#i definitely think they should have made it available on their website by now

[i-am-church-the-cat]

Sorry church I'm frantically averting my eyes from your blog while i desperately try and find out where I can watch it in Australia but once i have seen it i will return and reblog so much

Lolol you are so good. I think it was really weird they only aired it live in the US? It’s supposed to be available for streaming later, but I’m not sure when. Williams just said it would be “distributed” in 28 countries.

[deadpresidents]

Did you watch the pbs documentary on the vice presidents yet and what did you think? And what vp that never became president do you think would have been best qualified to be president?

Yes, I was very much looking forward to PBS American Experience's "The American Vice President," and watched it as soon as it was released. I'm basically the target audience for documentaries like that, so I always appreciate and enjoy them. I will say that I thought that there were a lot of missed opportunities in it, however. I was really hoping that there would be some short biographical pieces on the various Vice Presidents, particularly many of the earlier VPs that nobody knows anything about. There are some really fascinating stories that could have been told about them, so I was a little bummed we didn't get that.

For the most part, the episode focused on the idea of the Vice Presidency as opposed to individual Vice Presidents. And it spent a lot of time on succession and the 25th Amendment. Now, that is no surprise -- that's basically the reason the Vice President exists in the first place. But at times it felt more like a documentary on continuity of government than the Vice Presidency, and I just wish there would have been more time spent on the personalities who have served in the position over the past 235 years.

As for the second part of your question, I'm going to do what the documentary largely did and answer based on the Vice Presidents since World War II. Once the nuclear age was upon us, the Vice Presidency became a more important role for those continuity of government reasons, and the quality and experience of most Vice Presidential candidates has improved during that time because it was more necessary to choose a running mate who was capable of actually taking over as President than balancing the ticket regionally or ideologically.

Since World War II, I think the Vice President who was best equipped to become President but never did was obviously Al Gore. I have always been shocked that Gore never made another run for the White House after 2000, but I also imagine that it must be an absolutely soul-crushing experience to run for President, seemingly win (and definitely win the popular vote), only to have the Presidency awarded to your opponent by a party-line decision of the United States Supreme Court.

Another post-World War II VP who never became President in his own right but probably would have been good in the job was Nelson Rockefeller. Because of the circumstances and brevity of his time as Vice President, Rockefeller is often forgotten about, but he was considered a real contender for the Presidency on numerous occasions before he was appointed to fill the Vice Presidential vacancy created when Gerald Ford succeeded Richard Nixon in the White House after Nixon resigned. Rockefeller won four elections as Governor of New York, all by comfortable margins, and he never achieved his Presidential goal because the timing was just never right for him. His best bet as a Presidential candidate should have been 1964 or 1968, but after JFK's assassination, few Republicans wanted to run against LBJ less than a year later (and with good reason, LBJ's popular vote landslide was huge). And by the time the 1968 election rolled around it became clear that Richard Nixon had spent his years in political exile following his humiliating loss in the 1962 California Gubernatorial race building a powerful campaign machine that helped sweep him into office. But when it comes to experience, few VPs were better qualified than Vice President Rockefeller.

If you haven't seen "The American Vice President" from PBS's American Experience, I would definitely recommend checking it out. You can watch it (and many of American Experience's other excellent documentaries) on the PBS website. It's also currently available to watch for free via the PBS feed on YouTube.

[olderthannetfic]

This might be an odd or personal question, but could I ask how you started knitting and where you started as a beginner? Or what would you recommend? I’ve tried to join clubs and groups irl, but there’s so much drama and gossiping. When I said I didn’t want to take part in that aspect, they started ostracizing and gossiping about me. Any websites, yt channels or books you’d recommend for a beginner?

--

Haha.

My friend, this does not even register on the scale of deeply personal or odd questions people have sent me.

I've been trying to remember exactly how I started and why (like, even before this ask). I think it was on a family vacation to Scotland the summer before I started college. That would have been in 1999.

I taught myself from one of those awful 90s pamphlets with the line drawings. They're a nightmare compared to being able to see someone do the motions in person or even in a video. I had some awful plastic needles and no guidance on yarn and just knit with what I found at some shop there. Do not recommend!

I achieved what I wanted during college, which was to make a nice cable-knit sweater that I still wear, and then I got frustrated with crappy acrylic yarn and drifted away from knitting until a year or so ago.

The fact is, I basically didn't do beginner projects. I moved straight from making one rectangle to making grandiose sweaters or whatever else struck my fancy. (But if you want to know, I was using Viking Patterns for Knitting and a bunch of Alice Starmore books, all of which you can still buy.) I know plenty of people who did it this way, but you certainly don't have to.

And you definitely don't need to learn from a terrible 90s printed pamphlet!

Luckily, nowadays, you can find a tutorial on just about anything on Youtube. I enjoy watching the technical and historical types discuss quirks of knitting you might not think of without years of practice or research.

Roxanne Richardson is great, for example.

Look for somebody old, not wearing a lot of makeup, and not talking about their indie dyeing/yarn business and you'll avoid most of the clowns who learned to knit five minutes ago and now want to be knitfluencers.

When I want a super simple technique tutorial, I usually end up looking at either Nimble Needles or VeryPink Knits. I find her super annoying, but her tutorials are spot-on. Norman's voice is much more soothing and I just enjoy his presence more, but both of them have good ultra close-up shots of what they're doing (which lots of vloggers don't because it requires special equipment).

I'd just figure out what kind of finished products you want to use knitting for and then find patterns and tutorials geared towards those.

Cables are relatively easy. Stranded colorwork requires a fair amount of physical coordination and some people find it rather difficult at first.

Circular needles are far more popular than traditional straight ones for people starting today.

Cotton yarn is relatively less nice to knit with than wool for most people, but it tends to be the natural fiber available at a low price point from major retailers.

Picking up general tips like that by watching various youtubers will help you pick a project that won't be too painful to work on.

People who naturally knit loosely should consider grippy bamboo or wooden needles. People who naturally knit tightly should consider slippery metal ones.

My biggest piece of advice is that you're usually better off with something "hard" that you actually like rather than a "practice" project you don't care about, at least after you've made like one rectangle to practice doing a knit stitch at all.

--

Finding community can be hard, and yes, some crafting hobbies are infested with drama.

But if you just want to know how to knit, you're way better off with some video tutorials and a nice pattern you like.

[usergreenpixel]

JACOBIN FICTION CONVENTION MEETING 37: CHÉVALIER (2022)

1. The Introduction

Well, hello there, Citizens! I’m back and I hope you missed me! Sorry for the multiple delays and all, but luckily I’m back at it now!!!

Okay, so this movie has been on my radar ever since it got announced. A story featuring a real Black man who lived during Frev? Sign me up! This has excellent potential and also, to my knowledge, at least a partially Black crew so we get more representation of marginalized groups in crews and on the screen!

At least, those were my thoughts before I actually watched the movie, but we’ll get to whether it was a good media piece later.

I found the movie on Russian language streaming websites, but it’s available on Amazon Prime and Disney Plus for those who would like to watch the original English version.

This review is dedicated to @idieonthishill , @vivelareine (who has a review that unpacks the movie from a historical pov and is welcome to add to the review 😊), @theravenclawrevolutionary , @sansculottides , @citizentaleo , @saintjustitude , @avergehistoryenjoyer , @lanterne and @jenxiez .

Okay, let the Jacobin Fiction Convention reopen!

2. The Summary

The movie tells a story of a real man, Joseph Bologne aka Chévalier de Saint-Georges. Recognized son of a white French nobleman and an enslaved black woman, Bologne must navigate the cutthroat world of the Parisian high society, dealing with racism and trying to reconcile his “white” upbringing with his African roots.

Sounds interesting, but let’s see how the premise was handled.

3. The Story

The Introduction scene - a musical duel between Mozart and Bologne, was actually quite good in my opinion. So were the other beginning scenes of kid Bologne growing up in France as an aristocrat and being bullied by his white peers, plus his father telling him not to let society break him.

These scenes establish quite well that Bologne has to carve out a place for himself among French nobility and make a lot of effort to get even a hint of acceptance. Sounds like a nice setup, right? Well, unfortunately at times Bologne in the movie doesn’t seem to have much agency at all.

For example, his title is granted to him by Marie-Antoinette basically on a whim, handed to him on a silver platter because the queen was impressed by his fencing skills, which in my opinion isn’t enough to show a character who has to work hard to be accepted. I think it would’ve been better if Bologne had at least several impressive fencing performances to prove himself and show more of his skills.

On the flip side, there are characters who have a bit too much agency. For example, in the story it’s Marie Antoinette who is calling all the shots and giving all the orders in France, even though Louis is alive and well. It’s definitely jarring to see how people say “by the order of the queen” when the king should be the one mentioned instead.

I didn’t care much for the love triangle storyline, but it’s my own personal preference and also the fact that it, like many parts of the story, isn’t all that nuanced. So yeah, very bland and boring.

Yes, Citizens, unfortunately nuance has officially left the chat, especially when it comes to the main character. See, at first Bologne doesn’t give a shit about poverty and famine plaguing France. He is enjoying his cushy life and his friendship with the queen of France instead. However, you know what makes him join the Jacobins? A fucking PERSONAL FALLING OUT WITH THE QUEEN. Not promises of abolishing slavery or granting rights to black people, not his own ideals… Just fucking pettiness!

It would have been much better if he didn’t have a falling out with Marie Antoinette and signed up for fighting with the Republicans because he genuinely wanted to do what was right, not due to personal beef. Especially since that was why he joined Frev in reality – the real Bologne made a choice to do the right thing simply because it seemed to be the right thing to him. Not out of petty desire to get back at the queen.

Also, the conflict between Bologne and his mother about how he is acting “too white”… eeeehh. To me it felt very anachronistic but maybe I’m wrong and there is more nuance missing because EVERYONE at court had to carry themselves in a certain way to make it. If you couldn’t do it, you were socially FUCKED. Besides, Nanon (the mother) and her friends crack really mean jokes about Bologne being “too white”, which is… well, an INTERESTING way to endear him to his mother’s culture…

The movie is juggling admittedly anachronistic theme about black culture, anti-slavery message, court drama and love triangles… and the juggling is done quite sloppily too, I’m afraid.

Also, just to illustrate how inaccurate this movie is, the events of 1789 are shown happening in 1776 for some reason, which shows just how much the creators didn’t give a shit about research.

Moving on.

4. The Characters

I really didn’t care for Bologne to be honest. He shows selfishness and pettiness, doesn’t have enough agency in the story and is also very inconsistent. After falling out with Marie Antoinette, he claims he defended her, which… he didn’t! At least it’s not shown in the movie! What the fuck happened to “show, don’t tell”?! Also, his incredible talents aren’t really shown in the way they could’ve been, more on that in the soundtrack section. A missed opportunity, really.

Nanon, Bologne’s mother, is a real embodiment of the themes of slavery and trauma present in the the movie. She merely exists to push him to embrace his African heritage and to remind him that he will never be truly accepted by other nobles. I honestly wish there was more to her character, because she ends up being little more than a walking theme embodiment.

Marie Antoinette here is a capricious, fair weather friend. She CLAIMS to support Bologne, but does it in indirect ways out of fear that nobles wouldn’t appreciate her openly backing a black man. Even though she is an absolute monarch so she can afford to show her support more openly. Actions speak louder than words, and she is clearly not a true ally of Bologne.

Marie Joséphe, Bologne’s love interest, is a woman trapped in a miserable marriage and yearning to act in Bologne’s operas. While I do sympathize with her, I believe that there really isn’t much depth to her either. We just don’t learn much about her. This is becoming a common theme…

Also, just as a side note while we’re talking about characters, many white characters in the movie are shown as mere flat caricatures. I can understand why, but, again, this doesn’t show nuance as in reality, while Bologne definitely had to deal with racism, he was not only accepted, but adored as a celebrity, but we don’t see that reflected in the attitudes of other people towards him. Because apparently the brains of the spectators will implode when they see nuance in a modern movie, it seems.

5. The Setting

Personally I wasn’t that impressed by the costumes or the settings. I’ve seen much better ones. Nothing bad, but nothing outstanding either.

6. The Soundtrack

Where the fuck is actual music from that time period?! Where is music by Bologne himself?! It’s a fucking missed opportunity and I don’t know what prevented the creators from including the music written by the MAIN DAMN CHARACTER into a biopic about him. A shame that they missed yet another opportunity.

7. The Conclusion

Honestly… I can’t say much when it comes to what this movie is fucking about. The story is bland, lacks nuance, doesn’t follow basic historical facts and is pulled in a million directions.

For a movie about an obscure figure, it doesn’t show much of the things Bologne was known for and at times even strips him of agency. We need to have better POC representation, because this is just not it.

The movie is mediocre, bland and forgettable. Don’t waste your time on it.

With that, I declare today’s meeting of the Jacobin Fiction Convention to be over. Thank you for your patience and support during this hiatus of mine.

Stay tuned and stay safe!

Love,

Citizen Green Pixel

[mercurytrinemoon]

💫I wrote a book and it's out now yaay!💫

Last year in December I had an idea.

It was THIS post (thank you @astrologeee for inspiring me) that made me think, I should actually teach astrology the way it should be taught: not by throwing dry concepts and cookbook definitions at people, but by explaining why some things are the way they are and break down the mechanics behind astrological delineations.

And because of my intermittent (not to say erratic) nature, I'm not great at chart readings because I do things when I feel like doing them, not when I have to - this is why for the past few weeks I fully devoted myself to writing and illustrating a book - so I can give you a finished product that you can get anytime you want - it's here and ready to read. Also, I think it's a perfect way to go through my 9th house profection year and a 3rd house Jupiter transit (that is loooots of writing and a finished publication).

"Studying the stars: the basis of understanding and analyzing astrology"

The book contains all new material, except for the chapter on houses that I took from my two blog posts. You get full sections on planets, signs, aspects, houses etc + a chapter on how to put things together - I'm dissecting exemplary planetary placements, aspects between them + more.

example pages

I tried to be as precise in all the descriptions and just cover all the necessary basics - so getting straight to the point. I think it would be a perfect starting point for those, who are just getting into astrology, but I'm hoping those of you, who are already deep into it will find something interesting in this book as well.

The book is currently $5 and available as a pdf on my ko-fi profile HERE (other platforms and a proper e-book format incoming! Ya girl is still waiting for her ISBN number 😩). UPDATE: also available HERE ON MY WEBSITE!

I hope you guys will enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it (not formatting tho cause that bitch took me a week and I still kept finding errors ahahah). And yes, there's a cheeky lil Vettius Valens chillin in the bottom corner of the cover so you can have a giggle at that as well.

[pochqmqri]

A few months ago, my copy of the "Limited Edition" Samurai Flamenco Complete Series Collection shipped from the UK, a release by Anime Limited.

As they are a UK-based anime distributor, their Blu-Ray discs are region locked to region code "B," which encompasses Europe. As such, I have a Blu-Ray player that is modified to be region-free, playing discs from anywhere in the world. I recommend buying one from this site, as you can get the best deals here.

Going over the product, despite the fact that it's labeled "Limited Edition," the release is pretty bare bones. It was also initially released back in October of 2021, and still remains available to purchase two years later.

Like most of Anime Limited's Collector's Editions, the release comes in a rigid slipcase illustrated with official artwork. The 22-episode anime is contained across 4 discs, evenly divided into two disc cases. Each case has a reversible slipcover illustrated with characters on both sides.

So let's talk about the contents of the discs. Although it doesn't say on the official website, there are three ways to watch the anime on this release: the French dub, the original Japanese with French subs, and the original Japanese with English subs (subtitles are the same as streaming, no subbed OPs/EDs/insert songs). These are a nice variety of options, but it would have been nice for a few more accessibility options for those who want it, such as the French dub having (dub-accurate) subtitles, and subtitles for those who are deaf or blind, as included with Anime Limited's release of "Looking for Magical Doremi" that I purchased earlier last year. There are a few extras on the discs, but those are just noncredit/blank versions of both opening and both ending themes.

Regarding the visuals, it should be noted that, when Samurai Flamenco aired on TV, it looked quite rough animation-wise. For the home media release in Japan, they made significant touchups here and there in each episode. From what I recall, the version that used to stream on Crunchyroll (before they removed it) was the original broadcast, while the one that streams/ed(?) on Funimation has the corrections. As there were quite a lot of corrections, I will link this post that does a in-depth look episode-by-episode of what changed between the two versions. Going back to Anime Limited's release, based on what I have seen and compared, I can safely say that this release uses the corrected footage, which I think most people can say is quite the plus.

I also want to clarify that this release does not contain any of the extras included with the Japanese home media release, such as the character drama CDs, soundtrack CDs, etc. All you're getting is a slipcase, the discs themselves, and creditless OPs and EDs. That's it.

To wrap it all up, despite the fact that this is a bare bones release, it is still a serviceable way to watch Samurai Flamenco. The anime has been taken off streaming services in the past few years, Netflix and Crunchyroll specifically, and as Manglobe went bankrupt years ago, the anime's future on streaming is bleak and uncertain. Anime Limited managed to secure a home release deal with Manglobe before they went under, so I've heard. Therefore, I definitely recommend owning a physical way to watch this underrated gem. Even so, Anime Limited has noted on their website that, as a limited edition release, they only have a limited number of stock, and once that runs out, they are not sure if they'll restock. So while it's been around for two years now, who can say for sure if it'll be around for any longer. On their website, it currently sells for £35 (approx $44.50 USD), but last year, Anime Limited held two sales that included this release, where in one sale, it went for as low as £8.33 (approx $10.50 USD). So, I also recommend you wait until their end-of-year holiday sale, I think it'll still be around then.

Anime Limited does ship internationally, but I want to warn you that there is a hefty international shipping charge attached. As I live in the US, it costs £25 (approx $32 USD), but I imagine that to more distant countries, it will cost a lot more.

[putschki1969]

Hi, thanks for answering, I decided to order a Wakana disc and a Keiko disc. But I'm a little sad because I won't receive my package, customs is charging me a lot to deliver it and I can't pay that amount and if I don't pay in 20 days they auction it off. I had asked for it as a birthday present for myself, the main objective of supporting them was fulfilled anyway. It should be noted that it was my friend The person who made the order was not well informed and ordered the things through Fedex and everyone who buys from CD Japan tells me that they shouldn't have ordered it through there. In short, now I'm afraid to order something again and not The person who made the order was not well informed and ordered things through Fedex and everyone who buys from CD Japan tells me that they shouldn't have ordered it through there. In short, now I'm afraid to order something again and not receive it 😢Sorry for answering here, but the answers don't let me say much. By the way, drink a lot of water because of the heat.

Oh no!! 🫂 That sounds like such a horrible experience. I'm sorry you encountered these problems while making your very first order. Is there really no one who can help you pay that amount? I know those charges can be criminally high and it's painful to even think about spending that much money (often more than the actual price of the product) but it would be a real shame for those CDs to be lost forever.

I can totally understand why you are now afraid to order anything else. Even after being a fan for so many years, I still hate how difficult and expensive it often is for overseas fans to buy anything from Japan. There have been some improvements in the last decade but it still is a hassle and I don't even wanna think about the many times my anxious little self had to argue with some rude person from the customs office.

With CDJapan, I can recommend Air Mail as the best shipping method. It takes quite long but it's considerably cheaper than EMS, FedEx or DHL. I don't know the customs and import tax rates of your country but they usually like to include the shipping costs as part of the value (which is used as basis to determine the charged tax) so the cheaper the shipping, the lower your customs/tax fees. On a related note, it is better to order smaller/fewer items to reduce the overall value of goods. These days, I mostly order on Japanese websites using a proxy service called Tenso. They allow me to adjust the price of the items which makes it possible to keep the goods value pretty low.

Maybe also try to check if Amazon.co.jp provides international shipping to your country. At least in my case (Austria, Europe), they already include taxes and such in the price I'm paying so the packages don't get held up in customs. This might just apply to EU states though so please keep that in mind (for me, CDJapan works the same as Amazon.co.jp when it comes to taxes).

Please don't let this experience discourage you. It can sometimes be a lot of trial and error when you first start ordering from Japan (especially if you are not familiar with the different shipping options and your country's import procedures). Definitely take a break for a while and try to do some research to be better prepared for future attempts. Then maybe, you can try again in a few months.

In the meantime, check if their solo stuff is available in your local iTunes or Google Play store. If you don't feel comfortable ordering physical goods, you can still support them by purchasing the digital music. It's not much but at least it's something.

Thank you, I'm trying to stay hydrated as best as possible. Hopefully the hot and humid days will be over soon.

[timetraveltasting]

MINUTAL MATIANUM (ROMAN PORK WITH APPLES, 1st c.)

It's a been a tougher week than usual - my husband broke his leg and had surgery, and I'm dealing with some dental pain - but amongst it all, I thought it would be a good idea to treat ourselves with a Tasting History dish that is especially hearty and comforting: Minutal Matianum (Roman Pork with Apples). From the quintessential Roman source by Apicius from the 1st c., De Re Coquinaria, this meat dish is made using ingredients that would have been available to Roman soldiers in Britain, near forts in the area of Hadrian's Wall. This hearty dish was probably closer to what the officers of the Roman army would have eaten rather than the foot soldiers, however. I decided to make this dish because my husband and I have enjoyed most of the Roman recipes I've made so far, and Max exclaimed this was the best Roman dish even he had made so far. We hope this dish provides us with the fortitude of a Roman soldier on the frontiers! See Max’s video on how to make the dish here or see the ingredients and process at the end of this post, sourced from his website.

My experience making it:

As usual for me with Roman recipes, I struggled to compile all of the specific listed ingredients, but I did my best! I sourced a pork shoulder from our local butcher, and for the ground meat, I used a mix of 60% beef and 40% pork (a very common mixture here in Germany). For the pork roast rub, I used oil, a bit of salt, lots of pepper, and a tablespoon and a half of linden tree blossom honey. For the meatballs, I didn't use any egg to bind them, as I didn't have any on hand. Instead of garum, I used an Asian fish sauce (which Max suggests as a substitute). For the apples, I used some sweet Pink Lady apples (which I definitely snacked on while I was cooking). Instead of the long pepper Max used, I used the tablespoon of peppercorns. I decided to omit the asafoetida completely, as I couldn't find it at 4 different supermarkets, including the bio-supermarket and the Turkish supermarket. I've recently learned that I should look instead at an Indian supermarket, so now I'm on the hunt for one! I reduced grape juice myself to make defrutum, as Saba seems a little expensive. Instead of starch/cornflour, I used regular white flour, since I think they would function fairly similarly.

First, I set out making the rub for the pork roast. Nice and simple with olive oil, salt, pepper, and honey, I loved that I could customize this part to my tastes (give me that sharp pepper taste!). Next, because I didn't have a roasting rack, I made one myself out of tin foil by taking a large sheet, rolling it into a snake shape, and curving it into a zig-zag pattern on top of a layer of tinfoil at the bottom of my pan. It fit the pork perfectly, and then I added the rub and tossed it in the oven. My pork shoulder was just over 2 pounds, so I roasted it for just over 2 hours. While it was cooking, I rolled my meatballs (sans egg), ground my spices for the sauce in the mortar and pestle (which took awhile), and chopped and portioned the ingredients for the next steps. When the pork was almost done cooking, I began cooking the meatballs in olive oil, also adding in the leeks. I added in the chicken stock and garum, stirring to get any bits from the bottom to release their flavour.

While this cooked on the stovetop, the pork roast was ready to take out of the oven. It looked wonderful and smelled delicious! I let it sit for a little bit, then chopped it into cubes and added them to the pot with the meatballs. I added in the cilantro, then a little bit more chicken stock so the pork and meatballs were 3/4 submerged and sizzling nicely in the juices. I simmered it for 15 minutes, then added the apple chunks. I simmered it further, but for less than the 20 minutes in the recipe (more like 15). I portioned the meat and apples into our serving bowls to cool a little while I prepared the quick sauce, being sure to leave some of the juices in order to provide the base to the sauce. I added the juices, defrutum, white wine vinegar, garum, and honey to a pot, added the crushed spices/herbs, and brought it to a light boil, stirring often. I made a roux with some flour by mixing a bit of water into it, then added it to my sauce to thicken it. By the looks of it, I think I ended up thickening it a decent amount more than Max did, but I like a thicker sauce, so I wasn't too upset about that. I took it off the heat once it was combined and thickened, and drizzled it over the pork, meatballs, and apples. It looked absolutely scrumptious - the sauce added a nice silky shine to the meat, the leeks added a pretty green, the peppercorns some texture, and the apples a beautiful yellow and red pop of colour. I served the Minutal Matianum with a side Greek Salad to balance the heaviness of the meat.

My experience tasting it:

I made sure my first bite was with pork, apple, and some sauce - it was very tasty! The pork was tender enough, but I might have overcooked it just a little. Luckily, the tougher, hearty texture was balanced by the crisp and light flavour of the apple and the acidity, sweetness, spice-infused, and herbed flavour of the silky gravy-like sauce. Like Max mentioned, the sauce first tastes a bit sour due to the vinegar, but it melts into a sweetness from the defrutum and honey. It is still a very 'Roman' flavour of sauce - I could taste hints of the previous Roman sauces I have made in other dishes in this one, but this one was more like a gravy, and maybe more in line with the modern palate. In terms of herbs and spices, I found that peppercorn and cilantro were the most forward in the sauce - the mint and cumin were just barely there. I decided to make my next bite a meatball with some sauce, apple and leek: an absolute winning combo! I don't always have time to make a pork roast, so I can't see myself making Minutal Matianum often in its complete form, but I will most certainly make the sauce with apples and meatballs again in the future. Like Max, my husband and I both agreed this is our favourite of the Roman dishes I've made so far. This is a great meal for late fall/early winter, and I will probably make it again as the weather gets colder this fall. If you end up making this dish, if you liked it, or if you changed anything from the original recipe, do let me know!

Links to harder-to-find ingredients:

Long Pepper

Flor de Garum

Colatura di Alici (Garum substitute)

Saba (Defrutum)

Asafoetida

Minutal Matianum (Roman Pork with Apples) original recipe (1st c.)

Sourced from De Re Coquinaria by Apicius, 1st century.

Put oil, garum, stock, chopped leek and cilantro and small ground meatballs in a pot. Chop previously cooked shoulder of pork with skin into cubes. Cook all together. Half-way through cooking add cored and diced Matian apples. While it cooks, grind pepper, cumin, cilantro and coriander seed, mint, and silphium root, pour in vinegar, honey, garum, defrutum, and some of the cooking liquid. Adjust the flavors with vinegar. Bring to a boil. Add broken tracta to thicken. Sprinkle pepper and serve. 

Modern Recipe

Based on De Re Coquinaria by Apicius (1st c.) and Max Miller’s version in his Tasting History video.

Ingredients:

Roasted Pork

Pork shoulder

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

Honey

Pork and Apples

1 tbsp olive oil

3/4 lb (340g) ground pork or beef, shaped into 1” balls

1 cup chopped leek

1 cup (235ml) chicken stock, plus extra as needed

2 teaspoons garum*

Small handful chopped cilantro

1 lb (450g) roasted pork, cut into cubes

1 lb (450g) sweet apples, cored and cut into about 1” pieces

Sauce

1 tsp cumin

2 tsp chopped cilantro

1 tbsp coriander seeds

2 tsp chopped mint

4 long peppers or 1 tbsp of peppercorns

1/2 tsp asafoetida

1/4 cup (60ml) white wine vinegar

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp garum*

1/4 cup (60ml) defrutum**

1/4 cup (60ml) cooking liquid from the pork and apples

2 tsp starch or cornflour

*Garum was a fermented fish sauce that was used in a lot of ancient Roman cooking. You can buy a modern equivalent or use an Asian fish sauce.

**Defrutum was a 1/3 reduction of grape must. Today, Saba is pretty much the same thing. It can be expensive, so you can reduce some grape juice instead.

Method:

For the roasted pork: Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C). Line a baking sheet with foil, then place a roasting rack on top of it.

In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, salt, pepper, and honey. There should be enough to coat the pork roast. Adjust the amounts to your liking.

Brush the olive oil mixture onto the pork, then roast for 15 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 275°F (135°C) and cook for about an hour per pound, or until the internal temperature reaches at least 165°F (74°C).

For the pork and apples: Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, then add the meatballs and leeks and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they start to brown.

Deglaze the pot with the chicken stock and garum. Toss in the cilantro and roasted pork. Add enough additional chicken stock so that it covers the bottom of the pot.

Simmer for 15 minutes, adding more stock if necessary.

Add the apples, then cook for another 20 minutes or until the meatballs are fully cooked.

For the sauce: Grind the spices and herbs with a mortar and pestle, then put them in a saucepan with the liquid ingredients. Stir together and bring to a gentle boil over medium heat.

Mix the starch with a little water, then add it to the sauce. Simmer for a couple of minutes until it thickens.

To serve: Dish the pork and apples into a bowl, drizzle with the sauce, and serve it forth.

[talenlee]

Goncharov Card Game Concepting

I am tired and my brain hurts and I am exhausted as I try try try to make graphic work for Bloodwork happen. The website is down and up and down again and that’s maddening as hell, and the dog is weird and the dishwasher’s replaced and aaaaaa so what I decided to was exorcise a brain worm about a Goncharov card game.

At the moment the prototype starts with an ordinary deck of playing cards, face cards removed. Face cards are your character, which get played face down in front of you, and we’ll get into what that means. At the start of the game, you deal everyone a face down character card from the available options, and your character determines what you value, and the kind of scenes you want to have.

Then you shuffle the numbers, every player draws one card, and you start the drafting.

The gameplay loop goes:

You draw two cards.

From two of the three cards in your hand, you shuffle, then pick one to present to another player face down, one face up.

You’re going to get to do this to every single player once each round – so you get to make choices that way.

That player picks one of the cards, face down or face up, and adds them to the set in front of them, in columns to represent each player who’s given them a choice.

You get the other card, in a corresponding column.

Once you have a card in your column, you can look at it!

During this period, you can talk about what you shared and why, and you can even lie about what you were handed.

You’re trying to collect different kind of scenes with different people – Icepick Joe wants to have a violent scene with everyone, Andrei wants to try and share romance and violence with Goncharov and gets no points for scenes with Katya, but can make mileage out of scenes with Sofia.

That’s the basic engine. Next question:

How big is this game?

If there are fifteen cards in the deck, then you get to give every player a round of sending drafts, but they don’t get a round of receiving each. At the minimum play experience, for five players, one round of drafting fully means that each player should have 2x the number of players cards, meaning that the minimum card pool gets bigger quick. In five players, each player gets 8 cards, plus one extra, per round, so that’s 45 cards to start with.

That means a normal deck of cards is just barely big enough to have everyone have a scene with everyone else, but also, everyone gets two scenes with everyone.

There’s also a matter of information leakage. There’s a reason players are goin to want to hoover up cards of a particular type. Also, this could be made Fantasy Realms style, or Tussie Mussie style where every card has a simple mechanic on it that makes other cards better, with your character card represents a single big advantage – Goncharov may get a bonus point for each suit he can collect, Katya may get bonuses for every heart she has, Mario may want diamonds, that kind of thing.

Similarly, cards can be character specific, and therefore, you might have a reason to want to keep something in hand. Like hey, this card says Katya and Sofia get 2 points? Well, maybe that stays in your hand because you’re playing Icepick Joe. But maybe you could offer it to someone else when you see the players you think are Katya and Sofia are in last place, and therefore bum them with a dead draft.

That’s the basic idea.

Now here’s the funniest thing here:

With 45 cards at base, and 7 cards for characters, the game gets to look like a 52 card deck of cards, and a maximum of 5 players. So the mechanical limits for a very simple draft game are right there in a standard deck size.

The problem is:How do I get art for this.

There’s a ton of cool as fuck fanart for Goncharov. There’s definitely an aesthetic for it too! It’s so mangled and weird and ostensibly uncreated, there’s a case to be made for using stock art for it, maybe. Or a particular film aesthetic, maybe, and instead abstracting everything. But there are some symbols that are seen as very important to Goncharov, like the clocks.

One of the things I love about Goncharov as a memeplex is that the artistic representation of these intense scenes deserve to be platformed. I want people to see them and enjoy them and I think it’d be amazing to make a card game that looked like them.

But also: I can’t print cards for free! I can’t make this game and distribute physical copies of it for free (like, literally, I can’t afford it). And the overlap of Goncharov fans and card game fans? Probably not necessarily huge! And you can’t go to a fanartist ‘hey can I pay you for the rights to your fanart’ when it’s not really fanart, it’s original art that just happens to somehow all have a shared corpus of inspiration. What’s more the most iconic piece of Goncharov art is something the artist has more or less said ‘go nuts’ about, but it’s transformative art of a bunch of other posters so I’m not sure how far it gets me from the actual generative art discussion!

At the same time, man, man, it seems so close to attainable. The Goncharov poster style, the entirely arbitary name of the game, the lore and fiction, it’s already meant to be an homage to the greatest mafia movie ever made, rather than anything that anyone could actually account for.

Am I going to get sued by a bootleg shoe company?And if I ignore the inspiration, what’s left? An interesting emotionally complex mafia movie kind of game generator, but it somehow feels so much more artificial to imagine I’m a fan of any of those that I’m not actually that into. Mafia movies aren’t my thing, I don’t think.

But I do love Goncharov.

Weird.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[bismuthburnsblue]

ok so!!! i revisited my work from yesterday, going in and properly blocking out the style lines and strap (still up for change as i get into better fabrics but this is a lot more representative of what they would actually look like now!) (though i am noticing ive set my hemline lower- even extending it on nora, when anne's is quite high, so ill have to see how comfortable i feel with that)

i also took a bit out of the hips on the ally pattern which definitely helped with the shape (i was really just being lazy not doing this, ive used this pattern before and had to do that, i knew it was gonna be an issue)

Theres more notes on my personal thoughts on both patterns below the cut :)

same cw's as before for body image stuff :) (maybe this is silly but i just feel far more comfortable putting warnings + a readmore for corsetry)

(also! i will be doing a post properly introducing this project soon :) ive got a lot i want to say!!)

First up! both of these patterns are by Aranea Black, pdfs of these patterns are still available online but her website is gone now)

Ally is a 6 panel corset with extreme hip spring- heres what the pattern looks like:

i do think the hip spring gives a really dramatic shape, but i do worry that with my upholstery weight faux leather, it just wont sit nicely. on this mock up i had to slit my entire seam allowance at the waist to make it not tuck too badly, and that means cutting my boning channel in half (i think, still deciding details like that) i cant really afford to waste fabric recutting panels if i sew it and it does tuck, either.

(Technically i do have the option available to me to do a twin stitch like Anne's original corset actually has, but this wouldnt be traditional, and wasnt in my plan (even if i wasnt gonna have the bones in the leather layer, i like the /look/ of felled channels on the outside.) a twin stitch however would probably negate most the tucking on the waist point, as it opens it up rather than folding to one side.)

Secondly, the one gripe i have about this pattern is that big line of wrinkles below the waist- now some of this will be from the fabric and it not being worn in, but the "daily wear" version of this corset ive made before still has some of these wrinkles even now, especially over the first hip spring panel. i know theres ways to adjust the fitting to counter the ones over the hip, but those i think are largely from the way the fabrics pulling around the curve- its covers such a large area its bound to pull a little weird in places. I really want a smooth look, a clean finish is the most important thing to me, and i worry no matter what i do they will still be there.

I will say, Ally has a lacing gap designed into the pattern, which is something i want, as Anne's corset has one, and it automatically gives you more leeway in the fit that patterns without it just dont have.

Nora on the other hand is 8 panels, with the hip spring spread across a much further space. On paper it looks much less dramatic, but theoretically should still hold a significant amount of shape, just distributed over more panels.

I guess that would be my first area of concern, that the shape just isnt quite as dramatic as the shape on Ally. i really want something quite striking for this project and though pattern modifications can be made, i was hoping to not have to do too much past simples changes.

The 8 panels also means this pattern will likely eat up more fabric. if nothing else, theres 4 extra sides of seam allowance that the other does not have (though, these pieces will nest together better, so it could end up being negligible) it is a concern however, as im working on a very tight yardage.

One of the immediate positives of this pattern however is the lack of that wrinkle band like Ally has. Since this is worn as an outer layer thats a huge point in its favour, a nice clean finish is basically the top of my requirements list.

Nora also has no lacing gap, which is an issue for the reasons mentioned above (annes costume has a lacing gap, but also lacing gaps give more leeway in the fit, allowing you to be a little tighter on some days than others.) Its possible to draft in a lacing gap relatively easily, but it is something i have to consider.

Its completely arbitrary, but i also feel like the way the strap joined onto this pattern was nicer- it lined up better with the pre existing panels and i think it'd join on as a continuous piece better. again, its extremely minor, i just think its cleaner with less fiddling on my end.

I think im still thinking the same way i was yesterday, that Nora is probably the pattern thats working better for me for this, but its still very up in the air for me. i feel like theres more pattern modifications to do there, but that its probably going to be worth doing the work? but i am definitely interested in what anyone else might think!

[scotch-superglue]

i saw scott's email to dan from that lawsuit and omg? idk i feel like an illusion or something has been shattered. i never defended her for the very questionable things she's done (m*tty, jets, etc) but in my head i've always kinda let her off for it. but yiikkees. i had no clue she was that fucking rich?? her dad sold a house for 2.5 MILLION before 2008. she definitely works hard af but she is so insanely privileged with her dad's connections and money wow.

i was disappointed seeing the new ttpd version with the one extra song. her releasing versions where 90% of the content is the same is shitty as hell. and soo unnecessary. people should be able buy a single vinyl with all the songs. and the fake limited time sales. she's gonna make it available again in a few months, but she wants people to panic buy it. asshole move imo.

the movie was even worseee omg. the tickets itself were way too high. it was 130dirhams in dubai, which is roughly 35 dollars???? WHICH IS INSANE FOR A SINGLE TICKET. just cuz it's her lucky number doesnt make it okay to charge such a high fee. it was just standard that too, not even imax or anything. tickets are generally like 30-60dhs (8-13$). made me feel insane for going with my sister.

also having shows in t*l av*v?? if she wasnt gonna speak up abt palestine, least she could do is not have a showing there. her website said that the shows are cancelled but in local theatres, it was showing.

then putting it for rent for $20, just to release on streaming a couple months later. literally insane. just trying to milk money. RENT for 20$??? what the actual fuck. she's already a billionaire, i dont understand why she does things like this.

actually i feel like i do now. after reading her dad's email, her family dynamic and her behaviour is making a lot more sense. her dad constantly talked about how much money he puts in and how he gets nothing in return etc etc. money money money. i think her greed(?) makes so much sense to me now.

the jets i understood not publishing it in real time, can be dangerous for her ig. and feels stalkerish. but threatening with a lawsuit is kinda like what? the guy seems like a piece of shit but he didn't do anything illegal. and apparently the list that swifties have been using to prove that she isnt in the top 30 isnt even accurate. she was in fact the highest polluter. extremely disappointing.

tbh i had all these thoughts in the back of my head, but i saw her as a fundamentally good person so i pushed it away a little. but like now idk. it just doesnt make sense to think that. i've been a fan for more than 12 years at this point ig, and it makes me kinda sad. i've been reading the posts on r/swiftlyneutral and like yeah?? the things they say are true?? i used to vehemently deny a lot of accusations, but yeah she is performative, and doesnt talk abt issues unless it relates to her.

i dont know what the point of this post was, feels awkward to talk abt to my irl friends so yes just posting it here

bye

[sesskag]

Hello, being following your blog for a long time now. Although I never had a tumblr account before. You are doing a great job of compiling snippets of the sesskag ship for me to explore. I remember reading about a new sesskag website plan back in like 2021/2022. PMO I think it was called. I even put a few bucks into the gofundme. Was it a failure? Cause the website doesn’t work. Any idea what happened? I don’t want to think it was a scam.

Hello, friend!

TL;DR : You have absolutely no need to worry about PMO. It was not a scam.

What I think, my dear, is that critical thinking skills are a very valuable asset in this day and age. Not taking everything you see on the internet at the face value is a healthy practice. But I also think that at the end of the day, you should still hold onto your faith in humanity.

I can't blame you for having doubts, especially when there was never too much information available on what happened with PMO, unfortunately. But fostering these kind of doubts against a fellow fan just really saddens me, because we do not need that kind of division or discord in a fandom as small as ours.

To combat the negativity of the world and the much too abundant cynicism, I prefer to err on the side of kindness and positivity. And kindness and positivity and support are definitely the kind of values we want to foster in the fandom, to keep it a safe space for everyone.

I personally donated more than a few bucks for the PMO, just as I have been donating funds for the upkeep of Dokuga multiple times over the years. SessKag fandom has been my home on the internet for a long time, and I'm happy that I'm financially secure enough to be able to help where I can. Poor Wiccan is currently paying for Dokuga's upkeep out of her own pockets. Who knows how much PMO's owner invested themselves.

You wouldn't think that Dokuga, the site that has been serving our fandom for the last 16 years, is a scam because it has had to rely on donations from the fans? Is AO3 a scam because they have annual fundraising drive? You know what what Dokuga and AO3 have in common? They're independent websites unpolluted by advertisements and third parties who want to get their hands on your personal data. How rare and amazing is that, in this day and age?

I have some idea, though certainly not all, about what happened to PMO, as I was only ever peripherally involved with the site. But as PMO themselves have not offered a full on explanation, it is not my place to make public the whole sorry saga. What I can say that there were technical issues with the site, and the party responsible for those was contracted and wholly outside our fandom.

I have nothing but compassion and admiration for PMO and what it stood for, for those several months that the site was operational. From personal experience of just hosting a few fandom blogs over here, I have some kind of a guess at how much time and energy such a huge undertaking as trying to put an entire website together for our fandom to use and then maintaining it would consume. And let's face it, most of us SessKag fans are well into our 30s or more by now. We're out here, living the busiest years of our lives and juggling to balance our love of SessKag with our other hobbies, our full time jobs, our friends and family, possibly children, possibly health issues, and with Naraku knows whatever bullshit life might deign to throw at us at any moment.

PMO's owner is a visionary, a friend, and a fellow fan I respect. They put in their best effort, and I appreciate the heck out of it. They had the best interests of our fandom

For the nearly 19 years I've been in the SessKag fandom, we have had a website of our own. First we had Single Spark, then we had Dokuga. For a brief while we had PMO. I think having our own safe corner of the internet has honestly made a real difference. We wouldn't have such a strong sense of community we do these days, if we hadn't had Dokuga forums and chatroom way before Discord or this Tumblr blog came to be. Having our own site is something I want to hold on to. And our SessKag community is something that I will always choose to believe in, 100%.

-- Admin Chie

[didanawisgi]

In Anticipation of a Highly Virulent SARS-CoV-2 Variant:

In Anticipation of a Highly Virulent SARS-CoV-2 Variant:

What can we do to prepare for a highly virulent variant?

Physicians and scientists may disagree as to how likely it is that a highly virulent, greatly threatening SARS-CoV-2 variant will emerge. Based on his extensive experience in the field of vaccinology and his deep understanding of immunology, virology, and laws of Nature, Dr. Vanden Bossche thinks it is extremely likely that a highly virulent and threatening variant will emerge.1-3 Others may agree that emergence of such a variant is possible, but not probable or highly likely. Others may deny that emergence of such variant is even possible.

1See Dr. Vanden Bossche’s book: The Inescapable Immune Escape Pandemic

2See Dr. Vanden Bossche’s educational website: www.voiceforscienceandsolidarity.org

3See the video-presentation: Respecting the Immune Ecosystem—Concerns of an Immune System Ecologist, which is posted on my educational website: www.notesfromthesocialclinic.org

My personal conclusion is that the likelihood of such a variant emerging is definitely sufficiently great to warrant the immediate development of proactive plans to meet that challenge if/when it occurs. In my view, participation in the development of such proactive planning is the pragmatic and responsible thing to do—scientifically, medically, and ethically. In my opinion, it is also the socially responsible thing to do.

I strongly disagree with the attitude that Dr. Vanden Bossche’s concern should be dismissed and ignored, not even discussed, and that no anticipatory planning for such an eventuality is needed. Such an attitude violates one of the most fundamental and important principles of medicine and science—namely, that all plausible hypotheses (not just one narrative) should be welcomed and evaluated via careful, respectful, scientific dialogue. I feel strongly that such an attitude is scientifically, medically, ethically, and socially irresponsible.

I strongly believe in the concepts of thorough patient education, informed consent, and practice of anticipatory medicine. Accordingly, I believe that patients, physicians, and the general public need and deserve to know about Dr. Vanden Bossche’s concerns and deserve a chance to prepare in advance for the possibility that a highly virulent variant might appear—because there are many things that can be done proactively, individually and collectively, to try to protect individuals and populations if/when such a variant arrives on the scene.

That preparation starts with explaining (to individual patients, health care professionals, and the public in general) why that possibility is real, how it has come about, and why it needs to be taken seriously. If/when a virulent variant does appear, I would not want people to be caught by surprise, ill-prepared, unable to promptly access optimal care, and panicked as a result. I would want them, instead, to be fully informed in advance and able to promptly implement a detailed plan that they, their physicians, and their hospitals had proactively developed to promptly and optimally deal with such a situation. In this article I have outlined what anticipatory steps could be taken now by individuals, their physicians, their hospitals, and national health agencies to prepare for a highly virulent variant.

Steps that can be taken now to prepare for a highly virulent variant:

Thorough, honest, scientifically sound, understandable, and demystifying patient education about COVID-19 can be made available to the Public—particularly regarding COVID-19 vaccination and Dr. Vanden Bossche’s concerns.

We must now shift to preparing for optimal outpatient and inpatient management of the threat that a highly virulent variant poses, including an emphasis on accurate diagnosis, early anti-viral therapy (including consideration of prophylaxis for the most vulnerable), careful anticipatory monitoring of a patient’s clinical course, and appropriately aggressive treatment of hospitalized patients.

Regarding diagnosis, only PCR tests that have been proven by independent honest laboratory experts to be highly specific and sensitive for SARS-CoV-2 should be used, and reports of all positive PCR results should disclose the PCR Ct value at which the test was positive. Furthermore, verification of SARS-CoV-2 by genomic sequencing may be important in selected instances.

For those who become infected, early (timely) outpatient treatment with safe, effective, widely accessible, and affordable anti-viral therapies may help prevent escalation of disease. Regarding the choice of anti-viral therapies, global experience with ivermectin and other inexpensive anti-viral therapies needs to be honored. Since there has been so much controversy regarding various anti-viral therapies (e.g., ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine); since the safety and efficacy of Paxlovid and Molnupiravir have not been adequately studied and are still unclear; since there are problems with the affordability and accessibility of Paxlovid and Molnupiravir; since there has never been a head-to-head comparison of these four just-mentioned options (which means that we do not know which one has the best benefit/risk ratio); and since the susceptibility of a new highly virulent variant will represent new territory; it would be important to proactively prepare an excellent, scientifically sound, honestly and competently conducted, nation-wide randomized prospective study of early outpatient anti-viral treatment of the virulent variant, focusing on these four therapies. Patients in need of anti-viral therapy could opt to participate in this randomized trial or they (and their physician) could opt to choose their preferred anti-viral therapy. Careful prospective study of each enrolled patient could reveal which anti-viral therapy performs the best for a new highly virulent variant, regarding both efficacy and safety.

Because the elderly, people with co-morbidities, and people who have received multiple doses of COVID-19 vaccination will be particularly vulnerable to a highly virulent variant (particularly when compared to healthy unvaccinated non-elderly people), the option of placing such people on a prophylactic course of anti-viral therapy should be strongly considered. That is, such people could be placed on prophylactic anti-viral therapy as soon as it becomes evident that a highly virulent variant is circulating in their community. The choice of anti-viral therapy could be as discussed above—namely, people could opt for participation in a proactively prepared randomized trial of prophylactic anti-viral therapy or they (and their physician) could choose their preferred anti-viral therapy for prophylaxis. Careful prospective study of each enrolled patient could reveal which prophylactic approach performs the best for a new highly virulent variant, regarding both efficacy and safety.

For those who become ill with a highly virulent variant: In addition to promptly starting early outpatient anti-viral treatment, prompt initiation of careful monitoring can be immensely helpful—to document whether the patient is following a reassuring clinical course or is heading into a worrisome hyperimmune phase. It is helpful to follow: serial COVID-19 PCR Ct values to document the extent to which the initial viral load is reassuringly decreasing, or not; serial CBC, blood chemistries, CRP, ESR, serum ferritin, d-Dimers to document the extent to which the patient is or is not developing a hyperimmune reaction and/or hypercoagulable state; and use of a home pulse oximeter to document the extent to which the patient is developing a drop in O2 saturation due to worrisome lung disease.

For those who develop a hyperimmune/hyperinflammatory reaction (usually during the second and third weeks of illness, but probably much sooner with new more virulent variants), careful anticipatory monitoring and prompt, appropriately aggressive immunosuppression (with, for example, appropriately bold use of corticosteroid and anti-cytokine therapies) and appropriate use of other therapies may be critically important.

When/if a highly infectious and highly virulent variant appears, particularly in highly vaccinated communities/countries/populations, it may be necessary to treat virtually everyone prophylactically, or at least those who are most vulnerable, with prompt safe, effective, widely accessible, affordable anti-viral therapy (at appropriate doses), perhaps for several weeks, in an effort to thoroughly reduce the viral infectious pressure in these populations/communities and to interrupt the vicious cycle of high infectious pressure causing enhanced immune pressure on the viral life cycle and, hence, driving immune escape.

Good exercise, good nutrition (including immune-supporting vitamins and other nutraceuticals, fresh air, sunshine, and good emotional health (including reduction of COVID-19-related mystery, confusion, anxiety, and cognitive dissonance) will help optimize people’s immune systems, particularly their innate immune systems. The angst of confusion, mystery, and frustration is counter-therapeutic. De-mystification and “having a specific proactive plan,” well in advance of becoming exposed/infected, are therapeutic.

When/if the highly infectious and highly virulent variant appears, particularly in highly vaccinated communities/countries/populations, it may be necessary to consider moving elderly folks (particularly those who are most vulnerable) out of nursing homes/retirement homes into single family dwellings, to the extent possible/practical—-or to designated small COVID-19 facilities that are properly staffed and protected.

Summary of specific proactive “plan of action” that individuals could make: Individual citizens, individual physicians, and individual health care institutions could immediately start preparing to optimally practice the anticipatory medicine approach outlined above.

Citizens can schedule an “anticipatory appointment” with their primary care physician to proactively discuss the information reviewed in this article and Dr. Vanden Bossche’s book and to develop a specific plan of action to be implemented if/when the patient falls ill with COVID-19 or is particularly vulnerable and is exposed to the virulent variant.

During such a visit, the physician could indicate their willingness to collaboratively develop (with the patient) and implement such a plan. This might include prescription of anti-viral medicines in advance of the COVID-19 illness, so that the patient will have those medications immediately available (in their own medicine cabinets) at the onset of the COVID-19 illness or for prophylactic use in the case of the particularly vulnerable. It might also include making proactive plans for certain specific initial and subsequent lab monitoring that can be started on day 1 or 2 of a threatening COVID-19 illness. It might also include discussion of a specific plan regarding how the patient will be promptly treated if monitoring shows early signs of development of a hyperimmune reaction to SARS-CoV-2.

It would be ideal if people could be tested now to determine the extent to which they have already developed effective naturally acquired immunity (as opposed to vaccinal immunity) against SARS-CoV-2. Unfortunately, such testing is quite limited.

Citizens can prepare themselves by purchasing, in advance, a pulse oximeter to monitor their O2 saturation during their upcoming illness. They can also proactively start taking Vit-D and other nutraceuticals well in advance of developing COVID-19. They might also want to purchase and prepare, in advance, diluted povidone iodine nasal spray, to be used promptly once a COVID-19 illness starts.

Primary care physicians can prepare themselves by being fully informed of the information provided in Dr. Vanden Bossche’s book, in this article, and companion articles. Part of that preparation might include educating their own health care institutions and colleagues and encouraging them to prepare.

Health care institutions can prepare by becoming fully informed of the information provided in Dr. Vanden Bossche’s book, this article, and companion articles. Part of that preparation might include educating their entire health care staff and encouraging them to prepare in the ways discussed above.

It will be essential for patients, physicians, and health care institutions to all be on the same page, working collaboratively and respectfully, with a shared awareness of information and understandings about COVID-19.

Physicians, hospitals, medical schools, health departments, and national health care leaders have an obligation to be excellently informed about the COVID-19 situation:

It is important for physicians, health care officials, politicians, and citizens to appreciate the great complexity of the COVID-19 situation. Simplistic understandings that are not rooted in a deep appreciation of the complexities of immunology, virology, vaccinology, evolutionary biology, and glycosylation biology are potentially dangerous and should be avoided.

It is critically important that the scientists and physicians who have been responsible for the prevailing COVID-19 narrative and its policies engage in respectful, healthy scientific dialogue with those scientists and physicians who have challenged the prevailing narrative and its policies. To date there has been very little such dialogue, despite pleas by Dr. Vanden Bossche and others for such dialogue. This must change. More than one narrative must be allowed. That is a fundamental principle of science and medicine. The demonization and persecution of those who have responsibly challenged the prevailing narrative must stop. If Dr. Vanden Bossche is wrong in his understandings and concerns, this needs to be established through thorough, honest, thoughtful scientific dialogue. If the promoters of the prevailing COVID-19 narrative have been wrong, especially regarding their COVID-19 vaccination campaign, this needs to be established through thorough, honest, extensive scientific dialogue.

I would like to again emphasize that I would much prefer that COVID-19 issues be addressed by a representative international panel of honest, objective, altruistic physicians and scientists with exemplary expertise in immunology, virology, vaccinology, evolutionary biology, glycosylation biology, and epidemiology who would engage in respectful, scientific, video-archived dialogue about these questions. Physicians, including me, need and deserve that help. Citizens and physicians could then view and listen to that dialogue and decide whose explanations make the most sense and whose recommendations seem wisest.

Unfortunately, the vast majority of physicians (at least in the USA) have either supported the prevailing COVID-19 narrative and obediently executed its policies or, if they have disagreed with the prevailing narrative and its mass vaccination campaign, they have remained silent (often out of fear of reprisal if they challenge the prevailing narrative). It is imperative, now, for physicians to do their homework and speak up—for the sake of science, medicine, their patients, and Humanity. To facilitate that homework, Dr. Vanden Bossche has created a superb educational website: www.voiceforscienceandsolidarity.org I have also created an educational website: www.notesfromthesocialclinic.org

In addition to promoting respectful, healthy, scientific dialogue among health care professionals, we must also promote such dialogue among citizens. We must promote dialogue and demystifying education that will elevate understanding of the complexity of the COVID-19 situation, create consensus, bring people together, and unite people in positive, constructive efforts to do what is needed to preserve lives. Honest, altruistic, informed media could help with this.

It is important that the “vaccinated” and “unvaccinated” not be pitted against each other. This has never been a “pandemic of the unvaccinated,” nor is it helpful to view it as a “pandemic of the vaccinated.” It is a pandemic that has been prolonged and made worse by a misguided mass vaccination campaign. Vaccinated and unvaccinated citizens should kindly and sensitively work together to correct the many mistakes that have been made in the management of this pandemic.

All of us must learn from mistakes made during the COVID-19 pandemic so that we do not repeat those mistakes during future pandemics.

Finally, it should be realized that the White House COVID-19 Task Force, the CDC, FDA, NIH, WHO, the medical establishment, pharmaceutical companies, and the conventional media (CNN, NY Times, The Atlantic, even NPR, e.g.) may not honestly acknowledge and correct the mistakes they have made. Correction of these mistakes, therefore, may depend on the careful homework and thoughtful advocacy and altruism of ordinary citizens (both the vaccinated and the unvaccinated).

If citizens, particularly mothers and pediatricians, unite to properly educate the Public and open the eyes and minds of unaware promoters of the COVID-19 mass vaccination campaign, then Humanity, particularly our children and grandchildren, will have a chance for a good outcome.

Rob Rennebohm, MD

June 11, 2023

[scarlettgauthor]

Hello, Tumblr, and I hope you had a merry holiday (or simply enjoyed the weekend off)! I am so excited to finally share some absolutely amazing news: There's an audio book of His Secret Illuminations, and it is available for purchase now!!!

[intense, relieved, distant screaming]

I am so pumped about this you wouldn't even believe it. I started trying to produce this audio book in June of this year. June. You might note that it is now December. This is a project six months in the making. I went through multiple rounds of auditions and thought I'd found a narrator twice and both times they had to back out of recording. I exhausted everyone who sounded right at one service and went to fellow self-published fantasy author Virginia McClain for advice, and she pointed me to Antoine Bandele of AB Book Services and his roster of narrators, where I found Martin Martinez. Martin auditioned for me with a perfectly sweet Lucían and a wonderfully strong Glory. His reading was deft and playful and exactly what I'd been hoping for, and the sex scenes? Well, to quote the illustrious burlesque icon Miss Kitty Baby: "There won't be a dry seat in the house."

Please give it a listen if you're an audio book person, or tell your friends to give it a listen if you aren't. Martin really gave a beautiful performance, and I think everyone should hear the heart and soul he gave these characters. 

(People other than me definitely need to hear it. I have listened to the entire thing three times as I reviewed it, which is too many times for an author to have to be presented with their writing from three years ago in a medium where they cannot elide certain word choices they would not have made now. It's a great audio book! It really is! I never want to listen to it again!)

Ahem.

Where can I buy it?

On several platforms that audio books are sold, with more coming soon! Here are some specific places:

https://scarlettgaleauthor.com/shop/audio-books https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/his-secret-illuminations-scarlett-gale/1142856730 https://bingebooks.com/book/his-secret-illuminations https://www.scribd.com/audiobook/614996148/His-Secret-Illuminations-Their-adventure-will-test-his-skill-and-his-self-control https://libro.fm/audiobooks/9781669668374 https://www.storytel.com/se/sv/books/3683133 https://www.kobo.com/us/en/audiobook/his-secret-illuminations-2 https://play.google.com/store/audiobooks/details/Scarlett_Gale_His_Secret_Illuminations?id=AQAAAEDCkgXS1M https://www.chirpbooks.com/audiobooks/his-secret-illuminations-by-scarlett-gale  https://www.audiobooks.com/audiobook/his-secret-illuminations-their-adventure-will-test-his-skill-and-his-self-control/653033

Not at Amazon/Audible?

Not yet, anyway! It's been submitted to them for review and is still pending. The audio book will be available on Amazon... eventually.

Where should I buy it?

Wherever is easiest for you! That said, if your goal is to support me as directly as possible, please consider buying it from my website. 

It's a little more troublesome (I had to break it into five parts in order to get around the file size limit) but everything I sell on my website is DRM-free and I get the entire $24.99 cover price (minus credit card fees). Purchasing it through another platform means I only get the royalties, which end up between 20% and 50% of the cover price.

When will His Sacred Incantations be available as an audio book?

The unfortunately mercenary answer here is "As soon as I can afford to produce it." As a self-published author I am on the financial hook for anything and everything I want to do with my books. Part of the reason it took this long to get the first book produced was because I needed to save up enough to pay for the production of it. His Secret Illuminations cost about $3600, which I paid out of pocket. I expect that His Sacred Incantations will cost about the same. I hope to be able to produce it in 2023--the better my sales are, the sooner I can get started!

P.S. If I manage to sell 144 copies of this audio book through my website, that will cover almost the entire cost of producing the second book.

How can I help out?

Spread the word about the audio book! As Patrons you get the news first, but I'll be sharing this on social media in the next couple of days. Like, retweet, reblog, reshare, leave good reviews of the audio book where appropriate--all of that is a huge help to me, someone who is her own marketing department.

Thank you so much for your support! May your holidays be happy, and your winter nights warm.

[satorisoup]

hello, sweetie ‹𝟹 :)

it's been a tough few days, but I'm almost 100% recovered so i’m back *o*

fr was a very beautiful story which made the ending even sadder, but 10/10, you're did amazing job!

the whole world of demon slayer is precious to me, that's why i suffer a lot with it. and i get upset when i see people talking badly about a character 😔

no, i didn’t! i don’t know where to watch that version 😭

i think throughout haikyu you grow fond of all the teams at some point and get sad when they lose, at least that's what happened to me 😢 | i love bokuto and akaashi interactions 🤭 bokuto is such a baby while akaashi is so sassy and sarcastic 🤭 the big baby gets teased all the time and doesn't even know 🤭

i'm so sorry to know that </3 i only had dogs, they are all died already too and i promised to myself to never get another pet anymore and here i am being a new fresh cat mom🥹. a golden retriever needs a lot of attention because they are big babies. you know hinata and bokuto? yeah, they need to be take care of 😭 if you have time for them you should go for it, if not think twice because they really need attention.

you deserve all the love 🤍🤍

thank God! the hot weather can really make you sick if you don’t take care of yourself 😭! it is summer here too and it’s been so hot this week, i barely slept last night 🫠

thank you sm ‹𝟹 i am feeling better now, just dealing with the summer weather now lol which i really dislike the high heat but it is what it is 🤸‍♀️| i hope you’re doing fine and happy ‹𝟹

you’re an angel :’). it’s been so hard for me to catch up with everyone and everything, some people really don’t understand how hard it can be to be active when you’re double the sick and get mad about it, so im really happy you understand 😭!

i am doing ok, i’m already on vacation now, so now that i’m back i’m going to catching up with the stories 👀! how about you? are you okay? drinking enough water and feeling good? how’s summer so far? do you enjoy this season? hope you’re happy and healthy, sweetie ‹𝟹 🫂

UWAHHH hai hai ma love !! ouh, how i have missed you !! (つω`｡) please forgive me for tha late response !! </3 m’ sho sorry !! T^T

SOBSOB m’ hoping you are definitely recovered by now, and that you are doing better than ever my sweets !! being sick definitely isn’t fun :,<

WAHHH PWEASE, you flatter me !! >//< i am soso happy dat you enjoyed tha gojo fic !! it’s one of my favorites, i just had to share it with you !! ^_^ THANK YOU SOSO MUCH FOR YOUR KIND WORDS !! <3 it means tha WORLD !! >_<

TEEHEE absolutely !! demon slayer is just the bestest anime, i adore it with my whole heart !! <3 i understand, i get sad when i see people talkin’ bad about my favowites too :,< tanjiro n’ genya my beloveds !! how could anyone hate their cuteness ?? T^T

EEEK i believe fruits basket 2001 is available on crunchyroll, but you can watch it on a couple of free websites methinks !! wcofun.net is tha one i use ^_^ it has all tha animes and cartoons ( sub & dub ) dat you could dream of teehee !! >//<

YES !! you are so right !! haikyuu really does leave a big impression :< all of tha teams are just sho interestin’ to learn abouts !! :0 TEEHEE bokuaka interactions are just tha bestest !! i swear i always find myself watching compilations on youtube, they’re just so silly !! >//< poor kou, he’s too busy with volleyball and being tha captain to notice akaashi’s sassiness ehe !! <3

SNIFFLE omigoodness :,< m’ soso sorry that happened to you, losing animals is always incredibly hard to go through </3 i am very happy to know that you are starting your pet journey again with a kitty, that must be so exciting to have a sweet companion !! WAHHH for realsies, they do needs lots & lots of attention ( like kou and shoyo, tha sillies !! :3 ) i definitely would get a cute goldie one day, but i’d have to be out of my moms house before that happens T^T i think my 4 cats might be enough for her as of now </3 a girl can dream !! <3

it really is just too hot !! :,< i had to stay at my grandparents for a while, i might go back soon because my mom is still not turning the air on T^T its up to 100° to 110° outside, and our house doesn’t have much insulation, so it gets really hot !! i can’t wait for summer to be over </3 m’ soso sorry you couldn’t sleep !! please try to stay cool & make sure you’re hydrating ma love !! it’s very important during this sunny season !! :,>

EEEP i am soso glad that you are doin’ better now, ma lovely !! we must push through this heat to make it to autumn and winter teehee !! ^_^ & nunu, i pwomise it’s oki !! i feel the same way a lot of the time, so i completely understand !! always remember to take your time, i don’t mind one bit !! <3

SOBSOB i’ve been doin’ oki !! don’t worry, i pwomise i’ve been hydratin’ !! ouh goodness… i do not like summer one bit i fear T^T i always dread this season !! i was not made for the warm weather </3 i’ve been a bit unmotivated recently, but m’ trying to get back into a better routine !! i’ve really missed bein’ on tumblr more & talkin’ to you ma love !! :< THANK YOU SHOSHO MUCH FOR ASKIN’ !! (^∀^*)

MWUEHE how are you doing lately ma love ?? are things going well for you ?? how was/is your vacation ?? i must know all about it !! :3 m’ sending you the bestest of all tha wishes and huggin’ you shoooo tightly !! MWUUUAH !! <3 🍓

[andiatas]

Märtha and Durek about the monogram: - We found it natural that it should adorn the bottle

In a new letter to the Directorate of Health, Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett describe how they proceeded with the controversial princess gin.

Photo: Oslo Håndverksdestilleri AS

Earlier this summer, Märtha Louise (52) and Durek Verrett (49) launched their wedding gin.

Both on the manufacturer's website and on the bottle, it said: "The gin was made for the wedding of Princess Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett".

Shortly thereafter, Vinmonopolet stopped selling the gin, and the Norwegian Directorate of Health announced that it would initiate supervisory proceedings because the launch might have violated the alcohol advertising ban.

Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett have now answered that.

In a recent letter to the Directorate of Health, Märtha Louise and Durek Verrett wrote that it was natural that the controversial princess monogram should "adorn the bottle".

Märtha Louise wanted Pink Gin

In 2023, they first had the idea to produce a gin or an aquavit for the wedding.

The Princess had several meetings with the producer. The letter states that it was important to Märtha Louise that this was a Pink Gin with a clear direction towards berries.

Durek Verrett was in the USA at the time and was very interested in and involved in the process. He had a particular point of view on the bottle's design and how it should look.

In March, the couple and the manufacturer had several meetings about how this should be launched and sold.

The monogram

The gin's label also featured the couple's monogram, which was prepared especially for the wedding.

But Märtha Louise is not allowed to use the Princess title in connection with commercial activity.

Princess Märtha's manager, Carina Scheele Carlsen, told VG in June that the whole thing was a mistake.

- Unfortunately, there was a mistake here, and therefore the title has now been removed from the website, and it will also be removed from the next batch on the bottles she wrote in an SMS to VG.

The letter to the Directorate of Health does not mention the princess title, but it states that the much-talked-about monogram on the bottle was not intended for use in other commercial contexts.

- It is very common nowadays for brides and grooms to make their own labels. The monogram has been prepared by a design agency in collaboration with PML and DV. We found it natural that it should adorn the bottle, the letter says.

In the reply from Oslo Håndverksdestilleri to the Directorate of Health, they wrote that the monogram should be placed discreetly on the back of the bottle.

- No financial gain from the sale of the product

The letter also states that the couple has no financial gain from selling the product.

- The idea was all along that it would be nice to make a gin for the wedding that refers to our Norwegian distinctive nature and traditions, the letter says.

It is further stated that the parties agreed that the manufacturer should make the product available for purchase for the wedding and that it should be sold at Vinmonopolet.

Oslo Håndverksdestilleri says that Märtha Louise has been a friend of the producer for 37 years and that this was a friendly service.

Based on the response from Oslo Håndverksdestilleri, Märtha Louise, and Durek Verrett, the Directorate of Health will now come to a conclusion on the matter.

Translation and editing for clarity by me from an article by Hedda Kurseth and Lars Hægeland for NRK, published August 6, 2024.

Note: Märtha Louise, if you happen to read this. I don't think the general public cares that much about the monogram; it's the use of the Princess title that upsets people. Most people don't care about what Märtha Louise puts her name on, but people definitely care what Princess Märtha Louise puts her name on.