#tue analysis

[pokelolmc]

The Ultimate Enemy is a Disappointment (and How I'd Fix It) (Part 1)

A couple years back, I started analysing a list of DP episodes I thought had missed potential--and my analysis on TUE got SO big I made it its own thing. I rewrote it to death and could never settle on something concise enough, so I abandoned it. But I'm BACK baby. I can't remember where it is now, but I came across a poll on whether Reign Storm or TUE is the better special and the discourse reignited my passion for this analysis, and gave me motivation to trim off some of the fat.

Don't get me wrong, at the end of the day I do like this episode--or at least its ideas. I really liked the episode the less I thought about it, but now I see issue after issue in its execution. Hence, the "disappointment": it could've been great, but it missed the mark. This won't just be a one-sided roast of TUE, though. I have a ton of cool ideas for how to rewrite plot holes or fill in the gaps. The best roasts are constructive! (Though I would be rewriting it in a more mature fashion compared to canon's writing--keep that in mind).

Part 2 is now up: you can find it here.

So here we go: Part 1--the general plot contrivances/contradictions unrelated to Dan's character or the time travel system.

The episode introduced taking off the Time Medallions as a way to immediately return to one’s native time period, but then forgot this late into the second act.

Technically this plot hole involves time travel devices, but I'm counting it as a plot hole by character decisions.

The episode gives no explicit rules on lag time between removing the medallion and returning home, but it takes only one to two seconds to return Skulktech to the future after they dropped theirs, and it had to have been instant for Sam and Tucker to return to the past in time to escape rubble falling from FentonWorks (which was only roughly two to three stories high, not counting the Ops Centre).

Danny should’ve been sent back almost instantly when Dan took his medallion off—which would’ve completely defeated the purpose of Dan’s attempt to trap Danny there in the first place.

If they wanted to keep the plot point, they could’ve just had Dan grab the medallion and turn it intangible while it’s still around Danny’s neck…and that’s assuming that making it intangible while Danny’s still tangible doesn’t count as “removal”. That’s it. He never needed to remove it to begin with.

2. The Nasty Sauce explosion just…sucks. In my opinion, it’s too silly for the tone the episode’s trying to go for (and as a cause of major character death), and it wrecks the worldbuilding.

I tried to put it in way more verbose ways in my previous drafts, but I found another post somewhere on tumblr that did what I couldn’t—say it in three words:

“It’s just stupid.”

Assuming that semi-realistic laws exist in-place in the Danny Phantom universe (so it’s BASICALLY similar to ours) the Nasty Burger shouldn’t have been able to stay in business without a LOT of red tape, cover-ups and NDA’s. They had an explosive substance on premises, being taken care of by unqualified, minimum-wage part-timers instead of trained chemical safety specialists. Forget handling it, they shouldn’t have even had it in the first place! If they got it by going UNDER the law and covering everything up, then one of their employees shouldn’t have been able to just CONFESS to it at a public school assembly.

It also sounds ridiculous that a “certain combination of secret herbs and spices” could catastrophically combust in the first place. They could’ve made the explosion ghost-powered/altered; they could’ve made it not the sauce itself, but a pressure issue with its containment vats; they could’ve made it a gas leak or malfunction of cooking equipment starting a fire, or something. They could’ve made the explosion a Fenton invention at their home (where the whole family had reason to be at once, and Mr Lancer could hold the parent-teacher conference there like in Teacher of the Year). They've used more serious threats of explosion in previous episodes (like the Ecto-Filtrator in Million Dollar Ghost).

And instead they decided “Yep! This commonly sold and digested sauce is a dangerous explosive, and even a small handout serving is enough to blow clean through a wall when it’s heated up!” This is how we're going to kill all of the main characters' loved ones to send him on a villain arc!

Like what?

Nowhere else after TUE did the show acknowledge the Nasty Sauce in worldbuilding. There were no consequences of its risk being publicly revealed, nor did it ever pose a hazard again. It’s understandable, given the show’s episodic nature. Bu at least in The Ultimate Enemy itself, they should've thought about how it affected most of the previous episodes.

During his fight with Boxed Lunch, one of Danny's ectoblasts to a sauce packet demolishes an entire section of wall in the Nasty Burger. So how hadn’t any ghost fights ignited any Nasty Sauce before—or damaged the main vat, god forbid—and caused an explosion already?

If the sauce was always a part of the Nasty Burger’s recipe, then the entire restaurant was a ticking time bomb waiting to go off since season one, and nothing short of a miracle could explain why it hadn’t happened before.

3. This episode committed character assassination of Mr Lancer, for the sake of setting up stakes in the plot. And contradicted his personality changes in previous episodes (such as “Teacher of the Year”).

Mr Lancer, in my opinion, is the character done the single dirtiest in the episode. It warps his entire character around the plot, and turns him into a contrived mouthpiece for how important the CAT is. It leaves him even more malicious and mean-spirited than his behaviour in the first episode of the entire show—leaving him even worse than he started.

He didn’t have much character development, but there were some more positive changes happening in his personality as later episodes occurred. He started out as a selfish, corrupt authority figure (think Mystery Meat, Fright Night and other S1 episodes where he deliberately lets the jocks off the hook for their behaviour), but unwittingly acts in favour of the main characters in “Fanning the Flames”—although ineffective and easily taken down by Ember.

By the time of “Teacher of the Year”, we finally got a glimpse into his (albeit scant) ideology as a teacher around helping his students succeed, and his concern for Danny’s failing grades.

It even revealed his personal interest in Doomed, which gave him more in common with Danny and Tucker and humanised him in way a few other episodes hadn’t. Season two even demonstrated his (albeit brief) willingness to stand up and defend his students from a ghost attack in “Memory Blank”. Lancer, for a brief period of time, became more than just his job, book title swears and his frustration with rebellious students.  

We're talking about the teacher who, in the early 2000s, kept a picture of himself crossdressing at school to convince his students to try their best with a "story about his sister".

The Ultimate Enemy, however, took Mr Lancer’s humanity towards the students—particularly Danny—and flipped it all on its head. It turned him into an elitist, mean-spirited asshole who verbally attacked his students (past and present) based on their performances on this single. Fucking. Test.

They made Mr. “there is no cheat code in school, or in life” Lancer into a cruel enforcer of the hamfisted and childish importance of the CAT. Actual “get rich vs dead-end, minimum-wage job” propaganda.

(Teacher of the Year)

And... one season later:

(that sure sounds like a cheat code in life to me)

To add insult to injury, TUE used Lancer’s death as the butt of a joke directly after spending the majority treating him like a total asshole—following up character assassination with literal assassination , and excluding him from the rest of the explosion victims in their memorial.

It feels to me, that it'd make more sense for Mr Lancer to be sceptical of the importance of the CAT based on TOTY. Replace him in the assembly with Principal Ishiyama or something. A stickler-for-the-rules school administrator looking to boost the school's image by pressuring kids on a standardised test? That ABSOLUTELY makes sense.

Mr Lancer could still be seen as a threat (or someone Danny can't reach out to for help), but in the department of simply being an authority figure Danny's used to dodging around with his ghost activities. Someone who'd still enforce consequences for Danny getting caught cheating. Someone who'd get his parents involved. He's the closest thing Danny could have to any level of support at Casper High, and Danny could think he's even lost THAT.

4. The way Danny got the CAT answers was contrived, and broke the previously established rules of ghost intangibility.

To cut a long story short, Boxed Lunch’s fight with Danny shouldn’t have gotten the test answers stuck to Danny’s back. Danny immediately turned intangible in anticipation of the explosion, and was thrown outside the Nasty Burger and through Mr. Lancer’s briefcase before turning tangible again.

That didn’t make sense; the series previously established that ghosts (in this case, halfas) were physically unaffected by explosions when intangible. “Million-Dollar Ghost” even demonstrated it when Vlad escaped his castle’s explosion in the same manner, and was left completely unmoved from his position at ground zero. The sauce packet explosion shouldn’t have even moved Danny out of place, let alone flung him out of the building (especially not compared to Vlad and an Ecto-filtrator explosion).

On top of that, the test answers couldn’t have gotten stuck to his back while he passed through the suitcase, as Danny was intangible and the answers sheet was solid. Even if it were possible for already intangible ghosts to grab onto tangible objects and bring them into intangibility, that’d certainly require conscious intention that Danny didn’t have in the episode.  The test answers got stuck to his back by sheer accident on his part. Bringing other objects into tangibility always previously involved a tangible ghost grabbing hold of other tangible people/objects and consciously willing them intangible together. Ergo, he should’ve simply passed through the suitcase and its contents all at once—go to the other side, pass go, do not collect CAT cheat sheet.

The solution for this one is pretty simple—just remove the scene entirely. Not only does it break the lore, but it’s entirely pointless and redundant (more on that later when I talk about Clockwork—giving Danny the answers was his idea, and it was a terrible one). Instead, it would’ve been much more compelling if Danny stole the answers on purpose with his ghost powers—being put under so much pressure to succeed that he felt like he had to forgo his morals and use his powers to cheat.

[corkinavoid]

Obsessed With You by Cosmicandy

Theater gothic/Phantom of the opera

(For some horrific reason I couldn't think of a trope)

DPxDC Phantom in the Opera

9/2 sat

Went to Gotham City Opera to see Eugene Onegin with B & Dames. The performance sucked ass (as modern takes on classics usually do), but during Tatyana's aria, some tech guy dropped a rubber chicken from catwalks right on stage. I bet it was on purpose since the lead's voice sounded much similar to the sound that chicken made. Wish I could shake the dude's hand, that was truly the crescendo of the whole scene.

15/2 sun

Came by GCO on the way to WE. Had some time to spare, so decided to go in and find the rubber chicken guy to thank him for the laugh last week. Thought he might appreciate the positive feedback since he was defo yelled at for the stunt. Turns out everyone blames it on a 'ghost'. Using 'Phantom of the Opera' as a cover story is poor taste, in my opinion, but on the other hand, it worked, and who am I to judge.

17/2 mon

Got curious and pulled up the records of GCO employees. No one matches the guy I've seen on the catwalks.

18/2 tue

Blackmailed Damian into drawing the guy. No match through the face recognition program. Should have expected that, really; the one cute guy with a sense of humor I meet (or see, actually), and he doesn't exist.

20/2 thur

Can't stop thinking about the rubber chicken guy. Might have to go back to GCO and ask about the whole ghostly rumor. Last time, no one bat an eye at the 'ghost' excuse, now that I think about it. Has it happened before? Is it a go-to explanation for any prank no one wants to take credit for?

26/2 wed

Visited GCO at night. Seen the guy, but the cam footage came back corrupted when checked downstairs. So maybe the fact that his hair was floating and glowing in the dark was not a hallucination.

27/2 thur

Definitely not a hallucination! Good news: got a sample. Bad news: after analysis, the data also came back corrupted. Weird news: the hair keeps glowing even after it's been cut off.

2/3 sun

The guy's name is Danny. Ghost story confirmed. I'm having a crisis.

4/3 tue

I'm not sure if I want to know absolutely everything there is to know about him or I want to forget everything I've already learned. But then, I've already got so far. Might as well commit to the bit?

8/3 sat

Was invited to see La Traviata tomorrow. Can I still call that reconnaissance, or am I in date territory?

10/3 mon

...it was a date. On an entirely unrelated note, Teddy Hyde ruined all my attempts at coming prepared.

18/3 tue

Heard a new rumor among GCO staff members. They suspect the ghost in their opera is having a crush on Red Robin. Not sure where they've got that idea, but it sure took them some time to notice.

19/3 wed

Damian keeps staring at me at dinners. Maybe I should take that portrait of Danny that he did down from the wall over my bed.

22/3 sat

Going on a date today, and this time, it's definitely a date! Feels like I should be having a crisis over dating a ghost, but somehow, I'm only having a crisis over outfit choices.

61/0° gBs

hEy, yoU're keEEpinG a DIary¡ aboUt Me!¡ ThAt"s cuTe FUCK OFF DANNY THIS IS PRIVATE INFORMATION GET OUT heHeheEhe no~

~•~•~•~

The thing is, I loved the song. And I loved the aesthetic. And I had such a goddamn hard time figuring out how to fit them together; I went through at least three different setups before deciding fuck it imma write silly boys being silly and wish for the best.

Dare I say it turned out cute as fuck, even though I still missed the mark on theater gothic aesthetic for the most part. Anyway, have a few pictures for general vibes!

[Just so you know, if you enter 'sex with a ghost' into google, the first few results will be the lyrics to 'Sex with a Ghost' by Terry Hyde, which is why Tim's research has been rather fruitless]

[ghoulishautism]

My personal interpretation:

Dan Phantom was heavily implied to have learned the Ghostly Wail far more recently in his timeline— likely discovered after training himself to become more powerful (because LOOK at him. You don't get that ripped in a day)

The moment our stickly 14 year old Danny learns it, though, was when he was being confronted by the aged ghosts (Like how you didn't question ghost aging- that's something I still haven't fully gotten over). Danny had seen Dan use the Ghostly Wail prior to this scene (If I recall correctly).

The purpose of that scene was to show him and the audience that time wasn't set in stone, and that Danny could still change his fate. He ended up learning the skill MUCH faster than Dan did because he was already going through completely different events that Dan didn't experience.

It's kinda like how we always have a chance to learn or try something new, but life circumstances may delay or speed that process up— like if your parents suddenly passed and you now had to speed run adult skills, something that would normally take a couple years to develop, in order to take care of your younger siblings.

And in general episodes involving time travel become far less confusing when you adopt the belief of multiple timelines and not the one singular timeline.

im rewatching danny phantom (as one does) and each episode always brings more questions than answers. but. just having watched ultimate enemy: i wonder how Dan learned the ghostly wail. Danny learns it under big threat of his future enemies, so like. clearly Dan didnt have it from the start, cuz Val was surprised and everything so somewhere between the last time they fought, Dan learned it (also fucked up Ember with it). but. how? its clear everyone is scared of him, so he probably didnt get it from fighting someone stronger than him. but also. its implied he is danny's emotional part. they call it a "ghostly wail". a cry of grief. are you following me here

[srbachchan]

DAY 6057

Jalsa, Mumbai Sept 17, 2024 Tue 11:26 pm

The impotency of content :

"The term "impotency of content" suggests a situation where content—whether in the form of text, media, or other forms of communication—fails to achieve its intended purpose or lacks meaningful impact. This concept can be explored from multiple angles, including the relevance of the content, its delivery, and the broader context in which it exists.

Content becomes impotent when it fails to resonate with its intended audience. Relevance is key; if content does not address the needs, interests, or concerns of its audience, it is likely to be ignored or dismissed. For instance, a marketing campaign that does not align with the target demographic's values or preferences is unlikely to generate engagement or drive sales. Similarly, academic content that lacks practical application or fails to address current research gaps can be deemed impotent in the context of advancing knowledge or solving real-world problems.

Even if content is relevant, its effectiveness can be diminished by poor delivery. This includes factors like the format, accessibility, and clarity. Content that is poorly organized, difficult to navigate, or presented in an unappealing format may fail to capture and maintain the audience’s attention. For example, a well-researched academic paper presented in dense, jargon-laden prose might be ignored by those who could benefit from its findings. Effective delivery involves not just the substance but also the style and method of presentation, ensuring that the content is engaging and accessible.

In today’s information-rich environment, content is often lost in a sea of competing messages. The sheer volume of content available can lead to saturation, where individual pieces struggle to stand out or make an impact. This is particularly relevant in digital media, where algorithms and social media platforms amplify popular or sensational content while less eye-catching material may be overlooked. In this context, even valuable content can become impotent if it cannot rise above the noise. Content must be timely and contextually appropriate to be impactful. Content that is outdated or irrelevant to current events or trends can quickly lose its significance. For instance, historical analysis or commentary that does not consider contemporary developments might appear disconnected or obsolete. Understanding the broader context in which content is produced and consumed is crucial for ensuring its relevance and impact.

Ultimately, the effectiveness of content is measured by its ability to engage and elicit a response from its audience. Content that does not prompt interaction, reflection, or action is often considered impotent. This engagement is not just about attracting attention but also about fostering meaningful connections and responses. Content that encourages dialogue, provides value, or inspires action is more likely to be perceived as potent and impactful.

In conclusion, the "impotency of content" underscores the abd not a word about the mediaimportance of relevance, delivery, and context in determining the effectiveness of communication. To avoid impotency, content creators must carefully consider their audience’s needs, ensure their delivery methods are effective, and remain mindful of the broader information landscape. By addressing these factors, content can transcend its potential impotence and fulfill its purpose, whether that be to inform, persuade, entertain, or inspire."

and hahaha .. 🤣 and not a word about media for which it was intended .. the most protected, educated, ultimate genre in this Universe ..

Love and in the more of reality ..

Amitabh Bachchan

[cheritzteam]

[The Ssum] Find that ONE special person 💘 who will steal your heart 🔍 Valentine’s Day 2025 Event Announcement

Hello, dear lab participant.

We bring you news on Valentine’s Day events for 2025.

< ① City of Free Men : Celebratory Lab >

For the following period, a Celebratory Lab📚 celebrating Valentine’s Day 2025 will open in the City of Free Men.

Share your imagination🌈 within the game rating (TEEN),

and try your chances at becoming a lucky lab participant(5 Korean, 5 international users) for a reward of 200 Aurora Batteries and Aurora Creature Box Bundle!

Event Period: 7-Feb-2025 (Fri) ~ 18-Feb-2025 (Tue) KST* Winner Announcement: 28-Feb-2025 (Fri) KST *Posts will not disappear after the open period, but you will not be able to write new posts.

< ② Seasonal Content >

Valentine's Day, the most romantic day of the year, is back! Meet your Ssumone who dreams of a sweet Valentine's Day with you, dear lab participant 💌

Press the Happy Valentine’s Day💘 button under the Day display to make a special call📞 and receive a memorable photo📸 of your Ssumone.

You will also earn an exclusive Trivial Feature for Valentine’s Day 2025 to add to your collection. 

The Trivial Feature can only be obtained on Friday, February 14, 2025, for one day only!

Seasonal Content open on: 13-Feb-2025 (Thu) ~ 15-Feb-2025 (Sat) (Based on your time zone) Seasonal Content includes: Commemorative Call + Photo Memento  *The Celebratory Calls and Photo Mementos for Teo, Harry and June are the same as last year’s. *Commemorative Calls and Photo Mementos can be revisited at any time after unlocking in your Milky Way calendar and Gallery.

Also, don't forget to collect game-access rewards available throughout the event period for Valentine’s Day🎁.

Game-Access Rewards available through: 7-Feb-2025 (Fri) ~ 18-Feb-2025 (Tue) KST In-Game Access Reward: 10 Aurora Batteries + 3 Red Rose

< ③ My Romantic Personality Test! >

Hmm... The Forbidden Lab is offering special support for this most romantic Valentine's Day?🤨 Things are about to get interesting around here...😎

Introducing the official Forbidden Lab Personality Test📝!  Discover your perfect romance through our analysis of your lifestyle and heart🔍, 

and meet your truly fated match💋 who's perfect for you, dear lab participant!

💌In-Game Participation Guide 1) Log in to The Ssum on February 7, 2025🔑 2) Tap the Romantic Personality Test popup👆 3) Start the 'Romance Explosion! Find 'The One' Who Will Fall for You This Valentine's Day' test❤️

💌SNS Participation Guide 1) Check Cheritz official accounts (Tumblr/Twitter) on February 7, 2025 2) Tap the Romantic Personality Test link uploaded on official accounts👆 3) Start the 'Romance Explosion! Find 'The One' Who Will Fall for You This Valentine's Day' test❤️

​♥Bonus Event♥ Use both dedicated hashtags #TheSsum #ValentinesWithMy2DBF on X(Twitter), Tumblr, or Instagram, and share a screenshot of your result post on social media!

✨Five lucky winners will receive The Ssum Open Package (or RFA Package -if your result matches with a Mystic Messenger character- )through a random draw✨

Event Period: 7-Feb-2025 (Fri) ~ 18-Feb-2025 (Tue) KST*Winner Announcement: 28-Feb-2025 (Fri) KST

※Disclaimer※ * Bonus event prizes will be sent to the Lab Code displayed on your screenshot. * For Instagram users - you should DM us a link to your post via our official account(@thessum_official) to ensure that your post is noticed.

Let's find your true love this Valentine's Day, dear lab participant!

Thank you.

Cheritz

[cherisheye]

☆ tue, april 23rd, 2024

☆ what i did today ☆ day before my first midterm (general chemistry lab)

☆ went to office hours for the before-exam review - the TAs answered some questions and clarified what's going to be on the test and what we had to focus on ☆ took notes on the slides and studied chemical reactions, chemical equations - notation and balancing, stoichiometry, types of reactions and solubility ☆ did a few stoichiometry and balancing exercises ☆ reviewed what we did in each experiment in the lab classes - read over the script + the lab reports and tried to recognize the important concepts (types of reactions; reaction speed; titration and gravimetric analysis - stoichiometry) and all the reactions

overall im a little nervous about the exam but i do think i have a good grasp on this subject! wish me luck 🤞

[coochiequeens]

Women's history just got richer

By Mindy Weisberger, CNN

More than 1,000 years ago, carvers in what is now Denmark set their chisels to rock to etch runestones — monuments to Viking leaders naming their deeds and achievements. Two groups of runestones mention a woman named Thyra, and new analysis of the carvings suggests that the runes on both sets of stones were inscribed by the same artisan and refer to the same woman: a Viking queen of considerable power.

Researchers from Denmark and Sweden used 3D scans to analyze carvings on the runestones, finding telltale clues that marked the individual style of the person who carved them. That carver’s repeated mention of Thyra’s name — a rare occurrence for Viking-era women — suggested that Thyra was a powerful sovereign who likely played a pivotal role in the birth of the Danish realm, the scientists reported Wednesday in the journal Antiquity.

“To learn more about the rune-carver and those named on the stone is fascinating,” said Dr. Katherine Cross, a lecturer at York St. John University in the UK who researches and teaches the history of early medieval northern Europe. She was not involved in the study.

“We can only understand early medieval sources once we can think about who made them and why,” Cross told CNN in an email.

One set of runes came from a pair of monuments known as the Jelling stones, erected in the town of Jelling around 965. The larger Jelling stone is often referred to as “Denmark’s birth certificate,” as it’s the first monument to name the land as its people pivoted to Christianity, according to the National Museum of Denmark in Copenhagen.

Both Jelling runestones also named a royal figure: Queen Thyra, mother of then-reigning King Harald Bluetooth. The smaller stone was raised in her honor by her husband (and Harald’s father) King Gorm, calling her “Denmark’s strength/salvation” (or “Denmark’s adornment,” depending on the translation, the researchers noted in the study). Harald commissioned the larger stone, to honor both of his royal parents.

In another set of four Viking-era monuments, known collectively as the Bække-Læborg group, two runestones mention a woman named Thyra. Those stones are associated with a carver named Ravnunge-Tue, but experts disagreed on whether that Thyra was Harald’s mother, said lead study author Dr. Lisbeth Imer, a curator and senior researcher at the National Museum of Denmark specializing in the study of runes and ancient inscriptions.

Before the new investigation, it was unknown who had carved the Jelling stones. Confirming that their carver was Ravnunge-Tue would strengthen the connection between the Jelling and Bække-Læborg runestones, Imer told CNN in an email.

“Then it is much more reasonable to suggest that it was in fact the same Thyra,” she said.

A question of style

Some details in ancient runestones that indicate a carver’s individual style are visible to a trained expert’s eye, such as the language or the basic shape of the runes. Other details are harder to detect, Imer said.

“What you cannot see with the naked eye is the carving technique,” she said.

To get a closer look at the carvings, the researchers took scans of the stones and created 3D digital models, then measured the runes’ grooves with a software tool that weighed variables such as angle, depth and cutting rhythm. Together, these variables can create a unique profile for a carver.

“Every rune carver develops his own motor skill and holds the tools in a certain angle, strikes with a certain strength,” Imer said. “The motor skill is individual and other individuals cannot copy that.”

When the researchers compared runes from Jelling 2 (the larger of the two Jelling stones) and the Læborg stone from the Bække-Læborg group, they found striking similarities, such as height of the runes, straightness of the main staves and length and placement of rune branches.

“In the Læborg and Jelling inscriptions you can follow the cutting rhythm of Ravnunge-Tue as one deep stroke of the chisel followed by two not so deep ones: DAK, dak-dak, DAK, dak-dak,” Imer said via email. “It is ALMOST like hearing the heartbeat of a person that lived so long ago.”

Jelling 1 was more eroded, so its markings were harder to analyze. But if the Læborg runestone was Ravnunge-Tue’s handiwork, Jelling 2 was likely his as well, Imer said. It would mean that the Queen Thyra mentioned twice in the Bække-Læborg group — on Læborg and on the stone Bække 1 — was the same person commemorated on the Jelling stones, the study authors concluded.

In recent years, archaeologists have revised prior interpretations of Viking warrior burials as exclusively male, finding that Viking women were fighters, too. The new findings add to the picture of influential Viking women holding prominent roles in statecraft as well as on the battlefield.

“This research highlights how Viking-Age women wielded power through political authority and patronage, not just violence,” Cross said.

What’s more, the fact that Thyra is mentioned on four runestones offers strong evidence of her importance, Imer added. Fewer than 10 runestones in Denmark from the pre-Christian era mention women at all — and four of those are of Queen Thyra.

“Runestones in Denmark were mostly erected in honour of men, but Thyra is commemorated on more runestones than any other person in Viking Age Denmark,” Imer said. “She must have held extreme power and social position.”

Mindy Weisberger is a science writer and media producer whose work has appeared in Live Science, Scientific American and How It Works magazine.

[posttexasstressdisorder]

CNN 4/29/2025

History has a lesson for Trump on overturning the global rules-based order. And it’s not a good one

Analysis by Nic Robertson, CNN

Updated: 8:12 AM EDT, Tue April 29, 2025

Source: CNN

Mankind’s achievements over the millennia have been bountiful. Their evolutionary fruits – from the harnessing of fire, to vaccines, to the art of diplomacy – were never low hanging; they were imagined before they were ever grasped.

But once held, they became indispensable. Until now that is, as 100 days into his presidency US President Donald Trump seems determined to throw this painful learning to the wind, risking a world forced into reverse.

A torrent of tariffs, unleashed against the better judgement of experts, yet exalted by Trump’s acolytes as the work of a deal-making genius are a case in point. So too is his willingness to throw allies to the wind, by threatening to grab Greenland, Canada even Panama by force if necessary.

Whatever one’s view of the policies themselves, Trump’s total upending of the global status quo has sewn fear and uncertainty among America’s friends, exacerbated market volatility and normalized economic aggression. It’s a formula that over the centuries has rarely served the world well.

The president’s apparent over-arching ethos – might is right, and mine is greatest – is now demolishing geopolitical norms at speed. It is Ukraine that should give in to Russia, which “has all the cards,” Trump says. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “pretty big concession,” his US counterpart adds, is not “taking the whole country.”

Yet despite three years of “meat-grinding” war, Putin’s aim remains as contrary to international law as it was when he launched his unprovoked, full-scale invasion.

It is clear then why Trump struggles to do what all his allies find easy: to blame Putin for defying the rules-based world order in a brutal campaign to swallow his smaller neighbor. The US president often even blames Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky for the war in which at least 42,000 Ukrainian civilians have been killed or injured, according to the United Nations, saying “he should never have started it.”

The implication – that the weak should capitulate to the strong – is an upending of millennia of evolution, culminating in the post-World War II, US-inspired rules-based international order that led to an unprecedented eight decades of relative global peace, prosperity and unimaginable scientific innovation.

Trump, as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has commented, has broken the mold. “Old assumptions can no longer be taken for granted, the world as we knew it is gone,” he said.

The president’s world view was nurtured by his property-developing, landlord father Fred Trump. Poor tenants unable to pay their rent claimed they were evicted; not an uncommon practice at the time, or since, but one that advantages the powerful over the weak.

The parallels are not hard to spot: the world’s most powerful man still relies on bravado and bullying to get what he wants. Today everyone is in his firing line. America has been “taken advantage of by virtually every country in the world,” Trump inaccurately claims, “we’re no longer going to be the country that’s ripped off by every country in the world.”

But here’s the rub. Such is Trump’s braggadocio, no one he trusts appears brave enough to challenge him. Only when global markets soured, and his Petri dish economic experiment turned putrid, did he backslide on the threat to impose immediate tariffs on both friends and foes of the US, and even then, it may not be enough to avoid economic pain.

China seems ready to wait out his trade-defying tariffs, having been preparing for this moment since Trump’s first term.

Now, it seems, he must learn a costly lesson for himself that economic evolution had already taught the experts.

And while Trump’s defiant pose after the July 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, was enough to convince Putin that he was “a courageous man,” the US president is already backing down on some of his tariff bravado, chastened by his loyalists who found their voices as bond markets tanked.

In the view of both Putin and Trump, it is the tough who set the rules, and the man in both their crosshairs, Ukraine’s President Zelensky, got this message Wednesday, “the man with ‘no cards to play’ should now, finally, GET IT DONE,” as Trump wrote on his social media platform.  Trump has since criticized Putin, questioning whether the Russian leader is interested in peace and suggesting “he’s just tapping me along.”

The world Trump and Putin seem to crave is one of spheres of influence run from islands of power, where diplomacy is a time-consuming irrelevance replaced by imperial decrees.

It would be a reset harking back to a darker time, essentially overturning the rules-based order. In the aftermath of great empires, regional warlords allied, feuded and fought each other for centuries before nations emerged, and largely did the same.

By the 19th century diplomats like Klemens von Metternich, the Chancellor of the Austrian Empire, spent entire careers attempting to balance Europe’s feuding powers. He famously said, “when France sneezes, the rest of Europe catches cold.”

Today it is Trump spreading a chill. The Manhattan real estate developer has said he is going to “get” Greenland “for national security reasons.” Greenland and its Danish patron, a NATO ally that is no match militarily for the USA, say no.

Canada’s prime minister says the same about Trump’s plans to make his northern neighbor the USA’s 51st state, insisting “it will never happen.” Mark Carney, a former central banker already battling Trump’s aggressive trade tariffs, knows the threat is real, telling voters ahead of Monday’s election in which his Liberal Party won a stunning fourth consecutive victory “the Americans want our resources, our water, our land, our country.”

Trump’s world view is clear: he speaks as though he can reach out and take these things, and clearly believes he is working from an island of power, isolated from the negative consequences of his assumed conquests.

But no man, nor nation, is an Island.

Trump’s weakness is not just that he might buy Putin’s lie that he can conquer all Ukraine, or be outfoxed by Xi on tariffs, but that the rest of the world increasingly sees through his mantle of self-belief.

The costs of this muscle-power politics will be revealed more slowly than the near-instantaneous economic market pain to his trade tariffs. But it still marks a return to an era of dog eat dog. History has shown how that turns out.

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[isabelopaque]

I need to take a nap after my next class im so tired. Lord. I have to write a poem and three short analysis pieces by tomorrow and then two papers by mon/tues dors it even end

[girlactionfigure]

🟠 TUE morning - ISRAEL REALTIME - Connecting to Israel in Realtime

▪️INFILTRATION FROM JORDAN.. detection of suspicious signs on the border fence with Jordan near Ashdod Ya'akov in the Jordan Valley. Security forces conducting searches. Believed a number of suspects managed to cross the fence, hoped migrant workers.

▪️HIGH COURT TO RULE.. on ultra-orthodox conscription at 11:00 today.  Expected ruling: required, and national political turmoil over it.

▪️DEFENSE MINISTER SAYS.. Gallant visiting the U.S. told US Sec State Blinken “the eyes of our enemies are on the relationship between Israel and the USA and therefore we must quickly resolve the differences between us.”  US sent a harsh message to Hezbollah and warned that it will not necessarily be able to stop Israel from a large-scale attack.

▪️ANALYSIS - REGION WAR RISK.. (The Arab Desk) Europe and the US "realized" that the region is facing fateful days, Hezbollah’s Nasrallah's threat (to attack Cyprus), whether real or an idle threat, did its job, feverish discussions in European countries and the US.  A war between Israel and Hezbollah will ignite the Middle East.

Even the Turks woke up jumping up and shouting, Turkey's foreign minister claimed that Cyprus has become a base for carrying out military and intelligence operations, turning the island into a logistical base to cover up military objectives.

▪️UNRWA SUED BY ISRAELI VICTIMS OF OCT. 7.. for aiding and abetting the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, sued in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.  The suit alleges UNRWA was "aiding and abetting' genocide, crimes against humanity, and torture," which they say violated international law and the federal Torture Victim Protection Act.  The plaintiffs include 101 people who survived the attack or had relatives who were killed.

♦️IDF - PRECISE STRIKE ON OCT. 7 TERRORISTS.. on Hamas terrorists who participated in Oct 7 onslaught and were involved in holding hostages, targeted in airstrikes in Gaza City.  The IDF struck two buildings in Gaza City's Shati and Daraj neighbourhood. The IDF used "precision munitions" to mitigate harm to civilians in the strikes.

▪️HAMAS ON MOVING.. Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Risheq denies the report in The National newspaper:  Hamas has no intention of moving from Qatar to Iraq.

▪️IRAQ SHIA (Iranian) MILITIA THREATENS THE U.S.. Qais Khazali, who heads the Iraqi Asa'ib Ahl al-Haq militia, threatens the US:  “If the US continues to assist the Zionist entity during an extensive attack on Lebanon and Hezbollah, it must know that all of its interests in the region, with an emphasis on Iraq, will be targets for attack.”

▪️PROTESTS - ANTI-GOVT.. Demonstrators against the government blocked road 9 in the Baqqa al-Gharbia area this morning.

▪️PROTEST - BY A MAYOR.. Ramat Hasharon Mayor: “This coming Thursday we will shut down the municipality's activities (day strike), as part of our uncompromising demand to go to general elections and stop the lawlessness and shame.”

▪️WATER MAIN EXPLODES, PEOPLE TRAPPED IN A FLOOD - JERUSALEM.. rescue services working in the last few hours to rescue those trapped from flooding in the Emek Hatimanim-Ein Kerem neighborhood due to a burst water main.  Several people were trapped in a car washed off the road and into the middle of the flood river.

⭕ HAIFA (not) ATTACKED.. The pro-Iranian militias in Iraq claim to have attacked a target in Haifa port using suicide drones.  No such attack known.

[absolutebl]

This Week in BL - Dog Days of BL but July is Incoming

June 2023 Wk 4

Being a highly subjective assessment of one tiny corner of the interwebs. Organized by which ones (in each category) I’m enjoying most.

Ongoing Series - Thai

Step By Step (Tues WeTV & Gaga) ep 10 of 12 - I’m finding the time frames confusing. Still, a lovely crying kiss + a very high drama-lllama gay confession. Kitchen counter make out, my fav! The actor who plays Jeng kisses at MaxTul levels, which is to say = like a man who has actually done it before with genuine desire and is capable of portraying that on screen. (What makes MaxTul kings is that they BOTH do this.) Pat caught up, thank goodness. Also P’Jeng!!!! P’JENG!!! I love how intimate phi is when it’s been all khun prior. This is the Thai version of hyung slinging. Errotic linguistics, my fav. And ALL the work drama and homophobia fall out when you sleep with the boss. I really enjoy that the angst concerning their relationship has to do with the fact that this is an office romance. Lastly? I love Chot so much. Everyone needs a gay auntie. Also Bruce is SO DAMN GOOD. (I mean we knew he would be from Lovely Writer, but this... chef’s kiss.) 

La Pluie (Sat iQIYI) ep 10 of 12 - There are enough meta-analysis on this one for me not to have to weigh in. Suffice it to say that I like what it’s trying to do, and I certainly appreciate the levels of consent and so forth but I’m not sure I actually like it as much now that we are swimming in high concept. Too much lying. I’m not sure I want my BL to make me think this hard. Also poly, boys = final answer. (Anyone else getting Color Rush flashbacks?) 

Be My Favorite (Fri YouTube) ep 6 of 12 - I love Max now and forever, and I made some very bad puns in the Trash watch here. Otherwise I’m not super invested. 

Dinosaur Love (Thai Sun iQIYI) ep 1 of 10 eps - from Ultimate Troop (The Yearbook people) so I shouldn’t watch this as it airs, after Remember Me? I swore never again. But there’s so little on right now, I’m falling on the pulp sword...  My initial thoughts? It’s an En of Love installment? What is going on? Why all this opening with the sides in a bar? Are we framing? Just move on to the 2 boys kissing! Don’t try to be clever, for fucks sake. Okay, good, the pulp has begun. I like soft wet-blanket Rak and his sad love life. I’m not wild about how aggressive Dino is plus insta-SINGING but I DO LIKE THAT HE’S OUT and knows what he wants which is refreshing. It’s trope filled nonsense (crash into me, instalove, sing feelings, floppy drunk, he’s in engineering, fast and bi-curious) also Dino used ter at first (how forward!) then he went to gu/mueng after rejection, while Rak uses khun & phi/pom. Love this for them. Despite my justified reservations with this production team imma stay watching. I need something on Sundays. * 

Luminous Solution (Sat Gaga) ep 6fin - That’s it? Bullsheiit. No seriously. That’s my review. 3/10 I DON'T KNOW WHAT I JUST WATCHED AND NEITHER DOES IT AND I’M MAD ABOUT IT.

* I got to say, you have only yourselves to blame for Dinosaur Love’s ranking. Once upon a time, I lived happily in ignorance of the Thai film industry. And then you all kept asking me extremely intelligent questions about it. And because I am a nosy little shit, I had to figure out what was going on. And now a BL like this, which ordinarily I would just love unconditionally, is a really scary place for me, because I know too much about the production house. The evils of too much information are all true. Remain happily in ignorance, I advise you, especially where BL is concerned. 

Ongoing Series - Not Thai

Love Tractor (Korea Weds iQIYI) eps 7-8fin - Yechan is such a frank character it confuses all who meet him, also a truly terrible flirt. This is such a puppy/cat relationship. It was cute but it went too far into cringe for a KBL (for me). I don’t think Kdramas are good at farce (sorry), better if they stick with more subtle humor. It was a sweet ending tho, not too cheesy. Nice kiss for KBL but pretty rather than sexy. Full review below.

Tokyo in April is... AKA Shigatsu no Tokyo wa (Japan Thurs Gaga) ep 3 of 8 - Oh, it’s GREAT. Damn it. There is a lot of subtext and things not being said. This is going to be one of those shows where it’s endlessly frustrating that they don’t just talk to each other. The crying first time was gut-wrenching. Ren is complicated & scarred & closed off. Kazuma is earnest & empathetic & thinks he’s unworthy - so will take whatever crumbs are handed to him. They are both giving parts of themselves away in a desperate attempt to shape themselves to the expectations they have of each other. These 2 are gonna fuck each other up while they fuck and fuck with our hearts. Japan is giving us the Bed Friends that Thailand can never even imagine. There is absolutely no guarantee this will end happily (it’s from the Eternal Yesterday people) but it is guaranteed to be painful and beautiful along the way. Oh Japan, must you? I guess you must. 

Stupid Genius (Vietnam Fri YouTube) ep 4 of 6 - I’m mostly confused by the catfishing & tarot side plots. But the mains sure act like bfs. To the point of our tiny jock idiot getting gay panicked by how much bfs they are. Surprise kiss! For everyone, it turns out. Yes I laughed. What? It was pat but also… FUNNY.

Tie The Knot (Pinoy YouTube) ep 3 of 8 - The main couple is adorable, but I’m not wild about the gay bashing blackmail side story. Still, it’s the best we’ve had from the Philippines in a while so I am keeping my fingers crossed. 

Vian the series (Vietnam YouTube ) ep 9 of 12 - Seriously? Bah Vinh = chemistry with EVERYONE. 

Naked Dinner AKA Zenra Meshi (Japan Fri Gaga) ep 12fin - So Souta just disappears off to Singapore and doesn’t say anything to his boyfriend about it? And then comes back with the perfect plan and life for both of them? Oh Japan, must you? Review below. 

It’s airing but ...

House of Stars (Thai Mon iQIYI) 12 eps - I bounced at ep 3. Will binge if told it is worth it at end.

Stay (Pinoy YouTube) 7 eps - It’s mostly English & set in LA (shudder) so I’m not bothering.

Ever After (Pinoy YouTube) 12 eps - Spies reported that it's a real mess and not a hot one.

Stay With Me ... NO I WILL NOT! And you can’t make me. 

In case you missed it

BL Express reviewed The Egoest. Oh boy am I never going to watch that. 

One in a Hundred - Gaga dropped all 12 episodes (c.10 min ea) at once. This is a 2020 Chinese show. It’s not BL. And it has a laugh track. I watched the first & final eps and won’t bother with the rest. DNF

I finally watched the 2022 thing I should have. 

To Sir, With Love - REVIEW

This is a true lakorn with scenery chewing performances from an ensemble cast focused on family obligation and past sins, especially from the mother characters. It is a Thai tellenovella + Gone With the Wind but gay. That said? I loved it: A glorious central brother relationship (the best, made me cry), het romances, class divide + gay *gasp* main romance, the camp of it all! It’s like it was invented by drag queens. Arranged marriage, rebellion, cut sleeves, dramatic death with curses and regrets, beautiful if inaccurate costumes, secrets unraveling, cover ups, sparkle murder, sex herbs, coils within coils including snakes and death by glitter (is anything gayer on this earth?). It’s a WILD ride. It’s not BL. It’s not a romance, it’s a family drama Thorn Birds style but it does end happy for our gay boys. Like Manner of Death I’m struggling to rate something on a BL scale when it patently isn’t a BL. I think I have to give it exactly what I gave that show, 7/10 

I loved it, but not as a BL. 

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS (over its BLness) 

Zenra Meshi - REVIEW

AKA Naked Dinner 

I have to be honest, I didn’t really like much about this show. The central premise was too odd and the main character too clumsy & slow on the uptake. I like the food, but there have been food-set BLs before that failed to meet expectations. Too many of them. This one joined that throng. Good ending tho. 7/10 

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

Love Tractor - REVIEW

Most of this country-set BL had me feral for the beautiful broken city boy and his hot young farmer. Hyung romance, puppy/cat pairing, open frankness meets jaded reserve, language play, water hose frolicking, only one bed, all my favorite tropes. This show was basically a light-weight Restart After Come Back Home and I’m not even slightly mad about that. 

But (and you knew there was a “but” coming) something about the cringe of the final 2 eps and the impermanence of the ending (both of which highlight the fact that ultimately these 2 are I’ll-suited: too different & too far apart) left me with the feeling that they probably won’t last as a couple. However, in this case, rare for me, I forgive it this finale for my love of the rest. 

I did dither a lot though, it’s not an 8 but not a 9 either. Better than Love Mate (8/10) not as good as The New Employee (9/10) but in the end I’m value adding up for the premise and the cast, giving it a 9/10. 

RECOMMENDED 

(Gotta say, because this is rare for me, that this had a great OST. Not the credit music but the refrain, Rainbow.) 

Next Week Looks Like This:

July 2023 Supposedly... 

7/3 Be Mine SuperStar (Thai Mon Viki) 12 eps - JaFirst whipping boy/spoiled prince, obsession, celebrity/mundane. Third-year film student Punn (Ja) gets an internship on the set of a drama. He’s come to learn, but "what lights his passion even more than the work" is leading man Achi, Thailand's sweetheart. Adapted from the novel “The Superstar and the Puppy on Set” (พี่พระเอกกับเด็กหมาในกอง) by Orpheus, cast includes Benjamin Brasier (2moons2), Bosston Suphadach (UWMA), Jo Kavinpat (War of Y), Kokliang (TharnType). Directed by David Bigander (Bite Me) which makes me nervous. Maybe he'll do better with an adaptation?

7/6 Minato's Laundromat Season 2 AKA Minato Shouji Coin Laundry Season 2 (Japan Thu ????) 12 eps - The story is a continuation of Minato & Shin's love story, and it picks up 10 years after the events of season 1 but the characters don't seemed to have grown at all. Very Japan of you, Japan.

7/7 Stay By My Side (Taiwan Fri Gaga) 10 eps -  Gu Bu-Xia has the ability to hear ghosts, except when he is around his new roommate Jiang Chi. So he starts to find ways to approach Jiang Chi. But is it  the ghosts or Jiang Chi’s charm?

7/8 Low Frequency (Thai Sat YouTube?) 8 eps - ghost boyfriend, celebrity/mundane - Mon's life as a spirit-seeing interior decorator is full of headaches. On good days, he helps settle problems for his relative, who is a star manager. But then he gets involved with the spirit of Thames, a famous young actor who is in a coma.

7/9 Hidden Agenda (Thai Sun GMMTV YouTube) 12 eps - JoonDunk are back. Zo, a college freshman whose never been in love, decides to change it by making the college’s star Nita as his gf. He approaches Joke, Nita’s ex, for dating advice. What he fails to realize is that Joke has had his eyes on him for a long time and uses this opportunity to approach Zo. TMS 2.0.

7/15 Laws of Attraction (Thai Sat ????)  Stars the pair from To Sir With Love and with the same production team, cryptic description, but it seems to be Manner of Death esk.

7/19 Wedding Plan (Thai Wed YouTube & iQIYI)  - It's Mame and she's coming for our GL. She's such a misogynist IMAGINE what we will get with a GL? It's going to be absolute carnage. To crane your neck as you drive by the car wreck or not... that is the question. Me? I'm wallowing in the guts.

7/20 Jun & Jun (Korea Thu Viki) - From 2022 (TutorYim rumored to cameo) this office romance features 2, yes 2! Bls. Seme looks aggressive, we in classic yaoi territory. There is an idol involved. Past failed flirts. I am very excited about this one.

2023 forthcoming BL master post (see comments, some are inaccurate, NOT KEPT UPDATED)

THIS WEEK’S BEST MOMENTS

To Sir With Love

Best execution of the piggyback trope ever? I think so. 

Fucking GENIUS piece of acting. Bruce we LOVE you! 

All Step By Step 

It was stupid funny, okay? (Stupid Genius) 

Ridiculous man, you don’t have to eye fuck THAT hard. But we all appreciate it. (Vian) 

Dangerous thing to say in a show about identity in relationships. 

Brave boy.

I said this show was deep, not that I was. Although Patts seems to be going there. 

I’ll stop now.

All La Pluie. 

(Last week.)

[pokelolmc]

The Ultimate Enemy is a Disappointment (and How I'd Fix It) (Part 3)

Happy holidays, everyone! Welcome to part three of my analysis on The Ultimate Enemy. If you want to check out the previous parts, you can start at part 2.5 and go backwards. After this, there's only two...maybe 2.5....more to go! To make up for the long waffle on why the "Dan is a fusion" plotline doesn't work, this one's relatively shorter.

(Part 2.5), Part 3, (Part 4)

This one is about the issues with the episode's time travel. To be honest, I couldn't find much to say about it logistically because it was so vague/poorly defined. I have more to say about the time-travelling characters and their decision-making, which will be part four.

Problems with the Time Travel:

The events leading to Dan’s timeline only happen in the episode because of the very time travel used (in an attempt) to prevent them

The episode never actually shows us how Danny’s tragedy started in the alternate timeline itself, outside of Vlad’s flashback of what happened at his castle. But that was the very end of the chain of dominoes that led to Dan. However, we do get to see the alleged events leading up to that play out in the main timeline (before Clockwork saves Danny’s loved ones)—as part of the episode’s plot. The only problem is, the way it happens in the main timeline was only possible because of time travel.

(Clockwork is literally the only reason this happened)

In the main timeline, Danny’s alleged cheating—the first major event in the alternate timeline—only happened because Clockwork set it up. He wanted to give Danny a “moral test” of some sort. And it only happened, logistically, because he sent Boxed Lunch back into the past to attack Danny.

Then he sent back Skulktech, which facilitated the trio hitching a ride to his tower and getting access to the alternate future. Which facilitated Dan realising that his creation was in jeopardy and coming back into the past to cheat in Danny’s place.

The second major event, the Nasty Burger explosion, also only happened because of time travel. Arguably, in order for Danny to go to Vlad (assuming he went un-coerced/of his own choice), everyone that was there had to die. At least one survivor would’ve enough to change his fate.

If he still had Jazz, for example—they could’ve been moved into an orphanage or with Aunt Alicia or some sort of temporary care but (hopefully) still at least had each other. Sam and/or Tucker surviving would’ve given Danny social support and an external voice of reason against going to Vlad. At least one of his parents surviving…that’s a no-brainer—he doesn’t leave their care.

But in the episode, Danny’s parents and Lancer were only at the Nasty Burger because Dan time travelled back and cheated on the CAT in Danny’s place. Sam and Tucker were only there because of their own time travel (they learned of their deaths in the future, and came to the NB to warn everyone), and Jazz because of Dan’s (she came to warn everyone “Danny” was an impostor).

The episode makes these events specific consequences of time travel. There’s no indicator of whether Danny would’ve come up with cheating on the CAT/getting the answers without Clockwork’s prompting, or just given up and flunked the test in frustration (and Danny failing the test couldn’t have led to the parent-teacher meeting at the NB because the results wouldn’t have been out yet). While you could argue Sam and Tucker have reason to be at the Nasty Burger without Dan (because they hang out there regularly), Jazz doesn’t really have one…unless I guess she wanted in on the parent-teacher conference…? Why?

But even then, the newspaper article in the alternate timeline implied that Danny, his loved ones and Lancer were the only ones caught in the explosion (they died and Danny was the “sole survivor”). So that means no one else was at the Nasty Burger.

The explosion happened on a school day, in the afternoon/evening after school, with all of them having a different reason to be there and there was no one else at the restaurant? Not even any staff?

In that case, it’d have to be closed…but it was only closed in the main timeline because of the smaller explosion from the Boxed Lunch fight. And if another previous Nasty Sauce incident somehow closed it early in the alternate timeline, that means Sam and Tucker had no reason to be at the Nasty Burger for the explosion. Why go hang out when it’s closed?

I guess we just have to assume there was some other offscreen reason that they happened in the alternate timeline, with little prompting or explanation…but I still argue that if Danny cheated of his own volition in the alternate timeline, then Clockwork shouldn’t have given Danny the answers in the main one—and the "what could've been" in the alternate timeline would’ve been the better/more compelling story to tell. And Danny’s loved ones lining up for the explosion just feels…it feels like it’s busted there. Without the time travel seen in the main timeline, it just couldn’t happen the way the episode said it did. But the episode can’t be a time loop (where the time travel happened in the alternate timeline) because it would’ve been broken at the end.

Unfortunately, I don't have any real ideas on what to do about this except for my now-repeated insistence of Danny steals the answers of his own volition and gets to finish cheating. And there's probably some way to change the circumstances of the explosion/whatever kills Danny's loved ones so everyone has a reason to be there without time travel.

2. The Boo-merang shouldn’t be able to reach Danny in the alternate future because it didn’t time travel. It could even potentially risk a time paradox.

The Boo-merang takes Jazz’s message from the present-day events of the episode (main timeline) to Danny in the Ghost Zone of alternate future, without using any time travel. Instead, it simply waits the long way around. It seems clever and creative at first glance, but it doesn’t actually make sense.

The Boo-merang’s ten-year wait to reach Danny runs simultaneously to the school day, the CAT and the final fight at the Nasty Burger, which differ from the events that led to Dan’s birth. By the time the Boo-merang had only been in the Ghost Zone for a few hours, Danny’s loved ones would’ve been saved and the future it was headed to would’ve been/become non-existent. Reaching Danny’s destination in Dan’s timeline would’ve been impossible. He never would’ve gotten the letter.

How it’d affect the timeline/events of the episode if Danny didn’t get Jazz’s letter…well…it depends. All Jazz’s letter did was remind him of Vlad, so it’s still possible he could’ve figured it out on his own if given more time. Jazz’s letter not arriving would just remove the guarantee that Danny found Vlad. Assuming that he could’ve eventually thought of Vlad on his own, or found someone in the GZ to help him remove the Time Medallion, there’s still a chance he could get back to the past without Jazz’s letter, Vlad or the Ghost Gauntlets. But that leaves a problem:

Without Vlad, he never would’ve heard about Dan’s backstory. He’d have watched his loved ones die (or been sent back to the past by Dan, in the aftermath of their deaths) and been liable to follow the path to Dan’s existence (not knowing that he had to avoid going to Vlad and the fusion). However, that would’ve created the alternate future, resulting in the Boo-merang’s destination in the future existing in the main timeline, and being able to reach Danny just by waiting. Danny would’ve then found his way to Vlad, and resulted in an eventual victory over Dan (and avoiding the alternate future) as per the episode’s ending (making the Boo-merang unable to reach its destination again). This creates a time paradox.

I'm not really sure what to do about this. It was what the writers set up the Boo-merang for (outside of outing Dan to Jazz because it doesn't react to his ectosignature) and it feels like they were really trying to be clever. I feel like you'd have to give Jazz some other role in the story. Maybe Dan brought a Time Medallion back as his only way of accessing the past (stolen from Sam/Tucker, instead of canon where he seems to just open a portal to the past??) and she gets a hold of it? I don't know I'm just spitballing here.

[studyforalittle]

Diary of a student who tries 🧎‍♀️

21.01.2025

Can we go back to the times messages were scent by birds.. I am running out of excuses for ignoring my emails... Tea calendar Sun no leaf soup, just water Mon Rooibos that I got to share with a newly encountered acquaintance :) Tue Spearmint as my mind needs zen 🧘‍♀️

Primary focus is carrying the expectations I set to do this Sunday but didn't … well kinda

Got some groceries (a pretty big achievement i dare say)

Met with my CRM team to discuss the project

Tried Complex analysis hw and was baffled by how complex it is did 1.5/11 questions T^T

Cooked food

Made matcha ice cream :D

Got bro a bday gift

Attended all lectures

Emails I hand picked to reply to

Tackled my laundry

Printed lecture notes

It feels like I did so much but yet so little but the home chores days like these bring comfort.

Though of the day

"Be kind to your body and mind in times of mental struggle and it will repay you in your productivity when you need it most"

[srbachchan]

DAY 5973

Jalsa, Mumbai June 25/26, 2024 Tue/Wed 2:07 AM

Birthday - EF - Anamika Gupta .. 🙏🌹

Ef Özen Eren Wednesday, 26 June .. and all ur prayers and wishes for this special day for the Ef ..

the Agenda .. an act of predetermined thought and conveyance .. what shall bring attention recognition be the intent .. any express that can remotely be given the spin, and mastered is the guile and expertise of such ..

it is lamentable , ignominious to witness the impotency of content .. to somehow in any which manner , to be able to draw attention in storied form, just so it can be put up and seen or read , in favourable condition to them that devise it ..

devise .. for the right is not needed to be devised ..

pity ..

never ever underestimate the generation that follows , or is about to follow .. they are aware and alive to every situation and knowledged to hold their own in debate or discussion ..

we are enriched by the circumstance that often fall upon us .. and then we find a way .. even when there be none ..

"In today's digital age, the ubiquitous nature of content has paradoxically led to a dilution of its potency. With the democratization of content creation, anyone with an internet connection can produce and distribute information, leading to an oversaturation of the digital landscape. This phenomenon has profound implications, rendering content less impactful and more ephemeral.

First, the sheer volume of content available online has created a paradox of choice. Every minute, hundreds of hours of video are uploaded to platforms like YouTube, thousands of blog posts are published, and millions of social media updates are posted. This relentless flow of information makes it difficult for any single piece of content to stand out. The audience, overwhelmed by options, often resorts to skimming or entirely ignoring vast amounts of content, diminishing its overall impact.

Moreover, the quality of content has become highly variable. While the ease of content creation has empowered many voices, it has also led to an influx of low-quality, poorly researched, and sometimes misleading or false information. This glut of mediocre content competes with high-quality, well-researched pieces, making it challenging for audiences to discern value and trustworthiness. As a result, even content of genuine worth can struggle to achieve the recognition and engagement it deserves.

Another critical factor contributing to the impotency of content is the algorithm-driven nature of content distribution. Social media platforms and search engines prioritize content based on engagement metrics such as likes, shares, and comments rather than the inherent quality or informational value. This prioritization often leads to the virality of sensational, clickbait content at the expense of substantive, insightful work. Consequently, the attention economy favors superficial engagement over deep, meaningful interactions with content.

Additionally, the fast-paced consumption habits of modern audiences further erode the potency of content. The average attention span has dwindled in the face of constant digital distractions. People increasingly consume content in bite-sized formats, such as tweets or short videos, which limits their exposure to in-depth analysis or comprehensive narratives. This shift towards brevity undermines the ability of content to foster nuanced understanding or sustained engagement.

The commercialization of content also plays a significant role in its diminishing impact. Content marketing has become a dominant strategy for businesses, leading to a proliferation of branded content. While this can provide value, it also contributes to the noise and can sometimes prioritize promotional messages over genuine, informative content. The blending of editorial and advertising content can lead to skepticism and diminished trust among audiences, further reducing the impact of the content they encounter.

Lastly, the fleeting nature of digital content means that it often has a very short lifespan. Unlike traditional media, which could have a lasting presence, digital content is quickly buried under the avalanche of new information. This ephemeral existence means that even impactful content can be forgotten rapidly as attention shifts to the next trending topic.

In conclusion, the impotency of content in today's times is a multifaceted issue stemming from the overwhelming volume of information, variable quality, algorithm-driven distribution, changing consumption habits, commercialization, and the ephemeral nature of digital content. To reclaim the potency of content, creators and platforms must prioritize quality, foster trust, and find ways to engage audiences meaningfully and sustainably amidst the cacophony of the digital age."

Love and more ..

Amitabh Bachchan

[sodaneko]

Laleee hi how are you doing? 🥰

This time I hope Tumblr doesn't eat my ask! Here's some emoji for the game because I am curious 👀🥰:

🍓📚🏜️🎨

hi Guya 🩷 thanks for sending some fun ones in!

🍓 ⇢ how did you get into writing fanfiction? 

by having unrestricted internet access and maladaptive daydreams since the age of 5 i guess LOL no but i think i always enjoyed writing so it was just a very natrual process for me? i had some years in between where i didn't write fanfic but other things, but at the end of the day i'll always return to fanfiction i think. as natural as breathing.

📚 ⇢ what's the last thing you wrote down in your notes app? 

"mon 4pm tue 1pm nothing thursday" - my therapist and i had to flip around some appointments before winter break so yeah 😭

🏜️ ⇢ what's your favourite type of comment to receive on your work?

i love every single comment!! from a keysmash to a detailed chapter analysis. i think my favs are the ones where readers tell what the fic made them feel? idk maybe because that's the kind of comments i write usually. i just love getting a glimpse in someone's head and hearing about the emotions they went through while reading!

🎨 ⇢ link your favourite piece of fanart and explain why you like it

i have too many... like my bookmarks are CHAOS... however one i think about daily is the sakuatsu kiss by throttlee. i can't begin to describe what it makes me feel lol i will break down and cry if i try. they're just very dear to me and the art is breathtaking

[cherisheye]

☆ tue, april 16th, 2024

☆ what i did today ☆

☆ continued studying pre-calc (functions, domains and ranges + trigonometric functions) ☆ read through the assigned pages and the instructions for tomorrow's lab - we're doing gravimetric analysis of Pb(NO3)2 ☆ answered 3 more questions out of my general chemistry worksheet

classes today: linear algebra - we went through the linear dependence and independence definitions; general chemistry i - lewis structure and formal charge