#the evidence was all there and it was the clearest solution

[wolveria]

CX-2 was always meant to be Tech

[emiliagalotti]

“Passion” was the episode we’ve been waiting for since Season 1, but let’s talk about the ring business because ho boy

It starts at breakfast, where we learn that the rings making up Adrien’s ball and chain are also the tangible evidence of what is probably a dear wish of his: That his father will move on from the grief over his mother and find a new love with Nathalie, letting her join the family in Emilie’s place 

The positive framing of the instrument of his subjugation is not a matter of cruel irony on Adrien’s behalf. Gabriel himself is making moves to include Nathalie into the family, albeit not (yet) in a romantic manner, and although Nathalie rejects this, the rest of the episode will continually make the point that she can’t escape it. After she has made it clear to Gabriel that she’s in this to protect Adrien from him - likely the reason she hasn’t given him the ring back - we learn that she is now fulfilling Emilie’s request to be “like a mother” to Adrien even as she’s failing to save Gabriel from himself.  

Five minutes in, and we’ve twice been told that Nathalie could solve all these problems by wearing Gabriel’s ring for real. 

Of course, Nathalie being the the solution to the Agreste problems goes way back to the start of the sentiadrien story - “Felix”, where Adrien introduces the idea of a Gabenath by giving it his blessing in the episode that finally discusses his mothers passing in any detail. This is also the episode which introduces his likely sentimonster cousin and the custody battle over the Graham de Vanilly rings. Significantly, the episode ends with Gabriel taking Emilie’s ring from her hand - the ring that is currently on Nathalie’s finger. They’ve been setting this one up for a while, folks. 

But “Passion”, more than any episode yet, is also putting up the clearest roadsigns to the harmonious ending of this story. Since Gabriel is a supervillain not because he’s a bad person (per the show’s insistence) but because he’s a loving family man driven to despair, the supervillainy will stop once he sees the light and realises that he just needs to get laid. We’ve known since “Stormy Weather II” that Nathalie is both in love with him and cares deeply for Adrien, and “Passion” shows what Adrien back then told his father - that he views her like family, too. For her to leave the Agreste household - be it by death or by finally acknowledging that she can do better than Gabriel “cackling villain” Agreste - would be a further tragedy to a boy who has already lost more than most. 

But if Adrien’s amok is the symbol of that happy ending - one where his father is at peace, where Nathalie has become family for real, where there are no need for akumas and unknowingly fighting your own family - then they cannot also be the symbols of his liberation. Either he gets to keep the rings, or Gabriel and Nathalie does. 

The obvious answer would’ve been “give Adrien Emilie’s rings, get yourself some new bling for the wedding”. But this far, the story has put far more weight on these rings being the symbol of the nuclear family than on their being family heirlooms. This episode all but states that Nathalie is wearing the ring keeping Adrien captive out of love for him, that both Emilie and Adrien wish for her to take Emilie’s place, in the first episode since “Risk” to bring our attention to the fact that she’s still wearing Emilie’s ring - yeah, this is not about any aristocratic family mysteries. These rings, after all, aren’t just the objects enslaving Adrien - they’re the objects that created him in the first place. Adrien is the living embodiment of his parents’ marriage. If Nathalie is to step in to take Emilie’s place in Adrien’s life, Emilie’s wedding ring is part and parcel. 

Even if a sentimonster is disconnected from the amok, the amok item is still vital for keep them alive; those rings are literally the heart outside Adrien’s body, and them ending up in the wrong hands would once again leave his life at someone else’s mercy. Adrien’s dream might be of the family restored with a full set of parents who love and care for him, but with Gabriel and Nathalie’s track record after four seasons, that just isn’t something Adrien can have. Family ties are toching and all, but maybe... not... when your father is an abusive parent and a mass-murdering supervillain, and your stepmum-in-training has been enabling and abetting him in these pursuits? And they have both proven their willingness to use the remote control to make you act against your will? For reasons that had nothing to do with keeping you safe and everything to do with what was convenient for them at the moment?

Adrien letting them keep the rings isn’t just about him trusting them with his life, but him being willing to overlook the atrocities they commited not just against him personally, but all his friends in particular and with the events of the NYC and Shanghai specials, against humanity at large. 

Yeah, a bit cringe that they made him gaze lovingly at the item embodying his bondage to the supervillains who are the only thing that remains of his family.

[carrie12291991]

Topic: The Link between History and Geography

ESTRELLADO, CARIE JUSTINE P.

As shown on the figures, the study of history looks at human history from a chronological point of view from linking and digging the past, while geography looks at it from a spatial point of view and the earth's topographical surface and dimensions. Both time and space are intertwined, with one relating to the other. From the venn diagram,  the connection and convergence between history and geography are evident because they are two essential concepts in the unfolding and making senses of events and patterns.

 Sensing the link between geography and history is by asking personal queries such as: we wash our faces in the morning, but do we ever pause to consider where the water comes from? Landscapes can be seen in the distance, but how long have they been there, and how do they influence the weather in the metropolitan area? We enjoy a diverse meal that includes items from throughout the globe. What determines where a particular crop thrives? What is the process by which the food arrives at the table?  Many of us are exposed to news from around the world through the heightened activity of social media. People in other nations speak different languages we do not understand, wear unusual clothing, and lead lives that are vastly different from our own. Why is it then? how about the different cradles of civilizations that sprung near the river (River Valley)? Or how about atop a mountain or near the sea (maritime)? Are they all related?

Geography and history are two interplaying disciplines connecting nature and man; the active activities mentioned in space and time; relevance is that they give the clearest and exciting avenues into the larger picture of historical and geographical meanings. While history elucidates human consequences, geography clarifies connections; these subjects are two aspects of the same living totality because man's life in association takes place in nature, not as an incidental setting, but as the substance of ongoing development (Collins, 1920).

However, what if in the past people were not as geographically aware? Civilization then ten thousand years ago had no idea where they were or what was going on around them; was geography a foreign concept? However, as time passed, people's attention shifted to sites closer to home and those farther afield that they had learned about. As a result, more and more people began to inquire: What does the past hold for our environment? What similarities and differences exist between the people of other places and those of us? Or just saying, why is the climate seems hot here?

Learning how places and landforms are developed, how people and surroundings interact, what the consequences of our daily decisions are, and how many different cultures and societies there are and how they are interconnected through geography and history. History provides an understanding of the past, whereas Geography is focused on the surface of the earth enclosed to physical and human geography, which also bridge to natural science (Baker, 2004). The two entwining disciplines create interdependency to interpret people's life experiences and help them ask questions, develop intellectual abilities, comprehend their environment, and find solutions to become sustainable. The mentioned premises ensure that humankind understands the complexities of the crucial dimensions of time, space, and places, and landscapes, which educates people to appreciate and care for the earth and its dwellers.

Although Geography is considered foreign to the discipline in the Philippines (Orillos-Juan, 2008), it is essential in unveiling and supporting the concepts for historical documents and context. Taking into account the fragmented shape of our state, the Philippines, Geography does not tell the alone the depiction of the location, positions, and spatiality of our country which often illustrated via maps and globe but more on also the relationship of concepts of movement, human interaction with his environment, designating regions, the changing landscapes. It comes to justify the interrelationship of change, wherein it is inevitable as it is happening on the past actuality, and also comes continuity which throughout explaining the sustaining of ways of living of its people. Thus, Philippines is more than a concept of state which has topographical features to describe and claim because it is more on looking the deeper sense of connections of the people living in every region and place, more sense to the cultural values embraced in every location, more of the sense of interpreting the inhabitants.

In ostensive discussion, for instance, the Philippines on the map does not merely fully describe the holistic concept. I remember the sharing of Dr. Mactal of DLSU that to grasp history and geography as disciplines, one must look at the related natural resources bringing the nation into its unique place, one must look to the climate which gives the people the style of crafting apparel, one must look to the dimensions of the existence of any ethnicity and maybe their existing agricultural practice. One must consider the distinct language used in every region. One must also look for the historical perspectives amid diversities of social, political, and cultural presence. Suppose one person is studying geography as a stand-alone discipline. In that case, it will not provide in-depth connections of any figures and present inquiry and likewise, if history is studied on its enclosed perspective without considering the themes of geography and concepts, then historical imagination may not be necessary since a person would think that history could only happen on any surface with its impending time providing limited views.

Thus, the culmination of the complements of the two disciplines, Geography & History, can bring the component of Historical Geography as an interdisciplinary unit with a multi-array of lenses in looking dimensions from micro to macro perspectives of interrelating queries.

A man's history will not be purely known without knowing his changing structure of habitat; likewise, history cannot embed and uncover patterns alone without looking and considering the spatial awareness.

*Images were constructed using a CANVA graphic design platform

References:

Baker, A.R.H., (2004). On the Relations of History and Geography. Historically Speaking 5(6), 27-29. doi:10.1353/hsp.2004.0047.

Collins, L. (1920). Correlating History and Geography. The Journal of Education.

Mactal, R.B. (August 2015). Padayon Series: Seminar in Phoenix Publishing House

Orillos-Juan, M.F.(2008) Kaalaman at Pamaraan sa Pagtuturo ng Kasaysayan. UP Lipunang Pangkasaysayan.

[bellavive1]

Bellavive Skincare: Revive Your Skin For Natural Beauty

Time affects all of united states. Our lives' circumstances change, experiences impact us, and we become altogether different people. There's no stopping this change, and you will as well as realize that the person you were yesterday is gone eternally. The beauty you once held, however, can be restored easily, provided you're using the right materials. A treatment has come along, known as Bellavive Skincare. This formula promises to make you smile a person look into the represent. Theres nothing vain or selfish about wanting to look your best. After all, by taking measures to heal and replenish your skin, you'r trying to preserve your largest appendage. Because it's so important, you can't afford to give it just any treatment. In this Bellavive Review, we'll explain why we believe this is the correct solution.

As your skin ages, it gradually loses its capability to synthesize the amount of collagen it needs to keep looking its best. Bellavive Skincare Ingredients contain healthy collagen molecules, as well as elastin, a key element in restoring and maintaining facial beauty. As soon as you apply this cream to your face, you'll feel its ingredients begin to work their magic. Almost immediately, deliver a nourishing effect. But, it's only after a lot of time that it finishes its vital work in giving your skin what it. From there, benefits continue to improve. What's happening is that your skin will use the proteins provided to rebuild its structure and return to a smooth, even texture. In case you decide in favor of this formula, we recommend ordering yours through the site linked by the surrounding buttons. There, you pay back a reduced Bellavive Anti Aging Cream Cost that's unavailable any place else!

How To Apply

When a cream isn't doing much for your skin, it may be rash to blame for yourself. More often than not, the formula just wasn't worth its salt. Nevertheless, by following a few simple steps, you'll complete out of your Bellevive treatment.

First, you'll wish to rinse your skin thoroughly with warm water, and dry it off by using a towel. Next, dab just your fingertip into the bottle, and put that portion onto confront where you observe clearest evidence of aging. Stroke it gently around your face, careful in order to mention apply pressure, until it dissolves to your skin. Once there, it's going to begin replenishing your skin's stores of collagen. This should rebuild the matrix holding your skin cells together, which will also remove apparent wrinkles, fine lines, for example. Ready to order?

[the-insomniac-emporium]

Mia Deserved Better: An Analysis of RE8's Themes/Symbolism

Foreword: I would like to thank @lepusrufus for posting about both Mia and Miranda, and at one point directly saying that Mia deserved better, which is a large part of what caused me to start examining her role in the canon story. Now, I will say that this post, like some of my previous explorations of Village (such as my attempt to determine Donna's age), will not be the best organized. My ADHD makes such things rather difficult for me. However, I have tried more than usual, and have broken up this "essay" into several distinct sections. Still, I am worried that my thoughts will not be as concise or coherent as they were inside my head.

Under read-more for length and spoilers for RE8: Village.

Introduction:

Village is, inarguably, about parenthood. Is it a horror game? Yes. Is it also science fiction? Also yes. But is it still, at its core, a story, and therefore contains imagery, symbolism, and themes? Yes. Now, you may be wondering what this has to do with Mia deserving better. My proposal is as follows: While Village is overall about parenthood, it is more about motherhood than fatherhood. Furthermore, Mia's background + actions from the previous game tie her story directly with Mother Miranda's, making their potential interactions massively important to the story... and could have served the theme beautifully. The missed potential in her involvement in the story is honestly a little bit absurd.

Now, let's examine each of the Four Lords + their sections, as the beginning of analyzing the game's theme.

Lady Dimitrescu + Castle:

Ah, perhaps the clearest (albeit unimportant) bits of theme within the whole game. We are immediately presented with another parent, with three daughters she loves very, very much. Initially they work as a team to capture Ethan, easily overpowering him. When they do split up, each still has dialogue regarding their family members. Each of the daughters expresses a desire to be like their mother/make their mother proud. Lady Dimitrescu herself gets very upset every time one of her daughters perishes, and delivers some important dialogue about this in her final confrontation with Ethan.

To paraphrase, Lady D says that Ethan has done something unforgiveable, caused damage that can never heal, and deserves to die before his daughter. That last part is interesting, in the sense that Lady D seems to believe that outlasting your own child is a fate so terrible that she would not wish it upon anyone, including the person who killed her daughters.

Throughout her dialogue and actions, Lady D serves as an important figure of a living mother. What do I mean by that? Well, the only other mothers we see in game are Mia and Miranda. The former doesn't show up until almost the end of the game (seeing as the "Mia" at the start is not actually the real Mia), while the latter does not have a living child, and her behavior has (presumably) changed quite a bit since that loss. As Ethan goes through Castle Dimitrescu, he watches (he causes) Lady D to go through what Miranda did all those decades ago. When we see her loss, when we experience her loss, it is something we connect with, even comparing it (as Lady D does) to Ethan's loss of Rose.

For the more visual side of symbolism, we can turn to Lady Dimitrescu herself. She is very tall, is visibly older than the majority of the Village cast, and has a fairly classic (old-school) motherly look. Everything about her reinforces her position as an example of a mother, especially when she's with her daughters and becomes such a strong figure of protection. Her height allows her to seem the caretaker for her children, even though they are scary/intimidating in their own right.

Donna Beneviento + Waterfall House:

Yes, the baby/fetus/monstrosity is part of this. No, it is not the only bit of thematic work in this section of the game.

To begin, you can find out that Donna is officially the adopted daughter of Mother Miranda. Her birth parents are dead, implied to be from especially tragic causes (more than is the norm when it comes to "orphan making"), and she has suffered greatly from it. We see that she has been seemingly neglected by Miranda, and is incredibly isolated. The tragedy of her loss, along with the consequences presented by it, are something to keep in mind further down the road, when we inevitably deal with Ethan's own death.

One of the consequences of the environment Donna was raised in is, arguably, her reliance on Angie. While interpretations of their exact relationship (aka how much control Donna actually has at any given point) vary, the two very clearly have something akin to a mother/daughter vibe. Alternatively an older sister/younger sister sort of thing. This shows in the way that Donna holds/carries Angie, as well as the contrast in their demeanors. Moreso, the fact that Donna gave a part of herself to create Angie is almost enough to make the symbolism nonnegotiable.

We also see that Donna has a strong understanding of family/family dynamics, through the way that she uses her powers to manipulate Ethan. She dissects his connections to Mia and Rose, taunts him with the lengths he's willing to go to save his child, then shows him a grotesque version of parenthood: The aforementioned fetus monster. Does the monster represent Ethan's fears, or Donna's?

What if the monster is how Donna sees herself, in some way, perhaps thinking that it's her fault her parents died? Bit of a stretch, but it's not a keystone of my theory, so I'm just throwing it out there. We could, however, go a step further and ask ourselves if Donna has noticed the way Miranda neglects her, and the fetus monster is how Donna thinks Miranda sees her. A baby, true, but grotesque, so terribly imperfect compared to her "real daughter" (Eva, obvs).

Regardless, the monster presents an ugly side of parenthood. It shows us the blood, the hunger (with the way it repeatedly attempts to swallow Ethan whole), the wailing. If Lady D shows us the love of parenthood, the bond, Donna in turn shows us the hate, the misery. Everything that one must endure to reap the rewards of family.

Lastly, we get one last bit of symbolism with Donna's death: We play a game with Angie. A childhood classic, hide and seek. Ethan chases her down repeatedly, stabbing away, seemingly only hurting the doll. But what happens when he kills Angie? It turns out that he killed Donna. You kill the child, you kill the parent. A reinforcement of the connection that comes with parenthood, along with another notch in Ethan's family-murdering belt (not saying that he's the "true antagonist" or anything, just keeping track for one of my later points).

Moreau + The Reservoir

Let's get the worst possibility out of the way: Moreau, weakest and sickest of the four lords, lives in a reservoir, where he is relatively safe. To defeat him, you have to drain the water, forcing him onto dry(ish) land. Paired with the main ideas of his section (which I will detail after this nightmare), one could theorize that he's meant to represent birth itself. Again, he's safe in his ("womb") water, and becomes vulnerable when he leaves (like a fragile newborn). Kinda gross, in my opinion, and also not a strong enough connection for me to care much about. It was merely an interesting (albeit horrifying) enough thought that I felt it warranted sharing.

Moving on to the big stuff with Moreau: He's a baby. Evidence: Whiny, has difficulty moving around, struggles to adapt to his growth, throws up a bunch, loves his mother very much, cries for his mother when he's in trouble, etc. Although Mother Miranda does not care for him, he clearly cares for her, and plays yet another role of an abandoned child (like Donna). Without Miranda there to protect him, he perishes terribly, crying out for someone who does not care to answer.

Hearing him cry out for Miranda, over and over, only for her to continue ignoring him is a key piece in the build-up to our confrontation between Ethan and Miranda. The game, in many ways, centers around the comparison between the two. In my humble opinion, Mia should have been involved in this comparison, as opposed to supplying the solution to the result of said comparison. Yes, I know that was a lot of words that don't mean much yet, but trust me, I'm getting there.

Heisenberg + The Factory

Ironically, of the four lords, Heisenberg is the most similar to Mother Miranda. In his massive factory, he is alone except for his numerous experiments, the results of decades of playing God. In comparison to Ethan + Mia, Heisenberg represents artificial parentage, or more accurately, the artificial creation of "life". While the others Lords also performed experiments, they used living subjects. Heisenberg instead chose to use corpses, which he then "brought back to life" with cybernetics + his powers, a somewhat futuristic version of Dr. Frankenstein.

Together, Miranda and him show a rotten side of parenthood (whereas Donna + Moreau showed us the uglier side of the children themselves). To put it simply, they are bad parents. They throw their "children"/experiments into the fray, uncaring, using them as pawns for their own greater gain. The most important part of this is that Heisenberg offers to "help" Ethan: By using Rose as a weapon. In his act of refusal, Ethan demonstrates one of several important distinctions between himself and Mother Miranda. Where she is willing to use her "children" (read: lives that she is responsible for) as tools, he is not.

Miscellaneous Symbolism/Imagery:

The old hag is one of my favorite parts of Village. She's seemingly nuts, has a crazy old lady laugh, wears bones that make soothing bone noises when she moves, and she draws lots of symbols in the dirt. If you look closely (I can provide screenshots if anyone desires, but it will take a bit of work to get them onto my computer), she's drawing one of the most iconic images in the titular village: The winged unborn. This symbol acts as the key you build up after every fight with a Lord, understandably called the Unborn Key (which turns into the Winged Unborn Key). Whether this counts as foreshadowing towards the hag's identity reveal is technically irrelevant, but I like to think it does.

In essence, you build up the key, this depiction of an infant, to progress in the game. The more wings it gains, the closer you are to your goal of rescuing your child.

The cadou itself is very clearly fetus-shaped. Furthermore, the only place within the human body that we know it ever gets implanted is in the "tummy" (thanks Moreau), aka roughly where someone's womb is/would be. Every infected person we see presumably had the Cadou implanted there (though I think it would be interesting if implanting it in different spots caused different mutations. of course, that is a discussion for another day). To become immortal, you have to "bear" a "child". Does it get more direct than that?

Mother Miranda gained her immortality in part for her grief at the loss of her child. She embodied the despair that Lady D spoke of, becoming an eternal source of anguish. Just as the loss of a child is a wound that lasts forever, so too would Miranda last forever (well, until Ethan comes along).

Mia is a loving mother, who puts up with the BSAA making her move across the world, deals with the complications of having a mold husband and mold baby, and has proved herself (see her section in RE7) to be an immense badass. Previously I had forgotten that, and even embarrassed myself in the comments of another person's post by implying she wasn't a tough, ass-kicking machine. Y'all remember feral Mia? People talk about "poor Ethan's arms", but sometimes we forget that Mia was one of the people who did a number on them. Furthermore, she's one of the only living people (from outside the village) to have any connections (pun intended) to Mother Miranda. They worked together, although possibly not directly, on Evelyn. If anyone in Village has a chance of really understanding Miranda's plight, or knowing the truth behind it, it would be Mia. Yet we don't see them interact a single time. Which leads me to the next section...

Conclusion On Theme + Missed Potential:

Okay, okay, so it's pretty obvious at this point that, as previously stated, the game's theme is parenthood. Every section has its symbolism, the story is very obviously about a man trying to rescue his daughter, etc, etc, but what's the point? Is there a lesson, or a more focused interpretation of the central theme? Let's take one last step back, and focus on something I've mentioned a few times now: The comparison between Ethan and Mother Miranda.

Recurring dialogue from Ethan, Alcina, and Mother Miranda all point towards the developers acknowledging that the characters are similar, but there's nowhere near as much conversation about it as I would like. Several times we have the antagonists ask Ethan how he's so willing to kill someone else's child, or prevent them from (essentially) doing what he's doing (aka saving his daughter). While Ethan responds with a mix of "well you started it" and "aghhh fuck-a-you, bitch", there's a much more solid, unspoken difference: Mother Miranda sends her underlings to kill, so that she may revive her daughter. Ethan kills (read: does the work himself) to get his daughter. The difference is much bigger, and more important, at the end of the game, when we realize just how far it goes. Ethan dies to save his daughter. Time and time again Mother Miranda has killed others for her work, but in the end she is stopped when someone willingly dies to stop her.

Where does Mia come in? Mia, the badass mother, the one who once worked alongside Mother Miranda, should have been the nail in the coffin. She is the one who survives, who lives on to raise Rose, she is the silent solution to Ethan's sacrifice. Miranda, you fool, what could you have accomplished if you had held onto your makeshift family? Through Mia (and Chris, to a lesser degree), his "loss" becomes a victory. There's a certain poetic justice that comes with Rose's full family being instrumental in saving her, when Miranda so readily spurned her own family.

Mia could have had an actual conversation with Miranda, their history giving the latter a reason to actually listen. I'm not saying that Miranda would have changed her mind/plans, but the conversation would have been a well-needed contrast to Ethan's "arggg what the fuck is happening, I only have two reactions to things. agg fuck you". Additionally, I feel that Mia (who was captured and had to endure who-knows-what) deserves the opportunity to be the one who points out Miranda's mistakes, who delivers the final "fuck you" to her. More than that, she's the one at the end who can say that hey, maybe she can understand some of what Miranda did. Was there anything her and Ethan wouldn't have done to save Rose? As much as Ethan is a foil to Miranda, Mia could (and should) have played a similar role.

When so much of the story and symbolism revolves around Miranda's experience as a mother, it only would have been fair to shine a light on her equivalent. Her better.

There's more I wanted to say/feel like I didn't properly get across, and I might add more to this at some point, but it's 5:40 AM right now, and I'm starting to feel like my brain is slowing down, so... Feel free to reblog/comment and add your own thoughts!

[redeemedrevolver]

BOCW Characters and their MBTIs

Summary:

The characters of BOCW take the MBTI Personality Test and find out their personality types. They were a bit shocked. Some can't believe it while others believe it fully.

A/N:

The link to the MBTI test is above if you still don't know your personality type and want to find out. It's a long test, but worth answering. More information about the personality will be in the parenthesis beside the character.

It was a bit hard taking the test because I had to picture myself as them answering it in their character.

These aren't exactly their MBTIs, but this is a depiction based on their overall character from the events in the games (Black Ops Series)

I hope I did my best!

Russell Adler (INTJ-A — "Architect")

Information about the personality type:

These thoughtful tacticians love perfecting the details of life, applying creativity and rationality to everything they do. Their inner world is often a private, complex one.

comprises 2.1% of the total world population (rare personality type)

highly analytical, creative, and logical

introverted and prefer to work alone

greater emphasis on logic and objective information rather than subjective emotions

like their world to feel controlled and ordered

Strengths:

self-confident and hard-working - believe in Bell most of the time

takes criticism well

most independent

rational

good at listening - evident with the number of dialogue options you have

Weaknesses:

lack of empathy - apparent when reading the paper regarding Bell's brainwashing and his persistence

romantic relationships are their Achilles heel - it doesn't mean they don't feel, but they don't want to express it to anyone

sometimes callous or insensitive

highly analytical towards everything

perfectionistic

—————

Alex Mason (ISTJ-T — "Logistician")

Information about the personality type:

These people tend to be reserved yet willful, with a rational outlook on life. They compose their actions carefully and carry them out with methodical purpose.

male ISTJs comprises 16% of the total world population (common personality type)

enjoy taking responsibility for their actions

take pride in the work they do

reserved, practical, and quiet

value loyalty in themselves and others

Strengths:

detail-oriented

observant - can be applied to his "excellent sniper" trait

orderly and organized

calm and practical

jacks-of-all-trades

Weaknesses:

stubborn - shown in the interrogation scene in BO1 for a few moments

tends to blame others

judgemental

insensitive

works always by the book - reluctant to bend or change the rules

—————

Frank Woods (ESTP-A — "Entrepreneur")

Information about the personality type:

They tend to be energetic and action-oriented, deftly navigating whatever is in front of them. They love uncovering life’s opportunities, whether socializing with others or in more personal pursuits.

comprises 4-10% of the total world population (fairly common personality type)

live in the moment and dive into the action

unique skill in noticing small changes - shift in facial expression, new clothing style, or broken habit

full of passion and energy complemented with a rational mind

prefer the practical over the abstract

Strengths:

gregarious, funny, and energetic - shown in CW

adaptable and resourceful

rational and practical - apparent in BO1 for his overall character

makes decisions based on logic and reason

sociable

Weaknesses:

risk-prone - most likely the person one will be paired to operations where things can go wrong quickly

defiant

easily bored

impulsive - true to his personality

too competitive

—————

Jason Hudson (ENTJ-A — "Commander")

Information about the personality type:

They are decisive people who love momentum and accomplishment. They gather information to construct their creative visions but rarely hesitate for long before acting on them.

comprises 1.8% of the total world population (2nd rarest personality type)

gifted with charisma and confidence

quick to see inefficiency and conceptualize new solutions to them

love a big or small challenge and overcoming them

dominant at the negotiating table

Strengths:

strong leadership skills - the overseer in BOCW

well-organized

good decision maker

assertive and outspoken

strategic thinkers

Weaknesses:

stubborn and dominant - shown in the scene where he talks to Bell about Lubyanka

impatient

intolerant

cold and ruthless - true to his nickname "Ice Cube"

poor handling of emotions

—————

Helen Park (INFJ-T — "Advocate")

Information about the personality type:

They tend to approach life with deep thoughtfulness and imagination. Their inner vision, personal values, and a quiet, principled version of humanism guide them in all things.

female INFJs comprises 1.6% of the total world population (rarest personality type)

thinks about deep topics and contemplates the meaning of life

has a deep sense of idealism and integrity, but aren’t idle dreamers

speak with great passion and conviction

soft-spoken and understated

Strengths:

sensitive to the needs of others

insightful

altruistic - use their strengths for the greater good

passionate - eagerness to capture Volkov in E. Berlin

creative

Weaknesses:

sensitive to criticism - may be shown after joking about her scar

reluctant to open up - shown with the scar scene with Lazar

prone to burnouts

dislikes confrontation

stubborn

—————

Eleazar "Lazar" Azoulay (ENFP-A — "Campaigner")

Information about the personality type:

These people tend to embrace big ideas and actions that reflect their sense of hope and goodwill toward others. Their vibrant energy can flow in many directions.

comprises 8.1% of the total world population (common personality type)

reads between the lines with curiosity and energy

see life as a big, complex puzzle where everything is connected through emotion

do best in situations where they have the freedom to be creative and innovative

spend a lot of time exploring social relationships

Strengths:

empathetic and caring - apparent and true in the Duga ending and after being saved in Cuba

fun and spontaneous - evident when talking to him and Sims

warm and enthusiastic

curious

observant - can be applied after the Cuba briefing about the LMG he and Sims are talking about

Weaknesses:

can be overly emotional

tends to get stressed out easily - can be apparent when being loud in E. Berlin and talking about Lubyanka

struggles to follow rules

disorganized

poor practical skills

—————

Lawrence Sims (ESFJ-A — "Consul")

Information about the personality type:

They are attentive and people-focused, and they enjoy taking part in their social community. Their achievements are guided by decisive values, and they willingly offer guidance to others.

comprises 12.3% of the total world population (common personality type)

continue to enjoy supporting their friends and loved ones

gain energy from interacting with other people

encourages other people to be their best

have a hard time believing anything bad about the people to whom they are close

Strengths:

practical and dependable - true to his character being in charge of logistics; you can trust him with anything related to gear requests

organized - can be seen writing in a ledger and making phone calls to everyone about the lists of equipment needed for an operation

sensitive and warm

conscientious

very loyal

Weaknesses:

sensitive to criticism - can be triggered in certain dialogues about Vietnam

too selfless and doesn't look after themselves

dislike change

approval-seeking

controlling

—————

Perseus (ENFJ-A — "Protagonist")

Information about the personality type:

These warm, forthright types love helping others, and they tend to have strong ideas and values. They back their perspective with the creative energy to achieve their goals.

comprises 2.5% of the total world population (3rd rarest personality type)

strong extraverts and enjoy spending time with other people

interested in devoting their time to others

radiate authenticity, concern, and altruism

unlikely to be afraid to take the slings and arrows while standing up for the people and ideas they believe in

Strengths:

encouraging

persuasive - apparent in the meeting scene during Bell's remembrance of him

wide social circle - can be his list of agents, whom he may have close ties with personally

charismatic

natural-born leaders

Weaknesses:

self-sacrificing - may be related to sacrificing half of Europe for his plans to expand the Soviet Union

overprotective

manipulative

indecisive

overly idealistic - can be apparent in the meeting scene in Bell's remembrance

—————

Dimitri Belikov (INFJ-A — "Advocate")

Information about the personality type:

INFJs are deeply concerned about their relations with individuals as well as the state of humanity at large. They are, in fact, sometimes mistaken for extroverts because they appear so outgoing and are so genuinely interested in people -- a product of the Feeling function they most readily show to the world.

male INFJs comprises 0.5-1% of the total world population (rarest personality type)

emotionally intimate and fulfilled with a chosen few

have the clearest insights of all the types into the motivations of others, for good and for evil

usually reserved but highly sensitive to how others feel

capable of taking their values and using them to bring about positive and lasting change

Strengths:

focused on the future

values close, deep relationships - evident with Charkov being his best friend, despite the needed betrayal for the CIA

not materialistic

enjoy looking good and taking care of their appearance

very sensitive and emotional

Weaknesses:

difficult to get to know

incredibly stubborn

has a rebel attitude - true to him being the mole of the KGB and working for the CIA for a decade

dislikes confrontation - may be true to be called to the central committee and talking to Kravchenko

avoiding the ordinary

—————

Greta Keller (ISTJ-A — "Logistician")

Information about the personality type:

They like strengthening their current relationships rather than seeking out new ones. These people tend to “play the hits” in their lives. They find joy and comfort in the things they know they like and rely on what worked or didn’t work in the past when making big decisions.

female ISFJs comprises 8% of the total world population (common personality type)

have a keen sense of right and wrong

enjoy order and organization in all areas of their lives

carefully plan things out well in advance

place a great deal of emphasis on traditions and laws

Strengths:

self-sufficient - evident when letting Bell take lead and leaving herself behind

realistic

persistent

trustworthy

thorough - apparent in her dialogues in the bar

Weaknesses:

judgmental

gets involved in win-lose situations - evident when captured by Volkov and almost snapped by the neck to death

have tendencies to believe that they're always right

subjective

uncomfortable expressing emotion or affection towards others

[99liners]

First of all congratulations, you have outdone yourself again . I can’t find words to describe the splendor of liberosis . I have a dumb question: did yoongi like her ? Because i don’t get why he married her . I m not a law student but shiza didn’t have any proof beside her testimony. Since yoongi was able to falsify the marriage date he could’ve easily delete the footage of him in the hospital and create an alibi. He had other solutions, so why did he chose to marry her?

The girls bitching about their husbands 🙏🏻 , Miss jaimie we need a drabble with the entire squad . I loved the foreshadowing of aphotic : inaya glancing at seokjin and her health condition 🧐

Jimin befriending jk , you attract what you are 😂

The smut scene 🙏🏻, i wasn’t expecting shiza to initiate it , our girl is bold .I felt so bad for her when he left , has yoongi never heard of aftercare?

Shiza must had burned a country in her past life to marry yoongi in this life . The no one has time for you paragraph broke my heart , it remained me of a song which kind represent shiza in that paragraph: adesh kan fi nass by fairouz : Oh how many people there were on the crossroads waiting for others And it would rain , And they would hold umbrellas, But even on the clearest days, no one would wait for me

Shiza deserves all the love and happiness in the world. All she wanted was to do the right thing .

Yoongi : he’s cold-blooded , heartless ruthless asshole . I had to take breaks cause it was too much . I couldn’t handle his cruelty , i was shocked when he burned the photo and the dress and the emotional trauma he had caused to shiza .This man doesn’t deserve any sympathy or love . I hope he rot in hell

Overall, the tatemae series is fantastic , the quality is beyond amazing, it’s worthy of a bestseller series . Each instalment is unique. Thank you for your creating such a masterpiece ♥️

i am glad you think i have outdone myself cause that is seriously the goal everytime!!!

oh,,, splendor???,,, mmmm the words you use ma'am🤤

and no, yoongi did not like her (if you mean upon first meeting).

yeah, she did not have any proof but her testimony is the main witness testimony, she heard a conversation that clearly implicated not only seokjin but a senior police office; jeongguk, a reputed surgeon; taehyung, a well-known hotelier; hoseok and a rich CEO; seokjin. that is a lot of damage in just one statement because she would be dragging down 4 prominent personalities along with yoongi as an accessory to a serious crime; murder. besides, once proceedings start, you never know what dirt the prosecution will find on you to nail you for a crime. so every wrongdoing they have done in the past could potentially be unearthed and they could just fall into a lot of trouble cause of one slip-up.

another pertinent point to keep in mind: under normal circumstances, it would not be so much damaging but remember the public prosecutor had said "this is the first time any witness has willingly testified against kim seokjin." in cases like this where the government clearly doubts a person/group of committing crimes but they have not been able to prosecute them due to lack of evidence then even the smallest of testimony and circumstantial evidence can become very crucial because then the government would be ready to spend all the efforts and manpower into bringing them down. circumstantial evidence does not really hold much value in court but in cases like these, the judges sometimes allow them. honestly, it is a huge thing and i can literally write a paper on this xD i don't think i will be able to explain all the facets in an ask.

he surely did have other solutions but she insisted on testifying which would start the whole investigation on all five of them named in the lawsuit. he tried bribing her but that did not work and the other option was to kill her or hurt her father,,, which were kinda extreme even for him.

of course, i have taken liberties cause it is a work of fiction.

ahahah, the entire squad hanging out and getting drunk yes yes, it is on my list <33

mhm, i love me some good foreshadowing that points the readers in a different direction than how it is going to actually turn out.

i legit clapped and laughed like a seal on reading "you attract what you are" !!! this is so true,,, i mean i could have vmin bonding but then on second thought, they wouldn't get along so well because kth does not like jjk and pjm is very similar to jjk so boom, jikook are the new bro-duo in town.

yeah, she is one bold girl surely. especially after yoongi rejected her advances like wow, i could NEVER. and no, what's aftercare? yoongi doesn't know.

xDDDDDDDDDDDD she must have massacred villages and villages to be treated like this in this lifetime, seriously. that is a nice song wow! and yeah, her being lonely is so painful.

she does <3 she is such a good person inside and out

yoongi is an evil grinch,,, he gets too much in his head and then takes it out on his poor wife who clearly does not have the means to fight him back. YES. NO SYMPATHY FOR ANY OF THE TATEMAE MEN!!!

a bestseller series????? you guys need to stop

jokes aside, thank you so much for the detailed feedback and your undoubtedly kind compliments!! <33 i love you and thank you for reading uwu. <3333333333333333333

[transedwarp]

time to talk about adira’s identity being misrepresented on memory alpha 🙃 my Thoughts™ are under the cut

as far as i know, adira was initially listed as female on memory alpha, and that wasn’t changed after they came out as nonbinary in s3:e8. mods have elected to remove the gender category entirely rather than represent their nonbinary identity correctly (although some masked crusader has edited the sidebar and adira is currently listed as nonbinary). reading the mods’ responses, they reveal a juvenile (and possibly intentional) misunderstanding of what gender is, as well as willful ignorance regarding certain information from canon.

two mods claim that the gender category has always been used to describe “physiology.” i’m assuming this is their polite way of saying sex assignment or sex characteristics. this is a pretty dubious argument to make, as 1) gender is in no way related to “physiology” and 2) even if that category was being used to describe an aspect of the character’s sex, one of the mods points out that trek has “never showed anyone’s vagina or penis.” we can’t confidently identify the sex assignment of most characters in trek—and why would we want to? if the information isn’t there, why are we obsessed with sussing out a definitive answer? if it isn’t explicitly revealed in canon, there really isn’t a reason to speculate about a character’s sex assignment on their bio, and it’s inaccurate to label that kind of information with “gender.”

in adira’s case, their sex assignment, as well as their assigned gender at birth, is never stated in canon. adira could be amab, afab, intersex—all we know is that the crew of discovery assume that they use she/her pronouns until they come out to stamets. one of the mods takes this as evidence that they were assigned female at birth. but the only thing this tells us is either people are still assuming pronouns based on certain standards of presentation in the 23rd/32nd centuries, or that adira was asked about their pronouns offscreen and decided to use she/her until they became more comfortable with the crew. neither of these possibilities have any bearing on their sex assignment or their agab. in fact, we have much more concrete information about adira’s gender than we do about their sex: adira explicitly states that they use they/them pronouns, and that they don’t identify with a binary gender. they don’t pull out a specific label for their identity, but their description falls under the nonbinary umbrella.

despite the mods’ apparent obsession with “physiology,” there really is no justification for continuing to list adira as female or to neglect their nonbinary identity. removing the gender category is a choice to omit canon information, and an important aspect of the identity of these characters. and while i don’t think it should be removed, the gender category has needed updating. if a character’s gender identity is stated—as is the case with adira, who describes themself as nonbinary, and with spock, who describes himself as male—then it should be included. if that information isn’t available, then there shouldn’t be a need to fill that category with speculation based on presentation, pronouns, or assumptions of sex assignment.

there are going to be quite a few different points of view on this, but i think the solution here is to have three categories in the sidebar: “sex,” “gender,” and “pronouns.” when information about any of these things is unavailable, it should be ommitted. in adira’s case, their sex would be unlisted, their gender listed as nonbinary and their pronouns listed as they/them. to use spock as another example, his sex would be listed as male (we’ve seen his birth), his gender listed as male (he describes himself as male in “amok time”), and his pronouns as he/him (these are the only pronouns we’ve seen used for him). i doubt memory alpha would go this route, as it seems like the mods are having trouble with the concept of gender in the first place, but this is the clearest presentation of relevant information regarding sex and gender that i can think of.

[wanna-b-poet31]

Aziraphale’s Lies and Crowley’s Truth (A 3-Part Series) Part 3: Liminal Spaces, Happy Faces

A final installment of a series I started!! Will wonders ever cease? >tbh I want to preemptively start this final installment saying that I’ve been staring at the word doc for a solid 3 months trying to will the right words to come to me... let’s hope these are good ones?<  #sorrynotsorry for the delay

Honestly, I could do a whole other series about why Crowley is fallen and Aziraphale is not. However, I wanted to refocus this series on my central argument that honesty (or lack thereof) is a strategic tool for establishing their in-between status...their humanity, as it were.  

To grossly summarize parts 1 and 2  (but no seriously check them out) Crowley can lie, he’s actually pretty slippery but he chooses to be honest and forthright with Aziraphale on purpose. Meanwhile, Aziraphale wields his lies like his sword, trying to protect the two of them from Heaven’s wrath. 

The problem is, when Crowley is so heartbreakingly honest, like genuinely, unapologetically honest, to Aziraphale, he leaves both of them vulnerable. Without the security Heaven claims to provide him, Aziraphale panics, is afraid that revealing his hand -- that he feels for Crowley, wants to go to Alpha Centauri with Crowley -- will put both of them in danger. So, he does what he does best, he lies, cutting both of them. They fall out of sync, they’re set up for failure, they’re not on the same page, and ultimately they’ can’t occupy the same space or same side.  

See Aziraphale’s face here? [a gif where Aziraphale is shouting at Crowley that “We’re on opposite sides”] The tone of voice? The desperation in his face? It’s clear that he’s lying, and it’s detrimental. 

BUT when Aziraphale (and it has to be Aziraphale) realizes he’s miscalculated his lies, realizes that his position is not protecting Crowley (or the earth), but realizes that he IS, and perhaps has always needed to be, on Crowley’s side, the true nature of Heaven is revealed (to him). 

Once they are reunited, their lies are weaponized, their honesty is protective, and they create a new space for themselves and humanity to exist. They don’t fit in Heaven or Hell or even in a garden. In a very real way, they become more human once the realize the impact of their actions and the weight of their choices.

No, I don’t mean I literally think they’re human now, they’re as magical as ever. But by the end of the series, they DO become a new kind of hybrid, occupying the same liminal space between holy and hellish that humans do. And the evolution of their honesty and lies -- their supposed “flaws” -- enable them to form their own side. 

It allows them the freedom of choices.

ANGELS OF LIES

I think it’s important to point out that Aziraphale isn’t the only lying angel. 

All of them lie. Often.  

Examples:

We first see the lies appear when Gabriel praises Aziraphale for trying to “turn” Warlock to the good side. It becomes evident that by the end of the series, the angels never had any intention of stopping the war.

We see Michael lie (by omission) when she shows Gabriel the photos of our ineffable duo. She neglects to mention that she got them from Ligur. 

The only true difference is the target of their lies and the fact that they all justify their actions under the flag of dogmatic loyalty and their presumed “goodness”. None of the other angels ever quite question their own actions. They simply “do” in the name of the Lord. Their prophecy of a great war drives each of their actions, and each reads it as an immutable fact.  

While the vague nature of the prophecy allows them some wiggle room (like Michael conspiring with Ligur, and Gabriel with Beelzebub) to behave and build an ineffable bureaucracy around it, at the end of the day, none of them act like there is even a choice. They presume their destiny has been solidified.

Looking at Gabriel’s insistence that “Wars are not meant to be avoided, they're meant to be won” demonstrates, at least on some level, he firmly believes that angels are predestined to fight, to win, and to crush demons under his shoes. There is no question in his mind then, no wayward thought asking “should we do this” or “is this right”, he simply is following “orders”. There is the implicit belief then, that “to war or not to war” is not “find the solution with the least harm” but rather a really toxic “win or die” mentality. Any dissent, in this framework, must be squashed.

Any dissent...like Aziraphale. 

In the GIF above, when Aziraphale asserts that the angels have a choice, “there doesn’t have to be a war.” Look at the condescending posture and the fake smile. His response “Of course there does, otherwise, how would we win it?” speaks volumes to how he sees the situation. There is no choice for him, not necessarily because he doesn’t see there’s no choice, but because the alternative would be losing, and Angels don’t lose.  

There’s a real danger for Aziraphale at this moment, although he has been conditioned not to see it. If he is honest to Gabriel, the way Crowley needs him to be as a partner, for posing the question, for insisting that there is a third option.  This moment of honesty after several bald-faced lies makes Aziraphale very vulnerable to retaliation. Retaliation, mind you, that we DO see him endure (a la Sandalphon).  

THE DEMON IS IN THE DETAILS

Similarly, the demons show that they believe this is their chance to overcome Heaven. That there is no choice on whether or not they will fight, because the choice has been made for them. They must fight. The only question is if they will win. Like the Angels there is no question if they can fight or not, they simply must, and everyone is vying for a role in the destruction. 

Interestingly though, while Ligur and Hastur condescend “what is the world coming to if Demons started trusted Demons”, we also see an honesty streak.

Hastur, in particular, is oddly a beacon of honesty, but particularly gullible. Yeah, he’s malicious (we see him burn down the church, threaten Crowley, and kill another demon) but we don’t really see him lie... do we see him lie? Sure he’s wrong a lot, but he’s not good at lying like Crowley is, nor prone to it like Aziraphale is.

For example, we see him openly and honestly communicate with Ligur while they’re sulking, waiting for Crowley to show up. Sure, he’s wrong about what “Caio” means, but is it a lie? It seems more like his arrogance of Italian, transliterating it to an English word than an actual lie.  

The closest lie I can think about is when he’s disguised himself to capture Crowley. He doesn’t even lie when he’s reading out Crowley’s crimes to the audience.

Instead, we actually see that he’s actually surprised by Crowley’s lies. As much as he claims not to trust other Demons, when he’s actively pursuing Crowley and Ligur is killed, for a split second, Hastur looks like he believes Crowley’s lie that “the Dark Council” is testing him. 

This seems to put extra emphasis on Crowley’s ability to lie but not be unnecessarily cruel (whereas Hastur is cruel but doesn’t lie). Or that choosing to lie to Hell, for the sake of Aziraphale and himself, is paramount.

Crowley, in contrast to Aziraphale, realizes this “must and at no point tries to be honest with Hell. He’s smooth, he’s suave (at least he tries to be) he tries to get out of it, flatly stating that his own role in it (delivering the anti-christ) is not his scene. Then, he tries to stop the end of the world, he convinces Aziraphale it’s needed, gives him the pretext to make that third option a reality, and actively refuses the dichotomy of their bosses. 

It’s not until Aziraphale is fully out of the picture (read: presumed dead) that Crowley gives up, that he succumbs to the idea that it really is hopeless. Which, I will come back to.

HUMANITY’S VIRTUE

Meanwhile, humans don’t take well to black/white dichotomies. They neither are heaven incarnate nor hell incarnate. They simply are human. And that means they have choices. 

This manifests a few different ways in the series, but first, let’s look specifically at the dynamic between our “predestined” Anathema and our  “what the actual fuck is happening right now” Newt.  

Anathema (in the series) is pretty much trained in the ways of reading and interpreting Agnes Nutter’s prophecies. She has trained every moment since she was a child in the ways of occult studies and believes to a fault that she has no choice. The clearest example is how she doesn’t (really) choose to sleep with Newt because she liked him, or knew him, or seemed to care at all about his feeling on the matter, but because it was foretold. There is no real sense of choice.

Now, it seemed to have worked out, with them happily ending, but it’s “happiness” balances upon the fact that with Newt’s support, Anathema CHOOSES to reject the predestined nature of being a descendant. While I’m sure Aziraphale weeps over the loss of more accurate prophesies from Agnes Nutter, her decision to burn the second book is crucial not only to her sense of self but to the core message of what it means to be human.  To have choices.

Then, there’s Adam, the adversary... >incredibly long title/name<. His friend’s support allows him to make the choices he wants to make, and be proactive with his powers. Aziraphale says it best when he says he feared Adam would be Hell incarnate but hoped he would be Heaven incarnate, but he’s neither, and that’s a GOOD thing. 

“An Ineffable Game of Own Creation”

But why go through all of this in an Honesty series?

Consider, for a moment, this phrase “God does not play games with the Universe”. It’s a phrase that nicely bookends the series, appearing prominently in the first few minutes of episode one, and again after Adam and his friends have bested War, Famine, Pollution, and Death.  But, what does its appearance mean, if anything?

Choice.

This (book/tv) series is really predicated upon choice. And, consequently the presumed lack thereof our characters have. Again and again, we are shown that the Angels, the demons, Anathema, and even God herself, repeat the idea that “God is not guessing” or “we make no real choices”.

But Adam, Crowley, and Aziraphale reject this notion and actively create an alternative. 

Adam rejects his destiny, he rejects his demonic father and chooses to leave the garden (versus the original Adam and Even who were shunned, cast out, and really isn’t that a traumatizing experience in itself?) because he chooses to be human. 

But Adam is Human (at least now) how is this relevant to the ineffable duo? Two unquestionably supernatural entities?

Well, Crowley is as far as I can tell upon my 6,000th review of the series, has the series’ best ability to lie, even though few of his demon counterparts do. We’ll chalk it up to his imagination, but with this great power to deceive, he actively chooses to trust Aziraphale, to be honest, even if he’s hurt in the process.  

Aziraphale meanwhile is a shit liar, especially compared to Crowley’s and the other Angel’s abilities.  But he is a defensive one. He needs to protect himself, then Crowley, then humanity, but he can’t do that until he chooses to occupy the liminal space between Heaven and Hell. 

But they can’t do this alone. 

This “third” option that they’re carving out for themselves requires them to be blunt and honest and defensively protective of each other. This is why, when Crowley is in the bar, convinced Aziraphale is dead, he breaks down. Without Aziraphale, this third option is unobtainable because there is no one else who could share the space with him. There would be, nobody to love, as it were. 

This is also why (I think) the lies from Metatron breaks Aziraphale. If it’s clear, even for an instant, that no one on his “side” is willing to consider an alternative option, an option that would spare demons, then he wants no part of that option. He flatly refuses to fight in a war that would mean the destruction of Crowley and tells the quartermaster as much in his epic swan dive out of Heaven. 

This new space is distinctly not human in the literal sense (neither of them is human), but it’s also not heavenly or hellish. It’s a space for them to leave the garden, to continue to be who they are, fight for what they love and feel safe knowing they are a team (romantic or otherwise).

A third space is really what Crowley and Aziraphale have been working for since day one because no other force will consider that maybe, just maybe, there are alternatives to the good/bad, angel/demon, live/death dichotomies Heaven and Hell create for themselves.  It is the place that Aziraphale will lie to protect, and Crowley will honestly confront if it means they are finally going the same speed, together. 

TLDR: The way that honesty and lies work in this series allows for Crowley and Aziraphale to “break free” as it were and create a space for themselves to exist. 

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk

[newstfionline]

Friday, November 13, 2020

A thought experiment (Washington Post) The political scientist Brendan Nyhan has often responded to events by asking a question: What would you say if you saw it in another country? Imagine that a president of another country lost an election and refused to concede defeat. Instead, he lied about the vote count. He then filed lawsuits to have ballots thrown out, put pressure on other officials to back him up and used the power of government to prevent a transition of power from starting. How would you describe this behavior? It’s certainly anti-democratic. It is an attempt to overrule the will of the people, ignore a country’s laws and illegitimately grab political power. President Trump’s efforts will probably fail, but they are unlike anything that living Americans have experienced. “What we have seen in the last week from the president more closely resembles the tactics of the kind of authoritarian leaders we follow,” Michael Abramowitz, the president of Freedom House, which tracks democracy, told The Times. “I never would have imagined seeing something like this in America.”

Biden’s Policy Agenda Rests Heavily on Senate Outcome (NYT) President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s transition team is preparing multiple sets of policy proposals for the economy, health care, climate change and other domestic issues, including the ambitious agenda Mr. Biden laid out in his winning campaign, while acknowledging it may have to be pared back in recognition of divided government. Where the incoming administration lands depends heavily on two Senate runoffs in Georgia in early January. If Democrats win both races, close aides to Mr. Biden and economists who helped advise his campaign say the president-elect will try to push through a large stimulus plan for the flagging economic recovery—most likely along the lines of the $2.2 trillion that House Democrats approved this fall. His stimulus plan under such a scenario would include hundreds of billions of dollars for state and local governments that have lost tax revenue amid the pandemic recession, extended unemployment benefits for people who lost jobs during the crisis and a new round of aid for small businesses. A narrow majority in the Senate would also give Mr. Biden the chance to push through his proposed tax increases on corporations and the rich—tax hikes that would be used to fund the president-elect’s more ambitious plans like rebuilding roads and bridges, speeding the transition to a carbon-free energy sector and helping Americans afford health care. But if Republicans win even one of the Georgia seats, Mr. Biden will most likely need to settle for a wave of executive actions that would bring more incremental progress toward his policy goals, while trying to cut compromise deals with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the majority leader.

Millions Face Loss of Jobless Aid: ‘Without It, I’m Dead in the Water’ (NYT) Two critical unemployment programs are set to expire at the end of the year, potentially leaving millions of Americans vulnerable to eviction and hunger and threatening to short-circuit an economic recovery that has already lost momentum. As many as 13 million people are receiving payments under the programs, which Congress created last spring to expand and extend the regular unemployment system during the coronavirus pandemic. Leaders of both major parties have expressed support for renewing the programs in some form, but Congress has been unable to reach a deal to do so. It remains unclear how the results of last week’s election will affect prospects for an agreement. That means that for now at least, people like Randy Williams must prepare for the possibility that they are weeks away from losing their only income. Mr. Williams, 56, lost his job as a manager at a Memphis-area Cracker Barrel in the first weeks of the pandemic. His state jobless benefits ran out last month, leaving him to rely on a 13-week extension under the federal Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, which ends in late December. Already, Mr. Williams is struggling to get by on his $275 weekly benefit check, the maximum allowed in Tennessee. He has fallen behind on rent, racked up thousands of dollars in credit card debt and turned to a food pantry run by a church. Even with the benefits, “I may have got behind on this or that, robbing Peter to pay Paul this month,” he said. “But without it, I’m dead in the water.”

Hospitals brace for problems (Washington Post) The number of new daily coronavirus cases in the United States jumped from 104,000 a week earlier to more than 145,000 yesterday, an all-time high. Nearly every metric is trending in the wrong direction, prompting states to add new restrictions and hospitals to prepare for a potentially dark future. “We’re at a fairly critical juncture,” said Dave Dillon, a spokesman for the Missouri Hospital Association. The day will soon come when hospital staffing will fall below standards that are normally required, he said.

Police crackdown rocks top Mexican tourist resort (AFP) Images of terrified protesters fleeing police and gunfire have shaken one of Mexico’s top beach resorts and dealt another blow to a tourism industry already reeling from the coronavirus pandemic. The crackdown on Monday in front of Cancun city hall, where hundreds were demonstrating against the murder of a local woman, sparked national outcry and protests in Mexico City. Three people were injured when police fired in the air for several minutes and chased the mostly female demonstrators through a budget hotel district after property was vandalized. Live fire by police against protesters is unprecedented in Cancun and rare across Mexico, where security forces usually limit themselves to using shields and sometimes pepper spray. It was criticized by authorities at the regional and national level, cost the local police chief his job and led to the suspension of Quintana Roo’s head of security.

Evo Morales makes gleeful return to town he fled (Guardian) Tens of thousands of jubilant followers have welcomed Evo Morales back to the coca-growing region from which he fled into exile exactly one year ago after what they branded a racist rightwing coup. “Evo, Evo, Evo,” chanted the people who had travelled from all over Bolivia to witness their leader’s triumphant return home in the jungle-flanked town of Chimoré. Bolivia’s first indigenous president resigned and abandoned the South American country on 11 November 2019, making his escape on a Mexican air force jet that whisked him out of Chimoré’s airport. Morales decided to bolt when security forces withdrew their support after later questioned claims of electoral fraud in the presidential election sparked street protests and deadly unrest. But on Wednesday, two days after re-entering Bolivia at the start of an emotional, politically-charged homecoming, he made a gleeful return to the same town—to a rapturous reception.

Italian hospitals face breaking point in fall virus surge (AP) Dr. Luca Cabrini was certain his hospital in the heart of Lombardy’s lake district would reach its breaking point caring for 300 COVID-19 patients. So far, virus patients fill 500 beds and counting. Italy, which shocked the world and itself when hospitals in the wealthy north were overwhelmed with coronavirus cases last spring, is again facing a systemic crisis, as confirmed positives pass the symbolic threshold of 1 million. “We are very close to not keeping up. I cannot say when we will reach the limit, but that day is not far off,” said Cabrini, who runs the intensive care ward at Varese’s Circolo hospital, the largest in the province of 1 million people northwest of Milan. The Italian doctors federation called this week for a nationwide lockdown to forestall a collapse of the medical system, marked by the closure of non-emergency procedures. The government is facing tougher criticism than in the spring, when the health crisis was met with an outpouring of solidarity. As of Wednesday, 52% of Italy’s hospital beds were occupied by COVID-19 patients, above the 40% warning threshold set by the Health Ministry. Nine of Italy’s 21 regions and autonomous provinces are already securely in the red-alert zone, above 50% virus occupancy, with Lombardy at 75%, Piedmont at 92% and South Tyrol at an astonishing 99%.

Azerbaijan’s drones owned the battlefield in Nagorno-Karabakh (Washington Post) The drone’s-eye view over Nagorno-Karabakh defined much of the six-week war in the mountainous enclave within Azerbaijan: The video first showed soldiers below in trenches, then came blasts and smoke, then nothing. Drone strikes—targeting Armenian and Nagorno-Karabakh soldiers and destroying tanks, artillery and air defense systems—provided a huge advantage for Azerbaijan in the 44-day war and offered the clearest evidence yet of how battlefields are being transformed by unmanned attack drones rolling off assembly lines around the world. The expanding array of relatively low-cost drones can offer countries air power at a fraction of the cost of maintaining a traditional air force. The situation in Nagorno-Karabakh also underscored how drones can suddenly shift a long-standing conflict and leave ground forces highly exposed. “Drones offer small countries very cheap access to tactical aviation and precision guided weapons, enabling them to destroy an opponent’s much-costlier equipment such as tanks and air defense systems,” said Michael Kofman, military analyst and director of Russia studies at CNA, a defense think tank in Arlington, Va. “An air force is a very expensive thing,” he added. “And they permit the utility of air power to smaller, much poorer nations.”

Wolf sentinels (Foreign Policy) The Japanese town of Takikawa on the northern island of Hokkaido has found a novel solution to its growing bear problem: wolf robots. More like mechanized scarecrows, the fake wolves come equipped with loudspeakers producing wolf howls once bears come within range. Sightings of bears in Japan are at their highest levels in five years, and two fatal bear attacks have already taken place in 2020. Takikawa officials say they have not encountered any more bears since the lupine sentinels were deployed.

Biden vows to defend Japan as China asserts power in Asia (Washington Post) As China flexes its muscles, President-elect Joe Biden is offering assurances to America’s top allies in the Asia-Pacific region that he’s not going to be a soft touch. Biden spoke with the leaders of Australia, Japan and South Korea on Wednesday night in Washington, underlining in each call his commitment to “strengthen” their bilateral alliance. “The president-elect underscored his deep commitment to the defense of Japan and U.S. commitments under Article 5,” Biden’s team said, referring to the two countries’ joint security treaty that commits the United States to respond to any attack on Japan. Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga went further, saying that Biden had given “a commitment” that Article 5 would cover an attack on the Senkaku islands, a chain of five rocky outcrops administered by Japan but claimed by China, which calls them Diaoyu. With the world struggling to contain the coronavirus pandemic, and the United States distracted by its marathon electoral process, China has been seizing the moment to assert itself. On Wednesday, China dramatically intensified its clampdown on Hong Kong, a subject of bitter dispute between Beijing and Washington. Chinese coast guard ships, meanwhile, have been ratcheting up the pressure around the Senkaku islands, appearing in the nearby waters almost every day this year, more than ever before.

Typhoon Vamco batters the Philippines, leaving millions without power (Washington Post) A week and a half after suffering a deadly hit from a super typhoon, another storm battered the Philippines overnight into Thursday, cutting power to millions and leaving at least one person dead and countless others stranded. Typhoon Vamco, the equivalent of a Category 2 hurricane, struck the northern island of Luzon, the third typhoon and fifth tropical cyclone to affect the Philippines in less than three weeks. Super Typhoon Goni narrowly sidestepped the capital region of more than 12 million this month, but Vamco brought rain and winds of up to 105 mph Wednesday night into Thursday. On Thursday, houses were submerged and Filipinos were stranded on rooftops. The hashtag #RescuePH trended on social media, with people posting their whereabouts and contact details, begging for help. Many were stranded with the elderly, children and pets. Some were rescued on rubber life boats; in one video, a child was floated out in a basin. The Manila Electric Company said almost two million households—a fifth of its base—were still without electricity at midday Thursday.

In ruins, Syria marks 50 years of Assad family rule (AP) On Nov. 13, 1970, a young air force officer from the coastal hills of Syria launched a bloodless coup. It was the latest in a succession of military takeovers since independence from France in 1946, and there was no reason to think it would be the last. Yet 50 years later, Hafez Assad’s family still rules Syria. The country is in ruins from a decade of civil war that killed a half million people, displaced half the population and wiped out the economy. Entire regions are lost from government control. But Hafez’s son, Bashar Assad, has an unquestioned grip on what remains. It wasn’t clear whether the government intended to mark the 50-year milestone this year. While the anniversary has been marked with fanfare in previous years, it has been a more subdued celebration during the war. “There can be no doubt that 50 years of Assad family rule ... has left the country what can only be described as broken, failed and almost forgotten,” said Neil Quilliam, an associate fellow at Chatham House’s Middle East and North Africa program.

Trump may be headed out the door, but Saudi Arabia’s global enablers remain (Washington Post) In November 2017, Jamal Khashoggi told me “In Saudi Arabia, we cannot choose our leaders. We can only hope they get it right.” Less than a year later, the Post contributing columnist would be murdered by agents of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a leader he did not choose. Throughout his bloodstained rise to and consolidation of power, MBS, as the crown prince is generally known, placed his hopes in President Trump and Jared Kushner. Trump and Kushner, almost from the very beginning of the Trump administration, signaled that Saudi Arabia would be given extra special treatment. “We put our man on top,” Trump reportedly bragged when Mohammed bin Salman became crown prince after wrenching power from his older cousin in 2017. Saudi Arabia was the first country that the then-freshly elected and notoriously travel-averse Trump flew to early in 2017, to an extravagant fete put on by the regime, which is said to have spent as much as $68 million on the summit. MBS would go on to say, “Trump was the right person at the right time” for Saudi Arabia. The Saudi and Emirati governments reportedly offered the Trump campaign help to win the 2016 election, according to the New York Times. In 2018, MBS reportedly bragged that he had Kushner “in his pocket,” according to the Intercept. While Trump has been in office, Saudi Arabia has arrested influential personalities and activists, including women’s rights advocates. It also tried to pursue an impulsive war against Qatar, and imposed a blockade on the country. Kushner reportedly gave advice to Mohammed bin Salman on how to weather the storm after Jamal’s gruesome murder, and Trump later bragged to Bob Woodward about shielding MBS from congressional scrutiny.

Jamal’s assassination was personal and devastating. But the entire country of Yemen has been bludgeoned by Saudi Arabia and its partners in the gulf coalition that has orchestrated airstrikes against it since 2015. The United States has been one of the main suppliers of bombs to the Saudis in a quagmire of a blood-soaked and unwinnable war; some 13,500 Yemeni civilians have died from targeted attacks. Even after Jamal’s murder, when mounting political pressure was aimed at the United States to stop arming the Saudis, the Trump administration not only refused to budge but also Trump himself used the arms deals and the price of oil as a reason to justify continuing to engage with the Saudis. The situation is so bad that U.S. officials are reportedly now worried that they could face prosecution for war crimes for continuing to sell arms to the Saudis despite the mounting body count. But Trump is not the only enabler of Saudi Arabia. The focus on Trump, ironically, seems to glide over the fact that the Group of 20 countries have largely gone on with business as usual with Saudi Arabia. And as long as the international community continues to turn a blind eye to Saudi Arabia’s worst impulses, the so-called guardians of the liberal world order have blood on their hands, too.

Ethiopia claims ‘liberation’ of west Tigray, humanitarian crisis looms (Reuters) Ethiopia’s military has defeated local forces in the west of Tigray state, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Thursday, accusing his foes of atrocities during a week of fighting that threatens to destabilise the Horn of Africa. Air strikes and ground combat have killed hundreds, sent refugees flooding into Sudan, stirred Ethiopia’s ethnic divisions and raised questions over the credentials of Abiy, Africa’s youngest leader who won a Nobel Peace Prize in 2019. With communications down, transport blocked and media barred, independent verification of the status of the conflict was impossible. There was no immediate response from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which rules the mountainous northern state of more than 5 million people. More than 10,000 Ethiopian refugees have crossed into Sudan since fighting started and aid agencies say the situation in Tigray is becoming dire. Even before the conflict, 600,000 people there were reliant on food aid. The United Nations’ Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said aid agencies were unable to restock food, health and other emergency supplies due to lack of access.

[kastle09]

4 Reasons Players Stagnate (Part 1 of 2)

I feel like I need to preface this by saying, I'm about to say a lot of stuff with the caveat of “In general”. These aren't the only reasons people plateau and I can imagine someone reading this and going “Well I don't do any of these things and I’m still stuck” Which maybe true (or you are lying to yourself), these are just the 4 things I hear the most.

“What’s the secret to beating this guy? What’s the trick to winning?”

Have you ever watched those commercials that are screened at 2AM trying to convince you you have been doing it wrong all your life but don’t worry with this “One simple trick” you can have it all fixed.

I see this often happen especially when players find some trick or gimmick that will land them a lot of wins, and then all of a sudden it will stop working and they won't really understand why. So they will try some other trick, and eventually that stops working. 

The problem is your brain is trying to solve problems by going “Ah, I need to find the right trick, and then ill be good”. That the only difference between you and a pro is you are missing some key insight that they know and you don't yet and that is what’s causing the skill difference.

You can imagine this happening in really obvious places, for example the Ken player relying on the hk.tatsu into throw/ex.dp but it can happen more subtle as well. But the most evident example is when players feel they need a secondary. “My main just loses in this match up, I can't do anything. I need to find someone that wins this match up”

I remember talking with Travis Styles (arguably the best player in Australia) on commentary and he talked about players being too quick to try and solve solutions by totally switching characters for a match up. 

There maybe a time you will need to do that, but only after you have exhausted every other option first. Travis talked about when trying to improve with Balrog for example, he would watch players like Brian F and Smug and they do things that he never would have thought about before and would work on implementing them as tools he can use to face new problems. 

These players have clearly understood something he hasn't yet so there is a clear process to advance and improve, adding an understanding to help him come up with new solutions against different players. If they can do it, and they are able to figure it out, I can do it too.

And that is the clearest difference. Instead of thinking in terms of “Knowing secrets = Skill” think “Process = Skill”. Think building an understanding over time, with process it can allow you to make decisions to problems, even if they are problems you may never have faced before but its okay because you have an understanding of the tools, that can allow you to come up with solutions on the fly or course correct based on what you see working and what doesn't.

“I can't win until I land the stuff <insert player here> does, that’s why they wins games”

There is a quote from John Wooden (revered college basketball coach)and he said: When you see a successful individual, a champion, a “winner,” you can be very sure that you are looking at an individual who pays great attention to the perfection of minor details

The term “fundamentals” can get lost a little bit sometimes especially when you are first learning. And its especially difficult because when you watch the pro players your first thoughts turn to the things that look flashy and brilliant, and its natural you want to emulate those things. But notice that in that quote Wooden does not talk about the players who have the most skill/talent, its not about the players who can pull off the most amazing plays. He talks of the people that are just so fundamental sound. Bringing absolute perfection to the small details, the things that most people look at once, read up once, land it once and immediately close that book because they think “I've learned that, I don’t have to do it any more, I'm past that level”.

One of the most common scenarios I’ve come across when coaching is someone will learn some very complex but of tech like a kara demon setup a v-trigger mixup, a 550 high damage combo, and they can execute it perfectly. But they can't Anti air, they can't punish a tatsu on block. They know the combo, I know they know the combo because when they are aggressive jumping in they can hit it every time.

Even if you just ignore for a moment the reasons to be fundamentally sound. Just simply consider this. How often does the situation of Anti Airing come up versus the situation to land a kara demon for example. If you are good at Anti airing, you are good at an aspect that is useful and applicable in 25-40% of the time (conservative estimate). If you are good at a kara demon, you are good in an aspect that only comes around maybe 1-2% of the time. If you are putting the same number of hours into getting good at one or the other, you tell me what’s more worthwhile.

Mastering fundamentals is boring frankly. It is a grinding mentality because its not just that you have to learn them, or you can't form a base to move forward without having them, its also the fact that they require that they be maintained, that they are constantly being reassessed and looked after.

Think about the best players in the world in their given sport, do you think a player like Ronaldo is constantly practicing his dribbling, or Lebron James is constantly practicing his jump shot. The things that you would get told day 1 when learning the sport for the first time, they are still being drilled and practiced even when you do get to that professional level. It shouldn't be any different for fighting games either.

What I think this topic shows more then anything else is this kind of practice lets you have the ability to be able to hit the easy stuff not 6/10 times but 9/10 or 10/10. This is what will drive your consistency. If you hear people that say “this guy is a great player, but he can be inconsistent” this is the reasoning. This is training the ability to let you win games when you aren't at 100% when you aren't playing at your best. The flashy plays, the complex setup is what will win you games, the fundamentals is what wins you tournaments.

Holy crap these are taking longer then I thought, wait up for part two when I talk about the player that feel they “deserved to win” and the players decision making boil down to “I do it because it works”.

[seleniumonlinetrainingus-blog]

Why is Investing in Software Testing Labs and IP-led testing Crucial?

Teaching robots are being designed to deliver several functions and automate procedures. The latest case is Root, a brand new code-teaching robot that's programmed to inspire pupils  selenium online training in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) studies. Everything it brings for us is something fresh and new, pumping large volumes of expectation and strengthening the demand for Quality Assurance.

While Root is yet to make a real entrance, the bot was made to educate communicating skills directly from kindergarten folks to the adults.

Digital Transformation is altering the dynamics of analyzing applications and applications to ensure it is prepared for your digital landscape. The digital customer desires a connected interface along with also a solution within a single platform. This further strengthens the need to leverage Evaluation Environments.

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It's a Detailed framework that helps companies to establish powerful QA processes. It's built with resources -- People, Process, and Technology -- stitched together to guarantee quality.

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Its Effect The Digital Platform','' Gartner says,'Since digitalization moves via an innovative fashion to some core competency, businesses will need to understand and exploit platform impacts throughout all elements of their companies. Not doing this will endanger their ability todeliver; attract and keep talent; and possess their products/services perceived as value-adding by clients.' This places Additional pressure on companies to deliver and be more resilient in this digital era. There's a pounding demand for finishing testing under varying situations. There are multiple functionalities to be analyzed under different operating systems and also for a variety of devices.

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[featherquillpen]

Unreliable Narrators in Animorphs

After listening to @serpentcast‘s excellent episode about unreliable narrators, I got to thinking about the rotating first-person narration of the Animorphs books and the ways in which each narrator is unreliable. The hosts of Be the Serpent talked about three types of unreliable narrators: ones that are deliberately lying to you, ones that are lying to themselves, and ones that are just too ignorant to tell you the truth. I think we see all three types in the Animorphs series. So here are my takes, in rough order from most reliable narrator to least reliable.

Rachel

Rachel is the most reliable narrator of the six because her way of dealing with the brutality of war and her ever deeper entanglement in it is to be brutally honest with herself. She never shies away from the increasing darkness in herself, nor from exactly how fucked up the world around her has become. She knows exactly what she is, how she got there, why she hates it, and why she can’t stop. Nor is she oblivious like Ax – she can clearly see the changes in her teammates and her family, and isn’t afraid to point them out.

She’s also much more reliable about aspects of the war the other Animorphs tend to refuse to see. For example, all the other Animorphs except Ax tend to idealize Cassie as a moral compass, including Cassie herself to some degree. Rachel is able to see through it, though, as her best friend. In Book 22, she can’t buy into Cassie’s comfortable (self-)deception that her solution for David is merciful, because she’s there for every minute of the two hours it takes for him to become trapped in morph. 

The one thing that Rachel is a seriously unreliable narrator about is Tobias. She thinks of him as a human boy cruelly trapped in hawk form, when in fact he thinks of himself as more hawk than boy. He is quite clear about this, and every other Animorph understands this about him except Rachel. Her unreliable narration about Tobias means that she can’t even fully admit in the text how cruel and monstrous her actions toward him at the beginning of book 33 were.

Cassie

Cassie is mostly a reliable narrator because she’s very perceptive, especially of other people, and she feels a moral obligation to face down the effects of war on people. She believes if she lies to herself about the war, that’s the first step down a dark path. 

Cassie does have a blind spot, though, when it comes to herself. Most of the Animorphs, especially Jake, hold Cassie up as the group’s moral compass, and Cassie herself has bought into that myth to a large degree. She certainly doubts her own moral judgment, and doesn’t think she’s always right. But she does lie to herself about the nobility of her motivations and the consequences of her moral choices. She spent most of book 19 blatantly lying to herself about why she quit the Animorphs, wanting to believe they were less selfish and cowardly than they really were. After book 22, she lies to herself about the mercy of her plan to trap David in morph. And throughout the series she refuses to admit in her narration just how ruthlessly manipulative she is, even as we see evidence on the page over and over again how she uses her empathy and perceptiveness to maneuver people.

I’d like to point out here that Cassie is a notable exception among the Animorphs in that she is actually a reliable narrator about her love interest. If anything, Cassie is a more reliable narrator about Jake than he is about himself.

Jake

Like Cassie, Jake is very clear-eyed and perceptive about his team and about the war. He is able to see some things that nobody else can. He tries, most of the time, to be brutally honest with himself about the war and its effects on people, as Rachel does. But he gets unreliable when it comes to Cassie and himself.

As I said above, Jake idealizes Cassie as his moral compass. He relies on her perspective to make sure he doesn’t go off the rails and make monstrous decisions. So he can’t admit that her compass doesn’t always point true north. If he admitted that she doesn’t have any special insight into what is right or wrong, then he would have to accept just how lost the Animorphs truly are.

But Jake is the most unreliable when it comes to himself. He can’t acknowledge his weaknesses or his strengths. Throughout most of the series, Jake tries to present himself as a normal, dumb jock Everyman kid. But I would strongly argue that even in book 1, Jake is not a normal Everyman kid. He saved Tobias from bullies, which takes uncommon empathy and courage for a middle schooler. He has a passion and insight for military history. He shows real leadership qualities from the very beginning of book 1. It takes a long time for him to talk about himself as anything but a default jock boy, and even then, he thinks of himself as a completely normal boy turned child general.

And then, because of his leadership, Jake can’t show his weaknesses either. Not to the other Animorphs, and to a strong degree, not in his first-person narration. He can’t admit just how much of a weak spot his family is for him. Later in the war, he can’t tell us even in his own narration how much he’s falling apart. We just see it in his actions, not in the way he explains them. To me it is deeply tragic how Jake cannot, not even in his private narration, allow himself to be either special or human.

Tobias

Even more so than Cassie, I think Tobias has the clearest view on the broader societal issues involved in the war. He grew up under the poorest and most miserable circumstances of the Animorphs, and has the downtrodden’s sensitivity to power dynamics. He understands better than anyone how the Sharing takes advantage of people who are outside society. He understands better than anyone just how hard life is going to be for the Hork-Bajir after the war. On these matters, Tobias is both perceptive and honest.

But like Jake, Tobias can never be fully honest about himself or the girl he loves.

As I’ve discussed before, Tobias repeatedly frames Rachel’s issues with violence in terms of his own experiences as a predator. He understands that the hawk’s need to hunt is perfectly natural, and therefore Rachel’s love for the fight must also be natural and necessary. But Tobias is wrong about this. Rachel doesn’t just fight because she has to, but because she gets a terrible dark rush from it. Tobias doesn’t allow himself to see that when he talks about her in his books.

Tobias also cannot be honest with himself with his issues or how much abuse he’s suffered. He tends to downplay how badly his guardians treated him, and how bad his mental health is as a result. It takes him a long time to admit in narration (book 43) that he got trapped in hawk morph at least partly on purpose – early on he just can’t face that truth, because it speaks to just how desperate he was to escape his human life. Again, it’s really tragic how he can’t look at the scars of all the terrible things that have happened to him.

Ax

Ax is a great example of the ignorant type of unreliable narrator. Like Rachel, Ax is not much in the habit of lying to himself the way the other narrators often do. But Ax is not only oblivious, especially of humans but also when it comes to his fellow Andalites; but steeped in military propaganda, polite omissions, and outright lies.

Everyone has lied to Ax about his brother all of his life, including Elfangor himself. So it’s no wonder it takes so long for Ax to talk about him the way he really was – for the longest time, Ax didn’t know any better. Not to mention the wholesale fictions he’s been fed about the war against the Yeerks, what the Yeerks have done, what the Andalites have done, and what the Andalites’ goals are. He believes wholeheartedly in the nobility of his people – until he brutally learns over the course of the series that his people are liars, colonizers, and war criminals who have set out to destroy their enemies and become the galaxy’s police force, whether their control is wanted or no, no matter how many species they have to wipe out to do it. For the first half of the series, almost nothing Ax says about the Andalites or the Yeerks should be taken as fact.

The only thing that Ax consistently lies to himself about is just how loyal he is to his Prince and to Earth as a whole. He does so less and less as the series goes on, but I’d argue that even at the end, joining the Andalite military as a Prince and leaving Earth behind was not actually what was best for him or what he wanted in his hearts of hearts. But he was supposed to want to be back among Andalites again more than on Earth, so he convinced himself that’s what he did want.

Marco

Don’t take anything Marco says at face value. If we accept the framing narrative of the Animorphs series, that these are first-person memoirs the Animorphs are writing for posterity, Marco is definitely, deliberately lying to us.

Marco is the most concerned of all the Animorphs about posterity and how they will be remembered. As he shows in dramatic fashion in book 30, he thinks about how their actions and motivations will be perceived after the war. If his books really are his recordings for posterity, he is definitely lying to make himself seem cooler, suaver, and funnier than he is. He’s trying to make things seem more farcical and less existentially horrifying. He also wants to look like the ruthless, self-confident, cold-blooded tactician that he only sort of is.

And that’s just the stuff he’s deliberately lying to readers about. He’s also lying to himself about so many things. At the beginning, he denigrates and distances himself from Tobias because he doesn’t want to admit how similar they are. Later, he makes Jake seem like more of the dorky boy that he no longer is but Marco wishes he were. He thinks of Cassie as his opposite number, the sappy moralistic idealist, because he wants to believe that there’s some kind of counterbalance to the terrifyingly cold schemes he comes up with.

Marco is such an unreliable narrator when it comes to himself and his family. He won’t own up to how much he had to father his own father, and how much of a toll that took on his psyche. He’s able to tell us the truth that he hates being pitied, but that doesn’t make him any more honest about any of the sad things about him and his life that would make us, the readers, pity him. He lies to himself for book after book that he’s cold-blooded enough to kill his own mother, and it’s only at the moment of crisis that he finally faces the truth that he can’t. He can’t admit how much he’s willing to sacrifice for his dad until it drives him to a moment of desperation and stupidity. He wants so badly to be witty, charming, cold, distant, and empty inside, because that’s the kind of person who could survive the things he has without ever showing it.

[lynnotto27-blog]

Best Infant Monitors The Top Baby Monitors To Ensure Your Infant Is Safe.

Unexpected infant death syndrome (SIDS) is the unexplained fatality, typically during sleep, of a relatively healthy and balanced child much less than a year old. All well-rated designs will do this, reliably checking your baby while they sleep. Wi-Fi baby screens are practical and also travel pleasant. While baby breathing displays might appear encouraging, know that there's no scientific evidence that they in fact lower the risk of SIDS, as some manufacturers declare. These are the type where you clip the device onto your child's baby diaper as well as it will keep track of via baby's abdominal motions. For parents, SIDS is a scary possibility, specifically due to the fact that there are no clear answers regarding what creates it. The medical diagnosis is made when a postmortem examination, evaluation of the death scene and medical investigation provide no solutions as to why a baby more youthful than age 1 passed away. The Motorola MBP855 is for those that do not intend to carry a separate display around with them wherever they go. Sure, there is a 5-inch monitor that comes with the camera - and it's one of the clearest photos we had on test - however the trick to this arrangement is its accessibility to Motorola's Hubble application. These baby screens are very simple to utilize and also supply a much better operating range. Once you've downloaded and install the app, this smart-looking screen increases up as a protection camera and also techy moms and dads will certainly love the fact that it works using your smartphone. There are monitors that will certainly function within a shorter variety of just 100 feet. Take into consideration getting an infant display that supports numerous electronic cameras if you have more than one child in the home in different areas. Recently, app-based movement displays like the New MonBaby Smart Switch as well as Owlet Smart Sock 2- Infant Monitor are providing typical clipped ons and sensor pads a serious run for their money. Discovering best baby breathing monitor breathing monitor is vital for parents especially those who have simply had their first youngster as they tend to be more concerned about their kid than those that have more than one. The displays resemble eyes at the back of your head as they assist you maintain a watch on your child. Little ideas like a gentle night light to assist your method into the room is one of the reasons this display is so enjoyed by moms and dads. When it comes to evaluate resolution, item designers at Summer season Baby have actually raised the bar for baby monitors. Don't expect any kind of whizzy features - you can't talk back to your baby and also there's no advising to let you recognize if you're out of signal range, as an example.

[ihamtmus]

“I think I would just cut the wire”

Let’s talk about this line. In Avengers, Steve tells Tony he wouldn’t “lay down on a wire” to let somebody else crawl over him. In other words, he accuses him of not being able to sacrifice himself (btw what kind of insult is that, Steve?? It’s not something to accuse somebody of?? But that’s a different subject). We all know it’s not true, as Tony himself proved many times. Carrying the nuke through the wormhole is probably the clearest evidence of that – and a direct contradiction of Steve’s accusation. Maybe the dialogue itself was put there just to emphasize Tony’s sacrifice later in the movie. To me, though, it’s something more. “I think I would just cut the wire.” It’s Tony’s way of looking at problems.

It’s what he did in Iron Man 3 when Rhodey said “We gotta make a decision. We can either save the president, or Pepper. We can't do both.” The choice was to save someone very important to Tony or someone very important to the country. Which option did he choose? Both. He sent a remote suit to the president’s plane, all the while being on a boat, heading towards Pepper’s direction. He cut the wire.

It’s what he did when one of those living-bomb-guys caught Harley. Tony could either give the man the information he wanted or sacrifice the boy. Which option did he choose? Neither. He gave Harley a hint to use that anti-bullies device which helped him escape. He cut the wire.

It’s exactly what he did when he created the first suit in that cave! He could either build a weapon for the terrorists or die. What option did he choose? Neither. He used his brilliant mind to escape. He cut the wire.

Heck, even Tony’s response to Steve’s insult is cutting the wire in a way. Steve probably didn’t even expect a response at all. I mean, neither “no, I would do that” or “you’re right, I wouldn’t” was a good thing to say in that moment. Without hesitation, Tony chose a third option.

Of course, when he cannot find his own solution, when he is unable to cut the wire, he is more than ready to lay down on it. We’ve seen that, I’ve already mentioned it. The point is, the sacrifice is not always necessary and he knows it. Presented with a choice to save someone and save himself, he’d rather find a way for them all to survive. Laying down on the wire may be noble, but cutting it is just freaking smart. He uses his mind, his technology, to create a third option when there are only two. His mind is his superpower.

It’s not really surprising, then, that he worked so hard to create Ultron. Can you see? The world ending, all of them dying? Steve had a simple solution: we’ll lose together. Well, thank you, Captain, I’d rather not. Tony didn’t agree to just sit there and let that happen. He used his brilliant mind, his superpower, to try to protect the Earth and everybody he loved. This time, like we all know, it didn’t turn out well. But I hope you see the pattern here.

The guy just won’t give up. I love him.

[moodboardinthecloud]

Climatologist Michael E Mann: 'Good people fall victim to doomism. I do too sometimes'

Jonathan Watts

The Observer

Climate change

The author and eminent climate scientist on the deniers’ new tactics and why positive change feels closer than it has done in 20 years

@jonathanwatts

Sat 27 Feb 2021 16.00 GMTLast modified on Mon 1 Mar 2021 09.31 GMT

Michael E Mann is one of the world’s most influential climate scientists. He rose to prominence in 1999 as the co-author of the “hockey-stick graph”, which showed the sharp rise in global temperatures since the industrial age. This was the clearest evidence anyone had provided of the link between human emissions and global warming. This made him a target. He and other scientists have been subject to “climategate” email hacking, personal abuse and online trolling. In his new book, The New Climate War, he argues the tide may finally be turning in a hopeful direction.

You are a battle-scarred veteran of many climate campaigns. What’s new about the climate war? For more than two decades I was in the crosshairs of climate change deniers, fossil fuel industry groups and those advocating for them – conservative politicians and media outlets. This was part of a larger effort to discredit the science of climate change that is arguably the most well-funded, most organised PR campaign in history. Now we finally have reached the point where it is not credible to deny climate change because people can see it playing out in real time in front of their eyes.

But the “inactivists”, as I call them, haven’t given up; they have simply shifted from hard denial to a new array of tactics that I describe in the book as the new climate war.

Who is the enemy in the new climate war? It is fossil fuel interests, climate change deniers, conservative media tycoons, working together with petrostate actors like Saudi Arabia and Russia. I call this the coalition of the unwilling.

If you had to find a single face that represents both the old and new climate war it would be Rupert Murdoch. Climate change is an issue the Murdoch press has dissembled on for years. The disinformation was obvious last year, when they blamed arsonists for the devastating Australian bushfires. This was a horrible attempt to divert attention from the real cause, which was climate change. Murdoch was taken to task by his own son because of the immorality of his practices.

We also have to recognise the increasing roles of petrostate actors. Saudi Arabia has played an obstructionist role. Russia has perfected cyber warfare and used it to interfere in other countries and disrupt action on climate change. MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow has made a credible case about Russia’s efforts to hijack the 2016 presidential election and get Trump elected. Russia wanted to end US sanctions that stood in the way of a half-trillion-dollar deal between Rosneft and ExxonMobil. It worked. Who did Trump appoint as his first secretary of state? Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of ExxonMobil.

Today Russia uses cyberware – bot armies and trolls – to get climate activists to fight one another and to seed arguments on social media. Russian trolls have attempted to undermine carbon pricing in Canada and Australia, and Russian fingerprints have been detected in the yellow-vest protests in France.

And WikiLeaks? Your book suggests they were involved? I’m not an expert but there has been a lot of investigative journalism about the role they played in the 2016 election. Julian Assange and WikiLeaks helped Donald Trump get elected, and in doing that they did the bidding of Putin. Their fingerprints are also all over the climategate affair 10 years ago. UK investigators have evidence of Russian involvement in that too.

It’s an unlikely alliance. Yes, it’s a remarkable irony. Who would think you would see a US republican president, a Russian president and Rupert Murdoch working together as part of the coalition of the unwilling, doing everything in their power to prevent action on the defining crisis of our time: climate change.

What is in it for Murdoch? The Saudi royal family has been the second-highest shareholder in News Corporation [Murdoch’s company]. And apparently Murdoch and the Saudi family are close friends, so that is a potential motive.

It's frustrating to see scientists being blamed. We've been fighting the most well-funded PR campaign in human history

You say the deniers are on the back foot and there are reasons to be hopeful. But we have seen false dawns in the past. Why is it different now? Without doubt, this is the best chance in the 20 years since I have been in the climate arena. We have seen false complacency in the past. In 2007, after the IPCC shared the Nobel peace prize with Al Gore, there seemed to be this awakening in the media. that felt to many like a tipping point, though at the time I was very apprehensive. I knew the enemy wouldn’t give up and I expected a resurgence of the climate war. That’s exactly what we saw with the climategate campaign [the leaking of emails to try to tarnish scientists]. This is different. It feels different, it looks different, it smells different.

I am optimistic about a favourable shift in the political wind. The youth climate movement has galvanised attention and re-centred the debate on intergenerational ethics. We are seeing a tipping point in public consciousness. That bodes well. There is still a viable way forward to avoid climate catastrophe.

You can see from the talking points of inactivists that they are really in retreat. Republican pollsters like Frank Luntz have advised clients in the fossil fuel industry and the politicians who carry water for them that you can’t get away with denying climate change any more. It doesn’t pass the sniff test with the public. Instead they are looking at other things they can do.

Let’s dig into deniers’ tactics. One that you mention is deflection. What are the telltale signs? Any time you are told a problem is your fault because you are not behaving responsibly, there is a good chance that you are being deflected from systemic solutions and policies. Blaming the individual is a tried and trusted playbook that we have seen in the past with other industries. In the 1970s, Coca Cola and the beverage industry did this very effectively to convince us we don’t need regulations on waste disposal. Because of that we now have a global plastic crisis. The same tactics are evident in the gun lobby’s motto, “guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, which is classic deflection. For a UK example look at BP, which gave us the world’s first individual carbon footprint calculator. Why did they do that? Because BP wanted us looking at our carbon footprint not theirs.

This leads to the second tactic – division. You argue people need to focus strategically on system change, but online bots are stirring up arguments over individual lifestyle choices. That said, you suggest there is too much emphasis on reducing meat, which is a relatively minor source of emissions compared with fossil fuels. Isn’t that likely to be divisive among vegetarians and vegans? Of course lifestyle changes are necessary but they alone won’t get us where we need to be. They make us more healthy, save money and set a good example for others. But we can’t allow the forces of inaction to convince us these actions alone are the solution and that we don’t need systemic changes. If they can get us arguing with one another, and finger pointing and carbon shaming about lifestyle choices, that is extremely divisive and the community will no longer be effective in challenging vested interest and polluters.

I don’t eat meat. We get power from renewable energy. I have a plug-in hybrid vehicle. I do those things and encourage others to do them. but I don’t think it is helpful to shame people who are not as far along as you. Instead, let’s help everybody to move in that direction. That is what policy and system change is about: creating incentives so even those who don’t think about their environmental footprint are still led in that direction.

Another new front in the new climate war is what you call “doomism”. What do you mean by that? Doom-mongering has overtaken denial as a threat and as a tactic. Inactivists know that if people believe there is nothing you can do, they are led down a path of disengagement. They unwittingly do the bidding of fossil fuel interests by giving up.

What is so pernicious about this is that it seeks to weaponise environmental progressives who would otherwise be on the frontline demanding change. These are folk of good intentions and good will, but they become disillusioned or depressed and they fall into despair. But “too late” narratives are invariably based on a misunderstanding of science. Many of the prominent doomist narratives – [Jonathan] Franzen, David Wallace-Wells, the Deep Adaptation movement – can be traced back to a false notion that an Arctic methane bomb will cause runaway warming and extinguish all life on earth within 10 years. This is completely wrong. There is no science to support that.

Even without Arctic methane, there are plenty of solid reasons to be worried about the climate. Can’t a sense of doom also radicalise people and act as an antidote to complacency? Isn’t it a stage in understanding? True. It is a natural emotional reaction. Good people fall victim to doomism. I do too sometimes. It can be enabling and empowering as long as you don’t get stuck there. It is up to others to help ensure that experience can be cathartic.

You also suggest that Greta Thunberg has sometimes been led astray. I am very supportive of Greta. At one point in the book, I point out that even she has at times been a victim of some of this bad framing. But in terms of what she does, I am hugely supportive. Those I call out really are those who should know better. In particular, I tried to document mis-statements about the science. If the science objectively demonstrated it was too late to limit warming below catastrophic levels, that would be one thing and we scientists would be faithful to that. But science doesn’t say that.

Ten years ago, you and other climate scientists were accused of exaggerating the risks and now you are accused of underplaying the dangers. Sometimes it must seem that you cannot win. It is frustrating to see scientists blamed. We also are told that we didn’t do a good enough job communicating the risks. People forget we were fighting the most well-funded, well-organised PR campaign in the history of human civilisation.

Another development in the “climate war” is the entry of new participants. Bill Gates is perhaps the most prominent. His new book, How to Prevent a Climate Disaster, offers a systems analyst approach to the problem, a kind of operating system upgrade for the planet. What do you make of his take? I want to thank him for using his platform to raise awareness of the climate crisis. That said, I disagree with him quite sharply on the prescription. His view is overly technocratic and premised on an underestimate of the role that renewable energy can play in decarbonising our civilisation. If you understate that potential, you are forced to make other risky choices, such as geoengineering and carbon capture and sequestration. Investment in those unproven options would crowd out investment in better solutions.

Gates writes that he doesn’t know the political solution to climate change. But the politics are the problem buddy. If you don’t have a prescription of how to solve that, then you don’t have a solution and perhaps your solution might be taking us down the wrong path.

What are the prospects for political change with Joe Biden in the White House? Breathtaking. Biden has surprised even the most ardent climate hawks in the boldness of his first 100 day agenda, which goes well beyond any previous president, including Obama when it comes to use of executive actions. He has incorporated climate policy into every single government agency and we have seen massive investments in renewable energy infrastructure, cuts in subsidies for fossil fuels, and the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline. On the international front, the appointment of John Kerry, who helped negotiate the Paris Accord, has telegraphed to the rest of the world that the US is back and ready to lead again. That is huge and puts pressure on intransigent state actors like [Australian prime minister] Scott Morrison, who has been a friend of the fossil fuel industry in Australia. Morrison has changed his rhetoric dramatically since Biden became president. I think that creates an opportunity like no other.

How to Avoid a Climate Disaster by Bill Gates; The New Climate War by Michael E Mann – review

Read more

The book provides a long list of other reasons to be hopeful – rapid take-up of renewable energy, technology advances, financial sector action and more. Even so, the US, like other countries, is still far short of the second world war-level of mobilisation that you and others say is necessary to keep global heating to 1.5C. Have the prospects for that been helped or hindered by Covid? I see a perfect storm of climate opportunity. Terrible as the pandemic has been, this tragedy can also provide lessons, particularly on the importance of listening to the word of science when facing risks. That could be from medical scientists advising us on the need for social distancing to reduce the chances of contagion, or it could be from climate scientists recommending we cut carbon emissions to reduce the risk of climate catastrophe. There is also awareness of the deadliness of anti-science, which can be measured in hundreds of thousands of lives in the US that were unnecessarily lost because a president refused to implement policies based on what health scientists were saying. Out of this crisis can come a collective reconsideration of our priorities. How to live sustainably on a finite planet with finite space, food and water. A year from now, memories and impacts of coronavirus will still feel painful, but the crisis itself will be in the rear-view mirror thanks to vaccines. What will loom larger will be the greater crisis we face – the climate crisis.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/feb/27/climatologist-michael-e-mann-doomism-climate-crisis-interview