#christian web pages

[anushaarticles]

I heard about different ways mentioned in the Bible in my Church. This has inspired me to get this article to all of you. When i revised the message i heard i understood there are ways which we need to avoid and to follow…let's read more in detail.

[gratisdiamanten]

NO SHORTCUTS TO HEAVEN:

Or, Lance Armstrong buys himself a gun.

No Shortcuts to Heaven, Billy Graham, Decision Magazine (2005). // Lance Armstrong is treated for testicular cancer, Linda Armstrong Kelly (1996). // Psalm 138:6 ESV. // Stalker, Andrei Tarkovsky (1979). // Lance Armstrong crashes out of Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California, Associated Press (2010). // Recycling Religion: Lance Armstrong’s Postmodern Spirituality of Suffering and Survivorship, William J. F. Keenan (2014). // Lance Armstrong is treated for testicular cancer, Linda Armstrong Kelley (1996). // Lance Armstrong during the 91st edition of the Tour de France, Tim de Waele (2004). // Recycling Religion: Lance Armstrong’s Postmodern Spirituality of Suffering and Survivorship, William J. F. Keenan (2014). // For Stacy (photo and excerpt), Lance Armstrong, Recovox News (2010). // It's Not About the Bike, Lance Armstrong (1999). // Lance Armstrong in a youth BMX race ca. 1982, Linda Armstrong Kelly, Sports Illustrated (2013). // Lance Armstrong: It Wasn’t Legal but I Wouldn’t Change a Thing, Reuters (2019). // Lance Armstrong getting a medical check up before the Tour de France, Franck Fife (2003). // Effects of erythropoietin on cycling performance of well trained cyclists: a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial, Jules A. A. C. Heuberger et al., The Lancet (2017). // Crime and Punishment, Fyodor Dostoevsky (1866). // Luke 9:25 ESV. // Lance Armstrong at a victory procession for the Tour de France, Peter de Jong (2005). // Lance Armstrong climbing Alpe d'Huez, John Allen (2000). // It's Not About the Bike, Lance Armstrong (1999).

[virtualtadpole]

Thailand's "cute boy" craze: an explainer

Here's another repost from Reddit, originally from 2022. Since Perfect 10 Liners is currently airing with the "cute boy" page as a key plot point, this seems as good a time as any to re-share (remember that the original novel was first released in 2018). Sorry this one is a wall of text, I wasn't sure it'd be a good idea to include example photos involving people who weren't really public figures at the time.

Those of you following Thai BL will probably have come across this concept of "cute boy" social media fan pages, and might have wondered whether they're an actual thing. Or you may have heard of actors being one of their university's cute boys before joining the industry, and wondered what exactly that meant. Here's my attempt at an explanation.

The roots of the phenomenon go back at least to the popular Thai web forums of the 2000s, especially the youth-oriented Dek-D.com, one of Thailand's biggest and oldest web communities (also known as the web fiction platform which launched many BL novels). Dek-D's forums had a picture-sharing section, with a subsection dedicated to photos of cute guys and girls. It was still the early days of digital cameras and camera phones, and these posts were popular among the site's teen users. A few (mostly girls) who became noticed from these posts became Thailand's first "net idols", many of whom went on to join the entertainment industry.

The arrival of social networking sites around 2007 (first Hi5, then Facebook a few years later) helped facilitate these posts, as publicly posted photos became more easily accessible. The issue of privacy wasn't really on most people's minds then, and most of it was done in a light-hearted spirit. Being featured in these posts meant a boost in followers and online popularity, enabling more teens to become recognized as net idols, but it would be a few more years before this really meant anything. On the other hand, the social networking sites themselves would eventually bypass the traditional forums as a central venue for such posts, and an increasing number of Facebook pages (followed by dedicated Instagram and Twitter accounts) would be created to offer a curated experience instead.

The actual trend of "cute boy" pages took off in 2012, around the same time as the explosive growth of Instagram. Teens flocking to the platform (escaping Facebook, which was now full of parents) filled their public profiles with selfies and portraits of themselves, generating a steady stream of material that these pages could pick up to post and promote. This in turn gave the kids likes and followers, a mutually beneficial arrangement for most thanks to the platform's like-seeking culture.

Of course, not all of these proliferating pages featured teen boys. "Cute girl" pages have their share of followers, though they don't seem to be as visible or talked about, perhaps due to a combination of factors including the way society doesn't consider it as creepy for girls to openly ogle after boys compared to the opposite.

As competition grew, these pages diversified into several niches, including those covering specific schools and universities. Most of the school ones aren't that unusual, given that it's quite natural for students to talk about the popular boys and girls at school, and this had been a trend in school forums long before then. Most of them didn't last long though, as page administrators soon graduated and moved on.

However, things were different for certain high-profile schools, particularly the country's four oldest boys' schools, which participate in the biennial Jaturamitr football competition: Suankularb (SK), Debsirin (DS), Assumption (AC) and Bangkok Christian (BCC). The schools had always been well known, but the Instagram era launched an unprecedented wave of interest in their good-looking students, many of whom attracted huge numbers of followers just by being on Instagram. AC especially stands out in this regard, as Instagram allowed outsiders to glimpse into this exclusive boys' world that served as the basis of Love Sick, the source novel of which was begun in 2008.

Not only were cute boy pages created dedicated to these schools (some by outsiders), some of the boys became minor celebrities in their own right, with fans (mostly sao Y (the Thai term for fujoshi), and also some queer folk) meeting up with and photographing them in real life, especially at school events such as AC's Christmas fair and the Jaturamitr competition. And they were serious about it, coming equipped with professional DLSR cameras and huge telephoto lenses. The schools' student bodies leaned into this popularity, having the popular boys promote fundraising events and selling merchandise to their fans.

The relationship between the boys and their fans seemed to be mostly good, the boys appreciating the positive attention and the fans getting to stan someone much more accessible than the mainstream celebrity. And if they later became famous, then there's the pride of having known them before everyone else. These being sao Y, there sometimes is a bit of shipping, though mostly jokingly. Of course, this was not limited to boys from AC and the other Jaturamitr schools, but they were much more prominent.

This was the backdrop against which Love Sick launched its casting calls in 2014, which generated a huge amount of online buzz throughout the cute boy pages and fan Twitter. There's a reason the series featured such a huge cast with so many minor roles - to provide ample opportunity for fans to latch onto the actors and the show.

In some ways, the cute boy label served as a distancing from the previous term net idol, which by 2014 had begun to develop into a negative stereotype of people using their online fame to sell beauty products for easy profit, especially those livestreaming on emerging platforms such as Socialcam and Bigo Live and whose followers tended to be less sophisticated as opposed to the urban middle-class. Which is why most people appearing on cute boy pages tended to come from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, and much more attention was given to those focusing on elite schools and universities.

At the university level, cute boy (or other similarly named) pages associated with the country's top universities became very prominent online and also offline, often collaborating with the universities' student bodies to promote events and sometimes also assisting in the universities' PR for prospective students. Many universities already had a pageant culture in one form or another, with which these pages tied in well. Most prominent among the pages were Chula Cute Boy and TU Sexy Boy of Chulalongkorn and Thammasat, the country's two oldest universities. The two universities have an annual traditional football match, which the Cute Boy and Sexy Boy pages played large parts promoting in recent years, and is another event that attracts many fangirls.

Some have argued that the net idol phenomenon serves as a democratization of the entertainment industry, opening up opportunities for aspirants to directly connect to audiences as opposed to the traditional model where everything depended on one being picked up by an agency. But it benefits the traditional model as well. While in the old days talent scouts would look for teens hanging out at Siam Square, today they only have to scan the cute boy pages. Many BL actors were discovered this way. Inn Sarin was a long-time favourite of Chula Cute Boy, and Up and Mix first became widely known from there as well. Many others have likewise previously been featured in various cute boy pages, and practically all of the younger actors who joined the industry more recently probably had strong followings before their debut.

But the craze might be coming to an end. While there have long been concerns over today's youth's obsession with looks, and the university cute boy pages have from the beginning been criticized for promoting shallow images of their universities at the expense of academic aspects, they didn't really have any effect on the trend. But this began to change in 2020, when a widespread youth protest movement swept through school and university campuses and liberal progressive ideas rose to the fore. The issue of "beauty privilege" became one of many perpetual topics of discussion, and many began calling for an end to university cute boy pages. Thammasat, long regarded as the university with the strongest student activism, saw the TU Sexy Boy page shutting down (though the admin cited personal reasons and it was never confirmed whether this was in response to the criticism). Many people seem to have stopped tweeting cute boy pictures since then.

On top of the political mood, the pandemic's disruption of normal school life also interrupted the cute boy momentum, as many photo opportunities dried up. Long-time page admins and fans outgrowing the topic and losing interest might also be a factor. The Chula Cute Boy page has also been inactive since late 2020, for undisclosed reasons.

The future seems at best unclear for now. There are still many active pages out there, but on the whole, from what I've seen, there does seem to be a loss of interest. If younger netizens are indeed disinclined to craze after them the same way, the era of cute boy pages might very well soon be over.

Or maybe they've just moved onto TikTok, and I haven't found out how.

----

In the above original post, I neglected to go into the phenomenon of real-people shipping, so I'm attaching this comment from later as an addendum:

Regarding real-people shipping, there are probably two lines of origin that influenced the practice. First is the rise of K-pop and the shipping culture that came with it, which led to a proliferation of online fanfiction in dedicated Thai web communities and a shipping culture forming around the reality singing competitions which were the talk-of-the-town entertainment programs in the 2000s. One of the first really famous shipped pairs was Nat and Tol from Academy Fantasia season 4 in 2007. (That is Nat Sakdatorn, whom you may recognize as the uncle from Never Let Me Go, among many other roles.)

The other origin is the rise of "net idols", which followed the arrival of social media sites (in Thailand this was led by Hi5 in 2006). I covered this in more detail in my post on Thailand's "cute boy" craze, but didn't really touch upon the shipping aspect. Indeed, a significant shipping culture did form (a few years later) around net idols/cute boys. At first this focused more on (people who were believed to be) real-life couples, like Both and Newyear, who became famous in 2012. From there, manufactured/imaginary couples naturally followed in hopes of cashing in on the popularity of such shipped pairs.

I'm a bit hazy on when the shipping of actors as couples actually became a regular thing in the BL industry. While the practice of fanservice moments on the promotion circuit go back at least to The Love of Siam, I don't think there was significant shipping of the actors' real-life persona, and the same seemed to be the case with Love Sick, especially after the series ended. The first actor pair to become shipped as such was probably Krist and Singto from SOTUS, and the practice quite definitely became a thing after that.

----

Postscript: Thanks for reading, and sorry the writing in this one isn't as good as the other posts I've shared. If you're interested in further reading on the topic, I can recommend the article The Yaoi Phenomenon in Thailand and Fan/Industry Interaction. (2019). Plaridel, 16(2), 63–89 by Assoc. Prof. Natthanai Prasannam, one of the leading Thai academics on BL/Y culture in Thailand.

[mariacallous]

A man named Vance Boelter allegedly shot and killed Melissa Hortman, a Democratic Minnesota state representative, and her husband Mark Hortman at their home at some point early Saturday morning while, according to law enforcement, impersonating a police officer. He also allegedly shot state senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette Hoffman at their home. They are alive, but remain in critical condition.

Law enforcement has said they found a manifesto and hit list in the alleged suspect’s car, which included politicians, abortion providers, and pro-abortion rights advocates. There were also allegedly fliers in his car for the “No Kings” protest against President Donald Trump, which took place in cities across the US on Saturday.

The 57-year-old, who has been identified as the suspected shooter by law enforcement, runs an armed security service with his wife, and has been affiliated with at least one evangelical organization, a ministry he has also run with his wife, according to a tax filing reviewed by WIRED. (His wife could not be immediately reached for comment.) According to public records and archived websites reviewed by WIRED, the suspect served for a time as the president of Revoformation Ministries. A version of the ministry’s website captured in 2011 carries a biography in which he is said to have been ordained in 1993.

According to an archived website for the ministry reviewed by WIRED, the suspected shooter’s missionary work took him to Gaza and the West Bank during the Second Intifada, where, the website states, he “sought out militant Islamists in order to share the gospel and tell them that violence wasn't the answer.”

A later version of the site was designed, according to an archived copy, by Israeli web design firm J-Town. Charlie Kalech, CEO of J-Town, tells WIRED that the alleged suspect was, in his recollection, “clearly religious and evangelistic. He had lots of ideas to make the world a better place.” The suspect, whom Kalech said was “nothing but nice to me,” commissioned J-Town, Kalech recalled, because they’re Jerusalem-based, and he said he wanted to support Israel.

Over the previous several years, according to LinkedIn posts, he was also the CEO of Red Lion Group, which according to an archived copy of its website had aspirations in the oil refining, logging, and glass production sectors in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

In a 2023 sermon reviewed by WIRED and delivered by the alleged shooter in Matadi, a city in the Democratic Republic of Congo that is on the border with Angola, he preached against abortion and called for different Christian churches to become “one.”

“They don't know abortion is wrong, many churches,” he said. “They don't have the gifts flowing. God gives the body gifts. To keep balance. Because when the body starts moving in the wrong direction, when they're one, and accepting the gifts, God will raise an apostle or prophet to correct their course.”

”God is going to raise up apostles and prophets in America,” he added, “to correct His church.”

In another sermon in Matadi that year, Boelter railed against the LGBTQ community. “There's people, especially in America, they don't know what sex they are. They don't know their sexual orientation. They're confused,” he said. “The enemy has gotten so far into their mind and their soul.”

A Facebook profile under the suspected shooter’s name was briefly viewed by WIRED before it was taken down. His profile had shown him “liking” several evangelical missionary organizations, as well as pages honoring Reinhard Bonnke, a German pentecostal evangelist known for missions in several African countries, and Smith Wigglesworth, a British evangelist who was influential in the pentecostal movement. He also “liked” the Alliance Defending Freedom, a conservative legal advocacy organization known for its hardline stances against abortion and LGBTQ rights.

“I’m in shock,” Nathalie Nkashama, one of the alleged shooter’s friends, tells WIRED. “My body’s shaking … I’m worried about him. This cannot be the person I know. I’m wondering what happened.”

“It’s more of like, holiness all the time in conversations,” she added, describing her interactions with him. “I wish we could talk to him. I’m worried about his wife, his family. They’re all nice people, very nice.”

The suspected shooter also appears to be the director of security patrols at Praetorian Guard Security Services, a security company run servicing the Minneapolis and St. Paul metro areas that he founded with his wife Jenny. The company, which also lists Todd Boelter, a former police officer and the alleged shooter’s cousin, as a security training manager advertises residential security patrols and uniformed security patrols. “We only offer armed security. If you are looking for unarmed guards, please work with another service to meet your needs better,” states the “red lines” section of the company’s website. The website also states that their “guards” wear the “best personal protective equipment money can buy.”

Officials say that the suspect in the shootings had an SUV kitted out with emergency lights, a badge, and a taser. Though it is not yet clear where the suspect obtained materials to allegedly impersonate a police officer, the Praetorian Guard Security Services website states that their guards “drive the same make and model of vehicles that many police departments use in the US. Currently we drive Ford Explorer Utility Vehicles.” According to photographs from the scene, the car towed away by law enforcement was a Ford.

The suspected shooter, according to his LinkedIn profile, is a veteran of the food industry, having worked for Johnsonville Sausage, Del Monte, and the Irish convenience food manufacturer Greencore; recently, he posted that he was looking to return to that sector. (The companies for which his profile says he worked did not immediately reply to requests for comment.)

His involvement in the food industry has also seemingly helped him build inroads to local government. In 2019, Minnesota governor Tim Walz appointed him to a Workforce Development Board in the capacity of a “business and industry representative.” He also served as chair on the Dakota-Scott Workforce Development Board for over a decade, but resigned last year, according to a post on LinkedIn.

Police officers in the Minneapolis suburb of Champlin say they were called at around 2 am to the residence of state senator Hoffman.

At 3:35 am, police officers in nearby Brooklyn Park went to proactively check on Hortman’s home. Police chief Mark Bruley said at a press conference that officers discovered an SUV appearing to resemble a squad police car with emergency lights parked in Hortman’s driveway. Officers then encountered the alleged suspect, who they said was dressed like a police officer, wearing a police vest and a badge, and was armed with a taser. He immediately fired on them and then retreated back into Hortman’s home. Officials believe he fled out the back of the residence. “No question if they were in this room you would assume they are a police officer,” Bruley said.

Hours later, the shooting suspect is still believed to be at large.

Hortman was first elected to Minnesota’s house of representatives in 2004. She served as speaker of the house from 2019 to 2025, finishing her term this year after the state house successfully passed legislation on abortion rights, voting rights, criminal justice reform, marijuana legalization, and more.

“Our state lost a great leader and I lost the dearest of friends,” Walz said in a press conference on Saturday. “Speaker Hortman was someone who served the people of Minnesota with grace, compassion, humor, and a sense of service. She was a formidable public servant, a fixture, and a giant in Minnesota. She woke up every day determined to make this state a better place. She is irreplaceable and will be missed by so many.”

[sev-arts]

What the webcomic is and why YOU should be reading...

(i.e. a promotional post by the Author @sev-wildfang/@sev-arts herself)

The story of how vampires used Christianity ahem, The Church to enslave humans and steal their Souls, and one sexy Devil's quest to reclaim them... repossess them in a way... if only there was a catchy two-word phrase for that

Starring two trans women who put on the horns and skin of Demons to fight the power - homophobes get pummeled, transphobes get zapped, fascists are blown to smithereens, and at least one alpha male grifter gets his mojo permanently turned off.

Your new blorbos: Reah, orphanage escapee and former nun on a quest for revenge, and Tabitha, ex-cop drag queen on the path of atonement

Will they? Won't they? Can they settle their differences and work as a team? Will the past they thought they had left behind come back to haunt them?

Tasteful amounts of graphic nudity and bloody violence, language that does not sugarcoat social stigmas around gender diversity, and frequent use of hateful language by characters who would say those kinds of things IRL too - this is a comic for readers 18+ ONLY *

Rendered in gorgeous black and white ink and select splashes of color, entirely hand-lettered, with labyrinthine detailing that make every single page worth dwelling on, with hidden extras to find - the Devil's in the Details!

Alluring nonstandard panel layouts inspired by stained glass windows, photo collages, fever dreams, art nouveau advertisements, underground comix, etc.

An astonishing archive of over 786 pages as of now (MAR 2025)

Seriously, look at them:

Where can YOU read this comic right now?

On its ComicFury site

On its tumblr mirror @souls-foreclosed

On its own website

Technically you could buy the physical books off of me, but you wouldn't be reading a web-comic then

Paging @readwebcomicsgdi for some extra eyes on this!

* You'd be surprised how difficult this comic is to host online with any sort of reach these days. Tapas (mobile app) and WebToon don't want it. And that's not even getting into the fact a lot of platforms treat ANY kind of trans content as sexual and unwanted in the first place.

[homestuckreplay]

Jade Harley's New, Worse Friends

(page 826)

In a shocking and unexpected episode of 'Jade Is Different To Other Characters', she has additional contacts in Pesterchum Enamel (Much Shinier)! Below her Chumroll (John, Rose and Dave) she has a Trollslum, which may be a blocklist, or could be a different, custom category she's made to group 'best friends' and 'worst friends'.

Either way, there are at least five new names, maybe more as it looks like there's a scrollbar to the right. And while I'm still waiting for wellPressedAttire, officeurchin1280, and Dad's other associates to take their starring roles in the narrative, I'd also really like to hear from these guys and find out why Jade has relegated them to the trollslum.

carcinoCeneticist [CG] - Currently online and Rancorous. Prefix 'carcino-' means tumor or cancer, from the Greek for 'ulcerous sore' or literally 'crab🦀'. 'Geneticist' is a biologist who studies genes and variations in organisms or a doctor who diagnoses genetic disorders, so this is someone who studies cancer biology at the genetic level. As a specialized scientific profession, this echoes John's username, ectoBiologist, but is far more grounded in reality and feels darker because of it.

arachnidsGrip [AG] - Arachnids are a group of carnivorous or parasitic arthropods that includes spiders, scorpions and mites, while grip is a firm hold or tight grasp, or more generally, control of a situation. Spiders especially are seen as calculating and malicious planners, and to be 'in the arachnid's grip' would be to be caught in their tightly woven web and beholden to their plans.

twinArmageddons [TA] - Twin refers to a pair of very similar or related things (literally, two children from the same pregnancy). Armageddon is colloquially a world ending event, or literally, the final and conclusive battle between good and evil as described in the Christian Bible. Homestuck has already seen one extinction level event with the meteors currently swarming Earth, leading to a battle of light vs dark at the center of Skaia. Could these two events - within and without of Sburb - be the twin armageddons, as they occur together? Or is there another and entirely separate armageddon still to happen?

terminallyCapricious [TC] - 'terminally' means extremely, incurably or leading to death, while to be capricious is to have impulsive and unpredictable moods and behaviors. So this person's username is functionally 'I'm an asshole and I will not stop' which feels appropriate for the trollslum. To be terminally capricious is for changeability to be the only unchangeable part of someone's personality, or for someone to be so impulsive that it leads to their own death.

caligulasAquarium [CA] - Caligula was a Roman emperor known for beginning a reign of kindness and generosity but quickly descending into tyranny, working to increase the Emperor's already sizable powers and demanding to be worshipped on a level with the gods. An aquarium is an enclosure for observation and research of aquatic plants and animals. So Caligula'a aquarium would be where underwater life is ruled over with an increasingly iron fist, forced to obey the humanity that once emerged from beneath those waves.

All five of these usernames carry a negative valence - cancer, spiders, the end of the world, people of unpredictable moods and tyrannical rulers are all things people commonly dislike or fear. They all have a connection to death, as spiders can be venomous especially in fiction, and Caligula was assassinated.

Thinking about internet trolls - people who deliberately try to provoke other internet users with controversial statements that they may not actually believe, the only goal being those users' reactions - these people probably would choose usernames with strong negative and dangerous associations. They'll probably come across as extreme and inflammatory, even more so than Dave (who I don't think is intentionally trolling anybody) although might be very different in person, should we be lucky enough to meet them the way we've met John, Rose, Dave and Jade.

[thecozycat]

💛 Webring Wednesday #6: Christians of the Internet Webring 💛

Christians of the Internet is a webring made to help fellow believers find each other out in the wild west of the Small Web. It's a welcoming way to build connection and community between Christian-run sites. Whether your site is focused on faith, personal reflections, or something completely unrelated but made with love, this ring is about being present and connected in the digital space as people of faith.

What’s especially nice about this webring is that it doesn’t push a particular denomination or doctrine. It’s more about encouragement and shared values—an internet version of waving to your neighbors from across the street. If you're a Christian with a personal site and you're looking to feel a little less isolated online, this might be exactly the kind of small but meaningful connection you're after.

Check it out here: https://christian-webring.nekoweb.org

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

Want to help the Small Web movement grow? Join us on other platforms. ♥

FB Page & Group: facebook.com/thesmallweb facebook.com/groups/thesmallweb

Twitter/X: x.com/smallweblove

Tumblr Community: tumblr.com/communities/thesmallweb

Mastodon: indieweb.social/@thesmallweb

[sharpobjvcts]

2001 DALTON HIGH SCHOOL MASSACRE

Date occurred : September 15th, 2001

Casualities : 20 dead (including the perpetrators) 26 injured (24 by gunfire)

—————————————————————

This tragedy occurred September 15th 2001 in Robloxia Springs, Mason County, Colorado, when 17 year old Samuel Steven's and his accomplice, 18 year old Nicholas Colton Sieged their school With guns and other deadly weapons, Their main motive is unknown but it is suspected they wanted notoriety.

(photo taken of Steven's entering dalton high.)

The early mornings of the massacre, the two boys drove to a local diner and enjoyed a breakfast together. Afterwards they drove their blue transporter van to Dalton high and prepared for what was to come. An arsenal of weapons hidden in their cars, wearing black trenchcoats, they observed students as they walked in. Many students stated they seen them wear trenchcoats to the school before and didn't suspect anything. Steven's took his TEC-9 in the cafeteria, and snapped a photo before walking back to the blue van. At 10:12am, Colton and Steven's headed back towards the cafeteria doors and began opening fire on students. Stevens would fire 32 rounds and Colton would fire 9.

At 10:15am, They Would walk back over to the side doors of the school near the hallways and drop their coats. Colton reloaded his rifile and uttered the words "You worthless whore" to Shayna Greene while firing 3 bullets in her head, Stevens would fire 10 rounds into locker doors, afterwards injuring Lewis Chan. Colton joins Steven and walks up to Chan as he lay prone on the ground, he would call him a “f&gg0t” before shooting him 5 times, killing him.

At 10:20am the gunmen enter the library, 35 students and 2 teachers hide among the bookshelves and tables, this is where the worst of their massacre would begin.

(bodies of students among the tables.)

Daniel Turpin, Colton calls him a “computer nerd” before shooting him in the back and shoulder. Afterwards, the pair approach Alexander Engle, asking him if he believes in god. Engle replies with, “Yes, I’m Christian”. Stevens tells him, “Good, you’re about to see him just about… now” And fatally shooting him. Colton approaches his art teacher, Ken Tanner, Colton utters the phrases, "Sorry, Mr Tanner." and shooting him in the chest and neck. 7 people and injured 4 in the library, sparing the 26 others. The gunmen leave the library at 10:41am, they would roam the halls in search of students, One survivor reported seeing Stevens fire gunfire into a classroom as she hid from the perpetrators. Mason County sheriff’s deputies have arrived at the scene and have surrounded the building, The Pair fired at swat and police.

gunmen enter the cafeteria, CCTV cameras capture the infamous image of the gunmen at the base of the stairwell. Stevens was seen at one point picking up a Bloxy Cola off of a table and drinking from it whilst shooting at inanimate objects. The duo walk back up the main hallway back towards the library. Colton tells him to use his camera to take a picture of him before he shoots himself, Stevens would snap a picture of Colton as he held his handgun to his head. Moments later, Colton would fatally shoot himself in the temple with his Walther P99. Stevens Follows not long after and fatally shoot himself in the eye socket with his Beretta 92fs. Nick Colton fired 67 rounds and Sam Stevens fired 158 rounds, 225 in total, striking 44 people in total. Sam Stevens killed 7 students and injured 20, Colton killed 10 students and 1 teacher, injuring 4 others. The massacre ended at 11:4am

(more information on this web page ↑)

[w41t1ngdr1v3sucr4zy]

the Wikipedia page about the gospel of Judas is one of my favourite web pages of all time rahhhhh

@myblog-mp3 I'm kinda hyperfixating on the bible I'm ngl 🙏😭

but yippee that I'm feeling more ok w religion im lowkey feeling christian

[fashionbooksmilano]

Nick Knight

Introduction by Charlotte Cotton

Designed by Paul Hetherington

Harper Collins, New York 2009, 264 pages, 27x32,5cm, ISBN 978-0-06-171 4573

euro 240,00

email if you want to buy booksinprogressmilano@yahoo.it

Nick Knight is among the world's most influential and visionary image makers. As a fashion photographer, he has consistently challenged conventional notions of beauty and is renowned for his groundbreaking creative collaborations with designers including Alexander McQueen, Comme des Garçons, and John Galliano. Advertising campaigns for clients such as Christian Dior, Yohji Yamamoto, Shiseido, Jil Sander, Swarovski, and Yves Saint Laurent, as well as award-winning editorials for W, Vogue, Dazed & Confused, Visionaire, and i-D magazines, among others, have kept Knight at the vanguard of progressive image making for the past three decades.

This incredible volume—with all images selected by Knight—is a midcareer retrospective of his work, from 1990 to the present day. With an introduction by Charlotte Cotton, curator of photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the book includes work for major advertising campaigns for Dior, Louis Vuitton, and Levi Strauss, as well as numerous prestigious fashion publications. It features collaborative work with Björk, Michael Clark, Peter Saville, Gareth Pugh, Massive Attack, and Hussein Chalayan, photographs of the natural world, exquisite editorial images for Vogue, and models who defy fashion's stereotypes. It also includes examples of Knight's ground-breaking performance and film work on his Web site, SHOWstudio.com, the first to seriously consider how contemporary fashion photography would be shaped and expanded by the Internet—and is the contemporary reference point for many of the most innovative ideas and experiences of fashion today.

With more than 300 striking images reflecting Knight's extraordinary vision and fearless experimentation, this volume is a landmark in both the genres of photography and fashion.

23/01/24

[channel1537]

Channel 1537

Channel 1537 is a non-interactive drama/soap opera/sitcom-esque visual novel meant for those 16+. Warnings will be added if needed.

When Laura advertises for job openings at the studio, she's met with a swarm of recent high-school graduates who don't know who they are and what they want in life. In Channel 1537 we follow Marilynn, Jackie, Malcom, Daniel, Miles, Josh, Nolan, Christian and Finn on their journeys as they find themselves, grow as friends (and lovers), and everything in between.

GameJolt Page

Web Version (no download necessary)

Itch.io Page

Ask Rules:

- No bigotry of any kind! (racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, etc)

- You can ask the characters things, as well as the creator

- Be kind!

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[scotianostra]

On August 25th in the year 1330 Scotland lost one of it’s greatest warriors when The Good Sir James Douglas fell at Teba in what is modern day Spain.

James was called “The Black Douglas” by the English for his dark deeds in their eyes, becoming the Bogeyman of a Northern English lullaby “Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye. Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye. The Black Douglas shall not get ye.”

There are also unsubstantiated theories that this was because of his colouring and complexion, this is tenuous, Douglas only appears in English record as “The Black”, in Scots’ chronicles he is almost always referred to as “The Guid” or “The Good”. Later Douglas Lords took the moniker of their revered forebear in the same way that they attached Bruce’s Heart to their Coat of Arms, to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies and exhibit the prowess of their race.

Robert the Bruce had requested that Douglas, latterly his most esteemed companion in arms, should carry his heart to the Holy Land, as atonement for the murder of John Comyn, and the fact that his excommunication meant he was unable to go on a Crusade himself.

Douglas and his knights had been invited to join the forces of Alfonso XI of Castile, Edward of England’s cousin by Queen Isabella, mother of King Edward III of England to fight a Crusade against the Moors in 1330 at the Castle of the Stars at Teba, he was killed as he led a cavalry charge against the enemy while outnumbered and cut off from the main Christian force. He is said to have through Bruce’s heart forward as he was about to be slain, although another source states it was still tied around his neck,

Remarkably the casket survived to this day and was returned to Scotland, to be interred at Melrose Abbey. Douglas’ bones were boiled and returned to Scotland. His remains were laid to rest at St Bride’s Church, Douglas, which houses the monumental tombs of Black Douglas earls.

You may see artist impressions of the Guid Sir James with the Douglas Shield and it’s red heart, this is an inaccurate depiction it wasn’t until 1333 the ‘bloody heart’ was incorporated in the arms of Sir James’ son, William, Lord of Douglas. It subsequently appeared, sometimes with a royal crown, in every branch of the Douglas family.

The village of Teba, in the Guadalhorce-Guadalteba region, still remembers The Good Sir James by holding the two day Jornadas Escocesas (Scottish Festival) every year, also called Scottish Days or Douglas Days Teba. There are numerous people and associations that collaborate in the organization of these days. Some of them, such as the Saint Andrew's Society of Gibraltar, the Order of Knights Templar of Saint Michael or The Strathleven Artizans, expressly travel from Scotland to participate in the event.

The Village of Teba, is twinned with Melrose in the Scottish Borders.

More on all this on their web page here https://www.douglasdaysteba.com/

[nct-liz]

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪ LIZ KPROFILES

⟡ ݁₊ . STAGE NAME : Liz

⟡ ݁₊ . BIRTHNAME : Elisabeth Lilian Rosewood

⟡ ݁₊ . POSITION : Main rapper, main vocal, maknae

⟡ ݁₊ . BIRTHDATE : December 5th 2002

⟡ ݁₊ . ZODIAC SIGN : Sagittarius

⟡ ݁₊ . CHINESE SIGN : Horse

⟡ ݁₊ . HEIGHT : 175cm

⟡ ݁₊ . BLOOD TYPE : O-

⟡ ݁₊ . MBTI : ENTJ

⟡ ݁₊ . NATIONALITY : Belgian

⟡ ݁₊ . REPRESENTATIVE EMOJI : 🐹 / 🎙️

⟡ ݁₊ . INSTAGRAM : @/itz.lizz

⋆౨ৎ˚⟡˖ ࣪ LIZ FACTS

Liz was born in Genk, Belgium

She has 2 older brothers and a younger sister

She trained for a little less then a year

She started vocal lessons at 5

She started training at 14 and debut at 15, 17 in Korean age

Her members often say she resembles a hamster due to her chubby cheeks and round eyes.

She mentioned in an interview that she sees the wish members, except Sion, as her younger brothers and she helps them a lot.

Liz is often considered an ace since she is both the main rapper and main vocal

She is trained in musical/classical music and has a large vocal range

Her name 'Elisabeth' means 'God's promise' but she isn't Christian

She mentioned that she is Atheist

Liz stayed in high school and even went to college during her time as an idol, she now has a bachelor in chemistry

She mentioned that she doesn't like dancing to cute songs since she dislikes aegyo

Her favourite foods include: steak pasta, blueberries and avocados

She dislikes chicory

She likes energy drinks and her members often have to tell her she needs to calm down

Profile made by nct-liz

Note: Please don’t copy-paste the content of this page to other sites/places on the web. Please do respect the time and effort the author put in compiling this profile. If you need/want to use info from our profile, please kindly put a link to this post. Thanks a lot!  - Kprofiles

For reference on MBTI types:

E = Extroverted, I = Introverted

N = Intuitive, S = Observant

T = Thinking, F = Feeling

P = Perceiving, J = Judging

[themainspoon]

If you are a WoD fan and you aren’t aware of how fucking wild White Wolf’s strategy for marketing Demon: the Fallen was, that changes right fucking now, get ready.

So, the year is 2002, American Culture is still moving past the Satanic Panic, and your job is to market a Table Top Role Playing Game where you play as literal demons who were aligned with the Biblical figure of Lucifer. The book has a big ass pentagram on its cover, and is filled with information on fictional demons and their demonic powers.

How do you market this?

Well, isn’t it obvious?

You satirise Chick Tracks by making a fake one about how the game you’re supposed to be promoting is satanic. I’ve linked it below, it’s only 23 pages long;

But you may be thinking: “Ok, that’s a funny concept, but why is this such a big deal to you?” Well, buckle the fuck up kiddo’s, because I want you to look at that last panel again:

Do you notice anything about it that could prompt further inquiry? What about that URL?

You see, the chick track was only one part of this little marketing stunt.

And so, I ask again, how do you market Demon: the Fallen?

You create an entire fake Evangelical church website called the Eternal Grace Evangelical Church, and write a fake sermon in which you claim that the brand that hired you is producing games that turn children into drug addicts and sexual predators, also claiming that Vampire: the Masquerade was involved in real world murders including the fucking Columbine School Shooting.

Below is a link to the site from the Internet Archives Wayback machine, the main bulk of the interesting stuff is in the sermons section.

Quick note, they used EVERY part of the evangelical bullshit playbook to make this site look legit, they went hard on this. So, the site is satire, but it still feels like it would be a good idea to mention that they satirise everything about Evangelicals, including their homophobic, transphobic, anti-catholic, and anti-pagan beliefs.

https://web.archive.org/web/20031205191032/http://www.father-ramos.com:80/

If you don’t want to read it yourself, here are some actual quotes from this fake Evangelical site that was, and I can’t stress this enough, MADE BY WHITE WOLF TO PROMOTE DEMON: THE FALLEN: (above disclaimer applies here too)

“Eternal Grace Congregation Church is a community of Christians who seek to love, worship and praise Him and to communicate the Word of the Gospel to the world around us while exposing the lifestyles and and recruiting prctices of those deviants who would make this world a place of horrors. Among these are homosexuals, gamblers, drug addicts and role-players.”

“You may find it useful to tell role-players about the Dallas youths who were burned to death in the steam tunnels of Southern Methodist University (of course it was the Methodists) while exploring them for treasure. Tell them about the syphilis-related insanity of Jimmy Cox, a Tennessee teenager who used role-playing games to build around him a coven of homosexuals. Tell them about Michelle Sikes, the Montana role-player who had a sex-change operation. The more perversion you can ascribe to involvement with role-playing the better. You may even wish to fabricate some of your own, to better illustrate the point to your specific at-risk individual.”

“Listening to accounts of the role-players’ games is either the height of tedium (it must be said, pardon my air of judgment) or evinces strong feelings of pity, […] Invitations to participate, if accepted, place the individual in a precarious position himself, and will probably expose him to the scourges of drugs, fornication, homosexuality and Catholicism/paganism in many cases.”

“point out to them that the activity borders on delusion (“You are not an elf, Tommy!”) and heresy (“If God intended for you to act like a demon, he would have made you a demon, Jenny”).”

“In addition, rumors (which is why I relegate this to a side note instead of including it in the main body of my discourse) link the activities of the Columbine high-school “trenchcoat mafia” with Vampires Masquerade.”

“As good Christians, it is obviously our duty to prevent our youth from learning the corrupt ways these books and games teach. Sex, suicide, drug abuse, homosexuality, “golden showers” and many other behaviors proscribed by the Lord and the Good Book come as a result of players taking their games too far. In particular, the moral execration contained with the Demon book takes these aberrations to new levels by openly encouraging players to act in the interests of Satan (or Lucifer, as he is depicted herein).”

“Additionally, role-playing games teach that violence is an acceptable and even admirable way of solving problems. Significant portions of their rules are devoted to combat and weaponry. Demon, for example, also contains systems by which the satanic characters can attack or use magic upon their enemies, with dark arts spawned from Hell itself. These are not unlike the gay community’s reactionary “straight bashing” in response to the more physical efforts of their loving fellows (but loving in the Lord’s intended way) to bring them back into the fold.”

“This Week: Pastor "Father" Ramos discusses the Catholic Church and the 68 Million deaths its evil has caused throughout the world! You won't read this in the history books! Father Ramos also discusses why he has chosen to reclaim the Holy tile"Father" from Catholocism.”

White Wolf was frequently quite edgy, and often wasn’t great at dealing with social issues (you could argue this is still true of the modern World of Darkness in some cases). But honestly I think this is a fun stunt. It mocks evangelicals for all their insane bigoted beliefs, and for basically giving all the stuff they call satanic free advertising. No matter what though this is an unhinged marketing stunt, and it is so wild that they actually did this.

[meeravandaseera]

On the Fin Ears or Ear Fins Trope

"The Mermaid" detail by Charles Robinson for "Fairy Tales from Hans Christian Andersern" in 1899.

These so-called ear fins or fin ears are often pointed and sometimes webbed ears, at least somewhat, resembling the pectoral fins of fish yet placed on the sides of the head. They are commonly found in many 21st century media of waterfolk. This article dives into this so-called trope a little: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EarFins. Ear fins appeal to me very much because their shape looks so FIN-tastic. When I sea ear fins on a waterperson, I immediately think: they shorely are fishy, but abzulutely not in the informal negative sense! The author of any waterperson shorely knows what they are doing when they add these ears.

While one could view it as a rather recent phenomena as of now upon releasing this, it actually does date back in the past. For example, Charles Robinson (1870-1937) created some depictions of ear fins.

Illustration by Charles Robinson for an illustrated edition of "The Sensitive Plant" in 1911.

"Tritonenfamilie" by Mortiz von Schwind in ca. 1865. The ichthyocentaur in the center possesses a possible fin ear.

"A Race with Mermaids and Tritons" detail by Collier Twentyman Smithers in 1895.

Other waterpeople's fin ears could look more like pointed ears. Some supposedly exhibited waterfolk specimens had such kinds of ears, for instance. To be honest, some do look like the fin ears that get depicted in the form of a seashell in some 21st century works like Oscar Wilde described the mermaid in his work "The Fisherman and His Soul" with "(...) and like sea-shells were her ears (...)". This may be evident as our ears themselves may resemble the shapes of certain seashells and we also have a spiral organ in our ear which may resemble sea snail's shells.

"Mermaid" by John Pass or Paas for Encyclopaedia Londinensis in 1817.

It still not only does date back into the 19th and 20th century. Triton had been supposedly depicted with "Spitzohren", namely "Sharp-Ears" or pointed ears according to "Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon" vol. 19 issue six on page 730: https://archive.org/details/meyersgrosseskon19meye/page/730/mode/2up?q=triton

A sculpture of Triton as referenced in "Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon". His ears look pointed, but still somewhat round. Sculpture featured in the Gallery of Statues at the Vatican Museums in Vatican City. "Triton" photo by Michele Mang (1840-1909). Vatikan, Museo Pio Clementino, Galleria delle Statue (Nr. 253) from ca. 1865-1870 - Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen - Neue Pinakothek München: https://www.sammlung.pinakothek.de/de/artwork/jWLpmlKGKY CC BY-SA 4.0

Sometimes, the modern ear fins are thought of to serve as external gills like those of an axolotl. This can be found in one description of the species of Triton, namely the tritones in Greek mythology. Pausanias described them with "breathing organs below their ears" as told accordingly on Theoi: https://www.theoi.com/Pontios/Triton.html.

The watermen called the adaro from the Melanesian mythology of the Solomon Islands also feature "gills below/behind their ears" according to "Encyclopedia of Beasts and Monsters in Myth, Legend and Folklore" by Theresa Bane on page 14: https://books.google.de/books?id=7PYWDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA14&dq=adaro+mythology&hl=de&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjHucGn9rOJAxWnxgIHHS2dFHsQ6AF6BAgHEAI#v=onepage&q=adaro%20mythology&f=false, "The Mythical Creatures Bible: The Definitive Guide to Legendary Beings Volume 14" by Brenda Rosen on page 139: https://books.google.de/books?id=mI0vKhZXJqwC&pg=PA139&dq=adaro+mythology&hl=de&newbks=1&newbks_redir=0&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjHucGn9rOJAxWnxgIHHS2dFHsQ6AF6BAgOEAI#v=onepage&q=adaro%20mythology&f=false and "Pacific Mythology: An Encyclopedia of Myth and Legend" by Jan Knappert on page 15.

Woodcut by Sebastian Münster in 1600.

Medieval depictions of waterfolk tend to feature such long, pointed ears, more resembling those of horses or dogs. I still do perceive that these might serve as some initial ear fins in some way or another.

Illustration by Conrad Gesner from his "Conradi Gesneri medici Tigurini Historiae animalium" in 1585-1604.

"Merpeople Pair" woodcut detail from "Prodigiorum ac ostentorum chronicon" in 1557.

"Lib. III. Pars VI. Caput II. §VI. : De Pisce Anthropomorpho, seu Syrene sanguinem trahente" from "Magnes sive De arte magnetica opus tripartitum" in 1654.

"St. King Olaf fights Margýgr" from "Flateyjarbók" in ca. 1394.

"A most strange and true report of a fish" engraving from 1604 for a supposed mermaid sighted by Thomas Raynold in Wales in 1603.

Thanks for diving into this :>

[murderandcoffee]

for the ask game: aaaa they all sound so cool. Maybe the Pages Unturned one?

yippee!! so, pages unturned (frequently just called "pages") has gone through a few iterations (originally it was going to be a web series, then a book, and now a podcast), but it's about a college student who, after losing a couple of friends unexpectedly, gets caught up in the supernatural world that is behind those friends' deaths.

here's an excerpt from an old draft of episode 2 (below the cut)!

ELSIE Entry number 7, part 1: a collection of possible references to the Caliensi in historical texts, as compiled by Cecil Page. Date of compilation: March 9th to April 17th, 2001. Date of recording for thesis: September 2nd, 2023. Recorder’s note: I have not yet checked the veracity of my father’s references. While I have heard of a small number of the texts he mentions in this compilation, most of them are unfamiliar to me. I will research the texts listed and record a follow-up of my findings later on. (Elsie reads.) Antonio Moretti, in his 1721 text “Angels, Demons, and Spirits,” translated by Sophia Lombard in 1984, speaks of “a race of beings--neither demon, nor angel--who traveled from one world to our own.” He goes on to describe them as “haunted by unspeakable shame” and “capable of molding the clay of the universe to their desires, and thus capable of molding man.” He also called them a “mockery” of the Christian God, and stated that those who worshipped them deserved to have their “homes burned and wives stolen.” (No longer reading.) Yikes. Anyway… (Reading again.) Sélène Lavande-Moureaux, in her 1928 sermon at the final meeting of the short-lived Parisian cult Les Dieux Oubliés, said: “We are the children of the white-eyed kings, the outcasts who conquered the sky above our heads and the earth beneath our feet. We hear their call on the wind, and we heed it. Do not forget, my sisters and my brothers, that we, like them, were made to rule. Tonight I want you to follow me as I leave this city, so that we, like them, can create a new world.” I feel it is important to note that, after Lavande-Moureaux’s speech, she and fourteen other members of the cult committed suicide by drowning themselves in the Seine. (Pause.) Deputy Sheriff Jack Bly, in an entry of his personal journal dated 22nd of November, 1845, wrote: “There’s a stranger in town. Tall, fair-haired and dark-eyed. She says her name’s Moira--no family name. She wandered in from the north, clutching a white stone. It’s perfectly round, with a hole in the center like a bullet passed clean through. She takes it with her everywhere she goes, and if you ask about it she tells you it’s from the creators. Not the God we worship here, no--she says the gods she follows were driven from their home and forced to create a new one. She calls them conquerors, and swears they’re coming back for her. Pastor Dunn hasn’t taken too kindly to her ravings.” (Pause.) Wooseok Han titled his 2000 series of oil paintings “The Conquerors.” Each painting, while unique, depicted the same subject: a cluster of wide, bloodshot eyes with white irises and pale eyelashes. Within the irises there are faint reflections of swords, shackles, and other conquest-related items. When asked if this series was inspired by white colonialism, Han apparently replied, “The conquests of humans echo those of our predecessors.” (No longer reading.) …Interesting! This is quite a departure from what I’ve found of my father’s work so far. These entries make me quite hopeful--with dates, direct quotes, and names, I have the opportunity to dig deeper with a lot less guesswork on my part. I’m sure my father already sifted through other works from the people he listed, but more could have always come to light in the past twenty years. I’ll record the rest of the entries in this compilation later. I want some time to think about the ones I’ve read so far.