#i get wanting to push for increased diversity and accessibility. i want those things and care deeply about them

[atthebell]

you know i don't really want to get into a discussion about increased scrutiny for people who already care about things like diversity and accessibility but i do think it's frustrating to see creative projects from people who do really care about including those values in their work get completely disproportionate criticism because people have set their own expectations about them so high. i'll see people be like 'this should've had [thing no similar projects have and yet is being demanded like it's owed or required of this specific person over anyone else]' or absolutely blasting someone for not including such and such thing that people have decided is necessary solely coming from this one person/anyone they feel they can pressure in this way. and this disproportionately affects indie creators, to the point where i see people DEMANDING certain standards from people who have far less resources and funds than major media corporations. and it's like okay do y'all have any sense of scale or do you think berating people who actually care about this shit and are trying is better than advocating for progress and change in spaces where it's far less accepted and would be far more impactful. also do you think constantly berating people who do put effort into this stuff is a good way to encourage them to continue or like what

[lilacs-and-earl-gray-tea]

Lukewarm, garbage-ass answer from Suzan DelBene, my Representative when I sent in letters asking her to support a ceasefire. I'm fucking pissed. Not necessarily surprised, but pissed as hell. How hard is is to say that genocide is wrong??!? Fucking cowardly behavior. Shame on you, Representative DelBene. Maybe shaming you on the internet publicly will get your head out of the sand.

Plain text below the cut. Recipient info redacted for my privacy.

Sorry for any weird formatting, I had to crop this together from 3 screenshots of my email, because I am a caveman who couldn't figure out how to get the damn thing downloaded right.

REP. SUZAN K. DELBENE

1st District, Washington

2330 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 (202) 225-6311

450 Central Way Suite 3100 Kirkland, WA 98033 (425) 485-0085

www.delbene.house.gov

WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE

Subcommittee on Tax

Subcommittee on Trade

Subcommittee on Oversight

December 15, 2023

[Redacted] Dear [Redacted],

Thank you for contacting my office regarding the conflict in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. I appreciate hearing from you.    

I have struggled with what to say in response to the ongoing violence that speaks to the pain and suffering of all those impacted by what is going on in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank. I have heard from many members of our community who are mourning family members and loved ones they have lost to this war and to the broader generational conflict. At least 30 Americans have been killed since the initial attacks, including a graduate of the University of Washington. My heart breaks for the millions of innocent civilians who have been caught up in this horrific violence through no fault of their own. This violence has inflicted long-term consequences on innocent Israeli and Palestinian citizens, including the youngest generations.

First, I want to underscore my appreciation for writing to your elected representative on this difficult subject. While we ultimately may not agree on everything, I pledge to listen to and learn from the perspectives of all my constituents. As this conflict continues, I will take your views into account as best I can to serve Washington’s diverse communities in Congress. Second, I want to make unequivocally clear that the targeting and murder of civilians is wrong. Taking innocent families and children as hostages is wrong. Committing acts of hate against anyone, including our fellow Jewish, Muslim, and Palestinian neighbors is wrong. We must all speak with a decisive voice in condemning violence and hate and hold those who perpetrate these horrific acts accountable.  

It is undeniable that Hamas slaughtered thousands of innocent people and continues to hold over one hundred hostages, including Americans. I grieve with those families and with our Jewish community who are struggling in response to this brutality. Israel, like the United States and all other sovereign nations, has the right to defend itself against terrorism, ensure the safety of its people, and hold its attackers accountable. This means dismantling Hamas’ military capabilities and working to free hostages.  

At the same time, Israel has a responsibility to adhere to the rules of war and do everything in its power to protect civilians. President Biden continues to push Israel to take all possible precautions to avoid harm to civilians, including by successfully negotiating a temporary ceasefire agreement with Israel and Hamas in late November that led to the cessation of violence for over a week, the release of over one hundred hostages, and allowing access for increased humanitarian aid. President Biden and administration officials also continue to emphasize to their Israeli counterparts the importance of protecting civilian lives. Recently, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin stated: “I have repeatedly made clear to Israel’s leaders that protecting Palestinian civilians in Gaza is both a moral responsibility and a strategic imperative.” It is all the more challenging as Hamas continues to embed itself within civilian infrastructure and put innocent people in harm’s way. 

Thousands of Palestinians have been killed or injured in Gaza, and many more are in desperate need of food, water, medicine, shelter safe from war, and other humanitarian assistance. Palestinian civilians living in the West Bank have also been the victims of attacks by Israeli settlers. I grieve with our Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian communities who have lost loved ones and who are struggling due to the violence.

In the face of these challenges, President Biden has taken decisive action to assist Israel in its defense against terrorism while prioritizing the safety of innocent people. In addition to President Biden’s efforts to protect civilians, the administration is continuing to work nonstop to secure the freedom of the remaining hostages, especially American hostages, and deter additional adversaries from joining this fight. President Biden has also committed more than $100 million in life-saving humanitarian aid to Gaza and the West Bank and has requested additional funding from Congress to support anti-terrorism activities and provide more humanitarian assistance to Palestinian and Israeli civilians. He also imposed sanctions against Hamas officials as well as settlers who have attacked Palestinian civilians living in the West Bank and demanded accountability from the Israeli government for these acts of violence.

The enormity of these challenges can be daunting. The history of this broader conflict is complex and there are significant differences that must be resolved to achieve a lasting peace that is agreed to by both sides. It is my sincere hope that, in time, Israelis and Palestinians can come together to construct a more durable peace. I strongly support a two-state solution and agree with President Biden that a “concentrated effort” by world leaders is needed to move towards that goal.

Sincerely,

Suzan DelBene

Member of Congress

[thelogbookproject]

The Unity of Skovlan, Entry 26: The Evacuation

The Unity of Skovlan is an upcoming unofficial supplement to Blades In The Dark about the fall and rise of the Skovlander people. This series explores what it is all about in the leadup to its September release.

Welcome to the Cracking Period! Shit’s getting real now. Akoros held Lockport and a couple small towns, along with total naval domination, but has had difficulty dislodging other major Skovlander cities, even along the all-important coast. The War was at a stalemate. Then one cold morning, lookouts in the greatest coastal fortress, Blackvale, saw several great black warships on the horizon, and other cities started reporting the same. This wasn’t a thrust or a bit of pressure. The Imperium decided to take things seriously, and the invasion was now underway. Still, the Skovlanders had survived this long. They wouldn’t give up. Not yet. Not ever.

There are four Missions in the Cracking Period, and they can be done in any order. The only mandatory one is The Evacuation, which must be completed at some point to continue on to the next Period. When to do this is an interesting choice! If the Squad takes on The Evacuation first, they’ll be fresh and able to move on at any time afterward, but will still be at a Straining Period power level. If the Squad takes it on late, they’ll have built up Valor and upgrades from the other Missions, but will probably be bloodied going into what I think is the hardest Mission in the game, as written.

The Evacuation is the fall of Blackvale. When Blackvale is gone, the coast will inevitably fall to the Akorosi. The Squad can’t stop that, but they can extract a VIP engineer to help fortify more cities. Unfortunately, going into a city under active siege, running to the violence, is terrifying and difficult.

The Primary Objective split shifts in the Cracking Period. You no longer get 2 Valor for everyone getting back alive, you get just 1 Valor if anyone makes it back alive. You’re almost definitely going to get that, but it’s always a danger. The Mission’s task increases to 4 Valor, though in The Evacuation specifically you can fumble it and only walk away with 2.

The Optional Objectives have two purposes for this Mission. First, they are diversions. This Mission has a timer before things get really bad, and taking time with the prisoners, finding an elite foe, or letting Potts dictate their own escape all chew up the clock. The other point has the players remind each other that losing this city is meaningful, perhaps for strategic purposes and perhaps for cultural ones, but for whatever they find, it will make it more clear that countless other things of value are being destroyed. There is a reward for going fast, and that is probably the way to get the most Valor from the Mission, but the players will always be thinking “what if we could go fast AND do these others…”

The so-called safe zone is an active battlefield. The Skovlanders are fighting back to keep the evacuation going, but there are 16 ticks before they pull out and leave the Squad inside the walls to find their own way out of a city in the middle of a sack. The MC should be making this place horrible. The Unity War isn’t always about experiencing the horrors of war, but this Mission is.

The players are in constant danger after getting past the Skovlanders’ support. Stealth is important, but speed is too, so the Soldiers have to push their luck if they want to move fast enough. If they’re caught, they’ll waste valuable time escaping, and probably get hurt in the process. Those Desperate Positions suck.

If the players can’t complete the Mission in time, they are left alone in Doomed Blackvale. Everything is awful. If the players keep dawdling, this is going to be brutal. The Safety Tools remain accessible to everyone, and it doesn’t have to be graphic, but this is supposed to be the hardest Mission yet, even if they’ve done the other Cracking Period Missions. This is the first place I think Soldiers choosing to make a Last Stand truly makes sense.

Next time, we’ll be doing a very different Mission, and one with much lower direct stakes. It’s still meaningful, but frankly it’s a cooldown from the intensity of The Evacuation. It’s The Depot!

The Unity War releases for PWYW on September 1, 2023. Check out https://tinyurl.com/tuos-details for the rest of this series! Sign up for my Patreon at https://patreon.com/thelogbookproject for a preview, and full early access to the game! See you Friday!

[coffeefueledmachine]

Social Issues in the Philippines and Why are We Still Suffering From Them

By Rubie Ryan G. Cabigas

Hi guys. It’s me again, the author of the blog posts entitled “A Day In My Life” and “What I Learned in ED Tech.” Today, we will be talking about a topic that hits and rubs us in the wrong way. Our case will focus on our country's most common, redundant, and tragic social issues that have been with us since immemorial. And these social issues are also constantly evolving with time. I hope you are all prepared to get triggered and hit with all I’m about to spill. These social issues are in no particular order since they are all interconnected. And I will tackle five social problems that are, in my opinion, the most crucial and needs immediate and lasting solutions.

The first one that we will discuss in this list of social problems, and the most “hard” to deal with, is poverty. We are all affected by this social issue. And it’s getting worse, especially with the rising inflation rate. You may be wondering (or maybe not) why this issue persists. The causes of poverty are so diverse, complex, and interconnected with one another. And because of this, many other social problems pop up and remain.

The second one is inequality. This social issue has been with us since the old times, and we haven’t got rid of it. It presents itself in many ways, but the most common and evident is the gap between the rich and the poor. Those who have monetary powers will receive privileges. And those who lack that power are usually exploited and given little to none pushing them to extreme and risky ways of survival.

The third one is the lack of access to education. It is one of the most crucial social issues in our country. It leaves our poor citizens at a disadvantage, especially in finding a good paying job, and they are prone to exploitation. Many Filipino children do not have access to education, and some are incapable of finishing elementary education. It is a consequence of several factors, including poverty and distance from schools. The lack of access to education leads to increased rates of unemployment (and poverty), as well as an increase in population (lack of sex education), decrease in life expectancy and increase in morbidity rates.

The fourth one is about crime. When I say criminal action, it is not just the big ones like murder or the illegal drug trade. It also includes petty crimes, like pickpocketing and stealing food from a grocery store. You see, people commit crimes for various reasons. One of the prominent reasons is poverty. Most of the suspects are usually people who are in the poverty line index in our society. The hungry ones, the desperate ones, and the ones who want “easy money” for their family, these people are the ones who are susceptible to exploitation and are “easy” to convict due to the lack of power and lack of access to true justice.

The last one on my list of social problems is corruption. Let’s admit that corruption is already a big part of our society (and ourselves) and one of the most difficult to address. It is evident in many ways, but the most visible is the disparity between rich and poor. Some rich people use their money to grow their influence and manipulate things around them, while the poor get exploited. This situation escalates tension, conflict, and desperation among those who feel their life will never improve. It also leads to mistrust towards the government and its institution, causing decreased efficiency and effectiveness.

Now that we have finished describing these social problems and their effects on us, I will now point out two main reasons (in my opinion) why we are still suffering from these:

Greed. Let’s admit it, we all have it inside of us. We are all controlled by it, ruled by it, and manipulated by it. We tend to choose the easy way out to achieve what we want, which results in our demise. Well, we all have our reasons to justify our greedy actions. Some do it for the sake of their families. Some do it for power and influence. The latter is the scumbag kind of people.

We never learn. Yup, you read it right. Even though we experienced being deceived and exploited, we tend to believe in lies that will do the “right” thing. Guess what? They’ve done it again while laughing at our faces saying, “Naniwala naman kayo?” We are easily swayed by their sweet words and false promises, only to end up in a messed-up situation.

Now that I have laid out all my opinions about these social problems and the reasons why we’re still suffering from them, I hope that this blog post of mine will open up your eyes and give you a couple of hints on how we, citizens of this country, can make a change. It doesn’t just involve the government and institutions. It needs us, citizens, to get involved and start the change within ourselves so that it will resonate with the people around us and be the agents of change in our country and society.

Before I end this blog post, I hope you learned something about these social problems from my point of view. Adios, my readers. Stay safe, and God bless you all.

[astrologyzodiacsigns]

ASTRO NOTES: LOVE/SEXUALITY/POWER

(Part 1): My placements/signs and how I feel like I manifest them in terms of relationships, intimacy, and power-play (brutally honest):

Mars Square Pluto: I notice that it doesn't take much to anger me, one has to be very careful not to disrespect me because I WILL unleash an anger that is often disproportionate to the situation, often because of pent-up trauma and bad past experiences, especially pertaining to dating. It can be very hard for me to control it and I like the sense of vitality that it gives me. For example, I do tend to channel it out through aggressive weight-training, power yoga, etc to not let it get out of hand. Something small can give me tremendous anger. This aspect also helps me protect myself from people that do tend to take advantage of me (it pushes me to "rip off the bandaid" and tell people what's on my mind that upsets me). When I was younger, I suppressed this part of myself and thus became very, very socially inhibited. Now I know why I was🤪

Pluto in 7th house: I tend to be unlucky in love. I do tend to attract a lot of guys that project their s**t on me. I'm trying to find someone good for me but it constantly feels like I'm being pulled into a world I don't necessarily want to be a part of by the guys I attract. I tend to attract guys that are insecure, heartbroken, angry, etc. I don't know what this says about me personally but I read that what you attract is a reflection of you and in combination with my other aspects I can see that this is my problem

Venus conjunct lilith: apparently it's supposed to give me a "femme fatale" vibe. I can definitely say that it does feel like I'm flirting a lot of the time like it's my personality and need to make a conscious effort to suppress that sometimes. I tend to have a line up of guys and I don't know how I feel about that but I like seducing the ones I like because it makes me feel good and dominant and I think it's a healthy way to let those needs out. Guys tell me I look innocent and cute at first (the Venus side, I guess). I like to please in the sense that I like to play the dangerous game and try to get them in trouble at, say, school or work in the way they like. However, I absolutely refuse to be subservient to guys. I don't like to be dominated most of the time. I like to be the one to dominate/seduce. I have to be careful with this aspect haha

Mars in Pisces: this gives one increased empathy skills, and I need to be careful not to use what I can intuitively sense from others in order to manipulate them into giving me what I want because it can be easy to when you want something or someone bad 🤪 Instead, I've been trying to use this energy to relate to others more warmly using my sense of empathy even though Mars Square Pluto may not be happy sometimes and my Venus conjunct lilith feels the urge to seduce to get someone I like to like me back

Moon in Virgo: these people can be sexually repressed, I read. They may want it badly but can be awkward at expressing it in terms of physical intimacy (I personally find this is true, but once I'm comfortable, other aspects of my chart seem to take over)

Moon in 5th house: this aspect is related to other things maybe, but with regard to the love game it can make one a bit of a player, a rebel in love, and fearful towards having children of their own. I think no one can deny that I am a player and when it comes to having children I don't think I have much of a maternal instinct and would personally feel worried for my children if I had them

Venus in Sagittarius: okay this makes me somewhat of an explorer when it comes to dating I guess, someone "adventurous" and open-minded. I guess that's true, I met quite a few guys from different backgrounds on Tinder and have been open towards differing interests/tastes (e.g. music) than mine. In fact, I like diversity in some cases

Lilith in 8th house: I tend to like the dark aspects of sexuality a lot, kind of see them as parts that one ought to simply accept as not doing so can lead to trouble and unhealthy anxiety/escapes. This is why I'm honest about it even though it may make me look like a bad person in love. I want love-making to be out of this world, dark, like you're purging out all your anger and parts of yourself that are taboo. I will not be content with less! I also speak out against sexual abuse and sexual dishonesty a lot on my social media (e.g. through poems).

Venus in 8th house: so this to me is kind of similar to Lilith in 8th House since it also enforces me being attracted to the darker aspects of sexuality. However, Venus in 8th House, from what I've read, is apparently guarded when it comes to physical intimacy and I this is very true for me. I find it easy to flirt on DM but very awkward to flirt in real life, like there's a thick barrier a guy must cross in order to access my intense, super-charged sexuality. We apparently also attract horny weird guys and get sexualized and I guess that's true as well. Like when I go out sometimes, even just out for a walk in my "safe" neighborhood, I feel a bit paranoid because I get glances from guys in the summer and a few coming up to me asking for my Snapchat when good is the last thing I tried to look

Sun signs of guys that didn't know what to do with me: Cancer, Libra

Aspects of people that can take me or understand me a little:

- Mars opposite Pluto

- Moon square Pluto

- Taurus moon

Sun signs of guys that I attract a lot of: VIRGO, Aries, Libra, and Pisces

Sun signs of guys that ended harshly more than once: TAURUS, Pisces, Leo

Interestingly enough, my moon is in Virgo and my ascendant is in Taurus.

[alyssadeliv]

The Forgotten One

First       Previous

Chapter 3

Damian Al Ghul is the most beautiful baby Marianne has ever seen. Not that she’s seen a lot of newborns, but something inside of her knew no one would be as cute as her little brother. He was very tiny and that only encouraged her more than ever to protect him. Her mother thought it adorable, that if not training she was always at his side. Her grandfather thought it useful, like a bodyguard to protect his so expected heir. As a baby, he couldn’t do much yet, but she liked his company. It was rewarding to see him staring at her with those beautiful green eyes when she talked to him about her day. 

They grew up together, so it was only natural that they would train together. Marianne loved it when they would train or fight together, it was another excuse to be around her baby brother. Since birth, he has always been very bright, and very skillful. He’s only seven when he is allowed a solo mission, and she remembers how she begged her mother to allow her to accompany him, just to make sure he’ll be alright. The punishment she received from her grandfather was enough for her to never ask again. But as Damian had proved more than capable to handle every kind of situation thrown his way, she wasn’t so anxious anymore when he would leave for missions. But that didn’t mean she didn’t worry.

Her mother and the guardians became more strict with her training after Damian was born, focusing more on fighting techniques rather than the knowledge of the Kwamis, that part she was already very knowledgeable about. And because of that increase in her abilities, she was allowed to train with her brother, when he was about six. In the beginning, their fight was never fair, with more years of experience, Marianne had an advantage. But as the years passed by, and Damian learned, it became more equal. When they fought together they were formidable, the synchrony and the precision of their movements was something fascinating to behold. You would think that because of their strong bond it would be difficult to actually hurt each other in a fight, but together they were ruthless, always pushing the other. They brought out the better in each other. Marianne could proudly say she taught Damian a lot, especially in the art of diversion and dagger fighting.

Living in the League meant that you could never be too careful, and trust was something it had to be earned. Relations were discouraged because they tended to make you weak. But for the siblings, having each other was their strength. 

Even if both had their own room, it was common to find Damian sneaking to bunk with his sister or Marianne simply crashing at her brother’s bed after a taxing day of lessons. To everyone in the League, they didn’t have contact outside of training, and her grandfather made sure of that. He liked to call her his secret weapon, one that only his most trusted followers knew about. Being a very paranoid person, that trust revolved around 3 people, her mother, Sabine, and Master Fu. And she was sure that her master only knew about her because it was what created their alliance in the first place.

Like her, Damian wasn’t much better in the social department. He didn’t interact with kids his age, and all of his time was dedicated to perfect his skills. She was his one and only friends, but just like her, he wasn’t very good with words, yet she knew he adored her just as much as she did him. She was the heir to the Order of the Guardian and he the heir to the League of Assassins. They had duties to fulfill, expectations to reach, and people to please. It was hard, but at least they had each other.

Until they hadn’t.

She was sixteen and had just come from a long mission, all she wanted was to take a shower and curl into bed. This mission had been more taxing than normal, she was successful but it still took a lot from her. Ignoring her primal needs she made her way to the training grounds of the League, looking for her Master, to give him the mission report. 

“Master” She greeted. Wang Fu had taught her so much, but she could see very clearly that her teacher was flawed. Even after years in this life, he had a very kind heart. He tended to be a very recluse, only interacting with people from the Order or the League if he had to. She was the only exception to this, from the years of training with him, she knew he had a soft spot for her. Most of the time he acted very naively, and that still bothers her thus this day. But where he was kind he was also very strict with her training. That’s why she always pushed herself, to prove to him that she was worthy of her birthright, to be the true wielder of a Miraculous. 

It was already dark, and the League was quiet. Only the ones on duty would be awake, but it was common to find her Master meditating at all hours of the day at the Temple of the Miraculous. The temple was built by the order of her grandfather as a sign of good faith after the alliance between the two organizations was created, she spent most of her childhood there, reading the sacred tomes and connecting with her inner self. 

“How was it?”

“Successful as always. I infiltrated the party without any problem and locating my target was easy. The tricky part was luring him out of the crowd. But I managed. Using the Chinese hairpin I infused the poison in his bloodstream, he was dead in a matter of minutes. The poison won’t leave any possible leads, and I obtained the information requested. I shall pass it to Grandfather at our morning meeting, he requested that you be present as well”

“Any witness?”

“No.”

“Very well… Go ahead and get some sleep. Tomorrow after our meeting you will be having another section of training with Lady Shiva, she was very pleased with your recent development.”

She bowed respectfully and started to make her way to the chambers. She could feel the sleep piercing through her, but she pushed it aside, she needed a bath before even thinking of going to bed. 

She made it to the west wing of the League, where Damian opened the door after only two knocks, still in his sleeping clothes. At that time, she was the only one that would seek him out. He let her in without a word, and she immediately made her way into his bathroom. Being the Heir to the League comes with its perks. His room was bigger than hers and he had a bathroom all to himself. Compared to his room hers was rather simple, with a bed in the middle, a dresser, and a table with a chair. The Arabic aesthetic gave a stylish decoration to the plain room. His was more majestic, with a big bed with the most comfortable comforter she ever laid in and very well decorated. Only the best to the grandfather’s grandson. 

She stripped and laid her weapons carefully on the counter. With empty thoughts, she enjoyed the warmth of the water on her skin, and only after washing her hair twice, she turned it off. Sometime during her shower, her brother had delivered some of her clothes. Because they alternated between their rooms, it was practical to just leave a couple of clothes in each other’s chambers, that way no matter when, they would always have something to wear. She left the bathroom only carrying two of her daggers, even in the comfort of her brother’s bedroom, she could never let her guards down. He was laying on the mattress, half-asleep, just waiting for her. As she neared the bed he lifted the covers to let her in. And as she laid there at his side, feeling the heat of his body near her, with one dagger on the side table and the other under her pillow, she felt at peace. 

The peace was short-lived, however. She couldn’t tell for sure how long she had been asleep, but enough for her brain to be foggy. She bolted awake feeling another presence in the room. In one fluid movement, she grabbed her trusty dagger and went into action. She hit her target in one fluid movement. 

“What’s going on?” Damian was also awake, with a sword in hand, staring wide-eyed at the body laid on the floor.

“Get ready.” And with that they both started to prepare themself, gathering their weapons and changing into more appropriate clothes. In a matter of minutes, they were ready. Before they exit the bedroom, she turns to her brother.

“Take it.” She hands him one of her daggers. It’s from a set, her favorite. It was a birthday present from Damian. Two handmade daggers, one was white and the other was black, it had the Yin and Yang symbols carved in the handle. Representing the balance between creation and destruction. It was perfect for close attacks and throwing. He takes the black one without a fight, by now he understands the seriousness of the situation. With caution, they left the chambers. Now they could hear fighting happening in the background. She knew what she had to do, go to the temple, access information and from then try to create a strategic plan. Damian would come with her, without knowing what was going on, it was safer to continue together. 

They reach the temple without any problem, but there’s when things got problematic. A group of three people advances on them, two men and one woman all wearing black and covering their faces. She immediately goes into attack mode. Diving from the oncoming sword, puncturing the man tight as he attacked her, she analyzes the situation, his wound which does little to stop him is heavily bleeding. Because of her size, she could tell he was underestimating her, so she used that in her advance. She let him come closer, giving him a false sense of security, allowing him to believe her to be inexperienced. His sword makes contact with her left arm, and a red flow of blood makes itself known. Following her plan, when he comes close enough she grabs onto his torso and using his body weight throws him onto the floor over her shoulder. Once he’s down she reaches the dagger strapped onto her thigh and stabs onto his chest. Immediately turning her attention to the other two attackers that went after Damian she throws the dagger at the back of the woman, momentarily distracting her brother’s opponent. Grave mistake. Damian disposes of him quickly after that. After getting back her weapon, they keep their pace. 

Now they could see various members of the Order and the League fighting different opponents. The floor is coated in red, and in the distance, it is possible to see the beginning of some fires. Seeing her home being destroyed broke her heart but there was no time to grieve. On high alert, they arrived at the temple. They meet another group of black figures, not even thinking she immediately engages one of them.

She can’t tell how long that has been going on, she lost sight of Damian and their enemies just kept coming, there is no sign of Master Fu or the Miraculous Box, so she can only assume that he escaped without any problems. The other guardians are by her side, trying to overpower the attackers. In the distance, some explosions begin, shaking the foundation of the temple. Some stones start to fall, and immediately their opponents start to evacuate mid-fight. Based on that it is not difficult to reach a conclusion. Their target was the Order, they obviously planned to explode it to the ground. 

“It’s a trap! We have to leave the Temple, it’s going to crash!” With no hesitation she starts looking for Damian, she needs to find him and get him somewhere safe. It’s pandemonium, people running and screaming orders. Some bleeding and some already dead. It’s practically impossible to see with the smoke that found its way in. 

When she finally finds her brother, it’s almost too late, by now a lot of the foundation it’s destroyed, and they would be lucky if they get out in time. They start running, Damian ahead of her. They were almost at the entrance but something in her, maybe her instincts told her that they would not make it. Using the rest of her energy, she focuses on her inner strength, gathering a bit of magic in the palm of her hand. With one fluid movement, she pushes all she has into her brother.

The impact of her magic sends him flying out of the building, into safety, just in time to miss the pieces of the temple falling down.  

“MARIANNE!”

It's the last thing she hears before she feels the weights falling onto her body. For some minutes she feels everything, the burning pain in every inch of her body and the shallow movements of her chest. 

But for the moment that didn’t matter, she was tired, and she knew she could rest knowing her brother was safe.

“Ahbk ya akhi”

Hope you liked this new chapter, it was a bit longer than usual. I’m not very good at writting about fights, but I hope it wasn’t terrible. Let me know if you want to be added to the Tag List!

Next

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[river-bottom-nightmare]

OXYCONTIN OXYCODONE (HCI CONTROLLED RELEASE TABLETS)

—tim grabbed the bottle from the stash of medicines in his apartment, shakily pressing down on the lid to open the locking mechanism. 

OT00367K 300514-0H WARNING: OxyContin is an opioid agonist and a Schedule II controlled substance with an abuse liability similar to morphine.

—because thank god alfred somehow managed to keep the batcave infirmary stocked with many different drugs and painkillers. tim remembered the money making people blink, the professional suppliers delivering to an unknown location, leslie turning a blind eye, going so far as to help them sometimes. it gave tim access to whatever he needed to take for his own apartment.

Oxcodone can be abused in a manner similar to other opioid agonists, legal or illicit. This should be considered when prescribing or dispensing OxyContin in situations where the physician or pharmacist is concerned about an increased risk of misuse, abuse, or diversion.

—leslie had glanced at him strange, so tim took her into the medbay and pulled up his sweatpants. the swollen, bruised colour of his ankle was striking against his pale skin. to her credit, leslie didn’t even wince, just used firm hands and warm fingers to examine the wound. tim had asked her not to tell anyone, and the injury was minimal enough for her to purse her lips and nod. she demanded a checkup in a week. with some negotiating, tim moved it up to a week and a half. “be careful with those,” leslie said, gesturing towards the painkillers. “of course,” tim responded easily.

OxyContin Tablets are a controlled-release oral formulation of oxycodone hydrochloride indicated for the management of moderate to severe pain when a continuous, around the clock analgesic is needed for an extended period of time.

—tim leaned against the wall of his bathroom, finally gripping the hem of his sweatshirt and pulling it off. a myriad of colours greeted him, everything from mottled yellow to angry violet to the dark red of the blood flecked around the wound on his side. it was stupid, so stupid. damian had come out of that encounter fine, just a couple bruises to the forearms. tim, on the other hand, had to suffer a slice to the side with a knife, all because he’d hurt his ankle and ribs a day ago and hadn’t been able to flip out of the way in time. the pain had been unnoticeable yesterday, but today, it went past his entire body being on fire and instead felt like he’d been dipped in ice. tim was ready to claw his skin off his torso and fix his ribs himself, but he settled for tipping a couple pills into his palm.

OxyContin Tablets are NOT intended for use as a prn analgesic

—tim allowed himself a couple seconds, taking a few deep breaths, the way dick had taught him to push through the pain. then, pushing off the wall, tim stumbled into his bedroom. forgoing dinner, he shrugged his sweatshirt back on and collapsed onto the bed, letting out a hiss of pain when he landed on a bruise. he shuffled over to his favourite side, staying on top of the covers, moving his injured ankle into a somewhat comfortable position, and waited for the pills to kick in as he drifted off to sleep.

OxyContin 80 mg and 160 mg Tablets ARE FOR USE IN OPIOID-TOLERANT PATIENTS ONLY. These tablet strengths may cause fatal respiratory depression when administered to patients not previously exposed to opioids. 

—when tim woke up the next day, it was hard to breathe. hypoventilation was nothing new with stronger painkillers, though, so tim groggily stood up and made his way into the bathroom. the bruises had darkened, and the wound was gaping. turned out tim’s initial assessment was wrong: he needed stitches after all. on the bright side, the pain wasn’t as bad today as it was yesterday. tim popped a couple more pills and took out his medkit.

OxyContin Tablets ARE TO BE SWALLOWED WHOLE AND ARE NOT TO BE BROKEN, CHEWED, OR CRUSHED. TAKING BROKEN, CHEWED, OR CRUSHED OxyConton Tablets LEADS TO RAPID RELEASE AND ABSORPTION OF A POTENTIALLY FATAL DOSE OF OXYCODONE.

—bruce needed his help with a black mask case, and he’d called jason in as well, because no one knew the villain like the former crime lord. but jason was also working a human trafficking case with dick, and while things were getting better, dick was still one of the people that routinely defied bruce’s authority, quieter than jason but much more intense. but damian had asked him personally to come (well, he’d said he wanted to show him how to groom alfred the cat, which was practically the same thing), and cass was visiting from hong kong. so, for probably a couple rare hours, everyone was going to be in the manor, and if alfred and cass had anything to say about it, peacefully. tim gathered the information he’d layed out, and made his way towards the manor.

Possible Side Effects of OxyContin include: Drowsiness and/or weakness,

—tim stopped in one of the sitting rooms in the manor, dropping onto the couch after feeling the ground sway underneath him. he probably needed to eat something. knowing what his family would say if anyone found him in this state, he used trembling hands to take his computer out of his backpack, and pull up some mindless case under the pretense of work. he forced his eyes open, letting the blue screen cut through his vision. he had a good night’s rest, so the last thing he needed was to sleep right now. besides, look at dick! the man could stay awake for days on end, or keep going for weeks on minimal sleep, never get slow or sloppy in the field with exhaustion, and kept a warm and welcoming smile on his face the entire time. the least tim could do was put his injury to the side and stay awake for the first few hours of the night, before everything delved into screaming matches and arguments.

dizziness that may be accompanied by a headache,

—tim could feel everybody staring at him. they were analyzing him, taking stock of his weaknesses, he just knew it. and he couldn’t blame them. he could barely keep his head propped up, sitting in front of the screen. he flinched every time a particularly sudden or loud sound cut through the air, making his brain scream and his face wince in pain. tim’s fingers were rubbing his temples, but the effect was laughable against the pounding in his ears, the pounding of his head. “tim,” bruce’s voice caught his attention, deep but not quite gentle. “why don’t you get some water, hm?” tim nodded, then went to stand up stumbling slightly and grabbing the chair for balance. bruce moved to steady him, but tim held a hand out to stop him. he was fine. the floor was moving, the walls were spinning, but he was fine. “just a little tired,” he waved off to bruce. “don’t worry. i’ll grab an energy drink or something later.”

nausea,

—jason’s brow was furrowed as tim forced another bite to his mouth. across the table, dick’s head tilted in question and he asked “i thought alfredo was your favourite?” tim’s smile didn’t feel all that forced when he brought it up, and he forced another bite past his lips. “i’m just not that hungry. i had a snack in the afternoon.” his stomach was rolling, clenching, sizing up and- “if you would like something light, master timothy, i’m sure we have some crackers and soup. you can eat the alfredo another time.” alfred really was too kind. tim’s hands were clenched around the fork, and it took everything he hand not to curl up on his stomach, to heave as he opened his mouth to say “no thanks alfie. i’m good.” 

and vomiting, 

—tim couldn’t take it anymore. he pushed his chair back and left the table, far more rudely than he’d ever been before, barring an argument at the dinner table, and raced upward, willing his uncooperative feet and busted ankle to cooperate no matter the dizziness. he could hear the confused cries of his family behind him, but ignored them. tim threw open the door to the bathroom, having the mind to close and lock it, before falling over the toilet, heaving up the little pasta he’d managed to force down. and when that was done, there came the fire. the pain in his stomach as he tried to throw up what wasn’t even in his stomach anymore and oh was that blood? that wasn’t a good sign.

among other side effects. For a complete list of all possible side affects, ask your doctor or pharmacist.

—there was pounding on the door, and tim heard dick’s voice calling out his name. “fuckin’ pick the lock!” jason’s voice was angry. of course it was angry, the one time his family hadn’t come to blows and tim had ruined it. couldn’t he have held it together for just a few more hours? suddenly, there was a loud crack. cass had kicked the door in. she leaped into the bathroom, immediately over to him, with dick hot at her heels. jason was leaning against the doorway, keeping damian or bruce from coming in.

Previous medical conditions, such as lung problems, head injury, liver or kindey problems, adrenal gland problems, convulsions or seizures, alcoholism, hallucinations or other severe mental problems, and past or present substance abuse or addiction may heighten the negative effects of the oxycodone. 

—voices filtered into tim’s mind, but everything sounded like he was underwater. muffled, quiet. the quiet was nice. if only his headache could get with the program. there were hands on his shoulders, cupping his face. they were warm, and felt strong. he was safe. there was a part of him screaming, though. get up, open your eyes, stop being weak! stop being pathetic! the others could do so much more than you, so just stop acting like a victim and be useful for once! the voice was demanding, and tim tried to do just that, the dizziness had come back with a vengeance and the room was spinning. or maybe his vision was whiting out, because everything flared a bright, brilliant white before tim was plunged into darkness.

Pharmacist: dispense the attached Medication Guide to any patient taking OxyContin Tablets.

OT00367K 300514-0H

i don’t actually know how OxyContin works so all of this may be horribly wrong. this is just what the warning label said on a bottle i found in the medicine cabinet.

tag list:  @comicsandhoney @birdy-bat-writes @elles-shitposts-personified @subtleappreciation @screennamealreadyused @pricetagofficial @catxsnow @astroherogirl @yesboopityboop @dangerduckjpeg

[grenade-maid]

I've been interested in gentrification and urban planning and economics for a long time, after living in Seattle and seeing how these things impact daily living. The progression of events is often understood as such:

In the beginning of the 20th century American cities had a diverse population, with cities hosting both white people and people of color, with a lot of segregation between neighborhoods.

Post WWII due to a large number of factors suburban development boomed, white people fled cities in droves, city tax revenue suffered, jobs disappeared, upkeep suffered, life in cities got worse, life in suburbs got better, segregation between these two was still high.

Due to a number of factors including rural and suburban jobs disappearing, college education becoming more common, rising tech industry jobs in cities, changing values, etc, younger generations of people who grew up in suburbs wanted to move into cities. Cities got an influx of white residents, cost of living increases to the point that many people of color who had lived there before are priced out and move to the suburbs.

This is typically where the story ends because it's where we currently stand, with a variety of interpretations about how this should be understood and what should be done about it. One thing I see often, though, is a sense that hey, gentrification sucks of course, but at least the suburbs have gotten more diverse and the services in both cities and suburbs have improved so it kind of sort of works out, right?

Well, I've been reading some stuff recently that makes it seem like we're hurtling towards a repeat of what happened with urban decay in the 20th century, except potentially even worse.

See, American suburbs are wildly hilariously inefficient, economically speaking. Having such a low density of housing in residential areas and low density of businesses in economic areas means that the suburbs bring in a pretty small revenue per mile. With long winding roads through neighborhoods and massive multi lane thoroughfares and highways punctuated by enormous parking lots, all connected by sprawling power and water lines, the latter of which also require tons of pumps and treatment plants, all of this area also requiring disproportionately expensive trash, fire, and police services to cover it all, means the maintenance cost of suburbs is ENORMOUS compared to the revenue they actually bring in. Many suburbs have survived up until now basically as a Ponzi scheme, where the city gets a lot of money from the government and from developers to build infrastructure which brings in money for a while, but once that infrastructure wears out and needs to be fixed or replaced there's nowhere near enough money to do so. So suburbs have just kept sprawling out and out to keep the money coming in, but it's just kicking the can down the road.

As well, the things that have been getting built--big box stores, huge parking lots, multi lane roads, are very difficult to repurpose into something more economically productive. Those winding suburban neighborhoods, too, are very hard to adapt because doing so would require building denser housing which will be lobbied against by homeowners, allowing multi use zoning in neighborhoods, which will be lobbied against, and making those roads more accessible by bus, bike, and on foot, which would likely require bulldozing some of those houses which will be lobbied against.

In our current climate this is often chalked up to purely a matter of cutting funding to unnecessary things like schools and libraries and street lights or raising taxes to account for the difference, but often times the upkeep costs are so large that doing these things will barely put a dent in them. It comes down to a fundamentally flawed model of city planning and funding. As cities become unable to pay for these things, increasingly the burden of debt is put on individual residents.

What all of this together means is that as people of color have been priced out of the cities and pushed into suburbs, those suburbs are reaching a straining point where pretty soon the roads and sewers and power lines and schools and so on that look fine now are going to expire. And with little revenue to fix them, the quality of life is going to tank. Which puts us right back to where we were in the post WWII boom except with the locations reversed: well off white people in the cities with nice services and jobs, people of color stuck in decaying suburbs with increasingly poor services and jobs prospects. Which is bad enough on its own, but cities are far more modular than suburbs in terms of development. With money flowing back into cities it's been pretty straightforward making them turn a high revenue. It is much harder to pull the same trick with suburbs.

[route22ny]

    Politicians and pundits often like to compare the COVID-19 pandemic to a war. Nothing in most of our lifetimes has had the society-changing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic — and this kind of feels like the way that our parents say their parents described the Great Depression or World War II.

    But World War II ended in a singular moment. Treaties were signed and people rushed into the streets in jubilation. The COVID-19 pandemic, which has plagued our lives for the last 14 months, won't end in a singular moment. There'll be no major "pandemic peace treaty," no all-out party. Perhaps, at best, there'll be a bunch of little ones. And that forces us to ask: How will this end?

The virus isn't going to disappear.       

   Our vaccines are incredibly safe and effective. For those who are vaccinated, they are a ticket back to "normal" life. Indeed, though rushed and poorly messaged, the CDC's guidance allowing vaccinated people to go unmasked both indoors and outdoors is based in strong science. Evidence has demonstrated that the risk of serious infection in the real world is astoundingly low, and that the viral load in the nasopharynx of vaccinated people is lower — likely explaining the reduced risk of transmission.

    Yet, some people aren't getting vaccinated. And worse, the distribution of vaccinations isn't even. If, for example, unvaccinated people were evenly distributed in the population, the probability that they would be exposed to the virus if 70% of eligible people were vaccinated would be quite low. After all, 70% of the people around them would be vaccinated and therefore far less likely to pass the virus on. That's how herd — or community — immunity works. The problem though is that just like the virus itself, the behavioral scourge of vaccine rejection spreads from person to person in localized communities. So those who are unvaccinated are more likely to live among others who are unvaccinated, increasing their collective probability of infecting each other.

    The likely scenario is that while communities with high vaccine uptake will get to a point where outbreaks are small, self-delimited, and rare — other communities that remain poorly vaccinated will continue to experience larger, more common, and more deadly outbreaks. And the virus will remain a looming concern in the U.S.

    The other issue is viral evolution. New seasonal variants will likely spread among us every fall and winter akin to seasonal flu, which kills tens of thousands of Americans every year. Some COVID seasons will be milder, some far deadlier. And just like the flu, we'll likely need annual boosters against it.

    Some things change.                                      

    But the virus isn't the pandemic's only ingredient — just the foundational one. For people who never got sick, COVID-19 still changed their lives. There is, of course, no singular pandemic experience. For millions of low-income "essential" workers, the pandemic meant fearing every day that you might be infected at work, or worse, bring the virus home with you to infect someone you love. For millions of healthcare workers, the pandemic meant watching your patients die without their loved ones as you struggled to manage the overflow. For others privileged enough to work from home, the pandemic meant endless days of Zoom calls while your kids tried to learn across from you at the dinner table.

    As I wrote previously, work from home is going to be a much more common feature of American life. Small businesses, major corporations, and even some government agencies have found that their workers are surprisingly productive from home — and have reconsidered plans to come "back" to work in the office. And workers themselves have found they like using their own bathroom and eating out of their own fridge at lunch.

    Indeed, as many workplaces begin to plan to come back to the offices, workers are pushing back. After Apple CEO Tim Cook sent a note to Apple employees requiring them to be back in the office on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays beginning in September, Apple employees circulated a letter in response:  

    "We ask for your support in enabling those who want to work remotely / in location-flexible ways to continue to do so, letting everyone figure out which work setup works best for them, their team, and their role — be it in one of our offices, from home, or a hybrid solution. We are living proof that there is no one-size-fits-all policy for people. For Inclusion and Diversity to work, we have to recognize how different we all are, and with those differences, come different needs and different ways to thrive. We feel that Apple has both the responsibility to recognize these differences, as well as the capability to fully embrace them. Officially enabling individual management chains and individual teams to make decisions that work best for their teams roles, individuals, and needs — and having that be the official stated policy rather than the rare individual exceptions — would alleviate the concerns and reservations many of us currently have."

    Other companies, like Dropbox, have preempted this demand simply by offering work from home options permanently.

    Beyond employee preference, companies attempting to go back to a brick-and-mortar office space will face the question of risk tolerance. As we well know, some eschewed any sort of pandemic protection — be it a mask or a vaccine — from the jump. Others, despite being fully vaccinated, remain hesitant to share enclosed space. How to navigate lower risk tolerances remains a serious challenge. Part of making workplaces safe may mean mandating vaccines, which has prompted serious pushback in the courts of law and public opinion by anti-vaxxer activists who want to use the pandemic as another line of attack. Navigating these challenges is, in part, what is pushing more and more employers to offer alternative working arrangements. Needless to say, some alterations to working conditions because of the pandemic are likely here to stay.

    Other things stay the same (again).                                      

    Some pandemic experiences were universal. For children, the pandemic has been a catastrophe. Not only has learning lagged, but children have been robbed of valuable socialization and milestones. Indeed, the consequences have been far worse for poorer students, disproportionately children of color, for whom access to quality WiFi and reliable computers are limited. All indications suggest that kids will be back to school in the fall as vaccinations among teachers and students press on.

    Access to other people and the venues in which we enjoyed their company was limited if available at all. Restaurants, concert venues, theme parks, theaters — even stores and shopping malls — had limited access.

    But that's changing. Prompted by the CDC's new guidelines for vaccinated people, many of these venues have rushed to reopen, and Americans are slowly but surely taking advantage. Flight traffic is increasing. Last week, LAX, one of the country's busiest airports, logged a 2021 record. And businesses can't hire people fast enough to accommodate their needs.

    Though worries about COVID-19 exposure — particularly for children who cannot yet be vaccinated — persist. Yet as cases continue to fall, and vaccines are approved for younger and younger children, these, too, will subside.

    The doomsday scenario.                                      

    But there remains a possibility that experiences of the pandemic we haven't had since last fall come crashing back. Cases climb, hospitals fill up, and thousands more Americans die. And that's a resistant strain.

    We've now identified several variants of the virus that are more transmissible, and some more deadly, than the original garden-variety ("wild type") virus we experienced through most of 2020. Thankfully none of them have fully evaded our vaccine-mediated immunity. Yet.

    Every single unvaccinated person presents an evolutionary opportunity for the virus. And even as the U.S. and other high-income countries approach a virus-stifling level of vaccination, the rest of the world continues to lag. Some countries have yet to get their first vaccines. New variants with frightening capabilities continue to emerge in these countries. Indeed, last week a new variant with aspects of the Alpha variant and the Delta variant emerged in Vietnam. So even as vaccine manufacturers roll out boosters to protect against the growing plethora of new variants, a doomsday scenario, where a more transmissible, lethal variant evolves, becomes more likely.

    And so, we can't take for granted that this is a truly global pandemic. And until the rest of the world receives what they need to "end" this pandemic, we won't see our end either.

***

    Dr. Abdul El-Sayed is a physician, epidemiologist, public health expert, and progressive activist who served as Detroit's health director and ran for governor in 2018. He is the author of Healing Politics: A Doctor's Journey Into the Heart of Our Political Epidemic and Medicare for All: A Citizen's Guide, as well as the newsletter The Incision. Get more at incision.substack.com.

[4dorks-1windmage-1shadow]

Vaati as a D&D Character, Part 6: Vaati

Inspired by a question I saw on @hauntinghyrule ‘s blog. My character analysis and thoughts on what character class the boys would be if they were D&D characters, and why. Also! @atinybitweird has been drawing the boys D&D designs, and she’s doing really great! I’ll link to her posts on the individual analysis as well as reblog them here so look out for those : D

Green / Red / Blue / Vio / Shadow / FS Zelda

As a preface, there won’t be any doubles on classes except in the case of dual-classing, and in those cases the first class I talk about my justifications for will be the primary class (i.e. the class they would have chosen at level one). My choices will be based on the character theming and personalities, even though at a base level it would be easy to say “they’re all paladins, duh” because of the implied “holy knight chosen by the gods to eradicate evil” concept.  HA I TRICKED YOU We’re talking about Vaati now. I’m gonna blow your mind. Here’s a revolutionary concept I bet nobody’s thought of before (I’m being sarcastic do NOT message me): Vaati’s not a sorcerer, he’s a wizard. Or rather he was a wizard before he abandoned his studies to cheat his way to becoming a powerful Sorcerer. But Athena, he’s the Sorcerer of Winds, not the Wizard of Winds? Why is he a wizard then? BECAUSE CHILDHOOD THAT’S WHY. Vaati’s origin story is that he was the apprentice of a renowned and legendary Minish sage, Ezlo. Wizards are the only magic users who become magic users through study- both personal study and through apprenticeships and formal schooling. Until Vaati used Ezlo’s Wishing Cap to turn himself into a Sorcerer (thereby dual-classing from an intelligence based spellcaster to a charisma based spellcaster), he was probably learning to harness the arcane arts through good old fashioned book learning (and of course, Ezlo’s tutelage). He may have even chosen an Arcane Tradition to study under Ezlo before realizing that the Wishing Cap was a quicker shortcut to the power and change that he wanted to enact. You only need 2 levels in Wizard to choose an Arcane Tradition, and at that point the only abilities Vaati really has is some low-level Wizard spellcasting, Arcane Recovery, and the 2nd level Arcane Tradition ability which is pretty fitting and just shows how lazy Vaati ended up being.  Every Arcane Tradition has a little section telling you what the school of magic is about, and the one that made me think “oh yeah, that’s what Vaati would be into” was the School of Transmutation description. It reads thus:

 “You are a student of spells that modify energy and matter. To you, the world is not a fixed thing, but eminently mutable, and you delight in being an agent  of change. You wield the raw stuff of creation and learn to alter both physical forms and mental qualities. Your magic gives you the tools to become a smith on reality’s forge.

Some transmuters are tinkerers and pranksters, turning people into toads and transforming copper into silver for fun and occasional profit. Others pursue their magical studies with deadly seriousness, seeking the power of the gods to make and destroy worlds.” - Player’s Handbook, Page 119

You’ll notice I bolded some stuff in those paragraphs- that’s because they can directly relate to events in Vaati’s timeline as a character. He has five forms which, as far as I know, makes him the villain with the most forms out of all the Zelda villains. His most plot relevant moments involve him transmuting someone into a different form including himself, the Gleerok in the Cave of Flames, the Great Mayfly Fairy (in the manga), Ezlo, and Princess Zelda. His element is Wind, which is most commonly associated with change, adaptation and flexibility, and Transmutation is about mastering magic that does these exact things. Vaati’s ultimate goal was to become a “perfect” version of himself by finding the Light Force and using it to turn himself into a god, which worked for the entire Vaati Reborn battle. If he had just applied himself to his studies under Ezlo, he wouldn’t have needed to cheat and use the Wishing Cap to make himself a powerful sorcerer. Just for fun, lets talk about what he would have gained by only being a wizard. First, he would have access to certain spells that he could cast without using spell slots, including Polymorph. School of Transmutation lets him create a Transmuter’s Stone, which he can use to grant himself darkvision, increase his speed, grant himself proficiency in Constitution saving throws, or resistance to acid, cold, fire, lightning or thunder damage. This Transmuter’s Stone could later be used to emit a burst of power that would allow him to transform objects no bigger than a 5 ft cube into other objects of similar sizes, masses and value, as well as remove all curses, diseases and poisons from an afflicted person while healing them to their maximum HP; he would be able to cast Raise the Dead without using a spell slot and even if he didn’t have it written in his spell book, and even use it to reverse the effects of aging on a person to a minimum of 13 years. He could have had a fucking Philosopher’s Stone but he CHEATED!!! Wizards by far have the most diverse amount of spells that they can learn, and by only taking 2 levels in wizard he locks himself into only having access to level 1 wizard spells and cantrips.  By taking Sorcerer, he still gets access to 9th level sorcerer spells, but the amount of 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th level sorcerer spells is half the amount of wizard spells of those same levels. His spells have a wider range of versatility with the Metamagic options supplied by the Sorcerer class, and although he wouldn’t get the cool perks of Transmutation Wizard, Storm Sorcery is nothing to joke about. This is where the Sorcerer of the Winds part comes in- Vaati altered reality using the Wishing Cap and imbued himself with the power of elemental air. He finally gets to use those sweet sweet Evocation, Conjuration and Necromancy spells that I theorize Ezlo wouldn’t have let him dabble into much because the Minish are a peaceful race- why would their sages need to know Meteor Swarm (Evocation) or Flaming Sphere (Conjuration) or Soul Cage (Necromancy)? And Storm Sorcery perks are pretty awesome. Vaati learns to speak, read and write the language of elementals, and whenever he casts a spell of 1st level or higher he can fly up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks. He gains resistance to lightning and thunder damage, and when casting spells of 1st level or higher that deal lightning or thunder damage he can cause anyone within 10 feet of him to take lightning/thunder damage equal to half his sorcerer level automatically. Eventually, when he’s hit with melee attacks he can deal lightning damage to the attacker equal to his sorcerer level and push them away with a burst of wind, up to 20 feet. And his two levels in wizard mean that he still gets the highest Storm Sorcery ability at 18th level: immunity to lightning and thunder damage, and a magical flying speed of 60 feet. Vaati’s transformation really just gives him all of his wishes on a platter, no pun intended- the freedom to fly and power to wield the elements and change himself on the fly- and his high Intelligence stat means he knows how to use those abilities to gain the advantage, making him a formidable opponent and party member. In conclusion, Vaati is a level 2 Transmutation Wizard, who dual-classed to Storm Sorcery Sorcerer through the power of a wish.

[hellyeahheroes]

I like this article for many things. One is the high praises it sings to Monstress

My favorite recent example of this kind of relentlessly detailed, re-centering worldbuilding is Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda’s comic book series Monstress. There’s no naïve narrator here. The reader is thrust into Maika Halfwolf’s complicated, danger-fraught quest—for revenge, self-knowledge, and to possibly to save her kind—without any lead up at all. If The Lord of the Rings were Monstress, the story would’ve started already in Moria. Different races, societies, magical orders, cities, and families weave together in a dense tapestry that serves its own internal logic perfectly. Monstress borrows from any and every genre—high fantasy, horror, steampunk, alternate history, magical girl manga, paranormal romance—and makes itself an entirely new thing that has to be met on its own terms. To help the reader along who is craving more “telling,” every issue includes a bonus feature, a “history lecture” of a professor cat to her kittens. Monstress rewrites the rules so completely that it isn’t until a male character shows up on the last page of issue 4 that one realizes he’s the first male to appear since the very first scene of issue 1. It doesn’t feel “strange” to have an almost completely female cast in Monstress—it doesn’t even feel like some kind of explicitly feminist literary experiment—and it doesn’t feel “political” to have diverse ethnicities and skin tones represented, because it comes across as simply the way things are in that world.

The other is deconstructing how the white cis straight male authorities have set up what is considered good writing by them to be seen as “universal” features of one when it often steems from their own privileged position (in this case being able to emphasize with other white cis straight men they do not need to have expositions to understand the cultural context of their actions)

The first literary writer I heard express open frustration with the literary establishment’s rules for literary fiction was David Foster Wallace, at a talk he gave at the Boston Public Library shortly after Infinite Jest was published. In lit fic you aren’t even supposed to use brand names, he said, because that would “date” your story to a specific time, and literary fiction is supposed to take place in a “universal” world… Which he then pointed out was still supposed to have telephones and automobiles in it (so obviously WAS dated) but not—apparently—IKEA or Coca-Cola (i.e. not THAT dated). Wallace called bullshit.

Wallace was white, male, and privileged, but he was treated as a “young whippersnapper” by the establishment who wanted to tell him what he was and was not allowed to do in his writing. He had no qualms calling out the older generation of writers who had established the rules for modern fiction under the assumption that their experience was “universal.” It wasn’t. It was only “universal” for them. The particular strain of the literary establishment Wallace pushed back against was strongly invested in this mythic ideal of universality. Why? What did they gain from this idea?

They gained the ability to write stories where they could “show” and not “tell,” that’s what. They had this ability not because they were masterful stylists of language or because they dripped with innate talent. The power to “show, not tell” stemmed from the writing for an audience that shared so many assumptions with them that the audience would feel that those settings and stories were “universal.” (It’s the same hubris that led the white Western establishment to assume its medicine, science, and values superior to all other cultures. We’ll come back to that shortly.)

Look at the literary fiction techniques that are supposedly the hallmarks of good writing: nearly all of them rely not on what was said, but on what is left unsaid. Always come at things sideways; don’t be too direct, too pat, or too slick. Lead the reader in a direction but allow them to come to the conclusion. Ask the question but don’t state the answer too baldly. Leave things open to interpretation… but not too open, of course, or you have chaos. Make allusions and references to the works of the literary canon, the Bible, and familiar events of history to add a layer of evocation—but don’t make it too obvious or you’re copycatting. These are the do’s and don’ts of MFA programs everywhere. They rely on a shared pool of knowledge and cultural assumptions so that the words left unsaid are powerfully communicated. I am not saying this is not a worthwhile experience as reader or writer, but I am saying anointing it the pinnacle of “craft” leaves out any voice, genre, or experience that falls outside the status quo. The inverse is also true, then: writing about any experience that is “foreign” to that body of shared knowledge is too often deemed less worthy because to make it understandable to the mainstream takes a lot of explanation. Which we’ve been taught is bad writing!

Bolding mine. And I want to emphasize that last part strongly since this is what is behind a lot of rhetorics used by critics of more diverse books, comic books or movies. Claiming that they are badly written and breaking “show don’t tell” rule or “all about being a minority” when the book needs to explain where the character is coming from because the white cis straight male mainstream simply lacks knowledge necessary to get it. Or declaring character to be acting “bad” or “unlikeable” when the story concedes to these claims and does not try to provide that context they need to make character actions make sense.

Finally, there is this part that I agree wholeheartedly with

So if relentless centering of the naïve is not necessary in SF/F in order to meet the demands of literature, can we take things one step further? I would like to “decolonize” fantasy and science fiction. Literary fiction, I fear, is beyond help because of its overreliance on shared knowledge for its power. The only way to meet the literary “standard” of a “universal” story while writing about any marginalized individual—whether by culture or subculture, whether of color, queer, or even just a woman—is to make the story accessible to the educated white upper middle-class point of view. Even many of the great works of gay male literature like Edmund White’s A Boy’s Own Story fit squarely into this tradition, exploring the angst of discovery of one’s own homosexuality within the framework of a “great American novel” akin to The Catcher in the Rye.

But SF/F can do better. We can break the status quo and leave it broken into a completely new shape. This doesn’t reduce the potential power of an SF/F story: it increases it. Instead of a set of shared assumptions about “universal” setting, the SF/F writer has more control over every aspect of the reader experience. All fiction is metaphor, but in a story where the society, customs, and language are crafted rather than inherited, the reader experience of that metaphor can be all-encompassing. The reader learns powerful cultural norms and acquires the new language the same way they acquired their first one: through experience.

- Admin

[thegrandimago]

After a racist white lady called the cops on a black man who was birdwatching in Central Park last week, the black birding community came together to launch the first-ever Black Birders Week.

The celebration kicked off Sunday and will end Friday, but this definitely won’t be the last time this group of scientists, birders, and nature lovers center the stories of black people who find joy in catching the flutter of a wing or hearing the melody of a bird song. If there were ever a moment to celebrate black people from all walks of life, it’s now.

The incident with Christian Cooper in Central Park is indicative of the broader dangers black communities face and sparked widespread outrage. Then, later that day, the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis was the spark that pushed communities over the edge to create the mass uprising happening now.

Black communities are sick and tired of the Amy Coopers of the world resorting to police calls whenever a black person makes them feel uncomfortable. More urgently, black communities are in pain from the trauma and death that police forces continue to inflict on their families and loved ones. Christian Cooper could’ve easily become a George Floyd or Eric Garner or Tony McDade.

However, Black Birders Week is not about building fear around what it’s like to bird while black. This week is about highlighting the magic and thrill of taking a walk in the woods in search of a bird that’s migrating back north from its winter away. It’s about celebrating the black people who take part in this space—and about inviting more to join them. Earther spoke with 27-year-old Brianna Amingwa of Philadelphia, who helped organize this inaugural event, to learn more about how she got into birding.

This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

Earther: What is Black Birders Week?

Brianna Amingwa: We set out three main goals with Black Birders Week, the first of which is visibility and representation. A lot of times, we have this kind of not huge community of black birders, and folks don’t know we exist. I’ve had family members who I talk to you and talk to me and are like, “What? How do you know that?” when I identify a bird or point something out.

And that’s not a great thing because how can we add to this community and into this really robust network without people knowing that we’re there?

So it’s really to uplift and recognize black birders, black naturalists, because our climate’s changing, our culture is changing. And to show how accessible it is, as well. Birding is one of the easiest things you can do. You don’t have to have anything to do it. You can just look outside and watch for movement in the trees. It’s a hobby you can have for your whole life.

So a lot of that is raising visibility and awareness about birding as a hobby, birding as community, even birding as healing sometimes as well, especially in times like this. Another part of that was to create dialog within the birding community to start having these conversations and make sure people know what the issues are and why they’re issues so that they can themselves take action to make a better space for us all to be in.

And the last part of that is just really the value of diversity in the birding community. I have a science background, so I could talk to you all day about the value of diversity in the natural world and ecology: having different kinds of species, having different purposes. But that’s true in our human world as well. Diversity improves groups and ecosystems and thought. It can bring a lot of creativity, so I think that’s another big part of it: valuing that diversity and putting it upfront and amplifying and magnifying all that.

Earther: Right on! I’m curious, was this something that you all had already planned, or was the planning of it a result of the incident with Christian Cooper last week?

Amingwa: We have a group chat of a lot of folks from across the country. We’re all young STEM folks. Not all of them are in conservation. Other ones are in economics, in all kinds of different things. Engineers even. And we often talk about current events and what’s happening. We were having a discussion in our group chat about the Christian Cooper situation and how upset and frustrated we were. All the people on the chat were kind of like, “What can we do?” So a few of the folks on the team came up with the idea, and we really just ran with it from there.

Earther: How did you get into birding?

Amingwa: I did not grow up birding, going outside a whole bunch, nothing like that. I’m from the metro Detroit area. I lived on a divided highway between two malls, so it wasn’t natural for me at all. I did always love animals, and I love cats and domestic animals. I was in Girl Scouts when I was a kid. I got to see horses, and I knew then that I loved horses. As I got a little older, I kept wanting to go and try to ride horses, but we didn’t know anybody anywhere who could do that for us.

My mom ended up coming across a guy named Doug Lewis, and he is a black horseman. He’d let kids from the city come up and ride his horses and clean the stalls and feed them, all for free. So I started going on these trail rides with Doug and the other black horsemen. It was while I was out trail riding in the woods in Upper Michigan, and I was like, “Whoa, who knew all this was out here?” I was shocked. I had never been into a place that wild. I saw bear dens and deer and birds and all kinds of stuff like that. That was when I was in high school. I felt like I was more interested in wildlife and wanted to know more about it.

During college, I was able to take an internship and work in conservation. While I was working there, I met a woman who was a birder, and she showed me an American goldfinch and showed me how it flew up in the air and goes “Potato chip, potato chip!” That’s the call that it makes. And that’s one thing we do as birders is match the birds’ calls to words so that you can learn them better. And I had no idea that birds had all these different sounds and calls, and you could learn them. And from then I was like, “I just got to start looking.” I needed to look around more, and the more I looked, the more I saw. That’s when I really just got hooked on it. That was back in like 2011, and ever since then, I’m always just looking for birds wherever I go.

Earther: Why is it important that black people get to enjoy this activity, too?

Amingwa: I think it’s so important that black people have a chance to enjoy this opportunity because we have a right to. Everyone should have a right to. I’ve seen in my own experience how it makes me feel, how calm I feel when I’m outside, how it’s energizing. There’s also all the health benefits of just walking and being outdoors and being in fresh air, being in a healthy green space. That’s great for your mental health and well-being. I don’t think that should be held back from anyone, especially not black people.

On top of that, I think it’s so important for black people to be in spaces that they haven’t traditionally been shown to be in. Black people were some of the first founders of our nation. We always had this connection and closeness with the land. I think a lot of times that’s misconstrued now into we don’t care about nature or we don’t know about it. But we were the original caretakers of the land, us and the Native Americans, indigenous people. That should continue now. There are still black farmers. There are still black naturalists and people taking care of the environment.

That needs to be seen and shown. You can only really be what you see. It wasn’t until I saw a black person riding a horse and other folks working in conservation that I knew I could do that before. Beforehand, it wasn’t even an option for me because I didn’t know it was there.

Earther: What are the challenges in increasing the visibility of black birders?

Amingwa: Some of the challenges are just defining what it is. It’s an unfamiliar thing to most people: What is birding? Why would you want to go outside and look at birds? But I think when we can get people actually doing it, they can see the thrill of it all. That probably even sounds silly to call it thrilling if you’re not into birds, but when you’re out there and it’s just super quiet and something just flies by and you’re searching and looking and you figure it out. Then you help someone else see it! And somebody else walks by, and they all want to know what you’re looking at through your scope or your binoculars. That’s a really big trigger moment for people of just getting them to kind of jump into it, too. I think that’s the challenge with visibility: Letting people know what it is, why you would do it, and then giving them a chance to actually experience it.

Earther: How do incidents like what happened with Christian Cooper in Central Park highlight the work that still needs to happen in this space?

Amingwa: With Christian Cooper, I think it was probably shocking to a lot of people in America. It was unfortunate, and it was very sad to see. But that wasn’t unusual to a lot of us who are black in nature. You know, there are very subtle things that happen: somebody refuses to say hi to you or doesn’t look to you as a source of knowing anything about birds, is suspicious of why you’re here even though you’ve got your binoculars on. Things like that. So we are familiar with those things happening. What’s different now is a lot of that is being caught on tape, and it’s being shared, and it can catch on on social media and really spread like wildfire as it did, which I think is a good thing because things like this raise awareness. People can say, “Wow, that’s terrible. I want to prevent that, too.” And more people will be advocating to make these spaces more welcoming.

I think it also poses a challenge because if we see what happened to this guy, Christian Cooper, out in the woods, a lot of people don’t want that to happen to them. It could have gone even worse for him besides just the media uproar. He could have been seriously hurt. So now we also have to make sure people know: It is safe for you to go. That’ll be another challenge, I think. That goes hand in hand with just raising awareness so that more people are looking out for each other.

Earther: This is my last question, Brianna. What words do you offer to young black people who are interested in birding but who might be hesitant to try it? Perhaps those people you just mentioned who might be afraid to now?

Amingwa: To any young black people who are like myself before I got interested, I would say to go ahead and take up space. You have a right to be there. Try not to let what has been created by others stop you from doing something that you might enjoy. Walk into those spaces and enjoy it and recreate and let people see you. Let others in your community see you and bring them along.

That’s something I’ve taken on in my career. Doing education and letting kids from Philly see me out there in nature and come with me on a hike and check out birds with me. It has made such a difference in how I look at things, hearing from them and being able to bring them along. So for folks who are new, find somebody and connect with one of these black birders who have been hashtagging and posting all week. We’d love to bring you along for a hike and to go check out birds. Let’s get even more people involved and ready. We can change the whole face of the outdoors.

[thosewhoharvest]

So, why organic?

There is something special about producing organic fruits and vegetables that lends itself to the creation of community. Not only connecting people to the communities of plants and the environment, but also connecting people to people, the sharing of learnt knowledge for no ulterior motive other than the purest form of helping.  Commercial farming prioritises profit, and while generating an income from organic farming is also a need, it’s not necessarily the focus. The health of the ecosystem, soil and plants are at the core. So happily giving a neighbouring farmer some of your cover crop seed because you know it works well, or giving advice on how to plant a certain crop because you’ve done it successfully before, is not a problem because you don’t see each other as competitors, but rather brothers and sisters in farms. Don’t get me wrong, going organic is not easy – it takes strong will power to push through the rough times. Like the times when all your freshly sprouted green beans are eaten by a tag-team of francolin and guinea fowl, or when the fruitflies find all of your watermelon just too darn tasty to resist. Patience and perseverance are key. Keep doing what you are doing, improve your soil by growing cover crops, plant a diverse variety of crops so you have some sort of back up in the meantime, and mulch, mulch, mulch. Keep on keeping on, in due time nature will play its part and bring about balance. The fruits of that labour are definitely worth it.Being inspired by nature is possibly the key aspect of going organic. Working with plants you have sown, in soil you have nurtured and replenished, and interacting with their needs in such a way that you are an assistant helper and always a keen observer, just there to tend to needs not yet fulfilled by a balanced ecosystem. In due time you will become part of that balance. Ultimately, we believe that farming organically is one step on the path towards feeding the world.– Bushrah, one of those who harvestWe’ve all seen that organic label in supermarkets or read that sign saying “organic fruit and veg” outside trendy markets, or just heard that buzz word flying around. But what does it really mean in its entirety, and why would any farmer choose this path?

Organic is but a mere word that seems to hold so much value and when used, brings about quite a bit of oohs and aahs. Technically the meaning is somewhere along the lines of “living matter”. In terms of the farming and food production industries, it means doing so without the use of any artificial chemicals, fertilisers or pesticides.

To us, we see it as a necessary cog in an ever-changing wheel. We have taken a holistic approach to organic farming. We want to connect with what we are growing in such a way that we form part of the circle, part of the balance.

We’ve broadened our view from not using any chemical fertilisers, pesticides or fungicides, to also growing things in season, and supplying, as well as eating local. Try to imagine the calculated carbon footprint an out-of-season pepper has, not to mention all the chemicals probably used to grow it, and keep it looking fresh for your consumption. The shift of looking at what you eat and understanding how and where it comes from is important in realising and embracing the essence of organic produce.

Working towards the concept of natural farming. Plain and simply put, organic farming is a marketed version of natural farming, the version that “sells”. We firmly believe that organic produce should be accessible to the masses. At the moment however, it seems to be exclusively promoted to those labeled as “well off”, and the prices for produce are, to be quite frank, ridiculous.  Okay yes, when growing things organically, there may be a chance of a lower yield due to pests and disease. But that is if you are trying to grow organically in a conventional setting, like monocropping, totally eliminating pests, using chemicals engineered for specific genetically modified plants, and the likes. And that’s just it – organic farming is not only about what you put into your plants, it’s about thinking out of the box and working with nature to find solutions to those pesky problems. In time you’ll find that those so-called pesky problems weren’t actually problems at all, but merely imbalances, that nature inevitably sorts out for you.

Environmentally speaking, growing organically supports, and can improve ecosystems. By not spraying harmful pesticides, one allows a space of abundance for beneficial, and yes, non-beneficial insects and organisms to thrive. In due time, a balance between your pests, those that eat or damage your potential harvest, and their predators, will form. By not applying fertilisers, plants are encouraged to form communication bonds with mycorrhiza in the soil, which allow the plants to get the precise nutrients they need, for all the deficiencies they could possibly get, and for them to connect with other surrounding plants to create mutually beneficial links. As a result, the growth of microorganisms boom, and soil health further improves. Because soil health improves, the water retention of the soil increases and thus less water is wasted. And you end up with happy plants in a thriving ecosystem.

I recently found out a fun fact: if an insect eats the leaves of a plant or if the plant is otherwise slightly damaged and survives, the fruit of the plant can contain an increased amount of antioxidants. This is an evolved reaction and defense mechanism, in order to prolong lifespan and the genes. How marvelously delightful – the nutritional value of produce literally increases if the plant is slightly damaged.

This leads me to consider that we should think about produce differently, and should change the way we look at food in general. We need to see it in a bigger picture, from soil, to seed, to farm, to environmental impact, to harvesting, to packaging, to transport, to public suppliers, to your table, and to the benefits it has on your body. Knowing where your produce is from is a start, knowing how it’s grown is the next step. Being happy with both answers means you are doing your part by living consciously.

For me, one of the beautiful things of organic farming is how truly unique the crops look. Every single vegetable and fruit is different in appearance; a knobble here, an indent there, a size and colour variation… and oh, how wonderful that is! I think we as consumers have to shift our idea of what produce looks like, smells like and tastes like. That perfectly round, deep red glossy apple, with little-to-no taste is overrated. Have you tried washing all that wax off? No thank you, not for me (please do try it – place an apple in a bowl of hot water and watch as the wax floats to the top). Often fruits or veg with slight insect bites or scratches from grazing the branch in the wind are perfectly wholesome and tasty. But somehow we as consumers have been made to believe that these are not good enough and should either be valued at a lower price or should not be bought at all. Man oh man, have we been missing out. If an insect has bitten it, you know it’s good to eat. It’s about looking towards nature for guidance.

There is something special about producing organic fruits and vegetables that lends itself to the creation of community. Not only connecting people to the communities of plants and the environment, but also connecting people to people, the sharing of learnt knowledge for no ulterior motive other than the purest form of helping.  Commercial farming prioritises profit, and while generating an income from organic farming is also a need, it’s not necessarily the focus. The health of the ecosystem, soil and plants are at the core. So happily giving a neighbouring farmer some of your cover crop seed because you know it works well, or giving advice on how to plant a certain crop because you’ve done it successfully before, is not a problem because you don’t see each other as competitors, but rather brothers and sisters in farms.

Don’t get me wrong, going organic is not easy – it takes strong will power to push through the rough times. Like the times when all your freshly sprouted green beans are eaten by a tag-team of francolin and guinea fowl, or when the fruitflies find all of your watermelon just too darn tasty to resist. Patience and perseverance are key. Keep doing what you are doing, improve your soil by growing cover crops, plant a diverse variety of crops so you have some sort of back up in the meantime, and mulch, mulch, mulch. Keep on keeping on, in due time nature will play its part and bring about balance. The fruits of that labour are definitely worth it.

Being inspired by nature is possibly the key aspect of going organic. Working with plants you have sown, in soil you have nurtured and replenished, and interacting with their needs in such a way that you are an assistant helper and always a keen observer, just there to tend to needs not yet fulfilled by a balanced ecosystem. In due time you will become part of that balance.

Ultimately, we believe that farming organically is one step on the path towards feeding the world.

– Bushrah, one of those who harvest

[acing-leadership-with-santanu]

Employee Engagement Ideas for Tech Companies

I love attending various #meetup events. During one such People Manager meet up event last week, I got into a very interesting discussion about employee engagements and how it directly or indirectly impacts the attrition. It all started when few of the people managers complaint that they are unable to get the best out of their employees. But most of the time it is not because of lack of talent, the problem lies somewhere else. Monotonous daily office work, imbalanced work-life cycle, excessive delivery stress, and many other professional reasons can support certain valid reasons for employee disengagement from their firms.

Read on to understand my take on how thru various employee engagement ideas, one can help to increase the productivity of the team.

1.       Let them play their feelings: It is proved by one survey that people moving for short vacations frequently has a more productive brain than those not doing so. A vacation or short term group outing can allow employees to distress their minds and have a different perspective on their daily life for a couple of days. This will certainly detoxify their mind from all types of corporate bothering.

2.       Pursing hobby: Since childhood, we all are connected to some or the other extracurricular activity. It can be painting, singing, dancing or sports. Tech companies can provide their employees with access to the venues where they can practice their passion. They can also have a sports club with some annual tournament organized to keep their employees engaged with their passion as well as profession collectively.

3.       Weekly or monthly brown bag session: I liked this idea and implement it with my team regularly. I call it “Friday Brown Bag" session. It’s a simple knowledge exchange session preferably hosted every Friday. People from various team walk in and get engaged in discussions topics as diverse as AI and public speaking. This is a very effective way to push team members to learn something new.

4.       Onboarding: The whole reason we have multiple rounds of interview because we want to hire the best talent from the market. And when they join it is always a great idea to take them through a formal learning channel ( popularly called Onboarding training). I believe, it is a fantastic idea of employee engagement. Ask your team members to act as a mentor of the new joiner. It is not only a good way to make the new joiners feel comfortable with the team, but it is also a very effective way to nurture the coaching and mentoring skill of your team members.  

5.       Rewards and Recognitions: We all like to receive gifts. Salary is the basic thing that an employee gets after working for a month. Companies should have special Reward and Recognition policies which will keep employees focussed on their work. This also ensures a healthy in-house competition amongst teams to stand out in terms of their performance.

6.       Innovation/Hackathon: Events like hackathon should be your way to allow your team members to showcase their innovative skills. As Albert Einstein said, "if you always do what you always did, you will always get what you always got", so give them an interesting business problem and ask them to come up with ideas. You never know, you might find a better solution to your long-existing problem thru this hackathon.

To wrap it up, employees nowadays engage themselves with those organizations where they can achieve job satisfaction. It is not only the salary which can assure their satisfaction. The facilities, freedoms, and perks play a very crucial role in terms of employee engagement.

[hollowedrpg]

CONGRATULATIONS, KENDRA! — You’ve been accepted for the role of Arabella Figg. Throughout your application you got Arabella’s characterization down, but it was your one-shot that really convinced me you were right for the role. Perhaps the most crucial part about writing Arabella, aside from having a good grasp on her personality, is understanding how she fits in between Alastor and Kingsley. Your one-shot really painted the picture I was hoping to see in an app for her, and I’m so glad. 

Thank you so much for applying. Please create your account and send in the link, track the right tags, and follow everyone on the follow list. Welcome to Hollowed Souls!

ooc.

name: Kendra

age: 23

preferred pronouns: she/her

timezone: MTN Standard

activity: Fairly active on the weekdays, I work as a receptionist and we often have long stretches of silence and I do my other work from my personal laptop, so no one minds that I’m on it during the day. Weekdays I’m a little busier just catching up on things but tend to be very free in the afternoons.

are you applying for more than one character?: No

how do you feel about your character dying?: I think this is the kind of role-play where if that did happen, it would play out well, so as long as there’s plenty of communication and it makes sense in the game(and honestly even if it doesn’t because that’s just how things go, sometimes) I’d be fine with it.

anything else?: Nothing! This looks really beautiful and I can tell a lot of love went into it, so I’m excited to be applying!

ic details.

full name: Arabella Fiona Figg

date of birth: 12/27/1952

former hogwarts house: N/A (but serious Hufflepuff potential - Arabella strikes me as a very loyal, forthright person who would have fit in well with other Hufflepuffs and had she had the chance to be in such a welcoming, diverse house, she might have found herself opening up more instead of closing in on herself the way she has.)

sexuality: demisexual

gender/pronouns: cisgender female | she/her pronouns

face claim change: N/A

more.

how do you interpret this character’s personality? how will you play them? include two weaknesses & two strengths. +Determined - it took more than a little pushing for Arabella to get into the world that so forcefully shut her out years before and she has done more pushing since. She is not one to take no for an answer, and while she might have to wait for the outcome she wants she gets it in the end. There is something steadfast in Arabella, solidified with each passing day a letter never came. She doesn’t want pity, doesn’t need it, she has what she needs, magic or no, to see things through to the end. +Reliable - If something needs getting done, count on Arabella to see it through. Whether it be finding some obscure ingredient or that stranger’s third cousin, there is a tenacity and specific drive to please that Arabella will run into the ground until she has the end result she wants. She has made a reputation for herself as someone to count on, and she doesn’t intend to let that go any time soon. -Awkward- Even as a child, Arabella was quiet, an observer, a wallflower. Her opinion was seldom asked for nor wanted, and the ensuing disconnect from her peers in school left her with little skill for socialization. Put a goal in front of Arabella and she can talk her way through just about anything, but put small talk in its place and she might be better off mumbling that excuse and ducking out of the room -Eccentric - Growing up between two worlds and the constant reminder you don’t quite fit into either can take its toll on a person. Things that might have been seen as a quirk to a witch are seen as an oddity in Arabella. Her attempts to learn in a community so determined to shut her out directed her to languages and reading ancient runes, memorizing spells she couldn’t use but one day might prove useful to the right person. Any piece of the wizarding community she is able to grasp onto is a gift, one she is excited to share with anyone willing to listen.

how has the war affected this character, emotionally and otherwise? In short, Arabella is exhausted. She has put her blood, sweat, and tears into the Order and while sitting still hasn’t always been her strong suit, she is willing to wait, to outlast the remaining shreds of terror, to keep the people around her safe. She sees a numbness forming in the people around her and hangs onto the shreds of light around them. They’ve worked too hard, lost too much, for this to not have been worth it. It has to be worth it, they have to pull through or else what did the people she coerced into this die for? She busies herself with keeping hopes up, keeping spirits light, keeping Kingsley on his feet so he can go just one more day, just one more, in order to make this worth the fight, so it all isn’t for nothing.

where does this character currently stand? with those who wish to hide in godric’s hollow until the war ends, with those who wish to rebuild the order and continue fighting the war, or on neither side? why? Arabella is in favor of keeping a low profile in Godric’s Hollow, unable to ignore the pull to protect those she talked into this war. Its hard to look into the same exhausted expressions and want to go in for a final push, let alone try and gather more support for more bloodshed. There is a side to her that wants to fight, wants to push on and finish this before the enemy can regroup, but the harsh reality is there’s a limit to how Arabella can help, and if her help needs to come in the form of supporting Kingsley and her other friends, she’ll do it and keep pressing on until things have at last settled.

When looking for new recruits for the Order, what does Arabella look for exactly? When is she sure someone would make a good fit? There is a certain spark to a protector, a fighter, and while it may not always be obvious at first, Arabella has a reliable gut, and she knowspeople. She can hear it in the way they treat a waitress, when they pause to coo at a cat across the alley, even in that awkward pause between holding a door open for someone just a bit too far away. When Arabella finds that bit of decency, her attention is snatched up and she follows that little bit of intuition until she’s proven right, and once she has a solid grasp, she prods and presses until she has a recruit, someone who stands up for the downtrodden, who sees this war and thinks ‘enough’ instead of putting their head down and hoping the war will pass them by.

extra.

mock blog - https://figgxarabella.tumblr.com/

pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/teenycactus/hollowed-souls-arabella-figg/

spotify - https://open.spotify.com/user/kglass8/playlist/61gL3WyAiSquFwct118cYm?si=Z7krGnUxSy-i92vMS8YJKA

 I wrote a bit of a one-shot thing to get a feel for it and got a bit carried away -

There was a comfort in the late nights of the Ministry that Arabella found didn’t exist in the little tent community she’d now found herself calling home. Her office was clean and quiet, save the occasional raised voice from Kingsley’s office a few feet away. Alastor was in there as well, and while they often included her in their discussions, tonight the door was firmly shut, leaving her to sort through her own files and photographs she’d been collecting over the past week. Recruitment had slowed significantly as the war grew more perilous and finding willing and able bodies had become a challenge even for her. A slam against the wall closest to her made her jump, another increase in volume from the office nearby, and she settled again, pinching the bridge of her nose and trying to focus on what was in front of her, not eavesdropping on whatever confrontation was happening.

It didn’t seem so long ago Alastor had first barged into this office, leaving little room for her protests, getting past her before she could even rise halfway from her chair and closing the door to Kingsley’s office the way it was now. She had been less considerate then, inching and then leaning in her chair to try and make out the muffled words beyond the wall all the while trying to occupy herself with the task of redirecting the Goblin Liaison Office  from their insistence on a meeting. It hadn’t been an extraordinarily long time to wait before Alastor Moody came crashing back out of the office and then out of sight but to this day she couldn’t tell you what meager excuse she had offered Dirk Cresswell that had ended his attempts to gain access to Kingsley. It wasn’t long until she was seeing more and more of Alastor and even less time until she was finding whatever odds and end he needed as well.

There wasn’t a point in trying to eavesdrop now, even if she’d wanted to. This argument was no doubt the same one they’d been having for weeks now. Hide or fight, stay or flee, it was the same every time. They would talk themselves in circles until they tired of it, and the door would open and the tension of indecision would spread to her sprawled out mess of a desk. Looking at it now, she gathered a few of the spread papers and stacked them neatly, shoving records and transcripts into a labeled folder and tucking the folder in a drawer just as the door swung open. She tried and failed not to jump again at the sudden noise, busying herself with making the folders in the cabinet sit against one another perfectly. She felt rather than saw the presence of Kingsley pausing beside her desk, looking down at the remaining selection of paperwork waiting to be sectioned away, hands idly brushing a yellowed photograph, the flickering image of a woman mid laugh, hugging a bundle to her chest.

She straightened up as he found the name on this folder, resting her chin in her hand as the door swung shut behind Alastor, who had gone without a goodbye.

“He wants to fight.” It wasn’t a question, but Kingsley nodded anyway, continuing to thumb through the folder before picking it up entirely, she leaned back in her chair to get a better look at his expression as he did it, but he hid well from her, as he always had. There was a crease between his brow but nowadays there usually was, anyone who knew him knew he was stressed, but that was as far as he let show. For a moment, there was only the slight creak in her chair as she rocked a bit uneasily in it, watching his face, waiting for more of an explanation and receiving none. “He won’t give up easily,” She said finally, the way her voice caught in her throat had him looking at her at last, and Arabella accepted the folder back, flicking through the papers as if to ensure they were all there.

“He won’t,” Kingsley conceded, watching her as she replaced the folder with the others and shut the cabinet door, locking it with a small key, “He just needs to be patient a little while longer.”

“They’re all being patient,” She told him, rising from her chair and dusting herself off; ignoring him when he flicked his wand at his office door, closing and locking it with a simple gesture. It was quick work to finish tidying up, pulling her coat on and preparing to go when she found him watching her. She merely raised an eyebrow, though the quizzical look disappeared when he reached a hand towards her face, eyes closing away from the gesture. Not quite a flinch but noticeable enough to not be anything less, the after effects of a war so steadily going wrong. She heard him sigh, hesitating, and opening her eyes to meet his she didn’t move as he removed the quill she had tucked behind her ear and promptly forgot about, accepting it when he passed it to her.

He opened the door and she ducked out, trying not to feel too embarrassed over her reaction. Arabella hugged her arms to herself as she waited for him to lock up. She wasn’t sure what she had expected when he’d reached for her, it was an innocent enough touch, though for Arabella even those came rarely. When the office was secure for the night, she followed Kingsley through the quiet hall of the Ministry, into an elevator and up to the top floor.

“You’re right,” Kingsley said, interrupting her own desperate thoughts as they raced for a way to break the suffocating silence, “Everyone is being as patient as they can. But this isn’t an answer we can come to with arguing. There needs to be compromise.”

“And if there’s no compromise?” She watched his gaze darken slightly at the suggestion, he’d been thinking of that, too, then. The elevator reached the top floor with a ding and he stepped off, leading the way to the doors, the only sound being the soft click of their shoes against the hard marble floor.

Above ground at last, the street was empty and dark, and though she had flinched from her earlier, she didn’t hesitate to take the arm he offered, gripping onto him tightly as he apparated the two of them to the outskirts of the Order’s new location.

“There’s always a compromise, Arabella,” Kingsley said, steadying her with the practiced ease of someone who had grown quite used to her stumbling at the end of such a trip. She was relieved when she looked up and found that, for the first time that day, he was smiling.

[weerd1]

Why Donald Trump honestly doesn’t believe he colluded.

I have come to think that Donald Trump, and possibly most of his staff, really don’t believe they colluded. I am not saying they didn’t, but I don’t think they BELIEVE they did. Here’s an overlong bit of thought on that:

I see four groups at work here, and each have their own agenda. However, there are places where these separate agendas cross over, making it both expedient and mutually beneficial for them to cooperate. 

The first is the Trump Gang; his family, those closest to him. They got into this election thing for one reason and one reason alone: Profit.  They never really intended to get elected, they just wanted to make some noise, make some contacts, maybe fill out their coffers a little more. They planned to use the campaign to get some publicity, pull in some campaign funds, and take that money and some of those new sweet business deals that resulted and run.  Again, this is the Trumps, likely the Flynns and a few more.

The second is the GOP/1%ers.  This is your Mitch McConnells, your Paul Ryans, who work for the Koch Brothers and other people who are very comfortable sitting on generations of money. Their agenda for at least 40 years has been to maintain a status quo they see shifting. They are the rich white folk whose families probably have portfolios going back years who have used the GOP as a platform to keep themselves with that money and power.  They’re the folks who don’t want an inheritance tax, so they get the GOP to rail at the American people about a “Death Tax” even though no one bringing in less than a million dollars a year are going to be affected.  They’re the ones who want to ensure the Electoral College is not reformed so an urban voter in California is only worth 3/5 of a rural voter in Wyoming. (Here’s conservative magazine The National Review talking about it.) They got very scared when somehow a BROWN MAN got through the system and made it to the White House; they wanted to make sure it stayed White, and despite an ever more diverse America, they need to ensure they stay in charge.

Then there’s the downright rich racists among them, group 3.  These are the Mercers and their agent provocateur Steve Bannon. These folks are a lot more open in their motivation, and where racism for group two is more a by-product of not wanting things to change, these folks are actively motivated by it in their quest for power.  They tug strings on people like Sean Hannity and Infowars to keep that pot brewing.

The fourth group is Putin’s Russia. It’s not that they really care necessarily who is running the US; they just want to reduce American influence around the world so they can do thing like annex huge chunks of the Ukraine and trade nuclear secrets to Iran in exchange for warm ports access in the winter. Putin is out for Putin, but he can be even more Putinesque if the US would stop intervening in places he wants to Putinize.

So, when Group One (The Trump Gang) runs for office, groups two through three all see the best thing someone with an ulterior motive can see: A useful idiot. Trump CAN fire up the base for the GOP and will gladly say things someone more traditional like Mitt Romney would never say, and so long as they stroke his ego, they know he will sign any piece of legislation they through at him. They know he’ll be happy to set fire to national monuments, and go after the agenda of the Obama administration, because Trump got his ego bruised by that brown man a few years before at the White House Correspondents dinner in 2012 (which seems to be about the same time a LOT of this shit started falling into place).

That makes him useful to the Racist Rich, because Trump shares some of their opinions, and they can do some of the things they want like get a wall up, target Muslims, and generally make plans to do things that actively disadvantage minorities in America. They send him Bannon. After all, they are REALLY unhappy about aforementioned Brown President.

Group four, the Putin-SSR, who is also not too keen on aforementioned Brown President, sees someone who can be manipulated with flattery and will have placement and access to a lot of stuff the Putin agenda could use. They already have hooks in Paul Manafort, and already used Maria Butina to influence the GOP and NRA; Trump is an easy pick. They can just offer the intel on Clinton or others they were already pulling. (I reserve judgement over whether or not they were giving the Trump Campaign leverage over McConnell and Ryan with some dirt, that Trump’s handlers like Bannon or Stephen Miller have wisely kept quiet about.)

Meanwhile, when Trump is suddenly getting all this help, he reads this as genuine admiration brought on by his amazing intellect and business acumen; he’s using the ‘art of the deal’ to get the GOP to lay at his feet, to get the Mercers to dip into their deep pockets, to get Putin to provide dirt on an opponent. He’s not colluding, see; he’s USING all of those people to his benefit! He thinks his bumblefucking through all of this while being pushed and pulled by groups all out to exploit him for their own agendas is MASTERFUL. He’s  WINNING BIGLY.

So no, he didn’t “collude” with the Russians; they were working FOR HIM, see? 

And the GOP gets what they want when he pulls protections from consumers and banks and eliminates the illusion that corporations don’t control government by owning politicians by literally just handing the government OVER TO THE CORPORATIONS. Exxon CEO as Secretary of State. Verizon CEO as FCC admin. The motherfucker who owns Accuweather—which sometimes only sends storm warnings to its paying customers!—running the National Weather Service. 

The Rich Racists get what they want with all this focus on trouble those damn dark-skinned folks are causing, and the Government does things like shut down for a month pushing assistance and fairness enforcement programs to stop working. 

Putin gets what he wants when the US does nothing about increased activity in the Crimea, and Trump announces he will basically hand over Syria to the Russians to do with as they will. 

Meanwhile, Trump says he’s not colluding, not an asset for the Russians; and I think he believes that as the useful idiot who is being used by a number of people with parallel but separate agendas.  In my experience as an officer in Army intel, I can say there are few better assets than one who doesn’t even realize he’s an asset.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t illegal, or it isn’t collusion…it just means the useful idiot is too much of an idiot to even know it.