#couldn't really integrate it but a lot of the background for why things were Like That in '12 was 'guys there's a massive financial crisis'

[batsplat]

kind of recently clocked that marc took caseys honda seat coming into 2013 (not saying he didn’t deserve a factory seat immediately bc he obviously did, kid went and podiumed his first and won his second ever race on that bike but it somehow never crossed my mind and it’s kind of insane to imagine now that a rookie would get it) and i was wondering if there was something To Know about that mid to end 2012 season, about vale back to yamaha and casey retiring and casey and danis teammateship and how dani reacted to marc getting that seat etc i love love love your rambles so if you got thoughts please share?

y'know what. let's do this one with bullet points

at the start of 2012, retirement rumours were swirling around two riders. one was casey stoner.... the other was valentino rossi

valentino was entering year two of a miserable stint at ducati, trapped on a bike that was *checks notes* shit and that was still several years away from making the kinds of improvements that could make it championship-winning machinery in anyone's hands (remember, even casey wasn't anywhere close to fighting for the title in 2010). it had also been a rough couple of years injury-wise for valentino, with 2010 bringing the shoulder injury courtesy of a motocross accident, followed by him breaking the leg at mugello. the painful shoulder problems persisted even upon his return from the leg injury, not exactly helped by his decision to delay shoulder surgery until the end of the year, and he remained hampered in 2011 while he was trying to adapt to the new bike

probably the main reason for the retirement rumours, however, was the death of simoncelli in an accident valentino had been involved in. the rumours basically started the day after the accident, and did not stop even when he showed up at valencia and raced (for about one corner until he was caught up in an ugly multi-rider pile up... kinda set off by dovi but anyways)

the rumours persisted in 2012. valentino became increasingly irritable about them.... meant that both valentino and casey were going into round three at estoril having to address the retirement talk. casey denied that he was planning to retire in the estoril pre-event presser (and he'd already kinda hinted to honda he was ready to sign a new contract)

this all led to some pretty silly drama, where the journalists were less than impressed when casey did announce his retirement two weeks later at le mans and casey went 'well I hadn't decided to retire yet back then!'

anyway, more important is the retirement announcement itself. casey made a statement at the very start of the le mans presser. here's the text:

he was the championship leader at this point, and the favourite to defend his title. of course he took a bunch of questions at the presser about the announcement, and cited several other reasons for his decision to retire, like people's reactions to his mystery illness in 2009, or too many people criticising the current racing being boring, or how they let CRT riders into parc fermé (let's not get into that)

now it's important to note that this was round four. which meant that the entire rider market was about to be spiced up... so let's backtrack a bit and talk silly season: historical edition!

okay, so marc could have feasibly moved up to motogp a year earlier, and for a large chunk of 2011 there was pretty frenzied speculation he was going to do exactly that. in october, between the phillip island and sepang rounds (where he had the crash that gave him diplopia and prematurely ended both his season and his championship bid), he finally announced he was going to stay in moto2

so, in late 2011, speculation was already of course starting for what the grid would look like in 2013, with a lot of big name contracts expiring at the end of 2012. both factory yamahas, hondas, ducatis, amongst others... you know how it goes. the expectation was broadly that casey would stick with honda and dani would be protected for at least another year by the rookie rule (more on that in a second), that jorge would stick with yamaha and... well. at this point, it was plausible valentino might sign at least a one year contract extension with ducati, with just enough glimmers of progress and signs that things might be headed in the right direction for him to want to continue building that project up

early 2012, around the time of the first race, and actually it's looking plausible that none of the six big factory seats are going to be changing hands. jorge and casey seemed the most certain ones, valentino too committed to ducati, and dani likely to sign a one year deal until marc swoops in at the end of 2013 to take his place

then casey announces his retirement, and silly season properly kicks off

first order of priority is of course the vacant repsol honda seat. now, the main thing stopping marc from getting that repsol honda seat was never actually going to be a lack of space - it was the 'rookie rule'. in 2010, a rule was introduced to stop rookies from joining the factory team. the idea was basically to help out satellite teams by giving them the chance to house a young star rider, give them publicity and results and so on (face it, how much would any of us be talking about tech3 this year without the pedro acosta factor?)

this was likely never to really work like it was supposed to, because if you're one of the factories, you can basically set up... teams that are only very theoretically 'independent'. another factory team in all but name. remember how valentino technically won his first title at a satellite team? well, that was essentially a shell team set up as a way to have somewhere to put valentino for two years while repsol honda was full. not the same team (and indeed, valentino and jb did sometimes look over at the chaos at repsol and go. good lord. what's going on there) but full factory support

in spring 2012, dorna was still adamant this rule would remain in place:

should also help explain why the general reaction to suzuki suddenly pulling out in 2022 was 'shocked but not that shocked' lol

but of course by mid-2012 this rule was facing another serious test: where do you put marc marquez, especially with this vacant repsol honda seat just sitting there? now, the valentino model did seem like a reasonable one in this situation, where you put him into an existing satellite team with heavy factory backing or even just create a new one to house him. which is something valentino himself talked about:

except, it wasn't quite that straightforward, because from 2013 onward manufacturers were limited to supplying bikes for four riders, two in a factory team and two in satellites - so you'd have to take away one of the bikes from the existing two honda satellite teams, gresini or lcr

one of the reasons why putting him in one of the existing satellite teams was a bit of an issue was that he was already backed by repsol, which could have caused sponsorship conflicts if he'd been housed with one of those other teams. but also, by this point ezpeleta was sounding rather less committed to the whole thing. from june 2012:

which.

my man

if you KNOW that the most prominent rookies can be put into shell satellites anyway and you are openly joking about it then WHAT was the POINT of any of this

by the end of the month, they gave up on the whole thing. as it happens, it wasn't even repsol honda who asked for the rule to be dropped - it was the satellite honda teams who were like 'yeah we don't actually want this kid for our team, way too stressful to make this all work for a single year before losing him anyway'

not a universally popular decision, it has to be said

it's quite likely that if casey had stayed and the rookie rule had still been dropped that hrc would have immediately taken in marc and not renewed dani's contract, which would have been a wee bit awkward given dani's late season form, but. you know. so it goes. anyway honda didn't end up having to make any tough calls

about two weeks after the rookie rule is dropped, hrc announces the two year contract with marc

by this point, valentino has had another miserable start to the season with ducati, save for a fun little wet podium at le mans - you know, the race where casey announced his retirement... they had their last ever duel there, with valentino snatching second place from casey on the last lap

photo abbove not representative of the general tone they used to discuss each other in that time period

anyhow, these rare bright spots weren't going to be enough for valentino

"There was a lot of expectation from me and from Ducati to win, but unfortunately I didn't have a good feeling with the bike, especially with the front," he said some years later. "When you are in that situation it's very difficult because you lose motivation and you lose the joy of going racing. When you start the weekend you are already in a negative way, so it's difficult, because if you don't have fun on the bike everything becomes heavier: leaving your home, all the travelling, speaking with journalists, everything. Also it becomes difficult to sleep. You are in a tunnel. When I was with Ducati I thought about stopping many times, but in the end it was a very good decision not to give up. Because if you stop and you don't have a bike then it's very easy to find yourself out of the business." - from Oxley's 'Valentino Rossi: All His Races'

he began openly talking about a return to yamaha in 2012 to replace the underperforming ben spies (though as late as july, publicly he was still talking up the chances of him sticking with ducati)... which was not a prospect welcomed by all in the factory - who saw his initial move to ducati as displaying a lack of loyalty. there was also of course the issue of yamaha wanting to avoid a repeat in the dramatics with jorge, which was certainly a topic in the negotiations. valentino's new deal with yamaha was eventually announced in august

so yes, obviously pretty qualified enthusiasm from jorge's side. it helped that it was made clear that, at the start of 2013, this was very much jorge's team, something which valentino had to work to change as a result of his level of performance (after 2013)

which left dovi to take the ducati factory seat. though he too maybe had to do a little bit of... smoothing over past comments in the negotiation process:

and that's that! there was a brief period in which honda and valentino rumours were a thing... always unlikely, given the long-standing mutual animosity there, and valentino claims he was never in contact with them. dani's contract was signed when marc's was, so that put an end to that. there was also serious speculation jorge would take casey's seat at honda, which was ended by him signing for another two years at yamaha in june. everyone sorted

dani and casey had a pretty cordial teammate relationship - though of course by this point it was already no longer really a team organised around dani as it had been in the late noughties. from late 2011 (shortly before simoncelli's passing):

and from the mind games post:

he also says the following in that passage: "some days [dani] beat us but to be honest I always felt like I had the measure of him over the course of a season"

more to be said about that relationship, of course, but it was basically harmonious on both sides, and they parted on good terms. as for dani's response to marc's signing, it wasn't like he was in a place within the team to complain too much - though his position was strengthened by his late 2012 form, where he won six of the last eight races. both of them mostly just stick to saying the standard respectful pr stuff about each other

though this is pretty funny in retrospect:

"I know nothing about pedrosa's goals" my man I think you can probably guess

[knight-a3]

Heavenbound AU

Masterpost

Husk

Design notes and headcanons under the cut

Husk always struck me as the type that should be more stocky and broad. And he should have a beer belly, since alcoholism is a significant character trait of his. He's a fat cat. He has a few grey streaks in his hair to hint at his age. His clothes are more tattered to represent both his loss of power and his deal with Alastor. And his colors are duller after he lost his overlord status.

Older versions of his character portrayed him as a magician, and I really liked the idea of him using his magician skills to cheat at cards, which is why he got into gambling.

Generally speaking, his canon design is too busy and I simplified it. I didn't really understand why he had wings. Thematically, there's no reason for it and they overcomplicate the design. Instead, I gave him a magician's cape to reference his magician background. His hands are white to resemble the gloves magicians wear. The shirt helps to separate his dark fur from his pants, so they don't blend together too much.

He has card suit symbols integrated into his design. I didn't think to add a shirtless version here(if I get around to it, I'll update this with one), but he does have a spade pattern on his chest. You can see the tip of it around his collar. His nose is shaped like a heart, his tail has a diamond shape, and the paw pads on his hands and feet are clubs.

Human-

He was born in 1907 and died in 1975 at age 68 from liver failure. It's popular for people to design him as black, but I headcanon him with either Slavic or Jewish Russian ancestry. He's lived in the US his whole life though. The chipped tooth sorta just happened and I liked it. It kind of resembles his demon form's cat teeth.

He became a magician and used his skills in sleight of hand to cheat at cards. He became involved with a gambling syndicate in Las Vegas. And he was a heavy drinker(hence his eventual liver failure).

Is he a war veteran? Lots of people headcanon Husk as a Vietnam War veteran. But I'm not sure that works very well. At least, not with my headcanons. The draft for Vietnam went on between 1964-1973. Husk would have been 57 in 1964, and the number of Baby Boomers meant the draft could make more exceptions than in previous wars. So Husk was not involved with Vietnam.

But the draft for WW2 required all men 18-64 to register between 1940 and 1946. There are a few nuances, such as the required ages being narrower at the beginning of that time, but they ultimately don't matter here. Husk was in his 30s through the entire draft period. So unless he had a reason to be exempted, or he dodged the draft, he was probably going. But Husk doesn't actually strike me as a shell shocked veteran. So I'm leaning toward him being a draft dodger.

Syndicat the Gambling Overlord-

While doing Mafia research for Angel Dust, I came across a mention of gambling syndicates in Las Vegas. I realized it fit Husk's background, and decided his name before Husk could be Syndicat. I thought the cheesiness of it wasn't out of place. So here we are.

His magician life led him to gaining magician(mostly cards) related powers. He gambled for souls and won his way to Overlord and ran a gambling syndicate. But he got cocky and others started to catch on. They did different types of gambling that didn't involve things he could easily cheat in. He started losing bets, and he was too proud and addicted to cut his losses. Plus, he was the Gambling Overlord, he couldn't stop gambling!

Eventually Alastor showed up and challenged him to Syndicat's specialty: poker. The offer was practically too good to be true. They were gambling all the souls they owned(their own souls were implied to be included). If Syndicat won, he'd have the collective power of Alastor's souls. If Alastor won, Syndicat would still be allowed to keep his existing power in exchange for servitude.

Alastor was a top tier Overlord, and owning the Radio Demon would surely catapult Syndicat to the top! He thought he had this in the bag. But Alastor has an inscrutable poker face, magic of his own, and his soul isn't even available to be put on the table. Syndicat predictably lost, and his overlord status was officially gone.

It hadn't really mattered either way. The whole thing was rigged. Alastor's soul was never going to be Syndicat's, and Alastor had clawed his way to Overlord in record time(He took less than a week to orient himself, killed his first overlord, and that was it). So even if he lost, it wouldn't take long for the Radio Demon to be back in full force. He could have just destroyed Syndicat and gotten everything back anyway.

The Husk:

Alastor dubbed him a husk of his former self and kept calling him either Husk or Husker. Husk felt too sorry for himself to care, and decided the name fit. (He doesn't hate "Husker" any more than he does "Husk". In the pilot, he was just annoyed at being magicked away from his poker game)

As far as Overlords go, Alastor wasn't actually all that bad to work for. Husk had actually been a crueler overlord to his underlings. For the most part, Alastor let him carry on as before. Husk gambles for cash and drowns himself with more booze than ever before, but he can't gain or lose power while Alastor owns him. Alastor could bother Husk at any given moment without warning and drag him to do whatever, but it would sometimes be months or years between his summons(seven years was significantly longer than normal, but Husk never thought much of it until after). Alastor is mostly just manipulative, confusing, and condescending. He didn't try to hurt Husk, and rarely even threatened to. Husk was still going to be grumpy about it though.

(update notes will go here if needed)

[lunargazing-png]

Hey Lunar! I do hope you don’t mind me dropping an ask in here. You’ve got me very curious about Lt. Ikoleta Sylso, who is apparently Aspot’s momma, as crazy as it seems! It’s genuinely hard to imagine a woman this harsh-looking having a child at all…

May I ask, what’s her background? Was her apparent marriage to Az prearranged by their parents or other authority figures? Was Aspot conceived out of genuine passion or as part of their marital agreements, like a requirement or something? Why did they split up?

I sincerely hope this isn’t too much! You’ve just got me very curious about this mysterious, scarred lady. Thank you so much in advance! 😄

I love it when people send in asks about my ocs!! 😁 This is a formal invitation for anyone to ask questions about any of my mass effect characters, my ask box is always open to people's curiosity about them! Thanks for popping in about Ikoleta💃This might be long and very convoluted, but I'll answer all your questions to the best of my ability. I leap at the chance to talk more about her when given the opportunity, she's interesting to talk about. Ikoleta was born on Palaven, near the capital of Cipritine. A lot of the turians in her family are associated with the government there, playing roles that would be similar in concept to political administrators. She is downright faithful to her Hierarchy. She takes her background very seriously, and plays her part of public service for the good of her people, no matter the cost. She prefers her feet on active soil, but still carries the sharp tongue a politician would have. The Relay 314 Incident was the first time she experienced any real "threat" when it came to the security of Palaven, and was motivated to join the fight. Much like a lot of turians, it was not a brief skirmish in her eyes. This was war. Azailick and Ikoleta met each other during training and shared a lot of equal pride for their backgrounds. Their service during the war made their bond closer, and even after, she stood by his side during the rough patches as a close companion. Apsot's conception was a complete accident (oops) but her family was supportive and used it as an excuse to pressure her to come back home to continue as a public servant. Their union was simply out of necessity to keep a clean reputation (specifically for Ikoleta's family), albeit I think everyone knew there was something going on due to how young they both were. Two years after Apsot was born, Ikoleta had discovered paraphernalia Azailick kept from the war on Shanxi. A photograph of a human with a child, and a mysterious USB stick.

(Taken from Az's reference sheet. It's a picture of Kara and her daughter, Kenzie, as a baby. The USB stick is the research she abandoned from the colony. You can read a little more about their story here. Azailick didn't know that Kara was alive during this time- only eight years after the fact.) I think it's important to note that Ikoleta's feelings towards humans after the war were strained and full of deep distrust. She couldn't give a pyjak's ass about their politics and integration into the galactic community, except if it's only for the interest of the turians. Despite the alliance that the Citadel conjured up between the two species, she still has the perception that they're still "at war" with each other, but bends to the whim of needing constant change for the betterment of galactic society. Her own opinions on this are much different, as one could imagine. The discovery of these items made her LIVID. Years of deception, when Az knew how she felt about the war. How did her partner really feel, then? If he was so willing to hide something from her for so long. Azailick never told her his experience as a soldier during Shanxi, and everything coming to light honestly explained why he kept a tight lip about it. They got into a HUGE fight over it (honestly it was probably little incidents and that was the thing that broke the damn), and Ikoleta fully cut contact with him, which followed with a divorce. She considered him a complete failure in terms of turian pride and honor.

(I drew this awhile ago- and was planning to make better art for it, but never got around to it! Az is blue and Ikoleta is orange.)

I could go on about how Ikoleta feels about a human participating in raising her son after Kara and Az reconnect, but that's a whole can of messy worms- and I think we all know, honestly 😬 She still visits Apsot often but focuses heavily on pushing up in her ranks. The scar on her face is from an assassination attempt a couple years after, but she still works as if nothing has happened. She gets that hardened look from a mixture of everything that's happened to her... And from being a little bit of a hater, i think. 🤭

[datastate]

do you have any hcs about mishima and nao?

SOOO MANY! BUT for now, i'll stick with a small one on their beginning friendship :D

nao used to be very quiet in a lot of her classes; a nice person, certainly, and easy to talk to! but rather closed off unless you tried to pry, where even that would just be rude and she'd say as much.

but of course, there were small things here and there she'd share with her friends should you happen to overhear. usually, it'd be anime/manga that she'd recommend to others (usually horror with interesting concepts, though she wasn't immune to well-written 'slice of life's) - which resulted in hana (her best friend) actually buying her a keychain for her bag!! nao doesn't usually wear/buy merch, as she fears she'll lose/damage them, but... since her friend got it, she felt she'd be disappointed if she didn't show it off.

&...! this is the spark for professor mishima to actually prompt her on her interests; one of the few things she'd end up rambling on about... and he has enough context to keep her going!

it was nice getting to see her actually relax a bit, if a bit surprising to realize that she liked horror so much... and of course, it was when she inevitably brought it back to art (she was inspired to become an artist from such a silly thing, though mishima assures he understands) that she started getting nervous again; as much as she loves it, she can't draw it well. it doesn't feel like it could fit her style much at all - she intimidates herself out of drawing it.

however! mishima does not lose hope so easily. he encourages her to keep trying & experimenting with her art. after all, art is something she should have for herself if nothing else...

although mishima doesn't typically work with horror, he does have plenty of pointers on how to incorporate characters into a backdrop (it provides variation + reflects his current views too... people being a part of something larger, connected through means they don't quite realize); he had a similar start to nao in that he often relied heavily on portraits/character focus, but for that reason can help lead her along into slowly branching out.

a lot of what nao likes is the eerie - something that you have to really look at to realize how off it is. working on backgrounds such as these definitely helps with integrating characters in a more natural manner! and helps improve her work altogether, too...!! she's having more fun than she used to with her personal projects, where she previously felt stagnant but couldn't pinpoint why (and felt guilty to ask hana, as the response would always be a well-meaning "but i like your art! i don't think that at all" rather than critique she wished for), so it was...!! really nice for her to have <3

and... getting to show a trusted adult that, too, made her very happy. her parents didn't often see art as something that'd work out... but she finally felt pride in her work, and had something else to look forward to when it came to classes, rather than simply skirting by day-to-day. it took about a year and a half of school to get here, but... it makes it feel worth it.

it's also around this late time of the year, too, that mishima casually mentions he's trans.

one of the other students is complaining about the cold, and he agrees a bit too personally that skirts are awful in this weather before offering his usual advice... and it's this moment that stays in nao's mind. combined with previous comments here and there about the dysmorphia in horror...

despite this near-confirmation... nao waits until the very end of the year before she admits to the professor that she's trans. she hasn't really socially transitioned yet, only a few friends know, and she's still a bit afraid she might've misunderstood that he's trans... but it all turns out well by the end of it <3

however, since she's about to enter her last year with people who mostly knew her as a boy, it's only when she graduates that mishima offers to help put word in to adjust her uniform; which she greatly appreciates... also, throughout her last year, they get to actually discuss how it is to be mixed & that is when he offers to learn arabic with her. she was never taught it, and is too embarrassed to ask her parents, so he's taken it upon himself to help her with that too... here and there, still as her mentor and friend even after their time in school :'D

[zhnnveuxpasdrmir]

I really should have gone to sleep, but, I regret to inform you, the Fallout show is really fucking good. Ironic as hell to have it on the Vault Tec channel.

There are callouts and references from New Vegas and the Commonwealth. There's not exactly easter eggs, they're the bedrock of the plot. Fallout logic applies. Every conceit that has to explain why the nonsense of Fallout exists is an integral part of the story flow in the show. Better done than in FO4, tbh!

Familiarity with the games will for sure give you lots of background information on who's who and what they're doing. That was cool I thought. I couldn't help but wonder if any of the artists got any kind of remuneration at all for having their work copied down to the millimeter. They said that Bethesda was "in the room" on art direction and stuff but I don't know what that means, really. I stopped thinking of any of those companies as anything but little Vault Tecs themselves years ago.

On reddit people's complaints are all highly logical - fucking triflers. This is Fallout. "Why didn't they XYZ? How did the dwellers know about ABC?" if it made a whole bunch of sense it wouldn't be a Todd Howard story. But yeah visually thematically and textually it is Fallout, to a T. I'm actually annoyed at how fucking entertained I was. Todd Howard will be insufferable forever after this, and assume all his ideas are good. Psh.

random spoilery theories and observations:

That first ep was frustrating in that my Vault dwellers would've eaten those bullshit raiders up in seconds. Scars? Tattoos???? oh no no. Instant chunks. My vault is no-nonsense. If any of them had made it past that first security checkpoint, it would've just been to get gaussed into several pieces by Ethel or mowed down by Big Dave's minigun. Anyway.

I also kept wishing someone would scrap. Not fight: pick stuff up. It just kept occurring to me because everything was so exactly game-perfect in appearance. That's 2 Steel and an Adhesive, Lucy! cmon grab it for your backpack! Get that machete!!! free machete! 1 Copper in every bulb on that crate, move it into a safe container! until nobody turns red in your reticle! Get with it!

When Lucy talks Maximus into their alliance and they do the warrior's handshake, the Battle Hymn of the Republic played loud in the score out of nowhere, never to return in season 1. Is Max going to found the Minutemen? I don't really know the timeline well enough to know how that fits together - but it sure was emphatic.

The Ghoul is a crit banker! Ha! Lucy seems to have Chem Resistant, Maximus is climbing the Power Armor tree… nice. LOVED how other-Dogmeat used the right tactics on the Gulper, they have that same weakness in Far Harbor, sensitive lil arms, tag'em for instant stagger.

I was glad they held back on directly showing Deathclaws yet, but set up the promise of them for the future, giving exposition for those who didn't bother to read terminal entries on their playthroughs.

I was thinking that the Vault 31 mystery was going to reveal synths, but it went more to the plot lines that you find in the environmental storytelling - Vault Tec's nefarious technocratic scheme that you piece together from terminal entries on side quests. Interesting. Is the Enclave a BOS thing? I never played a fash character & I can't take orders so I don't know that quest tree too well.

I loved that all the armor pieces were game standards, made it super easy to figure out who was who in battle scenes. I would definitely be a Leather Right Shoulder guy. Some like the Sack Hood with Hoses / Metal Chest Piece thing; I get that. It works. Personally I would not go with the red eye shadow because everyone would assume I was a cannibal but you do you.

New Vegas is up next! There's no way this doesn't get its three seasons at least.

[sluthut6000]

hi! I think all of yall are right and are looking at some very important findings about international workers rights and its a very complex issue caused by a lot of things. BUT I saw yall talking sociology and couldn't help but butt in with some fun facts and background info on some of the topics discussed (I'm a sociologist)

the protestant work ethic is a sociological theory used to explain the relationship with religion and work, put forth by Max Weber in 1905. The book argues that as religion develops, so do moral and philosophical ideas around general life affairs (such as work). He postits that as capitalism and the Protestant Reformation followed similar timelines in terms of development that Protestant religions attitudes towards work was a causal factor in the development of how Protestant and capitalist countries developed and understood the actually idea of what it means to work. In this way, the Calvinists who were forced into America (because their religious views were so extreme) were very influential in that work (and also being in general very anti-human in sentiment,, like, all things that brought pleasure and weren't for suffering or devotion to God weren't really it) was a mainstay devotion to God. Blandness and doing nothing to pleasure the senses were devotions to God. suffering your life away for heaven was a devotion to God. America in general has a very specific understanding of both the Christian religion and work due to this historical influence. I can't say anything about the revolutionary war era (1775-1810 I'll just say) because I'm not studied on that but I am aware of the way protestantism developed across America in the early 1800s was influenced by these perspectives as well. Examples of religions that came from this era: Baptists, Mormons, Methodists. This is known as the "Awakening" and you can see influences of this religious zeal all across the American West (went hand in hand with Manofest Destiny). Anyway, that is to say that both the Puritan ethos and the Evangelicalism are both profoundly influential on American culture and the understanding of American work and capitalism and have been for 2 or more centuries.

If work and denying oneself pleasures in life are the foundations of godly devotion in the religious lives of those who were forced into America, what legacy would that leave?

I haven't done specific research into work culture in the modern era and how that relates to this historic ideological legacy, however, one could theorize that a lack of workers rights could very easily be a consequence of this, especially as WASPs tend to be those who have political and financial power in the US.

Now, that leaves the question of why that didn't happen in Protestant countries in Europe. I think Weber (its been a while since I've actually read this book) did in fact find that those in Protestant countries did devote themselves more to capitalism, but that has nothing to do with government policy. (this is 100% speculation now - no research has been done on this topic tho ig i technically "had to read an article on this for class") It could have to do with a stronger focus on the humanitarian aspects of the enlightenment having more of a legacy in Europe? Like, America has always kinda been ruled by the rich, but ik Europe seems to have a lot of historical class based revolutions (this is based on a vague remembering about a peasant riot in one of my classes on social movements?) even tho these countries have also been ruled by the rich ??? but I am aware that there are actually very important philosophies that Europe looks at when making laws and influence daily life (just as ideologies influence most things that people touch) and "Integral Europe: Fast Capitalism, Multiculturalism, Neofascism" by Douglas Holmes gets into it a wee bit BUT I don't remember it because I read that book over a year ago. sorry. but it could have to do with that? I'm sure there's been research done into that - if I remember about this when I have free time I'll look into it and also I'll cite and link my sources if yallre interested

I am really interested in studying the real life ramifications of religious and philosophical ideology in the US sooo this was just right up my alley. Also I haven't looked into some of these topics in a while so I very well could be wrong, misremembering, or misinterpreting the things that I've learned and would love for corrections or discussion on the topics!

I think adults need summer vacation. Like let's just close down all our jobs for three months and play outside. Please. I'm so tired.

[superhiro-hamada]

Reboot || Hiro

Synopsis: While he's debating the reasons he's still trying to hold himself together, Hiro's birthday takes an unexpected turn.

Hiro slumped on the chair in front of his desk, his basement lab just barely lit by the electronic glow from various screens. Upstairs the sounds of life carried in the background shuffle and creak of floor boards. He could figure out where Riley and Luca were on the first floor of the house by the location of those sounds.

In the near darkness Hiro listened, tracing Luca's steps - it had to be Luca because they didn't step like they were in a hurry, didn't walk as heavy as Riley even if that only became obvious from the basement given bizarrely silent elves seemed to move in person - from the living room into the kitchen, around it where they were probably putting away the leftovers from Aunt Cass' visit earlier in the day, then to the stairs where the sound no longer vibrated past the first few steps to the second floor.

And then it was quiet again, and Hiro was left with the mechanical purr of his cat curled up next to his desktop computer with the soft background noise in the lab reverberating like a lullaby.

He wanted to disconnect, it was actually quite simple, all it really took was logging into that port behind his ear and the physical world melted into nothing while his sense of self nestled into the pleasant sensation of what he wasn't quite sure to call other than that place where all those ghosts in the machines dwelt.

The world had a lot of layers, he assumed, between the living, the dead, other realms entirely, and then the one that was his retreat; the digital. He understood, after quite a long while of trying to ignore the fact, that he could reach it because some parts of him were not only no longer the person he used to be but integrated with the electronic bits and pieces that bridged places in his brain with that uncomfortable technology.

If he closed his eyes and let himself so slip too far it was increasingly difficult to wander back, and he used to hate feeling like everything turned liquid inside him and he couldn't really recall so much the shape of himself when he was connected to that space that didn't occupy any physical world but could be found quite easily with only a single connection to the electronics he felt so much kinship with.

The more he did so the less he felt like he fit into that shape there in the real world, so it wasn't something he indulged often anymore, or for very long; some cautionary note in the back of his brain said that if he went too far he wouldn't come back. If it became too comfortable he would forget his reasons for wanting to return.

But those reasons were upstairs, probably wondering what he was up to down in the basement, probably worried why he had opted to spend most of his birthday alone and had only really ventured out to be social for their sake. Those reasons were a little further away in town in an apartment he didn't really sneak into nearly as much as he should have lately, because it always had been kind of fun watching Tony roll his eyes, and somewhere else in town probably making plans for some great escape to New York still.

Friends. He had friends. He had people again that had built a world around him that he could be part of.

And the biggest of those reasons was hurrying her way back home above the cafe, with a million thoughts on her mind but he knew the most pressing one would be her concern about him and hoping that things would get better.

Hiro didn't know if better was something he fully understood, different, he hoped for different, but he didn't really know what better look like yet.

Mochi stirred, kicking a foot out and lighting the screen up when his paw brushed the trackpad, but he only watched the cat in sleep mode rather than disturb him. That was another reason, he suppose, but he couldn't spend all of his time in the spider web thin pathways and hazy sense of not self that his electronic connection promised with just a few taps of the keys and a Wifi uplink that existed in his own brain.

Instead he slumped, a disjointed and odd angled collection of flesh, bone and circuits buried inside his head all shaped together like an awkward twenty-something year old who already had enough trouble trying to fit inside his own skin without not knowing how it was supposed to come together to make a person.

He debated actual sleep, debating going upstairs, debating a dozen different things like a to-do list he could have checked off and somehow felt like maybe he was pulling himself together, and most of them came down to how he was exhausted with being exhausted and it was probably time to admit that.

But his eyes caught at a faint glint on the screen, lit up in a flash of neon green compared to the black background and the purple text that otherwise occupied that space. It was intrusive, he blinked, it was loud, it was annoying, and his head tilted to the side as though looking at it from a slanted angle was somehow going to make the idea more plausible when the window popped up suddenly with blaring text.

:: HIRO HAMADA I AM GOING TO STRANGLE YOU

:: WHEN I FIND YOU

:: YOU ABSOLUTE BASTARD. DO NOT IGNORE ME OR I WILL FIND A WAY TO KICK YOUR ASS FROM HERE

:: WHERE ARE YOU

The tilt of his head became more angled as he studied the words, an icy feeling settling in the pit of his stomach, twisting into a knot as Hiro blinked slowly again.

Hadn't he been careful enough? Who had found him? Was this the point where he had to run again? It was too soon, he'd just- the thoughts kept tumbling rapidly though his head, panic catching in his chest like a vice tightening.

His fingers brushed brushing the keyboard but he didn't type, didn't need to, the screen suddenly scrolled down a long list of programming codes that popped up in a secondary window as he searched for the source path that the message had been sent on and found...nothing.

It was so carefully hidden that even he couldn't dig it up without delving deeper than he'd chance to do at that moment. Because the deeper he dug the more obvious his own presence would be. And for a very fleeting instant he thought there was only one person he knew who was that good at covering their tracks, even better than himself, because they had learned how to do that by studying the intricate ways to bypass pathways and bury information folded into kernels and seemingly unrelated commands together.

:: I KNOW YOU'RE LOOKING. I'M AS SMART AS YOU ARE IN CASE YOU FORGOTTEN. I'M SMARTER ACTUALLY BECAUSE I DIDN'T RUN OFF INSTEAD OF TELLING PEOPLE WHAT WAS GOING ON.

:: I'M STILL MAD ABOUT THAT BY THE WAY.

:: I HOPE YOU MANAGED TO GROW A GOOD FOOT OR TWO TALLER SO I WON'T FEEL THAT BAD WHEN I KICK YOUR ASS FOR THAT.

A pause, for a moment the screen idled where it was, nothing new flashed, and then finally another message popped up.

:: Okay. I'm not going to actually kick your ass but I am ANGRY. But we need to talk about something. Right now.

Hiro stared. His phone suddenly chirped, signaling a text message, and then another, Mochi yawned and lifted his head, ears twitching as the messages filtered through his side of that connection. Hiro could read the text via that mental uplink, but it was still somehow instinctive that he reached for his cell phone when the screen lit up with the notification of an incoming call, hand unsteady as he scooped it up from the desk.

When the speaker clicked on he was greeted by a familiar, sarcastic voice; Ari.

"Welcome back to the land of the living."

[senuassaga]

Desperate Struggles and Hope in Senua’s Saga Hellblade II

Hellblade really stood out because of Senua herself, this Pict warrior haunted by voices she thought were cursed. Feeling tainted, she cut ties with her people and lost everything she cared about, yet her journey continues to resonate, compelling Xbox gamers to explore and buy Xbox games that delve into her complex story. Her trip to Hel was epic, blending awesome visuals with an audio experience that embraced her voices and her unique worldview. That's why Hellblade was so different, even if the gameplay was kinda standard. Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II is alike in many ways, offering another unforgettable ride. It shares the strengths and weaknesses of Senua’s first journey—some might wish for more evolution, but this game sticks with you. Senua made a vow. After coming to terms with her past in the first game, she found new purpose in preventing others from suffering like her loved one did. When the Northmen returned, she couldn't stand by as her people were attacked. She let herself be captured, seeking out those responsible in a new land. But things get complicated fast for Senua. This land is no cakewalk, plagued by giants and monsters that drive its inhabitants behind walls and onto mountains to escape. They're desperate, doing terrible things to survive, hoping their actions will keep them safe from lurking horrors. You're not alone on this journey, encountering many with blood on their hands who might yet find hope through Senua.

Engaging Environmental Puzzles Elevate Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II

Playing Senua’s latest journey will mostly feel like déjà vu for those who played the first game. You’ll stroll down straightforward paths, soaking in a beautifully crafted world that beckons you to buy PS5 GAMES. Every now and then, you’ll hit spots where you gotta crack some puzzles or duke it out with enemies. That’s pretty much the whole shebang from start to end. But hey, both sides of the coin have seen upgrades from the original game. Combat will ring a bell for OG players. You’ve got your quick and heavy attacks, but it’s not just about swinging wildly. You gotta nail those parries and blocks to open up chances to really lay into your foes. Rack up enough damage or blockage, and you unlock a time-slowing power to go ham on them, often taking out the weaker ones. It’s like a refined version of what you saw in the first game—better timing, smoother moves, and a solid flow when you’re facing off against multiple enemies. They didn’t reinvent the wheel, but man, the gameplay feels a lot tighter. Now, let’s talk puzzles. They’ve done a major overhaul here. The original Hellblade’s low points were those pesky environmental puzzles that just felt off. You’d have to stand in some exact spot and squint at a tiny detail in the background, which was kinda pointless. In Senua’s Saga, there are still some of those environmental brain-teasers, but they’re better integrated and more reasonable. Plus, there are new areas where you gotta manipulate the surroundings in cool ways. These puzzles get trickier as you go, and honestly, they’re way more engaging than anything in the first game.

Exploring Senua's Personal Evolution

What makes stand out, though, is its unique vibe that no other games can quite match. Senua still hears her voices, but this time around, she’s less convinced they’re a curse. Reflecting her state of mind, these voices can still hit you with doubts and call you out, but they can also cheer you on with joy and push you towards victory. Senua’s journey has helped her grow. She still doubts herself sometimes and hasn’t fully healed from her past trauma, but she’s in a better place now. Because of that, the whole experience has a more mixed tone. The first Hellblade was technically impressive but was a deeply dark and gloomy ride. That grimness shows up in parts of Senua’s Saga too, but it’s just one side of the coin. Alongside moments that are both stunning and spine-chilling, there are also times of pure beauty—like breathtaking views, unforgettable lighting, and mind-blowing effects. Plus, the graphics here are top-notch, up there with the best on the Xbox Series X, and the sound design is so on point that you gotta hear it through killer headphones. But this isn’t just about looks and sounds. It’s about how they blend to create a full-on experience where every part boosts the others. Throw in some seriously intense and emotionally charged scenes (which I won’t spoil), and you’ve got a game that hit me in ways no other game ever has. Some might brush off Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II as just more of the same, and they wouldn’t be totally off base. It’s definitely a step forward from Senua’s first adventure, with improvements across the board. But it undeniably feels like a continuation of her story. Where it truly sets itself apart is how Senua’s personal growth has shaped the world around her. The horror is still there, lurking in every corner, but what really sticks with me is the profound beauty amidst it all.

[toloveandbelovedtoo]

Day 3: practice

I had to think about today, since starting this and thinking about love, I think about how to practice and integrate it in my day. I had gone to Backyard BBQ for lunch and as I was leaving, I realized it would have been a good opportunity to pay for someone's meal. I think about it when I hold a door open for someone or when it's held for me. I thought about love when my neighbor offered my some plant clippings and when I laid on the floor with Kiwi.

But today I want to make it a continuation of yesterday as art has been on my mind lately. I woke up still feeling grumpy and disgruntled by my art practice. It's a gray day, cloudy outside but not really raining and I felt tired. I got the idea then to go back to basics. I'm a digital artist, pretty much all of my work is done on my iPad and I mostly work on big pieces with coloring and shading and the whole deal. And while that's great and my art has developed with each piece, I need to do the work all people do: basics and fundamentals.

I'm a self-taught artist. I had a phone with a stylus and one night in bed I thought, I want to draw. So I started going to town drawing people, doing the line art, the coloring, the shading, each piece was a full completed piece. My art was not that great two years ago, I definitely learned a lot and gotten so much better with spacing and proportions. But I realized that I should put in the work and practice of doing timed figure drawings, doing doodles, making sketches, and practicing the anatomy, the clothing, the background basics.

I grabbed some pencils and paper I bought a few years ago and posted up on my couch where I went through timed poses. I got 90 seconds with each figure and just went to drawing as much as I could before the time was up. Some poses were definitely more difficult than others, but I had fun. Fun! That was something I felt like was missing from my art yesterday and that I just wanted to have fun. I feel like I fell in that trap in fandom where I needed to be producing completed works and my worth was based on what I could produce and how often. I lost the joy.

And I realize now that some of my art block stems from the need to be instantly perfect. Perfection was demanded by my mother, each of us kids were gifted and talented, we didn't need practice, we didn't make mistakes. Whatever we picked up, we were supposed to know how to do it with little instruction. I am the sort-of-youngest of four (I'm a twin) and it always looked like my two older siblings were amazing at everything they did. My brother was a marching band science genius, my sister was the artist and musician. I stayed in the shadows in technical theatre.

I didn't know how to ask for help, or how to ask someone to teach me x, y, or z. My grades were to be A+ in school and when I, the son of a math teacher, was getting a D in calculus, I was yelled at for not asking for help. It was shameful that I needed a tutor to get through chemistry and that I couldn't keep up with my peers in school who were already going to college for math as they had completed all the courses the school system offered.

I would find myself getting frustrated with hobbies. When I was in middle school, I thought I would make jewelry, but I felt my work wasn't as good as my mom's or sister's. I learned to knit and was great at it, but it got boring after a while. I learned to crochet, sew, needlepoint. I tried an instrument but I'm fairly tone deaf and can't read music. I picked up hobbies easily and mastered a lot quickly, I was great at knitting, origami, gardening, and video gaming.

So I realized that's why I was getting so frustrated with art. I could see I have talent and potential, I love getting to draw bodies and explore what it means to be trans and queer through art. I love making my blorbos kiss. One of my favorite things is to draw from fan fics to surprise writers, it makes my heart warm to see their excitement. And so it's okay to not be good at everything at once. What was that Jake quote from Adventure Time? Sucking is just the first step to getting good at something? So I'm giving myself this act of love of learning my craft and hobby by working on lessons and the basics and fundamentals.