#the European experience tm

[still-in-a-party-hat]

speaking multiple languages not perfectly is so fucking weird man like i’ve been living in italy and speaking only italian for two months now but i listen to ONE french video for two minutes and suddenly im ordering coffee in french and i don’t remember my name

[fromchaostocosmos]

I'm an Ashkenazi Jew who comes from a family that is just Ashkenazim as far as I'm aware.

I currently happen to fairly pale, though growing up in the summer or when going in the sun I would that sort tan that would make me look more "ethnically ambiguous" as some might say.

This is something that is actually pretty common in family. And in the spring and summer my dad often gets assumed to be South Asian, Middle Eastern, or Arab from people who are from those communities especially when he has a beard.

This doesn't happen in the winter though.

I have a sister who when one her jobs meant she was interacting with a Latino community she would tell us, her family, that everyone at her job was shocked to find out that she was not a Latina because of how she looked.

I also have a sibling that has blonde hair, pale skin, and blue eyes.

I have gone through "where do you come from, no where do you really come from" "what are you are you, I can tell there is something" and that "I knew there was something ethnic about you" when finding out I'm Jewish and much more.

One of the biggest things that bothers me about the whole Jews=White bullshit and "well ok just Ashkenazi Jews=White then" bullshit is that no matter how pale, how much "white" features may appear in someone who not white they are not White.

I'm not saying they don't have Conditional White Privilege because they do.

Rather that is not the focus of what I'm talking about.

If you have person who is very fair with blonde hair and blue eyes and they are Black, First Nation, Asian, Latino, Caribbean, African, (and I apologize I went very broad in terms of categories because I wanted to make sure I covered as much ground in terms of ethnic and racial diversity as possible and I'm sure that I still missed the mark)

It would highly inappropriate, insensitive, and show a deep lack of understanding to say that this person is white because of how they look.

It would be one thing if one parent was white, but again that is not what I'm talking about.

What I'm talking about we can not just look at a person and go this is what they must be because this is what they look like.

and the point that I'm making is how this thing of ignoring the reality of the person, their history, who do they come from is pushed aside instead for they look like and we really see an aspect of that when it comes to how people view Jews.

Those with power, the true real power do not view Jews as White TM and never have and never will.

And when it cuts deeply to have so much our history and experiences and everything essentially ignored and undermined and swept away because we are White TM.

I don't know if I've done a good job at explaining what I'm trying articulate and hopefully others will be able to add on to this and help because I'm not super confident in how well I explained it. But I needed to at least try to and say this because of how much it has been bothering me and how upsetting I find it all.

For all you want to say Ashkenazi are the European Jews or that all Jews are European I want to remind you that had we not been forcibly taken from our Homeland in shackles as slaves we never would have been in Europe in the first place.

And all these features we carry that are not ethnically Jewish ones, the last names we have because traditionally we do not have them, all of that is because it was forced onto to us. We did not choose it.

The names were put onto us. The features were raped into us.

If you had been living under the heel of your rapists and killers for as long as us, if you had been living with the blade hanging over your heads as long as we have, if you had been raped for as long as us perhaps you too would look a lot more on much larger scale like those who done the same to you as they did to us.

I ask you to please keep that all in mind, I ask you to please remember all of that, and I also must add that you do not forget that this has been our reality, the reality of every Jew no matter where for 2,000 years.

Please think about that.

[strawberryblondebutch]

love reading ur draft thoughts btw

and yet you don't follow me. curious /j

I've been watching college hockey from a very young age and was, you know, supposed to go that route (but ever since The Incident(TM)...). A lot of the pro hockeys I follow today are ones I've liked (and known personally!) ever since they entered the NCAA. I've followed the NHL draft very closely, and I think it's super interesting to talk about what young players do well, what they still need to work on as they make the pro jump, all that good stuff.

I also admittedly have a lot more experience with NCAA prospects than I do European players! I haven't gotten many opportunities to watch the SDHL and other Euro women's leagues, so if anyone has been a Euro hockey devotee and has their own thoughts to share, please be my guest!

[rametarin]

Angry about something

Please, please, please, let movements be horrible on their own without saying, "The're the [previous thing] of [subject]"

We don't say the Nazis were the modern Napoleonic Imperialists. We don't say the Napoleonic Imperialists were their day's Golden Horde of Genghis Khan. We don't say Muslim pirates and abductors from Tripoli cruising Europe for slaves and conquests were "totally Trans Atlantic Slave Trading it." Muslims were abducting Europeans for slave applications for centuries before Europeans did it for

And when people talk about modern day Intersectional Feminists, capital P Progressives and oldschool TERF-flavor feminists get nasty in accordance with their values all over a pasttime, a hobby, or a group of people that enjoys something and tells them they're doing it wrong thanks to a VERY unreliably narrated assessment of what they are and why they are, they tend to treat their behavior as if it's the same stock mindset of previous experience related to Christian puritainism and religious evangelism.

Don't fucking do this. Their values are not the same. They come from a different place, and you doing this helps them do something they SPECIFICALLY like to do. First, muck around acting like assholes in self-righteous quests to control how people interpret reality and see things, and when called out for it, have their own controlled mea culpa where they apologize because, "that's just the old Christian White Supremacist in me, the feminism part of me isn't like that and can't be like that because feminism is just good and can't be bad. I'm sowwy. :C"

No. Fucking no. Do NOT fucking allow that to happen. Feminism is not a simple act of seeing women as equal, it's an entire dogmatic baggage that necessitates Class Struggle Theory, the willful adoption of the idea the only thing that matters in sexual politics is that "Women Are Oppressed (TM)" even when circumstances and culture are entirely equal and even handed with them, and that society owes them something to compensate for this inherent oppression- at the expense of men. And that Society is the third wheel in their relationship, automatically there to redistribute from the man.

Feminism bills itself as simply a phenomenon of 'equality'... for women.. but it is no more this than Christianity is synonymous with The Good(tm). It certainly is a shitty way to see the world, but it is not the definition of seeing the world. It boils down to making some very very intensely specific logical leaps and shortcuts out of convenience and then dogmatically insisting these values are immutable and unquestionable.

From that position, we come to the other little black box in the equation. The idea that something that exists in culture that represents an icon or concept, oppresses and exploits that icon, object or group, and that it is specifically wrong to objectify that, but only if it's a woman, a group that is "oppressed." (it's however perfectly justifiable to objectify an 'oppressor.' See how that works.) Right before they say some apologetics like, "It's not MY fault cisheterosexual Judeo-Christian Patriarchy is sexually binary! Maybe if you agreed in more options we wouldn't be having this conversation!"

And it's because of this shitty point of view, they argue that even having big booby fictional characters that are female, boobily boobing down the stairs for the appreciation of the audience, they jump to the next facet of their belief system. Male Gaze Theory.

Built off their idea that Classes Struggle (tm) and Women Are the Obligate Oppressed Class(tm), and that any reference or participation by women is inherently an act of an oppressed political group in bondage to and beholden to their oppressive captors, AND that works of fiction and literature are part of culture, these facets of culture give groups their marching orders, programming and ideas on what they are, mean and even their existence. They believe, uncompromisingly, that your very perception and understanding of reality is built solely upon what books written by the state have to say about what is real and what isn't. That if society writes books about a murderer and don't go out of their way to omnipotently, omnipresently dictate with no ambiguity that, "Murder is bad, ackshully," that you endorse a society where murder happens. And, no joke, this is how they imagine murder, theft and antisocial behavior happening. Because it exists in that cultural bubble like evil waves of energy, just going unneutralized to warp the minds of unprepared people who haven't been told what is right and wrong by society, making them rapists, murderers and exploiters of those weaker than them (and they only care when the person exploits someone weaker than them.)

So they see sexy drawn women as depictions of an oppressed minority being reveled over by a slavemaster class, exploiting their image and the idea of that group for profit (which they also despise) and believe the women should also be profitting off their "exploitation" in fiction, and some sort of state council should exist that oversees the expression or interpretation of women in fiction, or else abolish the work from existing for not fitting their moral and social view of how literature and culture are "allowed" to see women. Seeing this very dour, extreme interpretation about how all men depicting women is exploitation, and by default society is meant for a male, oppressor perspective, is called, "Male Gaze Theory."

At no point in this equation did their greviance or conceptual principles cross over with Puritainism or Christians. They are their own totalitarian beasts, and like the Nazis are not Napoleonics are not The Mongol Horde, FUCKING TELL IT LIKE IT IS AND ACCEPT RADICAL FEMINISM IS JUST LIKE THIS.

You can somehow see one radical conservative and condemn the entire conservative or right-wing party as inherently racist, white supremacist and homophobic, but you can't acknowledge that radical feminism has more Ls to its name and more bad ideas and more bad values than rejecting the idea that trans men and women aren't men and women. All their ideological supremacism, all their logical leaps, all of their antagonistic marching into any fandom and demanding the fandom most conform to their ideas of what is mentally, emotionally an socially healthy, are their own. They are not Puritans, they're fucking radical feminists. Do not use the bad behavior of past groups as an ablative shield when you fucking mean what you mean.

"Well complaining about feminism makes me sound like some kind of CHUD..."

That's a you problem. In the past, complaining about the Church when it was synonymous with power would've made you a "pagan" or an "unbeliever." And before the T in LGBT got traction, it was just "anti-feminist" for a biological man to argue with a woman, giving them infinite instant Ls, even if they did identify as a woman. It starts somewhere.

Call it like it is and just realize radical feminism is rotten from the top windows of the attic to the foundations.

[docholligay]

Okay this is actually from last session but I've been thinking about it ever since then. I am about to spoil part of the movie for you, assuming that I am remembering this right.

I said some things about how this could be about the misconception of the inherent innocence of children and the decline of rural trust, and I don't think it's NOT that, but also another layer of texture I didn't say anything about--I must have been tired or otherwise stupid--is that this kid is some flavor of native/indigenous/indio/nativo I don't know enough about contemporary Argentinean movements to know what the preferred nomenclature is currently.

So, all of Central and South America, and Mexico, have both a high level of integration with native peoples and a problem of racism toward them. It varies WILDLY depending on the country and region sometimes, and I'm not going to go into each individual country here for starters because my knowledge is a little out of date--I haven't kept up with South American cultural movements since college.

BUT. Argentina specifically has a history of European aspiration. They are very proud of being "european" in seeming contrast to the rest of the region. They invited both Nazis and Jews after the second world war, because they were, most important of all, white Europeans under an Argentinean lens. Argentina has an overwhelming amount of people who are mostly, or completely, of European heritage, and white. Compare this with Mexico which is about 9-10% white.

As you might imagine, this causes some issues. So, me sitting here, I'm wondering: Is this saying something about the 'sin' of Argentina's treatment of natives? It's mentioned, obviously, but I wonder, if we were doing that, would we make the native people in this movie the actual threat? Which at the very least, this fmily is--the mother hid Uriel and 'caused'; the local outbreak, this boy is infected, and he's the one who killed the Cleaner, which allowed everything to go forward. Or maybe this movie is racist as hell! Or maybe it means nothing! I don't know, I am throwing ideas out there and I don't want anyone to assume I'm making a judgment call yet, but part of the liveblo experience (tm) is getting my stream of consciousness thoughts.

[sibyl-of-space]

been thinking a lot about the "im joining the war on pretentiousness on the side of the pretentious" and how it is affirming my elitist need to be Specific And Pedantic about the term "Classical Music"

i used to think people who were pedantic about that were pretentious assholes, and that's probably true, but the more i have learned about 20th century western music history the more i think being specific about that shit matters. i don't expect everyone on planet Earth who wants to talk about dead guy music to know exactly which period every piece of music ever was written in, and i think the term is used to describe a category of music that is useful to discuss because it IS treated as a category, but i also think the category sucks.

when people use "classical music" to refer to basically the Generally Agreed Upon White People Canon Of Dead Guy Western European Composers, i want to emphasize that they include works that span about 4 actual centuries of lived human experience and shove them all together completely devoid of context.

There are two equally sucky reasons for why I hate it.

Composers who were writing music that was intended to be uncomfortable, fucked up, experimental, specifically a reaction to previous ""classical"" music categories.... just get lumped in with them because in hindsight it was "decided" that their music is also Qualified to be Elevated to the same Standard TM.

The circumstances in which some 20th century compositions were deemed Good Enough to be Elevated to ""classical"" are SO FUCKING POLITICAL.

On point 1:

Basically everything written in the early 20th century was a response to how sick everyone was of the Romantic era. Mahler and Debussy were parts of very different reaction movements (maximalism and symbolism respectively) but both of them intentionally broke Romantic-era rules because they were sick of them. The shit Debussy did to harmony was BONKERS by the standard of the turn of the century.

(He also totally appropriated scales and motifs from gamelan, which is both an interesting historical result of the World Fair and a newly globalizing world, and also still kind of shitty and worth acknowledging that orientalist exoticism was a huge part of his clout. I'm not about to start a debate on influence vs appropriation here, but regardless it's worth knowing about.)

It's honestly kind of a disservice to the radical innovation of some of these composers to lump them with the exact kind of music they were explicitly being a distinct reaction to. This isn't just for 20th century composers; it's true for just about every movement encapsulated in the ""classical"" umbrella. Romantic music broke the rules of the Classical era the same way Classical music broke the rules of the Baroque era. All of them have deep relationships to emerging technologies and the geopolitical circumstances in which they emerged, but I am a nerd for the early 20th century specifically so I know way more about that than the other ones, sorry. I WILL say that I am practiced in Baroque cello though, and at its heart BAROQUE MUSIC HAS MORE IN COMMON WITH JAZZ THAN ROMANTIC ERA MUSIC. I AM DEAD SERIOUS ABOUT THIS. The emphasis on improvisation, no conductors, listening and handing off solos, using figured bass/lead sheets, I could go on!

And while this is obviously focused on Western Europe, what exactly ""counts"" as Western Europe is ALSO insanely political - but that's its own post.

((i am resisting the urge to write 43892048 paragraphs about the Ballets Russes here.))

On point 2:

Do you know that one of Shostakovich's most-played symphonies even today is his fifth? "why do i care about that" because his early career was defined by writing supercool weird modernist shit and also drew from what the weird modernist composers in Western Europe were doing, and then when Stalin came into power, Shostakovich was basically met with "stop doing that disgusting degenerate shit or you are dead," and his fifth symphony was written out of fear for his fucking life to an "acceptable" standard of "innovative, but not TOO innovative. if it doesn't sound good your ass is dead. you need to write us Good Russian Music or else."

so his fifth symphony is Good Russian Music that was acceptable to those in power, unlike his degenerate weirdcool stuff from earlier.

and it is THAT symphony that is his lasting legacy to the world, divorced of context and just presented as "this sounds good, doesn't it? :)" almost a century later.

DO YOU SEE WHY IT MATTERS TO BE SPECIFIC ABOUT THIS STUFF?

"i dont like weird modern art/music that looks/sounds bad" thats cool! i respect that! but you should probably also know that in the 20th century a lot of nasty people used "music should sound good" to invent ahistorical bleached national identities and often killed people making music that DIDN'T sound good, so the right of musicians to make weird horseshit is really important. the end

(also any time some nazi douchebag tries to talk about music they are spouting wrong ahistorical horseshit 10000% of the time and you should bludgeon them with european music history textbooks.)

[armoricaroyalty]

what's something you'd like to see more of on royal simblr?

Great question, me! There's a number of things I'd love to see more often in the royal simblr community, such as:

More non-western influences and royals. European monarchies are the most accessible to English-speaking westerners, but in the modern day, most monarchical systems exist in Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. I can only think of a few royal Simblrs that are meant to have non-Western settings--I'm sure there are more that I'm not aware of, so I'd love recommendations on that front!

More stylistic diversity. @warwickroyals touched on this in her answer to this question, but there is a prevailing style for women on royal simblr, which is very classically feminine with a lot of dainty features and soft pastels. I'd love to see more people try to differentiate their characters a bit more in terms of silhouette and personal style. I think there were some royal simblr fashion police a few years ago who sent rude messages to people who broke "the rules" of royal dress, and I think that's had a bit of a stifling effect on the community. Even if you give your royals strict dress codes, I think there's a lot of room to play around and experiment within those parameters. For example, I was actually watching that Prince Philip doc produced by the royal family after his death, and I was struck by how distinctly all the women dressed. Princess Anne was in jeans and a blazer, Zara Tindall was wearing a sleek skirt suit, Beatrice and Eugenie were wearing flowy floral dresses...there's a lot of ways to be polished and stylish while still expressing individual style, so I'd love to see some of that on simblr.

More diversity, just in general. I'm not going to pretend I'm not also guilty of this, but royal simblr is very white, very able-bodied, very cisgender and heterosexual, very thin, and very conventionally beautiful by western standards. There's no reason why made-up countries with made-up histories should follow all the patterns and prejudices of the real world, so it'd be nice to see more of a range of types. I love my beautiful, icy brunettes as much as the next person (you will pry Rosalind from my cold, dead hands) but it'd be great to see more representation of different types of people.

More interesting men. This is one that's a lot more subjective, but I feel like there is a general tendency toward blandness when it comes to male characters on royal simblr. Speaking very broadly, the menfolk tend to be either irredeemable dumpster creatures OR perfect husbands and fathers who wait patiently for their "messy" love interests to realize that he's the man of their dreams. I don't think there's anything wrong with either of these things in a vacuum (and there's tons of stories that I really enjoy that make use of those archetypes), but I feel like there are some missed opportunities for more interesting and dynamic male characters, especially as love interests. For me personally, it's hard to get invested in a romance where one or both parties is certifiably Nice (tm) without any other defining character traits.

Anyway, all this to say that these are really broad trends, and I'm sure you could cite strong counterexamples for each OR point out places where I've fallen into the same patterns. But in general, those are the community-wide tropes that I think could use the most refreshing.

[liesmyth]

Hey noticed you're from Italy. I might be moving there soon to study abroad. As a noticably queer American you think I would be okay? I think I will but peeps in my family are concerned about the conservatives. I really want to go cuz it's Italy and awesome but I would like my existence to not be an issue. My peeps are also concerned about the political climate but it seems almost every country is leaning more far right. I'm sorry if this is offensive in any way I mean this in the utmost respectful and curious way. Thank you!

You'd be okay! The longer answer is that some parts of the country and more backwards than others, but as I'm assuming you'd be moving to a city / university town, you'll be fine, especially as a US American. Depending on where you end up, you might get stared at, but in a similar way that a young person who looks "visibly counter-culture" might get stared at vs. getting heckled on the streets for existing.

Feel free to reach out even in private and lmk where you're going! I can definitely put you in touch with local queer groups.

TLDR I don't think Italy is particularly worse off than many western European countries about queer people existing. Our very specific brand of relating to queerness and diversity in general IS unique to the italian cultural landscape and I expanded on it below if you're interested, but you'll be fine.

the even longer answer including some institution / study abroad specific stuff:

The Thing to keep in mind mostly is that Italy is like 10 years behind in terms of popular cultural awareness of social #discourse topics compared to the English-speaking parts of the Western world. That pertains to queer issues as well as feminism and public perception of institutional racism and patriarchy.

This IS a problem because the average Italian doesn't get that some issues are even a thing and will feel personally called out when faced with something that'd make them reconsider their worldview. BUT it also means that there's very little public polarisation about the same issues compared to the US - to put it bluntly, the fact that your average bigot doesn't think often about queerness means they're less likely to be determined to denounce it or see it as a huge widespread social problem.

Like, you might (probably would) get a raised eyebrow or a polite "are you lost" for walking into the "visibly wrong" restroom, even at a university; you won't get any public debacles about how using the wrong restroom is a scourge on society. Basically, being queer in Italy means you will often be perceived as an individual and not a part of a category, which sucks if you're trying to get married, but it means less cultural polarization. Nobody is waiting for you at the gate with pitchforks ready to throw hands, not because they're inherently good people or prejudice-free; they haven't unpacked those prejudices enough to be reeling about it, unlike it might be the case in more conservative areas of the US.

Also, I feel like individually Italians like to think of ourselves as "good people" (italiani brava gente TM). Again, means most people will react defensively when faced with an argument about social privilege because it's a topic they've likely never encountered and they don't want to unpack that. But the average Italian WILL be mildly receptive when faced with a reality they haven't considered because most people here would never want to think of themselves as bigot.

re: existing while queer, in addition to the above

based on anecdotal & personal experience, the queer categories that usually have it worse in terms of "being "existing visibly" and getting flack for it are: gay men making out in public; femme-looking men; trans women who present as women and don't "pass" as cis

The latter is because of associations in Italy that transwomen = prostitution and it will translate to getting propositioned in gross ways; the former is your average "ew fags" that could swing between weirded outstares to "do that at HOME" comments in public

Average frequency of above shit happening, again from a "big city know many gays and we talk about it" point of view, is that it's rare but definitely multiple times a year. Let's say every couple of months

gnc women and lesbians have it easier in that people forget non-straight cis women exist

if you're preferred pronouns don't match your gender (such as he/him AFAB or similar) expect it to be an uphill battle in having to correct people A LOT bc it's a mildly foreign concept to your average non-online Italian - we're getting there. Likewise, if you're a trans guy but your presentation isn't very masc, you'll have to correct people often early on.

Also based on personal experience: most people who are being dicks on purpose WILL back off when called out and most bystanders will be on your side. Straight up tell people if they're being impolite and maybe they'll listen.

In terms of studying abroad!

wrt to university administration, teachers etc. you WILL have to gently hold the hand of any school administration if you don't want to be addressed by your birth name or have to explain the concept of being nonbinary to them. Different institutions are at different levels of Awareness, but they'd listen

This is what I meant by "especially as an american." Italian universities LOVE americans. The last thing they want is you going back to your home institution and saying they weren't accomodating.

However! Italian bureaucracy is notoriously inflexible; I promise you it's not personal - they're not necessarily ignoring your chosen name because you're queer, they're doing it for the same reason it took my friend 2 years to have his last name changed to included his mum's surname as well as his dad's

We also literally discovered gender-neutral language at a mainstream level 2 years ago, so it's baby steps.

My whole spiel about how we are a Few Years Behind applies also to the student population; you might have to explain some concepts that to you are well-known to your peers who have 0 idea.

I hope this helps! It's EXTREMELY comprehensive and probs I'm making things look more complicated than they'd be. I don't think Italy is much worse or better than a lot of other places

Again feel free to hmu anytime, on or off anon!

[boxingcleverrr]

So Kate and her (righteous, correct) annoyance at puritanical people unable to engage with Poor Things normally reminded me today of one of my faaaavorite Christian Romance Novels (tm) from back in the day. And I realized it's a perfect example of "why you sometimes NEED sex scenes, no hyperbole or moralizing required."

Jeanette Oke is a famous Christian author, I'm sure plenty of people have heard of the Love Comes Softly series, or When Calls The Heart series, cause they've both been made into tv shows - terrible ones, with terrible production values, lol.

If that's all you know her by, you might be surprised to learn that the source material doesn't suck! She tells a very good story, builds all kinds of relationships well, and definitely does way more historical research than the producers of any films/shows based on her work. They're very PG to PG13 as far as violence goes, no smut obv, usually with a religious message buried or shoehorned in there.

It's kinda like how Louis L'amour is an objectively solid writer of westerns, while adaptations are usually middling, cause his fanbase tends to be within uh, certain other (white) demographics who wish to push certain other (white) agendas via their traditional-looking settings.

But I digress.

Basically the writing = good and engaging. She coulda just been a wildly successful historical fiction writer, but yanno, gotta get something Jesus-y into EVERY tome.

Which brings us to my favorite, A Bride For Donegan.

This was a mail order bride story set in the 1880s I believe, based on the very real practice of skeezy agencies realizing they could make big money off frontiersmen looking for wives, via poor UK & European women and girls looking to escape poverty and blights. It follows one girl from Ireland stuck in a terrible home situation in England, who LEAPS at the chance to gtfo.

And the dynamic set up is very good, and a heart-wrenching portrait of her trauma! She'd endured sexist and racist abuse from her English stepmother, who drilled into her that no man would ever want her plain, overly-chatty, Irish self for a wife (gee I wonder why this appealed to 13 year old annoying, undiagnosed me). Donegan is a quiet, successful young rancher who has less character development, of course, he's just So Nice, Kinda Funny, and Tall. But the book does make it clear that he was looking for a friend first and foremost, to share this life he made with, and to draw him out of his shell.

So, quiet guy orders a wife, gets girl whose been told no man wants a chatty partner, much silent hilarity and misunderstanding ensues. These characters go on through a very good slow burn to break down that wall, they're cute and funny together, eventually have like, 5 kids? And of course in the last chapter Jesus gets found, yaaaaay (why is The Lord ALWAYS getting lost, does he not have maps). I always skipped the last chapter.

But even as a 13 year old virgin who was mostly still Jesus-pilled, I remember getting to points early on in the novel and being like, "wait. They've had sex?!"

There's ONE scene in the second act, where they're still barely talking to each other yet, when he worries that she might get pregnant while they're still relative strangers.

That's IT.

So this establishes that, in the say, 3-4 months they're first married, they're having sex like good married people should, but barely talking.

And though I had no experience at that point whatsoever, I just squinted at the page all, "So...what IS that sex life like? I am engaged in this slow burn that's happening, and yet I have no idea what's going through either of your heads when you KISS, let alone be more intimate. Are either of you worrying about how much the other person is engaged? Consenting?! This is the late 19th century, how much sex-ed do either of you have? Do you get any inkling of each others' softer sides when you undress before bed? Hell, do you snuggle in your sleep and wake up just...not addressing it?!"

Their bedroom is, otherwise, just a place we know all those kids get made, eventually, somehow.

Am I to infer that this guy, with a wry sense of humor to his internal monologue, is cool with this situation of just...begetting with a girl who I guess I should also infer is just lying back and thinking of Ireland?!

The story ends with them both delighted by each other, she chatty, he listening, riding horses and enthusiastically having babies. So obviously consent was there. But it was just so glaring and educational to me, what was missing, and that it was a huge, important aspect of their interaction and growth.

Not all stories are about or need sex, obviously. But any time I see people saying they're NEVER needed, like. Even as a good little church girl, I knew important lessons about how people in love interacted within intimacy were being left out of what I was consuming, and it was leaving a big gap in my understanding of how love and intimacy could look, good bad or somewhere unfinished in-between.

And no, as far as I know there's no fanfiction of this anywhere, haha of course there isn't (though I have years later found this LOTR fic about Eomer/Lothiriel that scratched that itch very well).

Humans have sex. Not all humans, but most, that's just a fact. Every part of messy human interaction has a place in storytelling, and when it doesn't, uh, well. A lot of people I know personally grew up assuming those blanks in their knowledge would just magically be filled in by....someone. Someday.

It didn't go great for a lot of them.

[sideeffx]

iwtv 22 meme

22. your favorite part of canon that everyone else ignores

I had to #deliberate on this but I actually like Louis's scene with Jonah the most and I guess we've progressed past it as a collective or people kinda put it in the box of things that Happened and are part of an overarching narrative but it felt like one of the most intimate looks into his private life that wasn't the rage, shame or pain that he felt when interacting with his mother or sister. He mentions his catholic guilt + general self consciousness when it comes to his masculinity meant that he repressed his sexuality and so you see Lestat as a kind of vehicle to bring that all back to the surface at first glance.

Yet then episodes later Jonah comes in, and Louis's talking to him and subtly flirting with him like it's sorta nothing. I mean obviously, part of it was to fuck with Lestat considering Louis champions the holiness of monogamy but wants to get his lick back. But it also depicts his sexuality in a much more tempered and less theatric way that I really enjoyed. Lestat's antics are entertaining, but they also aren't a "normal" experience. Emotions are constantly heightened because Lestat as a vampire lives and dies by the whirlwind of passion he forever envelops himself in because keeping that type of fervor for anything for years and years is so distinctly inhuman. Yet you have Louis making small talk, driving Jonah out to the bayou for a Secret Rendezvous(tm), being a little coy about it all. Obviously, it's another notch on the whole "he's trying to retain his humanity" thing.

However it's also just a little subversion, perhaps, of the normal shipper or BL expectations? Probably not intentionally but stay with me here. The fabled "First" where your same gender attraction aesthetically and romantically is fully intertwined with the person who gives you your first sexual experience to begin with. Jonah being in the equation means Lestat is not that First, and demonstrates that Louis most assuredly had the capacity to be attracted to other men before Lestat got there. (I mean Armand is the other obvious example but considering this is a post Lestat world Louis's view on his own attractions by then are very different from the purported normal he clung to).

I could also write how that scene is the realest their relationship gets depicting Lestat as the European whore who cheats and then tells you he wants an "open relationship" until you start pulling better bitches than him and then he starts getting his feelings hurt but lets save that for another day.

[lepurcinus]

I saw your post on the German rabbit care guide with interesting views.

As someone who has experience with over 13 adult rabbits and been autisticly researching them to death I can give you some care advice.

With food-

Hay is extremely important and not a supplement.

If you want to go with the natural root, it still stands. Wild European rabbits are mostly grazers, only supplementing their diet with greenery and roots when they can/when grass is not available. Hay is the human alternative to constant access to grass. This is why farm rabbits/horses/sheep with rotating grass access don't need hay but stable/pet based and over-wintering farm animals do.

Pellets - you technically only need a small amount. I only feed a bowl full as mine can only have so much access to hay due to their hutch space.

Greenery- you do not need to feed daily. I only feed kale once weekly as it is high in calcium (too much causes bladder sludge). I feed no other greenery unless I have some. If anything too much greenery is problematic as it scours.

Socialization - yes they are social

A very tricky topic. They benefit from pairs but only if spayed/neutered. They will fight otherwise. Only spay/neuter if you can find a good vet as I understand not everyone has access to a rabbit savvy vet.

To complicate things more is the view on mammals. Pet parrots are just as social (if not more) and it is not frowned upon to keep singularly if you provide enough enrichment and human companionship. The same with dogs. However step into the Territory of guinea pigs/rats/ferret/chinchillas/gerbils and of course rabbits and people will throw a fit over it.

It is perfectly fine to keep a single rabbit if you socialize with them and provide enrichment.

Wire floors- not good

It used to be an old practice to have wire floors in hutches. It was done so the droppings and urine would fall into a collection tray umderneath or floor instead of where the rabbits stand. Not now though.

Turns out rabbit feet are delicate and it can cause sore hocks. Some rabbits can "tolerate" it but it is very uncomfortable and gets hot in the summer.

It is better to either spot clean (clean just toilet corner) daily or litter box train instead.

Health to look out for-

Wheezing/snotty paws and face- check with vet for the dreaded snuffles. Technically a name for many things. One is extremely dangerous and if treated early is survivable.

Red urine- red urine is not a problem. Certain food/normal hormones can make your rabbits wee weird coloured. Only be concerned if it is very sludgie (bladder sludge) or it looks like someone has dripped a drop of red dye in it (this IS blood in urine).

Soft stools- cecotrophs being left could mean being overfed or illness. Try reducing food first. True soft stool could be indicative of too many greens but also stomach upset. Check with vet If not overfed greens.

Not eating or pooping- take up the vet immediately. Treated with Oxbow critical care TM. This is a food powder to be mixed with water and syringe fed. It needs feeding every two hours in the morning and every four hours evening. This will stop GI stasis which is fatal for herbivores of any type (especially rabbits).

If you ever need any help with information, feel free to ask :)

Thanks for the information! I certainly appreciate the hassle for wanting to respond based on that random post.

I can say that I'm sticking to those guidelines pretty well, so I don't feel bad about knowing there's something off there hahaha.

The thing about my post was more because of the weird confusion that was generated for me, I didn't trust that site too much to tell you the truth and like I said there were things that sounded very strange. (I mean if it's THAT bad as they make it out to be then I think there should already be more warnings about it and less recommendations).

I'm going to leave this in the blog as a general guide just in case, and more if anyone wants to see. Again thanks 🐇👌

[felipeandletizia]

Statement from the House of H.M. the King on the military training and career of HRH the Princess of Asturias

14.03.2023

MILITARY TRAINING AND MILITARY CAREER OF HRH THE PRINCESS OF ASTURIAS

1.- Her Royal Highness the Princess of Asturias will finish her International Baccalaureate studies at the UWC Atlantic College of Wales, in the United Kingdom, at the end of May. After completing her secondary education, it is necessary to consider the next formative stage of the Princess, taking into account her responsibilities, first as Heiress to the Crown and, later, as future Queen of Spain.

2.- The Princess of Asturias will start higher education next academic year 2023-2024. To this end, it is established that in this period both her military training –in the broader framework of her military career– and her university training to achieve a degree and, in her case, a postgraduate degree, converge.

3.- In accordance with art. 2.2 of Law 39/2007, of November 19, on the Military Career, the Princess of Asturias may develop a military career and have military jobs determined by Royal Decree by the Government, which is empowered to establish its own regime and differentiated taking into account the demands of its high representation and its status as Heiress to the Crown of Spain.

Consequently, the Royal Decree approved today by the Council of Ministers regulates the military career of HRH the Princess of Asturias and her military formation, in terms similar to those that in her day regulated that of HM The King, adapting it to the current teaching characteristics of the military academies where the respective defense university centers are also located today.

4.- H.M. The King, together with the Queen, considers that the military training of the Princess of Asturias is very convenient and valuable: it reinforces the service and dedication capacities, and facilitates the representation tasks that she will have to assume, as Heir to the Crown of Spain, in accordance with the provisions of Title II of the Constitution.

So, TM The King and Queen welcome this new formative stage of Princess Leonor with the satisfaction of knowing her will, interest and enthusiasm in receiving this training. Princess Leonor knows the demands and sacrifices that military life entails and is well aware of the honor of training and serving alongside the men and women of our Armed Forces.

5.- Military education provides a very complete and adequate technical and human training to guarantee the commitment of permanent service to Spanish society. On the one hand, it will provide you with specific knowledge and skills for the military field; on the other, it will expressly promote virtues such as loyalty, discipline, courage or camaraderie, and principles such as responsibility, exemplary nature or austerity.

6.- The experience acquired by H.M. the King during his time in the academies is a valuable precedent to consider adjusted that the military training of HRH The Princess of Asturias also lasts three academic years, one for each, Army, Air Force and the Navy. Likewise, the structure of the current study plans and the framing in a promotion advises completing those three courses.

7.- The training period will begin in August 2023 in the Army, and will take place during the 2023-2024 academic year at the General Military Academy of Zaragoza. HRH The Princess of Asturias will join this Academy with the employment of Lady-Cadet. The following academic year, 2024-2025, will take place in the Navy and she will develop it with the employment of a Midshipman both in the Naval Military School of Marín, and on board the Juan Sebastián de Elcano Training Ship, during her training trip. Finally, the Princess will complete her third year in the Air and Space Army, joining the San Javier General Air Academy for the 2025-2026 academic year as Ensign Student.

8.- Finally, it is appropriate to remember that in the European parliamentary monarchies it is a widely observed and shared tradition that future Heads of State develop a military career and, within this framework, receive training of this nature, which varies according to the characteristics of each country, in addition to university education. This practice is based on the fact that, in most cases and under the terms and with the scope established and regulated in the different constitutional texts, they are attributed the supreme command of the Armed Forces. So does our own Constitution.

La Zarzuela Palace, March 14, 2023

[takeoffphilippines]

Beko Marks 3rd Anniversary In The Philippines With Trade Launch, Lays Out Business Development Plans

Beko Philippines is entering a new phase of business in their journey to bring the European brand to a sustainable lifestyle for Filipino customers. In celebration of its third year of operations, Beko announces its goal of being the number one European brand in the Philippine market in the next 5 years.

“We are very happy to be holding this trade launch for our dealers and stakeholders as we share that Beko will be a bigger and better brand in the Philippines in 2023 and beyond,” said Gürhan Günal, Beko’s country director in the Philippines, who also presented the company’s business development plans of EXPAND, GROW, LEAD, CONNECTIVITY and SUSTAINABILITY for the Philippines along with the brand’s hero technologies at the anniversary trade launch at the Grand Ballroom of Marriott Hotel Manila.

This is the heart and reason why this year, Beko will be made available soon in other appliance stores nationwide as it continues to “expand” its distribution to other retail channels.

To further “grow” brand awareness and visibility they also announced the renewal of their brand ambassadorship with Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo alongside with digital and traditional media investments.

As one of the “leading” manufacturers of home appliances, Beko promotes the Live Like a Pro lifestyle and inspires Filipinos to experience a more convenient way of living through European style product lines. They stated that Beko Pilipinas Corporation is the exclusive distributor of Hitachi Major Domestic Appliances as part of their brand portfolio.

Beko appliances are made smart, relevant and designed to easily support Filipino families. With the HomeWhiz function you can easily “connect” to your Beko appliances with the use of your smartphones.

As part of Beko’s global sustainability effort, Beko Philippines announces its partnership with Plastic Credit Exchange, which serves a global ecosystem of carefully vetted partners that recover, process, and recycle plastic waste with programs that improve livelihood, scale up social impact, and reduce the flow of plastic pollution into nature. The partnership is in line with Extended Producer Responsibility Law, which holds companies responsible for the plastic packaging they use throughout the lifecycle of their products.

Trade launch showcasing hero technologies

As Beko marked its third year in the Philippines, the appliance brand held a grand trade launch for its dealers at the Marriott Hotel Grand Ballroom with the theme “Empowered to Live Like A Pro.”

During the whole-day event, guests, including media and dealers, got to experience Beko’s range of appliances. They also got tips from a chef and an interior designer on how to manage their homes like a pro.

Beko Philippines showcased its hero technologies, such as HarvestFresh, ProSmart Inverter Technology, Steam Cure, Hygiene+,  AeroPerfect TM and many others. These technologies help you live like a pro. Among the products displayed that day were cookers. The HII64205F2MT  is a 60x50cm built-in induction hob with four Cooking Zones and two 2 Flexizone, nine cooking levels and a glass burner plate. Meanwhile, the BBIS14300XCSE 60x60cm. multifunction built-in oven with six cooking functions,  including Steam Aid feature for moist and even cooking.

There were also refrigerators, one of the appliances which Beko is famous for. The GNO480E40HFGBPH is a 16.6cf inverter multi-door refrigerator with Neofrost Triple Cooling Technology, HarvestFresh, Prosmart Inverter Compressor, in sleek black glass door finish.  Also featured is the Hitachi Refrigerator R-WB640VG0-1 GBK with Vacuum Technology with Platinum Catalyst, Inverter X Dual-fan Cooling with Eco-thermo sensor.

Other appliances include the CEG7302B, a bean-to-cup espresso machine and the BSEOG180/181 2Hp air-conditioner with Go Clean Technology, MicroClean TM Filter, Gold Guard, ZoneFollow, 4D Auto Swing and HomeWhiz.

Beko appliances are available at 1st Megasaver, Abenson, All Home, Anson’s, Appliance Centrum, Asian Home Appliance, Automatic Centre, BHF, Echo Electrical, Fair N Square, Gloria Bazaar, Great World, Hat, J Marketing, Lazada, Magic Appliance, Manhattan Appliance, Mike’s Department Store, NB Marketing, Pricewise, RS David, Our Builders, Robinsons Appliance, Savers, Shopee, SM Appliance, Solidmark, SVC & Plusign, United Motoliance, and Western Appliance.

For more information about Beko in the Philippines, go to http://beko.ph or visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/bekoph and their Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/bekoph/.

–

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[introvertbard]

MAY 7, 2024: Hey there folks, my preindustrial travel series has reached 6,662 notes as of my last check!

Can you throw a bit of that attention towards my novel drafts? So far they're floating around Wattpad, but I'd love to have these be cleaned up and actually-published soon, and that takes "people reading them and telling others about it," lol.

I have a pinned post about them if you want to reblog that by itself, but here's some summaries and the cover-art photos here!

-

MOONFLOWERS (current link - https://www.wattpad.com/story/324856549-moonflowers ) - The Wild Hunt fucks around with Asian-American Alima Song's family in Ireland, and while everyone has heavy suspicions that they're being targeted for the impending Fairy Raid on Samhain, the Irish gods have a shitty time trying to help because... they're dozens of mounted fairy combatants who cursed a random family that doesn't even live in Ireland. What do you expect?

As of the latest chapter, I remembered that the Wild Hunt pulled off some Red Dead Redemption shit by chasing after Alima's car, and I frantically remembered that most modern people are NOT the Irish equivalent of mounted knights who are 20 years old with 15 years of riding/fighting experience. So now the Irish gods and the Tagalog anito have desperately asked civilian riders and reenactors to help with search-and-rescue for the Wild Hunt's victims.

Trying to get civilian horses to put up with SAFE AND CONTROLLED stunt-riding? It Goes Badly(TM), lmao.

So Alima Song's dad Ned Song will kill the Hunter in self-defense and accidentally end up with a claim to his kingdom. He's a carpenter and knows fuck-all about ruling besides that he killed a king, so Alima takes the throne instead, and she soon gets into a deconstruction of the "rags/middle-class to royalty" trope.

Turns out 1) inheriting a run-down kingdom from a notorious murderer leaves you with a TON of work, and 2) a brown Asian woman being tossed into high-society with spoiled rich people ends with a nice chunk of them assuming that the small Asian woman is just "Alima Song's maid." Depending on how they treat said "maid," they risk getting the shit slapped out of them for the very first time in their lives!

My informal summary for this is "a reverse Conan the Barbarian story," because I have the young queen of a run-down petty kingdom getting dragged off on "adventures" despite her best efforts, and therefore trying to get the fuck HOME.

This is only going to get hinted at in the ending of Moonflowers, but the effects of European colonization on the mortal world AND the Otherworld are going to be a reveal as to why the Folk have stalled at medieval/barely-industrial technology while the modern mortal world is, you know... modern.

-

THE CROCODILE GOD (current link - https://www.wattpad.com/story/324254621-the-crocodile-god ) - On a windy beach in California, Mirasol finds a shipwrecked man and takes him to the hospital. With no phone, no ID, and barely any clothes after the sea got done with him, the most information they can get is that his name is Haik, and for lack of better options, he’s discharged to Mirasol’s place.

Dark-skinned, covered in tattoos, and hailing from Australia, Haik is not the typical Filipino. He tells her stories of the Tagalogs’ far past, a foreign and unknown country–and soon finds out that he is Haik the sea-god, constantly searching for his mortal wife, and they are both stuck in a loop of reincarnation after their whale-goddess daughter was stillborn.

Unfortunately, she also finds out that he’s an undocumented immigrant.

-

Huge stonking content warning about this one!!! It's obviously about colonization in a MUCH more direct way than Moonflowers. A Tagalog god has to deal with the memories/aftermath of Spanish colonization and losing his followers, and then he has to deal with the CURRENT American colonization of "ICE is trying to deport this dark-skinned guy with lots of tattoos."

Family trauma features heavily in the backstory with Haik's stillborn first daughter. The story ends well with nobody getting deported/imprisoned, but getting there is ROUGH.

Preindustrial travel, and long explanations on why different distances are like that

Update March 1, 2024: Hey there folks, here's yet another update! I reposted Part 2a (the "medieval warhorses" tangent) to my writing blog, and I went down MORE of the horse-knowledge rabbit hole! https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/741423906984951808/my-post-got-cut-off-so-i-added-the-rest-of-it Update Jan 30, 2024: Hey folks, I've posted the updated version of this post on my blog, so I don't have to keep frantically telling everyone "hey, that's the old version of this post!" https://thebalangay.wordpress.com/2024/01/29/preindustrial-travel-times-part-1/

I should get the posts about army travel times and camp followers reformatted and posted to my blog around the end of the week, so I'll filter through my extremely tangled thread for them.

Part 2 - Preindustrial ARMY travel times: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/739342239113871360/now-for-a-key-aspect-that-many-people-often-ask

Part 2a - How realistic warhorses look and act, because the myth of "all knights were mounted on huge clunky draft horses" just refuses to die: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/732043691180605440/helpful-things-for-action-writers-to-remember

Part 3 - Additional note about camp followers being regular workers AND sex-workers: https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/740604203134828544/reblogging-the-time-looped-version-of-my

--

I saw a post on my main blog about how hiking groups need to keep pace with their slowest member, but many hikers mistakenly think that the point of hiking is "get from Point A to Point B as fast as possible" instead of "spending time outdoors in nature with friends," and then they complain that a new/less-experienced/sick/disabled hiker is spoiling their time-frame by constantly needing breaks, or huffing and puffing to catch up.

I run into a related question of "how long does it take to travel from Point A to Point B on horseback?" a lot, as a fantasy writer who wants to be SEMI-realistic; in the Western world at least, our post-industrial minds have largely forgotten what it's like to travel, both on our own feet and in groups.

People ask the new writer, "well, who in your cast is traveling? Is getting to Point B an emergency or not? What time of year is it?", and the newbies often get confused as to why they need so much information for "travel times." Maybe new writers see lists of "preindustrial travel times" like a primitive version of Google Maps, where all you need to do is plug in Point A and Point B.

But see, Google Maps DOES account for traveling delays, like different routes, constructions, accidents, and weather; you as the person will also need to figure in whether you're driving a car versus taking a bus/train, and so you'll need to figure out parking time or waiting time for the bus/train to actually GET THERE.

The difference between us and preindustrial travelers is that 1) we can outsource the calculations now, 2) we often travel for FUN instead of necessity.

The general rule of thumb for preindustrial times is that a healthy and prime-aged adult on foot, or a rider/horse pair of fit and prime-aged adults, can usually make 20-30 miles per day, in fair weather and on good terrain.

Why is this so specific? Because not everyone in preindustrial times was fit, not everyone was healthy, not everyone was between the ages of 20-35ish, and not everyone had nice clear skies and good terrain to travel on.

If you are too far below 18 years old or too far past 40, at best you will need either a slower pace or more frequent breaks to cover the same distance, and at worst you'll cut the travel distance in half to 10 or so miles. Too much walking is VERY BAD on too-young/old knees, and teenagers or very short adults may just have short legs even if they're fine with 8-10 hours of actual walking. Young children may get sick of walking and pitch a fit because THEY'RE TIREDDDDDDDDDD, and then you might need to stay put while they cry it out, or an adult may sigh and haul them over their shoulder (and therefore be weighed down by about 50lbs of Angry Child).

Heavy forests, wetlands and rocky hills/mountains are also going to be a much shorter "distance" per day. For forests or wetlands, you have to account for a lot of villagers going "who's gonna cut down acres of trees for one road? NOT ME," or "who's gonna drain acres of swamp for one road? NOT ME." Mountainous regions have their traveling time eaten by going UP, or finding a safer path that goes AROUND, so by the time you're done slogging through drier patches of wetlands or squeezing through trees, a deceptively short 10-15 miles in rough terrain might take you a whole day to walk instead of the usual half-day.

If you are traveling in freezing winters or during a rainstorm (and this inherently means you HAVE NO CHOICE, because nobody in preindustrial times would travel in bad weather if they could help it), you run the high risk of losing your way and then dying of exposure or slipping and breaking your neck, just a few miles out of the town/village.

Traveling in TOO-HOT weather is just as bad, because pushing yourself too hard and getting dehydrated at noon in the tropics will literally kill you. It's called heat-STROKE, not "heat-PARTY."

And now for the upper range of "traveling on horseback!"

Fully mounted groups can usually make 30-40 miles per day between Point A and Point B, but I find there are two unspoken requirements: "Point B must have enough food for all those people and horses," and "the mounted party DOESN'T need to keep pace with foot soldiers, camp followers, or supply wagons."

This means your mounted party would be traveling to 1) a rendezvous point like an ally's camp or a noble's castle, or 2) a town/city with plenty of inns. Maybe they're not literally going 30-40 miles in one trip, but they're scouting the area for 15-20 miles and then returning to their main group. Perhaps they'd be going to an allied village, but even a relatively small group of 10-20 warhorses will need 10-20 pounds of grain EACH and 20-30 pounds of hay EACH. 100-400 pounds of grain and 200-600 pounds of hay for the horses alone means that you need to stash supplies at the village beforehand, or the village needs to be a very large/prosperous one to have a guaranteed large surplus of food.

A dead sprint of 50-60 miles per day is possible for a preindustrial mounted pair, IF YOU REALLY, REALLY HAVE TO. Moreover, that is for ONE day. Many articles agree that 40 miles per day is already a hard ride, so 50-60 miles is REALLY pushing the envelope on horse and rider limits.

NOTE: While modern-day endurance rides routinely go for 50-100 miles in one day, remember that a preindustrial rider will not have the medical/logistical support that a modern endurance rider and their horse does.

If you say "they went fifty miles in a day" in most preindustrial times, the horse and rider's bodies will get wrecked. Either the person, their horse, or both, risk dying of exhaustion or getting disabled from the strain.

Whether you and your horse are fit enough to handle it and "only" have several days of defenselessness from severe pain/fatigue (and thus rely on family/friends to help you out), or you die as a heroic sacrifice, or you aren't QUITE fit enough and become disabled, or you get flat-out saved by magic or another rider who volunteers to go the other half, going past 40 miles in a day is a "Gondor Calls For Aid" level of emergency.

As a writer, I feel this kind of feat should be placed VERY carefully in a story: Either at the beginning to kick the plot off, at the climax to turn the tide, or at the end.

Preindustrial people were people--some treated their horses as tools/vehicles, and didn't care if they were killed or disabled by pushing them to their limits, but others very much cared for their horses. They needed to keep them in working condition for about 15-20 years, and they would not dream of doing this without a VERY good reason.

—

UPDATE January 13: Several people have gotten curious and looked at maps, to find out how a lot of cities are indeed spread out at a nice distance of 20-30 miles apart! I love getting people interested in my hyperfixations, lol.

But remember that this is the space between CITIES AND TOWNS. There should never be a 20-mile stretch of empty wilderness between City A and Town B, unless your world explains why folks are able to build a city in the middle of nowhere, or if something has specifically gone wrong to wipe out its supporting villages!

Period pieces often portray a shining city rising from a sea of picturesque empty land, without a single grain field or cow pasture in sight, but that city would starve to death very quickly in preindustrial times.

Why? Because as Bret Devereaux mentions in his “Lonely Cities” article (https://acoup.blog/2019/07/12/collections-the-lonely-city-part-i-the-ideal-city/), preindustrial cities and towns must have nearby villages (and even smaller towns, if large and prosperous enough!) to grow their food for them.

The settlements around a city will usually be scattered a few miles apart from each other, usually clustered along the roads to the city gates. Those villages and towns at the halfway point between cities (say 10-15 miles) are going to be essential stops for older/sick folks, merchants with cargo, and large groups like noble’s retinues and army forces.

Preindustrial armies and large noble retinues usually can’t make it far past 10-12 miles per day, as denoted in my addition to this post. (https://www.tumblr.com/jadevine/739342239113871360/now-for-a-key-aspect-that-many-people-often-ask )

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Response from Korea to the statement of the European Second Generation Development Team

Updated 20 October 2024

Today, I saw a statement from the ESGD on the theology of True Parents in Korea, the country of our faith. First, I felt embarrassed and distressed. I think it is truly courageous and the right choice of conscience that the ESGD boldly criticized the theology of True Parents, which is being practiced by those around True Mother. In Korea, the birthplace of our faith, only fraudulent leaders —blinded by greed and power— are surrounding Mother. However, Western members, far from the birthplace of our faith, have raised fundamental questions about Divine Principle and faith.

1. The theology of True Parents is having a negative effect. Does not the meaning of True Parents mean a True Father and a True Mother? However, when I listen to the theology of True Parents now taught in Cheongpyeong, I get the impression that True Parents are a couple composed of an incompetent father and a perfect mother. The theology rejects the existing providential view that True Parents are one, and instead promotes the theology of the Only Begotten Daughter of God centering on True Mother.   Yes, the theology of True Parents is just disguised words to hide the theology of the OBDOG. What Cheongpyeong argues is the deification and absolute perfection of TM. It asserts TF had original sin and teaches that TM has no original sin. What on earth is Cheongpyeong trying to say? Denigrating TF does not mean that TM’s status is elevated. In a couple when the status of one falls, the other also falls. In the end, TM’s status is gradually being degraded because those around her have criticized and belittled TF.  

2. It is undermining the legacy and tradition True Father left behind.

What is the legacy that TF left for us? Isn't it the Blessing? Because of True Father’s victory, the path has been opened for us to receive the Blessing and be reborn as children of Heaven. But if TF’s messiahship is denied, what becomes of the Blessing we received? Was the Blessing just an event to raise money? An attempt to deny TF’s providence and just explain the providence AFTER TM’s marriage is being made by the pseudo-professors in Cheongpyeong. The problem is that when the church history of before 1960 is denied, the providence of the Unification Church becomes disconnected. When you study history, you will sometimes encounter facts that are difficult to accept. If you cut them out just because you don't like them, the history becomes tattered like rags. Ignoring the providence before 1960 breaks the continuum of the history that follows. When I listen to the providence created by the pseudo-professors, I can't understand what they are talking about. The biggest reason for the disconnect between TF and the providence is the policy of sidelining the elder blessed families. Those who are now the heads of various providential organizations haven’t had a relationship with TF; they often do not know the history of the Unification Church. If they do not know, they should at least then learn, but there is no one to teach them, and they do not want to learn. When I look at the education program at Cheongpyeong, I can only sigh. The person who is the director of the training center is preaching about the central spirit. The central spirit? It is not in the Principle or in True Father’s words, but the central spirit is the center of the history of Cheongpyeong. Is the central spirit the theology of the Unification Church? What is even more absurd is that, allegedly, the central spirit theology was revealed by the family of Oriental doctors. I don't understand what kind of nonsense this is. Since when has our Unification Church adopted the spiritual experience of a family as doctrine? No matter how expedient it is to make money by using fraudulent methods, there are ways to make money and there are things that should not be done. There seem to be a lot of crazy people in Cheongpyeong.

3. It is undermining the universality of the Unification Principle.

In Cheongpyeong, some openly say that the Divine Principle is wrong. If the Principle is wrong, what are we doing now? The association urges pastors out in the field to evangelize. With what are they told to evangelize? Until the new Divine Principle is completed, evangelize with the existing Divine Principle? They are out of their minds. Does it make sense to ask them to evangelize with the Divine Principle which is said to be wrong? What on earth is the Cheongpyeong Association thinking? In Cheongpyeong, many people denigrate TF and deny his Messiahship. It was more than once that I wanted to set the Cheongpyeong Training Center on fire. I feel angry that the betrayers of the providence and the enemies of Heaven are all paid employees in Cheongpyeong. We all joined the Unification Church, moved by TF's words and the Divine Principle. However, in Cheongpyeong they disparage and ridicule the Principles. They say that the Principle is wrong. If the Principle is wrong, is there a reason why we should be in the Unification Church? If you are not a person who receives a salary from the Unification organization, there is no reason to be in the Unification Church. When you go to Cheongpyeong, you hear the rumor that TM instructed a new Divine Principle to be created. Some people boast that they are writing the new Divine Principle. Then who is the owner of the new Principle? The author of the new Principle written in that way is neither Heaven nor TM. The pseudo-professor who wrote the theology is the owner of it. Later, the professor will claim that he is the Lord of the Second Advent. Isn't it natural that he is the owner of the Word he wrote? I once went into a restaurant in downtown Gapyeong and saw Cheongpyeong employees eating in the corner of the restaurant. They were talking and mocking and disparaging True Father. I wanted to beat them all with a baseball bat. What kind of education is being given to Cheongpyeong employees? I think the Cheongpyeong employees need to be reeducated. They don’t even consider True Father, they belittle the Principle, and True Mother is just an object of evaluation. Who on earth made the organization like this? If True Mother wants to talk about the theology of True Parents, she must first show that she is united with True Father.  True Mother must stop the campaign of denigrating True Father, and she must show that they are united as a couple. If the couple acts independently, what kind of parents are they?

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ESGD (European Second Generation Development team) statement on the new theology of True Mother

The Only Begotten Daughter Phenomenon from the Perspective of the Divine Principle

Where Sun Myung Moon got his theology

How “God’s Day” was established by Sun Myung Moon in 1968

Sun Myung Moon claimed authority through his “meeting with Jesus”

[mental-health-solution]

Off-label Applications of TMS | Relief Mental Health

Deep TMS has also received the European CE certification mark for Alzheimer’s Disease (AD), autism, bipolar disorder, chronic pain, multiple sclerosis (MS), Parkinson’s Disease, post-stroke rehabilitation, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and negative symptoms of Schizophrenia.

Here are some off-label applications of TMS:

Eating Disorders

TMS is emerging as a promising treatment for individuals with eating disorders, such as anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Although it’s not yet FDA-approved for this specific use, TMS has shown encouraging results in reducing symptoms by targeting brain areas involved in mood regulation and impulse control. This non-invasive therapy can help alleviate anxiety and depressive symptoms often associated with eating disorders, potentially providing a new avenue for those who have not found success with traditional treatments.

Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia

Alzheimer’s disease leads to progressive memory loss and cognitive decline. Scientists are still trying to figure out how the disease affects the brain. However, one study found that TMS could help. The study also noted that TMS could help improve cognitive function in those with Alzheimer’s. While there’s a need for more TMS research, the early findings are promising.

Migraines and Chronic Pain

Numerous studies show good evidence that TMS helps with migraines and chronic pain. In one study, people had about nine headache days in a month. After TMS therapy, they reported having fewer headaches often. The number of days they had headaches was reduced by about three days on average.

A NIH study backs this up, with findings showing that TMS reduces the frequency and severity of migraines. The evidence is somewhat limited, but what’s available shows TMS may be a safe and effective way to prevent or treat chronic migraines.

Post Stroke Rehabilitation

TMS has helped researchers improve their understanding of the mechanisms underlying the recovery of motor function after stroke. As a result, this has allowed them to test TMS and other interventions to affect motor behavior. It’s clear that it’s possible to modulate motor functions in stroke patients. However, more studies are still needed to understand the recovery process and underlying factors like patient characteristics and optimal stimulation parameters.

One notable case study involved a stroke patient who underwent TMS therapy targeting the motor cortex, the area of the brain responsible for movement. Through regular sessions of TMS, this patient experienced significant improvements in motor function. They reported better movement control, increased strength, and enhanced coordination throughout treatment.

ADHD

Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) affects focus, self-control, and other vital skills. TMS can improve these symptoms by stimulating brain regions involved in attention and impulse control. Patients with ADHD who receive TMS often experience better concentration, longer attention spans, and improved social skills, making daily tasks easier to manage.

TMS is showing promise as a safe and effective treatment option for ADHD with encouraging results in studies. In one of these studies, researchers analyzed how Deep TMS could help with ADHD symptoms. They studied 53 participants who were split into three groups:

Deep TMS

Repetitive TMS (rTMS)

Placebo TMS

Using the Conners Adult ADHD Rating Scale (CAARS), they found that 33% of those who received Deep TMS saw a significant reduction of 30% or more in their CAARS scores. What’s promising about TMS is that it’s noninvasive. This means no surgery or implants are involved, which lowers the risk of complications.

Unlike some other treatments like electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), TMS doesn’t come with a high risk of seizure or memory loss. And it doesn’t require anesthesia, so you don’t have to worry about those side effects either.

Addiction and Substance Use

Doctors have started using TMS as a treatment for dangerous symptoms that come with addiction, especially among people suffering from depression as a withdrawal symptom. TMS helps stimulate their brain and return control over their mood.

The treatment has also been effective in fighting cravings, though the exact mechanism is unknown. In a double-masked study on 16 people who received rTMS for cocaine addiction, 11 were free of their symptoms after a month of TMS. This is compared to only three who received standard treatment.

Parkinson’s Disease

Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is also being explored as a treatment option for Parkinson’s disease. This neurodegenerative disorder is characterized by motor symptoms such as tremors, stiffness, and difficulty with movement. While TMS is not yet FDA-approved for Parkinson’s, studies have shown that it could help improve motor function and reduce symptoms by stimulating specific brain regions involved in movement control. This offers hope for patients seeking non-invasive alternatives to traditional treatments.

Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients may also find relief with TMS. This chronic illness affects the central nervous system, leading to symptoms like fatigue, muscle weakness, and cognitive impairments. Research suggests that TMS can help alleviate these symptoms by promoting neuroplasticity and improving neural communication. Though not yet FDA-approved for MS, TMS presents a promising complementary therapy to enhance the quality of life for those living with this condition.