#theres some similarities in circumstance; but because of who these two are at key points; i cant quite call them 'just the same' exactly | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

trainingdummyrabbit · 1 year ago

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to me, not exactly. at least, i dont think so. i dont really go there (re: akaza,) so i had to dig around and do some research to refresh myself on him; and while i Do definitely see where youre coming from with this, i cant help but feel thats not exactly fair to either of them!

akaza (or hakuji, for this bit specifically) is an interesting character in that he is undyingly loyal. more specifically, he’s a character that has Always had something to care about, (...until he didnt, i suppose.) first with his father, that he was willing and able to commit crimes for just to help, and then again with the dojo and koyuki after That particular trauma. he’s certainly committed acts of dubious morality-- but it has always been for someone he cares about. he doesnt do it for himself, he does it for others. that is, quite literally, his key defining feature. that’s Him.

kaigaku, on the other hand... super isn’t that. of course, this is limited to simply all we know of him from his ~2 chapters of screentime, but kaigaku is a character that, in my eyes, never had much of Anything. nobody he cared about, nor vice versa-- just a cruel world and Himself. he’s never had reason to care. or, more specifically, he’s always actively had a reason not to, no matter how “correct” it was. his entire existence is self-centered, and he acts as such. that is His defining feature. distrust and selfishness.

the key point between the two of them, i think, is Honor.

its something hakuji picked up and held close with the last words of his father And with the influence keizo, the dojo owner. even after becoming a demon, the remnants of that unshaking hold of it still resonates even if he does not recall the reason-- both in the call to protect (or in this case, Serve,) and his own code of morals (re: not attacking women.)

kaigaku, on the other hand, has a bit of a laughable relationship with it. honor has never meant anything to him. its just a word cowards hide behind when theyre too weak to do what needs to be done. strikingly, this applies not just in the meaning of “moral code” but also “dignity,” in that he is willing to go through any length so long as he gets his comeuppance at the end. (interestingly, this plays against akaza’s refusal to keep going in infinity castle in a fascinating way.)

the reason i say “thats unfair to both of them,” specifically, is that: They Would Fucking Hate Each Other. kaigaku was just some lowlife who talks big shit but cant back himself up-- who gloats over things he got by getting lucky and picking through the garbage of their situation like some sort of vermin. akaza was a threat looming over him that he had to overcome, who didnt have the guts to fully commit to being a demon, and, potentially, someone he Actively Resents.

if they’d gotten to know each other, they’d be simultaneously Uncomfortably Similar and Painfully Different in such a way that would just manifest as Disgust in both of them. similar beats, different tunes. like two books of different genres that somehow share a line,but mean them in completely different ways.

akaza, with the complete overwrite of who he is, seeing someone who goes against an internal code of his that he can no longer remember, would get particularly irritated by that disconnect and react a Bit worse than he normally does with people he doesnt like. more than just a typical irritation that he cannot and will not explain. kaigaku sees strange, annoying remnants of those he’d turned against-- what you Can and Cannot do, what is Moral, blah blah he doesn’t care. and then they have the audacity to tell you what to do when they cant even break some stupid code even if that’s the best option. its particular, personal resentments that just so happen to instantly flare up in each other. the sensation of watching someone do the Worst Job Possible and think theyre hot shit for it. one just happens to have way more experience than the other.

aka: akaza would kick his ass and would not think twice about it.

Hehe hi Pik :0 I'll give you three questions for your ask game and you can pick out whatever you want to answer <:]

What are your thoughts on Kaigaku? I know he's a bit of spoiler territory but I'm curious .. or maybe what are your thoughts on Muichiro? You decide!

A question just for me, though ,, do YOU have a favorite bird? .., !!

oh abolutely HYSTERICAL to give a pick scenario and then lay down topics that will instantly get me to talk for hours on end at the drop of a hat KSJNGFKDJNGKD

so!! the easy one!! my favorite bird, ithink, is between the mourning dove and the house sparrow! they are not terribly glamorous but i love them so so dearly and will instantly cheer up when i think about them :')

as for the character questions. thank you for enabling me HJBSJFBJD

i could very very easily write an entire goddamn essay about Either of them, but for the sake of saving whatever brevity i can manage to keep, ill save talking abt mui for when That Episode(tm) drops whenever it does, because inevitebly, i will be Absolutely Inconsolable and it Will happen anyway KJNDKGDF

instead, for now, under a cut because this preamble is already paragraphs long... kaigaku.

i fucking hate this man. i cannot stand him, hes the worst, he is so fucking stupid, i think about him fucking constantly, and he is one of my favorites. he is so fucking insufferable, and i love him!

ok so. getting into kny, i was like. immediately a zenitsu liker. like i saw him and went "god. fuck. shit. its gonna be this nerd i dont even know about yet and i can feel it already." (i was right.) which is Crucial to knowing the angle here. and when i got to his part in th manga, i . genuinely dont remember if i even thought too hard about him. i dont even remember when i Did, i just know that he Wasnt there, and then he Was, and he Never Fucking Left KSJNKDJGN

which is very very fucking funny, considering... how much of a character he straight up Isnt.

like yeah! he sure does show up in a flashback and then fights zen and dies about it! it takes like, a two chapters max! and the entire time, his only character trait is "bitch for no reason." like... that sure isn't a lot to go off of. so like... why? i guess thats kind of the answer in and of itself.

why is he like this? why is he like this?? what made him this way? we know he grew up orphaned, but why? we knew he turned on gyomei's group and ran, but why? we know he trained to be a demon slayer with zen and kuwajima, but why? why, why, why? we just don't know.

we know he's a survivalist. we know that he's willing to go to any lengths, stoop to any lows, just to make it another day. because another day is another chance you get to get them back, to prove them wrong, to rise above it and laugh in their faces and say "see? see what im capable of? bet you feel sorry now."

shame doesnt exist to him. he will make Anything of himself just to make it by. do anything, drop anyone. no connections, impermanence. its clear in flashbacks that, honestly... nobody liked him very much. and like, well, yeah. obviously. he sucks, and he isnt afraid to show it. but isnt that just so strange? broken box of happiness, disatisfaction. he refuses to forge connections, claiming the only people he tolerates are those who respect him, who see his worth.

and that's... the weird thing about him. see, because, the thing is that... i don't fucking believe him for a second. he talks big game, he can back it up, sure, especially as a demon, but... the entire time he talks, every word he says during his confrontation with zen just felt like a bluff. like he's trying to sound threatening, to sound powerful, making a threat display like an animal. every technique he chooses to execute is some new, big, flashy display of his Power, talking, taunting, still taunting.

its a lot of reading between lines, but... this man is a fucking liar. that fight felt different, it felt quick, and well... maybe because it wasn't a fight. this was some guy taking out his anger on someone in a desperate attempt to prove he's worth something.

i just think that this man is a deeply jealous bastard intent on making himself seem larger than he really is, convincing himself that he's the one that's right and it's everyone else that's wrong simply because he can't process just how awful he is.

growing up barely scraping by on his own, of course he'd become painfully self-reliant. of course he would take advantage of anything he could, anyone he could. you'd have to be that self-centered to survive. talk big, act big, nobody will mess with you. nobody can take advantage of you if you take advantage of them first.

and when he gets shown that kindness, being taken in for the first time... of course he'd take advantage of them too. he's hard-wired with instability in mind, so obviously the clear answer is to take what you can and go before something else happens and they get to you first (even if that was never really a threat.) and if they throw you out for it? it's just proof you were right. you were always right, clearly it isn't your fault. and if you happen to throw them under the bus for it... well, obviously they deserved it. there's no reason to think about it anymore.

being with kuwajima was fine. we don't know anything about the earlier days (which im so sad about) but from the looks of it, he was doing fine. about as fine as he could be, at least. he clearly respected him at first, enjoyed being treated as something special, having his work and talents appreciated-- which he did have! he was a staggeringly impressive slayer, but that's an aside-- and even berated zenitsu for supposedly "disrespecting him" by referring to him as jiichan. which. sighs.

so, zenitsu. dynamics Of Ever. honestly, even without the whole Contention there, kai would've just kinda disliked him because he's... motions with hand. look at him. but its the fact that they were considered together that pissed kaigaku off so much. because that implied that they were on the same level when, to him, they so very clearly were not.

zenitsu was annoying. he was weak, whined too much, cried too much, never put in any effot, he was so, so annoying. which made it that much more insulting that jiichan would continue to try to train him. just leave him behind already! he keeps trying to run away, let him! obviously he just isn't good enough. he's not special like he was. and yet, kuwajima kept trying.

and the fact that he did... probably completely went against everything kaigaku saw in the way the world worked. for lack of a better term, he was very "survival of the fittest" minded in that, if you weren't good, you just weren't good. you'd try and struggle and inevitably die off. the world isn't kind, and will take any chance it has to kick you down. that's why you take what you can, when you can.

if you're weak, nobody helps you. if nobody helps you, you either help yourself or die silently. that was what separated the weak and the strong. and you always, always were either one or the other. again, that's his survivalism talking. so, seeing this person he at the very least Respected waste time on some nobody instead of him, expecting something to come of it... well, it was insulting!

and to think that they were even anywhere close enough to put together? to share the title of successor? with this guy? either it meant that kuwajima thought zenitsu was as good as kai was (to him, a laughable idea,) or that kai wasn't any better than some kid who could barely swing a sword. and that was what irritated him the most.

that was the point of their final confrontation. it was kaigaku proving, once and for all, finally, that he was better than zenitsu. was it purely out of hatred for this kid who looked up to him like a brother? was it out of jealousy of someone who got so many kindnesses granted to him despite, to him, not really deserving it? was it just to prove that he was a powerful demon to those who now had their eyes on him, too? whatever it was, at its core... it was laughing in the faces of those who, honestly, genuinely cared about him (and in his eyes, never truly did.)

he could've ended that fight whenever he wanted to-- its even stated in canon that zen wouldve just lost if he was given more time to grow-- but... he just kept showing off. kept talking. it didnt feel like he was using techniques to fit the combat-- it felt like he was showing off what he could do now. he was proving a point. the only thing that stopped him was what he never acknowledged back when they were training together-- that zenitsu did have worth. that he was growing, too. and using what kaigaku refused to acknowledge in him, zenitsu cut him down-- with a symbol of the respect and comraderie that he hoped to have together. a "sorry, aniki."

kaigaku's appearance in canon is less of the role of a character, but as a statement. hes a walking tragedy. he pushes away everything that makes life What It Is in favor of this image of Strength, which is exactly why he becomes-- at first glance-- a caricature. he stops being a person and starts being a Thing. zen tries to keep him in mind as a Person (despite it all) but when he ultimately gives up hope is when the encounter ends. and when kai's role ends as well.

the only thing i still wonder is... does he regret it? in the very depths of his mind, behind all that mess he puts up, after throwing everything away... did he regret it? twice, he was shown care and kindness, and twice he betrayed them. does he know? does he regret it? does he have the capacity to? or has he simply committed so hard to the role he was given-- to the role he put himself in-- that he simply cannot fathom a world in which he was the problem? could it have been different?

put simply... what the fuck is wrong with him?

. anyway, heres a bunch of posts that remind me of him.

#piktalk #kny #kny spoilers #long post #theres some similarities in circumstance; but because of who these two are at key points; i cant quite call them 'just the same' exactly #i dont mean this to be contrarian i just enjoy holding characters next to each other!!! apawlogies!!#consider this like. comparing research notes on a paper. nodding humming considering.#i have genuinely never considered these two interacting before so getting to think abt it was Very interesting #theres Something up with this dynamic. theyre horrible and that makes it fun <3 #and then theres the whole 'the weak die; the strong live' thing but they conflict over what they think 'the strong' is.... hmmrmg..#um but!! apawlogies if i mistook anything you said or got details wrong-- akaza is not one of My Characters(tm)#so i may just be wrong! i wrote this 5 minutes after getting up this morning! hope its fun to read anyhow o/

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illfoandillfie · 3 years ago

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Hi, a tarot reading for a specific question please. This guy L and I have been fucking around a bit whenever we get drunk for the past two months, nothing serious. For me it’s just for the fun of it, I hope it’s the same for him. But he’s kind of in a rough spot right now. He’s the type to try and distract himself from his problems tho. I don’t know if I should start anything the next time I see him (tho idk when that’ll be bc of our exams)? I'm also not sure about his feelings. Thanks!

thank you for that clarification! hopefully this helps clear things up for you!

tarot: ace of wands, justice, king of cups, 4 of cups, ace of cups, the high priestess, 2 of pentacles.

So I focused on asking about L’s feelings regarding the casual hookups to try and gauge where he’s at with it all. If you have any follow up questions though feel free to ask and I’ll pull more cards (probably over the weekend lmao)

Anyway. The first card is the ace of wands. This symbolises desire, creation, willpower and inspiration. And it’s being clarified by the 4 of cups (contemplation, disappointment, overactive imagination) as well as the ace of cups (new feelings, attraction, new relationships). From these cards it looks like he might be thinking about something more serious than you are. With the ace of wands it definitely started off as just a fun sort of thing, just a desire to make out a little or whatever but with the other two cards it seems like that might not be enough for him anymore and he’s starting to develop feelings towards you.

Our next cards are justice and the high priestess. Now, the justice card is about balance, clarity and truth. You said that L is in a rough spot right now and this card is making me feel like he’s trying to rebalance his life by forming an attachment with you. Like, things aren’t going well for him in one aspect of his life so he’s trying to create a positive shift in another area, if that makes sense. Generally this card in a romance reading would indicate an almost karmic return - a partner treating you as well as you treat them, if you cheat the truth will come out but if you put in effort you’ll be met with a supportive and caring partner. But in relation to L it feels like a very internal sort of a decision where he’s trying to tip the scales in his favour a little bit and has (consciously or subconsciously) come to the conclusion that what you’re doing is fun and good so taking it further can only be better. I think part of what makes it feel like that is that justice is being clarified by the high priestess. The high priestess is a card of secrets and mystery but also intuition and an inner voice. There’s some really interesting connections with these cards. truth and clarity vs mystery and an unrevealed future. But ultimately the high priestess is about knowledge and listening to that small intuitive voice in your head. If L’s inner voice is telling him you can provide a form of happiness that he’s not getting somewhere else and can rebalance his life, then he may be considering that option.

Our final two cards are the king of cups and the two of pentacles. The king could represent L or it could be you. Because I was asking about L’s thoughts on your situation while I was drawing the cards I would be inclined to say it’s possibly how he views himself but, you may have a clearer idea of who the king is representing. So, the king of cups is compassionate but in control. He’s mature and wise (because he’s a king) as well as creative and a good friend. Interestingly there’s a connection to the high priestess as the king can also represent the unconscious, particularly connected to emotions. But, even more interestingly there’s a connection to justice here as well as the two of pentacles. Balance. All three of those cards (justice. king of cups. 2 of pents.) are related to balance in some for or other.

Justice, being major arcana, is like the big picture stuff, it’s the balance of the universe. The king of cups is an internal balance between intellect and emotions. And the 2 of pentacles is a day to day sort of balance - balancing priorities or decisions and adapting to changes. But balance is clearly a key part of L’s feelings towards you and about your hook up situation. I can’t say if it’s a choice he’s settled on or a vague notion in the back of his head or just a feeling he hasn’t even really noticed yet but there’s definitely a strong chance he’s projecting more feelings onto your encounters than you are and probably more than he should be.

I also pulled from my channelled messages oracle deck to try and get a sense of what his thoughts regarding you might be. Take these with as many grains of salt as you like. Anyway, here’s what the messages say:

I want to get you drunk. Listen. I nearly screamed when this one came out. Clearly, he enjoys being with you while you’re both drinking and fooling around and would like it to happen again. But under it we have this love scares me. Now in this deck, grey cards reflect confusion so this isn’t a clear thought he’s having, likely it’s not even really consciously “love”. He might know he’s attracted to you and that something in how he sees you has shifted but he’s not fully aware of exactly how or why and so it’s kind of unnerving him a little. Part of his interest in seeing you again under similar circumstances to the last however many times might be related to curiosity and wondering if something really has changed.

Then we have I just wish things were different. To me this is about his general situation, the rough spot he’s in. There’s a desire for it to be different, better. And then under it is you make my heart full. Which seems to evoke a similar sort of vibe to that justice card where thoughts of you and the fun you have together are sort of an antidote to the shit he’s experiencing elsewhere. Mentioning his heart is also another indicator that the king of cups is his version of himself because the suit of cups is tied to the heart and emotions and having a handle on them.

...Maybe... another card of confusion and followed by the bold and bright Love Me. This is another sort of thought that isn’t deliberate (yet). He’s only beginning to piece together the connection he’s seemed to have formed between things bad but you good and this is like his brain clicking over and joining the dots and arriving at... love me....maybe. It’s still not certain but the is the seed of an idea there.

Then we have I just want you all the time and I want a fresh start with you, both in reverse. This is one of the few decks where I actually taking reversals into consideration because I think reversing a card can change the meaning of the words. And I think it definitely does with these. He doesn’t want you all the time, he enjoys being with you when you are together but this reversal shows that it’s not a desperate need to be with you, it’s not his main driving force whenever you see each other. He likes you, he has fun with you, but he hasn’t yet reached a point of wanting to pursue you. The fresh start one definitely has the energy of an ace (hence the giant 1 on the card lmao) and if that was the right way around I’d say it was an indicator of him wanting to ask you out and move your relationship to the next level. BUT. With it being reversed, I don’t feel like that’s the case. I think theres a possibility it could one day reach that point, especially if his rough spot doesn’t start to smooth over any time soon, but for now it’s a bit of a passing fancy, a little crush maybe.

#card readings #last one for tonight #i'll get to the rest of them asap but probably not until the weekend

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themoneybuff-blog · 6 years ago

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The forever fallacy

Last week, Ben Carlson from A Wealth of Common Sense published an interesting article about how staying rich is harder than getting rich. He writes: Research shows over 50% of Americans will find themselves in the top 10% of earners for at least one year of their lives. More than 11% will find themselves in the top 1% of income-earners at some point. And close to 99% of those who make it into the top 1% of earners will find themselves on the outside looking in within a decade. Its great that so many people get to taste what its like to earn a lot of money, if only for a little while. Whats not so great is that as most people earn more, they spend more. But if you spend all (or most) of what you earn as youre surfing an income bubble, you can find yourself in trouble when that bubble bursts. Carlson quotes a story about a couple that lived a lavish lifestyle because they were making a lot of money. When the income dried up, they realized they had nothing left. They were broke. Says the husband: The money was just coming so fast and so easy that my ego led me to believe that, Oh, this is my life forever.' Ive been thinking about that last line for a week now: This is my life forever. This couple fell for a common (but seldom examined) mental trap: the forever fallacy. The forever fallacy is the mistaken belief that you will always have what you have today, that youll always be who you are today. The Forever Fallacy Its easiest to see the forever fallacy at play in extreme cases. Take professional athletes, for instance. In a 2009 Sports Illustrated article about how and why athletes go broke, Pablo S. Torre wrote that after two years of retirement, 78% of former NFL players have gone bankrupt or are under financial stress. Within five years of retirement, roughly 60% of former NBA players are in similar positions. Fundamentally, the problem here is the forever fallacy. Athletes (and popular entertainers) tend to enjoy a few years during which they earn great gobs of money. The challenge is to figure out how to make five years of income last for fifty years. This never occurs to most of them. As the money is rolling in, it feels like the money will always be rolling in. When the income stops, the pain begins. [A pro athlete] cant live like a king forever, says Bart Scott in ESPNs Broke, a documentary about pro athletes and their money problems. But you can live like a prince forever. [embedded content] The forever fallacy doesnt just trap athletes and entertainers and lottery winners. It snares average folks like you and me too. Im sure weve all had friends who found themselves flush, whether from a windfall or from a raise at work. They succumb to lifestyle inflation, spending more as they earn more. They buy a bigger house, a new car, a boat. Then, without warning, something awful occurs and theyre no longer rolling in dough. It felt like the good times would last forever but they didnt. The forever fallacy manifests itself in lots of little ways too. When you choose not to keep an emergency fund because youve never needed one in the past, youre succumbing to the forever fallacy.When you take out a large mortgage, one that pushes the limits of your earning power, youre giving in to the forever fallacy.When you fund your lifestyle through debt, youre living in the forever fallacy. The forever fallacy doesnt apply only to positive expectations. People also give in to the forever fallacy with negative expectations. Theyre trapped in a minimum wage job and project that theyll always be working minimum wage. Theyre in a shitty marriage and let themselves believe that theyll always be trapped in a shitty marriage. And so on. The key thing to understand is that everything changes. You change. Your circumstances change. The people around you change. Nothing is forever. The challenge then is to balance this concept everything changes with living in the present. You must learn to enjoy today while simultaneously preparing for possible tomorrows. Negative Visualization One way to protect yourself from the forever fallacy is to play what if? games. In A Guide to the Good Life by William Irvine, the author advocates a psychological exercise he calls negative visualization. Learn to ask yourself, Whats the worst that could happen? The Stoicsrecommended that we spend time imagining that we have lost the things we value that our wife has left us, our car was stolen, or we lost our job. Doing this, the Stoics thought, will make us value our wife, our car, and our job more than we otherwise would. Sounds a little gloomy, right? Irvine says thats not the case. Youre not meant to dwell on these things, but to occasionally ponder them as a thought exercise. In my own life, I used to imagine what it would be like if I lost my job. I could always go to work at McDonalds, I thought. And I grew up in a run-down trailer house. Worst case, I could always live in something like that again. This line of thinking drove my ex-wife crazy but gave me comfort. I knew that if disaster struck, Id be fine flipping burgers and living in a trailer park. Ive done it before and can do it again. Nowadays I challenge myself by thinking about what might happen if the stock market crashed or our house burned down. What would I do if I lost everything? Where would I go? How would I earn money? The Stoics took this exercise even further. Seneca the Younger encouraged followers to live as if each moment were their last. But thats not to say that he wanted people to descend into debauchery. Heres how Irvine explains it: Living as if each day were our last is simply an extension of the negative visualization technique: As we go about our day, we should periodically pause to reflect on the fact that we will not live forever and therefor that this day could be our last. Such reflection, rather than converting us into hedonists, will make us appreciate how wonderful it is that we are alive and have the opportunity to fill this day with activity. This in turn will make it less likely that we will squander our days. Negative visualization is useful because it forces you to look beyond the here and now, to imagine other possible realities. It encourages you to consider that the future might not be a linear projection of the present. I think it can also help nudge a person to think about whats truly important in their life. Too many people squander their days and their dollars. They spend their time and money on things that dont matter, not even a little. When you die, will you be glad you watched every episode of Game of Thrones? Or will you regret not having used that time for something better aligned with your passion and purpose? Be Prepared

Perhaps the best way to protect yourself from the forever fallacy is to become proactive. Like a Boy Scout or a Girl Guide, be prepared to do the right thing at the right moment. In the realm of personal finance, there are plenty of things you can do to be prepared. Get out of debt and stay out of debt. As somebody who was deep in debt for almost twenty years, I now see that carrying debt is a classic expression of the forever fallacy. Its blind faith that youll be able to repay what you owe in the future.Maintain an emergency fund to handle unexpected problems such as car accidents and broken bones.Start an opportunity fund so that you can take advantage of the unexpected good things that come along, such as a chance to travel with friends or a great deal on a used pickup truck.Carry adequate insurance to protect yourself from catastrophic loss like earthquake, heart attack, or giant fire-breathing monsters from the sea.Boost your saving rate, the gap between what you earn and what you spend. This has a two-fold effect. A high saving rate helps you set aside more for the future, but it also makes you more resistent to the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune today.Build social capital by creating a web of friends, family, and colleagues that you trust and support and who trust and support you. The truth is youre never going to beat the forever fallacy and neither am I. Not completely, anyhow. Its simply human nature to extrapolate our present and past into the future. The best we can do is mitigate the trouble caused by this tendency. Be Like Bond Recently, Ive been reading the original James Bond novels by Ian Fleming. I like the books because the literary Bond is more realistic than the cinematic Bond; hes less of a superhero and more of an everyday person (who happens to be a secret agent). He eats too much, drinks too much, and can be a bit lazy at times. Where Bond excels, however, is preparation. Hes always thinking a move or two ahead of his foes. He tries to anticipate what might go wrong so that he can take steps to prevent trouble. This doesnt mean that he always evades trouble thered be no drama if he did but his dedication to preparation helps him avoid some scrapes while also allowing him to sometimes survive certain death. Bond does not suffer from the forever fallacy, neither in the short term nor the long. (He often wonders if hes near the end of his career, too old to continue working as a spy.) Wed all have greater success in life if we were more like James Bond, if we took precautions, if we didnt give in to the forever fallacy. Accept the inevitability of change. Prepare for an uncertain future. Plan the best but be ready for the worst. Dont obsess over what might go wrong, but be aware of potential problems and plan for what youll do in a worst-case scenario. https://www.getrichslowly.org/forever-fallacy/

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isaacathom · 6 years ago

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Day 6 - Gender and Sexuality in Asavla

This ones a little unstructured and rambling, but i wanted to explore a few ideas. not all of these will stay, but i think just having the idea is worth it!

The way the countries of Asavla approach gender is widely varied, but commonly falls into a few different ideas

A tri gender system – male and female are the obvious ones. But then come genders based on a different societal role, that being the Oracle. Historically, oracles were individuals with a high degree of latent magic, who would channel the gods to deliver wisdom. This high amount of magic was believed to separate the Oracle out from the typical society and elevate them above it as god-like. Even if an individual did not have high latent magic (which had some physical affects upon Oracles, helping them be identified), you could still devote yourself to the gods and fall under this label. Some cultures that had notable religious minorities (Divinice was nominally Ylaisan but had a substantial Kysroan minority in the First Kingdom) would separate this Oracle gender into two, one for each deity. Reflecting the different traits of each deity helped define these. Oracle could be a lifelong identification or fluid, just like most gender. In addition, those who might ‘physically’ be an Oracle may instead choose to identify as male and female. It’s a good time for all, I think. Oracles often officially ‘transitioned’ to such a state in young adulthood, say 18 or so. They’re fun!

A two-gender system v1 – Kysroan and Ylaisan, essentially. This was common in northern countries, which were highly separate from everywhere else and their ideas. Here, your gender is based more on personality than physical characteristics and could be fluid. The definitions of these two genders also varied with each country based on the prominent religion and how it accommodated the opposing deity. Northern countries were more accommodating of the ‘other’ deity overall and viewed them as a necessary balance. So you might have a ‘kysroan’ as creative and proud, and an ‘ylaisan’ as hard-working and realistic. Stuff like that. It was highly variably and often varied even within countries, with even neighbouring villages having slightly different ways of categorising it. It was fluid, specially with children, and some consider children (or people who aren’t mature) as a ‘third’ or ‘null’ gender where its in constant flux since they’re developing. And that once they hit a certain age or point of emotional maturity, they can be defined a lil more concretely. Something like that!

A two-gender system v2 – classic male/female dichotomy. This weirdly became more common in Divinice after the advent of demigods, with the ‘oracle’ gender being removed in exchange for straight forward femininity. Since all demigods are afab (barring specific exceptions), some cultures made a logical leap to them all being female. This system remains in Divinice to this day and spread back into eastern lands via Divinice’s huge position as a sort of ‘vatican’ kinda ruler on the Ylaisan faith. Kysroans largely tried to reject this and hold onto the tri system from earlier, with varying success.

A quad gender system – an adaptation of the tri system from above, with the maintaining of the ‘oracle’ and the addition of the ‘demigod’ gender, which are distinct. Because regular humans are still born with high latent magic, and thus are still ‘oracle’, even if the common role for their gender is lost to society on some level. ‘Demigod’ is a more sex-specific gender, in that usually only demigods can identify as such. Meanwhile if a human wants to identify with that sort of state, they are then ‘oracle’. Whether demigods can identify as ‘oracle’ varies between cultures, and largely depends on intended role. Stolisia allowed demigods to identify as ‘oracle’ due to ‘oracles’ having a specific spiritual role within society that anyone can fill, whereas demigods and the ‘demigod’ gender have a more “defensive” sort of role, especially due to the raw magic thing. Its complicated! I /think/ humans in Stolisia can identify as ‘demigod’ as well due to that distinction. Whereas in somewhere like, say, Tsuliya, where the raw magic isn’t an issue and the demigod as ‘defender’ isn’t common, ‘demigod’ is a demigod-unique identity.

The rare 5 gender combo – same as the above, except it differentiates dawn demigods and dusk demigods as separate genders. This can then actually be expanded to a 6 gender system, with male, female, dawn demigod, dusk demigod, dawn oracle, and dusk oracle. Life? Is complex. This one probably isn’t suuper common? Its far more likely a society wishing to acknowledge dawn and dusk demigods as a separate gender rather than just the ‘demigod’ signifier would operate on the ‘tri’ system, with the dawn/dusk split for oracle. If that makes sense? So the genders would be male, female, dawn, and dusk. If youre ‘oracle’ under any other system, you would be dawn/dusk. Potentially both? It’s a bit fiddlier with demigods because theyre physically dawn or dusk, but since this is about culture, not physiology, then go for it lol? Idk. Maybe a country like modern Maleli uses something like this system, to reconcile its kysro/ylais gender system with the m/f system of modern divinice! Go nuts.

ANOTHER KEY THING, though not a system – in societies that adopted the gender binary in totality (Divinice, and residue of it in any of its previous territories or in other Ylaisan nations), women are highly correlated with the gods. So its got heavy matriarchal things in there. I might mess up on writing that sometimes, but that’s the idea! Divinice is highly matriarchal, and even Stolisia, which violently split away from it, has heavy echoes of it (their first presidents were women, their current leader is a demigod who divinice would call ‘female’, etc). stuff like that!

Those are the main gender systems! Now for opinions on sexuality.

It’s really complicated, like always. In medieval times, with lower populations, the more encouraged sexuality was that which would produce children. Which was typically straight male/female, at least in south and eastern culture (the north is a whole other story and that story is Literally just Go for it). Once population stops being the Biggest Issue, its mostly fair game! Especially pre-demigods (the race, not the gender). Once demigods are introduced, things get a little complicated? Mostly due to unrelated social constructs, like all demigods in Divinice being part of a single organisation and largely isolated from society. In this circumstance, which is Divinice specific, demigods can basically only date each other, so its just Gay as Shit. When theres outside interaction, it doesn’t really allow for a romance, since its in a work context. You could technically set up an LDR with a demigod in Divinice with some effort. But theres technically no rule about it. Demigods are women, and if anyones allowed to date any gender, then anyone can date a demigod, its just a matter of would you be able to? The answer is nah. Demigod/demigod (or f/f, by divinice standards) is common then. If youre not into girls and youre a divinitian demigod? Ouch.

Everyone else is cool with it, though. Some cultures that had the ‘oracle’ gender didn’t allow them to date anyone (so like a nun, I guess) due to their highly spiritual role in society, which might translate into a similar sort of rule relating to demigods? Something about emulating the gods to the highest degree? Idk. Its an Eh situation all around!

So, I guess a tl;dr a common third gender is a sort of ‘oracle’, which are usually born with high magic (they cant use it though) and have a very spiritual and religious role in society. Sometimes this gets subdivided into deity specific oracles. Sometimes it includes demigods. Sometimes it doesn’t. Divinice operates on the Gender Binary, and Stolisia operates on a gender square (?) with ‘demigod’ and ‘oracle’ as genders, probably.

In binary societies, due to the high demigods = women, therefore gods = women correlation (which not all cultures LIKE, definitely), they tend to be very matriarchal. Divinice is very matriarchal as a result. So you might get more stay at home dads, and more women ceos. Its probably shifting slightly the more time passes (to a rough equilibrium?) but that’s just sorta how it is.

Sexuality is a free for all except for sometimes demigods/oracles depending on specific culture. generally demigods/oracles are allowed to date each other if not males/females, right. smth like that!

#wbj #world building june #lotmv #story blogging #heyyy im back up to speed! this onewas wild to figure out #i think the tri system is pretty neat and tidy but the quads neat too. the last gender options an absolute mess but i also love it #like its just needlessly complicated! i love that #it doesnt play a huge role in the plot but it does affect some of the characters (especially Seora and Gabriel) so thats fun!! ^v^

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trendingnewsb · 7 years ago

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Donald Trump’s 6 Very Real, Very Insane Tips For A Good Life

Whatever you make of him politically, there’s no denying that Donald Trump has been alive for a long, long time. That is literally the least that we can give him. So it stands to reason that he must know something — that he must have some standards or guidelines by which a person can live their life. What a rich source of lifestyle advice he would be, if only he’d share this with us. If only he could find some time in his day to talk about himself.

Oh, it turns out he can.

Never Let Go Of Your Grudges

Much of Trump’s life can be defined by the grudges he’s held. Nobody thinks about Rosie O’Donnell that much under normal circumstances. “When people treat me unfairly, I don’t let them forget it,” he told reporters during his presidential campaign in 2016. It doesn’t seem to matter that he’s often wealthier or more powerful than the people he’s holding grudges against. That’s not the point. The point is the revenge itself. “If people screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard,” he explained in 2011.

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Media organizations he doesn’t like suddenly find themselves blacklisted from campaign rallies and press briefings. One failed business deal in Mexico, and later he’s ranting about how most Mexicans are “rapists” who “bring in drug and crime.” When he won the Republican presidential primary in 2016, he took almost no steps toward reconciliation with his former foes, instead dishing out insults left and right to people he no longer needed to attack. And when Puerto Rico was stricken by a hurricane this summer, Trump dedicated a lot more effort than “none at all, are you crazy?” to a running feud with the mayor of San Juan.

Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesHmm … theres a Puerto Rican I dont get along with. Better screw over three million of them so she knows it.

When NFL players began kneeling during the national anthem, Trump didn’t just criticize the players like most conservative commentators; he focused a lot of his rage on the NFL itself, calling it weak and out of control. Which doesn’t make a ton of sense … until you realize that Trump has long held a grudge against the league for refusing to let him buy a team in the 1980s. And when he tried to buy the Bills in 2014, only to get outbid, he reacted the only way he knows how: with shockingly petty tweets about how boring the league was.

And then there’s the massive grudge he holds toward his predecessor, Barack Obama. Trump spent quite a bit of Obama’s first term cheerleading the birther movement because of, well … let’s say his passion for birth certificate formatting quirks. For some reason, he then attended the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. There, Obama lit into him. For a solid two and a half minutes, Trump could do nothing more than slowly rock back and forth, tight-lipped, while Obama dished out insult after insult. The guy’s probably never had to sit through anything like that before, and the psychic impact it’s made on him can’t be underestimated. If you’re ever in any doubt about the motivations behind Trump’s actions as president, know that he’ll always do the opposite of whatever Obama would, be that building a health plan, entering the Paris Accords, or reading.

Decorate Like A Dictator

Being wealthy is great. You should definitely be born into that if you can. But it’s not enough on it’s own. You have to let people know you’re wealthy, so they know you’re better than them, and to go fetch you food and pelts. You can do that by shouting at them all the time (and you should; never stop shouting), but when your voice gets tired, or they simply get too far away, you’ll need something else. You’ll need to let your surroundings do the talking for you.

Which brings us the Trumpian aesthetic. The author of a book called Dictator Style identified a number of key design traits featured in the residences of most famous dictators: overly ornate decorations, big swinging chandeliers, marble everything, mismatched French furniture, that kind of thing. Decor which shouted wealth but not class, none of it presented with any kind of design or stylistic intent. And when this author saw pictures of Trump’s penthouse in Manhattan, he saw the same thing there. Vanity Fair even ran a side by side comparison of one of Trump’s mansions and a palace used by Saddam Hussein, and the similarities were not hard to find.

Vanity FairIts the aesthetic equivalent of shouting.

But The Donald does have one decorating quirk all his own: the desire to hang up obviously fake things, like this cover of Time that was proudly framed in five of his golf courses.

Angel Valentin/The Washington PostIt seems this was during Times brief First day using MS Paint series of covers.

It is completely fake. There was no Time issue printed on the date on the cover, and Trump was never on the cover of Time during the year it was supposedly made. And that’s not the only fake thing at his golf courses. Consider this sign:

Rob Carr / Getty ImagesAnd it is our great honor to do a modest amount of research to check if this is true.

Yeah, that’s fake too. Historians who know the area have no idea what battle took place there, and have never heard it referred to as the River of Blood.

Years ago, Trump’s biographer was interviewing the man on one of his presumably marble-coated personal jets. Hanging on the wall of the plane was a painting, a Renoir.

Pierre-Auguste RenoirSpecifically, the most famous painting by Renoir, which apparently no one is keeping track of.

The biographer knew this painting, and knew that the original was in a gallery in Chicago. But Trump insisted that this was the original, and wouldn’t take no for an answer. He didn’t get rid of it after being called out, either. The thing showed up on the background of an interview with his wife after his campaign victory.

Fox NewsNice to add a splash of color to the uniformly gold room of horror.

Eat Fast Food And Nothing But Fast Food

Every celebrity lifestyle guide is at least 50 percent bizarre ultra-healthy diet tips — exotic grains, free-range kale, and egg white omelets all prepared by their aboriginal spirit-nutritionist, Klevin. Trump’s guide would have a similar section, but y’know, the total opposite.

First, let’s discuss his taste in steaks: well-done, with a side of ketchup, which the flavor experts among you will recognize as “not optimal.” We’re talking steaks so well-done they used to “rock when they hit the plate.” Now look, elitism is shitty, in food and all other things.

Trump SteaksCase in point.

Not everyone likes their steaks mooing, so if a guy likes to eat his steak well-done, that’s fine. It’s fine.

The ketchup is a little much, though.

The other staple of the Trump diet: the 2,400-calorie McDonald’s meals he’s been known to consume. That’s multiple Big Macs, Filet-O-Fishes, and chocolate shakes. Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza, and Diet Coke reportedly make up the rest of his diet, and if that describes yours as well, congratulations on already thinking like a billionaire, I guess?

McDonandsThough maybe we should make time for the Friends dont let friends order Filet-O-Fish talk.

There’s an interesting explanation for this love for overcooked meats and salt: Trump is a germaphobe. Imagine how risky an acai root indigenous power bowl or something would look to him, all covered in fruits and grains and stuff that clearly once touched the earth, all prepared by someone with their hands. You could then see the appeal of mass-produced, pre-packaged foods. Not if you think it through at all, but if you took a cursory glance at those two options, and you were absolutely certain that the first thought that entered your head was always 100 percent factually indisputably correct for all time, forever and ever, amen, you might see where he’s coming form.

Be Born With Superior Genes

If you had to pick the perfect human, the one person whose intelligence, grace, and physical attractiveness surpassed all others, it’d be Donald Trump, right?

Well, there’s a reason for that. Trump has good genes, as he’ll tell you himself. It’s part of his so-called “racehorse theory of life,” which states that some people are bred to succeed, thanks to the genetic material provided by their parents. We’re not reaching here. He brings up his genes all the time. His health? Excellent, thanks for asking, and a result of his good genes. Same thing with his energy! Luck? He was born with it! He once even said he had a genetic gift for real estate development, which … scientists are not really rushing to confirm.

Pawel Marynowski/Wikimedia CommonsInvestors, either.

Anything positive that his family does is proof of the same genetic greatness. He regularly mentions his uncle who went to MIT. His granddaughter, who’s learning Mandarin, is more proof of Trumpian greatness. His kids have inherited the belief too. Here’s his son going on about his incredible genes, including his mother’s fictitious Olympic skiing background.

This kind of thinking is a little troubling, especially when we consider another famous political movement obsessed with superior genes. Yes, it’s usually hyperbolic to compare people you disagree with to Nazis. But not when they actually believe what Nazis believe. To the millions of Americans who might not have perfect genes, it is a little disturbing that their president said, “‘All men are created equal.’ Well, it’s not true.”

Remember this?

CNN

That would be the president doing an impression of a disabled reporter. It was a joke, but you know, not a “ha ha” one. And he now sets policy for disabled Americans!

Fill Everything With Asbestos

Asbestos was once used as a fireproofing agent, because it is extremely effective in that role. It also causes cancer, and is extremely effective at that as well. But for some reason (it’s probably money), Donald Trump has only ever really cared about that first bullet point. In his 1997 book, he suggested the drive to remove asbestos was led by the mafia, which controlled the asbestos removal business. In his view, asbestos was “100 percent safe, once applied,” which is true about undisturbed asbestos. But it does have a nasty habit of getting disturbed, which lowers the safety level a few (dozen) percentage points.

Mark Wilson/Getty ImagesOf course, that assumes you take safety advice from qualified scientists. Trump is having none of that.

Which is why for a few decades now, we’ve had regulations mandating asbestos use and treatment. This makes it a giant and expensive pain in the ass for anyone who owns buildings, e.g. Donald Trump. And seeing as Trump isn’t a huge fan of spending his own money and also has a casual relationship with facts, you can probably now deduce how he’s taken this position. On that note, he was once sued in the 1990s by Polish construction workers who claimed they were exposed to asbestos dust without protective equipment. But that’s probably a coincidence.

Anyways, whether it’s science, regulations, or angry Poles, nothing has ever changed The Donald’s mind. He still loves asbestos, and is even on the record suggesting that it could have prevented the World Trade Center towers from collapsing on 9/11. He was even on Twitter about it, because he’s been on Twitter about everything. Whatever the opposite of a grudge is, Donald Trump has it for asbestos. Which means that if you want to be a winner, you’re going to need a carcinogen of your own to love.

RealDonaldTrump/Twitter#science

Exercise And Sleep Are For Losers

On the subject of exercise, Donald Trump has a very hot take: don’t. He believes that a person is like a battery, with a fixed amount of energy, and that unnecessary exercise uses that energy up. He’s even mocked others for exercising. When he found out that one of his executives was training for a triathlon, he told the man he’d “die young because of this.”

This lines up pretty neatly with the exact opposite of what scientists say, which is that while exercise might temporarily reduce your energy, it strengthens your body, thus allowing it to be stronger and store more energy in the future. You already knew that because you went to gym class once or read anything about food ever. But who are you going to trust? Scientists and common sense? Or a winner with confusing ideas about batteries?

And then there’s the matter of sleep. For a long time, Trump has claimed that he gets very little of it, from 90 minutes to four hours a night. You should probably do the same. And what can you expect to do with all that extra time you’ll have, being exhausted and grumpy? Well, if you want to be like Trump, you’ll makes deals and plot revenge.

New York MagazineEverybody knows 3 a.m. is the ideal time to sit awake, sharpening a dagger and reciting the names of everyone whos ever wronged you. Thats Business 101.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends seven hours or more of sleep per day for an adult, which suggests that Trump has been wrecking his body and mind for decades now. Come to think of it, that does jive with a few things we’ve seen in the news …

Get a leg up on Donald Trump’s granddaughter and start learning Mandarin yourself with Rosetta Stone.

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themoneybuff-blog · 6 years ago

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The forever fallacy

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trendingnewsb · 7 years ago

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Donald Trump’s 6 Very Real, Very Insane Tips For A Good Life

Oh, it turns out he can.

Never Let Go Of Your Grudges