#like how efficient and effective your brain is at doing the same thing

[bitchface24-7]

A small idea that popped into my brain 💡

This is totally random but I would love to read a Jason Todd fic a la John Wick style. Everything is still the same (relatively)

Jason is adopted by Bruce the same way (stealing the batmobile tires)

Jason becomes Robin

He’s great at it! He’s happy, kind, and a great relief to see for the citizens of Gotham

He and Dick eventually get around to having a lukewarm brotherly relationship

He still gets murdered by the Joker and somehow miraculously wakes up 6 months later in his grave (somehow. That’s up to you)

Here’s where it differs: More below ⬇️

The League of Assassin’s still picks him up and Talia trains him, eventually becoming like a mom to him

and he is a brother to Damian

Jason subsequently gets sent on missions, The Continental Hotels are run by the LoA

Due to his extensive training with both Bruce and Talia, Jason is quite a formidable enemy; even more so since the Pit fixed his years of malnutrition

He’s efficient. So efficient that he’s made quite the reputation.

Like in the first John Wick film (all the films tbh), the antagonist goes to his son,

“I don’t care about what you did, son. I care about who you did it to.”

“Who? That fuckin’ nobody?”

“That. Fuckin. Nobody. Is John Wick Jason al Ghul.”

The “Pit Madness” is barely there, only flaring up when Jason is under extreme duress (such as rage or heavy fear)

Due to this reputation, Jason has no trouble overtaking the crime syndicates in Gotham. We saw how effective he was in UtRH (I did this in two hours. Wanna see what I can do in a whole evening?) imagine him now a la John Wick. Unstoppable.

He went back to Gotham both to kill the Joker but to make sure Damian was okay

Jason holds resentment towards the rest of his family (excluding Alfred) to him, his death was meaningless. Jokers still alive hurting people, there’s a new Robin.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome. Jason is going to change that.

Jason doesn’t attack Tim. He’s just a kid, a teenager. His anger is more directed towards Bruce (“You’re not my son. I don’t need your teenage rebellion.” and the fact it seems he so easily replaced him.), Dick (why does Tim get to be Dick’s brother but not Jason? What’s so bad about him?) and even Barbara when she resented him for replacing Dick as Robin. Misdirecting her anger into a kid rather than Bruce.

Damian is proud to call Jason his brother and only addresses him with the al Ghul surname. Not Todd. Not Wayne. Not Todd-Wayne. al Ghul. Jason is an al Ghul down to his bone marrow, he gets affectionately called Ahki (brother)

This makes the rest of the fam stir crazy. Who is he? Is he Bruce’s kid? What’s his goal, his plan? Why’s he in Gotham now?

Dun Dun DUNNNNN There’s an identity reveal

Idk what else to add but I’d DIE to have a fic with this concept. I love Jason so much. Especially all the Jason and Damian meet in the League fics on AO3.

If anyone wants to write this, tag me!!! Please! My AO3 handle is queenie__v. Just give me credit for the premise and I’ll devour the fic you write like it’s ambrosia from the gods. Ps. Please give Jason the white patch in his hair, thanks ❤️

Xoxo love y’all!

[boyheros]

grrrrr I haven't gotten around to adding this to my lore doc yet but I need to spit this info somewhere so here we go: clones in theory are the exact same as humans BUT because of how current clones are made (processes have changed over time) all clones have a sort of "memory" of not being in human shape. like they were not alive before being human shaped but their matter (or more importantly, their base black) 'remembers' not being that way. cuz base black is sorta like 'spirit glue' essentially it keeps your soul tethered to physical matter (your body). So it adapts to whatever shape your body takes. and because clones started out as. not anything.... then changing shape....y'know. their physical forms are much more malleable and adaptable than humans are. they often have irregular growth and healing patterns. like it's wholly possible that a clone could regrow an adult tooth that got knocked out. and many adapt small scale things like improved night vision. It also means if they get possessed someone can totally come and ruin their vessel badly. because it's so malleable.... easy to squish out of place....

[merchant-wizard-and-jerry]

(This is going to be linked as the card drawing post from now on)

*Warning all effects are permanent unless stated otherwise wise and all effects can’t be undone by undoing the magic*

(This means that if your arms turn to metal, you can’t revert the spell that made it happen, because the armed in the eyes of the universe are naturally metal now, but instead can convert the metal back into flesh like you would do if the arms were always metal.)

(The lore reason why is the supreme being made it…. Aka I am the writer of this story and deck and I say no you. (In a joking manner if you or a love one rolled something you don’t want to happen tell me and we can work out a solution))

(List of effects)

TP who TC Gains partial divinity

TP who TC can ask one question to the universe and gets a true answer

TP who TC is immune to all undead for 24 hours

TP who TC can ask one request of the Flock of seagulls

TP who TC gains absolute mastery of there most proficient skill

TP who TC gets there perfect ideal of a follower summoned, the follower is made of stained glass

All people who wants to attack TP who TC becomes completely peaceful

TP who TC has the vision permanently enhanced by 4x

TP who TC brain grows 10x as fast and smart for 1 hour

the next good effect drawn from TD is doubled

TP who TC has everything blue that there touching enchanted randomly.

TP who TC gains a skeleton key

TP who TC has there mind gain armor, it helps reinforce there mind’s processes and also help ward of wind magic form effecting it

TP who TC has a calming aura for 1 week, anyone within that aura has their emotions calmed.

TP who TC arms turned to metal (I forgot to say, for 1 hour)

TP who TC splits into five identical clones 1/5th the size. Each have a randomly selected 1/5th of TP who TC’s powers. At the point of them splitting is when there memories split. Each will grown to normal size over the span of a week. Once one dies, its powers and memories are randomly split among the remaining clones (of that batch). Each clone can split but the above side effects still apply.

TP who TC is recognised as a minor noble in the nearest nobility system

all eyes in a 1 mile radius of TD glows gold for a year

TP who LC gets magic equal TP who TC's magic capabilities for 1 spell

TP who TC can see how corrupt anyone is

TP who NC has there card effect double

TP who HTC has the ability to identify any living thing’s clade

TC turns into, upon being drawn, a random minor magical item. TP who TC will be registered as that item's true owner, that ownership will either be passed to a designated person or person with their best interest in mind upon death of the previous owner.

TP who TC can identify if it’s safe to drink any water they see

TP who TC gets 10 currency

TP who HC has control over a small company of knights

TP who TC gains scales for 1 hour

TP who TC begins to be observed by a god

TP who TC will have all cuts immediately scab over for the next month.

TP who TC is turned into an animal chosen by TP who NC for 4 hours. TP who TC keeps their mind, unless this card is drawn again in the same time and the same animal is chosen. If it is picked again but with a different animal, TP who TC will hybridize as both animals.

TP who TC has the effect they last were under that was triggered by a card reapplied as if they drew it again.

TP who TC chooses a person who will NC

(Automatic custom card)

TP who TC has there element shift one element, this effect either last 1 year or until TP who TC comes to except one lie they believed was true was a lie

A random seed in a 1 foot radius around TP who TC will grow to complete maturity. If there is no seed, a seed will from that when planted will grow a perfect replica of a random card with the magic effect at 1/10th efficiency

TP who TC plays a game of 20 question, if you win, you get a clue finding spy glass. If you lose you lose an eye.

TP who TC next spell will go wild

all water in a 30 foot radius of TD turns into wine

TP who LC has its effect happen to TP who TC

TP who TC has the direction they move relative to gravity altered by the person who NC

TP who NC has TP who LC effect added to theres

TP who TC becomes the target of tempest the clown. Tempest is a weather demigod who wishes to bring joy to kids by showing them weather phenomena… up close.. at full scale.

TP who NC will gain the ability to know where you are at all time

TP who TC will be transformed into a computer software sprite on a piece of digital hardware. The card is transformed into that piece of hardware. Both effects last for 1 day

TP who TC has all there hair light on fire, they are not armed nor is there hair

TP who NC can choose one of TP who TC’s skills to lock for 1 hour

TP who TC experiences 1 years worth of advanced mutation that would be handy in this situation

all grass in a 3 yard radius of TD turns into a fungus based alternative

TP who TC will lose all their hair and have it regrow in a 24 hour period

TP who TC will have all open injuries and non-sensory body holes (peircings, behind, belly button, etc) transformed into functioning technology ports

TP who TC is swarmed by pollen

TD loses its magical effect for 10 minutes

TP who TC gets struck by lightning

TP who TC if they have a scarred over stump it grows cactus spines making it impossible to restore, if not you are immune to cactuses.

TP who TC loses their sense of smell for 10 min

in a 1 yard radius around TP who TC rain will clouds form and rain for 1 week

TP who TC becomes a telepathic potted plant for 1 hour. TP is completely immobile, but still conscious and is able to talk to anyone nearby via telepathy. Any person who touches TP is affected by magic: (Roll 1d4 to decide the effect given) 1. Becoming a telepathic potted plant without other effects. 2. Being fully healed and restored as if they drank a powerful healing potion 3. Clothes are replaced by plants equivalents made from leaves, grass, flowers, moss, and other plant materials. These new clothes do not cover up well and ordinarily resemble Druidic clothing, but also resemble the clothes they were previously wearing. Depending on the magical power or significance of their previous clothes, they may be possible to recover via summoning magic. 4. A large tree appears nearby and they are temporarily transformed into a dryad linked to that tree for one day.

TP who TC becomes a potted telepathic plant for a year

TP who LC attacks you

TP who draws TC loses the ability to understand speech for 1 hour

TP who TC loses all of wealth

TP who TC has there most prized possession trapped in this card for 1 year or until they tell someone a deep secret

all events that took place in the last hour reverts in a 20 yard radius of TD

TP who TC Dies

TP who NC will gain control of your body for 1 minute

(List of terms)

The person (TP)

The deck (TD)

Drew this card (TC)

Drew last card (LC)

Draws next card (NC)

Holds this card (HC)

(Rules)

You can ask pay for a card with 10 currency

When you pay you can specify out of character whether you want a random card or if you want me to make a new one for you to draw that will be added to the deck

If I make a new one I’ll add it to the list

Also if the card calls for good or bad it is referring to thirds, the first 1/3 is good, the last 1/3 is bad and the middle in neutral, round down and give the neutral the extra cards.

If you pick random, roll for me out of the numbers and tell me what you get

[qqueenofhades]

https://www.tumblr.com/qqueenofhades/742700762243727361/you-can-tell-you-work-in-academia-with-how-much

Hi, sorry, Asshole Anon here (I’m not giving myself that nickname to lash out, I’m saying it because I was an ass)

To clarify: I mean “I don’t know what to trust anymore” in that “people whom I normally respect and would otherwise agree with are now sharing material that I find either morally indefensible or overtly simplistic, and at the same time people on the ground in Gaza are saying that Hamas IS a liberation organization, so I trust their word, but there is also the existence of the “We Want To Live” protests, and the fact that there’s now apparently a protest against a child that got killed that isn’t widely reported, with an attached video of said protest from somebody on the ground in Gaza, but it’s in Arabic, there are no subtitles, I cannot speak Arabic, and I don’t trust Google Translate”

I just want an objective sense of what is happening on the ground. I want to know what is and is not propaganda, because I (white, raised in a liberal(?) household, surrounded by white people) am especially susceptible to it. Once I have that objective sense of what the people in Gaza want, then I will be able to effectively and efficiently advocate for shit. But that also necessitates listening to orgs like Standing Together, B’Tselem, people IN Israel who want this shit to stop, and hoo BOY that ain’t gonna fly with those people I mentioned because of:

1. BDS saying that the org “normalizes the occupation”, but they’re made up of Palestinian activists and anti-apartheid veterans, I can’t discount their statement, not fully.

2. Netenyahu’s… Netenyahu

3. Twitter’s doing a great job of asserting that everyone in Israel is a — quoting directly here from a half-remembered Tweet — “genocidal maniac”, or wants the bombardment to happen. (Which I know for a fact is not the case, if the protests calling for a new election are anything to go by)

That’s not even getting into the domestic stuff. I’m in an org rn and I’m getting the sinking feeling that they’re gonna drop this thing like a hot potato when a ceasefire gets called. Just sucks.

Anyways, back to improvement. Just closing this out

I agree that we're currently in a paradoxical state where there is simultaneously ALL THE INFORMATION EVER and ACTUALLY NO INFORMATION AT ALL, and that's what makes it difficult to sort out true from false. It's also what contributes to compassion fatigue, where we are able to get extensive real-time information and/or eyewitness accounts about pretty much any tragedy or catastrophe anywhere in the world, and social media has created a space where we are expected to both immediately react to all that information and to do so in the "right" and "correct" way. Which is basically impossible, and is also what burns out young well-meaning people so hard, where they insist that there's nothing to be done except The Revolution, because they have been so inundated with this torrent of human suffering and it seems like small steps are in fact useless. I am a historian and I can tell you upfront that humans are simply not made to process that volume of information about ALL THE BAD THINGS EVERYWHERE. It's also impossible to have an informed opinion on all or sometimes any of it, but there is still the pressure to visibly do so and to do it in a way that fits in with what everyone in your peer group is saying, even if you don't understand it. So yes -- that is absolutely very difficult, and it's hard to filter or parse it.

That said, I don't think we actually need to have painstaking piece-by-piece analysis of every single piece of information out there, because there are in fact so many competing narratives, perspectives, fake news, disinformation campaigns, opinions, etc., and it will lead you to the same information paralysis: there's just too much of it to even start processing, and so your brain just gives up and reverts to those same simplistic cliches and things that "feel" right, regardless of whether or not they are. When you're trying to decide on the fine details of something, it helps to have an overall sense of the context and narrative that they're operating in. So for reference, these are some broad and basic analytic paradigms that I personally use when reading or thinking about any material in regard to the Israel/Hamas situation in particular:

No person of basic good faith and human decency wants the current situation in Gaza to be happening. However, the person/group that has the power to call it off -- i.e. Netanyahu and the current Israeli government -- has not done so despite increasing pressure from Western allies, because the situation is beneficial to Bibi personally and he sees more use in continuing it than making the decision for it to stop.

The governments of Western allies, therefore, can voice disapproval of Israel's actions (which they have been doing more and more frequently) but unless Netanyahu himself makes the choice to end the war, it will not stop. The West has recently given more and more signals that they are not prepared to countenance the ongoing destruction and genocide of Gaza, but yet again, Israel is its own sovereign country with its own powerful government, military, intelligence services, etc. The "anti-imperialists" who think the collective West can just reach in and turn off the violence whenever they please, and have just refused to do so because they're "bad people," are not being realistic. Western allies can exert pressure and leverage, but as long as Netanyahu himself wants to keep going, he will.

"People in Gaza" and "people in Israel" are not homogeneous blocs who think exactly alike. Some people in Gaza support Hamas. Some people do not. Hamas support has recently grown as a result of Israel's post-October 7 response, but it is not unanimous or unquestioned.

Hamas is the entity that started the current war by attacking Israel on October 7 and murdering/raping/kidnapping 1,000+ Israeli civilians. Hamas is also associated with Russia, Iran, Hezbollah, and other terrorist regimes/states, which are often defended by Online Leftists simply for being "anti-Western," regardless of how heinous their actions also are.

Netanyahu was wildly unpopular in Israel for MONTHS before this current war, due to his autocratic attempts to neutralize the Israeli Supreme Court and make the country even more of his personal fiefdom. There were huge, massive, ongoing protests against his naked power-grab for almost all of 2023, and he was so preoccupied with pushing it through that he ignored warnings from the Israeli and Egyptian intelligence services that Hamas was planning a major attack. These anti-Netanyahu demonstrations have continued and ramped up in intensity even in the middle of the war/attacks on Gaza.

As such, painting every single Israeli as mindlessly supporting the current actions of Netanyahu and the Israeli government is antisemitic nonsense and reflect the current Western Leftist tendency to assume that "all Israelis" and "all Zionists (read Jews)" are evil and personally responsible for this.

Israeli Jews have a right to exist and to reside on the land currently called Israel. Modern Israel was founded in 1948, three years after the end of WWII and the Holocaust, the greatest incidence of antisemitic mass murder in history, which is a fact that cannot be ignored and which western leftists eagerly calling for its total eradication and treating it as an illegitimate "white western settler colony" nonetheless do in fact repeatedly ignore.

This is why many Jews do not feel safe in other countries, because there has literally been thousands of years of history proving that they often aren't, and which the rabidly antisemitic response to the current conflict is doing nothing to dissuade.

Jews have had a presence in the land alternately called Palestine, Israel, the Holy Land, Judah, etc., for over 2,000 years, and their entire religion and history is founded around the exile from Jerusalem. That is the history that the current state of Israel is drawing on. It does not vanish just because it is inconvenient for western leftists to acknowledge.

Israel currently has a militant far-right government (after tending toward rightist/right wing domestic politics more generally, partially due to post-Holocaust trauma) that has deliberately erased, ignored, and violated the equally valid claims of Palestine and Palestinian people to that same land, and which is currently committing full-scale genocide against them.

Palestine and Palestinian/Muslim people have the same right to exist on that land as Israel and Israeli/Jewish people (and Christian people, and none-of-the-three people). They both have equally long and historically relevant claims to this land and one of them (in an ideal world, which we do not live in) should not be artificially prized over the other.

However, this land is some of the most bitterly and violently contested in the entire world, for the last two thousand years and counting, and there is no one good guy, simplistic answer, or quick way to stop it. The three Abrahamic faiths (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) have fought bitterly over Jerusalem and its associated territories for a cool few millennia, and human nature being what it is, there is no way for one person, group, organization, government, etc to just step in and make it stop.

The Western/American leftist response to the current conflict has often made absolutely no attempt to take into account any of this troubled and complex history, and has reduced the whole thing down to whichever antisemitic and/or anti-Democratic Party soundbites will get them the most traction on social media. This often rests on whitewashing any moral responsibility belonging to Hamas and defending them no matter what, labeling all Israeli Jews as "evil genocide supporters," and assuming that if Biden wanted to magically shapeshift into Netanyahu and give the order to make it stop, he would, but he's "just not doing it," ergo something something Trump Would Totally Be Better!

These people also often call themselves "anti-imperialist" while thinking/demanding that America swoop in and play Big Global Policeman Daddy (as it indeed has often done in the past) and spank all its naughty children (but if it actually did do this, etc etc it would be evil). Biden could very much do more and has not necessarily done enough, but he has also done more than any other American president in history to shift away from unconditional unquestioning support of Israel only, and to advocate for a Palestinian state, a lasting ceasefire, and other basic precepts of Palestinian self-determination and dignity of personhood. These two things can be true at the same time.

I don't necessarily expect everyone to agree with every single fine detail of these statements, but I do expect them to at least make a basic effort to let all of these facts to inform their response, and not just the ones that they most agree with and which most fit their ideology or preferred conclusion. So that's one way to approach the situation, even if we obviously can't wring every single drop of meaning out of every single competing piece of information or evidence, because there is just too much of it. When we have a broader understanding of the space that we are operating in and the precepts that are factually true, we are able to make better judgments about who is trustworthy, who is worth listening to, what message they are pushing, and whether it corresponds with reality.

Good luck. I'm sure you'll continue to think about this and take the steps that you feel are best. It is all any of us can do.

[actuallyadhd]

Hello, I know you haven't posted in a while so I understand if you don't reply to this, but I could definitely use some advice.

I haven't gotten round to getting tested for ADHD, but I have a lot of the symptoms. I really struggle to sit still, I often blurt things out and interrupt people, I can't seem to remember basically anything, I get way too emotional over small things, and more.

The thing is, these symptoms seem to be getting progressively worse. I will hear something and then completely forget what I heard minutes after, forget what I'm talking about mid conversation, haven't gone to sleep on time because I've been pacing in my room and throwing a bouncy ball and eventually scrolling on my phone in bed because I can't get to sleep, I'm late a lot more than usual (I have to go out tomorrow and I'm hoping I'll get up on time, alarms don't work).

But the biggest thing is this: I keep stopping and starting things. I have loads of sideblogs I haven't posted on for days because I started them with huge passion and then either got bored or forgot about them (or both.) I've been thinking about starting a new ask blog, but at the same time I know I won't come back to it.

Do you have any advice for how to manage this?

Sent August 1, 2024

It sounds like things are cascading, which can be super overwhelming.

I always start with what I call The Big Four: diet, exercise, sleep, and stress. If any one of these is out of whack, everything gets harder. This is true for non-ADHDers as well, but for us it’s more important because of how our brains work.

So, first, think about how you’ve been eating lately. Are you getting enough protein? Brains run on glucose, so carbs are also necessary, but aiming for whole grains and the like is better for long-term functioning. Are you eating *enough*? As in, do you forget to eat meals? Do you snack a lot, and if you do, are you going for quick sugar hits?

Next up is exercise. Regular movement is important. Taking active breaks when you get distracted can help to reset your brain so you can focus again when you come back. Exercise also adds endorphins, which boost your mood and can help increase energy and focus for longer. These effects build up over time, so you won’t see results right away, but if you can make it happen there will be benefits!

As for sleep, you’ve noted that you’re struggling to fall asleep. That’s a really common thing for ADHDers, and we have loads of suggestions here to help. Some of the best ideas I’ve seen include listening to podcasts or watching ASMR videos, white noise machines or a fan, reading a book (not an e-book unless your e-reader doesn’t use blue light), or doing some kind of a puzzle book in bed.

Stress can be really hard to manage, especially if anything else is off since that adds to your stress. The best way to handle this is to have a set time each day where you do something fun and relaxing.

You may find that this doesn’t quite hit the spot. So I have a couple more things to look into.

First, it’s pretty normal for us to run into problems when our responsibilities increase. More responsibility means more load on our executive functions, so things start falling apart a bit as we struggle to find a way to make everything happen. Change is hard!

Second, our age and hormones can have an impact on things. If you menstruate, estrogen levels have a huge impact on functioning. It is a very important part of the brain’s glucose delivery system, so when estrogen is low so is glucose. (There are other ways glucose gets to the brain, estrogen is just the most efficient.)

As for age, when you hit certain ages (early childhood and puberty are best known) your brain makes a ton of new connections, and that can make a lot of things harder that weren’t before. This is because your brain is dedicating itself to other things, and often those “lost” skills return once it’s done with the stage.

So think about all of these things and consider whether one or more might be affecting you. Once you know what’s going on, it will be easier to figure out how to deal with it.

Followers, do you have any ideas for managing these issues? Please share!

-J

[theamityelf]

Hello, I really like your kamukura outbreak au, and so the post about izuru being interested in their differences caught my attention.

What IS their differences, weakness/strength wise? I like to imagine that makoto is surprisingly the best fighter (his luck ruins everyone's plans) (Speaking of does mahiru have a luck talent?) Izuru is an all rounder (he hates that fact for some reason), and nagito is the best cook when he wants to be due to his experiments (also the smartest, despite his hijinks) . Togami is physically the strongest.

This is a great question, and I think your proposed answers are also great. (I was mainly talking about differences in ways of thinking and personality, but this is also great to explore!)

First of all, you bring up a good point about luck, because I like to think luck, as in the metaphysical force that just kind of canonically exists in the Danganronpa universe, is different than luck as exhibited by Izuru Kamukura, just because the idea that Hope's Peak was able to brain surgery Luck into someone for some reason passes the limits of credibility for me. My thought is that Kamukura's "luck" is just a combination of Ultimate Clairvoyant talent and Ultimate Analyst talent, where subconsciously he'll just kind of know what to do in a lot of situations without having to process why he knows it.

The lucksters already have their actual luck and these talents. I feel like Nagito is able to use this to utilize his luck as an even more terrifying supernatural weapon than it already was. He masters the pattern and is able to expertly manage the circumstances he creates for himself to direct his luck where he wants it, and then he becomes more interested in trying to do the same with Makoto's luck.

Nagito's luck is almost like the group's taste of routine. They operate within his luck the way they operate within the weather; it's something that can be charted and predicted and, to an extent, harnessed. Makoto's luck is the group's taste of chaos. They simply never have any idea when or how it's going to kick in. Its effects are stimulating; Nagito is the main one actively trying to understand it. Izuru is lowkey studying it, but he isn't making as big a deal about it as Nagito is. And Makoto, Mahiru, and Byakuya aren't studying it at all.

The other Kamukuras don't have as much of a supernatural influence over luck, and since they all have the same talents, the differences there are mainly in how quickly/easily things come to them.

I'd say Mahiru is the quickest and best at spatial reasoning. Her original self was a photographer, so she has a great sense of spacing and movement and how objects interact with each other. Again, these skills used to be for timing photos, but now they make her great at mechanic work, engineering, lock-picking, etc.

Byakuya is the quickest and best at making good, efficient use of all his resources. The Ultimate Affluent Progeny, and the guy who (in another universe) saw a murder being covered up and thought "Okay, I have an extension cord, some dead classmates' handbooks...", is really good at keeping in mind everything at his disposal and intuitively knowing how to put all of it to good use. If Mahiru is the fastest at picking a lock, Byakuya is the fastest at figuring out what in this room can best be used as a lock pick. He can kill you with things you didn't even see on that table.

Izuru's superpower, kind of like you said, is his general competency. He's reliable. If there's anything you want done well, he's the one most likely to do that. It's partially a matter of his temperament– not as erratic as the others –and partially a matter of his perfectionism. Mahiru can probably fix a machine the fastest, but she might not care all that much about the machine's long-term performance. Nagito can probably figure out most puzzles fastest, but once he does, who's to say whether he'll find it more entertaining to confuse things rather than bring them to the most efficient and satisfying solution. Izuru gets things done, well. If he fixes your car, everything about your car is fixed.

And Makoto's social skills are the best. Well, not his social skills; Nagito is the friendliest and best at carrying a conversation. But Makoto cares deeply about others and making things easier and better for them, so while his actual charisma isn't on Nagito's level, he's endearing and people really like being around him. His willingness to solve any problem they have no matter how long it takes, and his tendency to say really insightful things in a soft, almost toneless voice, are really effective.

And there's some angst there, as far as his close friends from before missing the old Makoto but loving the new Makoto, and everyone he meets now just adoring him. I could see someone like Kyoko or Chihiro thinking that it's somewhat of a betrayal to old Makoto to be excited about all the things this new Makoto can do for them, thanks to the traumatic procedure that was done on him against his will.

Makoto from before was a great friend, but he wasn't someone who could and would stop what he was doing at any given time and rewire the electricity in your room. Makoto from before could help you deal with your problems or think positively about your problems; this Makoto can solve your problems and doesn't really care what happens to him in the process, except insofar as his loved ones would be affected by it. Old Makoto brought out the best in people; this Makoto might inadvertently reward a lot of vices just by being so willing to do and be what others want. (Fortunately, his arc is rediscovering his sense of self and manifesting boundaries.) I'm just saying, if someone wanted to start a cult around him, it wouldn't be hard.

But back to the Kamukuras and their differences, lol.

Their differences in body shape influence their respective fighting styles; the shorter ones are better at slipping through gaps and getting behind people, the taller ones are better at gaining leverage and subduing people.

[oneatlatime]

Avatar Day

I'm back!

"A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar" That wasn't just chance, was it? Wanna bet that it also wasn't just chance that Zuko was near enough to see the beam of light?

HOW LONG DO YOU HAVE TO BE ASLEEP FOR A SPIDER TO SET UP SHOP IN YOUR MOUTH?!?!?

"What are you doing in my mouth" is a sentence so ripe for innuendo-isation that my brain tripped over itself trying to come up with a dirty way to spin it.

Love the boundary talk too. I had no idea that kind of therapy speak was around in the early 2000s.

There has got to be a more efficient way of stopping someone who can canonically fly than pulling down a whole ass tree vaguely in their path. And how strong are these rhino things?

Did that mask guy just try to bomb a child?

Tee Hee. A Pee Pee.

Boomerang has to come back though. That what boomerangs do. I refuse to believe that boomerang is gone.

I guessed about halfway through season 1 that Zuko would have to go through some identity struggles in this show, but I was wrong! It's Sokka who gets to reevaluate his identity. Ponytail guy doesn't have the same ring to it.

Dingalings all over this episode.

I've been wondering why we weren't seeing more Avatar themed places and events. Granted, the avatar's been missing for a century, but in a world where there is recurring proof of a spiritually endowed god-like person's existence, I would expect more temples and Holy days. I mean, we can't even prove that any of our gods exist and we still commit to building megachurches. Imagine how easy it would be to fundraise to build a temple to an Avatar when there's the underlying threat that if you don't donate, the demigod in question could show up at your house.

Two things: first, there were some serious resources invested in these floats. Either this village is loaded or has priority problems. Second: Aang is now well enough known worldwide, that villages he's never been to can accurately depict his appearance, costume, and personality. It really never occurred to them to lay low, did it?

"That's the biggest me I've ever seen." I'm curious to know your sample size.

Sokka could totally carry a torch. It's the torch that wouldn't be worthy of the wielder.

That about sums up my reaction too.

Zuko's in this episode. Hi Zuko! I'd know that musical trill anywhere. When was the last time I saw Zuko?

So I know that Zuko's got a wisdom problem, but could he at least wait until after dark to rob people? While wearing a very recognisable costume that is prominently featured on its own Wanted poster? Just a little common sense I'm begging you.

So in character for it to be Katara who takes action first when Aang is insulted/has his effigy set on fire.

This guy is stupid right? Kyoshi was around at least, what - two hundred years ago? And there's been two avatars since, who as far as I can tell aren't Kyoshi reincarnated but are whole other people, and he's still blaming Aang for some rando's death?

Pro tip: anyone introduced with the expression "glorious leader" is invariably neither glorious nor a good leader. Good leaders don't need hyping up.

I was wondering if that little remark about water tribe money at the beginning of the episode was going to have a payoff. Every time I think it's simple worldbuilding, it turns out to be plot. This show is so neat.

The loss of boomerang is having unforseen effects on Sokka's mental state.

"I can't do that [save the world] with people thinking I'm a murderer either." Says Aang. "So what exactly do you think every earth kingdom and water tribe person assumes you're going to do to the Fire Lord?" Says I. To be clear, I don't want to watch a goofy 12 year old commit a war crime, but I guarantee that no one in the avatar world is under any illusions about any fire lord going quietly.

How does Aang know how do push the 'expert detective' button?

How long is Katara's arm?

Ok I'm guessing from Katara and Aang's reaction to the polar leopard boots story, that Aang knew that Sokka could be conned into helping with 'expert detective' talk, because Sokka has retold the polar leopard boots story 800 times.

Sokka understands the importance of looking the part! Hang on I got a gif for this.

Well-known top three rich person activity: money fondling.

Moneybags should have put those metal reinforcing struts on the roof too. He probably cheaped out.

Oh my GOD this is peak sibling energy. This is MY thing. No touch. ME DO. MINE. Yeah I know it's obvious to anyone with eyes but I'M THE ONE WHO GETS TO SAY IT OUT LOUD.

Loving the bubble pipe.

HYBRID ANIMAL

NOT A DRILL

Rat Elephant?

Too late my man. The only person who didn't see that is Aangy.

Super nitpick time! Why did they build a defensive stockade when there are highly climbable cliffs 50 feet away and the fire nation have cliff-climbing tanks?

Funny how the mayor guy says "clear her name." Aang wants to clear his own name, the mayor wants to clears Kyoshi's. At least some people get that avatars are different people.

Last visit to Kyoshi was: -Harassing local wildlife -Misogyny -Crossdressing -Burning down the whole village -Harassing local wildlife again

What in that list inspired Suki to change the world/fight in the war?

Respect the props Katara.

I found the sane people is this village! You know what I love? When they're listing Aang's good points, being the Avatar comes FORTH. They get that he's more than his title.

I'm sorry but I cannot believe that this painting, which lives in a building without a door, is three hundred years old. Unless that thing is behind 15 layers of varnish or invisible glass, humidity would have destroyed it in the first decade.

Katara getting ragdolled got a big laugh from me. Plus the follow up pipe to the noggin. Gotta love a sibling slap fight!

With that model of justice it's no wonder the sane ones are in jail.

Sounds like someone was chasing butterflies when he should have been paying attention...

Zuko again. I'd forgotten he was in this episode.

"There is a simple honour in poverty" is a good-sounding line, but I'd believe it more if it wasn't coming from a former crown prince who, until like three weeks ago, never wanted for anything.

Can someone please make Zuko aware of the fact that honour as a concept exists outside of an avatar-capturing context?

In my experience, the hope you give to yourself when there's no hope left is less hope and more spite. Still works though.

Was all that talk about not touching Kyoshi's things just talk, or did the water tribe siblings have to steal this stuff?

YES Sokka is RIGHT stuff has POWER.

Did Koh steal their brains as well as their faces?

The village idiots fucked around, and now they're gonna find out! this is going to be good.

So Chin the conqueror was about as smart as the people of his village. He really thought he could take on the Avatar?

Good Lord avatars can move tectonic plates?

She's blowing a continent. She sailed a continent. Without a sail.

Tiny Momo.

Badadss lady speech aside, it's pretty funny that Kyoshi used her ability to manifest to be the opposite of helpful.

Just when I thought he couldn't possibly get more stupid, he sinks to an even lower level of dumbass. Zuko sucks all the common sense out of any room he enters; the only thing that's kept him alive this long is being in proximity to the world's wisest man as balance. So what does Zuko do? Rides off into the sunset WITHOUT Iroh. Dumbass. I give him two days before he dies in a freak foraging accident. Dumbass.

SERIOUSLY. DUMBASS.

Never thought I'd be happy to see these guys, but here I am.

Petty Aang! I've never seen petty Aang before. Boy contains multitudes.

Screw artifact preservation.

Three of these jokes in a single episode. This episode does rather feel as though it was written with the brakes off.

The lead rhino takes one look at Aang and is like "I'm not going to mess with that. Let's burn down some buildings instead." Let the record show, the lead rhino has more sense than Chin the Conqueror.

I knew it! Boomerang came back!

Raw dough. Uncooked dough. Their new snack is salmonella. "This is by far the worst town we've ever been to." Thanks to Sokka for the thesis statement.

Final Thoughts

This episode was hot nonsense! And I love nonsense, but it's too far when I find myself rooting FOR the rhinos. To be clear, I loved this episode's humour and especially the sibling dynamic between Sokka and Katara. I've literally had that exact conversation with siblings, usually about who gets to be the one to tell Mom about the spectacular awesome thing we saw that totally wasn't our fault and that we totally saw without going somewhere we shouldn't have.

But! The villagers? Stupid. We cut to Zuko? Heretofore unseen levels of Stupid. Even Iroh was being stupid. You do have to let children learn things for themselves and make their own mistakes, but in enemy territory? With a documented history of dumbass behaviour? And a propensity for dressing as a wanted criminal, while also being a different wanted fugitive while out of disguise? Mark my words; it's going to end stupid.

I loved the C plot with Sokka and identity. It's funny how it parallels/speedruns the journey Zuko's going to have to end up doing at some point (he'd BETTER), although probably not in a single episode with goofy props. If only teenage identity crises were as easily solved as a returned boomerang.

That scene with Kyoshi sure was something, huh? I actually rewound and watched it twice through before I tried to comment on it, because I was too enthralled to do anything but watch.

If all Avatars can do what Kyoshi can do, then Aang is: a) nowhere near as developed an Avatar as I've been assuming, and b) going to be really really scary one day. Not sure how I feel about Scary Aang. Although petty Aang was fun.

I love monster of the week episodes with low stakes and high humour, but this one was had so much stupid coming at me from so many directions that it did get a little annoying. Still, I'll rewatch it. That Kyoshi bit was delicious.

[lorelune]

Hello, i’m dropping by to say that i am so!! Invested!! with calibrator and jy relationship (and overjoyed knowing you’re currently cooking something). i’ve reread cicatrix for nth times and i remember being surprised knowing jy was so calm when he finally met the calibrator again. that made me wonder, how would jy look like if he was actually mad or when having a heated argument with the calibrator? or what are things that could make him actually mad?

ANON!! thank you for reading and enjoying!! <33 and inquiring :eyes: truly i’ve been stewing with this ask.

rambling under the cut

i don’t think jy is an angry person at all. like he knows how to TEMPER that feeling and get to its root efficiently and effectively!!! i do not think he could have withstood mara for as long as he has without knowing how to dance with anger in a way that doesn’t’ tear him to shreds.

when he reunites with calibrator, he is more relieved than angry. they both struggle with th deep care they hold for each other as well as their duty to the luofu and how they conflict. jy knows that your… self-neglect was somewhat necessary. in the same way you wish he would’ve come to you before hatching the plan that would ultimately result in throwing himself in front of phantylia, he wishes you would’ve visited him so he could have potentially persuaded you into some other plan. however, calibrator. you are so stubborn. SO stubborn. you both are. jy because he thinks over his stratagem so thoroughly, it is difficult to shift after its been stewing in his brain. YOU because you are independent due to your profession (this will be expanded upon in the longer form cicatrix-verse fic lol).

AS to the second part of your ask:

i would… like to write those two having a heated arguement. because TRULY i think it would be 1) good for you two lol and 2) fun to write lol. i think jy would need to be very goaded into an angry argument. like. provoked beyond reason. calibrator is truly the perfect person to do so LOL especially as the long fic will be their slow(er) burn origin story.

i think jing yuan would really try to hold it together, even when he’s been clearly and relentlessly provoked into anger. he’s kinda immovable tbh it would take a lot. i think there’s a few things that would get him to break once he reaches the end of his rope

threats of abandonment (you leaving him. poor guy has has enough loss)

threats of harm toward yourself, whether its direct or indirect

questioning jing yuan’s feeling/getting into his head as much as he gets into your head.

once again, i don’t think he is easy to angry. he is so good at letting things roll off him so it would take such a particular combination of circumstances to lead him into like… a breakdown or melt down. calibrator would be the one to do it… especially given the events of the long fic that’s cooking on the stove rn.

[shinondraws]

I came across this video that talks about how giving mundane, repetitive tasks for AI won't actually boost productivity like people claim it will and this angle just happens to also perfectly (partially) explain why the work life nowadays is a lot more demanding than it used to be and why 4-day work weeks are so effective.

The core idea is that by giving up the mundane tasks people give up low intensity, low threshold work that takes up a lot of an employee's time. This time that is freed is can supposedly be used on more demanding, high intensity tasks.

Now, I fully agree that some tasks really are better off automated because there is no end to pointless clicking. However, according to this video, giving up on the mundane tasks to only focus on high intensity tasks is counterproductive because high intensity tasks are obviously cognitively more draining. The mundane tasks that offered respite from the high intensity tasks are now gone so your brain has to go at 90% all the time instead of the occasional low 30% or so. The mundane tasks allowed you to still be productive while not having to commit to it so much.

There are multiple reasons as to why work life is so much more demanding these days compared to a few decades ago. Aiming for more growth, productivity, optimization as well as decrease in specialized roles and more cluttered job descriptions. But automation has for sure played a part. Machines can do things at a higher speed than a human can, maybe to the point where humans can't keep up. The working hours haven't really changed at all so people still need to work the same hours while having a bigger influx of high intensity tasks than before.

I think this also backs up the efficiency and benefits of a 4-day work week. It has been reported to be increasing both productivity and employee satisfaction in office jobs. For sure the time optimization plays one part and having to do the same amount of work in a shorter time drives for smarter scheduling and organization of work as well as cutting all those unnecessary meetings no one wants to participate. To me it just makes sense that instead of tiring your brain for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, you only do it for 4 and the three days are rest time which obviously lets your brain recharge from the corporate bullshit.

No one has actually done conductive research on AI's effects on productivity in this scale, people just assume it'll work like that because of simple logic. But humans are not machines. Human brain isn't built for infinitely increased productivity.

Now fucking wonder people are burning out. No fucking wonder competition is tougher, deadlines tighter and budgets stingier.

The more I kept thinking about this the more vicious the cycle becomes and eventually leads to economic collapse and I'm just both flabbergasted as well as fuming from the bullshit of the corporate world.

[the-fae-folk]

You’ve said much of the world of faerie, fascinating things few people have seen. But what of humans? Humanity is fascinating. How do they survive in a world like this? How do they not know?

You would be absolutely astounded by the sheer number of things that humans do not know. In fact, I believe that I could safely say that the number of things we don't know outnumber the things we do in the same way that the grand totality of the universe is much more vast than a single walnut. And humans have an utterly fascinating set of capabilities whose primary purpose appears to be to preserve their life and sanity so that they can continue doing necessary and useful things such as gathering food, having families, and generally trying to make life better for all those who come after them. However, those capabilities also sometimes prevent them from seeing things as they are. Cognitive Dissonance is what happens when humans have ideas, beliefs, or actions that are inconsistent with other ideas, beliefs, and actions. It is an uncomfortable feeling, but more than that... it is a state that is actually quite a lot of hard work for the human brain to handle. So the brain will try to find the most efficient way in which to resolve the dissonance. Now an ideal way to deal with the problem would be to do some careful research on the matter, process and logically parse through all of the information, and finally adapt the new information into your existing worldview in order to form a more comprehensive cognitive state that is free of the bothersome dissonance. Unfortunately, this scenario is a lot more rare and more difficult to achieve than anyone would really like. You see, a great number of our decisions on a daily basis are made entirely within the subconscious. We make those trillions upon trillions of tiny decisions without even thinking about them in our conscious brain. When decisions that are significantly more important are made without the input of the conscious brain they can go unnoticed for a very long time until dissonance forces them forward into the focus of your attention. Everything you do is fueled by your motivations and instincts, and even your conscious logical reasoning can be affected by it too. So even when you're finally made aware of some sort of dissonance in your own mind, it's not actually an easy task to stop and truly think through the full scope of the problem. For example: without even realizing it, a person whose unknowing motivation is to maintain their positive self-regard can discount information that is unflattering or troubling if it contradicts their self-image. This is the brain's attempt to shortcut its way past the dissonance; it takes less energy for it to dismiss the contradictory information than to carefully reexamine and adapt the existing framework. This sort of problem effects everyone, and interestingly the effect becomes magnified when concerning any subject to which the person's self-identity is directly connected to. One might be tempted to believe that only the highly educated can elude the grasp of this unintentional survival skill gone wrong, however that would not be the case. In fact, there is a good deal of evidence that suggests that the highly educated might be MORE susceptible to this phenomenon in general due to their more comprehensive and structured worldviews. It is, of course, a useful survival tool, and it is possible to work around the inclination, but it always requires a significant amount of effort against the tendencies of one's own brain. Why do I mention all this? Well think, if someone going about their everyday life happened to see or hear something that went against all of their fundamental conclusions about how reality worked, it would be very easy indeed for their brain to simply... dismiss it or find some logical way to explain it out of existence, or simply to forget it because it doesn't fit. Who knows what wonders we might have missed because our minds couldn't make sense of them?

[dedkake]

birthday bash 2023 works | the ao3 collection

we had a blast this year. see all the works below the cut <3

fic

Accepting a Complement by WonkyElk | 1k, g, mcshep He wasn’t sure exactly when he and Sheppard had become ‘those two’ or ‘you two’ or ‘that pair’ to so many people. But, now that the phrase had jumped up and bit him, so to speak, he was very aware that he had heard it too many times to count. exposed by dedkake | 1k, m, mcshep Two moments in time: then and now Or, No matter the fact that his subconscious has been keeping the score for him, it’s clear as day what it all adds up to. Missing by Goddess47 | <1k, t, mcshep "Stupid gate!" Rodney whined. "Come on! You should work!" He banged a fist on the inside of the DHD. Transporters: or It’s All Fun and Games Until Someone Sets Your DNA to “Shuffle’ by WonkyElk | 2k, t, mcshep Elizabeth had been a little dazzled by the transporter technology at the start - it was difficult not to be - but there was so much to do, and to think about, that they had quickly been downgraded in her consciousness to little more than remarkably efficient elevators. Constantly tripping over her own child-like wonder would hardly have been conducive to a strong and effective leadership. Nowadays, the only time that they really registered as anything out of the ordinary was when they went wrong. When the Moon Hits Your Eye by portlandwithyou | <1k, g, mcshep Sheppard and McKay are stranded on a distant beach. Exploring by Goddess47 | <1k, t, mcshep Pegasus was more black and white than gray, John quickly learned. You’ve been the North Star (where the light’s from) by puddlejumperpilot | 2k, t, rodney / john /radek Rodney never thought he'd be dating two people at the same time. aka Rodney muses over his partners and how exactly they ended up there. Further Adventures in Maple Syrup by WonkyElk | 2k, t, mcshep John woke to a high bright sun battering its rays insistently through the window, the ungentle pouncing of cats, and the clatter of a frantic vampire. Of snakes and safe harbours by Mas_Pebbles_Sharp | <1k, m, multi Elizabeth scratches a couple of itches. short notice by dedkake | <1k, t, ronon / teyla / rodney / john Two week suspension from active duty. Mandatory leave for mental health; off base. Follow-up required. or, instead of splitting up during Brain Storm, the team take a trip to the mainland together. a two nap kind of day by dedkake | <1k, g, mcshep The blankets shift violently, parting to reveal John’s impressive bedhead, rumpled uniform, and colossal scowl. “I’m tired.” or, John's found a new place to hide out. Helping Hands by halestrom | 2k, g, gen Post-Trio, Rodney needs some help even if asking for help is the last thing he wants to do. Thankfully, he doesn't need to ask at all. Two Truths and One Lie by melagan | 2k, g, mcshep During an off-world ceremony, AR-1 is asked to reveal one lie each. Backup Plans by LogicGunn | 4k, g, gen For TwoTales, who had thoughts about a Laura Cadman and Rodney McKay High School Tap Dancing Competition AU.

Opposite to Blue by WonkyElk | 1k, g, mcshep The first time that John had met Rodney McKay he had been brightly, regrettably, orange. Searching for Sleep by Tazmy | <1k, g, gen Rodney’s on day 14 of little sleep. Ronon has a plan. Can be read as either Rodney & Ronon or as Rodney/Ronon. Your choice. 200 words for the SGA server birthday bash You’re the reason I don’t want the world to end by puddlejumperpilot | 7k, t, mcshep Two missing scenes from the second episode of each season. aka McShep over the years. Stop Talking! by Tazmy | 26k, t, multi Rodney knew better than to mess with the Ancient counseling device, but talking to a hologram version of Heightmeyer helped him feel better. Now, drugged by the device, Rodney is compelled to share his innermost secrets to those nearby, and his thoughts are much darker than anyone expected. Response to birthday bash prompt. There are two ways this can go: (1) Rodney must both share his feelings for John and admit the truth about his darkest thoughts or (2) The device will destroy him. Operation Retrieve John’s Heart by Tazmy | <1k, g, mcshep John's always been lonely. Two chapter story, each chapter a double drabble for the SGA fanart server birthday bash! Keeping Secrets by Goddess47 | <1k, t, mcshep It wasn't the sort of talent that one showed off, Chuck had learned as a small child. It was something personal, secret. Doctor’s Orders by Goddess47 | <1k, t, mcshep "You needed to abstain from coffee!" Carson said firmly. "Dinna you understand?" There was Only One… Wait— Two Beds? by pinkoptics | 2k, g, mcshep A bit of silly fun at this trope’s expense. Dear prompter, I hope you like it! The one where Rodney freaks out that there are two beds instead of one.

The Second Name by scifi_dancer | <1k, g, mcshep How the hell had Rodney gotten the printout? Chuck’s Intergalactic Delivery Service and Confessional, A 5+1 Fic by MalihiniMoon and Tazmy | 4k, t, mcshep A 5+1 fic. When the intergalactic bridge connected, allowing quick travel through the Stargate, it only made sense they’d use it to order pizza. It all snowballed from there. You Kissed Me by mific | <1k, g, mcshep Like Phantoms, but with kissing. light switch by dedkake | <1k, g, gen "Shoot me."

other media

Cover Art for “Ink and Wings” [Podfic and Fic] by cassiope25 | mcshep Cover Art for Itstartedwithalex's podfic and an illustration for "Ink and Wings" by spurious. Author's summary: It’s simply not possible. This is what Rodney tells himself for two and a half days after he sees what he thinks is a butterfly tattoo on Major John Sheppard’s thigh. [Podfic] Disposable by Itstartedwithalex | mcshep "Never thought I'd see any of you again." Podfic of "Disposable" by spurious Cover Art for “Disposable” [Podfic and Fic] by cassiope25 | mcshep Cover art for Itstartedwithalex's podfic and an illustration for "Disposable" by spurious. Author's summary: "Never thought I'd see any of you again." Spaghetti for Two by scifi_dancer | fanart, mcshep Spaghetti for two (mcshep) [Podfic] it could’ve started like this, season 2 by Itstartedwithalex | mcshep A McShep get-together per episode. Each fic is written as a missing scene and completely independent of the others. Podfic of season 2 of dedkake's "it could've started like this" Cover Art for “it could have started like this, season 2” [Podfic and Fic] by cassiope25 | mcshep Cover Art for Itstartedwithalex's podfic series and an illustration for the fic "it could have started like this, season 2" by dedkake Author's summary: A McShep get-together per episode. Each fic is written as a missing scene and completely independent of the others. Season 2 [Podfic] Divorce and Soggy Pizza by Itstartedwithalex | mcshep There was something very vulnerable about John standing barefoot in his kitchen with his hair more ruffled than usual, and his thin pyjamas hanging loosely off him. Rondey found that he wanted to push back at the image. Press John back into his role as the unassailable lieutenant colonel and all around ‘cool guy’. “Any other words of wisdom from my heartbreak guru?” he asked John, letting a little of the sneer through in his voice. OR: In the wake of his divorce, Rodney seeks out Sheppard. Podfic of "Divorce and Soggy Pizza" by missmariie Cover Art for “Divorce and Soggy Pizza” [Podfic and Fic] by cassiope25 | mcshep Cover Art for Itstartedwithalex's podfic and an illustration for the fic "Divorce and Soggy Pizza" by missmariie. Author's summary: There was something very vulnerable about John standing barefoot in his kitchen with his hair more ruffled than usual, and his thin pyjamas hanging loosely off him. Rondey found that he wanted to push back at the image. Press John back into his role as the unassailable lieutenant colonel and all around ‘cool guy’. “Any other words of wisdom from my heartbreak guru?” he asked John, letting a little of the sneer through in his voice. OR: In the wake of his divorce, Rodney seeks out Sheppard. [podfic] Operation Retrieve John’s Heart by Tazmy | mcshep This is a podfic and cover art of my story Operation Retrieve John's Heart. John's always been lonely. A story told in two chapters, each chapter a double drabble for the SGA birthday bash Let me go by mific | gen, fanart “Rodney,” Sheppard said quietly. “Let me go.” “Shut the fuck up.” “Rodney, we’re both going to fall,” Sheppard said urgently. “If you keep wriggling like a stupid fish on a line, we will.” “Rodney, let me go.” He craned his head and smiled. “It’s okay.” Two Podfics: Do Not Open and Empty Stars by Tazmy | mcshep Two podfics of two episode tags, each focusing on John's darker side. Do Not Open - Tag for Miller's Crossing. John reflects on his feelings for Rodney and why he could not let Rodney sacrifice himself. Answers such questions as why did McKay need to use someone else's key card. Empty Stars - Tag for The Eye. John reflects on his past actions while seeing how torture affects McKay. Cover Art for Two Podfics: “Do Not Open” and “Empty Stars” [Podfics and Fics] by cassiope25 | mcshep Cover Art for two of Tazmy's podfics and an illustration for her stories "Do Not Open" and "Empty Stars". Author's summary Two podfics of two episode tags, each focusing on John's darker side.

[the-cat-chat]

July 20, 2024

Cast Away (2000)

A FedEx executive undergoes a physical and emotional transformation after crash landing on a deserted island.

Warning: Review may contain spoilers. Read at your own risk.

JayBell: There are so many things about this movie that I love. The first part of the movie shows how much Tom Hanks' character is on the go go go. He's all about efficiency and productivity. Everything is on a schedule, even his personal life. At the same time, he's also a bit of a romantic.

It takes a while to build up to the big crash, but it's great for character building and raising the anticipation. The plane crash scene has pretty good special effects, even by today's standards.

I'm a big fan of survival movies, so I do love watching Tom Hanks' character make mistakes, learn, face setbacks, overcome obstacles. Having Wilson as a way for his character to bond with another "person" is so smart. Although it is strange to be sad about a man's relationship with a volleyball, it's done so well. You really feel like Wilson is the only thing keeping his character sane.

Usually with movies like this, it ends when they get "rescued." I like that they show some of his character's adjustment back into society. (the seafood dinner with food carelessly leftover, the lighter, the too soft mattress, him guzzling water from a bottle).

I only have a few gripes about this movie. One, why are there zero animals or bugs on the island? Yes, there are fish. But nothing else at all? Even a small scene of him killing a bug or chasing off an animal would be cool.

And second, I do think his girlfriend moves on a bit too fast, especially without the closure of his recovered body. If you do some of the math, she basically "grieves" for like 6 months or so, and some of those months were spent still trying to find him. I agree that they shouldn't get back together in the end, but I my brain couldn't help but do the math at the same time.

But I do feel like the ending fits. Now, Tom Hanks' character isn't on a schedule, he doesn't have a plan, which is so different from how he treated life in the beginning of the movie. And I like how the angel artist lady is included throughout the movie before finally appearing at the end, as if it was "meant to be."

P.S. RIP Wilson

P.P.S. I couldn't help but notice as he drives in the final scenes of the movie, he has a brand new Wilson. What on earth is he planning to do? Create a new Wilson with a face and talk to it and carry it around in society? Use it for volleyball? Doesn't that seem disrespectful? idk

Rating: 7.5/10 cats 🐈

Anzie: As this is my second time writing this review bc obviously the universe hates me and disagrees with my opinion on this ammmazing movie, this will be scathing. I hated it I don’t even wanna be nice anymore. I thought it was funny how Tom Hanks was obsessed with time and then forced to be on an island where time really is an illusion. I like the start when he’s still running fedex (totally thought he was ups but whatever) and the plane crash was really well done for the time and then when he’s on the island I start getting peeved. Has this mannnnn ever seen Naked and Afraid. Where’s the fire- it took him so long. He should’ve been a Boy Scout. Uggg. And the knocking his own tooth out. I’m triggered. And loosing Wilson. Lame. He so could got him. This is like Jack and Rose all over again.

And now my reallllll problem. I will not ever be able to watch Helen Hunt again. Okkk. So this guy that gives you a ring the last time you saw him on Christmas right as he’s boarding a plane that will crash- is stuck on an island for 4 years. Ok - Her kid is 2 years old - it takes 9 months to make a baby- ok so we’re already back in time where there’s 1 year and 2 months when she could’ve been hung up over him- soooo in the year following his disappearance- say she waited a month or two for them to find him- okkk we’re at a year grieved another 2 months- quick but okkkkkk met his Root Canal Dentist- which wowwwww- had a wonderful romance so in like 8/10 months after he was missing- I’m sooo sorry she got over him being missing grieved and dated and married this guy would is literally her fiancé nemesis and had a kid wayyyyy to quick. I mean I do t think I ever did anything so quick in my life everrrr. And I still can’t look at Chris Noth. I’m done. For my sanity I have to be. None of the math makes sense to read but you get it. After 2 months??? I think I’ve been dedicated to listening to a song on repeat longer than that.

I am glad he had his little friend to come back to- and I did like the whole angel wings artist lady plot but that veers to unhealthy kinnnnnda???

Rating: I can’t- it had 4/10- but for my mental health now it’s a 2/10 Crabs 🦀

[firedjinni]

tell me about your rw ocs!!

:D sure!

The main ones I've been doodling are Three Rivers and the Administrator (AKA Mini), who basically spawned out of faffing around in a giant doc of iterator headcanons. (I was trying to work out how an "off the string" scenario could be done with my particular headcanon interpretations of iterators and their puppets, and brain basically made up a guy, lol.)

Three Rivers is an iterator who manages to eventually remove their own taboos (and later goes off the string) via a very risky and roundabout plan:

Reassign abandoned citizen ID drones to a bunch of reasonably intelligent organisms

Do this enough times to establish the minimum number of "citizens" needed to revive a specific voting council

Have the "citizens" vote in a (rigged) election to promote one trusted organism (in this case, a personally selected and hand raised slugcat - that's Mini!) to the rank of Junior Administrator (Senior admin requires tougher credentials for approval, unfortunately)

Get your new Junior Administrator to disable the basic antivirus security and administer a homemade taboo-erasing retrovirus into your systems! Preferably foolproof this step as much as possible so even a slugcat with limited understanding of iterator technology can still carry it out effectively.

The security system flags your new administrator for "suspicious behavior" and "genetic ID mismatch" partway through the infection process, puts the rest of the facility into lockdown, and demands senior admin access to restore basic functionality

Uh

Whoops

That wasn't supposed to happen--

Ironically, TR wasn't even trying to get "off the string" at the time - she just wanted to be able to upgrade and maintain her own facility beyond what her own very limited system privileges allowed her, and the whole mobile puppet thing was kind of an afterthought? But once half the structure stopped cooperating and the inspectors kept trying to kill her little administrator, well... there were only so many options left.

So, using what limited resources they still had control over, they made a traveling puppet (yay self-modification!) and ditched their failing structure to set off out into the world, followed by a small entourage of slugcats and scavengers. The others don't have designs yet, but I feel like that would be a whole post all on its own, lol...

I'm still working on a design for the traveling puppet, but the idea is that it's basically derived/reconstructed from the same base organism used to create normal iterator puppets, just bigger, more robust, and generally capable of surviving independently of the superstructure! (The concept was loosely inspired by the likes of @/ikayblythe's reiterator AU, haha)

Due to the state of the facility, though, it's something of a rush job. It looks cool, but the mouth goes nowhere and is just for show, and it still has to manually flush slag by running a bunch of water through the pseudolymphatic system and directly dumping the Microbial Waste Goop out the back ports, and some of the other internal components are... not terribly efficient... and they had to ditch so much processing power to get this thing up and running before time ran out, but hey, it works, so cool proof of concept, right? Right??

anyway her nearest neighbor eventually catches this on an overseer and just about shits a brick lol

[yasmijn]

The importance of consuming before producing

I have been thinking a lot about this idea. A friend once asked me about how to consistently write - back then I answered: you just do. Write. Anything that comes to mind, just write it down. Then it'll come naturally to you, you'll think less, and you'll get better at finding your words and structuring your sentences.

But the more I think about it, there is another crucial thing that you need to do and would greatly impact how you write: You need to read.

Read critically. Look up the unfamiliar words you found on your dictionary. See how the author positions his/her sentence. How they build suspense, how they scatter the important details here and there instead of writing them in bullet points. Understand how they are able to tell their story in such way that one is hesitant to pause their reading. Try to understand what it is about the writing that you like, what makes it so good and engaging, and find ways to replicate the same effect in your writing.

Definitely works in any kind of writings - whether it is a news article, a research report, a novel, a short story, a poem, an email, even a text! When you consume a writing, you don't just digest it as is. Ask yourself: What is the objective of this writing? What idea is trying to be conveyed to me? How is it done so efficiently? Or instead, why is this writing so bad? What can I do to not replicate this effect?

In a verbal medium, you should also start by learning to listen. Listen and learn from the other person - What ideas are they trying to convey? How do they structure their ideas? How to convey them in a way that does not intimidate or offend the other person?

I do think that speaking is a lot more complex than writing as a choice of communication. I mean, people basically have to write things down before speaking them - whether with a literal pen on a piece of paper or an imaginary one in the back of your brain.

Let's start reading and listening more mindfully, and critically.

[spareparts-vn]

Hi! I'm really enjoying Spare Parts. I really appreciate how it has so much heavy drama, but it never feels oppressively dour or meaningless. There's plenty of more comedic or otherwise lighter moments that don't feel out of place, too. Can I ask as a wannabe writer myself, do you have any tips or processes for writing such effective drama?

thank you! i'm very bad at giving writing advice. i've written and deleted this post half a dozen times already. it's pretty hard to lay my thoughts out since my process is so tangled up in my brain's very specific eccentricities. so here's some extremely scattered thoughts that loosely connect to how i write "drama," which in my mind is just an extension of any compelling relationship between characters.

1) "iteration" is my main thing. write a bad draft, then edit it to be better, then edit it to be better, then edit it to be better, then erase the whole thing and write another bad draft that's slightly better, then edit that one to be better, then edit it to be better, then do that 100 more times until you have an epiphany that ties it all together. it's not very efficient but it helps me identify what works and what doesn't so i can hone in on what's interesting to me. in the context of drama, that means i can write out an argument between two characters and ask myself if it hits on anything compelling. if it doesn't, i scrap it, but if there's some feeling there that i want to flesh out, i can restructure it to pivot around that.

2) similar to the previous one, but i try to start broad and narrow my focus over time. taking two characters' relationship as an example, i'll start from the most generic interpretation of how they relate to one another and start adding nuance/complexity over time. i think of it like a life drawing, if you've ever taken a class for that. you want to start with the gesture of the pose first, then start to fill in shapes and values until the foundation is solid. you go around the whole drawing adding details in bits and pieces, rather than focusing on one body part and fleshing it out to completion first. you can slowly choose where to exaggerate shapes or darken shadows to add a little more visual flair to it. in telling a story, these details can often play out and develop through the course of the narrative.

2.5) this is an aside, but during my brief stint in art school, i once turned in a self-portrait for a life drawing assignment that i was really unhappy with. i spent so much time working and reworking it that it looked really smudgy from all the erased lines, but i was too stubborn to start drawing on a new piece of paper. i was very anxious about turning it in for critique, but the professor surprised me by saying that he liked the ethereal quality it had from all the eraser marks. that there was something interesting in how obvious it was that i'd redone it so many times, allowing the evidence of previous attempts to leave traces in the final image. that comment always stuck with me. i think of life, and art by extension, as additive in nature. you can't completely erase the past, so as time moves forward your canvas become more and more dense with information, even if it's been scrubbed away. relationships are the same, which i try to convey when writing my characters. the longer you write them, the more friction and drama will naturally fall out of them. so don't be afraid to start simple, you might surprise yourself with the sort of feelings that appear without you realizing it.

3) i try to imagine a person who would become psychotically obsessed with every possible pairing of characters. what would they find interesting in this dynamic? how could i give them something to chew on? how could i surprise them, or entice them to think about their relationship deeper? in spapa's case, there's obviously a lot of interplay between the most central characters, but i have internal dossiers on every obscure pair of characters that most people won't think about. but that means i'm going to write more about them and flesh them out, so the web grows more complex and interesting. (i've developed a fixation on a secret ship that i'm hungry to explore, but probably won't get the chance to for a while. i'll leave you to speculate on what that is.) every character's growth and experience is shaped by their relationships, so tugging on those threads can reveal things about my characters i hadn't realized before. and sometimes those threads are connected to sticks of dynamite, which explode. and then you get lucy and melanie yelling at each other, even though their first interactions don't really suggest they'd end up there.

4) i'm the type of person who struggle to resist cracking a joke when i think of one, no matter how inappropriate the timing is. i've seen some critique of spapa that jokes occasionally feel misplaced in really serious scenes, but personally, i think they're important! people are complicated and can have multiple modes of thought/expression at once. sometimes when you're in the middle of the biggest sobbing breakdown of your life you'll think something stupid and mundane that snaps you back to reality for a second. sometimes you're having the best day of your life and you'll suddenly remember The Incident and have to just brush it off. i try to reflect those sorts of weird moments in my writing.

5) i lean a lot on my experience in writing fanfic/doing roleplay of characters/ships that i'm interested in. taking the dynamic that's presented in the source material and bending it to suit my interests more, or to flesh out ideas that i want to explore through them as a medium. every now and then it helps to take a step back and assess what parts of my story i've built i feel are most compelling or could use some more attention. what scenes i would write fanfic of, and how i can place them in the story itself or build up to something that paints those scenes in the reader's mind. i just love characters. they're little toys i can make do anything

6) i guess overall my approach is very naturalistic/holistic. i let characters develop themselves and create drama on their own, just by being complicated little animals and thinking about them a lot. then i can take those shapes they make and mold them into something more refined. i try to treat everything as a piece of the whole. let the threads get really tangled up and leave a lot of time for exploring what those knots look like and how you might try to de-tangle them. but meanwhile there's other knots forming too. there's no getting it completely organized but you learn a lot about the mess while trying to pull it apart. the process is essential. the end product should reflect that process in whatever ways feel appropriate. imo

i don't know if Any Of This Shit makes any sense or is helpful. like i said, i've rewritten this several times already, and i've gotta do other stuff today, so hopefully you could pull something useful out of it lmao

[smallearthboundfindings]

"now ask about ness for an equally long essay" formally requesting the essay ^__^ unless other people got the same idea to ask about him and in which case go with any other main character you feel like doing (although the more obscure ones have been fun to read/think about)!

Woo, Ness the Bess, let's go!! (Nope, no other Ness requests yet!)

Unfortunately, now I am faced with a new problem: I have TOO much material to work with! (Ness's section alone on my headcanons doc is 5 pages, 12px Times New Roman, Double Spaced.)

But you know what? I’ll just pick the one I can elaborate on the most. It also goes into a larger theory of mine, so here goes: this one's about Ness's homesickness status effects, a few other things, and the implications this has on how PSI works as a whole.

Here's the original snippet from my doc:

"Explaining his homesickness status, [Ness] has a tendency to become overwhelmed under stress, which can either weaken, disable, or throw his powers completely out of his control to spark out randomly by his emotional state. Remembering home is just the most common manifestation of what his brain will try to calm him down with but, ironically, this tends to just make the problem worse due to his sentimentality."

I’ll elaborate upon this because I think it has more to be said.

PSI is clearly heavily linked to its user’s emotions. For one, the magic butterfly that restores it is stated to “make Ness and his friends relax”. This implies that a calm mind is required to use psychic moves. Not only that, but there is also the “Can’t Concentrate” status condition, which, guess what? Disables psychic moves. These combined with the fact that things like homesickness can cause missed attacks show that, yes, emotional state absolutely has an effect on the moves. If you are not stable enough, they simply will not work.

Look at Giygas (corrupted form), for example, who clearly is not controlling any of those moves you cannot comprehend the true form of. They seem almost random and for his clear chaotic state of disarray, it makes sense that the attacks become just as random.

So emotional disarray can either disable your powers, make you use them less efficiently, or throw them at random it seems.

Now, most of the time, Ness is a pretty jolly kid, but you know he is absolutely emotionally driven by his family (has to call both his mom and his dad to do well). And something interesting about the homesickness status, is that it’s only relevant in the middle of the game. See, I’m copy-pasting but the stats on that are as follows:

Level 1-15: 0/256

Level 16-30: 3/256

Level 31-75: 2/256

Level 76-99: 0/256

Here’s what I think is happening here…

At first, he’s very close to home, so no problem! He’s just like, “Yay! Adventure! :D :D”

But once he’s out of Onett, then he starts thinking, “Am I out of my mind? Is this too far? What if?” And it’s clear he thinks these things too if not evidently clear by Lumine Hall’s dialogue. He clearly puts a lot of pressure on himself to keep the others safe at a certain point where it is no longer just fun and games until he has actually and literally fought his inner doubts in Magicant and returns sure of himself and brave (aka. the Lv. 76-99 range).

So yeah, that’s what I think! Ness was not always the best with his powers because he channelled his sentimentality in the wrong way. It’s not that he couldn’t be sentimental, being sweet is part of his character! Look at his Magicant and he’s clearly still trying to justify Porky no matter all he’s done. He has so much optimism in the world, yet doubts in himself, ironically. He seems like the type to mask these doubts in his humor but if becomes too large, he simply cannot bottle it further. It’s just that he had to learn to believe in himself to be able to calm his nerves from the inside.

PSI users also accidentally using PSI under emotional distress is also great for angst. Just imagine one of them clearly trying to hide they feel scared or something but little flecks of colors are just sparking off of them, making it clear to their friends that something’s wrong but they don’t know what? Oh, that’s good for the angst. I could say something really heartbreaking about Claus now. But I won’t! Cause this ain’t about him!

But anyway, there’s your PSI/Ness’s homesickness essay! Hope that was essay-y enough for you! Thanks for asking!