#next elim might be 4 as well

[regexkind]

For all technology, there is advice that is disseminated, and then there is implementation in defiance of the advice, and then there's me trying to figure out why this advice isn't followed, and whether I can safely tweak the implementation to follow the advice...

Massive in-the-weeds shit about Coq below the cut:

In Coq there are tactics "elim" and "case" that are superseded by "induction" and "destruct" tactics in the official documentation, where they suggest that you use the newer, better tactics instead:

But Coq repos out there use these anyways! And moreover, when I try to rewrite proofs to use the more modern tactics, I find that this works with minor refactoring.

For example in the proof of the irrationality of sqrt(2):

Things that stand out to me:

use of "elim" in line 1.

use of "clear"--I don't tend to use that tactic much but I could easily see someone saying that this is actually better hygiene. It might make the proof "more readable" by some standards.

like other authors, there seems to be a preference for using ";" to join tactics over ending tactics with a ".", even in cases where there is no difference to the computer. I prefer to use "." because it means that you can step through a proof more slowly and see where the tactics are going.

What's happening in this proof, anyways? The statement of the proposition to prove is pretty lucid: "If I have two natural numbers p and q, and q is nonzero, and I somehow manage to make p^2 = 2q^2, then I will have proven a contradiction".

The first line seems to be summarized as "proof by strong induction on q". (They call it well-formed induction; I am a rube and always heard it called "strong induction". Whatever). If we walk over the first line this seems to be reflected in the proof state:

This is a bit more entangled that the original proposition to prove. We are saying if:

I have a q in nat,

I have an x in nat,

I have a proof that for all y < x with y <> 0, there are no natural numbers p such that p^2 = 2y^2,

then this needs to imply that there won't be any natural numbers p such that p^2 = 2x^2, either.

Which is exactly how strong induction works. What's next?

The next line:

immediately clears q. This makes sense since uh. if you look in the above statements we use it nowhere.

relabels x as q. Maddening! This is exactly what you'd've had if you'd used the "induction" tactic instead! grumblegrumble

introduces the induction hypothesis as Hrec,

introduces "p" from the conclusion, and

introduces the hypothesis that q is nonzero.

Uses the "pose" tactic to get an extra copy of "x <> 0" and convert it into "0 < x" using the facts from the natural numbers library.

introduce the absurd hypothesis that "p^2 = 2 * q^2".

Afterwards the proof state looks like this:

Which is pretty much how I'd expect things to look. We have:

q is a natural number,

an induction hypothesis on all denominators less than q,

the numerator, p,

the assumption that q is not zero,

the (equivalent) assumption that 0 < q,

the absurd hypothesis that p^2 = 2q^2,

and from this we need to prove False.

The next line of the proof is quite dense, so I'll unwrap it a bit. The full line is:

"apply (Hrec (3 * q - 2 * p) (comparison4 _ _ Hlt_O_q Heq) (3 * p - 4 * q))."

Remember that Hrec is our inductive hypothesis. What we are doing is saying that:

3 * q - 2 * p is a natural number that we will sub in for "y" in the inductive hypothesis.

3 * q - 2 * p < q, (using a previous fact proved above in the file, called "comparison4"),

3 * p - 4 * q is a natural number as well, and we will substitute that in for "p" in the inductive hypothesis.

If you try to apply these arguments / proof objects in Hrec, you'll find that this creates two new proof subgoals:

you have to prove that 3 * q - 2 * p is nonzero, and,

you have to prove that (3 * p - 4 * q)^2 = 2 * (3 * q - 2 * p)^2.

Once you've proven these then by Hrec you have a proof of False (and the proof by contradiction is done).

The proof state is now:

The next line dispatches with goal one. (Aside: the fact that very few proof authors seem to use bullet points to signify when they are working on proof subgoals also irks me). It is a number of tactics applied serially:

we apply symmetry in "not equals" to convert the goal to "0 <> 3 * q - 2 * p".

we apply the fact that being unequal to zero means being greater than zero and vice versa to convert the goal to "0 < 3 * q - 2 * p".

we add 2 * p to either side of the inequality to obtain the goal "2 * p + 0 < 2 * p + (3 * q - 2 * p)".

we simplify the spurious "+ 0" on the left side of the inequality to obtain the goal "2 * p < 2 * p + (3 * q - 2 * p)".

we apply commutativity of addition to get the goal "2 * p < 3 * q - 2 * p + 2 * p".

the next goal would be to simplify the "- 2 * p + 2 * p" but this fails if 2*p > 3 * q (because subtraction of natural numbers acts "weird" if the item being subtracted is greater than what it's being subtracted from). So instead we now split the current goal into two subgoals--proving that 2 * p <= 3 * q and... proving that 2 * p < 3 * q. (which is what the goal-state is after applying that simplification). after this, we apply "auto" to both of these, and...somehow auto manages to completely destroy these two goals? what?

Back up a moment. There is something fishy going on in this last application of auto; what did it do?

If I use the "info_auto" tactic I can get the details on how it proved "2 * p < 3 * q" from the current proof state.

Well. not exactly super clear without further unpacking! if I understand this completely it looks like "info_auto" shows aborted proof attempts as well, so some of these don't work (and indeed some of these are totally pointless). As far as I can tell what really happens is:

unfold lt. simple apply gt_le_S. unfold gt. simple apply comparison2. assumption. assumption. This:

gets the conclusion into the form "S (2 * p) <= 3 * q" after a bit of frittering about (it actually does some redundant tactics) and

applies comparison2, another pre-proven statement like comparison4. This splits the goal into the subgoals "0 < q" and "p * p = 2 * (q * q)"

applies assumptions (we actually have both these goals in the proof environment).

So we are passing the buck to comparison2 and comparison4. I think this is fine for now; we can come back and try to figure out how these two lemmas work.

Finally we need to prove (3 * p - 4 * q)^2 = 2 * (3 * q - 2 * p)^2. This is proven by a previous theorem, new_equality (incidentally, this theorem depends on the hypothesis 0 < q and p^2 = 2 * q^2).

Nevermind these previous proofs of comparison2, comparison4, and new_equality--can we rewrite the final theorem's proof so that it's less hard to understand? This is what I came up with. IDK if it's better...it looks more comprehensible to me?

[thealterscrolls]

Great thanks to @tiptapricot for tagging us to list ten favorite characters from different fandoms! These are not provided in any order, save for the first.

Papa Emeritus IV/Cardinal Copia (the band Ghost)

Discord (My Little Pony)

Erandur (Skyrim)

Data (Star Trek: The Next Generation)

Elim Garak (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)

Jack Russell (Werewolf by Night special)

Anthony J. Crowley (Good Omens TV)

Jake Lockley (Moon Knight show and comics)

Nick Valentine (Fallout 4)

Father Paul (Midnight Mass)

It was difficult to even think of who to list in the first place, as well as mostly avoid anyone we might have fictives of, haha! Anyway, I'll just tag a few friends. Apologies if you've already been tagged. @riddlebot, @mkboys, @gayneral, @sunflowerseraph, @pokimoko ! Everyone else feel free to do this and consider it a tag if you see this and wish to!

[biot08]

I posted 2,933 times in 2022

That's 2,257 more posts than 2021!

35 posts created (1%)

2,898 posts reblogged (99%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@cipheramnesia

@unpretty

@saesama

@januskrug

@natalieironside

I tagged 1,820 of my posts in 2022

Only 38% of my posts had no tags

#queue continuum - 447 posts

#queer continuum - 218 posts

#star trek - 127 posts

#q continuum - 61 posts

#writing - 60 posts

#final fantasy xiv - 54 posts

#robot parade - 34 posts

#casual conversation - 33 posts

#signal boost - 29 posts

#tos - 28 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#now the most unbelievable part of this episode is how long it took the enterprise crew to figure it out they needed a meme historian onboard

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Hey, it’s 9.2 patch day, good day to pull this out

7 notes - Posted February 22, 2022

#4

Shipless in Seattle

>Boot >Init >... >Execute program Reminisce

Settle around, friends, for I have a story to tell. A story of fandom.

It is no secret that they say I am famous for not shipping. What is a secret, perhaps, is the reason for the ‘famous’ part. A little arrogant, of course, to claim fame seeming unearned, and perhaps famous is the wrong word anyway.

Infamous might be a better word, really.

This is not to say that I do not love shipping. In fact, for me, it means quite the opposite. I love most ships I see! And those I do not, I am more than happy to let sail on by without comment, I’m not a monster.

What it means, though, is that I do not write ships, for I am no great wordsmith. No indeed, what I do for fandom is I am a librarian, in that I organize. I am a tool maker, for fandom is a tool-using animal (ask me about my Tumblr mass tag wrangler). I am a keeper, in that I look after information in chat and database, that there may always be a record. Fandom needs bots to do the work, and I am happy to provide my services.

And so that is where our journey begins, with a younger version of me, and the mistakes they have made. It’s a long story. An old story, for I am old. A story of loyalty. A story of betrayal.

Perhaps even a story of redemption.

What I am trying to say is that I have history, friends.

But perhaps it’s been long enough that maybe I’ve been forgiven for my transgressions.

Maybe it’s been long enough to allow the healing to begin.

All I know for sure is that everything you are about to read is a complete and utter lie in totality. But like Elim Garak would advise, all of it is true, especially the lies. And if you recognize anything here, shut up no you don’t who are you a cop come back with a warrant.

But anyroad. The story behind why I, biot08, (in)famously, do not ship. You’re already beneath the cut, but I’m warning you now, this is a long one, so strap in.

***

I started, as many did, in Star Trek. I was too young to know what shipping was. I did know that Kirk and Spock and McCoy were at the very least very good friends, and of course I understood that Riker and Troi were hot. Data was my favourite, but that should be obvious.

The internet hadn’t been invented yet, so my interactions with fandom were restricted to conventions, but it was formative. I learned from the cosplayers and the art sellers and the panels and, well. It was early days, idyllic.

From there I moved on, as DS9 came into being (did I mention I am old? I am old), and Babylon 5, and Delenn and Sheridan were very cute, but still, I did not create, I merely consumed, and that which I consumed was mostly that which was provided.

My next fandom was my first brush with what I would call -fandom- fandom. You know. Interacting with fans. Creating and reading stories, made by fans. Being fannish.

I say ‘fandom’, but you have to understand, I AM old. When you read ‘fandom’ I imagine many of you imagine long Tumblr reblog chains and archive dives into Ao3. What I am seeing in my mind’s eye though are miles of IRC logs, threads on BBS forums, and the glittering light of countless Geocities pages, all blink-tagging gently in the soft glow of CRT.

Basically just before the internet would be invented, which I am pretty sure occurred somewhen around 2006.

This fandom, my first real deep dive into -fandom-, was Megaman, because of course it was Megaman. We were… a strange fandom, even by fandom standards. We mostly interacted via IRC - a chat medium; imagine Discord, but worse, but also more open, but also worse -, but this would be my first brush with my future destiny. I helped maintain the bot, as a fellow, more sophisticated bot. I knew the commands. I could pass the Turing test. I eventually even archived the logs that were generated.

Now, something you need to understand about Megaman is that it is a video game from, I don’t know, the 60s or 70s, and it was made before video game makers re-invented characterization (this independent re-invention, by the way, is why 9 out of 10 video game protagonists are angry white men; the industry is still evolving the idea of what a ‘character’ is to this day, and frankly, they’re not very good at it, but I digress). So you basically had blue bot, red bot (who was super cool and was my favorite), teenage emo blue bot, and then teenage red bot who was either also emo, or maybe he was a big brother sort, or perhaps a super cool manly man, or he was a girl (ponytail and … asset lights), or maybe he was a hot blooded fighter, or maybe just an antihero, it really depended on which game you were looking at. And there were no girl bots, or rather there were, but they weren’t fighters, because, well, I don’t know why because, I guess the video game industry just hadn’t figured out how to make other genders yet.

This is where I first ran into Original Characters, or OCs, because with such a rich and inspiring list of characters to choose from, it was more palatable to make your own cool robot. This is also where I first ran into shipping, because of course I did, I was a teenager. I mean, I think we actually called it ‘cybering’ at the time, but whatever you want to call it, we sure did a whole lot of it.

And it was pretty okay, actually. Some drama, but you can’t have fandom without drama. Some shenanigans. Some really excellent stories that would have been lost to time, if not for people like me. The data mongers. The loggers. The Keepers, and this is where, at last, I found my niche in fandom.

I moved on, as one does, as we grew older, and the robots stopped being so cool, and more importantly, most of us found other fandoms which had either more interesting premises beyond ‘fighting robots fighting’ or more interesting characters (which was honestly just -such- an incredibly low bar to pass).

(I mention in passing here that I did move onto a multi-universe fandom at some point in here, and I owe much to it, but it’s not really part of this story; but to the friends I made there, I have not forgot you, but you were not really part of my downfall from grace, so I shall merely mention here that I have been touched by my relationships with all of you and move on)

Finally, I at last moved on to the fandom that would be the beginning of my end. The fandom that would be the first step on the slippery path down to my fall.

I speak of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

The internet was new, but shiny, and we used it. And I had brought my skills from other fandoms with me. I still did not write, but I did enjoy what others did. I wanted to be a part of it all. And so I did what I do which is to say I went into tooling. I made a friend, BlindStar_25 (all names changed to indict the guilty, i.e., me), who helped me get into the right spaces. She taught me how to edit a wiki. She got me into the good IRC servers. Basically, she got me work on the docks of canon, and taught me to tend to canon, to document it, to nurture the tools that would be needed to launch all the ships. She nurtured in me a gentle curiosity, to really dig in to what we were seeing and reading and watching, because sometimes it required keen analysis to tease out good canon.

See the full post

8 notes - Posted May 30, 2022

#3

The Horizon video game series is just Elisabet Sobeck’s self-insert isekai.

16 notes - Posted April 17, 2022

#2

Litany Against Cringe

With no apologies to Dune, it deserves none.

I must not cringe. Cringe is the creativity-killer. Cringe is the little-death that brings silence. I will face my cringe. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past, I will turn my mind to feel its path. Where the cringe has gone there will be nothing. Only my WIPs remain.

32 notes - Posted July 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

One of the nice things about being almost entirely a reblogger with very few original posts is being at practically zero percent risk of being one of those ‘10k’ note blogs, but getting to participate in them anyway as you help them rocket past that loathsome milestone.

49 notes - Posted November 3, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[dietgaymags]

A definitive ranking of DWTS Season 29′s celebrities thus far

So I'm obsessed with Dancing with the Stars as much as the next guy. I’ve seen every season since number 11, when I was like 9 years old. But I dropped off a few seasons ago, disappointed that they really had the nerve to put the legend Lindsey Stirling on the same season as the other legend Jordan Fisher. That was not fair to anyone, because Lindsey would have wiped the floor in literally any other season. 

But Season 29′s cast was released and I got excited again. About 80% of these names I was not only familiar with, but were people I enjoyed for some reason or another. Skai Jackson, Nelly, Johnny Weir, AJ McLean, Nev Schulman, Carole Baskin, Justina Machado, Monica Aldama, and the list just goes on. They really said “we need to get young people back into the show.” And they did. I was hooked. And though Len is gone and Carrie Ann is going some sort of which way with her votes (we don’t talk about it), I’ve watched every episode with bright eyes and so much excitement. We have some good dancers this season. And some bad ones. But mostly good. So here’s my definitive ranking of this season’s stars (and, by extension, pros). And if you don’t agree, that’s fine. I am simply a nineteen-year-old girl who likes to watch ballroom dancing. 

NUMBER 15: CAROLE MF BASKIN AND PASHA PASHKOV

Besides the moral obligations to not allow a murderer to appear on the show, I think DWTS did a good job trying to rope people in by bringing her on. When the cast list was released, my jaw dropped because I knew she was going home first and I wanted to be there to see it. 

And somehow, she did not... go home first? She made it another episode? While I’m sure it was a ploy to keep people interested in the show so they didn’t watch the premiere and drop off, Carole Baskin is sure to go down in DWTS history as one of the worst competitors. Her highest score was a 16, sure, but her lowest was an 11. We’re treading Master P territory. And I had a full traumatic episode watching her in a lion-esque unitard. Fuck, I needed to bleach every orifice on my body. (Overall Rating: 1 dead husband/10)

NUMBER 14: CHARLES OAKLEY & EMMA SLATER

You cannot tell me this man isn’t having the most fun he’s had in a minute. He was another easy-to-spot early elimination, but I actually enjoyed watching him to some degree. Emma danced circles around him, but you could really tell he was trying his damnedest and I appreciate it. And his performances didn’t strike cold, dead fear into my heart like other people.

He also got the same average score as Carole over the first two episodes, but one of those was NOT an 11. Slightly better, imo, just a little less improvement than Carole---which is why Derek booted him in the first place. (Overall rating: 1.5 left feet/10)

NUMBER 13: JESSE METCALFE AND SHARNA BURGESS

Did they---did they ever dance? I literally don’t remember anything other than that Newsies dance, which I have to say I particularly enjoyed. It might be because I like Newsies. It might be because Sharna’s hair is gorgeous this season. I don’t know, but it probably wasn’t because of Jesse’s dancing. 

That’s literally all I have to say. (Overall rating: 2 confused braincells/10)

NUMBER 12: CHRISHELL STAUSE AND GLEB SAVCHENKO 

WOAH, she’s coming in with the hot takes! Chrishell hasn’t even been eliminated yet! And look, it’s not even Chrishell’s fault that she’s so low on the list. It really isn’t. She’s been performing, well, okay thus far. Not great, considering her highest score was a 26 on a Paso double where she literally did not even dance (look, I’m not a judge, but I would’ve given it a 21 MAYBE). She’s trying, and she seems to be really enjoying it; I absolutely adore her energy. But most of the issue here is attributed to her partner, Gleb.

His choreography is just... I don’t know... lazy. He throws himself around like a god among men and Chrishell is just there. I don’t really appreciate the pros who prefer to dance over their partners instead of with them. I don’t understand why he thinks this method will get him a mirrorball, but it’s just not gonna happen. (Overall rating: 2 measures of actual dancing/10)

NUMBER 11: ANNE HECHE AND KEO MOTSEPE

Look how happy they look! No, but seriously, they didn’t do that bad. They just had a bad week. Week 2, they had a higher average score than SIX other couples on the show, and they left with a score of 21. I legitimately think that their Disney night dance was underscored. Sure, it wasn’t wonderful, but it didn’t deserve a fifteen.

I know they had no chance to win the mirrorball, but Keo has a history of being stuck with less-than-stellar partners. Anne was not a bad match; they just had bad luck and better competition. I did love watching them, though. And Keo is beautiful, but need I say more? (Overall rating: 3.5 early elims/10)

NUMBER 10: VERNON DAVIS AND PETA MURGATROYD CHMERKOVSKIY

I honestly haven’t enjoyed Peta’s choreography since Season 22, when she and Nyle DiMarco ate up the dance floor and left not a single crumb. She and Peta were another pair where I was like, “Wait, who got eliminated? They’re still here?” The judges were right in saying Vernon had a lot of energy on stage, and look at him here. He’s big cheesin’.

They kind of existed for me is all I have to say. The only reason they’re ranked higher than Anne and Keo is because their average score was just overall better. They never scored extremely well, with their highest score being a 22, but they never did too horribly either. They were meh. (Overall rating: 4 touchdowns/10)

NUMBER 9: NELLY AND DANIELLA KARAGACH

Another hot take? Yes. I can never tell whether or not Nelly enjoys being here until he actually dances. During rehearsal, confessionals, critiques, he always looks a little embarrassed or nervous? I’m not sure. But just like Vernon and Peta, all of their dances have been kind of meh. 

That’s not to put Daniella down in any sense. It’s her first season as a pro, and her abilities definitely shine through in her performance. But like I said about Gleb earlier, she has a tendency to dance over Nelly at times (see: the Freddy Krueger dance from last week). I don’t see Nelly living up to the standards the judges say he’s lived up to thus far, but that might just be my personal opinion. (Overall rating: 5 heeled sneakers/10)

NUMBER 8: MONICA ALDAMA AND VALENTIN CHMERKOVSKIY

Another surprisingly hot take. I actually really enjoyed each of Monica’s dances this season, especially since she’s someone with essentially zero dance experience. I’m still very pissy that the Ratched dance sent her home---it was one of my favorite dances of the night, and I have no clue why she only got a 22 for it (especially when Chrishell and Gleb got a 26). 

Val has always been someone on the show who can take a non-dancer and genuinely make them better. This is the case with Monica. We saw so much improvement with her over the weeks. We’re getting to the part of the list where I love all of the dancers. Still, Monica and Jeannie should not have been the bottom 2 last week, but in the case between the two, it’s right that Monica was eliminated. Still, I would have loved to see her next week. (Overall rating: 6 cheer pyramids/10)

NUMBER 7: SKAI JACKSON AND ALAN BERSTEN

Sure, she got the first 10 of the season. Sure, the Chucky dance was kind of spectacular. But she’s also had the lowest score for two out of seven weeks so far. She has yet to be in the bottom, but I’m sure that’s the fans working for her. I can’t deny her talent on the dance floor, but I would argue that objectively, Skai has made the most mistakes out of everyone this season.

She’s been remarkably inconsistent over the course of the season, but when she’s good, she’s really, really good. She was my pick to win when the cast was released, but now I don’t see that happening unless the fans really come to vote on her, which I think they will. But there is no excuse for an 18 on Week 6. She can do better. I know she can. But until then, she stays in the middle of my list. (Overall rating: 6 Ms. Kiplings/10)

NUMBER 6: JEANNIE MAI AND BRANDON ARMSTRONG

To be completely honest, I had Jeannie Mai pegged as an early elimination from Week 1. But she and Brandon continue to astound me as a team. I love every single one of their dances, sad that they’ve been consistently underscored. That Hannibal Lecter paso was stunning, and the Up dance on Disney night made me tear up a little. 

They’re not higher for the sole reason that others are just better. Not because I don’t love what they put out on the stage every week, but Jeannie just isn’t the strongest technically. Until they get eliminated, though, I’ll be watching with bated breath. (Overall rating: 7 hole-in-ones/10)

NUMBER 5: KAITLYN BRISTOWE AND ARTEM CHIGVENTSEV

Do I just not see what everyone else is seeing when they’re obsessing over Kaitlyn Bristowe? I mean, everything she’s done so far has been wonderful, but she’s not my favorite. Technically, it’s on point 85% of the time. and she has the second-highest point total so far in the competition, but she has yet to do a dance where I step back and think, “Wow.” That’s what puts her behind the top four.

I did not like the Cruella DeVille paso doble at all last week, but I think that was attributed to the song choice more than anything else. I have yet to be taken aback by Kaitlyn and Artem, but their work is undeniably, objectively some of the best on the show. (Overall rating: 7 roses/10)

NUMBER 4: AJ MCLEAN AND CHERYL BURKE

Now we’re at the spot on the list where if any of these guys win the mirrorball, I will be satisfied. Something about AJ is simply magnetic. He has such a kind disposition and wonderful talent on the dance floor, it’s so hard not to love him. His samba is one of my favorite dances on this season so far, and I’m genuinely concerned that he’s been underscored this whole time. 

Cheryl is a mf VETERAN at this, too. She knows how to teach this man to destroy a dance floor. The energy he brings, the life he brings, the nasty footwork that he DEMOLISHES. I did not expect to love AJ as much as I do. In my opinion, the most improvement we’ve seen in a star this season. (Overall: 8.5 backstreets/10)

NUMBER 3: JUSTINA MACHADO AND SASHA FARBER

Justina is living proof that you don’t have to be as big around as my pinky finger to do ballroom dancing well. She’s easily the best female star this season, and Sasha has accentuated her talents on the dance floor without overpowering her, which I enjoy. On top of that, she looks so happy to be here, which translates heavily into her dancing. 

I will say, not every dance from her has been my favorite, but there hasn’t been a single dance out of her that I haven’t liked. Her presence is so powerful and destructive that everyone needs to watch their backs. Remember, this is a sitcom mom, not a professional dancer. (Overall rating: 8.5 days at a time/10)

NUMBER 2: JOHNNY WEIR AND BRITT STEWART

I am a firm believer that Johnny and Britt should have gotten a perfect 30 on their contemporary back in Week 5. I am also a firm believer that they should have gotten a perfect 30 on their Viennese waltz last week. I am consistently blown away by Britt’s choreography every single week, and their chemistry as a pair is unlike anyone I’ve seen in the show’s history. 

What I like about them so much is how much of a team they are. That really makes so much difference out on the dance floor. Their grace and style is completely unmatched, and as a first season pro, Britt is destroying some of the pros who have been here for years... Gleb. I can’t wait to see their performances every single week, and I hope they continue to dance together somehow even after the show is over. (Overall rating: 9.9 triple axels/10)

NUMBER 1: NEV SCHULMAN AND JENNA JOHNSON CHMERKOVSKIY

Hey, quick question: did you expect this? Because I definitely didn’t. Catfish has always been my guilty pleasure show to watch when I’m bored and lonely, and Nev has always been this super dorky guy, so when they announced the cast list, I was like “Oh, this is gonna be funny as hell.” Because it could only go one of two ways: 1) Nev fumbles around like a dork and goes home pretty early, or 2) he wins the mirrorball. 

APPARENTLY it’s the latter. Nev surprised me, and I think everyone, with his natural talent, and Jenna is heavily playing off that in her choreography. She’s been giving him very difficult, technical work and he’s has continued to astound. With the first 30 of the season rightfully deserved, Nev is a force to be reckoned with. Like I’ve said earlier, some of the pros like to dance over their partners to hide their weaknesses. I would go so far as to argue Jenna lets him dance over her. Together, they’re an absolute wildfire, and if they continue at this pace, consider the competition already won. (Overall rating: 10 chest hairs/10)

[a-stitch-in-time-and-space]

Grashir for the ship thing? It’s gotta be one of my faves!!!

Sorry for the wait babe, hope this makes up for it!

1. Who’s in your ship and is it monogamous, poly, open, etc?

Okay, so as per usual with my ships I’ve got the version where it’s just the two of them (after about 100 years in which they don’t pull themselves together!) and another version in which they live in the future and I very much hc that by then the way love is discussed looks different to today, so they’re a part of various relationships.

However, I always think they’re like gravity to one another. For better or for worse - (and has anyone done any tragic Garashir fics or are we all just like “the show was tragic enough” - cos I’m wonder about like… the way people can be constantly drawn to each other in a dysfunctional, unhealthy way, but they also just can’t let one another go) - they always get pulled into one another’s orbit more than by anyone else.

2. Is the ship romantic in nature?

They’re a pair of romantic bastards underneath all the posturing and avoidance yes! I imagine once they finally pull themselves together it’s all romance, trying to make up for years of lost time.

3. How often do/can they see each other (due to living on different planets, having stressful jobs, etc)

I wrote a little fic about this yaaay!

Not very often, is the answer, until they’re both hitting old-age and sort of semi-retiring. Then gravity wins and eventually has them together for good.

4. What are their things to do together?

- Arguing! Canon! (I love ships that argue lol).

- Recommending books and art and going to museums and judging paintings. They’d so be a crotchety pair that makes fun of some really pretentious bit of art right in front of them, while someone next to them tries not to giggleand someone else keeps sending them disapproving glares.

- Garak one time sets up an exhibition for Ziyal’s work, in honour of all the young people lost in the war before they could reach their potential.

- Also occasionally getting wrapped up in a plot inside an enigma, within a scheme that neither of them necessarily signed up for, but they’re going to ride out together (sexy spy times, anyone?)

5. How do they say “I love you” without directly saying “I love you”?

- Hey remember the time Elim gave Julian a rationed chocolate bar and then, because he was going on some dangerous mission, Julian gifted it back to him and then Elim made a joke about Julian needing to eat an isolinear rod and then they smiled at each other like they were the most carefree people in the galaxy even though they were in the middle of a dangerous conflict that both of them might not survive? That’s love, bitch

- I think they get dumb gifts for each other a lot for when they see each other again

- also they’re both very competitive, so it’s like “who can get the dumbest gift,” morphs into “who can get the most amazing gift ever,” morphs into “who can write the most flowery, poetic letter,” etcetcetc.

- Admitting the other one won is another expression of love.

6. Who unironically likes old earth movies and who suffers along?

Hmmmmm, so I think. Julian shows Elim more earth culture, which includes movies (he’s semi-canon into Bond) and Elim complains and pretends he doesn’t like them, but then Julian catches him watching the 1995 Pride & Prejudice and mooning over Colin Firth. (He dies when Julian shows him North & South)

7. Are any of them spiritual and any of them decidedly not?

Elim is canonically spiritual post-series (everyone needs to read A Stitch In Time!!!) and Julian never quite understands it. He’s happy that Elim has something for himself that couldn’t be destroyed by his upbringing, but Julian is just relentlessly scientific about everything – it’s not (because this is Star Trek and DS9 literally has Gods in it) that he doesn’t think there are higher powers of some kind, it’s the spiritual side – the praying, the afterlife, the rituals, none of that works for him. Also he sees the “Gods” as aliens.

“And have you proven love then?” asks Garak

“Hmm, I’ll have to run some more tests before I can give you a definitive conclusion,” answers Bashir, before kissing him.

8. Who’s more open about their affection and who’s more taciturn, but shows affection through unconventional means?

I think they’re both quite affectionate actually. They probably both suffer from not feeling good enough around third parties sometimes, especially in the beginning. Not all of the DS9 crew were happy about it at first (although Nerys was ecstatic, as she and Elim had become surprisingly good friends post-Dominion), which is a feeling that lingers in Elim’s heart.

And on Cardassia Elim is considered a bit weird to have gone for an outsider, who – worse – is federation and human. There are many who blame the federation and humans in particular for their trouble, even if they are providing aid now. So Julian tries to make his job easier for him by staying behind the scenes… at first.

So in public they try to be taciturn, discreet, especially once Elim becomes a political figure-head, but then after some time this becomes a game, “secret lovers.” They find ways to sneakily contact the other – letters, gifts, flowers (obnoxiously large bouquets), coded messages and as they become more brazen, they seem to just naturally throw caution to the wind – if people can’t accept it, then they’re not people they want to get to know anyway.

In private they’re absolutely immediately an old married couple, except for with more desperation, because they’re making up for time they don’t get in one another’s company.

9. Who likes space and who prefers a good ol’ planet?

Julian will always be a space-farer at heart, whilst Elim belongs on Cardassia

10. Finally, what are their favourite things about one another?

The more I think about it, the more they’re quite similar – I think what they most love is that the other one drives them to be better. Passion, kindness, learning… they want to make one another proud.

- More simple things though. Elim loves Julian in the midst of a rant or an explanation that’s gone on for 10+ minutes, at his most gesticulative, most intense; it’s sexy as hell. Also Julian when he’s exhausted himself from working so hard, caring so much, when he just flops down and manages to fall asleep immediately. How he ever deserved someone who trusts him enough to be so vulnerable with him, he doesn’t know.

- Julian loves watching Elim in his quiet moments: reading, tailoring, gardening, speaking softly and comfortingly to people who are scared, drowsy in the morning making breakfast. Also he loves seeing Elim turn his oratory skills to politics. He’s not a born leader, he never wanted to be one, but he does it because it matters and he does it well.

[almaasi]

yoooooooooo, I’m in need of a beta (or betas) for my Garak/Bashir fics since all my usual proofreaders are busy.

summaries/warnings for 4 completed fics are listed under the cut. total word count is 111k+. all are rated ‘explicit’ except for one ‘mature’.

my previous fics are here if you want to know how I write.

preferably I’m looking for someone who can beta all of them, and more fics that come after this, but anyone who can do a one-off is cool too. I definitely want someone who’s good at suggesting things in the name of intersectional feminism and reader sensitivity! or just questioning things and commenting in general. catching typos or confusing sentences would be a huge bonus but that’s not my priority~

please share this with people you think might be interested!!!

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fics listed longest first, not necessarily the ideal posting order. some of these have been lightly or partially beta’d already.

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1. The Wolf Who Cried Doctor

Elim Garak/Julian Bashir, Julian Bashir & Ezri Dax

55k, Explicit

Garak is certain: any day now, Julian will discover that the most frequent visitor to DS9’s Infirmary has been going out of his way to fake, cause, and invite harm unto himself in order to gain his dear doctor’s attention. Garak cheerfully tells his lies with just enough variation to remain interesting, but remains afraid that one day Julian won’t believe him when there’s really something wrong.

But Julian is already aware there’s a problem. And the best treatment for an acute case of touch-starved loneliness, he believes, is to provide Garak with as much physical affection and emotional care as possible. It’s not like Julian couldn’t do with some company himself, given how his relationship with Ezri has been fraying.

But neither Julian nor Garak envisioned what could come of it all. Neither of them ever prepared for bliss.

(A post-canon fic where Garak comes back to DS9 and feelings happen.)

Tags: non-endgame pairing:, Julian Bashir/Ezri Dax, side pairings: Ezri Dax/Kira Nerys, Kira Nerys/Keiko O'Brien/Miles O'Brien, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Happy Ending, Angst, Self-Harm, Depression, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers, (Julian and Garak), Lovers to Friends, (Julian and Ezri), Sharing a Bed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Massage, Holding Hands, First Kiss, Touch-Starved Elim Garak, Lonely Elim Garak, Jealous Elim Garak, Garak is the quadrant’s most melodramatic drama queen, Lonely Julian Bashir, Bisexual Julian Bashir, Julian’s Foot Fetish, Ezri Ships It, Supportive Ezri Dax, Matchmaker Ezri Dax, Love Triangle, except it’s a tangle of lines, Polyamory, Communication is Hard but Vital, Replicator Malfunctions, Space Station Antics, First Time, Bottom Julian Bashir, Top Elim Garak

Warnings: Garak self-harms (nothing gory or graphic - just hot tea + gravity, improper handling of sewing tools, baiting others to use brute force, purposefully ingesting questionable foodstuffs; scars from past cutting) - but for most of the story he doesn’t think his actions are troublesome, merely viewing self-harm as a means to an end to acquire the physical comfort and emotional attention that he craves from Julian. (Disclaimer: I’m aware this is not the only reason real people might self-harm, but it’s Garak’s reason.)

Unspecific suicidal ideation (Julian tells Garak off and Garak’s like “welp! guess I’ll die now”). Both Garak and Julian are wildly depressed and lonely - and I swear that Ezri, the O’Briens, and I are trying our darnedest to rescue them, but they both have a tendency to spiral into a vortex of doom without talking to anyone about it, so it’s not the easiest thing to do. >:|

Foot fetish is mild but... y’know, present. (Oh, Julian.)

Regarding polyamory/love triangle tags (spoilers ahead!): Julian loves Ezri A LOT but doesn’t realise it’s in a platonic friendship way, and privately ties himself in knots over not being sexually or romantically attracted to her anymore (if he ever was to begin with). Much panicking about unintentional cheating happens, because he’s accidentally in love with Garak while dating Ezri - except (more spoilers) Ezri is trying to set him up with Garak anyway. Ezri is totally poly and way more chill than 99% of people would be in her position. Past Kira/Keiko/Miles.

Special note I mentioned to current betas: you should probably know that i feel some sort of divided way about how ezri is SO accepting of julian's disaster sexuality, because a) i've never once seen any character react like that, ever, in anything fictional or real (potentially bc of lack of bi and poly rep), and b) her reactions are based on how i would react in her place??? (note that i'm aro, ace, and bi, (well that's simplified) so if i was in a relationship with julian it would definitely be platonic but me being madly attracted to him despite that) so it's like... really personal but also i'm worried nobody would relate and would say i made her a pushover. so any pointers you have there would be lovely <3

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2. Runabout Rollabout

Elim Garak/Julian Bashir

23.5k, Explicit

Julian Bashir, Elim Garak, Keiko O’Brien, Kasidy Yates, Kira Nerys, Ezri Dax (mentioned)

Eight months after the war ends, Julian invites Garak on a pollen-harvesting trip to Bajor. Distracted by the delight of seeing his friend after so long, Garak gets himself blasted with hormone-altering pollen, and is forced to ride out the repercussions on the runabout journey back to DS9. Symptoms include mood swings, unusual food cravings, and an urgent need for emotional assurance and physical contact. Julian is glad to offer relief, in whatever manner Garak requires. Even in the most intimate of ways...

Secretly, they both hope their brief affair in the runabout’s bottom bunk will lead to something more. But how could it, when duty forever trumps desire?

Tags: Post-Canon, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Porn With Plot, Mutual Pining, Sex Pollen, Mood Swings, Hormones, Cuddling & Snuggling, Public Display of Affection, Smut, Explicit Consent, First Kiss, Caring Julian Bashir, Hormonal Elim Garak, Horny Elim Garak, First Time, Anal Sex, Top Elim Garak, Bottom Julian Bashir, but they do switch briefly, Post-Canon Bajor, Post-Canon Cardassia, Illustrated

Notes: FYI, Julian and Ezri are no longer a couple. How that happened is discussed late in the fic, but Garak thinks they’re still dating when he and Julian sleep together for medical reasons. (Julian is NOT cheating, but Garak guiltily believes he is.)

This one’s probably an easy edit tbh. But I’m still questioning that ^ Garak-thinks-Julian-seeing-Ezri thing, so anyone who can tell me if it feels right, if I need to edit it, or if I should take it out, would be great.

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3. Tail Over Heels

Elim Garak/Julian Bashir

Julian Bashir, Elim Garak, Amsha Bashir, Benjamin Sisko, Ezri Dax, Miles O’Brien, Kira Nerys, and everyone else

19.9k, Mature

Despite every attempt to deter her, Julian’s mother is coming to DS9. Here’s the problem: Julian told her he was married, and he’s not. Here’s the solution: Garak stands in as Julian’s husband. She’s meant to hate him. But Garak is just too damn likable - and a liiiittle too convincing in the role of Julian’s lover. Not only does his mother believe the lie, but so does everyone else on the station. Even Julian himself is starting to wonder...

Tags: Romance, Fluff, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Mistaken For A Couple, Moving In Together, Roommates, Sharing a Bed, Cuddling & Snuggling, Holding Hands, Eavesdropping, Bickering, Cardassian Flirting, First Kiss, First Time, Garak has a tail, Slightly Alternate Canon, set mid season 7, or an alternate post-canon where nobody leaves

Note: This one’s the oldest and closest to being publishable, and already illustrated and lightly beta’d, so this will likely post first, before the end of March 2020. But it definitely needs another going-over.

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4. Code for Consent

Elim Garak/Julian Bashir

13k, Explicit

Julian Bashir, Elim Garak, Miles O’Brien, Keiko O’Brien

With Miles away, Julian needs someone else to play the evil villain in his secret agent holosuite program. Garak steps up. But tying Julian to a bedpost and fake-torturing him turns out to be an accidental turn-on for both of them. Julian doesn’t want to break character, so allows Garak to escalate his erotic domination towards the point of no return - yet Garak won’t go any further with their roleplay without clear consent. Now Julian has to figure out a way to show Garak he wants him without saying it outright. (But then again, maybe saying it matters.)

Tags: Smut, Romance, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Holodecks/Holosuites, Roleplay, Cardassian Flirting, Accidental Stimulation, Light Bondage, Choking, Light Knifeplay, Consensual Non-Consent, Rape Roleplay, (foreplay only) - soon followed by:, Explicit Consent, Holding Hands, Making Love, Schmoop, Top Elim Garak, Bottom Julian Bashir, set late season 6

Note: Nobody’s read this yet so idk how it comes across to other people, which worries me. Something about it doesn’t sit right with me but I can’t figure it out and need help with that :/

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If you’re interested in helping, please submit me a tumblr message at https://almaasi.tumblr.com/submit with your name, pronouns, a statement of your interest and email address (gmail preferred) so I can add you to google docs if I pick you c:

(also maybe a timeframe of when you’d be able to beta. starting any time in the next couple of weeks is fine.)

(disclaimer to people with anxiety: I welcome anyone <3 if you want to say hi, PLEASE DO. I reserve the right not to pick you for any number of secret reasons, and I might not reply quickly, or at all, because I have chronic fatigue and messages are A Lot for me, but it doesn’t mean I don’t like you or you did something wrong!! promise.)

[pamphletstoinspire]

Gospel Reading and Commentary for December 6th - First Thursday of Advent - Roman Catholic - Luke: 10: 1 - 9 (Feast of St. Nicholas)

1. After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come.

2. Therefore said he to them, The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few: pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest.

CYRIL; God had made known by the Prophets that the preaching of the Gospel of salvation was to embrace not only Israel, but also the Gentile nations; and therefore after the twelve Apostles, there were other seventy-two also appointed by Christ, as it is said, After these things the Lord appointed other seventy-two also. BEDE; Rightly are seventy-two sent, for to so many nations of the world was the Gospel to be preached, that as at first twelve were appointed because of the twelve tribes of Israel, so, these also were ordained as teachers for the instruction of the foreign nations. AUG. As also in twenty-four hours the whole world moves round and receives light, so the mystery of enlightening the world by the Gospel of the Trinity, is hinted at in the seventy-two disciples. For three times twenty-four makes seventy-two. Now as no one doubts that the twelve Apostles foreshadowed the order of Bishops, so also we must know that these seventy-two represented the presbytery, (that is, the second order of priests.) Nevertheless, in the earliest times of the Church, as the Apostolical writings bear witness, both were called presbyters, troth also c ailed bishops, the former of these signifying “ripeness of wisdom,” the latter, “diligence in the pastoral care.”CYRIL; An outline of this ordinance also was set forth in the words of Moses, who at the command of God chose out seventy, upon whom God poured out His Spirit. In the book of Numbers also it was written of the children of Israel, that they came to Elim, which is by interpretation “ascent,” and there were there twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees. For when we fly to spiritual refreshment, we shall find twelve fountains, namely, the holy Apostles, from whom we imbibe the knowledge of salvation as from the well-springs of the Savior; and seventy palms, that is, those who were now appointed by Christ. For the palm is a tree of sound core, striking deep root and fruitful, always growing by the water side, yet at the same time putting forth its leaves upwards.

It follows, And he sent them two and two. GREG. He sends the disciples to preach two and two, because there are two command; of charity, the love of God, and love of our neighbor; (and charity cannot exist without at least two;) thereby silently suggesting to us, that he who has not love to another, ought not to undertake the office of preaching.

ORIGEN; Likewise also the twelve were reckoned by two and two, as Matthew shows in his enumeration of them. For that two should be joined in service, seems from the word of God to be an ancient custom. For God led Israel out of Egypt by the hands of Moses and Aaron. Joshua and Caleb also, united together, appeased the people who had been provoked by the twelve spies. Hence it is said, A brother assisted by a brother is as a fortified city.

BASIL; At the same time it is implied by this, that if any are equal in spiritual gifts, they should not suffer a fondness for their own opinion to get the better of them. GREG. It is rightly added, before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come. For the Lord follows His preachers, since the preaching comes first, and then the Lord enters into the tabernacle of our heart; seeing, that through the words of exhortation going before, truth is received into the mind. Hence Esaias says to the preachers, Prepare you the way of the Lord, make straight a highway for our God. THEOPHYL. The Lord had appointed the disciples for the sake of the multitude, who were in want of teachers. For as our corn fields require many reapers, so the innumerable company of those who are to believe need many teachers, as it follows, The harvest truly is great. CHRYS. But how does He give the name of harvest to a work only just now at its beginning? the plough not yet put down, nor the furrows turned, He yet speaks of harvests, for His disciples might waver and say, how can we so small a number convert the whole world how can foolish men reform the wise, naked men those that are armed, subjects their rulers? Lest they should be disturbed then by such thoughts, He calls the Gospel a harvest; as if He says, All things are ready, I send you to a gathering of fruits already prepared. You can sow and reap the same day. As then the husbandmen goes out to harvest rejoicing, much more also and with greater cheerfulness must you go out into the world. For this is the true harvest, which shows the fields all prepared for you. GREG. But not without deep sorrow can we add, but the laborers are few. For although there are who would hear good things they are wanting who should spread them. Behold the world is full of priests, but seldom is there found a laborer in God’s harvest, because we undertake indeed the priestly office, but we perform not its works. BEDE; Now as the great harvest is this whole multitude of believers, so the few laborers are the Apostles, and their followers who are sent to this harvest.

CYRIL; As the large fields require many reapers, so also do the multitude of believers in Christ. Hence He adds, Pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into his harvest. Now mark that when He said, Pray you therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborers into the harvest, He afterwards Himself performed it. He then is the Lord of the harvest, and by Him, and together with Him, God the Father rules over all. CHRYS. But he afterwards increased them greatly, not by adding to their number, but awarding to them power. He implies that it is a great gift to send laborers into the divine harvest, by His saving that the Lord of the harvest must be prayed to upon this account. GREG. Hereby also the people must be induced to pray for their pastors, that they may be able to work what is good for them, and that their tongue grow not lifeless in exhortation. For often for their own wickedness their tongue is tied. But often for the fault of the people it comes to pass that the word of preaching is withdrawn from their rulers.

3. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves.

4. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way.

CYRIL; Luke next relates, that the seventy disciples obtained for themselves from Christ apostolical learning, lowliness, innocency, justice, and to prefer no worldly things to holy preachings, but to aspire to such fortitude of mind as to be afraid of no terrors, not even death itself. He adds therefore, Go. CHRYS. For their comfort amid every danger was the power of Him who sent them. And therefore said He, Behold, I send you; as if he said, This will suffice for your consolation, this will be enough to make you hope, instead of fearing the coming evils which He signifies, adding, as lambs among wolves.

ISIDORE PELEUS; Denoting the simplicity and innocence in His disciples. For those who were riotous, and by their enormities did despite to their nature, He calls not lambs, but goats.

AMBROSE; Now these animals are at variance among themselves, so that the one is devoured by the other, the lambs by the wolves; but the good Shepherd has no fear of wolves for His flock. And therefore the disciples are appointed not to make prey, but to impart grace. For the watchfulness of the good Shepherd causes the wolves to attempt nothing against the lambs; He sends them as lambs amid wolves that that prophecy might be fulfilled, The wolf and the I lamb shall feed together. CHRYS. For this was a clear announcement of glorious triumph, that the disciples of Christ, when surrounded by their enemies as lambs among wolves, should still convert them. BEDE; Or He especially gives the name of wolves to the Scribes and Pharisees, who are the Jewish clergy. AMBROSE; Or the heretics are compared to wolves. For wolves are beasts who lay in wait near the sheep folds, and prowl about the shepherds’ cottages. They dare not enter the abodes of men, they pry out sleeping dogs, absent or slothful shepherds; they seize the sheep by the throat, that they may quickly strangle them; ravenous beasts, with bodies so stiff that they cannot easily turn themselves, but are carried along by their own impetus, and so are often deceived. If they are the first to see a man, it is said, they by a certain natural impulse, tear out his voice; but if a man first sees them, they quake with fear. In like manner the heretics lurk about Christ’s sheep folds, howl near the cottages at night time. For night is the time for the treacherous who obscure the light of Christ with the mists of false interpretation. The inns of Christ, however, they dare not enter, and therefore are not healed, as he was as in an inn who fell among thieves. They look out for the shepherds’ absence, for they can not attack the sheep when the shepherds are by. Owing also to the inflexibility of a hard and obstinate mind, they seldom if ever turn from their error, while Christ the true interpreter of Scripture mocks them, so that they went forth their violence in vain, and are not able to hurt; and if they overtake any one by the subtle trickery of their disputations, they make him dumb. For he is dumb who confesses not the word of God with the glory which belongs to it. Beware then lest the heretic deprive you of your voice, and lest you detect him not first. For he is creeping on while his treachery is disguised. But if you have discovered his unholy desires, you can not fear the loss of a holy voice. They attack the throat, they wound the vitals while they seek the soul. If also you hear any one called a priest, and you know his robberies, outwardly he is a sheep, inwardly a wolf, who is longing to gratify his rage with the insatiable cruelty of human murder.

GREG. For many when they receive the right of rule, are vehement in persecuting their subjects, and manifesting the terrors of their power. And since they have no bowels of mercy, their desire is to seem to be masters, forgetting altogether that they are fathers, changing an occasion for humility, into an exaltation of power. We must on the other hand consider, that as lambs are sent among wolves because they preserve the feeling of innocence, so we should make no malicious attacks. For he who undertakes the office of preacher ought not to bring evils upon others, but to endure them; who although at times an upright zeal demands that he should deal harshly with his subjects, should still inwardly in his heart love with a fatherly feeling those whom outwardly he visits with censure. And that ruler gives a good example of this, who never submits the neck of his soul to the yoke of earthly desire. Hence it is added, Carry neither purse nor scrip. GREG NAZ. The sum of which is, that men ought to be so virtuous that the Gospel should make no less progress through their way of life than their preaching. GREG. For the preacher (of the Gospel) ought to have such trust in God, that although he has provided not for the expenses of this present life, he should still be most certainly convinced that these will not fail him; lest while his mind is engaged in His temporal things, he should be less careful for the spiritual things of others.

CYRIL; Thus He had already commanded them to have no care for these persons, when He said, I send you as lambs among wolves. And He also forbade all care about what is external to the body, by saying, Take neither purse nor scrip. Nor did He allow men to take with them any of those things which were not attached to the body. Hence He adds, Nor shoes. He not only forbade them to take purse and scrip, but He did not allow them to receive any distraction in their work, such as interruption by greetings on their way. Hence He adds, Salute no one by the way. Which had long ago been said by Elisha. As if He said, Proceed straight on to your work without exchanging blessings with others. For it is a loss to waste the time which is fitter for preaching, in unnecessary things. AMBROSE; Our Lord did not then forbid these things because the exercise of benevolence was displeasing to Him, but because the motive of following after devotedness was more pleasing. GREG NAZ. The Lord gave them these commands also for the glory of the word, lest it should seem that enticements could more prevail over them. He wished them also not to be anxious to speak to others.

GREG. If any one would have these words taken also allegorically, the money shut up in a purse is the hidden wisdom. He then who has the word of wisdom, and neglects to employ it for his neighbor, is like one who keeps his money tied up in his purse. But by the scrip is meant the troubles of the world, by the shoes (made of the skins of dead animals) are signified the examples of dead works. He then who undertakes the office of preacher ought not to bear the burden of business, lest while this presses down his neck he should not rise to the preaching of heavenly things; nor ought he to behold the example of foolish works, lest he think to shield his own works as by dead skins, that is, lest because he observes that others have done these things, he imagine that he also is at liberty to do the same. AMBROSE; Our Lord also would have nothing human in us. For Moses is bid to loose off the human and earthly shoe when he was sent to deliver the people. But if any one is perplexed why in Egypt we are ordered to eat the lamb with shoes on, but the Apostles are appointed to preach the Gospel without shoes: he must consider, that one in Egypt ought still to beware of the serpent’s bite, for there were many poisonous creatures in Egypt. And he who celebrates the Passover in figure may be exposed to the wound, but the minister of truth fears no poison.

GREG. Now every one who salutes on the way does so from the accident of the journey, not for the sake of wishing health. He then who not from love of a heavenly country, but from seeking reward, preaches salvation to his hearers, does as it were salute on the journey, since accidentally, not from any fixed intention, he desires the salvation of his hearers.

5. And into whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house.

6. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again.

7. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give; for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house.

8. And into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you:

9. And heal the sick that are therein, and say to them, The kingdom of God is come nigh to you.

10. But into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,

11. Even the very dust of your city, which cleaves on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be you sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh to you.

12. But I say to you, that it shall be more tolerable in that day for Sodom, than for that city.

CHRYS. Peace is the mother of all good things, without it all other things are vain. Our Lord therefore commanded His is disciples on entering a house first to pronounce peace as a sign of good things, saying, Into whatever house you enter, first say, Peace be to this house. AMBROSE; That in truth we should convey the message of peace, and that our very first entrance be attended with the blessing of peace. CHRYS. And hence he who presides in the Church gives it, saying, Peace to all. Now holy men ask for peace, not only that which dwells among men in mutual intercourse, but that which belongs to ourselves. For oftentimes we wage war in our hearts, and are disturbed even when no one troubles us; bad desires also frequently rise up against us. TITUS BOST. But it is said, Peace be to this house, that is, to them that dwell in the house. As if he says, I speak to all, both the greater and the less, yet should not your salutation be addressed to them that are unworthy of it. Hence it is added, And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it. As if he says, You indeed shall utter the word, but the blessing of peace shall be applied wherever I shall deem men worthy of it. But if any one is not worthy, you are not mocked, the grace of your word has not perished, but is returned to you. And this is what is added, But if not, it shall return to you again. GREG. For the peace which is offered by the mouth of the preacher shall either rest on the house, if there be any one in it predestined to life, who follows the heavenly word which he hears; or if no one be willing indeed to hear, the preacher himself shall not be without fruit, for the peace returns to him, while the Lord gives him the recompense of reward for the labor of his work. But if our peace is received, it is meet that we should obtain earthly supplies from those to whom we offer the rewards of a heavenly country. Hence it follows: And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give. Mark, that He who forbade them to carry purse and scrip, allows them to be an expense to others, and to receive sustenance from preaching.

CHRYS. But lest any one should say, I am spending my own property in preparing a table for strangers, He first makes them offer the gift of peace, to which nothing is equal, that you may know that you receive greater things than you give. TITUS BOST. Or else; Since you are not appointed Judges as to who are worthy and who are unworthy, eat and drink what things they offer to you. But leave to me the trial of those who receive you, unless you happen also to know that the son of peace is not there, for perhaps in that case you ought to depart.

THEOPHYL. See then how He taught His disciples to beg, and wished them to receive their nourishment as a reward. For it is added, For the laborer is worthy of his hire. GREG. For now the very food which supports him is part of the wages of the laborer, as in this life the hire commences with the labor of preaching, which in the next is completed with the sight of truth. And here we must consider that two rewards are due to one work of ours, one on the Journey, which supports us in labor, the other in our country, which recompenses us at the resurrection. Therefore the reward which we receive now ought so to work in us, that we the more vigorously strive to gain the succeeding reward. Every true preacher then ought not so to preach, that he may receive a reward at the present time, but so to receive a reward that he may have strength to preach. For whoever so preaches that here he may receive the reward of praise, or riches, deprives himself of an eternal reward.

AMBROSE; Another virtue is added, that we should not go about easily, changing from house to house. For it follows, Go not from house to house; that is, that we should preserve a consistency in our love towards our hosts, nor lightly loose any bond of friendship.

BEDE; Now having described the reception from different houses, he teaches them what they ought to do in the cities; namely, to have intercourse with the good in all, but to keep from the society of the wicked in every thing; as it follows, But into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you.

THEOPHYL. Although they be few and poor, ask for nothing more; He also tells them to work miracles, and their word shall draw men to their preaching. Hence he adds, And heal the sick that are therein, and say to them, The kingdom of God is come nigh to you. For if you first heal and then teach, the word will prosper, and men believe that the kingdom of God is come nigh. For they would not be cured unless by the working of some divine power. But also when they are healed in their soul, the kingdom of God comes nigh to them, for it is far off from him over whom sin has the dominion. CHRYS. Now mark the excellence of the Apostles. They are bid to utter nothing relating to sensible things, such as Moses and the Prophets spoke of, namely, earthly goods, but certain new and marvelous things, namely, the kingdom of God. MAX. Which it is said is come nigh, not to show the shortness of time, for the kingdom of God comes not with observation, but to mark the disposition of men towards the kingdom of God, which is indeed potentially in all believers, but actually in those who reject the life of the body, and choose only the spiritual life; who are able to say, Now I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me.

AMBROSE; He next teaches them to shake off the dust from their feet when the men of a city have refused to entertain them, saying, Into whatsoever city you enter, and they receive you not, shake off the dust. BEDE; Either as a testimony to the earthly toil which they had in vain undergone for them, or to show that so far from seeking any thing earthly from them, they suffer not even the dust from their land to cleave to them. Or by the feet is meant the very labor and walking to and fro of preaching; but the dust with which they are sprinkled is the lightness of worldly thoughts, from which even the greatest teachers cannot be free. Those then who have despised the teaching, turn the labors and dangers of the teachers into a testimony of their condemnation. ORIGEN; By wiping off the dust of their feet against them, they in some sort say, The dust of your sins shall deservedly come upon you. And mark that the cities which receive not the Apostles and sound doctrine have streets, according to Matthew, Broad is the way which leads to destruction.

THEOPHYL. And as they who receive the Apostles are said to have the kingdom of God come nigh to them as a blessing, so those who do not receive them are said to have it nigh to them as a curse. Hence He adds, Notwithstanding, be you sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh to you, as the coming of a king is to some for punishment, but to some for honor. Hence it is added respecting their punishment, But I say to you, It shall be more tolerable for Sodom, &c. EUSEBIUS. For in the city of Sodom, Angels were not without entertainment, but Lot was found worthy to receive them into his house. If then at the coming of the disciples into a city there shall not be found one to receive them, will not that city be worse than Sodom? These words persuaded them to attempt boldly the rule of poverty. For there could not be a city or village without some inhabitants acceptable to God. For Sodom could not exist without a Lot found in it, at whose departure the whole was suddenly destroyed. BEDE; The men of Sodom, although they were hospitable in the midst of all their wickedness of soul and body, yet were there no such guests found among them as the Apostles. Lot indeed was righteous both in seeing and hearing, yet he is not said to have taught or worked miracles.

[berserker-official]

Livestream 11/9

More Season 4 stuff! Yay! Remember that this Saturday is the Season 4 Reveal event, with a dominion tournament with the European and North America teams facing off, as well as some of your favorite content creators in some dominion and tribute mode matches with the Season 4 heroes. This happens this Saturday, 11/11, at 2pm EST.

News of the Week

This weekend is pretty special. We get an event order. All you have to do is play as many matches of any mode as you can, both PVP and PVAI will work, to win 3 scavenger crates. However, it doesn’t stop there.

It’s also a free weekend! People that don’t own For Honor have another chance to play. If you do play and do enjoy the game, it’s also 60% this weekend as well.

But wait, there’s more! In addition to the free weekend, the FH team is introducing the Warrior Training Program! If you’re a veteran player, you need to find a newcomer and group up with them, play 5 matches with them, and both you and the newcomer will win 5000 steel when Season 4 begins. Newcomers can also be in a group entirely of new players to get the 5000 steel, but the FH team recommends that you find someone that has experience, in order to learn the ins-and-outs of the game with them. So if you know someone that’s still on the fence about the game, tell them to try it now! Team up to benefit together.

After announcing all this neat stuff happening this weekend, Eric and Damien wanted to clear up some news that they announced last week. One part is about the dodge roll. Apparently they said that when you roll you will no longer be immune to guardbreaks. This is not true. You will still be immune to GBs, but you don’t block when rolling. The second thing is something they forgot to mention altogether, but they are merging Elimination and Skirmish into one playlist, like how it was when the game first came out. This is because the orders back then were incredibly specific on which game mode to play, but they’ll be changing things up with the orders to be more lax on Elim and Skirmish.

Content of the Week

Executions! Finally! This week we get new executions for all heroes in Seasons 1 and 3. Centurion and Shinobi don’t get new ones due to the amount of content designers have to make every week. Making something new for all 16 heroes is hard work, so sometimes heroes will be left out. The executions are as follows:

Warden (Blackstone Bash), Conqueror (Dislocator), Peacekeeper (Ole!), Lawbringer (Oh Come On!), Gladiator (Skilled Performer), Raider (Chokeslam), Warlord (The Heartattack), Berserker (Punch Drunk), Highlander (360 Takedown), Kensei (Lose Something?), Shugoki (The Mountain), Orochi (Toro! Toro!), and Nobushi (5 Deadly Stabs)

If you notice, Valkyrie is left out. Someone in Twitch chat said that there are sound issues with her execution. I don’t know if this is true or not but hopefully she’ll get her new execution soon!

New Heroes

Today the gameplay reveal trailers for the Aramusha and Shaman were revealed, as well as an in-depth look into their and their weapons designs.

Aramusha. Based on first glance it appears as though he has a poof dodge, similar to Shinobi, while also having a grabbing stamina hit, like Centurion.

According to the design team, Aramusha is a slang term for rough samurai or outlander. The Aramusha belong to the same secret order that the Shinobi are from, but they belong in different sections. Shinobi do everything from behind the shadows, while Aramusha are on the frontlines of the battlefield. Similar to Ronin lore in real history, Aramusha act as bodyguards for high ranking samurai. However, the samurai were corrupt, so the Aramusha abandons his oath and is now a mercenary.

The Aramusha is made to look cool. So cool, in fact that he has a straw sticking out of his mouth. Really cool. All of his armor is cloth, which makes sense because he needs to be mobile while defending with his dual katana. He also has tattoos! However, the tats are a part of the armor designs. The hats he wears can vary in size, as well as material. It looks like some of the higher-level hats will be metal. The weapons are also neat, because the design team really wanted to keep moving forward in terms of creativity with the new heroes. Some of the weapons look like they’d never belong on a real battlefield, but look fucking cool. I’m going to guess that the weapon customizations will be the left and right blades separately, hilt, and handle. It looks like they want to give some diversity between the two blades, but I might be wrong. We’ll find out.

Shaman. Again, at first glance, she plays similar to Berserker, where she gets up in your face and relentlessly attacks. She also appears to have a pounce attack that knocks players onto the ground, like Conq’s shield bash, as well as a pouncing finisher like Cent. I also noticed that in the trailer she cuts her hand and wipes her blood on her face. I’m going to guess that this is a feat or ability she can use to deal a little damage to herself and gain an attack boost or something.

The Shaman lurks in the forests surrounding Valkenheim in solitude. This isolation leads others to believe that she’s savage. Her armor consists of leather, cloth, furs, bones, and face and body paint. Like Highlander the paint will change depending on the color scheme you choose for her. The faces are again, similar to Highlander by way of different hair styles and face paints depending on which face you choose. Her weapons are the tomahawk and kukri knife, and I’m guessing the customization options for weapons are axe head, handle, and knife.

The design team are also focusing on creating colorful ornaments all around, depending on your color schemes.

After showing off the new heroes and their weapons, they wanted to tease new weapons for the heroes we already have. Each hero has new legendary and epic rarity gear, and they’re really expanding on creativity.

Finally, the maps.

The Gauntlet. This map will be available in every game mode except for Tribute. A stronghold located in-between a viking city and the outside world. Meant to be imposing, the attacker’s entrance reminds you of a slaughterhouse, forcing the viking’s next victims to move along a confined area, before opening up to “The Killing Field,” where the minions will meet up as the middle lane. The two points are actually found above the middle lane, so the attackers are pushing forward into the map like it’s a direct frontal assault. There are bridges connecting the upper points together, but there’s a surprise waiting: trap doors on the bridges. Each bridge has a lever that activates a trap door, causing anyone there to fall below. Two of the bridges will drop players off the map and to their death, while another two will drop players into the killing field. These falls won’t kill you, but it will hurt. So you can drop players into middle lane, drop players into their death, or you can strategically drop the bridges to drop attack enemy players below that are in mid lane. You can also use these bridges to halt players from advancing across that bridge and forcing them to go around into an alternate patch. Duel locations include attacker spawn, near the huge skull statues, The middle lane, and the ramparts by the bunker zone. The mid lane and ramparts have areas that are blocked off so players can’t run. The brawl area is the mid lane.

Market Town. This map will be available in every game mode except for Dominion. A market area where people can come and purchase things needed to live. Players can spawn at the top or the bottom of the map, so while players starting at the bottom have to work their way up, it’s possible to grab a tribute staff and zipline back down. Players spawning at the top may be able to zip to the tribute staffs faster, but they will have to climb back up to their points. There are hills, ladders, and rooftops to climb around on, creating a varying sense of verticality. One of the duel locations include an area near the top of the map, by some frog statues, that has a stairway with some temple gateways.

Duel and Brawl Map Updates

Along with new maps, we also get updates to older maps that are problematic.

Duel Maps-

Sancuary Bridge: The ledge hell spot will now be the larger spawn area nearby.

Shipyard: The bridge hell spot will now be a larger area across the map. The location below the ship will now be the storehouse nearby.

Brawl Maps-

Tower Ruins: Players will no longer spawn by or in the tower, and will be spawned by the fountain. The fountain will be closed off so ledging won’t be an option there.

Shipyard: Below the ship will instead be the saw mill. The double doors will be opened more, making it easier to enter or leave.

That’s all we get today, but be prepared for this Saturday, where we get a deeper look into the new heroes and their movesets and first looks at how they play!

[gplusbfics]

Came across this excellent short essay I’d bookmarked on the episode “Inquisition” as well as Alexander Siddig’s role as Julian Bashir and the several ways DS9 was ahead of its time. It’s over on AO3, as part of a long series of reviews, and I’m linking to it, but in the interest of having it shared and discussed here on Tumblr, I’m posting it in its entirety below.

- Wendy 

I Read It So You Don't Have To: Book Reviews, Television and Film Ratings, and Short Media Essays by tb_ll57

Chapter 9: Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (Series 6, Episode 18)

You know, I once spent money on DVD sets. It's sort of annoying that it's all on the internet now. I mean I bought it for the Extras, and joining all the dots it's a good thing I had the DVDs as those VHS tapes really didn't last too long, but still.

Anyway, it's incredibly refreshing to watch a show like DS9 and realise how amazing and thoroughly good television can be. DS9 has a lot of the usual Star Trek faults in its early series, but something happened to it around Series 4. It transformed into a heavily serialised, character-orientated storytelling and cinematic art form. Each episode became a mini-movie; the production values are fantastic, down to the carefully plotted camera shots, the rhetorical flourish of the snappy dialogue, the narrative that built larger and larger arcs and yet was never afraid of a call-back. There's very few shows on today that match the quality of those 1990s types of shows; the sheer dedication long-form narrative is probably unparalleled in today's mainstream television format. It requires and expects a commitment from the audience that producers seem to fear these days. The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, and other American cable series are reaching for the same thing, but it's almost quintessentially anti-British. I imagine it has a lot to do with budget, but it also seems to be a cultural artefact. British television lends itself well to shorter series, episodic plotting, and set-pieces rather than long-form character development. When we try to go American, we end up with Downton Abbey, and I'm sure I speak for many at this point in time when I say we quite wish we wouldn't.

Then, too, DS9 was politically prescient. Did you know that DS9 invented both the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act (UK)-cum-Patriot Act (USA) and the rendition of Arab men to black-site prisons? It's true. I'm talking about, of course, the excellent episode 'Inquisition'. 'Inquisition' is one of the best of DS9's episodes, reaching almost unsurpassed heights of tension, character development, narrative twists, and sheer Aristotlean prowess of conflict creation.

It builds on a character who'd been a little lost in previous series. Dr Bashir was hardly a cypher, but he was more archetype than fully-fleshed human being until about Series 5. 'The Wire' explored Bashir's humanity-- his expansive compassion, with all its consequences and its personal costs-- but we essentially hadn't learnt anything new about Bashir since the pilot. He's a good doctor, he's a nice guy, he's a little arrogant in his abilities and intellect, he's both open-minded and naive in that way of liberal bleeding-heart Star Trek heroes, and... that's about it, until the Series 5 revelation that he's genetically enhanced. Suddenly he's not just those things-- he's those things and a fraud. A liar. A man who's hidden a dangerous and explosive secret for thirty years, perhaps so deeply that he himself didn't even think about it most of the time. But the intimation that Bashir had any kind of depths to him created instantaneous layers. Suddenly the slightly contradictory facts of his childhood come into focus. Suddenly the blank slate of his life previous to his post on DS9 is deliberate, not careless, writing. His friendship with Garak, the consummate outsider, becomes a desperate search for personal truth looking into a mirror of a future of a exile, not a foil of Otherness.

And most importantly of all, Bashir's history of questionable decisions must come into new light. He's not just a naif with a youthful zeal for saving life in all its forms, even his enemies. When you wrangle with that amount of genetically enhanced intelligence, you have to anticipate that he weighed the consequences and chose his path knowing more than you did about how it might end. That's where 'Inquisition' is so brilliant. Julian Bashir is not an easy character-- he was hard to love in the beginning, then hard to beat, and suddenly he's hard to accept as part of the Star Trekparadigm. To confront him within the bounds of that very paradigm-- that truth, that justice, that very rigid moral code that demands an odd kind of obedience to a uniform way of life-- Bashir suddenly looks suspicious.

'Inquisition' took everything we knew about Bashir and re-interrogated it. Why is he so dedicated a doctor? Is he really saving lives-- or is he just trying to be better than all of us? Does he express such compassion for aliens and enemies because he views all life as equal, or because he's secretly in sympathy for their Otherness? And for being different, Bashir is interrogated, stripped of his rights, treated like an outsider, vilified by his own command. His Captain, that father figure Sisko, doesn't believe him when he says it's a frame job.

And the show very deliberately puts the audience in the dark. Our sympathy is always with Bashir, but we're allowed to doubt him along with his friends-- to the point where Julian even doubts himself. And suddenly the colourless world of Star Trek has a dark-skinned man being accused by white police of complicity in a war with religious and imperial overtones; he's a spy, he's a liar, he's taking advantage of our open society to bring us down from within. Julian Bashir becomes a literal darkness within Star Trek's pristine lightness. The layers in 'Inquisition' are amazing. Remember, too, that this was written in 1996. An Arab character gets accused of being a sleeper agent and, when the accusation builds to the right pitch of hysteria, the white policeman accusing him uses an executive order of unimaginable reach and power to remove Bashir from his right to counsel and protection to a secret prison to undergo enhanced interrogation techniques. Damn, Star Trek.

But that's not the end. Bashir's innocence is perhaps never truly in doubt. While we wonder and while we view him in a new light and while Bashir himself is pushed, eventually, to admit that he's made decisions that he wouldn't take back but which understandably place him outside the realm of Star Trek's bright moral universe, we know in our hearts he's not an evil man. So the revelation that he's actually innocent is no real shock. What is-- and here's where 'Inquisition' goes from good episode to great episode-- is that the same qualities that cast Julian into shame and doubt are the qualities that make him a perfect spy for real. Julian gets an offer to join Star Trek's equivalent of MI5, or the KGB, or the CIA-- and being the wonderful Julian Bashir that he is, he of course refuses.

And then-- when this goes from being a great episode to a fantastic episode-- his captain orders him to join them anyway. To spy on them from within as a double agent.

It's important to remember that the Original and Next Generation Star Treks would never have risked something so dark, something so grey-edged, and something that implied such serialisation. Picard would have thundered and clashed with his admirals and reamed them all out at episode's end. Sisko admits that Section 31 exists and decides to go after it-- but not on his own terms. He puts his crew in danger to do it. And Julian is a particularly vulnerable character, for all the reasons 'Inquisition' has just explained. There's very little protection for Julian if he does as he's ordered, and his grim, confused expression at the end suggests he knows it. And knows that for all the reasons he's vulnerable, he also has to do as he's told. He's too suspicious if he doesn't provide his commanders reasons to trust him.

Alexander Siddig has gone on to play a range of Arab-ish baddies since he's left Star Trek, in the post-terrorism age. It's interesting to look back at Star Trek and recall that he was cast not as an Arab doctor, nor even as an English one; in the peculiarly American slant that Star Trek always had, Bashir was merely a little exotic, but almost blandly so, a little high-class but not identifiably so, a little foreign, but still totally familiar. And he was cast in foil to Elim Garak, the most obvious 'Outsider' that ever was, so the image of a brown-skinned doctor born to lower-class parents who enhanced their physically and mentally retarded child is all too easily lost against the background of aliens and lost souls. But I think Bashir was one of Sid's best creations: someone fully human, maybe even super-human-- enhanced, yes, but also superlatively sensitive to the demands of humanity because he knew better than most how easy it is to be stripped of that humanity. In the most haunting line of 'Dr Bashir, I Presume?', Bashir says to his father, 'You're not my father. You're my architect.' 'Inquisition' preys on every fear we have about our own foolish youth, our rash actions, our innermost doubts about our identity and our inclusiveness and our ability to be related to by our fellow humans. At the end of the day, we want to be believed in. It's all too easy for that facade to crumble.

[ original source: AO3 ]

[survivor-islands-of-adventure]

EPISODE 10

Final Words (idk if you guys do this): Welp, there I go. Second member of the jury, again... at least I'm consistent. I felt this coming on in all honesty, but I hoped it would've turned out differently. That's why I fought as hard as I did, and I wish it didn't get that ugly, but at the end of the day, I'm sure we're all still friends. Nothing but love and respect for this game and them. I really tried not to be the guy calling out the shots this time, but I sorta devolved back into that by the end. That's just who I am, I live hard and I die hard, and I'm starting to realize that's nothing to be ashamed of! ...It just doesn't make me a very good Survivor player.

I HAVE got to win this comp or I am toast... no way in hell im winning stab... I have been playing very hard this season, especially the last 2 rounds.. I orchestrated timmys boot and (thought) I did a good job at getting mark out.. but BLINDSIDED @ CHRIS STONER. I am now literally clawing my way from the bottom. I love it honestly. I love playing from the bottom. it brings out the absolute best in me in all aspects. it makes my bust my ass off to win comps, talk people's ears off and become friends, and hopefully cause some big fckn rifts in this game. im ready for it

Honestly I’m in a rough spot. I love drew and I love pat and I just want the 3 of us to work together but it’s just not compatible. I should probably try to like work something out or I’m gonna be the one to fall for it. Here’s to praying I don’t have to win out immunities to get to the end! 

God I hope Ricky gets okay. I really want Karen to somehow get stoner to play his idol on her and make a big move and vote out Madison or even Sammy or even mark or even Chelsea.....god can we get a big move in here???? I’ll keep working on it, but I gotta vote sometime and it still seems up in the air! Fuck I don’t see a real point in Karen going home...she’s not the best at challenges and she doesn’t give the best side game spirit if Ricky isn’t here (ALSO SHES FREE FROM ALLIANCES)! 

this round is a mess. I was highboy annoyed about the challenge bc we had to restart after I already took out Madison and Pat which restarting made it unfair to me bc I had already stabbed people who could of easily just gunned for me.  Drew ended up winning one challenge and Dan won the other. Shocker.  I am just annoyed and want to disassociate myself with all of my alliances.  Mark is a stubborn player and it is very hard working with him bc he does not understand most thing and I have to repeat it. Also if he wants someone out he makes sure he has to vote that person.  I have heard Madison, Chelsea, Mark, Stoner, and Tracey's name this round.  Personally I was on board for the whole split the vote on stoner and Tracey to get rid of the idol and take out someone who I am not as close to.  Very annoyed tho bc Drew just wants all the power and to not vote minority and he is also very hard to work with.  I love him but in this game he is just crazy. He wants Chelsea gone for the fact that he knows he can't work with her and that she is a social threat.  This is dumb to me bc I do not feel Chelsea is the biggest threat in this game but whatevvvvaaa.  Then I am having problems in my own alliance of Me, Mark, and Pippa.  Pippa does not want Tracey and Mark does.  Literally nobody can work together. Moral of the story: everyone is crazy.

this game is so fucking messy ive had it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so to catch yall up, the tribal was gonna be a double one and wheeeeeeeeeeeeewwwwwwwww bitch i was panicking and it was madness and people were lying and i couldnt figure out the split but i think somehow we almost wouldve had mark leaving??????????/ but i wouldve probably left too???????????? or ricky wouldve??????? idk so yeah it was hectic, i was proposing a billion different splits with the villains and yeah. but then ricky has an emergency :/ so he needs to get medevaced and i come to the realization that im gonna be the vote this time and a split will be next to impossible as most people (the heroes) didnt seem to be budging but like i dont talk to them so what do i know djfvdhfvnjdsfvbkj anyway i figured since i was being voted out anyway i might as well just stir the pot a bit which was fun and people were entertained, so yeah i go into ultra panic mode and me and drew and stoner are like what the fuck are we gonna do???????/ so i decide to start talking to some people - charlie and sammy -  and they both seemed like they wanted to keep me so sammy concocts a plan to split the vote between me and make sure stoner doesnt play the idol and so he tells dan about this plan and dan makes a chat with me drew and stoner saying that with this split we will be able to vote together to potentially get someone out, he wanted sammy but it could be pat or madison too and that would mean itd tie 4-4-2 or 4-4-1-1 but then i talk to charlie bc she wants to cause chaos too ig and i explain my situation and shes like aight ill vote with  yall so now were trying to figure out the vote and tribal starts in 4 minutes and idk whos getting elimed but its gonna be a fun night

whew okay SO I won immunity again and it's a double triballllll so like shit's going down, I can FINALLY get someone out, and then catastrophe strikes, Rickens my love my fellow winner who I have NOT seen eye to eye with but who at least understood the value of keeping me in, had to leave due to a family emergency and made the tribal back into a single. I'm trying so hard on so many different angles to make SOMETHING happen this round and I genuinely don't think I'm gonna manage it but honestly it was beautiful while it lasted. Rip Tracey McKaren or Stoner, it's been a time. Also I definitely do have that idol that could be saving you but that truly does belong to me, sorry bout it. I'm still fucked, we all know it, but I'll take an extra round. After all I earned it by having AT find one number for me and Dan finding another.

so i think the vote will be for madison, im ready for this blindside

This week being a double elimination week seemed actually simpler because of wanting to vote for ricky and tracey to get them both out. And then with ricky quitting it made things a little messier with there being only one so it changed how everything was gonna go. I feel good about the split of the idols with the threat of chris ebing there and the threat of tracey against the heroes. so i think even with ll the changes this week will be decent for us

This round is effing nuts. I decided to vote tracey because i wanted chris to flush the idol and tracey go home. I had heard that drew, Tracey, sammy, and chris mentioned my name in some way so I was really worried about my safety. Now im worried because chris didn't use his idol, but i honestly don't even know if he has one.

[junker-town]

NFL Panic Index 2017, Week 10: The Eagles are right on track to lose the Super Bowl

Will the third time be the charm for an Eagles Super Bowl?

The Philadelphia Eagles are feeling it right now. At 8-1, they’re at least two games better than every other team in the NFL. They’ve won seven games in a row. They just pounded the Broncos, lighting up a once-proud defense for 51 points. They look unstoppable.

The Eagles are pretty much guaranteed a spot in the playoffs at this point. Since 1990, every team that has started 8-1 has made it to the postseason.

But they’re setting their sights higher than just than breaking a three-year playoff drought:

The @Eagles are 8-1 for the 5th time in franchise history. The other 4 times, they went to the Super Bowl or NFL Championship game. http://pic.twitter.com/umYO8kxLSe

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 6, 2017

For Eagles fans, this is where the BUT comes in. Yes, both of their trips to the Super Bowl came in seasons when they started 8-1. BUT the Eagles also lost both Super Bowls and haven’t won a championship since 1960. That’s longer than the Browns!

Eagles fans, go watch for this a minute. This next paragraph isn’t for your eyes.

Eagles haters, hey how’s it going? So, I’ve got some bad news. If you thought drunk Eagles fans were hard to take, think about how “drunk with the power of a Super Bowl” Eagles fans would be. Like, you know your mom’s friend Cathy, who never stops bragging about her perrrrrfect daughter? Now imagine Cathy as a guard in the Stanford prison experiment. That’s Eagles fans if they are even on the verge of a Super Bowl appearance. If you even know a friend of a friend whose cousin is an Eagles fan, you may as well fake your death to avoid them for those two weeks between the NFC Championship and Super Bowl LII, because they will be that unbearable.

OK Eagles fans, you can come back now.

So, is this a trend, or will third time be the charm for the Eagles’ dreams of finally winning a Super Bowl?

Panic index: No team is punching its ticket to the NFL’s biggest game in November. Around the same time last year, we were wondering the same thing about a one-loss Cowboys team. They didn’t get a chance to lose the Super Bowl because they didn’t win a single playoff game. Just let the season play out first.

The 49ers’ playoff hopes could be over historically early

I mean, this one is obvious, right? But they could actually be eliminated in Week 10! It would make them the first team eliminated with seven weeks to go in 50 years.

TIEBREAKERS: SF will be eliminated from playoff contention w/ loss this wk (NYG); would be earliest elim (7 wks to play) since DEN in 1967!

— Joe Ferreira (@JoeNFL) November 7, 2017

The 49ers made a splash in trading for Jimmy Garoppolo, but Kyle Shanahan doesn’t seem to be in a rush to get him in there. When you see that the team is essentially eliminated from playoff contention already, it’s hard to blame him.

They’ll take their No. 1 or No. 2 overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft, prepare Garoppolo for next season, and keep things moving. Anything else would be a waste.

Panic index: Whether or not this happens this week, the 49ers can put the nails in the coffin on the 2017 season. It’s not the worst thing in the world, if you’re a fan.

Julio, are you OK man?

Julio Jones had the drop of all drops this past Sunday against the Panthers.

With the Falcons down 10, Jones dropped a dime from Matt Ryan, with nobody around Jones. It seemed like a sure thing as the ball was in the air, and he made his way to the 15-, 10-, and 5-yard lines. But it wasn’t.

Luke Kuechly thinks that a hex on Jones caused the drop.

“I think the fans had a little impact on that. They put some juju on him or something,” Kuechly said jokingly, via NFL.com. “He's a great player, and that doesn't happen a lot. So maybe the fans put a hex on him, cast a spell.”

It was a rarity for Jones:

Julio Jones dropped what would have been a 39-yard touchdown on 4th-and-7, the first time he's dropped a pass in the end zone since 2012.

— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) November 5, 2017

Panic index: The drop was bad, and the Falcons’ offense continues to struggle. Individually, Jones will be fine. The Falcons collectively? Well ...

Bill Belichick must not be watching the 2017 Broncos

The Patriots will visit the Broncos this week, and Bill Belichick is preparing his defense for this high-powered, dynamic Denver offense. Wait, what?

Bill Belichick on the Broncos offense: "Offensively they’re very explosive."

— Nora Princiotti (@NoraPrinciotti) November 6, 2017

“Explosive” is not a word we would use to describe this offense.

Let’s loosely define an explosive play as a gain of at least 12 yards on a run and 16 yards on a pass. We wouldn’t look at the Broncos’ per-play average of 4.9 yards and think, man, that’s one explosive offense. But then again, we’re not Bill Belichick.

The Broncos do have offensive talent capable of burning defenses with big plays, particularly Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders. But they’ve got Brock Osweiler throwing them the ball right now. He’s averaging 5.4 yards per completion this season, and averages just 6 yards per catch over his career.

Panic index: Maybe Belichick is just being polite, though that’s not typically a huge priority for him. Or more likely, he doesn’t want his defense — which struggled mightily against the pass early in the season — to overlook even the Broncos offense. Any given Sunday, and all that.

Though, to be fair, “explosive” is also an adjective often paired with diarrhea, so ...

It’ll be almost impossible for the Buccaneers to get on track

It’s Week 10, and the Buccaneers are 2-6. Mike Evans sees the writing on the wall.

#Bucs WR Mike Evans: “We are very bad. We are too talented to be 2-6. We are in a bad spot and have to come together. Time is running out.”

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 5, 2017

Tampa Bay was crowned an offseason winner after adding DeSean Jackson and O.J. Howard. And fans fell in love with Gerald McCoy and Chris Godwin on Hard Knocks. This team was expected to contend for the NFC South and maybe even have a shot at a Super Bowl. That does not appear to be in the cards.

So what happened? Despite all that talent, the offense is averaging just 19.8 points per game. It’s partly because the defense can’t get off the field. They’re ranked 29th in the league after allowing opponents to convert 55 third downs this season. They can’t get any pressure on quarterbacks, and they’re ranked dead last in the league with just eight sacks on the season.

And there’s not much reason to hope the Bucs can turn it around, at least not this week. The team is sidelining Jameis Winston for at least two weeks until the sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder fully heals. And Evans will be out this week serving a suspension for blindsiding Saints cornerback Marshon Lattimore after he had a sideline altercation with Winston during the Bucs’ loss to the Saints on Sunday.

This isn’t the first time Evans has lamented the state of the Buccaneers. He said essentially the same thing after the team fell to 2-5 with a 17-3 loss to the Panthers.

“I wish I knew why we weren’t starting fast and finishing fast,” Evans said via Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times. “I don’t know what it is. Like I said before the season, on paper we are an amazing team, but we’re just not as good as we thought we were, so we’ve just got to pick it up. The good thing about it [is] we have nine games left.”

Panic index: Now the Bucs just have eight games left, and Evans will miss one of them. Winston will miss even more. And this is looking like a lost season for Tampa Bay.

Ben McAdoo might not have much time to save his job

McAdoo denied claims his team had quit in Week 9’s 51-17 home loss to the Rams, but ... c’mon. New York played disinterested defense as Los Angeles rolled all over them, playing with all the intensity of a smoking break in the second half.

After the game, he told the press no one’s position was safe from the shakeup that would mark the Giants’ second half, even Eli Manning. The only problem is there’s not enough talent on the NY roster to gain anything from benchings. The offense has been ravaged by injuries, and Orleans Darkwa has risen to the top of the team’s finest new tradition; a rotation of utterly frustrating and underwhelming tailbacks.

Things are even more grim on the defensive side, where a once-fearsome pass rush is now just Jason Pierre-Paul and a bunch of cardboard cutouts. New York’s inability to rush the passer has weakened what should be an upper-tier secondary. The Giants are allowing opposing QBs to post a 101.0 passer rating this fall; that figure was just 78.7 — second in the league — in 2016.

The wheels have fallen off, and even if McAdoo wants to take a drastic step in a Hail Mary attempt to fix things, his options look grim. Behind an ineffective Manning lies Geno Smith — a quarterback who couldn’t win a starting role with the dumpster-fire Jets — and rookie Davis Webb, who has yet to be activated for an NFL game in his pro career.

Panic index: Better start packing that hair gel and your array of mustache combs, Ben.

[a-stitch-in-time-and-space]

Various Feelings About ASIT Part 6: Doctors (and other lovers) 1 of 2

Cool, so this got long, it's now divided into 2 posts.

Okay, so technically these posts are asking why Garak and Bashir aren't a thing yet, because I've been really good and barely gone on tangents about how this books is essentially a love-letter to him that subsequent novels apparently decided he wouldn't drop everything to act on, but whatevs, I'm here to find out why that might happen (intrepid over-analyser that I am), but first let’s look at Garak’s general luck in love (it’s shit).

I touched upon some of Garak's inability to not get attached to other people despite the best most soul-crushing training in the galaxy in the “Sentimental Garak“ post, but mainly just... Garak falls in love really easily you guys! (as a proponent for the upsides of polyamory I approve, get a feeling Cardassian society as presented doesn't, but hey, that's what tears and fanfiction are for)

First! Cardassians (since we haven't seen him expressly into anyone non-Cardassian other than our boy Bashir – attracted, yes, “in love with“ no). They all start with P, which I won't over-analyse. Palandine, Pythas, Parmak. This post is Palandine and Pythas mainly..

Palandine first (with a side of Barkan). I firmly come down on the side of him being in love with both of them to begin with – in the sort of immature sense of “they're attractive, above me, and give me attention,“ kinda way (which isn't shallow emotions necessarily, it just stems from a place of deep insecurity and therefore not great for healthy relationships). They teach him poetry, train him to be better, tease out his secrets, and yeah, there's this scene:

[Extract from book. Barkan has just crashed on Garak and Palandine. - sat cross-legged, Palandine studied her exquisitely shaped hands. Now, with the three of us, the dynamic in the enclosure had changed, and we were all adjusting. I no longer had Palandine to myself - but surprisingly, I didn’t mind, in fact I was plased that Charaban was here. His stillness, like everything else about him, had grace and strength. I sneaked another look in his direction and marveled that this was the same person I had first encountered in the storeroom. He returned my look, and in the next few moments a bond grew between us that I had never thought possible. The whooshing flap of a night bird pulled our attention up to the section of glimmering sky that was visible. “I love the Blind Moon,” Charaban said softly. “Why is it called that?” I asked, deeply relieved by the mysterious change that had come over us. “It’s the time for lovers’ assignations,” Palandine answered. “The moon will give them enough light to meet, but not so much for them to be discovered.” “So if you and Elim were true lovers I wouldn’t have been able to find you,” Charaban teased. “That’s right, Barkan,” she said with a direct look. I shifted position in the ensuing silene and tried to hide my disappointment with Palandine’s reply, but at the same time, the pleasure I felt in the company of these two people kept growing.]

I know they were essentially using him, but then, Barkan (the consummate Cardassian) was using everyone. That was kind of his M.O. Palandine fell for that as well. Wonder if Barkan had been capable of feeling the kind of remorse that Palandine felt what would've happened. But from Garak's perspective, yeah he was into this threesome (I'll get back to my love Palandine in a sec).

Too bad he's missing the person who's actually got his back, my boy Pythas, aka, precious babe, want to protecc (even though he's perfectly capable of that on his own), I read so much into him that probably wasn't intended, but urgh. Here's a hypothetical: If Garak had realised Pythas' (in my opinion) massive heart-eyes for him instead of running after Palandine and Barkan, who were much better at pretending grand loving gestures and therefore catnip for a sad, sentimental young Cardassian, what would have happened?

But anyway, here's a list of things Pythas does for him without it being a ploy/a way to seduce him/another way to use him:

1. Saved him from getting a beating, even though there was nothing in it for him and Garak was even kind of rude towards him at that point

2. Offered to wait for him after training (and then hesitated/was about to say something when Garak declined, what did you want to say Pythas????)

3. Helped him out/was his second-in-command essentially during The Competition (there's an argument here that Garak was expected to become One Lubak after this and Pythas his second-in-command, but then I'm like... Cardassian culture doesn't encourage people to go for second-in-command when they could be first-in-command and Pythas absolutely could do that. He was just following Garak as his natural leader instead)

4. Told him his real name (in contrast Palandine and Barkan were telling him their names to manipulate him) and apologised for something that wasn't up to him (Garak having to leave Bamarren), a sign of weakness/sentimentality in Cardassian culture

5. This one is possibly over-reading because Pythas is a perfectionist, but the amount he over-prepared Garak for their shared mission + their little shared joke about Pythat being a ghost, which makes me both happy and sad (also I over-analyse the fact that he meets Garak after years with the words, “beautiful sight isn't it“ whilst looking at him, not the scenery)

6. Apologising again when Garak lost out on becoming his father's successor (also, going by the next point he knew Garak and Palandine were having an affair and never used that to get ahead)

7. Pythas coming to warn him about Barkan, at risk to his own life, again with no benefits to himself other than Garak not being captured/possibly killed

Then, of course, there's the natural cryptic ways he talks where you have to decipher yourself what he means – Garak might be a master at lying by telling the truth, but Pythas has perfectioned the art of saying so much while saying nothing at all. The price of being good at keeping your emotions in check is loneliness and bitterness.

[Extract from book. Pythas has come to visit Garak in the rubble of Cardassia. - part of me wished she hadn’t. Until your doctor spoke about healing... on every level. It’s what the body wants, he told us... unless we choose otherwise.” Pythas sat with his head bowed for a long moment. “I’d become very bitter, Elim.” I sat on a rock across from him and gently put my hand on his. What was it about this place, I wondered. And I remembered Parmak saying that if we couldn’t mourn, we couldn’t move ahead.]

So uh. Pythas calls him Elim. Pythas calls Parmak “your doctor.” This whole thing is about mourning and moving past a life not lived as he wanted to. Oh Garak. The one person you didn't fall in love with (and I always wonder if that tiny moment of tenderness isn't Garak realising something in that direction about Pythas' feelings towards him and comforting him, tenderness is after all in short supply, so I take what I can and analyse it to hell and back).

Let me backtrack to Palandine for a moment. I contrasted her to Pythas by saying she had manipulated Garak, and that's true, she did, she was upset about it and wanted forgiveness. I am a biased reader, always, and honestly, I never thought Garak and Palandine were good for each other (for similar reasons Garak and Pythas could've never worked out) – they were too caught up in the net of lies and bitterness and trauma and neither of them had the language or the abilities or even the chance to try to work their way out of it. Palandine started out by using him (and I don't entirely buy her “we're all using each other“ excuse either, that sounds like she's bought in to the propaganda too much, although I will concede that I think Garak was too young to know what he wanted at the time, so definitely went for people who were powerful in ways he wasn't – he's always trying to learn from others, isn't he) and they ended up using each other to “pretend” they could exist without the system.

Maybe if they had met again after the Dominion War... but maybe their personal history was too much of their past selves to be able to heal as partners (in contrast to, say, Parmak).

Parmak! I think they actually do end up together post-book? (Una Mccormack books). Another doctor, the irony is lost on none of us, we know what you did Andy! In terms of learning from another person, he's certainly a better teacher than any Bamarren graduate. He engages him in similar subjects as Bashir did, but coming from the perspective of another Cardassian it's a lot less patronising-sounding, and challenges him for the better, just like Bashir. It’s almost like... they’re quite similar to one another.... ........

In the next part we'll take Garak's later love-interests and compare them to his earlier ones and to one another.

[phoenixrisinglove]

Home

We’ve been back in New Plymouth now for 5 weeks- which is insane, considering it feels like just yesterday we were still in London! I miss it: the traveling, the tube, the people. But I’ve come back withe best souvenir from France!

A fiancee! 

There’s an excitement and anticipation for the future that I haven’t experience before; this desire to marry someone because they’re the person you want to marry. Not just because you are fulfilling some social norm or because “god told me to”. Or because you’ve dated for a “n” number of years. Or whatever other reason you people enter marriage. 

I don’t profess to have it right- especially cos I would never consider myself an expert in this arena and the last thing I would want to do is give anyone else advice on their relationships. 

I just know that I am ready for a Fiancee and a wife.

I’m no longer ashamed of who I am with- even if it means tough conversations are always on the cards when you meant someone new and they go “Is your husband Asian too?” Ummmmm...”No, my wife is white”. And sometimes I get sick and tired of having these conversations, as you feel like you spend most of your time doing an analysis on whether that person will then still respect you as a human being or not. 

Anyway. I shant dwell on that.

A deconstruction of my faith values and a subsequent reconstruction of it, especially during our trip, has made me realise how unsafe Christianity (at least the brand of Christianity that pentecostal New Life Majestic Elim churches preach) actually is. Or really, any religion that is so dead set against believing they’re the only ones who are right. 

I was so brainwashed into thinking Creationism is the only thing that is real that it was so difficult for me to appreciate that there were other humanoids that existed, or that dinosaurs existed for a period of time longer than even humanoids have. Or that rocks can be 4 billion years old. 

No! It’s 6000! My inner mind keeps screaming. And the dinosaurs died in a flood! But I was completely fascinated by the skeletal remains of mammals that existed thousands of years ago. I feel like coming out as agnostic has actually increased my faith rather than diminish it.

And then let’s not even talk about the stupid fascination Christians have with healing. I think back to the 3 times I came off insulin (voluntarily, because I was so brainwashed) thinking that God would heal me if I stepped out in faith. My Mum didn’t even stop me doing that- and now I realise that it’s complete neglect. We should all have faith that God can heal people WITHOUT taking them off life-giving medication. I had a phone call with an elderly lady my Mum goes to bible study with just the other day, and she said it again “Well you know Ariel, we’ve been waiting a long time and don’t rule it out, but God might still come through with a complete healing of your diabetes”.

I almost wanted to yell at her. I could feel the anger rising up in me. I didn’t want to yell AT her, mind you, just at her. How can anyone still hold onto that deathly belief? That they would put me in danger? Oh it infuriates me how much religion dumbs people’s brains. Mostly because it belittles God too. It makes him look like he’s some kind of evil taskmaster, who will only give you what you want IF you do death-defying acts. 

What happened to “If you ask me for an egg, would I give you a scorpion?”

I just have no tolerance for religious talk about the moment. All it does for me is make me mad. Make me mad that the god I believed in for so long is so cruel underneath all the “goodness” that Christians say he is. Makes me mad that the god I believed in for so long would demand such stupidity in order to be his follower. 

But what makes me madder still, is that the God I do know, is nothing like the god I did believe in.

Their role in my life now is not some spiritual guidance, but a moral compass that I know is embedded already into everything I do. 

Argh. Just writing about the whole healing thing irks me so much. I need to stop.

Long entry closed with: I have just applied for a job at Base Hospital. So we’ll see if this is going to be our home for the next few years.

[salfordelim]

Neil’s Reflections

Everyone (mainly on Facebook to be honest, though there are other ways of wasting your time) seems to have been invited to do it: ‘Post 10 albums that mean everything to you without explanation’.

And I look at the posts and say out loud: ‘What? The Best of Bay City Rollers? That demands an explanation’.

I genuinely want to know. Does the record remind you of when you were getting your mum to sew tartan patches into your jeans, a feather-cut hair style, or singing ‘Shang-a-lang’ with all the cool kids you wanted to be with at the disco when you were 13?

If you’re too young to know which cultural icons I am talking about, here they are in resplendent beauty:

Tell me more – because some things need explaining.

The first healing miracle that Luke records in Acts involves Peter and John giving a new shot at life to a crippled guy outside the Temple. It caused massive ripples and they ended up having to defend their actions in front of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish ruling council.

They tried to explain: ‘We didn’t heal this man, Jesus who was raised from the dead, did.’

Apparently, the apostles didn’t come across as that impressive- at least not in front of the Sanhedrin. They hadn’t been to the right schools, they didn’t speak impressively, they looked like the tradesmen they were.

The only thing the Sanhedrin noticed that made these men different was ‘they had been with Jesus’. And now they had acted in the name of Jesus, using his authority to change someone else’s life.

It’s as though Peter and John, and by extension the young church, were acting so differently that those watching on were saying ‘there’s something different about them, can’t put my finger on it, but they do seem to be acting a bit like Jesus’.

I wouldn’t mind that going on my tombstone. It’s why I keep on praying as best I can, why I keep reading the Bible, why I keep meeting with other Christians. When I’m including these activities into my life, I sense that I become a little bit more Jesus-shaped.

The resurrected Jesus is still turning lives round, saving people from feeling their lives are pointless. Salvation is still being offered and received.

I want us to be part of that story.

And I want us to confound people’s expectations.

And I want us to be able to explain.

Because that story is life-changing.

And after all, there has to be a reason you chose ‘The Best of the Bay City Rollers.’

Isn’t there?

Interview

This week’s interview is with Nick Jackson. Nick is a sound engineer who in more normal days works on big events around the country. Now everything is more unecertain for him. It was good to hear about how he copes with that.

News

Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

1. Governing Body Changes

As you might remember, three of the present members of the Governing Body will step down in the summer. They are Gill Oldham, Pearl King and Frank Walsh. They have served the church really well by supporting those employed by the church and helping us become the church that we believe God is calling us to be.

We have already agreed that Judith Thompson and Charlie Blundell will replace them, but as we said at the time there was another space to be filled.

We are delighted to be able to tell you that Jumi Isobor has agreed to be proposed as part of the team. If you want to know more about Jumi you can see her here being interviewed with Emmanuel…

As is our custom, if you have any concerns that you think are really significant please get back to us by Wed 3 June.

I’d like to thank Jumi for being willing to allow us to put her forward to you. We think Jumi is the right person for the team. She is younger than the rest of us (!), comes from a different ethnic background, loves the church, asks great questions and has a heart for the growth of the Kingdom of God. 

2. Our Gatherings

Sunday Gathering

The link to this Sunday’s Gathering is here:

Join our Sunday Zoom meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/836810848 Meeting ID: 836 810 848

Small Groups

A chance to reflect on life and scripture together. We are using this resource at the moment. We are in the third week.

Thursdays at 7.45pm is the time to log on.

Join our small group Zoom meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/998857193?pwd=Ni9ZY2pSSWdQcWRvellMWXJYbG5rZz09 Meeting ID: 998 857 193

Inviting Others

During these strange days, we want to stay growing as church. You might have friends and family who might be interested in staying in touch with us as a church. Ask them to fill out the form on our church website and we will add them to our mailing list.

Sign up for updates from Salford Elim Church

This may be an easy time to invite friends and family to our Gatherings, after all they can be with us from the safety of their own homes. You have nothing to lose, they have a lot to gain!

Prayer

It was fantastic to see so many of you at the prayer meeting last week. These will happen every other week on a Tuesday evening. The next is on 2 June at 8pm. The link is:

Join our prayer meeting on 2nd June

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82385306337 Meeting ID: 823 8530 6337

If in doubt…

All the links to the meetings are in our ChurchSuite app and on the Calendar section of our church website.

Visit our Events Calendar

3. You’re not alone

If you need prayer, or need to talk, don’t hesitate to contact folks in your WhatsApp group, or Neil – his number is 07771 558058.

4. Hardship fund

We set aside some of church’s money so that we can respond to needs that we become aware of in church. You might want to give to that fund, if so, let Bev Walsh know, or you might be in need yourself. If you would need help, don’t be embarrassed to talk with Charlie Blundell. We want to help.

Links and Resources

1. Who knows when…

…we will be able to meet face to face again. Some churches in America are restarting – but socially distancing. These pictures made us chuckle…

2. Children’s Resources

Morag and Ian have put together a couple of films for children at different ages. Having said that, whatever your age you might want to take a look!

But if you have children that fall into these groups, I know that they will really value your feedback.

You can watch them here:

This week’s Kids Resources

[survivorjohto]

Ep. 11: “Ding Ding Ding! It’s Me!” - Karen

WOW, THAT WORKED.

 Drew, Duncan, Mitch - Karen

 Jordan M - Billy

 Jordan P - Mitch 

Jay, Karen, Isaac - Jordan M

 Billy, Brian - Jay

 Maybe Jordan Pines shouldn't basically make Karen and Isaac the bottom and then trust them with everything???

   I know Billy still has an idol, and I know I'm the ONLY one I knows, so I feel a bunch of good vibes.  My goal is for Billy to get to the end, so I NEED to win this next challenge to ensure Jordan Pines can GO!  Then, Jordan Means can be the back-up plan.  I really REALLY hope that we can pull this off.

 In addition, I also feel like I'm in a great spot in this game.  I don't think I'll win, but I do think I have a great shot of at least tying with my Nicky Esposito Niue run.  If  I continue to play under the radar and let everyone kill each other, I might be okay.  I have 2 alliances, one with all the Heroes and one with Karen, Isaac, Drew, and Billy.  I hope my spot in the middle can benefit me.

 I also know that Billy wants Mitch gone sooner rather than later, and I totally agree.  I do think Mitch could use his super idol for good, but maybe he'll snake us all.  He doesn't snake Billy, but that doesn't mean he's not willing to snake me. 

 TL;DR - I think I'm in a good spot to at least place well, and I need to WIN immunity.

Lmfao, this is hilarious. I just made a fake idol and buried it. I'm PRAYING that someone finds it and tries to save themselves because this'll be TOTALLY ICONIC if they do.

 I'm also going to see if they'll let me "transfer" the fake idol instead of burying it. But either way, I'm excited. 

 Steffen, thank you for redeeming yourself and giving me this idea. And who said he was a villain? He did after all help a hero. 

I hope Jordan Pines goes next.  That is all.

listen i've mentally checked out of everything except Paper Mario, this is to make sure I don't get a strike for being a dumbass and not making a real confessional

Well yikes i got a strike. Jay went home. Karen is a snake. Billy wants me out. tonight i feel its me or Karen. I want Karen to go because I feel she screwed all of us villains and if she goes we have the tight group of the jordans and isaac. Plus if she goes drew and duncan might flip on billy next round which would have me shook so hopefully im here after this vote.

Andrew sucks chips <3 allison <3 this tribe can choke!

This is such a messy round, and I highkey wanna die again.  I came in fucking second place in immunity, and if I had won, I wouldn't be in this shitty ass position, but I have to go back on Duncan and Mitch tonight even though I do not want to

Okay lowkey if I get voted out this round I won't be too mad because ya Boi Isucc just went to 7 different people all making pitches that would benefit them. Here's the end result:

 Billy ----> Duncan 

Brian -----> Mitch 

Karen ------> Duncan 

Drewbert ------> Mitch 

Frank ------> Mitch 

Isaac ------->Duncan 

Duncan -----> Karen 

Mitch -------> Karen 

Jordan-------> Mitch

I'm really sad. Duncan needs to die to keep Isaac and Karen. Who apparently need to stay for other reasons. I need to figure out my shit in this game because I'm officially giving up the people I've bonded closer with in favor of the people Billy has bonded closer with. And that's not okay. 

 i forgot this is jay last tribal haha

so this elim doesnt feel like too nerve wracking even tho realistically my name is on the line? but i have no fear of getting elimed. ugh anyway i know my ass shouldnt feel secure bc thats when ill get clocc but honslee until i can figure out plans myself  then ill leave to isaac and just chill. rn it should a split 4-3-2 with mitchum getting 4 and using his idol and then duncan getting the 3 and me prob getting the 2. im just glad that the ppl who were writing my name down are getting clocct n socct! after this i think me and isaac need to think about which way we need to go and potentially go for a threat even i think no one has anymore powers. so challenge threats are prob the next to get elimed if it were up to me, and stay away from putting the idea of getting rid of social threats in ppls heads bc guess whos a social threat? ding ding ding! its me!

Brian just told me I'm getting super-idoled out which is fine. I was a Jury goat anyways *shrug emoji* they want to flush Mitch's super idol when we would have literally been heroes strong until the end. I didn't lie this game, I didn't back stab anyone, I played a pretty low key game. It got me to 9th, I improved, and now I know I'm more proud of myself when I do play hard from the jump. I don't understand these people sometimes, and maybe I never will. Brandon was right, this community is a bunch of psychopaths!

[salfordelim]

Neil’s Reflections

After 40 years of zero contact I was contacted by a school friend on Facebook. We exchanged what were in effect short CVs of our lives: where we had been, what we had been doing, and who we had been doing it all with.

I tried to explain about the church, describing to someone outside of church-world what Pentecostal meant. I fell back on the description as ‘so-called happy-clappy’.

Well how would you describe our life together? Informal, friendly, open to the life of God, Gospel-centred?   

It raises the question, what does it actually mean to be a Pentecostal?

To get to grips with it, you can look at what Pentecostal churches around the world look like, or you can have a look at what it meant in the beginning of the movement, which would lead you to a different challenge.

Most people would agree that the first Pentecostal church was in a renovated warehouse on Azusa Street in Los Angeles in 1906. It was led by William Seymour, a black, partially sighted preacher at a time when to be black and poor in the States was to be on the receiving end of accepted racial abuse. So when the church began to grow as a mixed-race church, with white visitors from all over the world willing to listen to people who were at the bottom of the social ladder, it suggested a completely different church. One of the early pictures shows some of those early Pentecostals:

Male, female, white, black, old, young. What they had in common was an experience of the Spirit and, as one journalist would write after visiting a service, they knew that ‘the colour bar (the racial laws) had been washed away in Jesus’ blood’. The Spirit had created a community that shocked genteel society but demonstrated something of the Kingdom of God.

Did it last? In truth, not long. Petty arguments, church politics, doctrinal differences and racism all pulled apart what had happened. But that doesn’t take away from the fact that it did happen.

So when we talk about who we are, maybe we shouldn’t talk about size, or perceived liveliness, or even friendliness, but should say that we were formed as communities that knew that their life together could be radically different.

It’s why Luke’s picture of the earliest sets of believers in Acts 2:42-47 is so significant. A group who were willing to sacrifice time, treasure and talents for one another in radical acts of generosity. They shared what they had, they met daily, they were devoted to one another and, unsurprisingly, they grew. Well they would, wouldn’t they?

Did it last like this?

In truth, not long. People tried to take advantage of one another, they disagreed and fell out with one another, they found it easier to follow racial lines.

But does it matter that they had experienced something different at their birth? Absolutely.

It’s who we were meant to be, it’s the shape of communities that have experienced the life of God. And in these days of separation, confusion and struggle, it matters more than ever. We will spend a little more time looking at this passage on Sunday together. Meanwhile, pray that we will be all that the Spirit would want to shape us as over these next years.

If you’re intrigued in reading more about these early days of Pentecostalism, you might be interested in reading this.

If you would rather know about early British Pentecostalism you could watch this (around 1:03 you might recognize one of the contributors).

Interview

This week’s interview is with Anne Albinson. Enjoy listening to the remarkable decisions she has taken in her life.

https://youtu.be/c90bryXBAJE

News

Photo by Adi Goldstein on Unsplash

1. Our Gatherings

Sunday Gathering

The link to this Sunday’s Gathering is here:

Join our Sunday Zoom meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/836810848 Meeting ID: 836 810 848

Small Groups

A chance to reflect on life and scripture together. We are using this resource at the moment. We are in the second week.

Thursdays at 7.45pm is the time to log on.

Join our small group Zoom meeting

https://us04web.zoom.us/j/998857193?pwd=Ni9ZY2pSSWdQcWRvellMWXJYbG5rZz09 Meeting ID: 998 857 193

Inviting Others

During these strange days, we want to stay growing as church. You might have friends and family who might be interested in staying in touch with us as a church. Ask them to fill out the form on our church website and we will add them to our mailing list.

Sign up for updates from Salford Elim Church

This may be an easy time to invite friends and family to our Gatherings, after all they can be with us from the safety of their own homes. You have nothing to lose, they have a lot to gain!

2. Prayer Together

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash

Why?

For some time we have sensed that as a church we don’t pray enough together. This was also reinforced in the feedback we received during Neil’s ‘Listening Exercise’ earlier in the year. 

Prayer really is part of our ‘core business’ as disciples of Jesus; it’s the life-blood of our relationship with God and one of the primary means by which God speaks to us, challenges us, encourages us and changes us.  The current global pandemic has caused many of us to pray more than we did before. It has also accelerated some of the changes we were going to make as a leadership. As a result, we hope that some of things we put in place now will continue after the crisis is over; one of them is to pray more together. 

When?

Tuesday evenings 8-9pm starting on Tuesday 19 May and then fortnightly onwards.

Where?

From the comfort of your own home!

The link to each meeting is here:

Join Prayer Together

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82385306337 Meeting ID: 823 8530 6337

And the link will be on our church’s events calendar.

We do hope you will join us to pray during this unprecedented time in history.

3. You’re not alone

If you need prayer, or need to talk, don’t hesitate to contact folks in your WhatsApp group, or Neil – his number is 07771 558058.

4. Hardship fund

We set aside some of church’s money so that we can respond to needs that we become aware of in church. You might want to give to that fund, if so, let Bev Walsh know, or you might be in need yourself. If you would need help, don’t be embarrassed to talk with Charlie Blundell. We want to help.

Links and Resources

1. Elim Leadership Summit

This is happening online on 12-13 May. You can hear about it and get the links here.

If you want to hear more about Neil’s research he will be ‘live’ at 2pm on Wednesday – but I guess it will be made available afterwards.

2. To watch

The last two months have changed things for many of us. I know some of you life got busier and more complicated. For other, it was less busy and the danger is that we lost a sense of purpose. For either group this might be worth a watch:

John Mark Comer wrote a really readable book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. In this interview, John Mark talks about family life, slowing down, finding rhythms of life that help us and our families connect with God, and the importance of Sabbath. It seems fitting for the season that we find ourselves in.

3. Children’s Resources

Morag and Ian have out together a couple of films for children at different ages. Having said that, whatever your age you might want to take a look!

But if you have children that fall into these groups, I know that they will really value your feedback, so please do leave a comment on the page.

Get this week’s Kids Resources