#c: yong

[7698]

[mostlysignssomeportents]

You should be using an RSS reader

On OCTOBER 23 at 7PM, I'll be in DECATUR, GEORGIA, presenting my novel THE BEZZLE at EAGLE EYE BOOKS.

No matter how hard we all wish it were otherwise, the sad fact is that there aren't really individual solutions to systemic problems. For example: your personal diligence in recycling will have no meaningful impact on the climate emergency.

I get it. People write to me all the time, they say, "What can I change about my life to fight enshittification, or, at the very least, to reduce the amount of enshittification that I, personally, experience?"

It's frustrating, but my general answer is, "Join a movement. Get involved with a union, with EFF, with the FSF. Tell your Congressional candidate to defend Lina Khan from billionaire Dem donors who want her fired. Do something systemic."

There's very little you can do as a consumer. You're not going to shop your way out of monopoly capitalism. Now that Amazon has destroyed most of the brick-and-mortar and digital stores out of business, boycotting Amazon often just means doing without. The collective action problem of leaving Twitter or Facebook is so insurmountable that you end up stuck there, with a bunch of people you love and rely on, who all love each other, all hate the platform, but can't agree on a day and time to leave or a destination to leave for and so end up stuck there.

I've been experiencing some challenging stuff in my personal life lately and yesterday, I just found myself unable to deal with my usual podcast fare so I tuned into the videos from the very last XOXO, in search of uplifting fare:

https://www.youtube.com/@xoxofest

I found it. Talks by Dan Olson, Cabel Sasser, Ed Yong and many others, especially Molly White:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTaeVVAvk-c

Molly's talk was so, so good, but when I got to her call to action, I found myself pulling a bit of a face:

But the platforms do not exist without the people, and there are a lot more of us than there are of them. The platforms have installed themselves in a position of power, but they are also vulnerable…

Are the platforms really that vulnerable? The collective action problem is so hard, the switching costs are so high – maybe the fact that "there's a lot more of us than there are of them" is a bug, not a feature. The more of us there are, the thornier our collective action problem and the higher the switching costs, after all.

And then I had a realization: the conduit through which I experience Molly's excellent work is totally enshittification-proof, and the more I use it, the easier it is for everyone to be less enshittified.

This conduit is anti-lock-in, it works for nearly the whole internet. It is surveillance-resistant, far more accessible than the web or any mobile app interface. It is my secret super-power.

It's RSS.

RSS (one of those ancient internet acronyms with multiple definitions, including, but not limited to, "Really Simple Syndication") is an invisible, automatic way for internet-connected systems to public "feeds." For example, rather than reloading the Wired homepage every day and trying to figure out which stories are new (their layout makes this very hard to do!), you can just sign up for Wired's RSS feed, and use an RSS reader to monitor the site and preview new stories the moment they're published. Wired pushes about 600 words from each article into that feed, stripped of the usual stuff that makes Wired nearly impossible to read: no 20-second delay subscription pop-up, text in a font and size of your choosing. You can follow Wired's feed without any cookies, and Wired gets no information about which of its stories you read. Wired doesn't even get to know that you're monitoring its feed.

I don't mean to pick on Wired here. This goes for every news source I follow – from CNN to the New York Times. But RSS isn't just good for the news! It's good for everything. Your friends' blogs? Every blogging platform emits an RSS feed by default. You can follow every one of them in your reader.

Not just blogs. Do you follow a bunch of substackers or other newsletters? They've all got RSS feeds. You can read those newsletters without ever registering in the analytics of the platforms that host them. The text shows up in black and white (not the sadistic, 8-point, 80% grey-on-white type these things all default to). It is always delivered, without any risk of your email provider misclassifying an update as spam:

https://pluralistic.net/2021/10/10/dead-letters/

Did you know that, by default, your email sends information to mailing list platforms about your reading activity? The platform gets to know if you opened the message, and often how far along you've read in it. On top of that, they get all the private information your browser or app leaks about you, including your location. This is unbelievably gross, and you get to bypass all of it, just by reading in RSS.

Are your friends too pithy for a newsletter, preferring to quip on social media? Unfortunately, it's pretty hard to get an RSS feed from Insta/FB/Twitter, but all those new ones that have popped up? They all have feeds. You can follow any Mastodon account (which means you can follow any Threads account) via RSS. Same for Bluesky. That also goes for older platforms, like Tumblr and Medium. There's RSS for Hacker News, and there's a sub-feed for the comments on every story. You can get RSS feeds for the Fedex, UPS and USPS parcels you're awaiting, too.

Your local politician's website probably has an RSS feed. Ditto your state and national reps. There's an RSS feed for each federal agency (the FCC has a great blog!).

Your RSS reader lets you put all these feeds into folders if you want. You can even create automatic folders, based on keywords, or even things like "infrequently updated sites" (I follow a bunch of people via RSS who only update a couple times per year – cough, Danny O'Brien, cough – and never miss a post).

Your RSS reader doesn't (necessarily) have an algorithm. By default, you'll get everything as it appears, in reverse-chronological order.

Does that remind you of anything? Right: this is how social media used to work, before it was enshittified. You can single-handedly disenshittify your experience of virtually the entire web, just by switching to RSS, traveling back in time to the days when Facebook and Twitter were more interested in showing you the things you asked to see, rather than the ads and boosted content someone else would pay to cram into your eyeballs.

Now, you sign up to so many feeds that you're feeling overwhelmed and you want an algorithm to prioritize posts – or recommend content. Lots of RSS readers have some kind of algorithm and recommendation system (I use News, which offers both, though I don't use them – I like the glorious higgeldy-piggeldy of the undifferentiated firehose feed).

But you control the algorithm, you control the recommendations. And if a new RSS reader pops up with an algorithm you're dying to try, you can export all the feeds you follow with a single click, which will generate an OPML file. Then, with one click, you can import that OPML file into any other RSS reader in existence and all your feeds will be seamlessly migrated there. You can delete your old account, or you can even use different readers for different purposes.

You can access RSS in a browser or in an app on your phone (most RSS readers have an app), and they'll sync up, so a story you mark to read later on your phone will be waiting for you the next time you load up your reader in a browser tab, and you won't see the same stories twice (unless you want to, in which case you can mark them as unread).

RSS basically works like social media should work. Using RSS is a chance to visit a utopian future in which the platforms have no power, and all power is vested in publishers, who get to decide what to publish, and in readers, who have total control over what they read and how, without leaking any personal information through the simple act of reading.

And here's the best part: every time you use RSS, you bring that world closer into being! The collective action problem that the publishers and friends and politicians and businesses you care about is caused by the fact that everyone they want to reach is on a platform, so if they leave the platform, they'll lose that community. But the more people who use RSS to follow them, the less they'll depend on the platform.

Unlike those largely useless, performative boycotts of widely used platforms, switching to RSS doesn't require that you give anything up. Not only does switching to RSS let you continue to follow all the newsletters, webpages and social media accounts you're following now, it makes doing so better: more private, more accessible, and less enshittified.

Switching to RSS lets you experience just the good parts of the enshitternet, but that experience is delivered in manner that the new, good internet we're all dying for.

My own newsletter is delivered in fulltext via RSS. If you're reading this as a Mastodon or Twitter thread, on Tumblr or on Medium, or via email, you can get it by RSS instead:

https://pluralistic.net/feed/

Don't worry about which RSS reader you start with. It literally doesn't matter. Remember, you can switch readers with two clicks and take all the feeds you've subscribed to with you! If you want a recommendation, I have nothing but praise for Newsblur, which I've been paying $2/month for since 2011 (!):

https://newsblur.com/

Subscribing to feeds is super-easy, too: the links for RSS feeds are invisibly embedded in web-pages. Just paste the URL of a web-page into your RSS reader's "add feed" box and it'll automagically figure out where the feed lives and add it to your subscriptions.

It's still true that the new, good internet will require a movement to overcome the collective action problems and the legal barriers to disenshittifying things. Almost nothing you do as an individual is going to make a difference.

But using RSS will! Using RSS to follow the stuff that matters to you will have an immediate, profoundly beneficial impact on your own digital life – and it will appreciably, irreversibly nudge the whole internet towards a better state.

Tor Books as just published two new, free LITTLE BROTHER stories: VIGILANT, about creepy surveillance in distance education; and SPILL, about oil pipelines and indigenous landback.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/10/16/keep-it-really-simple-stupid/#read-receipts-are-you-kidding-me-seriously-fuck-that-noise

[directactionforhope]

Late notice but

Today 10/5 is an international day of action protesting one year of the Gaza genocide!

Find a protest near you today or tomorrow 10/6! If you're in the US, look at the links below, from the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights!

October 5, 2024

Note: Tumblr has capped the number of outgoing links you can use in one post. Go to the USCPR link above and click on a protest for a flyer/organizer info for each and every one of these events.

Albany, NY | 4:30PM Dana Park

Albuquerque, NM | 2PM Robinson Park

Amherst, MA | Amherst Town Common

Anchorage, AK | 2PM Townsquare Park

Atlanta, GA | 2PM 190 Marietta SW

Austin, TX | 1PM Austin City Hall

Birmingham, AL | 2PM Victoria Square

Blacksburg, VA | 3PM Pylons

Boston, MA | 2PM Cambridge City Hall

Burlington, VT | 1PM Battery Park

Charleston, SC | 2PM Marion Square Park

Chicago, IL | 2PM Water Tower Park

Cleveland, OH | 3PM 11804 Lorain Ave

Columbus, OH | 2PM Goodale Park

Corvallis, OR | 12 NOON County Courthoue

Dallas, TX | 12PM The Grassy Knoll

Denver, CO | 12PM 400 Josephine St

Detroit, MI | 2PM 5 Woodward Ave, Detroit

Dover, DE | 12 NOON 250 Gateway S Blvd

Fort Myers, FL | 6PM Centennial Park

Gainseville, FL | 2PM City Hall

Honolulu, HI | 11AM Ala Moana & Atkinson

Houston, TX | 2PM Houston City Hall

Indianapolis, IL |  2PM Lugar Plaza

Kansas City | 1PM Mill Creek Park

Kona, HI | 12:30PM Old airport by the skating rink

Las Vegas, NV | 2PM 3449 S Sammy Davis Jr Dr

Little Rock, AK | 4PM 1200 Main St

Los Angeles, CA | 2PM Pershing Square

Louisville, KY | 3PM Water Front Park

Maui, HI | 11AM Kapuka’ulua (Baldwin Beach)

Memphis, TN | 2PM City Hall

Miami, FL | 5PM Torch of Friendship

Milwaukee, WI | 2PM Zedler Union Square Park

Missoula, MT | 7PM 200 W Broadway

Nashville, TN | 2PM Centennial Park

New York, NY | 2PM Times Square

New Haven, CT | 1PM New Haven Green

New Orleans, LA | 5PM Congo Square

Ottawa, Ontario | 2PM Parliment Hill

Orlando, FL | 4PM Orlando City Hall

Pensacola, FL | 5PM Palafox & Gregorary St.

Pittsburgh, PA | Film screening, 3PM 100 S Commons St.

Portland, ME | 5PM Monument Square

Portland, OR | 3PM Unthank Park

Providence, RI | 3PM RI State House steps & 5:30PM 1 Finance Way

Raleigh, NC | 3PM Moore Square

Rochester, NY | 1PM MLK Park

Sacramento, CA | 2PM West steps of the Capitol

Salt Lake City, UT | 2PM 125 S State St

San Antonio, TX | 1PM Travis Park

San Diego, CA | 2:00PM 1600 Pacific Highway

Seattle, WA | 2PM TBA, with car caravans from Spokane, Pasco, Ellensburg

St. Louis, MO | Liberation weekend, 9AM-8PM 475 East Lockwood Ave

Tampa, FL | 2PM Bank of America Plaza

Toronto, Ontario | 2PM Yonge Dundas Square

Urbana, IL | 2PM 101 E Main St

Ventura, CA | 2PM 501 Poli St

Washington, DC | 4PM White House

West Plains, MO | 12 NOON Downtown Square

Wichita, KS | 12:30PM Spirit Aerosystems

October 6, 2024

Amityville, NY | 1PM LIRR

Boston, MA | 1PM Boston Common

Green Bay, WI | 5:30PM Leicht Memorial Park

Los Angeles, CA | Vigil, 6:30PM Echo Park Lake

Minneapolis, MN | 1:30PM Gateway Park Fountain

Ontario, CA | 1PM Euclid & C St

Paterson, NJ | 2PM Palestine Way with Gould Avenue

Roanoke, VA | Vigil, 6PM Heights Community Church courtyard

San Diego, CA | 4PM Centro Cultural de La Raza

San Francisco, CA | 1PM 16th & Valencia

San Jose, CA | 12 NOON City Hall

St. Louis, MO | 1PM Choteau Park

[fragrantblossoms]

Yonge, C. M. (Charles Maurice) / Yonge, Martha, Dr. - Sir Charles Maurice Yonge's Great Barrier Reef Expedition 1928-29: photograph albums

[stirringwinds]

are there certain visual themes or imagery you yourself particularly associate with yao as an artist or writer? i'm trying to visualize the nations better...

hmmm, interesting question. i like incorporating nature imagery into the hetalias, especially old nations like yao. there's something mythical and compelling about the sense of age and vastness that evokes. these are some (non-exhaustive) thoughts i've had:

a. i always associate yao with rivers and water; the Yellow River in particular, which is often seen as the "cradle" of Chinese civilisation (but of course, there's also the Yangtze, and the Pearl River too). rivers are life-giving but also untameable, powerful and dangerous—the Yellow River's fertile silt birthed agriculture and civilisation, but its destructive floods have claimed uncounted lives over the millennia of Chinese history. and...that's kind of how yao is, as a nation and an empire, towards others of their kind. the source of cultural and artistic innovations, but also death. water can be fluid, life-giving and nurturing, but also as treacherous as a torrential flood sweeping everything away, no?

like the Yellow River's relationship with humanity, yao's impact on world history feels to me like this duality of life and death; peace and warfare; mentor, empire, conqueror... it's like, yao's been a teacher to many others but...i don't think their predominant image of him is as a warm and nurturing figure. maybe more so with his own people, but less so with other nations. being the old warlord he is, he'd say certain things very matter-of-factly (especially to yong-soo and kiku), about how power is the only language their kind universally understands, or about history being written by the victors (when we consider how the only surviving written sources about certain periods of asian history are only chinese ones...), inasmuch he'd talk about the importance of confucian virtue, integrity and humility on other occasions.

b. for obvious reasons; dragons—they and rivers both have that overlapping association of being serpentine, powerful and untameable. in contrast to how european dragons often took on villainous roles and were harbingers of disaster, it's important to note chinese dragons usually have far more positive cultural connotations. they symbolise prosperity, fortune and are guardians; often associated with power over water (so again; Yao and rivers and water.) many dragons are associated with a particular river or sea. they're also believed to have powers over the weather and were often prayed to. after all, the capriciousness of the rains ruled people's lives so much through natural disasters or made a difference between a bountiful harvest and a famine. so, i think at various points in history his people might also have understood him as a literal dragon (spirit/deity) walking around in a human guise. dragons are also a visual staple of chinese culture, from statues to jewellery. at the same time: while they're auspicious symbols—dragons can of course have aggressive and far less benign connotations if we consider how they became symbols of the emperor—and thus chinese imperial power and dominion over others. he evokes majesty, but also dread from that perspective.

c. plum blossoms: much like the sakura in japanese culture, plum blossoms are one beloved motif you'll see showing up in chinese art and literature throughout history. they're elegant and ethereal, also a symbol of both transience and renewal in a way, i'd say—their blossoms wither and die, but they come back each year. there's also that saying about how without a bitter cold, you won't have the sweet fragrance of plum blossoms, because they start blooming in winter. that's...very yao to me. china, as an idea, makes me think of a lot of elegant and refined traditional culture (like poetry or paintings) which plum blossoms recall—but i also think of humbler themes—the simpler idea of someone and something who is enduring, adaptable and resilient. who endures the harshest weather time and time again until spring arrives, the way my (peasant) ancestors probably did, carving their way through all the hardships of chinese history. yao might appear refined in an indulgent, wealthy way when he's dressed in his finest silk hanfu or a smart western suit in the modern day—but if you shake his hand, his palms are always callused and you can just see the weight (and hard-won experience) of centuries in his gaze.

[idillyas]

‼️ RB AND LIKE TO SPREAD ‼️

Hello, guys! I'm here again just to talk about a very important and also disgraceful issue that happened in the kpop world (but even if it hadn't happened in this industry, it is an extremely serious fact).

A 5th gen idol was SAed by her agency's CEO. The statement details harassment, including forcible kissing and groping, & includes parental testimony. The alleged perpetrator is Lee Yong-hak, aka Digital Masta, Founder & Executive Producer of 143 Ent.

The victim still deserves justice and these links will help you understand more about the situation and ways to help.

[ ABOUT THE SITUATION ] :

[ WAYS TO HELP ] :

[ PETITIONS ONGOING] :

@nikist-4-n @oatelier @froopis @sugarish @swhore @heavenurl @safirious @miurui @sukisng @i-mmaculatus @4doras @alfaire @kiyeuo @hooneado @beompercar @yuqi-luv @shuaver @c-heriis @bambicito @atsubie @cakecito @cawlxzy @cheriesoob @hyelitas @chocoblogs @cg1rl @c-heriis @haesite @blueberrywthtoast @bitchey @lil-liaa @rstaehy

[foursthemagicknumber]

Varian running on coffee and the chemicals in the water that turned the frogs gay: A, C, H, B, F

Nuru: What are you doing?

Varian: Singing the alphabet

Nuru: That’s not the-

Hugo and Yong: YAAAASSSSS THE REMIX

[margaretthotcher]

Queer Book Recommendations

It's pride season in Wellington, New Zealand and my local library has published its second "Teen Staff Picks" zine! In that spirit, I bring you, a collection of lesser-known queer books featured in the two that have been released so far! I've narrowed the lists down to books that have 1000 or fewer reviews on Goodreads as of posting (though I actually use Storygraph personally). I haven't read most of these, they're new to me as well but looking forward to getting into them.

Sapphic

Trouble Girls - Julia Lynn Rubin

Planning Perfect - Haley Neil

Improbable Magic for Cynical Witches - Kate Scelsa

The Meadows - Stephanie Oakes

Never Trust a Gemini - Freja Nicole Woolf

This Is All Your Fault - Aminah Mae Safi

The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet - Jake Maia Arlow

Youngblood - Sasha Laurens

In the Role of Brie Hutchens - Nicole Melleby

Achillean

We Are Totally Normal - Rahul Kanakia

Two Can Play That Game - Leanne Yong

Blaine for the Win - Robbie Couch

I Like Me Better - Robby Weber

The Language of Seabirds - Will Taylor

The Feeling of Falling in Love - Mason Deaver

Charming Young Man - Eliot Schrefer

Emmett - L. C. Rosen

Pages I Never Wrote - Marco Donati

Trans Characters

Across a Field of Starlight - Blue Delliquanti

Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure - Lewis Hancox

The Borrow a Boyfriend Club - Page Powars

If I Can Give You That - Michael Gray Bulla

Transmogrify!: 14 Fantastical Tales of Trans Magic - G. Haron Davis

Jess, Chunk, and the Road Trip to Infinity - Kristin Elizabeth Clark

Magical Boy - The Kao

Kisses For Jet: A Coming-of-Gender Story - Joris Bas Backer

Between Perfect and Real - Ray Stoeve

Featuring Queer People of Colour

Ander & Santi Were Here - Jonny Garza Villa

The Loophole - Naz Kutub

Spell Bound - F. T. Lukens

Tim Te Maro and the Subterranean Heartsick Blues - H. S. Valley

Rise to the Sun - Leah Johnson

Never Kiss Your Roommate - Philline Harms

Rainbow! - Bloom & Sunny

Other Ever Afters: New Queer Fairy Tales - Melanie Gillman

Anne of Greenville - Mariko Tamaki

[kateshistoryspot]

The New Evidence Concerning The Princes In The Tower: What Does This Mean?

In 1483, the nephews of the future King Richard III, the future King Edward V and Richard, Duke of York, went missing. Even during the time period, the concept that two royal princes could just disappear into thin air was absurd, and because a previous heir apparent had been found dead under mysterious circumstances, the worst was assumed by the public. Richard III would only reign two years, dying at The Battle Of Bosworth in 1485, causing the House of Plantagenet to lose power for the first time since the 12th century. With the years following the disappearance, fingers pointed to Richard for having caused and concealed the deaths, yet in the 20th century, an organization dedicated to rehabilitating Richard's name (aptly named The Richard III Society) began proposing that someone other than Richard- if anyone had at all- had destroyed his nephews. After the success of the Finding Richard Project in 2012, the RIII Society was taken more seriously, and they vowed to find his missing nephews next.

However, a few days ago, what some are hailing as "damnable" evidence was found: a relative of the infamous Sir James Tyrell, who was accused by King Henry VII and Queen Elisabeth of York as having done the deed for Richard III, was found to be in possession of a "Cheyne which was Yonge kynge Edward the Vth.” As those who believe Richard III was usurping tyrant celebrate this find, we should look into what this means as an article of history.

First of all, lets look at what the document is: the new information comes from the 1516 will of Lady Margaret Capell, who was half sister to Sir James Tyrell's wife. In her will, Margaret wrote:

“I bequeath to my sonne Sir Giles his fadres Cheyne which was Yonge kynge Edward the Vth.”

Now, at face value, this looks pretty bad: why does James Tyrell's family have ANYTHING of Edward V's? Yet, it was very common for kings and princes to gift trinkets and jewelry to people who had done them some service. Tyrell had been knighted in 1471 by King Edward IV, later entering the service of Richard, then Duke of Gloucester. Once Richard assumed the throne, Tyrell became High Sheriff of Cornwall. Yet, things would come crashing down with the untimely death of the king, and the coronation of Henry VII, who needed to prove that his brothers-in-law were dead. This meant that he needed some proof that there were no other claimants, and so he imprisoned Tyrell with the hopes that he would confess, which he did.

So, James would have been, under most circumstances, near the Royal Household. This gives us three options as to how Tyrell became the owner of Edward's chain:

Theory 1: Tyrell did something worthy of honor and Edward gave him a token of gratitude.

It wasn't uncommon for kings to give away pieces of jewelry and trinkets to people who do some good for them. Although the late Middle Ages were steeped in record keeping, it seems that there isn't much from the Royal Household during this time period. It could be that, like the will, any documentation of the sentiment was lost, or at least yet to be found.

Theory 2: The chain was for Tyrell's role as High Sheriff of Cornwall.

One of the things I think were overlooked when this document came to light is that Tyrell and Edward held the same office: Edward was granted the title as an infant, while Tyrell was granted it in 1483. This means that, under the circumstances at play, Tyrell could have been given Richard's chain, which very well might have also belonged to Edward. When the will was written, Richard III was not someone you wanted to have ties to: people thought very poorly of him for how he came to the throne and how he died. This could have led Margaret to gloss over Richard's ownership of the chain and emphasize more on Edward's ownership. This would also allow them family to distance themselves from their involvement with Richard III, and align themselves with the newly crowned King Henry VIII.

Theory 3: James Tyrell kept the chain as a trophy for the crime he committed.

This theory relies heavily on the concept of Ocam's Razor: that the simplest reason for something is what happened, or that Richard did away with his nephews with the help of James Tyrell, and he kept the chain as a memento for his crimes. This doesn't really explain everything, but it is a possibility, I guess.

What do you think happened? Is Richard innocent? Is the chain just a happenstance?

[7698]

[fragrantblossomstwo]

Yonge, C. M. (Charles Maurice) / Yonge, Martha, Dr. - Sir Charles Maurice Yonge's Great Barrier Reef Expedition 1928-29: photograph albums

[thegreymoon]

The Story of Minglan

I am so upset about Buwei's death but very curious about what is coming next. Since this is a c-drama and they can't have an immoral Emperor on the throne as an endgame, I suppose that the Yong family is going down one way or another. Let's hope they take the Qi household with them, especially Princess Pingning.

Team Prince Yan!

***

Yawn.

My lack of sympathy for this woman and her whole family cannot be overstated.

***

Did any of you care whether other people lived or died?

Fuck you both.

And the best part is that his stupid ass thought that if he was to whine in front of the Emperor about Minglan, this useless man would grant him the marriage 🤣🤣

***

He has already forgotten that she beat Buwei to death because of him, smh, and they are back to business as usual.

Human lives literally mean nothing to either of them. I wouldn't be able to forgive her if she murdered a pet hamster to hurt me, let alone a whole human being 😡😡

***

Hopefully, he will be lucky enough not to meet you in his next life.

***

Oh, boo-hoo.

How terrible for your mother and you that your delusions of grandeur are just that. Delusions. Classism is hell of a drug.

I hope you get squashed.

***

Do it!! Please! Make my day!!

***

LMAO, WHAT HARMONIOUS RELATIONSHIP?

You have literally had people raped and kidnapped, and very likely murdered. And here you are, threatening to murder more. The cognitive dissonance, I cannot 🤣🤣

***

Oh, yes, your daughter is going to be so happy in this marriage 🙄

Sooooooo happy!! Everything a loving parent would want for their child 🙄🙄

They are all literally insane. Unlimited power and wealth have rotted their brains.

***

That this needs to be spelled out for him is just 🤯🤯

And, like, we don't even go as far as Consort Yong. His own shitty mother could and would do this if he was to somehow elope with Minglan. This is also why there is absolutely no chance the Sheng family would allow this marriage to happen without the Duke and Duchess of Qi fully onboard and Minglan would never do anything that would jeopardise her entire family, such as run off with him without their permission.

***

MTE, Qi Heng, I fully agree with you on this.

Why anyone would bother to even cross the street for your worthless ass, let alone bloody their hands to get you, is very much beyond me.

***

LMAO, YOU ARE A USELESS MOTHER!

He is not a "thing", he is a whole human and you are talking about marriage here, an entwining of lives. How happy is she going to be, married to a man who resents her? Who married her only because you threatened to kill his parents and the woman he loves? Are you serious? OK, I can buy that an endlessly indulged princess will have the brain power and impulse control of a toddler and may not be able to see the full consequences of this, but what is your excuse? Moreover, what is your husband's excuse? All of you have worms for brains.

***

I'VE BEEN SAYING!!

Why must you make me agree with Qi Heng, smh?

Anyway, I can't wait to watch Zhu Yilong in something else. No love for this particular character but he's really fantastic, very subtle and very expressive.

***

Oh, thank god.

Hopefully, now Minglan can let him go and go back to being her usual intelligent self. This doomed side ship has been getting on my last nerve.

***

What the absolute fuck are you talking about, Gu Tingye? I thought you were supposed to be smart and looking out for Minglan!

Yes, please kidnap a fucking Imperial princess and see how well that works out both for the House of Qi and Sheng!

Why is everyone stupid all of a sudden?

***

How is Yuanruo the one speaking common sense all of a sudden?

Gu Tingye, what the fuck is wrong with you?

[compneuropapers]

Interesting Papers for Week 41, 2024

Exploration, exploitation, and development: Developmental shifts in decision‐making. Blanco, N. J., & Sloutsky, V. M. (2024). Child Development, 95(4), 1287–1298.

A drift diffusion model analysis of age-related impact on multisensory decision-making processes. Bolam, J., Diaz, J. A., Andrews, M., Coats, R. O., Philiastides, M. G., Astill, S. L., & Delis, I. (2024). Scientific Reports, 14, 14895.

Hippocampus and striatum show distinct contributions to longitudinal changes in value-based learning in middle childhood. Falck, J., Zhang, L., Raffington, L., Mohn, J. J., Triesch, J., Heim, C., & Shing, Y. L. (2024). eLife, 12, e89483.3.

Acquisition of non-olfactory encoding improves odour discrimination in olfactory cortex. Federman, N., Romano, S. A., Amigo-Duran, M., Salomon, L., & Marin-Burgin, A. (2024). Nature Communications, 15, 5572.

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[love-me-a-lotta-whump]

You may have mentioned this before. If so, pardon! But I'm curious to know your most recommended shows? Both amongst the current lineup but also your all time faves! - Noah

Noah, my friend, I am SO HAPPY you asked. I have no self control whatsoever so I will be answering this with a thoroughness nobody wants or needs. (also I will answer this question over and over for many reasons: 2 being that A- my tastes/favorites change on a damn-near hourly basis and C- I love dramas so much that I'll always be willing to talk about them!)

Side note: If you take a look at my Whump List Library, you'll see that links are highlighted in purple if it's a favorite (or one I simply really liked) It's safe to assume I recommend all of them but I'll go ahead and list my best of the best!

PLEASE NOTE: If you don't use any of the streaming services these dramas are on, I suggest DramaCool and KissAsian. There are other free services you can use but these two tend to work best for people.

UNDER THE CUT

Vigilante (MDL) - This is by far my favorite drama right now. Like- above all of the other ones that have ever existed. (That's saying something believe me) I'm not exaggerating when I say I watch it every single day. Every single day. I'm mak,ing a whump list for this one and I may have fanfics in progress.

Synopsis: After Kim Ji Yong (pictured above on both sides) witnesses his mother's brutal murder and her attacker's light prison sentence, he begins living two entirely different lives as an adult. On weekdays, he's a model student at the police university (left). During the weekends, he punishes criminals who'd received light sentences and continue to commit criminal acts with the name Vigilante (right). (MDL)

Fuujinshi (MDL) (Whump List) - If I had to choose a favorite Japanese drama, Fuujinshi would be my pick. Like, it's not even close. By a long shot. This drama was recommended to me to make a whump list for and I remain eternally grateful. This is one I rewatch a lot.

Synopsis: Osagami Kakeru is a blade master who is tasked with the mission of sealing the ''blades of filth'' called Kegareyaiba. These blades are born from the dark sides of people's hearts and make those corrupted by that filth murderers. However, with every blade sealed, the filth also affects Kakeru... (MDL)

Healer (MDL) (Whump List) - This is another one of my favorites! It was actually my favorite Korean drama before Vigilante came around. They're definitely similar but I will say that Healer is not nearly as dark as Vigilante. They do, however share some cast members!

Synopsis: Seo Jung Hoo is a special kind of night courier, known only as "Healer" by his clients. For the right price and with the help of a genius hacker, he gets his clients whatever they want, as long as it doesn't involve murder. His latest job leads him to a second-rate tabloid writer, Chae Young Shin, and the successful reporter, Kim Moon Ho. He begins to uncover the mystery of his own shared past with the two reporters, thus putting them all in danger. Can this errand-boy-turned-vigilante save everyone? (MDL)

Duel (MDL) (Whump List) - Another big favorite of mine! This drama has almost every trope you can think of, it's wild. This one has been one I've suggested to people since day one. If Duel has no more fans it's because I'm dead.

Synopsis: Jang Deuk Cheon, a hardened detective cop whose daughter is kidnapped, begins a chase against great odds to solve the mystery of his situation and find his child before it is too late. He starts to hunt down the suspect using the one clue he has: Two men with the same face were at the crime scene.

The Untamed (MDL) (Whump List) - If you know me at all, you know how much I absolutely ADORE this drama. It's my favorite Chinese drama ever and yes, it's another drama I watch over again a lot.

Synopsis: Wei Wu Xian and Lan Wang Ji, two talented disciples of respected clans, meet during cultivation training and accidentally discover a secret carefully hidden for many years. Taking on the legacy of their ancestors, they decide to rid the world of the ominous threat. But in a dramatic turn of events, Wei Wu Xian dies. Sixteen years later, Wei Wu Xian is brought back to life through a self-sacrificing ritual. He conceals himself behind a mask and assumes the identity of his summoner. Soon, Wei Wu Xian reunites with Lan Wang Ji and they start working together to solve the mysteries of the present and unravel the truth behind the events in the past. (MDL)

-----------------

Honorable Mentions:

Flower of Evil - (MDL) (Whump List)

He is Psychometric - (MDL) (Whump List)

Sweet Home - (MDL) (Whump List)

The K2 - (MDL) (Whump List)

Semantic Error - (MDL) (Whump List)

(I'm gonna stop here cus I could keep going.)

[kdramaqween]

To finish off the year, here's my TOP 23 Ships from dramas I watched in 2023

1. Kim Doo Shik ♥ Lee Mi Hyun

Moving

2. Cha Jin Woo ♥ Jung Mo Eun

Tell Me That You Love Me

3. Seo Do Guk ♥ Han Yi Joo

Perfect Marriage Revenge

4. Xin Qi ♥ Min Hui

The Love You Give Me (C-Drama)

5. Choi Kang Ho ♥ Lee Mi Joo

The Good Bad Mother

6. Dongfang Qincang ♥ Xiao Lanhua

Love Between Fairy and Devil (C-Drama)

7. Jung Ki Ho ♥ Seo Mok Ha

Castaway Diva

8. Moon Jang Yeol ♥ Bong Ye Bun

Behind Your Touch

9. Gu Won ♥ Cheon Sa Rang

King the Land

10. Cho Yong Pil ♥ Cho Sam Dal

Welcome to Samdalri

11. Yoo So Joon ♥ Song Ma Rin

Tomorrow With You

12. Kang Hee Shik ♥ Kang Nam Soon

Strong Girl Namsoon

13. Dong Go Yun ♥ Jung Da Eun

Daily Dose of Sunshine

14. Gong Tae Gyeong ♥ Oh Yeon Doo

The Real Has Come

15. Jang Seon Gyeol ♥ Gil Oh Sol

Clean With Passion for Now

16. Cha Min ♥ Cho Se Yeon

Abyss

17. Heo Joon Jae ♥ Shim Cheong

Legend of the Blue Sea

18. Kim Tae Hee ♥ Baek Dong Joo

May I Help You

19. Jung Gu Won ♥ Do Do Hee

My Demon

20. Nam Si Heon ♥ Han Jun Hee

A Time Called You

21. Jang Tae Sang ♥ Yoon Chae Ok

Gyeongseong Creature

22. Lee Kang ♥ Moon Cha Young

Chocolate

23. Cha Eun Ho ♥ Kang Dan Hee

Romance is a Bonus Book

[foursthemagicknumber]

Hugo: What is C for?

Yong: C4 Is an explosive

Hugo: No what is C for

Yong: C is for Cocktails

Hugo: What are you dressed as?

Yong: The cookie monster

Hugo: What is C for?

Yong: Cookies