#i think people should give it a chance

[kedreeva]

At some point in your life, there will be a moment where exactly - or near exactly - half the people in the world are younger than you, and half the people are older.

And I think that moment should be the one your soulmate Mark appears at, not at birth or puberty or something. Both because at birth is kind of boring but it's also very you-centric and soulmates are about the thing outside of you being a part of you, and I think it would be nice to include The World.

But also I think it would have fascinating implications for scientific and social studies. Longevity trends tracked by the average age soul marks appear. Tragedies causing a rash of recent marks to disappear (because the people are no longer the middle). Marks appearing early during baby booms.

[ruporas]

special operatives (silly interaction beneath read more)

[ID: Digital Art in color of Trigun Maximum, characters included are Wolfwood, Elendira, and Legato in a casual meeting situation. The piece consists of orangey yellow lighting and purple shadows. Wolfwood sits on the left side, facing Elendira who’s on the right. He’s seated on a plain wooden chair with one knee up and he’s holding the strap to his Punisher in his left hand while his right sits against his thigh, He has an irritated expression as he speaks to Elendira. Elendira is sitting in a fancier seat, her right arm rests against Wolfwood’s propped up knee, her left hand holds her suitcase. She’s sitting cross legged with an amused expression. Legato can be seen in the back at the center of the image in his mobile body case, one of his eyes shown to be glaring at Wolfwood. End ID]

[ID: Sketch, uncolored comic. Elendira says to Wolfwood, “I’m not telling you to dedicate yourself to him, but just accept the situation at hand. We could get along better if we were on the same page.” Wolfwood responds, “Don’t peg me me for an optimist. I’m not dumb. But, I’m also not going to just live in resignation. Plus, I don’t have any interest in getting along with ya.” Elendira coos, “Aw, you sure? I have a wonderful shoulder to cry on when the weak people you’re trying to protect eventually dies in the coming months. Though, I guess it’s fine. Someone like you might just die before then anyway...” She snickers in her hand while Wolfwood is speechless and just glares. Legato is faintly drawn in the back, glaring at Wolfwood, muttering “worthless�� repetitively. End ID]

[grapecaseschoices]

so i'm leaning toward briala-celene [ugh] or public truce*. but i wanted to know ...

*I've been reading posts/articles that state that public truce isn't best long run ... but it isn't like the inquisitor would KNOW that.

[mourningmaybells]

of course the book about being erased but having parts of your memory remain from avid collectors is out of print and the fanmade english translations and original estonian pdfs are being circled around by fans who care so much... aughhh

[redhoodie1723]

the imaginary carlos and charles beef that some fans are convinced is going on is giving Netflix DTS trying to convince us that charles and sebastian were mortal enemies that prayed on each other’s downfall nightly

[theswedishpajas]

The man truly can’t take a genuine compliment 🙄

[wildsaltair]

I am not immune to the charms of beaten, bedraggled, post-pyrrhic-victory gunfighter-turned-preacher-turned-sheriff Cort

[batsplat]

bat splat thank youuu for saying the pecco jorge rivalry is just for pecco as opposed to having the specter of Vale hanging over it. I want to ask tho, I have been seeing people say the only reason pecco wins the race is because he copies jorge's setup throughout friday/saturday/Sprint. Wanted your opinion on this because I have also heard that Pecco gives decent engineering input and builds his race slowly over the weekend. Was just confused about how much data sharing can actually help, and how much does it help with the ducati specifically!! Have a nice day, love your posts

have a good day too, anon!! and I will gladly spread the pecco narrative independence agenda!! it's something I really do like about the rivalry - expanded a bit in the comments under this, but it's neat to have something that really is Just Pecco's. from inception it's very much his own rivalry, his own narrative... idk, this sport is too reliant on valentino to provide any kind of narrative tension, and it's just sort of refreshing to see this multi-year narrative play out that has fuck all to do with that guy. enough

on the set-up copying, obviously that is bullshit. I mean, to be clear, I'm sure pecco absolutely copies the set-ups of other ducati riders, but that's very much a mutual process - it's something that benefits all the ducati riders, and they've all openly spoken about this. it's very helpful to be able to see the data from seven other riders!! that's a big part of why ducati has been so bloody good!! the main difference is that jorge tends to be faster from the start of the weekend, whereas pecco tends to take time to reach his level. which I suppose makes some people draw the conclusion that pecco is only fast once he's copied someone's set-up. again, this isn't the case - it is just a difference in approaches. points come... well, unfortunately, not just on sunday anymore, but they certainly do not come on a friday. pecco knows this, which is also why sometimes he's not even trying to top an fp1 session - this year there have been quite a few instances of jorge but not pecco throwing on a fresh set of tyres towards the end of fp1 and setting a particularly impressive lap time. there's also nothing wrong with THAT approach, jorge is playing to his strengths, but at a certain point we're just talking different run plans

(there is also a very obvious logical fallacy with this line of reasoning. if you are copying someone's set-up, then by definition you have the same set-up as them. and if you beat someone with the same set-up, then it stands to reason that you were riding better than them. sure, you can argue the success is less earned because your team... idk, just lazed around all weekend, but at the end of the day surely you still cannot be a bad rider if you are getting more out of another rider's set-up than they themselves are able to manage)

and yeah, pecco is known for giving good feedback! just being a good learner in general. here, actually, a little throwback from start of 2019 where pecco's crew chief gabarrini (who also ofc has worked with casey, lorenzo and briefly with marc) compared pecco and marc:

"A driver - all of them do this - starts at a certain level and ends the day at a higher level. What makes the difference is starting again where you were. Few have this quality: it often happens that a driver sets good times - without knowing why, without being aware of how he got there. The 'good' ones, on the other hand, have this characteristic: they achieve a result and know why they did it," explained the chief technician. Gabarrini even goes so far as to compare the MotoGP rookie with the current world champion: "I saw this quality in Márquez: I was with him when he made his debut in the MotoGP World Championship. His ability to not forget what he had learned impressed me. Once he had understood an aspect of the riding style, the set-up or any other thing to be faster, he had it in him forever. Pecco also has this quality." "In Valencia we started with a base similar to the one Lorenzo used: on paper it suited Bagnaia, based on what you could understand when you saw him riding a Moto2 bike. From then on, the normal changes to the set-up were made so that he could ride the bike as he liked. In the meantime, Pecco has worked enormously to adapt his style to the Ducati."

and there you have it - pecco's good at progressively getting better at stuff, including over the course of the weekend. as for the set-up copying thing, partly it's just typical competitive paranoia (even though it feels like the fans are currently doing it more than the riders). back in the day, valentino and jorge used to have the world's dumbest arguments about this every other week. led to one of my all time fave messy jb moments:

god I miss that guy so badly. they don't do ride-or-die like that anymore

the point is that both sides were engaging in pretty silly mudslinging, just kind of for the vibes of it. valentino/jb trying to get under jorge's skin and jorge a bit more earnestly aggrieved. as ever, if you want to read more about how that particular era of jorge/valentino unfolded, see here. this is just to say, this kind of faffing about is a tale as old as time and it's always a bit silly... you had jorge say that it was impossible for them anyway to copy each other's data in the very same answer as he accused valentino of copying his set-up. like, I'm sorry, I am not going to take this seriously. a lot of sports is about having dumb arguments

and yeah, again, pecco does gradually build up his level over the weekend. more of a valentino than a casey, it's fair to say. and that'll hurt him in the sprint format - which I talked about a bit recently while going through casey's latest interview about how sprints are satan's providence:

so yeah, casey thinks that if anything there isn't enough time to work on set-up, and mat oxley thinks it's rubbish to say pecco relies on sprint data to be better on sunday. (as I said in that post, I do find it fun if unsurprising that casey is so virulently anti-sprints, because you'd think a lot of aspects of the format - including less time for everyone for working on set-ups - really would have suited him. keeping it real.) so on the whole... y'know. maybe he just gets better over the course of the weekend. it's been known to happen. there's actually some pretty significant ways in which the current version of the sport isn't all that pecco-friendly, from the shitty michelin front tyre we're keeping for another year to the sprint format we appear to be stuck with. it's just that he also happens to be on the best bike - and the fact that he's winning a lot but simultaneously isn't highly rated by fans makes people want to believe that the current series is 100% ideal for him

a lot of fans are loathe to admit pecco might actually be a good rider so they'll find basically everything to justify that prior. including getting into increasingly conspiratorial territory. but my actual take is this - if pecco has been gaming the system so expertly that he is somehow the only guy able to take full advantage of everyone else's data, so shrewd and cunning that he can spread magic dust on his bike so that he suddenly leaps ahead of jorge, such a dastardly operator that he can steal the set-up that poor jorge perfected on friday morning to fix his bike five minutes before the sunday race, then... good. I support it. I hope he's cheating. the more unearned the success is, the better in my books. long live corporate espionage and foul play

[luukeskywalker]

just imagine the simpsons bus meme that says "if you're tired of certain aspects of the star wars tv shows and movies, give the high republic books a try. the authors have a lot more freedom in telling good stories and actually have a chance to plan out a solid overarching plot. as an added bonus, the characters are incredibly lovable and the setting is deeply fascinating. it's fun to hate on how bad some of star wars is, but it can be tiring to be like that all the time. if you want to find something new about it to love, the books are the best place to start"

[maulfucker]

OC time once again !! Loser inquisitor

24th Brother (Niemer Sal'Gahad)

Would've made a better spy than a killer

Carries poison darts and vials

Quick reflexes and flexible body but dogshit motor coordination + vision

Was a novice temple guard before Order 66, chose to follow the Grand Inquisitor over the Jedi Order

The Grand Inquisitor HATES him - He thinks Niemer is a useless, careless brat

Assigned to monitor Sem as a sort of fool's errand - Either he fails and returns to be punished or he gives up and kills Sem without justification, and has to shoulder the consequences alone (or so the Grand Inquisitor Thought)

[yakam0z]

actually ... to be honest ... hated everything about this gut-wrenching blood-clogging moment i wish this terror wouldn't live in my head siding with reed is the least fulfilling ending everything feels wrong and like you played right into myers' hands i'd rather have songbird betray me a second time than be responsible for this 😔😔

[perilegs]

i'm in part charge of recruiting people for my department at work, and for our hiring offer we were about to write "minimum of [x years] of experience required," but i remembered how people with audacity will apply regardless of what it says, but that wording will push away potential employees, especially women, who are considerate and value the time of both others and themselves, and think they can't apply if they have, let's say a few months less experience than what we required, so i asked it to be switched to "around [x years] of experience required." and it's such a small change but it makes a big difference. and man idk what my point is but often it's good when you listen to people and their problems, so you might come up with low/no effort ways of helping even if it's just a little bit, instead of going "well that shouldnt be a problem, you should just act/do/etc. different"

[cctinsleybaxter]

and like. normally i think king adaptations are the horror movies most suited for fIanagan's style- i don't personally like him but he really Gets king so would be happy to see him get a handful of those properties, and wow 'carrie' is not one of them. a carrie adaptation is successful if it leaves its audience feeling very complicit and very gross, yeah let's give it to the guy who's most bent on saccharine christian monologues

[ronanlynchbf]

see too many ppl still defending jdepp or running with the "mutual abuse" angle so here's a video presenting basically all the (publicly available btw! for anyone to be able to look up!) information on this case. Let it be known if you still support jdepp i am assuming you have never done a grain of research into this in your life and just ran with public opinion and misinformation

[home1ander]

i'm looking for possibly more folks to write with who'd be interest in writing with me. please don't be afraid to hit me up if that's you.

[mutantrenegade]

Matt, Let's Talk

Hello photographer matthew, head bitch in charge of hellsite, let's have a chat. Don't worry, I'm gonna be cool about it, just calm down and take a seat, have some tea.

Matt, you did a transphobia.

I know you say you aren't transphobic and for now, i'll give you the benefit of a doubt on that one and assume it's true, but like, buddy, pallie, salt of the earth, sugar lumpkin doodles, you did a transphobia.

You probably didn't mean to do a transphobia and probably don't like that all us trannies are mad at you right now, but you did a transphobia.

I know what predstrogen said you to hurt your feelings, i get it, you aren't used to having people vaugepost about your death like most of the trans people on this site are. But see, what you do is, ignore it. Or in this case. Step back for a second and realize what's happening is a trans woman was feeling frustrated and scared because people on your site had been harassing her heavily for months on end and the lack of response from your staff made her feel like your staff didn't care about her and maybe was actively rooting for the people who wished her harm. And if you think it was unfair that she felt that way about your staff. Maaaaaaaybe it's actually a sign you need to try harder to focus on making this site safer for trans women.

Maybe if your userbase is so fast to assume your staff and you personally hate trans people, maybe you should be more worried about why we have reached this conclusion rather than being mad it's being said to your face. Because this site does feel like it doesn't give a shit about trans people especially trans women.

Maybe if your staff is working hard to ban transphobes from this site, it means you have a larger problem because transphobes are fucking everywhere man. Like they just are. Several of them have shown up in my inbox recently telling me i should harass a trans woman over things that aren't my fuckin business.

Maybe think that if you are crossing social media sites to pick a fight with the person you banned for the mean words, that you might be the one worrying to much about it especially when predstrogen does not know you nor would have any ability to contact you.

And I get that it's scary when people say violent things about you online, they've said them about me. I actually had to contact the FBI once over things people said to me online. It was leagues worse and leagues more specific than what predstrogen said to you. You need to let it go man, you are the CEO of a company, people are gonna be mad at you sometimes and you have to have thicker skin than coming off a sabbatical to dm random trans women asking why they don't like you.

Just like, say you fucked up man. Say that you did in fact do an accidental transphobia and then try and fix the things that made you think you weren't doing an accidental transphobia. It's not that hard man. Just drop the ego, admit you did a stupid, and try harder.