#but that's not what's going on in that screenshot

[phantomrose96]

When people join self-improvement or even hobbyist communities, there are some absolutely critical skills of fundamental skepticism they need when going in. I think most people who get into these communities aren't aware of these.

And just, as a fundamental few:

Does this person stand to gain financially from the thing they're trying to sell you on?

Is the business model of this whole community one of artificial competitiveness? Is there a pressure around never lapsing, or never straying from the model being sold to you?

Are the claims made in this community becoming bolder and bolder deviations from standard information?

These are absolutely rife in fitness, nutrition, and financial-advice communities and they often receive very little scrutiny except among those who already "got out." Because from the outside, seeing someone get into fitness is a good thing, good for them, glad to see it, look at that dedication, happy for them. Same on the other categories, and probably numerous others I haven't seen.

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Does this person stand to gain financially from the thing they're trying to sell you on?

If the answer is yes, that does NOT mean "immediately abort", it means keep that in mind when you're interacting with their content.

This nutrition influencer has given you some great recipes for free, and now they're promoting a "really fantastic" brand that they have an affiliate link with? Their motivation isn't to be your friend and helpfully clue you in on a great product. It's to make money off you.

You really like this fitness influencer's work outs, but she gets MORE interaction and MORE viewers the skinnier she gets? She CLAIMS she's been losing weight naturally with healthy eating and exercise, and she's still full of energy, and You Can Too. This is not your friend. This is not someone who knows you. This is someone under large financial and social pressure to do everything she can to put out her best appearance and her happiest appearance, and your attention and belief in the appearance is where the money and clout come from. You really need to remember this in the same way you remember to look both ways before crossing the street. You can cross a street and you can follow a fitness account, but protect yourself when doing it.

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Is the business model of this whole community one of artificial competitiveness? Is there a pressure around never lapsing, or never straying from the model being sold to you?

Communities stay strong if they retain people. There are a lot of fine and positive ways to retain people, but it's often easier to retain people by instilling them with a sense that they must be here. They should feel bad if they lapse or if their attention drifts. What they were before was inadequate. Everyone outside this community is inadequate. Do you want to go back to inadequate?

Is that financial subreddit that taught you valuable lessons about 401k's, index funds, and budgeting also quietly pressuring you to always do more? Are the top posts from extremist examples of people living in destitution so they can show the most extreme screenshot, and curate the envy of everyone else who ought to be ashamed of not doing as well as them?

Is that fitness community that got you into jogging also putting you in the mind that the truest and best people exercise 7 days a week? Never miss a metric? Never compromise on their dedication?

Is that person who "cut out all sugar and feels amazing" informing you that you should never have another cupcake in your life? And if you DO it's because you're BAD and DON'T WORRY, you'll get RIGHT back on the horse after. Shame will motivate you to come right back, and stay with the community, and never leave.

As long as you stay, the community grows. As long as you stay, the ad sponsors and the endorsed products and the influencers can benefit more and more. And sometimes, there's perhaps not even a malicious force behind it. It can happen from evolutionary pressures. The communities that survive are the ones that retain people. A community that trips accidentally into a model of pressuring people to stay is one which retains people and thrives.

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Are the claims made in this community becoming bolder and bolder deviations from standard information?

You joined because you wanted to learn to cook for yourself. And this community has been helpful! You know how to make some delicious things. You've tried vegetables you've never tried before. And maybe you needed some convincing that brussel sprouts can be yummy, but what do you know, turns out you like them roasted.

But what else is being said? What things are being said with more and more frequency? Is it that "humans don't actually need any sugar, and it's a poison being sold to us?" Is it that "seed oils are toxic for you"? Is it that "pasteurization is bad"? Is the raw fruitarian convincing you that cavemen lived exclusively off fruit and you can too?

They'll have sources sometimes. Check them. Are they cherry-picked? Are they from an insular echo-chamber? Why isn't the mainstream literature aware of this? And if the answer has anything to do with "because mainstream wants to TRICK YOU and you're actually BAD for ASKING" then don't engage. Disregard. Take the recipes if you must but apply your skeptical filter to all the parts that are snake oil.

Sometimes it's that another community is only a stone's throw away. That person with a great financial portfolio has only good things to say about crypto, and what they're saying is making sense (average person [not smart] [poor] [bad money skills] laughs at crypto, but you're smarter. you're on the in-track). That amazing bodybuilder is pulling the hottest dates, and he says it's about male-confidence, and he says there are good support guides on becoming a respectable masculine man, and all you need to do is reclaim your masculinity in a society that wants to steal it from you.

In any place like this, come up for air. Come up for air FREQUENTLY. Talk to regular people and engage in academic literature outside this circle. Conspiracy thinking wins if you draw all your information from the entity trying to sell you on the conspiracy.

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And I hope this is clear but my message is not "never join a community." My message is know danger when you see it. Recognize when you're being used or pressured. Don't fall for conspiracy thinking. Protect yourself. You can use a gas stove to cook meals but don't touch the flame and don't burn your house down. You can cross the street but recognize the signs of a car coming down the street.

And I'm making this point because so many people just don't know. ...Because getting into fitness is "good" and "self-improvement"! So is nutrition. So if financial responsibility. People walk into it and the extremism can make them feel accomplished, and admired, and like they're a part of something, and maybe even like a proper self-punishment for their own inadequacies. And people on the outside won't save you because "Wow! He spends 3 hours at the gym every day! I wish I was that dedicated." is a common attitude, and will push you deeper into what has its claws in you.

Everything I'm saying is not because I'm so much smarter and so much holier-than-thou for knowing this when others don't--I'm saying this because I was in it. I fell for it. Not all the examples above, of course. But I recognize the machine in them. It is highly appealing to run farther and fast longer and overload your class schedule when you don't feel good enough and want to prove something, and so many communities will sell you on the idea this IS an accomplishment. Then once you do, you have to do it forever. Or else you'll go back to not being good enough. And since fitness is "good", and weight-loss and good grades, no one can save you but you.

The answer was not to give up on the hobbies I was doing. I cook for myself most nights. I run and bike as regular parts of my routine. I like new recipes and I like half-marathons. But these are just positive additions to my life and they do not define my worth. If I miss a work-out it's whatever. If I order take-out it's whatever. I fundamentally do not care about the influencer with the washboard abs, and if I try a work-out from her, I have no loyalty to it. If the new recipe I try mentions "clean eating" I'll roll my eyes and just figure out if the recipe seems good. If the recipe is botching itself to avoid certain scare-words I will simply find something else.

There is absolutely a reasonable place for challenging yourself and trying things outside your comfort zone. The internet is full of resources to do so much more than you currently know how to do. And if that community is an oven, recognize it's an oven. Wear oven mitts. If it's actively on fire, leave. You're the only one protecting you. Stay safe.

[vexillologyisenjoyable]

These screenshots are from an official .gov website from the current administration, and they define terrorism as “activities that involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State; appear to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion, or to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.”

let’s go down the list. “involving acts dangerous to human life”. check. “said acts are in violation of the law”. check.

“seems to be intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population”. no. Most Americans over the age of like 30 remember exactly where they were on 9/11, even two decades later. That is what intimidating a civilian population looks like. Do any of y’all even remember what day the ceo was shot? Off the top of my head, no.

“intended to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion” no. the action was not intended to intimidate or coerce the us government. and, if you’re a consequentialist, government policy hasn’t changed either. dems already wanted to improve the healthcare system, this doesn’t change their goals.

“intended to affect the conduct of a government” no. one man, who’s completely unrelated to the government, being killed, does not affect government conduct.

“affect government conduct specially by using mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping” it is a bit unclear whether it means mass assassination or just regular assassination, but either way it’s a very minor case of assassination that, as said before, does not affect government conduct.

“the action occurs primarily within us territory” check.

ok. so, summing it up, the only things the action itself counted as were being a violent crime that took place in the US. you know what else is a violent crime that takes place in the us? shooting a random person for no reason. but if a policeman does it, he’s off the hook. idk if one guy gets acquitted and one guy gets charged with terrorism for more or less the same thing, it seems strange.

in addition, it states that two main factors for this are violent extremists motivated by bigotry, such as three examples earlier in the report, a shooting in a black church, a synagogue that supports immigrants, and a Walmart, targeting Latinos. the shooting of a ceo who is by and large a rich white man is more or less the opposite of this.

they also say that the second major factor is antigovernment or anti-authority sentiments. it is likely that the murderer, even if they’re not Mangione, does hold said sentiments, however it is also likely that that is not what caused the target to be an insurance company’s ceo.

so to sum it up, at the very most it’s a violent crime on us soil, at most only slightly motivated by anti-authority sentiments. that is not terrorism. the action is not terrorism, the motive is not terroristic, none of it justifies being charged with terrorism.

luigi mangione, the SUSPECTED (innocent until proven guilty) united healthcare shooter, has been charged with terrorism. that’s right. a man who supposedly shot ONE SINGLE PERSON is being charged with terrorism. because in america, billionaires lives matter enough that a SINGLE rich man’s death is considered a terrorist act against this country. think about that.

[24bughours]

Guides for drawing Stobotnik that I made for myself and thought looked cool enough to post

Additional thoughts/guide stuff below:

- basic shape language!!! I thought it was fun that Stone (the square) is a rock for Robotnik in both his cartoonishly evil (triangular) and cartoonishly depressed (round) stages of life. I love designs for Stone that lean into this

- when translating their faces into a cartoonier style, I realized that when their facial features are exaggerated, Robotnik takes on an intrusive look as opposed to Stone’s more reserved look. All of Stone’s features are closer to his face, whereas Robotnik’s are very pronounced. This could be played into to represent Robotnik’s very assertive personality, as opposed to Stone’s (for lack of a better term) submissiveness. (I figured this would be a useful observation since they’re constantly in each other’s faces anyways)

- Stone has beautiful lips. Like not even in a weird way. I’m jealous. Don’t steal them from him when you draw him, lest you taint perfection. Also how does he have a completely solid beard? Does he just have great genes? I’m confused

- it’s just my personal interpretation that Robotnik has gray eyes. When I was researching for this guide I actually couldn’t tell what color his eyes were. If you want a more “canon” eye color, Jim Carrey’s eyes are hazel (green with a brown ring around his pupils). Or you could just go with black. Or brown. Or blue. I’m not your boss

- I wanted to make the second Robotnik rendered better but I was running out of steam oopsies

- even though I was tracing screenshots from the movie, I barely had to alter the expressions of the actors to make this guide interesting to look at. They’re very good at emoting. So, if you’re struggling to draw them like I am, I would trace/reference some screenshots as practice! Speaking of, here are the images I used:

Hope this helps someone

[legendaerie]

a friend sent me this screenshot of Ratio and Aventurine's character models exported to MMD for fan animations and stuff and I've not stopped looking at it for almost 24 hours

but more importantly im just thinking of some kind of scenario or mixer where the IPC and the Guild are mingling and Ratio is trying to get somewhere and Aventurine is pretending not to notice him/block his way and in a fit of 1) irritation and 2) over-familiarity because Aventurine's form of flirting is getting in his personal space about everything, Ratio grabs Aventurine by the waist and just. picks him up. turns. puts him down. keeps moving without acknowledging what he's done.

Everyone in the immediate vicinity is stunned silent, but as soon as Aventurine gets his breath back (oh my god he can just. lift me like that huh? just up and over? oh my god. oh god. did his fingers touch?) he laughs it off. meanwhile it takes Ratio an hour to finish whatever his urgent business was for it to finally hit him as well, and his own thoughts are about thirty percent horny, sixty-five percent mad about being horny, and five percent going "will Human Resources consider this another instance of throwing someone? If I get another black mark they might cut my funding."

[manwritingtales]

Dad, What The Hell Happened To You?

"Dad, what the hell happened to you?" my dad is shirtless, his protruding hairy belly in sight. Just last week, my dad, the daddest dad I know, started posting weird shirtless pics online. I wouldn't have worried if he was just posting workout physiques, but there was something else different about it. He's a quiet person, and he doesn't often go shirtless, but this newfound appreciation for his body took me off guard.

"Nothing happened," my dad said, rubbing his belly. He looked at me calmly, with the same serious look on his face. "Aren't you proud of your dad getting in shape?" He flexed his arms, showing his hairy armpit. I cringed internally. He massages his biceps, the hairs on his chest, and almost smugly displayed them to me.

"I don't care about that," I said, trying to avoid looking at his body. "But dad… my friend sent me a screenshot of you…" Just getting the words out feel wrong. My dad, who was married for years with my mom, was now this person I barely recognized. "It was you… it was a Grindr profile…"

He just looked at me, silent for a moment. "So?"

I stared at him in disbelief. "You're not gay! You were married to mom! I've even heard your political views on gay people—and that told me all I need to know!"

He flexed his arms, and I cringed at how performative it looked. "I've always been gay, son. Now that your mother's gone, I can finally let men worship this bicep." With that, he kissed his arms and looked at me with a hint of a smirk.

I felt sick to my stomach. I would never have guessed that my father was gay. "Look. I don't care that you're gay. Everyone's asking me questions about you. Your Instagram profile is just countless shirtless pictures of you just from this week!"

He took a step forward, and I could smell the faint aroma of his body. "Well, son. I think it's time, don't you think?"

He looked at me calmly, and I could feel something darker within his eyes.

I forced the words out. "Time for what?"

I saw him smirk, a sinister smirk that made my eyes go wide. He whispered, "Go."

My mouth is forced open as panic rises from my chest. A sudden warmth invades my throat as I feel it slither further down into me. My legs grow limp as this warmth slithers further down to the deepest corners of my body. The warmth seemed to disappear, leaving a strange sensation as though something was just in me.

I cough. Hard. Dad's just looking at me with the same serious expression. "What the hell happened?"

"Now I can do this." He stepped forward and cupped my crotch. I let out a gasp as I move to get away. My legs stand still. He leans in, and I feel his hot breath under my neck. "You have no idea how long we've been waiting for this."

He starts rubbing my crotch, his strong hands cupping at the balls and at my — and I realize in horror—hardening cock.

"What… the… fuck… is… happening?" I choke out, my breathing getting heavier as my father stares at me with his deep, soulful black eyes. I feel his other hand pulling me closer.

"He struggled, too, you know," my dad said, his voice strangely harmonic. "But he likes it now."

I feel my hand move on its own accord, and I put my left hand on his chest, the right behind his back. "I'm not fucking gay!"

"Yeah?" he grinned like a predator catching its prey—a view I thought I'd never see, "Well, he wasn't at first."

I feel my arms moving on its own, taking off my shirt and shucking off my pants. "What the fuck!"

My dad leans in and starts kissing my chest. My dad, who once told me not to play with a 'girls' toy', was now knee-deep in my armpits, sniffing so hard he looked as though he would faint. Oh god. My cock has never been this hard. Holy fuck, what the hell is happening?

I lean away for a moment, and I stare at my dad's eyes. For a moment, I see him, my real dad, somewhere in those eyes, then I feel a force like a cannonball forcing us to kiss like mad men. I groan, cringing inside as I felt my dad's tongue in my mouth. I've fully leaned into his body, rubbing his arms and feeling his hairy back. He smelled faintly of sweat, but my cock only grew harder from his musk.

"This isn't you," I gasped within kisses. I feel my body lean in until I'm sucking on his nipples, groaning at his hairy body. An undeniable urge to devour his body was in me. All my body wants to do is to worship this man. My dad, who raised me. This hot, sexy, piece of meat. Fuck!

"Oh, it's me, son," he said with a gruffness that only spurred me on. He forced me closer, and the strength of his arms makes my knees weak. "You already feel it, don't you? You're not sure if it's just something making you do this or it was something you've wanted all along."

I lean in and sniff his armpits, clawing at his hairy belly and kissing him, the odd sensation of kissing someone with a beard enough to send shivers down my spine. I… I understood it now. My dad is fucking hot and he should display his body as much as he wants! Wait! That's not me!

"Don't fight it, son," he whispered, licking my ears. "Come sit on your dad's cock, son. I know you want to." Yes, I did want to. My hands travelled to his cock, and my eyes open wide as I discover it's as thick as a beer can.

"Jesus, dad," I say, unsure if I'm impressed, embarrassed, or horny. I want to suck his cock. I look at the large fucking thing. The veins, just the thickness of it all. All I want to do is just slather his cock with my saliva. I want that thick dick deep in my—wait.

"This isn't me," I whispered to him. My body moves down his cock until I could smell it. All the warmth and musk seemed to lead right into his dick. He grabbed me by my hair. "Come on, son."

My dad looked at me with a proud smile. It was the type of smile he only gave me once in a decade. He looked so gentle and… fuck. He was so fucking hot. I lean in and take his cock in. I gag, unused to the invasion to my throat. I start sucking in, my hands moving to his balls and to his legs. I… love his cock. I love the feeling of it down my throat. I should have more cocks down my throat. I love it. All of a sudden, it felt… easier. I slowed down and savored his taste. He groaned, his familiar voice sounding so… hot, so bothered. His cock was so hard but I fucked my throat in it. I felt his hands on my head.

"You're fucking good at this, son," he said gruffly. I felt my cock get even harder at the praise. I love it. I want my dad to fuck me all the time. I want him all the time. I want his dick in me. I don't. I do. Wait, fuck, I don't! Yes, I do.

I feel a sudden surge of energy in my dad's cock. I feel it pulse, and my body leans further in, and this time I gag even more. Fuck! I need to stop this! I will myself to lean away but my body won't respond.

"Don't fight, son," he said, caressing my hair. "Make your dad proud."

He suddenly thrust forward, his cock further impaling my throat. "That's it, son," he cooed. He thrust again, grabbing my head and keeping it in place. I don't want to fight this. I want to let this happen. My dad let out a loud groan as a torrent of cum splashes out into my throat. I gag but my body keeps still, hot thick cum shooting straight in my throat. I love the taste of it. Just the thought that it's from my dad is enough. I want it all. I feel his cum leak out from my mouth, but my tongue laps as much as it can, hungrily.

We collapse down to the ground. My dad's sweating profusely, and he looks so hot with his hairy body all oiled up. Shit. This really fucking happened. I just sucked my dad's cock. He looked at me with the same calm expression, but his eyes seem gentler. I heave in and out. I can still taste my dad on my mouth.

We don't say anything for a few minutes. I'm leaning on his arm, his warmth feeling so inviting. I look him straight in the eye. "Now who the fuck is in my body?"

[magic-and-moonlit-wings]

[thread of tweets with embedded photos]

[still from a video, showing a standing woman holding a baby in a white hallway, both dressed in beige, captioned "when you do the color matching and get hot pinks and lime greens instead of neutrals"]

[closer image of another woman holding a baby, this pair dressed in creams and whites, with a desaturated pink bow on the baby's head, also in a white room; there is text on the bottom of the image but it is obscured by the crop]

[tweet by anastasia]

I saw a mom say she is going to start adding brighter colors into her house bc her kid started exclusively drawing in browns at daycare like what

[/end tweets]

[screenshot of tags]

#SO. we literally just learned this in psych #but baby eyesight is dog ass #they can't see pastels At All #what you need is bright saturated contrasting colors #it helps their brains pick out color and shape #if everything is beige or close to beige #THEY CAN'T FUCKING SEE THE COLORS #THEY ARE LOST IN BEIGE HELL #STOP MAKING BABIES MONOCHROME

[/end tags]

scream 'aesthetic' parents are house of leaves-ing their kids

[mejaemin]

200 - lee minhyung

wc: 1.2k

summary: mark cannot lose you, so in a desperate effort to let you know, he does so in the way he knows best

warnings: fighting, they make up dw, i mentioned a crude joke towards woman being made but it was never explicitly said

an: what did i eat today that made me to a triple upload ?!?! and none of those three were pre written ?!?! crazy.. but anyway here’s my first (solo) work for markle sparkle !!! lowkey i prefer the minhyung version of 200 over the regular.. but anyway pls enjoy this !!! also tysm to @viasdreams for helping me come up with an idea for what the argument should be about 😙😙 ly queen

listen 🎧! : 200 - minhyung’s version

───── ⋆⋅ ⊹ ⁺ 𐔌 ᩧ ຼ ͡ ৯ ♡໒⁀ ᩧຼ ꒱ིྀ ⁺ ⊹ ⋅⋆ ─────

mark is so done.

it’s been about a week since “the incident”, and a week of going through extreme withdrawals and torture on his end from being shut out. within your circle of friends and quite a few people outside of it, your “argument” has become quite a popular topic amongst the people.

it’s honestly very petty of you, but you can’t help it. your whole situation just doesn’t sit right with you. for reference, you were hanging out with mark and his friends last week, nothing new. it started when his one friend started making sexual jokes, and of course it’s gross but boys will be boys, so you chose to distract yourself in your phone rather than torture yourself with listening to that nonsense.

the real problem arose when said jokes started turning strange, almost feeling objectifying towards women. it was quite uncomfortable to have to sit in the middle of a conversation, but thankfully you didn’t need much incentive to leave when mark started laughing along with the group. you immediately snapped your head around to look at him, giving him a look, and you could tell that was all you needed to do because he was immediately leaning towards you, but you paid him no mind and just left.

he was following behind you, and you ignored him all the way until you were halfway down the block. he grabbed your wrist, and maybe your hormones were a little off balance because you did make it out to be a little more than it should have been, but you turned around and snapped at him. in public, standing in the middle of the sidewalk, you and mark had an argument about why it was so inappropriate for him to laugh at such crude jokes. of course, in the heat of the moment it went nowhere, and ended with him driving you home (he drove you to the hangout, and despite being angry he still didn’t want you walking) in silence.

as soon as you got home, you bid him a very upset goodbye before sitting in your frustration. you managed to calm down, able to admit that you were a little harsh on him, but upon remembering the fact that he just couldn’t get why you were upset made you upset all over again. thus, you got heated all over again and decided to block mark on everything until you were able to be calm about things again (that was an excuse, and the real reason you did that was just to be petty).

the next few days he tried contacting you many times, even through other people, and you completely ignored it. at some point you did start feeling bad, but you were already too deep into it to go back now. so, you kept on, even going to the length of ignoring him when you saw each other on campus. he truly looked like a kicked puppy, well, as far as you could tell without making direct eye contact, and it sucked, but you kept walking. he had yet to admit he was in the wrong, and maybe you both were, especially you for not letting him admit it, but oh well.

after about a week and a half of avoiding your boyfriend, you’re laying on your couch, alone, scrolling through your phone when you get a notification from one of mark’s friends. the text doesn’t say much, simply a pair of eyeball emojis followed by a screenshot of mark’s profile on spotify.

he’s a music major, and you’re aware of the fact that he sometimes posts his projects on spotify or other platforms.. however, this time is a little different. the numbers on his account are way larger than they were the last time you checked, and there’s a whole other album added onto it. immediately you’re going to your own app to look at his profile, and you see that it’s for real. the numbers next to all his songs have changed from under a thousand to ten times that, and there’s an ep with five songs under the ‘latest release’ section.

immediately disregarding whatever grudge you were holding, you play it. the first song, titled 200, begins with the quiet strumming of an acoustic guitar, and you hook it up to your speaker to really feel it. he starts with his vocals, and your heart picks up. despite being more involved with rap, you always told mark you loved his vocals. you always asked him to do more songs with them, because to you they sounded godsent. it seems that after all this time, he’s finally decided to listen. there’s no doubt in your mind that he’s talking to you, the lyrics full of love and mentions of little things that have always been staples in your relationship. it’s really the cutest, and your heart hurts at the fact that you’re ignoring him while he releases a song all about your relationship while simultaneously reaching a notable point in his career.

immediately grabbing your things, you get into your car and make your way to mark’s apartment. on the way, you unblock him on everything and send him an apology message before driving to him, as close to the speed limit as you could. he tries calling you, but you ignore it in favor of the fact that his apartment is close and you’re already almost there. on the way you listened to the rest of his ep, and all the songs are including the same things, all about love with one of them even including an apology with him nearly pleading for you to come back to him.

as soon as you get to his door, you unlock it with the spare key he gave you and let yourself in. he’s in the kitchen, his back facing you, and you waste no time in running up to him and closing him in your arms.

“oh my god, markie, i’m so sorry..” you squeeze him tight in your embrace, and although he’s startled and more than a little upset, he turns around and returns the favor.

“it’s alright, babe, come sit.” he pries you off of him, leading you to the couch where he sits down with you, keeping an arm around your shoulder.

“i heard your songs and i just, i’m sorry. i feel really stupid, and i shouldn’t have ignored you, and i really hope you can forgive me.” you ramble, saying anything and everything to help explain just how terrible you felt.

his thumb rubs reassuring circles into your shoulder as he turns his head to face you completely. “it’s okay, baby, i forgive you. and i’m sorry too, i was being immature and there was nothing funny about what he said.”

you nod, feeling a little more relieved, yet still very stupid now that you saw how easy everything was discussed. “so… we’re okay?” you ask, eyes meeting his with an unsure look.

he turns his body to face you fully, using one hand to hold your face and lean in to kiss you. “of course. let’s not do that again though, okay? i was on the verge of death, bro, i swear.”

seeing how quickly he returned to normal, you giggle, nodding as you lean back into his arms. “of course, mark, it was torture for me too. now.. you seriously made five songs about me in the span of a week and a half all because of this?” you tease, and that’s how you spend the rest of the night, celebrating his success and loving each other like the way he says in his music.

───── ⋆⋅ ⊹ ⁺ 𐔌 ᩧ ຼ ͡ ৯ ♡໒⁀ ᩧຼ ꒱ིྀ ⁺ ⊹ ⋅⋆ ─────

[biancadoes1]

Looks like Luke really did spend Christmas with our pasta influencer. His aunt is now also following Antonia after Christmas.

https://www.tumblr.com/the-lighth0use/771238845881679872/luke-newton-and-antonia-roumelioti-spending

I am side eyeing Luke heavily right now. He’s probably going to meet her in Maldives for NYE. 🤮

A brand new account pops up on Tumblr out of nowhere and posts pictures from a private account...

I've been seeing talk and getting condescending asks all day about Luke's aunt following Antonia on Christmas out of nowhere...

And I find it a little odd that the screenshot is in Spanish...

I'm not jumping to conclusions no matter how crazy people think I am.

Let's wait and see what else comes up, yeah?

[stevieschrodinger]

Part One Two Three Four Five

“So Steve, I know you said that you don’t think you need anyone...” Eddie sighs, “do you think that implies that I think that what he thinks is wrong?”

“I think it implies you’ve lost your fucking mind.”

Eddie doesn’t even have the energy to glare at Dustin, it’s much easier to just pretend he hasn’t spoken, “okay, Steve-”

“Yeap, you’re really strong on establishing you know the guys name, which is like, a solid point in your favor.”

“I hate you,” Eddie says to the ceiling, neck at an odd angle where he’s flopped his head back over the arm of the couch, “so, Steve, I know you said you don’t need anyone, and you are totally right-”

“You’re a strong independent Omega who don’t need no Alpha!”

“So help me Henderson I will throw you out,” Eddie waits, but Dustin is finally silent on the matter, “Steve. I totally respect the fact that you are absolutely fine handling everything alone, and if you’re...happy with us, being friends, then I’m happy with that too. I did wonder, though, if you’d like to go on a date. With me. Maybe?” Eddie sighs, flopping his arms over his face, “I’m so bad at this. This is going to go so wrong and he’s going to hate me and never want to see me again and-”

“Eddie...has the Omega broken your brain? What the fuck is wrong with you man-”

“I don’t know! I don’t...I’ve literally never felt this way before, not about anyone. And Jamie, man, I know he’s not my pup, okay, Steve and I aren't dating, he’s literally my friends pup, that’s it but...I swear I would die for that kid, no question.”

“Okay...so just...ask him out? Steve I mean, not Jamie-”

Eddie huffs, “I don’t...I’m pretty sure I can’t. The more I think about it the more it feels...like Steve’s had a pretty bad run of Alphas, it sounds like, and I just don’t think he’d be interested. And he’s just literally had a pup, like Jamie is only just a month old, who am I to add to that, you know? Steve’s got enough to think about.”

“So...don’t ask him out?”

Eddie flops over onto his side, curling up so he can smush his face into the cushions, “but I really want to. I think it’s selfish though. I’m being selfish. I should just...be a good friend. Keep being a good friend.”

“And pine to death?”

“I mean. Seems like a reasonable way out.”

“Dude I do not know what to say to you,” the timer on the oven starts to buzz, “but at least you’re going to feed me, right?”

Eddie sighs, dragging himself out of the near suffocating safety of the gap in the couch cushions. He opens his message thread with Steve, scrolling back through the shared memes and screenshots and pictures. He reads little tidbits of conversation while he pulls out bowls and plates. The three dots appear, Eddie’s heart leaps a little because Steve is, right there. Right next door, with his phone in his hand, typing to Eddie.

‘I’d love some. I’ve made a banana cream pie if you want to take it back for your games night.’

Eddie sends back a shocked emoji, ‘I can’t take an entire pie.’

‘You won’t, my slice will be gone.’

Eddie smiles and slips his phone into his pocket. He slices two thick pieces of bread from the loaf he made this afternoon, wraps them, and then fills a bowl with casserole. Eddie’s pretty sure this bowl is Steve’s anyway; so many of their plates and bowls have been migrating back and forth it’s hard to tell any more, between Eddie’s dinners and Steve’s desserts.

He likes to bake something extra special for games nights though, he always says you can’t make just one cookie, or one slice of pie. He likes to make sweet things when he knows there will be people to give it to, otherwise, “I’ll just eat the whole thing Eddie!”

Eddie doesn’t see a problem with eating the whole thing, but he slips on his adventure crocs and heads out into the hall. Dustin doesn’t even tease too badly any more, even though Eddie’s sure it’s because he’s threatened to withhold Steve’s desserts.

Eddie knocks with the hand holding the bread, letting himself in when Steve calls, “it’s open!”

“Hey Steve, hey Jamie,” he sets Steve’s dinner on the little table, next to the juice and cutlery Steve’s already set out for himself.

“What do you have planned for them tonight?” Steve brings out a pie on a plate, a slice already gone, just like he said. It has real neat swirls of cream on top; it looks professional to Eddie, like you’d buy in a store.

“Destruction. Misery. Suffering. The usual.”

Steve hums, “uh hu. What color salad did you decide on in the end?”

Eddie sighs, “you say it Slaad. And I don’t know, what do you think?”

“I actually quite liked the idea for the dog shark thing, it was cute,” Steve hands over the pie, going on tip toes to kiss Eddie on the cheek as he hands it over.

“One home brew Bulette, coming right up,” Eddie replies absently. He’s pretty sure he’s gone at least a little pink, and Steve’s scent is fresh and bright in his nose for a moment, “I’d better…” Eddie gestures lamely with the pie, “you know.”

“Have fun!” Steve calls as Eddie lets himself out, “don’t go too hard on them!”

Eddie’s doing his best not too stare, he really is.

He has one foot on the stroller, rolling it gently back and forward. He has his guitar resting on the other knee, he strums, singing quietly to Jamie, “I'd rather be a forest than a street, yes, I would...if I could, I surely would.” Jamie burbles at him, waving his arms a little and making happy pup noises.

On the court, Steve laughs, and Eddie fails, and he looks. Steve’s wearing a tank top and those obscenely short shorts. Him and Chrissy are bouncing the ball at each other, catching it, doing a squat, a little jump, and bouncing it back. They’ve done all sorts of stuff like this, sweaty jock games. Steve’s short shorts riding up even further at the slightest provocation.

Jamie makes a noise, drawing Eddie’s attention back, “I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet, yes, I would...if I could, I surely would,” Eddie sings, soft and slow.

Steve and Chrissy come over eventually, Steve lifting the bottom of his shirt to wipe at his sweaty face, fully showing Eddie his tummy in all it’s glory. It’s thick, but firm, decorated by a handful of stretch marks and a perfect dusting of happy trail, “thanks for keeping an eye.”

“Huh?” Eddie asks, feeling kind of dumb but still managing to strum along on auto pilot.

Next to him, Chrissy snickers around her water bottle.

“Thank you, for watching Jamie,” Steve says to him more slowly, smirking, his sweaty hair flopping across his forehead.

“Right, right, sure, of course. Anytime. Pleasure. Really.”

Next to him, Chrissy huffs. Eddie pointedly ignores it.

The knocking is awful. It’s relentless. It’s obnoxious. It’s definitely Robin.

“I know you’re in there!”

Yeap. Yeap that’s definitely Robin. Eddie groans into the couch cushion before dragging himself up. She’s speaking before he has the door fully open, “this is getting old.”

“And what might that be-”

Robin puts on the most obnoxious voice Eddie thinks he’s ever heard, she clasps her hands together, holding them to her chest and she bats her lashes coquettishly at the ceiling, “oh Eddie’s cooking is just the best ever. Did you know he plays guitar! He says he’ll teach Jamie when he’s old enough! And he’s so smart, he’s got so many books in his apartment-”

“Okay.”

“Did you know he’s artistic! He paints his little dungeon game miniatures and they’re so good-”

“All right.”

“You should just see him with Jamie-”

“Robin.”

“And he’s such a good Alpha! He’s so good to his friends, he puts in so much work-”

“And we are done,” Eddie goes to shut the door. He can’t handle this. He knows Robin probably means well, in her own meddling way, but he just...can’t. This has to be Steve’s choice, right? Steve’s been pretty clear why he went it alone, and Robin is just...teasing him. It makes Eddie feel all warm and bubbly inside, knowing that Steve says these things about him, that Steve...likes him. But...Steve has a pup, and just because he says these things behind closed doors, it doesn’t mean Eddie has any right to know them.

No matter how it makes him feel.

“Wait wait wait...can’t you just, ask him out? End all of our suffering?”

Eddie sighs, “Steve has enough going on without me making it more complicated, okay? Steve can...he’s perfectly capable of telling me this himself.”

“No he isn’t. Because Steve would never ask you to take on another Alpha’s pup.”

“He’s not another Alpha’s pup, he’s Steve’s pup,” Eddie tells her reflexively.

“Uh hu,” she has her hands on her hips now, looking at him expectantly.

Eddie swallows thickly, and he can’t quite look at Robin, “what if...what if I loose him?”

“You won’t. You know you won’t.”

“But-”

“Me and Chrissy are taking Jamie for the night, did you know that? Giving Steve a night off, and we’re getting some practice in for when we’re ready to have our own, you know?”

“I...did not know that.”

“Yeah.”

Eddie stands for a second, not sure what to say, down the hall, Steve’s door opens.

“-and it’s in the changing bag.”

“I got it.”

“Don’t forget to heat the formula to-”

“Steve,” Chrissy sounds exasperated, “we’ve got it,” she has Jamie in his car seat.

“Plus,” Robin whispers to him conspiratorially, “he’s going to have a heat at some point, so we gotta be ready for that. You know, wouldn’t be fair to which ever Alpha ends up helping him out-”

“I know what you’re doing,” Eddie growls, watching Steve fuss over the pup.

“Is it working?”

“Go away.”

Robin shrugs, and Eddie watches as she goes to Chrissy, taking the bag so Chrissy is just left with the car seat, “it’s going to be fine, and you can call us any time.”

Eddie ends up watching Steve, as Steve watches his pup and his friends disappear at the end of the hall. His shoulder sag a little, and Eddie can't help but go to him.

“Hey.”

Steve sighs, “would it be weird if we followed them?”

“Maybe. I’ll drive though.”

Steve smiles up at him, and it looks kind of watery, “what if we break into their place and take him back?”

Eddie shrugs, “pretty sure we could just ask but, whatever makes you feel better, I guess.”

Steve sighs, “I sound crazy,” and a tear finally escapes, sliding down his cheek.

Eddie can’t help but scoop him up into a big hug, “I think you sound like the best dad in the world. I’ll get you one of those mugs. You know, for fathers day.”

Steve sighs, and sniffles, “thanks Eddie.”

“You want take out? I’ve primed you a miniature, if you still want to try your hand.”

“Can we watch a shit film too?”

“Oh fuck me I’d love to watch a shit film,” Eddie says vehemently into Steve’s hair.

Steve laughs against his chest.

Steve doesn’t have it in him to try painting his owlbear tonight; he picks forlornly at his duck rolls, “I’m sorry I’m not very good company.”

“It’s okay, I get it...I miss him too.”

“Oh, so you admit I’m being shit company?” Steve smiles for the first time this evening.

“Oh, yeah, the absolute worst.”

Steve phone pings and he practically dives for it, but then he melts, face going soft as he looks at the message, “Jamie’s asleep,” he shows Eddie the picture.

“Safe and sound,” Eddie reassures Steve for probably the fifteenth time this evening.

“I didn’t...I mean I knew I’d love my pup but...I didn’t know it would feel like this, you know? It feels crazy. And I mean...Jamie’s happy, and healthy, and that just makes absolutely everything feel...right? Does that make sense? Like...fulfilled.”

“I...yeah. I think I understand,” Eddie tells him quietly, because he feels like that about the both of them, as long as Steve, and by extension, Jamie, are both happy and healthy then...yeah. Yeah, the whole world feels like it’s an okay place to be.

“Eddie I-”

“Steve-”

They speak over each other, and end up laughing, leaning closer together on the couch. The remains of Steve’s half eaten dinner get moved to the safety of the coffee table. They’re close enough then that Eddie can see the dim light from the TV reflecting in Steve’s eyes.

“You go,” Eddie whispers to him.

Steve shakes his head, but takes Eddie’s hand in both of his, rubbing his thumb over Eddie’s knuckles, Steve whispers back, “you first.”

“I...I really like having you in my life Steve. And I don’t want to...to fuck that up, by expecting more from you.”

“I...yeah. Same.”

“Same?” It comes out as a surprised laugh.

Steve’s laughing too now, “what do you want me to say I mean...you pretty much covered it.”

“I have spent ages agonizing over this and and and- all I get is- yeah. Same. I guess. I suppose.”

Steve is properly laughing now, “come here, I’m sorry, I’m sorry” he pulls Eddie close, and manages to stop laughing long enough to kiss his cheek, “okay,” Steve takes a deep breath, “I’ve just had a pup, and both me and that pup care about you so very much, and I did not want to mess it up by expecting you to take that on, okay?”

“You’re not a chore Steve, neither of you are a chore.”

“I mean he was sick on me the other day and that kind of felt-”

Eddie cuts him off with a kiss. It’s soft, a gentle press of lips that Steve...sighs into. Relaxes into. Lets Eddie take both their weight. Steve’s hands find their way into Eddie’s hair as Eddie gently wets Steve’s lip, and Steve lets him in.

It feels like coming home.

[cuprohastes]

Even before print moved to digital and magazines gace up, I used to do ad-counts.

So I'd get a copy of whatever magazine - Let's say Wired, my favourite hate read.

Price - let's say £5. And it'd be like 46% adverts, and then the stories would be "We here at Wired sat down with Bob Snod, inventor of a website that is VERY VERY COOL and which we will not show you a screenshot of, or provide a URL to because why would you want to go look at this super cool website. Anyway, we ask Bob if he's ever kissed a horse and what a HTTP is."

And it's like. Hey I just paid £5 and it's 20 pages of adverts for cars, and a bunch of articles that are so edgy, you printed them in yellow on white.

And actually even the digital version's still as pointlessly superficial and meandering. But the ad percentage is still somehow the same.

About ten, fifteen years ago I wrote a story about a guy living in a Capitalist dystopia. His walls, furniture, and tableware are all covered in smart displays. Basically animated wallpaper. It's sold as being able to turn your room or objects into anything - A nice forest view, outer space, a fantasy realm... but the companies that run this stuff keep sneaking ads in.

It gets so bad he's always being woken up by adverts that offer insomnia cures and better bedding that play when he tries to sleep.

So he buys the ad-free tier, and it's great... for a few months. And then he starts getting adverts from 'premium partners'. So he goes up a level... and the same thing happens.

So he jailbreaks his wallpaper and sends all the ad servers to 0.0.0.0 and voila... he can sleep.

Until this SWAT team blows his door off and drag him off to jail. The Ad companies are suing him for loss of revenue for the products he' notionally have bought if he'd watched their adverts, based on some weird 'The average consumer buys X products with an average value of Y' calculation.

The judge is like 'well I dun wanna annoy the sponsors' so he RICO's this guy's house and possessions and sends him to jail.

... which is a nice relaxed non-volent offender jail for the corporately disenfranchised. But because these people have no money... there's no ads and now he's happy because the only place he's free... is in prison.

Which at the time was a bit much and now it's like: Called it.

Elon's suing companies for not advertising because he's losing revenue. He's also cranking the price of Ad Free Twitter. Disney and Amazon play adverts on their paid service when services used to be free because of the adverts... and now you have to pay to watch the adverts or go up a couple of tiers.

And google's going around freaking out about ad-blockers.

[onesnoopyaday]

I AM AT MY LIMIT

Snoopy #90

30/12/2024

description under the cut

[description: a cartoon-style drawing of Snoopy's head. Snoopy is a white dog with black ears. His eyes are shut and his mouth is a horizontal line. There are two large blue teardrops, one under each eye. The text "I am at my limit" is handwritten across the top of the image.]

[myiayse]

harumakigohan mentioned deploy the shiguang

[certifiedducky]

Reasons why I don’t believe Chloe was never meant to be redeemed:

1) the intro, from season one, included queen bee

And she’s the only hero who has since been replaced. If nothing else, it shows that they didn’t plan on vesperia until way later.

2) She was given a sympathetic backstory(which they used to enact short-term change)

and i am specifically talking about despair bear, which makes me all sorts of frustrated because her butler using her self-soothing method to manipulate and shame her into acting better for her classmates makes me feel so sad for her.

but the fact still stands that they gave Chloe a sympathetic backstory that not only tied her to adrien, potentially giving her an ally to help her change, but to explain(not excuse) her behavior.

there is ZERO reason for that screenshot to exist of a character that was never considered for redemption. you don’t paint your villains that way.

3) lila, like her entire existence

Okay so like, as a superhero show that has clear time both in and out of the suits, it makes sense to have clear civilian AND supervillain antagonists to keep it interesting on both sides. In season one, Ladybug and Chat Noir had hawkmoth. Adrien had Gabriel, and Marinette had Chloe. At the end of the season, they introduced lila as marinette’s civilian antagonist. THERE WAS NO REASON TO INTRODUCE A NEW ANTAGONIST FOR MARINETTE UNLESS THEY KNEW THERE WOULD BE A VOID SOON. The fact that Lila and Chloe essentially serve the same purpose after season 3, so much so that lila is almost completely sidelined until much later, shows that they didn’t know what to do with them *because chloe wasn’t supposed to be a villain*.

4) zoe & vesperia

Here’s the thing: If Chloe was meant to be irredeemable from the start, there should have been a clear plan for the bee miraculous. I can think of two ways it could’ve gone: either develop another bee holder from season 2 onwards, or have chloe steal the bee. Because what we got instead was Chloe’s half sister who was introduced in season FOUR. Not only was she introduced to the show, she was introduced to marinette. And she received her miraculous in the very next episode. There was no development, and it reflects very poorly on marinette that she chose to give a miraculous to a girl she had just met(and a girl related to Chloe at that, even if Zoe was nice, it’s very irresponsible). Had Zoe been introduced in season 2, or even the beginning of 3, it would’ve made way more sense for her to be given a miraculous by season 4. But that’s not what happened. Instead we get a character that’s shoehorned into a role because it needs filled.

5) RESISTING AN AKUMA

Chloe was the first person to resist an akuma. enough said. Because why would you give that accomplishment to a character that you planned to stay an antagonist from the start????

And listen, i’m not the first person to say these things. And it’s not the first time i’ve said it. and i’ll say it again and again because it’s frustrating. Because not only did we get this potential, but we’re being told to our faces that it was never there. That we’re crazy for thinking she could change. I don’t know what was going on in the writers room, but honestly even if they DID plan to keep her an antagonist from the start, maybe they should start lying and say they changed their minds. because all of the clues point to her being redeemed. It leaves the writers looking incompetent, utterly incompetent.

[nevershootamockingbird]

[ Begin ID: A screenshot of tags that read "#they de-escalated the stakes every once in a while so that you can see what the characters are like when they're not under duress #they made statements about the world through allegory #they invested in depicting developing friendships and relationships between their characters #they assumed that their audience was paying attention to the screen and wanted to be there #and that their audience has enough intelligence to follow narrative clues and even sometimes to predict the ending #dont even get me started on this i will go ALL DAY" / End ID ]

I don't know what those '90s sci Fi TV writers were putting in their shows but I wish they'd start doing it again

[illustoryart]

Close your eyes and screenshot to pick a card! What affirmation for new year did you get? ✨

Share this with your fellow pirates, angels, demons and humans 😇

We are living in dark times, but I hope we all can find a bit of joy in the new year ❤️‍🩹

As a little holiday gift, you can get both OFMD and GO affirmation decks for free at our Ko~fi! Link in profile 🎁

[tackykachowch]

I wanted to make this post really extensive, with a lot of screenshots etc, but I'm literally operating at 0% so forgive me this one time.

So, you all know how I'm constantly after season 2's blood because of how it butchered well...Everything, but especially my favorites Silco and Jinx. And what do you know, they even screwed up Silco's glass. Yes. A Glass. Let me explain.

Animators at Fortiche are real professionals, so they know that every object tells a story, so even small things like glasses or cups can tell us a story or let us understand the character better, or even reflect the whole meta of the show. Arcane season 1 really exceeded at this. Going through every scene of this season I noticed that Piltovans use elegant and neat glasses and cups, and the glasses that are particularly used by the councilors are made out of gold. While Zaunites drink from simple glasses without any ornaments, metal mugs or straight-up out of bottles. But there's this one single glass that's different from any other glass or cup in the ENTIRE season - Silco's glass (also Jinx's cup but I'm not gonna talk about it here).

It's made out of simple glass and is pretty bulky to give an association with Zaun, but also has golden ornaments to associate it with Piltover. This single glass perfectly encapsulates Silco as a character - a Zaunite who rejects living under the status quo and who strives to get his people opportunity and freedom Piltover has. Also it reflects his unique position in society - he operates the entirety of the Undercity, yet even this amount of power is barely enough to compete with Piltover. Silco represents the middle of the barrel, a fusion of both cities at their current states. Then, in ep9 it gets destroyed, foreshadowing Silco's death and destruction of the relative peace the two cities had until this time. It's perfect, no notes.

But theeeen we have season 2 *barely disguised rage*. In it we have my favorite flashback out of all of flashbacks ever, where we see- huh??

Silco's glass?? How did it get in there?? And there's THREE of them now???? This is surely some kind of mistake, right? Let's fast forward a bit- WHAT IS IT DOING IN A CAVE????

So, you want to tell me, that an object unique to Silco and Silco only, which perfectly represented his character and even played a minor narrative role, is in fact NOT unique and its destruction in the season 1 finale meant Literally Nothing???? WHAT??????

This is what I meant when I said that s2 jumped headstrong into the fanservice without the second thought about how it impacts the story and characters. You see, Silco now HAS to keep a glass from the times he, Vander and Felicia were friends. He HAS to keep a diary where he says how he admires Felicia, even though nothing indicated that someone inspired him or something of that sort in prior material. (UPD: Also, Silco is more of an idealistic character in the first place. He DOES care about people to some extent, but he always seemed to fight for the idea itself, and not some people in particular. So to give him this new unknown character as part of his primary motivation is....strange, to say the least. It's almost like writers want to make him more sympathetic hmmm). He HAS to keep a photo of the three of them and an "Our Love" record, because he's a sap like that and he lowed his fwiends so wewy much. We already knew Silco had a soft side because he kept things Jinx made for him, we already knew that he hadn't completely let go of the past because he kept Vander's knife. There's no point in adding all this garbage except make the audience go "awwww". It's disgusting and insulting.

But back to the glasses. It makes no sense that the three of them have the glasses and use them, because none of them have any amount of power yet. Moreover, Vander never has ANY Piltovian aesthetic in his design, and Felicia is literally a non-character, so what is exactly the reason to give her such an important object to begin with? I don't know a thing about her, except that she's arcane's most manic pixie girl ever and that by her sheer existence she ruined Silco and Vander's dynamic. Cool. And why would Silco keep the glass with him throughout all these years? And then openly drink out of it in his office? Is it supposed to mean that he carries on the dream the three of them had? But Vander openly rejected this dream, and the remnant of this is located in the very same office (Vander's knife). Orrr maybe um. Maybe. Ughhh. I can't. Think of anything. Hang on. Maaaybeeee it's ssssupposed to represent how Silco's fight for independence went back to the place it started in (The Last Drop)? Okay, maybe, whatever. But then again, what was the purpose of destroying his glass in season 1 ep9 if presumably the two other glasses are still intact? Except Silco dying it doesn't tell us anything, because it lost the previous weight it had in the narrative.

Then we fast forward again to my favorite episode out of all the episodes ever - s2 ep7. In it Silco appears only for a few seconds, but by God are these one of the most destructive few seconds for his character. First he comes to the scene with his flask in hand. A....weird thing to have in a BAR, but okay.

But then as he says the infamous line about forgiveness Vander hands him- oh. Uhhh...A. A Piltovan glass.

Not Silco's glass, or maybe some entirely new glass to represent Zaun's progress as a free nation, but a Piltiovan one. Okay. You were pretty obvious with the line here writers but I guess it wasn't enough.

S2 proceeds to be an insulting, disgusting mess in its every aspect and I will fight with it for the rest of my life.