#it’s the fact that El is used as a tool in both cases

[greenfiend]

[cashewpilk]

Speaking to No One:

The Reality of Ultra Personalization

For nicer formatting check this out on AO3

The voices which seek to stand up for laborers in the ever present class war are being silenced by techno fascist propaganda and ‘tools’ such as AI. Notoriety culture is killing us all, creatively and in some cases, literally. The aspiring writer or artist is a dying concept as the existing ones are put in the position of competition over collaboration, and the quality of both human and machine written media continues to wane as a result. Repeat that for artists.

Consumers are being pitched the concept of custom art and writing for little to no cost via AI, but prior to that and even if it is just a fad, which is increasingly seeming unlikely, it follows another trend that has decimated communities for years, from services like Fiverr to the custom character artist trend of the last two and a half decades that has trended with the popularization of anime and Dungeons and Dragons, the customization market is AI’s predecessor, and in some ways the reason so many people opt to skip the human element all together when seeking these products. Why wait days or weeks for a human to do what AI propertedly does in seconds?

There is a quantity over quality issue in consumption that is only becoming worse over time. With everything from TV shows to news articles, the speed at which we cumulate information and products have skyrocketed exponentially. The predecessor of the ultra customization issue was the internet itself in some ways. As the cost of access to the resources it provides has decreased the larger it gets, the more prevalent technology becomes, the cost of the resources to create things without it has exceeded the value of the instantaneous. People have called into question what we are losing with each of these steps forward, often being met with the critique that it is nostalgia alone that makes them pine for the days when we had to put in more effort for less results.

I'm not here to say we aren't made for this, but in the face of all of these factors, we must consider that we are not headed for a brighter future for most people as a result of this. Loss of income, loss of homes, loss of entire cities worth of people as we ourselves become commodities rather than human beings, this is not something we are consciously choosing by using these tools the way that we do, but it is something we are actively choosing by not demanding better.

In the Run the Jewels 4 song ‘walking in the snow’ El-P wrote:

“Funny fact about a cage, they're never built for just one group

So when that cage is done with them and you still poor, it come for you

The newest lowest on the totem, well golly gee, you have been used

You helped to fuel the death machine that down the line will kill you too”

When he said this he was referring to issues like systemic racism and literal imprisonment of political opponents and migrant families, but as with any well written metaphor, it applies to so much and unfortunately it means the same thing. The link between the death of accessibility in the arts is inextricably linked to the class war that the laborers in our country are losing. By necessitating the possession of a skill and proof of that skill to gain enough leverage to earn a livable wage, we are ensuring that there will be a day when possession of that skill will not be enough to provide the same leverage. People in trades and those whose skills demand physical labor may not be the most quick to see the chopping block, but imprisonment and automatization are the building blocks of enslavement, the draining of resources from the average person, and ultimately the enslavement of ourselves and our children to the wealth controlling class. We have been caught in a cruel joke where our manufactured divisiveness is more than just a tactic of political power seekers, it is the fundamental end of all we know.

The fact that people deserve to be compensated for all labor of all types in a capitalist society is such because without the existence of leverage exploitation is inevitable. By taking away the need to create and by devaluing the labor of creation we spell our demise. It shouldn't be the job of consumers to bear the costs and responsibility of funding creative works alone.

Governments and states of societies more functional than our own have bore the cost of funding the arts and companies have given creative workers comfortable compensatory packages in the past because people are unhappy without these things. The creation of a pale imitation of the things that make us human sold as a good enough alternative to placate the people who do work that holds the fabric of our society together is going to proceed something. What that is is dependent on us. The idea of taking revolutionary collective action and making change without being met with immediate violence is a fantasy, not a thing of the past.

We must go beyond just offering our limited dollars as a means of supporting the arts, the fight against AI and technofascism as a whole is not going to be won with the statement ‘anti-AI’ or the consumption and creation of more algorithm friendly media, it is unionization, the defying of productivity quotas on mass, work stoppages, general strikes and community participation. It is the restructuring of who is and isn't worthy of participation in collective action. It is the process of showing up, both offline and online, the process of allowing ourselves to experience things we find uncomfortable, allowing inexperience to be celebrated and met with guidance rather than annoyance.

There are actions, large and small, that we can take to be better, we just have to decide to take them. For more and more people, the stakes aren't just discomfort, they are lives stolen, rather than lived.

The ultimate goal of this statement is not to add to the endless supply of fear mongering. Hopelessness is not an option. We have to fight to stay patient with the people we see every day, we have to fight to be kind to the people we interact with, we have to contribute to the cultural consensus that people deserve to exist without fear of the violence of impoverishment as a punishment for any number of intangible factors.

If you don't have the emotional capacity to continue to watch innocent people die as outrage entertainment, consider that you can make a difference in the world by using your voice, time, and energy to support the arts. Question people and things that don't use larger audiences to spread the privilege to create to more people, and above all else, if you have the privilege to create without compensation or the greater privilege of being compensated to create, do so without guilt or shame. Show the world who you are everywhere you can for yourself and try to make connections and tell others they can too, even if for a while you're speaking to no one.

[brionysea]

The refusal to acknowledge Mike's weirdness in regards to the supernatural plot will never not be crazy to me i'm honestly so glad there's at least some people talking (point at you 🫶). Because most of the existing talks are always so selective. I've seen Will responding to El in the void when she speaks to him get used for proof he has to have some form of powers so many times but Mike looking at El in the void has no greater significance and doesn't mean anything of course. Also forget that they even make a callback to that a whole season later.

And all three of them, Mike, El and Will, all getting removed from the supernatural Hawkins plot in S4 is also again such a standout moment. None of them get to be there in person as the only kid characters. Just those three in general have so many things that tie them together as a trio.

Mike meeting El while looking for Will - El meeting Will through Mike and then later moving in with him as a sort of step sister - the two lab massacres both caused by Henry in S2 and S4 respectively happening to Mike+Will and El - El Will and Mike being the only kids who ever see another person in the void - hell even the eventual love triangle situation happening with Mike dating El while having feelings for Will just ties the three even more together.

But all of the trio imagery is always just attributed to the love triangle despite most of it having nothing to to with their relationships at all. It's always weird narrative choices connecting them. And I'd get if some people just weren't interested in the theory branches here but acting like the whole rule of three and power of three thing aren't ancient literary tools is odd. Even popular properties regularly use it because it's so common just look at StarWars. (crazy how you and a few other people are the only one's even entertaining it)

YES! all of this!

i've frequently seen the argument that mike "can't" have powers because the "point" of his character is that he's special and unique and capable of doing good without any, but if that was the case they wouldn't be saying it. if mike not knowing what it's like to be different or what it's like to be bullied were simple facts about him, if he's just not special in the superpower way, those things would be shown. they wouldn't draw attention to mike's ordinariness - in the same scene as will disputes every other claim that mike makes about himself; in the same scene as el says something that's just plain wrong in that mike "doesn't know what it's like"; in the same scenes as mike is deliberately blurred into the background because the people he's talking to aren't seeing him, aren't seeing that he's like them - if mike is just ordinary

for characters that actually are what people are claiming mike is supposed to be, just look at people like dustin, joyce, nancy, lucas, steve, erica, jonathan. most of the cast doesn't have powers and that doesn't stop them from doing good or feeling worthy. it's never brought up with them because it doesn't have to be. that's just who they are. it's a fact, it's shown and not told so you register and accept it without thinking about it, because it's just the truth. hell, they even had bob do the "ordinary person does something heroic and dies over it" thing in season 2. with how brave and self sacrifical mike is, if he was also completely ordinary he would've realistically died a long time ago, no matter how intelligent he is. max made the self sacrifice play ONCE and she immediately died

mike's most recent arc of feeling like he can't measure up to el doesn't read like unfounded insecurity, it reads like someone who feels like something's missing. like he should be able to do more but it's being blocked off somehow and he doesn't understand why

and if you look at the overall trajectory of his character, you can see what he's talking about. he was so intuitive and essential to season 1. he understood el, he understood the upside down. in season 2, he was coming up with most of the effective ideas to help will. in season 3, he started acting differently and then no one listened to him, which resulted in a season 4 where he's looking for external validation more instead of trusting (and asking/telling others to trust) his instincts, and he was a lot more hesitant to make himself heard at all because last time he tried everyone ganged up on him. that point in the middle, where everyone stopped taking what mike has to say about the upside down seriously, is exactly where things started to go wrong

if we're talking about the "point" of mike's character, it's lies. it's masks and deceit and things not being what they appear to be. he lies to others, he gets lied to, his family is a lie, his whole presentation as a character is a lie because we know he's not in love with el. why on earth would that apply to every aspect of his character except his insecurities, which "will the wise" called a lie? why would the character whose biggest theme is lying, who has an extremely weird understanding of the evil shadow dimension that no one else can match, revolve around that concept in all aspects but one? why would a running theme that's so integral to making plot twists work not be involved in an ultimate plot twist that recontextualises everything, showing that things were never what they appeared to be? that mike has mattered and been different and special all along?

that would just be shoddy writing, and we know stranger things is too good for that

[songsofbloodandwater]

People are seriously sleeping on the White Numen Tarot, and Numen theory in general.

If you consider yourself to be an animistic witch or tarot reader (or both), this post is for you. The White Numen Tarot by AlbaBG is a tarot deck where the imagery is focused on the animals, not the people, and specifically based on the concept of numen as described by the author of El Animal Divino (1985), a wonderful piece on the philosophy of religion.

In El Animal Divino (The Divine Animal), Gustavo Bueno identifies Numen as the "center of Will and Intelligence", and adds,

"in classical latin sources, [numen] references a center of effective and potent desire. [...] In the classics, many times, instead of will itself, it reflects the corporeal expression of will, specifically the nodding of the head that expresses willingness (numine capitum). It also represents the Affirmation or Willingness of the Gods (numine deorum), or the Gods themselves (simulacra numinum being the Statues of the Gods), or wild genii (silvarum numina fauni)".

The tarot deck reflects this by adding two extra cards on the deck, "White Numen" and "Black Numen". While both signify the presence of numen influencing the situation, which card is pulled indicates the nature of said influence into the situation, whether it is creative or destructive, additive or corrosive, enlightening or obscuring.

If you add into that the imagery of each animal and their meaning, their actions and how that relates back to the concept of numen (in this case, signified by specific animals with specific associations doing specific actions in each card) you can get very deep messages that are surprisingly easy to read. Add in any UPGs that you may have (associations of certain animals to particular Gods or Spirits, or just in regards to omens and signs) and you get even more possible meanings that are, again, deep yet very clear, particularly for more seasoned practitioners.

And I think that's a very useful tool to utilize if you want to take into account not just the human influences over a situation, but also the non-human, the divine, the spirits, and anything and everything numen. You can choose to read the animal meanings metaphorically (if no Numen card shows up in your reading) or literally (as in, an omen, a sign or a divine message, if one of the two, or both, Numen cards show up in your reading). It puts the reading into perspective to include the wider spiritual ecosystem and I just think that's neat.

Honestly, just the fact it introduced me to El Animal Divino is great by itself, because it's a book that has helped to put into words and deepen my understanding of religion in general, but also specifically of animal cults and how they relate to human and non-human spirits. But it doesn't stop there, having the deck allows you to identify and even communicate with said numen and thus it's one of the many ways to apply the theory of the book, into magical practice. It's a tool with a really cool theory behind it that is laid out in the open for anyone who may want to take it and adapt it into their practice.

The only problem? I don't know if the book has an english translation. So far i've only been able to find it in spanish, but hey, it's definitely worth at least an attemp at translation on any of the many translation sites you can find online.

[hispanichorizons]

5 Most Important Grammar Rules in the Spanish Language.

Spanish is an amazing language due to its global significance. It exhibits a rich diversity of regional dialects and accents. Hence, knowing Spanish can help you broaden your horizons and connect with a global community. It also allows you to connect with locals on a deeper level, understand their culture, and navigate more easily in various situations. Moreover, if you learn Spanish language, you can significantly enhance your travel experiences in Spanish-speaking countries as well. However, if you want to speak Spanish fluently, you need to familiarise yourself with the basics of Spanish grammar. This typically includes knowing when and how to use certain pronouns, understanding how to form the right sentences, and using the correct verb conjugations.

Learning the basics of grammar in Spanish is crucial, as it forms the foundation for effective communication. A solid grasp of grammar rules enables learners to construct accurate sentences, convey their ideas clearly, and comprehend the language better, facilitating meaningful interactions and language acquisition. To help you achieve your learning goals, we have narrowed down some of the basic rules of grammar in the Spanish language.

The 5 Most Important Grammar Rules in the Spanish Language

The five essential rules of grammar in the Spanish language have been mentioned below.

#1 All Spanish Nouns Are Assigned a Gender

In the Spanish language, every noun is assigned a gender; it falls into either the masculine or feminine category. This linguistic gender doesn't necessarily correlate with the biological gender of the noun's real-world referent; it's a grammatical classification. This gender distinction influences the forms of articles (both definite and indefinite), adjectives, and other modifiers used in conjunction with the noun. Masculine nouns are commonly preceded by the article "el" (singular) or "los" (plural), while feminine nouns are preceded by "la" (singular) or "las" (plural).

In case you want to learn Spanish and are looking for an institute that provides the best Spanish classes in Mumbai, you can contact us. At Hispanic Horizons, we offer a variety of class schedules, levels, and formats, making it easy to find a class that fits your schedule and learning style.

#2 Verbs Are Divided Into Three Conjugations

Verbs are the tools we employ to articulate processes,states, or actions that exert an influence on both objects and people. In English, you seamlessly incorporate verbs into your speech, and the same holds true for Spanish. However, not all verbs share identical traits, nor do they adhere to the same rules of conjugation.

The verb conjugation in Spanish is classified into three primary types:

The first conjugation encompasses verbs that end in -ar, such as "amar" (to love)or"cantar" (to sing).

The second conjugation involves verbs that end in -er, like "beber" (to drink)or"comer" (to eat).

The third conjugation covers verbs that end in -ir, for instance, "partir" (to leave).

#3 Every Verb Has a Mode

Should you want to learn Spanish language more effectively, it’s important for you to know that Spanish verbs can be categorised into three modes:

Indicative: This is used to state facts, express actions that are certain or objective, and provide information. It's the most common mode and covers present, past, and future tenses.

Subjunctive: This mode is used to express doubts, desires, emotions, recommendations, and uncertain actions. It's often used in dependent clauses introduced by certain conjunctions.

Imperative: The imperative mode is used to give commands or orders. It's used to directly address someone and instruct them to do something.

#4 Pronouns Can be Avoided in Sentences

Spanish verb conjugations carry a lot of information, including the subject performing the action. This means that often, the subject pronoun (yo, tú, él/ella, nosotros/as, vosotros/as, ellos/ellas) can be omitted from the sentence because the verb ending already indicates who is performing the action. This is a common practise in Spanish and is not as frequent in English.

#5 Adjectives Are Typically Used After the Noun

In Spanish, adjectives are usually used after the noun that’s been modified. This placement can alter the emphasis and meaning of the sentence. For instance, "casa grande" means "big house" in Spanish, but "grande casa" would imply something more like "great house."

The Bottom Line

Learning the basics of grammar in Spanish allows you to construct sentences correctly, ensuring your message is accurate and easily understood by others. It also provides you with the fundamental structure and rules necessary to communicate effectively in the language. Should you be in search of a Spanish language institute where you can learn Spanish language effectively, get in touch with us. At Hispanic Horizons, we offer a comprehensive range of Spanish courses to help you achieve your specific learning goals. To learn more about our courses, visit https://hispanic-horizons.org/.

[genderlect-6c]

Let's talk about Genderlects:

Gender refers to the social attributes and opportunities associated with being male or female and the relationships between women and men, girls and boys. These attributes, opportunities, and relationships are established and learned in society, are context or time specific, and can change, for example: the fact that women do more housework than men. Gender determines what is expected, allowed, and valued in a woman or a man in a given context. "Man" and "woman" are sexual categories, while "masculine" and "feminine" are gender categories. Gender groups the roles and functions assigned respectively to women and men. It can be modified in and by culture.

We can define generolect as the discursive dialect of gender, i.e., the differences in style between culturally conceived feminine and masculine discourse. Generolects are not ascribable to men or women as biologically determined groups, but correspond to the cultural characterization of what types of expressions and attitudes are considered feminine or masculine in a specific sociocultural context, and therefore what types of behavior are expected of men or women. They are therefore cultural stereotypes, which are used to judge people's behavior as feminine and masculine, expecting "coherence" between biological sex and gender style, encouraging in various ways the subjects to behave in a manner considered "coherent", in some cases even urging the subjects to behave as expected, negatively sanctioning those who are seen as "incoherent", or "deviant" from the expected behavior.

Generolects, then, are codes that should be seen as symbolic cultural tools, composed of prototypes endowed with efficacy to produce culturally expected behaviors, and that fundamentally serve to classify discursive acts, as well as bodily acts (gestures, postures, gait, etc.), as more or less feminine or masculine. In short, in a given culture, the ways in which real subjects, men and women, use language, and the repertoires of gestures and attitudes, are interpreted or "indexed" as feminine or masculine on the basis of generolects as cultural codes. It is necessary, in the first place, to distinguish between the actual discursive practices of the subjects and the ideology of these practices, because although in everyday life individuals of both sexes tend to exhibit in their discourse generolect characteristics of the opposite sign to their gender identity, whether occasionally or habitually.

This is not, moreover, a mere assumption, but a real imposition, since the man who does not consistently follow this norm will be considered suspect in his virility, and will therefore be stigmatized as "effeminate" and negatively sanctioned. Likewise, the woman who does not express herself, dress and move, in general, in accordance with the cultural norm of feminine style, that is, the one who does not act in a "feminine" way, according to the ideological definition of femininity, will be labeled a "tomboy" and will receive the weight of censure from her milieu. Moreover, we are referring to cultural stereotypes that have great power, not only repressive, but probably also productive of gender identities and styles themselves, to the extent that individuals performatively appropriate cultural norms.

What are generolects like, then, and how can we describe them? The characteristics of feminine and masculine generolects differ, as we have already said, between cultures and subcultures; they also vary according to other identity dimensions such as class, ethnicity, race, occupation, generation, etc., and change over time. But there seem to be certain predominant tendencies in what we call femininity or masculinity. We can even find similarities in the description of femininity and masculinity in two very dissimilar authors, Deborah Tannen (1990) and Deborah Cameron (2005).

Vista de Los estilos de género y la tiranía del binarismo: de por qué necesitamos el concepto de generolecto        | La Aljaba. Segunda Época. Revista de Estudios de la Mujer. (n.d.). https://cerac.unlpam.edu.ar/index.php/aljaba/article/view/1749/4577

[mariacallous]

Editor's Note: Senior Fellow Vanda Felbab-Brown breaks down how high-value targeting, when used in practice, is not the sole element of the counterinsurgency success and presents various problematic side-effects. This piece was originally published by Mexico Today.

Apart from human rights and civil liberties concerns, the recent decisions of the Mexican Congress to place the National Guard under the control of the Mexican military and to extend the role of the Mexican military in domestic policing until 2028 also fundamentally fail to address the design and content of policing in Mexico. Both the Mexican military and the National Guard have been troubled with tools of policing, and during the Andrés Manuel López Obrador administration, tools without a strategy. The fact that neither the military nor the guard has investigative authorities and capacities, and can act only against in flagrante crimes, severely limits how effective at policing either could become. López Obrador’s directive that both agencies avoid using force severely worsens law enforcement deficiencies and compounds the brazen sense of impunity of Mexican criminal groups.

The absence of a law enforcement strategy in Mexico today stems from a rejection of high-value targeting that during the Felipe Calderón and Enrique Peña Nieto administrations dominated policing approaches and fragmented criminal groups. Without the groups being dismantled and the state having the capacity to field effective police forces, the fragmentation became a key driver of violence.

So what is the global record of the effects of high-value targeting, so frequently practiced in law enforcement, counterinsurgency, and counterterrorism operations?

High-value targeting has been applied in the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Syria, Peru, Colombia, Nigeria and beyond as well as against criminal groups, such as in Colombia and Mexico. It is built around the notion that decapitating the leaders of terrorist, insurgent, militia, and criminal groups will defang the group’s operational capacity and make the group easier to defeat.

There are basic moral reasons to bring to accountability leaders of heinous terrorist and criminal groups – be they Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the killed leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the head of the Sinaloa Cartel. If they cannot be brought to a trial, like “El Chapo” was in the United States in 2019, killing them can serve justice – such as the killings al Qaeda’s leaders Osama bin Laden or Ayman al-Zawahiri did.

Such kills may also sometimes succeed as deterrent shots across the bow of a nonstate armed actor whose behavior a government seeks to shape and deter from the most dangerous acts.

Yet the other promises of high-value targeting, such as sapping the potency of the armed nonstate actors, have rarely panned out. One unique success case was the arrest of Abimael Guzmán, the leader of the Shining Path in Peru. The capture of Guzmán and most of the Shining Path leadership came after years of a painstaking intelligence operation led by a small select Peruvian police cell assisted by the United States. The decapitation success was the final nail in the Shining Path’s coffin. It resulted in most of the rank-and-file members and middle-level leaders also surrendering after the captured Guzmán called on his followers to give up so he would not receive the death penalty. Still, some factions persisted in the armed struggle and drug trafficking.

But even in the Guzmán case, the extensive leadership decapitation was not the sole element of the counterinsurgency success and was far from sufficient for defeating the almost victorious leftist guerrillas. Well before the leadership capture, the Shining Path was defeated in Peru’s rural areas as a result of the suspension of coca eradication and interdiction. Halting counternarcotics operations flipped local communities and drug traffickers to the side of the government, spurred the creation of rural militias, and produced extensive intelligence flows from the drug traffickers to the government.

But in many other cases, high-value targeting had little effect on weakening the group: Despite the fact that a 2014 U.S. drone strike killed Ahmed Abdi Godane, the top leader of the al-Qaeda affiliated al Shabaab jihadi group in Somalia, and many other key leaders since then, al Shabaab remains strong. Until recently when al Shabaab started facing clan militia uprisings in the Hiiraan area of Somalia, it was stronger than at any time after it was pushed out of power in 2011. In Afghanistan, the targeting of key Taliban leaders, a conceptualization loosely applied to just about any, even low-level, Taliban commander, was a key thrust of the entire 20 years of counterinsurgency efforts. Yet, the Taliban still prevailed and took over the country for a wide set of reasons, primarily the persisting severe deficiencies of the Afghan government and problematic behavior of Afghan elites.

Worse yet, high-value targeting strategies often come with very many problematic side effects, which I detail in “Despite Its Siren Song, High-Value Targeting Doesn’t Fit All.” These side effects include:

The killing of leaders can make them martyrs and only spur more potent and motivated militancy. The killing  in 2009 of the spiritual leader of Nigeria’s Boko Haram, Mohammad Yusuf, by the Nigerian military resulted in the rise of a devastatingly potent and brutal jihadi insurgency under a more vicious, but competent leader Abubakar Shekau. Similarly, the current leader of the nearly-victorious Shia Houthi movement in Yemen, Abdul-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi, came to power after his brother Hussein, the founder of the Houthi movement and a prominent critic of the Yemeni government, died in Yemeni government custody in 2004. Despite the fact that the Yemeni police also arrested hundreds of Hussein’s followers, the rebellion was not quelled. Instead, the death of its leader only set off a far more organized and violent rebellion that the combined forces of the Yemeni government, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and various Yemeni militias have not managed to defeat.

The siren song of weakening the opponent by killing as many of its “high-value targets” as possible can undermine good governance essential for sustaining military gains. It can drive an embrace of unaccountable, brutal, human-rights-violating and legitimacy-undermining thugs – the story of Western counterinsurgency efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq.

When undertaken without a careful assessment of how the opponent will adapt, decapitation strategies can usher in leaders who are far more problematic from the perspective of the international community, being uncompromisingly dogmatic and aggressive. For example, the misguided U.S. killing of the pragmatist Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Muhammad Mansour did not weaken the Taliban, but instead empowered a more vicious branch of the Taliban, the Haqqanis. It also played into the hands of duplicitous Pakistan, whose Haqqani assets were elevated to the top of the Taliban’s leadership. Ultimately, it ushered in a far more dogmatic Taliban leader impervious to international and internal input, Haibatullah Akhudzada.

When high-value targeting breaks up nonstate armed actors into smaller groups, but the state is too weak or disinterested to move in and provide effective governance, violence can escalate to very high-levels – viz, the fragmentation of the Mexican criminal market since 2006 and the 20,000-35,000 yearly homicides there. In Colombia, the October 2021 arrest of the leader of the powerful Clan del Golfo Cartel, Dairo Antonio “Otoniel” Úsuga, exacerbated fissures and factionalization within the cartel and resulted in intense infighting over succession. Amplified by the contestation in Colombia between the Sinaloa Cartel and Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación over local allies and suppliers, the violence badly affected large parts of Colombia and their communities. Yet when “Otoniel” was extradited to the United States in May 2022, the Clan del Golfo factions were able to act toward the joint purpose of paralyzing large parts of Colombia in protest at the extradition and demonstrating their territorial control, power vis-à-vis the Colombian state, and domination of local communities.

Finally, the most obvious problem of decapitation strategies is potentially high civilian casualties if the targeting is not precise or is indifferent to collateral damage –problems surrounding U.S. counterterrorism drone strikes and the targeting policies of many countries over the past twenty years, including the Saudi airstrikes in Yemen with their egregious level of civilian casualties.

To become more effective and avoid failures and problematic side effects, those making the targeting decisions, especially whether high-value targeting or middle-layer targeting is adopted, need to ask the following questions:

What is the vision of how the conflict will end or criminal groups will be incapacitated or deterred from certain behaviors, such as intense violence? Is the end of violence to come solely through kill-or-capture incapacitation or will some negotiated deal be a part of the envisioned process? What are the group’s capacities for replacing eliminated operatives at the top or middle level and for doing so with operatives as competent as their predecessors? Will replacement leaders be more prone to violence? Who is not just more skilled, but also more radicalized and violent and has greater fighting élan: the older generation or the replacement younger one? Is the purpose of interdiction in fact to fracture a group, and is such fracturing likely to be associated with increases in violence? Is a group tightly and hierarchically-organized or network-structured?

In sum, strategic intelligence analysis needs to drive targeting against militants and criminals, not the routine of established interdiction patterns or opportunistic intelligence flows.

[regrettablewritings]

Nevada Ramirez 4, 7, 18, and 30 if you're still doing the meme? 😘😘😘

Nevada Ramirez? I haven’t heard that name in years... 🚬 Stuff’s below the cut!

4. Who can’t keep their hands to themselves?: If you and Nevada are in the same room, chances are he’s got a hand somewhere on you. Not in a gushy, immature way like some boy would, though: Nevada Ramirez is a man. The man. El motherfucking Trujillo. And anything that belongs to him, you’re gonna know it. Especially if it’s his woman.

A hand around your waist if you’re standing somewhere like at the bar of one of his haunts; a hand resting on your thigh at dinner or when relaxing at home; you sitting on his lap during a meeting that he, for whatever reason, deems as mandatory for you to attend.

You think (correctly) that Nevada gets two main things from doing these things. First off, he likes to rub it in other peoples’ faces. Especially if you’re all dolled up. Secondly, he likes getting a rise out of you because sometimes, he purposefully fucks with you by way of his touch. You can be at a perfectly fine night out, just you, ‘Vada, and one of his greatest allies in the game, and that’s when you’ll feel that warm, calloused palm of his drift slowly but surely up from its place on your lower thigh, all the way until it’s tiptoeing the hem of your dress. And that’s when he’s being clean about it!

7. What do they get up to on a night out?: Frankly, the concept of dates exasperate Nevada. He likes you, don’t get him wrong, but why do you have to be so needy?! But, of course, he eventually gives in every time. And every time, it’s some surprisingly classy affair. The first time you tried going to one of the clubs where he holds stake, you had a positively dreadful time. As much as he hates to admit it, your disappointment in him wounded his pride enough for him to decide to never take you on dates to similar places again unless prompted. Generally speaking, ‘Vada’s answer is to go the opposite direction: He wants to show you the finer things in life. Thanks to his connections (and fearful image in the Heights), he has fingers dipped in all kinds of locations, primarily five-star restaurants. If you’re in the mood for a simple McNugget meal, too bad! You’re gonna get sat down and lectured about why your peasant taste buds have been deprived of the superior wonders of chicken breast in demi-glace, coupled with seasonal vegetables as prepared in a panzanella salad! Because for all his gruff appearance and brusque diction, Nevada has a silver palate and he’s gonna foist that on you. (Heaven help you when you cook for this giant baby.)

In the event you’re not really feeling a dinner date, if you really bug him enough, you can squeeze a Broadway show out of him. He’s not crazy about musicals, frankly, and makes this abundantly clear when you’re picking up your tickets from the box office ( “Don’t ask for nothin’ for a month,” he grumbles). But then you catch him the next day mumbling the lyrics to “My Shot” as he gets himself ready . . . He insists he’s buying you merch at whatever shows you two go to because he wants to have more reason for you to not ask him for anything after, but you know there’s something in him that really wants to own a mug or two, or a signed poster he can have framed. If any of his men are over for whatever reason, he can easily just brush it off as something you had wanted while also getting a thrill from the absolute status symbol of being able to see one of the biggest shows in the world. Because let’s get one thing straight: No matter what the date is, no matter who planned it, Nevada’s gonna find a way to show off with it.

18. When they fight, how do they make up?: “They”? Let’s be real, now: There is no “when they fight.” Because if you two are fighting, it’s most definitely got something to do with something Nevada did or said, or didn’t do or didn’t say. But whatever it was, you’re sad or angry or both now and it’s up to him to fix it. Don’t get me wrong, you’ve made some wrong turns in this relationship, but the fact of the matter is that Nevada is a huge asshole. But he’s an asshole who’s found himself inexplicably dedicated to you. Be warned, though: He’s going to try to wait it out. He’ll be especially grumpy and moody and eerily quiet, too, trying to convince himself that whatever happened, it’s on you, or that you’re being way too sensitive or hardheaded. It doesn’t work. Mainly because Nevada is no idiot, he knows well and good that he’s an asshole. Also, you’re far more patient than he is. And what pisses him off more, frankly, is that he’s actually pretty proud of you for holding your ground. Most people let him walk all over them but not you; not his girl. . . . Fuck, why did he have to pick somebody like that?! Whatever the case, he’s not the best with talking so his go-to tends to be to try to wrap it up in a pretty bow, a la just plain buying you crap. He uses his resources to get his hands on nice dresses, designer bags, sweet shoes, tickets to shows that are supposedly impossible to get a hole of, the whole sweet deal. But you’re infuriatingly (and rightfully) stubborn about giving him your immediate forgiveness -- especially since the bastard hasn’t even actually apologized so much as he just placed all these items in the living room for you to find after you woke up! In which case, he wants to shove his face into a wall and just scream and cuss because you’re one of the only people who can pull this shit on him and live. Which forces him to resort to something more personal: Cooking. Despite his silver palate making him a rather fussy eater, Nevada typically prefers to have others cook. But don’t mistake this for being a slouch in the kitchen: If given the right tools and proper time, he’s more than capable of whipping up a glorious three-course dining experience in the comfort of your home. He holds no stops, bringing out the good table dressings and having one of his goons run out and grab him the top three wines best suited for whatever he has planned and plated. All that’s missing now is a prayer that this works because if it doesn’t, he’s going to lose it at a warehouse somewhere. Thankfully, you openly appreciate the gesture . . . Mainly because now you have him in an environment where he sort of has to talk to you about what happened. He wants to scowl, realizing he’s set up his own trap -- one that he falls into constantly. But he’s tired of this crap and just wants to be able to get into bed with you without thinking you’ll freeze him to death so he complies. He’ll listen to your points and hold his tongue, even if he doesn’t exactly agree with them. But in the end, he does apologize. There’s some obvious pout to it, he won’t even attempt to hide that, but you know that beneath it all he does mean it. “Now can we just eat already? I got a torte chilling in the fridge, if that shit gets soggy, you owe me.” Translation: “I’m ready to carry on like normal. Please love me already.”

30. Why does it work (or not work) between them?: Realistically, it doesn’t work and we all know why: Nevada Ramirez is a bastard. He’s been hardened by the streets, by his life, and he actively plays a part in making it that way with his “job” as a dealer and God knows what else. We know he has a soft spot somewhere for those whom he loves, but the digging one has to do just to get there is comparable to digging out of prison with a spoon: It can technically be done, but it takes a lot of time and a lot of patience. Oh, and also Nevada has to actually like you enough. And even still it won’t be easy because he’s so stubborn and cold and ruthless. Frankly, you’d be better off without him. But suppose you do win him over. Suppose he determines he can’t and will not be without you (and you’re okay with this). Should such a miracle occur, I feel that it is helped in no small part by the fact that you provide Nevada with challenges. Not genuinely problematic ones that make him tear his hair out (no matter what he says), but things that stimulate his constantly working brain and force him to actually make efforts. For example, you can love that man all you want but sometimes, he just does things that make you slam your foot down. And when that happens, he’s gonna listen. Maybe not immediately, but time is fleeting. You were (and still probably are) a rather reserved person, especially when placed next to your partner. But the problem for Nevada is that being around him means you’ve learned a thing or two: His cusses, his intimidation tactics, whatever he uses to get his way? It’s rubbed off on you. Maybe not perfectly, but just enough to where you can use it as your own. Juxtaposed with your relatively calm demeanor and we get an icy queen who’s beyond tired of his bullshit and completely ready to let him have it when provoked. He acts like it’s no big deal and he’s doing you a favor by listening. But deep down he’s actually a bit intimidated by you when you’re like this, mainly because there’s a chance you’ll leave him and as much as he pretends it doesn’t bother him, it definitely does. He’s actually a bit impressed, not that he’d ever let you know. Going off of this, he likes a woman who’s decisive. So as much of a pain as it is while he’s doing it, he’s actually impressed when you make him work for things only you can give him. It’s a little like a thrilling chase for him, and everyone else is too pussy to actually give him one. Secondly, he sees a partner in you. And I don’t mean romantically -- he does, of course, but what I mean here is someone whom can be a benefit to his practices both in business and out. Nevada strikes me as the type of guy who prefers to keep his circle consisting of those whom he can benefit from, be it in terms of providing company or providing assistance and so on. With you, he sees potential for essentially becoming one of those power couples consisting of two stone-cold baddies: He handles the dirty work but you both are the brains behind the operations. Of course, there’s a very good chance you have a long way to go. There’s even a chance he prefers not to directly involve you in his business affairs. But even in such a case, he’d much rather have you stick around than let you walk out of his life. Because as anyone can tell you: A bored Nevada is a dangerous Nevada.

Thanks for asking!

[perfectirishgifts]

8 Leading Women In The Field Of AI

New Post has been published on https://perfectirishgifts.com/8-leading-women-in-the-field-of-ai/

8 Leading Women In The Field Of AI

These eight women are at the forefront of the field of artificial intelligence today. They hail from … [] academia, startups, large technology companies, venture capital and beyond.

It is a simple truth: the field of artificial intelligence is far too male-dominated. According to a 2018 study from Wired and Element AI, just 12% of AI researchers globally are female.

Artificial intelligence will reshape every corner of our lives in the coming years—from healthcare to finance, from education to government. It is therefore troubling that those building this technology do not fully represent the society they are poised to transform.

Yet there are many brilliant women at the forefront of AI today. As entrepreneurs, academic researchers, industry executives, venture capitalists and more, these women are shaping the future of artificial intelligence. They also serve as role models for the next generation of AI leaders, reflecting what a more inclusive AI community can and should look like.

Featured below are eight of the leading women in the field of artificial intelligence today.

Joy Buolamwini: Founder, Algorithmic Justice League

Joy Buolamwini has aptly been described as “the conscience of the A.I. revolution.”

Her pioneering work on algorithmic bias as a graduate student at MIT opened the world’s eyes to the racial and gender prejudices embedded in facial recognition systems. Amazon, Microsoft and IBM each suspended their facial recognition offerings this year as a result of Buolamwini’s research, acknowledging that the technology was not yet fit for public use. Buolamwini’s work is powerfully profiled in the new documentary Coded Bias.

Buolamwini stands at the forefront of a burgeoning movement to identify and address the social consequences of artificial intelligence technology, a movement she advances through her nonprofit Algorithmic Justice League.

Buolamwini on the battle against algorithmic bias: “When I started talking about this, in 2016, it was such a foreign concept. Today, I can’t go online without seeing some news article or story about a biased AI system. People are just now waking up to the fact that there is a problem. Awareness is good—and then that awareness needs to lead to action. That is the phase that we’re in.”

Claire Delaunay: VP Engineering, NVIDIA

From SRI to Google to Uber to NVIDIA, Claire Delaunay has held technical leadership roles at many of Silicon Valley’s most iconic organizations. She was also co-founder and engineering head at Otto, the pedigreed but ill-fated autonomous trucking startup helmed by Anthony Levandowski.

In her current role at NVIDIA, Delaunay is focused on building tools and platforms to enable the deployment of autonomous machines at scale.

Delaunay on the tradeoffs between working at a big company and a startup: “Some kinds of breakthroughs can only be accomplished at a big company, and other kinds of breakthroughs can only be accomplished at a startup. Startups are very good at deconstructing things and generating discontinuous big leaps forward. Big companies are very good at consolidating breakthroughs and building out robust technology foundations that enable future innovation.”

Rana el Kaliouby: CEO & Co-Founder, Affectiva

Rana el Kaliouby has dedicated her career to making AI more emotionally intelligent.

Kaliouby is credited with pioneering the field of Emotion AI. In 2009, she co-founded the startup Affectiva as a spinout from MIT to develop machine learning systems capable of understanding human emotions. Today, the company’s technology is used by 25% of the Fortune 500, including for media analytics, consumer behavioral research and automotive use cases.

Kaliouby on her big-picture vision: “My life’s work is about humanizing technology before it dehumanizes us.”

Daphne Koller: CEO & Founder, insitro

Daphne Koller’s wide-ranging career illustrates the symbiosis between academia and industry that is a defining characteristic of the field of artificial intelligence.

Koller has been a professor at Stanford since 1995, focused on machine learning. In 2012 she co-founded education technology startup Coursera with fellow Stanford professor and AI leader Andrew Ng. Coursera is today a $2.6 billion ed tech juggernaut.

Koller’s most recent undertaking may be her most ambitious yet. She is the founding CEO at insitro, a startup applying machine learning to transform pharmaceutical drug discovery and development. Insitro has raised roughly $250 million from Andreessen Horowitz and others and recently announced a major commercial partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb.

Koller on advice for those just starting out in the field of AI: “Pick an application of AI that really matters, that is really societally worthwhile��not all AI applications are—and then put in the hard work to truly understand that domain. I am able to build insitro today only because I spent 20 years learning biology. An area I might suggest to young people today is energy and the environment.”

Fei-Fei Li: Professor of Computer Science, Stanford University

Few individuals have left more of a mark on the world of AI in the twenty-first century than Fei-Fei Li.

As a young Princeton professor in 2007, Li conceived of and spearheaded the ImageNet project, a database of millions of labeled images that has changed the entire trajectory of AI. The prescient insight behind ImageNet was that massive datasets—more than particular algorithms—would be the key to unleashing AI’s potential. When Geoff Hinton and team debuted their neural network-based model trained on ImageNet at the 2012 ImageNet competition, the modern era of deep learning was born.

Li has since become a tenured professor at Stanford, served as Chief Scientist of AI/ML at Google Cloud, headed Stanford’s AI lab, joined the Board of Directors at Twitter, cofounded the prominent nonprofit AI4ALL, and launched Stanford’s Human-Centered AI Institute (HAI). Across her many leadership positions, Li has tirelessly advocated for a more inclusive, equitable and human approach to AI.

Li on why diversity in AI is so important: “Our technology is not independent of human values. It represents the values of the humans that are behind the design, development and application of the technology. So, if we’re worried about killer robots, we should really be worried about the creators of the technology. We want the creators of this technology to represent our values and represent our shared humanity.”

Anna Patterson: Founder & Managing Partner, Gradient Ventures

Anna Patterson has led a distinguished career developing and deploying AI products, both at large technology companies and at startups.

A long-time executive at Google, which she first joined in 2004, Patterson led artificial intelligence efforts for years as the company’s VP of Engineering. In 2017 she launched Google’s AI venture capital fund Gradient Ventures, where today she invests in early-stage AI startups.

Patterson serves on the board of a number of promising AI startups including Algorithmia, Labelbox and test.ai. She is also a board director at publicly-traded Square.

Patterson on one question she asks herself before investing in any AI startup: “Do I find myself constantly thinking about their vision and mission?”

Daniela Rus: Director, MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL)

Daniela Rus is one of the world’s leading roboticists.

She is an MIT professor and the first female head of MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL), one of the largest and most prestigious AI research labs in the world. This makes her part of a storied lineage: previous directors of CSAIL (and its predecessor labs) over the decades have included AI legends Marvin Minsky, J.C.R. Licklider and Rodney Brooks.

Rus’ groundbreaking research has advanced the state of the art in networked collaborative robots (robots that can work together and communicate with one another), self-reconfigurable robots (robots that can autonomously change their structure to adapt to their environment), and soft robots (robots without rigid bodies).

Rus on a common misconception about AI: “It is important for people to understand that AI is nothing more than a tool. Like any other tool, it is neither intrinsically good nor bad. It is solely what we choose to do with it. I believe that we can do extraordinarily positive things with AI—but it is not a given that that will happen.”

Shivon Zilis: Board Member, OpenAI; Project Director, Neuralink

Shivon Zilis has spent time on the leadership teams of several companies at AI’s bleeding edge: OpenAI, Neuralink, Tesla, Bloomberg Beta.

She is the youngest board member at OpenAI, the influential research lab behind breakthroughs like GPT-3. At Neuralink—Elon Musk’s mind-bending effort to meld the human brain with digital machines—Zilis works on high-priority strategic initiatives in the office of the CEO.

Zilis on her attitude toward new technology development: “I’m astounded by how often the concept of ‘building moats’ comes up. If you think the technology you’re building is good for the world, why not laser focus on expanding your tech tree as quickly as possible versus slowing down and dividing resources to impede the progress of others?”

From AI in Perfectirishgifts

[tempesrature]

The Case of the Murdered Witch Doctors | Chapter 8

Chapter: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 The Charm of Lost Things (Oneshot Follow-up) Creative Process Note Commissioned Art Piece

Pairing: Ride or Die | Ellie x Colt Summary:  “How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?”  - Arthur Conan Doyle, The Sign of Four Word Count: 2k+ Warnings: PG-16 @rodappreciationweek @lovehugsandcandy

~*~

Ellie stands in front of the basement door of the Kilat’s home and her hand hover over the wooden surface as she unlocks the door from the complex spell she placed on it.

Colt wrinkles his nose at the memory of the smell downstairs. “Do we really need go down there again?”

“We have to Colt,” Ellie says just as the lock on the door clicks open. “You’ll be fine. Just think of a nymph’s smell or something.”

Colt scoffs as he follows her down the stairs. “Just so you know nymphs smell like really strong floral perfume it’s disgusting—oh fuck!”

“What? What did you find?” Ellie whirls around to face him as Colt presses his mouth and nose against the inside of his elbow while he looks at her in shock and disbelief.

“Ellie, the smell!” Colt gags. “How has it gotten worse?!”

Ellie wrinkles her nose as she looks around the room but sees nothing out of the ordinary. “Must be the ingredients going bad. It has been a month since they’ve been maintained.”

“Give me the enchanted handkerchief,” Colt motions with his other hand. “Hurry, I’m literally going to pass out!”

“You’re such a drama queen,” Ellie rolls her eyes but manifests the handkerchief nonetheless and hands it to him. Colt grabs it out of her hand and presses it against his nose. He sighs in relief and takes deep inhales of breath. “Great. Now that we’ve solved your nose problem let’s go back to actually solving the murder.”

Colt glares at her and he’s absolutely baffled at how he can even begin to like a girl like her. But Ellie ignores him as she moves around the room and tries her best to look at the scene with fresh eyes.

“By the way,” Ellie calls out as she looks at the tools on the table in the middle of the room. “Where was Toby really on the first of July?”

Colt scoffs because he already knows what a terrible liar Toby is. “He was with his lover. It was their anniversary.”

Ellie looks back at him and furrows her eyebrows. “And he lied about that because…?”

Colt shrugs as he looks at the jars on the shelves. “The lover’s a mortal. Been together for three years now.”

“Seriously?” Ellie looks at his back cautiously. “And you’re…okay with that?”

“Like I give a shit who he dates El,” Colt turns to look at Ellie with a pointed look. “And am I really in the position to say anything about it?”

Ellie opens her mouth to argue. That he is the head of the Kaneko family and he has complete authority over his crew so of course he’s in the position to say something about it. But she quickly realizes that that’s not what he’s getting at. Rather it’s the fact that he himself is a half-vampire and Toby just dating a mortal doesn’t even hold a candle to his predicament.

“Fair point.”

“Mm,” Colt replies with a smile before he walks around to the table to look at the different utensils and tools on it. “You’ve already gone through this place for close to a month now. What else could you have missed?”

“I don’t know Colt,” Ellie sighs in exasperation, the question seemingly setting off something in her, as she throws her hands in the air before she starts to pace in frustration and anger. “I feel like I’ve just been ramming my head at a wall for the past month. I’ve looked through so much of this place I can even project it down to its nasty molds. Maybe I’m just a bad detective? Maybe that’s why this case isn’t getting solved!”

“Hey, hey,” Colt grabs her shoulder with one hand to stop her pacing. He turns her to him and gently fits his palm against her cheek to calm her down. He searches her dark blue eyes and sees the fear and exhaustion in them. “You’re panicking El. Don’t pace and conserve you’re energy or you’re gonna get dizzy.”

Ellie scoffs but she places her hand on top of his and squeezes it in gratitude. “I’m not going to get dizzy. I’ve spent so much time here I’ve probably gotten used to the smell…” Her eyes narrow as she looks down and an idea dances around the edges of her brain. She latches on to it, the conclusion so clear it sends her heart pounding. Her eyes snap back to him in a wild panic.

“Colt, answer me honestly. How bad is the smell?”

Colt scoffs. “I don’t need to lie to you El, the smell is awful. I feel like I can taste it now.”

“Exactly,” Ellie steps away from him before she turns around to look at shelves full of bottles and jars. Suddenly, she feels like she’s looking at it in a new light. “Colt. If it’s the ingredients going bad that’s causing this smell. Why are you smelling it and I’m not?”

Colt’s eyes widen at the realization. He moves to stand next to her and they turn to each other with sparkling eyes as they both reach the conclusion at the same time.

“You can’t smell magical creatures.” “I can’t smell magical creatures.”

Ellie immediately reaches up to him and tugs the hand that’s holding the handkerchief. “Take it off and pinpoint where the smell is coming from. Hurry.”

Colt groans as he tilts his head to the floor. “The things I do for you…”

He takes a deep breath before he removes the handkerchief from his nose and takes a deep inhale of breathe. He immediately feels woozy but he pushes past it and tries to locate where the scent is stronger. After a few shaky circles of the room he eventually picks it up somewhere in the back of two shelves and Colt quickly points to it before he slaps the handkerchief back on his nose.

“There,” He says shakily as his gagging almost muffles the word. “Probably at the back.”

“Got it,” Ellie says as she gathers the magic in her hand and slowly and efficiently levitates the shelves to the side. Her eyes immediately latch on to the dusty and moldy space hidden behind the shelves.

But that’s all there is and she can’t hide her disappointment. “Nothing…”

“Check the walls. That’s where I’d put it if I’m trying to hide something,” Ellie gives him a look and Colt raises an eyebrow at her. “What?”

Ellie decides it’s not worth it as she moves forward, places her hands flat on the wall and lets her hands wander all over the surface of the wall. She tries to be thorough and careful to make sure she can catch anything out of the ordinary. She kneels down on the floor and moves her hands lower until—there! The wall near the floor. The wood feels uneven. She takes a step back, concentrates her magic and makes sure that the hole she’ll cut into won’t disturb whatever is hidden behind. Blue sparks jump out of her hand and immediately coats the wall and with a small bang and a cloud of smoke, it reveals what’s hidden behind the walls.

“What the fuck is that?!” Colt exclaims as the cloud of smoke dissipates and he peers into the small hidden compartment behind the wall. “Is that…is that a magical creature? Is it…dead?”

Ellie frowns when something starts to scratch at the back of her brain and she doesn’t want to believe it. She doesn’t even want to think of it as a possibility. But her gut is telling her that all signs, all the clues and all the evidence points to one truth.

“Yeah, he looks decomposed. Probably here for a month, maybe longer,” Ellie says with heartbreak as she looks at the small magical creature bound and gagged inside the wall. He resembles that of a gnome but his features are different and his skin is darker. “Colt…what does he smell like?”

“Seriously El?!” Colt shouts as he readies himself to fight her. That yeah, he likes her sure but he’s not going to smell a dead and decomposing magical creature for her. But he pauses when he sees the expression on her face, pleading in a broken and sad look. He crumbles and relents to her request as he steps closer, moves the handkerchief a hairsbreadth down his nose and takes a whiff. He recoils in shock and disgust as he coughs and tries to get a hold of his weak gag reflex.

“Like straight up ass Ellie.”

Ellie squeezes her eyes shut. Her face morphing into pain as the truth finally unravels before her.

“Yeah…and not the good kind.”

Colt furrows his eyebrows. “What are you talking about?”

Ellie sighs and waves her hand to cover the hole with the wood she cut out of it to help minimize the smell for Colt. She turns to him and tries her best to appear calm, to appear like this doesn’t bother her, but she knows she fails when Colt reaches to her hand and squeezes tight. And she’s grateful for his presence and comfort because just that small gesture gives her the strength to reveal the thoughts she has untangled in her head.

“The last time we were here and after you left, Ana was talking about how she needed to come down to the basement to clean up the jars of duwende or it’s going to start to smell and start knocking out creatures. I thought she was talking about an ingredient on the shelves. But apparently not. That,” Ellie gestures to the wall. “Is the duwende she was talking about.”

Colt’s eyes widen as his grip tightens on her hand. “So…what? She used that to knock out her parents and then killed them?”

“Most likely. Frequent exposure to the smell with little to no ventilation can start to pile up,” She explains as she lets go of Colt’s hand and makes her way towards the basement stairs.  

“And they just didn’t notice the smell?” Colt sighs in relief when he follows her up the stairs. Finally away from the terrible smell.

“You smelled what it was like before,” Ellie says as she reaches the top of the stairs. Colt quickly moves past her, throws the handkerchief to the side and takes big breathes of fresh air while she turns around to lock the basement door. “Even you couldn’t pick up the smell but you felt its effects. It was also probably masked by the odor of the ingredients but the smell got stronger the longer the decomposition progressed in the unventilated room.”

Ellie turns to him and leans her body against the door as another realization hits her. “She had bottles on her vanity. Potions that could heal cuts and bruises instantly and leave no scars behind,” She rubs her forehead in exasperation as she squeezes her eyes shut. “Ingrid said that their femoral arteries were cut but there was no visible injury. She drained the blood and used that medicine to heal it. No wonder no one in the morgue could find out what was used. Her father made the medicine specifically just for her.”

“El,” Colt calls out to her and Ellie opens her eyes to look at him. He frowns when he recalls the conversation they had in Ana’s bedroom. “She said her parents didn’t want her to take on the family business. Care to guess what that might be?”

Ellie’s eyes widen before she grits her teeth in frustration. “Fern Libation.”

Colt hums in agreement. “Guess that’s why I never smelled the Fern Flower. She must’ve moved most of it before she called the Agency.”

Ellie nods and suddenly something in her stomach knots. So much so that she feels it as a physical ache and she wraps her arms around her torso. A painful and awful thought comes to her where she has no choice but to look away from Colt to hide away the tears that prick her eyes.

“Colt…do you think this is my fault? I got too close to Ana and I let my bias and past experiences cloud my judgement. How many creatures and mortal lives has she ruined by continuing to make and sell Fern Libation in the last month? If I just solved this logically and I didn’t let my emotions get the better of me. Would I have solved this case sooner?”

“Bullshit El,” Colt moves towards her and pulls her into a tight hug. He squeezes her hard as if he can physically squeeze the uncertainties out of her. “You did what you could with the resources you had. You’re a good person with good intentions and she took advantage of that. That’s on her, not you. Hell, you conned a Primordial vampire into helping you with this investigation. That in itself is fucking amazing.”

Ellie lets out a chocked laugh as she untangles her arms from her torso and wraps it around his own. She buries her face into his chest and murmurs her next words with a teasing tone.

“Half a vampire.”

Colt bursts into laughter as he tightens his arms around her. His voice light and full of relief. “You’re so annoying.”

Ellie hums in agreement before she leans back and wipes away her tears. She looks up at him and her eyes soften. “Thanks Colt.”

She immediately recovers and steels her resolve so she can plot her next move. “We still don’t know why she drained their blood and what she plans to do with it. We need to find her,” Ellie pulls on his hand to look at his wristwatch and she lets out a small curse. They have three more hours left. “Let’s go check her friend’s house first. Backup from the Agency won’t get there within three hours but we can make it in under twenty minutes.”

Colt grins as he reaches out and tucks her hair behind her ear. “Right there with you, El.”

[davidmann95]

All-Star Superman Annotations: Smash Mouth

In the late 1990s, Grant Morrison legendarily met ‘Superman’ in a self-described shamanic encounter outside the San Diego convention center at 2 in the morning and questioned him. His answers and general demeanor inspired his take on the character in his 1998 Superman 2000/Superman NOW pitch alongside Mark Waid, Mark Millar, and Tom Peyer, and later his seminal All-Star Superman alongside Frank Quitely, Jamie Grant, Phil Balsman, and Travis Lanham.

The year after that initial pitch - whether out of the transcendent synchronicities Morrison has written on underlying the seeming arbitrary mundanity of day-to-day life, or significant behind-closed-doors dealings - Smash Mouth released its equally seminal All-Star.

The superheroic associations are immediately evident. But Mystery Men (very fun movie) and Steve Harwell lifting a bus are but the tip of the iceberg. Or perhaps more appropriately the edge of a cliff, for when you peer within, the connections here go deep.

Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb In the shape of an "L" on her forehead

The opening of the song is obviously an evocation of the underlying rivalry between longtime nemeses’ Superman and Lex Luthor, with the latter mocking his erstwhile opponent on his idealistic shortsightedness in Lex’s mind, as well as that by poisoning him via solar radiation overdose he has at last triumphed. Of course, as the narrative remains on Superman’s side, Luthor’s worldview is exposed as self-aggrandizing solipsism, rendering him looking kind of dumb. That the figure of the song is referred to as ‘she’ is curious; perhaps this is in fact Nasthalsia ‘Nasty’ Luthor. Or it may refer to a sort of conceptual malleability of identity referring to Luthor’s eventual transformation via rehabilitation and time-travel into Leo Quintum, a decidedly more flamboyant and effeminate figure than the decidedly machismo-poisoned Luthor.

Well the years start coming and they don't stop coming Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running Didn't make sense not to live for fun Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb So much to do, so much to see So what's wrong with taking the back streets? You'll never know if you don't go You'll never shine if you don't glow

‘Hit the ground running’ is an apt choice of words when the title of the first chapter is Faster...; the progression of time and defiance of rules, going down the backstreets, can be read as his reaching beyond the typical rules and structures that have fenced him in over decades of continuity and tradition in the face of his pending mortality, such as revealing his identity to Lois (his realization of his mistreatment of her and their relationship as his intellect increases corresponds neatly to his brain getting smart but his head getting dumb), freeing Kandor, and entrusting humanity and Quintum/Luthor specifically with his genetic legacy.

Hey now, you're an all-star, get your game on, go play Hey now, you're a rock star, get the show on, get paid And all that glitters is gold Only shooting stars break the mold

Morrison referenced in his All-Star Superman exit interview with Newsarama his initial frustration with the All-Star brand going on his definitive Superman text, seeing it as an intrusive corporate logo (not knowing that it would ultimately come to be associated predominantly with that one story) when he wanted his story to be seen simply as ‘Superman’. Choosing to work with what he had, his story finds Superman becoming a literal golden glittering all-star shooting across the sky, pure information, an untouchable incorporeal living myth sprung from a man as akin to the ‘rock star’ image formed around ordinary people (such as Morrison himself in his younger days with his band The Mixers). The subject of payment will be returned to at the conclusion.

It's a cool place and they say it gets colder You're bundled up now, wait till you get older But the meteor men beg to differ Judging by the hole in the satellite picture The ice we skate is getting pretty thin The water's getting warm so you might as well swim My world's on fire, how about yours? That's the way I like it and I never get bored

This verse at first appears to be in reference to the coming of the freezing All-Night of the Bizarro Underverse, and Superman’s return as a ‘meteor man’ crashing into a travelling circus. However, while this is a neat narrative transition it is in fact in reference to metaphorical coldness and figurative meteor men, in the form of Bar-El and Lilo, and Superman’s reckoning with his Kryptonian heritage (though the opening lines also evoke the emotional coldness and grappling with mortality that define #5-6: it is this central 6-issue chunk that make up the night side of the archetypal journey into the underworld and rebirth that Morrison has commented formed the mythical structure of the series). The ‘hole in the satellite picture’ is interesting; it could be seen as a roundabout reference to the Kryptonian couple’s conquest of human culture as seen in Metropolis both architecturally and in Jimmy’s adoption of Kryptonian overpants and belt, culminating in the literal hole in the moon (symbolic of dreams, as all culture is the product of) patched up with human cultural artifacts such as the Golden Gate Bridge. More pertinently however, it evokes General Zod’s command of the airwaves in 2013′s Man of Steel, where he not only inhabits a colonialist view of planet Earth evocative of Bar-El and Lilo, but mentions that Superman “could have built a New Krypton in this squalor”, a direct line lift from the issue. Either the time-bending syncronicities go further than initially realized, Morrison played an extremely long game while consulting on the film, or Zack Snyder is not only in fact in possession of the deep understanding of Superman and his source material that his apologists claim, but himself figured this all out a very long time ago and adjusted his work accordingly. In any case, the Kryptonian astronauts’ belief in the “uncontested superiority and grandeur of Kryptonian culture” is impotent in the face of their own failing bodies and ultimate realization that Superman is right; their time has passed, the ice getting thin, and Superman’s kindness and willingness to engage human culture on its own terms - to swim - must carry the day. Per Morrison, “In mythic terms, if Superman is the story of a young king, found and raised by common people, then Krypton is the far distant kingdom he lost. It’s the secret bloodline, the aristocratic heritage that makes him special, and a hero. At the same time, Krypton is something that must be left behind for Superman to become who he is - i.e. one of us. Krypton gives him his scientific clarity of mind, Earth makes his heart blaze.” (Bolding my own)

(Chorus repeats)

Somebody once asked could I spare some change for gas? I need to get myself away from this place I said yep what a concept I could use a little fuel myself And we could all use a little change

The final non-repeating section of the song represents a final struggle between Luthor’s materialistic outlook, only able to see ‘change’ and ‘fuel’ in crass physical, monetary terms, while the enlightened Superman - transformed by his own process of personal growth and forthcoming elevation to solar deity - is capable of discerning a deeper meaning. That this is framed as an exchange, and more specifically an education, hints at Lex’s lesson at the hands of his senses in the worthwhile of the immaterial, divine unity of humanity that will prompt his transformation into Quintum, tying the story in a neat loop. Incidentally, the prospect of ‘change’ as monetary value while not a prominent factor in All-Star Superman will go on to have significant roles in both his major subsequent Superman works, Action Comics and Multiversity (the latter of which by his own admission evokes All-Star in its Thunderworld Adventures chapter, going on to reckon with the capitalistic give-and-take of commercial storytelling aiming for the type of enlightenment Morrison seeks to provide in its concluding issue), advancing the connections of the song to All-Star’s post-release impact as well as its text.

(Chorus repeats, concluding the song)

A final note: but the Meteor Men beg to differ is not only the most Jack Kirby-ass line that dude never wrote, but always reminds me of the 1993 Robert Townsend picture The Meteor Man, which I apparently viewed as a child and which I have always misremembered as having a direct connection to the 1978 Superman. I could swear I recall a bit of a picture being shown of a man with a meteor that’s the same picture of the man who found Kryptonite in the Donner film, the latter of which of course was a tremendous influence on All-Star Superman.

[scifigeneration]

New technologies to recycle electronic waste

by Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel

Pulsed extraction column (normally positioned vertically). JCP Gabriel, CEA Marcoule DES/ISEC/DMRC

Our connected consumer society generates a lot of electronic waste, around 50 million tonnes per year worldwide. It is even currently the waste that shows the strongest growth from one year to the next. The value of the raw materials included in this waste is estimated at 50-60 billion euros, depending on materials prices. Legislation and recycling channels for this waste are organised in many countries, thanks to extended producer responsibility systems, but currently only 20% is recycled in a certified process . In addition, of the sixty chemical elements present in electronic waste, only a minority is recycled, ten in number_: gold, silver, platinum, cobalt, tin, copper, iron, aluminium and lead). Everything else ends up _ in fine_ wasted in landfills.

The ideal, from the point of view of the circular economy, would be on the one hand to prolong as much as possible the lifespan of these electronic devices, in particular by prolonging the first use, and on the other hand to facilitate and favour reuse or repair. The fact remains that these landfills represent real “urban mines”: potential deposits for those who know how to exploit them.

How do we deal with electronic waste?

Recycling electronic waste means separating materials, molecules or chemical elements, so that they can be sold as raw materials for the manufacture of new products. First you have to dismantle the devices and components, sort them, grind them, and finally separate the materials, most often by incineration and then by solution based chemical processes.

Getting more chemicals from the urban mine is easier said than done. Electronic waste is very varied in nature and is often mixed with other types of wastes. The composition of the waste to be treated therefore varies from one shovel of waste incinerator’s ash or from one batch of waste to another. This contrasts with the exploitation of a “traditional” mine where the composition of the ore is much simpler and constant, at least in comparison.

The chemist is faced with an extremely complex separation problem. This partly explains why the recycling industry is currently focusing on the most concentrated or economically attractive metals to recover, hence the list above.

New strategy: dismantle, sort, grind, dissolve

Sorting aims to minimize the chemical complexity of the mixture to be treated, as well as its variability. It can be done at all scales: that of the device (type, generation), of its modules (printed circuits, batteries, external envelopes, frames, etc.), of their elementary electronic components (cables, resistances, capacities, chips, bare boards etc.), or even at the level of the powder resulting from grinding, which can be carried out on all the scales described.

The complete disassembly of devices is theoretically the most effective approach. But, due to the multiplicity and complexity of equipment, it’s difficult to automate this step: disassembly is still mainly carried out manually, which means that its cost is often too high to allow sorting down to the level of the elementary components.

Consequently, the most common approach among recyclers (MTB, Paprec, Véolia), before any chemical treatment, is the grinding at the scale of the device or its modules, followed by steps of separation of the particles by physical methods using the differences in densities or magnetic properties. Depending on the purity of the powders obtained, thermal or chemical treatments are then used to refine the composition of the final products.

Pulsed extraction column, 5 cm diameter. JCP Gabriel, CEA Marcoule DES/ISEC/DMRC, Author provided

In the latter case, the most used process of separation in solution of chemical elements is the so-called liquid-liquid extraction. It usually consists first of dissolving the metals or their oxides in an acid (for example nitric acid), then making an emulsion, that is to say the equivalent of a French vinaigrette. The acid solution (“vinegar”) is vigorously mixed with an organic solvent (such as kerosene, “oil”) in an extraction column and one or more molecules (“mustard”) having the property of promoting the transfer of certain metals (“flavours”) from acid to solvent. As this separation step is rarely perfect, it is repeated in series in order to reach the desired purity levels. Several dozen, even several hundred, successive extractions are sometimes necessary to achieve the desired purity.

Optimising the costs and efficiency of such processes requires the study of the influence of a very large number of parameters (for example, the concentrations of chemical species, acidity, temperature, etc.) in order to define the combination which represents the best compromise.

New processes to increase the recycling rate

In the laboratory SCARCE, we are working on new processes which will ultimately allow “ increase the number of chemical elements recycled and increase their recycling rates: on the one hand with mechanical processes (automation of disassembly and sorting), on the other hand with chemical extraction processes in solution.

For example, as we have seen, the chemical composition of electronic waste is very variable. The development of an extraction process, for a specific chemical composition, can easily take five to ten years of research and optimization and the adaptation of an existing process to a new composition (for example a new metal) requires several months to several years. This is hardly compatible with the volumes of waste, the resources and the time available for recycling waste.

Microscopic piping to optimize the extraction of elements

To reduce the time and cost of developing new extraction processes, we have miniaturized and integrated in a single device microfluidics automated all the equipment necessary for a process study. In a microfluidic device, the piping is smaller than a millimetre (in our case 100 µm thick, the thickness of two hairs or less). This allows very small amounts of material to be used: a few microliters of solvents and acids instead of millilitres, and a few milligrams of chemical compounds instead of grams. With the integration of analysis methods (X-rays, infrared and sensors), we can study the different combinations of parameters continuously, automatically and quickly. This allows us to do a study in a few days which can normally take up to several months.

Elemental component of the 5 cm side extraction microfluidic chip. Fluids flow through the half-pipe in a zigzag pattern and the chemical elements pass through a membrane sandwiched between two such components. The piping, pumps and analysis modules, e.g. infrared, are added. A. El Mangaar, JCP Gabriel, CEA, Author provided

Additional advantage of microfluidics compared to a conventional device: we better understand the phenomena of transfers of chemical elements at the interface between water and oil. Indeed, we control both the exchange surface between water and oil thanks to the use of a porous membranes, as well as the contact time between the two phases, which are pushed into the microfluidic channels using computer controlled syringe pumps. Material flows can then be calculated precisely.

Recovery of rare earths: precious and little recycled materials

This approach recently allowed us to study the extraction of strategic metals found in mobile phones. These metals, essential in modern technologies, are produced mainly in China and are little recycled at present – under 5%. This is all the more unfortunate as their production is very expensive and can pose societal and environmental problems.

Our results show that the combination of two specific extracting molecules makes it possible to extract rare earths with an efficiency almost 100 times greater than the efficiency of extractions with the molecules used separately. In addition, we have demonstrated efficient extraction at acid concentrations 10 to 100 times lower than those used in industry, which generates less pollution. We have also identified combinations of parameters that make it possible to separate the rare earths much more efficiently from each other, which is conventionally very difficult to achieve in a few steps. We are now studying the transposition of these results, obtained on a very small scale, to that of the industrial production tool.

Finally, our microfluidic approach is modular which means that each of the modules can find its usefulness in other cases, for example, the liquid-liquid extraction module can be useful for the study of processes of extraction of organic molecules (essential oils); or the infrared spectroscopy module for online monitoring of agrifood or pharmaceutical processes. It allows you to determine the amount of unbound water – it is the water that surrounds the molecules that are dissolved in it, but that do not interact with them, a key parameter to follow in many formulations of these industries.

About The Author:

Jean-Christophe P. Gabriel, Directeur de Recherche au CEA (IRAMIS/NIMBE de Saclay) et Professeur invité à NTU/ERI@N (Singapour), Commissariat à l’énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives (CEA)

This article is republished from our content partners over at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. 

[dachi-chan25]

I finished my tbr but I didn't liked a lot of the books, I am so disappointed, I read 2 extra graphic novels to at least get something I did like so yeah.

1-Cinco Horas Con Mario - Miguel Delibes

🌟🌟

Se que es un clásico de la literatura española pero es que la mujer es insufrible de verdad que es una basura de personaje totalmente despreciable y prejuiciosa el concepto del libro me atrajo muchísimo pero de verdad que yo no puedo con el monólogo interno de esta mujer.

2.- The Young Elites - Marie Lu

🌟🌟

I think I know what they were going for with Adelina, Marie Lu was going for an anti hero or a fallen hero but Adelina lacked so much depth for that to be the case, sadly the worldbuilding wasn't great either, again the premise seemed intriguing to me but I didn't like the characters or the plot and seeing as this is very character driven I couldn't enjoy it nor am I inclined to read the next books.

3.- A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole

🌟🌟

I was so disappointed, I became intrested in this after reading about the author and how this book came to be published. But I am sorry to say I just couldn't connect with any of the characters or the humor so yeah it wasn't an enjoyable read for me at all.

4.-Athena's Champion - David Hair/Cath Mayo

🌟🌟🌟

It was ok, I felt pretty luckwarm toward this, which is surprising as I loved the Moontide Quartet by David Hair, and this "prequel" to the Illiad certainly sounded like something I would enjoy but it felt so juvenile and again the characters annoyed me a lot, idk maybe I wasn't in the right mood for it.

5.-Four Dead queens - Astrid Scholtte

🌟🌟

The worldbuilding made no sense to me. It was predictable and the villian was a caricature, the romance was bland and the relationship I did care about came to nothing because the title itself spoils the queens die, like I just don't get how a system that doesn't work for anyone literally even the rulers disliked the Queenly Law is still going on.

6.-Kingsbane (Empirium #2)- Claire Legrand

🌟🌟

Whyyyyyy??? I really liked the first book, and unpopular opinion but I liked both queens, but this book was so wierd, Rielle felt like a whole new character like I was curious as to how she came to be the Blood Queen and it was such a disappointment I hoped for more, and Elena didn't fare much better, I just - I will not continue the series I just didn't like this book at all and i don't see how it will recover from the point it left us.

7.-The Kingdom of Cooper (Daevad Trilogy #2) - S.A Chakraborty

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Finally some good food!!!! So by this point I pretty much thought I was brain dead and didn't like reading anymore but this book returned my faith. Why hadn't I read this??? Nahri goes through so much in this book and I really love how much Ali and she complement each other, how idelistic and caring they both are, like I really want them together not only romantically (I mean I know they in laws but let's be honest Muntadhir would rather be married to Nahri's brother, soooo we can work it out) Dara fucked up but I did feel for him, like I don't support what he is doing but the politics of it were complicated, and well Daevad is a mess rn so yeah I am dying to see what happens next.

8.-Candide - Voltaire

🌟🌟🌟

It was pretty funny and there is a lot of satire going on, I always appreciate that.

9.- La Senda del mexica - Joaquin Guerrero Casasola

🌟🌟🌟

Me encanto el concepto, una novela negra ubicada en Tenochtitlan es algo que de verdad me intrigaba, sobre todo porque utilizan el concepto de detective viejo que ya duda de sus habilidades, Opochtli no es un personaje que me agradara en particular pero lo disfrute como protagonista y la historia aunque bastante sencilla fue muy original y descriptiva, realmente me pude imaginar todos los sabores y colores que describía Opochtli y eso lo aprecio mucho.

10.- King Lear - William Shakespeare

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

This is a re-read for me, this play is one of my favorites and I enjoy a lot to read it every now and then.

11.- Bury what we cannot take - Kristen Chen

🌟🌟🌟

This book is about a family that seeks to flee China during the Mao regimen to go to Hong Kong where the father lives with his mistress, the mother is unable to get permission for all of them leaves San San her young daughter then faces horrors as she tries to catch up with her family as her brother who was very loyal to the party tries to go back. I thought it was a great read really moving, but the end felt too open for me I wanted more I wanted to go deeper and Stronger w some themes so it left me dissatisfied.

12.- The Priory of the orange tree - Samantha Shannon

🌟🌟🌟🌟

I loved it!!!! The mythology surrounding the dragons and wyrms was great, the different realms w their different systems. The religion, in Virtudom especially where the ruler is believed to be a descendant from the Saint (and that plot twist), the characters and how well developed they were. Sabran and Ead! !!!! Like I was hoping they would be the saphicc romance everyone raved about cuz I loved their interactions, like I lost hope for a second there but then I was so happy when it came to happen, as a matter of fact the only reason why I didn't give this 5 stars is cuz I would have loved to have a prologue 10 years in the future to see them fulfill their promise.

13.- Verify - Joelle Charbonneau

🌟🌟

It might be good to introduce dystopic to a young audience, like this takes from many classic dystopias that gives a nice fundation if you never read one before, but as someone who enjoys dystopias a lot for me this was pretty boring and unoriginal, I know it was supposed to be a retelling of Fahrenheith 451 but I didn't see ir that way, like we could argue Paper is deemed as illegal and stuff but tbh it wasn't great, the main character was very unappealing to me, so not reading the next one.

14.-Prosper's demon - K.J Parker

🌟🌟🌟🌟

I really loved this one!!! Very short but succeeds in establishing the world and the characters, it was so good, full of morally grey characters, the ending left me shook like it really made me believe one thing and then boom!!!

15.-The Book of Lost Saints - José Daniel Older

🌟🌟🌟🌟

So this book is about a spirit taking possesion of her nephew's dreams so he will investigate what happened to her, how she died as she doesn't even remember her name, her memories are super vague. We unravel the story of a Cuban family in the middle of the revolution and institution of the communist régimen, how many people were prosecuted for fighting against Castro, among them Isabel and her sister Marisol. We get another amazing plot twist (for real it made me cry) intergenerational trauma and the search of identity as an immigrant pretty great stuff.

16.- Snow Glass Apples - Neil Gaiman

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

I loved it!!!! Dark retellings are some of my favorite things, and I have always liked Vampire!Snow White, this is just so creepy and good.

17. - Laura Dean Keeps breaking up with me - Mariko Tamaki

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Lots of queer representation and drama!!!! For real I just wanted to hug Freddie and tell her Laura wasn't shit. So we get the Importance of friendship and a good support system how a relationship can be toxic even if there is love (codependence isn't fun kids) and lots of relevant topics.

Gosh i really wish next month goes better, I will do another unhaul.

[sparklyjojos]

CARNIVAL recaps [4/13]

Today’s recap: We interrupt the plot to bring you Ellery Queen fanfiction, or: a two-headed dog and the theory of chaos.

--

EIGHT

17 Aug 1996 — 23 Aug 1996

EMPIRE STATE BUILDING

--

...But the Lord came down to see the city and the tower the people were building. The Lord said, “If as one people speaking the same language they have begun to do this, then nothing they plan to do will be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.”

So the Lord scattered them from there over all the earth, and they stopped building the city. That is why it was called Babel—because there the Lord confused the language of the whole world.

--

The Empire State Building that reaches the skies is blown up.

S-rank detective Ronely Queen learns about it from the radio news. She’s a young blond white woman, the pince-nez she’s always wearing bringing to mind her grandfather, the famous detective Ellery Queen. Right now she’s driving to a place where grandpa Ellery once solved a certain case: an inn called The Two-Headed Dog.

[This chapter is pretty much one giant fanfiction of the actual Ellery Queen story The Two-Headed Dog from 1934. To recap that story: Ellery stays at the eponymous inn and hears a tale of a jewel thief who once stayed there under the fake name John Morse. One day the thief disappeared, his dog was found dead in the woods, and the cabin seemed haunted ever since, eerie noises coming from inside at night. During Ellery’s stay at the inn, another guest is murdered in the haunted cabin.

The twist is that the thief had two dogs. When he was murdered and his body hidden under the cabin’s floor, the surviving dog would sneak inside and claw at the floor making it sound like there were ghosts around. The man who got killed during Ellery’s stay was the thief’s murderer coming back to the crime scene. The dog recognized him and ripped his throat to shreds. The story ends with Ellery pointing out the coincidence between there being two dogs and the inn’s name.]

Ronely Queen is greeted warmly by the inn’s owner Theodore Hosey and his young daughter Diana. [You should remember them both for later.] They know each other well, as Ronely (or Lee, as Diana calls her) often stays at the inn, and Theodore was her professor back when she was studying applied criminology at Harvard.

It happens that an older man called John Morse—just like the person involved in the Ellery Queen case—is currently staying at the inn. This John Morse claims he’s a private detective taking a brief rest in the middle of pursuing a serial killer nicknamed Deep Cut. The investigation apparently required him to bring a dog, which is now chained in one of the cabins.

Later Queen talks with Theodore trying to reason out why the global crime rate is at a sudden rise. She thinks that Theodore’s personal World Chaos Theory may be helpful in explaining it. In that theory, there exists an “El Niño Point”—a singularity point that stands at the center of chaotic phenomena. You know, the butterfly flapping its wings that causes a storm in another country, this kind of thing.

Theodore believes the Billion Killer might be that El Niño / Singularity point that’s behind not only the Saturday cases, but the rising crime rate overall. (Queen does notice the irony in calling someone like the Billion Killer El Niño, a term that originally refers to baby Jesus.) Basically, once they solve the mystery of the Billion Killer, everything else should become clear.

The conversation leads to Theodore’s ex-wife Anna Robertson, who changed her name to Nina Roberts and started journeying through the US in a camping car. Theodore admits ashamed that he trailed her for some time. Unfortunately, Nina became the seventh, unusual victim of the serial killer Deep Cut. Up until her, Deep Cut only targeted men, leaving the corpses with their cut off genitalia stuffed in their mouths. When Theodore heard that his ex-wife was murdered, he hired John Morse to investigate the case.

--

When Queen is in her cabin later, she hears two gunshots and dashes outside. Theodore runs out of Morse’s cabin, his arm bleeding, and quickly leads Queen to the scene.

Morse is dead on the floor with his throat torn open. On top of him lies a big dog that had been shot in the head, a length of untethered chain hanging from its collar. Morse’s lifeless hand is still holding a gun. Nearby lies a briefcase full of money.

What happened according to Theodore: John Morse had discovered that Deep Cut was actually Nina Roberts killing her lovers. To gain alibi at the time of death, Nina would leave her specially trained dog with the victim, call them on the phone and recite a phrase that prompted the dog to attack and kill the victim. Then she’d retrieve the dog and arrange the crime scene.

Ronely Queen guesses that Morse must have blackmailed Theodore, threatening he would tell everyone about Nina and destroy the family’s reputation. Theodore admits it’s true. He was supposed to give Morse the briefcase of money in exchange for the dog. But when he was untying the dog after the exchange, he wondered if it really was the correct animal, as it seemed too gentle and calm for a killer dog. At that moment Morse yelled “Please hate me!”, and the dog attacked hearing the phrase—but instead of Theodore, it threw itself at Morse. Despite Morse screaming “Love me! Love me!”, the dog wouldn’t stop biting at his throat, and finally Morse had to shoot it. Before he died from injuries, Morse tried to shoot Theodore too, but only grazed his arm.

There’s just one little thing that bothers Queen in this testimony. The dog’s teeth have very little blood on them, as if someone intentionally wiped the rest away.

One hypothesis is that after Theodore left the cabin, Morse wasn’t dead yet and wiped the dog’s teeth as a sort of a dying message. Maybe this message was that the dog (or any other dog) wasn’t actually used in the Deep Cut murders? If Morse was Deep Cut and used the dog successfully even once, he should have known that the phrase used to stop it wasn’t  in fact “love me”. The most obvious theory would be that Morse had been pursuing Nina Roberts and killing her lovers out of jealousy with his own two hands, and Nina eventually committed suicide.

But Queen can see that Morse is just a fake culprit, and finally explains the truth behind the case. Who fits the role of the El Niño Point the best in this entire case? If you look at everything logically, it’s Theodore Hosey.

It was Theodore who pursued his ex-wife and killed her lovers. Morse discovered it and blackmailed Theodore. It was Theodore who ordered the dog to attack Morse, and it’s not that the dog didn’t listen to the phrase “love me”, it’s that Morse never even said that phrase in the first place. Morse wiped the dog’s teeth to symbolically show that the animal itself was an innocent tool and that the murderer was Theodore.

As for that gentle dog that could suddenly turn vicious, maybe you could say it had a double personality—a true Two-Headed Dog.

And so a tiny meagre case was solved, causing barely a ripple in the vast terrifying scale of the Crime Olympics… but everything would have its meaning in time.

--

[>>>NEXT PART>>>]

[trainsinanime]

Red Web Mystery Reviews

Red Web is a podcast by Rooster Teeth featuring two guys from that whole Achievement Hunter thing that I can never tell apart (but you don’t need to know anything about this) about unsolved mysteries that often but not always have something to do with the internet. Let’s review the episodes out so far, because… well, no reason, honestly, I just wanted to.

Lake City Quiet Pills

Based on their information presented here, this whole thing and their explanation for it seem plausible enough. You have to assume that this group of apparently assassins is kind of bad at operational security, but there’s actually a lot of cases where big criminals got exposed because they used the same URL or E-mail address or similar.

Satoshi Nakamoto

I already knew about this beforehand, and I would say they did a good job explaining it. Personally, I think they should have gone into a bit more of how much a shit-show the whole Newsweek Dorian Nakamoto thing was; in short, there was no reason to believe this person had anything to do with Bitcoin, he didn’t even speak good english (which is probably what caused some of the misunderstandings), and it was both a huge embarrassment for Newsweek (at least I hope they felt embarrassed) and they needlessly hounded a completely uninvolved person for this.

But then they get into new evidence, and we see a problem that I think is a bit systematic: They don’t really go into how trustworthy the evidence is. Specifically, they say that the one person who can cast light on this might be… John McAfee. Fucking John McAfee. Seriously, that guy?

For context: John McAfee did indeed create the antivirus company that still bears his name. But he sold it in the 1990s, and thanks to money and drugs, he’s just gotten plain crazy ever since. There was the whole thing where he was implicated in a murder in Belize a couple of years ago; he kept blogging from a jail in Guatemala, later returned to the US, and keeps being part of outlandish schemes (including two presidential runs, though he failed to get the nomination for libertarian candidate both 2016 and 2020), controversies, and supposedly super-awesome tech startups that never go anywhere. It makes perfect sense that he’d claim to be involved in the creation of Bitcoin. It makes no sense whatsoever to believe him. If you’re interested and have way too much time, read what El Reg has to say about him.

Mortis

Oh god. This one makes me both want to laugh and cry. Mostly laugh, to be honest, because it is such an obvious nothing burger, but also weep for the internet that was.

The story is that they found a participant in an early internet warez network who wasn’t that great at OpSec. This is only fully revealed at the end, and they don’t even seem to have noticed that this case is clearly and completely solved.

Most of the humour for me comes from the fact that they’re rediscovering the old pre-social web, and are convinced that it’s all weird and nefarious. Why would one person register websites for their interests, and then never do anything with them? Because that’s what the internet was like back then in the late 1990s and early 2000s! Hey, look, here’s my ugly special-interest website from that era that hasn’t been updated in years and isn’t going to be updated any time soon either. That’s just what was normal back then. Same with a website for every person, or trying to do your own garage sales via your website. That was the thing to do back then. And yes, obviously it sucked and didn’t work very well.

They even realise that this is what „might“ have been going on, and theorise about this hypothetical early web. „Maybe if there was some website that linked all these together and allowed you to search“ - yeah, those existed. Digg and Technorati and Del.icio.us, remember those? All bought by Yahoo and promptly forgotten. And to be fair, they never worked as well as real social networks did.

But back then we had this glorious freedom. No sudden porn bans like here on Tumblr; no need to match any predefined template for what posts are, no user tracking by Facebook, nobody telling you that you’re tagging your posts wrong…

It’s understandable why we lost that web. Linking together is much easier if all content is owned and controlled by like four companies. It also makes it much easier to set up a new account; setting up a new website is just a lot of pain and knowledge you have to have that you don’t necessarily want to have.

But now we live in our monocultures and must live with whatever content decisions our corporate overlords make and then sell us as „community standards“, and the wild and weird web that we used to have is only a memory. And sometimes not even that; sometimes these new young kids treat it as a „weird nefarious mystery“. Actually, I just looked it up, and Alfredo and Trevor are both around 30, just a few years younger than I am. They were alive for at least the tail end if this. These guys could have known this shit!

So, yeah, the story here is not the mystery; it’s a lament for the web we lost.

D.B. Cooper

Again one I already knew, and I think they gave a good overview. Personally I’m in the camp of people who assume that he failed to make a safe landing.

Happy Valley Dream Survey

This seems vaguely interesting. One thing that kind of annoys me about this podcast is that they (well mostly Alfredo) generally assume that everything strange is necessarily nefarious, without any evidence. The whole thing here leads nowhere, after all.

Lead Masks Case

Again, I’m not sure how much weight to put on the other evidence they listed, especially that whole supposed UFO sighting. Yes, that one woman may have been very respected in her community and/or had a high social status, whatever that means. But the thing is that rich people who are super-involved in their church community or whatever can still (through no fault of their own) be unreliable witnesses and invent things that weren’t there, or not the way they were described.

Cicada 3301 (parts 1 and 2)

Personally I find this one less interesting because it’s not a mystery, it’s a riddle, and that’s way less fun. Much of the circumstances are weird enough, I guess.

What confuses me the most about this is how it’s supposed to be a recruitment tool, but it doesn’t seem to be very good at that. A lot of the steps don’t really seem to be that difficult and require just some fairly standard hacker skills. This is similar to the Satashi Nakamoto case, where one hint was „knows C++ programming“. Lots of people know that, and it’s something you can totally teach yourself. And if the people who were recruited through this were really supposed to program software, well… why did no part of this test whether they could do so? That’s a whole different skill. My conclusion is that this Cicada group is either a long con or a group that is nowhere near as smart as it thinks it is.

One thing to note here: They just casually assume that the FBI and NSA and so on are monitoring the whole internet, in real time, all the time. Which is true, we know that thanks to Edward Snowden. Isn’t that much more nefarious than any of the other mysteries here put together? How did we get to a place where Americans both think „this is the country that has all the freedom“ and „if you say or search for the wrong things you’ll get put on a government watchlist that’s just normal“ at the same time? Pervasive monitoring of a population is pretty much the exact opposite of freedom, but apparently we all in the western world just take it in stride anyway. That’s nothing to do with this podcast, though.

Conclusion

Generally okay podcast. The hosts are good storytellers, even if the stories are sometimes a bit shaky. It is at least at no point overly gross or insultingly stupid (unlike the official Rooster Teeth Podcast, which is both). So I think I can recommend it if you need something, anything to fill the quiet, and you’re already out of episodes of Black Box Down.

[artofaboythatoncewas]

Romantic Composers 2

Leo: Johann Strauss II. I’m gonna prank-call a Domino’s in San Juan, give me a minute. «Oro, we’re in the middle of the sea, I doubt there’ll be a good enough connection or a cell-tower near enough to let you-» <Sudden static is heard, and a gruffy voice comes on.> «Este es el Domino’s; ¿Qué te gusta probar nuestro nueva pizza stuffed-crust?» <Oro gives an impossible look at Viz, implying that he never doubted himself, but that Viz was a total moron for doubting him.> Yes, I’d like a, uh… <Oro’s eyes begin rapidly scanning the environment for clues.> Anchovies… Pineapples… A Hawaiian pizza, basically: That’s the mellow flavor I’m feeling today. «¿Algo más, señor?» Oh yes, I’d also like those marble brownies for a dessert, and an Orange Crush for the drink. <Viz wonders how Oro is able to receive a cellular connection in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico.> That should be it… Oh no! «¿Señor?» Augh! I fell off this pier, and I think I’m d-drowning! Please, send someone to help; I can’t swim! «¡Mierda!» <Viz watches Oro kick his feet through the water, making very convincing splashing sounds. He then begins to produce fake choking sounds, leaving the Domino’s worker quite terrified.> «Why did I ever agree to come out here with you.» <Viz punches the makeshift sailboat the two are in, startling Oro and causing him to drop his phone.> Viz, what the hell? I still had 3 gigs of data left on that thing! «Data? It’s a flip-phone. Smart phones haven’t been invented yet because they’re a science-fiction concept, dipshit. Now you have some terrorized soul in an island hundreds of miles away from here.» Actually, he’s at the bottom of the ocean. «Don’t speak to me again, I swear to God.» […] <The scene of the discord fades away as we peer into the bottom of the ocean, where we find the phone there, still on call. The voice rings out and says:> «¿Crees que está jugando conmigo?» […] Man, wouldn’t it be hilarious if I did that? <We cut back to reality: Oro is sitting in the front seat of his banged-up truck, killing time while Viz lays half-conscious in the back.> «That’d kind suck. I mean, who’s gonna be on the ocean? Nobody’s that stupid: The ocean’s big and scary.» You and me both, but don’t deny that isn’t hilarious. «Heh, I did appreciate the joke about the phone at the bottom of the ocean: You were setting that up miles in advance.» [,] Shit, am I getting a phone call?

Taurus: Frédéric Chopin. "The automobile is perhaps the only invention that is at once phallic and womb-like. As columnist George Will once remarked, “the real reason for progressives’ passion for trains is their goal of diminishing Americans’ individualism in order to make them more amenable to collectivism.” While his comments are laughable for a number of reasons, collectivism as a goal (or even a word) smells of Cold War-era mildew. Will does hit on one truism: Humans love cars to an irrational degree." Hmm, that’s a very interesting think-piece you have here. But tell me, why should I care about Americans and their car-culture? I hike up here every day, and when I have to travel lower, I take a moped like everyone else. Though, mine’s bigger for obvious reasons. «Don’t blame me; I just put the papers on the table. Those crazy op-ed writers will publish just about anything to get people’s anger brewing.» You’re right… The morning’s been quite inactive though, and I just wanted something to talk about. Heaven knows I talked about every trinket in this place. «You can try talking about the cuisine, specifically how I can learn from you. That’s just something you’ve been stubborn about lately, and maybe this boredom is just the karma of that.» I knew you’d say that, but you need to realize that my cooking is something you can only experience, never narrate. I let things speak for themselves a lot, and I never found a purpose in taking down notes that do nothing but become clutter later on. <Bodhi whispers to themselves> «That’s the guy I know: Always asking you to live out things fully because understanding things holistically is better than growing personally.» [,] You whisper too long but also too sweetly. Please keep doing it until we have a customer coming so I can feel like there’s some activity here.  «Bullheaded as always.» […] <Gresham takes a meaningful sip of tea, it fails to burn his old throat, but can punch through the atmosphere to reveal a friendly puff.>  A lot of the time, I’m tired of being so cynical: Where’s the room for being clumsily sincere? I have to refuse making money by telling dirty jokes or other obscene things like, ugh, phone usage. <Like he never said, he’s not too old, it’s that technology doesn’t catch up to him for his liking.> [,] The window is just soothing enough to warrant not cleaning it yet, but I don’t wanna get another tourist complaining about how they don’t have the best mountain view. Whoever sits here will have to learn how to appreciate the fault… I’m complaining to pass the time again: Not a healthy habit, Gresham. […] Nothing strange, just a nice day: A little foggy though.

Aquarius: Giacomo Puccini. How would I describe the graphical style of the game Little Red Hood for the NES if I were to use persistent, geographical allusion? Well, I’d say that it’d be like what would happen if you tried to translate the geography of Afghanistan onto 8-bit graphics hardware, particularly how it appears near a strong river like the Helmand: It provided that Galilean backdrop that so many directors used in their films about Christ. Now, that’s what I did think back in my flawed memory of the game, but now that I look back at it again, the landscape is definitely more inspired by that of Florida, particularly around the parts where sawgrass is heavy and palm trees are native, but it’s not a tropical landscape per se, nor is it an entirely swampy one. It’s particularly the presence of palm trees that struck me as confusing, because my brain has always associated the odd, yellow colors of its groundwork to that of a renovated Pacific area, but the game proves that it doesn’t use the palm trees throughout the entire game. But the opening levels still confuse me because the story of Little Red Riding Hood that the game’s based on originates in various parts of Europe, and the foliage we see in the opening act doesn’t reflect that of any European landscape. It could just be an artist interpretation in the case of making the presentation of the game think you were in a Pacific island or near the heartlands of Okeechobee, but I think it might’ve just been a case of “not giving a shit” as they say. There’s more to talk about with how my brain subconsciously linked my flawed memories of the game’s graphical presentation with that of the riverbanks of the Helmand; I guess I just wanted to prove my initial biases and not examine how the game doesn’t even commit to even my ideas whenever I think of Afghani scenery, but maybe even those are failing to catch up with the fact that there’s so many different aesthetical implications within the vastness of the nation of Afghanistan that, uh, I don’t know: I just like Afghani landscape. Have this picture of a village in the Bamyan desert. [,] «Aukai, what the hell are you talking about? I’ve been eavesdropping back here since you started and I still don’t understand.» I’m t-trying to paint this scene in my head, but I don’t have my tools to do it, so I’m thinking loudly about it. «…Whatever.» […] There’s no doubt in my mind that he’d make a great tamer: Our protagonist of this beautiful world, now ravaged by corruptors that his world has gone to hell for trying to stop. He’s the only one who can control the beastly and brutish forces of the corruption that infests his world. <The one earlier who was questioning Aukai opens her door and holds out a hand full of paint-brushes.> «Here, take these, please. I liked you better when you were quiet.» <Aukai is insulted and satisfied.>

Pisces: Franz Liszt. I’m fucking devastated: My favorite rap-battle channel on YouTube just deleted their channel. Not only that, all of their social media accounts are gone. They had such great works as "Goku vs. Rick Sanchez", "George Washington vs. the Invisible Man", and "Luigi vs. Slenderman." I don’t know if I can keep going the same route of content consumption knowing that the only ironic rap battle channel deleted everything. «Hold on, your favorite video-channel on the Internet was ironic? I don’t think I’m getting this, Maggie.» Let me explain it: It was good because it didn’t take itself seriously. For a while, that was it’s niche, and certainly other creators arose to copy it, but they were always the first. «So, is this like, some independent person making all of these or is there an entire network of people collaborating to create this music?» You’re right the second time: They used to be part of this collaborative effort to make these videos, but the guy I like, in particular, broke off from the bigger picture. Now, their content is what I like; I haven’t seen the uploads by the other creators ’cause it’s not really the same experience, is it? «That’s crazy… and they just deleted all their content after how long they’ve done this for?» I’ve been following it for a year, but they were their most active near October. [,] «You actually have me interested in their music now. I mean, I know you can’t play it anymore, but do you at least have backups or remember how some of them went?» I think I have backups, but I know some of these by heart, man. What I’m trying to say is that it’d be far better if I could recite these to you than if I just played them. «So, what you’re saying is that you don’t have any backups?» Do you have any backups, or do you wanna see me recite some of the best lyrics you’ll ever hear? «Let it rip.» [,] "I got the Dragon Balls; I’m gonna win. I’m gonna eat your pickle, Rick. Oh wait, SHIT! Your mom licked my Dragon Ball(z); I’m just Super Saiyan. Kamehameha, I ain’t playin’. Rick Sanchez always wanna start drama; don’t make me do Dirty Sanchez on yo’ mama! I bet your only comeback is you making a burp. Rick Sanchez winning? Stupidest shit I’ve ever heard." At this point, Rick Sanchez would offer up his verse to Goku, and his verse goes something like "thirty-thousand witches in Goku’s house! God isn’t real; I touched Bulma’s blouse. I got like, seventy more episodes with Morty, and being with Morty just makes me real-" «Stop, this is way more awful than I expected.» Well, I’m the only one you can get these bars from, and now you’re saying you don’t want them? I don’t have to recite them. «You have backups; you lied to me earlier. I don’t care about them now, but look: You got potential outside of just reciting those bars. Maggie, you got your own talents.» I’m not a lyricist, but thanks. «You’re a poet, that’s one-or-two steps away from being a lyricist.» I rapped purely for the purposes of recitation; I don’t know what you’re getting at. «Nah, I’m convinced that only you can write something this absolutely… passionate. You made up this entire channel, this entire guild, this entire deletion scandal: You made it all up so you can kickstart your career.» I’m not- Okay, we’ll roll with it this time. [,] Yeah, I’m starting my own rap battle channel in the wake of the one that deleted itself. «Are you gonna cash in on the ironic rap-battle market or are you trying to be more sincere with this?» Of course it has to be ironic! I’m following in the master’s footsteps thanks to you, and now I can’t disrespect his legacy. «That’s cool, but it’s not enough: You gotta make it one of those ARGs.» ARG? «Like, some game of Clue you send your audience on to discover interlinked details that seem to form a bigger picture but end up getting nowhere, and it’s all for the purpose of promoting your brand.» Oh, I see. I can include like, hints in the middle of the jokes in the verses, and I’d make an entire fictional universe of followers that leave behind clues. «No, you don’t even have to do that: Just get a random mugshot, make up some believable names and accredit them to your project, get some weirdos on a message-board to write about it for you, and you’re set.» …If you’re gonna be this disheartening, I don’t wanna continue with it. «That’s not what I meant!»