#happy to be proven wrong

[brainrotcharacters]

The hands, lads. THE HANDS AND THE FINGERS AND THE ARMS

redactober day 28 SAMMM

samuel collins plays pool. ughhhhh he plays and he plays so well. plays with david at get-togethers and always wins. pisses david off a lil but he’s always super polite to sam so he doesn’t really show it. pool is one of the things sam is confident ab. ughhh him leaning over the pool table lining up his shot oh god.

[bradfordsboot]

Am I the only one not vibing with Conrad and Billie? I will preface this by saying I’ve seen none of s6 yet but I know how things end and I’m just not seeing it at the moment????

[madegeeky]

Goodbye dead tree we thought they'd leave up til it fell down. Glad that your people were smart enough to realize that was a really bad idea.

It's hard to tell from this pic since they actually did a really good job cutting then off, but this tree had a shit ton of very large branches. In the closeup you can see some of the more obvious places they cut. In the pic of the branches on the ground (in our neighbor's yard as the branch hung over it) you can get a good idea of how thick the branch was by comparing it to the width of an average sized sidewalk.

It looks like they're still working on it as the ropes that the workers were using to keep themselves from falling out of the tree are still there. I'm wondering if they're going to take the whole thing down, truck and all, or just finish up all the branches.

(Picture from my 2.5 floor apt, the tree is two houses down. It's a little over four stories tall. The bottom part of the trunk is probably 4 feet thick.)

[zeke-ewan]

My 2c:

This kind of post is important, and something all my un-posted drafts probably needed to understand. What do I take from this? Keep trying! You never know who may be keeping an eye out for you, maybe it's even the people who've been around you and stuck with you this long, however long it has been, if they're still here and still want to support you.

But I would also politely disagree with the conclusion that the Carpathia failed. What was the goal for the captain of that steam ship? To save people. What did the Carpathia do? Saved people.

What would have happened if the captain didn't launch into the only possible action they felt they had? I would hazard a guess, that fewer people would have been saved, more lives would have been lost.

With respect, I personally would call that an amazing success, rather than a failure. And perhaps that captain might think that they exceed all expectations in a crisis, and might have even learned something about offering what they can to help; and yes, hopefully didn't destroy that courageous steam ship, but a ship can be rebuilt or remade or rebooted lol. People can't.

In my opinion, the only failures are those who think of ways to help those around them, but keep them to themselves. Perhaps they think their advice is too big, for that one survivor. I'd love the chance to prove them wrong, if this weren't a hypothetical scenario.

Please make a post about the story of the RMS Carpathia, because it's something that's almost beyond belief and more people should know about it.

Carpathia received Titanic’s distress signal at 12:20am, April 15th, 1912. She was 58 miles away, a distance that absolutely could not be covered in less than four hours.

(Californian’s exact position at the time is…controversial. She was close enough to have helped. By all accounts she was close enough to see Titanic’s distress rockets. It’s uncertain to this day why her crew did not respond, or how many might not have been lost if she had been there. This is not the place for what-ifs. This is about what was done.)

Carpathia’s Captain Rostron had, yes, rolled out of bed instantly when woken by his radio operator, ordered his ship to Titanic’s aid and confirmed the signal before he was fully dressed. The man had never in his life responded to an emergency call. His goal tonight was to make sure nobody who heard that fact would ever believe it.

All of Carpathia’s lifeboats were swung out ready for deployment. Oil was set up to be poured off the side of the ship in case the sea turned choppy; oil would coat and calm the water near Carpathia if that happened, making it safer for lifeboats to draw up alongside her. He ordered lights to be rigged along the side of the ship so survivors could see it better, and had nets and ladders rigged along her sides ready to be dropped when they arrived, in order to let as many survivors as possible climb aboard at once.

I don’t know if his making provisions for there still being survivors in the water was optimism or not. I think he knew they were never going to get there in time for that. I think he did it anyway because, god, you have to hope.

Carpathia had three dining rooms, which were immediately converted into triage and first aid stations. Each had a doctor assigned to it. Hot soup, coffee, and tea were prepared in bulk in each dining room, and blankets and warm clothes were collected to be ready to hand out. By this time, many of the passengers were awake–prepping a ship for disaster relief isn’t quiet–and all of them stepped up to help, many donating their own clothes and blankets.

And then he did something I tend to refer to as diverting all power from life support.

Here’s the thing about steamships: They run on steam. Shocking, I know; but that steam powers everything on the ship, and right now, Carpathia needed power. So Rostron turned off hot water and central heating, which bled valuable steam power, to everywhere but the dining rooms–which, of course, were being used to make hot drinks and receive survivors. He woke up all the engineers, all the stokers and firemen, diverted all that steam back into the engines, and asked his ship to go as fast as she possibly could. And when she’d done that, he asked her to go faster.

I need you to understand that you simply can’t push a ship very far past its top speed. Pushing that much sheer tonnage through the water becomes harder with each extra knot past the speed it was designed for. Pushing a ship past its rated speed is not only reckless–it’s difficult to maneuver–but it puts an incredible amount of strain on the engines. Ships are not designed to exceed their top speed by even one knot. They can’t do it. It can’t be done.

Carpathia’s absolute do-or-die, the-engines-can’t-take-this-forever top speed was fourteen knots. Dodging icebergs, in the dark and the cold, surrounded by mist, she sustained a speed of almost seventeen and a half.

No one would have asked this of them. It wasn’t expected. They were almost sixty miles away, with icebergs in their path. They had a responsibility to respond; they did not have a responsibility to do the impossible and do it well. No one would have faulted them for taking more time to confirm the severity of the issue. No one would have blamed them for a slow and cautious approach. No one but themselves.

They damn near broke the laws of physics, galloping north headlong into the dark in the desperate hope that if they could shave an hour, half an hour, five minutes off their arrival time, maybe for one more person those five minutes would make the difference. I say: three people had died by the time they were lifted from the lifeboats. For all we know, in another hour it might have been more. I say they made all the difference in the world.

This ship and her crew received a message from a location they could not hope to reach in under four hours. Just barely over three hours later, they arrived at Titanic’s last known coordinates. Half an hour after that, at 4am, they would finally find the first of the lifeboats. it would take until 8:30 in the morning for the last survivor to be brought onboard. Passengers from Carpathia universally gave up their berths, staterooms, and clothing to the survivors, assisting the crew at every turn and sitting with the sobbing rescuees to offer whatever comfort they could.

In total, 705 people of Titanic’s original 2208 were brought onto Carpathia alive. No other ship would find survivors.

At 12:20am April 15th, 1912, there was a miracle on the North Atlantic. And it happened because a group of humans, some of them strangers, many of them only passengers on a small and unimpressive steam liner, looked at each other and decided: I cannot live with myself if I do anything less.

I think the least we can do is remember them for it.

[noodles-and-tea]

YOUR MERTHUR ART GIVES ME LIFE!!! <3

THEY’RE SO!!!

[zuppizup]

[leliwardens]

With the latest news for Veilguard's choices there's a growing concern for me I've seen touched on but not completely: the choices for The Inquisitor themself.

I've seen it (fairly) pointed out you didn't have any option to decide the fate of three notable romance options: Cassandra (who could be Divine), Bull (who could be dead), and Blackwall (who could be a Warden and possibly dead). Not only are these quite well, important, to their stories, they are legit endings for the characters and romances-- they have their own unique epilogue slides, unlike simple breakups within the game. Given one, possibly two, can be dead it seems like a massive glaring issue you can't pick this for them? Unless of course this confirms they, if not all, of the other romances will not be showing up. But even if they didn't show up, if their only "cameo" is an update from The Inquisitor (if you can even talk to them), shouldn't it still be reflected their final fate...?

This leads me to the part I haven't seen talked about yet: the other relationships. You can have a low relationship with all of them to the point some will actively leave the Inquisition due to it. You can not recruit most of them too! If Dorian shows up will he simply not talk about his time in the Inquisition if the player can't decide if he was even apart of it or left? Will Varric talk about being besties with The Inquisitor even though you played him into a low affinity? I mean...even Leliana has a unique rarely seen line if she left The Warden's party in DAI.

This is also the case for Solas as well. I don't think it's fair to have "save him" or "stop him" be indicators of your relationship with him, because some (like me) had a high relationship with him but vowed to stop him, and while I'm sure it's not a common choice there has to be players out there that had a low relationship with him but vowed to save him. This is even reflected in Trespasser with how he handles The Inquisitor based on their relationship. I could be wrong and you might be able to define specifically this relationship with him and The Inquisitor later, but I'm not holding my breath about it.

Idk, I'm not sure what to make of it other than being concerned that there will be even less appearances by the limited quantum characters (pretty much...all of DAI's cast) or they'll be the same for everyone. Or some mix of the two and some romance options simply get next to nothing.

[assistant-honcho]

does *anyone* know how to stop wars? serious question.

[trappedinafantasy37]

"Weeeh! I wanna recruit Minthara on a good playthrough! Weeeh! I don't like the ultimatum and want to keep both Minthara and Halsin! Weeeh! I wanna make Minthara good! Weeeh! I don't want Minthara to break up with me!" Minthara deserves more content but none of these things are at all what she needs or deserves. No, these are all things that you want for yourself, but do absolutely nothing for her. This is one of the biggest L's in the game and it will forever enrage me because I just know it will never happen.

Minthara deserves to confront Orin like all the other companions do with their abusers. She deserves to scream and yell at Orin. She deserves to cut at her the same way Orin did, make her bleed and scream in pain. Minthara deserves to torture Orin, just as she did her in the mind flayer colony. Minthara deserves the right to roll up to the Temple of Bhaal and beat the shit out of Orin with her bare hands. Leave Orin begging for mercy in which Minthara will not even give her a drop. To slam Orin down on that altar and slice her throat, offer her up as a sacrifice to the father she is so blindly devoted to.

And yes, Minthara would be afraid. She would be TERRIFIED. Despite how strong and powerful Minthara is, she is also the only one afraid of Orin. Unlike Ketheric, or Gortash, or Sarevok, she is the only one who fully acknowledges just how dangerous Orin actually is and does not underestimate her. She will walk down into that temple, intending to duel Orin with a massive disadvantage because she is terrified.

Minthara choked when seeing Orin again in the mind flayer colony. She choked when seeing Orin as an imposter, throwing her deep into the ocean of paranoia and fear. And she is so entrenched in paranoia that it actually becomes palpable to everyone around her, even you. She describes herself as paranoid, but this is the first that you actually see how paranoid she is. And she choked again when Orin kidnapped someone in camp, making her feel inadequate, making a mockery of her for being unable to protect one of her own. And every day that passes, the more and more likely that the victim is going to die and she has doubts on their survival.

At every possible avenue in which Minthara could have done something or said something about Orin, she froze in place with fear. But she's had enough. She cannot be afraid of Orin forever and she doesn't want to be. One way or another, Orin has to die and she wants to get over that fear. She needs to know that Orin is dead, for herself.

This would also make the alurlssrin confession all the more impactful. She wants to tell you that she loves you in the best way that she can because of the very high likelihood that she will never have another chance to do so. She would beg you to come with her as you give her the courage. She has the courage to face her fears and confront her tormentor, because she knows she has you in her corner. If you have the courage to stand up to the very gods themselves, then she can stand up to Orin. Romanced or not, your presence alone is enough to give her the strength to do something she would otherwise be too terrified to do.

Minthara deserves the honor to solo duel Orin in a fight to the death. Minthara deserves the right to achieve vengeance for herself. No, I do not care that this confrontation would conflict with a Durge playthrough. In fact, it would provide a phenomenal source of some interesting, and toxic, drama between Durge and Minthara. Especially if they're in a relationship. This also does not mean that Minthara killing Orin instead of Durge would not have its consequences (because it most certainly will). Even if Minthara does not fight Orin, it would be so much better if Minthara was just given the fucking chance to yell at Orin like all the other companions in their personal quests.

[belphegor1982]

not me getting emotional at 11 PM finishing my pre-season 3 rewatch of The Legend of Vox Machina and spotting the little statuette of Pike in the background of 2.12 for the first time 🥹

[tevanbuckley]

My big gripe with the athena copaganda storylines (besides the obvious) is that she never seems to learn anything from them. They constantly set up these arcs primed to challenge her world view only for her to stubbornly stay the same.

Like, assuming there’s something to people’s spec about the plane going down it’s seems likely the plot is gonna be athena having to work with emmett’s killer to save the day etc etc. Which in theory at least, should force her to confront her black and white view of the justice system (especially given the obvious hypocrisy of her expecting amir to forgive bobby). But will the show do that? I’m doubtful.

[7outerelements]

Isn't this the proposal that forbids broad bans but permits (even codifies) the specific removal of trans athletes from programs? It's a profound abdication of Biden's promise to defend trans people from discrimination.

Biden's Title IX proposal would make broad, transgender sports bans illegal : NPR

the Thursday announcement, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said, "Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination."

Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

On Thursday, the U.S. Education Department announced a proposed change to Title IX, which prohibits sex-based discrimination in federally funded education programs. The proposal would make it illegal for schools to broadly ban transgender students from sports teams that align with their gender identity, rather than their assigned sex at birth.

The department says the move comes after two years of outreach to stakeholders across the country, and the changes still give schools some flexibility to ban transgender athletes depending on age and sport.

"Every student should be able to have the full experience of attending school in America, including participating in athletics, free from discrimination," said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. "Being on a sports team is an important part of the school experience for students of all ages."

[cherryys]

ever since 266, I saw many people say that because megumi doesn't want to be a jujutsu sorcerer, that means his conclusion doesn't have to have anything to do with using his technique or completing his domain and that him just getting saved is fine, and that is his purpose in the story, and I completely disagree.

Megumi has always treated his technique as a curse in his life, one he had never wanted and one that had always hindered him. he viewed it as a crutch, a weakness, something that controls him rather than him controlling it as its user. it had dictated his life ever since his birth and subsequently forcing him into the gruel jujutsu world, with his father selling and abandoning him, the expectations placed on him by Gojo to surpass him because of his technique, along with now, Sukuna stealing his body, his autonomy, his agency, and his ability to make a choice along with killing his sister and hurting his friends just because of his technique. Him learning that instead of fearing his technique and treating it as something he'll never control or grasp and that its power is way beyond him, he does have the strength and newfound mindset to control it, be its master and be able to completely understand and interpret his technique would be a great way to conclude his character arc and his rocky relationship with his technique.

him completing his domain doesn't have anything to do with jujutsu sorcery. his domain is a representation of his sense of self, his self-identity, his character, so to speak. it being incomplete from the start was to show you that megumi hadn't grasped his sense of self yet, hasn't found an identity unique to himself outside of wanting to save his sister (and later, yuuji) and his complete disregard for his life in general. his incomplete domain is basically showing you his incomplete character. I just can't really fathom the domain not being completed especially after him being at the climax of his character arc. it's more than just a jujutsu thing for megumi's character, it represents him.

also, megumi's purpose this entire arc to just be saved is hardly a good conclusion to his character. his entire life, he'd been stripped of his autonomy, the power to choose, the power to control his life. that was what reggie's curse was: let fate toy with you, become a clown, then die. his conclusion should be him breaking AWAY from that curse, to stop fate from toying with him, and instead of just laying down and letting life kick him over and over, he stands up and finally kicks back, fights against the circumstances, saves himself, instead of doing nothing and just letting others save him. what would be the point, then? he'd be reduced to a literal plot device, whose entire role in the story is to let his body be taken over by sukuna for his technique, and he doesn't even save himself, he just lets others do the work for him. that would be a horrible conclusion. it wouldn't make his dream of wanting a peaceful life earned for me, not because megumi HAS to be useful or has to prove himself to deserve a simple life, but because he hasn't really changed. he's the same as he was before, letting life toy with him over and over and reduced to just the damsel in distress who constantly needs others to do the work for him.

I want him to fight back. I want him to save himself. I want him to put in the work to change his fate.

[dazais-guardian-angel]

Chapter 110 is 13 pages long welcome to hell!!! so in a lot of ways this is just more fuel for a theory that I've had for a few weeks now, that's only gotten stronger with each recent season 5 episode, which is that the last episode of the season is gonna end on 110, and that Asagiri/Harukawa and Bones have been collaborating to make this happen, specifically because it's a major turning point that would be the only good place to end the season on.

When we started getting especially long chapters again (like from 25-35ish pages, with the exception of 107.5, the last two being some of the longest we've ever had), at first I just assumed that Asagiri/Harukawa got freed up from some other obligations they'd been having to cause the extremely short/half chapters, like promotional stuff for the anime/Beast movie, or working on light novels. But then 109 happened, with the "supposed" death of Dazai, and heavy emphasis at the end on how literally everyone is at their lowest point right now, and I got to thinking. 11 episodes is a strangely specific number for an anime season -- why not 12, or 13, or even 10, like you'd usually see? Why have we gotten suddenly gotten two 35 page chapters out of nowhere, that's almost unheard of at this point? They're both beautiful chapters, don't get me wrong (as always), and maybe A/H simply just didn't want to cut them in halves because they felt like the full emotional impact wouldn't hit/that there were no good cutoff points in them, but you can't deny that it's surprising, after all the shorter chapters we've been getting. Why has the anime been going at such insanely breakneck pacing for the most part ever since around the Sunday Tragedy chapters, even more so than it has in the past? So much so that it feels dangerously close to overtaking the manga?

Well, maybe, just maybe, it's because..... Asagiri decided a long time ago that whatever happens in 110 is the only point that feels "season finale"-worthy enough, in an arc that still isn't anywhere close to being completely wrapped up, and so both the manga and the anime have been specifically coordinated to reach that part within 2 and a half weeks of each other?

I've seen a lot of people now think season 5 will end with 109, and as much as my sadistic side would find that hilarious, I honestly don't think they'd do that and realistically don't want it to happen; it'd be so cruel to cliffhanger the anime for years like that, and just doesn't feel like a season cliffhanger BSD would do, a series that is ultimately hopeful and uplifting. Seasons 2 and 3 had a positive, conclusive ending; the only reasons seasons 1 and 4 didn't was because they're technically not really full seasons of their own, and are more like the first cour of another "season" that also came out that same year (seasons 1 and 2 both aired in 2016, so they're more like one big season, and seasons 4 and 5 have both aired this year, so they're also more like one big season, again taking into account how episodes 12 and 50 are not satisfying finales like episodes 24, 37, and hypothetically, 61, are). I really can't see season 5 ending with Dazai and Fukuzawa's supposed deaths, Sigma being unconscious and maybe close to death, Atsushi being vulnerable and limbless again, everyone we love still vampires, and the entire world being basically doomed; that's just too depressing and not like BSD at all. However, having said that, if it doesn't end there, there really isn't any good place to end the season before that, either, that feels in any way satisfying or like a finale at all. And so, to me, that only leaves after 109: chapter 110.

I think things are really gonna turn around next chapter. Like I said, everyone is at their lowest point right now, it cannot possibly get any worse, the framing of Dazai, Fukuzawa, and sskk at the end of 109 is telling us that; this is the time for the heroes to finally start winning again, with Aya being so close to pulling out the sword, and for all the thematic reasons other people have talked about to death that I don't need to go into here again. This upcoming chapter being so short again makes a part of me wary of 110 being "the one", so to speak, I won't lie, but at the same time, it's very possible that it needs to be that short because that's all the final episode of the season will be able to reasonably fit in, since it's already gonna be VERY close if they do make it all the way to 109. And at the end of the day, I don't doubt at all that Asagiri and Harukawa can make these the most monumental and game-changing mere 13 pages ever if they wanted to; a chapter does not at all need to be extremely long in order to be an important and impactful one, even if short ones we've gotten in the past haven't felt the most important.

An additional thought I've had, though this is much more crack territory than all this already is, is that since we know from Anime Expo that a Stormbringer movie at some point is highly likely (judging from Asagiri's reaction when someone brought it up), it's possible that chapter 110 and thus the final episode will involve the long-anticipated return of Verlaine and/or Adam, or at least some other major reference to Stormbringer, that would naturally and smoothly lead into a Stormbringer movie to explain things to people who haven't read the novel. It would make a lot of sense, especially since the s4 OP has the Old World sign behind Chuuya, which might be a hint that this has been in the works ever since seasons 4/5 were first in planning with Asagiri. We also know that Dazai and Chuuya's voice actors apparently struggled to record their lines together this season, which probably relates to 101 and possibly 109, but it could be 110 too.... I could be very wrong, as I'm no expert on this kind of thing, but I kinda doubt they would bring Chuuya's actor in for just the vampire growls, and Asagiri placing heavy emphasis on Chuuya's importance this season in that one interview gives me the impression that he's talking about much more than just 101/109. But that's the least solid evidence I have, that's just mostly based on vibes I get.

So basically, I think a lot of factors -- the unusual episode count, how close the anime is to catching up to the manga with three whole episodes left, the seemingly arbitrary recent chapter lengths, and the climactic events of 109 -- can tell us that 110 might be a very, VERY big deal. Again, there's of course no way this arc is anywhere near close to being finished, with so much left to address and resolve, but since it is currently incomplete in the manga, unlike the previously adapted arcs, if the anime was going to adapt it at all, they'd have to find a place that feels satisfying enough to end this season, knowing there won't be more anime for a long time after this, and so I think they specifically planned for that, from both Bones' and A/H's sides. 10 episodes might not have been enough to reach that point, but 12 or 13 might have been too many it wouldn't have been if Bones actually decided to slow down and let the story breathe the way it needs to, but this post isn't meant to criticize the anime, so maybe 11 was just right. And maybe Asagiri and Harukawa specifically pushed to make recent chapters longer than usual, in order to make sure that the manga reached the story content in 110 the monthly release right before season 5 was to end.

Is this just copium? Absolutely. Am I going to look like an absolute clown in two days when this post ages like milk? Probably. But the evidence is There, so let me just enjoy my delusions until Sunday, okay 🥂🫡

[kangals]

I understand if you don't feel comfortable answering this because IIRC Stellina's breeder had some strict requirements in her contract with you... do you know how enforceable breeder contracts are? Asking as someone who works in a vet clinic and has seen contracts stipulating how many vaccines/when to give them or they are "void"

one of the reasons i went with stellina's breeder is actually because their contract didn't have strict requirements - it had a lot of suggestions, but they were all worded like "we strongly suggest following XYZ vaccine protocol" or "we recommend using ABC for tick preventatives," but nothing that was worded like "you MUST do (this thing)" (except i think that i must contact them if i ever rehome stellina, which i think is reasonable). i genuinely don't care if a breeder makes suggestions in their contract, but i would never sign one that ever states that feeding a certain food, or not vaccinating, is mandatory, or that not doing so voids your health guarantee. hell no, fuck that. my dog, not yours.

to answer your question: i don't honestly know how enforceable they are, but i'd guess it kind of depends on the specific breeder. i feel like i've heard stories about breeders going after puppy buyers on grounds of broken contracts, but i rarely hear about them actually enacting legal consequences (like suing, or repossessing dogs). i think the consequences are more often that you'll be blacklisted from a community/breed, as opposed to legal stuff or literally losing your dog. my impression has been that breeder contracts are more a show of good faith than anything else - but maybe i'm wrong, genuinely idk.

so: i think they're technically legally enforceable, but doing so requires a lot of legwork that most people arent willing or able to put in.

[mrs-xenia-and-dagny]

Controversial take but from the little clip in the video he sounds like a Noah Centimetres type soft boy and I’m already lowkey annoyed by it

"suave and handsome" vs "reminds me of a slightly damp and nervous cat for some reason"

the duality of man