#as if I have a founder named... STEVE

[castawavy]

drop this sunflower🌻into the inboxes of the blogs that make you happy! lets spread a little sunshine ☀️

blessings upon you for creating steve the trashman.. a solid 10/10 lovable yet slightly disastrous gameplay sim 🧡

OMG BECCA TY 🥺💗 a flower for you as well 🌻 even tho your latest chapter HAD ME UPSET (bruivan...) Im so happy ur story has continued over to the next gen!!! really enjoying ever minute of it

ALSO AHAHAHA THANK YOUU yeah idk what june sees in him:

^ steve

[greenfiend]

The Significance of Lover’s Lake and Byler (Theory)

'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact

Yes we're lovers, and that is that (Heroes by David Bowie)

Part 2 here

(Warning: This post has mentions of sex (nothing graphic)… if you’re uncomfortable with that please do not proceed.)

So, Lover’s Lake has existed within the show ever since season 2, when Will mapped out the entirety of Hawkins. The lake is shaped like a heart (keep this in mind for later) thus the name “Lover’s Lake”. Makes sense within the town of Hawkins, but does not provide an explanation on a subtextual level. None of the “lovers” existing within the show has been associated with the lake (you could say Steve/Nancy but honestly it’s a stretch since they never actually rekindled their romance.)

This leads me to the question… why call the lake “Lover’s Lake” without associating any lovers to it?

Because maybe, there will be lovers connected to it… but they aren’t lovers… yet.

Okay, let’s get back to the shape. A heart. ❤️ Hm. Now which character within the show is most associated with hearts? Which character is even referred to as the heart by their love interest?

Mike.

I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that he’s one part of the “lovers” here. Thus ruling out many other romantic pairings within the show. Leaving only two pairings: Mike/El and Mike/Will. I won’t go into detail on why I believe Mike and El will inevitably break up, you can read a lot of different analyses for that. So that leaves… Mike/Will. Not lovers yet.

Okay, here’s the part where I may get crucified. The definition of lovers.

Please put your pitch forks down for this.

Lovers usually refers to two people in a sexual relationship outside of marriage.

With all the subtext (and actual text) around sex and sexuality, and how we see Will struggle with his own sexuality, there is a likely conclusion here. He’s going to confront his sexuality. To do so, he will have sex. With whom? Well, with the one person he loves the most, the one he affectionately refers to as the heart… his best friend… Mike.

Now, where’s this going to happen? What better location than somewhere empty and secluded.

Reefer Rick’s lakeside house.

Now, who is “Reefer Rick”?

Also known as, Rick Lipton, Reefer Rick is a drug dealer who’s closely acquainted with Eddie.

He’s an enigma. We never see him. All that is known about him are the things mentioned by other characters.

He’s currently in jail apparently for dealing drugs. Also, he seems like a town pariah.

Also, he isn’t too keen on Fast Times (returned on time), at least not as much as “Cheech and Chong” (returned late each time.) That shot at 53 minutes and 5 seconds in Fast Times doesn’t do it for him, I guess. Unlike watching two guys get high.

His name choice is an interesting one.

“Reefer” Rick Lipton.

“Reefer” is a synonym for “marijuana cigarette”. Okay, makes sense, he is a drug dealer after all. But why the term “cigarette”? Well… there’s this other word that also happens to be a synonym for “cigarette”…

Then Rick… short for “Richard”. Richard is one of the few names out there with a nickname that is also slang for male genitalia… “Dick”.

Then finally… Lipton.

As Robin says, spelled like Lipton tea. Now, why would the writers use the name “Lipton” and even reference the tea company if there were no significance to it? They wouldn’t. We know this about them.

So why “Lipton”?

Let’s do a bit of research here, shall we?

The founder of Lipton tea was a man named Thomas Lipton.

Thomas Lipton just so happens to have been a closeted homosexual man who had a long term relationship with another man whose name is… *drumroll please*

William Love.

Okay, that can’t be just a coincidence right?

So moving on to Reefer Rick’s house.

We see glimpses of his living room, kitchen, and briefly his bedroom.

Jason and his buds are searching for Eddie and this involves looking under the mattress? As if, Eddie could successfully hide under there? Haha okay sure.

The angle of this shot is interesting too, because the bed is essentially being shown off to us.

This bed with a blue blanket and yellow sheets. Hm. Interesting.

Keep in mind this scene is essentially unnecessary. They could have easily shown Jason et al searching for Eddie without creating an entire new set for a room that’s only used in one single insignificant shot. Therefore, I do not think it’s unreasonable to believe this is used for foreshadowing.

Then we also get this shot from outside the window into the bedroom.

Look familiar? I thought so too.

Okay. Now for my theory/prediction.

As I mentioned earlier, Will is currently struggling with his own sexuality and feels a lot of shame and internalized homophobia. There’s also a lot of evidence that Mike is experiencing the same thing. Unlike Will, Mike conforms to the society’s expectations. He dates El, performing as her boyfriend. This is comparable to Nancy’s arc in season 1. She also conforms, and like Mike, leaves her best friend behind. We all know how that ended.

Now, what better way to wrap up the show than to have Mike correct his sister’s mistake? To have Mike reject societal expectations in favour of his best friend?

Okay so this is my theory.

Mike and Will have their first kiss an episode or two prior to 5x07. Tensions are high, but they’re busy fighting interdimentional monsters along side their friends.

Then comes 5x07 which somehow leaves Mike and Will alone by Lover’s Lake. The tension between them reaches an all time high, leading to a passionate kiss and then… more. Let’s just say it involves that blue and yellow bed.

At the same time as these two become the lovers they were meant to be, another character is being saved, or perhaps being brought back to life. Perhaps another red head, one we all know and love. Yes, a major parallel and contrast to Steve/Nancy’s sex scene in season 1, which featured Barb dying. But because Mike is rejecting conformity and being authentic, another character lives instead.

I mean, what better way to represent the beauty of the love and intimacy between these two boys? Their love is literally bringing back life to the world.

So yeah, basically I’m saying that Mike and Will expressing their love for each other will save Max.

This also wouldn’t be the first time that Max’s survival is correlated with their relationship. As I doubt that it was merely a coincidence that in episode 4x04 we have Mike’s genuine monologue to Will, then we have Max surviving Vecna. In contrast to 4x09, which features a forced monologue from Mike to El, followed by Max losing to Vecna and barely surviving.

So, as their bond strengthens, Max’s life bar goes up (so to speak). If something interferes with their bond, Max’s outcome is more dire.

The writers have also been associating Mike/El with death…

[Tumblr only allows a limited number of images so pretend we have one of El holding dead flowers and another image of the cut scene from 3x05 with Mike/El having a moment cutting to a dead body on the hospital floor]

Mike/Will on the other hand have been associated with life. The birds chirping in the background of their final scene together, the flowers blooming between them as they stand together. Plus, blue plus yellow does equal green after all. Which is the most commonly associated colour with life.

🌿🌱🌳

To conclude, I just want to say that I personally think this would be a nice way to end their arc. I know a lot of people are uncomfortable with associating Mike/Will with anything sexual… but the show has been doing this already. Whether you like it or not, Mike and Will have been shown implicitly and explicitly that they desire each other both romantically and sexually. The fact that they have sexual desire for each other does not minimize or trivialize their friendship and love, it’s an aspect of it… adding another dimension to their relationship.

Do I think or hope they would show anything pornographic? Absolutely not (do I even have to say this?) But explicit like Steve/Nancy? Yes. Do I think they’ll be only 14/15 years old when this occurs? No. This will likely happen after a time jump.

Being authentically yourself and not conforming is overall a major theme of the show. I mean it’s called Stranger Things after all. Will people be upset by the ending of this arc? Bylers included? Absolutely. Many people within the town of Hawkins and people watching the show will both show disgust for it. But that’s the point. It’s not “normal” and that’s okay. Different is good, and can be a beautiful and wonderful thing. We all just need to open our minds and hearts a bit. I’m not just talking about the GA; many Bylers are also closed minded and stuck in their ways too. Let’s all try to work on that, shall we?

Despite the opinions of others, Will and Mike will choose to love each other which will inevitably lead to their defeat of Vecna. Love concurs all. It may be cheesy and cliche but personally? I think that’s a beautiful thing. We all can learn to love more.

Anyway, would love to know your thoughts on this.

Then we could be Heroes, just for one day

Part 2 here

[beardedmrbean]

During the summer of 2020, I worked as a consultant for multiple progressive DA candidates backed by George Soros and his foundation. In the places where they won, these DAs have since done immeasurable damage to the local communities. They failed to prosecute offenders, especially surrounding drug use and distribution, and allowed crime to run rampant, hurting communities of color the most—the very people they were supposedly trying to help.

Far from progressive, these Soros-backed DAs did more to hurt progressives than anything the Right has managed; to everyday Americans, the term "progressive" now conjures up images of fentanyl overdoses, crime, defecation in the streets, and riots.

I feel remorse for the work I did on these campaigns. The Soros money that was contributed to progressive DA races would have been better spent on supportive housing, mental health services, and recovery programs. Police need resources to arrest and imprison drug dealers and end open-air drug use. This is just common sense.

Unfortunately, the Soroses are just the tip of the iceberg.

I spent years fundraising for Democrats. I raised millions of dollars. And in the process, I routinely saw and heard about inappropriate relationships between donors and candidates that would bust anyone's bubble about the independence of our leaders. There is an entire donor ecosystem working against the interests of regular Americans—and it's the one top Democrats are swimming in.

Consider the long-time friendship between Kamala Harris and billionaire donor Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Steve Jobs. The New York Times described the women as being so close that they've gone on vacation together and consider each other family. Powell Jobs sat in Harris' exclusive friends and family suite at the DNC last month. She was also instrumental in getting Biden to step down to clear the way for Harris; one of her top aides circulated a polling memo to other key influential donors that allegedly showed Biden's inability to win.

It was another example of a megadonor overcoming the will of the people—and making things worse for voters. Now that the Kool-Aid from the DNC is wearing off, people are waking up to the realities of an untested candidate. Harris is barely beating Biden in key swing state polls, dodges questions from the press, and continually gaffes answers on significant policy issues. She can barely answer basic questions about her plans for regular people in friendly encounters with people like Oprah.

This is what happens when a candidate is anointed by donors and not selected by voters.

Or take Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn. He is a megadonor—a "big fish" as we would call him behind the scenes—and is expected to spend up to $100 million to ensure that Vice President Kamala Harris beats former President Donald Trump in the presidential election. But Hoffman has an agenda: He has publicly called for the resignation of FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan, who Hoffman said is "at war with American business."

The reality is somewhat different: Khan has been one of the only lifelines for working people in the modern Democratic machine. She stood up for workers' rights by banning non-compete agreements and led efforts to block major mergers of grocery stores like the Kroger-Albertsons, which would have resulted in higher food prices and hurt union workers.

If Hoffman is successful in his public campaign to replace Khan, he will further cement the Democrats as the party of the wealthy, the powerful, and corporate elite. I won't be surprised when he gets the job done.

Another name I've seen pop up many times in my years fundraising for progressive candidates is the San Francisco based Democratic donor and influencer Steve Phillips. Phillips has written books that focus heavily on the importance of race in politics, with titles like Brown Is the New White: How the Demographic Revolution Has Created a New American Majority and How We Win the Civil War: Securing a Multiracial Democracy and Ending White Supremacy for Good.

Yet, Donald Trump is on track to secure more support from minority voters, especially Black men, than any other Republican in generations. It's becoming increasingly clear that the real divide is the one separating the college educated from the working class of all races. But Phillips and others like him continue to focus exclusively on race—and you can see the direct impact this has on Democratic politicians, who talk much more about things like "equity" than they do about the class divide.

It's out of touch with the pulse of the country and deeply alienating to working-class voters who were once stalwart Democrats.

Unfortunately, the Democrats aren't getting the message. Last week, Alexander Soros posted images at his opulent New York mansion on X with Harris' VP pick, Tim Walz.

Is this how you convince people you're the party of the people? By posing with a billionaire nepo baby while Americans struggle to pay for groceries?

Some Democrats surely know how damaging such a photo is to their flailing brand. But Soros has so much power and influence that no one would dare tell him to take the photo down.

Internally, the Democrats know that like the photo of Walz with Alex Sorors, the Soros-funded criminal justice policies have been an embarrassing failure from an outcome, messaging, and public perception standpoint. They also know that Reid Hoffman and Laurene Powell Jobs do not have the best interests of regular Americans at heart—but they will continue to cower to them anyway.

Forget "Kamala is Brat" or the "Joy!" campaign. The image of Soros with Walz perfectly encapsulates the Democrats' real vibe these days—the unfettered influence the donors have over this party and the lives they've destroyed in the process.

[captainsophiestark]

A Reverse Steve Rogers

Jack Thompson x Reader

Masterlist - Taglist

Requested by @hawaiianpizzaenjoyer !! Thanks for the request, and for being so patient while I got it done! I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!

Fandom: Marvel

Summary: Y/N, an Avenger, friend of Tony Stark, and the one who helped Steve Rogers adjust to the 21st century after he came out of the ice, gets flung back into the 1940s when something goes wrong on a training mission. She has no idea how long her stay in the 40s might be, but one way or another, it's going to be interesting.

Word Count: 4,684

Category: Fluff, Humor

A/N: This doesn't follow any of the season 2 timeline lol, just some vague stuff put together for the sake of this story.

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"We could always just find another ticket for her and make up a reason for her to be there on her own..."

"Yeah? Like what? At this event, anybody with the slightest hole in their story is gonna stick out like a sore thumb.”

I looked between Peggy Carter and Daniel Sousa as they talked, frantically trying to figure out what to do with me tonight. They were currently in the middle of breaking up a secret society in Los Angeles, and they had a mission disguised as a date tonight where they'd be infiltrating a fancy party being thrown by said society.

Unfortunately for them, I'd landed in their laps (pretty literally) this afternoon, and accidentally thrown a wrench into their whole operation.

One minute, I'd been doing a training mission with the Avengers. The next, I'd been falling on top of  a desk in the SSR in 1947. I still didn't know exactly what had thrown me back in time, but no matter what the cause, the fact didn't change that I was here, and would be for the foreseeable future.

I'd almost had a heart attack when I'd looked up to see THE Peggy Carter, founder of SHIELD and total badass, standing in front of me. I think I freaked her and Daniel out a little by fangirling the minute I got up off the floor, but a stranger landing in the middle of their super high-level organization probably would've landed me in the interrogation room anyway.

Thankfully, I knew Steve Rogers pretty well, and so did Peggy. I'd mentioned his name briefly when trying to explain how I knew who she was, but then I'd been able to use what I knew about Steve and the stories he'd shared with me to convince her I was telling the truth about time travel.

Since then, we'd done some brief introductions and I'd been let out of the interrogation room. I'd been given the bare minimum details of the mission to understand the conversation, and now I sat on the edge of a desk watching Daniel and Peggy talk as they tried to adjust their plans.

"Perhaps Mr. Jarvis would be available on short notice to take her as a date..." mused Peggy.

"Whoa, Jarvis? Oh my gosh, the real person Jarvis is alive and walking around right now. That makes sense," I said, mostly talking to myself.

"That still doesn't solve the problem of them not being on the guest list," continued Daniel, he and Peggy only briefly glancing my way at the outburst.

"Maybe Howard could help us secure another two."

"He already wore out his welcome with these guys to get you in there the first time."

"Did you just say Howard? As in Howard Stark?"

Peggy and Daniel groaned in unison.

"Don't tell me you're a big fan of him too?" groaned Daniel.

"His ego's already big enough as it is," Peggy agreed.

"No, it's not that, I- uh... nevermind." I pushed off the desk, waving off thoughts of Tony. I still wasn't clear on how this time travel stuff worked, and I didn't want to go telling people about Howard Stark's currently nonexistent son without more assurance it wouldn't have any crazy impact first. "Look, you guys clearly don't have space for me in this mission. The best path is a small team, specifically a couple, who can enjoy the night like a regular date while still gathering intel and handling the mission."

Peggy and Daniel shared a look, and I could see an entire conversation passing between them. I continued.

"I might not know much about the forties, but I'm still a capable adult. I'm an Av- I was on a team with Steve to take on missions around the world. I'll be fine handling myself for a bit while you guys take care of business."

"Are you sure?" asked Peggy with a frown.

"We don't want to completely abandon you. Disappearing from your own time and reappearing in another can't be easy," added Daniel.

I gave them a faint smile, momentarily overwhelmed with memories. I'd first met Steve when he'd shown up in the future and needed someone to help him adjust. I'd been a SHIELD agent at the time, responsible for liaising with Tony Stark, so they figured helping a living legend adjust would be nothing compared to that.

They'd been right, and we'd hit it off the bat. When Tony eventually formed the team, I'd been on the roster. And now, I was the one being faced with adjusting to another time.

"It's not easy," I said to Daniel, the smile still on my face. "But I also don't need babysitters when those babysitters have important, world-saving duties to attend to. I actually have a little bit of an advantage, going back in time. I took history classes and whatnot, so I at least have some idea of how this world works."

"Well, if you're sure-"

"Alright! Sousa, Marge, fear not! The cavalry is here."

I turned at the sound of a new voice, but not before I caught Peggy and Daniel rolling their eyes so far back into their heads I couldn't see the pupils. A tall, blond man in a suit was striding across the room towards us, and a second after I started sizing him up he noticed me and did the same.

"Who's this?" he asked, coming to a stop in front of us. Peggy and Daniel didn't answer right away, apparently working together to gather mental strength before entering the conversation with this guy. I just leaned back a bit against the desk and watched.

Peggy and Daniel took a second to make significant eye contact, then sighed as one. Daniel turned to Jack, and Peggy subtly shifted closer to me.

"She's somebody who does a job like ours, but from the future," said Daniel. Jack just stared at him for a minute, then looked to me, and then back at Daniel.

"Sousa, despite what you might think, I'm not stupid."

"Jack, I get that it's hard to believe, but if you actually listen for two seconds-"

Jack huffed and crossed his arms while Daniel kept talking. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Peggy leaning in towards me, and I blocked out the boys' argument as she whispered to me.

"Y/N, I have a favor to ask of you."

"Hit me," I whispered back. Peggy sighed.

"Jack has recently had a moral epiphany," she started. I took half a second to give her a curious glance, and she just rolled her eyes in response. "It's been mostly nice, both to have him on our side and to finally have him respecting me and Daniel and anyone that's not an older man already in power.

"That said, we don't have space for him on this mission. All he's going to do is be a nuisance, and he's far less likely to agree to being benched than you."

"And I take it you have a solution for this?"

"Yes. But it would require throwing you under the bus to keep him occupied tonight."

I paused for a second, giving Jack another good look. He and Sousa were still in the middle of a heated argument while Sousa tried to convince him I was actually a time traveler, and even though they both seemed exasperated, Jack also seemed to be enjoying the back and forth. A smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.

"Peggy Carter, it would be an absolute honor to assist you on a mission," I said, turning to her with a smile. "Even if it means spending the evening learning about the forties from a slightly questionable teacher."

"You're a lifesaver," she said, giving me a smile back. She pushed off the desk, moving towards Daniel and Jack to interrupt them but shooting me a wink first. "And don't worry, I'll give you an actual introduction to the decade after this mission is over."

I nodded, then Peggy got Jack and Daniel's attention to put their argument to rest and explain the situation. Jack raised an eyebrow when Peggy told him his job would be keeping me company, but she phrased it well enough that it didn't quite sound like babysitting for either of us. Finally, he agreed, and Peggy and Daniel headed out for their event, leaving me and Jack Thompson alone in the bullpen of the LA SSR.

He stood by the windows, staring out at the traffic below as I spun around in a swivel chair. I kept looking at him, but he didn't look over at me once, at least not that I could catch. Finally, after a few more rotations, I huffed a sigh and pushed myself up. I put my hands on my hips, but Jack still didn't look over.

"Alright, I'm bored out of my mind, which should not be a possibility less than three hours after I suddenly appeared in a different time period," I said. Jack finally looked over at me, raising an unimpressed eyebrow as he did. I continued. "You're supposed to be helping me adjust to this place, since I don't know how long I'm gonna be here. Believe it or not, it didn't take me that long to adjust to this office."

He sighed heavily, but stepped away from the window anyway, stopping a few feet in front of me with his arms across his chest. He stared at me for a few seconds without saying anything, and I just stared right back. I crossed my arms to mirror him and he snorted and rolled his eyes.

"You're really from the future?" he finally asked.

"Did the twenty minutes Peggy and Daniel spent convincing you not settle this matter?"

He grunted, then finally dropped his arms back to his sides.

"Fine. What do you want to do then?"

I grinned. "Any good places to grab a drink and a dance around here?”

****************

"This is only my first week in LA, so if this place ends up being terrible, it's the city's fault and not mine," said Jack as we stepped out of the cab together. I'd taken a second to find a dress to steal from Peggy's emergency disguise stash at the SSR, since my 21st century mission clothes would probably cause a riot if I went out in them, and then Jack and I had jumped in a cab to a spot in town he'd heard about.

"Boooo," I teased as he paid the driver and we headed in together. "You can't consider the possibility of the night being a failure before it's even started! It's a jinx."

"A jinx?"

"Yeah, you know. Like bad luck."

"I know the definition of the word jinx," he scoffed. "I just think it's ridiculous you believe in them."

"Oh, yeah, of course. Actually, I didn't want to tell Peggy and Daniel this, but in the future we've discovered that a lot of things people dismissed as superstitions or bad luck are actually true. Like jinxes. Oh, and breaking a mirror? That actually will mess you up! We didn't realize it until science advanced a little further, I think in the seventies, but it's true."

Jack stared at me for a few seconds, and I stared back with a perfectly neutral expression on my face. Then, he broke into a grin and nudged me with his shoulder.

"You're messing with me."

"I definitely am."

He scoffed and shook his head, but the smile didn't drop off his face. He sighed dramatically, looking up at the club in front of us, then held out his arm for me to take.

"C'mon. You're the one who wanted to experience the time period."

I smiled up at him, then looped my arm through his. He pulled me a little closer, and I'd be lying if I said my heart didn't speed up a bit as we walked into the club together.

Immediately I got hit with the music I associated with the swinging jazz of the 1940s as we stepped into a world of men in suits and women in old-style dresses, all twirling across the dancefloor together.

"Whoa," I breathed. Suddenly, it started to sink in that I was actually in the 1940s, more than 80 years from everything and everyone I knew. A new surge of sympathy for Steve welled up in my chest.

"You alright?" asked Jack, nudging me a little as we stood in the doorway. I took a deep breath in and out, then slowly nodded. "Okay, good. Let's go get a drink.”

I huffed a laugh as he pulled me through the crowd and towards the bar. We managed to find two stools, and Jack pulled my seat out for me before I sat down. I couldn't help giving him a slightly bemused look, which he grunted about as he took the seat next to me.

"What?" he asked.

"Nothing," I said, waving him off. "Just, you know... forties."

He turned to stare at me, his eyebrows knit together, but the bartender appeared before he could question what I was talking about.

"What can I get the two of you?" asked the bartender. Jack turned to me, letting me go first.

"I'll have an old fashioned, please."

Both he and Jack looked at me for a second, but I looked right back at both of them like they were crazy for questioning it (because they were). After a second, Jack shrugged and turned back to the bartender.

"I'll do the same."

The bartender nodded, then moved away to make the drinks. I turned and gave Jack a smile.

"Thanks for buying," I said. "I didn't have my wallet on me when I got sucked back in time, and even if I did, I don't think the bartender would be able to accept the kind of bills I carry. I'm not trying to get arrested for counterfeiting a few hours into being in the past."

Jack chuckled. "Sure thing. So, an old fashion, huh?"

"Yeah. It's Ton- uh, it's my friend's favorite drink. He got me drinking them, too."

"Hm. Future sounds like a wild place."

"Honestly, I'd say 1940 is a little wilder."

The bartender set down our drinks, and Jack put a few bills on the table. Then, once he was out of earshot again, I turned to Jack with a smile.

"Cheers," I said, raising my glass in toast. "To new experiences and getting to know each other and this weird ass trip back to the past."

Jack smiled, although I could tell he was fighting it, and clinked his glass with mine before we both took a sip.

"So, Jack Thompson... tell me about the forties."

Jack and I spent the next hour talking about everything from foods that hadn't been invented yet (ranch dressing!) to the weird, national popularity of baseball and how I couldn't wait to see people start getting the memo about the NBA. Some of it was informative, even helpful, but for the most part we just... talked. Laughed. Joked around and enjoyed each other's company like people who'd known each other much longer than a few hours.

For some reason, it just felt easy. Going into this, heading out with someone who was clearly a confident, if not arrogant, man from the 1940s, with Peggy's warnings on top of everything else? Well, let's just say I didn't have the highest of hopes. But by some miracle, whether it was our equally loud and teasing personalities or that fact that I proudly didn't know anything about baseball beyond the fact that games took way too long, rather than the ignorance or indifference he had been expecting... Jack Thompson and I got on like wildfire.

"I'm just saying, when you're watching a legend play, that's the only part of the game that matters!" Jack continued, defending his baseball stance. "And DiMaggio's a legend."

"Yeah, no shit," I scoffed, rolling my eyes to go with it. Jack snorted at my language, but I caught him grinning at me all the same as he took a sip from his drink. "But, unlike in other sports, your legend's only playing for like fifteen minutes out of every hour. Still boring!"

Jack opened his mouth, clearly ready with some other comeback that would do absolutely nothing to change my position, but before he could, the band started up with something I actually recognized.

"Oh my God!" I cried, setting down the now-empty glass that previously held my second old fashioned. "This song- we have to go dance!"

"You know this song?" asked Jack, only looking slightly bemused as he set down his glass and I dragged him towards the dance floor.

"Yeah. Steve plays it all. The damned. Time," I said, finally coming to a stop in the middle of the floor. I moved to drop Jack's hand now that I'd gotten him out here, but he just squeezed it tighter and pulled me closer. "It's one of the only songs from the forties he plays that I can actually stand."

Jack scoffed, wrapping an arm around my waist as we started twirling across the floor together. "You're actually friends with him? Sousa wasn't making that whole thing up?"

"What? No. Actually, I'm the one that helped him adjust to the future not long after he woke up in my time."

Jack nodded, looking thoughtful. "So that's why you recognized Carter? Sousa said you almost fainted from excitement when you first saw her."

"No. I mean, sort of, I guess. But I would've known her even without Steve. She's only the coolest, most badass woman and intelligence pioneer the world has ever known," I said. Jack snorted, and I scowled. "What? You disagree?"

He shrugged. "I mean, I'd probably argue there are some other intelligence pioneers that deserve mention. But... I guess no, I don't necessarily disagree. Just don't mention it to her, alright? I'll deny it, and I don't need her immortalization from a time traveler being thrown in my face every time I work a case with her for the rest of time."

I laughed, and Jack gave me a knowing smile before spinning me out and away from him. He twirled me across the floor before pulling me back to him quickly. We moved in perfect harmony, picking up our pace to match the band and putting the other couples to shame. We quickly got lost in our own little world, to the point that everyone and everything except the music disappeared. When Jack sped up, I sped up a little more, and we easily met each other's challenges, stupid smiles on our faces the whole time.

When a slower song started playing, Jack and I finally relaxed the pace, forgoing the elaborate dance moves to just sway in place and catch our breaths for a minute. I was still a little lost in our moment, enough so that I didn't notice someone else approaching us until he shoved himself part way between me and Jack.

"Hey doll. Mind if I cut in?" The guy leered over me, totally ignoring Jack as he reached for my hand without waiting for my answer. I scoffed, my tired-but-happy smile instantly turning into a scowl. Jack seemed equally frustrated and moved as if he was about to step in and do something about it, but I decided to just take care of it for the both of us.

"Actually, yeah, I do mind," I snapped, fixing the guy with an unimpressed look as I snatched my hand out of his reach. He seemed incredibly surprised by my response, but I plowed ahead anyway. "I'm dancing with someone already, and even if I weren't, I have no interest at all in dancing with you. So... scram. Or beat it. Or whatever people say now."

The man just stood there for a second, open-mouthed, blinking at me in stunned silence. Then, his expression shifted into a scowl and his face started to turn red.

"I- You- How dare you-!"

"Dude, get lost," I said, crossing my arms and staring him down as I talked over him. I glanced over his shoulder to Jack, who also looked shocked but in a pleasantly surprised way, and addressed him. "What's another good way to tell someone to go away?"

He shrugged, a delighted smile growing on his face. "Take a powder?"

"Really?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Jack just nodded, so I looked back at the rude guy. "Alright, take a powder. Hit the bricks. Take a long walk off a short pier. Other creative ways to say leave. I want to dance to this lovely song with my dance partner here, who is not you, so... yeah. Take the blatant instructions."

The man whirled around to Jack, like he expected him to say or do something to reign me in. Jack just shrugged again.

"You heard the lady. I'm not gonna tell you anything she didn't already say."

The man scowled, whipping back to look at me again. I just met him with crossed arms and a look that told him I wouldn't be budging an inch. He spluttered a few more incoherent words in indignation, then stormed off the dance floor and out of sight. I sighed, then faced Jack again.

"How wildly out of place was that for the time period? Both him and me?" I asked. Jack grinned.

"Him? Not very. You? Insanely," he said, taking my hand again as we went back to gently swaying in place. He tugged me a little closer to his chest, and I smiled. "I gotta say though, I sure enjoyed watching it."

"Good. Because I don't actually care at all, and I had a lot of fun doing that."

Jack laughed, throwing his head back before fixing me with a brilliant smile. He twirled me out and away from him again, then pulled me right back into his chest. We swayed together, closer than we'd been all night, and to my surprise I started noticing more than a few butterflies squirming in my chest as I stared up at the SSR Chief. Hm, noted the more logical side of my brain as we moved across the crowded dance floor. Nice, my heart replied as Jack's strong hand laid firmly on my waist and my hand traveled to the collar of his shirt.

Jack and I spent the rest of the night at the club, enjoying the music, the dancing, and each other's company until the place turned on the lights and threw us out. A few times, other men came up to hit on me and "steal me away" from Jack. Each time, I dressed them down and sent them on their way, and each time Jack just grinned and watched me do it. I could still tell he was ready to jump in, that his instinct was to take care of it for me, but he seemed to enjoy watching the jerks splutter and babble in shock and surprise as much as I did.

Afterwards, when we wandered back out onto the LA street together, Jack insisted on escorting me back to Howard Stark's place, where I'd be staying with Peggy. It was going to be incredibly weird staying at Tony's dad's house, meeting him and the real-human Jarvis, but I could process that later. Right now, I wanted to focus on the amazing, less-weird parts of being in the 40s. Specifically Jack Thompson, who I'd just spent a wonderful night enjoying this new time period with.

Jack hailed us a cab, and I rested my head on his shoulder and watched the city go by as the taxi took us out of the city, to the massive Stark mansion. It was basically a 40s version of Tony's Malibu house, and a pang of sadness tightened in my chest when I realized I had no idea when–or if–I would see my friends again.

I took a deep breath and shook those thoughts out of my head as the car came to a stop. All of that was a problem for later, not now. Jack got out first, holding the door for me and offering a hand to help me out, which I took. Rather than dropping it once I stood, he wrapped it around his arm as he asked the cabbie to wait and escorted me towards the house. We stopped on the porch and turned to face each other, and I realized I actually really didn't want the night to end.

"Thanks for showing me around the forties," I said, giving Jack a small smile. "It was actually really fun."

"You don't have to sound so surprised," he griped, but a smile made its way onto his face all the same. "So... I don't know how long you're gonna be here, and obviously we've got a lot of other work to do with Carter and Sousa tomorrow, but... maybe I could take you out again sometime. There's still a lot of forties you haven't seen yet."

"I'd like that," I said, a warm feeling welling up in my chest. I hesitated a second as Jack and I stared at each other on the doorstep, then decided to say fuck it and keep doing what I'd been doing all night: following my impulses. "Quick question: in the forties, if I kiss you on the first date, is that going to scare you off or something?"

Jack grinned. "It might get a raised eyebrow from the cabbie, but I sure as shit won't be complaining."

"Good."

With that, I grabbed Jack's lapels and tugged him towards me, leaning up just a bit and giving him a kiss. It was short, really just a quick peck since we'd just met, but fireworks exploded in my chest at the sensation anyway.

Jack's grin stayed in place as we pulled apart, and his hand lingered on my waist an extra second before dropping to his side. He took a step backwards, towards the waiting car, even as his eyes stayed on mine. I rested my hand on the doorknob, watching Jack and trying to stay in the moment even as he walked away.

"Welcome to the forties, sweetheart," he called as he made it down the porch steps and into the driveway. "I'll see you at work tomorrow."

I waved, a smile on my own face to match his. "Can't wait."

Jack gave a short wave and one last grin before getting into the cab. I watched as he drove away, a smile still on my own face even after I knew he couldn't see it. Finally, after the lights of the cab faded back into the LA night, I turned on my heel and walked into the house.

I'd been in the 40s for less than twelve hours, and I knew for a fact that I hadn't even scratched the tip of the iceberg on exploring the time period, or what frustrations being eighty years removed from everything I knew would bring. But, despite all that, I'd had a blast tonight, and tomorrow I'd get to start working with THE Peggy Carter. Whether I was only here for another few hours or it turned into months or longer, I couldn't help being excited at the idea of everything that was yet to come for me, not least of all my next date with Jack Thompson.

[idsfantasy]

What are your opinions on the FNaF movie?

Some say it's good, some say it's bad. For me it was somewhere in between. Sure there are flaws and unclear story elements that get forgotten mid watch as well as some moment not being so scary, but the setting was fantastic, the acting was good, and there were a lot of comedic moments. Sure, regular viewers won't understand it, but it's specifically made for the fans.

Man, the movie was so cool (and to be honest even with the flaws and unclear elements still an easier entry point to the lore than the games lol)

This movie was pretty much exactly what I wanted from a FNAF movie. The characters were amazing, the humor was fun, the plot was interesting. It wasn't majorly scary but I didn't really want it to be and the scary moments were done really well. The Freddy head turn to listen for Mike was great.

My one big complaint is that we didn't get enough William/that he should have been teased earlier by name (potentially having tutorial lady say his name when talking about the founder so that the name means something to the new viewers).

Speaking of William, Matthew Lillard was an excellent choice for the role. The way he flipped through the persona of Steve Raglan the career counselor, Steve after realizing who Mike was, William Afton the showboating serial killer, and William the narcissistic and abusive father was impeccable.

The other actors also did a great job. I don't think there was any point I had to suspend my disbelief on that front. Doug was great. He was such a mood and is also now my favorite movie character.

Anyway, the movie wasn't perfect but it was pretty much everything I wanted and expected if not more. I have some fun ideas about where the movie continuity could go from here and I'm really looking forward to seeing where Scott and the crew take it (and who knows, maybe the channel will get big enough for me to cameo in 2 or 3. That would be wild and also like, the one circumstance I would face reveal).

Fun movie, especially for fans! 8.5/10

[tomorrowusa]

It's obvious that RFK Jr. picked his running mate, Nicole Shanahan, because he needed somebody who was filthy rich to fund his campaign. Shanahan is the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin who probably has enough money to buy one of the smaller Hawaiian Islands.

Why Shanahan doesn't mind being an ATM for the worm-brained RFK Jr. is that she shares his idiotic conspiracy theory which falsely links autism to vaccines.

It’s easy to see why the controversial heir to the most prestigious liberal name-brand in American politics chose Shanahan, a relative unknown, to be his nominee for vice president. As an ambitious and athletic millennial who surfs and grows her own food with her boyfriend, a cryptocurrency software developer she met at Burning Man, the 38-year-old attorney brings a woman’s presence, and youthful energy, to a race dominated by octogenarian men, not to mention the 70-year-old Kennedy. And as the former wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin, the seventh richest man in the world, Shanahan brings another factor crucial to the campaign: unfathomably deep pockets. Her backing enables Kennedy to skirt questions about why the notoriously anti-immigration GOP megadonor Timothy Mellon is financing the super PAC supporting Kennedy’s campaign, American Values. Mellon has poured millions into Trump’s Make America Great Again Inc., while donating $53 million in stock to the state of Texas to build the former president’s border wall.

As an aside, shouldn't the RFK Jr.-curious be concerned about the loot he's getting from MAGA megadonor Timothy Mellon? 🤔

Back to Shanahan...

So how did Shanahan end up on a “spoiler” ticket praised by right-wing ideologues like Alex Jones, Steve Bannon, Michael Flynn and Roger Stone, the notorious GOP mischief-maker who called an alliance between Kennedy and Trump his “dream ticket”?

The turning point in her life came in 2020, she says in an Instagram video, when (daughter) Echo was diagnosed with autism. The Daily Beast claims that Shanahan “chafed at Brin’s left-brain thinking” about the best practices for raising a child on the spectrum, and the Google co-founder filed divorce papers shortly thereafter, citing “irreconcilable differences.” She initially contested their prenuptial agreement and sought $1 billion of Brin’s fortune but eventually settled out of court.

"Left-brain thinking" is often a euphemism for being logical and analytical. In other words: rational. Rationality is not a strong point for conspiracy freaks.

But while she claims that world-class experts keep her apprised of cutting-edge autism research, her ideas about her daughter’s condition seem stuck in the 1990s; during that era, actress Jenny McCarthy was hailed as an autism expert, and Andrew Wakefield triggered a global panic about vaccines with the publication of a paper in The Lancet linking autism to vaccines. That paper was later retracted after multiple investigations found it based on fraudulent data and riddled with conflicts of interest.

So Nicole Shanahan is fixated on a debunked and retracted article from three decades ago.

For somebody who is allegedly concerned about her autistic daughter, why is she the running mate for a candidate who calls people with autism "zombies"?

And you wouldn’t know it from listening to Kennedy, who routinely caricatures people on the spectrum as “vaccine-injured” zombies. “They get the shot ... and three months later, their brain is gone,” Kennedy told an audience in 2015. Insisting that previous generations of autistic people simply never existed—when in truth, they were often hidden away in institutions because of a thoroughly discredited theory that autism is caused by bad parenting—the candidate told radio and TV host Michael Smerconish last year: “I have never in my life seen a man my age with full-blown autism, not once. Where are these men? One out of every 22 men who are walking around the mall with helmets on, who are non-toilet-trained, nonverbal, stimming, toe-walking, hand-flapping. I’ve never seen it.”

RFK Jr. is intent on being the 2024 version of Ralph Nader. In 2020 Nader, as the Green Party candidate for president, hoodwinked enough gullible progressives into voting for him so that he helped George W. Bush take Florida – the deciding state in the 2000 election. Bush then gifted the US with two recessions (including the Great one), two wars (one totally unnecessary and one which could have been avoided if he had paid more attention to terrorism), two rightwing appointees to the Supreme Court (one bad, one horrendous), and two rounds of tax breaks for the filthy rich.

One way to undermine RFK J.'s support among some people on the left is to strongly debunk his autism vaccine conspiracy theory.

Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) at the University of Pennsylvania published a new survey showing that 12% of Americans feel that a link between the MMR vaccine is either definitely true or probably true.

False Belief in MMR Vaccine-Autism Link Endures as Measles Threat Persists

While anti-vaxxers tend to be Trumpsters, there's a sizeable number of misinformed people on the left who share this view regarding MMR. So debunking the MMR-autism bullshit should be a routine part of your anti-Trump activism.

[imaginedreamwrite]

Anything with silver fox Steve 😍

“Florence Nightingale-“ the guy in dark blue coveralls gives you a once over with his eyebrows raised and a clipboard on his hands.

“Oh God, did he really..?” You stand and step toward him, your lips pressed tight together. “Steve really put my name down as Florence nightingale?”

“Is that not your name?” He appeared serious with a dry kind of humour and drummed his fingertips against the wood.

“No…Florence Nightingale was a nurse from the 1800’s. The founder of modern nursing-“ you stammered, rubbing your hands over the front of the jacket that wasn’t yours, listening to the sound of Steve’s voice coming from beyond the door.

“Florence Nightingale.” He called your name as he pushed the heavy mental open, his blue-green eyes trained on you. “There’s my girl.”

“Steve-“

“What are you doing, Clease? Let my girl back here.” Steve winked at you, motioning you forward toward him with a nod of his head.

You smiled small at the man in dark blue coveralls, noting the name Dennis etched onto the front. You sidestepped him and carried on, walking after Steve into the shop. The smell of engine oil and grease hit your nose with potency that made you curl your lip into a half-grin.

The other mechanic you met the other day, Peter, was hanging from a tire rack with a piece of paper trapped between this teeth and a black streak right down the centre of his back. It had almost looked like he got dragged across an oil slick, though his hair was distinctively missing that dark patch.

“Bad news about the car?” You asked Steve, shivering and yanking his jacket closer around your chest. “I mean its a pile of junk.”

“Sorry, sweetheart. Your car’s pretty much useless but I can sell it for scrap.” Steve grabbed your hand and tugged you behind him, toward the locked lot on the back half.

“But…?”

“But I have a replacement, Flora.” Steve grinned, shortening the nickname Florence to the sweet synonymous pet name.

“Flora?” You looked past Steve to the vehicle sitting along the back fence. “You bought me a car?”

“I bought it and fixed it up. Its a good vehicle, low enough miles that you won’t have to worry.” He led you to the drivers side and popped open the door for you to see inside.

“Steve, I can’t accept this-“

“We’re dating, Florence Nightingale. It’s my job as your boyfriend to take care of you. And you being unable to drive to and from work safely is an issue.” He made his point by putting keys into your hand and closing your fingers around them. “Let’s take it for a spin.”

[petoskeystones]

Happy (late) birthday Rickie!! Coincidentally I've been listening to your 19 and 91 playlists all day (I know nothing about hockey but they're really good) (and compelling...) (If you ever want to tell someone all about 19 and 91 I'm here 👀) <3

thank you for the birthday wishes bird!! you have no idea what you've just unleashed upon the dash, though. 19 and 91... everyone sit down for the abridged, but still way too long, version of the story of steve yzerman and sergei fedorov.

in 1983 the detroit red wings, formerly the greatest american hockey team of all time and the pride of the city, were very bad. they were called the dead wings. they had no money and no prospects and they were frightened. they had just been purchased, however, by a fellow named mike ilitch, who you may know as the founder and ceo of little caesars pizza, and he had hired a new general manager named jim devellano, and they wanted to turn things around. in that summer of 1983, with the fourth overall pick in the nhl draft, ilitch and devellano wanted to take pat lafontaine, a hometown boy and one of the best prospects of the year. but lafontaine went third, to the new york islanders, and they settled for a kid named steve yzerman instead.

in 1983, steve yzerman made the roster out of training camp. he scored 39 goals. he was the youngest nhl all-star ever. he finished second in voting for best rookie of the year. within two years, 20-year-old steve yzerman was the youngest captain in the history of the detroit red wings, with his coach stating that he practically had "the red wings crest tattooed on his chest". by the end of his career he would be one of the most beloved athletes in the history of detroit sports.

his legacy is for later though. in the 1980s we were still losing. so that wasn't great. by 1989, we hadn't seen the playoffs in over a decade, and jim devellano was in the hot seat, and so he decided to do something insane, which was use up one of his 1989 draft picks on a russian named sergei fedorov.

to try to put this into some context: in 1989 there was one single russian player in all of the nhl, alexander moligny, who had defected from the soviet union that year in order to play. soviet hockey was inextricably linked with the military during the cold war, with players for thee cska moscow team being considered army officers. they spent 11 months of the year playing hockey away from their families. they absolutely demolished the united states and canada at their own sport. jim devellano used his fourth-round draft pick on a soviet military asset that he would likely never get to see play in detroit.

why the hell did he do that? well, he had talked to steve yzerman beforehand, because steve had played against the soviet team in the hockey world championship.

and so they drafted sergei fedorov, and in the same draft, vladimir konstantinov, and everyone thought jim devellano was crazy for it. it took until june of 1990 for sergei fedorov to defect from the soviet union and fly, from the goodwill games in portland, to detroit, where they set him up in the wings' vice president jim lites' house in the suburbs and went about the business of teaching him english. why did he defect? well, other than the fact that he badly wanted to play nhl hockey, they gave him several things: a corvette, and $10,000, and an apartment on the river, and the same contract as steve yzerman. it was the last thing that eventually got sergei on the plane.

and so they had the second russian in the national hockey league, wearing number 91, chosen for being the inverse of steve's 19.

from 1990-1997 we acquired four more russian players (konstantinov, kozlov, larionov and fetisov), and the russian five unit revolutionized the hockey world. this not hyperbole, they are five of the most important players in hockey history, and sergei was arguably the most well-known of them. while steve was generally a quiet leader and not a particularly flashy player, sergei was a media darling and one of the most exciting players in the league. he's particularly well-known for his trademark white nike skates and all-star fastest skater record, but i also think about his love of sports cars, his fashion sense, the commercials, and his genuine love for being a detroit red wing, to start.

sergei became steve's alternate captain, although assistant captain might be more apt. when steve began to have knee problems, he would be put on a unit with sergei, who he would trust to carry the puck from end to end for him.

sergei, meanwhile, understood his job in detroit as making steve's job easier. “i could tell stevie was worried about a lot of things. i wasn’t sure what exactly i had to do. But i knew i had to help him as much as i can on the ice.”

the detroit red wings made the playoffs from 1990-2015, 13 of those years with steve and sergei. they won the stanley cup three times together, in 1997, 1998, and 2002. to call them the best hockey team of the 90s-00s is correct.

but good times come to an end. in 2003, sergei's contract with the red wings was up. he had previously had contract issues in 1998, forcing the ilitches to match a $38 million deal with the carolina hurricanes; in 2003, he signed a contract with the anaheim ducks that was worth $10 million less than what detroit was offering him. did he owe detroit, for everything they had done for him? the ilitches and devellano think so. detroit thought so, and booed him when he returned to play against his former team. he went back to russia in 2009, three years after steve retired as the longest-serving captain of any north american sports team in history— a very apt 19-season record that has never been broken. steve briefly worked for the tampa bay lightning; around that time, sergei's marriage ended, and he only asked for their florida beach house in the divorce.

anyways, it's 2024 now. the red wings have gone eight years without seeing the playoffs. steve yzerman's number was retired in 2007, and since 2019, he has served as the team's general manager. it has been a decade since sergei fedorov was in detroit, for his hockey hall of fame induction ceremony; the ilitch family and jim devellano will not retire sergei's jersey with steve's, but nobody has worn 91 since he left, and several players have actually changed their jersey numbers from 91 upon coming to play here. when asked his thoughts about retiring number 91, it took steve eleven seconds to come up with a response.

the red wings are the second-worst team in our conference right now. we need a new coach. there has never been a russian coach in the nhl. sergei is, as of this summer, retired from coaching in russia where he won two championships with his former team; he still spends summers in detroit.

sergei is over it. steve is over it. the only people who still think about 2003 are jim devellano and mike ilitch's widow marian. retire 91 and let him come home!

[the-frosty-mac]

as a sidenote pro wrestling history is just absolutely, endlessly fascinating to study. from the gold dust trio onwards, you have 100 years of so many of the most absolutely bizarre people to ever walk the planet attempting to figure out how to sell a fake combat sport to the masses.

and there are so many aspects to it. sure you can just study the wwe but you’ll never get the full picture of american wrestling without studying the territories, of which there are countless, each with their own individual histories and names up until vince old yeller’d them. or the promotions that existed in the mid-late 90s and gave wwf a run for its money during the Monday Night Wars. or the promotions that have popped up since the mcmahon empire became a monopoly

and what about international wrestling? take a deep dive into El Santo, the most famous and iconic luchador of all time (he was even in Coco), or learn about how CMLL is the oldest surviving wrestling promotion in the world. Or look into Antonio Inoki, founder of New Japan Pro Wrestling, and the various oddities surrounding his life. and that’s just two of several international scenes

how about indie wrestling? sure anyone can tell you who stone cold steve austin is, and most folks might know the nwo, but who out there knows about Chikara’s The Colony? can you name a local promotion near you?

how about weirdly niche subjects, like championships. did you know the WWE Intercontinental Championship is a combination of a North American Championship and a South American Championship that were unified? And that the latter title didn’t even exist, they just made it up for the backstory?

like any form of art (because that’s what pro wrestling is), there are endless styles and masters and techniques and oddities and fun facts. but the nature of wrestling means so many of the people involved are genuinely just fascinatingly strange. sometimes in frightening ways, true, but also sometimes in amusingly absurd ways too. i love learning about all these weird little tidbits

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: River Page

Published: Feb 2, 2024

"Companies also cannot take race-motivated actions to maintain a demographically 'balanced' workforce." — Commissioner at Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Andrea R. Lucas in Reuters, June 29, 2023

"An unlawful employment practice is established when the complaining party demonstrates that race, color, religion, sex, or national origin was a motivating factor for any employment practice, even though other factors also motivated the practice." — 42 USC § 2000e–2(m) of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964

---

In the wake of the George Floyd protests, tech companies promised to hire more minorities. One company that claims to help them do it is Gem, and although you might not have heard of it, you’ve probably heard of some of its 1,200-plus clients: Reddit, Dropbox, Robinhood, Discord, Zillow, Stripe, Affirm, and Grammarly, just to name a few. Although Gem’s software is primarily used for things like non-race- and gender-based recruiting, payroll, and benefits management, John, (not his real name) — who worked for Gem as a sales development representative through a B2B outsourcing firm from March to July of 2021, told us that the prospective corporate clients he talked to were most interested in Gem’s “diversity enhancing” capabilities. Essentially, they had race- and gender-based hiring quotas and wanted to use Gem’s software to meet them. He said one prospective client, an executive at the Bay Area-based AI and robotics research arm of one of the world’s leading car manufacturers, told him explicitly: “I need more black candidates this month.”

According to its website, Gem’s software allows recruiters to track “gender and race/ethnicity throughout the entire hiring funnel.” Essentially, it appears to include a comprehensive race and gender tracking system designed to help companies fill race- and gender-based quotas with precision. For example, in a 2021 diversity webinar posted on YouTube, a Gem employee seemed to explain how the software could show how many candidates a company would need to reach out to if it had three engineering positions open, but didn’t want to hire men for them (in her words: “wanted to give women a chance”). In the same video, she demonstrated how to break down each stage in the hiring funnel by race, and explained (but did not show, probably for privacy reasons) how companies could further track how their recruiters’ own efforts break down along the lines of the company’s race- and gender-based hiring quotas, so that the company may “hold them accountable.”

[ Screen capture from Gem’s diversity webinar ]

All this requires a lot of data. According to a recent LinkedIn post by Gem founder Steve Bartel, this data can come from three sources:

Self-ID: the demographic data collection on job applications

Manual override: the recruiter reports your race and gender based on visual cues such as your LinkedIn profile picture

Predicted: Gem’s proprietary AI determines a candidate's race and gender based on machine learning (Bartel notes this is only for aggregate/anonymized use, meaning that the UI doesn’t allow recruiters to see which race was assigned to individual candidates)

John told me that, of Gem’s features, its race- and gender-identifying AI was the biggest selling point. “A key part of the pitch was to tell clients that Gem uses AI and machine learning to determine race and gender.” (This is especially ironic, given the panic about “racist AI” that has consumed every discussion about artificial intelligence for years.)

“One thing that cracked me up was that recruiting/DEI buyers at companies would ask, ‘Is this legal?’” John told me. “Not because they were offended by how obviously racist the software was — they loved what they saw. The concern was pushback from their legal team.” He said this question was asked so frequently that Gem’s Chief Legal Counsel had a prewritten response to the question that would be passed along to clients who asked.

[ Source: Gem’s website, February 1, 2024 ]

The "Diversity Recruiting" section of Gem’s website offers a slate of what it calls “Case Studies” — essentially customer testimonials — where companies explain how they used Gem to hire based on race and gender.

In a case study for payroll firm Gusto, Gem seems to indicate the company used its “Candidate Rediscovery” tool to hire based on candidates’ race and gender. In Gem’s language, Gusto used the tool to “unearth talent who is vetted — and diverse — ultimately reducing time-to-hire.” In other words, companies could use Gem’s software to find people with specific racial and gender-based characteristics that meet the position’s requirements and hire them quickly, while weeding out similarly qualified candidates who are, presumably, white or male or both.

In a case study about the telecommunications company Twilio, Gem seems to describe how one of its senior recruiters was able to avoid hiring men with their tool:

Gem’s metrics have also helped [the recruiter] zero in on stages in the interview process where the team is falling short on equitable gender hiring. “For one division, we intuited that we were hiring more women than the average team—and we were! We were prepared to roll off our passive sourcing efforts for that division, but I don’t like to make a move without looking at all the data first. That’s where Gem came through.” [The recruiter] dug through the data in more detail and discovered that the proportion of male candidates was actually increasing quarter over quarter—so much so that, by Q3, they would have made significantly more male than female hires. “If we hadn’t had access to that data, we wouldn’t have been able to identify that trend and strategize on how to allocate our resources properly.”

This is easily interpretable as: We thought everything was fine until Gem showed us that by Q3 we might hire a disproportionate number of men in a division that a disproportionate number of men applied to work in. It's worth noting that when announcing massive job cuts in 2022, Twilio’s CEO bragged that the layoffs had been carried out through an “Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression lens.”

In another testimonial from Chili Piper, an inbound conversion platform for B2B revenue teams, the company’s Talent Ops Manager says she used Gem to discover that URG (under-represented group) candidates were dropping off after the company stopped including a video submission in the application (itself seeming to indicate that a significant proportion “URGs” were being advanced through the hiring pipeline because of their race or gender). She successfully lobbied to bring the video submission back and modified the assignment. “Now it’s like, sell us a new smartphone: something that really levels the playing field and lets us see candidates’ creativity, communication, and approach in action. It’s not necessarily entrenched in experience in tech and SaaS sales.” Since then, the company has “seen a decisive shift in the demographics of candidates who make it to the interview stage of our process. We have seen a 54% increase in URG candidates and a 31% increase in female-identified candidates making it to the first round of interviews. Offers extended to, and offers accepted by URGs have increased.”

In other words, Chili Piper's testimonial seems to indicate that Gem showed the company that when it stopped asking applicants to submit a video that allowed them to see their race and gender, they stopped hiring more minorities. So they brought video back, and seemed to effectively lower their standards by changing the assignment to one in which industry experience was deprioritized.

Gem’s own hiring practices also raise red flags. An internal jobs board from June 2021 provided to Pirate Wires shows that under a field titled “Diversity Search,” positions are either listed as “Open,” “Women,” “URM,” or “Women & URM,” suggesting that certain positions were closed off to straight white males, or perhaps that women and minorities were being sought after in those positions. We sent the screenshot of the internal job board — with company name and other identifying information redacted — to a tech industry employment lawyer, who said:

Without knowing more about the company or getting clarification on what some of the designations mean on the chart, it looks a bit problematic. The law allows companies to set “targets” and “goals” as they relate to the hiring, retention, and promotion of women, veterans, and underrepresented minorities (those targets/goals must be temporary). But the law does not currently allow private companies to set aside or otherwise designate specific positions for such group members. There are some grey areas for certain types of federal contractors, but it’s the exception to the rule.

As a non-lawyer, I’ll not comment on the legality of Gem’s hiring practices. However, I will say the company seems to use unorthodox recruiting methods. In Gem’s diversity webinar I referred to earlier, one of the hosts said, “Here at Gem, each time we open a new req [position], we actually focus solely on sourcing URGs, and in conjunction [with that] we don’t post the job on the career site until other levers need to be pulled…”

The host then explained how she found candidates of specific races and genders at Gem, telling the audience: “Sourcing for URGs may require you to shift some fundamental ideas you have about what a quote-unquote good candidate looks like.” Next, she described how she would go through LinkedIn, searching for candidates with stereotypically minority names, who use neo-pronouns, or who went to minority-majority schools, among other tactics.

[ Slide from Gem’s diversity webinar]

When asked for comment, a representative from GEM told us “Our product provides interested customers with insights that help them build a diverse talent pipeline. We work closely with legal counsel to ensure our platform complies with all applicable laws and welcome potential customers looking to learn more to reach out to us."

Gem: a company that apparently doesn’t post some job announcements publicly without searching for specific races and genders on LinkedIn first. A company whose value proposition is to help companies hold their recruiters “accountable” for hiring too many of the wrong race and gender. A company that created an AI that predicts your race and gender. A company whose AI tracks race throughout the hiring pipeline so efficiently that, allegedly, even woke companies question its legality during sales calls. Gem is the company that vast swaths of the tech industry are using to hire.

So if you’re in the business, and you’re a Derrick O’Donnell or a John Chau, good luck out there. I think you’re gonna need it.

[ Via: https://archive.md/gxFMK ]

==

DEI is discrimination.

[nancydrewwouldnever]

I think collider magazine either knows something the rest of us don’t, or CE’s PR team has some involvement with. The reason I say this is bc collider has been the sole magazine that’s repeatedly put out info/articles about pain hustlers, and also keeps using CE’s face and name during the article promo. One of the earliest collider articles about PH published on 1/23/23 actually stated it would the “first Oscar hopeful” of 2023. A bit of a bold statement to make about a Netflix movie - also one that wouldn’t come out for almost 10 months…

I’m also wondering if collider has some insider info on this film bc they have been the sole publication putting out info about this film. Also, CE is repeatedly used in the promo when collider writes articles even tho Emily is clearly the star. He’s repeatedly listed as second billing in the collider articles, over Andy Garcia and Catherine O’Hara, etc - so I am wondering if there’s some correlation or maybe his PR team has a connect there?

I’m not even sure if that could be true bc again, I don’t work for them or know anything else about the film - but even if there’s no awards campaign for his role, I think there’s potential for the film itself. Which is always a good thing.

I personally want to see what David Yates does outside of the Harry Potter/fantastic beasts franchises.

The thing about awards nods is that I’m seeing the most random ppl get Emmy nods - including guest spots where I’m like, ok I guess the show was good, (TLOU) but I don’t think all of these actors deserved a nod. I think that’s why some CE fans are so flabbergasted that he’s repeatedly been snubbed or ignored for prestigious recognition. He is a good actor - I really don’t think ppl give him enough credit. But other actors of far less caliber have been able to score some type of recognition even for very small supporting roles - but him? Nothing? It’s just bizarre TBH.

I think he deserves better - and I don’t think it’s a bad thing to say that. You don’t have to kiss the guy’s ass but I do think his fans are allowed to be upset on his behalf when they believe he deserves more recognition from his own industry.

Just another opinion.

First, Chris is pretty good friends with Steven Weintraub, the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Collider. That's why he always gets good press and a lot of mentions from that site. Steve is also a MetroWest Boston guy, so he likes to promo a guy from the same place, as it were.

As to Chris deserving better... look, we as fans can think it all we want, or write it all we want but the principal problem is that he doesn't make career choices that look like he believes it. And that's the fly in the ointment. Until he does, then he'll continue taking the easy roles that don't make him step out of his comfort zone. And it's outside of the comfort zone that growth happens.

[waywardxrhea]

Part Six - Trying to Catch my Breath

[slow burn romance between you, a SHIELD investigative journalist, and Steve Rogers]

Warnings: 18+, contains humor, fluff, mental health, family trauma, romance, angst, language, violence, smut later on.

installment list

Word count: 3k

This one’s just sad, honestly.

One chilly evening a couple of months into the task force assignment after a long mission, Steve and you headed back to your place to watch movies. Before you could choose a movie out of your collection though, you noticed that The Wizard of Oz was playing on the movie channel so you decides to leave it. "I didn't know the TV played movies this old, I watched this when it first came out," Steve commented as he sat on the couch.

"Oh, are you calling yourself old now?" you teased.

"Touche," he replied with a smile breaking out onto his face.

Your phone let out a noise signaling a new text so you checked your phone and saw a text from Maria. After reading it, you said aloud, "Maria is gonna swing by somewhere and get pizza for all of us, what kind do you want?"

"Cheese is good," Steve replied absentmindedly while staring at the screen.

"Whenever we end up back in New York, remind me to take you to my favorite hole-in-the-wall pizza place. Their food is phenomenal!" you told him while texting Maria back.

When you didn't get a response, you looked up to see him watching the movie with a far away and almost sad look on his face. Sensing the sudden change in demeanor, you asked softly, "Hey, is everything okay?" as you made your way over to sit beside him on the couch.

When the cushion beside him dipped was when he finally knocked out of his daze and replied, "Yeah, yeah. Just...missing the past a bit is all." He paused and sighed, adding, "When I was flying that plane down into the Arctic, I thought it would be the end, but I still made plans with Peg. For those few seconds, I thought everything would end up okay."

You felt your heart sink but elected to ignore the feeling in your chest and told him, "I'm so sorry, Steve. I'm glad you did try and feel less scared in those moments though. Optimism pushes people through a lot of tough situations." You paused for a beat before adding, "You know, you haven't told me much about this Peggy girl. She seems to have a big place in your heart, but you never talk in detail about her. Just some stories from the dance halls. What was she like?"

At the mention of Peggy, Steve's smile lit up the room as he told you, "Oh she was one of the bravest women I knew back then. Tough as nails. Gutsy too." He paused and laughed, adding, "When I got my shield, she shot straight at it before any other testing was done. If that thing didn't hold up, I'm not sure I'd be here right now."

"She sounds like a firecracker. What was her rank?"

Steve thought for a second before replying honestly, "All I ever really heard anyone call her was Agent Carter."

You nearly choked on the sip of water you had in your mouth when you heard the name. You regains your composure before asking, "Did you say, Agent Carter? As in Agent Peggy Carter? Founder of SHIELD?"

"Wait Peg founded SHIELD?"

"Yes, she founded SHIELD!" you exclaimed. "Have you never paid attention to the pictures on the walls at HQ?"

"I guess not?" Steve asked with a chuckle. A small smile snuck onto his lips and he said quietly, "Wow, she went on to do such great things after everything went down."

"That she did."

Steve thought for a second and then asked, "Well, how did you not know it was her I talked about all this time?"

"There's only so much you can read in a museum, Steven," you told him with a quiet laugh. You thought for a moment before informing him, "I'm pretty sure she's still around and it sounds like you could use some closure with her. I couldn't give you many details but I'm sure Maria could."

"Maria could do what?" came Maria's voice as she entered the apartment carrying pizza and a case of drinks for the three of you.

You clutched your chest at the sudden appearance of your friend and chastised, "Maria, I know I always give you a spare key to my place, but at least knock next time!"

"Fine, fine, but really, what can I do to help whoever?"

"Well, Steve needs some closure on his past with Peggy Carter, I'm assuming you'd know something about her whereabouts."

"Off the top of my head I don't, but I can do some digging," she said as she sat the pizza on the coffee table.

"Thank you," Steve told both of you as you all relaxed into your seats to watch the rest of the movie.

One morning on your day off, you called up Grammie to check on her. When the line picked up, you smiled and started off quickly, "Hey Grammie! Were you ready to finally tell me that story about Captain Rogers? It's been so busy I kept forgetting to ask you about it!"

A voice came from the other end of the line as they said you name quietly. It wasn't Grammie. "Emiliano?" you asked. "Is Grammie busy? I can call back another time."

"No, no," the nurse said. He paused and asked, "Would you mind sitting down?"

Panic instantly flooded your body but you tried to remain optimistic about what he was asking you to do because that's what Grammie would do. So you sat down on the couch and said, "I'm sitting. Is Grammie okay?"

There was a long pause on the other end of the line before Emiliano sighed again and said quietly, "She just passed away."

"Oh my god," you breathed, tears instantly flowing from your eyes. You felt your body go numb and the air leave your lungs completely as you tried to figure out your next words as your world began crashing down around you.

Emiliano spoke first, saying, "I know you're in DC right now, so if you want the home to make funeral arrangements so you don't have to worry about it, just say the word."

You took a deep breath and managed to force out the words, "No, I'll do it. She...she always had a specific vision for her funeral and I want to grant her that wish."

"As you wish," he told you. "I'm really sorry about this Miss."

"Thank you," you replied before hanging up the phone.

Once you ended the call, you sits there, staring at the phone not knowing what to do. Your body felt like lead as you tried to stand up to get your laptop to look up numbers for arrangements back where Grammie was living. Time got away from you as you began the first of many calls back to New York.

Meanwhile, across town, Steve sat on a bench outside the Smithsonian with his sunglasses on and a ball cap pulled down over his eyes. He checked his watch and thought to himself, It isn't like her to be late... Steve dug his phone out from the pocket of his leather jacket and dialed your number only to be sent straight to voicemail.

Steve furrowed his eyebrows, wondering what was going on. It wasn't like you to miss a call from him. After calling your other number and not getting a response out of that one either, he got off the bench and made his way back to his motorcycle to head over to your place to check on you.

Back in your apartment, you were on the phone with the funeral directors trying to get them to understand exactly what Grammie wanted for her funeral. You looked at the notebook with scrawled-out notes on it trying exasperatedly to explain what she wanted through your jumbled thoughts. As the person put you on hold, you sighed and muttered to yourself, "This is useless trying to make arrangements from a different state..."

There was suddenly a knock at the door which startles you out of your brain fog. You quickly jumped out of your seat and walked to the door with the phone still on your ear in case the director took you off of hold. As you approached the door, you could hear Steve's voice calling your name and asking, "Are you okay?"

"Shit," you cursed, remembering you two had plans that day. You caught a glance of yourself in a mirror you had hanging in the living room and realized that you looked exactly how you felt: awful.

Steve knocked again and asked a bit louder, "Is everything okay?"

You quickly threw your messy hair up as best you could and opened the door for Steve. You couldn't even fake a smile and lie that everything was fine, so you replied quietly, "No."

You shrank back into the apartment and wrapped your arms around yourself in an attempt to provide some comfort while Steve stepped into the apartment and shut the door behind him, asking, "What happened?"

"Grammie passed away..." you whispers, your voice breaking as reality sets in once again that she was really gone. You broke down in tears once more, but tried to stop them, saying, "I'm so sorry Steve, you probably don't want to deal with all of my emotions right now. I'm being such an inconvenience, I'm sorry, I-"

Steve, not knowing what to say, simply wrapped his arms around you, cutting off your sentence before you could fumble through more of an unnecessary apology. Your phone fell to the ground but you disregarded it as you accepted the embrace. Your body shook slightly as you cried in Steve's arms as he attempted to calm you down by gently running his hand up and down your back, whispering, "It'll be okay. It's gonna hurt for a while, but pain can't last forever."

You nodded at the words, trying to get the tears to stop flowing with deep breaths. When you finally managed to stop, Steve let go of you and squeezed your shoulder gently. From the floor, a voice, barely audible, called out your name.

This brought you back to reality and you quickly grabbed the phone off the floor and cleared your throat. "Hi, yes, I'm still here. We were talking about flower arrangements and a location?"

As you talked on the phone quietly, Steve went to the stove to grab the tea kettle to make the two of you some tea. You always made him tea when he wasn't having the best day, so he thought he would repay the favor. When the tea was done, Steve sweetened it and sat a cup down in front of you. He then sat across the table while you wrapped up the call.

When you put the phone down, you said to Steve, "Thank you," as you wrapped your hands around the warm mug.

"It's what you would have done for me," he replied with a soft smile. "Is there anything I can help with?"

"Actually yeah, if it wouldn't be any trouble," you replied with a sigh. "I know you have some old jazz records and I was wondering if I could borrow them? Grammie had a lot at some point but I don't have the time to go find them before...before the funeral."

"Of course, whatever you need," he said. "We can swing by my place and see what I have. May I ask why out of curiosity?"

"Well," you replied, finally cracking the smallest of smiles, "Grammie always said she didn't want a depressing and boring funeral like Gramps had. She wanted music and bright colors and smiles on people's faces. She wanted everyone to celebrate the life she lived, not for them to be sad because she's gone." Your voice broke at the last part. Trying not to break down again, you cleared your throat of the emotions building in it once more and stared up at the ceiling, counting down from 100 as you did.

"I think that's a good, optimistic attitude to have," Steve told you, "and even better that you're working to make sure it happens for her."

"I just hope she would be happy with what I'm doing for it," you replied once you finally felt like you could speak without breaking down again, taking a sip of the tea afterward. The sweetness of honey burst on your tongue and you sighed contentedly as the warm drink attempted to warm you from the outside in.

"I'm sure she would," he told you, happy with himself for being able to at least make your tea correctly. You both sat in comfortable silence for a few minutes before Steve finished his tea and asked, "How about we go to the National Mall? Just walk around and get some fresh air? It'll be good for you to get out. We could even stop to get some food at a hole-in-the-wall restaurant you'll no doubt find and put it in your blog."

You formed your lips into a semblance of a smile and nodded. "Outdoors, hipster restaurants? You're really speaking my language here, Steve."

"That's what friends are for aren't they?"

"Right..." you said, trailing off slightly. Friends. That was what you were. Friends, fellow agents, but nothing more. And that word at that moment wounded you because something inside you had shifted when Steve wrapped his arms around you a few minutes before. You didn't realize how much you had fallen for Steve over the past few months until he just called the two of you friends. You shook the thought out of your mind and tried to ignore the new ache in your heart as you said, "Just let me make myself more presentable, and then we can head out."

"I'll meet you on my motorcycle. The freedom of the road always makes me feel better, maybe it will with you too."

You nodded before you disappeared into your room to get ready, trying not to think because of the whirlwind of thoughts in your mind. Grammie, Steve, funeral arrangements, making time between missions to go to New York. Everything was overwhelming and you just wished you could be in Steve's embrace again because when you were, even for a moment, everything felt like it would be okay.

After a whirlwind few days of planning between meetings and missions, Maria and you made your way up to New York to attend Grammie's funeral. The ceremony was held in her hometown in upstate New York at the local park. The gathering attracted the whole town because Grammie had been such a notable figure there up until she had to move into a home closer to the city.

You dressed in a yellow swing dress for your celebration of life speech and somehow managed not to fall apart while speaking. After the funeral, many of the guests gathered at the family's lodge to have a potluck dinner and reminisce over Grammie and how she helped them out at some point or another in their lives.

At one point during the celebration, you wandered up to the guests who were currently renting the property and said, "Thank you so much for letting us use the space for this. It means a lot to everyone."

"It's no problem," the sweet southern woman told you. "My family has rented out this property enough over the last decade that we know how much your grandparents meant to this town."

"Thank you, I'll make today's stay free because of your generosity," you told her. You laughed a little and finished with, "Man, I'm sure Gramps is rolling in his grave at the word free to a renter."

"How about next year we stay an extra day to make up for it?"

"Sounds great."

That was hours ago. Now, you and Maria were driving back to the airport so you could get back to DC for a mission early the next morning. You leaned your head against the cool glass of the window as Maria drove, lost in the brain fog that came customary after a funeral of a loving parental figure.

Maria has put on 90's and early 2000's pop music as you went to try and make the mood a bit peppier. Not that it was working. At one point, you turned down the radio and Maria scolded teasingly, "Hey I was listening to that!"

"Well I have a question about work," you told her quietly.

"I thought we established no work talk until we're back in DC."

"I thought we established no work talk in front of people until we get back to DC," you retorted. "Besides, it isn't about a mission or anything. It's about...I guess rules of conduct for agents."

"What did you do? You know there's only so much I can do to get you out of things. What Fury and I did when you first started, that was a one and done thing that we can't do ag-"

"No, no, it's nothing like that," you interrupted her. "I didn't do anything."

"Then what is it?"

"It's about one of my other writers, Sandra. I've been getting closer with her and we went out for drinks once or twice when you were too busy to hang out," you rambled trying to figure out how to slyly ask your question. "Anyways, she was telling me that she had feelings for an agent she works closely with and reports on. So she was wondering if I'd ask you what the protocol is if something like that happens. Agency protocol, not like...what she should do about... said feelings."

Maria glanced at you out of the corner of her eye and noticed your body language as well as how you were just rambling on. She ignored the hunch developing in her brain and told you, "Agency protocol would be to separate the two agents from working closely together. When it comes to things like that biases get involved, especially if one of the parties is a reporter. There's also the factor of if whoever the agent was going after gets wind of said romance, someone could get captured and compromised. All around, we just find it easier to keep romances out of agent partnerships for everyone's benefit."

You took in the words and felt your heart shatter, but still nodded nonchalantly, saying, "Thanks, I'll tell her." You paused for a moment before adding, "And if she wanted to act on these feelings, would she just have to report to her higher up or what happens then?"

"She would have to report to a superior agent, yes, then one or the other would get reassigned to a different unit."

"Good to know," you replied with another nod before you turned the music back up and tried to decide whether or not it would be worthwhile to confess your feelings to Steve. You hadn't felt this exact kind of attraction to anyone before though and didn't know how to navigate it. No one had ever cared about you like Steve does and you just couldn't escape the feelings that seemed to grow stronger every day.

You also couldn't escape feeling almost guilty for having feelings for him because after all, he was still in love with Peggy. Ever since you and Maria helped the two of them get back into contact, Steve always seemed to be with her when he wasn't on a mission. The guilt came in when you got jealous over these meetings because you knew that she was all Steve has left of the past. Of course, he wants to hang on to that! But you always had the thought of oh how I wish that was me when he talked so lovingly about her.

Trying to shake these thoughts away, you turns sang along with Maria to escape your crumbling reality at least for a little while.

[greenfiend]

The Significance of Lover’s Lake and Byler (Theory) Part 2

Sequel to this post

(Warning: mentions of sex and drugs)

Okay so first of all, if you haven’t seen my previous post on my theory involving Lovers Lake and Byler, please read it first. I go over my theory and predictions for Byler and the heart shaped lake. This is a secondary post to it, outlining some VERY interesting details involving the owner of the lakeside house, the lakeside house itself, and all the romantic and sexual elements present. I’m saving the best for last here.

Let’s start with the owner of the lakeside house.

Reefer Rick

So I recently made a silly post arguing that the most queer coded character in Stranger Things is not Mike nor Will (nor Robin, Henry, Eddie etc), and I stand by this statement. The most queer coded character is: Reefer Rick. Now, I know we never see the guy, but literally all the information we have on him is either queer coding or drug references.

Synonyms of his name are literally f*g Dick, with a shared last name with the famous tea company founder who so happens to have been a homosexual: Lipton.

We know he doesn’t have a family, thus he’s a single man who occasionally has his buddy/fellow dealer Eddie stay over. Hm, not very heterosexual of him.

Then we have his movie list.

Now, as many of us know, the movie “Fast Times” is used within Stranger Things as a way to gage if someone is attracted to women or not. We have Steve, Dustin, Lucas, and Vickie all confirmed to have enjoyed this movie… specifically for that shot at 53 minutes and 5 seconds. Sure, Reefer Rick rented the film, but why is it the only movie he rented that was returned on time? For context, he’s the only character who had films listed as “late” returns. So, he obviously enjoyed Cheech & Chong a lot more. Two guys doing drugs is more interesting to him than a sexy lady. Okay, noted.

Now, how is he perceived by the people of Hawkins?

Oooof. Okay. He’s not well liked it seems. He apparently is causing some fear and anger amongst the Hawkins residents. Kind of similar of a reaction these people would have towards an openly gay man during the 1980s.

Also I have to include @/conflictofthemind ‘s excellent point that injectable drug use and unprotected sex (specifically between two men) were both commonly associated with HIV/AIDS… a major epidemic during the 80s and a major subtextual theme within the show.

Now, where’s this guy live while outside of jail?

I don’t blame the guy for “hiding” when the town is not too fond of him. Of course he is a drug dealer so there’s that as well. But interesting they used the word “hide”, which has been associated with queerness within the show already (plus this line was said by Robin (featured in the middle of the shot!!!) who is queer herself).

(Both of these screenshots are from 1x02 interestingly enough.)

Wouldn’t it make sense for these two “hiders” to hide out in “a perfect place to hide” together? Seeking refuge in a fellow gay man’s secluded house?

I will say it’s also worth noting that he does not have any women featured on the walls within his house. Also, he has a phallic shaped bong (we’ll get back to that soon).

Phew okay so that’s Reefer Rick. Are you still with me? Hopefully I didn’t bore any of you with this. I promise you this all leads back to Byler.

So, moving on to his house.

So as @/therainscene kindly pointed out, this poster with the smiley face can be related to rave culture and ecstasy in the 1980s. So a drug reference, in a drug dealer’s house… shocker I know. But I gotta say, ecstasy is also a term often related to sex. I also have to add this little tidbit from one of our favourite directors of Stranger Things, Shawn Levy. Keep in mind, he knows what’ll happen in the next season… and he’s directing episodes after 3 and 4…

Interesting word choice, no?

So, back to the symbolism within (and near) the house.

Let’s talk about the phallic symbolism that appears in pairs in these shots. It’s a choice, isn’t it? With two males in each shot. We know the Duffers love details and foreshadowing… I doubt it’s a coincidence. Also, anyone else notice that phone in the background? Just had to mention it, since our boys are frequently associated with phones and calls.

Then, of course, I gotta bring back this shot.

The bed. Blue meets yellow. You know it! We all heard it a thousand times by now. Let’s look at what else is in the shot. A closed closet. Another reference to our boys. To the right, you’ll see a toilet paper roll. Now, if you have a brother, you might see the same thing in his room. Sure it can be used as a tissue for your nose but let’s just say there’s usually another use for it. I’ll call it “self love”. So, basically, another sexual reference.

To sum up this house: lake/water, drugs, and ecstasy/smiley face. Now, let’s go back to a scene featuring our boys with all these elements in the background.

Makes you wonder doesn’t it?

I must also point out the “Paris” poster in the background. City of love, anyone? Plus the fireworks. They’re really trying to tell us something here.

Also, @/foodiewithdahoodie pointed out how Paris specifically was one of the first places to decriminalize sodomy.

You know, I also wouldn’t rule out every aspect of Murray’s prediction here.

Shout out to the Hylers out there!

Perhaps after a lot of stressful days of fighting interdimentional demons, these boys want to wind down and de-stress in their hiding spot. I can see Reefer Rick as a fellow Nintendo player, leaving his console behind, as well as his weed, for our boys to use. I also wouldn't be surprised if Eddie left a few of his beers behind. I mean… Murray has a pretty good track record for predictions. This would also really double down on the message that Mike and Will “aren’t kids anymore.”

Also, wouldn’t it be fun to look back at Murray’s predictions and realize that they’ve all come to be?

Okay, now let’s finally get to the romance elements!

First thing I want to start with is this shot:

So… they had to show us a mailbox, didn’t they? With that name “Lipton” which as I mentioned in my previous post… is associated with Thomas Lipton who had a lover named William Love.

1 point for #lettergate

And…

“Hope Our Love Lives/Lasts And Never Dies”

WWII solders used the acronym H.O.L.L.A.N.D. to convey a love message in a letter. The whole love letters association with Mike and Will never end, do they?

2 points for #lettergate!

As for the “2121”, I think it’s possible that it’s referencing multiple things… number references are tricky like that in my opinion. But I will say that @/thestrangestthing89 brought up the fact that “2121” could be a reference to “Twin Flames” which is yet another reference to romance.

Continuing on with the romance…

Let’s return back to the scene where Reefer Rick is first mentioned. After Max mentioned him, we are cut to Steve talking about a movie.

A movie filled with action and romance, you say?

So… Doctor Zhivago.

Basically a tale of two people in love during a difficult time (Russian Revolution) being separated, with other people, then finally reunited. Not completely unlike our boys. Notice how the “adult” sign is noticeable in the background. Not kids anymore.

He mentions action, which I’m sure there will be some of as well at the famous lake.

Okay enough with the silly details, let’s stop and look at the bigger picture.

Our beloved lake. Look how gorgeous it truly is. Plus the fact that it’s a literal heart? You can’t get more “on the nose” than that.

Now, who else is known as a heart? (Tough question I know…)

This boy is, without a doubt, narratively tied to the lake. He is “the heart”… he is THE LAKE (symbolically).

Thank you to @/everaster for bringing attention to the fact that after Mike was pushed to deliver that monologue to El by Will, Max “died”, then the gates opened WIDE. One of those gates, as we know, is located within Lover’s Lake… known was “watergate” (term coined by Dustin).

So, as of now in this story… Lover’s Lake is literally broken in two. A broken heart in need of mending.

Who better to accomplish that task than the boy who has known him for a decade and loves him completely and selflessly?

💌📬❤️‍🩹

Hope you enjoyed these posts as much as I enjoyed making them! It’s honestly so much fun looking for evidence and finding such interesting stuff. Some of it may be reaching, and that’s okay because it’s all in good fun! That’s what fandoms are all about.

The level of attention to detail in this show never ceases to amaze me! There’s so much depth and clues to look for and play around with. I hope to have sparked some inspiration and creativity for some people! 💛💙💚

As always, would love to know your thoughts!

[theredtours]

Hi, I have a question, point me elsewhere if you’ve answered it :) but how do people like Steve and hiloy get access to these songs, and how are they legally allowed to have them? How was anyone able to sell Taylor’s unreleased music? I would guess they have no legal right to that and that Taylor would be able to use her resources to stop it (again in a legal sense). How does that work?

Oof, this is gonna be another long answer, just as fair warning:

So the way that I know Steve got a hold of songs was a little different than everyone else these days, because he was sort of the "founder," if you will, of the Swift unreleased world. He had connections to a lot of people in the industry, and started collecting back in either '07 or '08, right when she was really gaining traction, before the release of Fearless. He was able to get his hands on several old demo CDs, and then started a resource site known as Dark Blue Tennessee, or DBT.

This was before my time, so the info I have is a little shaky at best, but apparently that site started a bunch of drama because he started giving songs away to his trusted companions, and then made a big stink when the songs started leaking and took down DBT. A couple years later, he came back with a new site, Taylor's Inner Circle, or The IC. This one hosted descriptions of all his collection, as well as songs that were registered under Swift's name but hadn't fallen into his possession yet. The IC was up when I first got into the trading world, so I have vivid recollection of checking it almost weekly to see if there were new updates. It was also kind of a sore spot in the fandom, because despite its being a useful resource, a lot of people felt that it was more of a "bragging rights" situation, as anyone involved in the site would hype up a song to the nth degree and then chastise you for even ASKING about the POSSIBILITY of buying/trading for it.

I'm skipping a lot to try to keep this short (and also because it's been over a decade of nonsense so it's kind of hard to keep track of it all), but The IC was up and running until 2020, when Steve leaked info that hinted at Swift making new music, specifically, giving the description of a cardigan as a nod to the song with the same name. Shortly thereafter, we all kind of assume he got caught by Swift's team, because The IC was taken down, and no one has seen hide nor hair of him since.

On the subject of legality--none of this is legal. Unless you have a physical copy of the demo CD, you should not be in possession of any unreleased songs. Period. And even then, you're not supposed to share them. Any sale or distribution is actually incredibly risky. It's just that at this point in time, it's been going on for so long, it's really hard for companies to mitigate or shut down the activity, especially when a lot of it happens in places that aren't necessarily publicly accessible (like through email or physical hard drive sharing). It does happen though, as you can see if you take the time to read through the group buy drama I posted about.

Basically, you get unreleased songs either from an old demo CD, through hacking, or through knowing someone, and it's quite illegal, but there's not much that can be done once it hits the public domain. All they can do afterward is play clean-up.

[supermightyglue]

stinkabutt im on my hands and knees begging for somemore dickhouse chick content (if you want to<3)

yes i always want to i love getting asks nd reqs !! its like christmas nd i love dickhouse chick i have so many thoughts about her ! im horrible i promise i will think of actual headcanon things soon idk if these random things i do are okay or if y’all like them but im bad at thinking of specific scenarios/prompts so i am very open to reqs for that <3

i’ve said this before, but she goes by her last name almost exclusively. so much so that dave actually forgot her real name for a while

to casual fans she is the jackass girl .. but she prefers dickhouse chick

ik all my jackass girls are a mess, but she’s a mess in a different way. the mess that looks put together and has a nice, clean apartment but is one of those ppl who neglects herself. dry lips and doesn’t use chapstick, sleeps in her contacts, doesn’t brush her hair .. but she showers religiously and smells good

also shes that bitch to forget to eat :/ and when she does she’s picky .. loves soup tho. any kind. mostly she lives on caffeine and vodka

she’s fun and fits in but she is SO serious when it comes to work. as serious she can be working on jackass and big brother, anyway. when she’s focused writing or trying to get good footage, she does NOT want to be bothered

aside from that though, she’s surprisingly patient when everyone messes with her. especially because she can give it back even worse

she’s lowkey bossy LMAO

practically tremaine’s little sister. not in a sweet way, though. he will make her life hell if the mood strikes him. they’re just on the same wavelength and equally horrible. she’s better than him at persuading people to do stunts, though. and she’s smug about it.

not only one of the dickhouse founders, but a jackass founder. it would not be what it is without her because she is almost more horrible than the guys—but always has the solutions and irons out the kinks

skates casually but is more into the bmx stuff.

was always into photography, even when she was younger, but she was also always Herself so she didn’t focus on pretty things to photograph and just captured gnarly shit

but she WILL take photos of the guys. never posed or anything, always candids. she takes photos during filming and stuff ofc, but she has a stash of happy smiley photos of everyone because she cherishes them.

always says she’s too busy to have a pet and can’t even keep fish alive but she took in a stray cat who’s honestly kinda really mean but she always put out food for him and eventually he just walked into her apartment and refused to leave. he is her baby. she takes care of him more than she takes care of herself.

she ensures that all bits that could include costumes have costumes. she loves a good costume

in my brain, she has these giant hazel doe eyes that can melt people and by people i mostly mean mr pj clapp but he would never say that out loud (pontius, tremaine, dave, and preston totally see it tho)

not close to her family, they don’t really like what she’s doing with her life .. she doesn’t really give a shit, though.

thinks everyone is too hard on ehren and always sticks up for him. he might be a lil in love with her but she’s oblivious and thinks of him as a brother. poor guy

she’s kinda shy with new people tbh. it takes a lil bit to adjust to them—especially bam. she doesn’t like how he treats people and it took her a while to acknowledge that he can be alright sometimes

stephanie is her bestie. they’re like sisters <3

she had the idea for the valentine bit and it’s her favorite one

the best gift giver ever

loves the pacific northwest and lowkey wants to move there .. the downside is she would live in the same area as dave england

she once got very very drunk and cried because of how much she loves them all. she never heard the end of it. she also kissed steve that night. she REALLY never heard the end of that.

but usually when she’s drunk she’s just really chatty and fun and will try to do stunts .. a few of them were used in the show and movies.

[x--daughters-of-darkness--x]

WITHIN TEMPTATION's SHARON DEN ADEL: What I Learned While Supporting IRON MAIDEN On Tour

In a new interview with Canada's The Metal Voice, WITHIN TEMPTATION singer Sharon Den Adel was asked to name something she learned when her band supported IRON MAIDEN on the fall 2022 North American leg of the "Legacy Of The Beast" tour. She said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Well, they've been around since we were kids. [We were], of course, inspired by IRON MAIDEN, but also bands like them because IRON MAIDEN was also a band that we love to listen to. And the biggest compliment [was] being asked to go on tour with them in America because we do well in America and in Canada, but they do quite different venues than we do normally, of course… So it was, for us, a compliment to be with them and to go on tour with them. But what I learned mostly is their love for music."

She continued: "I hope to be like [IRON MAIDEN bassist and founder] Steve Harris when I'm his age or older, still loving music so much. He breathes it, he eats it, he speaks it. He's constantly busy with music. And every show that we played on stage during that tour for three weeks, he was every time behind our gear looking at our show, and he apparently does that with all the support acts because I think he picks them. And so [if] he really likes a band, then he asks them on tour. And he loves to see, I think, also the interaction of being a little bit thrown to the wolves, or the lions, whatever you wanna say. [Laughs] It's, like, okay, you have to convince an audience that is only there for IRON MAIDEN, to convince them that you are worthy to be their support act. And it is a nice chance. I love that underdog position myself as well because you have to reinvent yourself, just feeling the atmosphere of the venue, like, 'Okay, what's what's the mood? What's happened just recently here?' and just being prepared before you go on stage. 'Okay, I'm in this city, and this happened just now. What am I gonna say to people? How am I gonna get them on our side as well? How am I gonna win their hearts?' And that's the struggle, which is always very cool to have as you're opening up for such an iconic band as IRON MAIDEN, of course. And I think [Steve] loves us to see that."