#Adventures in Conspiracy

[mitigatingacademics]

{10.07.2024 + 10.08.2024}

Fav coworker is at Disneyland.

She literally left on a plane after our last shift together.

To add insult to the left behind, the last night of my work week was spent with the coworker that allows for no personal productivity. 

...and he was on a roll, having just come off his rest days. 

Democrats control the weather and Helene was engineered to provide access to resources inside the mountains. 

Lasers from China are the reason for California wildfires. 

'Illegals' in California are 'voting' conservative because they've escaped the communism of Cuba. 

[He saw a FB reel from the Republican National Convention where someone made a big deal about 169 delegates being pledged to Trump from California. He took this to mean the most liberal state in the union is going conservative. A quick Google shows Kamala got 482 delegates from California, so...]

...and then, somehow, re: J6 -- it's entirely possible that the "mob" was 'peaceful,' it's a matter of interpretation', and Trump waiting hours to address the issue wasn't problematic, he shouldn't have addressed it at all, just let it play out. 

Me: So, just let them assassinate an entire joint session of Congress? 

Him: ... Where were the Capitol Police? 

The irony of wanting to wrap my hands around his neck...

Liz says there's no place for violence in our politics. 

Liz says there's no place for violence in our politics. 

Liz says there's no place for violence in our politics. 

Lord help me. 

He started in about how there was an 'election' in North Carolina that resulted in the people voting against mining in the mountains and how it's 'really convenient' that those people lost their homes a few months later. 

This, of everything, I found somewhat worth fact checking.

[I had not, at any point, indicated that there *would not* be fact checking. 😂]

I Googled 'North Carolina vote against mining.'

Coworker was *not* impressed by the first result: 

CBS: Hurricane Helene Conspiracy Theories About Lithium Mining, Weather Control Spread Widely 

Searching among those results for something 'unbiased:' 

PBS: Disinformation and Conspiracy Theories Cloud Helene Recovery Efforts in Hard-Hit Areas 

He came back with: "But who is donating to PBS?" ... VIEWERS LIKE YOU, SIR. 

Ultimately, maybe the 'election' he heard about was a 'poll.'

Alternatively, maybe all the evidence of that 'election' and its results have been scrubbed from the internet. They can do that, you know. 

He also said the $750 in immediate emergency funds to displaced individuals was insulting. When I explained that wasn't the extent of the aid being offered and asked what he would consider 'not insulting,' he said he didn't think the government should be giving any money at all. 

Churches should be helping the people, he said. Then he went off on a tangent about how FEMA has no right to attempt to gather, organize, and direct resources.  

Basically, whatever you do, it's going to be wrong. 

I tried to interject that the Republican Governor of North Carolina has said publicly, many times, when asked about Trump's claims that aid isn't forthcoming due to impacted areas being 'red,' that Biden was in touch from the beginning and said whatever was needed would be provided, they just needed to ask. 

Coworker: Why isn't he there?! 

Me: He's an 80 year old man. You want him to contribute physically? 

Coworker: He's the President! He should be there! 

Me: Are you familiar with the resources necessary to support a Presidential motorcade? 

Coworker: No. 

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Not that he would have pulled a Trump and tossed paper towels at hurricane victims, but Biden has actually been praised for having the insight to stay away from the impacted area for the time being. 

You can't reason with folks like this, though.   

Thankfully, I finished Issue 4 the previous night. (I miss you, fav! 😢) 

I found the second half much more entertaining - my mind engages more effectively when I disagree with what I'm reading. 

I also decided, given that I chose to pay $250 for the subscription [and 250 points towards purchasing Bar Prep materials that I won't need for like, 7 years, if ever, and am not likely to purchase from Quimbee, anyway], to see what Quimbee had to say about the relevant cases. 

[Much] later, I got my Covid and Flu vaccines...and the now traditional iced coffee reward. This time a Caramel Apple Iced Latte.

About an hour ago I received an e-mail informing me that my manager has submitted her Letter of Recommendation. 🙌🙌

I'm so relieved that, if I wasn't completely mentally spent, I might actually cry. 🤣

For now, I'm gonna crash soon - for probably about 12 hours (that's what happened last time and why we get our vaccines on our rest days) and hopefully wake up refreshed, inoculated and prepared to submit law school applications before vacation so that I can actually enjoy the trip! 🙌

[bacchuschucklefuck]

okay unironically I love so much that porter is like this world SUCKS its BAD here and it HURTS you why do you care abt it!!! and literally every single bad kid is like ngl we just hate ur ass it does not matter what ur philosophy is

[balkanradfem]

I don't get to talk about feminism in real life, because it's not an accepted topic here, it's an 'evil harpy movement' still, despite it getting women the right to vote, own property, own a bank account, be able to be paid for work. The consenus is that normal women don't need to be feminists, we already have the right to vote so what more could we possibly want. I do get to talk with young women about it! When I have some teenagers or young adult women in my life, I am telling them all about it, showing them all the violence statistics, instructing them on all possible methods of abortion, and they are genuinely stunned to gain this information they've never had access to before.

But yesterday, I was at plant lady's house, and I breached the topic of feminism, because I had just entered a feminist book club, and joined a little group of croatian radfems, so I was all up in my ideas about it. And I love the plant lady, she's a beloved figure in my life, but she is both against feminism, and a huge fan of conspiracy theories. So when I started talking about feminism, she interrupted me to tell me that she heard that women, are not in fact, responsible for feminism, but it's actually males in power that are pulling the strings. I explained that we don't even allow m*n to participate in what we do, but she was sure she's right, because, males in power thought it would be cool for women to have jobs and pay taxes, so they invented feminism, to collect more taxes and have more workers. And I knew I couldn't argue her about it because conspiracy theories exist to null every argument against them, right, no matter what I say, she'll have a more incredible explanation. So instead I changed the topic to the problems of sexual violence against women, domestic violence, normalization of pedophilia, and treatment of women like objects due to rampant pornography.

And she's like, no, that doesn't happen, most people are normal and have normal marriages and treat women normally, and these problems, are not the problems of 'feminism', these are things everyone is against – and I say no they're not, m*n don't care, they don't fight against any of it, in fact they're the perpetrators of 90% of these crimes. Then she launches into a story of an abused woman who refused to leave her husband because she loved him. I explain to her that this is incredibly common and it's called 'cycle of abuse', and we can resolve this by teaching women very early on about this cylce, that it can easily happen to them no matter what kind of husband they choose, and to recognize the signs early, before it comes to worst, and for women who are going trough it, they need all this euducation too. What is happening currently is nobody is talking about it and we pretend it doesn't exist and then victim-blame women when they get abused. Most abused women don't even recognize they're being abused because they're being isolated and told it's their own fault. Then she launched into another story about a woman who she knows was battered who escaped. Then she mentioned another situation she knew with a violent husband, and another with a drunk one. And I'm listening to her like. Hey. You said this doesn't even happen, that it's incredibly rare, but you personally know this many cases? And you know me, I've been living in violence too, remember?

And she just looks at me. Realizing for a second that it's not that rare. She didn't argue with me. She previously really thought about each and every case she knew as an outlier, something so improbable and rare that it wasn't really a social problem. She told me then, that we can't really help these people, because police only makes it worse, so what do we even do. I told her it's important that we talk about it, that we offer resources and teach women early on to recognize abuse, and to make a point of not blaming women for it, to make it clear any male could do it to them at any point, to be ready for it, to reconsider marrying, to have a separate bank account, to never let their survival and housing be completely dependant on a male.

I also indulged her to think why women can find themselves in these situations in the first place? If we're so equal, how come it's possible women don't have anywhere to go to, and need to stay in the abusers house to just survive. I said it has something to do with parents usually leaving their houses and properties to sons, and expecting daughters to move into their husbands places, and she again said 'no this doesn't happen', and I went 'well why don't these abused women just move into their own houses they inherited from their parents' and she again, had no arguments. It's not the sole reason though, women earn less too, get less promotions, get paid less for the same job, still mostly do unpaid labour, dedicate a big part of their life to raising children on their own, they don't get to accumulate funds and properties in the same ways m*n do.

Anyway, while we were having this entire conversation, her 18yo daughter was there, listening to us, and miraculously, she seemed to agree with me! When the plant lady claimed 'there's so many normal ones out there', the daughter interrupted to say 'no mom, there's no normal m*n out there, I can't find anyone normal', and I immediately supported her claim with agreement. I was so happy to be a little feminist influence on her and to validate her point! She was also wearing a shirt that said 'grl pwr' and I was like 'yes this is great' even though it's just a liberal catchphrase, it's still a sign of wanting women to have power in the world that doesn't believe a word they say.

I think the type of attitude the plant lady has is extremely common for women in our country, in fact she was very receptive to what I was saying. She knew about this many cases of domestic abuse, because she was often the safe person for these women to tell, and she has been helping the ones who escaped, me included.

Most women I know will launch in defense of males and trashing of women as soon as you mention feminism, because it's the only socially accepted thing to do. I believe we all have women in our lives who are not malicious or terribly ignorant, but affected by the mainstream beliefs that women are asking for too much, already have everything, and are at fault for everything that happens to them; this is incredibly pervasive and impossible to debate in a conversation. It's so ingrained in women to go against anything that makes m*n look bad, it's almost considered a sin and a hate crime to even think this way. Like something a bad, selfish, bitter, irrational and greedy woman would do, and nobody wants to be dubbed that. I remember thinking this way myself when I was a teen; I wanted to hold males responsible so bad, but the shame of being seen as this hateful and bitter person was getting to me, to the point where I would silent down and not speak out.

I used to get so angry at anti feminists, and would avoid indulging with the topic because it would irritate me so much, but I've gained more understanding as I go on, and can now tolerate the opposing arguments when I know they've come from propaganda and social pressure, rather than ignorance or hunger for approval. I'm more effective being able to indulge a little! Not a lot though. If I spent a lot of my time trying to argue with anti-feminists I would in fact, wither and die.

[moth-yea]

I've seen people talk before about how zipper man has no eyes because bucciaraiti hates seeing all the awful in the mafia/ world in general but nobody talk about how the zippers themselves are metaphors for him having to hold himself together through someone's death because he had no choice and now he pieces (zips) others back together because that's just what he learned ok bye

[choking-on-ice]

okay so yk how I said Jimmy would make a great semi-oblivious shoujo anime protag? well here's my proof! lookit him! he was built for it!

SO much "I can fix them, I can save them from themselves" energy just to be met with "I will crush mountains and boild seas to have him, we will rule this scorched earth together" shot right back at him from both sides

(also I know Kara's eyes are blue canonically, but Kryptonians seem to change eye colour alot based on their power usage so I headcanon that her eyes would be a bright glowy red bc of how often she uses her more destructive powers)

[the-1-foxy]

2nd Doctor adventures: Conspiracy of Raven yayy

[ffcrazy15]

Spoilers for episode 6 below!

I think my favorite things about episode 6 of MAWS is the fact that Jimmy didn't figure out that Clark was Superman. No no, Jimmy got a roommate freshman year of college who ripped door handles off and moved faster than the speed of sound and could fly, and correctly came to the logical conclusion that his roommate is an alien. And when, four years later, his alien roommate started flying around in a cape and saving people, was like "Oh neat Clark's got a side job."

[retrocgads]

USA 1997

[plate2]

Sometimes I'll just think of insane crossovers with characters I like despite fully knowing no one has read any of these combinations of books, nor would they ever interact. Like, I could go on and on about the similarities between the Bailey and Sorenson siblings (Land of Stories and Favlehaven) or I could go on about three different Jacks from different books (Half Upon A Time, Mighty Jack, Jack Blank). I could look at Nova Artino and Alex Knight (Renegades and The Cloak Society) and while they're for very different ages there's similarities. Alex from Alex Rider and Carson from Codename Zero would likely never interact but by God do I think about it. I could name so many: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel, Seven Wonders, Revenge of Magic, Beyonders, The Lies of Locke Lamora, etc, etc, etc. I am going insane over so many different books that have little semblance of connection, saying they each have pieces of one another within. And these fanbases (if there are even a fanbase for each of these books) would rarely ever interact.

So I'm just left here, reading books in my pajamas, deranged

[ailingwriter]

I love the idea of Jimmy's conspiracy theories always being right but nobody believes him because it's DC, the stuff that's true there is like. So unbelievable.

Lois: So Smallville's an alien. What next, Martians walking among us?

Jimmy: Oh don't even get me started! Do you want me to show you the charts? I can show you the charts.

Lois: Alright then, if Martians are real, how come we haven't found them yet?

Jimmy: Oh that's easy! It's because they're - are you ready for this? Psychic. Shapeshifters.

Lois:

Clark:

Lois: Yeah you lost me.

[lifewithaview]

Gillian Anderson and Kristin Lehman in The X-Files (1993) Kill Switch

S5E11

Mulder and Scully's investigation into a mass shooting in a coffee shop leads them to believe that the targets were not the low level drug dealers and wholesalers who were killed but rather Donald Geldman who had been sitting at a table working on his laptop computer. The Lone Gunmen tell Mulder and Scully that Geldman was one of the original computer geniuses who disappeared years before. His laptop leads the agents to a hacker, Esther Nairn, who goes by the name Invisigoth. She tells them of a vast government conspiracy involving artificial intelligence that allows them to see everything and take action against all enemies.

*Gillian Anderson's fight scene with the nurses is one of the actress' favorite scenes in the series.

[blenselche]

I finished my 200k finnfern fic! This thing made me go absolutely feral, I wrote it on my phone in a month lol.

Keep Yourself (redux) is my attempt at giving Fern an actual character beyond a Narcissus reference, he was very engaging as a concept and deserved better, so there's some "how do demons work, how does he deal with being one, where tf did he go in between Do No Harm and the Islands Arc" etc. I have a lot of Fern thoughts, and the fic is all of them vomited out into a more pleasant form.

“I saw Fern, when I was taken by the Lord of Eternity,” he utters against his palm before dropping it, “and he said something that’s stuck with me this whole time. I think about it constantly.” Finn glares towards his feet, narrowing his eyes and baring his teeth. “‘I can’t save everyone, and maybe not everyone needs saving. Do I really think everyone’s better off because of me.’ He was right and I got him killed because I couldn’t just accept that he didn’t need my ‘help’.” His eyes squeeze shut, knuckles turning white as he fists his hand at his side. “I’m tired, Prismo,” Finn whispers, voice crackling roughly over the tar in his lungs.

*I've put out a T rated version, so read that one if you're younger pls. I'm not your mom but let me at least try to be accommodating to your age so you're not blown over with smut. It's important that younger people are given a space in fandom but it's also important that you guys give adults our space, too. You can read the T version here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/54722422/chapters/138687334

This is a songfic/series so here's the playlist in order (plus songs for future additions):

[mental-about-you-too]

Why I believe the Will Darling Adventures were originally conceived as johnlock fanfiction

I will die on this hill.

The Will Darling Adventures (Slippery Creatures, Sugared Game, Subtle Blood) by KJ Charles are my favorite guilty pleasure comfort books. I have listened to the audiobooks an embarrassing number of times. I can play exchanges of dialogue in my head from memory, reader’s inflections and all. If you haven’t read them and you like a mix of adventure and gay smut (plus it’s a trilogy so there’s time for more complex characterization and more gradual relationship development than you usually get in books of the genre), then absolutely go do that, and don’t read below—because here be spoilers. Also, because the books are a delight.

So. Grand theory.

To be clear: I am not knocking these books AT ALL (if I’m honest, the Holmesian flavor is part of why I like them so much). As in many really good works of fanfiction, the characters have ceased to be mere copies, and have gained their own original and internally consistent characterization. Kim and Will are not Holmes and Watson, but I am completely convinced that the latter were the inspiration for the former. Here are some of the parallels/moments of homage:

Watson => Will

Returned to England from war with nowhere to go; ended up in London: “I had neither kith nor kin in England, and […] naturally gravitated to London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.” (Study in Scarlet) => “…his mother had died from the Spanish ‘flu while he’d waited to be demobbed […] So, like everyone else, he’d come to London…” (Slippery Creatures)

Ran out of money as a recently-discharged veteran: “So alarming did the state of my finances become…” (Study in Scarlet) => “…his slide into poverty was unstoppable...” (Slippery Creatures)

War wound that nearly killed him: “For months my life was despaired of...” (Study in Scarlet) => “A month in hospital.” (Sugared Game)

Saved by an underling who never appears in the story: “…had it not been for the devotion and courage shown by Murray, my orderly, who threw me across a pack-horse and succeeded in bringing me safely to the British lines.” (Study in Scarlet) => “If it hadn’t been for the bravest stretcher-bearer in Flanders, I’d have died out there.” (Sugared Game)

Retained his favorite weapon from the war: “I have my old service revolver and a few cartridges.” (Study in Scarlet) => “…the Messer, his old trench knife...” (Sugared Game)

Is asked to bring the weapon on adventures: “Put your pistol in your pocket.” (Study in Scarlet) => “Got your knife?” (Sugared Game)

POV character

Holmes => Kim

Has a bunch of names but goes by a middle one: William Sherlock Scott Holmes => Arthur Aloysius Kimberley de Brabazon Secretan

Has pretty hands, which are something of a fixation for the POV character

Doesn’t eat much: “My friend had no breakfast himself, for it was one of his peculiarities that in his more intense moments he would permit himself no food…” (Norwood Builder) => “They ate breakfast, or at least Will did, while Kim chewed a single slice of toast with distaste.” (Subtle Blood)

Withholds information because he doesn’t trust his partner’s ability to deceive: “You won’t be offended, Watson? You will realize that among your many talents dissimulation finds no place.” (Dying Detective) => “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but subterfuge isn’t your strong suit.” (Sugared Game)

Withholds information for dramatic effect: “It was too bad to spring it on you like this, but Watson here will tell you that I never can resist a touch of the dramatic.” (Naval Treaty) => “Of course Kim would turn up after two months with some bizarre story; of course he wouldn’t tell it like a normal person.” (Sugared Game)

Plays fast and loose with legality: “Doctor, I shall want your cooperation.” “I shall be delighted.” “You don’t mind breaking the law?” “Not in the least.” (Scandal in Bohemia) => “I am absolutely not empowered to break the laws of the land, so I try not to get caught at it.”

Has a brother seven years his senior, whom we meet (several adventures in) at a gentlemen’s club in Pall Mall, and who looks like him but bigger: “Mycroft Holmes was a much larger and stouter man than Sherlock.” (Greek Interpreter) => “He looked like someone had drawn a caricature of Kim as John Bull and not been kind about it. He was significantly bulkier…”

The club (The Diogenes => The Symposium) has a Strangers' Room, and in at least part of the club: "no talking is, under any circumstances, allowed" (Greek Interpreter) => "speech is strictly forbidden" (Subtle Blood)

Chases down the leader of a mysterious criminal organization who appears respectable in normal society, and who stays one step removed to leave no evidence of his involvement: “But the Professor was fenced round with safeguards so cunningly devised that, do what I would, it seemed impossible to get evidence which would convict in a court of law.” (Final Problem) => “[Arrest him] on what grounds? I’ve got a lot of nothing. Straws in the wind, and fears, and the words of the dead. The case needs to be iron-clad, and mine is wet tissue paper.” (Sugared Game)

Has a chat with this adversary before the action kicks off: “…I was seriously inconvenienced by you” (Final Problem) => “It has caused me enormous inconvenience” (Sugared Game)

Better at hand-to-hand combat than he looks like he should be: “I have some knowledge, however, of baritsu, or the Japanese system of wrestling…” (Empty House) => “Where did you learn knife fighting?” (Slippery Creatures)

Lounges around in a purple dressing gown (Blue Carbuncle; all three Will Darling books)

Tall, slender, pale, and dark-haired, with remarkable eyes (at least, the POV character sure remarks on them a lot)

Other parallels:

Inspector Lestrade (“lean and ferret-like as ever”) => Inspector Rennick (“He was a short, shrewd-looking man who sounded North London.”)

An aortic aneurism renders prosecution of a criminal moot: Jefferson Hope (Study in Scarlet) => Lord Waring (Sugared Game)

Will’s expectations upon meeting Waring line up with a description of Moriarty: “His face protrudes forward, and is forever slowly oscillating from side to side in a curiously reptilian fashion” (Final Problem) => “[Will] wasn’t sure what he expected. Something snakey, some reptilian air of cruelty…” (Sugared Game)

This rather iconic phrase: “He sits motionless, like a spider at the center of its web...” (Final Problem) => “…sits like a spider at the centre of a web of obligations...” (Sugared Game)

Alongside the parallels, Charles adds elements often found in the best works of fanfiction: in addition to the on-page romance, there's expansion of the characters' backgrounds, including an exploration of class and privilege, plus a fix-it-esque resolution of the issue of Holmes'/Kim’s dishonesty (I for one always wished Watson would confront Holmes about lying to him for cases).

There. Cataloguing all the parallels was taking up a ridiculous amount of space in my brain, so now you know & I can stop obsessing over it so much.

[rebornofstars]

Hey! How do you feel sepfember is going? I've enjoyed seeing all the lovely art and writings. Hope you're doing well!

luna!! hi!! thank you for the ask 💞

sepfember is going more brilliantly than i ever could have hoped. it's been absolutely wonderful seeing people coming together to create things! i've been trying my best to express my joy in the tags of my reblogs, but i'm not sure anything ever could! it's been truly wonderful. i have loved every minute of it so far - writing the prompt drabbles every day, and checking the tag for other people's work to reblog, and sniffing out beautiful art for the queue... a couple of times people have pinged me on the LU discord too, to show me sepfember art, and it entirely melted my heart. and i can't tell if it's coincidence but i'm seeing more sepfember-unrelated/untagged female focused art on my dash too!

in a franchise that caters a great deal to male gamers (and in my own linked universe bubble where all of our main characters are men), my only wish for this event was to balance the scales just a little - create a little bit of brainspace in our minds for the women. show more people who they are and what their names are and what they do! spare a moment to wonder about their goals and motives and characterisation. because they do exist! there are more women in this franchise than even i thought before this event! and i think they're worth celebrating, don't you?

[tanoraqui]

Oooh maybe Mafia and Balckmail for the ask game? With Elrond? Only of you feel like it, no pressure or anything.

[send me 1-3 tropes + 2-3 characters!]

Elrond opened his eyes and saw what should have been an unused surgery room. The plaster on the walls was broken, the pipes in the ceiling were exposed—it was the east wing of the hospital, roped off for renovations that had been "in progress" the entire time he'd been a med student here.

But there were lights on, tools laid out, a patient on the surgery table in front of him—no, a body. That woman was fresh from the morgue, her body bag discarded in the corner. Other bags (full? empty?) lay on the floor nearby. On the counter by the sink was a stack of portable freezer boxes.

"Oh, you're organ-harvesting," Elrond said. That did explain the pattern of missing and mutilated corpses.

There was a clatter behind him as his captor startled at his words. Elrond did tend to wake up unusually quickly—though really, who wouldn't, when handcuffed to an uncomfortable hospital chair?

Dr. Inglewood regained her dropped scalpel held it as a threat as she stalked into view.

"Yes," she said. "But if you know what's good for you, you'll keep quiet about it—or whatever dismal neighborhood your scholarship affords rent in will have another random mugging-gone-wrong, and I'll make a mint off of the fresh organs of a caucasian male age 18 to 35." She sneered. "With your 'family connections', nobody will even blink."

Elrond wiggled his wrists in his handcuffs. They were tight.

"They probably wouldn't," he admitted. "And I like all my organs where they are."

"Smart boy—"

The magnetic lockpick Elrond had tucked into his cuff earlier clicked through the pin on the cuffs. Without losing a second, he leapt up and swung the loose cuffs at Dr. Inglewood's head. She dodged by stumbling back, squawking with alarm. In her distraction, Elrond swept her knees out from under her, grabbed her scalpel, flipped it around and put it to the nape of her neck while he knelt and wrestled her arms up behind her back.

He said, conversationally, "But I don't really think you're thinking through the implications of 'kidnapped and raised by the Fëanorian Mob' either. Ma'am, you are not dealing with an amateur."

[choking-on-ice]

my "warm up sketch" got out of hand yet again, so now I have a sheet full of moe Lex Luthor and Jimmy Olsen that i'm definitely gonna have to ink and colour later

anyway, love these two, and I think it's a crime that there's nothing about them being enemies to lovers or even friends. (yes, i know, Lex is evil, but when has that ever stopped a ship before?)