#the article is linked in the sc

[userirvingb]

Severance has been generating huge amounts of profit for apple which explains why they suddenly amped up their marketing for s2. the most important part of this article imo is the fact that Severance didn't gain significant viewership until a year after the finale of s1, which meant a majority of people watched in 2023 instead of 2022. with s3 already confirmed prior to s2 airing, it seems apple is aware that it takes time for a show to gain viewership and that the original tv model of dropping episodes weekly is much more favorable than an entire season dropping all at once. i really hope that if they continue to treat their shows with the respect and time they deserve to grow that 1. the service in general starts to gain popularity as a streaming network (it is the smallest one compared to the others) 2. they can be the home to more original shows that have potential 3. hopefully with their numbers change the landscape of streaming to not be so reliant on initial numbers when a show drops

[contemplatingoutlander]

"I'm as mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!" --Howard Beale (Peter Finch) in Network (1976)

The above quote from Network sums up what I'm feeling right now. With their decision on presidential immunity, the far-right SC justices shredded the Constitution, and paved the way for Trump to become a dictator if he is put back in office. The above article goes into detail about the liberal justices' dissent. This is a gift🎁link if you want to read the full article. Below are some excerpts:

The Supreme Court’s three Democratic appointees railed in dissent against the conservative majority’s ruling that former President Donald J. Trump has some immunity for his official actions, declaring that their colleagues had made the president into “a king above the law.” Writing that the majority was “deeply wrong,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor added that beyond its consequences for the bid to prosecute Mr. Trump for his attempt to subvert the outcome of the 2020 election, it would have “stark” long-term consequences for the future of American democracy. “The court effectively creates a law-free zone around the president, upsetting the status quo that has existed since the founding,” she wrote, in an opinion joined by the other two Democratic appointees, Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson. Insulating the president of the United States — the most powerful person in the country and possibly the world, she noted — from criminal prosecution when he uses his official powers will allow him to freely use his official power to violate the law, exploit the trappings of his office for personal gain, or other “evil ends.” “Orders the Navy’s Seal Team 6 to assassinate a political rival? Immune. Organizes a military coup to hold onto power? Immune. Takes a bribe in exchange for a pardon? Immune. Immune, immune, immune,” she wrote, adding: “Even if these nightmare scenarios never play out, and I pray they never do, the damage has been done. The relationship between the president and the people he serves has shifted irrevocably.” [...] Sometimes justices conclude their dissents with a softening and polite qualifier, writing “Respectfully, I dissent.” Justice Sotomayor instead concluded this one harshly: “With fear for our democracy, I dissent.” [color emphasis added]

________________ Video source for gif

[actual-changeling]

I have written many meta posts and s3-theories, and read even more, but I got hit by an idea I have not seen before. (If there is another post, please link it!)

After vibrating for an hour and losing my mind in my dms, I have no scraped together enough brain cells to present what is probably my first actual 'main-plot meta'.

Welcome to another edition of Alex's unhinged meta corner, today with a title to honour Crowley's James Bond obsession and the possibility of another heaven heist.

I give you:

From Jesus with Love - You Will Live Twice

Now, let's get right into it.

I think Neil might have told us more about the main s3 plotline in the announcement article than we previously thought. We all got stuck on 'they're not talking'—for good reason—but it is the part before that which has been bugging me ever since then.

The plans are going wrong—and this time that is a problem for earth and humanity. Turning that around, it means that whatever that plan consists of would be the way to go and beneficial for everyone, the opposite of the main plot of s1.

"They need to prevent the Second Coming (SC)" is pretty much the only and most popular idea I have seen, hundreds of fics and metas and whatnot have been written about it, but I think there's a good chance we're wrong. If we're not, well, I will honestly just be happy to be watching season 3.

Whatever the Metatron is planning will have negative consequences for everyone, or as Michael puts it: "And so… it ends. Everything ends. Time and the world is over, and we begin Eternity… forever and ever."

It sounds very much like Apocalypse #1 - Same Old Plan, same expected result, yet if we look at different interpretations of scripture we find that the SC is not entirely about complete destruction and death for all of humanity—it is about creating a new world/migrating to the kingdom of God.

This is taken from the Wikipedia article about the SC

Resurrection and life in a world to come are a direct contradiction to the result Michael is explaining—total annihilation of humanity.

Now, I am neither religious in any way nor have I ever received any sort of biblical education. Luckily, Christians seem to love talking about the bible because there are dozens of bible website to wade through. If I get anything wrong, please point it out, I have never touched a bible in my life.

So, after reading many, many quotes by a bunch of different guys, I tried to create a somewhat coherent picture of what the SC might look like based on the assumption that the end result is positive. I will talk about how they can be interpreted more in-depth later, otherwise this would turn into a string-net very fast.

Additionally, we can also see where these points overlap with the statement Jimbriel gave in the bookshop in episode three.

What is Jesus' job description?

only God knows when and how exactly it will begin/happen, no one else does, including Jesus and the Metatron

a lot of different catastrophes are mentioned or quoted as something Jesus said, like earthquakes and storms -> Jimbriel mentioned a tempest and great storms

there is also the line "All these are the beginning of birth pains." Birth pains dictate that there will be a birth—birth of the world to come perhaps?

dead people will be resurrected/leave their graves so that they too can be judged (I'd say participate in it but that sounds like the Second Coming is a summer camp activity)

there are also mentions of stars and the heavens in general falling from the sky and the sun going dark -> Jimbriel also mentions darkness as one of the signs

great lamentations, as Jimbriel says, are also a part of many different passages, with humans mourning the world as it was

the Lord will descent with the voice of an Archangel and the sound of a trumpet/the trumpet of God; the grammatical structure of that sentence seems to be interpreted differently depending on who you ask, but the voices of angels/an Archangel and some sort of trumpet are common terms

once everyone is in heaven/wherever the 'main even' will take place, a judgement call will be made for every single person in relation to the book of life, which decides whether they will be punished forever or not (one passage talks about a lake of fire and mentions it several times in a row)

And this is where it gets tricky. To figure out what the SC looks like, we first need to understand a) what the Metatron's capabilities are, b) what he has to lose, and c) what exactly would be a threat to him.

If you ask me, all of this comes down to the Metatron wanting to stay and be in power for eternity with full control over angels so he can do as he please, aka keeping the system running as it is.

We know the book of life (bol) is a thing in the Good Omens universe, whether it does what Michael said is an entirely different question. So far, we have also only got confirmation that hell collects and tortures souls—in such large amounts that they are understaffed—while heaven looks completely empty.

The Metatron runs heaven as an institution, he seems to be the highest power any of the angels have access to and the one they defer to. He refers to himself as the voice of God and combines judge, jury and executioner, making him one great celestial dictator.

From what we know of hell, they do things a lot more democratically, having different councils, dukes, and ranks that are responsible for different levels of command.

We also know that that the Metatron wants the world to end, his goals can probably be summarized as the statement Michael makes, which would leave him in charge without any opposing forces.

We also also know that he sees Crowley and Aziraphale as a threat—why exactly remains a mystery for now—and that the success of his plan hinges on having a Supreme Archangel (SA) he can control. Gabriel decided to become princess of hell and Beez' sugar baby, so he was out of the equation, and after the Armageddon disaster, I don't think he wants to risk failing because of an unfamiliarity with earth (plus, y'know, getting our two idiots away from the plan).

It's interesting to me that right at the end, he says to Aziraphale "We call it the Second Coming"—call, not it is or it will be, CALL. We know that nothing Neil writes is a coincidence, definitely not with such an important line.

Just because you CALL something a specific name doesn't mean it IS what you call it, e.g. Aziraphale calls Crowley a foul fiend when we know he very much isn't.

The Metatron is selling his plan as part of the "Great/Ineffable Plan", so any questions can be blocked by saying it's God's will, it's ineffable. Whatever his plan is, he hides it behind the concept of the Second Coming, which angels know just enough about to understand the basics without having in-depth knowledge of what exactly it entails.

It is a good fucking strategy, I'll give him that, and it WORKS because angels—even if they have doubts—do not question. They simply don't; fear of punishment and millennia of conditioning have left them in a horrible place. When they encounter something unknown, their response is "I already knew that" as to not ask questions.

Crowley questions, we know that, and Aziraphale, ohhhhh, Aziraphale ALSO questions, but he does it in a less dangerous and obvious way. The Metatron is vastly underprepared for that.

(Side note: That alone would be its own meta post, but the gist is that he questions heaven's plans and then adjusts his assumptions of what God might want to what he WANTS God to want, e.g. Job, the Arch)

To summarize everything I just said, the Metatron wants to do what Armageddon failed to do—destroy earth and the universe—so he can be supreme dictator of all remaining celestial beings and gorge himself on power.

But instead of calling it his Big Evil Plan, he calls it the Second Coming, making everyone play along without resistance.

We cycle aaaaall the way back to the sentence I quoted—the ACTUAL plans are going wrong since the Metatron's would mean total destruction.

But what is the SC supposed to be if not the Apocalypse 2.0?

When I look at all the different aspects of the SC and assume a positive outcome, then the end result to me would be a new world that is pretty much like the old world, or maybe even literally the old world but with any destruction reversed. Heaven and hell get dissolved since now that everyone has been "judged", they as institutions are no longer needed, they have fulfilled their purpose.

No more judgement means there is no reason to keep track anymore, so why do you need to run celestial corporations whose only job is doing exactly that? You don't—and THAT is what I believe is the biggest perceived threat to the Metatron, losing full control over everyone and everything, losing his position, his title, and whatever else he has.

On top of that, Good Omens has told us again and again that God doesn't seem to give a fuck about good and evil anymore, and that without heaven and hell being all wrapped up in it, humanity would have 100% free will without any consequences.

Maybe the BoL is empty, maybe it isn't real, maybe Jesus stole it to straighten a wobbly table, who knows. There is a chance it is what Michael says, but I would admittedly find that a bit. too obvious and boring since it would boil the plot down to "they save their own asses again" and not "they save humanity at all cost".

Regarding Crowley and Aziraphale's role in this—I have Thoughts TM but those definitely need their own post. In short, they have to get the SC back on track, the real one.

-

If you have made it this far, thank you for working through what I hope are more or less coherent rambles. Any spelling or grammar mistakes are my own.

Questions? Thoughts? Corrections? Expansions and additions?

Feel free to add to this post however you like (and I can't believe I have to mentions this but if you clown on my post or behave like an asshole you will be blocked).

[rockalillygirl]

Mamma mia here we go again…

So I have more thoughts because apparently there’s no bottom to the murderbot mindhole I’ve fallen down.

(Spoiler warning- minor stuff from several of the books, pls check tags etc.)

I’ve been reading a lot of things recently exploring Murderbot as an unreliable narrator, which I think is a cool result of System Collapse (because we all know our beloved MB is going through it in this one). There’s also been some interesting related discussion of MB’s distrust of and sometimes biased assessment/treatment of other constructs and bots.

And I’ve been reading a lot about CombatUnits! And I want to talk about them!!

Main thoughts can be summarized as follows:

We don’t see a lot about CombatUnits in the books, and I think what we do see from MB’s pov encourages the reader to view them as less sympathetic than other constructs.

I’m very skeptical of this portrayal for reasons.

The existence of CombatUnits makes me fucking sad and I have a lot of feelings about them!

I got introduced to the idea of MB as an unreliable narrator in a post by onironic It analyzes how in SC, MB seems to distrust Three to a somewhat unreasonable degree, and how it sometimes infantilizes Three or treats it the way human clients have treated it in the past. The post is Amazing and goes into way more detail, so pls go read it (link below):

https://www.tumblr.com/onironic/736245031246135296?source=share

So these ideas were floating around in my brain when I read an article Martha Wells recently published in f(r)iction magazine titled “Bodily Autonomy in the Murderbot Diaries”. I’ll link the article here:

(Rn the only way to access the article is to subscribe to the magazine or buy an e-copy of the specific issue which is $12)

In the article, Wells states that MB displaced its fear of being forced to have sex with humans onto the ComfortUnit in Artificial Condition. I think it’s reasonable to assume that MB also does this with other constructs. With Three, I think it’s more that MB is afraid if what it knows Three is capable of, or (as onironic suggests in their post and I agree with) some jealousy that Three seems more like what humans want/expect a rogue SecUnit to be.

But I want to explore how this can be applied to CombatUnits, specifically.

We don’t learn a lot about them in the books. One appears for a single scene in Exit Strategy, and that’s it. What little else we know comes from MB’s thoughts on them sprinkled throughout the series. To my knowledge, no other character even mentions them (which raises interesting questions about how widely-known their existence is outside of high-level corporate military circles).

When MB does talk about CombatUnits in the early books, it’s as a kind of boogeyman figure (the real “murderbots” that even Murderbot is afraid of). And then when one does show up in ES, it’s fucking terrifying! There’s a collective “oh shit” moment as both MB and the reader realize what it’s up against. Very quickly what we expect to be a normal battle turns into MB running for its life, desperately throwing up hacks as the CombatUnit slices through them just as fast. We and MB know that it wouldn’t have survived the encounter if its humans hadn’t helped it escape. So the CombatUnit really feels like a cut above the other enemies in the series.

And what struck me reading that scene was how the CombatUnit acts like the caricature of an “evil robot” that MB has taught us to question. It seems single-mindedly focused on violence and achieving its objective, and it speaks in what I’d call a “Terminator-esque” manner: telling MB to “Surrender” (like that’s ever worked) and responds to MB’s offer to hack its governor module with “I want to kill you” (ES, pp 99-100).

(Big tangent: Am I the only one who sees parallels between this and how Tlacey forces the ComfortUnit to speak to MB in AC? She makes it suggest they “kill all the humans” because that’s how she thinks constructs talk to each other (AC, pp 132-4). And MB picks up on it immediately. So why is that kind of talk inherently less suspicious coming from a CombatUnit than a ComfortUnit? My headcanon is that I’m not convinced the CombatUnit was speaking for itself. What if a human controller was making it say things they thought would be intimidating? Idk maybe I’ve been reading too many fics where CombatUnits are usually deployed with a human handler. There could be plenty of reasons why the CombatUnit would’ve talked like that. I’m just suspicious.)

(Also, disclaimer: I want to clarify before I go on that I firmly believe that even though MB seems to be afraid of CombatUnits and thinks they’re assholes, it would still advocate for them to have autonomy. I’m not trying to say that either MB or Wells sees CombatUnits as less worthy of personhood or freedom- because I feel the concept that “everything deserves autonomy” is very much at the heart of the series.)

So it’s clear from all of this that MB is scared of CombatUnits and distrusts them for a lot of reasons. I read another breathtaking post by @grammarpedant that gives a ton of examples of this throughout the books and has some great theories on why MB might feel this way. I’ll summarize the ones here that inspired me the most, but pls go read the original post for the full context:

https://www.tumblr.com/grammarpedant/703920247856562177?source=share

OP explains that SecUnits and CombatUnits are pretty much diametrically opposed because of their conflicting functions: Security safeguards humans, while Combat kills them. Of course these functions aren’t rigid- MB has implied that it’s been forced to be violent towards humans before, and I’m sure that extracting/guarding important assets could be a part of a CombatUnit's function. But it makes sense that MB would try to distance itself from being considered a CombatUnit, using its ideas about them to validate the parts of its own function that it likes (protecting people). OP gives what I think is the clearest example of this, which is the moment in Fugitive Telemetry when MB contrasts its plan to sneak aboard a hostile ship and rescue some refugees with what it calls a “CombatUnit” plan, which would presumably involve a lot more murder (FT, p 92).

This reminds me again of what Wells said in the f(r)iction article, that on some level MB is frightened by the idea that it could have been made a ComfortUnit (friction, p 44). I think the idea that it could’ve been a CombatUnit scares it too, and that’s why it keeps distinguishing itself and its function from them. But I think it’s important to point out, that in the above example from FT, even MB admits that the murder-y plan it contrasts with its own would be one made by humans for CombatUnits. So again we see that we just can’t know much about the authentic nature of CombatUnits, or any constructs with intact governor modules, because they don’t have freedom of expression. MB does suggest that CombatUnits may have some more autonomy when it comes to things like hacking and combat which are a part of their normal function. But how free can those choices be when the threat of the governor module still hangs over them?

I think it could be easy to fall into the trap of seeing CombatUnits as somehow more complicit in the systems of violence in the mbd universe. But I think that’s because we often make a false association between violence and empowerment, when even in our world that’s not always the case. But, critically, this can’t be the case for CombatUnits because they’re enslaved in the same way SecUnits and ComfortUnits are (though the intricacies are different).

There was another moment in the f(r)iction article that I found really chilling. Wells states that there’s a correlation between SecUnits that are forced to kill humans and ones that go rogue (friction, p 45). It’s a disturbing thought on its own, but I couldn’t help wondering then how many CombatUnits try to hack their governor modules? And what horrible lengths would humans go to to stop them? I refuse to believe that a CombatUnit’s core programming would make it less effected by the harm its forced to perpetrate. That might be because I’m very anti-deterministic on all fronts, but I just don’t buy it.

I’m not entirely sure why I feel so strongly about this. Of course, I find the situation of all constructs in mbd deeply upsetting. But the more I think about CombatUnits, the more heartbreaking their existence seems to me. There’s a very poignant moment in AC when MB compares ART’s function to its own to explain why there are things it doesn’t like about being a SecUnit (AC, p 33). In that scene, MB is able to identify some parts of its function that it does like, but I have a hard time believing a CombatUnit would be able to do the same. I’m not trying to say that SecUnits have it better (they don’t) (the situation of each type of construct is horrible in it’s own unique way). It’s just that I find the idea of construct made only for violence and killing really fucking depressing. I can’t even begin to imagine the horror of their day-to-day existence.

@grammarpedant made another point in their post that I think raises a TON of important questions not only about CombatUnits, but about how to approach the idea of “function” when it comes to machine intelligence in general. They explain that, in a perfect version of the mbd universe, there wouldn’t be an obvious place for CombatUnits the way there could be for SecUnits and ComfortUnits who wanted to retain their original functions. A better world would inherently be a less violent one, so where does that leave CombatUnits? Would they abandon their function entirely, or would they find a way to change it into something new?

I’ve been having a lot of fun imagining what a free CombatUnit would be like. But in some ways it’s been more difficult than I expected. I’ve heard Wells say in multiple interviews that one of her goals in writing Murderbot was to challenge people to empathize with someone they normally wouldn’t, and I find CombatUnits challenging in exactly that way. Sometimes I wonder if I would’ve felt differently about these books if MB had been a CombatUnit instead of a SecUnit. Would I have felt such an immediate connection to MB if its primary function before hacking its governor module had been killing humans, or if it didn’t have relatable hobbies like watching media? Or if it didn’t have a human face for the explicit purpose of making people like me more comfortable? I’m not sure that I would have.

Reading SC has got me interested in exploring the types of people that humans (or even MB itself) would struggle to accept. So CombatUnits are one of these and possible alien-intelligences are another. All this is merely a small sampling of the thoughts that have been swirling around in my brain-soup! So if anyone is interested in watching me fumble my way through these concepts in more detail, I may be posting “something” in the very near future!

Would really appreciate anyone else’s thoughts about all of THIS^^^^ It’s been my obsession over the holidays and helping me cope with family stress and flying anxiety.

[bcacstuff]

Background info

read the full article on the above link. For more see the account of the Hoolan Ensemble

[endcant]

Crossposted from my Tumblr Community: The Trans South

--

The Trans South Monthly Bulletin Board

Our pinned post for the month of November, 2024.

comment anything you want to add, and i'll add what fits in this month's post. i'll be making a new post each month, so you may need to resubmit any links that are applicable for multiple months. check the comments for anything i missed!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

the bright side:

the fact that you're alive is good news to me!

"Good News: Some States Passed Protections for Abortion Access, Marriage Equality, and More" | Here is an article with some upshots and progress from the 2024 election.

"Lipstick Lounge Owners Break Ground on Sports Bar Venture" | "The Lipstick Lounge is one of only 32 open and operating lesbian bars in the United States registered with the Lesbian Bar Project."

"Florida's LGBTQ+ community defies queer repression with advocacy & preservation" | "I will not paint a desolate picture of the state. And, there still is hope."

"The Candy Shop: Columbia SC Rallies to Honor Landmark Black Gay Bar" | "Researchers and preservationists at Historic Columbia have joined the struggle to correct the way the club has thus far been "written over" in the historical record."

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

TTS crowdfunds:

help fellow transgender people in your community today!

Catgirl-smash needs help with bills and moving!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

fun links:

things that gave me dopamine and kept me going

Read "When We Call a Place Home" by Chinelo Onwualu | "A utopian tale of historical memory, the dangers of forgetting…and vampires."

WEBFISHING | "WEBFISHING is a multiplayer chatroom-focused fishing game! Relax and fish (on the web!)"

Memory Games | I've been using these memory games to try to heal my brain a bit from long covid brain fog.

Mahogany's List of Black Banned Books | Read some books they don't want you to read!

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

useful links:

interesting resources and organizations you should know about

Trans Reads | "Trans Reads is an ambitious project created by and for transgender people to openly access writing related to our communities."

Southerners On New Ground | "SONG is a home for LGBTQ liberation across all lines of race, class, abilities, age, culture, gender, and sexuality in the South".

Winners from The LGBTQ+ Victory Fund | Check out this list of winning LGBTQ+ candidates for various political offices from around the U.S. who were supported by the Victory Fund.

Lambda Legal's Help Desk | "a resource for the community we serve in providing general legal information and resources relating to discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, and HIV status."

Every State has a DD Council! | Did you know that it's federal law that every state must have a council whose job it is to hold their state accountable on behalf of developmentally disabled people?

Help the Palestinian People with a Click | "Your free click generates donations from our sponsors. Remember, you may click once a day, every day. Donations raised will go to UNRWA to assist the Palestinian refugees."

--

If you're an adult trans person in the U.S. South, join my Tumblr Community: The Trans South.

If you're a teen trans person in the U.S. South and you create a youth community for trans southerners, let me know and I'll link to it in The Trans South.

[sadalmostlesbian]

District 11: A Cultural Snapshot

I've been searching through District 11 content on Tumblr and wanted to create something myself that focused on the visual cultural exploration on District 11, which (in this post) heavily focuses on the possible cultural elements of D11, with reference towards ancestral African American cultural practices, music, and art. Sources and background information for all photos are linked below!

Honey's Mango Bob by fiber artist Carole Gary Staples; renowned fiber artist Rosie Lee Allen with the grandchildren in front of a quilt she created; sweetgrass basket stand of Gullah artist Mazie Brown; Woman of Gullah heritage weaving a traditional sweetgrass basket; Soul food Chef Roosevelt Brownlee; Fishing boats in Mount Pleasant, SC; Cornell Cox sells boiled peanuts in Hollywood, SC; Member of Mt. Calvary Missionary Baptist Church after being baptized in Skull Creek, Hilton Head Island, SC, Indoor Group Shot of Children, Mount Horeb Sunday School, Mississippi; Gone Fishing and Hoeing Corn by prolific Black folk artist Clementine Hunter; houses in the historic New Orleans Creole neighborhood Faubourg Marigny; paintings of Black women donning headdress scarves in ordinance with the 1786 Tignon law which stated that Black women had to wear a scarf or handkerchief over their hair as a visible sign of belonging to the slave class, whether they were enslaved or not (scarves have been a popular fashion statement in Black American culture ever since); Sweet Emma and Her Preservation Hall Jazz Band; Abbey Lincoln singing at an AJASS event, Harlem (technically this photo was not taken in the D11 region, it was taken much father north, but since Jazz originated in Congo Square in New Orleans, Louisiana, I decided to include it); rice fields in the American south alongside hands holding rice grains (both photos come from this BBC article, which details how rice shaped the American south, soul food traditions, and discussed the immense knowledge regarding rice cultivation in enslaved African populations in the southern US); photographs from the bayou close to New Orleans; celebrations of Black hair and beauty supply stores, a symbol of Black self-sufficiency and cultural ownership in the US.

[rhazberriquartz]

Transformers Fans who love the new movie I am begging you to read up about The Battle of Blair Mountain.

As someone from Applachia it's so similar to our history of the miner uprising that I felt so seen as someone from Appalachia.

Here's is an awesome article about it from NPR

It paved the way for unions, better work conditions, child labor laws and etc.

And given the state Appalachia is in currently I wanted to share some of our history. So much of it has been wiped out with the floods. I'm currently gathering links and will probably do a post for ways for folks to help.

TN, SC, NC, GA, FL, and even parts of VA, WV and OH are in crisis due to the hurricane.

[is-the-post-reliable]

3rd person jumping into the link conversation. You can find accessible linking guidelines at WCAG (web content accesibility guidelines)

Ironically, tumblr mobile isn't letting me hyperlink the above (WCAG) so I have to paste the raw link as it is

Oh wow it won't even let me do that, some kind of "not supported" message. Ok the article is called "Understanding SC 2.4.4: Link Purpose (In Context) (Level A)"

The start is a bit dense and aimed at web developers and such, and I find it helps to skip to the Examples section and read those to get a feel for it, then go back up to read the guidelines.

"Level A" in the title just means lowest level of accessibility (WCAG) with "AA" and "AAA" being accessible for more people (how WCAG defines it)

thanks for the suggestion! I've just taken a look at the article. From what I've gathered, the options that are better than just 'source' would be either to be more specfic, or to embed the source directly in the quote. I'm going to give two examples below, and then a poll to see which people prefer.

Option 1:

From BBC article 'US Congress avoids government shutdown in last-minute deal'': 'A bill ensuring funding until 17 November received overwhelming support, and was signed into law by President Joe Biden minutes before a deadline.

Option 2:

'A bill ensuring funding until 17 November received overwhelming support, and was signed into law by President Joe Biden minutes before a deadline.'

If anyone has any further suggestions or feedback on accessibility, feel free to comment below.

[juanabaloo]

Latest possible voting registration date!

(Link includes checking your registration status and actual registration.)

Note this includes registration for US territories who will not have the presidential election on their ballot.

Also the latest possible date to register could be the last date your mailed in registration can be received, so don't wait until that date to investigate.

And North Dakota is blank because they have no registration.

Places with less than one month to register, listed by date, then alphabetically:

(Northern Marianas Sept 6 - no presidential) (Puerto Rico Sept 21 - no presidential) (US Virgin Islands Oct 6 - no presidential)

AK - Alaska OCT 06

AZ - Arizona OCT 07 AR - Arkansas OCT 07 FL - Florida OCT 07 GA - Georgia OCT 07 IN - Indiana OCT 07 KY - Kentucky OCT 07 MS - Mississippi OCT 07 OH - Ohio OCT 07 SC - South Carolina OCT 07 TN - Tennessee OCT 07 TX - Texas OCT 07 (American Samoa Oct 7 - no presidential)

MO - Missouri OCT 09

OK - Oklahoma OCT 11

DE - Delaware OCT 12

link source: https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ml1E4/24/

original Sept 13 Washington Post article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/2024/09/13/check-voter-registration-deadline/

(edited bc I messed up the 2 letter codes for a few)

[pannaginip]

The Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 306 ordered SMNI hosts Lorraine Badoy and Jeffrey Celiz to pay [GMA 7 journalist Atom Araullo] P2.080 million in damages and lawyers’ fees to compensate for “the red-tagging and its effects on his personal life and on his career as a journalist,” Judge Dolly-Rose Bolante Prado said in her decision dated December 12, and released to media Friday, December 13.

The case is a game changer because it is the first known application of a Supreme Court (SC) decision publicized only last May that finally defined red-tagging as a threat to one’s constitutional right to life, liberty and security.

The QC court also explicitly said that red-tagging is “inherently malicious.” Malice is an element of criminal libel, but Article 33 of the Civil Code allows a separate and distinct civil action for defamation.

In determining whether red-tagging was malicious, the judge said that “an act that threatens fundamental rights inherently carries malice.”

“Even if the plaintiff is a public figure, there is no need for him to prove actual malice. The burden of proof falls on the defendants, who are the accusers, not on the plaintiff, the one being accused. The plaintiff, a victim of red-tagging, should not be burdened with the duty of proving malice,” said the court.

Badoy, a former communications undersecretary during the Duterte administration and ex-spokesperson for the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict, has a history of accusing individuals, including opposition figures, of links to the communist movement. She now co-hosts the SMNI show Laban Kasama Ng Bayan with Celiz.

2024 Dec. 13

[werbooz]

Optimizing Website Performance: Best Practices for Faster Load Times

In today's era, if your website's performance isn’t Ideal, then it could be one of the most frustrating things that your users could experience. This could become a huge problem if not taken care of — In order to avoid higher bounce rates and lower search engine engine ratings, One must definitely invest in optimizing their website’s performance. By optimizing your website, you can attract more customers to your website thus resulting in higher traffic and more conversion rates.

In this article, we will be exploring different aspects to optimize your website performance. We will be :

Understanding different performance metrics to measure the performance of your website

Discussing best practices & techniques for improving website load times.

Exploring advanced optimization techniques like browser caching, lazy loading and many more.

Exploring different tools that can help you monitor or enhance website performance.

Understanding Website Performance Metrics

1. Website Speed

When you think about "What must be an ideal speed for a website?", most of the time the thing you might only consider is how fast a page loads. But there’s much more to it than that meets the eye. In today's era, people have shorter attention spans than ever and it’s crucial to know how your site performs in different speed-related aspects:

Time to Title :

This is the time taken by a website when a visitor request's your website and the time it takes to load the site’s title on the browser tab. If the site's title appears quickly, then this gives the users a sense of trust and reassures visitors that this site is a legitimate and trustworthy website.

Time to Start Render:

After searching a website The worst experience you could provide to your user is when the website buffers a lot and you can not even see a single bit of content. This measures how long it takes for any content to appear on the screen after a user requests your site. Nobody likes to wait and if your website provides the users what they are searching for within a fraction of seconds then they are more likely to stay.

Time to Interact:

 This is the time from when a visitor first requests your site to when they can actually start interacting with it (like clicking on links or scrolling). The quicker they can engage, the more likely they are to stick around.

To start improving your site speed, focus on these three metrics. You can check them using free web page speed test tools.

Key Metrics For Website Speed

2. Number of Assets

“Assets” are the building blocks of your webpage, including text, images, videos, and more. Each of these elements adds to your page’s load time. The more assets you have, the slower your page might load. Tools are available to help you analyze the size of these assets, and if they’re dragging down your load speed, consider hosting them externally.

3. Error Rate

This metric measures the ratio of error produced by your site against normal requests received by your site. If you see a rise in errors, then that could indicate a potential problem that could bring your site down if not addressed. When you keep a check on your error rate, error prevention and correction is done before it escalates into any disruptive events.

4. Bounce Rate

The bounce rate represents the percentage of individuals that visit your website and leave after a very short time span, more precisely – in the first session. A very high bounce rate could be a threat, not only for your conversion rates but also to your SEO as it portrays your site is not offering what the visitors are looking for. The percentage of the visitors that exit after viewing the first page of the site, is known as the bounce rate and this can be discovered with the help of Google Analytics, the steps are quite simple – Open google analytics, under Behavior > Site Content > Landing Pages – Here you can see the entire report of your website. Now, you just have to scroll down inorder to see the bounce rates of individual pages. 

How To Check Bounce Rate

5. Unique Visitors

Unique visitors denote the daily, weekly or monthly total number of unique people that access the website from different browsers. This metric is the key to measure the growth of our website. While, there is no doubt that repeated visitors are of major importance too, but an increasing amount of unique visitors indicates that you’re bringing in fresh audiences to your website.

6. Traffic Source

Traffic Sources indicate the medium through which users have come to your website. In this context, the amount of traffic to a website and its origin is important, and knowing where the visitors are coming from is as critical as knowing how much traffic one gets. This also makes it possible to determine whether your visitors are coming from organic searches, via social media, or referrals. Ideally, your traffic should come from different sources – If the traffic is weighted heavily towards any one of the sources, then some form of content strategy revision might be called for to focus on the sources which are bringing maximum traffic to the website. 

Fun fact : You can monitor all this in Google Analytics under Acquisition > All Traffic > Channels.

7. Conversion rate

This is also termed as a conversion rate which is defined as how well the site’s visitors are converted into customers or leads generated. In the case of getting huge traffic and low conversion rates, this probably indicates that the conversion strategies of the site could have better yield than they presently achieve. For Google Analytics then, this data can be accessed under Conversions > Overview.

8. Top Pages

Page performance is also important so the pages that are performing better must be taken extra care. These could be pages that have either the highest percentage of conversions, or the highest/latest volume of visitors. Knowing which pages are doing well and why? helps you to make those existing pages of your site to do well based on the research you have of the existing high performing pages. Top pages can be monitored in Google Analytics through Landing Pages and Exit Pages under Behavior > Site Content.

Landing Pages:

These are the pages that users first enter on your website. These pages are frequently labeled as ‘First Impression Pages’ and as such they cannot be taken for granted even for an instance and must be in great shape.

Exit Pages:

These pages are the last pages which a visitor views immediately before leaving the website. As these pages are detrimental to the retention time of visitors, it’s necessary to acknowledge them and improve.

9. Keyword Ranking

Keyword ranking indicates the effectiveness of a particular website for a particular query to the search engines. While a drop in ranking can be scary, as long as the keywords are routinely monitored and updated, you can rest assured that your efforts to improve SEO are not in vain. Also, there are various tools used for monitoring keyword rankings.

Improve Keyword Ranking Fast

10. Average Session Duration

This refers to the average time spent by the visitors on your website during a single session. Longer sessions suggest greater willingness of users to buy your product or use your service. While analyzing this metric, businesses must understand the type of their website – For instance, the duration of a news website might have a shorter average session compared to an e-commerce website, because the readers might quickly go through the articles and move on

Explore the Insights

[baesharmi-ki-height]

ok for some reason i'm not able to send the judgement link here but search bar and bench and click on the first article that shows up

the title is same sex marriage what did the minority judgement of the sc hold

the judgement is at the end of the article btw

Tysm!!

[thecreativityindia]

IPPB Recruitment 2023 − 132 Executive Posts; Apply Onlline

✅ IPPB Recruitment 2023: 

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) has released an official notification on its official website for the positions of Executive. According to the IPPB Recruitment 2023 Notification a total of 132 vacancies are available. This article gives all the important information about the recruitment process, how you can apply, the age limit, age relaxation, applicaion fee & qualifications needed. If you want to apply for these jobs, it is highly recommended to read this article….. Read More.

✅ IPPB Vacancy 2023 Details

Organization Name: India Post Payments Bank

Name of Post: Executive

Total No of Posts: 132 Posts

✅ IPPB Recruitment 2023 Eligibility Criteria

Educational Qualification: As per the official IPPB notification, candidates are required to possess a Graduation degree from a recognized board or university as their educational qualification.

Age Limit: According to the India Post Payments Bank Recruitment Notification, candidates must meet the following age criteria:

The minimum age should be 21 years.

The maximum age should not exceed 35 years as of 01-Jun-2023.

Age Relaxation: The Age Relaxation for different categories of candidates is as follows:

OBC (NCL) Candidates: 03 Years

SC/ST Candidates: 05 Years

PWD (UR) Candidates: 10 Years

PWD [OBC (NCL)] Candidates: 13 Years

PWD (SC/ST) Candidates: 15 Years

✅ IPPB Executive Recruitment Selection Process & Other Essential Details

IPPB Vacancy 2023: Salary Details

The IPPB Recruitment 2023 offers a well-paying salary to selected candidates. The organization will provide a monthly salary of Rs. 30,000

India Post Payments Bank (IPPB) Executive Recruitment 2023: Probation Period

For the IPPB Executive Recruitment 2023, the probation period will initially be for 1 year. Afterward, the contract may be extended to 2 years. If the selected candidate demonstrates satisfactory performance, the contract period may be further extended. The maximum duration for this post could be up to 3 years.

IPPB Recruitment 2023: Selection Process

IPPB Recruitment 2023 for the executive post has a three-stage selection process:

First: The first stage is an online test.

Second: The second stage involves a group discussion.

Third: The final stage is a personal interview.

IPPB will shortlist candidates based on their performance in these stages, as well as their qualifications and experience. A list of shortlisted candidates will be created by IPPB after evaluating all the stages of the selection process.

- If you want to apply for these jobs, it is highly recommended to read our full article.

➤ Apply Link: Click Here

[netoday]

TPSC Recruitment 2025 Sub Inspector Excise 39 Vacancy Apply Online

TPSC Recruitment 2025: Tripura Public Service Commission has released official notification for the post of 39 Sub Inspector Excise Group C Non Gazetted. Interested and eligible candidates may apply online the candidates who are willing to apply should know.

TPSC Recruitment Overview

Post NameSub Inspector Excise- Group CTotal Posts39 VacancyOrganizationTripura Public Service Commission – TPSCDepartment Finance DepartmentSalaryRs. 24,000/- Per MonthQualificationGraduatedApplication Date21st March - 14th April 2025

TPSC Recruitment Details

Name of Exam: Sub Inspector Group-C Non-Gazetted Examination 2025 Name of Posts: Sub Inspector Of Excise No of Posts: 39 Vacancy Educational Qualification: Graduate Degree from any recognized University. Bachelor’s Degree in science from a recognized University. However B.E/B.Tech Degree Holders are also to be considered in the time aforesaid Recruitment stage. Desirable Qualification: - Knowledge in Bengali or Kokborok. For assessment of desirable knowledge Age Limit: 18 to 40 years as on 14-04-2025. Upper Age limit is relaxable by 5 years in case of ST/SC/ PwDs(PH) / Government Employee candidates. Provided that Govt. Employees belonging to ST/SC/ PH category shall not get this relaxation over and above the general relaxation of 5 (five) years available to them. Pay Scale: Pay Scale of Level-10 of Rs. 5,700/- to Rs.24,000/- Per Month. Grade Pay Rs. 4,200/- Exam Centres in Tripura: Agartala

Application Fee for TPSC Recruitment

Candidates have to pay the application fee to complete their online application process, the fee may vary according to the category of the candidates. The complete details regarding the fee are given below. CategoryApplication FeeGeneralRs. 200/-Scheduled TribesRs. 150/-Scheduled Castes/BPL Card HolderRs. 150/- Payment Method: Candidates can pay their application fee through an online payment gateway. Candidates should have any one of the following options to make the online payment: debit card, credit card, net banking, or UPI.

TPSC Recruitment Selection Process

The recruitment process will comprise of two successive stages, viz. - Written Examination – 130 Marks - Personal Interview or Personality Test – 20 Marks

Important Dates of TPSC Recruitment

Notification1 March 2025Start Application Date21st March 2025Last Date Application14th April 2025

How To Apply For TPSC Recruitment

Candidates can also follow the following steps to complete their online application process. - Scroll down and check the Important Link section. - Click on the Online Application Link. - Now, an official web portal will load in the new tab of your browser. - In that portal, you will get the option to register yourself. - After registration, you have to provide all your required details. - After that, you have to upload your documents. - Now, you have to pay the application fee. - After successful payment, your application will be submitted. - Also, you will receive an acknowledgement copy of your submission. - Keep that acknowledgement copy for future use.

Important links of TPSC Recruitment

Apply OnlineClick HereDownload NotificationClick HereMore UpdatesClick Here Read the full article

[news365timesindia]

[ad_1] East Bengal Forward Raphael Eric Messi Bouli (Image: East Bengal) East Bengal secured their first hattrick of wins in the ISL, defeating Hyderabad FC 2-0 in a thrilling encounter at the Yuba Bharati Krirangan. An own goal from Manoj Mohammad and a brilliant solo effort from Raphael Messi Bouli in stoppage time sealed the victory after an intense end-to-end battle. Coming off back-to-back wins against Punjab FC and Mohammedan SC, East Bengal couldn’t replicate their dominant performances from the last two matches. However, their persistence paid off, as two late goals kept their slim playoff hopes alive and provided a confidence boost ahead of their AFC Challenge League quarter-final clash against Arkadag of Turkmenistan next week. Both teams showed attacking intent from the start. East Bengal focused on creating chances from the flanks, while Hyderabad FC attempted to break through the middle. However, neither side could capitalise inside the box. Just before half–time, Edmilson Correia came close to giving Hyderabad the lead with a thunderous free-kick that rattled the inside of the post. This near-miss meant the teams headed into the break goalless. East Bengal started the second half with greater urgency. Eight minutes after the restart, Bouli struck the left post with a powerful shot from the right side. Seeking more attacking options, coach Oscar Bruzon introduced Richard Celis on the left wing in place of Nishu Kumar, while Provat Lakra replaced Hector Yuste in defence. In the 57th minute, Mahesh Naorem created a golden opportunity after dribbling past his marker at the edge of the box, but his shot sailed off the target. East Bengal missed another golden chance in the 72nd minute when Dimitrios Diamantakos found himself in front of an open net. A deflected corner from Mahesh landed perfectly for the Greek striker, but he misjudged the flight and failed to convert. Bruzon then brought on David Lalhlansanga in place of Diamantakos, and the substitution injected fresh energy into East Bengal’s attack. Their relentless pressure paid off in the 85th minute when David flicked a Richard Celis corner, forcing a deflection off Hyderabad’s Manoj and into the net. Ironically, Manoj had denied East Bengal a win with a last-minute equaliser in their previous meeting. But this time, his own goal handed East Bengal the advantage. In the third minute of stoppage time, Bouli put the game to bed with a stunning solo effort. A long clearance from Saul Crespo found Bouli in midfield, and the Cameroonian forward used his physical strength to outmuscle his marker before drilling the ball into the bottom left corner. East Bengal now prepare to face Bengaluru FC on March 2 before taking on Turkmenistan’s Arkadag in the home leg of the AFC Challenge League. With three consecutive wins under their belt, the Red and Gold brigade have gained significant momentum at a crucial stage of the season. The post East Bengal Clinch First ISL Hat-trick of ISL Wins appeared first on Sports News Portal | Latest Sports Articles | Revsports. [ad_2] Source link