#there is. a communications blackout in the region

[espectres]

HI.

[fairuzfan]

hey what's an esim

Esims are digital Sim cards (as opposed to the physical Sim cards you put in your phone) that provide you regional network access. Buying esims for gaza and sudan, for example, will help people whose internet is restricted, or unavailable, connect to the regional network, thereby the internet and phone network. The esims are used specifically in Gaza because Israel consistently bombs the telecommunications areas so it acts as a substitute for regional specific communications networks like paltel (the Gaza specific communications company). People in Gaza use the esims in cases like if they're under rubble and still alive, and need people to get them out of the rubble so they call someone using the esim access. They're also used by journalists and other social media users to document instances of violence by Israel by using the electronic Sim card to gain access to internet. In other words, esims save lives and directly contribute to fighting disinformation.

I hope this answers your question. If not feel free to send in another ask.

If you'd like to learn more about esims and how to purchase them, please visit gazaesims.com

I believe there is something for sudan as well. There is currently a blackout there right now:

I don't know if there's currently a drive for Sudan as well, if someone finds something please add on to this post.

[gayvampyr]

CNN:

Hundreds of families gathered in the West Darfur capital of El Geneina on June 15, plotting their escape from what had become a hellscape of blown-out buildings scrawled with racist graffiti and streets strewn with corpses. The state governor had just been executed and mutilated by Arab militia groups, leaving civilians with no choice but to flee.

What followed was a gruesome massacre, eyewitnesses said, believed to be one of the most violent incidents in the genocide-scarred Sudanese region’s history. The powerful paramilitary Rapid Support Forces and its allied militias hunted down non-Arab people in various parts of the city and surrounding desert region, leaving hundreds dead as they ran for their lives…

…residents set off en masse from southern El Geneina, many trying to reach the nearby Sudanese military headquarters where they thought they might find safety. But they said they were quickly thwarted by RSF attacks. Some were summarily executed in the streets, survivors said. Others died in a mass drowning incident, shot at as they attempted to cross a river. Many of those who managed to make it out were ambushed near the border with Chad, forced to sit in the sand before being told to run to safety as they were sprayed with bullets.

“More than 1,000 people were killed on June 15. I was collecting bodies on that day. I collected a huge number,” one local humanitarian worker, who asked not to be named for security reasons, told CNN. He said the dead were buried in five different mass graves in and around the city.

Conflict erupted between the RSF and the Sudanese army in April. Since then, more than one million people have fled to neighboring countries, according to estimates from the International Organization for Migration.

Now, a telecommunications blackout and the flight of international aid groups have all but cut off Darfur from the outside world. But news of the June 15 massacre began trickling out of the region from refugees who escaped to Chad. The evidence uncovered by CNN suggests that, behind a curtain of secrecy, the RSF and its allies are waging an indiscriminate campaign of widespread killings and sexual violence unlike anything the region has seen in decades.

The RSF’s official spokesperson told CNN that it “categorically” denied the allegations.

“To say you were Masalit was a death sentence,” said Jamal Khamiss, a human rights lawyer, referring to his non-Arab tribe, one of the biggest in Darfur. Khamiss was among those who said that they fled from El Geneina to Chad, surviving a series of RSF and allied militia positions by concealing his ethnicity.

The United Nations raised the alarm in June over ethnic targeting and killing of people from the Masalit community in El Geneina, after reports of summary executions and “persistent hate speech,” including calls to kill or expel them.

The vast majority of those who managed to make it out of El Geneina alive sought refuge in the Chadian border town of Adre, about 22 miles (35 kilometers) away from the city.

On June 15, the town received the highest number of migrants in a single day, along with the highest number of casualties — 261 — since the Sudan conflict broke out, according to Doctors Without Borders, widely known by its French name, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which runs the only hospital in Adre. The number of wounded people that arrived at the hospital was even higher the next day: 387.

“The last time we recorded the death toll in Geneina it was 884,” one local humanitarian worker from El Geneina, who works for a Western non-profit organization, told CNN. “That was June 9. After June 9, it was a different story. The dead became uncountable.”

Action Against Hunger is accepting donations to provide health, sanitation and nutrition services to Sudanese refugees in Chad.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Internet access is hanging on by a thread after most of Gaza’s telecommunication infrastructure was damaged or wiped out in Israeli airstrikes. The bombing campaign earlier this week destroyed two of the three main lines for mobile communication, leaving just one line working, but with disrupted service. Overall, connectivity in the Gaza Strip has fallen from about 95% in early October to around 60% as of Friday morning, according to data from NetBlocks, an internet outage monitoring firm based in London. The lone provider standing between Palestinians and a total blackout is Paltel, the Palestine Telecommunications Company. While all nine of Gaza’s local internet service providers have effectively stopped working, Paltel is the largest Palestinian provider, with connections in the Gaza Strip and throughout the region. While currently enough of its cable network that supports fixed broadband and phone services remains intact, the company said it anticipates a “total blackout” if any more of its lines to Egypt or Israel are damaged.

Harder for people to document Israeli war crimes if there's no internet.

[determinate-negation]

A Preliminary Report from Librarians and Archivists with Palestine

The destruction of cultural heritage in Gaza impoverishes the collective identity of the Palestinian people, irrevocably denies them their history, and violates their sovereignty. In this report, we offer a partial list of archives, libraries, and museums in Gaza that have been destroyed, damaged, or looted by Israeli armed forces since October 7, 2023. This report is necessarily incomplete. It is very difficult to determine the status of archives, libraries, and museums in Gaza during the ongoing Israeli bombardment. Current conditions in Gaza, such as the targeting of journalists, frequent communication blackouts, and extensive damage to the built environment pose an immediate threat to safety. Moreover, archivists and librarians have been repeatedly displaced, injured, or killed, making it even more difficult to take stock of the damage to cultural heritage. As a result, it should be assumed that this report represents only a fraction of the extent of damage and death, not a complete picture.

We compile and offer this information with the understanding that the erasure of Palestinian culture and history has long been an Israeli tactic of war and occupation, a means to further limit the self-determination of the Palestinian people. In 1948, during the Nakba, 30,000 books and manuscripts were looted from Palestinian homes; in 1982, during Israel’s invasion of Lebanon, Israel looted and confiscated the library and archives of the Palestine Liberation Organization; libraries and archives were damaged during the Second Intifada, and have been repeatedly targeted in Gaza. Furthermore, the intentional destruction of cultural heritage has been recognized as a war crime and prosecuted in the International Criminal Court.

This report joins those issued by Heritage for Peace (November 7, 2023), the Palestinian Ministry of Culture (December 6, 2023), the Arab Regional Group at the International Council of Monuments and Sites (January 9, 2024), and others. These reports document the destruction of religious sites, archaeological evidence, cultural institutions, and more. We bring a focus on libraries, archives, and museums as sites of knowledge, community spaces, and repositories of cultural heritage. Irreplaceable historic materials have been lost in the destruction of institutions such as the Central Archives of Gaza City and the Rafah Museum. The destruction of libraries represents the loss of not only book collections, but the efforts of Gaza’s librarians to acquire, care for, and provide access to reading materials, despite Israel’s ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Finally, we include information about the librarians and archivists who have been killed in the ongoing Israeli bombardment. We mourn the deaths of our colleagues and their families.

February 1, 2024

Librarians and Archivists with Palestine

[storiesfromgaza]

The information I have about Gaza up until 9:30 in the morning is as follows:

No sounds of armed clashes can be heard across the region, at least for now.

Since last night, the Israeli army has targeted hundreds of locations in #Gaza, including civilian targets, homes, and infrastructure (videos are attached).

Unfortunately, the communication blackout continues. Dozens of citizens have reached hospitals, carrying patients or injuries on foot (the situation is dire in this context)..

[swiggity-swexual-i-am-asexual]

DPxDC media story prompt

Okay first off, this sort of thing has been done before, but here’s a different version involving Jazz Fenton.

Popular in DPxDC fanfic is that the GIW have a media blackouts—or whiteouts, there’s kind of a difference, where whiteouts work more like… there is a file, but you can’t edit it or it may be locked out for certain users, or an edited version of events where things are ‘whited out’ like with correction paste, among other definitions.

Point is!

The GIW have a media restriction, and among these is social media, probably with certain words or phrases pinging to location restrict the post. There was probably a phase for a while where the A-Listers tried to get around it, but ultimately failed, and since they could only get information IN rather than information OUT, and possibly still a limited amount of outside information in the first place, social media didn’t take off as much in Amity Park than in other places in the world. There’s still a small local presence, but at this point it’s almost like a city wide chat room than actual social media.

Enter in, Jazz Fenton. She’s chronically behind on trends, so by the time she decides to get on social media, the GIW aren’t being as militant on it. And she has that habit of calling the ghosts by code names instead of their actual names, such as Crate Creep instead of The Box Ghost, or Ghost X instead of Skulker. By pure coincidence of her personal language use and Tucker messing with all of Team Phantom’s phone locaters for easier excuse giving, Jazz manages to dodge all the word censors.

She accidentally creates a whole online story community convinced it’s some kind of altered reality game or role playing game, what have you. Meanwhile, Jazz is letting off steam by ranting online with, of course, made up names of all the people involved. She doesn’t even notice the numbers, and that’s assuming the GIW didn’t just—region lock the ability to see them for whatever reason. The few Amity Parkers on social medias see Jazz, maybe look at a complaint post or two, then move on because this isn’t even an unusual video inside Amity Park’s social media sphere.

Heck, PHANTOM has a social media presence and he’s done several rant videos too! One particularly famous one is him complaining about keeping his boots and gloves white while being chased and one of the GIW agents actually stops and gives him advice before shooting at him again.

Those outside Amity Park, of course, only see Jazz’s videos. And she has no idea that she has an entire online presence and mild amounts of online fame. And again, almost everyone thinks the whole thing is just a fun little game, if oddly detailed.

Until, that is, a certain young man by the name of Bernard comes in. One of the few who are totally convinced this is real, he tries to also convince his boyfriend—Timothy Drake-Wayne. Who, in turn, finds it incredibly suspicious that it’s this hard to get news and posts from one random town in the Midwest.

[mariacallous]

During the first months of the Russian invasion, in one of the frontline villages in the southern Kherson region, I met several firefighters – ordinary Ukrainian men in their 40s or 50s. Their prewar tasks involved putting out fires in the local wood or occasionally buildings.

Since the Russian invasion, they save houses burning from missiles and retrieve their dead neighbours. One of the men began to cry during our conversation. He left embarrassed, but shortly returned. I comforted the firefighters, explaining that even governors and mayors sometimes sob during interviews.

In the following months, I travelled from one frontline town to another. I met doctors, policemen, railway and communal workers, journalists, electricians, civil servants, government officials whose relatives are fighting and dying in the army. They escaped or are still living under Russian occupation, their houses and apartments destroyed. They acknowledged that they were emotional, often angry, horrified, but driven by a sense of duty. In the end this would help them move forward, and even be proud of what they did.

Russia invaded Donbas and Crimea in Ukraine in 2014; the country already knew what the war was. But since 5am on 24 February last year, all citizens have learned how to survive when a foreign army uses its might to destroy the peace. They have discovered how to act during an air-raid warning; how to live and work through blackouts; that they should not walk at night because of curfews. They have learned to forget about planes, as airports are closed, and how to be separated from family. People have adapted to many things, and also learned how to deal with emotions: that tears are nothing to be ashamed of. The initial shock and sadness have transformed into a bigger confidence and determination.

As for today – besides hope in victory, national pride, solidarity and compassion, which you see on the surface – one of the prevailing feelings among Ukrainians is guilt that we are not doing enough. In non-frontline towns and in Kyiv, life has returned to a kind of normal. We are preoccupied with thoughts of those who live under constant shelling or occupation. Those who are not in the army think of those who must fight daily; soldiers who survive think of the fallen. Those who left the country feel guilty about those who stayed.

I recently visited a standup comedy performance in a suburb of Kyiv. Self-depreciation is back following months when society was unable to joke about the war. One of the most popular gags is from a comedian comparing his efforts to those of soldiers and veterans. After Ukraine’s victory, he jokes, he would tell his children he spent the war sitting in an Odesa basement, tweeting that Nato should help by “closing the sky”.

Thousands of crimes have been committed by Russian soldiers on Ukrainian soil. The Ukrainian general prosecutor’s office says it has registered at least 71 000 violations of the customs of war. Since then it has become harder to talk to Russian colleagues. By colleagues I mean not propagandists, but just journalists who oppose the Russian invasion and Putin’s regime.

I still communicate with them, but many exchanges end with excuses about why Russian society can do nothing. They think that those who are against the war have nothing to do with the actions of their state. I do believe guilt is not collective, but shared responsibility exists.

Before Russia’s invasion I reported on totalitarian countries: Iran, Syria, China, Belarus. I understand how dangerous it is to protest in a state that is ready to kill its own citizens. The Ukrainians fought against this in revolutions in 2004 and 2014. In the end we built a government that defends its citizens.

It feels paradoxical that Ukrainians, who defend their homeland and are under attack, feel guilty for not doing more. Meanwhile, Russians who are opposed to war are uncomfortable speaking about personal responsibility, stressing that nothing depends on them. This can be explained not by a lack of empathy or bitterness, but by disempowerment and the detachment of Russian citizens. This is something the Kremlin wants from Russian society. Russians who oppose the war must transform their lack of empowerment into action, and find their strength.

Ukrainians have defended their country for 365 days without a break. They have saved many lives from Russian troops. Our task now is to transform a sense of guilt into a sense of duty. We need to preserve our strength.

[artsy-hobbitses]

Alright, serious signal boost here for the folks who want to get on the bandwagon for a good cause at as low as USD1!

Communications is a MAJOR issue in Gaza currently, and due to blackouts, a lot of folks there (civilians, local press and medical teams) rely on e-sims to connect with the outside world to send/receive news and document what’s going on there which is extremely important given how fast things are escalating there on a daily basis.

Now, there’s a number of carriers which offer e-sims for the region, but Simly so far offers the cheapest package, and with the referral code (which has been tested and works), you’re paying as low as a dollar to help a Palestinian speak to their families, speak to the world and send word for aid and services that they need.

I will be offering art in exchange for larger packages later (they need a combination of smaller packages for quick/on-the-fly connections and larger, more stable packages for members of the press and/or local aid operations), but if you have just a dollar to spare, and right now there have been multiple calls for this as they are running low again, please donate it to help Palestinians keep connected!

[y-rhywbeth2]

All things considered, I don't think Cazador was usually starving his spawn, and not to dangerous limits at the least (except during punishments). Vampires need to have fed sufficiently to mimic life and keep their bodies active, and these guys were supposed to be going out and luring victims back to Cazador; they'd need enough cognition to think and communicate and they'd have a much harder time doing that when they're very obviously a predatory walking corpse on the verge of going feral.

I'm not actually sure that vampires can even have sex without feeding first. They need to feed to have fed to have dhampirs, but I'm not sure if that extends to the whole act. Anyway, even if the lighting is poor enough to hide the obvious signs, you'd probably notice if the guy you were sleeping with was clinically dead and lacking in body temperature, especially in regions that should definitely be getting heated with blood at this time. Surely not every single one of 7000 victims were all blackout drunk or into the idea...

It doesn't make much difference if they are allowed to feed anyway, because it'd still be a form of torture.

Vampires need to deal 12 HP of damage to maintain their health (it doesn't all have to come from the same target). Rats and bugs'd make you feel ill and taste like sewage, and as such animals have 1 HP each you would need to suffer that experience 12 times a day...

[ultfreakme]

Freeing Palestine is India's fight

I've seen lots of posts about how Western countries and their populations should be concerned for stopping the genocide in Palestine but Indians are involved in this as well.

India has a HUGE Islamophobia problem, from the day India became what it is, this country exists the way it does through conflict regarding religious majorities and it is a problem we must acknowledge.

Collective punishment has often been carried out indiscriminately against Muslims in India- Muslim people's houses in Madhya Pradesh have been demolished without warning. This has also happened in Uttar Pradesh and in 2023, Haryana(300 businesses and homes). These were all normal innocent civilians who had proper legal paperwork showing their purchase and ownership of their home and land, but the police did not care. In many of these instances the police stood by and were involved in demolition and all of these were under BJP-majority and ruled areas. The recent Ram Mandir was built on the demolished land of Babri Masjid(it was built in the 14th century before India as it was even a THING, its destruction & demolition on the claim that it was Ram's birth place is unfair). Hate crimes against Muslims run amok and there are multiple cases of violence against Muslims in India.

PM Modi of the BJP party has been consistent in maintaining positive relations with Benjamin Netanyahu and the occupying force of Israel. A majority of the military equipment for India comes from Israel, and India has constantly been neutral in UN council meetings when decisions regarding Israel are brought up. A spyware called Pegasus, developed by the occupying force of Israel was used to surveil politicians, journalists, activists etc severely breaching right to privacy and threatening freedom of speech.

Worse; India has been using the Israeli strategy of colonizing Palestine with Kashmir. Jammu & Kashmir is a union territory which basically means they are allowed to function independently on most fronts but India has been seeking to integrate J&K into itself and has been extremely hostile to its Muslim citizens and are currently intensifying their occupation efforts. There have been consistent internet and communication blackouts since 2018 and it is STILL ongoing.

India invited Israeli officials to Kashmir to open 'Centers of Excellence' which are supposedly for agricultural innovation but everyone in J&K are concerned and see it as India taking an opportunity to intensify its occupation with Israeli help.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, several Kashmiris told Middle East Eye the Israeli agriculture hubs would deepen India's occupation in the region and accelerate its settler-colonial project. "Earlier, we would draw the parallels between Kashmir and Palestine or India's intimate alliance with Israel. But now they are bringing Israel to the Valley in the form of these institutions - which will be "agro-oriented" in name - but we all know that Israel will physically help India in Kashmir to turn it into a proper Palestine," a Kashmiri academic based in Istanbul told Middle East Eye.

In 2016 Coalition of Civil Society said there are more than 8000 'disappearances' of people in J&K. There are mass graves with over 2000 bodies being found with these unlawful activities being attributed to the Indian Security Forces. That's just scratching the surface of decades of violence and human rights violations enacted by India.

BJP is not shy about its ties to the RSS and promotes Hindutva(I've seen people citing the literal meaning of the word as evidence that it is harmless but the word is a label given to an embraced by extreme right-wing groups who are open about their Islamaphobia. Meaning of the word becomes pointless when actions speak otherwise).

India is an occupying force on J&K, it's suppressing Muslims, demonizing them and further marginalizing them in the name of 'Hinduism'. It buys from Israel and endorses them. As Indians, it is key that we do whatever we can to stop the genocide because we are unwittingly being used to fuel this and are being radicalized to hate on our neighbors, the people we share our land and history with.

Even outside of the ways in which the current government is shamelessly supporting Israel, India's history is rife with colonization. The British had occupied us, forced us into fighting each other, into prioritizing meaningless differences to suppress each other. We were once starved by occupying forces, violated, killed. Our land is also covered in blood shed by colonization.

What are we doing if we don't speak up? If we don't stop this? Do not follow the propaganda conflating extreme right-wing ideologies with the identity of being Indian. Don't buy into the idea that India is "for Hindus", we are so ridiculously diverse, there are 100s of languages and religions in this country.

Free Jammu & Kashmir, free Palestine, stop Islamophobia.

[scottishcommune]

To all supporters of the Kurdish liberation struggle, anti-fascists, socialists, feminists, anarchists, communists, environmentalists, and those dedicated to a better world: Turkey has launched probably the most widespread bombing campaign North-Eastern Syria has faced so far. Since October 5th, Turkey has conducted over 30 airstrikes, primarily in the Cizîre region and Kobanê. These airstrikes have targeted vehicles, villages, and especially critical civilian infrastructure, including oil- and power plants & gas stations, resulting in civilian casualties and casualties among internal security forces. Large areas experienced a total power blackout, with many hospitals, bread factories and other critical public institutions without electricity. The attacks continued this morning when a Corona Hospital & a power station were targeted. Despite the obvious war crimes, no reaction has been heard from the international community so far.

[shsl-box-worshipper]

A Grave Mistake

Hi, @vexfulfolly! I'm your gifter for @code-swap 2024! I honestly had a lot of fun with making this gift and coming up with ideas. The story I went with was 'What if XANA came back and Jeremie was the last LW after a horrible XANA attack and this is the start of his comeback?' and I ran with it lol.

I decided to go for an art-fic mini combo, starting with the art and building a story based on that and finishing them both simultaneously. Named after a song by Ice Nine Kills (Which is based on the film The Crow (1994)). Hope you enjoy!

Three months.

That's how long it took. Just three terrible months of hell.

It started two years after they were sure XANA was dead. They had all thoroughly moved on from those two years fighting XANA in that time. They all stayed together of course, in one way or another. Odd was still Ulrich's roommate and Kiwi's owner, Yumi and Ulrich were actively dating, William had slowly been accepted back into their friend group to the point where he often shared the big sibling role with Yumi, and Aelita and Jeremie were both the best of their class and smitten lovebirds.

Everything was perfect. Everything was great. They weren't paranoid. They weren't scared for every second they were awake.

Then it happened. It was quite innocuous and almost unnoticeable at first.

Power fluctuations, news about blackouts in areas around former Replikas, phone lines going dead for hours and hours at a time. Two weeks in, multiple regional governments around the globe suddenly shut off all communication with the outside world, shut off access to their areas, and became communication-less zones.

Jeremie jumped at the idea that XANA could be causing all this. But the others calmed him down, reminding him that the multi-agent was dead. Jeremie himself sowed its destruction.

He wished, for once in his pathetic life, he didn't listen to his friends and that he booted up his old laptop. But he didn't, so he did nothing.

Then it began.

Disasters of all sorts struck. Floods, hurricanes, tornados, power plant failures. Infrastructure was failing all across the board and no one could figure out why.

Then they came.

Robots, cyborgs-whatever you want to call them, they stormed into every capital conceivable. Monsters of flesh and metal, attacking what Jeremie could only assume was their former friends and family.

It was at that moment that they all scrambled back to action. But they were unprepared for such a threat.

Odd was first, shot down while they were still at Kadic by the robots while saving Ulrich. He went out as he always did: Smiling and making jokes.

Yumi, Aelita, Ulrich, and himself made it to the factory, but they were hot on their tail. Ulrich stayed behind and tried to hold them off, like he used to. Jeremie knew he didn't make it.

William, meanwhile, stayed behind to keep Kadic safe. Jeremie hoped he was still alive. But even he knew that hope was fleeting.

Jeremie immediately virtualized Yumi and Aelita, but before he could give them instruction, they were onset by a new monster they hadn't seen before.

When Yumi lost all her lifepoints, Jeremie was expecting her to come out of the scanners.

But she didn't. She was nowhere on Lyoko and nowhere in the real world.

Yumi was dead.

Jeremie desperately tried to guide Aelita out of danger and toward the tower, but he lost contact with her.

And whatever Ulrich did to distract the robots failed. One was above him.

Pain filled his entire being as that one robot landed a blow to his gut, causing him to bleed profusely. And he could hear the elevator going down, carrying more of those things. Knowing his time was limited, he did the only thing he could.

He set up a delayed virtualization and crawled his way to the scanners.

That's where he found himself now.

Jeremie knew all for certain that he was the last Lyoko Warrior. The others were either dead or last seen in situations that could only logically conclude with their deaths.

He groaned as he tried to stanch the gaping wound in his abdomen. He nearly swore as his nerves once again screamed at the pain.

So, this was it, huh? Jeremie chuckled at how fate had led to where he was now.

Four years ago, he came to this factory for such an innocuous reason. He was an ignorant 11-year old who simply wanted to win a robotics contest.

He was alone. He was friendless. And he treated technology like his lifeline.

Then he found and turned on the supercomputer, met Aelita, and his whole world was flipped upside down. Friends, love, and a reason to live beyond the technology that was defining his life.

Now, he was back where he was four years ago. Friendless, alone, and with technology acting as his literal lifeline.

01:00:00

It's ironic. The last time he was like that, he was innocent, scared 11-year-old boy. He had done nothing interesting in particular, and was just continuing the status quo he had built for himself.

Writing programs, making robots, hiding from his bullies.

Now he was 15. Nearly 16.

Now he had experienced what he had missed out on. What he never got to taste because of his introvertedness.

And it was amazing. Never before had he had friends who actually cared about him. Never before had he have a reason to keep on living, to keep on fighting.

Never before had he ever fallen in love. Have a girlfriend. KISSED.

He had faced trials and tribulations no child ever should...and he grew from them. He had turned from a cowardly, innocent, lost boy into a wise man, intelligent beyond his years and surrounded by everything he could have ever wanted or needed.

00:30:00

But he had to throw that away. He should've trust his instincts. He should've jumped at the opportunity and stopped it before it got worse.

But he didn't. He trusted his friends too much. He fell victim to his own logic and reasoning.

And now, they were dead.

Everyone Jeremie had ever known or loved...was dead.

*CLANK!*

?

Its the robots, Jeremie realized. They had found the hatch, whether by following his blood trail or using deductive reasoning, and they were coming down now.

00:20:00

At the same time, he could hear the scanner he was in start to whir. It was drawing power, something these things always did. Especially when he was beginning the transferring step of his process.

*CLANK-CLANK!*

They were getting closer now. Jeremie from the distance of the sound that they were climbing the ladder now.

0:10:00

They were down the ladder now. All it would take was one shot and he would be dead. The scanners would not register his brain activity and would virtualize his corpse as a catatonic dummy.

"Heh..."

All it took was one mistake...and his world had ended.

00:09:00

They were scanning the area now, Jeremie deduced. Probably to figure out which scanner he went into.

He purposely chose one that wasn't facing the ladder. Buy himself a few more seconds before they would inevitably find him. Maybe then, he would be safe.

00:08:00

He could hear their metal feet pounding outside the scanner, shaking the entire room and maybe the entire complex.

Knowing he would practically be a sitting duck if he stayed sitting, he tried to push himself up onto his feet.

00:07:00

His body was protesting his every move, his nerves practically begging him to stop. But he needed to stand. He needed to be prepared.

He had to. He made the mistake of not being prepared once.

00:06:00

It took some effort but he was on his feet now, gritting his teeth and trying to keep as quiet as possible.

He could see some of them now. His glasses were in absolute ruins, but he could still see out of one lense.

00:05:00

Metallic feet crushed against the otherwise hard metal of the scanner room, horrific visages of metal and flesh entering his view. He nearly vomitted when he saw his first one only a couple of hours ago. He didn't even know XANA was capable of such inhumane things, but then again, what has this AI not done up to this point?

One in front of him was male, in his 30s, and overweight. Other than that, Jeremie couldn't figure out much about it. Whatever person made up that mechanical monstrosity had their facial features practically rotting off.

00:04:00

The first one didn't spot him, thankfully. It was too busy heading toward the other scanner to realize Jeremie was there.

He left out a sigh of relief as it went. If his calculations were right, the delayed virtualization would be enacted in a few seconds. He just needed just a little more time-

A second nightmare stepped forward, one much more sloppier than the first one. Bits and pieces of it's tech were practically falling out of it.

00:03:00

The second one was smaller than the first one. Looked to be male...and around Jeremie's age.

It set off such uncomfortable feelings in Jeremie's stomach once he realized that. The fact that someone his own age was turned into one of these things...

He couldn't bear the thought.

00:02:00

!

This one was turning around. SHIT!

The sound of crunching motors and gears filled the air as the cyborg monster turned it's head to look into the scanner.

And at that moment, a loud, piercing alarm sound filled the air, the thing's eyes flashing the Eye Of XANA as it's allies gathered around Jeremie's scanner.

00:01:00

...But they didn't do anything. They all stared at him, eye to Eye as he held himself against the scanner.

It was at that moment that Jeremie realized what was going on, and with it, his remaining vestiges of sanity faded.

It was...toying with him. Gloating at its own success.

It had Jeremie surrounded, it was ready to kill him. And it was gloating. Four years of constantly fighting and it came out on top.

But Jeremie didn't break down into tears. He didn't submit himself to defeat.

In fact, he smiled.

Not a cheery one, no no. Not any that would be seen worn on Odd's face.

It was a look of madness. Insanity.

00:00:30

If XANA thought it had won, it was sorely mistaken. As long as Jeremie was still living and breathing, it would never win. As long as there was something against XANA, it would never be assured victory.

00:00:20

He may be bleeding, he may be alone, he may be even throwing himself to his own death...but in actuality, he wasn't alone.

They may not be among the land of the living now, but he could feel them. His friends. His true family and companions.

00:00:10

Odd's smile, Yumi's protection, Ulrich's comradery, William's devotion...

And Aelita's love. The girl who started it all. And who he shall avenge.

00:00:05

As he heard the scanners begin to rev, knowing that the virtualization process he had so carefully set up was about to begin, he stared directly at the enemy. At XANA's eye.

00:00:04

The eye of a monster, created a decade ago by a desperate man fueled by love and revenge.

00:00:03

Now it will be killed by a desperate man. Fueled similarly by love...and revenge.

00:00:02

Knowing the virtualization was imminent and stanching his wound as much as possible, Jeremie said one, last thing...to this monster.

"Buildings burn and people die...but real love is forever. And I'll say this, XANA...you've made a grave mistake letting me live."

XANA didn't have time to react before the doors closed.

Its minions panicked and shot endlessly at the scanner, trying to destroy before the process had finished.

They succeeded in destroying it after 30 seconds of constant firing.

...But when they checked the resulting debris...there were no remains.

Nothing was left of Jeremie Belpois in the real world.

Now they were even.

For both, man and machine, good and cruel...had committed grave mistakes. And paid the ultimate price.

[southeastasianists]

Since February 1, 2021, when the Burmese military seized power in a coup, ending a decade-long period in which they had allowed multiparty democracy limited by the army’s claim of 25 percent of the seats in parliament, a violent civil war has raged throughout the country. It has killed over eight thousand civilians and displaced 4.6 million, a quarter of whom have left Myanmar entirely.

In the three years of fighting since the outbreak of the civil war, anti-coup forces have largely succeeded in confining the junta to cities. Only 14 percent of Myanmar’s territory, and 33 percent of its population, are under military control. In response to the military coup in 2021, a cross section of Burmese society, including unions, youth, women, civil servants, and health workers organized thousands of protests against the junta in the Spring Revolution. But as the junta responded with live bullets, assassinations, sexual violence, communications blackouts, and mass detentions, much of the pro-democracy movement took up arms.

Three years later, guerrillas routinely ambush junta forces in the central lowlands, which are effectively surrounded by dozens of armed groups in provinces that have since independence never truly been controlled by the central government. Military rule in Myanmar was always predicated on a suppression of ethnic minorities, most notably the Rohingya, who faced persecution and denial of citizenship under the rule of Aung San Suu Kyi. Consequently, opposition to the junta has largely taken the form of ethnic armed organizations.

The military’s attacks on rural areas have forced anti-coup forces to construct their own organizational structures, not all of which ally themselves with the ousted 2021 government. Outnumbered and isolated, the military has largely retreated to cities and garrisons from which it launches indiscriminate air strikes, dodges sanctions, and tries to maintain Russia and China’s economic and military support, although the latter has of late been putting pressure on the junta to accept another ceasefire. The People’s Republic helped to broker cease-fires between the junta and its opponents in January and June of this year.

Over the last few weeks, ethnic armed organizations have made significant gains. The Three Brotherhood Alliance, made up of the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army, the Ta’ang National Liberation Army, and the Arakan Army, control an area larger than Belgium in the north of the country with close trade ties to China. Last week, the alliance successfully captured Lashio, the headquarters of the military junta’s Northeast Regional Command, and it is also in control of Mogok, the center of Myanmar’s world-leading ruby industry. The city of Lashio, the first of the junta’s fourteen military command centers to fall, is essential to controlling the expansive Shan State. With these victories, anti-coup forces hope to take control not just of territory, but vital economic and political centers and weaken the military’s decade-long grip on power within the country.

The Generals Protect Themselves

Myanmar’s military refers to itself as the Tatmadaw (Royal Armed Forces), but the average Burmese knows it less glamorously as the Sit-Tat (military). Myanmar’s military has dominated the country’s politics for eighty years, fighting British and Japanese occupiers and then communist insurgents and ethnic militias throughout the turbulent 1940s and ’50s. In its half-century (1962–2011) of one-party rule, the Sit-Tat subjected Myanmar to a torpor of stage-managed politics, economic catastrophe, and international isolation. Dictator Ne Win (1962–1988) initially attempted a Buddhist-socialist hybrid that glorified the military without handing real power to peasants and workers. Shock nationalization largely transferred Indian, Chinese, and Western assets into the generals’ hands, while mismanaged agricultural and financial policies condemned most Burmese to abject poverty.

After the economy collapsed, Ne Win and the Sit-Tat’s ideology and structure became more malleable, contorting into whatever preserved military dominance. The boiling point came with the 8888 Uprising (August 8, 1988), a broad-based, pro-democracy protest movement that still inspires today’s opposition. The Sit-Tat shot and killed thousands of protesters, and though Ne Win was ultimately ousted, the military maintained its grip with mass detentions, torture, arson, and executions. Afterward, the Sit-Tat largely shed its ideological posturing and redoubled efforts at self-preservation and self-enrichment. It created an artificial capital (Naypyidaw) to escape urban protesters, built up a domestic weapons industry to fend off its citizens, and captured significant portions of the Burmese economy to exchange for its officers’ loyalty.

By the time the Sit-Tat finally conceded to democratic elections in 2015, a wealthy caste of officers and their families inhabited a vast patronage network whose lavish lifestyles were funded by confiscated land, factories in which abuse took place, and sweltering mines. Even pro-democracy officers and some within the democratic opposition shared with the military a commitment to the suppression of minorities and kleptocratic rule. But the 2021 coup proved that even this concession was too much for the military, which, under General Min Aung Hlaing, once again turned to brute force to preserve its dominance.

The Political Economy of Military Rule

Today’s military oligarchy does not rely on any one export or industry. Resources, consumer items, manufacturing, and land are all plundered by the military and its associates. Jade, gold, rubies, lumber, oil, gas, and clothing are either owned by officers, gifted to associates, sold to the highest bidder, or protected for foreign corporations. Any opportunity for extraction, extortion, and profit is ruthlessly exploited through systematic, decades-old practices of forced labor, union busting, land expropriation, public embezzlement, and corruption in licensing and procurement.

The Sit-Tat surrounds Chinese mines and oil facilities with deadly landmines and sends soldiers to break up strikes at garment factories. Corporations owned by current and former generals or their family members, like the massive Myanma Economic Holdings Public Company Ltd (MEHL), make billions of dollars for the Sit-Tat’s upper echelon through complex webs of investments and money laundering. All the while, the average government soldier scrounges for food and goes into battle without adequate training or equipment.

The inequality and plunder that are the basis of Myanmar’s economy have been well-integrated into international supply chains and financial networks, both before and after the coup. As Myanmar reopened to international investment in 2011–12, states and multinational corporations became heavily involved in all of the industries central to the country’s economy, despite continued human-rights abuses, widespread corruption, and the clear role of the Sit-Tat in many of these industries. A host of international corporations and state actors have remained essential partners for the Sit-Tat ever since, even as it carried out a vicious military campaign in Kachin State in 2012, invaded Shan State in 2015, and committed genocide against the Rohingya in 2017.

Today, the Sit-Tat bombs civilians with Russian airplanes serviced with Indian parts and running on jet fuel shipped by Chinese and Vietnamese companies while Singaporean and Thai banks facilitate weapons procurement for the Sit-Tat’s state banks. The coup has not deterred Australian mining companies, put off state-owned Israeli and Indonesian arms manufacturers, or halted a European Union trade agreement that allegedly promotes workers’ rights from coming into effect. Ultimately, though states maintain complex relationships with the junta, sometimes sanctioning, regulating, or divesting from these dealings, the Sit-Tat’s economic architecture remains diverse and extensive. Divestment and sanctions have been slow and incomplete, all while Myanmar’s ordeal continues.

Working Against the Junta

Every day, Myanmar’s workers experience this military oligarchy firsthand. Even if the junta were to follow the law, Myanmar’s worker protections have long been inadequate. Workers face frequent, arbitrary wage cuts and wage theft, long hours and appalling working conditions, forced and unpaid overtime, restrictions on speech and assembly, dismissal and arrest, and sexual harassment and violence in the workplace. Employers frequently call in the Sit-Tat, its police force, or pro-junta militias to break strikes or intimidate workers. Employers even maintain agreements with the military that allow soldiers to enter factories at will to arrest organizers.

In the mines supplying the world with jade and rubies, miners have little protection from arbitrary violence meted out by gangsters, militias, and soldiers, to say nothing of the dangers of oxygen shortages and cave-ins. Women (though not exclusively) across Myanmar face serious risks from sex traffickers, sexual extortion and abuse by employers and soldiers, or sexual violence and torture in the junta’s many overcrowded detention centers. School closures and poverty have created widespread child labor, while LGBTQ populations have lost much of their socioeconomic autonomy in a targeted campaign by the junta and its supporters.

Despite all the hurdles, Myanmar’s diverse workers are prolific organizers. There were three thousand unions registered by 2021, and they routinely went on strike, including widespread walkouts in the garment industry in 2019. Unions like the Federation of Garment Workers would then be at the forefront of the protests and civil disobedience campaign after the coup. The junta was quick in banning sixteen large unions for supposedly failing to register, but general strikes still shut down the country as railroad operators, civil servants, and doctors and nurses took to the streets for months. In Myanmar’s largest industrial district, Hlaingthaya, workers spent six weeks shutting down production before the Sit-Tat violently stormed the township and killed multiple people. Despite great personal risk, workers and protesters mobilized over Facebook and called for domestic and international boycotts of businesses with ties to the military.

After the protests were repressed and Myanmar descended into war, workers were left under the watchful and repressive eye of the junta, which clung to its urban strongholds. Their very proximity to the junta’s vital sources of income ensure workers and organizers are constant targets for surveillance, harassment, arrest, and prosecution. While they constitute an essential pro-democracy base for the opposition, Myanmar’s laborers have had to endure three years of war and economic crisis. Yet they remain resilient. On February 1, 2024, even within the junta’s grip, workers and supporters managed to shut down Myanmar’s towns and cities in a “silent strike” commemorating the third anniversary of the coup. It remains to be seen how much longer they will have to wait for a semblance of stability.

[looks-to-the-moon-cock]

DID YOU STUMBLE INTO THE UNKNOWN, IN FEAR OF YOU?

(About Me)

[PT: In all caps and bolded reads, "Did you stumble into the unknown, in fear of you?" with the next line reading as follows, unbolded and in parentheses, "About Me". End of PT.]

Meowdy, howdy, hello hello! Welcome to my blog! This is my intro post!

(CW for sentence structure repetition in my about! Marked where it starts and ends!)

Quick Info: Kinship, They/It/Neopronouns, Intersex, Queer, December, Capricorn, Adult, White, Neurodivergent, Disabled, System, All Intro Images have IDs in Alt

My RBYF (Read Before You Follow) is included under the cut.

Stances: ACAB, BLM, Stop Asian Hate, Anti-Right Wing Extremeist, Anti-Nazi/Neo Nazi, Anti-Capitalist

Stances Ext.: Proudly Neurodivergent, Queer, and Plural. Also an angry Military Trained and Crippled Punk that supports Decolonization, Defunding the Police and Military, and crushing Fascists and Colonialists with boots, cane, and wheelchairs manually.

My Blog: I post about my special interests, hyperfixations, disabilities, and US low class and physically disabled experiences a lot here! Also I reblog my art from @death-tinkerer here to share since its my "love language" with mutuals, friends, and partners.

Credits of Art: Icon is by @death-tinkerer, Header is Rubicon's Region Screen from Rain World, LTTM and Rivulet are from Rain World, Rivulet gif is from the Rain World Miraheze Official Wiki, Live LTTM Reaction is an edit by me!

Please be aware I try my best to content warn posts! Mutuals may send in triggers and squicks for me to tag! If I miss something that I have tagged in the past, don't hesitate to tell me!

Important tags;

| | post - Posts I've made

| | reblog - Reblogs from other blogs or my own blogs

| | ask - Asks and Ask Memes

| | vent - Vent tag! Feel free to block.

Other "| |" tags - Related to people I know! Masterpost is BELOW the Live LTTM Reaction image!

My art - My art and also other creative media

Friendo arto - I don't even remember why I named it this tag but it's friend art that I reblog and tag with this!

Fandoms (limiting to SI and Hyperfixations)

Ace Attorney

The Blackout Club (is on thin fucking ice)

Darkest Dungeon

Dead Cells

Disco Elysium

DST

DOOM

Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon (is on thin fucking ice)

Final Fantasy (7, 10, 10-2, 12, 13 Trilogy, 15) (is on thin fucking ice)

FNAF (is on thin fucking ice)

Homestuck (is on thin fucking ice)

Inscryption

Just Shapes and Beats

Kingdom Hearts (is on thin fucking ice)

Legend of Zelda (is on thin fucking ice)

Lobotomy Corporation (and related)

Minecraft

Mob Psycho 100

MLP

Rain World

Risk of Rain

Slime Rancher

Sonic

Super Mario Bros

Team Fortress 2

Undertale/Deltarune

Wobbledogs

Yakuza (Game Series)

The phrase "is on thin fucking ice" is my way of saying I have a super complicated relationship with the media so I tend to be super critical to those especially.

Topics (SI and Hyperfixations)

Ambience Music

Armorsmithing

Blacksmithing

Bladesmithing

Cafes

Cooking

Crystals

Dice

Disabilities (mostly my own)

Dragons

Fictional Species

Gardening

Marijuana/Weed

Mixed Genre Music

Queerness

Scifi Fantasy

Spirituality

Tabletop RPGs

Tarot Cards and related

Variety of Music in general

Read Before You Follow; I will block the following people with stances like these

are Transmed/Truscum or T(W)ERF/SWERF/FART

are Anti-kinfolk, Anti-fictionkin, Anti-MOGAI and LIOM

are Exclusionists (of any kind in plural, queer, physically disabled, mentally disabled, neurodivergent, etc circles and communities) (I.e. People who talk over others, exclude others because of anger caused by oppression, exclude "contradicting" labels and identities, and more)

are MAP/NOMAP/AAM

are Fujoshi

engaged in Bad Faith Discourse (i.e. discoursing only in bad faith about things you do not understand and discouraging critical and/or good faith discourse points)

engaged in Callout Post Culture (i.e. posting callouts in general UNLESS it is something well documented or documented unchanged behavior for well over a few years)

engaged in Ship Discourse (just don't be gross)

if you are or have been recently Intersexist towards intersex people regardless of identity.

practice DDLG/CCLG

support Thinspo/Proana

Think reverse oppression is real and ignore active erasure and deaths of minorities across the globe caused by (USA and European) colonialism. (example. Right Wing Extremeists, Nazis/Neo-Nazis, Fascists, Colonialists and Defenders, All Lives Matter, MAGA, Biden AND Trump supporters/defenders, JKR supporters/defenders, and a lot more so this will be liberal)

Think Amatopunk includes Incest/Consang

I would prefer Minors to not follow, send asks, or submit at all here. Following will result in a softblock. However, if you dont respect the softblock or other conditions, I will hardblock with no hesitation. Likes and RBs are hard to control, so just be considerate that I am an adult that wants primarily interactions with other adults.

Expansion of MY Stances: -(Sentence Structure Repetition CW)-

Trans Rights are Human Rights. Intersex Rights are Human Rights. All Queer Rights are Human Rights. Black Rights are Human Rights. Asian Rights are Human Rights. All POC Rights are Human Rights. Muslim Rights are Human Rights. Jewish Rights are Human Rights. Religious Rights are Human Rights. Immigrant Rights are Human Rights. Indigenous Rights are Human Rights. Ethnic Rights are Human Rights. Physically Disabled Rights are Human Rights. Neurodiverse Rights are Human Rights. All Disability, Condition and/or Other Differences Rights are Human Rights. -(CW end)-

The rich, white, ablebodied and minded, cishetallonormative people (mostly men) do not get to dictate our lives as human beings. We can stand united as minorities and fight for a better future together. We can all fight if we just uplift each other and help each other. By existing and thriving, we fight them directly. So let us be together to change things for the better. Let us do more direct change together.

I am allowed my own space and to reply to stuff if I feel like I have input that could be helpful. HOWEVER. If you think I was rude but want to better understand my point, just ask immediately. I never mean to be rude. It is just my default for giving advice and explaining can be beyond blunt and harsh due to how language has worked for me as a result of brain damage and severe CPTSD.

Feel free to also correct me if I have been wrong about something! I don't mind corrections and will correct myself from then forward.

I may have missed some things but this is just to say, I can and will update from time to time.

This is the "Masterpost" of all my mutual tags! If you'd like one and/or do not see you mentioned, Lemme know! (I can try to change tags too, I just like naming the tags myself lol)

Me:

"#| | meat suit" - Info about me OR aesthetic stuff

"#mecore" or "#me" - Stuff I like a lot and associate with Special Interests and Hyperfixations.

Closest to:

"#| | bunhun" - @scrybe-of-the-dreamworld

"#| | jackjack" - @beware-the-dog

"#| | eggcellents" - @coffeecereal

Friends:

"#| | butterfly-scholar" -

"#| | cold-as-ice" -

"#| | invaderz" - @anewed-hope

"#| | manorbuddy" - @elysiangroom

"#| | meatastic" - @molochzmeat

"#| | orb-ponderer" - @mobianheart2008

"#| | synthetic-humanoid" -

Mutuals:

"#| | disco-nnected" - @bathroomcube

"#| | re-iteration" - @lemboweeeee

"#| | cripplefunk" - @crippled-peeper

"#| | rattled-snake" - @lemon-snake

That is all! Thank you for your time, Mutuals!

Also here's an 18+ intersex only server I am running! ♡

this is the end, did you find what you are looking for? /j

[PT: The text reads "this is the end, did you find what you are looking for? /j." End of PT.]

[wauzmons]

Happy New Year! My Plans for 2024 Q1

2023 is finally over! I have to say that was one of the worst years of my life, but that means this year HAS to be better. The development of Elysian Eclipse went okay-ish. My plans for 2023 were to get a solid foundation for aquatic and creature stage. I'm very happy with how aquatic stage turned out so far, but creature stage is lagging behind, because of all the obstacles we had to deal with:

Creating our own Wiki software to move away from Miraheze and Media Wiki, the Reddit Blackout, and most importantly the Unity Runtime Fee. All of these were major annoyances... But since these are out of the way now everything is going smoothly again!

So, here is what you can expect from Elysian Eclipse in the first quarter of 2024, in no particular order:

✅ The foundation of creature stage

✅ A rework of creature controls, making the movement feel more fluid than in the current prototype (Blorb Zone)

✅ The first legs with procedural walk animations

❌ Other species spawning in aquatic and creature stage, gathering around nests or roaming freely

❌ A communication menu, similar to the one in Spore's space stage, but instead for creature stage, with which you can inspect other creatures or trade items with them

✅ Dynamic vegetation coloration, so the grass on two planets could have different colors, even though it is the same biome

❌ More Elysian Mesh features, focused on the generation of procedural segments of plants and buildings

✅ Status effects like for example a high pressure debuff for the deeper regions of aquatic stage

❌ More quests for cell and aquatic stage, including some of the contest winners

Anyway, I hope you had a better year than me. See you soon!

Edit: All goals with a ✅ have been included into the demo. The ones marked with ❌ have gone into development, but weren't stable enough for release yet and will be in a future version.