#4 July 2004

[rabbitcruiser]

The cornerstone of One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) was laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City on July 4, 2004.

[makesomethingeloquent]

"Sometimes reasonable men must do unreasonable things.” - Marvin Heemeyer

[sideblogdotjpeg]

one year of my life grinding to a fucking halt because of frog . because of that damn frog

[fatliberation]

they have a point though. you wouldn't need everyone to accommodate you if you just lost weight, but you're too lazy to stick to a healthy diet and exercise. it's that simple. I'd like to see you back up your claims, but you have no proof. you have got to stop lying to yourselves and face the facts

Must I go through this again? Fine. FINE. You guys are working my nerves today. You want to talk about facing the facts? Let's face the fucking facts.

In 2022, the US market cap of the weight loss industry was $75 billion [1, 3]. In 2021, the global market cap of the weight loss industry was estimated at $224.27 billion [2]. 

In 2020, the market shrunk by about 25%, but rebounded and then some since then [1, 3] By 2030, the global weight loss industry is expected to be valued at $405.4 billion [2]. If diets really worked, this industry would fall overnight. 

1. LaRosa, J. March 10, 2022. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Shrinks by 25% in 2020 with Pandemic, but Rebounds in 2021." Market Research Blog. 2. Staff. February 09, 2023. "[Latest] Global Weight Loss and Weight Management Market Size/Share Worth." Facts and Factors Research. 3. LaRosa, J. March 27, 2023. "U.S. Weight Loss Market Partially Recovers from the Pandemic." Market Research Blog.

Over 50 years of research conclusively demonstrates that virtually everyone who intentionally loses weight by manipulating their eating and exercise habits will regain the weight they lost within 3-5 years. And 75% will actually regain more weight than they lost [4].

4. Mann, T., Tomiyama, A.J., Westling, E., Lew, A.M., Samuels, B., Chatman, J. (2007). "Medicare’s Search For Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not The Answer." The American Psychologist, 62, 220-233. U.S. National Library of Medicine, Apr. 2007.

The annual odds of a fat person attaining a so-called “normal” weight and maintaining that for 5 years is approximately 1 in 1000 [5].

5. Fildes, A., Charlton, J., Rudisill, C., Littlejohns, P., Prevost, A.T., & Gulliford, M.C. (2015). “Probability of an Obese Person Attaining Normal Body Weight: Cohort Study Using Electronic Health Records.” American Journal of Public Health, July 16, 2015: e1–e6.

Doctors became so desperate that they resorted to amputating parts of the digestive tract (bariatric surgery) in the hopes that it might finally result in long-term weight-loss. Except that doesn’t work either. [6] And it turns out it causes death [7],  addiction [8], malnutrition [9], and suicide [7].

6. Magro, Daniéla Oliviera, et al. “Long-Term Weight Regain after Gastric Bypass: A 5-Year Prospective Study - Obesity Surgery.” SpringerLink, 8 Apr. 2008. 7. Omalu, Bennet I, et al. “Death Rates and Causes of Death After Bariatric Surgery for Pennsylvania Residents, 1995 to 2004.” Jama Network, 1 Oct. 2007.  8. King, Wendy C., et al. “Prevalence of Alcohol Use Disorders Before and After Bariatric Surgery.” Jama Network, 20 June 2012.  9. Gletsu-Miller, Nana, and Breanne N. Wright. “Mineral Malnutrition Following Bariatric Surgery.” Advances In Nutrition: An International Review Journal, Sept. 2013.

Evidence suggests that repeatedly losing and gaining weight is linked to cardiovascular disease, stroke, diabetes and altered immune function [10].

10. Tomiyama, A Janet, et al. “Long‐term Effects of Dieting: Is Weight Loss Related to Health?” Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 6 July 2017.

Prescribed weight loss is the leading predictor of eating disorders [11].

11. Patton, GC, et al. “Onset of Adolescent Eating Disorders: Population Based Cohort Study over 3 Years.” BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.), 20 Mar. 1999.

The idea that “obesity” is unhealthy and can cause or exacerbate illnesses is a biased misrepresentation of the scientific literature that is informed more by bigotry than credible science [12]. 

12. Medvedyuk, Stella, et al. “Ideology, Obesity and the Social Determinants of Health: A Critical Analysis of the Obesity and Health Relationship” Taylor & Francis Online, 7 June 2017.

“Obesity” has no proven causative role in the onset of any chronic condition [13, 14] and its appearance may be a protective response to the onset of numerous chronic conditions generated from currently unknown causes [15, 16, 17, 18].

13. Kahn, BB, and JS Flier. “Obesity and Insulin Resistance.” The Journal of Clinical Investigation, Aug. 2000. 14. Cofield, Stacey S, et al. “Use of Causal Language in Observational Studies of Obesity and Nutrition.” Obesity Facts, 3 Dec. 2010.  15. Lavie, Carl J, et al. “Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease: Risk Factor, Paradox, and Impact of Weight Loss.” Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 26 May 2009.  16. Uretsky, Seth, et al. “Obesity Paradox in Patients with Hypertension and Coronary Artery Disease.” The American Journal of Medicine, Oct. 2007.  17. Mullen, John T, et al. “The Obesity Paradox: Body Mass Index and Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Nonbariatric General Surgery.” Annals of Surgery, July 2005. 18. Tseng, Chin-Hsiao. “Obesity Paradox: Differential Effects on Cancer and Noncancer Mortality in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.” Atherosclerosis, Jan. 2013.

Fatness was associated with only 1/3 the associated deaths that previous research estimated and being “overweight” conferred no increased risk at all, and may even be a protective factor against all-causes mortality relative to lower weight categories [19].

19. Flegal, Katherine M. “The Obesity Wars and the Education of a Researcher: A Personal Account.” Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases, 15 June 2021.

Studies have observed that about 30% of so-called “normal weight” people are “unhealthy” whereas about 50% of so-called “overweight” people are “healthy”. Thus, using the BMI as an indicator of health results in the misclassification of some 75 million people in the United States alone [20]. 

20. Rey-López, JP, et al. “The Prevalence of Metabolically Healthy Obesity: A Systematic Review and Critical Evaluation of the Definitions Used.” Obesity Reviews : An Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 15 Oct. 2014.

While epidemiologists use BMI to calculate national obesity rates (nearly 35% for adults and 18% for kids), the distinctions can be arbitrary. In 1998, the National Institutes of Health lowered the overweight threshold from 27.8 to 25—branding roughly 29 million Americans as fat overnight—to match international guidelines. But critics noted that those guidelines were drafted in part by the International Obesity Task Force, whose two principal funders were companies making weight loss drugs [21].

21. Butler, Kiera. “Why BMI Is a Big Fat Scam.” Mother Jones, 25 Aug. 2014. 

Body size is largely determined by genetics [22].

22. Wardle, J. Carnell, C. Haworth, R. Plomin. “Evidence for a strong genetic influence on childhood adiposity despite the force of the obesogenic environment” American Journal of Clinical Nutrition Vol. 87, No. 2, Pages 398-404, February 2008.

Healthy lifestyle habits are associated with a significant decrease in mortality regardless of baseline body mass index [23].  

23. Matheson, Eric M, et al. “Healthy Lifestyle Habits and Mortality in Overweight and Obese Individuals.” Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine : JABFM, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 25 Feb. 2012.

Weight stigma itself is deadly. Research shows that weight-based discrimination increases risk of death by 60% [24].

24. Sutin, Angela R., et al. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality .” Association for Psychological Science, 25 Sept. 2015.

Fat stigma in the medical establishment [25] and society at large arguably [26] kills more fat people than fat does [27, 28, 29].

25. Puhl, Rebecca, and Kelly D. Bronwell. “Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity.” Obesity Research, 6 Sept. 2012. 26. Engber, Daniel. “Glutton Intolerance: What If a War on Obesity Only Makes the Problem Worse?” Slate, 5 Oct. 2009.  27. Teachman, B. A., Gapinski, K. D., Brownell, K. D., Rawlins, M., & Jeyaram, S. (2003). Demonstrations of implicit anti-fat bias: The impact of providing causal information and evoking empathy. Health Psychology, 22(1), 68–78. 28. Chastain, Ragen. “So My Doctor Tried to Kill Me.” Dances With Fat, 15 Dec. 2009. 29. Sutin, Angelina R, Yannick Stephan, and Antonio Terraciano. “Weight Discrimination and Risk of Mortality.” Psychological Science, 26 Nov. 2015.

There's my "proof." Where is yours?

[homerstroystory]

Looks vs. Loot at the Metropolitan Museum of Art by The Antiquities Coalition (@/CombatLooting) on Twitter

Transcription below the cut

1: The #MetGala may be "fashion's biggest night," but tonight's event hides some dark truths at @/metmuseum...including a long history of looted antiquities. To spotlight some of the contested objects from the Met's collection, we are featuring #MetGala vs. Loot [THREAD]

2. First up: @/KimKardashian in @/Versace at the 2018 #MetGala posing next to the Golden Sarcophagus of Nedjemankh. The coffin was purchased by @/metmuseum in 2017 and repatriated in 2019 after this viral photo helped solve the case. (link)

3. Next, her sister @/KendallJenner in @/givenchy at the 2021 #MetGala as the 13th century wooden Temple Strut with Salabhinka, returned from @/metmuseum to the Government of Nepal in 2022, after it was determined to be looked from Itum Baha in Kathmandu. (link)

4. Another object from Nepal, @/rihanna in @/Margiel at the 2018 #MetGala as a 10th century Shiva in Himalayan Adobe with Ascetics. @/metmuseum was gifted the sculpture in 1995, but repatriated it to Nepal in 2022 along with the temple strut, after learning both were stolen.

5. Dakota Johnson in @/gucci at the 2022 #MetGala as a terracotta kylix (c. 470 bCE). This piece, valued at $1.5 million, was seized from the @/metmuseum in July 2022 after being linked to Italian antiquities trafficker Gianfranco Becchina. (link)

6. @/billieeilish in @/gucci at the 2022 #MetGala as the Fayum Mummy Portrait. Looted from Egypt and sold to @/metmuseum in 2013, it was seized in September '22 by @/ManhattanDA as part of a global investigation into an international trafficking ring. (link)

7. @/iamcardib in @/ThomeBrowne at the 2019 #MetGala as a painted linen fragment displaying a scene from the Book of Exodus, 'Exodus Painting" (250-450 CE), valued at over $1.6 million. The fragments were also part of the seizure by the @/ManhattanDA in September '22.

8. @/Beyonce in @/givenchy at the 2013 #MetGala as a 2,300-year-old vase that depicts the god Dionysus. The vase is linked to Giacomo Medici, an art dealer convicted of conspiracy to traffic antiquities in 2004, and was seized from the @/metmuseum in 2017. (link)

9. @/blakelively in @/Versace at the 2022 #MetGala as a bronze statuette of Jupiter. This object is among 27 antiquities that were returned to Italy and Egypt in 2022 after investigators seized them from the @/metmuseum. (link)

[tsuna]

May 24, 2024 is the 20th anniversary of Reborn!

Shonen Jump covers primarily featuring the series:

June 7, 2004, Issue No. 26 - New serialization

November 8, 2004, Issue No. 48 - 1st volume release

July 4, 2005, Issue No. 29 - 1st anniversary

March 20, 2006, Issue No. 14 - Beginning of the Varia arc

September 11, 2006, Issue No. 39 - TV anime announcement

October 23, 2006, Issue No. 45 - TV anime debut

November 20, 2006, Issue No. 49 - Beginning of Tsuna vs. Xanxus

July 9, 2007, Issue No. 30 - 3rd anniversary

September 10, 2007, Issue No. 39

November 19, 2007, Issue No. 49

February 18, 2008, Issue No. 10 - 18th volume release

July 14, 2008, Issue No. 31 - 4th anniversary

November 3, 2008, Issue No. 47 - 3rd anniversary of TV anime

June 22, 2009, Issue No. 28 - 5th anniversary

October 19, 2009, Issue No. 45 - Reborn Month event

November 2, 2009, Issue No. 47 - Reborn Month event

February 1, 2010, Issue No. 7 - 27th volume release & TV anime 7th season

April 12, 2010, Issue No. 17 - Beginning of the Inheritance arc & REBORN Colore! release

June 14, 2010, Issue No. 26 - 6th anniversary

September 12, 2011, Issue No. 38 - Beginning of the Curse of the Rainbow arc

[mortem-writes]

4. A Widow's Bite | Simon Riley x Black Widow!Reader

Fic masterlist- ❋ Read all chapters on Ao3 ❋

Main tags: Innocent reader is accused of being a traitor trope, torture and interrogation, AFAB reader, questionably platonic bed sharing, strangers to lovers, sloooow burn, eventual smut, angst/hurt/comfort, kidfic Chapter word count: 2.16k

Chapter summary: “On our side of the pond we don’t believe in coincidences. We call them patterns.”

Previous chapter | Next chapter

>>> 2004

You remember the fatal night of July 28th to be the beginning. You remember Natasha’s face, framed by her distinctive mane of auburn hair twisted neatly into a bun under a red beret, her lips twisted and tightly pursed while she chewed the inside of her cheek nervously. 

It was the only time you had ever seen her so visibly shaken. You felt a flare of annoyance sweep through you at the sight.

Could she not be happy for you just this once? You were graduating, and you would be on your first real mission just next month. Couldn’t she pretend to smile for you at least?

Standing in a straight line side by side, you and the other girls wait for their widow’s bites gauntlets. Your prize for surviving this far. Truthfully, you were excited enough just at the prospect of wearing those things, to finally feel the smooth metal against your forearms, to know the power they held and what they represented.

Ahead, Madame strides between each girl, closing a pair of gauntlets around their wrists and for only a second, you can’t help but compare the metallic snick of the gauntlets locking to the sound a pair of heavy shackles make. 

You shake the imagery off, practically vibrating with eagerness. Madame says a few words to each girl, and gives them a cordial smile before moving to the next like a conveyor belt.

Finally it’s your turn. Madame stands before you and fixes you with a cold gaze, you feel like she is stripping you down to your weaknesses with just her eyes and you suppress a shudder. She gestures for your hands, and you oblige, holding them out steadily for her to grasp. She locks the gauntlets around your wrists and the imagery of the shackles returns briefly with the feeling of cold metal against your skin.

You look up, searching for your role model, only to find that Natasha is not looking at you but at your wrists. The gauntlets. She is pale, looking sickly. You’re wondering why before you snap back at the sound of Madame’s voice.

“You are one of our best, 87. Remain that way.” Natasha has a smooth voice, but one like warm honey and Kalmyk tea. Madame’s voice is as smooth as gun metal, as bitingly cold as the metal on your wrists. 

Any person who had not lived a life like yours, someone from the outside world, might construe her words as a compliment but you recognise it for what it really is. A warning. A command. You actually shudder just as Madame moves on to the next girl, unable to stave off the feeling of being trapped.

Now, more than ever, you need Natasha to smile for you. To assure you that things will be okay through the quirk of her lips. Your eyes find her in the audience again. She is standing there, looking beautiful as ever in her pressed dress uniform, with her hands folded behind her back in a parade rest.

She looks… close to tears? Panicked, like something terrible has happened.

She is looking at your widow’s bites gauntlets like they are the shackles you’ve simply been imagining them as. She is blinking rapidly.

Is she going to cry? you wonder. If she is crying, perhaps she is happy for me after all.

Madame’s shrill voice pierces through the air. “Girls, you are no longer my students, but graduates from the Krasnaya Komnata! Soon you will no longer be graduates, but Black Widow operatives! Let you all be grateful for your training, for it is a blessing to be one of ours. 

You will change the world, you will control the balancing scales of justice. The world is on a tipping point between chaos and order, your legacy is to push it in the correct direction. You will shape the century. Do well, be proud of the gifts we have given you, and be rewarded.”

A cheer goes up, and a smattering of applause sweeps through the room.

So the time had finally come after more than a decade of training. You feel the embroidery stitched into the front of your graduation robes, a red hourglass insignia sewn right over your heart. So it has come to this. You, a Black Widow operative. At long last.

Natasha finds you in the crowd of excited girls. She pulls you into a tight embrace as soon as her fingers find your shoulder.

“I am sorry, Milenka,” she whispers into your ear, lips shielded from view by your hair. She pulls you impossibly closer to her, hugs you tighter. “I have done this to you. I am sorry. I will fix this. I swear to you I will fix this.”

>>> LONDON, UK

>>> January 12th, 2020

The phone on Price’s desk rings just a few minutes after 11 o’clock in the morning. The thing is ancient, and screams in a shrill tone that had come back from the dead (the ‘90’s) to haunt him every time it rings.

He clears his throat, then picks up. “Captain Price.”

“I thought we were over formalities, John.”

“Kate. Calling for something?”

“More like calling to give you something.”

He hums. “And what might that be?”

“Intel. We might have a lead on our mystery woman. I’m sure Garrick will be happy to hear this.”

“He’s not the only one, I’m listening.”

“Ivan Pterovich, one of Barkov’s top officers, found dead in London, sniped from a rooftop. A cell of Barkov’s surviving forces found massacred in a safehouse not too far away. Two slugs— untraceable so far. Check your inbox, we’ve got footage of the shooter making their escape down a back alley.”

He turns his desktop on, opens the message, a still frame from a dingy backstreet camera unfolding on his screen. The woman in question is looking straight into the lens, pity she’s wearing a mask. On her back is a heavy-looking pack, and the outline of a shoulder holster blending in with her black clothing with the grainy quality of the footage. 

Her face is turned towards the camera, but her body is angled away with her shoulder facing the lens as she readies herself to flee the scene. 

“She knew the camera was there, skilled enough to avoid it but chose not to. Not too worried about getting caught, is she?”

Laswell hums her agreement over the line. “She fits the physical profile we made of the woman at the Belarus massacre. I’m willing to bet good money that it's her.”

“Could just be a coincidence, Kate. Good old CIA paranoi finally setting in?” He doesn’t doubt her for even a second, but teasing is a natural aspect of all of their conversations by this point.

She laughs quietly, her american drawl returns a few seconds later. “On our side of the pond we don’t believe in coincidences. We call them patterns.”

A spot of blood red at the woman’s shoulder catches his attention.

At first he thinks she’s injured, but then a few clicks on the mouse later, and the image is magnified to show an hourglass of red standing stark against the dark fabric of the woman's uniform.

“On her shoulder, that’s an insignia. Any matches, Kate?”

“One.”

“Tell me.”

“In 2005, we received a message which we managed to trace back to Budapest— the sender is still unknown to this day. They claimed to be a FSB agent, and requested help with defection. We obliged with caution, we had no idea if this was a Trojan Horse ploy of some sort so we were sure to be careful. Good thing we did, because the whole thing blew up— literally.”

“That the one that ended up all over the newspapers? I remember they said it was a terrorist attack.”

“Yes, but that was the cover story. We still don’t know what exactly happened, seeing as we sent out only one agent to scout the situation and he didn’t come back alive to tell the tale. Our agent was instructed to meet with the defector at a children’s hospital. A bombing happened, destroying the hospital, just as they made contact. No survivors.”

“Christ…”

“That’s not all. A firefight went down on the street in broad daylight with what looked like an army against our agent and the defector as they tried to escape for exfil. Killed them both. Security camera footage picked up on the defector before she was killed— same insignia on her shoulder.

“John, I went through Barkov’s payroll again, trying to connect a moneytrail to this and I found it. Those were Barkov’s men in Budapest.”

They sit in silence for a few moments, letting the information sink like a stone in water as the dots connect like a spider's-web. 

He lights a cigar, inhales slowly, knowing that he’ll need the nicotine rush to weather this new development in the story. Coughing clouds of hazy smoke, he asks the burning question. “So, what now?”

>>> ABERDEENSHIRE, SCOTLAND

>>> February 9th, 2020

You had never been this far up into the highlands of Scotland before on any of your previous missions. 

In fact, you have never been to Scotland at all since that 2 day mission in Edinburgh all those long years ago. You remember the frigid air numbing your fingers and making you shiver to the point where you were afraid you’d squeeze the trigger by accident and kill your mark before it was time.

The wind is the same as you remember it though, crisp and cold, stroking at your cheeks until they’re left red and raw when you step off the train. It has rained recently, water has pooled in the crevices between the cobblestones beneath your boots, and the sweet scent of rain, of dampness, has lingered on the streets.

It’s both foreign and familiar. It isn’t as cold as Belarus was, but the chilling nibble of the cold on your exposed skin is familiar. It’s too grey for Belarus; the buildings are grey, the cobblestones are grey, the sky is grey, the grime coating the windows is grey… but it retains some of the charm that comes with smaller, more isolated cities that Brest Oblast in your memory had.

The similarities and differences make your head spin slightly as your brain tries to match up new and old.

It doesn’t take long to take a bus up to a smaller town, away from the busy and densely packed city of Aberdeen. You get off the bus, and proceed on foot, winding through the rain-soaked streets. There are no cobblestones here, just roads and footpaths weaving together until a web of civilization emerges. You admit that you miss the bumpy texture of cobblestone under your feet. 

This part of Aberdeenshire is sleepy. Quiet and lazy, isolated and far far away from the 3 month long killing spree you had left in your wake. A perfect place to rest, to recuperate, and perhaps grow old in.

You spend close to an hour walking along rows of townhouses, the layer of mud coating your boots steadily growing thicker, until you reach a small house— more of a cottage really— and stop.

Being this far out from the centre of the town, you only have a handful of neighbours. The less potential witnesses, the better you think.

Anticipation grows in your gut with every step you advance towards the cottage, house, whatever, and contingency plans upon contingency plans run through your mind with gathering speed.

Another Widow had promised to deliver a package from the academy and guard them until you arrived at the safehouse, but she had to leave late last night for a mission. What if, in those short hours, someone had ambushed the place and taken them? What if this place was compromised? What if you were followed? What if? 

After the Red Room fell apart, the responsibility of caring and raising the young students at the academy had fallen upon the freed Widow’s. These girls legally did not exist anywhere in the world, the solution was for each Widow to adopt a student, forge the papers and raise them themselves. Only Widow’s understand the threat these girls face in the outside world. What if your plan was wrong?

But no, there is a light on in the front window— the kitchen. You push open the garden gate, and step onto the porch. You raise your fist to knock three times on the heavy wooden door. You wait, trying to keep calm, and not worry because she’s here. She must be.

The door opens, and a small face appears, a single brown eye peeking at you from the crack between the open door and the frame. A toothy grin appears, and the door is thrown wide open. 

Within nanoseconds, you have an armful of a child squealing with glee at your return. You hug her tight to your chest, and say simply, “I’m home now.”

Krasnaya Komnata= Red Room

taglist:

@violentdeliiights, @foreignbrunette, @justagirl707, @watermelonmala, @babystudentroadthing, @random-fandom-smoothie, @usr1234225429, @sciencehadbabies, @imjustherematee, @lexiidumpp, @butbutbutb, @violentdeliiights, @ataintedtemptress, @ryuzakemo128, @its3nvy, @lostmypopsicle, @hedgewitch23, @jkhourly, @butbutbutb, @iamsuchanasshat

[afeelgoodblog]

The Best News of Last Week - October 30, 2023

1. Bill to Ban Hidden Fees in California Signed into Law

California Attorney General Rob Bonta has released a statement regarding the signing of Senate Bill 478 (SB 478). SB 478, coauthored by Senators Bill Dodd and Nancy Skinner, will eliminate hidden fees, also known as 'junk fees,' in California starting from July 1, 2024. Hidden fees are deceptive charges that sellers include in transactions, either through obscured disclosures or later revelations, impacting consumers negatively.

2. New Portable Water Treatment System Vaporizes 99% of ‘Forever Chemicals’

A startup based Washington has devised a portable system capable of removing the vast majority of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, from water.

The system uses hydrothermal alkaline treatment, or HALT, to eliminate 99% of forever chemicals from water.

3. Tumor-destroying sound waves receive FDA approval for liver treatment in humans

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved the use of sound waves to break down tumors—a technique called histotripsy—in humans for liver treatment. Technique developed at the University of Michigan provides a noninvasive alternative to surgery, chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer

4. Japan's top court says trans sterilisation requirement unconstitutional

Japan's Supreme Court has ruled that it is unconstitutional to require citizens to be sterilised before they can officially change genders.

The 2004 law said people could only change their gender if they have no reproductive capacity. Wednesday's ruling came after a transgender woman filed a petition challenging the law.

5. Abandoned golf courses are being reclaimed by nature

Golf courses, despite occupying large green spaces, are not necessarily good for the environment.

Conservation nonprofits and local authorities are looking to acquire golf courses that have been abandoned due to high maintenance costs, low player numbers or other reasons, and repurpose them into landscapes that boost biodiversity and build natural defenses against climate change.

6. NSW court allows health officials to give blood transfusion to Jehovah's Witness toddler

Regional New South Wales health officials have won a court order authorising them to give a blood transfusion to a Jehovah's Witness toddler if needed in surgery. The Supreme Court has been told the girl, three, who can only be referred to as JI, is in need of two surgical procedures. 

On such an application, the overriding criterion to be applied by the court is the best interests and welfare of the child.

7. North Atlantic right whale population has steadied, scientists say

The population of critically endangered North Atlantic right whales appears to have levelled off after a decade of steep decline, according to updated data released this morning by Canadian and American scientists. Scientists in the consortium said Monday that the 2021 estimate of 340 North Atlantic right whales in existence has been recalculated to 365 primarily because of the number of calves born that year.

The estimate for 2022 is 356.

---

That's it for this week :)

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[vintagelasvegas]

Union Plaza Hotel & Casino, July 1971

The hotel was built on the site of the former Union Pacific depot and Greyhound bus terminal. Two companies financed the hotel: Upland Industries, a subsidiary of Union Pacific Corp, and Scott Corp. directed by Frank E. Scott. The Scott Corp. was the landlord, Scott was the CEO and president of the hotel, with partners Sen. Howard Cannon, and downtown casino stalwarts J.K. Houssels Jr, Jackie Gaughan, Sam Boyd, and Bill Boyd, who managed the “world’s largest casino.”

'70: Aug. 10, Groundbreaking. (LA Times 8/9/70, RJ 7/1/71)

'70: Nov., Union Station demolished. (RJ 11/24/70)

'71: May 2, Final UP train service. Amtrak was established, and passenger service through Las Vegas is suspended.

'71: Jul. 2, Union Plaza Hotel & Casino is opened. Architects: Zick & Sharp (Las Vegas) in association with Stanley J. How (Omaha). Contractor: Blount-Yoxen Construction Co. The hotel complex contained a bus station, 500-seat showroom, 2nd story pool in front of the hotel, and an adjacent parking garage. The 504-room hotel was roughly the same size as the Fremont Hotel and smaller than some on the Strip, but it boasted the largest casino floor in Las Vegas at 66,000 sq ft.

'75: Jul., Sports book addition. KDWN Radio 720 AM begins broadcasting from the hotel with a station on the 2nd floor.

'79: Oct. 28, Amtrak’s Desert Wind line through Las Vegas begins the first regularly scheduled service since ‘71. Small room and platform in the rear of the hotel is used as the depot.

'81: Apr., Rooftop sign and lights changed. Design by Charles Barnard, Ad Art. 

'82: Construction of 26-story south tower, parking garage, and conversion of the front pool to restaurant designed by Louis Pereira. (RJ 3/16/82, 9/19/82, 10/28/82)

'83: Center Stage restaurant opens in Jan. (RJ 1/23/83) Mural depicting the past, present, and future of passenger rail service created in the hotel between the lobby and depot area. Tower topped off in Apr. and opened in fall. Total rooms: 1030. (RJ 4/23/83, 10/20/83)

'90-'93: Jackie Gaughan acquires the holdings of Union Plaza founder Frank Scott, followed by Upland’s participation in '93, becoming the majority shareholder and ending the relationship with Union Pacific. The hotel is renamed “Jackie Gaughan’s Plaza” circa ’92, though the signs remain unchanged, with “Union” on the rooftop sign for several years.

2004: Mar. 26, Plaza is sold. Union Plaza Hotel & Casino Inc, Exber Inc and Gaughan South sell Plaza, Las Vegas Club, Gold Spike, Western Hotel, and 60 acres of land and non-gaming properties to Barrick Gaming and Tamares Real Estate for $82M. The Barrick group plans a "themed street behind the Plaza which will re-create the ambience of old downtown Las Vegas." (RJ 3/26/2004)

2005: Tamares buys Barrick’s interest in Plaza hotel and the Las Vegas properties; Larry Woolf managing.

2009: Firefly opens in the former Center Stage restaurant; Oscar's Steakhouse opens in its place in 2011.

2014: Jonathan Jossel takes over as the CEO of the Plaza, the youngest non-restricted gaming licensees in Las Vegas. 

Construction in 1971. The first photo is dated 1/12/1971, Nevada State Museum Las Vegas.

Fremont & Casino Center, Apr. 1971. Union Plaza construction past Main St.

Sal Sagev Hotel and Golden Gate Casino; Union Plaza; Las Vegas Club and the Dugout restaurant. 1971. Photo via Plaza Hotel.

Postcards circa 1971.

Postcard c. '83 or later. New tower, new rooftop sign, and the Center Stage Restaurant.

Timeline Sources: UP Hotel Plans Ready for Signing. Las Vegas Review-Journal, 10/3/69; Work on 22-story hotel to start soon. Review-Journal, 8/2/70 p1; No Parking Here. Review-Journal, 8/10/70; Union Plaza Magic Hour Near. Review-Journal, 7/1/71; Plaza celebrates LV ‘uptown’. Review-Journal, 8/13/71; Rod Smith. Four Gaughan casinos pass to Barrick. Review-Journal, 3/26/2004; Howard Stutz. Lady Luck. Review-Journal, 12/13/2005; Oliver Lovat. A Golden Age for Downtown. GGB Magazine, 2021.

[rabbitcruiser]

The cornerstone of One World Trade Center (Freedom Tower) was laid on the World Trade Center site in New York City on July 4, 2004.

[tateshifts]

SLYTHERIN BOYS + pansy ⋆｡˚ ੈ✩‧₊˚ dr headcanons

this is going to be about my dr and how i know the boys and a little about their background.

✮ . . . quidditch; all the boys play quidditch except enzo (he’s protecting his face from flying balls).

mattheo is a beater, player 5. theo is the captain, he’s new from this year, he’s a chaser and he’s player 10. blaise is a chaser and he’s player 2. draco is a seeker and he’s player 15.

dracos been playing since second year, but blaise and theo have been playing since third whilst mattheo joined in 4th year. the other players are, adrian pucey (keeper), graham montage (chaser) and miles bletchley (beater).

✮ . . . were all 18 turning 19 this year. my dr is still hogwarts as a school, its just with all the school years aged up? i hope that makes sense lol

mattheo was born on january 7th 2005 (capricorn) theo was born on october 28th 2004 (scorpio) blaise was born on november 28th 2004 (sagittarius) enzo was born on march 2nd 2005 (pisces) draco was born on june 5th 2005 (gemini) pansy was born on july 7th 2005 (cancer)

✮ . . . draco is 6” blaise is 6”2 mattheo is 6”5 theo is 6”4 enzo is 6”2

im not sure why they’re all so tall??? i didn’t script this so it’s probably my subconscious wanting a height difference or something. but their parents aren’t tall either from what i’ve heard so it’s a mystery ? puberty did them good.

✮ . . . these guys are so built, they take their healths so seriously when it comes to food. they train so much for quidditch, enzo trains with them sometimes too just to keep his health up. their arms, their thighs, their abs. so toned and defined. literally hench

✮ . . . the only people who can see thestrals are theo and mattheo, this is because they both witnessed the death of theo’s mother. even though theo says he’s still processing the death of his mum, he can still see these thestrals. which can only been seen only after you have processed the death you have witnessed.

my dr background with the boys + pansy

✮ . . . we’ve all known eachother since forever as we all grew up together. our parents were all ‘friends’? they weren’t friends just accomplices i guess you could say. they are business partners and they invest in eachothers work. some of our parents know eachother from school or distant family.

✮ . . . we were all kind of passed around eachothers houses LMAO there was always some kind of shit going on so we had to spend a few nights in eachothers houses, i say few but it was A LOT of nights.

✮ . . . we’ve been together 24/7 since and we almost never spend time apart. which can be overwhelming so we of course have boundaries.

thanks for reading ❦｡･:*:･ﾟ. follows, likes & reblogs are appreciated x

[seandwalsh]

Who lays the nectar eggs found in the Pikmin games? It might seem like a silly question, but for a series with such extensive lore surrounding its creatures it is surprising that it remains a mystery. Nectar eggs are a mysterious item found in Pikmin 2, Pikmin 3 and Pikmin 4. The eggs themselves are rarely acknowledged by the leaders and can contain a wide array of different things.

When broken, nectar eggs usually release a form of nectar or raw material. Curiously, there are also several creatures associated with these eggs, but it’s never been explicitly stated which actually produces them. Let’s look at the candidates:

Firstly, there are the Honeywisps. Honeywisps sometimes carry nectar eggs as they float through the air back to their nests. However, they don’t seem to be producing these eggs themselves, as in Pikmin 1 they can be seen carrying pure nectar collected from flowers.

Given they intend to feed the nectar from the nectar eggs they carry to their young, it seems more likely that they sometimes just steal nectar eggs from their nests of origin instead of collecting nectar from flowers.

“This timid creature flies around collecting nectar from flowers.”

[Source: Captain Olimar, Employee of Hocotate Freight and Captain of the S.S. Dolphin, Playable Character in Pikmin 1, December 2001]

“This creature collects nectar for the larvae waiting in its nest.”

[Source: Captain Olimar, Employee of Hocotate Freight and Captain of the S.S. Dolphin, Playable Character in Pikmin 1, December 2001]

“This cutie swims though the air with a heavy-looking nectar egg dangling below its translucent body on its way back to its nest where its offspring await lunch.”

[Source: Dalmo, Sozorian Animal Enthusiast and researcher, Non-Player Character in Pikmin 4, July 2023]

The next creatures are the Mitites. Mities are a type of insect that occasionally hatch from broken nectar eggs in great numbers and produce nectar when defeated, which initially makes them seem like good candidates for the producers of these eggs. However, the nectar eggs notably don’t resemble insect eggs - and for good reason! The Mitites are actually parasites that lay their eggs within the eggs of a “particular species”, with their larvae feeding on the nectar the eggs provide.

“These parasitic insects feed on eggs. Upon reaching maturity, they excrete a special pheromone that attracts females of particular species, enticing these females to swallow the mitites whole. (Pikmin, however, seem to dislike the scent.) After entering the host female's body, the mitites lay their own eggs inside the host's eggs just prior to the host spawning.”

[Source: Captain Olimar, Employee of Hocotate Freight and Captain of the S.S. Dolphin, Playable Character in Pikmin 2, August 2004]

“The cheeky Mitite lays its eggs inside the eggs of other creatures to provide its offspring with an easy first meal.”

[Source: Dalmo, Sozorian Animal Enthusiast and researcher, Non-Player Character in Pikmin 4, July 2023]

Similarly, the egg-like Sunsquishes can also be found within nectar eggs. These are explicitly “other creatures’ eggs”, making them a species that parasitises on the eggs like the Mitites.

“A type of primitive organism called a protochordate. In its juvenile state, it has a skeleton-like structure called a notochord. It flaps its finned tail to move and lives within other creatures' eggs as it grows.”

[Source: Captain Olimar, Employee of Hocotate Freight and Captain of the S.S. Dolphin, Playable Character in Pikmin 4, July 2023]

That leaves us with the Burrowing Snagrets. In Pikmin 4, Downy Snagrets, the infant form of the Burrowing Snagret, occasionally hatch from nectar eggs. These seem to be the most likely candidates for the actual producers of nectar eggs.

As established in a previous post, almost all extant life on PNF-404 is made up of nectar, which would extend to the nutrients in the egg yolk.

“Nectar is a vital source of nutrition that most life on this planet depends on. Whether it's in the form of an egg yolk, sap, or honey, I leave up to your imagination!”

[Source: Dalmo, Sozorian Animal Enthusiast and researcher, Non-Player Character in Pikmin 4, July 2023]

Nectar eggs also strongly resemble bird eggs and Burrowing Snagrets are certainly large enough to produce them. They’re also large enough to swallow Mitites whole and are even said to eat insects in the Piklopedia.

“The majority of snagret species lie in wait to ambush and capture prey, with a body type perfectly adapted to such sudden strikes. It violently attacks small, surface-dwelling insects.”

[Source: Captain Olimar, Employee of Hocotate Freight and Captain of the S.S. Dolphin, Playable Character in Pikmin 2, August 2004]

What’s more is that Snagret has the widest distribution of a species after the Bulborb, which explains why nectar eggs can be found all over the world across the Pikmin games.

“Distributed across a relatively wide range, subspecies of snagret suited to the varying soil conditions have emerged, making the snagret the most geographically represented species besides the bulborb.”

[Source: Captain Olimar, Employee of Hocotate Freight and Captain of the S.S. Dolphin, Playable Character in Pikmin 2, August 2004]

So in short, female Burrowing Snagrets lay their eggs. Those that are fertilised will produce Downy Snagrets, while unfertilised eggs will produce nectar. Sometimes, a female Burrowing Snagret will eat a Mitite, resulting in Mitite larvae hatching within and feeding on the eggs laid by the Burrowing Snagret. The larval Sunsquish also finds its way into these eggs, while Honeywisps occasionally steal the eggs to feed the nectar within then to their own larvae.

[iama1ice]

⋆˙⟡ CRESCENT ࣪ ִֶָ☾.

Crescent is an eight members girlgroup formed by the survival show ILAND 2 (n/a). Its concept is ethereal, based on the night, the zodiac signs ...

The group's lore is linked to another group, Aurora, which was made with some of the contestants of the survival show who didn't win.

the members :

fuko hayashi -

Japanese

August 22, 2004

Lead vocal, sub dancer

Rank 3

jeemin bang -

Korean

May 8, 2005

Fotg, lead rapper, lead dancer

Rank 4

jiyoon yoon -

Korean

July 15, 2005

Main vocal, sub rapper

Rank 6

sujung kim -

Korean

October 5th, 2006

Main dancer, Sub vocal

Rank 7

koko narai -

Japanese

November 14, 2006

Main dancer, lead rapper, visual

Rank 8

yuju nam -

Korean - Japanese

July 28, 2007

Main rapper, lead dancer, sub vocalist

Rank 5

jungeun choi -

Korean

August 4, 2007

Leader, main vocal, lead dancer

Rank 2

aeri lee -

Nationality : Korean

Ethnicity : English - French

English name : Alice Jones

October 5th, 2009

Main rapper, lead dancer, sub vocalist, visual, center, maknae

Rank 1

[livelybutterflyy]

introducing my kpop drself

EARLY LIFE :

Moon Seulbi was born October 8th 2004 to a lawyer mother & businessman father in Seoul , South korea. She is the youngest of three siblings , Moon Jinyoung & Moon Jisung are her older siblings , Jinyoung (Da’ah) is an actress while Jisung is a fellow idol.

During her childhood / teenhood , she traveled and lived in many places, for example , the first 5 years of her life were spent in Tokyo, Japan , where she began dancing . Then she spent two years in Paris , where she first witnessed Fencing, and she begged her mom to learn. 

here are a list of some of the places she lived in as a child:

Seoul , South korea (obv)

Tokyo, Japan

Paris, france

London, England

New York city, United states

SCOUTING STORY :

Her father was a prominent businessman and was friends with JYP , Jyp offered to train his daughter ( Seulbi ) to be an idol, and without her consent, He agreed, on one condition, he would have a manager street cast her first, to take the blame off him.

Seulbi was seven years old when she was walking with her mother to the park when a JYP manager came up to her and asked if she’d like to be an idol. Seulbi, who was extremely emotional and afraid of everything, immediately burst into tears. Her mother agreed on her behalf.

DEARLIE :

DEARLIE was a 4 member kids girl group under JYP entertainment, the group consisted of Minseo, Sieun , Jaylie & Sooyoung. They debuted august 16 2013 with the song “Gee”. The group disbanded in January of 2016 after their contracts were terminated. 

Dearlie was a highly successful group , even with the controversy of a 8 year old debuting, it was marketed as a “kids girl group” for that exact reason. It remained unknown until 2023 why their contracts were mysteriously terminated.

POST-DEARLIE :

Sooyoung was only 11 years old when DEARLIE disbanded, eager to stay in the kpop industry where she felt appreciated, Sooyoung partook in Sixteen, Idol school & Produce 101 , all in the time of 9 months. After failing to debut in the three groups, Sooyoung quit being a trainee but was hired as a producer, stylist, choreographer  and concept designer for JYP , she worked on groups like SKZ, MISS A, TWICE & ITZY. She was the "mind" behind Skz, as she created their concept & discography nearly by herself

During this time, she didn’t even live in Korea ! Sooyoung attended the most prestigious boarding school in the world , Lucent arts academy in England where she majored in dance and minored in mythology until her departure in 2019.

LYONU :

Sooyoung had been longing for her return to the Kpop industry for a while, so when TNS reached out and asked if she’d like to audition for them, Sooyoung said yes. By July of 2019, Sooyoung was a trainee at TNS, by September of 2019, she was in the debut line up.  !! She had quit JYP by then !!

The nowhere girls club (TNGC) debuted June 5 2020 with the song Generation , it was a massive hit both domestically and internationally, with Sooyoung serving as the songs producer & songwriter.

By their second comeback with the full album “Stay out of my secrets” and the double title tracks Girls never die and Girls capitalism, TNGC had secured their place as a force to be reckoned with, not just in the kpop industry, but with the global music industry itself, with being nominated for 6 grammys and going home with 5.

SOLO VENTURES :

Moon Sooyoung is a brand. She is the most popular female idol ever. She has over 200 million followers on her solo instagram account , and she's only had it three years.

Some of her global  brand deals include : vivienne westwood, YSL, burberry , alexander mcqueen & graff diamonds. These are my 5 favs out of her 17 accumulated over the years. She is known as : global it girl, 4th gen fashion icon, dancing prodigy & ace of kpop (there are many more.)

Sooyoung constantly sets trends , including ; Lucky Jelly , off shoulder tops, reverse mirror selfies, heart cheek pose, , Sooyoungism, decorated shoes , custom decorated mics & more !!

For the two year and the four year anniversary of TNGC, each member released a mixtape for the fans, Sooyoung released BE PRETTY as her first solo and released INSANITY! As her second. Despite having small promotions, be pretty went extremely viral and got 1 billion streams in only 89 days and received over 13 music show wins in a 2 week timespan. Insanity! Also went extremely viral, reaching 1 billion streams in only 76 days ! it also received 15 music show wins in the two week promotion period

[dmloae]

ROLE MODEL

#figureskater!caitlyn → idol!caitlyn x reader

[k-pop au]

CHAPTER 1.5

| masterlist | ← | previous chapter | → | next chapter |

𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗽𝘂𝘀𝗵 𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝘀𝗮𝘆 𝗻𝗼

𝗶𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗽 𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗶𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗢'𝘀

𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗺𝗲 𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗠 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄

synopsis : filler chapter (more about the group)

genre + wc: kprofile, group’s insta & twitter with official members accounts! smau kinda (??). wc : 452

enjoy! @dmloae2025

mantra 만트라

(especially in hinduism and buddhism) a word or sound that is believed to have a special spiritual power:

A personal mantra is sometimes repeated as an aid to meditation or prayer.

The group debuted ⅕ years after Caitlyn went to South Korea.

mantra 만트라 SOCIALS:

group’s instagram

group’s X (twitter)

personal members instagram

mantra 만트라 DISCOGRAPHY:

## debut the 1st mini album (status : very very successful)

ascension

teaser : burn the bridge (o.g by LE SSERAFIM)

view count : 160.5M win : —

pre-release : butterfly effect (o.g by ARTMS)

view count : 178.4M wins : 4

title track : welcome to my world (o.g by aespa)

view count : 208.2M wins : 12

the first single album (status : very very successful)

ice queen

title track : ice queen (o.g by IVE)

view count : 150M wins : 3

japanese debut (status : very successful)

title track : supernatural (o.g by NewJeans)

view count : 118M wins : —

[end of the dreamy concept with the 3 albums]

## the 1st full album (status: very very successful!)

pre release: blind red eyes (o.g by Minnie g-iDLE)

view count : 198M wins : 4

[writing credit : Caitlyn K.]

title track : mantra (o.g by Jennie)

view count : 210.3M wins : 13

bside : chaconne (o.g by Enhypen)

view count : — wins : —

bside : swim (o.g by Chase Atlantic)

view count : — wins —

bside : satellite (o.g by Youha)

view count : — wins : —

bside : tempo (o.g by Kyu)

view count : — wins : —

mantra 만트라 KPROFILE:

mantra (만트라) stylized as mantra, is a 6 member South Korean girl group under [..] Entertainment.

consisting of Caitlyn, Sophia, Ena, Beth, Nani and Vale.

They made their Korean debut on November 23th with the mini album “Ascension”, they made their Japanese debut on July 8th with the single “Supernatural”.

Caitlyn :

Stage name : Caitlyn

Birth name : Caitlyn Kiramman

English name : —

Nationality : Filipino, Chinese

Position: Leader, Main dancer, Lead Rapper, Vocalist, Visual, FOTG, Center.

Birthday : January 4th 2003

Representative Emoji : 🦋

Fun Fact : She was a figure skater before becoming an idol for unknown reasons.

Stage name : Sophia (소피아)

Birth Name : Yu Sophia

Position: Main Vocalist

Birthday: October 2th 2004

Nationality: Korean

Representative Emoji: 🦄

Fun fact : Known for her powerful vocals and stage presence.

Stage name : Ena (에나)

Birth name : Kim Ena

English name : Esther

Position: Lead Dancer, Lead Vocalist

Birthday: November 27th 2004

Nationality: Korean-American

Representative Emoji: 🐭

Fun fact: —

Stage name : Beth (베스)

Birth Name : Elisabeth Brown

English name : Elisabeth

Position: Lead Rapper, Vocalist, Dancer

Birthday: May 6th 2005

Nationality: Japanese-French

Representative Emoji: 🪞

Fun fact : She was a child model before debuting.

Stage name : Nani (나니)

Birth name : Nani Yizuho

Position: Main Rapper, Sub Vocalist, Dancer

Birthday: May 26th 2005

Nationality: Chinese

Representative Emoji: 🔥

Fun fact: —

Vale (발레)

Position: Main Vocalist, Lead Dancer, Maknae

Birthday: June 5th 2006

Nationality: Afro-American

Representative Emoji: 🐈‍⬛

Fun fact: —

♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎♥︎

a/n : this took so so long😭. hope you enjoy tho!

oh, also :

logo made by me (ibis paint x)

inspired by a lottttttt of tiktok and yt videos for group concept so credit to all of them🩷!

[deepcreekvulture]

Spencer Reid's College Timeline

So, I was chilling at my local Library and decided to use my very extensive free time to write out Spencer Reid’s College timeline (or at least how it makes the most sense to me).

There’s probably going to be a lot of inconsistencies and possible contradictions in this, but please give me a little grace. I don’t go to college, and I'm just silly. 

I did try to be as accurate as I could, but there’s only so much I can do with my little brain and 10 mgs of Adderall. 

I also tried to be as realistic as I could, especially with considering how Diana’s condition would affect his education. But, again, it's not going to be perfect. Feel free to share your thoughts.

What we know:

-Spencer Reid graduated from a Las Vegas public high school at the age of 12 (01.18 “Somebody’s Watching”)

-He went to Caltech. I personally like to think that he also went to MIT (Breen Frazier has admitted that Spencer saying he want to MIT in 07.04 “Painless” was a continuity error, but I think it is possible that he went to both, just not at the same time.)

-He has 3 PhDs in Mathematics, Chemistry, and Engineering (04.08 “Masterpiece”)

-He had 3 Bachelors degrees in Psychology, Sociology, and Philosophy  (04.08 “Masterpiece”)

-Joined the BAU around July of 2004 at the age of 22 (05.16 “Mosley Lane”)

Spencer is talking to Sarah Hillridge and mentions that he’s been with the BAU for “5 years, 7 months, and 19 days...” doing the math puts it around July of 2004.

-Spencer was born in October of 1981

There is some confusion about whether his birthday is October 12th or October 28th. I believe that his birthday is October 28th 1981, Emily Prentiss’s birthday is October 12th 1970 (04.14 “Cold Comfort” & her headstone)- and it is very unlikely that the two of them would share a birthday and it not be mentioned. (It also gives some more insight to why Spencer loves Halloween so much- it’s right after his birthday!)

So, assuming he started kindergarten at 5 years old, Spencer was in grade school from around 1986-1994. It is likely that he could have finished grade school faster, but a lot of the time public school systems want to keep students from jumping too many grades in order to not stunt their social development. 

I am taking the liberty of assuming that Spencer received all 3 PhDs before joining the FBI- so from age 12-22 (Over 30 years of schooling for three PhDs in the span of around 10 years, wowza).

Someone as smart as Spencer would’ve definitely gotten a 36 on the ACTs, so prestigious universities would be banging down his door to get their hands on his geniusness. BUT, Spencer loves his mom, and he wouldn’t want to stray too far from her. He also says he was drawn to Caltech because of certain professors in an article written about him.

We know that Spencer went to Caltech and would bike to classes and such. He was most likely able to stay at the dorms for free and given financial support from his scholarships. It is unclear how Spencer could’ve balanced having his mom in Nevada while he was in California, but there are buses and public transit to and from Las Vegas to Pasadena (ranging from 4-7 hours for a one way ride, so 8-14 hours round trip). William Reid, despite leaving Spencer and Diana, most likely maintained providing money to them due to paternal obligation and guilt.

There are, of course, ways for Spencer to care for his mom even all the way in Pasadena: Neighbors could’ve checked on Diana regularly/daily, Spencer could’ve called daily to remind her to take her medicine, etc.

To make Spencer going to both Caltech and MIT make sense, I figure Spencer would get his PhDs in Mathematics and Chemistry from Caltech then after Diana is institutionalized Spencer enrolls in MIT for engineering. 

The University term dates are loosely based on the academic calendar they provide on their websites.

(Rough) Caltech term dates:

Spring term: April to June

Summer term: June to August

Fall term: September to December

Winter term: January to March

(Rough) MIT term dates:

Spring term: February to May

Summer term:June to August

Fall term: September to December

I know that in the U.S. you don’t have to have a Masters degree to get into the PhD program, but Spencer likes to learn and I figured he might want to get the most out of his time in college- or it might be a little contingency from the University so he’s still pacing himself and they can still see his growth and all that good stuff.

NOW ONTO THE TIMELINE.

At Caltech, Spencer would most likely have more freedom to complete his schooling faster and they would’ve worked with him to create a good plan for him to complete things at his own pace while also following whatever school protocols they have. 

Spencer stays in Pasadena from the Fall term (Begins around mid September), through the winter term, and until the end of the Spring term (Ends around end of June), he goes home to Las Vegas during the summer term and winter/spring breaks.

Beginning of Fall 1994- Starts college @ Caltech studying Mathematics– Age: 12 turning 13

End of Spring 1995- Finishes his Bachelors in Mathematics– Age: 13

Summer 1995- Home

Beginning of Fall 1995- Starts Masters in Mathematics– Age: 13 turning 14

End of Spring 1996- Finishes Masters in Mathematics– Age: 14

Summer 1996- Home

Beginning of Fall 1996- Starts PhD in Mathematics & starts Bachelors in Chemistry– Age:14 turning 15

End of Spring 1997- Finishes Bachelors in Chemistry– Age: 15

Summer 1997- Home

Beginning of Fall 1997- Starts Masters in Chemistry– Age: 15 turning 16

End of Spring 1998- Finishes PhD in Mathematics & finishes Masters in Chemistry– Age: 16

Summer 1998- Home, Diana suffers a bout of bad psychosis and Spencer cannot return full time at Caltech during the Fall term. Due to his mother’s condition, Spencer contacts the school board and they work out a plan where Spencer can work on his Chemistry PhD in Las Vegas with the use of public Library computers and occasional trips to the campus for exams if possible. 

Beginning of Fall 1998- Works on his PhD in Chemistry, living in Las Vegas– Age: 16 turning 17

Spring 1999- Works on his PhD in Chemistry, living in Las Vegas– Age: 17

End of Summer 1999- Finishes PhD in Chemistry, living in Las Vegas– Age: 17

Spencer starts making arrangements to move Diana into a facility when he turns 18. He also applies to MIT to start their engineering program, manages to work out a plan to enroll in their Fall term but only move to a dorm at MIT after he gets his mom institutionalized (around October/November 1999)

Beginning of Fall 1999- Enrolls in MIT’s fall term on scholarship, starts Bachelors in Engineering– Age: 18

End of Spring 2000- Finishes Bachelors in Engineering– Age: 18

Beginning of Summer 2000- Starts Masters in Engineering– Age: 18

End of Fall 2000- Finishes Masters in Engineering– Age: 18 turning 19

Beginning of Spring 2001- Starts PhD in Engineering– Age: 19

Summer 2001- Works on PhD in Engineering– Age: 19

Fall 2001- Works on PhD in Engineering– Age: 19 turning 20

Feeling immense guilt for having his mother institutionalized, Spencer splits his attention between his Engineering studies and studying Schizophrenia independently. At the end of the Fall term at MIT, Spencer starts corresponding with a professor at Harvard University and is invited to help with a study on understanding Schizophrenia and the effects of different medications. He takes off both the Spring and Summer terms of 2002 in order to do said study.

Beginning of Spring 2002- Independent study– Age: 20

End of Summer 2002- Independent study– Age: 20

Beginning of Fall 2002- Resumes working on PhD in Engineering– Age: 20 turning 21

End of Spring 2003- Finishes PhD in Engineering– Age: 21

Beginning of Fall 2003- Starts Bachelors in Psychology at MIT– Age: 21 turning 22

Spencer goes to a seminar hosted by the BAU (Most likely with Gideon and Hotch), he’s very engaged and vocal during the seminar and catches Gideon’s attention.

Spring 2004- Spencer starts at the FBI academy– Age: 22

FBI academy is 4 months.

Summer 2004- Spencer joins the BAU after graduating from the academy– Age: 22

After joining the BAU, Spencer transfers his credit hours from MIT to a University in Washington D.C. to continue going to school part time.

End of Fall 2004- Finishes Bachelors in Psychology– Age: 22 turning 23

Most of Spencer’s attention is on his work in the BAU, so he slows way down on getting his degrees, and gets a degree in sociology both because it interests him and also because it’ll help with work.

Beginning of Spring 2005- Starts Bachelors in Sociology– Age: 23

End of Fall 2005- Finishes Bachelors in Sociology– Age: 23 turning 24

Beginning of Spring 2008- Starts Bachelors in Philosophy– Age: 26

End of Fall 2008- FInishes Bachelors in Philosophy– Age: 26 turning 27

Again: Breen Frazier has said that the line in 07.04 “Painless” about Spencer going to MIT was an error. I actually think it might be another way to show Spencer’s guilt over putting his mom in the psychiatric hospital- being so close without visiting might’ve made him feel even worse so he wanted to run away to a school across the country. 

Also I feel like Spencer having all these degrees shows that he didn’t really know what he was supposed to do with his intellect so he was just doing whatever interested him at the time until he met Gideon.

We are shown two articles (that I can remember) about Spencer college time frame:

There's one from 1997/1998, we are shown an article written about Spencer getting a Bachelor's degree, this would make him ~16. I’m not sure if it lists that it’s his first Bachelor’s degree- but I’m going to say that it’s just about the one he got for Chemistry which was his second Bachelors based on my timeline.

I don’t think it makes sense for Spencer to have done ~3/4 years of college before getting his first bachelors and then the other 6 or so years cramming the rest of his schooling? Eh, I don’t like it.

And there’s one in 04.08 “Memoriam” we are shown an article about Spencer receiving his first PhD at the age of 17. In my timeline he finishes his first PhD at the age of 16- which isn’t too far off so I’m choosing to believe that it’s a typo in the article (I know it’s kinda cheating but whatever).  

I had his PhD programs take around 2 years to complete because research and dissertations take time, no matter how speedy Spencer is.

If Spencer wanted to make any extra cash on the side, he could help with tutoring, work at the campus library, help coach any collegiate sports teams at the college, etc.

A lot of the things I added in this are just things that I thought of and don’t have any sources from the show (ex: Spencer doing school from home to help his mom, and the independent study thing from Spring 2002 to Summer 2002).

Again: a lot of this may be inaccurate, if there is anything you want to add or correct, feel free to do so. I spent only around 5 or so hours on this, it’s not perfect.

I love Spencer Reid. Thank you for coming to my TED talk. 

(if anyone is curious about how I write Spencer, my writing blog is @deepcreekvultures-writing )