#rails associations

[miothle]

The Hanged Man Aventurine for HSR Tarot Collab!🌌✨

[curaree]

the handshake was nice but I would've liked a hug!!

[clouvu]

Acorn x Wobin thoughts on the brain rn

[4nimenut]

prayer

[magicalscrewup]

Google show me this man at his lowest, ugly sobbing.

[kuixotic]

has anyone connected this, does anyone hear me

willpower of steel, fluidity of emotions, knowledge from the past, something like that

[subduedroses]

Study of an Ayami Kojima piece but I made it Argenti

(Original reference here)

[herrscherofmagic]

Here’s the first three design sketches I've made for my hoyoverse Amphoreus AU!

Part 2

(long explanation below the cut under the images)

I'm basically plucking a group of hoyoverse characters from Honkai 3rd, Genshin, and ZZZ and attempting to re-imagine them as the Chrysos Heirs of Amphoreus. Its a very odd mixture of characters to say the least, lol

In this AU I'm designing this whole cast as Amphoreus expies, so i.e. the Paimon here isn't the same as the Paimon in Genshin, its just an Amphoreus version of her. They're all from city-states throughout Amphoreus, and eventually heard of the prophecy and joined the Flame-Chase one way or another.

Lady Ataegina (Bianka Ataegina from Honkai Impact 3rd, aka Durandal)—

The first of the Chrysos Heirs of this era, and the person who commenced the Flame-Chase journey. Known for her heroic deeds throughout the centuries.

When she was younger she had a personality more like Kevin, being loud and proud and acting all heroic, but as the coreflame erodes at her soul throughout the centuries, she ends up in a state of being more similar to Aglaea.

I chose Bianka for this role and coreflame because of her similarities to Phainon in terms of her big protagonist energy and her "prophesied hero" role throughout HI3rd. I think she'd be quite fitting as a deliverer. However, to switch things up a bit, I also imagine her filling a similar narrative role as Aglaea, just with a different demigod power. She's the veteran, a wisened and experienced hero, but also a shell of her former self who is holding herself together just to get through the last stretch of this long and arduous journey.

Asphodel (Trigger from Zenless Zone Zero)—

Another early Chrysos Heir, and a dear friend of the Janus demigod. After losing everything and everyone she knew in war, she foolishly swore to get vengeance upon Thanatos, and saw the Flame-Chase as a means to this end. However, with time and effort her views on Death have changed as she experienced the world in new ways thanks to her companions.

In terms of personality she's more or less the same as the Trigger we know and love in ZZZ, so not much to add there.

I decided to choose Trigger for this role for a handful of reasons: one is to narratively pair her with the Janus demigod (who i won't name yet, but should be easy to guess for any ZZZ players given the sketch above lmao), but also because she already had a fair bit of Greek afterlife symbolism in her design.

For instance, in this AU she's an archer so she doesn't have a "trigger" on her weapon to serve as her nickname, but she goes by "Asphodel", which we see in her ZZZ character banner (Sights of Asphodel). Per the ZZZ wiki, the Asphodel is a flower associated with the Greek nether realm. So between that, and Trigger's lore in ZZZ being rife with loss and grief and death, I think it's fitting to swap her into the role that our beloved Castorice fills in HSR canon!

Paimon (from Genshin Impact) —

One of the youngest of the Chrysos Heirs, and thus a recent member. Seemingly blessed with the power of Oronyx from a young age, Paimon found herself at the center of a great deal of schemes and envy. Fortunately, she found a home in Okhema alongside the rest of the Chrysos Heirs, and has sought to uncover the secrets behind her power and the origins of Oronyx itself.

It's Paimon! for y'all who've played Genshin, you know what she's going to be like here lol. Just no Traveler (poor Paimon x-x), and she's a relatively normal person so she's grown out of her child form. But she still has the same sort of innocent and bright personality, a welcome contrast to some of the more imposing figures in the Chrysos Heirs, such as Lady Ataegina.

All the Genshin lore nerds out there, y'all can guess why Paimon would've been chosen to be demigod of Time here :)

so yeah that's it. /sendtweet

Idk how frequently i'll be updating this but I at least hope to get all 12 designs and to be able to work on some other set of sketches/art as well. no promises tho skskskks

[sleep13s]

"youre...not real, are you?"

based on THE panel of all time

[sachi]

☆ Kafka // Honkai: Star Rail ☆ Resin kit / 1/7 / Awaken Association ☆ Wonder Festival 2024 [Winter] ¥22,000 ☆ Sculpt rehokty Akai Paint Hanger Illustration Huajiu Huajiu

[hsr-incorrect-quotes]

Trailblazer: I think we should have glow stick juice injected in our bones when we're born, so if we break our bones, we get a fun little surprise. Aventurine: What's the suprise? Dr. Ratio: Blood poisoning.

[khawla-gfm2]

📰Khawla's Family Campaign Update: 181📰

$54,924/$80,000 as of February 27th [10pm CDT]

Currently $76 away from $55,000 as a short term goal

[Paypal where money reaches her faster!]: paypal.me/KhawlaFunds

(^send money to the paypal as "friends and family")

Please consider donating even just $5, $10, or $20 to help Khawla in her time of need! every amount counts!

🔗> Why send money to the Paypal?: It helps me get money to Khawla faster as it skips the wait time for money to process in the campaign and instead goes directly to the bank account i opened for Khawla's money which i send to her via international wire transfers.

[for more information on the campaign: check my pinned post, the campaign page itself, or message me directly if you have any questions]

[tag list under the cut]:

@corpsenurse @vita-e @guiltycrunch @onetruesirius @gaysebastianvael @inplodinggofer616 @d3lph1unkn0wn @confusedsheepsblog @p33rpressure @ahperrytheplatypus @your-13th-suffers @hericanee @murderbot @arceusbeta @tam-shade-song @coleheinous @diberhaze @space-batzz @devilmeows @gizdathemxel

@slowbrobutch @hotsugarbyglassanimals @pinetreesdoodles @mores0 @suzu-by-starlight @sparky-is-spiders @hellotheretraveler @hahvdh @archferret @softeninglooks @moronic0xymoron @darthferbert @virgincognito @animebabe55 @profoundlyscreechingkryptonite @princessnessa2017-blog @neptuneschaos @the-mold-under-your-bed123 @ropes3amthoughts

@wild-forest-bee @rsquid2 @faerie-lights @lapastelr0sa @allegedlysicktomystomach @number-1-carrie-white-fan @adept7777 @cam24fan @strflwers @tremendousdreamtragedy @soullessjack @backgroundcharacterno15 @west-of-the-styx @apocalypsegay @something-writing @suburbananarch @fr0gie @stretchedbumhole201 @exltwounds @cori-randomstuff

@one-cold-witch @d1anna @esoteric-brustle @lpslover6669 @anakalos @buildmeupbuttercup14 @skkfujoshi @chaos-axolotl-reblogs @def-not-kaz-brekker @invulnerable-vaguewomen @dlxxv-vetted-donations @candycrypt1d @gryficowa @ocipiala @zaminami @mjthefaeva @nako-funky @kenniex2 @hananono @centi-pearl

@that-one-vangogh-painting @sappy-asphie @lotionlamp @kenniex2 @yeskhya @hyper-fucks-sake-tion @jauximeowmeow @lady-misaki @reymcmuffin @sufferswallow @thequeendied @a1m3v @parkerpresentz @extremereader @thetwistedarchives @absolutedoorknob @worowelf @hold-me-till-winter @beeware-of-lulu @littleladybaker

@plswtfdontdoitagain @footlongdingledong @cherrraty @heheheeheeh @fleurxduxmal @pintrestparasite @louisblue02 @clowdwatching @eldritch-something-or-other @sanguivorouscorvid @neoneone0 @p33p33p00p00 @mahougirlys @bi0feed @peppimeco @chiomn @himbo-noxx @louddragonphantom @futuristiccherryblossoms @market--land

@jellyfishinajamjar @rainbowpuppet @names-hard @deviouscowboy @moosebebignwatching @ginnyjuicee @dogbound1128 @greybear35-blog @dangerous-tangerine @wolfcubjim @l-dot-k-2 @yung-lean-hates-you-2 @ssak-i @koobird @mininightmare2 @strawberryglitterkiss @transexualcow @bluelunas @whenyou-wheni @bolas-de-berlim

@thesignpaintersstuff @sumthing69 @sentienceoverload-29 @theresamouseinmyhouse @kurtismcilroy @aswho1estuff @ratsnvermins @transvalkilmer @pipervonviper @cemetery-circus @tryceratops4 @woodwood6000 @katagawajr @aliensmoothie @nonbinarycryptology @the-number-1-iono-fan @mythicalbinicorn @talkswiththem @voidpumpkin @half-asleep-star

@luvdisc69 @ghostb3loved @fuckcapitalismasshole @no-clue-just-vibin @twashcat360 @amythestvaporeonbackup @lazy-but-amazing @dusty-brain @loucygoosey @bichi2004 @stalinistqueens @wynsummers @sad-cat-02 @rottingoranges @thingfromanoutherworld @ak1w1i @apinklion01 @cloxwork @polvuz

@therearenonutsforsomeendermen @noxumblog @ashkaranast @donationsmatter @punkeropercyjackson @callie-flower @patchoulitoes @stonedustghost @ofishally @stellaristcs @redmystery314 @asquidnotkid @omorimoroii @tanoroe @slightly-foolish @sergeantsarga @thebluespacecow @reusablebagofrats @eptck @577-6523

@killer-wizard @sapphicdragons-1 @rainy-clawz @afunlessland @dwarf-enjoyer @juchily @classyeyeballs @jeynees @ajatheoleander12 @sentienceoverload-29 @manic-pixie-dream-cock @jinnazah @1ikeavirgil @darlingbookworm @wetccarpet @chthonianalacrity @samurotting @aldryrththerainbowheart @mochipuppy16 @darinaethelaianprophet

@this-deadgirlwalking @rob-os-17 @moonbisexualsharktamerr @screamnpatches @luvdisc69 @ghostb3loved @fuckcapitalismasshole @no-clue-just-vibin @twashcat360 @amythestvaporeonbackup @lazy-but-amazing @dusty-brain @loucygoosey @bichi2004 @stalinistqueens @wynsummers @rottingoranges @thingfromanoutherworld @ashkaranast

@wetccarpet @chthonianalacrity @samurotting @aldryrththerainbowheart @mochipuppy16 @darinaethelaianprophet @rob-os-17 @moonbisexualsharktamerr @weakestwarrior @v1rtualv4mp @fiapple @tryna-sleep @snapcracklepop-myjoints @l-art-stuff-l @minosbull @duskstarshit @cosmicgamerboy @squidkiddoesstuff @attaboy-art @fireflyingaway

@blackcrystalball @lookineedsleep @lampthehealthminister @therealdjpocky @holyeaglecupcakesposts @amberspacedf @teeethbrush @bunnannie @lesbitching @lonelypotato23 @swaggy-hairy-thang @murenaaaaa @karlmarxmaybe @littlegaypancake @zimislockedinthefreezer @catboywillferal @yetisidelblog @tspicer23 @galax-dragon

@redpinejo @orphancat @sea-200 @literally-one-million-bees @aroacedisasterr @blvvdyindustries @sunmooneclipseandstars @theandroidsentbycyberl1fe @reblogingstuffrandomly @animatorfun @r4yt0r0f4nb0y @fazar234 @mstormcloud @theguiltygearheritageposts @doubleedgemode @millionthcephalophore @white-mirrors @cherubsaliaa @ash24601 @willhelmthewhale

@cipherinator @sister-lucifer @missivorystone @4de2ssy0 @alpabett @99orangeblossoms @totally-six @sematary-drive @knittedquails @masterofthepistachio @gagreflexoxo @owlchow @specificiumray @valentinemailbox @patzw

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Big Train managers earn bonuses for greenlighting unsafe cars

Tomorrow (November 16) I'll be in Stratford, Ontario, appearing onstage with Vass Bednar as part of the CBC IDEAS Festival. I'm also doing an afternoon session for middle-schoolers at the Stratford Public Library.

Almost no one knows this, but last June, a 90-car train got away from its crew in Hernando, MS, rolling three miles through two public crossings, a ghost train that included 47 potentially explosive propane cars. The "bomb train" neither crashed nor derailed, which meant that Grenada Railroad/Gulf & Atantic didn't have to report it.

This is just one of many terrifying near-misses that are increasingly common in America's hyper-concentrated, private equity-dominated rail sector, where unsafe practices dominate and whistleblowers face brutal retaliation for coming forward to regulators.

These unsafe practices – and the corporate policies that deliberately gave rise to them – are documented in terrifying, eye-watering detail in a deeply reported Propublica story by Topher Sanders, Jessica Lussenhop,Dan Schwartz, Danelle Morton and Gabriel L Sandoval:

https://www.propublica.org/article/railroad-safety-union-pacific-csx-bnsf-trains-freight

It's a tale of depraved indifference to public safety, backstopped by worker intimidation. The reporting is centered on railyard maintenance inspectors, who are charged with writing up "bad orders" to prevent unsafe railcars from shipping out. As private equity firms consolidated rail into an ever-dwindling number of companies, these workers face supervisors who are increasingly hostile to these bad orders.

It got so alarming that some staffers started carrying hidden digital recorders, so they could capture audio of their bosses illegally ordering them to greenlight railcars that were too unsafe for use. The article features direct – and alarming – quotes, like supervisor Andrew Letcher, boss of the maintenance crews at Union Pacific's Kansas City yard saying, "If I was an inspector on a train I would probably let some of that nitpicky shit go."

Letcher – and fellow managers for other Tier 1 railroads quoted in the piece – aren't innately hostile to public safety. They are quite frank about why they want inspectors to "let that nitpicky shit go." As Letcher explains, "The first thing that I’m getting questioned about right now, every day, is why we’re over 200 bad orders and what we’re doing to get them down."

In other words, corporate rail owners have ordered their supervisors to reduce the amount of maintenance outages on the rail lines, but have not given them additional preventative maintenance budgets or crew. These supervisors warn their employees that high numbers of bad orders could cost them their jobs, even lead to the shutdown of the car shops where inspectors are prone to pulling dangerous cars out of service.

It's a ruthless form of winnowing. Gresham's Law holds that "bad money drives out good" – in an economy where counterfeit money circulates, people preferentially spend their fake money to get it out of their hands, until all the money in circulation is funny money. This is the rail safety equivalent: simply fire everyone who reports unsafe conditions and all your railcars will be deemed safe, with the worst railcars shipped out first. A market for lemons – except these aren't balky used sedans, they're unsafe railcars full of toxic chemicals or explosive propane.

When cataclysmic rail disasters occur – like this year's East Palestine derailment – the rail industry reassures us that this is an isolated incident, pointing to the system's excellent overall safety record. But that record is a mirage, because the near-misses don't have to be reported. Those near-misses are coming more frequently, as the culture of profit over safety incurs a mounting maintenance debt, filling America's rails with potential "bomb cars."

Rail mergers and other forms of deregulated, anything-goes capitalism are justified by conservative economists who insist that "incentives matter," and that the profit motive provides the incentive to improve efficiency, leading to lower costs and better service. But the incentive to externalize risk, kick the can down the road, and capture regulators rarely concerns the "incentives matter" crowd.

Here's an incentive that matters. Rail managers' bonuses – as much as a fifth of their take home pay – are only paid if the trains they oversee run on time. Inspectors have recorded their managers admitting that they have quotas – a maximum number of bad orders their facility may produce, irrespective of how much unsafe rolling stock passes through the facility.

Inspectors have caught their managers removing repair order tags from cars they've flagged as unsafe. Inspectors will log orders in a database, only to have the record mysteriously deleted, or marked as serviced when no service has occurred. Some inspectors have seen the same cars in their yard with the same problems, and repeatedly flagged them without any maintenance being performed before they're shipped out again.

Former managers from Union Pacific, CSX and Norfolk Southern told Propublica that they operated in an environment where safety reports were discouraged, and that workers who filed these reports were viewed as "complainers." Workers furnished Propublica with recordings of rail managers berating them for reporting persistent unsafe conditions the Federal Railroad Administration. Other workers from BNSF said that they believed that their bosses were told when they called the company's "confidential" work-safety tipline, setting them up for retaliation by bosses who'd falsified safety reports.

Whistleblowers who seek justice at OSHA are stymied by long delays, and while switching their cases to court can win them cash settlements, these do not get recorded on the company's safety record, which allows the company to go on claiming to be a paragon of safety and prudence.

The culture of retaliation is pervasive, which explains how the 47-cars worth of propane on the "bomb train" that rolled unattended over three miles of track never made the news. There is a voluntary Close Call Reporting System (operated by NASA!) where rail companies can report these disasters. Not one of America's Class 1 rail companies participate in it.

After the East Palestine disaster, Transport Secretary Pete Buttigieg pushed the rail companies to join, but a year later, none have. It's part of an overall pattern with Secretary Buttigieg, who has prodigious, far-reaching powers under USC40 Section 41712(a), which allow him to punish companies for "unfair and deceptive" practices or "unfair methods of competition":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/10/the-courage-to-govern/#whos-in-charge

Buttigieg can't simply hand down orders under 41712(a) – to wield this power, he must follow administrative procedures, conducting market studies, seeking comment, and proposing a rule. Other members of the Biden administration with similar powers, like FTC chair Lina Khan, arrived in office with a ranked-priority list of bad corporate conduct and immediately set about teeing up rules to give relief to the American public.

By contrast, Buttigieg's agency has done precious little to establish the evidentiary record to punish the worst American companies under its remit. His most-touted achievement was to fine five airlines for saving money by cancelling their flights and stranding their passengers. But of the five airlines affected by Buttigieg's order, four were not US companies. The sole affected US carrier was Spirit airlines, with 2% of the market. The Big Four US airlines – who have a much worse record than the ones that were fined – were not affected at all:

https://prospect.org/infrastructure/transportation/ftc-noncompete-airline-flight-cancellation-buttigieg/

Rather than directly regulating the US transportation sector, Buttigieg prefers exacting nonbinding promises from them (like the Tier 1 rail companies' broken promise to sign up to the Close Call Reporting System). Under his leadership, the Federal Railroad Agency has proposed weakening rail safety standards, rescinding an order to improve the braking systems on undermaintained, mile-long trains carrying potentially deadly freight:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/11/dinah-wont-you-blow/#ecp

The US transportation system is accumulating a terrifying safety debt, behind a veil of corporate secrecy. It badly demands direct regulation and close oversight.

If you are interested in rail safety, I strongly recommend this episode of Well There's Your Problem, "a podcast about engineering disasters, with slides" – you will laugh your head off and then never sleep again:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BMQTdYXaH8

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/15/safety-third/#all-the-livelong-day

[this-user-is-always-bored]

Boothill and Herta for the character asks?

BOOTHILL

SEXUALITY: the definitive demisexual. i think it would take a lot of work for him to trust someone enough to even try being awkwardly sexually intimate with them, much less casually. a lot of this can be seen through the way he distances himself from others beyond what’s necessary: even when it’s a party that’s being held by rappa, his friend, he still doesn’t join in until he’s pushed into it. on some level this is a practice in caution— and while it is that, i also see it as him not wanting to make too many bonds, lest losing them hurt as much as losing what he lost before. he was demisexual before his cyborgification, obviously, but his trauma caused this spectrum to grow ever so narrower.

GENDER: ooh this is one aspect of his character i’ve never considered before. there is something to be said in how despite everything, bh’s vehemently refuses to get a new, completely improved full robot body that can house his consciousness, instead opting to install parts into his original body instead— the body that lived on his original planet, the one that was a simple ranger, the one who raised, lost, and swore to avenge his daughter. this futile (and because he eventually will have no parts of his original body left, it is futile) need to cling to the only remaining reminder of what he used to be, and knows he can never return to plays a large part in his identity i think. now that you’ve gotten me to talk abt it, bh’s gender is just.. complicated and i am very unequipped to dissect it in a meaningful way :,3 but this is what i think abt it mostly.

A SHIP YOU LIKE WITH HIM: none, really. if i’m just shipping for fun and not considering any character implications then mayyyyyybe Guns N’ Roses (Argenhill)? they bounce off of eachother extremely well, and that dynamic could translate into romance… but ultimately i’d rather he’d get his affairs in order (aka kill oswaldo schneider), resolve his own problems, and then decide whether he even wants a romantic relationship or not.

BROTP: Rappahill is so cute you guys what the hell. with that being said, i don’t see them as a brother-sister dynamic, despite seeing them as a brotp. you’re fine in reading them that way though, i can definitely see it.

NOTP: Robinhill is not it sorry. aside from Robin’s lesbian coding being blatantly ignored, their shared distant nature would make the relationship awkward at best, and nonexistent at worst.

RANDOM HEADCANON: he used to be very good at weaving baskets! even though his fingers are far too blunt & sharp to work with weaving now, the muscle memory is still with him, and he sometimes makes the motion of weaving with things like worn fabric to relax.

OVERALL OPINION: i like his character quite a bit (as you can probably tell by the length of this thing lol. ironically, herta’s section will probably be shorter despite me liking her a lot more over him.), but he does suffer from hoyo’s style of storytelling where they just shove all of the character building in a dinky little corner of the profile section, therefore marking it as optional content for the average player. i appreciated them giving him some more characterization in 2.6, but i can’t help but think that it would’ve been far more impactful had we been allowed to learn about his story in a more natural way.

HERTA

SEXUALITY: certifiably acearo. no further deliberation needed on this.

GENDER: the pendulum swings heavily in the mystical & the feminine, bound both by her pursuit of knowledge and embrace of childhood; but its only sway is her presentation, the deeper nature of one’s identity never fully realized by its more thaumaturgical cover. but may that pendulum continue to sway, spin, twirl as though to say her esurient dance across the riddles of this universe is more foxtrot than waltz, and may she find the bottom of her whimsical little boots standing exactly where they have always wanted to be— as the questioner to the salvation of this world. …she’s been considering doll/witch pronouns recently.

A SHIP YOU LIKE WITH HER(TA): i’ve seen some people get into Hertamei or Screwherta for Herta- especially the former with the new promotional material we got recently- but i can’t really see any of them working out beyond being platonic. speaking of which…

BROTP: Screwherta is great. Screwllum & Herta are familiar with eachother in such a way that you buy their closeness even when he’s only been ‘present’ ingame like, twice. their banter with eachother within the various SUs do amazing character work for their dynamic(that hoyo conveniently stows away in a section that most players skip through) and i really hope that once he becomes playable, he synergises with her just as much. also!!!!! Hertalloyd. they’re fun. cmon guys. i want more Stephen Lloyd in the spotlight hoyo 

NOTP: i don’t think Herta interacts with enough people to have me make a NOTP for her. even with more niche ships like Hertawolf (Silverta???) or Herasta i can sorta see where they’re coming from to make them work, even when i personally don’t find them appealing. there’s none that really comes to mind as ‘a completely incompatible pairing’ to me.

RANDOM HEADCANON: i think she likes to count in prime numbers. or multiplicatives of 4. there’s no real aim for efficiency in it, just that her mind finds the action of counting like that very satisfying. she mostly does it in her head, but you can sometimes catch her doing it if she’s casually enumerating occurrences or something.

OVERALL OPINION: i like herta a lot, even before her recent character teasers revealed more about her personality beyond the puppets, and i find myself liking her even more after the fact. (ruan mei, consider your top 3 rights revoked!) i relate to her quite a bit, and while that has affected my feelings about her, she definitely earns this liking in spades through both her personality & ideals, even if i’d found her completely unrelatable. herta’s a very simple character at her core, but i think that’s exactly why she’s so well written— hoyo can stretch their creative hands with her without being afraid of having something fly over the average player’s head because they didn’t read the optional character story section, making her feel far more flexible in terms of where she could be, what she could do or say. herta is one of the only characters that benefits from hoyo’s spottier style of storytelling, and she’s great for it. <333

[godisasimp]

Man the Aeon of FINALITY I wonder who it's emanator could be... Man it's so mysterious because there's totally 0 characters associated with FINALITY in the honkai verse.

Man i can't wait to see who it is.

[cookingthoughtsorcookingcopes]

Wedding picture 🐍🦭

Alt version, closeup, Lineart/sketch, flat colors

Theres no ship tag for them yet but I will clarify this is a 100% ship art, they're gay to me, they're married, this is not platonic