#hazards of being a historian

[girderednerve]

i have once more Read a Book !

the book was jim morris' cancer factory: industrial chemicals, corporate deception, & the hidden deaths of american workers. this book! is very good! it is primarily about the bladder cancer outbreak associated with the goodyear plant in niagara falls, new york, & which was caused by a chemical called orthotoluedine. goodyear itself is shielded by new york's workers' comp law from any real liability for these exposures & occupational illnesses; instead, a lot of the information that morris relies on comes from suits against dupont, which manufactured the orthotoluedine that goodyear used, & despite clear internal awareness of its carcinogenicity, did not inform its clients, who then failed to protect their workers. fuck dupont! morris also points out that goodyear manufactured polyvinyl chloride (PVC) at that plant, and, along with other PVC manufacturers, colluded to hide the cancer-causing effects of vinyl chloride, a primary ingredient in PVC & the chemical spilled in east palestine, ohio in 2023. the book also discusses other chemical threats to american workers, including, and this was exciting for me personally, silica; it mentions the hawks nest tunnel disaster (widely forgotten now despite being influential in the 30s, and, by some measures, the deadliest industrial disaster in US history) & spends some time on the outbreak of severe silicosis among southern california countertop fabricators, associated with high-silica 'engineered stone' or 'quartz' countertops. i shrieked about that, the coverage is really good although the treatment of hawks nest was very brief & neglected the racial dynamic at play (the workers exposed to silica at hawks nest were primarily migrant black workers from the deep south).

cancer factory spends a lot of time on the regulatory apparatus in place to respond to chemical threats in the workplace, & thoroughly lays out how inadequate they are. OSHA is responsible for setting exposure standards for workplace chemicals, but they have standards for only a tiny fraction—less than one percent!—of chemicals used in american industry, and issue standards extremely slowly. the two major issues it faces, outside of its pathetically tiny budget, are 1) the standard for demonstrating harm for workers is higher than it is for the general public, a problem substantially worsened during the reagan administration but not created by it, and 2) OSHA is obliged to regulate each individual chemical separately, rather than by functional groups, which, if you know anything at all about organic chemistry, is nonsensical on its face. morris spends a good amount of time on the tenure of eula bingham as the head of OSHA during the carter administration; she was the first woman to head the organization & made a lot of reasonable reforms (a cotton dust standard for textile workers!), but could not get a general chemical standard, allowing OSHA to regulate chemicals in blocks instead of individually, through, & then of course much of her good work was undone by reagan appointees.

the part of the book that made me most uncomfortable was morris' attempt to include birth defects in his analysis. i don't especially love the term 'birth defect'—it feels cruel & seems to me to openly devalue disabled people's lives, no?—but i did appreciate attention to women's experiences in the workplace, and i think workplace chemical exposure is an underdiscussed part of reproductive justice. cancer factory mentions women lead workers who were forced to undergo tubal ligations to retain their employment, supposedly because lead is a teratogen. morris points at workers in silicon valley's electronics industry; workers, most of them women, who made those early transistors were exposed to horrifying amounts of lead, benzene, and dangerous solvents, often with disabling effects for their children.

morris points out again & again that we only know that there was an outbreak of bladder cancer & that it should be associated with o-toluedine because the goodyear plant workers were organized with the oil, chemical, & atomic workers (OCAW; now part of united steelworkers), and the union pursued NIOSH investigation and advocated for improved safety and monitoring for employees, present & former. even so, 78 workers got bladder cancer, 3 died of angiosarcoma, and goodyear workers' families experienced bladder cancer and miscarriage as a result of secondary exposure. i kept thinking about unorganized workers in the deep south, cancer alley in louisiana, miners & refinery workers; we don't have meaningful safety enforcement or monitoring for many of these workers. we simply do not know how many of them have been sickened & killed by their employers. there is no political will among people with power to count & prevent these deaths. labor protections for workers are better under the biden administration than the trump administration, but biden's last proposed budget leaves OSHA with a functional budget cut after inflation, and there is no federal heat safety standard for indoor workers. the best we get is marginal improvement, & workers die. i know you know! but it's too big to hold all the same.

anyway it's a good book, it's wide-ranging & interested in a lot of experiences of work in america, & morris presents an intimate (sometimes painfully so!) portrait of workers who were harmed by goodyear & dupont. would recommend

[elysiaaurea]

Finally made an LC OC! Please be kind to them? (or don’t, I love angst) Close ups under the cut~

Name: Vela Navis

Age: 25

Pronouns: they/them/she/her

Role/Skills: Support and sorting valuable scrap. Sewing, Embroidery, Painting. Knows a decent amount of ASL

History:

Prior to her position at The Company, she was a Historian / Art Historian. 

With wars and subsequent famine whittling down an already dwindling human population, along with the ever increasing demands of The Company, almost all non-essential jobs have been made redundant in the face of survival.

Personality and Others:

Despite being naturally cheerful and friendly, she has become increasingly anxious. If she’s not worrying about her own mortality, then she’s worrying about her crew and their future (she knows it does not bode well, having tracked the career ends of her predecessors)

The most paranoid crewmate: Her previous career did not give her much in the way of physical training nor the developed instincts necessary to survive the hazards of the job - and she is very aware of this and attempts to overcompensate by painting eyes on the back of her helmet like Forest Keepers/Butterflies. Painting is one of the few outlets for stress, and often enjoys patching up her crew mates’ suits for tears.

She attributes her survival to her knowledge and the support of her crew, who she considers family and would do anything for them.

Unfortunately, her job is very much as odds with her values as an art historian. Selling paintings snd 'priceless artefacts' to The Company often results in weeping on Gordion, much to the annoyance of her Captain and crew.

[athingofvikings]

A Thing Of Vikings Chapter 55: And Who We Make Ourselves To Be

Chapter 55: And Who We Make Ourselves To Be

…with all due respect to my esteemed colleagues, the specific metaphor they used to describe the pull that Berk had upon merchant traffic is inaccurate and inadequate, as a magnet will only attract iron filings within a certain short distance, and the pull rapidly drops off from there.  In contrast, it appears that the seagoing merchants across all of Europa in the era attempted and typically succeeded in making their way to Berk for trade within two years of the domestication of dragons. 

According to the bills of sale, lading, and customs declarations recorded by Ingerman's archives, merchants from across the Mediterranean were flocking to Berk by April of 1042, hearing of the riches of the tamed dragons.  Previously, Berk had been a hazard port, where only those who were willing to risk being attacked by wild dragons went—although the demand for dragon-derived materials was such that some still made the journey, especially due to the near-total depopulation of dragons from the Mediterranean region over the previous two thousand years.  In the aftermath of the demise of the Green Death, the danger had evaporated, and this new opportunity for profit without major risk caused a significant draw to head to Berk with all possible haste.  Over the course of 1042, over a hundred merchant ships from as far away as the Fatimid capital of Cairo visited Berk—and, two years earlier, there had been only two such visits. 

As such, magnetic seems to be inadequate as a metaphor to communicate the depth of the impact upon the commercial traffic of the era, as the draw became even more intense as the distance grew.  While I acknowledge that Historians Paulson, bat Rivka, and Larson prefer to focus on the religious aspects of the subsequent conflicts, their consistent downplaying of the economic factors does them a disservice…

—Dr. Dame Karolina Haddock, PhD, Professor of Norse History, Vedrarfjord University, Debate during the 89th Annual Symposium on Imperial History

AO3 Chapter Link

~~~

My Original Fiction | Original Fiction Patreon

[f1-disaster-bi]

Hey could you write something military related Lando centric? For example, Lando being a military soldier for example in special forces. I don't know pairing, maybe lando/Max or Pierre/lando, but I have two scenarios

1. Him being quiet rookie soldier and Max or Pierre or someone else being more experienced soldier who falls to Lando immediately. Lando is hard to get due to his hard past and that's why he became a soldier

2. Lando being a new soldier in special forces where Max or Pierre are working in the medical side.

Either way, there can be lot of angst and hurt/comfort of when lando is in danger and getting hurt

Anon, maybe you read my mind or something because I'm actually in a bit of a mood. I might be a Cultural Historian by profession but I also have a keen interest in Military history and rn I'm rewatching Band of Brothers and Thinking Thoughts.

I don't really have time for a full fic right now, but I can absolutely write you a short thing? (I also now have some WWII Band of Brothers inspired drabbles)

As for your ideas, I hope this is alright! I've mixed your ideas together a little.

"You need to stop ending up here"

Lando didn't take his eyes off of the ceiling as Pierre worked at stitching closed the bullet wound on his shoulder.

"Part of the job" was all he replied as he closed his eyes because that's what it was.

It was just a hazard of the job.

Lando barely even felt the wounds anymore and he didn't really care about them. What was one more scar on his body when he had spent his life collecting them since he was two years old? It was nothing new. Nothing he hadn't experienced before.

A bullet wasn't going to stop him getting the job done.

"Yes, but most of you know enough to avoid getting shot", Pierre glared as he finished his last stitch, "Why can't you?"

Lando just hummed softly before he finally looked at Pierre for the first time since the medic had met him off of the helicopter.

"Because I don't care, Gasly, and you lecturing me won't change that", Lando shrugged because it was the truth.

Pierre sighed as he fixed a patch over the closed wound before he sat back and gave Lando a pitying look.

"No, I've learnt that by now, but you're a fool to think I won't try and stop you from killing yourself for this job"

[carewyncromwell]

"I don't know if there's a reason Why some are blessed, some not -- Why the few you seem to favor... They fear them -- flee them -- try not to see them...!"

~"God Help the Outcasts (cover)" by Peter Hollens

x~x~x~x

The British Ministry of Magic was in a lot of flux politically in the 1990's. This was most obvious after the Ministry's elected leadership was overthrown by a Death Eater insurgency in the summer of 1997, but even prior to the Second Wizarding War, the pendulum was definitely in motion. It was a time that magical historians would claim required strong leadership, so as to fight the normalization of certain aspects of the blood supremacist ideology. Sadly, all the British Ministry of Magic had in regard to leadership was Cornelius Fudge. And Cornelius Fudge was far too conservative, people-pleasing, pacifistic, and power-hungry to truly see just how dangerous the people he'd surrounded himself with were -- the most dangerous of which being future Hogwarts High Inquisitor and Head of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, Dolores Jane Umbridge.

Dolores Umbridge held the role of Senior Undersecretary to the Minister, when Carewyn Cromwell first started working at the Department of Magical Law Enforcement as a lawyer in the summer of 1991. They actually met in Carewyn's first week on the job, when Fudge approached her in the hall on his way back to his office. Carewyn was a bit surprised by how cordial Fudge was to her, but apparently her part in R's defeat and apprehension had left the Minister with a rather favorable opinion of her.

"After all you did for the Aurors, and for Hogwarts itself -- why, it's a pleasure, to have you on-board, Carewyn, my dear," Fudge said warmly. "Should you ever need anything, anything at all, you just let me know. After all -- " he waggled his eyebrows, " -- technically, we...are family by marriage. My niece having married your uncle, you know..."

The thought of Blaise Cromwell made Carewyn just barely fight back a cringe.

"...Really," she said with a pained smile. "I was unaware..."

"Yes," said Fudge with a sigh. "It is sad that you never got to meet her...even her poor son really would've never met her, he was but a babe when she died..."

He smiled a bit more fully. "But no matter! No sense lamenting the past, when the future lies before us!"

"Very true, Minister," said the pink-dressed woman at his side in an oddly girlish, simpering tone of voice. "We must indeed look toward the future. There is much that we must do, to improve our world -- protect past precedent and reinforce those things people seek to revoke...wouldn't you say so, Miss Cromwell?"

She peered at Carewyn through her heavy, pouched eyes, clearly studying her intently. Carewyn got the distinct impression she was looking for a very specific answer, but even just wading through Umbridge's emotions -- sensing her gross condescension and nasty intent -- made the young lawyer feel as dirty and slimy as she was walking barefoot through a swamp.

"Reinforce those things people seek to revoke" -- why was it that Carewyn saw illustrations of werewolves reflected in Umbridge's eyes, as she said this...?

Carewyn pursed her red lips slightly, breaking eye contact with Umbridge as quickly as she could and trying hard not to shudder outwardly.

"...I would say that past precedent must be considered in all legal cases," she said diplomatically, "but the intent of the original author, and the morality and validity of that intent, can be just as important. After all, wizarding society has never been static -- it's a living, growing thing...and when certain laws are no longer applicable or are in otherwise need of revision...sometimes they must be reexamined through a modern lens. Just as new laws also deserve some scrutiny. I'd hazard to say that's the role of the Wizengamot overall."

Umbridge frowned deeply, clearly displeased. Fudge, however, responded quite favorably.

"Well said!" he said with a clap of his hands. "Just what I've always said -- a balance of the old and new, that's always what's best -- "

Umbridge's eyes narrowed ever-so-slightly as she smiled.

"...It seems you have a ready wit, Miss Cromwell. You truly do take after Charles...oh! When it comes to making a legal argument, naturally," she added, with an insincere little laugh.

Fudge, on the other hand, cleared his throat very loudly, looking incredibly uncomfortable. "Yes, yes, of course, you -- you couldn't be further from that -- that criminal, when it comes to your moral convictions, Carewyn, my dear..."

He turned on his heel, still smiling weakly over his shoulder at Carewyn.

"Well, now, we'd really best be off, Dolores. Lovely to see you, Carewyn! Do send a note by my office anytime, should you need anything!"

"Thank you, sir," Carewyn said politely.

She shot a very furtive look toward Umbridge, who forced a rather sickeningly sweet smile.

"Good day, Miss Cromwell," she said in that unpleasantly simpering voice. "The Minister and I look very forward to seeing how your career progresses."

Carewyn doubted Umbridge had ever lied more through her teeth in her life. Quite honestly, though, all Carewyn really cared about was that the older woman was finally out of range of her potentially sensing her emotions.

Emotions -- yeah, right, Carewyn couldn't help but rant internally as she quickly turned and strode off back toward her office. More like her bog of ego, pretension, condescension, and flat-out spite. The way she thought about werewolves, when she mentioned reinforcing old precedent...only someone who wants werewolves subjugated would want them treated as badly as they've always been...and that hatred, in her -- it was like mud, being splashed all over me -- like when Jacob and I had to talk to Lucius Malfoy at that Slug Club party...

Whoever the hell this Dolores Umbridge was, Carewyn quickly decided she wanted nothing to do with her. They had only just met, but Carewyn already knew it, in the pit of her stomach -- she hated that woman.

x~x~x~x

For the next two and a half years, Carewyn successfully kept her distance from the likes of Dolores Jane Umbridge. Then, most unfortunately, in the spring of 1994, Umbridge wrote a draft of a new bill for Fudge, proposing the curtailing of the kinds of employment that known werewolves were allowed to pursue -- preventing them from working in any position that would put them in contact with animals, children, or even other people.

Carewyn was absolutely horrified by the contents of this bill. She was very well aware, through her friendships with Chiara Lobosca and Remus Lupin, how very difficult it was for werewolves to find and keep a job. With this new law in effect, there would be almost no position that either of them could remain in, if they were open with their condition. Chiara had some friends in St. Mungo's who might be able to find a work-around so as to keep her as a resource, but poor Lupin -- who had always struggled to find work in the educational field -- would likely be left out to dry.

Fortunately there were other witches and wizards on the court, such as Amelia Bones, who harbored similar concerns, and soon a motion had been filed to bring the bill before the Wizengamot, to discuss its possible violation of the Wizard's Code of Civil Rights. Carewyn immediately volunteered to serve as prosecutor for the case.

When she arrived in court that day, she was dressed to the nines in mint green and white, her red lips sternly pursed as she laid out her case.

"Members of the Wizengamot -- I know that we all come from a variety of backgrounds. Some of us were raised with magic -- some not. Some of us have struggled to reach our current position -- others have not. Most of us attended Hogwarts school, but some of us received our magical education elsewhere. But one thing I am quite sure all of us were always well-assured of is that we would never have to worry about there being no place for us. That after all of our study, work, and occasionally even sacrifice, our World would turn its back on us, denying us any chance at financial livelihood and building a future for ourselves and our families. "...What would you do, I wonder, if that happened to you? Would you find employment in the Muggle World? With what qualifications? With what degree? I assure you, not even the most basic customer service job in the Muggle World will have any interest in your awards for Potioneering. "The Wizard's Code of Civil Rights makes the assertion that all magic users shall be entitled to the protection of our Ministry of Magic and the safety to pursue a life of our choosing within the magical World that Ministry has sworn to oversee and regulate. In more recent years, we even expanded those protections to partially cover non-magic users with a blood connection to our Wizarding World, such as Squibs and the Muggle spouses of witches and wizards who've given birth to a magical child. We have already decided that those people who belong to our World, whether due to magical talent or familial ties, deserve to be able to make a living in that World. And yet now, this bill seeks to curtail the Civil Rights of some of our own citizens to find stable employment in the field of their choice. "These citizens...suffer from lycanthropy. As all of you should know, this results in them transforming into a werewolf during full moons -- a form that can be controlled, while the person takes the Wolfsbane Potion, as well as safely restrained, if the person can't get access to it. There have been only two known werewolf attacks in the last ten years, even while it's estimated that there are at least 200 werewolves living and working quietly in our society. 200 werewolves who -- over the span of the last 120 months -- have been nothing but productive members of society -- normal human magic users just like you, who deserve no hatred or fear for a condition they didn't choose to have. For that's what they are -- witches and wizards, just like you! Only a tiny, tiny fraction of werewolves today are Muggles -- a mere 1.5%, of all reported cases, due to the well-documented mortality rate among Muggles bitten in werewolf attacks, compared to wizards. Just as I am still a human witch, even when I transform into my Animagus form, so too are these werewolves still people, even while transformed. And in these cases where they're not transformed, and therefore no threat to anyone, there is even less of an argument to be made for why they should be denied of their basic human rights. "Thank you."

Alas, the defense counteracted all of Carewyn's reason and pleas for compassion and decency with one vile, simplistic argument.

"The prosecution innocently accuses this bill of violating the Wizard's Code of Civil Rights, by denying witches and wizards their proper rights, as humans. But, members of the Wizengamot, werewolves are not human. Even when they look human, they're not. If they truly were just 'normal human beings like the rest of us,' then why don't we determine their fate, when they commit wrongs against the Wizarding World? Why don't the Aurors deal with them, rather than the Werewolf Capture Unit? We have better things to do than deal with the likes of Fenrir Greyback -- he belonged at the mercy of the Werewolf Capture Unit, and the Beast division by extension. Because that's what they are -- beasts. They don't need lawyers, or trials, or even legal defense -- they're creatures we have to regulate. Like dragons or winged horses. And if they have the ability to blend in among us as they have, then the very least we can do is ensure the safety of our children."

The defense's counterargument lasted only half the time that Carewyn's original statement had...and it took only half that time for the Wizengamot to ultimately side with the defense case and let the bill drafted by Dolores Umbridge stand. Carewyn was unable to face anyone in the courtroom as she shakily sat back down at the prosecution bench, holding the edge of the railing.

The defense case was flat-out prejudice: blatant, underhanded fearmongering, and little else. Of course werewolves' affairs were dealt with by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures, but that wasn't an argument in favor of their disenfranchisement, it only highlighted all the more how much the Wizarding World already treated them unfairly! It only spotlighted how much the Ministry of Magic already treated werewolves as second-class citizens, and how much better it should be, in how it tries to "protect" its people, werewolves included!

And yet, even with that...the Wizengamot had chosen it. No matter how much Carewyn had urged them to look past the fear tactics and see reason -- to feel some compassion for the werewolves' untenable position...they'd ultimately sided with their own prejudices and fears.

She'd failed.

The faces of Chiara and Lupin ran over Carewyn's mind, and she was forced to close her eyes and bow her head, trying to obscure the pain in her expression.

It's my fault, Lupin -- Chiara, she thought. I wasn't good enough. ...I'm so sorry...

"Good day, Miss Cromwell," said a sickeningly sweet voice.

Carewyn had felt miserable enough as it was -- but looking up and suddenly feeling like she was knee-deep in a bog of pretension and spite did not help matters.

Her blue eyes narrowed coldly. "...Madam Umbridge."

Dolores Umbridge was smiling from ear to ear as she regarded Carewyn. She seemed to take some vindictive glee at the younger woman's unhappiness -- Carewyn could sense a noxious kind of sadistic pleasure pooling off of her.

"There, there," Umbridge said in a very unconvincing voice, as she gave a pretentious little pat to Carewyn's hand, "we can't win 'em all, can we?"

Carewyn whipped her hand right out of Umbridge's reach, her blue eyes boring into her coldly. Umbridge's smile only seemed to grow.

"Forgive me, dear, but you just made a weaker case," she said lightly. "Standing by the weak may seem like a very noble endeavor, at first glance...but you know, sometimes all those weak things do is bring you down, rather than build you up."

Her pouchy, toad-like eyes narrowed that bit more as her smile widened.

"Perhaps next time you'll find a case where you can champion the winning side."

Carewyn was very happy when Umbridge turned and strode off -- just wallowing in her sickening, unpleasant thoughts had made her too nauseous to respond.

x~x~x~x

As fate would have it, after the Second Wizarding War came to a close, Umbridge and Carewyn met in another courtroom overseen by the Wizengamot just after New Years, 1999. This time, however, Umbridge was in the defendant's chair...and Carewyn was Lead Prosecutor.

“And so…esteemed members of the Wizengamot…based on the overwhelming evidence – the factually bankrupt, inflammatory anti-Muggle and Muggle-born leaflets sent out by the defendant’s Commission and promoted by the defendant herself; the transcripts of trials overseen by the defendant that spell out blatant corruption and unsanctioned cross-examination techniques, including having Dementors present during all trials and actively refusing to give any defendant proper legal representation; the testimony of over fifty Ministry employees, speaking to the defendant’s close working relationships with known Death Eaters and to her own willingness to overlook Wizarding Law to advance herself and her Commission’s political aims; the countless memos written in the defendant’s own hand condemning nearly a thousand people, including over a hundred children, to unjust captivity; and the defendant’s well-known reputation among her ex-students, her coworkers, and even her own family for enjoying the suffering of others and persecuting fellow wizards and witches not just for their blood, but also for suffering from medical conditions like lycanthropy and blood maledictions – all of which the defense has offered no suitable defense for, aside from incorrectly asserting that the defendant was ‘simply following orders’ from her superiors…I think there is no question as to her guilt, or to what justice would be appropriate. Although I – as a private citizen of the Wizarding World – agree with Minister Shacklebolt’s measure to remove the Dementors from Azkaban prison…I must acknowledge that if there were ever a case for a criminal from our world deserving the Dementor’s Kiss…it would be Dolores Jane Umbridge. But because we – unlike the defendant – have a code of honor before us that we will not break just to achieve a political objective…I believe it’s our solemn duty to ensure this basilisk in human skin never walks free again.”

As Umbridge was sentenced to life in Azkaban, Carewyn took the opportunity to speak to her as her Auror friend Talbott Winger conjured thick chains around her wrists, feet, and neck. The sadistic witch nicknamed "Dementor Dolores" by the Daily Prophet had no color in her paunchy, toad-like face and looked torn between mad outrage and absolute terror. Those two emotions only flared up all the more when Carewyn approached her.

"You -- you wretched little -- !"

Talbott gave a pointed tug with his wand, sharply tightening the chain around her neck the way someone might yank on their dog's lead to tell them to stop barking -- Umbridge gave a strangled yelp of pain.

"I seem to recall you once suggested I fight for the 'winning side,' Dolores," Carewyn said lowly.

The Ministry's new Chief Prosecutor regarded Umbridge with a look better suited to a cockroach before turning her back on her.

"Unbeknownst to you...I always was."

Umbridge's mouth fell open in a mixture of disbelief, terror, and anger as Talbott handed her off to two other Aurors, who proceeded to drag her from the room.

"You -- you can't do this to me!" Umbridge shrieked. "You can't do this! Unhand me, this instant! Let go of me! Let me GO!"

Talbott came up to stand on Carewyn's other side, watching Umbridge get dragged away, his reddish eyes flaring with contempt.

"Charming woman," he said with biting sarcasm.

"More or less charming than a snake pit?" Carewyn asked dryly.

"I'd kiss that entire pit full of snakes on the mouth before being in the same room as her a second time," said Talbott.

Carewyn bit her lip to hold in a soft giggle. Talbott smirked broadly.

"Still...at least justice can finally now be served," Carewyn said with a soft sigh. "This won't undo all the harm she's caused...but at least she can't hurt anyone else again. And that, in itself, guarantees that she'll be miserable for the rest of her worthless life."

Talbott nodded solemnly. "That has to be a small comfort, to those she's hurt."

He brought a hand down on Carewyn's shoulder and gave it a squeeze. Carewyn smiled at her old friend, and the two walked out of the courtroom side by side.

"Are you up for a celebratory drink? I owe you and Ben, for volunteering to serve as security during my trials..."

"Quit saying you owe us for that -- you know we're doing it because we want to. ...Heh...but sure, why not? Reckon we deserve something other than coffee, after all the late nights we've been working..."

[historyineverything]

A Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indes by Bartolomé de las Casa...

Side Note: The Argument of this Narrative by way of Preface to the reader: The Reverend Author of this Compendious Summary was Bartholomaeus de las Casas alias Casaus, a Pious and Religeous person, (as appears by his zealous Transports in this Narrative for promotion of the Christian Faith) elevated from a Frier of the Dominican Order to sit in the Episcopal Chair, who was frequently importuned by Good and Learned Men, particularly Historians, to Publish this Summary, who so prevailed with him, that he Collected out of that copious History which might and ought to be written on this subject, the contents of this concise Treatise with intention to display unto the World the Enormities, &c. the Spaniards committed in America during their residence there, to their eternal ignominy; and for the author finding that no Admonitions or Reprehensions, how mild soever could operate upon or sink into the rocky-hearted Tyrants in those Occidental parts; he therefore took up a firm resolution, being then about 50 years of age (as he himself declares) to run the Hazards and Dangers by Sea, and the Risque of a long voyage into Spain there to acquaint and Certifie the most Illustrious Prince Phillip the Son and Heir of his Imperial Majesty Charles the Fifth of Blessed Memory, with the Horrid crimes, &c. perpetrated in those countries, part whereof he had seen, and part heard from such as boasted of their Wickedness.

Comment section: * the use of the word discovered is outdated.

Images are from: wikimedia.org

If you would like to read the full book, you can find many versions in your library or online. This book is in the public domain. You can find it on many sites like Project Gutenberg and Google Play Books.

Disclaimer: This post is a summary of the book. The book is available in the public domain and may contain some historical inaccuracy. I summarize the book to the best of my ability or highlight excerpts of interesting facts.  If you would like to add information, advise a current article/book, and/or critically analyze the book, it is welcome. Thank you.

[inoppositionflorien]

On the developments in the tech industry, Leading Scientist Says: "Why are you outside my house at three in the morning" and "What are you doing with that gasoline? Why is my door stuck?"

Stock Market Plummets as Prominent Economists forced to play a deadly game.

Leading AI Ethicist claims "I don't want to die" when interviewed about the hunters pursuing him, others, possibly for sport.

"I don't know why this is happening" says Harvard Statistician convinced that she and her friends, colleagues, are being hunted by a mysterious group with malicious intent.

Investors open door to possible future as keys accidently left inside room.

"It's going to happen again!" says man who predicted the 2008 recession as pursuer prepares to shoot him a second time.

Stock Market Surges as Lone Economist Survivor escapes the Deadly Game using keys accidently left within reach.

Historian on the world today: "oh god please don't kill me"

Stock Market Stable as the Lone Economist Survivor flees through the forest, hoping to finally be free from captors.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA" Leading Scientist says as flames engulf house.

Industry Insiders Skeptical about ability of AI Ethicist to keep running forever.

Heartwarming: This AI Ethicist and Economist became friends while they were both on the run from a mysterious group trying to kill them.

"What did I do?" says Harvard Statistician, stuck in bear trap, as footsteps draw closer.

Leading AI Ethicist claims "I'll Only Slow you Down" after breaking leg in rabbit hole while crossing field.

Investors Chasing after Breakout Success.

"The field shows promise" Industry Insiders say.

Stock Market Crashes as Economist watches newfound friend brutally torn apart from bushes.

Harvard Statistician has no response to allegations that she died about ten minutes ago.

Stock Market Steady as Economist hides from potential pursuers.

Historian says of the state of affairs: <No comment was provided at press time>

Industry Insiders Bullish on bagging more prey tonight.

Stock Market Rises as Economist makes it to suburb, bangs on door, screams for help.

Stock Market Fluctuates as No one comes to help Economist.

Investors Moving Into Suburban Real Estate.

Industry Insiders claim "Suburbs look Promising"

Stock Market Erratic as economist breaks into shed to arm self.

Investors Skittish as Industry Insiders warn of possible conflict of interest.

Industry Insiders suggest Investors should follow trends.

Industry Insiders and Investors Bullish on sentiments for recapturing Economist.

Industry Insiders Skeptical that economist could pose a threat.

Stock Market Rises as Economist successfully kills Industry Insider with a shovel.

Investors bearish on sentiments for recapturing economist. "We should quit while we're ahead" says one investor.

Industry Insiders Alarmed by loss of one of their own.

Stock Market Falls as Economist covered in blood stops passing car, begs for help, and is turned away.

Investors go big into guns.

Industry Insiders Skeptical of Investors ability to use guns.

Stock Market falls as Economist breaks into chemical storage warehouse, can't remember high school chemistry.

Investors follow Industry Insiders lead in going into chem.

Stock Market grows as Economist reads hazard diamond, realizes what must be done, shouts to be found.

Investors suggest Economist come outside, surrender peacefully.

Stock Market Steady as Economist refuses to leave building.

Industry Insiders open new doors.

Investors Entering New Sectors.

Stock Market spikes as Economist punctures barrel of highly reactive and flammable chemicals.

Industry Insiders close in on new target.

Stock Market Surges as Economist deliberately slashes power cord, creating sparks.

Stock Market closes Up as Economist consumed by growing fireball.

Investors and Industry Insiders Experience Chem Stock Boom.

...

At closing, the market is up, and still hot. Investors are down. Industry Insiders are down. Chem stocks are on fire, as is real estate.

"We may never know the answer to what happened to the scientist that night" claims Philosopher, sinking gasoline can and door jams into isolated lake.

[budandtender]

Vaporising Marijuana: A Historical and Modern Perspective

Introduction

The debate surrounding cannabis use is a complex one, with smoking being one of its most controversial aspects. Studies have identified harmful compounds produced when the cannabis bud is burned, although these findings have not been consistently confirmed in population studies. Despite this ambiguity, many individuals prefer to avoid inhaling smoke from burning vegetation due to potential health concerns.

While marijuana can have positive effects, the act of smoking has raised numerous concerns. This issue becomes even more pressing when considering the use of marijuana for medical purposes. The primary active ingredients in marijuana, Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and other cannabinoids are generally considered safe. However, the tars and other compounds produced during combustion may pose health risks. As a result, alternative modes of ingestion such as cooking and tinctures have gained popularity. While these methods bypass the potential hazards of smoking, they offer a different experience in terms of delivery, onset, and overall effects.

Alternative to Smoking

One solution that has emerged to address this contradiction is vaporization. Vaporizing is an innovative method based on the principle of evaporation. THC and other cannabinoids evaporate at a lower temperature than the point at which plant material burns. Vaporizers capitalize on this by heating marijuana to the point where the volatile THC and terpenes evaporate but below the temperature at which plant material burns.

Vaporizers, also known as vapes, are widely recognised as a significant tool in reducing harm from marijuana use. They have even passed medical muster, appearing in some hospitals and being used in published research studies. Vaporizers have demonstrated their ability to reduce health risks associated with smoking and potentially provide a more efficient use of cannabis. When marijuana is burned, up to 30% of the THC content can be lost to the combustion process. Vaporizers, by contrast, allow for the evaporation of THC without combusting the plant material, which can result in higher THC yield.

Historical View on Vaporizing

The concept of vaporizing is not a modern innovation. The Scythians, an equestrian society that flourished between 700 BC and 400 AD in the Caucasian Steppes of Central Asia, were known to vaporise the tops of marijuana stalks over hot coals in enclosed tents. This practice, recorded by Greek historian Herodotus, marked the first civilization's embrace of whole-plant cannabinoid therapy for divination and funeral rituals.

Benefits of Vaporising Marijuana

In terms of health benefits, a leading study on the increased safety of vaporization over smoking found 111 different molecules in smoked marijuana, with non-cannabinoids accounting for up to 88% of smoke. These non-cannabinoids include soot, tars, hydrogen cyanide, carbon monoxide, and numerous polycyclic aromatic compounds (PAHs), which are potent carcinogens. By contrast, marijuana vapour consists of up to 95% cannabinoids, some terpenes, and only one PAH. Vaporization thus presents the best ratio of tars to cannabinoids compared to smoking, filtration, or using a water pipe.

Moreover, studies have shown that vaporization results in higher concentrations of THC in plasma at a faster rate than smoking, indicating its efficiency. Other studies confirm decreased bronchial irritation from vaping, a significant side effect of medical marijuana smoking that can cause bronchitis.

The modern vaporizer concept has been around since 1979 when the first device that worked by vaporizing marijuana was introduced under the name "Tilt Pipe." However, this device was short-lived due to the passage of anti-paraphernalia laws in the early 1980s. In 1994, BC Vaporizers manufactured prototype models of a device and named it the "Vaporizer." Since then, many inventors across Europe, Canada, and the United States have emerged, flooding the market with various vaporizing devices.

Conclusion

In conclusion, while smoking marijuana has its benefits, the health concerns associated with it cannot be overlooked. Vaporizers offer a safer and potentially more efficient alternative that aligns with the medical community's standards. As research continues to evolve, it is hoped that the understanding and acceptance of vaporizing as a harm-reduction tool will grow.

[ultra-maha-us]

Demolition: The Art and Science of Controlled Destruction

Demolition, the controlled dismantling of structures, stands as a fascinating blend of art and science, where precision and expertise meet raw power. From towering skyscrapers to aging buildings, the act of demolition not only clears space for new development but also represents the end of an era. In this article, we explore the intricate world of building demolition, delving into the methods, safety measures, and environmental considerations that make this awe-inspiring process both captivating and essential.

Methods of Demolition: Demolishing a building requires careful planning and execution. There are several methods employed, each tailored to the unique characteristics of the structure and the surrounding environment. Traditional methods like manual dismantling, implosion, and high-reach excavators are used, depending on factors such as the building's height, location, and construction materials.

Controlled Demolition: One of the most impressive and precise methods of building demolition is controlled demolition. Utilizing a strategic combination of explosives and engineering Landscape home Cleanup & Removal principles, controlled demolitions ensure that the structure collapses inward, minimizing the impact on the surrounding area. Expert demolition teams work meticulously to bring down massive buildings in a matter of seconds, leaving behind a controlled heap of debris.

Safety First: Safety is paramount in the demolition process. Prior to any demolition, thorough structural analysis is conducted to identify potential hazards, such as unstable portions of the building or the presence of hazardous materials. Protective measures, including dust control, barricades, and evacuation protocols, are strictly enforced to safeguard the workers, bystanders, and the surrounding community.

Environmental Considerations: Demolition projects also prioritize environmental sustainability. Building materials are often salvaged and recycled, reducing waste and contributing to eco-friendly practices. Careful handling of hazardous materials, such as asbestos, ensures that they are disposed of responsibly, minimizing their impact on the environment.

Rebirth and Urban Renewal: While demolition signifies the end of a building's life cycle, it also marks the beginning of new possibilities. The cleared space opens the door for urban renewal, allowing for the creation of modern, efficient, and innovative structures that meet the needs of a changing society. The evolution of cityscapes through demolition and renewal plays a significant role in shaping the character of a city.

The Emotional Aspect: Demolition carries an emotional weight, especially when iconic landmarks or historical structures are involved. The act of tearing down a piece of history can evoke a mixture of nostalgia, sentimentality, and excitement for the future. Demolition companies often collaborate with historians and preservationists to preserve elements of the building's history through photographs, artifacts, or replicas.

Conclusion:

Building demolition, the art and science of controlled destruction, is a testament to human ingenuity and adaptability. As urban landscapes continue to evolve, demolition plays a pivotal role in clearing space for progress and renewal. While it may seem like a destructive act, demolition is a carefully planned and executed process that respects safety, environmental considerations, and the emotional ties people have to the structures being brought down. Ultimately, through demolition, we pave the way for new horizons, honoring the past while embracing the future.

[histoireettralala]

XIIIth century cities

In the prosperous thirteenth century, European cities began for the first time to rival in size and importance those of the classical world and contemporary Asia. Paris, London, Ghent, Bruges, Cologne, Florence, Genoa, Pisa, and others now sheltered behind their battlemented walls large and growing populations of craftsmen and merchants living lives free from feudal subjection, if not from modern tax oppression. It has been calculated that in 1380 half the population of Flanders and neighboring Brabant dwelt in cities.

In contrast with that of a late Roman or early medieval administrative center, the life of a thirteenth-century commercial and industrial city was full of activity: craftsmen working, merchants trafficking, wagons creaking, all the noise, bustle, and vitality of urban life. Its consumption was satisfied by a busy transport system, its exports and imports were underwritten by sophisticated credit arrangements, its many needs so successfully satisfied that one modern historian asserts that "few significant refinements were added" until recent times.

That is not to say that no further "refinements" were needed. The high population density was met in part by houses sharing party walls and subdivided into small apartments. Inevitably, problems of waste disposal and pollution arose. Tanners and butchers discarded entrails, blood, and hair in the streets; animals dropped manure; pigs, dogs, and rats raided garbage; open ditches served as sewers for storm water and wastewater; privies and cesspits occupied backyards. Traffic —horse, cart, pedestrian, and animal— crowded the streets, piling up at the gates where tolls were collected. Collisions provoked a stream of lawsuits. Heating and cooking, as well as industry, added smoke to the atmosphere. The smoke was almost entirely from wood and charcoal, whose fires had two other drawbacks: in combination with timber framing and thatched roofs, they created a citywide fire hazard, and they depleted the neighboring forest. Charcoal was especially wasteful of medieval man's best resource; while it gave more heat, essential in most industrial processes, its preparation burned up several times its weight in wood. Yet even where superior heating capacity was not needed, charcoal was often used because its lightness made it more transportable. Home heating was in any case extremely inefficient owing to the lack of window glass or insulation.

Coal was known in Europe at least by the thirteenth century but was sparingly used out of fear of the toxic nature of its fumes. In England it was first gathered from outcroppings washed ashore on the northeast coast and was known as "sea coal," a name that stuck even later when it was mined inland.

By the late Middle Ages, strenuous efforts to alleviate some of the problems were being made by city authorities, rich and influential men who unlike their modem descendants lived in the city themselves and had a direct interest in the environmental quality. Two keys to urban sanitation were street paving and storm sewers, both of which were known to Rome and a few other ancient cities. Moorish Cordova paved its principal streets in the ninth century, but Paris and the largest Italian cities followed only in the late twelfth and thirteenth. Paving was indispensable for street cleaning, but besides being expensive to install, it needed endless upkeep. Cobblestone or brick surfaces had to be repaired and replaced under the pounding of heavy cart wheels that were either iron shod or, worse, wooden but studded with nails. Street repair was often done directly over the old broken surface, causing a rise in street level.

Paris dug the first storm sewer in the fifteenth century and was copied by a few other cities, but at the end of the Middle Ages most towns still depended on open ditches that flooded in heavy storms. Systems designed to handle domestic sewage and industrial waste awaited the nineteenth century, when London pioneered a combined system. Meanwhile cities were still pocked with private cesspits, periodically emptied at "an understandably high cost" (Christopher Dyer). Archaeologists found one medieval London latrine to contain a thousand gallons of ordure. Bylaws and building regulations sought to control maintenance and cleaning of the pits.

City water supply nearly always depended on local sources: wells, springs, and rivers. Professional water carriers assisted distribution from the fountain in the town square or the public well, served by bucket and windlass or bucket and counterweight. Better-off households had their own wells or cisterns, for which the proximity of cesspools and latrines posed chronic pollution problems and contributed to epidemics.

Running water and domestic plumbing were not unknown in the Middle Ages but were limited mainly to monastic precincts, such as the cathedral priory at Canterbury, where water was carried by underground pipes to the infirmary, the refectory, the kitchen, the bathhouse, and the prior's chambers. After use, the wastewater ran off by a drain that flushed the "necessarium" (latrine). At Clairvaux, similarly, as described by St. Bernard's biographer, water was first channeled into a seriesof industrial applications—grinding the grain and shaking the flour sifter, filling the boiler for the monks' beer, and operating the fulling and tanning machinery; then divided into several branches for cooking, washing, watering, rotating, or grinding, "always offering its help and never refusing," finally, "to earn full thanks and to leave nothing undone, it carries away the refuse and leaves all clean."

In some cities, garbage disposal was handled by public streetcleaning services, usually on Saturdays. Elsewhere, ordinances made householders responsible for their own rubbish, probably an ineffective solution. More successful was the regulating of certain occupations. Butchers were assigned waste-dumping sites or ordered to dump outside town. Tanners and dyers were usually restricted to the city's outer limits. Results of all these measures were imperfect, but, according to Christopher Dyer, towns of the later Middle Ages were "less filthy" than they had been a few centuries earlier.

Some cities delegated inspectors to tour the streets periodically, not to check on their cleanliness but to detect encroachments. Riding down a narrow street, an inspector carried a pole across his saddle; where he could not pass freely, the offending shop owner was fined and forced to retract his shop front.

Public baths in the Roman style were common in thirteenth-century cities, with the wall fireplace finding a new function in heating water for bathing. When many baths were shut down in the fourteenth century, because of scandals arising from unisex bathing, the private bathtub took their place. Made of wood, it was susceptible to splintering, leading to the subsidiary invention of the bath mat, placed in, rather than next to, the tub.

A public service with a larger future that appeared in many cities by the fourteenth century was the municipal grammar school, which taught reading, writing, arithmetic, and even a little Latin to the sons and occasionally the daughters of merchants and artisans. The increasing literacy of the public widened the demand for books, now copied by professional scribes and marketed by professional booksellers.

Joseph & Frances Gies - Cathedral, Forge and Waterwheel

[healinghandss]

History of Homeopathy

Medical historians have devoted a lot of attention to homeopathy and its international dissemination. German physician Samuel Hahnemann initially described homeopathy in the 18th century. The term “homeopathy” is derived from the Greek words “homoeo” and “pathos,” and its history dates back to the time of Hypocrates.

Thought Behind the Big Discovery

Dr. Hahnemann discovered in one of his studies that the symptoms created by a substance might be cured by giving the same substance through a homeopathic preparation; the symptoms this material caused could also be healed with the same material in varying concentrations.

A medical professional with his own practice, Dr. Hahnemann was a physician. He objected to the harsh procedures of the day, such as bloodletting, purging, leeches, and the use of hazardous chemicals, and he was disenchanted by the way medicine was practiced and the way people were cured for their illnesses. He started his first homeopathic experiment in 1790. He discovered that the bark used in his experiment to alleviate the fever brought by malaria, gave him symptoms resembling malaria, and he came to the conclusion that if a small dose of a drug can cause symptoms in a healthy person, a tiny dose of the same thing can heal those identical symptoms in a person who are in need. Despite being hounded for his discoveries, he published his findings in scientific journals, and homeopathic medicine became more and more well-liked. Dr. Hahnemann created a homeopathic clinical practice while keeping thorough records of his discoveries and clinical trials. He was able to effectively heal people and introduced the idea of potentization. Dr. Hahnemann worked as a homeopath for 50 years until passing away in 1843.

The first homeopathic hospital opened its doors in 1832, and homeopathic medical schools sprung up all throughout Europe. Homeopathy had a significant impact on healthcare. As a result of the public’s recognition that homeopathic practitioners frequently achieved greater therapeutic outcomes than other prevalent methods, all practitioners were motivated to provide higher-quality care.

Homeopathy in Americas in the nineteenth century

Germ theory was still in its early stages and not fully understood at the time. The short explanation is that “normal” medicine was awful in the middle of the nineteenth century. Even those scholars who did postulate on the subject lacked any useful tools for applying it (no vaccinations, no antibiotics, etc.). Most “heroic” medical therapies used at the time included intense bloodletting, purges, and high doses of deadly amalgams of mercury or arsenic. Many common physicians still adhered to medical doctrines that originated in antiquity. In other words, being “not well” in the past was incredibly risky, extremely painful, and frequently fatal.

The use of modest doses, the emphasis on the healing power of nature, and the holistic approach to provide remedy to the body in homeopathy, on the other hand, made it a potential new advancement. It’s actually not difficult to comprehend why a mother would opt to administer a sick child a few little vials of a painless liquid as opposed to slicing their flesh to extract blood or giving them poison to cause severe vomiting. Homeopathy evolved into a profession that required its practitioners to observe the people who needed a cure, and this focus frequently developed a more empathetic relationship between practitioner and people who looked up to them to be cured.

Despite having its roots in Germany, homeopathy was already a thriving profession in the United States by the 1840s. Several alternative medical philosophies evolved during this time and Homeopathy emerged as most popular conventional medicine methodology.

Homeopathy in the Modern Age

A comprehensive approach to health and medicine is homeopathy. Although homeopathic principles and methods are also used in the curing and healing processes by other auxiliary health care practitioners. Canada now has various regions where homeopathic remedies are governed. The way that our contemporary civilization operates distances us from the ecosystem and from ourselves in ways that, upon closer examination, become harmful to our overall welfare on a number of levels. If we want to solve many of our concerns, both health-related and not, we should all embrace and support the broad homeopathic ethos about the need to get closer to nature and improve equilibrium.

Homeopathy is an advanced branch of medicine that customizes a material to a specific person depending on all of their symptoms. Whatever each symptom may be individually, they are all understood to be primarily an intrinsic effort on the part of the organism to respond to and adapt to a variety of internal or external stresses. The intrinsic ability of the body to defend and repair itself is compromised by methods that just suppress, control, or manage symptoms. For further details on how Homeopathy does not suppress symptoms and can be helpful in your specific case, please get in touch with us (The Healing Hands Homeopathy Clinic www.thehalinghands.ca). Homeopathic medicine is unsurprisingly growing in popularity at a time in our culture when it is crucial to create procedures that boost the immune and defense system.

Conclusion

The popularity of homeopathy in the twenty-first century is difficult to forecast, but it is likely that most practitioners will use at least part of the micro doses that research has shown to be efficient. More individuals will also learn how to self-prescribe homeopathic drugs for common acute ailments, and they’ll probably ask their care providers for homeopathic remedies for more serious health conditions.

Visit here- https://thehealinghands.ca/history-of-homeopathy/

[streetlights-was-taken]

🚗: world building notes (2021 version)

as of this writing, I have not started on the draft for life in the rearview, although I've been conceptualizing it on and off for a few years. the most I had was this summary:

"Venti… I think we just solved The Anniversary Problem™ with a demon summoning ritual."

Lumine figures that it’s just a natural consequence of being childhood friends, but she knows that her familiarity with Venti runs much deeper in ways she couldn’t explain. But third-and-fourth-wheeling on her brother’s wedding planning with his fiancé just might! After all, what better way to look back fondly on their relationship than with a perfectly normal road trip through some of the country’s most romantic weekend getaways?

Featuring: snow cabin tours, wedding cake testing, skydiving hazards, meteorology, aliens, deciphering a witch’s ancient heirloom, and an innocent attempt to wake the old gods of Mondstadt. You know, for science.

but since the purpose of this blog is to document my writing journey, I figured I should post my notes from two years ago.

whether the fic ends up following my notes is something we'll just have to see. if it goes off in a new direction, I think it will be cool to at least see the differences from then and now.

aside from the formatting and some rephrasing, everything posted here below the cut is an exact copy-paste from before, which you can tell because the text won't be in lowercase anymore lol. text in orange will serve as commentary from present me as I was formatting this.

notes: life in the rearview (2021)

Here are my world building notes for life in the rear view (it’s always sunny in mondstadt)! I wanted to keep this documented somewhere so I can look back on my writing process, and it might help me as a guide for future fics, if applicable. (thank god my past self is meticulous about this. finding all these notes have been a godsend for kickstarting the writing process).

I tried to connect as much in-game references and lore as I could, though errors are bound to happen. I would also like to note that this was written during version 1.6 so that’s the most updated lore I knew at the time.

I wrote my world building notes before writing the fic as a sort of guide for myself. The notes tackle six main topics:

Reincarnation (and witches)

Modern Mondstadt (and Venti)

Albedo (and Klee)

The Twins

Paimon

Applied Phlebotinum (aka "modern science")

So if you’re interested in reading, feel free to just skip to the topic you want to read about because this document is already way too long as it is.

i. Reincarnation (and witches)

Reincarnation: It seems to me that there are recurring themes in genshin when it comes to the repurposing of past memories/souls (to what extent, we don’t know yet in canon). I knew I wanted to write a modern AU + reincarnation AU + amateur historian AU, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted the characters to be rebirthed (new lifetime, same characters but with memories possibly, temporarily locked) or reincarnated (new lifetime, new characters based on old souls but they’re basically new/separate individuals from their past selves).

I knew I wanted some characters to not be reincarnated though (Albedo, Klee, the witches, any “outsiders” of Teyvat). From there, I reasoned out that characters would need to be reincarnated instead of rebirthed. They aren’t an extension of an old soul in a new lifetime. They are a new version of themselves in a new era; essentially, individuals different from their past, although who they were in the past will largely shape the foundation of their being. From what I understand, this seems more in line with how reincarnation works in gnosticism (if you haven’t ascended by the time you reach the end of your mortal life, you get a do over). (reading this now in the present, this is also close to the idea of samsara and how nahida is a new incarnation of the irminsul's avatar, rather than being an extension of greater lord rukkhadevata. past me, you were totally on the right track.)

In this AU, reincarnation is one of the “fundamental laws” of Teyvat, and the only way to escape reincarnation is to ascend, to be an outsider (twins, Alice), or to become an "anomaly" of Teyvat (Albedo). In the game, ascension is handled through Celestia. In this AU, which is of modern Teyvat, it’s through the witches of Hexenzirkel.

Quick Timeline: Traveler Lumine does what she does in canon. At the end of the game, she is able to control the “loom of fate” and “reweave the threads of all fate” (whatever this means). The details aren’t really that important; what’s important are the consequences.

So in this AU, after the divine war, Lumine (traveler) and Aether (abyss twin) remove the false sky, constellations, visions, anything that holds people back from truly forging their own destinies. There is no “fate” as written by Celestia/stars/whatever. There is no longer “Celestia” as we currently know them in game. However, I think the triquetra symbolizes the loop of abyss/teyvat/heavens and is another fundamental symbol of cycles. It’s another law of Teyvat, so something has to replace Celestia in the loop — for this AU, it's the Hexenzirkel witches (more on this below).

Humanity starts anew and moves into a godless era where the seven archons no longer reign. Around 1000 years after this, the twins basically retire alongside the archons and instead of leaving Teyvat for another world, they decide to make Teyvat their new home. However, Teyvat has its own laws and the twins are “outsiders” of Teyvat. To truly become part of Teyvat and retire at the same time, they integrate themselves into the world through reincarnation.

Hexenzirkel House: So the question of reincarnating gods and mystical beings in a modern world begs the question of: "well, what about their parents? what about their true forms?" And I just did not want to deal with that, so I made the witches of Hexenzirkel take care of them lol. At least they'll be able to address any of the kids' more… peculiar upbringing needs, and anything that needs handwaving can easily be done so by the witches of Hexenzirkel.

This brings us to the question of, “well what about Mona?”

I really love the idea of Mona becoming a respected mage, so I’ve decided she’s one of the few people, like Albedo, who knows what’s going on. In fact, since she’s part of the Hexenzirkel and a resident of Mondstadt (though in canon we don’t know yet where she hails from). I thought it would be cool if she was the one who can answer Lumine’s questions about Paimon and Venti’s questions about the winds in the fic. We also know that she talks with Albedo and Klee a lot, which is convenient for this fic. (wow, even during v1.6 I was already on the almonaklee camp)

Okay so what about this thing I mentioned earlier about Hexenzirkel replacing Celestia? So since the witches explore the Irminsul trees and are probably the closest to the “truth of the world” (whatever that is), we can just assume they found a way to preserve history/memories/selves in better ways than Teyvat can, and this can be thought of as another form of “ascension”.

This isn’t really explored deeply in the fic so I didn’t bother working out the details of this lol. Suffice to say, the witches (and Klee) represent the future.

ii. Mondstadt (and Venti)

Mondstadt: I know that in-game, it doesn't take long to walk from Stormbearer Point to Dragonspine, but I see that as a game thing. I think you would still need a car to get around when teleport waypoints don't exist anymore.

I also think that Mondstadt has the potential to actually retain its religion the most out of the seven nations, simply because Venti wasn't such an involved god (unlike Zhongli who literally faked his death in front of his people in order to retire). Diluc also mentions in the prologue that in-game Mondstadt hasn’t seen the anemo archon in a thousand years, and yet look how devoted his people are. I think that, to some extent, that applies to modern Mondstadt still, so the air of mystery and magic remains. Mondstadt is also a romantic nation that will probably find the idea of a wind god very poetic, so even if there aren't a lot of believers, belief in the anemo archon will still persist in the city's culture and literature even as the rest of the world embraces the godless era.

Venti and Meteorology: Why did I make him a meteorologist instead of an artist when he’s usually seen as a character who is into poems and music? Well, meteorology is the study of atmospheric phenomena and how it affects weather. I wanted to relate Venti to the winds, and I also wanted to give a nod to how Mondstadt has had a history of storms and blizzards (e.g. pre-Decarabian era, Dragonspine) but in-game it’s now just a very idyllic, peaceful land. There’s even an NPC in Stormbearer Point that says her whole family used to watch for storms but there haven’t been any since Barbatos came. Interestingly, Venti’s ascension material is the Hurricane Seed from the anemo hypostasis.

I think Venti’s first love has always been Mondstadt, and one of his first acts as an archon was "[shattering] the ice and snow and [splitting] the mountains with a divine wind." Mondstadt's greatest mystery in modern times is its flattened mountain ranges and curiously good weather (which, ironically, were his own doing) so I felt that him going into meteorology would be an interesting way for him to connect with his past. To work out his more playful side, I think Venti would love the thrill of being a professional storm chaser, so I inserted the Eye of the Storm into the fic plot, although it looks much much different in this AU than in-game.

Adding meteorology into the fic begs the question of, "well, how does weather/science work now, from a modern scholar’s perspective?" I talk more about the nitty gritty of the world and it’s science in part VI!

Alternatives: I also considered making Venti a youtube vlogger, a music producer, songwriter, a historian, and whatever is Mondstadt's equivalent to an English Lit major (Mondstadtian Lit?). Ultimately, I ended up with meteorologist because it fits my fic agenda (always own your agenda) and I haven’t really seen it done before. (If you have, please share with me! I would love to see more meteorologist!Venti)

iii. Albedo (and Klee)

Albedo: Albedo's mechanical arm is inspired from his battle animation. He usually rotates his wrist when you use his elemental skill, and he also rotates his shoulder when you use his burst. There is currently no in-game explanation for this yet (AFAIK). Maybe it’s related to him being an artificial human made of chalk, or maybe some other lore. In any case, in this AU something happened to that arm in the past. so now he has a mechanical arm! Maybe he could have recreated his arm with alchemy, idk, but I don't think he'd mind having a mechanical limb tbh. Albedo also symbolizes bridging of the past and future in the fic, so I wanted him to have a conversation piece about it.

Klee: Klee, on the other hand, represents the future. As the daughter of Alice, I decided to categorize her as an "outsider" although in-game she does seem to bend to Teyvat’s laws (Mona can see her constellation, for example, while she couldn’t see the Traveler’s). We’re just gonna ignore that lol.

I’m gonna reuse this idea in another fic (specifically, the planned epilogue for long live the long life), but I absolutely love the idea of Klee becoming a traveler of worlds just like her mother. Also, with her being from "a race blessed with longevity" (elves?) I’ve decided she and Alice are "practically immortal" — they aren’t but they can live long enough anyway. Since she doesn’t reincarnate, she still remembers the past just like Albedo and Mona.

iv. The Twins

Traveler and Abyss: I ultimately decided to make Lumine the former traveler because that meant happier venlumi memories and that would give more weight to the scene where they summon Paimon. Aether as the former abyss prince also gives us a fun albether dynamic to play around with!

Memories: Originally, I thought of making Aether remember from the beginning, but then it's kinda sad if a five-year-old remembered about a divine war. I also thought of making him remember at a certain age. But him discovering his past by meeting Albedo gives them more reason to actually establish a relationship. Meanwhile, I thought it would be funny to make Lumine become a devoted follower of the anemo archon because she just naturally gravitates to anything Venti-related.

Since they both "integrated" into Teyvat through reincarnation, the laws of Teyvat now apply to them. But that doesn’t prevent them from becoming travelers of worlds again — it just means they have to work hard to get to that point again. Though probably not that hard, considering how they already have the witches by their side.

v. Paimon (and fairytales)

Paimon and Dainsleif: Obviously we don't know what will happen at the end of the game, and Paimon's role in the story is still unclear. But there's some parallels between the two in-game so I decided to make the two of them take turns watching over Teyvat. I also couldn't figure out how to fit Paimon into a reincarnation AU tbh because she's… a small, cute fairy. I really have a hard time imagining her as anything else!! Anyway, if Venti can take his hunded-year naps in-game, why not Paimon as well?

(this section is pretty short. I think I planned to expand on this in the future, but I never ended up doing it. but basically, my plot for this was that lumine found a book about summoning demons. she and venti try it, and they summon paimon and dain. this is fine, because albether wanted to wake them up anyway to invite them to their wedding lol)

vi. Applied Phlebotinum (aka "modern science")

All the research and nitty gritty details I need for the fic. Teyvat's modern science incorporates what they consider as "fundamental" while removing the "fairytales" of gods from the narrative. This definitely led to some pseudoscience-as-science Applied Phlebotinum tropes, but I think it works out for the purposes of the fic.

Sky: Since there is no longer a fake sky, modern Teyvat now sees the "true stars" and a completely different sky than before. This means that sky maps from the past are no longer valid for navigation, but they could be important clues for wannabe historians. The moon, however, is an actual corpse from the past (if we’re to believe the three moon sisters lore) so it still stays as a full moon.

Ley Lines and Elements: Ley lines, and by extension elements, are fundamental things in the game, whereas most other things are emergent, so I didn’t remove them from this AU. Since the witches of Hexenzirkel conduct investigations of the Irminsul trees and have the secret knowledge of the world that an average Teyvatian aren’t privy to (see part I), they would be the highest order scholars. This also means that, with the right tools, one can still harness the elements. But how could they without visions?

Fauna and Technology: The game archive implies that 1) slimes, hypostases, whopperflowers, regisivines, eye of storms, and crystalflies are all products of concentrated elemental energy; 2) crystalfly cores can "absorb elemental energy that have escaped into the atmosphere."

After the divine war, the ley lines are no longer in disarray which means most of the dangerous monsters are gone or rarely seen. Only small slimes and the occasional whopperflowers remain. To achieve balance and make sure ley lines are not concentrated or clogged again, the witches have turned to filling every inch of Teyvat with crystalflies as a natural "element filter." When they die out, the crystal cores (which we use in-game to transmute condensed resin and portable waypoints) should have concentrated elemental energy which they can use for technology. The game archive implies that the people of Teyvat were already on their way to using slimes as elemental conduits to progress technology too (e.g. cryo slimes as a cooler, electro slimes to power things, etc.)

Alchemy: in this AU, alchemy is the manipulation of ley lines and the memories/elements/time within it. Some parts of alchemy is incorporated into modern science, to the extent where they can make use of slimes and crystal cores for convenient transmutations. But since modern Teyvat has entered an era that wants to keep the ley lines balanced, the art of khemia is, for the most part, forgotten and forbidden. Albedo still messes around with it sometimes though, but the witches are keeping an eye on him.

We then come to the problem of portable waypoints. It’s a transmutable object that we can use crystal cores for, so why have cars? But it’s stated in the game that it’s something only vision-bearers can use. Since no one has visions anymore in this AU (with some exceptions), waypoints are not needed and we can still use cars for road trips :D

Modern Artifacts: Genshin loves the concept of "memories live on in objects and you can build yourself up with the memories of the past." We see this in ores and weapons, artifacts having stories, the crown of insight, etc. In this AU, this concept ties back to the fundamental laws of reincarnation (or transmigration) and ley lines.

Modern Teyvat has no need for battle weapons though, so memories of the past will have to be stored in new vessels in order to be passed on. The twins inadvertently collected a bunch of these artifacts over time.

Weather: Based on the dialogue with Lawrence (guard in front of Mondstadt gate) and Venn (storm watcher in Stormbearer Point), it’s heavily implied that the good weather of Mondstadt is thanks to Barbatos. But what happens when Barbatos is no longer around, or when humanity moves to a godless era? I think the Thousand Winds would still take care of Mondstadt, but the weather wouldn’t be as gentle as they always have been. Probably nothing catastrophic, but there would be more natural storms and rain than before.

Stormbearer Point is where Mondstadtians used to watch for storms, so that’s also where the meteorology center of Mondstadt is located. For the most part, I based Mondstadt’s weather on Germany and the UK (see links below).

Side note: I see the Thousand Winds as something similar to an anemo version of the lochfolk. So while they collectively have elemental power, individually they are all just threads of the wind. Endora wasn’t that powerful even after the end of the event, just more eloquent. And Venti himself, once a thread of the Thousand Winds, was just a small wisp before he became an archon.

As for Dragonspine, the Skyfrost Nail no longer works (because Celestia is gone) and Durin has basically become one with the mountain. But there are still lingering effects of their presence in the environment. Dragonspine used to be a verdant, livable mountain before the fall of Sal Vind; in modern Teyvat, I mixed the past and the in-game present so that Dragonspine is now a livable snow mountain (no more sheer cold!). This is mostly to push my agenda of having snow cabin scenes and to have Albedo and Dragonspine be one of the surviving connections to the past. This also means some wonky elemental stuff usually happens in Dragonspine.

Geography: A civilization that progresses and prospers will have a larger population. Mondstadt is still a small nation compared to the other seven, but they definitely branched out from just having one city nation in a lake and two countryside villages (Springvale, Dawn Winery). Dadaupa Gorge and the area around Dawn Winery have expanded to have more residential areas and small villages. (past me had no idea dornman port was a thing. present me now does, and I actually remember now that there's still a huge chunk of mondstadt that we haven't seen but was from the beta game leaks. there's still the dark castle in the northeast).

Gliding: since we now have cars, gliding is now a recreational hobby and extreme sport. As a result, there are less gliders now than before, but it sure makes money for tourism. Mondstadt is also the global gliding center of Teyvat and usually hosts gliding competitions with competitors across the seven nations. You need a gliding license to buy gliders.

Tourism: What’s a road trip without tourist traps? Some of the notable Mondstadt getaways:

bungee jumping/gliding in Starsnatch Cliff (must have a gliding license to use the gliders)

historical tours in Stormterror’s Lair (they kept the name since it attracts more tourists than if they called it "Old Mondstadt")

snow cabins in Dragonspine (amazing view of Sal Terrae and Mondstadt)

picnics in Windrise (make it a big park centered around Vennessa’s Tree?)

wine tasting in Dawn Winery (they also help plan weddings and have DIY wine-making lessons for enthusiasts)

[yorkshireword]

Catch a Rising Star at the Auction House

No longer does museum validation or scholarly attention determine a painting’s value. Now, the collectors’ hunger comes first, and institutions must follow.

When you want to determine the value of an acre of land, you call an assessor. When you want a value for your jewelry, you find an appraiser with a loupe. And when you want to know the value of a work of art — well, here it gets tricky. Painting isn’t priced like real estate, at so many dollars a square foot. Sculpture can’t be valued against objective criteria, like the four C’s you have for diamonds.

All you’ve got is a shared sense of the importance and rarity of some useless object of beauty. Until very recently, that value was determined by a shadowy social collectivity called the art world: curators, scholars, editors, educators, even the odd critic. Now those old gatekeepers no longer have much of a say.

Over and over these past two weeks, at Christie’s “21st Century” sale, Sotheby’s “The Now” and Phillips’s contemporary extravaganza, the highest multiples went to the youngest artists, mostly working in decorative forms, and often dated 2020 or later.

There’s something extraordinary about all this: A bull run for art comes not only against a sliding equities market (though art price corrections often soon follow), but also in a moment of widespread high-cultural malaise. At the biennials, in the magazines, in the M.F.A. programs, the tone right now is stubbornly backward-looking, capable of little beyond auto-critique and enduring a bona fide crisis of confidence.

Here is a parallel art world in which hope springs eternal. Demand for artists at the beginning of what they must hope will be a long career outstrips not only more established names, but also the promising talents singled out in Artforum, showcased in the Whitney Biennial or seen in the booths of the younger galleries at the Frieze art fair. That almost all these hyped artists are women and people of color is not incidental, surface diversification being a key strategy to solidify the status quo. Give away a little social capital and you can keep all the financial capital for yourself, and even lower your tax bill in the process.

Only a decade ago, museum legitimization and academic praise were still key to determining financial value; changing tastes may have pushed prices for Pollock and Warhol past those for Old Masters and Impressionists, but at least historians and curators were on board. Now, the collectors’ hunger comes first, stoked largely via Instagram and other digital networks. The auction house, through glossy catalogs and (increasingly) online offerings, can magic up artistic legitimacy that once only museums or scholars could assign. And then, when the gavel falls, a larger cultural credibility can be retroactively produced through gala receptions, fashion collaborations, tax-exempt conferences and other marketing activities.

But are these paintings — and it’s painting, more than all other media, that participates in this shell game — worthy of entering a museum at all? That’s a determination only history can make, but I’d observe that the time between a new work’s creation, digital dissemination, purchase and resale has become so compressed that the old legitimation mechanisms simply cannot function. It may sound anti-elitist, but it’s really a displacement of one elite (museums, with larger libraries) by another (bidders, with much larger checkbooks), and it forms part of a larger, and, in the end, hazardous cultural reversal  in which numerical measurements, measured in dollars or in likes, are the only records of quality or importance. They may be marketed as the next Basquiat, but a lot of these paintings feel more like the 1 percent’s version of the Museum of Ice Cream: a digitally circulated petty amusement, though one that may cost the same as a house in Deer Valley.

Culture was one of the last domains in neoliberal times that tried, at least a little, to hold up a distinction between the two, between, to put it bluntly, the market and our lives. The cynics of this digital age have had their ultimate victory by rendering price and value synonymous, and we’re in serious trouble if our cultural institutions, on the altar of inclusion and anti-elitism, accelerate their own capitulation to acclaim via algorithm.

Here is the game: Collectors are harnessing the last remaining drops of social esteem and refinement associated with museums to promote what the Harvard historian Benjamin H.D. Buchloh, in an earlier moment of crazy painting prices (the ’80s), called “the luxury products of a fictitious high culture.” And here is the corollary: It is painting, not the NFT, that became the archetypical medium of personal marketing and digital folly.

[kindahoping4forever]

hi same anon with the cashton are soulmates theory🖐 i don’t know how to explain this but i feel like mashton are the exact opposite to cashton ; as in, i see them having rivalling qualities sometimes. i also think they sometimes lack significant common ground when it comes to music taste. i think it was That rs article that they said ashton tries to keep the bands image in mind when overseeing tracks like slsp which mike isn’t a fan of, he tends to chase more edgy records like jbh or catch fire

First of all, that Cashton soulmates ask legit will pop into my head from time to time and I'll just be like 🥺 it was chef's kiss.

I agree with you on Mashton totally. Ash famously referred to Michael as his "opposite end of the battery" and I love that. It's like how Cashton is balanced but in a very different way. Cashton's differences bond them together somehow, like together they make one whole unit while Mashton's differences are so complex that they only really function separately but for a collective goal.

You're right about the RS article - they referred to Ashton's taste for the band as more "commercial" than Michael's - while I don't know how true that assertion is anymore, I do remember some Youngblood era interviews (and there's a couple moments like this in Cocktail Chats) where Michael admits that it took him a while to kind of "get" what they were doing with some of those songs stylistically. And it often appears as though Ash is one of (if not the) main forces pushing the band's experimentation so I also agree with you that they probably butt heads the most creatively.

It's just kind of interesting to see how everyone's relationships and interactions have evolved over the years and how much they are truly bonded even as they've grown as people.

[savrenim]

deeply funny talking to my housemate about cognitohazards because “it’s me I’m the ps5″ was brought up as a potential cognitohazard due to “it might get stuck in your head”/memenic properties which was WILD to me bc, like

cognitohazards imo need to:

1. by definition they are ‘a piece of information that the knowing of the information itself is dangerous/actively harmful to you’ but also 2. affect everyone exposed to it in the hazardous way upon exposure and 3. hazard-wise, have at least the potential to be dangerous or enact semi-permanent unwanted changes

so, like, clearly a bunch of SCPs are cognitohazards within their own universe, but not within ours. I’ve seen The Game bandied around as a cognitohazard, and I disagree. The Game is a very good example of how cognitohazards can spread, but the fact that The Game is opt-in means that it’s not a true cognitohazad. there is no aspect of The Game that can inherently compel you to continue playing The Game or to continue following the rules of The Game, every time you participate in The Game you are choosing to opt in, at any given time you can withdraw your consent and stop playing the game and nothing happens. 

wrt real cognitohazards, I only actually have been able to think of three? there’s the McCollough effect, which is a harmless one of “stare between these red-lines-black-lines and green-lines-black-lines for a few minutes and it can change your vision up to a few months of specifically if you see black and white lines you’ll start filling in red and green between them” so really weird but overal harmless, there’s Roko's Basilisk which I think is a fun one although it is an actual, proper, full cognitohazard don’t look it up if you don’t like existential thought trains (albeit the Basilisk is only dangerous if the Basilisk acts exactly as predicted and ends up existing in the lifespans of the cognitoinfected), and then also honestly probably there is some brand of Christianity which goes ‘God is forgiving enough that if you don’t actively know the ~good news~ you won’t be condemned to hell, but if you do know the ~good news~ and then do not participate in our faith and spread it that’s making a choice ignorance is forgiven not active choices so you’re now condemned to hell’ which is an active cogntiohazard but again only if said God exists and said God acts exactly like the faith believes it will, imo Roko's Basilisk is more of a threat because Roko's Basilisk at least contains within the hazard the active possibility of making the Basilisk a thing, instead of God’s existence being something that is beyond the power of all of the cognitoinfected to affect 

anyways not really sure where I was going with this other than the idea of ‘a meme is a cognitohazard if it gets stuck in your head annoyingly enough’ being deeply funny to me, the self-appointed meme historian, because that would imply ‘everyone who is exposed to this meme upon thinking about this meme is put in Danger independent of their pre-existing mental state’ is just. deeply, deeply funny. likes charge reblogs cast but for real. 

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

PHOTOGRAPH BY PETER HUJAR GAY LIBERATION FRONT, NYC, 1969 

This ebullient, optimistic image is considered one of the most iconic photographs capturing the spirit of gay liberation the year after the Stonewall Rebellion. The image was used on a poster to recruit people for the first Gay Pride march in June 1970 on the first anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.

There were no floats, no feathers, or corporate sponsorship.

It certainly wasn’t a month long.

When the first Pride Parade started over half a century ago in front of the closed Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street in New York City’s  Greenwich Village, it was meant to be a one-time event.

On Sunday, June 28 1970 at around noon in New York gay activists’ groups began their own pride parade known as the Christopher Street Liberation Day to recall the events of Stonewall one year earlier

Less a license to party, being out, loud and proud was a political statement. Gays would not stay in the shadows anymore.

Stonewall would be their tipping point.

* * * *

"What voters must remember, and what historians will surely highlight, is that this most consequential decision was made by a hijacked Supreme Court. But for the Republicans’ chicanery in denying President Obama his right to appoint a justice and the precedent-shattering rush to allow President Trump to name Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s successor, there would not have been an ultraconservative majority of justices willing to destroy a “super-precedent” and to return women to the health hazards and diminished status of 50 years ago.

This unconscionable decision by an illegitimate court mandates a remedy that should include altering the structure of the court or imposing term limits on justices. It should also impel voters to ensure that, going forward, there will be a Senate majority committed to upholding the rule of law. "

Gerald Harris :: New York :: The writer is a retired New York City Criminal Court judge.

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