#important buying parameter

[shrimp-propaganda]

i may have become slightly obsessed with shrimp🦐 - the way they just pitter patter their lil legs and float around the tank is mesmerising - any advice for someone just dipping their toe in the aquarium hobby?

"may have become slightly obsessed with shrimp" hey me too

i love Aquarium Hobby but it sucks how steep the learning curve is. here are some things i wish i knew when i was depressed/homesick/heartbroken/in college/stressed out of my mind and couldn't keep my fish alive:

don't listen to anyone in a big box store. go to a local aquarium shop. or online forums.

bigger tank is better. a larger volume of water is easier to keep parameters stable in #chemistry

don't change your filter media. it's a lie. every time you change it you are restarting your cycle

go get one of those giant cut to size aquarium media foam block things. cut a piece out and stick it in your filter. now you have an instant cycle if you ever have to set up a new tank in a hurry

old credit cards are the world's best algae scrapers

stable water parameters are more important than textbook perfect ones (this is for like, pH and hardness. your ammonia readings should still be 0)

low tech plants like mosses, java ferns, anubias, etc will make your life easier and your fish happier

seachem prime is hands down the best water conditioner on the market

test strips are fine. they aren't as fine tuned as a liquid tests but if your tank is cycled and stable they're enough to alert you when something goes wrong

when you put someone else in charge of your fish when you go on vacation, put their food in a pill box. now they don't have to guess how much a "small pinch" is

do not buy a fish that cannot fit in your tank fully grown. the voice in your head saying "oh i'll upgrade before my beloved goldfish gets too big" is the devil talking

i hope this is helpful and i hope your aquarium journey goes...swimmingly. i also hope you don't unfollow me because of that joke

[userghouls]

ANIMATED TEXT TUTORIAL: ★★✩✩✩ Difficulty: Beginner/Intermediate

This is a step by step tutorial on how I did the text for my Pink Venom swinging text.

We are going to be making this text:

Before I start, you WILL need Adobe After Effects, but I will show you step by step how to achieve this.

Tutorial below the cut!

✔ Step One: Composition Open After Effects and create a new project, then a new composition making sure the composition matches your gif settings. (ex: 540 x 540, 2 seconds, 30 fps)

✔ Step Two: Creating Our Text Add a new text layer. It should be the same as Photoshop, you can just select the text tool and write what you want. Customize the text to say what you want and change the font and size to your liking.

We should have something like this:

✔ Step Three: Adding Our Animation There should be a box that says "Effects & Presets", in that box you can search for effects. Search for "Explosion". It will be under Text > Miscellaneous.

Select the first one and you can either drag it on top of your text layer or just double click it with your text layer selected. Sliding the time, we should have something that looks like this:

✔ Step Four: Adjusting the Animation With your text layer still selected, press "U" on your keyboard. This will open our key frames for the animation.

It's a lot to look at but don't worry, we will only be focused on Amount and Opacity, and I will make this as easy as possible for you. On the Opacity setting, click on the little time clock. This will remove the keyframes. Make sure your opacity is set to 100%.

Next we are going to adjust the amount so that it explodes INWARD instead of OUTWARD. Find a good spot where the letters are out and add a new keyframe the same way you would on Photoshop.

Now swap the two keyframes so the explosion animation is reversed. Next we are going to remove the scale keyframes. Click on the second stop watch for the second amount parameter, and make sure that one is set to zero.

We should be left with only ONE thing that is keyframed. And the keyframes should look like an hourglass.

You can stop now and leave it or we can make it a little smoother and more fun looking.

✔ Step Five: Editing the Graph & Adding Motion Blur To add a motion blur to our text, we just need to select the three little circle stack on our text layer. Also double check that the same symbol is highlighted blue up top.

Now we have motion blur. Next we are going to adjust the graph. To open the graph select the little graph icon and then select our keyframed buy clicking on the amount parameter.

Now our graph should look like this:

Select one of the dots and two little arms should pop up and we can drag those around to adjust the graph (the speed of our animation). Adjust to your liking, but to make it look like the text in the tutorial, my graph looks like this:

With my graph, the animation looks like this:

Now all the hard work is done!

✔ Step Six: Exporting Now to export our video so it can be turned into a gif: Go to File > Export > Add to Render Queue

We should be at a menu like this:

Click on the part that is blue next to "Output Module" and another box should pop up. For format: change to "Quicktime" For Video Output > Channels: select "RBG + Alpha" (this will ensure our background is transparent)

Select "OK" and then under "Output to" select where you want the video to save.

Now all you have to do is Render.

Once that finishes, YOU'RE ALL DONE!

Import video to frames as you usually would in Photoshop, just don't change the frame delay.

Treat it like a normal text layer/smart object.

As usual, you can play around with all the animation settings to get the look you want, this is just the basics for the main animation.

It looks like a lot but the difficulty is minor once you get the hang of the steps.

Any questions you have during the process just DM me! ★

[centrally-unplanned]

Let's talk about narrative formation for a sec:

I saw this thread going around as a counter-narrative "explainer" around the Supreme Court decision. First off Russell, "I don't have a tribe" is just such a line. I'm sus tbh? But the important thing is you found a way to feel superior to the other tribes, good for you. Still, if you deliver you deliver, what is the "just the facts" summary?

Right now the "headlines" around this case are essentially "the president granted immunity for official acts", which is a bad headline, because of course the president had immunity for some definition of official acts. You could never sue the president for the consequences of vetoing a congressional bill, or for the unintended civilian damages of a military operation, and this is true in most all countries. You might be saying "well sure obviously" but in law these things have a process - do you think laws around monetary damages liability have a clause at the end saying "oh except the President, this doesn't apply to him"? No, every law does not have that rejoinder - the way the president is immune to those laws is via having immunity above those laws, in the US via court precedent supposedly derived from the constitution - in other countries you might have an explicit bill about this, or an explicit constitutional clause.

Which is why OP can say things like this:

Executive immunity has always been a thing. The underlying rationale is that presidents cannot be encumbered in carrying out their necessary official duties with fear that they will be sued into oblivion for doing so... ...SCOTUS today laid out the tension: the president needs to be able to act within the scope of office without fear of politically-motivated prosecution after leaving office; but the president also cannot be "above the law."

And be correct; most headlines were setting up the idea presidential immunity as shocking, when in fact it is normal. He proceeds to explain that the court set up the terms of immunity, denying Trump X while affirming Y, and make it look very balanced, like they just defined the parameters of immunity a bit. So he can conclude with this:

And it can be a strong "calm down" note, which can even be true to an extant - but only because he is buying into the narrative social media set, and setting up his conclusion against that as the barometer.

In reality, everyone in the court knew that presidential immunity existed, that wasn't what the case was really about. It was always and forever about those parameters. And these are the parameters it set:

Taking into account these competing considerations, the Court concludes that the separation of powers principles explicated in the Court’s precedent necessitate at least a presumptive immunity from criminal prosecution for a President’s acts within the outer perimeter of his official responsibility.

Outer perimeter is defined in the document as essentially the maximum possible breadth of presidential power. There is nothing inherent about this - presidents could, for example, have immunity for every veto they issue, but still be liable to libel & incitement laws for speeches they give as president. This is explicitly rejected:

The indictment also contains various allegations regarding Trump’s conduct in connection with the events of January 6 itself. The alleged conduct largely consists of Trump’s communications in the form of Tweets and a public address. The President possesses “extraordinary power to speak to his fellow citizens and on their behalf.” Trump v. Hawaii, 585 U. S. 667, 701. So most of a President’s public communications are likely to fall comfortably within the outer perimeter of his official responsibilities

You see how outer perimeter comes back into play - any and all acts that could possibly be considered official fall into this bucket.

So the only place immunity doesn't fall is when an act is "unofficial", aka not part of their role as president: Which is where you get to the evidentiary standards pieces, things like:

In dividing official from unofficial conduct, courts may not inquire into the President’s motives. Such a “highly intrusive” inquiry would risk exposing even the most obvious instances of official conduct to judicial examination on the mere allegation of improper purpose.

Or the parts where they say evidence & testimony from "official acts" cannot be used as evidence in trial based on the context.

You saw a lot of headlines that were like "Trump has immunity for official acts, but not unofficial" acts, like that was ever in contention. Outside of the Trump campaign no one thought the President could wander drunkenly into a bar and murder someone and get away with it. The case was forever and always about where is the line for immunity, what counts as official, and how you determine it.

And at almost every possible avenue this decision pushed the line towards immunity, to expanding presidential authority. But it gets to appear balanced to our boy Russell when it does shit like this:

Finally, SCOTUS considers and rejects Trump's "far broader" argument for immunity. Trump's team argued that he can't be prosecuted for anything unless he is first impeached & removed for it. SCOTUS says there's no textual support for this argument.

See, they rejected ludicrously spurious claims that impeachment existing as an option made legal drunkenly murdering people in a bar. Compromise!

OP is a contrarian - they like to push against the mainstream. I get it, I have that instinct too. And he is smart, he noticed the radical redefinitions of evidentiary standards - but only in the replies:

But since the mainstream narrative around the case set up a sort of false dichotomy, of the case being about "immune or not", "official or unofficial", it makes the contrarian instinct push back on the idea that the case is a big deal. Trump isn't getting immunity for all his past actions! After all, he didn't have this ruling as a playbook and so fucked up by trying to do some of it in secret. So it's fine!! He gets to say this:

And be like "haha" because the narrative he is fighting against is that "official versus unofficial". It lets him ignore that Sotomayor understands that; what she is saying is that Presidents - who have killed American citizens before! - can probably just define actions as official under this doctrine if they do it right. Outer perimeter, baby. You cannot question their motives. Threat to national security, trust me bro.

(Do I think in practice the SC would actually ignore a murder? No - but they would waive immunity by contradicting their own case here. They would discard consistency for practicality. The real concerns are less fanciful, but still serious)

So this is an extremely long-winded way of saying that narrative formation does matter vis a vis truth. I can't blame the headlines too much or anything, this shit is very complex, but because they misrepresent the details of why the case is so worrying, it gives easy fuel for people to dig a little bit, feel superior to the headlines, and ignore them. And the majority opinion did a lot of work to brand it that way - casually dismissing, even mocking, the dissent opinions while misrepresenting their concerns. As a news org you shouldn't carry water for them like that. Don't let Russell get his "I have no tribe" points that easily - make him earn it.

(And, to cover my own base - the one big place the court wasn't maximalist was that they extended presumptive immunity, not full immunity, to the outer perimeter. Which is vague, that is not some precise term, but it does give them an out)

[inevitably-johnlocked]

VALENTINE'S DAY FICS (Updated Feb 2024)

Well, I never got an ask for an updated list and I WAS going to reblog my own V-Day Fic list from a few years ago, but it's pitifully small compared to all the other lists I have come across. Instead, I decided to update it with all the fics I have on my MFL list as well, so I hope you guys enjoy this brand new list for Fic Rec Wednesday! Please add your own V-Day fics if you have them! Enjoy!!

See also these Other Peoples' Lists:

Valentine’s Day (Alexx)

Clean Valentine’s List (Alexx)

Mystrade Valentine’s (Various)

Cupidford’s Valentine’s Fics

Valentine’s Day + Update 2022 (SwissMiss)

Be my Valentine - Johnlock Collection (AO3 Collection List)

Atrium by kali_asleep (T, 3,460 w., 1 Ch. || 5 and One, Valentine’s Day, Fluff & Schmoop, First Kiss) – Five times Sherlock gave John his heart, and the one time Sherlock got a heart in return (literally).

Lingerie by Sexxica (E, 4,135 w., 1 Ch. || Valentine’s Day, Lingerie / Women’s Underwear, Mildly Public Masturbation, Picture Texting / Sexting, Bottomlock, Body Worship, Anal Sex / Fingering, Rimming, Orgasm Delay / Denial, Est. Rel.) – It's Valentines Day and Sherlock is taking John to Angelo's for dinner. Sherlock also happens to be wearing a garter belt, stockings and a rather small pair of women's underwear under his clothes. There's no dessert at Angelo's because John needs to get Sherlock home just as quickly as he can before they both lose their minds entirely.

How To Give Your Boyfriend Who Doesn't Know He's Your Boyfriend the Best Valentine's Day Ever by unicornpoe (T, 9,832 w., 1 Ch. || Valentine’s Day, Fluff and Crack, Soft Sherlock, POV Sherlock) – Sherlock is pretty sure that John Watson is his boyfriend. He's also pretty sure that John doesn't know it. But with a little help from a magazine, some friends, three crepes, five dates, one awesome CD, and a stalker van, John is bound to realize just in time for Valentine's Day.

MARKED FOR LATER

Hope is sweet by Lock_John_Silver (T, 2,977 w., 1 Ch. || Post S4, Parentlock with Rosie, Valentine’s Day, Developing Relationship, Pet Names, Friends to Lovers, First Kiss, Classical Music, Idiots in Love, Endearments, POV Sherlock) - Sherlock wants to be more than John’s best friend. Has wanted it for ages, truth be told. So, when Molly comes up with an idea, that to some extent involves three year old Rosie, Sherlock doesn’t hesitate.

Worth Its Weight by philalethia (E, 2,986 w., 1 Ch. || Sugar Daddy AU || PWP, Daddy Sherlock, Daddy Kink, Service Domination, Gift Giving, Unsafe Sex, Sex Toys) – “Remember,” John said, “when we talked about you not buying me extravagant things?” Basically: a little bit of Valentine's Day daddy kink. Part 2 of All the Rest 'Verse

The Importance of February 14th by cypress_tree (T, 3,156 w., 1 Ch. || Fluff, Humour, Valentine’s Day) – Sherlock was born on Valentine's Day. John doesn't know this and invites him out on a date. Sherlock assumes it's a birthday celebration and believes so right up until the moment John kisses him.

Dinner and a Murder by vintagelilacs (T, 4,210 w., 1 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting || Valentine’s Day, Online Dating, Mutual Pining, Confessions, Getting Together, POV John, Oblivious John) – Reluctant to spend Valentine’s Day alone, John joins a dating app only to realize he’s already living with the closest thing to a soulmate he’s ever going to get.

The Best Idea by SatanDrankMyCoffee (T, 7,252 w.,  5 Ch. || Valentine's Day, Bubble Bath, Hair Washing, People-Watching, Anxiety, Domestic Fluff/Bliss, Texting) – Gift giving is something Sherlock is usually quite good at but when the parameters change, he becomes unsure of himself. Which gift idea is the best idea? Part 3 of A Year in Occasions

Daddy's Darling by distantstarlight (E, 7,747 w., 1 Ch. || PWP, Daddy Kink, Valentine’s Day, Smut, First Time) – Disguises are part of the package when you work as detectives, there was nothing new about that but one day Sherlock goes undercover with his best friend and they discover more than the answer to the crime.

Valentine’s Night Out by CarmillaCarmine (E, 10,120 w., 5 Ch. || ASiB Canon Divergence, Valentine’s Day, Established Relationship, Fluff and Smut, Breath Play, Butt Plugs, Deep Throating, Humour, Orgasm Delay / Denial, Anal Sex) – John and Sherlock have been invited to join their friends at a pub for Valentine's Day. Sherlock has plans to spice the evening up a bit. Part 4 of the The Johnlock Holidays and Celebrations Series

The Heart of the Matter by prettysailorsoldier (T, 13,427 w., 1 Ch. || Teenager AU || Secret Admirer, Secret Crush, Texting, Valentine’s Day, Fluff) – It's the annual Valentine's Week fundraiser, carnations, conversation hearts, and singing telegrams (oh my!) making their way around the school corridors, and Sherlock Holmes has quite happily never received any of them. So, when he gets a box of conversation hearts containing a message from a secret admirer, his first instinct is that it's an elaborate practical joke, but, as he and his mystery suitor begin texting, he starts to wonder if there might be something to this Valentine's Day lark after all. There is, however, the entirely unrelated problem of one John Watson to contend with before he can be sure. Part 3 of 221B Mine

Not this year by Imjohnlocked87 (E, 16,293 w., 4 Ch. || Alternate First Meeting ||  Friends to Lovers, Valentine’s Day, Fluff and Smut, Implied / Referenced Drug Use, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Food Sex, Wall Sex, Angst with Happy Ending) – One month after leaving the rehabilitation centre, when Donovan asks Sherlock if he will be alone on Valentine's Day this year too, he replies he will be spending it with someone special.The only problem is that this someone doesn't exist.Because who would want to have Valentine's date with Sherlock Holmes? 

Quo Fata Vocant by prettysailorsoldier (E, 18,115 w., 1 Ch. || Unilock / Teenlock ||  Librarians, Bisexual John, Flirting, First Time, Tattoos, Valentine’s Day, Secret Admirer, Matchmaker) – Sherlock is enamored with one of the employees at the university library, wiling away hours of his days just to catch a glimpse of the dynamic John Watson: captain of the rugby team, event manager for the LGBT society, and third-year medical student. Of course, being only a first-year, it's unlikely John will ever notice him. At least, until fate (and a little well-intentioned meddling) intervenes.

[anim-ttrpgs]

A.N.I.M. Adventure Art: Benadetta (not to be confused with Burnadette)

Art by @theblackwarden

Meet Benadetta. Benadetta is a 30-something-year-old OSHA inspector who used to chain smoke but now vapes(this is mechanically important, it’s why she has very poor Athletics and other Physical skills and also is tied to her “Comfort Item” Trait.).

This art has been posted here with permission as part of A.N.I.M.’s Adventure Art initiative in our TTRPG book club.

Benadetta is a PC from Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy by A.N.I.M.

If you’d like to join the A.N.I.M. TTRPG Book Club, you can find the discord invite on our website.

If your art fits he parameters outlined on this post, and you’d like it featured here, tag us or post it in the book club’s Adventure Art channel on discord.

If you’d like to support us and get a prerelease copy of Eureka: Investigative Urban Fantasy, check out our Patreon! Our Kickstarter is planned for launch in April 2024!

Mild spoilers under the cut, details kept vague so as not to spoil the adventure module this we are using for this adventure, it's a Call of Cthuhlu adventure module (Eureka is compatible with those without much tweaking!) not one of our own.

Benadetta was the one who OSHA inspected the warehouse that then blew up like a week later, inciting the mystery. She feels like she could’ve been responsible for the explosion by not being thorough enough and that’s why she went out of her way to try and find out the cause—along with this weird woman, Yvette, whom she thinks is a V:TM LARPer(she went on like one date with a guy like that in college who also never broke character) from the Internet she met on r/warehouseexplosions.

Investigation ensued.

They found out that Benadetta was not responsible, it was actually a bomb, and this is part of an organized crime thing that much later they have discovered is a radical cult.

Also this weird woman from the Internet has been buying Benadetta things at the drop of a hat, like meals and a whole form-fitting biker suit that costs like $600(was part of a disguise) and Benadetta has been...not discouraging her at all.

Benadetta has been losing Composure rapidly throughout the adventure and is now constantly hovering between 0 and 2. Yvette is...really bad for the Composure of people around her.

The problem is that regular people restore 2 Composure at the end of every day, plus composure from the comfort of fellow investigators. However, Yvette just plain cannot do this. She has a -4 in that skill.

She found out a little more recently that 1. Yvette is a real vampire. and 2. Yvette murdered three armed organized crime enforcers with hardly a second thought when left to her own devices. This brought her Composure down again.

In the morning of the most recent session they went to an architect’s house to get some blueprints, only for Yvette to be lured away from the living room and blasted apart with a shotgun by one of the guy’s assistants with a shotgun upstairs(that’s a whole story), while the other assistant attacked Benadetta with a knife and cut her arm open.

Yvette showed back up in the nick of time, now holding that shotgun, and punched the teeth out of the knife-wielding assistant.

It turned out that the architect had no idea about any of this, the assistants were members of the cult whose job it was to spy on him, and murder anyone who showed up asking about those blueprints.

After visiting an Urgent Care for the knife wound and Yvette treated Benadetta to an expensive meal after Benadetta basically snapped at her and insisted she owed her for dragging her around into involvement with a deadly cult, so they went to a nice restaurant.

They later went to Chili’s after Yvette left Benadetta alone for a few hours to lay on her bed and cry at 0 Composure.) Oh and also Benadetta owns 4 pet rats that she cried with. She has not allowed Yvette to see them.

They had to go to Chili’s because through some cyberstalking they found out a member of the cult frequents it and Yvette thinks this specific guy has information and might even be receiving a bomb to deliver to a certain location soon. (Yvette wants that bomb so she can drop it in the mailbox of the cult HQ, which is something I think Benadetta doesn’t fully realize.)

Benadetta, however, only came along meaning to be moral support while making Yvette do all the work. Benadetta is just getting drunk on watered down bottomless appletinis. But, even drunk, she is quickly realizing what a mistake it was to send Yvette to talk to this guy alone.

Because Yvette’s Interpersonal skills are -3 or worse almost across the board.

Benadetta ended up having to pull Yvette away when Yvette wasn’t checking her text messages (texts like “HE IS TRYING TO FUCK YOU”) and try to talk a mortified Yvette into proposing a ‘ménage à trois’, so that they could get this guy to bring them home and get him even more drunk so they could just search his house. Yvette *could not* do it so Benadetta has to call him over and say it herself while seductively unbuttoning her dress shirt—despite looking almost literally as disheveled as one can look in Eureka(0 Composure) and being drunk and even failing the Seduce roll resulting in her belching loudly and then dying inside, they were just two-drunk-beautiful-women-proposing-a-threesome-to-meathead-dude-out-of-nowhere enough to pull it off and get him to take them home.

I think Benadetta could’ve done anything short of shit her pants and this guy would’ve still taken them home.

[epicspheal]

Alright so that Neo Champion event was...disappointing. Infuriatingly so. So to start off Professor Oak sees that there are a bunch of new trainers who are struggling. Professor Oak feels like they are aiming too high and that could cause problems for them and wants to help them. So he calls Lance to gather Red, Blue and Leaf. The Kantrio think they are being summoned to help be judges when Lance surprises them by saying he wants them to be participants by teaming up with the beginner trainers. Lance and Professor Oak mention the parameters of the tournament which provides my first and probably most major critique. There's two parts: a knowledge part and a battle part. Now, the problem I have here is there should've been three parts. The name of the event is "Three Trainers, Three Minds" which implies that we're going to see how three trainers with different mindsets mentor others. So theoretically there should be three parts that showcase the strengths of their individual training styles Only there's two...so someone is going to get left out. Leaf suggests to Red and Blue that because this is an opportunity to grow they should try using new Pokemon. She mentions she was inspired by the Galar NC trio, so this gives the hint that the three had already caught the legendary birds (par for the course so far for the Neo champion events in that the Pokemon they're paired with are ones they already owned). Now it's time to train!

First we have Blue, who enlists the help of three previous neo champions to help train his team: Bede, Hop and Calem. Now this is cool because they all have the same thing in common with struggling to beat their rivals (the protagonists) and it seems like there might be some discussion where Blue talks about learning from past mistakes...or not they just kind of skip over any discussion. Oh and where's Zapdos? Not around apparently. Blue was really eager to take up Leaf on the idea of using his legendary bird but of the three he's the only one not shown to be practicing with it with his mentees. Leaf does actually use her Moltres to her team and her part of the story involves her instructing her team on how it's important to deepen their knowledge of Pokemon not just by looking at a Pokedex but by bonding with them. It then cuts to Blue meeting with Leaf in the town square. Both of them feel like training is going well for their teams, but then the conversation switches to Red. They're both concerned about their silent friend as they don't know about his teaching skills. So they decide to check on him They eventually find Red and his Articuno...relentlessly beating his team. The trainers look visibly panicked and even say they surrender at one point. Blue and Leaf try to caution Red about overdoing the tough love and that they're being judged on how well they mentor the others. Red assures them (silently) that he has this in mind and that's why's he going all out on them Now Red going ham on his team invokes him Gigantamaxing his Snorlax in the Rocket Hideout back in the Villain arc. He clearly isn't one to go easy. But where you can at least justify him really not liking Team Rocket and wanting to shut them down with haste...it's hard to say the same when of the Kantrio, he has the youngest mentees (a youngster and a camper). It felt like overkill. I can 100% buy Red not being the most natural mentor. He's not perfect and it's a good way to show that. I thought it was a little much to have him go that hard on newbies. If his team was slightly more experienced trainers but who were stuck in a rut it would've felt a little less heavy-handed. Then it's the day of the tournament. We see Blue and Leaf with their teams who are clearly nervous. Blue's team tell him they're scared of holding him back and despite them winning against Hop, Bede and Calem, they apparently lost more times than they won. Blue tells them to have more confidence in themselves but honestly it felt like they needed to hear different words of encouragement. Meanwhile Leaf's team is also feeling similarly, however Leaf manages to respond with telling them to relax and have fun. That they won't be able to show their best if they're too anxious. Where's Red and his team? Well thankfully he didn't scare his group off. In fact they run into Diantha, Alder and Steven and eagerly challenge the three champions to a battle. Congrats, Red you're Bootcamp was successful.

The tournament begins. First part is the knowledge assessment. Everyone does well but Leaf is the clear winner. Professor Oak compliments her and her team's deep knowledge of Pokemon and their love too.

Blue remarks "trust and love in your Pokemon"...which almost certainly reminds anyone who played RBGY/FRLG of what was told to Blue after he lost to Red. That was a key part he was missing. And years later, he missed it again.

Now to the battle portion. We already know Leaf has secured her spot as a neo champion so now we know narratively we're about to see another Red vs Blue matchup. Well with the Neo champion stadium being about growth and seeing interesting upsets (Calem finally beating Serena and Bede, Hop and Marnie finally taking down Gloria, Victor AND Leon) surely we're about to see something unprecedented right? Ha. Hahaha. Red, Blue and Leaf all make it to the semifinals, with Blue's team taking out Leaf's team. But then it's time to face Red's and it's clear he's at a disadvantage. Where Red's team takes the powerful hits in stride, Blue's team quickly becomes frazzled and his two mentees get knocked out rather quickly leaving only Blue left. A final clash happens between Zapdos and Articuno but Red's Articuno emerges victorious. So Blue focused too much on training them up quickly that he forgot to teach them to enjoy battling. Despite Red's training from hell, his team managed to at some point lose their fear of losing (as seen by them being fearless enough to challenge the likes of Diantha, Alder and Steven to a battle). Once again we see Blue repeat a mistake that cost him the championship title years ago: being so afraid of losing he forgot to just enjoy the battle. This leads me to my second major problem with the arc. Blue has been hinted throughout Pokemas to not only enjoy mentoring others, but to be good at it. Yet if I'm being honest, he did poorly in this story. He failed to realize his team needed better words of encouragement, he was the only one of the Kantrio to not use his legendary in training, and he failed to teach his trainees how to better bond with their Pokemon and how to enjoy battling. The only saving grace in this is that he at least in both instances of failure against Leaf and Red recognizes where he messed up and apologizes... Which would've been a great jumping off point for a third arc where he can correct those mistakes and give his team a chance at victory...oh wait...it's only two parts to this tournament. Welp With the trend of Neo Champion events being a chance for the rivals to triumph over the protagonist friends, it was really jarring and disheartening to see Blue not get a clear distinct moment to shine against both Red and Leaf (yeah he wins against Leaf in the battle portion, but it's never stated he came in second place to her for the knowledge portion which would've implied that he at least beat Red at something). We come to the end where they announce the Neo champions. Leaf is first and she's praised for having a deep knowledge of Pokemon and true love for them as well. Red is last and he was praised for being able to conquer his team's fears of losing and how sharp they looked, reminding Lance of when Red challenged him. Oak does mildly chide Red for his methods being harsh but it was kind of downplayed.

But Blue gets told his team was solid in both performances so the judges thought he should get the title too. Honestly didn't feel like he was really solid because he made two critical mistakes (that again were supposed to have been ingrained in him after his loss at the Indigo Plateau). Also the praise was more directed at his team having a solid showing but not the one thing I felt like he did really well which was own up to his faults and saw room for improvement. It's an important part of leadership and the fact that was dismissed too was annoying. Again, a third leg of the tournament the writers could've used that strength of his to give him a chance to unequivocally defeat Leaf and Red instead of just being the solid number 2. Yeah it was nice to (finally) see Professor Oak praise Blue to his face, but it honestly felt a little unearned in the sense he didn't feel amazing the way Leaf and Red got to be. It felt more like a participation trophy than him getting to back the claims up that he's made over the story of Pokemas of being a good mentor (and as he said in his sygna suit sync pair story he's supposed to be better at it than Red). So yes, the Kantrio get to all be Neo Champions but it felt like this story didn't capture the same level of growth and resolving loose ends the previous two did. Blue failed to triumph, Red kind of got away with harsh training that would've been scolded a bit more harshly otherwise, and Leaf kind of shines in a safe way but not really challenging her skills.

[redpenship]

What do you think Lanolin would do if she got the Death Note

As we all know, our favourite sheep is a strong proponent of the Wolfowitz Doctrine, which can be generalized as the doctrine of preemptively eliminating potential threats.

In this panel, she describes the Restoration's new doctrine which includes preemptive action. This is presumably mostly aimed at Eggman, but it would be interesting to see how the Restoration and Lanolin respond to different threats.

In terms of the Death Note, we may presume that Lanolin has a few people she would be interested in taking out. First up would definitely be Eggman, then the Zeti, then maybe other threats like Mimic and whatnot. The real question is if she would use it, or if she would reserve it for dire situations.

To elaborate on this, the Death Note is a very good deterrent as it can provide guaranteed success in decapitation attacks (assassinations of high ranking political and military exec authorities). If she wanted to go down a somewhat more peaceful route, perhaps after being scolded to by the famously verbose Sonic, she could use the Death Note as leverage. So, if she wants to take down Eggman through "peaceful" means, she could give him clear conditions on what he must do to save his miserable life. He must disassemble his army, give up his territory, return birds to the trees, etc. or else she will write his name in the book and be done with it.

The problem here is that her threat must be credible. Therefore, she needs to prove that the Death Note actually works. This can only be done by displaying its power--so, killing people. Eggman might be willing to buy into the existence of a book that can kill people, given his experience with magical fuckery in the Sonic universe, but he might also be willing to call bullshit. Let's say Lanolin decides to (consensually) kill some extremely old person who is due to die of brain eating fungus within a few hours. How does she do it? The Death Note allows you to write very specific instructions for someone's death, but the standard method is via heart attack. Heart attacks can be induced. Will Eggman believe she isn't just lying about being able to kill someone with a book? If she instructs someone to jump up and down on television before stepping off a bridge, will he believe that this person wasn't a willing actor? What about normal mind control, as established Doctor Starline? Lanolin needs to find a way to falsify all other explanations and prove that her book is the tool being used to kill her example.

I'm struggling to think of a way she could meaningfully accomplish this. The best option would be to kill someone who would never allow her to kill them normally, but if she's willing to kill random people, she may as well just take out Eggman in the first place.

If she chooses to keep the book a secret, but still warns Eggman of her newfound ability to kill people however and whenever she pleases, she will need to go to great lengths to keep its parameters a secret from him. As you may recall, Light's biggest mistake early on in the series was allowing L to bait him into revealing the Death Note's limitations. Lanolin must avoid letting this happen so that future enemies do not take advantage of it. However, the more she uses it, the more likely it becomes that someone will figure out some of its rules. It is important for her to retain strategic ambiguity so she can better coerce others into doing what she wants.

I could continue elaborating on other strategic considerations, but if Lanolin is half the tactician she aims to be, then her best option is to simply kill Eggman right away and let the world be happy he died of a fatal heart attack. Pretty much all the other recurring Sonic villains aren't worth caring about because Sonic can handle them on his own.

[bluedalahorse]

Hello @simonsapelsin! I’m ready to respond to the comment you left yesterday.

Within the parameters of canon—most likely no, but maybe? It would have to be backed up by a lot of plot and character developments in order for it to work.

This ended up being way too long, so more thoughts on sargust + thoughts on the potential created by AUs and canon divergences + thoughts on the idea of “healthy” relationships behind the cut…

So obviously season 2 ended in a really, really bad place for sargust. August refuses to embrace accountability and doubles down on his harmful behavior. Our last shot of Sara is her calling the police to report him, and in that moment she’s completely alone. They have that painful conversation about August buying Rousseau. That’s… that’s a lot for them to overcome, and season 3 doesn’t have enough episodes to get us there fully, unless the writing team are very, very clever and efficient.

There’s a popular fan interpretation of sargust that says that Sara and August both project identities onto one another and don’t see one another’s real selves. I understand and agree with that interpretation up to a point, but I don’t know if I necessarily agree with it 100%. In my mind they do see real things about one another (August sees Sara’s ambition and desire for independence, Sara sees August’s emotional vulnerability and need for help. And they do connect with one another in ways that others haven’t been able to connect with them. What August and Sara fail to predict about one another is the other’s choices. Sara assumed August would choose to be honest and August assumed Sara would choose to be queen. But I think the care they showed for one another earlier in the season was real, and the way they could hold space for one another was real. That’s really a meta I could write for another time, but a lot of it hinges on this line, which is not a line I am even remotely normal about:

(Note: I’ll probably write this meta eventually. The fact that these characters create a sort of home with one another! Also lol @ August looking like he is stoned out of his mind.)

So what would it look like for sargust to get a Second Chance Romance within the parameters of canon? I mean, first of all, they’d both have to mature independently for a while and work through a lot of the trauma they’re carrying. 

For Sara, I want her to get away from home and have some distance from the place she grew up so she can put her childhood in perspective. Therapy would help. (I want that for Simon, too!) I’d also like to see Sara find some neurodivergent friends/community—I mean, we do tend to find one another and run in packs! And then some sort of career or life path that makes her happy. Maybe with horses, sure, but it’d also be interesting to see Sara keep horses as a beloved hobby while also finding a different career she’s passionate about.

For August, accountability and rehabilitation and understanding of the harm he did is incredibly important for his personal growth. Whether he faces that through the legal system or through some other process is something we have yet to see in the show. Then comes the long work of restitution and atonement, as well as the steps August needs to take to grapple with his various personal traumas. Like, please get this boy a place to process his grief over his father, treatment for his disordered eating, and rehab for his addiction to pills.

Now, Sara and August wouldn’t have to be 100% healed and self-actualized when they run across one another as adults—I don’t know if there’d be a story if they were, and this sort of stuff is lifelong work! But further along the paths above that I described—that could still be a good story.

Beyond growth and maturity, I think we’d have to see some sort of change in how August and Simon relate to one another, happening primarily on Simon’s terms because he was the one wronged, and that would need to be an important part of the story. This feels crucial. Now that Sara’s aware how much she hurt her brother, I don’t imagine she’d enter a relationship with August even if August is a super chill, okay person now. So I actually think a good Second Chance Romance story would have to heavily involve Simon in one way or another. But a fic where August and Simon interact more honestly with one another, and August has to face up to Simon’s personhood? That would definitely hold my attention. (I am kind of hoping they get more extended interaction in season 3, really. They have some sneaky but fascinating parallels as characters and I like watching the way Omar and Malte play off one another.)

Outside of canon… one thing I have considered is the potential to write a version of sargust in AUs that’s more tailored toward happy endings. Which doesn’t quite relate to your question but I do want to talk about it. As of now, AUs/Canon Divergence fics are a perfect place to make sargust actually work out. This fandom has a lot of imagination for AUs and canon divergences. And it’s no surprise—Young Royals is a rich, nuanced text that can be explored from many angles, so it only makes sense that we’d want to create a thousand alternate universe scenarios where canon could have gone differently. In my mind, if people can write “Erik lives” AUs, then “sargust is successful because August learns over time to be less shitty” AUs are also fair game.

The thing with writing an AU or canon divergence is that August’s complex brand of shittiness does not have to be inevitable or eternal. We’ve got creative freedom, baby! We can write any kind of arc for him that we want to and nudge him in all kinds of directions, and set him and Sara up for success! To me, part of the spirit of Young Royals is embracing the idea that everyone has choices, and that they are capable of growth that allows them to make better choices. I mean, sure, it’d be weird to find a version of August on page #1 of a fanfic who’s suddenly like, quoting bell hooks and pushing for an inclusive socialist utopia. I don’t know if I’d suspend my disbelief for that. But I also really struggle to suspend my disbelief for AU versions of August where he’s like… a straightforward flat villain solely out to cause trouble, which is something I have seen out there in the wild and clicked the “back” button over. I crave the nuance. The texture. The literary crunch of it all!

And I don’t think August has to be the center of a fic for that to happen, even. Like I think there’s ways to have him and Sara as a story’s Beta Couple or Gamma Couple and we’re rooting for them and you know what? It’s an AU where some of the characters are fae or 1980s punks or rival scholars of Cold War history so events are happening differently anyway. I’m sure there are ways to write August in character as his shitty self and have him eventually grow and change, without having August also ruin his chances with Sara because he does something that fucks Simon over so completely, you know?

Now, I know there’s fic writers out there who never under any circumstances want to write August’s character and can’t do so from a place of emotional safety. For some folks it is more comfortable to engage with him as a more straightforward villain. And that’s fair. Everyone should write what they feel comfortable writing! In this post, however, I’m thinking more about the people who want to include some kind of nuanced arc for August in their story, but also feel like no one will be interested in it, or like they’ll actually lose readers and engagement if they do write about him, even as a secondary character. Every once in a while I’ll see another fan allude to a really cool fic idea that involves August in some way or takes him in an interesting direction, and then they’ll be like, “oh, but why bother writing it, no one will read it anyway.” And… that makes me incredibly sad! Because I would happily read those fics. I know some other people who would happily read those fics! But I think we’ve normalized the idea that that’s just not how things are “done” in the Young Royals fandom. Which makes it very hard for people to take that risk. I think we’re missing out on some cool stories as a result, that could really be satisfying to read.

One final thought… I notice some fandoms use the word “healthy”  when describing their OTPs/favorite pairings. I hope you’re okay with me unpacking that a bit? This is less a response to your comment in particular and more a response to fandom at large.

Honestly, “healthy” is a word that’s starting to feel pretty loaded for me, and can kind of rub me the wrong way. It seems that generally what people mean by it—when they apply it to a pairing—is that the pairing is good at communicating, respects one another’s boundaries, responds to one another’s needs, processes trauma, etc. And I do appreciate in a story when characters can do these things, to an extent.

But putting it under this umbrella label of “healthy” …well. Okay. “Healthy” is a word that society has added a moral dimension to, and it often gets weaponized against people with disabilities and mental illnesses and other chronic conditions. And health is not an indicator of personal worth. Holding people IRL to a standard of “healthy” kinda feels like you’re saying “it’s okay if you have these diagnoses, as long as you manage them in such a way that it seems like they don’t affect you or the people around you.” (And as someone who’s just recently begun managing a chronic condition, who’s struggling with how to tell my family members because of the way they’re going to moralize about my diet or my stress levels, and also struggling with the shit I’ve internalized over the years… well. I’m thinking about how we use the word “healthy” a lot.)

Bringing this back to the realm of fandoms (because, oof, TMI there blue!) holding a fictional character or pairing to the standard of “healthy” can kind of create some uncomfortable fandom dynamics—at least it can for me, personally. When I see fans take pride in the fact that they ship a “healthy” pairing, to the point where they frequently talk about how “healthy” their pairing is, it’s almost impossible for me not to read such comments as using a moralizing tone that implicitly puts others down for having “unhealthy” ships. Sometimes—generally I haven’t seen this as much in YR fandom—there are even people who will straight up write you off if they perceive your ship as “unhealthy” or “toxic.” And then suddenly all ships are either deemed healthy or unhealthy, and healthy ships are retroactively interpreted as doing everything right, while unhealthy ships can never do anything right, and there’s no hope for them. And that is… a bleak and boring landscape for shipping, if you ask me.

I want to read romances where writers are informed about how trauma can affect relationships and how one can learn to survive it, yes. But I feel iffy about the idea of a perfectly “healthy” romances for sargust or wilmon, seeing as they’re all characters with trauma and mental health struggles, and all of them have days that are Not So Good. They could all mature into adults who’ve learned from their past, but like, Wilhelm might still have panic attacks because anxiety is like that sometimes and it’s not a moral failing. August could go through rehab and be in a much better place and harm others less, and still might struggle with intense emotional disregulation or thoughts related to disordered eating, you know? I’d like reading trauma-informed stories where sargust can mature and heal. But they still might have bad days because that’s what being human is.

In addition, I also like tragic sargust where things just don’t work out between them and everything falls apart, because as I’ve said elsewhere on this blog, I’m a slut for tragedy.

So. Idk. I talk about all these things and all these possibilities in hopes that maybe someone in the fandom will get inspired by them. We’ll see if it does that! Ahaha. It’s worth a try.

ADDENDUM, since I didn’t talk about my own fic ideas here:

Heart and Homeland is an AU fic, and it’s tragic sargust for sure. And I’m proud of it, despite the part where their relationship is tragic! And I tried to work in little glimmers where you see how their relationship could have worked.

Now, my next fic idea, shared with @heliza24, is one set in a canon divergence universe where Sara goes to campus to look for Simon, on the night that Everything Is Fake But Wilhelm’s Love For Simon Is Real. As Sara walks around campus, trying to find her brother, she bumps into August, who is still high from the party and is just sort of… emotionally all over the place? In my head I think Sara and August actually trip over one another and he gets a skinned knee or something, so they have to break into some part of school late at night to get band-aids from a first aid kit, and they end up in a weird, late-night conversation and August actually ends up talking to Sara about his grief for Erik. Thus, he’s never at the window to film the video, and some weird door opens up in his brain about actually having someone he can open up to. He doesn’t change overnight, but his character—and everyone else’s characters—are butterfly effected in a totally different direction. That’s all I’m going to say for now! But gosh, I really hope I get the time and energy to write it.

[fishyfishyfishtimes]

I'm a bit shy asking this so I'll stick to anon for the time being. I visited a pet store today and they had the cutest little fish roaming at the bottom of one of their tanks gulping and spitting out sand. I couldn't find the species on the side with the names and tried to do some research and I think it may be a Sand Sifting Goby? All I saw was that they require salt water and that it seemed to feed off whatever was in that sand. I'm genuinely obsessed with this little guy and took plenty of videos, but I don't want to make bad decisions and get one without proper knowledge and research. I was curious to know if you had any facts or tips to help me out? Thank you 🩷

Sounds adorable!! Sand sifting gobies are a whole group of species that come in a variety of colours, all of them looking quite sweet! No doubt the fish was captivating to look at doing its little sand sifting :D

You say you do not wish to make a bad decision and simply impulse buy one without research, which is a good mindset to start from. Fish are not a monolith of animals, they're a large and diverse group of species, each one having their own specific criteria for keeping. I don't know if you've kept fish before or not anon, but I will be giving a general explanation that lets a person who hasn't get started: fish require specific water parameters (temperature, pH, general hardness and calcium carbonate concentration, salinity, etc.), substrate (thickness at the bottom, colour, roughness), plants (density of plants, real or fake, etc.), decor (will the decor scratch or accidentally harm the fish, do they like to hide, etc.), tankmates (of their own species or of different species, or lack thereof), food (specific dietary preferences and restrictions), lighting (harsh or dimmed, amount of light a day), so many things! Freshwater and saltwater aquariums are also different and require different equipment.

The very first thing I recommend you do is go to the pet store (or contact them through social media or email) and ask them what species the goby is. This way you can do research on the specific species instead of sifting through general information about all sand sifting gobies, which may be completely different from our dear little friend at the pet store! That's actually the crux of obtaining a fish or another aquatic life companion: RESEARCH! Soooo much research. You must research your finned friend so much it's starting to feel ridiculous and your family is asking you if you're "still planning on that fish or..?". Look up care guides and fish forums, watch YouTube videos, gather up all the information you get. Some of it contradicts itself, which is why it's important to look to many many sources. Try seeing the newest ones and see what parameters and suggestions are most common. That's only the beginning, though: if you've never owned a fish before, you need to learn about all these aquarium-keeping terms and how to maintain an aquarium, what you need for an aquarium, how to cycle it, etc.. Actually, that's probably best to do before you look up care guides, now that I think about it... Or do both at the same time, that's what I did when I was planning my shrimp tank. See beginner's guides to saltwater fishkeeping, on several sites, move onto more advanced guides and learn the terminology. Learn why these parameters matter so much, or why and how to cycle your tank. Weigh the pros and cons of having plants or some plant species, research different substrates, see what tanks and lights and filters are smartest for you, learn about aquarium pests. Try to find a good middle ground for what's sensible for you and what's the best for your pet; we keep animals for our enjoyment, but we also want to make sure they're having their best time too! Make a list for all the items you need, see how much different options cost, make a budget. Research the water parameters of your city or town, or test the water yourself. See what needs to be done to it so it's suitable for your animal. I've never kept a saltwater tank so I don't know the specifics of it myself, but if you wish to be a saltwater aquarium keeper you must learn! It's a lengthy process, but I went through seven months of preparation before I got my dwarf shrimps. This included my research (I don't have an estimate for how many articles and forums I looked through but my "Shrimps" playlist I made in preparation has 52 videos of just cherry shrimp and aquarium-keeping educational videos), shopping for equipment and plants and setting everything up, and cycling my aquarium. Dear folks in my notes also informed me that saltwater tanks and setups tend to be more expensive than freshwater setups!

Maybe at some point you find that the setup and equipment are simply too expensive, or incompatible with your lifestyle or living situation, or you change your mind for another reason during the preparation process. And that's valid and okay! You took the time to learn and what you learned was just that: it wasn't meant to be. It's much better than getting an animal without preparing and only finding out afterwards that you're incompatible in some way. Learning about these things won't be for "nothing" either, as now you have the valuable knowledge of how to keep fish and an aquarium! It may prove useful later in life if you eventually do obtain an aquarium, or you can become the resident fish knower (very rewarding). You may also decide to look into freshwater gobies, as they are gobies all the same but easier to care for! Please take a look at the folks in the notes and their lovely info.

Hope this helps anon! Perhaps you were wishing for a fish facts -format post, but my measly one-to-four sentence daily fish facts do not a species expert make. Instead I want to give out a guide on how to get started on your goby-keeping journey. I hope it works out for you, I wish you good luck! :)

[the-dominant-wife]

Hi I noticed a recent post of yours where you were rightly bragging rather wonderfully about how you can make your hubwife cum from pegging.

https://at.tumblr.com/the-dominant-wife/703933322795024384/dl9enqoe7t1i

I wondered whether you could elaborate and maybe share your approach, techniques and equipment you use to achieve this?

My submissive is in p.a secured chastity on a permanent basis and I have no desire to unlock him, I use him sexually to provide me with oral on demand but he will never be permitted to have penetrative sex with me. I may decide to cuck him in the future but for now his talented, eager tounge is very efficient and well trained at this point so my need to replace his penis is not currently a priority or need of mine.

I've decided that the most suitable and appropriate way for @female-leds-boy (my submissive) to orgasm on a strictly controlled monthly basis should be while still secured in chastity and from me pegging him. I've so far been unsuccessful after numerous attempts and would very much appreciate any advice or techniques you might be able to share with me. It's my desire he should only ever cum for me this way.

Thank you in advance.

In admiration and respect of your FLR.

MS xx

Thank you for what is clearly a well-thought out question. I also think it's admirable that you're being so considerate of your submissive and his needs while at the same time establishing parameters that fit your needs!

Chastity doesn't mean someone can't enjoy orgasms. Sure, they won't be orgasms that a more alpha male will have, but nonetheless, it's an orgasm and one befitting of their status.

I'll share what I've found works for me and in turn, works for her/hubwife :)

First let me say that I make love to my hubwife this way (pegging) because I find it enjoyable. I do take her feelings into consideration but my enjoyment is the primary motivating factor to "fucking" my wife. Her enjoyment is really a by-product of my own.

Also, her orgasms are never "guaranteed." In other words, she doesn't orgasm every time I make love to her. I would say that it happens probably about 60-70% of the time. Here's a list of things to consider:

Finger Fuck Your Sub: The first thing I would recommend is your (the Domme) becoming familiar with your submissive's prostate. Using plenty of lubricant and your finger, do some exploring of his boi-pussy. If you find it too messy use some latex gloves...make believe you're a doctor doing a prostate exam...lol. Get in the mood with him, get him to relax, and gently "do your thing" and see if you can bring him to orgasm this way. It might take time but it can be lots of fun. Here's a link to WebMd that discusses the prostate and orgasms. I think it would be very helpful: Prostate Orgasm: What is it?

The Strap-on Dildo: Once you've enjoyed finger-fucking him, it's time to move on to doing it with your "girl-cock!" While women love a man-sized cock, a boi's pussy isn't made the same way as ours. It might make for great pornography, but the pictures of Dommes with massive sized dildos is simply not realistic or for that matter, safe. Find a realistic looking dildo (don't ever buy one that is hollow plastic) that is of reasonable size, sturdy and somewhat flexible. It shouldn't cost a fortune, but to look for the cheapest either. You get what you pay for. Shop around, read reviews, etc. If possible shop in person. Big cities have fetish shops that usually have quality toys.

The Harness: Next, don't skimp when you buy a harness. Shopping online is ok, but I bought the harness I use in person, at a fetish shop that sold quality leather goods and other toys. You want something that is going to fit you comfortably and can be worn securely. The dildo you use also has to be attached securely. You want to be able to "go through the motions" naturally without things becoming loose or flapping around! Bottom line is: Get quality toys.

Lubricant: More important than anything else is to make sure you use plenty of it. "More than you really need" is always better. In my opinion, thicker lube is better. You may want to explore by trying out a few different ones. It's worth the effort and time, and it's not like you can't have fun with the exploration. Here's a link from Women's Health Magazine reviewing different lubes: 19 Best Lubes for Anal Sex, per Sex Therapists.

Technique & Positions: I've been able to give my hubwife orgasm in different positions. Variety is good and it might depend on your own mood. I like the missionary or "diaper" position because it lets me look into her eyes when I'm making love to her. I've done it a couple of ways both when we're both on the bed or with her at the edge of the bed while I'm standing on the floor. The diaper position is probably my favorite. Doggie style is good for when I'm feeling more dominant, getting her on all fours and slapping her girlish ass at the same time, maybe grabbing her hips as I thrust into her (I'm getting a little horny just writing this...lol). You'd also be surprised at how well you can penetrate your submissive lying side by side, you behind him in a spooning position. Again, explore them all.

When it comes to technique, take it slow. While you're the Domme and in charge, this shouldn't be a rape scene for the two of you. Though he will experience some "fullness" and different feelings, it shouldn't be a painful experience for him/her. Be sensual about it. Tease him gently with the tip of your well lubed "cock" rubbing against his pretty little rosebud. Penetration should be slow. Go back and forth just a little bit at a time. Don't be in a hurry to go deep all at once. Note that the aforementioned finger fucking I recommended will be a big help when it comes to developing your own technique. You'll know when the tip of your "cock" brushes up close to your sub's prostate. Be patient. You'll get there!

Set the mood: Know what turns your submissive on. Be tactile if necessary. Words matter....be verbal with them. If you're a good dominant, you already know how to push their buttons. Now's the perfect time to use that knowledge. In my case, I honestly believe that my words are what really set her off. I may tell her what a good fuck she is, make her beg for my cock, etc. It could be a blend of sexy talk, humiliation or whatever works for both of you. The mood you're in is incredibly important. Remember, the brain is the most powerful sex organ, it's there that all orgasms begin and are enjoyed!

Other Toys: Something else you may want to experiment with, particularly in the beginning of your "journey" is the use of a vibrator against her chastity cage as you are penetrating her. It's a form of masturbation I suppose, but it will bring her to orgasm most times. Maybe consider it a treat!

Preparation: This is something that isn't discussed very much. It's hard to get comfortable and difficult to enjoy yourself if your submissive's rectum isn't ready. You get what I'm talking about. If you're planning a lovemaking session with your submissive ahead of time, you might want to make them douche. It'll be worth it. If you're into making love this way regularly, make sure they are on a healthy diet that is high in fiber. Here's another link from WebMD: Anal Douching: What to Know

As you can see there are several factors that in my opinion, are necessary to consider if you want to enjoy pegging your submissive and bring him to orgasm. In many ways it is a trial and error process but a worthwhile one as you figure out what works for you. Providing a chastised male, sissy, hubwife etc. is a beautiful thing - a gift they will certainly appreciate.

Best of luck. I'd love to hear how you progress!

[pokemonshelterstories]

hi!! do you have any facts about leafeons or their care? i'd really love to get one at some point!!

sure do! i've cared for a lot of veevees and their evolutions. leafeon is actually my favorite!

keep in mind that if you're looking for a battler, a different pokemon might be a better idea. it's possible to convince a leafeon to battle, and their sharp tail is no joke, but they're often battle-averse and would rather snooze at home. it takes a lot of energy to battle when your primary nutrition comes from sunlight!

in terms of their care, they need plenty of access to both sunlight and shade. choice is important for them, so they can prevent themselves from burning in too much sun! ideally they should have access to some sort of outdoor run so they can get fresh air and sunlight that isnt filtered through a window, but you can also buy a uv lamp for indoor sunning. really super important is temperature and humidity! leafeon are most comfortable at a temperature between 24 and 27°C with humidities of about 55-70%. thats way more than a human is usually comfortable with in their home! so, a controlled environment for your leafeon is a must. you'll know your enclosure parameters are off if you notice yellowing or browning of their leaves, wilting leaves, fungal growths, or sluggish behavior. if you can't dedicate a room of your house to maintaining this, it's better to only get a leafeon if you live in a suitable climate for it to live in your yard.

they don't require much in terms of food, and their diet in the wild consists largely of berries, plant matter, and the occasional small pokemon/egg. commercial food for them isn't always regularly available, so you might have to order it online unless you want to formulate their diet by hand with the help of your vet. they absolutely need access to a soaking pool, a dig box, and something they can use as a den. leafeon spend a lot of their day sunbathing, but they also enjoy exploring areas with plenty of plants and rooting around for food, so harness training and foraging toys are a great option for them!

they're a tough pokemon to care for, since they're so specialized to their environment. you really have to be prepared to care for both a plant and a pokemon at once!

[ecosmining]

What Equipment to Use for Mining Bitcoin Profitably After the Halving?

In April 2024, the next Bitcoin halving took place. The reward for mining one block was reduced by 50% and is now 3.125 BTC. Due to this, some may begin to doubt mining — will this activity continue to bring in a decent income? Based on our extensive experience, we can confidently say that mining can and should remain profitable even after the halving. In this article, we will discuss how to organize Bitcoin mining most rationally and what equipment to choose for this.

Bitcoin Price Will Definitely Rise After the Halving

Since the launch of the first cryptocurrency, its halving has occurred approximately every four years. In 2024, this happened for the fifth time. Throughout all these years, the price of BTC, its market capitalization, and audience have steadily increased. The popularity of mining is also growing, and new technologies are being developed to increase its efficiency.

The person or team behind Bitcoin came up with halving to control inflation and maintain demand for the coin. Halving benefits Bitcoin and in no way deprives miners of their well-deserved reward. The rarer the asset, the higher its value — this rule works after each halving. That’s why starting mining right now is an excellent idea.

Three Secrets to Keep Mining Profitable

To make money mining BTC after its halving in 2024, you need to:

Buy or rent the latest generation equipment

Reduce expenses

Find a reliable hosting provider

Let’s take a closer look at all these points.

Today, one of the best ASICs for mining Bitcoin is the Antminer 21 series. It stands out for its high hashing power combined with relatively modest energy consumption. The Antminer 21 significantly outperforms miners of previous generations. The manufacturer of this series, Bitmain, is one of the most well-known in the industry. This is a reliable brand with a very strong team, extremely popular among crypto professionals.

To increase revenue, you can purchase multiple devices and combine them into a mining farm. However, this may require too high initial costs. Additionally, you will need to find a place to host the equipment. It not only consumes a lot of energy but also makes a lot of noise. To reduce the noise level, you can buy ASICs with a water cooling system — but they are more expensive than regular ones.

To cut costs, you can rent a miner instead of buying it. Remote providers can afford the most modern ASICs. You will be able to choose one or several machines with suitable characteristics. The provider will take care of the installation, maintenance, and repair of the equipment. Their staff has all the necessary knowledge and skills. Your involvement in mining will be minimal, and you will be able to receive truly passive income.

Another option is to try cloud mining, a more modern and accessible alternative. You will be renting not an ASIC but hashing power. First, you will purchase a contract on the most comfortable terms for you. After that, your task will be reduced to regularly transferring the commission to the provider — and they will take care of everything else. You will start receiving income on the rise in the price of Bitcoin. If you want to increase your profits, you can buy multiple contracts.

Each halving forces mining providers to rethink their strategies and optimize their activities. Some of those who cannot cope with these tasks close down. That’s why it’s important to check the provider’s history — the longer they have been in business, the better.

The second important parameter is customer reviews. It’s not a problem if some of them are negative — the main thing is that the majority are positive. The contract terms of a good provider are detailed and transparent. The support service is polite, informed, and responds promptly to customer inquiries.

ECOS meets all the criteria of a first-class provider for remote mining. This company is located in the free economic zone of Armenia, where cryptocurrencies are legal, and miners are exempt from taxes for 25 years. The Razdan power plant provides stable access to cheap energy. The security of the territory where the equipment is located is guaranteed by armed guards. The equipment downtime is close to zero. If an ASIC breaks down, it will be promptly repaired on-site, without wasting time sending it to the manufacturer’s service center.

ECOS clients can choose a cloud mining contract from existing options or create their own, individual one. The selection of equipment rental or purchase options is also very large. Clients appreciate ECOS for its transparent terms, reasonable prices, and quality service. This is an ideal provider for beginner miners who are just taking their first steps in the industry. Experienced miners note the exceptional reliability of ECOS, honesty, and timely payment of rewards.

ECOS Client Case

To confirm the above theory, let’s consider a real case of one of the ECOS clients. Let’s denote him by the nickname anto******duate.org.

Immediately after the previous halving in 2020, he bought an Antminer T17 for $699. The hashing speed of this miner was 38 terahashes per second. Four years ago, this model was considered advanced, one of the best on the market.

From November 25, 2020, to November 1, 2021, anto******duate.org earned 0.08026213 BTC with his Antminer T17, which in fiat currency amounted to $5,327. Hosting and miner maintenance costs were only $1,080. The client received a net profit of $3,548. Mining turned out to be a more profitable activity for him than buying bitcoins. If he had bought bitcoins, his profit would have been only $2,900.

To estimate your upcoming expenses and profits, you can use the calculator on the ECOS website. We hope that with the help of this tool, you will see that mining BTC can still be profitable even after the halving!

[the-guild-association]

The Guild Association

Introduction

The Tri-Realm Guild Association, known colloquially simply as the TRGA or The Guild, is a critically important organization within the Sins of the Eternal universe, with divisions and branch locations found in major cities all across the Underworld, Overworld, and Brightlands, as well as some locations in more remote areas.

Founded under world leaders from all three realms, the Guild's mission statement is to rebuild the world in the aftermath of The Cataclysm, and maintain peace and justice among people of all walks of life. To that end, each TRGA building serves as a sort of hub space where, for a small fee, any person may submit a commission for Guild-employed associates to accept.

The Process

Prior to being officially posted, commissions are subjected to a series of criteria and filters in order to evaluate the validity of a request, the authenticity of the commissioner, the urgency of the job, and a variety of other parameters. Once the process is complete, the commission will be uploaded to the Guild Database, where it can be picked up by any qualifying Guild Associate on a first-come first-served basis. Additionally, once their commissions have been accepted, commissioners reserve the right to refuse a given candidate at their own discretion, at which point compensation (with an upper limit) will be supplied to both parties via the Guild should excessive resources be expended.

Commissions and Commissioners

In order to submit a commission, a client must first pass a background check unique to the Guild Association. While it does search for a criminal history, what it primarily judges is the client's quality of character, an inexplicable criteria derived from numerous gods related to the concept of justice and balance. The data gathered from said gods was then compiled and used to synthesize an algorithm capable of autonomously and infallibly conclude whether a client may hold the right to submit commissions or not. Regardless of whether they pass or fail, all persons who agree to the test will be entered into the Guild Database for future reference.

Once a client has passed this test and been given a membership card that certifies they are eligible to submit jobs to the Guild, there are very few commissions that are off the table. From requesting assistance with buying groceries to hunting wild monsters, and even ordering hits on less-than-desirable individuals or groups, the Guild Association will happily accept and post any and all commissions as long as they pass the initial filtering process.

Affiliations

From a political standpoint, the Guild Association is firmly an independent party separate from all governments and ruling powers. While each branch is contractually obligated to obey the laws of the land they reside in, they cannot be commanded by the ruling powers of that land, nor are they required in any shape or form to assist the military forces of said land should they desire not to.

To ensure the sanctity of this neutrality, branch heads are personally picked and chosen by the reigning sovereigns of each realm, Aeterna of the Underworld, Ultima of the Brightlands, and Telaris of the Overworld. Once chosen, each branch head is made to sign a blood oath that they not abuse their position within the guild for their own political agendas and/or the political agendas of the land they reside. Should they be found in violation of this oath - and rest assured, they will be found out - their reigning sovereign will personally put them on "indefinite probation" and instate a new branch head.

[melissamasakari]

Confessions you didn't notice

Chapter three. Guest from above.

Getting up early on Friday proved surprisingly easy for me despite the fact that I’m not an early bird at all. The mood was wonderful. Festively dressed townspeople were already rushing to the field where today's event was going to be held. I decided to run into the guild beforehand, hand in my papers and figure out my plans for the next week. But when I was passing near the fountain, I noticed something strange and huge in the sky. This strange thing dashed past the city and landed somewhere in the east with a loud thud. I just hope that no one was hurt. So. Stop. It flew into the Sewage Plant! This means now I have much more important things to do than some festivities. After running through the entire Main street in one breath I confirmed my fears. Sam was already guarding the gate to the Wasteland, driving away curious onlookers. Climbing the stairs, I heard her ringing voice:

“Citizens, disperse! No one is allowed through. By Arlo's orders!”

Everyone began to shout at each other in agitation, demanding an explanation. Well, if she is here, then the guys are already in the thick of things.

“Sam! Do you need help?” I shouted, jumping up and attracting her attention. Without waiting for an answer I began to make my way through the crowd to the gate.

“Oh, little fella. You are here, too. Were you successful?” She looked at me and winked. However, I didn’t have time to answer. The gate opened with a creak, Remy flew out, looked around, grabbed me by the elbow and dragged me through the gate.

“I was just about to call you! Let's go!”

“Alright! Do things look blue?”

“Seems so. This thing pierced the building's covering in several places. While this is not very dangerous, but monsters are coming out of the hole. Arlo is staying there.”

“Do you need a fighter or an engineer?”

“We need you. Two in one. We’re almost there.”

“Melissa! You're smart, think of something!, I'll try to buy you some time! Remy, protect her!” Arlo's words reached us.

We made our way through the crowd of monsters and reached one of the sources of the problem. Wow! Yes, this is a full-fledged space station!.. Or it was. It also looks very relic.

Well, it dealt a huge amount of damage! It’s a miracle that no one was blown away along the way. I quickly sketched out a drawing and calculated the parameters of the needed “patch” and rushed off to another breach to assess the damage.

“I need to bring a ton of equipment here. The buses don't work, and there's panic at the gates. What's our options?” I asked while continuing to land heavy kicks on climbing creatures.

“There’s no time to look for Gale. If this drags on, we won't be able to protect people.”

“Actually, that’s easy, he opened the festive events. It was just when I reached the gate. But that’s not going to help.”

“Yes, we can’t allow the panic spread either,” Remy added, pumping his fists.

“I have everything I need. But I can't carry this stuff over the hills. Until tomorrow lunch, at least. By that time there won’t even be any bones left of you!”

“Run to headquarters. Higgins is locked up there. Tell him we're trading his freedom for help with transportation. Anyway, he won’t be able to take any commissions for another three days. At the gate warn Sam, so she will give you the necessary docs.”

“What if he refuses?”

“There will be no one to release him until a new captain is appointed. And that's a long process.”

“Understood. I withdraw. Please do hold on! I'll tell the medics on the way, just in case.”

“Thank you! We'll wait!” Arlo smiled encouragingly, breaking the head of another nasty creature with his knee.

To my surprise, the vile complainer listened to me without any questions. And he even apologized for false accusations! With his help I managed to deliver everything I needed before sunset. My guys looked exhausted, but intact. Fine. I helped to scatter some monsters and diligently sealed the first hole, then the second.

Phew, we can take a break now.

“Guys, how are you?”I’ve noticed a fallen tree and decided to rest there. At the same time, it’s a good vantage point, I’ll be able to see any danger coming our way.“Come here.”

“I strained my knee. But overall it’s that not bad,” Remy responded and sat down next to me.

“I'm fine. A little tired. I haven't trained so intensely for a long time!”Arlo said way too cheerfully and loudly plopped down on the other side, leaning with his palm on my shoulder as he landed. So nice, even though he is somewhat heavy.

“Be careful! It's slippery. Does anyone need first aid kit?”

“If you have painkillers or an elastic bandage with you, I’ll be grateful.”

“There are both, here you go, buddy,” I rummaged in my bag and passed the requested things to the right. Remington nodded gratefully and began to stir, moving away slightly. In twilight I can’t see what he’s doing there, and I don’t really want to.

“Sam will be mad at us for we’ve stolen all the fun,” the redhead took off his gloves and began to knead his knuckles.

“It would be more fun at the event. But that’s okay too. Remy, do you need some water to wash down this crap?”

“Do you have any?” Both responded in unison.

“Certainly. I'm thrifty. Here you go,” I passed bottles of water to the left and to the right. It's a miracle bottles didn't crash, seems that we were lucky.

While they were freshening up, my attention was caught by a strange noise coming from a fallen relic, on the hull of which was the inscription Altair-01. With a loud clang, a hatch opened somewhere above. Just in case, I prepared my weapon for battle.

We probably looked funny. Two big guys on the bench and petite girl with a sledgehammer ready for the battle. Arlo jerked up, trying to push me back. He did not succeed as he was clearly much more tired than he wanted to show me. They surely got out hungry in the morning. Meanwhile, a grinding sound was heard from the open hatch. The hum kept growing, accompanied by irregular knocking from the structure inside the station. I took a couple of steps back. You never know what can hit your head from above. That is alarming - the hatch released a cloud of steam with a terrible hiss.

It came from above.

Something came from above.

“ACK, ACK ACK!” “Something” screamed as it fell.

“What is this thing?”

“I've never seen anything like this before!”

“Guys, is it talking?! Wait.” I changed my hold on the sledgehammer and pulled out the lantern from my bag.

“My dear Lara! Where are you?! ACK. My name is Ack,” the strange thing crawled a little closer to us, moaned something else and sank down.

“Wow!”

“Yeah. It looks like a robot. It's pretty heavily damaged.” Arlo said observing that thing from safe distance with cheer curiosity.

“I saw similar ones in Lucien. One, it seems, lives in Atara. This is an AI.” Remy responded with concern.

“I would show him to Petra. Our scientists will be absolutely delighted.” I offered carefully.

“He could be dangerous. Let's put him in the cell, it's just freed up.”

“Yes, Captain!”

“Remy, stop teasing! You, are the captain too. Grab it and drag it up.”

”Are you crazy?! You can barely stand on your feet and are about to drag a potentially dangerous living thing thought the hills. Let's at least call for reinforcements!”

“How? Will you run ahead and bring us a bus?”

“Very funny. Remind me color coding for the alarms as used in Portia. We could have different one in Barnarock,” I started rummaging through my bag, pulling out several colored tubes.

“Great idea! Give me two red ones, a blue one and a yellow one,” Arlo placed obtained fireworks near the bus stop. “And purple. Melissa, we're moving the robot away now, and I'm checking the direction for signals. Your task is to light the wicks at short intervals and immediately run away to cover. The noise may awaken the local fauna, so prepare for a fight.”

“Accepted. But I won’t leave you here. Do not even ask!”

“I didn’t intend to. Thanks.”

After the fireworks were launched, our sudden guest from the sky woke up once again. He said that he was a cook and shouldn’t have been on the ground, asked for help, and passed out again.

Following our signal Sam rushed over, organized transport, and our entire wonderful company was dragged back to the headquarters. As someone had already notified the city authorities, it was a bit crowded and very noisy inside. But I couldn’t abandon my guys just like that. While everyone was arguing about what to do and how to behave with the real living Artificial Intelligence, I decided to prepare something to eat so I quietly called my friend.

“Sam. While they are arguing show me to the kitchen and bathroom. Our guys are really tired. And looks like this mess will drag on.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve already sent a messenger to Django. I even asked for delivery. Will you stay for...dinner?”

“I’ll stay as long as necessary. Can I make you some coffee? I know you’re not a fan, but it doesn’t seem like we’ll all be able to sleep anytime soon.”

“Sounds good. I don't mind a coffee with cream, though,” we headed to the kitchen and started fiddling with the drinks.

“Sugar, surely, is absent here?”

“Yeah. We'll have to live with it. Spices will be fine, won’t they?”

“Pass me some cinnamon, please.”

“How did your meeting go, by the way?”

“Not sure. I'll figure it out later.”

Attracted by the smells, a noticeably refreshed redhead entered the kitchen.

“What will you figure out?”

“Your itchy feet, of course. Did they decide on something or is it the same as always? I plan to stay until the end of the showdown. If you don't mind, that is.”

“Nope, I just thought about how to invite you to stay. Your help was invaluable.”

“That's my job. You will probably need to check the station again.”

“I blocked the gate, that will definitely wait until tomorrow.”

“What if some other crap comes out of there?”

“Now everything will surely calm down and then we can ask the robot. Since nothing exploded during the fall, it means there were no weapons of this type on board. People also could not survive, certainly not for more than three hundred years. He says that he doesn’t even know anything about the Dark Era.”

“What a mess here, Cap. I'll go see if our dinner has arrived yet. There hasn't been such an excitement here for a very long time.”

“Have you already taken care of this? Good job!”

“I didn't want to ask our guest to cook, you know.” Sam nodded in my direction, grabbed two servings of coffee and went to the reception area.

“Do you want your coffee black, with cream, or maybe I should add cinnamon?” I was finishing preparing my own.

“I want the same as yours.”

“Fine. Keep in mind – that’s quite bracing. You may have minor problems with your sleep for a while.”

“It's okay. It looks like the next couple of days will be extremely busy for me.”

“I guess so. It's a shame, but there's nothing we can do about it.”

“Sorry for ruining your holiday. Please go tomorrow and have some fun without us, huh?”

“In fact, I would prefer to go with you to inspect Altair. But I already know what you will say to this, so I won’t impose myself. Here,” he carefully took a sip from his cup which I offered him. He made an absolutely brutal face, coughed, but didn’t stop trying to drink it.

“Tough shit. What did you put in there?”

“It would be better with sugar or syrup. But you don’t have any of these,” I shrugged and calmly drank my own coffee.

“Apparently, I overestimated my dislike for sweets. Let’s go, it seems like they stopped yelling,” the captain motioned toward the reception area, “I just hope that doesn’t mean that they started fighting.”

“Mr. Robot, you will have to stay here until we are sure that you or your transport is not a threat to the city. Next, I will put this issue to a vote and give instructions to the Civil Corps.” Gale having with an extremely important look made funny gestures pointing at everyone present. Lee looked terribly unhappy; it seems that he did not like the idea of leaving the robot “alive” at all. Merlin stared at the prisoner with obsession, as if she was going to take him away for experiments that very moment the cell was opened.

The sponsor of our evening entertainment himself sat helplessly on the floor. After the speech the mayor looked around, pointed his finger at me and demanded that our space visitor to be repaired. Very funny. The tools I have with me now are a screwdriver, a lantern, a torch and a sledgehammer. No engines, no materials, no welding. Before I started to get indignant, Arlo shrugged and dismissed everyone. My hero!

Sam brought the food and began setting the table in the reception area. Remy climbed out from somewhere above and joined in. Suddenly a voice came from the cell:

“I want to remind you that I was promised a glass of milk. And information about my team who remained at the station!”

“Sorry, as far as we managed to inspect the station, there were no survivors. We'll go there in the morning and find out for sure.”

“Your landing was not the softest, Mr. Ack.”

“I’ll bring you some milk now. Unfortunately, repairs will have to wait. I don't have anything suitable here. Only sticks, mops and pots, perhaps. Some of these also need to be washed.”

“Wow. Robot chef. And I didn't know they could eat it food, too.”

“Milk is the drink of the gods!”

“Maybe. How were you going to hold the glass? Should I bring you a straw?”

“Do it, strange redhead girl.”

“Oh, not this again. It’s just impolite to call me a girl, but of course I should be grateful not to be called a boy.” I returned after a while with a bottle of milk and a drinking straw, and handed everything to our prisoner.

“Don’t be annoyed,” the second redhead here came closer, put his hand on my shoulder and began to name everyone present in turn, introducing us to the robot. “Briefly speaking. As you already know, you are on Earth. Around us is a city called Portia. This specific building is the headquarters of the Civil Corps. Like the Old World police. I am Arlo and I am considered to be a boss here. The rest are my friends and my crew. This cheerful one is Remington. The tomboy blonde is Sam. Now there are only three of us serving here.”

“Understood. And the child? Is that your child?”

“I’m actually an adult! My name is Melissa. I have a workshop outside main gate. I’m something of an inventor and tester and sometimes also an engineer. These three are my closest friends, so I find myself often drawn into all sorts of adventures.”

“Speaking of adventures. Don't you want to change your job?”

“For example?”

“We could use your skills; do you want to join the Corps?”

“I do. But they won’t give you enough budget to afford to hire me.”

“It's a pity. But you just think about it.”

“When I get rich enough so that's no longer a problem, I know where to look for you.”

Sam whistled in amazement and reminded us that the food was getting cold. Really. Well, it was delicious. I’ll need to clarify what exactly that was, because it seems that the “Round Table” has a new menu. After washing the dishes, Remy brought a plunger from somewhere. Just for fun, I tried to attach it to the robot. Ack was pleased and asked for a saucepan, put it on his head and fell silent in his corner. So it seems that I'm no longer needed here today.

“I'm going to my place. My knee is hurting.” Remy stated.

“Okay, now that everything is done, I’ll go too. Do you need pepper compress?”

“Enough for today. Thank you,” he stomped up the stairs, holding the handrail. Well, it's always surprising how quickly he moves despite his chronic injury.

“Give up. Where will you go? It’s dark and slippery there,” Arlo said to me.

“Or we can come to my place, if you want,” Sam suggested.

“It won’t work, we need you at headquarters. You're on duty, remember?” Our so-called boss immediately cut off.

“Crap. Okay, I have some spare clothes. It will be too big for you, of course. But here you can wash yourself off and find a place to rest.”

“Sounds like a plan. Drag it here.”

I cleaned myself up and took the sofa opposite the cage. I made a cocoon out of a soft blanket (was it llama fur?) and covered myself with a hood to block out excess light. I immediately passed out, despite the strongest coffee in the world.

[uncloseted]

Imho we need to stop research deep diving into the people behind our entertainment and holding them to impossible standards because you will literally end up not being able to consume any media again. Your favorite actors/musicians/influencers/writer/etc have all done something problematic at some point and aren't morally perfect people that consumers are slowly demanding them to be. Of course it's different if they've committed a crime but I'm not talking about those types of creators here

I agree, 100%. I think people online need to have an honest conversation with themselves about what their actual goals are and what the best way to achieve those goals would be. Do you want someone to change their views or actions? If that's the case, the best way to achieve that goal is to nicely call them in to a conversation about it. It's not to dig up a post from fifteen years ago, send the person death threats, and then refuse to change your mind about them when they tell you that that's no longer their position. Doing that will only push the person further in the direction of the "problematic" belief or action, because at least the people who support that belief/action aren't trying to dox their families and get them fired from their jobs.

But I think truthfully, a lot of people online don't want other people to grow and change. They want to feel morally superior by punishing "bad" people who have done "bad" things. And in doing so, a lot of those people then start doing the bad things they accuse others of doing and justify it by saying that they had to do those things so that the "bad people" would be held accountable. Righteousness is a dangerous cycle to get trapped in.

I also think it's really strange because people don't apply this same logic in any other area of their lives. Like, would I start boycotting a restaurant because some line cook posted a bad take on his Facebook or stop buying from a store because the owner is an absent parent to his children? No. As long as I get the product I paid for, I don't really care what the personal lives of the employees are like beyond hoping that they're, like, happy and healthy and being paid a fair wage. But the minute the product in question is a celebrity, people lose the plot so quickly. Why should any of us care if actors are uninvolved parents or in a weird relationship as long as they're good at acting, the thing we pay them to do?

And of course, there are some important parameters on that, which I feel like I need to say lest I too be mobbed for having a bad take. For example, the Me Too movement was hugely important because it was about removing people with a history of illegal behavior from having access to the influence that would allow them to continue to abuse people. That's huge. I am in no way saying that we should uncancel Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Spacey. Cancelling them removed them from the film industry, which meant that they were removed from the position of power that they held over others and used to abuse people who were subordinate to them. The film industry is safer without them there.

But... do I care that, for example, Barry Keoghan is "problematic" because he got divorced, moved to a different country from his son, and started dating someone new? Is that worth boycotting his movies over? Saltburn was a good movie. Please, Please, Please is a good song with a good music video. I got what I paid for, which is him being a good actor. Me refusing to watch him in things because he's "problematic" would do very little in the way of his son seeing him more. Even if he wasn't famous, he very well might have done the same thing. Would I care about this if he was a guy who served me a drink in Dublin or something? No. So why should I care because he's someone famous?

Similarly, and this is maybe my more controversial take here, I don't really care if celebrities have an opinion on global sociopolitical events or not. The majority of celebrities barely have a high school education. For the most part, they don't really have the educational or informational background to comment on complex and nuanced issues in any meaningful way. There are some exceptions to that (Tom Morello especially comes to mind- also Natalie Portman, Emma Watson, and Bridgit Mendler), but those are also the people who are using their platform exclusively for business and have opted out of trying to be "relatable" celebrities on social media. And if I'm being honest, I think that's fine. I don't really want, like, Ariana Grande's publicist to post on Instagram about Palestine telling me what they think I want to hear so that Ariana doesn't lose public support (not sure if this is actually a thing that happened- just an example I'm making up). If anything, I think celebrities should be platforming people who are actually experts on these topics and sharing donation links for reputable organizations.

But nobody wants that, because by and large, people don't care about understanding any one conflict in particular. They just want proof that their fave agrees with them on whatever issue is most popular on the internet at that moment, and they want to prove that they're on the right side of history. And that's fine, I guess. Like I was saying the other day, I think people doing the right thing for the wrong reasons is better than people doing the wrong thing for the right reasons. The way things work now, at least people in Palestine are getting the aid that they need. But I think it also creates an environment in which the voices of experts (including the people who are actually living through the conflict) are getting drowned out, and it creates an environment where misinformation can spread rapidly.

All this is just to say that I think we need to be more aware of our motivations and make sure we have all of the information we need before we act. I think it's really easy to get caught up in internet hate trains, especially if you already didn't like the person and have been looking for a reason to justify your dislike for them. And the internet makes it really easy to jump onto those hate trains and feel totally justified in doing so. But as boring as it is, I think we have to take a step back and ask ourselves, "do I have a legitimate reason to dislike this person or are they just not for me? If I think I have a legitimate reason to dislike them, do I have all of the facts, or am I going off the word of someone who already dislikes them? If I have a legitimate reason to dislike them, will my actions encourage them to think differently about the issue, or do I just want to see them be punished? What would this person have to do for me to change my mind on them/forgive them? If there's nothing that would change my mind or make me forgive them, is it better to just block them so I don't waste mental energy on them?" I think it's better for ourselves and for the world at large if we choose to engage thoughtfully online instead of engaging impulsively.

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No!! Testimonials from satisfied customers can be found on the official Lottery Defeater website.

✅ Lottery Defeater Software Review

In conclusion, Lottery Defeater is an effective tool for enhancing lottery-winning chances. Its statistical and mathematical approach, combined with user-friendly features, makes it a valuable addition for those looking to improve their odds. For more information and to purchase Lottery Defeater, visit the official website.

Share This Video Lottery Defeater Review: https://youtu.be/kcEUvojxZ-M

Important Matters!

00:01 - Lottery Defeater Software Reviews Intro

00:30 - Lottery Defeated

00:44 - What is The Lottery Defeated Software?

02:09 - The Lottery Defeater Official Website!

02:21 - Lottery Defeater Software

02:47 - How Does The Lottery Defeater Work?

04:03 - Does Software Lottery Defeater Work?

04:33 - Lottery Defeate4 Software

05:09 - Lottery Defeater Login

06:08 - Lottery Defeater 100% Money-Back Guarantee

06:42 - Lottery Defeater Software Review

07:18 - Lottery Defeater Reviews – Conclusion

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