#i was thinking about how it’s the most geographically separated from the rest

[phoenixyfriend]

The groupings are not based on trying to ensure equal demographics in each, but by proximity to and impact of the Bering Strait Land Bridge theory or other relation to prehistoric colonization of the Americas.

I wasn't sure how to group Oceania and the Polynesian/Micronesian/Melanesian folks given the overall histories, so you get your own bunch. I can't remember if those theories about Polynesians reaching the Americas for trade on occasion, prior to written records, are legitimate/supported or just a thing I heard once. Either way, I think that history of 'discovering unpopulated lands by heading east from large landmasses' is similar enough that maybe it comes up for overlapping histories? IDK! You get your own buttons.

Also wasn't sure if it would make sense to include SEAsia with East Asia or lump it in with the rest, buuuut I think upon reviewing the maps that it looks like the Strait is a lot less geographically/politically related to most of East Asia than I thought, so there's less of a difference between EAsia and SEAsia than I thought, enough that marking them out separately from Russia but not each other probably works.

I initially wrote out a less America-Specific description of primary/secondary or elementary/middle/high but honestly? It took up too much space. Appropriate disambiguation made the title so long that people wouldn't have read it. So. You get K-12 or equivalent.

I'm including Mexico with Central America for two reasons: 1. Most Mexicans I've seen talking on the topic recently, at least on tumblr, prefer to be divided in that direction for cultural reasons. 2. Geographically much more distant from the Bering Strait than its northern neighbors.

Also, please reblog! I want this to go past my primarily anglophone-countries circle if possible.

[meirimerens]

MEIRI!!!! i am taking a class in art history and i wanted to ask about your favorite paleolithic cave paintings, cause i know you're very passionate about that!

OOOHHAHHGRGHH MY GODDDD

YOU'VE AWAKEN MY EVIL POWER......

okay so this is gonna be real hard for me to choose. like reallll hard. but i think i can narrow it down. i don't know how much #info you need or how much Lore you care for me to add, but you've activated my trap card, so now you're stuck in the cave with me, i have the torch, and if you try to leave you won't find your way back. okay. let us start.

GENERAL LORE:

at least in the Franco-Cantabrian geographical and paleo-cultural area [this thing], which contains some of the most famous painted caves such as Lascaux, Chauvet, Pech-Merle, Altamira, etc, one main currently reigning hypothesis, because it allows to explain the most amount of [gesture] Stuff Going On, is that cave art exist within a magico-spiritual system of belief of the animist persuasion likely with shamanic elements. The places where walls were painted in the caves, were very, very rarely Living quarters. paleolithic tribes prefered to make camps outside, or just at the very entrance of caves: the depths were Hard to navigate, dangerous, possibly inhabited by predator animals. you didn't got to these places to fuck around; you went because you had a drive, you believed in something about them.

Jean Clottes (one of our main prehistorians in France, who wrote Pourquoi l'Art Préhistorique ?, or "Why Prehistoric Art", translated into english as "What is Paleolithic Art" which is fucking stupid, the "why" is the whole question he's trying to answer in the book, is this guy fucking stupid) identifies 4 main concepts that exist within indigenous, nomadic or semi-nomadic, hunter-gatherer, animist & shamanist societies and peoples, that are widely distributed (as such having "universal" elements) and could, likely, have been found within paleolithic societies, and possibly give us clues to their belief system, which are:

the INTERCONNECTEDNESS: of animal species between one another (explaining the numerous accounts of paloelithic art depiction species together, or separated), and of human and animal: including through mythologies in which humans were created from animal(s), or animal(s) later changed into human(s).

the FLUIDITY of the living world: animal species are recognized as kin, for they can become it; animal species are given, or projected-onto attributes that make a tribe, a clan, recognize themselves in it

the acceptation of the COMPLEXITY of the world: paleolithic people likely had deep, complex mythologies and cosmogonies, which we might Never, Ever, know anything about (this drives me insane.) their language, and their rites, might (have) reflect(ed) an understanding of the complixity of nature, or animals, that sedentary, then later capitalist societies might have lost the nuances of.

the PERMEABILITY of the living world(s). this again is seen in beliefs in the permeablity between human & animal, human a animal, animal as human: this is also where Shamanism might come into play. shamanism(s) rest(s) upon the conceptualization of the world as divided-but-permeable between a physical, living world, and an unseen, spirit world: the Shaman is the mediator, the person who can freely go between these two worlds, to communiate, to heal, to direct, to plead, etc. AND, and this is where it gets real interesting for The Caves: potentially, the belief in the permeablity of the cave rock itself: multiple painted sites might contain hints of a belief in the cave being the place where spirits dwell; and painting them is less "calling" or "invoking", even if there might be some of it, but rather "revealing". the cave itself, maybe, could (have) be(en) considered the place where spirits dwell, and come forth/from. more about that later.

WITH ALL OF THAT IN MIND. at least in the franco-cantabrian area, the placement of cave art is, very Very likely, extremely deliberate. it is not just the art that counts, but where it was made. we can ask ourselves, why it was made here, and not elsewhere. i am picking my answer on this axis. some caves might be so beautifully painted, but are The Vibes here? if the expression of this potential magico-spiritual complex and tens-of-thousands-of-years-spanning(!!!!!!!!!! this is nother thing that's fucking insane btw. did you know we are as close to Lascaux as Lascaux is to Chauvet, another very ornate painted cave. MULTIPLE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF YEARS) is visible, or #feelable, let's mention it. now onto the good part

CAVE ART THAT DRIVES ME CUCKOO CRAZY:

THE NIAUX (pronounced "Nyo") CAVE

reason: i've been there. twice. sobbed both times. came out changed like genuinely. made me go back to uni. the Niaux Cave is located in the Ariège (a-ryeh-juh) département [think smaller than a state bigger than a county] of southern france, in the Pyrénées (pee-reh-neh) mountains making the border with spain.

the almost entirety of the art is concentrated in the "Salon Noir" of the cave.

now. come close and listen to me. the Salon Noir is some 700 meters from both the modern entrance and the prehistoric one. today, like back then, you have to navigate rough, slippery terrain, crouchspaces, and generally accident-inducing (source: my dad slipped & fell just like our guide warned us about) walking space. for most of the way, the ceiling is 5 to 10 meters above, and the walls relatively close together (but not claustrophobic). the Salon Noir seems to be "indicated" by, on both of its sides, red symbol markings. now listen to me. the Salon Noir's ceiling is twice as high. even with modern lamps, you struggle to see it. now imagine. having walked all the way there, in the Wet, the fire of your torch or your grease hand-lamp to guide you, and suddenly not only can you not see the ceiling anymore, but the rock seems to speak back to you. the echo is intense, in the Salon Noir, way more than anywhere in the lower-ceiling'ed cave. your voice carries on for 5 full seconds, if you sing the rock continues singing after you. did you know? in france and spain, studies have shown that most parietal (=cave wall) art corresponds to particular acoustic features. did they sing? did they play the flute, the drums? did they use lithophones: the stalagtites & stalagmites, hit of small sticks, to make them ring? in the Salon Noir, most of the animals are bisons, as is very common in the franco-cantabrian area. now this is just something fun that our guide told us, possibly nothing more than an interesting coincidence, for its truth would rest on an unproven-hypothesis-within-an-unproven-hypothesis, but did you now that the female bison has the same gestational period as the human? 9 months.

the bison to the right, with the red markings and the "eyebrows", is my dad's favorite: he says its profile looks like him, with his beard and his big nose, which to be fair, truly it does. in a previous-previous-previous-previous life my dad as an upper paleolithic era bison. this is my dad's paleolithic fursona.

my favorite is this horsie. see? she smiles.

so does this one on the left, a protome (= name for the depiction of only the front of an animal, of a human)

PERGOUSET (pronounced per-goo*-zeh) CAVE

(* but the "oo" sound is short)

i'm cheating a little. because this is not painting, it's carving. but i consider sculpture an art, and parietal carving to be as important and interesting as parietal paintings, so. take it or don't!

yeah the whole cave. you'll see why. basically if i think about Pergouset for too long my skin starts melting i foam at the mouth etc. anyways. since the cave is closed to the public, and basically only available to researchers' viewings, it is quite hard to find images of it, so we'll just ball on this one.

Pergouset is located in the département of the Lot, in southwest-central france. this region is Plentiful with caves, including Pech-Merle that is basically next door, and Lascaux 1.5h away. why this one & not any of those two? well. come closer.

okay. the pussies & this guy with his penis out cave. what's her deal. Well, first piece of lore is to know that, in the grand scheme of franco-cantabrian paleolithic cave art, human representations are minimal. animals make up the majority of depictions, however, "archetyped" or "stereotyped" human figures that insist on sex characteristics are Plentiful. and within representations of that, "female" archetypes outnumber "male" ones by a lot. basically you cannot cough on a paleolithic "human" depiction without landing on a vulva frankly. many such cases in life as well. one of the hypotheses, which Michel Lorblanchet brings forth in his book La Naissance de la Vie: Une Lecture de l'Art Parietal (from which the picture above is from) is that it could be part of a belief system in which the cave, the whole cave, itself could be a "female" principle or archetype: the whole of the cave a matrix, a uterus. basically its giving, it's giving birth. one of the biggest data point he has for that hypothesis is the Pergouset cave. in the Pergouset cave, carvings of vulvae rhythm a long narrow passage following an underground river. the 3 vulvae could represent that of pre-birth, that of currently-pregnant (with the line in the middle, like the pigmentation line on pregnant belly + carved over a convex part of the stone), and that of currently-actively-giving birth: "vulva 3" is just two streaks in the rock, surrounding a naturally-occuring hole in the rock: as if that feature of the cave itself had been recognized as It's Giving Birth / hereditary voice I Am Your Mother. as you can see on the picture, vulva 1 is all the way back in the #depths, in the #dark, and vulva 3 the closest to the exit, indeed to the light ( -> it's giving birth). now. and this is the insane thing. foaming at the mouth like unwell arms shaking rn. i've had to go pace 4 times since i started typing. in the depths of the cave, the animals that are carved are less (see the numbers on the picture). but also, they're... more fantastic. stranger, more unusual. lacking the realism that is typically associated with parietal art. they're... as if from a dream, an undetermined land of weirdness, of amorphousness. as they get closer to the light, they get more numerous, they proliferate, life crawls the walls: they become also more and more realistic. as we reach the last carved vulva, as it is giving, what is it: giving BIRTH, animals are numerous, abundant, fully formed, their visible selves in the world outside: it is as if the cave itself, the depths of cave itself, gave birth to these animals, formed them inside of itself, let them out from this unknown, amorphous, strange land beyond the stone, where human cannot reach. humans went in, and meticulously, sometimes using a natural relief in the stone for an eye, a feature, "released" the animals from the stone, "revealed" them from their state of hidden-inside-of-the-depths-ness. the whole cave this Mother from which all the animals drawn on the walls emerged.

tldr

[dresshistorynerd]

Favorite Historical Architectural Styles

Since I've done my favorite historical fashions, I thought it would be fun to do historical architectural styles too. I want to write more about architecture too, but I've started thinking should I do a separate blog for architecture and architectural history or should I just do it all here? I think it would be better in a way that I wouldn't have to worry if anything I want to write is too far from the actual topic of the blog, but then again, there is a lot of overlap, especially when it comes to Arts and Crafts movement (which I'm currently writing my thesis about and which I definitely will talk a lot about), and also I would have to manage yet another blog.

Anyway, I'll again do this from oldest to newest. I will limit myself to western styles (except when we get to Modernism all styles are very international), even though there's a lot of non-western styles I enjoy, but it's what I know most about.

Perpendicular Gothic

I love Gothic architecture in general and the several first entries will be my favorite sub-styles of it. I love the the way Gothic Cathedrals try and so often succeed to feel like forests. I love how the structural elements are used to create the aesthetic. I love the organic visual elements. I love that it's such a unique style in Western architecture. And I love the amazing craftsmanship that went into it.

I'm particularly a fan of English Gothic because of it's insanely beautiful and complex ribbed vaults. From English Gothic my favorite though is the Perpendicular style, which was basically the English late Gothic. It's characteristics can be seen in the second pic. It has the stretched arch and the very flowing and organic traceries. I do include here the rest of English Gothic too, since even though the Perpendicular style is my favorite of them, all if it is still one of my Gothic favorites.

German Late Gothic

As it's becoming clear I love Late Gothic architecture in general the most, and in the geographical axis I also love German Gothic. Early and High Gothic were mainly divided into French and English styles and the French style dominated in the continent, just being altered a little to the local building traditions outside of France, but during late Gothic it diverged much more strongly into different styles.

German Gothic also has beautiful complex faulting (though less insane than English) and it also has that same pursuit of massive height French Gothic has. Those combined with that Late Gothic's more streamlined flowing and organic aesthetic, some of the German Late Gothic cathedrals really sell that feeling of standing in a forest.

Finnish "Gothic"

I have a soft spot for the Finnish Medieval stone churches, which are not nearly as sophisticated or detailed as the other European counterparts, but still made with beautiful craftsmanship and they have some cool own features. It's very far from the European Gothic traditions, as you can see, but that's still the influence, hence Gothic in scare quotes. I love the simple outward appearance with the exposed thick stone walls, the details of the gable that worked as the calling card for the building master and the very steep roof. Like everywhere at the time, the roof in these has wooden structure, which is frankly super cool. It was not a simple engineering problem to make a roof that steep and massive at the time, but the structure works so well there's 600 year old roofs with the original logs still working perfectly well. I also really love the original medieval murals in them, which were painted over during the Reformation (you can't have color in a Lutheran church damn it), but thankfully some of them have been restored from under the paint.

Finnish "Renaissance" Log Churches

Renaissance also didn't land in Finland similarly as it did rest of the Europe. When Renaissance was going on in Europe, they still were building those "Gothic" churches here. These log churches were based on Scandinavian version of the Renaissance church, but they didn't really look like Renaissance churches, and were kinda it's own thing continuing a lot of the aesthetics from those Gothic churches. This is a highly specific style, but I just think they are so cool and pretty? Like they really made a CUPOLA out of log.

Arts and Crafts Movement

Arts and Crafts Movement didn't have exactly a style, rather a design philosophy that was more important than specific style. There's of course a lot of stylistic similarities in the works of the different members of the Movement, because they had overlapping sources of inspiration and were influenced by each other, so we can think of it as a style. I could, have and will talk about them for hours, but briefly now: It was a moment in latter half of the 19th century and early 20th century and their goals were reviving craftsmanship skills and professions, socialism, opposing industrialism and abolishing the hierarchy between fine arts and applied arts. They were very much influenced by Medievalism and Gothic art and architecture, though unlike Gothic Revivalist, they took more from the guiding principles than the aesthetics. They basically started Modernism and lay ground to all the Modernist architecture's main principles, like form follows function.

Art Nouveau

Art Nouveau was directly influenced by the Arts and Crafts Movement and was the first mainstream Modernist style. I especially love the more toned down Finnish Art Nouveau, or Jugend as it's called here, but I do love the style more broadly too. I'm not that into those almost Baroque style versions of it though, with barely any straight lines. I love the round doors, the stylized floral patterns and the use of light.

Organic architecture

This has to be my favorite modernist/post-modernist (?) style. It's direct successor of Arts and Crafts movement and it's also more of a design principle than a unified style. There is some stylistic similarities, but it is stylistically very diverse philosophy. It was most prominent during the 20th century, but it always stayed in the sidelines, though there are still architects who might be considered practicing organic architecture. Organic architecture is all about living in harmony with nature, taking inspiration from it, designing the building to fit the building spot and the surroundings, extra care taken in to preserve the nature already there, and using local natural materials when possible. My favorite architects are Raili and Reima Pietilä, who were most prominent organic architects in Finland. (I almost moved into apartment designed by them, but it was in pretty bad condition, so it wouldn't have unfortunately been worth the price.)

Brutalism

I know it's not for everyone and it's not easy to make it work but when it works, it really does. It was born in 1950s during the reconstruction era. Brutalism is not just concrete though. The point is to show the raw materials and the structural elements. Technically a lot of Gothic and Arts and Crafts architecture is then brutalist. Timber frame architecture? Also brutalist. I'm only half joking, of course the style itself is also very bare and, well, brutal, but I love it for the same reasons. I really love bare textures of materials and exposing the materials of the structural elements. And I do actually really like the texture of concrete. Though I will say concrete is destroying our world and we should use it as little as possible. But we should also protect old buildings and keep using them rather than built new ones, so I feel fine admiring the old brutalist buildings. The best brutalist buildings combine materials very intentionally and make works of art with the light.

Bonus - Favorite contemporary architecture: Traditional methods

As we're living in the post-modern times, there's not really unified and specifiable styles or architectural ideologies anymore. They all kinda flow into each other and architects don't organize themselves into clear groups based on style and design philosophy. So it's hard to put into words the style I like in contemporary architecture. There's been growing interest in studying traditional structures and methods, learn from their sustainability and incorporate them into contemporary architecture. They are techniques that have been developed through trial and error on the span of centuries, so we really don't have to reinvent the wheel here. Traditional methods of a given area have also been developed for that area and it's climate, from the materials available there, so they also push us to use local materials. Typically these traditional structures are very simple, often made from solid material, which makes them easier to built without construction error (a huge problem in modern structures), and easier to fix and maintain, when inevitably there is issues. Also they are beautiful, definitely more so that steel and glass. I love solid brick structures, log structures, timber frames, natural stone, rammed earth and all of them, especially when these beautiful materials are left bare.

[a-dinosaur-a-day]

Did you Know

Mammal bias isn't the only one when it comes to researching nature and deep time?

There are more!

There is also time bias! As I have discussed with @quark-nova, Essentially, because the more recent something is the easier it is to learn about - more remains of things, more details from the rocks, etc. - we also have ridiculous amounts of bias towards more recent times. This is clearest when it comes to the traditional geologic time scale - the further back you go, the longer time periods are, and nothing is divided particularly evenly. I would even say the "anthropocene" is the biggest offender in this - if we zoomed out from today to a hundred million years ago, all of the extinctions and chaos of the past 2.5 million years would get lumped together into one big mass extinction, not separated out into nitty gritty and frankly narcissistic time slices.

Then there is geographical bias! You'd think people studying the whole biosphere wouldn't have this, but we do! Thanks to *colonialism!* The geologies of North America and Europe are significantly better studied than the rest of the world, which is fighting hard to catch up. This even extends to our knowledge of modern life, with many new species still being discovered in "the global south" (I personally prefer the term Gondwana, but what can you do). And we have no one to blame for that but ourselves.

And another one is land bias! Because we are land organisms, we tend to think about land ecosystems more than oceanic ones - in fact, the ocean only really gets enough time on it in the early stages of life, everything before the Silurian, because there isn't a land ecosystem to focus on more! But the oceans are just as influential in our past - honestly, moreso - than land ecosystems, even today - think about how much El Niño affects us all! But how many people know about the end cretaceous extinction, and not the mesozoic marine revolution? How many people know that reefs at the end Cretaceous were just, made by bivalves for some reason? The list goes on.

Then there's the one most people know about already - megafaunal and charismatic bias! This often goes hand in hand with mammal bias, but essentially, because we ourselves are megafauna - I know we specifically define megafauna to exclude humans, but how the hell is that logical - we operate on a big scale, at any rate - we tend to favor megafauna in our knowledge of the past and our understanding of life. And, if its not megafauna, it at least has to be charismatic - cute, extra weird maybe, or familiar. This affects modern research so much, especially conservation and research funding - not just paleo, but also neontological work. Charismatic Megafauna get everything, and everyone else gets scraps.

This is just the tip of the iceberg! All scientists bring in bias - that's why we need as many scientists as possible, so we have as many perspectives as possible to come up with the most parsimonious and universal view of nature - but some biases are fairly universal for humans and need to be murdered in our heads by all of us. Why did Wingspan and Holotype both start with North America when the best birds are in South America and the best fossil dinosaurs are in Asia? The list is infinite.

The biases we have because of the way history has played out, the way preservation works, and because of what kind of organisms we are as humans, are ones we all have to work to disassemble and deconstruct in our brains. The more we do so, the more we can look at the big picture, understand our entire biosphere, and work together to protect it.

Plus, imagine how much cool stuff we'll learn about when we finally take the time to do so.

We have nothing to lose but our chains.

[hogwarts-legacy-confessions]

Hello! One of the more prominent fandom writers here.

I see this has already been addressed. I don’t come to flog a dead horse and I do not intend to be rude to you, the blog owner.

I want to offer some perspective from someone who has been impacted by this.

I am not offended that you’re unaware of every targeted statement submitted to this blog. I am not either. The issue lies in your apparent expectation to be told if a statement was too pointed. You have—as respectfully as I can say it—not cultivated an environment that appears welcoming for something as vulnerable as feelings.

When things have been posted about my work, I did not anticipate coming to you would make much difference. If anything, I assumed it would make it worse.

I would say the impact it’s had on me is inline with the recent posts, and the fact that there are other posts of this nature makes me wonder how many other larger creators are suffering in silence every time someone pokes at them on here.

Here’s the thing: those of us who’ve “just been around since the start” and “got lucky” have been through multiple waves of bullying. For ships, for our ages, for character ages, for characterization, for writing smut/tropes/dynamics, for not liking or portraying (insert character) as a (edgelord, golden retriever, himbo, et cetera).

Now, we can add to that:

- not replying to every comment on our works and art.

- Not performing enough exhaustive research for something we do in our spare time, free of charge—despite both the canon game and the books/films contradicting themselves constantly.

- Liking characters that we like.

- Not editing enough, as if that is not delegated to a separate career in the professional world.

- Generally, not doing /enough/ to have earned our place in the fandom.

I won’t include the criticisms that were specific to me. I’m aware this is anonymous and you have no reason to believe I am who I say, but I won’t risk stepping off anon and receiving hate atop the rest of that list.

I am just a person. This was an escape for me, and one that gave me a lot of purpose and fulfillment. All of which is gone now. This has completely wrecked my self confidence in writing.

These big, popular creators that are getting bashed are not celebrities. Be it roleplayers, artists, writers, mod creators, or edit makers—they’re just people who wanted community and creative outlet.

To the blog owner, I see you have said that you wonder if the posts were really about [those who assume it’s about them]. I think the nature of the space you’ve created begets paranoia. Even if the posts were not about me or anyone else, does it not warrant your concern if it hurts the fandom we share? I respect the need for a space where unpopular ships, headcanons, and the like can be posted without fear (which shouldn’t exist, this is the nature of fandom). I do not see the need to laugh namelessly at the accuracy of fanart, the kissing mod that people created, proper grammar, and incorrect geographical locations in fics to name a few recent ones.

I don’t believe in censorship. I also don’t believe in encouraging persecution.

I see you have addressed this, as I said. I do not expect you to delete your blog. I hope you have found community regardless of the vitriol here. If I can offer a suggestion going forward: I ask that you don’t allow hate on fanworks. If you can’t do that, then at least do not allow anonymous hate on other creators, even if they do not mention them by name. If people want to say it with their full chests, off anon, I would respect it much more. That would also remove your need to judge the validity of any claims.

If this is published—I want to say that if this is your first fandom (which I suspect is true for many of you) that this is not a game of ‘eat the rich’.

If you had been “early” and “got lucky” and if people said the things you have said about our works, would yours still be available?

Most every popular creator in this fandom only ever wanted to be friends with you, reader.

👀

[shadowqueenjude]

me and sjm are about to have a world building problem because she's killing me she obviously takes inspiration from ancient civilizations and geographical names around the Mediterranean, like the greeks (Eris, Helios, etruscans (literally their goddess of dawn is named thesan). Tarquin the last king of rome (and ironically the opposite of acotar Tarquin). Adriata should then come from the Adriatic sea and their architecture seems greco-roman. But then she mixes it up and gives the court fae brown skin (by the way, what kind of brown, this tells me nothing, i don't need like pantone, but slight more description) For the night court, she's just weird with it. the clothes Feyre is initially given by Rhysand kind of read to me like what you find when you search up 'sexy belly dancer'). Same with all of the clothes she wears when visiting Hewn City. I feel like she was trying to incorporate some more "exotic" things but it doesn't match the rest of the court. It seems like there's a couple different groups with completely different aesthetics that are completely separate from one another. Both Illyria and the court of nightmares seem like vassal states to Velaris and aside from Illyrians having tan skin and being called something around the lines of savages (very POC-coded), there is little to no evidence of any aesthetics that could be considered non-European. Not architecture-wise, name-wise, or (for the most part) fashion-wise. Now, it is a free country, SJM can write however and about whatever she wants. But I feel like there is just such a loss there. No matter where in the world you go, there is evidence of different cultures. Rich cultures which someone could easily take inspiration from!! I just wish she took the time to go down some of the rabbit holes fic writers go down, learning a multitude about what ends up being a small part of your story. Right now, her POC characters feel like an afterthought where she had her story written and then just inserted the word dark/tan on a couple characters. (Also I had no idea Amren was east asian until someone said she was on here and I do have to ask, where is the east asian exotica? Normally if you have one you have the other.) Also her in-universe world building is so convoluted and i hate it and nothing makes sense. I love magical objects as much as the next person, but some of these are one-and-done objects that you definitely could have had more use over. I think she has a vague plan and is just doing whatever she thinks of first to get to each plot point. (me in essays) Also, someone should make an anti-inner circle timeline with all the fucked things they've done so we don't forget. (And hope in the next book, sjm writes about a war crime tribunal for the past... century) thanks for listening to my rant, I've just been struggling to figure out how characters and courts play out and getting more frustrated as I continue.

Anon, you summed up all my frustrations perfectly!

Sjm writes her worldbuilding and tropes like she’s still writing fanfiction. I try to write fanfiction of her stories and I realize I know nothing about the places we’re supposed to be exploring.

Sjm takes inspiration from many many things but then she doesn’t commit to anything. She cherry picks shit to utilize based on vibes and together it doesn’t make sense. It’s really annoying when you see inspiration from your culture that could’ve been used so much better.

As for the IC, they’ve committed so many crimes it would require a thorough reread of all the books to note down all of them.

[bklynmadman]

I grew up with Men like this.....

So, It's been awhile. Inspiration comes and goes, and it's been challenging to do the one thing that I've always loved to do, which is write. It doesn't matter if it's a Screenplay, or a Blog, or a Short Story. I've made it a point to try to get back to this exercise, and start with attempting a "Weekly" blog. Let's see how that goes for now, anyway, it's a topic that I've been thinking about since the Yankees lost the World Series. And that's is this election.

Before we go forward, this will be about Politics, so if you're seeing this and aren't interested, I will not be offended if you turned out or left. Just hit a like button before you move on. Thank you for reading this far, now back to our topic.

This election is probably the most polarizing one yet. On one side, we have Kamala Harris, the Democratic Frontrunner handpicked by President Biden, and Donald J. Trump, the so called "Republican" nominee for President of the United States. I say that in quotes for I no longer recognize this party as the party of Lincoln, as it has strayed further and further into extremism, hatred, and downright cruelty. I am a bit angry that this election is this close when it should be a blowout. But, as History has shown us, when a Demagogue appeals to the worst in all of us, some are bound to answer that call.

The thing is, and when I realized this, it hit home for me, and that was my starting point for the inspiration of this blog post. I had to realize, I GREW UP WITH PEOPLE LIKE TRUMP. As sad as it is to admit, allow me to explain.

I was born to an Middle/Upper Class White American Family, with Italian/Sicilian Heritage in it. I've attended Private School from Kindergarten up until High School as well. I never knew what struggling was like or went without. I did recognize there were others in my circle less fortunate than I was, but I had no idea how to empathize with them or see things from their point of view. I was taught that I was superior to others, including minorities, because of where I was born and what I had. (It didn't take for I've learned it was covert racism and I have since disavowed it) I wouldn't and still don't admit this when people meet me for the first time for I've learned as I aged, many people are quick to judge the moment it's revealed that you grew up with or had access to money. I'd like for people to get to know me before I share that with them on the grounds that no stereotypes or generalizations come towards me.

Staten Island is a small knit community, and does allow certain "Bubbles" to be formed. Staten Island is primed for people to live in isolation or separated from the rest of the city/state/world if people really wish to do so. The geographical layout helps Staten Island in this area for it is separated from the rest of the 5 Boroughs. Even then, it became people only kept to their social circles, or at least I was encouraged to do so, and did for awhile.

Growing up with people who are privileged, and I'm talking about wealthy white privileged people here, there tends to be a disconnect between them and the rest of the world. This may be a gross generalization, but this info is coming from someone who grew up with similar people in that circle, and demographic.

So, what can I say about Wealthy Whitey and the practices of that inner circle? For starters, Growing up wealthy, and privileged, many kids come away from it with pride and arrogance to their situation. Many mimic their parents, and how parents deal/talk with or about other people in their social circle. A lot of us found it normal when our parents would "Karen" out with a worker/waiter/ whomever is not giving them what they want. At the time, we thought "How couldn't it be normal? I saw other dads and moms do it, and I saw my own parents do it as well." The thing is, Wealthy White people aren't usually taught to be humble, or shown to be empathetic towards others. Before there was a word for it, I've watched what is now known as "Karen"ing. (Again, this was the circle I grew up in. Not to generalize) It became a general accepted practice when Rich White folk felt they weren't getting their money's worth. However, watching the other person, it's a degradation exercise like you've never seen.

When I think about some of the "Karen"ing I've seen, in my early years, (I can say that shit now that I've turned 40, so ha!) I've come to think about it a bit further. For instance, I don't know a single person who parts with their money, and when they feel they aren't getting their money's worth, say something or speak up for themselves. However, for Rich Whitey, this is much much much different feeling. In the circles I grew up in , it felt like someone had told the King to fuck off. There were always these invisible rules that service workers had to hit or the screaming/abuse began, but also gave us first hand knowledge of the "power of money".

The long and short of it is that when Wealthy people spend money, they expect a level or service that sings to a much higher standard than normal people. They will get upset/act out if they feel they are being treated like everyone else. Much of that feeling stems from insecurity. For example, If I'm spending let's say $10,000 on a dinner with my family, some would consider it terrible service if their drink had ever reached the bottom of the glass at any point during that dinner. Not even bothering to take into account things like: other tables, or other people waiting for their food, or the amount of staff working that evening. It doesn't matter! The attitude is this: If I'm dropping that kind of money, I want certain concessions. Even if the concessions are outrageous, it doesn't matter. The money being spent gives many the opinion that they are above the usual standard , even if it's a simple matter of being able to spend much more than the average joe, and want the extra/bonus things that type of spending would bring with it. (Again, it's insecurity)

This type of attitude breeds White Wealthy Privilege, and what winds up happening is many of the kids mimic their parents in both action and attitude. When people have a few dollars, they not only think that they should be receiving a better standard of service, but they also believe that most laws/rules do not apply to them either. Society bends over backwards for these big spenders only because of their big spending habits. Anyone who has worked in a high class restaurant as a waiter knows their regulars well, and also know that sometimes these regulars are assholes in attitude.

Why does this continue? Some of these richers I'm talking about are under the belief that their spending habits are putting more food on the table of others, and therefore are entitled to a level of consideration that goes beyond the normal expectations of a waiter/server. Many behave badly or obnoxiously, and it was justifed to me once that because of the amount of money being dropped on a bill, that the act was considered charity work. We've seen it with so called Celebrities such as James Corden, who had a habit of treating servers with ultimate disrespect simply because he was under the belief that it was a privilege to serve him, and anyone should be grateful for the opportunity to do so. That attitude reigned supreme where I grew up, and you can only be that way if you had the bank account to back it up. I would come to find out later, that the ones with the smaller bank accounts would mostly act this way, while the ones with the larger bank accounts were usually a lot nicer and humbler. (Insecurity is such a bitch, isn't it?)

One time when I was younger, I once saw another parent whom we were vacationing with at the time, in a high class hibachi bar raise an attitude and stink because the waiter told his kid they ran out of Coca-Cola. As a result, He completely "Karen"d it, threw a tantrum to the point that after awhile, the General Manager himself came over with a six pack of Coca Cola, and told the waiter to put the rest in a refrigerator for when the kid wants another one. This event, in and of itself, was bad for kids to watch now that I think about it, for us kids at the table watching learned first hand the power of spending a lot of money, and see how people "Hop To It" to get those who spend it what they want, regardless if it's reasonable or not.

Kids of the wealthy learn that money can bring you anything, even if it seems impossible. If nothing else, it brings a sense of power. For the right amount, it teaches kids you can get anyone to do anything for the right number. Some write this off as nothing or just the way the world works, but make no mistake, it's taking advantage of truly desperate people. As a result, what happens is that rich people just come to expect that type of treatment, without the pricetag. And therein lies the "disconnect" I was talking about earlier.

Sometimes when kids come from massive amounts of wealth, many have trouble relating to other people or people not in their economic class. How could they? They haven't experienced any of the issues from the other side, (the non-wealthy side), so how can they relate to anyone not in their economic class? It's all they know. In their world, no one tells them no, and anyone can be bought for the right number. However, what happens is sort of a result of a Pavlovian experiment, where the behavior is reinforced or exemplified, but the means and factors that enable it are removed. Everyone in their world acts like this, so this is their normal.

I won't be naming specific individuals that I spent my youth with, but I've come across many people who have acted, and moved through life like Republican Nominee Donald J. Trump. Let's talk about this GOP nominee for a second. He's a bully, a wanna be tyrant who believes he's a VIP only because of his money and what he/his brand brings when he's out. I don't know Donald, but in a sense I do know Donald. I know that Attitude. The super entitled, rules don't apply to me, bully, narcissist who has delusions of grandeur.

Donald is a product of a wealthy family, and with that comes privileges. He had his pick of the best and learned one trick that continues to work in his life. It's how to bully others to get what he wants. Many richers bully others, or use their wealth or weight to get what they want, and most of the time, it works. People on the receiving end usually don't have time to deal with it properly, don't want too, or the money is so crucial to them so they'll put up with bad behavior. The Richers know this, and continue to do it because of the other person's love/need of the money they get However, in the grand scheme of things, the money usually isn't that much, and this type of relationship only benefits the richer, and not the worker. You'll find that the worker has given much much more in service than he/she has received in compensation. It's exploitation at it's finest.

What made Trump a bully? Well, Bullies usually cover up something about themselves that they don't want others to see. In this case, Trump probably exhibits undiagnosed Dyslexia, meaning he can't read. There are a few reports in the news of people working with him or have worked with him that have admitted that he can't read. Id imagine he's probably ashamed of this, and reacts aggressive when someone calls him out on it. Trump has a lot of these flaws, which is what makes him the most insecure person in the world, and simultaneously, the potentially most dangerous person in the world if he is elected.

So why does Trump have enablers? Well, They're either bullied into it, or given a sum they are made to work for, and despite the sum, Trump expects the sun and the moon for his coin. In a sense, and this is the other ugly side of having a lot of money, when people like this give you a paycheck they think they're entitled to you, as if they bought you and own you like a pair of socks or a car. With that type of ownership, the worker is no longer a human being to the Richer. They aren't supposed to have problems, issues, children, or even issues getting to work on time. The attitude is "I pay your salary. You work for me. You do what I say or I will get someone who will." This attitude is the worst one to have, and the one that often causes anxiety issues or severe depression among the workers who have a supervisor that feels this way.

RECAP: Rich White Men mostly exhibit the following...

1.) Being the Center of Attention due to Status

2.) Knowing Money can make others do anything they wish

3.) A sense of ownership over someone once money is exchanged for someone's services.

So, what you basically have is a person of privilege, who is running for the highest office in the land, who wants the position he once held. Let's circle back to number 2 for a second. We all know money can make people do crazy things, but to those who have a lot more than others, it's a tool to do anything.

We see it in the news all the time, Rich White People usually don't face consequences for their actions. They pay a hefty fine, get a slap on the wrist, and the story disappears from the news just as quickly as it appeared. It's a given, outside of murder and mass fraud (i.e. Bernie Madoff) there are different laws that apply to Rich White Men. Donald is in that category. His entire life, he has learned to bully his way out of charges.

He has been charged, along with his father of discriminatory housing practices when he first started. He has been charged with running a phony university, a phony charity, and even falsified property values to get himself more favorable business loans. That last one he has been found liable for, and is currently banned from doing business in New York State.

He's used his lawyers to bully workers that performed work for him, either in one of his casinos or one of his properties, and refused to pay them what he agreed to pay them. If anyone had listened to the testimony given by his former fixer Michael Cohen, this was a flex for Donald. He was once quoted talking about one worker who completely renovated a few of his suites in one of his hotels for him, "I paid him enough".

He has assaulted multiple women, found liable for sexual assault against E Jean Carroll. He's best friend was Jefferey Epstein, known pedofile and sex trafficker. He also pals around with people like Vince McMahon, Former WWF/WWF owner, who is currently in a lawsuit that accuses him of sexual assault, rape, and sex trafficking. Birds of a Feather much?

After awhile, when you dodge these charges, an attitude develops. Trump has railed against the Judges, and people who have spoken out against him, denied his crimes, and even went so far as to say "Charges should've never been brought." There was even a rumor, that should Donald retake the white house, he will find a way to clear his record of any wrongdoing.

No one stops to think, where does this attitude come from? It comes from being a Spoiled Child who never had to face any consequences for his actions. A cruel one at that who really gets off at putting others down or depriving others of things.

In my circle of youth, We were taught that laws don't really apply to us, and that we could challenge them when we wished. We were encouraged to speak up when things didn't go our way, regardless of a badge or an uniformed officer. I used to hang out with a few "do you know who I yam?" people, and even more embarrassing "Do you know who my father is?" Money was usually spent whenever one of our circle got in trouble with the law. Many DUI, and DWI's covered up with slaps on the wrists, and hefty fines. So, why should the richers care if they can simply buy their way out of it?

The thing is, in Donald's case, he resents that he even has to pay money to get out of a jam. Donald truly believes he is king of the universe, and that different laws apply to him. It's evident in his actions, and his words. He is telling the truth usually about how horrible he is, and I stress to those that don't know, BELIEVE HIM!

This guy is under the impression that everyone is an enemy out to get him. He's constantly fighting with everyone, over anything because he wants to be treated like royalty, for he firmly believes that is what he deserves. He respects no one and nothing, none of his first two wives, and not even his 3rd wife with he has had many overt extramarital affairs, (Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal, and recently Laura Loomer. I mean, c'mon, sleep overs???? And people bought that?) Lord knows, who else.

How could all of this happen? Well, what do you reasonably expect from a privledged white rich dude, who doesn't have much money as he claims(Remember: Insecurity?) was never made to face consequences for his actions, who has always been able to get out of trouble mostly unscathed? Well, you get Donald Trump.

People seem to forget he only points out his own problems and talks about how he's slighted, how he's oppressed, how he's being treated unfairly. (I would even go so far as to wager that those shooters who tried to take him out were paid for by his campaign to garner sympathy. Check their family members bank accounts and see if there are sudden changes.)

I conclude, we can do better than this. You don't empower someone like this or reward them with power. It will only be spent to further his own gain, and I feel sorry for people that truly believe he'll fix their problems. He never has done anything, nor will he, that didn't benefit him.

[catboybiologist]

boymoders always be like "I'm not passing" while still activating the lesbian neurons in my brain smh how can both those things be true

anyway congrats on passing the thing!! my viva is coming ever closer and I'm def a little nervous lmao, how long did it take?

Good luck! I... had to look up what a Viva was, tbh. As far as I understand it, Vivas are another subtle difference between the two PhD systems in the world, so just to clarify: I do NOT have my PhD, but this is the most significant midway step. And this now has me on my whole little rant about the two PhD systems again!

Just a quick reminder if y'all aren't aware: there are two PhD systems in the world, largely split by geographic region, and I think this is why this confused me.

System A (the Americas, East Asia): the total time of the PhD is 5-7 years, the only strict entry requirement is a bachelor's degree (although, due to inflating standards, this is becoming less true in practice). Ends with a thesis defense on the research project you did during your time. At some midway point, you have a qualifying exam, which is a presentation you give about your project with the added twist that your committee is supposed to grill you about any subject even tangentially related to your research topic. The timing of this varies from the end of the first year to right before the thesis defense.

System B (Africa, Europe, Oceania, elsewhere in Asia): total time of a PhD is 3-5 years, but typically requires a separate master's degree or technical certification to start. Culminates in both a Viva, which is similar to our quals, and a defense? I think? Someone please correct me here.

They both total to the same amount of experience, its just split differently.

Currently, I'm 1.5 years into my PhD. This is pretty early to take my qual- my department does them early, because they're supposed to decide the direction of the rest of the years of your research, and I took it earlier than usual on top of that as well. I also already have a masters degree in a related but not quite the same subject (bioinformatics) so technically it's taken me 3.5 years of grad school.

Also. You're gay.

[lightlessentwine]

Shadow Realm Physical Location Theory

i'll be showing each variant simply to allow for interpretation, but i genuinely believe the last one i show is going to be the proven one.

[1. Recent Popular Theory]

i don't believe this is the most accurate understanding of the shadow realm, mostly because of the scale. many believe that the scarlet aeonia is where bayle's mountain once was, but i can't fathom why or how that would be the case when you consider the rest of the map and its elevation(s). it also doesnt seem to align the suppressing pillar with anything and charo's hidden grave doesn't appear to be hidden by any means in any manner. very little about this rendition seems to answer much, nor beg much question of anybody's understanding of the lore. it's an interesting layout to say the least, and would at least fill in the middle portion of the land

[2. First Personal Theory: Separate Lands]

no occupied land is taken up by another occupied land this way. The Suppressing Pillar is literally in the middle with this one, and Bayle's mountain serves as a landmark between the Bestial Sanctum and the Giants' Mountaintop. notably, this kinda "mirrors" a few landmarks of the map from base-game locations (for example, St. Trina's location would be approximately somewhere below the Divine Tower of Caelid, where we find the Godslayer Greatsword)

similarities between opposing parts of the map somewhat support the idea, but the theory is a bit loose and started falling apart in my head due to the position of the Erd/Scadutree being somewhat displaced between the realms, as well as some seemingly superficial placements like Rauh and the gravesite plain seem weirdly on their own (which frankly doesnt help the fact that they were both the hardest to figure out the lore of, personally)

one might argue that the displacement of the tree is similar to Ranni's spirit being partially outside of her vessel, but that could also be true of what i present to you now..

[3. Current Personal Theory: "Limgravesite" Theory]

it may be physically separate from the lands between but it was once literally a part of it.. the realm of shadow even snaps to my phone screen's center when placed in this manner, and it lines the crucible up with the center cloud:

the Rauh civilization held the Knowledge of Stone, and held great control over the water. their proximity to liurnia is surely no accident. it is only separated from Liurnia by Belurat and its bastion, Stormveil. it is also clear on the map that there is a rift directly across where stormveil's bridge is. it is likely that- and with however marika's rite worked- with the disappearance of specific structures and areas like Belurat and the Rauh Ruins, Liurnia may have begun to flood due to a lack of redirection or lower areas for water to shed toward, like the abyssal woods.

this also answers for other geographical oddities like the Weeping Peninsula being made an actual peninsula in the case that both maps were fully combined. Charo's Hidden Grave would fill the gap, while explaining why the Peninsula may be "Weeping." the Cerulean Coast is literally a sea of blue flowers among a titanic burial ground, and we know that blue magic is heavily tied to water. red magical aspects like seen in Charo's Grave have been almost completely erased from the Lands Between, barring a single weapon from "Eochaid" and one single mysterious bearing hunter. this red magic is likely meant to be akin to copper and blood, which rely on using an internal force to exert a will upon something. blue magic is harnessed extrinsically; pulled from an outside source.

i could keep going about this but i think i need to stop typing for now. might add to this post later]]]

[transmissionsfromthebattlefield]

Swiss-Fig-Havarti

Ah, 2023. You came too fast.

I haven’t had the time to sit down and pump out a blog post in a few days. That’s because I was spending quality time with a certain someone who’s long anticipated presence finally emitted in my house for ten days and granted me the satisfaction I had been craving for a good three months. So here’s the obligatory recap.

Overall, Max’s visit was an incredible time. Most of it consisted of me dragging him places to make him adjust quickly to the Pennsylvania landscape. We hoped for snow, but we instead were granted weather in the sixties on some days. Some of our time was spent inside, including for top secret recording sessions, the motive of which will be revealed to the public in a few months. (Ahahahaahahahah shit.) But most of our time was an excuse for me to subliminally flaunt my taken status to the world at large.

For example, my—or should I say our—last meal of the year was at Little Elephant, the best locally owned Thai place around. I got the yellow curry talay special, pictured below. Pure, earthy bliss. These are the types of things I enjoy.

We headed over to good ol’ Dave’s house for his new year’s eve bash afterwards. (You already saw photos from that night here or here.) Dave is a friend of our family, and his musical infatuations manifest in record parties where licorice pizzas are played by the side in the living room and charcuterie is bountiful in the dining room. (A lot of good food was eaten in those ten days, which should be obvious by now.) We effectively got to DJ for almost the entire night with zero vocal disapproval from anyone else, permitting me to infect my poor boyfriend’s ears with NoMeansNo and Alice Donut and the like. (Luckily, he got a kick out of them.) We danced to Captain Beefheart and overall had a great time. It was probably the most solid NYE party I could imagine. And I hate parties!

Had we stayed home we probably would’ve been watching Sia, who I didn’t even know people still gave a crap about, and David Byrne (hi, David Byrne) being excruciatingly awkward together on TV. We had to wait a few days to get to get that experience via YouTube and astounded friends, and we were geographically separated by that time. But I’m still mentioning it because I am not over how we allow such poor decision making to determine our television programming! Do you really think anyone wants to see Paris Hilton barely sing? At least, it doesn’t sound like anything’s coming out of her microphone there. I hate this culture.

We spent the first day of the new year sticking our tongues out at said culture in good old Baltimore. Our first priority was the American Visionary Art Museum, a current staple of preserving the city’s weirdo spirit. We spent most of our time in the gift shop ogling all the weird crap they have up for sale. We got matching JFK and Jackie O masks that we forgot to take photos with and a lot of other, smaller things.

The majority of the times I’ve been there were when I was much smaller than I even am now. Only one of the exhibits had been changed out since my last visit a few years ago, and a good amount of the museum is permanent. It felt so much the same that I felt almost out of place. This is no dismissal of the museum, and I recommend a visit to those who get the chance to stop in. But I felt overgrown there. The museum, which highlights ‘outsider’ and self-trained artists, revolves around the power and persuasion of innocence. I’m not so innocent anymore! It felt so strange even existing alone in such a complex, never mind leading a boyfriend around. I’m interpreting it as an experiential testament to how far I’ve come. And that’s a good thing. Living away for school, taking in things as myself, getting to share time with a worthy male companion—it’s what I wanted, and I’m happy to be having it. Getting to indulge in the latter after months of anxiety and anticipation was refreshing more than anything.

The rest of our excursion time was less philosophical. We stuck some stickers advertising Jerry Casale’s newest single outside the Sound Garden after dinner at our old Baltimore haunt, Papi’s, which received a much warmer reception from the man of the hour than I expected. You see, my boyfriend is San Diego born and raised, and he is a diehard foodie. If anyone is game to judge east coast Mexican fare, it’s him. He ended up raving to our waitress about how their street tacos beat some of the places back home in terms of their authenticity, which was kind of hilarious. Hey, it’s a point for Baltimore!

The next day we trucked through Amish country to get to the Record Connection up in Ephrata, where we dropped off a few of my boyfriend’s CDs as well as some by Monsieur Herr. Hopefully some “Pennsylvania Dutch” fraulein or freakoff hick gets their state altered by one of ‘em.

Max flew home on Wednesday. I adjusted quickly to not having him around—the internet does wonders, I guess—but I still miss him. Long distance relationships are wack. In a week I’ll be back in Kent, and I can’t be more excited. All the important emails are sent, the section of Music as a World Phenomenon I’m registered for STILL doesn’t have an assigned professor, and most of the anxiety is gone. If everything goes according to plan, I’ll see him again in due time. I’ll still long, but who wouldn’t?

It felt totally crucial to have him around, and I’m relieved that our time together was so enriching for us both. Yet it did not feel like some dramatic, radical upheaval to have a boyfriend at my side. In fact, it felt completely natural.

Which was exactly the way I wanted it to feel.

Happy 2023!

[eddiemunsonsmiddlefingers]

Oh my god I had a massive post written and Tumblr ate it. I don't think I have the heart to rework it entirely, so shorter (but still long) version:

Geographic separation from the rest of the world means that America doesn't have the influence of several dozen immediate neighbors to change its approach or perspective even when it really should.

Internalized American exceptionalism means a lot of people think the American way is the best way despite all evidence to the contrary. This is important because the US was founded on principles of individualism, liberty, and capitalism that stand in sharp contrast to socialist concepts.

Our most active voting population is older than 45. They can and do single-handedly swing election results in their favor even if doing so would actively damage future generations. (This is a very solidly researched theory with plenty of empirical evidence to back it up, for the record.)

For people older than 45, the Cold War was a major part of their youth. Young people might brush it off now, but the threat of nuclear war was real and Communism was genuinely scary. Socialism is not communism, but propaganda does what propaganda does, and the echoes are felt for many years after it ends...especially given how Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping lead their respective countries.

The United States has a first past the post electoral system, which means that whoever gets the most votes wins the election and there are no consolation prizes. This is a problem because it inevitably leads to a two-party system where voting for a third party actively damages a voter's interests. You can learn more about why this is the case in this fantastic short video. (Seriously, it's six and a half minutes long. Go watch it.)

Two party systems lead to extreme partisanship, which leads to people identifying so strongly with their party that they are completely incapable of seeing the truth about either party. This is how things like "Joe Biden is a Commie" come about: the Republican party paints Biden as an extremist in hopes of scaring centrists away from voting for him, while remaining deliberately blind to the actual extremists in their midst. The Democrats do the same thing with Republican candidates, for the record—neither party is blameless in this.

Politicians and parties are rational actors; that is to say, they're looking out for their own interests, which happen to be "get/stay in power and stay there." If they don't win the election, then they lose power, so they adjust their actions to attract as many voters as possible to achieve that goal. Since the largest voting population in the country dislikes the very idea of socialism and consistently votes in individually self-interested ways, there is currently no incentive for politicians or parties to veer further left, and every incentive for them to veer further right.

The easiest (edit: okay, not easy) fastest possible way to break out of this trap and get some real left-leaning stuff into our political landscape is for people younger than 45 to vote en masse, especially if they're liberal.

So. Get out there and vote in every election. Get your friends to vote, too. Fuck shit up. Show the existing parties that they need to care about what we have to say not because we're loud on social media, but because we will punch them where it hurts when voting time comes around if they don't.

Please. I'm begging you. I cannot scream loudly enough about how absolutely mind boggling it would be to political scientists (and political party leaders) if we pulled this one off.

I dunno I mean I knew a lot of Americans were against it but I assumed they were all elitist right wing weirdos.

What's the mainstream left wing position then if it's not socialism?

[phoenixyfriend]

Me, explaining Chanters of Tremaris to someone on Discord:

[Beware: spoilers ahead, if you intend to read the books]

Fictional planet, people can cause magic by singing, and the type of magic is generally a cultural/bloodline thing (much like AtLA)

Also a Prophesied One with All the Powers, except there's more than one person who can sing multiple magics, and the other guy is Evil

there's a fucked up city that's held up and kept beautiful and Not Falling Apart by enslaving children to sing it. Protagonists free the children and the city falls apart LITERALLY OMELAS I mean not really, because the Function of the enslaved and neglected children is obvious, and it's not everyone that knows But close enough

Haunting imagery of dead women sealed into a wall of ice out of fear of their illness reaching their sisters

Someone has a brother they didn't know about, and meets in the final book

The only girls allowed on boats are the ones that can sing the wind

(This is possibly just the one really misogynistic pirate ship, but still)

(A choice bit of worldbuilding. Girls are bad luck unless they can chant the wind)

Author did not seem to realize there was Lesbian Potential (boat girl and protagonist)

You get through the entire series and learn that the "lost magic" that nobody can rediscover is LITERACY nobody here can WRITE or READ there are no BOOKS

And you don't notice! As a reader! OUT OF SIGHT OUT OF MIND I GUESS

Also it turns out that this is. Not the original planet. They find The Oldest City and the city is actually a giant spaceship That was used to settle the planet centuries ago Possibly millennia, given that an entire portion of the population, geographically separated from the rest, does not have vocal cords

No we do not know how the fuck the entire human population managed to collectively forget how to write

The worldbuilding starts out very standard fantasy and then spirals wildly out of control

@ioudaleks, helping me out: IT’S SUCH BONKERS WORLDBUILDING AND IT WORKS

ALIENS

THE BIRDS

A GENERATION SHIP

FUCKING GLOBAL ILLITERACY

NOT EVEN THE MERCHANT CLASS

ioudaleks: ICE WALL WITH CORPSES

At this point, the person we were goading to read it (whose tumblr I am unsure of), asked "there's a merchant class with no writing?"

And. Yes. There is.

There is a college with no writing

There is aristocracy with no writing

It makes absolutely NO sense AND YET

ioudaleks: Compelling tho

Innocent bystander we are infodumping at: "ig the song magic makes it work somehow. sing your memory good"

Oh, not at all

Not everyone can magic

Fire magic has been almost completely forgotten because it was outlawed

And the country that now has zero magic is the one with a college

One of the college students invents a bicycle and then helps them become fugitives by blowing up his own workshop as a distraction

There's a really annoying romance, but it's Standard for the genre and year of writing (16-17yo girl and a guy in his late 20s/early 30s)

And the impossible city with the enslaved kids has some uh. Very Hapsburg-esque romances.

ANYWAY the people who don't have vocal cords DO have magic dancing

ioudaleks: One whole system is overtone singing and supposedly only men can do it because of something something vocal cords. Only women sing the ice magic.

The magic to charm "beasts" is said to be lost but it turns out that the ice priestesses have kept it up as an oral tradition The songs we sing for the bees aren't magic! They just Like It 😃

I would encourage most people to read it just for that absolute bonkers ramping up into insanity

There is a Magic Trumpet It is very small A clarion You can use it to make fire

The bicycle arsonist found it and gave it to the sailor girl

@ihaveatypeanditstrickstergods: Wait, was the last thing writing in general or just musical notation?

And I'm so sorry to confirm that uh

It was. All writing

You think it's just musical notation but then they Figure Out Syllables

(I reread them a few years ago and have a whole unhinged rant about the trilogy, in that same server, in February 2020)

The series has a very solid, long-term hold on my hindbrain.

Have I ever treated it as a fandom? No. Has it doubtlessly affected me as a person and a writer? Yes

[janedyson4thyear]

Heterosexualism and the Colonial / Modern Gender System

María Lugones

HAMTRAMCKFREESCHOOL.FILES.WORDPRESS.COM

The reason to historicize gender formation is that without this history, we keep on centring our analysis on the patriarchy.

a binary, hierarchical, oppressive gender formation that rests on male supremacy without any clear understanding of the mechanisms by which heterosexuality, capitalism, and racial classification are impossible to understand apart from each other.

an attempt to move, dislodge, and complicate what has faced me and others engaged in liberatory/decolonial projects as hard barriers that are both conceptual and political.

There has been a persistent absence of a deep imbrication of race into the analysis that takes gender and sexuality as central in much white feminist theory and practice

How do we understand heterosexuality not merely as normative but as consistently perverse when violently exercised across the colonial modern gender system so as to construct a worldwide system of power?

I do not believe any solidarity or homoerotic loving is possible among females who affirm the colonial/modern gender system and the coloniality of power.

also think that transnational intellectual and practical work that ignores the imbrication of the coloniality of power and the colonial/modern gender system also affirms this global system of power

The Coloniality of Power

Quijano understands that all power is structured in relations of domination, exploitation, and conflict as social actors fight over control of “the four basic areas of human existence: sex, labor, collective authority and subjectivity/intersubjectivity, their resources and products”

Global, Eurocentered, capitalist power is organized characteristically around two axes: the coloniality of power and modernity

the coloniality of power and modernity thoroughly infuse the meaning and forms of domination in each area.

Quijano also assumes patriarchal and heterosexual understandings of the disputes over control of sex, its resources, and products. Quijano accepts the global, Eurocentered, capitalist understanding of what gender is about.

Biological dimorphism, heterosexualism, and patriarchy are all characteristics of what I call the light side of the colonial/modern organization of gender.

“Eurocentric theories of social classes”

The invention of race is a pivotal turn as it replaces the relations of superiority and inferiority established through domination.

“America” and “Europe” are among the new geocultural identities. “European,” “Indian,” and “African” are among the “racial” identities.

This classification is “the deepest and most enduring expression of colonial domination”

Since then, it has permeated every area of social existence

all control over sex, subjectivity, authority, and labour are articulated around it

The division of labor is thoroughly racialized as well as geographically differentiated.

Kimberlé Crenshaw and other women of color feminists have argued that the categories have been understood as homogenous and as picking out the dominant in the group as the norm; thus women picks out white bourgeois women, men picks out white bourgeois men, black picks out black heterosexual men, and so on.

It becomes logically clear then that the logic of categorial separation distorts what exists at the intersection, such as violence against women of colour.

It is only when we perceive gender and race as intermeshed or fused that we actually see women of colour.

186-194

[libbyjanestudio4]

Heterosexualism and the Colonial / Modern Gender System

María Lugones

The reason to historicize gender formation is that without this history, we keep on centring our analysis on the patriarchy.

a binary, hierarchical, oppressive gender formation that rests on male supremacy without any clear understanding of the mechanisms by which heterosexuality, capitalism, and racial classification are impossible to understand apart from each other.

an attempt to move, dislodge, and complicate what has faced me and others engaged in liberatory/decolonial projects as hard barriers that are both conceptual and political.

There has been a persistent absence of a deep imbrication of race into the analysis that takes gender and sexuality as central in much white feminist theory and practice

How do we understand heterosexuality not merely as normative but as consistently perverse when violently exercised across the colonial modern gender system so as to construct a worldwide system of power?

I do not believe any solidarity or homoerotic loving is possible among females who affirm the colonial/modern gender system and the coloniality of power.

also think that transnational intellectual and practical work that ignores the imbrication of the coloniality of power and the colonial/modern gender system also affirms this global system of power

The Coloniality of Power

Quijano understands that all power is structured in relations of domination, exploitation, and conflict as social actors fight over control of “the four basic areas of human existence: sex, labor, collective authority and subjectivity/intersubjectivity, their resources and products”

Global, Eurocentered, capitalist power is organized characteristically around two axes: the coloniality of power and modernity

the coloniality of power and modernity thoroughly infuse the meaning and forms of domination in each area.

Quijano also assumes patriarchal and heterosexual understandings of the disputes over control of sex, its resources, and products. Quijano accepts the global, Eurocentered, capitalist understanding of what gender is about.

Biological dimorphism, heterosexualism, and patriarchy are all characteristics of what I call the light side of the colonial/modern organization of gender.

“Eurocentric theories of social classes”

The invention of race is a pivotal turn as it replaces the relations of superiority and inferiority established through domination.

“America” and “Europe” are among the new geocultural identities. “European,” “Indian,” and “African” are among the “racial” identities.

This classification is “the deepest and most enduring expression of colonial domination”

Since then, it has permeated every area of social existence

all control over sex, subjectivity, authority, and labour are articulated around it

The division of labor is thoroughly racialized as well as geographically differentiated.

Kimberlé Crenshaw and other women of color feminists have argued that the categories have been understood as homogenous and as picking out the dominant in the group as the norm; thus women picks out white bourgeois women, men picks out white bourgeois men, black picks out black heterosexual men, and so on.

It becomes logically clear then that the logic of categorial separation distorts what exists at the intersection, such as violence against women of colour.

It is only when we perceive gender and race as intermeshed or fused that we actually see women of colour.

186-194

[liopleurodean]

(All of my information comes from rereading Dragonsdawn last month, but I think a bunch of this stuff is on the wiki as well. I should also note that I don't know the first thing about wine, so this is solely based on what I've read in Pern.)

So first things first, Pern naturally has an extremely high boron content. It's actually one of the big things that separates Pernese flora/fauna from Terran (aside from the triple-helix DNA. Thanks, Todd). So we don't really need to worry about the boron content.

The second big thing is that, when Pern was being colonized, they brought a lot of Terran plants and animal embryos that they were going to adapt to Pernese conditions. Runnerbeast is the common term for livestock, most of which are direct descendants of cows and pigs, but also notably horses (as seen in Moreta). I had to look up the name, but the first Lord Holder of Benden (chief winemakers) was Rene Mallibeau, a guy with a very French name and stakes named after Italian locations (both Terran locations known for their wine). In Dragonsdawn, it's mentioned multiple times that Mallibeau was looking for places to claim land that would have the right clime and geographic formations to make wine. I believe it is also mentioned that he brought grape varieties with him, but this idea is further supported by the fact that Kitti Ping brought certain trees for her tea.

As far as varieties, they never mention specific names the way we have such varieties as Cabernet, Pinot Noir, etc. However, there seems to be four on Pern: Benden white & red, and Tillek white & red (I think Tillek wines are mentioned in other books, but they are mostly favored by Moreta, as opposed to the rest of the planet who prefer Benden). Red Star Rising (or Dragonseye) opens with a Benden Gather, mentioning that they were developing new strains, but they're not named beyond the standard year. It should be mentioned that, while Benden flavors were full and broad, Tillek wines all had a specific aftertaste that most people found disconcerting, and was caused by the would composition in Tillek vineyards.

The best way to answer some of these questions would be to read Dragonsdawn, but I will say that there is no mention of rare wines beyond particular years. They might have said things about how the vines were adapted, and I think they might have mentioned new Pernese-exclusive varieties, but it would have been a passing comment and there won't be much info on that.

Going insane about the fact that they have wine on Pern, like

How do the planet's conditions influence the wine??? Did the colonists have to adapt the species as a whole?? Did it adapt on its own? How do the elements in the soil affect the taste?? The seasons? Sunlight?? Are there completely new varieties and cultivars that would be impossible on earth?? Are there rare wines reserved for special occasions that can only be made from grapes grown on Thread-fertilized soil??

Edit:

!!!!

[tobias-hankel]

Hotchreid drabble- something about Spencer throwing hands against someone who takes one too many jabs at Hotch

Can be a verbal beatdown or a physical one

I'm taking Hotchreid drabble requests in honor of the Hotchreid Zine release.

For more information about our Hotchreid Zine, make sure to check out Tumblr - all proceeds go to SharedHope, a charity to combat sex trafficking.

--

wc: 584

cw homophobia

One thing Spencer loved about Hotch was how he was always able to keep his composure – it could also be the most frustrating thing about him.

Hotch and Spencer were stuck at the police station with one of the most intolerable and prejudice group of officers they had dealt with so far – which only got worse when they found out that Spencer and Hotch were married. Something as small as Agent Hotchner and Dr. Reid-Hotchner didn’t escape the homophobic police station.

It started with a side eye, a huff, a laugh – nothing the two couldn’t ignore but once the rest of the team left, it was open season against the two. Normally Hotch would have taken Spencer into the field, leaving another two team members that weren’t subject to the officer’s hate at the station but with Spencer’s knee acting up and him relying heavily on his cane, it was better to stay put.

Hotch was reading through files and Spencer was working on the geographic profile when they heard some men from the other side of the room. The police station wasn’t big enough to have a separate room for the agents to work, meaning there was no escape from the officers.

“I would have never guessed the Unit Chief of the BAU was a cock sucker.”

“That is probably how he got to where he is.”

“You saying the FBI is full of fudge packers like him?”

Spencer looked over at Hotch as the men talked. He could see Hotch was annoyed but wasn’t going to do anything to stop the men.

“Maybe that is why he stayed behind.”

“Only good at taking dick and nothing else.”

Spencer couldn’t take it any longer. The men weren’t just insulting the Unit Chief, but his best friend and husband. Spencer stood up, leaning on his cane – he heard a “don’t” from Hotch, but it didn’t stop him. “Will you three shut up? We are trying to catch a serial killer.”

The three moved a little closer and the one in the front spoke up, “Aww, did we disturb your coloring?”

“It’s called geographic profiling. I would explain it to you further, but you are clearly too stupid to understand it.” Spencer deadpanned.

“Stupid and alone apparently.” Spencer continued before the man could start yelling. “The tan line on your finger suggests that you were married. You were drinking from a Motel 8 travel cup earlier, so you are living out of a motel room – suggesting she left you but still took the house. Now you have nothing, so you try and feel better by attacking my husband.”

“Why you—” The officer started before lunging at Spencer. Spencer didn’t even think as he swung his cane at the officer, hitting him square in the head and causing him to fall over. He would be lying if he said he didn’t enjoy hitting one of the men that was making fun of Hotch.

“He tried to hit me first,” Spencer said, looking back at Hotch – who looked as if he wanted to kill the man for almost hitting Spencer.

“I saw,” Hotch walked up to the one officer on the floor and the two staring in shock. “You three, come with me. Your commanding officer is going to love hearing about this.” As the two start to move to their commanding officer’s office – helping the third man up – Hotch leaned against Spencer, giving him a barely there, yet loving, kiss on the cheek.