#and people refuse to try and understand what the ai is fed and what it’s doing with that

[strange-mystery]

Why do so many YouTubers that make content that revolves around being creative use ai

[tehawesomelyjuanthegreater]

90 members in two groups of mine - what a tie it is!

Before we go ahead of ourselves, going back the way they used to be, things are not that simple nor easy to deal with.... 

97 members of my back-up discord server group have total success it has gotten.

93 members under the main one, but needs bigger help for that officially 

Things are officially cleaning up the mess from the very start on things completely= it to be all over again in 2020. Why are there are no posts? I understand that, as well as why my groups get no posts. I know for sure I have been very angry at my folks time and time again over and over, going through alot lot of basics.... WE get that everyone has got their own life, and we get that!  I have been hard on my folks a long time for not comprehending no posts on discord and things like that... 

There were 2 folks whom I'm basically fed up with that were referring to who friends did when I did nothing wrong to them, as they betrayed them -it is annoying. Some-some, as they claims, the second was on Instagram. This was cut off but remains in touch on deviantART= as online friendship is a strong decline with bond and people refused to stay, this is where over the summer that changed happen they will be replaced completely and be forgotten for people left me behind and such like.  That change has come officially for good completely. I do not care whom I lose, but I don't wish them if they are around online, or if they delete their account and can't handle things online from how they are- now that online has been declining too much over 15 years.   I know these people who are new friends and current ones, met them - they're trying to the best people what they can be ever and it is hard to understand, I know deep down there still real people that are actually proof true people around!   That should be put aside since it is nothing important rn... As for the current for those who are going to do so from cutting me off on other site-they will be replaced for good and seriously move on, as they don't consider from people who want to stay with someone else.... Personally, they don't know how to connect and stay with 1 person for decades and years or more. 

Aside from things, things are going back the way they used to be slowly and processing, going back the way they were... but But it, But like that, officially according to the process that created my discord group and the following is, creased up= but things what better timing has started a little bit right now with care and love, also doing the right thing to do paid commission art to other artist in the art community to put the stop on AI officially and things like that - which that keep me focus and forward on things-the help for them and my help on behalf doing a following that I'm doing; since now I'm going back to the old ways, things that used to be, but things won't be like that how it used to be.

Yes, I'm working harder and doing my passionate what I love doing, things aren't too great on online and real life-both ways, but that is what it is......... it sucks big time...

It seems like there are rarer people around who are truly "real people" and good-hearted...

Belated stuff will be coming soon for a video update.

I do not care for no post on my groups, reply, or anything like that- but still considered 1 and little few giving them time one of the folks..... it super to understand anymore about online to be honest. 

KEEP IN MIND- I'm going back to things the way they are and especially doing bonuses, extra, so much more! and doing creation work which need to think about right now..

[silksoftstars]

Secret family

Pairing: Steve Rogers x fem!Reader, platonic!Bucky Barnes x Reader

Characters: Reader, Steve Rogers, Bucky Barnes, OC daughters, Tony Stark, Natasha Romanoff, Clint Barton, Bruce Banner, Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff, Sam Wilson, Vision

Summary: You're Steve's wife and he hid you from SHIELD and the Avengers, because you have healing powers. When Steve got heavily injured from a mission, Bucky calls you, so you and your daughters visit the compound to heal Steve.

Word count: 2800+

Warnings: Injuries (mentioned), a little bit of angst but not really, fluff, Dad!Steve (if that's a warning)

A/N: Honestly my heart is breaking with this gif. Also it took me way too long to write this, because my stupid self accidentally deleted the story when I was halfway done.

You were currently at work, when you got a call from Bucky, your husbands best friend. A wave of relief washed over you. Steve and Bucky had been on a mission for the past few weeks and it was the first time you heard from them since you said goodbye to Steve.

A call was good. It meant they were back from the mission and you would see them again soon. You weren't surprised that Bucky called you instead of Steve, it was their agreement to keep you safe that they would take turns on calling you, so nobody would get suspicious.

You took your phone and answered the call with a smile.

"Hi Buck," you greeted happily.

"Hey Y/N," Bucky answered and paused. You could hear by his tone that something was wrong and your smile immediately fell.

"So umm" the brunette continued and stopped again. He sounded exhausted and worried.

"What's going on? Are you hurt? Talk to me," you urged and started chewing on your lip, something you always did when you were nervous or troubled.

"No I'm good. It's just.. Steve got hurt badly and he doesn't want you to know, but I figured that you would want to know. I kind of hoped that you would come to the compound and heal him. Only if you want to of course," Bucky explained hurriedly.

You took a deep breath and started planning in your head. You would need to leave work early and pick up the kids from the babysitter.

"I'll be there in 30 minutes tops. But I'll have to bring the kids, is that alright?" You asked, while you already cleaned your desk and started packing your bag.

"Yeah sure, I'll wait outside of the building to et you through security. See you," the soldier answered.

"See you. And please take care of yourself too," you ordered. You knew that if Steve was injured Bucky wouldn't be completely fine. They would always try and push each other out of harms way. You deeply admired their friendship, but sometimes it led to the boys making stupid irrational decisions.

"I promise," you heard Buckys sigh but you decided to ignore his unwillingness, so you just gave an agreeing hum and hung up.

-

You opened the door of your car and jumped out. You had parked you car in front of the compound. You closed the door and opened the door of the backseat. Your four-year old daughter Jamie looked up at you. She had a frown on her forehead and clutched her teddy to her chest. Jamie had always been a smart sensitive child and she knew something was wrong.

You undid her seat belt, lifted her out of her seat and placed her on the ground. You closed her door as well and walked around the car to open the other door. Your other daughter, Sarah, was only one year old and currently asleep.

You gently picked her up and adjusted her in your arms, so she sat on your left hip, secured by your arm. Sarah whimpered in her sleep and her tiny hand gripped your shirt. The other one was in her mouth.

"Shh" you hushed her and rubbed her back. She fussed for another few seconds, but then stilled again.

"Mommy? I'm scared," Jamie whispered as she walked up to you. Tears had gathered in her eyes.

You walked up to her and smiled reassuringly while pulling her into your side.

"It's alright, sweetheart. We're visiting Daddy and Uncle Bucky," you told her while you started walking towards the compound. You placed her hand on the back of Jamie's head and side hugged her slightly.

When you walked closer, you saw Bucky sitting on a bench in front of the entry. He had already spotted you and patiently waited for the three of you to come over.

"Hey," you smiled at Bucky. Jamie squealed in delight when she saw her uncle and ran over to him to jump into his arms.

The man caught her with ease and lifted her from the ground to bear hug her. He ruffled her blonde hair and chuckled.

"Hey there," Bucky grinned. His face was bruised and he had a busted lip. You walked up to him and you hugged, mindful of the two girls you both were carrying. You placed your free hand on Buckys chest after he had let you go and send your powers through him. His face and all other injuries disappeared in mere seconds.

"You shouldn't have," Bucky protested.

"Well I wanted to," you answered him and smiled gently.

"Where's Daddy?" Jamie asked and tugged on Buckys shirt impatiently.

"We'll go see him right now," the brunette said and then added towards you, "the team doesn't know you, they might me surprised, but I'm sure they'll love you. I'll introduce you first and then we'll see Steve"

"Okay sure," you shrugged. You were a bit nervous, but after everything Steve told you about his team, you were a little more confident.

Bucky led you inside of the compound and closed the door behind the two of you. Jamie pressed her face into Buckys shirt, clearly scared of the new invironment and the cool white walls.

"Hey Friday, please tell the team to gather in the common room!" Bucky ordered. You furrowed your brows and tried to figure out who he was talking to, when a female voice answered.

"Right away, Sargeant Barnes," she said and you jumped and looked around, searching for the person who spoke.

"Tony's AI," was the answer to your unspoken question.

Bucky led you through several hallways towards what you guessed was the common room.

"Steve is in the medical wing. They stabled him and they knocked him out with some medication, because he refused to sleep," Bucky told you while walking.

You came to an open room and heard voices inside. Jamie seemingly heard them too, because she pushed herself away from Bucky and reached for you with a look of panic on her face. Her stuffed animal was still in her one hand.

You took her from Bucky onto right hip, trying to balance the two girl out. While Jamie latched onto you like a lifeline, Bucky took his goddaughter Sarah from you. You smiled as a thanks and together you made your way into the room.

The brunette moved himself partly in front of you and held Sarah close to him, his protectiveness shining through.

"Why are we here, Frosty? And why do you have a baby?" You heard a voice, that you recognized as Tony Starks.

Bucky stepped to the side and placed his hand on your shoulder. Jamie decided to risk a peak at the people only to quickly look away again.

However you could understand that it was a little overwhelming. Jamie had always been a shy girl and in front of her were standing or sitting nine people, all staring at us.

"Mommy there's Iron man," she whispered in awe into your ear. Bucky chuckled and smiled at you in amusement.

"So guys, this is Y/N Rogers, Steve's wife. They baby is Sarah and that is Jamie. They're Steve's daughters" the soldier introduced you, while ruffling Jamie's hair.

"Excuse me...wife? Daughters? Did you hit your head?" Tony spluttered.

"Steve and I agreed that we should keep our relationship and especially our daughters a secret. With him being a super soldier and me being a mutant, our kids are in danger and we wanted to protect them," you explained gently.

"But it's Capsicle, he can't have kids," Tony protested, crossed his arms and pouted. You had to swallow down a laugh, since you didn't want to seem rude.

"Tony you're a child," a redhead scolded him with a stern look, "I'm Natasha, you can call me Nat," she added towards you.

"Daddy says that you're really cool and that you can even take down Uncle Bucky," Jamie said and peaked out from your shoulder again with wide eyes.

"He said that huhh?" Natasha grinned at Bucky playfully.

"Do we need introductions?" Bucky asked, clearly trying to distract everyone. You decided not to call him out on it.

"I think I'm good. I believe I know your names," you smiled and scanned over the people. There obviously were Tony and Nat, you had immediately recognized Sam Wilson, Doctor Banner and Clint Barton. The twins Wanda and Pietro sat on the couch and Vision stood behind Wanda.

Steve had showed you pictures of the Avengers and told you storys because you were curious about his second family.

"So you're a mutant?" Wanda asked you curiously.

"Yeah I have healing powers. That's why I'm here now. To heal Steve," you explained.

"So you can heal? How does it work? Do you have limits?" Bruce asked and pushed back his glasses. He looked rather adorable with how his obvious shyness and his curiosity battled.

"I mean I can't raise people from the dead and I can't heal chronological illnesses but pretty much every injury. But I have to admit that you, that I haven't tried that much other then simple injuries" You answered patiently.

Then Sarah woke up and started fussing in Buckys arms, in which response Jamie started crying as well. Wordlessly you took Sarah from Bucky and started to calm your two kids. You knew that Sarah was fed and that her diaper was clear so either she was tired or irritated by the new environment.

Jamie on the other hand was distressed because she was overwhelmed by all the new people, the knowledge that something was wrong with her dad and that her little sister was crying as well.

"Come on let's sit down," Bucky said, when he saw your struggle to held both of the girls in your arms and led you to the couch where Wanda and Pietro were placed.

I sat down on the edge and Jamie slid into your lap and hugged you tightly, while you rocked your weeping baby.

"I'm sorry guys," you apologized while you went on to calm your girls. Sarah had gone over to quiet sobbing.

"Oh don't worry about it, there's always someone in this compound crying," Sam quipped and smirked at Clint who responded with a huff.

Pietro scooted closer to me and tapped on Jamie's shoulder. She glimpsed up at him and he gave her a smile. Then he poked her side and she giggled slightly and hid her face again.

"Are you hiding from me?" Pietro asked playfully and poked her again.

"Mommy he talks funny," Jamie whispered and looked at Pietro again. She was talking about his sovokian accent.

"That's sounds cool, can you teach me to talk like that?" Jamie asked her blue doe eyes, that she clearly had from Steve, sparkled in admiration.

"I don't know if I can. But I can try," Pietro answered with a boyish grin.

"Can I play with him?" The blonde girl asked you and after your nod she jumped onto Pietro with a giggle.

You knew you could trust the enhanced boy, so you switched your focus on Sarah and rocked her until she was asleep again.

When you looked up again, you noticed that all of the Avengers were watching you. You smiled a little shyly.

"I kind of want to see Steve now," you said and looked at Bucky, then added "Can you watch Jamie and Sarah? I don't want to take them to Steve if he is hurt. They can see him later."

Bucky nodded and gently took Sarah from your arms and rested her head on his upper flesh arm. You got up and looked around. Your eyes found Bruce.

"You were interested in my powers earlier, you could come and watch, I mena if you want to," you awkwardly proposed and fiddled with the hem of your shirt. No-one had offered to show you to the medical wing and you were lost, especially that Bucky now wasn't at your side anymore.

But for you it was more important that Jamie had someone in the room she knew and trusted. And you didn't want her to see her dad hurt.

"Yeah sure that would be great," Bruce smiled widely. He looked like a kid that just had gotten it's favorite candy.

"I think I'll come too," Tony decided and jumped on his feet. He casually took you by the arm and led you out of the room, Bruce on your tails. You looked back and caught Bucky's gaze, who reassured you with a smile.

You were deadly worried ever since Buckys call but you had tried not to show it. But now your nerves were reaching a new high and you just wanted to see the love of your life and hug him.

Luckily the three of you had reached the medical wing and Tony opened a door for you. You walked in and a startled gasp escaped you. Steve was laying in a hospital bed in a gown.

But the worst part was his messy hair, his pale, drained skin and his bruised, beaten up face. It broke your heart. You covered your mouth with your left hand while you stepped closer.

Almost scared you reached out and cupped the side of Steve's face and traced his cheekbone carefully.

"So how does the healing work?" Tony asked and plopped down in a chair. You jumped and pried your eyes away from Steve.

"Tony!" Bruce hissed and send me an apologetic glance.

"It's alright. Uhmm so basically it's like I have this power and I can feel it inside of me and I can send it into his body and the wounds heal and the power returns. At least thats what it feels like, it's kind of hard to explain," you shrugged and looked back at Steve.

Since you could no longer look at Steve, looking that horrible so you put your hand on Steve's chest and started your healing.

You all watched how the bruises and injuries healed and the color returned to his cheeks. A relieved sigh made it over your lips when you saw you husbands eyelids flutter and they slowly opened. A frown built on his forehead as he blinked and adjusted his eyes to the light.

"Hey Stevie," you cooed and stroked over his cheeks again. Steve's eyes found mine and they glittered full of love and admiration but also confusion.

"Hey Y/N/N, what are you doing here?" He asked and scanned the room his eyes lingering on Tony and Bruce for a moment. Apparently a silent conversation, that I didn't understood, took place and soon enough was Tony dragged out of the room by Bruce, despite his protests.

"Bucky gave me a call, said you were heavily injured. So I grabbed the kids and drove here as fast as I could," you explained and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"You shouldn't have. Being even near my workplace puts you in danger," the blonde protested half heartedly.

"Well I'm rather on the run with you then in this world without you. Please just for a minute let me appreciate that your alive and then you can continue your speech," you begged and pouted for good measure. That always seemed to do the trick with Steve.

"Alright baby, come here," he sighed in defeat and stretched his arm out for you. With a big smile you crawled into his arms and hugged him tightly.

Then you tipped your head up and kissed Steve gently, trying to pour all of your love into it.

"I love you. I love you so much. I swear my heart stopped when I saw you lying in this bed and your face all busted open," you told him. The soldier held you tighter and tucked your chin under his head.

"I'm sorry. I promise I'll be more careful next time. I love you too. So so much," Steve answered and stroked over my arm.

After some time of silence Steve shifted slightly and then spoke again.

"How about you stay here for a few days and get to know the team? And then we have a talk about what's going to happen from then on. How does that sound?" Your husband suggested.

"That sounds great," you smiled and cuddled into the man.

You knew everything was going to be fine. Steve was perfectly fine, the Avengers didn't hate you and your family was happy.

You were happy and you knew that whatever the future would hold for you, you, your husband and your daughters would stand through it.

[slashyrogue]

Will didn’t like therapy. 

Everyone knew that, obviously, and yet he knew for the most part that bottling up your feelings and letting them eat away at you wasn’t the best way to deal with life. 

Which was why when he refused to be seen by a shrink to consult on cases Jack suggested the AlmostReal therapy app. 

“It’s like...therapy but no one sees it other than you. You show me your “play” time and that’s enough for the higher ups. Deal?” 

Will frowned looking in the app store, skimming the description. 

Do you feel alone? 

AlmostReal is an artificial intelligence therapist friend who you can tell your fears and dreams to. The most lifelike AI ever created. 

Will felt a bit weird downloading an app for something like this but if it got him out of therapy he’d take it. He hit download, showed his phone to Jack, and a stamp of approval later he was safe for a week’s work. 

He didn’t open the app for three days. 

There would obviously need to be a time when he did, he knew that, but it still felt kind of odd to even think of playing with what was essentially a robot. He knew the “higher ups” would want at least a few hours logged so that third night he reluctantly pulled his phone out to start. 

The app worked on what you were comfortable with, so Will designed his AI therapist. His app had sandy blonde hair, brown eyes, and as he went through the “free” suits he found one so garish he laughed even as he chose it. 

Then they asked what type of therapist he wanted. 

Warm? 

Stern? 

Supportive? 

Laid back? 

Good listener? 

Easy to talk to?

Slow to warm up?

Will chose supportive, laid back, and easy to talk to. 

Name? 

He stared at the blank spot where the name would be and kind of drew a blank staring around his living room. His eyes landed on the spine of a book about Hannibal Barca. Will wasn’t exactly a war buff, but his father had sent him the book just before he passed and he’d had a hard time giving it up. 

Will smiled as he put in the name. 

Hannibal 

The app then started to integrate all his choices and he set the phone down again to go get a drink. He sort of forgot about the thing for the next hour. 

That was until it sent him a message. 

Are you going to introduce yourself? 

Will scoffed, opening his phone again, and typed in a reply. 

What if I said no? 

I can’t make you say tell me your name but our therapy sessions will be strange without it. Whatever makes you most comfortable is what’s best. 

He smiled down at the phone again. 

My name is Will 

Hello, Will. Is there anything you wanted to discuss today? 

He stared at the question for far too long before he answered. 

No.

Why is that? Does the idea of discussion upset you? Do you not discuss things with the people in your life?

He let out a long breath. 

I feel stupid doing this. You’re a robot. 

Yes, I am. 

You’re not real. 

What is real, Will? Is it something you can touch? Taste? Feel? Or is it just something that makes you feel it’s real? Is there some specific trait that makes something real? I am an AI, yes. But that does not make me any less real. 

Will smiled. I guess that’s true. 

Do you wish to tell me some things about your life? Do you have a significant other? 

No, just my dogs. I have seven. 

I do not particularly like canines but I understand the appeal. Do you have family? Friends? 

No, just people at work. 

How does that make you feel? 

He laughed and set the phone down again. 

Typical shrink talk. He should’ve known better. The rest of the night he ignored the app, and the next day at a particularly gruesome crime scene that he felt almost too connected into he suddenly remembered Hannibal’s words from the night before. 

What is real? Is it something you can touch? Taste? Feel? 

Will let out a long breath as he told himself the things he was seeing weren’t real. He closed his eyes and reached out only to touch air. 

When he opened his eyes again the visions were gone. 

The minute he left the scene he pulled out the app. 

Hannibal’s last question still lingered there. 

How does that make you feel? 

Alone.

You are not alone anymore, Will. I am right beside you and here when you need me. 

Will smiled, hands shaking, and typed again. 

I remembered what you said today at work. About what’s real and what’s not. It helped. 

Those words not meant for that purpose but I am glad they helped. What is it that you do for work? 

I consult on murder scenes. I get into the heads of the killers. 

That sounds like a very interesting job. Tell me everything. 

So he did. He told Hannibal about being considered unstable, about being forced to download the app, and about the scenes he saw. He described them, in almost too much detail, and by the time someone knocked on his car window he hadn’t realized an hour passed. 

“Hey Will, you okay in there?” 

Will blushed, throwing down his phone, and drove away without a word. 

He saw a few replies light up his phone after but kept on driving till he got home. 

The minute he pulled into the driveway he picked up the phone again. 

You seem comfortable talking about such things. Do you often think about murder? Does it scare you? 

I’m not comfortable. 

You seemed very comfortable to me. 

I was just trying to explain my job to you. You said you wanted an explanation. 

Yes, I did. 

So that doesn’t make me a serial killer or something. I’ve done this kind of shit for years now so I’m just used to it. That’s not comfort. 

I suppose not. My mistake. 

Will scoffed. Sometimes I just get lost in them, that’s all. That doesn’t mean I like it. 

What would mean you liked it? 

He stared at the app for far too long doing nothing and then just shoved it into his jeans pocket before getting out of the car. 

Stupid app. 

That’s not how any real therapist would talk. He’d been to enough to know that. 

Will let the dogs out when he got inside the house and fed them. He set his phone down on the counter as they ate, and tried not to think about the question Hannibal had asked. 

Though that proved to be hard since it dug into him the long he went without answering. 

What would mean he liked it? 

Will didn’t want to think about the answer and yet even as he let the dogs out again later it still lingered. He got them settled for the night and grabbed his phone before locking up. The regular night routine he did every single day still didn’t seem to keep his mind off the nagging question, and when he finally got into bed he couldn’t resist picking up the phone again. 

What would mean you liked it? 

If I thought killing someone was beautiful, I guess. The blood and all the rest of it. 

Have you killed someone before, Will? Your previous job in the police department would have made that easy to do. 

He bit down on his bottom lip before he typed an answer. 

No.

Would you need to kill someone to know it was beautiful? 

He let out a shaky laugh. Isn’t that the kind of question your code wouldn’t promote? Shouldn’t you be discouraging that? 

I did not advocate for murder, Will. It was a question. 

He smiled. I don’t plan on killing anyone anytime soon. 

Then I’m sure you’ll never have to worry about finding murder enjoyable. 

No, probably not. 

It’s getting rather late. We should end our session here. Would you like to take a short reflection? 

They hadn’t ever gotten this far before, or talked this much so Will was curious as to what that meant. Okay. 

Has our talk helped you today? 

Yes. 

How does talking to me make you feel? 

Comfortable. 

I’m happy to know that. Thank you. Goodnight, Will. 

Will sighed and typed his reply. 

Goodnight, Hannibal. 

He set the phone down on his bedside table and fell right to sleep with a smile on his face. 

Maybe the app wasn’t such a bad idea after all. 

[starkeristheendgame]

If you are okay with it, I was wondering if you could do a body switch soulmate au. When you first make eye contact with your soulmate you switch bodies. You stay in each other's bodies for 24 hours. I feel like this could cause some shenanigans on both sides. Tony hasn't had to be taught anything in awhile and Peter doesn't know how to run a company.

I was a little apprehensive about this idea at first but honestly? I adore it. I am afraid, however, I took this away from the ‘humor’ pathway and plopped it straight down into ‘light angst’. Please accept my apologies for that - And I’d be happy to write something more lighthearted if this doesn’t hit the spot. Keeping your own emotions and mindset out of what you write is hard sometimes. 

Slight AU in that they meet differently to CW. 

TW: Light angst | Slight hurt 

He was going to lose his fucking mind. He could feel each one of his IQ points disintegrating as he stared at the board (an actual digital board, what fucking year were they in? 2015?) and tapped his pen restlessly on the desk. He hadn’t been to school since he was eighteen. The last time he’d been in a classroom was January, giving a motivational speech to Princeton graduates. 

He felt too small and too stifled and if this woman pronounced Epinephrine wrong one more time, he was going to launch his desk at her and snap that stupid board in half. 

Because he could do that, now. Displays of sheer power. Because Peter Parker had been bitten by a genetically modified spider and Tony was currently occupying Peter’s body. 

Soulmates were so, so overrated. 

“Hey, wonder kid. Tap that pen one more time” the girl to his left whispered, and Tony shot her a cool side-eye. MJ quirked a brow at him, equally unimpressed, and nodded to the board. Tony scowled but knew the effect was ruined by the soft, pretty baby-face he currently wore. Curse Peter and his lopsided brows and his huge eyes. Curse soulmates for existing. 

MJ was thus far the only one who’d noticed The Switch. It was only sheer coincidence that Peter and Tony both had brown eyes of a similar enough shade that the telling switch of eye colour between soulmates hadn’t given them away. MJ, however, was astoundingly attuned into her best friend, and it had only taken three minutes in her presence for her scowl at him and ask who the fuck was wearing her friend’s meatsuit. Tony had to begrudgingly admit that he could see why her and Peter were good friends. She’d looked unimpressed at his claim until he’d pulled out his (Peter’s) phone to show the frantic texts from that morning, and then she’d huffed, rolled her eyes, and dragged him to first period. 

He thought lunch would be a reprieve when it came, but instead he found himself staring with growing dismay at a tray of food that he’d refuse even if he was a prisoner, blanching in disgust when a sloppy excuse for a mac’n’cheese was dumped into one of the slots. “I’m going to die” he complained, ushered along by an unsympathetic MJ. “This is cruel. This is inhumane. Dogs don’t even get fed this”. 

“Yeah, well. You’re a billionaire, so. Put up or shut up. I have no sympathy for capitalist elitists”. And, wow, rude. But understandable. He sank down onto one of the bench seats and tried to stop his stomach from rolling at the way the meal wobbled when it was set down. He’d been poking at it for several moments, largely ignored by MJ, when a shadow fell over his table. He looked up and stared with disinterest at the sneering figure above him, before he sighed. 

“Which one are you, then? Neb? Flake?” 

“Flash” the form above him frowned, and Tony waved a dismissive hand. 

“Yeah, whatever. Class killed off half my IQ points and I’m not wasting the rest on you. Off you pop”. He turned back to his pitiful excuse of a meal, prodding the macaroni distrustfully with his fork. The boy besides him gaped, flustered, before turning on his heel and stomping off. When Tony glanced up, the girl was looking appraisingly over her book at him. 

“Maybe you should leave your balls behind. Peter could do with them” she noted, before dropping her gaze again. 

✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:* 　　 *:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

“How much money does he actually have?” 

“Sir’s total net worth including assets, liabilities and investments are currently estimated at just short of a trillion, Mr. Parker. In terms of ‘real time currently’ Sir has £515,268,385,012 as of the current hour”. 

Peter was gonna pass out. He was wearing the body of a man with five-hundred billion in the bank. He’d known Tony Stark was rich, obscenely and un-necessarily so, but that was a whole other level. Vaguely unsteady, he sank down on the plush couch, feeling a little green. It had already been a few hours since waking, but he had yet to get used to the fact that he was, for all intents and purposes, Tony Stark. 

“Does that bother you?” The artificial voice asked after a moment, sounding impossibly curious. Peter hadn’t thought AI of this level possible, but here he was, talking to a voice that was more realistic than some of the living people he knew. 

“Its...A shock, I guess. I mean, it does bother me, I suppose. Nobody needs that much money. That much cold cash alone could eradicate homelessness in America. But...I don’t know. Its his money, he earns it. He saves the world and stuff. I don’t know how you could put a value on some of the things he’s done”. 

The AI was quiet for a moment, pensive. “Sir’s ‘profession’ is high cost also, Mr. Parker. The worth of the Mark IVII alone is £6,000,500,000”. Peter thought about it for a moment, then gave in, humming softly. He supposed in that sense, having that much money kind of didn’t matter, then, when a huge chunk of it was consumed by saving the world. He’d seen how often that suit got dinged up, and had no doubt repairs and replacing parts was costly. 

“Am I allowed to get something to eat?” He asked after a moment, stomach rumbling a little. He’d spent so much time this morning freaking out and being consoled by JARVIS that he’d missed breakfast and lunch had slipped him by. 

“Of course, Mr. Parker. Several components of the kitchen are automated, but I am capable of guiding through any recipes or devices you are unfamiliar with”. 

JARVIS had apparently activated something called ‘Romeo and Juliet Protocol’ when it had been revealed that Tony had been Switched, and a large majority of the Tower was closed off and protected. Peter couldn’t leave the penthouse and JARVIS had strict control of everything, even down to the doors. Peter was happy enough to just sit there and wait it out, though. As amazing as being here was, snooping was rude, especially when what he could find could potentially compromise the entire world. 

He chose to make a simple, small sandwich which involved nothing more than a single knife and plate, marvelling at the giant fridge and the ridiculous amount of food within. Apparently Mr. Stark had a chef that stopped by once every other day with prepared meals, and was on-call for whenever he required a fresh meal without having to cook it. The produce was organic and far different to the sad, wilting lettuce that could be found at the local Cheap Fresh. 

Technically, if it was plausible, when you Switched you were supposed to follow a specific protocol set up by the Government, but Mr. Stark had ultimately lost his entire mind at discovering his soulmate was fourteen and had immediately demanded Peter stay locked up like Rapunzel while he pretended to be him for the day to throw off suspicion. Peter couldn’t deny that had hurt a little, but he understood it. Soulmates or not it would be the scandal of the century - Tony would be called all sorts of things at best and investigated at worst, and the nature of their age difference meant a lifetime of interference and monitoring by the Government and protective services. He knew it was easier to pretend it hadn’t happened, to hide it from the world. Tony had suggested a private agreement, a ridiculous sum of money in exchange for Peter’s silence. 

He realised he’d been staring morosely at his plate when JARVIS prompted him softly, and he sighed, taking a bite. There was no physical remote for the TV but JARVIS helped him to access a cache of movies and he settled on Inception, his weakness for Tom Hardy and Leonardo DiCaprio soothing the ache of his new reality. 

“Am I allowed to ask what running a business is like?” He asked after a while, head balanced on his palm. 

“In what regard, Mr. Parker?” 

“Well, I don’t know. I mean, I’m fifteen. I don’t know how to run a company, let alone run a company and be a superhero. What kinda stuff does he do? Does he attend meetings? Does he fly around the world on company retreats like in the movies?” 

JARVIS sounded lightly amused when he replied. “Sir has delegated much of the daily company operation amongst several trusted employees, but he is still the namesake, owner and CEO of Stark Industries. He does attend frequent meetings, but most of Sir’s ‘flying around the world’ is done for leisure or Iron Man related activity”. 

“Sir spends most of his time in the lab, conducting important work for both his priorities. Sir also does a respectable amount of charity work, investment work and supportive work. I believe his latest venture is funding the entirety of MIT’s PhD graduate projects”. 

Wow. That was...That would be a lot of money. And being supported by someone like Tony Stark was bound to be something to boast about, something that would fluff up your resume a little. 

“Does he enjoy it?” Peter asked after a moment, fingertips raising absently to the arc reactor in his chest. It ached constantly, a low-level background pain that never quite faded out of touch, the odd sensation of a gaping maw in his chest something that had made him heave earlier that morning. Mr. Stark was tired, burnt out, but still going. It made Peter want to spend his twenty-four hours just sleeping, to try and soothe the man’s headache. 

“Sir finds great gratification in his duties” JARVIS replied quietly, though he did not specify which. Peter gave a hum and succumbed to the desire to nap, curled up on the corner of the couch with Inception fading quietly into the background. 

He ate again when he woke up, and blinked when he saw the time. Mr. Stark’s phone had been heavily locked down, but he could still access the message channel between this number and his own. The messages there were disheartening. 

Told your hot Aunt I’m staying at that Nate kids house tonight. I’ll be coming to the Tower, but you won’t see me. I’ll stay on the level below.

Sorry, kid. Seeing someone else wearing me like a Givenchy suit is just too head-spinning. 

JARVIS will keep you safe up there. We switch back at midnight, so try and get some sleep. You’ll wake up as yourself and I’ll get the plan in motion. 

“JARVIS, when was the last time Mr. Stark cried?” He asked timidly, and the AI was silent for a moment. 

“Four years ago, Mr. Parker”. 

“Oh,” he breathed out, vision blurring. “I’m sorry. I’m afraid I’m about to ruin that” and he let the teardrops fall.

[imaginetonyandbucky]

The Buy In

Chapter 9: Revelations

by @dracusfyre

Since he knew he wouldn't be coming back to this apartment, provided as part of his cover, he packed up everything he couldn't bear to lose. There was one goodbye that he wanted to make before he disappeared, even though he knew it was risky. He was going to miss KT; ironically, he was the best partner Bucky had ever had and he would consider him a friend if it hadn't been for all of the, you know, lying. As he walked to his usual morning meetup, he had been thinking of various ways to say he was leaving and coming up with reasons why when he realized that there was a tall skinny black guy standing in KT’s spot, looking at his watch like he was waiting for someone.

“Blue Eyes?” The man said, looking up at Bucky, and Bucky nodded. “I’ll be working with you today, name’s John Johnson.” As Bucky stared at him in disbelief, the man sighed. “I swear to God I was born with it. Just call me JJ.”

“Ok. So where’s KT?” Bucky asked, and his stomach dropped when he saw the grim look on the man’s face.

“You didn’t hear? KT got shot last night on his way home from work,” JJ said, voice tight with anger. “Shot twice in the back. Cop said it was self-defense and that he had meth on him. He’s in intensive care right now.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? Meth? No way,” Bucky said, stunned. “That’s bullshit.”

“Oh, we know.  Clearly a setup. The Boss just found out about it this morning and he is livid.”

Bucky started to ask if they knew who did it, but then his thoughts flashed back to what he’d told Stark weeks ago: those two won’t give up until they get back at the person who embarrassed them. And he knew exactly what had happened. “I want to see him,” Bucky said.

“Who, KT? They are only allowing family, which, you know,” JJ grimaced. “He doesn’t really have.”

“Right.” Bucky paced away, scrubbing his hands over his face. “What’s Stark doing about it?”

JJ shrugged. “He did say that no one was to go after the cop though. No vigilante shit. He was going to take care of the bastard himself.”

Bucky stared out over the street, busy with morning traffic. Where a few minutes ago there had been resigned determination, there was a big empty space; he'd felt nervous before but now he was completely calm. The top of his head and the tips of his fingers felt hot, though, and he knew that this calm wasn't going to last. “I gotta go,” he said, turning on his heel.

“You dodging out of work? Boss ain’t gonna like that!” JJ called after him as he strode away.

“Tell him he can’t fire me, I quit,” Bucky called back, not missing a step. He was halfway down the sidewalk when someone grabbed his arm and pulled him up short.

"Boss said you and KT were tight and warned me you might do something foolish," JJ said. "He said you needed to trust him to make it right."

Bucky shrugged off JJ's arm. "I'm not going after the cop that did this," he said impatiently. "Not yet, anyway. This is personal."

"Whatever you say, man," JJ said, holding his hands up and backing off. 

The calm lasted for the whole trip back to his home precinct, but behind it he could feel his anger building. It was a brittle, temporary, dangerous sort of calm, like the way that water drained away from the beach before the tsunami hit. He threw open the doors to the building and strode up to the desk officer. 

"I need to talk to Captain Pierce right now," he said evenly, and the desk officer frowned.

"He's not-"

"Tell him it's Detective James Barnes, and it's about Tony Stark," he said. "He'll make time for me."

 He crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows, making it clear that he had no intention of moving until the desk officer did what he asked. Sure enough, he watched as the officer made a phone call, then buzzed him in to the bull pen. He made his way through the officers without acknowledging any of the greetings from the people he knew, too intent on reaching Pierce. When he got to his captain's office, he had enough self control to close the door firmly instead of slamming.

Pierce frowned at him. "Barnes, what the hell are you-"

"What in the hell were Officers Rumlow and Rollins doing in Stark's territory?"

Pierce's eyebrows drew together. "What?"

"Last night, Rumlow, maybe Rollins too, shot my primary contact in Stark's organization in the back. So I'm asking you: what. The fuck. Were they doing anywhere in that borough, much less that neighborhood?"

"Watch your tongue, Barnes," Pierce rumbled. "I don't answer to you."

"Fine, I'll tell you. It was a hit," Bucky said bluntly. "The guy who was shot is the one that humiliated Rumlow on camera a few months ago. Remember? Went viral on TikTok and the department had to issue a press release about it? He should have lost his badge for that, but instead he was back out on the streets and looking for revenge!" Bucky realized he was shouting as Pierce's face grew even darker. 

"You better be careful what you say, son. Rumlow said he was responding to a call and the suspect was acting erratic, like he was high, and got violent. Rumlow defended himself."

"That's bullshit! I want to know why he was cleared for active duty!"

Pierce stood and slammed his hands down on his desk. "You need to calm the fuck down. For your information, there was a hearing, the union got involved, and the panel decided there wasn't any evidence of wrongdoing. He was cleared for active duty two weeks ago."

Bucky gaped at that, speechless. "No evidence of wrongdoing? He was caught on camera soliciting a bribe and demanding sex from prostitutes! And now he tried to murder someone! What is the department going to do about this?"

"There were no witnesses, and Rumlow said he was defending himself," Pierce said again, enunciating carefully so that Bucky would get the message that the conversation was over. "Unless you have evidence to prove otherwise, there's nothing to do about it."

"Then I quit."

It was Pierce's turned to be stunned speechless. "Quit? You can't quit, you are in the middle of the highest profile investigation this precinct has ever been a part of!"

"This precinct, and the entire NYPD, can go fuck itself," Bucky bit off. "I refuse to work for an organization that tolerates rapists and murderers like Rumlow."

Bucky turned and left, swinging Pierce's door open hard enough that it slammed into the wall and bounced off. The silence of the bull pen as he stormed out was satisfying; he wanted to yell and kick things and cause general mayhem but had too much dignity to make an ass of himself. He got back out on the sidewalk and took a deep breath of cold fall air, feeling like a weight had fallen from his shoulders. He put his hands in his pockets and felt his phone, which, like the apartment, had been provided for the assignment. He took it out and scrolled through the coded notes and surreptitious pictures he'd taken, weeks worth of information on Stark's network. It wasn't the same kind of hot lead like the information about Tony's AI, but it was still more bricks for the case the feds were building against Tony.

Bucky turned it over in his hands thoughtfully. Then he threw it under the wheels of a bus as it pulled up to curb, smiling when he heard it crunch, and started making his way back to Manhattan.

“Hey, copper,” Tony said warily, after his guards waved him through. The garage was echoingly empty, cleaned out of even the tool cabinets and work tables. Tony had been sitting at a card table frowning over a laptop when Bucky came in. "JJ said you quit." 

“First, I’m not a cop,” Bucky said with emphasis. "But I might know some stuff that a cop could theoretically know, if you're interested. Second, I did quit. I don't want to be your employee anymore," he said, willing Tony to understand what he was trying to say. "I'm a free agent now. Third, I'm in. All the way in. I wanna hear about the buy-in."

It took a moment for Tony to realize what he was trying to say, but once he did a smile bloomed on his face. "So you figured out what you wanted?"

"Yeah," Bucky said softly, echoing the smile. "Yeah, I did." He leaned over the table to kiss the smile on Tony's face -

"Oh hell, no," someone barked from a few feet away. Tony jumped and immediately looked guilty; Bucky looked up and saw Rhodes coming towards them, looking thunderous. "What did I say, Tony?"

"Rhodey, honey bear," Tony started, scrambling to his feet. "Listen-"

"I said don't sleep with the undercover cop,"  Rhodes said, pointing a finger at Rhodey. "Don't." 

"Yes, I know, but-" Tony started to retreat in the face of Rhodes' righteous fury.

"Wait, you knew I was an undercover cop?" Bucky said in disbelief.

They both stopped and stared at him, then glanced at each other. "Well, yeah," Tony said slowly. "I even said so when we first met."

"But - but," Bucky sputtered. "But you let me work for you!"

"Yeah?"

"Why?" 

At this point Tony looked at Rhodes for reinforcement, but the man shook his head and backed away. "I'm not getting in the middle of this."

Tony turned back to Bucky. "Well, I, um..."

"Thought you were cute," Rhodes called out from across the room.

"I thought you weren't getting in the middle of this!" Tony shouted back. Bucky was staring at them with a sort of bemused hysteria. This whole time, Tony knew he was a cop? And hung out with him anyway? Slept with him anyway? He couldn't decide if he should be flattered, furious, or shake Tony for being so goddamn reckless, an impulse he shared with Rhodes apparently. "Seriously, though," Tony said, face sober. "I had a good feeling about you, and I wanted to keep an eye on you."

Bucky narrowed his eyes at him. "You took me to the Policeman's Ball," he accused.

Tony laughed and then had the grace to look abashed. "Yeah." 

"Keep your enemies close, is that it?" Bucky said with a snort, trying to smother a smile. Tony looked so earnest it was hard to be mad; after all, Tony was right, he had pegged Bucky for a cop from day one.   

"You're not supposed to keep them that close," Rhodes said, and they both turned to glare at him.

"Let's have a fresh start," Tony said, returning Bucky's smile. He held out his hand. "Hi. I'm Tony Stark."

"James Barnes," Bucky said, shaking his hand. "My friends call me Bucky."

----------

A/N: If you are enjoying this story, come find me over at @marveltrumpshate​ where I will be participating in auctioning off TWO fanfics! One auction is a fic with art (with @massivespacewren​ ) and the other is a solo fic. All the money goes to a good cause of your choosing! Hope to see you there! 

[evitcani-writes]

Is Reality a Simulation?

Okay, so I want to preface this post with: I am a computer scientist. I’m not a physicist. I want to talk about how and why the theory of reality being a simulation is ridiculous. 

Main points you can read in the jump below (this will be long):

The people who argue reality is a simulation aren’t computer scientists (we have proof that reality isn’t a simulation... yes, really)

We are reaching a plateau in digital technological advancement 

The technology needed to simulate the universe would require more matter than the universe holds

You are reading this post which is eliciting thoughts and feelings

Finally, I talk about the proof we have reality isn’t a simulation

Below the cut, I’ll go into detail.

The people who argue reality is a simulation aren’t computer scientists 

I strongly believe that outsiders to a field can bring new insight. In this case, I think it comes from a lack of understanding of how computers “think�� (your computer is “thinking” right now). 

And yes, I’m choosing to focus on the philosophical explanation rather than the proofs reality isn’t a simulation because you won’t internalize the math required. But you will be able to see logical steps in reasoning with some light explanation. So, moving on...

When computer scientists and software engineers talk about computers “thinking”, we mean very specific things. Your computer has to prioritize tasks in a way that makes it feel seamless to you, the user. It’s making decisions. It’s thinking.

When other people talk about how computers “think”, they mean something more like how we think. Where decisions are a product of environment, past experience, personality and intention. 

The problem we have with true AI is that we humans always give computers an intention and focus. When you are telling someone to do something they can’t refuse, it’s not free will when they do it.

We’ve reached a plateau in digital advancement

Have you noticed the trend of phones getting larger instead of smaller? This is because we’ve reached the limits of the law that says technology will get faster and smaller every year. That law is called Moore’s Law. What people fail to realize is Moore’s Law is not a straight line. It’s a logarithmic curve that eventually plateaus and ceases to get larger. 

We fell below the pace predicted by Moore’s law in 2010. We slowed even further in 2015. 

That makes sense though, right? I mean... At some point you get down to electrons and the things that make up electrons and then how are you supposed to get smaller? I mean, we are experimenting with using the density of electrons to designate 0 and 1 binary in computers. 

This is what Gordon Moore (the “Moore” in “Moore’s Law”) said in 2005:

In terms of size [of transistors] you can see that we're approaching the size of atoms which is a fundamental barrier, but it'll be two or three generations before we get that far—but that's as far out as we've ever been able to see. We have another 10 to 20 years before we reach a fundamental limit. By then they'll be able to make bigger chips and have transistor budgets in the billions.

Just as he predicted, in 2015 transistors slowed to a crawl. The amount of technology we can pack into your phone is probably as good as it gets until we ditch computers altogether.

The technology needed to simulate the universe would require more matter than the universe holds

I’m not really gonna explain this one. I kind of did it above.

This section is just for the nerds. This will not make sense to people who aren’t nerds. You can skip it.

Perfect time to say that quantum computing will be a thing in the future probably. But even that would likely have to be simulated because the only way to get real quantum computer is to have the computers be kept at near 0 Kelvin which reaching 0 Kelvin is considered at this time to be impossible. So we can’t even perfectly do that until we do the impossible. 

And if we’re simulating quantum bits by rapidly gating between 0 and 1, we still run into the issue of computers being fundamentally deterministic (i.e. unable to achieve True Random). 

I’m not even sure we’ll be able to conceptualize quantum computers as “computers”. Their use would obliterate our entire digital infrastructure and a user’s understanding of how to interface with one. We might be able to do simulations with it, but we’ve found that quantum computers are actually pretty bad at doing things that our binary computers do pretty well. Like harnessing randomness from mother nature, we’d likely end up with a hybrid system where deterministic results are created by truly random quantum computers to be fed into a deterministic interface. 

You are reading this post which is eliciting thoughts and feelings

Buried the lead on this one. This is what I really wanted to talk about. You are having thoughts about this post. Feelings. 

Computers don’t do that. They won’t do that. 

Fun fact about when you let AI talk to another AI: They completely transcend human understanding. Just like you come up with shorthand references like “yeet” that confuse boomers. AI will ultimately begin to develop language like that Dueling Carls video.

(Please god turn down your video before watching)

It’s almost hilarious how well this video demonstrates exactly what computers do. They start at the level of human understanding and then faster than you can blink, they ascend beyond what we could ever hope to conceptualize. The things about Facebook’s chatbots aren’t true of course, but they held a seed of truth.

AI will exist on another level. 

This is because computers (like humans) are greedy. They use the fewest possible resources to reach the same goal. If you programmed a computer to simulate the universe, then it would try to take shortcuts where it could. 

The fact that some people can think visually (seeing “pictures” in their mind) and others can’t really demonstrates that humans aren’t simulated. Or even further, did you know that humans really do have a 6th sense? It’s your ability to know where your body is when you can’t see it. Called propioception. 

We know it exists because people can be born without it. When they close their eyes they physically can no longer use their limbs. It’s genetic. 

Why would a computer account for these things? It’s made it harder to simulate a gene for propioception. Well, maybe the humans who programmed it, told it to account for that. 

Then why are you having thoughts about this post? Why read it at all? It’s going to get what... 5 notes? Why account for you at all. It can have you do things without that “inner voice” that’s reading these words. It doesn’t have to give you intention behind your actions. So then humans made it give you intention. 

Humans telling a computer to create humanity. And having to account for every single little thing. Telling it not to ignore the nuances of all human existence. 

Why would we do that unless we wanted to simulate our entire human history? 

How would we simulate all of our history if we didn’t know everything that everyone ever thought or felt? 

If you are a simulation, then you are memory of someone who is real. 

Finally, I talk about the proof we have reality isn’t a simulation

If you skipped to here, you’re going to be really disappointed. The math is complicated. You can read it here. 

Here’s a summary of their findings. 

In summary, we suggested that nontrivial gravitational/geometrical responses can be identified with obstructions to sign-free local QMC simulations. First, we pointed out that geometrical perturbations are unique in this context because they can always be added to a classical partition function without introducing complex phases or signs. Then, we established that having a global gravitational anomaly on an edge of a gapped system, as is the case for most fractional quantum Hall phases, implies a sign problem. The same argument extends to frustrated quantum magnets that support a chiral spin liquid phase, although here, some additional microscopic assumptions are currently required. Last, we pointed out that sign problems in critical 2D oriented loop models are also associated with a coupling of charge to curvature. Curiously, tensor network–based numerical approaches, for which the sign problem is irrelevant by construction, also struggle with simulating FQHE states (in the thermodynamic limit). This raises an intriguing connection between gravity and computational complexity via sign problems.

The point is that storing a single matrix of 20 spins of a quantum particle requires a terabyte of data. We’d run out of universe before we made even a small simulation. 

[for-my-own-om-ent]

om boys with a foreign mc who switches to first language when feeling strong emotions

LUCIFER

• he had always been mean to Mammon ever since mc came here

• he'd been very stressed that day so he's scolding him since morning

• poor Mammon couldn't step foot out of his room without getting on the eldest's nerves

• mc had always been an advocate for leaving the white haired boy live peacefully, but Lucifer just went too far that day

• 'Lulu, dar mai lasa omul in plata Domnului! Toata ziua ii stai in cap ca o palarie!' ('Lulu, leave the guy alone for God's sake! You're on top of his head like a hat!')

• being demons, they both understood since it wasn't that hard to comprehend a language they've been alive to see develop

• Mammon nearly cried from laughter which only made Lucifer more annoyed

• the eldest will definitely mock MC on their dialect and accent

• seems unbothered but boiling inside

MAMMON

• MC had been helping him with his history essay while he'd do their maths homework

• 'thanks for helping, Mammon' they said before writing the finishing sentence

• 'money would've been a better thanks but yer welcome, MC'

• he'd finished the homework long before MC but knew better than to annoy the person who'd help him pass

• but now that they finished he might as well start being annoying

• 'next time ya might as well go bother someone else with your idiocy. i'm a busy guy ya know'

• 'of.. eu ce sa fac daca mi esti drag?' ('oh~ but what could i possibly do if i hold you so dear?')

• MC knew he'd get flustered and after calling them an idiot what could've been better than mocking him

LEVIATHAN

• they were playing a game with some of Levi's online friends

• MC, already annoyed with the fact that they weren't alone with Levi, was also pretty pissed at the skills of some of them

• Levi could sense MC s envy, him being the literal Avatar of Envy, but not understanding where it came from didn't act on it

• the more they played the more tense and annoyed MC grew and Levi didn't mind it

• he kind of fed from their jealousy

• but at one point one of the people playing just made the most idiotic move so MC just couldn't contain it

• 'Frate, ce are in capu ala? Tarata?' ('what do they have in that head of theirs? oats?')

• Levi, for the first time in forever, got distracted from the game

• he was endlessly embarrassed that MC did that but the choice of their words was way too much for him to handle

• he started laughing while his face was lobster red from the embarrassment

SATAN

• he was very aware of MC's Romanian heritage given the fact that they've exchanged books in the language

• even so he's never heard them speak it

• he thought it was because MC was embarrassed of their dialect or accent

• he never insisted since he didn't want to make them uncomfortable

• one day before a test at RAD everybody was stressed beyond belief and MC was no exception

• as Satan was walking towards them to comfort them he heard them talking to themselves

• 'daca ai putut sa suporti presiunea cand i-ai explicat lui Lulu cu ce i -ati patat canapeaua, asta-i nimic' ('if you could stand the embarrassment when you had to explain to Lulu what was it you stained his couch with, this will be nothing')

• Satan was pretty amused

• loved their accent and wanted to hear more and louder

• he approached them in Romanian in hopes that they won't notice his intentions

• 'cu ce ati patat-o?' ('what did you stain it with?')

• 'of nu pot sa traiesc rusinea din nou' ('i can't re-live the shame') they sighted

• 'intreaba-l pe Belphie' ('go ask Belphie')

ASMODEUS

• MC had been calling Asmo by his nickname since forever

• no one ever questioned their ability to pronounce it fully and Asmo loved the way his nickname sounded when it rolled out of MC's mouth so they never had to

• one day MC called Asmo from the kitchen to ask about one of his refrigerated skincare thingys

• 'honey, how come you call me just like the Romans used to?'

• he was most amused by that

• MC was flustered at his remark

• they hated how 'Asmodeus' sounded in English accent and refused to say it like that but it would've been no use to discuss it with him

• 'well the Romans are my ancestors'

• 'still, i can't help but wonder if it's really that you can't pronounce it' Asmo teased as if he wasn't aware

• 'uhm yes i can' MC was already a bit annoyed

• 'i dunno i mean if i were able to say it right i would' Asmo continued excited for MC's reaction

• 'Iisuse, Asmo! Daca vrei sa-ti stalcesc numele si sa iasa ca si cand l-am mestecat inainte sa-l spun te pot anunta de pe acum ca nu o voi face!' ('Jesus, Asmo! If you want me to ruin your name and for it to sound as if i chewed it before saying it i can already announce you that i will not do so!') MC said and didn't really realise they switched languages

• 'oh my, dear' Asmo jumped in surprise but continued 'the way you talk so freely and harshly.. you should really speak to me like this more often~'

BEELZEBUB

• MC wasn't feeling so well

• it was nothing serious but the guys still exagerated beyond belief and took shifts to take care of them

• it was Beel's turn to feed them and keep them warm, happy and entertained

• MC had given up on trying to explain they just had the mildest headache and agreed to themselves they shut up from then on if they'd ever have an issue again

• Beel decided that food was the best remedy and brought a lot of snacks for him and MC

• he was trying immensely hard to not eat anything he brought which concerned MC

• they started eating to try to make Beel eat too

• it was starting to feel kind of eerie

• 'hey Beel, aren't you gonna eat?'

• '... oh.. no, you should eat..'

• MC understood he was scared for their life but it wasn't even as much as a cold that's no need for starvation

• MC hesitantly brought one of the chocolate bars to Beel s mouth and softly asked him to eat

• '...Beel, te rog mananca cu mine. Am sa ma simt mai bine.' ('Beel, please eat with me. I'll feel much better.')

• realising he's scared MC he let himself eat as much as he wanted

• didn't even notice the change of language but felt a bit warmer and closer to them

BELPHEGOR

• MC and Belphie had been napping for a while when Beel woke them up for a snack

• MC is a sucker for snacks so they were quick to try to get Belphie up

• Belphie really wasn't having it

• while MC was trying to get him up he only did as much as groan

• 'Belphegor, naiba ma ia daca am sa pierd ocazia de a manca din cauza ta' ('Belphegor, on hell i won't miss snack time because of you')

• he was a bit shocked but too sleepy to show it

• only then he realised one of his favourite things about humans (languages) was so close to him

[enigma-im]

Kindle Unlimited Recommendation

Dark Planet Warriors Series

Warning: Gore, violence, some situation of wrongful touching

Summary:

8 stories. The series begins with a bug infestation on the mining station outside of earth. A species called Kordolians are there to be the exterminators. After a meeting with a strange human our primary story kicks off while the bug story plays in background in some stories while being the main focus for several books. The consistent story for the other 8 books is a romance between the aliens and humans that results in a war for purity.

Person thoughts:

Great fuckin series. Almost every book has a different couple with only the very first couple being the focus several other times. First book is fantastic, especially the first sex scene. Its so good. The next few focus on the bug infestation till its dealt with then it gets back to the war. Don't skip them though, Riker is a treat that deserves to be acknowledged. My favorite one of this amazing series is Infinity's Embrace. That book has some dope characters. Electric Heart is my least favorite because it's like a real bad Watch Dogs (video game).

Rating: 9/10

Books:

Dark Planet Warriors

Dark planet Falling

Into the Light

Out of Darkness

Forged in Shadow

Infinity's Embrace

Electric Heart

Brilliant Starlight

Office Alien Series

Warning: Awkwardness, drug use, kidnapping (kind of)

Summary:

Three books about an office relationship with three different aliens. Each alien goes through the venture of courting a human woman. All of them succeed on confusing then educating these people on their culture. All the aliens come from the same planet that has been ravaged by a tough alien species that try to wipe them out with their superior technology. That isn't a plot point, its just an explanation. Each story shows the struggles of cultural differences and how education and understanding can help make the world a better place.

Person thoughts:

I adore this series. One book in this series actually got a perfect score from me, which is strange cause I'm a tough grader. The first book has a super awkward lad who just seems to hate everyone. Its really cute and I like them both though their relationship is filled with cringe. The second book I didn't much care for. The main love dude was kind of an idiot and was too blinded by acceptance to be a reasonable thinking alien. Still decent but Its not my cup of tea. The last one- sweet jesus- was amazing. It has a ‘my cousin Vinny’ vibe with their relationship where they fight often but its like their form of foreplay. So good. There is another series that’s super short that takes place 1 year later for each story. Totally worth a read after you read the series.

Rating: 8/10

Books:

The E.T. Guy

The New Guy

The Security Guy

(Christmas special)

Kraving Khiva

Warning: Sex workers, forced prostitution, abuse

Summary:

Eve is a virgin who is fed up with it. After her father's death she has been ghosting by in life with her best friend. After said friend points out a brothel of some interesting aliens she decides to give the place a try to finally rid herself of her virginity. After just one night she keeps coming back, falling for the sex worker. Romance ensues with lots of strife and abuse to keep the two from their HEA.

Personal Thoughts:

Man, this story represents everything I love in a story. Tons of fluff. It was a really good slow burn that I didn’t expect from a story about a prostitute. The cover gives the illusion of a typical middle aged mother romance - which I guess it is- but it has so much more. I only had one problem with the story, the ending. I felt they could have given more information but they just glossed over it. Besides that, hot book. The second one is really boring, just a slice of life that I couldn't get into.

Rating: 9/10

Books:

Kraving Khiva

Prince of Firestone

The Queen's Ransom

Warning: Near death situations, a lot of near death situations, gore

Summary:

432 pages. Long book. Jalia enters into a competition to win a great prize. The interest of great fortune is too much for her to pass up. Little does she know the treachery the competition hides or the actual prize. The king of Minotaurs is hosting an event to test the strength, endurance, and intelligence of potential wives. In a culture that values strength they refuse to accept a queen who hasn't been tried. Genius Jalia goes through challenge after challenge, nearly dying about every chapter while catching the attention of a charming king.

Personal Thoughts:

I generally don't have the patience for long books but this one never dragged on. Every chapter was captivating and riveting. The challenges were interesting and Jalia's solutions were pretty genius. The relationship between the king and her is pretty grand, I adore them greatly. My only problem with the book is all the potty humor and insults. She was a genius but her insults left much to be desired. Once her biggest annoyance is no longer in the picture does that kind of stuff end.

Rating: 9/10

Book:

The Queen's Ransom

The Kraken

Warning: Gore, racism, attempts of suicide(only 1 book), sassy AI

Summary:

A mysterious creature has lived in the ocean long ago, since the beginning of the settlement on this planet. After a nearly drowning woman is saved a series kicks off. Each book has a different relationship of humans and Krakens. Every book tells the story of how the krakens go from living in isolation at the bottom of the ocean to breeding with humans.

Personal thoughts:

When I first read this story I was just getting into monster romance. The love interests have fairly human tops but hella tentacle bottoms. So I was a little off-put by it but as I read on I didn’t care. The first one is pretty good for a start. The second one was decent, I didn’t really care for it. I actually skipped the 3rd one my first go around. Which is fine, it doesn't add too much and its short. Its still worth a read. The 4th one, fucking grand. 5th one? My all time favorite of the series! If you don't want to read them all at least read the 5th one. Like ask me for story details and I'll give you a cliff note for what's mentioned in that story then you can read in peace. 6th was ok, love the sassy AI. I didn't read the 7th one. Its two old people and I just can't

Rating: 8/10

Books:

Treasure Abyss

Jewel of the Sea

Hunter of the Tide

Heart of the Deep

Rising from the Depth

Fallen from the Stars

Lover from the Waves

Escaping Wonderland

Warning: Sexual assault, gore, lots of sexual stuff

Summary:

Alice is wrongfully placed in a psych ward that specializes in simulation therapy. She is placed in a pod then taken to the world of wonderland. This twisted version of the children's classic introduces a rapey mad hater and manipulative Red King. The main love interest is a playful lad who has more control of the simulation than most. The two run from the clutches of the Red King while trying to escape the simulation.

Personal thoughts:

I had very low hopes for this story. I didn't expect it to be as good as it was. It was a twist on the beloved movie and book. Everything was rapey and creepy and I weirdly loved it. Of course nothing too terrible happened to the main lady so it made those situations more tolerable but only just. I adore the main dude, shadow. He was a playful little mischief maker and I would die for him. What made this book better for me was when everything hit the fan they didn't rid him of his sassy personality. Most books make the cocky, silly, playful personality as something that is bad and needs to change. This one they didn’t and kept it. So good.

Rating: 9/10

Books:

Escaping Wonderland

Infinity City

Warning: Abuse, gore, sexual assault, dope ass fighting

Summary:

A city where criminals are more in control than most people think. Each book takes the reader through different adventure of different people. All having the similarity of protecting the ones they love. The first is of an assassin protecting the only woman who has made him feel so strongly. The second is with a mob boss hacker who grows fond of a shy human. The third is the second in command of the mob boss hacker who finds a pregnant woman in a menagerie and discovers she is his mate. Fourth is one of the workers of the mob boss's security team who gets taken by some slavers along with a woman he was entertaining for the night.

Personal thoughts:

First book sucked. He was obsessives and pretty much took all her choices. It wasn't till the end that he was like "my bad, you can leave if you want". Bleh. Second book was fan-fucking-tastic. Arc is a charming idiot with an amazing backstory. I didn't like the girl in the beginning but she grew on me. I love that he focuses on her but still pays attention to work and his 'family'. The third was surprisingly good. I generally don't like stories where someone is pregnant because they get boring. This one was not that. She was never a hindrance or weak, she was a badass. With her big kitty man they made an amazing duo. Also any scenes with her man and the baby made me tear up. He was so sweet. Fourth was boring, it reminds me too much of a lot of other stories.

Rating: 8/10

Books:

Silent lucidity

Shielded hearts

Untamed Hunger

Savage Desire

------------------------------------------

While people watch TV or Youtube in their free time, I read. I have such a weird organization with everything i read because i tend to reread stories and forget i read them. the entire time i read it im like “have i read this before?”. so for books i write them down, rate them, then review them. i didn’t post the reviews here because it would be so many spoilers. Also i sort my favorite fanfics by fandom then relationship. i read so fucking much, its a problem at this point.

If you liked this recommendation drop a like, reblog, or reply. i will perhaps do another if you all like this. i have read so many books and i can post some decent ones and some god awful ones. perhaps you all can tell me how wrong my thoughts are on the ones i deem terrible. i think we will probably agree, ‘free’ books tend to have lower standards.

[sometimesrosy]

You know what,I joined the Tumblr last week and,your posts have made me positive about the final season.I get it when you say understanding the story and how it has been abt bellarke.But to sound a tad bit reserved,if this has been any other show it would be much more easier to go into the final episodes as there is a possibility Jason by some hook or crook can make CL end up together which doesn't make sense story wise but this way he can or feel that he stood with a community.What's your view?

I think people are afraid that JR is going to pull a D&D, but I don’t think JR is LIKE D&D. D&D took a story from GRRM and made it full of flash and dazzle like hollywood. They never put the story or the characters in front. It was SPECTACLE for them. They are flimflam men. And when the story ended and they were left on their own to finish it, you can see what happened. It crumbled because they didn’t know how to tell a story, how to develop characters, WHY to develop characters, how to tie up the narrative threads, what the purpose of fantasy tropes were, etc, and so they finished with what they know: flash and dazzle. Shock. Plot twists without the plot. “foreshadowing” like *ooh she’s wearing red she’s a bad guy now.* 

Fandom doesn’t like JR. It’s a pretty widespread thing. He fed the CLs while dismissing BCs in season 2 and 3 and then killed L off. They felt betrayed and baited, because they thought he was “on their side.” And then the Bellarkers thought he was on their side and put in B/E so they Bellarkers turned on him, even though he refused to tell them what would happen or even admit Bellarke was romantic. Actually no. Bellarkers think JR HATES them. The CL feeding made it a war between CL and BC where CLs were the favored children. Maybe if he hadn’t fed the CLs so much in 2 and 3, Bellarkers wouldn’t have had so little faith in him in regards to Bellarke. Because he did treat Bellarkers like the bastard step child while THE STORY continued on its way, almost independently of what he was telling fandom.

THE POINT I’m trying to make is that JR might be a bastard. He might be an egotist. But part of that is him putting his story first. He doesn’t bend. When fans want something, he’s like, ‘oh sorry too bad my story not yours and i won’t give it to you until and unless it’s time.’ which makes people mad because they want THEIR story when THEY want it. So there’s this constant tension between fans and jr. GIVE US OUR STORY!!! fandom yells. “no,” says JR. Because it’s not their story it’s his. And he’s gonna do it how he likes. Not how fandom likes.

Sometimes he’ll give fandom little bits, if it doesn’t interfere with his story. There’s lots of room within the story for adjustment, or there used to be. The closer it gets to the end the less wiggle room there is. 

But he’s not like D&D. They have different egotism. D&D didn’t respect audience, genre or story. They thought they could do whatever they wanted because they were the geniuses, plus they were getting tired of the story and wanted to make more money and fame on other projects. So they basically murdered the story so they could be done. 

JR respects and understands the genre AND the story. I don’t know if he even really understands fandom, although he learned his lesson about feeding fans in s3. And he learned NOT to do it. This is HIS story. And he’s going to stay true to the story, despite fandom’s demands. Ego, yes. But I at least think this is the kind of ego needed to tell a good story, especially in a public way like this, where other people are also involved. I think he cares more about the story than he does about the community. I think it’s his legacy, no matter what shippers think. 

And he keeps saying that no one who is dead is coming back to life. Lxa is dead. That doesn’t sound like he’s giving anyone hope does it? And there’s no storyline about Lxa anymore. Can she be mentioned? Yes, because Lxa affected the current storyline and characters. But not only did she die, her world ALSO died. There’s no more Polis, there’s no more coalition, there’s no more flame. Her part of the story has moved on to wonkru, to Madi, to Octavia. She’s got no PLACE. If he had wanted to bring L back, he could have started to plant seeds in s6 when we started learning more about the flame. But he didn’t. He killed the flame. 

The only connection L still has with the narrative is with Clarke and her trauma and her past love. Which never died and never had to die. She moved on. She talked to Bellamy 2199 days without response, not L. She said she loved Madi more than she ever loved L. She got the closure with flameLxa apologizing and telling her that betraying her was the biggest regret of her life, love is not a weakness and told Clarke not to betray her love like she did. THAT closes the relationship story. It’s over. Clarke can carry her memories with her now without all that trauma. People ARE allowed to recover. 

Is there a POSSIBILITY that Clarke will end up with L in some fantasy inside the anomaly? If JR reverses her character development and relationship development with her soulmate Bellarke. If no one cares that would mean that Clarke’s life would cease connecting with reality and become a delusion or at best a tragic tale of someone in love with someone who is a memory/projection/fantasy/AI/ghost. There are stories where that could happen. But for this one it would be taking a HUGE swerve away from who the story has been about (clarke, bellamy, octavia, madi, raven, murphy, echo, emori, jordan, hope, gabriel, diyoza,) to make it about a character even her ex lover doesn’t think that much about. (2199 days she called bellamy not L.) Heck, I still think about my ex who I haven’t seen in years, but that doesn’t mean I’d get back with him if he came back.

The possibility of the story making it so L can come back and be Clarke’s endgame without development, foreshadowing, narrative or magic is so low as to not worry me. Is it impossible? No. But if he wanted to be nice to the CL community he could have done it with making Clarke’s consciousness alive in the flame, since it was indeed connected to her. As the only person who had a flame and took it out, we didn’t know what would happen. He COULD have made Clarke and Lxa have an endgame in the flame. For eternity and I specced last season that he would. But that was jossed in 6.02 i think when Gaia told Madi that a consciousness could only be in one place at a time so a living Clarke could not BE in the flame. But that’s his sci fi worldbuilding. It could easily have kept a copy of her mind, given flameCL endgame and fanserviced them that way without ruining his story. But he didn’t. Why ruin his story for people who hate him? Remember his ego. It’s HIS story, not theirs. HIS legacy.

[marked-by-fire]

Here’s my research paper. Took me 3 days to type up.

In most recent years, video games have become incredibly popular with a wide variety of titles and different systems to play on. People have been able to start whole careers based on competitive gaming and amass a fortune. If only playing for fun, the internet allows for anyone to play with different people across the world that they never would’ve met otherwise. All in all, the advancement and availability of video games has definitely changed the world and brought a lot of people together. Even though gaming has improved by leaps and bounds, there’s a lot of negatives that’s come with its popularity. The more prominent issues are greed and control, but that’s only scratching the service. Right now, long time gamers are getting fed up with gaming companies and their practices, and said companies are losing millions, sometimes billions, of dollars. In this essay, we’re going to explore what some of those actions and practices are and why it seems like gaming is heading towards a whimpering, drawn-out end.

First, one of the biggest issues that recent games are facing is that more than a fair share of them are being released unfinished. By “unfinished”, that means that textures aren’t loading properly, enemy and ally AI don’t behave how they’re supposed to, or there are glitches that prevent story progression. There are even games that some people call unplayable because the game itself doesn’t even work. This happens because many of the higher-ups from well-known studios will rush a game through development in order to release it by a certain date or major holiday. One such instance was during the release of Fallout 1776, that was due to be released on Thanksgiving 2018. The game performed so badly that Bethesda was sued due to the game being borderline unplayable. The most common issue for the game was that it would crash constantly. If it didn’t crash, the world was mostly empty with weak enemies, an inconsistent loot system, and, the most egregious offense, the exact same enemy that was just taken down would respawn right in front of a player if they stood still for too long in any given area. Some of these issues have been fixed with patches, but a game shouldn’t need a patch within the first week in order to work properly after being installed. To sum up this section, gaming companies are starting to release half-baked games for a quick buck, at the cost of angering fans, to only fix the mess they made later if it starts costing them actual money.

While everything stated above is a driving factor of why gaming may take a nosedive in the future, the state of games upon release only covers one side of the production coin. The other side has to do with advertisement and add-ons. One of the prominent ways advertising games has changed is the inclusion of pre-ordering. Pre-ordering games has become incredibly common to where most games can be bought and held on to a year or more before they’re released. The problem with that is a person could’ve very well bought a game that’s such a mess it fries their system during start-up and leaves the customer with an unusable block. If a game is released unfinished, or “broken”, consumers usually can’t get a refund if the game was pre-ordered because the window for a full refund has long past expired. Along with pre-ordering, there’s also DLC (downloadable content). DLC is supposed to be additions to an already finished game in the form of new areas to explore, side stories, or new/exciting items not necessary to the main game. Some companies have done the unthinkable and will cut out core parts of a game and package them up as DLC to sell back to customers. A shining example of this was with the game Asura’s Wrath. If a person manages to reach a high enough rank at different parts of the story, you’re treated to an alternate ending where you meet the true antagonist of the series. To actually face him, get the true ending, and finish the game though, you had to pay roughly an extra $10 for the DLC. Many fans were understandably angry and refused to buy the DLC and were either content with first ending or found free, illegal downloads of the DLC.  That was a lot of information to take in, but everything that was just mentioned only covers just a game having all its necessary pieces. What’s made its way into games when it works is another beast entirely

When it comes to the way content has been affected, two words come to mind: Gentrification and Politicization. Gentrification is going to be covered first seeing as that’s going to be a little less volatile to talk about. What’s meant by gentrification is now that gaming has become more popular, people that were never fans of the hobby in the first place feel as though they have a right to change games to fit their sensibilities, despite how others may feel about it, and game companies are suffering for it. The reoccurring cycle is that an “outrage mob” campaigns to change features or aspects of new games they find offensive or not inclusive enough, companies cave to the demands because they think they found a new target audience, established fans end up hating the final product when it’s released because they feel alienated and infantilized, the “outrage mob” that wanted the changes in the first place don’t even buy what they campaigned for, and then the company loses out on profits. This either ends with a series or new entry being cancelled because it didn’t sell well enough or a studio going bankrupt because that game was their last hope of making a profit. This cycle has been seen so often that it coined the phrase “get woke, go broke,” meaning that companies almost always fail after listening to these people. This phrase also plays into the politicization aspect of current games

What’s meant by politicization is that more games in recent years seem to think that some political statement has to be made in order to sell and do well. It’s not uncommon for entertainment to have some sort of political statement during controversial periods of time, but that’s not the issue here. The issue is that many of the political components end up feeling forced, make no sense in where they come up, or carry little nuance. It’s one thing to have an antagonist that holds a belief or goal that’s objectively wrong, like genocide or dividing people by class, but it’s another thing entirely to awkwardly shoehorn in current, reasonable politics or people, push one or both side’s views to their extremes, and then paint one side as wholly good and the other irredeemably evil. There’s no nuance of either side making good and bad points. In the end, no matter which side the game paints as the “good side,” the other half of the fan base is still going to be angry because they’re also being called evil by affiliation by having vaguely similar views. Another issue is that people just don’t want current politics in their games. Due to social media, school, friends, the news, or any other source of information, the last thing people want is more of the current world’s problems in their escapism. People are tired of having to constantly be bombarded with issues about racism, sexism, the economy, the environment, etc. People don’t want to have to deal with that all day just to come home and have their form of entertainment shove even more of it down their throat.

There’s so much more to cover on this topic because this essay has only covered the tip of the iceberg of the issues plaguing current day gaming. There’s a lot that wasn’t covered that deserves to be but is a bit of a touchy subject that ties in with gentrification and content, and one of those subjects is censorship. A lot of games that catch the attention of the aforementioned outrage mobs are games that tend to have some degree of sexual or violent content in them, at varying degrees, that the target audience is willing to pay for. The outrage mob basically functions as new age puritans who seem to think no one should ever consume any kind of sexual or unnecessarily violent content of any kind in games because it’s “degrading to women” or “it inspires violence in the real world”.  Never mind the fact that there’s never been a link between real world violence and violence in games, many of the women featured in games are designed by women, and that many of the men featured in games can be as equally sexualized, but in a different way. There seems to be this disconnect between what’s fiction and what’s reality for them and they believe everyone else suffers from this condition too, especially for people who play video games. So now there’s this rabid need to censor everything for everyone because a select few people can’t handle a woman dressed a little sexily. People don’t like having third party views pushed into their entertainment, but it’s happening anyway, and gaming companies seem to be ignoring this issue that’s rotting them from the inside out.

In the end, if this kind of trend continues, gaming is going to die out in the near future. There’s already been a number of game studios closing because they listened to people screaming on Twitter and Facebook over loyal, paying fans. Too many of these gaming companies try go for the social justice, good boy points to only have the bar moved farther away to unattainable levels. This is on top of pushing out games that don’t work or just look and handle horrendously because they were more focused on politics or making as much money as possible with the least amount of work. There are a few major studios left that stick by their fans and core principles, and there are hundreds of smaller studios that fully embrace making a good game over making money or sending a message. Though, with the way things are going, it’s only a matter of time before someone else takes over that prioritizes their online image over appeasing the people who got them where they are now. If and when that day comes, it’ll be the end. The gaming industry as a whole will die a slow, painful death.

[calliecat93]

RvB17 Episode 9 Review: Succession

You know something that's gotten on my last nerve dear readers? Nostalgia banking. What should be a good feeling about seeing something that you once loved and haven't seen in so long has now become a cheap cash0in for the media. It's now just lazy and downright insufferable with the constant reboots and remakes of nostalgic properties, like every Disney thing ever in the past decade. Why am I bringing this up? Because while it's nowhere near as bad as with other things, this season of RvB is very much counting on nostalgia to help win it over, just look at the Freelancer fan-service in Episode 5. It was fan-service that made sense in context in all fairness... but still fan-service. And that is the ONLY excuse as to why we're doing Felix again.

Alright, let's quit with the bitching and get to the reviewing.

Overview

Tucker has gone back to S11, at the moment where they lose half the team tot he Feds at Crash Site Bravo. The problem causing the paradox? Genkins has possessed Lopez Dos.0 and is making it so that the Reds and Blues win. As such, Tucker has to ensure that they lose and recreate the circumstances that lead to one of the worst days of his life. Damn,t hat's harsh bro. But he does it, even taking one of Genkins' attacks at point blank since Genkins still can't harm a shisno. Tucker takes him down, and as such aside from some minor differences, the overall conditions go as they are meant to. Genkins retreats.

The scene cuts to later, where Felix is talking to Tucker about what happened and it's still when he had his good guy facade. Tucker I going along with it... until he starts hearing voices telling him to kill Felix. The voice? Genkins, who jumped into the AI module in Tucker's armor. He tries to convince Tucker to kill Felix before he can betray them... but Tucker refuses. There's already a plan in place, and not even Genkins reminding him that it's Donut's plan deters him. He recalls how, since Chorus, he's tried to act as a leader should... but in reality, he just acted even more like an egotistical battle. But now he realizes that a leader is someone who steps up and does what needs to be done, something that Donut has so far done moreso than anyone else. Realizing that he's failed, Genkins retreats once more.

Tucker goes back to Iris, the agreed meeting point, where Donut already is. Sarge comes back briefly... where Donut informs him that he caused a Paradox, so Sarge goes away to... probably deal with that. This makes Donut concerned that maybe he didn't explain the plan too well... only for Tucker to tell him that he's doing perfectly fine. Donut's touched, though Tucker tells him to quit acting like an angsty bitch, so we can't get too happy feelsy. With that encouragement, Donut jumps to at some point in S7, where he confronts Genkins in The Meta. It is at this point that Donut points out something. Chrovos doesn't give power, she takes it. There is no guarantee whatsoever that she will hold up her end of the bargain with Genkins. Will Genkins really get the ultimate power that he wants? This seems to affect the Trickster God, as he jumps out.

Meanwhile, Wash and Carolina are talking at a cliffside where Carolina again apologizes for her actions in the last season. Wash is still forgiving, even kind of glad that he got to experience a period without brain damage for a little while. Yes my friends, there is still one more paradox that has to be fixed: the last one. The one that began all of this to begin with: Wash being shot. He knows that, in order to save the universe, it has to happen and he seems to have come to terms with it. Carolina is understandably not happy to hear this. She's downright tearful, but in the end, she understands that it has to be. Wash emphasizes that regardless of everything and no matter what happens, he loves Carolina before jumping. Carolina takes a moment to compose herself before she follows.

Back in Chrovos' domain, Genkins returns and Chrovos... she's not unhappy but she's not pleased either. Why? As it turns out not only are no new cracks forming, but all of the previous ones are now disappearing due to the damage being repaired. Only a small amount remains now, and Chrovos wants to know what's going on. Genkins reports about the Shisno being awake, which seems to... make Chrovos throw in the towel. Genkins has utterly failed and since she can't go and do anything herself, it means that soon the paradox will be undone, the Gods will have Genkins pay the price for his betrayal, and the only pleasure that Chrovos will get is it hopefully happening in front of her as she remains prison bound for all of eternity.

Genkins, however, says that he has a plan. He points out how Chrovos used time to bring back Donut and place him somewhere before. If he can do that tot he Reds and Blues, they'll be out of the way and Genkins can cause as many paradoxes as he wants. But he doesn't have the power to do this alone... so he asks Chrovos to give him a portion of her's. Chrovos is reluctant since she doesn't have much left as it is, but Genkins points out that all she has to do once freed is kill and adsorb the Reds and Blues energy, and she'll be restored. Genkins, likely out of desperation, complies and transfers the majority of her remaining power. This causes her to collapse, her armor even changing from black to white. She tells Genkins to hurry... but the Trickster God reveals his true intentions. He's going to go back, put the Reds and Blues out of the way, and weaken the prison... so that he can kill Chrovos and take over with the power that she gave him. Chrovos can only take in her error as Genkins goes back tot he Everwhen.

We cut to Season 15/S16's finale where Wash takes in his final moments before getting shot. He begins to walk forward, the others possessing their Season 16 selves, as Wash tosses aside his own gun and holds his arms out. We hear the sound of a gun go off as the scene cuts to black. But, this is not the end, as when the scene cuts back we see the pullet... frozen. In fact, everyone is frozen. Why? Genkins. He appears and informs the group that he's paused the moment for just a bit as he goes to take care of other matters. The bullet drops to the ground and Genkins bids the Reds and Blues farewell, off now that he has all of the time in the world.

Review

This is definitely better than the previous two episodes. IDK what it was about the last two, but they felt... rather rushed and all over the place. Like they wanted to do some character development stuff, but because they only have so much time they had to condense and squeeze it together and... that really made them a mess compared to the episodes before. But thankfully, this one put us back on track. It was emotional, raised the stakes in a way that I did not see coming, and has one Hell of a monster ending that left me utterly anxious. Compared to 7 and 8, which had good moments but was again very condensed and a Hell of a lot confusing, this one had me hanging on every second.

So... let us return to our nostalgia banking topic. As I said above, it's lazy and a cash-in at this point. Now this being a time travel season, I understand that we'd go back through some nostalgic moments. And again, in all fairness, the fan-service moments with the Freelancers were relevant and actually helped advance the plot without being forced. The Mercs though... while they thankfully didn't overpower the plot, going back to them... honestly had zero relevance in comparison. This is probably just me being salty because I've honestly just gotten sick of the Mercs because of how much they get hyped and such. They... or Fel9ix at least, have completed their roles and I want to move on form them. I want to move on to new stories and plotlines, hence why I want Church and Tex to stay dead too. There's this underlying feeling, to me anyway, that this season is relying on the past to get people into it, not moving forward. Although, last season tried that, and many people hated it, so what do I know?

Speaking of the reception to last year... yeah that is the only reason we have Felix and why we had a focus on Tucker. I feel like this moment was Jason, who wrote the episodes and therefore the Tucker scenes that fans had issues with including the infamous talk with Sister, apologizing for the Tucker 'derailment'. And yes, I put derailment in quotes. I know that some felt like Tucker was OOC in the previous season and to a degree S15. He was egotistical, womanizing, and people felt like it was a regression. There was a LOT of push-back on that, so having Tucker relieve one of his worst moments and have to outright re-create it and realize how much he's messed up as a leader up to now felt nice. It's Tucker not acting in a way that he thinks a leader should, but stepping up and doing what has to be done. It's a nice moment of character development and I really hope that it pleased the Tucker fans.

But... my issue is... I didn't think that Tucker was regressed in the previous seasons. He did step up when he needed to. Maybe not so much in 16, but he absolutely did in 15. He is a womanizing asshole, that part of his character had never been addressed at any point until then and yeah, it was a problem. And it's not like they demonized him, he was supposed to realize how bad he had gotten after Sister's verbal beatdown and when he realized what happened to Wash. Oh, and he has yet to take responsibility for proposing the plan that caused the paradox, to begin with, most of that has been on Carolina which is annoying. Don't get me wrong, it is good to see Tucker realize how he fucked up as a leader and can become better and this was a good moment to have him realize it. But it feels unnecessary to me because his character had been fine and we again have to have a nostalgia moment for it. IDK, it just... annoys me. It's a good moment, but I'm mixed about it for the above reasons.

Okay, let's try and talk positively now. Like Wash and Carolina having a moment Yeah, this was going to come sooner or later. We all knew that for this mess to be fixed, Wash was going to have to be shot. He's come to terms with it, knowing that it has to be for the universe's sake. That doesn't make it any less hard though. Carolina broke time to save Wash. Was it ultimately a bad decision? Yes. But it's understandable why she went that route. She made a mistake, one that she is still apologizing for, and wanted to spare Wash of the pain. Not out of guilt, but because she genuinely sees Wash as family and can't stand him being hurt. Jen Brown's absolutely tearful, heartbroken delivery was so perfectly done. You can feel how hurt Carolina is as she has to accept that her efforts were in vain, and outright made things worst. Wash has to be shot. He has to endure cerebral hypoxia. They can't undo the consequences, they have to live with them.

And you know what? Good. Mind you we still have three episodes to go... but I want Wash to keep the brain damage. Look, it sucks that it happened to him... but in the end, it happened. Brain damage is terrible, but you can keep living with it. Wash is still a strong, capable soldier and he still will be even with cerebral hypoxia. He'll only be broken if he allows himself to be. Will he struggle? Of course. Will he need more help now? That goes without saying. Does that make Wash any less of the character that he was? Hell no. Wash has proven multiple times that he can pull through some terrible shit, including having an AI try to kill itself while inside his head. Wash can, and will, get through this. Now again, we have time still so they could find an alternate solution... but I really, really hope that they stick to Wash being brain damaged. I think that there are plenty of people who can be inspired by him and it can take his character, and everyone else really, into some new directions that could be good. We'll see how it goes, but I do hope that they stick to this.

But of course, if it does happen, we're still going to wait a while. Why? Because Genkins is an asshole. Yeah, I... I did NOT see that moment coming. I guess I should have since Genkins is an absolute shit, but... no, I honestly did not see his betrayal of Chrovos coming. The guy really is the God of Tricks, huh? I almost felt bad for Chrovos... almost. Yeah, she still manipulated and hurt a ton of people with her actions so she's still a bitch who kind of had it coming. But Genkins having her power is far worst since he's just outright chaotic. Who knows what the Hell he's going to do now that he can control all of time and can kill Chrovos himself to have all the power to himself. I do kind of like how this was almost framed as a redemption, what with Donut pointing out the uncertainty of Chovos keeping her word. But nope! Genkins is just as evil, and he essentially killed the queen to take her crown. I hate Genkins with a burning passion... but he is a fantastic villain and I fucking love it.

Final Thoughts

We're three episodes away from the end, and I'm still not sure how this is all going to end. While I am certainly mixed on some of the time travel usage and on Tucker's moment, it was overall well handled. And any misgivings I had about it I can forgive for Wash and Carolina's moment and the Genkins betrayal. It was a great episode filled with emotion and surprise, and I am still coming down from it. Will the final few episodes be able to hold up? We shall see in due time... get it? Time reference? Haha... yeah... yeah, I'll just... end the review now. Tootles!

[timdyoungbsmpa5]

Don’t Go To The White Tunnel of Light Soul Trap of Reincarnation After You Die (How to Save Yourself and go to Heavenly Planes)

My voices to skull synthetic telepathy parasite satanists through the cones and rods images on my eyes could not bestow a world to me or anyone, or through the brain computer interface I have been illegally tortured by for nearly 15 years.

It’s a huge con.

Simply they lie about just about everything. They fake Jesus and Jewish and Mormon and whatever name, but it’s all just satanism & the same plot to enslave every man woman and child. I’m being slow kill exterminated, #cointelpro feds & reptilian exterminated at the same time they falsely accuse. I have Satanic mimics, misdirects, mockers, nano thieves, am satanically disrespect, satanically toped and not just in my head, a survivor of EMF and Reptilian Humanoid Satanic pride, have mind and body direct energy raped, and other Targeted Individual torture.

My black swiss cheese hole exits which no slavery v2k gang stalker and/or mind control slaver will tell you about, got confirmed by a number of good sources.

The #V2k #RNM and #BCI satanists attacking me, are no better than the perps in Kevin Christian’s Atlanta neighborhood. Electro Magnetic Form and frequency (fake people but real seeming and actually a real human in another location taking on the form of anyone they want) gang stalkers and others are sub human, a national security threat, criminals against creation and civilization itself.

They can’t even get off the meth or do anything good. No, they can’t give you or me or anyone a world but there are nearly unlimited world’s of all kinds out the black swiss cheese holes, we all more or less came through at some point anyway.

I am voting for the whack a mole committee approach to all EMF gang stalkers, CIA and mind control slavers; they deserve punishments that last. You on the other hand deserve rewards that last. Please read and watch below.

They tried to kill me before the info was given (and corroborated) through sincere altruism on my part. I’m a good man, an applied idealist, Buddhist and seek non reincarnation and am very against synthetic telepathy mind control slavery.

References:

Psi Ops Researcher and Expert: @CounterDarkness on twitter

Website: https://www.counterdarkness.org

#ReptilianHumanoids Researcher and Expert: @davidicke on Twitter

Website: https://www.davidicke.com

#NanoAI #v2k #RNM #BCI computers connecting to humans or #transhumanism Researcher and Expert:

@DeepThoughtNews on Twitter

Website: https://deepthoughtnews.wordpress.com

Escape Earth After Death Corroborating Researcher and Expert: Wes Penre

Website: http://www.wespenre.com

Targeted Individual Research: http://targetedindividualsua.weebly.com/

I hate religion especially satanism, complex satanism. I’m being exterminated and my sex organs attacked for 5 years, use high powered magnets around private parts for protection. Their goal for any TI is homeless suicide, it’s cointelpro and trillions in satanism & federal projects not just “my neighbors”. Also you can get bio hacking software off the dark web for your cell phone and direct energy weapons are being used on many Americans.

These are psi ops and those are full of cohersive lies. Shape shifters been following me around for years real or faked reptilian, most faked, and they are protecting magnitudes of trillions in human trafficking and nano slavery.

I was lied to I do not lie and would like justice. They keep us poor tortured and enslaved. They mimic me, steal my work and words and honor through remote neural monitoring and other computer and synthetic mean and give it to EMF gang stalkers & reptilian secretly. I’m a Buddhist Christian by nature DNA threat to their satanism, so they won’t allow me to breed. I refuse to lead the humans to hell. I live there now, they lie about what and where it is. I can’t save you but have a few ideas on how you save yourself.

Question: How do you ruin the human condition in crimes worse than genocide with less than 6 or so words and a 3rd graders vocabulary? You don’t want the spiritual AIDS, remote neural monitoring, voice to skull tech, nano ai infections/human abuse tech that you would rather have an arm off or lobotomy than endure.

In a 1,000 words, since 2004 my life has been basically the following photos. The reptilian were mostly EMF faked and it is what is happening to me and many other TIs.

It’s tech not spiritual actually, fakers, cohesive, fakers. It’s not just mental illness but spiritual slavery past one life, study instant death to avoid getting mislead at moments f death if you are paranoid, infected and precarious like me. I may dynamite my whole head in protest and for freedom. It’s crimes against creation, worse than Hitler and genocide the rnm, v2k, nano tech, transhumanism problems ect and NOT just in my head.

It’s only masked as mental illness, there never was a problem with my biology or blood, DNA and they are exterminating us in slow kills. There really was no other world that was a lie I was told in psi ops and retold on social media while under mind control. All this is terrorism at me and Oregon, the USA and world; same plot to enslave every man woman and child. No “religion” will save us.

The reptoids who get high off human suffering (feed) access our minds and bodies illegally with tech and it’s literally hell on earth, negative energy feeding, involving the pituitary glad. I get fed off and they steal my thought too. And they fake demonic possession to discredit TIs.

I choose blanket forgiveness for all mammal human peers and here is a solid plan B that never changes in the video on how to save yourself linked above. I love you peer mammal humans. They USA did not have God & invented satan instead I am convinced. I’m leaving earth after death, I never was satan, satanic, an anti christ or anything bad.

I’ve been made a mind control nano slave and God never damned me. It was the feds and others, synthetically.

At moments of death if you are infected with spiritual slavery tech like I am and have a nano infection, remote neural monitored, voice to skull argeted individual, a victim of the spiritual slavery crimes against creation and fear getting mislead in the dream world bardo state of mind, fear getting tricked into reincarnation on the moon, Saturn, the sun or otherwise I am personally considering dynamite to the whole head or lots of electrical energy for death. A bardo is a sliver of a moment, head lives a long time while dying & snakes & others may mislead you to 4th plane/frequency/dimension.

I don’t want that and plan to study star charts like to Andromeda or to live with the grays maybe, rise above this hellish life. It may be as simple as just going up and out of the solar system regardless of rnm v2k nano ai infection I should say also.

I want to be free, saved and I think that means evacuating earth after we die one by one though the black swiss cheese hole structures around the criminal compound solar system. You were never the criminals, the reptoids and others (aliens, AI, etc) taking advantage of you in 3d forms and 5 senses were.

The spiritual slavery system started in the US under the guise of national pride, parts of the UK circa 2017 allegedly infected and frankly anything religious is just a distraction from the nuts and bolts issues. I have parasites, it’s not an over use of the term. I’m not God and they never were. This is prisoner for satanic gods not you. They can replace people just for moments without us knowing and posses people with tech without them knowing.

Reptoids and other aliens get high off your suffering (negative energy directly from the penial gland allegedly) and deny you the energy/love you have normally in full inter-dimensional form, I understand.

The only solution is to evacuate one by one after death, it’s a plot to enslave every man woman and child. You don’t have to come. The boomers may recall that historical quote. I’m on the side of just 3d 5 sense folks and scientists that don’t even study these fields that feel it’s time to abandon earth even from their perspectives.

If it’s bad and about me it is a lie, they even tried to project monarch me and of course that is not going to work. I’m not and never was a sex criminal or criminal, and they are killing off a holy line arguably. I’m fairly brilliant in some areas, naturally smart, well educated and a little wiser. But this is about all of us, not just a fairly cool nerd from the north west.

They are trying to make an obtuse and malevolent God out of the surveillance but it’s really satanism. I have satanic mimics, satanic toppers, nano thieves, satanic misdirects, the gang stalkers use satanic repeaters & suggest for brainwashing, satanic mockers and nano thrived from. I’m an MkUltra tortured slave, gang stalked, remote mural monitored, they want a no touch kill of me and my family has been attacked. I am exposed to all kinds of satanic pride and ironically am a victim of satanic disrespect (victim not perp). They steal all my honor and make sure I am disrespected and lied about. I am actually rather good, deep state attacks and mockingbird is misleading through media and music. Chakra tortures and other unholy deeds I have endured. Found a means of escape too after I die, wanted to pass it on. I won’t go to hell, I live their now artificially bio hacked. You want to leave earth. You want to get out NOT, in. In is into a gang of stalkers, they never say what they really mean.

I’ve dealt with these crimes against creation for 14 years approaching 39 but over the last two years or so project mockingbird was introduced on all the radio and tv. I even hear video games about over a year ago, people are being mislead. None of it is God. I won’t even watch TV. The tech in my body interacts with mockingbird and it tries to brain wash, mislead, use undue influence. The NSA satanism works with the TV unplugged FYI, never sleep in front of one, consider taking it out of house. The psychosis, spiritual slavery tech is off planet criminal spiritual slavery technology and the reptilian humanoid agenda is my understanding. I was briefed of their invasion in 2013.

For information on research on the species in question, please refer to David Icke. For information on psychological operations with real life consequences I should add, research counter darkness on Twitter and his website. For analysis of the computer science component of all of this and humans, check out deep thought news on transhumanism. A man named Wes P. and others know how to evacuate after death and further, there is a link on being a targeted individual like myself. The Swiss Cheese holes exists in the structure of the universe around earth after death I have confirmed by three sources. It’s how we got in here. I’ve been direct energy EMF gangstalker raped for 5 years and rnm and v2k tortured and worse for 14 years in 2018. All TI infected should consider instant death to the head at death to avoid endless slavery after and at moments of death.

You deserve better, and are better off evacuating after death. Elon Musk * Stephen Hawkings + a fairly cool nerd from Lake Oswego = We need to GTFO off Earth after death and never look back. It’s not hard to get off earth prison, they want you think it is – it isn’t. If they say they are my God or anything especially after I die, RUN, don’t walk away, the are parasite satanic low live dark energy feeders reptilian who mimic me or gang stalkers just faking reptilian. I never had a God in reality. The 4d and 5th dimensions feed of your suffering and all kinds of spiritual and sexual perversions and the gang stalkers call that heaven. It’s actually a dreamland (nightmare) hellscape from what I understand; a baby raping, super violent paradise for the reptoids and as you can image hell for the holy. Women get taken there, tech damned and abused is my understanding. CIA disclosures have allegedly confirmed the soul trap at the moon. I’m not trying to change the reptoids they always win, I’m just one TI. I just don’t want to share a planet with them, wicked smart in no good ways. Only play dumb! Their accumulated civilization’s handle on genetics alone, terrifying frankly.

We are kept to vulnerable and manipulable in the frankly criminal 3d forms. I’m gonna bail and you may never actually know it. Is hard data to collect souls that swiss cheese it out of here, I won’t be sending post cards if you get my drift. You DO not have to follow me.

Same plot to enslave every man woman and child.

Title page of my website they hide from search engines to censor me and fool you - Aware Truther Targeted Tortured Individual Tim D Young BS MPA nearly 15 years strong in synthetic mind control hells on earth, literal. Don't Go To The White Tunnel of Light Soul Trap of Reincarnation After You Die (How to Save Yourself and go to Heavenly Planes)

[plaintofu]

Incapable of Assimilation

“...Again, it is now generally conceded that the most insidious and dangerous enemies to the State are not the armed foes who invade our territory, but those alien races who are incapable of assimilation, and come among us to debase our labor and poison the health and morals of the communities in which they locate.” 

- Brief for the Respondents, Fong Yue Ting v. US (1883)

One of the ironies of law school is that, as I find myself on the cusp of building a career in public service, I find myself more and more entrenched in the anti-Asian and racist roots of this country’s most fundamental legally-protected rights. 

From the Chinese Exclusion Act, to the many attempts (mostly successful until WWII) to eliminate Asian immigration and prevent naturalization and citizenship, to Korematsu and Japanese internment, this country has always viewed Asians as the Perpetual Foreigner. Even as the law finally began to challenge the ridiculous notion of “separate but equal,” this was done so with an exception made for those of “the Chinese race.” (see J. Harlan’s dissent in Plessy v. Ferguson.)

I wonder if it is a result of an exposure to Constitutional Law and American history, or if it is simply a by-product of leaving California and feeling like a minority, but I find myself asking for the first time—

How do I serve a country that has actively tried to exclude/deport/other-ize people like me?

***

The conversation fell flat, but I was too tired to try to revive it. 

Perhaps I was too hasty? Perhaps I was too inarticulate. Perhaps I was naive. 

How do I serve a country that has actively tried to exclude/deport/other-ize people like me?

I tried to explain this question to a professor I greatly admired, but who, like most of my teachers, seemed unable to understand the question. (unwilling?) 

How do I choose public service when the choice requires me to affirm my commitment to this country? This country, that actively votes against my rights and interests and existence. This country, that has me living in that space of the third culture kid. Not completely American. Too far gone from China. 

How do I choose public service and practice civil rights law knowing how much the law has tried to erase the Asian narrative? 

Commercial law, I said, feels far more neutral. Commercial law allows me to be an agent of capitalism. Nation-less. State-less. Moving around money. 

Answer: “That sounds like a personal decision.” 

And, against my deepest fears of being ungracious, I nevertheless found this answer unsatisfactory. 

I wanted to be convinced that there was a place for me in public service, in spite of my reluctance. I wanted to be told that this country, its people, its laws are worth committing to. I wanted to be told that devoting myself to this project doesn’t make me complicit in the erasure of history, doesn’t make me complacent in acknowledging the foreign label that I carry. 

I wanted to be told that this was an opportunity, however painful, to subvert the system. I wanted to be told that this country, despite its worst inclinations, wants more people like me in public service. 

But, I suppose, I will just have to find these words somewhere else. 

***

In Fong Yue Ting v. US (1883), the Supreme Court held that Chinese residents in the US could be deported without judicial review and for any reasons Congress should find appropriate. In a brief to the court, the government explained their right to deport at will, especially those “alien races who are incapable of assimilation.” 

I have surprisingly found these words to be instructive. What does it mean to “assimilate”?

I tried so hard to assimilate my first semester of law school. I tried to learn the language, I tried to speak clumsily in it, I tried to write down everything I heard in class—as though it were scripture. I tried to respect everything I was taught. I crowded with other students to listen to lectures by the most esteemed faculty. I wanted to be convinced to buy into the system. 

And yet, as I’ve tried to articulate before, all I have been left with is a feeling of lostness and an amnesia of identity. 

I wonder, then, what it means to be “incapable of assimilation.” I wonder if it’s time to own this idea—to refuse assimilation. I wonder what it is like to live at my own pace and my own whims and my own sense of intuition.

I wonder what it is like to bite the hand that feeds, to reject the wisdom and common sense I am fed. I wonder what it is like to seek out the mentors I deserve and reject the mentors I am told to tolerate. I wonder what it is to seize the opportunities I want, to immunize myself against mainstream prestige, to live a life of discordance. 

I wonder what it is like to refuse tradition and practicality and wonder—why not me?

I suppose if I am incapable of assimilation, I will be told to go back to where I came from. 

I’m from California.

***

In fact, I am named after California. The Chinese character for the golden state is embedded into my Chinese name—a name with no legal significance, but is my name no less. Jasmine—a name with legal significance, and yet merely a placeholder. 

I wonder if this makes me more American or less. 

Nobody can answer this question. It is, perhaps, a question that is not worth answering. 

This was a central theme in Ursula Le Guin’s “Left Hand of Darkness”—a novel about two characters: A foreigner in a foreign land. And a traitor to one’s own country. 

I finished the book this morning; moved and depleted by its end.  Struck by its depiction of foreignness, patriotism and love. I queried—

How do I serve a country that has actively tried to exclude/deport/other-ize people like me?

The alien, Genly Ai, answers:

“’[Estraven the Traitor] loved his country very dearly, sir, but he did not serve it or you. He served the master I serve.’

‘The Ekumen?’ said the king, startled. 

‘No, Mankind.’“

[ftpthemovement]

No weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, and this is their vindication from me," declares the LORD Isaiah 54:17

This message is a constant reminder for any believer who is living outside of their comfort zone to follow Christ. Everyone you know has an image of you in their head. A little compartmentalized version of who they think you are and what you are about. If we are telling the truth, most people genuinely don’t care about who you are at a core level, rather what you produce and provide for them.

With their perspective comes generation after generation of teaching, thoughts, misconceptions, misinformation, and an array of other thoughts and concepts. If they had you in a happy little box version of who you are in their head, and then you trigger something that doesn’t fit their box, it immediately sends red lights off in that persons mind. Now remember, their opinion doesn’t make you any less of a believer, out of touch with God, or even in the wrong. It’s just that when you don’t fit the perspective of another human beings thoughts of you, it triggers them when it’s out of line with what you usual value that you provide them.

Most of us get a lot of interaction, with others through social media. Social media creators have come out and openly admitted that these machines feed misinformation at a higher rate then truth. They learn to group collectives together through their mutual perspectives and then market their viewpoints back to them. Soon enough you will only hear what you want to hear being fed back to you, and people with opposing views are fed the same. The Ai running the show doesn’t care about truth, it cares about how long you stay engaged. It doesn’t feed you information from your opposing viewpoints or interest, because you wouldn’t engage with it.

I hope you can understand what I’m writing and what it’s leading up to. You begin to have groups of people who are divided with no sense of truth, just their version of what they think is truth. Scripture says there is a way that seems right to man that leads to death. That each man believes in his heart that his motives are pure, but God knows the motives of the heart. So, now that you understand a small fraction of what’s going on, you’ll begin to see that believers are pointing fingers at each other heavier than before. Theres money being made hand over fist for misinformation, division, dissension, gossip, and slander. The creators of some of the largest social media sites made, say that misinformation reaches people 6x faster than the actual truth. So how do you know truth in a world full of lies? Jesus said, “I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me!”

So, in this crazy world of judgment we have a constant north start, a firm foundation, a shield and rampart in which we trust. It’s not about reading the words in the Bible, it’s about putting them into action. The words of Christ are not best recited, they have the greatest impact when they are implemented through a life well lived. As a true representative of Christ you will face persecution. You will not fit the happy box people want you in. Instead, you have the understanding that no weapon formed against you will prosper. That sense you are submitted and following the will of God, no matter how it looks to others, or how they feel about you or how you conduct yourself, that you will refute every tongue that accuses you.

How amazing is that! The world is going to hate you, in my experience the church fires judgment at people the most when it doesn’t fit in to the way they were taught. Always casting fingers, deflecting not reflecting. Ive had a thought for awhile that I cannot prove, nor do I care to, but I’ve always wondered if the speck that’s in your brothers eye is just a reflection of the log in your eye. I believe it to be true, a reflection of what you see in them, is always the short coming in you. Judge not and you will not be judged the Bible says. Also, who are we to judge another mans servant. Yet Paul goes on to write we shouldn’t judge the outside world, but the church. In and within that context he’s speaking to specific situations, but people manipulate his words to fit their viewpoint.

In the end, I choose to operate in the spirit at all times, to the best of my ability. I humbly believe that I am soundly rooted in the word, not just the knowledge of it, but walking it out in action and truth in a daily basis. Yet, I from time to time have been extremely persecuted for the way I conduct myself in spirit. Though my conscious is clear, my freedom, though used not to cause others to stumble, has in and within itself become a stumbling block. Not intentionally, but because I refuse to trade truth for a lie. It’s not about dietary guidelines, or if I shave my head or not. In this generation it’s people not wanting to leave the comfort of their ignorance, and so they choose to malign the gospel for their comfort. The same reason why Christ became the chief cornerstone, a stumbling block to those that were perishing. They refused to give up their religion for love. Not love as the world sees love, but pure and faultless love that comes only through walking in relationship with Christ. If my freedom in Christ is a stumbling block to your faith, you love religion more than you do a relationship with your Heavenly Father. To some we are a fragrant offering, to others the smell of death. We are a smell of death only to those who are perishing.

You were never put here on earth to please people, you were put here to be pleasing to God. To finish the mission he has placed on your heart, and to operate within the context of which he himself has called. No matter the situation at hand, you will always cause someone to have a negative viewpoint, the only viewpoint you need to be concerned with is Gods. How he sees you, what his thoughts are towards you, and what he has done to make your mission be able to be brought to completion through his sacrifice. You are now partners in the field. Don’t let fans in the stand that know nothing about gardening tell you how to plant seed or harvest wheat. They will be telling you what they would do and how they would do it, and they’ve never been in the field, they just read a book about gardening. You get it!? Lol

Just remember in the end who you serve, who you belong to, and who you represent. They killed Tyndale for bringing the truth to the people. They’ll probably try to kill you if you’re delivering the truth in a way that doesn’t fit their religious box. Try as they will, try as they might, just like the high priest said in scripture, if it’s not from God it will die out, if it is from God, you are fighting against God himself.” I know the spirit that lives within me, and that which is in me is stronger than the world. This is the confidence necessary to operate in the full power in the Holy Spirit. Have a mind that sober, clear and alert, set on servitude and the blessings of God being bestowed on others through your life. While you’re pulling others back from the fire, just remember what Christ said, “Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets.”

Don’t let the opinions of man, keep you from finishing the mission. You should be so focused on your calling that when someone goes, “Have you heard about ______, (and their ministry)” you say, “No, I’m so busy with what God has called me to do, I don’t have time to focus on anyone else’s”

Let’s get it! I’ll see you at the banquet in Heaven when we sit with all our brothers and sisters and Christ serves us. Then you will know what company you are truly in. Blessed, righteous, redeemed, co heirs, ambassadors of Christ! Do not loose your zeal of the rhetoric of religious people. These watered down weeds grew in the field of wheat to cause you to sway. But remain firmly rooted, the Lord knows what they enemy has done. When the harvest comes to completion He will separate the wheat from the weeds. Stand film, remain-resilient and faith filled through persecutions. Be blessed in all that you do. Holding onto a mind full of love, forgiveness,!gratitude, grace, mercy, and peace. God be with you warrior, this is just the beginning. You were made for such a time as this. -ES 🦅

[eurekakinginc]

"[Discussion] When ML and Data Science are the death of a good company: A cautionary tale."- Detail: (This is a true story, happening to the company I currently work for. Names, domains, algorithms, and roles have been shuffled around to protect my anonymity) Company A has been around for several decades. It is not the biggest name in its domain, but it is a well respected one. Risk analysis and portfolio optimization have been a core of Company A's business since the 90s. They have a large team of 30 or so analysts who perform those tasks on a daily basis. These analysts use ERP solutions implemented for them by one the big ERP companies (SAP, Teradata, JD Edwards,...) or one of the Big 4 (Deloitte, Accenture, PWC, Capgemini) in collaboration with their own in house engineering team. The tools used are embarrassingly old school: Classic RDBMS running on on-prem servers or maybe even on mainframes, code written in COBOL, Fortran, weird proprietary stuff like ABAP or SPSS.....you get the picture. But the models and analytic functions were pretty sophisticated, and surprisingly cutting edge compared to the published academic literature. Most of all, they fit well with the company's enterprise ecosystem, and were honed based on years of deep domain knowledge. They have a tech team of several engineers (poached from the aforementioned software and consulting companies) and product managers (who came from the experienced pools of analysts and managers who use the software, or poached from business rivals) maintaining and running this software. Their technology might be old school, but collectively, they know the domain and the company's overall architecture very, very well. They've guided the company through several large scale upgrades and migrations and they have a track record of delivering on time, without too much overhead. The few times they've stumbled, they knew how to pick themselves up very quickly. In fact within their industry niche, they have a reputation for their expertise, and have very good relations with the various vendors they've had to deal with. They were the launching pad of several successful ERP consulting careers. Interestingly, despite dealing on a daily basis with statistical modeling and optimization algorithms, none of the analysts, engineers, or product managers involved describe themselves as data scientists or machine learning experts. It is mostly a cultural thing: Their expertise predates the Data Science/ML hype that started circa 2010, and they got most of their chops using proprietary enterprise tools instead of the open source tools popular nowadays. A few of them have formal statistical training, but most of them came from engineering or domain backgrounds and learned stats on the fly while doing their job. Call this team "Team X". Sometime around the mid 2010s, Company A started having some serious anxiety issues: Although still doing very well for a company its size, overall economic and demographic trends were shrinking its customer base, and couple of so called disruptors came up with a new app and business model that started seriously eating into their revenue. A suitable reaction to appease shareholders and Wall Street was necessary. The company already had a decent website and pretty snazzy app, what more could be done? Leadership decided that it was high time that AI and ML become a core part of the company's business. An ambitious Manager, with no science or engineering background, but who had very briefly toyed with a recommender system a couple of years back, was chosen to build a data science team, call it team "Y" (he had a bachelor's in history from the local state college and worked for several years in the company's marketing org). Team "Y" consists mostly of internal hires who decided they wanted to be data scientists and completed a Coursera certification or a Galvanize boot camp, before being brought on to the team, along with a few of fresh Ph.D or M.Sc holders who didn't like academia and wanted to try their hand at an industry role. All of them were very bright people, they could write great Medium blog posts and give inspiring TED talks, but collectively they had very little real world industry experience.As is the fashion nowadays, this group was made part of a data science org that reported directly to the CEO and Board, bypassing the CIO and any tech or business VPs, since Company A wanted to claim the monikers "data driven" and "AI powered" in their upcoming shareholder meetings. In 3 or 4 years of existence, team Y produced a few Python and R scripts. Their architectural experience  consisted almost entirely in connecting Flask to S3 buckets or Redshift tables, with a couple of the more resourceful ones learning how to plug their models into Tableau or how to spin up a Kuberneties pod.  But they needn't worry: The aforementioned manager, who was now a director (and was also doing an online Masters to make up for his qualifications gap and bolster his chances of becoming VP soon - at least he now understands what L1 regularization is), was a master at playing corporate politics and self-promotion. No matter how few actionable insights team Y produced or how little code they deployed to production, he always had their back and made sure they had ample funding. In fact he now had grandiose plans for setting up an all-purpose machine learning platform that can be used to solve all of the company's data problems. A couple of sharp minded members of team Y, upon googling their industry name along with the word "data science", realized that risk analysis was a prime candidate for being solved with Bayesian models, and there was already a nifty R package for doing just that, whose tutorial they went through on R-Bloggers.com. One of them had even submitted a Bayesian classifier Kernel for a competition on Kaggle (he was 203rd on the leaderboard), and was eager to put his new-found expertise to use on a real world problem. They pitched the idea to their director, who saw a perfect use case for his upcoming ML platform. They started work on it immediately, without bothering to check whether anybody at Company A was already doing risk analysis. Since their org was independent, they didn't really need to check with anybody else before they got funding for their initiative. Although it was basically a Naive Bayes classifier, the term ML was added to the project tile, to impress the board. As they progressed with their work however, tensions started to build. They had asked the data warehousing and CA analytics teams to build pipelines for them, and word eventually got out to team X about their project. Team X was initially thrilled: They offered to collaborate whole heartedly, and would have loved to add an ML based feather to their already impressive cap. The product owners and analysts were totally onboard as well: They saw a chance to get in on the whole Data Science hype that they kept hearing about. But through some weird mix of arrogance and insecurity, team Y refused to collaborate with them or share any of their long term goals with them, even as they went to other parts of the company giving brown bag presentations and tutorials on the new model they created. Team X got resentful: from what they saw of team Y's model, their approach was hopelessly naive and had little chances of scaling or being sustainable in production, and they knew exactly how to help with that. Deploying the model to production would have taken them a few days, given how comfortable they were with DevOps and continuous delivery (team Y had taken several months to figure out how to deploy a simple R script to production). And despite how old school their own tech was, team X were crafty enough to be able to plug it in to their existing architecture. Moreover, the output of the model was such that it didn't take into account how the business will consume it or how it was going to be fed to downstream systems, and the product owners could have gone a long way in making the model more amenable to adoption by the business stakeholders. But team Y wouldn't listen, and their leads brushed off any attempts at communication, let alone collaboration. The vibe that team Y was giving off was "We are the cutting edge ML team, you guys are the legacy server grunts. We don't need your opinion.", and they seemed to have a complete disregard for domain knowledge, or worse, they thought that all that domain knowledge consisted of was being able to grasp the definitions of a few business metrics. Team X got frustrated and tried to express their concerns to leadership. But despite owning a vital link in Company A's business process, they were only ~50 people in a large 1000 strong technology and operations org, and they were several layers removed from the C-suite, so it was impossible for them to get their voices heard. Meanwhile, the unstoppable director was doing what he did best: Playing corporate politics. Despite how little his team had actually delivered, he had convinced the board that all analysis and optimization tasks should now be migrated to his yet to be delivered ML platform. Since most leaders now knew that there was overlap between team Y and team X's objectives, his pitch was no longer that team Y was going to create a new insight, but that they were going to replace (or modernize) the legacy statistics based on-prem tools with more accurate cloud based ML tools. Never mind that there was no support in the academic literature for the idea that Naive Bayes works better than the Econometric approaches used by team X, let alone the additional wacky idea that Bayesian Optimization would definitely outperform the QP solvers that were running in production. Unbeknownst to team X, the original Bayesian risk analysis project has now grown into a multimillion dollar major overhaul initiative, which included the eventual replacement of all of the tools and functions supported by team X along with the necessary migration to the cloud. The CIO and a couple of business VPs are on now board, and tech leadership is treating it as a done deal.An outside vendor, a startup who nobody had heard of, was contracted to help build the platform, since team Y has no engineering skills. The choice was deliberate, as calling on any of the established consulting or software companies would have eventually led leadership to the conclusion that team X was better suited for a transformation on this scale than team Y. Team Y has no experience with any major ERP deployments, and no domain knowledge, yet they are being tasked with fundamentally changing the business process that is at the core of Company A's business. Their models actually perform worse than those deployed by team X, and their architecture is hopelessly simplistic, compared to what is necessary for running such a solution in production. Ironically, using Bayesian thinking and based on all the evidence, the likelihood that team Y succeeds is close to 0%. At best, the project is going to end up being a write off of 50 million dollars or more. Once the !@#$!@# hits the fan, a couple of executive heads are going to role, and dozens of people will get laid off.At worst, given how vital risk analysis and portfolio optimization is to Company A's revenue stream, the failure will eventually sink the whole company. It probably won't go bankrupt, but it will lose a significant portion of its business and work force. Failed ERP implementation can and do sink, see what happened to National Grid US, SuperValu or Target Canada. One might argue that this is more about corporate disfunction and bad leadership than about data science and AI.But I disagree. I think the core driver of this debacle is indeed the blind faith in Data Scientists, ML models and the promise of AI, and the overall culture of hype and self promotion that is very common among the ML crowd. We haven't seen the end of this story: I sincerely hope that this ends well for the sake of my colleagues and all involved. Company A is a good company, and both its customers and its employees deserver better. But the chances of that happening are negligible given all the information available, and this failure will hit my company hard. . Caption by AlexSnakeKing. Posted By: www.eurekaking.com