#Connecticut State Police | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

doomwadz · 1 month

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☆ADAM LANZA ICEBERG☆

*this is a informational post!!*

this is my first iceberg, if theres ANY non-accurate information please put it in my ask or comment!!

if theres a topic im unfamiliar with—or not alot of information on, i will put a “★” by the topic.

TIER 1

☆12.14.12

12.14.12 is the date of the Sandy Hook Elementary School Shooting in Newtown, Connecticut by the perpetrator Adam Lanza. Killing 27 people (including Adam). And wounding 2.

☆AUTISM DIAGNOSIS

Adam was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome at the age of 13, which would have been 2005.

☆SMIGGLES

Smiggles was one of Adam’s many usernames on the internet, he used it on a Columbine forum called Shocked Beyond Belief.

☆RYAN LANZA

Ryan Lanza is Adam’s older brother, born on 1988–he is currently 36 years old.

☆ALLEGED PEDOPHILIA

some people think Adam is a pdf file

☆28 VICTIMS

There were actually 27 victims in the shooting, but 28 (because Adam killed himself).

☆HARD DRIVE DESTROYED ★

also, this is just speculation; but alot of people thinks (majority of people) that Adam had cp on his smashed hard drive—?

FORGOT TO MENTION: he did have gore! they also found porn (not cp.) but detectives never said anything else.

☆CULTURALPHILISTINE

This is known to be Adam’s youtube channel started on September 7th, 2011

but it got shut down in 2021.

☆GAYFORTIMK & QUEERFORKIMVEER

i think this was a time that Adam had a tumblr! These were his usernames. i have some screenshots and somebody’s folder made for his tumblr.

and if you try to look for these links…they dont work (they work in the http/hmtl sense) they are people

who reuploaded his tumblr on their accounts and got taken down.

TIER 2

☆BIG BOOK OF GRANNY

The Big Book of Granny refers to a book that Adam and a classmate did in 5th grade in Sandy Hook.

The book is basically violent (for a 9-10 year old) to make, and there is cannibalism in the book too.

FEW EXAMPLES:

☆VEGANISM

Adam is vegan, there are some posts talking about how he only ate organic food. which its probably

not proven, he often spoke about not eating meat. There was a interview

with a woman and Adam Lanza, stating “He chose to be a vegan because people were

‘needlessly cruel’ to animals. Also, a tumblr post (https://www.tumblr.com/introspectionissexy/708027966023663616) stating what Adam said on a video of his, stating

“The McDonalds corporation exploits animals. I’ve been a vegan since i was thirteen but its kind of…completely retarded to think that youre actually accomplishing anything by not…being a vegan doesnt mean that you do not harm animals, by living, by choosing life you are…its life is innately harmful, life is innately coercive to everyone else…”

heres a list of Adam’s diet before he died:

Edamame

Green beans

Lima beans

Tomatoes

Cherry tomatoes

Silk brand Soy Milk

Flax seed

Purified water (with a mix of salt)

Celery

Organic pasture butter

Organic cranberry-pomegranate juice

☆”I’LL BOMB YOU”

This saying refers to a post made by the Reddit user u/brubz89 with the title of the post being

“i grew up across the street from one of the most notorious mass school shooters” explaining

his move to Connecticut during the summer. As the title suggests, he was neighbours with Adam Lanza.

explaining when brubz89, his sister, and Adam.

☆ANARCHY RADIO CALL

On december 20th, 2011–Adam called into Anarchy Radio, the host being John Zerzan, Adam had called

in using the name ‘Greg’. Adam called in to tell a old story (at the time) about Travis the Chimp.

☆ROOM 8 SURVIVOR

This may refer to a 6-year old girl that was a sole survivor that played dead in the classroom,

found by the police. Once she got out she told her mom that “Mommy, im okay, but all my friends are dead.” and said Lanza was a “a angry man.”

(picture of Room 8)

☆MKULTRA ★

didnt Adam hack into some government stuff…and treated at Skull and Bones Yale? hmmm…

☆ANTINATALISM

Antinatalism is a philosophical belief that having children are uneithical.

This stems from a video that Adam made on September 7th, called

“My Antinatalism” talking about his dislike for ‘culture’. with Adam stating

“I consider culture to be delusional values which humans mindlessly coerce onto each other, spreading it like no differently than any other disease.”

☆RYAN’S ID

This refers to when the shooting ended (when Adam killed himself) when his body

was found, Adam had Ryan’s ID. So, media thought that Adam was Ryan, Ryan came out on Facebook that Adam wasn’t him.

☆SEXUALITY ★

idk…alotta people think hes gay—😟.

☆SHOCKED BEYOND BELIEF POSTS

This topic refers to Adam’s post as Smiggles (i love that name) on

Shock Beyond Belief forum. the date when he started using SBB was

on December 20th, 2009. On Wednesday December 30th, 2009 he

posted the infamous oatmeal berry chip-nut cookies recipe.

☆NANCY WORKED AT SHES ★

i think she volunteered at one point, but no she didnt work there—and i think this is a misconception by the media.

TIER 3

☆THE GHOST OF ADAM LANZA★

This refers to a thing that some people believed that they could hear a hum in the school after the shooting. The humming went away, so its just some stupid false claim that people made up

just to get a scare or a reaction out of people.

☆FINAL REPORT

the final report is the final report of Sandy Hook—which it isnt because many changes had accrued over time.

☆KAYNBRED

This refers to Adam Lanza’s Wikipedia account that he used to edit

on—he created his account on june 7th, 2009. his activity on this

account was August 6th, 2009 - February 4th, 2010.

heres a list of he edited on Kaynbred:

Collier Township Shooting (talk)

Dawson College Shooting

Westroads Mall Shooting

Luby’s Shooting

Wedgwood Baptist Church Shooting

Kip Kinkel

Sello Mall Shooting

Sunnyvale ESL Shooting

☆35 PAGE ESSAY

This refers to 35 page essay that Adam wrote for a collage application about pedophilia.

☆REGALSIN

RegalSin was a infamous user that used SydLexia and Shocked Beyond Belief (a forum that

Adam also used.) And he had the same beliefs as Adam about pedophilia. From some

sources it seems he (RegalSin) got banned from alot of forums at that time. Lanza (Smiggles)

wrote on SBB

“Say whatever you wish, but i know my love for RegalSin is real.”

“Gay marriage is legal in my state, i was just holding it out for RegalSin.”

☆BLARVINK

Blarvink is Adam’s first Wikipedia account, created on

February 4th, 2007. His activity on this account would be—through

April 11th, 2007 - March 1st, 2008.

heres a list of articles he edited on:

Blue Clues (talk)

Rant (talk)

Zygote

Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Fall of Saigon

1980 October Surprise theory

Newtown High School

Benjamin Pierce

Gas Constant

Alvin York

Underdog

James Baker

Spoom

Into the Wild

Darwin Awards

New Zealand

Barack Obama

☆MASS MURDER SPREADSHEET

This refers to Adam’s spreadsheet of mass murders/murders, there are four sheets;

in total there are 395 mass murders on Adam’s sheet. (yes i spent 20 minutes counting that…)

☆ASTROLOGY BOOKS ★

Nancy Lanza owned astrology books

i dont know if Adam had a interest in them though.

☆149 PHOTOS OF ADAM

This refers to 149 photos of Adam. (Alot of the photos you see

are his college ID and his picture with tech-club. There was some pictures

that were missing that made 142 pictures open, but a user found them.

mostly there pictures of when Adam was a kid.

examples:

(yipppppe!!)

☆CRYINGHAMSTER★

This refers to a user on tumblr by the name of Cryinghampster who would post

Adam Lanza related things.

there account isn’t available anymore.

☆THE SHELTERED STORM

This topic refers to a book/story by the author Matthew Nolan. you can find were to read it on the Internet Archive. the description reads:

“The true story of the man-made disaster that struck the village of Sandy Hook, Connecticut on December 14th, 2012.”

for me, it seems like a pretty good read from what others say, so give it a try.

TIER 4

☆FUCKCOMMENTS

This part refers to Adam’s second Youtube account called “fuckcomments”

His persona seems different on this one—a little more joke/troll-ish. (?)

here are some:

yes, its little different than his more intellectual/philosophical style of writing.

☆SANDY HOOK LIGHTHOUSE

i think this refers to a website/blog that has information on the Sandy Hook shooting.

☆TEST SHOT ★

Adam drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School and Adam fired his gun at a car at the front entrance parking lot.

He just wanted to make sure if his gun was working.

☆ANOREXIA INDUCED BRAIN DAMAGE

In Adam’s final months he did have anorexia-nervosa, even if you looked

at his diet list, he did not eat that much—(he most likely ate

frozen edamame because it has less calories.)

heres the list of calories (he probably) ate in a day:

Edamame — 130 calories (if frozen) if cooked is 189 cal.

Green beans — 31 calories

Lima beans — 13 calories

Tomatoes — 22 cal.

Cherry tomatoes — 25 cal.

silk brand soy milk (or just average soy milk) — SLIK BRAND (110 cal.)

Flax seed — 55 cal.

purified water (w/ salt) — 0 cal.

Celery — 15 cal.

Orangic Pasture Butter — 100 cal.

Orangic Cranberry-pomegranate juice — 130 cal.

In total the amount of calories he was eating was 631 cal. which at his

height and for a guy isnt good and make you seriously ill and have muscle loss.

for 6ft you should be eating around 2,200-3,000 calories for a guy.

so, autopsy reports show that he did in fact, have brain damage from anorexia.

*i am NOT a medical expert…so take this with a grain of salt and this might be wrong but imma leave it alone.*

☆DAFT HANDS

this part refers to on u/brubz89 story about being Adam’s neighbour. a user by the name u/NotMyMainCuzReasons said this:

Actually there was a post on Reddit saying that Adam referenced Daft Punk - Harder, Faster, Better, Stronger.

and Daft Hands played that song.

also, a classmate of Adam’s reported that he used to watch this with Adam and

ever since, could not watch it.

☆LYME DISEASE

Some might say that Adam may have a undiagnosed Lyme Disease, which some sources bring up good points. Lyme Disease can be causer by Deer Ticks, which they live in woods. Adam’s house is near the woods. Also, lyme can also cause psychological/neurological affects. Many—like Adam has, panic attacks, major depression, anorexia-nervosa, and OCD.

Adam actually did have Lyme disease and some people said he had a goitre but it wasnt noticeable in pictures.

☆3 MONTH ISOLATION

before the shooting, Adam hadn’t left his room in 3 months in…isolation. Not even talking to anyone expect for people online.

☆NANCY HAD MAUCHUSEN SYDROME BY PROXY ★

(A theory) That Nancy has Mauchausen Sydrome by proxy because she would occasionally tell people that she was sick even though she wasnt. And Nancy did nothing about Adam because she had some “gratification” for it.

☆YOUTUBE BOOKMARKS ★

this refers to ALL of Adam’s youtube catalog (basically his videos.)

TIER 5

☆PSYCHOSIS

(speculation) theres many sources that say Adam might have psychosis (which may be very possible not just because he shot up a school.) there was personal messages

that Adam has sent on (it said Shocked Beyond Belief because of Smiggles)

heres a part that i found interesting that i do think he did

have psychosis:

“i dont have a persistent sense of fear that you described, but around once every couple months when i gotten arbitrarily fatigued and its around 12:00 - 5:00 in the morning, i have images of distorted faces flashing through my mind. They’re similar sort of similar to the ones towards the end of Terror House, at about 75:00. When i first saw the scene, i mentally flinched for a moment because of its similarity to what i imagined in the past.” - October 23rd, 2010.

and heres a few sentences what i find interesting aswell:

“Getting back to the subject of paranoia—those images were the worst ‘hallucinations’ i had experienced until a couple of weeks ago late one night when i was getting very tired. The incident was so surreal that i only remember a small amount of the details. Basically, i began to ‘see’ many different things. Although i knew that none of it was actually real, it came as close to being real as it could for me without it being physically tangible. I heard screaming around me, and i had overwhelming sense that there was someone dead behind me. I kept seeing silhouettes flickering people everywhere. I felt like i had to cry. The entire ordeal persisted for about fifteen minutes and sort of faded away. Prior to it happening i never had that sort of delusional hysteria before. It was possibly the strangest thing ive experienced.” - October 23rd, 2010

Also, i would like to note—that Adam also did have depression, and also individuals who have major/severe depression or depression in general can experience psychosis or psychosis-like symptoms. Now this is not saying HE DOES in fact has psychosis, i just think this is a symptom…? but this could be a mix of different things.

☆CONGENTIAL ANALGESIA

This condition is a disorder where you cannot feel pain, and many sources say Adam may have this condition. A Psychologist, Elizabeth Laugeson said that

“People with Asperger's can be overly sensitive to things like touch, noise and pain, or sometimes under-sensitive,”

Also, a friend of Adam’s said he didnt feel any pain because he used to burn himself.

☆PETER LANZA DEAD IN HOBOKEN★

(this is just a theory)

okay, some sources say that (im going to assume safely) that there where some theories that Peter Lanza

was dead. But, this can be debunked by a picture of Ryan and Peter leaving the Hoboken NJ—police. (?)

☆A TRIAL OF ADAM LANZA

This refers to a book by Dan Howitt:

☆https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=n4hsEAAAQBAJ

☆WOW VIDEOS

This refers to a time when Adam actually played WoW, he never really gotten

to level 60. Also, he did have WoW video gameplay—saved on his computer but none were released. Little bit is known about his accounts on WoW or his time on WoW.

☆LANZA HOME SOLF FOR 1$

After the shooting, Ryan inherited Nancy’s house—the bank took control after Ryan agreed to sell it for $1. but there was pictures of the home being demolished.

☆MARY SHERLACH

Mary Sherlach was the school psychologist at Sandy Hook—she was one of the first people killed, while trying to rush kids to protection. Her death was while confronting Adam in the front hallway. She spent 18 years at Sandy Hook.

☆16 HOURS OF MURDER MUSIC

this refers to a playlist that Adam made under the “Knavesmig”

user.

which, the name other this playlist was “Mass Murder Music”

(correct me if im wrong :3)

☆NANCY LANZA: IN HER OWN WORDS

i think this used to be a article that (used to exist) explained Nancy’s life

through her emails that she sent to her friend (sorry if this is incorrect.)

☆CLUSTER A PERSONALITY DISORDER

i dont think he had this—i think this is just speculation (like FXS) but no records or when you search it up—doesnt say he has it on have any signs.

☆GRAPHIC GORE ON PC

i think this refers to a search warrant conducted on December 16th, 2012 in Nancy Lanza’s house.

but this search document shows it was searched on january 7th, 2013.

but, on exhibit #608 on page 17, it states that

“Three (3) photographs with images of what appears to be a deceased human covered with plastic and what appears to be blood.”

also, in the fuckcomments account he did mention liking gore websites, linking a gore website (its possibly redacted for…obvious reasons). but i dont know if thats connected in the same way.

☆SELF-HARMING THROUGH BURNING

This refers to a time before the before the shooting happened that Nancy told a friend that

Adam was burning himself with a lighter. Nancy later told the friend that he burning

himself in “the ankles or arms or something.”

The friend of Nancy later told “The New York Daily News” that:

“She confided over a drink, “he was getting worse.”

TIER 6

☆NOBADMEMES ★

not much known about this one, but i tried looking for the mentioned “nobadmemes” on the audio transcripts of Adam’s videos. But it is known that he did mention it. maybe im just blind…lol.

☆PAUL FOX

Paul Fox was Adam’s psychiatrist

for five years before Adam shot up Sandy Hook. Paul Fox was 66 when he

sexually assaulted a teenaged girl. He faced up towards 18 months in prison after pleading

guilty to assaulting her.

☆RAPIDSHARE ACCOUNT

This was a account that Adam had, nothing known about it because his father (Peter) advised

authorities to delete his account. Also, if your familiar with Adam, you may know

that he had a known playlist on Rapidshare that was named “16 Hours of Mass Murder Music”

Which it was possibly filled with music that was about different mass murders.

take this with a grain of salt…

☆KNAVESMIG

This was the last account that is known Adam had last used on Wikipedia.

His account was created on June 19th, 2012 and it was active through

June 19th, 2012 - June 20th, 2012.

He didnt really write or contribute to anything…but ill list it anyway.

List:

Lord Gon (talk)

also! he had the last post of the discussion page, named “Hark.”

Which, ill leave some screenshots because i got way too happy when i found this!!

☆USED PISTOL IN SHOOTING

This refers to the guns that Adam used during the shooting.

ill list what he used (+ pictures) and ill explain this topic afterwards.

List:

Bushmaster AR-15 Rifle.

Glock 10 mm.

Sig Sauer 9 mm.

But, i would like to clear things up that—Adam did use the Bushmaster through out the shooting.

He used one of his handguns to kill himself with, (most likely with a Glock 10 mm.)

Also, just to clarify he also had a Izhmash Saiga 12 in his Honda Civic.

☆ONLINE FRIEND PREDICTS MOTIVE★

this was a girl that got investigated by the FBI and she said something on the lines of “killing children to ‘free’ them” (i cant remember and i dont have source for this…but it does exist!)

☆EULAVISM

This is basically the belief that Adam “created” which, the term eulavism with -ism and value spelled

backwards. Adam used this term in this sentence which…he talks about his

most favourite thing! VALUE!

“So, instead of an Efilist, im more of a eulavist. Eh, i only oppose life because life is the source of value and its value that i really hate. And, well, i guess that just says it all: i have a vendetta against value.”

Also, Adam says this on his video called “Rambling vlogrant of a ruminative vagrant (part 2/2)”

made on September 8th, 2011.

☆NIGHT ELF

This refers to the a 2010 video of a man dressed in a elf costume, Adam showed a online friend this video and Adam and the friend used to joke about the elf coming out at night to their house.

☆FRAGILE X SYNDROME

alot of people speculated that Adam had this, which…the size of his head—y’know…kinda explains why he looked like the way he did.

☆SANDYHOOKED.NET

Sandy Hooked . net was a website that was explaining the Sandy Hook case and Adam Lanza.

and also talked about rumours of certain aspects.

☆JULY 18TH

This part refers to pictures that Adam took in his “suicide poses” which, i will share

screenshots and explain them.

this was taken on July 18th, 2010 at 6:01 pm. This was found on Adam’s computer with a

filename “Kaynsu2” which i think Kayn refers to his name that Adam used on Wikipedia

during 2009 - 2010 (same time). It was in a folder named “fun”. He is using the Izhmash Saiga 12

that was later found in his car during the shooting.

this was also taken in July 18th, 2010 at 6:08 pm. This was also found on Adam’s computer

with the filename “kaynsu1” and was also in the same folder as “kaynsu2”.

TIER 7

☆STOLEN MAIL

A Youtube channel by the name “Miriam1” uploaded a video of a man driving up to

36 Yogananda Street on on December 17th, 2012, stealing Lanza’s mail and opening it.

…lol.

☆DDR GIRL★

Adam used to be known as DDR boy and a girl he used to play with—staff only known her as DDR girl.

☆FATHER JOHN J. CASTALDO

there was a blog that was talking about how Adam was SA’d by this catholic priest (?) and had multiple points why Adam didn’t really liked getting touched and certain things the way he did. (?)

☆ATF FORM 4473 ★

A form that is used if you want to purchase guns.

☆PEPPERMINT PARK

A creepy ass kids show that used to be on VHS tapes 1987 - 1988 and supposedly Adam liked this show…? (basically a bootleg sesame street.)

☆ARYANEMPIRES ★

This seems like a blog created by someone named “Joel” that uses Cryinghampster evidence for Adam Lanza, the blog seems skattered all over place (imo) so…idk. (was also a channel as well).

☆INTROARAL GUNSHOT

From Adam killing himself.

☆INMENDHAM

this refers to Gary Inmendham, i think his a philosophy content creator on Youtube. Adam mentioned him on his video called “Rambling Vlogrant of a ruminative vagrant (Part 2/2)” uploaded on Semptember 8th, 2011. Which he mention Efilism, which is a philosophical belief that Inmendham created.

Also, Adam supposedly liked watching Inmendham.

☆KIFFERSTUEBCHEN★

This refers to post on Reddit talking about they almost played with Adam, and they mentioned

that Adam had a KiFFERSTUEBCHEN account. And in German this means “gameserver.”

☆ADAM’S NEIGHBOUR

This refers to Adam’s neighbour ended up killing people as well.

TIER 8

☆FOOTAGE OF ADAM SHOOTING THROUGH FRONT WINDOW

this happens to be a rumour of footage of Adam shooting at the front window, though some people say that they saw it, but the front of the school cameras werent recording.

☆DIED IN HALLWAY

Dawn Hochsprung and Mary Sherlach died in the hallway, people thought it

was Adam, but Adam died in Room 10.

*btw the black part is his knees.*

☆9:46:54 ★

this refers to the time when the shooting ended. (which it actually ended at 9:40 am.)

but it could refer to the final shot.

☆THE HUM

The “hum” refers to a phenomenon that people consider “real” and it had reported cases that

some people could hear a persistent and invasive low-frequency humming—not not

everyone could hear it, and such cases where reported from the United Kingdom and United States.

Some people actually speculated it stopped when Sandy Hook happened, and teachers

reported cases of hearing it before the shooting—which again, this is proven false,

and a thing that some conspiracy theorist thought up…

☆GORE PHOTOGRAPHY

this happens to be a time when Adam was on his “queerforkimveer” account of Tumblr, and he uploaded

gore pictures of the corpses of perpetrators (such as Charles Whitman from 1966), after they killed themselves or got shot. Also, the post labels who is who and what guns they used in their attack.

☆MEDIAFIRE ACCOUNT

Newtown investigators found Adam’s Mediafire account—and the investigators claim

the content that was found on the account thought it was completely appropriate to delete

the account, Peter—signed a consent to assume online identity form to access rights

to the FBI and all data has been said to been erased. So, not that known about this

account—or even the name.

☆AE PAGE

this is kinda like the final report.

☆PRN CD★

it was found out that Adam did have porn in possession but detectives said that there was no illegal content.

(as we dont know.)

☆TRUE MOTIVE ★

i think this refers to a negative/narcissistic public presentation of his thoughts and beliefs.

☆MESSAGE WRITTEN IN NANCY’S BLOOD

this is a rumour that Adam wrote something in Nancy’s blood, but theres nothing that proves that.

congratulations! you made it at the end of iceberg! (ill link sources later…) thank you for

reading—this is my first iceberg, so sorry if my information is wrong. ill make more icebergs in the future. :)

★☆★☆

also credit goes to @kaynsui for the iceberg chart :3

302 notes · View notes

atlabeth · 7 months

Text

northern attitude

geyser (where hurricane is introduced)

pairing: luke castellan x daughter of poseidon!reader

summary: you and luke meet for the first time. (or luke saves you from a monster, you argue with each other the whole time, and he realizes that he doesn't want to survive alone anymore.)

a/n: by popular demand, hurricane is back for a sequel! and potentially more. lol. enjoy some insight into her (justice for weird little girls) and try not to think about the fact that she dies 6 years later! title comes from new england king noah kahan for these new england icons

wc: 4.6k

warning(s): some inner luke angst, monster encounter and short fight (luke gets a bit injured), they argue but in the fun way. they're just lil nine year olds

��Why are you looking at me like that?” Luke muttered.

He didn’t get an answer back. He was, after all, talking to a fish.

Maybe it didn’t like that he was a criminal. Luke had snuck his way into the New England Aquarium—he wasn’t going to cough up twenty-five bucks to look at marine life—in desperate need of a reprieve from the city, and he fought the urge to check his back every second. If there was one thing he’d learned from being on his own, it was that kids traveling alone always attracted attention. The last thing he needed was attention.

Talking to a fish probably wasn’t good for that, but Luke wasn’t exactly in the best headstate.

Because honestly, he didn’t really know what he was doing in Massachusetts. He tried staying in Connecticut after running away, but it still felt too close to home. He could still hear his mom yelling, could still see her glowing eyes. So he bought the cheapest bus ticket he could find to Boston, hoping a state in between would help.

That was the second thing he’d learned while traveling on the road: everything was way too expensive. And for a kid with no job living off the allowance he’d saved up and some extra money he took out of his mom’s wallet, that wasn’t great. If Luke couldn’t get something dirt cheap, he stole it. His father may not have answered any of his prayers in the past few years, but at least he had naturally quick fingers.

Luke sighed as he turned away from the fish, who was clearly not interested in striking up a conversation. He weaved his way through the crowd as he tried to think of where to go next—it wasn’t the smartest decision, but he was tempted to get a little whale plush from the gift stop—when he heard the middle of a conversation.

“You made a mistake coming here, dearie.”

The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as Luke froze in place. He couldn’t even murmur an apology to the people who bumped into him because the gears in his head were turning rapidly.

“Let go of me—” a voice protested in response.

“Quieting down would do you some good. Did your mother not teach you manners?”

He was still trying to see who it was when he finally found it. A middle-aged woman moved through the crowd with a girl around Luke’s age, her hand wrapped tightly around the girl’s arm. Her nails were more like claws, and she had a strange gait that she tried to cover up. That was when he knew.

See, Luke had gotten used to distinguishing creeps from freaks with all his time on the road. Cutting a monster down would turn them into dust—normal humans would call the police. And if there was anything more dangerous for a runaway juvenile than monsters, it was the police.

But if a monster had ignored every single person in this building to get to you, it meant he’d somehow stumbled his way into the path of another half-blood. And Luke wasn’t going to let another half-blood die right in front of him.

So he took a deep breath, hoped the five second plan he made up in his head would work, and moved in.

“May, where have you been?” Luke tried to put on his best brother voice, and made himself as imposing as a nine year old could be. He didn’t focus at all on the monster, instead communicating to trust him as much as he could with his eyes. “Mom’s been worried sick!”

Both you and the woman turned to look at him, and Luke immediately knew he made the right choice from the blatant fear in your expression.

“Sorry,” you said, letting your shoulders fall and your gaze drop to the ground. Luke tried not to let his relief show over you playing along. “I really wanted to look at the sea turtle—”

“You should’ve said something instead of just wandering off,” he insisted. “We can all go look at it together—once Mom is done lecturing you, at least.” Luke took your hand and you let him pull you over to his side, positioning himself in front of you ever so slightly as he looked up at the woman. “Thanks for keeping an eye on her. I appreciate it.”

“You should be more careful,” she said eerily. It felt as if she was staring right into his soul. “You never know the kind of things that are out there.”

“I know,” he said, shaking his head. “Sisters, am I right?”

As soon as they were out of hearing distance, he lowered his voice and tightened his grip on your hand. “Come on. Try and look casual.”

“You know what she is,” you whispered.

“Yes,” he said, then he shook his head. “I— not exactly. But I know she’s a monster.”

“I knew it,” you muttered with vindication. Luke felt your eyes on him. “So you’re like me?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“One of your parents is—” You stopped, as if you still weren’t sure.

Luke knew the feeling all too well—desperately trying to tell someone what he was only to be met with that look adults loved to give. You’re clearly talking nonsense, but I feel bad for you so I’ll humor you. And all the normal kids he’d tried to tell the truth to thought he was just playing a game.

“A god,” he finished quietly. “Yeah.”

You started to look back, but Luke stopped you.

“Don’t.” Their chances of getting attacked in a place so full of people was lower, but Luke had dealt with some particularly bold monsters. One able to disguise themself as a human would have an advantage—Luke learned people hated listening to kids, especially ones they could pass off as delusional. “You don’t want her to catch on.”

“Who are you?” you asked.

“My name’s Luke,” he said. “What about you?”

You said your name, then you glanced at him. “You know a lot about all of this. More than me.”

“Are you a runaway too?”

You nodded, and a part of his heart broke. You had no right to be out here, not when you were so young.

And he says so, too. “You shouldn’t be out here on your own. It’s dangerous.”

You frowned. “You’re out here on your own too.”

“I’ve been on my own for a few months,” he said. “I know what to expect. How long have you been out?”

You shrugged. “A week.”

Luke let out a ragged sigh. “You’ve got bad luck if monsters are already coming after you.”

“They already have,” you murmured, and you looked back at him. “How old are you if you’ve been doing this for months?”

Luke frowned. “Nine. How old are you?”

“I’m also nine,” you shot back. “So you can’t say anything to me.”

He opened his mouth to retort—Luke hadn’t been a child in years, not since Hermes left him alone with a cursed mother and a burning rage inside of him that he couldn’t let go of, no matter how hard he tried. But if you chose to run away from home too, then you were in the same boat. Kids like you two didn’t get to be kids.

“Fair,” he conceded. “But it’ll be a lot easier to give her the slip if we work together.”

“…I can deal with that.” You cleared your throat. “Thank you for saving me, though. I… I just froze.”

“It happens more than you’d think,” Luke muttered. “We have to throw her off our trail, though. She’s not gonna be happy.”

“She’s probably ecstatic,” you said, shaking your head. “She’s got two kids to eat instead of one.”

“Aren’t you an optimist?” he remarked.

You chuckled. “Sorry. It hasn’t been a great day.”

“It’s fine.” Luke didn’t know the last great—god, even good—day he’d had, even before he ran away. Honestly, this conversation with you had been the highlight of this month. “But we can’t just leave. She has our scent, so she’ll be on us as soon as we’re on our own. It’ll be even easier out in the open. We’ve gotta set security on her trail to get her off ours.”

You nodded as you turned another corner. “We should get to the gift shop. It’ll be less populated, but still enough to hide us.”

Luke nodded. “Smart. And security’ll have an easy path there in case of shoplifters.”

“So tell a sob story, get security, set them on her,” you said, looking at him.

“Then get the hell out of here,” he agreed.

“Think we can get a souvenir for the occasion?” you asked. “We’ve probably earned it with all this dodging.”

Luke thought about that whale plushie again. “Maybe.”

“The stairs are that way.” You gestured with your head, and Luke turned—he’d been going the completely wrong direction.

“Thanks,” he said. “You know this place?”

“I’m from Boston,” you nodded. “And I’ve been here a lot with my mom.”

Luke figured he should have guessed by the accent. He didn’t know how long he was going to stay, but it would be useful to have someone with him who knew the city.

“You’re still pretty close to home,” he noted.

You shrugged. “I’ve been doing all the things I’ve wanted to do now that I’m officially on my own. I know I’m gonna have to leave eventually, but…” you sighed and shook your head. “I guess I’m scared. Brave enough to run away but too scared to make it official.”

Luke understood that more than you could know. It took him feeling like he was going to burst out of his skin before he got the strength to leave Connecticut.

“You don’t wanna leave your mom,” he guessed.

You nodded. “I love her more than anything, but I’ve already put her in too much danger. I’m leaving until I can figure out how to keep her safe.”

You’re a kid, Luke wanted to say. It should be the other way around. But he’d already been hypocritical enough for today, and you’d probably say the same.

“That’s sweet,” he said. “Stupid, but sweet.”

“We’re both nine-year-old runaways,” you said. “You don’t get to tell me what’s stupid.”

He chuckled and shook his head, letting the matter drop as you finally got to the gift shop. Luke had been stressed about how to strike a balance between cautious enough to keep your backs covered but confident enough to not be questioned, but it turned out talking with you was all he needed.

On the way to the front, Luke caught sight of a whale plushie. His fingers itched to grab it, but he kept his eyes on the better prize of not dying and came to a stop at the cash register.

“Hi,” Luke said, getting the attention of the employee at the front, hoping he sounded adequately fearful. “There’s a woman out there that tried to get my friend to go with her. Tall, middle-aged, dressed in grandmother-y clothes with glasses. She grabbed her arm and threatened her.”

“You kids aren’t joking around, are you?” the cashier asked.

“No,” you said, and Luke was shocked by how close to tears you sounded. “It was really scary— my parents were in the bathroom and I was waiting for them, and she just looked so nice, but—” somehow, a tear actually fell from your eye as you let out a sob— “but she tried to take me away.”

The woman shook her head as she went back and grabbed a walkie talkie from below the register. The moment she turned away, you glanced at Luke and nodded, and he just stared in awe. She relayed Luke’s description then said a couple other things, then she crouched down to be on their level to look you straight-on. “Where are your parents?”

“They’re in the bathroom on the second floor,” you provided. “We came here because we didn’t know where else to go.”

She sighed, falling for every part of it. You were much better at garnering sympathy than Luke was. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I called our security— they’ll be here in a second to get a statement from you.”

You nodded, sniffling a bit as your lip quivered. “Thank you. I— I just want my mom.”

The employee put her hand to her heart, and when you went for a hug, she reciprocated. “Don’t cry. You’re gonna be safe, okay? I’ll wait with you until security gets here. One of our guards is already out there looking for her.”

“Okay,” you agreed. Luke caught your eye from behind her back, and you dropped your act in a second to smile knowingly at him. He just shook his head with a slight smile of his own—you were good at this.

Eventually, two security guards arrived—Luke doubted they would be good for handling a shoplifter, much less a mythological monster—but they took yours and Luke’s statements, and were about to leave before you spoke up.

“Our parents are definitely looking for us,” you said, already back on the verge of tears. “Can— can you take us to them? When they went to the bathroom, we were by the coral reef.”

“‘Course.” One of them nodded and looked at his partner. “I’ll get them back to their parents—you look for the suspect.”

After a short discussion, the three of you set out, you still holding Luke’s hand as he leaned closer to you.

“On my signal,” he murmured. “We’re gonna blend into the crowd and get out of here.”

You nodded. You were so close to the exit, but you allowed the guard to take you up the stairs, and thankfully the crowd around the middle of the giant ocean tank was huge. Luke counted off quietly, and when he got to three, you split off, blending into a group of kids on a school field trip to get back to the stairs.

You started moving at a much quicker pace, the exit within your sights, but just as they were about to make it, Luke spotted their monster. And now, she was definitely a monster—Luke couldn’t remember the name, but she’d shed her disguise, looking like some kind of bird-human hybrid thing. It didn’t really matter in his opinion, because she really looked like she wanted to kill the two of you.

Luke cursed and grabbed your arm, immediately pulling you flat up against the wall with him. “She’s here.”

“We told security about her,” you protested. “How hard could it be to find her?”

“A bit harder when they’re gonna be seeing something different.” Luke glanced at you. “You said you’ve already dealt with monsters before.”

You nodded.

“Do you remember feeling like you were the only one who actually saw what was happening? Like you saw the monster for what it was while it was trying to kill you, and everyone was still freaking out, but not as much as they should have been?”

You nodded again.

“Well, that’s a thing. Normal people can’t see what monsters really look like—only we can.” Luke peeked his head around the corner again. “And if she’s shed her disguise, it means she wants to go in for the kill. And it means we’re completely on our own.”

“We’re not on our own,” you said. “We’ve got each other.”

Luke found himself smiling. It had been a while since that was true. It had been a while since he’d smiled.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “And it’s harder to kill two half-bloods than one.”

He poked his head out again and immediately withdrew it, cursing under his breath as he stared up at the ceiling. “I never should have come to this city.”

“Excuse me?” You stepped away from the wall as your brows furrowed. “Boston is the greatest city in the world.”

“If you’re gonna be wrong, be wrong quietly,” Luke urged, gesturing with his head for you to get back. “And you are wrong, by the way.”

“I’m not wrong.” You crossed your arms, refusing to budge. “Did you know that we have the first public park? And the first public school! And we have the T! Where are you even from?”

“We can talk about this later,” he insisted. “We’re trying to hide. Have you ever hidden before?”

“We don’t need to hide when you’ve insulted my Commonwealth’s honor,” you said. “Especially when you’re in our aquarium. Where are you from to be talking so badly about the Bay State?”

“Connecticut,” he finally said, hoping that would get you to finally quiet down, but that only ramped you up further. “Place called Westport.”

“Connecticut?” you marveled, throwing your hands up. “You’re from some podunk town in Connecticut and you’re insulting Boston?”

“Okay, Westport is not a podunk town—” Luke started, but he didn’t get the chance to finish defending his hometown before he caught sight of their monster—and she’d caught sight of them.

Luke cursed even harder under his breath with words no nine year old should have known, then he grabbed your hand and pulled you along into a jog, interrupting your immediate protests.

“She’s got us pinned,” he said, trying to keep his voice low enough to not be detected while making sure you could hear him. “Together, our scent is too strong. We’re not gonna be able to lose her—we’ve gotta kill her.”

“Could the fish help with her knowing where we are?” you asked as you started running with him. “Because they’ll be happy to help us. They don’t like her either.”

Luke did a double take. “What?”

“I can hear what they’re saying,” you said, as if it were completely normal. “It’s a little overwhelming with so many in one place, honestly.”

If they weren’t on the run from a monster, Luke would have worried a bit more about the fact that you were crazy. But he wasn’t awarded those kinds of luxuries these days.

“We’ll—” Luke let out a sigh, because what did you mean that you could hear what fish were saying (especially because they clearly weren’t conversation prone)— “we’ll get out of here, and get the upper hand, and we’ll kill her. Okay?”

“Okay,” you nodded. “But Boston is still the greatest city in the world.”

He huffed, taking his eyes off the path forward for a moment just to look at you. “Are you seriously still on this?”

“Of course. We also have the greatest baseball team in the country.” You gestured with your free hand. “Do you see how many people here have Red Sox hats on?”

Luke laughed out of pure shock. Was this the kind of stuff he’d been missing out on while traveling alone?

“Listen,” he said. “If we get out of this alive, you can tell me all the Red Sox facts you want. But we actually have to work together through all this. Deal?”

“Deal,” you said immediately. “You’re way more focused than I am.”

Luke let out a loose breath and shook his head. “Well, I’ve had to be. Do you have a weapon?”

“I took a kitchen knife before I left,” you said, “just to be safe. It’s worked pretty well.”

“Do you know how to use it?”

“I’m really good at chopping vegetables,” you said. “And I killed a monster with it the other day.”

“Glowing reviews,” Luke chuckled. “I’m pretty good with my sword, so we should be okay.”

“You’ve got a sword? How?”

“...My dad left it for me before he left,” Luke said. “I guess he wanted to do one good thing for me in his life.”

“I’m sorry,” you said. Luke offered a tight smile.

“Doesn’t matter much anymore,” he said. “Soon as we get outside, we get to the street and get to some empty alley. We hide on either side, wait for her to find us, then take her down. Okay?”

You nodded resolutely. “Let’s do it.”

The beginning of the plan wasn’t too difficult. Your faces would probably be plastered all over the place once the staff realized you were missing, but that was a problem for another day. You knew the area well so you took charge—and you took the time to spout random facts about the city on your way, of course, like a nine-year-old tour guide—and soon enough they were indeed in an empty alleyway.

You and Luke stood on each side, weapons in your grasp now that you weren’t surrounded by a whole aquarium of people, and he watched as you stared straight ahead, trying to keep your breathing steady. Besides the whole hearing fish thing, you seemed pretty well-adjusted for where you were.

But then again—you’d only been at this for a week, and the way you talked about your mom, your home life was the complete opposite of his.

Luke shook his head. It didn’t matter what your life was like—you both ended up in the same place.

His thoughts were mercifully ended when Luke heard sharp nails scratching against the brick of the alleyway. He grimaced, his grip tightening on his sword, and he looked over at you. Your eyes were slightly wide, but you nodded when he did. You were ready.

“You two are clever,” the monster sang, her voice just as grating as her nails against the wall, “but I never miss a meal. And those measly workers just wouldn’t sate my appetite.”

Her steps got closer and closer, and Luke held his breath. Right before she would be able to see you both, he yelled, “Now!”

You were out first, immediately lashing at her with your knife. She took the cut against her shoulder and slashed at you in turn, but you dodged out of the way, giving Luke a chance to come in with his sword. But his angle was off, and she deflected the blow then sunk her claws into his arm. Luke cried out, landing a kick on her chest as he ripped himself out of her grasp, but her focus was already back on you.

You stabbed at her with your knife and actually landed it in her chest, but it wasn’t Celestial bronze—all it did was make her angrier. She screeched and tackled you to the ground, knife still sticking out of her, claws poised to rip your throat out. You grit your teeth as you wrestled her arms away from you, but your strength was fading fast.

Luke’s eyes widened and he grabbed his sword from the ground. He wouldn’t make it in time, but you could.

He called out your name and threw his sword, and you didn’t even have to look to snatch it out of the air. Storms raged in your eyes as you stabbed the monster through the side.

“You shouldn’t have come here, dearie,” you spat.

The monster’s scream dissolved with the wind as she exploded into dust, dousing you in yellow powder. The sword fell out of your grip as you coughed, and you just laid on the ground, drained.

“Gross,” you grumbled.

Luke wiped his hand across his forehead as he fought to catch his breath, ignoring the blood seeping down his arm. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” you said between coughs. “I’m great.”

Luke went over and offered his hand, and he pulled you up after you took it. “I’m so sorry. I guess I’m a little rusty.”

“Neither of us are dead, are we? I’d say it went pretty well.” You grimaced as you wiped the powder off your face, groaning again. “This is gonna take forever to get off.”

Luke chuckled as he took his backpack off and took out a towel, which you accepted gratefully. A demigod always had to be prepared. “You say you’ve only been on your own for a week?”

You nodded as you started cleaning your face and arms off. “Not my first monster, though.”

“It never is,” he murmured. Luke tipped his head back towards the sun and closed his eyes, letting out one final, long breath as the buzz from battle started to fade. And along with that, his adrenaline—the wound on his arm began to sting, and he sighed. He really didn’t feel like dealing with that.

“You’re hurt,” you said, and Luke opened his eyes.

“I’ll be fine,” he said. “They’re surface level.”

You frowned. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve stitched myself up a few times, and this doesn’t need them,” he said, his lip curling at the memory. He was not a very good doctor. “I have some first aid stuff in my bag—once we get out of here, I’ll fix it up.”

“You said we,” you said.

Luke blinked. “I did?”

You nodded. “When we get out of here.”

He blinked again. He didn’t even notice—didn’t even really think about where you would go after the monster was dead. It was kinda sad, but Luke was pretty sure he’d smiled and talked more in this one hour with you than the past few months on his own. He’d already started thinking of you and him as a collective.

“What d’you think, then?” he asked. “You wanna stick together?”

You frowned. “You’re willing to kick it with a girl you just met?”

He shrugged. “You fight well, obviously. And you’re way better at making people feel bad for you than I am. That’s useful when you’ve got nothing.”

“We’re kids on our own,” you said. “It’s not that hard to get pity points.”

“I’ve been told I’m… abrasive,” Luke said. “Besides, I like you already. You were arguing for your baseball team while running for your life. It’s annoying, but impressive.”

“People also say that about me,” you said sagely. Luke smiled and held out his hand more.

“So? You wanna join forces?”

You stared at it for a while. “Even if I spend the next couple of hours telling you all about the Red Sox?”

Luke chuckled. “I did say you could if we got out of this alive. And I feel pretty alive.”

It took you another second, but you nodded intently and shook his hand. “Then you’ve got yourself a deal, Luke.”

“Glad to hear it,” he said, his smile widening.

You handed him the towel and he went to put it back in his bag when he saw the… souvenir he’d taken before you left the gift shop. He grabbed the whale plushie that had been on his mind all day and held it out to you. “Here.”

You frowned. “When did you even have the time to get this? You definitely didn’t pay for it.”

“Idle hands are the devil’s playthings,” he said. “They won’t miss it. It’s a much better use marking the start of our friendship. Besides,” Luke shrugged, “you did say you wanted a souvenir.”

You smiled as you took it. “Looks like we’re a trio, then.”

“Welcome to the team,” he said with a grin. “It’s a small one, but I think we’ll make it work.”

“Me too,” you nodded. “And it’ll be nice not being alone.”

Luke thought back to all the nights spent sleeping under bridges, commandeering benches, purposefully choosing overnight buses so he would have somewhere to rest. Constantly watching his back because he had no one else, wondering if each night he camped in the woods would be his last.

He looked at you, a girl who ran away from home because she didn’t want to hurt her mom. Your clothes were covered in yellow monster dust, sweat dripped down your forehead, and Luke had nearly gotten you killed—but you were still smiling. And he found himself smiling too.

“Yeah,” Luke murmured. “It will be.”

#i suck at writing fight scenes no one come for me please and thank you<3 #luke castellan x reader #luke castellan fic #luke castellan angst #percy jackson and the olympians x reader #pjo x reader #x reader #daughter of poseidon #child of poseidon #sadie writes #ialwbty

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catdotjpeg · 10 months

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UPDATE 4:02pm EST: Mondoweiss has verified in their article that the family is asking "that no one make donations to fundraisers unless specifically organized by our families." Thanks to @justaboutsnapped for flagging this!

Three Palestinian college students were shot and wounded in Burlington, Vermont Saturday evening, local Vermont TV station WCAX reported. The victims, unnamed by police, reportedly include Brown undergraduate Hesham Awartani ’25, as well as Kinnan Abdelhamid and Tahseen Ahmed, students at Haverford College and Trinity College, respectively. Police statements did not identify a shooter or indicate that a suspect is in custody; the Council on American-Islamic Relations is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest, The Messenger reported. The shooting took place at 6:25 p.m. Saturday, and safety personnel brought all three victims to the University of Vermont Medical Center, according to VTDigger. Awartani and Ahmed sustained serious injuries, according to a statement from their high school in the West Bank. The Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee has called upon authorities to investigate the incident as a hate crime. The organization wrote in a statement that “the three victims were wearing a kuffiyeh and speaking Arabic. A man shouted and harassed the victims, then proceeded to shoot them." Brown is aware of the incident but could not confirm the identity of the victims, University Spokesperson Amanda McGregor wrote in an email to The Herald. “We received the difficult news from the family this morning that a Brown undergraduate currently enrolled in his junior year at the University is in the hospital after being shot while out of state for the Thanksgiving break,” McGregor wrote. “We’re not at liberty to release details about his health status or his identity, but we are actively offering care to the family and support to our student, as well as members of our campus community.” All three students attended Ramallah Friends School in the West Bank before attending college in the U.S., according to a Facebook post from the school. “Ramallah Friends School board, administration, staff and community are deeply distressed by the recent incident involving three of our graduates, Hisham Awartani, Kinnan Abdel Hamid and Tahseen Ahmed who were shot and injured last evening in Burlington, VT,” the school wrote in the post. “While we are relieved to know that they are alive, we remain uncertain about their condition and hold them in the light. We extend our thoughts and prayers to them and their families for a full recovery, especially considering the severity of injuries,” the statement continued. “We stand united in hope and support for their well-being during this challenging time.” [...] Basil Awartani, who identified himself as Hisham Awartani’s cousin, shared in a post on X that “My cousin Hisham has been shot in the back while walking with his friends in Burlington for simply wearing kuffiyehs and speaking Arabic. Dangerous performative rhetoric from US pundits and politicians as well as constant dehumanization of Palestinians has a real-life cost.”

-- "Brown junior among three Palestinian students shot in Vermont Saturday night" from Brown Daily Herald, 26 Nov 2023 12:36pm EST

Kinnan Abdelhamid is a student at Haverford College in Pennsylvania and Tahseen Ahmed is a student at Trinity College in Connecticut. Their current condition is unknown.

#palestine #racism #burlington #vermont

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covid-safer-hotties · 1 month

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The air travel issue no one wants to talk about - Posted Aug 20, 2024

I’m sick of getting sick on planes.

I got another case of COVID-19 last month, on a domestic flight, sitting near a woman who was sneezing. I wore an N95 mask, but she was only wearing the loose surgical type. I suspect she knew she was infectious.

There was nothing I could do about it. There were no seats to move into and, besides, to do so seemed a bit hysterical at the time.

Two days later – bingo. I wasn’t very ill, but I was visiting immune-compromised people and I put them at risk.

Nowadays, talking about masks – and indeed the virus itself – is deeply unsexy. They’re a symbol of a past we’d rather not remember, even though that past is still our present and future while the disease keeps mutating.

But I still want to talk about masks because COVID-19 keeps happening to travellers, ruining holidays and causing potential long-term health issues, and yet airlines, government authorities and most passengers don’t want to know about it.

Just look around any flight. Or bus or train. Despite a few people clearly being sick, only a tiny percentage mask up. It’s not just as a precaution against COVID-19. There’s influenza, RSV and other infections of a weakened immune system which, perhaps unsurprisingly, can be caused by repeated COVID-19 infections.

Maybe COVID-19 is “just like a cold” and I shouldn’t fret. I certainly hope so because scientists are still learning about how each infection harms the body, with little idea what the consequences will be in three, 10 or 20 years.

I’m told I should “get over it”. But it’s not over with me.

Constant new variants mean we’re unlikely ever to be immune, even though the healthy among us won’t get terribly sick due to excellent boosters. COVID-19 cases have surged worldwide these past two or three months. Many Olympic athletes had their dreams shattered by catching it before their trials.

There’s massive public denial. Not many people bother to test these days. If you don’t test, you don’t know, so you’re free to assume you don’t have it. That’s certainly the skewed logic I’ve heard a lot lately.

So, if you’re masking on a flight, you’re in rare company.

During the pandemic, masks became a symbol of divisiveness, enraging sectors of our society who thought mask mandates took away personal freedoms. The freedom to get sick and infect others, I suppose.

I’m not quite sure what the humble, practical facemask did to deserve the controversy, despite being quietly worn for decades in Asian countries and by medical staff, but the culture war against it still rages.

It’s very possible, in certain societies, that if you wear a medical mask, you’ll have it ripped off your face or even get arrested.

Recently, Nassau County, New York, became the first county in the tri-state area (Connecticut, New York and New Jersey) to pass a ban on anyone over 16 wearing a face covering on public streets and property. It’s a criminal offence, and police have the authority to arrest people who refuse to take off their masks.

In New York city, mayor Kathy Hochul is considering a mask ban on subways, even as the city’s health department urges people to wear masks to combat an unprecedented rise in summer COVID-19 cases.

The laws are mostly directed at protesters who wear face coverings, and not people protecting themselves against disease. But the immunocompromised are angry that once again the mask has become the issue, not the behaviour.

Aerosol scientists conclude that N95 masks are 95 per cent efficient in blocking airborne particles. But over hours in a confined space, when you might have to lower your mask to drink, eat and sleep, they’re less effective, especially when the infected person isn’t masked properly too.

Currently, we rely on our fellow travellers being considerate. That’s a big ask. I suppose you could bring a few spare N95 respirators to distribute to passengers in your row as a precaution, but that might be misconstrued as rude.

But here’s the thing – I know if I get sick, my precautions haven’t worked. But it’s impossible to know how many other times I might have become ill if I hadn’t worn a mask to protect me.

So, even though the sight of me wearing a mask angers some people, and looks foolish to others, and even mentioning it drives people crazy, I’m sticking with the cover-up.

#covid #mask up #pandemic #covid 19 #coronavirus #wear a mask #sars cov 2 #still coviding #public health #wear a respirator

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morbidology · 5 months

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In the early hours of July 22nd, 1977, firefighters rushed to extinguish a blaze consuming a home in Prospect, Connecticut, near Route 68 and Cedar Hill Drive.

Amidst the charred remains, responders discovered the tragic fate of eight children and a woman. They were identified as Cheryl Beaudoin, 29, and her seven children—Frederick, 12, Sharon, 10, Debra, 9, Paul, 8, Roderick, 6, Holly, 5, and Mary, 4—the ninth victim was Cheryl's niece, Jennifer, 6.

But they hadn't died in the fire. Over at the medical examiner's office, it was discovered they had all been beaten to death with a tire iron, and then the fire was intentionally set. Cheryl had additionally been stabbed. At the time, her husband, Frederick Beaudoin, was away at his job in the Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Group factory in North Haven.

A massive investigative effort ensued, involving around 200 state police officers who meticulously pursued leads, questioning motorists and potential suspects, including family members. Among them, 27-year-old Lorne Acquin, Frederick's foster brother, drew immediate attention. With a criminal record including first-degree larceny, Lorne eventually confessed to the mass murder.

According to Lorne's account, he entered the home around 2AM via the cellar. Encountering Cheryl in the kitchen, he falsely claimed a need for tools, and she led him to her husband's tool box. Seizing a tire iron, Lorne savagely attacked Cheryl before proceeding to the children's bedrooms, binding some with shoelaces and then bludgeoning them all to death.

Lorne Acquin was convicted of multiple counts of murder and received a sentence of 25 years to life for each offense. Despite the confession, he never revealed a motivation.

#true crime #mass murder

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idavidwilliams · 2 years

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(Live-Fire, LTC, F.I.D) Massachusetts/ Connecticut/ RI, FL, Utah Multi-State Concealed Carry License or F.I.D Firearms Safety Courses Available (Discounted to $110. Live Fire Included) 10/08, 10/15, 10/16, 10/22/2022

This is a SHOOTING course. This course consists of handling several different types of firearms. The only way to learn is by seeing, hearing and doing. There is NO online portion or video games to this training course. You will learn firearms storage laws, self-defense laws, transportation laws and many more. (This class meets the requirements to apply for your MA, CT, RI, FL License to Carry…

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gwydionmisha · 1 year

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"A single state trooper logged 1,350 fraudulent traffic tickets into a Connecticut database meant to detect racial profiling. The finding is key to a damning new audit of the Connecticut State Police, which reveals pervasive trooper malfeasance, including at least 26,000 false tickets logged over seven years, that masked racial bias in the force’s policing. Now, the CSP refuses to discuss the audit — or even reveal if the most-prolific ticket faker still has a badge."

#Connecticut #Police Crime #Police Racism #Racial-profiling #News

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leaves-lilies-and-esther · 1 year

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Why being against trans rights as a feminist is bull

Generally I fall pretty neatly into line with the radfem line of thinking about things (anti surrogacy, anti sex industry, pro choice, anti beauty industry etc). And I don't think that radical feminists who disagree with me on this are evil or anything, but I do believe that it shouldn't be a priority and that this whole effort will be remembered badly.

"But the bathrooms-"

Letting trans women into female bathrooms does not increase sexual assault. According to Media Matters, "...the fear is baseless- completely unsupported by years of evidence from states that already have non-discrimination laws on the books." To give examples:

Rhode Island reported "no increase in sex crimes due to 2001 law"

Karen Richards of the Vermont Human Rights commission said she is "not aware" of any problems from a 2001 law

Jim O'Neill said he was "unaware of any sexual assault as the result of the CT gender identity or expression law" in Connecticut

If you search "Debunking the Big Myth about Transgender Inclusive Bathrooms" from Media Matters you can see the other twelve state level examples

There's also a very well written article from Time called "Transgender Bathroom: Advocates Say 'Predator' is a Myth" . They detail several locations like New York City and California which protect trans rights without seeing a spike in sexual assaults, the fact that school officials and police departments have not seen a spike either, and that several organizations dedicated to stopping violence against women all agree that bathroom rights aren't a threat.

Moreover, according to Vox's article "Anti-transgender bathroom hysteria, explained"- all of the incidences commonly cited of men dressing up as women or posing as a woman in order to commit sexual assault happened before a non-discrimination bathroom law was passed. Meaning that these laws don't cause sh*t.

But to add onto another point, there's a very good reason why we cannot simply say that women's bathrooms must be defined by sex alone. Which is that we end up exposing transgender or nonbinary youth to extremely avoidable violence instead.

According to an article from Harvard entitled "transgender teens with restricted bathroom access at higher risk of sexual assault", quote, "Transgender and non-binary teens face greater sexual assault in schools that prevent them from using bathrooms or locker rooms consistent with their gender identity." 36% of trans or nonbinary youth with restricted access had been sexually assaulted in the past year. In no world is that an acceptable number. Not only does restricting bathroom access not solve anything for cis women, it actively inflicts male violence on transgender women.

And even in the outlandish world where this wasn't enough of a reason, it also leads to cis women being policed on their appearance and how feminine they present in order to avoid looking trans. In Las Vegas a woman named Jay was kicked out because they mistook her for trans according to Advocate article 'cis woman mistaken as transgender records being berated in bathroom'. Aimee Toms in Danbury was similarly harassed, as was Jessica Rush in Dallas. There's several videos in the Vox article "Women are getting harassed in bathrooms because of anti-transgender hysteria". And guess what? This sort of policing what a cis woman can look like is only going to get worse as people continue to advocate against trans women in bathrooms.

And women's sports-

Any physical advantage that transgender people have in sports goes away several years after medical transition. According to the NBC article "trans women retain athletic edge after a year of hormone therapy"

(1) "For the Olympic, the elite level, I'd say probably two years is more realistic than one year" - namely, trans people have standard hormone levels if they wait two years after medical transition. "After two years, Roberts told NBC News, 'they were fairly equivalent to cisgender women'".

There were some limitations to the Roberts study, but there's also a 2015 Harper study backing this up.

(3) Joanna Harper, a medical physicist in Portland, already ran a study on this. "...found that trans women ran at least 10 percent slower after beginning hormones. And, relatively speaking, they did no better against cisgender female runners than they previously done against cisgender men".

Namely, as long as there's been a medical transition for several years, it's still a totally fair competition.

But laws which ban transgender women from sports have had the incidental effect of allowing for state-sanctioned genital inspections on minors. This sounds fake, right? But in Ohio Republicans have passed a bill which "...has a verification requirement, if someone is 'accused' or 'suspected' of being trans... she must go through evaluations of her external and internal genitalia, testosterone levels and genetic makeup." And believe it or not, they only had one transgender girl who was an athlete in high school. One! This is according to the Ohio Capital Journal's article "GOP passes bill aiming to root out 'suspected' transgender female athletes with genital inspection."

Similarly, Florida has just passed a ban on transgender students in sports in April 2021, with provisions similar to the Ohio law. "A dispute regarding a student's sex shall be resolved by the student's school or institution by requesting that the student provide a health examination... provides for 'routine sports physical examination' of students' reproductive organs, genetic makeup, or testosterone levels." This is according to Changing America, titled "Florida's new ban on transgender students in sports would allow schools to subject minors to genital inspections."

I don't know about you, but as someone who has enjoyed track, swim team, and basketball all through educational institutions- I don't want the government in my pants.

Beyond the creepy implications of the state demanding invasive inspections on literal children, this also goes back to the point I made on bathrooms above- that when we take spaces away trans people, we take spaces away from any woman or girl who society deems as presenting too 'masculine'.

As feminists we can absolutely support trans rights without compromising our integrity. And not only can we, we should.

Edited August 24, 2023: I wanted to add a section about the provisions of these bills for literal genital inspections. I regret that it wasn't in the original, but I remembered these articles earlier and thought that it was important to add here.

The other thing I did later the same day was take out the part referencing women like Caster Semenya competing in the Olympics and being removed because of high testosterone levels. Someone has kindly pointed out that these are intersex women, which the original article I had read referred to as cis. I feel that intersex women in athletics deserve their own discussion, and I haven't (a) read enough on the issue or (b) learned enough about the intersex community as a whole to take part.

#radical feminism #gender critical #feminism #liberal feminism #transgender #trans rights #women's rights #long post #loooong post #radblr

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power-chords · 4 months

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A rough translation, which I had to tinker with somewhat, but nevertheless:

The last of this clan, my aunt Martha, who went to Assenheim to fetch bread on the day she left, also perished in Minsk with her husband Moritz Adler and their young son. The names of the whole family are engraved on the memorial wall in Frankfurt's Jewish Museum.

But not Martin. Like his father Max, a front-line fighter in the First World War, captain of the Friedberg soccer team (the Jewish team) in the 1920s, he was a short, stocky, brash “tough guy.” He beat me up often enough, just messing around, when he visited us in Griesheim, but I always enjoyed seeing him and visiting the family in Frankfurt just as much. We did this often, even though Aunt Ida was a real obsessive when it came to cleaning and tidying. She would have been a good Japanese housewife; she always liked to take off our shoes before we stepped onto her polished floors.

One day in 1938, when things were getting worse, there was an unpleasant incident outside her apartment. A group of Hitler Youth attacked Martin's brother Alfred at the front door and beat him up.

The shouting drew Martin, who was just 14 years old at the time, to the window. He grabbed a kitchen knife, jumped out of the window, ran towards the mob and struck at them with his fist and knife. After the HJ punks had run off with a few stab wounds, all hell broke loose. His father just managed to get home to take Martin away before the police arrived. A friend took him by motorcycle to Nathan and Frieda in Kaiserslautern, and from there to a hiding place. I always thought it was my father who managed this, but he later denied it to me, so it was someone else after all.

Max had to go to the Gestapo for a tough interrogation, but apparently he was able to stick to his claim that the boy had simply run away; at least he was released after a while. The family, I think with the involvement of my father, managed to introduce Martin to an American Quaker whose group was organizing a ship transport for Jewish orphans to America. They provided him with forged papers — whose statements later became all too true, of course — and brought him by ship to the USA, where he arrived a few weeks before my father and was entrusted to a Jewish family in Brooklyn.

There he went to “high school,” joined the US Army at 18 in 1942, married Doris Kimmel from Brooklyn at 19, took part in the invasion in June 1944 in Patton's Third Army, Fourth Armored Division (as a Jeep messenger between shot-up tanks on the battlefield — not a pleasant job, as he assured me afterwards), took part in the liberation of Ders, passed through Frankfurt in the final battle in April 1945, and ended his army career as mayor of Pilsen, a post he held for a week thanks to his knowledge of German, before the Americans were withdrawn to the other side of the Elbe. Then the hard years began, until he found good work as a skilled carpenter in New Haven, Connecticut, and settled there, where he died in 1983. His two sons Barry and Michael are splendid fellows, one the head of special education in the state of Connecticut, the other a lawyer in New York; they in turn have four children; they are — unlike the three of us — still practicing Jews, and so this branch of the family continues to exist.

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afeelgoodblog · 2 years

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The Best News of Last Week - December 12, 2022

1. Big cats: US Senate unanimously passes bill to curb private ownership

A bill to restrict the private ownership of big cats like lions and tigers in the US has passed by unanimous consent in the Senate. The Big Cat Public Safety Act would stop people from keeping the animals as pets and from them being exposed to public petting and photo opportunities.

Efforts to curb private ownership have increased in the wake of the Netflix documentary series Tiger King.

The bill now needs to be signed into law by President Joe Biden.

2. New Mexico voted a child care guarantee into its constitution.

New Mexico in May became the first state to offer free child care to most of its residents. Now, after a November referendum, it’s also the first state to enshrine child care funding in its constitution, effectively making the service a universal right – and perhaps offering a model for how other states could serve their youngest residents and working parents.

3. Rare good news from the Amazon: Gigantic fish are thriving again

Thanks to sustainable fishing programs that combine education with strict rules and quotas, the pirarucu, one of the world's largest freshwater fish it's now making a comeback.

"The pirarucu population has recovered," says Ana Claudia Torres, who runs the sustainable fishing program for the Mamirauá Institute, which manages a vast nature reserve covering 4,300 square miles of jungle in northern Brazil.

4. Dog reunited with family 7 days after falling from cliff on Vancouver Island

A beloved pet that went missing in the Highlands area of Vancouver Island was found seven days later by an army of volunteers. Luna, was found desperately clinging to a narrow ledge on a cliff, and was reunited with her owner after a heroic rescue last month.

It's believed that Luna had chased an animal out of her yard and got lost, somehow falling off a cliff and landing on a two-foot wide ledge. She remained there, alone, as her owner and searchers frantically looked for her.

5. Iran Shutting Down Morality Police, Official Says, After Months of Protests

Iran has scrapped its morality police after more than two months of protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini following her arrest for allegedly violating the country's strict female dress code, local media said Sunday, citing a single Iranian official.

"Morality police have nothing to do with the judiciary and have been abolished," Attorney General Mohammad Jafar Montazeri was quoted as saying by the ISNA news agency.

6. Condoms to be free for young people in France, Macron says

Young people in France will be able to get condoms free of charge from next year in an effort to reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), President Emmanuel Macron said on Thursday.

"In pharmacies, condoms will be free for those aged 18 to 25 from January 1," Macron told reporters during an event about young people's health.

7. One-eared rescue dog Van Gogh paints his way into adoption

A former bait dog in a North Carolina dogfighting ring "paints" artwork for charity and is living his best life in Connecticut.

. . .

That’s it for this week. If you liked this post you can support this newsletter with a small kofi donation:

Buy me a coffee ❤️

Have a great week ahead :)

#best news of last week

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sergeantsporks · 3 months

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Uh... Wouldn't Philip's "return" warrant a lot of media attention?

Stranger abductions themselves are really rare --I think the statistic is only one out of every 10,000 kidnappings is perpetrated by a stranger? So, 99% of the time, if a child is missing and believed to have been kidnapped, it's a family member whose taken them.-- but stranger abductions where the child returns home, alive and well?!?

Well, that's even more rare.

Philip would basically be a unicorn in the eyes of the news media, lol. Interviews with him would be beyond coveted. And like, it wouldn't just be the national news either! Bare minimum, we're talking national news here. With world-wide being absolutely not out of the question!

So, even if Caleb did takes pains to shield Philip from the reporters... Plus his status as a ward of the state would almost certainly give him legal protection...

The media is still going to swarming Gravesfield, desperate for even a glimpse of him.

Which stretches the believability of Caleb being able to keep the fact that he's now caring for five more kids under wraps, lmao.

Even just keeping Philip's friends, uh... having an "extended sleepover" at the Wittebane apartment on the down low (So, not outright hiding it. But not talking about it directly? I guess?) with all that scrutiny is a bit silly. Social services would want to know who the hell those kids are and why they aren't with their families. Philip going "I meet them while I was away. Their parents are all totally cool with them staying here." is not going to cut it.

XD I now fully understand why The Owl Crew avoided all of these uncomfortable topics by just having Vee assume Luz's identity over the course of the summer, meaning that she was never technically "missing".

You don't have that same luxury with Witch Switch, though.

Might I suggest that you avoid all of those difficult elements in a different manner?

Just have Caleb never announce Philip's return it. Not to the police, not to Manny, he doesn't so much as breathe a single word about his beloved baby brother being back (With five friends!) in town to anyone.

You could still have Manny find out by accident (Like, say: He visits the apartment unannounced one day, intending to offer Caleb support, and stumbles onto the kids or something), if him being involved is important to the story.

It would just be far more easier to handwave Manny (Someone whom the Wittebane Brothers have known for years, someone who Caleb trusts) not asking too many questions about where the hell Philip has been these last few months, and not digging particularly deeply into why five more children are living with the boys in their apartment then it would be to handwave the entire Gravesfield police force, the collective news media, and Connecticut CPS doing the exact same thing. Lol.

I actually do have a plan for all that, and it's not huge spoilers or anything, so I'll share. The gist of it is: Phillip claims he was never abducted in the first place. According to him, he was so incredibly angry about Caleb planning to propose, he took the bus to the next town over, hopped on a train, and by the time he decided this was a terrible idea and he should go back home, his phone was dead, he had no money, and he was stranded far from home. So, he's just been making his way back over the last few months via hitch-hiking and walking.

This is OBVIOUSLY a story that NO ONE believes due to all the massive holes in it, but no one can turn up any evidence to suggest where he ACTUALLY was (for obvious reasons), and they literally could not drag any other information out of him with horses. He doesn't seem to be SUPER harmed (aside from the broken nose, which he claims was from. Falling down stairs. Like an idiot), and no one can figure any reason he'd be protecting his supposed kidnappers, ESPECIALLY given that their number one suspect is someone who he has been documented to already hate. So while no one believes him, no one can come up with a better explanation, and they basically have to take his word for it.

"Kid runs away and eventually comes back" is somewhat of a less heartwarming, news-worthy story than "kidnapped child finds his way home after months of a terrible ordeal" because, well. Sometimes kids DO run away and for extended periods of time. Sometimes they turn up again. Sometimes they don't. So the media is on it for a little, and then it just sorta. Eh. Whatever. Drops away. Not a juicy enough story for them.

In terms of CPS, obviously the "he ran away" narrative turns up the heat on Caleb and it gets a little hairy on whether or not they'll let the two of them stay together, but based on Phillip's history of Incredible Aversion to Change, and his history of Doing Dumb Stuff (as well as Phillip's incredibly strong convictions towards the idea that he SUPER overreacted and that he messed up BIG TIME and regretted it IMMEDIATELY), it's determined that there was not much Caleb really had control over besides planning a proposal, and they're put on Extreme Probation (and look, yes, I know this is possibly more unrealistic than the existence of the demon realm, but you gotta give me some leeway and work with me here, I gotta bend the rules to make this work), and are basically getting checked on once or twice a week and the two of them have to go to counseling all the time. Caleb and Phillip are interrogated pretty relentlessly on their home status regularly now by social services.

Like in canon, the BI kids spend a lot of time at the abandoned house, and they definitely try to make themselves scarce whenever people show up to the apartment, so no one really notices them too much. And when they ARE there, well, they're just Phillip's friends. Over to hang out. As teenage friends do. Don't worry about it. They just like hanging out here because they think Caleb is awesome, and they know how important it is for Caleb to keep tabs on Phillip at all times. And isn't it SUCH a glowing character reference that so many parents trust Caleb enough to send their kids over, even after everything? (That last one is all Odalia, she has those CPS officers wrapped around her pinky finger every time they come around and they're there. World-class liar. She's VERY good at deflecting further questions about their parents or where they came from).

Evelyn's continued disappearance results in a general assumption that she's not in the states legally, so when Phillip disappeared, she made herself scarce before she could get caught in all the attention. This is backed up by the fact that no one seems to know anything about her, and she doesn't show up on any records (she magic bamboozled her way into a motorcycle, and she's never been pulled over).

#asks #toh #witch switch au #the owl house

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