#Conservation Visionary

[delicatelysublimeforester]

Unveiling the Green Guardian

[vox-anglosphere]

Britain's leading classical architect invites you to hear him speak at the Rotherwick village hall in Hampshire on August 31st at 3:00pm

[janavimfolsbee]

thank you @houstonmayor for your #inspiring words and being an advocate for us #houstonartists by creating #oppertunities and #civicart programs such as this where #visionaries can dream imagine create and have a voice in our city to make monumental works of art such as #theaquariusarttunnel it was an honor to be one of 10 artists selected for site specific public art work installation that was celebrated today by @houstonmayor yesterday and @hobbyairport @bushairport @altondulaney I am so grateful to the opportunity to have been selected out of 347 artists and be the first female indian woman at 35 to create the 240 foot long permanent tunnel art installation at #bushintercontinentalairport #terminalD #theaquariusarttunnel don’t miss this installation it is a presecurity site and has been endorsed by @unoceandecade @ioc_unesco I am overjoyed to bring this this work of art to passengers from all walks of life and from the #global #community and my #local community to you I am grateful 🥹 I am so grateful to you @houstonartsalliance @janicebond @theresae.af @gracezuniga7 @lynnbirdwell @bhprodhtx @houstonmoca for your hard work and the amazing work you do for the houston #artworld and local #texasart community. #janavimfolmsbee #janavimahimturafolmsbee #marineconservation #marineconservationartist #scubadiving #marinelife #conservation #oceanlife #blueplanet #arttunnel #aquariusarttunnel @noaasanctuaries @flowergardenbanksnms @marinesanctuaryfdn @coh_mayors_events @janavimfolmsbee @agencyhtx This project was commissioned by @houstonmoca on behalf of IAH @bushairport @HoustonAirports for @houston through the city’s Civic Art Program and @houstonartsalliance. (at Hobby International Airport Houston, Texas) https://www.instagram.com/p/CmKwqCyJEw4/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[literaryvein-reblogs]

concepts related to different professions

Businessperson

abettor, adjutant, adviser/advisor, aid/aide, announcer, apprentice, archaeologist, assistant, auditor, authority, baker, barber, broker, businessperson, buyer, caretaker, cartoonist, chair, chef, client, colleague, conservator, consumer, correspondent, court, creator, curator, customer, dabbler, desk jockey, developer, drudge, employee, envoy, espionage, explorer, fellow, flier, flyer, fortuneteller, freshman, go-between, gourmet, guard, guru, hacker, hand, hawker, helper, hooker, inferior, informant or informer, inspector, interviewer, investigator, janitor, labor, liaison, messenger, moderator, monitor, navigator, newsman/woman, page, patron, picket, pioneer, poet, practitioner, prodigal, protégé, referee, representative, reviewer, rival, sailor, scout, seaman/woman, seller, shopper, speaker, spokesperson, spy, subordinate, tailor, traveler, virtuoso, wayfarer, writer

Educator

academic, adviser/advisor, alumnus/alumna, coach, conductor, disciplinarian, faculty, freshman, graduate, intellectual, learner, martinet, mastermind, monitor, practitioner, professor, rookie, savant, school, swami, trainer

Entertainer

acrobat, actress, aficionado, ballet dancer, character, comic, creator, director, fan, groupie, hero/heroine, humorist, inventor, luminary, magician, name, participant, personage/personality, player, protagonist, star, troubadour, virtuoso, zany

Financier

accountant, bean counter, broker, investor, spendthrift

Government officer

administrator, ambassador, authoritarian, autocracy, bureaucrat, consul, delegate, despot, diplomat, emir, empress, establishment, exile, fascist, figurehead, front runner, informant/informer, intermediary, leader, liaison, magistrate, master, mogul, mouthpiece, officer, oppressor, pacifist, patrol, personage/personality, police/police officer, prime minister, representative, snitch, spokesperson, tyrant, weasel

Legal practitioner

attorney, beneficiary, counsel, heir, judge, lawyer, officer, proponent, witness

Media person

commentator, journalist, newsman/woman, reporter, writer

Medical practitioner

analyst, druggist, nurse, patient, physician, researcher, therapist

Military person

combatant, conqueror, fighter, gladiator, lookout, militant, patrol, recruit, scout, seaman/woman, truant, warmonger, warrior

Politician

advocate, anarchist, apostle, arbitrator, conservative, dissident, extremist, firebrand, idealist, militant, mouthpiece, nonconformist, patron, picket, proponent, reactionary, sectarian

Religious person

acolyte, angel, atheist, chaplain, conformist, creator, deacon, doubter, dreamer, evangelism, father, genie, inventor, loner, minister, monk, pagan, pastor, priest, saint, skeptic, visionary, witch, wizard

NOTE

The above are concepts classified according to subject and usage. It not only helps writers and thinkers to organize their ideas but leads them from those very ideas to the words that can best express them.

It was, in part, created to turn an idea into a specific word. By linking together the main entries that share similar concepts, the index makes possible creative semantic connections between words in our language, stimulating thought and broadening vocabulary.

Source ⚜ Writing Basics & Refreshers ⚜ On Vocabulary

[reality-detective]

Bombshell by Clint Eastwood 👇

Clint Eastwood’s Stark Warning: “Barack Obama Presidency – The Biggest Fraud on the American People”

Clint Eastwood exposes the Barack Obama presidency as ‘the biggest fraud on the American people.’ Dive deep into the controversies, scandals, and secrets behind Obama’s legacy, from the Benghazi scandal to the SEAL Team 6 tragedy. Uncover the truth now!

Legendary actor and filmmaker Clint Eastwood boldly claimed:

“One day we will realize that the Barack Obama presidency was the biggest FRAUD ever perpetrated on the American people.”

Eastwood, known for his fearless critique of Hollywood and politics alike, pulls no punches in his assessment of Obama’s tenure. Eastwood’s statement brings fresh scrutiny to a presidency that was celebrated by many yet criticized for its scandals and failings. Let’s dive deeper into the unfolding story.

Clint Eastwood: A Fearless Voice in a Hollywood of Silence

Eastwood’s words matter. This is not just another Hollywood actor parroting opinions. He stands apart from the Hollywood echo chamber, a space where most actors are afraid to speak out against the political mainstream. Eastwood’s condemnation of Obama comes at a time when the Obama administration is still debated fiercely.

Barack Obama: Nobel Peace Prize Winner with a Kill List

Obama’s controversial actions tell a different story. The Obama administration was marked by military interventions and controversial drone strikes that led to civilian casualties. Critics mention Obama’s “kill list” – a classified list of individuals targeted for drone strikes without trial.

The narrative of peace clashes with extrajudicial killings. The drone program under Obama raises serious questions about human rights and the ethical implications. Was Obama’s portrayal as a peaceful leader nothing but a crafted illusion?

SEAL Team 6: The Tragic Story and Unanswered Questions

One of the most gut-wrenching events is the suspicious fate of SEAL Team 6 in 2011. Conspiracies have surrounded this incident, suggesting the team was set up or used as political pawns.

Was this merely an unfortunate accident, or does it point to sinister dealings within the Obama administration? Critics argue that the truth about SEAL Team 6 has been hidden, and call for accountability and criminal prosecution, placing Obama’s role under intense scrutiny.

The Benghazi Scandal: The Truth Behind the Treason

One of the most haunting legacies of the Obama presidency is Benghazi. An attack on the U.S. consulate in 2012 left four Americans dead, spiraling into a political firestorm. Allegations of negligence, cover-up, and treason were leveled against both Obama and Hillary Clinton.

The Obama administration’s mishandling of Benghazi endangered American lives and demonstrated a betrayal of trust. The symbol of treachery still lingers over the Obama-Clinton era.

Obama’s Legacy: A Tarnished Record or Unfairly Targeted?

Eight years of the Obama presidency left behind a polarizing legacy. To some, he was a beacon of hope; to others, a symbol of failed policies. Eastwood’s scathing critique calls into question whether the rosy image of Obama is based on reality or political spin.

Issues like the Iran nuclear deal, mishandling of Syria, and IRS targeting of conservatives add more fuel. Hero or fraud? Visionary leader or master of deception?

Why the Truth Matters

Eastwood’s statement is a call for accountability. It's urging us to look beyond the polished speeches and uncover the truth about Obama. From the SEAL Team 6 incident to the Benghazi drama, the Obama administration's alleged misdeeds left a mark that can’t be ignored. This is about truth, justice, and the trust between a nation and its leader. 🤔

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Rosemary Kirstein’s “The Steerswoman”

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TONIGHT (May 4) in VANCOUVER, then onto Tartu, Estonia, and beyond!

For decades, scammy "book doctors" and vanity presses spun a tale about how Big Publishing was too conservative and risk-averse for really really adventurous books, and the only way to get your visionary work published was to pay them to fill your garage with badly printed books that you'd spend the rest of your life trying to get other people to read:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/07/04/self-publishing/

Like all successful grifts, this one worked because it wasn't entirely untrue. No, mainstream publishing isn't filled with corporate gatekeepers who relish the idea of keeping your brilliance from reaching its audience.

But.

But editors sometimes make bad calls. They reject books because of quirks of taste, or fleeting inattentiveness, or personal bias. In a healthy publishing industry – one with dozens of equal-sized presses, all commanding roughly comparable market-share, good books would never slip through the cracks. One publisher's misstep would be another's opportunity.

But after decades of mergers, the population of major publishers has dwindled to a mere Big Five (it was almost four, but the DOJ blocked Penguin Random House's acquisition of Simon & Schuster):

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-block-penguin-random-house-s-acquisition-rival-publisher-simon

This means that some good books definitely can't find a home in Big Publishing. If you miss with five editors, you can exhaust all your chances with the Big Five.

There's a second tier of great publishers, from data-driven juggernauts like Sourcebooks to boutique presses like Verso and Beacon Press, who publish wonderful books and are very good to their authors (I've published with four of the Big Five and half a dozen of the smaller publishers).

But even with these we-try-harder boutique publishers in the mix, there's a lot of space for amazing books that just don't fit with a "trad" publisher's program. These books are often labors of love by their creators, and that love is reciprocated by their readers. You can have my unbelievably gigantic Little Nemo in Slumberland collection when you pry my cold, dead fingers off of it:

https://memex.craphound.com/2006/09/25/gigantic-little-nemo-book-does-justice-to-the-loveliest-comic-ever/

And don't even think of asking to borrow my copy of Jack Womack's Flying Saucers are Real!:

https://memex.craphound.com/2016/10/03/flying-saucers-are-real-anthology-of-the-lost-saucer-craze/

I will forever cherish my Crad Kilodney chapbooks:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/19/crad-kilodney-was-an-outlier/#intermediation

Then there's last year's surprise smash hit, Shift Happens, a two-volume, 750-page slipcased book recounting the history of the keyboard. I own one. It's fantastic:

https://glennf.medium.com/how-we-crowdfunded-750-000-for-a-giant-book-about-keyboard-history-c30e24c4022e

Then there's the whole world of indie Kindle books pitched at incredibly voracious communities of readers, especially the very long tail of very niche sub-sub-genres radiating off the woefully imprecise category of "paranormal romance." These books are landing at precisely the right spot for their readers, despite some genuinely weird behind-the-scenes feuds between their writers:

https://www.theverge.com/2018/7/16/17566276/cockygate-amazon-kindle-unlimited-algorithm-self-published-romance-novel-cabal

But as Sturgeon's Law has it: "90% of everything is shit." Having read slush – the pile of unsolicited manuscripts sent to publishers – I can tell you that a vast number of books get rejected from trad publishers because they aren't good books. I say this without intending any disparagement towards their authors and the creative impulses that drive them. But a publisher's job isn't merely to be good to writers – it's to serve readers, by introducing them to works they are apt to enjoy.

The vast majority of books that publishers pass on are not books that you will want to read, so it follows that the vast majority of self-published work that is offered on self-serve platforms like Kindle or pitched by hopeful writers at street fairs and book festivals is just not very good.

But sometimes you find someone's independent book and it's brilliant, and you get the double thrill of falling in love with a book and of fishing a glittering needle out of an unimaginably gigantic haystack.

(If you want to read an author who beautifully expresses the wonder of finding an obscure, self-published book that's full of unsuspected brilliance, try Daniel Pinkwater, whose Alan Mendelsohn, The Boy From Mars is eleven kinds of brilliant, but is also a marvelous tale of the wonders of weird used book stores with titles like KLONG! You Are a Pickle!):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Mendelsohn,_the_Boy_from_Mars

I also write books, and I am, in fact, presently in the midst of a long book-tour for my novel The Bezzle. Last month, I did an event in Cambridge, Mass with Randall "XKCD" Munroe that went great. We had a full house, and even after the venue caught fire (really!), everyone followed us across the street to another building, up five flights of stairs, and into another auditorium where we wrapped up the gig:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulnlSRbH80Y

Afterwards, our hosts from Harvard Berkman-Klein took us to a campus pizza joint/tiki bar for dinner and drinks, and we had a great chat about a great many things. Naturally, we talked about books we loved, and Randall said, "Hey, have you ever read Rosemary Kirstein's Steerswoman novels?"

(I hadn't.)

"They're incredible. All these different people kept recommending them to me, and they kept telling me that I would love them, but they wouldn't tell me what they were about because there's this huge riddle in them that's super fun to figure out for yourself:"

https://www.rosemarykirstein.com/the-books/

"The books were published in the eighties by Del Ray, and the cover of the first one had a huge spoiler on it. But the author got the rights back and she's self-published it" (WARNING: the following link has a HUGE SPOILER!):

https://www.rosemarykirstein.com/2010/12/the-difference/

"I got it and it was pretty rough-looking, but the book was so good. I can't tell you what it was about, but I think you'll really like it!"

How could I resist a pitch like that? So I ordered a copy:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-steerswoman-rosemary-kirstein/7900759

Holy moly is this a good novel! And yeah, there's a super interesting puzzle in it that I won't even hint at, except to say that even the book's genre is a riddle that you'll have enormous great fun solving.

Randall wasn't kidding about the book's package. The type looks to be default Microsoft fonts, the spine is printed slightly off-register, the typesetting has lots of gonks, and it's just got that semi-disposable feel of a print-on-demand title.

Without Randall's recommendation, I never would have even read this book closely enough to notice the glowing cover endorsement from Jo Walton, nor the fact that it was included in Damien Broderick and Paul Di Filippo's "101 Best Science Fiction Novels 1985-2010."

But I finished reading the first volume just a few minutes ago and I instantly ordered the next three in the series (it's planned for seven volumes, and the author says she plans on finishing it – I can't wait).

This book is such an unexpected marvel, a stunner of a novel filled with brilliant world-building, deft characterizations, a hard-driving plot and a bunch of great surprises. The fact that such a remarkable tale comes in such an unremarkable package makes it even more of a treasure, like a geode: unremarkable on the outside, a glittering blaze within.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/05/04/the-wulf/#underground-fave

[lizardsfromspace]

We talk a lot about people rewriting history to claim problematic authors were always bad but there's a inverse phenomena where people rewrite history to give artists they agree with a ridiculously outsized reputation

You see this with conservatives falling over themselves to declare that "Kid Rock is better than Bruce Springsteen!" bc Kid Rock agrees with them but also

TERFs have gone from claiming JKR is the best British children's writer of her generation, a defensible belief (one I'd disagree with, that's motherfucking Philip Pullman, and that's what I thought as a kid too), to increasingly ridiculous and lavish praise about her being the greatest female writer, the greatest living writer, the writer of the best first sentence in literature, after Dickens and Orwell of course, you have to be modest and acknowledge the classics. It's not enough for her to be an acclaimed best-seller, she has to be literally the greatest writer in history, for some reason

Which is wild enough with Harry Potter, but when they apply it to her detective books it gets bizarre. Her detective novels, which only sold well (but not Harry Potter well) after her identity was revealed, and which get mixed reviews as they crest past a thousand pages a book, a ludicrous length for a murder mystery novel. They absolutely do not have a rapturous reception anywhere but in TERF circles, where they're unimpeachable masterpieces and the fact that they aren't more popular is suspicious, so you must buy Mission Earth Comoran Strike, and talk about it, and do anything you can to support visionary author L. Ron Hubbard JK Rowling as she changes the world forever

[witchwithmermaideyesblog]

Lucifer, Satan & other Devils: The Occult art of Rosaleen Norton, the Witch of Kings Cross

‘Lucifer and the Goat Mendes.’

The most notorious witch in Australian history was an artist named Rosaleen Norton (1917-79) who scandalized her ultra-conservative homeland with her outrageous bohemian lifestyle and strange occult beliefs during the 1950s.

The press dubbed Norton the “Witch of Kings Cross”—a low-rent artists’ quarter and red light district in Sydney, New South Wales. They claimed she was an evil Satanist who revelled in perverted Black Masses and unnatural orgies with her sex-mad coven. It was true Rosaleen (Roie to her friends) liked sex with both men and women. She enjoyed sex and saw no shame in admitting that she did. She also practised sex magick and made no secret of its powers. But Rosaleen was no Satanist. She was a pagan who followed her own particular belief in Pan.

From earliest childhood Rosaleen felt she was different—and felt compelled to prove this indeed was the case. As her friend and biographer Nevill Drury later recalled:

[Rosaleen] revelled in being the odd one out, purporting to despise her schoolmates. She argued continuously with her mother. She ‘hated’ authority figures like headmistresses, policemen, politicians and priests. She had no time at all for organised religion, and the gods she embraced - a cluster of ancient gods centred around Pan - were, of course, pagan to the hilt. She regarded Pan as the God of Infinite Being.

Pan was undoubtedly a rather unusual god for a young woman to be worshipping in Australia. But then Roie was different. And she was different in an age when it was quite a lot harder to be different than it is now. She was bohemian, bisexual, outspoken, rebellious and thoroughly independent in an era when most young ladies growing up on Sydney’s North Shore would be thinking simply of staying home, happily married with a husband and children. Roie was not afraid to say what she thought, draw her pagan images on city pavements, or flaunt her occult beliefs in the pages of the tabloids. To most people who read about her in newspapers and magazines she was simply outrageous.

Rosaleen was certainly outrageous. She was expelled from school for drawing pictures of vampires, pentagrams and demons during art class, which were claimed to have terrified her fellow classmates. In 1952, when a collection of her work was first published in book form as The Art of Rosaleen Norton three of the images contained therein—“Black Magic” (which depicted Rosaleen herself having sex with a panther), “Rites of Baron Samedi” and “Fohat” (which depicted a demon with a large muscled snake for a penis)—caused such offence that the publisher was prosecuted for obscenity and the pictures removed from all future printings. In America the book was deemed so pornographic that all imported copies were destroyed by custom officials.

Worse was to follow in 1955 when a woman named Anna Karina Hoffman was arrested for vagrancy. When questioned by police, Hoffman claimed she had participated in horrific Satanic black masses organized by Rosaleen. It was this accusation that led the tabloid press to dub Rosaleen the “Witch of Kings Cross” and promulgate the series of trumped-up news stories about her lurid (s)excesses.

However, the following year, one of her lovers, the highly respected composer Sir Eugene Goossens was arrested by Australian customs for attempting to bring some 800 pornographic images into the country—many of them marked “SM” for “sex magick.” The ensuing investigation by officials was heavily detailed by the press. It destroyed Goossens’ career and further denigrated Rosaleen’s character.

Still Rosaleen continued on her own way—painting pictures, following her own religious beliefs, enjoying a varied and active sex life and even dropping LSD to “induce visionary states” to enhance her awareness as an artist.

It was this visionary aspect which was at the heart of Rosaleen’s art:

From an early age she had a remarkable capacity to explore the visionary depths of her subconscious mind, and the archetypal beings she encountered on those occasions became the focus of her art. It was only later that Roie was labelled a witch, was described as such in the popular press, and began to develop the persona which accompanied that description. As this process gathered momentum, Roie in turn became intent on trying to demonstrate that she had been born a witch. After all, she had somewhat pointed ears, small blue markings on her left knee, and also a long strand of flesh which hung from underneath her armpit to her waist - a variant on the extra nipple sometimes ascribed to witches in the Middle Ages.

Roie’s personal beliefs were a strange mix of magic, mythology and fantasy, but derived substantially from mystical experiences which, for her, were completely real. She was no theoretician. Part of her disdain for the public at large, I believe, derived from the fact that she felt she had access to a wondrous visionary universe - while most people lived lives that were narrow, bigoted, and based on fear. Roie was very much an adventurer - a free spirit - and she liked to fly through the worlds opened to her by her imagination.

Roie’s art reflected this. It was her main passion, her main reason for living. She had no career ambitions other than to reflect on the forces within her essential being, and to manifest these psychic and magical energies in the only way she knew how. As Roie’s older sister Cecily later told me, art was the very centre of her life, and Roie took great pride in the brief recognition she received when the English critic and landscape artist John Sackville-West described her in 1970 as one of Australia’s finest artists, alongside Norman Lindsay. It was praise from an unexpected quarter, and it heartened Roie considerably because she felt that at last someone had understood her art and had responded to it positively. All too often her critics had responded only to her outer veneer - the bizarre and often distorted persona created by the media - and this was not the ‘real’ Roie at all.

Today no one would I doubt if anyone would bat an eyelid at Rosaleen’s lifestyle or beliefs—which shows how much our world has evolved. This year marks the centenary of her birth which should bring a new assessment of her life and work and introduce a new generation to the artist behind Australia’s most notorious witch.

‘Black Magic.’

‘Self Portrait with Occult Animals and Symbols.’

‘Fohat’—a demon with a snake dick or as Rosaleen described it: ‘The goat is the symbol of energy and creativity: the serpent of elemental force and eternity.’

‘Untitled.’

‘Bacchanal.’

‘Jester.’

Black Magick.’

‘Wer-Plon.’

‘Geburah.’

‘Belpiglet.’

‘The Blueprint.’

‘Triumph.’

Rosaleen Norton, January 1950.

|

[ansbobcar]

I'm ready to become a part-time lore builder of a fandom if I can't get any answers.

Seriously. Time to do some mental gymnastics again because, I LOVE TALKING ABOUT LORE (well worldbuilding lore) AND MAKING LORE IF THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT IT!!

We're back to looking at the Divine Visionaries again because, what the hell are these administration/department/subdivisions man.

Here are my rankings of most straightforward to least straightforward (in terms of what they govern) and my reasoning, questions, headcanons AND MANGA SPOILERS. Feel free to discuss!

1. MAGICAL ITEMS

It's basically quality control check of any magical tool and also acts like a museum. Very straightforward to guess. It's managing, checking the quality of new, old, or powerful magical items. We also know the most about it I think because Rayne currently manages it (idk why i trust the fandom wiki)

2. FORBIDDEN MAGICAL TEXTS

This is also straightforward. They manage forbidden magical texts from being accessed to the public. But I'd like to think that this department has to ensure that any texts which use magic, such as newspapers and maybe even children's books, abide by their printing laws and don't enter into that forbidden valley. Prevention of more forbidden magical texts is probably one of their main goals. I mean, confiscation of books and materials or clues regarding them will either be stored or burned possibly. Censorship is a possibility.

3. MAGIC SECURITY (FORCE)

Every time I hear security I think of that random post from twitter I think about how the US' whole military like thing is called the defense something or something. AND I THINK ABOUT IT. But you know atleast security makes more sense.

Current headcanon is that the magic police is under their jurisdiction but being called a magic security officer is diff from a magic police officer. The main difference is that magic police focus solely on internal and surface level, local scale magic (and lack-magic) crimes.

Magic Security is a more national/international scale, or something that involves the Bureau directly. Like a war between other magical races or those type of conflicts. The bar to being a magic security officer is much higher than a magic police officer too.

4. MAGICAL CEMETERY

The management of deceased magic users/wizards is pretty straight forward BUT what I'm tryna figure out is:

a) How many official cemeteries are under their jurisdiction? If so is it illegal to bury a deceased wizard's body on your own?

b) Do they only manage the cemeteries? If they don't does that mean that it's a law to contact their department while preparing for a funeral and burial? How early do they have to get involved?

c) Whoever was managing this division when Adam Jobs died was not good at their job. Nvm this guy's body was gone to bits. Still bad management on their part to not scavenge for that bit of flesh left over. Burn the area to the ground if you have to. Fucking Innocent Zero got his body.

5. MAGICAL CREATURES

The only reason I have this much lower than I initially intended is because there are so many fucking magical creatures in this fucking world that it should be one of the biggest ass divisions of the Bureau alongside Magical Items.

a) You need research/encyclopedias on these creatures. What their weakness is and so on, research on magical creatures (probably in conjunction with magical research).

b) Is animal cruelty a thing in this world? It probably is. It better be then there has to be a governing body for that.

c) I feel like for magical magical creatures like Dragons, they have to manage/hand out yearly licenses towards educational institutes to allow those dragons to be used. Otherwise, I think they'll be released to the wild and will be blacklisted from ever owning a dragon. (Animal cruelty act or something)

d) They probably have a national zoo which is used for both research and conservation purposes. Bet there's a bunch of endangered species.

6. MAGICAL RESEARCH

Just like the previous department/administration... this is also pretty broad. (You'll realise a pattern as we go down the list). The way I see it is that every year, they gather statistics and feedback from the people, and come up with 4-6 projects of varying scales to help. These can range from new technology for pre-existing magical tools or making new innovations and tools.

They also do research on animals, plants and probably somewhat manage the welfare of the country slightly.

What I wonder is if it's illegal to do research outside of their department? Or do they allow exceptions, like some company can pitch their idea to the magical research department who then greenlight their thing or not like Dragon's Den.

7. MAGICAL POWER

Orter and Rinka, idk how y'all even do this. Magical Power Admin according to the fandom wiki (which I think took info from the fanbook, but cannot confirm), looks into shit related to power basically (abuse, lack ofs, very magical power creatures).

My problem is that kind of overlaps with magic security just slightlyyy. I also headcanon that the magic police are governed by magic security and magical power.

So far for my fanfic (big spoilers lol):

a) Their main goal is to reduce/prevent the abuse of magic within the kingdom/country.

b) They can make and enforce laws/policies/the legal rules surrounding the use of magic which include giving penalties/punishments.

8. MAGICAL TALENT

What the fuck is Kaldo's job. I get he looks at Divine Visionary candidates before they even get to the final exam but seriously. I would like to think that part of his job is to take note of what kind of personal magic has ever fucking existed other than tryna analyse people. If his department was more like HR, I think it'd make more sense.

His department probably has the least amount of people/staff.

_ _ _

There's probably other departments as well that aren't governed by a Divine Visionary for now. My ted talk is finished. For now.

[horoscope1078]

Can you do quinn huges

Quinn 😊

Sun in Libra. Ouinn likely embodies qualities associated with Libra, such as diplomacy, social grace, and a desire for harmony. He may have a strong sense of fairness and justice. His Sun in Libra suggests a charming and people-oriented personality. He may excel in social situations and have a natural ability to connect with others.

Moon in Sagittarius. Ouinn's emotional landscape is likely influenced by the adventurous and optimistic spirit of Sagittarius. He may have a curious mind and a love for exploration and learning. His Moon in Sagittarius suggests a tendency towards enthusiasm and a desire for freedom. He may express his emotions openly and honestly.

Mercury in Scorpio indicates a sharp and insightful mind. Ouinn may have a deep and intense way of thinking and communicating. He may be a skilled observer and have a talent for uncovering hidden truths. His communication style may be direct and sometimes even blunt.

Venus in Virgo suggests a practical and analytical approach to love and relationships. Ouinn may value reliability, loyalty, and a shared sense of purpose in his partnerships. He may have a discerning taste and an appreciation for beauty and order. He may also be a perfectionist in his relationships.

Mars in Sagittarius indicates a passionate and adventurous nature. Ouinn likely has a strong drive and a desire to explore new horizons. He may be a risk-taker and enjoy activities that are physically and mentally challenging. He may also have a philosophical outlook on life.

Jupiter in Taurus suggests a focus on material security and stability. Ouinn may value possessions and enjoy the finer things in life. He may have a strong work ethic and a talent for building and creating. He may also be a bit of a foodie and enjoy the pleasures of the senses.

Saturn in Taurus indicates a strong sense of responsibility and a need for structure and routine. Ouinn may be a hard worker and have a talent for building things that last. He may be cautious and conservative in his approach to life. He may also have a strong appreciation for tradition and history.

Uranus in Aquarius suggests a rebellious and unconventional spirit. Ouinn may be a free thinker and a pioneer in his field. He may be drawn to technology and the future. He may also be interested in social justice and humanitarian causes.

Neptune in Aquarius suggests a spiritual and imaginative nature. Ouinn may be interested in the metaphysical and the unknown. He may be a visionary and have a talent for inspiring others. He may also be sensitive and empathetic.

Pluto in Sagittarius indicates a deep and transformative journey of self-discovery. Ouinn may be interested in exploring the meaning of life and his place in the universe. He may be a truth-seeker and a philosopher. He may also be a passionate advocate for social and political change.

The North Node in Leo suggests a focus on self-expression, creativity, and leadership. Ouinn may be learning to embrace his unique talents and share them with the world.

Lilith in Sagittarius suggests a deep-seated fear of being misunderstood or rejected. Ouinn may have a tendency to overcompensate for this fear by being overly enthusiastic or opinionated.

Chiron in Sagittarius suggests a wound related to spirituality or philosophy. Ouinn may have experienced a loss of faith or a questioning of his beliefs.

Quinn Hughes has a well-rounded personality, balancing his emotions and mind, which makes him adaptable and emotionally stable. He’s creative and a bit rebellious, often attracting good fortune and enjoying life’s pleasures. His dynamic nature and love for adventure make him a natural leader, but he sometimes struggles with self-doubt and finding the right words to express himself. Quinn can be prone to overthinking and impulsive ideas, and his relationships tend to be intense, bringing out deep emotions. He might feel confused about his ideals and caught between tradition and new, innovative approaches. His heightened sensitivity and intuition spark his imagination, while his unconventional thinking drives his unique ideas. While there’s some tension between his personal desires and social obligations, he’s destined to grow through themes of intuition and communication.

[tomorrowusa]

Sorry France, but the biggest political event of the week will take place on Thursday in the UK. At the very least, it will herald a change in the right direction.

John Oliver outdid himself in the vid posted above . No spoilers from me! But please watch through the end. 😁

The last third of the vid describes how absolutely abominable the Conservative Party reign of the past 14 years has been. Most people in the UK already know this but outside the country the international community may not understand the full extent of the Tory rot.

Brexit, austerity, and tax breaks for the filthy rich did not bring prosperity to the UK. The US and the EU countries are currently doing better economically than Britain under the Tories. And the NHS (National Health Service) is verging on collapse with malnutrition spreading in the country. Easily preventable diseases like rickets and scurvy (fucking SCURVY!) have reappeared. As an aside, this is where America is headed if Republicans are returned to power in the US.

When COVID-19 struck the UK, the country had an inept leader who downplayed it and made matters even worse. Sound familiar? The already severely stressed NHS was barely able to cope while Boris Johnson and his powerful friends held parties in violation of pandemic regulations.

ABC Australia, BTW a top notch public broadcaster, describes the horrific mess the Conservatives created for Britain's NHS.

Britain's beloved NHS was kneecapped by the Conservative Party. Then the COVID pandemic hit

Yes, Labour's Sir Keir Starmer may be as boring as John describes. But do you really want somebody flamboyant and unintentionally entertaining like Boris Johnson just for the sake of amusement?

Sir Keir should be viewed as the captain of a competent team rather than as a fantasy superhero who will singlehandedly save the country. The Labour shadow cabinet has several members who have been described as progressive realists. David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, and Jonathan Reynolds are three shadow ministers who strike me as visionary and talented. Labour has ditched neoliberalism and regards fairness as a policy goal.

One way or another, Britain will begin to get relief by next weekend. Though the worse the defeat is for the Conservatives, the greater the public repudiation for the past 14 years of misrule. So every vote in every constituency is essential.

In addition to giving Labour a big majority, it would be nice to see the Liberal Democrats pushing the Conservatives down into third place in Parliament. That's more than just symbolic because the Lib Dems would then become the official opposition and the Tory successor to Sunak the Wet would be more limited with regard to power in Parliament – including number of questions allowed at the weekly Prime Minister's Question Time.

[qidynamics]

“It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

“That’s not a 501(c)(3) activity.”

A network of ultrawealthy Christian donors is spending nearly $12 million to mobilize Republican-leaning voters and purge more than a million people from the rolls in key swing states, aiming to tilt the 2024 election in favor of former President Donald Trump.

These previously unreported plans are the work of a group named Ziklag, a little-known charity whose donors have included some of the wealthiest conservative Christian families in the nation, including the billionaire Uihlein family, who made a fortune in office supplies, the Greens, who run Hobby Lobby, and the Wallers, who own the Jockey apparel corporation. Recipients of Ziklag’s largesse include Alliance Defending Freedom, which is the Christian legal group that led the overturning of Roe v. Wade, plus the national pro-Trump group Turning Point USA and a constellation of right-of-center advocacy groups.

EXCERPTS:

“We are in a spiritual battle and locked in a terrible conflict with the powers of darkness,” says a strategy document that lays out Ziklag’s 30-year vision to “redirect the trajectory of American culture toward Christ by bringing back Biblical structure, order and truth to our Nation.”

Ziklag was the brainchild of a Silicon Valley entrepreneur named Ken Eldred. It emerged from a previous organization founded by Eldred called United In Purpose, which aimed to get more Christians active in the civic arena, according to Bill Dallas, the group’s former director. United In Purpose generated attention in June 2016 when it organized a major meeting between then-candidate Trump and hundreds of evangelical leaders.

After Trump was elected in 2016, Eldred had an idea, according to Dallas. “He says, ‘I want all the wealthy Christian people to come together,’” Dallas recalled in an interview. Eldred told Dallas that he wanted to create a donor network like the one created by Charles and David Koch but for Christians.

The group’s stature grew after Trump took office. Vice President Mike Pence appeared at a Ziklag event, as did former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz, then-Rep. Mark Meadows and other members of Congress. In its private newsletter, Ziklag claims that a coalition of groups it assembled played “a hugely significant role in the selection, hearings and confirmation process” of Amy Coney Barrett for a Supreme Court seat in late 2020.

The Christian nationalism movement has a variety of aims and tenets, according to the Public Religion Research Institute: that the U.S. government “should declare America a Christian nation”; that American laws “should be based on Christian values”; that the U.S. will cease to exist as a nation if it “moves away from our Christian foundations”; that being Christian is essential to being American; and that God has “called Christians to exercise dominion over all areas of American society.”

The Seven Mountains theology embraces a different, less democratic approach to gaining power. “If the Moral Majority is about galvanizing the voters, the Seven Mountains is a revolutionary model: You need to conquer these mountains and let change flow down from the top,” said Matthew Taylor, a senior scholar at the Institute for Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies and an expert on Christian nationalism. “It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

A driving force behind Ziklag’s efforts is Lance Wallnau, a prominent Christian evangelist and influencer based in Texas who is described by Ziklag as a “Seven Mountains visionary & advisor.” He was one of the earliest evangelical leaders to endorse Trump in 2015 and later published a book titled “God’s Chaos Candidate: Donald J. Trump and the American Unraveling.”

One key document says that “the biblical role of government is to promote good and punish evil” and that “the word of God and prayer play a significant role in policy decisions.”

Other internal Ziklag documents voice strong opposition to same-sex marriage and transgender rights. One reads: “transgender acceptance = Final sign before imminent collapse.”

A prominent conservative getting money from Ziklag is Cleta Mitchell, a lawyer and Trump ally who joined the January 2021 phone call when then-President Trump asked Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” enough votes to flip Georgia in Trump’s favor.

Mitchell now leads a network of “election integrity” coalitions in swing states that have spent the last three years advocating for changes to voting rules and how elections are run. According to one internal newsletter, Ziklag was an early funder of Mitchell’s post-2020 “election integrity” activism, which voting-rights experts have criticized for stoking unfounded fears about voter fraud and seeking to unfairly remove people from voting rolls. In 2022, Ziklag donated $600,000 to the Conservative Partnership Institute, which in turn funds Mitchell’s election-integrity work. Internal Ziklag documents show that it provided funding to enable Mitchell to set up election integrity infrastructure in Florida, North Carolina and Wisconsin.

EagleAI, which has claimed to use artificial intelligence to automate and speed up the process of challenging ineligible voters.

Now Mitchell is promoting a tool called EagleAI, which has claimed to use artificial intelligence to automate and speed up the process of challenging ineligible voters. EagleAI is already being used to mount mass challenges to the eligibility of hundreds of thousands of voters in competitive states, and, with Ziklag’s help, the group plans to ramp up those efforts.

According to an internal video, Ziklag plans to invest $800,000 in “EagleAI’s clean the rolls project,” which would be one of the largest known donations to the group.

Operation Checkmate

Ziklag lists two key objectives for Operation Checkmate: “Secure 10,640 additional unique votes in Arizona (mirroring the 2020 margin of 10,447 votes), and remove up to one million ineligible registrations and around 280,000 ineligible voters in Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and Wisconsin.”

In a recording of an internal Zoom call, Ziklag’s Mark Bourgeois stressed the electoral value of targeting Arizona. “I care about Maricopa County,” Bourgeois said at one point, referring to Arizona’s largest county, which Biden won four years ago. “That’s how we win.”

Targeting Transgender

Operation Watchtower

For Operation Watchtower, Wallnau explained in a members-only video that transgender policy was a “wedge issue” that could be decisive in turning out voters tired of hearing about Trump.

The left had won the battle over the “homosexual issue,” Wallnau said. “But on transgenderism, there’s a problem and they know it.” He continued: “They’re gonna wanna talk about Trump, Trump, Trump. … Meanwhile, if we talk about ‘It’s not about Trump. It’s about parents and their children, and the state is a threat,’” that could be the “target on the forehead of Goliath.”

As preacher and activist John Amanchukwu said at a Ziklag event, “We need a church that’s willing to do anything and everything to get to the point where we reclaim that which was stolen from us.”

“I am troubled about a tax-exempt charitable organization that’s set up and its main operation seems to be to get people to win office,” said Phil Hackney, a professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh and an expert on tax-exempt organizations.

“They’re planning an election effort,” said Marcus Owens, a tax lawyer at Loeb and Loeb and a former director of the IRS’ exempt organizations division. “That’s not a 501(c)(3) activity.”

“It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

“It’s an outlined program for Christian supremacy."

[foxloft]

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[thepopculturearchivist]

Megalopolis (2024)

Imagine The Fountainhead rewritten by Norman Mailer and I think you'll get some idea of what Coppola is trying to say here -- but that doesn't make his film any more successful. He's been pondering this project for something like forty years, and after a certain point the meaning for him of some elements of the story, both narrative and visual, apparently became increasingly difficult to translate for a general audience. The sci-fi elements, apparently necessary to justify the title's amplification of Metropolis, only add to the muddle and at worst inspire visionary scenes of truly shocking banality. The importance of time to different characters seems especially confused, though Mailer, author of a story called "The Time of Her Time," may help us here again. The main Maileresque vibe I get from the film is its critique of a liberal establishment (represented by Mayor Cicero) that becomes conservative in its preoccupation with safety when, in Mailer's if not Coppola's view, risks need to be taken. In a way it's that establishment that wants to stop time, so it seems odd that the revolutionary visionary Catalina has that power. Meanwhile, Julia's immunity to the time stops, presumably a superpower, leaves Catalina strangely uncurious. That's one example of there being more going on in Coppola's head then he managed to get on film. In his eighties his grasp no longer matches his reach -- and I think he knows this. He's come off as more of an egomaniac than ever lately, yet Megalopolis is a work of self-criticism as much as it's anything else, or at least an expression of regret for waiting so long to make it. How else can you interpret his naming of the complacent, scared, reactionary authority figure Francis?

***

On an unrelated note, Jon Voight is either a really good sport or clueless in his old age. Willing as he probably is to lick Donald Trump's shoes, he contributes arguably the most effective caricature of the man, intentional on anyone's part or not, yet put on film.

[zerogate]

At the time, [Ian] Stevenson was Chair of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia Medical School. During his more than half-century at the University of Virginia, Stevenson carried out pioneering work in the empirical investigation of the mind-body connection, focusing on phenomena suggesting that contemporary scientific hypotheses concerning the nature of mind, and the mind’s relation to matter, may be seriously incomplete.

Stevenson authored a dozen books and more than two hundred scientific publications related to this work. Stevenson was a meticulous scientist and conservative in his interpretation of data. At the same time, he was a true visionary, and courageous in his study of phenomena that lie outside the current scientific mainstream. Under Stevenson’s leadership, DOPS became the largest and longest-running university-based group in the United States devoted exclusively to empirical investigation of phenomena that are not easily encompassed by the current paradigm in the biophysical sciences for understanding the mind. This paradigm maintains that consciousness is entirely generated by, or emerges from, the physical processes of the brain and body, and can in no way be more than that.

[...]

In 1975, Stevenson began a four-volume series of books called Cases of the Reincarnation Type. The different volumes included carefully documented cases from India, Sri Lanka, Lebanon and Turkey, and Thailand and Burma. When the first volume was published, the book review editor of JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, wrote: “In regard to reincarnation he has painstakingly and unemotionally collected a detailed series of cases from India, cases in which the evidence is difficult to explain on any other grounds.”

[...]

Over the years, Stevenson studied cases of children born with birthmarks or defects that corresponded to wounds (usually the fatal wounds) suffered by the deceased individuals whose lives the children appeared to remember. He went to great lengths to verify that the birthmarks or birth defects did in fact match the previous wounds. He always tried to obtain autopsy reports if they were available, along with medical records or police reports. If no written records were available, he would elicit eyewitness testimony about the wounds.

For many years, he put off publishing reports as his collection continued to grow. Finally, in 1997, Stevenson produced Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiology of Birthmarks and Birth Defects, a 2,200-page, two-volume collection of over two hundred such cases.

He also wrote a shorter synopsis of that work, entitled Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect. In these books, he included numerous pictures of birthmarks and defects that were often highly unusual. The cases included a girl born with markedly malformed fingers who remembered the life of a man whose fingers were chopped off; a boy with only stubs for fingers on his right hand who remembered the life of a boy in another village who lost the fingers of his right hand in a fodder-chopping machine; and a girl who remembered the life of a man who underwent skull surgery. She had what Stevenson called the most extraordinary birthmark he had ever seen: a three-centimeter wide area of pale, scar-like tissue that extended around her entire head.

He reported that in eighteen cases in which the previous person was shot, the child was born with double birthmarks, ones corresponding to both the entrance and the exit wound on the previous person’s body.

-- David E. Presti (ed.), Mind Beyond Brain: Buddhism, Science, and the Paranormal