#Cole Royal Commission

[alfredsonger]

True Crime | Mick Gatto - Australia's 'Most Dangerous Criminal'?

True Crime | True Crime Podcasts on Youtube | True Crime Documentary In this episode of True Crime Legacy, I will talk about Domenic" Mick" Gatto. Domenic "Mick" Gatto (born 6 August 1955) is a professional mediator within the Victorian building industry; and a debt collector. Gatto was named as a standover man during the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry. A veteran of Melbourne's underworld, Mick Gatto is one of the few survivors of Melbourne's Gangland Wars. Many of the victims were his long-time friends. Today the former heavyweight boxer runs Elite Cranes, a crane company that employs about sixty people, and Arbitrations and Mediations Pty Ltd., among others. The son of two Italian immigrants from Calabria, Gatto was raised in Melbourne and commenced working in the fruit and vegetable industry. A former boxer, in the 1980s and 1990s, Gatto was involved in Melbourne's illegal gambling scene. In 2004 Gatto was given a ten-year gaming ban, subsequently increased to a life ban.

[henryshaa]

Domenic "Mick" Gatto (born 6 August 1955) is a professional mediator within the Victorian building industry; and a debt collector. Gatto was named as a standover man during the Royal Commission into the Building and Construction Industry.

[brf-rumortrackinganon]

Bower's Revenge: Confirmed

Harry supported or endorsed Meghan's Vanity Fair article. (But we all knew that anyway because he didn’t dump her when it came out.)

"Contrary to Omid Scobie's assertion that Meghan wanted 'to tell the world "I'm in love" and did the 'interview with Harry's blessing,' Kashner arrived in the pouring rain at Meghan's home knowing that his interviewee was under strict orders from both Harry and Keleigh Thomas Morgan. Aware that Diana and Sarah Ferguson had destroyed themselves in interviews, Harry had ordered Meghan to maintain tight-lipped silence about sensitive subjects - Donald Trump, race, their relationship and especially himself. He was not to be mentioned." (p157)

Meghan is a kleptomaniac.

Bower writes that she took the shoes from the Reitman’s photoshoot. He also kinda dances around the possibility that she may have taken items from her time with the royals for future profit – whether hers or others’ – which the BRF knew about or suspected, hence why she never got any substantial loans from The Queen or William (for Diana's pieces).

Meghan hated her engagement ring from the word "yes" and has wanted to redesign it immediately. #noshitcaptainobvious

“Harry gave her a ring that he had commissioned, with two of Diana’s diamonds set in yellow Botswana gold. He was particularly proud of his design. Meghan did not conceal her excitement, even though she was secretly determined to have the ring redesigned as soon as possible.” (p156)

Meghan convinced Harry to go off his meds and stop therapy.

Bower confirms that Harry was in therapy or receiving mental health care that was working well before he met Meghan and that Meghan either convinced him to reconsider or introduced him to more holistic homeopathic remedies for his mental wellness.

Meghan cheated on Cory with Rory/other golf players.

“’I saw Rory McIlroy. I walked over and he was with Meghan Markle…’ By midnight, as the golfer and Meghan were photographed sitting close together, Fitzpatrick was hosting a party of 20. The following morning, McIlroy arrived at the Ringwood golf course 30 miles away to play in a new competition. Worse for wear after a hectic night, he fell back to 101st place. Nevertheless, he refused to sleep as usual near the golf course to be ready the following day. Instead he drove back to New York to see Meghan. His performance suffered. ‘I wasn’t quite on my game,’ he confessed. ‘I was enjoying myself.’” (p67)

“Asked by Cory Vitiello whether she was having a relationship with McIlroy, Meghan insisted their time together was innocent.” (p68) #birdsflyandmeghanlies

“Meghan left the hotel for dinner with Rory McIlroy at the upmarket restaurant Fade Street Social. She was spotted looking ‘smitten,’ gazing intently at McIlroy. ‘They sat beside each other looking very cozy and chatted all night,’ reported Alexandra Ryan in a newspaper gossip column. That was Meghan’s third night in Dublin. On a previous night John Fitzpatrick would describe his dinner with her, and later implied that she and McIlroy had secretly met. Meghan’s Irish friends assumed that she and McIlroy had also met unseen, earlier during her visit.” (p70)

Meghan wanted to be a sports WAG; Harry was a last option when the athletes weren’t interested.

Bower confirms that Meghan went after several athletes while dating Cory, including both Rory McIlroy and Ashley Cole.

Meghan wanted to be a TV chef/foodie so she hooked up with Cory to achieve legitimacy in that realm.

“…Nick Ede, a fixer paid by Sunshine Sachs to book her appearance at the TV gala, had also arranged for her to meet Jonathan Shalit, a successful and likeable TV agent. ‘I want to be a TV celebrity chef like Gordon Ramsay,’ Meghan told Shalit in his office. Or, she volunteered, she would be happy to appear in any other non-scripted TV show. Shalit was excited. She was charming, good-looking, and admired by the small audience for Suits. He was unaware that while Meghan liked eating good food, her cooking skills were limited. Other than blender-made vegetable soup her specialties were plain pasta, roast chicken, barbecued hamburgers and steak. The rest of her food was bought ready-made. Rather than cook, she imagined fronting a TV program to tour the world tasting food.” (p61)

Meghan demanded many versions of the banana bread for the Aussie block party from Admiral House’s kitchen team and passed it off the next day as her own bake.

See above.

Meghan doesn’t really have any Hollywood friends. They are all PR acquaintances with quid pro quo.

“Over the next few days, [Sam Kashner, the VF author] called those who Meghan had recommended as her friends. Serena Williams denied she was Meghan’s friend but just an acquaintance.” (p159)

Harry adopted Meghan’s American wokeism personality, which lost him all his friends.

Harry proposed LONG before the engagement was announced.

Bower writes that Harry proposed while the Queen was at Balmoral and before the Vanity Fair interview, which would’ve been sometime July 2017. They received the Queen’s formal approval for the engagement in late October 2017.

Which is a verrrrry different story than the one Harry tells in Spare…Harry says he proposed in October after getting the Queen’s approval and they announced it 2 weeks later.

Direct quotes from Bower in the inconsistencies post 4 posts back.

Harry and Meghan intended for the Sussex Royal charity to be profitable and pay for their lives.

Bower writes that how the foundation was organized went against Meghan’s intentions, which caused a tantrum because it removed her from the foundation’s direct oversight and leadership. Bower also alleges that Meghan was angry over not having any say in who the foundation’s appointed directors were.

Meghan is a fauxmanitarian, doesn’t really believe in supporting humanitarian causes altruistically.

Bower writes that Vanity Fair couldn’t confirm or substantiate the charity work Meghan claimed in the interview she did and therefore did not include her charity work in the article. The VF author agreed and supported this after Revenge was published.

Meghan never intended to be a part of the BRF, she always wanted to cut and run as soon as she could.

“Unwilling to grasp that she could not share the spotlight with the Queen, Meghan had accelerated her return to California.” (p380)

Meghan has and has had several aliases on social media.

Meghan schemed and entrapped Harry by preying on his emotional vulnerability.

“Since she had carefully researched Harry’s life, Meghan kenw exactly how to make him feel loved and appreciated. So long as she looked at him with intense affection and trust, she would not trigger his insecurity or paranoia. To reassure him that he was admired for himself she would tell him what he wanted to hear, especially about the importance of his ambitions and principles.” (p122)

Meghan pockets the donations to Archewell for herself.

Bower writes that the secrecy of Delaware’s laws for charities and foundations meant that owners/creators are in control of any money used, earned, received and that foundations/charities have no obligations to report any monies received. Bower also specifically says that they intended to use Archewell as their income.

Meghan cheated on Cory with Harry.

Bower says that Meghan was furious at Sunshine Sachs over the VF article printing that she met Harry in May 2016 and demanded they fix it. VF later issued a correction that the Sussexes met in July 2016.

Bower also says that Meghan broke up with Cory after spending time with Harry and “Two weeks later [from the bananagram IG photo on 3 July 2016] Harry secretly flew to Toronto. He stayed for about one week in the house of a friend of Meghan’s, probably Jessica Mulroney. With Cory still sharing her home, the situation for Meghan was tricky by manageable.” (p122)

Meghan manipulated Harry to release the KP statement by preying on his fears and anxiety of Diana being harassed / stalked to death by the paps.

“For her part Meghan knew by then that she was pushing a man eager for revenge against the media and his family. … Even more pertinently he blamed Diana’s death on the media. Feeling ‘deeply disappointed’ that he had been unable to protect his mother he eagerly declared war against his enemy – the newspapers – to protect Meghan. Nothing could be done without the assistance of his key aide, Jason Knauf. ... In order to pacify Meghan’s anger, Knauf agreed to issue a statement on Harry’s behalf damning the media for their description of Meghan. Harry dictated the sentiments for Knauf to fashion into a statement. Committing Knauf to a conundrum, Meghan demanded that the statement should reflect the parallel between her potential fate and Diana’s. Knauf suggested that over-dramatizing Meghan’s distress would backfire but Harry was adamant. If Meghan’s wish to be equated with Diana was not satisfied, insisted Harry, he would probably lose her. Knauf acquiesced.” (p135)

Meghan wanted a bigger, emerald tiara for the wedding.

“No member of Buckingham Palace’s staff is closer to the Queen than Angela Kelly…Kelly’s many duties included caring for the royal collection of tiaras. Invited to the palace’s secure room, Meghan alighted on a tiara sparkling with emeralds. Her choice was approved by Harry. Kelly suggested that its Russian origin made it unsuitable. Harry became angry.”

Also confirmed by Harry in Spare.

Meghan never wanted to do the Fiji market visit. She wanted to lay out at the hotel with Jess all day but was forced to keep the engagement. She bailed after 10 minutes for “security” purposes.

Bower writes that Meghan had some kind of falling out with UN Women and was angry that they were involved in the Fiji market or were supporting her visit.

It sounds like Meghan wanted the same UN Women gig that Emma Watson had and quit the partnership when it didn’t happen.

Meghan was emotionally / verbally abusive to Charlotte during bridesmaid dress fitting.

“[Meghan] was uninterested in royal tradition [girls wearing tights]. Her insistence was supported by Jessica Mulroney, present as an advisor and the mother of another bridesmaid, Ivy. Some would say that Meghan compared Ivy favorably against Charlotte. Others were surprised by Meghan’s close attachment to Mulroney.” (p189, iPhone version)

Meghan yelled at/bullied Cambridge staff.

“By then, Kate was irritated by complaints of Meghan bullying her staff.” (p189, iPhone version)

Harry and Meghan bungled Archie’s birth announcement to earn a profit from it.

“To build up Meghan’s profile in America, Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King had an exclusive agreement with Meghan to produce a glowing CBS TV documentary about her first year of marriage. It would be transmitted at peak time, soon after the birth of her baby. In exchange, Meghan guaranteed that no other TV network would get access to her or the child…Harry agreed that Buckingham Palace be given no choice. CBS would be given the exclusive rights to film the Queen being introduced to baby Archie.” (p262, iPhone version)

Charles fled Windsor after Philip’s funeral to avoid dealing with Harry.

“After [Philip’s funeral] service, eager for signs of reconciliation, the media seized on Kate’s maneuver to engineer a conversation between [William and Harry]. Cameras followed them as they walked up the hill towards the castle....The three princes spoke briefly before Charles drove to his cottage in the Brecon Beacons in Wales. William was handed the burden of rescuing the monarchy from the damage caused by his brother” (p.356-357, iPhone version)

Harry’s Home Office lawsuit will be used as an excuse to avoid the Jubilee and/or public acknowledgement of the Sussexes’ demotion.

“Although the Queen had invited Harry and Meghan to join the nation’s extravaganza [Platinum Jubilee], the couple appeared to seek reasons to avoid humiliation. As private citizens they could not expect to be invited on to the Buckingham Palace balcony or ride in the carriages. Isolated on the periphery, the image would undermine their royal status in America. To forge a valid excuse, Harry applied to the High Court in London for an order to compel the Metropolitan Police to provide protection for himself during his visit or allow him to pay for police protection. Predictably, his $400,000 case failed. As a private citizen harry was told he could not force the government to provide police protection.” (p371, iPhone version)

Harry to betray his family in memoirs.

“Most Britons could not understand Harry’s hostility towards his country and family…No one realized how his hostility had grown during his conversations with John Moehringer, the ghost-writer of his memoirs. To secure vast sales and recoup the huge advance, the publishers had encouraged Harry to criticize his family in the most extreme terms possible. Easily persuaded, Harry edge towards betraying his father, Camilla, the Cambridges and even the Queen. And then the deed was done. To earn out the publisher’s advance, nothing and no one had been sacrosanct.” (p.372, iPhone version)

And alllll of Spare.

Sussex children to be used for access / prominent placement at the jubilee.

Bower writes, “But festering was their fury that the Palace had refused all of their demands for a prominent role at the Jubilee in return for returning to Britain with their children.” (p379, iPhone version)

Secret Windsor meeting in April 2022 to discuss return for the jubilee.

“To achieve this goal [Harry and Meghan to appear on Buckingham Palace’s balcony with the Queen during Jubilee celebrations] Harry badgered the Queen’s resistant advisors. When this failed he asked the Queen if he could visit her in Windsor on his way to the Netherlands. To secure her agreement, Harry appeared to give the impression that the meeting would offer an ‘olive branch’ to ‘clear the air’…[It] was civilized but failed to resolve the fraught relations created by their Oprah Winfrey interview.” (p378, iPhone version)

[cinderswife]

a companion piece to my previous outfit ref of rose, here's cinders!! i had so much fun designing her a variety of outfits <33 cinders my beloved cinders my wife :3 i will also do one of these for snow because i can't not!

design notes and lore info dump under the cut

nude

so cinders was design to be a complimentary opposite to rose as well as heavily fire themed. she's tall, she's lanky, and she's one of those people who is uncomfortable to hug because they're so bony. she's also a wolf girl. wolf girl rights <3

cinders is a trans woman !! this is very important to me.

the scar on her torso is actually where a sci-fi hrt implant was implanted so she doesn't have to worry about taking hrt cuz she's got so much other shit going on

cinders has had a hell of a time in cole's prisons over the past 10 years. her tattered ear and lip scar come from some of the several times she has stood up for herself and met violence with violence and she is notably malnourished

the gradient in cinders' hair is a very common trait among the people of her planet Perrault and is also very pretty

the dots on cinders' face are skin picking scars

fun fact: other than the eye color, having been amab, and a few environmental factors, cinders looks exactly like her mother. wonder what that's about

prison uniform

the prison uniform of cole's prisons is pretty standard across the empire: grey with a red triangle on the front. realistically, this should be the only outfit on the sheet because cinders has been in prison for an entire decade but that'd be boring.

cinders' uniform hangs off her body. uniforms her size are designed for peope with a lot more meat on their bones

princess party dress

full disclosure: this was an excuse to design cinders a disney princess dress. lore wise, this is cinders' favorite party dress imported from one of the four planets perrault was in a close trade relationship with. it's also the dress she was captured by cole in. it was her 20th birthday party which was meant to bring a little levity to the people of her planet in the midst of a terrible war. unfortunately, the combination of her stepmother marguerite's betrayal and a promising young soldier named rose grimm accidentally discovering a secret tunnel meant that the party went down in the most tragic way possible.

this dress is made up of lots and lots of orange gradients and was designed to match her hair

the tiger lillies on her dress and gloves are detailed fabric replicas

her tiara and necklace are made of rose gold, which on perrault is its own naturally occurring metal. it's very difficult to refine correctly, so this small amount of it is a fabulous flaunt of wealth and power

the tiara has no special history compared to other royal jewels, this one was commissioned specifically for her

the glitter was painstakingly hand beaded in by an artisan (and was drawn with a glitter brush lol)

queen of perrault

hey wait a minute, isn't cinders a princess? well. this is entirely delving into headcanon/lore territory, but my particular cinders was queen from the ages of 12 to 19 because her father, the heritage king, was old and ailing and her mother died unexpectedly (cough reneged on the deal with a witch that created cinders cough). in order to keep the people from freaking out, her advisors took advantage of her looking exactly like her mother and made her queen. transition by becoming your mother, you know how it goes. this was not approved by her father, who did not die, and it turned into a whole political mess that ended with her as princess instead of queen. she was the best queen her people had had in a very long time, even if she had to lead her people to war in the latter half of her reign. i'll get into the details some other time but. lore!

this is the only outfit on this sheet that reflects the cultural fashion of perrault, specifically in the floating capital

this is an extremely goth outfit by perraultan standards. red is the color associated with mourning and ties heavily into funerary traditions and bone white is the color of death and evil. cinders' reign was haunted by grief and mourning

the gold is just an accent color. all of the embroidery was hand embroidered, which in an era of perfect machine embroidery is a huge flex and considered very fashionable

she is wearing two veils. the first one is mostly to make the crown more comfortable on her head (that sucker is heavy and tugs at her hair) and features elaborate designs on the inside. the second, translucent lace one is to obscure her features so people don't notice she's a lot younger than her mother

the crown cinders is wearing is the rose gold crown of the perrault! it was designed for one of her distant ancestors, the first queen of the grimsnarl dynasty, after perrault formed a coalition with the other four trader planets. aside from being made of pure rose gold and thus the world's biggest flex of wealth and power, every aspect of it has meaning.

the seven peaks of the crown represent the seven great nations of perrault that cinders' rules over. the peaks aren't assigned to any specific nation because one might get mad about being tiny while another flaunts how big it is. the size variation of the peaks is designed to mimic the towers of the castle, which is on a floating island unattached to any nation.

the jewels on the crown are the national jewels of the coalition of five trader planets and represents the strong ties between them. the big topaz represents perrault, the morganite represents telemaine, the heliodore represents anea, the ruby represents charn, and the amethyst represents quaria. all of these planets fell to cole's rule after perrault did

cinders isn't wearing any other jewelry because the embroidery on her dress is worth more than any jewel in the kingdom

the fabric of this dress is very heavy because it gets chilly on a castle on a floating island

day dress

this dress is not of any of the trader planets' fashions. rather, it comes from the six month time period between cinders and rose's marriage (aka signing a piece of paper to get cinders out of jail) and their wedding (the ceremony that kicked off ouatis). this fashion style comes from the star system of delinore, the duchy snow rules over and that snow and rose are from. this is actually my favorite outfit on this entire sheet; cinders in pink gingham is something that can be so personal

look, you actually get to see cinders' feet! she doesn't usually wear dresses this short haha

turns out that this particular pastel pink is cinders' favorite color <3

this dress is a lot lighter weight than cinders has worn previously; the capital city of delinore, chel, is a lot warmer than perrault's capital

the rose necklace was something snow got for her as a wedding gift. cinders like it so much she found shoes to match

big floppy hat rights for cinders !!!! i want her in so many hats you don't understand

this is a gingham dress! its so pretty

the ring on her finger isn't The Glass Ring TM, it's just the one snow grabbed for the impromptu courtroom marriage/pardoning. don't worry, the glass ring will show up at the actual wedding. consider it like an engagement ring

ballgown

i wanted to give cinders an homage to disney's cinderella (who was my favorite disney princess growing up), hence this dress! much like the previous outfit, this one also originates from delinore. cinders wore it to balls and other formal events that snow hosted that rose was required to be at.

turns out that when cinders has complete control of what she wears (no royal duties or prison) she really likes monochrome pastels. she is my pastel queen.

this dress is made up of a very lightweight silk that shimmers in the moonlight

the glitter on the medium blue is actually baked into the fabric, but it makes her sparkle more

the cowl and the hair fascinator are part of a matched set, hence the matching flowers

cinders does Not like having her arms out, hence the big long gloves. also they're pretty !!

basically cinders is very pretty and i love her

[poppletonink]

Victorian Era Christmas Traditions

At the beginning of the 19th century, Christmas was hardly celebrated. Victorians are the reason of which Christmas is centred around the family – preparation and eating of a feast, gift giving, and games were all essential parts of a Victorian Family Christmas. Gift giving was originally a practice done at New Year, however moved to Christmas as it became a more important celebration for Victorians.

The Christmas Tree is attributed to Queen Victoria’s German-born husband Prince Albert. Christmas Trees were common in Germany, however not heard of in Britain, and so after a drawing of the royal family around their Christmas Tree was published, almost everyone in Britain had one. In 1843 the first Christmas Card was commissioned by Henry Cole. By the 1880s the sending of Christmas Cards was hugely popular.

In 1848, Christmas Crackers were invented by Tom Smith, as a new way of selling sweets – he was inspired by a trip to Paris in which he saw bon bons wrapped in paper twists. The sweets were soon replaced with common Christmas Cracker items such as a paper crown and small gifts. Mince pies were changed; they were originally made from meat, however during the 19th century this changed to fruit. These pies were often consumed by those of a higher class and are now used throughout society as a classic mince pie. Turkeys were added to Christmas meat during the Victorian Era. Previously, it was just goose or beef, however higher-class peoples began to eat turkey and by the beginning of the 20th century was the prominent meat eaten by families at Christmas.

The revival of interest in carols occurred during the 19th century, which changed lyrics and the publication of a Carol Songbook for the masses to enjoy. With all of these traditions being created, Christmas became an important celebration at the heart of the Victorians, and we can attribute them for why it is so heartily celebrated to this day.

[wrestlingfaves]

Royal Rumble Marathon: 1998

The Rumble has entered 1998.

Warning, spoilers for past Rumbles.

We are now officially in the Attitude Era so expect shenanigans. I haven’t watched the Attitude Era in over a decade but I’m expecting to feel a lot of retrospective cringe.

The undercard:

We see a recap of the previous two months of Goldust’s activities. This is the era where Goldust dumped Marlena and is now accompanied by Luna Vachon. Dustin has ditched his traditional gold attire and now wears a variety of outfits. Tonight’s special is a lime green/purple-striped singlet tights, purple gloves, green and purple-striped face paint with blue hair.  Dustin is also wearing a leopard-print thong over his tights. Luna’s attire is a black/red bikini combo with a clear plastic skirt/tutu. She’s also wearing flesh-colored tights. Luna has half her face covered with the traditional Goldust colors. The other half of Luna’s face has her tattoos.

Goldust (with Luna) vs Vader. Match was fine. The ending comes when Vader (with Luna on his back) delivers a top-rope Vader bomb to Goldust. Dustin is always fun and Luna continues to be a badass. This era of Dustin was crazy but fun. You never knew what Goldust was going to wear.

Steve Austin arrives, threatens to whoop Michael Coles’ ass. The Godwinns are in search of Austin.

We have a six-man lucha libre match: Battalion, Tarantula, El Torito vs Max Mini, Mosaic, and Nova. Sunny is the special guest referee. Fun match.

Soon after this, Sunny’s life begins to spiral, leading to her dismissal from the WWF and a lifetime of self-destruction. It’s a shame as Sunny was a talented performer. Of course, the true tragedy is the man she killed due to her drunk driving.

The Nation of Domination is now in search of Steve Austin. Farooq tells Mark Henry that he has to “prove himself”.

Mike Tyson hangs out with Shane and Vince. I don’t care about Mike Tyson. I don’t care about boxing. Tyson’s rape conviction, and his abusive tendencies, do not make me excited to see him on my wrestling programs. Of course, sitting next to Vince makes Tyson look like an altar boy by comparison.

Recap of the Ken Shamrock-Nation of Domination feud. The Rock is still with the Nation at this point, Mark Henry has newly joined.

Rock promo where he advises Bill Clinton to “not lay down with dogs” (referencing Paula Jones, and yes, the Rock names her specifically) and to “cover his willy”. Remember those cringe moments I said we’d encounter in the Attitude Era. Calling the woman suing a man for sexual harassment, even a President, a “dog” is one.  

Ken Shamrock vs the Rock for the Intercontinental Championship.  The Rock wins via DQ. Shamrock attacks referee Mike Chioda in the aftermath. Fine match.

The Boricuas are now searching for Steve Austin but find the D.O.A. instead. This is the era of multiple factions – mostly centering on race – were running wild in the WWE. Los Boricuas, the Nation of Domination, The Truth Commission, and D.O.A. (Disciples of Apocalypse) were the main factions.

The New Age Outlaws vs the Legion of Doom for the Tag Team titles. The Legion wins via DQ. Back-to-back DQ victories is a questionable call on a pay per view.

The Rumble entrants, in order of appearance:

Cactus Jack

Chainsaw Charlie (Terry Funk)

Tom Brandi

The Rock

Mosh of the Headbangers

Phineas Godwinn

8-Ball (Don Harris)

Blackjack Bradshaw (JBL)

Owen Hart (Jeff Jarrett and Jim Cornette ambush Owen on his way to the ring)

Steve Blackman

D’Lo Brown

Kurrgan

Marc Mero (accompanied by Sable)

Ken Shamrock

Thrasher of the Headbangers

Mankind

Goldust (in silver singlet tights with red knee-high fishnets and a black bikini on the outside of the tights, Luna has also changed her outfit to a silver one)

Jeff Jarrett (accompanied by Jim Cornette)

Honky Tonk Man (Hunter and Chyna stroll out to ringside during his entrance and cause Owen to be eliminated)

Ahmed Johnson

Mark Henry

Skull

Kama Mustafa

Steve Austin

Henry Godwinn

Savio Vega (accompanied by the Boricuas)

Farooq

Dude Love

Chainz (Brian Lee)

Vader

Steve Austin wins again, making him the 3rd multiple time winner – Hulk Hogan and Shawn Michaels are the others.

Rumble Highlights: Cactus-Charlie brawl (minus the unprotected chairshots), Rock-Austin outside the ring brawl and in-ring finale

Rumble Feuds: Cactus vs Charlie, Rock vs Shamrock, Owen vs Jarrett, Owen vs Hunter

More cringe moments: the unprotected, non-gimmicked chairshots Funk and Cactus gave each other. Please, no! Did the Harris brothers have their Nazi tattoos yet? (I can’t see clearly but if so, that is worse than cringe).

First-time Rumblers:  Tom Brandi, Mosh, Steve Blackman, Kurrgan, Ken Shamrock, Thrasher, Mark Henry, Chainz

Surprise Entrants: Honky Tonk Man, 3 Faces of Foley

Quickest Elimination: Tom Brandi

Most Eliminations: Steve Austin

Unite to Eliminate the Big Man spot: Kurrgan

The final match of the ppv isn’t the Rumble (which I dislike). The final match is Shawn Michaels vs the Undertaker for the World championship in a casket match.

Shawn and Taker’s previous match was the first Hell In A Cell match. A casket match seems to be a step down in intensity.

Shawn is accompanied by Hunter and Chyna.  The New Age Outlaws and the Boricuas attack the Undertaker but are run off by Kane. Kane then attacks the Undertaker and throws him into the casket. Kane and Paul Bearer lock the casket and set it on fire.

Shawn wins but severely injures his back when he bumps on the casket during the match. This would lead to Shawn’s post-Wrestlemania match.

Rating: 6 out of 10. Solid undercard, fun Rumble, good main event

Wrestlers and others who have passed on: Howard Finkel, Vader, Luna Vachon, Tarantula (Espectrito II), Torito (Espectrito), the Legion of Doom, Terry Funk, Chyna, Paul Bearer

Total number of deceased individuals: 11 (down 3 from the previous Rumble)

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

hms captain??

hms captain indeed!!

i meant for this to be a short post but oops its really long already and im nowhere near finished so if you wanna learn about this terribly designed warship, join me after the cut; if you dont, enjoy this picture of an oddly designed ship.

the hms captain was a british warship. it was built during a time where shipbuilders were phasing sails out for steam engines, and where warships were being much better armoured. for example, the hms captain was steam-powered with two propellers and had wrought iron armour.

wrought iron armour caused a problem for warships. like think of any pirate media youve seen where theyve got wooden ships with these iron cannonballs; the cannonballs very easily breach the wooden ships. they dont really do that with iron armour. instead, they bounced off.

so the british admiralty, media and public were all in want, to some extent, of a ship with better guns that could breach ship armour. enter cowper phipps cole:

a man who looks like a rasputin prototype and seems to have the charisma to back up the comparison.

see coles was very good at public engagement. when he needed to, he could very easily get the media and public on his side, which is a power he leveraged in order to get hms captain approved, commissioned and built.

his design, oddly enough, goes back to a raft from the crimean war.

this is the lady nancy, constructed in 1855 to aid during the siege of taganrog. it was for shore bombardment which you can see in this illustration of it. while cameras were a thing back then (i think daguerreotypes existed during this time), i dont believe we have any photos of the lady nancy.

coles was a captain in the navy in 1855, and him and a group of sailors constructed it. according to those there, the guns on the raft were protected by some kind of dome structure or a "cupola" as they called it.

hms captain was inspired by the lady nancy, and so, it was also intended for shore bombardment. for this purpose, two big fuck off rotating turrets were mounted inside the hull on the gun deck.

these had been patented by coles himself in 1859 which is partly how he became a consultant for the admiralty when it came to building ships. being the nephew of admiral lord edmund lyons 1st baron lyons gcb gcmg kch, by marriage, twice over certainly also helped.

quick note on that:

its not technically incest, i think, his wife emily pearson was lyons niece and his mom is the sister of lyons wife augusta

i also didnt know what those acronyms meant beforehand, gcb is a british order of chivalry called most honourable order of the bath, gcmg is another one: most distinguished order of saint michael and saint george, kch is a hanoverian order of chivlary called royal guelphic order. yeah thats just gobbledegook.

lyons was important because of his role in the crimean war as commander-in-chief of the mediterranean fleet (suddenly i feel like im reading an icemav fic) and hes credited as ensuring victory for britain.

originally, the admiralty just ordered prototypes of his big fuck off turrets and they were actually impressed with them.

and so the hms prince albert was built with four of them (is that four turrets in your pants or are you just happy to see me) and the hms royal sovereign was converted to be a turret ship. both, however, could only operate as coastal service vessels.

hence, the admiralty allowed coles to draw up plans for a two (2) turret oceangoing ship in 1863, working with nathaniel barnaby who was chief constructor for the navy. keep in mind, coles had little to no experience in ship design.

then, they suspended the project.

but they allowed him to work on a one (1) turret oceangoing ship that was based on the hms pallas with joseph scullard who was head draughtsman in 1864.

and then in 1865, a committee rejected/cancelled his projects, and decided to move forward with a different design for a two (2) turret ship called hms monarch.

this made coles very angry, and an angry coles is not a good thing for the british admiralty.

(i spent an hour making this because im so bad at making things look purposefully bad)

so you know like today where bad actors like andrew tate, tucker carlson, joe rogan and even like graham hancock can just use public platforms and social medias to get a relatively large portion of the population of their side, seemingly with ease, just by talking/communicating confidently, playing into fears and anxieties of the public, and creating an us and them?

yeah so cowper phipps coles was also really good at this. grifters, liars and pretenders have alway existed.

(milo rossi brings discusses this a lot in his series on hancock's ancient apocalypse docuseries, and id 100% recommend the whole series.)

so how did coles do this?

well, he began with a very strong and very harsh attack on robert spencer robinson who was a vice admiral and controller of the navy, and his full title was admiral sir robert spencer robinson kcb frs.

the title admiral sir is very funny, like i want to get a cat called that with the nickname addy. kcb is basically the same as gcb. lyons was general grand cross and robinson was knight commander, because of fucking course its this stupid. frs is an award given to you from the royal society of london; the fellowship of the ring royal society is granted to those who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural knowledge, including mathematics, engineering science, and medical science".

it wasnt just mr admiral sir that coles attacked; he also attacked several other admirals who were on the committee but he really seemed to hate robinson. coles also lobbied parliament and the press, focussing on the flaws he saw in monarchs design and how britain was going to be left behind in the shipping arms race since many other nations were pressing ahead with several oceangoing turret ships. unsurprisingly, it was the united states that were winning the race so far.

around this time, coles' contract as a navy consultant was terminated in january 1866. like thats as hard as he was going, he fully lost his job. of course he had his dear not-quite-incest uncle lord lyons to fall back on. one hell of a safety net, very well entwined.

in response to this professional fuck you, coles simply protested that he had been misunderstood and the man must have rolled a nat 20 on his charisma saving roll because on the 1st march 1886, he was re-employed.

he waited a month and a half to submit his critique of the monarch proposal on the 16th april. he refused to publicly support a vessel that didnt represent his "views of a sea going turret-ship" because He Was Like That™. we're in the cowper karen era. his critique went on to say that hms monarch could not give his "principle a satisfactory and conclusive trial."

now at this point, the admiralty really should have just sent him packing. theyve given him chance after chance after chance despite him having pretty much no experience.

like say you have a blocked toilet that you cant unblock, but instead of calling a plumber, you ask your friends nephew whos an art curator who really wants to give this plumbing thing a go. then his first attempt makes it worse; now the taps in your bath turn on everytime you use the kitchen sink and your toilets still blocked. but you give him another go and now theres a shower curtain stuck in your toilet which is still blocked. and now youre fingers are hovering over the call button on a plumbers number when your friend calls and asks you to give their nephew another go. its only been three weeks and theres a 24 hours mcdonalds up the road that you can go to for the bathroom and youve got a shower at work you can use, so you think, okay, sure. and then he accidentally rips your kitchen sink out and you still have a blocked toilet and a non-working shower and your bath taps are running 24/7, and your friend asks you again to give him a "second chance."

like youre not giving him another chance, theres a goddamn shower curtain in your toilet and your kitchen sink is in your fucking living room. of course, youre not giving him another chance.

but say everyone in your street and everyone in your friend group is on his side because hes been telling little lies and charming them all with his aunts baked goods and his knowledge of local art and history. and everyone else is rooting for him and they all believe this is the chance.

thats the situation first naval lord admiral frederick grey (full title: admiral the hon. sir frederick william grey gcb) found himself in. obviously coles should not be given another chance, but the whole country believes he should.

so on the 21st april (thats me moms birthday :)) he agreed that coles should be allowed to build his "perfect" oceangoing turret ship.

and so the hms captain was born

the ship was to be built on a private shipyard and coles selected laird brothers' chesire yard on the 8th may 1866.

one of the biggest problems ship designers had with turret ships is that ships tend to have quite a lot of rigging that gets in the way of the turrets. this was a genuine design flaw for the hms monarch, it was brought up by the chief designer sir edward james reed kcb rfs, but he was overuled. he didnt think a turret ship should have either a forecastle or poop deck.

on a typical warship, youll see a small rise on either end of the ship. at the front/bow, you have the forecastle which was typically used as a defensive measure. at the back/stern, youd typically have the captain quarters within the hull and the roof of that is the poop deck. it would be used for either the captain or a helmsman or a first mate maybe to supervise the crew and their work.

reed, very correctly, did not want these measures because they interfered with the turrets. he also wanted much less rigging because the more wooden beams and rope and sail youve got, the less room the turrets have to fire.

he wrote that "the middle of the upper deck of a full-rigged ship is not a very eligible place for fighting large guns."

and coles and the lairds seemed to agree with this sentiment because their design corrected these flaws.

their solutions were to erect a hurricane deck to place the rigging on. this is an upper deck that is above the frame of the hull. they also used tripod masts to reduce rigging. they also placed the turrets within the hull in their own special gun deck.

now, just because youve corrected for some flaws doesnt mean you havent introduced several of your own which spoiler, the captain had a lot of flaws which we will be getting into.

captain had a length of 320ft or 97.54m; she had a beam (width at the widest part) of 53ft3 or 16.23m; her draught (the distance between the waterline and the keel/bottom of the hull) was 24ft10 or 7.57m; and her top speed was 15 knots which is about 17mph.

in a futile attempt at a balanced view, i will say that the speed was fairly impressive. most other ships had top speeds of 10-12 knots or about 11-14mph. the use of double propellers was a good choice.

one of the very few good choices.

see the captain was designed to displace or essentially weigh 6910 long tons, and was expected to have a freeboard of about 8ft or 2.4m.

a ships freeboard is the distance between her exposed upper deck and the waterline. typically, warships have high freeboards. its not quite as simple as the higher the freeboard, the more stable your ship is, but in general, higher freeboards do offer more stability. this is something the captain needed

see, most of her weight was high up in the ship which meant she had a low metacentric height. to not get into all of the complicated science that im not entirely sure i understand (dyspraxic nation rise up), lower metacentric heights tend to make ships more unstable.

[from wikipedia:]

so all of this is a bad design. apart from her impressive speed, she seemed like a ship with poor stability and a real risk of flooding because of the exposed gun decks. and with flooding, you might just fucking capsize 🚢⬆️↗️↘️🌊☠️

mr admiral sir robert spencer robins already raised concerns at the design stage in regards to the low freeboard and flooding. reed also raised concerns about the ship being too heavy and having too high a centre of gravity, but they were ignored.

if i had a nickel for every time edward james reed was overruled after raising a legitimate concern about the design of a turret ship, id have two nickels, but its weird its happened twice.

still, first lord of the admiralty (genuinely feel like this is a made up job) sir john pakington approved the design on the 23rd july 1866, though he did note that coles and the lairds would be held responsible for any failures.

if youre interested, john pakingtons full title is john somerset pakington 1st baron hampton gcb pc frs and he was a fucking tory, and the right honourable lord hampton, which okay, dude, you overcompensating for anything over there? pc means he was a member of his majestys most honourable privy council, who are all advisors yes-men to whichever bellend is on the crown.

moving past that cag-mag of a man, lets talk about how this mess got even worse. and you might be asking, "kai, how can it get worse? havent you already told me that the ship can easily sink?"

and you know, fair point, but you can always make your ship even more likely to sink.

see coles came down with an illness during the building of the ship. im not sure what it was; i cant find anything on it, but whatever it was, it meant he couldnt supervise the building of his ship. now, im not sure how much that would help considering he was the art curator turned amateur plumber in the metaphor, but maybe it would have done some good.

because when she was finished, she did not displace 6910 long tons. no, she displaced 7767 long tons. and her 8ft freeboard turned into a 6ft6 or 1.98m freeboard. she was floating 22 inches deeper than expected. oh, and her centre of gravity raised by 10 inches!

reed didnt just raise hell over this, he dragged heaven down too. and its not like he was wrong. the ship was a floating disaster.

hms captain had an angle of list of 21°. this means of she listed 21° or more, she would capsize.

now, theres no real average angle of list, but most people would say 40-50° as a reasonable yardstick. for some vessels, it might dip into the 30s°, but 21° is a ridiculously low angle of list.

for reference, this is a 20° angle.

its not much of an angle, is it?

and remember, the captain is meant to be an oceangoing vessel. the oceans dont exactly have a reputation for being calm.

unless youve got a direct telegram to poseidon and are in a place where you can ask him to calm down, the captains not gonna have fun.

and of course when reed raised his concerns, he was overuled.

if i had a nickel for every time edward james reed was overruled after raising a legitimate concern about the design of a turret ship, id have three nickels, and its kinda concerning that its happened three times.

instead, she was commissioned on the 30th april 1870 under captain hugh talbot burgoyne vc. to commission a ship is simply to place it into active service. also vc simply means burgoyne received the victoria cross whatever that one is.

anyway, she underwent several trials in the months after this and i guess everyone had pre-ordered their rose-coloured glasses because the captain won many supporters and was considered everything that coles had promised.

part of these trials were the gunnery trials. these took place in vigo and the captain was against both hms monarch and hms hercules, a non-turret ship. their target was a 600ft long, 60ft high rock. they each had 5 minutes of continuous firing.

all three ships had problems with aiming after the first few shots because the smoke emitted from the weapons meant they couldnt fucking see anything.

still, hms hercules had an accuracy rate of 65%, while hms monarch came in with a 40% rate and hms captain limped in with a 35% rate.

and im not just using "limped" as an exaggeration, these trials showed that when the turrets fired, it caused the ship to list and the list was 20°.

im sure you can see the problem there.

if you can, youre better than the admiralty who just ignored it and was like fantastic, she works. coles straight up had the entire admiralty hostage and the only person speaking up was reed.

if i had a nickel for every time edward james reed was overruled after raising a legitimate concern about the design of a turret ship, id have four nickels, which is great and all but id rather give reed a hug at this point.

-

now the 35% accuracy didnt really matter if the captain was going to be used for shore bombardment. most of the time, youre not aiming for anything specific, youre just trying to cause as much damage as possible.

but that 20° list? that mattered.

it mattered a lot because on the 7th september 1870, she capsized.

shocking i know. only five months after being commissioned and everything.

that day, she was running trials in the bay of biscay during a storm when she was hit by a gale of wind. she rolled over and capsized.

there were over 500 people on board and only 18 survived. coles was among the dead. i hope their souls were able to find peace.

theres a memorial for them in st paul's cathedral in london if youd ever like to pay your respect to them.

now theres not much else to say about the captain other than the inquiry into the sinking blame the public for it.

they concluded that "the captain was built in deference to public opinion expressed in parliament and through other channels, and in opposition to views and opinions of the controller and his department" and this was pretty significant in victorian britain as it was unprecedented.

but realistically, it wasnt wrong. they were the ones backing coles the whole time.

so i guess if theres something to learn from this mess, its that if youre going to support a public figure, whether it be a celebrity or politician or scientist or whatever, take a step back and ask yourself "do i agree with what theyre saying or are they just very good at talking?"

im sure someones said it better than me, but you know, that sentiment. we can also laugh at how much of a disaster hms captain was.

[fantastictyphoonpeanut]

Salute The Brave: The only time a submarine has surrendered intact to air power alone. RAF Sqn 269 attacked U570 out on its first mission. It was afterwards commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Graph and used against it fellow U-Boats. Squadron Leader Thompson who lead the mission and his navigator Flying Officer Cole were both awarded the DFC. The Squadron's motto was 'We see All Things' - quite apt... (FTP)

[tastescomics]

Pages 01-08 are up to read now!!

The boys have made it to their Royal Suite but it seems Token is out of commission, deep in a food coma for the evening. Cole on the other hand has his priorities. Quickly he looks for any indication of where the elixirs and potions were purchased and decides to make a late night run.

Meanwhile, Tedrick has been informed by his sister Alys to investigate the area, much to his dismay. With magic seeming to be more open in this town, it's a rational worry to have... considering their hidden lineage~

[lgbtqiahistoricalromance]

LGBTQIA+ Historical Romance Novels with Steampunk and Mechanized Settings

Blood and Clockwork by Katey Hawthorne

- Alistair Click set out to lay to rest the superstitious fears about the Mad Prince's clockwork tower. If that meant he might bring the ghost city of Avalonia back to economic life, connecting the western kingdoms once again, so much the better. So what if no adventurer who'd entered the tower in the last century of desolation had ever re-emerged? They didn't have his skill and wit. He could do better. The tower turns out to be far more than Alistair expected, however. Not only are there clockwork puzzles to open every door, but one of them drops a boy from a strange world into his lap—figuratively speaking, if only just. Marco Murphy was just gaming in his New Jersey apartment, and now he's stuck in what feels like a never ending LARP nightmare. The deeper they delve into the Mad Prince's tower, the darker the secrets they uncover. They're not entirely sure they'll ever be able to get out again, either. It'll take all Marco's charm and Alistair's cleverness, plus the strange bond growing between them, to get them out together... and alive.

The Novelty Maker by Sasha L Miller (Free download!)

- As often as he can possibly manage, Cole slips away from the parties and teas inflicted upon him by his mother to visit Harlowe, the brilliant, mercurial novelty maker he met several months ago when commissioning a piece for his mother. Overwhelmed with work, and preferring to avoid people, Harlowe is not an easy person to know, and Cole values too much their hard-won friendship to ever risk it by telling Harlowe of his true feelings. Then Harlowe begins to receive letters from a secret admirer...

Duende by EE Ottoman (Trans author)

- Famed opera singer Aimé has a lot in common with Badri, the Royal Ballet Company's most popular male lead. They have both dedicated their entire lives to their art, and struggle to be taken seriously among the Empire's elite. And both harbor a secret admiration and desire for the other. This year for his birthday Aimé treats himself to a night at the ballet seeing Badri perform, and...

Circus Games by Lilliana Rose (f/f!)

- Nessie is overwhelmed with the amount of work that needs to be done to manage the Mecha Mania business she now owns with her father. Balancing accounts, stopping Operators from fighting, and ordering parts keeps her busy—so busy, in fact, that she keeps pushing Joy away. As frustrations build, the distance widens, and what could be slowly starts to move closer to what might have been.

The Ticking Heart by SA Winters (Free download!​)

- Vincent Gabriel is an inventor; his newest invention a clockwork-humanoid prototype he has spent the greater part of a decade designing and creating, the long working hours filling a void within himself. His assistant, Samuel, however, is less than pleased with the new invention. As Vincent's creation falls apart, so too does the delicate relationship between the two men. Their differences threaten to overcome them, their actions pushing them so far apart that neither knows where they stand.

Series

The Ingenious Mechanical Devices by Kara Jorgensen (MCs of color, m/m, ace, brought together in this great series by an ace author.)

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Claire Lehmann

Published: Jul 7, 2023

In medieval times, it was common practice for the wealthy to buy indulgences from the church to atone for their sins. These payments, the church assured, meant the person paying would not remain in purgatory for too long and would later ascend into heaven.

A wealthy person could even buy indulgences for their family members or ancestors who were long dead. Today we think of ourselves as far more enlightened than our medieval forebears. We secular folk would never pay a class of clerics large sums of money to atone for our sins. Or would we?

In recent years, billions of dollars have flowed into investment funds that market themselves as providing “environmental, social and governance” impacts. In Australia, industry super funds lead this trend, with money pouring into funds that then invest in companies that promote green, social justice, equity, diversity and inclusion causes.

The basic idea behind ESG, which has been promoted by organisations such as the World Economic Forum, is that one can make a profit and “do good” at the same time. Investors argue they can contribute to a net-zero future while making solid returns, or contribute to social justice alongside their fiduciary duty.

Rating agencies and research firms issue ESG “scores” to companies that are then used by bodies who advise institutional and retail investors which organisations they should invest in. Because ESG has no standardised metrics or even standardised definitions, such scores can be massaged by those companies that have enough money to play the game.

An entire industry of consulting agencies and non-profits exists today to implement cosmetic changes within companies to boost their ESG scores. Such cosmetic changes may include sponsoring a float at the Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras or offering paid leave for staff who wish to change their gender.

As I commented in these pages last year, “gender affirmation leave” is offered by our two biggest supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, and contributes to these companies earning “gold- and platinum-tier” status by the Australian Workplace Equality Index – despite the fact both companies are simultaneously implicated in wage theft scandals.

Sometimes called “wokewashing”, the practice of buying virtue through ESG allows corporate entities to deflect attention away from their PR embarrassments, like Henry VIII’s Indulgences allowed him to go on indulging.

Such practices are called wokewashing because these changes usually do not go deep enough to really cause change within a large organisation. By sheer virtue of their size, our largest corporations often make mistakes that only a complete overhaul of management practices could possibly address.

Take BHP, for example. The biggest company in Australia, and largest mining company in the world, is now embroiled in one of the biggest wage theft scandals in history. Accused of underpaying 28,500 workers $430m in wages for deducting public holidays from leave entitlements, BHP is now supporting the Yes vote in the voice referendum and has pledged a $2m donation to the campaign. This pledge is likely to boost its ESG score, but whether it satisfies the workers who have been underpaid is yet to be seen.

It is not just the mining industry that seeks ESG redemption. The banking industry wants to buy its way into heaven as well. Following on the heels of the disastrous royal commission into the sector, the Big Four are all doubling down on ESG. NAB faced criminal charges in 2021 for failing to pay casual employees long-service leave entitlements, but this is offset by its sponsorship of Midsumma – Melbourne’s queer arts and cultural festival. Last year ANZ was fined $25m for misleading consumer practices, but it also announced it was offering its staff paid leave for a sex change.

Commonwealth Bank has been in hot water in recent years for breaching money-laundering laws and Westpac was required to pay a $1.3bn fine after 250 customers made transfers that were linked to child exploitation. Both organisations are atoning for these sins by campaigning for the Yes vote.

Almost every large corporation that has signed on to the Yes campaign for the voice referendum is embroiled in some kind of scandal that involves their core business. Whether Coles is underpaying its staff, or Rio Tinto is dealing with dozens of accusations of sexual harassment, each company has significant work to do internally.

And this is why ESG is so popular among our corporate class. Symbolic gestures that can be outsourced to consultants and NGOs are an easy box-ticking exercise. Systemic changes to management habits, or making sure business practices are fair, is much more costly and time-consuming than simply waving a rainbow flag.

In the medieval period, wealthy elites would pay indulgences in order to curry favour with the church because the institution was incredibly powerful.

It is not surprising then that our biggest corporations are pledging their support for ESG goals that are also supported by the government, unions, the majority of our media, academia and non-profit sectors.

While commitment to ESG is not necessarily a sign of true moral fibre, if it can assist in washing away the stain of sin, then every dollar pledged will be money well spent.

==

Whenever a large corporation pledges its commitment to some movement or ideology, especially those that are unrelated to their actual business, you should assume that it's hiding something.

The more controversial the movement or ideology, the bigger the scandal they're trying to distract attention from.

For reference, the "Voice to Parliament" is a referendum to embed in the Australian constitution a vaguely defined independent body with unknown powers, unclear authority and unidentified influence to be a whisper in the ear of the Australian political system, supposedly representing all indigenous (Aboriginal) Australians. In essence, it functions as a form of "reparations."

When it's rejected, as current polling indicates it massively will be, as with Affirmative Action, citizens will be scolded by the supporters for their "racism," and the country will be told it's irredeemably racist. Rather than recognizing the diverse objections to the initiative: the lack of transparency of what the body is or does; progressives who insist it doesn't go far enough (e.g. a desire to literally "hand back" the land); Aboriginal Australians themselves who are concerned about establishing a "separate but equal" system; importing Critical Race Theory ideas from the US to racially divide the nation; the rather racist notion itself that any single "voice" could represent all indigenous people, ignoring that their viewpoints are as diverse as everyone else's; and the very simple answer of "I don't like this particular solution."

But while all of that is going on, the companies will be looking for their next diversion.

[banannabethchase]

I'm watching the Royal Rumble and they've already made a stupid decision, so here's my Adam Cole's Wrestling Return dreambooking:

He obviously wins his first match back, and makes his way up the card rapidly. The matches are quick and violent, with the "New Adam Cole" schtick sticking. The Dynamite before Revolution, he demands a title shot against Darby, saying he's waited long enough to come back and it's time for a title around his waist. He brutalizes Darby without hesitation, soaking in the crowd reaction. He's about to get the pin, and Darby isn't moving. One. Two.

Adam pulls Darby's arm up, props him up against a post, and walks away. "I'm too good for this belt," he spits, after stealing the microphone from the commentator's section. "You think I'd come back and go for a mediocre mid card belt? What kind of mediocre piece of shit do you think I am? I'd rather take the loss."

Darby retains on a technicality and Adam treats the loss on his record as a joke. Darby's out of commission for a few weeks, because he really needs to take some time off.

Adam continues his wins, and makes it his mission to destroy the pillars. "The only real pillar of this company is Dr. Britt Baker, DMD!" he shouts into the microphone sometime in April. "She's the only one who deserves that title! She's never been at the front of any controversy! She's never disgraced the AEW brand or had a temper tantrum that disrupted the entire company!"

Cue Jungle Boy, who really hasn't done anything unsavory and has been an all around delightful babyface. He challenges Cole to a match the next week. Using nefarious tactics, Adam wins, but just barely.

He takes out Sammy next. He's already taken out Darby. The only one left is MJF. And that's your main event for Double or Nothing 2023: Adam Cole vs. MJF for the belt.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Victorian Christmas Cards

Printed Christmas cards became popular in the Victorian period (1837-1901), thanks to a combination of cheaper printing techniques and even cheaper post, with the arrival of the Penny Black postage stamp.

Coming in all shapes, sizes and materials, Christmas cards were sent in their millions to all corners of the British Empire.

Victorian illustrators created an entire mythology of exactly what we imagine a European Christmas should look like with their now-classic scenes of present-covered Christmas trees, holly, robins, sleighs, and snow-covered country lanes.

When we dream of a white Christmas, it is the festive cards of the 19th century, which are largely responsible for that evergreen imagery.

Origins

Adults have, of course, been writing letters to each other for centuries.

Even before there was an official public post system, letters were delivered in person, by servants, and via transport coaches.

There had also been prints made from the 15th century, using woodcuts or copperplate printing techniques, especially for calendars.

It was in the Victorian period that several factors conspired to make printed Christmas cards the hugely popular phenomenon they became.

The historians Antony and Peter Miall suggest in The Victorian Christmas Book that the origins of cards for the festive season lie in the classroom.

From the 18th century, schoolmasters had their pupils work on a 'Christmas Piece' in the month of December.

This work involved pupils selecting a sheet of fine paper and producing a sample of their writing, principally to show off to their parents evidence of their academic progress that year.

The paper often came with a decorated engraved border, and by the 19th century, it was popular for the pupils to draw their own decorative borders using coloured ink.

"These offerings were the forerunners of the great Victorian Christmas Card" (Miall, 37).

Other sources of inspiration for the decorative Christmas card may have been printed music sheets with decorative borders and covers, engravings commissioned to mark important anniversaries, school reward cards for hard-working pupils, fine illustrated notepaper, and the more ornate varieties of visiting cards, which were left when one called upon someone and they were not at home.

The First Christmas Card

Sir Henry Cole (1808-1882) was a civil servant who had, in 1840, reformed the British postal system by helping to create the Universal Penny Post where senders used the now-famous Penny Black postage stamps.

Cole would later become the first director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

In 1843, Cole had a brilliant idea.

Not only could he save himself writing different individualised letters to his friends and family at Christmas, but he could also brighten the season with a colourful card printed for the express purpose of sending his compliments of the season.

Accordingly, Cole commissioned John Callcott Horsley (1817-1903), an artist and illustrator who was a member of the Royal Academy, to produce the first printed Christmas card.

THE FIRST CARDS WENT ON SALE TO THE PUBLIC AT THE RATHER HIGH PRICE OF ONE SHILLING PER CARD.

Horsley's design for the card, which was about the size of an ordinary visiting card (2 x 3 inches or 5 x 7.5 cm), showed different generations of the Horsley family raising a toast – presumably to the absent friend who is the recipient of the card – while flanked with scenes showing acts of charity, then, as now, an important element of the Christmas season.

On the left are people giving food to the needy, and on the right, they give clothing.

There was a border of a wood frame intertwined with ivy, and below the main image, a greeting of "A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to You."

There was a space along the very top and bottom of the card left blank to write a short handwritten and personalised message to the receiver.

One thousand such cards were printed and then hand-coloured. The cards went on sale to the public at the rather high price of one shilling per card.

Perhaps unsurprisingly for a new and relatively expensive idea, there were few buyers.

The Idea Catches On

Fortunately for the future of Christmas cards, the royal family was enthusiastic for all things Christmassy.

In particular, Prince Albert (1819-1861) brought German Christmas traditions to England such as the Christmas tree.

It was the younger members of the royal family who adopted the idea of sending each other handmade greeting cards both at Christmas and New Year. 

Queen Victoria must have approved since she later started the trend of public figures sending 'official' Christmas cards showing more often than not themselves and their family in a festive setting.

Then, in 1844, there was another attempt at the commercial Christmas card, and this was much more successful.

Mr W. C. T. Dobson sold a printed card, which carried an illustration of the "Spirit of Christmas."

In 1848, a card printed by William Maw Edgley (1826-1916) repeated the theme of Cole's card but added scenes of general merriment and holly to the imagery.

Printers now knew they were onto a good thing. They became more and more ambitious with the designs of their cards, which were available to buy in stationers and bookshops.

From 1879, rather than pricey single cards, people could buy cheap packs of cards from tobacconists and toy shops, often imported from Germany.

This development went hand-in-hand with the new half-penny post for postcards, and so now people of all classes could send Christmas cards to their loved ones.

Victorian Christmas Card Designs

The first cards were printed on small single sheets of card, but they soon progressed to come in all shapes and sizes.

Victorian Christmas cards were typically lithographed and hand-coloured before colour-printing took over.

Many used embossed paper, sometimes with cut-out parts to resemble lace, particularly for borders.

There were even cards decorated with ribbons, tassels, real lace, tinsel, and coloured glass.

Satin, silk and brocade were also popular materials to enhance the feel of the card.

The most exotic of cards were scented, had padded additions, and incorporated pressed flowers.

One card for sale boasted it was made of no fewer than 750 separate pieces.

If one creation reflected the Victorian love of accumulating individual beautiful materials to create an even more beautiful finished article, it was the Christmas card.

With so many possible materials being used in a single card, it is no wonder that draper's shops included them in their Christmas stock.

VICTORIAN ILLUSTRATORS WERE LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT WE TODAY IMAGINE AS A CLASSIC 'CHRISTMAS SCENE'.

There was a great variety in the shape of cards, too, with the most popular ranging from the classic rectangular form to oval, circular, diamond, crescent, and bell-shaped cards.

Some cards were folded, others made into fan shapes, or they reflected the object they illustrated such as a post box or purse.

Cards might include moving parts or flaps that could be opened to reveal an additional scene or message.

Some had tabs that, when pulled, moved the legs and arms of a character on the front of the card or they had a disk that could be turned to show different scenes in a central window.

There were all kinds of subjects depicted on cards, many of which included humorous cartoons and everyday life, sometimes not at all related to Christmas.

Religious themes remained popular such as angels and scenes from the Nativity, but there was a definite shift away from these to more secular subjects as the Victorian era progressed.

Victorian illustrators were not without humour or fear of the risqué, nor did they miss the opportunity to trick the viewer with many cards showing two scenes depending on which direction the card was held.

Victorian illustrators were largely responsible for what we today imagine as a classic 'Christmas scene':

old churches and country lanes in the snow, sleigh rides, plump robins, glistening holly and mistletoe, and presents on or under the Christmas tree.

The popular snow scenes on Victorian Christmas cards reflected the string of harsh winters in England through the 1830s and 1840s.

White Christmases became much rarer thereafter, but the scene in people's imaginations was by then set.

In the same way, the Christmas food we imagine being eaten by Dickensian characters in the 19th century is, like in the cards, always golden roast turkeys and great steaming Christmas puddings the size of cannon balls.

Father Christmas was a popular figure on cards, but he evolved over the decades.

His appearance morphing from a Falstaffian character to a jolly old man with blue trousers and a crown of holly, and finally on to his definitive red suit with white fur trim.

Father Christmas' mode of transport also evolved to keep up with the times.

The Victorian Father Christmas used any means he could to reach people's chimneys, such as the popular bicycle of the 1880s, the new motor car of the 1890s, the ever-growing modern railway network, or even a hot air balloon.

Christmas cards had become such a staple part of the season that they now attracted the top artists to illustrate them, names like Linnie Watts, who produced a series of cards showing children, and Harry Payne, who drew soldiers, a poignant theme for those with loved ones serving far from home in the armed forces of the British Empire.

Cards changed over time as tastes changed.

For example, black backgrounds to make the main picture more striking were popular in the 1870s.

Cards reflected modern trends in art, too.

By the end of the century, art nouveau designs were appearing, with highly decorative designs and subjects inspired by the works of such fashionable artists as Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939).

With cards being sent around the world, the tradition quickly took root in other countries, notably in the United States from 1874, with the cards printed by Louis Prang (1824-1909), popularly known as the "Father of American Christmas Cards."

Collecting Christmas Cards

Beautifully made and capturing memories of the season, the Victorian middle classes became avid collectors of Christmas cards, which explains why it became common to have the year printed somewhere on the card.

Perhaps the most famous card collector was George Buday.

He even wrote a celebrated book on the history of Christmas cards, his The Story of the Christmas Card.

He donated his collection of over 3,000 cards to the Victoria and Albert Museum.

This museum today has over 15,000 Christmas cards in its archives and each Christmas, it reprints old Victorian designs so that they can, once more, just as in days of yore, carry people's Christmas wishes far and wide.

[sublimeobservationarcade]

The Royal Commission Into The Robodebt Scheme

The tendency for human beings to kick another whist he or she is down is not a well known Christian practice but perhaps it should be. The Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme, currently underway, reveals a religious zeal by the ministers responsible in hammering this automated debt collection program home. This is despite the Robodebt scheme being understood by government lawyers to be illegal. Scott Morrison, a proud Christian and the minister responsible at its inception had no qualms about using income averaging to impose large debts upon the poorest and most vulnerable among the Australian community.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Pexels.com

Robodebt The Righteous Crime Investigated

There is a saying that the fish rots from the head down. This religious zeal in revenue raising from the lowest hanging fruit, those unable to defend themselves or afford to fightback, permeated the government departments responsible for it. We have heard in the hearings, again and again, senior public servants putting aside any thoughts about doing the right thing in exchange for Brownie points on the greasy pole. Professional men and women who should have had standards and ethics conveniently forgetting them in return for job security and possible promotion. This is the Australia we live in.

Photo by Gerd Altmann on Pexels.com Australian Culture & Pissing In Your Pocket Australians constantly receive positive affirmations from their political leaders. This is done because it is politically astute behaviour. Praise about our embrace of a multicultural society deflects from the ingrained racism within white Australia. Pats on the head about the values of ‘mateship’ around ANZAC day celebrations are hoisted up the flagpole. The cultures established in Canberran government departments are not so widely shared on the national stage. The behaviour by ministers like Christian Porter and Alan Tudge and parliamentary staffers at Parliament House, drinking and womanising, not so readily promoted. The reality of Australian culture is very different from the airbrushed versions promulgated. Money More Important Than Lives Money is more important to many more Australians than ever before. The fact that the Australian home is a money making industry and not merely a place to lay your head and find sanctuary is a big part of this. Australians don’t make things; they invest in property and live off the dosh generated from an overheated market. Rents in Australia are now sky high and unaffordable for the working poor and unemployed. Inflation caused by corporate greed and profiteering is stealing food off the table of struggling ordinary Australians. The RBA is run by bankers who applaud the record profits generated by corporate Australia. “A Profit-Price spiral is the main driver of inflation in Australia, rather than a supposed “Wage-Price” spiral, which does not exist.” - (The Australia Institute, 24th Feb 2023) Inflation Fuelled By Corporate Greed Qantas declares a $1.6 billion half yearly profit on the back of very high airfares. Complaints about poor service have also been at record highs. Qantas received billions of dollars in government handouts during the pandemic. They used these funds to lay off thousands of workers, who have not be reinstated and will not be. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) recorded a $5.1 billion half yearly profit. Putting up interest rates is a profitable business move, especially when you don’t raise the interest rates on savings accounts. This is the kind of banking sector we have in Australia. Philip Lowe, the RBA governor, applauds such banking practices, as an indicator of a strong economy. Santos makes a 230% half yearly profit of $1.6 billion on the back of inflated gas prices and the war in Ukraine. Ampol records a 30% half yearly profit increase to $325.5 million on inflated oil prices. Woolworths half yearly profits up 25%, and Coles six month profits up 11%. The Australia Institute reveals a profit-price-spiral fuelling the high inflation rate of 7.8% currently plaguing the nation. It is corporate profiteering costing ordinary Australians at the checkout, and not the wage-price-spiral bogeyman, so beloved of Philip Lowe and economists like him.

Photo by vectors icon on Pexels.com Returning to the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme. In case you have missed the main points. The scheme was known and later found to be illegal. In addition, the income averaging was factually wrong and falsely applied debts to hundreds of thousands of welfare recipients who didn’t owe this money. People killed themselves over these huge debts. Onward Christian soldiers – Stuart Robert, Alan Tudge, Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott. This is probably the most shameful episode in the history of Australian government. All of those involved will bear these marks of opprobrium until their graves. These righteous ministers were served by cowardly bureaucrats more interested in their own pots of gold than the lives of vulnerable fellow Australians. If the victims did try to fight back via the media, they were beset upon. “It involved punishment of people, dead or alive, whose cases and complaints made it into media reports. Alan Tudge, the then minister for human services, found there was no bar so low that he couldn’t contort himself and slide under it. He collected the Centrelink files of every single person who complained in newspapers, radio or television, and authorised the release of their data to selected favourite journalists in order to “correct misinformation”.” - (Rick Morton, The Monthly, March 2023) This appalling scheme has cost tax payers billions of dollars, it has cost us, and has damaged trust in government even further, if it needed such assistance. There was a class action, which was settled. None of the politicians or public servants will pay a cent in compensation or spend any time behind bars. This is the Australian way. Only blue collar criminals go to gaol. If you met these men and women on the street you would not be able to spot their evil, as they look just like ordinary Australians, if a little smug. This is the face of Australia in 2022-23 – get used to it. By Robert Sudha Hamilton ©Midas Word Read the full article

[scotianostra]

Happy Birthday the super sexy Scottish actress  Michelle Gomez.

Michelle was born as Michelle May Romney Marsham Antonia Gomez in Ayr in 1966, and grew up in Glasgow. Her dad is of Portuguese descent and is from  Montserrat, her mum ran a model agency’ She is one of four children; two older brothers, one of whom is called Derek, and a twin brother who died in.2004.

When she was seven, her parents took her to see Cole Porter’s musical take on the Shrew, Kiss Me, Kate at the Theatre Royal in Glasgow and she was mesmerised by the character Kate, she described it as

“ I was electrified and, of course, I thought they were talking to me. Even then I had an ego running riot. And I loved Kate’s energy, her fieriness. Even at that age, I identified; I thought: ‘Yup, I’m one of her, she’s one of me.”

Michelle attended Shawlands Academy and the junior section of The Scottish Academy of Music and Dance from the age of twelve before going to the adult Academy.

Her first major role was in Irvine Welsh's  Acid House , that’s my pal Gary McCormack with her in the first pic, she went on to make small screen appearances in The Bill and Taggart (two different roles in each) before the very funny and underrated Book Club on channel Four.

Other TV appearances have been in Rebus, Murder in Suburbia and Carrie & Barry before her big break as staff liaison officer Sue White in the Channel 4 comedy Green Wing.

For me Michelle’s best work has been as “Missy” in Dr Who, where she regularly steals scenes. Before the first female Doctor, she was the first female “Master”, one of the Doctors recurring arch enemies.

As well as her roles on this side of the Atlantic Michelle has appeared in Highlander: The Raven the American supernatural television series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, featuring in all 36 episodes, the show got rave reviews but I have not watched it myself, not being a fan of the supernatural horror genre. It was cancelled in July 2020 due to the covid pandemic, I wouldn’t write off it being picked up again in the future, some sources are erroneously saying a series 5 is due soon. 

Michelle has been on our screens in The Flight Attendant, series based on the 2018 novel of the same name, it’s on HBO Max in the States, I must admit I’ve not got round to watching it as yet, the show was originally meant to be a mini-series, but a second series was commissioned and it was shown in April this year. It’s not known whether there will be a third series as yet.

Fans of Michelle and the Superhero genre will be pleased that they return to HBO Max in December.

No doubt we will also see her return to Dr Who someday, I certainly hope so. Gomez has been married to actor Jack Davenport since 1st May 2000 they have a son together. Of him she said 

“Jack wasn't my type at all. I thought he was too young and too posh and I told him that. Plus, I couldn't deal with his dodgy bowl-cut. But he wore me down”

Of herself Michelle is very modest one saying 

“Lots of actresses disappear by the time they're my age. So far, I've bucked the trend. I haven't got sucked into that 26-episode run of something like Casualty. Thankfully, my face has stopped that happening. It's not something you want to see every week on TV! I'm theatrical saffron in that way - just a light sprinkling of me here and there...”

Of her ambitions Michelle says it is to play Mama Rose in Gypsy on stage on Broadway. 

“That would be checking every box in my career if I got to play that. That is my biggest ambition! Oh my, I would ROCK THAT! I need to learn how to sing first, but that is just a technicality.”

Happy Birthday Michelle and good luck with getting on stage in Gypsy.

[devitalise]

i haven't read the books if you don't mind explaining what was wrong with the last ep?

kendall roy grinning gif ok let's start with what i didn't like about the episode:

laenor naming joffrey, joffrey is supposed to be a mutual decision seeing as rhaenyra is putting her, harwin, laenor, and her children at great risk by birthing three bastards. anyways. mutual decision to name him joffrey. don't like the bickering about that

aegon's wig

the undermining of daemon and laena's relationship to prop up daemon and rhaenyra as the Ultimate Lovestory. i don't think daemon targaryen is a good man at all, but he respected and cared for laena, and i think he loved his daughters, baela and rhaena. we don't see that

the racism in the handling of the velaryons. there's nothing else for it. when you make characters black in a fantasy series and then underwrite them/diminish their significance it's weird and it's strange and it's racist!

a gripe from e5 that carries over: criston cole.

so. imagine you're a knight of the kingsguard at a royal wedding for the heir to the throne, and the heir to the second most siginificant house in the realm. you murder said heir's sworn sword and punch the heir and aren't send immediately to the wall or executed on sight?

no.

instead you're made lord commander of the kingsguard. (this is a book thing that happens but he murders joffrey in a tourney and it's played off as a accident)

this episode: lord commander of the kingsguard makes treacherous aspersions against the heir of the throne in hearing of the king and no one says anything?????

calling rhaenyra's children bastards is treachery you can't do that! and book!viserys is still spineless and cowardly, but he loved his grandsons and threatened to cut out anyones tongues who spoke against them

pacing. just jumping about all willy nilly nothing means anything. i get they're spanning 20 years in a season or whatever, but the dance itself takes place over 2 years and judging by how they barely included vhagar in the episode they absolutely don't have the budget to be rushing to all these dragon battles they're so eager for

where's daeron?

these are things i found personally annoying like asoiaf is a complex series and there's always going to be stuff that gets cut but no one asked for hbo to be approached to commission this show do you know what i mean. if you're going to take it upon yourself to choose any point in westerosi history to adapt and then choose the dance of dragons then do it properly