#interior sd

[sskk-manifesto]

Proof that bsd would be a lot better if they just let it pass the Bechdel test more often

[lamentablexxlovely]

inside the princess castle you can tell it's AI because of the...

[hometoursandotherstuff]

Okay, guys, this is weird. It's clearly a red barn, but it has a castle turret (ok, it's a silo, but it's like a barn castle). This is not a barndominium, it's a bastle. Built in 1995 in Castlewood, SD, it has 6bds, 5ba, and outbuildings. The house is 15,000sq.ft, and comes out to only $29/sq.ft. at $430K. I was not expecting the interior- I was expecting rustic. Check it out.

Very plain, unassuming entrance. Cheap Home Depot Door.

And, then, bam! Gray brick with a fireplace, stairs, walls with interior windows, and balconies. Where the hell am I?

The other side of the great room has plain white walls, a big open balcony, and what looks like brick walls set into the railing specifically for the display of heads. I also see brick columns, beams and a brick wall on the far end above, plus stairs to a lower level. So much going on.

Basically, where there's a railing, there's just an open space for a game room, TV room, etc.

Oh, wow, from this view, there's a marble wall. I have never seen windows w/faux marble shutters, notice the barn doors, as well.

One must wonder who designed this masterpiece. It sure is complex. On the right it looks like 3 steps going up to what, a window and small hallway? There's also a door on the right, and door above.

Here's a view from the balcony area. I guess we can also call it a mezzanine.

Back downstairs, we're in the kitchen. I'm not impressed. Don't like the cabinets or the layout.

Then, here's a way oversized dining room. Note the little shelf above- it has a tiny railing.

I'm gonna say that this is a giant family room off the dining room, and it took me a minute to realize that the "island" in the middle is a hot tub.

So, this must've been a game room. Note the rectangular decorative wall by the pool table.

Then over here there's a TV room that looks like it was decorated by Meemaw and Papaw. I have to say that I hate the furniture- it doesn't go with the funkiness of the house.

It looks like there are patterns on the walls, like wheat stalks going up the stairs.

Wallpaper or some kind of decorative panels up here. There's so much space.

Here's a dark bedroom. The ceiling and walls are so weird.

This large bedroom looks like it's in the silo/turret.

The shape of the ceiling up here is interesting. I don't know what this is- maybe some kind of storage area.

There's a 2 car garage with a large attached barn.

Plus, another very large building attached to the barn.

It's some sort of workshop.

The white building is a whole 'nother house w/3bds, 1ba. Remember, it's only $29 per sq. ft., so it's a lot for the money.

And, this L-shaped building is another huge barn/work space. This could be someone's empire.

Wow, it's big.

2.84 acres of land.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/45849-184th-St-Castlewood-SD-57223/2075595228_zpid/

[wheelsgoroundincircles]

1974 Pontiac Firebird Formula SD-455

1974 Pontiac Firebird Formula SD-455

1974 Formula SD-455 in Pinemist Green with a Saddle interior. The SD-455 was essentially a carryover from 1973. When the 1974 model year began, the SD-455 engine option was placed on hold pending new EPA certification along with the same problem that faced the 1973 SD-455; a shortage of SD-455 forged connecting rods. When 1974 SD-455 vehicle production finally began in November 1973, the engine plant struggled to produce just 8 engines per day. With all the publicity in the media surrounding the SD-455, the Pontiac Parts Department had 1,350 back orders for SD-455 forged connecting rods. On November 9th, 1973, Pontiac issued a bulletin to dealers that all orders for SD-455 connecting rods were cancelled. In order for a dealer to re-order, they were now required to supply a VIN to the Zone Office to make sure the order was for an actual SD-455 equipped car. Orders were limited to just 4 connecting rods, which Pontiac felt was sufficient to handle any warranty issues. By March 1974, the connecting rod problem had still not been resolved, and now Pontiac restricted any SD-455 specific component from being ordered without supplying the VIN of the vehicle, the exception were piston rings. The entire SD-455 saga reads like a soap opera. Cost cutting, upper management turnover, attempting to circumvent EPA emission tests, component shortages, delay after delay, it's amazing that the SD-455 actually made it into production at all. - MCN

[athena-gunpla]

MS Mechanical Bust GN-001 "Gundam Exia" Trans-Am ver. Full Set

Another Mechanical Bust! I really enjoyed the first one, and wanted to build another. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the specific gachapon machine anywhere close by. Luckily I found a set of Gundam Exia (Trans-Am version) online, and I was fortunate enough to get all three kits the first time.

Just like the MS Mechanical Bust Gundam Aerial, this kit comes in three potential parts: A clear bust, a solid bust, and a mechanical internal bust with lighting system. Knowing how Aerial went together ahead of time, I knew to mod the lights on the mechanical version ahead of time.

The green LED is super high quality and really makes the GN drive glow, although unfortunately it drowns out the neat writing detail on the trans-green piece.

I chose to put the clear parts (all in a really nice trans-pink) on one of the included extra display busts, which lacks a lot of the detail of the mechanical busts but allows you to build a bust kit no matter which one of the three options you get.

Just like the Aerial, this went together really nicely, although I found I had to glue some pieces to keep them securely in place, unlike with a proper gunpla kit.

The colour quality is really nice, and it sells the red Trans-Am glow pretty well. It also looks great lit up, although unfortunately I wasn't able to get the extra white LED to glow very brightly, making the eyes and other head units a little dull.

Regardless it was a really fun kit to build. I just wish it was a mainline series of model kits like SD Gunpla, rather than relying on gachapon mechanics. If I hadn't gotten lucky in getting one of each, I would've ended up with duplicates or be unable to build a proper bust kit with all the lighting and interior detail I wanted.

[palmofafreezinghand]

twilight advent calendar - day eleven: Besides painting, what art forms does Esme enjoy? How do you imagine her art room/setup looks? (prompts here)

Art forms Esme enjoys, and a little bit of her history with art: 

There are very few mediums she has not tried at least once. 

As a child she doodled on every scrap of paper she could get her hands on. As she got older she found the small details portraiture required particularly enticing, she’d nervously slip someone a portrait she had sketched of them or their loved one. Her grandparents were the ones to purchase her half-used paints at a church rummage sale, she rationed them as if they were gold. 

She never considered what she made art. Her mother found her little hobby frustrating beyond belief. The woman had tried to teach her daughter the finer hobbies expected of her, needlework, knitting, the piano, anything that would stop Esme from donning her paint-stained too-short dress and climbing to the top of a tree to “sketch the birds.” Esme did not take well to knitting or cross-stitch as she grew. Her grandmother had barely taught her to sew and only after Esme ripped one too many of her handmade dresses did her mother force her into sewing her own wardrobe. (This backfired when Esme discovered how to sew pants). 

When introduced to an eternity of free time she did not revisit these art forms, in fact, she had barely remembered how much she once enjoyed art. She only picked up a pencil again when Edward forced her to, desperate for her to find a hobby and stop bothering him.

She swore Edward to secrecy, knowing Carlisle would run out and buy far too many supplies. He kept her secret but bought the supplies himself. After her initial irritation wore off she was quite grateful for the gift and needed more paint quite shortly after. 

Her love of interior design and architecture made itself known when she found a dollhouse in the attic, left dusty and broken by the previous owner. She renovated it in secret, compelled to finish the project for some reason she could not quite place. Turns out she had a knack for that too. 

At first she thought her skill was one nonexistent but two nothing more than vampiric ability. Carlisle and Edward spent one afternoon attempting to paint a simple still life with her help and she dropped that second suspicion. 

Oil painting is her first choice when it comes to paints. She loves the ability to jump back into a painting after a few weeks. Nowadays, in her scarce free time, she has been experimenting with water soluble oil paints, much to Carlisle’s amusement who had only just become used to the constant smell of linseed oil. Although he will not lie and say he mourns the constant worry her rags will start a fire, again. 

She sculpts and brings an at-home kiln with her on most moves, although she has to be cautious because she has also started a fire with one of these. She enjoys sculpting people the most. She has made countless ceramic renditions of her husband’s nose, face, hands… 

She has experimented with 3D printing and glass blowing but is still new to the medium. 

Miniatures are still a constant in her art, but these days they look more like architectural models than dollhouses. 

There is a camera with her almost all the time. The rest of the family likes to sneakily take photos, knowing she won’t discover them for a little while. They all know better, Emmett learned the hard way, not to go through any of her SD cards. 

On the few rare occasions she has showed her art in galleries she prefers to exhibit installations rather than collections. Her personal favorite she managed to convince Edward to write and record a score to play throughout the gallery. 

She eventually found her way back to knitting and crochet, but never had the passion for it. 

When Renesmee was born and in her growth spurt Esme sewed constantly, building in growth tucks into every garment, knowing any dress would need to be let out within days.

As Renesmee grew up Esme picked quilting and needlepoint back up. While she no longer had any memories of her own grandmother teaching her to thread a needle and the importance of a thimble, but it makes her feel closer to the woman she doesn't remember as she is asked to be a grandmother herself.

A few details about her workspace: 

 In her dream world, she would have a stand-alone studio and a space to create in the house. Her family is inspiring and simultaneously a huge hindrance to creating.  She naturally gravitates towards picking properties with an old gardening shed, carriage house, and dilapidated guest house/cottage she can renovate to have perfect natural lighting, ample soundproofing, climate control, and ample storage. (Until she has to very quickly renovate a guest house as a ‘welcome to vampirism’ gift). If she has a stand-alone workspace she will settle for working in the family library or at the kitchen table (which are all specially designed to convert into drafting tables when needed). 

 The walls are white and the only art hung on them are her current work in progresses. There are a couple of framed photos on her desk: one of her and Carlisle, a candid of her and Edward taken by Carlisle in 1931, one of the entire family, and a print of the first painting of hers she thought truly resembled her son. She is very particularly about lighting and has OttLites scattered about both her workspace and the house.  

Everything has a place, but that place changes frequently. She reorganizes any time she is stuck on a piece. The family knows to keep their distance if they hear her vacuuming out drawers and moving dozens of paint pots. 

[er1chartmann]

The Wannsee Conference

These are some facts and curiosities about The Wannsee Conference:

On January 20, 1942, fifteen top officials of the Nazi Party and the German government gathered in a villa in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee to discuss the execution of what was called the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question."

The men gathered at Wannsee never questioned whether the plan should be implemented or not, but worked directly on identifying the most suitable systems to put it into practice.

Despite the various euphemisms used in the meeting protocols, the purpose of the Wannsee Conference was always clear to its participants: to coordinate the actions that would lead to the complete elimination of all the Jews of Europe.

The meeting took place on the scheduled day in the offices of the Rsha, Am Großen Wannsee, n. 56/58, with the following speakers:

Dr. Alfred Meyer, Gauleiter, State Secretary and Deputy Minister.

Dr. Georg Leibbrandt, director of the political department at the Ministry for the Occupied Territories in the East.

Dr. Wilhelm Stuckart, State Secretary for the Reich Interior Ministry.

Erich Neumann, Secretary of State, plenipotentiary for the four-year plan.

Dr. Roland Freisler, State Secretary at the Reich Ministry of Justice.

Dr. Josef Bühler, State Secretary of the General Government.

Martin Luther, undersecretary (Unterstaatssekretär) of the Foreign Ministry.

SS-Oberführer [Dr.] Gerhard Klopfer, permanent secretary of the party chancellery.

Friedrich Wilhelm Kritzinger, permanent secretary of the Reich Chancellery.

SS-Gruppenführer Otto Hofmann, head of the Central Office for Race and Colonies (RuSHA).

SS-Gruppenführer Heinrich Müller, commander of the Gestapo.

SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann, head of department IV B-4 of the RuSHA, secretary of the conference.

SS-Oberführer Dr. Karl Eberhard Schöngarth, commander of the SiPo and the SD (BdS) in the General Government.

SS-Sturmbannführer Dr. Rudolf Lange, commander of the SD (KdS) in Latvia, representative of the SiPo and the SD (BdS) in the Reichskommissariat Ostland.

SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, director of the Rsha and Reichsprotektor of Bohemia and Moravia.

Sources:

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

Wikipedia: The Wansee Conference

I DON'T SUPPORT NAZISM,FASCISM OR ZIONISM IN ANY WAY, THIS IS AN EDUCATIONAL POST

[zarvasace]

Disability AU Summary!

Let's go in alphabetical order just because. This isn't really a "masterpost" but these should be in one place.

To reiterate, this AU is avoiding cure plots and excess angst related to the disability. I've done research and put in my own experiences but obviously not everything is going to be perfect.

Four—paraparesis, also called partial paralysis, due to a spinal cord injury inflicted between his first and second adventures. He can't walk without support, which usually comes in the form of a wheelchair he modified, or crutches. The colors experience different intensities, from Vio with near-full paraplegia, to Red who uses crutches, to Green who does as well, to Blue who can walk without support. Four will stab anyone who tries to move his chair without asking.

Hyrule—retinopathy of prematurity, and mild cataracts. He's functionally blind, though he can make out shapes of light and dark with a few shades in between. He has a favorite carved-down stick he uses as a white cane, and his magic can act a little like a radar that blips on good magic (like fairy fountains and Hero Spirits and Zeldas) and bad magic (like corruption and monsters.) He has deep-seated reflexes to stab anything that touches him unexpectedly so please, everyone, advertise your presences.

Legend—RRMS, relapse/remission multiple sclerosis. Translates mostly into stiffness in his legs that gets worse with heat and humidity, and annoying fatigue. Relapse periods for him are characterized by a lot of joint pain and temporary periods of partial blindness. Relapses last days to weeks, remissions last weeks to months. He has an enchanted cane that he will hit your shins with.

Sky—moderate to severe deafness from birth. He can hear low, loud sounds the best. He speaks very clearly (and maybe a bit loudly) due to speech therapy. He gets magic hearing aids in Wild's world because I want him to, and he can now mostly hear voices when they speak up. He can read lips when people are facing him, but even at the best, that only gives him a quarter of what they're saying. Immune to mean taunts and jabs, partly because he can't hear most of them and partly because he's just like that.

Time—that eye he always has closed? It's missing now. He has a cool eye patch. Don't throw things at him.

Twilight—transverse deficiency. He's been missing his right arm between shoulder and bicep since birth. Wolfie is conspicuously three-legged, not that anyone notices the connection sooner. He either needs his modified clothing (thanks Uli) or help getting things on (thanks for nothing Warriors's world with its fancy balls.) He is the definition of "improvise, adapt, overcome." Still a beast on the battlefield. Ba-dum tish.

Warriors—adductor/tremor SD. His vocal cords don't work correctly. He can talk, but it's gotten worse over the years. His voice is quiet and very rough, and shakes almost too much to understand. He prefers signing as his main method of communication. He gets sore throats a lot, and makes a lot of good tea. His laughs are unaffected, and on occasion, he can yell just fine across the battlefield.

Wild—worse burn scars, hypertrophic and contractual. He has spotty hearing on the left, and his shoulder gets stiff a lot. He has a variety of potions and lotions to loosen up and stop the itching that pops up a lot. The shrine did some skin grafts (or whatever the magical equivalent is) and fixed most interior organ issues. The scar is deep but doesn't interfere with those.

EDIT to add—Wild also has atherosclerosis, a heart condition where plaque builds up and heart attacks become a more serious concern. He just needs to stay active and pay attention to his breathing and chest pain. It's not a huge issue, but it could be if he was negligent. The Link he doesn't remember being had more of a difficult time with the condition, and ended up getting heart surgery for it (something like an angioplasty, where they went in to physically unblock the arteries that had gotten buildup.)

Wind—peg leg pirate! Lost his left leg a few inches past the knee to infection. After getting treasure from his adventure, he got a nice, foot-shaped wood and leather prosthetic. It's starting to get a little small.

[vlkphoto]

Ammonite fossil .. [1 / 2] (c/abc)

At the Badlands National Park Visitors Museum, Interior, SD.

Ammonites, similar to the modern nautilus and related to squids and octopi, lived in shallow ancient seas worldwide for hundreds of millions of years. They probably moved by jet propulsion and caught their prey in tentacles. Ammonites became extinct around the same time as the dinosaurs. Some fossils preserve the ammonites' pearly sheen.

[giantimpex]

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[venusandlotus]

Hello! I hope your health gets better and may you have a speedy recovery!💕☺️Thank you for the fs game! Is it ok if I join?

I’m SD♍️

Thank you so much in advance!♥️💕

Thank you dear that means alot

And thanks for participating ✨

🎀your fs characteristics are -

• queen of swords- they maybe very charming with their use of words , they are witty , even while flirting you will notice the way they speak literally makes them 10x charming so in short i will say smbody who either has a charming voice or smbody who literally speaks very charmingly or seductively.

•king of pentacles - they seem financially stable , their home may be very comfortable and luxurious bcoz thats what suddenly popped in my head even if its not that fancy their home will have a very nice interior , its like they are one of those families who keeps their home very well kept and inviting, beautiful house is very prominent here .

•wheel of fortune - idk why but i feel like they have some royal vibes going on its possible that their family is very rich since ancient times or they are some kind of well known family where everyone is rich n thriving , after marrying them your financial status will change drastically

[kerbrobro]

I wish there was good documentation for American capsule machines/gachapon. I would do ANYTHING to find more info about the Super Robot Wars one (possibly a bootleg or extremely unlikely import?) I found in a Winn Dixie in the very early 00's.

The only pieces I still have from it are an SD Mazinkaiser and a Huckebein. I also remember having what I THINK was a Bigro with a removable plastic casing, and a keshi interior.

[zeemczed]

Letterkenny Cold Open - Chicken

WAYNE: So you're on the road with your buddies the other daaaaaaaay.... (Interior: Wayne's truck) SQUIRRELY DAN: That a Wendy's comin' up? DARRY: Fifteen miles off, but yeah. WAYNE: Didn't think you for a Wendy's man, Squirrely Dan. SD: I likes the spicy chickens sandwich. D: Spicy chicken's not bad. W: Tolerable. D: You got something about the spice, Wayne? SD: Maybe too much spice for him. D: Get a case of the Afters? SD: Little heartburn? D: Lotta heartburn? SD: Snot rockets runnin' down the nostrils uncontrollablys? D: Can always get yourself a good Frosty to counteract that. SD: Though the dairy might not be too good for all that. On accounta- W: It's not that. D: Well enlighten us. W: It's just the chicken. (LONG PAUSE) SD: You never had a problems with the old yardbird before. D: I think I'd remember you having a problem with yardbird. SD: Ate twelve plates of Buffalo Wings at MoDean's during the competition. W: Still can't believe Bonnie McMurray won that. SD: Bonnie McMurray... D: Bonnie McMurraaaaay... (PAUSE) SD: Well then what is it? You likes the chickens, so why- W: It's disrespectful. (LONG PAUSE) D: Explain! W: One - they take a perfectly good chicken breast, deep freeze it, bread it with a load of spices and fry it. SD: That's standards practice, yeah. W: Two - they slap it on a bun with mayo, lettuce, and tomahto. D: Okay. (PAUSE) W: Well that's it, innit. SD: The toh-mah-toes? W: And the lettuce. Disrespects the chicken. D: By - what - cutting down on the spice? W: If you're making a spicy chicken sandwich you embrace the spice. Anything besides the bread is disrespectful to the chicken, and I only account for the bread `cause otherwise you get grease all over your hands. SD: Even the mayo? W: Eh, the mayo's just chicken lubricant, I give that a pass long as they don't slop it on heavy. D: You can order it without, y'know. W: But if I do, I'm just encouraging `em to keep up their practice. To keep the standard of lettuce and tomahto on an otherwise serviceable sandwich, to keep making it the exception rather than the rule to have a naked fillet on a bun. (PAUSE) D: Okay. Okay, I get that. But you know the problem with that. W: Enlighten me, Darry. D: If you want a spicy chicken sandwich that - by default - doesn't have all that... you gotta eat at Chic-Fil-A. (LONG PAUSE) W: Well fuck, Wendy's it is, then. (CUT TO WAYNE IN FRONT OF THE BARN) W: A fella's gotta have some standards.

[reversemoon255]

EDM-GA-0XR Gundam Lfrith Rose

I have an aesthetic.

And wouldn’t you know my luck, as I was just about to finish this one, the Lfrith Ur’s pilot died. Quite unfortunate timing on my part. Still, the final product turned out well. Considering it’s a standard MS, and not an SD Gundam, it’s definitely not as lavish as my small troop of similarly colored bots, but I think the colors still work well.

In terms of performance, it has its beam claws, its back mounted Gatling Gun, and its pair of GUND-Bucklers capable of switching between shield and artillery modes. I plan on getting a second Ur so I can mount a second Gatling Gun and third Buckler, but it doesn’t have a ton of weapons in its arsenal. What it does have is a ton of verniers; 21 in total, meaning that even for a bulky bot it has a lot of speed and maneuverability. Simple, but beastly.

The Details: I only used parts from the Lfriths Ur and Thorn to build this one. I originally thought, with how odd Thorn looked, that they were designed to combine, and when I found out they weren’t I decided to take it upon myself to do so. A lot of my initial plans fell through because their parts are surprisingly incompatible, but I did find a few ways to incorporate the Thorn’s parts into the Ur.

I fused their horns together, as well as affixing the Thorn’s shoulder, knee, and rear verniers onto the Ur’s forearms, thighs, and back skirt. I also attached some of the Thorn’s Permet onto the Ur’s chest to increase the amount exposed. I used the Ur’s included subarm to attach its Gatling Gun to its back, and left the Phased Array Cannons free floating.

As for paint, I used mostly black, having many of the white elements from the two kits be painted gold, as well as the raised details on its shields and gun barrel to give them more visual flare. I lined the edges of each vernier with gold for the same reason. I also painted the cameras, forehead, and Permet pink to give it some additional pop.

And lastly, with the GUND-Bucklers, I painted the internal arms and outer shells black, and the inner clam shell gold to have all the shields match. I actually used the included stickers for the interior portions of the internal arms, mostly to prevent the need to repaint oversplash a ton, as I can be a little perfectionist about paint at times. (I’m trying to be better about that.)

Overall, it was a decent, somewhat simple custom, and my first non-SD one in a while. I’m one kit away from building my next big custom, so this was good practice. I’m considering painting a few Gundvölva to accompany the Rose as additional practice, but I only have one on order, so I don’t know if I want to get a ton just for the visual of it having G-Bits.

[mariacallous]

BRATISLAVA—On Sept. 30, many Slovaks went to sleep having presumed that the country would be led by perhaps the most progressive government in its modern history. The next morning, however, they woke up to an alternate universe with a new winner: a scandal-battered political veteran, who, in a number of ways, has risen like a phoenix from the ashes.

This emotional roller coaster was caused by the dramatic inaccuracy of a local exit poll, which predicted a certain victory for Progressive Slovakia, a liberal and urban elite party led by Michal Simecka. It eventually came second to Robert Fico’s Smer-SD, a social democratic party that has over the last several years turned more nationalistic and populist. With all the votes counted, Smer-SD won 42 of the parliament’s 150 seats. Progressive Slovakia secured 32.

Fico, unlike 39-year-old relative newcomer Simecka, has been shaping Slovak politics since the mid-2000s. Having resigned in early 2018—and with a series of electoral defeats for Smer in European, presidential, and parliamentary races, as well as a split within his party in between—he has made a stunning comeback, boosting his party’s support from just 9 percent in January 2021 to almost 23 percent in 2023.

In many ways, his return was paved by the previous anti-corruption coalition, which due to its chaotic style of governance dampened voters’ enthusiasm. In a time of Russian invasion of Ukraine and galloping inflation, Fico—Slovakia’s longest-serving prime minister (2006-2010 and 2012-2018)—could pitch himself as a guarantor of stability and consistent decision-making.

His triumph is all the more impressive as he has done little to distance himself from his past deeds that pushed not only his party but the entire country to perhaps the darkest place it’s been in its modern history. Almost six years ago, he was swept away by a wave of public anger inspired by the massive protests that erupted after the murder of investigative journalist Jan Kuciak and his fiancée, Martina Kusnirova. Now, symbolically, Fico’s close collaborators—Robert Kalinak and Tibor Gaspar, whose behavior as interior minister and police chief, respectively, at the time of Kuciak’s murder was under scrutiny—entered parliament with one of the best results in this election.

This crime—committed on Fico’s watch and ordered by a local millionaire, his former neighbor—shed light on the way he ruled the country. The image of Smer-SD emerged as a hermetic and highly opaque clique that grabbed control of major institutions in the country, including in justice and police, rewarded loyalists by distributing public assets, and was influenced from behind the scenes by shady businessmen (some with ties to organized crime) who operated with impunity.

This is, of course, a recipe that both Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Polish ruling party head Jaroslaw Kaczynski have long been successfully implementing in Hungary and Poland, respectively, on a much larger scale. For instance, Fico never attempted to turn the public broadcaster into a hard-line propaganda mouthpiece or use it to discredit opponents, as his two neighbors have. Nor did he try to create a homogenous nationalist-ideological umbrella for his appetite for power. Nor did he make the West a favorite attack target, being a rather quiet but loyal EU and NATO member. In a nutshell, the main headache for Slovakia under Fico was corruption and clientelism, not authoritarianism.

His attitude toward Russia is also far more complex than Orban’s indiscriminate support. Many international outlets tend to label Fico as “pro-Russian,” but, as usual, they have looked at rhetoric and symbolic gestures. And these rarely match Fico’s deeds. After all, it was he who purchased American weapons, including F-16 fighter aircraft and Black Hawk helicopters, to replace Slovakia’s ageing Soviet-era military equipment. And, although he did not succeed in decreasing the country’s dependence on Russia’s natural gas, oil, and nuclear fuel, it was his governments that introduced far-reaching investments in infrastructure that drastically limited Slovakia’s vulnerability to gas supply disruption.

Also, back in 2014 it was Fico’s Slovakia that, to Russia’s dismay, came to Ukraine’s rescue by opening up reverse flow of gas after Russia annexed Crimea and increased prices for its gas.

For years, Fico has cast himself as an arbitrator between the country’s strong economic rooting in the West and rather pro-Russian public sympathies, which, in political terms, have been utilized mainly by the Slovak National Party (SNS), Fico’s former and now new junior coalition partner. This chaotic group of rather obnoxious individuals, many with far-right views and obscure ties to Russia, has long pushed for halting Ukraine military aid—something that Fico also promised in the campaign to attract radical voters.

Even if he delivers, which is expected, it wouldn’t necessarily mean that Slovakia is turning east, as some warn. It’s still more likely for Fico to continue to play the same game, with the goal of keeping the country close to the EU mainstream (and the flow of money from Brussels) but rhetorically satisfying both the SNS and pro-Russian figures from his own circle, such as Lubos Blaha, Marian Kery, and Juraj Blanar. Back in April, at the meeting with U.S. Ambassador he supported Ukraine’s accession to the EU, while in his first post-election public appearance, he reminded citizens that under his leadership, Slovakia joined the eurozone and Schengen Area, which both could be seen as signs to Brussels that no major turns in the country’s foreign agenda are expected.

Of course, the attempt to take the country into more heavy-handed directions may be too captivating. In many ways, he’s a different man now. The long and toxic campaign has proved that, having had a near-death experience, in both political and human terms (back in 2016, he underwent heart surgery), Fico has become angrier, perhaps more eager to take revenge, and less fussy about the optics of his support base. These were not only older voters from small towns lured by his generous social welfare policy and socially traditional agenda whom he had remobilized that gave him victory, but also anti-vaxxers and other consumers of the far-right playbook.

Still, the hope that Fico will pocket his more radical image from the campaign—despite his personal grudge and a noxious coalition partner—is not based on his good will, but arithmetic. To form a stable government, he needed not only SNS (10 seats), but mainly the Hlas-SD party (27), created by a group of defectors from Smer-SD and led by moderate Peter Pellegrini, who is at odds with some of Smer-SD’s most contentious figures. The three-party coalition now has 79 seats, just three votes above a majority—enough for it to fill major posts and pass laws, but not enough to make constitutional amendments.

This shaky advantage will deny Fico the latitude that both Orban and Kaczynski have enjoyed in their countries. What’s more, relatively collectively ruled Smer-SD is by no means a mass party comparable to Orban’s iron-fisted Fidesz or Kaczynski’s Law and Justice, which both have, year by year, expanded their voter bases so as to depict themselves as the voice of the nation. This year, Smer-SD won with just 681,000 votes. Putting aside the 2020 campaign shaped by Kuciak’s murder, it is the party’s worst result since 2006.

With all these limits in mind, it’s doubtful that Fico will succeed in transforming Slovakia into a Hungary-like single party monolith, at least not in the next four years. What he can do, though, is to attempt to restore his influence over public institutions—especially judicial ones—and among economic actors, verbally antagonize journalists, take control over the narrative provided by the public broadcaster, and further divide and radicalize the society—all of which could serve as solid foundations for more Orbanesque approach in the future.

Whether he succeeds or not will depend on the Slovaks themselves—especially the sensible members of his coalition government and those motivated by the memory of Kuciak and Kusnirova.

[razieltwelve]

No guide to surviving Australia would be complete without the hell birds. The people need to know how to survive the wrath of the emus.

In the dark world that I am constructing, emus (at least some of them) are the good guys.

The arid wasteland of the Australian interior is home to vast, roving mobs of kangaroos that wander from place to place, wiping out entire towns and wreaking havoc as they migrate in search of food. Emus battled against them for a long time, but the vulnerability of their eggs and young put them at a disadvantage.

Eventually, the emus had no choice but to start working with humans. In exchange for the humans watching their eggs and protecting their young, the emus serve as mounts, allowing Australians to traverse the interior, particularly the Dead Zones were technology doesn't work properly.

That said, emus aren't domesticated so much as they are working with humans to avoid extinction at the hands of kangaroos. It takes a special sort of person to ride an emu, and these emu-riding elites are the main way of engaging kangaroos, other than via aerial troops like helicopters and planes. Anything else on the ground just gets run down and overwhelmed.

In this world, the Emu War never happened because the Emu vs Kangaroo War happened instead, and the kangaroos won.

The Special Defence Service (SDS), which is the elite military group tasked specifically with defence against the very worst of Australia's wildlife makes extensive use of emus when traversing the interior. They are the last major cavalry force in the world. Alas, there are areas of the bush that are so dense that emus cannot travel easily through them, which means going on foot.

But, of course, going on foot through the bush leaves people vulnerable. Especially to koalas.

Note: I know that riding a real emu isn't possible and it's cruel to try. But these emus are bigger, stronger, and are basically a more pissed-off version of a chocobo. They're pissed off because they remember when they used to have free run over the Australian interior, and they want as many kangaroos dead as they can, and they see humans as their best bet for doing that.