#10th result 2020

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Utah’s getting some of America’s best broadband

TOMORROW (May 17), I'm at the INTERNET ARCHIVE in SAN FRANCISCO to keynote the 10th anniversary of the AUTHORS ALLIANCE.

Residents of 21 cities in Utah have access to some of the fastest, most competitively priced broadband in the country, at speeds up to 10gb/s and prices as low as $75/month. It's uncapped, and the connections are symmetrical: perfect for uploading and downloading. And it's all thanks to the government.

This broadband service is, of course, delivered via fiber optic cable. Of course it is. Fiber is vastly superior to all other forms of broadband delivery, including satellites, but also cable and DSL. Fiber caps out at 100tb/s, while cable caps out at 50gb/s – that is, fiber is 1,000 times faster:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/10/why-fiber-vastly-superior-cable-and-5g

Despite the obvious superiority of fiber, America has been very slow to adopt it. Our monopolistic carriers act as though pulling fiber to our homes is an impossible challenge. All those wires that currently go to your house, from power-lines to copper phone-lines, are relics of a mysterious, fallen civilization and its long-lost arts. Apparently we could no more get a new wire to your house than we could build the pyramids using only hand-tools.

In a sense, the people who say we can't pull wires anymore are right: these are relics of a lost civilization. Specifically, electrification and later, universal telephone service was accomplished through massive federal grants under the New Deal – grants that were typically made to either local governments or non-profit co-operatives who got everyone in town connected to these essential modern utilities.

Today – thanks to decades of neoliberalism and its dogmatic insistence that governments can't do anything and shouldn't try, lest they break the fragile equilibrium of the market – we have lost much of the public capacity that our grandparents took for granted. But in the isolated pockets where this capacity lives on, amazing things happen.

Since 2015, residents of Jackson County, KY – one of the poorest counties in America – have enjoyed some of the country's fastest, cheapest, most reliable broadband. The desperately poor Appalachian county is home to a rural telephone co-op, which grew out of its rural electrification co-op, and it used a combination of federal grants and local capacity to bring fiber to every home in the county, traversing dangerous mountain passes with a mule named "Ole Bub" to reach the most remote homes. The result was an immediately economic uplift for the community, and in the longer term, the county had reliable and effective broadband during the covid lockdowns:

https://www.newyorker.com/tech/annals-of-technology/the-one-traffic-light-town-with-some-of-the-fastest-internet-in-the-us

Contrast this with places where the private sector has the only say over who gets broadband, at what speed, and at what price. America is full of broadband deserts – deserts that strand our poorest people. Even in the hearts of our largest densest cities, whole neighborhoods can't get any broadband. You won't be surprised to learn that these are the neighborhoods that were historically redlined, and that the people who live in them are Black and brown, and also live with some of the highest levels of pollution and its attendant sicknesses:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/10/flicc/#digital-divide

These places are not set up for success under the best of circumstances, and during the lockdowns, they suffered terribly. You think your kid found it hard to go to Zoom school? Imagine what life was like for kids who attended remote learning while sitting on the baking tarmac in a Taco Bell parking lot, using its free wifi:

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2020/09/02/elem-s02.html

ISPs loathe competition. They divide up the country into exclusive territories like the Pope dividing up the "new world" and do not trouble one another by trying to sell to customers outside of "their" turf. When Frontier – one of the worst of America's terrible ISPs – went bankrupt, we got to see their books, and we learned two important facts:

The company booked one million customers who had no alternative as an asset, because they would pay more for slower broadband, and Frontier could save a fortune by skipping maintenance, and charging these customers for broadband even through multi-day outages; and

Frontier knew that it could make a billion dollars in profit over a decade by investing in fiber build-out, but it chose not to, because stock analysts will downrank any carrier that made capital investments that took more than five years to mature. Because Frontier's execs were paid primarily in stock, they chose to strand their customers with aging copper connections and to leave a billion dollars sitting on the table, so that their personal net worth didn't suffer a temporary downturn:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/frontiers-bankruptcy-reveals-cynical-choice-deny-profitable-fiber-millions

ISPs maintain the weirdest position: that a) only the private sector can deliver broadband effectively, but b) to do so, they'll need massive, unsupervised, no-strings-attached government handouts. For years, America went along with this improbable scheme, which is why Trump's FCC chairman Ajit Pai gave the carriers $45 billion in public funds to string slow, 19th-century-style copper lines across rural America:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/27/all-broadband-politics-are-local/

Now, this is obviously untrue, and people keep figuring out that publicly provisioned broadband is the only way for America to get the same standard of broadband connectivity that our cousins in other high-income nations enjoy. In order to thwart the public's will, the cable and telco lobbyists joined ALEC, the far-right, corporatist lobbying shop, and drafted "model legislation" banning cities and counties from providing broadband, even in places the carriers chose not to serve:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/03/19/culture-war-bullshit-stole-your-broadband/

Red states across America adopted these rules, and legislators sold this to their base by saying that this was just "keeping the government out of their internet" (even as every carrier relied on an exclusive, government-granted territorial charter, often with massive government subsidies).

ALEC didn't target red states exclusively because they had pliable, bribable conservative lawmakers. Red states trend rural, and rural places are the most likely sites for public fiber. Partly, that's because low-density areas are harder to make a business case for, but also because these are also the places that got electricity and telephone through New Deal co-ops, which are often still in place.

Just about the only places in America where people like their internet service are the 450+ small towns where the local government provides fiber. These places vote solidly Republican, and it was their beloved conservative lawmakers whom ALEC targeted to enact laws banning their equally beloved fiber – keep voting for Christmas, turkeys, and see where it gets you:

https://communitynets.org/content/community-network-map

But spare a little sympathy for the conservative movement here. The fact that reality has a pronounced leftist bias must be really frustrating for the ideological project of insisting that anything the market can't provide is literally impossible.

Which brings me back to Utah, a red state with a Republican governor and legislature, and a national leader in passing unconstitutional, unhinged, unworkable legislation as part of an elaborate culture war kabuki:

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/24/1165975112/utah-passes-an-age-verification-law-for-anyone-using-social-media

For more than two decades, a coalition of 21 cities in Utah have been building out municipal fiber. The consortium calls itself UTOPIA: "Utah Telecommunication Open Infrastructure Agency":

https://www.utopiafiber.com/faqs/

UTOPIA pursues a hybrid model: they run "open access" fiber and then let anyone offer service over it. This can deliver the best of both worlds: publicly provisioned, blazing-fast fiber to your home, but with service provided by your choice of competing carriers. That means that if Moms for Liberty captures you local government, you're not captive to their ideas about what sites your ISP should block.

As Karl Bode writes for Techdirt, Utahns in UTOPIA regions have their choice of 18 carriers, and competition has driven down prices and increased speeds. Want uncapped 1gb fiber? That's $75/month. Want 10gb fiber? That's $150:

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/05/15/utah-locals-are-getting-cheap-10-gbps-fiber-thanks-to-local-governments/

UTOPIA's path to glory wasn't an easy one. The dismal telco monopolists Qwest and Lumen sued to put them out of business, delaying the rollout by years:

https://www.deseret.com/2005/7/22/19903471/utopia-responds-to-qwest-lawsuit/

UTOPIA has been profitable and self-sustaining for over 15 years and shows no sign of slowing. But 17 states still ban any attempt at this.

Keeping up such an obviously bad policy requires a steady stream of distractions and lies. The "government broadband doesn't work" lie has worn thin, so we've gotten a string of new lies about wireless service, insisting that fiber is obviated by point-to-point microwave relays, or 5g, or satellite service.

There's plenty of places where these services make sense. You're not going to be able to use fiber in a moving car, so yeah, you're going to want 5g (and those 5g towers are going to need to be connected to each other with fiber). Microwave relay service can fill the gap until fiber can be brought in, and it's great for temporary sites (especially in places where it doesn't rain, because rain, clouds, leaves and other obstructions are deadly for microwave relays). Satellite can make sense for an RV or a boat or remote scientific station.

But wireless services are orders of magnitude slower than fiber. With satellite service, you share your bandwidth with an entire region or even a state. If there's only a couple of users in your satellite's footprint, you might get great service, but when your carrier adds a thousand more customers, your connection is sliced into a thousand pieces.

That's also true for everyone sharing your fiber trunk, but the difference is that your fiber trunk supports speeds that are tens of thousands of times faster than the maximum speeds we can put through freespace electromagnetic spectrum. If we need more fiber capacity, we can just fish a new strand of fiber through the conduit. And while you can increase the capacity of wireless by increasing your power and bandwidth, at a certain point you start pump so much EM into the air that birds start falling out of the sky.

Every wireless device in a region shares the same electromagnetic spectrum, and we are only issued one such spectrum per universe. Each strand of fiber, by contrast, has its own little pocket universe, containing a subset of that spectrum.

Despite all its disadvantages, satellite broadband has one distinct advantage, at least from an investor's perspective: it can be monopolized. Just as we only have one electromagnetic spectrum, we also only have one sky, and the satellite density needed to sustain a colorably fast broadband speed pushes the limit of that shared sky:

https://spacenews.com/starlink-vs-the-astronomers/

Private investors love monopoly telecoms providers, because, like pre-bankruptcy Frontier, they are too big to care. Back in 2021, Altice – the fourth-largest cable operator in America – announced that it was slashing its broadband speeds, to be "in line with other ISPs":

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/27/immortan-altice/#broadband-is-a-human-right

In other words: "We've figured out that our competitors are so much worse than we are that we are deliberately degrading our service because we know you will still pay us the same for less."

This is why corporate shills and pro-monopolists prefer satellite to municipal fiber. Sure, it's orders of magnitude slower than fiber. Sure, it costs subscribers far more. Sure, it's less reliable. But boy oh boy is it profitable.

The thing is, reality has a pronounced leftist bias. No amount of market magic will conjure up new electromagnetic spectra that will allow satellite to attain parity with fiber. Physics hates Starlink.

Yeah, I'm talking about Starlink. Of course I am. Elon Musk basically claims that his business genius can triumph over physics itself.

That's not the only vast, impersonal, implacable force that Musk claims he can best with his incredible reality-distortion field. Musk also claims that he can somehow add so many cars to the road that he will end traffic – in other words, he will best geometry too:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/10/09/herbies-revenge/#100-billion-here-100-billion-there-pretty-soon-youre-talking-real-money

Geometry hates Tesla, and physics hates Starlink. Reality has a leftist bias. The future is fiber, and public transit. These are both vastly preferable, more efficient, safer, more reliable and more plausible than satellite and private vehicles. Their only disadvantage is that they fail to give an easily gulled, thin-skinned compulsive liar more power over billions of people. That's a disadvantage I can live with.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/16/symmetrical-10gb-for-119/#utopia

Image: 4028mdk09 (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rote_LED_Fiberglasleuchte.JPG

CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

[antifainternational]

10 Years Of Antifa International!!!!!!!!!!

This month, the Antifa International collective celebrates our 10th anniversary! Back in 2014, we saw a need for a crew dedicated to reporting on different anti-fascist actions around the world, who could also come up with ways to support anti-fascists around the globe and promote the tenets of anti-fascism.

We started with two people and a Tumblr blog and have since grown to a collective of ten members in eight different countries, posting on nine social media platforms, where we've put up over 20,000 posts over the last ten years for our 110,000+ followers to have a look at.  

Since 2014, we've also initiated a number of projects we're quite proud of! 

The International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund: it was not too long after we started our collective that we saw an increasing number of anti-fascists around the world calling out for support after encountering an emergency situation resulting from their work. Whether it was court costs, legal defence fees, emergency relocations, or medical expenses - anti-fascists were facing dire consequences for standing up to hate and then would have to do whatever they could to get help dealing with those consequences. Our solution was to start a standing fund that would be devoted to providing emergency aid to anti-fascists facing problems related to their anti-fascist work. We would do whatever we could to fundraise for it on an ongoing basis, and then use the funds to help antifa in trouble. All decisions about how the Defence Fund runs and is used would be made by the people who've contributed a minimum of $20USD to it, via consensus wherever possible and majority vote where consensus was not forthcoming.   Nine years later, the International Anti-Fascist Defence Fund has provided nearly $250,000USD to more than 750 anti-fascists in 28 different countries. More than 1500 anti-fascists from around the world have been invited to participate in the Defence Fund by helping to make the decisions about how it is run and what it is used for. To our knowledge, the Defence Fund remains the only project of its kind, devoted to providing emergency support to anti-fascists around the world, but it has inspired similar defence funds.   THIS IS A PROJECT YOU COULD BE INVOLVED IN!  A minimum donation of $20USD will get you invited to participate!   

International Violent Hate Crimes Research Project: from 2017-2022 we tracked media accounts of violent acts motivated by hate or committed by far-right extremists around the world. Over the course of those six years, we documented over 3000 such attacks, in which more than 1800 people were killed and a further 5254 were injured. The Project allowed us to examine trends in the types of attacks being committed; who was being targeted; and where the attacks were taking place, among other things that we wrote about in our annual reports.  Unfortunately, a lack of resources compelled us to discontinue the project in 2023.   

25 July: The International Day of Solidarity with Anti-Fascist Prisoners: July 25th is a day when all anti-fascists are called upon to demonstrate their solidarity with those of us who are locked up behind bars. Taking the baton from NYC Antifa, who started this project, we've set up a website with information and resources about the day, including translations into several different languages and a list of current anti-fascist prisoners. We also maintain a donation page and sell this t-shirt designed by a former anti-fascist prisoner; every July 25th, we pool what was raised and send it directly to current antia prisoners/their families/their support teams.  WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO DO SOMETHING TO MARK JULY 25TH! You'll find some ideas and resources here. If you put anything about the Day on social media, please use the hashtag #j25antifa so others kind find your posts!  

Training for Anti-Fascists: Beginning in 2020, we organized a series of online training and skillshare workshops for anti-fascists on a number of topics, including digital security practices, de-escalation tactics, open source intelligence gathering, intelligence sharing, first aid, self-defence, and far-right radicalization warning signs & intervention strategies. Each session was attended by anti-fascists from around the world, who were able to take what they learned and put it to use in their own communities.  

Anti-Fascist Flags, Shirts, & Stickers: Although these were originally intended as fundraising items for the Defence Fund, the anti-fascist flags, shirts, stickers, and other items we produced soon took on a life of their own. To date, we've distributed hundreds of anti-fascist shirts & flags and nearly 90,000 anti-fascist stickers around the world.  Our Antifa International flags have been spotted in Afrin, Boston, Brooklyn, Kiev, London, the Hauge, the Scottish Highlands, Kobane, L.A., Melbourne, Oakland, Philly, Standing Rock, and Toronto, among other places.  

deathtofascism.com: is the site we've set up as a repository of free, downloadable anti-fascist flyers, reports, and 'zines that anyone can read, print out and give away. If you're tabling an event or show, there is probably a few things there that you'll want to hand out!   

Antifa Shirt of the Month: from 2021 to 2024, we produced a new anti-fascist t-shirt each month as a fundraiser for a different antifa crew somewhere in the world, raising nearly $20,000USD for those crews. You'll find most of those shirts still available at our online store.

We're not telling you all of this to brag (well, OK, we might be bragging a little bit!); rather, we're hoping some of what we've done over the past ten years, as volunteers, without any funding or resources to speak of, will inspire you & your friends to think about what you can do where you are! 

[boxboxblog]

Ex-Driver Profiles: Sergio Perez

Updated December 2024

Name: Sergio Michel "Checo" Pérez Mendoza

Age: 34

Nationality: Mexican

Years in F1: 14 (2011-2012 Alfa Romeo Sauber, 2013 Mclaren, 2014-2020 Force India/Racing Point, 2021-2024 Red Bull)

Number: 11

WDCs: N/A

Driving Style: Perez is most well know for his patient and defensive driving style. He regularly is able to hold off stronger and faster cars behind him for extended periods of teams, meaning he holds position well and also is an asset while defending his teammate. Perez is also known to have great tire management skills, often patiently waiting until his rivals tires wear out before going on the attack with his better-maintained ones. He is also excellent in complex weather conditions, including full wet and wet-dry. A downside of Perez's style is that he struggles with consistency and setting a qualifying pace. He often is outpaced and out qualified by his teammates, especially his current one.

History:

Born not to a legacy racing family but involved in racing nonetheless, Perez began his karting career in 1996 when he was six years old. In his first year of competition he achieved four victories in the junior category and was 2nd in the standings as a rookie karter. In 1997, he participated in the Karting Youth Class, where he was the youngest driver in the category, and had a positive year, finishing 4th in the championship. The next year, in 1998, he would become the youngest driver to win the championship in that same category.

(Perez in karting)

In 1999, he raced in the 80cc Shifter category, finishing 3rd in the championship. He actually was too young to race in this category, but obtained special permission to do so and was the youngest driver to achieve a win in the category. In 2000 he would go on to do much of the same, regularly being the youngest in the categories he race din. He would soon draw the attention of various sponsors and national racing organizations. The next few years of his career would yield similar positive results, though he did not win any titles.

In 2005 Perez moved from Mexico to Europe in order to compete in the German Formula BMW ADC Series. His first year in this series would not yield super positive results, but he would improve in the 2006 season, improving to 6th in the standings. In 2007 he would switch into Formula 3 for the first time. He competed in the National Class and would win his first title that year. In 2008 he would compete again, but only get 4th in the standings.

(Perez racing in Formula BMW)

Pérez joined GP2 in 2008 for the GP2 Asia Series 2008-2009. He was the first Mexican driver to compete at this level of motorsport since Giovanni Aloi took part in International Formula 3000 in 1990. He would show significantly positive results in this series, bringing home multiple podium finishes and sprint race wins. 2009 he would switch to the main 2009 GP2 Series. Pérez finished 12th in the standings, with a best result of second coming at Valencia. His 2010 run in GP2 would be a lot better, ending the season 2nd in the standings.

(Perez after a win in GP2)

Late 2010 it was announced by F1 team Alfa Romeo Sauber that Perez would be joining their team for the 2011 season. Through this, Perez became the 5th Mexican to compete in F1. During the time of the announcement, he also became a Ferrari Academy Driver. Perez had a relatively average rookie season with Sauber, finishing in points positions a few times. He would finish that year 16th in the standings after. bad crash knocked him out of three races. 2012 was a better year for Perez, as he achieved his first podium in Malaysia, and two more during the season. He finished the year in 10th, above his teammate.

(Perez on first podium)

In 2013 Lewis Hamilton vacated the Mclaren seat and Perez was announced as his replacement, ending his relationship with the Ferrari Driver's Academy. He would have a middling year withe Mclaren, his highest finish being 4th. He would also have friction with teammate and WDC Jenson Button, who described his driving style as 'overlyaggressive'. Perhaps this is why later Perez evolved into a cautious and patient driver.

(Perez, right, with Mclaren teammate Jenson Button)

In 2014 Perez would join Force India, and solidify himself as a midfield driver. For a majority of his career with the team he would be a steady driver, most often outpacing his teammates. He achieved a few podiums with them, but also had moments of disaster, famously suffering several crashes throughout his time. He outlasted the Force India name, and was retained when the team became Racing Point in 2019. He would achieve his first win with Racing Point at the 2020 Bahrain GP, an energetic race that allowed him to show his skill. All in all, his time with midfield teams yielded good results for him, often outperforming his teammates and pulling the car to higher positions than it should be. That year it was announced that he would be joining Red Bull for the 2021 season, replacing Alex Albon.

(Perez after first win)

His time with Red Bull would be a mix of bad and good. During this time, he would regularly achieve podiums and a few wins. In 2021 he would finish 4th in the standings. While this was deemed a positive result, his teammate finished first and it put some scrutiny on Perez. 2022 saw Perez finish 3rd in the standings, behind his teammate in 1st and Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. That would also be the year he achieved his maiden pole position, at the Jeddah GP. 2023 was his best year in F1, being one of few drivers to win a race that year other than Max Verstappen. He would finish 2nd in the standings behind Verstappen, and help Red Bull win another WCC. He would also help Red Bull win their first ever 1-2 in the championship.

(Perez with teammate Verstappen, 2021)

2024 was a very bad year for Perez, having multiple DNF's, crashes, and no points finishes. This was especially pronounced because his teammate Max Verstappen won the drivers championship that year, while he only finished in 8th, the biggest teammate gap since the 90s. This led to Perez losing his seat for the 2025 season, being replaced by Liam Lawson.

(Perez on the podium at the 2024 Austria GP)

Major Races:

2012 Malaysian GP - Perez's highest finish of his career then, and his first pole position. He displayed excellent tire management, completing a long stint and maintaining a competitive pace.

2014 Bahrain GP - His first podium with Force India. Perez displayed his famous defensive driving, holding off much faster cars for the entire race.

2020 Bahrain GP - Perez's first win in his last year with Racing Point. He had the greatest comebacks in his career, after being spun to the back of the grid. It was a remarkable race as he battled his way to 1st, and is the race that won him His Red Bull seat.

2021 Baku GP - His first win with Red Bull. Baku would become a track that he is known for competing well around. He held off Lewis Hamilton (who was fighting his teammate for the championship) the whole race. Many attribute his win in Baku as a major part of Verstappen's first WDC.

2022 Monaco GP- Monaco is famously a tricky circuit, and he raced extremely strategically, outmaneuvering both Ferrari's to win. It was also yet another race where Perez showed his skill in wet-dry conditions.

Cheers,

-B

[thankyouforthememoriesworld]

So I (🔎) decided to dig more into 2016 because I had plenty of evidence for overlap but also didn't lol. Note this was Azzi's first year with Fairfax Stars and Paige played for North Tartan. Long story short, there was overlap but they were in different divisions. Paige played on NT 8th team the summer before her 9th. Azzi was apparently playing on a 10th grade team the summer before her 8th grade. But they were indeed in the same locations.

---------------------------------

North Tartan Summer Jam - June 2016 (No Overlap I can tell)

A fun little quoted tweet from North Tartan account in 2016 featuring Fairfax Stars and Azzi Fudd lol "They are legit"

https://x.com/NorthTartan/status/744032001620082690

Fairfax Stars 15U displays 3 future BCS players. Malu Tshitenge 6-4 C 2019 Elizabeth Martino 5-10 G 2020 & 2021 Azzi Fudd 5-10 G 2021.

The same guy tweeted on the same day:

https://x.com/brethoops/status/744011067588653057

North Tartan Starks 2020 team features Trifecta Paige Bueckers 5-10 G Mallory Brake 6-0 F & MacKenzie Kramer 5-7 PG. 3 future talents.

Now looking at the schedule for Summer Jam 2016, Azzi's Fairfax 15U did play North Tartan 10th EYBL but Paige actually wasn't on this team yet and played on the 8th NT team. Hence why they never played.

Tournament Schedule:

https://tourneymachine.com/Public/Results/Division.aspx?IDTournament=h201510192243367598877fa9d1c264f&IDDivision=h20160609131643192b6faa6c1558d4b

Azzi played several levels up while Paige did not participate in this tournament it seems (it only included North Tartan 9th and up). Now if you are wondering why Paige didn't play levels up I refer you to this tweet years later from her coach: https://x.com/22TTStarksMom/status/1151503192166948864

AAU Super Showcase - July 2016 in Atlanta (Overlap)

Then, Azzi had this tweet from July 2 2016: https://x.com/azzi_35/status/749378901768536065

AAU Sup Showcase Sched Wed 7/6 3:00pm vs. North Tartan - ct. 7

They were both at the super showcase but again, same deal - different divisions. https://image.aausports.org/dnn/girlsbasketball/2016/supershowcase/9-11SSTEAMS.pdf

They ended up advancing but losing to North Tartan (not Paige's team).

https://x.com/FairfaxStars/status/751563695000543232

Paige's team won the super showcase for 9th grade

https://x.com/22TTStarksMom/status/753615080315613184

Battle of the Boro 2016 in Nashville (Overlap)

Paige was part of the Freshman Division and won:

https://x.com/NorthTartan/status/753287011583332352

And seemingly, it seems North Tartan on all levels won championships:

https://x.com/NorthTartan/status/753331171023609856

Her team was undefeated in July thus far

https://x.com/NorthTartan/status/753287923965976576

https://x.com/NorthTartan/status/753285630654906368

Azzi was part of the Sophomore Division as part of the all tournament team:

https://x.com/FairfaxStars/status/754125955795419136

https://nyghoopsreport.com/news/battle-in-the-boro-all-tournament-team

-------------------------

On a different note - you can pull some scouting comments for Azzi's game since she was in middle school: https://nyghoopsreport.com/search?query=Azzi%20Fudd

Also the North Tartan twitter congratulating Azzi's team in 2017 and 2018 which I found endearing.

https://x.com/NorthTartan/status/876517915373309953

https://x.com/NorthTartan/status/1008389932413603841

I particularly enjoy "standing room only" for their match up in 2018: https://x.com/preferredscout/status/1008061107330789376

Last random thing I found - here's an incredibly old interview of Paige, my guess is from 2017 just from the headband

https://x.com/MrCmonNow/status/1167555153169268736

I don't know what to say other than bravo. Phenomenons from a young age ✨.

Bonus: Baby P with her baby voice 👶🏻

[pompettepink]

Type of men NOT to date

Dating in the 2020's is so rough! It feels like so many people are just looking for hookups and too many women are getting forced into "situationships" in the hopes that "more" will come out of it, but "more" never happens. Ladies, save yourselves the heartache and leave these type of low level men ALONE

A man who asks "what you bring to the table"

He is thinking transactionally. He wants to know beforehand what act of service he can expect from you in the future. Whatever comes out of your mouth will be his checklist in the relationship and he WILL bring it up when you "fail to meet expectations".

A man who disrupts your peace

A man who is prone to fits of rage and refuses to seek help will take you down with him. He will actively work to destroy your self worth and possessions. Any man coming into your life MUST be giving you peace that is BETTER than the peace you find within yourself.

A man with low quality friends

There's a very high chance that if a man is in his mid to late 20s and is still friends with his highschool buddies they are actively holding him back. There needs to be far more substance in a male friendship than bonding over a band one time in a 10th grade science class. Having old time friends is amazing, but everyone in the friend group should be maturing at the same pace and having adult conversations and not just sharing their girlfriends nudes with the homies in the groupchat

A man who listens to Bro Podcasters

Self explanatory. There should be NO reason that a man sees value in anything a violent misogynist has to say. It is NOT NORMAL for a man to take lifestyle advice from broken men who are NOT living the lifestyle they're advocating for (monogamous long term relationship with the intention of marriage and providing for their wife and kids). Unless he is compiling information to loudly denounce those views and see those podcasters as an enemy of men, you have no business dating someone like that

A man who idolizes 50/50 relationships

Expecting your partner to go 50/50 with everything and anything is insecure and immature. In reality you can't ALWAYS split the bills. Sometimes things come up. Like card only payments, cash only payments, misplaced wallet, dead phone, payment deadline, accidents etc etc. If he expects every instance involving money to be split into two equal bills he WILL be resentful towards you if you fail to deliver. He should also be more than happy to spoil you when he can and pay in full

A man who struggles building relationships with women

You aren't going to be any different just because he's fucking you. And this isn't about a struggle that results from trauma (abusive mom). This is about ANY woman in his life. If he can't connect with his sisters and can't "really" explain "why", or if he's never had a female friend, that's a red flag. It's most likely that he can't build relationships with women who he isn't sexually attracted to, making him more likely to misconstrued any interaction with a pretty woman as grounds to cheat

An unkempt man

He doesn't need to be the world's best dresser, but he MUST care about his appearance. You two will be seen together constantly and in social settings others will view you as a single unit. You are doing a disservice to yourself by being with a man who has a hands-off attitude with the way he presents himself and always choices to go out with wrinkled stained clothes, dirty hair, a smelly outfit, and a wardrobe full of holes and filth

A man who moves too fast

Why is this man trying to get you into bed yet he doesn't even know your last name? Casual flings are totally fine and super appropriate for any adult to be a part of. But if you're looking to seriously date you HAVE to be picky. Even if your connection is magnetic off the bat restraint should be shown until the commitment is there. If you tell him you only want to have sex with a committed man and he gets mad, pressures you, or asks you to be official on the spot and then have sex afterwards, he just wants to orgasm, nothing more

A man who's all talk and no action

If a man talks about how close he feels to you, but doesn't try to commit, he's keeping you away from love. If a man romantically messages you everyday, but doesn't take you on a date, he's a pen pal. If he's always talking about going for a big promotion, but doesn't put in the work the position requires, he's just a job holder. Actions speak louder than words and if he wanted to, he would

A man who struggles with handling you

Far too many men couple up with talented, sexy, smart, extrovert women, then try to change them when they become official because they can't keep up with her. If she was a sexy dresser BEFORE you started dating, you should expect the same WHILE you're dating. If she was always having deeply intellectual conversations BEFORE you started dating, you should expect the same WHILE you're dating. If she had a large group of friends that she loved hanging out with BEFORE you started dating, you should expect the same WHILE you're dating. If he can't keep up with you then he shouldn't take up space in your circle

A man who is incompetent with chores

Need I say more? Chores aren't rocket science. If he can't cook a meal from start to finish you'll be forced to be his personal chef. If he can't do a load of laundry you'll be forced to be his laundromat. If he doesn't know how to sweep, mop, or vacuum you'll be forced to be his maid. Never choose to be a servant when well rounded men exist in the dating pool

A man who doesn't boast about you

He should be proud to have you as his partner. Everyone in his life should know that you two are dating. He should want to walk behind you and open doors for you so that everyone can see you before they see him. He should always want to hold your hand and feel disgusted when other people hit on him. If he says he "lives a private life" and doesn't want to post you on his social media or be seen kissing you in public it's because he doesn't want his wife and other girlfriend to catch him cheating

Never let anyone convince you that it's impossible to find a man of quality because "your standards are too high". You're the prize and for your sake you should never expect the bare minimum for love

[workersolidarity]

🇵🇸🇮🇱 I'm so tired of hearing about Hamas' "war crimes" against "Israeli civilians" even as Occupation Forces are on their 10th or 11th day of straight bombing residential neighborhoods in Gaza.

There is absolutely NOTHING civilian about Israeli settlers. They carry weapons publicly (which Palestinians cannot do) and use their positions of being a protected class under Israeli Law over Palestinians to beat, bully, rape, and murder them with impunity, and with the full backing of the Israeli Occupation Forces and the funding, arming, and training of the occupation forces by the United States Military.

Israeli settlers CHOOSE to bring their families to what is essentially a war zone where only one side has any significant weaponry. If you brought your child to Bakhmut and decided to settle into a home there and your home gets bombed by the Russians, are you blaming the Russians or yourself for knowingly bringing your family into danger?

It's so insane to call Hamas war criminals. You have to have no context for the present conflict to believe that.

For example, Hamas and the Palestinian people of Gaza previously tried non-violent protest in 2020 with the Great March of Return.

Palestinians in Gaza, with the full backing of Hamas, peacefully protested Israeli occupation near the fence that blockades Gaza in.

They had NO WEAPONS. They protested peacefully, non-violently; marching, chanting and singing and waving the Palestinian flag as they resisted Israeli occupation and oppression they've suffered under since the end of WWII.

And what happened?

Israeli Occupation Forces used snipers to gun down men, women and children peacefully protesting near the Israeli occupation fence, shooting civilians from Israeli territory into Gaza.

When the medics showed up to try saving the lives of those who were shot, Israeli Occupation Forces sniped the medics as well, killing many of them and resulting in the deaths of those they were trying to evacuate.

When journalists showed up to record the unprovoked violence, Occupation Forces shot them too, famously killing an Al Jazeera News journalists, Shireen Abu Akleh.

So what exactly are Palestinians supposed to do according to US and Israeli Elites?

The answer, of course, is leave or die. That is the proposition being offered by Israeli Occupation Forces and their Imperialist Western allies.

Leave or die.

So go ahead, call Hamas war criminals and terrorists if you like, but at the very least, remember they tried literally EVERYTHING before launching Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, and just like generations before, they died for trying.

Israeli settlers are NOT civilians. They are Colonialist occupiers ethnically cleansing an entire nation since 1948. Just because all you see of Palestine now are a few small enclaves surrounded by occupied territory, does not mean that "Israeli" territory isn't part of Palestine, it's ALL Palestine.

And Palestinians have an inherent RIGHT under International Law to fight that occupation through violent and non-violent means however they see fit.

Israel itself as a Zionist State is a War Crime.

#FreePalestine #FreeGaza

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[thegroundsofbrooklyn]

les mis enjoyers i have a question okay

[scotianostra]

On September 26th 1934 the Liner Queen Mary launched at John Brown’s shipyard, Clydebank.

The construction of still the unnamed Cunard Queen Mary ship began in December 1930 (the ship’s keel was laid down on 31 January 1931) in the yard of “John Brown & Co” at Clydebank. The launch was scheduled for May 1932, but the work on the ship was suspended in December 1931 due to the world economic depression. A loan of 9.5 million pounds from the Government was granted to the Cunard Line with enough money to complete the Queen Mary ship and to build a second liner – the Queen Elizabeth.

As a direct result of this most advantageous deal, the Cunard Line merged with its main rival White Star on 10th May 1934 into Cunard White Star Ltd. The Queen Mary construction resumed in April 1934, the liner was completed by August and launched on 26th September at a total cost of 3.5 million pounds sterling.

The work was completed in March 1936. The Queen Mary ship sailed out for preliminary trials and after being painted in Southampton, the liner was handed over to Cunard White Star Line on 11th May 1936. RMS Queen Mary ship first sailing was on 14th May with its Transatlantic itinerary being Southampton-Cherbourg-New York. By May 1937 the liner had carried a total of almost 57,000 passengers.

The main speed-rival of the QM ship was SS Normandie – a liner built in France and operated by the French Compagnie Generale Transatlantique line. The Queen Mary took the Blue Riband (the prestigious award given to a ship with the speed record for a transatlantic crossing) from the French liner SS Normandie in August 1938, with record speeds for both west- and eastbound crossings of the Atlantic Ocean – the average speeds was, respectively, 30,63 kn (35m25 mph, 56,7 km/h) and 30,14 kn (34,68 mph, 55,82 km/h).

In 1937, the Normandie liner was refitted with new propellers, enabling her to take the Blue Riband, but in 1938 the Queen Mary ship reclaim the honour for best speeds in both directions – westbound 30,99 kn (35,66 mph, 57.39 km/h) and eastbound 31,69 kn (36,47 mph, 58.69 km/h). This record was beaten by the SS United Sates liner in 1952.

The last commercial sailing of the ship Queen Mary was on 30 August 1939 departing from Southampton and then berthed at New York until the end of 1939. With the outbreak of the Second World War, she was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers for the duration of the war.

Following the war, Queen Mary was refitted for passenger service and along with Queen Elizabeth commenced the two-ship transatlantic passenger service for which the two ships were initially built. The two ships dominated the transatlantic passenger transportation market until the dawn of the jet age in the late 1950s. By the mid-1960s, Queen Mary was ageing and, though still among the most popular transatlantic liners, was operating at a loss.

After several years of decreased profits for Cunard Line, Queen Mary was officially retired from service in 1967. She left Southampton for the last time on 31 October 1967 and sailed to the port of Long Beach, California, United States, where she remains permanently moored. Much of the machinery, including one of the two engine rooms, three of the four propellers, and all of the boilers, were removed. The ship serves as a tourist attraction featuring restaurants, a museum and a hotel. The ship is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Trust for Historic Preservation has accepted the Queen Mary as part of the Historic Hotels of America.

RMS Queen Mary remains in Long Beach but recently it has been reported it is in need of significant repairs according to assessments and photos in 2019 and 2020. An estimated $289 million in repairs are needed after years of decline and the most recent operator going bankrupt.But even to “retire and recycle” the liner could cost up to $190m. One of the suggestions are to dismantle and sink the liner, although no long term plans have been finalised as yet.

The Queen Mary is due to open again to visitors next month, let’s hope someone can come up with a rescue plan to save her.

It has been mooted that it could return to the Clyde but the eyewatering amount of money it would take surely rules this out.

[mariacallous]

(JTA) — The fall of Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has opened up a sea of uncertainty about Syria’s future — and about the treasures of its past, including the remnants of its Jewish history.

A 13-year civil war has cost the country more than 600,000 lives and saw some 100,000 people “forcibly disappeared” into prisons by the Assad regime. The war has also wreaked havoc on Syria’s most important cultural sites — from ancient monuments, castles and mosques to the vestiges of a rich Jewish culture.

Well before the war, Syria’s historical synagogues and other Jewish sites languished in neglect after Jews left the country en masse surrounding Israel’s establishment. Now, archaeologists are beginning to assess how much more was lost to bombardment and wartime looting.

Syria was home to well established Jewish communities for more than 2,000 years, dating back to the Roman period, including Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492 and European Jewish merchants. But the 20th-century rise of Arab nationalist movements, along with a set of anti-Jewish laws and violence surrounding the establishment of Israel, resulted in waves of Jewish emigration.

About 100,000 Jews lived in Syria at the start of the 20th century, dropping to 15,000 in 1947. An anti-Jewish riot that year, followed by the creation of Israel in 1948, spurred many of the remaining Jews to leave — though they were not legally permitted to do so in most cases despite facing persecution in Syria. The Aleppo Codex, a landmark 10th-century copy of the Hebrew Bible, was damaged and secreted out of the country to Israel around that time.

By 1992, when Assad’s father acceded to pressure to let the Jews emigrate, there were about 4,000 Jews remaining in Aleppo and smaller numbers in Damascus and Qamishli. Most left the country shortly afterwards.

In 2011, a now-infamous Vogue profile of Asma al-Assad, Bashar’s wife, quoted her as saying that Jews fit into her vision of religious diversity in Syria. “There is a very big Jewish quarter in old Damascus,” she told the interviewer, who noted that homes in the quarter had been boarded up since the 1992 exodus. (The article was removed from the internet after drawing criticism for sanitizing the wife of a dictator, and his regime, but remains accessible in an archived form.)

In 2022, an estimate of Syria’s Jews counted only four; this year, the widely circulating number is three. Many Jewish sites have had no caretakers for decades, said Emma Cunliffe, an archaeologist with the Cultural Property Protection and Peace team at Newcastle University.

“In a conflict situation, that neglect intensifies,” said Cunliffe. “Those few people who remained to look after them were then unable to reach them. But then as the war progressed, the damage increased significantly.”

By 2020, nearly half of Syria’s Jewish sites were destroyed, according to a report from the Foundation for Jewish Heritage. The Jobar Synagogue in Damascus, one of few Jewish places of worship still visited by a handful of elderly Jews before the war, was mostly turned into rubble in 2014. A host of ancient Torah scrolls, tapestries, chandeliers and other artifacts from the synagogue went missing, with some resurfacing in Turkey.

The al-Bandara Synagogue, one of the oldest synagogues in Aleppo, also suffered damage during heavy fighting in the region. The synagogue had been renovated in the 1990s but was damaged again during the civil war in 2016. Cunliffe, who conducted a study of the site in 2017, said some parts of the building were destroyed and its courtyard was littered with debris. (A recent virtual reality exhibition at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem allowed visitors to explore the famed synagogue as it stood in 1947, using photographs taken by a local woman who later emigrated.)

Tadef, a town east of Aleppo, was once a popular destination for Jews because of its shrine to the Jewish scribe and prophet Ezra, who was said to stop there on his way to Jerusalem. But after a long period of neglect, the shrine was illegally excavated and looted both by rebel groups and Syrian government forces between 2021 and 2022, according to the rights group Syrians for Truth and Justice.

Scholars also worry about the ruins of Roman-era synagogues in Syria’s ancient cities, such as Apamea and Dura-Europos. Satellite imaging has shown that Dura-Europos was heavily looted while being held by Islamic State forces, according to Adam Blitz, a fellow of the Royal Anthropological Institute.

Remnants from the synagogue of Dura-Europos are treasured by museums, including the Yale University Art Gallery, which displays 40 tiles from the synagogue’s ceiling. But Blitz said other artifacts from the site are feared to have been pilfered by combatants.

“There has been tremendous fear about mosaics being looted,” he said.

The extent of the damage to Jewish sites is still difficult to assess, according to Cunliffe, who said the skills and training needed for forensic damage collection remain limited in the war-torn country. Investigations through satellite imagery will also take several months. It may take much longer to establish protection for these sites, as Syria’s cultural sector has been overlooked during the war and the Syrian Antiquities Authority has been consigned to a tiny budget.

As Syria hurtles into a new era, the fate of its heritage sites hangs in the balance. The country’s gems of Jewish history will only survive as far as its next regime allows, said Cunliffe.

The new regime has its roots in Islamic fundamentalist movements but in recent years has taken a pragmatic turn, leaving open questions about the fate of minorities and their interests under its governance.

“Support for the people who are in a position to access them and protect them is critical, and also the need for an inclusive society that will allow that to happen,” Cunliffe said about the historic Jewish sites. “We don’t know what the future of Syria looks like. Certainly, there’s a lot of fighting, and which group ultimately wins will dictate a lot of what is possible.”

[spacey-xannabelle]

Fateful Encounter...

Last month, at around April 10th, I decided to revisit an old project I started months prior which was to polish up a test sketch of a comic page about Lucy encountering Lumi in the dreamspace. And after slowly making progress on this, I'm finally finished with this!

I'm gonna leave some artist notes under the read more, but overall I'm super proud of how this turned out!! This is pretty much my first serious attempt at making comics in general so this has been a very interesting learning experience!

Artist notes: So this is what the original sketch for this whole thing was. It was just me scribbling out a scene I had in my head for Startrails that I wanted to put on paper:

This I'd say was made around 2020-2021 ish. At the time, I didn't really do much with it. Until several months ago, I thought of trying to redraw this page and expand upon it.

But my first attempt at doing this didn't quite lead anywhere. I barely got through the thumbnailing process and just gave up bc I lost motivation (and life/work stuff was Happening so yea I had to put this aside as I figured stuff out). Here's the first draft of the thumbnails:

It was just two pages at the time and was pretty simple. I left this project sitting in my files for a while until I one day just, started binging videos from Thestarfishface on YouTube, primarily her webcomic guide videos. And I decided I'd give this project another go.

It was here where I began making a second draft of the thumbnails and this was what I had to work with:

I wanted to experiment with the panels and get funky with the compositions this time around. The 2 page draft expanded to a 3 page thing. But I thought it would've been better if I added one more page at the end with Lucy waking up as a conclusion to wrap this whole thing together.

And in the middle of working on page 3, my friend had suggested to do a an impact frame page, which I hadn't considered during the thumbnailing, so 4 pages became 5. And this was the result!

I posted the pages as I finished them onto my deviantart so that's where a lot of my thoughts were journaled as I went along dfjsdh. To summarize my ramblings there, this project was a very fun (and a bit frustrating) learning experience! I'm hoping to keep practicing and improving my workflow, and hopefully one day make Startrails a full fledged webcomic :')

Additional ramblings:

The structure that Lucy finds Lumi in is inspired by an orrery.

For page 5, I initially didn't plan for much dialogue but as I drew it, it felt just a liiiitle bit empty, so I kinda just threw in some dialogue for Mira. But bc I was already in the inking process (and I just wanted to have this project completed), I didn't redo the page to even include Mira in it. So Mira's just out of frame sdfjskdh. If I had more time and energy to keep this up, I'd have made a revision of the page so I could include her.

This experience has taught me that I could seriously work on my rendering process a bit more, and that my layer management is just atrocious sdkfjksdfh

This has also taught me that while Medibang has the tools needed for me to draw these pages just fine, it also lacks some stuff that I personally need if I were to do a longer project like this. So I'll be experimenting with CSP next!

The dialogue throughout this whole thing wasn't all that planned out- I really just stuck close to what the initial doodle had which probably wasn't the best idea bc I just have like, 2 pages of Lucy's awkward sounding dialogue aaaa. I might do something a bit more dialogue heavy to help improve this skill next time.

Anyway, thank you for reading through my 1 am ramblings on this little project of mine shdkjhks

[bandcampsnoop]

11/13/24.

You all know that either Micah or I will post something directly or tangentially about David Kilgour (Dunedin, New Zealand) pretty regularly. It would be interesting to count how many times he's been mentioned over the past 10 years (10th anniversary is coming up in December).

I bought the "Left by Soft" LP (Arch Hill Recordings) off of Discogs the other day and it's been fun listening to this Merge release again. Kilgour can always hit the sweet spot. I also read the AllMusic release and loved it. It's one of Ned Raggett's reviews (you can follow him on Bandcamp). I thought I would just include his review:

David Kilgour's way with music over the years is the kind of gift of talent that maintains its own pace; without being demonstrative about it, he just seems to release one excellent album after another in group, collaborative, and solo contexts, where one listen is all it takes to remind someone of just how good he is. Such is the case with his latest album backed by the Heavy Eights, Left by Soft, where the opening instrumental title track has not one, but two brilliant solos that seem to float above the energetic, crisp chug of the main arrangement like birds skimming over a lake. It's a hell of a start, and from there Left by Soft maintains an easy grace song for song, Kilgour is still in good voice and creates lyrics that are often gently unusual in their understated metaphoric impact. Little surprise, then, that he grapples with the subject of lyrics directly on the understated, country-flecked "Pop Song" and does so with his typical skill, promising someone that "I'll write you a pop song one day," then following it up with the question "Did you swallow a bucket of words?" When he combines that kind of gift with his playing the results can be lovely; thus the idea of "A Break in the Weather" may seem like a well-worn comparison point, but when, again, his solo comes to the fore toward the end of the song, it really does feel that the sun has come out through the clouds. The soft flanging and chimes on "Steel Arrow" and "Diamond Mine" show that the New Zealand reputation of melodic rock remains strong, while the concluding instrumental "Purple Balloon" balances a quiet but energetic band performance with a simply lovely Kilgour lead that is a spotlight moment if there ever was one. The group's overall gift for handling their arrangements in contrast shows up throughout: thus, "Way Down Here" starts with what sounds like a gentler tune, only to turn more tightly wound and almost manic toward the end, Kilgour's singing gaining a suddenly sharper edge as the band rips into a surging crunch at once triumphant and, as with the song lyric, sliding on a descent. "Autumn Sun" plays up that melancholic/glam-derived musical sense even more; if anything, it almost sounds like a song by the Church, not a bad place to be at all. But given the the Heavy Eights' strengths throughout, it makes more sense to say that Kilgour's definitely found his own personal Crazy Horse.

Also, RIP Tane Tokona (drummer in The Heavy Eights)...not sure if Micah or I mentioned that back in 2020.

[its-nekodon]

This is the third and probably last Fnaf Anniversary post. In the last two, I expressed my feelings about five nights at Freddy's and showed my fanart that I've made over these 10 years of fnaf. In this post, I'll show my most recent art, from 2018 to 2024.

First, I would like to show you a piece of art that I've made back in 2015, of my fnaf oc Kento and a cyborg oc from a completely different story.

I then decided to redraw this in 2017.

I was absolutely blown away by the progress that I've made in those 2 years. It was really nice to see the improvement, and I highly recommend it to everyone to redraw art, to see your improvement and your progress with art. It really helps and inspires to draw even better in the future. I decided to keep going and redrew it again in 2020, and the results speak for themselves.

This was in 2020...it's time to redraw it again, and what year is better than the year of the 10th anniversary of the game that inspired it. Stay tuned.

The next drawings, like I said, are some pieces of art that I've made in 2018 to 2024.

That was the last bid of fanart that I've made for a while. I kind of got bored for a while, but then Security Breach rolled around, and it was the first game that I was able to play. I had a shitty px back then ( still do). I made some sketches here and there but nothing much..ans then this new game was released and I played it and I was blown away for all the wrong reasons. We all know by now that Security Breach was...well..broken, unfinished, and honestly very disappointing, but..I still had lots and lots of fun playing, and it holds a very, very special place in my heart. This game also inspired me to try and attempt to 'Fix' it. I started to rewrite all of Security, mainly the antagonist, because they massacred my girl. Vanessa specifically was the reason I started this rewrite. It's not done yet, but it's at a point where I can say that it's good and interesting and dark as hell. I really tried to pump up the horror. I don't know if I succeeded, I don't know if it's really good, or if it's just my own biased... I'll see when I post eventually. I want to know what people would think, will think? I'll post it as soon as it's done and ready to get out there. But in the meantime, enjoy some art that I've made of Vanessa, the Vanessa in my rewrite...my AU, so to say.

WARNING! BLOOD AND POSSIBLY UPSETTING IMAGERY!

There she is, in all her glory. If you have any questions, to what the hell happens to Vanessa, feel free to ask.

Art (c) @its-nekodon

Scrap Baby, Vanessa/Vanny (c) Scott Cawthon, Steel Wool Studios, Five nights at Freddy's Pizzaria Simulator, Security Breach

[maristelina]

MILGRAM 1st Anniversary Stream Translation Part 1

Translated by @/JuriTea_ and @/CatDraft0307 29 Pages, 7200 words.

🎴 Host 🔸Takuya Yamanaka (Scenario writer)

🎴 Guest Voice Actors 🔸Amami Yurina (Es) 🔸Horie Shun (Haruka) 🔸Aimi (Kotoko)

🎴 Translation begins 10 minutes in the Stream.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Ever since this has been published, there hasn’t been much on Kotoko.

🔸Horie (Haruka): That’s true, Kotoko is one of the last.

🔸Yamanaka: It’s tough being the 10th.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Exactly!

🔸Horie (Haruka): Even I personally don’t really know much about what kind of person Kotoko is, and not really clear on what she had done, so I’m excited to find out.

🔸Yamanaka: It’s a long spanning game. I’m sure there are people who are increasingly shocked as the Milgram stories are released charater by character. We can only wonder about Kotoko, who is the last.

🔸Everyone: Please look forward to it!

🔸Yamanaka: We’ve received a lot of comments, we have around 2000 viewers already.

🔸Amami (Es): Hello~ I mean, Good evening~

🔸Yamanaka: We’ll be addressing the comments as well

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): There are a lot of fans from overseas

🔸Yamanaka: There are! We have a lot of comments from our overseas fans

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): There are shout outs for Kotoko

🔸Yamanaka: Kotoko, what are the two of you holding?

🎴Jackalope Bunny Plush Talk

🔸Yamanaka (Around 11.59): Let’s go over a recap of what’s been happening on Milgram so far. Please see the first slide.

🔸Yamanaka: The project Milgram started one year ago, on 04/27/2020. Viewer participatory/interactive music project. All songs are produced by DECO*27, world building and scenario by Yamanaka Takuya, and music video by OTOIRO.

🔸Yamanaka: The viewers become prison warden Es, and speculate the sins of the 10 “murderers” to pass judgment whether to forgive/not forgive. The story progresses based on the results of the judgment.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): I’m sure all of you (viewers) were excited when this was announced, but we were also super excited when we received offers to join this project.

🔸Es/Horie (Haruka): We were!

🔸Yamanaka: You probably couldn’t make sense of any of it just from the documents right?

🔸Horie (Haruka): Still, it tickled my otaku-heart, like to forgive or not to forgive, or the fact that everyone has committed some sort of sin.

🔸Amami (Es): The world building is phenomenal

🔸Yamanaka: We listed out everything the characters did in the documents when we sent them to you, so it must be not be easy to voice act while hiding that knowledge.

🔸Everyone: True, you have a point.

🔸Yamanaka: And now we’re faced with the super difficult challenge of being asked all sorts of questions on live, and not allowed to disclose any spoilers.

🔸Amami (Es): We’re pretty limited on what we’re allowed to disclose.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Especially Kotoko-san.

🔸Yamanaka: Kotoko-san is still a complete enigma.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): You guys know nothing about her yet, right?

🔸Yamanaka: Only that she’s cool.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): I know everything though.

🔸Horie (Haruka): What’s wrong with you?

🔸Yamanaka: It’s fun to look at all the speculations when you know everything already.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Yup. Speculations are fun to read

🔸Everyone: Yup.

🔸Yamanaka: There’s a lot of clues scattered throughout the MVs, and I get startled sometimes when I read all the speculations.

🔸Horie (Haruka): There are a lot of them that are on the right track.

🔸Amami (Es): I think to myself “that’s so close!” as I read all the theories in the comments. There’s also a lot of comments in English from overseas fans, but unfortunately I’m bad at English so I don’t understand. I do feel immense passion though, I truly thank everyone for the comments!

🔸Yamanaka: When we designed the characters and their sins, we tried to design them in a way that is open for interpretation depending on how each viewer feels, and encourage differences in opinions. For example, some sins may be legally wrong, or something that you can’t forgive emotionally, and some may be interpreted differently due to cultural differences and different upbringings. So we encourage people from all walks of life to participate, to increase the diversity and depth in the results.

🔸Yamanaka: Next I want to ask… Do you have a prisoner that you’re interested in other than your own character?

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Ohh…

🔸Horie (Haruka): What a difficult question.

🔸Amami (Es): I’d like to know from you two.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Umm.. you know…?

🔸Amami (Es): Yes, I know everything. laughs

🔸Horie (Haruka)/Aimi (Kotoko): contemplates

🔸Amami (Es): It’s alright, Milgram has everything

🔸Yamanaka: That’s right… from emotion to law to ethics to your tastes/preferences/kink (TN: 性癖 Not sexual. A lot more innocent in Japanese).

🔸Amami (Es): An abundance.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Ummm I felt the pressure from Yamanaka-san earlier to like Amane-chan, but I’m kind of scared of Amane-chan… I mean, it’s not limited to Amane-chan, but there are a lot of characters that look like they have a line that I shouldn’t cross. I feel like if I stepped over that line, there’s no going back… and everyone has that line. Honestly it’s hard to find a bias.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Bias, huh. When it comes to finding a bias, I mean, everyone is kind of… weird.

🔸Amami (Es): So who do you like?

🔸Horie (Haruka): Well if we are talking looks, I like Amane-chan.

🔸Amami (Es): Thank you.

🔸Horie (Haruka): But it’s a difficult question.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): I’m actually interested in Haruka a lot. Horie-san’s songs are so good. I get into a lot of things through songs, so when I first heard them, I thought “Wow, what a voice” and it left a strong impression on me.

🔸Amami (Es): It’s very delicate.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Weren’t we so nervous?

🔸Amami (Es): Yes!

🔸Horie (Haruka): You were the first and I was the second - now I’m first - being the first person to create such music content made me so nervous. Plus, Undercover was so well done, so I was extra nervous going after you.

🔸Yamanaka: We gathered voice actors who can sing well from all times and places.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): All times and places laughs

🔸Everyone: Thank you.

🔸Es/Kotoko/Haruka? (TN: everyone is talking at the same time and it’s all jumbled T_T): I want to taste the betrayal/betrayal is part of the fun

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Even if you like their looks, maybe you’ll be like “oh no, I can’t support that anymore!” later on, or the opposite might be true too.

🔸Yamanaka: It happens in real life too, right? Some people turn out completely different from their first impressions.

🔸Horie (Haruka): It happens.

🔸Yamanaka: Just like Horie kun said, first impressions may change, and they might betray you, but if you gather the courage and make them your bias regardless, you can enjoy the impact from the change in character.

🎴 UNDERCOVER by Es

🔸Yamanaka: Next slide please. The first song is from the warden who oversees the prisoners, Es, “Undercover”. How did you feel when you received the documents for Undercover and was asked to sing?

🔸Amami (Es): I love Deco27-san’s songs, and the song was packed with Deco27-san’s worldview, so I was really really happy when I was asked to sing this song. I was looking forward to the recording every single day

🔸Yamanaka: As you know I write the scenarios and Deco-san uploads the music. When I hear the music from Deco-san, I am astounded every time. Especially when I heard the intro for Undercover, I was like, “Ah, this is amazing, this is the beginning”

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Have you sang as a boy before this?

🔸Amami (Es): No, I haven’t. I didn’t have much experience with music contents. To me, Es is my magnum opus. But I’ve always wanted to sing in this kind of voice, so this allowed me to achieve a lot of my dreams, as we speak.

🔸Horie (Haruka): I like Undercover so much, that I just spam the link to actors who aren’t even involved in Milgram.

🔸Amami (Es): Thank you lol

🔸Yamanaka: I’ve had the opportunity to listen to Amami-san’s voice before, so Deco-san and I knew what to expect

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): It’s amazing that you’re able to pick such a perfect fit

🔸Amami (Es): Thank you.

🔸Yamanaka: It’s fun to do a role you’ve never done before right?

🔸Amami (Es): Yes, thank you for the opportunity.

🔸Yamanaka: So Undercover was released on 5/15, then followed by the prisoners’ songs. Next slide please… oh sorry I made a mistake. Here we have an intriguing scene, we have Es, warden, and scattered boxes… this scene feeds everyone’s imagination.

🔸Haruka/Others: The number of the boxes also trigger intrigue.

🔸Yamanaka: Let’s take a look at the next slide… It’s the chorus. In the choruses, we can see the fearful faces of the prisoners come together gradually. Next slide please.

🔸Horie (Haruka): This looks kind of scary when you take a closer look.

🔸Amami (Es): There’s a lot of comments asking about what’s going on in this scene.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): True, it’s hard to tell what’s going on here

🔸Yamanaka: What do you think? It seems like there’s a lot being done to Es.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Everyone speculates about the prisoners and whether to forgive or not, but the speculation already starts here.

🔸Yamanaka: I started this project wanting to enjoy the speculation with the viewers, but the depth and speed that everyone forms their speculations far exceeds my expectation… I’m a little startled. So that’s how Milgram began, and the first song from a prisoner is this. Next slide please.

🎴 Weakness by Haruka

🔸Aimi (Kotoko)/Amami (Es): Ah, here it goes

🔸Yamanaka: What do you think? It’s about you..

🔸Horie (Haruka): Um… What should I do?! Is what I thought. I thought it was very difficult from the documents I received. I’ve had the opportunity to sing a lot of character songs that are catchy and melodious, but it was my first time working on a more serious and full-fledged song made by Deco*27. There’s a lot of falsettos and the key was pretty high.

🔸Amami (Es): It’s very high isn’t it?

🔸Horie (Haruka): I haven’t had much opportunity to sing these kind of songs so I was nervous and excited as I recorded it.

🔸Yamanaka: Haruka was very fun.

🔸Amami (Es): Is that so?

🔸Yamanaka: Even the voice recordings were super fun.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Regardless whether it was voice recordings or the song, Yamanaka-san told me to make it nauseating.

🔸Yamanaka: I don’t care if no one likes Haruka, just make it as nauseating as possible

🔸Horie (Haruka): That’s what he told me! There was a part of me that wanted to make Haruka a popular and likable character, but I was told to expel all impure thoughts and intentions

🔸Yamanaka: It didn’t matter if Haruka couldn’t get a single view – that’s how much I emphasized on just building the character.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Even with that, I saw a lot of comments saying they’ll support Haruka for life.

🔸Yamanaka: There’s the reality in a character that has been finessed.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): The chorus is very memorable… I always end up singing it at home.

🔸Horie (Haruka): People who start by liking him are probably those who like to make life difficult for themselves.

🔸Yamanaka: Are you sure you want to say that? There’s one right beside you.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Oh right lol!

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Umm… I guess you’re right. Oh, and you got to do a cover for Two Breaths Walking, I’m very envious.

🔸Horie (Haruka): I think it was my generation. When I was a student, it’s a song that was played over the speakers at school during lunch. It’s that kind of song. (TN: in Japan, the school would play various music/songs during lunch hour through the school PA system)

🔸Yamanaka: You’re in that generation?

🔸Amami (Es): That was our youth.

🔸Yamanaka: I feel a generation gap. I’m the same age as Deco-san, so those type of songs wouldn’t play during lunch for us. Let’s take a look at the MV. Here we have Haruka, we used a collage-multimedia style MV.

🔸Amami (Es): It looks unsettling.

🔸Yamanaka: It’s a change from the anime-style Undercover.

🔸Amami (Es): Can I ask a question? I’ve been reading the comments and there’s a lot of questions around whether if the Haruka seen here is actually Haruka, or his sibling.

🔸Yamanaka: I can’t answer that. Next please.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Oh no it moved on.

🔸Amami (Es): I really want to know!

🔸Yamanaka: Yes, I understand many of you want to know, but I can’t tell you anything at the current stage, so we’ll just have to speculate.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Only suspicion.

🔸Yamanaka: Next slide please. The last scene.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko?): ah, it’s precious

🔸Horie (Haruka): Which emotion?

🔸Yamanaka: Which emotion does this represent?

🔸Amami (Es): I wonder which?

🔸Yamanaka: I hope everyone can enjoy speculating which is it.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): It’s so heartbreaking.

🎴 Umbilical by Yuno

🔸Yamanaka: Let’s move on to the next song. Yuno’s Umbilical was release on July 17th. The change in musical style after Haruka’s Survival of the Fittest (TN: the Japanese title of Haruka’s song Weakness) must have been a surprise.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko?): It’s very different.

🔸Horie (Haruka): I thought the style would be consistent with Weakness.

🔸Amami (Es): Me too.

🔸Yamanaka: People wonder what would come after Undercover and Weakness, and then we’re hit with this.

🔸Horie (Haruka): It took me by surprise.

🔸Yamanaka: we’re receiving a lot of comments that Yuno is cute.

🔸Amami (Es): Yuno-chan is so popular. When I search Milgram on Twitter, I see how immense Yuno-chan’s popularity is. I want to rest on her lap for 1000 yen too.

🔸Yamanaka: 1000 is cheap.

🔸Amami (Es): For real. Please, I beg you!

🔸Horie (Haruka): Who are you begging?

🔸Yamanaka: She’s begging Yuno-chan.

🔸Yamanaka: Yuno chan is pretty prickly in the dramas… She’s not an easy person to deal with and it’s demonstrated well through the great acting.

🔸Horie (Haruka): That’s true, Aisaka-kun’s way of acting and singing captures Yuno’s essence exquisitely… I can’t get into more details, but really shows Yuno’s vibe.

🔸Yamanaka: Let’s take a look at the MV

🔸Everyone: so cute! I love the colors.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Um this scene… you’ve heard it from Yamanaka-san already right? This scene really traumatized me.

🔸Aimi(?): Trauma?

🔸Horie (Haruka): Yes… traumatic.

🔸Yamanaka: Next please! Here we have デイのシーン? (TN: I couldn’t really catch what scene he’s referring to. He says Day Scene, but idk what a day scene is?)

🔸Amami (Es): this is nice, the karaoke screen at the back is a cover song.

🔸Yamanaka: Yes, there are easter eggs.

🔸Amami (Es): I want her to come Karaoke with me~

🔸Yamanaka: After the project took off, eventually the MVs will come out. But when I first wrote the story and Deco san composed, then I’m like, ah, so this is how (the story) is portrayed. I’ve had a lot of moments like that. I think it will build up to an exciting result one prose at a time. Next slide please. Yuno-chan falling.

🔸Horie (Haruka): She’s falling.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): She’s wearing an undershirt. No peeking at her tummy.

🔸Yamanaka: I like that. Usually people would wear it.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): True, usually people wear an undershirt but in 2D world usually you get to peek at their tummy.

🔸Yamanaka: I’m the type who want to make them wear undershirts.

🔸Horie (Haruka): you prefer realistic portrayals. Old man’s peculiar taste.

🔸Yamanaka: that’s a bit, um…

🔸Amami (Es): Please stop that lol.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Please stop that? LOL.

🎴 Bring it On / Jihen Jotou by Futa

🔸Yamanaka: What we have next is very different once again.

🔸Everyone: AHHHHH Fuuta… wahh….

🔸Amami (Es): Amazing!

🔸Horie (Haruka): Lounsbery-san is a genius, for real.

🔸Yamanaka: He’s really given his all for us.

🔸Amami (Es): His growling is top notch

🔸Horie (Haruka): Like where is that voice coming from?

🔸Yamanaka: We really had him give his all.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): It sounds like it would strain his throat.

🔸Horie (Haruka): What was this throat like after it was done?

🔸Yamanaka: He’s really tough. We told him, “we’re good with this take” but he’ll ask us if he can do another take.

🔸Horie (Haruka): He’s so cool.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko)/Amami (Es): So dependable

🔸Yamanaka: I was amazed by the musical range of Milgram.

🔸Amami (Es): Why is Futa wearing a mask?

🔸Yamanaka: Let’s move on to the next slide!

🔸Horie (Haruka): Even that’s classified?

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): It’s an arcade.

🔸Yamanaka: My only choice is to deny all questions. It’s so sad.

🔸Yamanaka: In this scene we get a peek into Futa’s daily life.

🔸Horie (Haruka): He seems so left out.

🔸Everyone: LOL not fitting in.

🔸Horie (Haruka): They’re together, but…

🔸Yamanaka: Next slide please

🔸Amami (Es): This is so awesome!

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Very awesome!

🔸Amami (Es): It’s so unique to portray an MV like a game.

🔸Yamanaka: This MV is like a peek into his mind/how he sees the world in his mind, it lets us see how he sees his own sin. It really demonstrates Otoiro-san’s techniques and creativity.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Could there be a meaning to the number 1014?

🔸Yamanaka: Let’s move on to the next slide.

🔸Horie (Haruka): I want to know what the 1014 means.

🔸Yamanaka: This scene shows us that Futa has this side to him as well.

🔸Amami (Es): He’s been coming off strong/confident up until now, but this scene suddenly shows uncertainty/anxiety and makes people wonder.

🔸Yamanaka: Futa is usually full of himself, but he has a weaker side, and this shows that people are multifaceted.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): There’s a gap in personality.

🔸Amami (Es): True, everyone is head over heels for this gap.

🔸Yamanaka: True, Futa-kun is loved.

🔸Amami (Es): Cocky characters receive all the love.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Ultimately, they’re adorable.

🔸Horie (Haruka): And yet, he wasn’t forgiven.

🔸Yamanaka: It’s really a test of whether you can still think they’re cute or cool once you find out the truth about them.

🎴 Afterpain by Mu

🔸Yamanaka: We have a problematic person coming up as well… next slide please. Mu-chan.

🔸Everyone: Ahhh…. She’s here.

🔸Amami (Es)/Aimi (Kotoko?): A pretty girl.

🔸Horie (Haruka): So ephemeral. Her voice is really clear.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko?): Her voice is the best.

🔸Amami (Es): She really sounds ephemeral.

🔸Yamanaka: I agree. The clarity of her voice and (the clarity/ephemeralness) of her character really matches well. I can say this for everyone, but Kouri-san’s singing is so good.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): She’s really good! She can sing any kind of songs.

🔸Yamanaka: That’s true. She’s really good at getting the pitches right.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): She’s a genius at giving the right nuances.

🔸Yamanaka: Let’s take a look at the next slide.

🔸Amami (Es): Thumbnail!

🔸Yamanaka: Mu-chan had a lot of specific scenes.

🔸Amami (Es): True, she had scenes that were expressed in direct/literal ways.

🔸Yamanaka: Her character is also pretty different between her MV and her drama, and how you interpret her character really changes depending on how far you pursue this character.

🔸Amami (Es): That’s true… the comments from the people who heard her drama part are mostly confused, like “What should I do with this (information)?”

🔸Yamanaka: Even in the real world, for example a news story about a murder, you’d have very different opinions depending on if you just read the headline, vs when you watch the whole thing, vs when you do more research on the person.

🔸Amami (Es): yes, the information keeps getting updated.

🔸Yamanaka: The interpretation completely changes depending on people’s interest levels

🔸Yamanaka: Next slide please.

🔸Yamanaka: Who is this?

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Who?

🔸Yamanaka: I wonder who?

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): It’s an obviously different face, drawn in a such a clear shot.

🔸Yamanaka: Yes… for the other characters, everyone other than themselves are drawn rather abstractly.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Yeah, even for Haruka, the other characters were rather scribbly.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Yeah we couldn’t see their faces.

🔸Yamanaka: I wonder we’ll find out who she is eventually…?

🔸Amami (Es): Aww, eventually…!

🔸Yamanaka: I like this part.. Next slide please.

🔸Amami (Es): Ahh, it’s here, the scene in question.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Judging by the results we know this scene, but it’s hard to tell which one is which (TN: I’m assuming she means which one is initiating the killing). Only these two know.

🔸Yamanaka: Mu-chan said it herself; it’s true that she committed murder, but you wouldn’t understand unless if you’ve been in her shoes.

🔸Amami (Es): It’s drawn pretty directly here, but she was forgiven. “Not forgive” was the majority until near the end of the vote, but ultimately “forgive” won at the end. I wonder if the wardens have had a change of heart.

🔸Horie (Haruka): “I forgave her, even though I didn’t want to” I’ve been seen these in the comments.

🔸Yamanaka: It feels like real society, where you have people who know the complete story currently available through both the drama and song, trying to convince people who only listened to the song to listen to the entire story before forgiving her.

🎴 Throw Down by Shidou

🔸Yamanaka: Let’s move onto the next song. Shidou-san.

🔸Aimi (or Amami): The one in charge of sexiness.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): He’s so stylish.

🔸Yamanaka: Throw Down, in terms of musical range, is rather unexpected for Shidou.

🔸Amami (Es): It’s so good.

🔸Yamanaka: He’s so cool.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): The way he sings is also sexy.

🔸Yamanaka: This song makes me feel mellow.

🔸Amami (Es): Yes.. but initially, he was singing one octave lower right?

🔸Yamanaka: yes… We practically had him retake it until it fit Shidou’s image. We spent as much time as we could on the vocals.

🔸Horie (Haruka): whose proposal was it to raise an octave?

🔸Yamanaka: Originally we were doing it in this key, because we were focused on Shidou’s image and to make sure it suits Shidou’s appearance, so we were like let's do it in this octave. But ultimately, we said, let’s raise an octave. There were a lot of trial and error.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Shugo-san is amazing for being able to keep up with all of that.

🔸Yamanaka: Yes… it’s a unique case, but we recorded the voice (lines), then the song, and we did retakes of the voice stocks to match results of the song.

🔸Amami (Es): Ehh, really?!

🔸Yamanaka: Yeah.. Shidou’s a complex person so there were a lot of trial and error.

🔸Yamanaka: Let's take a look at a shot from the MV.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): Ah, so good! His gaze.

🔸Horie (Haruka): He’s beautiful.

🔸Amami (Es): His skin is so clear.

🔸Horie (Haruka): He has such fair skin.

🔸Amami (Es): there are no bad people among people who part their hair at the middle.

🔸Yamanaka: I don’t think that’s true.

🔸Horie (Haruka): Really? I think there are plenty lol.

🔸Yamanaka: The two beauty marks under his eyes are sexy.

🔸Amami (Es): It’s too sexy that they are a pair.

🔸Yamanaka: Let’s take a look at the next slide

🔸Yamanaka: We get to learn about what kind of person Shidou is in real life for the most part.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): His profession is clear.

🔸Amami (Es): Like a doctor, most likely.

🔸Yamanaka: It’s a difficult job, so there’s probably a lot going on.

🔸Amami (Es): it’s a job that affects human lives.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): there’s a comment saying they want to listen to the lower octave song.

🔸Amami (Es): I want to listen too.

🔸Yamanaka: sorry… for being the only ones who had heard it.

🔸Yamanaka: Shidou-san’s drama and interrogation also causes confusion on what kind of person he is. He’s that type of person, so I hope you’ll watch over him from now too. Next slide please.

🔸Amami (Es): This place collapses right?

🔸Yamanaka: yes. He’s making human shapes from flower arrangements in the MV, and ultimately it collapses at the end.

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): He was in a white coat just now, but now he’s in a black shirt. The color scheme changed completely.

🔸Yamanaka: Yes.. when I saw the MV from Otoiro-san, I felt that expressions were portrayed in very intricate ways. I hope they are viewed many times.

🔸Amami (Es): it’s very detailed.

🔸Yamanaka: I’m being told that the way I brush past questions with a chuckle is scary.. I’m sorry for that. That’s my only option.

🔸Amami (Es): Ah true, there’s a lot that you can’t disclose.

🔸Yamanaka: I don’t mind telling it all though, just spoil everything.

🔸Amami (Es): Still, we’ll just keep asking you questions regardless.

🔸Yamanaka: Okay. I’ll say “I can’t answer any of that.”

🔸Aimi (Kotoko): We know what to expect now.

[boxboxblog]

Driver Profiles: Yuki Tsunoda

Updated December 2024

Name: Yuki Tsunoda

Age: 24

Nationality: Japanese

Years in F1: 4 (AlphaTauri/VCARB 2021-Present)

Number: 22

WDCs: N/A

Driving Style: One of the newest drivers on track, Tsunoda is known for his aggression, raw speed, and temper. He drives in an extremely modern way, compared to many of the older drivers who still drive with traces of more classic styles. He tends to pull bold overtakes and does a lot of late-braking maneuvers, and this allows him to be very assertive in wheel-to-wheel situations. On the negative side, Tsunoda's temper and aggression leads him make mistakes, and he has been criticized for his lack of consistency. This aggression also means he pushes the car very hard, and wears out his tires fast.

History:

Tsunoda was born to a racing family, with a father racing in the Gymkhana Car Competition in Japan. He grew up around the track, and started karting when he was 5 years old. In 2006 he won the series championship at the Nakai Inner Circuit, where he had watched his father race. He started professional carting in 2010, joining the JAF Junior Karting Championship, before moving to the regional class in 2013 (winning that series) and to the national class in 2014. In 2015 he placed second in the All Japan Karting Championship FS125 Class.

(Young Tsunoda in his karting days)

In 2016, Tsunoda graduated from Honda's Suzuka Circuit Racing School in the advanced formula class and became a member of the Honda Formula Dream Project. In the same year he made his single-seater debut in the F4 Japanese Championship  in a one-off event in Suzuka. At this race he earned his 1st podium. 2017 was when he started his first full season in the F4 Japanese Championship while also competing in the regional championship. He would go on to get 1st in the regional and 3rd in the national championship. 2018 Tsunoda would continue in Japanese F4, and win the championship with 7 race wins.

(Tsunonda in the F4 Japanese Championship series)

2018 Tsunoda would join the Red Bull Junior program after Honda became engine suppliers for the F1 team. He joined the FIA Formula 3 Championship that year, winning one race in Monza and achieving 9th in the standings. Tsunoda also competed in the Euroformula Open Championship during this time, and finished 4th in the standings. Early 2020 it was announced that Tsunoda would be moving up to Formula 2 for the 2020 season. Before that, he competed in the 2020 Toyota Racing Series and placed 4th.

(Tsunoda on top step of podium during F3, along with future RB teammate Liam Lawson, left)

His 2020 F2 debut was a relatively positive for a rookie, with some high points finishes and podiums, but also a few races where he scored very low. He finished his season in 3rd. During that season he test drove his first F1 car, for Toro Rosso/AlphaTauri. He would go on to be announced for the 2021 AlphaTauri lineup.

(Tsunoda during F2 days)

His first year at AlphaTauri was a mix between good and bad. While he had some fantastic results (highest being 4th) he also had some very poor ones, often finishing outside of points and being our paced by his teammate Pierre Gasly. However, he was near universally praised for his rookie season, with the F1 Technical Director calling it the best rookie season he had seen in a few. 2022, however, was a difficult year for Tsunoda, usually finishing outside of points position. His best finish was 10th, and this race ended a streak of zero points finishes. He was outpaced by his teammate once again, and would finish 17th in the championship

(Tsunoda and Gasly in their AlphaTauri's)

He would be retained by AlphaTauri for 2023, partnering Nyck de Vries (who would be replaced by Daniel Riccardo halfway), and would have another difficult year. He would score low points a handful of times throughout the season. the most positive moment for Tsunoda was in Abu Dhabi, where he led the race for a short time, his first lead ever. Unfortunately he would drop down to 8th, but still showed improvement.

In 2024 AlphaTauri rebranded to RB (often called VCARB) and Tsunoda was retained. He has had a more positive year, outpacing teammate Daniel Riccardo (who was replaced by Liam Lawson after the Singapore GP), but still regularly ends up outside of the points. In the 2024 Japanese GP he would happily finish in 10th, becoming the first Japanese driver since 2012 to score points on home soil. The most positive aspect of that year for Tsunoda is that his qualifying pace has been stellar, regularly making it into Q3. He finished the season 12th in the standings.

He is set to remain with RB for the 2025 season.

(Tsunoda with the 2024 VCARB car)

Major Races:

2021 Bahrain GP - His debut race in F1, he finished in 9th scoring some points for his team. He made some fantastic overtakes during the race, including a memorable last-lap one on Lance Stroll. It was an impressively confident race despite his inexperience.

2021 Abu Dhabi - His highest finish ever of 4th, he took advantage of the chaos, overtaking on his teammate to take the higher finish of the two AlphaTauri's.

2022 Emilia Romagna GP - One of his strongest race performances yet, he finished in 7th after multiple bold, yet crafty, overtakes. He showed his evolving race craft and willingness to push the limit in a lesser car.

2022 Spanish GP - While his finish was not fantastic (only 10th) he showed remarkably improved composure compared to previous races. This displayed how Tsunoda was evolving as a racer, and how he overcomes his main weakness to make his race craft better.

2024 Japanese GP - A happy race for Japan after Tsunoda became the first points scorer on home soil since 2012. While he did finish just inside the points (10th), it was a monumental day for Japanese fans and Tsunoda.

Cheers,

-B

[copper-dragon-in-disguise]

Ik you like talking about this and I’m actually like rly interested so what’s the aids quilt and triangle shirtwaist factory fire?

(It’s in your bio and as you probably know I hate looking stuff up and prefer talking to people-you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to)

*jumps up like the human equivalent of !!! and sprints to the computer to answer this properly with sources and shit* !!!!!!!!!!!

YOU WANT TO KNOW ABOUT THE TRIANGLE SHIRTWAIST FACTORY FIRE AND THE AIDS QUILT?????????? !!!!!!!!!!!! YOU ARE GOING TO REGRET THIS SO MUCH ASTER I'M SO EXICTED I'M NOT GOING TO SHUT UP FOR LIKE AN HOUR THIS IS AMAZING

(you have unlocked the Special Interests and now i won't shut up ever. :DDDDDDDDDD)

....well. I wasn't going to put a cut and then it got really, really long, so there's a cut about halfway through for the sake of peoples dashboards.

first up:

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire

(tw/cw: intentional endangerment of workers, death, suicide (unplanned/unintentional), graphic depiction of death)

short version: the triangle shirtwaist factory fire was one of the deadliest industrial disasters in US History and, I believe, the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of New York City. It was a key point in labor rights & union movements, and 146 people died, almost all recently immigrated women and girls between the ages of 14-23.

long version: at ~4:40 pm on march 25th, 1911, a fire broke out in a scrap bin under a cutting table in the triangle shirtwaist factory, which occupied the 8th, 9th, and 10th floors of the Asch building in new york city (manhatten, greenwich village specifically).

the factory produced shirtwaists, a popular kind of women's blouse. (it was a sweatshop, which is relevant for future reasons). It was owned by Max Blanck and Issac Harris, who had previously had four (? possibly 3) fires at other factories, and been investigated for them (it was suspected that one or more of those said fires were the result of arson by the owners). the workers were, for the vast majority, recently immigrated jewish & italian women and girls, from age 14 and up, but most were between 14 and 25. The oldest victim was 43. (of the victims whose ages are known). They earned $7-12 a week (approx. $190-326USD in 2020 dollars), or approx. $3.65-6.29 per hour in today's money. at the time of the fire, there were approx. 600 workers in the building.

the asch building was 10 floors in total, and the top 3 were occupied by the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. The doors leading to the staircases were locked, to prevent workers leaving early or taking breaks. There were supposed to be 3 staircases, but there was only two; the city had allowed the owners to build a single fire escape in lieu of the third staircase. this fire escape may have been broken before the fire, and it was certainly broken afterwards. one of the staircases managed to be unlocked, but it became impassible either up or down within 3 minutes of the fire's start.

when the fire flared up, the first alarm was sounded by a passerby outside, who saw smoke coming out the windows at 4:45 pm.

the fire department arrived shortly after, but their ladders could only reach the 7th floor (the fire start on the 8th). some workers excaped via the roof (several years ago I heard a story about a guy who was teaching in the building next door and him and his students saw the people on the roof and were able to help them get over to the building the professor was in and not ontop of the burning one, but I can't find it again to validate it so take that with a grain of salt), and some got into the elevators while they were still working. the elevator operators were able to make 3 trips before the elevators stopped working from the excessive heat (the steel beams holding them bent and made it impossible to attempt).

inside the building, people on the 8th floor were able to warn people on the 10th floor by means of a telephone, but with the staircases locked there was no way to warn those on the 9th floor, and a survivor said (paraphrasing): ''the first warning of the fire arrived at the 9th floor at the same time the fire did''.

146 people died. 123 women and girls, the vast majority between the ages of 14-23, and 23 men and boys (I cannot find a clear age for them). 61 people died from jumping to their death or falling to their death out of the windows of the building. the fire department had nets meant to catch people, but velocity is velocity and the nets did nothing. people jumped out the windows hoping that the nets would catch them or they might survive, or that at least that had a better chance of survival than remaining inside the fire. 20 of these were on the fire escape & attempting to use it when it collapsed, dropping them 100ft to the sidewalk and killing them.

36 people died in the elevator shaft, after it started to break. (they attempted to jump/slide down the cables, and it did not work).

49 people burned to death or suffocated in the smoke.

the entire fire took 18 minutes.

The bodies of the victims were taken to Charities Pier (aka Misery Lane) to be identified. All but 6 were, and those 6 were buried together in the Cementer of the Evergreens in brooklyn (they were later identified by a historian named michael hirsch in 2011, after 4 years of research). they are now all buried together there, underneath a monument to the tragedy.

it caused a surge in the efforts of the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union, and eventually resulted in the passing of ~38 new york state labor laws.

The AIDs Quilt

(tw/cw: regan (referenced), death (nowhere near as bad as above))

The AIDs quilt is a memorial quilt commemorating those who have died of AIDs (at any point, not just during the AIDs crisis (fuck you ronald regan)), with panels sewn by family members and friends. It was begun in 1987 in San Fransisco by Cleve Jones. It is considered the largest community folk arts project in the world, and consists of nearly 50,000 panels honoring approx. 110,000 people.

Each panel is 6' by 3' (about the size of a standard grave), and four of them are sewn together to make large blocks that are then sewn/tied together. sometimes it goes on display, the most recent time in june 2022.

there is an interactive online version of the quilt, which you can find here.

here it is zoomed out as far as I could get

here are some of the larger blocks of the quilt

and here are some individual panels.

that's mostly all I have to say about it, but its incredible, and my favorite art project of all time.

(i don't have the spoons to add image descriptions to the photos, I am sorry, I will try to do it later when I remember)

[yaoisex]

The results for chil-chil’s BL Award 2024 are out!

I didn't vote for all the categories, so I'm only gonna talk about the ones I did vote for. Let's see:

Comics: I voted for His Little Amber. It got 2nd! I'm still waiting for the cast reveal for the BLCD! It's been 2 months since they announced a BLCD, but the cast has not been revealed yet. I'm anxious to know!!

Series: I voted for Fake Fact Lips Break because I adore them. It got 10th. The 1st place was Given, which I'm not mad about <3

Emotional: I voted for Kono te wo Hanasanaide 2 and it got 1st!! I'm happy. I love them!

Fetish: I voted for Minami-kun Wants to be Teased by that Voice, because obviously I have a voice fetish! I believe every seiyuu fan can relate to that. This BLCD was SO erotic *__*. It got 7th. The 1st place was Sex Drop 2 which I actually haven't listened to yet ^^;; I need to.

Next Generation: I voted for Kitayama kun & Minamiya kun because they're cute. Waiting to listen to the BLCD. It got 4th.

BLCD: I voted for Futari Asobi because Chiaki was so so SO freaking cute there. SO CUTE. Sadly it's not in the Top 10. The 1st place was Takara no Biidoro, which I'm also happy about. Ryouta and Yukke were really great there.

Seiyuu: I obviously voted for my beloved Chiaki. I also voted for Ryouta as my 2nd option. Chiaki got 6th which is pretty impressive. Ryouta wasn't in the Top 10. The 1st place was Soma.

And honestly (and I have to be honest here) I'm kinda over him getting 1st place almost every year. he's won a couple of years in a row: 2024, 2023, 2022, 2021 (2nd) and 2020. It reached the point where I can no longer listen to his BLCDs. I really think he's too overrated. Sorry Soma. I used to enjoy his roles, but lately I feel that he sounds the same in every role. I'm over it. :/

Impressive that Makonyan got 9th when he's only done 2 new BLCDs this year (the rest were sequels). He's powerful alright! Well deserved. Hopefully he'll do many new ones in the future. I also love that Yukke got 7th, so the two Kobayashi are very close to each other ^^

Some honorable mentions:

I wrote comments about most of my votes, and surprisingly my comment about Chiaki was published!! ^___^ They never published my comments before so I was happy. (I'm really glad this specific comment was chosen because the Seiyuu category is the most important one for me. The second is BLCD.)

This comment about Egu made me laugh (he got 8th):

Loved the references there XD

Loved that Ryouta retweeted that his BLCD got 1st place!

Shogo also retweeted that Pittosporum got 9th place in the Series category (he's done the BLCD with ChibaSho)

I love when seiyuu interact with the BL wins. I wish more would do that.

I'm excited to think that on next year's BL Award we would probably get to vote for the His Little Amber and Pink heart Jam BLCDs! (which we only got announcements for but no cast reveal yet)