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hiwelcometothemonstersancturary · 5 months ago

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hi I just wanted to say I love your AU!!! Like so much!!! Any Marie headcanons? (Please I am starved of mommy long legs content your au feeds me)

AAA THANK YOU SO MUCH, ANON! And yes, Marie/Mommy Long Legs headcanons ARE HERE:

Pre-Experiment:

Marie was a pretty tall kid for her age, and she used her size to intimdate other kids away from getting themselves into trouble. In a way, she always assumed the role of an older sister;

She got thrown into the foster care system thanks to a physically abusive father and a neglectful mother. Had to look out for her brother as well, always keeping him out of trouble, and learned how to do house chores so they wouldn't live in even worse conditions;

Her brother never ended up becoming an experiment, but she did, thanks to her "motherly nature" that was actually just a trauma response;

Already had temper problems, esp when a group of boys started picking up on her. She got angry, but never got physical with them;

Would often braid the hair of the younger girls as well;

Had a spider fascination since before arriving at Playcare;

LOVED dressing up in pink and girly outfits, mostly because she never had access to this kind of stuff before;

Helped the counselors a LOT with handling the younger kids. They loved her for it;

Was very close to Claire, and dreamed of being adopted by her some day. She was the mother she never had. Claire actually taught her how to sing, and showed her many cartoons she never had the opportunity to see before;

Was SUPER into video games! She loved those so, SO much!

Loved playing games with the other kids, but she was always looking out for what the adults were doing because she didn't exactly trust them to not start yelling at her without reason.

Post-Experiment:

She was forced to fit into the "Mommy" role, and modeled her behavior after Claire. PlayCo. told her to forget about that kind woman, and Mommy ended up believing Claire had abandoned her, or at least KNEW what her fate would be;

Doesn't trust any adults, and is protective of the kids. When they stopped showing up, Marie's childish mind concluded that they must have left her as well, as they didn't even say goodbye to her, not knowing that PlayCo. didn't even allow the kids to say their byes;

Actually hated babysitting Baby Long Legs, but it's not like she had many options. Had a neutral relationship with Daddy Long Legs, but resented him because PlayCo. allowed him to be goofy and more loose, while SHE had to be the responsible one;

She didn't see Claire during the Hour of Joy, but knows she was killed off. She feels bad about it;

Actually saw the Prototype as a cool guy until, post-HoJ, she was once again stuck mothering younger kids because otherwise they would literally starve. She fell lied to;

Hunted other toys to feed the ones at the Game Station, but started resenting their dependence on her as well;

HATES her body. Marie doesn't like how girly it is, how ultrafeminine it feels. She hates her hair being stuck in a ponytail, and her gloves, and how there's a dress modeled on her instead of it being an actual outfit. At least she could change it;

Likes singing, and would sing lullabies to put the toys to sleep;

Made her own room and filled it to the brim with all the documents she could find so the smaller toys wouldn't see them and feel even worse about the situation. She also found some weird posters and used them as decoration - it's mostly stuff the employers used to decorate their offices;

Had a single cassete tape with rock/punk music that she listened non-stop until it stopped working. Had a temper fit that day that ended up with her destroying some stuff;

Would often try cleaning up the Game Station because she hates dirty places;

Puts the Mommy act because it's the only way she knows how to have control over her own life, and sees the Game Station as a house.

After Rescue/General Headcanons:

SHE'S A BUTCH. LIKE. 100% SHE'S A BUTCH. DON'T @ ME, JUST TRUST ME ON THIS ONE;

Attempts dying her hair black after finding out that you CAN dye plastic. Ended up leaving only the tips as black because she got used to the vibrant pink;

Loves doing darker makeup and more gothic/rock accessories;

Opts for loose clothes, especially oversized shirts and sweaters that can cover both her torso and "hips";

I don't think she would wear an arm prosthetic. She gets used to only having one hand and rolls with it, plus she's super flexible so she can avoid asking for help from time to time;

Clean freak. Do not leave anything dirty next to her, she WILL clean it;

If she had been allowed to have a normal life, I hc that her body would have turned out to be chubby and muscular, and she covers one of her arms with tattoos! Unfortunately, she got turned into an experiment, and forever hates the fact she she won't develop muscles, much less fat;

Likes punk, rock and goth music, and 100% pirates DVDs if given the opportunity to do so;

Still likes video games! She's very good at FPS, but always comes back to playing The Sims and making elaborate storylines for her sims;

She's a toxic player sorry, if a guy is mean to her she would 100% doxx him or make him cry with the stuff she tells him, which happens all the time;

I feel like she would really like Halo and Mass Effect as well. And Fallout. And-

Please ask her about how to build things. She has been trying to learn because she found out she LIKES making things. Please ask her to do stuff.

#one like and i'll make a part 2 #poppy playtime #poppy worldwide #save everyone au #ask tag #mommy long legs

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jukeboxsweethearttt · 7 months ago

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Sweet Carolina

2.Money Power Glory

Mayor!Rafe Cameron x Lawyer!Fem Reader

chapter song:Money Power Glory|LanaDelRey

The next morning, the Governor’s mansion was calm and quiet, a stark contrast to the previous night's festivities. Rafe Cameron sat in his office, staring out the window at the manicured gardens below. His mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, replaying the heated encounter with Y/N over and over. The thrill of their forbidden kiss was intoxicating, but the risk was undeniable.

A knock on the door pulled him from his reverie. He turned to see his vice mayor, Nathan Price, standing in the doorway. Nathan was a tall, imposing figure with sharp features and a calculating gaze. There was an air of authority about him that made most people uneasy.

“Morning, Nathan,” Rafe greeted, trying to keep his voice steady. “What brings you here so early?”

Nathan stepped into the office, closing the door behind him. His expression was unreadable, but there was a certain darkness in his eyes that set Rafe on edge.

“Governor Cameron,” Nathan began, his voice smooth and deliberate. “We need to talk. It's about something I saw last night.”

Rafe’s heart skipped a beat, but he forced a calm smile. “What do you mean?”

Nathan reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He tapped the screen a few times before holding it up for Rafe to see. The video played, showing Rafe and Y/N in the library, their passionate kiss captured in stunning clarity. The blood drained from Rafe’s face as he realized the gravity of the situation.

“How did you…?” Rafe started, but Nathan cut him off.

“I was passing by the library last night,” Nathan said, his tone cold and businesslike. “I happened to see something interesting. And I thought it best to document it, just in case.”

Rafe’s mind raced. The scandal this video could cause would ruin him, destroy his career, and devastate his family. He needed to keep this under wraps, no matter the cost.

“What do you want?” Rafe asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

Nathan’s lips curled into a predatory smile. “It’s simple, Governor. I want a substantial payoff to ensure this video never sees the light of day. And I want a more significant role in your administration. Perhaps even a path to becoming the next governor.”

Rafe clenched his fists, anger and fear swirling within him. But he knew he had no choice. He couldn’t afford to let this get out. “How much?”

Nathan named a figure that made Rafe’s stomach turn. It was an obscene amount, but he knew he had to agree. The money wasn’t the issue—Rafe had always been wealthy. The challenge was moving such a large sum without his wife, Claire, noticing. “Fine,” Rafe said through gritted teeth. “You’ll get your money. But you’d better keep your end of the bargain.”

Nathan’s smile widened, revealing a hint of malice. “Oh, I will. But remember, Governor, I have the upper hand now. So don’t even think about crossing me.”

Rafe’s anger flared. “Don’t push your luck, Nathan. You might find yourself in over your head.”

Nathan laughed, a cold, mirthless sound. “I doubt that. You see, I’ve got nothing to lose, but you? You’ve got everything. Your career, your reputation, your family. So, you’ll do exactly as I say.”

With that, Nathan turned and left the office, leaving Rafe to sink into his chair, his mind reeling. He had no idea how he was going to move the money without Claire noticing, but he knew he had to act quickly. His reputation, his career, and his family were all on the line.

As the day wore on, Rafe made discreet arrangements to gather the funds. He called in favors, moved assets, and did everything he could to meet Nathan’s demands without drawing too much attention. The weight of the situation pressed down on him, but he refused to let it break him.

His phone buzzed on the desk, and he picked it up to see a message from Y/N.

Ms Y/L/N: Last night was incredible. I can still feel your lips on mine.

Rafe’s heart ached at her words. He wanted nothing more than to be with her, but the danger was too great.

Daddy: Can't stop thinking about you. Every second apart feels like torture.

Ms Y/L/N:When can I see you again? I need you.

Rafe’s chest tightened. The stakes were so high, yet the pull between them was irresistible.

Daddy: Soon.We have to be careful, but I can't stay away from you.

Ms Y/L/N: I don’t care about the risks. I want you, Daddy. Now.

Late that night, he met Nathan in a secluded area of a private club. The atmosphere was tense, the dim lighting casting eerie shadows on the walls. Rafe handed over a briefcase filled with cash, his expression hard and unyielding. “Here’s your money,” Rafe said. “Now delete the video.”

Nathan took the briefcase, his eyes gleaming with satisfaction. “Pleasure doing business with you, Governor,” he said, slipping the briefcase into his car. “And don’t worry. The video is gone.”

Rafe watched as Nathan drove away, his mind still racing. He knew this wasn’t over. Nathan’s demands would only grow, and the threat of exposure would always hang over him. But for now, he had bought himself some time.

As he drove back to the mansion, Rafe couldn’t shake the feeling of impending doom. His affair with Y/N had put him in a dangerous position, and the consequences were only beginning to unfold.

Another message from Y/N lit up his phone.

Ms Y/L/N: I need you, Daddy. I can’t wait much longer.

Daddy: I’ll find a way for us to be together. I promise.

Ms Y/L/N: Don’t make me wait too long. I’m already counting the minutes.*

And somewhere in the darkness, Nathan Price reveled in his newfound power, already plotting his next move.

The next morning, as Rafe walked into his office, he couldn’t shake the feeling of eyes watching him. He glanced around, but everything seemed normal. The tension in his shoulders never eased.

In the shadows of the Governor’s mansion, Nathan watched, a malevolent smile playing on his lips. He had the upper hand now, and he intended to use it to its fullest advantage.

The stakes had never been higher, and the danger never more real. For Rafe and Y/N, the game had only just begun.

#rafe cameron x reader #rafe cameron prompt #rafe cameron imagine #rafe cameron #dark!rafe #dark rafe cameron #rafe obx #obx fanfiction

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ophiespeaks · 6 months ago

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i am, once again, crawling back to gravity falls. i’ve stayed out of the loop so i could explore thisisnotawebsitedotcom by myself, and here are some of my authentic discoveries: (I don’t know if any of these are even new, knowing the fandom you probably figured all of these out the day it dropped tbh)

-“SOOS” gives a document of how he and his gf are doing running the mystery shack, including a goat train that runs through the forest (i love them)

-“TADSTRANGE” gives an erotic bread montage, because why not

-“PINATA” gives an irl video narrated by bill of a little girl beating the shit out of a bill cipher pinata

-“EVENHISLIESARELIES” i was spoonfed this one but bill is astronomically down bad for ford and it’s literally canon??? “because winning made him feel special. and good god, did he want to feel special” bill cipher your gay is showing.

-“WADDLES” leads to a pig adoption website

-“SEASONTHREE” says season 2, “SEASONTWO” says season 1, and “SEASONONE” says season -1: anti-gravity falls.

-“PACIFICA” tells us that the northwests still keep tapestries of bill, perhaps they could/would have something to do with his return??? pacifica and a “friend” destroyed everything with bill’s triangle symbol on it though, she’s a real one.

-“PLATINUMPAZ” is a code you’re given discreetly upon entering the aforementioned “PACIFICA.” This document is written like fan fiction, but obviously it’s canon, and details pacifica’s experience following northwest mansion mystery. It’s a longer document but essentially pacifica SIKES bill cipher like the girlboss she is when he tries to make a dream deal with her.

-“PINES” just says “a good family tree” lmao

-“SIXER” case file on Ford’s hand, written by (?) someone in the us government, apparently even as far back as when the Stans were 18, the government was working on cloning, so there’s that. Also, Ford is a finger donor!

-“BLINDEYE” gives one of those eye doctor letter tests, VERY blurry. if there’s a code here my blind ass hasn’t been able to decipher it. EDIT: it’s not blurry when you first try it!!! if you click on it it becomes blurry and i no longer know what the letters are.

-“MATPAT” and “GAMETHEORY” matthew patrick i am in your walls. it’s a video of beloved internet dad, Matpat from the Theory channels, saying we’re on our own for this one. Mathew if you don’t make a retirement special when this is all over, spoon-feeding me the answers i will do something illegal. Also, one of the notes on his board seems to read “abigail northwest,” but it’s not a code you can enter, so i’m not sure what it means.

-“GRAVITYFALLS” says ‘never heard of it’, alex hirsch when i catch you alex hirsch

-“MABEL” adds stickers and stars to the screen, eventually saying ‘lab now fully mabelized’ they stay there forever even if you relog the website.

-“DIPPER” tells pine tree to stare at the page for thirteen hours. spamming it changes the note, telling dipper he’s getting closer, but eventually the whole thing blacks out.

-“STANFORD” and “FORD” brings up the same page as “SIXER”, they are one and the same after all.

-“MCGUCKET” and “FIDDLEFORD” link to Cotton Eyed Joe by Rednex

-“STANLEY” and “STAN” links to ebay listings of brass knuckles

-“BILL” links to a sesame street video from 1969, jazzy triangle meets a square square. BillFord canon??? meanwhile, “CIPHER” and “BILLCIPHER”leads to the wikipedia page for the Eye of Providence, or the eye that watches the work of mankind.

-“GIDEON” leads to a google search of sweat-resistant bolo ties

-“LOVE” opens a book called ‘the love triangle”, tapping on it starts an audiobook of the first page of this book, detailing the narrator falling in love with bill cipher in a romantic period-piece. 10/10, but too short. give me the whole book.

-“GOD” links to a video of an Axolotl swimming in front of a submerged bill cipher statue. upon entering “GOD” again, the video does not play, some of the other videos behave in the same way such as “MATPAT.”

-“BLENDIN” responds with ‘time agent lost and presumed incompetent’

-“WEIRD” plays a video of Weird Al Yankovic yelling about how he’s trapped inside of the computer, and he calls for bill to help him. imagine my shock and horror coming across this the vanilla way, by just trying codes until something happens.

-“WEIRDMAGEDDON” is a newspaper clipping that shows nothing happened yesterday, soos got his head stuck in a honey pot and promptly said ‘and i’d do it again.”

-“TOBYDETERMINED” leads to a google search of ‘restraining order’

-“ROBBIE” pulls up AIM messages between him and thomson, detailing their experience ghost hunting for bill because robbie thinks bill will have to grant them three wishes. included is a great drawing in camcorder style of them running away from an eldritch-looking bill. included, but seemingly not sent, are messages in the text box, and it seems we’re reading from thompson’s perspective. it vaguely alludes that bill may be operating inside of thompson??? erm what the sigma?

-“SKIBIDI” “RIZZ” “FORTNITE” and “GYATT” revokes ur life privileges, but “SIGMA” does nothing.

-“QUESTION” responds with ‘answer’ and vice versa.

-“SCIENTOLOGY” responds with ‘suppressive person detected,” don’t ask why i tried scientology, i was going through science-themed inputs and it came to me like a vision.

-“ALEX” and “ALEXHIRSCH” link to a google search of ‘flannel.’ alex hirsch is lumberjack???

-“JOURNAL 3” responds with ‘the journal for me.’

-“JOURNAL 2” responds with ‘the journal for you’

-“JOURNAL 1” responds with “the journal of fun”

-“SEX” “FUCK” “SHIT” and other curses gives a pop-up that says “not S&P approved, wash your mouth out with soap.”

-“WHOAREYOU” responds with ‘i could ask you the same question’

-“REALITY” responds with ‘is an illusion’

-“FBI” and “CIA” responds with ‘your webcam is on. we are watching.’

-“HOLOGRAM” responds with ‘universe’ and vice versa.

-“SCARY” gives a R.L Stine goosebumps knockoff called The Book Of Bill, with the tagline ‘can you survive the tri-strangler?’ and it seems like it should be an audiobook like the “LOVE” entry, but i can’t hear any audio.

-“THEBOOKOFBILL” responds with ‘hide it under shirt during pledge of allegiance’ ???WHAT???

-“MASON” brings up a note about anagrams, assuredly written in-part by Dipper. idk if mason is even canon i always just assumed it was tbh.

-“LIFE” responds with ‘life:72% complete. now loading death.’

-“DEATH” responds with ‘life’s goth cousin’

-“DADDY” “BABY” and “MOMMY” (listen i was trying anything that came to mind) responds with a pop-up of a baby-bill cipher in an ultrasound, and a message that says ‘congrats! guess what’s growing inside you right now? see you in nine months, papa!’ NEW SEASON IN NINE MONTHS CONFIRMED???? (/j) also— mpreg is gravity falls canon???

———

if i was alex hirsch, these are inputs i would add because i was SHOCKED they WEREN’T there:

-“4 8 15 16 23 42” inputting that into an old-style computer should yield some kind of easter egg. LOST was too big of a cultural phenomena for it to not be a secret code here.

-“CANDY” and “GRENDA.” alex you thought of skibidi but not MABELS ONLY TWO FRIENDS???

-“TWINS” seriously this is like the main thing that keeps repeating, even just linking to a wiki page would be rewarding.

-typing in cryptids should link to pages for them, at least. imagine my shock when i typed in “BIGFOOT” to no avail.

-“SEEYOUNEXTSUMMER” should’ve been an easy one tbh

-“PINETREE” “SHOOTINGSTAR” etc. could just link to the same thing as entering their respective names, like “DIPPER” and “MABEL” respectively.

-“HINT” should do something, even if it just tells you no.

-“?” having no results is bonkers

-“SANSUNDERTALE” would be really funny i think

-“THETRUTH” should respond with ‘is out there’

#gravity falls #thisisnotawebsitedotcom #gravity falls arg #ophie speaks #shut up ophie #not shifting #soos ramirez #i’m blanking on what else to try

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itsuki-minamy · 8 months ago

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"K – LETTER STORY"

BLUE: "THE TESTAMENT OF REISI MUNAKATA"

Translation: Naru-kun Raws: Ridia

Enomoto discovered the corrupt file in a corner of the cloud while working to restore the system that had been trampled by "Jungle". Because the virus spread by "Jungle" remained a minefield on the public and private network, it was necessary for "Scepter 4" to shut down the network, re-clean the directory, and completely destroy any suspicious files there.

After carefully isolating the corrupted file and restoring it, it turned out to be a video file. When he checked the file's path, he discovered that it had been uploaded from Seiun's bedroom.

"Fushimi-san. What is this?"

"Eh?"

Fushimi approached Enomoto's seat.

"I'll try to reproduce it."

Unusually, Munakata was shown wearing casual civilian clothing, rather than a uniform or kimono. He shows him sitting at his desk in his room in Seiun's dormitory from the front. The date and time are just after his dismissal as director of the fourth legislative office.

Munakata, who was sitting at his desk with his fingers intertwined, opened his mouth.

[I leave you this letter on video in case I don't come back.]

Without saying a word, Fushimi placed a hand on the side of Enomoto's PC and leaned in to look at the screen. Enomoto stepped back a little and gave the place to Fushimi.

[A separate notarial document on the inheritance of private property has been preserved. I am a mediocre official, so I don't leave much wealth.]

Munakata had a mocking smile on his face that he couldn't read, whether he was serious or joking.

"Fushimi-san, this is..."

"It's the boss's will."

Enomoto swallowed at what Fushimi said with an emotionless face. Neither of them asked to stop watching, but they continued.

[The fact that there are people watching this letter on video means that I did not return. Did they accomplish what they were supposed to do or did they fail and allow the world to fall into chaos? In the latter case, all members withdrew, disbanded, returned to private life, and became normal individuals. This will be my last order.

Even if it is the former, I hope that social order is maintained even if I am absent. In fact, it can be said that the reason for being of "Scepter 4" has become ingrained in the social system even though I am no longer needed as an individual.

Awashima-kun, I trust that you will handle the official consequences without omissions. I'm sorry I didn't tell you anything. I will take Zenjo-san and Fushimi-kun with me. I needed someone to take care of the rest and I couldn't think about you. I'm sure you have many things to tell me.]

Munakata hit Awashima's "what he meant" with a single punch. He felt dizzy as he looked at Munakata's blurry face with red and swollen cheeks.

[Also, I should explain to you about Fushimi-kun here. I think he will survive because I take measures to bring him back alive, but I don't think he is the type to explain himself.]

Even after the incident, Munakata verbally explained the fact that Fushimi was infiltrated into "Jungle". If Munakata hadn't returned alive, everyone would surely have had a misunderstanding.

"I'm glad you're safe... Both the boss and Fushimi-san."

Feeling relieved once again, Enomoto murmured in a wet voice. Fushimi snorted.

"That was a boring suicide note. I thought he would say something about his personal life that he would never say if he were still alive, but being a "public figure" is what makes him a real person."

Perhaps it was Enomoto's desire to say something that seemed like a curse to hide his embarrassment. As Fushimi looked away from the screen and was about to get up from his seat, Munakata in the video continued.

[In other words, I would like to say that the discussion with Fushimi-kun that day was also scripted, but you said it quite well, Fushimi-kun. Was I defeated by Otori Seigo? What do you mean by not saying anything? You use interesting vocabulary. Completely beaten? Hoho... Do I want to become Otori Seigo?]

Munakata rested his chin on his intertwined fingers and smiled.

Fushimi clicked his tongue vigorously.

"Don't take it seriously. You said much more."

"Wasn't there a script for that?"

"Hey, I was just following orders to infiltrate "Jungle" by any means necessary in case the Christmas operation failed."

"Hehe. This is a communication between Fushimi-kun and me."

Enomoto suddenly heard a voice behind him and jumped into his chair. Fushimi looked back indifferently.

Munakata was standing there, again wearing the fourth section chief's uniform, which was different from the one in the video.

"Sorry, I found a file while I was working."

"I'm going to delete it. It's no longer needed, so I'll delete it completely without a trace."

While Enomoto was quick to make excuses, Fushimi said calmly and without hesitation.

"Yes. Please delete it. It is no longer necessary."

Munakata nodded and smiled with some satisfaction. Enomoto thought it was a little strange that he had gone to the trouble of repeating his intention, but he said goodbye to Munakata as he left the station and said, "Thank you for your hard work.". His beautiful, broad blue back disappeared into the hallway.

If he were a private citizen and asked to protect what was most important to him, he thought about what he would have protected. Well, he doesn't have a girlfriend, so his family at home, his hobby collection, etc... No. He thinks he stayed back and did the best he could, even in a small way, to maintain order and protect the others citizens who had fallen into chaos. In fact, all his colleagues in the Special Forces did it as a matter of course.

Even in Munakata's absence, they would create an orderly, common-sense society in which each person acted to protect "what is most important to each person" based on his own judgment.

It has been proven that Munakata's soul was already incorporated into the BIOS of the basic system running "Scepter 4".

Enomoto deleted Munakata's will, which was no longer necessary.

#k #k project #k stories #reisi munakata #fushimi saruhiko #scepter 4 #enomoto tatsuya #seri awashima #jungle #k letter story

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tyguy275 · 3 months ago

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Chromebook Tech Literacy Masterpost

I've seen a lot of posts about the systemic death of tech literacy in schools with the advent of ChromeOS, and instead of responding to them one by one, I want to create a masterpost to destroy the system. First: FUCK CIPA. The Children's Internet Protection Act is a United States FCC act that standardizes internet safety across the country. Public schools are not required to comply with this act, but they will lose discounts offered for the E-rate program. In short, if you don't want to put up web filters, then you don't get government grants for technology and Internet. Fuck that. Many of these workarounds bank on my personal experiences, so some solutions may not work with your web filters, but they definitely are a step in the right direction. For talking with friends: chat rooms are your friend. Many chat rooms for professional use act just like Discord, and many are just a single text channel. Several I've used include: Google Messages, Rumbletalk, Slack, Element, ClickUp, Pumble, and... in a pinch, Google Docs can give you a shared document that's practically impossible to block. For watching videos: some chat rooms, especially Rumbletalk, allow you to directly embed a YouTube video. This is rare, however, so we found some workarounds. Canva has a video search and embed function that allows you to play YouTube videos straight from the editing page of their slideshows. For anime, a website that I don't think is maintained as well but should still work is AnimeTribes. It is a .ru site but it is perfectly safe, as long as you don't click on ads. I've never seen it redirect you otherwise, and the owner used to be commonly found on the chat page. Another piracy site is 9Anime, which doesn't work on Chromebooks but is an infinitely better source in general. A non-anime video piracy site is Arc018, which is my favorite. It does redirect you decently commonly, but just take care to avoid those redirects and follow piracy suggestions that I will lay out further down. For adblocking: the easiest method is to use uBlock Origin. Though, with all the stuff that Google has been doing, I'm not entirely sure if it works anymore. I gave up on Chrome the second I could get away from it and I suggest you all do the same. For playing games: so. I'm a nerd. I play Pokemon games. SO if you do too you're in luck. The only thing I could come up with was to download GPemu, a ChromeOS based emulator. Unfortunately it's pretty bad, but apparently there's an alternative called EmulatorJS. I never used it myself, but if someone wants to try it and let me know how it goes, that would be appreciated. HOWEVER, none of these work without the games to play them with. I'm going to detail piracy safety later, but for now: Vimm's Lair recently got axed by Nintendo's DMCA, but some ROMs may still be available. Another source (which is admittedly undergoing some major changes) is The Internet Archive. I haven't done a lot of searching on the Archive, and I don't know if it works on Chromebooks, but try it and let me know :).

Circumventing the web filter: While those solutions work for specific things you can do online, these present a general solution, capable of multitasking and providing you much more extended freedom. The first is CroxyProxy, a completely free proxy service that can be added through the Chrome Web Store. If the Web Store is blocked, it can be accessed via the direct website or through specific IP addresses. These change frequently, and I’m absolutely positive the ones that I have access to are blocked or simply go nowhere useful. The other option, assuming you have a home computer connected to the Internet at all times, is Chrome Remote Desktop. It will work as long as both computers are signed in to one shared Google account and both are connected to the Internet.

But Ty... none of this works for me: Oh boy. I guess it's time for my trump card. The pinnacle of my Chromebook workaround career has culminated in this. The ultimate destruction of ChromeOS, all without jailbreaking the computer and getting in a LOT of trouble (don't do that please). My magnum opus came from my blossoming understanding of emulation and, specifically, Windows images. During my senior year, I successfully used a trusted and necessary source (unblockable) to emulate a Windows computer entirely through a single Chrome tab. This source… Microsoft Azure. This cloud computing service allows the creation of a remote desktop that will save data when offline. The biggest hurdle with Azure is that… it costs money. However, when I did it, I got 200 hours of emulation FREE, and I would highly recommend you find the same deal, if it still works. Things to note: you can make multiple accounts, but you will need to also have separate payment cards, as multiple accounts with the same card will flag and not be usable. The frame rate is decently shit, and there is no physical graphics card, so the vast majority of games will not run. I mostly used it for Discord. However, feel free to experiment and make it your own. Use this knowledge wisely, and run free, my friends. Fuck CIPA, and fuck ChromeOS!

Please feel free to reblog or comment with more suggestions, because I would love to add them!

#boost this post so it reaches as many eyes as possible!#i want people to know about the ways they can fight against their schools!#tech literacy #chromebook #chromeos #school system #united states #masterpost #tech tag

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fsbc-librarian · 3 months ago

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WIPs Word Search

I've been tagged in two of these now - thanks @thisonesatellite & @xoxobuckybarnes - so I am going to combine the two into one (but I only have two WIPs to work from, so it'll be interesting to see if I can split the prompts down the middle or not).

Green: There’s something about planning, filming, and piecing together video clips that’s always excited Bucky, and it’s pretty much exactly what the opening video for their Glastonbury performance is - just a longer video clip. It’s pretty much fully filmed - the solo parts were mostly filmed on a soundstage in front of a green screen anyway, and all of the group shots were done in London either on location or with more green screens. There’s no talking by any of the band, so that made it easier, and it had actually been a lot of fun to film because they’d had enough explosions to rival a Hollywood blockbuster. All that’s really left now is to make sure the scenes look good, and the music matches the action.

Spoon: Breakfast is a bowl of cereal. He eyes the kettle with suspicion, but decides that’s a battle for another day. He’s not entirely sure how to use the coffee press, and there’s no room on the tiny counter for a coffee machine anyway. He drops the bowl in the sink, and is three steps away before he remembers that there’s no one else to actually wash it for him anymore. He wonders if there’s any point in filling the whole sink, small though it might be, for just one bowl and one spoon. Surely not. A couple of drops of detergent in the bowl, and a rinse with hot water later, he leaves the now-clean bowl on the tiny drying rack and heads for the bathroom.

Art: He knows Steve loves art galleries and history, and that he refuses to watch the news in case he learns of another art gallery or historical monument being destroyed. He knows Steve had asthma as a kid, that his ma was a single omega in a rough neighborhood and they couldn’t afford a television so he would sneak into the old movie theater which only played black and white films, which is why Steve knows next to nothing about pop culture except for some very niche references to movies from the 40s.

Everything: Steve can only stare, heart thumping as he soaks it in as best he can, glad he’s comfy as all hell on his couch in their living room with the AC on even as he wishes he could be there. He listens to the tracks, everything sounding even better than he had imagined that it could live, the performance not marred by any bad sound technician issues - though Steve had been sure it wouldn’t be. The 107’s team were damn good, and Bucky was too much of a perfectionist to allow anything but the best, especially for something so important as this.

Sharp: Bucky cuts him off with a kiss, biting down on his lower lip with sharp teeth, soothing the sting with a swipe of his tongue. “I trust you,” he whispers against Steve’s mouth.

Interesting: “It was certainly interesting to see you getting a dressing down like that,” Maria admits. “Every time I’ve seen someone try in the past, you’ve just walked away from them.”

“It was Steve,” he says, as though that explains anything.

Eyeroll: “Cinderella lost her shoe, not her feet,” Wanda says from behind them, making Darcy jump.

“I told you!” Bucky laughs. “I told you it was Cinderella’s shoe, but you didn’t believe me!”

Wanda rolls her eyes goodnaturedly. “Are you hungry? Logan made a stack of snacks earlier; they’re in the kitchen.”

Well, this certainly made me realise that I use some phrasing more often than I'm overly happy with (and also using the search function on a 400+ page document in google docs on an older model laptop will almost make the laptop sieze up), but it was fun to look through my work.

No pressure tags for @buckybarnesdeservestobehappy @zenaidamacrouras1 @oh-i-swear-writes @musette22 and anyone else who wants to join in. Your words are: patch, behave, loud, genuine

#wip ask game #stucky #fanfiction #wip #bucky barnes #steve rogers

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davekat-sucks · 9 months ago

Note

I have my troll headcanons, and this is gonna be a long one, I’m doing all the Beta trolls. Also note these headcanons assume all characters survive and exist on Earth C.

Aradia Megido is trying to puck back up on the hobbies she abandoned when she became a ghost, and with her luck Earth has a vast archeological expanse of history and paleontology that Alternia destroyed to legitimize the Condesce’s rule, and to erase any mention of organized rebellion against the empire. Of course, history still existed, but is almost exclusively known by highbloods who have the class and age to study writing, own journals to write on, live long enough to document dozens of sweeps of their life history, and have less of a chance to get culled by drones controlling population growth. Reassembling Alternian history on Earth C is like finishing a jigsaw puzzle with the pieces hiding across the empty void of space. Aradia likes to search for fossils, but her interest in the dead and telekinetic connection with ghosts make her a professional paranormal investigator as well, she once snuck into a haunted house being filmed for a ghost hunters TV show, and was caught on camera. Her ripped clothes and ruffled hair from attempting a breaking and entering made her look like an undead troll.

Tavros thinks Pokémon is too simple and amateur for him, when in reality he’s mad he still loses in competitive matches in both card game and online game. He still likes the Pokémon anime! A boy who never grows up going on adventures against an organized crime syndicate trying to steal a powerful ally and nonverbal creature! Not to mention that the Ash character has friends to tag along on their perilous journey! When it comes to fighting with mythical magical monsters and complex bullshit with cards, Tavros has a soft spot for Yu-Gi-Oh, and Seto Kaiba reminds him of a troll that kept on meddling with him… and still does.

Sollux is possibly the best software technician on Earth C. He is an admin for a forum that discusses obscure desktop/master software. He obviously uses Linux and Gnu, and codes .ath viruses as practice for whitehat hackers to disarm. His Earth C hive is entirely themed by bifurcation. His curtains, his furniture, his goddamn toilet are themed by 2 colors. Karkat calls it ugly, Kanaya calls it creative. To cope with his psiionics and his loss of them, Sollux teamed up with Aradia, Karkat, and Feferi to code and design a walkie talkie that can talk to the recently deceased, this was also done so people could stop running specifically to him for predictions of armageddon.

Karkat is trying very hard to accustom himself to human culture, he has watched a lot of human film (mostly American, a few Fench and Soviet films and a bunch of Tokusatsu and Anime slop) to get why humans were like that, and if everyone was like Dave and Rose. He finds human film boring and generic, but continues to watch it anyway, to connect with the human way of life. He also follows John’s Youtube account… to leave hate comments, they don’t even attack John’s appearance or the points John makes about the film, it’s general allusions to how frustrated he gets watching John’s videos.

Nepeta has been banned from New York C’s central park zoo for scaring the bears at their enclosure and intimidating them into smashing the glass. Nepeta was allowed back in 2 years later when she promised she would not harm any animals because “it would be too easy to hunt them.” Nepeta is a professional huntress who is unique in that she doesn’t use firearms, she just catches the animal in her mouth and slices their neck if it’s big game like deer or wild boar. She meets her maximum bag capacity within a day. She is the scourge of human huntsmen and she is known as “the green lioness” to many.

Kanaya was able to pass on the duties of brooding cavern patrol once the first Jadebloods reached maturation after 9 sweeps. On Earth she was introduced to a new series of monsters and beasts after being accustomed to the animated corpses she’d hunt during the Alternian day and rainbow drinkers in her trashy teengrub erotica. Since she was always around Rose, a girlfriend and devout student of zoologically dubious, she became a cryptozoologist and eventually a bigfoot hunter. Her agility, strength, night vision, and rainbow drinker hearing made her perfect for hunting North America C’s most hidden animal. She would mostly stalk the rustling of leaves and moaning from the shadows of the forest to find it’s a human hiker or a bear, until she actually caught Bigfoot in an open Brush 30 miles West of Marquette C, Michigan C. Notably sightings were made days after Kanaya caught the creature, and after a week on news channels, talk shows, radio interviews, getting a nobel prize in biology and ecology, and getting a giant golden trophy called the “first big step” she now is treading westwards for possible other bigfoot sighted from California to Idaho. That is, when she can schedule it, she has a girlfriend she also wants to be there for. Of course, Rose has joined Kanaya on a few bigfoot searches to support her girlfriend.

Terezi IS the law. Professional trollcop and private investigator, she has her own TV show like that of Chris Hansen where she roleplays as different people, ranging from kids that pedophiles prey on to lone wolfs and depressed deadbeats that drug cartels search for to hire as peddlers and soldiers. Terezi’s strongest expertise is hunting down anti-troll hate groups, since she gets to be herself instead of roleplay as a human. She struggles the most catching anti-human troll groups and Neo-Condescites considering she has to fight against her own species, which have an easier time sniffing out if she’s faking her human archetype and some of them are super strong indigobloods.

Vriska haaaaaaaates how boring and fake human roleplaying games are. In FLARP you had real costumes, stat bats, real loot, month long continuous sessions, and dire consequences if you lose. To keep herself not bored she has become a practitioner of the extreme sport of rock climbing, since Vriska hated walking down and up all those stairs just to get to her lusus, and climbing a shear face would be more safe than slipping on those infernal steps! She also wanted one day for her lusus to watch her climb, as spidermom laud down in that pit of webs, too fat and loud to crawl up herself. Spidermom has been dead for sweeps now so Vriska still won. GET F8CKED FUSSYF8NGS!!!!!!!!

Equius was an unfortunate troll who got caught up in strange human subcultures, and that subculture was human hypermasculinity and “alpha” male mentality. He has a Youtube channel, Twitter, and Instagram dedicated to exercising routines, habits, and hobbies that make male trolls, humans, carapacians, and even denizens respected leaders in their community. Equius tried to co-opt My Little Pony as being masculine and sigma despite the protagonists being all colorful horses. Equius believes all of the protagonist ponies (the mane 6 as they’re called in fandom circles) each hold masculine traits that can correlate with the masculine archetypes in alpha men. Think how Twilight Sparkle exemplifies intelligence and planning, AppleJack has strength and stoicism, Rarity appreciates natural beauty and appearence, etc. Also they are horses, and Equius is frustrated that humans took the maned roarbeast (lions) and striped fangbeast (tigers) as the mascot of alpha males. Equius made his own personal gym in his hive because he was banned from all the gyms for excessive sweating and never cleaning up his station. He films fighting tutorials with his combat robots, but they all break in one punch, so Nepeta has to be invited for any successful demonstrations on how to demonstrate Equius’s fighting style and not break in one punch.

Gamzee is in a mental Asylum becaise of the whole murder thing and has only broken off from Lord English’s control for the first time in his life. He expresses himself by rhyming the GREGCLOUROIAN WICKED RHYTHMS for THE FROWNING MASSES to proselytize the NEW COMING OF THE DARKER CARNIVAL. After 5 sweeps in a straitjacket Gamzee was deemed sane and pacified, so he can finally start his real life. He immediately asked Tavros to start dueting some sick bars he wrote in the brig to bring forth the new prophesy of the evanjesters. Tavros agreed without hesitation. “Mike Club” and “Wild T” sell albums as the “UNHINGED PAGLIACCI TROUPE” and have gotten many a negative review as “the worst rappers in all paradox space” but in the end, built up a dedicated fanbase of clownfolk and followers of the true faith.

Eridan doesn’t go out much, if at all. He plays a lot of video games, grand strategy, roleplaying games, a few puzzle games. He feels mixed about First Person Shooters and asks for a good story in an FPS campaign. He sees himself as honorablenand only shoots with a reason, like how he killed lusii to feed G’bolg’lyb and stop the vast glub. He doesn’t want to shoot people because some authority tells him to! Honest! Ask Sollux and he’ll agree Eridan shot in self defense! And Sollux is still alive and happier that he doesn’t hear the boices ofbthe dead doesn’t he?! Maybe Sollux should THANK HIM FOR BEING CONSIDERATE. Sorry what was I talking about? Eridan does not regret a lot of things, but he will still talk about them when you bring them up to insist he does not regret anything, nope, he’s fine. He does hang around with the people, or rather, person he tolerates. Karkat. Everyone else are lowbloods that don’t like him because he’s better than them so they insult him and say he smells bad when that’s the natural smell of the ocean and they don’t understand how important he is, or Feferi who toyed with his emotions and left him for some bipolar mustardblood and avoided him after ALL HE DUD FOR HER AND WAS SO NICE TO HER AND SHE DIDN’T RECIPROCATE THOSE FEELINGS wait what was I talking about? Eridan insists he does not need help. He’s fine. He’s fine fine fine fine fin.

Feferi loves Spongebob Squarepants, it’s a match made in heaven, but she’s not obsessed with it. She still went far enough to paint her recuperacoon blue with the colorful flowers that dotted the oceans of Bikini Bottom. She is an advocate for saving all the coral reefs and has sued many companies with her nonprofit organization and vast personal wealth for spillover of hazardous chemicals into protected waters. Considering how often CrockerCorp gets into these environmentalist lawsuits, Feferi gets under Jane’s nerves. A lot.

Final thoughts. Eridan, Karkat, Nepeta, Vriska, Tavros, and Terezi (sometimes Sollux but he’s busy most of the time) all run a discord for roleplaying and video games. Eridan Karkat and Tavros like to play the Elder Scrolls series, Sollux likes to play the Fallout series, Vriska, Nepeta, and Terezi like both. Sollux tried to get Eridan to play Fallout: New Vegas once, but Eridan got bored after a few hours and thought the morality system was too simple. Between the organized disciplined and stable Caesar’s Legion or the corrupt incompetent bureaucrats of the New California Republic, or the selfish authoritarian Mr. House, or you thrusting the wasteland into chaos as you throw all 3 of the remaining lighthouses of civilization into collapse. Sollux has a let’s play channel but the only uploads on it are Nepeta’s playthrough of Postal 2 she shared on the discord server.

Karkat does a lot of human movie watchparties with his old friends to keep his trollian friends close enough that they don’t kill each other or wander off on this new weird alien world, and to his surprise they like some of the human films even though they are bottom of the barrel compared to peak alternian film. Each of the trolls favorite films are:

Aradia: Carrie (1976)

Tavros: Pokémon the First Movie (2000)

Sollux: The Matrix (1999)

Karkat: Con Air (1996)

Nepeta: The Lion King (1994)

Kanaya Maryam: Harry and the Hendersons (1987)

Terezi: Trolls (2016)

Vriska: Pirates of the Caribbean (2005)

Equius: Spirit (2003) and Fight Club (1999)

Gamzee: Killer Klowns from Outer Space (1988)

Eridan: Waterloo (1970)

Feferi: Atlantis the Lost Empire (2001)

Final fact: since films from the beta kids library still had a chronological year, the release year of films gets confusing, so to make up for it, films on Earth C are released on a separate calendar, the year on the Earth C Planetary Film Board is equal to current year (number of years after the original kids touched down on Earth C) plus 2009. Old Alternian films are hard to chronologically measure since they were made billions of years before April 2009.

This is a long one!

These are all amazing!

#homestuck #Beta Trolls #Aradia Megido #Tavros Nitram #Sollux Captor #Karkat Vantas #Nepeta Leijon #Kanaya Maryam #Terezi Pyrope #Vriska Serket #Equius Zahhak #Gamzee Makara #Eridan Ampora #Feferi Peixes

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firstprincewrites · 1 year ago

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This Magnetic Force Of A Man

Henry is captivated by Alex Claremont-Diaz, there's no other way to describe the heat in his belly or the instant infatuation. For a long time, Henry is hopeless, dreaming a dream that seems so far away. When a media disaster strikes and things change for the better, Henry is left overwhelmed by the intensity of Alex - the man himself is a force to be reckoned with. In their heavier moments, Henry leans into the soft grip of dark curls, leans into the feeling of being grounded by another. Read to find out how Henry navigates all the big moments in their relationship, one hair pull at a time.

Caught Beneath the Landslide

What if Henry hadn't been emotionally unavailable leading to him being rude to Alex upon first meeting him in Melbourne? What if, instead of hating each other, their relationship starts right then and there? Come find out what happens when Henry and Alex find themselves growing up together, nursing a connection, and navigating hurdles in life without the fear of being alone in the fight. What could our boys possibly get up to now?

When Everything's Made To Be Broken

Henry is happy to be back at Etton College for his senior year but that's thrown off course by the president's son untimely arrival. A personal catastrophe brings Alex to England to rain on Henry's parade - at least, that's what the Prince thinks when the First Son arrives. Soon, Henry finds that there's a lot more to Alex and the relationship meant to exist between them.

Keep Breaking Me In

After a long night, Henry isn't expecting Shaan to knock on his door to bring bad news. Yet, his equerry stands there with a sheepish look on his face, nonetheless. Henry is quick to find out that Phillip got his hands on a damning video and plans to use it as a way to dishonorably discharge Henry from military service. Too bad Phillip doesn't recognize the other man in the video - Alex Claremont-Diaz is a high caliber Civil Rights lawyer just waiting to defend instances just like this.

Try To Document This Light

Buying the brownstone is both the start of Henry's path away from the crown and a concrete future for himself and Alex. It's a place he can call home with the man that he loves, a place where they can grow, change, and shift into the men they're going to be for the world to come. After a lifetime of not really belonging anywhere, Henry finds a space that's truly his. Read to catch little peaks into his life with Alex and what the future has in store for them between the walls of that simple little brownstone.

Just the Thought Of You (Gets Me So High)

"Amy helped me plan it."What went into Henry's ocean crossing surprise? What were his thoughts going to the DNC where he'd finally see Alex on the stage, doing what he loves & looking amazing while doing it? Read to find out Henry's side of things as the night of the DNC unfolds.

I Like That Thing You Do

Ever since the first polo match Alex attended, his obsession with Henry on a horse has only grew. Years into their relationship, Alex is still hanging onto the pitch's fence, watching with rapt fascination. Read to find out what happens when Phillip asks a question that creates a lust monster Alex can't control. No one ever said those white pants Henry wears aren't meant to be destroyed.

With the View In the Morning (You Won't Ever Go Back)

Despite being together just shy of a year, the night of the election is a first for both Alex and Henry. After sneaking away to linger in their victory, Henry is surprised by Alex's initiative. They're on his home court so Henry is expecting the usual but Alex has something different in mind. The shift is enough to knock Henry's world off kilter in the best of ways. Read to find out how Henry survives his first time topping.

Can We Dance In the Dark?

"Who would you be?""Be a writer. Live in Paris."Inspired by this beautiful quote, this fic follows Henry Fox, a writer who's famous for crafting stories about a fictional prince - The Royal Blue series follows James through the trials and tribulations of being young, royal, and gay as a maypole. He loves what he does but inspiration is dry. He can't find the words and is severely stuck in a bout of writer's block. To try and abate it, Henry takes David for a walk - fate, the dear she is, finds a way to intervene. After a collision, Henry comes face to face with Alex Claremont-Diaz, law student and first son of the United States. Read to find out how their relationship develops into something worth writing about.

This Happily Ever After

For such a natural, easy sort of relationship like Alex and Henry's, there is a lot of weight on their shoulders. Despite themselves, they're making history with each new step they take in their relationship. It's a good thing, then, that neither man is a stranger to the limelight. When Alex teases about them making history, Henry doesn't know how deep that comment will run or how true it actually is. Read to catch a few pieces of Alex & Henry's relationship where they make their own history. Sometimes, two people are meant to shape the world, no matter the circumstance.Or - 5 times Alex jokes about making history and 1 time Henry reciprocates.

I Get Lost, I Get Washed Away

Law school is stressful from the start but it reaches a fever pitch during Alex's last semester. He decides Henry's birthday is the perfect excuse to get away from it all so he hatches a plan to not only be there for Henry's birthday but surprise him with his presence, too. They're on the cusp of something in their relationship and Alex is ready to help whatever it is along. Everything works out perfectly, down to the moonlit car ride they take at the end of the night. Read to find out how an overstimulated Alex pampers the birthday boy - in the end, they both take care of each other.

I Got A Girl Crush

Alex Claremont-Diaz has been the object of Henry's affection for longer than the prince cares to admit. He's usually pretty sane about it but his brother's wedding has put everything on high alert. After reading a particularly upsetting gossip rag, Henry is distraught by the idea of seeing Alex with her - Nora Holleran - everything that Henry is not. He decides he wants what she has as the night goes on and her closeness with Alex becomes apparent. Though, Henry is quick to learn that not all things are what they appear. Sometimes, it takes a little frosting on the cheek to realize how wrong one can truly be.

Then Wiggle With It

What if, instead of balking at the request, Henry takes Alex up on his offer to dance during 'Get Low'? Alex has been wondering why he feels a little funny whenever Henry is around but an errant touch while their bodies are close causes him to reevaluate everything he's come to know about himself. Can the simple bump and grind of a raucous club song really change everything for Alex? And does their relationship shift now that Alex comes to a groundbreaking realization much quicker than ever imaginable? Read to find out!

The Perfect Genius Of Our Hands and Mouths

The first time they make love, that soft press of Henry's hand to the small of Alex's back is a guiding light. He's not a fumbling boy learning how to walk - he's a man with someone showing him the ropes. It's a wonderful thing that Alex never forgets. In fact, he comes to rely on that hand on the small of his back leading him through the ups and downs of life. Read to see a few slices of Alex and Henry's time together where making love and feeling that touch play starring roles in the biggest instances of their relationship.

A Solid Embrace

Despite the not so good nature of the holiday, Thanksgiving has always been special to Alex. Throughout the years, he learns things, eats good food, and grows into the man he is today. This year, Henry gets the freedom to spend the holiday with Alex and his family out at the lake house in Texas. Determined to make it the best yet, Alex goes through all the motions, perfecting them along the way. Somewhere throughout the day, his priority changes, however - Henry in a striped rugby shirt is suddenly the object of his fixation, food and tradition forgotten. Read to find out how a little football makes Alex realize his family is finally complete.

#firstprince #firstprince fic #firstprince fluff #firstprince smut #red white and royal blue #red white and royal blue movie #rw&rb #rw&rb fanfic #rwrb #alex claremont diaz #alex #prince henry of wales #henry fox mountchristen windsor #henry #bobbie writes #masterlists #masterlist #firstprince masterlist

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reality-detective · 1 year ago

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https://x.com/David_Baumblatt/status/1717269393757847647?s=20

If you can't see this 👆

Here is his rumble channel 👇

https://rumble.com/v3dz6oy-david-baumblatt-episode-1.html

His website 👇

Information about David 👇

To the American People: Hello, my name is David Baumblatt, born and raised in New York, I am a West Point Graduate and Former FBI Agent who has been under an unconstitutional investigation by the corrupt FBI for over a decade. I am considered a National Security Threat who is no longer welcome to return to the USA, the last time I visited the USA in 2019, I was detained, searched, interrogated, spied on, deceived, and physically assaulted by the US Government. I have brought formal allegations against the FBI, Inspector Generals of the DOJ and DHS, and have written every single congressman and senator, however they have all ignored me. To access the formal allegation document and the email communications, please go to my website and at the bottom of the page, click on the "Request Government Complaint" button and you will have access to the documents. http://terebinth.info/david In 2005, I knew that America was headed for Civil War and Collapse, because we have abandoned our values of FAITH, FAMILY, FREEDOM. In 2007 I left the immoral, corrupt, and incompetent FBI. I wanted nothing more to do with this corrupt government agency, however the FBI has continued to spy on me and destroy my life and career. In 2010, I decided to leave America, as I had no desire to continue to argue my point about my America's coming collapse, as most people disagreed with me. I just wanted to move on with my life and did not wish to argue anymore. The FBI then began spying on me overseas and colluding with foreign intelligence agencies to yet again destroy my life. At this time, I knew I had to take a stand, and therefore, here I am, publicly telling my story about the corrupt FBI. I have recently begun producing social media content, however my very first video on YouTube has been censored, and I have also been banned on LinkedIn; so now I am using Rumble. I am trying to get my message to the American Patriotic Media, and I appreciate your support. This is my story 👇

I am a Whistle-Blower trying to expose U.S. Government illegal and immoral conduct. Mainstream Media has ignored me, therefore, I ask you for your support to please send this message far and wide. If you are a Media Professional, Podcast Host, etc. I would be happy to be a guest on your show. Please send me your contact information, or you can email me at [email protected] I have also recently published a book about this affair entitled Patriots Betrayed, A Soldier, Scholar, Spy's warning about America's Leadership Crisis. (E Book, Audio Book, Hard/Soft Cover) https://terebinth.info/book Like myself, there are millions of other innocent American Citizens being unconstitutionally spied upon by our corrupt government. I would have never imagined that as a Military Veteran my own government would illegally and immorally continue to destroy my life, and then to completely ignore me, when I take a stand. If you are still not convinced on how corrupt our government is, please watch this video of me working for the Boeing Corporation (the Military Industrial Complex) in China, and you will see what a Traitorous Corporation Boeing is to the American people. Boeing like other American Globalist Corporations will put China over the welfare of American Citizens.

The number one enemy to the American People is the American Globalist Government and the American Globalist Corporations. America is headed toward Civil War and Collapse, I was convinced of this back in 2005, and I am now even more convinced. To the American Patriots, get ready to fight, it is going to get dangerous in America. We have been betrayed by our Unpatriotic Government and Unpatriotic Corporations. I appreciate your help and may God be with us. 🙏⚔️🛡️

#pay attention #educate yourselves #educate yourself #knowledge is power #reeducate yourself #reeducate yourselves #think about it #think for yourselves #think for yourself #do your homework #do some research #do your own research #ask yourself questions #question everything #whistleblower #news #fight for freedom #patriotic duty #patriots

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black-arcana · 1 year ago

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HEAVY MUSIC HISTORY: Hydra – Within Temptation

Although not confirmed to be a subtle dig, the timing was suspicious: during the recording of NIGHTWISH’s Endless Forms Most Beautiful in the summer of 2014, their newest member, Troy Donockley, said in a video diary that it is “still absolutely NIGHTWISH, but there are some parts that will probably startle some people. But nothing cheesy. There’s gonna be no dreadful, pathetic stabs at trying to jump on some bandwagon, slap some shit rap on it or something, none of that nonsense.” A few months earlier, WITHIN TEMPTATION released their sixth full-length record, Hydra.

In the run up to its January launch, much had been made of their choice of collaborators across its tracklist. Dreams came true when Tarja Turunen was announced to feature alongside Sharon Den Adel on Paradise (What About Us?), a song which has become the answer to ‘what does symphonic metal sound like?’

What raised eyebrows was And We Run (feat. Xzibit). While other guest vocalists from KILLSWITCH ENGAGE and SOUL ASYLUM broadly drew from the same rock palette as WITHIN TEMPTATION, here was an artist from a genre that could seriously be considered the polar opposite of symphonic metal.

Whether And We Run entirely works is subjective, but history has vindicated the band and Xzibit as being ahead of the curve. In the ten years since Hydra, heavy music has not only become more fashionable again, but it has diversified – and the two are surely linked. In 2023, SPIRITBOX remixed MEGAN THEE STALLION’s Cobra, introducing metal’s most hyped band in years to a whole new audience by a show of respect between them and one of the world’s biggest stars. In the UK, BRING ME THE HORIZON sell out the country’s largest venues because they introduced elements of pop, electronica, and hip hop to their initially abrasive sound. The future of music is genreless, but to get there, bands have to break down barriers.

There is more to it than just the music. One of symphonic metal’s most defining tropes is the vocal talent of its lead singer, who is often female and often white. Its lyrical content is heavily fantastical, referring to literary works by European authors who have written in predominantly white cultures. The lack of diversity in the genre can be seen in the source material for many of its songs. Introducing Xzibit’s deep vocals, having him write his own verse, destroyed the notion that symphonic metal has to look or sound a certain way.

youtube

In the years since, WITHIN TEMPTATION have taken up the mantle to promote peace and love. During live performances of Raise Your Banner, Den Adel would wave the rainbow LGBTQ+ flag, and in the last few years changed it to the Ukrainian one. Their new album Bleed Out draws heavily from accounts of war, documenting its horrors in anthems of solidarity.

Hydra was when the band realised this music, their music, was for everyone. When NIGHTWISH, who had long gone unchallenged at the top of the genre, decided to double down on their usual shtick, WITHIN TEMPTATION looked outward and opened their arms. They saw no reason why a rapped verse could not exist alongside all the other elements of their arsenal. The rousing Paradise that featured Turunen was inspired by a Dutch general who emphasised seeing the world as ‘us’ instead of ‘yourself’ and ‘them’.

It makes sense then that the album is also the band’s most palatable. There is none of The Unforgiving’s prog rock-like storyline, no epics like The Truth Beneath The Rose from The Heart Of Everything. In return, the acoustic-driven Whole World Is Watching received radio airplay in the UK – and was debuted on BBC Radio 2 by the legendary Ken Bruce. While rock music is a little more welcome on the airways in 2024, this marked a significant shift in WITHIN TEMPTATION’s profile at the time. No longer a niche band, they were welcome on the most listened to radio show in the country.

The rest of the album follows in this vein, for better or worse. That it lacks a distinct personality alongside most of their other records – the technicolour of The Unforgiving, the natural wonder of Mother Earth – is a symptom of how straight-forward it is. But there is an argument for Hydra as the band’s most consistent collection of songs, all of which are built on a strong foundation of pop music and familiar structures. Silver Moonlight in particular is overflowing with hooks, built upon chunky guitars and small symphonic flourishes. It sounds massive, which might be the only gear WITHIN TEMPTATION know how to operate in, but it sounds instant and immediate too.

Hydra arrived a year after the band recorded 15 cover songs for Belgian radio station Q-Music, in celebration of the band’s 15th anniversary. Most of these tracks were pop songs, like SIA’s Titanium, BRUNO MARS’s Grenade, and LANA DEL REY’s Summertime Sadness, which featured in their live shows at the time (and on the deluxe edition of Hydra). Den Adel said they wanted each cover to sound like a WITHIN TEMPTATION song, and not just a simple stripped back arrangement. It is no surprise then, after spending months familiarising themselves with mainstream hits, that they became tighter songwriters, something which they continue to reap the benefits of to this day, but which was first heard on Hydra.

The reason WITHIN TEMPTATION are headlining Wembley Arenathis year is because of Hydra. It is the turning point in their career where they said no to limiting themselves, and realised their capabilities reached far beyond the confines of symphonic metal. They are too good at songwriting, too strong as performers to be anything less than a legitimate marquee band. Throw on any of its 10 tracks and you hear a band with a new sense of confidence at the start of a new beginning, discovering what they are truly capable of. It was the blueprint to go even bigger, even more widescreen, on what came next. Everyone was welcome on the journey. Just look at them now.

Hydra was originally released on January 22nd, 2014 via BMG.

#within temptation #hydra

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ineedlelittlespace · 10 months ago

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please tell me about I Was a Teenage Exocolonist, if you feel so inclined? i don't know much about it but your posts about it have been making me very curious! (direct references to Murderbot you say?)

Oh, I would LOVE to ramble about I Was A Teenage Colonist! 🥰 I'm on lunch at work, but otherwise I would break out PowerPoint and do a proper propaganda post because IWATXC fully deserves one. (*Correction: I was on lunch at work when I started writing this. I wrote way too much and had to finish when I got home, which should probably tell you what you're getting into. My deepest apologies.)

So, it's like 50% visual novel and 50% video game. The story is what really matters, but how that story goes is entirely dependent on your choices. There are 29 (I think) different endings you can uncover (I've only gotten 4 so far), multiple different characters you can romance if you're into that, and tons of different areas (e.g. skill levels, friendship points, etc.) that you can focus your energy on to unlock new pieces of story content about various characters.

As far as the video game component goes, it's a deck builder where the memories your player character collects become your deck of cards to use in challenges. However, if you don't want to bother with that, there's a setting that will let you turn off card challenges altogether.

BUT here's the actual juicy stuff:

So, the story opens with you as a 10 year-old kid on a colony ship that's landing on your new home planet. The ship has been traveling for 20 years, so you were born in space.

The colonists left Earth to escape the capitalist hellscape it's become, and they're all a bunch of hippies, so the Preservation vibes are very strong! It feels a little like how the founding of Preservation was described in the MB books.

Once you've landed, however, you run into some big problems. 1) All of the ship's hydroponics were destroyed because it was a rough entry. 2) Some of the planet's wildlife is NOT friendly (as Murderbot would say, something's always trying to eat the humans). 3) Some of the planet's seasons are hazardous in a variety of unpleasant ways. 4) There are signs that this planet had intelligent life once. And that it might still...👀

Once you're there, it's all hands on deck to survive! You're a kid, so you do need to finish your education, but you balance that with working in various parts of the colony and deciding what role you want to take on as your main career. You can become a farmer like the player character's parents, you can become a scientist and hang out with the colony's AI (who has some things in common with ART), you can join the survey teams (like PresAux my beloved!) and go out to explore and document the planet...the options are endless!

Now, the problem with landing on a semi-hostile planet is that the odds are high that the colony is going to lose people. And you do. A lot of people, if you aren't careful. Some of the deaths are pretty heart-wrenching.

BUT

There's something special about your player character. Ever since landing on the planet, they've had...dreams. Strange gut feelings. Knowledge that they shouldn't have. Premonitions about things that are going to happen, about people they're going to meet... Sometimes, it isn't enough to matter, but the more playthroughs you do, the more your character knows because they do gradually become aware that they're in a time loop of sorts. This gives them more options and better odds for saving the people they love, whether that's in the form of having clues about how to stop the colony's famine or knowing where you need to be to save the governor from being killed by hostile fauna! The game runs from age 10 until age 20, so you have ten years to save your colony and sort out your life.

My personal favorite things:

So many things are extremely customizable, especially in terms of preferred pronouns, gender presentation, dating (or not dating at all---choosing not to won't deprive you of anything in-game) preferences, etc.

The little in-jokes (including the direct Murderbot reference!)

The art style is GORGEOUS! It's so warm and inviting and beautiful. And for big moments, you get these extra detailed full-screen scene cards that show up to point out that you're reached a milestone.

There are no real-time time limits/constraints, so it's easy to play without getting stressed.

The characters! There's such a broad variety, but they're so lovable (except for Vace---I can't STAND Vace). I'm especially fond of Cal and of the player character's dad (who reminds me of Ratthi in some ways).

The time-loop elements are handled so, so well. They add such a fascinating twist to the story while also fixing the replayability issue that so many games have. It gives you an incentive to start playthrough after playthrough just to get more information about that element of the PC's story!

All in all, it's my favorite game of the ones I've played this year, and a solid second-favorite of all time, right after Stardew Valley. Especially since I feel like I've barely scratched the surface of the game's content, even after four playthroughs! For anyone who enjoys gaming at all and happens to be a fan of Murderbot, of solarpunk as a concept, or of sci-fi in general, this game is a joy to play!

If you do end up giving it a shot, you know my inbox/DMs are always open if you want to come yell about it with me! Thank you for asking and for giving me a reason to infodump about it! ❤

#i was a teenage exocolonist #video games #iwatxc #or is it iwatec?#i haven't seen consistent tag abreviations for this game and i'm not sure who to ask #personal #i'm so sorry for how long this ran #it got away from me a lil bit

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gravitytrips · 10 months ago

Text

This one was from Adam

There had been a mix up. A mistake in the system. Something. Whatever it was, Scout had been reassigned to the BLU team for three weeks. He would never be the same.

When he left, his team vowed to fix the mistake so that he could come back. He was optimistic. Jovial even. Offering to get all the info on the BLUs that he could.

When he returned, the light was no longer in his eyes. The life was no longer in his facial features. He was practically brain dead, unresponsive to any interaction by his friends. The only person that had even heard him speak since his return was Medic, who had run a medical exam upon Scout’s arrival.

Engineer was seething. Those damned BLUs. A kid gets assigned to their team and what do they do? Engineer didn’t know, but he was sure that it was horrible. Whatever it was, he was gonna find out.

Medic sat alone in his office, thinking. When he had given Scout a check up, the boy wasn’t as jittery as usual. Almost as though he was resigned to his fate. When Medic drew his blood, Scout didn’t even try to fight him on it. Worst of all, during the physical examination, Medic had found long, thin scars all over Scout’s body. Medic couldn’t figure it out, but he was determined to.

Spy was pacing back and forth in his smoking room, his mind filled with theories on what could have possibly happened to make Scout so silent. Even when Scout died, he was talkative to the end. What had the BLU team done to make his son so silent?

All three men decided that they were going to sneak into the BLU base to discover the truth.

Spy had no issue getting in, making his way to the video room.

Medic had shed his typical outfit, trading it for something black. He immediately went to the med bay.

Engineer had the hardest time getting in, nearly getting caught several times. He checked the basement.

All three discovered the same thing: torture

Medic nearly dropped the medical documents he found when he discovered that they contained detailed descriptions of Scout’s torture.

A tear fell from Spy’s eye, soaking into his mask as he watched his son beaten on one tape, and experimented on in another.

Engineer almost threw up when he discovered the secret room in the basement splattered in Scout’s blood.

The three gathered their evidence and ran home.

All three men ran for the PA system to call a meeting. Each one saw the frightened and angry looks in the others’ eyes. They quickly put together the pieces and began to share their discoveries.

Livid. That was the only word to describe how Heavy felt. When the team had been informed of the reason for Scout’s condition, Heavy’s mind went blank. Rage filled his thoughts. Scout had been transferred to their team by mistake, so they decided to torture him? Unacceptable. Horrible. They had tortured a child over something that was no fault of his own. That night, Heavy went out with Sascha.

The rest of the team was no different.

The Administrator had stopped trying to grill these lunatics hours ago. There was a fierce determination in their eyes that told her that they would never let slip how the BLU base and mercenaries were destroyed.

“Too bad.” She thought. She would have loved to know how they did it.

@aerowolf

#Fanfic

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religion-is-a-mental-illness · 10 months ago

Text

By: Edward Schlosser

Published: Jun 3, 2015

I’m a professor at a midsize state school. I have been teaching college classes for nine years now. I have won (minor) teaching awards, studied pedagogy extensively, and almost always score highly on my student evaluations. I am not a world-class teacher by any means, but I am conscientious; I attempt to put teaching ahead of research, and I take a healthy emotional stake in the well-being and growth of my students.

Things have changed since I started teaching. The vibe is different. I wish there were a less blunt way to put this, but my students sometimes scare me — particularly the liberal ones.

Not, like, in a person-by-person sense, but students in general. The student-teacher dynamic has been reenvisioned along a line that’s simultaneously consumerist and hyper-protective, giving each and every student the ability to claim Grievous Harm in nearly any circumstance, after any affront, and a teacher’s formal ability to respond to these claims is limited at best.

What it was like before

In early 2009, I was an adjunct, teaching a freshman-level writing course at a community college. Discussing infographics and data visualization, we watched a flash animation describing how Wall Street’s recklessness had destroyed the economy.

The video stopped, and I asked whether the students thought it was effective. An older student raised his hand.

”What about Fannie and Freddie?” he asked. “Government kept giving homes to black people, to help out black people, white people didn’t get anything, and then they couldn’t pay for them. What about that?”

I gave a quick response about how most experts would disagree with that assumption, that it was actually an oversimplification, and pretty dishonest, and isn’t it good that someone made the video we just watched to try to clear things up? And, hey, let’s talk about whether that was effective, okay? If you don’t think it was, how could it have been?

The rest of the discussion went on as usual.

The next week, I got called into my director’s office. I was shown an email, sender name redacted, alleging that I “possessed communistical [sic] sympathies and refused to tell more than one side of the story.” The story in question wasn’t described, but I suspect it had do to with whether or not the economic collapse was caused by poor black people.

My director rolled her eyes. She knew the complaint was silly bullshit. I wrote up a short description of the past week’s class work, noting that we had looked at several examples of effective writing in various media and that I always made a good faith effort to include conservative narratives along with the liberal ones.

Along with a carbon-copy form, my description was placed into a file that may or may not have existed. Then ... nothing. It disappeared forever; no one cared about it beyond their contractual duties to document student concerns. I never heard another word of it again.

That was the first, and so far only, formal complaint a student has ever filed against me.

Now boat-rocking isn’t just dangerous — it’s suicidal

This isn’t an accident: I have intentionally adjusted my teaching materials as the political winds have shifted. (I also make sure all my remotely offensive or challenging opinions, such as this article, are expressed either anonymously or pseudonymously). Most of my colleagues who still have jobs have done the same. We’ve seen bad things happen to too many good teachers — adjuncts getting axed because their evaluations dipped below a 3.0, grad students being removed from classes after a single student complaint, and so on.

I once saw an adjunct not get his contract renewed after students complained that he exposed them to “offensive” texts written by Edward Said and Mark Twain. His response, that the texts were meant to be a little upsetting, only fueled the students’ ire and sealed his fate. That was enough to get me to comb through my syllabi and cut out anything I could see upsetting a coddled undergrad, texts ranging from Upton Sinclair to Maureen Tkacik — and I wasn’t the only one who made adjustments, either.

I am frightened sometimes by the thought that a student would complain again like he did in 2009. Only this time it would be a student accusing me not of saying something too ideologically extreme — be it communism or racism or whatever — but of not being sensitive enough toward his feelings, of some simple act of indelicacy that’s considered tantamount to physical assault. As Northwestern University professor Laura Kipnis writes, “Emotional discomfort is [now] regarded as equivalent to material injury, and all injuries have to be remediated.” Hurting a student’s feelings, even in the course of instruction that is absolutely appropriate and respectful, can now get a teacher into serious trouble.

In 2009, the subject of my student’s complaint was my supposed ideology. I was communistical, the student felt, and everyone knows that communisticism is wrong. That was, at best, a debatable assertion. And as I was allowed to rebut it, the complaint was dismissed with prejudice. I didn’t hesitate to reuse that same video in later semesters, and the student’s complaint had no impact on my performance evaluations.

In 2015, such a complaint would not be delivered in such a fashion. Instead of focusing on the rightness or wrongness (or even acceptability) of the materials we reviewed in class, the complaint would center solely on how my teaching affected the student’s emotional state. As I cannot speak to the emotions of my students, I could not mount a defense about the acceptability of my instruction. And if I responded in any way other than apologizing and changing the materials we reviewed in class, professional consequences would likely follow.

I wrote about this fear on my blog, and while the response was mostly positive, some liberals called me paranoid, or expressed doubt about why any teacher would nix the particular texts I listed. I guarantee you that these people do not work in higher education, or if they do they are at least two decades removed from the job search. The academic job market is brutal. Teachers who are not tenured or tenure-track faculty members have no right to due process before being dismissed, and there’s a mile-long line of applicants eager to take their place. And as writer and academic Freddie DeBoer writes, they don’t even have to be formally fired — they can just not get rehired. In this type of environment, boat-rocking isn’t just dangerous, it’s suicidal, and so teachers limit their lessons to things they know won’t upset anybody.

The real problem: a simplistic, unworkable, and ultimately stifling conception of social justice

This shift in student-teacher dynamic placed many of the traditional goals of higher education — such as having students challenge their beliefs — off limits. While I used to pride myself on getting students to question themselves and engage with difficult concepts and texts, I now hesitate. What if this hurts my evaluations and I don’t get tenure? How many complaints will it take before chairs and administrators begin to worry that I’m not giving our customers — er, students, pardon me — the positive experience they’re paying for? Ten? Half a dozen? Two or three?

This phenomenon has been widely discussed as of late, mostly as a means of deriding political, economic, or cultural forces writers don’t much care for. Commentators on the left and right have recently criticized the sensitivity and paranoia of today’s college students. They worry about the stifling of free speech, the implementation of unenforceable conduct codes, and a general hostility against opinions and viewpoints that could cause students so much as a hint of discomfort.

I agree with some of these analyses more than others, but they all tend to be too simplistic. The current student-teacher dynamic has been shaped by a large confluence of factors, and perhaps the most important of these is the manner in which cultural studies and social justice writers have comported themselves in popular media. I have a great deal of respect for both of these fields, but their manifestations online, their desire to democratize complex fields of study by making them as digestible as a TGIF sitcom, has led to adoption of a totalizing, simplistic, unworkable, and ultimately stifling conception of social justice. The simplicity and absolutism of this conception has combined with the precarity of academic jobs to create higher ed’s current climate of fear, a heavily policed discourse of semantic sensitivity in which safety and comfort have become the ends and the means of the college experience.

This new understanding of social justice politics resembles what University of Pennsylvania political science professor Adolph Reed Jr. calls a politics of personal testimony, in which the feelings of individuals are the primary or even exclusive means through which social issues are understood and discussed. Reed derides this sort of political approach as essentially being a non-politics, a discourse that “is focused much more on taxonomy than politics [which] emphasizes the names by which we should call some strains of inequality [ ... ] over specifying the mechanisms that produce them or even the steps that can be taken to combat them.” Under such a conception, people become more concerned with signaling goodness, usually through semantics and empty gestures, than with actually working to effect change.

Herein lies the folly of oversimplified identity politics: while identity concerns obviously warrant analysis, focusing on them too exclusively draws our attention so far inward that none of our analyses can lead to action. Rebecca Reilly Cooper, a political philosopher at the University of Warwick, worries about the effectiveness of a politics in which “particular experiences can never legitimately speak for any one other than ourselves, and personal narrative and testimony are elevated to such a degree that there can be no objective standpoint from which to examine their veracity.” Personal experience and feelings aren’t just a salient touchstone of contemporary identity politics; they are the entirety of these politics. In such an environment, it’s no wonder that students are so prone to elevate minor slights to protestable offenses.

(It’s also why seemingly piddling matters of cultural consumption warrant much more emotional outrage than concerns with larger material implications. Compare the number of web articles surrounding the supposed problematic aspects of the newest Avengers movie with those complaining about, say, the piecemeal dismantling of abortion rights. The former outnumber the latter considerably, and their rhetoric is typically much more impassioned and inflated. I’d discuss this in my classes — if I weren’t too scared to talk about abortion.)

The press for actionability, or even for comprehensive analyses that go beyond personal testimony, is hereby considered redundant, since all we need to do to fix the world’s problems is adjust the feelings attached to them and open up the floor for various identity groups to have their say. All the old, enlightened means of discussion and analysis —from due process to scientific method — are dismissed as being blind to emotional concerns and therefore unfairly skewed toward the interest of straight white males. All that matters is that people are allowed to speak, that their narratives are accepted without question, and that the bad feelings go away.

So it’s not just that students refuse to countenance uncomfortable ideas — they refuse to engage them, period. Engagement is considered unnecessary, as the immediate, emotional reactions of students contain all the analysis and judgment that sensitive issues demand. As Judith Shulevitz wrote in the New York Times, these refusals can shut down discussion in genuinely contentious areas, such as when Oxford canceled an abortion debate. More often, they affect surprisingly minor matters, as when Hampshire College disinvited an Afrobeat band because their lineup had too many white people in it.

When feelings become more important than issues

At the very least, there’s debate to be had in these areas. Ideally, pro-choice students would be comfortable enough in the strength of their arguments to subject them to discussion, and a conversation about a band’s supposed cultural appropriation could take place alongside a performance. But these cancellations and disinvitations are framed in terms of feelings, not issues. The abortion debate was canceled because it would have imperiled the “welfare and safety of our students.” The Afrofunk band’s presence would not have been “safe and healthy.” No one can rebut feelings, and so the only thing left to do is shut down the things that cause distress — no argument, no discussion, just hit the mute button and pretend eliminating discomfort is the same as effecting actual change.

In a New York Magazine piece, Jonathan Chait described the chilling effect this type of discourse has upon classrooms. Chait’s piece generated seismic backlash, and while I disagree with much of his diagnosis, I have to admit he does a decent job of describing the symptoms. He cites an anonymous professor who says that “she and her fellow faculty members are terrified of facing accusations of triggering trauma.” Internet liberals pooh-poohed this comment, likening the professor to one of Tom Friedman’s imaginary cab drivers. But I’ve seen what’s being described here. I’ve lived it. It’s real, and it affects liberal, socially conscious teachers much more than conservative ones.

If we wish to remove this fear, and to adopt a politics that can lead to more substantial change, we need to adjust our discourse. Ideally, we can have a conversation that is conscious of the role of identity issues and confident of the ideas that emanate from the people who embody those identities. It would call out and criticize unfair, arbitrary, or otherwise stifling discursive boundaries, but avoid falling into pettiness or nihilism. It wouldn’t be moderate, necessarily, but it would be deliberate. It would require effort.

In the start of his piece, Chait hypothetically asks if “the offensiveness of an idea [can] be determined objectively, or only by recourse to the identity of the person taking offense.” Here, he’s getting at the concerns addressed by Reed and Reilly-Cooper, the worry that we’ve turned our analysis so completely inward that our judgment of a person’s speech hinges more upon their identity signifiers than on their ideas.

A sensible response to Chait’s question would be that this is a false binary, and that ideas can and should be judged both by the strength of their logic and by the cultural weight afforded to their speaker’s identity. Chait appears to believe only the former, and that’s kind of ridiculous. Of course someone’s social standing affects whether their ideas are considered offensive, or righteous, or even worth listening to. How can you think otherwise?

We destroy ourselves when identity becomes our sole focus

Feminists and anti-racists recognize that identity does matter. This is indisputable. If we subscribe to the belief that ideas can be judged within a vacuum, uninfluenced by the social weight of their proponents, we perpetuate a system in which arbitrary markers like race and gender influence the perceived correctness of ideas. We can’t overcome prejudice by pretending it doesn’t exist. Focusing on identity allows us to interrogate the process through which white males have their opinions taken at face value, while women, people of color, and non-normatively gendered people struggle to have their voices heard.

But we also destroy ourselves when identity becomes our sole focus. Consider a tweet I linked to (which has since been removed. See editor’s note below.), from a critic and artist, in which she writes: “When ppl go off on evo psych, its always some shady colonizer white man theory that ignores nonwhite human history. but ‘science’. Ok ... Most ‘scientific thought’ as u know it isnt that scientific but shaped by white patriarchal bias of ppl who claimed authority on it.”

This critic is intelligent. Her voice is important. She realizes, correctly, that evolutionary psychology is flawed, and that science has often been misused to legitimize racist and sexist beliefs. But why draw that out to questioning most “scientific thought”? Can’t we see how distancing that is to people who don’t already agree with us? And tactically, can’t we see how shortsighted it is to be skeptical of a respected manner of inquiry just because it’s associated with white males?

This sort of perspective is not confined to Twitter and the comments sections of liberal blogs. It was born in the more nihilistic corners of academic theory, and its manifestations on social media have severe real-world implications. In another instance, two female professors of library science publicly outed and shamed a male colleague they accused of being creepy at conferences, going so far as to openly celebrate the prospect of ruining his career. I don’t doubt that some men are creepy at conferences — they are. And for all I know, this guy might be an A-level creep. But part of the female professors’ shtick was the strong insistence that harassment victims should never be asked for proof, that an enunciation of an accusation is all it should ever take to secure a guilty verdict. The identity of the victims overrides the identity of the harasser, and that’s all the proof they need.

This is terrifying. No one will ever accept that. And if that becomes a salient part of liberal politics, liberals are going to suffer tremendous electoral defeat.

Debate and discussion would ideally temper this identity-based discourse, make it more usable and less scary to outsiders. Teachers and academics are the best candidates to foster this discussion, but most of us are too scared and economically disempowered to say anything. Right now, there’s nothing much to do other than sit on our hands and wait for the ascension of conservative political backlash — hop into the echo chamber, pile invective upon the next person or company who says something vaguely insensitive, insulate ourselves further and further from any concerns that might resonate outside of our own little corner of Twitter.

youtube

This has been going on for over a decade. The correct response is to mock and laugh at the people complaining, and point out that they're not ready for the big wide world outside their kindergarten mindset, so they'd be better off going back home to mommy and daddy. Not validate and endorse their feelings. We need to get back to that.

#Edward Schlosser #trigger warnings #hypersensitivity #Christina Hoff Sommers #safe space #academic corruption #higher education #religion is a mental illness

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kafus · 1 year ago

Note

You mentioned making proper genned event pokemon, but what does that entail?

depends on the event in question!

back in the day during gens 3 and 4, IRL event distributions were often handled by running a custom GBA cart with the event distribution software and hooking up to other GBAs via link cable or with the wireless adapter, or a custom DS cart that took advantage of the DS' innate wireless compatibilities. obviously all of these carts were meant to be sent back to nintendo or get destroyed, but that... just did not happen to all of them lol. (there are also a few local distribution softwares for 3DS and stuff but wayyy less common)

you can actually buy gen 4 distribution carts for an excessive amount of money, though i can't in good conscience recommend looking for gen 3 distribution carts, they're INCREDIBLY rare and most of the listings you'll find for them on ebay are 100% fake and are scamming you out of hundreds of dollars, and most people don't know how to tell the difference unfortunately.

that being said, i'm not recommending you buy these at all actually, because most of the ones in physical circulation have been dumped online and can be downloaded. the digiex forums contains them, and you can download these and run them on actual hardware and roleplay being the toys r us/gamestop/etc employee and distribute to themself just like how it would have happened back at the time of the event lmao. for the DS ones it's easy with a hacked 3DS and twilight menu, but for GBA you'd need a GBA flashcart and the associated link cable/wireless adapters + two GBAs. this can also be done on emulators with support for local connection between two windows and has the same exact effect as doing it with real hardware, it just feels cool to do it with real hardware (pictured below is an ancient video i took of me distributing 2005 Aura Mew to myself with the actual software made by nintendo, running off a flashcart. i took this years ago and the quality is ass and my positioning is awkward sorry lol. my room doesn't even look the same...)

as for events without distribution software, old gen ones have the DNS exploit, which you can find simple instructions for here. this is much easier with gen 5 than gen 4 - you can find gen 4 help i wrote here. these restore all online functionality in the old games, including mystery gift - trying to grab a mystery gift from the internet will allow you to download pretty much any event in the game (though the one it gives you is random and you'd have to try over and over to get the ones you want). the data of these events is 100% identical to how the events actually were at the time of distribution, like completely indistinguishable, so it's a safe way to get those mons to bank and home, though you may want to change your DS date to the same date as the event in question so it doesn't look weird.

as for 3DS there is no fancy stuff like the above, you'll just want to go to project pokemon's public event gallery and browse for what you're looking for, which also provides a link to instructions for injecting these in your games. it's worth noting you can also inject all the gen 3-5 events that have been documented/archived this way, it's just less interesting than the above methods imo. this is probably the least legitimate feeling option but the data is still identical and well. other than elaborate glitches or something that's the best its gonna get. it's likely once 3DS servers shut down next year that eventually a DNS exploit-adjacent service will pop up for gen 6 and 7...

btw worth noting that gen 4 is the only gen where the name rater literally only checks for TID and doesn't even consider the "fateful encounter" flag that event pokemon are usually given, so you can RNG manip a matching trainer ID and then nickname event mons you aren't supposed to be able to nickname fully within the limits of the original game and hardware LOL. that isn't related to your question i just think it's funny that you can do that and it's technically completely legit

anyway sorry for the long ass answer i just find mystery gifts fascinating and it deserved me being a little more comprehensive

edit: oh yes and there's certain event mons that are still able to be obtained without all this wacky stuff, ie the pokemon colosseum bonus disc gives out infinite jirachis and they just released that as a preorder bonus back then. so worth looking at options for distributions like that too if you need a species of mythical or whatever!

#kiki was here #asks #anonymous #long post

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zephywolf0 · 3 months ago

Text

Very Long update!

hi to esteemed followers and (mostly) mutuals!

looks like i've done one of those things again where i leave my blog for months, convinced i'll never post anything again, only to return later with my art vastly improved. the only thing different this time is that i'm openly discussing it and not just quietly slipping an image onto someone's dash.

if you followed me for art - firstly, thank you kindly, secondly: how!? god some of this old stuff looks downright terrible!

and thirdly, you can expect at least some crumbs!.. unless i start forgetting to post again.

in my last personal update post i announced making this an "everything blog" which in hindsight was aributary because i still draw... mostly just greasers and psychobilly stuff with a few exceptions. i think when i posted that i was having one of my annual Vampire - the Masquerade fixations and expected most of my art to be centered around the game for much longer than it actually was. in the end, this remains The Blog of What I Was Gonna Draw Anyway.

i even actually got into making the comic i've been wanting to make forever (since like 2021 lol) and it's super exciting! i actually got the story kind of ironed out and i feel like i can maybe really stick to it this time? back then i constricted myself too much w composition and also just didn't have the skill to pull most of it off and now i actually can!!!!! i'm seriously surprisngly proud of myself! look at this compasion of march vs a few days ago!

march on the left new on the right lol

now into some actual personal stuff - mostly just because i seriously need to get this off my chest and for anyone interested in why i've been gone to get a little context, so tread the next couple paragraphs carefully as it is just a whole lot of complaining. unless you love reading internet strangers' woes it's not for you hahaha

things for me for the past couple of months aside from a few bright spots have been whatever the opposite of rock n' roll is (stand still and shuffle maybe.)

i graduated - obviously this was a lot of stress; i'm an animation major and crammed an about two and a half minute music video into a couple months, which was uhh hard. the band subsequently left me on read which i'm both mortified by and also can't blame them for cuz it did turn out ass. the entirety of my time after graduation was spent trying to find a job: as a non-citizen, getting into university didn't exactly seem in the books for me if i can't pay for it myself as i seriously didn't wanna put that additional stress on my parents. this was mostly fruitless as the job market is in the absolute crapper right now.

then i finally got covid after avoiding it for literally the entirely of the pandemic; the illness itself went surprisingly fine, but what came after is the actual disaster i live today. my immune system was completely destroyed and my chronic illnesses spiked. this caused me to lose the job that i did manage to get (let's go somehow below minimum wage!!!!) as i had an inflammation in my spine and was fired cuz i couldn't go into work.

right now my time is spent being sick ever since i got covid in august and also trying to get some documentation sorted. i need a citizenship and i need a disability status cuz if my health keeps on going this way i seriously can't see how i'll have a "real job" and even the measly hundred coin that the goverment can provide would be a massive help.

now this is where we circle back to one of the reasons this blog was started in the first place: being an immigrant really sucks! while yes, every day i'm grateful i'm here and not back there there are still some major fallbacks that can't exactly be ignored - mainly the fact that my current country may not want to let me in while my home country may not want to let me go. this is not something i have control over.

and speaking of my country, some big changes have been happening here that have definitely affected me hard. i mentioned in a previous textpost some long while ago that i'm no stranger to xenophobia and being stereotyped, and that has lately been blown way the hell out of proportion. PEOPLE ARE GETTING MEANER. PEOPLE ARE GETTING MORE CLOSE MINDED.

i don't really wanna disclose where i'm from in this post, i think i've mentioned it before, but if you're familiar you'll catch on.

yes, i understand this is an issue that affects all immigrants everywhere. yes i understand i'm super lucky to be where i am. but i am human and i can hurt and by god i am hurting right now. there's been a massive effort on my country's behalf to remove my first language from media; all schools that taught in my first language have been transformed to, well, not do that; there's a massive stained hole at the main train station where a sign in my first language was hanging. and i feel it. a child born here will no longer be of whatever family they belong to but they will be of the country and it hurts me.

again, i understand that this is a universal experience for migrants but to see it happen in real time is terrifying and absolutely discouraging. people see this change as a nice excuse to become absolutely horrible to those around them, and it's separating us instead of one country into two communities - "us" and "them," and i don't see the benefit. nobody i personally know sees the benefit, and yet somehow nobody who chooses to actually speak out on it seems to find this objectionable in any way at all - in fact, most outlets and spokespeople, whether they are from here or not, see this as a good thing, that those like me should just suck it up, "be more like them," that this is common sense. sure, in the vacuum of historic context, it might be, but we aren't living in history, we are living in the present and real people are affected and hurt by this. our great-great grandfathers don't give a shit. they're dead.

i'm alive and i breathe and i have a family i want to speak to and celebrate with in the way we are comfortable. i can keep moving, i can keep going, but i can't outrun my face which i feel gets more and more foreign the longer i look at it in the mirror.

all of the things above combined have been a massive strain on me psychologically and social media was seeeeeeriously the last thing on my mind. i gotta be honest i don't know WHAT force is holding me together rn but it's doing a damn good job because recently i actually started enjoying existence again. maybe it's cuz i learned not to be so depressed indoors; usually i couldn't go a few days without going outside without completely breaking down, but now sometimes i completely forget that going outside is something you Need To Do and just enjoy indoor hobbies. i know people usually say the opposite but i'm very sporty and active and enjoying being inside the whole day is kind of nuts. i've been loving my space more and more and i guess found a way to adapt my energetic nature to a constricting situation. i'm proud of myself for that too.

thanks for reading if you stuck it out this long and look forward to more drawings, hopefully.

#zeeftxt

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