#Misconception About Open Systems

[solxamber]

Hiii!! first time requesting and I absolutely love your white rabbit and angel one, but what about a jellyfish mc with the octavinelle trio and diasomnia group? Where their head empty an airhead but is actually really smart but gets distracted easily.

Octavinelle + Diasomnia with Airhead! Jellyfish! Reader

Azul Ashengrotto

Azul was prepared for almost anything—except you. At first, your airheaded nature confounded him. You’d stare blankly into space during conversations, occasionally blurting out unrelated thoughts like, “Do you think stars get lonely?” or “What’s the difference between squid ink and octopus ink?”

To Azul, you seemed like an easy mark. Someone too scattered to notice loopholes in contracts or the fine print. But the first time he tried to rope you into a deal, you stared at the contract for an uncomfortably long time, then pointed out five contradictory clauses and suggested a more efficient way to write it.

Azul had never been so humiliated yet so intrigued. How could someone so spacey also be so sharp? He began inviting you to the Mostro Lounge under the guise of needing “assistance,” but it was just an excuse to pick your brain.

He’d grumble when you got distracted mid-conversation to follow a particularly shiny object, but he found himself watching you with a mix of exasperation and fondness. Your unconventional intelligence challenged him, and your whimsical nature softened the edges of his ambition.

Jade Leech

Jade found your airheadedness endlessly entertaining. At first, he mistook it for naivety, but when you casually corrected one of his mushroom classifications while admiring a random shell, he realized there was much more to you.

You fascinated him. The way your attention flitted from one thing to another like a butterfly, yet you still managed to come up with solutions to problems no one else could. Jade often tested your intelligence by subtly steering conversations into complex topics, only for you to surprise him with insightful answers delivered in the most absentminded tone.

“Jade, did you know the anglerfish has a symbiotic relationship with bacteria for its light?” you’d say, staring off into the distance. And just like that, Jade’s carefully laid plan to throw you off would unravel.

He enjoyed the unpredictability you brought into his life. Your head-empty demeanor paired with startling intelligence kept him on his toes, and he wouldn’t trade it for anything.

Floyd Leech

“Oh, Shrimpy’s got no brain cells, huh?” That was Floyd’s first impression of you, and for a while, he treated you like his personal amusement. He’d throw random questions your way just to see what absurd answer you’d come up with.

But the day you absentmindedly explained the physics behind the Mostro Lounge’s faulty pipe system and how to fix it? Floyd was floored. His mouth hung open for a good five seconds before he burst out laughing. “You’re a sneaky little jellyfish, aren’t ya?”

From then on, Floyd decided you were his favorite. He’d sling an arm around your shoulders and drag you around, showing you off like his prize catch. “Shrimpy’s dumb-smart,” he’d declare to anyone who’d listen, grinning ear to ear.

He loved how unpredictable you were, never knowing if you’d say something brilliant or completely off-the-wall. Floyd thrived on chaos, and you were the perfect mix of calm airhead and hidden genius to keep him entertained. He might tease you endlessly, but deep down, he adored you for being unapologetically yourself.

Malleus Draconia

When Malleus first met you, he found your airheaded nature oddly calming. Unlike others, you didn’t seem intimidated by his presence. Instead, you’d blink at him in wide-eyed wonder before blurting out random thoughts like, “If dragons hoard treasure, do they also have snack stashes?”

At first, Malleus assumed your absentmindedness was due to a lack of understanding. But during one of your meandering conversations, you casually corrected his misconceptions about a historical event—one even he hadn't noticed. He realized you weren’t just carefree; you were deeply knowledgeable in your own peculiar way.

Your ability to switch between whimsical musings and sharp observations fascinated him. He found himself seeking you out for your unique perspective, even if you occasionally got distracted by a passing butterfly mid-discussion.

“Child of Man, you are quite… unique,” he’d say with a soft smile, finding solace in your unorthodox approach to life.

Lilia Vanrouge

Lilia thought you were adorable. Your head-empty demeanor reminded him of the carefree youths he’d seen in his centuries of life. He’d often pop out of nowhere to startle you, laughing when you gasped and then immediately got distracted by a question like, “Why is it called a jump scare if I didn’t jump?”

But it didn’t take long for Lilia to notice the flashes of brilliance hidden behind your seemingly aimless chatter. You’d drop profound insights into conversations as if they were afterthoughts, leaving him pleasantly surprised.

“Oh-ho! You’re sharper than you let on, aren’t you?” he’d tease, ruffling your hair affectionately.

He loved how unpredictable you were, and he often encouraged your tangents just to see where your mind would wander. To Lilia, you were a delightful enigma—one that made his long life all the more entertaining.

Silver

Silver appreciates your calm presence, even if he sometimes struggled to keep up with your wandering thoughts. He’d sit quietly as you mused about the stars or wondered if birds dream, finding your voice soothing no matter how odd the topic.

He initially thought you were simply a kind but scatterbrained individual. However, when you offhandedly helped him improve his sword stance with an unexpectedly insightful comment, he realized there was more to you than met the eye.

“You notice things most people overlook,” he said, his tone soft with admiration. From then on, he started paying closer attention to your words, knowing they often carried hidden wisdom.

Silver respected your unique way of thinking and found comfort in your presence, even when you got distracted mid-sentence. To him, you were a gentle yet brilliant soul, someone who brought unexpected light into his life.

Sebek Zigvolt

Sebek was baffled by you. At first, he couldn’t fathom how someone so easily distracted could survive at Night Raven College, much less so many Overblots. He’d often lecture you, only for you to nod absentmindedly and then ask something completely unrelated, like, “Do crocodiles ever get lonely?”

It drove him up the wall. He thought you lacked focus, which was unacceptable to him. But then, during a heated argument about magical theory, you calmly pointed out a flaw in his reasoning that left him speechless.

Sebek stared at you, wide-eyed, before clearing his throat and crossing his arms. “Hmph! I see you’re not as oblivious as you appear,” he muttered, trying to mask his begrudging respect.

Despite his initial frustrations, Sebek grew to admire your hidden intelligence. He’d still scold you for your airheaded tendencies, but deep down, he appreciated your unique perspective and the unexpected wisdom you brought to the table.

Masterlist

[windvexer]

What counts as a spell? Is intent all you need or do you have to do something before to get it all juicy and stuff.

Hi Anon! What a fun question, because there is no answer except this CAN OF WORMS you just opened.

There is no consensus anywhere as to what constitutes a "spell."

There is even LESS consensus as to what makes a spell go.

Intent is a good starting place. It is probably where you should start for all acts of practical magic.

But I find that in it's common form, the idea of intent + willpower = magic has been diluted past the point of utility for most people.

Like if we're talking about "intent is everything" I'm reminded most closely of Chaos Magic. But Chaos Magic is not a school of "just set your intent and you've worked magic!". It's a very rigorously developed system.

In Hine's Condensed Chaos, he lists the third Core Principal of Chaos magic as technical excellence, and I quote:

One of the early misconceptions about Chaos Magic was that it gave practitioners carte blanche to do whatever they liked, and so become sloppy (or worse, soggy) in their attitudes to self-assessment, analysis, etc. Not so. The Chaos approach has always advocated rigorous self-assessment and analysis, emphasized practice at what techniques you're experimenting with until you get the results you desire. Learning to 'do' magic requires that you develop a set of skills and abilities and if you're going to get involved in all this weird stuff, why not do it to the best of your ability?

Later in the book, Hine likens "magical powers" to the concept of achievements, and goes on to say:

Something which is an achievement is the result of practice, discipline, and patience.

Shortly after:

Chaos Magic is not about discarding all rules and restraints, but the process of discovering the most effective guidelines and disciplines which enable you to effect change in the world.

(In above quotes, all emphasis my own)

But these ideas get taken - and I'll give a big nod to the LOA which is just the worst kind of brainrot for encouraging the "intent is all that matters" mindset - and the ideas get diluted so much that people are literally out here saying, "so all those people who spend years studying magic in order to get results are buffoons? All I have to do is imagine what I want and it will be delivered to me? All humans since the start of history just have to decide they want something and it will happen in a miraculous manner?"

(Not you, Anon. I'm just in a mood)

In my mind, yes - something beyond intent must occur in order to make spells go.

But what?

Anon, have you ever heard that dumb belief floating around that all herbs in a spell can be replaced by rosemary, and all stones in a spell can be replaced by clear quartz, and these two things are "universal substitutes"?

I am 95% sure that this nonsense was based on two very popular dictionaries Cunningham wrote in the 80s, the Encyclopedia of Crystal, Gem & Metal Magic, and Encyclopedia of Magical Herbs.

In the very long entry for Clear Quartz:

Quartz crystal is used as a power amplifier during magic. It is worn or placed on the altar for this purpose.

And from Rosemary:

Rosemary is generally used as a substitute for frankincense.

And I believe that someone somewhere got the idea that since clear quartz amplifies all other powers, it therefore somehow magically Ditto-copies all other powers, and like a shapeshifter somehow becomes something it is not nor ever was.

And, you know. What's the difference between subbing out frankincense and blackthorn between friends?

These beliefs have become so popular that sometimes when unscrupulous blogs rip off entire Cunningham encyclopedia entries and paste them into tumblr posts (without credit), THEY INCLUDE THE EXTRA MADE-UP BIT ABOUT ROSEMARY BEING A UNIVERSAL SUBSTITUTE.

Anon, your question is "is it just intent or do we need other stuff to make it go," but sadly,

IMO common beliefs about the stuff that makes spells go have also been diluted past the point of utility for most people.

Because if I sat here and said, "hey Anon, it's not just intent, you also have to use correspondences ^-^/" then the very first thing you are likely to run into is absolute nonsense about correspondences. IMO, effective utilization of correspondences is a skillset based in research, theory, and technique.

Or if I said, "you also have to raise energy! 👍", this may be mistaken to mean, "set intent but also visualize white light inside of a candle," because the concept of raising energy and visualizing has been (IMO) diluted past the point of utility for most people. I believe that effective utilization of energy work is a song composed of many notes and chords, several of which you must practice before you can utilize it.

And to complicate all of this, which non-diluted things in which combinations you need to make the spell go depends on what paradigm you operate off of, because while there are approximately one billion ways to do magic that works, my currently very dim worldview is that most people who are talking about magic are doing magic that doesn't work,

and in my opinion the actual basis and reasoning, like the rationality behind the magical systems is really important. Because you need that shit to understand what it is within that system that makes the spell go.

And you need to understand what makes the spell go to make the system fit into your life without breaking it, and in order to troubleshoot problems without making things crumble further.

Because when people don't understand the basis and reasoning you end up with "rosemary is a universal substitute" and "imagining white light makes the spell go."

There are a few circumstances where you can totally strip technique from theory and be successful, but there are also a hell of a lot of people out here feeling shit about their practice because their spells never seem to work.

So.

I really just recommend choosing what school of magic you would like to learn about and participate in, and reading an introductory book on it.

This is because it is the job of introductory books to explain the principles and theories behind a system of magic, and most importantly, what makes the magic go, and a step-by-step primer on what you, the practitioner, are supposed to do to make that kind of magic go.

Despite above rambles I'm really not a Chaote, so I can't recommend a strong primer. As far as I'm aware, Liber Null & Psychonaut by Peter J. Carroll is a core text.

For Traditional Witchcraft, try The Crooked Path by Kelden.

For something more Wiccan, I can't recall having anything bad to say about Psychic Witch by Mat Auryn.

If either of these things are too Witchcrafty for you, try Six Ways by Aidan Wachter, which is still witchcraft, but it hits different.

For a general primer on helping your spells go, try Elements of Spellcrafting by Jason Miller.

[thegnomelord]

The option c of demon hunter and demon ghost getting married by mistake remind me od a movie on netflix i watched before

A cop pick up a red envelope on ground making him doomed to either marry ghost of dude or back luck forever so he end up going through marriage ritual to get rid of bad luck and all pf a sudden BOOM ghost dude stuck to him all time it was not a joke he married man but both of em didn't want it and big misconception happend in ritual ( basically they ask ghost if they like chosen groom using rocks ghost can move and rock accidentally moved a bit much so went from no to yes ) it was hilarious plot

Dude YES that's the exact type of misunderstanding that I was talking about. Like the worshippers are going like "oh prince of darkness do you desire a sacrifice?" while Ghost is invisible and just having a laugh at these foolish humans, when they don't get a response they go "Do you wish for a bride?" and Ghost just accidentally knocks a candle down with his tail or bumps his dump truck ass into a door making it close.

So the followers just shrug their shoulders and go find the first person to be Ghost's bride, aka the homicidal demon hunter that is the reader, and promptly 'wed' them through a ritual they got off bing and instead of giving your soul to Ghost, it instead binds you two together.

The ritual forces Ghost to appear right in front of you, and with the adrenaline rushing through your system you blindly throw a punch in Ghost's face your arm gives out mid way through as if denying you the violence you want to commit and instead you end up gently caressing the demonic skull that is his face.

Ghost tries to use his claws to slash your throat open, but the same happens to him and he ends up gently cupping your head like a lover would, neither of you able to hurt the other.

And both of you are just like HUH?????

[dcdreamblog]

How many types of kryptonite are there? I know this isn't quite history, but you seem incredibly knowledgeable and there so much misinformation. The wiki page is constantly vandalized, people making nonsense up; crazy stuff like plaid kryptonite ruins Kryptonian fashion sense and then it's cleaned up and locked. Even when it seems normal it gets messed up. Someone once edited blue kryptonite from "only hurts Bizarros" to "only hurts Bizarros, will mutate normal people into Bizarros and then hurt them"

Ah yes, the green stuff. So in the public imagination, seemingly omnipresent despite the fact that there's never been enough of it in one place for study to fill a gym locker. Yes, I would like to set this particular record straight because for god's sake I'm sure Superman would to.

(A brochure of the 6 types of Kryptonite on display at the opening of Metropolis' Superman Museum)

So, groundwork for those of you who may not know. Kryptonite is a radioactive element that was created when Superman's home planet Krypton detonated due to a chain reaction in its unstable core. The detonation irradiated the planet's crust and mantle as they were flung outward into space and various aspects either of that radiation or the material irradiated formed it into different kinds of kryptonite each manifesting a unique form or effect.

To cover up the first and biggest misconception. No it is not "everywhere", nor is it actually that common.

The amount of Kryptonite, all told that exists on Earth at this point in time is theorized by STAR Labs to be less than 10 tons. Which sounds like a lot but is less than what 2 elephants weigh.

Krypton was a large planet, larger than Earth by orders of magnitude and even then the amount of Kryptonite that would have naturally made its way to Earth probably wouldn't have fit in a coffee cup. Most of that weight hitched a ride on the warp engine the brought baby Superman to Earth and all of the exotic stuff has been brought here intentionally by alien villains and gotten lost or confiscated.

There are 5 "Core" varieties, two that have been seen in a few prominent instances and a few that are know to theoretically exist

About 95% of the Kryptonite mass on Earth and the universe is standard Green Kryptonite, made up of the standard, stable earth elements flung outward in Krypton's explosion. Metal, stone, etc. It is radioactive, giving off "K Radiation" that is highly damaging to the solar energy held within Kryptonian cells. It causes weakness, fatigue and a weakening of Kryptonian powers and over prolonged exposure can be lethal.

Misconceptions Debunked: It is still radioactive, if you keep it around you WILL get cancer. No, Superman is not instantly helpless to it. Better men than you have tried. No, technically it is not illegal to own but unless you own a mid sized country you can't afford any and none is legally for sale anyway, G Gordon and Alex Jones lied to you.

The next 4% of Kryptonite mass is Red Kryptonite formed by the already radioactive elements within Krypton when it exploded. Uranium, Plutonium, etc. The mingling radiations created a truly dangerous and unpredictable material that has wildly mutagenic effects on a Kryptonian exposed to it. Literally anything can happen, good, bad or indifferent. The same chunk also cannot effect the same Kryptonian twice. It's theorized that once the mutation is corrected for, the hyper effective Kryptonian immune system is able to stamp it out if it ever crops up again.

Misconceptions Debunked: This one is even MORE radioactive, it will kill you FASTER. Yes, all of the stories you have heard are true. Yes, even that one.

The final 1% of natural Kryptonite mass is Gold Kryptonite formed when standard Green and Red K, still molten from Krypton's explosion, collided, alloying together. It causes a chain reaction that destroyed the Kryptonian ability to metabolize solar energy, destroying their powers. Permanently.

Misconceptions Debunked: This one is the MOST radioactive, time until lethal radiation poisoning at arms length is lower than the elephant's foot under Chernobyl. Every single ounce of this stuff is accounted for, we know how much of it is on earth down to MICROGRAM and where every one of those micrograms is at every second of every day.

The final of the varities that exist in any quantity are artificial or do not exist on Earth in any permanent amount.

Blue Kryptonite was created to ward off Bizarro, only Superman know how to or has the resources to create it. Only a single sample of it exists for study and use in emergencies, all extras made in those emergencies are destroyed for the sake of them not being used against the Bizarro race accidentally or on purpose

White Kryptonite is lethal to all plant life on any world due to is radiation basically melting Chloroplast it has only been seen in a single large meteorite that Superman averted, no one knows for sure what he did with it and most people do not want to.

Jewel Kryptonite is formed only from the shards of Krypton's Jewel Mountains it has some ability to manifest connection to the mysterious Phantom Zone. Because of this security risk it is not allowed to exist once discovered. All other varieties quickly listed below are either fictional, theoretical or have never been studied because they existed for times measured in minutes or less.

Black Kryptonite: Causes violent psychosis in Kryptonians, created on Apokolips.

Artificial Kryptonite: You would have better luck atomically turning air into gold bars but yes, we do know what it's made up of so we could theoretically make some.

Silver Kryptonite: Might exist in the form of magically altered artifacts? Historicity unclear.

Pink Kryptonite: In your AO3 fanfics only, you know who you are.

Kryptisium: ULTRA theoretical, would allow for the increased absorption of solar radiation. The creation of this material is a green energy holy grail and the main reason Kryptonite is actually studied.

Slow Kryptonite: Some dingbat artificially decreased Kryptonite's atomic mass. To "effect humans the way K effects Kryptonians". What he had done was "invent" Plutonium.

Anti-Kryptonite: Kryptonite from the Antimatter realities. Does not exist for very long for obvious reasons.

Blood Kryptonite: You are in a cult, please, grieve and move on. Its what your loved one would want.

Looks up

If that is not the whole shebang I don't wanna know what is.

[letaot-ze-magniv]

Infodump on birds in Israel? 👁️👁️ Pls go on

General guide to birds in Israel

This post is going to be very long

Level 1- really common ones

Hooded crow/o-rev a-for (gray crow)

These big boys are the most common birds in Israel. You can find them everywhere, especially in urban areas. They’re quite big, the average crow is 40-50 cm long with a wingspan of 1m. (That’s bigger then a pigeon).

Like all corvids, they are incredibly intelligent. They have an excellent memory, can recognise specific humans and pass on information through generations. They are fond of shiny things, have funerals, an understanding of games and a justice system. They can use tools and have a taste for peanuts and grapes.

Laughing dove/tzo-tze-let/yo-na

These are the second most common birds in Israel, and they’re also an invasive species. The vast majority of people call them “yona” and if you say “tzotzelet wont know what you mean. You can find them everywhere, especially in cities.

This is an invasive species, and is commonly thought of as the first invasive species in Israel. It was brought over by Muslims during the Ottoman occupation and has lived here since.

Domestic pigeon/yo-nat ha-Ba-it (house dove)/yo-na

Like the tzotzelet, most people call this bird “yona” too. That leads to the misconception that they’re the same species and confusion between the two. This pigeon is also extremely common, and you can find it in all urban spaces in Israel.

Feathering mutations are widespread among domestic pigeons, and they can also look like this:

House Sparrows/ dror ha-ba-it/dror

On the left, a female, on the right is a male. This birds are tiny and common and very cute. Can be found in all areas of Israel. They like eating small seeds and bugs, and you can feed them bread.

Monk parakeet/ tu-ki ne-zi-ri (commonly known as tu-ki)

They’re green, adorable, can speak, and you guessed it, are invasive! Like the maynas, monk parakeets were introduced to Israel in the 90s after they escaped the Tzafari. You can find them in all parts of Israel except the Negev, and they’re especially common in Tel aviv and it’s neighbouring cities. Monk parakeets are often confused with rose-ringed parakeets as they’re the only green birds in Israel.

Rose ringed parakeets/da-ra-ra

Above is the male, below is the female. Like monk parakeets, dararas are also an invasive species. I thought they were introduced in the 90s, but apparently they were introduced in the 1860s because they were kept as pets. Like monk parakeets, they can be found in all areas of Israel that aren’t deserts. It’s hard to tell them apart from monk parakeets if you can’t see their chests.

Eurasian Jackdaw/kak

Yet another corvid! Like all other corvids, jackdaws are extremely intelligent, have an understanding of death, can use tools, and so on. Jackdaws are unique in that they also have an understanding of monogamy and privacy around mating! They prefer to mate away from their murder (is murder what you call a flock of any corvid or is that exclusive to ravens?) and they also kill their ill. They can be found in all areas hooded crows are, but aren’t as common. Its possible to confuse them for a hooded crow, but they’re smaller and darker.

Hopoe/du-khi-fat

This lil girl isn’t extremely common, but it’s the national bird and is adorable so I HAD to include it. Hopoes tend to live near sources of water, and you can find them in coastal areas. There used to be more of them but sadly deforestation and invasive species hurt the population. They have a floofy feather thingy on their head that they can open and close and that’s adorable!

I’ll make a part 2 now about somewhat uncommon birds

If anyone is interested in learning more about the birds of Israel, I highly recommend אתר הצפרות הישראלי. They have detailed descriptions of the birds, they include scientific Hebrew and Arabic names, they have a map that shows you how common each bird is in what part of Israel, AND THEY HAVE RECORDINGS OF THE BIRD CALLS

They also have a page for every bird that was ever spotted in Israel, even if it was only once. Don’t ask me what they define as Israel, because I’ve wondered about it too and I don’t know

[thaltro]

this ask is a free pass to talk abt did/osdd as much as you want 👍

I love these free passes..thank you..please give me more 🫶🏽

Spending my pass on a rant about the online perception of DID/OSDD

One thing I find interesting is the concept of fake claiming and how that’s affected the community. In 2020 there was a large increase in mental health “awareness” online- mass vague posting of common symptoms and connecting it to larger disorders. This eventually lead to a lot of people misdiagnosing themselves with DID/OSDD. And Contrary to popular belief, I actually think most misdiagnosing was in good faith- younger teens for the first time connecting to disassociation, maladaptive day dreaming, emotional swings, PTSD, and derealization- and genuinely believing they had it. It’s more likely they had more common disorders like maybe Bpd, DDD, depression, psychosis- because there is a huge overlap in symptoms. (It’s also important to note it was also a huge awakening for actual systems too- because I’m definitely not saying everyone who had did/osdd in 2020 was misdiagnosed, in a lot of cases people were right!)

Buttttt

The internets reaction to this wasn’t with reeducation or kindness or even respectful criticism- it created a whole list of “faking signs”. I personally think the people who misdiagnosed themselves harmed the community much less then the people pushing for constant fakeclaiming. And now these arbitrary concepts plague actual systems pushing them into a deeper denial and opening them up to waves of unwanted harassment. Like ok, here’s some common misconceptions you’ll see (all the ones I’m listing are just bullshit and are contradicted with actual medical research)

-Systems can’t have fictives

-Systems can’t unmask

-Systems can’t have littles

-Systems can’t have factives

-Systems can’t have internal relationships

-Systems can’t have high amnesia

-Systems can’t have rapid switches

-Systems can’t have faceclaims or go by different genders/sexualities

ALL OF THIS IS BULLSHIT! None of these actually are backed up with medical research! And the worst part is I see groups of people just harass normal systems who show these normal symptoms and constantly fakeclaim them. I see cringe compilations, r/fake disorder cringe, tik toks, and video essays just spewing this nonsensical shit and it genuinely hurts. (It’s SO ANNOYING when they say shit like “people who do this hurt actual systems” YOUR HURTING ACTUAL SYSTEMS SHUT UP 😭) but Yes I do think there are people out their who do fake this disorder and use it to hurt and manipulate people. But I don’t think that’s the majority of misdiagnosed people. Even if someone was wrong I think it’s safer to just ignore them then to spread misinformation about DID/OSDD and encourage the possible harm onto genuine systems. (Also being wrong and admitting you are wrong is fine)

But yeah I’ll end my rant by saying If you support this weird online fakeclaiming witch hunts then I don’t want to associate with you. And to the self diagnosed systems or suspecting systems, it’s incredibly hard being in that position- harassment is almost guaranteed online and that sucks. Self diagnosis is valid especially if you can’t afford DID specialists- however with that statement If you do self diagnosis its necessary to do research. Don’t look at plural pedia or random websites- I recommend reading the DSM and The haunted self (it explains the fundamentals of structural dissociation)

PDF for the actual book ^^ (it’s also good for self diagnosed systems because it can help you weed out any other possible disorder overlap with BPD and PTSD)

But yeah 🙁 sorry for the rant I’m just really frustrated with the current climate of the internet especially for systems.

[winnerkirkwood]

Have you been wondering about what Indycar is all about? Been hearing that it’s super fun, but haven’t known where to start? Heard that a new season is starting soon (March 2nd) and want to jump on the bandwagon? Well, here's a primer for the 2025 season.

A lot of the information is a conglomerate of this primer and this primer, with some updates for the 2025 season! Check out both of those primers for more details!

What is Indycar?

Indycar is North America’s premier open wheel racing series. It’s been around for at least 100 years, making it one of the oldest forms of motorsport. There are 17 races, running on Ovals, Street Courses, and Permanent Road Courses. There are 11 teams and 27 cars on the grid. 

Indycar is based in Indianapolis, and its most important (and popular) race is the Indy 500. 

The Indycar Chassis

Every team uses the DW12. There have been a number of adjustments over the years, like the aeroscreen and the hybrid engine. Even though every team uses the same chassis, teams develop dampers, set ups, etc. This means that there is close racing but the teams can still innovate. There is no power steering, which makes racing physically difficult for the drivers.

Teams do not have the same livery, which means that two cars from the same team can look very different. The same cars might also switch liveries throughout the season. It’s very confusing at first, but the commentators are usually pretty good at knowing who is who, and you get better at remembering which teams run which liveries as you keep watching. Spotters guides are released before each race, and they can be very helpful for familiarizing yourself with liveries

Common Misconceptions and Facts you should know

Indycar runs on a variety of different tracks: Ovals, Street Courses, and Permanent Road Courses. They all require different strengths, and the oval especially will require different set ups from the car. It is split pretty equally between these three types of tracks across a season. If you’ve never watched Oval racing, give it a try.

There are currently two engine manufacturers: Honda and Chevrolet

Push to Pass: 200 seconds of extra horsepower per race, which are used to pass someone or defend from a pass.

Pit Stops are longer than F1’s: less people go over the wall, and Indycars refuel midrace. This means that there is more strategy variance during races. 

Indycar has a very different culture than F1. This is because of several reasons (less pressure from the press, most drivers living in the same city, living in motorhomes every race weekend). People are friends, people say sarcastic shit, and it’s chill. 

Qualifying

There are three rounds: Round 1, the Fast 12, and the Fast 6.

Round 1 is split into two groups randomly, in order to give the cars enough room to do their qualifying lap. The top 6 from each group move onto the fast 12. The top 6 from that group move on the the fast 6, where the pole winner is decided.

(if this sounds confusing to you, it is much more clear when qualifying is happening!)

Ovals have a different qualifying procedure. Cars go one at a time, run two laps, and those two laps are averaged together. Fastest gets pole. 

The Indy 500 has its own qualifying procedure. It’s an average of four laps, and there are only 33 spots, so if 34 drivers want to race, one has to get cut

If you cause a red flag, you cannot move on to the next round and your top two laps do not count. This is so that people do not purposely cause a red flag. 

The Charter System

The charter system will be implemented in the 2025 season. There are 25 chartered cars that are guaranteed to start each race. Prema has two unchartered cars, which means that if Prema qualifies last, they will not start in the race.

Championship

Points are based on where the driver finishes in the race. 50 points are awarded to the winner, with 2nd place getting 40 points and 3rd place getting 35 points, and so on. The lower you finish, the less points you score. A pole award gets 1 point, and if you lead a lap you get 1 point. There are certain other intricacies in the points system, but what you need to know is that generally consistency over time is rewarded more than winning a race. 

The championship winner gets the Astor Cup. 

Indy 500

The Indy 500 is special. 2025 will be the 109th running of the Indy 500, and it is the largest non-religious single day event in the world. It is by far the most popular Indycar race, and is regarded as the most important Indycar race of the year. 

Winning the Indy 500 is super special. Many people do not believe you are great in Indycar until you win the Indy 500. Every driver wants to win, and give the event a lot of respect and reverance.

This means that there are a lot of traditions and a lot of pomp and circumstance around it. The Indy 500 has about two weeks worth of practice sessions, and pretty much all the drivers live in the bus lot during this time. 

After the Indy 500, the winner drinks milk. This part is sponsored by the Indiana Dairy Association, and you get like 10k if you drink the milk. Everyone’s gotten super into it, and the milk choices of the drivers get published on instagram. It’s a whole thing, but it’s pretty fun. 

Teams

Team Penske is a top-tier team. They are known for striving for perfection, with the team motto being ‘Penske perfect’. Roger Penske, the team owner, also owns Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indycar Series. Drivers: Will Power, Josef Newgarden, Scott Mclaughlin

Chip Ganassi Racing is another top-tier team. They are known for their success since the late 1990s. They are consistently dominant across all tracks. Drivers: Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, Kyffin Simpson

Andretti Global is another top team. While they were struggling for the past few years, they have recently greatly improved. Andretti is a legendary name in Indycar, and they have historically been strong on street circuits. Drivers: Kyle Kirkwood, Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson

Arrow Mclaren is affiliated with the F1 Mclaren brand. They have been inconsistent, and are very controversial (don’t treat drivers well). They put a lot of effort into their social media. Drivers: Pato O'Ward, Nolan Siegel, Christian Lundgaard

Rahal Letterman Lannigan is a mid-tier team. They do well on street circuits and permanent road circuits but really struggle on ovals. The team is owned by Bobby Rahal (a former driver) and David Letterman (yes, the late night host). Drivers: Graham Rahal, Luis Foster, Devlin Defrancesco

Meyer Shank Racing is a mid-tier team. They are relatively new to Indycar, but very well known in IMSA. They have a technical partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing. They have been very successful (winning an Indy 500 and getting several pole positions). Drivers: Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Armstrong

Ed Carpenter Racing is a mid-tier team. They have recently not been doing well at all, but have a new sponsor and a highly qualified veteran driver (Alexander Rossi), so they are looking to turn it around. They typically do well on ovals. Drivers: Alexander Rossi, Christian Rassmussen

AJ Foyt Racing is a mid-tier team. They recently started a technical alliance with Team Penske, and they have improved greatly the past few years because of that. Drivers: Santino Ferrucci, David Malukas

Dale Coyne Racing is a backmarker team. They have been very bad the past few years, with last year specifically being comically terrible. They typically require drivers to fully fund their own seats. Drivers: Jacob Abel, Rinus Veekay

Juncos Hollinger Racing is also a backmarker team. They are relatively new, and have struggled with funding problems. Drivers: Sting Ray Robb, Conor Daly

Prema is completely new to the series. They are affiliated with the Prema team in F2, and have shown that they are committed to the series. They have also hired many veteran indycar staff, so while they are new they will likely have a good basis of knowledge. Drivers: Callum Ilott, Robert Shwartzman

Drivers

josef's youtube channel

scott mclaughlin interview (season review)

bus bros - a youtube series by josef and scott, which has since ended.

will power athletic article screenshots

will power interview (season review)

scott dixon interview clip (dinner w/ racers)

scott dixon interview (java w/ james)

alex palou interview (season review)

kyle kirkwood vlog

kyle kirkwood interview (java w/ james)

colton herta interview (season review)

colton herta interview (off track w/ hinch and rossi)

graham rahal gets bumped at the 2023 Indy 500

felix rosenqvist (java w/ james)

off track with hinch and rossi

david malukas' youtube channel

david malukas indy 500 qualifying vlog

conor daly's podcast (speed street)

conor daly's youtube channel

jacob abel interview (off track w/ hinch and rossi)

marcus armstrong's podcast (screaming meals)

rinus veekay Indy 500 driver intros

rinus veekay Indy 500 2024 qualifying

Non Drivers that you should know about

tony kanaan interview (doug and drivers)

bryan herta interview (hot seats with hinch)

fox broadcasting team (off track interview)

Extra resources:

Racing thoughts is going to have some primer episodes, and it's very good! pretty beginner friendly. they have a series that is specifically meant for indycar newbies, so check it out! This episode is a good place to start

Off Track with Hinch and Rossi is run by a current driver (Alexander Rossi) and a former driver and current commentator (James Hinchcliffe). They are very personable, and it is a blend of serious racing talk and them being silly. They also have a number of interviews with people involved with Indycar.  Indycar 101 is a good place to start.

Street Legal breaks down the legal minutiae of motorsports, and it is very good, especially if you don’t know much about law.

Ghosts of the Brickyard goes specifically into the history of the Indy 500, and I really recommend it if you want to know more about the Indy 500 and why it is so important.

Trackside Podcast is run by Kevin Lee, a commentator, and Curt Cavin, VP at Indycar. They usually have very good sources, having worked in the industry for a while. 

Throttle Therapy is hosted by Katherine Legge. She has participated in several Indy 500s, and has driven several different types of cars over the years. She has a lot of experience, and a unique perspective.

Indycar has posted multiple older races on their youtube channel, if you ever want to watch old races.

100 days to Indy is a docu series specifically about the Indy 500, but it’s good for getting a sense of drivers personalities, as well as some of the drama from the past few seasons. Its available on Netflix and the CW in the US, and on Paramount+ internationally.

I would also recommend following Indycar on your preferred social media platforms. 

How to Watch Indycar

Indycar is going to be on Fox this year. There are a number of options, such as cable, or paying for YoutubeTV or Hulu live. 

Indycar Live is a good option for international viewers too. Indycar Live will also have replays of races 24 hours later for viewers in the US.

If you have any more questions, you can always reach out to me!

[milksnake-tea]

him being a stelleron hunter would go against everything he stands for, genuinly why would he join a group of terrorist when his ideals were order and peace.

even though the ipc is terrible, the stelleron hunters are as bad in terms of damage and destruction.

because it is fiction, ppl forget that they commited crimes that also can be, and has been done in real life. my home is being attacked by one while i write this, k and seeing ppl praise someone because they didn't join one is ridiculous.

hi, first of all, i want to express my condolences for your situation. it's a terrible thing that is happening and i hope things get better for you. however, i do think you have some misconceptions about the stellaron hunters and their goal, and i want to use this to explain how stellaron hunter sunday would work, and if you want to debate with me further, i am open to that, as long as we are respectful :) explanation/essay utc.

okay, so the first thing here is that we need to remember that sunday technically is also considered a terrorist, and on a much larger scale on the stellaron hunters as well. he may have had good intentions, but it still stands that he plunged an entire star system into an eternal dream, without their consent, and would essentially trap them in this dream where he controlled all of their decisions. he may have wanted to do it out of the goodness of his heart and so that people wouldn't suffer, but it's still unlawful imprisonment and/or kidnapping.

sunday and the stellaron hunters are similar in this regard; they do morally questionable things (to put it lightly) for the greater good. remember that the stellaron hunters are following elio's script in order to save the universe from nanook, they are not doing it just because they want to. also, it should be noted that while you can consider them terrorists (and certainly to a lot planets/factions they are, for example the ipc), there are other factions that don't consider them as such - example: the luofu. in the end, while we don't understand why the stellaron hunters do what they do

also, i would say that it's inaccurate to say that the ipc and the stellaron hunters are equal in terms of damage and destruction. the stellaron hunters don't commit genocide, they don't colonize planets, in the end, their goal is simple: follow the script, capture the stellaron, aid the astral express in eventually defeating nanook. a lot of what happens after can be considered collateral damage, and i'm not defending them on that - but what is important to consider is that they take stellarons, which are cancers of all worlds and drive said worlds towards destruction, so in a weird way, they are saving those worlds, while it may not look like it at first. the astral express does the same thing, although they're a lot nicer about it and they actually follow the law.

the game repeatedly says that the astral express and the stellaron hunters are two sides of the same coin. theoretically, sunday fits in both, and i (begrudgingly) am fine with whichever faction he joins (and rn it seems to be astral express). however, when i see his character, with how morally grey he is and how far he's willing to go (i am never forgetting him executing aventurine), the stellaron hunters seem like a better fit for him (IN MY OPINION).

another thing i've seen is that the stellaron hunters wouldn't be a good fit for sunday because his arc is about freedom and learning to allow people to thrive on their own, without the need to control them. or something like that. and a common point that's brought up is that the stellaron hunters, with their adherence to the script, wouldn't be good for sunday because the last thing he needs is to be trapped by the script.

i see what people are saying with this, HOWEVER. if i were to point out something about the stellaron hunters, it's that they are not completely bound by the script. firefly actively defies it whenever she can, and blade is said to not become one of destiny's slaves. kafka abides by the script vaguely; she'll do what she needs to do but as for what's not in the script, she has complete and total freedom because in her words, "why would it matter?" and silver wolf has twisted/reinterpreted the script in order to keep firefly safe by hiring sparkle. the script is not absolute, even in kafka's character stories elio says that there are possibilities that things may not go as planned, and the trailblazer has defied fate before.

the script is not as much as a shackle like people think it is. remember, elio gets his seer abilities from terminus, who is a time traveler who tells the future. it doesn't matter if you know about it or if you don't, and elio doesn't force anyone to follow the script. he just gives it to you, and you're free to do whatever you want with it. it's strongly encouraged to follow it, but you don't have to. firefly sure tries not to. heck, if she wanted, she could burn it and the only consequence would be elio being sad because he spent an all-nighter typing that up and ink is expensive.

additionally, going back to sunday and elio's goal, they align a lot more than you think they would. sunday, evident from his drip marketing, has not given up on his goal of order and achieving a paradise, and i don't think he'd be opposed to elio's goal of saving the universe. nor would i think he'd be too opposed to getting his hands dirty in order to achieve it - again, he tried to kill aventurine (and almost succeeded) in order to protect penacony. he is not as soft as a lot of people make him out to be.

we also have to remember sunday's obsession with control. is it a good thing? nope, not at all! but the script would be more comfortable for him, because he knows what will happen, he has a safety net and he has the freedom to make plans based on this information. compared to his whole powerpoint presentation about his past trauma, where a lot of his decisions ended up badly due to him not knowing for certain what would happen, this safety net wouldn't be unwelcome. and it isn't like it limits sunday entirely either; elio is known to be vague and leaves out information he doesn't think people need to know, so sunday can still have his character growth of learning to become comfortable with uncertainty.

and before anyone comes at me, i am not saying that astral express sunday is bad. i'm actually all for it (contrary to what i might say on my blog, but listen. IM DRAMATIC OKAY) and i think it'd be interesting to see how a character that we aren't on good terms with joining the express. also i get to see pookie more so I WIN EITHER WAY. i just also want to explain the potential stellaron hunter sunday has and why it isn't such a far-fetched idea like some might make it out to be.

thanks for listening to my ted talk. or smth. IDK. i did this instead of my phil essay so imma go do that now. bye bye pookies

[witchesofvaliant]

My Take on Worshipping & Working with Ares

(Disclaimer: "My take" means my personal opinion and deriving heavily from my own experience.)

I work with Ares primarily in Shadow Work, and worship/work with him heavily in my practice.

1: The Misconceptions

I see a lot of "I work with Ares, so I work out all the time for him", and while exercise is wonderful for the body, and I myself love to get in a good walk, I have never devoted that to Ares. I am not saying you shouldn't, but the reason I mention it at all is the fact that many people equate working with Ares or those who do as muscle-headed gym bros who are always having to exercise or have to prove their masculinity. As a computer nerd who doesn't have exercise in their daily life and has chronic disabilities/illness that make that harder, I just don't do that. If I can, I take a good long walk for an hour or two about twice or once a week (if I can), that's mostly as far as it goes. In terms of proving my masculinity? Why? Let's dispense with the antiquated gender roles that say we have to assign the tough masculine aura to the cis guys. I am a trans male who has no issue looking feminine and being both a Queen and a King, that's just how it is. Ares can tell me himself if he has an issue with it, but he never has. And after getting to know him for some time, personally, he's not the type to give a fuck about your gender presentation. That also means, you don't have to be a guy to work with him, as I have also seen before.

Now, if we're trying to be true to the ancient Greek times, he was the primary deity worshipped in Sparta, and once the Romans adopted (which is putting it nicely) the Greek deities into their belief system, Mars was used as the primary deity equivalent to Zeus (Jupiter as he was called), with the common epithet to represent him being Mars Ultor, basically a title of greatness and power for him. He was used to inspire and push young men in those times toward a great strength and motivation in terms of military service as that was a greater focus in their culture than it was in the Greek culture (Not that the Greeks couldn't fight of course, they had their war deities, and Ares was one of them, but there IS a massive shift in the Greek and Roman mindsets when involving war, too much to get into). Now, here's where I stop, as I'm not an expert on Greco-Roman history and the two cultures, but it should demonstrate the point well at least on where these ideas so many people are spreading come from and why many think they're valid for everyone.

2: Worship

I tend to worship him by simple prayer. I take the knife I have and meditate with it, praying to him or simply talking. Sometimes, I don't even take the knife Lol. He's honestly a very simple person to deal with in my experience. You don't need to do fancy shit for him as devotional acts, he values respect and honor above all, so if you are giving that and offering this to him, he's a very pleased guy. I can't and don't use candles or fire in my practice, but my fire element/offering is going into a game and killing some bad guys. Is it semi-stereotypical in terms of the aggression? Kind of. Is it more focused on lessening my own stress and self-control so I'm taking my stress and anger out in a game than on people? Yes, and usually this isn't done FOR Ares, this is done more in terms of working on myself as agreed upon with Ares. Which goes into our next subject.

3: Work

Working with Ares is a huge part of my relationship with him (don't get me wrong, I love to just exist with him and listen to Fallout Boy too) but it's here where I have much more to say as I have always focused on Shadow Work in my life, and that only increased when I started my practice and my move away from the toxic Christianity I was raised with. Ares was not the first to work with me on this, and I had to work on some stuff myself just to be open to the idea of working with other deities. But in terms of Ares, he has been someone that I feel a strong connection to because of the heart, not my masculinity, not fighting others and exercising, but more because of the internal struggles and survival for my life I have had throughout my entire life. Be it with illness, my heart and trauma, or defending others, mainly my little brother, but all these thins took an internal struggle, not am external one. I find I work with him purely in terms of internal survival (either against physical or mental illness) and Shadow Work, which means understanding my heart, my will, and how to overcome the pain that has broken those things in my past. THIS part of him, is the part I rarely see anyone say anything about. Or everyone pairs him with Aphrodite and says this is their thing. I don't understand why it can't be him alone, I have hardly ever worked or dealt with Aphrodite, and while I give her respect and have given her my prayer, she is rarely there as my path just doesn't flow that way.

And also.. Why does no one talk about the fact that Ares can connect to illness too? In my opinion, he connects to illness through the issue of having to fight through it or even fight to keep someone alive.

I love embracing him as someone that doesn't require you to be a cis man with a six pack, or fight a literal war or fight other people just to work with him, and I really want to stress that you don't have to be these things, or change who you are as a person or fit into any requirement to work with him, and you don't have to do this with any deity either. You bring yourself first, that's all you truly need to bring to them, yourself and an open mind and ears to listen.

(Damn, this was long, hope people actually read this rant lmao)

If you got to the end, congratulations! And thank you for reading, I deeply appreciate that and you! 💖

[willow-schmillow]

The Is and Isn'ts of Fusion

(copied from my reddit post x3)

Hiya. I'm someone undergoing fusion-focused therapy to treat DID. Every day I open this app to some new and fascinating misconception about fusion, so I wanted to clear things up.

Please note that I am not a student of psychology or mental health practitioner. The advice I share comes from my personal experience of fusion, as well as my therapist's - who has multiple clients with DID - understanding of fusion-centered therapy. I have also done talk therapy, parts work, cognitive processing therapy (a modified form of CBT to treat PTSD), and DBT.

Fusion isn't...

- **A convenient way to get rid of alters.** I can speak for myself, and other fusions within the system have said the same, that we carry on our personhoods and identities and memories, and even relationships within the system. I was V and M, and now I'm both of them.

- **A loss.** As said above, my personhoods carried over when the parts of me that make up me fused. If anything, I view it as a gain - Ariadne has everything V and M had, plus a bit more because I am a calmer, more controlled, and more mentally equipped person.

- **The death of an alter.** In a literal sense, alters cannot die. And, also, as said above, my personhoods carried over.

- **The end of the involved alters' relationships.** This isn't a problem for us with other people, because we operate as a package deal in our relationships with others. But also, within the system, some of our insys relationships carry over. Gabriel was Monika's best friend, and he's still mine. Some of our insys relationships are different, too (Fray and Cal are no longer romantically involved,) but like all changes we can adapt to it.

- **Purposely killing an alter.** Shut up.

- **The same thing as integration.** Integration is any type of processing and work that results in the system "running better" - smoother communication, greater continuity of memory or experience, more willingness to work together, and fusion are all some examples of integration.

- **The only choice to get better.** Some people with DID find that functional multiplicity suits their recovery goals more.

Fusion is

- **Healthy.** I'm happier fused than I was apart, for sure, even though it was a difficult adjustment at first. I've had to overcome knowing a fuller picture of my childhood. It's difficult, but I know this is what I want and I'm doing better.

- **Stable.** Lots of fearmongering happens in DID spaces, with the idea that once you fully fuse you're prone to splitting apart again. While that is possible, fusion does not happen without *significant* healing and trauma processing. By virtue of being able to fuse, work has been done. New, healthier coping skills have been learned.

- **A fluid experience.** Within our own system, we experience fusion in different ways. Fray is one alter who holds many experiences. I'm Ariadne, but Monika and Val are still two distinct parts within me. There's absolute continuity of experience, consciousness, and emotion, so I don't consider us separate the same way our alters are. But, I'm one and two at the same time.

- **Achievable.** With sufficient trauma-processing, many people are capable of fusing.

- **The right choice for some people.** Functional multiplicity works for many. I'm not devastated by the thought of remaining multiple for the rest of my life, but I'd also like to work towards fusion because I know that's what would make me happiest.

[quoth-the-raven-wtf]

I've blocked a lot of endos [I'm clustering tulpas in the same "origin category," btw], and I hope that they'll respectfully do the same in return when I post things like this. I will never be the first to interact with them, and more often than not I delete their comments from my posts and block them in order to keep myself from interacting in a pointless argument altogether.

That being said, I still want to put my thoughts out there.

Heads up, this is a long one. The rest is below the cut. Per usual, summarized points are highlighted in red for faster viewing.

I know for a fact that a majority of endos aren't claiming to have a CDD [complex dissociative disorder], which tends to be the main argument endos like to use in order to explain that they aren't invading OSDDID spaces or harming communities built for those who are disordered. That doesn't make their claims of being "plural" any less harmful to the CDD community. They are still claiming to have symptoms of dissociative disorders, which waters down the severity of the actual disorders themselves.

Being a system means having a fragmented identity [which is what alters are]. A fragmented identity is a disordered identity. A disordered identity is a disordered brain. Having parts is not typical, and endos claiming that it is possible to have alters without a disorder creates this misconception that plurality is completely normal to experience.

[Don't get me wrong, I'm also irritated by the perspective that everyone with OSDDID is constantly suffering and cannot experience any joy, or even enjoy being a system—because that view is just as uneducated as the endo one.]

Here's the thing—watering down the disorder isn't actually one that matters much to those outside of people who interact with the system sections of social media, because I guarantee you that most people don't even know what "endogenic" means. The issue with watering down symptoms of disorders that result in alters are how they harm actual systems. I've seen multiple systems on this app and even a few others on social media who claim to be endogenic, but talk about having other symptoms of CDDs and having childhood trauma that they don't consider severe enough to be "traumagenic." Seeing things like that is honestly heartbreaking. There are so many systems out there who are completely convinced that they simply can't have originated from trauma because "they weren't hurt badly enough."

It's bizarre to me that this is what the internet has come to.

Here's the thing; if there was actual evidence of endos and tulpas being fully, scientifically capable of existing, I wouldn't be so strongly against their claims. Hell, I've done research in my spare time to actually look for the supposed proof that endos say there is on the ability to be plural without a disorder, and I've reached countless dead ends. Masterlists of "endo-affirming resources" are either incredibly vague, non-credible, or take me straight to an error message [as in, the page has since been taken down]. Aside from those resources, the strongest argument I've seen is that "there's no proof that endos don't exist," which doesn't make any sense either. You could say that about anything you want to, despite currently existing evidence that already suggests your claim is nonsensical.

I am genuinely open to information that is credible, but so far, it just doesn't seem to exist. Anyone is welcome to share some with me, and I will truly approach them with an open mind; that doesn't mean I'm not going to point out lack of credibility when I see it.

In no way do I feel malice or hatred for systems who identify as endogenic, but I'm afraid that directly interacting with endos through areas of syscourse will, and has clearly already created bitterness. I refrain because of how hostile syscourse has gotten, and I encourage others who share my point of view to also keep the hostility to a minimum. I think everyone needs to be more open-minded—both endos and antis like myself. Unfortunately, that's only achievable in a perfect world.

[trigunautismzone]

guess what. im back. lets talk trimax.

namely: volume 10, chapter 06, and what we're shown about razlo in this chapter.

remember:

this is my own personal analysis !! it is not meant to be portrayed as "right" or "true", nor to invalidate any other interpretations.

hi teehee hiii. chapter six is titled " the return. " an obvious call to livio coming back, keeping razlo from finishing wolfwood off. while thats a key moment, id like to explore the rest of the chapter, as well!!

this chapter actually delves incredibly deep into razlo's character, which makes it one of my favorites. (im biased. so what sue me. hes like an interesting bug to me.) as we know, the chapter opens with wolfwood just absolutely unloading on razlo as he struggles to regenerate from his injuries. while this parallels the pain vash has experienced thus far, im more interested in razlo's train of thought here.

as a protective alter, by design, razlo is no stranger to pain. for him to acknowledge it to this degree is exceptionally telling of just how bad it was. the reprieve he was offered was only due to wolfwood maxxing out. almost immediately, we see razlo shift gears again, moving back to "i have an opening to finish this." a common misconception, in my opinion, is the idea of him naturally chasing that opening.

while this could be the case, given the past information we have about him, its also an important nod towards the eye of michaels indoctrination he and livio faced, and the manipulation of razlo's "natural behaviors". weve seen to this point he is someone who chooses direct action over words. this can be attributed to the abuse that brought him about, believe it or not!!! he was shown pleading for help, begging for it to stop. unfortunately, that garnered him no results, leading him to believe action (removing the threat from the source) was the best answer.

examples of this trait include not only their parents, but the puppy, the members of the eye he eliminated, all the way up to how he approaches wolfwood. analyzing this is where it gets interesting To Me. razlo views wolfwood as a major threat. whether that is due to the implications that come with failure, wolfwoods actions towards master chapel, or the knowledge of the skills wolfwood possesses when compared to is own is a touch ambiguous.

inherently, razlos end goal is to protect livio.

regardless of how the eye of michael programmed and shaped their relationship as a system, he will default to keeping livio safe. eliminating the source of the threat directly is the only effective way hes been shown to do so—pulling a weed from the roots instead of trimming it back, so to speak.

circling back to the shift in gears we see, theres a lot of different reasons razlo would have done that to consider before "he just wants to kill". however, when livio returns, this can be further cleared up!!!

livio's return and his implied direction causes razlo to push back against him ("you tryna give me a damn order?"). from what we know about him, this seems like a moment he considers himself more capable than livio. however, with later interactions, it becomes much more "you dont get to tell me what to do because you arent above me; we stand on equal ground," rather than thinking livio is beneath him.

but theres something interesting here, even without later details. razlo starts crying, just for a second. with the sheer loss and betrayal razlo has just faced with chapel turning on him, willing to kill him just to get to wolfwood, livio telling him its over and pulling him back likely feels like another person turning on him. his character is heavily implied to be tied directly to those he cares about, and those who care about him. thats been shaken beyond belief in this moment—he feels alone (see him asking wolfwood why he would "throw him back into a pit of loneliness" after chapels initial death), and that is devestating to him.

the feeling of loneliness despite holding a place within a system is critical. it shows he doesnt feel as though he and livio are "whole". "ill never be whole again" is another key line here. the moment he thinks it makes it seem like hes worried about his physical being, but it could just as easily be an underlying fear of failure as a protector.

much of razlos character is driven by his fear of failing. if he fails the assignment, there are implications that the eye will never take them back. theyll be forced to find somewhere to belong again, where they will feel needed. to be needed rather than wanted is to be loved. theres no other way to prove he and livio "deserve" to hang around. this is what they know and understand right now. chapel was the only one that showed razlo he was needed. right up to here:

livio acknowledges that razlo has taken the brunt of the horrible things that have happened.

i know what youre thinking. "rue this just makes it seem like livio doesnt need razlo at all what the fuck are you talking about." steeples my fingers and sniles so sneetly.

this acknowledgement is livio's way of telling razlo "youve done a good job. youve done what you needed to do. you have done enough. i am okay thanks to you." this, again, is My Personal Perception And Interpretation. as a collective / system myself, "taking a break" is terrifying in and of itself. this is the first time livio has felt confident and safe enough that razlo can take a step back. theyve balanced the scales. livio is strong enough to be on his own, and that was the goal all along. razlo spent so much time and so much effort keeping livio safe, showing he cares / worries in his own strange ways, but he doesnt have to anymore. he can rest for now. he can take the time to process and grieve the things he needs to, the things they need to, because livio is safe on his own out there.

this has gotten so long jesus christ. i lobe...lr....i love lr. i love razlo hes so special to me. my favorite bug to dissect. i love systems being portrayed fairly accurately in media. lr isnt a perfect example, but theyre a damn good one. heems.

[woodchipp]

1) "Kel would probably feel betrayed that his friend lied to him about the suicide of his other friend, but he has no right to feel that since he's also done bad things!" I don't think you understand how callous this sounds

2) None of the bad things Kel did are comparable to KILLING A PERSON AND LYING ABOUT IT. BE SO FUCKING FOR REAL RIGHT NOW

3) "we see during the Omori fight that Sunny is afraid of hurting his friends more than he already did" well, let's take a look at the excerpt of Omori's speech this is likely referring to, then, shall we?

"...and when they see the truth, they'll hate you as much as you hate yourself. If they know the truth, you'll never be able to regain their trust."

Sunny doesn't give a shit about whether he'd hurt his friends with his confession or not. He's only concerned about the possibility that they would hate him for killing Mari.

4) "and when Kel finally tried opening up to Hero" Kel was trying to help him, not vent to him. He specifically mentions he told Hero how much everyone misses him, how concerned everyone is and how much Mari wouldn't want to see him like this, the last of which is (presumably) what set him off.

Play the game.

5) "has realized the importance of maintaining relationships" would you be willing to maintain a relationship with someone who had no trouble lying to you about their lack of involvement in someone else's death?

1)

"She nearly kills Basil on accident in a direct parallel way to Sunny, which would contribute to her understanding what Sunny went through."

Or she would hate Sunny even more because at least she had the balls to try and own up to what she did immediately. It rang hollow and she picked the worst possible time to apologize to Basil, but she did make an effort to change right upon recognizing how much of an asshole she was. Sunny's immediate response to his crime, on the other hand, was to stay cooped up in his house for 4 years because he's a coward who'd rather let everyone believe he's innocent than be honest with the people he loves.

("But he couldn't even remember the truth!" Yeah, because he's been consciously suppressing it via Omori each time it surfaced.)

2)

"She would understand the isolation that Sunny felt and the inability to open up to others about what happened."

No, that's not how it works. She wouldn't be able to relate to Sunny's isolation precisely because she had the Hooligans as a support system (however eccentric they might've been), and her inability to open up to anyone about Mari's suicide is not comparable to Sunny's choice not to admit he's a murderer. Be so fucking for real right now.

1) Again, this entire argument hinges on the misconception Kel was venting to Hero. He was trying to motivate the latter. Play the game.

2) "But while he was able to tell Kel he was sorry, Sunny never had that chance and I think Hero would understand that." Or he'd be too busy struggling to process the fact Mari's brother - and someone he considered a close friend - was perfectly willing to lie to him about her death to think about that. But I guess the "they're traumatized children" defense applies only to the murderer and his accomplice :)

3) "Hero also abandoned everyone in the same way Sunny did and he vowed to not make that mistake again." Hero shut down because he was in genuine pain. Sunny chose not to tell anyone because he was a coward. Be so fucking for real right now.

4) "To assume that he would walk that back and abandon Sunny when Sunny needs him the most" Note that Hero's feelings are not accounted for. Sunny needs him the most, and that's all that matters. Hero is only allowed to be The Dad.

5) "I believe he would empathize with Sunny for not being able to confront Mari’s death until everyone came back together." That's not how it works. Hero wasn't able to accept the fact Mari killed herself. Sunny didn't want to face the fact he killed her. Be so fucking for real right now.

1) "I think Basil is the most likely person to forgive Sunny on account of the sheer amount of guilt that he feels" That isn't forgiveness. That is feeling like you're not allowed to be angry.

2)

"the love he has for Sunny and the love he has for his friends and their memories together would allow for him to understand why Sunny did the things he did."

What is there to understand? What is there to understand when your best friend kills someone you saw as a close friend, then defaces your most precious belonging and leaves you to deal with the cover-up's aftermath by yourself, then comes out three days before he's due to leave the town, then walks out on you in the middle of your mental breakdown as you beg him to stay and then decides to ruin all your efforts to keep him safe when you aren't even awake?

Basil's "love for his friends and their memories together" wouldn't matter. He may still love his friends, but they sure won't love him after what he did anymore. Things will never go back to the way they were before.

Oh, but Sunny smiled at him in the secret ending, so everything's going to be just peachy, right? :)

"I'm sorry, please forgive me" man I fucking love victim-blaming

[chesnat]

Did Che kill gays?

There is this popular notion of Che killing people who were part of LGBTQ+ community. So to debunk Che executed LGBTQ+ people we need to talk about the source of this misconception fabricated by western medias.

Was Che Guevara homophobic? We have no evidence to confirm or deny, since the only thing of significance Che Guevara ever said about gay people, from The Motorcycle Diaries at age 24:

He was an introvert and was probably gay, too. The poor man was drunk and desperate because they hadn’t invited him to the party. He began to yell and insult people until some of them beat him up and gave him a black eye. This episode bothered us, because apart from him being a sexual pervert and a bore, we liked him.

Some edition of The Motorcycle Diaries might even just translated the description of the man as "sexual pervert." I can't speak Spanish and I have no copy of the book in the original language but what I have is an example of the other translation:

From Isaac Wess on Quora:

Che Guevara was probably homophobic to same extent that heterosexual men of his time were. He never wrote or spoke extensively about homosexuality or homosexual people and nothing exists to say he was an exceptional homophobe. He certainly did not call for the killing of homosexuals. Anyone telling you otherwise is simply misinformed or dishonest.

People often talk about how Guevara murdered gays and put them in camps and everything. Time for a history lesson.

The camps people are referring to are called UMAPs — Military Units to Aid Production. These were labor camps run by the Cuban government between November 1965 and July 1968 for people who did not want to or could not serve in the military. Openly homosexual people were barred from military service at this time and so were conscripted into camps where they suffered frequent abuse. Other people deemed a “counterrevolutionary” to the new Cuban regime were also present in the UMAP camps, such as religious folk, political enemies, and conscientious objectors. It is generally understood that the Cuban government was unaware of the injustices taking place, closing the UMAP system as soon as they were aware. Homosexuality was decriminalized in Cuba by 1979. The Cuban government continues to present the UMAP system as a mistake.

During the years of the UMAP system, Che Guevara held no public office in the Cuban government. His farewell letter to Fidel Castro months before the opening of any UMAP camps, in April 1965:

formally reject my positions in the leadership of the party, my post as minister, my rank of commander, and my Cuban citizenship. Nothing legal binds me to Cuba. The only ties are of another nature — those that cannot be broken as can appointments to posts.

Before the UMAP system even existed, Che had resigned from Cuban affairs, even leaving the nation for a stretch of time. He would ultimately make several appearances throughout the globe before his summary execution in Bolivia in 1967. No evidence exists to say Che Guevara was aware of the existence of the UMAP camps, meaning he could not be aware of its practices. He did not execute gays, or really anyone unjustifiably.

In conclusion:

Che Guevara was probably a homophobic since at the time he was alive (1928-1967) people who identified themselves as homosexuals were constantly prejudiced and abused.

It's a fact that gays were sent to camps (UMAPs) but before UMAPs even existed Che had already resigned from Cuban affairs.

The misleading informations were proven to be fabricated to diminish Che Guevara's image by the western media who were threatened by Che Guevara's presence.

Source:

[allwormdiet]

Interlude 6

Justice for Paige McAbee

This is. Fucking evil. Chaining a woman up like an animal and parading her around the courtroom. Like what the shit.

Utterly fucking barbaric

Brief detour I guess to provide exposition on the existence of rogues

Going from heartbreak to outrage this quickly in succession was some fucking whiplash when I first read this arc, fucking tell you what

Actual torture.

The inhumanity of this entire arrangement is borderline sickening to see play out. What an utter failure of the system

Oh hey you two

I can see how people would get. Touchy. About a power like that. But touchy enough for a life sentence is fucked.

Also, credit where it's due, Bakuda's ingenuity in this situation is still pretty well on display

Bakuda is playing with fucking fire here, and not just pyrokinesis, har har

Okay you know what, callousness and cruelty aside, this is a fucking badass display from Bakuda.

Okay so what the fuck is up with the ABB capes, actually. Bakuda built a bomb that would've devastated, like, the entire Eastern Seaboard, and probably even further beyond that into the west and north. I'd say that she was slumming it as part of a gang that's only got a minor presence in one city and a few neighboring areas, but honestly Lung feels just as cracked.

Dude basically only fights harder over time, he would've taken down everyone in that warehouse if Skitter didn't make a Hail Mary play with Newter's hallucinogen. Kaiser, Sundancer, Bitch, Newter, and one or both of the twins would've been fucking smoked, maybe Labyrinth if Coil's guys didn't bother to pull her out. This dude could've been putting up massive numbers throughout his entire reign as the head of the ABB.

So what the fuck was he doing instead? If he's a gang boss with this kind of power at his fingertips, where's the fucking appetite that should come with it? Skitter didn't even think he was an A-lister before they fought and he proved her wrong, she thought he was like, a step above Uber and Leet? In what world does that misconception become publicly accepted?

I'd say this is gonna bug me, but uhh, Lung's going to the fucking oubliette to end all oubliettes so it's a bit of a moot point, isn't it

Like, okay. Fucked up, sure thing. But this is still such a massive injustice; it was a one-time thing and she couldn't have possibly known if this was the first time it ever happened. You could've demanded training for her power, if nothing else, but you throw her into Hell on Earth. Fuck me.

This is a level of determination that I think has so far gone unmatched in this story. Like, I'll give Taylor time to pull off something even more outrageously self-harming for the sake of an objective, it's her story after all and there's a lot of words left, but Bakuda really is something else.

Of course that "something else" does include being an abrasive piece of shit, but hell, she's a parahuman, I don't think I've met one of them that's without some kind of baggage.

Maybe there's a world out there where after her trigger event she comes down on the other end of the hero/villain line. Bombs aren't exactly heroic but she could build non-lethally for standard use and save the big damage for shit like Endbringers. Plus the obvious potential of having a bomb Tinker as an EOD expert, that would be game-changing.

She'd still probably be an asshole, but like. You don't have to be pleasant to be a hero, we know that one for sure.

Alas.

I was torn between wanting Paige to get out of this and wanting Lung and Bakuda to get what's coming to them.

Hi Dragon, wish you weren't the warden of the worst prison I've ever heard of in my life, see you later in the story maybe

Also. Six hundred prisoners in the Birdcage. Not counting whoever's died. That's a fucking lot of them.

Wait what the fuck happened to Newfoundland

Oh, Dragon hates this too, well there's a small fucking mercy.

Also, "the hole the men opened into the women's half of the Birdcage" is a fucking alarming phrase. We're just fucking letting anything fly down here, huh? Jesus Christ.

Dragon's description of the Birdcage's security measures is. Fucking extreme. This is a fucking nightmare, an absolute cavalcade of human rights abuses that I can't even begin to fathom.

Have children been born in the Birdcage? If not, who's preventing that? Is everyone being covertly dosed with contraceptives to keep them from having children? Do the block leaders have people on hand to deal with abortions? How do you handle dietary restrictions? Religious restrictions? What if it turns out you were wrongly convicted?

Literally everything about this place is a horror show. Every implication is dark as fucking Vantablack.

Gross

I guess this is what passes for society down here, huh

Well shit, I guess I'm glad Bakuda has some enrichment at least.

Okay, so, Marquis is a supervillain who's taken over a cell block, and he's a Brockton native invested in learning what he's missed out on

...Easy money says he's Amy Dallon's old man.

Not entirely shocked that Lung's spent time behind bars, though I assume that was before he got his powers.

And uhh. I'm gonna be real, I feel kinda bad for Bakuda here. Like she's a piece of shit, obviously, but for all her insults she seemed happy to work for Lung, enough that she made a point of freeing him from the Protectorate and putting him back in charge when she could've stayed in charge, taken advantage of his arrest and done whatever she pleased

and now he's gonna kill her. Because she insulted him. Because it'll make life in prison easier.

I mean, shit. I do not like Bakuda's odds in this exchange. It probably doesn't take a lot for Lung to have her debilitated, and from there the kill is even easier. Maybe he dies too, but I don't expect that to be the case.

Current Thoughts

Justice for Paige McAbee

The Birdcage is, I think, a very reasonable simulacrum of Hell, and its very existence probably gives in-universe philosophers, ethicists, defense attorneys, and human rights activists fucking hives.

Also, justice for Paige McAbee

I'm not going to mourn Bakuda, but maybe I'll mourn the version of her that could've been in a kinder world.

Last thing, just in case we weren't clear:

Justice for Paige McAbee

[dailyanarchistposts]

Ancient Ways: In Defense of Cultivation

“We cared for our corn in those days as we would care for a child; for we Indian people loved our gardens, just as a mother loves her children; and we thought that our growing corn liked to hear us sing, just as children like to hear their mother sing to them.” — Buffalo Bird Woman (Hidasta)

With a modern food system so tied to capitalism and the industrial production-oriented model, it’s hard for us to see how to feed ourselves outside of them. While it’s imperative that we look forward and adapt to our modern context to some degree, it’s by looking back to times before institutions reigned that we start to see our way out.

The erosion of traditional foodways began at different times for different cultures. A basic misconception (or perhaps miscommunication) about “primitivist” theory is that the dawn of food cultivation some 10,000 years ago represented the “fall from grace” of humanity, and that everything that has been developed since that point has been tainted with die impurity of “domestication” and “civilization”. But this simplistic analysis reflects the same reductionist logic that has led to the social diseases of modern life. What was likely a simple adaptation for survival in die face of massive climactic changes did in many, cases lead people down a slippery slope toward domination of nature, but in many cultures, this was simply not the case. Even today, many indigenous cultures thrive on horticultural, village-scale food systems. At the time of white settlement of North America, dozens of indian groups practiced such methods without the trappings of civilization. (See Native American Gardening By J, Bruchac and Buffalo Bird Woman’s Garden: Agriculture of the Hidasta Indians as told to Gilbert L. Wilson, also available online at www.digital. library.upenn.edu/women/buffalo/garden/garden.html)

The fact that many native cultures have endured using traditional horticultural methods, while remaining free from the trappings of civilization (aside from that which was imposed upon them) is testament to the possibilities of egalitarian social relations coexisting with the cultivation of food.

Contrary to the fundamentalist viewpoints that see cultivation itself as inherently dominating, the simple act of collecting seeds and replanting them elsewhere to provide more food sources could actually be seen as a complementary development to a gathering-hunting lifestyle. The transportation of seeds through feces is the basis of much plant reproduction in the wild and in the garden, and may have been the inspiration for humyns to begin cultivating certain plants. Even the selection of certain seeds for desired traits is a way humyns have actually enhanced biodiversity by “opening up” a species to diverse, highly adaptable variations. Instead of viewing the original cultivators with suspicion and doubt, why not appreciate the sensitivity and creativity it required for them to adapt to conditions by entering into a more complex and interactive relationship with nature? Can we make a distinction between cultivation and domestication?

In her book Food in History, Reay Tannahill theorizes that at the beginning of the “Neolithic revolution,” nomadic foragers began camping beside meadows of wild grains waiting for the brief window of ripeness when they could catch the harvest before it fell to the ground. After returning to these places annually, they eventually realized that if duty left some of the grain on the stalk they could expect a heartier harvest the next year. The next logical step was to begin scattering the seeds on the ground, at which point foragers became farmers. Responding to anthropologists’ assumptions that a large labor force was then required to harvest and process grain, thus giving rise to civilization. Tannahill quotes an archaeological study from the mid 1960’s: “In a three week harvesting period, a family of six could have reaped enough wild wheat to provide them with just under a pound of grain per head per day for a whole year” (J.R. Harlan, 1967)

The development of what we know as agriculture was not an overnight phenomenon, but rather a several thousand year-long project. In some places in the world, the earliest stages of cultivation were never surpassed, and remain sustainable today. In many more places, the pressures of the global economy have corrupted these practices just in this last century. But in most of the world today, we are witnessing the full-blown colonization of native foodways, and a nearly complete dependence on western industrial practices. To trace this “biodevestation” directly back to cultivation itself, is to ignore the history of conquest and land displacement that pushed the food systems of subsistence cultures to the brink, where they now teeter on the edge of extinction.

The loss of native foodways in favor of cheap, overprocessed industrial USDA staples has uncoincidenially served as one of the many vehicles of colonialism. The disconnection of food traditions from indigenous cultures has paved the way for illnesses like diabetes, cementing their dependence on western medicine in yet another way. In the Global South, traditional cultures are losing control of their food supplies faster than ever before. Distinct and diverse peoples of the world have become a prime target for conquest by western food producers like Archer Daniels Midland and Caigill. These modern day conquistadors ride the tails of the “Green Revolution” in chemical agriculture of the 50s. After replacing traditional food practices with a cynical “development” agenda based on monocrops and cheap exports, the conquest continues as structural adjustment policies and the current biotechnology phenomenon.

The logic of biotech makes complete sense as planned obsolescence: the same corporations who pushed the Green Revolution and all its chemicals and hybrid seeds, now seek to milk more profits out of fee sterile soil and resistant insects (and displaced peoples) that have resulted. New seeds are developed to adapt to the conditions that were caused by the same companies’ products 50 years ago! Decades of chemical intensive methods have created resistant weeds, so genetically engineered seeds are designed to withstand higher doses of chemicals. Industrial agriculture depends on these methods. At this point, we either turn away from industrial methods, or we accept the fate of high-tech food.