#british columbia drag

[dragkingsrule]

Velvet Ryder, Vancouver-based drag king

Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4

Artist links: Instagram

[coochiequeens]

The Canadian government wasn't confused about the term Woman before 1918. (That’s when Canadian women won their fight for the vote)

By Anna Slatz March 13, 2024

The Supreme Court of Canada has asserted that a lower court judge should not have referred to a sexual assault victim as “a woman,” a term which they claim was “unfortunate and engendered confusion.” The ruling, published on March 8, goes on to imply that the more effective term would be “person with a vagina.”

The case being discussed was that of Christopher James Kruk, a man from Maple Ridge, British Columbia who had been convicted of sexually assaulting a woman in 2020. According to past news coverage of the initial charges, the incident occurred the night of May 26, 2017, after Kruk encountered a heavily intoxicated woman in the city’s urban center. Kruk reportedly offered to ensure the woman got home safely, and then brought her to his residence via the SkyTrain and a taxi.

At some point during the journey, he called the woman’s mother on his cellphone to let her know that he was going to bring her daughter home. But instead, the woman reportedly passed out or fell asleep at Kruk’s home. Meanwhile, her mother was frantically calling Kruk, ringing him more than 20 times over an almost two-hour period without any response from the man.

The victim testified at the first trial that she woke up to find Kruk penetrating her, and that she tried and failed to push him off through her disorientation.

At around 4 a.m., many hours after Kruk had initially called her mother and told her she would be brought home, the woman’s father and brother managed to track down Kruk’s address using information from taxi cab drivers, and arrived in his neighborhood. When the woman heard her father’s voice calling out for her from the street, the woman rushed out the door wearing only her sweatshirt and underwear. She told her brother she had been raped, and filed a police complaint.

In his defense, Kruk claimed he never penetrated the woman, and that she had simply become startled when he had tried to wake her up, misinterpreting the sudden sensation as rape. He also claimed her pants were off because she had spilled water on them and that she had removed them herself while intoxicated earlier that evening.

Finding Kruk’s defense “fanciful,” Justice Michael Tammen found Kruk guilty of sexual assault in 2020, in part because he asserted that it would have been “extremely unlikely that a woman would be mistaken” about the feeling of penile penetration.

But a 2022 appeals court overruled Kruk’s conviction and ordered a new trial, arguing that Tammen had “engaged in speculative reasoning” and “made an assumption on a matter that was not so well known as to be notorious, that was not capable of immediate and accurate proof by resort to a readily accessible source of indisputable accuracy, or that was a matter of common sense.”

The Supreme Court of Canada has now found the appeals court erred in overturning Tammen’s conviction of Kruk, determining that Tammen had acted appropriately in the case. But despite upholding Tammen’s initial arguments, Justice Sheilah Martin took issue with Tammen’s description of the victim as “a woman.”

While she disagreed with the appeals court’s argument that Tammen’s ruling relied on “speculation” as to whether the sensation of penile penetration was readily identifiable, Martin did imply that the terminology needed to be changed.

“Where a person with a vagina testifies credibly and with certainty that they felt penile‑vaginal penetration, a trial judge must be entitled to conclude that they are unlikely to be mistaken,” Martin wrote.

“While the choice of the trial judge to use the words ‘a woman’ may have been unfortunate and engendered confusion, in context, it is clear the judge was reasoning that it was extremely unlikely that the complainant would be mistaken about the feeling of penile‑vaginal penetration because people generally, even if intoxicated, are not mistaken about that sensation.”

Martin does not specify what about the word “woman” could have “engendered confusion.”

The ruling, first highlighted by Canadian journalist Tristin Hopper, comes on the heels of recent controversy surrounding an updated guidebook on general practice issued by the Federal Court of Canada which references pronoun use.

According to the guidebook, “the Court invites counsel, parties and witnesses to provide information about the correct pronunciation of their names (phonetic or syllabic spelling), titles (Dr., Mrs., Mr., Ms., Miss, Mx., etc.) and pronouns (she, he, they, etc.) prior to and at the outset of proceedings.”

While amended in late December of 2023, screenshots from the guidebook began circulating on social media in February of this year, prompting backlash from those concerned with gender ideology’s impact on Canada’s judicial system. While some feared the process may be mandatory, Reduxx reached out to the Federal Court and was informed that was not the case.

“It is important to note that this is simply an invitation. Participants before the Court remain free to proceed in the manner that they prefer,” the Office of the Chief Justice of the Federal Court stated.

[urlocalhovel]

📍Douglas & Saanich

[ victoria, bc ]

07/19/24

[sracygnus]

Drag Bingo was fun (ft. kamelletoe and Mandy Kamp)

Taken at The Junction Pub in Vancouver B.C.

and I couldn't resist that shot of the back of my friend's shirt

[sunshine-theseus]

The Game That Changed Our Lives | Katrina Gorry x Reader

Words: 2.3k

Summary: your sister retires but you found the girl. (I know how her final game went but I’m changing it because I can. again apologies it's not my best)

Warnings: nothing really but reader is like 26ish? So it’s like a 5 year age difference. And I’m gonna say Harper is like 4 not 2 for the sake of the timeline. Also please pretend there’s like at least a week between the 2 games.

Requested by - @liverpoolfan96

“Christiiine. You can’t make me! I refuse!” I try to pull my arm out of her grip as she drags me onto the field.

“You’ve been crushing on her since we played against them at the World Cup, you’re going to meet her.” Christine continues to drag me through the celebrations of our teammates, the British Columbia rain pelting down on us and the Australian players.

“Plus, after our final game in Vancouver, who knows when you’ll see her next. And I’m your older sister, I’m required to make you do things you don’t want to.” She abruptly stops in front of Steph Cately, who is talking to Caitlin Foord and Katrina Gorry.

Christine hugs her former Portland teammates before turning to Katrina, who now has her little girl resting on her hip. The group begins talking amongst themselves and I zone out, until an arm wraps around my shoulders and squeezes me.

“This is my little sister. I apologise you haven’t met her yet, she’s awfully shy, especially when she likes someone.” She pointedly comments toward Katrina. I shove my elbow into her ribs and glare up at her before turning toward the Australian girl. My face is flushed, and my palms are sweating as I make eye contact with Katrina, who smiles at me before picking up the little girls hand and makes her wave. It’s painfully adorable to watch.

“It’s nice to meet you…”

“Y/n” I smile at the shorter woman as I watch Christine, Steph and Caitlin slowly move away from us out of the corner of my eye.

I talk to her for a relatively long time, eventually finding myself sitting on the wet pitch, my feet touching Kat’s as Harper runs back and forth between us, occasionally actually holding the ball we’re throwing. But then we’re both called by our respective teams to get back to the locker rooms before going back to our hotels. We bid each other goodbye, exchanging numbers before I crouch down and hug Harper.

I spend the following days excessively texting Kat, or Mini as everyone endearingly seemed to call her. I also facetime them after dinners to talk to Harper, who apparently begs all day to see me. I tell everyone who will listen, about the beautiful Australian and her precious little girl who adores me. It doesn’t take more than 10 minutes for Christine, or whoever else it may be, to tell me to shut up most times. Except Jessie, who is either far too polite to say anything, or has her headphones on and therefore isn’t actually listening. In her times of need, she messages Janine, who comes to rescue her.

~~~~~

The day of our match in Vancouver at BC Place, temporarily renamed Christine Sinclair Place, I unintentionally go dead silent. It was naturally an emotional day for us all, but being the sister of the world’s top goal scorer who is finally retiring, having played with her all my life, and being there to see her hang up her boots? It had me tearing up every time I even looked at her.

I woke up that morning, turned over in bed, and saw her training bag sitting on the bed, and began crying. A similar incident happened at breakfast as I watched her walk the buffet line next to Schmidt. Ashley wasn’t sure how to comfort me and simply decided to pat me on the back.

By the time we pulled up to training, Kat had messaged me multiple times, and I hadn’t read a single one. I spent every moment by Christine’s side. I think most people were annoyed by lunch time, but I continued to cling to her arm as the bus pulled up to Christine Sinclair Place. And as we all changed into shirts with the number 12 on them for warm up. And as we changed into our kits, her for the very last time. I finally let go when we had to line up, her mere steps behind me as she waits to be announced.

I make eye contact with the Australian I had been accidentally ignoring all day, tears pricking behind my eyes. I give her a small smile, but she just turns back to her mascot.

We then all line up on the pitch, watching as past Canadian teammates come out and a farewell video plays on the big screen above us, Schmidty, Christine and our nieces standing in front of us all. I can’t help the tears that fall as Jessie hugs me as well as she can as we stand side by side.

Before we get into our positions to start the game, I rush to the sideline to meet Christine. Our pinkies link together, and we step over the white line with our right foot in sync. We turn toward each other, and as we raise our joint hands to kiss our thumbs, foreheads leaning against each other’s, the tears spill once more. Our hands drop to our sides once again and before I can say anything, Christine wraps her arms around me. Not a word is spoken as we hug, or as we part, or as she pats my back when we move to our positions.

I turn to look at the player I’m marking and come face to face with Kat. Her originally cold glare softens when she notices the drying tears on my cheeks and taps my leg as we wait for the whistle to start the game, a small attempt to try and comfort me.

~~~~~

In the 37th minute, the ball falls at my feet and I don’t hesitate on running forward, making a final pass to Christine for her to shoot, increasing her score from 190 to 191 goals. As the net ripples, I run and jump into her arms before she wraps an arm around my neck and ruffles my hair. The action had become our well known ‘sibling celebration’, and like hell I wasn’t going to experience one last time.

“We’re going to get you a goal too.” She laughs as we reset. I once again fall in my spot in front of Kat, who gives me the first smile of the night.

We’re awarded a corner in the 56th minute. Jessie sets it up and it falls to Christine, who manages to find me, and I manage to find a gap, and the goal. It’s a similar string of events, jumping into Christine’s arms before I wrap my own arm around her neck and mess with her hair. She gets subbed off 3 minutes later and I struggle to let her go as Schmidt comes on. A familiar pat on my leg as we watch her walk off is my only sense of comfort.

~~~~~

After the game ends, and many hugs and celebrations and lots of tears, the toes of my boots meet those of Kat, who has Harper hanging on her hip again.

“I’m sorry I ignored you all day. I didn’t realise how sad I’d be today, and I got so overwhelmed.” I wipe the remaining tears off my cheeks as I finally look into Kat’s eyes, the palladian blue seemingly brighter under the stadium lights.

“It’s okay, I just wished you said something. So we could’ve cheered you up.” Harper reaches out for me as I take Kat’s hand and I pick her up, spinning her around.

“Can I also admit I was nervous? That we were getting too close, and I’d just spill all my feelings to you. But after today I think I shouldn’t waste time fu- fluffing around.” The swear almost slips from my lips but Harper’s tug on my hair reminds me of who’s around.

“I wouldn’t have minded… if you’d let it slip.” Her hand slips into my spare one and we smile at one another as Christine and Hayley approach us.

Christine bends over, resting her hands on her knees, as she comes face to face with Harper.

“Hey chickee, how’d you like my final game.”

“It made mumma sad.” I turn to look at Kat questioningly.

“You were sad?”

“I mean yeah but no where near your level of sad.”

“No no! Not mum, mumma.” Harper’s finger pokes at my cheek and everyone seems to have a matching incredulous look on their face.

“Me?” the girl nods vigorously.

Kat opens her mouth to apologise but I kiss her cheek then Harper’s, and hand the little girl to Christine who wastes no time spinning her around and taking her to play with girls from either team.

“Can I kiss you?” I rush out as I turn to the older woman, her eyes sparkling. She nods and I place my hand on her cheek, leaning down to press our lips together.

“I know this is pretty quick, but will you be my girlfriend?” her warm breath hits my lips and all I can do is kiss her again.

~~~~~

“Come on Harper! Aunty Christine’s already there!” I yell down the hall, Kat rushing past me to pack the orange slices and bottles of water into the car.

The 7-year-old comes rushing out at the sound of her favourite aunt’s name, making a bee-line toward the car.

When we arrive at the field, Harper bounces on the balls of her feet, waiting for Kat and I to get out. Once we have everything, she grabs my hand and pulls me through the crowd to find Christine who is getting ready to ref the Under-10s finals.

“Christiiine! Can you help me tie my boots?” I look at Kat, who has just caught up to us.

“We may as well be invisible.” She chuckles and helps me set up our seats as Christine ties Harpers boots and sends her off to warm up.

“She’s going to be playing for The Matildas before you know it.” She says as she passes us.

“Heartbreaking it won’t be the Canadian team.” I retort. Katrina pulls my hand into her lap and rests her head on my shoulder.

“Thank you for helping raise her. Being her other mum.”

“I’d do anything for you two. Anything.” Kat hums and puts more body weight against me.

“You’re so pretty.” I whisper, pecking her nose.

“Not as pretty as you.”

~~~~~

“Katrina! You can’t look! It’s bad luck!” I yell through the door as Jessie helps me get into my dress.

“But I want to see you.” I can hear the pout in her voice, and it takes everything in me not to leave Jessie and rip open the door. It’s Harper who saves me from doing so. I hear her dragging her mum away as my niece ushers me over to put one last pin in my hair. The 15-year-old had some sort of magic for hair, and it was free.

It’s another 20 minutes before the bridesmaids line up, and an additional 5 until I slide into my place next to Christine, who opens her mouth to say something, but seems to choke up and begins to cry. All I do is smile and link our pinkies, and she walks me down the aisle.

As I stand next to Kat in front of our friends and family, holding her hands as she says her vows, I realise how lucky I am. Having these people in my life, meeting the love of my life and having the best daughter. I wouldn’t change a thing. And I say just that.

“When my sister dragged me back onto the pitch to meet you after her second last game, I was so embarrassed and adamant you’d hate me. For no reason. But when I looked into your eyes. Those beautiful blue eyes, I knew. And when Harper laughed as I blushed when Christine basically told everyone I had a crush on you, I knew I wanted her in my life forever too. I’m so grateful for having Christine and Jessie and the whole team. I’m grateful for my family. But I’ll never be as grateful for them as I am for having found you.” I smile a watery smile as Kat cries, and I can’t stop staring and thinking how beautiful she is. We exchange rings and I kiss her like it’s the only thing keeping everyone alive.

“I love you.”

~~~~~

I stand on the sidelines, looking down at my boots and the matching pair that stands firmly next to them. I then reach out my hand and link my pinkie with the girl next to me. Despite the different jerseys, we step over the white line with our right foot in sync. We turn toward each other, and we raise our joint hands to kiss our thumbs, foreheads leaning against each other’s. When I look into Harper’s eyes, I see Katrina’s, and when I think about this moment, my very last game, I think back to that game 13 years ago, saying goodbye to my sister on the pitch, and I smile.

“Good luck chickee.” I press a kiss to Harper’s forehead and take my position, marking the young Gorry.

When the game ends, I fall to my knees. People from both teams dogpile on top of me as we celebrate both the win and my final game. I spend a lot of time talking to everyone before I meet Katrina’s eyes, standing next to my big sister. I run forward and pull them both into a hug.

We eventually head back to the hotel. Kat and I fall back onto our bed, hearing the girls continue celebrating in the hallway.

“I’m so proud of you.” She whispers against my neck, the warm breath sending chills down my spine.

“I couldn’t have done it without you.” I kiss her gently and pull her closer to me. We spend the rest of the night watching the games at Christine Sinclair Place. The game that got us to confess. The game that changed our lives.

[bestiarium]

The Tangi [Scottish, Shetland folklore]

There are lots of folktales about supernatural horses that live underwater and entice people into mounting them. Once the victim does so, they find themselves unable to dismount and the horse takes its prey underwater to drown them. The most famous of these creatures are the Scottish Kelpie and the Welsh Ceffyl Dŵr, though there are lots of similar aquatic horse monsters from British, Germanic and Scandinavian folktales. They are related and come from the same root story.

In the Shetland Islands, however, there are two such creatures, and while they are undeniably similar, surprisingly they are said to be two distinct kinds of beings that exist in different habitats. The Njuggel (or ‘Shoopiltee’ in Northern Shetland, among other names) resides in lakes and other fresh bodies of water, whereas the Tangi (also Tangie) is a marine monster. Keep in mind however that this distinction is not set in stone (folklore is hardly an exact science, of course) and in some places the Njuggel and the Tangi are considered to be synonyms.

In the Orkney islands of northern Scotland, the Tangie would appear either as an old human covered in seaweed (true to its name, as the name ‘Tangie’ is likely derived from ‘tang’ which is a local term for seaweed) or as an aquatic horse. This Tangie would jump out at unwary travelers, and it took a particular liking to young women, kidnapping them from the banks of the Scottish lakes and dragging them into the depths to be devoured.

In places where the two are said to be separate monsters, the following distinction is usually made: a Njuggel appears as a white or grey horse with a wheel for a tail that drowns its victims in lakes. A Tangi, on the other hand, is black or dark grey and has no wheel. Tangis are shapeshifting creatures and sometimes appear as cows, other animals, or as humans. When taking the form of a human, a Tangi usually chooses to appear as a handsome young man and seeks out girls to seduce and have sex with. Sometimes they go the extra mile and abduct a girl to marry her. Being associated with the sea, they commonly haunt shores but these creatures make their homes in seaside caverns.

Like its cousin the Njuggel, a Tangi is engulfed in a blue flame when galloping at high speed. Sailors sometimes claimed to have seen one of these creatures as a distant blue flash that raced across the shore.

One old account of these creatures also claimed that they have wings and the uncanny ability to locate any object that fell or was thrown into the ocean, regardless of depth. These claims are not backed by any other sources. However, they do have an important trait that sets them apart from Kelpies, Njuggels, Nixen and the like.

Whereas most Kelpie-like monsters are said to make people mount them and then drown their victims, the Tangi does not need to be mounted. It can cast a spell on its victims by galloping in circles around them. When under the influence of the Tangi’s magic, the victim becomes hypnotized and immediately tries to drown themselves, usually by jumping off a cliff into the ocean. Those who survive find themselves in a dazed state which lasts for a few days at most.

They are not invincible however and share the same weaknesses as the Njuggels: they are afraid of fire, can be injured with iron and lose their power if you utter their name. For example, one story tells of a man who encountered a Tangi. The black horse started running in circles around him but he managed to stab it with an iron knife. The creature ran away and disappeared. 

Sources: Teit, J. A., 1918, Water-beings in Shetlandic Folk-Lore, as Remembered by Shetlanders in British Columbia, The Journal of American Folklore, 31(120), p.180-201. Lecouteux, C., 2016, Encyclopedia of Norse and Germanic Folklore, Mythology, and Magic. Monaghan, P., 2004, The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore, Facts on File Library of Religion and Mythology, 512 pp. Pérez-Lloréns et al., 2020, Seaweeds in mythology, folklore, poetry and life, Journal of Applied Phycology, 32, 3157-3182. (image source 1: orig03 on Deviantart. The image actually depicts a black Kelpie, but I figured it’s fine since the Tangi is related and similar) (image source 2: unknown, sorry)

[lasalebete]

What are the best episodes of Psych to watch? (I've only seen part of the first season and do not have time to watch the entire show, but did enjoy it. And your Psych posts are getting to me, lol)

OHOHOHOHOHOH BOY. YEE-FUCKING-HAW PARTNER, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS QUESTION!!!! Ok let's do a little list (edit; im sorry it wasn't a little list), probably won't be exhaustive but yk.

(to note that I'm using wikipedia's list of episodes because apparently it CHANGES slightly according to streaming services)

Imo all of season 1 is, like, really good also because it's the original hijinks and shenanigans of the show and it sets really good premises, but especially: the Pilot and the episode after that are a pretty good start, just to have a a vague idea of what's going on and to have the full cast.

If you want to have the Serious stuff, the Yin-Yang plot is MUAH MUAH MUAH, so that'd be 3x16 An evening with Mr. Yang, 4x16 Mr. Yin presents... and 5x16, Yang 3 in 2D.

More Serious stuff: 6x16 and 7x1, Santabarbaratown and Santabarbaratown 2, Shawn's dad gets shot. It's so fucking GOOD and Shawn gets unhinged.

Another series with a recurring character is the Pierre Despereaux plot, just insanely funny, you get to have Shawn have the most obvious bisexual crush in the world and the guy's a british man in a suit, if you're into that. That's 4x1 Extradition: British Columbia, 5x10 Extradition II: The Actual Extradition Part, 6x10 Indiana Shawn and the Temple of the Kinda Crappy, Rusty Old Dagger, and 8x1, Lock, Stock, Some Smoking Barrels and Burton Guster's Goblet of Fire.

There's also the musical, of which I'm a HUGE fan but you've gotta be into that I guess, it's at the end of season 7 and imo. Real banger. But there are mixed opinions. Also it's the FINAL finale of the Yin-Yang plot.

OH YEAH also the Marlowe storyline is cute and unhinged and good. That's 6x1, This episode sucks, 6x13 Let's Doo-Wop it again, 7x7 Deez nups, 8x2 S.E.I.Z.E the day and 8x7 Shawn and Gus truck things up.

Alright that's it for the general stuff, now let me just throw in some episodes I particularly like for no particular sense or reasons:

1x5, 9 Lives / 1x6, Weekend Warriors / 1x10, From the Earth to the Starbucks / 1x12 Cloudy... with a chance of Murder / 1x14 and 15, Poker? I barely know her and Scary Sherry: Bianca's Toast.

2x7, If you're so smart, then why are you dead? / 2x8, Rob-a-bye baby / 2x10, Gus' dad may have killed an old guy / 2x13, Lights, camera... Homicidio / 2x16, Shawn (and Gus) of the dead

3x4, The greatest adventure in the history of basic cable / 3x6, There might be blood / 3x7, Talk derby to me / 3x8, Gus walks into a bank / 3x11, Lassie did a bad, bad thing / 3x15, Tuesday the 17th

4x3, High noon-ish / 4x7, High top fade-out / 4x9, Shawn takes a shot in the dark / 4x10, You can't handle this episode / 4x12, A very Juliet episode

5x2, Feet don't kill me now / 5x5, Shawn and Gus in drag (racing) / 5x8, Shawn 2.0 / 5x12, Dual Spires / 5x14, The polarizing express

6x2, Last night Gus / 6x6, Shawn, interrupted / 6x7, In for a penny... / 6x9, Neil Simon's lover's retreat / 6x11, Heeeeeere's Lassie

7x3, Lassie Jerky / 7x4, No country for two old men / 7x8, Right turn or left for dead / 7x11, Office space

8x4, Someone's got a Woody / 8x5, COG blocked / And, okay, the last three eps of the series.

Okay this is sooooo long I'm sorry but I'm like. I'm not normal about this show in the slightest. The movies are also excellent. This show is so good. Sobs. Sobs so hard.

[eopederson]

Before and after, Denman Island Ferry, British Columbia, 2003 (upper) and 2016 (lower).

In 2016 BC Ferries replaced an older diesel powered ferry with a cable ferry for the 2 km crossing between Vancouver Island and Denman Island. It is affectionately called the "drag queen," the world's longest cable ferry on salt water.

[blobbyblogsdraws]

Continuing on with my Zoo!verse au. I would continue on with the other sanses since I got time. But what I know now is that I guess the rescue thing would be a rescue shelter/ sanctuary. Think of some thing like the encanto house mixed with the average sanctuary. There’s separate territory’s and it’s mostly a house where Ccino lives and then a large backyard into the woods with a wire fence.

The right side of the house belongs to the Bad sanses, the left side is for the Star sanses along with the Council of sanses(aka most of the animals) and the rest is free land other then the one hallway in the front of the building that no one can go through that belongs to Error. No other reason then that’s the place where sunlight comes the most and the perfect place for any napping. Anyone who tries to enter will get a facefull of claws.

The star sanses,

Ink: he would be like a parrot, loud, idiotic, and annoying beyond reason. He would swoop around and come by to screech songs that never get to the good part. None of the animals actually like him, but Ccino seems to enjoy his presence and so that pushes them to somewhat deal with him. He would be a common parrot that’s mostly white with an ombré of colors on his feathers. He is not actually a rescue, but he lives with the nice lady across the street, Fate and her sister Destiny.

(No one other the ink knows but Error actually lives there too, belonging to Destiny. However he would never admit it as then he would be associated with Ink and the only reason he comes to the rescue building is to get away from him.Error is here so often his hallway has personal cat trees and beds just for him with his own private food bowl)

Swap: I would say he would be a Border Collie who got surrendered when his old family changed him for a newer puppy (Blueberry) that was more social since he was getting older and seemed to lose the puppy hyperactivity. Out of pitty the shelter let Ccino adopt him, so while he would play with Dream and some of the other animals, he would prefer some alone time. Having such abandonment issues he finds himself in Errors ‘territory’ due to its calm and quiet nature , and by that the common areas that people seem to find him in, and often avoid to not get scratches.

I would think he would be tolerated by Error since he was one of the few animals who seemed to not push his boundaries every second they had. Swap rarely spoke to him and would go out of his way to not touch him, keeping a good distance from the feline. This had won him the respect of being allowed in Errors napping spots and thus. It was also helpful that Swap seemed to know the ‘slow blink’ rule.

Dream: I would say that he is just like Nightmare, a mix of Dire wolf and British Columbia, however he was born with a defect that made him have whiter and yellower fur. His ears are flopped to that triangle shape and he seemed to be an inch taller then Nightmare surprisingly, though it might be due to Nightmare slouching a bit. Having such a cute and warm appearance meant he was quite the star of the show for the most part. He keeps to himself but would be often found dragged into activities with many creatures, and would help anyone when asked.

However he finds himself wanting to befriend the most unbefriendable person at the sanctuary. The freaking tuxedo cat himself, Error himself. It takes a year but Dream successfully made Error his friend, and Error like him. No one wants to burst his bubble by telling him it’s because Error sees him as a walking heater.

——————————————————————————

The others:

Reaper: I’m not gonna make it a pun, but he’s a raven, nothing else to be said. He enjoys to swoop in and steal the food from others. But keeps to himself and many people find him in the nurses office with the chronic illness patient Geno, he doesn’t talk much but seems to enjoy learning the news of the day from Reaper

Geno would be a common household cat born albino. Was taken in after suffering many injuries and illnesses over the years after his old family passed away during a robbery. He is permanently bedridden and has to be on meds 24/7. Ccino won’t let up on him though and tries his best to help him get better.

Reaper seems to try his best to keep him going, coming by everyday to see his condition.

One time Geno needed to wear the cone of shame and to make him feel better he squawked at Ccino until he put a smaller cone onto his head, but ended up facing his body instead to not block his way while eating. Luckily it made Geno feel better about it.

Fell: he’s a mutt, riddled with scars and probably has rabies, however he seems to behave around the bad sanses. His brother Edge seems to avoid any association with him by walking off most of the time. He keeps to himself when he’s not trying to fight people or rematch Swap, likes to sleep most of all and Ccino can’t stop him from snatching the mustard every time he tries to make hotdogs.

Non the less the sanctuary is a amazing place and it seems to have every type of purpose for each of the animals that reside there.

[dragkingsrule]

Eddi Licious, Victoria, British Columbia-based drag king

Image sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Artist links: Instagram, YouTube

[quietroadkill]

it's interesting to watch the US descend and what they refer to as descent. calls for eugenics to be implemented? Canada already has this to a degree that several genocide warnings have been issued for marginalized communities that live here. can't afford eggs? we can't afford meat because it goes to the USA. our lumber? USA. our milk, eggs, cream, cheese? USA. USA. USA. USA.

our top export is your gasoline. which we can't afford either, and haven't for years. it's $1.36 USD per litre, to fill a car's tank is usually 57 USD (80 CAD) to 100 USD (140 CAD)

trump talked about Canada as a 51st state. don't fall for the veneer, or the public outrage. Canada is basically already a fucking 51st state. we aren't a sanctuary. a government report "found" (admitted) they were actively committing genocide against their citizens, and ahat did they do about that?

they sped it up so we have less time to try to fight back.

Canada's evil, guys. I live here. and it's just repacked Americana with a slight sprinkle of British Colonial. wait I wonder who colonized merica... probably not the same people right? that would be weird right? that would make us more alike than not, huh?

anyways dont believe me? Australian goes to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. ask me how I recognize where he is lol. I do not live there, it's like the New York of Canada, nobody can fucking afford it and 90% of the people that do live there should be eaten. that's how expensive it is. google "bridal path house price Toronto". we are surrounded Nationwide by these fucks. anyways

does this store look like... an American equivalent, just with a coat of Canadian paint?

because like, I've been to the US. it's different whatever state you go to, the stores are different, the products are different. but tell me honestly that you think that you couldn't find a store identical to this one, swapping the flags out.

real stans know i am mentioned here. my province comes up first for fatal drug overdoses, human trafficking, drug busts, unaffordable housing, food insecurity, disabled people being genocided out of existing, and most Crappy Tires, because we call it Crappy Tire, not Canadian Tire. because its fucking garbage. it's the Walmart of automotive, and Walmart HAS automotive. I fucking hate my shithole. someone convince that fash Poliverre to lowtax on live news. I'm not even joking hes a Nazi he needs to commit

anyways good morning, fuck Canada, no pride in genocide, no pride in Nazis, and no pride in the evil pig fuckers who live here and make it hell for all of us, I hope your people drag you out of your bed in the night

this store is unaffordable because it's a boutique. the cobourg mayor also just closed the homeless shelters, because they're "unsightly" and "bring homeless people here" because cobourg had some of the only shelters within 8 cities and 4 counties. I had to stay in cobourg whilst I was homeless and it cost me 55usd to get a cab out there. it was the closest homeless shelter.

that's in CAD for a HOUSE IN COBOURG, because its considered "waterfront". because cobourg is a beach town, even non-waterfront is priced as waterfront because you can walk to various beaches. and I mean walk - I'm in a wheelchair and the curb cuts will make you fall and break your bones in a wheelchair. anyways that number is 216693.10 - 2347568.80 USD. we have a homelessness crisis in Canada according to our government, for some reason, people can't afford houses? hm. better build brand new affluent housing that costs millions to buy, right guys?

[1794]

saw someone in some Really stupid drag on reddit and went "ugh this could have been cool but they're a portlander" and Yves goes "really?" and I say "no I'm just making that up" and opened their profile and they're from british columbia.

[daywalkers-fic]

12. why the 1880s?

something about this decade really sings to me. I find in particular, nearing the end of the nineteenth century, so much was happening on around the world in terms of arts, politics, technology, colonization. world events and global news don’t personally reach the day-to-day lives of the everyday folk, but they are an important part in gauging what life, thought, and society was about—what things were important then and now?

basically for myself, reminding me of notable things that occured during the 1880s—some thematic, some of relevance to context and characters, and the rest just ?? interesting and/or wild?

cocaine is a hot new cure for everything and anything. perscribed, sold in foods and more. heroine introduced as a lesser-addictive substitute for morphine…

lots of developments in fields of psychology; many experiments and happenings; Freud starts his work 1886.

1880-1914 had +twenty million immigrants to the United States: Germany, Ireland, England, China had the most arrivals.

William Dorsey Swann, the first self-proclaimed drag queen, organizes a series of drag balls in Washington, D.C. 1880-1890s.

Jack the Ripper claims his “first” victim in 1888 White Chapel, London. big scare.

Sherlock Holmes first appears in Arthur Conan Doyle’s A Study In Scarlet as part of the British magazine’s Beeton’s Christmas Annual in 1887.

Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson is published in 1886. Gothic fiction, drawing from emerging fields of science and psychology. & Treasure Island was published earlier in 1883 by him too!

Mark Twain drops The Prince and the Pauper (1881), Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884), A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889).

Bel-Ami, Guy de Maupassant’s second novel is published in 1885. about a man who seduces and manipulates high society French women in the French colonies for power and wealth. MOVIE WAS ADAPTED IN 2012 STARTING ROBERT PATTINSON LOL

western European art movements very romantic and swirly and pretty: Monet, Debussy xoxo.

meanwhile, African American ragtime music becomes the “pop” music across the pond here.

North Dakota (1889), South Dakota (1889), Montana (1889), Washington (1889) become states.

train segregation laws flag beginning of Jim Crow; Civil Rights Movement of 1875 voided, making discrimination in private is not illegal, and prohibiting state intervention to personal or commercial segregation. l*nching continues throughout the south. slavery may be over on paper, but indentured labour is legal.

1882 infamous O.K Corral gunfight.

Gold Rush continues, all over the world—South Africa, to British Columbia, to California, to Argentina, to Russia-China borders.

centuries of American “Indian” wars continue.

American Dawes Act of 1887 granted American government authorization to regulate indigenous lands, including creating and assigning and enforcing reservations.

Sitting Bull’s 1883 speech of the atrocities experienced at the hands of white American settler colonists.

Canadian Pacific Railway 1881-1885. foreign labourers were hired to do a lot of heavy, dangerous, unwanted work. in America, more than 100,000km of tracks were laid by majority Chinese, Irish, Scandinavian workers.

America’s Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and Canada’s Chinese Immigration Act of 1885 was officiated, enforcing law of a Head Tax to be paid for every Chinese person entering North America. over the course of the next couple of decades, the fee of $1,500 was doubled to $5,000 was increased 500% to $25,000 in today’s currency—per person. this had devastating and lasting impacts on generations and societies of Chinese living both overseas and already in North America. propaganda at this time created many racist myths that persist today: there are too many Asians, they are taking our jobs, (the men) are gross and effeminate and a threat to (white) women, they shady and scheming people. these were the first and only major federal legislation to explicitly suspend immigration for a specific nationality in American and Canadian history. (I study Asian Canadian history, I can go on about this all day)

Tong Wars (1883-1913) had Chinatown gangs and factions in violent street wars across America, San Fransisco to New York.

large, targeted, and repeated anti-Jewish rioting (pogorm) and antisemitism rampant throughout Imperial Russia, 1881-1882 had more than two hundred anti-Jewish events alone. Jews continue to be racialized and othered.

fuck ton of colonization happening in Africa and the Middle East, Southeast Asia. Berlin conference 1884-1885 literally chopped up Africa to distribute to European powers.

Irish nationalist efforts to push forth Home Rule bill of sovereignty is defeated in British Parliament. Irish are not “white”, they are “othered” in Europe and in Americas.

use of photographic film pioneered by George Eastman, who started manufacturing film. his first camera (Kodak) was ready for sale in 1888.

Thomas Edison gets lit in New York 1883 with first electrical power station. next several year sees major cities being lit up with street lamps and public lighting with the science and works of a Nikolas Tesla (1886-1893).

hell of a lot more inventions in the works and patents being claimed. Hertz and radiowaves, Bell for telephone services.

“Between the years of 1850–1900, women were placed in mental institutions for behaving in ways the male society did not agree with”

way too much history to cram, obviously. here are some keywords for further research oki

prison industry / spiritualism / opium epidemic / irregular and uneven “modernizations” in rural vs. urban areas / class and poverty gaps / morality scares, checks, comparisons, gaps / new businesses and gadgets, products, tech to help with anything / fascination of the (colonial) Other; side shows, “freak shows” and other human zoos

[deathofpeaceofmiiind]

high infidelity | fifteen

Nothing lasts forever, but this is gonna take me down. *Noah's POV* “I can’t wait for you see this place, it’s the best.”  Ellie’s hand found mine like a magnet as we walked over to the aquarium. I pulled out my credit card before she could think to grab hers and paid for our tickets. She didn’t even argue this time, her excitement was taking over her as she practically dragged me into the first exhibit. I watched her eyes light up like a child as she watched the jellyfish float above her, it warmed my heart to see her like this. I wanted to make her feel like this all the time. She nudged me when she noticed I was staring at her instead of what was in front of me, I tried to play it off but I couldn’t.

We took our time in every exhibit and we found ourselves circling back to see the clownfish, both admitting to Finding Nemo being one of our favourite Disney movies. I found it so adorable when Ellie would explain to me where in British Columbia you could find some of these fish and if she had been there or not. I had to admit, where she lived was absolutely gorgeous and it was really growing on me. I felt more at home here than I did in California. I would move up here in a heartbeat but I didn’t want to give off the wrong impression. “Hey, can I ask you something?” Ellie and I were sitting in an underground area where you could watch the otters and seals swim by. There was no one else around so we took the opportunity to sit down and admire the wildlife. “Of course.” She muses, not taking her eyes off the glass. “Do you think it would be weird if I moved up here?” I asked nervously. Ellie turned her attention to me, her eyes were begging me to continue. “I’m not asking you to move in with me. I’d have my own space and go down to LA when I needed to for work. Being here the last couple days has felt more like home than anywhere else I’ve been.” “Honestly, Noah.” I looked over at her, completely terrified about what she was gonna say. “I’ve been dreading what’s going to happen�� and when I’m gonna see you next. Having you in the same city would make things a lot easier…Maybe we do a trial run?” “What do you mean?” “I have to find my own place soon anyway, why don’t you just stay with me for a couple days a week and if you like it, you can move up here. It’s not as easy as moving to a new city, it's a whole new country for you. I want you to be certain it's what you want.” “Ellie Wilson, are you asking me to move in with you?” “Temporarily.” She muses as she kisses my cheek. “By the way, my last name is Matthews. Wilson is my married name.” “I like Matthews better.” I smiled before kissing her gently. A strand of my hair fell and she moved it out of the way, her eyes wandering all over my face as if she was trying to read me.  I did the same and counted the different shades of green in her eyes, mostly sage speckled with gold and moss. I was so happy right now I felt like my heart was going to explode. I think it's safe to say I was finally home.

[aquaburst3]

I was watching a YouTube video titled "The Unexplained Incidents Iceberg" by Fortune. It got me thinking about how people in Addie's world—my version of Yuu—would react to something like that happening in one of my fics.

For those of you who aren't familiar with my fics, Addie is the daughter of a multi-millionaire who founded a massive yoga and fitness franchise popular in the U.S. and Canada. She lives in a mansion. How she ended up in Twisted Wonderland is that she was dragged into the mirror in her bedroom while her family was away, and no one else was in the mansion except her.

With that in mind, Addie's disappearance would become one of the most baffling mysteries in her world, sparking countless conspiracy theories. There would be no signs of forced entry, no one showing up on CCTV cameras, and no indication that anyone else had been in the house. The mansion was completely empty, save for her. There would be no evidence of a struggle either. She never took her purse, ID or anything else with her. Hell, there wouldn't be any activity from her social media, phone or even bank account that whole time. Like she vanished into thin air.

A lot of people would just conclude that she ran away to start a new life thanks to her depression. But that doesn't make sense. If that were the case, why didn't she bring Midna with her? Or at least left her pet with food and water? Addie is a huge cat girly. If she wanted to run away, she would've brought her beloved pet with her.

This leads to the conclusion that she was likely abducted. But if that were the case, why would there be no signs of struggle, and why wouldn't the cameras have caught anything?

Most people would probably settle on one of these two theories and leave it at that. After all, Addie is a brown latina, and given the high number of missing person cases involving indigenous women in British Columbia, where she's from, it's easy to see why people might jump to such conclusions. Conspiracy theories might start circulating, suggesting everything from alien abductions to fae involvement, with no solid evidence to back any of it up.

But Addie’s sister, who’s familiar with anime, might entertain the possibility that Addie had been isekaied to another world. Initially, she'd dismiss the idea, attributing it to her grief and emotional turmoil. But after consulting with her fiancée, she decides to throw caution to the wind and create a Discord and Reddit thread, hoping to find any sign that her sister might be okay.

Things would get even more confusing if she managed to show up a few years later, alive and well. If that were the case, she wouldn't have aged more than a year. That wouldn't make sense if she was gone for longer. Her face and body would look totally off. She looks inhumanly beautiful and perfect like she got numerous plastic surgery procedures done. She looks fae-like. This would spark some questions from the general public. How the fuck can someone be missing from all that time, show up years later and not have aged a day, looking like they had work done? That doesn't make any sense! But, her family, at that point, might have a strong idea given their knowledge of anime tropes.

[pcttrailsidereader]

AI Reaches Trail . . . Has Big Tech Gone Too Far

By Adam Roy, Backpacker Magazine

Google has figured out that I like to hike. I’m not sure what tipped it off—could it be the roughly 40 hours per workweek I spend editing and fact-checking stories about hiking, or maybe the nights and weekends I pass searching for trailheads and obsessively checking and rechecking the weather forecast. Whatever the reason, whenever I log on I get served up a stream of gear promotions and tourism spots for outdoor destinations. But about a week ago, I saw an ad for Google’s Pixel 8 smartphone and its onboard Gemini artificial intelligence that stopped me in my tracks.

The ad goes like this: A dad is trying to set up a tent in a campsite. The dad is floundering, tangled up in guylines and collapsing nylon, when he turns around and notices his son has stopped collecting firewood and is watching him with dismay, probably thinking about how much better his stepdad is at camping. Then the dad pulls out his phone, snaps a picture of the tent, and feeds it into Gemini, which returns a numbered list of instructions for him. Smash cut to the now-content kid and father enjoying their perfectly-pitched shelter.

My first reaction to the ad: I’ve been there. Whether by neglecting hot spots until they bloomed into blisters, leaving a vent open in a snowstorm, or spending an hour struggling to coax a flame out of a pile of damp wood, I know what it’s like to struggle on a camping or backpacking trip in front of other people. The desire to avoid that struggle and the embarrassment that comes with it is a pretty powerful motivator.

My second thought: This is going to get someone into so, so much trouble.

Google and other Big Tech AI firms like OpenAI, Meta, and X want to see their technology everywhere. Using it to filter restaurant results is one thing, but pushing artificial intelligence as a substitute for basic outdoor skills comes with real risks. Let’s start with the fact that Google’s AI arguably still isn’t up to the task of keeping people safe in the outdoors: We’re barely a month out from Gemini telling searchers to eat glue and cook spaghetti in gasoline. Although those errors didn’t do any damage besides embarrassing a handful of highly paid software engineers, it’s not hard to imagine AI trained on the unfiltered whole of the internet telling a new camper it’s safe to run a propane heater inside their tent or eat a poisonous mushroom.

(That’s assuming, of course, that the AI is even capable of giving actionable information: Zoom in on the simulated advice Gemini offers in the commercial and you’ll notice that step 4 is “Assemble the tent poles according to the manufacturer’s instructions.” Apparently Google Dad, like so many dads before him, just needed someone to remind him to read the manual.)

You Still Have To Use Your Brain

Yes, ideally AI users would be cautious consumers, sniffing out bad or obviously dangerous information before acting on it. But we already have real-life examples of people over-relying on much less intrusive technology with disastrous results. Take another popular Google product, Google Maps, for example. There were the hikers who needed rescue after following an imaginary trail in Maps up the side of a mountain in British Columbia, and the German tourists who had to trek two days through the Australian bush after a similar error stranded them and their car on a remote dirt track. The company is currently fighting a lawsuit from the family of a man who followed its GPS directions off of a collapsed bridge.

In Colorado, tow companies make a killing every year dragging stranded motorists off of mountain 4×4 tracks after app-assisted “shortcuts.” The plug-and-play, let-us-think-for-you, don’t-bother-checking-the-sources tone of Google and other corporations’ marketing of their artificial intelligence only makes incidents like these more likely.

My bigger objections to AI-directed camping, though, may be philosophical. Whether you learn from a friend or an expert online, there’s something wonderful about becoming competent in the outdoors. It’s a long, awkward, and sometimes uncomfortable process. But it’s joyful too, fostering self-confidence and a deeper sense of connection with your environment. Mediating that through a robot assistant strikes me as a quick way to dilute that, ensuring that you neither learn any real outdoor skills nor unplug in any meaningful way.

Other tech firms’ AI-powered takes on the outdoors are equally baffling. An ad released by Meta last month starts with one friend in a group chat enticing the others to camp by sharing an AI-generated image of someone cowboy camping next to an unattended campfire, a fully set-up tent with only a lantern inside of it, and, inexplicably, a folding table with what looks like either several copper pots or maybe a moonshiner’s still on it. Setting aside the safety issues, I can’t help but wonder what kind of person finds more inspiration to get outside in a fake-ass AI-generated image than in the hundreds of thousands of real outdoor photos plastered across the internet.

We Can Still Embrace Technology

I’m not a Luddite. I plan every trip I take on Gaia, Outside’s mapping app, and I listen to podcasts on long solo hikes. Backpacker and Outside’s other titles feature Scout, an AI search engine we trained on our own work in order to help readers more easily find the human-written information they’re looking for; we’ve even experimented with letting Scout choose a hike for us. I also recognize I’m not unbiased: My fellow Backpacker editors, writers, and I make our living creating carefully researched guides and stories for people who love the outdoors. Seeing Google redigest those into AI pablum just so it can make ad money off the backs of the real-life hikers doing the real-life work is frustrating.

Ultimately, the outdoors should be for everyone, and how you choose to get outside is up to you. If that means asking Google or Meta’s AI to walk you through it, so be it. But think about what you want to get out of your time in the woods: There are some things in life that are better without Big Tech breathing down your neck. If you want to polish your outdoor skills, there’s a whole constellation of people who will help you without harvesting all of your personal data, from your more experienced friends to local trail clubs to, yes, even the human experts here at Backpacker. And if you’re ever struggling to set up your tent, a free tip: Start by reading the instructions, and practice before your kid is watching.