#the final report is still online and in english

[evidence-based-activism]

Is it true more trans teens attempted suicide after ‘anti trans’ laws passed?

Hello! I am guessing this is in reference to this recent study [1], which made this exact claim. In short, this study has substantial issues that weaken its conclusion severely. These flaws, paired with stronger contradictory evidence, suggests that no, these laws are not connected to increased suicide among transgender teens.

First, the contradicting evidence:

While not in reference to these specific laws, other studies have attempted to determine if there is an increase in suicide following laws aimed at restricting transgender healthcare.

This independent report for the UK NHS [2] found "the data do not support the claim that there has been a large rise in suicide in young gender dysphoria patients" and "the claims that have been placed in the public domain do not meet basic standards for statistical evidence". (They – correctly – also criticize the way "this issue has been discussed on social media", which we will get into later.)

The Cass review [2] was an extensive literature review that found evidence did not support the belief that "hormone treatment reduces the elevated risk of death by suicide in [the transgender youth] population".

This Finnish study on adolescents and young adults [4] took a slightly different approach, attempting to determine if access to "gender reassignment" reduced suicide rates. First, they found "clinical gender dysphoria does not appear to be predictive of all-cause nor suicide mortality when psychiatric treatment history is accounted for." They also found "medical gender reassignment does not have an impact on suicide risk".

This similar Swedish study on adults [5] found that "sex reassignment, although alleviating gender dysphoria, may not suffice as treatment for transsexualism" as higher "mortality, suicidal behaviour, and psychiatric morbidity" persists after "sex reassignment".

This Dutch study on adults [6] also found that "the suicide risk in transgender people ... seems to occur during every stage of transitioning".

Importantly, these studies are all reasonably strong and well-designed. The centralized nature of these country's health data allowed for large-scale, representative studies to be performed. The English study [2] reviewed data directly from the NHS, the Cass review [3] was an extensive and through literature review (common myths about the report are debunked here [7]), and the final three studies [4-6] were all long-term (multiple decade), nation-wide cohort studies.

This evidence provides a strong indication that medical gender transition treatment do not reduce suicide risk in transgender populations.

---

So, what are the issues with the US study?

First, this study [1] was not representative. The participants were recruited from "non-probability cross-sectional online survey" via "targeted advertisements on social media" between "2018 and 2022".

Already there are substantial issues:

This study is explicitly noted to be non-representative, drawing conclusions about transgender youth based solely on this study is irresponsible.

The participants were recruited via social media, which past research [8] has shown to be correlated with suicide attempts. Notably, the causality of this relationship is irrelevant in this case, because it is still evidence of a significant confounding variable. (Confounding variables are the primary reason why you cannot determine causality from correlational relationships like the one presented in [1].)

This study overlaps with the COVID-19 pandemic. They claim to have "considered the potential impact of the ... pandemic" and found "minimal evidence" of any impact. This conclusion contradicts substantial amounts of past research including a systematic review and meta-analysis of youth suicide during the pandemic [9], a systematic review and meta-analysis of youth depression and anxiety [10], and an analysis of national suicide data for US youth [11].

Their analysis of the impact of the pandemic used "population-adjusted ... death counts by year as a proxy for the overall impact ... in a given state for a given time period". It's likely this was on of the only data sources they had to evaluate the impact of the pandemic, but that doesn't change the fact that this proxy neglects to consider the isolation, financial stress, and social media use among youth and their families that likely drove their decline in mental health. (See studies [12-15] for some introductory evidence of this.)

Other issues:

They considered only self-report of suicide attempts and serious suicidal thoughts, not actual measurements of suicides or suicide attempts. This adds an additional possibility of response bias. (Notably, this was not a concern for the studies I discussed above, which show no relationship between similar laws and suicide, as they evaluate actual medical report data.)

They found a statistically significant effect for suicide attempts but not for "seriously considering suicide". This is a strange finding, as, if we assume the results are accurate, it suggests that suicide attempts increased following the laws without any corresponding increase in suicidal thoughts. (This will be relevant later, so keep it in mind.)

The don't appear to report an actual incidence rate, which is a significant oversight considering the topic.

The substantial reduction in effect size when considering the total number of reported suicide attempts versus the number of people who reported at least one suicide attempt suggests that the attempts are clustered within a small group of participants.

They found no evidence of the introduction or enactment of additional "anti-transgender laws" had any impact of transgender youth suicide. Again, this is inconsistent with their overall conclusions; if it is the legal restrictions that cause an increase in suicide attempts then you would expect an increase in restrictions to also increase attempts. (Although not necessarily in a linear fashion.)

All in all, this study makes claims that are much stronger than the evidence they provide to support them. Other, stronger studies, contradict the assertion that these sorts of laws increase suicide among transgender youth. (Which is, I should stress, a good thing for the transgender community.)

(And I should also note here that my personal opinion on the morality of these laws is specific to each law/law category. I'm purely presenting the empirical research concerning the relationship between these laws and suicide in this post.)

---

The major confounding factor: social contagion of suicide.

It is, at this point, all but settled evidence that "suicidal behavior is 'contagious' in that it can be transmitted, directly or indirectly, from one person to another" [16]. This is extraordinarily important because it impacts the way we (i.e., society) should talk about and depict suicide. For an unrelated example, this review [17] concludes "portrayals of suicide in entertainment media may increase suicides and attempted suicide in the population". A specific example of this was the increase in suicide rates and admissions among youth, following the release of the "13 Reasons Why" television show [18-19].

And this is well-known by LGBT organizations. In 2017, the Movement Advancement Project (a pro-LGBT think tank), the Johnson Family Foundation (a pro-LGBT organization), and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention co-authored the second edition of the report "Talking About Suicide & LGBT Populations" [20], which was also endorsed by GLSEN, GLAAD, The Trevor Project, the Transgender Law Center, and the Human Rights Campaign (among others).

Recommendations in this report include [emphasis mine]:

DO encourage discussion about suicide prevention strategies.

DO emphasize the vital importance of resilience

DON’T attribute a suicide death to a single factor (such as bullying or discrimination) or say that a specific anti-LGBT law or policy will “cause” suicide.

DON’T risk spreading false information by repeating unsubstantiated rumors or speculation about suicide deaths or why they occurred.

DON’T talk about suicide “epidemics” or suicide rates for LGBT people. (Remember that sexual orientation and gender identity are not recorded at the time of death, so we do not have data on suicide rates or deaths among LGBT people. In addition, presenting suicide as a trend or a widespread occurrence (for example, tallying suicide deaths that occur in proximity to an external event) can encourage vulnerable individuals to see themselves as part of a larger story, which may elevate their suicide risk.)

DON’T use social media or e-blasts to announce news of suicide deaths, speculate about reasons fora suicide death, focus on personal details about the person who died, or describe the means of death.

DON’T idealize those who have died by suicide or create an aura of celebrity around them.

(They also note that suicide rates cannot be determined by looking at suicide attempts, which is relevant to the above study.)

Please take a moment to consider the extent to which public officials, organizations, and figures are completely disregarding these recommendations in reference to the transgender community. Beyond the anecdotal evidence people involved with or aware of the community are exposed to, this English study [21], this Indian study [22], and this American study [23] all find "poor adherence to responsible reporting guidelines" for the transgender (or "LGBTQ+") community.

Further, as I indicated earlier, the English study [2] directly addresses this sort of irresponsible rhetoric. Failure to comply with responsible reporting guidelines is causing direct harm to the transgender community.

And how does this apply to the first study [1]? It adds in an additional confounding factor: the rhetoric surrounding these laws and their impact on suicide in the transgender community. It suggests that at least some of the observed suicide attempts were precipitated by the social contagion of suicide.

This theory would also explain some of the inconsistencies in the study. That is, it is possible that there was already a subsection of suicidal transgender youth, who, once exposed to increasingly this irresponsible social-contagion-inducing rhetoric, reported (more frequent) suicide attempts. This would account for:

The lack of increase in suicidal thoughts (i.e., those effected were already suicidal).

Why the effect size for the "at least one attempt" is so much lower than the "total attempts" effect size (i.e., the reported increase is concentrated within a small group of people)

Why there is no dose-response relationship between the number of laws and suicide attempts (i.e., it is not the laws so much as the rhetoric surrounding them that is having such a negative impact)

---

Conclusion

Ultimately, there is strong evidence from other countries indicating that similar "anti-trans" laws are not associated with suicide rates. The new American study suggesting otherwise is remarkably weak, and may actually be providing evidence for the social contagion theory of suicide.

Most importantly, the current rhetoric surrounding suicide in the trans community is incredibly dangerous and does a great disservice to all transgender people.

(And again, my personal opinion on the morality of these laws is specific to each law/law category. I'm purely presenting the empirical research concerning the relationship between these laws and suicide in this post.)

I hope this helps, Anon!

References under the cut:

Lee, W. Y., Hobbs, J. N., Hobaica, S., DeChants, J. P., Price, M. N., & Nath, R. (2024). State-level anti-transgender laws increase past-year suicide attempts among transgender and non-binary young people in the USA. Nature Human Behaviour, 1-11.

Appleby, Louis. “Review of Suicides and Gender Dysphoria at the Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust: Independent Report.” Department of Health & Social Care, 19 July 2024, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/review-of-suicides-and-gender-dysphoria-at-the-tavistock-and-portman-nhs-foundation-trust/review-of-suicides-and-gender-dysphoria-at-the-tavistock-and-portman-nhs-foundation-trust-independent-report.

Cass, H. (2024). Independent review of gender identity services for children and young people.

Ruuska, S. M., Tuisku, K., Holttinen, T., & Kaltiala, R. (2024). All-cause and suicide mortalities among adolescents and young adults who contacted specialised gender identity services in Finland in 1996–2019: a register study. BMJ Ment Health, 27(1).

Dhejne, C., Lichtenstein, P., Boman, M., Johansson, A. L., Långström, N., & Landén, M. (2011). Long-term follow-up of transsexual persons undergoing sex reassignment surgery: cohort study in Sweden. PloS one, 6(2), e16885.

Wiepjes, C. M., den Heijer, M., Bremmer, M. A., Nota, N. M., de Blok, C. J., Coumou, B. J., & Steensma, T. D. (2020). Trends in suicide death risk in transgender people: results from the Amsterdam Cohort of Gender Dysphoria study (1972–2017). Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 141(6), 486-491.

Final report – FAQs. (n.d.). The Cass Review. https://cass.independent-review.uk/home/publications/final-report/final-report-faqs/

Sedgwick, R., Epstein, S., Dutta, R., & Ougrin, D. (2019). Social media, internet use and suicide attempts in adolescents. Current opinion in psychiatry, 32(6), 534-541.

Madigan, S., Korczak, D. J., Vaillancourt, T., Racine, N., Hopkins, W. G., Pador, P., ... & Neville, R. D. (2023). Comparison of paediatric emergency department visits for attempted suicide, self-harm, and suicidal ideation before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry, 10(5), 342-351.

Madigan, S., Racine, N., Vaillancourt, T., Korczak, D. J., Hewitt, J. M., Pador, P., ... & Neville, R. D. (2023). Changes in depression and anxiety among children and adolescents from before to during the COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA pediatrics.

Bridge, J. A., Ruch, D. A., Sheftall, A. H., Hahm, H. C., O’Keefe, V. M., Fontanella, C. A., ... & Horowitz, L. M. (2023). Youth suicide during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pediatrics, 151(3).

Felfe, C., Saurer, J., Schneider, P., Vornberger, J., Erhart, M., Kaman, A., & Ravens-Sieberer, U. (2023). The youth mental health crisis: Quasi-experimental evidence on the role of school closures. Science Advances, 9(33), eadh4030.

Jones SE, Ethier KA, Hertz M, et al. Mental Health, Suicidality, and Connectedness Among High School Students During the COVID-19 Pandemic — Adolescent Behaviors and Experiences Survey, United States, January–June 2021. MMWR Suppl 2022;71(Suppl-3):16–21. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.su7103a3.

Kalenkoski, C. M., & Pabilonia, S. W. (2024). Teen social interactions and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. Review of Economics of the Household, 1-48.

Adegboye, D., Williams, F., Collishaw, S., Shelton, K., Langley, K., Hobson, C., ... & van Goozen, S. (2021). Understanding why the COVID‐19 pandemic‐related lockdown increases mental health difficulties in vulnerable young children. JCPP advances, 1(1), e12005.

Forum on Global Violence Prevention; Board on Global Health; Institute of Medicine; National Research Council. Contagion of Violence: Workshop Summary. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2013 Feb 6. II.4, THE CONTAGION OF SUICIDAL BEHAVIOR. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK207262/

Niederkrotenthaler, T., Kirchner, S., Till, B., Sinyor, M., Tran, U. S., Pirkis, J., & Spittal, M. J. (2021). Systematic review and meta-analyses of suicidal outcomes following fictional portrayals of suicide and suicide attempt in entertainment media. EClinicalMedicine, 36.

Cooper Jr, M. T., Bard, D., Wallace, R., Gillaspy, S., & Deleon, S. (2018). Suicide attempt admissions from a single children's hospital before and after the introduction of Netflix series 13 Reasons Why. Journal of Adolescent Health, 63(6), 688-693.

Bridge, J. A., Greenhouse, J. B., Ruch, D., Stevens, J., Ackerman, J., Sheftall, A. H., ... & Campo, J. V. (2020). Association between the release of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and suicide rates in the United States: An interrupted time series analysis. Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 59(2), 236-243.

Movement Advancement Project, Johnson Family Foundation, and American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. August 2017. "Talking About Suicide & LGBT Populations." 2nd edition. MAP's Talking About LGBT Issues Series. https://www.lgbtmap.org/talking-about-suicide-and-lgbt-populations

Bolzern, J. E., Mnyama, N. L., & McMillan, D. (2019). Responsible journalism, imitative suicide, and transgender populations: A systematic review of UK newspapers. Journal of gay & lesbian mental health, 23(3), 276-288.

Kar, S. K., Menon, V., Mukherjee, S., Bascarane, S., Sharma, G., Pattnaik, J. I., ... & Agarwal, V. (2023). Suicide reporting of LGBTQI+ population in India: An analysis of online media reports of the past decade. Journal of Public Health, 45(1), e95-e103.

Kirchner, S., Till, B., Laido, Z., & Niederkrotenthaler, T. (2024). Suicide-related media reporting with a focus on sexual and gender minority identities: A content analysis of the quality of reporting. Crisis: The Journal of Crisis Intervention and Suicide Prevention, 45(5), 339–347. https://doi.org/10.1027/0227-5910/a000956

[ragana62]

This is a reminder: (edited to add links to resources)

Votes are still being counted. Check your ballot, make sure yours was. Call your local election authorities/follow appropriate means as indicated in your vote tracking to cure your ballot if need be. The website you’re looking for here is vote.org, where state specific resources are listed out and linked. If you need better internet access to do this, public libraries are your best friend.

Democratic votes are disproportionately represented in early/mail in ballots. Those are typically counted last.

Democratic votes are disproportionately represented in major cities. Higher population density means it takes longer to reach, submit, and verify final vote counts. These also report later than other areas.

Unreported vote margins in several key states including Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and many others are high enough that it can still flip the state.

He did this in 2020 too. He called the vote for himself before all votes were in, then threw a fit when people wouldn’t “stop the count”. The reasons above are why they want to stop the count prematurely.

Things look bad right now. I’m fucking stressed. We’re all fucking stressed. I’m fucking angry. A lot of people are justifiably fucking angry.

I’m not going to say “oh, we survived last Trump presidency” because a lot of people didn’t. I’m not going to say “oh, if we flip those states and the final counts put Harris in, everything will be fine” because that still means WAY TOO MANY people were ok voting for a convicted traitor, rapist, and bigot and last time he tried to overthrow the government because he was mad he couldn’t have it.

We probably won’t know anything for sure until Thursday. Plan for the worst, hope for the best, don’t burn yourself out before the fight begins.

Renew your passport or get one (not just as a ‘I’m leaving if my person doesn’t win’, as a ‘they have pitched voting reforms that will for all intents and purposes require one to vote and it’s a good thing to have if you can’). You can now renew your passport online if you meet certain requirements. Travel.state.gov is your friend for that.

If you have a uterus, now is a great time to get in with a gyno to talk about long term birth control options like IUDs/Implants or even surgical sterilization if you aren’t interested in having more kids than you already have. This is the list affectionately dubbed the TikTok Tubal List, in case you do not have a reliable provider or the one you have will not perform the procedures you need (and odds are, if a doc is willing to surgically sterilize you, they will prescribe you birth control if you’d prefer). The Brigid Alliance is great for helping support people who need to travel out of state for abortions. This is the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

Check the phone numbers of organizations focused on immigration law and refugee/immigrant resources like orgs that help process asylum requests, refugee/immigrant settlement orgs, and obviously legal aid, not just for yourself, but because you never know who might need it, and make sure you know them, not just save them in your phone. This will vary state to state as well as the specific variety of aid needed and the person needing it. There are religious based groups (shout out to LIRS/Global Refuge for helping my family flea WWII and its aftermath.) You can find ones for other denominations and religions by googling “*religious group* Refugee Aid”. You can use the same process for nationality specific ones as well. Community specific ones might be your best chance at finding someone who speaks your language if you aren’t a native English speaker, at finding community support as well. General practice, IMMLAW is well regarded for a reason.

Do the same for those focused on queer advocacy and support. Get specific. Knowing your local chapter of the ACLU is good, knowing trans specific resources, youth specific resources, intersectional resources for queer folx of color and disabled queer folx, knowing how to reach your local community outreach groups, etc. is better. Most of these resources are local specific. Check in with your local community organizers (if you don’t know who that is, find a local queer centric space and ask people), to find out where people need help most and what organizations and resources they trust locally. Trevor Project is also a good nationwide resource for personal support and information if you need that now, but note that they are usually very busy after elections.

Do the same for women’s health and safety groups (using this term because it is what usually gets used by the groups/resources themselves, but these resources are also good for anyone in possession of a uterus). Abortion access groups that are dedicated to helping people who cannot financially leave a state trying to stop them, domestic violence shelters, resources for accessing birth control. Even better, get to know your neighbors and community, and help each other. Plan B has a shelf life, as does Plan C, as do condoms and spermicide. Stock what you can, share what you can, help each other out. (Links are above for TikTok Tubal List, Brigid Aliance, and National Domestic Violence Hotline) AidAccess will mail abortion pills to every state, both for emergency use (within 1-5 days) and to have on hand (there is a separate form and it may take longer to fulfill).

Talk to your neighbors where it is safe to do so. Make plans for what happens if the worst happens. Who needs to leave, who can’t leave, who has what support needs, who has what resources, etc. The only way through this is together.

Hope for the best, prepare for the worst, and know that nothing is official until the last county reports and confirms the last ballot. That could be Thursday, that could be this weekend, but until it happens, we aren’t completely fucked just yet.

I know I’ve been freaking the fuck out about this, despite normally being a mostly fandom blog. It’s worth freaking out about. But freak out in a way that does not do more harm than good if at all possible. Feel your feelings, but channel them towards protecting yourself, protecting others, and most importantly, not burning yourself out. There’s a lot of fear-mongering out there. There’s a lot to be afraid about. It isn’t official yet.

Plan like it is, hope like it isn’t.

[kyunghwannie]

ATTENTION MY FELLOW THIRSTY ONCE GREMLINS:

This is your friendly neighborhood writer Kyunghwannie reporting in with breaking news…

Final Exams are from April 10 – May 13.

Translation: I will be cooked, boiled, grilled, and served like BBQ chicken at a TWICE summer fanmeeting.

So uploads will be slower than Mina making eye contact in my dreams (and wrecking my whole existence).

But still have my Masterlist for the meantime.

Basically i'll be taking rest, water and holy water while writing fire exams

My exams update:

Exams (12), Given 8, Left-4

1st Exam (10/04)- MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) cooked me a lot. The CQ (Creative Questions) went well. (Languagel

2nd Exam (15/04)- I COOKED🗣️ (English)

3rd Exam (17/04)- I WROTE FIRE❤️‍🔥(English-2nd)

4th Exam (21/04)- Iam so cooked. TOO COOKED. This exam made me cry (Maths)

5th Exam (22/04)- I ROCKED THE EXAM ✨👀 (Culture)

6th Exam (23/04)- EASIEST EXAM EVER. I COOKED WITH SEASONING🫦 (Information and Tech)

7th exam (27/04)- IT WAS MID 🤧 (Physics)

8th exam (29/04)- I MICROWAVES IT SOO HARD😈 (Chemistry)

9th Exam (4/05)- Not yet (Higher Mathematics)

10th Exam (6/05)- Not yet (Global Studies)

11th Exam (8/05)- Not yet (Biology)

12th Exam (13/05)- Not yet (Language-2nd)

Anyways...

So even I descend into nerd purgatory, I may give y’all works if i can manage it. Not fully available or will upload in a basis but surely be online.

Your cooked but still (barely) standing writer — Kyunghwannie

Please Pray for me and wish me all the luck to cook the exam instead of exam cooking me. I have a lot to live only to delulu and fanboy my ass on Tdoong. *Sniff*

[stormoflina]

https://rtl.hu/reggeli/2024/02/09/szoboszlai-dominik-tetovalas-torocsik-dani

Thank you so much.

So I finished it earlier than I thought, here it is!

TLDR: Dominik's tattoo artist talking about meeting Dominik, their friendship and most especially, his brand new chest tattoo and the ideas behind it to two hosts of a Hungarian morning show.

Long intro from the journalists, the only important info is that they mention how due to the request of Dominik’s family they can only ask about certain topics, because it’s a rather intimate matter. Then the male journalist asks about how the artist got there, was it difficult bringing his own stuff to Dominik’s house. 

Tattoo Artist: “ It would have been difficult to gather everything that is needed for making a tattoo and bringing them all with me [to Dominik’s house], so we basically made a ‘studio’ at Dominik’s and that’s how it was done. We ordered what was needed online to his house, and when he had free time on certain days, we worked on the tattoo on his chest.”

Female Journalist: “We know that you can’t say much and neither do we want you to speak in Dominik’s name, so please only tell us what you are allowed to…”

TA: “Just ask me!”

FJ: “Yeah, okay (...) So, what was Dominik’s wish, what did he want?”

TA: “Well, I guess this is a question that can be labeled as private, but perhaps Dominik won’t get mad at me if I tell you guys broadly. What he had in mind is to have a tattoo that can represent and show his journey, his very difficult, but so far successful journey he has been on from the moment he was born, from the moment he started playing football. And also his mentality, what was needed for his journey, that’s what he wanted to have on his skin, inked on, in the form of pictures. Basically, it’s a tool to tell a story, his story. Reading from left to right, starting from the moment he was born to, well, who knows, nobody knows until when, that’s what the stars and planets are meant to symbolize.”

MJ: “It looks very cool, and of course, it looks beautiful on Dominik. (...) How much did it take to complete it, how many hours are needed to make a tattoo [like this one]?”

TA: “Finally, a good question! Good that you asked in hours, because it's easier to answer. We only had certain parts of a day, and he wasn’t always available. so we had to work with that. All in all, it took like 3 days… We had once a 10 hour long session, and I think two 6(ish) hours long ones. All in all, it was like 26 hours.”

FJ: “We know that this story went viral (...) that you have been contacted by many journalists (...), so we are thankful that this is your first interview, and that you chose us. Still, it’s a huge deal that you had the chance to work together with such a big star like Dominik, we know how famous he got (...). Did you know each other from before, or was this your first time meeting him?”

TA: “ Yeah, we do. I will confess, I didn’t think that this would blow up the way it did. I mean, like, I have a good relationship with Dominik, so in my head he is (...) I mean, obviously, I respect him and admire him for what he has achieved, but still, we have a private relationship. So, I didn’t even consider that if I post his tattoo, even the English media will find out about it and report about it, because that’s what happened… Yeah, I have known him ever since he signed for Leipzig. At first, he contacted me, because he wanted a correction for one of his tattoos. I met him for the first time when he was still playing for RB Leipzig.

MJ: “You mentioned how many hours it took to get it done (...), during those hours do you ask him about stuff, trying to have a conversation, or rather sit in silence, listen to music (...) how does it work? Have you found out any behind the scenes secrets?”

TA: “ No. No, because for him, you know, it’s about relaxation. I mean, even if he doesn’t want it, we were together for 3 days constantly. Even if you are forced to be with your best friend in the world that amount of time, being as close to each other as like 5-10 centimeters, face-to-face, it can get a lot. We had a friendly conversation, I’m not trying to ask him for information (...), of course we talked about stuff, a lot of stuff, I will not say we didn’t, but I didn’t spend my 3 days with him trying to get information out from him.” 

The rest of the video was about his personal and work life, where he is currently, career, etc, nothing else about Dominik. 

[nightmaricwriter]

Are you still doing the creative writing major? What goes into it exactly, can you talk about what you do in the classes?

Oh my am I still doing my Major that I picked for four years? Of course!

I go to a university that has a Creative Writing Major. Which of the classes required for it, that I've taken, involve an Intro to Creative Writing class. I just got done with my freshman year so I don't know much about the classes I'll take in the future, but I can describe what I did this year.

Creative Writing is in the English realm of majors, so there are more required English credits. There are two required classes that I need to have, one of which I've had, along with three classes regarding techniques for specific areas of Creative Writing, Two advanced classes within the two specific areas I go for, and three English classes. I've had only one of these.

In Intro to Creative Writing, my professor had the first part of the semester be about poetry. We did readings each day we had classes, exercises related to the readings that usually asked for poems, and we had two poems which we turned in to be work shopped in class. The second part of the semester was for short stories, and we had readings and exercises for this, but the exercises didn't require full on short stories. For the short story unit, we only had to turn in one short story to be work shopped. The final for this class that my professor assigned was to: Revise both poems and the short story Put both the original and the revised versions in one document Write a one thousand word cover letter about the revision process, with specific details, and how I would use what I learned in this class in the future.

But since this was my first year, I can't say much more. I had other English classes (Not advanced enough to count toward my English credits) and general classes since my university likes having more well-rounded students. Next year, I'll be taking one of my needed techniques class and one of the required English classes (YA Lit) first semester, so I might report on what those were like if you are interested.

In short, a whole lot of reading and writing in a creative manner- Sadly my university does not have an online course for this major.

[edwin-stanley-pines]

Dad told me I could do whatever I wanted on my phone as long as I'm not interacting interdimensionally. So I'm gonna do just that. Hello, Internet!!!

[BIG IMPORTANT MOD NOTE DO NOT SKIP THIS UNLESS YOU WANT TO POTENTIALLY GET BLOCKED]

[hey folks. due to some recent discourse in some fellow gf rp blogs, id like to make one thing clear: i. am. human. i have a life outside of tumblr. i have a life outside of rp. i cannot always rp when you want me to. if you try to make me, you will be blocked and reported. i will not hesitate. i will not hesitate to block anyone who is rude and demanding. im still in high school. i am a minor. i do not have the time to be online all the time. thank you for understanding. now on to the rest of the pinned post :3]

[mod note: i finally figured out where in the timeline this blog falls!! this blog takes place a year after weirdmageddon]

Interdimensional Family AU is an AU where, during his travels in the portal, ten years before it's reopened, Ford somehow ends up adopting a child.

Edwin is a shapeshifter, but not the same species of shapeshifter as the one in the show. His species, roughly translated into English, is called the Inkaguri, so named for their ink-like true forms. The Inkaguri, when born, can only shapeshift into one species of their choice. Once they pick, they can only shift between that species and their true form. This species is endangered, only because they tend to pick large, dangerous species to shapeshift into and make themselves bigger targets.

One day, Ford is wandering through a random dimension when he's attacked by a huge beast. He kills it fairly quickly, and it changes from the huge monstrosity that it was to a puddle of colorful goop that's beginning to lose its color. Curious, he wanders into the cave it came out of. In the back of the cave, he finds a shallow, egg-shaped puddle. Beside the puddle, looking as though it just crawled out, was a tiny version of the same ink-like creature outside. It looks up at him, they stare at each other, and then this tiny, newly hatched Inkaguri shifts into a human baby.

Thus Ford became Edwin's father because he killed Edwin's mother. He was... not very excited at first.

[edit: heres the story behind edwins bill!!]

[bills reference! (i used pawborough.com for the reference, art does not belong to me)]

[edwin keeps bill in his coat. dont ask where. thats just where bill is. i promise he has room in there. dont ask how.]

[inkaguri code! edwin will now occasionally speak in inkaguri!!!]

[child bill liam reference! he baby]

Edwin talks like this in his human form.

He talks like this in his true form.

(BILL TALKS LIKE THIS WHEN TALKING TO EDWIN. NO ONE ELSE CAN UNDERSTAND THIS. PLEASE, ANONS, PRETEND YOU CAN'T FOR THE SAKE OF THE ROLEPLAY.)

Ford speaks like this when he occasionally makes his appearance. He will not make one often.

"Ford speaks like this over the phone. He will appear like this more often than he will in person."

Liam talks like this. He's gonna be around more than Ford. He's also soft-spoken, so he rarely yells.

[mod talks like this]

[y2klostandfound]

Space Channel 5 Part 2 on Dorimaga Magazine Vol.1 (2002-01) (Video game Magazine) (11-25/01/2002)

Translation in English:

(Page 66)

Dorimaga Special Report - DC PS2:

Video Game Consoles : Dreamcast / Playstation 2

Scheduled to be released: February 14th

Completely: 100%

Price:

Dreamcast: 6,120 Yen Dreamcast(Special Edition Pack): 9,900 Yen Playstation 2: 6,800 Yen

Genre - ETC (Musical Action Adventure) Manufacturer:Sega/United Game Artists Players: 1-2 Number of discs: 1 URL: http://www.u-ga.com/ Controllers/Memory Cards PS2: DualShock 2, trance vibrator compatible, memory card 161KB. DC: 5 blocks of memory used (VMU), Purupuru pack support

Online Shop:The DC version is exclusive to D-DIRECT.

Is there something wrong in the galactic universe!?

After seeing this screen, "Mexican Flyer" came to my head! Are you ready to dance? "Space Channel 5 Part 2" scheduled to air on two platforms has finally started! Let's all enjoy the full polygon SHOW together!

Greetings to the 30 million "Channel 5" viewers nationwide, it's finally here! "Space Channel 5 Part 2" from UGA, which has been silent since the Tokyo Game Show in autumn, is finally on air!The memorable day is February 14, 2002, Valentine's Day.and it will be broadcast simultaneously on DC and PS2 as planned! I can't wait to see how Ulala, who has crossed the century, will come back!

Popular characters from the previous show, as well as new characters, will appear one after another! They will make the program even more exciting!

The basic rules seem to be the same, but new elements have been added, such as singing and playing! I have a hunch that it will be fun!

The next enemy is the "Dancing Troupe(Rhythm Rouges)"! ?

The next enemy is the "Dancing Troupe(Rhythm Rouges)" who appeared out of nowhere. Innocent people are made to dance one after another, just like the Morolians last time! Their purpose is completely unknown. Ulala will report on their true identity!

The mysterious dance group "Dancing Troupe (Rhythm Rouges)" has arrived! A person who looks like a captain and robots attack people one after another!

(Page 67)

What happened to the Jaguar! ?

An evil hand approaches Jaguar who has discovered something somewhere in the universe...! ! Meanwhile, the "Space Symphony," a ship cruising around Neo-Pluto, is attacked by a mysterious group! "Space Channel 5" quickly caught the information and sent Ulala to the scene to report the incident. The spirit of Director Fuse enters. "Come on, let's start!!"

I'll charm you, Ulala Seven Changes

This time Ulala will be reporting in even cuter and cooler outfit! There will be a "Ulala's Costume Room," so stay tuned!

ULALA

A reporter for Space Channel 5, she was born on May 30 and her blood type is B. The other day, she tried to save the galaxy  with great energy, but she's still a newcomer and spends her days being yelled at by her boss Fuse. Her goal is to become a galactic reporter.She is the only person who can fight back against the "mysterious dancing group" that has appeared.

Prologue

The time is the 25th century.

The "Morolian" suddenly invaded, causing people to dance one after another with their "Dancing Beam"! The space broadcasting station "Space Channel 5", which caught this catastrophe, dispatched a new reporter "Ulala" who is good at dancing, selected by the director "Fuse", and report the incident. She fully opens her mysterious dancing puff, sometimes fights and cooperates with Channel 42's "Pudding" and the Space Pirate Broadcasting Station's "Jaguar" to uncover the true nature of the evil that hides behind the Morolians' intentions. Thus, this ascension case was resolved.........

In this galaxy where the memory is fresh in our minds, a new evil is rising.......

Although "Ulala" had solved the "Morolians Attack Case" by dancing with her miraculous performance, there was no change in her role as a reporter, and she is cheered on by a director "Fuse" every day.

Such a daily life suddenly changes with a report from "Chief Space Michael ". A "mysterious dancing group" has appeared, making people dance and taking them away one after another!

Now, Ulala's dancing report begins again.

Come on, Let's start!

SPACE CHANNEL 5 Part 2 - First Implession!

A little impression of the sample unveiled at the recent PS Party! The game is very busy with more things to do such as singing and playing, not to mention the increased power of the graphics and presentation. Compared to the previous game, which was a bit monotonous, this one is even more fun. The storyline is also very exciting!

[buckets-and-trees]

where/when did you first discover reading fanfics? Haha i love to know a good origin story. For me, it was discovering wattpad on the school computers in 7th grade (2012) lmfao

Eeee, origin story time!

So when HP Goblet of Fire came out in the summer of 2000, I was rabid and feral and obsessed with the series! I'd read the first three books just over the December/January right before that (got book 1 at the airport when we were going to visit my gran for Christmas, and was gifted 2 and 3 for my birthday two weeks later).

WE ALSO moved very unexpectedly at the end of that summer only one week before I was going to start my 9th grade year.

So I had no friends.

I read a lot, and I was HUNGRY for more Harry Potter and years I knew I was going to have to wait.

So I started writing, just in a notebook, had no idea fan fiction was even a thing.

During my 10th grade year, I went on a weekend trip with the family of one of the girls I had become friends with, and I found out she wrote fanfic for Newsies (the movie, not the broadway musical), and I was like.......there's fanfic? Online?

And guess what had also just come out a few weeks before?

Fellowship of the Ring. I saw the first movie and was reading through the trilogy for the first time, and guess what? I was obsessed!

Now, BONUS, that year I also had one of the most incredible English teachers I ever had - she made me (and many others) fall in love with studying English. She taught us how to write papers (like the elements of stuff), she made discussions real and engaging and tailored to us and our personalities and created a community of us in her classroom (not like Freedom Writers or Dead Poets Society, but just an hour that we looked forward to because Mrs. Rock was unapologetically enthusiastic about English lit and writing). And for our final term, she made us all do a multi-genre book project, where she gave us a list of like 20 or so things we could choose from and we had to select 5 to put together instead of just a standard book report. I chose LotR, and I still actually have that physical project! I made hobbit recipes, compiled a timeline, did "an interview" with one of the characters and their experience being part of the fellowship, created a letter that Bilbo would have potentially written to Frodo from Rivendell, and ...... WROTE A FANFIC! In the style of some of the thing that were in the appendices of LotR. And I got rabid into that. My first dip was lotrfanfic.com or something similar, and then the next year I found lotradultfanfic.com (which I SHOULD NOT have been reading yet...but I read some 35-40 chapter fic about Haldir and an FOC and I literally had zero interest in the films or books, but that fanfic was SO GOOOOOOOD that it clearly rooted itself in my should to this day!

Then I wrote some Pirates of the Caribbean fanfic and wandered to fanfictopn.net.

And then remember I was obsessed with Harry Potter still, too, and so Mugglenet was a place I was frequenting, and they opened their own fanfic archive. That archive had moderators for some quality control on the website, so I was getting better quality stuff to read, started writing, got a few chapters in and then received couple of rejections on the next chapter and the mod suggested to go to their forum and find someone to be a beta and help me. I got deeeeeeeeep into that fanfic community, made some dear best friends, when to a con with some, went to one person's house for a meet up, went to another country to stay with some friends from the meet up at that house, stayed best friends with one of them for like 10 years and we hosted a Downton Abbey podcast for seasons 4-6 of DA...

I fell in and out of writing fanfic when college got crazy busy, when first got my full-time job, when I was doing my masters degree...

And then the pandemic.

I was on TikTok, ended up getting into these multi-part stories people would do that were Y/N fanfics basically, most of them were entertaining but not ACTUALLY good, and then I eventually saw in comment sections that there was some stuff on Wattpad. I found two incredible stories through that trail over to Wattpad. Both of those authors said they also published on Tumblr (Devil's Backbone by @trashmenofmarvel, Safe With Me by @bitsandbobsandstuff, and Incubus by @after-avenging-hours). Cue me reading truckloads of fanfic as I got further and further down the rabbit hole in 2021-22, and then I finally decided to write and publish again in summer of 22 and started by posting The Brooklyn Boys.

(I also wrote 6-7 chapters of a Bucky x OC that I've never shared here, because I started writing with an OC before I found out that x YN was a legitimate fanfic genre, not just a TikTok thing. I don't know if I'll salvage that or not and post it here someday. It takes on a Bucky storyline that was going to be canon compliant after TFATWS and before Wakanda Forever.)

THANKS FOR SENDING THE ASK!

SORRY NOT SORRY FOR (shock) A LONG ASPEN ANSWER! 🤣

[haveyouseenthisskeleton]

Can I ask how did you get into writing fanfiction? Can I add in which fandoms you wrote before too?

My first fanfiction I wrote was in 2011. Yep, that's quite a while now, jeez. I was part of an online community on CSI:NY and I wanted to write stories like the other people that wrote stories because their stories were so exciting to read. The first things I wrote were so bad omg. These stories are still available to read online by the way if you know where to look.

After CSI:NY, I had a short period where I wrote for Monk (the TV show with the autistic detective - that should have probably alerted me on my own neurodivergence lmao), then, obviously like everyone at that time (don't lie, if you were there, you know) on Vampire Diaries because yes, I was a vampire fan what are you going to do.

The first "real" stories I wrote, like with a beginning and an end, are in the Doctor Who fandom. I'm still a part of it, even if I don't write much about it anymore. I wrote a hell lot of self-insert stories the first few years, then I slowly learned how to write all by myself and started playing with the characters more easily.

I was very productive until 2014, then my best friend introduced me to Sherlock BBC. Well, that didn't go that well in that fandom. At first it was all fun and everything, but I unfortunately arrived during "the Johnlock War", where basically all Johnlock fans lost their mind and randomly started to harass everyone, actors and scenarists, and fanfiction writers that didn't write Johnlock. I didn't write Johnlock lol. That started with insults in my reviews on FFN, then I received a death threat in my real life mail. I was still a teenager at that time, and the charming lady who did that was 35 years old. Yeah, because, uh, I reported it obviously. We dealt with this by ourselves in the end, but still, what the hell.

Anyway, after the incident, I completely stopped writing for the fandom, abandoned all of my fics and never went there ever again :D But that's fine because in 2015, I became cringe again and decided to write for YouTubers lmao. That's an embarrassing period of my life, fortunately, that only lasted a few months. After that, I created a fandom all by myself for Aventures, a French roleplay series with YouTubers I really liked at the time. I wrote 200 stories for Aventures. In a year. Yes. I assembled my own community like the Avengers and recruited people on Twitter by asking them if they liked our lord and savior Balthazar, basically. That turned well, we were around 700 authors in the golden age of the fandom. We're only a dozen still writing on it today, but it's still active.

That's after Aventures stopped on YouTube that I started to gain an interest in Five Nights at Freddy's and it's lore. I'm still actively writing on it, even though what happened with Scott Cawthon cold me a hell lot, but fuck Scott Cawthon, his licence never made any sense anyway and I wrote my own version of the series lol.

A year later, I finally discovered Undertale, 1000 years after everyone else. And, uh, basically, that's five years now, and I'm not ready to stop. It's my longest hyperfixation yet :') You know the story then. I wrote a first long story in French, which is What is best for Humankind, and since the fandom is almost dead in France, overnight I decided I would write in English. The night after that, I opened this blog. Yep, I had literally no plan whatsoever, it was all improvisation lmao. But that's four years we're here now, and that was definitely a good idea.

There's a few other fandoms I wrote for once or twice too, like for Marvel (weeeeeell, a parody actually, it's Thanos erasing half of Wattpad because it was funny), Merlin (BBC), Torchwood obviously, since it goes with Doctor Who, and things that I prefer not to recall like The Lion King, The Smurfs or Minecraft lol.

[oliviax727]

I finally gotten to it, I am finally going to start learning a language (Spanish)

Wait, why should I care?

You don't need to care at all. I just want to keep a public record of my progress and see if I can pull off the effort for long enough to achieve my goals.

If you're not interested, there's no shame in scrolling past this post once a month. And dw, these posts will be at most monthly. So if you're here for something else, this won't clog things up.

If you're concerned about the physics, reminder this is my personal account, and there's another one exclusively for those who just want the science without the shitposting/personal/political stuff.

Though if you're like a linguist or something - or are interested in language stuff in general, I'm sure you can find some value in this post perhaps.

What language will it be?

tl;dr Spanish

Also I love putting all this colour in my post. It satisfies my autism so much.

Now, I've come from a very multilingual background. I learned mandarin between age 5 - 13, and latin in grades 7 thru 8.

Mandarin was a language I could never get the hang of.

It probably had to do with some child-like racism combined with a lack of motivation.

Buuuuut it most likely was a consequence of when I moved from Hong Kong to Australia, my new school did not accomodate the fact I was already experienced.

Nevertheless, I feel as if my Mandarin skills have been overshot, and I don't think I'd be motivated to re-learn it unless I overwhelmingly succeed in this.

Latin was just a dud - I decided to do it because I thought it would be interesting, but dropped it after I realised I had too much on my plate heading into 9th grade.

But Spanish on the other hand, well, there are three better reasons why I choose to learn it:

I never really got an opportunity. I stopped wanting to learn from my abuela when I was 3-5 yo, and my Australian high school also didn't offer it either (my high school's curriculum was dogshit)

A big portion of my relatives are tied to Argentina, with my mum being born from Argentine immigrants. She spent her high school years doing ESL as Spanish was her second language

Aspiring to do Astrophysics is likely going to land me in Chile, as the Andes is home to telescopes-a-plenty

I could've also gone with other languages I'm interested in, like:

German (because my abuela was born from German immigrants - no they were not Nazis, they actually fled in 1936 to avoid conscription)

Croatian (my abuelo was born in Yugoslavia and fled in the 1950s)

Greek (I don't know why it was my "latin is cool" phase, so I guess I wanted to do ancient greek but I don't know how much drift there has been over the last 2000 years thanks to the romans)

And thus I go with Spanish.

But what about regional dialects?

I am very aware that there are various dialects of Spanish within Latin America, and generally, most online methods of learning will teach you Spanish Spanish.

But I think it's more important to first learn a bit of basic vocab, and the grammar, before worrying about my regional dialect. I'm still pretty sure that the most common and important grammar conventions are still shared between languages.

And I already know that people will tell I'm a foreigner, because I'll have an "English"-like accent to it. Learning a specific dialect will only make it harder to tell, not eliminate being "language clocked" entirely.

So what's this going to look like?

Every month or two I'm going to personally report, to myself, via tumblr, my progress in learning. I'll list what I learned, what I still need to work on, and what I wish I could do next.

Effectively this is going to be a public journal of sorts, to make sure I feel like I'm doing this productively.

What's the weather like now?

Given that I've already attempted to learn Spanish twice previously, and being exposed to cultural influences, I already know a bit of Spanish.

Most of it is just random bits of vocabulary, that sound a lot less impressive if you were to try and make me say a sentence:

Custom greetings "Hola", "Buenos Noches"

Expletives "¡Ay caramba!"

The basic conjunction "y"

"Niño, niña, hombre"

Agua (with the "con gas" or "sin gas" tacked on too)

Counting from "uno" to "treinta-nueve"

Some month names like "Mayo" or "Diciembre"

Some colours like "Rojo"

Some utensils and tools like "Boligrafo"

Other stuff that I won't be able to recaly suddenly

And I mostly only understand the pronunciation, most of the spellings I had to look up on google translate. Extra I's like in December or thirty, or that there's no "ph" in pen.

There are other simple grammatical rules that I know of:

Gender i.e. words that end with a you tack on a "La" and for o's you tack on "El". More generally you have to pay attention to grammatical gender

As an educated guess from knowing a bit of Latin, I'm sure there are noun and verb declensions that interact with gender as well

Word order, much like English, is SVO

Clearly, I have my work cut out for me. But I also have a head start over a lot of people primarily because I have experience in other languages related to Spanish, which can help inform me on grammar and common vocabulary. I also have some (minor) knowledge in linguistics.

Another one is that I don't just assume that Spanish is a 1:1 translation of English, where you can just swap words for others. This seems like a trivial fact. But you'd be surprised at how much "English-speaking privilege" can blind people who don't require learning second languages.

It can be much more effective to learn a language when you know your expectations.

What are my Goals?

Well, in the spirit of a SMART goal, I don't really know. Because I don't actually know how long it will take me to get to a desired level of fluency.

Sometimes a language can take years to learn, sometimes it can be picked up in just one. And there are so many different "levels" of acheivement.

Which is why my goals in the long term will be more vapid:

At some point, I want to have a semi-fluent conversation with my abuela in Spanish

I want to be able to speak and understand a proper, unbroken sentence within a few months or a year

Now, what I mean by "Sentence" is really finicky. I don't mean "Las mujers leen; ¡Soy una de las mujers!" (see I'm already learning ha ha). I mean a sentence you'd normally say like:

"Hey X, I'm gonna go to the store, what do you need me to buy? Ok see you in half an hour."

That will be a bit difficult. It requires a lot more vocab to get to that level. But of course, I know it's do-able because millions of people have done it already!

What are my short-term goals? And how will I learn?

For the short term, my goals are a little more simpler. Primarily because there will always be a course or an app that will help me learn.

And for the first few months, my goals are most likely going to align with whatever the app has designed for me to do.

The problem is that I feel like most apps will act as if they can take you from no-knowledge to fluent speaker in like 5 months tops, which for an adult sounds a little fishy if you ask me.

When reading through the recommended applications, I came across two that were appealing:

Duolingo, which is more fast-paced and short-form. It gamifies language but may not be great for formal education

Rosetta Stone, which is advertised as better for natural language learning. And requires more effort.

I decided to use both, mainly because I'm lucky enough to afford it ... for now. I don't have much other means to spend my money regardless.

The reason I choose to use both is simply because I want the best of both worlds, and that I can't tell which one is better until I try it. Duolingo makes it entertaining, Rosetta Stone makes it serious. Sort of the balance I'm looking for.

At some point I hope to stop using at least one or the other. But for now I have nothing better to do.

Anyways, that's all I gotta say on the matter for now. Wish me luck!

[fancoloredglasses]

Enterprise (A prequel that looks FAR more advanced than its future)

[All images are owned by Paramount. Please don’t sue me]

With the release of First Contact, it was established that mankind would achieve faster than light travel in 2063, 67 years from when the film premiered (or 39 years from now. Come on Cochrane, get a move on!) However, it would be almost 90 years from then that Earth would truly begin exploring space.

(Thanks to Rui Cruz)

Enterprise (produced by Rick Berman and (sigh...) Brannon Braga) is the final Star Trek series until Paramount+ went online. It follows the early space exploration done by Earth ten years before the founding of the United Federation of Planets (so the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) is the first Federation starship to bear the name, while this Enterprise is an Earth vessel)

Speaking of…

Enterprise (NX-01) is the first Earth vessel capable of achieving Warp 5 (125 times the speed of light), and the first capable of deep space exploration (though it will take a few weeks between systems) Despite being about 100 years technologically inferior to the USS Enterprise, it looks much more advanced (great continuity there, Braga!), but surely the interior looks more clunky, right?

OK, it does look a lot more cramped, but still looks like it was designed later than the 1960s.

Now, onto the uniforms

(Thanks to The Hollywood Reporter)

The standard Starfleet (what NASA would become after the invention of the warp drive) uniform is much like that of NASA flight suits: a blue jumpsuit. However, the color coding is still there (and following the colors for TOS) on the shoulder pads.

You will no doubt notice the two non-humans among the main cast. I’ll get to those later. Now, onto the legendary crew of this historic vessel that would help usher in the formation of the United Federation of Planets…

The Commanding Officer is Captain Jonathan Archer (played by Scott Bakula, formerly the star of the original Quantum Leap) Archer pretty much has the weight of Earth on his shoulders, as the success or failure of humanity’s journey to the stars depends on him. Too bad he doesn’t trust any of Earth’s allies. He also brought his beagle (Porthos) along for the journey (hope he’s starship-broken)

Speaking of allies, his First Officer and Science Officer is Sub-Commander T’Pol of the Vulcan High Command (played by Jolene Blalock), who was assigned to Enterprise in exchange for the Vulcans’ star charts after Enterprise blundered into Klingon space.

The Vulcans felt humans were not ready for interstellar travel and held back technology until they felt Earth was ready for it. Many on Enterprise initially feel that T’Pol was sent to spy on them for the Vulcans. She eventually leaves the Vulcan High Command to become an official member of Enterprise’s crew.

The Chief Engineer is Commander Charles “Trip” Tucker (played by Connor Trinneer) and is an old friend of Archer’s. He is responsible for upgrading and debugging the new technology Enterprise has equipped. Later in the series, he has a relationship with T’Pol.

The Head of Security and Tactical/Armory Officer is Lt. Malcolm Reed (played by Dominic Keating) Reed’s family was all Royal Navy, but Malcolm is aquaphobic, so he joined Starfleet. As a member of a military family, he understands the need for discipline and attempts to instill it on Enterprise (with mixed results)

(Thanks to Sipping Kanar with Dukat)

The Communications Officer is Ensign Hoshi Sato (played by Linda Park), who is an expert linguist that learns languages quickly, which is important as the Universal Translator (the device that makes everyone speak perfect English) hasn’t been developed at the start of the series.

The Helmsman is Ensign Travis Mayweather (played by Anthony Montgomery), who was born in space and knows many of the races along Earth’s trade routes.

The ship’s doctor (not Chief Medical Officer as he’s not officially part of Starfleet, but is just along for the ride) is Dr. Phlox (a Denoubulan played by John Billingsly), an expert in xeno-medicine, able to treat the crew when they encounter something that Earth medicine hasn’t yet encountered.

Of course, it wouldn’t be Star Trek without other races to butt heads with.

It also wouldn’t be Star Trek if the Klingons weren’t somehow involved (yes, in this prequel the forehead ridges are around, then somehow disappear in tome for TOS, then reappear in time for The Motion Picture. Can someone explain this please?

(Thanks to Vladimir)

Thanks, Braga Worf!

Also, there should be Romulans.

Fortunately, someone informed Braga that no one knows what the Romulans look like until TOS.

We also see the first contact with the Andorians, who are more than a bit wary of Enterprise since they are allied with the Vulcans (who they are at war with)

We also see a brand new enemy starting in season 3: the Xindi (When I first heard the name advertised, I was hoping I heard the Kzinti, but no luck) The Xindi are an alliance of several species (primate, insectoid, reptilian, and amphibian)

However, Brannon Braga’s lackadaisical approach to continuity reared its head in two major continuity errors with two factions that should not have been seen for another 200 years or so:

The Ferengi

...and the Borg, both of which had (thankfully) only one appearance.

The series ran for four seasons before being cancelled due to low ratings (the first since TOS to end prematurely) However, they got a proper final sendoff…

(Thanks to April 5, 2063)

If you would like to watch the series, it’s available on Paramount+ or behind your favorite paywall. If there is an episode you would like me to review, please let me know!

[pollen-blogs]

Master Post

Hi, my name is Sol and you can refer to me with either They/Them or She/Her pronouns. You can talk to me in both French and English (I'm Mauritian so I speak both + Mauritian Creole)

I created this blog about 2 or 3 years ago to post art, but it eventually became a place where I could write about the things I love. I still draw, so in case you want to see more of my art, here is my other account: @pollen-sketches and I'm also on TikTok and Instagram.

Here are some of my most important projects I'm working on, or easier ways to find some of my posts:

A lot of my old followers are here because of my She-Ra rewrite, and while I orphaned this fic, if you still want to take a look at my amateur writing, here it is.

I will try to make better use of my AO3 account but in the meantime, you can enjoy an old fic of mine that I actually finished; my Amanene Eros and Psyche AU, Left In The Dark:

I also started a series, "Rants from a tired writer" that is more focused on tropes and writing as a whole, where I go over some pet peeves and how they can be improved.

Here are all my posts about Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun

Here is a more detailed DNI list than the one in my bio:

Basic DNI criteria includes but isn't limited to -> Homophobes, Transphobes, Racists, Ableists, and any other term that can be traced back to proshipping (I sincerely do not gaf what you guys call yourselves, I will report and block you faster than the speed of light -> This also applies to people who are neutral/tolerant towards them)

People who promote eating disorders and self harm

This is highly specific and I might get called chronically online for it but uh, here: People who think Lesbians can be men or attracted to men or that Gays (nwlnw) can be women or attracted to women, or anything of the sort. I do however welcome nonbinary lesbians (nmlnm) and nonbinary gays (nwlnw) with open arms, as well as anyone who understands that the split attraction model only explains how nonbinary people can identify with any label, or how people on the Aroace spectrum can also identify with romantic labels.

People who use the word "blackwashing" unironically and negatively

People who sexualise the TBHK cast and who age them up in AUs for the sole purpose of sexualising them (this applies to any minor characters in any fandom)

And finally, people who ship Aoikane, Akanene, or Tsunene

I have a pretty no-nonsense attitude when it comes to interacting with people online because I simply do not have the time or energy for meaningless arguments. While I'm not the most confident person ever, I still try my best to be approachable if people are nice/neutral when they try to talk to me; I promise I don't bite lol

[superbfurbz]

Michal David’s “Furby A Shelby” (2001): A potential English translation? 😮

Hey Furby fans! If you know of someone who has in fact done this before, please let me know so I can properly credit and reblog/report on it! I did try looking around online for a few days but was unable to turn up anything else on my own.

Some of you may be familiar with the several unofficial-to-official Furby-centric and Furby-inclusive music albums that have been released over the years; some from the USA, some from Europe, and some from Latin America. With a little digging around, you can find much of this music available online, mostly on YouTube and Spotify... but did you know that two of these albums were released exclusively in Czechia? Furby wiki frequenters may already be acquainted with the titles: Cesta Kolem Světa - Music Party (Around the World - Music Party) 2001  and 22 Dětských Hitů (22 Children’s Hits) 2002

Fortunately for us, 22 Children’s Hits can be listened to in its entirely on YouTube here. For Music Party, well... it gets a bit tougher.

On the Furby fandom wiki page for Music Party, there is a single comment from 2018 where a Furby fan bemoans their inability to listen to this album in full. Even when browsing Czech merchant sites in attempts to outright purchase the CD or cassette, it can be difficult to come across. Neither English translated lyrics nor the original Czech lyrics for any of the songs don’t seem to be listed anywhere. The album features several odes to various toys/family entertainment properties. Only a single song from the album is available to listen to online, and I believe it is thanks to the fervor and tenacity of the Furby fandom that it is so. That song is “Furby A Shelby”! You can listen to it in the embedded video below.

So, what about that translation? Hand over the goods, old man. Recently, I have made a friend in Czechia. I was sharing Furby related things with him when he remarked how excited he was to see someone from outside the country who had heard of a Czech musician in any capacity. A bit later, I found myself unable to resist... I asked my friend what it would take to listen to the song and translate the lyrics into English for me, so I could finally know what Furby and Shelby were up to after all these years! Below the readmore is the translation from my friend. He did mention he found himself unable to keep the rhyme scheme intact, but it still paints a clear picture of what the song is about. Please be kind, he did this without being a professional translator, from the generosity of his heart. I hope you enjoy! Thanks for reading!

Furby: Hello I am Furby! Shelby: And I'm Shelby! Both: And well, since we are here, we will sing and have a nice trip around the world Furby: I lived and sailed on a cloud in the skies I ate, I drank, nicely growing fat Then I became the victim of a miracle I fell to the ground like a bug Shelby: I also soared the skies Like Furby, I met the same fate Before I came to, I was on my feet I walked the land on my feet Chorus: Pals Furby and Shelby, each one wants to go somewhere else But they still walk with each other around the world Pals Furby and Shelby, each one wants something Just not to wander alone Furby: Mistakenly I read I was in Mexico I wanted to wear a sombrero right away However there was no escape from the sun So I got a heatstroke really fast Shelby: I landed on the biggest cactus It stabbed me in the butt! Lucky I didn't fall on my mouth My smile was gone for good Chorus: Pals Furby and Shelby, each one wants to go somewhere else But they still walk with each other around the world Pals Furby and Shelby, each one wants something Just not to wander alone Furby, Shelby! (2x) Chorus: Pals Furby and Shelby, each one wants to go somewhere else But they still walk with each other around the world Pals Furby and Shelby, each one wants something Just not to wander alone (3x)

[gamblingrewards]

BDG Game: A Streamlined Betting Experience That Keeps Things Smart and Simple

In the ever-growing world of online betting platforms, it’s easy to get lost in cluttered interfaces, overloaded features, and overly complicated rewards systems. That’s what makes bdg game such a refreshing alternative. Built with a focus on usability, trust, and real-time excitement, it offers Indian users a sleek and stress-free way to play, bet, and win.

What makes bdg game different from the start is its simplicity. You’re not greeted with 10 pop-ups or a confusing maze of tabs. You get exactly what matters: live match odds, quick access to betting markets, and a wallet that works without a hitch. It doesn’t matter whether you're betting for the first time or you’ve placed thousands of wagers—the interface is designed to make sense instantly.

Live betting is one of the app’s strongest features. Odds move in real time, bet confirmations are nearly instant, and the platform doesn’t crash during high-traffic moments like a big IPL match or Champions League final. If you're someone who likes to bet with your gut in the middle of a tense moment, this level of responsiveness is a game-changer.

Device performance is another big win. You can start on your phone during a tea break, continue on your tablet while lounging at home, and switch to desktop at night to review stats and results. Your session stays synced, your wallet updates in real time, and you don’t need to re-enter anything just because you changed screens.

When it comes to rewards, bdg game keeps things straightforward. There are reload bonuses, daily offers, and special event promos—but they’re all explained clearly, with no misleading terms or disappearing balances. You can actually use your bonuses the way you’d expect—no hoops, no headaches.

Security is top-tier. The platform uses standard encryption protocols to keep your data and money safe. Deposits are processed instantly, and withdrawals are typically completed quickly without unnecessary friction. Most users report high satisfaction with the wallet interface—it gives a full view of past activity, bonuses claimed, and current balance.

Language support is another smart inclusion. BDG game understands the Indian market well, offering navigation in Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, and English. It makes a real difference, especially for friends or family using the app together, each in their preferred language.

Even the social layer is well-balanced. The app shows trending matches, user favorites, and odds shifts without turning into a noisy feed. It offers just enough crowd insight to support better decisions—especially useful when you’re watching multiple games or following an unfamiliar league.

For newer users, the onboarding is smooth and light. You can register in minutes, place a practice bet, and start exploring without being bombarded by tutorials or prompts. It gives you the room to learn naturally, which is something most platforms still get wrong.

The best part? BDG game adapts to your schedule. You don’t need to carve out an evening to use it. A few minutes during a break is enough to check odds, place a bet, or cash out your winnings. It works at your pace—and that’s a huge part of why it works so well overall.

If you’re looking for a betting platform that blends speed, clarity, rewards, and reliability, bdg game is well worth your time. It’s not trying to reinvent the wheel—it’s just making sure the wheel spins smoothly, fairly, and in your favor.

[plagirismchecker]

Top 5 Advantages of Using a Plagiarism Checker for Your Academic Work

Plagiarism can be a serious issue for students working on academic assignments. It can be intentional or accidental, either because of lack of proper citation or incorrect paraphrasing, and it might result in reduced grades or even academic penalties. The plagiarism checker is an important tool in allowing students to maintain the originality of their work, uphold ethics in writing, and maintain academic honesty.

Here are five major advantages of plagiarism testers for students:

1. Fosters Academic Integrity

Originality is at the core of scholarly work. Many institutions of higher learning pay great importance to submitting assignments, essays, and research papers that are purely one's independent idea and creativity. A plagiarism checker helps the student ensure originality within their work, identifying content plagiarized or weakly paraphrased. Plagiarism checkers go through different sources, academic papers, and online content for areas that require citation or revision. This makes students more ethically correct in their writing practices, increasing their confidence in submitting original work.

2. Enhanced Writing and Citation Skills

Plagiarism detection tools play a role in improving the writing and referencing of students. The highlighting portions show the student how and where to paraphrase, a very important writing skill, and how to correctly cite sources.

For instance, if a sentence has been highlighted for similarity, students can paraphrase it while maintaining the original meaning. Many plagiarism detectors suggest the correct format for citations, thus helping students in improving the accuracy of their references. This will help them not only in presenting better work but also increase their knowledge regarding academic writing standards.

3. Saves Time and Reduces Stress

Managing different assignments, exams, and extracurricular activities leaves little time for a student to go through their work and check for plagiarism. What the plagiarism checker does is make that task easier by giving immediate, detailed feedback on any potential issues. Instead of having to compare their work manually to every online source, students can rely on plagiarism checkers for an in-depth check in just a few seconds. This quick solution eliminates the stress of last-minute revisions to ensure that their assignments are polished and free from plagiarism. With Desklib, students can find fast, easy-to-use tools, especially when deadlines are looming.

4. Avoids Accidental Plagiarism

Accidental plagiarism includes instances when students pass off the ideas or text of others as their own, most often because of poor note-taking, misunderstanding of citation, or overlooking a source. A good plagiarism checker will help avoid such mistakes by underlining portions that require citations or rewording. This feature is extremely useful for students who are inexperienced in academic writing or for those who are non-native English speakers. It gives them a chance to learn from their mistakes, and their work will still be of high quality and without any accidental plagiarism.

5. More Confidence in Submissions

Submitting original content can be quite stressful, especially when originality is a key part of the grading process. The plagiarism checker gives peace of mind that the work is indeed unique.

A fact that it has passed through a checker ensures that whenever students are aware their work has been adequately checked, they are more confident to submit such work. A confidence where one knows this work was not stolen propels a student to invest all concentration in ensuring his ideas were clearly brought out. Most plagiarism checkers go the extra step to create detailed reports about which part of the text has been plagiarized and where those sources can be found for students to make the corrections before submitting the final product.

Why Choose Desklib's Plagiarism Checker?

Desklib's plagiarism checker is the best option for students in need of a reliable and efficient tool. The user-friendly interface, combined with its vast database, ensures the detection of similarities in academic work—from essays to research papers—with high accuracy. With Desklib, students can be sure that their work will meet the standards of originality, thus giving them peace of mind.

Conclusion

A plagiarism checker is, in today's academic ecosystem, more than just a useful tool; it's essential. It helps students maintain originality, improves writing and citation skills, and reduces a lot of stress associated with academic submissions. With Desklib's plagiarism checker, students are able to locate problems, refine their work with elaborate reports, and hence make full use of such valuable insights while performing well in studies. Such tools inspire originality and help instill good ethics of writing in students, serving them for a lifetime through academia and professional life.

for more info: click here

[englishwiseae]

Why Are Online IELTS Classes in Dubai Better than PTE?

IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is an English proficiency test which many of you often weigh against the new PTE exam in Dubai. As popular as the globally recognised IELTS test still is, the modern computer-based PTE test is also an entrance to study or work abroad.

However, comparing online IELTS classes in Dubai to the online PTE classes in Dubai can be challenging. While both have established a reputation, online IELTS coaching is far better than the PTE classes in many ways.

Whether you notice the difference in terms of flexibility, interactive learning, personalised feedback, test-taking strategies, and other factors, this blog will explore the differences to make your decision to take one test stronger.

5 Factors that Determine Why IELTS Coaching is Better Choice Over PTE

Here are all the determinants that make the global IELTS test a much better option than preparing for the Pearson Test.

1.    Flexible Classes:

Online learning in both these tests is convenient for every aspirant who is managing their studies, working full-time, and adapting to family responsibilities. However, online IELTS classes in Dubai are more focused towards live sessions with expert mentors.

You get the chance to meet knowledgeable and experienced educators who teach you every concept of the IELTS structure and preparation strategies.

On the other hand, online PTE coaching is more self-guided. You are learning through computer-based modules, apps, and other digital resources which can be challenging to understand for beginners.

2.    Personalised Feedback:

Another benefit behind considering online IELTS learning is the expert feedback for your practice test, modules, or other live sessions. That is because IELTS speaking and writing sections involve human interaction. During the speaking part, you are interacting with the examiner. Also, the examiner evaluates your writing skills based on subjective scoring as well.

That is why online coaching centres also conduct the same approach where tutors review your essays, correct mistakes, and provide strategies for improving scores. This is not the case when you are preparing for the PTE exam in Dubai as the automated AI feedback can raise questions about the genuineness of the opinions.

3.    Interactive and Engaging Learning Experience:

When you are enrolling for the online IELTS class, you likely expect the educator to prepare you to speak confidently, fluently, and in the right accent. Your mentors also guide you through the strategies to write essays, reports, and answer tricky questions.

This one-on-one interaction in the coaching directs you to go beyond learning and express your ideas, clarify doubts, and request individual feedback.

In the PTE preparation, computer-based practice tests are equally beneficial although the real-time interaction is always missing.

4.    Makes Your English Speaking Skills More Fluent:

In the IELTS test, you are practicing speaking in front of the tutor. This helps you receive clear feedback on your sentence structure, logic, and areas where you need more practice to excel in the real exam. This is both comfortable and helps you adjust to the pressure of speaking on the spot during the real test environment.

While preparing for the PTE exam in Dubai, you are guided to become confident speaking into a microphone which can be impersonal for some test takers. The less engagement during the preparation itself can make it hard for beginners to trust their English speaking skills.

5.    IELTS Test-Taking Strategies Are More Impactful:

Finally, one of the strongest pros of online IELTS classes is that you will learn test-taking strategies to excel. In addition to covering the exam's content, you will get a complete guidance on managing time during the test, the right approach to understand and answer different types of questions, and how to achieve best scores in the mock test.

On the other hand, preparing for the PTE exam in Dubai includes practice tests, but you are less likely to experience real experiences and learn strategies for time management in the strategy for the Speaking and Writing sections.

Final Words

We hope you found this blog useful and informative. Coming to an end, it is clear that both the online courses like IELTS and PTE are effective for individual test takers. We have walked you through the benefits of considering online IELTS classes over PTE preparation in Dubai.

Nevertheless, you might need to consider the PTE test if you require quick results, automated test and scoring, or if your institution or employer only accepts PTE scores.

In that case, considering coaching centres providing both PTE or online IELTS classes in Dubai is more convenient to consult or take free trial classes.