. He’s very easy going, serious when needed and way over powered when it comes to dealing with mission crises. Duplication, ice, invisibility, time dilation (though Phantom insists it has to do with a god’s blessing for running favors and not his own power) like so much, and shit, Nightwing has even seen him easily switch between languages when talking to different heroes. Phantom never explains how any of his powers work, they’re just glad that his powers always do.

On one particular mission Nightwing asks if Danny can switch to a Romani so that they can shit talk without alerting the other team members. (He’s seen him switch to Arabic for Damian so like, why not?)

Danny explains that well, he probably can but normally it takes time and uh, circumstances for him to be fluent enough for conversation. (The circumstances Danny is referring to are that of life or death pt. 2 since that’s when he has the best control over this power.)

Now…Nightwing’s first and only experience with biology related polyglots was Starfire kissing him upon landing on Earth in Jump City. So Nightwing says, ok bet. What’s a little peck between bros?

Being kissed by Nightwing is not what Danny expected, but given the anxiety suddenly raising his blood pressure like a life or death situation would, it does in fact lead to him being able to speak Romani.

This is also the story about Dick learning that he just kissed his little brother’s new boyfriend.

[tarotwithavi]

When will you find love? And a little about your person.

How to choose a pile?

Close your eyes and take a deep breath and ask the angels to show you the right pile for you and open your eyes. The first pile that catches your attention is the right pile for you

Masterlist

Paid services

Pile 1

Alright pile 1! Welcome to your reading and the first message I'm getting is that you will find love when you start loving yourself The way You want to be loved. And it may be a long journey to be honest. However the love that will come to you between your journey is something you have dreamed of, and for some of you I am seeing that you may also attract your future spouse. Because I keep seeing a long committed relationship with the person that will come into your life when you start loving yourself. But I also want you to know that the universe will test you and will send you duplicate copies of your future spouse who are toxic so you may encounter some situations where you made out if this person is your future spouse or not and I want you to always choose yourself in such situations.

Now let's talk about that person, I see that for most of you this person could be a fire sign or an Earth sign. The person you are meant to be with is really mentally strong and embodies the traditional qualities of their gender. What I mean by that is if you are a woman attracted to men your person will embody all the qualities of a traditional man like being the caretaker, being the provider etc. women attracted to women then your person will embody all the qualities of a traditional woman like being supporting, being nurturing etc. and their qualities will not be toxic like how traditional man are viewed as controlling and lack of consideration etc. and I'm also getting that your person will spend their money on you and their love language maybe gifting. I also see that your person belongs to a really big family or a family that has a rich background like some sort of reality or respect that comes from being born in their family. I also see that your person has a really nice voice and whenever they speak it sounds soothing. For some of you their mother may have been a single mom or they may not have good relations with their father. I also see that your person requires a lot of rest because the work they do requires a lot of their energy and their work could be mentally draining.

Pile 2

How are you? Pile 2, first of all I have a good news for you, you are on the journey of finding love and I am saying that because I see that you have been putting a lot of work on yourself and you have been feeling full of love these days for some of you you can literally feel deep inside of you that you are about to meet someone whom you are going to fall in love with. I also see that some of you may have been invited to go somewhere or you will be invited in the near future and you may meet your person there. Some of you are about to find love within a month and some of you will find love in summer time. I also see that you are about to be asked out on a date and I want you to give this a chance because I feel positive Vibes from this pile (of course only accept if you feel like doing it)

Now let's talk about your person. I see that your person could be a fire or a water sign and Aries, Leo and cancer specifically. I see that this person has been through a lot and you can literally see it on their face or you may feel it when you meet them. I also see that you both share equal feelings for each other and this may be the person you are crushing on currently. They may be an artist or they may like to create beautiful things in their free time. Another message I'm picking upon is that they will give you handmade things like handwritten letters , DIY flowers etc because I see that they are someone who shows their Love by doing things for the person they love. I also see that on a side note they may suffer from anxiety or depression or they may have insomnia. However they will recover soon and they could be born in the month of April or April could be a significant month for you. I also see that they hide their pain and their sufferings from others. This person is really physically attractive and they always have something nice to say. They give great advice and the words that come out of their mouth are literally the words of wisdom. I also see that they may do charitable work or they may work in the medical field. Your person may be a bit different from you or from the way you were brought up. For some of you, they can have a fear of lizards or it can be the complete opposite. They may wear a hat or turban, it could be related to their culture.

Pile 3

Heyyyy pile 3! The first thing I'm getting is that this pile is divided into two groups. People who resonate more with group 1 will find love soon, like within 5 to 6 months and the people who resonate with group 2 will find love in , maybe 11 months to 14 months. Now I will be listing some things which will help you find your group. If you are a fire sign or you talk a lot or you talk really fast, walk fast, have a black round mole on your right hand or right side of your body, long fingers, wear glasses not contracts, have more than 8 friends who you talk to, or like pink then you are group 1. And if you are an Earth sign, wear baggy clothes, have a great balance, are or may have been a cheerleader, live near forest, droopy nose, long fingernails or are wearing a black top/hoodie currently then you are group 2. Of course, you can read if you don't resonate with any of these groups.

Okay so I see that some of you literally manifested this person. Within the past 9 months you may have done a ritual or made a wish about love and your wish is about to be granted. I also see that you may meet this person through a friend or your sibling. Because I see that you will get to know this person through a mutual friend or someone. Another message I'm getting is that your person is literally a dream come true for you however I also see that they may have a lot of passion (you know what I'm talking about 🌝👀) and I also see that they are really knowledgeable they may speak 3 to 4 languages and they may have a lot of friends that are different from them. Another thing I'm getting is that some of you share a past life connection with this person and in this lifetime you two are meant to be together so nothing can pull you apart. I also see that your person has a lot of responsibility on their shoulders and I also see that sometimes they get overwhelmed by taking care of everything. They also have a tendency to stress over things they cannot control. Your person could be an air sign or Earth sign. They already have a bright personality and a lot of people notice them. I also see that they know how to take care of things and situations but sometimes they just stress over nothing. They have good time management and hate people who are not punctual. They know what they are capable of and they know what they deserve. They are really sure about themselves and they will not second guess their choices. They require a lot of time alone to function properly, however that will not be a hurdle in your relationship because I see that you have this quality too.

Muah 💋

[shotmrmiller]

im ngl i've been driving myself insane with the thought of harboring Ghost in your home. Like in the 09 mission The Hornet's Nest where Roach falls off the one roof?

Yeah, make that Ghost and there's no other choice but for the guys to leave him behind. The LZ is too hot, the enemies are swarming like moths to a flame.

The floor comes to him.

He grits his teeth at the agony, choking back a scream. Ghost just fell off a height that should've broken at least a couple ribs; maybe they did, he doesn't know, there's too much adrenaline coursing through his veins.

He's seeing duplicates, the buildings in front of him blurred. There's buzzing in his head, loud like bees. His chest aches, it burns with the lack of oxygen. His throat feels swollen as he wheezes; each breath feels like shards of glass in his lungs.

The white noise dissipates slowly. His vision realigns, lines and details sharpening. The unseen force that squeezed his throat finally lets go, setting him free from its deadly hold., his chest expanding to the point of discomfort— deep inhale, loud exhale.

Breathe. Focus.

There's radio chatter in his ear— Price snarling at Nikolai to fucking wait, that they can't leave him there in the hornet's nest but even with his vision blurred, Ghost can see that they're getting lit up, and he's not gonna have the entire team blow to bits in the helo over him.

He's just one man, and there's a whole world to save.

There's a searing pain in his arm when he shifts, he can't remember the last time his eyes welled up with tears, but fuckin' hell does it hurt.

His hand trembles violently, and it takes him a couple of tries to finally get his thumb to firmly press down on the button of the radio in the front of his tac vest.

"Leave me! Just go!" he roars.

Price argues back that no man is to be left behind, but Ghost can hear far too many voices in a different language get louder. They'll be killed hovering in the air like that.

"Price! Go!"

The voices in his ear are deafening. He rips off his headset, letting it sit around his neck.

The helicopter above him disappears.

Good.

The avalanche of footsteps gets closer and with a strangled noise that scrapes the back of his throat, he moves. Move to safety, get away from them, hide.

Ghost pushes forward until he stumbles, falling onto one knee— using his injured arm to stabilize. White hot pain licks from the wrist up, flames threatening to consume him whole.

A few stray tears escape the corners of his eyes.

He's too blinded by the throbbing in his body to realize that someone is grabbing his other arm.

"Can you hear me?"

Ghost thinks he might be hallucinating your voice. His agony is transcendent.

"Hey! We don't have much time!"

He turns his head to his left, and there you are. A civilian, by the looks of it. And you're trying to lead him away. Where? Are you leading him to a trap?

"Quickly! They're almost here! I can hide you, but you need to get on your feet!" you piped.

Ghost gets up without a fight, decision-making dulled by everything he's feeling.

"Come on, this way!" Your hand grabs his forearm tightly as you drag him away. He trudges behind you, breathing ragged.

Clarity comes and goes, but then he feels your small palms push him forward, into your tiny home.

His eyes drag as he takes in his surroundings. A tiny television in the living room to his left, and an ugly brown couch placed in front of it. To this right is your kitchen, food still steaming on the stove, and a scratched teak dinner table with just two chairs sits by a dirty window.

Quaint.

"Okay, okay. They shouldn't come in here, but if they do, I want you to go to the bathroom and sit in the tub with the curtain closed. Understand?"

His chin tips forward unbidden.

"Good. Uhm, I saw that your right arm is injured. A makeshift splint will have to do, alright?" You briskly walk away, opening the cabinet underneath the kitchen sink.

Ghost stiffens, swallowing thickly. If you pull anything underhanded, he's going to have to kill you.

The tension melts from his shoulders when he sees that you're simply pulling out a first aid kit, and some other stuff to wrap his most likely broken arm up.

You pull out a chair before opening the kit. "Sit. I'm not standing while I do this."

He huffs but complies. "Yes, ma'am." Unafraid to order a stranger around. How peculiar.

The minutes drag on, each one more agonizing than the last. It's a relentless cycle of pain... until it finally stops. The residual pain makes him dry heave.

"Whoa there, please don't puke."

Ghost gives a pained chuckle. "I'll try."

Your fingers tighten the knot in the fabric. "Can't say it's pristine, but it's better than having your arm dangle uselessly, I think." You stare at your handiwork for a second longer, before rising from your seat.

"I'm not sure who you are, but you look like actual military and not a thug with a gun. Did you have a team?" you quietly ask as you put away the medical supplies.

He cuts his eyes to you and doesn't answer.

"Yeah, I suppose it wouldn't be smart of you to blindly give information I don't need to know."

He shakes his head imperceptibly.

"Right. Well, I'm sure you know that we need to lay low, so unfortunately, that means no tv. Sorry." How cheeky.

Ghost simply hums in response.

He looks down at his injured arm. It's wrapped tightly, enough to keep it from moving but not enough to cut off his blood flow.

Not the work of a regular civilian.

You must've noticed him scrutinizing your work because you speak up. "I've worked in the medical field before. Nothing spectacular, but I can deal with a broken bone or two."

He closes his eyes, feeling the exhaustion of the day creep up on him.

So bloody tired.

Ghost takes a breath and opens his eyes. No rest for the wicked, he thinks.

He puts his headset back on, as well as he can with his one arm.

There's a crackling sound in his ear.