#especially retaining users

[rcbertleckie]

Do you think they will release the mota series on bluray at some point?

well anon... i honestly would not be able to guess... while i think the hankspielbergoetzman trio woooouuulllddd, as far as i know apple is a lil bitch when it comes to physical releases of their exclusive content so it really depends on what sort of contract they have

[aquamarine-oceanfront]

The Amazing Digital Circus is receiving a manga adaptation in CoroCoro!

Rough translation, from right to left:

Large text on right: "Where is the exit?" Smaller text on right: "The show everyone's talking about, with over 400 million views on YouTube!!" Large text on left: "The world-renowned dark comedy cartoon, fully adapted to comics!"

A few hours ago, the official Japanese TADC Twitter account revealed that a manga adaptation of the series would begin running in the December issue of CoroCoro Ichiban! (to be released on October 21st, 2024). It will also be published simultaneously in the online edition of Weekly CoroCoro Comic - despite the magazine's name, it will still be on a monthly schedule.

So what'll it be like? Well, while every magazine under the CoroCoro brand is generally targeted towards grade schoolers, CoroCoro Ichiban! in particular skews even younger, frequently featuring gag comedies. Furthermore, the author - known mononymously as "Sakura" (咲良) - has experience in that genre, having adapted Nintendo's ARMS into ARMS: Skillful Gag Fight! (ARMS スゴウデギャグファイト！) for the magazine between 2017 and 2018.

However, I'm reasonably confident this adaptation will retain the bleaker edges of the original series. Not only does the above promotional image explicitly call it a "dark comedy" (and further implies it'll be a faithful adaptation by using "完全," translated above as "full"), but this is the page they chose to release as a preview:

Rough translation, again:

(The bit above the logo just means "New series!") [Why is this girl running...?] Gotta hide, gotta hide, gotta hide,

(As a side note: I should mention that the above two images were both taken from the artist's later tweet about the manga, since they were higher quality. They're cropped a little more, but not enough to really infringe on their contents.)

Looking over the QRTs, both Japanese and English responses were equally surprised to learn about this. A couple of Japanese Twitter users were specifically bewildered that it was running in the especially child-focused Ichiban! - here's one as an example:

Very roughly translated:

"A Digital Circus series will run in Weekly CoroCoro Comic!" 👆 Huh?!?! Well, if it's in Weekly CoroCoro, I guess I'll check it out… "Also running in CoroCoro Ichiban! (mag for young children)!" 👆 HUH????!!!!???!!!????!!!!!!!!!?!

Finally, for completeness's sake, here's the last promotional image from the announcement:

[taikeero-lecoredier]

RECENT UPDATES ON THE BAD INTERNET CALIFORNIA BILLS:

Sadly, both AB1949 and SB976 passed and are now on their way to the governors desk.

We need him to veto them so they dont become Law.

If you havent Heard of the danger of those bills for the Internet , this post explain it thoroughly :

- Post doing a deep explanation on those bills here

I CANNOT emphasize enough how these would have a global effect on the Internet given that most websites and apps originates from California and not all of them could afford either following those bills or moving states.

Now, as the bills are on their way to the governor, we need Californian citizens to voice their oppositions to those bills to the Governor Gavin Newsome HERE

(Non California peeps, we are urging you to share this as well!!! )

Please keep in mind that calling with phone is much,much more efficient.

You can also send faxes with Faxzero

Here are scripts you can use as arguments : (text/alt version below the read more )

Than you for reading. Even if youre not from California, please spread the word anyway ! Make posts,tweets,etc

REBLOGS ENCOURAGED

TEXT VERSION :

AB 1949

Hello, my name is (INSERT NAME HERE) and I'm one of the Senator's constituents from (INSERT CITY HERE). I'm calling to urge the Senator to vote NO on AB 1949, the amendment to the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2020. While this bill's intent is to prevent the sharing and sale of minor's information under the age of 18, the method it would intend to do so by is written far too broadly for it to be safely and reasonably implemented.

While this bill retains a safer standard of the business requiring actual knowledge of a consumer being under the age of 18 to be held liable for the sharing or sale of personal information, its wording is still too broad to exclude a default usage of age verification by online businesses in order to protect themselves from liability. Taking measures such as age verification, age assurance, or other data collection and analysis to determine the age of users. Even though measures like this have been proven to be vulnerable to data breaches no matter how secure they proclaim to be. Such as this year's largest discovered breach of AU10TIX, which supplies age verification to companies like TikTok, X, Uber, LinkedIn, Paypal, and many others.

As it stands, this bill is far too broad in its wording and enforcement of its age-specific measures to be considered a safe piece of legislation. Which is why I urge the Senator to vote in opposition to this measure.

Vote NO on AB 1949.

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

SB 976

Hello, my name is (INSERT NAME HERE) and I'm one of the Assembly member's constituents from (INSERT CITY HERE). I'm calling to urge the Assembly member to vote NO on SB 976, the Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction Act. Although this bill has intent to protect the mental and emotional health of California's youth, the method this bill would intend to use could be counterproductive to that goal, or even endanger them further.

One of this bill's primary measures includes requiring verifiable parental consent to allow websites to display “addictive” feeds to minor users. However, the ways “verify” the identity and age of a responsible parent are often invasive and dangerous. Especially since these methods have proven repeatedly to be vulnerable to data breaches that can leak sensitive information to bad actors. Such as this year's largest discovered breach of AU10TIX, which supplies age verification to companies like TikTok, X, Uber, LinkedIn, Paypal, and many others. To determine if this is necessary at all would also require collecting even more data on minors and non-minors alike to determine who would even require these measures to be set in place. Especially when it would have control over someone's access to a website or application based on the time of day, as this bill would require in order to “reasonably determine” the user is not a minor.

The vagueness of this bill's text at all is dangerous as well. The broad-spectrum definition it gives of “addictive internet-based service or application” could cause an unintended censorship effect where minors and adults alike could be blocked from accessing information purely because some part of a website or application uses a “feed” which could arguably fit the bill's definition of “addictive”

With all of this in mind, I urge the Assembly member to vote in opposition of this measure to protect the privacy and safety of California's minors and adults alike.

Vote NO on SB 976.

[goingmerryfics]

Turned into a child w/ Sanji, Robin, & Ace

Content: GN reader, fully platonic/familial relationship since they are literally children here. Light One Piece Backstory Spoilers

Notes* In this scenario, they’ve been turned into a child by an unnamed devil fruit user. They don’t retain their adult memories, but they remember everything after it wears off! I wanted to do this prompt for a while because these three really deserve some hugs and love

Content with spoilers: hinting at past child abuse 

Sanji

He’s. BABY

He doesn’t know where he is and he’s scared, so you find him hiding under the table after you weren’t able to find him in the usual spots on the ship

You didn’t understand the situation at first, but you couldn’t miss those cute little curly brows

You call his name, and he looks even more confused at the fact that a stranger knows his name

So you move to sit on your knees a safe distance away from Sanji so he can feel a little safer

You only knew bits and pieces of the treatment he went through with his birth father and siblings, but it was enough to understand why he would be scared of adults. So you offer him a soft smile, full of patience

You assure him that everything is ok, he’s safe, and that you aren’t going to hurt him

Slowly he starts to emerge from under the table and asks where he is

You offer your hand to him, asking if he’d like to see

He’s hesitant, but you look so sweet, so he trusts you and takes your hand

You take him out of the room to see the ocean and his eyes light up

It makes your heart ache

He looks at you with a big smile

“Is this the All Blue!?”

You gently tell him that no, not quite. But he is on a ship that’s trying to find it, and he looks out over the railing, scanning the horizon

Sanji is sweet on everyone, loving the attention from the girls (as always) and yet still getting into tiffs with Zoro, even at this young age

You have to stop Zoro from trying to fight him

Everyone loves hanging out with little Sanji, and he keeps gravitating back to you with a big smile

He doesn’t seem to remember Zeff when you ask him, so you leave it be

He still cooks for everyone come dinner, but you’re there to help him- especially when he cuts his finger

You calm him- you almost cried when he did -and then kiss his bandaged finger for him to help him feel better

The next day when he returns to his proper age, he shuts himself up in the kitchen in embarrassment, baking anything he can think of so he doesn’t have to face everyone

Robin

It was almost impossible to find her the morning of. Poor thing was so worried that she hid too, just a little bit better than Sanji did

When you do find her, it’s in the storage room of the ship, and she’s already crying

You quickly assure her that she’s not in trouble, nor are you going to giver her to the marines

She’s not comforted about the fact that she’s in a pirate ship though, so she might be around the age after Ohara’s death, maybe a few years after being on the run

She was open with you about her past after the events of Enei’s lobby, but it was always painful to talk about so you never pressed the subject

She didn’t look like she was going to be leaving anytime soon, so you promise to get her some things to make her stay more comfortable

You bring her a blanket and some of her favorite books, which she perks up at

Sanji enters to pass off a snack and almost passes out from how cute and little she is

You totally agree with him, but you still have to shove him out before he frightens her too badly

She only seems to touch her snack when you’re not looking

You didn’t want to leave her completely on her own so you were keeping her company

The more time passed and the more the crew poked in to say hello, the more she began to relax

She started to ask you questions- like help with reading a big word, or about how she got on the ship

That one was a little harder to explain, so you simply said you weren’t sure but that she had the whole crew protecting her from any big bag marines

You were glad that there were no bases of theirs in your path for now

Eventually you’re able to coax her out of the storage room just in time for dinner

She sits next to you and keeps looking around cautiously- the group was chaotic, and you were worried that maybe it would scare her back into her shell

But it actually does the opposite, and you’re happy that she’s finally relaxed

When she returns to normal, she thanks you for being by her side and calming her down when she needed it

Ace

The absolute biggest asshole ever

Adult Ace was this cocky, flirty, goofy guy. He was fun and knew how to have a good time

But him as a child is the worst

He is, max, 10 years old and the most conniving little shit

Not only did he go straight to throwing hands when you accidentally uncovered him hiding in the pantry stuffing his face, but he kicked you in the knee before running out to find a new spot

You’d warned Marco and any of the others you passed after that while your knee ached in pain

It wasn’t long until he was eventually found again, this time by Whitebeard of all people, which ended up with them fighting

It was clear that Whitebeard was trying to go easy on the little guy, but he was getting annoyed

Eventually Ace is picked up by the ankle and held out in front of him almost akin to garbage while he flung around, swinging his arms wildly and kicking at Whitebeard’s wrist

“Let go of me, you stupid old man!”

It took a while, but eventually you, Marco, and Whitebeard managed to calm him down enough to talk to him

He sat with his arms crossed and sour

He was only acting out as a fear response due to his lack of memory, of course

But you were still kind of unhappy when it was decided that you were babysitting him

Ace owes you big time

But even with the attitude he gives, if he’s not throwing hands, he’s a pretty cute little guy

You spend the whole day talking about your adventures on the crew when you realize that’s what piques his interest

Suddenly he’s all smiles and he’s engaging with you happily

At dinner, he still stuffs his face and falls asleep at random right there at the table

You carry him to your room to sleep there since someone needed to pick up on Ace’s missed duties today, and when you return he’s still asleep, but back to his usual age

So you scream for him to wake up and apologize for kicking you

He laughs, the dickhead, and apologizes.

“I’ll kiss it better if you want. But tell me- was I a cute kid?”

[tinystepsforward]

please tell tumblr staff i appreciate them and i’m sorry their boss is a fucking moron.

(this is about this post)

i'll tell the ones i know <3

i would really love if people stopped tagging staff into angry rants, or using "fuck staff" tags, but i know that's probably not going to happen. more specifically i would love people to stop making threats against individual staff members, especially trans ones!

it's already difficult enough to be where they are now without the weight of being piled on in reaction to something that isn't their fault, that hurts them in ways it doesn't hurt the average tumblr user. i disagree with a hell of a lot of my ex-colleagues about a lot of things and am far more radical than the majority of them but none of them deserve this. it's honestly just fucking weird. like i don't care what the political opinions of an individual amazon employee are, i'm not acting like even the most bigoted shithead working in a warehouse is personally responsible for the way amazon is ruining lives — or that their life isn't one of the ones being ruined.

the one thing matt is right about is that unbridled, thoughtless hostility toward all staff makes it harder to retain people who can improve tumblr. in particular, marginalised staff get enough of this shit in other parts of their life and no amount of wanting to change shit for the better is worth dealing with this for. we burn out faster and harder under lateral violence than people who aren't affected will.

[mostlysignssomeportents]

You can’t shop your way out of a monopoly

I'm on tour with my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me in TUCSON (Mar 9-10), then SAN FRANCISCO (Mar 13), Anaheim, and more!

If you're running a business, you can either invest at being good at your business, or good at Google SEO. Choose the former and your customers will love you – but they won't be able to find you, thanks to the people who choose the latter. And if you're going to invest in top-notch SEO, why bother investing in quality at all?

For more than a decade, Google has promised that it would do something about "lead gens" – services that spoof Google into thinking that they are local businesses, pushing down legit firms on both regular search and Google Maps (these downranked businesses invested in quality, not SEO, remember). Search for a roofer, a plumber, an electrician, or a locksmith (especially a locksmith), and most or all of the results will be lead-gens. They'll take your call, pretend to be a local business, and then call up some half-qualified bozo to come out and charge you four times the going rate for substandard work:

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/31/business/fake-online-locksmiths-may-be-out-to-pick-your-pocket-too.html

Some of them just take your money and they "go back to the shop for a tool" and never return:

https://www.riverfronttimes.com/news/when-a-fake-business-used-a-real-st-louis-address-things-got-weird-32087998

Google has been promising to fix this since the late aughts, and to be fair, it's a little better. There was once a time when a map of Manhattan showed more locksmiths than taxis:

https://blumenthals.com/blog/2009/02/18/google-maps-proves-more-locksmiths-in-nyc-than-cabs/

But GMaps is trapped in the enshittification squeeze. On the one hand, the company wants to provide a good and reliable map. On the other hand, the company makes money selling "ads" that are actually payola, where a business can pay to get to the top of the listings or get displayed on the map itself. Zoom out of Google's map of central London and the highlighted landmarks are a hilarious mix of "organic" and paid listings: the British Museum, Buckingham Palace, the Barbican, the London Eye…and a random oral and maxillofacial clinic in the financial district:

https://twitter.com/dylanbeattie/status/1764711667663831455

Hell of a job "organizing the world's information and making it universally accessible and useful," Big G. Doubtless the average Londoner finds the presence of this clinic super helpful in orienting themselves relative to the map on their phone screens, and it's a real service to tourists hoping to hit all the major landmarks.

It's not just Maps users who'd noticed the rampant enshittification. Even the original design team is so horrified they're moved to speak out about the moral injury they experience seeing the product they worked so hard on turned into a giant pile of shit:

https://twitter.com/elizlaraki/status/1727351922254852182

Now, when it comes to locksmiths, I'm lucky. My neighborhood in Burbank includes the wonderful Golden State Lock and Safe, which has been in business since 1942:

https://www.goldenstatelock.com/

But you wouldn't know it from searching GMaps for a locksmith near me. That search turns up a long list of scams:

https://www.google.com/maps/search/locksmith/@34.1750451,-118.369948,14z/data=!3m1!4b1?entry=ttu

It also turns up plenty of Keyme machines – these are private-equity backed, self-serve key-cutting machines placed in grocery stores. Despite Keyme calling itself a "locksmith," it's just a badly secured, overcaptilized, enshittification-bound system for collecting and retaining shapefiles for the keys to millions of homes, cross-referenced with billing information that will make it easy for the eventual hackers to mass-produce keys for all those poor suckers' houses.

(Hilariously, Keyme claims to be an "AI" company):

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200114005194/en/KeyMe-Raises-35-Million-to-Further-Its-Mission-of-Building-the-Premier-Locksmith-Services-Company-in-the-Nation

But despite the fact that you can literally see the Golden State storefront from Google Streetview, Google Maps claims to have no knowledge of it. Instead, Streetview labels Golden State "Keyme" – and displays a preview showing a locksmith using a tool to break into a jeep (I'd dearly love to know how the gadget next to the Slurpee machine at the 7-Eleven will drive itself to your jeep and unlock the door for you when you lose your keys):

https://www.google.com/maps/place/KeyMe+Locksmiths/@34.1752624,-118.3487531,3a,75y,350.19h,90.21t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1ssHrtqjqvgFir3NBauMy13Q!2e0!7i16384!8i8192!4m15!1m8!3m7!1s0x80c2959cd65dbb1b:0x4b3744cf87492a71!2sBurbank+Blvd+%26+N+Hollywood+Way,+Burbank,+CA+91505!3b1!8m2!3d34.1750025!4d-118.3493484!16s%2Fg%2F11f37_3lq8!3m5!1s0x80c2951cedbf4d39:0xe8ff9fd5872e66e9!8m2!3d34.1755176!4d-118.349!16s%2Fg%2F11mw7nr4fx?entry=ttu

It's pretty clear to me what's going on here. Keyme has hired some SEO creeps and/or paid off Google, flooding the zone with listings for its machines. Meanwhile, Golden State, being merely good at locksmithing, has lost the SEO wars. Perhaps Golden State could shift some of its emphasis from being good at locksmithing in order to get better at SEO, but this is a race that will always be won by the firm that puts the most into SEO, which will always be the firm that puts the least into quality.

Whenever I write about this stuff, people inevitably ask me which search engine they should use, if not Google?

And there's the rub.

Google used predatory pricing and anticompetitive mergers to acquire a 90% search market-share. The company spends more than $26b/year buying default position in every place where you might possibly encounter a new search engine. This created the "kill zone" – the VC's term of art for businesses that no one will invest in, because Google makes sure that no one will ever find out it exists:

https://www.theverge.com/23802382/search-engine-google-neeva-android

That's why the only serious competitor to Google is Bing, another Big Tech company (Bing is also the primary source of results on Duckduckgo, which is why DDG sometimes makes exceptions for Microsoft's privacy-invading tracking):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DuckDuckGo#Controversies

Google tells us that the quid-pro-quo of search monopolization is search excellence. The hundreds of billions it makes every year through monopoly control gives it the resources it needs to fight spammers and maintain search result quality. Anyone who's paid attention recently knows that this is bullshit: Google search quality is in free-fall, across all its products:

https://downloads.webis.de/publications/papers/bevendorff_2024a.pdf

But Google doesn't seem to think it has a problem. Rather than devoting all its available resources to fighting botshit, spam and scams, the company set $80 billion dollars alight last year with a stock buyback that was swiftly followed with 12,000 layoffs, followed by multiple subsequent rounds of layoffs:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/02/21/im-feeling-unlucky/#not-up-to-the-task

The scams that slip through Google's cracks are sometimes nefarious, but just as often they're decidedly amateurish, the kind of thing that Google could fix by throwing money at the problem, say, to validate that new ads for confirmed Google merchants come from the merchant's registered email addresses and go to the merchant's registered website:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/02/24/passive-income/#swiss-cheese-security

Search is a capital intensive business, and there are real returns to scale, as the UK Competition and Market Authority's excellent 2020 study describes:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5fe4957c8fa8f56aeff87c12/Appendix_I_-_search_quality_v.3_WEB_.pdf

But Google doesn't seem to think that its search needs that $80 billion to fight the spamwars. That's the thing about monopolists, they get complacent. As Lily Tomlin's "Ernestine the AT&T operator" used to say, "We don't care, we don't have to, we're the phone company."

That's why I'm so excited about the DOJ Antitrust Division monopolization case against Google. Trusting one company to "organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful," was a failure:

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-sues-google-monopolizing-digital-advertising-technologies

I understand why people want to know which search engine they should use instead of Google, and I get why, "There aren't any good search engines" is such an unsatisfactory answer. I understand why each fresh round of printer-company fuckery prompts people to ask "which printer should I get?" and I understand why "There are only six major printer companies and they're all suffering from end-stage enshittification" isn't what anyone wants to hear.

We want to be able to vote with our wallets, because it's so much faster and more convenient than voting with our ballots. But the vote-with-your-wallet election is rigged for the people with the thickest wallets. Try as hard as you'd like, you just can't shop your way out of a monopoly – that's like trying to recycle your way out of the climate emergency. Systemic problems need systemic solutions – not individual ones.

That's why the new antitrust matters so much. The answer to monopolies is to break up companies, block and unwind mergers, ban deceptive and unfair conduct. "Caveat emptor" is the scammer's motto. You shouldn't have to be an expert on lead gen scams to hire a locksmith without getting ripped off.

There are good products and services out there. Earlier this year, we decided to install a (non-networked) programmable pushbutton lock. I asked Deviant Ollam – whom I know from Defcon's Lockpicking Village – for a recommendation and he suggested the Schlage FE595:

https://www.schlage.com/en/home/products/FE595PLYFFFFLA.html

I liked it so much I bought another one for my office door. Eric from Golden State Lock and Safe installed it while I wrote this blog-post. It's great. I recommend both of 'em – 10/10, would do business again.

Name your price for 18 of my DRM-free ebooks and support the Electronic Frontier Foundation with the Humble Cory Doctorow Bundle.

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

https://pluralistic.net/2024/03/05/the-map-is-not-the-territory/#vapor-locksmith

Image: alicia rae (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kehole_Red.jpg

CC BY 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en

--

Budhiargomiko (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wasteland.jpg

CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

[griffinswitch]

Some headcanons for Griffin, Faragonda and Saladin

I have some headcanons about Saladin, Griffin and Faragonda. All three of them have been "cursed" (not cursed per se, I'm using the word 'curse' as a metaphor for their trauma) during the Company of Light era.

Saladin prides himself in his powerful abilities as a wizard, especially in his strength.

When the time came to face a battle between the Ancestral Witches and their minions during one of the Company of Light’s missions, one of them cursed him to age quickly, which heavily affected his height too, causing him to shrink. It took him a while to adjust to his condition, but despite his curse, he is still able to retain the potency of his magical abilities with some limitations that comes with being cursed, which Valtor in Season 3 insinuates that he is the weakest (obvs he is far from that!) among the three points of magic.

With Faragonda, being able to have better control of her powers is one of the most important things to her. For most part of her childhood up to her early teenage years, she struggled understanding herself and her powers. Growing up from a family of witches and wizards, she was born a witch and because she was unable to control her powers (thanks to the pressure from her parents), despite the help of Griffin when they were younger, she decided to transfer from Cloud Tower to Alfea to become a fairy.

When she switched schools, it had caused a slight rivalry and bitterness between her and Griffin since light magic is the more socially acceptable type of magic. By channeling positive emotions, it has helped her manage and understand her powers better. This also led to an interest in teaching herself convergence at Alfea (which she teaches in the series), particularly converging with dark magic users. With Faragonda's own research in convergence with light and dark magic to fight the forces of evil, she had hoped it would bridge the gap between fairies and witches (especially from Alfea and Cloud Tower), hoped it would bring her and Griffin together like they once were and hoped it would help the Council understand that light and dark can work in unison, and that dark magic users are important to the balance of magic. I'll expand on Faragonda's role, powers and background in my CoL fic later on. Similar to Griffin's own research in my headcanons for her.

Anyway, during Faragonda’s mission to rescue Griffin from the Ancestral Witches' lair in Obsidian, everything was going to plan when Faragonda found herself in a trap set by one of the members from the Wizards of the Black Circle, Yllidith (a character from the comics who we do not see in the show). Long story short, Yllidith plucked Faragonda’s wings in front of Griffin (who was magi-cuffed at the time, also tied to her fate, so she couldn't access her powers as she watched in horror). Hagen and Saladin both came to their rescue and fought off the wizard and other beings of evil. And with all the strength she had left, Faragonda opened a portal and teleported them back to safety despite being severely wounded. Even with the help of her Enchantix fairy dust or any fairy who was at Enchantix level, there had been no cure in growing her fairy wings back.

However, since witches don't need wings to fly, Griffin taught Faragonda to fly with a LOT of trial and error + it had taken Faragonda years to heal from losing her wings. She also had gotten a little better at channeling her negative emotions but she was still better suited as a fairy and was at her best with transmitting positive emotions despite being wingless.

Griffin’s curse is thanks to Valtor for her betrayal during their final encounter with one another. He has cursed her to never know peace. Anything she holds dear somehow gets taken away from her, even momentarily and she's in a constant state of chaos, also most likely from her PTSD from the war(s). (Faragonda helps Griffin cope with and manage her curse, they both do!)

Cloud Tower (CT) is one of the things she holds dear because it is her safe space, not only for herself or the many objects (some rare, dangerous and ancient relics) that is home to it but also for her students who she deeply care for.

The times when CT was invaded by the Trix and with them being related to the Ancestral Witches (AW), you can imagine how triggering it was for her, especially when she’s worked incredibly hard to make sure CT is a school where witches of dark magic can learn how to control their powers for good and help fight evil. She fears that, with the Trix being in control of CT, history might repeat itself and cause an army of dark magic users who uses their powers for evil causing an imbalance in magic.

And let’s not forget when Valtor took control of CT and her students, it had really caused her dearly. He even sent her to prison in her own school, a cruel way to face her punishment for betraying him all those years ago. He had hoped she'd rot in her prison cell for eternity, to be a prisoner of her own mind from her grief and guilt, the same way he did when he was trapped in the Omega Dimension. (Of course, we know what canonically happened in Season 3).

[powdermelonkeg]

Something websites (*cough* Tumblr *cough*) need to learn is that what retains an audience isn't an abundance of new bells and whistles to play with, it's a coherent experience overall.

When someone joins a website, you don't need to grab their attention and hold it. They're already testing the waters. They've agreed to sign up. You've won on that front, and they're there for something specific you already have that they're hoping works well.

What drives them away is frustration.

Frustration, frustration, frustration.

Learning curves are going to be a part of any new website experience; they're something the user comes to terms with, in their own time. But broken or bad features are going to make them jump sites.

On top of that, constantly adding new features makes them feel like all the hard work they've put in to learning what you have isn't worth it; your website looks unstable and your staff looks incompetent, because it gives the impression that you don't know what you're doing.

You are floundering. It makes your new users nervous. It makes your old users hesitate to bring anyone else on board. And why should they? Why should they put effort into it if you're going to throw that effort away next Tuesday? Why get used to a UI that you're not going to bother to keep? Why customize anything if you're going to whittle that customization away?

Between that and the broken, unattended features of this site—the tag organization failing, the inability to look up posts word-for-word, the video player either refusing to play or yanking you to the top of the dashboard, images taking forever to load, advertisements blaring at full volume when you scroll past, you have your problem.

You have the reason why your numbers are failing.

It's not that you're not interesting enough.

It's not that you're too difficult to understand.

It's that you aren't improving what you have, yet you keep adding more half-broken things and unwanted copycat features to the pile.

It's that you're losing your identity in pursuit of a hypothetical perfect customer.

It's that you are actively telling your user base that you prefer those hypothetical customers over them. And your user base, your real people who make you happen, are smart enough to know where your priorities lie.

The bulk of this post talks about Tumblr, but other sites have gone the same way. Twitter is dead and its corpse is decaying in the street. Reddit has sabotaged any trust its users had in its management. If you'd like a really old example—I used to use Fanfiction Net. It's not the most intuitive website in the world, but it was the first one I called home.

I used it to host my works. The adware now on it makes it a hassle to navigate. The bots make comment sections and private messages a dread rather than a joy. So I moved on.

I also used to use it to collaborate on stories with my now-roommate. The message limit was 300 a day. When you're writing dialogue between characters, that's nothing.

So I moved on. We started messaging on Facebook. It was better, it didn't have a limit. But then I learned Discord existed, and I could edit messages, make dedicated channels, etc. So I moved on from Facebook to Discord. And Discord had a steep learning curve, especially if you're trying to make your own server rather than contribute to one. But, most importantly, the payoff was worth it.

If Discord changed its layout every other month while I was learning it, and broke how its reactions worked, and kept shifting what it meant to create a channel? If it opted me into servers I didn't sign up for, in hopes of engagement? If its text never formatted correctly, or its search function only went back a day or two?

I would have gone right back to Facebook. Even if it's a more basic experience, basic is always preferable to unstable.

Figure out what you want, websites.

Slow growth, or a gamble?

You're paying for your magic slot machine in users.

[jthealien]

To key or not to key, that is the question. (Aka I wanted to put my two cents into the “Buddy is a key” theory since Book of Deacon had more people talking about it, for good reason.)

So what do I think? Uh. Well. It’s complicated. I’ll try to keep this organized, but man do I love tangents.

TLDR: Buddy’s not a key, not not a key, but a secret third thing.

First off, Book of Deacon established some pretty major things, specifically that keys can go into books and what keys look like inside of books. I’ll focus on the latter for a bit.

While much more human looking, Silver still retains a lot of her key (ha.) features: partially gray skin, gem eyes, a general sparkliness.

She’s so shiny :D

I’m going to make an assumption that most of those traits (especially the first two) apply to the other keys’ human forms.

And Buddy? Well he doesn’t have any of those. There’s absolutely zero color on that guy that isn’t #FFFFFF, and while his eyes do kind of stare into your soul — they also look like normal human ones.

But we do know that keys can make minor appearance changes to their users. Considering skin modifications like tattoos are possible, who’s to say any key-like features could just be covered up? It hasn’t been stated otherwise, so that can’t be discounted as an option.

But, in Dreams by Night (it’s not one of my rants without me bringing up that episode) we get our first — and to date, only — actual glimpse of Buddy that isn’t in a book or dream.

From what we see of his ear, it doesn’t look very key like. Silver’s ear had some of her key skin tone, so if Buddy was a key, his ear would be a different color as well. It isn’t, though.

But, hypothetically: if Buddy was a key, what key would he be?

I’m almost certain the answer is Violet.

I’ve pointed this out before, but they look really similar. Like, down to the eye color, eye shape, and weird little smirk.

It’s likely not a coincidence. I can’t really think of a reason why Violet would make any other key look like a more masculine version of herself — or if that’s even possible for her to do.

So yeah, he’d be Violet. (I’ll get into the implications of that later because oh boy.)

If that's the case though, can keys put themselves into books? I mean, maybe?? But I feel like that wouldn’t work. Another reason why I don’t really believe that Buddy is a key.

But I can’t ignore that there’s definitely details that’d be explained by it.

That thing around Buddy’s neck in his dream? Other people have pointed out that it kinda looks like a keyring. And yeah, it really does. I’m not quite sure what else it’d be.

How does Buddy know every detail of every story Chase goes into? Keys have that ability.

Why doesn’t Buddy like water? Well, metals can rust.

There’s another thing I can’t bring up because the episode is in fastpass jail as I’m writing this. But it deals with keys not enjoying being stuck as keys with the keyring. (Other fastpassers know what I’m referring to, I think).

All that being said, I’m going to go over some possibilities. Kind of in order from how little to how much I believe them

1. Buddy is a key, but not Violet

It’s not impossible, but I’ve already mentioned the reasons I’m convinced that if he were a key, he’d be Violet. So I’m going to write this one off for now.

Well uh, I would if it weren’t for Chekov’s Gun (or I guess Chekov’s Keyple, in this case).

Why would Punko use a whole episode to establish that keys can use other keys for books, if that wasn’t going to come up again in some way? I suspect that payoff is going to happen this season. Otherwise, it’d make more sense to introduce this detail later.

Unless the focus isn’t meant to be on that ability of the keys, but rather what the keys look like. In a way this might be meant to prove Buddy couldn’t be a key.

But, for the most part, I believe this option the least.

2. Buddy is a key, and Buddy is Violet

I don’t really think this one is true, but it might be my favorite just for the pure symbolism and potential. I might make an AU about it tbh.

Them being one in the same would be the simplest(?) explanation as to why they look so similar.

It’d also mean, technically, Buddy/Violet is in some way trans. Besides me just thinking that’d be neat (source: I’m trans), it’d also have some fascinating story implications.

Like, Buddy has some pretty heavy identity issues, what with him thinking he has to fit the role of the villain, because he doesn't know how to act outside of that. Chase then shows him he can be more than the expectations placed on him by others. Buddy being transmasc would defensively fit into this too.

It also fits with the story’s themes of breaking conventions. We already see that with Chase and Buddy’s having two keys of the four keys that are gendered — and also the only two specifically stated to be for a female role. What else would be a bigger upheaval of conventions, though, than for the personification of the villainess role to actually be a man?

There could definitely be something there too, of Buddy feeling trapped in the wrong body by resenting being a key.

Do I think the story will go down this route? Eh, probably not. But it’s fun to think about! (I think that’s how I’d describe the whole “Buddy is a key theory” in general).

In terms of evidence against this, barring what I’ve already talked about, there’s one thing. However it's in a fastpass episode, and I’m hesitant to say anything about it because I’d feel really really bad for spoiling anything. It's not that major, but I’m going to be on the safe side. Just take my word that it’s pretty solid proof Buddy and Violet are not the same person. (It’s from that scene in ep. 53, if anybody wanted to know.)

Side Note: This section might be the best place to add this, but the name Violet comes from the Latin ‘Viola’. The most well known use of this name is the main character in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. She spends the majority of the play disguised as a man to work for a duke and ends up falling in love with him. Not trying to say this is how it’ll work in Cinderella Boy, but I just think it’s interesting.

Anyway, the next and last option.

3. Buddy is not a key, Buddy is not Violet, but is related to her in some other way

Somehow the theory I believe the most in is the one I’m the least sure how to explain, lmao.

Based on everything I’ve said, I’m pretty sure Buddy is a human. At least from a narrative standpoint it’d make the most sense, because Chase dating one of the keys just seems kind of… weird? (But maybe liking keys runs in the Hollow family, who knows.)

If Buddy was a key, then the other keys would be his family. He really just doesn’t talk about them like that, though. In Rules of Engagement II, he calls Silver “it” and “your key”, and I just don’t think the keys would do that to each other.

So, my other explanation as to why Buddy and Violet look similar is that Buddy is partially a key. How? Why? Great questions because I also don’t know. The closest answers I have are almost purely speculation.

Maybe Violet is Buddy’s mom?? Walk with me here.

By mom I mean like, some kind of magic was used to either create a human version of Violet or infuse some of her powers into a human.

It would account for their positive relationship, considering she’s willing to make Buddy pretty outfits. It’d also explain why Buddy has a lot of attributes of a key (omniscient knowledge of a book, needing to see the story to completion, etc), and make all the key symbolism around him more metaphorical.

Unless she is literally his mom. (Don’t ask me how that’d work because again I don’t know.) In All That Glitters III he hesitates before he says his key did his hair.

Assuming that Violet actually was involved and he didn’t do his hair himself, what was he going to call her? Mom? Sister? Second cousin once removed? Friend? Maybe after his and Chase’s little talk at the end of Beach Boys he realized “oh yeah Violet would be a familial figure/friend.” I’m not sure, but I thought I’d bring it up.

As for the ‘why’ — perhaps Ex Libris wanted someone who is like a key but can also gather Narratonin. Yknow, for efficiency or something.

It’d tie back into Buddy’s identity issues, too. Because yeah I’d also be pretty messed up if I was created for a specific purpose that my entire worth hinges upon. I’d also be really pissed if Some Guy chose to just waltz into the stories, chose to deviate from the plots, chose to gather Narratonin — when I’ve never had those choices.

Case in point, I think this option is the most likely because I really don’t believe Buddy is a key. But I also don’t believe Buddy is completely unrelated to Violet.

[ophanum]

Can you do a crossover between JJKXLookism? Where after the battle with Sukuna, Gojo dies(still hoping he comes back and I'm so sad at the latest update of JJK) and transmigrated to the popular webtoon Lookism. Gojo is shock at his new appearance (still the same face, hair and eyes) he became a female. At first, he curse his predicament but then learns to roll with it. He figures that maybe changing the tragic lives of the characters will make him comeback to his real world. Gojo applies as a teacher in J-High where he rolls with the chaos and takes advantage of his new appearance. Gojo finds it amusing and loves to tease his new students with his female version. Surprisingly, Gojo retains the six eyes although not as draining as before and he has no CE it's just that he can just see really well than normal people. Everyone is surprised to see Gojo's strength not only he is fast but also a great martial artist which he likes to humble brag especially against the villains (he fought curse users and special grade curses all his life, this world is a cake walk to him) as well as trolling them. Eventually, Gojo regrets it as he gain stalkers along the way (Gun, GooSamuel, etc). Even after brutally rejecting them and listing a lot of excuses (like telling them that he is older than them, likes girls, they're too weak etc.cause he is still a guy at heart) they won't stop and will use Gojo's love for sweets to blackmail him for a date. Gojo will snap once his students gets into dangerous situations (flashbacks to when he got sealed and a lot of important people in his life died) and will absolutely go berserk. Female Gojo is friends with the 1st Gen Kings (he is the same age as them when he transmigrated so he became a bit younger) especially Kwak Jin Chang (he looks like Nanami even the cheekbones) and treats him the same way as Nanami

' I'M SO BORED ! - JJK & Lookism crossover

ft. Fem! Reincarnated! Gojo x Various Lookism

Synopsis: After the fight with Sukuna, Gojo was reincarnated to Lookism and became a teacher there. As a teacher himself back then, he began to care for his students like Daniel and automatically landed him in the spotlight of the Lookism universe. Could he still awaken his six eyes?

Tags & TW/CW: Lookism-typical violence, stalking, death, spoilers, crack.

﹙pt. 2﹚

❝Some sick hallucination is telling me go overboard.❞ — I'm so bored by Sarah and the Sundays

Wow. Just wow.

Gojo couldn't help but be surprised. Seriously though, what's going on here?

There's no way this is real. He's never met a deity, and frankly, the whole thing seems messed up. Why is he in a woman's body? At least he looks good, gotta give credit where it's due. He's basically a walking advertisement for good genes.

But most importantly, he's just... normal now. No curses, no cursed energy. He remembers his skills, but can he use them here? He'll find a way.

First priority: checking his surroundings. This place is a lot less luxurious than his usual digs, but hey, at least the girl (whoever she is) has a wallet. Even though Gojo thinks that he is really the owner because of the uncanny similiarities to his old self, he can't be too sure. Memory wipe seems to be prominent. No trace of the original owner anywhere, which explains the amnesia of memories. This body truly feels like his own, down to the familiar face staring back in the mirror. Gojo can't ignore this situation. Fake memories or not, a Jujutsu Sorcerer never lets his guard down.

With no cursed threats to fight for now, Gojo takes a practical approach. Gotta pay the bills somehow, right? Besides, that shampoo situation is a disaster. This body needs some serious TLC.

Stepping outside, Gojo's jaw dropped. Korea? A frustrated sigh escaped his lips. "Seriously, what is this?"

Walking down the unfamiliar streets, he had to adjust his thinking. He was in a woman's body now, so using she/her pronouns was crucial. His feet led him to a bustling playground, filled with the laughter of children. The scene felt strangely real, not some twisted illusion. Perhaps, in a way, it was...peaceful.

He missed Yuji and everyone back home. He'd poured his heart into training them, giving them the strength to fight. A pang of longing hit him, but a determined glint entered his eyes. They would have to wait for his return. After all, he wouldn't give up so easily.

At the end of the day, his search for work led him to a job posting at J High. Teaching was ingrained in him, so it felt like a natural fit. Getting the job was a surprise, but the school itself was even more unexpected.

The students here were...spirited, to say the least. Fights were a frequent occurrence. However, the school also embraced individuality. Departments like fashion allowed students to break the mold and express themselves freely through clothing. Gojo, who always appreciated a good rule-breaker, couldn't help but admire their approach.

Despite being in a female body, Gojo managed to convince the school she was Japanese, reasoning her way through the situation. Daniel and his classmates were surprised by a mid-semester transfer, especially when they heard it was a woman. The buzz spread quickly went viral around the school – a new female teacher was joining them!

When she entered the classroom, all eyes were on her. Her snow-white hair was pulled back in a high ponytail, and thick, round sunglasses concealed her eyes. A glimpse of piercing blue peeked through, a stark contrast to her soft expression and delicate features. Male students fumbled for their seats, faces flushed with a mix of awe and shyness. Female students watched with a mix of envy and admiration.

Until Gojo spoke.

"Welcome to J High, class! Buckle up because you're about to learn from the most awesome, most beautiful teacher ever… ME, Gojo Satoru! Get ready for an unforgettable experience!"

The students were stunned. Who was this vibrant woman? Some of the boys seemed excited by her bold statement, but confusion settled in. A mid-semester change was disruptive enough, but what was with the infectious energy?

One thing was undeniable: Gojo was stunning. Her beauty was unmatched, surpassing even the school's resident "goddess," Crystal.

"And guess what? You're about to have the coolest, most fabulous teacher ever walk through these doors... that's right, it's me again!"

And then she walked through those doors again quite quickly if Zack were to say something about it. Did you know the way Gojo looked when he realized Megumi just looked like Toji? Yeah, Zack was having that look right now.

Who was this odd professor that suddenly was brought up?

Gojo's curriculum remained a mystery. She hadn't mentioned a subject yet, but she did dedicate a significant amount of time to...well, not exactly lesson plans. Unlike most teachers, Gojo had an aversion to written materials. Instead, her classes focused entirely on performance tasks.

Students like Zack thrived in this environment. He secretly considered Gojo his favorite teacher already. The hands-on approach was engaging, and Zack felt a growing sense of gratitude towards her.

Then, on the third day, a glimmer of clarity emerged. Gojo's class revolved around physical fitness, though she never actually uttered the term. It was simply "Gojo's way" of teaching. For Daniel and his classmates, it was a refreshing change from the traditional methods they were accustomed to.

Gojo praised students who excelled and offered personalized feedback for improvement. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and the students responded well to the energetic and engaging classes.

"Best fucking teacher ever." Zack grins.

Mira quipps. "Is he though?"

Mira and Zack exchanged a glance. Their new teacher, Gojo, had a…unique way of teaching. She was currently mid-exercise with a student (Jay, to be specific) and had paused to deliver a passionate speech about, well, herself. Dramatic poses and hair flips punctuated her enthusiastic monologue.

Both sweatdropped. Yeah, Gojo was definitely unconventional.

Jay, the unfortunate target of her praise, stood patiently as Gojo extolled her own beauty. Thankfully, the speech hadn't completely derailed the lesson. Just before, Gojo had commended Jay's speed and technique, offering valuable feedback before getting sidetracked. "You're giving it your all, but that fire's starting to flicker! Remember, endurance is all about consistency. It's like a marathon, not a sprint. Gotta pace yourself, beautiful!"

Jay cracked a shy smile, a hint of pink dusting his cheeks.

Zack watched the exchange between Jay and Gojo, a sour taste creeping into his mouth. Gojo's hand lingered a beat too long on Jay's shoulder, her praise dripping with a sugary sweetness that made Zack clench his fists.

Crystal, observing from the back of the room, couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at Gojo's flamboyant teaching style. This new teacher was undeniably unconventional, with her dramatic poses and energetic lectures. Yet, beneath the theatricality, Crystal sensed a surprising competence. Gojo's demonstrations were swift and precise, showcasing an impressive level of physical skill.

It was a stark contrast to the more traditional methods employed by Gun. Crystal wasn't sure what Gojo's background was, but it was clear she possessed a unique approach that somehow managed to be effective.

That's because she fought battles with non-human creatures.

Crystal couldn't resist investigating the commotion. Curiosity gnawed at her, a feeling all too familiar to humans. She buzzed Gun, hoping he could shed some light on the situation.

"Is something wrong, Crystal?" Gun answered.

"Hey Gun, sorry to bother you during work, but it's about the new teacher."

"Teacher?" Gun raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, she just seems...off. Odd way of acting, super strong, and way too good-looking to be real." Crystal joked at the end.

Crystal launched into a detailed description. The teacher had waist-length snow-white hair and piercing blue eyes hidden behind thick sunglasses. On top of that, she was incredibly tall and flawless, like a living statue. It was unsettling.

"I'll check it out when I get a chance," Gun promised.

Meanwhile, Vasco watched the chaos unfold below. Students were grumbling openly, their respect seemingly nonexistent towards their teacher who was behaving childishly.

Jace strained for a glimpse of the new teacher, but the window was two far as he wasn't on a window seat. Unlike Jace, Vasco found himself impressed. After all, who wouldn't be when witnessing her teach students to defend themselves?

The bell announcing the end of class finally pierced the air. Jace and Vasco immediately made their way towards the teacher.

Jace let out a low whistle. "We'll be lucky to learn anything from her with all this chaos."

"Lucky? I'd say incredibly fortunate," Vasco countered, eager to meet her.

"Fortunate, huh?" Jace muttered, and they headed towards the cafeteria.

The new teacher, Gojo, had clearly captured everyone's attention. Even Zoe couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. Gojo's seemingly flawless appearance, aside from her personality, was undeniable. Zoe's lips formed a pout every time Gojo slung her arm around Daniel, leaving the poor boy flustered and stammering in response.

Vin Jin, on the other hand, seemed unaffected by the professorial boundaries. He wasted no time turning on the charm, much to the amusement (or perhaps annoyance) of those around him.

"So, strong glasses huh? Keeping all the secrets for yourself?"

"Secrets are what make things interesting, don't you think? Besides, these eyes can see more than you bargain for." Gojo would just leans closer with a smirk.

Daniel's knuckles strained white as his grip tightened on the aluminum can. Metal groaned in protest, warping under the pressure until the sides began to buckle. A low hiss escaped him, more through gritted teeth than his lips. This wasn't about his usual frustration with bullies or unwanted attention. Envy, raw and unwelcome, twisted his gut.

Vin Jin's grin stretched from ear to ear, practically walking on air after his instant rapport with the new teacher, Gojo. Unfortunately, their conversation was cut short as Gojo disappeared from the scene before he could even blink. Left hanging, Vin Jin found himself empty-handed.

Meanwhile, Gun had arrived at J High, eager to investigate Crystal's concerns about the new teacher. Unfortunately, his mission was complicated by Goo's unexpected presence. Goo, ever the pest, tagged along, lollipop in hand. And as if the situation wasn't bothersome enough, Goo seemed to find amusement in poking Gun's cheeks with the sticky candy, a habit Gun found utterly revolting.

"Stalking for the boss are sooo last season. Don't you ever get tired of being such a stick in the mud? Lighten up a little!"

"Lighten up? I'm dealing with things that could get me killed by the chairman, Goo. Not a fashion show."

"Speaking of fashion, have you seen the new line of those fluffy panda plushies?"

"Here we go again... And--would you stop that poking? Do it another fucking second and I will punt you to the ground."

"Fine, fine. But hey, how about a little reward after we're done? My treat - taiyaki on me! My treat if you can guess the filling this time."

A welcome distraction from Goo's antics emerged in the form of a commotion erupting within J High. Gun and Goo followed Crystal, their gazes drawn to a fight unfolding in the central.

There, amidst the chaos, stood Gojo, the enigmatic new teacher Crystal had mentioned. She wasn't even fighting.

For Gun, witnessing Gojo firsthand was a sensory overload. Every detail, from the way her snow-white hair flowed with her movements to the glint of defiance in her diamond-bright eyes and the smirk permanently etched on her face, surpassed Crystal's description.

Across from him, Goo mirrored Gun's stunned expression. Glasses slid down to the tip of his nose, his mouth agape in disbelief, he watched Gojo's fluid movements with wide eyes. The fight had escalated – Gojo was facing off against Logan Lee.

"You'll regret fighting with me!"

"Wow, impressive coordination. Maybe you should take up interpretive dance instead of being a total jackass to my student."

Daniel scanned the scene, his heart pounding. No other teachers were in sight, not a single one within range to intervene in the escalating fight. The situation was bizarre – a college student, Logan Lee, facing off against a seemingly outmatched professor, Gojo, the woman Crystal had described as "strong."

But strength wasn't the only thing that captivated Gun and Goo's attention. Gojo's fighting style was unlike anything they'd ever witnessed. It was a dance of fluidity, a mesmerizing blend of lightning and water. Her movements were swift and effortless, devoid of any wasted energy or muscle tension. It was a spectacle both beautiful and deadly.

"What the...? I... I'll crush you!"

"This is getting tedious. You're about as effective as a wet noodle against a wall. How about you take a nap and we can try this again when you've woken up from your little tantrum?"

Logan, his attacks becoming increasingly desperate, flailed wildly for a few final moments before crumpling to the ground with a pained groan. Gojo, with a sigh that spoke volumes of her boredom, dusted herself off with a theatrical flourish, her movements emphasizing the gulf in skill between them.

Reflexes and speed are unmatched. Focus on how she reacts with lightning-fast movements, dodging or deflecting attacks with minimal effort. She doesn't waste energy on overwhelming force, but uses calculated strikes to dismantle her opponent's attacks. Gun thought.

"Well, that was a disappointment. Back to paperwork, I suppose. Anyone up for taiyaki later? My treat, for surviving that ordeal."

And she brushes it off as if it did some number on her. Even students like daniel, Zack, Vasco, Jay and Eli Jang knew it, not just Gun and Goo.

Goo, ever the unpredictable one, shot his hand up in the air. A wave of confusion rippled through the crowd. Was this some bizarre J High initiation ritual they hadn't heard of?

This is only the beginning...

2.2K words

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Josephine Harvey at HuffPost:

Fox News host Kayleigh McEnany drew mockery and eye rolls on Monday when she suggested that Donald Trump’s idea to make Canada a U.S. state is something many of the country’s residents are actually interested in.

“Could the American flag be adding another star in 2025?” McEnany, the president-elect’s former White House press secretary, said on “The Ingraham Angle.” “Well, Trump’s idea of making Canada great again by turning it into the 51st state is gaining some serious traction, especially from Canadian citizens,” she added. Her guest for the segment was Canadian “Shark Tank” investor Kevin O’Leary, who has been publicly advocating for the union. Trump shared an article Monday on Truth Social that said O’Leary will come to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida to “start the narrative” about merging the nations. (O’Leary does not represent Canada and has no authority to negotiate on its behalf.) McLeary told McEnany he intends to visit Trump in Florida to discuss the matter. He also said he had been conducting “unofficial polling,” and “I bet you more than 70%” of Canadians would be interested in an arrangement where Canada and the U.S. merge economically while allowing Canada to retain its sovereignty.

On the Monday edition of Faux “News”’s The Ingraham Angle, guest host Kayleigh McEnany gaslighted the American and Canadian people to baselessly suggest that the majority of Canadians would go along with being annexed by the USA. Polling in Canada reveals that the overwhelming majority of Canadians, regardless of party affiliation, are heavily opposed to Canada becoming the 51st State.

[velvet-vox]

V and Doll; trauma, mental disorder, and low empathy.

(Warning: this post is slightly outdated and contains some incorrect medical terms that don't correspond to the modern classification of ASPD. You can still read it if you are curious, but don't take anything stated here as hard facts. They are not.)

Very recently on my notifications I received a reblog by @aroaceweirdos101 to a response I've made to a post talking about how Doll went through so much more pain than V, and it made me realise that the response in question was actually, like, really good.

I had genuinely forgotten and underestimated how good of an analysis of both V, Doll, mental health and societal stigma it really was.

Now, of course, I disagree with the sentiment that Doll suffered more than V and fully believe that out of the two V endured way more pain and trauma than Doll; yet, although the responses in the comments checked out with what I previously said, they felt... meaner?

Like, the answers went to the opposite extreme of the original comment and tried to downplay Doll's trauma in comparison to V's, almost implying that Doll was a b##ch (which she was) for snapping as hard as she did when V still managed to retain a sense of restraint; and I disagreed with that, so in response I wrote this:

*Look, I believe both Doll and V are interesting characters, and although I feel more sympathetic towards Doll, I definitely believe V went through so much more pain than Doll and had way more reasons to snap and be the way she is now, but I just really hate people who use that as an excuse to label Doll has the more evil of the two or "she was always just a psycho, she just needed an excuse to snap"; it's especially disheartening when people straight up interpret her as unreademable or pure evil, when V and N's body count is 10 times higher than Doll's.

Also, I'm sorry but I really can't stomach the possibility of Liam redeeming the genocidal war machine and not the broken orphan created by said psycho, it literally would be the fictional pinnacle of "since these are the protagonists, they can get away with as much as they want and are always in the right"; I'm fine with the way Doll died because it was done by Cyn and there wasn't any moral lesson to be gained from our protagonists about it, but if it was done by N, Uzi, or worst of all V again, it should have played out like "we have reasons to do the things we do, and you have yours, unfortunately we're on opposite sides and you are hurting us so we must kill you now".

The human (worker drone) mind is extremely fragile, and some people, due to a probably inherited and undiagnosed mental illness or a particular personality type, are more at risk of snapping then other people, yet instead of being understanding towards those who are born with more issues than others (especially women, look up Azula or Ashley Graves) we tend to isolate, demonize and then kill them because they were incapable of fitting into the larger societal standard of acceptable social behaviour, even when said society never did anything to help them meet its unreachable standards because it required too much work from society's side to give you the special attention you needed in order to make you work and fit in.

V was a quiet kid because she was shy, Doll was a quiet kid because she was introverted. Those are two very different types of people and one of them (Doll) was inherently more at risk of developing mental health issues than the other due to their personality type and how it's stigmatized.*

Here's also the original post made by an anonymous user on @md-confessions

Also, here's the link to another post still talking about V and Doll. I made two comments in response, but neither of them is particularly well thought out and since you can't correct them I left them as they were.

Now, back to the highlighted part:

I want to use this response as a springboard to talk about the main differences between Doll and V when it comes to their different handling of their decaying mental health and why it's unfair to say that one of them was worse than the other based on their actions and attitude towards the problem.

(Also, all of the Murder Drones characters are extremely complex, and the fact that the show doesn't have filler makes it harder to get a good grip on one's particular mindset, so if it seems like I'm talking more about Doll than I am about V, it is because V is the most complicated character in the cast and I'm not as confident to talk about her as I am with Doll; it took one entire year to finally understand Doll as well as I do now, so V is a touchy subject for me that's why I might not do her justice).

First of all, it has to be said: Doll is a sociopath, V isn't, despite appearing like one. And that's ok.

When I say that I feel more sympathy towards Doll than I do for V, this is what I mean: I don't sympathise with Doll heartlessness more than I do with V jackassery; rather I understand and relate with Doll's low empathy since I also have low empathy as well, and it is quite common for people like us to be misunderstood for uncaring individuals.

It's the same reason why I and many others tend to like villains and sympathise with them more than we do with the heroes (Lord Shen from Kung Fu Panda 2 is the perfect example for this); it's quite common for villains to be written as individuals with low empathy, as an highly empathetic individual tends to be harder for the audience to buy as an antagonist, since you need to justify why someone this caring is committing all this heinous and terrible stuff, but if that person is already unemphatetic by nature, than it's just a matter of establishing their goals and motivations. These people also tend to be ostracized by their environment and go through a gruesome and violent death because it's socially acceptable to let these despicable individuals find comeuppance through death since they lack the traits that make a person traditionally good.

So, when people use the "So what? She's got dead parents. Many others do, including Uzi, who's also infected with the Absolute Solver, yet they have not become cannibalistic serial killers obsessed with revenge" as a slight against Doll it's not entirely fair because from what we've gathered in the show the other worker drones don't suffer from sadistic impulses and sociopathy like Doll does, even if they (Rebecca) are pretty uncaring. (Side note, Uzi also suffers from sadism/sadistic impulses, but not from sociopathy, hence the main difference between the two).

V, on the other hand, despite what her introduction and psycho girl persona might trick you into believing, was never a sociopath nor did she struggle with low empathy, she was, instead, a pretty timid maid who suffered through unspeakable physical and psychological trauma that led her to adopt this fake identity to cope for the atrocities that she was now committing for the company (Absolute Solver) and the safety of N; V cared about N in a pretty normal person kind of way: she kept N at arms length and hid the truth from him so that he wouldn't get hurt, all while detaching herself from the actions she was now committing, not saying Doll wouldn't or didn't commit any of these actions, but V did them in a way that better aligns with someone who doesn't suffer from sociopathic disorder.

Speaking of N, since he has been mentioned, I'll say that while Uzi suffers from sadism but not low empathy (she has shown to be pretty empathetic many times), N doesn't suffer from sadism but from low empathy; as better explained by a section of this post made by @melissa-titanium :

N x Doll

Don't believe me? Then maybe you should rewatch the series again because N's unemphateticness is his own can of worms to delve into.

But back to Doll, it's time to dissolve (😏) one of the oldest misconceptions surrounding her character:

Doll reached out for help. A lot. She just didn't have any luck with it.

Call me crazy, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised that the fandom wide spread belief that Doll rejected all the help that was handed to her to be a massive lie, and in fact, Doll actually tried to reach out way more than you thought, arguably, even more than Uzi:

The impact that Yeva's education has had on Doll's life can only be noticed in this way: Yeva extended her hand to Nori and she accepted it, thus, it is fair to assume that Yeva taught Doll to be pretty open to others and to give a hand to someone in need (the show was rewritten after the pilot, so ignore the incongruences with Doll's initial characterization), and in fact, after enduring the trauma of watching her parents die, she opened up to Lizzie for help and support, unfortunately, Lizzie wasn't exactly the right person to talk about these things (no offence to her, all of Uzi's classmates suck for one reason or another, including Uzi herself, I guess that's what happens when you are stuck inside a bunker your whole life), after all, Doll was still killing and cannibalising her classmates.

Then, before she went back to gain her revenge, she tried to get Uzi on her side, which wasn't an attempt to open up, but she was still willing to connect, even if for the wrong reasons. Finally, once she discovers that Uzi also has the Absolute Solver, she promises to help her out, and at this point, Doll wishes to talk it out with Uzi, but because she is surrounded by the Disassembly Drones (V), she can't.

And now, for the most interesting discussion, there's this brief and frankly weird moment in episode 5 where Doll compliments Khan for raising Uzi, and while Khan laughs it off immediately, since he is a dumbass, this could have been a perfect opportunity for him to reach out to Doll and reason with her, since she's clearly putting aside whatever her objective actually is to talk to him, but he doesn't catch on, and this leads Doll to immediately closing herself off again and returning to the mission, and like, maybe we all kind of underestimated how much significance this moment carried, but consider this:

Doll, at this point in time, has been living out in the cold for what... a month? Six months? A YEAR? If we exclude J and Cyn from the equation, this is probably the only social interaction she ever had since The Promening, yet, because of Khan's lack of touch, she immediately reminds herself of the massive disconnection between her and the other workers (eh ehm sociopath) and thus storms off rapidly; this moment is actually quite painful when you look at it from this perspective, yet it's also, the only interpretation that makes sense? Otherwise how do you explain the existence of this moment when Murder Drones is a show infamous for his high plotting and lack of filler? They had to go out of their way to animate this, so why did they play it off in this way?

Tessa is a meanie

Penultimately, and again, I want to bring up a post by @capnsaltsquid since that's where I got the inspiration to write this paragraph off, Doll opened up to J and Tessa to get the answers she was seeking, yet not only Tessa shot her in the face for s###s and giggles, but then proceeded to fraternise with her parents murderers, and at this point, she closes herself off enough to realise that she might have to unintentionally kill Uzi and leave everyone in the dust if she wants to get anything at all.

But unfortunately, that is not the case, she dies of a lonely, meaningless, gruesome death, and at this point, she still tries and finally succeeds in reaching out to Uzi, and yet, like all of her previous tries, this is unsuccessful, as Uzi has other things in mind right now.

To wrap things up nicely, both V and Doll went through severe amounts of trauma and handled said trauma in a similar yet also different way, since they are different individuals who process emotions and love differently, thus the actions they took made sense for the person they were and should only be judged in the context of their writing and characterization.

Want more?

[marvelshifter111]

Mercury child

Mercury children are swift, intelligent, and ever-changing, like the planet they embody. They have shimmering silver eyes, quick movements, and an energy that feels constantly in motion. Their skin often glows faintly, and their voices carry a captivating quality. Restless and curious, Mercury children are natural problem-solvers and communicators, always seeking new knowledge and adventures.

Abilities

Teleportation - the ability to create portals and wormholes, allowing you to travel through space and between dimensions.

Weather manipulation - Users can sense, channel, shape, create and manipulate the weather, they are granted complete control over the weather and natural disasters.

Illusion generation - The user can generate various types of illusions, from sensory and mental to external and environmental.

Memory implantation - The user can implant memories into one's mind or that of others.

Object transportation - Quickly delivering or summoning small objects, as if they materialize out of thin air.

Camouflage - Quickly adapting to surroundings, making it easier for them to hide or blend in.

Metal manipulation - An affinity with metals, especially mercury, allowing them to reshape or control small amounts of it.

Information absorption - Rapidly absorbing and retaining large amounts of information, like a walking library.

Air manipulation

Enchanted speed, dexterity and reflexes

Characteristics

Language fluency - Instantly understanding and speaking any language, even ancient or alien tongues.

Silver trail - When moving at high speed they leave behind silver light that fades like stardust.

Mercurial aura - Their energy is infectious, inspiring creativity, curiosity, and quick thinking in those around them.

Quicksilver eyes - Their eyes shimmer like liquid metal, constantly shifting in color between silver, gray, and pale blue.

Swift movements

Metallic glow - Their skin has a faint, silvery sheen, especially under sunlight or during moments of heightened power.

Fleeting shadows - Their shadows appear slightly out of sync with their movements, as if they’re faster than light itself.

Mercurial hair - Their hair has streaks of silver or reflects light in unusual ways, constantly shifting in color between silver, gray, and pale blue

Unique markings - Thin, silver lines on their skin, resembling ancient symbols or planetary alignments.

Skin cool to touch

Starry connections - They feel most powerful during planetary alignments, especially when Mercury is prominent.

Full form:

I can't find male photos and it's pissing me off

Names | Planet children | Masterlist

I barely found dividers for this

[rebelcracker-s]

WELCOME HOME THEORY :D

i've been swinging back and forth between "this is genius" and "i am spitballing" in debating whether to publicize this theory. i have decided to put it out there. i hope i'm somewhat right! (long post ahead)

so user @thecolourfulkingdom pointed out the importance of this tic-tac-toe image from the guestbook page:

i know a one-person game of tic-tac-toe doesn't seem like much, but op then placed this image on top of the neighborhood map (credits to them for figuring that out!), this image becomes very interesting.

it's suspicious how nicely the two line up.

i know this could be a random detail, but in somewhere as detailed as welcome home, i think that every detail counts, especially one like this. if it is a coincidence, it's a very strange one.

the circles in the board call attention to four (or five, depending on how you look at it) characters: wally/home, sally, frank, and howdy. we already know wally and home are two very important characters in the lore, but what connection do the remaining three three have? and why is wally pointing them out specifically?

this trio made me think of a certain image from the conceptual days of welcome home: concept art of the telephone that was revealed in the july update. (i'm not going to repost it due to clown's wishes about spreading conceptual art, but you can find it on their portfolio!)

in this image, the phone has eight buttons for eight neighbors, like the current one on the website. however, this one has three buttons scribbled out. based on colors, the three characters missing are sally (orange), howdy (teal), and eddie (purple).

i know it's not exact, but the fact that two out of the three "scratched-out" characters match the ones circled on this map has me thinking that i'm onto something.

here's what i think is going on. something happened in the neighborhood that divided the neighbors in half. something happened to the four uncircled ones--julie, barnaby, eddie, and poppy. it's really not clear what's happened to them right now, but wally has mentioned that he cannot talk to his neighbors right now. i think they at the very least lack the awareness to the strange things happening in the neighborhood. at the worst, they are dead.

again, i'm not sure what happened to them, so all we can do right now is speculate.

our remaining four--frank, sally, howdy, and wally--are the ones who have retained awareness. they know what is happening in home. they know about the whrp. and they know about the audience welcome home is gaining.

we know wally and home know about us because they have both spoken to us through the "i will find a way soon" audios. but what about the remaining three?

the july website update not only included the drawings that led to wally's messages, but also bugs leading to videos of interactions between the members. while the whrp insisted that there was nothing important about the bugs, the audience could click on these bugs and find secret videos depicting a conversation between the neighbors.

the latest game theory video on welcome home points out that like how drawing is related to wally and the drawings lead to messages from him, bugs are connected to frank, from his character description to his hidden audio with eddie. i believe those messages could be from frank. the video goes into more depth about this, but for the sake of the length of this theory, i'll stop here.

in the october 13th halloween update, we got the "happy haunting to boo and yours" record. the website staff insist multiple times that there is a gap in the audio during sally's story where they can't make out what sally is saying, but we can. (if you need a transcript for the skipped-over part, i have one reblogged!)

sally's story is a very menacing one about a monster that she cannot see or hear that prowls the neighborhood at night, devouring anything it passes, confining the neighbors to their homes at night. this would seem like a normal scary story if not for how the audio changes. at every other part, the audio has a crackly, vinyl sound; however, sally's story is perfectly clear.

it seems to me like sally is directly talking to the website's audience here: she's trying to warn us about the strange things going on in home. i think frank's messages were trying to do the same thing too. these are glimpses into the sides of welcome home that the whrp, wally, and home have not shown us: the lives of the neighbors, and the unsettling danger lurking beneath it all. notice how subtle both of their warnings were, and how they were careful to make sure that whrp could not discover them while the audience could.

also, remember how the title of the video tabs in the july update--"answer"--led us to the staff only page? i think the title of the newest hidden video--"listen"--is telling us not only to listen to the audios for a true glimpse of what life in the neighborhood was like, but to listen to their warnings.

i don't think wally is aware that frank and sally have been contacting us in secret, but i do believe he knows that they stand apart from the other neighbors, hence the tic-tac-toe board and the map.

but there's still one loose end: howdy hasn't yet talked to the audience. i think that during the big holiday update, we will see the final member of the "survivor trio" (as i like to call them) contact us. and i'm hoping this update tells us more about what's happening in welcome home's world and what role we as the viewers play in it.

:)

[doubleddenden]

Okay I was just sharing a tweet I saw with my friends, right. Then I realized the background- one of the possible decorations you can set for the Blueberry Academy League Club Room, the Dark theme- could potentially be a hint towards ZA. So basically I saw a gold mine in a meme, so thanks for accidentally inspiring me :)

1. The "hag" meta is definitely in for vtubers, so that tracks for Iono lol, but 2 moving away from that, 2. Follow me into this rabbit hole and look here, friends

Besides Larry being beautiful and questioning his life, a lot of us saw the portrait and thought it could resemble Caitlin of the Unova Elite 4 and formerly princess of the Sinnoh/Johto Battle Castle- fitting since Blueberry Academy is off the coast of Unova in the case of Unova Elite 4. Some of you probably think this is old news- be patient, I'm going somewhere with this.

The resemblance is there, especially in the hair in gen 4, but the eyes are different and she's holding a Banette or Banette doll, a ghost type. It was dismissed by many to just be a creepy little girl.

Except, I think it might be a hint or teaser. And before anyone dismisses this. Take a look at these screenshots (from Nintendo Life via google)

A lot of people immediately turn to the painting of Uluru- aka the rock monolith found in Australia, and many tend to focus on that for Gen 10 hints- myself included, of course, I've wanted Pokemon Australia since I was 10. However, what if I told you that if a Z-A hint were a snake...

...It would have bitten you. That's Lumiose Tower in that one sketch, a cleverly hidden tree in a forest of brighter colored trees. There's other stuff there I wanna look at, but unfortunately the angle is purposely bad in Hassel's art room, so you can't focus on it.

So if we go back to the creepy girl in the portrait, knowing that Game Freak already planted a Z-A hint that tiny on that wall, we could possibly go a little nuts and say that maybe she's a character we meet in Z-A.

If that weren't enough- Banette has a Mega Evolution, introduced in XY. So yeah.

Anyway here's what I think: Caitlin has an ancestor that used to be royalty in Kalos, or more fittingly, part of the Lumiose Aristocracy in Z-A's fan proposed time frame of 1850s Rennovation of Paris, or so. Caitlin has psychic powers, fitting for a Psychic type user- but Ghost type trainers also have been known to exhibit supernatural abilities similar to Pokemon Psychics as well, and Caitlin is so powerful that she either had her butler run the Battle Castle for her or sleeps most of the time as an Elite 4 member to keep her powers in check. Perhaps her powers are passed down and a result of a family line of involvement with supernatural Pokemon.

The girl in the photo is either the first or just another of the family that has some kind of innate power or connection to Pokemon in this manner- in this case, ghost types.

Lumiose in XY is actually not that far from the haunted swamp and supposedly haunted house/tourist trap, so perhaps Caitlin's ancestors are losing power in the aristocracy at the time period but still retain some sway, and most importantly could be the proprieter of ghost Pokemon we'll need for the dex AND an "alpha" equivalent ghost type Pokemon.

Picture this: there's a haunted mansion to the north of Lumiose. There's some old documentation inside that will help with your goal of rebuilding Lumiose- but it's haunted. Like HAUNTED haunted. It's layout kinda large but manageable, like Luigi's Mansion in a way. Caitlin's ancestor- maybe of some partial relation to Shauntal as well- helps guide you through this mansion that's infested with ghost type Pokemon.

That's an idea anyway, which admittedly could be a stretch from just a couple of screenshots- but do keep in mind that Gamefreak hid Gmax Toxtricity in their Alolan office in Ultra Sun and Moon on a poster at a bad angle. Not to mention they probably had DeNA use Masters to tease at Volo with Cynthia's Giratina Sygna Suit. Plus the Kitakami Easter egg at Larry's own gym before SV DLC was even announced, or using the English word for Blueberry- a North American berry, instead of the Spanish words for Grape and Orange- to signify Blueberry Academy being off the coast of Unova/America.

Sometimes their hints are right in your face, sometimes cleverly hidden, sometimes it doesn't even register until it hits- so imo, I think I might be onto something here. At the very least, a haunted house in Pokemon is LONG overdue at this point- we haven't had a new one since Alola in gen 7, although that was a destroyed grocery store- the others we've had are repeats of Lavender Tower or Lost Tower and Old Chateau.

... WHICH, BTW, A chataeu... is French :) the Old Chateau- haunted by ghosts, in Sinnoh, where Caitlin was first introduced. Come to think of it, in Hisui, there isn't even a NEW Chateau yet.

So now I think it's a possibility that Caitlin's ancestors were the ones that built the Old Chateau, and possibly used blueprints from one in old Lumiose to build it in the freshly colonized lands of Sinnoh. Blueprints WE help find.

Or, as a lot of people who made it this far are probably SCREAMING at me right now- all of this is nothing and the little girl is just a generic little girl made to be creepy on purpose.

But we like to have fun here in DD's theory corner. And it'll be so hilarious if I got some of this right in the slightest.

[venbetta]

Okay, regarding the last post/ask, there's a part of me that worries for internet safety in recent times, because it's very easy to become a victim of hacking, doxxing, or in more extreme cases, actual harm (grooming, stalking, etc.).

Not to age myself (and others) but there was a time in school where teachers would show us videos and presentations of the dangers of lacking online literacy/safety. Net safety videos were a stable of my childhood and many others, and most of those videos discussed the following:

Do not post personal information about yourself online

Do not interact with people you don't know

Do not meet people you met online in real life

The effects of cyberbullying

Those were the basic stuff. There was a lot more to take away from them

And those videos were scary. That was the point of them. I think about them less now, but it stuck. Because it can happen. And it has happened.

That's why I'm worried and a little taken aback about the lack of understanding of safety and knowledge of the current internet user base. I know that kids and teenagers use the internet, it's nothing new at all. But they're not being taught how to be safe or use common sense!

At least not in a way that I'm aware of.

If they are being taught, it's either not taught well or it's not being retained. Either way, it's clear that it's not being implemented.

And yeah most of those rules above are broken almost immediately, because we as people have gotten too comfortable with posting and sharing our intimate lives publicly. Our ages, our genders, our dating status, our home state. I'd be a hypocrite if I didn't acknowledge that, yeah, I also have some of that info in my bios!

However, some make the mistake of including very sensitive information such as their state, town, school, and worst of all their face!

Even if you don't do it intentionally, whether your posting on tiktok or whatever, if you have your state flag in the background of a video with your school logo just barely showing, someone with enough time and effort will figure out where you are. It's been shown in not only those tiktoks doxxing people but in those old net safety videos, too!

If this is scaring you, that's the point. That's what those net safety videos did. And sure, you'll forget about the rules and get comfortable with providing that info... I know most of us have, but it's up to you to keep yourself safe as much as possible.

With the state of the internet now, it's imperative to have an understanding of what the dangers are. Especially with ai in the mix. That's why I'm hesitant to even post my selfies anymore (Fuck Instagram for their ai scraping feature). It's because of what people might do. It's anxiety inducing. And that's why I'm making it a point to just be mindful as to what you do when you're online.

Don't join spaces that might have people that may take advantage of your naivety (I'm talking to kids and teenagers). If you find yourself in a space with someone or a group that makes you uncomfortable, leave. If they threaten or coax you to stay, follow your gut instinct and leave. Do not communicate with anyone who makes you uncomfortable. If it feels to be too much, tell a trusted friend or adult who can help you get out of the situation.

Don't post your current location. Don't post your school or work. Don't post your face if you can help it. Don't click on random links from people you don't know, even if they're offering free robux or nitro. It's a scam!

And before anyone makes a comment demeaning those for not knowing these scams or basic net safety, get over yourself. People who don't know either were never taught to look out for those things or never encountered such things.

People of all ages fall for scams regardless of what it is, kids to old people who aren't tech savvy. It's in our interest to teach people these things so that they can protect themselves. It doesn't make us better for knowing something and then shaming others for not.

Just be safe out there.