#they simply can't be separated

[gazkamurocho]

Kiryu and Majima's reunion in Infinite Wealth (He won't let go)

[halorvic]

The danger is clear and present: COVID isn’t merely a respiratory illness; it’s a multi-dimensional threat impacting brain function, attacking almost all of the body’s organs, producing elevated risks of all kinds, and weakening our ability to fight off other diseases. Reinfections are thought to produce cumulative risks, and Long COVID is on the rise. Unfortunately, Long COVID is now being considered a long-term chronic illness — something many people will never fully recover from. Dr. Phillip Alvelda, a former program manager in DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office that pioneered the synthetic biology industry and the development of mRNA vaccine technology, is the founder of Medio Labs, a COVID diagnostic testing company. He has stepped forward as a strong critic of government COVID management, accusing health agencies of inadequacy and even deception. Alvelda is pushing for accountability and immediate action to tackle Long COVID and fend off future pandemics with stronger public health strategies. Contrary to public belief, he warns, COVID is not like the flu. New variants evolve much faster, making annual shots inadequate. He believes that if things continue as they are, with new COVID variants emerging and reinfections happening rapidly, the majority of Americans may eventually grapple with some form of Long COVID. Let’s repeat that: At the current rate of infection, most Americans may get Long COVID.

[...]

LP: A recent JAMA study found that US adults with Long COVID are more prone to depression and anxiety – and they’re struggling to afford treatment. Given the virus’s impact on the brain, I guess the link to mental health issues isn’t surprising. PA: There are all kinds of weird things going on that could be related to COVID’s cognitive effects. I’ll give you an example. We’ve noticed since the start of the pandemic that accidents are increasing. A report published by TRIP, a transportation research nonprofit, found that traffic fatalities in California increased by 22% from 2019 to 2022. They also found the likelihood of being killed in a traffic crash increased by 28% over that period. Other data, like studies from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, came to similar conclusions, reporting that traffic fatalities hit a 16-year high across the country in 2021. The TRIP report also looked at traffic fatalities on a national level and found that traffic fatalities increased by 19%. LP: What role might COVID play? PA: Research points to the various ways COVID attacks the brain. Some people who have been infected have suffered motor control damage, and that could be a factor in car crashes. News is beginning to emerge about other ways COVID impacts driving. For example, in Ireland, a driver’s COVID-related brain fog was linked to a crash that killed an elderly couple. Damage from COVID could be affecting people who are flying our planes, too. We’ve had pilots that had to quit because they couldn’t control the airplanes anymore. We know that medical events among U.S. military pilots were shown to have risen over 1,700% from 2019 to 2022, which the Pentagon attributes to the virus.

[...]

LP: You’ve criticized the track record of the CDC and the WHO – particularly their stubborn denial that COVID is airborne. PA: They knew the dangers of airborne transmission but refused to admit it for too long. They were warned repeatedly by scientists who studied aerosols. They instituted protections for themselves and for their kids against airborne transmission, but they didn’t tell the rest of us to do that.

[...]

LP: How would you grade Biden on how he’s handled the pandemic? PA: I’d give him an F. In some ways, he fails worse than Trump because more people have actually died from COVID on his watch than on Trump’s, though blame has to be shared with Republican governors and legislators who picked ideological fights opposing things like responsible masking, testing, vaccination, and ventilation improvements for partisan reasons. Biden’s administration has continued to promote the false idea that the vaccine is all that is needed, perpetuating the notion that the pandemic is over and you don’t need to do anything about it. Biden stopped the funding for surveillance and he stopped the funding for renewing vaccine advancement research. Trump allowed 400,000 people to die unnecessarily. The Biden administration policies have allowed more than 800,000 to 900,000 and counting.

[...]

LP: The situation with bird flu is certainly getting more concerning with the CDC confirming that a third person in the U.S. has tested positive after being exposed to infected cows. PA: Unfortunately, we’re repeating many of the same mistakes because we now know that the bird flu has made the jump to several species. The most important one now, of course, is the dairy cows. The dairy farmers have been refusing to let the government come in and inspect and test the cows. A team from Ohio State tested milk from a supermarket and found that 50% of the milk they tested was positive for bird flu viral particles.

[...]

PA: There’s a serious risk now in allowing the virus to freely evolve within the cow population. Each cow acts as a breeding ground for countless genetic mutations, potentially leading to strains capable of jumping to other species. If any of those countless genetic experiments within each cow prove successful in developing a strain transmissible to humans, we could face another pandemic – only this one could have a 58% death rate. Did you see the movie “Contagion?” It was remarkably accurate in its apocalyptic nature. And that virus only had a 20% death rate. If the bird flu makes the jump to human-to-human transition with even half of its current lethality, that would be disastrous.

[inflammatoryfandomblog]

Why is the worldbuilding in ATLA more cohesive than in TDP?

because the writers actually remember it as a context for its story and characters.

........... ok more elaboration.

the worldbuilding in ATLA and TDP is very similar in the respect that they have color-coded elements where each "nation" has each element. in both series the color-coding exists to make each group obviously and immediately different.

in ATLA the cultures deeply matter to the characters and story. as early as the first episode you see hints about the culture of the water tribe from katara and sokka. you know sokka has put this immense pressure on himself to be a Warrior and his sexism is partially an outgrowth of that. katara is fascinated by waterbending and her culture but there are no resources for her to learn because of the war, and you immediately get the idea she's also hoisted on a "mom role" from a very early age. all of this reinforces the patriarchal standards of water tribe culture and also the fact that they're impoverished thanks to the war. the characters would not be the same if you transported them to a different setting.

like some of the dialogue can be clunky and the entire conceit of the world is obviously kiddish ("fire nation" "water tribe" "earth kingdom" "air nomads" is not going to win any realism of the year awards.) but it's a very effective introduction to these characters and ties them explicitly to the setting.

in tdp it matters fuck-all. rayla is a moonshadow elf and the effects of their honor culture are clear on her. out of all the characters i'd say her, runaan, and ethari are probably the most developed in the aspect of "the setting should inform the characters." yes runaan and ethari are shitty parents but honestly like what would you expect from an honor culture society where one party is an assassin who allowed rayla to become one thanks to her guilt complex, even when ethari expressed doubts?

this is basically thrown away to tell her "oh dw all your parents (dads + bio parents) are all Good and Did Nothing Wrong." they also scrub away all of her flaws that she exhibited in the first season, or really anything that might make her seem like a "bad person." the moonshadow elves are just scrubbed to be Vaguely Good Guys With No Problems And Whose Choice to Ghost a Teenager Must be Respected (finger wag from the writers.) this could have been genuinely compelling drama for rayla. the setup is there. but they just forget about this stuff i guess.

how about callum and ezran? how does the culture of katolis or indeed any of the human kingdoms rub off on them? does their culture actually inform anything they do? i mean besides the fact that the human kingdoms aren't magical because of dark mage lords eating magic or whatever, which, by the way, the idea of dark mage lords doing this is like. in supplementary material and there is 0 indication of it happening in the actual show. do they have a particular culture or perspective at all? does even something as simple as the fact that they are princes and might have some differences with the common people ever come up? no. they're just bland POV characters who are high-minded to a kind of absurd degree. their context is very clearly supposed to be "Normal." which isn't a context at all because nobody's context is actually Normal. it should be normal to the character, but a grave mistake for the writer to treat it as such.

with the elves it's a little better but still not great. they have at least thematic set-up but moonshadow elf culture is the best of them, which isn't saying a whole lot. what exactly is the relationship between the dragons and the elves for example? who knows!

the writers frequently forget that their characters are situated in a particular situation in a particular world. i mean my favorite example to throw around is the time one of the writers said (on twitter) that khessa's comment to janai ("have fun with your pet") was meant to be a tease about their relationship. and that's insane to me. "have fun with your pet" does not work as a cheeky little tease when you are talking about a pow who's afraid for her life and you are a cruel monarch that tortures people for funsies? like this is khessa endorsing SA if you decide to take the show's context with any level of seriousness. this isn't a coffee shop au? this isn't a high school au? this is supposed to be a high fantasy with actual stakes that addresses Deep Themes? the context to a situation that these hacks themselves wrote should matter?

etc. etc. xadia does not feel like a real place because the setting is completely disconnected from the characters, and only matters to the story insofar as "wow look at this Cool Place you will find your Macguffin in!" It's just about worse in every way even if on the surface it may appear to contain """nuance."""

[drawnaghht]

ok, small petpeeve time: can people PLEASE stop tagging Yuichi Usagi as Usagi Yojimbo? He is not a bodyguard! That is not the name of his show and he does not appear in the comic! it looks very confusing to anyone new and is confusing for an old timer like me too! Newcomers might also continue this if they don't know. There is really no reason to tag the comicbook as well, it would be nice to other people if you leave your lovely arts and posts in the samurai rabbit tags.

Tags apropo for the show: Samurai Rabbit, Usagi Chronicles, the full name, SRTUC (the shortening), samurai rabbit netflix... just don't tag your post as "Usagi Yojimbo" please, if there are no UY characters present in the post at all :'''D

Please? Thank you.

[july-19th-club]

favorite type of villanous characters are the ones whose motivations boil down to

like they dont even have to have any stakes in the broader situation. they just have take pleasure in destruction

[minimitchell]

I know why you’ve been acting funny lately. Yeah?

[batsplat]

number of sunday race wins per title winner this century (wins/number of races)

2001: 11/16

2002: 11/16

2003: 9/16

2004: 9/16

2005: 11/17

2006: 2/17

2007: 10/18

2008: 9/18

2009: 6/17

2010: 9/18

2011: 10/17

2012: 6/18

2013: 6/18

2014: 13/18

2015: 7/18

2016: 5/18

2017: 6/18

2018: 9/18

2019: 12/19

2020: 1/14

2021: 5/18

2022: 7/20

2023: 7/20

current wins of title contenders this season (out of 9 races, another 10-11 to go): bagnaia - 6; martin - 2

[the-acid-pear]

It's actually really funny how it is bc despite being an insane person with weird kinks whenever I see someone with kinks I DON'T share I'm instantly thrown off by it. Which is comedic to me bc you'd expect the freak to inherently Understand other freaks but no unfortunately that's not how it works necessarily.

[flowerprose]

the most frustrating thing about this new spec fic project is that i only have themes and a vague inkling of the plot—no real conception of characters yet

it's all world-building rn and i hate that

[capricious-bastard13]

I've watched Jack's (Jacksepticeye's) playthrough of MyHouse.Wad, and at first, because I only heard of Doom and never played it, I let it play in the background. Until Jack's voice starts reading the attached letter to the game.

My thought immediately went, "This is something, and I feel like I'll like this something." I rewind it and watched it from the very start to the end. But I felt it wasn't all that it was, I bounced from his to the comments, explaining the game and all being recommended to play it for yourself. I don't have the resources to do so, so when I saw a comment about a video explaining it, I looked it up. The video lays out the house and the different ways you can go from point a to point b. I've seen Power Pak's after watching Jack's playthrough. And just now, I've watched Pyrocynical's video and theory on it.

There's two that stood out to me, near the end; he lays out the theories and practically dismisses the queer interpretations of it. Until now, I've always been in the camp of "Thomas and Steve were a couple, but due to the time period, or their families, they kept it hidden." When watching Pyro's video, I started realising, why were there pills on the bathroom floor, why the crib, the ring? And I felt like Pyro was nearly there, he was so close to putting it together.

But he dismisses Thomas perhaps being trans or that Steve and Thomas are gay--calls a "fat stretch" and "Level difficulty: Medium" respectively.

I've prefaced all this, because as someone who's transmasc, it felt invalidating. For months I've seen this game--although I never played it and only watched it--as a queer story of grief and loss, of processing that loss, of going through stages of denial, of reliving memories, of just wanting to reach an end where you feel at peace, of looking back on that journey and thinking to yourself that you've made it--past the hardships to a place where you can feel at peace again.

MyHouse.wad being as ambiguous as it is but leaving all these little tidbits is as when it comes to art, hard to piece together. But hearing about how there's also a trans interpretation of made me perk up, thinking, "oh, it's going to be talked about in detail," only to be disappointed.

So, despite being that MyHouse.wad has probably had this interpretation ("tHeOrY") put up already, I still felt compelled to write my own view on it using the pieces that I know of--but, there might be details that I describe vaguely because I don't remember them all that much.

We get tiny little small glimpses of Thomas through Steve's entries, of introduction we get along with the link to download it. And even just from the descriptions of the items in the game like the ring, the die, and whatnot. And the first thought is, "oh, they're gay, but they're not out," which is a sad thought, yes. But I held that interpretation close to me. It's a journey of Steve trying to get through his grief, of plunging in to his thoughts, dismantled and breaking apart as they are. The rawness of everything, of how for him, it probably felt so fresh still and this game, of going through their mod map is his way of processing--never mind how it consumed him, as he said.

And what I consider to be the best ending; the real beach, with a heart on the sand, initials--"S and A, forever". Who's 'A'? Isn't it supposed to be 'T' for Thomas?

I've seen how 'A' could be for "Allord", Thomas' last name, and at the time, yeah, maybe it is A for Allord. But what if it isn't? What if 'A' is the deadname--using that initial, despite it being a deadname, was probably used to protect them, protect him-Thomas. To be seen a heteronormative couple to get away from the hate, the stares, the animosity.

What about the excerpt of their death? Thomas' photo clearly being of a man? Well, that's just it. It's an indication of how the family has accepted Thomas for who he is and to honor him properly, used what a photo of what he looks like now, of who he really is. Proudly too, showing him as Thomas Allord, age 35, in the newspapers. This is their son, brother, and husband.

This is certainly something that will be labeled as a "fat stretch". The crib, then? The pills? And the bloodied bathroom? Perhaps, Thomas had gotten pregnant, experienced a miscarriage in the airport bathroom and had to be rushed to the hospital. As Steve puts in the description of the baby bottle; "It wasn't meant to be." And as he writes in his journal entry, he had a dream, a baby crying in the attic, in the crib, a still born baby.

Perhaps, Thomas was ready to carry the baby--their baby and due to complications, what happened, happened. They'd already bought the crib, but put it away, and we see, maybe both of them had hope that they still had a chance, clinging on.

"If Steve and Thomas are together as you say, then why does Steve refer to Thomas as "my friend" or "my childhood friend"?" Living through life closeted brings habits, unfortunately.

I've grown up without realising that I'm trans, and it was only the past few years where I've realised that the gender I was given and raised to be, isn't who I am. Despite my family knowing, they still call me with feminine pronouns, I get referred to as "sister", or "she/her" a lot of the times. And it's become the biggest norm for me that they just fly by my head without even noticing it, without getting the chance to say "that's not my pronouns".

Is this a "weak" point of the "theory"? No, because I see it as valid. People who aren't out or don't have the chance to express who they are live day to day with being misgendered, seen as someone they're not. I don't want to say, "everybody experiences this" or that there are people who don't go through intense dysphoria that it becomes crippling; I'm just saying, that for me, this is how my day to day is today, what it's like--a sort of cynical indifference to it that boils beneath the surface of my skin.

Or, this is Steve's way to be ambiguous; Thomas was Steve's friend first before they reunited, gotten married, lived together, after all.

Maybe, he wanted to detach himself in his grief and longing. A way to protect himself from the immense loss he's going through and this is his way of doing that. By saying that Thomas was just a childhood friend, it probably eased the pain just a bit.

Or, Power Pak states in his video, isn't it strange how explicit names are never--if ever, rarely-- given. Thomas' name doesn't show up until February of 2023. Steve's name is never used. Maybe, Steve wasn't the one who wrote the journal; a third party who saw the effects of loss on Steve, instead?

In the newspaper clipping of Thomas' life, it's stated how he reconnected with his high school crush, got married and moved in with his partner. The ambiguity could mean that the family simply didn't want bigots to be bigots toward their loved one.

In Steve's clipping detailing his life, he also reconnected with his high school crush. "Soulmate", this person is described as. And like with Thomas', "partner" is used, rather something explicit like, "husband" or "wife."

Although, "wife" can't be correct either since Steve doesn't have a partner listed who outlived him, simply his family.

With MyHouse.wad being as up for interpretation as it is, there's ways of reading into things, one can take it however way they want to, where they want to.

And I, personally, like to think that Steve and Thomas are happy together, with their cat, cuddled up together in their home.

You picked up Die. "Roll for intercourse?"

I feel so helpless, like I can't do anything to bring him back. I feel so sad and it feels like my heart is heavy. I can't help but think about all of the fun times we had together growing up. All of our adventures, our secrets, and even our arguments. I miss him so much and I can't believe he's gone.

You picked up Ring. "I do."

I attended the funeral of my childhood friend, and I was overwhelmed with grief. As I looked around at everyone else in the room, I could feel the sadness in the air... I never imagined that I would be saying goodbye to my friend so soon.

You picked up Wine Bottle. "Drunk Buddy." You picked up a Bauble. "Christmas makes me happy."

Happy Valentines day to the only person I ever loved. For a short time, you brought a little happiness to this painful existence called life. I hope we can be together again one day.

You picked up Baby Bottle. "It wasn't meant to be." You picked up Pill Bottle. "Refill needed." You picked up Full Pill Bottle. "Feelin' fine."

You picked up Game Controller. "It's my turn."

Somewhere, in another dream, the version of myself that winked back is sitting on the real beach, happy and content, knowing life is finite, there is no afterlife, and happiness is found in the small things around us that we can control. Happiness has to be fought for.

[muninnhuginn]

So, the thing with Qiu Qingzhi vs Qiu Shenji is that they *are* different characters in a lot of ways. Qiu Shenji is more explicitly morally complex whilst what we see of Qiu Qingzhi is much lighter grey, all considered. But the root of their sense of morality remains, for the most part, identical.

In both cases, they have people they prioritise as "their" people. And for these people, they would sell the world. In the cdrama, this applies to Li Bing and the former slaves/convicts. In the manhua/donghua, it's the people working beneath him (such as General Lang in her former role).

Qiu Shenji is very much running the numbers game in a way that implicitly devalues the lives of civilians, purely because of the potential that the civilians could themselves be sleeper agents. He's been burnt before by doing the "compassionate" thing and so now would rather his troops get away safe, even at the expense of potential innocents. He even outright says something to this effect in his discussion with Minister Xu. If it's not their blood on the ground, then it's his.

To be quite frank, it's entirely possible that Qiu Qingzhi is off doing similar maths in the background of the cdrama, and it's an adaptational choice not to make that too explicit. But at the same time, Qiu Qingzhi's chosen people are not *necessarily* the same as Qiu Shenji's. And so the people he is willing to sacrifice to achieve his aims and protect those close to him differ accordingly.

The cdrama doesn't overly concern itself with asking questions of morality, being focused on more personal stakes overall, rather than weighing up any lofty ideas of what constitutes "ends justify the means" or the distant idea of a "greater good".

But just looking at the wider framework here. Qiu Shenji and Qiu Qingzhi are both a lot more politically aware than Li Bing and this heavily informs their actions. Li Bing can afford to rally for justice because of the space that's been made for him to do so. Qiu Qingzhi and Qiu Shenji do not have that option.

In Qiu Qingzhi's case, it's because his upbringing as a slave cannot be cast off. (Both he and Lai Zhongzhu have this in common. Where the donghua/manhua go for morality and politics, the cdrama goes more for class commentary. Qiu Qingzhi and Lai Zhongzhu both claw their way up from their birth stations and yet neither can remain there for long. They would never *truly* be accepted, not matter what actions they take to prove their loyalty). He has seen how disposable he and his fellow slaves are considered to be and so knows he cannot put a foot wrong.

In Qiu Shenji's, it's because he knows full well how easily he can be implicated by his former relationship with the Li family. (Something that the actual Li Bing was politically astute enough to pick up on years before any rebellion had taken place) And, honestly, even with his other reasons, I wouldn't be surprised if that also plays somewhat into why he's so overzealous in quashing rebellions. The idea of taking down rebels so viciously that he cannot ever be accused of being one himself.

Both Qiu Qingzhi and Qiu Shenji act strongly in their determination to achieve their aims. They want to shoulder the hard acts because they believe that they *have* to be done, but at the same time, are entirely willing to take on that burden *alone* without demeaning those who feel differently.

For Qiu Shenji, General Lang mentions she couldn't stomach his rebel-quashing tactics and so he made sure to obtain her a position elsewhere. She says he had also done this for others and seems thankful, even as she must know she is still complicit. Qiu Shenji knows how he is seen by the general populace, but thinks it an acceptable sacrifice for maintaining peace.

For Qiu Qingzhi, he made his deal with Yi Zhihua and then locked out Li Bing entirely, despite all their history. He would rather Li Bing hate him but be safe than let him in and put him at risk.

Both Qiu Qingzhi and Qiu Shenji commit to drown themselves in the blood of others so that they can protect "their" people. They made their decisions long ago and remain committed. Even choking, caged in a trap slowly tightening around them, they will not flee.

[swallowtail-ageha]

Love how demoni di efp/wattpad's justification is along the lines of "we HAVE to bully these young girls because what if a 14 year old sees it and thinks that it's fine to get in a relationship with a criminal?" like babygirl i've read a game of thrones when i was 12 and i never thought once "wow i must marry a horse warlord he is so sexy" i assure you women aren't as stupid as you think

[dylanlila]

house LIKES cameron the best out of everyone on the show

[llycaons]

truly do find 'perfect' sweet little kids who exist to be cute and protected extremely boring to the point of aggravation but alluka DOESN'T fit that description because she's been neglected and isolated her whole life, she is soul-bonded with a horrifying (to many) and nearly omniscient being, she is endlessly sweet and loving to really only one person, and she STANDS UP TO that person when he hurts someone else she cares about!! she may not have a lot going on but her character and personality contrasts her situation so much to make it really striking. and I'm a sucker for close brother/sister relationships!! so sue me!!!

[astro-b-o-y-d]

So don't take this as any sort of canon confirmation, because I could absolutely change my mind down the line, but I keep veering towards the idea of how if Bill and Mina hadn't been born as twins, they would've been born as one complete rhombus.

Again, don't take this as any sort of confirmed concept, it's just one I keep finding myself drawn to and one I kinda like.

[mechieonu]

"You can be an angel!" and it's double meanings currently make me go insane bc for crowley, it sounds like an invitation he should want bc he's "good enough" for it and someone's deigning to give it to him, (but we ALL know that's the last thing aziraphale could MEAN it as) but to AZIRAPHALE it's the chance to do something that's never been done before. it's not about bringing crowley back into the fold as a former disgraced prince of heaven but to make the place perfect for the both of them and for everyone, bc it's clear that heaven has an institutional problem, and wouldn't it be perfect if they could be happy together in a place they made their own? but i don't think he realizes that they already have a place like that