#But thinking about this as a German this is huge

[tanadrin]

Look I like the German heathcare system relative to the American one, and I realize the Europe of the American political imagination primarily exists as a rhetorical stick to beat other Americans with, but European healthcare is also not some magical fairyland. German healthcare is tied to employment like American healthcare and can cost some people a significant amount of money—even the public health insurance! NHS-style single-payer systems are not the norm in Europe, and even the NHS is suffering badly due to austerity and underinvestment.

Europe is not a progressive fairyland. Some things I do think the EU generally does better. But it does plenty of things worse. Even in the realm of healthcare—German doctors are way too likely to recommend CAM instead of real medicine, in part because it’s a lot cheaper for the health system to pay for. And sure, Germany has universal healthcare. But only in the sense that you are mandated by law to have it; if you can’t pay the minimum contribution you accrue debt with your last insurer and they will harass you about repaying it and take you to court like any other debt. As in the US, you can still get emergent care, but it’s a huge problem for, e.g., homeless people.

people who for very silly reasons want to market prepared food products without preservatives in them who then discover why we started putting preservatives in prepared food products in the first place (because without a preservation method food quickly grows stale, and frequently also moldy or downright toxic) is a consistently good bit. like people really seem to think we put Evil Chemicals in food on purpose for no reason.

[sly-s-n0nfusion]

Irl world inspirations for Orsterra and Solistia 🗺 pt1

So I've wanted to write this post for a while and I think I finally feel comfortable enough to do so. I will cover the 8 Orsterra regions as well as Solistia's regions, and also declare a hypothetical irl nationality for all 16 travelers, since some of them aren't native to their starting region.

I won't be covering COTC content because I feel like it does make quite a mess especially regarding the Woodlands. A huge thank you to my friends @sazuka57, @legendaryandroid, @hanpaopaoo, @saarovar, @silverwarewolf, @captwaddledoo, @postalninja and others

Of course, this is just the final product of speculations and none of the info here are official/canon, but I hope this post does help any content creator with their art or writing :)

Orsterra

the Frostlands: The cold regions were perhaps the hardest place to pinpoint a clear irl world inspiration for. The Frostlands could be Finland (Lapland), even though the Flamesgrace church is clearly of catholic inspiration. We now that Ophilia Clement isn't native of Flamesgrace, but she was taken in by Archbishop Josef for she was an orphan. I would even say her name and surname were given to her by the Archbishop himself, since they sound like names members of the clergy would give orphans (especially the surname, Clement, which is similar to orphans' surnames like Innocent, or Godswill). In the Octopath official Guide book timeline is stated that she comes from a small village named Creek, in the Riverlands

Lapland, Finland

the Flatlands: Given how the Flatlands are a kingdom of their own (the kingdom of Wold) with their capital city being Atlasdam and featuring a Royal Palace and a king, I think it's safe to say that the inspiration for this region was England. Atlasdam probably mimics a place like Oxford or Cambridge, given its academic nature and the vaste grassy areas, with Whispermill's flocks of sheeps and mills, give off British countryside vibes. Also because of his name and accent, Cyrus Albright sounds British to the core

Oxford, England

the Coastlands: I believe the inspiration for the Coastlands are the coasts of Italy, especially Liguria's Cinque Terre. Rippletide, Goldshore and Grandport all seem to have the same similar aesthetic to it of Italian harbour towns. Tressa Colzione, as well as her parents Olneo and Marina all have names of Italian inspiration

Cinque Terre, Italy

the Highlands/Hornburg: The inspiration for both the Highlands and Hornburg is probably Southern Germany or Austria (Bavaria/Austrian Alps) because of the very high mountains and German-sounding names. Olberic Eisenberg comes from Hornburg, Erhardt comes from Grynd (which was stated to be a village near Hornburg) so it's safe to say both have germanic origins

Austrian Alps

the Sunlands: This region is probably of Middle Eastern/Arabic inspiration, and it's understandable because of the architecture, the villagers' clothing style and the spice markets around the Sunland towns, to say some. Primrose Azelhart, however, is native of Noblecourt, in the Flatlands, so she probably also has British origins like Cyrus

Palangan, Iran

the Riverlands: This one was a bit tricky to understand. A very green land, rich in water and with catholic influences (Saintsbridge) immediately made me think of Ireland. Not clearer evidence I can bring to the table other than that though. Irish Alfyn Greengrass does sound right to me though

Westport, Ireland

the Cliftlands: The Cliftlands seem to have Peruvian inspiration to them. The local monsters encounters being big eagles/condors, the villagers having colorful cloths in their houses and the main local resource being alpaca fleece (I know I said I wouldn't bring up COTC in my argumentations but I'cirlo was a clear example of alpaca farms). We don't know much about Therion as he is likely an orphan as well but his poncho also might be of Peruvian inspiration

Peruvian Andes

the Woodlands: The Woodlands are heavily inspired by Norse culture and Viking architectures. the village of S'warkii especially, where H'aanit and Z'aanta come from, is clearly inspired by the village of Njardarheimr, in Norway

Njardarheimr

Part 2 (Solistia) coming soon!!

[kittyprincessofcats]

ICJ Ruling

Okay, let's get into this.

First of all, I get the frustration at the court not ordering a ceasefire. I was disappointed and frustrated at first too, since a ceasefire was the biggest and most important preliminary measure South Africa was requesting - and of course we just all want this horror to finally end for the people in Gaza. So I get the frustration and disappointment, I really do.

However, I do think this ruling is still a major win for South Africa, Palestine, and international law as a whole and here's why:

The court acknowledged that it has jurisdiction over this case and completely dismissed Israel's request to throw out the case as a whole. It will now determine at the merits stage (that will probably take years) whether Israel is actually commiting genocide.

The court acknowledged that Palestinians are a "distinct national or ethnic group and therefore deserving of protection under the genocide convention". Pull this out next time someone tells you "there's no such thing as Palestinians, they're all just Arabs".

The court acknowledged very unambiguously that "at least some" of Israel's actions being genocidal in nature is "plausible". South Africa has a case, officially. Israel is accused of genocide, in a way the ICJ deems "plausible", officially. This is huge. (And seriously, how freaking satisfying was it to hear all of those genocidal statements by Israeli politicians read out loud and used as justification for this rulling?)

The court might not have ordered a "ceasefire" in those words, but they did order Israel to "immediately end all genocidal acts" (which includes killing and injuring Palestinians) and submit proof that they actually did. How are they going to comply with this ruling without at least severly reducing or changing what they're doing in Gaza?

In fact, this wording might actually be more appropriate for a genocide (vs a war), as author and journalist Ali Abunimah notes on Twitter:

He's completely right. Israel lost today, by overwhelming majority (I mean, 15 to 2? I heard people predict the rulings would be very close, like 9 judges vs 8, but instead we got 15 to 2 (and even 16 to 1 on the humanitarian aid). Holy shit.) The court disimissed almost everything Israel's side of lawyers said, while acknowledging that South Africa's accusations are "plausible".

And this is important especially because of Mr Abunimah's second tweet there^. Because the question is, where do we go from here?

This ruling means that Israel is officially /possibly/ commiting genocide and that should have huge international consequences. The rest of the world now HAS to take these accusations seriously and stop arming and supporting Israel - and if they won't do it on their own, we, the people, have to make them. This is THE moment to rise up all around the world, especially in the countries most supportive of Israel (the US, the UK, Germany): Protest, call your representatives and demand a ceasefire and an end of arms deliveries to Israel.

We now have a legal case to back our demands: If Israel is, according to the ICJ, "plausibly" commiting genocide, then all of our governments are, according to the ICJ, "plausibly" guiltly of aiding in genocide. And we need to hold that over their heads and demand better. We need to do that right now and in huge numbers. Most politicians only care about themselves and saving their skin. We have to make them realize that they could be accused of aiding in genocide.

(As a German, I'm thinking of Germany here in particular: After South Africa's hearing, our government dismissed their case as having "no basis" - how are they going to keep saying that now that the ICJ officially thinks otherwise? Over the last months, people here have been arrested at protests for calling what's happening in Gaza a genocide. How are the police supposed to legally keep doing that now that the ICJ has officially deemed this accusation "plausible"? I used to be scared to use the word "genocide" at protests or write it on my protest signs - not anymore, have fun trying to arrest me for that when the ICJ literally has my back on this one 🖕🏻.)

So yeah - don't be defeatist about this, don't let Israel's narrative that they "won" (they didn't) take over. This might not be everything we wanted, but it's still a good result. Don't let what the court didn't say ("ceasefire"), distract you from the very important things that they did say. Let this be your motivation to get loud and active, especially if you live in any country that supports Israel. Put pressure on your governments to not be complicit in genocide, you now officially have the highest international court on your side.

[princesskkfish]

A gift for @tapakah0 fjajrhjabebjjeq

is 3am and I am too tired to see if I missed anything ;~; so sry if it looks a bit funky

Context under the cut idk djabejajbanw

And Ig Hodd and Cass are also in this too in the little picture *shrugs* ok bye bye ima go to bed and pass out now

*runs away* djabrjajbdnajjw

[michameinmicha]

Rereading a book ive read several years ago is always so weird. Like i had like the vaguest memory of a plot and maybe a few vibes? and rereading doesnt bring back everything but i have a few things that make a !! Go up in my brain?

[itwoodbeprefect]

i finally did it! i rewatched starsky & hutch a body worth guarding! and i've decided it's still not a favorite, but it does have a lot of cute little moments to it, and "you wanna catch a criminal? GET the fascists!" is just a wonderful thing to hear any time anywhere. solid middle of the road episode for me, i think

[running-in-the-dark]

I'm watching the new Sad Boyz episode and Jarvis has been talking about Fall Out Boy for thirty minutes and I'm juuust. not enjoying it

[ego-sum-arbor]

I’d like to think that I’m getting better at not overthinking my art and worldbuilding, but I’m haunted by a short story I read recently, set in Britain loosely during the early middle ages, that featured stoneware as an ordinary utilitarian material. This should be a flavor detail that gets immediately forgotten because it isn’t important. Unfortunately, I am me and happen to have some very particular subject specific knowledge. Stoneware probably hasn’t been invented in Europe yet!!!! If it’s late enough maybe we have stoneware or proto-stoneware being made on the continent, but that’s in like the 1200s and doesn’t translate into low status usage in Britain!!!! Stoneware won’t be made there until the 1690s!!!!! What you want here is earthenware! Earthenware!

[setaflow]

I haven't gotten very far in Starfield yet but looking back it's kinda hilarious that I basically went to the character creator and I guess subconsciously decided "I'm gonna make her the exact opposite of my CP2077 character" right down to them having the exact opposite hair color.

[barnbridges]

not to talk politics while tipsy but men on reddit who mansplain why germany is better than your country and why its administrative system isn't broken would have joined h*tler in a heartbeat.

[lightningfilledsaber]

saw someone unironically call jjba "unproblematic" and I'm fucking screaming laughing over it. one of the main characters allied with a literal nazi. say what the fuck you want about jojos I'm not gonna pretend like there's not a lot of good things about it but uh. that's a pretty significant problem in the fucking series. just sayin

[kn11ves]

first page of winnetou: every living thing deserves life aaand native people deserve to not die of and they are equal to white people aand they deserve patience and time to themselves and to governheemselves anddd leave em alone they dont did nothing we're judging them with out western white morals

german news: faaarking racist burn da books

[fuckableelementspoll]

From my brother

Beautuifufl!

Unfortunately Darmstadtium is in section 1 and Tennesee in section 4 so they would have to be semifinalists to compete, but I may just run this one for fun!

Now i need to figure out what a tennessee is

[farawayfromthemoon]

cmon Berlin you can do better 🥲

[galsinspace]

I hope it's okay if I add some stuff here I've been thinking about, if not just shoot me a message and I'll delete it.

I think a huge part of all of this is a misunderstanding of racism as a whole. We have to understand that human "races" are not a biological reality, they are imperfect categories that can never fully account for the complexity of humanity.

People have tried to come up with clear definitions, from blood quantum laws to more recently pseudoscientific DNA tests. But I think to understand the concept of race, it makes sense to look at history:

US-American racism is defined by slavery, laws designed to categorise people into Black and White. This was what was relevant to enforce the desired social order so it's what race was.

I'm German, and I always notice that US-Americans don't really get that Nazi Germany wasn't really obsessed with the idea of being White: it's just not a term the Nazis used much! Because race science is always defined by context. The categories of Black and White weren't of much use to the Germans because that's not the racism they cared about, there weren't enough Black people in Germany for the seperation from them to be a main concern. That's why the concept of "Aryan" was invented, to define the racial categories the Nazis worked with.

But "Aryan" doesn't just mean White. Of course in a way it doesn't mean anything because it's not a real thing, it's originally an indoiranian linguistic term, the Nazis just took it and used it for their made-up racial categories. But it's not the same as the American understanding of White!

It didn't matter that my grandma had blonde hair and blue eyes, she was legally defined as Not Aryan because she had a Jewish grandfather. She did not have an "Aryan certificate" and one of the few things she ever said about her childhood was that they made sure to teach her in school that she wasn't worth anything. It didn't matter that by some categories she'd be White and therefore impervious to racism because that's not the system that was used, that concept of race is not universal.

I think it's imperative to understanding racism that we understand that racial categories are made up based on what society wants to enforce.

And in Nazi Germany, the two main categories people cared about where Aryan and Jewish. That was what Nazi race science revolved around. They had other categories, Aryan had many sub-categories that were more based on looks, "Nordic" was the most desirable flavour of Aryan: blonde and blue-eyed. But my grandma wasn't that because she was immutably sorted into another race.

(Later in life she always referred to bleaching your hair as "Nording it up". She had a dry humour like that.)

My point is: Racial categories are defined by whatever racism is en vogue. Ethnicity is a lot more complex than that, it involves origin, upbringing, culture, religion... And then there are older words like people, singular, a people. Or tribe. None of these categories are things that can be clearly assigned to every person in every case, I think we always have to keep in mind the complexity of self-identification and externally imposed groups. But most of all we have to keep in mind that human races are very fake, even while racism is very real.

"Hey, I saw some of the Jews I don't like discussing the concept of Judaism as an ethno-religion, which I am biased against, so I came to you, a Jew who I do like, so you'll validate me."

I am so tired.

Judaism is an ethno-religion. There's nothing wrong with that. When we accept converts it's a long process and it's a kind of adoption into our group.

Short version is, Judaism is older than the modern categories of race, ethnicity, and religion. Our relationship to all these categories is going to be complicated. We're not going to contort ourselves to fit into whatever one box you think we're allowed to occupy.

[foldingfittedsheets]

The dog I think of as My Dog was picked up from the shelter when I was about 16 and he was six months old. He was a cattle dog mix, which at the time was really uncommon in our area.

We were only getting a dog because my mom was worried about home invaders which was a bit insane as we were out in the country and we’d left our German Shepherd down in Arizona with my dad for complicated reasons.

I turned the corner and saw him. Instant connection. He was curled up dozing, all blue and white freckles with red ears and feeties. His clipboard said “SLY” in huge red letters. I called it softly and he opened his eyes, ears perking. He roused to sleepily amble toward me, lick my fingers, then go lay back down.

My mom joined me in dismay, seeing the love dripping off of me. She hadn’t wanted a puppy but it was clear which dog we were going home with.

Sly was a monstrous puppy. Fans of cattle dogs will be unsurprised to learn he was exceedingly clever, mischievous and Bored a Lot. It turned out his name hadn’t been Sly. It was Billy. But I think we all know why a huge red warning had been applied to his kennel. We named him Sly anyway.

My mom doesn’t remember threatening in earnest to bring him back but it happened. Sly loved to chew. He had no interest in fetch or most toys but he adored chewing. I lost headphones, backpack straps, and pillows to his voracious teething. We tried to dissuade him. He just learned to chew when we weren’t looking. Then one day, clever but not smart, he set his teeth to a plugged in cord and electrocuted himself. He was fine, just really startled!

Thus ended the chewing, forever.

He wouldn’t even pick up toys. He was fully convinced having things in his mouth was only a matter of time before they turned on him. He’d run after a ball at dog parks, grab it in the euphoria of the chase, then immediately spit it out.

He was still a lot of dog and my moms rumblings about his poor behavior led me to join 4H with him. My friend Lia was in with her spaniels so I had an in. We did twice weekly training in obedience and showmanship.

That was it. Sly transformed into the best dog. From a bored unmanageable puppy he became a partner, ready to work on whatever we needed to work on. He learned buckets of commands, eager to please. Sit, down, wait, stand, front, back up, shake, roll, heel. The only thing we could never convince him to do was speak. His bark was reserved for Danger.

We went to compete in the county fair together, entering obedience trials and dog show portions.

The instructions are clearly stated before obedience testing. A dog must stay sitting for two minutes when told to stay, and three minutes for laying down. If our dog broke we were not supposed to speak to reissue commands, simply wait quietly.

It was us in a line with five other dogs. He passed the sitting part just fine. The down one was longer and a wretched golden retriever broke. But then his trainer pulled out a ball and started trying to redirect him with it. The other dogs watched with interest but stayed down. Sly started up. He desperately wanted to herd the golden back into place.

With elbows off the ground he froze, realizing his mistake. His head whipped to me. In silence, I swept my arm down in the nonverbal command for down. He dropped obediently and watched me fixedly for the rest of the time. I think he could feel my disappointment.

We failed.

But the judge came up to us afterward as I was petting him and said, “I was so impressed your dog knows nonverbal commands, and that other dog was so distracting! Let’s retest with the next batch.”

I was thrilled and Sly was steadfast, staring unblinkly at me for the full three minutes with utter determination. He won blue ribbons in obedience and got later best in breed since there was no other cattle dogs.