#it’s almost as long as one piece but it’s a lot more varied due to the different parts so a lot easier to stomach I’d imagine

[greetings-inferiors]

give me manga reccommendations (please)

i think i'm gonna start reading again

i'll start with the classics like tokyo ghoul and black butler and death note because i did already read the first few volumes of them (like 2 yrs ago tho so ill have to reread)

but i want reccommendations :3

Why are you awake at 3am

Anyway my actual recommendations -

Tokyo ghoul and death note are GREAT starting points, two of the best mangas ever written.

The middle of death note does drag a bit, but the ending makes up for it imo. And obviously the first half is some of the best manga ever written. It’s also really short so you may as well, you won’t regret it.

Tokyo ghoul is fantastic, and I really recommend it, ESPECIALLY if you haven’t watched the anime. I wish I read the manga first every day. One of the most beautiful manga I’ve ever read.

I’ve never read black butler but I’ve heard good things.

Now, for my new recommendations (from least to most recommended)

One punch man is gut achingly funny, though I haven’t been keeping up with it

If you get into one piece you won’t run out of entertainment for months, what I’ve read it pretty good and apparently it just keeps getting better.

Spy x family is similarly gut achingly funny, but with a fantastic and gripping plot, especially the newest chapters. It’s one of two mangas I still keep up with for every chapter.

Assassination classroom is hilarious, but heart wrenchingly sad. It’s fantastic. It was my favourite manga for a long time.

And, of course, the big one. Jojo’s bizzare adventure is my favourite manga of all time. It’s one of my favourite pieces of media ever made. There’s genuinely nothing like it. Every part is completely unique, from the martial arts of part 1, to the murder mystery of part 4, to the heists of part 9. I am not kidding when I say that every part is its own genre. It’s also all really good. There’s an argument for all parts to be the best. And the title isn’t lying. In fact, it may be lying by omission. It’s not just bizzare - it’s batshit. In the best possible way. The only problem is that part 1 drags a bit, even though it’s short and imo still really good, so it’s a bit difficult to get into (and you are NOT part skipping, I WILL DISOWN YOU). It’s better than the anime though, so if you’re going to do jojo it’s best to start with the manga (the first three parts are MUCH better as mangas). But once you get to the end of part 1, it’s non stop PEAK. The ending to part 1 is phenomenal. Part 2 has one of the best jojos. Part 3 is a great journey and villain of the week format (along with having the best fight in the entire series). Part 4 is some of the best slice of life I’ve ever read??? Part 5 is basically an anime of the godfather and it’s brilliant. Part 6 is a jailbreak movie, with one of the best endings to anything ever. Part 7 is out of nowhere a literary masterpiece, unironically one of the greatest works of art I’ve ever read (it’s the second highest rated manga of all time for a reason). Part 8 is the pinnacle of Araki as a writer, storyteller, and artist, with a great coming of age (I guess lmao) story. And part 9 is thrilling heists with (imo) the best jojo in the series. The worst part is really fucking good, and the best part is one of the greatest pieces of fiction ever written. I truly cannot recommend it enough. It’s not everyone’s thing - the title is NOT lying, it is weird, at times nonsensical, but never uninteresting. Give it a shot, at least the first 3 parts, they’re not long and if you’re not interested by then you’re not human I think (/j). Once you get to 4 and onwards they keep getting longer, and while they do keep getting better and better, if you’re not into the vibe and stands then you don’t want to read 800 ish chapters more. Oh yeah it is long tbf, the first 3 parts aren’t that long, the next 3 parts are decently sized, then the next 2 alone are longer than a lot of the other manga I’ve recommended lmao. But that’s kinda what happens when you release a manga without any major hiatuses for 30+ years. He only started releasing it monthly in about 2008, so it would be way longer lmao. But the monthly releases are worth it, it instantly gets wayyyyyyy better. You’ll notice it in steel ball run (part 7). And once you’re finished you’ll be able to wait with me for part 9, which has been FANTASTIC so far, and I’m really excited to see more.

The only problem is: how do you read it? Answer: I don’t know. Probably mangadex? Don’t read the official translations, they change almost every name in the series due to copyright (every stand and a lot of characters are named after songs and bands) and it a.) works way less and b.) will make communicating with other jojo fans really difficult. I read the first 8 parts using Jojo’s coloured adventure (though I don’t recommend the coloured manga, the black and white is much better), which was an all in one place fan translation, but I don’t think it exists anymore. I recommend researching which translations are the best and then reading them on mangadex. The thing about it is that the translations I read are only for the newly released chapters I’m pretty sure, so giving you their names wouldn’t help at all. I’ve read a few chapters of phantom blood on mangadex and like… it’s alright. The phrasing is a bit clunky, but overall it’s good.

Some last things: the early parts are a bit sexist at times, the women are still really well written like erina, Lisa Lisa, and suzi q, but the first 3 parts have the odd “beaten by a mere woman!!?” And stuff. But even then there’s a lot of subversions of sexism, like Lisa Lisa being really fucking strong (and even then Araki regrets having not written her as more of a main character). But once you get past part 3 it basically stops. Araki is really progressive with his writing, he wanted part 5 to have a female jojo, but his editors didn’t let him, but once part 6 came around he put his foot down and made half of the cast women (and even then he still was forced to change someone to a man). I’m pretty sure he even said the quote “the fact that readers don’t want the jojo to be a woman is exactly why she needs to be a woman” or something similar. Part 8’s best written character is a woman, and in part 9 we’ve got a weird genderqueer thing (I love dragona but it’s really hard to say whether they’re trans or not lmao. Imo they are, but obviously you shouldn’t assume. At the very least they aren’t out yet. Tho they take hrt. Lmao). Basically what I’m saying is it gets a lot better.

Once you’ve caught up I really recommend the anime! The first 3 parts are a downgrade imo (especially part 3, yikes they completely massacred it. The beginning is great and the last fight is phenomenally done though), but part 4 is an upgrade, especially since they had the hindsight of the villain (Araki originally wanted 3 to be the end, so part 4 didn’t really have a plan for the first half of its story) and could sprinkle him throughout. I haven’t watched 5 or 6 yet, but apparently 5 is fantastic and 6 is really good. But I’d definitely recommend reading it first, and then watching it once you’re obsessed.

If anything you should read the first 6 parts as homework for steel ball run. I love the first 6 parts to death, but 7,8, and 9 are so so so good, and steel ball run is, like, a classic manga. It’s the fucking great gatsby of manga. Or maybe to kill a mockingbird? Idk.

Anyway I’m sorry this is long I really really really like Jojo. Like I said, it’s my favourite manga of all time, and one of my favourite media franchises in general. I could gush about it for hours (and I guess I just did whoops lmao).

Also if you read it you’ll get the jojo references (important)

[minecraftbookshelf]

hello this is an invitation/request to ramble about textile production in rivendell vs the swamp in the arranged marriages au I am very curious about this thank you

Most of this is going under a cut because it is going to get a bit long and rambly and is 100% as much an info-dump as it is a worldbuilding post.

the TLDR is Wool VS Linen

MOSTLY INFO DUMP PORTION

Rivendell:

The majority of Rivendell textiles are wool-based.

They do import some silk from the Overgrown but that is reserved for special occasions and items. Mostly silk threads are used for magical stitching and silk fabric as a center lining for leather and chain armor.

Almost everything else is wool.

Most of their wool comes from sheep but they also have llamas, rabbits, and goats that all are domesticated for this purpose. (Wool as a term refers to any fiber obtained from an animal, even if some of it is technically hair, for textile purposes it is wool)

Most of their export is sheep wool, they have, in fact, increased their sheep herds specifically to accommodate export in the recent decade or so as they open their borders and form alliances beyond the Overgrown.

Wool is an incredibly versatile fiber. It's water resistant and thermal properties make it ideal for the snowy mountain terrain of Rivendell's territory. It can also be made into fabric so fine it is literal gauze. It can be felted it can be knitted it can be woven. Saying Rivendell's textiles are almost 95% wool does not accurately convey how varied those textiles are. Generations of Rivendell elves have spent their ~500 year long lifespans coming up with new things to do with wool.

And its not just from sheep.

Rabbit wool is most commonly used for items like underclothes or baby clothes and blankets.

Llama wool actually comes in two distinct forms, because Llamas have layered coats. Originally they were used as beasts of burden but were also, over the generations, bred for fleece as well. Their rougher outer coats are used more for things like rope and cordage, the inner fleece is similar to rabbit.

Llama is also the least common wool, since it takes about two years for a llama to regrow its coat after shearing and they aren't exactly the most space efficient of livestock. The fleece is one of the luxury exports sold mostly to foreign nobility who want to feel fancy and brag about their "exotic [insert item here]". The outer coat fibers are mostly sold as cordage, which is excellent quality and in high demand in the seafaring nations. (This is also due to elvish craft-magic, more on that later in the worldbuilding-focused section)

Goats are a full range from coarser fibers to fine soft ones. It functions much the same as sheep fiber, just with a lower yield. Goats are primarily used in the outer villages of Rivendell in the highest, sheerest cliffs where they are more suited to the terrain than their moor wool-laden cousins.

The Swamp:

Most Swamp-made textiles are linen.

Mostly made from flax and/or hemp. (Yes, that kind of hemp, go ahead, make the jokes.)

(Hemp grown for fiber is a different variety than hemp grown for more recreational reasons. It has a much lower THC and the plant itself is a lot larger. I'm not saying they don't grow the other kind, and use it medicinally, but it isn't relevant to anything I will be writing. If that's your wheelhouse you are welcome to take this and run with it.)

Linen is a lightweight and absorbent fabric that is ideal for hotter climates so it is very common to see in the Northern kingdoms. It's absorbency does mean it dirties and starts smelling fairly quickly but it is also a very resilient fabric that takes washing well. It also has the default state of "wrinkled" which, to someone accustomed to other types of fabric, does lend itself to looking rather unkempt. (You see where I'm going with this.)

Like wool there is a wide range of fabrics, ranging from the ultra fine and soft to coarser, more Textured pieces. (basically, the underclothes to sail canvas range) both flax and hemp, especially the latter, are also used to make cordage and hemp in particular is often used to make macrame and beaded jewelry, irl and in the Swamp. Fishing nets are also a common product.

Textiles are not a notable export of the Swamp so there is less to say there.

IRL flax linen makes up some of the oldest surviving fabric and clothing samples, dating back thousands of years.

Flax fibers are not elastic, they don't stretch and shrink while worked with and don't have a lot of give. This does make working with it in the process of fabric making somewhat difficult and requiring a lot of skill. The resulting fabric though is incredibly durable so its a trade off.

The Mostly Worldbuilding Portion

This is just going to be a bunch of disorganized bullet points really

A significant portion of the flax used by the Swamp from linen production is grown and harvested in Helianthia and brought to the swamp for manufacture. This is actually the primary threat Mythland represents, (you know, besides rampant destruction and harassment along the border) is interrupting that trade route. They do also grow their own but do not enough for what is needed.

Elvish magic is almost entirely based around fiber arts. Embroidery, knot-work, charms stitched into seams and knitted into the very makeup of a garment. Wool and Gold. (gold-thread embroidery is powerful stuff) A side effect of all of this is that when small Xornoth started setting things on fire and small Scott sneezed frost it was a pretty solid indication that their magic was a bit more directly divinely sourced.

Related, elvish rope is reliable. It doesn't degrade or break or even cut easily. (This is straight from Tolkein but it works too well not to poach)

Elves build things to last, a single elf-made garment can last for several human generations. At least.

Net making/repair in the Swamp is one of those community tasks that a lot of people sit down together and do while socializing. Almost everyone has at least the basic skills required.

Generations worth of irreplaceable historical tapestries were lost when Xornoth burned down the Rivendell palace during their coup and every time the weavers and artisans and historians of the kingdom remember that they come very close to being assassinated.

[batcrooks]

THE BATCROOKS AWARDS 2023

This year, I kept track of every piece of media I consumed for the whole year. I didn't keep track of individual Youtube videos (which I watched hundreds of, they're my main background noise), but I did track every Book, Video Game, TV Show/Web Series, and Movie. Here are my BEST OF 2023 (year of release may vary).

Best Movie: Spider-man: Across the Spider-verse I only actually saw 3 new release movies this year: Spider-verse, Barbie, and The Boy and the Heron. So the competition wasn't very fierce, but I was glad to sneak Heron in there at the end just to make sure (I found it very pretty, but too nonsensical and weirdly paced.) Spider-verse was a little disappointing (toooo long) but it was definitely the funnest new movie I saw this year.

Best TV Show: Silo I saw a couple actual TV shows this year, but for pure fun had watching and theorizing, Silo wins. Is it the actual best TV of the year? Almost definitely not. But these are my awards so it wins. You can't leave the silo!!!!

Best Web Series: Game Changer Season 5 I'm not sure if I can properly justify the category difference between Silo (on Apple+) and Game Changer; both are technically web series. But I watched Silo on a TV, and it just seems more like a TV show. So I have awarded Best Web Series to Game Changer, because I like it just a little more than Make Some Noise. I also watched a lot of Dimension 20 this year for the first time, but they're not 2023. I'm being wishy washy on the category requirements lol.

Best Video Game: Baldur's Gate 3 This game was so good at one point I was playing two saves simultaneously, just for fun. I don't think I can say anything that hasn't been said about it before lol. And it was MULTIPLAYER. Sourdeer and I played this game all the way through TWICE. We finished it the first time and then spent like 4 days trying to find something else to play before deciding we just wanted to play it again, evil-style.

Best Video Game I Didn't Directly Play: The Curse of the Golden Idol A lot of (usually bad) video games I experience through "Cat Plays a Game" and its twin show "Sourdeer Plays a Game"; the hit show streaming exclusively on discord between my friends lol. Sour played this one, technically, although as an asymmetric multiplayer experience it's hard to beat. I want there to be five million games just like this one. I wish I could wipe my memory and do it again. We already devoured the DLC. There's a sequel coming out thank god.

Best Video Game I Played All By My Lonesome: Pentiment I don't tend to play a lot of single-player video games due to lack of time mostly, but this year I managed to play Pentiment, an incredible game that really played well with the weird amount of knowledge I have about the time period and setting of the game from reading The Pillars of the Earth and its sequels. It was completely engrossing and I will probably play it again some day despite its pretty slow pace. I know I can't save everyone. But maybe I can try.

Youtuber of the Year: Jenny Nicholson I rewatched a ton of her videos this year and joined her Patreon so that I could watch the huge backlog of "ramble" videos she has. There are TWO sequels to the Evermore video in there! Hours and hours of entertainment that makes me wish I could experience more weird theme parks.

Best Book(s): The Scholomance series by Naomi Novik The last one came out in September 2022 but this is a "non-reread, new to me" category, not a new release category. Novik's Temeraire series is one of my favorites of all time, and Spinning Silver is also really good, but even still I was wary to start what initially seemed like just a snarkier, edgy magical boarding school series. But the mechanics of the world-building and the characters really won me over quick, and this has ended up being another of my favorite series.

This spreadsheet has the full 2023 list if anyone wants to see/judge me/discuss video games or books: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1X7u2F_9FSvvyys5v006eQg1hIvx0bT3QuLDgy_TJasw/edit?usp=sharing

[chernobog13]

MAJOR MATT MASON - MAN IN SPACE

Major Matt Mason, Mattel’s Man in Space.  This is an original 1966 release, as the straps on his space suit are blue.  All subsequent versions of the figures had black straps.

Mattel took full advantage of young Americans’ fascination with the space program by releasing the Major Matt Mason line of astronaut action figures in 1966.

Sgt. Storm on the Space Sled, a flying jet ski-like personal transport.

There were initially three color-coded 6-inch astronaut figures in the line: Major Matt Mason was in a white space suit, Sgt. Storm was in a red space suit, and Mason’s civilian scientist buddy, Doug Davis, wore a yellow suit.  In 1968 a fourth astronaut, African-American Jeff Long, made the scene in a blue spacesuit.

Long’s addition to the line was a bold move on Mattel’s part, as the astronaut program at NASA during that time was lily white.

Astronaut Jeff Long, who appeared nearly 20 years before Guion Bluford became the first black American to orbit Earth.

The figures were a rubber-like body over a thin wire armature - similar to the Gumby and Pokey toys - with molded plastic heads.  The wire armatures and pliable bodies made the figures extremely posable.

All four astronauts lived and worked on the Moon, which was pretty darn cool.  The coolest thing about the Major and his crew, though, was that - initially, at least - all their equipment was based on actual designs and prototypes developed for the space program.

Doug Davis, first civilian on the Moon.

And boy, was there a LOT of equipment and accessories: a flying Space Sled, a Cat Trac one-man tractor, a moon suit, a Space Crawler that used rotating “legs” instead of wheels, and a whole bunch more up to and included a  multi-storey Space Station play set (although it really was a Moon Base).

The Space Station play set in all its glory.

The Space Station was modular, and you could make it taller or shorter by adding or subtracting pieces of the red pylons.  The idea was for kids to have several Space Stations of varying heights, because Major Matt Mason had a ziipline accessory that enabled him to travel between them.

The Moon Crew in their color-coded spacesuits.

In fact, there were so many gadgets and accessories that, even with mid-1960s prices, I’m sure many parents would have had to take out a second mortgage in order to afford them all.

Doug Davis wearing a specialized back pack while riding his Space Sled.

Unfortunately for me, the only accessory I ever received was the rather prosaic Cat Trac.  It wasn’t as exciting as the Space Sled, or as zippy as the Jet Pack (there were a few different versions), or battery-powered like the Space Crawler.  Nevertheless, I used my imagination to make the most of it.

The Cat Trac: looked cool at first glance, but it was only a hollow piece of molded plastic.  Would’ve scored much higher on the coolness scale if the tracks at least moved.

The Moon Suit, based on an actual prototype developed by Grumman.

The Space Bubble was essentially a rickshaw on the Moon: One man did all the work while another just relaxed in the back.

The Space Crawler, the creme de la creme of the Major Matt Mason transport toys.  This guy crawled along at a pretty decent clip, and due to its “legs” it could cover some rugged terrain.

It wasn’t long, however, before someone at Mattel became bored with the relatively realistic theme of the Major Matt Mason line.  Their solution: introduce science fiction elements to make things more exciting.

Captain Lazer, mysterious alien friend to Major Matt Mason and crew.

The first was the introduction in 1967 of Captain Lazer, who was so different from the rest of the line that there is speculation that he was intended for another line of figures entirely, or acquired from a Japanese company (his helmet reminds me of the Toei tokusatsu hero Captain Ultra, which was airing in Japan at the time).

Captain Lazer was 12 - almost 13 - inches tall, towering over Mason and the other astronauts.  His body was made of hard plastic  The head rotated at the neck, the arms rotated at the shoulders, and the legs rotated at the hips, but that was the extent of his articulation.  He had battery powered glowing red eyes and chest plate, as well as the laser pistol that was attached permanently to his hand.  There were attachments that connected to the pistol to change its appearance.  All in all, he looks like a pulp magazine or Golden Age comic book version of a space hero.

Good guy alien Callisto.

Evil alien Scorpio.

Then there were the aliens Callisto and Scorpio.  These were both in scale with the astronaut figures, and came with various gimmicks and accessories.  Callisto, listed as Mason’s friend from Jupiter, had a rubber and wire armature body.   Scorpio was an evil alien had battery-powered glowing eyes.

A first edition version of the good Major.

The astronauts’ equipment became typical science fiction props, like the Firebolt Space Cannon, assorted hand-held weapons, the Super Power Set (think Ripley’s exosuit cargo loader from Aliens), and the Gamma Ray-Gard (a projectile firing toy).

Major Matt Mason even got his own Big Little Book.  This is the only surviving piece of my MMM collection.

I had a lot of fun with the few Major Matt Mason toys I had, as did everyone I knew who had some.  There were, unfortunately, two major problems with the figures that reduced their enjoyment and playability factors.

First, the wire armatures were extremely thin and broke within a matter of days. The wire would then stick out through the rubber body, poking you in the hand every time you picked the figure up.  Meanwhile, the limb the wire was attached to would flop around uselessly.

Second, the paint on the rubber bodies began to flake off almost immediately, exposing the black base.  I remember finding paint flecks all over my hands and clothes each time I played with the figures.  At a price in 1966 of around $2.37 (approximately $22.00 today), the figures weren’t inexpensive, and I know my folks couldn’t afford to replace them.

Sadly, just as America lost its interest in the space program due to severe problems at home (the Vietnam War, Watergate, the oil crisis, rampant inflation), so did kids lose interest in Major Matt Mason.  Mattel cancelled the line abruptly in 1972 and never looked back.

Nevertheless, the Major and his crew have remained favorites of that generation.  Tom Hanks has been trying to get a Major Matt Mason film made for years.

And the Major was a big hit with NASA.  He reportedly been to space as a crew member on several missions of the space shuttle, including Senator John Glenn’s shuttle mission in 1998.  Heck, I wouldn’t be surprised if you found him somewhere on the International Space Station.

[nyarlathotep-thecrawlingchaos]

Below you will find the character profile for my One Piece OC (one of them, anyway. I have at least five, but I'll be working the most closely with this one for now).

So, here we go. Only been working on this shit for like...three days. Okay, technically over ten years since I used to write her ages ago when I was on fanfiction.net, but I've redone a lot of things.

I'm already in the process of working on a novel-length Mihawk x AFAB!OC fanfic, so here's the overly extensive character sheet for my OC because I always put way too much effort into character development.

The character history practically devolves into a mini fanfic itself around the middle by total accident, but whatever.

The fanfic(s) will toe the line between Live Action and Manga canon. We'll just call it AU and leave it at that.

Karimi Lionne

Associated fanfics: Hearing Problems (coming soon to an Unknowable Horror near you) and Any Way The Wind Blows (eventually, bear with me)

Age: 24

Occupation: Pirate; Mercenary

Abilities:

Kiku Kiku no Mi: A Paramecia type devil fruit that grants the user the ability to hear...well, everything, all the time. Within a certain range she, can hear the thoughts of people around her. The range varies with her focus; standard, it's anyone within a range of about fifty feet in any direction. She can close that circle down to either listen to one person's thoughts, or expand it to search a city or town for a particular person. Activated (which she hasn't yet), it allows the user the ability to plant thoughts in others' heads, and potentially control their thoughts.

She considers the ability more of a curse than a blessing since she has never managed to hone it quite well enough to shut it off entirely, and can often be found sitting at a dock or on a beach with her feet in the salt water, just to get some peace and quiet in her own head.

Blades: Karimi carries a pair of daggers with ornately carved ivory handles, the head of a lioness carved into the top of each hilt, in sheaths at either side of her belt. They belonged to her grandmother, who raised her from age four to age fourteen, and also taught her most of what she knows in combat. She also keeps a handful of throwing knives in a holster belted to her right calf, a couple inches below her knee.

Her fighting style relies primarily on agility, evasion, and accuracy rather than raw strength due to her relatively small stature of 5'2".

Haki: Not a master by any means at all. Learned from Red-Haired Shanks during her brief stint working with his crew, used largely to assist in suppressing her devil fruit abilities and making them more manageable. Not really proficient enough to use it for any other application.

Music: Karimi was taught to play guitar, fiddle, and piano by her grandmother, but she hasn't touched an instrument since her grandmother died, so she doesn't know how much of the ability she has retained. Karimi also learned several sea shanties from her, and often hums or quietly sings them to herself while out to sea.

Appearance:

Faceclaim: Jane Fonda c. 1960s, facial structure, skin and hair edited via Faceapp

Long, dark green hair, in wild curls that she can't do much of anything with except tie back in a bun or stuff under a hat. Sharp emerald green eyes. Fair-skinned with a handful of freckles.

The Resting Bitch Face is strong with this one.

Slender, petite, 5'2" tall.

Tends toward wearing long-sleeved shirts/dresses to cover the scars on her arms. Almost always wears her grandmother's hat, an old and tattered brown leather tricorne with a patch on the front left brim and a few more in the back.

Personality:

Confident, toeing the line of outright arrogance at times. Humor that ranges from dryly sarcastic to quite silly, depending on who she's around. Guarded. Brooding. Cynical. Empathetic. Gentle. Uses sarcasm as a coping mechanism. Not easily offended. Prominent issues with self-harm and PTSD.

Backstory (prior to beginning of fic)

Karimi has next to no knowledge of her origins. She knows her mother died shortly after giving birth to her, that she was born on her father's ship, and that she got her hands on a devil fruit the crew had found and ate it when she was three or four years old, not knowing what it was. Shortly thereafter she was taken to live with her grandmother on a remote island village called Conch Cove, somewhere on the Grand Line.

Her grandmother, Helena Lionne, had been a pirate captain shortly before Gol D. Roger came around and into his earlyyears of piracy, but Karimi didn't know much about her history. Helena was a powerful haki user, and was able to use the power to dampen Karimi's devil fruit abilities, largely for the sake of the girl's own comfort and sanity. Helena trained her to fight in order to defend herself in the event that she ever left the island, as well as survivalist training. She wasn't shy about telling Karimi that the world could be a dangerous place, particularly for a woman on her own, amd wanted to ensure that her granddaughter had everything she needed to safely make her way in the world.

Karimi found out more about her grandmother a week after her fourteenth birthday.

She discovered that her grandmother had been captain of the Siren Pirates. She discovered her grandmother possessed the abilities of the Mizu Mizu no Mi (logia type, water). She discovered that her bounty was in the billions...and still very much active.

The Marine Admiral who showed up to the island, Admiral Jackson "Volcano" Vesper, brought a large crew with him, with no intention of taking Helena alive. His moniker stemmed not only from his explosive temper, but also from his own devil fruit abilities—the predecessor to Fire Fist Ace, he possessed the power of the Mera Mera no Mi (logia type, fire). He also possessed an intense desire for revenge on the woman that had killed his father.

He didn't bother revealing how he managed to track her down—he simply went in guns blazing. The battle between him and Helena, between his crew and what remained of hers, waged for nearly two entire days, leaving several Marines and villagers dead and the town in total ruin. Karimi stayed hidden the entire time as her grandmother had asked her to, but with Helena's haki focused on defending herself and her allies, Karimi could hear everything with her devil fruit abilities.

She could hear the moment when Admiral Vesper's first mate got the drop on her grandmother, pinned her to the ground with the butt of his rifle, which he had coated in a layer of sea stone, instantly sapping her strength and her devil fruit powers.

Karimi could hear Vesper's thoughts, his intentions to humiliate her, kill her, and return to Marineford with her head.

And Karimi emerged from hiding and managed to toss a throwing a knife into the back of his leg.

She was captured almost immediately. Her physical resemblance to her grandmother in the woman's younger years was noted immediately by Vesper, and he knew in that instant that he had won.

And Karimi knew it too, with the man's bowie knife to her throat.

He agreed to let Karimi go in exchange for Helena's life, and Helena gave in without a second thought when she saw the bowie knife start to cut into her granddaughters neck.

He took the remainder of Helena's old crew as prisoners—the only four other villagers on the island left alive, but not before slitting Helena's throat and sawing her head from her neck with his bowie knife, while Karimi was held captive and forced to watch.

Then he and his men left her there on the remote island, in a ruined village with nothing but the corpses of friends and neighbors and the woman who raised her to keep her company.

She doesn't remember much of the following two weeks. She knows she was able to make a spear out of a throwing knife and a shovel handle to catch fish for food in the shallows around the island. That she had a fresh source of water in the form of a pond. She knows she was nearly through building a raft out of the rubble that was left of the town when another marine ship arrived at the island, captained this time by Vice Admiral Garp the Fist. She was understandably beyond wary of Marines, and she fought tooth and nail, kicking and screaming, when they took her back to their ship.

They took her throwing knives and her grandmother's daggers, and she was forced to stay in the brig because she made very clear that she would gladly gut any marine who came near her. She was still treated with kindness and provided full meals given her situation, and as she bided her time and got her strength back she formed a plan of escape.

She was able to use her devil fruit powers effectively in her escape—by listening around and finding the easiest target. This came in the form of a fifteen year old cadet who would check on her and talk to her during his downtime. He thought she was pretty and couldn't believe she had managed to keep herself alive for two and a half weeks after what she had been through, admired her sheer strength of will. It was incredibly easy to sweet-talk him into getting her weapons back to her, playing on his sympathies by telling him that they were all she had left of her grandmother.

She hid them once she had them, and did a little more sweet-talking...until he agreed to steal the keys and get her out of the cell. Once she was out, she wasted no time in knocking him out, stealing his uniform, stuffing her hair under the hat, and discreetly stealing enough rations to last herself a week and slipping away on a dinghy.

She had no idea where she was or how she was going to get anywhere, but she wasn't exactly of sound mind after the trauma she had endured. Her only thoughts at the time were that she wanted to put as much distance between herself and the Marines as possible.

She was picked up by a merchant vessel after a few days, and they took pity on her story and allowed her to remain on board the ship, assisting in cooking and cleaning in exchange for room and board and safe passage to their next stop. They were bound for Loguetown in the East Blue, and that suited her just fine.

Loguetown was a large city right outside the only passage onto the Grand Line, and it gave her plenty of options for work. She worked odd jobs that provided her with room and board, saving up money over the course of the following two years.

She was working in a tavern and staying at the attached inn when the Red-Hair pirates made port in Loguetown, and she knew she had her ticket back onto the seas, with only one goal in mind—to find her father, and tell him what had become of her grandmother.

Her memories of him were too vague for her to give any decent description, but she wasn't telling anyone her reasons anyway. She waited for her shift to end before approaching Shanks himself and asking, confidently, to join his crew.

That got a tremendous laugh out of the crew at large, but only a little bit of a chuckle from Shanks himself.

"And why would a little slip of a thing like yourself want sail around with a bunch of old men?"

"That's not really important." She sat down at the neighboring table at this. "But what I can provide your crew is."

"And what might that be, love?"

"I've trained with daggers and throwing knives since I was four years old. I also possess the abilities of the Kiku Kiku no Mi."

Yasopp, sitting between Shanks and his first mate Benn Beckman with bis feet propped up on the table, snorted at that, grinning. "So what, it improved your hearing?"

Karimi leveled her eyes with his. "Immensely," she daid. She gave a small smile...and began narrating his thoughts out loud. "'The hell is this girl's deal? Does she have any idea who she's even talking to right now? She can't even be much older than my—Wait. What the hell? What the hell is she—'" His feet slipped off the table, his mouth falling open as he registered what was happening. "'Holy shit, is she in my head? Is—'"

"Okay, you made your point, cut it out!" he half-shouted, staring at her in alarm.

No one was laughing anymore—and she knew she had their full attention now.

"That," Shanks said lightly, the amusement gone from his eyes and replaced with caution—but also intrigue, "is a very dangerous ability for someone as young as yourself to possess."

"I've had it since I was four. I've learned to manage it."

That was, of course, only half true—she could deal with it, yes, but she couldn't fully control it.

After a long, silent moment, in which members of his crew exchanged glances and Shanks quietly studied her, he leaned back in his chair, nodding to himself.

"Let's give you a real test," he said, leaning his arm over the back of his chair. "See how well you can put your abilities to use." Karimi lifted her eyebrows, waiting. "I want you to sneak into the Marine base here in Loguetown. Find where they keep the treasure and money they've confiscated from pirates and thieves they've arrested...and walk out with as much as you can carry." He lifted his bottle of rum from the table. "Undetected."

"Have you lost your goddamned mind?" Shanks glanced across the table at Benn when he spoke up.

"That's been gone for years, but go on."

Benn gave a growl of annoyance at his captain. "She's a kid. You're talking about sending a kid into a damned Marine base to steal from them. That's a suicide mission."

"The girl wants a chance to prove herself," he said simply, shrugging a shoulder. He looked back at her. "That's my offer, love. We're setting out no later than noon tomorrow. You bring your haul to the ship, you can come with us."

Karimi nodded, and stood from her chair. "Then I will see you all no later than noon tomorrow."

A few hours later, when the tavern closed for the night and the crew returned to the ship, they were met with the sight of Karimi, wearing a Marine uniform and sitting on a sizable burlap sack right in the middle of the deck. She stood from it and kicked it over, spilling gold bricks, jewels, and piles of Berry notes and coins across the deck.

Sneaking into the base had honestly been a piece of cake—she found a half-drunk Marine a couple years older than her at another tavern, did a little sweet-talking and got him back to her inn room. Suggested some rather kinky activities that would involve him stripping down and being tied to the bed and he jumped on it. Once he was securely tied, she gathered her few belongings, put on his uniform, put a do-not-disturb sign on the door, and slipped out the window.

It had taken longer to find and get into the rooms where they kept any seized contraband, but it had been as simple as keeping her head down and listening. Hiding and ducking down empty halls when she heard anyone drawing too close. The entire ordeal had taken just under three hours.

After a long stretch of silence, it was Benn Beckman that voiced what everyone was thinking.

"Holy shit."

Shanks grinned over at him. "Suicide mission, aye?"

She was officially welcomed aboard the ship at this, as promised, but there was some deal of commotion when she told them her name.

Particularly her surname.

She learned very quickly that both Shanks and his first mate were familiar with her father—and that Benn utterly despised him. To the point that he, however briefly, threatened to throw Karimi off the ship himself against his captain's will if necessary. The brief altercation ended in Benn storming off to the gun deck on his own, leaving Karimi wondering if she had made the right choice of crew.

Shanks was far more personable.

He told her about her father—Lyon D. Rollo.

He described her father as having been like "the annoying little brother he never wanted." Told her about their time spent as deckhands aboard the Oro Jackson. About his devil fruit abilities that had caused absolutely nothing but trouble for years because they were incredibly difficult to master without massive repercussions: the Kaze Kaze no Mi (logia type: wind).

Told her how they met Benn not long after Roger's execution after setting out on their own—Benn and his younger sister, Sedna, who he had looked after on his own since he was around sixteen and she was six, when their parents had been killed by raiding pirates.

Who Karimi's father had apparently fallen inmediately head over heels for. Said he refused to leave town without her, and did exactly as he set out to. Benn had refused to leave her side, and came with them despite his hatred of pirates at the time.

It was a year later that Shanks and her father had gone their separate ways. It had always been the plan, as they were both too stubborn to accept being anything but captains. Once they gathered enough of their own crew members and got their own ships, they parted as friends. Benn stayed with Shanks, and Sedna remained with Lyon.

It wasn't long after that they recieved word that Sedna had been killed during a firefight with the Marines.

"He never mentioned a child," said Shanks, shaking his head and looking at Karimi like he was looking at a ghost as he leaned forward against the railing around the bow. "I imagine he couldn't have been much older than seventeen." He shook his head a little, still in disbelief. "I don't think I need devil fruit abilities to know what you're doing here."

Karimi nodded shortly. "Do you know where—?"

"No, unfortunately."

No one knew where Lyon was—it had been five years since Shanks actually last saw him, and he and his entire crew seemed to have just vanished into thin air around a year ago, despite still holding active bounties.

Karimi didn't tell him anything else, not why she was looking for him—only that she was, and that she had no intention of remaining with the Red Hair crew for the long term. Just long enough to get a bit of money together and purchase her own ship, something small like a sloop that she could handle by herself.

She ended up sailing with the Red Hair Pirates for around two years, give or take few months. Shanks became something of a mentor to her over that period of time, taking time to train her in Busoshoku Haki, the same type of Haki that her grandmother had used to repress Karimi's Devil Fruit abilities, so Karimi could use it herself when she wished to. It wasn't fool-proof, but it at least helped lessen the mental load.

Once on her own, Karimi ultimately began working as a mercenary; taking on jobs with various pirate crews that required stealth or a subtle touch, avoiding Marines as much as possible, and attempting to gather any information she could about her father, but to no avail on the latter front—it really seemed like he and his crew had just vanished into thin air. His bounty was still active, along with those of his first mate and officers, but no one had heard hide nor hair of them in literaly years.

Nothing much changed for her until Karimi took a job from the Buggy Pirates a few years later, at twenty-four years old. Buggy was searching for a map of the Grand Line, and he needed someone to steal it for him, since he and his crew more or less stood out like sore thumbs and couldn't very discreetly sneak into the naval base in Shells Town where it was being kept. She was reluctant to accept—she usually avoided jobs that had anything at all to do with the Marines, but Buggy made an offer she couldn't refuse.

He claimed to have information about her father that he would gladly trade for the map.

She kept her ship anchored next to Buggy's overnight to set to preparing, planning to make way for Shells Town first thing the following morning...but news came down the grapevine that night that the map had been stolen during a break-in by another pirate crew into the Marine base.

In his rage that his plans were foiled after spending months gathering information, Buggy laid the blame on the hired hand—that she had left immediately, she could have beaten the other crew to the base and gotten the map first. He ultimately sunk her sloop, nearly with her on it before she managed to gather her most valuable items and get herself onto Buggy's ship, where he informed her she would be working for him until her debt at failing to get him the map was paid off—now she was going to have to steal it from the pirates that had taken it.

Karimi had little choice but to agree—being a devil fruit user, it would be far too risky for her to steal a dinghy and take her chances with thr open oceans.

They found the crew on a schooner and took them prisoner easily enough, given that there were only three of them. Karimi recognized one of them from a description Shanks had mentioned during her time with the Red Hair Pirates of the boy he had lost his arm to a sea monster saving (a story that she had honestly thought had to be an exaggeration), who claimed to be their captain and insisted he was going to be king of the pirates...while the other two claimed they weren't even a crew.

Whatever the case, Karimi knew they were her ticket out of servitude to the Buggy Pirates, and mutinied against them the second that the odds shifted in favor of Luffy, Zoro, and Nami.

Luffy was more than happy to welcome her aboard their tiny ship, especially on learning that she knew Shanks. She didn't tell them of her devil fruit abilities, still keeping them suppressed with Haki, a mistake she would regret in the next island they made port at due largely to their schooner springing a leak. They lucked out on landing in a town with a shipyard, but none of them really had a Berry to spare between them to actually purchase a new ship—the vast majority of the money that Karimi had saved herself had sunk to the bottom of the ocean with her own ship amd most of her worldly possessions.

On meeting and quickly befriending Usopp at the shipyard and learning the owner of the place was his "best friend," they had something of a plan, if a bit of a ridiculous one—Luffy was convinced that if he just talked to Kaya and explained their situation, she would just give him a ship and they could be off and on their way.

Both Karimi and Zoro recognized the butler Klahador, but couldn't quite put their finger on why. This was Karimi's mistake—she didn't think enough of it to release her haki and just listen in on his thoughts. It wasn't until everything later fell apart in Kaya's mansion that she did release her haki and quickly learn he was Captain Kuro, a cutthroat captain who had been believed dead for years, that he had been poisoning Kaya for years, and that he planned to murder Kaya and take over the estate himself that night.

She also learned while her abilities were active that Nami had every intention of stealing the Grand Line map and taking it to the pirate crew she was serving against her will. By this point Karimi had developed a soft spot for all three members of the Strawhat Crew (even if two of them still claimed not to be a crew), but she decided not to confront Nami about it—yet.

Kaya was more than happy to gift them a ship after they helped defeat Kuro and freed her from his suppression. She offered Karimi one as well, but she declined, stating that she would prefer to purchase one herself once she had the means to do so—but that she would happily return to Syrup Village and purchase one from Kaya's family's shipyard. In truth, she was honestly enjoying her time with the ragtag little crew, and wanted to stick around with them just a bit longer to see how far Luffy's ambitions could take them.

Usopp joined them at this point as the crew's sharpshooter. They were intercepted not far from Syrup Village by a Marine ship, and Karimi recognized Vice Admiral Garp almost immediately—as did Luffy, to her and the others' astonishment on finding our that Garp was his grandfather. Luffy was able to use his devil fruit abilities to deflect a cannonball thrown at their ship by Garp, and damage Garp's ship enough for them to slip away into a dense fog and lose their pursuers.

They happened by pure luck upon the restaurant ship Baratie, where our story begins in earnest, following Luffy's idiocy at trying to pass off a very expensive bill with an I.O.U. and getting stuck washing dishes in the kitchen to pay it off.

Relationships

Helena Lionne (OC): Grandmother, deceased. A powerful pirate captain in her heyday, Helena disappeared from the seas without a word one day and no one really knew where she had gone. Helena raised Karimi from age four to fourteen, when she was tragically murdered by a revenge-crazed marine admiral whose father Helena had killed years earlier when she was still pirating. Karimi looked up to her immensely and loved her to death, and thinking about her still hurts.

Lyon D. Rollo (OC): A active pirate captain on the grand line, though no one has heard hide nor hair of him or his crew (the Hurricane Pirates) in years. She's been trying to find him for the past ten years, to tell him what happened to her grandmother/his mother, since Karimi was the only witness left alive and no one else would be able to tell him exactly what happened. It doesn't help that she last saw him at four years old, and remembers next to nothing about him. He's actually the one who gave her the hat—he took it when he left home at thirteen to become a pirate himself, and left it with her when he took her to her grandmother. (A/N, if and when I ever get to working on Any Way The Wind Blows, it will be about his history.)

Red-Haired Shanks: Working with the Red-Hair pirates for two years led to her becoming fairly close with Shanks. He had known her father over two decades and became quite protective of her as a direct result, with her looking at him almost as a father figure as well as a mentor.

Benn Beckman: The first mate of Red-Haired Shanks, Karimi learned from Shanks that her mother had been Benn's younger sister, Sedna, and that Benn absolutely despised her father and blamed him for his younger sibling's untimely death. As a result, Benn spent a while both wary and untrusting of Karimi and treating her with indifference that bordered on hostility; but he eventually let it go, accepting that she was capable (and, in his own words, "a hell of a lot smarter than Lyon D. Dipshit"),

The Marines: Karimi positively despises Marines, with the sole exception of Garp since has come to recognize that she wouldn't be alive if not for him, though good luck getting her to admit it.

Luffy: For her short spell traveling with Luffy and his "crew," she bonded with Luffy pretty quickly, coming to see him like a goofy little brother. He absolutely reveled in hearing stories about her time on the ocean, especially any that involved her time on Shanks's crew. She's quick to scold him for his naivety and questionable decisions, but it's mostly out of care; his ambition is definitely infectious, and she wants to see him achieve everything he's set out to do.

Nami: As the only other girl on the Going Merry, Karimi did her best to get close to Nami, especially on learning about her tragic situation with the Arlong Pirates via her devil fruit abilities, but Nami makes herself intentionally distant.

Zoro: She butted heads a fair bit with Zoro, largely due to both of them being exceedingly sarcastic, but she doesn't hate him by any means. Quite the contrary, she admires his abilities as a fighter and passes time sparring with him on the deck. They're about evenly matched in fighting ability, as his style relies largely on strength and her own on evasion and agility.

Usopp: Usopp is always quick to pipe in with his own epic stories of his supposed adventures when Karimi mentions any of her own past ventures. Not unlike Luffy, she looks at him almost like a younger sibling, though honestly he annoys her a little more than Luffy.

[that-one-i-think]

FLESHING OUT OC TIME

So this will be about my MCD Oc Forge, more specifically the lore of this version of Tu'la. This will probably be a part 1.

So, the Desert of Havas is where Forge is from, as he is a Piglin. In this universe, piglins are folk that can revert from human form to large beastial boar man form. There is a low population of Piglins due to them being almost wiped out during the battles of the divine.

Piglins were able to recover but unlike werewolf and mei'fwa genes, piglin genes are more recessive so passing it onto your children is low. This has led to Piglins and those who live around them to be incredibly protective of children, for piglin or not, they deserve to live happily.

Piglins are naturally more nomadic as well, with very few ever staying in one place at a time. The royal family will actually move settlements every 5-10 years as to ensure that all of the tribes and villages under their rule are living prosperous. Think how Aphmau would go to a village and improve it, but a lot more long term.

This did sometimes leave the royal family hyperfocused on one area and forget the others, but they always made sure to place the more dire villages next on their list. They were cyclic unless they knew a place was doing worse than the others.

Naturally, being nomadic meant that they were traders, with gold being valued for its symbolism of prosperity. A child in this part of Tu'la is given a piece of gold jewelry once they reach 5 as a wish for prosperity for their lives. It is common to see the villagers more decked out that the Royals, as the royal family had a history of giving their jewelry out to children with the exception of their own 5 year jewelry.

Along with being traders, a lot of the people of this area are craftsmen. With forged and woodworked goods being the most prevalent things traded and sold. A lot of Piglins have increased strength in both forms, so it is very common to see a large pig man caring large beams of wood.

The Havas Desert was full of varied races as well, with humans, mei'fwa, and a few werewolves all calling the desert their home. Though, a lot of the mei'fwa are short haired, with some even being hairless and the werewolves being less wolf like and more jackal and hyena like. Both races are much more slim and scrawny than their Ru'aun and even northern Tu'la counterparts. Fast as f*ck though, and the short haired mei'fwa are slippery.

Another creature that finds its home in the Desert are hoglins, which are essentially treated as work animals, as they can carry a lot of heavy materials and are sometimes used in the transportation of children. (Adults can not ride them comfortably, and hoglins are more likely to buck them off). Though, a lot of the times, hoglins are used to take down buildings that are falling apart as they enjoy destruction.

[understandableparadox]

Bottom of the barrel isekai review

did i say I was going to read something horrible for you? turns out it was horrible for me.

behold a fucking pre-amble. I think the idea of loving and being loved is a concept ambiguous enough for it to be idolized by almost anyone because the ways to love are so varied and different. unconditional, unrequited, toxic, wholesome, forbidden, destined, love has more modifiers then fucking charizard and oops we gotta update that sentence because someone on book tik tok has invented a new type of love known as Squimy love. what does this mean for your children? more at 11.

regardless we yearn for a type of romance or if you are aromantic a form of intimacy in the form of the platonic. in some cases we can form such ties with people we don't see, people that Do not know that you exist.

in worse cases, sometimes the people who don't know we exist want to foster that relationship further for their own benefit. Parasocial love.

im sure you heard it from whatever drama youtuber you have decided to use to funnel useless bits of rage bait into your ears but its a tale as old as creepy guys. streamer is a little to eager to play into the fantasy of the viewers, that they love them, that they thing You, that's right, You dear viewer are special...Then they use that to groom or take advantage of a kid and they don't go to jail and someone writes a long expose piece on them and you want them to get hit by a truck but god rarely allows such lovely Closure...

anyways that defeintly has nothing to do with the work we are unraveling today, right? right???

oh.

oh no....

god, just kill me... ok the premise is simple, the internet has been made by a reincarnated rando who has decided that anything in regards to adventuring and fighting is just not in the cards for him so he has decided to just be a streamer. The only streamer in the world...Well more of a podcaster, given his streams are soley voice. but lets not label spikes being driven into my head.

but hey, thats a intresting concept, the idea that someone has created the true information highway across a world that is fucking Eras to early for it, theres a lot of things that one can explo-

kill me kill me kill me kill me kill me kill me kill me, please, im begging, im pleading, im a fucking deer on the side on the road stareing at you with blank uncomprehending eyes, my comprehension of Big Block Of Metal screaming down the road is null, dont let up on the gas and turn me into a grease smear so I may obtain something resembling an iota of peace of mind

NOT EVERY FUCKING CHARECTER NEEDS TO BE THE STRONGEST, THEY DONT NEED TO HAVE THE MILLION MANA MULTIPLIER, ITS OK TO BE SOMEWHAT WEAK, DID LUFFY POP OUT OF THE BARREL SCREAMING GUM GUM GIGA COCK AND ONE SHOTTING EVERY POOR PRIVATEER AND BUCANNEER THAT SO DARED TO GIVE HIM ANYTHING OTHER THEM WARM PRAISE AND DELIGHTIED WELCOME?! NO, BECAUSE WE ARE ALLOWED TO ENJOY THE FACT THERE ARE STAKES, THAT NOT EVERY SITUATION IS ONE IN WHICH WE ARE IN SOLE COMMAND OF! THAT GIVES IT SPICE.

anyways they wont talk about this for ten additional chapters and then again for the arc finally so i'm going to ignore it and move on.

they also go to a school that accommodates commoners and nobals, but its also the first school that actully does this, which is really intresting as its a mixing of classes and allowing "commoner" students acess to higher education and training for magic for a war with the demon king, meaning is this truly for public betterment or is this a method of ensureing nobel students arent drafted into war due to magic potential by haveing a healthy supply of seemingly more expenda- oh? your bored? you want me to jinkle something in your face? oh i messed up that sentance? You Meant to say jiggle? ok cool

reaching the end of the comic we come to its inevitable Gimmick because one cannot be Fucked to try to make just one gimmick work. thats right, the streamer has developed a collection of accidental parasocial relationships with various well endowed women across the nation, each in astoundingly have posistions of power or in some way highly skilled.

Each woman dispite not knowing who the streamer is, never seeing his face are thusly so infatuated by the mere sound of his voice and the kind words he mutters that they have their brain matter utterly rewired, becomeing true devouts for their favorite streamer...

Rinse and repeat for 20 plus chapters and you get Shitty Ecchi Slop delivered out to be consumed en masse because men cannot hope to penetrate the core of male lonliness without true introspection which in turn is stymied by a hunered or so other dude bros who loathe the word and offer a far easier view in which to dye the world. thus they seak idea of being coveted by someone in mangas in increaseingly more convluted power fantasies...

IS WHAT I WANT TO END THIS ON BUT IT GETS WERIDER, DISPITE BEING SLOB THE AUTHOR IS BASED ON TWO AREAS IN PARTICULER,

HOLY SHITBALLS BATMAN, IS THAT AN ISEKAI CHARECTER THAT ISNT IMMEDITLY BUM RUSHING THE FUCKING SLAVE MAKRKET OR GIVING IT A TUT TUT?! IS THAT A HUMAN BEING WITH ACTUAL FUCKING EMPATHY?!

OH MY FUCKING GOD IN HEAVEN I DIDNT KNOW THOSE EXISTED, NOW AINT THAT THE SHINIEST FUCKING PENNY IN THE BUNCH, BUT OH PLEASE DO SAVE ROOM FOR DESERT BECAUSE IN THE SAME FUCKING CHAPTER

THEY BRING THE ABOLTION OF SLAVERY, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN PARASOCIAL RELATIONSHIPS WORK FASTER THEN ABRAHAM LINCON AND HIS INDESCIVE BEARED ASS.

IMAGINE MY FUCKING SHOCK AND AWE, HEARING THE TERM SLAVE AND BEING AWASHED WITH THE TRUAMA OF WATCHING SO MANY BLACK HAIRED SAD EYED ANIME PRETTY BOYS EITHER DECIDEING TO BUY A SLAVE WHO ALSO JUST HAPPENS TO BE THE FUCKING POSTER CHILD FOR STOCKHOLM SYNDROM OR JUST SAYING "THAT SUCKS" AND LEAVEING IT BE, READY FOR THE INEVITABLE KNIFE IN THE HEART AND THEN BOOM, STREAMER SAYS SLAVERY IS BAD AND THEY GET RID OF IT, MAYBE I DO BELIVE IN THE POWER OF THE STREAMER.

DID YOU FILL UP ON SWEET SWEET ANTI FANTASY SLAVERY COOKIES?1 YOU GOD DAMN IDIOT, YOU SHOULD HAVE SAVED ROOM FOR "GUY WITH NORMAL OPINIONS ABOUT SEX WORK"

I AM A CONVERT, I AM A DEVOUT, HAND TO THE HEAVENS I SHALL ESPOUSE THE VIRTUES AND DIVINITY OF THE STREAMER, WITH A WAVE OF THEIR VIRTUAL HAND SOCIETAL PROPLEM LOSE FLIGHT AND FALL TO THE EMBRACE OF THE COLD GRAVE, I JUST NEED A CHAPTER WHERE STREAMER SAYS TRANS RIGHTS AND I PROMISE I WILL NEVER EVER TALK SHIT ABOUT THIS SERIES AGAIN, PLEASE MR. STREAMER, JUST SAY TRANS RIGHTS ONE TIME, JUST ONE SINGULER TIME AND I CAN ASCEND THE RUNGS OF PEACE AND JOY.

turning down the notches this manga is funny in the fact that it pulls me back and fourth with wild abandon between utter and complete slop and genuinly funny bits and abnormally normal opinions for the genra.

"Is the underlying story, barring any other concept, good?" 

there really isnt a story, its just streamer talking and women going batshit insane.

"on a sliding scale of min to max, how much is the author using this to explore fetish" 

medium. the story has an obsession with the idea of yandere but it rarely goes into the idea of a stalker. the women are respectfull of his boundries barring one but that one is called the odd one out. aside from that, alot of scenes are just an ecuse to draw anime tits.

"How many story crutches does the author use to explore the story" 

it dosent need crutches because it has little to no intrest in telling a coherent story, it talks about what it wants and drops the rest.

 "Is the author attempting to use the story as a way to explain why he is not weird."

streamers can solve all of socitial ills as long as the women who they create parasocial relationships in are in posistions of high political power. .

[chocochipbiscuit]

Fanfic Author Self-Recs!

@ziskandra tagged me to rec five of my own fanfics, and I am utterly delighted! Thank you, friendo!

I’m tagging @meikuree, @deacons-wig, @anneapocalypse, @fireferns and @bittylildragon if you are so inclined!

Fallout is my first fandom and will forever have a piece of my heart, but Dragon Age has made a good showing as well. Mostly due to exchanges. :D I find that I don’t really have a huge monofandom intensity anymore (....or maybe just not for now? *awkward laugh*) so I’m going to fan my interests like a peacock’s tail!

1) The Knit of Flesh and Bone (Cait/Curie) - Fallout 4 - This is top of my mind lately because I was fortunate enough to get some very nice comments about it! It’s very much a love letter for Cait and what I think her companion quest should have been, as well as exploring Cait and Curie’s dynamics as friends and lovers. Plus reading it again reminds me of how much I’ve consciously shifted my style over time; trying to vary word patterns and cadence, as well as balance between lyricism and something that felt authentic and true to the characters.

I’m a softie at heart; I crave romance and happy endings, but don’t often enjoy fluff because I want the characters to have some hurt first, to balance out the promised sweetness. It's healing and optimistic and about recovering from trauma and finding the trust to build new relationships.

2) breath (and all the ways of holding) (Leliana/Morrigan) - Dragon Age - This is one of my faves because not only did I get to write one of my very first Dragon Age ships, but it was also the first fic that I had the pleasure of being thoroughly critiqued by @fireferns!!! It was daunting and terrifying and at some point I will screw up my courage to ask for another beta, I’m sure! ;)

It’s also one of the few fics I can remember exactly where I was, when I was writing the first draft: sick in bed from a nasty flu, right after moving with my partner at the time. I called sick from work for a week, was feverish and sweating in bed but unable to sleep during the middle of the day, and scribbling in a battered notebook in paragraphs at a time. It was incredibly disjointed, moving more on ~vibes~ and images as they came to me, and it wasn’t until after I recovered and starting typing it out (and basically reshuffling a lot of the scenes) that I really got the structure down. Writing that first draft was weird and dreamy and disconnected, almost like another person wrote it; revisions, on the other hand, were completely and 100% my own, especially with @fireferns offering sharp feedback that made me question a lot of my narrative and stylistic choices and pushing me to grow as a writer. Without her, it would have been twice as long and half as good. <3

One of the things I love about the Leliana/Morrigan dynamic is their entanglement; they are hardly friends in Origins, but by Inquisition they’ve had three games (ten years) worth of history between them, and have both shifted and grown over that time. Leliana is much more sweetly deceptive in Origins than she first lets on, and Morrigan is much more raw and inexperienced than she likes to admit, and part of their journey is learning where they hold similarities. They’re one of each other’s few constants in a world that’s constantly changing.

3) never gonna say I’m sorry (Amara/Tyreen) - Borderlands 3 - This was my first foray into writing villain fic!!! Tyreen is an unrepentant gremlin and it’s not intended as a redemption arc, but I wanted to write something where Tyreen could join the Raiders, smooch Amara, and stay somewhat in-character to the game. I love women, both heroes and villains, and I love the inherent tension of an enemies to lovers arc.

Plus I love a story that explicitly points out that death (or martyrdom) is not the same as redemption, and that it can be harder to make amends and live with the consequences of your actions. The two different endings (one where Tyreen kills Troy, one where she spares him) are really about Tyreen making different choices in her emotional journey. I originally conceived of it ending with her killing Troy, then utterly disappointed that killing him didn’t give her immediate catharsis or any kind of emotional revelation. It was meant to show that despite the fact she had been offered a second chance, she wasn’t ready to offer that same second chance to someone else.

But then talking with @bittylildragon about how Troy could just as easily have been the hero of this fic (if Tyreen had abandoned him instead, then Troy could have had a similar growth arc) made me think about if Troy didn’t die, if Tyreen decided to spare him and show that yes, she’s trying to become a better person…and is still disappointed that there’s no emotional closure, that she doesn’t actually feel like a good person and he still flinches away from her when she reaches out.

Still. After much thought (and keeping in mind that I’m a softie who wants happy endings for everyone), I have decided that I actually prefer the ending where Tyreen spares Troy. They’re still utterly dysfunctional, but at least they have a chance at fixing things between them.

4) soap, spit, and sweetness (Avad/Erend) - Horizon Zero Dawn - This was an extremely simple outline (5+1 things!) but I am very proud of it because I love this tiny rarepair and also it was really fun to try and write through Erend’s POV, balancing between lyricism (and just how ~pretty~ or poetic I want things to sound) and his own way of viewing the world. This meant doing some minor worldbuilding and looking at metaphors or similes rooted in smithing and metalwork, like so many of their figures of speech.

I am also realizing that this is my only non-F/F fic rec on the list, so take it as you will. :’)

5) Fireflies (Maru/Penny) - Stardew Valley - This is a tender and achey and meant to wrap people up in a warm bubblebath of feels, just the way the game itself makes me feel. I realize that the game itself is pretty limited when it comes to showing the history and friendships between the townspeople, but…Maru and Penny are canonically friends! And I love a good friends to lovers arc!

I adore this ship and love the fanon of Penny being trans, so it made sense to write Penny as being trans. @bittylildragon was an incredible help, both by being an amazing beta (catching my garbled sentences and maladroit phrases!) and with pushing me to consider Penny being trans with more than a ‘yes, Penny is trans’ disclaimer and a few references. I didn’t want to write too much about experiences that weren’t really mine to write about, but in doing so, it also created a different type of erasure, one that was bland and inauthentic.

I love women, and that includes trans women. So I want to get better at writing trans women. This isn’t the first fic I’ve written with a trans female character, and it won’t be the last. So I need to keep getting better.

If you’ve read this far: hopefully some of my rambling was interesting!

[lionofthealliance]

BALDUR'S GATE III VERSE

I'm thinking… to preserve as much about Varian as possible—because there are certain aspects of him that you just can't take away without him suddenly not being him—I'm going to kind of merge things a bit. Please bear with me as Baldur's Gate III has been my first real venture into dnd and so I am having to piece together a whole lot of lore and whatnot as I go and might get things wrong. I am always happy for any and all constructive criticism so that I can better hone this verse. Baseline now, based on what I have found and think I understand, I may say that, in his BG3 verse, Stormwind is another little kingdom along the Sword Coast—basically a city-state—that's located somewhere along the Coast between Neverwinter and Waterdeep.

Proximity to the spill over from the fighting in the Sword Mountains between goblins and trolls, has seen it besieged by those two factions, as well as all others at varying times due to its small size. It has fallen to those forces more than once [ including when Varian was a child ], and so has never really had time to flourish in the way that Waterdeep or Baldur's Gate have done. The constant upheaval and danger has kept it from becoming strong tourist or trade locations either, despite its place on the Coast and boasting some of the best architecture and stone masons along the Coast. Varian was raised primarily in a Waterdeep [ link leads to map ] by wizards who had been friends of his father Llane and who had helped him to escape in the hopes that he one day would be able to retake his kingdom. Before he was even fully into adulthood, Varian did just that, reclaiming his kingdom and the crown that was his birthright and leading those who had escaped it back to their homes. The process of rebuilding began—Varian married and soon had a child—but the joy of being returned to a home lost did not forever stave off the previous unrest, not in the least helped by an advisor of the king who was scheming for power. The stone masons were cheated in underhanded dealings unknown to Varian though orchestrated by his advisor. Rioting began and, in the course of it, his wife was killed. His spirit broken by the grief, Varian was easy prey for the machinations of his advisor—a fiend in disguise. Tricked into a contract, Varian's soul was split in two, one half manifested in the form of the mild-mannered and absent-minded puppet king she required to gain the power she wanted over the kingdom and the other in the body of a fierce and strong warrior, who she sold to a drow in the Underdark. [ After all, where would one be the least likely to accidentally see the King of Stormwind? With any luck, amidst the warring drow, he would be dead ere long. ] What the fiend had not counted on was Varian befriending another, a half-drow who quietly helped him, first to survive… and eventually, when the time came, to escape. Through an unfortunate but necessary series of events, Varian's young son, Anduin, realized what had happened and set out to right it, landing himself in grave peril—and inadvertently drawing the attention of both halves to his father's soul. In the events that followed, Anduin seized his father's contract and destroyed it, which saw the two halves reunited… but not quite the same as he once had been. Because of the nature in which they were reunited, the two halves continued to be independent and at war with each other within Varian's mind. This led to more than a few conflicts—that almost drove away allies and son alike—until Varian managed to establish balance within himself… not in small part due to the help of an ancient entity of nature who had chosen him as its champion. Varian has fought in many more battles since to protect all that he holds dear, but he was on a diplomatic trip to Waterdeep when the Illithid vessel darkened the skies. Never one to cower from danger, even in the face of insurmountable odds, the King of Stormwind took up his lighter armor and launched into action, directing people out of the ship's path and to safety… only to be taken himself. He wakes on the ship to yet another presence within his mind, though this one far less friendly than ancient entity or even fiend. Having already been an unwilling puppet once before, he has no intention to be so again. He is determined to find a way to stop this and to save all those other souls in peril—whatever it takes.

All of this is subject to change—whatever adjustments need be made to make it fit the best—but, for what I know now, I think that will be the best way to adapt Varian into the world.

His stat sheet:

And a few screencaps that I love. 😂

This last one is so perfect if you know anything about Varian's source material lore. 😂

And later additions:

The number of nature and history checks this man has passed, PARTICULARLY about the Underdark has left me cackling and is the reason that I realized he had been sold to the drow.

[elskamo]

TD Brain Dump

Nowen Headcanons

- Owen loves all reality shows including GBBO, although they can't compete he and Noah watch it every year and Noah orders fancy snacks for them to eat while they watch. - Although Owen loves going to parties with the rest of the TD cast he knows they burn Noah out so he always makes sure there's a box of Noah's favourite tea and a new book waiting for him when they get back home so Noah can wind down the way he enjoys. - They double date with other cast members with varying levels of success: dates with Geoff and Brody end in chaos although Owen always has fun Noah ends up outnumbered, Duncan and Noah are still pretty snarky with each other and Alejandro is still warming up to Owen but Aleduncan double dates work pretty well, Owen and Duncan can be goofy together while Alejandro and Noah chat over coffee, they don't talk about the one double date they went on with Courtney and Heather.

A Midsummer Night's Dream AU

- Adding to my original post to have the TD boyband whose name I can't remember in place of the players. They're having a bad band rehearsal where nothing's going right and Harold claiming he could easily take on all the roles in the band because of his mad skills isn't helping. The band temporarily splits and Harold ends up with Bottom's plot from the original play. At the end of the story the band gets back together for their performance which the main characters watch after they finally return home. - Originally only had Bridgette as the fairy queen and Katie and Sadie sharing the role of Puck in my outline but decided that Geoff as the fairy king is a good shout. He and Bridgette are having relationship problems and fighting over how Geoff is too lax with their kids which makes Bridgette seem like a strict mom. Katie and Sadie can't agree on how to resolve this relationship dilemma either and make Bridgette fall for Harold by mistake while they're still arguing about what they did with the main group.

High School Comic AU

- Duncan acts as Brick's mentor in the second year of high school... he's not good at it XD but Brick is able to make it through his Freshman year without too many issues. Alejandro and Duncan ship Jo/Brick almost immediately after seeing the two interact for the first time and Duncan gives various pieces of bad advice in regards to befriending her. Duncan also exclusively refers to Dawn as Gelfling after meeting her, mainly because Ron finally watched The Dark Crystal and has added it to Duncan's interests XD - Duncan and Heather's bedrooms reflect their journeys throughout the comic. Both are still quite childish to begin with so their rooms have a lot of stuffed toys and bright colours etc., their rooms look a lot darker and barren after they’ve been at high school a little while and attempt to lean into the whole grownup/hardass aesthetic, towards the end of high school their rooms finally incorporate the best of both worlds where they more accurately reflect how they’ve grown up but still show off their personalities. Heather's also incorporates lots of orange and pink tones to match the lesbian flag.

Drag Race Artwork and Potential Story/Drabbles

- Duncan’s first time attempting drag involved reusing Courtney’s blonde wig and princess dress with very basic makeup. As he grows more confident with his drag persona and making his own outfits, his looks incorporate lots of fairy tale and fantasy elements. He brings Lindsay on board as his makeup artist as he still struggles to do more than nails and eyeliner. Courtney is unamused to be branded his drag mother, instead taking on more of a managerial role and helping Duncan to secure gigs.- Alejandro’s experimented with more androgynous and feminine looks for as long as he can remember. He gets mistaken as solely a fashion queen at first glance due to how highly polished his outfits, hair, and makeup are, but he equally has the acting and dancing talent to match. Heather assists Alejandro with his brand and social media image, ensuring he always looks perfect and runway ready.

[swangtup6]

Album Review: Wintermoon - The Mightiest Stand Above (1995)

Wintermoon, from Finland, is a personal favorite band of mine. I found them through their 1995 rehearsal/demo and discovered this release shortly after. They have a lovely take on the genre, and honestly don't get their praises sung enough, likely due to the other finnish bands that were popping off with full-lengths while these guys only ever released demos. Whatever the reason, I've never heard anyone talk about this band online or IRL so id consider them to be a bit of a hidden gem. How great is this underrated demo? Let's discuss.

The tape kicks off with a nice synth intro. I really like the intro actually, because it sets the tone for the demo, is pleasant to listen to, and doesn't take up a shit ton of time (it's only like a minute long). Overall, good start.

Then kicks in the first real song, and if it isn't fucking great idk what it is. It goes hard from the first riff. Wintermoon have a dope combination of black metal and dungeon synth that I really enjoy, so most of the riffing on this is layered with pleasant melodic synths that contrast well with the raw and distorted guitar and drums, somewhat in the realm of late-90s Grausamkeit (especially when it picks up the pace) but a bit cleaner recording-wise. I like this track a lot, it has a hazy, somewhat ethereal sound to it while still having the cold black metal vibe. It's also pretty hook-y, but in a kvlt way, with some catchy synth melodies weaving their way through the distorted mix. This is a very well-composed song, with multiple distinct movements that vary quite a bit but don't sound disjointed.

The 2nd real song, and 3rd overall track, is a little more guitar-heavy, with some almost shoegaze-y staticky riffing taking the forefront and the synths more in the background providing higher pitched melodies. This track also reminds me of Grausamkeit but also of Burzum, what with its slow/medium pace for the main part of the song. the first track is definitely the "flagship" here but this one is also fantastic, and has some beautiful playing, especially from the drummer and keyboardist, as well as during the guitar solo.

The tape ends with another more dungeon synth-y track. This one is a bit longer than the first, but isn't quite as good in my mind. Still a competent piece!

Overall, if you like BSoD, this is a fantastic release. It's very much in that same realm of pseudo-symphonic, dungeon synth tinged black metal as found in most Grausamkeit releases from 1997-2000, but with a slower and more ethereal take. It's much more relaxed as well, I wouldn't call this an aggressive or even particularly high energy release at all, it's very beautiful to listen to, and despite its pretty raw sound (it is a mid-90s black metal demo after all) it's pretty relaxing and accessible. I would highly recommend this to those who are already fans of black metal, but I don't think it would be a great introduction to the genre due to its pretty unconventional sound.

8/10

Standout track: Night so Cryptic is All Mine

[woodworkstimberflooring]

SOLID TIMBER FLOORING

SolidTimber Floorboards as Your Timber Flooring Option

Timber flooring comes in two main types- Solid timber and engineered timber.

Solid wood flooring is a fantastic choice for practically any room. A solid timber floor is a simple way to add character to your house thanks to its lovely finish and timeless appeal. Timber Flooring Installation You are about to completely personalize the look and feel of your floor thanks to the variety of wood kinds and finishes available.

What Is Solid Timber Flooring?

The name of the product is the main distinction between solid wood and its artificial version. It is sturdy!  Solid wooden flooring, in contrast to other types of flooring, has floorboards made of solid wood. These Timber Flooring Installation are one whole piece of wood, not a mix. Solid timber is a distinguishing feature to any discriminating eye and is typically found in older, more traditional, and heritage-listed locations. The wood is gathered, dried, and then cut to size for the intended use as part of the timber production process. You may select the type of wood you use because real, solid wood allows you to do so. Making local material sourcing an effective choice if you want to use a more sustainable production process.

The Quality of The Timber Matters

The appearance and toughness of your floor will be significantly influenced by the type of wood you choose. Various kinds of wood have varied moisture tolerance levels and respond Timber Flooring Installation differently to processing. The cost of the various types of timber will also change based on how simple it is to find them.

Common wood options include:

Spotted Gum: This common option has a tanned appearance and provides your floor an overall medium brown tone.

Blackbutt: Its coarser grain, which comes in shades of pink, white, and yellow, makes a durable option for flooring. It is also a sustainable option due to its quick rate of renewal.

Jarrah: The outback environments from which this timber is produced are recalled by the medium grain and the solid, rich brown colour.

Ironbark Red

Tasmanian oak: This wood, which is from Tasmania, has a distinctively lighter appearance. displaying a highly consistent grain and a beige, pinkish tone.

Bluegum: This Australian wood has a more conventional appearance and a light brown tone with a relatively consistent texture.

European Oak: This wood offers a subtle refinement to any space thanks to its straight grain pattern and softer tones.

Real wood flooring are a long-term investment for your house. Even though they could appear like a more expensive investment, it's crucial to consider their durability while making a purchase. A sturdy wood floor can last more than a century!

Maintenance

Solid wood flooring don't need a lot of upkeep on a daily basis. On a polished floor, simple, frequent cleaning Timber Flooring Installation methods should be adequate. Always use a modest amount of an appropriate cleaning agent on a mop that is largely dry. You want to dry your floor as soon as you can. Whatever fans or climate control devices you have might be helpful for this, especially during the colder months. Always sweep or vacuum up any extra dirt and grime before beginning.

It's crucial to ensure that any spilled liquids are cleaned up right away if they come into contact with the wood. Timber Flooring Installation Problems may develop if these minor mishaps are allowed to penetrate the wood.

Sanding

A solid wood floor has many advantages, including the ability to be repeatedly sanded to restore its smooth original sheen. The depth of the sanding and the person doing it will determine the precise amount. Using a professional for this process is always advised. Timber Flooring Installation  A solid timber floor typically requires sanding every 4-5 years, which is almost twice as often as engineered timber. Your floor will last as long as you do with proper upkeep!

Woodworks Timber Flooring Offers Sturdy Timber Flooring

The staff at Woodworks Timber Flooring is committed to giving you the best outcome. Contact us at contact@woodworkstimberflooring.com.au or by phone at 0401-444-258 if you're interested in a solid timber floor.

We are proud of the work we do. After the timber has been installed, your new floor will be meticulously sanded and polished. Leaving it with the renowned warm, natural light of solid wood.

www.woodworkstimberflooring.com.au

[stylusaus]

Micro-Learning – The Icing on the Cake | Elearning course development company

Are you tired of loading lengthy modules that you need to complete for your appraisals or studies?  Are you used to seeing the unwelcome blank screen in place of your prized module due to poor network coverage and the sheer size of the files? Then fret not, micro-learning is the perfect fix for you. A lot of elearning companies in Mumbai are now moving towards micro-learning.

So what is micro-learning? How is it different from e-learning?

Micro-learning are the same e-learning modules further broken down to smaller modules. SO while an e-learning module is usually between 30 minutes to a few hours in length, micro-learning modules are 10- 15 minute modules in length. They are literally tiny bursts of e-learning modules J

Is Micro-Learning Effective?

Let’s try to understand this through a real-life example.

While eating food, do you gulp large portions of food or do you chew it into granular pieces to swallow it? Definitely the second one. Well, micro-learning is just that. It’s about breaking down the learning into multiple small related modules instead of one large chunk of information. That’s definitely more effective as it helps you to grasp information one-at-a-time and thus retain it for longer duration.

Importance of Micro-Learning

With the development in standard of living, individuals are now open to travel long distances for better job opportunities. A major part of a white collar job involves commuting to distant locations for work. While network connectivity is not at its best while traveling, micro-learning files can be easily loaded with minimal Internet network. These are an ideal fit for learning using the smartphone. Most of the e learning companies in India and abroad are now forced to consider micro-learning keeping in mind this need and lifestyle of Gen Z.

Keeping this in mind let us acquaint ourselves with some major benefits of micro-learning:

Bite­-size learning / non-bulky – According to scientific research our brain is more suitable at absorbing small fragments of information in comparison to larger chunks of data. Our younger self is well acquainted with this situation – remember those boring half an hour long lectures at school? Micro-learning true to its name aims to feed us with lesser information over a period of time which can be perceived and retained much better. Most of the e learning companies in Mumbai second this fact based on feedback received for micro-learning courses developed and deployed.

Mobile friendly content – This is one of its most significant benefits, which can almost be credited as the reason behind this form of learning being in vogue. Nowadays, we do almost everything on our mobiles, especially study and read. So a yay for the small sized, easily loadable module available in your pocket? Yes, of course!

Encouraging learner engagement and better retention of concepts – Micro-learning doesn’t leave space for beating around the bush as far as providing knowledge on a topic is concerned. Crisp, correct information, which the learner is able to use and retain is the end goal here.

Quick development and quicker deployment – Duration of the modules vary anywhere between 60 seconds to 15 minutes therefore requiring a shorter development cycle. An added benefit of this is a quicker deployment cycle with the material being substantially smaller in size.

Easier accessibility – The content can easily be shared as podcasts as well as on online posts. The end users can access them across different platforms and devices.

Ease in updating – Company policies and processes change, education syllabus change, areas of training change. Thus, it is obvious that elearning content or micro-learning content will have to be updated frequently. Micro-learning modules have an upper hand over e-learning modules with the latter being expensive and time consuming to update. Since these are smaller chunks of data, it’s easy to keep them updated.

Considering the new lifestyle, it can safely be said that micro-learning is the need of the hour. Thus, elearning development in Mumbai is going through changes and adapting to micro-learning. Join us, embrace the change!

[stylususa]

Micro-Learning – The Icing on the Cake | Online course development

Are you tired of loading lengthy modules that you need to complete for your appraisals or studies?  Are you used to seeing the unwelcome blank screen in place of your prized module due to poor network coverage and the sheer size of the files? Then fret not, micro-learning is the perfect fix for you. A lot of elearning companies in Mumbai are now moving towards micro-learning.

So what is micro-learning? How is it different from e-learning?

Micro-learning are the same e-learning modules further broken down to smaller modules. SO while an e-learning module is usually between 30 minutes to a few hours in length, micro-learning modules are 10- 15 minute modules in length. They are literally tiny bursts of e-learning modules J

Is Micro-Learning Effective?

Let’s try to understand this through a real-life example.

While eating food, do you gulp large portions of food or do you chew it into granular pieces to swallow it? Definitely the second one. Well, micro-learning is just that. It’s about breaking down the learning into multiple small related modules instead of one large chunk of information. That’s definitely more effective as it helps you to grasp information one-at-a-time and thus retain it for longer duration.

Importance of Micro-Learning

With the development in standard of living, individuals are now open to travel long distances for better job opportunities. A major part of a white collar job involves commuting to distant locations for work. While network connectivity is not at its best while traveling, micro-learning files can be easily loaded with minimal Internet network. These are an ideal fit for learning using the smartphone. Most of the e learning companies in India and abroad are now forced to consider micro-learning keeping in mind this need and lifestyle of Gen Z.

Keeping this in mind let us acquaint ourselves with some major benefits of micro-learning:

Bite­-size learning / non-bulky – According to scientific research our brain is more suitable at absorbing small fragments of information in comparison to larger chunks of data. Our younger self is well acquainted with this situation – remember those boring half an hour long lectures at school? Micro-learning true to its name aims to feed us with lesser information over a period of time which can be perceived and retained much better. Most of the e learning companies in Mumbai second this fact based on feedback received for micro-learning courses developed and deployed.

Mobile friendly content – This is one of its most significant benefits, which can almost be credited as the reason behind this form of learning being in vogue. Nowadays, we do almost everything on our mobiles, especially study and read. So a yay for the small sized, easily loadable module available in your pocket? Yes, of course!

Encouraging learner engagement and better retention of concepts – Micro-learning doesn’t leave space for beating around the bush as far as providing knowledge on a topic is concerned. Crisp, correct information, which the learner is able to use and retain is the end goal here.

Quick development and quicker deployment – Duration of the modules vary anywhere between 60 seconds to 15 minutes therefore requiring a shorter development cycle. An added benefit of this is a quicker deployment cycle with the material being substantially smaller in size.

Easier accessibility – The content can easily be shared as podcasts as well as on online posts. The end users can access them across different platforms and devices.

Ease in updating – Company policies and processes change, education syllabus change, areas of training change. Thus, it is obvious that elearning content or micro-learning content will have to be updated frequently. Micro-learning modules have an upper hand over e-learning modules with the latter being expensive and time consuming to update. Since these are smaller chunks of data, it’s easy to keep them updated.

https://stylusolutions.com/us/lesson-plans.html

[sippakornj]

What I've got & been through: a JM310 reflection

What's the worst that could happen?

That was my thought over 60 kilometers away from where I was supposed to be at the time. It was the first class, and nothing ever really happened on the first day of class, right?

But as it turned out, a lot.

“You’re not coming? There are assignments,” a text message from a friend reads.

“Just wanted to let you know that the professor has a ton of assignments for us today,” another student wrote to me.

My first impression of the class is one that’s set from afar. I was constantly playing catch-ups with the class; student grouping, new chat and application to join, three homeworks assigned- one of them due the very same night. I remember going through the slides on my phone thinking, “this is a lot to take in.”

It was a genuine whiplash coming from the previous professor who was a bit more laid-back and made learning into a nice and comfortable atmosphere. This was different. It’s intense, strict, and nerve-racking. When I made it to the second class, the roll call started right before the clock struck 9.30 a.m. That’s when you know it’s serious.

I don’t have a problem with being on time, but it is a problem when I can’t seem to fall asleep ever since the mid-term period. It’s either a couple hours of sleep, or well into the double digits, no in between. It was a real struggle having to get up just about every time I was falling asleep. When Tuesdays ended, I almost always crashed at the foot of the bed the moment I’m at my place.

It was not all bad though. I got to work during the quiet hours of the night when I’m the most productive. Reading is something that I truly enjoyed. I like the idea of reading, but not as much as doing other things. So, it was nice having the necessary push for me to read something. The articles we had to read varied in quality in my opinion, and maybe that’s the point—finding the good and the bad.

Every piece that I had to read and write helps me in becoming a better writer which is the reason why I’m studying here in the first place. I could tell all that was taught in the class, but I can’t tell you exactly what I’ve learned from this class, except that I was able to grow from it—as a writer, a student, and a person. 

Working in a group has really put things into perspective. It showcased your strengths, but also exposed your weaknesses. For the first time, I had to accept that I cannot do everything alone, and that I needed help. I let things go and put faith in my teammates—most of whom I have never worked with prior to this. It took a few trials and errors, but we all eventually figured out the group dynamics. I adjusted. Sooner or later, we all have to. At least, that’s what our group did anyway. 

In the end, I’m really proud of the work that our group was able to accomplish even if the end result wasn’t exactly perfect. But there will always be another opportunity to learn and improve. Sure, it would be nice to have that interview with the member of the House of Representatives whom I’ve been talking to and waiting for since the middle of November. It’s a shame that this wasn't able to happen before the deadline.

But I’m not going to let that go. I’m still doing that by the way. I've been working on this for far too long to give it all up in the end. Tomorrow, I will interview this person for the work we submitted yesterday.

And maybe, finally, get some rest.

[yieldassest]

Investing in Real Estate? Know the Upsides and Downsides!

It's essential to know the pros and cons of a piece of real estate, it. Experts love to put their money into property. How come? What do they know about real estate investment that most of us don't?

All real estate investment platform options have their own pros and cons. This is important if you want to know how much risk you need to take with each investment. The amount of risk experts take when they invest in real estate varies. Most investors can only put between 10% and 70% of their portfolio into real estate investments.

So, how do we decide if our exposure should be 10%, 70% or somewhere in between? This will happen when we understand the pros and cons of investing in real estate.

The Pros of Real Estate Investment

We all know the benefits of real estate investing and that it can be profitable. It's one of the kinds of investments that can really bring in a steady stream of passive income. Here are the essential reasons why you should buy an investment property:

Enables Asset Diversification

Real estate has almost no direct relationship with equity, debt and other popular paper-based assets. In fact, it has a difficult relationship with things like stocks, gold and other valuables. This means that the first benefit of real estate is that it helps you spread out your assets. The growth in value of a real estate portfolio has little to do with the growth of other types of assets. When the stock market is doing badly, it is common for real estate to do well. Even if an economic boom is coming to an end, real estate would still be a good investment.

A Quick Dual Income

Like stocks, real estate also gives you the chance to make more than one income. Dividends from stocks are a quick way to make money. In the short term, you can get rental income from real estate. But rental income is much more stable and easier to plan for than dividend income. Long-term, both stocks and real estate can help your money grow. Stocks can deliver quicker appreciation. In the long term, the value of real estate increases more slowly but steadily.

Grand Inflation Hedge

When you add up rental income and value growth, they beat inflation by a long shot. Real estate property is the only investment that consistently beats inflation. In fact, it's not fair to think of real estate as the only way to protect against inflation. If you invest your money in real estate the right way, your returns will be much higher than inflation.

The Cons of Real Estate Investment

Aside from its other problems, the fact that it is so "price intensive" is the one that stands out the most. On the one hand, a normal investor needs only Rs. 500 to buy stocks. But if you want to invest in real estate, even Rs. 50,00,000 may not be enough.

Also, because real estate is a fixed asset, it's not easy to buy and sell. How? It's not simple to locate a property in the area you want. It might not be easy to find buyers in the area where the property is. Also, there are some other major problems with investing in real estate:

Applicable Capital Gain Tax

On a higher-priced sale, capital gains tax applies. A short-term capital gain tax is levied when a property is sold within three years of acquisition. After three years, a 20% long-term capital gain tax applies (after indexation).

Increased Cost

Real estate investing needs a lot of capital. Due to hefty capital requirements, buying and selling property is difficult. This is why so many people get real estate loans.

High Maintenance Cost

Comparatively, real estate has substantial management expenses. The owner must maintain the internals and pay for general maintenance costs. This improves property prices.

Choose an appropriate commercial property investment company and make your investment accordingly!