#basically there are no internet towers where i live

[tamagotchi-teeth]

i wanna get south park dvds which season/s are the best in yalls opinion ??

[headspace-hotel]

Y'all

Im not on tiktok and never have been, but I downloaded RedNote just to see what is up, and I am witnessing something truly amazing

The Chinese user community is giving the American tiktok refugees an overwhelmingly warm welcome, meanwhile the American users seem to have collectively agreed that not only will they not let the app be taken over with English and they will provide Mandarin subtitles for everything, they are LEARNING MANDARIN. Ive scrolled through so many videos of Americans offering greetings in Mandarin to try to acclimate to the new environment and be respectful, and speakers of both languages are posting lots of tutorials on language basics and internet slang in Mandarin

My God, there is an AMAZING outpouring of curiosity and delight among everyone to learn about each others cultures and daily lives. People are posting videos of landscapes, cities, towns, and natural areas in USA and China, posting recipes and traditional foods, vlogs of everyday life, and reaching out to find people with similar hobbies.

And it's not just young people! There are loads of videos from middle-aged American guys who have come to post about fishing or motorcycles and are now happily chatting with Chinese users sharing the same interests using Google translate

One American guy who was like. in his 60's had a comment on one of his videos that was like "Red Neck?" and he replied "Yes!" and I just about fucking lost it

Also the Chinese users love, and I mean LOVE, Luigi Mangione. He is apparently broadly adored in China. There is SO much fanart and SO many edits.

There are many threads initiating Chinese users to ask questions of American users about the USA, and vice versa, and everyone on both sides is clearing up a lot of misconceptions. Some of the questions I saw a lot from Chinese users were: "Is it true that American parents kick you out of the house as soon as you turn 18" (not often, but sometimes) "Do you all really wear shoes in bed" (NO!!! Apparently a lot of characters in American sitcoms are shown lying in bed with shoes on which I never noticed before!) and "are there really guns everywhere" (yes).

For the most part Chinese content creators seem just overwhelmed by the sudden influx of hundreds of followers that are super enthusiastic about what they're doing. A lot of them have made posts about how initially they thought the uptick in follower count was some kind of error, or that there was some kind of joke or prank, but then they realized the interest and enthusiasm was genuine and now they're welcoming all the newcomers.

I found several posts by Chinese users saying that this felt like a really profound historical moment, where these previously separated worlds are suddenly smashing together and suddenly there is freedom to learn about each other's cultures and connect. One of them said something along the lines of "This is a 21st century Tower of Babel and even though I'm an atheist I hope God lets this tower stand." OUGH MY HEART.

The app itself works a little bit like a video-based version of Pinterest. It's not really my thing so I probably won't be on there long term but it's been amazing to see what's happening.

[ruggiezz]

— EMBARASSING THINGS THEY DID IN THE PAST : twisted wonderland

[synopsis] embarassing things they did when they were younger that now haunt them whenever they are trying to sleep

[characters] deuce, cater, trey (+chenya), leona, ruggie, jack, malleus

[extra] my last 3 posts are literally so unserious, so here's another one, for the funsies (ily guys)

★﹕DEUCE SPADE

When he was in elementary school, he would chat with his friends while waiting for his mom to come pick him up and take him home. That particular day, his mom was late, and 6-year-old Deuce freaked out. He was convinced that his mom didn't love him anymore, and that's why he wouldn't pick him up—that he was going to be homeless and would have to live on the streets in a cardboard box. He even started crying, which made his friends cry. They started saying goodbye to Deuce because how were they going to see him again if his mom wouldn't bring him to school?

Anyways, his mom came to pick him up 10 minutes later.

★﹕CATER DIAMOND

Back then when he actually tried to make friends whenever he moved schools, he had a huge crush on one of his classmates. One day, he overheard his crush talking about how they "would love to be with someone who loves nature as much as them". Cater wanted to impress his crush so badly that he made a Magicam post with him posing next to random trees and captioned it with "I love nature so much omg😍".

The photo is still out there on the internet because he forgot the password for the account, and the idea of someone from NRC finding the account terrifies him.

★﹕TREY CLOVER (+CHENYA)

Another one that takes place in elementary school. Trey and Chenya were walking around the city after classes when they spotted an electricity pylon. They thought it was the Eiffel Tower (the equivalent of it in Twisted Wonderland), and they got all excited about it, so they came back with Trey's parents so they could take a picture of them next to it.

Their parents bring up the topic from time to time just to laugh at their innocence back then.

★﹕LEONA KINGSCHOLAR

When he was a little kid, he had a nightmare where he was being chased. He was tossing around the bed, mumbling while sleeping. Falena was walking around the halls when he heard noises from Leona's room, and when he saw him clearly having a nightmare, he tried to wake him up. Leona got so startled that he screamed and kicked his older brother in the face.

Sometimes he remembers when he's about to fall asleep, and suddenly his sleepiness is gone from how much he cringed.

★﹕RUGGIE BUCCHI

He needed money, so he decided to work as a party mascot. It went well the first couple of times; it paid well, until he had to work at this particular kids party. The parents told Ruggie to walk down the stairs, greet the kid, wish him a happy birthday, and then just stand there to greet the children whenever they talked to him. Keep in mind that he couldn't see well in the mascot suit. So when Ruggie tried to walk down the stairs, he tripped and fell. The suit's head fell off, and there was just silence for around ten seconds, then the kids started crying. They thought their favorite character had just died right in front of them.

The birthday boy was inconsolable. Needless to say, Ruggie didn't get paid, and his party mascot careed ended that day.

★﹕JACK HOWL

It happened when his parents weren't home. His younger siblings were playing around with paint, and they asked him if they could paint his face. Jack said yes because it was harmless and would wash off, right? Wrong, it was permanent paint.

He had an important exam the next day, so he just showed up to school with his face looking like a kid painting that parents would display on the fridge door. Jack had to go to school like that for three days.

★﹕MALLEUS DRACONIA

Malleus has known Lilia for as long as he can remember; he basically raised him. One day, he had the genius idea to copy his hair. He waited for a moment when he was left unsupervised (in Lilia's defense, Malleus faked being asleep), grabbed some scissors, and cut his own bangs. It was awful; it looked like how you would think a little kid would cut their hair. He was so proud of himself until Lilia saw it. To little Malleus dismay, Lilia laughed his ass off, and whenever his laughter would stop, he would look at Malleus and start laughing again.

He got so upset he burned Lilia's bangs off.

[marisatomay]

online buddy of mine (born in 2004) said “i strongly suspect the vast majority of ‘I'll always remember where I was on 9/11’ stories are not true. I simply don't believe that 75% of people were watching the news live at 8:45 in the morning on a Tuesday when the strangest thing happened.” and like. okay. we can talk about the aftermath in the 22 years since 9/11 and the horrific and evil jingoism that ruined countless lives in decades-long wars all we want. but i cannot overstate enough that 1) we still very much had a monoculture in 2001. most americans would watch either the today show or GMA. 2) as soon as that first plane hit every news station in the country was covering it. schools and businesses and break rooms turned on every tv. every radio. anything that had the ability to broadcast the news. (smartphones weren’t a thing. cell phones and the internet existed but they were new and fragile. unreliable. your best bet was still to sit there and watch. or listen.) and we all sat there and watched the second plane hit and the pentagon hit and the towers collapse and flight 93. so, yes: basically everyone who was alive and old enough to form lasting memories in 2001 remembers that day and the coverage. even people who weren’t near a tv or radio in real time remember where they were and what they were doing when they heard the news. they probably even remember the reason why they didn’t hear about it in real time. i was 5 years old in my first week of first grade and i remember it. it was like. the biggest thing to happen in this country since fucking. pearl harbor. bigger. there’s no need to downplay that.

[alexissara]

Recruiting Minthara Without Doing A War Crime - BG3

Opening Disclaimer: I do not know every variable, I am sharing what I did to recruit Minthara in BG3 since basically every guide in the internet is wrong and says you must do a war crime to recruit MInthara. You will lose out on the Minthara post battle sex scene and she remains mutually exclusive with Halsin you either have her or him but she can be obtained as a party member and even has exclusive voiced dialogue for Karlache and Wyll whom many say you are also locked out of to recruit her. Also this is totally intentional and accounted for but in my personal run I am getting some bugs, idk if it's an everyone issue or a me issue the game is still very new.

To Attack The Grove or to Kill Everyone In The Goblin Camp, that is the question, one that needs not an answer. You can do quests in both places, talk to Minthara, and more and still walk away from this fight.

All you need to do is simply progress the plot ignoring these two binary options. You'll need to ensure Minthara does not know the location of The Druid Grove so for me the way I did it was I rescued Sazza then killed her in the goblin camp before she could rat out the location and turn on me right before she would have walked me over to MInthara. It triggered a small fight but I destroyed the drums they played to trigger an alarm and have everyone fight me meaning I only had to kill four Goblins or so. I went to talk to Minthara and told her I had no clue where the druid grove or her item were but i'd totally look into it. I grabbed everything I wanted from the Goblin camp and before that did all of the Tiefling kid side quests except stealing the artifact in The Druid grove, upgraded Karlache's infernal engines, looked around everywhere I could. I did not at any point meet or talk to Halsin.

Then from there I simply went to the Underdark, you may be be able to take the Gith path instead, idk I didn't do it but I personally went to The Underdark by way of Feather Falling in the Phase Spider Monarch's layer down into it. From there I found some slavers, killed them and stole their boat. I sailed away to a forge where more slavers were living, I helped them save a true soul, helped the true soul kill them and then killed The True Soul. With that I was on my marry way and entered act 2. This I believe triggers time to have progressed in the game and everything will have gone into motion. I wanted to be sure though that I had done everything correctly so I headed to Moon Rise towers as fast as I can. I did some fights, got to the tower and found Minathara getting yelled at by her boss and thrown into a prison. In the prison two women are trying to wipe her mind. I killed all the guards before trying to help her out in the prisons area and freed some other prisoners. Stole a bunch of stuff then went to the girl herself. I then killed the people trying to brainwash her after talking to them for a little, walked out with Minthara, the guards at multiple times were like "why the fuck do you have Minthara" I smooth talk my way out of each situation, we leave moonrise and I tell her she can stay in our camp. From there she is a party member.

The game suggests you don't bring Minthara back into Moonrise Towers with you, I have got some light glitches on my own run when going to areas that are before you can normally recruit minthara and going to camp sometimes she spawns over at The Goblin camp where you first meet her. The Goblins seem to be basically fine so what happened with the tiefling and druids. Well the tieflings were forced to leave the druid grove but they were gonna do that anyway and the same quests are triggered as if you didn't do that as far as I undertand. I have met one of the tieflings already in act two and they were not mad at me for not helping the grove. The grove however did do the ritual and is no longer accessible. I will update this when I enter Baulder's Gate if I find out I like idk caused the death of a bunch of characters for not siding with either but I don't think I cased any deaths at all, I think I spared the most lives, the most peaceful bitch.

I want to end of the note that there is more to Minthara than Girlboss, Gaslight, Gatekeep. She for narrative reasons is a fun character to have. She is cold for sure but I think the game does a pretty good job justifying it and you can see right away glimmers of her warming up. In terms of a party member her kit is interesting, she starts with tadepoles already in her head so if you were totally avoiding them like me you'll be able to see a few of the powers in action given you have no option to remove them from her.

[cannoli-reader]

The White Tower's Strength Hierarchy is not a Problem

I know, it seems like a hot take that has to be a shitpost. The idea of a person being in charge based solely on a physical attribute beyond their control makes monarchy look like a good idea. But I don't think it's actually what the system is, or the intent behind the strength hierarchy.

Basically, most of us completely miss the point of the Aes Sedai and the White Tower. We keep seeing them as an institution of a particular type, like a military or a government or a religion. But it's not. It's a union. Its purpose is to facilitate channelers, like a union's job is to advocate for, and protect, workers. And the part of a worker's life and attention dedicated to his union, or even his job, is only a part of what makes him who he is. Yeah, it influences a lot, like his status in life, where he lives, who his friends are, and so on, but at the end of the day, you work to live, and no matter how staunch your membership in the Local #whatever, you're going to be more worried about getting your work done and going home to your family, your interests and your hobbies.

The Aes Sedai are not soldiers in an army, or bureaucrats in a government, or clergy in a religion. They are not even soldiers, security forces, scholars, philosophers, doctors, diplomates and activists, depending on their Ajah. They are heroes. Protagonists, each of an adventure story. Each one is a powerful person who has an agenda they want to see done for their own advantage or the benefit of others, or just because they want to. The Tower and their Ajahs are just things they sign up for to get that done. Yes, the Tower engages in geopolitical shenanigans, but that has as much to do with what each sister does, day-to-day, as a country's foreign policy does to everyone who is not abroad, near the border or on the internet at the moment.

Basically, every given sister's job at any given time is what she thinks it is. Some of them need or want to be told what to do, so they pick "serve the Tower" and hang around to be given assignments. Others lock the door to their study and yell their cultural equivalent of "fuck off" when someone tries to assign them duties, or just head out into the world to do what they want. And that's cool with the Tower, however annoying a particular Tower authority figure or faction thereof might find it at the time. Because that is what the Tower is for, to make it possible for them to do that stuff. That is the essence of empowerment, and that is the Tower's purpose. They train you to channel, give you an excellent education, train you how to push around deal with people, pound into your head the importance of making a good impression and set you up with unlimited funds, and sit back to see what you do with it.

The problem is, people are going to people, and eventually, each sister will realize that the biggest obstacles to doing what she wants are her fellow sisters. The point of the White Tower is to govern those inevitable clashes, and sort things out, not to achieve some platonic ideal solution, but to minimize the drama and not let the world take advantage of the conflict or distraction. If Aes Sedai are too busy butting heads with one another, some damn fool male might start improving international cooperation and establishing schools that gather a critical mass of scholars and technicians to jump-start a technological revolution might screw everything up.

But that means, there needs to be a rule for who wins, and who gets her way. From the Tower's perspective, it does not matter who wins, so long as there is no fighting over it. The Tower is basically a parent, and every single woman with a Great Serpent ring (or, honestly, the ability to touch saidar), including the Amyrlin, are the kids. As a great comedian whom we should probably be grateful never had access to actual forkroot would say, "Parents don't care about justice, they just want peace and quiet."

From that perspective, the strength hierarchy is an excellent rule. There is no way to game the system, you can't legislate to change it. And like Tic-tac-toe (and Global Thermonuclear War) the only way to win is not to play. Don't like the idea of a woman giving you orders just because she was born with higher innate strength than you? Don't get involved with her! That's all there is to it.

And we see there are many, many ways to get around the strength hierarchy. All you really need is to not require every single person on the planet to give way to you. The Hall and Amyrlin had an plan for Moiraine's career and the authority to make it happen. That's why Moiraine begins the series on the Sun Throne. Oh, wait. No. How did that happen?

Because she is an Aes Sedai with all the power and resources her White Tower training gave her, and the self-awareness to say "Nope," and skip out to do what she wanted/thought was more important. She ran into Cadsuane, too, who also had ideas about what she should do. Didn't take, either.

The main place in the story where it seems like the strength hierarchy messes things up is with the rebel embassy to Rand in Caemlyn, where Kiruna and Bera march in and take over the embassy and head off to comeuppance at Dumai's Wells. You know whose fault that was? Not the woman who first proposed strength as a criterion for situational authority, but Merana. Because she let their strength, or Verin's experience before that, matter. And that was mostly because Merana didn't really believe in what she was doing. She knows her authority does not really come from the White Tower, only a pack of cranks in a village. She is there to serve the agenda of the Salidar rebel movement, and deep down inside, she knows they are there as supplicants to Rand, trying to get him on Team Salidar. She is not there trying to save the world through negotiations, she is just working for a petty factional grudge. So on one level, she knows she has no right to assert her Hall-granted authority, and on another level, she isn't certain that Verin or Kiruna & Bera don't have a better idea of what the best interests of Salidar actually are.

Another major loophole we see in the strength system is cooperation between sisters. Delana, when she is thinking solely as a conventional sister, before she is refocused on her Black duties, notes how Siuan once protected her in their friendship and now she has to be the one protecting her. It's not Delana mistaking their respective strengths for competence to protect one another, it's Delana acknowledging the strength system, and meaning that where Siuan once prevented women between her & Delana in strength from bossing around her Gray friend, now Delana is going to be protecting Siuan from being bossed around by women weaker than Delana. We see this in action with Cadsuane and Daigian & Kumira. Cadsuane respects their mental abilities and judgment, and from their perspective, what more do they need? Rather than claw their up through a meritocracy and securing their position based on some esoteric algorithm weighing the value of their specialties, or pushing their ideas through a review and assessment procedure, all they have to do is convince Cadsuane. And then Cadsuane will see to the implementation of their ideas, or prevent other sisters from interfering with them on the basis of strength.

For a more equitable version of such an arrangement, we have the relationship between Nynaeve & Elayne. There are no two Aes Sedai with a PoV in the series with as much respect and trust for one another as these two have. And we see a few interesting examples of how they work with the strength dynamic in WH.

The first is when the issue of the damane captives who want to have the leash removed is broached to them. Elayne has an opinion on the matter, but she lets Nynaeve make the call because she is the strongest women around. But Elayne is willing to stare down Birgitte, a hero of the Horn, over the civil rights of a man they are certain is a murderer. Is she really going to let Nynaeve keep damane enslaved? Nope. She is letting Nynaeve make the call, letting the system stand, because of her absolute trust that Nynaeve will make the right call. She has been working closely with Nynaeve for over a year now, and most importantly, she saw how Nynaeve handled a related situation in the disposition of the two sul'dam they had captured. If ANYone was going to know that Nynaeve was going to get it right, it would be Elayne. And no, Lan is not telling her what to do, he is speaking to the world at large, he is offering his own opinions based on being in a very similar position, and that's why his own congratulations of Nynaeve for her decision affects her so much. And I think the Kinswomen were feeling her out with the question, because they are worried about ending up in a similar position as the damane, vis a vis the Aes Sedai. Their own agreement with, and pleasure over, Nynaeve's choice speaks to their feelings on discovering that the White Tower (embodied in that moment by Nynaeve) has the right values, and they can trust it to take them in again, without abuse. So what is the point regarding the strength hierarchy, if everyone involved was in agreement on this issue? By referencing the hierarchy, they are not just a bunch of women who happen to have the same opinion, they have made policy, by following institutional procedure, and that gives their agreed-upon course of action weight and it strengthens the connection between sisters, Kin and ex-damane.

The next example is when, after Elayne's near-assassination incident, Nynaeve starts lecturing her and Elayne tells her that she does not want to disobey her, so don't try to use her authority. She's not dismissing Nynaeve's authority, she is respecting it, but also saying that she thinks this is more important. And Nynaeve realizes this, and does not flex on her. Because with reasonable people, self-evident situations like this weigh more that artificially imposed definitions.

And finally, in their last shared moments on-page in Jordan's lifetime, Elayne realizes that Nynaeve is up to shenanigans, noting that it has to be something really out of whack if she's hiding her plans, instead of flexing her strength position. Which incidentally speaks to Elayne's trust that Nynaeve would not abuse her authority, and also the point that she does trust Nynaeve, regardless of how crazy her current scheme is. Or at least, she has a guy to bond and bone and so she'll let Nynaeve do what she thinks she needs to do. Later on, when Rand indicates he sees through her own façade, and knows she has something she is trying to hide from Nynaeve, if not the bond-and-bone specifics, Elayne has a moment of chagrin, because if this guy whose experience of her is basically three days of dating saw through her subterfuge, her partner in crime comrade in arms of far longer standing should have, too. And the answer to why Nynaeve did not interfere is the same as why Elayne picked bond-and-bone over solving Nynaeve's thing: they trust each other.

If you have trust, you don't need to worry about who is ranked higher, and the system cannot stop you from ignoring it and building that trust with other people. And by being so clearly unfair and onerous the system is all but demanding that you reach out to your sisters, and build trust between yourselves, so that you don't have to be constrained by the idiocy of who was born with greater strength in the Power.

And if you can't build trust, stay out of one another's way. Either way, it keeps the White Tower from falling apart and Aes Sedai from internecine conflict.

In the end, it was not the strength system that failed the White Tower, but the formal hierarchy, with its elected leadership and ostensible selection of authority positions by merit, of which the Blue leadership boasts in New Spring.

And for all that the Wise Ones are hailed as a better system using superior criteria (though my own issue with that one is 'who decides who fits those criteria best?' and we see through Perrin's eyes on the conflict between Amys & Sorilea in LoC, it's not always so simple), as an institution, the Wise Ones lied to their people for 3,000 years, made them vulnerable to Couladin's pandering demagoguery, and failed to contain Sevanna's lateral thinking. When it comes to practical results, the Wise Ones are not noticeably more successful than the Tower.

[klug]

do you recommend puzzle pop? i keep really wanting to play it but i do not want to get apple arcade just for that. but i dont know of any other way to get it... so i keep waffling back and forth. i guess im mostly wondering if you think its worth it, i know youve been posting about it but i blocked spoilers so idk what your thoughts are fully

Hi anon :) This is a very good question and gives me a chance to talk about the game

So for starters: You can technically get a free trial of Apple Arcade for a month and this is honestly enough time to just play through for the story modes. I think there are free Apple Arcade trials offered through Best Buy and stuff if you've already used a trial though. If you have an Apple device I feel like it's good to just go for it and try it out?

My short answer is: Yes if you want to play for story and collectibles! Especially if you're mostly interested in the Fever characters! But no if you are more focused on online multiplayer or the Madou characters. The suzuran group actually get a decent amount of content in this game, especially Ecolo in their main story.

I can't really say if I recommend it because everyone in the fandom has really different tastes honestly? Like, if you care mostly about the Madou Monogatari characters, I don't know if you'll like it because the story focus is heavy on Sig and Amitie…and it raises more questions than anything. So I'll just put a personal pros/cons list.

Pros:

The game looks really nice for an Apple Arcade game. Yeah the models are reused, but they use the expressions/motions to their full potential and the cel-shading is great. I also love the environment design. It also isn't live service so you can play it without an internet connection.

The main story, overall, is really good. There are a few standout side stories too IMO! My favorites are Feli, Witch's, Risukuma's, Ally's and Rafisol's.

So many collectibles. The Puyo Card feature, a customizable ID card you can unlock stuff for, is probably the most fun thing they've added to this game.

There's not a lot of new songs but the new ones are very good.

The inclusion of Nazo Puyo-style puzzles in story mode is a lot of fun, but they're skippable if you're bad at them.

Photo mode is fun. Basically you have a diorama where you can pose the characters however you want, but I haven't used it much.

Cons:

Yes the models and animations are reused, most other stuff in the game is new though!

The main story starts out really strong but does feel a bit anticlimactic in the last act. If you have already read the novel Sig's Secret you most likely won't get anything out of the story, which was the case for me. I've known a lot of people who haven't and cried at the ending though.

Some of the side stories for certain characters are really whatever to me but this is subjective.

The translation can be really weird in places -- I think Suketoudara's side story is where it was at its worst, but there are random errors scattered throughout the English translation...

The music selection is a bit weird to me. Like, Rafisol's theme isn't in the game but the Color Tower theme is? It's just a weird selection.

The challenge dungeons for unlockables can feel really tedious since you're not guaranteed to get characters' special items. If you have a grind mindset and really enjoy Puyo Puyo gameplay though, this is probably fine.

The online is terrible and nonexistent. This kind of renders the Puyo Card moot if you really care about showing it off.

You will need a controller for some of the harder stages. The touch controls are fine if you just want to get through the story, but you'll need a bluetooth controller for more precise inputs.

I basically do think it was well-constructed at the start, but most likely Yoshino (the writer) ran out of space or time for the last story in the game.

[mikunology]

Locations in Sapporo

things in my personal life has calmed down somewhat for the time being so I figured I'd write up an easy lore post that I completely forgot I could make so here we are

I wanted to list some common locations found in Sapporo as featured in Vocal Android! I haven't actually talked about the setting too much and while I'm kinda bad at designing locations, I figured I could at least talk about them a little

But, yeah, I'll do my best to explain, so some lore under the cut?

Crypton Laboratories HQ/Crypton Towers: The place where the CVs live and where Meiko and Kaito work. A huge white, gray, and cyan building shaped like a C if you look at it from above, it's home to Crypton's various research labs. The building has floors entirely dedicated to be Miku, the twins and Luka's living spaces, and they each have their own color-coded rooms and living areas. There's a recording and dance studio in the building for the CVs to do their idol work and music playing, as well as a virtual reality training room. There's also the CVs' very own superhero base of sorts, which Gumi helped design, and allows the crew to oversee the city in case danger makes itself known (it's also a convenient place to hang out and take a nap). There's also a sizeable garage below the building, where Rin keeps the road roller.

Kenmochi Academy High School: Miku, Rin and Len's school. A large, clean campus made of three V-shaped buildings with their points pointing towards each other and hexagon-shaped windows. A pretty high-bar school with a lot of recent technology, it's one of the more popular and well-known high schools in town (and thus, an excellent candidate for Meiko's goal of having the CVs interact with humans their age). It is headed by Principal Sasaki. (Current Student List: Hatsune Miku, Kagamine Rin and Len, Kobayashi Matcha, Masaoka Azuki, Yumemi Nemu, Hibiki Lui, Akira Kano/Arsloid, Otomachi Una, Sato Sasara, Suzuki Tsudumi, Kokone Aime, Kizuna Akari, Futaba Minato, Hoshino Ichika, Tenma Saki, Hinomori Shiho, Mochizuki Honami, Koharu Rikka (formerly), Suzune Ring)

Ichikawa Academy High School: Gumi's school, a high school on the eastern side of the city. It's a more "normal" high school, less flashy than Kenmochi and looking more typical, but still has a few good programs to its name, including its science program (which Gumi tries to participate in). (Current Student List: Megumi "Gumi" Nakashima, Kotonoha Akane and Aoi, Tohoku Zunko, Gahata Meiji, Kamishiro Rui, Kusanagi Nene, Tenma Tsukasa, AiSuu, Tsuina-chan)

Utahako Elementary School: The local elementary school a block or two away from Kenmochi. It's a modest little elementary school, having been newly refurbished from an older building. Many of the students that go there end up graduating to Kenmochi later. Kiyoteru teaches here. (Current Student List: Kaai Yuki, Oliver Twitchell, Rana, Macne Petit, Tohoku Kiritan, Otomachi Unagi, Ryuuto Nakashima)

The Macne Cafe: A fresh-looking little internet cafe that sits in the town plaza and is the CVs' favorite hangout spot. Established by the Macne Family, it's become slowly but surely known around town for its delicious green apple cheesecake and desserts. Nana has been trying various ways to spread their customer base further.

The V5: A swanky nightclub and bar that is also in the plaza, run by four friends: Amy, Chris, Kaori and Ken. Many of the adult characters come there to drink and chat a bit.

UTAU Studios: A record label company and radio studio stationed in the industry hub of town, notable for its large staff and loooong list of talents. The studio runs a daily radio broadcast that's fairly popular, and their top talent is Namine Ritsu (or it was, anyway).

Sapporo University: The local college. A bit of an older building since it's been there basically forever compared to a lot of the rest of futuristic city. Has a small, colorful dormitory community next to it where students stay. (Current Student List: Galaco, Po-uta, Tsurumaki Maki, Shirosaki Yuudai; Utatane Piko isn't a student but he lives there)

Kamukura Shrine: A humble shrine that's only a little ways away from the beach, and is where most of the cast goes for holiday celebrations (such as New Years). It's headed by Kigashima Sourin and his protégés, Kurono Takehiro, Wakamatsu Akashi, Aoyama Ryuusei and Shirakami Koutarou, who are training to be proper priests. They also have their shrine maiden, a fussy teenage girl named Lumi who claims to be a jellyfish kami from the sea. Her antics tend to bring a lot of visitors.

SEKAI Auditorium: A venue a few blocks away from Crypton HQ and the main place where Miku and friends perform locally. Very spacious and known to host tons of acts, including smaller ones like local bands, singers and theater shows. Also functions as a sort of convention center at times. However, it's tendency to get raided by supervillains (mostly in pursuit of Miku and co.) has given it a bit of a weird reputation.

The Nebula: A recently-established nightclub in the plaza run by American DJ CYBER DIVA (and her partner CYBER SONGMAN), who is also the headlining act of the place. Used to have a bit of a rivalry with Miku, but they're both over it. Gets a lot of younger customers than the ones at the V5.

Dr. Momone's House: A modern house in a quiet neighborhood next to the industrial part of town where Dr. Momone, Momo and Defoko live. Their neighbors consist of Yufu (who lives down the lane), Eru (who lives at the far end of the lane), Tsukishiro Hakupo and his servant bot Kunishiki (who live next door) and Sensei.

Gumi's Apartment: Gumi, Gakupo and Ryuuto's small apartment in a building not too far from Crypton HQ. Not the nicest apartment that ever was, but it's homey.

Gin no Hana: A old-fashioned restaurant that has reasonable business and is popular due to the comfy atmosphere. Managed by Ginsaki and his wife, Koharu.

The Old Soul Theater: An old theater in town that's mainly still in the city for the sake of preservation, but still has small plays and acts now and again. Has been turned into an acting school of sorts by Miriam Stocks, a theater connoisseur.

Ruko's candy shop: A hole-in-the-wall shop in an alleyway managed by Yokune Ruko, where they sell candy, snacks and cheap cups of drip coffee. Totally not shady in the slightest. Is almost constantly out of coffee-flavored hard candy because Ruko keeps eating it.

Meiko's apartment: Meiko's home, a simple apartment in a simple complex where she crashes after a long day at the lab. The CVs have never been to it.

There's probably more than this but yeah :>

[softbones-sparkclan]

🌄Sparkclan Intro Post! 🌼✨

About me:

Adult (20+) - Worm enjoyer and furry drawer

I go by Mono. I’m a silly little guy who makes art on the internet. 

agender/nonbinary - they/ey/ae/it/rot. System.  

Sideblog, primary is @softstuffs

About Sparkclan!

Sparkclan is a 700+ moon save file I've had since late 2022. It's an amalgamation of various different mods from the Clangen discord server that, and my own, that I've combined in a source code build of the game.

In universe, it's existed for ~60 years and is the 3rd oldest out of 6 clans in the forest. Lightstar, the current leader, is the 11th leader so far. The territory rests between the sandy ocean shore and the pacific northwest forest (thats what its based on anyways. its not really meant to mimic a real world place lol). It consists of gorges of jagged stones, towering firs, and rocky shorelines that have been sanded smooth by the waves. Very picturesque, but also very dangerous.

Despite the many challenges it has faced Sparkclan has grown to become the largest of the 6 clans and managed to be (mostly) functional! Except for that time a few years ago where basically everyone starved to death. Whoops.

There's a lot of cats. Many lots of cats. Too many cats. 236 cats.

I draw based on moon events, flavor text, and patrols as well as whatever else I can think of! :3

Don't have an update schedule. I like to think I post semi frequently but being a full time student there's no promise i wont fall off the wagon of that.

I try to remember to add image descriptions when I upload, but sometimes I forget or I'm busy. In that case I add them back in later (usually after a few days)

AKS: Open!

DMS: No

General boundaries: Pls don't be weird abt me or the cats. Don't make inappropriate jokes abt them, don't try to redesign them/headcanon them, don't ask me for ETA's for art/updates, etc. 👍 I'm here to chill and make silly cat art.

More Sparkclan Info! ▼

Clan Stats: Moon 743

Living clan cats: 236

Leader: Lightstar

Deputy: Mudsmoke

Medicine cats/Clerics: 19

Medic. Apps: 2

Mediators: 8

Media. Apps: 1

Caretakers: 4

Warriors: 143

Warr. apps: 21

Kits: 30

Elders: 6

Faded cats: 91

Starclan Cats: 494

Dark Forest Cats: 11

Unknown Residence: 48

TOTAL CATS: 880 cats

Allegiances: #softsparkAllegiances

Tags:

Moon events: #Softsparkmoons

#Softbones Sparkclan: All Sparkclan art!

Ask tag: #Softsparkasks

Cats outside the clan: #Cats outside the clan

Other clans: #The other clans

Starlclan and DF: #Afterlife

Characters are tagged by their name. Usually their parent(s) or mentor(s) will be tagged as well, alongside any cat seen or mentioned. Asks can be sent to any of the cats (Alive, Outsider, Starclan, Dark Forest, etc.)! You can send whatever you'd like or you can suggest something from the askgame(s) we've rbged!

Beetle's more eyes

✨🌙Sparkclan mod list-

Accessorygen

double patches

Eragona's whitepatches

Eragona's eyes

Mink's tortie's + whitepatches

Risen's more kits*

Beetle's semi realistic tints

Gerob's Traits + Personalities

Gerob's More Cat Names*

Intersex + more enby cats mod

Beetle's more skills*

Doe's Genetic Cats Retexture

Muxa's Shaders

* ='s heavily modified/using code as a base.

+ my changes: additional pelt and white patch tints, eye sprites, alterations to Starclan and DF lineart, additional thoughts.

🍃🌼🌙

[chronotsr]

Pre-G1 Modules, part 5 - The Tower of Zenopus

So you probably noticed that this is being posted after G1. Sorry! File this in July 1977, so just after DK1 and 2 and Tsojconth and City-State and Tegel Manor but before Thieves of Badabaskor et c.

This post being released out of order is a function of where Zenopus is hiding. You see, the dating of Holmes Basic is a little squirrely. Most places say 1977 broadly, some people will say "the earliest reference is an ad in Dungeon in September '77", and a few internet sleuths say July 11th . So I hadn't had that down in my to-review list before I released G1, and in the rush I had forgotten that hiding in the back of Holmes Basic is the beloved little module simply entitled "Sample Dungeon", later known as The Tower of Zenopus.

And, consequently, I have no fancy cover to show you! Just this hand-drawn little map:

The Tower is unique in that it is the first module on this list that I have actually run for a real party. Now, granted, I did not run the Tower in Holmes Basic (I ran it in Fantasy AGE 2nd edition), but nonetheless -- it's the first one I have personal knowledge of. And I love it quite a bit.

So historywise Holmes Basic has a lot going on that I cannot quickly explain, so simply accept that Eric Holmes offered and was eventually hired to re-edit Original Dungeons and Dragons ("Little Brown Booklets") into a less labyrinthine mess. This was an extremely good call, and the Basic productline would go on to live for a very very long time in one form or another, only getting seriously changed much later by Frank Mentzer in 1983. There is a lot of Corporate Politics wrapped up in the release of ADND vs Basic vs Original DND, with concerns about copyrights and royalties and extremely Type A Gary Gygax not wanting to share his toys with the others. And, done.

The Tower is interesting from a historical standpoint in that whereas The Tower of the Frog is "here is a dungeon, here is what that looks like", Tower of Zenopus is "here is how to make a dungeon, and this is a dungeon that will teach players how to play". There will be far better attempts at those two goals, but nonetheless Tower represents a module that genuinely holds up in 2024 with some cleanup. It was given a loving nod in 5e's Ghosts of Saltmarsh by having the neighboring Portown be a little up the coast from Saltmarsh and I strongly recommend having that be your second adventure after the haunted house.

So, what's Tower's backstory? Both more and less than you'd expect. Zenopus built the tower next to the graveyard, it was suddenly engulfed in green flame, Zenopus was killed "by some powerful force he had unleashe din the depths of the tower", and it sat around for a bit. The villagers saw spooky shit going on there and smashed it with a catapult. Your party has assembled in the Green Dragon Inn and is going to investigate for phat lewt. Go on, scamp!

The structure of the tower is unusually genius for an early module, in that it features a lot of routing loops that allow for nonlinear but clear movement through the dungeon. The overall structure is, ultimately, a rimmed wheel, an outer ring connected by spokes to the hub. The shape hides this well but not too well, which is perfect for the new DM. So here's the room by room highlights:

The party enters on a four-way intersection, each taking you to a different feature of the dungeon. I have heard this dungeon describes as "like a theme park with four wings" and that's an apt descriptor here -- you're picking between the rat area, the pirates area, the wizard area, and the tomb area.

A very cute and simple puzzle, which is one of those most precious things in life: a four-way room freely opens from the outside, but only lets you out from one door. A statue in the center points towards the door that is currently open, and the statue can be spun to change the door. It's a neat little trick in that if the party gets separated during combat, anyone in this room can't assist anymore unless they work out the trap, but outside of combat it is largely a non-issue so long as they take the time to puzzle it out.

A pretty standard but new for the time tell that the wizard has a petrification wand with a little garden of stony adventurers. It's a classic for a reason.

A regulation water-rush trap that separates the party with the current -- again, a certified classic, creating tension by making fair encounters that are hard if the players get separated by traps

Ye olde "question answering mask" with, again, a precious simple puzzle: a tiny little riddle. If you parse out that the mask is powered by the sundial, you can abuse your light sources to make it be 4pm.

G i a n t c r a b, the most classic of scary "normal monsters", because it is armored and hits hard but people still immediately understand "oh fuck it's a crab" in the way they understand a bear is a serious issue

Giant spiders ambush from the ceiling silently. Zenopus really is a classics fest, but in 2024 that's kind of novel simply because THIS type of classic isn't done anymore.

For reasons I cannot fathom, the local pirates have taken to smuggling in the Tower because it's connected to the sea. This works in Ghosts because Portown is abandoned and so it's far away, but as-mentioned in the original module the tower has to be suuuuper far away from town, but also near enough to be the graveyard, for it to be a good smuggler's den. Regardless, there's a canned setpiece in the sea access room where pirates are coming on boats with a kidnapped noble lady from Portown. They're moving in on skiffs when, a giant octopus attacks! It's very, very good. This is, for my money, the best room in the dungeon and also one of the best moments in DND until we get all the way to N1's tavern.

In the center of the dungeon is a staircase leading up into the remains of the tower -- I made a rather major change from the original here, the original is merely an old alchemist's laboratory complete with a pet ape.

Instead of the alchemy lab, for my adventure I made a rather large change: the original module suggests expanding downwards because That Is How It Was Done in 1974. Instead, I went up. The horrible thing Zenopus discovered had formed a shadowy parallel dimension, so they were in a pocket dimension where the old tower was, even though in the prime material plane it was simply rubble. This blog is not About My Modifications but, that's my free tip about the tower if you ever run it -- subvert the old timey expectations by making it an upward dungeon instead of a downward dungeon, with the power of weird magic.

Anyway, that was all, and amends are now made for my previous error. See you in checks notes like 5 hours with G2!

[parasociallover]

Dearest reader (and you are so very dear to me),

I’ve decided that fandom writing is not for me, as I find myself being tripped up by my own need to crush canon beneath my feet. So, I’ve decided to take bits and pieces of characters that I love and just write original content based on that. Here’s a big ol’ introduction post (fancy profiles will come later, bonus points if you can guess who these guys initially were ‘cause they’re not from the same canon)

Amore Parlami: A group of dudes set in italy (Where in italy? Who knows!) centered around the former members of a street gang, a band, and a flower shop called Momento Floris. There’s no overarching plot here, just vignettes, headcanons, and SMAUs based on these boys and everyday life. The boys are as follows:

Enzo Fontenero: Leader of the now disbanded gang at the heart of this story, an explosive final fight left him craving a slow and simple life with the thing he loves most, flowers. He’s a cozy guy, who loves gardening/botany, flower arranging, basically if it’s green, it’s his special interest. Even though he doesn’t consider himself a leader, he has a habit of attracting strays, and his building has become the unofficial home of many punks looking for meaning. He’s very laid back, and doesn’t judge, as someone who's lived a hard life himself.

Raimundo Cavallaro: When Enzo disbanded the gang, Rai briefly became the de-facto leader until his older sister implored him to help run the family bakery. Now, he’s got his hands full with that, and finds that bakery life is fun but stressful. His height is often intimidating at first look, but he’s a gentle giant. When he’s not working in the bakery, he plays guitar and does vocals for his unnamed band.

Vitto Amadori: Feisty and sharp tongued, but so very pretty. He prides himself on never bearing any permanent marks from countless fights, and has been able to become a decently paid full time model and internet pretty boy. He’s ruthlessly savvy, and isn’t above using his pretty face to get what he wants. He’s the one hanging on the most tenuously to his former compatriots, but he knows that even in his absences, they know he’s always thinking of them. He often books gigs for Rai’s band, sometimes even against Rai’s will because he truly believes in their talent, making him the sort-of manager.

Corvo Campanello: A soft spoken and gentle soul with a passionate love of flower and flower symbolism, hence why he’s working in Momento Floris. He actually has no connection to the initial street gang, but was adopted into the fold by Enzo nonetheless. He has a romantic heart, and a smooth, deep voice (although he is a little insecure about it.) He’s often dragged on ridiculous quests and shenanigans as the defacto voice of reason, and has been declared the Mom Friend, despite his protests.

Matteo Lupo: a blank faced, monotone voiced photographer and parkour enthusiast. He works part time at Momento Floris in order to finance his true dream of making sick parkour videos and taking shots of birds and towers. He loves heights, like a lot. Despite his lack of expression, he’s an excitable dumbass. His partners in crime are Corvo and Leandro, and he’s often the one who scouts sights and areas for them.

Leandro Nicoletti: An excitable and fun loving guy trying to become an influencer. He does parkour videos along with Matteo and Corvo, and is the drummer in Rai’s band. He’s got a bit of a temper, but it usually only comes out if he witnesses something he believes to be an injustice. He’s often overconfident in a way that leads to him being comedically being smacked down to reality. Ultimately, his refusal to slow down and relax is due to the anxiety put on him by his rich family’s refusal to entrust any responsibility in him.

Angelo Serpo: The most hardcore out of the original gang, he was the last to finally put down his fists to settle into street racing and motorcycles. He’s nonchalant about anything that isn’t winning, eating, sleeping, and you. His sizable earnings tend to go to making his life as comfy as possible, although he sees to be drifting aimlessly. He’s the bassist in Rai’s band, and often garners a lot of attention, both positive and negative.

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 2.2

When he woke the next day, he saw Victor’s message. He hurried to reply, but Victor was already offline. 

Tang Mo stretched his body and suddenly felt that his psychological state was much better. His heartbeat was still very fast, but that feeling of being anxious for no reason had disappeared without a trace.

On the internet, the Black Tower incident was still being discussed. Since the relevant government agency had yet to give a definitive explanation, many netizens could only secretly discuss pertinent information regarding the Black Tower, but their discussions were basically all useless.

Tang Mo clicked on a few forum posts speculating on the Black Tower that seemed reasonable. A large number of people thought the Black Tower was the result of some kind of advanced technology research. There were also a few who thought it was the end of the world, but their tone was joking.

In the afternoon, Director Wang sent an announcement to the city library’s group chat.

“Urgent notice! Starting from the day after tomorrow, the city library will be commandeered as a temporary research center. If you have any personal items there, come fetch them within the next two days. I’ll repeat the notice once again: Starting from the day after tomorrow, the city library will be commandeered as…”

The group chat immediately exploded out of control.

A few older employees inquired one after the other - if the city library was commandeered, where would they go to work? A few young employees jokingly said: “It’s the end of the world, why work, ah?”

Tang Mo raised his head and turned his eyes to the distant Black Tower. He picked up his bag and caught a bus to the city library.

It must be said, the stability of A-country’s social order was really very good. Aside from those who worked close to the Black Tower and had to stay at home for the time being, the rest of the infrastructure was operating extremely steadily, the same as always.

But when he got on the bus and swiped his card, Tang Mo saw that the driver had an ashtray in front of him, filled with ash, and there was a cigarette in his mouth.

A middle-aged woman complained, “Mister, why are you smoking while driving? Isn’t it banned?”

“So troublesome. If I can’t smoke, I don’t want to drive. Why don’t you come drive?”

“Ai, what are you saying? The ban on smoking is a rule from you guys at the bus company. It’s already bad enough that you’re smoking, but you also won’t let us speak?”

The driver and the middle-aged woman continued to argue. Sitting beside Tang Mo were two female university students who hurried to mediate. They managed to soothe things over with great difficulty.

The two female college students returned to their seats and one of them said, “Today is the third day, right?”

“Oh, it’s like you said. It really is the third day.”

The female student, playing on her cellphone, said, “Something was said about needing to eliminate a player, but not being limited to playing a game. What does that mean? Even after three days there’s still no change. What counts as a game? If we play rock, paper, scissors, does that count?”

“Hee hee, want to give it a try?”

“Rock, paper, scissors!”

“Ah, I lost. Then, was I eliminated by you?”

The two female college students glanced at one another and began to laugh heartily.

Those who sat on the bus, continuing their everyday lives, didn’t care much about the Black Tower incident. When Tang Mo reached the city library, he saw countless people holding signs, surrounding the Black Tower on all sides. Those who cared deeply about the Black Tower incident were also those who indeed thought the Black Tower had brought about the end of the world.

Tang Mo made a detour via the backdoor and entered the city library. It seemed that he alone had hurried to fetch his things, because there was no one else in the spacious library. Outside, the chanting of the demonstrating masses could be heard, the hubbub echoing within the library as well. Tang Mo found his cabinet and retrieved several books from inside.

He was about to leave when he suddenly heard a muffled sound coming from the southeast corner. Tang Mo halted in his steps and looked in that direction. A moment later, he grabbed a black stun baton [1] from within the security locker and cautiously tip-toed toward that corner.

“Who’s there?”

There was no response. But Tang Mo could indistinctly hear the sound of someone moving, as if someone had stuffed a book back onto its shelf and then, in a fluster, dropped another.

Tang Mo approached the bookshelf in the corner and, rounding the corner, called out, “Who’s there!?”

An ordinary young man with a headful of chaotic hair looked toward Tang Mo in agitation, still holding a book in his hands.

The hand Tang Mo was using to hold the stun baton lowered. In astonishment, he said, “Spiritual…cough…Mr. Chen? What are you doing here?”

The spiritual weirdo looked stiffly at Tang Mo, forced a laugh, and returned the book he was holding to the bookshelf.

Tang Mo furrowed his eyebrows. “How did you get in here?”

“There’s a sliding window on the east side that’s not shut well… I just entered to look…look around…”

Tang Mo thought back and recalled that there really was a sliding window on the east side of the city library. But that sliding window was on the ground and opened into the basement, primarily serving as ventilation. How had the spiritual weirdo entered? Could he really have crawled through the window?

Tang Mo said, “Mr. Chen, your behavior is very awkward for us. Isn’t this considered theft?”

“I haven’t stolen anything!” the spiritual weirdo hastily said.

Tang Mo looked him up and down, his hand still grasping the stun baton, and walked to the bookshelf to carefully look it over.

Indeed, there were no fewer books. It was the same as when he’d left three days previously.

“So then the reason you entered is…”

[Ding dong! The game [2] ‘Who Stole My Book?’ has been triggered. On November 17th, 2017, at 17:52, players Tang Mo and Chen Fangzhi safely joined the game. Players have entered the sandbox. Game map generation is complete. Data loading is complete.]

In a split second, the turmoil and chanting coming from outside the city library completely disappeared. In the deserted city library, a sly, melodious child’s voice sounded out of nowhere, reciting a nursery rhyme that no one had ever head before -

[La la la, la la la.

Hit gently with a stick,

Two players playing house.

Three days and nights without speaking,

The angel and demon want it.

Hiss…who stole my book?] [3]

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

Translation Notes

[1] Something like this:

This is a wild thing for a security guard at a LIBRARY to be carrying, btw.

[2] It's literally 'pit game.'

[3] This all rhymes in Chinese. I think it makes more sense that way because some of the nonsense is obviously there to 'force' the rhyme that highlights the key parts, but there's not really a good way to make it work in English. At least, not with my limited skills. Just......take my word for it, I guess. >_>;;

[firstumcschenectady]

“The Tower” based on Deuteronomy 29:10-15 John 11:28-44

Last Summer Diana Butler Bass gave a sermon at the Wild Goose Festival that was shared and forwarded to me approximately 100 times, which was good because that's how many times it took for me to read it. And once I read it, I participated in the sharing and forwarding too. Her sermon was entitled “All the Marys”1 and it shared one of the biggest breakthroughs in Biblical Scholarship in generations.

Which, I know, is THE SINGLE MOST EXCITING THING I COULD EVER SAY! Or, perhaps, maybe, it might not be?

Stick with me.

It's worth it. This is a case where a huge break through in Biblical scholarship has pretty big implications for those of us who follow Jesus. I'm well aware they aren't all like that.

What I find interesting is that I've now read her sermon several times over the course of 10 months, and I can't seem to retain it. The implications are actually so big and require such an enormous re-framing of how I understand the early Christian story, that my brain keeps erasing it in favor of the familiar.

If you have spent less time in Gospel commentaries and/or seminary than I have, I suspect you are going to find it easier to accept these very simple truths than I do. Which is great! This is really awesome stuff, and I'd love for people to hear it, know it, and even retain it.

Diana Butler Bass tells the story of Elizabeth (Libbie) Schrader who felt moved to study Mary Magdalene, landed at General Theological Seminary in New York to work on a Masters of New Testament, and wrote her final paper on John 11. Her professor encouraged her to look at the newly digitized version of the oldest known text of John, Papyrus 66, from around 200 CE, and find something new in it.

I'm going to quote Diana Butler Bass here:

And so Libbie is in the library looking at the text and she sees this first sentence. And it’s in Greek, of course. “Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and his sister Mary.” And Libbie said, “What? That’s not what my English Bible says. My English Bible says, ‘Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister, Martha.’” But the Greek text, the oldest Greek text in the world doesn’t say that. The oldest Greek text in the world says, “Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, at the village of Mary and his sister, Mary.” There are two Marys in this verse. And Libbie went, “What the heck? What is going on here?” And she started digging into the text, zooming in on it to try to see what she could see over the digitized version in the internet. And lo and behold, Libbie noticed something that no New Testament scholar had ever noticed.

And that is, in the text where it had those two Marys, the village of Mary and his sister, Mary, and her sister, Mary, the text had actually been changed. In Greek, the word Mary, the name Mary, is basically spelled like Maria in English, M-A-R-I-A. And the I, the Greek letter I, is the letter Iota. And it looks basically like an English I. Libbie could see by doing this textual analysis that the Iota had been changed to the letter TH in Greek, Theta. That somebody at some point in time had gone in over the original handwriting and actually changed the second Mary to Martha. And not only had that person changed the second Mary to Martha, but that person had also changed the way it comes out in English. It says, “The village of Mary,” that would’ve stayed the same, “and her sister, Martha.” Someone had also changed that “his” to “her”; that “her” was originally a “his,” but they had changed it to a “her.”

Admittedly, the original text is a confused and not very good sentence. “Now, a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, at the village of Mary and his sister, Mary,” it’s almost like they’re heightening the fact that Lazarus has this sister, Mary. They lived in this village together, and Mary is Lazarus’ sister. Someone had changed it to read, “Mary and her sister, Martha.”

Libbie sat in the library with all of this, and it came thundering at her, the realization that sometime in the fourth century, someone had altered the oldest text of the Gospel of John and split the character Mary into two. Mary became Mary and Martha.

She went through the whole manuscript of John 11 and John 12, and lo and behold, that editor had gone in at every single place and changed every moment that you read Martha in English, it originally said, “Mary.” The editor changed it all.

Now, that's a pretty big deal, but I imagine that maybe you don't... umm... I think the words might be “Care that much.” But let me say, “yet.” I haven't gotten to the part where this MATTERS yet, that was a really important BACKGROUND. It also makes John 11 as we know it really hard to read and make sense of. But that's OK too.

So the underlying question in this is “why?” Why would someone go through so much trouble to create the character Martha out of what was once Mary? The key may be in the part of John 11 we read last week,

25Jesus said, “I am the resurrection, and the life: the one that believes in me, though they may die, yet shall they live; 26and the one who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to him, “Yes, Lord: I have believed that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one that comes into the world.

In the Bibles I have that “she” appears to be Martha but if she doesn't exist, then the she is Mary. And now we're getting to it. Christianity has long claimed that the first declaration that Jesus was the Messiah comes from Peter, the Rock, who is presented as having done so in Mark, Matthew, and Luke (the “Synoptics”) and that answer kinda worked because Martha was a pretty minor character and even though she says so in John, it is easy enough to ignore because Peter is THE ROCK, and Martha is... well, kinda a nobody.

Back to Diana Bulter Bass:

But if it is Mary, the Mary who shows up in John 11 is not an unremembered Mary... This Mary has long been suspected of being the other Mary, Mary Magdalene. Is it really true that the other Christological confession of the New Testament comes from of the voice of Mary Magdalene? That the Gospel of John gives the most important statement in the entirety of the New Testament, not to a man, but to a woman, and to a really important woman who will show up later as the first witness to the resurrection.

You see how these two stories work together. In John 11, Lazarus is raised from the dead, and who is there but Mary Magdalene? And at that resurrection, she confesses that Jesus is indeed the son of God. And then you go just 10 chapters later and who is the person at the grave? She mistakes him, at first, thinks he’s the gardener. She turns around and he says, “Mary,” and she goes, “Lord.” It’s Mary Magdalene. It is Mary Magdalene.

Oh, and now I get to place for you the final piece. Do you remember learning that Christ wasn't Jesus' last name? I do. Christ is the English version of Christos which was the Greek translation of Messiah, which literally meant “smeared” as in “smeared with oil” as in “annointed as king” because the Greek didn't have a Messiah concept like Hebrew did. So when we say Jesus Christ, we are actually saying “Jesus the Messiah.”

Well, a lot of people think Mary Magdalene was called that cause she was Mary, from Magdala. Except there was no village called Magdala. Diana Butler Bass summariezes it this way:

When we call her Magdalene, Mary Magdalene, is not Mary from Magdala. Instead, it’s a title.

The word magdala in Aramaic means tower. And so now you get the full picture. In the Synoptics, Jesus and Peter have a discussion. In that discussion, Peter utters the Christological confession. As a result of the Christological confession, Jesus says, “You are Peter the Rock.” In the gospel of John, Mary and Jesus have a conversation, and Mary utters the Christological confession. And she comes to be known as Mary the Tower.

Between these two confessions, are we looking at an argument in the early church? Peter the Rock or Mary the Tower?

But the John account was changed. The John story has been hidden from our view. All those years ago, Mary uttered those words, “Yes, Lord, I believe you are the Messiah, the son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” …

Mary is indeed the tower of faith. That our faith is the faith of that woman who would become the first person to announce the resurrection. Mary the Witness, Mary the Tower, Mary the Great, and she has been obscured from us. She has been hidden from us and she been taken away from us for nearly 2,000 years. …

Or, or perhaps and, you can leave here with a question: What if the other story of Mary hadn’t been hidden? What if Mary in John 11 hadn’t been split into two women? What if we’d known about Mary the Tower all along? What kind of Christianity would we have if the faith hadn’t only been based upon, “Peter, you are the Rock and upon this Rock I will build my church”? But what if we’d always known, “Mary, you are the Tower, and by this Tower we shall all stand?”

OK, that's it. That's my big Biblical Studies breakthrough story. Perhaps you might want to laugh with me that the big breakthrough is simply another affirmation that God loves and cares about all people, JUST LIKE THE TEXT FROM DEUTERONOMY said in a lot fewer words.

But, dear ones, what if we'd gotten both stories? And maybe the even more important question: how can we live now that we have both stories? How can we be followers of Jesus who was seen clearly by Peter and by Mary? How can we be people of faith who both follow a leader who is a rock on which we are steadied and a tower who lifts us all up? What if masculine and feminine were allowed to stand together as holy to the deepest core of our faith? What if there is a whole lot of space for both/and in our tradition!?!?

Someone actually didn't want that. Someone edited it out, and made Mary smaller. Dear ones, may we commit ourselves to the opposite. May we go out and make God, and each other, and all we meet BIGGER! Tower like, even. Amen

1 ALL THE MARYS Wild Goose Festival, Closing Sermon, July 17, 2022 by Diana Butler Bass https://dianabutlerbass.com/wp-content/uploads/All-the-Marys-Sermon.pdf

Rev. Sara E. Baron  First United Methodist Church of Schenectady  603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305  Pronouns: she/her/hers  http://fumcschenectady.org/  https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

May 21, 2023

[handicappedbuenchico]

Five Characters, Five Tags

Andy Barclay (Child's Play series)

The original Child's Play from 1988 was my first horror movie that I watched as a wee child at 8 years old. It was my introduction to the 80's slasher genre, and bred my love for old school horror movies. This very blog wouldn't exist without me seeing this movie, in fact. Enough gushing about the original movie though, you came to hear about why Andy Barclay is here. I immediately loved Andy Barclay because Andy was like ME at that age. He played with dolls, he was the pinnacle of childhood innocence and wonder, he lived in a big city and had a mother who was struggling to make ends meet WHILE STILL TRYING HER BEST TO MAKE HIM HAPPY FOR HIS BIRTHDAY!! Hell I even looked like Andy at that age, except I'm a girl and I was chubbier. Nowadays I just feel so fucking bad for Andy. It genuinely pained me to witness just how paranoid and (admittedly) obsessed he had become, how much of his normalcy and innocence he lost, despite knowing it was all Chucky's doing. Now I just wanna wrap Andy up in a blanket and make him feel safe from that possessed hunk of plastic. I think it's safe to say that Andy Barclay will always have a place in my heart, no matter what. Andy can be my friend to the end, Hidey Ho!

2. Carlos Rodriguez (Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare)

Now, what can I say about Carlos that I haven't said already? I don't really think there truly is anything new I can add, so I guess I'm gonna be redundant! Carlos has been a big comfort character for me ever since I was in late elementary school. Yes I'm aware I said I first watched Freddy's Dead in middle school, but my sense of time is clearly non-existent because I first watched it in the 6th grade, however I did rewatch Freddy's dead for the second time in middle school. That's probably what my brain has been remembering all this time. I also used to look up every little bit of info on Carlos I could on my grandma's old dinosaur computer, like I'm talking the ones that were big and clunky and had their own separate computer towers, and on DIAL-UP INTERNET. I guess you could say I was THAT hyper-fixated on Freddy's Dead content. Another fun fact, I used to think that Carlos was so fashionable lmao. Like, I wanted to have Carlos's wardrobe because I thought that having a hoodie under a jean jacket on top of a black muscle shirt was peak fashion. He's also the reason I wanted to own only Converse for the longest time.

3. Spencer Lewis (Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare)

(Small Disclaimer: I'm gonna be using he/him pronouns for Spencer here because he is canonically a cis male. Also, I will only be referencing my Spencer's got ADHD headcanon for him here because it is relevant). Oh Spencer. Spencer, Spencer, Spencer. Where do I even begin with you? Well, let me first establish that, like Carlos, Spencer has also been a character that my brain refuses to let go of since late elementary - early middle school. Spencer didn't really join my comfort character roster until I was well into high school, however. See, what made Spencer join that camp was the fact that I could see my younger siblings in him, who both have ADHD. My younger brother specifically also has a hyper-fixation on video games and is an actual string bean, so he has also been my main point of reference on how I portray Spencer's ADHD, with my sister's former knack of not taking shit from bullshit authority figures leaking into the portrayal too. Did I also mention that Spencer and I both have fathers that were borderline absent/meddle in our lives when they by all accounts had no right to due to how they basically abandoned us in all the ways that counted? Yeah that's a thing too. I think Spencer has transcended the label of comfort character, and has made a home in the trauma dump character category. Holy shit Spencer I am so sorry babes.

4. Crybaby (Melanie Martinez)

Crybaby as a character was someone I could relate to on an emotional level. I was saying for many years that my dysfunctional family almost fit Dollhouse to A FUCKING TEE! I also related the song Crybaby because I too was a very emotional little girl who got made fun and taken advantage of for it. I related to all of Crybaby's failed attempts at love in songs such as Carousel, Soap, and Training Wheels. Out of all my muses, Crybaby is the most like me because I already related to her long before I would even take her up as a muse. If Spencer was my trauma dump character, then Crybaby was my trauma incarnate. She also became my sense of empowerment, because she owned her emotions and empathy, and didn't let those who refused to understand her suppress her.

5. Major Theodore "Ted" Lockwood (Creepshow 2019 Shudder series)

Finally, we have Major Theodore Lockwood, or Ted as he's mostly referred to in The Right Snuff. Ted is, at least in terms of the other characters listed here, a very recent edition to my comfort character list. Also yes, I literally mean he's a comfort character. When I was recently super stressed out over RL things I had no control over, I just popped in Creepshow season two in my DVD player and put The Right Snuff on, just to see Ted's smiling face. I felt better almost instantly. Sometimes, when it's just me alone with my thoughts, Ted's voice just pops into my head to tell me that it's okay. That my stress and my responses to it are valid and make me human... Ted is easily my emotional support fictional character. Beyond all of that stuff, Ted Lockwood is also just my autistic experiences and traits incarnate. We're both nice to everyone, including people who probably don't deserve it. He and I both miss social cues a lot, and we can't read a room sometimes to save our damn lives (quite literally in Ted's case). We both have our own special interests, his is are centered in the sciences and mine is are centered around the arts. He and I both also have a heightened sense of empathy, like Ted could immediately tell that Alex was miffed about not being the one to meet the Gorangi, despite Alex's best attempts to hide his envy and disappointment. I tend to absorb others' emotions like a damn sponge, much to my annoyance. We both also have this strange inability to truly express anger, like neither of us really shout or get angry looks on our faces. We both just raise our voices a little and overenunciate words to get our point across. I know that it can be seen as tacky, and in certain cases disrespectful, to armchair diagnose a fictional character with a mental/physical disorder or illness, especially if said character is technically not human. However, I'm not just some neurotypical person doing it in order to dehumanize an entire group of people, I am an autistic woman who truly saw herself and her autistic traits in a fictional character that brings her legitimate comfort. It may not be officially canon, but it's canon to me and my interpretation of Ted. Plus, up until the ending, you don't really know that [SPOILER ALERT: Ted's a member of the Gorangi, the alien race he was supposed to make contact with.]

Tagged by: @trashcollected

Tagging: @depictedmorada

@kurtzbergsiblings

@scribedhorror

@popularmxnster

@depictedblue

[signofthestriking]

Out of context spoilers for Three Musketeers

Two of the protagonists met online because one of them mentioned being a Saiyan in a vent post and the other messaged them about it

One of said protagonists only uses the internet to talk to this friend. Quite literally, she only uses it to talk to one friend. Her laptop is an ancient brick that she got from someone in Penguin Village.

The World Martial Arts Tournament celebrates its 20th anniversary near the start of the story. For some reason, they still hand out cash prizes.

Earth has been in an era of peace and quiet because a demon made a deal with an intergalactic emperor to keep it quiet because there used to be various warriors that kept themselves (and others) in line. Key word being used to.

Most of the conflict is "the adults in our lives fucked up and now we're dealing with the consequences". A theme that sticks around a lot as the books progress.

There's a scene where two characters have an animated debate over what kind of magic would help make breakfast. Oh yeah there's a lot more magic here too.

We don't get an Earth threatening villain until the second book that centers Earth, but she's hinted at as early as this book.

But for now, one villain is basically as follows: Polar bear-man, used to run a well-renowned school for martial arts, went into a downward spiral and killed the other schools + warriors out of fear that they'd surpass him and his students. Later killed his own students for similar reasons. Has resorted to bullying a teenager in his care in order to feel powerful again. Fuck this guy.

Fuck Yaroslav all my homies hate Yaroslav

Said teenager is a three-eyed guy who learned how to physically "split" into their six facets. Originally this OC was going to be a grandchild of Tien and Launch but I scrapped that part. Their best friend is a shape-shifting pixie that's very passionate about magic and its value.

One character tries drinking water out of a decorative fountain because she'd never seen one before and thought you were supposed to drink from it.

The Guardian lives in a big ass cave instead of a Lookout tower. His assistant is a fox who makes tea brewed from the leaves of a Senzu plant. Not as effective as the beans, but still revitalizing.

There's something off about the Hyperbolic Time Chambers. Don't wander into the void.

Aight that's all I can think of byeeee

[weepingpussywillowtree]

To the people asking why they shouldn't use chat gpt and/or calling op a bigot for "discriminating against neurodivergent people" (also, yes goblin tools uses gpt, I see some people confused about that) I am an autistic software engineer here to explain. Here are some of the main reasons people object to AI usage:

1) environmental impact. AI uses a frankly disgusting amount of power and water. It took almost 300,000 kwh to just train chat gpt 3, and enough water to fill a nuclear reactors cooling tower. Some people will argue that only the training is this resource intensive and once the model is trained the damage is already done. This is untrue, as every conversation with chat gpt you have is the equivalent of wasting a large bottle of water and leaving a light on for an hour. Even if it was true, these companies are constantly training and improving existing models, and justifying that cost to their shareholders partially with YOUR use of their tool. And yes, big tech had a water and energy problem long before LLMs, but LLMs are significantly worse and only worsening.

2) it doesn't KNOW anything. This one is more philosophical, but chat gpt is advanced text prediction and arranging. Even researchers themselves are starting to accept that they will never be able to eliminate so called "hallucinations", which is when the model makes something plausible sounding up basically. It is not a "better search engine" because it is not retrieving any factual data, it is generating the most statistically probable results based on its training data, which will sometimes produce a desired output, but sometimes produces flat out nonsense. As well, you have to do your own fact checking. On Google, you can see the source of where something came from and who wrote, and gpt robs you of that context. There is no such thing as bias free, purely factual information unless we're talking incredibly basic questions and the info from chat gpt is basically worthless if it has no sources, no context, no author, and is made up by the model.

3) theft. This one is controversial, some people will argue that if you put something publicly on the Internet you are passively consenting to its use, but if I repost someones article without credit/claiming it as my own, they can still request that that article gets taken down. But the facts are that open AI used a dataset that scraped an absolutely massive amount of Internet data to train their model without asking, and you can get chat gpt to produce chunks of that text, especially in niche topics. For example, the software I work with is relatively niche and if you use chat gpt to get answers to questions about it, it will word for word reproduce some chunks of the actual documentation, mixed in with nonsense and with no accreditation. If you are using chat gpt for homework answers, you are potentially plagiarizing word for word chunks of other people's work.

4) this is one I don't see talked about often, but it's one that I feel is important. BIAS. GPT scraped the internet. Meaning, its word salads are entirely based on people who have internet access, and even more than that, people who post or post frequently on the Internet. That's a really small portion of the whole population. So, do you really want your word salads to have that kind of bias? Especially if you are using them for work or homework?? Wouldn't you rather put your unique, diverse, voice into the world?

Ultimately, using LLMs is an ethical decision you have to make and live with, but you should do it while understanding why people object to them, and also while understanding that the model doesn't know anything, it's like an advanced magic eight ball. Don't just play the victim and refuse to listen to concerns. Or call everyone taking issue with your use a bigot.