#there's a lot that I would choose multiple for

[whyohwhydoris]

In university, I took a course on international foreign and military policy. This course used US policy decisions from 1900 onwards to analyse the struggles on international politics, particularly from a military stand point. As we were learning different models of analysis and decision making, and while we were looking for traps like group-think, etc, we got to the Cuban Missile Crisis. My professor - a brilliant woman with a background in Marxist economic theory - set us a game.

Anyway, our class of ~35 were divided into 8 teams and the teams were paired off. We were presented with a modified prisoners dilemma: across multiple rounds, we had to choose whether or not to nuke our opponents. If neither team pulled the trigger, both earned 5 points; if both did, both earned 3 points; if one did, they earned 10 points and the other earned 0.

At the end, the winning team with the most points would win extra credit - enough to shift a letter grade on an assignment.

I convinced my team to nuke round 1. We were the only team that did. We nuke each other the next three rounds. But, after, teams are nuking each other a lot. Most games devolve into a perpetual nuclear exchange. Eventually, I quietly asked "can we let the other team make our decision for us?" - the professor replied that the only limits were in our instructions. For the next 12-15 turns, our teams developed and used a mutual verification. But, my team had the lead from the first round. Because we had developed a peace mechanism early though, we had racked up the most points between us. Third to last round, the other team, knowing they can only win with a unilateral strike, refuse our mechanism. I tell them, clearly, we will launch if they back out. My team is letting me lead because we're far and away the winners. They still withdraw, and for the last few turns, we nuke each other.

At the end, the instructor goes around, and she says she has never seen teams nuke each other so much. That we're the most cynical class she has ever had. Everyone talks through their strategy and reasoning. Through their whys. And, at the end, she amused but slightly disquiet. And the one of my peers pipes up:

"We're the 9/11 generation. We've grown up during the global war on terror. We've seen military and foreign policy cock ups for our entire lives."

The class start talking about it, about how that impacted us and our world view. We don't play games. We don't assume. Because we've seen the arrogance of the US government get too many people killed all to make a problem worse. We won't assume that our adversary is less able than us. We won't assume they are less cunning. Or that we aren't the villains of their story.

She said that we might be the first class she had ever had to uniformly deny American exceptionalism. That, despite that, we might be the most patriotic class she'd ever had. Because each and every one of us had talked about democracy, equality, liberty. As we condemned US foreign policy in our lifetimes, we talked about the other sides of our conflicts as equals, and with sorrow. About emerging adversaries as problems we must be unbe ding with, but as people who need compassion non-the-less.

I don't know why this reminded me of that - of that moment of cynical black-hearted hope in that class room as we looked around and realized we had to fix these things. Bitterness and hope together. A coldness and a compassion paired. A willingness and desire for cooperation, but an unwavering moral sensibility.

introducing my four year old niece to the concept of "moral dilemmas" by telling her that i'm a monster that eats children and that i know it's wrong but i'm so so so hungry and everything else tastes yucky. i've tried all the human food in the world and it all tastes so yucky i can't even eat it. i can only eat children and i'm so hungry

[knnichs]

you were mine (but you were awful everytime.)

with kinich’s busy schedule, he somehow can’t find the time to even send you short letters on how he was doing.  or: watching your childhood friend disappear from your hands.

c. kinich & gn!reader ( platonic or romantic, not explicitly stated )

t. character(s) are childhood friends with reader, can be read as platonic or romantic, word vomit, NO BETA WE DIE LIKE .... LIKE WHO???, angst, hurt/no comfort wow i can finally use this tag, little to no dialogue, wc: 1.4k

taglist. @honeyney @pneumosia @tragedy-of-commons @gl4di0lus @ariadnehelx @azuresaqua @mikashisus -> join the taglist here!

A REQUEST FROM @ MIKASHISUS: i’m here for the valentine’s event >:3 may i req iris + evanesce + kalopsia + lacuna for kinich? 🤍 GARDENERS NOTE: RAY IM GOING TO STRANGLE YOU. THIS WAS LITERALLY SO INSANE TO WRITE heres me self projecting AGAIN!

more author notes at the end !

“You don’t think that one day we’ll be separated, right?” 

You played with the grass underneath you, plucking out one after the other and attempting to braid them together to create a makeshift crown. It doesn’t work, it unravels itself on your palm and the blades of green straighten itself back to its original shape. The sun was just setting, this was yet another boring day in the fields of Natlan. The boy beside you scoffs at your question, almost offended if you listen in real hard. 

“No. And I’ll make sure of it.” 

Kinich never liked to talk of the future. When you ask him of what he sees himself doing a few years from now–he would redirect the conversation and ask you to help him with some chores the tribe chief assigned him to do instead. He buries himself in work, even as a child, just to stop his mind from drifting to those kinds of philosophical questions. Who has the time for it anyway?

You, ever so displeased by his straightforward answer, pressed him even more. You wanted to hear more–what he thought of you, what he would do if you were ever to drift away from him, so you asked him: How?

He fell silent for a moment, looking down to his feet. Kinich fiddled with something in his hand before he turned to you, giving you a weak smile. The boy hands you a flower, white and pure, and sits right in front of you. 

“I’ll make a promise,” He raises his pinkie, tilting his head as he did–his bright eyes sure to be forever ingrained in your memory. “That I’ll promise to stand by you until we both die. Is that enough?” 

“But how will you make sure that you’ll keep that promise? Swear it.”

He reaches for your hand, trying to set up the pinkie promise ceremony to get this over with. 

“Then… I swear on my heart, I will be with you.”

You hook your finger around his tightly, as if trying not to let go of the moment. Kinich blocked the sun–but the orange glow reached the tufts of his hair and seeped through the black strands. He used his other hand to cover where the two of you linked, sealing the promise, and he let go.

“You better make sure of it–or else I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life.” You say, pointing a finger at him accusingly. He raises his hands up, surrendering to your wishes. 

Kinich has always been popular in the Scions. You remember the people who once made fun of him as a kid were now fawning over his looks now that he was older, you were really only the real person who stuck by him through the years. You were there when the other kids picked on him, and you were there even after he had gotten his vision.

But now? You could only wish to be a part of his itinerary. 

You don’t blame him, life as a saurian hunter is difficult. Yes, not many would go into that kind of profession, it’s cruel, but someone has to do it. Kinich had no issue choosing to go to that rabbit hole even when you explained to him multiple times that you were concerned about him going through all of that just for some pouches of mora. Well–the amount of mora you get per commission is indeed quite a lot, but there must’ve been some better way to earn it, right?

Day by day, you never fail to return to the same tree where the two of you had made that promise. An emptiness would fill your chest–one so painful you’re sure nothing or no one else could help fix it but him. You hold Kinich so dear to your heart that it’s difficult to imagine a world without him. What if you had never met? Would things have been different then?

The same sun would sink below the grass, the same gust of wind that greets you–brushing past your hair with the gentlest touch. The same tree would shed its leaves seasonally, and the occasional smell of nostalgia hits you hard. How you had missed lounging around here, under the leaves, with your friend. How you missed when days were boring, and your biggest worry was how you’d get home before it got dark and your parents would scold you for being out too long.

Kinich held your hand when you walked through the streets of Natlan once the moon rose, he held your hand when talking to the vendors in the market and you had no clue how to talk to them–they were intimidating, he couldn’t blame you. It’s a shame he was forced to grow up so young. He protected you as a way to heal his inner child–to give the love he never got. 

You just had to ruin it. 

You just had to be so selfish–to ask him for more time, just a few minutes more or seconds, even. Just a little more time to spend with him, just enough to watch the sun rise or fall, just enough to have one more conversation about nothing and everything. When he does give in to your requests–the two of you end up saying nothing, the silence speaks volumes, you’ve drifted apart. There’s nothing to talk about but the past. You know almost nothing of his life now that he seems so far. 

Those were the same eyes that looked at you with such fondness it was hard to express it in words. You remember the sound of his footsteps when he’d creep up behind you to greet you, you remember the messy handwriting he had when he was just learning–the random letters he’d give you throughout the day just to show you how appreciative he was of your presence. Because you were there when others weren’t, you made him feel loved when the others didn’t think of him as someone equal simply because of his childhood.

His name has always been on the tip of your tongue, a silent prayer of wanting to see him for just a second, swinging through the trees with the boxes in hand for his delivery. The bright yellow of his saurian companion, the brightness of his eyes, the sound of his voice. You had never imagined it would end like this, with him frustrated–your tears close to spilling, under the same tree you had spent time with the most, he would tell you how much you bugged him asking for time out of his very busy life. You couldn’t say anything but recall the times of your youth. 

“No one has the right to dictate my time,” He’d glare at you, his voice laced with something unfamiliar–for the very first time he was angry. “Even you.”

“You promised… you promised you’d stick with me until death. Does that mean nothing to you, at all?”

“We were kids, I don’t believe that counts–you know what? Give me a break. I already have so much to my plate that I don’t think I have the energy to do this.”

The situation was helpless. You didn’t trust your voice enough that you would retort with some witty remark like you used to as a child–you couldn’t shout back at him for being rude to you when all you’ve ever done to him was treat him with the kindness he didn’t know existed. Each word shared between the two of you were etched deep within your mind, he was a part of your soul. You couldn’t believe he would leave you this easily.

So you whisper–because you can’t shout, you can’t speak. 

“Don’t be a stranger,”

Your vision was blurry when he finally turned his back on you. You’re not sure if that was still him, stopping in his tracks, or if it was the tree swaying from the wind– almost mocking you of what just happened, giving the illusion that he was still here, that he’d be willing to salvage whatever the two of you had.

When you call out for his name, no one appears. He wasn’t there to lend you his bandana to dry your tear stained cheeks, stop you from roughly rubbing your eyes so it wouldn’t get itchy later. 

He was truly the only person that felt like home, and on the day of love–you had never expected for him to leave so easily. 

@ knnichs 2023 ﹑ do not repost, republish, translate, feed to ai or modify any of my works. doing so can and will result into me blocking you.

reblogs with comments are INCREDIBLY appreciated! go scream go feral idc i will eat all of them up and run away with a familiarly shaped reblog in my mouth, thank you.

DAWG THE WAY THIS WAS SO SELF INDULGENT UM the prompts reminded me of something that happened way back THIS IS MY FIRST TIME WRITING ABOUT IT SO I HOPE IT WAS SO BAD UMMMM i literally dont know how to put my feelings into words if u can tell LOL! anyway probably my first time ?? writing hurt no comfort or pure angst ... this is new TO ME !!!! i hope its ok !!

[rei-ismyname]

The first X-Men election!

In what's implied to be at least partly in response to the Quiet Council's unelected and unaccountable oligarchy, Jean and Scott democratise the X-Men. Jean looks great in a glammed up version of her Marvel Girl costume. Scott is also wearing an outfit.

The campaigning, vote, and announcement all take place at the first Hellfire Gala. This ensures that X-Men membership is more accessible, as the Gala is yearly, I think. The sliding timescale is a headfuck, but it was a year real time so that's what I'm going with. Jean links all mutant minds together so Krakoa can select its public representatives. Look, it's Peeper!

All the mutants are used to this stuff, but Thor is confused and Johnny Storm freaks out. Doctor Strange thinks it's elegant but Johnny just wigs out more. Who invited this guy? I guess they needed an oaf for this scene and Johnny is as good as any. Anywayyyy, the votes are in!

Rogue! Sunfire! Wolverine (Laura!) Synch! Polaris!

Plus Jean and Scott as co-leaders, the X-Men take the stage for a group shot. They look fabulous, especially Rogue, Polaris and Sunfire. This was pretty big for the X-Men, for Krakoa, and for superhero teams in general. We know why they don't, but the Quiet Council really should have followed suit here. Even just expanding the expectations and accountability a little bit would have gone a long way. This X-Men election continued for the rest of Krakoa's existence as a nation, and after the second one Scott and Jean started stepping back after ensuring their replacements were worthy.

It might seem like a small thing, but the people collectively choosing who represents them is a very positive thing, even if it puts a lot of trust in Jean. I think if you got multiple rotating telepaths running it you could 99.99% ensure the process is free from corruption. There's always that 0.01% with time travel or whatever. It's cool that there's more women than men on the team, though it's still very white.

[heftmanrhamm]

Heeeeyyyyyyyyy @brezideje :) !!!! Thank you for tagging me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D <3 <3 💖<3

hardcover or paperback // bookstore or library // bookmark or receipt // stand alone or series // nonfiction or fiction // thriller or fantasy // under 300 pages or over 300 pages or the exact number of pages needed and no more or less // children's or ya // friends to lovers or enemies to lovers // read in bed or read on the couch or anywhere // read at night or in the morning or anytime // keep pristine or markup // cracked spine or dog ear

Tagging: (this is like, if you're wanting to do it. No pressure. Apologies if you've already been tagged or something :) ) @miniaturestarlightdelight @five-potatoes-high @iiep-wop @streetjack

[wobster109]

First, a specific note. The study mentioned that birth city was randomly generated on the randomized charts, but could happen to match the person’s actual birth city. I believe that this could be a giveaway. If I saw 5 charts to choose from, and the cities were Chicago, Chicago, NYC, LA, and SF… could Chicago have been rolled twice on 2 decoy charts by chance? Sure, but my feeling is, it’s more likely that Chicago showed up twice due to one of them being the real person’s birthplace. So I’d pick one of the Chicago charts. (Haven’t done the math on this.) edit: have since done the math on this. I was mistaken. Assuming pool of 100 cities: 1*(4C1*1*99*98*97) ways to get Chicago, Chicago, X, Y, Z from the person being from Chicago. 99*(4C2*1*1*98*97) ways to get that list from the person being from one of the other 99 cities. Works out to 2/5 chance of being from Chicago, or 1/5 for each multiple choice option. Math is only for the case of AABCD (one city is repeated twice and the other 3 options are unique).

On that note, could I do better than random chance just by picking the most populous city out of the 5 chart options? For example if 98 people came from NYC and 2 people came from Juneau, I’d guess NYC for everyone and be 98% accurate.

This probably didn’t come up with only 12 people’s charts. But with more charts, better make sure any birth city is equally likely in the test data set. For example if you have 100 charts, don’t make 50 of them be from NYC.

-

This is interesting. I read the whole thing and one of the things they pointed out is, while 152 is a solid sample size for participants, 12 is a small sample size for questions.

In other words, for some people their personality is nothing like what astrology would predict. And for other people it happens to match up by chance. The example the write-up uses is “people born in February are more empathetic” (this is not something astrologers actually believe, just a made-up example).

So let’s pretend that “February births are empathetic” is a widespread belief. Say you grab 12 people’s charts, and 2 of them were born in February. You might get lucky or unlucky, and both of them happen to be empathetic just by chance. So going off that belief, you get those 2 correct, and 2 out of 12 is a big deal. That alone could be enough to push the astrologers to be more accurate than random guessing would be.

But if you grabbed 1200 charts, you’d get about 100 February ones, and they wouldn’t all be empathetic people by chance. They’d be more representative of the population. And then, choosing based on “Feb births are empathetic” wouldn’t help.

I realize that making a participant answer 1200 questions would be ridiculous and unreasonable. How about choosing 12 charts randomly, and anyone who gets over half or so correct goes in for a larger test of 100 charts? Then the 12-chart version is like a screening. If you get a low score, you are definitely not a “real” astrologer. If you get a high score, you may be a real astrologer or you may have gotten lucky on the screening, so you go in for a more comprehensive test.

I do believe there should be a small better-than-randomness result. I don’t think astrology is real, but I think a lot of people are aware of it, or believe in it, or do it for fun. I think that hearing “Feb births are empathetic” may affect how you see yourself, especially if you believe in astrology. Or someone who believes in it may repeat it to their Feb-born child.

I also think there may be a small correlation between birth city and personality or mannerisms/wording used in answering the survey questions. For example if you were born in NYC, maybe you lived there for at least part of your life, and that may show up in how you answered the survey questions. Making the survey multiple-choice would help some but not completely. I do believe that your environment/culture affects your outlook and personality, and if you got very large samples, I’d expect this to show up!

Astrology doesn't seem to work.

[wardensantoineandevka]

I see there's posts floating around directly and blatantly arguing against mine (same wording) by completely misunderstanding what I said. I'm fucking BACK, babey. Should've bought some hay-scented fragrance while I was at Sephora today, because I am once again your strawman!

[dykedvonte]

I think the most baffling thing about the Tulpar as a vessel to me is the fact that the ship really did only have a one way communication system.

I know it was cheap but even the most basic of vessels regarding major transport would have some way, shape or form for outside communication. Not only that but there was absolutely no form of innate emergency signal to show they may have been offline or in trouble despite clearly having a system to dock credits if they went off course. It's another factor that really shows that bad situations are made to get worse by design. One person who is required to relay all information to the crew and make all the choices without feedback. No way to update or call for help in case of a dire situation. No way to inform of inner personal conflicts and acquire procedures accordingly.

It really is like they are all in some sort of fucked up solitary confinement. They have their own world with strict roles that are meaningless in the end, as long as the cargo makes it, it doesn't matter what happens on that ship to the company. They don't want to hear anything and will come to conclusions on what happened based on how much pay they can withhold from the workers. Even what they do send is short, sterile and corporate to the extent it was likely written and sent out with a command by some random unmanned computer in an office.

There's something to be said about how unfair it is to force absolute power and control onto one person when you as an entity could do so much more to offload it but I've said it many times before so I won't again.

[isdalinarhot]

My favorite sex headcanon that is not fueled by lust in any way but just exists because it’s funny to me. Is that Evi has like a super mega piss kink like Cannot Get Off If There’s No Piss Involved kind of shit and Dalinar Does Not Have A Piss Kink At All but he’s like you know what. Some of Sadeas’s wildest fantasies are shit like wound fucking and forced castration so in comparison to that peeing on you every time we have sex is no biggie and so even though for Dalinar his Evi sex is lackluster unenthusiastic pretend-she’s-Navani reproductive at best, Evi’s Dalinar sex is wildly wildly good. Because she gets to have Dalinar pee on her. Love wins

[thebibliosphere]

There are genuine reasons some authors want to work with kindle unlimited only—and that’s usually because they are able to produce enough work to make bank on page reads.

Lots and lots of romance authors choose to do KU only because what they would earn by going wide is minuscule compared to what they might earn through page reads from romance readers, and let me be clear I’m talking about a very specific type of romance reader, the type of person who reads multiple books a day.

There’s a huge market for that on KU.

From my perspective, KU isn’t worth it for me as an author, not least of all because Kindle Unlimited demands exclusivity which means your book has to temporarily be pulled from other retailers and libraries (trad-pub gets away with it because they have exclusive deals with distributors, including Amazon)

However, if you want to appeal to those kinds of readers without using Amazon, I highly encourage folks to check out Kobo+ which has been rapidly expanding, offers similar pricing deals for readers and payouts to authors but also lets authors distribute their work to the broader market, including libraries.

It’s a win win. We just need to drag the readers over there away from KU.

Ok, I've seen this sentiment before, but the amount of Kindle Unlimited ads I've been seeing is forcing me to repeat it-

Kindle Unlimited is offering two free months of unlimited ebooks. As a trial. Which will then become a paid subscription.

Your local library is offering unlimited ebooks all the time. Forever. No contracts, no predatory practices, no tracking of how long you spend on each particular page in the hopes that information about your habits can be sold for a profit.

Use your library. They want so badly to give you all of the things for free.

[itsalwaysdark]

also its so dumb that one of the arguments ppl have against a sims 5 is that theyve already invested too much money into 4. like yes its fucking scummy that ea charges so much for dlc and its Ludicrous the amt sims 4 costs if you have all the dlc and its going to keep getting more and more expensive but . to be honest . why are you paying for sims packs. im sry

[elitehoe]

The Elite vs HOB fallout will be devastating and the most important part of the devastation will be defined by who is misted.

[waterbearable]

fuck bhaal all my homies hate bhaal

[plantb0t]

-said I wouldn't get into the whole bottom surgery thing- -really wants to get into the whole bottom surgery thing-

[aliosne]

I stumbled into another facet of this due to a less-than-ideal ttrpg experience. Sometimes the fantasy is What If Everything Were Fucking Easy, Actually

I understand and respect that a lot of people want to be challenged by their games! I’ve watched lots of meta for fromsoft games and the like, I understand why working hard at things and mastering skills down to the frame is satisfying!

It is hard for me to go piss.

Recognising I have to piss, initiating Time To Go Piss protocol, standing up, walking to the bathroom, lowering myself safely to the toilet, and so on? It is physically and mentally hard—and painful!—for me.

When I sit down to play a videogame or gather around the table for a session, I want to live a fantasy where not only are mundane things like going to the grocery store or washing dishes not a gauntlet, but I can do AMAZING THINGS with minimal effort and feel cool doing it. I don’t want zero challenge from my games but please. Just for a few minutes or hours. I want to live in a world where things ARE fucking easy.

a reminder to my fellow disabled people it isn't wrong or make you less of a player for using accessibility options.

a reminder that playing on a low difficulty only or (like with games with minecraft) no difficulty

a reminder that using unlimited health options like in cult of the lamb is not bad or wrong and you are no less of a player for using it

turning brightness high on horror games like tattletale whether its because you are visually impaired or because you cannot handle the fear a low-light scene can cause.

disabled people are not any less a gamer for needing accessibility options. we are not any less a gamer for playing the game on easy. we are not any less a gamer because we are disabled and might not be able to get all the achievements or trophies or whatever a game has available.

we deserve to be able to enjoy the games we want to play

[bladeofthestars]

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