#it’s basically expected methodology at this point

[tielt]

->

[curio-queries]

Are You Sure?!

(Is this the end?!)

It's finally time for my AYS wrap-up post! (goodness knows I've rambled on about this show enough, maybe there'll be more to say in the future but this is likely where I'll conclude this series for now)

Link to my AYS MasterList

Promotions/Finances

One of the points we discussed quite a bit while watching this show was how paying attention to promotional content and financial implications can help us discern a little regarding the inception of the show and how that influences the final product.

I'd assume this methodology is similar for all of the content Hybe produced but I admittedly don't watch much that's outside the scope of BTS. If any of you have any insight on how this is structured for other groups, I'd definitely be interested to hear about it! Anyway, regarding AYS, we've been theorizing that the US episodes were filmed on speculation and could then have been used to shop around to brands for sponsorships which would continue to fund more trips.

Product placements:

Ep.1 (USA): None (edited to add Nike, check out the reblogs for more on this)

Ep.2 (USA): None

Ep.3 (Jeju): Clothes

Ep.4 (Jeju): Vitamins & Hydration Spray

Ep.5 (Jeju): Perfume

Ep.6 (Sapporo): Sunglasses

Ep.7 (Sapporo): Sunscreen & Skiwear

Ep.8 (Sapporo): Perfume

Something else that stuck out to me during my initial watch-throughs as well was the progression of including establishing shots of the businesses they visit. There were basically none in the US episodes but by the time we get to Sapporo, these shots linger for long enough to me to notice. The signs and logos are blurred out as expected to bolster BTS's brand power but it's interesting to me that these shots just weren't included at all in the US portion.

The crew brought some very skilled operators with them to Jeju and Sapporo as evident by the gorgeous cinematography. I'm not saying they didn't have the same level of skill in the US, but there may not have been the same directive to focus on this or the level of equipment needed for the crew to really show off.

Sidenote: I KNOW I'd made some notes also on the blurring of the various vehicle logos as there were some inconsistencies and we know BTS as a whole has previously partnered with Hyundai but I can't find my notes and I'm not rescouting the episodes right now for this. If any of you happen to remember, please share!

Bonus Footage

Something I was really looking forward to was seeing if there was any obvious reasoning behind what footage would be saved for the bonus release instead of included in the official episodes. Afterall, access to this footage was likely the main reason many decided to purchase the photobook at all so there had to be some fulfillment for the perceived value. I wondered if they might take a similar approach to Run BTS's bonus footage where there is regularly a dedicated camera capturing footage specifically for this purpose. Now that I've finally received my photobook and been able to watch these clips, I believe most of footage was separated for the bonus content for a few specific reasons:

Footage quality: There's a good portion of the bonus footage that was captured via handheld cameras with less-than-stellar quality. I'm not trying to disparage the operators' skills but there's a specific tone that non-steady-cam footage brings and it wasn't necessarily in-line with the overall tone much of the edit required. It also reminds the audience at least subconciously that our guys are being followed by a camera crew which typically isn't the intent of BTS content and definitely was minimized as much as possible during AYS. More on this concept in the next point. Example: JK packing his suitcase in USA. That footage is very pretty shaky.

Fourth-Wall Breaks: Is this a phrase y'all still understand these days? Again, the idea of reminding the viewer that this is footage being captured by cameras and microphones and we're not just a fly-on-the-wall. There were plenty of moments in the Bonus footage where JM/JK call attention to the fact that they're filming a show or where the crew interacts with them. Quite a few of these were specifically to highlight photo ops (another subconscious reinforcement of the value delivered with the photobook purchase. the viewer can see footage of JM/JK taking pics that only appeared in the photobook they just flipped through and feel a further connection to the moment). Example: JM and JK taking each other's pics in front of the restaurant in Sapporo.

Pacing: I would categorize the rest of the bonus footage as micro-moments or extensions of scenes we did receive in the full episode but if included as-is, would have broken the desired pacing of the episode. There's no flow to worry about with the Bonus footage rather than chronologically so they're welcome to throw everything together and it doesn't feel like a storytelling misstep. Example: Jimin actually eating and chatting with V and JK at the seaside restaurant in Jeju. Including this would have broken the flow of the edit where they had the sped-up footage of JM describing the history of Jeju while the others just ate.

I was honestly surprised by the amount of editing present in the bonus clips. I'm sure there was always a plan to release some extra footage some way but it wouldn't surprise me if this decision was made early enough that they left much of it in queue for the first rounds of edits because they knew they'd be charging for access to it. Having at least some basic editing again helps justify the value.

Sidenote: there is no reference to 'keep going' in the photobook. So we have no further clues there. There's a couple of 'Go JK' or 'Go Jimin' captions but not 'keep going'.

Title Cards

Y'all I had been so confused by these from the very beginning but probably not for the reason you're thinking. I made note of which scenes had title cards and exactly what Jimin's voiceover line stated with each one. Mostly, WHY they decided to include the ones they did and the inconsistencies with what activities got a title card and which one's didn't.

Ep.1 (USA): We're having our first meal in America

Ep.1 (USA): It's fun to ride kayaks

Ep.2 (USA): We enjoy a yacht ride

Ep.2 (USA): We're eating our final meal

Ep.3 (Jeju): We're going climbing

Ep.4 (Jeju): A three-way split is fun

Ep.5 (Jeju): We are going for a swim

Ep.6 (Sapporo): We're on a train

Ep.7 (Sapporo): We are at a ski resort

Ep.8 (Sapporo): I love the convenience store

We know from the bonus footage that Jimin recorded many more than they used. Episodes 1 & 2 have two each and the rest only have one. Now, I'm not trying to say that they were trying to make those episodes seem more full than the others...but I'm not NOT saying it either...

It's just also very interesting which ones they decided to use as well. Prior to the footage of Jimin recording it, I'd wondered if they'd just asked Jimin to make something up about whichever activities were the most memorable for him but that definitely wasn't the case (thank goodness, our guys do NOT have the best of memories with things like this).

Follow-ups

Queries from my first AYS episode post:

Will there be any tonal shift? Specifically, now that JM and JK have some uncertainties about the viability of their US adventure. Will it seem like they're compensating?

I don't think so, not for this reason at least. It seemed more like this production was naturally growing into what it would become. There were definitely some tonal variances, especially how 'action-packed' ep.3 was but I still feel like it was not too far of an outlier and more just helping them find what works best for this type of show.

We know Tae is going to be in at least the next episode. How is this going to handled narratively and will there be any visible contradictions from that narrative in the production?

I mean, there was definitely some variance in the story from the episodes to some of the bonus footage but I think that was generally just the guys being their entertaining selves.

At what point was the final quantity of locations and shoots locked down? And when/if will JM and JK make mention of this.

Genuinely, I think this was only finalized when they couldn't actually schedule anymore trips! It's definitely an interesting approach when you consider how intense the BTS production engine must be, especially in the lead-up to the members' military service and trying to prepare all of the releases that we would get while they were away. It's also one of the things I think JK was referring to in that clip from the US where he says he's never travelled so freely before. To start a shoot of this magnitude and not have some firm deliverables for the end result nailed down is pretty wild. I'm so glad it worked out for them as well as it did.

If/How will the music promotion narrative shift? It's clear that this episode could not have been released until after MUSE's release once they decided to keep the footage of JK listening to Who. But when was that decision made?

Interestingly enough, I think this show was never really designed with music promotion in mind. Yes, they definitely couldn't have released it until after MUSE's release with the inclusion of that Who-listening session but that easily could have been removed or included in the bonus footage if a delay was needed. I think the timing did work out great for it but yeah, overall, music promotion was not likely one of the main drivers of this show.

On a somewhat-related note though, one thing has had me wondering from the beginning. Y'all remember the end of ep.1 when JM says he doesn't think this footage will air? Just what experiences does he have with content they've filmed that we DON'T get? Just what else have they hidden back from us? haha, we want it all!

The End

Okay, that's enough from me on this topic for now. I'm sure there's more we can chat about with this show and I absolutely can't wait until our guys are back and can travel again! I hope they're able to use this show as an excuse to do things they want that they typically wouldn't.

Thank-you to everyone that's been joining me in these chats. It's been so lovely to chat with many of you about this show and it's beyond humbling that people are at all interested in my random observations. I'm so happy y'all were here with me experiencing this great show together.

[velvet-vox]

The paradoxical nature of Qilby: part 2

Going back to the end of the previous part where I declared Qilby an autism icon, it came to me the realisation that autism is really the only way to justify some of Qilby's actions and odd behaviour; as a big brother and autistic person myself I also would force the people I care about to engage in my interests, I understand on a subconscious level that what I am doing is wrong, but I just care about it so much that I need to share it with them at all costs.

(Even though I would never go as far as starting a war with another species just to force my race to go on a family trip with me).

And like, no offence to Yugo or the Elatrope council but it is my theory that all the Yugo haters have begun popping up due to some people head cannon that him and his family is inadvertently ableist, which (although I might agree considering their dynamic and who their mother is) I don't think it's completely warranted; as someone else pointed out if mental health and psycho analysis existed in the Krosmoz then Nox would have never come to be; if somebody explained what autism is to Yugo then maybe he would be more lenient on Qilby (or maybe not, after all he is his brother), Nora also doesn't know about autism but she is more accepting of Qilby's oddities even if she doesn't like them, and Qilby SURE AS HECK DOESN'T KNOW WHAT AUTISM IS.

Side note: Shinonome is not necessarily autistic, since my sister understands me perfectly and she isn't on the autism spectrum herself, but she clearly has inherited her more passive personality from her mother while Qilby has probably taken more from his father meaning that even if she was she probably wouldn't go about it in the boisterous manner of his twin.

However all of this is just a head canon and not the focus of this post. What I instead want to point out and analyse is the list-like approach of Qilby to anything and how that reflects the way many autistic people approach mostly every conflict in their life. Let me explain:

The way this list-like methodology works is entirely centered around a priority system, so basically Qilby schematizes in his head what he needs to do and say in which order and he has to follow it religiously in order to get anything done, so like on his to do list there is:

First: Confront Adamai and Grougal. Second: Get Rushu's army and alliance. Third: Confront Yugo and Phaeris and take them out. Fourth (interchangeable with third): Get the Dofus. Fifth: Go the Emrumb to get the children. And Sixth: Leave the planet.

And he has to do them in this order because this is the way that he has envisioned them.

This is also reflected in the way that he goes about science and space travel: he reaches a planet, discovers his species, analyses them, classifies them, compartmentalizes them, collects some, rinse and repeat in the next world.

And finally, I want to bring up his two most famous sentences of season 4 to showcase how this priority based thought process carries on to his speech pattern and family view.

"My dear Yugo, we are brothers, before being enemies"

See?

Qilby realises on his relationship list that Yugo is its enemy, but that before that he is its brother, that's what has the biggest priority for him in this moment and in general. But that's not even the most interesting part:

"Farewell Yugo. My brother, my king."

This phrase of course has been plastered all over the fanbase, but like.... did anybody ever think about how weird this sentence is? You would expect Qilby to say brother as his last word, as a final acceptance nod to the fact that deep down he does care about Yugo. But no. Instead he says:

"Good luck"(the situation's dramatic, so he's giving Yugo an encouragement as the first thing)

"My brother,"(Yugo is his demigod brother born from another Dofus)

"My king."(lastly, Yugo is also his king, as sentenced by Chibi in a previous life)

Qilby could have just called Yugo brother as his last word to show that he cares, but instead he decides to call him king, a title that means very little to him on their relationship chart, to show that he values him so much that he is going to use a term that means very little to him just to let Yugo know that he is willing to acknowledge the part of their brotherhood that he doesn't care about as a substitute acceptance nod to the aspect of their dynamic that he values the most.

<<<<Previous part

Nox analysis

Oropo analysis

[soon-palestine]

Damages to Physical Structures Estimated at $18.5 billion as of end January

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2024 – The cost of damage to critical infrastructure in Gaza is estimated at around $18.5 billion according to a new report released today by the World Bank and the United Nations, with financial support of the European Union. That is equivalent to 97% of the combined GDP of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022. The Interim Damage Assessment report used remote data collection sources to measure damage to physical infrastructure in critical sectors incurred between October 2023 and end of January 2024. The report finds that damage to structures affects every sector of the economy. Housing accounts for 72% of the costs. Public service infrastructure such as water, health and education account for 19%, and damages to commercial and industrial buildings account for 9%. For several sectors, the rate of damage appears to be leveling off as few assets remain intact. An estimated 26 million tons of debris and rubble have been left in the wake of the destruction, an amount that is estimated to take years to remove.

The report also looks at the impact on the people of Gaza. More than half the population of Gaza is on the brink of famine and the entire population is experiencing acute food insecurity and malnutrition. Over a million people are without homes and 75% of the population is displaced. Catastrophic cumulative impacts on physical and mental health have hit women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities the hardest, with the youngest children anticipated to be facing life-long consequences to their development.

With 84% of health facilities damaged or destroyed, and a lack of electricity and water to operate remaining facilities, the population has minimal access to health care, medicine, or life-saving treatments. The water and sanitation system has nearly collapsed, delivering less than 5% of its previous output, with people dependent on limited water rations for survival. The education system has collapsed, with 100% of children out of school.

The report also points to the impact on power networks as well as solar generated systems and the almost total power blackout since the first week of the conflict. With 92% of primary roads destroyed or damaged and the communications infrastructure seriously impaired, the delivery of basic humanitarian aid to people has become very difficult.

The Interim Damage Assessment Note identifies key actions for early recovery efforts, starting with an increase in humanitarian assistance, food aid and food production; the provision of shelter and rapid, cost-effective, and scalable housing solutions for displaced people; and the resumption of essential services.

About the Gaza Interim Damage Assessment Report The Gaza Interim Damage Assessment report draws on remote data collection sources and analytics to provide a preliminary estimate of damages to physical structures in Gaza from the conflict in accordance with the Rapid Damage & Needs Assessment (RDNA) methodology. RDNAs follow a globally recognized methodology that has been applied in multiple post-disaster and post-conflict settings. A comprehensive RDNA that assesses economic and social losses, as well as financing needs for recovery and reconstruction, will be completed as soon as the situation allows. The cost of damages, losses and needs estimated through a comprehensive RDNA is expected to be significantly higher than that of an Interim Damage Assessment.

[sophia-zofia]

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2024 – The cost of damage to critical infrastructure in Gaza is estimated at around $18.5 billion according to a new report released today by the World Bank and the United Nations, with financial support of the European Union. That is equivalent to 97% of the combined GDP of the West Bank and Gaza in 2022. The Interim Damage Assessment report used remote data collection sources to measure damage to physical infrastructure in critical sectors incurred between October 2023 and end of January 2024. The report finds that damage to structures affects every sector of the economy. Housing accounts for 72% of the costs. Public service infrastructure such as water, health and education account for 19%, and damages to commercial and industrial buildings account for 9%. For several sectors, the rate of damage appears to be leveling off as few assets remain intact. An estimated 26 million tons of debris and rubble have been left in the wake of the destruction, an amount that is estimated to take years to remove. The report also looks at the impact on the people of Gaza. More than half the population of Gaza is on the brink of famine and the entire population is experiencing acute food insecurity and malnutrition. Over a million people are without homes and 75% of the population is displaced. Catastrophic cumulative impacts on physical and mental health have hit women, children, the elderly, and persons with disabilities the hardest, with the youngest children anticipated to be facing life-long consequences to their development. With 84% of health facilities damaged or destroyed, and a lack of electricity and water to operate remaining facilities, the population has minimal access to health care, medicine, or life-saving treatments. The water and sanitation system has nearly collapsed, delivering less than 5% of its previous output, with people dependent on limited water rations for survival. The education system has collapsed, with 100% of children out of school. The report also points to the impact on power networks as well as solar generated systems and the almost total power blackout since the first week of the conflict. With 92% of primary roads destroyed or damaged and the communications infrastructure seriously impaired, the delivery of basic humanitarian aid to people has become very difficult. The Interim Damage Assessment Note identifies key actions for early recovery efforts, starting with an increase in humanitarian assistance, food aid and food production; the provision of shelter and rapid, cost-effective, and scalable housing solutions for displaced people; and the resumption of essential services.   About the Gaza Interim Damage Assessment Report The Gaza Interim Damage Assessment report draws on remote data collection sources and analytics to provide a preliminary estimate of damages to physical structures in Gaza from the conflict in accordance with the Rapid Damage & Needs Assessment (RDNA) methodology. RDNAs follow a globally recognized methodology that has been applied in multiple post-disaster and post-conflict settings. A comprehensive RDNA that assesses economic and social losses, as well as financing needs for recovery and reconstruction, will be completed as soon as the situation allows. The cost of damages, losses and needs estimated through a comprehensive RDNA is expected to be significantly higher than that of an Interim Damage Assessment.

[max1461]

To a first approximation, I think philosophy is basically "thinking not (yet) categorized as something else". Maybe this view will piss off everyone. But it's certainly the case that historically, many fields of study started out being considered subfields of philosophy (the natural sciences, logic, psychology... in the Western tradition, everything but math and history, it would seem) before acquiring enough of their own character and/or cultural status to be considered something else.

You can see this as a positive or a negative fact about philosophy, but I think it's basically neutral. Philosophy is what we call it when people are trying to figure something out, but their efforts have not yet acquired a distinct cultural or institutional position, or strongly unique set of characterizing methodologies, or so on. And naturally there are going to be topics like this. Any time you start asking questions that you're not exactly sure how to approach, that's philosophy. Maybe that's not all philosophy is: there are certainly some methodologies more-or-less unique to it. But I contend that they are not characteristic of it. That is to say, they coexist with "hey, I just thought up this question and I'm not sure exactly how to answer it but I'm just gonna start contemplating it, I suppose, and hope I get somewhere".

And it's like... that will always exist! You can stop calling it philosophy, but people will always need to contemplate a bit to answer new questions, whether some more specific methodology presents itself later or not. And this role as a catch-all title for "contemplating things not otherwise categorized" means that I think criticisms of philosophy as an endeavor are sort of uniquely meaningless. Philosophy isn't anything in particular! It's just whatever!

Certainly you can critique philosophy as a set of institutions that presently exist, or you can critique specific schools of thought, or whatever. But... if you're a scientist, you are doing science when you make models and test them, when you are calculating something or running an experiment, or planning for such, etc. But you also have to think about science on a meta-level, just because people always have to think about what they are doing on a meta-level to some degree. And when you do that, you are engaged in the same methodological thing as philosophers of science, although you might not be reading their papers or whatever. To critique this as a general activity seems almost meaningless.

Likewise if you are a mathematician, you think at least somewhat about philosophy of math. You can't not, even if you don't call it that. You have to have some thoughts on, e.g., what mathematical abstractions are, just from looking at them all day every day. If you're a historian you have to think about what constitutes a good historical argument and good historical evidence. If you're an artist you will think about what you want out of your art, what you're making it for. Etc.

I expect objections from both philosophers and decided non-philosophers to this point, but I think it's really essentially correct at its core. Everyone is always doing a little bit of the thing that philosophers do officially, you can't get through life without doing it, and indeed if you take a strong decided position against it you would appear to in that choice be doing it!

This has all been said before. But I do think it's worth saying again.

[thornfield13713]

so, what's the deal with Georgia and Hancock? I mean, I know they end up together, but the early stuff seemed to suggest they were not going to be friends.

When I get around to writing the fic, her early relationship with Hancock is going to be a very fun exploration of some of Georgia's character flaws. Namely: she makes a lot of snap decisions about people, she's stubborn as all hell, and she's prone to confirmation bias.

Hancock makes...his canonical first impression. And Georgia, who hasn't been out of the Vault that long at this point and whose exposure to violence so far has mostly been in kill-or-be-killed situations, takes it really badly. And from then on out, she takes the least charitable interpretation of everything Hancock says or does...right up until the end of the Big Dig quest. Which- Georgia might've been entirely up for robbing Hancock...if it weren't for needing to kill Fahrenheit and her men to do it. No love lost there either, Georgia's just...she feels like she needs more justification for killing than just money, and that's all Bobbi is giving her. Even then, she's not keen on Hancock and she's pretty sure when she heads up to the Old State House, that this is going to end in a confrontation that is probably going to end bloodily and almost certainly going to lead to her never being able to come back to Goodneighbour.

And then Hancock starts worrying aloud about letting power get to his head, and actually decides to leave Goodneighbour over it. And that just- it's not something that fits at all with the image of him she's built up in her head. She was wrong about him - maybe not entirely wrong about him being dangerous, but he does at least mean what he says, and even if he's a bit more comfortable with violence than she'd like...well, so are a lot of people she now calls friends. It's a more violent world now than she'd like. Basically, it's the big 'Darcy's letter' moment in this relationship, when Georgia realises that she made that first judgement too hastily, and that she might be completely wrong about Hancock's character, motives and intentions.

In the fic, I'd probably put them going to rescue Kent from Sinjin...between Hancock deciding to leave for a while, and Georgia asking him to come with her/him formally announcing it. They're in the middle of that conversation when Kent being kidnapped comes on the radio, and they pause that whole conversation to deal with it. And in the process of that whole business, they find that they work well together, have a very compatible sense of showmanship and its uses, and Hancock is the one who gets the shot that stops Sinjin from blowing Kent's brains out while Georgia is busy putting the fear of the Silver Shroud into his goons. All of which, plus Hancock's little pep-talk to Kent afterwards, gets them pretty solidly to 250 approval and that first affinity conversation back at the Old State House, which leads into Georgia offering that, since he's planning on going for a walk anyway...she does kinda need help with the whole 'getting into Fort Hagan to face down Kellogg and save her son' thing, if he'd be up for it. She's not...really expecting him to say yes, because she's pretty sure she's burned her bridges there, and is kicking herself for it...but he does.

After that, they're friends, and even if they argue, there's a bedrock of trust there that, even if they disagree on methodology, they are agreed about what sort of world they want to create and what sort of things they want to do in it. The romance...sort of builds from there.

[zydrateacademy]

Review - Warhammer 40,000: Battlesector

What an amazing experience this game is.

I've had it wishlisted probably since it showed up but there it fell under my radar since its release. It may or may not have caught some sales in that time but again it went unnoticed and what an absolute crime that is. Released in 2021, it recently just came out with the T'au army which put the rest of the game and its various army packs on sale to an agreeable level, and putting it back on my radar.

Many Warhammer games usually nail the aesthetic, themes, diction, and storylines but very few capture the actual feel of playing on tabletop. There was Dawn of War which depicted swaths of armies cutting across the landscape but it was all in real time, the only methodology there was making sure your travelling teams had all the right counters to vehicles and infantry and after that you basically just let it go.

What we have here is a unique XCOM-like that may very well be the closest many of us will get to playing the actual tabletop game. We have a campaign (just one; following a Blood Raven chapter of the space marines) and two extra modes. Demonic Invasion is a wave based king of the hill type thing where you hold off for as long as you can as every round will continually spit the chaos god's minions at you. There's Planetary Supremacy, which is a sort of Catan/Risk style hex board that players of Dark Crusade or Soulstorm may be familiar with. It's the mode most of my hours have been played on. My only wish is that it could go for just a bit longer, maybe a bigger map, more enemies fighting each other, better node control.

In extension, there's also custom campaigns players can build as well as skirmishes for you to play against AI or other players. As of this writing there is no Co-op and that's quite a shame.

So there's a lot to do here. Some of the more mixed reviews, especially targetting the new armies, are complaining that there's not a super special story campaign for each and every single one of them. That is frankly not so much a problem for me, as I immediately gravitated towards the hex board game mode and just enjoyed having my hands on the Necron for the first time in many years. Now in HD with reflections! My dead bois are beautiful!

There's plenty to learn as well. Even on the easiest difficulties, the AI can route you. My Necron have units called Warriors, basically the equivalent to shotgunners. They also have the slowest movement of my army so it's difficult to get them into position and keep my general army momentum going. Sometimes they fall behind and I lack the much needed damage against enemy swarm units, and I've lost some good troops because I didn't have enough people shooting back. It's how I nearly lost against the Tyranids one game despite outnumbering them by 500 army points. Tactics very much matter here.

There's also a photo mode which is a bit fickle. The camera is locked at certain height over the floor tile so it's difficult to get sweeping, heroic visions of your armies from foot-level. You're more or less stuck staring at them from head-on. It's fun to play around with, though.

So while there is a campaign (just the one), this game could be treated more like a sandbox than anything else. I'm told from the game's discord they plan on releasing free units over the coming months. This is good, because that's one of my chief complaints about the game. There's a significant lack of versatile units to play with. Each faction gets around a dozen to fifteen to allocate with your army point cap (another staple of Tabletop that most games don't quite capture), with Khorne getting the shortest end of the stick (and the cheapest DLC) whom only have eight units to choose from. There's a significant lack of Kroot and vehicles here, and foot troops seem to be a choice between three different things. There's a lot more than that on tabletop.

Not that I expect this to be the tabletop simulator but it cuts real damn close. Closer than most games in this franchise. A must have if you like turn-based XCOM-likes.

[studentessa-socit]

My first year as a sociology student

social psychology: 31/30, 8 CFU

This is the first exam I took, I studied a textbook on social psychology, a book about traditional masculinity, and then wrote and essay in which I had to apply the things I learned from the class on a current topic with another student (we did this by applying the theories on traditional masculinity to Adrew Tate). The essay gave me the bonus point thanks to which I was able to get the honours. I loved this classe and was very proud about my preparation for this exam.

sociology institutions: 28/30, 12 CFU

This class was about the basics of sociology, we just had a simple textbook to study, we did some debate in class in which we engaged with different kinds of articles but it wasn't graded. I hated the teacher and didn't organize well for the exam, but 28 is still a VERY high grade. I was surely prepared enough, but it was my least favourite class.

history of sociological theory: 23/30, 12 CFU

I LOVED this teacher and this class, I prepared well for this exam (one textbook). I really enjoyed to engage with all of the different approaches people had through the history of the discipline and the way they disagreed with one another, it was almost like studing philosphy. Unfurtunately the professor was very demanding and I just got a 23 (I'm ok with it).

law and society: 30/30, 6 CFU

This was basically a public law class about Italy and the EU which focused a bit more on how and why the laws are made and compared different european constitutions. I thought I would have hated it, instead I loved it. We had one textbook assigned but I was able to rely just on my notes. Very nice professor too.

accademic writing: passed, 2 CFU

A seminar in which they teached us how to write at an accademic level (since in Italy is not very common to assign essays and papers to bachelor students but you have to write an extensive thesis to graduate, and they realized no one never teaches us how to). We excercized to structure a sociological paper and then wrote it and submitted. I passed but there was no grade. Very useful.

methodology of sociology: ??, 8 CFU

This is the exam I was preparing this august while I was doing the study challenge. The reading consisted in a textbook and 10 articles we had to analize. I went to take this exam on september 5th, kind of confident in my preparation, and realized I didn't study a part of the material because I didn't know it was assigned. I learned the lesson and will always double, triple check the material assigned BEFORE organizing the study, I was also very unlucky because on the previous dates of the exam there weren't question about this topic and a lot of other students didn't expect to find it in the questions. Anyway, I withdrew and will take it again this semester.

contemporary history: ??, 8 CFU

I simply gave up on this exam because I couldn't study for two while working full time. Will take it next semester.

So... this is who I am. My results are above average, but I'm not an academic weapon.

To take one or two exams of the first year on the second year is not at all an issue. But it makes the second year more difficult obviously.

I was not a good student in high school, so when I started university I was motivated, but didn't know how to actually study and organize, this year was a learning process, and after this summer I know I am stronger, more consistent, more motivated and conscious than I ever been.

I will do my absolute best form the start this year, and I will catch up.

[dailycharacteroption]

Class Feature Friday: Forensic Medicine Methodology (Pathfinder Second Edition Investigator Methodology)

(photography by drop-the-dagger on DeviantArt)

It is gristly work, but there is much that a body can tell us about the events that lead to their death if we know what to look for. Such is the basis of forensic medicine, and therefore, the subject we are looking at today.

The exact shape and results of a wound can tell the investigator what sort of weapon was used to make it, as well as anything unusual about it, while the presence of carrion insects can tell a lot about the time of death, and small marks and wounds might tell more about the exact circumstances that led to the deceased entering their current state. Imagine how this is extrapolated in a fantasy universe where a victim might show signs of unusual necrosis from a necromantic wound, or how they might show signs of extreme fright from a phantasmal killer spell, and so on.

While other investigators may be called in to examine the evidence of any sort of crime, today’s subject is almost exclusively expected to be investigating scenes of murder and death. However, their keen eye for detail can be used elsewhere, and their medical knowledge can also benefit the living. Such is the nature of their chosen profession.

In any case, this methodology might not have any fancy tricks like their counterparts, but with a little creativity and love of investigation fiction, it can be a perfect way to add some fun flavor to investigating, giving clues to upcoming foes.

With their training, these investigators have a knack for gaining additional details from examining cadavers. What’s more, they’re trained in medical practices, and able to heal themselves and others much more regularly through completely mundane methods.

That may be fairly basic, but there is one feats out there specifically tied to this methodology: Scalpel’s Point, which lets them use their knowledge of anatomy to strike for their foe’s arteries to cause bleeding.

Of course, other feats might prove useful for them as well, such as Flexible Studies, Known Weaknesses, That’s Odd, Ongoing Investigation, Connect the Dots, Predictive Purchase, Thorough Research, Whodunnit?, Reason Rapidly, Strategic Bypass, Reconstruct the Scene, and Just the Facts, though obviously some may be more useful to you depending on your build.

While not as flashy as other methodologies, being able to gain information specifically from the dead can be quite useful. What’s more, it’s unobtrusive, letting you dictate most of the rest of the build based on your own preference as well!

It’s a long-running trope that coroners and others that examine the dead tend to be… eccentric, to say the least. Often talking to the deceased or behaving in strange but otherwise harmless ways. If that fits what you’re going for with your character, then go for it, but don’t feel forced into it. Also remember that often in real life, forensic science is not always the foolproof method they portray it as in certain shows.

Exceptionally old for even a ghoran, Tender has watched friends grow up and die, while their own cycle of rebirth only briefly has interruptions. This has given them a fascination with the state of a body after death, which they’ve channeled into their investigative pursuits to bring murderers to justice.

A common method of disposing of bodies in the Red City is to feed them to the khefaks, a species of mineral-eating arthropods. However, the half-eaten body discovered in the pits shows signs of radiation poisoning, suggesting they were still alive when the radioactive specimen consumed them. Now the investigation turns to identifying the body and the sadist that doomed them to such a fate.

A recent string of serial murders has the city in an uproar, the only connecting factor being the method. The victims literally have their hearts ripped out by violent force, as if by an impossibly strong hand. Some has suggested a warrior bolstered by some potion of strength, while others think it might be some powerful wizard’s construct. Finding the truth will mean combing each killing for evidence.

[imageonline]

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[gamingavickreyauction]

My defense of welfare economics's methods would be that the bar for them is very low because we don't really have any good options. Deciding how many hallways to add according to the principles of welfare economics might seem bad because clearly it inevitably leaves out a lot, and at best will include some off-the-top-of-the-head figure for far-down-the-list intangibles (you can't do a willingness-to-pay study for everything) like the benefit of a scenic route, and the conclusions you reach will reflect that. It looks arbitrary, and it is arbitrary - and most social cost-benefit analysis doesn't even do that, it will leave out intangibles like that entirely.

But the alternative seems to be arbitrarily, subjectively weighing these things against each other, which is at least as arbitrary and leaves out just as much (compared to welfare economic methods done well). This may seem to reach less flawed conclusions because it doesn't depend on putting a monetary figure on a nice view of the sunset, but I think it only seems to be less flawed conclusions because its conclusions are intransparent.

Whoever makes that judgment must have some ideas in their head about how to weigh the interests of different people against each other, or the future against the present, or how to weigh very intangible things against much more pragmatic concerns, or they wouldn't be able to make those decisions. Somewhere in their reasoning, they must be doing something akin to putting a price on a view of a sunset, only that's obscured from our view and we don't know what price they chose.

One architect might fancy themselves an artist and place a high premium on a good view, while another prefers to design a building that is ruthlessly utilitarian. But neither would be expected to be any closer to the actual desires of the people using that building than a welfare economist picking a number out of thin air, and it is likely to be a lot further from the mark than a welfare economist surveying people about what their priorities are.

And this also leaves room for bias: your subjective judgment will be better at accounting for the interests of people like you, or that you spend time around. If you care a lot about the beauty of the sunset and little about the beauty of the interior, then your arbitrary judgment will reflect that, and you will have missed a lot more than a welfare economist who surveyed a few people about how much they would be willing to pay for a prettier interior or a better view of the sunset, as much as that methodology still misses.

Basically, the difficulty of the kind of comparisons (interpersonal, intertemporal, tangible to intangible) that need to be made is a fundamental issue that any decision about nearly anything faces, and welfare economics somewhat fudging it isn't a problem particular to welfare econonomics as a methodology for these descisions. By necessity, any decision involving these tradeoffs has to make similar fudges somewhere, it just might make them intransparently.

I am kind of talking about a modification of the standard social cost-benefit analysis procedure here, which I intend to better account for intangibles - this is something that I am very critical of mainstream SCBA on, but the point I am making here is about the potential of these methods at their best. That we should reform and improve this methodological toolset, rather than cast it aside, and that, at its best, it is very useful for a lot of problems.

I am responding here to this comment thread with @max1461 because it became unwieldy to put in the replies.

[rev3rb]

Hi, again! I have to admit that the end of this chapter intrigued me quite a bit. I definitely wanna see where they’re going with Shinoa’s powers over demons. After a lot of time spent on angel flashbacks, it’s a good reminder that the humans have unique roles to play. I liked seeing the Shinoa squad, although spending time on crushes I’m not particularly invested in and making very vague, somewhat redundant plans was kinda boring. I enjoy some good girl talk, but I’m not particularly excited about having so many different groups working towards basically the same goal. It’s similar to what you pointed out about Saito still not siding with The First. It sorta seems as if everyone is stating similar values but personal issues are stopping them from just working together and actually accomplishing shit. Idk maybe it’s just me, but I think some of the most engaging and productive moments happened bc of the dynamics within the alliances. As of now, there’s at least 4 different factions, which truly seems unnecessary at this stage. Regardless of how happy an ending we get, I’d feel a bit unsatisfied if 1/4 groups succeeded at the expense of all the others failing. No matter which group it is, because they all have an interesting perspective and feel like protagonists in unique ways. I’m lowkey rooting for them all, so I’d really prefer if they could just compromise lol. I’m sure that solution is way too idealistic of me, but it’s not my fault Kagami wrote such sympathetic characters 😔

On another note… Happy Birthday!!! If I remember right, it should’ve just passed. I hope you had a great day <3

First off, oh my god! You remember! I didn’t expect that. At the time of posting this, yes, it would have been four days ago, but you sent this Tuesday so you were pretty spot on! Thank you so much! I did have an okay day!

I’m actually excited to see where Shinoa’s powers go as well! For quite some time now, the story has hyped Shinoa up as being special and ‘the perfect experiment’ or however it was phrased, but we’d had no real indication of it until now. It’s about time we shifted from tell to show. I’m hoping it gives her a bit more agency. However, I will say that Shinoa, or really rather how Kagami writes her, does disappoint me a bit in other ways, which leads me to the next thing you bring up.

I don’t hate Yuunoa. I don’t care for it either, but the fact that this chapter sorta confirms that Shinoa doesn’t have that much of a driving force outside of it makes me quite sad. You could argue that other Hiragis (Mahiru and Shinya) have a similar thing going on and they do, but there’s more than that, even if the story prefers bringing up Guren as their main motivation instead. Mahiru has the whole thing with wanting agency to live how she wants (which ties to Guren but I firmly believe can stand on its own) as well as wanting to protect Shinoa, as twisted as her methodology was. Shinya also had his goal of wanting to break free from the Hiragis before Guren became what he’d rather stand for. Being able to see that shift adds quite a bit of depth to that.

What else does Shinoa have going on really? As she says her she doesn’t feel like she has much reason for living, so she mind as well have this fight with Mitsu over Yuu be that driving force. You could say it’s similar to Yuu since he’s sorta said Mika is his reason for living, but I honestly wasn’t a huge fan of that either. I liked how Yuu was, at one point, able to somewhat move on and live for others (the Shinoa squad and Guren at the time) he was getting better in a way! But I don't want to rant for too long. End of the day, I kinda wish Shinoa had goals that didn't center around Yuu, even if she ended up dropping them at some point. As she said, she's really just been along for the ride her whole life.

It's nice to see Mitsu actually back and doing something though! Mitsu fans come get your food! I too wish they'd talked about something else, but what can you do I guess. It's just nice to see her. The focus hasn't been on her in SO long.

Now the whole Shinoa Squad being a new group. Yeaaaah this is driving me a bit insane as well. Weren't they just working with Guren, Mahiru, and Ferid? Why is that suddenly changing? I get that it's because they think them untrustworthy, and I get it to a degree, but it's exactly as you said. There's just SO many groups that are fighting for similar things that it's become kinda weird? Like... why did Guren and Mahiru even let the Shinoa Squad run off? They don't appear to be around, and I know that their priority is probably Yuu, but it feels weird that they're suddenly just elsewhere now when they were working together last we saw. It feels like we're missing something here. Anyways. I can't imagine these groups won't join up later, but the fact that we now have to follow 3 different groups (with there being 5 or maybe 6 factions atm) is going to make for an even more disjointed story. And that's one of the big problems with OnS. It's story is kind of all over the place and it can be difficult to follow with how much it jumps around and drops plot points and characters for no reason only to pick them up later like nothing happened. Nothing I've seen here instills me with confidence that this problem will get better.

That all being said, I didn't hate the chapter. Shinoa squad as a whole hasn't felt like they've been the main focus since the Nagoya arc and while I don't think we'll be following them for too long, it's about time they became more relevant. Maybe what I'm saying is a bit contradictory since I just complained about different factions, but hey, there's some pay off here with Shinoa and her abilities like I mentioned earlier, so idk. It's something.

[sldlovescartoons]

I was just ruminating on instances of my startling teachers, a thing that happened throughout my entire academic career, and I figured I’d share one because why not?

Okay, so in highschool I took creative writing just to fill the elective slot, y’all know how it is. At that point, I’d already been writing fanfiction for a few years, so figured it’d be a cake walk (I was correct). So, a little ways in, we got our first assignment with looser guidelines. Just a basic length requirement, have a beginning middle and end, yada yada. And I asked the teacher if I could just turn in some a fanfic that I’d written recently, and he said sure. So I did some extra proofreading of the fic and turned that in. Now, I hadn’t given any thought to the fact that we hadn’t really gotten to writing proper dialogue in class yet. Mostly we were just doing prose and working on conveying meaning. So when I handed the thing over and I got asked to speak with them about my assignment after it was graded I was a bit baffled because I didn’t know what I could have possibly done wrong. The fic was a bit of a bummer but I hadn’t been as graphic with details as I could be sometimes, so I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. I was greeted with:

“How did you write this dialogue?” Pointing at my marked paper, absolutely not what I had been expecting.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what you mean?”

“It’s just that this feels pretty natural and flows well. Writing dialogue is pretty difficult to do without things coming off stilted or forced, so I was just wondering how you write dialogue? Do you just sort of have the characters talk back and forth and write it down or…?”

“I guess?” I wasn’t even really proud of that fic, it wasn’t my best work by far and at least part of that was subpar dialogue by my standards. I also had no idea how to word my methodology because I’d been doing it for so long that I didn’t think of it at all. I just ended up smiling and nodding to try and speed run the conversation.

The man seemed genuinely taken aback, and it baffles me to this day because that fic wasn’t even good lol

[rollercoasterwords]

hi!! i've been thinking of applying for an international studies degree at uni, so i was just wondering what you thought of your course?

hmmmm well overall i enjoyed international studies but. i do not want 2 ever study it in a formal academic setting ever again. a lot of that is just down to personal preferences tho (this got really long lmao i'm so sorry)

i majored in IS at a usamerican university so i can't really speak to what expectations u should have for an IS program outside the states (or even necessarily what to expect other than like. what i got at my specific college lol) but!! while i really enjoyed a lot of the subject matter in learning about international relations, getting to study a lot of history and foreign policy, etc, a lot of the main frameworks used in IS are frameworks that i.....really do not like. right now in a lot of the world liberalism seems to dominate perspectives on international relations, and historically realism has been like....the foundational framework in the field. there are many more scholars who use feminist or marxist or post-structuralist etc etc frameworks that i jive with more, but a lot of IS even at some of the higher academic level lacks any critical anaylsis of colonialism or capitalism and the way they underly many of the assumptions in the field about how states will/should interact with each other. and my experience of IS at a usamerican college was (predictably) very western-centric and specifically US-centric.

like -- an example of what i'm talking about; you might get scholars researching "terrorism" without any critical analysis of where "terrorism" comes from as a label, what context it was created in, how it's been used in the past, who gets to use it, what forms of legitimacy or illegitimacy it perpetuates as a label, etc etc. or you might get scholars studying "development" without any real analysis of the ways that "development" is a very political term that oftentimes assumes all states should follow some sort of linear path based largely on states for whom colonization was an essential part of speedrunning that "path" towards "development"

and like i don't wanna undersell bc as i said there are TONS of scholars who ARE doing really great analysis that is very much questioning preconceptions in the field and helping to reframe the way we think, so if u are really interested in IS there is definitely a growing branch of the field that is breaking away from these sorts of necolonial western-centric assumptions + frameworks. my area of focus was latin america, and i spent most of the last year of my degree writing about how traditional conceptualizations of state security perpetuate gendered violence, specifically at the us-mexico border. and so i got to immerse myself in a side of the field that i really loved, and that was great!!

but the thing that really sort of sealed the deal for me on deciding i don't want to pursue IS for any more advanced studies was my senior thesis. up until that point, because i was a dual IS-history major, most of my papers had been more humanities based, but for my senior thesis i HAD to use social science methodology, where you're picking variables and trying to measure them and draw conclusions etc etc, and i just.... hated it. i think social science research certainly can be very important and informative, but everything i wanted to study was too nebulous of a concept to really measure in any meaningful way--and i think a lot of IS research can kinda run into that issue, because, again, if you're gonna measure something as nebulous as "democratic freedom" or "development," it's like.....what assumptions are you beginning with about what defines those concepts and how we measure them?

anyway in the end i kind of rebelled a little bit and designed a study based on the guidelines we had to follow where i basically went "if we measure development based on this notion that it's a linear process we can measure in the first place, we'd expect to see this in this country! but wait! we don't!! perhaps because the notion of development in and of itself is based on neocolonial assumptions and it's stupid to act like we can measure it or predict how certain states are going to act just bc The Western World acted that way!!" and my professor got a little annoyed w me and felt like i was being presumptuous and not giving enough credit to the scholars in the field who are treating that question seriously, which looking back i probably was a little bit, but for the most part i stand by my paper <3

anyway. that experience cemented for me that i wanted to stick firmly to humanities and cease any dabbling in social sciences moving forward, simply bc i do not enjoy using that research methodology. but if ur interested in social science + enjoy the methodology, or are more interested in quantitative than qualitative research, then u would not have that same issue! my advice 2 anyone interested in IS is just to engage w postcolonial, feminist, and anticapitalist writing + scholarship so that u are not just accepting questionable assumptions when u inevitably run into them in the field. also be ready to have classes w some really annoying conservatives who think that international relations is a zero-sum game (á la realism) and some really annoying liberals who think that institutions like the UN are flawless deities who would save the whole world if only everyone agreed to play a little bit nicer (a lá liberalism)

[ghnosis]

getting a PhD in Ghost 1: prehD

I keep getting questions so here’s my life thus far! getting a PhD is a long road, so I’d like to break this into sections. I’ll edit this post with links to the rest of em as I write em

ACADEMIC HISTORY:

4 years BA in Music Industry, fail out of that college a semester before graduation bc I got mono and then became extremely depressed! being 20 is hell!

3ish years combined MA/BA program in Gender & Sexuality Studies - an MA is not always required for a PhD, but it helped in my case. I am in the US and I am getting my PhD from a school in the UK, which has different admission guidelines

gap years to live life, get a full-time job, and assess future goals/research directions/identify WITH WHOMST I wanted to do my PhD, and on what. you have to come into the PhD application with a pretty solid idea of what you want to study, how, where, with who, and why it matters!

THE PhD ITSELF: GETTING IN

December 2020: attend information sessions about the university and PhD process specific to that uni

January 2021: submit an Expression of Interest, a form provided by my uni with all the basic info you’d expect as well as: 

research themes

where I planned to get funding

outline of my research (proposed title, proposed research question, subject area, aims, objectives, historical, contemporary, and theoretical context, proposed methodology, ethical dimensions of research, indicative bibliography, supplementary evidence, academic qualifications and other relevant experience)

January 2021: heard back from my thesis advisors on feedback on the EoI. again, the EoI is specific to my school

January 2021: submitted formal application - the EoI was a (very useful) pre-step there specific to my uni. the formal app included: 

3 letters of recommendation

my transcripts

same sort of project-specific info as the EoI, but fleshed out bc I’d worked with my advisors at that point

March 2021: invited to interview. for my interview, I needed to prepare a presentation covering: 

my research question

how my project makes a contribution to knowledge (this is what a PhD is. brand new information.)

the broader context of the project

the methodology

the impact/importance of the research (aka why does someone else care)

April 2021: offered a place to study with the university but did NOT get a scholarship lololololol

April-July 2021: bureaucratic hell! this probably won’t happen to you but it happened to me so I’m documenting it!

July 2021: officially put a deposit down and registered

September 2021: officially began program

part 2 of this post will be explaining a lot of the academic terms I used in this and also the milestones specific to my school. feel free to ask me questions though my case is quite unique in some ways!