#text posts and analysis makes me just so unbelievably happy

[xkaleza]

unintentionally made him really pretty-- i mean uhh yeah. that was intentional. i'm an artist [proud]

[himetsuri]

Noticed you posting some Psyren caps around the same time I was first reading it the other day, and I’d like further elaboration on what’s so bad about Viz’s translation since that’s the one I read, as well as any thematic analysis you have about the series, since the light speed pacing of the final volume made it hard to track what exactly the series was trying to say to me.

hey there, no prob! (hope you don’t mind a long post!)

it's been a while since i read viz's release in full, but from what i remember there were two major issues that plagued their version: shaky translations and poor editing. it's hard to tell if one was merely negatively affected by the other, but in my opinion i think there was a distinct lack of proofreading from both ends.

for example, this line is completely wrong in viz's translation. junas is actually saying, "a minute? your telekinesis is as unbelievable as ever." he's praising grana's telekinesis, not scorning it, which in turn makes sense considering grana is ranked above him and constructing an entire tower in one minute is hardly 'pathetic.'

no idea where they got this line from at all. the original reads, “yoshina… / just where is your strength taking you–––?”

on the editing side of things, there are constantly inconsistencies in the way they translate things.

burst, rise, and trance are what the three components of psi are called in the original; blast, enhance, and trance are how viz localized them. i believe they are good at using blast, enhance, and trance for the most part, but as you can see there's at least one instance where they slipped up. this combined with…

inconsistent name order makes me think the translator is translating things one way (eg amagi miroku) and the editor is going in afterwards to localize (eg miroku amagi).

why is miroku responding as if grana is thanking him for rice balls? we know he never gave grana rice balls in the first place and one look at the panels makes it obvious grana is thanking the dead old man (who did in fact give him rice balls). it doesn’t appear that the translator is actually looking at the manga while translating.

they refer to grana as “granar” throughout the series, yet in the character intros in vol 12 they have his name as “grana.” the man on the right should be “koichi iba,” honestly not sure where they got “kohei iba” from.

kyle’s ability is called “material high.” for some reason, they changed it to “air blocks.” then in chapter 127, in what i assume is a consequence of this, kyle randomly shouts “material.”

one of my personal favorite mistakes is this page where all of the original japanese text is visible behind the english.

hopefully that gives you an idea of what i dislike about viz’s version, there are many more examples i could give but i don’t want to drag on for too long. unfortunately, the fan translation of psyren has its issues as well, especially towards the end, but viz’s version is so egregious for being the official version and people pay money for it so i’m particularly disdainful of it lol.

as for themes, i think the biggest theme of the series is the title of the second novel: “the future is in your hands.” the whole story is about ageha and co trying to stop a disastrous future from happening; at times they fail to make a difference, and at times make things worse, but they keep pushing forward and eventually achieve that ‘happy ending’ they wanted. ageha and amamiya both start the series as apathetic people who buy into the idea that the world is doomed and it doesn’t matter what anyone does. by the end, they’re wholeheartedly fighting against that idea. you can see this manifest in the antagonists like miroku, as well, who grows up as a test subject wondering if “this is all [he] was born for” to becoming a man who says things like “fate revolves around me” and believes he has to be the one to “fix” the world.

another theme i believe is at the heart of the series is “connections.” the connections between people, or lack thereof. ageha’s mom died and his dad is pretty much out of the picture, he’s not on the best terms with his sister at the start and mostly acts based on money. amamiya’s parents left her in an apartment by herself, she has no friends and closes herself off to everyone at school. hiryuu spent his childhood trying to cheer up his friend with false stories and abandoned him at a point where it truly mattered. kabuto runs from all his problems because his idea of “peace” is avoiding any messes he causes others. all this changes once they come together and allow themselves to open up for those “connections.” it’s very fitting that the very last line of chapter 1 is “your world is connected” and the final chapter’s (and volume’s) title is “connected world”!

[innenofutari]

On Goro Akechi’s morals and forgiveness (character analysis, but also just a very rambly post)

Akechi is… a very interesting character, I have no doubt about this. Also my favorite of course, if you hadn’t figured that out yet by this giant text you’re about to read (sorry). I have a lot I want to talk about in regards to him since he is so intriguing and we actually don’t have that much info about how his thought process works so it leaves a lot of room for speculation.

In any case, in this meta in specific I’m going to be talking about Akechi’s...morality(?), forgiveness and his relationship with regret. I’m not sure if that’s the best word to define this but I’ll roll with it for now. I’ll try to be fair and talk about things as I personally see them, it’s totally fine if you don’t share my views! Now, onto the actual meta.

Starting off, as people are obviously aware, Akechi is a morally gray character, a darker shade of, but he’s a sympathetic and tragic character nonetheless. That much is undeniable, he was written to be sympathetic, even if I’d argue Atlus did a pretty poor job of it in Vanilla (he was still my favorite ever since then though lol) but he’s reached his true potential in Royal, which makes me immensely happy to see. I get so unbelievably happy whenever I see people saying Royal changed their perception of him and started to like him more! But even then, there are a lot of people who just can’t forgive him for what he did, and that’s only natural. I personally think that, if you don’t try to sympathize with Akechi and truly, truly try to understand his mind and history, you’re doing him a huge disservice. But, forgiveness is something that everyone is free to think and decide if he deserves it or not. In Akechi’s case, I feel like forgiveness is something much more personal to the player, and this shows between the Phantom Thieves too.

There is a visual novel I hold very close to my heart called Umineko no Naku Koro Ni (which I’ll be quoting relentlessly throughout this entire post) that illustrates what I think better than I could put into words, so I’ll be quoting that scene with a few tweaks for better context:

“You said you understood the culprit’s motive.”

“...Yes.”

“Is that motive… a satisfying explanation for why they’d [commit murder]?!”

“Who knows. That’s for you to decide. Even if I say it’s satisfying, that doesn’t mean it will satisfy you. …You have to decide that for yourself.”

I really like this. It reminds me a lot of Akechi’s situation. I firmly believe that this has no “objective”, “most correct” answer to, just your personal feelings, which are the most important. I, as a player, do forgive Akechi, I want him to have a happy ending, another chance at life, manage to live happily with Akira and have some fun for once. That’s what “forgiveness” means to me in this situation, but while some people may empathize with Akechi, they still can’t forgive him. They think he should stay forever in jail or die since he cannot be redeemed in any way in their eyes. Where do I wanna go with this endless blabbering you ask, and I respond, I just want to try and see Akechi’s actions through two different lenses.

Well, I personally don’t like downplaying the crimes he committed and dumbing it down to “he was being manipulated” because, even if this is not false, it is not entirely correct either. Akechi is so fun to speculate about because he’s a character who is always clashing against himself in various ways as if he was in a constant state of internal turmoil, and this is not very different.

Akechi himself made the choice to go to Shido. It is extremely unlikely that he didn’t know he was going to be using his new powers for murder. He may have been very young, but despite the fact that he was a child forced to mature prematurely, he knew exactly which type of person Shido was. When he walked into that deal he was aware of the consequences and had fully made peace with the fact that he’d be taking another person’s life. Now, I’m not saying that Shido never manipulated him because he did, but not with that particular choice. 

This alone tells plenty about Akechi’s morals. I believe that Akechi indeed has some level of empathy for other people, but I sincerely doubt he feels especially bad about the Okumura-like people he had to kill. He might feel bad for the family of the victims or just feel nauseated with himself, however, he doesn’t regret a thing. As if he had grown numb to it. ...Until a certain point, that is, but I’ll talk about that later.

I would also like to elaborate further on Akechi’s continuous conflict with himself, and this particular piece of Maruki’s confidant immediately reminded me of this:

He’s talking about Akira here, but isn’t it interesting to note that Akechi’s internalized and externalized realities are, in contrast to Akira’s, the farthest they could possibly be from each other? His sense of justice, childlike desire to be loved and seen as a hero, in contrast to the cold-blooded murderer he had become? It’s like there are two people fighting it out inside of Akechi’s brain (lol) which must cause him a lot of distress. I don’t believe that Robin Hood is a ruse or that his Detective Prince façade is entirely fake. The way I see it, they are his ideal, which he strayed so far away from he lost grasp of who he himself is.

In my opinion, Akechi has never cared about fame the slightest bit, he used all of that as an opportunity to act out the person he wished he was, just and virtuous, while still being the feral murderer and bloodstained person he is today. These are two integral parts of him that he has never known how to reconcile. It’s interesting to note that in the third semester he was the one who since the beginning advocated firmly to return to the harsh reality but he had spent the entire game living in the comforting “detective prince” dream he made for himself until the engine room scene happened. 

With the third semester context, the engine room becomes so interesting because that scene is akin to Sumire finding out she’s not Kasumi. It’s a cold bucket of water thrown straight to Akechi’s face and telling him to wake up from this lie he made to comfort himself and face reality: he is no hero. Despite the fact that he is, too, a victim, he is simultaneously a murderer who perpetuated with the cycle of his father’s aggressions and he cannot escape that fact. Worse, he was being manipulated all along and his revenge plan and arguably his only reason to live AND justification for his actions was completely crushed.

Once again, this Umineko scene illustrates what I think Akechi’s situation up until that point was like:

Akechi rationalized every awful, inexcusable thing he did as, “It’s for my revenge’s sake” and ran with it. He was incredibly blinded by his hate and ignored the weight of the consequences of his actions up until that point where everything came crashing down right in front of his eyes. There is no excuse and no justification for that.

However, Akechi was also abused himself. There is no excuse for what he did, but is getting back at the person who took everything from him so reprehensible a thought? Is wanting justice against someone who essentially ruined your life not understandable? Many people like to say “cool motive still murder” or things of the like, but I’m asking you again to put yourself in his shoes.

Yet AGAIN with a Umineko screencap:

I played this the other day and one of the first things I thought of was Akechi. A lot of people draw parallels between Akechi and Adachi, but that’s just so damn wrong and make me lose my hair so much and become completely bald because that couldn’t be farther from the truth and I’m gently asking you to reconsider. In the pic above, Adachi would fit the “homicidal maniac” mentioned to a T, and while Akechi is by absolutely no means free of guilt and much less a stellar person, his crimes were moved completely by his heart. 

For the people who use his choice to become Shido’s hitman to say Akechi does not deserve any kind of forgiveness and that he’s a murderous maniac, I ask you to at least think of what state of mind he was at that moment. Think very hard about it, imagine how completely bleak life must have looked like then, to the point that he risked everything on murder.

This is nothing more than my speculation, but I believe Akechi’s thought process at that moment was something along the lines of, “I have nothing to lose since my (current) life is completely meaningless". It was as if he had reached such a numb state he chose to forgo all his morals and humanity in pursuit of at least one thing that would give his life meaning, that being his hate for Shido, which I also think was the only emotion he ever truly understood well ever since his mom passed.

Since Akechi is all about conflicting emotions though, I would also like to remind you how vulnerable Akechi really is to any kind of affection. His “childlikeness” that Robin Hood represents was, by all accounts, still there. Akechi has a desperate need to be loved while simultaneously putting up walls and wearing masks, making it extremely difficult to have any kind of meaningful relationship. This is something that Shido thoroughly takes advantage of, too.

That’s also why one of his lines to Akira hit so much harder for me, following this reasoning. “If only we had met a few years earlier,” expresses many emotions at once. If Akechi had known something other than misery and hatred during that period of his life he would not have latched so thoroughly to that revenge plan. Akechi simply had nothing to lose, since he had nothing at all.

I mentioned earlier that Akechi doesn’t regret a thing, which I still think it’s true. Before he had met Akira, he truly did not regret a thing, but meeting Akira caused him a lot of strife because not only Akira is a person whose whole existence flaunts everything Akechi could have had if he hadn’t fallen into fate’s trap, but Akechi also experiences happiness through his connection with Akira. Hanging out and talking to him truly makes him happy, and it’s something more genuine than he’s ever known. Yet, it’s too late, because his choices were already set in stone and he had already pulled the trigger with no way to take any of the bullets back.

That’s why Akechi is so confusing, so controversial and sometimes uncomfortable to think about. There is no clear line between good or bad, he just is something in the middle. Akechi is both a person who ruined a lot of people’s lives with no regard whatsoever to the consequences but also a victim rebelling and retaliating against the person who took everything from him and made his life a living hell. That’s why it’s so hard for not only some players to form opinions about him but also downright uncomfortable for the Phantom Thieves to think about. There is no objectively best answer for what he deserves. It just doesn’t exist. Should he spend the rest of his life in jail, or dead, because his crimes were inexcusable? Or should he be given another chance at life to learn to be happy? It’s entirely subjective, and that’s why he’s so great to think or discuss about. 

Aaand that’s it, I’m grateful you read so far, hope I didn’t piss anyone off, also not gonna pretend this wasn’t very self indulgent because of the amount of times I quoted Umineko in it. Anyways, thank you!

SIDE NOTE: I didn’t write this recently, it had been sitting on my drafts for some months now and I found it again today and decided to just release it into the wild because why not? I think this was meant to be much longer than it is and to elaborate more eloquently on a lot of points I brought up (like the PT with Akechi) but alas, I lost the train of thought and so it Perished.

[sherlockxreader]

A Time Of Change - Chapter Three - The Fourth

Title: A Time Of Change Chapter Three: The Fourth Summary: Ava Bradford. Behavioral Analyst of the Miami Police Department. Or former Analyst after the events of the past force her to journey to England and take up a job away from the family she had created. Here, she struggles to keep to herself and her life quickly takes over as she readies for her future on Baker Street. Author: Alexa @alex-awesome1023 Words: 4023 (sorry, not sorry) Characters/Relationships: OC x Sherlock Warnings: Depression, Anxiety, Past Physical Abuse, Nightmares Author’s Notes: Yes I know this Chapter is late but i haven't been around a computer to be able to write or post anything so that's on me. But im really excited for everyone to read this. Ive been reading and seeing positive feedback and i am overjoyed with the results especially with the tags!!! Can't wait to see more of your comments and feedback! LOVE YOU GUYS!!!

Original Character Ava Bradford is inspired by Zoey Deutch. Enjoy!❤

Finally arriving to Scotland Yard, you were surprised at how big the building was. The precinct in Miami was barely four stories whereas this building practically engulfed that plus more. Taking a moment to look around at the surroundings as you looked at the sizable sign, the text shining as it read “New Scotland Yard”, you shivered from the cold. It’s going to take some time to get used to this London weather. Not being able to stay out in the chill for too long, you quickly walked into the huge building and headed straight for the receptionist desk.

“Hi um, I’m here to see Detective Inspector Lestrade, please.” You said to the receptionist while rummaging through your bag trying to find your ID and badge.

“Name.”

“Ava Bradford” Still typing away at her computer not really paying any attention to you, you handed her your identification when a commotion from the entrance caught your attention. You see two people enter, or rather storm through the doors discussing something in harsh tones. The woman, a young black woman with dark curly hair in her late twenties, was fuming, her face pinched into a scowl and lips pursed. The man was around her age, his hair parted neatly down the middle and his face equally mad. I don’t like the vibe they’re giving off. I can practically smell the stupidity and arrogance. As they walk closer you happen to hear their heated conversation.

“I’m going to kill him! That freak has got some nerve to do that shit in the middle of a press conference. Unbelievable!” She yelped loud enough for both you and the receptionist to look up.

“Oh Sergeant Donovan, are you going up to see Lestrade?” The receptionist asked with a hopeful tone. You had a feeling that she didn’t want to get up off her own ass to go show you where to go.

“I have police reports to give him, why?” She questioned unmannerly, looking to you for a moment with an interest and then complete ignorance like you were a child. Sergeant Donovan made her way over to you both as the receptionist gave you back your ID and badge.

“Would you take Miss Bradford up to see him please?” She asked and you heard the plead in her voice; you metaphorically rolled your eyes. I don’t need anyone’s help. Donovan’s heels echoed through the lobby, the noise echoing ominously, the nameless man still following behind just a step.

They stood with you at the desk, blatantly judging all five feet and two inches of your casual appearance. The man was practically drooling as his eyes trailed up your body and down again; you forced yourself not to gag.

You noticed that Sergeant Donovan was taking a long look at your scuffed pair of classic converse, laced up with polka dot laces. Her expression morphed from a dismissing glance to a repugnant smirk. You knew just then what she thought of you; she thought you were a kid, a teen and someone easy for her to bully. You knew that this was because of your short height plus the laces. Donovan herself was about 5’5 and him about 5’11 so it wasn't that big of a deal really, you were used to being to smallest in the room at 5’2.

“Sure follow me.” Donovan jeered with exasperation in her voice. The man behind her didn't say anything, he just started with a smug grin plastered on his face. They both walked a little in front of you guiding the way. As you three came to the elevator you stopped causing the two to look back at you in confusion. As you looked up at the silver death box, you felt you heart skip and your hand start to sweat. You cursed to yourself.

“Can we, um, take the stairs? I’m trying to work on my cardio.” You blurted out with a small chuckle trying to sound as calm as possible. They both looked at you with confusion and disbelief.

“I would just take the lift, it’s on the twelfth floor.” She insisted as the doors opened and both her and the man stepped in. You looked up at it once more with internal grievance. It’s not worth it Ava, just suck it up. You got it the elevator and were immediately filled with regret. As the two of them discussed what you assume was dinner plans, you decide to take your mind off the death box by figuring out more about the two officers.

Sally Donovan; works for the Metropolitan Police Service as a Detective Sergeant judging by her badge and attitude, she has a huge ego, very rude and hates to be told wrong. That will be fun. She has un-showered hair and worn clothes not more than a day old and is wearing men's deodorant. She’s had a night out. Dull… Seeing the name clip tag on the man’s pocket, you read him.

Phillip Anderson; works for Metropolitan Police Service as a police officer and forensic scientist. Snarky, stuck up, rude, loves to prove people wrong and a perv. He's got the whole package. he’s married going by the ring but I can't tell if it’s happy. A blue buttoned down shirt but un-showered. Taking a sniff, you are taken back by the strong powerful mixture of men's cologne and deodorant but you find that the deodorant, it’s the same as Sergeant Donovan. A colleague scandal.… How fascinating.

You giggled at your discovery and the drama that could come with it, causing both Donovan and the man, Philip, to look at you like you were insane.

“What's so funny that’s got you twisted in knots?” Phillip asked bitterly, his comment making you pause as you tried to figure out the meaning. I keep forgetting that I’m in London with people with British accents, weird being the only American sometimes.

“Oh nothing really. Ignore me.” You managed to say with a steady voice. You could feel your lungs tighten and burn from trying to keep your breathing steady, your heart quickening with nerves with every beep of the elevator letting you know that you've climbed a floor level. Reaching for your necklace, you took a deep breath to calm yourself and expel the anxiety within your core.

Finally feeling the box stop, you ushered towards the door rather quickly but not to the point of abnormality. You instantly felt better after getting out and you let the fresh air into your lungs with a deep breath. That wasn't so bad.

Donovan and Phillip pass by you without a second glance and you follow the two down the corridor to an office. You read the name on the door and desk laminate. Detective Inspector Gregory Lestrade. As you walk in, you see a man in his late 30’s or early 40's with graying hair sitting at the desk drinking coffee, going by the smell. He looked up from his paperwork and flashed a weak smile.

“Hello, you must be Detective Bradford.” He said as he stood from his chair and reached to shake your hand. As you went to shake his hand, Donovan choked on the air.

“This ‘kid’ is the new Behavioral Analysis Detective!?” She barked, loud enough for the whole floor to hear.

“As a matter of fact, I am, Sergeant Sally Donovan and you should be quick to hold that tongue of yours considering the circumstances. I suggest you get back to trying to solve these suicides  instead of spending the whole night out on the town. And Mr Anderson, please try spending sometime with your wife and not with the other woman.” You raised your brow and shifted your eyes between the two then turning around to shake Greg’s outstretched hand. “Oh and by the way, not that it matters but I am twenty-five, soon to be twenty-six and I do not get any bigger than this, so watch who you call ‘kid’.” You added not even bothering to look at them as you sat in the leather chair across from Greg whose jaw was hanging loose.

You can almost feel the daggers going through the back of your head from both parties. Without saying another word, Donovan stormed off with Anderson in toe. “Your file said you were good but not like that.” You looked up to Greg, who sat there with wide eyes.

“Oh please they were open books as far I can see. It was obvious.“ You said in an uncaring tone with a quick smile, crossing your leg over the other.

“It wasn't obvious to me.” He sat down in his chair, still looking at you with bewilderment.

“That's because you weren't looking hard enough. Shall we continue?” You smiled politely at him as he leaned back into the plush of his chair, his coffee mug raised to his lips as he drank. Little did you know he was thinking of his old Consulting Detective friend and how he is going to love watching you make him squirm.

You and Greg, as he insisted you call him, his casual demeanor a surprise to you, had talked for a while about the case and of how things worked around the Yard. Greg was finishing up the paperwork to get you in the system as you sat on your chair, your phone in your hand as you looked at the weather around the area to pass the time. You wanted to know when it was going to snow, but as you looked at the weather radar, your phone buzzed, alerting you of a text. It was your sister Lyra.

You were about to read the text when a knock at the door pulled you from your phone. You looked behind you towards the source of the sound where there was a woman standing behind the door frame, poking her head into the room. “Mr. Lestrade?”

“Yes Natalie?” He turned his head towards the woman as she stood out from behind the wall, her hands fidgeting in front of her. Why is she so antsy?

“There’s an urgent call for you on the phone.” She said, still fidgeting with her fingers. You couldn’t help the deductions that began to pop in and out of your head. Young woman in her early-mid twenties. Telling by her body language she is uncertain and flustered. Why? Her clothes are flirtatious and womanly to show and hug her curves. Her makeup looks to be refreshed and she’s just re-applied perfume, a sickly sweet floral concoction, probably from a local pharmacy. She’s trying to show off, but to who? Her eyes are dilated and targeted at Greg, who is looking at the paperwork, slightly ignoring her presence. Final deduction; she has a crush on the Detective Inspector, a crush that is clearly not mutual. You beamed to yourself as you sit back in the chair.

“Ok, thank you Natalie, I’ll be right there.” He replied looking to her for a moment. You caught a glimpse of her face as she exited and retreated back to her desk. She was beet red. You turn your head back to Greg, who was standing from his desk. You stand along with him.

“So I think you’re pretty much set up and ready to go. You don’t have a lot of paperwork for now since it’s your first day and as for now you're on call until you get more settled.” He started walking towards the door.

“Ok, that sounds great. I can’t wait to get started.” You bubbled with a cheeky grin. You were so happy to be here and help people by doing what you did. “Thank you again so much for this opportunity Detective Inspector.” You added with genuine smile walking out the door with him.

“Please, call me Greg and no problem. Welcome to our division Detective.” He muttered over his shoulder walking toward the horde of desks. You turn around and made your way opposite Greg to the death box as you decided to be brave and take the elevator again. You feel Sally and Anderson’s eyes piercing your back as you headed towards the elevator. What is their problem?

Down in the lobby once more, you made your way out the door, thinking about what you could do to pass some time. You had thought of going back home and unpacking but then your aunt popped up and you realised that you still hadn’t seen her yet. She was going to kill you for not seeing her right away. As you waved down a taxi you noticed that a police car had pulled up in front with haste. You furrowed your brow with confusion until you heard someone call your name out with urgency behind you, the pieces falling into place as you turned to see Greg coming out of the building.

“Ava!”He had his coat on and was approaching you fast, his face creased and plastered with worry and seriousness. Something is up. Another murder.

“Where?”

“Brixton, Lauriston Gardens and this one left a note. Will you come?” He continued, not bothered by the fact that you knew it was another suicide.

“Are you kidding me? Three, now four impossible suicides and all the same cause and now a note. Is it my birthday already?!” You blurted out not waiting for him to respond. As you both get in the police car , you hear a chuckle coming from him. “What?”

“Nothing, you’re just going to really like who is coming to help with the case.” He added from his side of the car. You were too immersed in your own thoughts to really bother asking him who the mystery person was but your answer soon came when you realised where you were headed; Baker Street.

“Let me guess, it’s the great Sherlock Holmes? That's your help?” You said mockingly in a British accent. Greg seemed to be amused and mocked hurt at your awful impression.

“He’s a consultant and a genius. He can be a real pain to be around but he’s a great man. Maybe one day he might be a good one.” He implied not breaking eye contact with the road. You didn't exactly know what that meant, but the look on his face told you that he wasn't lying. This Sherlock keeps getting more interesting as the day goes on. At leased you get to pop into see Aunt Martha.

As the car stopped you turned your full body over to Lestrade and asked with a pleading look. “Can I go in with you?”

“Uh, sure?” His eyes narrowed with confusion as to why you wanted to go in or why is was necessary to ask but he didn't argue. Both of you get out of the police car and you basically hopped out with joy. He couldn’t believe that you were so much like Sherlock that it scared him a bit. You looked up at the building opposite yours and you notice the man at the window on the second floor, looking at you. Your head tilted in curiosity as to who it was, or more like as to why he was looking. Pulling your sight away from the window, you followed Lestrade inside.

He didn’t bother to knock, which struck you as odd, and he bounded up the stairs taking two at a time. You stayed downstairs to see if your aunt was in but before you could, you heard footsteps coming from the stairwell. It was an old woman in her seventies she was wearing a purple dress that tied in the middle and a newspaper, a similar style to that of Mrs. Turner. You loved that color and knew from the family pictures that Lyra had shown over the years who the woman was.

“Aunt Martha?” She looked up from her skirts, which she was holding lest she tripped on them, and caught your figure at the bottom of the stairs. She paused in her stride before recognition made itself apparent on her face, her eyes brightening and a smile appearing upon her lips.

“Ava! Hello love!” She asked as she came closer to you pulling you into a loving hug. “How are you dear? How was the flight? Would you like something? Tea maybe?” Aunt Martha pulled back from you, her face now washed with concern over you. “I’m alright thanks. The flight was good long, but good but the train ride was tiring. But I’m working right now so I dont have much time to talk but I just wanted to see you and tell you I was here. I only got here a couple of hours ago.” You said with a cheeky smile, holding her hands in your own. The last time you saw her was three years ago at a Christmas dinner. It was the first time the whole family was together and knowing that the Bradford family had English heritage, you couldn't help but think how lucky you were to have a family like this one, knowing how bad some kids could get it. You of all people should know. You always loved the English language, everything was always so beautifully said even if it was an insult.

“We’ll just have to catch up next time then won’t we? I hope Mrs.Turner is treating you well. Has she told you about Sherlock yet?” She asked, with her hand over her mouth trying to hide the giggle.

“She mentioned him to me not even five minutes into the flat. The old women seems to get a kick watching your flatmate.” You laughed out, your aunt tries to hide her laughter with a playfully stern grin, lightly hitting your arm with the newspaper she had with her. “Be nice.” When her giggles couldn’t be contained you both laugh like school girls. Hearing footsteps coming down the stairs, you both quieted but still smiling like mad men. Seeing that it was Lestrade, he gave you a look to let you know that it was time to go. You nodded at him letting him know you got the message. “Ok, Aunt Martha I have to go but I will be back. We can have tea later.”

“Alright love. Be safe.” She waved at you as she headed back up the stairs. You were heading out the door you heard a yell from up stairs, the deep baritone of the voice rumbling through the walls with its volume.

“Brilliant!” It was a voice filled with excitement and you smiled as you closed the door on your way to the crime scene.

----------------------------------------

You arrived at the crime scene with the knowledge of the victim given to you from a text in Greg’s phone. Jennifer Wilson according to the credit card found at the scene. Some kids found her not too long ago when they were ...Why kids be here of all places?

You headed up stairs without waiting for anyone, passing Sally at the entrance, ignoring the sneer she sent your way. A couple people from forensics tried to get you to put on a blue contaminant prevention suit, however you refused and stepped past them anyway, much to their annoyance.  Like I’m going to mess up the scene. Idiots. Half way up, you realized that you didn't have any gloves and knowing what you do about Anderson, he would surely have a fit upon seeing your gloveless hands. You would prefer not to have to talk to him for more than necessary. Getting to the bottom of the stairs, you hear Sally’s voice come in over the radio that was left on the table. “Freak’s here. Bringing him in.”  

“Freak?” You asked yourself, feeling an old pinch in your chest. Hearing Sally call someone that just made your blood boil. Nobody should be called a freak in any circumstance.

You heard Anderson come out of the room upstairs and, looking up the stairwell, you catch the look of pure disgust on his face as he furiously walked down the stairs, passing you without so much as a glance. You followed him out but kept to the shadows of the doorway. You watched as a very tall man with ebony curls and a belstaff coat approached the building. You couldn’t help but stare. He was... beautiful. You knew who he was by his cheekbones, it was the consultant. Mrs.Turner was right. Those cheekbones could kill. Turning your attention towards the table of forensic gear you could still hear Mr. Holmes talking to Anderson.

“I'm not implying anything I’m sure Sally came by for a nice little chat and just happen to stay over.” The deep mellow voice said making you freeze and your eyes go wide with realization. You covered your mouth to try to stop the bubble of laughter in your throat but it was no help. “And I assume she scrubbed your floors going by the state her knees.” He finished making you burst. It was loud and you knew that everyone could have heard it but you didn't care. You had tears in your eyes from holding the full laugh back. Oh my god, I can't believe he said that out loud!

Grabbing a pair of gloves you bounded up the stairs, wanting to get a look for yourself before this consulting detective came in. You entered the room seeing the body laying face down. The first thought that came to your mind was less a thought and more of an obvious statement. Pink.

[Sherlock point of view]

After Sherlock deduced Anderson's affair with Sally, he heard a burst of laughter from the building, smiling at the fact that someone else knew. With John close behind, the pair entered the building, meeting Lestrade at the door.

“I can get you two minutes.”

“I may need more.” Sherlock replied going toward the kitchen area.

Looking towards the staircase he caught a glimpse of a beige coat and strange pair of polka dotted laced converse. Narrowing his eyes at the sight, he put it off, assuming that it was nothing of import. Lestrade was by the table and he held out a suit of the most ghastly blue to Sherlock, waving it a little for him to take.

“You'll need to put this on.” He handed one to John as well and seemed taken aback by the new presence. He looked at Sherlock with raised brows, then to once more to John then back again. “Who is this?“ He asked bemused and pissed off.

“He’s with me.” Imbecile.

“Yeah but who is he?” He pestered putting on a blue cover up.

“I said he’s with me.” Sherlock turned his head like a whip and glared at Lestrade.

“Fine. At least put one of these on.” He asked which Sherlock, in return, ignored. I heard the frustration in his sigh, huffing my breath in humour.

“So where are we?” Sherlock asked as they made our way up the staircase.

“Upstairs. Jennifer Wilson according to her credit cards, we're running them for contact details. Hasn't been here long, some kids found her.” Lestrade informed the two in front of him as they reached the room, stopping when they saw someone hunched down near the lady in pink. She was… an anomaly, as Sherlock had immediately thought. There was no other way to describe her he found.

Her small stature, childish laces and mundane appearance were all boring to him. Insignificant. Nevertheless, there was… something. But what? She’s obviously in this line of profession, expertly prodding at the body, turning the victim’s collar inside out and over again. Now there’s an interesting thought. The collar could indicate rain and wind, even snow if she came from the north, which would mean - oh, the girl’s traveled. She had moved from one side of the body to the other, now getting a view if her face, he could seem to pull his eyes away. She was different and interesting enough for him to be absolutely... captivated.

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[warninggraphiccontent]

6 March 2020

Come and join the chartist revolution

Do you like making charts that matter? Can you communicate important analysis and arguments using data? Do you have excellent project management skills?

Are you not put off by an excessive number of rhetorical questions?

Here at the IfG we're currently advertising for a senior researcher to come and run Whitehall Monitor, our flagship #dataviz project on the size, shape and performance of government. Upsides: it's really interesting and you'll have great colleagues. Downsides: you'll have to work with me.You have until 31 March to apply. Get in touch if you have any questions. We're also advertising for a researcher at the moment, though that's not a data-specific role (closes 23 March).

More news in brief:

2020 vision The good people at Vuelio have written up the event I spoke at last week on the 2020 political landscape. I started by noting 2019 was a bit of a year. More on that here (the challenge of condensing the political year into a short chapter was particularly, well, something).

Keep the FOIA burning I don't think it's just the fact it's an anniversary year (20 years since it became law, 15 since it came into operation) that's going to keep us talking about the Freedom of Information Act this year. BuzzFeed's Hannah Al-Othman was the one prompting discussion this week. Alex Parsons from WhatDoTheyKnow was among those responding - and all our recent work on FoI is collected here.

Artfully done When I was looking for frameworks for thinking about data last week, I wasn't quite expecting this: Julie Freeman kindly got in touch about her work, which includes an article on 'A concise taxonomy for describing data as an art material' and her thesis on 'Defining data as an art material'. Thanks Julie!

And finally... Marcus found this in an old IfG report this week:

We're used to reading a wide variety of weird and wonderful data visualisations here at the Institute, but this remains a Bermuda triangle for our understanding of how the data and the visualisation have any relationship with one another (and this didn't really help either). If you can contribute a useful angle, or just want to have a tri, get in touch.

Until next week

Gavin

Today's links:

Graphic content

Viral content

How does Coronavirus compare to Ebola, SARS, etc? (Abacaba, via in other news)

Tourism flows and death rates suggest covid-19 is being under-reported* (The Economist)

The Korean clusters: How coronavirus cases exploded in South Korean churches and hospitals (Reuters)

Mapping the Coronavirus Outbreak Across the World* (Bloomberg)

These Charts And Maps Show How The Coronavirus Is Spreading Across The World (BuzzFeed)

Although... (Alex Selby-Boothroyd)

Coronavirus and the $2bn race to find a vaccine* (FT)

Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases (Johns Hopkins CSSE)

Coronavirus Map: Tracking the Spread of the Outbreak* (New York Times)

During the coronavirus outbreak, should we change the data visualization rules? (Andy Cotgreave)

Some big numbers (WHO, via Marcus)

Virus Sends Data Off the Charts in Bloomberg News Trade Tracker* (Bloomberg)

Coronavirus: Eight charts on how it has shaken economies (BBC News)

So hat die Grippe Deutschland im Griff (WAZ - the flu, not Covid-19)

Super Tuesday

Pick Your Own Super Tuesday Winners And Watch The Race Change (FiveThirtyEight)

5 Takeaways From a Super Tuesday That Changed the Democratic Race* (New York Times)

Political bettors pick Joe Biden as the Democrat best able to beat Donald Trump* (The Economist)

Exit polls from the 2020 Democratic Super Tuesday contests* (Washington Post)

Super Tuesday: what to know about Democratic primaries* (FT)

Super Tuesday is bigger and more diverse than ever* (Washington Post)

Who’s Winning the 2020 Presidential Delegate Count?* (Bloomberg)

Who is ahead in the Democratic primary race?* (The Economist)

UK

Levelling up: how wide are the UK’s regional inequalities?* (FT - and thread)

Perm secs (me for IfG)

How Britain fell back in love with the railways* (FT)

Unresolved Public Policy Challenges (NatCen, ONS, Understanding Society)

Barclay v Barclay* (Tortoise)

Almost unbelievable... (via Torsten Bell - more here)

Carillion: two years on (IfG)

Data suggests big local differences in EU settlement applications (Public Technology)

Fiscal rules (Tom for IfG)

Trust in UK news brands (Reuters Institute via Angela Phillips)

#IWD2020

Women’s Unpaid Labor is Worth $10,900,000,000,000* (New York Times)

Iceland leads the way to women’s equality in the workplace* (The Economist)

Everything else

All the World’s Metals and Minerals in One Visualization (Visual Capitalist)

Economist Anne Case on America’s ‘deaths of despair’ — and how to tackle them* (FT)

The approximate age of the UK and US leaders every year since 1800 (Andrew Gray)

Global Trends 2020: Understanding Complexity (Ipsos MORI)

#dataviz

Why you sometimes need to break the rules in data viz (Rosamund Pearce)

A brief rant about “data journalists” and “data visualisation teams” in mainstream media (Ben Goldacre)

A research study that aims to identify common names, definitions, and categorizations of visualization & interaction types (Dr. Katy Borner, Andreas Bueckle, Dr. Jonathan Schwabish, Alicia Arza)

Meta data

My, corona

Coronavirus Tech Handbook (via Nathan)

Facts on Coronavirus (Full Fact)

Handwashing Can Stop a Virus—So Why Don’t We Do It? (Behavioral Scientist)

How to stop touching our faces in the wake of the Coronavirus (Behavioural Insights Team)

The Official Coronavirus Numbers Are Wrong, and Everyone Knows It (The Atlantic)

Move to weekly UK coronavirus updates criticised by experts (The Guardian)

I'm stunned by the depth of #coronavirus information being released in #Singapore (@RyutaroUchiyama)

'More scary than coronavirus': South Korea's health alerts expose private lives (The Guardian)

Communication about Coronavirus (Winton Centre)

In a strange twist of fate, it seems the first coronavirus patient to be infected in the UK is from Haslemere - the very place we used for our 2018 citizen science experiment: the BBC Pandemic. (Hannah Fry)

Health

This was meant to be the year the NHS went digital. What happened?* (Wired)

AI chatbot maker Babylon Health attacks clinician in PR stunt after he goes public with safety concerns (Tech Crunch)

Foundations of Fairness: Where next for NHS health data partnerships? (Understanding Patient Data/Ada Lovelace Institute)

AI, automation, tech

HOW HARD WILL THE ROBOTS MAKE US WORK? (The Verge)

The Prodigal Techbro (The Conversationalist)

The Future of Democracy in Europe: Technology and the Evolution of Representation (Chatham House)

Equal parts pumped and perplexed by this @WSJ coverage of my research on anthropomorphism and AI (David Watson)

CS182: Ethics, Public Policy, and Technological Change: Reading List and Course Outline (Stanford)

More Than A Dozen Organizations From The Met Police To J.K. Rowling’s Foundation Have Tried Clearview AI’s Facial Recognition Tech (BuzzFeed)

Vatican backs AI regulations to ‘protect people’* (Politico)

Identity crisis

Cabinet Office gives more non-answers on the future of Gov.uk Verify (Computer Weekly)

Finding your identity: solving the digital ID verification challenge (Global Government Forum)

Data

Launch of the Data Catalogue (GSS, via Giuseppe)

The data protection debate (@halhod)

Is data this deflationary?* (FT, via Alex)

Valuing data in your project and doing data right (UKGovCamp, via David)

UK government

Secretary of State Oliver Dowden's speech at the Enders Media and Telecoms Conference (DCMS)

Government Communication Service to collect and analyse data on public service radio ads (Civil Service World)

A catalogue of things that are stopping change (James Reeve and Rose Mortada)

Everything else

Risky Talk with David Spiegelhalter

TAKING THE LEAD ON TRANSPARENCY AND TRUST (Ken Smith in Griffith Review)

Email Addresses and Razor Blades (Stratechery)

A Text Renaissance (Ribbonfarm, via Lewis)

Opportunities

JOB: Senior researcher - Whitehall Monitor (IfG - also a non-data-specific researcher role)

JOB: Analyst, Policy Team (The Health Foundation)

JOB: Data Journalist /Senior Data Journalist (ONS)

JOB: Chief Technology Officer (MHCLG)

JOBS: Data and interactive journalist and data visualisation journalist (News UK)

Why we’re combining our data and interactive teams to form a single data and digital storytelling desk (Sam Joiner)

JOB: Graphics Journalist - New York (Bloomberg)

CONFERENCE: Data for Policy 2020 (via Ben - his special track on Applying data for improved service design and delivery)

EVENT: Big Data and Machine Learning in Policing (UCL Jill Dando Institute for Global City Policing and Canterbury Centre for Policing Research at Canterbury Christ Church University)

ELECTION: 2020 Civil Society Steering Committee Selection (Open Government Network)

And finally...

Charts

Jeff Bezos net worth represented visually by rice (@HumphreyTalks)

Corona beer... (YouGov, via Sukh)

This animation shows what would happen if leap years didn’t exist (Vox)

The PM's wiki page has a little graphic charting his various relationships (via Ed West, via Tim)

Happy #WorldBookDay! (YouGov, via Ketaki)

Shoutout to The Australian for the worst pie chart ever (via @finicalgal)

Are you more likely to need an umbrella in New York or Seattle? (The Pudding)

Bar chart emoji are all innately offensive. Here is a thread rating them all. (RJ Andrews)

Everything else

Free ports... (Giles)

And now for the latest in our occasional series, 'does anyone have a list of some basic govt data you'd expect to be really easy to find but isn't?' (me for IfG)

How did the tube lines get their names? A history of London Underground in 12 lines (CityMetric)

[jordynwritesandresearches]

Homework Post 4

I somewhat agree with the Framework for Success in Post-Secondary Writing. It makes great points about teaching writing concepts in various ways and contexts, and I agreed with pretty much all of the writing, reading, and critical analysis experiences section. I also cannot overstate how happy I was to read “Standardized writing curricula or assessment instruments that emphasize formulaic writing for nonauthentic audiences will not reinforce the habits of mind and the experiences necessary for success as students encounter the writing demands of postsecondary education.” Oh my god I wish I could go back in time, print that section out a hundred times, and just wallpaper my AP Literature teacher’s room with it. It’s so unbelievably satisfying to see that in an article approved by hundreds of educators.

The part of the framework that I don’t fully agree with is the Habits of Mind. These are described as traits that are absolutely essential to being a successful writer in college. Most of them I agree with, and a couple I can understand, but a few seem simply out of place to me. Those that confuse me are Curiosity, Engagement, and Persistence. Curiosity is defined in the framework as a desire to know more about the world. Engagement is defined as a sense of investment and involvement in learning. Persistence is defined as the ability to sustain interest in and attention to short- and long-term projects.

These confuse me because, frankly, they are not essential. Something like Flexibility is absolutely essential to college writing and college in general, because if you try to last in college at all without the ability to flexibly adapt your time, your limits, and the standards you hold yourself to, you will not make it. Metacognition is absolutely essential to college writing and college in general because without it you are kneecapping your ability to grow and reflect and learn from your past experiences and the past experiences of those around you.

But I have absolutely written a ten page paper on something I was not curious about, was not engaged with, and had to physically force myself to make sporadically over the course of two weeks, and I still got a B. Heck, I haven’t been able to sustain interest in and invested thought about what I’m typing right now. There was a half hour break between nearly every sentence of this paragraph up to this point. I am wildly easy to distract and people keep texting me about things.

It’s well within the realm of possibility to be a variably above average student and write papers and research you do not give one single solitary shit about. Is it way harder without those three things? Absolutely. No doubt. But are they essential to success in college and college writing, even to genuine writing? No. Are they the dream of what educators would love to see in their students? Probably?

I have to address that I am biased about this though. I am not, uh, neurotypical, and I have never held a particular fondness for the institution of education because of the rigid cookie-cutter mold it expects you to be able to fit. The most important thing that I ever learned from all levels of schooling, including college so far, was not any of the rote memorization; the most important thing I learned was how to let go of the rigid methods expected of me and to find a way to succeed either despite or in spite of those expectations. I could never be the enthusiastic teacher’s pet who did everything the exact correct way and knew all the answers and could write without mixing up my words and letters and didn’t mix up my times tables and who never accidentally went on a mental tangent about how the fuck bird feathers were angled and layered to produce lift and totally missed like thirty minutes of class. As curious of a person as I could be, I was not curious about what my dense, dry, small-type textbooks had in them. As eager as I could be, I was not engaged with a classroom process that was the bane of my already nonexistent ability to sit still and focus. As dogged and determined as I could be, I was never able to persistently long-term attend to literally anything in my life, because that’s just not how my brain works. I couldn’t achieve those traits in a traditional classroom context. But I made it anyways. I think that a good, supportive classroom will encourage those things in students, but even then I think you can be a perfectly good student who adds to the conversation and does good work while still missing one or more of those three traits in your writing.

From both my past experiences and the experience of reading the Framework and writing this response, I would construct a hierarchy of the eight Habits of Mind like this:

Flexibility

Openness

Creativity

Metacognition

Responsibility

Persistence

Curiosity

Engagement

Both in this class and in life generally, Flexibility, Openness and Creativity are what I value most. Creating new work that adds unique value to a classroom or essay requires those traits, and attempts at synthesizing various sources of information into a research project suffer irreparably without them. Metacognition and Responsibility are required to build on previous work, mistakes, and understandings and reach new and more interesting conclusions. The intro posts in this class, and many of the subsequent homework assignments, have required all of these previously mentioned traits in building a personal understanding of writing, and even in working out a topic to research to begin with. While all of these things could certainly be enriched in some aspects by the last three traits, they don’t have to be there.

As a final aside from this huge bout of rambling, I thought it was interesting that in the “Audience for the Framework” section, it is explicitly for teachers and educators (duh) but also says that parents, policymakers, employers, and the general public could find the information useful. To me, the interesting thing about that is that it doesn’t say “students” anywhere in there. Sure that could be part of “general public” but if you’re going to the effort to mention parents and even policymakers but not students it starts to feel somewhat intentional. Considering this is about methods that can help students learn, the omission of students as an audience is vaguely odd to me.