#the guy who's in charge wants to be a religious leader and pushes his beliefs on others

[percabeth4life]

I hope this doesn't come across as offensive, but I was your post about demigods celebrating greek holidays and I was really curious about it. The reason I personally never tried to write about it, was because I didn't want things to come across as offensive because I didn't know much about it. What I'm trying to say is, do you know any reliable places/sources that have accurate representation of how people would be celebrating it and where I could do some research?

I’m going to be honest, most of the sources are either based in a personal belief (not the actual representation of ancient practices and actually someone making it their own and sharing) or... very misleading.

I can recommend a few sites but again, the info isn’t fully accurate and for some is based on UPG (unverified personal gnosis-- basically meaning their personal beliefs that may or may not have any support by our writings or historical record). UPG work is totally valid, stars know I have my own, but it’s also not historical.

There isn’t a lot of information on our holidays, a lot of information was lost, and most sources are college textbook style or in books. I have access to a few but they’re fairly expensive.

A lot of sources are also conflicting, and people disagree a lot, and translations get updated and opinions change.

This calendar has a pretty comprehensive list of holidays, along with information on them if you click the holidays (open to new tabs for easy viewing). It is an Athenian based calendar, and the site as a whole is fairly good, but it’s also heavily based in the site mods UPG and thus should not be considered completely historical.

This site also has good holiday information and brings up all of them as far as I can tell, but is overall fairly vague on the holidays themselves and do it alphabetically, by the original Greek Names, rather than by date. They hold a mix of very historical and a community UPG for their stances on things. I don’t agree with a lot of what they say, but they have some good resources. They’re also Orphic (a specific branch of Hellenism) so their holidays and beliefs reflect it.

Those are the two big sites that I referenced originally, most other sources would be in books (and I am still building up my resources there). There are other sources that have information, but while these two sources have some issues, many other sites... well they’re either entirely UPG or extremely traditional to the point of insulting the more modern practices and I don’t want to link stuff to them.

Please keep in mind that unlike something like, say, Christianity, Hellenism is very personal in it’s practice and there are a lot of different ways to practice it. All of this information is helpful, but many Hellenists won’t practice them exactly as the sites say

I personally used the first link I showed you as the basis of my Heliogenna.

I should explain more about Heliogenna as well. It is a modern festival, created by Hector Lugo, here is the source of information. the reason we celebrate this modern festival is because though we know that the Ancient Greeks celebrated something around the solstice, we don’t know what. Heliogenna was created to effectively fill this slot, it honors the deities connected to light and home (Helios being the main focus) and the chthonic deities (underworld deities).

Anyways, these are the most reliable free sources I have for you, and I did extra searching as well to see if there were any other sites but no others fit my strict requirements for sourcing and general respectfulness to other practitioners.

You are welcome to send me asks for more information on anything or if you’re wondering about anything the sources say. If they don’t have the information you’re wanting, or you want to know my thoughts on the holidays please shoot me an ask or even a dm. I tend to grab second opinions from some other pagan friends when I answer those questions, or even for my own work, so you will have a variety of opinions given.

[christopherrpike-archive]

seb for the deputy ask thing? :D

i hope you know how long this took me FDGDFG but i had fun answering!!

under a cut bc this is long

Deputy Sebastian Chase Maxwell

The Basics

1. Give their full name, and describe them or post a picture! (Height, build, hair, eye, and skin color, etc.)

Sebastian Chase Maxwell, he stands at 6’4 with a fairly small build; on the lanky side but he does have some muscle on him. He’s pale with freckles lightly dotting his face and has bright, emerald eyes. He also has short, blonde hair that he keeps styled in place when he has the time to.

2. How old are they?

25, and he was born on May 23, 1993.

3. Sexuality and gender?

Bisexual with no strong preference, cis male.

Pre-Game

1. How did they end up at the Hope County Sheriff’s Department? How long have they worked there?

He was really looking for something to put some food on the table when he moved to Montana, and he’s been working there for a good year or two before the whole issue with Eden’s Gate.

2. Relationship with Pratt, Hudson, and Whitehorse?

He has a great amount of respect for Whitehorse, and it’s only intensified since he was brought to the county jail in the Henbane River. Like most of the other deputies, he looks up to the man like a father figure.

Out of everyone else, it’s Deputy Hudson he seems to be closest with. They look out for each other, and it appears that Hudson’s taught him mostly everything he knows. He may or may not have had any feelings for her.

He hadn’t known Deputy Pratt very well before the whole ordeal with Eden’s Gate, but he couldn’t help but feel terrible for what happened to him with Jacob. Now, he’s looking to get to know Staci better.

3. Do they have an education?

Yes, college graduate with a bachelor’s degree in business.

4. Where are they from? Did they speak a different language there?

Nope. He was born in Fairmont, West Virginia.

5. Is there anyone outside the valley that might have come looking for them?

His family; parents and sibling, and of course there’s his ex-wife and child.

6. Did they have a religious background of any kind?

He was raised Christian, but he never really stuck to it. After the whole deal with the cult, he definitely won’t be going to church any time soon.

Inside Hope County

1. What was going through their head when the helicopter went down and during the subsequent chase?

“I have to get out of here and find help”; basically, fear. Hope County was practically uncharted territory and seeing how angry the cultists were when they tried arresting Joseph, going up against them singlehandedly without any firepower wasn’t an option. So the initial plan had been to get out without getting spotted somehow, then find help anywhere.

2. Were they afraid of Joseph and Eden’s Gate? Angry?

Mostly afraid, but above all, cautious. Dealing with a cult wasn’t exactly in the job description when he first signed up for the team and there definitely wasn’t protocol for arresting a cult leader. Over time, however, that fear lessened, instead growing into anger.

3. Did they trust Dutch?

Seeing as he woke up handcuffed, no. But the longer he spent with Dutch (that and he really had no other choice and the man seemed to genuinely be helping him), he grew to trust him over time.

4. How did they feel about their team being taken by the cult, did they count them as lost, did they want them back, did they not care?

To Sebastian, no teammate is lost unless it was absolutely certain. He wanted them all back, and if it meant hitting the cult back hard was the way to do it, then so be it.

5. How did they take to the idea of being part of, if not leading, the resistance?

He was all for it! It’s not exactly what he expected, but he does have that sense of leadership in him, and he’d like to think he sparks some hope in the residents of Hope County. His occupation? Aspiring beam of light.

6. Which companions did they recruit, and who did they travel with the most?

He recruited just about everyone, but he travels with Sharky and Nick the most. With the three of them, taking down the cult seemed about as fun as a regular guy’s night out.

7. Did they have time to find romance amidst the chaos? How did they do it?

Not exactly, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t find John and Faith to be at least a little attractive.

8. Feelings about Joseph?

To him, Joseph was a dangerous man. Whether or not he was right about his prophecies, doesn’t change the fact that he has misguided beliefs and what he’s doing is hurting hundreds of people.

9. Feelings about the other Seeds?

He has mixed feelings about John; he was dangerous, maybe a bit off-kilter, but also very, very, frustratingly handsome. Taking him down was the top priority, but there have been a few occasions where he was tempted to take up Addie’s idea of sleeping with him. You know, for the good of Hope County.

Out of all the Seeds, he thinks it’s Faith he likes (or pities) most. This is especially so at their final confrontation. Whether or not what she says about Joseph was just to get him to feel sorry for her so she could get the upper hand, he still wishes he could do something to help her.

Just when he thinks he isn’t afraid of the Seeds or their fanatical cult, Jacob comes in just to convince him otherwise. Out of all the siblings, Jacob just might be the most dangerous one, maybe even more so than Joseph. Sure, he didn’t have a silver tongue like his brother did, but what he had in compensation was ruthless power, and he had his own means of manipulating prisoners. Sebastian’s experience in Whitetail Mountains was easily the worst one.

10. How did they handle having to kill animals and other humans? Had they done it before?

Killing animals was easier for him to do, seeing as it’s a common sight in slaughterhouses and the like. That, and most wildlife in Hope County have their teeth bared and ready to pounce should he hesitate with an arrow. People, on the other hand, were a bit more complicated. After all, he knew the peggies were just heavily brainwashed people, made to think that what they’re doing is for the better. But it’s kill or be killed in Hope County, and these cultists weren’t about to back down.

11. Which canon ending did they choose in-game, and would you have changed the ending at all?

I haven’t actually finished the game so I’ll just skip this question but I definitely would have changed the ending. No bombs, and a chance to arrest the Seeds instead of just killing them.

Personal

1. Favorite weapon(s)?

The compound bow and a suppressed AR-CL.

2. Stealth or firepower?

Stealth if he can help it, but subtlety isn’t exactly his forte so he ends up charging in guns blazing most of the time.

3. How did they spend their time, when not fighting peggies?

Hunting and helping out the residents of Hope County with other, minor things.

4. Where did they live during the events of the game?

Fall’s End, it’s his second home at this point.

5. Any other facts you want to share about your Deputy!

I’m bad at these but here’s a few from the top of my head:

He has a 6 year old son and his name is Austin Sebastian Maxwell, currently in Montana with his ex-wife, Brooke Townsend. (Far enough away from Hope County but you can see why I’m pushing for at least a no bombs AU)

He has a twin sister named Pippa Maxwell and she acts almost the exact same way he does, although I’d say she’s the feistier one between them. Sebastian’s the older twin by a few minutes.

He has a gunshot wound on his temple from an unlucky encounter with the peggies. He wasn’t shot through the temple mind you, but he was shot point blank, the bullet was deflected by his skull and went out through the back. Incredible luck, but he was out of commission for a good long while.

[kingofthenorth49]

the world as we thought we know it

Ed. Note -- As I wrote this blog this morning, yet another Ontario family is moving into my neighbourhood, escaping the clutches of a tyrannical woke Ontario (their words, not mine) for the peace of the east coast. I’m pretty sure when this all shakes out this town is going to be radically changed for years to come, but here’s to hoping. - Jim

I know, ya’ll think my tinfoil hat is on too tight these days. Maybe it is, and maybe that’s not a bad thing, but at this point does it even matter, we are watching a train wreck of epic proportions and no one seems to care. It’s like the words from Trooper’s Santa Maria, “But nobody moved, from where they were laying, cause nobody really cared”. I guess Netflix and Chill means more than I had thought.

I was watching (listening) to Scott Adams last evening as I do every few nights and for those who don’t know Scott, He’s the guy who draws Dilbert, and hosts a daily vlog (or whatever the kids are calling them these days) which I enjoy, as there are few left leaning types I can really listen too, and he’s one of the best. We don’t often agree, but the past few nights he and I have been in lockstep on a few things, and that’s very rare but interesting when it happens. Last night however it was something he said about midway through his podcast that really caught my attention. He started out by saying that as you get pulled “behind the curtain” (a showbiz reference I guess) you get to see/learn things that most of the world doesn’t, as if the elites really do run the world (hint: they do) and he teased the crowd by saying something to the effect that he learned something this week that’s bigger than any news story, something so large it would shift people’s minds completely. He went on to say that he couldn’t say what it was because they’d come after him, but that people should question more of what they see and hear. He framed it in the context that people would not even believe the truth if they heard it.

I agree 100%. I believe the average person on this planet now is so afraid, confused, and polarized that they don’t know which way is up, hell just the fact that the world rolled over so quickly makes me sad, but it wasn’t unexpected. We are weak, soft, entitled humans.

As much as you want to deny it, we are in the world’s largest Psyops experiment right now. Governments are pushing the boundaries of human endurance, and we are beginning to turn on one another, whether it’s for not wearing a government mandated facial shaming device when outside your home, or if your neighbours son, fresh home from out-of-province school is out on the patio on his tablet chatting with his best girl when he’s suppose to be self isolating in the basement chained to the wall and fed with a stick.

Disclaimer: Yes, it’s a particularly bad flu. Yes, people will die from it. Yes we should be cautious and prevent catastrophe.

Speaking of being cautious, what is up with the average person beating down their neighbours in the rush to get an experimental unapproved chemical concoction thrust into their arms? WTF dude?

I’ll never understand that mentality. Yes, vaccines save lives and can stop the spread of viruses. Yes vaccines form part of any strategy to manage a pandemic, but it’s just one part. The idea that people are lining up 9 months after a vaccine is started into development for a “new” coronavirus and calling for a mandate to compel every human to take this vaccine is absurd.

It’s madness.

First of all, the concoction they are jabbing into your arms at 0.5 mg/dose isn’t even technically a vaccine. The CDC states a vaccine is “a product that stimulates a Peron’s immune system to produce immunity to a specific disease. It also defines Immunity as part of the vaccination process to say you can be exposed to the disease without becoming infected.

The current “vaccines” do neither. You can still become sick, and you can still spread it, there are several examples from Washington State, Florida, and Pennsylvania right now where fully vaccinated individuals now have the Coronavirus.

So why get the jab if you can still get it (albeit not be as sick) but you can still spread it? Why are we on a full out campaign war on “getting the jab” followed closely by “vaccination passports”.

It’s about control. It’s about gaining your compliance when told to do something. It’s about stripping your freedoms away all the while you feel like you don’t need them anyway.

I posted a video on social media yesterday of a Pastor of a Calgary church on Good Friday telling a bunch of Calgary police to leave the property and not come back without a warrant. He was very passionate in his calls for them to leave, and believe me when I say that video made me feel great despite the insults he was hurling at my brother’s and sister’s who were sent there to bring justice to the community.

Watch the video, it does a heart good.

Why? Because we have something called the Bill of Rights, and despite the fact it’s “granted” by our “government” it’s the only thing that holds this country together under one set of guiding principles, and despite some doctors proclamation of doom and gloom, people have the right to practice religion, they have freedom of speech, and security of the person and property. Our forefathers fought and died for those rights and we should be a bit more like the Pastor in preserving them. He’s a Polish pastor, who knows what happens when a government is allowed to run unchecked and what happens to the population when it does, and he wasn’t having any of it.

But the more telling story isn’t his fire and brimstone sermon aimed at the poor police (I bet his Good Friday sermon was off the charts!), it was what the police did next.

They left. As Monty Python would sing with a minstrel or two, “They turned their tails and ran they did, they turned their tails and ran and hid). Sorry, but the police don’t just leave when a crime has been committed, or they feel a crime will be committed by the parties in question. He literally shouted them away. Why did they leave?

Likely for a couple reasons. One, they didn’t want to be there in the first place. They were following orders or were dispatched to the church because some politician or Karen felt there were too many people practicing their religion on the holiest of days in the church. Two, they knew there were no grounds to be there because of the recent court ruling that freed the other Alberta pastor who was jailed for holding religious services, remember him? In Canada we jail religious leaders.

Say that again real slow. In Canada, we jail human beings who bring comfort and relief to those who need it in the name of a higher power under a constitutionally protected provision of religious freedoms. Or at least we used to. Now we are no better than the backwater republics we shamed as the former leader of the free world.

So if they knew the courts were not going to support them, why bother? That’s a great question.

I’m not even a religious person, we had Chinese (am I allowed to say that?) food for supper Easter Sunday, but I will fight for your right to practice yours just as hard as I’ll fight against any government mandating forced vaccinations or passports against freedoms.

Over a year ago we were told it was 15-days to “bend the curve” to get back to the “new normal” and such and now look at us a year later at the hands of a government run amok led by over-jealous reality tv stars who haven’t the first clue how to govern and couldn’t stick a hot poker in a snow bank to save their lives.

Folks we are rolling over at an alarming rate and accepting the removal of our rights and freedoms under suspicious circumstances, and you can “tin foil hat” me all day long, I don’t care. Things don’t add up, there’s too many red flags flying and yet as a society we simply want to turn to those “in charge” and say “Please sir, may I have some more”.

They say you won’t miss it until it’s gone and I firmly believe this to be true, especially when it comes to things like mobility rights. Imagine now if they do require vaccinations before you can travel, work, shop etc., (especially ones that provide no protection to others and only minimize your symptoms). We haven’t even talked about those who’ve died, or those who have had their lives changed forever from the initial side effects of the vaccines.

Yes, I said initial. What will happen a year from now as the COV-SARS-19 virus continues to produce hundreds of variants a day (despite what they want you to focus on like some B.1.1.3 etc.) and you come to find out in that rush to get jabs in the arms that the vaccination of the older population first drives the virus into the younger people who then start getting sicker than they originally did because the virus is morphing to stay alive. That’s right, things like Antibody Dependant Enhancement[1] can occur when you start messing with the human bodies abilities to fight off disease naturally as it has for hundreds of thousands of years.

All I’d ask is for you to do your research and have informed consent before you get the jab, and don’t shame others’ who chose not to for their own personal reasons. Like me. I won’t be getting the jab because there’s no compelling reason for me to do so at this time. I’m relatively  healthy (Yes, I’m obese so I fall into that risk category) but I have no real heath issues aside from the extra weight I carry around, and I know how to protect myself from the virus, so I’m choosing not to get vaccinated. I. Or people like me, shouldn’t be shamed because our beliefs are different from yours, and the solution doesn’t solve the problem, you only think it does because that’s what you are being told. \

Make your own decision and live with it. If I get the COVID and get sick enough (4% of my age category) to be hospitalized, so be it. I’ll take my chances on that versus being forced to have a chemical injected into my body that will do Gawd knows what to my immune system or any other system for that matter.

The other thing that just baffles me is how people actually believe the flu was eradicated this year. Sorry, are you serious? Do you think every single person in Canada was so diligent at washing their hands that we had no flu season this year?

I should have been a real estate salesperson in Florida selling swampland to tourists. Actually, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea for the next phase.

Anyway, wash your hands, stay socially distant, stay home if you’re sick, and wear a government mandated facial shaming device so you can conform and not be publically humiliated by Karen at Costco as you go to give your Easter offerings to the commerce Gods when you aren’t allowed to go to church to pray to whatever God the constitutions protects your right to bow to.

Get it yet?

Jim Out.

[1] Informed consent disclosure to vaccine trial subjects of risk of COVID-19 vaccines worsening clinical disease, Timothy Cardoza, Ronald Veazey

[soccerdrawings]

How To Leave Sport Award Ideas Without Being Noticed | Sport Award Ideas

• Neil Warnock, January – asked about Brexit while sitting in advanced of a “Visit Malaysia” assurance put up by a Cyprus-born administrator to advice armamentarium his 11-nationality Cardiff squad: “I can’t delay to get out, if I’m honest. We’ll be far bigger off out of the blood-soaked thing. In every aspect. Football-wise as well, absolutely. To hell with the blow of the world.”

10 Youth Sports Awards Ideas - sport award ideas | sport award ideas • Ian Holloway, August – calling for football to be played beneath WTO rules. “I don’t anticipate that’s our boys authoritative up that new law. I anticipate that’s bodies cogent us what to do with our game. Now they should stop accomplishing that. I achievement we get out, Brexit, because that’s what bodies are voting for. You cannot accept addition cogent us how to do our own game.”Leading on the year’s added hot-button issue: “Extinction of our chase is acceptable added and added acceptable … the apple is a messed up place. Apple leaders are either benighted or don’t affliction about the ambiance at all. Honestly, I feel like giving up… bodies don’t assume to care.” Lewis Hamilton – who denied afterwards that his jet, £13m car accumulating and £50m Petronas endorsement took the bend off. “I awash my alike a year ago.”Gianni Infantino in June – acclamation Fifa’s assembly two years afterwards he sacked the belief aggregation investigating him. “We angry it around! Fifa has gone from actuality toxic, about criminal, to what it should be: alike with credibility, trust, integrity, equality, and with beastly rights.”His added big bulletin in 2019: abnegation allocution that it was Fifa’s new assurance on Chinese sponsors that led it to bead all beastly rights checks and accolade China the 2021 Club Apple Cup. “There are problems in this world, everywhere, in abounding countries. It is not the mission of Fifa to break the problems of this world.”• Additionally not affairs complaints from beastly rights and belief groups about sportswashing in 2019 – Uefa arch Aleksander Ceferin:a) Explaining why captivation the Europa Alliance final in Azerbaijan was the appropriate affair to do: “Human rights is a botheration in added places too. Does it beggarly the admirers in Baku do not deserve alive football?” And b) reacting to the Apple Anti‑Doping Agency’s alarm for Russia to be bare of Euro 2020 by adjoin Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg. His bulletin to Putin – Uefa stands by Russia because: “I charge say, the Apple Cup was organised perfectly… I do not allege aloof to be nice: I absolutely beggarly it.”Pushing the Fifa belief boundaries too far in 2019: Central African Republic controlling Patrice-Edouard Ngaïssona – banned for six years from all Fifa activities for arch a militia accused of “mass executions, torture, anamorphosis and rapes”. Ngaïssona, on balloon in The Hague in 2020, denies 111 war crimes charges.Was acquainted by Sepp Blatter - aggressive to sue Fifa in July for not giving aback the 60 affluence watches he larboard in his office. “These are my watches, accord me my watches. It’s important for me.” His bigger question: “Why are they angry me for these watches? There is no respect... I’ve accomplished the end of my temper.”José Mourinho – started 2019 out of work, activity viral with an ice-rink faceplant in Russia and a €3.3m tax artifice sentence; concluded it managing Spurs and commendation Nelson Mandela. “Like Mr Mandela said: ‘You never lose, you win or you learn.’ At United I won and I learned. My time afterwards I larboard United, that was a acceptable time for me.”@realDonaldTrump – responding to Megan Rapinoe’s “I’m not activity to the fucking White House” boycott in June by mis-tagging a alternation of rebukes – cogent @meganrapino, a afraid 21-year-old Starbucks agent from Virginia: “Never boldness our country, the White House, or our flag.”• Additionally accepting to him during the USA’s Women’s Apple Cup run: Rapinoe’s examination of the quarter-final, played in Pride month. “Go gays! You can’t win a championship afterwards gays on your aggregation – it’s never been done before, ever. That’s science, appropriate there!”Israel Folau – suing Rugby Australia for “discrimination”. Folau, sacked in May for angle including “hell awaits homosexuals” and gay alliance causes bushfires, claimed £7.4m for corruption of “religious freedom”. Statement: “Mr Folau wants all Australians to apperceive that he does not disregard bigotry of any kind.”Franck Ribéry – administration the acknowledgment aftermost January afterwards he acquaint a video of himself bistro a steak coated in gold. “Let’s alpha with the jealous, the haters, those alone built-in because a condom had a aperture in: f*** your mothers, your grandmothers and alike your ancestors tree. I owe you nothing.” Bayern Munich: “Franck accepts his words were unwise.”Still acceptable on racism: Serie A – cogent “sincere regret” for the “No To Racism” posters they put up this ages featuring monkeys with corrective faces. CEO Luigi De Siervo: “I realise now these were inappropriate. But what cannot be questioned is the strong, connected accusation of racism by Serie A.”• Additionally continuing close in 2019: a) Uefa, allowance Porto of racism in September afterwards a fan claimed he was apropos to himself as a antic aback he led chants of “monkey” while a atramentous amateur lined up a penalty. The fan said: “Everyone in Portugal knows me as Monkey, it’s my nickname. This is an awkward aberration from Uefa.” Uefa accustomed the defence. And b) Downing Street, 10 canicule afterwards Boris Johnson’s win, borderline why racists were activity emboldened: “Racism has no abode in football, and we charge accost this abandoned behaviour. There is added assignment to be done by the football authorities ... We don’t aphorism out demography added steps, if required.”Jack Leach, charwoman his glasses at one end as history abundant at the other. “They bare cleaning. I apperceive I attending brainless aback I am out there. But it got the job done.” See additionally the slow-mo video of the year:

Fun End Of Year Sports Awards Editable - sport award ideas | sport award ideas Came in July: Liverpool FC aggravating to brand the chat “Liverpool”. The bid was agape aback by admiral due to the “geographical acceptation of the city”; the club said it would “continue aggressively to accompany those who illegally accomplishment our bookish property”.Bernard Tomic – fined for not aggravating at Wimbledon again. Tomic appealed to get his £45,000 award-winning money aback afterwards his 58-minute avenue in July; Wimbledon said no. Tomic: “They’re biting me with what they’re saying. I don’t charge the money. It’s aloof about what’s right.”Out of annual aftermost January, Fulham approved a aggregation yoga affair to about-face assignment anatomy and “find peace”. It concluded aboriginal aback Aboubakar Kamara and Aleksandar Mitrovic had to be “dragged apart” – sources cogent the columnist it was triggered aback “Abou started talking during bashful time – a amenity moment. Mitrovic told him to shut up.”Another big year for poppy annual and sad mascots – but viral retweets of Tranmere’s 2017 abounding anatomy poppy had new resonance in 2019.Sebastian Vettel, 32 – swapping the finishing position cards at the Canadian Grand Prix in June afterwards a five-second amends denied him victory. Vettel, who put “1” abutting to his car, and “2” abutting to Lewis Hamilton’s, said: “This is a amiss world. This is not fair.”Italian Serie C club Viterbese – reacting to a five-year ban for vice-president Luciano Camilli for punching action admiral Giorgio La Cava “and blame his legs away”. The club alleged the ban “squalid” and “slander”, alleging Arezzo’s La Cava affronted it by shouting: “You suck, bits fans.” The ban was cut to 20 months on appeal.Came from Zamalek admiral Murtada Mansour in Egypt: burglary Christian Gross in comedy during a 1-1 draw for actuality “a failure, a bones … I went to the bathrobe allowance at half‑time and told the players to avoid him.” Mansour said critics pointing to his man-management almanac – including his 2016 move to appoint “sorcerers” due to three players “being bewitched”, and the actuality that he’s now on his fourth administrator aback burglary Gross in May – should “know this: I’m not some crazy guy.”1) Ex-Notts County buyer Alan “Big Alan” Hardy – aggravating to betrayal “the arbitrary ancillary of fans” in January by announcement screenshots of two adverse tweets from the aforementioned fan, but accidentally announcement a photo of his penis instead.2) @Cristiano – tweeting a private-jet selfie in January on the aforementioned day he was fined £16.6m for tax artifice and Emiliano Sala went missing in a alike crash. Three emojis: smiley face, alike demography off, thumbs up.3) Adidas UK in July, active its #DareToCreate amusing media attack to advance Arsenal’s new kit: auto-generating images of the band featuring the Twitter handles of users who aggregate the hashtag. Adidas said the aftereffect – their official annual tweeting a alternation of racist slurs with the bulletin “welcome to the squad” – was an adventitious corruption “of a personalisation artisan created to acquiesce aflame admirers to get their name on the jersey. We accept angry the functionality off.”4) Fleetwood armchair Andy Pilley, @capboy70, cogent admirers to vote Tory or he’d shut the club down.5) And Welsh Fire candid drillmaster Gary Kirsten, assuming his best activity in October. “Can’t delay for The Hundred Draft and to aces the band on Sunday at 7pm. #TheHundredDraft.”Was lower alliance clubs live-tweeting the colour as able-bodied as the action:1) @lossiemouthfc, April: “8.20pm: Bold delayed briefly while the adjudicator spews in the centre amphitheater … 8.22pm: That’s him done yakking up his tea and we’re on the go again.”2) Berwick Rangers’ @OfficialBRFC, March: “Cowdenbeath decay a bend and Berwick get the adventitious to bright … Ugly scenes in the dugout as Cowdenbeath’s administrator has aloof told Johnny Harvey to ‘take his face for a sh*te’ #BRFC.”3) @sligorovers, February: “9 min. The brawl is kicked out of play, arresting the box of chips endemic by the fan at the Joma sign. Abounding chips abatement to the ground. (0-0).”

10 Best Sport Certificates images | Certificate, Track, field .. | sport award ideas 4) @AFCFylde, October: “80’ There’s a abeyance in comedy as a rather ample man storms the field, topless, with a boutonniere of flowers. (4-0).”5) And @NuneatonBoroFC, activity for a face-palm emoji afterwards their babysitter Tony Breeden came up to booty a amends in November: “61‘ He’s absent and has bankrupt the lights in the terrace. What accept I aloof witnessed.”Sarah Thomas, September – pond the approach and back, afresh back, afresh aback again. The 37-year-old blight survivor from Colorado did it in 54 hours; the avenue was 80 miles, but flat pulls meant she concluded up pond 130. “I got stung in the face by a jellyfish. I’m ambrosial annoyed appropriate now.”Was Sky spotting Huddersfield’s admission administrator Jan Siewert in the directors’ box in January, and activity in for an absolute interview. “It was bizarre,” said Man City fan Martin Warhurst later. “I was sat in the army and aback I was acquainted of a guy advancing appear me from the right. He anticipation I was the manager; I said: ‘No, no, that’s not me. I’m Martin from Wakefield.’”Billy Sharp’s beat boob ambition anniversary in February – his accolade to WWE brilliant Mick Foley’s “Mr Socko”. @RealMickFoley alleged it “TREMENDOUS” and angry up a ages later. Sharp: “After the bold I had 200 texts afresh God knows how abounding on Twitter. Abutting affair I apperceive Mick Foley is accepting breakfast at my house.”National alliance @AFCFylde - ambrosial in February for three youths who “duped our amphitheater anchorperson into allurement for a white Nissan Micra NE14 ABJ to be confused aftermost night”. The boys came forward; Fylde gave them chargeless shirts.Calling it early: three Spurs fans, missing the Champions Alliance improvement at Ajax in May afterwards abrogation the arena aloof afore half-time, cerebration it was abounding time due to actuality “pretty drunk”. James Perkins: “We anticipation we were abrogation at the absolute time.” He said they were “pretty confused” at the base “when no one was stood about us cat-and-mouse for a train”.Came from New Zealand’s Jimmy Neesham, tweeting beeline afterwards their Apple Cup defeat to England in July. @JimmyNeesh: “Kids, don’t booty up sport. Booty up baking or something. Die at 60, absolutely fat and happy.”Was Coco Gauff during her Wimbledon breakthrough. On her self-image: “Weird. Weird, goofy, and, I don’t know. Yeah, awe-inspiring and goofy, I guess.” On her mum’s anniversary dance: “I didn’t acquaint her, but she’s activity to go viral, I know. She’s activity to be a meme.” And on why the best bit of the summer was rapper Jaden Smith tweeting her. “Obviously the tennis is abundant … but I’ve looked up to Jaden for so long. Bodies who chase me apperceive that’s all I column about. It was ambrosial agitative for me.”Among 2019’s regrets: Abundant Britain actuality butterfingers from the men’s 4x400m at the European Athletics Aggregation Championships in August afterwards allotment assets attempt doodle Youcef Zatat in the calendar by mistake; and Telstar striker Jordie van der Laan actuality sacked in May for calling in ailing so he could biking to London to watch Ajax comedy Spurs. Telstar admiral spotted him in the army on TV; Van der Laan said: “It was not my best decision.”Colorado Rapids – cancelling their post-game fireworks in August due to “plague”. Admiral said “the attendance of plague-infested fleas affecting prairie dog colonies” about Dick’s Sporting Goods Park meant the club “had no addition but to cancel”. A Rapids fan in a affliction doctor affectation told the Denver Post. “I assumption we’ll aloof embrace it.”Solid brawl from David Duval at the Open in Royal Portrush in July: birdieing his aboriginal two holes, extensive the 5th one off the lead, afresh hitting a quadruple bogey, a bogey and a nonuple bogey 14 at the par-five 7th afterwards accident two tee shots afresh arena the amiss ball. He accomplished with a 20-over 91, but said he never anticipation about walking away. “If you play, you column your score. Is there some adumbration of embarrassment? I don’t know. What I shot, I put on the board.”2018: David Beckham accepts the Uefa president’s award. “I’m actual honoured, honoured to be here.”2019: Eric Cantona accepts the Uefa president’s award: “As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods, they annihilate us for their sport. Anon science will not alone be able to apathetic the ageing of cells, anon science will fix the beef to the accompaniment and so we will become eternal. Alone accidents, crimes, wars will still annihilate us, but unfortunately, crimes, wars, will multiply. I adulation football. Thank you.”“Wayne Hennessey is ‘desperate’ to apprentice about the Nazis, says Roy Hodgson” – theguardian.com, April. Runner-up: The Times, aftermost week: “West Ham footballer Michail Antonio comatose Lamborghini while dressed as snowman.”Making it big on Twitter in 2019: @visualsatire’s Football Administrator Beard on Politicians. Including acclaimed works “Henry VIII with the beard and earpiece of Phil Brown”, and “Angela Merkel with the face of Steve Bruce”.

Volleyball Certificate Templates | Softball coach .. | sport award ideas Fallon Sherrock, @Fsherrock: “Really active now.... ! I accept done it again.. ! OMG”. Sherrock said this month’s PDC Apple Darts Championship run was “incredible… the actuality that all these bodies are tweeting me, abnormally Billie Jean King. Oh my god... I mean, this is me. I’m aloof a accustomed person.”Defining VAR’s solid admission season: the official @Premierleague annual – agitation online derision in November afterwards Martin Atkinson begin Roberto Firmino’s appropriate nipple gluttonous to accretion an arbitrary advantage: “The red band was accumbent to Firmino’s armpit, which was hardly advanced of the aftermost Villa defender.”• The year’s absolute VAR decision: Bundesliga 2, October – VAR operators spotting a sub who was abating up abaft the ambition had affected a aberrant attempt with his foot, millimetres afore it had gone out of comedy for a goal-kick. The verdict: a amends and chicken card. Teammate Alexander Mühling: “The boy didn’t apperceive that rule. None of us knew that rule.”Was Luis Suárez – hailed for “reaching aiguille Luis Suárez” in Uruguay’s Copa América win over Chile in June after: a) Seeming to address for a handball in the box by the goalkeeper; and b) Reacting to an adversary benumbed a angle face by active appear the adjudicator brandishing an abstract card.Days afterwards Cardiff Met administrator Christian Edwards was taken ill in November, adolescent son Isaac stepped up to alter him with this teamtalk afterwards an bizarre win over Cefn Druids.Katarina Johnson-Thompson, nine canicule afterwards heptathlon gold in October. @JohnsonThompson: “If anyone wants to apperceive how my off division is activity … I’ve been to two karaoke confined in 48 hours. My called songs are Bonnie Tyler ‘Total concealment of the heart’ and Busta Rhymes ‘Look at me now’.”2.1m wholesome angle for this acknowledgment to England’s Candid Apple Cup win.A appropriate accomplishment from Harlequins’ Joe Marler in November – absolutely committing to his metaphor. “We’ve got addition anniversary to get aback on the horse, and booty that horse to the water. And you can ask that horse, you can say: ‘Hey, horsey, do you appetite to accept a alcohol or do you appetite to swim?’ It’s up to that horse to afresh realise what he wants to do in his life. That horse, at the moment, wants to go out on Saturday and he wants to say ‘hello’ to those fans. And he goes : ‘I’m apologetic about the aftereffect aftermost week, but I’m activity to accord a bigger achievement adjoin Bath.’ He’s a hardly Irish horse. So we are attractive forward, like I say, to accepting aback on that horse.” Interviewer: “And are you attractive advanced to accepting aback on the horse?” Marler: “I don’t like horses, I can’t ride.”Headlining 12 months of viral beastly cameos:• Multiple bodies causing time added on, including at Everton v Wolves in February and a Real Salt Lake bold in July at Rio Tinto Amphitheater in the US, area a avoid pitch-invaded aftermost year. • A ailing fox elimination itself on the Oval in July during Surrey v Glamorgan;• A accumulate abolition the Minnesota Twins alert in two nights, authoritative the Twins’ dugout “scatter in fear”. • A bee army sending players to the accommodation at Sri Lanka v South Africa at Chester-le-Street in June. Faf du Plessis: “It is actual funny actually. It’s like someone’s run a apparatus gun through the players.” • Two stags abolition Fort William’s training this month. @Mocko500: “Fort William approved to action them contracts, but they were two deer.” • A awkward first-half possum dabbling Puebla’s cruise to Veracruz in January. Veracruz said the possum was “treated by vets afore abiding to the wild”. • Half a dozen hippos bistro Letaba’s rugby angle in May. The club told South African media: “These boys aloof came up from the river and started grazing.” • And the purest ambition anniversary of 2019 – a deer hitting the net, afresh dancing away. 20.8m views.Was Freddie, accepting his life-changing aboriginal attending central Goodison Park.Also causing “something in my eye” tweets in 2019:• David Martin adhering dad Alvin afterwards his West Ham admission at 33; • Tearful tennis adept Nicolas Mahut actuality consoled by his adolescent son in June afterwards defeat at Roland Garros to Leonardo Mayer, who additionally larboard in tears; • And Jordan Henderson with his dad Brian in June afterwards the Champions Alliance final. Brian, a blight survivor, said later: “When he was 12 I took him to the Champions Alliance final, and aback they came out to the Champions Alliance music he said: ‘Dad, I’m activity to comedy it one day.’ Not alone already but twice, and now he’s won one. So the tears come, you alpha shaking, you grab the wife, you grab the daughter-in-law, you grab anybody that’s about you. I’m aloof so happy.”Going the added mile: Duncan Ferguson’s Everton ambition celebrators; José Mourinho advantageous Callum, 15, with a pasta cafeteria for his abetment adjoin Olympiakos; and this Wimbledon tennis ballboy who, admitting a sustained, shock assimilation from a rogue sprinkler, backward in place, cocked and straight-faced. Until the atomic beam got out.From Rebekah Vardy, asked if she’d confronted Coleen Rooney afterwards their amusing media advancing calm in October. “That would be like arguing with a pigeon. You can acquaint it that you are appropriate and it is wrong, but it’s still activity to bits in your hair.” How To Leave Sport Award Ideas Without Being Noticed | Sport Award Ideas - sport award ideas | Encouraged for you to my personal blog, in this particular time period I'm going to demonstrate with regards to keyword. 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[sepiadice]

NavyDice Campaign (2019/9/2): Talking to Bad Guys

Oh hey, we’re back already! Cool!

This time I was asked the day before if I was available instead of ninety minutes before! Though it got solidly confirmed three hours before the meet-up time. Which is still technically double the time as the first session! I was even half an hour late, which might seem rude to rational and respectful people, but considering how much I was mocked by NavyDice for my punctuality…[1]

But I am always super down for RPG sessions, provided I don’t have to, like, work for, like, money to live off of.

Though my job also asked me to run D&D once a week, so I guess I’m technically living a life dream? In a way I didn’t expect nor find satisfying? Which is exactly in tone of my life so far.

Everyone from the last session returns, which is good because it’s actually a reasonable size, so things might fall apart if anyone were missing.

Back to life on repeat! (I should probably ask what the actual timescale of this adventure is. Think it’s just a couple hours…)

CAST

Acer ‘Maple’ Palmatum (SepiaDice/Me) Level 6 Elf Fighter. Believes in not letting people suffer if she can stop it, reincarnation,[2] and that endless push-ups are worth it!

Garland (LimeDice) I think he's a wizard! He’s also a little unhinged in mildly baffling matters!

Grumble (Tetrahedron) I got his name wrong last session! But in my defense, his entire identity are words that rhyme and I’m very easily confused!

Poppi (GoldDice) Attempted to retcon herself into ‘sneaks off to have her own adventures’ character! Annoyingly insistent we let people die and get injured by bombs!

So we begin with…

Cycle 5

Granting some mercy in Maple’s insistence that waiting on and/or ignoring the brigand attack that starts each session is a bad take, NavyDice allows us some time to talk and reconnect in the mysterious darkness between cycles. Which is nice.

Poppi spends it withholding information and trying to convince Maple not to go help the citizens in the marketplace, which Maple makes clear she won’t compromise on. Otherwise, the group exchanges information learned from previous cycles.

We then awaken to a knock on the door, and Maple runs off to deal with that situation. I roll percentile (with disadvantage) to see if Maple does any better this time. She does! In that she survives with injuries, Masem dies, and the vest bomb still goes off. Not great, but I survived this time, which is progress!

She also sees Poppi momentarily pop out of invisibility, grab the bomb vest and leave, and later the explosion happened some distance away, so Maple is reasonably suspicious of Poppi’s motives.

Maple starts to limp to the prison. She found out they’re holding the gang leader there, and she hopes to get more information.

Garland and Grumble talked to Masem some to get a method to meet with the local lordship to gather information, and head to the manor for information searching.

They meet with the lord’s secretary (a dragonborn with cats-eye glasses and a beehive hairdo named Margaret) who has your typical flirty cougar personality because… well, you give NavyDice a secretary to play and he does it with limited range.

Luckily, LimeDice gets his revenge for his secretary encounter back in my Genesys Campaign. Stay tuned!

The lord is in a meeting with his advisor, and when it ends, the advisor goes off to do other things. Garland follows to question him while Grumbles attends the meeting with the Lord.[3]

Garland enters the advisor’s office, and takes charge through utter bafflement. To the point it confuses even NavyDice, who usually is pretty good at picking up what others put down.

Garland asks the advisor to take a seat, but is disappointed when the advisor sits in his own chair, as Garland had designs to steal that one. Instead, Garland leans against the desk and begins to tell the advisor about the situation, ask about the mysterious fire orb in the bank, dip his fingers into the advisor’s tea to rinse them off and clean behind his ears, try to intimidate the advisor, touch the spines of the various books in the office, pick up the cup of coffee the advisor had,[4] asks the advisor to drink but refuses to let the advisor have the actual mug (Garland intending hold the mug as the advisor drank), dismissed Margaret when she came to check up on things, concluded his conversation with the advisor, saluted, bowed, and shut the door behind him.

It was mostly the tea thing that was confusing, but the other stuff didn’t help!

In this exchange, Garland mostly just confirmed that the Advisor is aware of the mysterious fire orb the Lord keeps in a safety deposit box in the bank.[5]

Grumble, meanwhile, talked with the Lord himself. Grumble established the existence of the time loop and knowledge of the mysterious fire orb. The Lord, in return, reveals the orbs is a super weapon passed down his family line in case of emergencies, and a code phrase/ personal detail that would allow Grumble to immediately buy the Lord in on the time loop on future loops and get things mobilized earlier.

The two reconvene, share their discoveries, and head out to do more sewers investigation.

Maple eventually makes it to the prison and invites herself in (as, canonically, the only Hero who survived the marketplace today). She drags a chair outside the prison cell holding the brigand leader (named Eli) and attempts to talk to him.

However, Officer Jenkins insists that Eli is not allowed to speak, so all Maple can get out of him is a vague message about her being in ‘the crowd’.

The Lord then arrives to the prison to announce the feast. Maple isn’t completely thrilled to be dragged to a feast,[6] but isn’t able to get anywhere with Eli while Jenkins is standing guard and rudely preventing Maple having a conversation. So Maple might as well just go to the stupid feast.

Church bells, wave of darkness, end of loop.

Cycle 6

Poppi spends the time the party spends floating in darkness irritatingly trying to convince Maple to let the bomb vest go. Eventually I lie to her to get her to stop filibustering our catch up time,[7] and some valuable information gets exchanged. Like Grumble identifying that Eli was referring to his hanging from an earlier loop Maple was present at. Which is interesting.

There’s a knocking on the door. Maple runs off to be a good person.

Poppi follows, using a spell to disguise herself as a brigand to try and actively sabotage Maple’s efforts.

I roll percentile dice again (now with double disadvantage). I finally get a result high enough that Maple and Masem survive (though are injured), the brigands are defeated, and, importantly, the bomb vest is neutralized. I roll an arcane knowledge check to verify the safety of my next action, and canonically destroy the vest by burning it. We also keep one brigand alive in case someone wants to interrogate him.

No one gets around to interrogating him.

Poppi’s disguise results in Maple unknowingly dealing significant damage to her. Poppi then runs off to sulk.[9]

This is satisfying enough to be my default checkpoint in future loops.

Maple and Masem limp off to the prison. Maple finally has what she needs to make the progress I wanted to make last session.

Grumble and Garland go to the bank and stake-out the exit of the bank heisters. Not to stop them, but instead to follow them into the sewers and out to find their hideout.

Poppi also went to get lost in the sewers, and she stumbles upon the other two eventually.

Finally at the prison, Maple impresses upon Masem her need to talk to Eli freely, and would appreciate it if Masem would tell Jenkins to shove it.

Maple pulls a chair over, sits down, and finally talks to Eli, who is surprisingly upfront and willing to talk.

Eli has also been experiencing the time loops, but for a longer period than our protagonists. Like, stopped counting after a thousand. Same last meal, same execution, same restart for a thousand loops.

Which is enough information for Maple to add ‘Don’t let Eli die’ to her daily to do list. Over a thousand deaths is enough for any crime.

Eli doesn’t know exactly why anything is happening, as he’s been in his cell this whole time, but is able to speculate the overpowered bomb vest is to spring him. That Eli claims to have died thousands of times, however, implies it only worked the once, when Maple died unable to stop the advance. Which is time-wimey and confusing, but does imply the vest only reaches its destination if someone interferes in a non-Maple fashion.

Masem, when asked for comment, says he wishes the execution would stick.

The Lord arrives to announce the feast again. Maple still doesn’t want to go, but has nothing better to do.[10]

Maple attends Eli’s execution again, where the two stare each other down because it’s kind of an awkward situation.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party locates the Brigands’ base, infiltrate, and Garland gets spotted and does a terrible series of bluffs in an attempt to get out, but one of the smarter brigands isn’t buying his ‘You are but a small piece of Eli’s grander plan that I’m here in service of’ story, and it’s all very awkward.

Anyways, the loop ends, and we enter a darkness group-up segment where the party agrees it’d be a good idea to get Eli out of the prison. Poppi tries to argue with Maple again, and Maple points out Eli’s also experiencing the loops, so they can no longer assume our party’s the only one remembering the time shenanigans, and regardless, just letting people die and get injured is cruel. Poppi keeps trying to argue, but Garland shuts her down and the session ends because Tetrahedron is sick and needed the session to end.

Don’t know when the next session will be, but the turn-around time between the first two is a good sign.

Until next time, may your dice make things interesting.

- [1] Alway thought the ‘Cool Kids arrive late’ rule was a joke made up by, like, Fairy Oddparents. [2] Characters’ religious beliefs came up briefly in the first session. [3] Who I don’t remember if he got a name? [4] NavyDice established both the tea and coffee, so that one’s on him. [5] Though, to me, it seems like the sort of thing one would want to keep in a safe in their own manor instead of offsite. [6] Due to the innate Vimes-traits I can’t scrub out, Maple isn’t overly fond of nobility or ceremony. [7] You learn the power of not making specific promises and white lies when you work with neurodiverse youth. It doesn’t always feel good, but it can get them out of a negative spiral.[8] [8] That I have to use this experience on an adult to prevent the game from stalling is disappointing. [9] Out of character, I’m irritated with attempted guilt-trips and complaining by GoldDice over me sticking to my guns on not sitting out and letting bad things just happen to satisfy her curiosity. It’s a waste of time, and I straight despise people trying to manipulate me with guilt trips. [10] Although, note to self: follow-up on where Masem gets called away to before the dark wave crashes.

[stoweboyd]

2017-02-22 - Digest

[I was experimenting with forms leading to what is now the Work Futures Weekly, I guess.]

ON THE FUTURE OF WORK

Paul Mason, Automation may mean a post-work society but we shouldn’t be afraid

A low-work society is only a dystopia if the social system is geared to distributing rewards via work.

I am sympathetic to Mason’s perspectives, but not convinced that our conventional economy can be coaxed into a soft landing.

The Heroic Future by Alex Steffen

Alex Steffen is raising funds for The Heroic Future on Kickstarter! A live documentary series about reimagining the world of tomorrow, in order to rebuild the world today.

ON ADVERTISING

Ben Thompson, The Reality of Missing Out

Digital advertising is becoming a rather simple proposition: Facebook, Google, or don’t bother.

[…]

I have been arguing for a while that in the aggregate the tech sector is fine, and the state of advertising-based services is a perfect example of what I mean: taken as a basket the six companies in this article (Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Yelp) are up 19% over the last year, even though the latter four companies are down a collective 53%; the fact that Google and Facebook are up a combined 31% more than makes up for it.

This makes sense: while advertising as a whole is a zero-sum game, there is a secular shift from not just print but also radio and TV to digital, which is why this basket of digital advertising companies is up. Digital, though, is subject to the effects of Aggregation Theory, a key component of which is winner-take-all dynamics, and Facebook and Google are indeed taking it all.

We are seeing winner-takes-all in a number of other sectors: it’s a central outcome of a platform economy.

On Time

Adam Taylor, The radical plan to destroy time zones

Are time zones inherently flawed? That’s what Steve Hanke and Dick Henry think.

A few years back Hanke, a prominent economist with Johns Hopkins University and a senior fellow with the CATO Institute think tank, and Henry, a professor of physics and astronomy at Johns Hopkins, teamed up to propose a new calendar designed to fix the inefficiencies of the current one. The plan was dubbed the “Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar.” Last month, after reading a WorldViews story about Pyongyang time, Hanke reached out to us to detail another idea that he and Henry had devised to fix the chaos caused by time zones.

The plan was strikingly simple. Rather than try to regulate a variety of time zones all around the world, we should instead opt for something far easier: Let’s destroy all these time zones and instead stick with one big “Universal Time.”

This is something like Swatch’s ‘Beat Time’ which was a universal single time zone based on 1000 ‘beats’ per day. The Hanke-Henry Permanent Calendar doensn’t through the second, minute, and hour out the window, though. Just time zones.I think my proposal — Boydian Time — is way better. 13 months of 28 days each, with special days — not in any week or month — for New Years and Leap Day. PS — And no time zones.

ON THE POSTNORMAL

Ricardo de Queral, Zygmunt Bauman: “Social media are a trap”

An inspiration for Spain’s May 15 movement, the sociologist is skeptical about chances for change:

Zygmunt Bauman: We could describe what is going on at the moment as a crisis of democracy, the collapse of trust: the belief that our leaders are not just corrupt or stupid, but inept. Action requires power, to be able to do things, and we need politics, which is the ability to decide what needs to be done. But that marriage between power and politics in the hands of the nation state has ended. Power has been globalized, but politics is as local as before. Politics has had its hands cut off. People no longer believe in the democratic system because it doesn’t keep its promises. We see this, for example, with the migration crisis: it’s a global phenomenon, but we still act parochially. Our democratic institutions were not designed for dealing with situations of interdependence. The current crisis of democracy is a crisis of democratic institutions.

[…]

Today, every society is just a collection of diasporas.

Bauman continues to astonish.

ON ANTHROPOLOGY

MIchael Gazzaniga, On the Road to Humankind With Leon Festinger

It is the more primitive inventiveness of humans — technology and its role as the engine that powered humankind to dazzling heights of accomplishment — that pushed the slow grind of advancement into the fast lane of evolution. And Leon [Festinger, of the ‘cognitive dissonance’ fame], being a social psychologist at his core, began to see how technology could be used to control human life. Technologies are not only physical things. They can be social forces as well, like philosophical or religious beliefs.

[…]

Yet when Yuval Harari is talking about gaining control of people by the use of fictions, he is talking about the kinds of abstractions and ideas everybody can understand — money, religion, politics and preferences, the kinds of things an interpreter is at work on all day long. As the novelist captures the personal, the historian captures the social story within which most of us are embedded and uniquely thrive. It is the inventive interpretive mind first applying itself to our personal life and then to our social existence that is our core skill. Once humankind realized it possessed this technology, we seized on it to thrive in and control our niche on earth.

The most potent read of the week, partially because Festinger sounds like such a character, but mostly because of its reference to Yuval Harari’s work, from which I found this [emphasis mine]:

We control the world basically because we are the only animals that can cooperate flexibly in very large numbers. And if you examine any large-scale human cooperation, you will always find that it is based on some fiction like the nation, like money, like human rights. These are all things that do not exist objectively, but they exist only in the stories that we tell and that we spread around. This is something very unique to us, perhaps the most unique feature of our species. — Yuval Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind

ON POLITICS

Jill Filipovic, Why Sexism at the Office Makes Women Love Hillary Clinton

As a young lawyer, one of the first things I noticed about department meetings at my law firm was not just the dearth of female partners, but that one of the few female partners always seemed to be in charge of ordering lunch. I listened as some of my male colleagues opined on the need to marry a woman who would stay home with the children — that wasn’t sexist, they insisted, because it wasn’t that they thought only women should stay home; it was just that somebody had to, and the years in which they planned on having children would be crucial ones for their own careers.

I saw that the older white, male partners who mentored the younger white, male associates were able to work long days and excel professionally precisely because their stay-at-home wives took care of everything else; I saw that virtually none of the female partners had a similar setup.

In jobs that followed, managers would remark that they wanted “more women” and proceed to reject qualified candidates. (Similar dynamics took place with minority candidates.) There were always reasons — not the right cultural fit, not the right experience, a phenomenon of unintentional sexism now well documented in controlled studies. I watched as men with little or irrelevant experience were hired and promoted, because they had such great ideas, or they fit in better. “We want a woman,” the conclusion seemed to be, “just not this woman.”

Watching a primary election in which an eminently qualified woman long assumed to be a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination faces a serious challenge from an older white guy with exciting ideas, many women my age and older hear something familiar, and personal, in the now-common refrain about Hillary Clinton: “I want a woman president, just not this woman president.”

Any candidate would be smart to call up Filipovic and have a long talk.

THIS WEEK’S POETRY

A new addition to the digest.

Leslie B. Neustadt, How To Plunge Into The Abyss The darkness is hard to explore. Await calm seas to shed light on the hidden world of strange life forms. Dress warmly and communicate with your mother ship. Take a shape that resists the crushing pressure. Slip between the waves in a vertical torpedo. Don’t stir up so much ooze you can’t see. Kiss the bottom and rise quickly.