#Simon antebellum

[bottombaron]

identified books on nandermo's au bookshelf (so far):

"Guillermo's side"

(from left to right)

-an unidentified New Yorker book

-The Love Machine by Jacqueline Susann

the second salacious novel by the writter of Valley of the Dolls. about a handsome and promiscuous tv network insider named Robert Stone who lives in sin, has numerous female admires who love him no matter how he treats them, and is nicknamed The Love Machine.

-an unidentified book titled The Protectors

-New Moon Rising by Eugenia Price

the second novel in a trilogy called the St. Simons trilogy. a historical romance epic in the vein of Gone With the Wind with added faith-based messaging and same antebellum american civil war uncomfortableness.

"Nandor's Side"

-The Strange Fate of the Morro Castle by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts

(also titled Shipwreck: The Strange Fate of the Morro Castle) a historical 'true-crime' account and investigation into the 1934 fire onboard the luxury cruise liner Morro Castle which 134 people died in what seemingly was an accident. (Morro Castle was the second ship to be named such after the first was retired in the early 1900s)

-Bad Debts by Geoffrey Wolff

the first book in a series of autobiographical/semiautobiographical writings in which the author (Geoffrey Wolff) attempts to deconstruct the relationship he has with his con-man of a father.

-Lilo's Diary by Richard M. Elman

the second book in a trilogy about a Hungarian family at the end of WWII. each novel in the trilogy tells the same story from a different point of view. Lilo's Diary, coming after The 28th Day of Elul and before The Reckoning, tells the story of Lilo, a complex girl undergoing the changes of puberty and coming adulthood in the midst of doom and eventual betrayal.

[bombingqueen]

Season 2 and 3: The Winchester's and the Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Demon Deals

Season 2 rating: 9/10

Best episodes from S2: Simon Said, RoadKill, and AHBL I & II

Worst episode: Hollywood Babylon (Just boring)

Season 3 rating 6/10

Best Episodes from S3: No Rest for the Wicked and The Kids Are Alright

Worst episode: Red Sky at Morning (just boring)

Sterling K. Brown is amazing his role as Gordon Walker is great.

I wish the special children plot line lasted longer. I believe so much more could have been done with them.

Ellen and Jo are not the best written characters on a re-watch. I liked them first time but not anymore.

Love episodes with 'human' monsters

Law enforcement episodes are some of my favorites

Dean doesn't have the best mental health in season 1 but in season 2 and 3 he has really started to derail. Couldn't keep his father save and he might lose his brother to an undetermined future.

Sam does stupid shit when he is emotional especially when Dean is involved.

Bella Talbot is a Boss Bitch. I like her more this time around.

Ava is adorable even if she turns into a little serial killer. "I just helped steal some dead guy's confidential files! I'm awesome"

I want to know the story behind 'funky town' Did happen before Sam went to Stanford or when he started hunting with Dean again?

Honestly, Gordon acting like Dean wasn't gonna hunt his ass down for murdering Sam is hilarious

Sam always blames himself for situations out of his control. Makes me sad.

I'm pretty sure that the hotel in Playthings is an Antebellum home.

2.12 Everytime I watch Nightshifter, I can only think of this:

2.12 Dean is such a simple man :" I like him. He says okey-dokey." What a fuckin dork. I love him.

2.12 Sam is so exasperated and bitchy this episode

2.12 Victor Henriksen was short-lived. Would've have been nice for the boys to have an ally in the feds.

2.12 The ending is amazing

Sam continues to believed that he can't be saved

Jared Padalecki is amazing and terrifying in 2.14 Born Under a Bad Sign

2.14 Demons really be trying to make the boys divorce

2.14 The Jo scene is so uncomfortable and the actors did amazing job of portraying it

2.14 I literally read a fanfic where Dean was in the place of Jo. It was some good shit not gonna lie

2.14 I'm pretty sure Meg was shocked that Dean would literally help his brother get away with murder. What's one more crime?

2.14 I have to give it to Meg. She was really trying to get Dean to turn against Sam and kill him. Hell, if she stopped possessing Sam after using his body to kill Dean, Sam would have embraced his dark destiny

Poor Sam. Dean knows what Madison meant to him in more ways than one

Wish we saw more of the lawyer and Deacon from 2.19 Folsom Prison Blues

2.19 Dean having fun in prison and fitting is so well is such a vibe. Sam's being disturbed by it was amusing.

2.20 Even in a world where they were never hunters, Dean still becomes an alcoholic

2.20 Wincest fics having DJINN are my favorite. Good shit right there

2.20 Dean wants Sam to be happy but not at the expense of losing their relationship with one another. Bruh, that shit is depressing.

Aww! Sam is Azazel's favorite

Andy is me in AHBL

Sam flexing his leadership skills in cold oak. Feel like a proud momma

Sam's first death hits hard. The relief on his face when he sees Dean coming for him. The last thing before death he sees is Dean allowing him to let go safely. And Dean just holding onto his world with desperation as his soul dies along with Sam.

Sam finding out about Dean's deal is heartbreaking. He was taken from his brother by a demon, finds out about his demon, he was killed violently, and then he is resurrected only to find out his brother sold his soul. Poor Sammy.

I forgot how shocking Sam's descent into savagery is. Blood thirsty little giant. Don't blame him though. I would be pissed off to if I was stabbed in the back literally and metaphorically

John really climbed out of the bowels of hell, saved his boys, and yeeted to Heaven

Dean becoming catatonic after Sam's death is so sad; his entire world just ended. Family may not end in blood but he is sole survivor of his own blood

Jensen Ackles flexing his acting chops with his emotional scenes begging for his brother to be okay and then having a monologue over his corpse is so fuckin good. Makes me cry everytime.

Demons calling Sam the Boy King or any alternative will never not be cool but it will continue to be funny

I like episodes involving their childhood and baby Dean tried so hard for Sammy

I actually didn't care for blond Ruby the first time I watch the series but I like her more during the re-watch. She is awesome and snarky

As much as I like Bella, she is fuckin dumb for stealing the colt like what the hell man. She reaped what she sowed right there

I used to find mystery spot funny but is more depressing than anything. Sam was barely holding on to his sanity and his moral compass was derailing fast

The way Dean begins to become more unhinged as his deal grows closer made my heart hurt

Lilith poked a goddam bear torturing and killing Dean in front of Sam's face. Gotta give her props; she had fuckin balls considering Sam's future. Guess Lucy didn't give her the memo or just didn't care since he was stuck in the cage. Having Sam Winchester on your ass is probably worse than facing Dean. Unhinged Sammy is somethin else

[a-student-out-of-time]

Besides the double murder stereotype. What are other things you dislike about danganronpa/fangans in general, when it comes to writing?

//There's a lot I could say about that, but I think the biggest one for me is the fridging. Dear lord, I hate fridging.

//On the off chance you're not familiar, fridging comes from the trope "Stuffed in the Fridge," which comes from "Women in refrigerators" by Gail Simone, which was a response to a Green Lantern issue where Kyle Rainer's girlfriend Alexandra was killed by the supervillain Major Force and shoved into the fridge for her to find. Quite a journey, I know.

//Fridging refers to the tendency for characters to be killed, harmed, traumatized, de-powered, or otherwise made to suffer not for the advancement of their own stories, but to affect someone else entirely. It's only ever about the character feeling sad or mad in response to these things, often briefly and shallowly.

//For another prime example, Barbara Gordon, aka the OG Batgirl, was shot in The Killing Joke and subjected to humiliation, but not for the advancement of her own character. No, it was entirely to upset her father, Jim Gordon; she is gone from the story after one last scene in the hospital with her. Barbara was left traumatized and paraplegic in a story that wasn't even about her. It was only thanks to the work of other writers later that she became her new identity of Oracle.

//I bring all this up because fridging is an inherently bad trope. It's not one that's often done wrong but can work in certain situations, it's one that is simply bad writing. It's on the same level as Bury Your Gays or R*pe as Drama, bad conceptually and worse in application, because it trashes one storyline or arc for the sake of changing another

//I know what you may be thinking in regard to DR here, and yes, Kaede is definitely a good contender. She was set up to be the first female protag of a canon killing game, only to be caught up in a murder situation and die, leaving local sad boi Shuichi to take up the role in her wake.

//The thing is, while I can certainly see the argument there- an interesting female lead being killed so we can have another sad boi learn to be confident- a lot of people go too far and wish harm on Shuichi and fans of his. This is not the acceptable response to fridging.

//Likewise, I can see the other side of the argument, where Kaede's actions were in line with her personality, how she was willing to go further than other protags and was thus done in by her own actions. No, Tsumugi killing Rantaro and framing Kaede doesn't mean she did nothing wrong; she set up the trap and was willing to crush someone's head. True Fridging rarely comes from a character's own actions, usually outside forces that just want to hurt someone else.

//And while I did enjoy Fuyuhiko's storyline in DR2, I can't help but feel that the deaths of both Mahiru and Peko to get us there feel...iffy. Not true fridging, but maybe fridging adjacent? Peko's death is understandable, but the actual murder of Mahiru and both of them dying for a dude's storyline always did rub me the wrong way a bit. It at least aims for tragedy rather than exploitation in that regard.

//Idk, maybe Hibiki and Kanata's deaths are so comparatively worse that I've softened on the canon examples a bit more. Those two were pure emotional manipulation in every respect, and otherwise had no bearing on their stories.

//And yes, male characters can get fridged too, but it happens far, far more often with female characters. The essay was called Women in Refrigerators for a reason.

//The thing that truly boggles my mind is that I've seen so many fan theories for fangans like Despair Time or Antebellum, usually victim or killer predictions, and their arguments have ultimately boiled down to fridging them for someone else's development, or sometimes purely for the feels. "Charles will die so Whit can learn how to mourn properly" and the like.

//People get annoyed when it happens in the stories themselves, yet theories are oddly rife with it and I don't understand why. As I said, fridging is an inherently bad trope. You cannot do it right, so you simply should not do it at all. And no, the argument that "this is a death game" is no excuse.

//"Anyone can die" is not the same thing as "dying for stupid, contrived reasons is acceptable." Especially not when the reason is "you're in the way of my preferred ship," but that's a whole other iceberg to deal with.

//Bottom line, keep the fridge clear for milk, juice and frozen pizzas, not the corpses of characters who should have arcs of their own

[thecharioteerdaily]

Literature Review: Stowe's Use of Dialect

In this literature review I will be analyzing the 1931 article written by Tremaine McDowell titled "The Use of Negro Dialect by Harriet Beecher Stowe". As this article is considerably older than other, more modern interpretations of Stowe's work, it employs the use of racial terminology that cannot be condoned in 2024. However, when quoting citations from this article as well as Uncle Tom's Cabin, I will be quoting them word-for-word, but do not take this as tolerance for the words themselves.

During my reading, one aspect of Stowe's tone of writing was how she portrayed her black slave characters, like Eliza, George, and Tom, with their choice of vocabulary compared to white characters, like Eva and her father, as well as Simon Legree. This is established right away in the story as Tom's family and other slaves on the Shelby plantation in Kentucky speak to one another using colloquial, plain language, such as when the slave Chloe responds to George Shelby saying, "'Mose done, Mas'r George,' said Aunt Chloe, lifting the lid and peeping in -- 'browning beautiful -- a real lovely brown. Ah! let me alone for dat. Missis let Sally try to make some cake, t'other day, jes to larn her, she said. 'Oh, go way, Missis,' said I; 'it really hurts my feelin's, now, to see good vittles spilt dat ar way! Cake ris all to one side - no shape at all; no more than my shoe; go way!" (Stowe, 26). The slave Chloe's dialect is shown when she abruptly cuts words off and combines words in a way that would not have been common among whites, so it makes her character as a slave very apparent from the get go. However, despite this, Stowe does not stay consistent in her usage of this type of language as an indicator for the race of the character speaking, as the reader may assume. Tremaine McDowell states that "... the foundation of the speech of all of Mrs. Stowe's characters is the dialect, not exactly of the New Englanders of fiction as is suggested by Krapp (The Enlish Language in America, I, 262), but the common body of folk-speech which underlies American dialects in all sections of the country" (McDowell, 322). This general indicator of class, rather than race only, does not make identifying characters by their speech any easier, as characters like Tom, Eliza, and George seem to sway very easily between the characteristic southern dialect that Stowe uses for other slaves as well as some choice usage of eloquent verbiage, a typical trait of Stowe's white characters. McDowell states simply that "[d]ue to this constant resemblance between the speech of her white and that of her blacks, Mrs. Stow is often unable to make adequate distinction between the two" (323).

It is also worth noting that in their article, McDowell begins a comparison of Uncle Tom's Cabin to some of Stowe's other literary works that followed its publication, such as her work Dred; A Tale of the Great Dismal Swamp(1856). McDowell says that "Mrs. Stowe makes no advance in her recording of negro dialect. Here, as in Uncle Tom's Cabin, slaves have little difficulty with gender or number of pronouns, they usually keep their tenses disentangles, and they even distinguish between shall and will... Such dialect is convincing only to the most uncritical reader" (324).

I think that one takeaway from Stowe's observed use of language as a race and class indicator is that it is inconsistent at times and generally not a great form of representation for slaves of the antebellum days. Stowe's limited experience in the south and with slave life & culture specifically as a white northern woman means that her caricatures are what a lot of white and northern readers will believe to be true, when reality shows us that it's merely for entertainment.

[galactichoneybee92]

If you don’t think this is exactly a SnowBaz song from Wayward Son, I’m sory but you’re wrong. 

[claudia1829things]

Oberlin-Wellington Rescue

The protests over the deaths of George Floyd and other oppressed citizens and against police brutality reminds me of the series of fugitive slave rescues that happened throughout many Northern states during the 1840s and 1850s.  These rescues featured citizens resorting to drastic measures to rescue those fugitive slaves who had been captured by slave catchers and Federal marshals in Northern cities and towns.

One of the most famous of these rescues happened in the towns of Oberlin and Wellington, Ohio in September 1858.  When a fugitive slave named John Price was arrested by slave catchers and the Federal marshal under the Fugitive Slave Law, outside the abolitionist town of Oberlin, he was taken to nearby Wellington.  The slave catchers and Federal marshal planned to catch a train to Ohio’s capital, Columbus and later convey Price to his owner in Kentucky.

However, Oberlin’s citizens learned about Price’s capture and the slave catchers’ plans to catch a train in Wellington.  A large group of them that included both the town’s black and white citizens  followed Price, the slave catchers and the Federal marshal to Wellington.  Then along with a group of Wellington citizens, stormed the hotel where Price was being held and used force to rescue him, before conveying him to Canada.  

In the aftermath of the rescue, thirty-seven Oberlin citizens were indicted by a Federal grand jury.  Twelve of those men were African-American, including Charles Henry Langston, grandfather of poet Langston Hughes.   After negotiating with Ohio state officials, Federal officials had released 35 of those men, but two were convicted - including Langston and a white citizen named Simon Bushnell.  Langston was sentenced to 20 days in jail and Bushnell, 60 days.  However, both men were released before they could complete their sentences.

[myckicade]

Playlist Considerations

A couple of thoughts for the day:

Kraken Ed: Vengeance Is Mine by Alice Cooper

Happy Stede/Ed: Got a Hold On Me by Christine McVie

The Break-Up: Need You Now by Lady Antebellum

Heartbroken Ed: The Show Must Go On by Queen

Happy Stede/Ed: Think I'm In Love by Eddie Money

Reunion/Stede's Apology: Something Happened on the Way to Heaven by Phil Collins

Revenge Co-Captains/Family: Room At The Top by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

Stede Bonnet: You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon

Hopelessly In Love: Love Walked In by Thunder

The Break-Up: Be With You by Enrique Iglesias

Heartbroken Ed: I'm So Afraid by Fleetwood Mac (Live, Lindsey Buckingham on vocals)

[actress4him]

Daughter of Darkness Playlist

@enamis-lana @nevquariel @omret @zephyronthewind @coolmegan123

Now that I’m taking a short break from writing the story, I took the opportunity to finalize the playlist! I’ll be posting these in the final notes of each book, and will prob put the entire thing at the end of Memory’s Echo. But you guys get it now because you helped make it! HUGE thanks to everyone who contributed!!! You tripled the number of songs I had!

I debated back and forth whether to post all or some of the Memory’s Echo playlist, but I really don’t want to spoil anything. However, if a song you sent in isn’t here today, there’s a chance it’s on that list! Some of you sent in songs that were perfect for that story without knowing it.

Some of these songs would probably fit in more than one place, but I put them where it made the most sense to me, and tried to arrange them in as close to chronological order as I could get.

Each song is tagged with an initial at the beginning which indicates POV - M for Meli, R for Riku, A for Aiden.

Without further ado, the playlist is under the cut.

Sorrow’s Promise:

(M) Going Under - Evanescence

(M) New Rules - Dua Lipa

(M&R) The Gift of a Friend - Demi Lovato

(R) Roll to Me - Del Amitri

(M) Stuck - mxmtoon

(R) Make You Feel My Love - Adele

(M&R) Fallin’ for You - Colbie Caillat

(M&R) On Purpose - Sabrina Carpenter

(M) Louder - Charice

(R) The Reason - Hoobastank

(M) Jar of Hearts - Christina Perri

(M) I Never Told You - Colbie Caillat

(R) We Can Do Better - Matt Simons

(M&R) Ready to Fight - Roby Fayer

(R) Up - Olly Murs ft. Demi Lovato

(M&R) Run to You - Pentatonix

(M) Stronger - Kelly Clarkson

(M) Done - The Band Perry (note: this song was stuck in my head during the early planning stages of SP and is the entire reason that Aiden exists)

(M&R) A Thousand Years - Christina Perri

(M&R) Uncover - Zara Larsson

(M,R,A) Simple and Clean - Utada Hikaru

Inferno’s Edge:

(M&R) I Run to You - Lady Antebellum

(R) True Colors - Anna Kendrick & Justin Timberlake

(R) Heart to Heart - James Blunt

(M) What Do You Want From Me? - Adam Lambert

(R) I Won’t Let Go - Rascal Flatts

(M) Smoke and Fire - Sabrina Carpenter

(R) Oh Ms Believer - Twenty One Pilots

(R) I Told You So - Keith Urban

(M) Sound the Bugle - Bryan Adams

(M) Hello - Evanescence

(R) From the Bottom - Shallow Side

(R) A Reason to Fight - Disturbed

(M) Train Wreck - James Arthur

(R) Goodbye My Lover - James Blunt

(M) Sanctuary - Utada Hikaru

Please let me know if you find any of the links are messed up!

[the-last-dillpickle]

DS9 (non-garashir) Playlists

A special thanks to the many people who contributed to this! If there’s a song you don’t see here that you’d think would fit the theme feel free to send me a message or add it on in a reblog! I’ll take songs of any kind or vibe (serious, sad, sappy, dark, cheesy, humorous, etc).

This post contains songs and playlists for the following themes:

Cardassia

Damar

Dukat  ~  Youtube / Spotify

Dukat/Garak

Disko (Dukat/Sisko)

Ezri Dax  ~  Youtube / Spotify

Jadzia Dax   ~  Youtube / Spotify

Kira Nerys   ~  Youtube / Spotify

KiraDax

Kira/Keiko

Pythas Lok

Miles O’Brien  ~  Youtube / Spotify

Miles O’Brian/Julian Bashir

Odo

Obsidian Order   ~  Youtube / Spotify

Kelas Parmak/Elim Garak  ~  Youtube / Spotify

Quark   ~  Youtube / Spotify

Benjamin Sisko   ~  Youtube / Spotify

Benjamin Sisko/Kasidy Yates

Benjamin Sisko/Elim Garak

Enabran Tain

Ziyal

They’re ordered in the read more as shown above. Youtube and Spotify playlists have been made for any that have more than three songs. Another post featuring playlists and songs for Elim Garak, Julian Bashir, and Garashir can be found here.

Cardassia

Radioactive Sandwich - Lengo

Damar

Coldplay - Clocks

Green Day - Holiday

Metallica - The Unforgiven III

Dukat

ABBA - Waterloo

Beauty and the Beast (movie) - Gaston

Boney M - Rasputin

Johnny Cash - Ring of Fire

Muse - Liquid State

Ozzy Osbourne - Denial

Skatt Brothers - Walk the Night

They Might Be Giants - When Will You Die?

Wicked (musical) - No good deed

Dukat/Garak

Nicki Minaj - Stupid Hoe

Scissor Sisters - I Can’t Decide

Disko (Dukat/Sisko)

The All American Rejects - Hope It Gives You Hell

Florence and the Machine - Drumming Song

Ghost BC - See the Light

Ezri Dax

Justin Bell - Begin Again

Rachel Platten - Fight Song

Purity Ring - Begin Again

Ryn Weaver - OctaHate

Jadzia Dax

Elliphant - Only Getting Younger

Dua Lipa - Levitating

Kesha - C’mon

Kesha - Die Young

Hayley Kiyoko - Girls Like Girls

Cyndi Lauper - Girls Just Want to Have Fun

Ricky Martin - Livin La Vida Loca

Men Without Hats - Safety Dance

MIA - YALA

Eliza Rickman - Pretty Little Head

Sidewalk Furniture - Jadzia

Kira Nerys

Pat Benatar - Invincible

Halsey - Castle

The Interrupters - She's Kerosene

Kesha - Praying

Katy Perry - Rise

Pale Honey - Someone’s Devotion

Sia - Alive

Nancy Sinatra -  These Boots Are Made For Walkin'

Tom Petty - I Won’t Back Down

Alison Wonderland - U Don't Know

The Yardbirds - Turn Into Earth

KiraDax

Hayley Kiyoko - Cliff’s Edge

Kira/Keiko

Vienna Teng - Recessional

Pythas Lok

Queen - Invisible Man

Miles O’Brien

Chumbawamba - Tubthumping (I Get Knocked Down)

blink-182 - All The Small Things

Apoptygma Berzerk - Cambodia

Gerry Rafferty - Baker Street

Miles O’Brien/Julian Bashir

Vienna Teng - Antebellum

Odo

Evanescence- Swimming Home

Modern English - Melt With You

The Shins - Simple Song

Obsidian Order

Blondie - One Way or Another

Corey Hart - Sunglasses at Night

Lady Gaga - Paparazzi

The Nightmare Before Christmas (movie) - Kidnap the Sandy Claws

The Police -  Every Breath You Take

Johnny Rivers - Secret Agent Man

Weird Al - Party in the CIA

Kelas Parmak/Elim Garak

Muse - Resistance

Regina Spektor - The One Who Stayed and The One Who Left

Vienna Teng - Eric’s Song

Vienna Teng - Gravity

Voxtrot - The Start of Something

Quark

Barnum (musical) - There is a Sucker Born Ev’ry Minute

Delerium - Stopwatch Hearts

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing

Madonna - Material Girl

Bonnie McKee - American Girl

Edwin Starr - War

Benjamin Sisko

David Bowie - Starman

Florence and the Machine - Third Eye

Florence and the Machine - Seven Devils

The Heavy - What Makes a Good Man

Elton John - Rocket Man

Simon & Garfunkel - The Sound of Silence

Al Stewart - A Man For All Seasons

Tenacious D - Tribute

The White Stripes - Seven Nation Army

Benjamin/Kasidy

Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong - They Can`t Take That Away From Me

Sisko/Garak

Florence and the Machine - Delilah

Enabran Tain

Jimmy Buffet - Margaritaville

Michael Jackson - Billie Jean

Ziyal

Florence and the Machine - Big God

IC3PEAK -  Марш

[kaleidoscopicness]

venus sagittarius playlist // vol.1

♐ break up with you girlfriend, i’m bored - Ariana Grande ♐ Not Fair - Lily Allen ♐ Crazy on You - Heart ♐ Body Talks - The Struts ♐ I’d Do It for Your Love - Paul Simon ♐ Hot - Avril Lavinge ♐ Pills N Potions - Nicki Minaj ♐ Just A Kiss - Lady Antebellum ♐ Never Really Over - Katy Perry ♐ Ain’t No Other Man - Christina Aguilera ♐ bitches broken hearts - Billie Eilish ♐ The Best - Tina Turner ♐ Let You Love Me - Rita Ora ♐ Sudden Desire - Hayley Williams ♐ Summer - Calvin Harris ♐ Make Me Feel - Janelle Monáe ♐ FOOLISH - Meghan Trainor ♐ Real Love - Mary J. Blige ♐ Hot Stuff - Donna Summer ♐ Love - Keyshia Cole

[mindfulwrath]

By Kade Crockford, June 16, 2020

Last week, IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft announced they would pause or end sales of their face recognition technology to police in the United States. The announcement caught many by surprise. For years, racial justice and civil rights advocates had been warning that this technology in law enforcement hands would be the end of privacy as we know it. It would supercharge police abuses, and it would be used to harm and target Black and Brown communities in particular. But the companies ignored these warnings and refused to get out of this surveillance business. It wasn’t until there was a national reckoning over anti-Black police violence and systemic racism, and these companies getting caught in activists’ crosshairs for their role in perpetuating racism, that the tech giants conceded — even if only a little. But why did IBM, Amazon, and Microsoft’s sale of face recognition to cops make them a target of the Black Lives Matter movement? How is face surveillance an anti-Black technology? Face surveillance is the most dangerous of the many new technologies available to law enforcement. And while face surveillance is a danger to all people, no matter the color of their skin, the technology is a particularly serious threat to Black people in at least three fundamental ways. First, the technology itself can be racially biased. Groundbreaking research conducted by Black scholars Joy Buolamwini, Deb Raji, and Timnit Gebru snapped our collective attention to the fact that yes, algorithms can be racist. Buolamwini and Gebru’s 2018 research concluded that some facial analysis algorithms misclassified Black women nearly 35 percent of the time, while nearly always getting it right for white men. A subsequent study by Buolamwini and Raji at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology confirmed these problems persisted with Amazon’s software. Late last year, the federal government released its own damning report on bias issues in face recognition algorithms, finding that the systems generally work best on middle-aged white men’s faces, and not so well for people of color, women, children, or the elderly. The federal government study concluded the rates of error tended to be highest for Black women, just as Buolamwini, Gebru, and Raji found. These error-prone, racially biased algorithms can have devastating impacts for people of color. For example, many police departments use face recognition technology to identify suspects and make arrests. One false match can lead to a wrongful arrest, a lengthy detention, and even deadly police violence. Second, police in many jurisdictions in the U.S. use mugshot databases to identify people with face recognition algorithms. But using mugshot databases for face recognition recycles racial bias from the past, supercharging that bias with 21st century surveillance technology. Across the U.S., Black people face arrest for a variety of crimes at far higher rates than white people. Take cannabis arrests, for just one example. Cannabis use rates are about the same for white and Black people, but Black people are nearly four times more likely to be arrested for marijuana possession than white people. Each time someone is arrested, police take a mugshot and store that image in a database alongside the person’s name and other personal information. Since Black people are more likely to be arrested than white people for minor crimes like cannabis possession, their faces and personal data are more likely to be in mugshot databases. Therefore, the use of face recognition technology tied into mugshot databases exacerbates racism in a criminal legal system that already disproportionately polices and criminalizes Black people. Third, even if the algorithms are equally accurate across race, and even if the government uses driver’s license databases instead of mugshot systems, government use of face surveillance technology will still be racist. That’s because the entire system is racist. As journalist Radley Balko has carefully documented, Black people face overwhelming disparities at every single stage of the criminal punishment system, from street-level surveillance and profiling all the way through to sentencing and conditions of confinement. Surveillance of Black people in the U.S. has a pernicious and largely unaddressed history, beginning during the antebellum era. Take 18th century lantern laws, for example. As scholar Simone Browne observed: “Lantern laws were 18th century laws in New York City that demanded that Black, mixed-race and Indigenous enslaved people carry candle lanterns with them if they walked about the city after sunset, and not in the company of a white person. The law prescribed various punishments for those that didn’t carry this supervisory device.” Today, police surveillance cameras disproportionately installed in Black and Brown neighborhoods keep a constant watch. The white supremacist, anti-Black history of surveillance and tracking in the United States persists into the present. It merely manifests differently, justified by the government using different excuses. Today, those excuses generally fall into two categories: spying that targets political speech, too often conflated with “terrorism,” and spying that targets people suspected of drug or gang involvement. In recent years, we learned of an FBI surveillance program targeting so-called “Black Identity Extremists,” which appears to be the bureau’s way of justifying domestic terrorism investigations of Black Lives Matter activists. Local police are involved in anti-Black political surveillance, too. In Boston, documents revealed the police department was using social media surveillance technology to track the use of the phrase “Black Lives Matter” online. In Memphis, police have spied on Black activists and journalists in violation of a 1978 consent decree. The Memphis Police Department’s surveillance included the use of undercover operations on social media targeting people engaged in First Amendment-protected activity. In New York, the police spent countless hours monitoring Black Lives Matter protesters, emails show. And in Chicago, activists suspect the police used a powerful cell phone spying device to track protesters speaking out against police harassment of Black people. These are just a few examples of a trend that dates back to the surveillance of Black people during slavery, extending through the 20th century when the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover instructed his agents to track the political activity of every single Black college student in the country. It continues to this day, with Attorney General Bill Barr reportedly temporarily expanding the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's surveillance authorities that could easily be abused to spy on individuals protesting the police killing of George Floyd. The war on drugs and gangs is the other primary justification for surveillance programs that overwhelmingly target Black and Brown people in the U.S. From wiretaps to sneak-and-peak warrants, the most invasive forms of authorized government surveillance are typically deployed not to fight terrorism or investigate violent criminal conspiracies like murder or kidnapping, but rather to prosecute people for drug offenses. Racial disparities in the government’s war on drugs are well documented. To avoid repeating the mistakes of our past, we must read our history and heed its warnings. If government agencies like police departments and the FBI are authorized to deploy invasive face surveillance technologies against our communities, these technologies will unquestionably be used to target Black and Brown people merely for existing. That’s why racial justice organizations like the Center for Media Justice are calling for a ban on the government’s use of this dystopian technology, and why ACLU advocates from California to Massachusetts are pushing for bans on the technology in cities nationwide. We are at a pivotal moment in our nation’s history. We must listen to the voices of the protesters in the streets and act now to make systemic change. Banning face surveillance won’t stop systemic racism, but it will take one powerful tool away from institutions that are responsible for upholding it.

[converted links to boldface for accessibility]

[sciencespies]

The Dangers of Space, Military Rivals and Other New Books to Read

https://sciencespies.com/nature/the-dangers-of-space-military-rivals-and-other-new-books-to-read/

The Dangers of Space, Military Rivals and Other New Books to Read

Reading astrophysicist Paul M. Sutter’s latest book, How to Die in Space, will surely help any adult erase regrets they may have about their failed childhood dream of becoming an astronaut. As the SUNY Stony Brook professor observes, outer space—populated by such threats as black holes, acid rain, asteroids, planetary nebulae and magnetic fields—is, to put it frankly, “nasty.”

The latest installment in our “Books of the Week” series, which launched in late March to support authors whose works have been overshadowed amid the COVID-19 pandemic, details the many ways one might meet their demise in space, six notorious military rivalries, the Italian Renaissance’s dark undertones, the history of swimming and the culinary implications of so-called “wild foods.” Past coverage has highlighted books including Karen Gray Houston’s exploration of her family’s civil right’s legacy, St. Louis’ racist history, James Madison’s black family, and modern conservatism’s roots in the antebellum South and post-Civil War westward expansion.

Representing the fields of history, science, arts and culture, innovation, and travel, selections represent texts that piqued our curiosity with their new approaches to oft-discussed topics, elevation of overlooked stories and artful prose. We’ve linked to Amazon for your convenience, but be sure to check with your local bookstore to see if it supports social distancing-appropriate delivery or pickup measures, too.

How to Die in Space: A Journey Through Dangerous Astrophysical Phenomena by Paul M. Sutter

Despite its macabre title, How to Die in Space is a surprisingly lighthearted read. Adopting what Kirkus describes as an “informal, humorous persona,” Sutter—host of popular podcast “Ask a Spaceman!”—guides his audience through the cosmos’ deadliest phenomena, from Jupiter’s dense atmosphere to radiation, solar flares and exploding stars, which he deems “slumbering dragon[s], just waiting for the chance to awaken and begin breathing flame.”

The book also dedicates ample space to speculative threats, including dark matter, extraterrestrial life, wormholes and “other relics of the ancient universe.”

How to Die in Space’s description emphasizes that while “the universe may be beautiful, … it’s [also] treacherous.” Still, Sutter’s musings cover more than simply doom and gloom: As the scientist writes in the text’s closing chapters, “It’s really an excuse to talk about all the wonderful physics happening in the cosmos. … There is so much to learn, and we need to study it as closely and intimately as possible.”

Gods of War: History’s Greatest Military Rivals by James Lacey and Williamson Murray

Following the release of their 2013 bestseller, Moment of Battle: The Twenty Clashes That Changed the World, journalist James Lacey and historian Williamson Murray started brainstorming topics to explore in future books. Eventually, the pair landed on the premise of rivals, defined in Gods of War’s introduction as “military geniuses who … fought a general of equal caliber”—or, in the cases of World War II commanders Erwin Rommel, Bernard Law Montgomery and George Patton, multiple generals.

Bookended by essays on war’s “changing character” and the role of military genius in modern warfare, the six case studies read like a Who’s Who of global history. Representing the ancient world are Hannibal and Scipio (the latter of whom the authors describe as “the better strategic thinker”) and Caesar and Pompey. Crusader kings Richard I and Saladin; Napoleon Bonaparte and Battle of Waterloo victor Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington; Union Army commander Ulysses S. Grant and Confederate officer Robert E. Lee round out the list of 13 featured men.

Lacey and Murray liken their approach to chess strategy. “There is only so much you can learn by playing someone inferior to you or by revisiting the games of neophytes,” the duo writes. “There is, however, much to absorb, think about, and learn from studying games that [pit] one grandmaster against another.”

The Beauty and the Terror: The Italian Renaissance and the Rise of the West by Catherine Fletcher

As alluded to by its title, Catherine Fletcher’s latest book juxtaposes seemingly discordant aspects of the Italian Renaissance: its aesthetic brilliance and, in the words of fellow historian Simon Sebag Montefiore, the “filth and thuggery, slavery, sex, slaughter and skullduggery behind [this] exquisite art.” Framed as an alternative history of the much-explored period of creative rebirth, The Beauty and the Terror contextualizes the Italian Renaissance within the framework of European colonialism, widespread warfare and religious reform. Rather than focusing solely on such artistic geniuses as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo and Botticelli, Fletcher lends a voice to the women writers, Jewish merchants, mercenaries, prostitutes, farmers and array of average citizens who also called the Italian peninsula’s competing city-states home.

The “lived reality” of 15th- and 16th-century Italy involved far more violence, uncertainty and devastation than widely believed, argues Fletcher. Forces beyond its residents’ control—a series of wars, the rise of the Ottoman Empire, the advent of the Protestant Reformation—shaped their lives yet have been largely overshadowed by what their greatest minds left behind.

“We revere Leonardo da Vinci for his art but few now appreciate his ingenious designs for weaponry,” notes the book’s description. “We know the Mona Lisa for her smile but not that she was married to a slave-trader. We visit Florence to see Michelangelo’s David but hear nothing of the massacre that forced the republic’s surrender.”

Splash!: 10,000 Years of Swimming by Howard Means

In lieu of visiting a swimming pool this summer, consider diving into Howard Means’ absorbing exploration of aquatic recreation and exercise. As the journalist writes in Splash!’s prologue, paddling, floating or wading through water can be a transformative experience: “The near weightlessness of swimming is the closest most of us will ever get to zero-gravity space travel. The terror of being submerged is the nearest some of us ever come to sheer hell.”

The earliest evidence of swimming dates to some 10,000 years ago, when Neolithic people living in what is now southwest Egypt painted individuals performing the breaststroke or doggy paddle on the walls of the Cave of Swimmers. Swimming endured throughout the classical period, with ancient texts including the Bible, Homer’s Odyssey, the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Chinese Book of Odes all containing references to the practice.

The advent of the medieval era—with its rising “prudery” and insularity, as well as its lack of sanitation and efficient infrastructure—quickly brought this “golden age” of swimming to an end; in Europe, at least, “swimming slipped into the dark for a full millennium,” writes Means.

During the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries, swimming was more closely associated with witchcraft than leisure. The practice only regained popularity during the Enlightenment period, when such prominent figures as Benjamin Franklin and Lord Byron reminded the public of its merits. By 1896, swimming had regained enough popularity to warrant its inclusion in the first modern Olympic Games.

Feasting Wild: In Search of the Last Untamed Food by Gina Rae La Cerva

Part memoir, part travelogue and part culinary adventure, Feasting Wild examines “humans’ relationship to wild food and the disappearing places and animals that provide it,” according to Publishers Weekly. Broadly defined as fare foraged, hunted or caught in the wild, the “untamed” foods detailed in geographer and anthropologist Gina Rae La Cerva’s debut book hail from such diverse locales as Scandinavia, Poland, Borneo, the Democratic Republic of Congo, New Mexico and Maine. Once “associated with poverty and subsistence,” writes La Cerva, wild foods including broad-leaved garlic, bushmeat, sea buckthorn flowers and moose meat are now viewed as luxuries, reserved for five-star restaurants that cater to an elite clientele.

La Cerva argues that this shift in perception stems from the onslaught of “settler-colonialism,” which used the dichotomy of wild versus tame to “justify violent appetites and the domination of unfamiliar cultures and places.” Within a few centuries, she adds, “the world [had] traded wild edibles at home for exotic domesticates from abroad.”

The flipside of this “fetishization of need” is the standardization of humans’ diets. As wild places across the world vanish, so, too, do undomesticated or uncultivated plant and animal species. Preserving wild foods—and the knowledge imparted by the women who have historically collected and cooked them—is therefore “fundamentally about recovering our common heritage,” writes La Cerva. “The urgency of the environmental crisis is precisely why we must slow down, take time, [and] become complicated in our actions.”

#Nature

[drawing-way-outside-the-lines]

Congo Shaw. *Main character. Voice Claim: (Geoff Pierson) https://youtu.be/mEd7fE7zzdc?t=1m30s Partner(s): Andy (husband), Evan (husband), Eonan (engaged). On the side he also considers himself a part of the four clover relationship, including Evan, Andy and their common friend Daniel. Parents: Paul Shaw, and Norah Willow Shaw (Not living)   Kids: Willow, Oscar and Aishlynn, (none biological) Samuel, Odette and Felix. Other family members: Living dad, Paul Shaw. Mom, Norah Willow Shaw. Age: 53 (Year 2019) 16th of April. Height: 196cm Body type: Muscular, hairy, what the gay world classifies as ‘bear’. Eye color: Dark/warm brown.  Human. About: ~ Easygoing, calm, warm personality, balanced, caring, romantic, humble, compassionate, sometimes has a problem letting go, sensitive, adventurous, gallant, creative, charming, helpful, kind, decent, honest, focused, logical, perceptive, organized, respectful, punctual, modest, rustic, secure, optimistic, skillful, rational, trustworthy, patient, hearty, he’s just a big cuddly bear. ~ Self taught carpenter. ~ Gay. ~ Has known he was gay since childhood. He tried sex with two females in his life, and liked it. But would probably never do it again. He has few past relationships, some were good, some not so good.   ~ Can be rather kinky during sex, if you finally drag the beast out of him. But in general he prefers romantic love making. ~ Has a thick full beard. ~ Has a really close relationship to his dad, as Congo’s mom died when he was a young kid. ~ Grew up on a mountain in a big log house, surrounded by dense forest, where he was home schooled, but did attend a real college. ~ Has one tattoo. The word 'trust’ on his ribs, symbolizing his 4 clover relationship with Andy, Evan and Daniel.  ~ Is a fantastic cook. Mainly cooks rustic meals with juicy meat, potatoes and thick gravy. ~ Has a piercing in right ear. ~ Makes insanely delicious hot chocolates. ~ Prefers Autumn over any season. ~ Warm fuzzy blankets are a must! ~ Huge romantic, loves holding hands, giving romantic gifts, walks in the moonlight, enjoying sunrise/sundown, going on dates. ~ Smells like: Mainly some sort of wood, resin, trees, and wood-oil because of his work as a carpenter. But when he’s freshly showered, he likes to wear cologne/perfume, and then his favorites are: Lalique - Encre Noire, Parfums de Marley - Herod, Burberry - London, DSquared - Rocky Mountain Wood, Guerlain - L’Homme Ideal, Bvlgari - Man In Black and Montblanc - Homme Exceptionnel ~ Loves his partners, his kids, his family and friends, wood, working with wood, the smell of wood, the feeling of wood, working on cars, gardening, hiking, cooking, nature, coffee, Whiskey, Blues, Jazz and Country music, old black and white movies, anything remotely romantic, camping, reading news paper, horses, dogs, home cooked meals, candle lights, roaring fireplace, taking care of people he loves, protecting people he loves, a cold beer after a long workday, baking, little old English pubs, home baked pies, the smell of hay, hot chocolate and bonfires. ~ His style is mainly lumberjack… yes, lumberjack.   ~ He’s always there for the people he loves, but trying too hard to be everyone’s rock, sometimes has it’s price. Congo’s tag Congo’s house/home Congo’s moodboard Handwriting/ask answer pic:

One Gif to describe him:  

One song to describe him:  Sean Rowe - I'll Follow Your Trail Personal playlist: 1. Frank Sinatra - It Had To Be You 2. Billie Holiday- All of Me 3. Ella Fitzgerald I'm in the Mood for Love 4. Muddy Waters - Catfish Blues 5. John Lee Hooker - Hobo blues 6. Creedence Clearwater Revival - Have You Ever Seen The Rain? 7. The Commitments - Mustang Sally 8. Colter Wall - Cowpoke 9. Stevie Ray Vaughan - Tin pan Alley 10. Aretha Franklin - I Say A Little Prayer 11. Etta James - At Last 12. Lady Antebellum - Need You Now 13. Nina Simone - My Baby Just Cares For Me 14. Blackberry Smoke - One Horse Town 15. Frank Sinatra - That's Life 16. Peggy Lee - Fever 17. Johnny Cash - Heart Of Gold 18. The White Buffalo - I Got You (Acoustic) 19. Chris Stapleton - Whiskey and You 20. Moon River - Andy Williams

[gryffindorkxdraws]

M E R I C C U P // playlist

To tear apart the giant hearts That beat inside us now Let's conquer the percentages And rise above the crowd

listen here

Bonfire Heart - James Blunt

King & Lionheart - Of Monsters and Men

I won’t Say I’m in Love - Hercules OST

Under My Skin - Peter Bradley Adams

Can You Feel The Love Tonight - Lion King OST

Lady Percy - King Charles

Without You - Oh Wonder

Rewrite the Stars - Zac Efron and Zendaya

Hey Soul Sister - Train

Birds of a Feather - The Civil Wars

No Matter Where You Are - Us The Duo

Compass - Lady Antebellum

Rivers and Roads - The Head and the Heart

Mountain and the Sea - Ingrid Michaelson

Ho Hey - The Lumineers

For The Dancing and the Dreaming - HTTYD2 OST

Into The Open Air - Brave OST

Wild Blood - Dustin Tebbutt

All About Us - He is We ft. Owl City

Into a Fantasy - HTTYD2 OST

Chivalry is Dead - Trevor Wesley

Best Shot - Birdy ft. Jaymes Young

Come With Me - Echosmith

Something I need - OneRepublic

I Choose You - Sara Bareilles

Scarborough Fair/Canticle - Simon & Garfunkel

The Way I Tend To Be - Frank Turner

She’s Always A Woman - Billy Joel

Where No One Goes - HTTYD2 OST

You Found Me - Kelly Clarkson

Embers - Owl City

Both Sides - Joni Mitchell

Tethered - Sleeping At Last

Kiss Me Slowly - Parachute

Arms - Christina Perri

Next To You - Luke Conrad

Ran Off in the Night - Echosmith

Gravity - Leo Stannard ft. Frances

Into The Wilderness - Early Hours

Two Worlds - Tarzan OST

[aion-rsa]

Janelle Monáe New Single “Turntables” Dreams a New Agenda

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

“The whole world ’bout to testify,” Janelle Monáe promises on the song and music video for “Turntables.” It is the multifaceted artist’s first song since 2019’s “That’s Enough,” for the Disney+ live-action remake of Lady and the Tramp.

The song is featured in All In: The Fight for Democracy. Directed by Liz Garbus (What Happened, Miss Simone?) and Lisa Cortés (The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion), the Amazon Studios documentary is about voter suppression which is being released in tandem with the studio’s #AllInForVoting bipartisan campaign. The campaign intends to inspire voter turnout during the 2020 presidential election season. And what is more inspiring than a Janelle Monáe song? Her last album, Dirty Computer, which was released two years ago, ended with the anthemic “Americans.”

Working with long-time collaborator Nate “Rocket” Wonder, Monáe amplifies the voices of people putting themselves on the front line. Directed by Child, the song’s accompanying emotion picture includes activists Angela Davis and Jillian Mercado, and New York’s U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. It features archival and contemporary protest footage highlighting police brutality and racial oppression which evolves into Black empowerment and a hopeful cry for change.

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Janelle Monáe was gerrymandered when last-minute changes to where she qualified to vote kept her from the polls when Atlanta’s Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms ran for office in 2017. A year later 300,000 Georgians were ruled ineligible to vote when Stacey Abrams ran against Brian Kemp. “I saw Brian Kemp steal the election,” Monáe told Rolling Stone. “I told Stacey and her team that if y’all need anything, don’t hesitate to call.”

The singer, who has played such a variety of historical figures, answered the contemporary need in the tradition of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” and Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power.” The film follows Abrams’ gubernatorial race while telling the history of voter suppression in the U.S. “You fuck up the kitchen, then you should do the dishes,” Monáe sings.

“In anticipation of the 2020 presidential election, All In: The Fight For Democracy examines the often overlooked, yet insidious issue of voter suppression in the United States,” reads the press statement. “The film interweaves personal experiences with current activism and historical insight to expose a problem that has corrupted our democracy from the very beginning. With the perspective and expertise of Stacey Abrams, the former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives, the documentary offers an insider’s look into laws and barriers to voting that most people don’t even know are threats to their basic rights as citizens of the United States.”

All In: The Fight for Democracy hit selects theaters on September 9 and arrives on Amazon Prime Video on September 18. Monáe stars in the new horror thriller Antebellum, which also comes out Sept. 18. “Turntables” is available now, here.

The post Janelle Monáe New Single “Turntables” Dreams a New Agenda appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2ZKtsja

[930club]

Don’t worry, we’re equally stoked!