#pleb-the-original

[cypherdecypher]

Animal of the Day!

Northland Green Gecko (Naultinus grayii)

(Photo in Public Domain)

Conservation Status- Near Threatened

Habitat- Northern New Zealand

Size (Weight/Length)- 20 cm

Diet- Insects; Nectar; Fruits

Cool Facts- The Northland green gecko, also called the Gray’s tree gecko, lives an arboreal life on the northern island of New Zealand. They are sunbathers at heart, climbing onto leaves for camouflage and soaking up the rays. The gecko’s tail is prehensile and tiny claws aid their tree climbing skills. During the breeding season, males will travel from tree to tree in search of a mate. When encountering another male, the two have a yawning competition before launching into battle with a surprisingly strong bite. Despite female Northland green geckos not having a maternal instinct, they  allow their babies to stay in close proximity for several months for access to the best nectar. Unfortunately, Northland green geckos are declining in the wild due to the illegal pet trade and wildfires. 

Rating- 12/10 (They make a squeaking noise.)

Requested by @pleb-the-original

[muppet-facts]

trick or treat!

Trick! Yorick from Sam and Friends!

[amara-laz]

trick or treat :)

Here you go!! :))

[funkylittlebats]

trick or treat :)

Grab a handful of candy!

And a sticker sheet or a pencil!

Happy Halloween!!! 🦇🧡🖤💚💜

[just-bendy]

I have been haunted by my sin for too long and now I must confess. I was the one with the frying pan, I didn't mean to hit Bendy. May I please be forgiven

You know what must be done ta get my forgiveness, don't 'cha...?

[frying pan post]

[mauros-hlios]

you know what. fuck foods that would kill a victorian orphan. tell me tumblr/twitter discourse that would annihilate a roman consul. i am listening

[chimeride]

Day 10: Bird

(a bit shorter than usual so apologies in advance. I had a bit of trouble coming up with a good premise, I know I wanted to do something around Sirens but I was stuck there. Then I had petunia in my head but no clue what to do with her. Then I finally landed on something incredibly bird like with dance and it flowed from there)

Hello everyone! My name is Petunia and I’ll be your instructor for today. Before you ask, I always felt more feminine than masculine, despite my illustrious plumage. Anywho, if you’re new here this class is meant to help you get those chicks and wow then with your moves. Of course, being sirens, singing ain’t gonna cut it to woo us. We’re all naturally gifted so what’s the point? Instead you gotta appeal to another thing our animal counterparts are known for: dance. Movement and showboating is key to any good bird's courtship, from birds of paradise to waterfowl, every bird knows how to move. Even peacocks like me need to shake the old tail feathers in order for the eyes to mesmerize, and other birds too that usually only fall for song tend to be head over heels for a good showcase. Granted, with our higher intelligence as monsters and our forms being what they are, we can be a lot more creative then our smaller selves. I for example incorporate ribbons in my dance, either tied to the tail or just held in my wings. The sense of flow really brings the attention together. The humans got it right when they say that dance is an art form. Then again, you never know what your partner will be attracted to. Why else do you think the dance is what codifies your partnership? And don’t worry, dance attracts all genders. I mean my ribbons landed me a wonderful cock of the rock with a wonderful boy plumage named Crystal. She had me hooked with her dress. Now then, shall we begin our lesson?

[therekinperson]

My fanmade species that I've fleshed out too much :D (Like I literally made them socialital structures, wars, religion, current and even convergent species)

(Please send help)

them

[maladaptvs]

okay listen i redid my TK role rankings and i’m much happier with it. need to post or i’ll explode. yes it’s still annoying of me. yes it’s still out of 90.

1 (still): GREG!!!!!!! 💞💗💕💖💝💓 88!!!

2: PIP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (i’m thrilled) 84.5! (yeah i started doing decimals sorry)

3: Gideon! (“oh my god, it’s gideon!?”) 76

4: Gregson! close behind (very), with 75.5

5. AITKEN !!!! 68 !!!!!

6: (“why is there like, no 70’s anymore? whoa..”) the Jew? from The Honeymoon Suite? he really dominated this time… 65

7: Simon! 64 :)

8: DR. O’DWYERRRR!!!!! 61!! (lost points because obviously he’s on screen for like six minutes)

9: James Wirm! 60

10: The Few Fish character! (name? forgotten. sex appeal? through the roof.) 54

11: Lawyer from Tree! lost points for um. you know. 51!

12: Sidney! yeah he went down again, 48

13: Raymond with 47, sorry bud love u.

14: Claymation man (short film: Two Films About Loneliness) with 41

15: Lifegaurd from Cowards (“why is he the only cowards character you-” because himbo.) 36

16: “Elbow” (forty seconds of screentime shared with Daniel Radcliffe.) 34

17: Character from Train (definitely has a name. sorry.) 30

18: Gavin (Trust) 28

19: Dale (Days of the Bagnold Summer) 24

20: The perv from TEOTFW… 10… (he got most of his points from “aesthetic appeal” which just means visual character design)

21: Jerry from Peep Show, 8 (how? idk sorry didn’t like him) (apparently more than i didn’t like a sex offender… /lh)

22: CARETAKER! HE STILL CREEPS ME OUT! 7!

23: Rude Date (After Life) 4. actively hate him.

24: Slave from Plebs. 0.

[onedivinemisfit]

Rehashed the murder nymph. She’s now a tower-bound murder nymph. It’s been tough, health-wise, these last few weeks - I needed to draw someone else who feels as trapped as I do, right now

[kakusu-shipping]

PLEASE PLAY THE RABBIDS GAME ITS SO GOOOD

I WANT TO I WANT TO I WANT TO SO BADLY

I am however a broke ass bitch all the time and cannot afford two 60 dollar games even at the best of times atm

It looks really cool, the models are surprisingly pretty and the animation looks really good, I'm not sure I'd be good at the gameplay but they look nice and I'd LOVE to try them some time

I don't mind story spoilers (does it have a deep story? dunno) so feel free to come talk at me about it some time!!

[megkuna]

told this person i'm free to reschedule anytime this week so just lmk when they're ready and they said "you are so kind" cryinggggg nobody does ghosting like lesbians

[flatstarcarcosa]

pov: lester and i having a loud, angry argument and it takes anyone within earshot five whole minutes to realize we’re not having an actual fight, we’re just arguing about the merits of foreign horror films vs their american remakes

[princesscolumbia]

Babies! Yer ALL BABIES!!!

[just-bendy]

So, what are alice and the others up to?

[@pleb-the-original]

ALICE: Everything is swell here! We even found ourselves a clone! This one seems very friendly.

[sophiamcdougall]

You're a reasonably informed person on the internet. You've experienced things like no longer being able to get files off an old storage device, media you've downloaded suddenly going poof, sites and forums with troves full of people's thoughts and ideas vanishing forever. You've heard of cybercrime. You've read articles about lost media. You have at least a basic understanding that digital data is vulnerable, is what I'm saying. I'm guessing that you're also aware that history is, you know... important? And that it's an ongoing study, requiring ... data about how people live? And that it's not just about stanning celebrities that happen to be dead? Congratulations, you are significantly better-informed than the British government! So they're currently like "Oh hai can we destroy all these historical documents pls? To save money? Because we'll digitise them first so it's fine! That'll be easy, cheap and reliable -- right? These wills from the 1850s will totally be fine for another 170 years as a PNG or whatever, yeah? We didn't need to do an impact assesment about this because it's clearly win-win! We'd keep the physical wills of Famous People™ though because Famous People™ actually matter, unlike you plebs. We don't think there are any equalities implications about this, either! Also the only examples of Famous People™ we can think of are all white and rich, only one is a woman and she got famous because of the guy she married. Kisses!"

Yes, this is the same Government that's like "Oh no removing a statue of slave trader is erasing history :(" You have, however, until 23 February 2024 to politely inquire of them what the fuck they are smoking. And they will have to publish a summary of the responses they receive. And it will look kind of bad if the feedback is well-argued, informative and overwhelmingly negative and they go ahead and do it anyway. I currently edit documents including responses to consultations like (but significantly less insane) than this one. Responses do actually matter. I would particularly encourage British people/people based in the UK to do this, but as far as I can see it doesn't say you have to be either. If you are, say, a historian or an archivist, or someone who specialises in digital data do say so and draw on your expertise in your answers. This isn't a question of filling out a form. You have to manually compose an email answering the 12 questions in the consultation paper at the link above. I'll put my own answers under the fold. Note -- I never know if I'm being too rude in these sorts of things. You probably shouldn't be ruder than I have been.

Please do not copy and paste any of this: that would defeat the purpose. This isn't a petition, they need to see a range of individual responses. But it may give you a jumping-off point.

Question 1: Should the current law providing for the inspection of wills be preserved?

Yes. Our ability to understand our shared past is a fundamental aspect of our heritage. It is not possible for any authority to know in advance what future insights they are supporting or impeding by their treatment of material evidence. Safeguarding the historical record for future generations should be considered an extremely important duty.

Question 2: Are there any reforms you would suggest to the current law enabling wills to be inspected?

No.

Question 3: Are there any reasons why the High Court should store original paper will documents on a permanent basis, as opposed to just retaining a digitised copy of that material?

Yes. I am amazed that the recent cyber attack on the British Library, which has effectively paralysed it completely, not been sufficient to answer this question for you.  I also refer you to the fate of the Domesday Project. Digital storage is useful and can help more people access information; however, it is also inherently fragile. Malice, accident, or eventual inevitable obsolescence not merely might occur, but absolutely should be expected. It is ludicrously naive and reflects a truly unpardonable ignorance to assume that information preserved only in digital form is somehow inviolable and safe, or that a physical document once digitised, never need be digitised again..At absolute minimum, it should be understood as certain that at least some of any digital-only archive will eventually be permanently lost. It is not remotely implausible that all of it would be. Preserving the physical documents provides a crucial failsafe. It also allows any errors in reproduction -- also inevitable-- to be, eventually, seen and corrected. Note that maintaining, upgrading and replacing digital infrastructure is not free, easy or reliable. Over the long term, risks to the data concerned can only accumulate.

"Unlike the methods for preserving analog documents that have been honed over millennia, there is no deep precedence to look to regarding the management of digital records. As such, the processing, long-term storage, and distribution potential of archival digital data are highly unresolved issues. [..] the more digital data is migrated, translated, and re-compressed into new formats, the more room there is for information to be lost, be it at the microbit-level of preservation. Any failure to contend with the instability of digital storage mediums, hardware obsolescence, and software obsolescence thus meets a terminal end—the definitive loss of information. The common belief that digital data is safe so long as it is backed up according to the 3-2-1 rule (3 copies on 2 different formats with 1 copy saved off site) belies the fact that it is fundamentally unclear how long digital information can or will remain intact. What is certain is that its unique vulnerabilities do become more pertinent with age."  -- James Boyda, On Loss in the 21st Century: Digital Decay and the Archive, Introduction.

Question 4: Do you agree that after a certain time original paper documents (from 1858 onwards) may be destroyed (other than for famous individuals)? Are there any alternatives, involving the public or private sector, you can suggest to their being destroyed?

Absolutely not. And I would have hoped we were past the "great man" theory of history. Firstly, you do not know which figures will still be considered "famous" in the future and which currently obscure individuals may deserve and eventually receive greater attention. I note that of the three figures you mention here as notable enough to have their wills preserved, all are white, the majority are male (the one woman having achieved fame through marriage) and all were wealthy at the time of their death. Any such approach will certainly cull evidence of the lives of women, people of colour and the poor from the historical record, and send a clear message about whose lives you consider worth remembering.

Secondly, the famous and successsful are only a small part of our history. Understanding the realities that shaped our past and continue to mould our present requires evidence of the lives of so-called "ordinary people"!

Did you even speak to any historians before coming up with this idea?

Entrusting the documents to the private sector would be similarly disastrous. What happens when a private company goes bust or decides that preserving this material is no longer profitable? What reasonable person, confronted with our crumbling privatised water infrastructure, would willingly consign any part of our heritage to a similar fate?

Question 5: Do you agree that there is equivalence between paper and digital copies of wills so that the ECA 2000 can be used?

No. And it raises serious questions about the skill and knowledge base within HMCTS and the government that the very basic concepts of data loss and the digital dark age appear to be unknown to you. I also refer you to the Domesday Project.

Question 6: Are there any other matters directly related to the retention of digital or paper wills that are not covered by the proposed exercise of the powers in the ECA 2000 that you consider are necessary?

Destroying the physical documents will always be an unforgivable dereliction of legal and moral duty.

Question 7: If the Government pursues preserving permanently only a digital copy of a will document, should it seek to reform the primary legislation by introducing a Bill or do so under the ECA 2000?

Destroying the physical documents will always be an unforgivable dereliction of legal and moral duty.

Question 8: If the Government moves to digital only copies of original will documents, what do you think the retention period for the original paper wills should be? Please give reasons and state what you believe the minimum retention period should be and whether you consider the Government’s suggestion of 25 years to be reasonable.

There is no good version of this plan. The physical documents should be preserved.

Question 9: Do you agree with the principle that wills of famous people should be preserved in the original paper form for historic interest?

This question betrays deep ignorance of what "historic interest" actually is. The study of history is not simply glorified celebrity gossip. If anything, the physical wills of currently famous people could be considered more expendable as it is likely that their contents are so widely diffused as to be relatively "safe", whereas the wills of so-called "ordinary people" will, especially in aggregate, provide insights that have not yet been explored.

Question 10: Do you have any initial suggestions on the criteria which should be adopted for identifying famous/historic figures whose original paper will document should be preserved permanently?

Abandon this entire lamentable plan. As previously discussed, you do not and cannot know who will be considered "famous" in the future, and fame is a profoundly flawed criterion of historical significance.

Question 11: Do you agree that the Probate Registries should only permanently retain wills and codicils from the documents submitted in support of a probate application? Please explain, if setting out the case for retention of any other documents.

No, all the documents should be preserved indefinitely.

Question 12: Do you agree that we have correctly identified the range and extent of the equalities impacts under each of these proposals set out in this consultation? Please give reasons and supply evidence of further equalities impacts as appropriate.

No. You appear to have neglected equalities impacts entirely. As discussed, in your drive to prioritise "famous people", your plan will certainly prioritise the white, wealthy and mostly the male, as your "Charles Dickens, Charles Darwin and Princess Diana" examples amply indicate. This plan will create a two-tier system where evidence of the lives of the privileged is carefully preserved while information regarding people of colour, women, the working class and other disadvantaged groups is disproportionately abandoned to digital decay and eventual loss. Current and future historians from, or specialising in the history of minority groups will be especially impoverished by this.