#They've been harassed enough they've earned this

[comma-tose]

I think the residents of Pandora, especially the native Pandorans, should get to collectively beat the shit out of the next corporate warlord that invades them. As a treat.

[aeternallis]

It may be a bit of a hot take, but imo Kimchay has always been the most insidious of the three canon couples in KPTS, and I just love that for them.

It's deceptively easy at first glance to assume they're the healthiest/softest couple in the show, because at the onset of their relationship, they meet under the best of circumstances when compared to the other two. They don't have any questionable explicit scenes, and their storyline is almost cut off from the intertwining web of the other two couples' storylines.

But with the exception of their first meeting at the open house, every interaction thereafter—no matter how kind Kim acts, whatever feelings he begins to have for Chay, no matter how guilty he looks each time—takes place against the backdrop of Kim's hidden motives and the looming truth of who he is.

It's always been fascinating to me how KimChay stands out against the other two couples, because unlike Porsche and Pete who have the physical prowess to fight off Kinn and Vegas respectively and reinforce the boundaries they have when these hardheaded mafia men disrespects their autonomy, the only thing Chay has going for him in order to reinforce said boundaries is through mental fortitude. Being blunt with Kim about minding his own business, not answering his call, blocking his number...all these things shows the level of self-respect Chay has for himself when he's been wronged.

We the audience knows this, this isn't anything new. What Chay lacks in physical capability, he more than makes up for by that metaphorical spine of steel.

That’s not to say that I’m minimizing what Porsche and Pete went through; all the Theerapanyakul men are underhanded in some form or another. Porsche and Pete too have the capability in talking back through their own mental fortitude; they would have to, considering the lives they’ve lead thus far. But when push comes to shove, these two also have the added fighting capability—earned through a lifetime of hardship and necessity—to stave off the mafia men’s physical aggression, as we see a couple of times in the show. It’s partly through this fighting capability that they earn Kinn and Vegas’s respect, that they learn the hard way that Porsche and Pete won't be bullied so easily.

I cannot stress enough the fact that there is a difference between loving someone and respecting them.

The honesty between KinnPorsche and VegasPete has always had a brutal edge to it; I think it's why they both get a happily ever after (at least where we leave them off in the show), because they've already seen the worst of each other.

But we know that Chay in contrast isn't a fighter, if his immediate reaction to the kidnappers is anything to go by. One would think that this isn't his first rodeo with an attempted attack in his home (loan sharks and all that), and he’d know some self-defense considering who his brother is. Yet still, his instinct was to call for help, as he probably would do the same had Porsche been there with him.

But as we see in the show, Porsche’s overprotectiveness of Chay is to a point that it becomes detrimental to his safety. After all, why hasn't Porsche taught Chay to defend himself, if they've had experience before of getting harassed in their own home?

It's through mental fortitude alone that Chay can perfectly match Kim, because there is no way for this boy to fight off Kim’s aggression in the way Porsche and Pete can with Kinn and Vegas respectively.

And before I go on, I don't think there's any need to argue that Kim would never show or point towards Chay so much aggression, not when he's already done it:

The only reason Kim let go of his hand in this scene so easily is because he was stunned by Chay's antagonism towards him (besides the fact that he was butthurt af when Chay outright calls him out). This scene, along with the scene before it and the bar fight scene, heavily hints at the sort of aggression that Kim is potentially capable of showing/pointing towards Chay. (I wonder what was the stage direction given to Jeff in this scene that Barcode had to yank his wrist back that hard, yknow?)

I'm pretty sure this was partly the point of this scene below; it begs the question of that unknown dimension between the two of them:

But getting back on point: Chay only has his mental fortitude to match Kim and reinforce his boundaries, but even then, it’s not completely foolproof; given enough time, Kim can find ways to disarm Chay, as we see in their final scene together.

And of course it goes without saying, there are moments in the show where it's very obvious Kim truly returns Chay's affections, even moved and inspired by him. But ultimately, even where the audience is left off in terms of where their relationship is at, Kim doesn't respect him—or rather, he doesn't respect the boundaries Chay has drawn in the sand between them.

If Kim had truly respected those boundaries, he would not have reached out the way he did. He would not have reached out with an unknown number, in order to bait Chay into clicking that video link. He would not have used Chay's own song to re-write it into a love song for him.

Because for all of Chay's mental fortitude, in the end, even if Kim himself did not see Chay's reaction to the video, the end result he likely wanted came about: he found a way for Chay to pay attention to him again and more than that--hold that attention, because Chay doesn't delete the video.

Everything this final scene together entailed is arguably calculated on Kim's part. After all, nothing has changed: it happens against the backdrop of Kim's selfish motive. The motive has changed (from getting information on Porsche to getting Chay back/to forgive him), yes—but the nature of it hasn’t.

I think that's what makes Kimchay's relationship the most insidious of the three in my eyes, because despite everything they've been through so far, Kim still doesn't respect Chay's boundaries, not at this stage of their relationship, if ever. Besides that, Kim can and has found ways to counter Chay's strongest asset, to bring his guard down if you will.

And Chay has nothing else he can use against Kim to reinforce his boundaries, not fighting capability and certainly not distance, alas.

There is definitely a level of selfishness in Kim that surpasses the selfishness also inherent in Kinn and Vegas due to their upbringing, yknow?

It's why they hold my attention so much, I think: the sheer potential they have to become the most unhinged couple in this story, and how much I'm drawn to it like a moth a flame~

[canonically47]

As a way of saying goodbye to DC, what are your headcanons for where everyone ends up after All Stars?--review anon

ooooo such a cute question!!!!!! tysm for this

yul ends up being cancelled on his socials and he has to start working a regular job, he becomes miserable being yelled at and harassed by customers like he deserves yippee!

riya is also cancelled following the events of DCAS - seriously she CANNOT gain a following after this and she cannot find roles, realistically speaking - but she manages to sustain herself with her prize money for now. however, she does begin job hunting. it goes horrible for her, her digital footprint is too massive to ignore.

ashley continues living her quiet life on the farm with will, occasionally meeting up with lill & nick, as well as with jake, ally, lake and other contestants of DCAS! she even eventually reaches out to season 1 contestants left out, and organizes a get-together for the season 1 cast with everyone :)

ally, hunter & tess all eventually get together after a lot of denial and pining, and co-manage their channels. they become more and more popular, regularly attend cons, & overall just lead the awesome lives they deserve. tess also becomes popular for her art!

lake eventually gets into a qpr & goes to university to study psychology. she keeps in contact with aiden, james and friends she's made on DCAS. she goes on to live with rosa-maria after university, and the two will organize, years later down the line, a meet-up for the cast of season 2, even being kind enough as to invite yul and riya, although neither show up.

miriam gets to enjoy retirement by travelling around the world, sometimes even tagging along with friends, even with the group of james, aiden, lake and rosa-maria. why not :3

james & aiden continue travelling the world together, growing their following on social media, and eventually aiden pursues a career in theatre and earns a lot of success! i mean have you HEARD his VA sing. my god, can he sing.

ellie & gabby lead a happy life with ellie as an artist and gabby carries them with her income by becoming an environmental scientist !!

fiore moves in with alec, alec adopts fiore, and the two unlearn their bad habits together; alec, his bad parenting, and fiore, being this evil gremlin child. she still has her outbursts, but alec stops feeding into this idea that she is a monster or a mistake and pushes her to grow. the two also meet up with some other contestants, and eventually befriend rosa-maria, so she helps a lot with parenting tips :)

grett becomes a gym trainer & fitness influencer and uses her social media platform to encourage and lift up others. my queen

jake and tom begin dating and they talk a lottttttt of things out... and eventually tomjajakeden becomes a thing & they all move in together and it's awesome. tom and aiden aren't dating but the rest of them all are and it's kinda funny actually. tom also realizes he's aroflux and that explains a lot about how his identity has impacted his love life. they're unstoppable

also tom quits his job as a cop and becomes a firefighter instead. and gets an autism diagnosis. also jake gets a BPD diagnosis. and aiden gets a shit ton of piercings. and tom gets fatter. and james also gets a shit ton of piercings. and they're all happy together and they have movie nights and game nights and they love each other a lot

the cast generally meets a lot, the casts even merge at one point despite some of them never having been on DCAS. it's so funny how some of these guys meet. deadass alec and fiore go camping one night only to find they've come at the same camping site as kai and maggy. another time gabellie runs into dan at a bookstore. and so forth. they eventually get a super large groupchat and it's hilarious. they all meet sometimes and they have to book a huge venue it's so funny

also gabgrellie becomes real too why not. i love gabgrellie. grett moves in with them and they're all super cool and awesome and in love

maybe i should write some of these hmmm

[weaselishmcdiesel]

theres a youtube channel profiting off and lying about ai art and it's pissing me off

@/tendofarms on youtube uses ai art in the thumbnails and videos of their animal crossing compilation videos, claims it to be made by them despite also giving credit to a @/lumasi.png on instagram, who claims it's "a comission." this art is also being sold on merch on the channel's etsy account.

They haven't posted a video in 2 months but to see that they've made money through this scheme really pisses me off. Also the fact that they're attempting to decieve people by creating a fake artist on instagram who posts the ai art. They've attempted to say the art is a blend of original art made in photoshop/illustrator as well as the help of ai art. I dont believe this is true and im going to show your asses why

On their first video, they say

"my normal workflow so far has been to paint backgrounds, then get Ai to help with character design, i bring to photoshop to select my favorites, and put together something from my personal painting combined with my favorite Ai characters. Hope this clears things up :D"

The art in question:

and if you have no issues with it, here are MY issues with it

i'll pretend for a second that this person did make the backgroundand ignore the fucking surreal characters. sure. ok so what the fuck are these details. and also how did the ai manage to match your style so well? it doesnt have a backglog of years of YOUR work, does it?

On another video, they say

"a lot of illustrator/photoshop work went into this art. I used Ai to get ideas for composition and generate some character ideas, still some stuff i wish i improved but i think i got it to a decent final stage. Hope you guys enjoy the art and the mix <3333 love!!!"

the art in question with my notes.

The reason this particular post stands out to me is because in the DESCRIPTION of this video, they say the art was made by @lumasi.png on instagram. So when i go to their account and find this art, i see this

so, ok. was it a commission or did tendyfarms make it using a lot of illustrator/photoshop work. and if they ARE two different people.. wow their styles are so similar thats crazy /sarcastic as fuck

I would also like to point out that @/lumasi.png's first post, one that isnt featured in a tendyfarms video, also reeks of ai.

But maybe this isnt a big issue. Their etsy after all only shows that theyve made 16 sales, and their most popular views sit around 100k views, which probably isnt enough to even earn a stable living from, so who cares.

Just. as someone who listens to a lot of music from youtube mixes/compilations, who also makes art, i feel it's really fucking disrespectful to try and claim art as your own in a space where i go to try and relax or find new musical artists. and it's fucking rampant! i have to check each mix to see if using ai for the art, which i can only really see if i click on the video, giving them a small boost in stats. And if they arent using ai art? theyre probably stealing the art directly from an artist and not giving proper credit. Forget about asking the artist for permission, it's not like countless youtubers have explained how thumbnails are The Most important element of a video. Just go ahead and take someone else's work to give yourself some cash.

I know tumblr users hate generative ai already, but i'd just like to give a little attention to what youtube looks like, and to try and ask for more vigilance, more comments calling out the bullshit. I dont see a lot of comments at all on tendofarm's posts! or any mention of ai can be brushed away with "oh i used ai as well as drawing it myself" :/ you didnt buddy. you just didnt do that.

Idk what the right thing to do is, report their etsy? report their youtube? does either company care? maybe you can tell me

but i should probably say dont harass them. as much as i would like to. just try your best not to give retention to videos that shamelessly and ile about ai. Really look at the videos, really scrutinize if you can spare the time to. thanks

also. is it just me or do the cats in lumasi's pfp and this etsy reviewer's photo look the same. not sure what this could mean. up to you

[just-antithings]

It's official, antis are now attacking published authors.

Oh this has been happening for a while, mainly within booktwt circles (booktok too but I haven't personally seen much of it and can't name off the top of my head drama I've seen there).

Some instances have gotten big enough to end up being noticed outside book twitter (it's almost always YA booktwt too...) like when some YA authors bashed their old English teachers for making them read "problematic" classics, or when Becky Albertalli got harassed so much, she came out as bi (and then get attacked again by an ex-Buzzfeed youtuber that said Albertalli had still been privileged for "appearing straight" and insinuating closeted queer people are inherently in a privileged position compared to out queer people). Then there were the booktubers and bookstagammers harassing Leigh Bardugo about writing a rape scene in her first adult book Ninth House, to the point that Bardugo felt the need to talk about her past trauma. One booktuber I've seen apologized in a later video, though based on some of her later videos, I have doubts she's trying to change /that/ much.

I'm not sure if the other anon is talking about Nyla K when mentioning the author who got their books taken down from Amazon (it wouldn't surprise me if it's happened to plenty of other authors), but Nyla K has been called pedophilic, primarily because of their m/m/m stepcest/twincest (twin teens and their stepdad, pretty sure) book, where the twins are underage (17? I think?). The booktuber I mentioned above called her writing "pedo incest" in passing, as a "gotcha" because Nyla K is friends with another author said booktuber was ranting about.

Then there was what happened with Ava Reid's book Juniper & Thorn, her twt thread saying it almost didn't get published, due to some of the dark topics in the /gothic horror/ book.

And all the authors I've mentioned other than Nyla K are traditionally published. While many publishing houses have their own drama and issues, harassment like the above isn't going to hurt as badly as if they'd been self-published. Nyla K having their books removed from Amazon has likely hurt their earnings, and while it looks like they've leaned into it (their IG last I checked says "banned & proud"), it's still a fight they shouldn't have to fight, just because the neopuritans decided their books shouldn't exist.

And in the case of the publisher first thinking Reid's book was "too dark", I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have worried about that if Reid was a man. It's been said over and over, but all of this backlash from antis is hurting minorities the most.

as it always does and always will

also they’ve been attacking neil gaiman for a good while now

[local-pr1nter]

Mondo Oowada Ship Dynamics

Just my opinions and personal Headcanons - if you don't like/agree with these, then please move on!

Assume these are all based in an Non-Despair AU!

Ishimondo

A classic ship. Absolute *chefs kiss*.

At this point it seems canon with the amount of shippers and fan content for these two. Don't get me wrong, I love them just as much as anyone, but even I can admit that they each have other respective ships that can be enjoyed just as much.

Anyways - Ishimondo!

Absolute dorks in love + nothing but respect and love on their parts. It takes a while for them to realize it's a romantic love instead of some brotherly bond as Taka puts it, but once they figure it out it's smooth sailing from there.

Taka encourages rational behavior and responsibilities, whilst Mondo encourages relaxation and realistic ideals. Together they're a good dynamic.

Nerd x former bully/moral compass x delinquent/rivals to lovers. A recipe for success.

Since they've been talked about to death, I won't elaborate much more on them.

But overall, they're a great couple together.

Owamiki

A FAVORITE AHHHHHHHHH

They're literally one of the sweetest pairings and it's a crime they aren't talked about enough. And yeah they never really interact like Taka and Mondo, but that one scene in the V3 Bonus Mode just kills me every dAMN TIME.

I adore them so much UGH - literally the only ship that made me wanna write fanfiction (and I did but we won't talk about that)

Anyway so timid shy girl x brash delinquent let's go.

Mondo definitely fell for her first. Thought she was a damn sweetheart from the moment he laid eyes on her - it only intensified whenever they ran into each other (ex the scene I referenced). Mondo absolutely adores her.

Mikan was oblivious to this and it took Ibuki and Mahiru pointing it out to her for her to notice. God she got so embarrassed and scared over the whole thing, thinking he was just some brute.

Ibuki was the first one to notice that Mondo actually REALLY liked her for her. And then she decided to help Mondo a bit because Ibuki is a matchmaker and I'm tired of pretending she's not.

With Ibuki's advice, Mondo is actually able to approach Mikan without shouting at her (however difficult it was) and expresses his feelings. She decides to give him a chance - after having a moment of confusion and fear once again - and agrees to go on a date.

And y'all. Mondo treats her so good. His volume is still hard to control but he goes out of his way to make her comfortable and happy and it both shocks and confuses Mikan that he actually wants to date her for her.

So they eventually get together!!!! Ibuki is very proud of herself for setting em up and constantly teases them about it.

They're the cliche highschool sweethearts you see in every movie and they're just adorable.

They adore each other - it's really sweet. Mondo thinks she's the cutest thing in the world and it takes every ounce of willpower to not squeal whenever she giggles or acts cute. Same goes for Mikan - she thinks he can be really sweet and adorable, despite his intimidating exterior. Almost like a big dog.

In public they only ever hug - PDA is too much for either of them, but on rare occasions they can be seen hugging, either Mikan hugging his midsection or Mondo wrapping an arm around her shoulders to hold her close.

Mondo is also very protective of her - he encourages her to stand up for herself as well, and doesn't butt into situations where she's got her friends to back her up. That doesn't mean he'll stand back and watch someone harass her - he will intimidate the other until they back off. Mikan doesn't support his violent tendencies at all.

OMG I REALIZED ITS THAT "BIG SCARY DOG PRIVILEGE" MEME HAHAHAHA

That's it that's their dynamic.

It gets better if Mondo's gang learns about her.

She's earned herself a pack of personal bodyguards who won't tolerate shit from anyone.

But anyways, they both stand to have a very sweet and heartwarming dynamic. Between the both of them, they have a relationship built on love, understanding, and mutual respect for one another.

Owagiri

A stoic introverted detective with the foul-mouthed biker delinquent. What more could you want?

God you know Mondo was the first to catch feelings. Albeit her initial cold exterior, Mondo wanted to know more, even after becoming friends (via Makoto), slowly turning into a crush on the mysterious detective.

Leon called him crazy for crushing on the "scary principal's daughter"

Taka and Chihiro were nothing but supportive and encouraging about the whole ordeal.

Daiyas only piece of advice was "Don't be a dick and just talk to her" Easier said than done of course.

But of course we all know his track record with other girls. The man started shouting at her again, much to his embarrassment and to Kyokos disappointment.

It only took some investigating on her end to figure out why he was acting so strange. And OH BOY WAS SHE FLABBERGASTED.

Mondo??? Likes her??? Impossible.

But as she looked at him with this whole new perspective, she slowly started to develop her own feelings. While he struggled to talk to her, Kyoko took a different approach to show her own interest. Subtle touches, faint smiles, more one on one time, subtle signs like that.

It slowly went like that until they both had a talk about their relationship. Then they agreed to give it a shot!

And my god it was a weird change.

Two people, infamous for hiding their emotions from others. Sounds like a disaster. And yet, they slowly start to adapt and change together.

They're both very quiet about the relationship, still trying to adjust and go about it at their own pace.

They're both very shy about any sort of affection or intimacy, finding it difficult to initiate. Although Kyoko quickly discovered she likes to play with Mondos hair when it's freshly washed and down.

That slowly evolved into cuddling sessions - Kyoko playing with his hair while Mondo simply enjoys her company. It only grows from there.

They're pretty casual about the relationship the more they lean into the whole idea, but they've grown pretty close - as friends and as partners.

Despite their initial setbacks, they actually make a sweet couple. Kyoko acts as the voice of reason, whilst Mondo shows Kyoko how to loosen up a bit and enjoy their school life.

Their dynamic is essentially rivals to lovers (if you count THH ch. 2/a non despair AU where their personalities just conflict) and/or badass/stoic person (Kyoko) x person who thinks that's the coolest thing ever and adores them very much (Mondo)

It's honestly a very mature relationship - built on lots of communication and learning from each party. Of course, no relationship could work without communication or understanding. With both parties being Kyoko and Mondo, once they get past both their setbacks and misunderstandings, they have potential to be a power couple. And even if it doesn't work out in the end, they would still have a strong friendship after the fact. A brain x brawn duo always has the potential to be a strong dynamic.

CRIME FIGHTING DUO FOR THE WIN BABYYYYYY

[lemony-ink]

I had like the smallest smidge of hope that after everything came out about nightglider they would do the right thing. Apologize and then go handle their issues. Or whatever tf groomers are supposed to do after getting outed. Just, not make the situation worse.

But then they did all this and I'm in utter disbelief. The accounts, the fake death, the constantly talking about harassment. I mean, what do we expect from a groomer? Seeing it go from normal account we all know to deleted and everything comes out about them grooming to...this. It sure is something. It honestly would have been easier if they just addressed it and moved on or just stayed deleted. Or at least if they...didn't start roleplaying to earn sympathy points. Like. I knew hoping they'd do the right thing was kinda pointless and not likely (cause groomer), but I did NOT see this entire thing coming.

If the harassment WERE so bad, being online is not the solution. And that's a purely hypothetical IF. Genuinely would have been better off if they, ya know, tried to deal with the fact they intentionally groomed a minor and get help for why they even did it. But groomers don't care about doing the right thing. So here we are. Getting them making a lot of accounts to...pretend they're dead and earn pity points after grooming someone.

It does make me hope the victim is okay especially. I don't know anything about em and wasn't involved in the discord or close to nightglider at all. But I do hope the victim is doing alright. They've been through enough as is. I dunno who they are, but like. Hugs for them cause fuck this shit. Nightglider pretty much proved the kind of person they are with their actions after being exposed. The grooming is already bad, but then there's all of this bs. Just salt in the wound. Vile and sickening and cruel.

this is exactly how I feel, it's all just so frustrating. This kind of behavior from them makes me even more scared for their victim, the kind of lasting damage this level of manipulation and lying has done.

[einsteinsugly]

You're so often wrong, yet somehow never in doubt of your own superiority. Roseanne has an EXTENSIVE history of antisemitic, racist and other inflammatory remarks in addition to causing serious problems on literally every show of which she's been a part and creating toxic work environments for countless employees. (I know people like you think it's woke to be antisemitic these days, but back then it was considered disgusting.) She's been an abusive bigot for decades. By contrast, the actors on T70Ss wrote a letter in support of their friend. While you and I disagree with their choice, it's a single decision that doesn't reflect a pattern of problematic behavior like Roseanne's engaged in, and therefore they weren't "blacklisted" forever. As for you smugly thinking that your PSAs will enlighten the ignorant masses, here's a newsflash for you: everyone already knows about the letters and, unlike you, they've moved on. The actors got a lot of justifiable and well-deserved flak for their choice at the time, but no one except you thought they should be forever banned from earning a living.

Oh hi, Lily, aka @catherine-the-doll-ballerina. One of my two hate anons (even though we've blocked each other). I know you're starting drama everywhere, and you're making the fandom a tense and shitty place. So stop sending shit to everyone, and if you can't just enjoy the show without starting shit, gtfo. Seriously.

Roseanne is a piece of shit, and so are DJR and KS. There is a minority that think like you, that they're defending their friend or whatever. I think that most, however, aren't aware of the details of what they did. That they both chose defending their friend over basic moral decency.

That friend is a fucking rapist, and is serving thirty years in prison. It's morally abhorrent that they looked past the fact that he raped women, and insisted on defending him anyway. In a court of law. That's fucking unacceptable, and they're earning enough with fucking royalties (unfortunately). They should never be able to act again (and it's not just me who thinks this, I'm sure of it). They made shitty choices, and their actions should have consequences. Duh.

*****

Bonus: Oh, news flash, and being against Israel's actions isn't anti-Semitism. I'm pretty sure it was you who sent someone a hate-filled anon ask for being pro Palestine. I hate having to do this, and starting drama, but you've been harassing me and others for months/years. Along with one other hate anon, and if you send me one more, I will be forced to call you out, too. This is supposed to be a place where we chill out and talk about a show we love. Not a drama-filled cesspool.

[harrywblog]

What Are Some of the Major Challenges That Uber Faces Today?

There are many challenges facing Uber today, some ranging from safety to legal problems. Now, let's see some of the major challenges in the path ahead of Uber.

Safety Concerns for Riders and Drivers

Safety is a big concern. Both riders and drivers worry about getting safe. Cases of crimes in Uber cars have come. Drivers are attacked by passengers. Riders, on the other hand, are harassed. But Uber worked with these problems. They now have an emergency button inside the app. Drivers undergo safety training and background checks. However, accidents still happen. How to improve safety remains a challenge for Uber.

Legal and Regulatory Issues

They've fought legal battles throughout their entire time. Cities have attempted to regulate its business time and time again. Some have even banned Uber over safety concerns. Other cities believe that drivers should be classified as employees rather than contractors. This changes Uber's way of working and increases the cost. Also, legal problems have been held against Uber's reputation. Very recently, for example, it lost a court case over driver pay. These legal problems cost Uber both time and money.

Competition and Market Saturation

There is a lot of competition in the ride-sharing business. In fact, other companies, such as Lyft and smaller local startups, are currently rising to challenge Uber. Some come with more competitive perks than others; hence, many riders opt to use those services. Another obstacle is market saturation. In some markets, there are too many drivers and not enough rides, which means lower earnings for driver partners and makes differentiation harder for Uber. If Uber wants to stay ahead, it has to change the business of thinking. They are now entering new businesses: food delivery and self-driving cars. But competition will continue to keep them on their toes.

These challenges make Uber's future tough. There are big hurdles in safety, legal issues, and competition. How it addresses them will determine the future for Uber.

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[somnimouse]

I don’t want to be harassed by Vinca and my memory is fuzzy but she used to identify as white/white passing and made/reblogged a lot of posts where it was clear she felt guilty for that. I’m glad shes been able to embrace her mixed heritage but it’s really weird to see her claiming that any criticism of her is anti-black. Like I’ve seen photos of her she is not ambiguously white passing she straight up just looks white so for her to use that as a way to get money and clout chase feels really gross especially since she seems to be integrating herself with other POC who actually face discrimination based on their looks.

Idk what to do I guess it’s just a matter of time until she deletes all her blogs again and starts anew in a fresh community like always.

Hey, thank you for your ask! A few others have come forward to me and mentioned seeing that information as well in the past.

Racial identity and the difficulties that come with being half of different races isn't something I can discuss myself because I'm neither half nor Black, but passing privilege also exists in the context of skin color and gender, the latter being something I can talk about.

My own lack of passing privilege in gender has net me years of transmisogyny from both cis people and now Vinca because my "fem-leaning" is apparently not fem enough, no matter if I identified as transfem or not in the past, and I therefore cannot reclaim the slurs and mention my experiences. It is gender essentialist truscum rhetoric and goalpost-shifting. If one is very much white-passing, they should understand the impact of privilege no matter the context.

Unfortunately, the main issues we have in the incident happening right now aren't the labels or passing privileges themselves, but the fact that they're used to dismiss other trans POC and farm emotional supply. This is a common tactic to garner sympathy and avoid all accountability of one's actions and the hurt they cause. No matter what they've done, people with self-serving and malicious intentions will dismiss everything with, "I'm marginalized, so you criticizing me is bigoted! If you're marginalized and have personally experienced it, no you didn't because you're not marginalized enough!" It's a surefire way to generate dishonest outrage, abuse victims, earn money, take advantage of the kindness of others, and play wounded gazelle all at once. Combined with virtue-signalling and grandstanding, it's just a mess of emotional vitriol.

That said, Vinca is not someone who responds to logic or reason, and assumes silencing her victims by slandering them as racists or transmisogynists, downplaying her own actions and privilege, and utilizing ad hominem and constant harassment can obscure the truth, even when it's corroborated from many people in the community who aren't even friends with each other. It's to protect her sense of self-perception and feel vindicated in lashing out at the perceived injustice in her life. But because this is a recurring cycle, it will only be a matter of time before she hurts someone else in her current community with her behavior, accuses them of bigotry to absolve herself of accountability, and moves on to escape, just as she did before. Nothing you can do about it.

Either way, I've already said my piece with all of the information listed in the reblogs of Z's and Robin's posts to clarify the pattern and exact nature of Vinca's actions. I can't force her to listen to logic and self-reflect if she fully believes she's morally right, no matter how many unhinged DMs she sends me. It's better to wash your hands of it, Anon, and support her victims.

[twinkuraba]

I think what makes 'only the people affected can accept if an apology is enough' so shallow to me sometimes is onlookers/unrelated observers only mean it when their voyeuristic thirst for metaphorical blood and punishment is met and it's less 'only the one(s) affected can say an apology is enough' and more 'they can earn the right to try to apologize after I personally think they've been through enough Punishment (usually harassment and threats).'

Because I've seen many a time where the affected person(s) did in fact accept an apology towards them from the apologizing party only for people who had previously been all about 'only the ones hurt can accept an apology' to go 'No! This isn't enough you can't accept this!' and continue acting like they still owed the person they were apologizing to something even though by their own standards; they'd obviously already done enough to earn forgiveness.

[rametarin]

If I ran a public school

My idea for a public school would operate a little closer to a college than a regular American K-8/9-23 gradeschool/highschool.

So. What was school like for most of my fellow Americans?

It was a total of 180 days a year, bookended by weekends, long weekends, holidays, snow days, inservice days. It took 10 months of the year to get through.

Your day had a number of classes, where learning things was hard because you could only hear the lecture once, and if you got things wrong on the homework, they were permanent because you couldn't retake the tests or do them over to save the teachers stress of doing them at home. You had maybe 15 minutes to do a class after the lecture, and then it was on to another subject.

You had book reports, history reports, typing class, presentations you had to produce for, computer class- on fucking Apple IIs (God I hated them. Despite being a mere few years old, it looked like they had been in the schools for decades.. and they hadn't even existed a decade yet)

You did not have 180 days worth of learning. You had 180 days worth of busy work spoon feeding you the slowest, most fiber rich diet of bullshit that a public institution fed by your tax dollars can give you. It wasn't designed to educate a child, it was designed to give teachers unions and the institution of public school an unquestionable role of importance.

Suppose someone redid this whole education curriculum thing. Suppose public school still had year/age grades, but they weren't used to determine what you absolutely knew.

For instance, kindergarten. You learn the basics. You learn the fundamentals. Letters, phoenetics, numbers, basic addition and subtraction, spelling. All that good shit. But, that doesn't take an entire year. So why should a kindergartener be limited based purely on what the school is willing to teach the whole class, that entire year? Why couldn't the kindergartener have access to classes, if they are so advanced, that they could excel? Because of the limitations of the teacher and the system?

That's a failure of the teacher and system and it's holding back the child. But holding the child there does justify them collecting a paycheque, you notice.

The biggest bottleneck to education is primarily that there's a limited number of teachers that can dynamically respond to and correct young peoples attempts to perform their lessons and explain what they're doing wrong. Marking down homework and giving them incentive to self-teach at home or else bad grades tell the parents to harass/restrict the shit out of their kids, is a hilariously brutal and stupid stopgap measure.

My idea for a school keeps the age-grades as a basis, but it also offers fundamental courses ranging from K to 12 separately, independent of the age, the year or the semester. There's always a teacher that teaches that specific thing; whether it's a specific science textbook, or a specific book for a book report. And those students that attend that class do so, because they've gone through the channels from beginner, to the appropriate level.

So there'd be a math teacher that handles the lesson on cartography, one that handles the lesson on cartesean coordinates, one that handles a specific lesson in algebra.

No real homework as busywork. No grades based on work passed in to graduate. You either know the subject enough to function, or you don't, and need more time to study. Infinite test retakes. Custom school laptops with stylus to write on, so even long distance, the math teacher can do examples and the student can repeat while they watch.

The school would save on paper, pencils, erasers, cleaning chemicals, and the faculty and staff would be able to have more free time.

The students would have more opportunities to try and fail and it be inconsequential until they actually learn the material, upon which they can advance beyond what the traditional model of schooling would allow them.

If you told me that I could earn myself an extra 8-10 years of free time and there'd be ways I could more efficiently utilize my youth to prepare for my future, you bet your ass I'd have been more motivated. If you told me the lessons and lectures could be accessed infinitely and recorded on a school website every day for review, I'd have enjoyed that a lot. If you told me there could be software that could exist where I could punch in a math equation and, if I'm right, the computer would approve or disregard it, cutting out the whole teacher grading it and the bottleneck of time between end of the school day to passing in the homework, I'd have swooned.

Public schools should enable young people to choose, and advance, their own curriculum independent of their assumed age and accelerate at their own rates. And if we staffed our schools based around this model, we'd see more young people rocketing into college programs sooner.

It'd mean fewer extra bodies to monitor and feed and correct their paperwork, for teachers. It'd mean more people to help teach those that are struggling and give them the time required, even whole school days, to work on it, as they have a finite set of steps from start to graduation level to keep their eyes on the prize. It'd mean attendance after graduation would be optional.

It'd mean more people prepared in the fundamentals for college. It'd mean less stigma about "being held back a grade," because you're not trying to make a gigantic sandwich from all the ingredients in the kitchen and only making them paper thin layers, for a foul tasting jambalaya of busywork.

Public schools should be perches from which to launch and soar your careers and individual lives, not time gated prisons that pay the wardens for the amount of students inside of them and making them captive audiences of second class citizens.

[weirdly-specific-but-ok]

Thank you everyone, both maggots and strangers, for their kind words on this post and elsewhere to me. I've done some thinking since I sent the ask yesterday, and had conversations with my therapist and my mum. I don't like posting darker things on my blog, and I usually avoid it, but I'm making an exception here because so many of you have reached out to help me and I think you deserve to know the situation.

Trigger warning for discussion of queerphobia, ableism and bullying below. If you're going to read on, please be careful. Nothing takes precedence over your own mental health.

...

I reached an uncomfortable realisation, that I don't have a good choice. Whether I choose to study on campus or do an online course or not do college at all, whether I stay closeted or not, all of those involve horrible compromises of my mental health, safety and education.

I don't think that's fair. I shouldn't have to choose between my safety and getting a basic goddamn degree in a field I love. I shouldn't have to make a choice between my mental health and being able to earn a living.

But I do have to make that choice, as do millions of other people here. My situation is exacerbated by the fact that I'm lower than middle class economically and I'm queer. But people with different situations, better or worse, are all facing the consequences of a really, really broken system.

Yeah, there are benefits and anti-bullying policies and safety structures in place, but they're not there to protect me. They're there to protect the people in positions of authority from the consequences of their actions to people like me, a system that decides what does and what doesn't count as harassment, and can dismiss whatever it likes. And would misgendering me count as harassment? Nope. Neither would isolating me. Neither would dead-naming me or invalidating me.

I wanted to write this down, because yeah, I'm still terrified. Not just for myself, but for all the students here, queer and otherwise. But now I'm also furious.

I'm so angry at a system that ruins people's lives when they've barely started. And I still don't know what to do about my career. But I do know what I want to do about this. I don't have money or power, but I've always had my words, and I'm not going to shut up about this anymore.

Because the education system is deeply fucked at its core, and the queerphobia here is normalised and unchecked, and so many victims of this don't have the words or the platform to speak out about it. But I do, and I'm going to speak for them instead. And I'm going to force the people in positions of authority to listen.

I just wanted everyone to know that I'm very grateful to you for supporting me, and that I want to pass that support on to people like me. That's all.

Note: There are many far darker sides to the education system here that may be extremely triggering, so I've kept it under the cut. TW for mentions of s**cide and d*ath. Again, please be careful if you're reading further.

In the city where I live, in just the two campuses of a highly reputed college where many of my former classmates go, there have been three suicides in less than a year. One college, less than a year, and three people dead. I don't know about the third, but two of them were nineteen years old, just like I am. In 2021, the suicide rate amongst students in India was around 34 deaths per day.

When I told the Dean of my former college that I felt unsafe and miserable in the college environment, she told me to stop being self-absorbed. And then denied saying it the next day when she called my parents to complain about me. To complain about my phone call to her, which I'd asked permission for, and in which I'd said I felt unsafe.

Even people who are asking for help, begging for help, don't receive it. I was lucky enough to have a support system of therapy, medical help and my parents taking my side when she did this to me. Most people don't have that system.

It's fucking sick. And I want to do everything I can to fix it.

Hi Neil, I hope you're having a good day. I'm really scared and confused and I need advice, so I thought I'd ask here, just in case.

I don't think I'll be able to go to college, because of the way I work and because of my low energy and also because I'm queer and live in India and I've already dropped out once because of extreme isolation and bullying for my queerness and mental health.

But I know that I'm really lucky to have been able to get accepted again at a good college now, and that it's something I love doing, with design and film making and writing. And now I don't know what to do.

I thought I remembered something about this in your book Art Matters, so I picked it up and searched through it and found a paragraph that said, "I escaped from school as soon as I could, when the prospect of four more years of enforced learning before I'd become the writer I wanted to be was stifling."

And as a writer and artist I understand that, so much, and it comforted me.

But I'm still so terrified. Thanks to everyone here on tumblr, I'm not alone, but I'm still terrified.

Do you have any advice for me? I suppose it's already in the book, but it would help to hear it again. Thank you so much for everything.

-Asmi

My advice is try it. Try the college, but tell yourself that you can stop if you need to. Learn skills you may need to make art with. See if you can build a group of people who like the things that you like and treat you as a friend.

[twst-discourse-bot]

Continuing what I meant to say earlier. Given the new event for the jp servers, yes I do understand why people would be upset about the new character that was added for the masquerade event. Though we don't really know too much about him yet.

Unfortunately this whole thing seems to be making TWST trend and reach a wider audience. I think there is already an article saying TWST is racist for adding him.

Sadly, I saw this coming.

Not surprised whatever that person's name is now is using it as a talking point now.

As I said in my answer to your previous question, I hope that the people with common sense are going to take a step back and wait for the entire event to be released before passing judgement. I do agree that Disney is toeing a very fine line by including a character based on Frollo, considering my opinions on how they would handle other controversial movies like Mulan (I got full body tremors typing that) or something even worse like Pocahontas.

They also have already made a couple of whoopsies in game, such as how they designed the African characters and Sam's "aesthetic" being taken from voodoo practitioners despite him not being one himself, plus more but I'm not going to list every infraction. I've never excused them for these issues, in some cases they've even listened to people and fixed them. And they've already handled other issues better than expected, which is a lot when knowing where it's coming from. The standards are kinda low.

If I were you and anyone in the TWST fandom who actually enjoys being here, because the rat clown doesn't even seem to actually like the game and is only interested in "fixing" it and trashing it every chance she gets, I would ignore any kind of article that comes out critiquing the devs' choices. Because as is the case with most video game journalism, the articles are written by people who don't even play the games they're writing about or just suck at gaming in general but think that taking a passing glance or trying a single playthrough (and sometimes quitting before getting halfway) is enough for them to earn the right to broadcast their opinion.

The most productive discussions I've seen have been between people who are a) actually part of the player base and have a good understanding of how the world and story work, and b) genuinely interested in hearing other people's opinions and are open to changing their own through these types of conversations. I hope that once the even fully releases we'll see some more of that and it doesn't get drowned out by whiny purity culture babies who see a sequence of colors and get sent into a blind rage.

Either way, TWST is not going to get shut down because they included a character based on Frollo. It's too popular overseas, it's fairly popular here, and it's owned by Disney. It's not going to happen. What might happen is the people who go out of their way to make JP content accessible to everyone will get harassed as if they're the ones who wrote the game and are then bullied into stopping. It wouldn't actually solve the problem; it would just piss everybody off.

[humanuser0613]

Late Night Musings

Sincerity being their brand.

And I say that because they do try to be honest with us. They do show us many sides of themselves. They've shown us some of the process behind BE and their thoughts when they clearly said here that wasn't something they had initially wanted to do. They've now talked about how they come to a decision about which songs and parts they sing, and how they resolve fights.

That fight between taejin and how they resolved it was shown to us. We've gotten bigger pieces of the dumpling situation now than we had before. They said here that it wasn't something they had wanted to show us at first...a side of themselves that people may not like. But in the interest of sincerity, they do show us those things. And even thinking about how people end up not liking them because of how they conduct themselves inside of their friendships with each other (I still maintain that y'all need to butt out of their relationships and keep your projecting at home)...I'm certain they've realized how inevitable dislike can be. You can't keep 100% of people happy 100% of the time.

So it really isn't fair or right when people accuse them of CONSTANTLY using a script or lying.

They choose what they want to share and what they want to show us. They choose.

There are still parts of themselves they keep for themselves, as they should. They have private lives and relationships. They will live their lives however they want. No permission from us required or requested.

But they're getting older and they've been hoping that ARMY has been maturing along with them. Eventually they will reveal certain happy moments in their lives. Sincerity being a key aspect of our parasocial relationship with each other.

ARMY hasn't done enough at this point to earn their trust with that information. They'll deny rumors, but would they confirm rumors? Would they willingly share happy news with us? Or would it cause them anxiety?

I know it causes me anxiety.

I've watched people in this fandom attack rumored gfs, and complete strangers to the guys, send sexually explicit material to their family members, and harass businesses....and I haven't seen enough pushback from inside the fandom against those actions.

Antis will do what antis will do, but if they're doing it under the guise of being fans, shouldn't they have that name stripped from them? Shouldn't they be identified and called out by the anti name that they are? Shouldn't they be known for their misbehaviors? Shouldn't they be ignored and shunned for the same?

I don't know if it actually matters if BTS sees their actions as part and parcel of ARMY. I don't know if BTS cares that they have fans that hurt them repeatedly and still call themselves fans. I don't know if it's possible to exclude subsections of the fandom from fandom activities via social media.

I don't know.

[hms-tardimpala]

I love Cobra Kai, it's my Cringey Bad Show With Moments Of Brillance™.

(long-ass gushing/rant and spoilers ahead)

Cobra Kai requires constant suspension of disbelief, it doesn't have the best pacing, half the humor is horrendous, the character writing is often stupid as shit, it's such a dumb show!

It also has insanely satisfying setup-payoffs, good dramatic irony, it's at its funniest when it's self-aware and laughing of itself, which it does gladly, and it goes to the trouble of giving you gray characters who go through multi-seasons arcs to better themselves (or the opposite). It's such a fun show!

And very importantly in today's media landscape, it pulls off being the necromantic resurrection of a beloved 80s franchise. It could easily have kept the black-and-white naive, squeaky-clean tone of the Karate Kid movies, but it said "Fuck it" from the first episode. It respects its KK roots but expands on them, adds depth and layers it didn't have to. Does it always do it well? Hell no. But seriously, this show didn't need to make that effort. With its premise, it had no right to be that good.

Obviously the show leans heavily on nostalgia, but it manages not to be a total nostalgia fest and brings some interesting things to the table.

Now, having just finished S5 (a lame season, but which had moments that made me cheer and curse out loud), I want to say how much I love how dark CK can get.

Like, it starts easy. A bullied kid, some teenagers slugging it karate-style at a school dance, a tournament to tell who's the winner. Then the brawls get less and less funny. There's slut-shaming. More kids get involved, more get hurt. A teenager gets his spine broken in his high school staircase. This is more the real world than KK, so you've got kids going to juvie for their actions, others who are scarred and traumatized for life.

Then the show goes further. Adults are involved in this now. They beat each other up directly and by proxy through children. There's breaking and entering, destruction of homes, arson. An adult sexually harasses a teenage girl in a precarious living situation. Vietnam veterans' trauma and domestic violence get discussed. There's physical and psychological abuse and manipulation left and right, between adults, between teens, from adults to kids. A grown man destroys another's hard-earned mental health because he feels lonely. There's assault and attempted murder. Kids breaking each other's bones in public settings.

And season 5! The violence keeps escalating. It's the only language some of these kids know by now. And the adults who taught them are just as traumatized and wrapped up in it and they can't stop either. There's arson again, people's lives are getting ruined by what started as a petty rivalry. A teenager is forced to injure herself to prove her loyalty by a group of adults who won't let her leave. A man teaches a child a karate strike that can break a ribcage and suffocate an oponent, and the only reason it doesn't happen is the child in question isn't strong enough yet, but he tries. You've got a sword fight and a man left to bleed out in a pool. A group of four men trying to beat one to death because they've been ordered to. A guy gets his finger cut off. Constant child endangerement and serious injuries that are ignored, and the psychological toll of all that isn't even acknowledged by the characters most of the time.

And of course all ends well, wounds heal and nobody dies, and it's not even gory, but still, it gave me the chills. As someone who enjoys on-screen violence immensely, it's very rare that I wish said violence would stop. That show is unbelievable, ridiculously over-dramatic, cheesy, and also too fucking real sometimes. Like a guy who's always laughing and making jokes, and one day he has too many drinks and lets slip something that reveals how much trauma he's suppressing.

I love this show and these characters. Out of this huge ensemble cast, there's only one character I haven't changed my mind on from the beginning and gone from hating or loving them to the opposite. (and it has great ships for all tastes!!)

Anyway, season 5 was awfully bad. And I enjoyed it. I'm done talking about the karate soap opera on this tumblr for a while, I think.