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painted-crow · 3 years

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Bird systems, trees, crystals, and glass

No, this isn't about yoga or anything. I'm cracking Algorithms to Live By open again for another Obscure Bird Metaphor!

The anon in the post right before this one got me thinking of a thing...

They were a burned Lion modeling Bird, talking about how they hate their system being poked at because (essentially) it's fragile and they're relying on it. I am therefore restraining myself from asking them about this 😂 but I wonder if their system is constructed differently from a healthy Bird's.

Trees

I gave this advice a while back about unburning Bird primary.

Basically: healthy systems have a structure. There’s a hierarchy of beliefs, or as I prefer to think of it, a tree--with very basic core concepts at the trunk: things like "human life is inherently valuable," which can be relied upon not to change a whole lot.

Other beliefs follow from those. If you start from "unnecessary suffering is bad," you can branch into a whole lot of other stuff.

Once you've built up your tree a bit, you just start going through the world and testing everything you hear for truth. A Bird primary does this pretty much unconsciously. They also might start running into conflicts and having to prioritize.

For example, they might hear someone say "suffering is bad! Therefore we should eradicate this genetic disease... by [horrible methods]!" and the Bird will (hopefully) go "no, that is eugenics, and it is Bad because human life is inherently valuable."

So why am I talking about this?

The problem is that things aren't always as obvious as that. The trunk of your system tree might be very solid, and so might the branches that build off of it! But once you start getting into sticks and twigs and leaves, you get more potential for them to cross over each other and need pruning.* So it's very important to have this structure, so that pruning one thing doesn't take down the whole tree.

*That's an actual thing with pruning trees, apparently. I like this metaphor.

When you have time to construct your system at peace, as with a full Bird primary who develops theirs as a kid, or as with someone who just picks up a Bird model because they like it or someone they care about uses it, you usually end up with some semblance of this structure. When your system building is in response to Burning, though...

Crystals and Glass

Stable system structure (say that five times fast) takes time and patience, and is probably incompatible with the "I am relying on this prototype to keep me Okay" of using it as a crutch while Burned.

Systems work by being tinkered with. They're always a work in progress. You can try to come up with one all at once, but it's almost certainly very brittle. (This isn't a judgment on you if you're doing this--it's just, yeah, what you're trying to do is hard and it probably breaks a lot.)

And! I have a new metaphor:

In the late 1970s and early ’80s, Scott Kirkpatrick considered himself a physicist, not a computer scientist. In particular, Kirkpatrick was interested in statistical physics, which uses randomness as a way to explain certain natural phenomena—for instance, the physics of annealing, the way that materials change state as they are heated and cooled. Perhaps the most interesting characteristic of annealing is that how quickly or slowly a material is cooled tends to have tremendous impact on its final structure. As Kirkpatrick explains:

"Growing a single crystal from a melt [is] done by careful annealing, first melting the substance, then lowering the temperature slowly, and spending a long time at temperatures in the vicinity of the freezing point. If this is not done, and the substance is allowed to get out of equilibrium, the resulting crystal will have many defects, or the substance may form a glass, with no crystalline order."

Quote taken from Algorithms to Live By, by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths, in chapter nine, "Randomness"

The annealing process is an interesting one. I'll try to explain--it's like... sometimes, if you make all the obvious immediate right choices, you can railroad yourself into a solution that isn't optimal because you aren't seeing the bigger picture. You reach what's called a local maximum: you've found the best solution available... in the tiny corner you looked in. It's like trying to pack a suitcase without taking some things out and repositioning them to see if they fit better.

This is why healthy Birds really like to poke at even their core or core-adjacent beliefs sometimes. It's why you get nerds arguing over the trolley problem for funsies. It's why Kurt Vonnegut wrote a story that poked the question, "is there any situation in which sexual assault could be justified?" (I really hate that story, and if I were in his place I wouldn't have published it, but I understand why he wrote it.)

Needless to say, these discussions can be... provocative, and our Lion friends do not always appreciate them, for very understandable reasons--especially if we don't make it clear that we don't actually expect that the discussion will change our beliefs in the end. We just want to poke at things, because they're interesting, or because we want to know how far our internal rules can be stretched and still hold true, or just out of habit.

But Burned primaries modeling Bird are not only uncomfortable with those discussions, they can actually become unstable because of them. There's no room for the usual Bird annealing process. They don't have time to spend on melting their system crystal and lowering its temperature slowly, hanging out at melting point for a while to get it to form a stable structure. They need a solid now, so they're left with glass... and glass shatters.

...Ow.

So, what are you supposed to do in this situation? Can you make it better?

I think you can, to some degree.

Ideally, you'd unburn your actual primary, but that's difficult and might take a while--you need a temporary solution, which is why you're modeling Bird in the first place.

It's probably doable to pick out some stable core beliefs, so at least you have something if the rest of your system goes haywire.

Once you have a solid core to work from, it might help to poke a healthy Bird whose judgment you trust while you're building up your modeled system, especially if your tree is currently shedding branches, because they're really good at debugging stuff and will often offer to clone one of their tree branches to graft onto yours, so you can feel better and also grow lemons or something.

You might want to let them know you're having a rough time and this questioning isn't just for fun, so they don't get too far into the weeds (and let them know if they're stepping into uncomfortable territory if they do, because which topics are considered difficult is different for everyone).

Also bear in mind that you are potentially asking for emotional labor from them, depending on the topic; it might hit some of their more sensitive subjects, which they may still be willing to discuss but only when they're in a stable mood.

Alternatively, you can try leaning on a different crutch instead of, or in addition to, your model--like asking other people when you're stuck on something. This is the more direct form of the previous suggestion: instead of helping you build up your system to make decisions, you just ask for help when you need it. This is more like the "outsource your morality to someone else" tactic that's also popular with burned Lions.

Whatever you decide to do, remember to cut yourself some slack--you're speaking a foreign language here, primary-wise, and it's hard and stuff breaks and it's best if you try not to be too hard on yourself. Give yourself space and patience to recover. I'm rooting for you!

#sortinghatchats #ravenclaw primary model #ravenclaw primary #shc burned houses #paint speaks #shc primaries

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maxwell-grant · 3 years

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Odd-ish question. Imagine, if you will, that a new The Shadow film or prestige TV Series is being made. In your head, what's the trailer?

I gotta say, it was rather disheartening to learn in film school that most directors/producers/showrunners don't actually get to have much say in how their work is promoted, because, at least as far as I know, that stuff is outsourced to a separate team. I mean, I get why this happens, it's ultimately for the best, but it's still kind of a bummer to me personally since I do like making trailers and teasers (I do make my living as an editor and all).

I'm not gonna get too into what I imagine said trailer to be like, because it's one of those things I'd rather keep to myself until I get to make something of it, but I will talk a bit about how I think a marketing strategy for a new Shadow film or series could be like.

First and foremost, I think anyone who wants to tackle The Shadow, even just to promote him, has gotta understand what about the character works, what influenced his creation, what's he got that can be promoted, what can grab audiences, what can get them to stay, and so on. "Fandoms" nowadays rule the way media is consumed and sustained, and you see it especially in modern cartoons that live or die on the audience's devotion. That is one of the reasons why I made this blog, because I want the character to thrive again and I want to provide people with a catalogue of information they can dig into.

The Shadow was, for a decade and then some, arguably the biggest crimefighter of American media, figurehead of not just one but TWO mediums, and the only reason he existed at all was because Street & Smith's marketing ploy for a faceless narrator turned out far more successfully than they could have anticipated. That he's survived the total downfall of American pulps and decades of mismanaged adaptations, as still one of the most famous of all pulp heroes, is testament to how strong the original concept still is, the appeal the character held. I made this post partially to highlight that.

And first and foremost, is to build up the character. Take advantage of the fact that the general audiences only have the vaguest idea of what this guy is like, and treat him not like an old character making a comeback, but like he's about to debut for the first time. As I mentioned prior, 1930s radio audiences were enthralled by The Shadow not just because he was the most interesting part of the stories he was promoting, but because he was completely unlike every other narrator in radio at the time, a hissing disembodied voice taunting and cackling malevolently, taunting and daring you.

Think of the marketing strategy for Godzilla 1998, and the waves it made as, instead of just plastering images of the monster front and center, they built up the idea of Godzilla through ads like these, instilling in your head the concept of an unfathomably large monster trodding it's way into the city and wreaking devastation with every footstep, even if you couldn't see what it actually was. It was a particularly genius move because even at this point, most Americans had at least a slight idea of what Godzilla was, or they were at least familiar with the concept through parody or pop culture osmosis. So what the marketing did was break down and fragment the Godzilla concept, and gradually put it back together under the heads of viewers. The movie sucked, mind you, and that reinforces my point: It didn't turn a profit based on it's stellar critical reputation or a prior American following for Godzilla, it turned a profit because the marketing was that good.

Joker is another example of a movie that managed to do well by essentially "re-selling" you it's titular character and through incredible marketing. IIf the idea seemed beyond stupid and unnecessary to most people at first, the Joker trailer did such a fantastic job at selling people on the concept that it immediately turned a lot of heads around. In fact, the trailer was so good, I suspect most people who went into the movie already had made up their minds on it's contents based entirely on the trailer, but I digress.

The film dissassembled the Joker bit by bit, both in marketing as well as it's story, and gave each of it's pieces it's own story. From the laughter as a replacement for tears, to the clown paint starting off as a form of confinement until it replaces the face of the broken man within, to even elements such as the green hair, gaunt physique and fondness for colored suits, all of these got a story, all of these had a "hook", all of these were given significance separate from the history of the character as a franchise supervillain, all of these were made interesting in ways people would be interested in learning more about. Why does The Joker laugh? Why is crying? What's "Arthur" like? What's he gonna do on the show? What the hell is this film going to have to do with Batman?

It got people talking and asking questions, and that's exactly what you want your audience to do. Even for a character as old and overexposed as the Joker, the movie still succeded, at least in marketing, in presenting as if we were going to see him for the first time, to the point all the film needed to secure it's Batman connection was just the name.

And Street & Smith was doing this even back then, when they were in the middle of transitioning The Shadow from radio narrator to pulp crimefighter. They started putting out shows where The Shadow would take a more active role, they started getting him to show up in other programs, they put out this contest where they gave out small lines where The Shadow told a detail about himself, and listeners had to piece it together. The radio show was told as if The Shadow was a real, active person, and this was something carried over to the pulps. This was, mind you, before Walter Gibson got to touch the character, but it shows that right upfront, Street & Smith knew how to market this character effectively, through mystery and build-up. I think there are ways to do that nowadays even besides the usual avenue of teasers and trailers.

And if I was going to make a trailer, if I was in charge of designing a marketing strategy or video and so on for The Shadow, this is what I think needs to be emphasized.

None of the promos show his costume in full. We get glimpses of it, like a slouch hat and red scarf abandoned in the middle of a square as a public ad, intense eyes leering over an urban landscape for a poster. A popular podcast gets hijacked in the middle of an ad break for The Shadow, and they act like nothing happened. An entire teaser goes by, and in it, all you see from him in costume is a hand with a Girasol Ring. We don't know who is the actor who's gonna be playing him, we hear laughs in the ads but never a speaking voice. A different rumor is confirmed every week.

The trailers show us scenes of agents interacting, policemen looking for him, criminals hurting others only to run terrified. All sorts of cryptic remarks, or terrified statements. We get an image of Harry Vincent standing on a bridge with gloved hands holding him, and to people unfamiliar, they think The Shadow's about to throw this guy off a bridge, and the fans know better.

Some people think this is all unnecessary, I mean, they know who The Shadow is, he's a 30s radio vigilante who inspired Batman and who Alec Baldwin played once. He's got a girlfriend named Margo, he shoots people. What's the point of all this?

And then The Shadow starts to show up a bit more, and he does the things that people seem to forget he's capable of, for good and bad. And gradually, the trailers and teasers and ads start to unveil just how little general audiences really know The Shadow. And, hopefully, they start wanting to learn more.

#replies tag #the shadow #pulp heroes #pulp fiction #joker #godzilla

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bi-writes · 4 years

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notorious: reboot — prologue never enough

Whatever I do, it is never enough for you. Don’t you love me?

type: series, alternate universe detail: mob!tom word count: 4.8k warnings: mature language and themes series masterlist

“This has never been a business meant for you.”

You couldn’t remember how many times you’d heard those words. When you tried to look over daddy’s shoulder, he would put his papers away, scolding you for snooping. When you tried to check on him by peeking into his office, he forbade you from even entering that wing of the house. When you tried to assert your opinion, your father made it clear that “darling, you have no opinion.”

When he said that this business wasn’t mean for you, he didn’t mean that entirely. He simply meant this business wasn’t meant for women. He pushed you out just like he pushed your mother out. You hated it. It’s why you didn’t let his words get to you. You knew one day he’d need his only child, even if that meant you were exactly what he secretly abhorred—a woman.

Your father was too proud to marry someone else. He came from old Italian roots, where tradition was cherished as preciously as diamonds. When you were born, he was ecstatic, of course, up until you were the only child your mother could give him. The love your father had for you only was present only when he expected another child, a baby boy, to be specific.

You had reason to believe your mother was doing it on purpose, that she was holding back on your father because of his strong desire for a boy. He constantly made you feel like you didn’t matter because of how he spoke about the future. He was saving everything for his boy, for his heir. Little mementos, special heirlooms. His first Cartier watch with a scratch on the dial, his gold cufflinks, the pocket watch that had an extra tick every once in a while. And then there was daddy’s gun.

It was chrome, silver, proper and handmade. It was the kind where you had to pop the chamber out and put the bullets inside one by one. It was small, and he kept it hidden always. He had other guns, sure, but this one was special. He cherished every single scratch, every single curve, every single slight depression. He seemed to have more love in his eyes for his gun that he ever did for your mother, or for you.

You wanted those things. You wanted them, and you wanted your father to give them to on his own accord. You wanted him to be proud of you, to have pride in you. You just wanted him for once in his life to think of you as his only daughter, his only daughter completely capable of anything he threw at her.

“Baby, come here.”

His strong voice brought you out of the fog in your head. You had zoned out completely. You blinked, looking over to where your father was seated at his desk.

There was a bit of smoke still rising from the ashtray by the books laid out across the wooden surface. It was quite dark, the only light source was a dim chandelier in the middle of the room, and it cast a soft, yellow glow throughout the room, creating dark shadows where crevices lied all over. The walls were lined with books, and behind your father’s leather chair was a safe he kept an eye on, always.

“Yes, daddy?”

He nodded his head, beckoning you over, and you came over slowly. Your heels sounded against the hardwood floor, and you kept your hands behind your back, crossed at the wrists. You were wearing tight jeans and a leather jacket, your hair done up high to keep it away from your face. He had a few papers across his desk, and he picked out a few, handing them to you. You got a glance at the ticking of his wristwatch.

“I need you to check these numbers for me. I paid $10 million for this shipment, and I need to make sure what I got back—”

“Matches the expect profit,” you finished for him. You meet his eyes. “I thought you had people for this. Don’t we pay them enough?”

He took his glasses off, taking you by the wrist and pulling you down lower. “Listen, y/n,” he said sternly. “When you have a business like this, every transaction matters. I don’t deal small, and everything must be to a T. I can’t have one fucking dollar out of place, or everything is off balance. If even one number is out of place, then that means someone is screwing with my business, and I can’t have that. I’m responsible for everything. Every. Dollar. Counts. Do you understand?”

You were surprised for a moment. A lot of times when something happened that you didn’t understand, your father would wave his hand, wanting you to go away. He would never explain things, never take the time to teach you anything, and he just seemed uninterested in keeping you in the loop. You knew why he did those things, and you knew it wasn’t your fault, but it still hurt. Your own father, not wanting to teach his daughter the things she needed to know before it was too late.

Lately, however, he had been giving you bits and pieces. If a shipment was late, he didn’t leave the room to handle it. He allowed you to listen to him talk, allowed you to take note of how he handled it. When things weren’t organized, when the money was in the wrong places, your father stayed with you as he fixed what was wrong. It was fascinating, and you tried to absorb every detail.

“Do you understand me, y/n?”

You blinked, out of your daze, nodding as he let go of your wrist. You took the papers and a pen and made your way out of his office. His phone rang, and he picked it up right away, his voice honey like and low as he spoke in hushed whispers. He seemed upset now. You went into the kitchen, sitting down at the marble island, and you spread the papers out in front of you. Then you went to work.

Each individual shipment you separated on blank paper in front of you, then calculated the costs deducted for transportation, security, the likes. Your father kept those costs steady, as steady as he could, so the numbers were ingrained in your head. 10% of some for the lackeys, another 15% here for the car, the warehouse hold, more men. You were tedious in the way you did your calculations. You could say that you adopted that from your father. If there was something you were good at, you were good at it always. You never wavered, and on the numbers, you never failed. Always, always, your numbers were right. Your father sometimes had you do this for him, especially when the numbers were particularly large. It’s true that he always, always wanted to be thorough. He knew everything about his business. Being at the top didn’t stop him from knowing what was going on even all the way at the bottom. He had eyes everywhere, and he paid good money for that privilege.

You finished the numbers, looking down at the total you had circled and underlined at the bottom of the page. You pulled another paper out, comparing the two numbers. They didn’t match.

You bit your lip, checking your math again, even though you knew it was right. As you dragged the pen back down the page to the same conclusion, you narrowed your eyes. Your father was out 20 grand. To you, that wasn’t a large amount. But to your father, you knew that would be detrimental. Because to him, 20 grand was significant. 20 grand paid for men. Paid for bribes. Paid for benefits that he didn’t outsource. It would be suspicious to him, you knew that much. And you were almost certain that you would never find out where the trail ended. You were certain these numbers were the only contribution your father would ever let you give to his business.

You stood up from your place in the kitchen, taking the papers and going back upstairs. You knocked on the door of his study, opening the door. He glanced up at you.

“Well?” He asked. You came towards the desk, putting down the papers. He had poured himself a glass to drink since you left.

“You’re not going to like this, daddy,” you said gently. Visibly, his eyes darkened.

“How bad?” He asked, even though the papers were right in front of him. You circled the desk, standing beside him, marking the spot with a pen.

“20 grand,” you voiced, slowly as to gauge his reaction. His eyes darted between paper to paper, wanting to make sure what you were saying was true. You wanted to roll your eyes at his lack of trust in you, but you refrained. You didn’t want to upset him more than the news already had. “Let me take care of it,” you said after a few minutes, boldly. Your father took his eyes off the papers immediately, staring up at you.

This wasn’t the first time you asked to take on some responsibility. In fact, you asked all the time. He always told you no. It was always no. But you never stopped trying.

“Excuse me?” He asked it as if he was offended. This was familiar territory, but for some reason, you felt inclined to argue this time. You wouldn’t take no for an answer this time. It was far too late, your father wasn’t going to marry again, and you were it. So you stood your ground. Your father was not going to have another heir. It was going to be you wearing the crown when he was gone, whether he liked it or not. Because even though you know your father didn’t like that you were a woman, he was too prideful to give the crown up to anyone but family.

“Let me take care of it, daddy.” You took a seat on the wooden desk, taking his hand in yours. “I can do it. I can take care of it. I’ll get the money back for you. And I’ll find out who’s behind it. You...have so much on your plate already, I just want to help.”

You gave him soft eyes, and he sat back in his leather chair. He ran a hand through his hair, brushing through the peppery locks. He clenched his jaw for a moment, and you squeezed his hand in yours hopefully. Your father always said no to you when it came to business, but in every other situation, he always said yes. You had some sort of leeway with him, you just had to keep the right tone. And since recently he had been confiding in you, you knew this was your chance.

Your father never believed in you, not really. He just didn’t believe women were capable of being anything more than mothers, than eye candy, than something expendable. That was what your mother was to him. But your mother knew better. She knew what you were meant for. She always told you what you were going to be.

It happened the night you discovered what your father did for work. You were seven. It was late into the night, and you had woken up from a nightmare, the kind of dream that made the walls in your room seem like monsters in the dark. You slipped out of bed and out of your room. You went upstairs to go get your mother, but neither her nor your father were in their room, so you went back downstairs to check his study.

You weren’t allowed in your father’s study. If he even saw you playing near it, he would get upset with you, and you hated when he was upset with you, so you stayed away. But tonight, you still had visions of monsters in your bed, so you made your way to the large double doors, grabbing onto the knob and opening the door.

Both your parents turned to look at the little girl standing in the doorway. The carpet had been rolled into the corner, and something was rolled inside of it. Your eyes went to the dark, thick liquid spilling from one of the ends of the rug.

“y/n!” Your father snapped, and you jumped, in a trance at the way his study looked. That dark substance was on the walls, even on your father’s clothes. Your mother turned quickly to face you.

“y/n, baby,” she left your father’s side, picking you up in her arms. You had your eyes on the rolled carpet in the corner when your mother brought you out, closing the door behind you. You wrapped your arms around her neck, pulling back to look at her strained expression.

“Mama,” you said quietly as she brought you into the kitchen. “I-I’m sorry. I couldn’t find you.”

Tears were starting to come to your face, and she set you down on the counter, wiping the tears that fell from your eyes.

“It’s okay, baby,” she said softly. She swallowed hard, going into the fridge to get some milk. She was going to make you hot chocolate, something warm and filling to put you back to sleep. She always did that when you had nightmares.

“Is daddy mad at me?”

“No, baby.” She puts the milk to boil, coming back to you, her eyes on yours. You were looking at her expectantly, and she knew she had to explain. You were young, but girls were always smarter, more attentive to details. She knew you had seen too much, and she knew you were curious. “You know you’re not supposed to go in there.”

You wiped your nose. “I...I had...I-I—”

She puts a hand on your cheek, and you swung your legs a bit.

“Is daddy bad?” You asked finally, and she didn’t know how to answer that. She leaned forward though and kissed your forehead. “Is that why daddy doesn’t want me to spend time with him?” You asked in a quiet voice.

She brushed your hair back, away from your face, and she brought you close to her.

“Daddy doesn’t know how smart you are, that’s all,” she said in a low voice. “He just doesn’t know how capable you are, y/n. And that’s okay. He...he doesn’t know any better. But you know what, y/n?” You perked up at her words, “you’re going to prove him wrong. I know you will. He’ll see how perfect you are, baby, and he won’t...he won’t be like this forever. Okay? You just have to show him.”

She melted some chocolate into the warm milk, and then she shut the stove off.

“What if daddy doesn’t like it? What if he gets mad at me when I try and show him? What if he doesn’t believe me?” You asked as she took your hand, guiding you back upstairs with the warm mug in her other hand.

She stared ahead, clenching her jaw a bit angrily.

“You don’t take no for an answer, y/n,” she answered seriously. “Your father isn’t the only one that will say no to you. He won’t be the only one that will underestimate you, and he won’t be the only one that will not believe you. But you do it anyway, y/n.”

“Even if he tells me not to?”

“Especially if he tells you not to,” your mother closed your bedroom door behind her, helping you get back onto your bed. She knelt to your level. “Men like your father are ignorant. They will always tell you no because they think they know someone else that can do it better. But you, y/n,” she pointed to your head, “you will always be better than everyone else.”

“You don’t know that, mama,” you sniffled, and she shook her head.

“I do know that.”

“How?”

“Because you’re my daughter,” she scoffed a bit. “And I’ll be damned if I let you be anything but the best.”

Your mother did more than deliver on her promise. From that point on, she was the one that groomed you to take over your father’s business. While your father would push you away, your mother picked you right up, filling in the gaps and the holes when he refused to do it himself. She handpicked your father’s best men to teach you how to be better, faster, deadlier. She hired tutors, trainers, and she filled in when no one else could.

She did it only in the middle of the night. During the day, you’d go to school, be your father’s good little girl, and by night, you’d be with your mother, learning and growing. Some nights were spent with trainers. They got you in shape, and when you were old enough, your father’s men would risk their lives to come and teach you how to fight. If your father found out what they were doing, they’d be dead, but they also weren’t inclined to say no to their boss’s wife. So they did as she asked, teaching you hand to hand combat, weaponry, intelligence gathering. Most of them were former intelligence agents, and they spilled all their secrets, and you absorbed it like a sponge. By the time you were 18, it was all you knew.

Your mother would never have admitted it, but she had created something special out of you, out of her own daughter, right under her husband’s nose. She thought it was ironic that your father turned to lackeys to do his work when his own daughter was ten times the men they were.

But then she was gone. And after she was gone, you tried to tell your father about everything you had done during the years he neglected you.

“Ridiculous,” is what he had said when you explained it to him. “No, y/n. If you’re planning on working for me, with me, you’re mistaken.”

“But daddy—”

“No, y/n!”

No. He had said it. He had said no to you. Just like your mother said he would. You wanted to be strong like she told you. You wanted to stand up to him, yell at him, tell him he was wrong, but you couldn’t. You had only turned and left, crying as soon as you were alone. You couldn’t be strong without her; you had realized it that night. She had been your rock, and now it was time to finally stand on your own, and you couldn’t.

Now it was your shot. For some reason, you finally had the confidence in you to stand up to your father, to ask him for more. So you squeezed his hand tight, reading the apprehension and hesitation all over his face. His daughter, responsible for finding out such sensitive information? Did you even know how to do that?

Of course you did. Your mother had been thorough.

“Daddy,” you said, breaking up his thoughts. You slid off the desk, onto your heels. “If you don’t say anything, I’m just going to assume that’s a yes.”

“Now, wait—”

“No, dad, you wait,” you interrupted him. His head shot up to glare at you, and you glared right back. “It’s time to stop fucking around. It’s time. No more fucking math,” you pushed the papers towards him, and they flew off the desk, “no more editing contracts, no more paperwork. I’m done being your pencil pusher. I’m done with it.”

You crossed your arms over your chest, circling the desk and standing in front of it now.

“You have lackeys for that. And I’m not a lackey,” you said darkly. You put your palms on the desk and leaned forward, lowering your face to his level. “I’m your daughter. Your only one, and not to mention the heiress of everything in this goddamn room. Say yes, or I’m just going to walk out of this room and do it myself.”

If you hadn’t been gripping the desk, he would’ve seen how badly your hands were shaking.

Your father grumbled under his breath, inaudible. He never would admit it, but it made him...proud to hear that come from you. You looked hungry in your eyes, eager to make something of yourself. He saw himself in you for a moment.

“Go on, y/n,” he nodded finally. “Get it to me. Names. I want names more than I want my money.”

“Yes, daddy.”

You bent down and picked up the papers from the floor, taking them with you. As you closed the door behind him, you let out the deepest breath, one that you had been holding. You couldn’t let him down. You couldn’t prove him right; you couldn’t let him keep thinking you weren’t ready or capable or good enough. You had to prove him wrong.

Lackeys didn’t know that there was always someone writing down numbers as product and cash were transported. There was always someone that was taking note of how much, how many, what it is, and where it is. It was a master log of information that mostly went unnoticed until something like this happened.

$20,000 missing was a lot of money, but compared to the amount flowing in, it was a minuscule loss. Your father made millions a day. Losing $20,000 on one shipment would not even put a dent in his profit margins, but your father didn’t care, of course. It was his pride that was hurt. The fact that someone under him thought that taking his money could be done was unacceptable.

The log of information was what was in front of you on the table. At each place something touched down, there had to be an entry added detailing certain information. If it was product, there had to be a log about how much was there quantity wise, how much it weighed, brief descriptions of what it looked like, and who it was handed off to. If it was money, there had to be a log on how much money, how much it weighed, in what currency it was in, and how much was deducted at that particular drop. There had to be signatures by those dropping it off and those taking on the load, and it had to be done always and in the same manner.

There was one stop where there were inconsistencies. The weight ratio and currency value logged at a stop in New York City. The money was moving from Italy to Long Island, then made a stop in Brooklyn to be passed onto the next person that would bring it cross-country. The Brooklyn stop is where the numbers didn’t add up. For the weight of the currency, the value of it logged off by just a small percentage, but enough to account for the lost $20,000.

You got on the phone once you noticed the outlier, holding it between your shoulder and your ear as you chewed on the back of your pen.

“Miss y/n, what can I do for you?”

The phone hadn’t rung for long. Your father’s men were afraid of him, and even though your father didn’t always treat you like his only child, his men were expected to treat you with respect. If there was anything you needed, they were to abide by those demands.

“De Luca,” you said his name clearly. “I’m told you’re the man to talk to if I need to move something.”

“Yes, Miss y/n. What is it that you need me to get rid of?”

“No. I don’t...that’s not what I need,” you bit your lip. “I need names. There was a shipment of cash that came in from Italy one week ago. It made a stop in Long Island, and then another stop in Brooklyn. I need the names of your contacts in Brooklyn.”

There was a pause, and you frowned.

“Hello?” You sat up a bit.

“Yes, I’m here,” he said hesitantly. “I just...it’s funny you say that. I haven’t been able to schedule another stop in Brooklyn in the past week. I’ve been moving things through Queens, which isn’t convenient, but it’ll do for the time.”

“Why? What happened in Brooklyn?”

“Don’t know. I was supposed to send someone out to check on them, but—”

“But what?” You snapped. “Your contacts in Brooklyn don’t show up for work, and you don’t think that’s something to be worried about?”

“I didn’t want to jump to conclusions and be wrong,” he corrected himself. “I don’t want to start a war, Miss y/n, on account of just...suspicion.”

“A war? A war with who?”

“Tom Holland.”

It was quiet tonight, strangely. The Hudson River looked strangely beautiful from this height, sparkling with the glare of the moonlight, even with the crowded harbor breaking the coastline.

The sliding door opened, and the crunch of the concrete beneath shoes broke the quiet sounds. Stepping onto the balcony like this meant he didn’t want to be disturbed. He lit a cigarette, leaning over the railing, just staring out at the water. It was started to get cold in the city. He liked it when it was cold.

His peace was disturbed when a gentle knock came on the glass door behind him. He never liked being disturbed like this. When he turned, he gave the boys standing there a hard glare, letting them know that whatever they were interrupting him for must be important.

He opened the door, and only one stepped through, his phone in hand.

“Tom, mate—”

“This better be fucking good, you know how much I hate being interrupted,” he snapped, licking his lips.

Tom Holland was not an ordinary man, though sometimes others tried to make him seem so. He was very mysterious, and he was very cold and aloof. There was no one he was gentle for, soft for, not even his own friends or his family. He expected nothing but the best from everyone around him no matter who they were. He wanted consistency, loyalty, efficiency, and professionalism. There was no room for anything else in his mind. Anything else meant exposure, attention, chaos. Tom Holland didn’t mind chaos, but if it was chaos that he couldn’t control, it was chaos that he didn’t desire.

He was staring intently at his best friend, a man that had been with him since childhood. He knew those blue eyes better than he knew his own. But by the time Tom was beginning to get his hands dirty, his best friend knew things would never be the same. They were in this for life, until death, and they leaned on each other for that simple shared truth. And when Tom became his best friend’s boss, he made it clear that their relationship would change.

Harrison Osterfield didn’t care. The money was good, and once he had seen it for the first time, he never wanted to let it go. Tom was difficult at first, but they fell into a rhythm with each other over the years, and though Tom was the one that ordered him around, Harrison was never afraid to speak his mind. They were glued to each other, stuck to one another, and they had survived far too many close calls to trust anyone but each other.

Harrison held out his phone. It was a video taken from a security camera at the JFK airport. Tom held the phone close to his face, staring at it over and over again before he looked up.

“What is this?” he asked, sucking on the cigarette hard. “Is this supposed to mean something to me? A woman?”

Harrison put his phone away, crossing his arms over his chest.

“That woman is y/n y/l/n. The heiress,” Harrison explained. Tom frowned.

“Heiress?” He muttered to himself. He thought for a moment, and then his brain clicked. The name was familiar, so familiar on his tongue. It didn’t take him long to figure out where the connections lied. “What is she doing in New York?”

“What the fuck do you think she’s doing in New York?” Harrison scoffed. Tom put the cigarette out, letting out a final clouded breath.

“I didn’t know he had a daughter,” Tom said finally.

“No one did. But she exists. And she’s here, for something, and that can’t be a coincidence.”

“Of fucking course it isn’t a coincidence,” Tom shook his head. “The bastard knows we’re up to something. Or she’s here to fuck with us. I don’t know.”

Harrison leaned over the railing beside him, and they both stared out at the moonlight water.

“So what do we do about it?” Harrison asked lowly. Tom waited for a few moments. He had to think about this. He always thought. Tom Holland never made a rash decision. Every decision he ever made was calculated and purposeful. He had to make each one count. If he didn’t, it meant death, and he had too much on his shoulders to make a mistake.

He already had a lot to think about. You arriving, you coming...the reason wasn’t coming to him, but he was damn curious, that much he knew.

“Nothing,” Tom shrugged a bit. “We wait.”

“Wait?”

“If she’s here because of why we think she’s here, then we wait.”

Tom looked into the dark, smirking to himself.

“She’ll come to us.”

read chapter one

#ITS HERE #hallelujah #tom holland imagines #tom holland fanfiction #tom holland fanfic #tom holland au #mob!tom #tom holland imagine #tom holland x reader #tom holland x fem!reader #tom holland series #tom holland fic #tom holland

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genuflectx · 4 years

Text

Just wanna rant about my job a bit, will probably delete this later. But I think I may quit my job within the next month or so u_u’

Originally when I joined this job last year it was under originations- I helped people apply and get approved for loans, or offered general tech support when they needed help with the process online. I felt like I was helping these nice old people, they were rarely mean (save for the occasional grouchy old man after he gets rejected), and the work load was decent. Not too heavy, not too boring.

Then the pandemic hit. My entire team, which had been hired only a few months before, were rushed in for “accelerated training” on the credit card support department. I believe it was just like 4 weeks of training for a tooootally different workflow. We worked in the servicing department for what, maybe a month? Then they furloughed a ton of people and managers and moved us AGAIN, this time to collections. So calling to collect debts on our credit card product. When I joined this company it was under the understanding I did NOT want to do collections because it makes me sad and feel shitty. But they promised us we would be transferred back to originations after a bit, so whatever.

Slowly things have gone downhill since. Just tiny things adding up. They implemented a internet speed minimum requirement, which is understandable working from home, but we lost another good chunk of people who got fired for that, some who I’d made friends with. Hell, I got THREATENED with firing due to this, forcing us to run an Ethernet cable through 2 stories of our house. And I was PISSED because I was the only one on the team making a 100% average on QA scores. Then a few people quit, leaving only 3 people from my original originations team. They hired a new manager to oversee work force management (WFM) and quality assurance (QA) around this point and I’m CONVINCED it got worse because of her changes...

They changed our outbound dialing system to a cheaper one, promising all these improvements, and who woulda guessed... the quality of work life barely improved with this piece of crap tech but hey, it cut costs. Next they dismantled the debt management company department (DMC) and trained us in it so we’re technically trained for and work in two departments. On top of the promise that in the far future that they will cross-train us with the loan department too, a totally different product. We also have to do the emails for our department as well.

Then things got bad. Non stop calls for a months. Likely related to the unfortunate weather disasters in our outsourced locations. The outbound dialer, which is an autodialer that WFM loads up with late people to auto-call, starting filling up with impossible amounts of people to call for our agent count. We started going from 5000 to call every few hours to 10,000. And it doesn’t matter if we don’t clear the queue, they will load more in at certain times of the day. So we’d get 10,000 at 1pm, we’d get it down to 3,000 by 5pm, and they’d just load it back up to 10,000 again.

Then they added on the mandatory overtime. Everyone in our department either has to do a half shift extra on either saturday or sunday- with mine being on saturday. Another person quit (down to 2 from my original team). We’re understaffed as hell and they tell us that they’re FINALLY training a new class. And know what? They ONLY enacted the OT and got a new class because their service levels were down. Service levels are a mandatory legal level of how many agents per how many customers we have, they get in legal trouble when it drops too far for too long. They didn’t give a shit about our stress until their damn legal agreement dropped and then forced the OT on us. Wow. We feel so appreciated.

And THEN the OT was supposed to go until Feb 14th- today. THEY EXTENDED IT ANOTHER WEEK.

And and and a few days after they told us it was extended these dudes LAY OFF 3 managers, including our team’s manager, who I REALLY liked, and stuck us into the team of a manager who is notorious for giving out incorrect policy info! Why! >:(

Some other small things they’ve done that have added up slowly: They sent me a “nice” alluminum mug for my high QA score. Stuck it in the washer once and the pretty gold lettering on the front melted. It also leaks. They do these “thank you” videos some time where the upper management (never faces you recognize save for 2 or 3). BUT they made us watch this 10 minute long “thank you” Christmas video BETWEEN CALLS instead of scheduling time for us to do it like usual. Due to the short staffing, they changed how our weekly meetings with our manager/team go. Instead of having the whole team go into a meeting with her twice per week, they made her split this into 3 smaller meetings once per week, so that 2 or 3 team members meet with her at a time (more people on the floor to take calls). It spread her thin- before they laid her off of course. After they enacted the OT a week or so into it one of the upper management people sent us all an email telling us we basically weren’t doing good enough because our collections numbers weren’t high enough.. KNOWING we’re under staffed, she still emailed that. Come on.

So ya know what? My fiance and friends have encouraged me to just move on. This company isn’t what it was when I started a year ago, and idk if it’s legit just due to covid or if this WFM/QA overseer that they hired near the end of 2020 is fully to blame. I hate hearing customers tell me day in day out about their family dying, about being homeless/evicted. I hate old ladies screaming at me because they can’t comprehend that WE ARE IN A PANDEMIC and the MAIL WILL BE LATE, so their damn paper checks need to be mailed out at least 2-3 weeks in advanced- OR THEY COULD JUST CALL AND PAY LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE. Tired of people insulting me and calling me names because THEY’RE late and THEY missed a payment and they can’t accept responsibility- because they think screaming at someone making a few bucks over min wage will do anyone any good or make their shitty credit score any better.

All this mandatory OT and my nice manager being fired has put a lot of stress on me, if the other crap wasn’t enough. We’re really financially stable in this household even if I did quit, even if I’d feel guilty af. And it could be months before I found another job as safe and well-paying as this one, but at least my mental health would recover.

So I have about a day of sick time and 80 hours of PTO. My plan is to hopefully schedule out all 80 hours, or at least 85% of my PTO if I can, then when I come back to put in a 1 week notice. By then the new agents will be in full swing. I can get the money from the PTO I earned at this shit collections job and then try and move on to bigger and better things. And in the mean time while looking, I can work on art/writing and I can also possibly get a new car with all the money we’ve saved up. My mama and granny might end up disapproving and judge me but 2020 was such a shit year and I’m tired of this. I feel like this job is taking advantage of us and legit just doesn’t give a crap about their employees.

Okay! Well that’s outta my system! Bleck

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ofmontys · 5 years

Text

“ ah, well. acceptable forms of payment include but are certainly not limited to : booze, food, arms, real estate, f a v o r s ... i’m not picky. but for this lot? ” monty shakes a small plastic bag between forefinger and thumb, lips decorated with an iced smirk. “ the price’ll be a bit... steep. ”

or, alternatively: hello, hello, hello! delighted to be here! the name’s linc ( she/her ) and i’m comin’ to you live from the ever so lovely est timezone with the one, the only, the absolute bloody douchecanoe, monty monroe !

( charles melton + 23 + muse 51 ) isn’t that ignatius “monty” monroe over there? i heard he joined faction: nomads after they got back to west ham. it’s funny, ‘cause they were only on the service trip because his fraternity received disciplinary community service hours & downtrodden greek lifers equaled eager customers. hopefully they fit in there – they’re VULPINE, but also PERFIDIOUS. oh, i’m sure they’ll be fine.

“road work ahead? uh, yeah, i sure hope it does!” ( alternatively: monty monroe, a roadmap. )

firstborn to two of the most powerful executives in the world in hong kong, heading alacritas, the world’s most cutting-edge pharmaceutical company to date. meaning “cheerfulness” and “life”, alacritas’ company mantra is based in life-giving –– “in vivacity, we shine.” lest we forget, though, these pharma high rollers definitely did more than dabble in delinquency. big pharma comes with big drugs: not always the legal kind. and while monty’s parents certainly generate an impressive gross income from respectable trades, they also outsource sketchy labor not listed in their tax reports... illegal substances. mercenaries. insider trading. the monroe’s exploited their industry to the fullest, securing their way to the top of hong kong’s sociopolitical ladder. and, when chinese authorities began questioning their records in 1998, neville and meihui did what any good parents would do to secure a promising future for their only progeny: they shipped two-year-old ignatius off to london, england to live with neville’s sister.

up until his thirteenth year, ignatius thrived: he grew up alongside his younger cousin, essentially as siblings. his aunt became more of a mother than a simple caretaker. the boy was bright. brilliant, really. in primary school, he distinguished himself with his sharp wit and indelible charm. a footballer and intellectual, he fostered many friendships and networked his way into london’s youthful elite. so, when his aunt uprooted their small family to marry an american she met during a layover in dublin, young ignatius was less than pleased.

his aunt’s husband happened to own property in a hole-in-the-wall town in kansas, west ham. ignatius despised the name –– and, upon arrival, his dislike only grew. its sleepy streets couldn’t compete with bustling south kensington. despite their opulent accommodations, he developed a sour taste in his mouth concerning west ham and its residents. some semblance of self-perceived superiority took hold –– and, as ignatius easily landed the role of striker on west ham’s varsity soccer team, his peers mostly enabled this attitude.

in high school, he earned the nickname monty: something a bit less posh than his birth name. it worked, and monty found that, by his senior year, he’d grown more comfortable in participating in west ham’s suburban traditions. still, he aimed to attend university far away. and, with an acceptance to stanford’s business school, nearly bloody succeeded. if it weren’t for his idiot step-uncle...

( tw: automobile accident, death, drugs ) the week before graduation, his aunt’s american buffoon of a husband decided it’d be wise to drive home during one of the worst rainstorms of the season. inebriated. he flipped their prized audi. totaled the damned thing. and totaled himself, too. monty’s graduation bash had to be postponed for funeral services. his aunt fell into a terrible depression and, in order to keep the household running properly, monty had no choice but to stay here. in west ham. it was the right thing to do.

so he began school at west ham’s local uni. and hated every moment of it. of course, seeing his high school friends was ideal –– but he wasn’t challenged. wasn’t stimulated. he began sneaking one or two of his aunt’s pills, here and there. the habit slowly grew, little by little. once he rushed omega nu, he began dealing a bit here and there. with the cash, he was able to acquire more lucrative inventory.

he started off in the greek faction but quickly became a nomad due to a little incident concerning a pocket knife and a bit too much alcohol. i imagine he’s still on good terms with some of the guys, but damn... this kid has turned into a loose canon.

personality tidbits! woop woop.

there’s no easy way to say this. he’s a fuckin’ ass. and, ever since their return to this shaken-up version of the world, it’s gotten worse. any moral compass this kid previously had has vacated the building.

while everyone else was panicked about their parents’ absence, monty raided the local pharmacies and practically cleaned them out. he inventoried his own stock and rummaged through the entire estate, broke into rooms his aunt and uncle hadn’t previously allowed him access to. and oh, did he like what he found: a considerable portion of alacritas’ inventory –– and not the entirely legal kind.

you want drugs? got an aching back? a throbbing heart? monty’s got something for that. but it’ll fuckin’ cost you, big. maybe a gun. maybe that pocket knife, or your toolkit. y’think he could have that antifreeze in exchange for this weed? four pills for tomorrow’s rations. think about it. you need this. he’s helping you. but this place’ll go to absolute shit without a market economy so, really? he’s keeping the peace.

business major. definite snake. slither slither, bitches. don’t trust him. he’ll charm your socks off. he’ll seduce you with his warm-honey voice and buttery smile.

have you... seen his little cousin....? no??? he’s worried but won’t admit it. good bloody riddance!! pah! he’s got his fuckin’ house to himself! don’t you even THINK about telling him otherwise, unless you’re there for business... but you’ll have to meet him at a neutral location to exchange goods. he’s not about to, like, orchestrate his own demise, thank you very much.

honestly? hasn’t had a sober moment since their return from the trip. he went with the intent to sell and, because of it, he’s got a heckin stash. so shut up and smoke this blunt with him, or so help him god.

will look you dead in the eye and describe, in detail, how he'll flay your skin strip by strip and use it to sew himself a new pair of boots, if you don't pay up now. cue a snort of cocaine off his key before he twiddles an outstretched palm “understood?”

a true businessman with no instinct for self-preservation. just profit. profit, profit, profit. though he wasn’t raised by his birth parents, they sure as hell passed on their ophidian genes.

honestly quite unhinged. doesn’t respect anyone else’s authority but his own. always armed in some capacity. likes playing with pocket knives. has an affinity for winking for no reason. eyeing you like you’re his next meal. maybe you are. better give him that last red gatorade before you have to find out.

heavily inspired by “bad guy” by billie eilish.

somebody break him. somebody make him break. because he’s a bloody cadbury egg, y’all. eventually, his shell’s gonna crumble.

bisexual as heck. mess as heck. not repressed about it, but will absolutely play about with the truth. not above faking genuine emotion to get you in his bed. or to steal your shit. his sleight of hand is uncanny. for a rich boy, he sure knows how to grift.

but yeah pls like? hmu for plots? i know this is a lot. and a bit half-baked. so i just.... yeah. message me and we can plot, y’all! i’m so hype for this and i can’t wait to write with y’all!! xoxo

#apogeeintro #* // karma police ; arrest this man ! isms.#drugs tw #alcohol tw #death tw #it's a mess but yeah

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nebraska-doesnt-exist · 5 years

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Hey I dont live in Nebraska but same can be said for IL. Unless it's about gang violence in Chicago or corruption in either Chicago or Springfield we don't get attention. And we're having just as bad of flooding in the Rockford area. I really hope some day both states get the attention they deserve.

yeah, it’s a pretty common thing for most communities that aren’t in the biggest cities. The Post is full of people talking about disasters their communities have dealt with that didn’t get attention, or the attention was focused on major urban areas that didn’t suffer as much.

wow, sorry for the rambling post—i got a little carried away, so it’s under a read more. anyways, i hope you stay safe up there—from one forgotten state to another! 💜💜

obviously i think it’s important for the news to cover disasters that occur in/affect large cities, and i’m not mad or whatever that other disasters have been covered—that’s good! i’m glad the news covers hurricanes and fires! i just think they should also cover disasters that affect everyone else, even if they aren’t as exciting.

someone described it as the news-as-entertainment, and i definitely agree with that. i’m trying to be careful here because i don’t think it’s a “fake news” issue, and it may not even be the fault of individual reporters on major stations. it’s really the corporations behind media networks and the push for news to make money.

all you have to do is look at the alarming number of papers that have had massive layoffs, or the numerous local papers/stations bought up by larger companies, and it becomes clear why this environment that prioritizes revenue has become so prevalent in the media industry. (hopefully this doesn’t sound like some right-wing conspiracy theory; i’m coming at this as a copy editor watching as newsrooms shrink and positions like mine are outsourced to other agencies in different states.)

there’s a really strong push for news stations and papers to focus on stories that are going to generate revenue. viewership. readers. “clicks.” flooding in nebraska isn’t exciting until it’s a disaster, until it’s too late.

even then, so many articles and segments focus on exciting or recognizable stories. how many stories covering the floods talked about/focused on omaha even though the city itself was relatively unaffected? but it’s the only city non-nebraskans will recognize, so it gets a lot of attention.

or how many articles were there about that fridge full of beer some guys found? there’s literally nothing newsworthy about that, and it trivializes the destruction—but it’s funny and exciting and gets readers, so naturally that’s splashed everywhere that bothers to report on the flooding.

online papers/news sites publish stories to get clicks. tv stations run stories to keep viewers from changing the channel. so long as media outlets are capitalistic in nature, focused on generating revenue over truly delivering the news even, when it isn’t glamorous, this divide isn’t going to get fixed.

and for the record, i’m sure this is a problem even within cities or in urban areas. there are always places and people that are overlooked because “nobody cares.” how many poor urban communities are ignored in media because their stories aren’t exciting enough to be covered? flint has more than one hundred thousand residents—how hard has it been for them to get media attention, especially as they continue to struggle?

the fact of the matter is that we need to be able to question the way our national media is run without having our concerns get derailed by antisemitic “fake news” fascists or supposedly “woke” people who think any criticism of the media or concern for rural communities must come from the alt-right.

(quite frankly this is getting into a whole other debate about the dangers of the strict binary line of thinking promoted by our current two-party system. you’re either right or wrong. democrat or republican. a or b. it’s this constricting binary that forbids external suggestions and refuses to look for different or nuanced solutions. but i could talk about that forever and this post is long enough.)

(also, i wasn’t sure where to fit this in above, but national media does provide an important service, keeping us informed about our national government—but coverage tends to hyper-focus on certain stories and neglect important issues. there’s no need to spend twenty minutes having three people fight over what this tweet means and then mention a natural disaster or controversial law as a ten-second story blurb.)

((note: this post isn’t for bigots. don’t reblog if you’re racist, antisemitic, islamaphobic, sexist, homophobic, transphobic, exclusionist, ableist, etc. etc.))

#nebraska #media #democrats #two party system #rural urban divide #i was going to say 'woke liberals' but there's no way to use that without sounding like i say 'sjw' unironically #see now i'm paranoid #how do i criticize media without the fascists getting ahold of this #nebr-ask-a #slyfoxxflyfoxx #long post

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krixwell-liveblogs · 6 years

Text

Deltarune asks

Did you ever end up going back to do the card suite puzzle in Deltarune? Just so you know, if you didn’t you can still go back to do that since the last save in the game is before you fight King. I’d recommend checking the prison elevator again before doing that though.

I haven’t gotten around to it yet, or replaying the game in general. That’s a good point about the save, thank you!

As for the prison elevator: Since finishing the game, I’ve been hanging out in the Deltarune channel on Lore’s Discord server, where I found out about Jevil. I’ve heard he claims he “can do anything”, is based on some clown stickers, and I found out yesterday how you find him. Apparently his fight is supposed to be pretty good, making up for some of the flaws in the King fight? That’s definitely another thing I want to check out, yeah.

After reading your Deltarune post, I'm so upset that you didn't mention Kris's soul getting sent to the Birdcage at the end.

Pfft! I certainly missed an opportunity there, yeah. :p

Maybe I would’ve made that joke if I had been in less of an “I just want to finish the game and go to bed” state of mind at that point. And in more of a Worm mindset.

"Heroes of Light? I don’t know, I don’t think I’d peg either of them as having that aspect." Foreshadowing the tweest ending much? Heroes of Light have a certain, ha, 'passion' for not losing.

Hehe.

Y’know, if the theory I’ve seen going around about Kris ripping their own soul out to stop us from stealing their agency and their story is right, I could actually see that as having to do with the Light aspect. I’m not sure what class it’d be, though. Maybe that reflects more on the player than on Kris, making us Vriskas Thieves of Light.

You know what did foreshadow the ending, though, that I totally called? The character overview specifying that Kris’s body contained a human soul.

Toby Fox had some things to say about Deltarune you may or may not want to read: http://www.twitlonger.com/show/n_1sqn3p9

Alright, let’s see what the Fox has to say:

1. "Is this a sequel? What's going on?? I'm scared..." Please don't worry too much about that. Actually, I'm worried if people worry too much about "what it is," they might not be able to properly enjoy it... (laugh) I will say that basically, what you're seeing here is not the world of UNDERTALE. UNDERTALE's world and ending are the same as however you left them. If everyone was happy in your ending, the people in the UNDERTALE world will still be happy. So, please don't worry about those characters, and that world. It will remain untouched. To rephrase that, DELTARUNE's world is a different one. With different characters, that have lived different lives. A whole new story will happen... I don't know what you call this kind of game. It's just a game you can play after you complete UNDERTALE, if you want to. That's all.

...alright, fair enough. I don’t trust that it’s not connected, especially through Sans (metanarrative timeline agent that he is) and maybe Chara, but it does seem to be an alternate world.

2. "I have questions I want to ask about the story..." There's a lot of questions I'd like to answer, too. That's why I have to make the game. Please wait until then.

A game dev’s equivalent of Robert Jordan’s “read and find out”.

3. "When will the next chapter come out?" This is a difficult question. When I made the demo of UNDERTALE, I made it to prove to myself that it was possible to make a whole game alone (with some help with the art). Because I was able to make it in a few months, I felt that I had proved that it was possible. However, making the demo of DELTARUNE... took a few years. So, given the length of the rest of the game, and how long I'd be willing to spend on a project (7 years maximum) I think the answer is that it's actually impossible to make this game.

I wonder how many people he’s working with. Maybe that’s the solution to this issue, to outsource some of the work to people he trusts.

Lots of things make this game harder to make than the last time. - The graphics are much more complicated and don't play to my strengths (black and white battle graphics were easy...) - The battle system is much more complicated due to multiple characters (I'll write about this later) - The overworld and other sections are more complicated due to multiple characters - Having multiple main characters is much harder to write especially introducing everyone properly in chapter 1 - The entire town had to be created correctly on the first try to set up properly for the rest of the game And further things outside of those: - Trouble starting tasks/concentrating and general difficulty paying attention - Travelling / other responsibilities like translation/ports - Self-doubt / burnout regarding the creation of the game Essentially it's not possible to make this game as one person (and Temmie).

Oh jeez, it’s only him and Temmie Chang?

Also, “Trouble starting tasks/concentrating and general difficulty paying attention” sounds like ADHD to me. I can relate heavily to this point.

However, it MIGHT be possible to create the game if I'm able to make a team. So I'm going to try making a team. Because I really want to make this. But I may not be able to succeed because I have no experience successfully directing a team and I have no idea who I'm going to work with.

Yes, good. That sounds a lot healthier.

I’m sure he can do it. In a pinch, I know he knows people who can probably give him pointers on team leadership, too, over at What Pumpkin.

Since I haven't started assembling the team yet I have absolutely no estimation of its completion. It could take up to 999 years depending on the efficiency level. By the way, I currently plan to release all of the chapters at once after we complete them. I'm not sure how long that will take. You'll buy all of the chapters at once as one purchase. That'll be the only option. I'm not doing pre-orders because I don't like those. It just seems like the best way not to burn anybody. Price is unknown. It depends on how long the game is, and how much it costs to make... I don't know anything about what consoles, etc. it'll come out for because by the time it comes out we might be on Playstation 14 or something. So... in short, I have no idea.

That’s all very fair.

4. "Is this the game's final design? Will you change anything?" It's possible I could change things. This is basically a demo. I might even change this first chapter before release depending on how development goes. This is really an excuse to talk about the parts I think had issues. THE BATTLE SYSTEM: I think the battle system could be explained better. I had a super duper long explanation of things here but really it boils down to: 1. UT's system is incompatible with multiple party members but I wanted to do it anyway because it's cool 2. I'd like to make it so for pacifist players, characters won't have to "defend" so much Oh. The people who tested the game thought that the TP system and animations were cool so it's not all bad. By the way, did you notice that getting close to bullets makes enemy attacks end faster? It doesn't work for every attack, but...

I didn’t notice that detail, but I do appreciate the way it adds to TP without having to defend. But I found myself defending a lot anyway just because it was the only thing there was much point in doing with the characters in question sometimes.

I do feel like there wasn’t enough to use the TP for, but that seems like something that might change as the characters develop more skills over the course of the full game.

EVERYTHING ELSE: I thought everything else was OK. Actually some parts were kind of lazy, like finding the key pieces, but oh well. The UI had some things that could be changed too. When making a game, there's so much to do you have to draw the line somewhere. That's why I need other people to help me (laugh) Oh, and I have no plans to add more content to the first chapter.

5. "Will there be multiple endings?" No. No matter what you do the ending will be the same. (Honestly most games are like that, but for some reason it feels really oppressive to say here...) I think that's part of the reason why the ACT / FIGHT system feels so vestigial in this one. Oh... I'm just talking about the battle system again...

Toby sounds a lot like Napstablook in this thing.

A single ending, huh? Interesting, considering the contrasts between Deltarune and Undertale regarding whether your choices matter and whether fighting is sometimes necessary, and the fact that Ralsei explicitly asks you to do a pacifist run.

6. "I found some kind of bug, will you fix it?" Hopefully an e-mail for that exists on the website by now. Or, it would be better if you could tweet it with #deltarunebug . That would really help us and make our lives easier because tweets are easier to ignore than e-mails

Ahaha!

7. "Can I be on the team?" I'll ask you first!!! (Total silence)

The humor is picking up here. :p

8. "What's the progress on the rest of the game so far?" 0%!!! Nothing!!! I've done nothing!!! I mean, I've done some songs and written the whole story, but... Since no programming or final art has been done, it's best to just think of it at 0%. 9. "Will you do a Kickstarter?" I still haven't finished that damn Alarm Clock, are you kidding me? There's no way I'm doing a Kickstarter this time.

I assume he’s referencing a pledge reward from the Kickstarter for Undertale (that was how I first found out about Undertale, actually, though I then forgot about it until it came out) that hasn’t panned out, or something like that.

10. "The game doesn't work" / "I don't like the game" / "Will there be a version for (platform)?" Because it's a free download I'm surrounded by a forcefield that destroys all complaints and platform requests. There might be more platforms for the DEMO but I don't want to make any promises. (At the very least it'd be nice to do something for the people who bought the game on console.) By the way at the time of writing I haven't even rendered a Mac version whatsoever at all. I hope I can release it... (laugh)

I have a friend who was unable to play the game himself because (as far as I can recall) he’s on a Mac. But yeah, this is fair.

11. "Can I buy the soundtrack for Chapter 1?" Yes! You can buy it at [ http://tobyfox.bandcamp.com ] And other forms of distribution will be in the works too. I'm writing this in the past so I don't know what I just said. 12. "Any closing remarks?" (No one asks this, but...) Thanks for playing my game. I hope you liked it. For the past 3 years I've been waking up in the middle of the night unable to go back to sleep because I've been thinking about the scenes that happen in the game. Even though so many details are still hazy, I really want to show you the things I've been thinking about. That's really my only reason for making this game. If I don't show you what I'm thinking, I'll lose my mind. (It was actually a totally selfish motivation...)

...interesting. Looks like we’re in for a ride when the full game comes.

Not that I was really doubting that.

By the way, I was really worried at first about making this. The expectations for my next work would be really high, so high that I knew that no matter what I did, I felt like people would be underwhelmed. If you played "UNDERTALE," I don't think I can make anything that makes you feel "that way" again. However, it's possible I can make something else. It's just something simple but maybe you'll like it. See you in ?? years... OK? Don't forget.

My audience probably won’t believe me if I say I won’t, due to my history of bad memory, but I don’t think I will.

And yeah. Especially when you’re connecting it to Undertale and its characters, people are going to compare the two. But even if Deltarune isn’t quite the same hit as Undertale was, it’ll be worth it, I’m sure.

#Worm #krixwell liveblogs #Arc 15 #chapter 15.4 #15.4 bet #asks #Deltarune #Undertale #Homestuck #adhd

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mageinabarrel · 6 years

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Yoshiyuki Tomino’s idiosyncrasies have rarely been so approachable, delightful, and altogether entertaining.

I came to Overman King Gainer as a Yoshiyuki Tomino (Mobile Suit Gundam, for those whom the name on its own means nothing) show by way of Gundam Reconguista in G, a show which – as you may or may not recall – I rather liked. While my overall experience with Tomino is limited compared to the overall scope of his oeuvre, with G-Reco and Turn A Gundam (which made my top shows list at #8) under my belt I felt that I had found some kind of kinship, albeit exploratory, with the legendary creator’s idiosyncratic tendencies. And with King Gainer being catalogued along with G-Reco and Turn A among the “Happy Tomino” shows, it only seemed right that I also give it a try.

I’m happy to report that, on the whole, Overman King Gainer was exactly what I was looking for in that respect. It is decidedly a Tomino show, and no one really makes anime like Tomino. That’s probably for the best considering the nature of his quirks, but I’m glad his works have a space to exist. Tomino himself composed the lyrics to King Gainer‘s irrepressible opening theme, which perhaps tell you all you need to know about the show right off:

I need King Gainer!

King! King! King Gainer! Metal Overman King Gainer!

And, later, in the full version of the opening:

Metal fire! I love you! Metal full coat!

[In background as other lyrics happen]: King, King, King Gainer! King, King, King Gainer! King, King, King Gainer!

Did you know you can do the monkey to the rhythm of that “King, King, King Gainer!” chant? Well, you can. Many of the characters do it in the opening, with the mecha joining in (thank you, Kenichi Yoshida). Tomino himself was caught on video during the production of King Gainer doing what looks suspiciously like that dance, too. That is the kind of bubbling, enthusiastic energy that King Gainer is imbued with from start to finish. And, in gratefulness for having been able experience all of that for myself, I’d like to highlight just a few of Overman King Gainer‘s merits to hopefully induce a few others to give it a shot sometime.

Silliness Resides inside Seriousness

Tomino’s propensity for incorporating the, er, derpier side of martial conflicts into his works is an aspect of his anime that I’ve developed a particular fondness for. While I fond myself rather thrown by the frequent disfunction of the war in Turn A Gundam in my first encounter with Tomino, I came to appreciate it more and more as I completed the series, rewatched it, and then say G-Reco and Mobile Suit Gundam. However, I think it’s fair to say that only G-Reco comes close to rivaling Overman King Gainer‘s silliness—and even then, it’s not quite there.

There is a pleasant matter-of-factness to the way Tomino anime deliver their absurdities, a kind of grinning deadpan that accompanies the obviously silly moments and more obtuse humorous bits alike. At one point, a stuffed elephant is used as a shield against a throwing knife and is subsequently apologized to upon request. Later on in the series, a confession of love is used to counteract an antagonist’s mind-reading weapon and winds up being broadcast around the globe. In between, a squirrel saves two humans from drowning. And, throughout, people just kinda… say a lot of stuff. Some of which makes sense. Some of which also makes sense, but also is funny. Some of which is just funny.

I did not say that Overman King Gainer was not a dumb anime. But it sure has a lot of fun with its ridiculous ideas, and the natural way it plays its silliest ones against its more serious ones makes for a unique charm that’s just not like anything else in anime.

The Cast Is, Really, Just Charming

It’s hard not to like many of the characters in Overman King Gainer. I mean, sure, evil railway boss Kids Munt has an incredibly punchable face (spoilers: this happens, satisfyingly) and Asuham Boone is an unreasonable human being (but he’s also so bad at doing anything that you can’t hate him). But beyond them and a handful of other antagonist-types, the cast of Overman King Gainer is just a pile of delightfully varied and unique personalities. I could list out pretty much all of them and have something good to say about each, but I won’t.

Instead, I’ll just note that my favorite in a close race was the precocious young Princess Ana and her trio of squirrel-like creatures, who enthusiastically becomes a hostage for the main group and provides occasional childish verbal beatdowns and plenty of danger-unaware cuteness. Shoutouts to candy-popping genius Overman pilot Cynthia Lane, the witty and good-looking Gain Bijou, the rock-solid Sara Kodama, and the aforementioned Asuham Boone. What speaks even more to King Gainer‘s virtues in this area, though, is the way people in King Gainer are always bouncing around outside their established social circles, talking to each other and generally being a lot of fun to watch. Pretty much the entire cast has chemistry with each other, which, along with the qualities of their unique characters, means conversations are fun no matter who’s participating.

On a related note, one aspect of Tomino’s creations that doesn’t get talked about enough is his ability to build a sense of genuine affection and camaraderie amongst the makeshift families that so often form the emotional core of his shows. Whether it’s the crew of the White Base in the original Mobile Suit Gundam or the Bellri-Aida-Raraiya-Noredo quartet in G-Reco, Tomino has a knack for investing you in the bonds between these characters as they meet, get to know each other, grow closer, and go through their stories together. The way Gainer and Sara become pseudo-parents to Cynthia Lane in the series’ final quarter or so is a microcosm of this in action in Overman King Gainer, as the whole Yapan Exodus team moves from being a scattering of individuals and smaller groups into a united effort to bring the Ceilings safely to their home.

The Giant Roboting is Exceedingly Good

There is a lot that can be said in favor of the giant roboting in Overman King Gainer. The first is that frankly embarrassing number of fun mecha designs is off the charts – all the way from the likable design of the titular mech, to the rubbery morphing of Cynthia Lane’s Dominator, to weird frog-like Overman, to uncomfortably muscle-bound ones, to the many goofy Silhouette Machine designs, and so forth. The creativity of the powers the mechs possess—speed, invisibility, gravity control, summoning giant toads, Precure villain powers, causing eternal winter across the planet, etc.—match the designs stride-for-stride.

Of course, concepts are nice, but what about the actual use of said giant robots? Well, on the whole, I would argue that King Gainer is better at giant roboting than G-Reco, as it roughly takes a mecha of the week structure, resulting in constant giant robot duels. Happily, King Gainer‘s production is such that it’s able to make those duels achieve frequent visual heights with plenty of exciting animation. The clear standout is the BONES-outsourced episode #14, which was an industry event of sorts, but the majority of King Gainer‘s fights have at least some kind of animation merit to them—whether it be longer fight sequences or just beautifully rendered explosions.

But the most important thing about King Gainer‘s giant roboting is simply that it loves the stuff. The mecha of the week format isn’t just a convenient episode structure here, it’s a chance for the show to do what it does best of all – deliver exciting, blood-pumping mecha action to the viewer. All the good designs and fun powers and sakuga are in service of that one goal: to let giant robots do their giant robot thing. The creative of concept simply bubbles out in a joyful rush as the fights get bigger, the opposing mecha more hilariously overpowered, and the titular mecha finding new ways to overcome the challenges before – all the way to the very end, which is one of the most stirring giant robot moments I have yet has the pleasure of witnessing.

And you know, this is a giant robot show—so if the giant roboting is good, what else really is there to complain about?

King! King! King Gainer! Metal Overman King Gainer!

Yoshiyuki Tomino's idiosyncrasies have rarely been so approachable, delightful, and altogether entertaining. Yoshiyuki Tomino's idiosyncrasies have rarely been so approachable, delightful, and altogether entertaining.

#Overman King Gainer #Review #this is now a giant robot blog #Yoshiyuki Tomino

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jswdmb1 · 7 years

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A Long December

“Maybe this year will be better than the last”

- Counting Crows

I cannot tell you how many people have told me that 2017 was one of the worst years that they ever experienced. I don’t recall it ever being a common theme among the people to whom I was speaking, but there just seemed to be a general anxiety and malaise that spread like wildfire starting around January 20th. That no so subtle date suggests one guy is at fault, but that is not fair to a year that produced plenty of misery all on its own. Natural disasters, wars, proclamations of hate acted out through violence, and plenty of people dying were what seemed like a daily occurance. That last one really got me. Both on a personal level and with the passing of legends like Tom Petty who I didn’t even know. It seemed like every day was a new adventure in emotion. You saw it in full display when in my “Here’s Where the Story Ends” post where I briefly quit this blog. It was as good as an example of how I felt on many a day this year.

Now, I know that this is not a very positive note to end the year on, but hang with me. I think many good things happened that are there if we scratch below the surface of the pain. The key word there is pain. If you believe in the yin and yang of life, suffering is needed to truly experience joy. I don’t think it is as literally black and white as the yin and yang are, but the best thing that happened to me this year was that I discovered some truth to this notion through my experiences. The discovery was so profound that I may end up looking back on 2017 as one of the best years of my life. I have now done a complete back flip on you in two paragraphs and I think I owe more explanation. Again, hang with me as I’ll try to make sense of what I’m saying.

First, just because I am finding the positive in bad things should not come off as me brushing off the problems of the world or ignoring my own shortcomings. What I am doing instead is acknowledging that both are very real and present and that both are necessary whether we like them or not. Once I did that, I stopped asking a lot of why questions that no one had a answer to, nor should they have. Instead of asking why do I not feel normal, I finally recognized that “normal” for me is that I have mental illnesses and I was not doing all I could to treat them. Instead of asking why did this idiot get elected, I came to the conclusion that I had too long outsourced my role in our democracy and our lack of real participation in governance is what we should think hard about. Instead of asking why did my Dad die, I accepted that such a thing is not to be questioned and suppressing the grief that came with it was not celebrating his life.

None of these conclusions had me tap dancing while whistling Dixie out of my asshole, but they did help me work through situations as they repeated themselves. When I finally accepted that I had mental illness, and that was going to be a part of me for the rest of my life, it allowed me to recognize that only I could help myself through taking proper care of myself, which includes taking my medication daily, using the tools I learned during my hospitalization, and recognizing that sobriety for me is a necessary component of any management of my disease. Once I realized that blaming others for a toxic political environment that I lazily chose to take no part in was counterproductive (simply voting does not count, my friends), I understood a little better about how we got to this point. Trust me, I still get mad, but I am looking for ways to channel that more productively. A definite work-in-progress, but a big first step at least. After finally getting the answer that there is no answer to why people die other than it is part of life, I started a long grieving process that is still going on and may always be with me in some way. This helped in a very small, but important way, when my Mother-in-Law died six months after my Dad. It did not make that experience any less sad or even easier, and it definitely did not blunt the fact that my children lost two grandparents in less than a year, but it did allow me to move a little more quickly into the grieving process. Notice that I did not say out of the process. I just didn’t suppress the natural flow of the steps that are needed and hopefully, allowed me to provide some support to my wife and father-in-law.

I realize as I reread what I have written that this is all too specific to probably be of much use to you. But, I didn’t write it thinking it would. I also don’t write this looking for pity or to brag that I have things all figured out. It is quite the contrary, as there are days that I am confused as ever. The difference is that I accept that as “normal” or at least what is normal for me. I sense now when something is bad that there is a reason for it that may or may not be revealed to me, and spending a lot of time figuring it out is not necessarily important. What is important is accepting what happens to us, whether good or bad, is part of the whole package we bought when we said yes to this life. That, I guess, is what I really wanted to say to you. It’s okay to be confused. It’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be depressed. These are normal feelings. I felt abnormal because I was trying to ignore them. As such, I end 2017 by thanking it for teaching me that lesson. I kind of look at the year as that teacher you absolutely hated in school because they were so “mean” and “tough”. But, down the road, you realize they were giving you exactly what you needed and that those teachers were the ones that actually gave a shit because they knew that’s how you learn. You still may not have liked them a whole lot, but as you matured and look back with a truly objective eye, you gain an incredible respect for their courage in doing the right thing no matter how unpopular. I may need more time to truly feel that way about 2017, but it seems that it is headed that way.

So with that, I do wish 2017 the best and certainly am thankful that time travel is unlikely to be invented in my lifetime. As good as it may have been for me to go through a year like that, I definitely don’t want to repeat it. And, with this past year in mind, I do look forward to 2018 with curiosity and hope. I still want it to be a good teacher and be tough, but I hope it can maybe do it with slightly less sharp edges than 2017. Either way, I hope that I am a better student of life to make sure I get the lessons it is trying to teach me. I may not ace the test, but at least I’ll know I tried my best.

Happy New Year everyone,

Jim

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mestudytonight · 5 years

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https://www.reddit.com/r/college/comments/2hubxl/writing_college_level_papersessays/ckwb2wp?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x

This may be just because I prefer more straight forward and concise papers, but this is the general guideline (I think) for a lot of academic papers. However, the rules are different if you're taking a creative writing class.

In an academic paper, avoid flowery language. Just get straight to the point. OP you need a background, a disruption, problem statement/question, then your claim (what your paper will be about). Your claim should not be a fact, rather it should be something that can be disputed. If you can google the answer to your claim, it probably sucks. Rather than asking something like, "What is the factor behind blah blah...?" consider something like "How can we better understand this problem?" Your intro and claim should not contain "should", "must", like "We must do something to fix this or understand that," because chances are, you are writing a 5-6 page paper about something to complex to just write a solution about. You also need a reasonable claim and a question you can explore without reaching a dead end. If your school has access to research databases (which they most likely do) I recommend reading some papers, or even if your school has a lit magazine that publishes student essays, try checking out the structure of their papers.

One thing about claims: Do not write a speculative claim. You won't be able to find any evidence for it.

e.g "Had the SC ruled such and such...there wouldn't be this problem today..."

Where can you find evidence of that?

Now to writing the paper:

An example of an intro could be, possibly beginning with a hook, an anecdote or something:

"In 1927, there was a Supreme Court case, Buck v. Bell, ruling that eugenics was [rest of background]...."

Then comes your disruption,

"However, today there is disagreement regarding the case... [rest of disruption]"

Then your problem statement or question,

"How is the case relevant today, if at all?"

Then claim,

"Buck v. Bell was wrong/right because...[reason 1, reason 2] and so it is relevant/not relevant because..."

The rest of your paper should expand on your reasons and you need evidence to do so. In your first class you will most likely just use sources called exhibit sources (sort of secondary sources, google these), these are analysis sources and will help support your claim, typically these sources are analyzed. If you have a quote, you can expand or add on to the quote using your own ideas. However, if you choose to paraphrase a writer's words (which is fine), make sure to cite. There are many guides to citations online. Always, always cite, it's better to have too many citations than too little. Make sure you know what your professor prefers (I personally think Chicago is the best).

As you progress in writing you will start to use argument sources, where you look at scholarly papers and either refute or extend an argument. Usually, these are introduced in your first paragraph. Say John Smith thinks eugenics is okay, you can write:

"John Smith, a professor of bioethics, is a believer in forced sterilization if the person cannot take care of themselves, he states, "[quote]"citation

You want to continue using your argument sources throughout your paper, making sure that you know how to extend or refute an argument. Hopefully, your writing professor will go over the different types of sources you will be using. I would google "BEAT/BEAM sources", as this can explain a lot better than me. Also, in regards to citations and quoting which is a very, very important skill you will need, google "Degrees of Quotation".

The easiest way to structure a paper is to consider the 4 basic things you need:

Claim -- what to believe

Reasons -- why to believe (Why should the reader believe what you are saying?)

Evidence -- demonstrates validity (I believe dogs are great because they're loyal, here's evidence...)

Acknowledgment -- you always should address the other points people may have that don't agree with your argument (While some may say dogs can be aggressive...blah blah)

As for your conclusion, summary conclusions are boring. Instead, try pointing your reader in a new direction, or even raise a new question. You want to leave the reader with a last thought, and also a kind of "so what?" Why should they care about your topic? How does it affect them? Here is where you can use the "should", "must" phrases.

On the Writing Process

My writing process is incredibly sloppy, first of all. Don't be afraid to do the same.

Typically I look up sources and find themes in them, try to avoid using dot.edu, dot.com, dot.org, google, or Wikipedia, these are not valid sources. Use scholarly papers if you're doing an academic paper. Better yet, ask your professor.

After refining my sources and deciding on an argument source, and the other sources I want to use, I make a really loose outline. I really just put all of my ideas down on paper. Don't be afraid to cut outsources here, this is where you want to be messy and get all of your ideas down.

Here is where I start writing my draft like before, I'm very messy. I keep track of quotes and paraphrasing however to save me time later. But I tend to ramble a lot in my first drafts. If there's a word requirement, write over it, because it's much easier to cut down than to add more.

I do a lot of editing, both with my professor and other classmates. I usually do 4-6 drafts for a 5-6 page paper.

More editing.

Last-minute refining.

Turn in a final draft.

Grammar and Style

I'm pretty bad at this, unfortunately. But check out passive and active tone, because active tone makes your paper a lot stronger. Avoid being vague in your language, you want to sound confident in your paper and that you know what you're talking about. Also, be concise. Be straight to the point, don't dance around it. There are so many books on this as well that you should check out.

Wow, sorry I wrote so much but I hope this helps. Not all of it will apply to you, but most of it should. Apologies for inaccurate information if there is any, it is 1:30 am and I should be sleeping. Good luck, OP!

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thefabulousfulcrum · 7 years

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You Are Not a Rebel

via The Baffler

by Laurie Penny

IN REAL LIFE, nobody has the decency to realize that they’re the bad guy until it’s too late. The worst thing about the historical record is that it is usually written after the fact. Just think, if we could only get our hands on advance copies of tomorrow’s historical bestsellers, we could work out once and for all how we fit into this cruel and anxious age we’re living through, and get a sneak peek at the ending to see who ends up dead, decked out with medals, or living incognito in South America. Sadly, that would hardly help those of us who are most dangerously confused. The people who most urgently need to consider which side of the moral ledger their story will be written on tend to read few books in which they are not the hero.

It’s hard realizing that you’re the bad guy, because then you have to do something about it. That’s why the most aggressive players on the gory stage of political melodrama act in such bad faith, hanging on to their own sense of persecution, mouthing the plagiarized playbook of an oppression they don’t comprehend because they don’t care to. These people have a way of fumbling through their self-set roles till the bloody final act, but if we can flip the script, we might yet stop the show.

Let us remember, then, that in the violent psychodrama going on in their own minds, modern reactionaries, almost to a man, think that they are the hero. They think they’re the plucky underdog. They continue to think this even with their tiny-fingered mascot bellowing over the White House lawns and their agenda ascendant around the world, and I know, I know it makes no sense. But dogma doesn’t have to. And one of the articles of faith uniting all our modern proto-fascists, crypto-fascists, baby-fascists, whining 4chan fascists, and the growing number of fascists for whom any sort of prefix is redundant is that they all think they are rebels.

The new far right has recognized the enduring appeal of adventurism and appropriated its rhetoric for reactionary ends. Propaganda hubs like The Rebel repackage far right ideas as edgy and avant-garde, reassuring recruits that they are hip outsiders in a mass of squares and normies. This is a time-worn trick. As George Orwell observed in a review of Mein Kampf, “whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a grudging way, have said to people ‘I offer you a good time,’ Hitler has said to them ‘I offer you struggle, danger, and death,’ and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet.”

This is what happens when we fetishize the romance of rebellion while making actual social change impossible.

Fighting for people who are less privileged than you to become even less privileged than you is hardly a revolutionary mission. CEOs do it all the time. Last year I was interviewed for a Vicedocumentary about the relationship between Gamergate and the new far right. I remember that to get the shot at the right level, I had to half-sit and half-stand on a fancy sideboard. While I was engaging my core muscles trying to balance, the affable hipster doing the interview asked, “But aren’t the guys a bit underground? Aren’t they a bit counter-culture?” I was so flabbergasted that I fell off my perch. Yes, I told him, they are underground, a bit. But even Vice magazine, which is woke enough as long as woke sells ads—another Viceeditor told me authoritatively a few years ago that “it’s not cool to be stupid anymore”—even they can surely see that simply being “underground” does not make something fit to dredge up. A lot of things run underground that would be better off staying there. Sewers, for instance.

This is what happens when we equate “anti-social” with “anti-establishment.” The far right think they’re the resistance. They think they’re Mel Gibson in Braveheart, when they’re actually just regular old Mel Gibson, screaming about bitches and whores and Jews and then wondering why no one answers their phone calls anymore. Well played, Rob Roy.

The Shitler Youth come in many flavors of plausible deniability, but none are quite so woefully iconic as everyone’s favorite ship of fools: the fake pirates of Defend Europe.

In case you hadn’t heard, a few months ago some white supremacists decided that the rescue boats trying to save desperate people from drowning in the Mediterranean were a threat to “European” way of life. (I will not dignify them with the term “activists,” because activists have meetings and have read things that aren’t spittle-flecked sexually paranoid internet retro-rants about white people being bred out of existence.) They decided to solve the problem by pursuing a merry life of adventure on the high seas. No, really. These rudderless twits went ahead and chartered a boat, with the initial, unabashedly evil intention of impeding the rescue ships, a plan which was quickly changed to “monitoring” said ships, as apparently nobody had any idea how to do actual sea battle, because whatever the copyright people told us, downloading a lot of free porn does not, by itself, make you a pirate.

They got a lot of press, of course, which was part of the idea—there’s no point being a rebel if you can’t get your picture in the paper. They even got Katie Hopkins, Britain’s own dollar-store Eva Braun, to come along for part of the ride, presumably as some sort of totem against shipwreck, because any self-respecting god of the ocean would spit Hopkins right back out again. Deliciously, before they had even managed to embark on their main voyage, they accidentally smuggled twenty-one Sri Lankan asylum seekers into Europe. Then their boat stalled in the middle of the Mediterranean sea. The founder of the Sea-Eye, the NGO ship that was sent to offer aid—the pouting stalwarts refused help—told the public that “to help a ship in distress is the duty of anyone who is at sea, without distinction to their origin, color, religion, or beliefs.” Hopefully the Sea-Eye was also stocked with burn cream.[*]

The very worst part about this entire episode is that an actual rescue ship was diverted to help these cretins, a rescue ship that could have been saving people who are really fleeing for their lives, rather than simply fleeing reality. I’m not going to permit myself to wish the baby-fascists had fucking drowned, but I do hope the stalled vessel gave these quisling Quixotes time to check out their own reflection in the surface of the sea and wonder whether being “underground” was quite so much fun anymore. I also hope that when they make the movie of this, every single one of them is played by Nicolas Cage in a variety of unconvincing wigs.

Claiming that anti-fascists are morally equivalent to fascists is a little like claiming that, as both take a toll on the body, cancer and chemotherapy are basically the same.

In the United States, radicalized extremists on the far right are also due for a rebrand, having been embarrassed on the international stage in Charlottesville by fellow travelers who took the street-fighting-Nazi live-action roleplay too far, marched around screaming about being replaced by Jews, and murdered someone. The Shitler Youth are now going through desperate conniptions trying to claim that anti-fascists are morally equivalent to fascists, that “all sides” are aggressive and forthright, which is a little like claiming that, as both take a toll on the body, cancer and chemotherapy are basically the same.

Shit got real, eh? One minute you’re a nice normal boy with hobbies and internet friends, and the next, your picture’s all over the place holding a torch and doing the Nuremberg uglyface and your parents won’t talk to you because everyone thinks you’re a militant racist, and they’re right. If I may talk directly to these self-deluding subterraneans: I’m sorry to be the one to point this out, but you have been radicalized. There’s a reason people call you Vanilla ISIS. ISIS think they’re rebels, too. Have a good hard look at these Defend Europe twits with their rickety armada. These are your people. They’re your compadres. You are paddling beside them in the shallow end of political discourse, screaming when anything living nibbles your toes.

This is what happens when we fetishize the romance of rebellion while making actual social change impossible. My guess is that the ruling class, the people whose agenda these people’s mean-spirited credulity serves, aren’t standing about with flaming torches screaming that they’re about to be replaced by Jews. They don’t spend their time harassing girls on the internet. They outsource that shit. To suckers. For free. Meanwhile, the ruling class is just writing the speeches and jerking the strings and watching gullible, self-anointed rebels make fools of themselves on television.

These are the very people whose names the Shitler Youth wear on their unbelievably ugly hats and t-shirts, which incidentally is exactly what happens when you let straight white guys who consider gold a neutral design your neo-fascist aesthetic. The one problem with calling these faux-rebels Nazis is that it suggests they know how to goddamned get dressed in the morning. The left are out-styling them as well as out-thinking them right now. The left! Some of us wear hemp! And t-shirts with weak science puns! And we let our flatmates cut our hair! And we spend half our time fighting each other over tiny ideological debates that started before we were born, and they still make us look good. They make us look good because they’ve swallowed the fake oppression story cooked up by propagandists on the right to recast their most reactionary opinions as risqué.

So let’s be clear: getting fired because you hate women is not an equivalent hardship to getting fired because you happen to be one. People who have been disowned by their parents for being gay or transgender aren’t going to have sympathy when your mum and dad find your stash of homophobic murder fantasies and change the locks. Getting attacked for being a racist is not the same as getting attacked because you are black. The definition of oppression is not “failure to see your disgusting opinions about the relative human value of other living breathing people reflected in society at large.” Being shamed, including in public, for holding intolerant, bigoted opinions is not an infringement of your free speech. You are not fighting oppression. You are, at best, fighting criticism. If that’s the hill you really want to die on, fine, but don’t kid yourself it’s the moral high ground. I repeat: You cannot be a rebel for the status quo. It would be physically easier to go and fuck yourself, and I suggest you try.

The fact that some people—the women, people of color, immigrants and queer people you want put back in their proper place—disapprove of you does not make you edgy. A bag of cotton wool is edgier than you lot. Fighting for things to go back to the way they were twenty or thirty or fifty years ago does not constitute a bold resistance movement. It constitutes the militant arm of the Daily Mail comments section. Fighting real oppression involves risk, and before you start, I’m talking about real risk, not some girl on the internet calling you a cowardly subliterate waste of human skin, like I just did.

This was gig-economy bigotry from the beginning, every bedroom hatemonger his own self-facilitating media node.

Of course, the fragile self-image of American nationalism has always been grounded in the idea of rebellion, in an aesthetic of protest and struggle for individual liberty powdering over the ugly worship of authoritarianism andhierarchy that was also baked in from the beginning. The United States has never truly stopped fighting its civil war, but the tropes and language of that war have been re-appropriated by net reactionaries in an effort to dress up their racism as rebellion, which by coincidence was part of what the war was about in the first place. That’s why there’s such attachment to the confederate or “rebel” flag among conservatives, even in states which fought for the Union; even in states which did not exist at the time. And this investment in maintaining a state of permanent rebellion is why net reactionaries have no idea what to do now they’re technically in power, like the confused golden retriever who finally catches that Ford Focus, except far less fluffy.

Mewling subluminaries have, for years, approached backyard fascism as a growth industry—why stop now? These enterprising intellectual bantamweights did not wait for the mechanisms of state and party to show them how to goose-step or gather seed money—this was gig-economy bigotry from the beginning, every bedroom hatemonger his own self-facilitating media node, like a sort of fascist Nathan Barley. The millennials among them have merely done what the television told us all to do as kids: find your passion and make it your career. It’s just a shame that their passion happens to be the creation of a white ethnostate with a stack of sexually frustrated video rants as a transitional demand.

So propping up the establishment does not sit well with their sense of themselves as brave, entrepreneurial outsiders battling the forces of something-or-other. Perhaps it feels strange to be told you have won when nothing in your own actual, material life has changed. Perhaps winning didn’t taste as good as the picture on the package. They were promised thrills and spills and danger and adventure and instead they’re on the haunted teacup ride through the wreckage of civil society and they’re feeling a bit sick but they’ve given the man their money, so they can’t get off.

And in any case this is not the sort of game you just win or lose. Politics doesn’t work like that, although in fairness, the sense that it does is one of several delusions they share with the political elites they claim to despise. Playing by those rules is a great way to make sure that the house always wins. What’s changed in the world in the months since their team supposedly won? The rich are still running things, they’re just a lot less shy about it. Living standards have gone nowhere but down. The planet is still sizzling towards climate collapse, and I know they think that’s not real, but you don’t have to believe in a train to get run down by it with everyone you care about while you stand in the middle of the tracks screaming about cucks and Jews like a prize prick.

One major thing, however, has changed, and that is that an awful lot of people who happen to be foreign, or female, or members of a different race or faith from these fools are suddenly living in fear of violence, violence the Shitler Youth and their crewmates helped whip up to make themselves feel like big damn heroes. Because they wanted to feel like they were fighting the power without actually having to challenge anyone who had it.

If you’ve a niggling suspicion I might be talking about you here, it’s time to take a look at your own reflection in whatever screen you’re reading off. If you want to cosplay as a revolutionary from a made-up time before brown people and liberated women existed, go and drink mead at a Ren fair like a normal person. If you just want to be famous on the internet, go and make some porn. If you can’t get over your fetish for fake oppression, go and hang out in a club where people wear expensive black rubber and get yourself consensually flogged by someone with legitimate rage to work through. But don’t call yourself a revolutionary just because you can’t stop running in circles.

[*] Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly suggested that the crew of the Defend Europe vessel had been rescued by the Sea-Eye. Although the Sea-Eye was temporarily diverted to travel toward the Defend Europe boat and offer aid, the latter crew refused help and the rescue ship carried on its operations. The fascists’ boat later restarted.

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duaneodavila · 7 years

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Maybe You Shouldn’t Go To Law School Because Of Donald Trump

(Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Reports of an increase in LSAT test-takers and law school applications surprise me.

I don’t know whether that’s good news or bad news. The article says that the increase of interest in law school for prospective students is due to a “Trump Bump,” that is, the interest in certain areas of law where the president has taken stands, rolled back regulations, signed new executive orders, and the like. Areas of law enticing prospective students include immigration law, environmental law, and public interest law.

I think that any prospective law student has to approach going to law school very warily. As a dinosaur looking back on more than a 40-year career as a lawyer, I hope that prospective law students understand what awaits them and what doesn’t.

Every prospective law student should read or reread, as the case may be, and casting modesty side, my column several years back on the topic of Another Kind of Law School Admission Test. What I wrote then holds true today, even more so.

Every prospective law student should read Richard Susskind’s book, Tomorrow’s Lawyers.

Susskind has a lot to say, especially about how the future of the profession is going to look very different from the profession in the 20th century, and even from the first decade of this century. For those prospective students who watched (or binge-watched) such television shows as, most recently, The Good Wife, and of older vintage, Boston Legal, and of dinosaur vintage, LA Law, our profession is undergoing radical changes.

Technology, Susskind says, has a huge impact on the practice, and the changes it has made are here to stay. More changes will come. You also need to know what kinds of legal jobs there will be in the future, at least by the time you apply to law school, slog through the three (or four) years, and take and pass the bar (hopefully the first time).

Susskind has thoughts about what kind of jobs you can expect to find. What you thought you might be doing as a lawyer may be totally different than what you want to do or can do. As he puts it, the future of the legal profession is neither John Grisham nor Rumpole of the Bailey. He quotes world-famous ice hockey player Wayne Gretzsky for the proposition that you “skate to where the puck is going, not to where it’s been.” For any prospective law student, those already in school, and even us dinosaurs (unless we’re collecting on that non-existent defined benefit pension), Susskind’s book is essential. Where is the profession going? Will it even still be a profession?

Law school is a slog — a very, very expensive slog — and just because you make it through and pass the bar doesn’t mean that there’s a pot of gold for you. Far from it. Unless you graduated from a top-tier law school and at the top of the class, the likelihood that there’s a job for you in Biglaw is remote at best. Even further down the law practice food chain, jobs that provide W-2 income, rather than a flurry of 1099s, can be scarce now and may be even scarcer in the future. Contracting? Outsourcing? Standardization? There are already too many unemployed and underemployed lawyers.

So, the problem becomes what do you do with that bright, shiny law degree and that certificate of admission for whatever state that you’re now admitted to practice in, when there are no jobs — at least not in immigration law, environmental law, or public interest law? And don’t forget about those students loans (law school and perhaps even undergrad) that demand your immediate, consistent, and perhaps even life-long payments.

Couple that with providers such as Legal Zoom, eDiscovery vendors who can and do work at a fraction of the hourly billing of an associate, and artificial intelligence which continues and will continue to absorb work that used to be done by lawyers.

The question then becomes whether you’re willing to make all the sacrifices necessary to become a lawyer and then come face to face with the door slamming, “you’re not a fit for the position,” “we’re going to continue to look,” and other dispiriting and downright insulting rejections. (Of course, that’s assuming that you even get a response to a job application, which is reviewed in many cases by artificial intelligence scanning key words.)

If, however, you see yourself as entrepreneurial, as a person who can and will deliver legal services more cost efficiently and differently from the way we dinosaurs have done it, then go for it, knowing well that the risks of a legal education may well exceed the financial rewards years down the road, and maybe always. It’ll be a very bad choice if you’re in it just for the money, because for many lawyers, the money just isn’t there. It’s even tougher for women and minority lawyers.

Call me a wet blanket, sour puss, a Grinchette (in keeping with the holiday “spirit”), but I think everyone even thinking about law school needs to be fully informed about what it entails.

Is the juice worth the squeeze? Only you can decide how to answer that question, and you may not be able to answer it until you’re done with law school, have passed the bar, and are out in the big wide world of law practice. President Trump won’t be in office forever, and while there may be a “Trump Bump” now, that doesn’t mean it’ll still be operative when you’re practicing 10 years down the road, and artificial intelligence does even more of the legal work than it does now. What will you do in your legal career?

What will still be operative will be the need for lawyers to represent all those who have no access to justice, and as income inequality continues to grow, I think that’ll be just about everyone.

Jill Switzer has been an active member of the State Bar of California for 40 years. She remembers practicing law in a kinder, gentler time. She’s had a diverse legal career, including stints as a deputy district attorney, a solo practice, and several senior in-house gigs. She now mediates full-time, which gives her the opportunity to see dinosaurs, millennials, and those in-between interact — it’s not always civil. You can reach her by email at [email protected].

Maybe You Shouldn’t Go To Law School Because Of Donald Trump republished via Above the Law

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warninggraphiccontent · 5 years

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21 February 2020

Lucky for some

Well, that was the reshuffle that was. We've summarised the whole thing in 13 charts over on the Institute for Government live blog.

Exact ministerial portfolios are still being parcelled up in most cases. Over at Cabinet Office, it may be that paymaster general Penny Mordaunt ends up with the implementation brief that covers various things digital and data, and it's unclear whether newly promoted-within-the-department Chloe Smith will keep responsibility for statistics, transparency and knowledge management. Michael Gove has taken the minister for the Cabinet Office role in place of the departing Oliver Dowden...

...who will hopefully take his enthusiasm for and expertise in digital government and data to DCMS. DCMS has helpfully published a list of its ministers' responsibilities. Caroline Dinenage gets online harms and digital tech/policy, while returning John Whittingdale gets data and the National Archives (and media - that'll be a quiet brief what with all the BBC briefing). Whittingdale was previously secretary of state at the department (before 'Digital' was added to the name), and before that, chair of the select committee scrutinising the department. This is what he told the IfG about that experience:

It was a great help because I’d done the job for 10 years, and the way select committees work is that you focus on one area and then you move to another area, so during that time I’d done inquiries into gambling, into licensing, into tourism, into heritage, into museums, arts funding, masses on press regulation, creative industries. I mean there was barely an area of the department which we hadn’t had an inquiry into... so I felt very, very familiar with almost every policy area. The only area which I didn’t know as well was the bits which were coming into the department... Because they had not previously been under the department, the select committee hadn’t looked at them, so I didn’t know those areas as well.

Helpfully, data and open government have come into the department since Whittingdale was last there, so hopefully he can get up to speed quickly. (John, if you'd like to subscribe to a newsletter that could help with that...)

Some other links:

I'm back on the IfG podcast this week - 'by popular demand', no less - talking reshuffles. But take the quiz here first - bonus quiz here.

Since it's a Six Nations weekend, here's my #dataviz from last year, when Wales were doing better than they are this time round.

And given all the recent discussions about special advisers, here's a review I did of a rather good book on that exact subject a few years ago. Still very much relevant...

Have a great weekend

Gavin

Today's links:

Graphic content

Government reshuffle February 2020: live blog (IfG)

More than 100 people have sat at the cabinet table during a decade of Tory rule* (The Times)

Has it really been a year? (me for IfG)

Picking winners and losers under new UK points-based immigration system* (FT)

Visa fees (IfG)

The Macroeconomic Policy Outlook Q1 2020 (Resolution Foundation)

Social capital in the UK: 2020 (ONS, via Graham)

Revealed: the areas in the UK with one Airbnb for every four homes (The Guardian)

Donald Trump is appointing federal judges at a blistering pace* (The Economist)

Bloomberg’s immense spending gets him 30,000 online ads a minute, and a whole lot more* (Washington Post)

Mike Bloomberg Is Way Richer Than People Realize (Mother Jones)

What the Democratic Candidates Discussed During the Debates: Annotated Transcripts* (Bloomberg)

We Checked the Iowa Caucus Math. Here’s Where It Didn’t Add Up.* (New York Times)

Coronavirus

Speed Science: The risks of swiftly spreading coronavirus research (Reuters)

Under China’s lockdown, millions have nowhere to go (Reuters)

24 hours of China region airplane movements on a normal Friday in November 2019 (UTC time) vs last Friday the 14th Feb, 2020 (via @trumpery45)

How epidemics like COVID-19 end (and how to end them faster)* (Washington Post)

Diseases like covid-19 are deadlier in non-democracies* (The Economist)

Climate and environment

Climate Change Rises as a Public Priority. But It’s More Partisan Than Ever.* (New York Times)

How to reduce your food’s carbon footprint, in 2 charts (Vox)

Revealed: The pesticide giants making billions on toxic and bee-harming chemicals (Unearthed)

Last chance for the climate transition* (FT)

Locust Swarms Ravaging East Africa Are the Size of Cities* (Bloomberg)

Everything else

The 2020 Sigma Awards: Winners

Do Authors Write Where They Know? (The Pudding)

When a change in series X is a telltale sign of event Y (John Burn-Murdoch)

Wealth inequality is not just limited to North versus South (Koen Van den Eeckhout)

A Future for the World’s Children? A WHO-UNICEF-Lancet Commission (The Lancet, via Ketaki)

Japanese newspaper uses Augmented Reality to show animated charts (via Khai)

Meta data

Europe

Shaping Europe's digital future: the White Paper on Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the European data strategy (European Commission)

EU softens plans for facial recognition regulation, sparks privacy backlash (New Statesman)

EU launches a bold new European Strategy for Data (techUK)

Exclusive: Google users in UK to lose EU data protection - sources (Reuters)

What does it actually mean? (Mark Scott)

Employment

The Datafication of Employment (The Century Foundation)

Automation likely to shrink civil service workforce, says Sedwill (Civil Service World)

Three-quarters of civil servants don’t trust government to involve staff in automation drive (Civil Service World)

British jobs for British robots (Politico)

Meet ARNOLD - the first robot in government communications (Civil Service Quarterly)

Powerful antibiotic discovered using machine learning for first time (The Guardian)

ICO consultation on the draft AI auditing framework guidance for organisations (ICO)

The government’s approach to algorithmic decision-making is broken: here’s how to fix it (New Statesman)

Data

Our personal health history is too valuable to be harvested by the tech giants (The Observer)

Met removes hundreds from gangs matrix after breaking data laws (The Guardian)

Football Racism: No One Knows Conviction Rates – Despite Calls To Stamp It Out (Huffington Post)

A deluge of data is giving rise to a new economy* (The Economist)

A group of ex-NSA and Amazon engineers are building a ‘GitHub for data’ (TechCrunch, via David)

Data protection and trust at Co-op (ODI)

NHS data: Maximising its impact on the health and wealth of the United Kingdom (Institute of Global Health Innovation)

Critique (Peter Wells)

Online harms

Online Harms Deconstructed - the Initial Consultation Response (Cyberleagle)

Online harms: we welcome the government’s commitment to freedom of expression, but more action is needed on bad information (Full Fact)

Innovation

The DARPA Model for Transformative Technologies: Perspectives on the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (William Boone Bonvillian, Richard Van Atta and Patrick Windham (eds))

Is the UK Getting Innovation Right? (Nesta)

Everything else

Boring magic (Steve Messer)

A Farewell – looking back to the future through the camera lens (Part 1) (Surveillance Camera Commissioner’s Office)

Now Internet Society told to halt controversial .org sale… by its own advisory council: 'You misread the community mindset around dot-org' (The Register)

Met Office forecasters set for 'billion pound' supercomputer (BBC News)

Facebook must not be allowed to dictate how it gets regulated (Damian Collins for Wired)

Digital tools can be a useful bolster to democracy* (FT)

Superforecasting (Ed Conway)

Examining the Effectiveness of Current Information Laws and Implementation Practices for Accountability of Outsourced Public Services (Parliamentary Affairs)

Opportunities

JOB: Head of the Office for Budget Responsibility (HMT)

Deadline for applications to head OBR extended by Treasury (Civil Service World)

JOB: Evidence Assistant (Centre for Ageing Better, via Emily)

JOB: Senior Web Engineer - Data Visualization (Bloomberg)

EVENT: The death of anonymity in the age of identity (National Archives)

CONSULTATION: Improving patient safety by bringing private healthcare and NHS information together into NHS systems (NHS Digital)

conveRt to R: the short course (Chris Hanretty)

And finally...

It takes such a long time to get an FOI back from a govt dept these days but boy are they worth the wait (Ellen Coyne, via Sukh)

Neal.fun (via Benoit)

The Times (UK) has an entire leader premised on a statistic that nearly 1/2 of all flights taken by men 20-45 are for stag parties... (Stanley Pignal)

1 year of purchases by 1.6M Tesco customers in London, aggregated in 5k areas, with monthly snapshots (Luca Maria Aiello, via Ketaki)

Political stature* (The Economist)

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