#5/09/2020

[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?

[mostlysignssomeportents]

The US Copyright Office frees the McFlurry

I'll be in TUCSON, AZ from November 8-10: I'm the GUEST OF HONOR at the TUSCON SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION.

I have spent a quarter century obsessed with the weirdest corner of the weirdest section of the worst internet law on the US statute books: Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the 1998 law that makes it a felony to help someone change how their own computer works so it serves them, rather than a distant corporation.

Under DMCA 1201, giving someone a tool to "bypass an access control for a copyrighted work" is a felony punishable by a 5-year prison sentence and a $500k fine – for a first offense. This law can refer to access controls for traditional copyrighted works, like movies. Under DMCA 1201, if you help someone with photosensitive epilepsy add a plug-in to the Netflix player in their browser that blocks strobing pictures that can trigger seizures, you're a felon:

https://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/public-html-media/2017Jul/0005.html

But software is a copyrighted work, and everything from printer cartridges to car-engine parts have software in them. If the manufacturer puts an "access control" on that software, they can send their customers (and competitors) to prison for passing around tools to help them fix their cars or use third-party ink.

Now, even though the DMCA is a copyright law (that's what the "C" in DMCA stands for, after all); and even though blocking video strobes, using third party ink, and fixing your car are not copyright violations, the DMCA can still send you to prison, for a long-ass time for doing these things, provided the manufacturer designs their product so that using it the way that suits you best involves getting around an "access control."

As you might expect, this is quite a tempting proposition for any manufacturer hoping to enshittify their products, because they know you can't legally disenshittify them. These access controls have metastasized into every kind of device imaginable.

Garage-door openers:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain

Refrigerators:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/06/12/digital-feudalism/#filtergate

Dishwashers:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/05/03/cassette-rewinder/#disher-bob

Treadmills:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/06/22/vapescreen/#jane-get-me-off-this-crazy-thing

Tractors:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/23/reputation-laundry/#deere-john

Cars:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

Printers:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/08/07/inky-wretches/#epson-salty

And even printer paper:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/02/16/unauthorized-paper/#dymo-550

DMCA 1201 is the brainchild of Bruce Lehmann, Bill Clinton's Copyright Czar, who was repeatedly warned that cancerous proliferation this was the foreseeable, inevitable outcome of his pet policy. As a sop to his critics, Lehman added a largely ornamental safety valve to his law, ordering the US Copyright Office to invite submissions every three years petitioning for "use exemptions" to the blanket ban on circumventing access-controls.

I call this "ornamental" because if the Copyright Office thinks that, say, it should be legal for you to bypass an access control to use third-party ink in your printer, or a third-party app store in your phone, all they can do under DMCA 1201 is grant you the right to use a circumvention tool. But they can't give you the right to acquire that tool.

I know that sounds confusing, but that's only because it's very, very stupid. How stupid? Well, in 2001, the US Trade Representative arm-twisted the EU into adopting its own version of this law (Article 6 of the EUCD), and in 2003, Norway added the law to its lawbooks. On the eve of that addition, I traveled to Oslo to debate the minister involved:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/28/clintons-ghost/#felony-contempt-of-business-model

The minister praised his law, explaining that it gave blind people the right to bypass access controls on ebooks so that they could feed them to screen readers, Braille printers, and other assistive tools. OK, I said, but how do they get the software that jailbreaks their ebooks so they can make use of this exemption? Am I allowed to give them that tool?

No, the minister said, you're not allowed to do that, that would be a crime.

Is the Norwegian government allowed to give them that tool? No. How about a blind rights advocacy group? No, not them either. A university computer science department? Nope. A commercial vendor? Certainly not.

No, the minister explained, under his law, a blind person would be expected to personally reverse engineer a program like Adobe E-Reader, in hopes of discovering a defect that they could exploit by writing a program to extract the ebook text.

Oh, I said. But if a blind person did manage to do this, could they supply that tool to other blind people?

Well, no, the minister said. Each and every blind person must personally – without any help from anyone else – figure out how to reverse-engineer the ebook program, and then individually author their own alternative reader program that worked with the text of their ebooks.

That is what is meant by a use exemption without a tools exemption. It's useless. A sick joke, even.

The US Copyright Office has been valiantly holding exemptions proceedings every three years since the start of this century, and they've granted many sensible exemptions, including ones to benefit people with disabilities, or to let you jailbreak your phone, or let media professors extract video clips from DVDs, and so on. Tens of thousands of person-hours have been flushed into this pointless exercise, generating a long list of things you are now technically allowed to do, but only if you are a reverse-engineering specialist type of computer programmer who can manage the process from beginning to end in total isolation and secrecy.

But there is one kind of use exception the Copyright Office can grant that is potentially game-changing: an exemption for decoding diagnostic codes.

You see, DMCA 1201 has been a critical weapon for the corporate anti-repair movement. By scrambling error codes in cars, tractors, appliances, insulin pumps, phones and other devices, manufacturers can wage war on independent repair, depriving third-party technicians of the diagnostic information they need to figure out how to fix your stuff and keep it going.

This is bad enough in normal times, but during the acute phase of the covid pandemic, hospitals found themselves unable to maintain their ventilators because of access controls. Nearly all ventilators come from a single med-tech monopolist, Medtronic, which charges hospitals hundreds of dollars to dispatch their own repair technicians to fix its products. But when covid ended nearly all travel, Medtronic could no longer provide on-site calls. Thankfully, an anonymous hacker started building homemade (illegal) circumvention devices to let hospital technicians fix the ventilators themselves, improvising housings for them from old clock radios, guitar pedals and whatever else was to hand, then mailing them anonymously to hospitals:

https://pluralistic.net/2020/07/10/flintstone-delano-roosevelt/#medtronic-again

Once a manufacturer monopolizes repair in this way, they can force you to use their official service depots, charging you as much as they'd like; requiring you to use their official, expensive replacement parts; and dictating when your gadget is "too broken to fix," forcing you to buy a new one. That's bad enough when we're talking about refusing to fix a phone so you buy a new one – but imagine having a spinal injury and relying on a $100,000 exoskeleton to get from place to place and prevent muscle wasting, clots, and other immobility-related conditions, only to have the manufacturer decide that the gadget is too old to fix and refusing to give you the technical assistance to replace a watch battery so that you can get around again:

https://www.theverge.com/2024/9/26/24255074/former-jockey-michael-straight-exoskeleton-repair-battery

When the US Copyright Office grants a use exemption for extracting diagnostic codes from a busted device, they empower repair advocates to put that gadget up on a workbench and torture it into giving up those codes. The codes can then be integrated into an unofficial diagnostic tool, one that can make sense of the scrambled, obfuscated error codes that a device sends when it breaks – without having to unscramble them. In other words, only the company that makes the diagnostic tool has to bypass an access control, but the people who use that tool later do not violate DMCA 1201.

This is all relevant this month because the US Copyright Office just released the latest batch of 1201 exemptions, and among them is the right to circumvent access controls "allowing for repair of retail-level food preparation equipment":

https://publicknowledge.org/public-knowledge-ifixit-free-the-mcflurry-win-copyright-office-dmca-exemption-for-ice-cream-machines/

While this covers all kinds of food prep gear, the exemption request – filed by Public Knowledge and Ifixit – was inspired by the bizarre war over the tragically fragile McFlurry machine. These machines – which extrude soft-serve frozen desserts – are notoriously failure-prone, with 5-16% of them broken at any given time. Taylor, the giant kitchen tech company that makes the machines, charges franchisees a fortune to repair them, producing a steady stream of profits for the company.

This sleazy business prompted some ice-cream hackers to found a startup called Kytch, a high-powered automation and diagnostic tool that was hugely popular with McDonald's franchisees (the gadget was partially designed by the legendary hardware hacker Andrew "bunnie" Huang!).

In response, Taylor played dirty, making a less-capable clone of the Kytch, trying to buy Kytch out, and teaming up with McDonald's corporate to bombard franchisees with legal scare-stories about the dangers of using a Kytch to keep their soft-serve flowing, thanks to DMCA 1201:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/04/20/euthanize-rentier-enablers/#cold-war

Kytch isn't the only beneficiary of the new exemption: all kinds of industrial kitchen equipment is covered. In upholding the Right to Repair, the Copyright Office overruled objections of some of its closest historical allies, the Entertainment Software Association, Motion Picture Association, and Recording Industry Association of America, who all sided with Taylor and McDonald's and opposed the exemption:

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/10/us-copyright-office-frees-the-mcflurry-allowing-repair-of-ice-cream-machines/

This is literally the only useful kind of DMCA 1201 exemption the Copyright Office can grant, and the fact that they granted it (along with a similar exemption for medical devices) is a welcome bright spot. But make no mistake, the fact that we finally found a narrow way in which DMCA 1201 can be made slightly less stupid does not redeem this outrageous law. It should still be repealed and condemned to the scrapheap of history.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

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/2024/10/28/mcbroken/#my-milkshake-brings-all-the-lawyers-to-the-yard

Image: Cryteria (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:HAL9000.svg

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

[tea-earlgrey]

Spatort-Timeline

Aktualisierte Version (Stand: Juni 2025) 

Disclaimer: Das ist meine Interpretation der vorhandenen Informationen und ein Versuch, möglichst viel davon passend zu machen. Ich erhebe keinen Anspruch auf Richtigkeit und möchte nicht, dass damit jemand in der eigenen, kreativen Freiheit eingeschränkt wird. Zur Verwendung siehe unter Cut.

1990  - Adam und Leo werden geboren (Annahme basierend auf Jahrbuch aus HdW und dass Adam und Leo in der 11. Klasse etwa 16/17 waren; Stichtag Einschulung Saarland 30. Juni, Stand 2021) - Erster Nachweis von Aktivität Roland Schürks (Kontoauszüge aus April 1990) 

1994  - Fahndungsaufruf Joseph und Beatrice Radek vom 16. Mai 

2001  - Roland Schürk wird wegen unerlaubten Waffenbesitzes verurteilt  

2002  - Erste Raubüberfälle, zu denen Boris Barns geständig ist; (gemeinsam mit Roland Schürk) - Roland Schürk erhält 300.000 Euro in kleineren Summen aufs Konto

2003   - 14. Februar: Banküberfall mit Todesfolge aus der Raubserie Roland Schürk/Boris Barns - Boris Barns kommt im Frühling 2003 wegen Raubmord ins Gefängnis (Entlassung vermutlich 2023 bei Höchststrafe und wegen Weigerung auf Kooperation; mögliche Verlängerung wegen weiterer Vorfälle)  

Vermutlich zwischen 2003 und 2006   - Leo und Adam als Jugendfreunde (“Hab jahrelang dabei zugesehen…” aber Leo weiß nicht von Boris) 

2006   - Vermutlich April: Roland Schürk wird von Peter Lausch im Wald angegriffen und später von Leo in Nothilfe ins Koma geschlagen (siehe Post zur Ermittlung des Datums) - 04. Mai: in Frankreich wird die Leiche von E. Morel gefunden, ihr Oberschenkel fehlt   

Schuljahr 2006/07  - Peter Lausch wird Lehrer an Leos und Adams Schule; Leo und Adam kommen in die 11. Klasse   - Oktober - Dezember: Leo gewinnt Vorlesewettbewerb und fährt danach zum Bundesausscheid; Adam leitet die Fußball AG 

Schuljahr 2007/2008   - Adam verschwindet (im Jahrbuch 2006/2007 mehrfach aufgeführt, in der 11. den Philo-Kurs von Lausch besucht, “Und Sie sind dann irgendwann verschwunden”)

Schuljahr 2008/2009  - Abitur des Jahrgangs 1990/91, daher vermutlich mindestens Leo (vgl. Jahrbuch 2006/07 11. Klasse; G9 Modell im Saarland bis 2009)

2014  - 23. Januar: Mara Heinrich wird als vermisst gemeldet  

2018  - Cora Reuthers wird zum ersten Mal überfallen (muss nicht der erste Einbruch sein; Stimmiger hinsichtlich Therapie und Selbstverteidigungskurse) 

2020  - Vermutlich 4./11. Mai (Montagnacht): Eric Hofer wird ermordet  - Vermutlich 5./12. Mai (Dienstag): Adam beginnt neue Stelle in Saarbrücken  - Vermutlich 7./14. Mai: Roland Schürk wacht auf nach etwa 14 Jahren (Annahme: Rundung auf 15 Jahre, weil es besser klingt)   - 05.07.2020: Jessi Pohlmann wird ermordet  - 06.07.2020: Roland Schürk wird aus dem Krankenhaus entlassen und sitzt im Rollstuhl  - 09.07.2020: Leo erschießt Peter Lausch; Roland Schürk verletzt 

2021  - Ende 2021/Anfang 2022: Einbruch im Wohnhaus Schürk durch Modalls Bande; Roland wird verprügelt (Aussage von Heide Schürk, dass Roland nach seiner neuerlichen Verletzung während HdW wieder laufen kann) - Erster Einbruch bei Cora Reuthers (könnte unterschiedlich zu o.g. Überfall sein) 

2022:  - Anfang März: Roland Schürk kauft einen Regenbogenfrosch  - Ende März (Woche vom 21.-27.03.): Roland Schürk stirbt; Adam wird wegen Mordverdacht an seinem Vater verhaftet und trifft in Untersuchungshaft auf seinen Patenonkel Boris Barns  - Ende März: Adam birgt die 1,2 Millionen aus dem letzten Bankraub seines Vaters (Geldscheine sind allerdings falsch)

2023  - Frühling: Boris Barns wird aus der Haft entlassen (sofern seine Haftstrafe nicht verlängert wurde) - Ende Juli (vermutlich 22.07.): Andreas Schneider stirbt nach einem Ackermatch; Moritz Leimer überfällt Adam wegen der 1,2 Millionen aus dem letzten Banküberfall  - Ende Juli (vermutlich 25.07.): Roswitha Jäger stirbt bei beinahe-Unfall (Datum auf Leos Uhr falsch) auf (nicht) B17 

2025 - 09. Juni (Pfingstmontag): Überfall auf Geldtransporter am Willi-Graf-Ufer durch Carla Radek, Merlin Bravard und Moritz Leimer  - 11. Juni: Carla Radek stirbt bei Explosion in einem Bunker in Frankreich; Leo verletzt

Zur Verwendung:

Dieser erste Post enthält die grobe Timeline mit Informationen zu einzelnen Jahren und Eckpunkten, die relevant sein könnten. Rot markiert und kursiv sind Annahmen, die ich tätige, um die Timeline passend zu machen.

Informationen über Nebencharaktere sind kleiner, aber im Post teilweise inkludiert, da sie Einblicke in die Gesamt-Timeline geben oder für die Weiterverarbeitung hilfreich sein können.

Die Quellen sind diesmal in den Reblogs zu finden. Es gibt zu jedem Film einen eigenen Reblog; die Informationen befinden sich unter den Cuts, damit der Stapel nicht zu groß wird. Film-Reblogs enthalten jeweils eine Timeline des Films in violett.

Die Timeline ist absichtlich in Textform, um sie für Screenreader erfassbar zu machen.

Fragen zur Timeline beantworte ich jederzeit gerne.

[how-about-some-more-whump]

The Journey Across the Night 我在香港遇见他 (2020) - Whump List

Synopsis: Li Jia (on the right), a 23-year-old man, goes to Hong Kong to study psychiatry for a pressing reason. His family has a genetic disease that caused his mother and brother to be diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 24 and he is desperate to escape the same fate. While racing against the clock, he meets Zhang Chacha, a young woman who works in a rental agency, and Shi Cheng (on the left), an anatomy student. Together they investigate cases involving mentally ill people and have to face their own demons.

Notes: You can thank Shi Cheng because most of the good whump comes from him (ep. 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 21). The bromance between Li Jia and Shi Cheng is really sweet and I, for once, loved the FL, as she’s witty and flirty and has the cutest outfits, so it was a delight to see the relationship between these three develop. The last episode ruin the entire show though, it's obvious they were trying to get a second season... Honestly, just skip it.

NB: Timestamps might be off (< 1mn) depending on where you watch the show. I do not disclose any character death on purpose. The characters are listed by chronological order of whump in each episode.

WARNING: This drama contains mental health issues, self-harm and se*ual assault depiction.

------ EPISODE 1 ------

Li Jia

25:38 Wakes up startled from a nightmare

31:58 Stalked

------ EPISODE 2 ------

Li Jia

6:22 Nightmare

7:40 Attacked from behind, knocked out

------ EPISODE 3 ------

None.

------ EPISODE 4 ------

Li Jia

31:09 Threatened with a chopper, knocked out with a hammer, collapses

------ EPISODE 5 ------

Shi Cheng

6:07 Passes out from fear

Li Jia

6:55 Unconscious in a car, tied up and gagged, wakes up weak, sweating, carried out

------ EPISODE 6 ------

Shi Cheng

17:25 Tasered, loses consciousness, collapses

18:50 Wakes up locked up with Li Jia, claustrophobia crisis, hyperventilating, remembering traumatic events, carried out, catching his breath

30:32 Talking about the origins of his claustrophobia

Li Jia

17:30 Tasered, collapses, blurry eyesight, loses consciousness

18:03 Wakes up locked up with Shi Cheng, calling for help, worried for Shi Cheng

------ EPISODE 7 ------

None.

------ EPISODE 8 ------

Li Jia

4:21 Upset, remembering traumatic events with his schizophrenic mother, crying

30:44 Has a nightmare, wakes up startled, panting

Shi Cheng

28:30 Found standing in the rain, drenched, upset

31:47 Calling Li Jia for help, not feeling well, high fever, hospitalized, agitated sleep

34:48 Coughing, scared

------ EPISODE 9 ------

Shi Cheng

10:34 Still in the hospital, coughing

26:52 Pale, in an argument with Li Jia, pushed back, furious

31:04 Upset, crying, tears wiped off his face, apologizing

Li Jia

27:47 Pushed back, angry, pushed to the ground

------ EPISODE 10 ------

Shi Cheng

2:00 Smacked in the face, angry, held back, sore shoulder, bruise on the face

26:22 Found wounded and exhausted in a ravine in the forest, big bloody injury on his chest, holding pressure on his own wound with his shirt, panting, gasping and wincing in pain, wound treated on the field, disinfectant poured on it, screaming in pain, wound bandaged, vest put on his shoulders, carried out of the ravine, collapses, crying out of relief and exhaustion, comforted

30:41 In the hospital

33:45 (In a flashback) Crying

Li Jia

10:15 Learns that Shi Cheng is missing, in shock

22:09 Found barely conscious, tangled in lianas

------ EPISODE 11 ------

Shi Cheng

16:46 Still in the hospital

19:25 (In a flashback) Bitten, groaning in pain, falling in a ravine, bloody injuries, screaming in pain, panting, moaning in pain, realizes he’s badly injured

------ EPISODE 12 ------

Shi Cheng

7:25 Has a black eye

Li Jia

28:20 (Oh my gosh he’s cuuuute aaaaah)

------ EPISODE 13 ------

Shi Cheng

7:50 Scared, running away, bumps his head, collapses, wincing in pain, pretends to be knocked out, terrified, passes out from fear, nightmare, wakes up still terrified

Li Jia

27:25 Falls through an old parquet floor, wincing in pain

------ EPISODE 14 ------

Li Jia

20:56 Comforting someone, crying

--- EPISODES 15 to 17 ---

None.

------ EPISODE 18 ------

Shi Cheng

31:36 Drunk, unsteady

Li Jia

34:47 Sleep paralysis

--- EPISODES 19, 20 ---

None.

------ EPISODE 21 ------

Li Jia

1:48 Has a nightmare

2:24 Learns shocking news, upset, collapses, panic attack, PTSD, crying, hallucinating

Shi Cheng

32:06 Found drunk on the roof, sleeping in his underwear, grunting, red marks on his chest, taken care of, helped to walk

------ EPISODE 22 ------

None.

------ EPISODE 23 ------

Shi Cheng

12:55 Terrified, panting

17:28 In a heated argument with Li Jia

Li Jia

13:12 Scared, hallucinating

16:00 Attacked, kicked in the stomach, beaten up, collapses, coughing blood, passes out

17:28 In a heated argument with Shi Cheng

21:55 Face bruise tended to, wincing in pain

------ EPISODE 24 ------

Li Jia

6:48 Exhausted, trying to keep composure, brakes down, crying

19:48 Pissed, beaten, drooling blood, thrown into a pool, punched, head held underwater, drowning, snaps, furious

25:13 Blurry eyesight, loses consciousness

26:03 In the hospital, memory loss

27:22 Dreams of traumatic events, wakes up startled, throws up

------ EPISODE 25 ------

None.

------ EPISODE 26 ------

Li Jia

15:22 Hallucinating

25:11 Snaps, his alternate identity who came out of his ass takes over and goes shopping (seriously wth)

___

Head to the WHUMP MASTERLIST for more whump!

[staydandy]

The Lost Tomb 2: Wrath of the Sea (2019) - 盗墓笔记2 - Whump List

List by StayDandy Synopsis : The group of heroes are pulled into another tomb-raiding expedition that takes them beneath the sea. In an ancient Ming Dynasty ship, they encounter monstrous creatures and puzzling traps. Wu Xie opens the box that he obtained from the Seven Star Coffins of Lu Wang's Palace to discover a snake-browed copper fish. Uncle Wu San Xing recounts the strange occurrences over ten years ago when they went on an archaeological expedition to Paracel Islands. Wu Xie leads a team down to the same place to explore a sunken ship where hidden dangers await. (MDL)

Whumpee : Wu Xie played by Neo Hou (center right) • Zhang Qi Ling played by Cheng Yi (center left) • Wang Pang Zi played by Zhang Bo Yu (2nd from right)

Country : 🇨🇳 China Genres : Action, Adventure, Mystery, Supernatural, Bromance

Notes : This is a Full Whump List • Adapted from books 2, 3 and some of 4 of "The Grave Robbers' Chronicles" (Daomu Biji) by Kennedy Xu • Suggested watch order of series (not including movies & spin-offs) : -- 1. Mystic Nine (2016) -- 2. The Lost Tomb (2015) >> 3. The Lost Tomb 2: Wrath of the Sea (2019) -- 4. The Lost Tomb 2: Explore with the Note (2021) -- 5. The Lost Tomb 3: Ultimate Note (2020) -- 6. Adventure Behind the Bronze Door (2024) -- 7. Tomb of the Sea (2018) -- 8. Reunion: Sound of the Providence (2020) -- 9. Reunion: Sound of the Providence 2 (2020)

Related Lists : The Lost Tomb (2015) - Full List • The Lost Tomb 2: Explore With the Note (2021) - Full List • The Lost Tomb 3: Ultimate Note (2020) - Full List • Adventure Behind the Bronze Door (2024) - Full List

Episodes on List : 25 Total Episodes : 40

*Spoilers below*

01 : Wu Xie shocked awake, sweating, from a layered nightmare (nightmare within a nightmare within a nightmare) … Wang Pang Zi knocked out

02 : [nightmare] Wu Xie choked

05 : Unsteady … entrapped in a trance, strangled, broken out of it … Pang Zi knocked over from an explosion … Wu Xie attacked, thrown to the ground, Pang Zi thrown into a wall, Zhang Qi Ling fights; choked & lifted off the ground

06 : [flashback] Passes out

07 : Wu Xie dizzy, entranced … [flashback] head pain, pushed into water … [present] Zhang Qi Ling head pain, recalling forgotten memories … Wu Xie, Zhang Qi Ling, & Pang Zi escaping a collapsing underwater building, stuck on the way out.. Wu Xie unconscious, receives chest compressions, spits up water, knocked to the ground

08 : Recovering from fever (not really shown) … [flashback] cut his own hand

09 : Shocked awake, sweating, from nightmare

11 : (near end) Wu Xie & Pang Zi captured, tied up

12 : … continued from previous ep. ...Wu Xie still captured, tied up … imprisoned.. dehydrated, breathing hard, unsteady.. passes out.. helped to walk

17 : Pang Zi attacked, Wu Xie attacked.. attacked again, knocked out, drowning.. spitting up water … Pang Zi bit by insect

18 : Wu Xie Hit with the butt of a gun, knocked out.. wakes tied up … Pang Zi having a reaction to bug bite; unsteady, arm in hives & paralyzed, passes out … Wu Xie falls, nightmare; wakes trapped in a casket, choked

19 : Drugged, unsteady, passes out, arm nicked & blood taken

21 : Falls, knocked out briefly … Pang Zi entranced into almost killing himself … rolls down a slope

23 : Wu Xie cuts his own hand … dizzy

24 : … continued from previous ep. ... Dizzy … unsteady, holding his head … attacked, choked

26 : Blown back by an explosion, briefly knocked out … falls, hits head, blurry vision, unsteady … cuts his own hand … blown back by an explosion, drowning … wakes in hospital (comedic: with a high-pitched voice from concussion)

28 : Pang Zi's arm in a cast (tho I'm confused as to why)

30 : (near end) Wu Xie knocked out from an explosion … falls into a pit

31 : Pang Zi found unconscious

32 : Found unconscious, head sore from being knocked out

35 : Wu Xie & Pang Zi in a fight; Wu Xie coughs up blood … head pain from noise

36 : Digs out from being buried in snow, head pain.. [flashback] buried in rubble from collapsed tomb, unconscious … [present] rolls down hill, arm hurt.. exhausted, passes out.. headache, collapses … headache … drugged asleep … caught in a trap, hung upside down

37 : Headache … captured … Pang Zi captured, tied up, mouth gagged … Zhang Qi Ling head pain, drugged unconscious

38 : Drugged unconscious … Zhang Qi Ling & Pang Zi trapped in a net, both tied up & hooded

39 : (near end) Wu Xie exhausted, collapses, hypoxia (not enough oxygen), slaps himself, passes out … hallucinating

More Whump Lists for this show: love-me-a-lotta-whump

[hotmalemugshots]

Kase Avery Kuecher

1st Arrest: 12/29/2020

Charge: AGG ASSAULT W/DEADLY WEAPON

Bond: 50,000$

2nd Arrest: 01/18/2023

Charge: NO DRIVER'S LICENSE (1ST OFFENSE)

3rd Arrest: 02/28/2023

Charge: PUBLIC INTOXICATION (PI)

4th Arrest: 04/21/2023

Charge: AGGRAVATED ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON

Bond: 30,000$

5th Arrest: 09/24/2024

Charges (4):

UNAUTH USE OF VEHICLE: 5000$

FRAUD USE/POSS IDENTIFYING INFO # OF ITEMS <5: 5000$

SPEEDING

DRIVING WHILE LICENSE INVALID

6th Arrest: 11/23/2024

Charge: ACCIDENT INVOLV DAM TO VEHI>=$200

Bond: 1500$

[covid-safer-hotties]

“You may now become who you thought was disposable”: COVID-19 Politics and Ableism - Published July 4, 2024

Unpaywalled link available in the link to our archive! A taste below!

“You may now become who you thought was disposable”: COVID-19 Politics and Ableism Andrea Kitta Journal of American Folklore, Volume 137, Number 545, Summer 2024, pp. 321-330 (Article) Published by American Folklore Society For additional information about this article muse.jhu.edu/article/931461[37.228.238.33] Project MUSE (2024-07-09 12:59 GMT) American Folklore Society

This essay critically examines the intersection of COVID-19, Long COVID, ableism, and health care disparities in the United States, emphasizing the transformative impact of COVID-19 as a mass disabling event with a disproportionate impact on marginalized communities. I also bring an autoethnographic lens to my experi- ence of COVID-19 and Long COVID, underscoring the importance of recognizing the diverse and often untellable experiences of individuals with disabilities and challenging the prevailing ableist perspectives embedded in society. I raise ethical considerations of storytelling in the context of Long COVID and urge researchers to embrace empathy and a more inclusive approach that challenges traditional notions of objectivity and distancing within academic research. I call for a collaborative approach between disability studies and folklore studies, encouraging scholars to interrogate and explore the traditions shaped by experiences of disability.

On December 13, 2020, disability advocate Imani Barbarin created a TikTok where she stated in the caption: “COVID is a mass disabling event. Things will never be the same. Never. You may now become who you thought was disposable” (Barbarin 2020). Barbarin was not overstating what is happening in the United States. In addition to the overwhelming number of US-based COVID-19 deaths (1.07 million as of November 1, 2022, according to the New York Times COVID-19 Tracker [New York Times 2023]), there is also an alarming number of cases of post-acute sequelae SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC) or, as it’s more commonly known, Long COVID. Long COVID happens in anywhere from 5 percent to 50 percent of COVID-19 infections (although most medical experts agree the rate of Long COVID is somewhere around 20–30 percent of all infections). Long COVID affects women at a 22 percent higher rate than men (Sylvester et al. 2022:1391), and one study of Long COVID listed over 200 symptoms (Davis et al. 2021). The most common symptoms are fatigue, shortness of breath, cough, chest pain, brain fog, sleep disturbances, depression, joint pain, and dysautonomia (a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system that typically presents as the inability to control temperature, breathing issues, and other things the body normally controls automatically).

Current estimates of those affected by Long COVID in the United States are between twenty and forty million. COVID-19 has also been shown to reactivate other viruses (Gold et al. 2021; Chen et al. 2022; Su et al. 2022), and one current theory is that Long COVID is the result of the COVID-19 virus continually being reactivated in the body (Klein et al. 2022). The latest research out of Yale University shows that COVID-19 cases entail cellular changes to the B and T cells, lower levels of cortisol, and that the virus can reactivate other viruses (Su et al. 2022:891–2). A recent study with more than 154,068 participants showed that “in the post-acute phase of COVID-19, there was increased risk of an array of incident neurologic sequelae including ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke, cognition and memory disorders, peripheral nervous system disorders, episodic disorders (for example, migraine and seizures), extrapyramidal and movement disorders, men tal health disorders, musculoskeletal disorders, sensory disorders, Guillain–Barré syndrome, and encephalitis or encephalopathy” (Xu, Xie, and Al-Aly 2022:2406).

Both COVID-19 and Long COVID exposed inequities in the US health care system, with Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) populations dying from COVID-19 at much higher rates than White people at the beginning of the pandemic. Compared to White people, Alaskan Indian or Alaskan Natives died at 2.1 times the rate, Black people at 1.7 times the rate, Hispanic or Latinx people at 1.8 the rate, and Asian Americans at 0.8 times the rate (CDC 2023). According to the Washington Post’s analysis of CDC’s statistics, the rate of White people dying from COVID-19 became equal to the rate of other groups beginning in October 2021, then (except for the Omicron wave) increased, primarily due to White people being unvaccinated. Strangely enough, the equalizing trend wasn’t because death rates dropped for BIPOC people, but rather was due to the rise of the White death rate. Tasleem Padamsee, Assistant Professor at The Ohio State University who researched vaccine use and who is a member of the Ohio Department of Health’s work group on health equity, stated: “Usually, when we say a health disparity is disappearing, what we mean is that . . . the worse-off group is getting better. . . . We don’t usually mean that the group that had a systematic advantage got worse” (quoted in Johnson and Keating 2022).

Additionally, at the time of this writing in Spring 2023, the pandemic has been declared as “over” despite the fact that around 400 people are still dying per day in the United States and that those dying tend to be people with disabilities and the elderly (New York Times 2023). It’s difficult to imagine a situation where 400 deaths a day are deemed acceptable, yet here we are. Many people are desperate to “get back to normal” and seem to care more about going maskless or dining indoors than they do about those who are dying of COVID-19. Those who are unvaccinated and unmasked also seem to not understand (or not care) that the longer they continue on that path, the longer the pandemic will take to dissipate. Simply put, the majority of people do not seem to care about people with disabilities, including those who are immunocompromised, and their increased health risks due to the pandemic.

People with disabilities are an unrecognized health disparity population, and they died at much higher rates during COVID-19 (Krahn, Walker, and Correa-de-Araujo 2015). The National Council on Disability found that 181,000 people with disabilities in long-term care facilities died from COVID-19 in the first year of the pandemic, making up one-third of COVID-19 deaths at that time (National Council of Disabilities 2021). The report is worth quoting at length.

In addition to disproportionate fatalities, key findings of the report include:

People with disabilities faced a high risk of being triaged out of COVID-19 treatment when hospital beds, supplies, and personnel were scarce; were denied the use of their personal ventilator devices after admission to a hospital; and at times, were denied the assistance of critical support persons during hospital stays. Informal and formal Crisis Standards of Care (CSC), pronouncements that guided the provision of scarce health care resources in surge situations, targeted people with certain disabilities for denial of care (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

Students with disabilities were denied necessary educational services and supports during the pandemic and have experienced disruption and regression in their behavioral and educational goals (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

The growing shortage of direct care workers in existence prior to the pandemic became worse during the pandemic. Many such workers, who are women of color earning less than a living wage and lacking health benefits, left their positions for fear of contracting and spreading the virus, leaving people with disabilities and their caregivers without aid and some at risk of losing their independence or being institutionalized (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

Deaf, Hard of Hearing, Deaf-Blind, and Blind persons faced a profound communication gulf as masks became commonplace, making lip-reading impossible and sign language harder (National Council of Disabilities 2021).

[touhou-memories]

Demo Play replays from Mystic Square.

The order in which they appear is always the same: stage 4 Reimu, stage 2 Marisa, stage 3 Mima, stage 5 Yuuka (all four on Lunatic difficulty).

You can trigger a fifth Demo Play (of Mima during Extra stage, however without any yellow "DEMO PLAY" banner on it) by holding both left and right arrows on your keyboard while waiting as usual for a demo play to begin, but you must have Extra stage unlocked with all characters. Please check rec98.nmlgc.net/blog/2020-09-21 for more details about this:

[teardropsonmyheartstrings]

Did Exile End On April 9th?

For Your Consideration....

I've recently been going through a lot of song runtimes, and I noticed something.

Exile was released on August 3rd 2020, Karlie's birthday. Sounds devastating. But maybe not quite as devastating as we thought.

The track's runtime is 4:45. Looks unassuming enough if you don't dig further. But as I've recently discovered, a lot of runtimes are excellent fun if you employ a little math:

4 and 4+5

or

4 and 9

This could mean nothing. You can do that with any song, achieving varying degrees of delusional "aha!" moments. But how about this:

Taylor Nation in early APRIL (4)

"Spring has finally sprung" ... reminds me an awful lot of

🎶 Spring breaks loose, the time is near 🎶

And all that to the tune of But Daddy I love Him?!

Not Convinced? Fair enough. Let me offer you:

4 Years of Fearless on APRIL NINE

"It was the night things changed."

Oh? Oh??? OH!

I see what you're doing there, TN!

And because that's not obvious enough, we got a double post! Again, this is APRIL 9th

A video announcing the release of the limited edition Fearless cardigan. Set to.... Untouchable. Clearly one of Taylor's most popular and cardigan appropriate Fearless songs ever!

One last thing...

I think, we were actually told already a year ago, that this was coming up. Guess what song runs for 4:09? The Prophecy.

And of course, in retrospect we all know now, how turbulent things have become with Kaylor bread crumbs spiralling madly out of control the past month and a bit.

So yeah, I think The Prophecy changed, Exile ended April 9th, and now all bets are off!

Alright Taylor, we're ready. Drag us head first fearless!

[artisofthandy]

I do apologise immensely for this tribute being so late when it was supposed to be on April 5th but I have it right now so I’d say late is better than never. And from the title it’s correct; it has officially been 5 years since the iconic voice actor, theatrical performer, director, teacher & former serviceman best known his voice in many performances especially Peppy Hare & Andross from Star Fox, Dr. M in Sly Cooper & most iconically; Solider from Team Fortress 2 has unfortunately passed away on April 5th 2020 due to COVID-19 but it took many strong & many deadly conditions & diseases from before to put him down before until COVID & I’d like to say thank you Rick May for all the work, all the nostalgic and amazing work of a voice that you put into & I’d would say that you were good, real good, maybe even one of the best and I’m sure Solider, The TF2 community & many more will miss you dearly even after 5 years. Keep rocket jumping up in the skies with the clear blue skies, sunshine & eagles along with the hawks & doves Rick, Soldier & the rest of us will be not only proud & grateful but additionally wishing you the best of luck!

(21/09/1940 - 05/04/2020)

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Brother makes a demon-haunted printer

I'm on a 20+ city book tour for my new novel PICKS AND SHOVELS. Catch me in RICHMOND TOMORROW (Mar 5) and in AUSTIN> on Mar 10. More tour dates here. Mail-order signed copies from LA's Diesel Books.

You guys, I don't want to bum you out or anything, but I think there's a good chance than some self-described capitalists aren't really into capitalism.

Sorry.

Take incentives: Charlie Munger, capitalism's quippiest pitchman, famously said, "Show me the incentive and I’ll show you the outcome." And here's some mindblowing horseshoe theory for ya: Munger agrees with the noted Communist agitator Adam Smith, whose anti-rentier, pro-government-regulation jeremiad "The Wealth of Nations" contains this notorious passage:

It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages.

Incentives matter – if you design a system that permits abuse, you should expect abuse. Now, I'm not 100% on board with this: every one of us has ways to undetectably cheat the system and enrich ourselves, but most of the time, most of us play by the rules.

But it's different for corporations: the myth of "shareholder supremacy" has reached pandemic levels among the artificial lifeforms we call corporate persons, and it's impossible to rise through the corporate ranks without repeating and believing the catechism that there is a law that requires executives to lie, cheat and steal if it results in an extra dollar for the investors, in the name of "fiduciary duty":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/09/18/falsifiability/#figleaves-not-rubrics

And this attitude has leaked out into politics and everyday life, so that many of our neighbors have been brainwashed into thinking that a successful cheat is a success in life, that pulling a fast one "makes you smart":

https://pluralistic.net/2024/12/04/its-not-a-lie/#its-a-premature-truth

In a world dominated by a belief in the moral virtue and legal necessity of ripping off anyone you can get away with cheating, then, sure, any system that permits cheating is a system in which cheating will occur.

This shouldn't be controversial, but if so, how are we to explain the whole concept of the Internet of Things? Installing networked computers into our appliances, office equipment, vehicles and homes is an invitation of mischief: the software in those computers can be remotely altered after you purchase them, taking away the features you paid for and then selling them back to you.

Now, an advocate for market-based solutions has a ready-made response to this: if a company downgrades a device you own, this merely invites another company to step in with a disenshittifying plug-in that makes things better. If the company that made your garage-door opener pushes an over-the-air update that blocks you from using an ad-free, well-designed app and forces you to use an enshittified app that forces you to look at ads before you can open the garage, well, that's an opportunity for a rival company to sell you a better software update for your garage-door opener, one that restores the lost functionality:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/11/09/lead-me-not-into-temptation/#chamberlain

I'm no hayekpilled market truefan, but I'm pretty sure that would work.

However.

The problem is that since 1998, that kind of reverse-engineering has been a felony under Section 1201 of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which bans bypassing "an effective access control"

https://locusmag.com/2020/09/cory-doctorow-ip/

There's a pretty obvious incentive at play when companies have the ability to unilaterally alter how their products work after you buy them and you are legally prohibited to change how the product works after you buy them. This is the first lesson of the Darth Vader MBA: "I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further":

https://pluralistic.net/2023/10/26/hit-with-a-brick/#graceful-failure

I've been banging this drum for decades now – like when I got into a public (friendly) spat with the editor of Wired magazine over their reviews of DRM-based media devices. I argued that it was irresponsible to review a device that could be unilaterally downgraded by the manufacturer at any time, without – at a minimum – noting that the feature you're buying the gadget for might disappear without warning after you've shelled out your hard-earned money:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/12/03/painful-burning-dribble/#law-of-intended-consequences

Of course, companies that get a reputation for these kinds of shenanigans might lose market share to better competitors. Sure, if the company that made your phone or your thermostat or your insulin pump reached into it across the internet and made it worse, you're shit out of luck when it comes to that device. But you can buy your next device from a better company, right?

Well, sure – in a competitive market, that's a plausible theory of "market discipline." Companies that fear losing business to rivals might behave themselves better.

In theory.

But in practice, the world's "advanced economies" have spent the past 40 years running an uncontrolled experiment in what happens if you don't enforce competition law, and instead allow companies to buy all their competitors. The result is across-the-board industrial oligopolies, cartels, duopolies and monopolies in nearly every category of good and service:

https://www.openmarketsinstitute.org/learn/monopoly-by-the-numbers

Now, even a duopoly has some competition. If you don't like Coke, there's always Pepsi. But again, in practice, companies in concentrated industries find it easy to "tacitly collude" to adopt one another's worst habits – the differences between the outrageous payment processing charged by Apple's App Store and the junk fees charged by Google Play are about as meaningful as the differences between Coke and Pepsi.

Which brings me to printers.

I know.

Ugh.

Printers are the worst and HP is the worst of the worst. For years, HP has been abusing its market dominance – and its customers' wallets – by inflating the price of ink and rolling out countermeasures to prevent you from refilling your old cartridges or buying third-party ink. Worse, HP have mastered the Darth Vader MBA, bushing updates to its printers that sneakily downgrade them after you've bought them and taken them home.

Here's a sneaky trick HP came up with: they send a "security update" to your printer. After you click "OK," a little progress bar zips across the screen and the printer reboots itself, and then…nothing. The printer declares itself to be "up to date" and works exactly like it did before you installed the update. But inside the printer, a countdown timer has kicked off, and then, months later, the "security update" activates itself, like a software Manchurian Candidate.

Because that "security update" protects the security of HP, against HP customers. It is designed to detect and reject the very latest third-party ink cartridges, which means that if you've just bought a year's worth of ink at Costco, you might wake up the next day and discover that your printer will no longer accept them – because of an update you ran six months before.

Why does HP put such a long fuse on its logic bomb? For the same reason that viruses like covid evolve to be contagious before you show symptoms. If the update immediately broke compatibility with third party ink, word would spread, and some HP customers would turn off their printers' wifi before the "security update" could be applied to them.

By asymptomatically incubating the infection over a long, patient timescale, HP maximizes the spread of the contagion, guaranteeing a global pandemic of enshittiification:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/11/ink-stained-wretches-battle-soul-digital-freedom-taking-place-inside-your-printer

HP has done this – and worse – over and over, and every time I write about it, people pop up to recommend their Brother printers as the enshittification-free alternative. I own a Brother, an HL3170-CDW laser printer that's basically indestructible, cheerfully accepts third-party toner, and costs almost nothing to run.

But I still don't connect it to my wifi. The idea that Brother is a better company than HP – that is possesses some intrinsic antienshittificatory virtue – has always struck me as a foolish belief. Brother has means, motive and opportunity to push over-the-air downgrades to block third-party ink as HP.

Which is exactly what they've done.

Yesterday, Louis Rossman, hero of the Right to Repair movement, revealed that Brother had just pushed a mandatory over-the-air update that locks out third-party ink:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpHX_9fHNqE

Rossman has a thorough technical breakdown of the heist, but it boils down to this. Brother is just as shit as HP. Look from the men to the pigs and the pigs to the men all you want – you will never spot the difference. Take the Pepsi Challenge – bet you won't be able to guess which is which:

https://wiki.rossmanngroup.com/wiki/Brother_ink_lockout_%26_quality_sabotage

This was the absolutely predictable outcome of the regulatory incentives our corporate overlords created, the enormous, far-reaching power we handed to these corporations. With that great power came no responsibility:

https://pluralistic.net/2025/02/26/ursula-franklin/#franklinite

Filling our devices with computers that run programs that can be changed in secret, that we're not allowed to inspect or alter? It's a recipe for a demon-haunted world, where the devices we entrust with our livelihood, our privacy and our wellbeing are possessed by hellions who escape from the digital Tartarus and are unleashed upon humanity.

Demons have possessed the Internet of Things. It's in Teslas:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/28/edison-not-tesla/#demon-haunted-world

and in every other car, too:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/07/24/rent-to-pwn/#kitt-is-a-demon

Our devices – phones, pacemakers, appliances and home security systems – are designed to prevent us to find out what they're doing. That means that when malicious software infects them, then – by design – these devices prevent us from knowing about it or doing anything about it:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/01/18/descartes-delenda-est/#self-destruct-sequence-initiated

This should not come as a surprise to anyone. Show me the incentive and I'll show you the outcome.

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/2025/03/05/printers-devil/#show-me-the-incentives-i-will-show-you-the-outcome

[korshrimpski]

alternate title: the la kings are whimsical and here is some of the proof

photo creds: byfield: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 | clarke: 1, 2, 3 | helenius: 1 | laferriere: 1, 2, 3 | lee: 1 | spence: 1, 2 | thomas: 1, 2 | turcotte: 1, 2

transcript/id: (i'm so sorry)

SLIDE 1: on a gray background is a doodle of the la kings logo centre page. Text: los angeles kings youth renaissance primer / (aka me begging you all to realise the lak are whimsical)

SLIDE 2: Quinton Byfield

Text:

drafted second overall in 2020: centre

fractured his ankle in 2021 preseason against the yotes after falling awkwardly into the boards delaying him joining the kings (a common theme within the kings youth roster)

moves between the second and third line but found a home on the third line with warren foegele and alex laferriere

starting to show colours of being a shutdown centreman (kopi would be proud)

currently on a five year contract

Photo 1: Quinton Byfield #55, in his gear on the ice twirling the strap of his helmet.

Photo 2: Comments under warren foegele's post. there is a red arrow pointing from the text to the screenshot that says;

alaf14 (alex laferriere): Lineyyy quintonbyfield: Foegdadddyyy

SLIDE 3: Quinton Byfield

Text:

named after quentin tarantino

phillip danault’s son (real)

noted goofball

you will be hard pressed to not find any post game picture with him not shirtless

has a post win hug tradition with alex laferriere

has more swagger in his pinky finger than i will ever have in my life

loves darcy kuemper and i don’t blame him

Photo 1: Quinton Byfield with his hands on his hips his body is facing the right but his head and upper chest is facing the camera. there is a silly look on his face while he wears a silly hat.

Photo 2&3: la kings player of the day helmet photos. Quinton Byfield is shirtless in both pictures and there is a red circle around him highlighting that fact

Photo 4: tweet for LA Kings: when your goalie is 9-1-2 in his last 12, he deserves a little 😘. attached is a gif of quinton byfield skating into darcy kuempers arms kissing him on the side of darcy's mask.

SLIDE 4: Brandt Clarke

Text:

drafted 8th overall in 2021: defender

the youngest player (21, 09/02/2003) on the kings

younger brother of wild prospect graeme clarke

has lots of comparisons to drew doughty, yk no pressure

won gold in 2023 at wjc

first full season with the kings after spending half the season in the ahl last year

randomly was made a winger for a few shifts on the third line against the kraken (18/01)

on an entry level contract

Photo: Side profile of Clarke in his gear.

SLIDE 5: Brandt Clarke

Text:

shit disturber

he does not shut up <3

carpools with anže kopitar to the rink

used to billet with jonathan quick in 2022-23 and would play goalie against quick’s kids

how kingsblr sees him*

*cont. Photo: Tweet by fartpog: saw this guy and said Ew ew ew ew ew ew ugly and then felt so bad i cried and bought him. with brandt clarke's headshot overlaying the gingerbread man plushie.

SLIDE 6: Samuel Helenius

Text:

drafted 59th overall in 2021: centre

the tallest kings player (6'6ft/198cm)

the son of Sami Helenius

has been up and down in the nhl and ahl this season

scored his first nhl goal yesterday!! (22/01)

on an entry level contract

in smaller text: (sorry sammy i don't know much about you)

Photo: Samuel Helenius raising his hockey stick to salute to crowd after getting first star of the night

SLIDE 7: Alex Laferriere

Text:

drafted 83rd overall in 2020: RW

laffy season

plays up and down all lines but mainly plays on the third line with Warren Foegele and Quinton Byfield (rip the alex²-foegele line)

went to harvard (and majored psychology (i think he graduated recently or he might soon idk))

at the time of writing this (24/01, acst (australian central standard time)) he currently has an upper body injury

on the last year of his entry level contract

Photo: Close profile shot of Alex Laferriere concentrating on something out of frame.

SLIDE 8: Alex Laferriere

Text:

got his diploma in case this hockey thing goes to shit

don’t let his unassuming appearance fool you he is a shit disturber

has bodied logan o’connor and connor mcdavid. ig he doesn’t like connors :/

he hated skating at first so his big sister, sophie, bribed him with skittles to get him to skate

at the start of the year was on a line with anže kopitar and adrian kempe, kingdblr called them the “triple AAA” line (#reunitethetripleaaaline (no matter how much i love other alex on the first line))

post win hug tradition with qb

Photo 1: Alex Laferriere sitting politely smiling wide at the camera.

Photo 2: Quinton Byfield and Alex Laferriere hugging both pairs of arms around the others abdomen.

SLIDE 9: Andre Lee

Text:

drafted 188th overall in 2019: LW

cousins with sharks fabian zetterlund

plays up and down in the nhl and ahl and is usually a healthy scratch most nights (sadly)

scored his first nhl on new years day against the devs

on a one year contract (kings please resign him, i will cry if you don’t)

got a leg injury last season in the ahl and couldn’t play for 2 months

grew up a kopitar fan (he has taste)

loves his family so much and told his mum “we made it” once and i get emotional thinking about it

in smaller text says: (sorry for the 1 slide tazer idk much about you)

Photo: Andre Lee towering over Tanner Jeannot (?) as he leans down to hug him.

SLIDE 10: Jordan Spence

Text:

drafted 95th overall in 2019: defender

grew up playing hockey in japan (his mum is from japan)

was born in manly australia (no he is not australian stop saying he is australian he is japanese-canadaian you asreholes) (that last bit is targeted at a certain section of twitter)

he was struggling at the start of the season but since being paired with Jacob Moverare he and moverare are now amazing and i love them both sm

on a 2 year contract

Photo: Jordan Spence turned to the left smiling. He is illuminated by a red light.

SLIDE 11: Jordan Spence

Text:

speaks 3 languages (english, japanese and french) although his french is a bit iffy

roomates with alex turcotte

phillip danault’s son (real)

survived andreas englund (i’m sorry andreas but spenny carried you when you guys were paired together)

likes calling people (namely qb) goofballs

had a dog growing up called doughty after drew doughty (who was his favourite players growing up)

rides an ebike with qb. like they literally share one bike to ride around la

to learn english after moving to canada he would ask his teammates bad english words to chirp opponents and in turn he would teach them bad japanese words

Photo: Jordan Spence looking stoic holding a tiny fish.

SLIDE 12: Akil Thomas

Text:

drafted 51st overall in 2018: centre

oh buddy it has been a journey to get to the nhl. The first three season after the draft were good he was developing in the OHL and won gold at the wjc in 2020 (where he scored the golden goal), and made the ontario reign in 2020-21. then in 2022-23 he got a shoulder injury. then in 2023-24 he got another one.

but now he’s here and he is the real deal. even though jim hiller keeps scratching him (jim hiller you asshole)

on a 2 year contract

Photo: Akil Thomas in practice gear smiling.

SLIDE 13: Akil Thomas

Text:

skipped a year of high school and started taking classes at Brock University at age 17

got bullied by david rittich after czechia beat canada at wjc 2025

he will comment a gif under your insta post, it is his thing

scored his first nhl goal last season but a lot of people thought he scored it this season (thanks a lot commentators)

might have been roommates with alex turcotte but idk for sure

part time model ig, idk the logistics but i think he endorses a clothing brand

Photo 1: Akil Thomas walk in picture wearing a white top with an off white coat and dark blue dress pants, with egg patterned socks and white air forces.

Photo 2: Akil Thomas posing of a photo looking down hands in the pockets of his flannel that is layered on top of a hoodie.

SLIDE 14: Alex Turcotte

Text:

drafted 5th overall in 2019: C/L/RW

son of alfie turcotte

currently stabbing the bust allegations with a knife

started the season on the bottom two lines, then got bumped up and down the line up for a while and now he has solidified himself on the first line and he deserves it after the tumultuous years of getting to the nhl

shoulder injury after wjc delaying his start to the reign → got acute appendicitis → then got a concussion → then got another concussion. and along the way he kept getting minor injuries side-lining him for a handful of games

but now he is here and it is officially turkey season

on a 3 year contract

Photo: Alex Turcotte pumped up after scoring raising his left knee towards his chest.

FINAL SLIDE: Alex Turcotte

Text:

billeted with the hughes family when he was in the usndpt (yes, he was in that weird american hockey cult)

while with his concussions he spoke/texted with bowen byram a bit because it was nice to have someone who could understand his circumstances

kingsblr will go to bat for turkey. listen hear hockey podcast he is not a bust he is unlucky. get. it. right.

loves when warren foegele is grumpy. true younger sibling behaviour

Photo: a screenshot of la kings tweet: TURCY DAY!!! attached is a photo of Alex Turcotte in Lando Norris's helmet. to his left is. Trevor Lewis and Jordan Spence. To his right is Tanner Jeannot and Anže Kopitar. In front of him on the ground from left to right is Brandt Clarke, Adrian Kempe and Warren Foegele

END.

[beastwistenworld]

CREEPYPASTA_BEAST WISTEN_REFERENCE SHEET 2025

PERSONAL DATA:

Full name: Wisten Welin Köhler

Alias: Beast Wisten

First appearance: March 16, 1936

Age: Has no exact age, but looks like a guy in his 20s-25s.

Birthplace: “WistHell” an otherworldly world located next to Hell.

DESCRIPTION:

A demonic creature or monster with human features. Except for his face and hands, his body is covered in fur and has a dark gray skin tone. Therefore, it's important for him to wear a turtleneck sweater with long sleeves and light gray pants that cover his strange legs. He also wears an old gray-green jacket, which helps him blend in with the forest. For convenience during adventures, he wears long boots and gloves. He has long ears, turquoise eyes, and long horns. On his left ear are visible two earrings, and the tip of his tail is covered with stitches. Among his belongings is a dark gray bag in which he keeps his notes and information about other strangers.

MAIN TASKS:

Observe and extract information from each stranger he meets along the way.

Eat human corpses.

Report on new arrivals to the Slenderman forest.

BEAST WISTEN MEANING:

Beast: has many meanings, in my case it has always been a scary creature, between a demon and a regular monster.

Wisten: He began calling himself this after being exiled from the world of “WistHell”. His name comes from Dutch as “knows” about something that others don’t know.

PECULIARITIES:

He hates the sound of metal rubbing together, because it makes him aggressive and makes him want to kill strangers.

Doesn't like to show his true nature as a monster and therefore tries to behave calmly.

When he began to serve Slenderman, he, like many proxies, began to have the ability to quickly regenerate.

Has excellent stealth and can quickly move to different places.

Excellent sense of smell, but not very good eyesight.

WISTEN’S DESIGNS:

12/15/2019: Gothic period, dressed all in black and has gray soulless eyes. Originally he was a character in my goth band that broke up.

1/1/2020: His clothing designs have become more elegant in the form of a jacket with a striped shirt. On the jacket you can also see a brooch with the sign of the city “WistHell” in which he lived.

10/1/2021: The most memorable design that was first shown in #creepybeastober and was mainly included in the Slenderverse. At that time there was a comic called “Home Sweet Home” where the main characters were Wisten and Toby, as well as the characters “Marble Hornets”. The comic was soon removed.

09/12/2022: In principle, the design didn’t change much, but at the same time he began to carry a crossbow with a sniper scope and a pocket knife, which were only in the 2022 version. This design and its old history were created exclusively for the Creepypasta Fandom.

10/31/2023: Plaid shirt, white sweater and scarf with pin, on rare occasions wore a khaki coat. There was a scar on his eye and his hands were burned. At that moment he was fighting his fears.

04/5/2024: This is a remake of the 2021 and 2022 designs, only he now wears a regular black turtleneck sweater. He also now has a light gray hooded work vest that goes with his jeans. Also, the end of his tail has stitches from a fight with one of the strangers and stitches on his old jacket, which he has altered many times.

03/16/2025: The final design of Wisten as a proxy of Slenderman. His clothes almost completely repeat the 2021 design, since it all started from there. There are still some small changes, for example, the design of the boots, his gloves have become longer and his ponytail with hair has almost remained as in the 2024 design. Also, in very rare cases, he can wear glasses.

BACKGROUND:

Sometimes people believe that completely different creatures surround them and that there is a completely different world. Well, they will be right...

A long time ago, next to Hell there was an otherworldly world, which was soon nicknamed "WistHell". People who were debtors and didn't fulfill the contract with the Demons ended up there. There, these people were hunted by cruel monsters who slowly tore their bodies apart, and then ate them. One of these monsters was Wisten himself, who first began hunting people back in 1936. At that time, he didn't realize that his life would soon change.

In the 2000s, Wisten got bored with the constant routine and became interested in human life, to which the Demon, who was watching from above, decided to punish him.

The Demon decided to make a deal with Wisten that could turn the monster into a human, and in exchange, he had to kill many people. However, due to the fact that Wisten never had a human soul, he was not able to fully acquire a human appearance, but only half: facial features, human speech, hands and physique.

WISTEN: “You said that I could become a real human if I killed many people for you! We had a deal!”

DEMON: “I did it, but your very origin interrupted this process,” - the Demon said with a grin, - “Now you are an outcast and a freak of our world!”

After what happened, Wisten was severely torn apart by his own people, half to death, and then banished, throwing him into the world of people to be finished off there.

In the world of people, Wisten found himself in a dense forest and after being thrown, he hit a tree hard, which completely paralyzed his legs. After some time, Wisten sensed someone's presence and realized that he was not alone here:

WISTEN: "Please... the ruler of this forest... stop my suffering," - Wisten said, dying and bleeding.

After what was said, a silhouette of a tall man without a face approached him and began to wrap him with sharp tree branches, piercing his body. Then he was completely swallowed by the dense forest and deathly silence fell.

When morning came, Wisten was already on the river bank, fully recovered from his wounds. Having woken up, he became a proxy for Slenderman himself, whom he was now obliged to serve, now having fast regeneration.

Now working for Slender, Wisten ate human corpses, and reported on new arrivals who came to this forest. And so it continued until Wisten began hanging out with certain creatures and killers who taught him how to survive in the world of people when you are not like everyone else.

[staydandy]

Adventure Behind the Bronze Door (2024) - 藏海花 - Whump List

List by StayDandy Synopsis : Five years after Wu Xie's last adventure his peaceful life is interrupted again. Wu Xie and Wang Pangzi set off on an journey to the snowy mountains to uncover the mystery behind Zhang Qiling's origins. Along the way Wu Xie realizes that the path of clues he's been following was not accidental but it was planned by someone. Wu Xie and Pangzi find out more about Zhang Qi Ling's background, but they get caught up in a conspiracy unlike anything they've ever encountered. (MDL) AKA : Tibetan Sea Flower

Whumpees : Wu Xie played by Edward Zhang (top left) • Zhang Qi Ling played by Zhang Kang Le (top right) • Wang Pang Zi played by Chen Ming Hao (bottom far right) • Young Wu Xie played by Xu Zhen Xuan (not pictured)

Country : 🇨🇳 China Genres : Action, Adventure, Mystery, Horror, Bromance

Notes : This is a Full Whump List • Adapted from the novel "Zang Hai Hua" (藏海花) by Kennedy Xu (南派三叔) • Chen Ming Hao is another great Pangzi! First seen (as far as release date goes) in Tomb of the Sea, and they don't recast him and use the same actor for the rest of the Lost Tomb shows (the 2 Reunions, and Bronze Door) • My favorite episodes are pink • Suggested watch order of series (not including movies & spin-offs) : – 1. Mystic Nine (2016) – 2. The Lost Tomb (2015) – 3. The Lost Tomb 2: Wrath of the Sea (2019) – 4. The Lost Tomb 2: Explore with the Note (2021) – 5. The Lost Tomb 3: Ultimate Note (2020) >> 6. Adventure Behind the Bronze Door (2024) – 7. Tomb of the Sea (2018) – 8. Reunion: Sound of the Providence (2020) – 9. Reunion: Sound of the Providence 2 (2020)

Related Lists : The Lost Tomb (2015) - Full List • The Lost Tomb 2: Wrath of the Sea (2019) - Full List • The Lost Tomb 2: Explore With the Note (2021) - Full List • The Lost Tomb 3: Ultimate Note (2020) - Full List

Episodes on List : 21 Total Episodes : 32

*Spoilers below*

01 : [memory/dream] Zhang Qi Ling fight … bleeding, unconscious, (young) Wu Xie hallucinating … [present] wakes from nightmare … [flashback] knocked out

03 : [flashback] Zhang Qi Ling tied up

04 : [present] Wu Xie doppelganger hit with slingshot stone.. both Wu Xie's tied up.. doppelganger hit again.. back of Wu Xie's neck cut, passes out

05 : … continued from previous ep. ... Revealed not cut, just tricked into thinking so with local anesthetic … shoulder squeezed … (@ 21:43 I seriously love the friendship of these 2 😆) … Wang Pang Zi head grazed by a bullet, bleeding and knocked dizzy for a moment

06 : Wu Xie's hand bit by insects, cuts his own hand, Pang Zi attacked & bit by the insects .. Wu Xie unsteady, Pang Zi dizzy from insect poison.. Wu Xie & Pang Zi freezing, Wu Xie shivering, Pang Zi passes out … revealed that Wu Xie & Pang Zi were stuck in an hallucination that entire time

09 : [past] Zhang Qi Ling cuts his hand … [present] Pang Zi drunk (pretending) … hallucinating (semi-comedic)

10 : [past] Zhang Qi Ling drinks a poison, passes out, entombed alive … pain

13 : [present] Wu Xie's vision blurs

14 : Pang Zi's arm grazed by bullet.. Wu Xie's finger cut by a wire.. Wu Xie & Pang Zi briefly knocked out … Wu Xie falls into a crevasse, briefly knocked out

15 : Knocked out by an explosion (not really shown), wakes in hospital, bandaged, unsteady, confused, rips out IV.. Pang Zi hospitalized, oxygen mask, comatose … revealed to all be Wu Xie's hallucination (starting from the attack/explosion)

16 : Wu Xie & Pang Zi hallucinate

17 : Wu Xie stabbed, collapses.. knocked out … stumbling around, still wounded, bandaging himself … despair, banging his head on the floor … stumbling around, holding his wound

18 : Limping, hallucinating, passes out.. stumbling.. passed out … Pang Zi tied up … Wu Xie (masked as Zhang Qi Ling) knocked to the ground, blown back by an explosion

19 : Coughing from corrosive gas, lying about current state, collapses from compound wounds, stumbling & unsteady, collapses, tossed & knocked out briefly by an explosion.. helped to walk.. collapses, coughing, passes out … (@ 17:23 legit made me cry) … wakes, coughing

21 : (near end) Hallucinating

24 : Cuts his own hand, forces his hand to bleed until he passes out.. wakes with his hand bandaged, Pang Zi's hand also bandaged after cutting it (not shown) … Wu Xie tied up, leg cut.. bandaged.. choked, blown back by an explosion

25 : Hits himself in the face with a rock to knock out a tooth (semi-comedic) … arm dislocated.. nearly falls down a crevasse, blown back by an explosion … arm set.. Wu Xie & Pang Zi fall down a crevasse

26 : Wu Xie in a fight.. scratched by monster & bleeding (faking)

27 : Blown back by an explosion

28 : Giant explosion, Wu Xie & Pang Zi injured (kinda hard to tell what's going on).. Wu Xie wakes, Pang Zi bandaged; neck brace & broken leg

29 : Injured by an explosion

[jewish-microwave-laser]

on the shabbat night of august 23, 1929, and into the following day (18 av 5689), riots broke out in the city of hebron (khevron/al-khalil) in response to disinformation spread that jews in british mandate palestine were going to take over the haram el-sharif/temple mount [1], which was building off a feeling of societal imbalance following the recent influx of ashenazim who had emigrated there to attend the sladboka yeshiva four years before [2]. this disinformation was fomented by outright calls for violence by many religious and bureaucratic leaders of the area [3]. rabbi ya'akov slonim and a sefardic rabbi named franko tried to ask for help in the hours before, fearing the worst, but they were turned away [4]

the massacre began with arab youths throwing rocks at a group of jewish yeshiva students, with the first death occurring that night when some of those youths broke into the yeshiva to find shmuel rozenholtz, age 23, alone and studying, and killed him as he read [5]

the group went house to house, killing and mutilating and raping as many jews as they could come upon. at one point, they approached the son rabbi slonim, eliezer dan slonim, and told him that if he agreed to hand over all the ashkenazi yeshiva students who were sheltering in his house, then they would spare the sefardim from their attacks [6]. slonim, who was well known in the community for being an activist for improving the relations between the arab and jewish populations in the region, responded "we jews are one," and refused [7]. he and about 40 other jews (who had been davening (praying) at the time) were killed in that home [5]

at the end of the massacre, almost 70 jews lay dead (the counts are usually either 67 or 69, depending), and countless more were gravely wounded and raped, and many were left with life-altering mental and/or physical injuries from the event. this event marked the end of the mostly peaceful coexistence between arabs and jews in the city (though it was by no means a utopia) that had gone on for hundreds of years. it is important to remember, however, that "some 400 jews were saved by their arab neighbors" [8]

may the memories of those whose lives were lost on that day, and of the survivors of the massacre who have died since, be for a blessing to us all

[1] https://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/this-week-in-jewish-history--massacre-in-hebron-kills-67-8-3-2020

[2] https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-756156

[3] https://www.nli.org.il/en/newspapers/plb/1929/09/08/01/article/11/?e=-------en-20--1--img-txIN%7ctxTI--------------1%5d

[4] http://pdfs.jta.org/1929/1929-09-01_1455.pdf - let me know if you can't read this and i'll transcribe the article for you

[5] http://en.hebron.org.il/history/1270 - oded avisar, who compiled the first hand testimonies written out here, uses some words that would not be considered proper today to describe the arab perpetrators. this source also has some very graphic descriptions and photos of what happened. if any of that is something that may bother you it may be a good idea to look over this source

[6] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-hebron-massacre-of-1929

[7] http://en.hebron.org.il/history/520

[8] yossi klein halevi, letters to my palestinian neighbor, pg 77

[all-things-are-nothing-to-me]

I'm gonna be real with you, chief. I'm not partaking in voting discourse anymore. I had my fill last election. As anarchists we should inherently be opposed to elections and democracy. If you think otherwise, I'm just dismissing you as a liberal and going on with my day. This'll be my only post about election season.