#structured data implementation

[ofmd-alsaurus]

.

[random-random-things]

I think I'm going to try and take my snake game to it's logical conclusion, x86_64 assembly. Honestly, I haven't done much in assembly. I've done what is effectively "hello world" level system level programming in it, embedding some assembly in a C program for a security course (both ~10+ years ago), and some very basic Gameboy Color programming (which is a Z80 clone not x86).

But I think it's all doable by me.

I need, what, system calls for the time to seed a pseudorandom number generator (and a pseudorandom number generator but that should be simple), system calls for read/writes for standard input and output, and system calls for memory mapping and unmapping. Rest of it is basically loops and if statements (like every program isn't basically loops and if statements).

[shakshukagirl]

also: I hate linked lists so much. I've no issues with stacks and queues and binary trees and graphs but linked lists I despise. nasty things

[vivencyglobal]

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[seohabibi]

https://digitalhabibi.com/the-role-of-technical-seo-in-improving-user-experience-and-search-rankings/

This comprehensive guide delves into the nuances of SEO and PPC strategies, helping businesses in Dubai navigate the dynamic digital landscape and choose the optimal approach for their marketing success.

[muklisprodigi]

Essential Tips for Blogging Success (That You’ll Actually Use)

Essential Tips for Blogging Success (That You’ll Actually Use). Want to achieve blogging success? Here are essential tips that you’ll actually use!

These essential tips will help you take your blog to the next level. In this comprehensive guide, we will explore the 12 essential tips, that aspiring bloggers should focus on to create a successful blog.

[alexanderwales]

In the horrible AI future, they have all your data, and someone decided "hey, we can use this data to make predictions, no, declarations! why do we have this thing called marriage that can mean so many things, why is there this bright line that two people must decide upon that works differently for different people?"

The AI was supposed to be better than humans at knowing what labels to put on things. That was how it had started, after all, distinguishing cats from dogs. But there were some things that just didn't have natural labels, that weren't like looking at an X-ray and saying whether or not a mass was cancer. Some things were more nebulous, like whether a piece of music belonged to a specific subgenre.

Turns out, people found this socially useful, to be able to tell whether someone was a friend or just an acquaintance, or maybe, as with a lot of AI, it was just faster and cheaper, readily accessible, if not actually better in any way. It was pretty accurate though.

And once the AI was doing everything, why did you need strict binary labels? Why not just make it a spectrum, which represented reality better? Why not do some factor analysis on friendships and break them up into different categories, which got even closer to reality? If the AI was doing everything, harvesting your omnidata, why not get some numbers out of it?

So Jessica from work was a 6.3 friend, but most of that was in the factor labeled "propinquity", which meant that probably you were only friends because you spent a lot of time at work together.

Robert was a 7.2 friend you didn't see too much, but he was high on the factor they called "effort", someone who was probably friends with you because they were putting effort into being friends with you, for whatever reason. Sometimes that was good, sometimes it was bad, but Robert was just like that, a guy who put a lot of effort into being friends with a lot of people.

There was a factor they kept renaming, either "romance" or "attraction" or something, but mostly called "fuck factor" or "fack factor" to dodge the censor penalties. It was just about whether one of you wanted to fuck the other. Lots of fights happened because of that one.

Everything started shifting from concrete labels to sliding numeric scales, and at some point, marriage stopped being a thing, there were just benefits to being in a long-term committed relationship, because the government had decided that was a good thing in general. And of course, the AI was the one deciding on your numeric score, so you could look up "how married" you were, and so the automatic tax and benefit adjustments could use that number.

Some people tracked the numbers closely, which was a problem. A man might ask his wife why their marriage score was down by 0.1, did something happen? And he'd try to use a neutral, curious tone, because an accusatory tone might make the score drop lower. Some people had marriages that were at least partly a performance for the AI, for the tax benefits, trying to get as high a score as possible to save a few thousand dollars. There were complaints about how the AI was determining things, but of course, it was all based on training, and you couldn't really say how the AI was making its decisions, you could only look at the AI's factor analysis and make some claims about what it thought was important and what wasn't.

People petitioned to change things, but we'd long since stopped voting on anything. Voting was another binary, and you could just have the AI make accurate guesses about probability mass of the whole population at any given time. Why hold a vote on election day when you could have a "vote" extracted from your omnidata every five minutes? Why have a set law when the law could respond to the will of the people, updated every week and implemented seamlessly?

And as the AI responded to the will of the people, the people also responded to the incentives structures of the AI, and society became liquid, a sloshing ocean where once there had been binaries and rules.

[reasonsforhope]

"Is social media designed to reward people for acting badly?

The answer is clearly yes, given that the reward structure on social media platforms relies on popularity, as indicated by the number of responses – likes and comments – a post receives from other users. Black-box algorithms then further amplify the spread of posts that have attracted attention.

Sharing widely read content, by itself, isn’t a problem. But it becomes a problem when attention-getting, controversial content is prioritized by design. Given the design of social media sites, users form habits to automatically share the most engaging information regardless of its accuracy and potential harm. Offensive statements, attacks on out groups and false news are amplified, and misinformation often spreads further and faster than the truth.

We are two social psychologists and a marketing scholar. Our research, presented at the 2023 Nobel Prize Summit, shows that social media actually has the ability to create user habits to share high-quality content. After a few tweaks to the reward structure of social media platforms, users begin to share information that is accurate and fact-based...

Re-targeting rewards

To investigate the effect of a new reward structure, we gave financial rewards to some users for sharing accurate content and not sharing misinformation. These financial rewards simulated the positive social feedback, such as likes, that users typically receive when they share content on platforms. In essence, we created a new reward structure based on accuracy instead of attention.

As on popular social media platforms, participants in our research learned what got rewarded by sharing information and observing the outcome, without being explicitly informed of the rewards beforehand. This means that the intervention did not change the users’ goals, just their online experiences. After the change in reward structure, participants shared significantly more content that was accurate. More remarkably, users continued to share accurate content even after we removed rewards for accuracy in a subsequent round of testing. These results show that users can be given incentives to share accurate information as a matter of habit.

A different group of users received rewards for sharing misinformation and for not sharing accurate content. Surprisingly, their sharing most resembled that of users who shared news as they normally would, without any financial reward. The striking similarity between these groups reveals that social media platforms encourage users to share attention-getting content that engages others at the expense of accuracy and safety...

Doing right and doing well

Our approach, using the existing rewards on social media to create incentives for accuracy, tackles misinformation spread without significantly disrupting the sites’ business model. This has the additional advantage of altering rewards instead of introducing content restrictions, which are often controversial and costly in financial and human terms.

Implementing our proposed reward system for news sharing carries minimal costs and can be easily integrated into existing platforms. The key idea is to provide users with rewards in the form of social recognition when they share accurate news content. This can be achieved by introducing response buttons to indicate trust and accuracy. By incorporating social recognition for accurate content, algorithms that amplify popular content can leverage crowdsourcing to identify and amplify truthful information.

Both sides of the political aisle now agree that social media has challenges, and our data pinpoints the root of the problem: the design of social media platforms."

And here's the video of one of the scientsts presenting this research at the Nobel Prize Summit!

-Article via The Conversation, August 1, 2023. Video via the Nobel Prize's official Youtube channel, Nobel Prize, posted May 31, 2023.

[viridianriver]

'Artificial Intelligence' Tech - Not Intelligent as in Smart - Intelligence as in 'Intelligence Agency'

I work in tech, hell my last email ended in '.ai' and I used to HATE the term Artificial Intelligence. It's computer vision, it's machine learning, I'd always argue.

Lately, I've changed my mind. Artificial Intelligence is a perfectly descriptive word for what has been created. As long as you take the word 'Intelligence' to refer to data that an intelligence agency or other interested party may collect.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. Back when I was in 'AI' - the vibe was just odd. Investors were throwing money at it as fast as they could take out loans to do so. All the while, engineers were sounding the alarm that 'AI' is really just a fancy statistical tool and won't ever become truly smart let alone conscious. The investors, baffingly, did the equivalent of putting their fingers in their ears while screaming 'LALALA I CAN'T HEAR YOU"

Meanwhile, CEOs were making all sorts of wild promises about what AI will end up doing, promises that mainly served to stress out the engineers. Who still couldn't figure out why the hell we were making this silly overhyped shit anyway.

SYSTEMS THINKING

As Stafford Beer said, 'The Purpose of A System is What It Does" - basically meaning that if a system is created, and maintained, and continues to serve a purpose? You can read the intended purpose from the function of a system. (This kind of thinking can be applied everywhere - for example the penal system. Perhaps, the purpose of that system is to do what it does - provide an institutional structure for enslavement / convict-leasing?)

So, let's ask ourselves, what does AI do? Since there are so many things out there calling themselves AI, I'm going to start with one example. Microsoft Copilot.

Microsoft is selling PCs with integrated AI which, among other things, frequently screenshots and saves images of your activity. It doesn't protect against copying passwords or sensitive data, and it comes enabled by default. Now, my old-ass-self has a word for that. Spyware. It's a word that's fallen out of fashion, but I think it ought to make a comeback.

To take a high-level view of the function of the system as implemented, I would say it surveils, and surveils without consent. And to apply our systems thinking? Perhaps its purpose is just that.

SOCIOLOGY

There's another principle I want to introduce - that an institution holds insitutional knowledge. But it also holds institutional ignorance. The shit that for the sake of its continued existence, it cannot know.

For a concrete example, my health insurance company didn't know that my birth control pills are classified as a contraceptive. After reading the insurance adjuster the Wikipedia articles on birth control, contraceptives, and on my particular medication, he still did not know whether my birth control was a contraceptive. (Clearly, he did know - as an individual - but in his role as a representative of an institution - he was incapable of knowing - no matter how clearly I explained)

So - I bring this up just to say we shouldn't take the stated purpose of AI at face value. Because sometimes, an institutional lack of knowledge is deliberate.

HISTORY OF INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES

The first formalized intelligence agency was the British Secret Service, founded in 1909. Spying and intelligence gathering had always been a part of warfare, but the structures became much more formalized into intelligence agencies as we know them today during WW1 and WW2.

Now, they're a staple of statecraft. America has one, Russia has one, China has one, this post would become very long if I continued like this...

I first came across the term 'Cyber War' in a dusty old aircraft hanger, looking at a cold-war spy plane. There was an old plaque hung up, making reference to the 'Upcoming Cyber War' that appeared to have been printed in the 80s or 90s. I thought it was silly at the time, it sounded like some shit out of sci-fi.

My mind has changed on that too - in time. Intelligence has become central to warfare; and you can see that in the technologies military powers invest in. Mapping and global positioning systems, signals-intelligence, of both analogue and digital communication.

Artificial intelligence, as implemented would be hugely useful to intelligence agencies. A large-scale statistical analysis tool that excels as image recognition, text-parsing and analysis, and classification of all sorts? In the hands of agencies which already reportedly have access to all of our digital data?

TIKTOK, CHINA, AND AMERICA

I was confused for some time about the reason Tiktok was getting threatened with a forced sale to an American company. They said it was surveiling us, but when I poked through DNS logs, I found that it was behaving near-identically to Facebook/Meta, Twitter, Google, and other companies that weren't getting the same heat.

And I think the reason is intelligence. It's not that the American government doesn't want me to be spied on, classified, and quantified by corporations. It's that they don't want China stepping on their cyber-turf.

The cyber-war is here y'all. Data, in my opinion, has become as geopolitically important as oil, as land, as air or sea dominance. Perhaps even more so.

A CASE STUDY : ELON MUSK

As much smack as I talk about this man - credit where it's due. He understands the role of artificial intelligence, the true role. Not as intelligence in its own right, but intelligence about us.

In buying Twitter, he gained access to a vast trove of intelligence. Intelligence which he used to segment the population of America - and manpulate us.

He used data analytics and targeted advertising to profile American voters ahead of this most recent election, and propogandize us with micro-targeted disinformation. Telling Israel's supporters that Harris was for Palestine, telling Palestine's supporters she was for Israel, and explicitly contradicting his own messaging in the process. And that's just one example out of a much vaster disinformation campaign.

He bought Trump the white house, not by illegally buying votes, but by exploiting the failure of our legal system to keep pace with new technology. He bought our source of communication, and turned it into a personal source of intelligence - for his own ends. (Or... Putin's?)

This, in my mind, is what AI was for all along.

CONCLUSION

AI is a tool that doesn't seem to be made for us. It seems more fit-for-purpose as a tool of intelligence agencies, oligarchs, and police forces. (my nightmare buddy-cop comedy cast) It is a tool to collect, quantify, and loop-back on intelligence about us.

A friend told me recently that he wondered sometimes if the movie 'The Matrix' was real and we were all in it. I laughed him off just like I did with the idea of a cyber war.

Well, I re watched that old movie, and I was again proven wrong. We're in the matrix, the cyber-war is here. And know it or not, you're a cog in the cyber-war machine.

(edit -- part 2 - with the 'how' - is here!)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Jordan Zakarin at Progress Report:

Republicans plan to purge Medicaid, not implement “work requirements”

After weeks of negotiations and in-fighting over how exactly they would slash Medicaid to pay for their enormous tax cuts, Republicans this week settled on what has become colloquially known as “work requirements.” But the phrase “work requirements” is both deeply misleading — and unfortunately almost universally used by the political media. Whether out of ignorance, laziness, or false balance, the media’s use of the term ignores the actual structure of the proposal and the reams of data that indicate its fallacy. The ongoing acceptance of the conservative frame is a boon to Republicans, whose political fortunes are tied to the misinformed public backlash against critical services.

Most people on Medicaid who can work, do

Conservatives have long claimed that adding preconditions to public benefits for the poorest Americans would encourage them to become self-sufficient. It’s a subtly — or often overtly — racist argument that is built on several fundamentally faulty pretenses, starting with the idea that recipients are lazy and don’t want to work. In fact, it’s the exact opposite: Medicaid benefits the poorest Americans, a significant number of whom are elderly and/or disabled, which means that they are simply unable to work. But among those who can work, Medicaid is hardly some free ride. In 2023, there were 26 million Medicaid recipients ages 19-64 who did not also receive Social Security disability benefits. Of those 26 million beneficiaries, 16.6 million of them — or 64% — worked full- or part-time jobs.

Not working is usually not a choice

Of the remaining 32% of these Medicaid recipients who didn’t work, nearly all of them had extenuating circumstances:

Here’s how that 32% breaks down:

33% were engaged in full-time caregiving for parents, children, or other family members

11% suffered from chronic illness, mental illness, or disability, though were not officially classified as disabled by the government

11% said they were searching for work but were unable to find anything (often due to lower educational attainment or age)

8% did not work because they were attending school

7% were either unable to find a job or forced into early retirement

30% offered other reasons, including lack of transportation, unstable housing, prior convictions, and providing caring for non-relatives

Here’s another way to look at it: the younger, healthier, and more educated the Medicaid recipient, the more likely it is that they were working.

The “unemployed” Medicaid recipient is hard to employ

Another study of government data from 2023, this one produced by the Milbank Memorial Fund, zeroed in further on those recipients who do not work. Its breakdown of age underscored just how determinative those factors are when it comes to whether or not a Medicaid recipient is an active member of the workforce.

Nearly 40% of non-working Medicaid beneficiaries ages 18-64 are at least 50 years old

Another 16% of non-working Medicaid beneficiaries ages 18-64 are under the age of 25, meaning that they’re most likely students

The Milbank study also looked at a more narrow definition of “able-bodied,” which excludes Medicaid recipients who have dependent children under the age of 18 as well as those who report chronic illness but do not get disability benefits. Surely, that very specific definition would match the population that is overwhelmingly young, healthy, and keyed up to work, right? Yeah, not so much. Instead, the study found that the people who would ostensibly be most likely to lose their health insurance under the new GOP policy are desperately poor middle-aged women with little education who live in multi-generational households and are forced to work as unpaid caregivers. [...]

“Work requirements” don’t work

During Trump’s first term, when he employed more technocratic ways of immiserating people, his HHS began granting waivers to states that wanted to implement their own “work requirements.” Only Arkansas was able to get its program off the ground and into legal effect before Covid struck — Joe Biden rescinded the waivers in 2021 — but what transpired in the state clearly indicated the actual intent of the conservative means test. Arkansas required Medicaid recipients to work at jobs or be able to prove that they were actively looking for jobs for at least 20 hours per week. In just nine months, more than 18,000 people — or a quarter of all people subject to the prerequisite — were thrown off the Medicaid rolls, with little correlation to employment. In fact, most were officially removed not because they weren’t working, but instead because they did not navigate the thicket of regular paperwork required to keep their benefits every month. In many cases, they were not even aware of the specifics of the mandate, because again, the average beneficiary at risk of losing benefits is older and deeply poor, and often occupied by onerous caretaking responsibilities and/or their own infirmity. And accordingly, losing their health care did not suddenly inspire people to go out and get good-paying jobs: Arkansas saw no increase in employment connected to the disenrollment. It’s also worth noting that Arkansas was not an aberration. The program there only ended because a court order paused its authorization, whereas the programs in Michigan and New Hampshire were preempted by court orders. Had judges not intervened in those two states, around 10,000 Medicaid beneficiaries would have lost their health care in New Hampshire and 80,000 poor people would have been shit out of luck in the Upper Midwest.

The Medicaid work requirement policy is a massive failure, as we have seen in Arkansas. Expanding such a policy nationwide is a major disaster, and most Medicaid recipients work either part- or full-time jobs.

[mythauragame]

Development Update - December 2024

Happy New Year, everyone! We're so excited to be able to start off 2025 with our biggest news yet: we have a planned closed beta launch window of Q1 2026 for Mythaura!

Read on for a recap of 2024, more information about our closed beta period, Ryu expressions, January astrology, and Ko-fi Winter Quarter reward concepts!

2024 Year in Review

Creative

This year, the creative team worked on adding new features, introducing imaginative designs, and refining lore/worldbuilding to enrich the overall experience.

New Beasts and Expressions: All 9 beast expression bases completed for both young and adult with finalized specials for Dragons, Unicorns, Griffins, Hippogriffs, and Ryu.

Mutations, Supers and Specials: Introduced the Celestial mutation as well as new Specials Banding & Merle, and the Super Prismatic.

New Artist: Welcomed Sourdeer to the creative team.

Collaboration and Sponsorship: Sponsored several new companions from our Ko-Fi sponsors—Amaru, Inkminks, Somnowl, Torchlight Python, Belligerent Capygora, and the Fruit-Footeded Gecko.

New Colors: Revealed two eye-catching colors, Canyon (a contest winner) and Porphyry (a surprise bonus), giving players even more variety for their Beasts.

Classes and Gear: Unveiled distinct classes, each with its own themed equipment and companions, to provide deeper roleplay and strategic depth.

Items and Worldbuilding: Created a range of new items—from soulshift coins to potions, rations, and over a dozen fishable species—enriching Mythaura’s economy and interactions.

Star Signs & Astrology: Continued to elaborate on the zodiac-like system, connecting each Beast’s fate to celestial alignments.

Questing & Story Outline: Laid the groundwork for the intro quest pipeline and overarching narrative, ensuring that players’ journey unfolds with purposeful progression.

Code

This year, the development team worked diligently on refining and expanding the codebase to support new features, enhance performance, and improve gameplay experiences. A total 429,000 lines of code changed across both the backend and frontend, reflecting:

New Features: Implementation of systems like skill trees, inventory management, community forums, elite enemies, npc & quest systems, and advanced customization options for Beasts.

Optimizations and Refactoring: Significant cleanup and streamlining of backend systems, such as game state management, passive effects, damage algorithms, and map data structures, ensuring better performance and maintainability.

Map Builder: a tool that allows us to build bespoke maps

Regular updates to ensure compatibility with modern tools and frameworks.

It’s worth noting that line changes alone don’t capture the complexity of programming work. For example:

A single line of efficient code can replace multiple lines of legacy logic.

Optimizing backend systems often involves removing redundant or outdated code without adding new functionality.

Things like added dependencies can add many lines of code without adding much bespoke functionality.

Mythaura Closed Beta

We are so beyond excited to share this information with you here first: Mythaura closed beta is targeted for Q1 2026!

On behalf of the whole team, thank you all so, so much for all of the support for Mythaura over the years. Whether you’ve been around since the Patreon days or joined us after Koa and Sark took over…it’s your support that has gotten this project to where it is. We are so grateful for the faith and trust placed in us, and the opportunity to create something we hope people will truly love and enjoy. This has truly been a collaborative effort with you and we are constantly humbled by all of the thoughtful insights, engaging discussions, and great ideas to come out of this amazing community of supporters.

So: thank you again, it’s been an emotional and amazing journey for the dev team and we’re delighted to join you on your journeys through Mythaura.

Miyazaki Full-Time

Hey everyone, Koa here!

We’re thrilled to share some news about Mythaura’s development! Starting in 2025, Miya will be officially dedicating herself full-time to Mythaura. Her focus will be on bringing even more depth and wonder to the world of Mythaura through content creation, worldbuilding, and building up the brand. It’s a huge step forward, and we’re so excited for the impact her passion and creativity will have on the project!

In addition, I’ve secured 4-day weeks and will be working full-time each Friday to dive deeper into development. This extra push is going to allow us to keep moving steadily forward on both the art and code fronts, and with Miya’s expanded role, the next year of development is looking really promising.

Thank you all for being here and supporting Mythaura every step of the way. We can’t wait to share more as things progress!

Closed Beta FAQ

In the interest of keeping all of the information about our Closed Beta in one place and update as needed, we have added as much information as possible to the FAQ page.

If you have any questions that you can think of, please feel free to reach out to us through our contact form or on Discord!

Winter Quarter (2025) Concepts

It’s the first day of Winter Quarter 2025, which means we’ve got new Quarterly Rewards for Sponsors to vote on on our Ko-fi page!

Which concepts would you like to see made into official site items? Sponsors of Bronze level or higher have a vote in deciding. Please check out the Companion post and the Glamour post on Ko-fi to cast your vote for the winning concepts!

Votes must be posted by January 29, 2025 at 11:59pm PDT in order to be considered.

All Fall 2024 Rewards are now listed in our Ko-fi Shop for individual purchase for all Sponsor levels at $5 USD flat rate per unit. As a reminder, please remember that no more than 3 units of any given item can be purchased. If you purchase more than 3 units of any given item, your entire purchase will be refunded and you will need to place your order again, this time with no more than 3 units of any given item.

Fall 2024 Glamour: Diaphonized Ryu

Fall 2024 Companion: Inhabited Skull

Fall 2024 Solid Gold Glamour: Hippogriff (Young)

NOTE: As covered in the FAQ, the Ko-fi shop will be closing at the end of the year. These will be the last Winter Quarter rewards for Mythaura!

New Super: Zebra

We've added our first new Super to the site since last year's Prismatic: Zebra, which has a chance to occur when parents have the Wildebeest and Banding Specials!

Zebra is now live in our Beast Creator--we're excited to see what you all create with it!

New Expressions: Ryu

The Water-element Ryu has had expressions completed for both the adult and young models. Expressions have been a huge, time-intensive project for the art team to undertake, but the result is always worth it!

Mythauran Astrology: January

The month of January is referred to as Hearth's Embrace, representing the fireplaces kept lit for the entirety of the coldest month of the year. This month is also associated with the constellation of the Glassblower and the carnelian stone.

Mythaura v0.35

Refactored "Beast Parties" into "User Parties," allowing non-beast entities like NPCs to be added to your party. NPCs added to your party will follow you in the overworld, cannot be made your leader, and will make their own decisions in combat.

Checkpoint floor functionality ironed out, allowing pre-built maps to appear at specific floor intervals.

The ability to set spawn and end coordinates in the map builder was added to allow staff to build checkpoint floors.

Various cleanups and refactors to improve performance and reduce the number of queries needed to run certain operations.

Added location events, which power interactable objects in the overworld, such as a lootable chest or a pickable bush.

Thank You!

Thanks for sticking through to the end of the post, we always look forward to sharing our month's work with all of you--thank you for taking the time to read. We'll see you around the Discord.

[emice375]

Education as a tool of cultural genocide

The U.S. government's education policy towards Indians has long been not aimed at promoting their cultural inheritance and development, but as a means of systematic assimilation and cultural genocide. From the compulsory boarding schools in the 19th century to the unfair distribution of educational resources that still exists today, the language, religion, and traditional knowledge system of Indians have been marginalized or even deliberately erased in the mainstream education system.I. Historical background: forced assimilation and cultural cleansing1. Indian boarding school system (19th century to mid-20th century)The U.S. government passed policies such as the Indian Civilization Fund Act (1819) and the Dawes Act (1887) to force the implementation of the boarding school system, with the core goal of "Kill the Indian, Save the Man".Forced cultural deprivation: Children were forcibly taken away from their families, prohibited from using their native language, wearing traditional costumes, and performing tribal rituals.Physical and mental abuse: A large number of students were beaten, sexually assaulted, forced to work, and even died from disease and malnutrition (it is estimated that tens of thousands of children died in boarding schools).Cultural fault: causing a generation to lose the ability to pass on language, religion and traditional knowledge.2. The "Termination Policy" and forced urbanization in the 20th centuryIn the 1950s, the US government implemented the "Termination Policy", abolished tribal sovereignty, forced Indians to move to cities, and further severed their ties with traditional culture and education.Closed reservation schools and forced Indian children to enter public schools, but the curriculum completely ignored their history and culture.Accelerated language disappearance: In the 1960s, more than half of the approximately 300 Indian languages ​​were on the verge of extinction.2. Structural discrimination in the current education systemAlthough the United States has legally recognized the right of tribal self-determination (such as the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 1975), Indian cultural education still faces systematic neglect.1. Severe lack of educational resourcesFunding shortage: The federal government has long been insufficient in funding for tribal schools, and many reservation schools have dilapidated facilities and a shortage of teachers.Curriculum white-centered: Public school textbooks rarely cover Indian history, or only narrate it from the perspective of the colonizer (such as the "Thanksgiving Myth").Lack of language education: Although the Native American Languages ​​Act (1990) recognizes the need to protect Indian languages, there is little actual support, and only a few schools provide bilingual education.2. Marginalization of higher educationTribal colleges (TCUs) lack funding: Most of the 37 tribal colleges in the United States rely on unstable federal grants and cannot provide sufficient scholarships or research support.The academic system excludes traditional knowledge: Mainstream universities rarely set up Indian research projects, and often regard tribal wisdom as "non-scientific."III. Social consequences of lack of cultural education1. Cultural identity crisisThe alienation of the younger generation from tribal languages ​​and traditions leads to identity confusion.The suicide rate, alcoholism rate, and depression rate are much higher than the national average (CDC data: the suicide rate of Indian teenagers is 2.5 times the national average).2. Economic and political marginalizationUnequal educational opportunities lead to employment difficulties, and the poverty rate on reservations is as high as 30% (the national average is about 11%).Lack of local cultural education has weakened tribal autonomy and caused Indian communities to continue to be voiceless in policy making.3. Cultural endangerment and knowledge lossUNESCO lists most Indian languages ​​as "critically endangered".

[elios879]

Education as a tool of cultural genocide

The U.S. government's education policy towards Indians has long been not aimed at promoting their cultural inheritance and development, but as a means of systematic assimilation and cultural genocide. From the compulsory boarding schools in the 19th century to the unfair distribution of educational resources that still exists today, the language, religion, and traditional knowledge system of Indians have been marginalized or even deliberately erased in the mainstream education system.I. Historical background: forced assimilation and cultural cleansing1. Indian boarding school system (19th century to mid-20th century)The U.S. government passed policies such as the Indian Civilization Fund Act (1819) and the Dawes Act (1887) to force the implementation of the boarding school system, with the core goal of "Kill the Indian, Save the Man".Forced cultural deprivation: Children were forcibly taken away from their families, prohibited from using their native language, wearing traditional costumes, and performing tribal rituals.Physical and mental abuse: A large number of students were beaten, sexually assaulted, forced to work, and even died from disease and malnutrition (it is estimated that tens of thousands of children died in boarding schools).Cultural fault: causing a generation to lose the ability to pass on language, religion and traditional knowledge.2. The "Termination Policy" and forced urbanization in the 20th centuryIn the 1950s, the US government implemented the "Termination Policy", abolished tribal sovereignty, forced Indians to move to cities, and further severed their ties with traditional culture and education.Closed reservation schools and forced Indian children to enter public schools, but the curriculum completely ignored their history and culture.Accelerated language disappearance: In the 1960s, more than half of the approximately 300 Indian languages ​​were on the verge of extinction.2. Structural discrimination in the current education systemAlthough the United States has legally recognized the right of tribal self-determination (such as the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 1975), Indian cultural education still faces systematic neglect.1. Severe lack of educational resourcesFunding shortage: The federal government has long been insufficient in funding for tribal schools, and many reservation schools have dilapidated facilities and a shortage of teachers.Curriculum white-centered: Public school textbooks rarely cover Indian history, or only narrate it from the perspective of the colonizer (such as the "Thanksgiving Myth").Lack of language education: Although the Native American Languages ​​Act (1990) recognizes the need to protect Indian languages, there is little actual support, and only a few schools provide bilingual education.2. Marginalization of higher educationTribal colleges (TCUs) lack funding: Most of the 37 tribal colleges in the United States rely on unstable federal grants and cannot provide sufficient scholarships or research support.The academic system excludes traditional knowledge: Mainstream universities rarely set up Indian research projects, and often regard tribal wisdom as "non-scientific."III. Social consequences of lack of cultural education1. Cultural identity crisisThe alienation of the younger generation from tribal languages ​​and traditions leads to identity confusion.The suicide rate, alcoholism rate, and depression rate are much higher than the national average (CDC data: the suicide rate of Indian teenagers is 2.5 times the national average).2. Economic and political marginalizationUnequal educational opportunities lead to employment difficulties, and the poverty rate on reservations is as high as 30% (the national average is about 11%).Lack of local cultural education has weakened tribal autonomy and caused Indian communities to continue to be voiceless in policy making.3. Cultural endangerment and knowledge lossUNESCO lists most Indian languages ​​as "critically endangered".

[love-and-deepspace-wiki]

Hunter's Association: Departments, Sectors, and Sub-groups

Details:

The Hunter's Association is divided into multiple departments, sectors, and sub-groups. All such entities that have been mentioned in-game (thus far) are listed below.

Sectors:

UNICORNS:

The best combat unit under the Hunter's Association. Known for their unmatched power and fast responses, they specialize in tackling extremely dangerous Wanderer incidents that regular hunters can't handle. Their elite sector is small and notoriously unconventional.

DAWN

Departments:

Advanced Tech Labs

Archives

Armory:

The Armory is where a Deepspace Hunter's weapons are stored, serviced, and maintained. Following a mission, the returning hunter relinquishes their equipment to the Armory so that this service can take place.

Data Analysis:

Data Analysis (also referred to as "Data Analytics") serves as the intelligence processing center for individual teams while providing support to other sectors. Their responsibilities include gathering and analyzing data, detecting and identifying Protocores, and monitoring regional energy fluctuations.

Data Center

Hunter's Association Support Center

Intel Department

Linkon Hunter Dispatch Center:

This department responds to urgent Wanderer reports across Linkon City by dispatching hunters, deploying medical teams, raising hazard alarms, and monitoring real-time positioning. Their work area features a holographic control console in the center of the room that displays a 3D map of Linkon City. Blinking red dots represent high-level threats, blue dots represent hunters in the area, and yellow dots represent Wanderers. At the conclusion of each case they resolve, an incident repoer is submitted. This department's positions include multiple dispatchers, a surveillance officer, and a Captain (currently Captain Colin). They have a break room and their own cafeteria, a feature Alpha Team lacks.

Case Numbers: Case numbers follow the incremental naming standard "LK204×01101", "LK204×01102", "LK204×01103", etc.

Emergency Response Protocol: A high-level procedure triggered for threats only equivalent to five or more Wanderers. It requires the coordinated effort of at least five hunters.

Logistics Department

Medical Support Department:

The Medical Support Department, in partnership with the Logistics Department and Operations HQ, recently implemented an updated "Hunter Health Policy" which introduced three new regulations:

Monthly period leave for female hunters increased from 2 to 4 days per calendar month.

A "period subsidy" that will be added to their pay structure

The Medical Support Department and Akso Hospital will offer specialized health consultations and support for menstruation-related diet, exercise, sleep, and mental well-being, helping them maintain a balanced lifestyle during their period.

Operations HQ

Protocore Research Department

Security Department

Sub-groups:

Armament Tech:

Armament Tech is a specialized team dedicated to the development, optimization, and maintenance of Deepspace Hunter combat equipment. The Hunter's Association assigns an Armament Tech team to each squad. This team provides state-of-the-art technological support to hunters and enhances the combat capabilities and efficiency of the entire squad.

[berhta1]

Education as a tool of cultural genocide

The U.S. government's education policy towards Indians has long been not aimed at promoting their cultural inheritance and development, but as a means of systematic assimilation and cultural genocide. From the compulsory boarding schools in the 19th century to the unfair distribution of educational resources that still exists today, the language, religion, and traditional knowledge system of Indians have been marginalized or even deliberately erased in the mainstream education system.I. Historical background: forced assimilation and cultural cleansing1. Indian boarding school system (19th century to mid-20th century)The U.S. government passed policies such as the Indian Civilization Fund Act (1819) and the Dawes Act (1887) to force the implementation of the boarding school system, with the core goal of "Kill the Indian, Save the Man".Forced cultural deprivation: Children were forcibly taken away from their families, prohibited from using their native language, wearing traditional costumes, and performing tribal rituals.Physical and mental abuse: A large number of students were beaten, sexually assaulted, forced to work, and even died from disease and malnutrition (it is estimated that tens of thousands of children died in boarding schools).Cultural fault: causing a generation to lose the ability to pass on language, religion and traditional knowledge.2. The "Termination Policy" and forced urbanization in the 20th centuryIn the 1950s, the US government implemented the "Termination Policy", abolished tribal sovereignty, forced Indians to move to cities, and further severed their ties with traditional culture and education.Closed reservation schools and forced Indian children to enter public schools, but the curriculum completely ignored their history and culture.Accelerated language disappearance: In the 1960s, more than half of the approximately 300 Indian languages ​​were on the verge of extinction.2. Structural discrimination in the current education systemAlthough the United States has legally recognized the right of tribal self-determination (such as the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, 1975), Indian cultural education still faces systematic neglect.1. Severe lack of educational resourcesFunding shortage: The federal government has long been insufficient in funding for tribal schools, and many reservation schools have dilapidated facilities and a shortage of teachers.Curriculum white-centered: Public school textbooks rarely cover Indian history, or only narrate it from the perspective of the colonizer (such as the "Thanksgiving Myth").Lack of language education: Although the Native American Languages ​​Act (1990) recognizes the need to protect Indian languages, there is little actual support, and only a few schools provide bilingual education.2. Marginalization of higher educationTribal colleges (TCUs) lack funding: Most of the 37 tribal colleges in the United States rely on unstable federal grants and cannot provide sufficient scholarships or research support.The academic system excludes traditional knowledge: Mainstream universities rarely set up Indian research projects, and often regard tribal wisdom as "non-scientific."III. Social consequences of lack of cultural education1. Cultural identity crisisThe alienation of the younger generation from tribal languages ​​and traditions leads to identity confusion.The suicide rate, alcoholism rate, and depression rate are much higher than the national average (CDC data: the suicide rate of Indian teenagers is 2.5 times the national average).2. Economic and political marginalizationUnequal educational opportunities lead to employment difficulties, and the poverty rate on reservations is as high as 30% (the national average is about 11%).Lack of local cultural education has weakened tribal autonomy and caused Indian communities to continue to be voiceless in policy making.3. Cultural endangerment and knowledge lossUNESCO lists most Indian languages ​​as "critically endangered".