#and we've been trying and trying to find resources for figuring this out but most new headmate guides are either:

[nexus-nebulae]

kinda wanna cry bc i just dont know who i am rn and havent really for weeks and every other known front gets harder and harder to sustain

[grison-in-space]

Currently rereading Eric Flint's 1632 and reflecting on just how influential Flint was to me and my approach to both praxis and politics as a teenager. I found Flint when I was about thirteen or fourteen, around the time I found Pratchett I think, and he's left an equally wide thumbprint on my soul. Isn't that the most wonderful thing about stories, that people you've never met can help shape our adult selves? Mother of Demons I often recommend for its SFF worldbuilding--Flint built a species with at least four genders, only some of which are reproductive, and associated "normal" sexual orientations, and then proceeded to write in a textually intersex character and queer the hell out of it.

1632, though, is the one where a little West Virginia town in 2000 gets picked up and dropped in the middle of Thuringia, Germany in the eponymous year--right in the middle of the Thirty Years War. The local United Mine Workers of America chapter plays a major role, particularly its head.

As I write this I'm listening to the scene where the little town of Grantville, having admitted after a few days that they are probably not ever going home, is crowded into the high school gymnasium listening to the mayor lay that reality out and suggesting an interim council to help the town set out a sort of constitutional convention so they can work out what on earth they're going to do moving forward--especially since there's a bunch of displaced refugees collecting in the forests nearby. Sensible of them, really; the Americans murdered the shit out of the local soldiers that displaced them, on account of how the shaken mine workers that went out to figure out WTF happened not being super down with suddenly running into a bunch of fuckheads raping the locals and torturing people to find out where their valuables might be. After that, said Americans proceeded to retreat into the town boundaries and gibber quietly to themselves. I would go lurk in their woods, too.

Anyway, the mayor sets up this proposal, everyone agrees, and a CEO who was visiting for his son's wedding at the time steps forward and says: look. I know how to lead, and I'm probably the most qualified person here. I lead a major industry corporation effectively and I did that after my time as a Navy officer. I put myself forward because I'm qualified. Now, we're going to need to circle the wagons to get through the winter, tighten our belts, but we can get through this. We can't support all these refugees, though; we'll have to seal the border so they can't bring disease--they're a drain on our resources we can't afford--

and the UMWA guy, he gets really mad listening to this. There's this Sephardic refugee woman he's real taken with who got swept up in the town first thing, and she's sitting in and listening; he's thinking about throwing her out, thinking about how much she knows about the place they're found in, and he's furious. But he gets a good grip on his anger and he marches up and he says, look. This dude has been here two days and he's already talking about downsizing?! You're going to listen to this CEO talking about cuts, cuts, cuts? Nah. Trying to circle the wagons is probably impossible, it's stupid, and if you think my men and I are going to enforce that, you can fuck off. That proposal is inside out and bass ackwards. We've got about a six mile diameter of Grantville here; how much food do YOU think we're going to grow? How about the soldiers wandering around, do you think we're going to be able to fight armies off on our lonesome? Look at the few refugees we already have in the room, they'll tell you how those armies will treat you! We could do it for a while, the amount of gun nuts here, but so what? We don't have enough people to shoot them! Not if we're going to do anything else to keep us going! We have about six months of stockpiled coal to keep going, and without another source or getting the coal mines working, we're screwed. We have technical strength but we don't have the supplies or resources we would need to maintain it. Those refugees? They're resources. We need people to do the work we will need to keep ourselves. The hell with downsizing; let's grow outwards! Bring people in, give them safety, see what they can bring to the table once they've had a moment! He invokes: send us your tired, your poor!, and the CEO yells in frustration: this isn't America! so he yells back "it will be!"

And of course everyone cheers. I love Flint for many reasons but he is unapologetic about affection for the America of ideals--ideals, he freely admits, that are often honored in the breach rather than the observance, ideals that are messy and flawed, but nevertheless ideals that can work to inspire us to become the best version of ourselves. For Flint, history is as valuable as a source of stories to inspire ourselves as it is a repository of knowledge, and on this I tend to agree with him. We must learn from our moments of shame but equally we must learn from moments that show us how to be our best selves.

It's been twenty three years and the text is now an interesting historical document in its own right, hitting points and rhythms in beats that are sometimes out of place today. It's not perfect. But the novel contains a commitment to joy and to emphasizing the leaps of faith and understanding that regular, everyday people make every day to try and support each other that I routinely try to match in my writing.

Anyway, one of the strengths of the novel, I think, is its gender politics: it's a very ensemble kind of novel, lots of characters, and it's preoccupied with positive masculinity in a lot of ways. There's a lot of these hyper masculine characters--Mike Stearns perhaps more than anyone else--and--and...

... And Flint's characterization of Stearns, as he sketches out who the man is--his pivotal American leader, ex boxer, working class organizer, big man.... well, it lands equally on "he is delighted and astonished to find a local woman who quickly assesses how the cushion of air in tires works," and "he considers who to set up a Jewish refugee in the middle of Germany up with and he thinks to ask the Jewish family he grew up with to host her and her ill father because he thinks she'll be most comfortable there", and "he views people as potential assets rather than potential drains." A younger man asks him for advice on whether to pursue a professional sports career because of the boxing and he says no, you're in the worst place of not being quite good enough and you'll blow out your knees without accomplishing safety. He frames that interaction such that he allows his own experiences to make him vulnerable and invite the younger man to understand when a struggle have worth it.

It's actually a really deft portrayal of intense masculinity that also makes a virtue of a bunch of traits more usually associated with women: empathy, relational sensitivity, the ability to listen. As a blueprint for what a positive masculinity can look like, vs the toxic kind, it's very well done. I think sometimes when we look at gender roles in terms of virtues, and when masculinity is defined in terms of opposition to femininity, people get lost by arguing that virtues assigned to one gender are somehow antithetical to another gender. In fact that's never been the case: virtues are wholly neutral and can appear in any gender. What the gender does is inflect the ways we expect that virtue to appear in terms of individuals' actions within their society.

Gender isn't purely an individual trait, basically; it's a product of our collective associations. Two characters with different genders can display the same virtues and strengths, but we imagine them expressed in different ways according to our cultural expectations around gender. And I just think that's neat.

[adamwatchesmovies]

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

The Silence of the Lambs is an unnerving film with memorable scenes, intense performances and terrific characters… along with plenty of gore. This makes it a horror film - the only one to ever win an Academy Award for Best Picture - so far. On its own, the central mystery would be enough but we get much, much more.

25-year-old FBI trainee Clarice Starling (Jodie Foster) is assigned to interview Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), a former psychiatrist and cannibalistic serial killer apprehended six years ago. Officially, Jack Crawford (Scott Glenn) wants her to convince Hannibal to fill out a questionnaire. Unofficially, he hopes she can convince Hannibal to help find “Buffalo Bill” (Ted Levine), a serial killer who has been abducting and murdering women.

It doesn’t take long for you to realize that director Jonathan Demme isn’t simply giving us another serial killer detective story. When Clarice hops into an elevator at the academy, all of the men inside tower over her. While she isn’t the only woman studying to become an FBI agent, there’s a recurring theme of her being debased or disrespected because she is a woman. Jack Crawford makes an unintentional remark to some police officers, Dr. Frederick Chilton (Anthony Heald) at the Baltimore State Hospital for the Criminally Insane doesn’t take her seriously and makes certain assumptions about her interview with Lecter (considering what Crawford says later, he might be slightly right), at least one inmate gets particularly lewd once he sees her. The theme continues with Buffalo Bill, who has a fundamental misunderstanding of what a woman even is, which leads him to commit his gruesome - and bizarre - murders. The only person (besides a female student played by Kasi Lemmons) who seems to treat Clarice with respect… is Hannibal.

Labelling Clarice as nothing more than "the film's female aspiring FBI agent" would be a mistake. Starling is a memorable character. She’s resourceful, smarter than she looks, doesn’t easily get rattled, and develops this odd sort of relationship with Lecter that says a lot about who she is and why she wants to join the FBI. At one point, Hannibal is offering her clues that could help her apprehend Buffalo Bill but in exchange, he demands to know more about her childhood. Obviously, he's using the techniques he learned as a psychologist to gather more information than even we could understand. During the interrogation, we learn where the movie's title comes from. Considering all of the grisly sights we see, it’s telling that the most chilling moment is that exchange. There’s something about Lecter that’s so dangerous. He’s classy. He’s smart. He always seems to have the perfect remark whenever anyone says anything to him. He’s alluring but just as you start getting close to the glass, you remember that he’s a monster.

With Clarice and Hannibal sufficiently covered, we can now talk about the mystery. If it took me this long, it's because if the movie was just a conversation between those characters, it would be enough. You’re glued to the screen watching them interact. You’re having a great time putting the pieces together, trying to figure these people out. Then, they part ways and you remember "Oh, right! The mystery!" How could you have forgotten? Buffalo Bill has captured another victim (Brooke Smith as Catherine Martin, who actually creates a memorable character with her few scenes). There’s only so much time before he does whatever it is he does to her. We've seen the other victims. We don't quite understand what it is that's going to happen, but we know it's not good. Martin’s mother, a U.S. Senator (Diane Baker) has the power to accelerate processes - anything to get her daughter back. Hannibal knows it. So does Clarice. Jonathan Demme and screenplay writer Ted Tally (who bases it off of the novel by Thomas Harris) keep playing tennis with you, moving you from the interviews with Lecter, to the mystery with the FBI and back again.

The Silence of the Lambs is a thriller that makes you sweat. Its horror elements will make you uneasy and one thing’s for sure, there’s no forgetting this movie once you’ve seen it. The performances are exceptional and even some of the smaller parts are far and above what you’d expect to see, even in a classy horror film - well, as classy as you can be when you have severed heads in bottles and rotting corpses dug out of rivers. I'm returning to the idea that it is a horror movie because it's an important quality of Silence of the Lambs. It's gruesome, it's thrilling, it's filled with engaging characters and it is undeniably frightening. (On Blu-ray, January 16th, 2023)

[shelandsorcery]

Astronomics Game Art : Designing Mining Equipment!

Gonna talk this week about designing mining equipment for the sci-fi game Astronomics - demo on steam right now! - And I thought I'd start with a little conversation about research and process (...that doesn't really have on a much art in it but just stay with me) and maybe get to tap in a little bit into how someone like me who doesn't do a lot of technical design learned a lot about how to get excited about that whole field through the research stage of this game.

So when I say research I really do mean fairly old-school research — and this is probably gonna be a theme with a lot of the posts about this game in particular, because I don't think you can build sci-fi without some understanding of engineering systems and current scientific realities to then play with, you know?

As you may gather from the trailer, Astronomics is a game about asteroid mining, among other things. Which meant that we had a lot of need for legit industrial feeling props and tools for the player to use, things that felt functional and believable without feeling complicated or delicate. I really enjoy the challenge of adding appeal to something that maybe people don't always think about being appealing or fun or cute (this is never an absolute statement — there's always somebody already able to see more appeal in any given subject and I could ever imagine) so part of the research stage is going and looking for that appeal. So above you can see a sheet of loose rough sketches I did in clip studio paint from reference that I gathered with the rest of the team and by myself that seemed relevant to some of the designs we were pursuing.

If you've had the chance to play the demo, you'll know that it's not just surface mining but we are going to be letting you mind gases and liquids and underground mineral veins as well — these are all things that people do in the real world of course, so process one was taking a quick look at those actual industries and then figuring out how I could condense that activity down into a pretty simple and easy to understand machine.

So turned out what we needed was something that drilled and dug, something that pumped liquids, something that sucked air, and all of these things needed to then produce some sort of container to hold what they had collected.

In a videogame you really need to communicate to the player why each act they do is significant and different from the others, and as the art director it was my job to figure how to do that through visual design of the tools they're going to be using. So that meant that even though you could certainly store liquid and gas and solid resources in the same kind of box, I wanted to try and find ways to keep each thing feeling different. Best case scenario is that you're able to look at a prop we've designed and know in a split second which of these three states of matter it will be containing; in the research stage one of the things I'm looking for is any existing visual language that we have (in this Western English-speaking North American videogame audience culture) that already solves this problem.

The great thing about industrial design is that they indeed have very intentionally tackled this problem. Part of it is purely physics optimization that the field of engineering has been working towards for human history. For example, when you're storing liquid and you want to remove all of it from a container you probably don't want something with corners — that's how you end up with cylindrical liquid storage. When you're storing a gas you're likely keeping it under pressure, which means you need a shape that will withstand pressure evenly, which means you're looking for something with literally no corners or edges ideally — and that's how you end up with bubble-shaped gas storage like a propane canister. And then when you're storing something solid and you want to use the space most efficiently and be able to stack whatever it is that you have packed it into, you have a box.

Real good news is, a box and a cylinder and a sphere are all wonderfully visually distinct shapes in a fantastically strong place to start when it comes to solving the question of storage. So then we get into the challenge of the machines themselves — what distinguishes a drill from a pump from a vacuum?

So that's the beginning of some of the questions that you have to answer when you're designing props for a game — in the research stage is only one of bunch of different ways you start figuring out these answers. But I want to talk for just a second a little bit about how I personally wrangle my research, because I am definitely not telling you this is the only way to do it. It seems like it may be worth explaining what I get out of this process and see if anything here make sense for you!

One of the reasons that I have this huge page of sketches, big and detailed or tiny and loose, all laid out in one place for me to look at, is because I personally learn and remember things more strongly by taking notes. With my hand holding a pencil ideally. And when they're abstract concepts or verbal or numerical then I'll use writing and I won't have a problem with it, but my job at this stage was not to figure out abstract concepts or to find themes — my job was to solve visual problems. So my first order of business was visual research specifically. Now for me, that involves lots of things — I have a Pinterest board for any sort of subcategory of stuff I'm researching to just do enormous broad research with; then I probably bring most of those images into a huge working .PSD file and move them around to create groupings. And then I start drawing.

I really think that drawing is integral for me at this stage. I don't think I could do this without drawing as part of my research. There's so much that I just don't bother noticing if I'm not going to be drawing the thing that I'm looking at; even the worst, fastest, sketchy as drawing makes me pay infinitely more attention to something then I do when I am simply collecting information mentally. I'm phrasing this in a somewhat exaggerated, self-deprecating way, but I really can't exaggerate how much more I get out of things when I sit down and draw them. They talk about drawing is a way of seeing, and for me that's a practice I've intentionally pushed and explored in my life.

The other thing, though, is that visual problem that I need to solve. Sometimes solutions to the problem aren't obvious until they are visualized — it can be very easy to get distracted by things like surface details and miss the silhouette language, or vice versa, but when you are doing the drawing you have to wrestle with the silhouette and the details and make decisions about them. Visual trends appear way more clear when you are drawing something for the 10th time as opposed to simply seeing it for the 10th time. And all of the layers of cultural meaning and context that clutter up a photograph can be simply ignored as you transfer only what you need to a drawing, where you might discover something that everything else hid until then. Beyond that, one of the things you may notice about the sketches is that they are somewhat cartoony — I'm certainly trying to capture important details and be representational to a degree, but much like gesture drawing the human figure, researching this way lets me start finding out what the gestures are of these different sorts of subject matter. This is something that I knew about creature design, and about flora design, and one of the real joys of this game in particular was proving to myself that this gesture approach applied to industrial machines and technology as well.

I mean, I knew that there were cute trucks out there, but gosh.

I think if you are in need of something to reinvigorate a particular piece of subject matter for you — if you're designing something that you are just not that excited about, or if you don't feel challenged by the work in front of you — I really think sitting and sketching from reference can open up the complexities and help push you and your work farther. It certainly works for me and I know that the learning I did on this game is something I carry with me to future projects as well.

That seems like a pretty strong place to leave this post in particular, but I'll be back later this week with more breakdowns and screen caps of the actual design process of all of our adorable mining equipment!

I would really love to hear from folks if you also engage in similar research processes before going into full design mode — or if you have a completely different way to get your mind revved up and ready to go, I would really enjoy reading about it!

In the meantime, if you're curious about mining asteroids but it's cute please feel free to check out the Astronomics demo on steam, I made an awful lot of visdev art for this and handed it off to some incredible game creators who have done some really impressive stuff taking their ideas and my ideas and running to honestly some pretty new and exciting places with them.

[gray-ace-space]

What baffled me most about finding out I'm on the ace spec is that apparently sexual attraction is not just an elaborate joke. Like, it's always been bugging me when people in fiction went "I cannot hold back anymore!! D:<" Of course, you can??? Turns out, they actually really cannot? Idk. Cheating as well? Couldn't be me. Never in my life did I look at a person I find aesthetically pleasing thinking "I need you in my bed right now" or whatever. Not even people I I'm romantically involved with.

Like, I'm married and sometimes I have sex and it's fine but we've spent so much time trying to "fix" the sex part of our relationship thinking something gotta be "wrong" with going weeks to months without sex and me never feeling like initiating anything.(Everything else is fine and we're happy) And then I figured I'm ace (and my partner might actually be on the ace spec as well, having ended a relationship once because his ex wanted way more sex than him) and now everything is just super chill? The (societal?) pressure (in my head) is gone, it's alright, I feel so much better about myself. There's more to a relationship than sexual attraction.

oh yeah, when you're given no resources to help you understand how you're different you make some weird assumptions. then when the assumptions are challenged you're like, wtf, this shit is wild.

regarding your marriage: that rules! i definitely relate, i pretty much only started enjoying anything sexual at all ever when i realized i didn't have to enjoy it in a normative way. so many people and relationships would be so much happier and healthier if we ACTUALLY TALKED ABOUT THIS

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for Banishing My Son for Asking Too Many Questions?

I (He/She NB) am the parent of many, many children. As such, we've become one of the most powerful factions within the city. This is good since the harsh wilderness outside the city walls and the more violent factions within could easily bring harm to my younger children.

However, one of my older sons - we'll call him G - has rocked the boat, shall we say. Apparently, he found some charts and maps of mine. He asked me about them and I flew into a panic. I thought at the time that he had figured out my darkest secret.

I must admit this here, in order for you to get a clear picture of why I did what I did. I've told my children that I am their biological parent, the sole person to sire and birth them all. This was a lie. In reality, I kidnapped all of my children from families in the countryside, replacing them with piglets. I know this is wrong, but I've been desperate to start a family of my own for decades. And since I've never been able to find a partner, this was my last option. Regardless, I love all of my children with all my heart.

So when G started to dig a little too deep, I felt it necessary to take drastic measures. I excommunicated him from the family and sent him to live in the nearby woods. Though I know he'd be able to handle himself - he's always been resourceful - I couldn't be sure if he would be able to survive. The forest is filled with people who doggedly focus on one single task. Some could be relatively harmless, like wanting to walk in a single direction without stopping, while others can be dangerous like cannibalism or clawing the eyes out of any nearby creature. Of course, there was also the chance that he might join these people, which while that would be a sad fate would also make sure that G would never return to the sprawl.

To my surprise though, G managed to find his way back into the city after some time. I thought he returned to try and kill me, but - as I found out - he had no idea what happened and just wanted to know why he was banished. I couldn't just tell him the truth now nor could I simply welcome him back into the fold. I told G that his new family was with the forest and that he should return there.

It hurt to do all this, but I have the family I've built up to think about. With four new babies and dozens of other children of varying ages, if word got out of my secret then it will all fall apart. The only people who my children could possibly turn to would likely use and abuse them. If losing G was the cost I'd have to pay to keep my family safe, then so be it.

AITA?

[denial-permanente]

Hi, I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy your blog but also how much of help it has been for me personally. I've seen how frustrating your blog can be from all the weird comments and unsolicited pics people send you. My wife and I started on our own chastity journey just over a year ago and your blog is one of the resources that is most helpful to me. Obviously I love the images you post but the insight into your relationship is of most value. We've always had a great marriage but our sex life could have been better...it happens to most of us I'm sure. We had several discussions about this over time but I knew deep down the issue was mostly down to my masturbation habit. Again probably something most married.men are guilty of. I think it was a habit or addiction. I brought up using a chastity cage after one of our discussions/arguements and the benefits it could bring to our relationship. I also confessed about my masturbation habit and how I needed help to fix it. My wife was actually happy about my suggestion and willing to try it. We read some books and blogs and ordered a cage. Fast forwarding to today, we currently practise a 6 week lock up period. My wife finds this the most acceptable period as she notices a low interest week after a release. So there are 5 weeks when I'm particularly affectionate and attentive. She is not a dominating type like yourself and we just have a normal marriage. In the future I do crave that she decides to move to permanent chastity and no piv sex. But that would be down to her and I think it best to not push for that or tell her that is my desire. Maybe that's the wrong choice though, I just think that will worry her. I've ordered a vixskin like yourselves as I think that will help her with missing piv sex and may lead to a longer lock up time. Thanks again.

First, congratulations on figuring out where some of your problems have been and good luck on your efforts to fix things. I just want to mention something about moving to "permanent" lock up. This is not just for you, I see this with a lot of the men who leave comments.

I get that the idea of being locked up forever is hot. Once I got into the idea of keeping my husband locked, we both used to tease each other along with bedroom talk about him being locked for really long term (like 5 or 10 years) or even for the rest of his life. I'd imagine my husband forever frustrated and full of desire for me. I'd imagine the power I had over him that way. It was exciting and arousing to talk about. And naturally he felt the same way.

But... that was me. And him. And I don't think that what we do is for everybody. And certainly I can imagine that a lot of women would not want to do this, or would be comfortable with the idea. A lot of men seem to get all horny and then dump all these fantasies on their wives, and you don't understand how it might freak them out a little.

It seems that your wife is enjoying what you're doing. Give it some time. Let her enjoy what she's doing. Let her take your fantasy and try to fit it into her own mind. It may not be your fantasy, but isn't it belter to have one that you can share and make a reality?

[plural-affirmations]

Heyo I don't know if this is a good place to ask, but. Our partner system has recently had alters born within their system (natalgenic) and we've been struggling to find anything about how other systems raise literal brain babies.

We've both been finding out as much as we can about childcare, but with the kids being born in-sys, there's just. Quite a few things that are different (like ya know, the whole different people controlling the body thing).

If anyone has any resources or advice of any kind, it would be greatly appreciated!!

— 🌳🐗🌸

This is a tough one, but according to the internet, here's some things I'd recommend. Under a cut for length reasons. Also, the advice about trauma is easy to skip if it doesn't apply to you. I'm not trying to assume anyone's origins, just covering all the variables haha.

Keep in mind that baby headmates can have severe trauma and trauma responses like any other system member. Trauma can happen at any age, any time. Also, what's traumatic to a baby is a much lower threshold than adults for obvious reasons. The body keeps score even if you don't remember the event.

Babies often have basic feelings such as happy, sadness, scared, etc., and they're commonly without speech. (They may or may not understand language on a conception level, but unable to express themselves through it for whatever reason).

You might need help taking care of them properly. I'd strongly suggest supervision during fronting, either internally (co-front) or externally (someone in the outerworld watching them).

I'm not one to promote forcing people to stay away from front since it's really shitty to do that in most cases, but if they genuinely have no way of guaranteeing the system's safety (due to the inherent vulnerability of an infant), it might be best.

If you CAN let them front though, try to set up the area around you in advance. Sensory items, blankets, a pillow fort, toys, somewhere to read or listen to music, maybe even some kid's TV, things like that.

Like you already mentioned, parenting books might be helpful. I'd personally go for things geared around newborns, or whatever age the headmate is.

Babies form for tons of reasons; innerworld pregnancy, being traumalocked, needing to have basic needs met more often, brain just decided "idk man why not", etc. It's in no way required to know (and certainly not worth stressing about), but if you happen to be able to figure out why they formed, you could change your approach to suit whatever helps them grow and heal.

Speaking of growth! They might not be babies forever. I unfortunately do not have a crystal ball, but some alters can age later on. The kids in your system might just be that type of brainmate y'know? So be prepared just in case.

Wow, this is entirely too long, but I've spent too much time on it so it's getting posted anyways 💀 Sorry for all the information, I hope I didn't overload you! Godspeed 🙏🏻

🖤💜💙💚💛

[eriisaam]

This may be partially a personal post, and partially a blog update, but I wanted to apologize for an earlier reblog post (which the original had been taken down, though was up hours earlier).

To preface, I struggle with reading and writing at times, and sometimes have problems processing what's being said or written, leading me to occasionally misinterpret things. By no means is this meant to excuse this, but I wanted to offer explanation of it.

This is relevant, as there was an earlier post I reblogged calling attention to an ongoing issue where crowdfundings - particularly those for Gaza evacuations, resources, and fees therein - have been noticed and hijacked by potential scammers and bots trying to take the opportunity to redirect much needed funds away from actual people in need, and what I interpreted as a word of warning of the rising problem of scammers trying to steal posts, false-claim verification, or show suspicious behavior typical to bots of other sorts we've had in the past in other contexts, had instead focused less on the issue of scammers making it more difficult to get these people in need better signal boosting to get funds, and way more crueler, sinister and dismissive of their situation that my failure in reading comprehension didn't originally pick up as it should've. And I'm sorry for that.

I want to apologize and reiterate that the intent behind what I originally thought was the point being made is that yes, many of these campaigns are legitimate. And their actually have been many a person who approached me via DMing me that actually turned out to be genuine people who are trying their best to get eyes on their campaign, and when I do find them out after trying to do my due diligence, I'm glad to be able to help for what I can, even if to the extent of signal boosting their messages and hoping it reaches the eyes of others who can offer greater help.

I don't want the take away otherwise of my ongoing frustrations with trying to figure out these people from accounts that don't quite check out to be twisted into thinking all of them were scams, and none of them could be trusted otherwise, or call into question the character and validity of whoever the scammers since learned to name-drop by default now (Ahmed being the most common name dropped, but far from the only one), which seemed to be the actual take of that earlier message after all, to my disappointment and frustrations. More, I thought the point was more 'Please continue helping people in need, but be careful too to try to verify them if you can. Not every message is necessarily trustworthy and there's still scams to watch out for.", when the point it seems they were actually trying to make is to dismiss all of them period.

While I am not perfect at it, I have equal amounts of doubt and fear I'm not doing my best in vetting correctly as I hoped, and it's never a good feeling in regards to fundraisers in need - Gaza-related or even in general - to end up not following through with requests with dire risks on the line if I end up doing the checks wrong, I do try to do my best to check what I end up getting with the resources I have on-hand provided by what I could find, and at the very least I avoided reporting anyone (for better or worse) in this regard in the chance I end up wrong to avoid making this even harder on them.

I at least wanted to make it clear and upfront that I will continue to share what resources and links I can that I or mutuals end up finding, will continue to try my best to vet through what DMs come my way (although I do warn I may not be the best person for the job), and I apologize earlier for reblogging a post that was actually the complete anti-point of my earlier points I wanted to carry across than I originally thought.

I urge you all to do what you can and comfortable with. Keep sharing what you can, keep donating what you can, and keep passing along resources like the masterlists or helpful links otherwise. As a reminder, I try to tag these posts under the Important tag, which you can use the tag to either easier find these campaigns, or important call-to-action or health-related news otherwise in general. Please use this tag as you see fit, and in the future from now on, I may post a brand new tag in addition to the Important tag to better sort between Important posts which bring up vital news of other sort and Important notes in regards to crowdfunding posts.

Maybe I'm not being as coherent as I wish, and maybe I'm overfretting, but I do feel better to hopefully make my stance clearer, and I apologize about earlier potentially suggesting otherwise, all because I didn't read things properly.

[ghost-of-a-system]

as someone who is autistic and currently questioning my own systemhood, i relate so much to what youve said in your comics and posts. i still dont know for sure if i actually am a system or just a dissociative person with a loose identity and a mental illness (lol), but especially since i find it so hard to relate to most of the "popular" experiences, seeing someone talk about stuff that i've (we've?) gone through is just. so validating. thank you for sharing your experiences

i'm very glad you've been able to relate to or find validation in any of the experiences we share about! thank you for your kind words. 🤍

it's definitely hard to try to figure stuff out when a lot of the easily accessible resources often focus on these more common experiences—that's the reason it took us so many years to realize we were a system. hell, we didn't even know what OSDD-1b was until late 2021! but it seems like more different experiences are being shared now rather than they were 5-7 years ago haha.

we wish you luck with your questioning, whatever the outcome is!

[faithfromanewperspective]

It seems like no coincidence that you sent me an ask right after I had a brooding session that led to me wanting to send you an ask. Here we are 🤭

Mine's unrelated to music and chronic illness though: I wanted to get your view on what being Australian is to you. Who are we? What are we? I've been having this identity crisis all my life because my ancestors are immigrants from everywhere, with different cultures, and I feel like I don't belong here despite how the land has also shaped me into who I am.

Sometimes I think at the core of the culture of Australia is loneliness/isolation and I also wanted to know your take on that too.

Hope you're well, lovely 💛💛💛

ooh. wow. hmm. i'm... not doing great as you can probably tell by the time at which i'm posting this. but i surprisingly have a lot of thoughts about this.

for me, it's a connection to one of the oldest lands there is--i've studied a lot of geology, i've had to for my degree, and because of the lack of volcanic activity for so long our land, everything about it, is real old, and that's something i have a lot of respect and reverence for. i've also been drawn to Indigenous culture and Indigenous land stewardship for the longest time: the community, the spirituality, the sense of survival and justice, the shared resources, the storytelling, the art, the connection to the land. i'm not the least bit indigenous to anywhere really so i don't really know why, but you've made me realise something writing this, i should start to go seek that out a bit more and find community and stuff in it, it might be part of what i'm longing for.

diversity and a loss and reconstruction of identity is i also think part of it too. we are so diverse, aussies are from everywhere, from those who were born to a long line of stewards of this great land, to all those who came to it from everywhere: all parts of europe, asia, new zealand--everyone's family has a story of how they came here and why, of a brand new start for one generation, and everyone after having to go through putting together the fragments and figuring out who they are, reinventing it as they face new things compared to what any of their ancestors ever have. in a way it's about deciding again and again to rediscover your home culture/s and figure out how to fit them into a context of diversity, find your people or bring a new tradition to your people, but also take tradition lightly in terms of it has to fit around survival in harsh conditions, it always does, practical comes first which I'll get into but i'd say part of it is navigating the patchwork of cultures and realising yours is never going to be everyone but also no one can take it away from you, realising that because they try, but ultimately no one who does that will ever succeed. not even the colonisers who generations down have made us forget a lot of our Indigenous culture and feel empty as a result; if you're here on this land you've got some responsibility to care for it and every generation longs for something we don't quite have: this is where it's so useful to have other cultures around, because we need to learn from each other. we do so much better when we do. (alternatively, say you grew up in sydney without saying you grew up in sydney. it's a whole world there if you haven't experienced it).

but I would say that not only loneliness and isolation but also loss of identity are core to being Australian. questioning it and finding it again, being nothing like you ever imagined. there's a lot of generational trauma written into this land that's going to take quite a while to recover. we've all left it behind in the past, we've more often than not experienced some degree of violence in doing that be it from colonisation and the way the cities we have now (aussies are drawn to cities, the stats show us as one of the most urbanised places in the world, no matter what the stereotypes are) being Not Born Of Indigenous Input to violence of poverty and being driven to crime then shipped halfway across the world away from loved ones, to violence of displacement from other lands from poverty or war or overpopulation. we're all kind of unmoored even though many don't ever show it, we're all coming from a place of having lost that deep connection to self and either trying to find it or not bothering and I think it does really show in the way we connect to each other, the way we connect to the land, the misunderstanding and exploitation and often trying to be something we're not.

but i'd also say our strength is in our survival. we're good at coming together in natural disasters, we're often really creative when it comes to getting by, we're hard working, we know we're entitled to nothing. it comes when you've lived in conditions like ours: poor soil, harsh weather--be it drought or too much rain, we've been there, we've seen it, every year and every season is like we jump to a different climate zone, our agriculture isn't suited to our climate or our soil and our cities aren't planned but we get by anyway. we're hardworking and humble and when you put an aussie in another country and another setting you really see that. and we do it like it's nothing and still think it's nothing and don't understand compliments on it, we're self-deprecating like that. survival happens if we all do well enough to get by, independence leads to interdependence, and as a result we don't like people who take too much and we want those who are struggling to succeed. we aren't all like that, sure, but you see someone trying to get ahead and getting up themselves because of it? they won't last long as an aussie. community can and will ostracise them and no one's gonna feel bad. we hate our politicians but we have them anyway. we don't let them get too big-headed, we know they will, we have artists specifically employed to make fun of them. we're not perfect at this but they're older white men (problem) we don't feel bad about bullying them even if it'd be more productive to have a diverse group of people--but then we might actually feel bad about bullying them so that won't do. politics are for show anyway to get along with other countries. aussies don't care about anything we can't see with our own eyes and touch with our own hands, preferably holding a shovel or too-big set of tongs. 'she'll be right, mate' we say but really we just don't want to deal with it. why would we when getting by for ourselves is hard enough? don't talk about abstract concepts. but behind the survival if you break into that part of our minds that longs to be seen and cared for, you might have gotten our attention even though we will never admit that kind of vulnerability (it's why so many of us find western models of therapy etc so confusing. we're hardened folk)

there's a lot of negative but we kind of live with it i guess? we don't pretend it isn't the case. and sometimes we do something good. aussies invented permaculture, for example. i'm sure there are other things right there but i can't call them to mind right now. do you know what permaculture is? go have a look into it. it's one of my favourite things. in a more academic sense we invented water sensitive urban design and biodiversity sensitive urban design as well. and we needed to from a place of survival. it's the beauty of it, it's authentic and when it's there on the ground we can touch it so it's real and other countries can then see what we do and implement it themselves. with these things having popped up in recent years i think we're in a stage of transition as a nation, we're still a patchwork of confused cultural threads trying and failing at being european with our education and agriculture models--we haven't grown into ourselves yet. we haven't realised the potential of all the cultures we have to inspire something better. we still get a bit scared of each other. we still haven't figured out who we are--and personally, looking back at my family, generations of immigrants whose children become immigrants to somewhere else, i feel like there is a lot to discover that i have no idea how to find. how to internalise. my ancestors come from all over the world, and no one has had to pull together such a diverse range of ancestral and found cultural influences until me (i should give myself credit for that. and also not just talk about it but actually do it). and then when it comes to things like religion we're skeptical but also just long to be loved. and we'll take what gives that if we don't have to talk about it, but we won't take what limits us, and i feel like we're still figuring out how to lose tradition and hierarchy while keeping the heart of all the faith traditions we have here. another thing i should investigate. because we're still trying to be someone else i think, and it's not working. so to sum it up i think we're a whole lot of unfounded potential and messy sort-of functionality. no one does it like we do. not even us.

but this is coming from someone who is strangely really connected to everyone, like it's a bit of a weird talent and a little bit hippie (but aussies are hippies too, even though the hardened country folk would never admit it and the city folk don't have time for it and that leaves the label to tasmanians and northern rivers/byron coast folk who the rest of us associate it with). like i can connect with anyone for better or worse, and i do, i can't stop myself, but it's also tiring. who needs the autonomy and freedom of the bush and the novelty and connection and opportunity of our biggest cities. i'm well suited to my career i guess, but not so much self care! and yet. the reason i know how to survive is that it's handed down from ancestors from literally everywhere. we've all brought that and faced this harsh land in the last century, and now it's up to me to do that in a modern setting with modern problems like overpopulation and biodiversity loss.

and i'll also admit a lot of my conceptulisation comes from i am australian by the seekers. i generally sing/play the song without the third verse (or whichever one is about the war) because i find that in this moment in time it's not actually the biggest thing in aussie history that shaped us--it's more a global thing we were dragged into and we do better to leave it and instead think about ancient history, about the people who came with colonisation who weren't all bad individually though they were forced into a bad situation and became many of our ancestors, about the land as a living thing with a spirit, and about the things we create.

otherwise if you're looking for something that more captures what i think you might relate to being australian and some of the generational trauma you see around you that's so woven into our country if not your immigrant family who are trying to fit in but haven't yet specifically there's bloodline by luke hemmings. you know, because at the moment i can't shut up about him or his music.

anyway, do yourself a favour (heck, do me a favour) and get out of that country town of a suburb you live in. it's very insular, possibly one of the most insular places i've seen in this land and i've been to a lot of country towns and urban precincts. we love walkable cities but we yearn for more, more enrichment in the enclosure, and so literally, get on a train and go somewhere, anywhere, and notice things. notice how they do things there. and let me know if it feels good to do that. I will mail you a go card with money on it if that's what you need. go find yourself

[bluiex]

More Built up Heart au, this time with some silliness mixed with a dash of lore :D

~~~~

"What would happen if I moved this little line of code over here and…Well, the immediate answer is I get yet another error."

Grian sighs tiredly, scooting his chair away from his desk in frustration. He's been at this for hours now, and the only progress he has made so far is figuring out what doesn't work with Scar's code instead of what does…

Just how broken of a bot was he sent?

"Well, judging by that sigh I heard, your little fix you just tried didn't work."

He sighs again at the voice coming through his computer speakers. "I feel like I'm in over my head here, Mumbo…Everything I've tried to make this code make more sense has been denied by whatever this mysterious previous programmer has done."

Mumbo, a fellow programmer and Grian's life-long friend, moves off screen of their video call and returns shortly with a pad of paper and a pencil in hand. The sound of pencil scratching on paper grinds on his eardrums, a sound he is going to associate with failure for a long time after the call is over. 

This must be the bad luck he was waiting for to balance out the good he had in the meeting after the showcase. This is how the world is balancing the scales of good and bad, by throwing him problem after problem as he tries to work through the code spaghetti that makes up Scar's systems. 

"There any good news about everything we tried failing that you can think of, Mumbo?"

"Well…This is going to be more of a stimulating challenge for you than previously thought."

He lets out a frustrated noise, letting his head fall forward and hit his desk with a loud thunk.

"Sorry mate," Mumbo's concerned voice says. "I know that's not what you wanted to hear, but I remembered how you said you were worried about being put on a boring project when you got back and well…This is far from boring."

"Don’t you use my words back at me…" He grumbles against the desk.

"Okay, well, do you have any other ideas on how to make this work better for you?"

"I think we've already crossed off all the things I thought could fix this…"

"Then we're running low on possible fixes, Gri…" Mumbo repeatedly taps their pencil on whatever surface they have their computer on. "You sure you don't want to delete everything and start from scratch? I'm sure if you explained how nothing you tried to input worked with how the original code was set up, the rest of the team would understand."

"As tempting as that option is, I don’t really have the time to try and create an entirely new system of code from scratch here. I was lucky enough that the one investor with the most sway in this was able to look at this from a humorous perspective and give me a whole month to work on this."

Mumbo takes a turn in the sighing. "I forgot about that…But it really does seem to be the best and most obvious choice, in my eyes at least. Alright then, this might be a long shot here but…It might be your only option. Give me your bots model number."

He lifts his head up, looking at Mumbo's serious face with great confusion.

"...What? Mumbo, what does the model number have to do with-"

"I'm going to take a look in the 'Chip Graveyard' and see if I can find anything that could potentially get you on the same track as the other people you're working with. Maybe what we're doing wrong here is that we're using new techniques instead of trying to use old ones."

The 'Chip Graveyard' is a tower of drawers that is filled with all sorts of computer and android chips from any and all past projects. It's where the unwanted, unneeded, or 'project got canceled and I don’t see myself using this in the future' chips go to be forgotten about. One would think that in the world of mass efficiency, there would be some sort of process to wipe these chips clean so the company wouldn't have to waste so much money and resources on all new chips for its many projects, but…

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" He asks, trying his best to follow Mumbo's thinking process. "Aren't most of those chips really old and buggy? Would one of those even work with Scar's code?"

"Possibly and possibly not, but with your small amount of time and pretty much having to build this bots personality, you don't really have much of a choice."

He sighs yet again. They are right, using an existing chip that could be at least halfway compatible with Scar's code would save him a bunch of time, but it could also ruin all of it and render Scar completely broken…Is he really willing to risk it for some amount of time saved?

Turning his head and looking at Scar's limp form sitting on the floor next to his desk, he carefully observes the bot he has been entrusted with. 

They're slumped forward, head tilted down and their hands touching the floor. If you were to take just a quick glance at them, you might think they were just someone taking a rather uncomfortable nap. If you didn't see the wire coming from the back of their neck and connecting them to his computer tower first. But even still, they look rather at peace, like they fully trust he's going to do what he said and not ruin them…

He really hopes he doesn't end up doing such a thing.

"If this ends up breaking them, you're the one who is going to pay what it costs to fix or replace them. I'm not going to be out that much money because of your idea."

Mumbo huffs. "I'm not going to intentionally break your big and expensive toy, Gri. Who do you take me for? I'm not Etho."

"They aren't my toy, they are a beta test of how the team's 'companion' program works. And even if they did belong to me, I still wouldn't let you do such a potentially dangerous thing if it meant being out what they're worth."

"Yeah yeah…"

"Alright then," He says, moving his fingers to his keyboard. "I'm going to put that code back and unplug them from my computer. I think we've been at this long enough…If I don't get you their model number before you go to bed, bug me during your morning routine before you head in tomorrow."

"You say that, but we both know I get ready much earlier than you do and you hate getting disturbed at any time in the morning."

He sticks out his tongue at them before leaning over and unplugging the cord from Scar, carefully moving the android's head onto his lap. And as their cheek presses against his thigh, his fingers are combing through their hair before he even realizes what he's doing. 

Did I just…subconsciously pet their head?

No, there's no way he just petted their head. He was just…Fixing their hair. Preemptively fixing their hair. Yeah, he's gonna go with that.

"Okay," He says quickly, wanting to move on from what he did. "If I haven't royally messed up, they should re-boot up in a few."

"If you put everything back like you said you did, then they should be pretty much the same as when you plugged them in. Unless even touching their code is enough to make them break."

"Oh gosh…Don't give the universe any ideas now."

Scar makes a noise, moving a hand up and gently grabbing at his leg before opening their eyes. They keep their head in his lap, looking up at him with a familiar blank face.

"Hello Scar," He says softly. "Welcome back. You feeling alright?"

"Hi…" They move their head away. "All of my systems are working properly as far as I can tell. Have you completed everything you wanted to do?"

"Well…We ran into a bit of a problem, but my friend Mumbo here has offered a solution that may work."

He gestures to his computer, but Scar doesn't move their head in its direction.

Instead, they carefully move themselves into a standing position, keeping themselves out of his way in his view of the computer's screen. Hmm…Now that he really thinks about it, he doesn't remember them ever disturbing him while he was typing away at his computer or looking at his company-provided tablet. Do they see him using those electronics as him doing something important? Did their last programmer put that in their code as a way to not be distracted while working?

He turns towards them in his chair. "Do you want to say hi to Mumbo? They're right here on the video call. I'm sure they would love to talk to you."

"...Is this a test of how well I follow commands that don't come from you?"

"No, Mumbo's not going to be telling you to do anything." He stands up from his chair. "You don't have to worry about anything anyone else tells you to do while you're in this apartment. You only have to do what I say unless stated otherwise."

"Okay."

"Come on then, take a seat in the chair so Mumbo can see you. There's no need to be shy now."

Scar blankly stares at him for a few seconds longer before slowly walking forward. He starts to move to the other side of the chair, trying to get out of their way, but gets pulled into something that feels both soft and hard. What the…

"Scar, what are you-"

"We can both sit in the chair if we sit like this."

Mumbo's loud laughter comes through the speakers as he processes what Scar has just done…And where his face is pressed. 

Life is just set out to make him feel weird today…

"Scar, though I can understand your thought process…" He says slowly, really trying to have them focus on his words. "Please don't pull me onto your lap without a warning. Or press my face into your chest."

"...But this prevents you from having to stand, and you were sitting in the chair first. Isn't sitting like this more fair?"

"I was perfectly fine with standing Scar…"

"Your android just wants to cuddle a bit, Gri," Mumbo jokes. "Are you really going to break his little mechanical heart by saying he can hold you like that?"

"You stay out of this! I will end this video call right now!"

"What, so you can smooch your bot freely without an audience? You'll probably do that when this call ends anyways."

"That's not funny!"

"Well, I don't want to disturb you two any longer, so I'll just end this call on my end. Remember to get me that model number before work tomorrow!"

"Mumbo, don't you dare-"

His fury grows as Mumbo's form gets replaced with a black screen, signaling the call has ended.

"...I do not understand what just happened," Scar says, voice laced with confusion.

He lets out a long frustrated noise. Is there anything else the universe wants to throw at him, or is it done with the 'make Grian's day awkward' train it has going!?

~~~~

-Built up Heart Anon, telling you all not to miss what happens to Scar with Grian trying to save himself some time. It's going to be...interesting :)

AMAZING AAAH you should put this on ao3 🥺 it's so sososo good, and even more ppl shld see it!! And I'm just laughing Scar pulling Gri into their lap in front of Mumbo lmao poor Gri all he wants to do is fix Scar but he keeps doing these things

Super hyped for what's next!!

[ebdanon]

hope you're alright after work <3 and tw for bugs and another long ask lmao

to be honest, we don't have access to mental health resources, that kind of stuff is expensive here, and we already spent a bunch on trying to figure out what was physically wrong with both of us first, during which time my husband (he got ibs) was not working because it was physically impossible for him, and I (thyroid issues) stopped getting paid from the freelance work I do (I'm still owed about 10k which is enough for a down payment on an apartment in the most expensive part in my country) which put us in a ridiculously tight spot. we had to move out of our apartment and start living with my in-laws, which is where more crazy has just been tacked on. it's been a very shitty couple of years in terms of what other people have been doing that directly affects us, but we're trudging on anyway. we finally started applying for jobs abroad, which we couldn't really do until we moved because it was constantly dealing with doctors and with health issues, and scrambling together money for bills and rent and overall living, and then the building got infected with cockroaches which was the cherry on top when we both finally said "we're outta here" and moved out in like 2 days (we knew the consequences of doing that). the day we decided to do that, we were up until 5am - me shrieking at each new baby cockroach I saw, and my husband killing them (I'm terrified of bugs), because a cockroach laid some eggs in a door frame in the apartment. that same week our vacuum made a loud noise and smoke just started coming out of it and it broke, the stovetop also broke, a repairman came and tried to fix it a bunch of times so we had no stove for 4-5 days (which was awful because my husband has to eat carefully cooked meals, and the only thing we could use to cook was the oven, which is ridiculously limiting on an already limited diet), and two of the ceiling lights went out. and then I got a flare up (different health issue) on top of everything which meant I was in bed for a couple of days. it was the worst week of 2023.

we've been applying for the last 6 months, and it's been nothing but rejections because we require visas to move to the countries we're applying to (it's the literal explanation we've been receiving which is a great thing as it's not our skills or something), but it's fine, one of us will find a job at some point (I hope soon) and we'll get to get out of this shithole of a country filled with shitty people. I'm definitely getting a therapist when we're out of here though, I've wanted to talk to one for years but my plan has always been to do that when I leave this country. Mental health is very much taboo here sadly, which contributes to many of the issues people tend to face. Also fun fact, the last time we applied for jobs abroad was at the end of 2019, and then the pandemic happened which meant all the embassy shut down and the applications got canceled (it was a different application system back then). The plan was to get the marriage certificate and start applying again, but the drama happened and we needed to decompress. Then the plan was to start asap after the decompression and then all the health issues happened. Have you ever seen a train wreck lmao it's just me trying to get the hell out of this country since I was 12 BUT IT WILL HAPPEN ONE DAY I JUST KNOW IT WILL (can you feel the desperation lmao)

i know that may have sounded worrisome but don't worry about me and my lore-filled asks, things will work out, they always do

i really hope you guys are able to get the hell out soon :( the job market here in america (idk where ur applying but might be the same elsewhere anyway because the pandemic fucked everything up for everyone) is absolutely atrocious rn so i wish you the best of luck!! you’re right when you say things work out i know they will for you 🫶 it just takes time unfortunately :( but hopefully soon

also as a fellow renter im crying for you with that apartment stuff jeez. it always feels like everything happens at once tbh

[ladyimaginarium]

okay so. ive been thinking about this for a hot minute & i was inspired by what chelazon leroux ( which incase yall dont know who he is, he was on canada's drag race season 3 & he's an indigenous drag queen ) said on tiktok. & like i& rarely go on tiktok these days but something he said got my attention & was basically repeating what ive been thinking for the last few months or so &. that's the topic of like. making fun of outsiders who genuinely want to try & be respectful of our communities & have their heart in the right place & now in my case im thinking of making fun of reconnecting natives on just. not getting things right. & that really bothers me. & like obviously it's important to be informed & to guide others in the right direction. there are reconnecting natives who're earlier in their journeys & there are more advanced reconnecting natives who've been reconnecting for quite a while now & in my& case it's been 5 years now, half a decade. idk about you but for me at least i always compare it to a baby learning to walk for the first time. i wouldn't criticize a child for falling when they're still learning to walk for the first time. like, obviously we're all adults & we need to be aware & listen to connected natives but like when someone's coming to understand something about their culture, do you expect them to be an expert on the first day lmao. or the first year or maybe even the first few years even? like. no? lmao. like.

ik in my case i'm STILL learning bc a lot of things about my nations in particular are lost due to genocide, colonization & forced assimilation of so many families, my own included. & like. even in my case i didn't know everything at once, it all came in small little pieces throughout my lifetime. i often had to find my own resources on the internet & actually reach out to several groups bc i'm non-status ( & i'm going to try to get enrolled but we'll see how that goes ) but it's hurtful to be criticized for not knowing something. it's weird. like. how can you expect someone to understand something when they're still figuring things out. idk. i just think it's interesting bc like. we have more & more reconnecting natives popping up & learning about their cultures & that so important bc most (in my case) canadianborn (& ik this applies to other places like america) citizens show half as much if ANY interest in our peoples, history & cultures unless we're dead (literally look at how people reacted to the r/esidential schools, the last one closed in 1996 y'all, thats literally four years before i was born) or symbols of the past let alone engages with us & some ppl's first reaction is to. criticize them for not getting things right? bc we've been fighting for awareness & recognition for so long & to have an understanding & to finally bridge gaps between our communities, indigenous or otherwise, when it seems like it's finally happening, whether it's from reconnecting natives who genuinely want to reconnect (& no, i'm not referring to reconnecting natives who solely reconnect for social media points in indigicourse & act like they know everything about native cultures when they literally Just started reconnecting & act like an indigenous activist the next day & take 0 interest in ACTUALLY learning anything about their culture, language & community let alone fighting for it, believe me, i've dealt w/ someone who did this, or taking advantage of their communities or pretendians aka ppl who literally pretend to be native for clout or money, im not talking about any of that) or just. nonnative outsiders who genuinely want to understand, our first reaction is to criticize them & not even tell them why? like. why are we as native people criticizing reconnecting natives when they're literally still learning about their own native cultures. of COURSE they're gonna fuck up. of COURSE they're gonna make mistakes. of COURSE they're not gonna be perfect. hell, I'M not perfect in this & even when i do my own research & do my best to talk to elders & do every single thing i'm asked to do & i do my very best to do things right, i'm still gonna make mistakes. im not an authority figure or anything & i dont claim to be.

no one's flawless in learning something. &. like ik others have talked about this too but i find a lot of the online native community are like. very gatekeepy & hypercritical about this shit & it looks critical & i dont understand why & i don't think it's right ESPECIALLY bc so many of us were forcibly removed from our cultures and communities. like. can you imagine how hurtful that is for people who're still learning about themselves because they're not doing [x] right or they're somehow not native enough bc they don't look traditionally native or not fighting hard enough for someone's standards. that's like. a slap in the face. & if we're gonna talk about bridging gaps between communities of course it's gonna be messy. ofc it's gonna come w/ misunderstandings. luckily i dont see this v often on the hellsite but its RAMPANT in twitter & tiktok. like. idk. sometimes i think we need to chill tf out lmao.

[uniqque007]

24 Essential Aspects in Website Design and Development

In today's digital era, having an online presence is more important than ever. As businesses seek to expand their reach, a compelling website emerges as a pivotal asset. From a simple blog to a full-fledged e-commerce platform, a website serves as a reflection of a brand's identity. It's no surprise, then, that branding consultancy firms stress the importance of a robust online footprint. But how does one ensure that a website is effective, functional, and represents a brand appropriately? Dive in as we explore 24 key elements to consider during website design and development.

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A website without a clear purpose is like a ship without a compass. Before diving into design or content, pin down the core objective of your site. Is it a platform meant to drive sales? Or perhaps it's a resource hub, filled with valuable information? Maybe it's designed for community engagement or to showcase a portfolio? Recognizing the primary mission of your website forms the foundation of all subsequent design and content strategies, ensuring alignment with your business goals. For more insights, click here: https://www.khula.studio/insights-on-branding-and-webflow.

Intuitive Design

We've all been on websites that leave us scratching our heads, trying to figure out where to go next. An the ideal website that seamlessly guides visitors, allowing them to effortlessly find the information or product they're seeking. Intuitive design is about predictability and simplicity, ensuring that the user experience is smooth and frustration-free.

Branding Consistency

Consistency is key when it comes to brand representation. From logos and color schemes to tone of voice and messaging, every element should be harmonized. Branding consultancy can offer invaluable insights here, ensuring that your website doesn't just look good, but also accurately reflects your brand identity.

Loading Speed

Time is of the essence, especially in the online realm. Long loading times can deter even the most patient visitors. Ensuring optimal loading speed is essential not just for user experience but also for SEO purposes. Faster websites generally mean happier users and potentially better search engine rankings.

Mobile Responsiveness

In today's smartphone-dominated world, a mobile-responsive site isn't just a nice-to-have; it's a necessity. With a significant portion of web traffic coming from mobile devices, ensuring that your website adjusts to different screen sizes and resolutions is imperative.

Quality Content

While visuals capture attention, content retains it. Rich, compelling, and original content not only engages visitors but also positions your site as an authority in its niche. Moreover, quality content, when optimized, can significantly enhance your site's SEO, driving organic traffic and boosting search engine rankings.

Engaging Visuals

The human brain processes visuals much faster than text. Integrating high-quality images, infographics, and videos can greatly enrich the user experience, making your content more digestible and engaging.

User-friendly Navigation

A complex navigation system can be off-putting. Streamlined, clear, and logical navigation enhances usability, allowing visitors to traverse your site with ease.

Effective CTA

You've attracted visitors to your site; now, what do you want them to do? Clear and compelling Calls to Action (CTA) can guide users, whether that's to make a purchase, sign up for a newsletter, or follow on social media.

SEO Optimization

Visibility is key in the vast digital ocean. Implementing SEO best practices ensures your website stands out. Furthermore, experts in Branding Consultancy often highlight the relationship between strong brand portrayal and SEO. The two, when aligned, can work wonders.

Feedback Mechanisms

Open channels for communication allow users to voice concerns, give praise, or make inquiries. This can be through feedback forms, surveys, or interactive chatbots, all of which enhance user engagement and provide valuable insights for website improvement.

Regular Updates

Stagnancy can be a website's downfall. Regular content and design updates keep your site relevant and in line with current industry trends.

Security Measures

In an era of increasing cyber threats, security is paramount. Implementing protective measures, such as SSL certificates, not only safeguards your site's data but also instills trust in your visitors.

Analytics Integration

Knowledge is power. Integrating analytical tools provides insights into user behavior, traffic sources, and other essential metrics, guiding future optimizations and strategies.

Social Media Integration

Bridge the gap between your website and your social platforms. Integration allows users to easily connect with your brand across multiple channels, fostering community and increasing reach.

Browser Compatibility

Different browsers can display websites differently. Ensure that your site appears and functions consistently, irrespective of whether a user is on Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or any other browser.

Accessible Design

A website should be accessible to everyone, including those with disabilities. From color contrasts to screen reader capabilities, prioritize inclusivity.

Backup and Recovery

Technical glitches are inevitable. Having robust backup systems ensures that, in the event of a mishap, your website can be swiftly restored, minimizing disruptions.

Testimonials and Reviews

Authentic testimonials and reviews provide social proof, bolstering your brand's credibility and trustworthiness.

Newsletter Signup

Regularly engaging with your audience builds loyalty. Newsletter signups allow you to keep your audience updated, fostering a sense of community.

Clear Policies

Transparency is key. Clearly articulating your website's terms of service, privacy policies, and other essential guidelines avoids ambiguity and builds trust.

Multiple Payment Options

Flexibility in payment options enhances user convenience, potentially driving sales and boosting conversion rates.

Customer Support

Prompt and effective support mechanisms, whether FAQs or live chats, ensure user queries are addressed, enhancing satisfaction and loyalty.

Future-proofing

The digital world is ever-evolving. Building your website with scalability in mind ensures it remains relevant and effective, irrespective of future trends.

In essence, the art and science of website design and development are multifaceted. With the evolving trends and dynamics of the digital realm, and the insights Branding Consultancy provides, it's essential to stay adaptable, informed, and always aligned with your core purpose.

Conclusion

Designing and developing a website goes beyond mere aesthetics. It's about creating an experience that resonates with users and effectively communicates a brand's essence. These 24 elements, coupled with insights from Branding Consultancy experts, can serve as a comprehensive guide to building a site that stands the test of time. Whether you're starting from scratch or revamping an existing platform, these considerations can set you on the path to digital success. Always remember, the digital world might be vast, but with the right tools and strategies, your brand can stand out and make a lasting impact.

Visit here for more: https://www.khula.studio/

[zachsgamejournal]

PLAYING: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic

Whew--this is a long game. Ha!

I think I'm making too many posts about this game. We'll keep this short.

I completed Tatooine. To my surprise, a lot of characters I've picked up along the way had some major personal breakthroughs.

Mission met her brother's ex girlfriend, whom she blames for stealing her brother and abandoning her on a planet that is later destroyed by the Sith. Later, we find her brother (whom I believed to be on another planet) and he turns out to be quite the dead beat. Kinda like Worm from Rounders. I'm not sure what Mission wants out of life, but I'd say looking for her brother is no longer a concern. She seems pretty done with him.

Balstila met her mother on Tatooine, wasn't expecting that. Her dad died hunting a Krayt dragon. Idiot. He doesn't make it, but he has a holocron that we reclaim. Balstila considers keeping it. She thinks her mother is a shitty, manipulative jerk, and they fight it out. The mother argues that the dad insisted on hunting dangerous game for more money and wanted Balstila to join him--which would endanger her. So the mother sent her off to join the Jedi to protector. Or some shit. I don't care, Balstila seems happy and I'm happy for her.

There was an interesting mission where I had to help a guy from sabotaged robots. I had to hack the droids and figure out some math puzzles to deactivate their bombs. I had been drinking, so it was challenging but there was one answer I couldn't get. I still don't understand it. But it was an interesting.

Tatooine has a large desert area, and while I get it--it's a desert planet and you're trying to show that. It's really boring to walk across an empty desert. I think the entirety of the Disney Infinity Tatooine maps could fit into this open space--and those included towns, Jabba fortress, and plenty of other destinations.

There's a cool thing in this game where I had to interact with the Sand People. There was a choice, I could either attack and fight my way through, or I could steal some sand people outfits (by killing them), buy an expensive droid that speaks Sand People, and then jump through a few hoops to earn their trust. I did the latter. This is really what I was looking for in my Star Wars game: options!

Basically a corporation has set up shop on Tatooine to strip mine the place--only they've learned the planet has little to no valuable resources. Their presence here is a threat to the Sand People who do not want the corporation here, so they attack anything from the outsiders. it's an unfortunate conflict with victims on both sides--but clearly the greedy corporation is the most wrong.

Anyway, they want me to kill the sand people to stop the attacks, but I also need info from the sand people. So I opt to negotiate with the sand people using my robot. They send me on a mission to get water vaporators (not expecting me to return) but I do. At this point I'm welcomed to walk freely among their tribe and they promise to reduce their attacks where they can. I also rescue some Jawas that were missing and find Mission's brother--wow!

Next, I'm led to a cave in another area where a Krayt dragon is. Somehow I've learned that this is where the next star map is, and Balstila's dead father. I work with a local hunter to draw out the dragon and blow it up with mines. Mission accomplished.

Now we've gone to Kashyyyk. Turns out my own Wookie friend was banished from here after he explosed his own brother selling wookies into slavery. The same shitty corporation that was screwing up Tatooine is here enslaving wookies. My wook's brother has taken over the tribe and is collaborating in the slave trade, though acting like he's minimizing the damage of resistance. I'm clearly going to try to find a way to end the slavery. They've taken my wookie into custody and sent me on a mission...I think to kill someone. But I've run into an old Jedi who wants to join me, but after I run an errand. I have to convince some people harvesting the wildlife for testing to leave the planet.

It's interesting, the game has some pro-nature, anti-colonialism values--but I still think it's kind shitty to women. Western movie goers have probably been programmed to assume that the leading male and female characters of a story are going to either hook up or experience sexual tension. Sadly, no one can just be friends anymore. When I try to speak to her, many of the dialog options are flirty, and in pretty toxic kind of way.

Speaking of dialog choices, I hate them. They don't matter all that much, it's not Walking Dead where characters "remember" what you say. But I can tell that they were leaning toward an aggressive, pro-violence player who would want to argue, fight, attack people verbally if not just physically. There's no balanced Qui-Gon Jin options. I love Qui-Gon Jin.

But it has to be hard to try and write for a game like this. You have to try and fit TONS of fiction and characters into this game while giving the gamer some pretend agency over how they talk to people. Point and Click games usually let you select all possible choices before moving on. This game is somewhat similar. You can get into branching conversations, but mostly you can start the conversation over and ask different questions--having a completely different convo. There's only a few unique situations where your dialog choices have a lasting effect. So I'll give them credit for trying and working in some interesting themes--but much of the dialog has not aged well in my opinion.

I'm hoping to continue trying to come up with peaceful solutions. We'll see how it goes.