#Monolithic Power Systems

[barbw2xey]

Voltage conversion system, Power Management IC, ‎DC-DC Switching Converter

MP4570 Series 55 V 3 A Fully Integrated Step-Down Converter - TSSOP-20EP

[nervousmonolith]

watching "survive the raft" so far the only based person is the hillbilly

[not-terezi-pyrope]

Often when I post an AI-neutral or AI-positive take on an anti-AI post I get blocked, so I wanted to make my own post to share my thoughts on "Nightshade", the new adversarial data poisoning attack that the Glaze people have come out with.

I've read the paper and here are my takeaways:

Firstly, this is not necessarily or primarily a tool for artists to "coat" their images like Glaze; in fact, Nightshade works best when applied to sort of carefully selected "archetypal" images, ideally ones that were already generated using generative AI using a prompt for the generic concept to be attacked (which is what the authors did in their paper). Also, the image has to be explicitly paired with a specific text caption optimized to have the most impact, which would make it pretty annoying for individual artists to deploy.

While the intent of Nightshade is to have maximum impact with minimal data poisoning, in order to attack a large model there would have to be many thousands of samples in the training data. Obviously if you have a webpage that you created specifically to host a massive gallery poisoned images, that can be fairly easily blacklisted, so you'd have to have a lot of patience and resources in order to hide these enough so they proliferate into the training datasets of major models.

The main use case for this as suggested by the authors is to protect specific copyrights. The example they use is that of Disney specifically releasing a lot of poisoned images of Mickey Mouse to prevent people generating art of him. As a large company like Disney would be more likely to have the resources to seed Nightshade images at scale, this sounds like the most plausible large scale use case for me, even if web artists could crowdsource some sort of similar generic campaign.

Either way, the optimal use case of "large organization repeatedly using generative AI models to create images, then running through another resource heavy AI model to corrupt them, then hiding them on the open web, to protect specific concepts and copyrights" doesn't sound like the big win for freedom of expression that people are going to pretend it is. This is the case for a lot of discussion around AI and I wish people would stop flagwaving for corporate copyright protections, but whatever.

The panic about AI resource use in terms of power/water is mostly bunk (AI training is done once per large model, and in terms of industrial production processes, using a single airliner flight's worth of carbon output for an industrial model that can then be used indefinitely to do useful work seems like a small fry in comparison to all the other nonsense that humanity wastes power on). However, given that deploying this at scale would be a huge compute sink, it's ironic to see anti-AI activists for that is a talking point hyping this up so much.

In terms of actual attack effectiveness; like Glaze, this once again relies on analysis of the feature space of current public models such as Stable Diffusion. This means that effectiveness is reduced on other models with differing architectures and training sets. However, also like Glaze, it looks like the overall "world feature space" that generative models fit to is generalisable enough that this attack will work across models.

That means that if this does get deployed at scale, it could definitely fuck with a lot of current systems. That said, once again, it'd likely have a bigger effect on indie and open source generation projects than the massive corporate monoliths who are probably working to secure proprietary data sets, like I believe Adobe Firefly did. I don't like how these attacks concentrate the power up.

The generalisation of the attack doesn't mean that this can't be defended against, but it does mean that you'd likely need to invest in bespoke measures; e.g. specifically training a detector on a large dataset of Nightshade poison in order to filter them out, spending more time and labour curating your input dataset, or designing radically different architectures that don't produce a comparably similar virtual feature space. I.e. the effect of this being used at scale wouldn't eliminate "AI art", but it could potentially cause a headache for people all around and limit accessibility for hobbyists (although presumably curated datasets would trickle down eventually).

All in all a bit of a dick move that will make things harder for people in general, but I suppose that's the point, and what people who want to deploy this at scale are aiming for. I suppose with public data scraping that sort of thing is fair game I guess.

Additionally, since making my first reply I've had a look at their website:

Used responsibly, Nightshade can help deter model trainers who disregard copyrights, opt-out lists, and do-not-scrape/robots.txt directives. It does not rely on the kindness of model trainers, but instead associates a small incremental price on each piece of data scraped and trained without authorization. Nightshade's goal is not to break models, but to increase the cost of training on unlicensed data, such that licensing images from their creators becomes a viable alternative.

Once again we see that the intended impact of Nightshade is not to eliminate generative AI but to make it infeasible for models to be created and trained by without a corporate money-bag to pay licensing fees for guaranteed clean data. I generally feel that this focuses power upwards and is overall a bad move. If anything, this sort of model, where only large corporations can create and control AI tools, will do nothing to help counter the economic displacement without worker protection that is the real issue with AI systems deployment, but will exacerbate the problem of the benefits of those systems being more constrained to said large corporations.

Kinda sucks how that gets pushed through by lying to small artists about the importance of copyright law for their own small-scale works (ignoring the fact that processing derived metadata from web images is pretty damn clearly a fair use application).

[hazeltongzhi]

Does the mayor of a chinese city (eg Chongqing) have more power than the leader of the Municipal Committee of the CPC of that city?

The state/government and the party in the PRC are separate organs. The CPC has chapters on the local, provincial, and national levels and they are responsible for party functions e.g., selecting party representatives, formulating local policy plans, etc.. However, to put forth candidates and proposals, they must have a seat at the actual government position. On the local levels, this means the various congresses and councils. In your hypothetical, If the CPC controls the seat, then it can be argued that no, the mayor doesn't have more power as since they are a member of the CPC, should they do a poor job at implementing party policy, they would not be allowed another term or even be demoted in the party. However, the PRC is not a monolith of a singular party. For example, at a national level, the NPC is made up of the CPC, several other parties, and independents. Its not inconceivable for independents or other parties to also take local positions as well. Should that be the case, then no, the "equivalent" local government position is not beholden to the CPC's "equivalent" party position.

China's Political System by MERICS is a good intro level, though textbook length breakdown (in english) of the PRC's governmental/political structure. Governing China: How The CPC Works by Xie Chuntao is an older look at how the party functions specifically.

This infographic gives a brief overview of how the government functions and makes clear the separation between the state and the party.

[katakaluptastrophy]

The Nine Houses must be absolutely terrifying to fight.

And not just because their invasions start with a drop ship full of pimply 14 year olds inexplicably armed with zweihanders whose entire remit is to cause a mass casualty event for necromantic purposes...

We're mostly introduced to the schools of necromancy at the beginning of GTN, before we have broader context beyond "ooh, new magic system." But if you think about it in light of what we later learn about the Cohort:

Second House: they can literally drain your life force to power up their cavaliers. "It’s said they all die screaming"

Third House: that pile of corpses in no man's land? They're being used as a power up. Also, someone's just rearranged your face; your arse is on backwards.

Fourth House: that pile of corpses in no man's land? They're bombs now. And if you corner a Fourth House necro, they're a bomb too!

Fifth House: at best, they're the weird technicians for the Houses' horrifying blood and monolith based FTL system. At worst, it doesn't matter if you kill yourself to avoid capture or if you hold out under interrogation until you expire, they can still interrogate your ghost.

Sixth House: drop a cigarette or shed a hair on a clandestine operation? These guys now know your age, shoe size, and approximate location. They know what you had for breakfast. They know what you held in the last 12 hours.

Seventh House: that pile of corpses in no man's land? They're armed and marching on you now.

Eigth House: why is he glowing? WHY IS HE GLOWING?!

Ninth House: the guy next to you's bones just became an IED.

[rainstormcolors]

Seto's been betrayed by the system and adults within the system from his childhood, and therapy for a CEO in the mid-90s and early-00s in Japan wouldn't have seemed like the solution it does now -- there was a kind of taboo to mental illness and struggles as it was expected to be kept private, within the family, and could very much be seen as a sign of poor willpower (the West absolutely has issues with the way mental illness and trauma are viewed as well, and no culture or time period is a monolith, but I feel it's worth considering for my personal view of canon and the characters).

Adult therapists are human beings too, prone to biases, flawed, with limited viewpoints like all people. And it's strange how people say we should be wary of those in authority, but suddenly when it comes to therapists we ignore how therapists can make mistakes or sometimes even abuse their power. (Absolutely not all therapists -- but this is in the context of Seto Kaiba and his life, and I do know the reality of therapists making mistakes with their clients.)

For me, the situation Seto's been placed into and the reality of it, and how turning to others seems so weak and self-defeating to him (and to many others) and how it does have a real double-edged blade, are part of having compassion for how much he mentally tears himself apart.

Having read some of KT's ideas behind how he wrote YGO, and noticing the repeated themes within it of how duty and expectation can destroy people even as it binds them to the people they love, I have to take note of how exception and duty and the "need" to be strong and self-reliant are written into Seto's character and what his story is saying to us. I think pretending the answer and road for Seto to good mental health was actually easy and right there the whole time does a disservice to his struggle, which I don't feel fans who want him in therapy believe BUT I have seen people abandon their compassion because they felt the struggle with trauma and mental health had an easy and universal solution in therapy and that, indeed, people still struggling are weak.

[lilacsupernova]

A post- postmodernist world of gender?

And at the turn of the millennium, something occurred with the term gender: it stopped wandering around, froze and turned to stone. Suddenly it was no longer a system to be subverted, but an individual identity – no longer a cultural construct, no longer even something people do. At that point, gender became something a person is, an eternal inner essence beyond culture and power structures, even beyond genitalia. Now, gender is said to be something innate that no society on earth can change. We are being told that gender emanates from within us and only we ourselves can know is truth – list your pronouns and I will know who you are! Once you discover your gender, there is no turning back and no doubt – this is the real you. You 'are' woman, man, non-binary, trans or agender and have therefore always been so.

This is a giant step away from queer theory. In fact, postmodernism and queer theory seem rather outdated. They were merely stepping stones that abolished the notion of material sex, whose ruins the new-fangled essentialism then built on. The grand narrative now returns, claiming to own the truth about gender. Cue the cliche's about pink/blue, dolls/weapons, makeup/machines, passive/active.

This ideological shift from sex, to sex/gender, to gender, to gender/sex, represents a shift from metaphysics to dialectical materialism to postmodernism to postmodern essentialism. However, seamless the change might appear, it is important to note that in gender identity theory, we are dealing with an idea that diverges significantly from queer theory in its basic tenets. Whereas queer theory saw everything as discourse and nothing as real, gender identity theory in fact sees gender as very real and innate. Whereas queer theory was engaged in a constant, parodic, satirical subverting of gender, gender identity establishes that the discovery of ones true gender is a final verdict – and a deadly serious matter. Whereas [Judith] Butler postulated gender was an external system, imposing itself on us through interpellation, making us succumb, gender identity theory sees gender as a truth coming from the inside.

This postmodern essentialism is strange indeed, a biological determinism without biology, where the idea of becoming who you want to be is combined with the belief in gendered souls. Yet this is the only possibility for patriarchy to return inside neoliberalism. This way, one maintains notions of individual liberty at the same time as strict rules on gender return with a full blast. (Patriarchy also returns outside the neoliberal paradigm, with a conservative backlash on abortion rights and a clamping down on female sexuality, but this current is unable to fully penetrate ideologically progressive societies and circles.) Biological determinism of old was monolithic and fateful: born in a woman's body, you were told your brain was unfit for higher office. There was no escape. Anyone trying to break boundaries would hit their head against a wall. As opposed to that, biological determinism of today, gender identity-style, is fragmented: body and soul are said to each have a sex of their own. Thus, an escape route is inbuilt: anyone who feels their gender role is too narrow is given the opportunity to change and find a 'truer' self. Both determinisms juxtapose gender and sex, but in reverse order: sex determines gender versus gender determines sex.

– Kajsa Ekis Ekman (2023) On the Meaning of Sex: Thoughts on the New Definition of Woman, pp. 93-4.

[qqueenofhades]

As someone whose country went through a brutal dictatorship, we still see the bleeding wounds it's left- even 50 years later. The idea of not exercising the right to vote is absolutely unthinkable to most citizens. Granted, voting is obligatory, but everyone I know does it voluntarily and enthusiastically. The discourse I hear around it in the US evidences a narrow perspective, which is so upsetting to see, especially within leftist spaces.

The right to vote is something every citizen must, sadly, defend. Most Latin American countries know all too well what happens when fascism and treason disguised as conservatism take centre stage. I hope it won't be too late when the people peddling anti voting crap to younger generations realise the harm it causes.

All around the world, the reason fascist authoritarian dictatorships of whatever ideology stay in power is precisely either because citizens aren't allowed to vote, the vote is outrageously rigged (think of the 99% margins routinely racked up in places like Russia and Venezuela) or they rely on repressing the vote through intentionally disheartening liberal, left-wing, progressive, or other similarly oriented voters, who often do much of the work themselves with constant internal attacks and purity tests and adopting the rhetoric of anti-voting propaganda in the name of purity. Despite all their populist claims to enact a monolithic Will of the People, all these anti-democratic authoritarian movements are terrified of a genuinely representative popular vote and will do anything to stop it, because it turns out that if you give them the choice, people anywhere in the world don't super like being repressed, extorted, and terrorized in the name of Ideology, and will give your tiresome fascist ass Das Boot.

In the American context, the Republicans have gone full masks-off illiberal authoritarianism and they desperately hate the idea of people voting, which is why they have filed endless lawsuits, passed endless restrictive laws, disenfranchised even their own voters, shrieked election fraud, and everything else to try to jerry-rig their position as extremist minority oligarchic rulers for life. Which is why it is befuddling, to say the least, to see people insist that voting doesn't work, it doesn't matter that much, it isn't an effective tool against fascism, it's Morally Wrong, or all the other idiot "justifications" they come up with. All you have to do is look at how fucking terrified the bad guys are of a minimally equitable electoral system (such as getting rid of the Electoral College, which would pretty much ensure a Republican never won the presidency again if it had to be selected by -- gasp! -- an actual nationwide popular vote). That's why I don't even buy into the "voting sucks and is the bare minimum" rhetoric that gets peddled as a sort of tempting carrot to get the recalcitrants to do it -- don't worry, you can still post your mean tweets about Biden and that totally is more effective! Voting is A BIG DEAL. Voting works. Americans don't realize this because they are lucky enough to never have lived in a country where it wasn't available to be taken for granted and therefore scoffed off.

Voting, having the right to vote, and the large-scale ability that it confers to change the structures of society, is a MASSIVELY powerful tool that has largely not been available to most people throughout history (and is still unavailable to a large chunk of the world today). That's why there were bitter and protracted battles to get women and African Americans the right to vote in America. That is why the GOP still particularly targets those voters today, because the simple act of exercising your civic franchise in your best interests (and therefore not in the MAGA TrumpCult's interests) is so terrifying to them. If it was meaningless, none of this would matter. But it does.

Here, Imma make it real easy for you. If you have any reason to think your voter registration is lapsed, inactive, or nonexistent, if you have recently moved and don't know your status or your polling place or whether you get a mail ballot or whether your evil DeSantis governor has recently taken you off the rolls, or if you have never done it before, or if you want to do one basic thing to oppose fascism today, click this simple link. Do it.

[blackhistorystoryteller]

AFRICAN VOODOO

The deep truth about AFRICAN VOODOO

African Voodoo: Unraveling the Mysteries of a Rich Spiritual Tradition

African Voodoo, often shrouded in mystery and misconceptions, is a complex and fascinating spiritual tradition with deep-rooted cultural significance. This ancient belief system, practiced in various forms across the African continent and the African diaspora, offers a unique perspective on the relationship between humans, nature, and the divine. In this article, we will delve into the world of African Voodoo, exploring its history, beliefs, rituals, and its enduring impact on the cultures and societies where it thrives.

A Diverse Tradition

Voodoo, also spelled Vodou or Vodun, is not a monolithic belief system; rather, it is a diverse and adaptable spiritual tradition that has evolved differently in various regions of Africa and beyond. Its origins can be traced back to the indigenous religions of West and Central Africa, where it was practiced by different ethnic groups. Over time, African Voodoo underwent syncretism with Catholicism and indigenous beliefs in the Caribbean, particularly in Haiti, giving birth to Haitian Vodou, which is perhaps the most well-known form of Voodoo.

Core Beliefs

At its core, African Voodoo centers around the veneration of spirits, ancestors, and deities. These spirits are believed to have the power to influence human life and the natural world. Each spirit has a specific domain, and practitioners seek their guidance and assistance through various rituals and offerings. Ancestor worship is a fundamental aspect of Voodoo, as it connects the living to their familial lineage and heritage.

The Loa, or spirits, are a central focus of Voodoo ceremonies. These spirits are intermediaries between humans and the ultimate divine force. Practitioners often enter trance-like states to communicate with the Loa, who possess them temporarily during rituals. The Loa are known for their distinct personalities and preferences, and offerings such as food, drinks, and dance are made to appease and honor them.

Rituals and Practices

Voodoo rituals are colorful and lively events filled with drumming, dancing, singing, and the use of symbolic objects. Rituals are often held in temples or outdoor spaces, and they vary widely depending on the specific tradition and purpose. Some rituals are celebratory, while others are intended to seek protection, healing, or guidance.

One of the most famous Voodoo rituals is the "Voodoo Doll," which is often misunderstood. These dolls are not meant for causing harm but are used as tools for healing or connecting with a specific person's spirit. Pins may be used symbolically to focus intention.

Voodoo in the African Diaspora

The transatlantic slave trade played a significant role in spreading African Voodoo to the Americas, particularly in regions like Haiti, New Orleans, and Brazil. In these places, Voodoo underwent further syncretism with local beliefs and Catholicism, resulting in unique variations of the tradition.

Haitian Vodou, for instance, is a vibrant blend of African Voodoo, Catholicism, and indigenous Taino beliefs. It has had a profound impact on Haitian culture and played a central role in the struggle for independence from colonial rule.

Misconceptions and Stereotypes

African Voodoo has been the subject of many misconceptions and stereotypes, often portrayed negatively in popular culture. These portrayals frequently focus on the more sensational aspects of Voodoo, such as curses and zombies, rather than its rich cultural and spiritual dimensions. It's important to recognize that Voodoo is a legitimate religious practice for millions of people, and like any belief system, it encompasses a wide range of beliefs and practices.

African Voodoo is a complex, multifaceted spiritual tradition with a deep and enduring cultural significance. It is a testament to the resilience of African heritage and the ability of beliefs to adapt and evolve over time. Beyond the stereotypes and misconceptions, Voodoo represents a profound connection between humans, nature, and the divine—a connection that continues to shape the lives and cultures of those who practice it.

Communication with the spirits, often referred to as Loa or Lwa in Voodoo, is a central aspect of Voodoo rituals and practices. Here's an overview of how practitioners communicate with these entities:

1. **Rituals and Offerings**: Voodoo rituals are the primary means of communication with the spirits. Practitioners gather in a designated sacred space, such as a temple or outdoor altar. They often create an elaborate ritual environment with symbols, candles, and ceremonial objects. Offerings, including food, drinks, tobacco, and other items, are presented to specific spirits to gain their favor and attention.

2. **Dance and Music**: Music and dance are essential elements of Voodoo ceremonies. Drumming and chanting create a rhythmic and trance-inducing atmosphere. Through dance and music, practitioners enter altered states of consciousness, allowing them to connect with the spirits more profoundly. It is believed that the spirits may possess individuals during these ceremonies, providing a direct channel for communication.

3. **Possession and Trance**: One of the most distinctive aspects of Voodoo rituals is the concept of spirit possession. Practitioners, often referred to as "servants of the spirits," may enter a trance-like state during which a particular Loa or spirit is believed to take control of their body. In this state, the possessed individual may speak in the voice of the spirit, offering guidance, advice, or requests on behalf of the spirit.

4. **Divination**: Divination is another way to communicate with the spirits in Voodoo. Practitioners may use various divination tools such as tarot cards, cowrie shells, or casting of objects to seek guidance from the spirits. These divination practices help practitioners understand the desires and intentions of the spirits and may provide insights into their own lives.

5. **Prayer and Invocation**: Voodoo practitioners often use prayer and invocation to establish a connection with the spirits. Specific prayers or invocations are recited to call upon a particular spirit's presence and assistance. These prayers are typically passed down through generations and may be spoken in a specific language or dialect.

6. **Voodoo Dolls**: Contrary to popular misconceptions, Voodoo dolls are not used for causing harm but are symbolic tools for communication. They can represent a specific person or spirit and are employed in rituals to convey intentions, requests, or healing energy to the spirits associated with them.

It's important to note that communication with the spirits in Voodoo is a deeply spiritual and cultural practice, and the methods may vary among different Voodoo traditions and communities. Voodoo practitioners believe that these rituals and practices maintain a reciprocal relationship with the spirits, offering offerings and devotion in exchange for protection, guidance, and assistance in various aspects of life.

Masquerades and Voodoo in Africa: A Cultural Tapestry of Spiritual Expression

Africa is a continent rich in cultural diversity, and its spiritual practices are as varied as its landscapes. Among the many vibrant traditions that permeate African culture, masquerades and Voodoo (often spelled Vodun or Vodou) hold significant places in the hearts and lives of its people. This article explores the fascinating intersection of masquerades and Voodoo, shedding light on how these practices are intertwined with African spirituality.

**Masquerades: The Embodiment of Spirits**

Masquerades are a prominent cultural phenomenon across Africa, characterized by elaborate costumes, masks, and dances. These performances serve multifaceted purposes, including entertainment, social commentary, and spiritual expression. However, it's the latter aspect, the spiritual dimension, that ties masquerades to Voodoo and other indigenous African belief systems.

1. **Role of Ancestors**: In many African cultures, masquerades are a means of connecting with ancestors and spirits of the deceased. The masks and costumes worn by performers often represent these spirits. During masquerade ceremonies, participants believe that the spirits inhabit the masks and interact with the living. This interaction serves as a way to honor and seek guidance from the ancestors.

2. **Protection and Cleansing**: Some masquerades have protective roles in communities. They are believed to ward off evil spirits, illnesses, or other malevolent forces. These masquerades often perform purification rituals, symbolically cleansing the community and its members.

3. **Harvest and Fertility Celebrations**: Masquerades are frequently associated with agricultural and fertility rites. They may perform dances and rituals to ensure a bountiful harvest or to promote fertility among the community members.

4. **Social Order and Governance**: Masquerades also play a role in enforcing social norms and maintaining order within communities. They may act as judges, mediators, or enforcers of communal rules during their performances.

**Voodoo: The Spiritual Heartbeat**

Voodoo, a widely practiced religion across West Africa and its diaspora, is deeply entwined with masquerades and the spiritual fabric of the continent.

1. **Ancestor Worship**: Voodoo places a significant emphasis on ancestor worship, much like masquerades. Practitioners believe that the spirits of ancestors are ever-present and can influence the living. Offerings, rituals, and masquerade performances are ways to honor and seek the guidance of these spirits.

2. **Connection to Nature**: Voodoo, like many African belief systems, recognizes the close relationship between humans and nature. It views natural elements, such as rivers, forests, and animals, as inhabited by spirits. Masquerades often incorporate nature-centric symbolism in their performances.

3. **Trance and Possession**: Both Voodoo and certain masquerades involve altered states of consciousness. In Voodoo, devotees may enter trances and become possessed by spirits, similar to the possession experiences during some masquerade ceremonies. These states facilitate direct communication with the divine.

4. **Rituals and Sacrifices**: Offerings and sacrifices are common in both Voodoo and masquerade traditions. These rituals are believed to appease spirits and seek their favor.

**Cultural Resilience and Transformation**

While masquerades and Voodoo have endured the test of time and colonization, they have also adapted and evolved. In the African diaspora, especially in the Americas, they fused with other cultural elements and religions, giving rise to unique traditions such as Haitian Vodou and New Orleans Voodoo.

masquerades and Voodoo in Africa are vibrant expressions of spirituality, culture, and identity. They are living traditions that continue to shape the lives and beliefs of countless individuals and communities, offering insights into the enduring resilience and adaptability of African cultures in the face of change and adversity.

The timing for Voodoo practices, like many spiritual traditions, can vary depending on the specific tradition, the purpose of the practice, and the preferences of the practitioner. There is no universally "best" time for Voodoo practice, but certain times and occasions are commonly observed:

1. **Festival Days**: Many Voodoo traditions have specific festival days or holidays when practitioners gather to perform rituals and ceremonies. For example, in Haitian Vodou, the Festival of the Ancestors (Fèt Gede) is a significant event where people honor and communicate with their ancestors. These festivals often have fixed dates in the Voodoo calendar.

2. **Full Moon and New Moon**: Lunar phases are significant in various spiritual practices, including Voodoo. Some practitioners prefer to conduct rituals during the full moon or new moon, believing that these phases are particularly potent for spiritual work. The full moon is often associated with amplifying energy and intentions, while the new moon is seen as a time for new beginnings.

3. **Nighttime**: Many Voodoo rituals take place during the nighttime. This is believed to be a time when the veil between the spiritual and physical realms is thinner, making it easier to communicate with the spirits. Candlelit ceremonies, drumming, and dancing are common elements of Voodoo rituals conducted at night.

4. **Personal Preference**: Individual practitioners may have their own preferred times for Voodoo practice based on their personal experiences and beliefs. Some may feel a stronger connection to the spirits during specific times of the day or year.

5. **Life Events**: Voodoo is often integrated into various life events such as births, marriages, and funerals. The timing of these rituals is determined by the occurrence of these events.

6. **Consulting a Voodoo Priest/Priestess**: For more specific guidance on the timing of Voodoo practices, consulting a Voodoo priest or priestess is advisable. They can provide insights based on their knowledge and experience within their particular Voodoo tradition.

It's essential to remember that Voodoo is not a monolithic practice; it encompasses various traditions and regional variations, each with its own customs and beliefs. Therefore, the best time for Voodoo practice can differ significantly from one tradition to another. Additionally, Voodoo is deeply rooted in cultural and spiritual contexts, so practitioners often follow the customs passed down through generations within their specific communities.

[theresattrpgforthat]

Hey mint. For a long time now I've been looking for games that emulate Zelda. Now I know you've gotten a request like this before, so I'll add an extra challenge to help me find what I'm looking for - I'm looking for something that can handle the fantasy of playing as Zelda, or Link, or Ganondorf. Think wielding the master sword, sealing away monsters with holy magic, or playing projectile tennis with the baddies.

For bonus points: got anything with majora's-mask-style transformation masks?

THEME: Legend of Zelda; Powerful Characters.

My dear, dear friend, I don’t know if you realized this when you posted this question, but I think I’m working on a game that fits exactly what you’re looking for. (But never fear, that’s not the only thing I’m recommending.)

A Terrible Fate, by Mint-Rabbit.

The world is ending. A comet is falling; the moon is fading; the sun is growing dark. In three days, we will succumb to the heavens abandoning us to the cold and dark, or burning us up in a whirlwind of fire and ash. That is, unless the four Great Spirits can awaken.

You are heroes, called upon by the people to dive deep into the dungeons in which the Spirits slumber. Discover what has put them to sleep, and free them from whatever traps them deep within their winding halls. Keep your promise to the people, and the land will be free.

A Terrible Fate is a lightweight Forged-in-the-Dark game about cursed heroes using a time loop to free the land from impending doom. These heroes will use magic masks that they have been granted in order to open up cursed dungeons and free the Spirits that can save the land from this tragedy.

A Terrible Fate takes a lot of inspiration from the Masks of Brinkwood, and I was inspired to create it back when I received an ask about games inspired by Majora’s Mask. You are doomed adventurers granted supernatural powers through a series of magical masks, which will consume you should you fail. Venture through four dungeons to free the Spirits that can stop the sky from falling, and do your best to help people who will never remember your names. If you want a game about grief, anonymity, and time loops, then this is the game for you.

I’ll hopefully have the full game up by the time this post is live, but if not, the goal is to have this game released by June 8, because that’s when the Majora’s Mask Game Jam finishes up!

Echoes of the Broken, by Scribbles and Dice.

Welcome to Echoes of the Broken — a tabletop roleplaying game of elemental mayhem in a post-apocalyptic fantasy world.

It’s been 100 years since the Breaking of the Gods, when the world of Ranaskar was devastated by an apocalyptic war between the gods. Falling from the heavens, the broken corpses of the gods became the Remnants — colossal, monolithic structures of arcane power. From the Remnants emanates the Echo, the will of the Broken Gods, twisted by their violent end. The Echo warps the land, and corrupts the people, leaving Ranaskar a volatile hellscape. 

Now, 100 years later, the Sanctums grow weak, ever besieged by the Echoes of the Broken Gods. In desperation, the Remnants of Oros have called upon champions — the Wardens.

Characters have fairly powerful abilities granted to them by a dead god, as well as Burdens; weaknesses or curses that provide them specific disadvantages. Character creation feels fairly descriptive, building a layered history that culminates in a character with plenty of connections, gifts and responsibilities. Your characters also have attributes and skills that use a point-buy system to determine where you’ll pull your dice from.

When you want to do something, the GM will tell you what threshold is required for success. Players will create a pool of d6’s based on their attributes and skills, and attempt to meet or beat the threshold. What is really interesting about this game is that the group can choose to tackle an obstacle together, and contribute all of their successes towards the same goal. At the same time, the GM can set a higher threshold difficulty if a challenge is meant to be a group challenge, so the difficulty can scale. If you want a game with powerful characters who have a substantial amount of backstory, you might want to check out Echoes of the Broken.

Keepers of the Six Worlds, by carnel.

You are the Keepers of Harmony, beings of spirit created to guide and protect the six worlds by the All-Mother. The six worlds were created by the trickster Yorgi when he shattered the world gem in the serpent's forehead. Each of the six was a reflection of the true world but brought into equal and parallel creation.

The worlds were sealed away in a fold of the blanket of night where they would be hidden and protected from the manipulations of the gods and the temptations of the true world.

Take on the role of divine beings given authority over a pocket universe. Will you resist the temptation to become as gods? Will you preserve the status quo as you were tasked or will you help those in your care to find their own path?

This is a deck-based game that uses playing cards to generate the worlds that your characters will attempt to protect. Your actions will change the trajectory of each of these worlds, but at the same time you may also find yourself changed in the process. I think this carries the theme of transformation that you might be looking for, even if the transformation that came about is not through masks.

At World’s Edge, by Workpire.

Welcome to the edge of the world. At the final days of the final age, the fires of life have nearly been extinguished. The Sun is bleeding. The Kings are dead.Only a handful of beings are left alive - Immortals. Gods.  Whatever's left, make your way to the Temple of Fire, defeat the guardians within, complete their trials, and feed the Fire to restart life… or stop the cycle forever.

At World's Edge is a short, simple combat-based tabletop RPG with a new, unique combat system that relies on area of attacks and a dodge mechanic that makes for dynamic combat.  You are Gods, and you fight as Gods.

This is primarily a fighting game, complete with a grid to move your characters around on and attack modifiers that relate to numbers on your character sheet. Your characters are also not just hyper-competent people; they are Gods, with specific Aspects that will improve your rolls whenever they are relevant. Unfortunately, you cannot be the God of Courage or the God of Wisdom; the game works better if you have a domain over Lightning or Fire or something more tangible.

Firmament, by Veil’s Edge Games.

FIRMAMENT is a rules-lite action fantasy RPG about the conflict between the Champion of an ancient order and the various factions that wield the corrupt magic of Affliction. Players embody the powerful Champions of the Order of the Firmament as they join the fight against Affliction.

The Champions are opposed by the factions that use Affliction as a weapon. From the industrial Braxon Alchemical to the implacable Hexhunters, these enemies are the most dangerous foes the order will face. Combat is fast and deadly in FIRMAMENT—for the order's foes at least. In combat, Champions wield weapons of sunlight and moonlight in battle, and spend a resource called Celest to use powers unique to their Discipline.

If you want highly-competent characters, LUMEN is probably a good system to consider, as I’ve mentioned before. Characters are rather sleek, with three Attributes, a health and “magic” bar, and a few abilities that make your character special. The core part of this game is fast, high-action combat, and the fight against Affliction kind of reminds me of Link’s attempt to cleanse parts of Hyrule in games such as Twilight Princess or Breath of the Wild.

POWER | WISDOM | COURAGE, by UnabashedlyRose.

Whenever the Shadows rise there will always be three points of Light that oppose them. They will fight, sacrifice, and overcome the Shadows at a great cost to themselves.  But that is what makes them heroes. It is up to you now and we know you will not let us down.

POWER|WISDOM|COURAGE is a GMless game for three players about being chosen by the Light to face off against the Shadows and save your home from destruction. 

There’s an obvious reference going on with this game, although all of your characters are considered heroes, including the Ganondorf analogue. I’m not entirely sure how much setting is packaged into this game; you can probably draw the connections between the three parts of the Triforce if you want to, but I have a feeling that they’re not necessary. The other limiting factor is that this game is exactly for three players, so if you have more or less, it’s not really an option.

You might also be interested in…

My Legend of Zelda Recommendation Post.

The question that started it all. (Majora’s Mask)

Dawn of the First Day, by Riley Hopkins.

[strawberrybyers]

hey guys i need all of us to be insane about electricity real quick

so the stranger things account put on their broadcast channel this video and said “some light reading going on this wednesday”. well i’ve decided to look up each of these books and they all have to do with electricity???? and we know stranger things has an obsession with electricity, so let’s talk about it.

the orange book in the video is “The Voltage Regulator Handbook”. in the introduction it says “Too often, a design finds itself stalled in the development of a power supply to complete the total system. This problem is being eased with the development of a new generation of monolithic integrated circuit regulators and discrete components…” this makes me think of how the upside down is stuck in time and how season 4 ended with the upside down forming into one with hawkins??

then i’m pretty sure the book next to it is “Solid State Lamp” ?? but i googled it and there’s such a thing as solid-state lighting, so the book would be about lights and how they work. that’s interesting to me as lights have been used as a way of communicating with the upside down. also, there’s something called “Solid State Chemistry” as well and that’s interesting because i feel like nancy’s chemistry cards are a clue as to what is going on. i wrote a post about that here

the other book featured in the image is “The Transistor Manual”. another interesting book about electricity, but it seems like it has more to do with telecommunications such as a radio?? the radio has played a significant role in stranger things in regards to music and communicating through a radio.

the blue book is the “Ampex AG-440 AG-445 Recorder and Reproducer Operation Maintenance Manual”. this one intrigued me specifically because of this page??

“CAUTION: DO NOT TOUCH HIM, OR YOU MAY SHARE HIS PREDICAMENT” BITCHHHH WHEN I TELL YOU I SCREAMED???? also you have to keep him warm?? remember the whole “he likes it cold thing?” or the upside down/demogorgon is affected by heat?? my mind can’t help but think is something going to happen to will since he still has a connection with the mindflayer/upiside down/vecna and interacting with him could result in death or harm to oneself ?? LIKE IDK A DAMN THING ABOUT ELECTRICITY EXCEPT THAT THE LAB POSED AS A LIGHT AND ELECTRIC COMPANY, STEVE TALKS ABOUT HAVING ELECTRICITY WITH THE RIGHT PERSON, THE OFFICIAL PLAYLIST FOR MIKE HAS A SONG CALLED “ARE FRIENDS ELECTRIC?”, LIGHTS ARE USED TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE UPSIDE DOWN AND THESE BOOKS ARE CLUES AND SOMEHOW ALL OF THAT LEADS TO BYLER ENDGAME OK THANK YOU FOR BEING INSANE WITH ME ‼️

[tlonista]

I wish the conversation over Problematic Relationships In Fiction weren't so heavily framed around individual stories. Because I don't care about some random fucked-up novel, but I do feel like current romance media trends toward a recommendation-fueled monoculture with some frustratingly rigid gender norms, and a lot of "does fiction affect reality" discourse offers no way of talking about it.

Every time I dip my toe outside AO3 (Wattpad, Kindle Unlimited, Reddit, my BookTok experience is limited but that's the vibe I get there) I'm dismayed by how hard it is to find M/F romance that's not implicitly or explicitly about eroticized male-dominated power imbalance. Not just "he's a serial unaliver" dark romance, but the huge focus on hypermasculine heroes taking care of heroines and possessive alpha-male fated mates and nigh-inescapable trends like "good girl" praise-kink stuff.

Obviously this was always common in romance publishing, but a) the internet was supposed to support niches and b) I find significantly more diversity on AO3, so I think it can. It's just that no other platform or online community seems structured to do it. Instead a combination of recommendation feeds, word-of-mouth virality, and fast-fashion self-publishing surfaces infinite variations on a handful of the most broadly appealing industry blockbusters and buries everything else.

So instead of offering an alternative to old monolithic print publishing, online platforms seem even better at elevating male-domination kinks from "a fairly popular dynamic" to an inescapable default of What Romance Is. Even if you're fully aware it's a sexual fantasy, it gets downright hard to articulate desire in any other way, especially if you don't have a fully-formed picture of what you like. Unless you think sexuality simply isn't a "real" component of people's lives, I think this is a reasonable example of fiction in aggregate affecting reality in a negative way.

(It's also obviously not unique to romance lit. I just can't speak to stuff like video porn firsthand, and I don't see a ton of pushback on people criticizing the gender dynamics of Pornhub.)

But if the only available question is "is X book corrupting impressionable young women," then... no, that's silly. If anything, the aggregate system makes individual books feel bad in ways the authors probably didn't intend. Like, in Popular Kink Land, "your feminism says no but your body says yes" tropes are appealing for some women working through a particular kind of purity culture. In Inescapable Dynamic Land they take on this Gorean overtone where all women secretly want a man to take charge of them. The former is not my thing but fine; the latter feels like some kind of weird accidental gaslighting.

To the extent AO3 escapes this, I think it's for four reasons.

A focus on tags and chronological sorting, which helps surface non-popular stuff and gives readers more control

It's strictly non-commercial so there's less incentive to write for the broadest audience or fill the site with boilerplate sludge

It doesn't segregate categories like "romance for men", so there's less gerrymandering of cross-gender niches like femdom

The fourth reason, which is most interesting to me, is that fanfic ships (specifically not X-reader ships) create easily discoverable literary microgenres drawn from a huge range of media outside the tropey echo chamber of Romancelandia Proper.

In my experience it takes hours of scouring Reddit and Goodreads to find non-normative original romance, but one AO3 search and a few clicks to get from "I played Resident Evil and liked Ada and Leon's vibe" to a substantial microgenre about a badass woman making a cute guy stutter, or "I loved Kaz and Inej in Six of Crows" to a bunch of takes on a not-conventionally-masculine hero and a powerful but vulnerable heroine pining for each other. Since a decent number of fanfic authors also write non-fanfic, there's even a chance you'll find somebody who does original characters with a sensibility you like. I have no idea how you'd bring this system outside shipfic, but I'd love to see someone try.

[creativealmonds]

Why Did the Jedi Stay in the War?

We, as fandom experiencing a franchise that started in the 70s, tend to forget that not every character has the same knowledge and context as we do.

“The Jedi should just not go to war! It’s simple!”

Its not. Jedi, at their core, the thing they do most, is help people. Before the war they were wandering monks and priests who helped with problems be they planetary succession crises or a kid lost in the woods.

In a recent Obi-wan comic, he’s on Tattooine and reflecting on the war and a Jedi’s purpose in it. A bridge is about to be bombed. He’s told to get out of there. He shoots back, “there are still wounded here!”

The Jedi couldn’t just step away from the war because there were still wounded on the battlefields, on every planet and system.

“The Jedi turned their backs on their ways and became generals!”

They became generals because the Senate told them too. For years, they’d been slowly boxed in by Palpatine purporting the senate to make it easier for him to mass murder them. Of course it doesn’t make sense for a religious order of monks, priests, scholars, healers and diplomats to became generals of the biggest army in literal centuries! That’s what Palpatine wanted; for the Jedi to be seen as power hungry, war mongers so that when he called Order 66 people won’t be outright opposed to the literal genocide of a people.

“They enslaved the clones!”

The Jedi had just as much say in the war as the clones did. The clones were made to fight, they spent their entire lives trying to fight in this war. They weren’t recruited, they didn’t choose, they had no say. And, going back to the first part, the Jedi had to go because of the Senate and they themselves, the hood Jedi at least, wouldn’t leave knowing that there were people that needed saving, be that clones or civilians.

“The Jedi are peacekeepers!”

Yes but peace is not always pacifism. In the episode where Ashoka goes to the lemur village the elder says his version of people is better than the Jedi’s. His version of peace is not going anything. What he calls peace is compliance. The Jedi try and bring peace by fighting, same as the rebels in the original trilogy and the shows. I watched a video about Andor and this line stuck out to me.

“The empire doesn’t kill with a shot to the heart, but with slow strangulation.” People would rather do nothing, in fear of immediate danger, and be slowly killed.

The Jedi are no monolith, and they are not infallible. They are people, with flaws that make mistakes, that tried to do good, to be what they were raised to be and to carry out their beliefs as best they could while being manipulated, used and lined up to slaughter.

[burningtheroots]

"Not like other girls" vs. "not all men" — patriarchal division

We all know the popular "not like other girls" (or "not like other women", respectively) trope.

I‘ve been thinking about it a lot recently and what really annoys me is that society teaches young girls and women that girlhood and womanhood are inherently "bad" and hence not being like other girls and women is "good" and "desirable".

While many people believe that it stems from the girls and women themselves, I‘d like to emphasize the impact of growing up in a deeply patriarchal, misogynistic society and system which ultimately influences the steps we take.

The world we live in is built on female oppression, exploitation, rivalry and division. By ensuring that girls and women believe in what the patriarchy teaches us, men ensure their power and authority as we‘re busy trying to "fit in" and prove that we‘re the "good girls/women". Girls and women are conditioned to look down on other girls and women and aspire to be different — to be validated by men that they‘re not this flawed image of girlhood and womanhood.

Once we have internalized these misogynistic beliefs, we start to make our lives revolve around them and also spread them further. That‘s a common technique used by oppressors — divide and conquer.

Now we have lots of girls and women who desperately want to be different from other girls and women, who want to be as close as possible to whatever gets them men‘s approval and highlights that they‘re actually good instead of "flawed" like the rest.

Girls and women are always either "too human" or "not human enough". Whether it‘s looks, interests, personality etc.. We‘re trained to make entire lifestyle choices based on other people’s men’s perception. We‘re forced to balance between idealized womanhood and demonized womanhood.

The solution we’re presented? Putting other girls and women down to "prove" ourselves.

And it‘s not like there aren’t any tools for this, in fact, the patriarchy provides them abundantly.

The beauty & diet industry strive to divide us.

Fun activities which are still "gendered" to this day strive to divide us.

The media, social platforms and advertisements strive to divide us.

Sexualization and objectification strive to divide us.

Relationships with men strive to divide us.

Even when men commit atrocities, they divide girls and women, not men.

On the contrary, men and boys are taught to be united. Not in a coddly way, perhaps, but in a way that gurantees solidarity and immunity when needed.

"Not like other boys/men!" isn‘t a thing, instead, we got "not all men!", a.k.a. "I‘m like other men and because I‘m not bad, they aren’t, either!".

Whilst men are more prone to violence and deliberately inflict emotional and physical pain on others on a much larger scale than women, boys and men aren’t taught that it‘s desirable to be different from other boys and men. Rather, they‘re taught that it‘s good, desirable and admirable.

Instead of aspiring to be different — to be better — their focus is on defending men as a whole and excusing or justifying their misbehavior, whereas we‘re told that we must hold each other accountable for the tiniest missteps, especially when they involve men.

Girls and women are taught that their existence (& humanity) in itself is flawed, undesirable and needs to be strictly regulated, judged and altered.

Boys and men are taught that their existence (& humanity) in itself is self-evident, desirable and worthwhile.

That‘s why I put female solidarity and sisterhood above all else.

That‘s why I proudly say that YES, I am like other girls and women. We aren’t a monolith, we‘re individually unique, and yet we share the experience of being female, and we‘re united in our mere existence as women, and we don’t need to put other women and girls above or beneath us, or allow us to be alienated from one another.

[zorosdimples]

i love the idea of higher education and i genuinely think it can be a wonderful, transformative experience. but universities and colleges are more focused on money and prestige than they are on teaching and growth; antiquated power structures persist because they drive profits and squash meaningful change. i would dedicate my life to higher education if i didn’t think it was broken almost beyond repair. learning should be accessible and achievable for all. but instead, it has turned into an insurmountable monolith that separates the “successful” from the “unsuccessful” (as though life is ever so straightforward). systemic change is the only way to save academia, but i don’t think it’s something we’ll witness in our lifetimes.

[milk5]

On the Skidelsky/Fuller post I reblogged, I absolutely welcome automation given the following criteria:

1. The output is identical or, holistically, more positive than human labor output

2. This automation occurs within an economic system in which GDP growth (or similarly fraught metrics) is not the primary objective

3. The automation aids the sustainability of nature and humanity

The USA's agriculture industry is a wonderful example of modern automation failing all three of these criteria. Throughout the entire industrial revolution, agriculture has trended away from being a society-wide confederation of family/community-scale, labor-intensive smallholdings to our current reality of a small number of monolithic industrial farms that are maintained by astoundingly few people who operate increasingly complex and expensive equipment.

Our massive-scale industrial farms are fantastic at what they were designed for; they grow as much of a staple crop as possible without regard to human or environmental health, doing so using minimal labor. Fundamentally, it is an extractive industry. Fossil fuels are extracted to power the machinery, processing, and logistics systems. Nutrients are extracted from the soil to the point that crop growth can only be sustained with heavy amounts of industrial fertilizer input. Entire ecosystems are sacrificed when forests are cleared to be exploited and repeatedly battered with pesticides. This is all primarily to produce soybeans, feed corn, and cotton to then process into products like factory farm livestock feed-slurry, corn syrup, junk food, and sweatshop garments. Secondarily, it is to produce flavorless, nutrition-void produce that can be sold year-round. Consistency is the goal, although one may find that nature itself is curiously inconsistent.

This case study of automation's failings can be traced back to a few major factors:

1. Old-style agriculture work is disagreeable to the USA's perverted fascination for infinite GDP growth; each farm laborer that can be replaced by a machine is a potential worker that could move into a city (or suburb) and put in the same amount of hours at a higher-dollar job. It's just opportunity cost, and this is more-or-less what Skidelsky and Fuller find offensive about our current labor zeitgeist; instead of the now-jobless laborers being free to pursue their interests, they are instead shoehorned into some shitty desk job that produces a relatively greater amount of money to be leeched by executives and shareholders -- this is "more productive" to our economy on the basis of GDP growth and thus must be prioritized over agricultural labor.

2. Industrial approaches to large-scale agriculture are inherently reductive to an extreme extent. Nature is far more complex than Liebig or any other enlightenment thinker ever imagined. Industrialization is great at making cars or computer chips or Gucci jackets or whatever, as these are things that can be standardized with relative ease. Nature cannot be tamed and standardized in a similar way; ecosystems, particularly soil ecosystems, can vary massively even in small areas of the same climate type. Our agriculture systems cope with this simply by ignoring such factors and reducing crop growth to a formula. In X region, plant Y variety of Z crop on A date and apply a regimen of B-type fertilizer and C-type pesticide on D date etc etc. This is the most egregious reduction of something in all of history.

Liebig's reduction of agriculture to the NPK model, just three elements, is good for achieving the singular goal of making your plant of choice come out of the ground, but it ignores all the nuance of soil, climate, and evolution. The other factors don't matter. Modern lab-designed fertilizers often feature a plethora of additional micronutrients, but the goal is still to produce a healthy crop, not healthy soil. Soil itself is an organism, it is something that must be nurtured to be healthy; industrial pesticide/fertilizer regimens are to the soil as feed slurry/antibiotic regimens are to factory farm animals.

Natural processes are, itself, the greatest form of automation for agriculture. Plants and animals that are native to a region have evolved to grow there regardless of human intervention. It is our disruption of these processes that forces agriculture to be labor/resource-intensive. This isn't to say that everyone must immediately abandon all non-native foods and adopt a primarily undomesticated Ötzi diet, but instead, it's worth considering that the complexity of modern technology is not even close to being at parity with the complexity of nature; nature has a several billion year head start. There is no way to flawlessly "tame" it with technological solutions, but a comfortable middle ground can certainly be found.

If sustainable, climate-friendly food production is the primary objective of agriculture, this is far more easily achieved by small, ecology-considerate farms than massive, largely automated industrial farms. A healthy soil ecosystem will aid in growth, flavor, nutrition, and, (quite importantly) carbon sequestration. Broadforking, shoveling, and wheelbarrow-pushing is absolutely more labor intensive than sitting back in a huge John Deere tractor with GPS-based autopiloting features, but the extra labor can turn a woefully extractive process into one that is instead highly regenerative.