#disciplined trader

[sreepadamangaraj]

why leading prop firms allow EA's.Archie Cade the company's founder is committed to the success of every trader who puts their faith in FXLondon. Archie Cade founded FXLondon two years ago and it has since expanded rapidly. His mission is to help traders get funded $100k+ and to make $10k+ per month using FXLondon’s signals, expert advisors, courses, 1-1 calls, mentorship, and private group chats. To help people gain a serious side hustle or even to replace their 9-5 jobs.

[zahra-hydris]

theodora praising ammabel as being willing to sacrifice underlings' lives in her former life as a commissar

while ammabel is haunted by the thousands who died because of her during her last offensive

[stockexperttrading]

Drawdown in Forex Trading with FTG

The blog titled "Drawdown in Forex Trading – Understanding and Managing Losses" delves into the concept of drawdown in forex trading, which refers to the decline in a trading account's equity from its peak due to a series of losing trades. The guide emphasizes the importance of effectively managing drawdowns to preserve capital, maintain confidence, and avoid impulsive decisions during challenging market phases. The blog explains the different types of drawdowns, including equity drawdown and maximum drawdown, and provides a simple formula for calculating drawdown percentages. It discusses common causes of drawdowns in forex trading, such as market volatility, unsuitable strategies, overleveraging, poor risk management, and external factors. The psychological impact of drawdowns on traders is highlighted, emphasizing the emotional toll they can take, leading to self-doubt and anxiety. The long-term effects of drawdowns on trading performance are explored, including capital erosion and missed opportunities. Strategies for managing drawdowns are extensively covered, including risk management techniques such as proper position sizing and setting stop-loss orders. Diversification and asset allocation, utilizing trailing stops, revisiting and adjusting trading strategies, and the importance of analyzing historical data are also discussed. The blog emphasizes the psychological aspects of dealing with drawdowns, including maintaining discipline, overcoming fear and greed, and the importance of keeping a trading journal for self-reflection and growth. The conclusion underscores that drawdowns are a natural part of forex trading and can be opportunities for growth rather than failures. It encourages continuous learning, adaptation, and using the support and resources provided by Funded Traders Global to navigate the challenges and successes of forex trading.

[sharemarketinsider]

Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline, and a Winning Attitude

[psychotrenny]

I think one of Imperialism's most evil strategies is the national scale torture you'll see inflicted on countries that dare to dream of freedom. Like it's not just about overthrowing the anti-imperialist regime itself, but utterly breaking the very social, economic and in turn psychological foundations it's built upon. Prolonged periods of destruction that are as systematic as they are sadistic with the aim of making life unlivable until the government either collapses or gives in, accepting whatever concessions are forced upon them as the nation is remoulded into an dependent and obedient little neocolony.

Sometimes an imperialist power will act directly to achieve this (just take the gratuitous and deliberate destruction of civil infrastructure during the bombings of Yugoslavia and Iraq), but the preferred strategy is to employ local proxies. Groups like RENAMO in Mozambique or the Contras of Nicaragua. Bands of reactionaries, traitors and general desperadoes are gathered up, trained, armed and transported over the border at the expense of the Imperialists and their local collaborators. These armed groups have no interest in build mass support, of representing an alternative way of life. Their only purpose is destruction; killing, torturing, looting, burning whatever they can in order to bring their country to its knees. Frequently targeting important nodes in the networks that sustain the nation and the people's faith in it (bridges, rail depots, factories, hospitals and schools) but ultimately happy to attack whatever they can; every house burned or person tortured contributes to the climate of terror and corrosion of government credibility. Because when they kill these groups don't like to do it cleanly; their attacks generate countless reports immolation, disembowelment, victims hacked to pieces and left to bleed. But when possible they prefer to leave their victims alive and capable of further spreading their terror, inflicting the most vicious sorts of rape and mutilation on a mass scale

It's not just just evil for the sake of evil mind you. The cruelty has a point; human destruction to accompany the physical. Every person killed is someone who can no longer contribute to the development of the nation, while even living yet physically and psychologically broken victim places further strain on their country's increasingly fragile support systems. Meanwhile the terror of these actions spreads the impact beyond their immediate victims. The murder and torture of peasants makes the survivors too scared to go back into their fields, slowly starving the nation as the rural economy grind to a halt. The gruesome deaths of traders and travelers leaves the survivors too terrified to continue their business, shutting down the distributive networks that make national development and often life itself possible. The terror unleashed on foreign professionals can prompt the survivors to flee and discourage newcomers from arriving, depriving the underdeveloped economic and education systems of the skilled workers they need to improve or even function. And every broken body, ever broken mind, is proof of the government's weakness and ineptitude; a humiliating failure to protect their own people that demoralises supporters and empowers dissenters. The motivated sadism of these terrorist attacks is a microcosm of the motivated sadism displayed by their Imperialist backers

But why go to all this trouble? Why not just send in the paratroopers or organise a coup to end those troublesome regimes quickly? Sometimes it's a matter of possibility. As great as they are, the powers of Imperialist nations are not unlimited. All manner of constraints (domestic unrest, international condemnation which advantages dangerous rivals, the simple financial and human costs of such operations) limit what actions are viable or desirable. This is especially significant when the targets are motivated and disciplined anti-imperialists with a base of deep-rooted popular support, the sort of regime that won't go down to a simple commando raid or bribe to the right general. But sometimes, it's not enough to merely cut down a dissenting government; you have to salt the earth and make sure nothing similar ever grows back. I'll finish with the words of an anonymous Jesuit priest, talking about Nicaragua yet in terms widely relevant enough to be published in John Saul's conclusion to A Difficult Road: The Transition to Socialism in Mozambique (1985):

In Chile the Americans made a mistake. They cut off the revolution too abruptly. They killed the revolution but, as we can see from recent developments there, they didn't kill the dream. In Nicaragua, they're trying to kill the dream

[zvaigzdelasas]

[BBC is UK State Media]

Truong My Lan is charged with taking out $44bn (£35bn) in loans from the Saigon Commercial Bank. Prosecutors say $27bn may never be recovered.[...]

The evidence is in 104 boxes weighing a total of six tonnes [!!!]. Eighty-five defendants are on trial with Truong My Lan, who denies the charges. She and 13 others face a possible death sentence.

"There has never been a show trial [sic] like this, I think, in the communist era," says David Brown, a retired US state department official with long experience in Vietnam. "There has certainly been nothing on this scale."

The trial is the most dramatic chapter so far in the "Blazing Furnaces" anti-corruption campaign led by the Communist Party Secretary-General, Nguyen Phu Trong.

A conservative [sic] ideologue [sic] steeped in Marxist theory, Nguyen Phu Trong believes that popular anger over untamed corruption poses an existential threat to the Communist Party's monopoly on power. He began the campaign in earnest in 2016 after out-manoeuvring the then pro-business prime minister to retain the top job in the party.

The campaign has seen two presidents and two deputy prime ministers forced to resign, and hundreds of officials disciplined or jailed. Now one of the country's richest women could join their ranks.[...]

Although Vietnam is best known outside the country for its fast-growing manufacturing sector, as an alternative supply chain to China, most wealthy Vietnamese made their money developing and speculating in property.

All land is officially state-owned. Getting access to it often relies on personal relationships with state officials. Corruption escalated as the economy grew, and became endemic.

By 2011, Truong My Lan was a well-known business figure in Ho Chi Minh City, and she was allowed to arrange the merger of three smaller, cash-strapped banks into a larger entity: Saigon Commercial Bank.

Vietnamese law prohibits any individual from holding more than 5% of the shares in any bank. But prosecutors say that through hundreds of shell companies and people acting as her proxies, Truong My Lan actually owned more than 90% [!!!] of Saigon Commercial.

They accuse her of using that power to appoint her own people as managers, and then ordering them to approve hundreds of loans to the network of shell companies she controlled.

The amounts taken out are staggering. Her loans made up 93% [!!!] of all the bank's lending.

According to prosecutors, over a period of three years from February 2019, she ordered her driver to withdraw 108 trillion Vietnamese dong, more than $4bn (£2.3bn) in cash from the bank, and store it in her basement.

That much cash, even if all of it was in Vietnam's largest denomination banknotes, would weigh two tonnes.[!!!!!][...]

David Brown believes she was protected by powerful figures who have dominated business and politics in Ho Chi Minh City for decades. And he sees a bigger factor in play in the way this trial is being run: a bid to reassert the authority of the Communist Party over the free-wheeling business culture of the south.

"What Nguyen Phu Trong and his allies in the party are trying to do is to regain control of Saigon, or at least stop it from slipping away.[...]

faster growth in Vietnam almost inevitably means more corruption [sic]. Fight corruption too much [sic], and you risk extinguishing a lot of economic activity.

10 Apr 24

[irishmammonagenda]

hii , do you mind doing diavolo x m!court jester reader?

i saw a post with a king x jester trope and i could not get it out of my head 😭 it can be headcanons or a short drabble, wtv you want!!

hihi! this is such an interesting thingy to write and i apologise for taking a while to write it, writing male characters is fun but lowkey kind of hard for me😔✊

i also dont know what jesters do and my knowledge is watching horrible histories when i was younger so this is widely inaccurate heehee

no but fr i think in another universe diavolo would be a jester tbh

dividers by @/ioveartfilm

grma for requesting <3!!!!

Funny Funny (I'm in love with you.) Diavolo X M!Court Jester Reader

He laughs at your jokes like a man on crack

You're his favourite employee in the castle and your room is right beside his chambers (he made sure of it)

You sneak into his room for sleepovers sometimes. Barbatos has given up on propriety.

The Little Ds help you with your super cool jester preformances. They're surprisingly good at dancing and balancing plates.

You use the Little Ds as juggling balls sometimes.

Diavolo has promoted you as much as possible, bro atp people think you're a consort instead of court jester.

like they will full on go up to you to pitch ideas or put in a good word for Diavolo since he'll listen to you.

Barbatos also forces you to tell Diavolo news that'll make him angry or upset since he takes it a lot better coming from you.

Unrelated but you'd 100% be friends with Solomon and Thirteen. Which is awkward when theyre in the same room together.

Apart from Barbatos and Lucifer occassionally disciplining you, you are untouchable.

"Your Heighness...." A noble bows in front of Diavolo's throne. Why that scumbag had requested an audience with the Demon Prince, you had no idea. Technically you weren't even supposed to be listening in, but no one had noticed you on the chandelier yet so that was their problem.

And your problem when Barbatos eventually found out. Said Demon standing beside Diavolo's throne.

You watch as Diavolo nods along, uncharacteristically serious. "What do you need?"

"Well...I believe if we stopped trading pickles to the humans it would be a lot less daunting to create them-"

You blink. What the fuck. Bro requested an audience for this? Damn, this was so unserious it was good material for your next stand up routine.

You watch from overhead as Diavolo blinks, his wings stiffening ever so slightly, the crimson-haired prince raises an eyebrow. "You want to stop trading pickles to the Human Realm?"

"Yes, My Lord." The noble responds earnestly.

"No."

The demon blinks, astounded.

"Excuse me, may I ask you repeat that, my Lord?"

"No. Human's love pickles. They're our main traders. It'd sour relations even more." Diavolo says, you watch as Barbatos takes a deep breath, and as the Demon Prince begins to get annoyed.

You stiffle a laugh at the noble squandering, which leads to your downfall as you move your hands over your mouth, taking them off of your jester hat.

Which falls.

All the way down to the ground.

The bells on the hat jingle.

Barbatos' eyes are trained on you like a hawk. So are Diavolo's, but his eyes are more of an excited child on christmas than anything else.

The noble's eyes widen.

"Sup?" You grin awkwardly. The noble, sensing a way out of this pickle debate uses this as an excuse to say his goodbyes and leave.

Diavolo doesn't even notice. Barbatos just shakes his head ever so slightly.

"That guy was in a real pickle...!...Haha...right guys?" You laugh awkwardly, and despite the fact you're not funny at all, the Prince cackles like it was the best stand up routine he'd ever heard in his life.

You were currently at a banquet talking to the Little D's about your next juggling stunt when a demon approached you.

"Hello." She smiles, her red lips glossy.

"Sup."

"Well, I was wondering if I could ask a favour or two....." She looks hesitant but composed.

You nods your head, the bells on your hat jingling. You're convinced Diavolo put them on there to serve as some sort of cat bell.

"Well....I had an idea for expanding our trades of magical herbs to human world Alaska...since a few witches have been living on quote on quote 'lesbian cottages' there."

You whistle. "Damn. Do they have huskies?"

"A lot of them, from what I hear." She nods, her tail wrapping around her leg absentmindedly. "Could you put in good word for Lord Diavolo for me?"

"Sure?" You tilt your head, the bells jingle slightly.

The demon grins, "Thanks he'll listen to you more thoroughly!"

Little D No.2 pops out from your breast pocket. "That's because everyone thinks you two are gay for eachother."

You yank him out of there. "Go annoy Mammon."

"Sir yes sir!"

At this point you should be the Avatar of Pride.

"Sire. I'm telling you. He just stabbed several upper class demons with a rusty spoon!" The demon knight urges Diavolo, who isn't even looking at him.

"You expect me to believe that?" Diavolo tilts his head. You nod vigorously from where you're covered in entrails and holding a rusty spoon in your hands. "MC wouldn't hurt a fly."

The knight looks from you to him with a lax jaw.

What.

The.

Fuck.

That knight's putting his two weeks in now icl.

^^ idea from that one person on tiktok (sirleoninsunglasses) i cant get it out of my head.

can you tell im a merlin fan.

gang idk what noble people talk about i made these discussions up as i went along but i can assure you that pickle trading and lesbian witches in alaska are actually the only thing nobles talked about in history i pinky promise

[georgescitadel]

George mentioned the coming of age of Arya in Braavos in the context of how a writer had to discipline himself to write only as many chapters as were necessary to serve the story, saying that what Arya was dealing with in Braavos could make a worthy young adult novel in it's own right.

- George R.R. Martin, So Spake Martin (2010)

Arya is a lot of fun to write about. I could write a whole novel about Arya in Braavos.

- George R.R. Martin, Chicon 7 (2012)

I’ve been following Arya over in the city of Braavos and that’s a setting that I’ve become really interested in. It’s a different dynamic because it’s more like Venice, or Genoa in their height. There’s a different aspect on history because it’s more interested in traders and merchants rather than kings and princes. It could be a great background for a novel.

- George R.R. Martin, Irish Film Institute (2019)

[alicearmageddon]

"The North Korean regime in the ‘50s developed a series of remarkably effective torture techniques, techniques that were so effective, in fact, that they were able to make captured American airmen admit to all sorts of atrocities they had not in fact committed, all the time, being convinced they had not, actually, been tortured. The techniques were quite simple. Just make the victim do something mildly uncomfortable—sit on the edge of chair, for example, or lean against a wall in a slightly awkward position—only, make them do it for an extremely long period of time. After eight hours the victim would be willing to do virtually anything to make it stop. But try going to the International Court of Justice at The Hague and tell them you’ve been made to sit on the edge of a chair all day. Even the victims were unwilling to describe their captors as torturers. When the CIA learned about these techniques—according to Korean friends of mine, they’re actually just particularly sadistic versions of classic Korean ways of punishing small children—they were intrigued, and, apparently, conducted extensive research on how they could be adopted for their own detention centers.

Again, sometimes, in Palestine, one feels one is in an entire country that’s being treated this way. Obviously, there is also outright torture, people who are actually being shot, beaten, tortured, or violently abused. But I’m speaking here even of the ones that aren’t. For most, it’s as if the very texture of everyday life has been designed to be intolerable—only, in a way that you can never quite say is exactly a human rights violation. There’s never enough water. Showering requires almost military discipline. You can’t get a permit. You’re always standing in line. If something breaks it’s impossible to get permission to fix it. Or else you can’t get spare parts. There are four different bodies of law that might apply to any legal situation (Ottoman, British, Jordanian, Israeli), it’s anyone’s guess which court will say what applies where, or what document is required, or acceptable. Most rules are not even supposed to make sense. It can take eight hours to drive 20 kilometers to see your girlfriend, and doing so will almost certainly mean having machine guns waved in your faces and being shouted at in a language you half understand by people who think you’re subhuman. So you do most of your dalliance by phone. When you can afford the minutes. There are endless traffic jams before and after checkpoints and drivers bicker and curse and try not to take it out on one another. Everyone lives no more than 12 or 15 miles from the Mediterranean but even on the hottest day, it’s absolutely impossible to get to the beach. Unless you climb the wall, there are places you can do that; but then you can expect to be hunted every moment by security patrols. Of course teenagers do it anyway. But it means swimming is always accompanied by the fear of being shot. If you’re a trader, or a laborer, or a driver, or a tobacco farmer, or clerk, the very process of subsistence is continual stream of minor humiliations. Your tomatoes are held and left two days to rot while someone grins at you. You have to beg to get your child out of detention. And if you do go to beseech the guards, those same guards might arbitrarily decide to hold you to pressure him to confess to rock-throwing, and suddenly you are in a concrete cell without cigarettes. Your toilet backs up. And you realize: you’re going to have to live like this forever. There is no “political process.” It will never end. Barring some kind of divine intervention, you can expect to be facing exactly this sort of terror and absurdity for the rest of your natural life."

-David Graeber, Reflections from a Visit to the West Bank

[sapphicsparkles]

See below for Characters + descriptions

Mae

A mysterious young woman with a tragic past, Mae gets swept up into a sinister mystery—one that puts her into the center of a conflict in unexpected ways. She is determined to exact vengeance on those who wronged her, and little can stop Mae on her quest.

Mother Aniseya

The leader of a mysterious coven of witches on Brendok who value their independence and the preservation of their beliefs and powers. She is knowledgeable in the arcane ways of the Force.

Jecki Lon A skilled and studious Padawan learner, Jecki Lon shows great promise in her path to becoming a Jedi Knight.The Padawan apprentice to Master Sol is young, but she projects calm and conducts herself with maturity.

Indara

Master Indara is a Jedi Master of great physical and mental skill. She has exacting control of her Force abilities, exuding a sense of command and authority with just her presence. Though she does not seek combat, she is skilled enough to engage on her own terms.

Sol

Master Sol is a wise, highly respected Jedi Master, strong in the ways of the Force. Still and stalwart, Sol has a deep sense of compassion and will defend those who cannot defend themselves. He is a powerful warrior with intense emotions that he uses his Jedi training to balance.

Vernestra "Vern" Rwoh

Vernestra Rwoh is an elder Jedi Master who has ascended the ranks of the Jedi from a teenage prodigy to a leader in the Order. She became one of the youngest Jedi Knights in a generation at age 15, and solidified her status as a prodigy when she took Imri Cantaros as a Padawan the next year. With a purple-bladed lightsaber that can change into a lightwhip, young Rwoh led with unwavering faith in the Force and devotion to the Jedi Order. But in the year after the fall of Starlight Beacon — while mourning those lost in the destruction, including her own Padawan — Vernestra pulled back from the Order and shifted her focus to heal herself.

Yord Fandar

Yord, a Jedi Knight and guardian from the Jedi Temple, is an overachiever and a rule follower. He is highly trained, devoutly disciplined, and dedicated to the defense of the Republic, but his need to be a by-the-book Jedi can cloud his mind.

Kelnacca

Kelnacca, a Wookiee Jedi, is a loner who lives a solitary life.

Qimir

A shiftless drifter with seemingly no cares at all other than his own amusements, Qimir is a former smuggler who now makes his living as a trader, procuring unusual things and enjoying a life of leisure. He is a supplier who has survived in some of the shadier starports of the galaxy.

[city-of-ladies]

"If there is one fact about the amazons that is indisputable, it is their consistently outstanding performance in combat. Not unexpectedly, practically the only author to cast doubt on this was Burton, for whom the idea that black females (not to speak of males) might excel on the battlefield was hard to accept: “The ‘Amazons’ boast themselves invulnerable, but readily retreat: an equal number of British charwomen, armed with the British broomstick, would - I lay, to speak Yorkishly— clear them off in very few hours.”Elsewhere he damns them with faint praise:‘The women are as brave as, if not braver than, their brethren in arms, who certainly do not shine in that department of manliness.”

The first inkling that the women soldiers of Dahomey might be first-class fighters comes from Labarthe’s informant who, in 1776, watched them perform shooting drills at Abomey and found them “very resolute”. By 1830, as Conneau learned at Whydah, their “bravery [was] a noted fact and [was] proverbial with the natives.” By the next decade the amazons’ reputation was established among Europeans too. At Cana in 1843 Freeman saw a “brigade” of them fire their guns. Not only did they shoot well, he says, but they “appeared totally void of fear”. The next year de Monléon remarked that the women had “often given striking proof of courage and audacity”. In 1845 Duncan saw amazon officers being rewarded for their “valour”.

Regarding the terror the women aroused among neighboring peoples, Chautard relates an anecdote from the 1880s. A group of amazons traveled from Whydah to Agoué, a port town beyond the kingdom near what is now Togo, perhaps as an escort for traders. The whole population crowded the town square to see the legendary ladies up close. The female “general” confronted the local male warriors and challenged the very best of them to a duel with swords to determine which sex was stronger. “In less than two minutes”, she boasted, “his head will adorn the tip of my sword!” To the shame of his sex, says Chautard, not one warrior volunteered.

The adjectives applied to the amazons over the decades were brave, courageous, valorous, valiant, fearless, intrepid, cruel, pitiless, merciless, implacable, relentless, bloodthirsty, fierce, ferocious, furious, audacious, impetuous, ardent, fanatic, disciplined, devoted (to the king), indomitable, redoubtable, formidable, vigorous, resolute, tenacious, determined, persevering. Often they were said to surpass their male colleagues — in valor, in intrepidity, in courage, in bravery, in cruelty, in discipline. “In this singular country”, Vallon reported, “the women’s army is accounted much more warlike than the men’s.” According to Bouët, there was no memory of any of the amazons fleeing combat whereas men had often been punished for doing it."

Amazons of Black Sparta: The Women Warriors of Dahomey, Stanley B. Alpern

[oldschoolfrp]

Warhammer 40,000 Rogue Trader (1987) included the Field Police of the Legiones Astartes in the first official full-color visual guide to Space Marine insignia. These troopers wear black armor and a red helmet with a black and yellow hazard stripe in place of a rank stripe, and a yellow and red curved flame-like insignia on the shoulder and back banner.

Mike McVey painted a miniature with this pattern identified as Marine Field Police, appearing in Warhammer 40,000 Chapter Approved – The Book of the Astronomican (1988):

There seems to have been only one Citadel miniature released that was specific to this unit, a single arm option for the marine riders of the Vincent Black Shadow Bike, seen in a 1988 mail order flyer (in upper right):

The concept of Field Police that hunted down offending marines made sense in the Rogue Trader era, when the chapters often press-ganged the worst criminal scum from a planet. Many recruits were young adult gang members and murderers whose violent tendencies were barely tempered and focused through the use of combat drugs and surgical enhancements. Imperial Field Police weren't needed any more after retconning the more disciplined backstory of the Adeptus Astartes. However a few later Forge World sources have made reference to this insignia on special disciplinary units within certain legions known to have problems with primal urges.

[stockexperttrading]

Do check out this:- Mastering Forex Trading: Tips and Tricks for Beginners

[aegor-bamfsteel]

What happened to Alys and Sigorn? I noticed that Jon never mentions them again after the wedding which is kinda weird. Did they leave to retake Karhold?

You’re right, they’re not mentioned by name after Jon X ADWD, when his final chapter is Jon XIII. What’s more, the Thenns themselves were last mentioned in Jon XI (takes place directly after the wedding) when he mentions their bronze weapons when Leathers asks how the Free Folk will fight the Others, implying they’re still there. The Thenns are mentioned more often than their Magnar, and known for being disciplined fighters. They’d be good allies for Jon to take Winterfell, especially since he and their new lady Alys seem to part in good terms, but no Thenns are mentioned among the Free Folk in Jon XIII, either in the Shieldhall at his right (Soren Shieldbreaker sat with his arms crossed against his chest. Farther back, Jon saw Gavin the Trader and Harle the Handsome whispering together. Ygon Oldfather sat amongst his wives, Howd Wanderer alone. Borroq leaned against a wall in a dark corner.”) or cheered their support for him (“Soren Shieldbreaker was on his feet, the Wanderer as well. Toregg the Tall, Brogg, Harle the Huntsman and Harle the Handsome both, Ygon Oldfather, Blind Doss, even the Great Walrus”) and it seems most Freefolk leaders have come to the ShieldHall (though not all, like Halleck or Kyleg) who haven’t already been sent somewhere else (Morna to Queensgate, Devyn to Greenguard). Given the absence of any Thenns at the Shieldhall meeting in Jon XIII (which seemed to contain most Free Folk leaders, making Sigorn not being there seem notable), it’s probably fair to assume Sigorn, Alys, and the remaining Thenns had already left Castle Black for Karhold. Although you’re right; GRRM probably should’ve made them leaving more apparent.

[checkoutmybookshelf]

Welcome to Emelan

My (super subjective and objectively non-empirical) experience has been that Tamora Pierce's Tortall Universe is where most of her fans begin, and it seems to be her more popular universe. Heck, I started in Tortall. But as I read more, and found more of Pierce's books, I found the Circle Universe, and I gotta say, for all my love and nostalgia for the Tortall Universe, I think my heart lives in Emelan with Sandry, Briar, Daja, and Tris. I certainly tried to balance my Rosethorn half with my Lark tendencies and my extremely Niko academic oeuvre when I was teaching, and I love that the Circle Universe gets away from more traditional medieval europe settings. Let's talk The Circle of Magic Quartet.

Sandry's Book introduces the world, the magic system, and our four protagonists. Sandreline Fa Toren is almost royalty in two countries and has exactly zero compunction about hopping back and forth between "just Sandy" and "Lady Sandreline" as the occasion calls for it. We love her, and honestly she's perfect. Joining Sandry at Discipline Cottage in Winding Circle Temple are former street rat Briar Moss, neglected and rejected merchant daughter Trisana Chandler, and orphaned and exiled Trader Daja Kisubo.

This book brings the four together and they learn that they are ambient mages--mages who manipulate the power inherent in the world rather than mages who use power inherent in themselves (academic mages). The magic system in the Circle Universe is objectively my favorite, because it is so detailed and so nuanced and so tied to craftsmanship. It's something I've never seen done better than it is here. And because our four protagonists are incredible, they also manage to spin their powers together, making them exponentially stronger together than they could have imagined being individually--which is just a stunnign thematic tie-in. A+ no notes.

Tris's Book explores Tris's past, her magic, and the choices she has to make to keep her terrifyingly powerful weather magic under control despite her deep emotional wounds and temper. Tris is honestly one of my two favorite characters in this series because this girl just has SO MANY feelings and she has to literally learn to take herself in hand to not accidentally hurt or kill anyone. It also explores Tris's relationships to her blood and found families, and Pierce makes no bones about how sometimes family can be irredeemably toxic, and that it's ok to choose the found family that loves and supports you. Honestly Tris needs a hug, but good luck getting through the lightning to give it to her.

This book also really deepens the relationships between each protagonist and their teachers. I love how much time Pierce spends in all of her books focusing on student-teacher relationships, and the ones here, in a literal educational setting (non-traditional though it is), are top tier. This continues to be expanded in later books, but Niko and Tris's relationship really cements here and I love them as a student and teacher.

Also, there are pirates in this book. That's pretty cool.

Daja's Book takes reader and protagonists beyond the walls of Winding Circle and expands the world at the end of a difficult, dry summer that was poised for a firey fall and a possible starving winter. The Duke of Emelan is touring the outer estates to assess who needs what help and what he can do.

Meanwhile, the book explores Trader culture and Daja's relationship to it. This is done so spectacularly that I am loath to give any spoilers, but suffice it to say that not only does this book explore the downsides of exclusionary cultural practices, it also explores the complex emotions of being excluded and both knowing it's wrong but desperately missing being included. Disability is also handled spectacularly in this book, and I love it for that.

While Daja is exploring her own culture from the outside, Sandry, Briar, and Tris are dealing with the aftermath of spinning their powers together in Sandry's Book. This is very much a subplot, but it works beautifully to expand the worldbuilding and magic system.

Briar's Book sees everyone return to Emelan proper, and this book hits DIFFERENT after 2020. Winding Circle must deal with a mysterious plague, and honestly after Covid, I can't actually read this book without sobbing. It's damn good, and Briar and Rosethorn are just the absolute peak student-teacher relationship. This book also really highlights Briar and Tris's relationship, which will continue to grow and develop throuhgout the Circle Universe books.

I absolutely recommend these books. Tamora Pierce is technically YA, but the protagonists are between 10 and 12 in these books, so they might feel more middle-grade than YA at times, but that truly does not diminish any of the very human themes and challenges.

These books also have absolutely stunningly performed and edited full-cast audiobooks, and I cannot recommend those enough either. I now read these books in the voice actors' voices, and that just makes the whole experience more magical.

[arrozaurus]

One of the primary driving forces of the particular trade system designed in the 1980s and 1990s was always to allow multinationals the freedom to scour the globe in search of the cheapest and most exploitable labor force. It was a journey that passed through Mexico and Central America’s sweatshop maquiladoras and had a long stopover in South Korea. But by the end of the 1990s, virtually all roads led to China, a country where wages were extraordinarily low, trade unions were brutally suppressed, and the state was willing to spend seemingly limitless funds on massive infrastructure projects—modern ports, sprawling highway systems, endless numbers of coal-fired power plants, massive dams—all to ensure that the lights stayed on in the factories and the goods made it from the assembly lines onto the container ships on time. A free trader’s dream, in other words—and a climate nightmare.

A nightmare because there is a close correlation between low wages and high emissions, or as Malm puts it, “a causal link between the quest for cheap and disciplined labor power and rising CO2 emissions.” And why wouldn’t there be? The same logic that is willing to work laborers to the bone for pennies a day will burn mountains of dirty coal while spending next to nothing on pollution controls because it’s the cheapest way to produce. So when the factories moved to China, they also got markedly dirtier. As Malm points out, Chinese coal use was declining slightly between 1995 and 2000, only for the explosion in manufacturing to send it soaring once again. It’s not that the companies moving their production to China wanted to drive up emissions: they were after the cheap labor, but exploited workers and an exploited planet are, it turns out, a package deal.

A destabilized climate is the cost of deregulated, global capitalism, its unintended, yet unavoidable consequence.

This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein