#told via group texts and emails

[full---ofstarlight]

ive seen a LOT of hate recently for modern and college aus and text fics so i just wanna say:

i fucking love them and they r so fun and i think it's a delight to reimagine high stakes genre situations in lowstakes every day settings

[mariacallous]

Standing next to her hastily packed suitcase in Michigan’s Macomb County Wednesday night, Tyra Muldrow had a bad feeling in her gut.

“I have this eerie feeling that I need to get the hell up out of there,” says Muldrow, a 20-year-old Black woman from Florida. She was in Michigan as a door knocker, hired by a subcontractor for Elon Musk’s America PAC operation to turn out the vote for Donald Trump in the heavily contested working-class suburbs of Detroit.

Muldrow and the rest of her canvassing group of roughly a dozen people had just been fired en masse, after WIRED reported that they had been tricked and threatened as part of Musk’s get-out-the-vote effort. Speaking publicly for the first time about her ordeal, Muldrow says that the canvassers in her group were fired with little explanation beyond a complaint that someone had spoken with the press. Many, including her, were still owed money. Muldrow had to find her own way home; others are still stranded in Michigan.

A representative for Musk and America PAC did not return a request for comment.

On October 15, Muldrow’s cousin Ebony Jones recruited her for the job, offering upwards of $2,000 per week and a return flight, per emails reviewed by WIRED. Muldrow signed a nondisclosure agreement the same day, and was then flown to Michigan on October 18 as part of a campaign for Blitz Canvassing, a subcontractor which had received more than $9 million from America PAC for presidential campaign canvassing as of October 29. Only upon her arrival in Michigan did Muldrow realize what this job would really entail: canvassing for Trump.

No one in her group of contractors—referred to internally as a “cell”—had a driver’s license. They were initially transported via Ubers, and were then driven back and forth for nearly two weeks in a pair of seatless U-Haul vans between their targeted neighborhoods, staying in a series of motels and AirBnBs in the Detroit suburbs of Warren, Livonia, and Mount Clemens. The three suburbs are in Wayne and Macomb County, the latter of which was the only Detroit-area county Trump won in 2020. In Macomb, where Muldrow primarily spent her time canvassing, he got 53 percent of the vote—almost exactly the same level of support he earned in 2016, when he secured a margin of tens of thousands of votes in a state decided by a little more than 10,000 votes.

The cell was composed entirely of Black people, strangers from out of state who did not know each other but were usually forced to share rooms, according to Muldrow. According to a text message from Jones, Muldrow was promised $1.50 per door, and $2 per door if she knocked 1000 or more doors per week—an all but impossible number. Muldrow further says they were told they would have to pay for their lodging unless they met the unrealistic quotas. The contract the door knockers signed stated they were “expected to maintain a 17-22% engagement rate during the campaign,” a high target relative to the number of people who typically open their door for a stranger. Videos recorded by Muldrow show cramped living quarters and frequent bickering between members of the cell.

“Our subcontractors never should have driven their canvassers in a U-Haul van and those involved were immediately reprimanded,” Tim Pollard of Blitz Canvassing tells WIRED.

On Wednesday, October 30, Muldrow and her fellow door knockers were fired hours after the publication of the WIRED story.

At first, some people had trouble logging into Campaign Sidekick, the glitchy app used by America PAC for canvassing. There was confusion before they were finally told it was over: “Everyone is fired,” said Jones, who served as the door knockers’ manager, in a GroupMe chat, according to screenshots obtained by WIRED.

Jones did not reply to a request for comment.

Muldrow thought Jones might be joking about everyone getting fired, but some of the door knockers noticed they had been locked out of Campaign Sidekick, according to the group chat.

“I called my mom immediately,” Muldrow says. “My mom told me I was overreacting because, it's [my] cousin, so she was like, ‘Oh, maybe she's playing a joke on you guys. Don't take it literal.’ And my mom was like, ‘She sent you up there in the first place. You went with her. If anything, you would have your flight home through her. She's not going to let you be stranded.’”

Then, Muldrow says, Jones began asking the door knockers which one of them spoke to the press.

As arguments ensued, Muldrow started to fear for her safety. Muldrow packed up her belongings and called Connor Berdy, a 29-year-old political consultant based in Warren, Michigan and the founder of Vote For Change LLC, a consulting group in Southeast Michigan for his community organizing work.

Muldrow had met Berdy—who runs canvassing operations for school board, county commission, and judicial candidates—when, by chance, one of his employees struck up a chat with her while she was canvassing near their home on October 23. Berdy and Muldrow got lunch soon after, and Muldrow told him about how the door knockers in her group had been tricked, threatened, and driven around in U-Hauls to their door knocking locations.

Management had “clearly not prioritized the safety of the workers or the integrity of the operation,” says Berdy.

Berdy then arrived, and pretended to be an Uber driver to get Muldrow out of the situation. He had already bought Muldrow a flight back home to Florida, paying out of his own pocket.

“First I see Tyra on the side of the road with her suitcase and everything,” Berdy tells WIRED. “So I pull up, turn my hazards on, act like an Uber, and then right as she starts walking around, I hear someone say, ‘Where's Tyra?’ And, ‘Oh, that sneaky little bitch.’”

Muldrow made it to the airport and on to her flight home. At that point, she says, she had only been paid $69 for the canvassing job, for which she had been promised she could earn upwards of $2,000 a week. A Cash App payment she showed WIRED for that dollar amount was listed as “for Gotv”—the acronym for get out the vote. Muldrow says she texted Jones asking when she would get the rest of the money she was owed. All she got was a read receipt.

As of Saturday evening, at least three others from the canvassing group hadn’t received full payment for the work they’d done before being fired, according to screenshots from the GroupMe chat.

“Following the incident, some of the canvassers and contractors involved left the program, some decided to stay, all have been paid,” Pollard says. WIRED could not confirm that canvassers in Muldrow’s group had decided to stay, nor that they have all been paid.

The Trump campaign has largely outsourced its field operation in Michigan, a crucial swing state, to Musk—a move that has come under heavy criticism. Outside of Michigan, America PAC is a codefendant in a class action lawsuit in California over unpaid wages to canvassers and other alleged labor violations, a development first reported by WIRED. Blitz Canvassing has also reportedly had issues with the Campaign Sidekick app flagging door knocks as fake. In Nevada and Arizona, up to a quarter of the door interactions were flagged as potential fakes within the app, according to The Guardian. (“Sidekick was never expected to handle the auditing of America PAC’s door operation. The reason the PAC is confident in its numbers is because of the auditing procedures each canvassing firm puts in place and the auditing procedures of the PAC writ large,” a person familiar with the America PAC operation told The Guardian at the time.)

After she returned home, Muldrow didn’t think she was going to get paid what was owed to her any time soon.

However, on Saturday night, right after WIRED reached out to Jones for comment, Muldrow heard from her cousin for the first time since she’d been fired. “You did not get 1000 doors but to make this right and move forward we will pay you the $2000,” she wrote, according to text messages reviewed by WIRED. “The quickest solution I can think of is to send someone to pay you in cash.”

Later that night, shortly after WIRED reached out to America PAC for comment, Muldrow was pleasantly surprised. She’d just been paid $2,000 on Cash App. The caption?

“For Michigan Gotv 742 doors paid in full.”

A few minutes later, Muldrow got a follow up text from Jones. “Please let wired know that you’ve been paid asap.”

[dollsonmain]

:|

Every year the school district tries to get us to sign up for a new handful of services.

They used to use Live Grades then switched to Canvas. Canvas has messaging built into the platform. Students, Teachers, and Parents can all message each other.

The school district also has an app and keep trying to get us to sign up for the app both to monitor our students' assignments and for P2P messaging (both of which are available via Canvas, which they ARE still using this year), but I don't trust that it's actually secure AND have a really old phone which can't handle most recent apps. Not all students/parents have smart phones, either.

They're ALSO trying to push everyone to sign up for a Microsoft Rooms account, both on desktop and on the phone and I'm just like....

On top of that they automatically added everyone's phone numbers to a group texting service (Apptegy) without consent.

You have Canvas, my email address, and my phone number. I cannot and am not installing a bunch of apps, too. This is getting ridiculous. Pick A platform and stick to it.

Anyway I keep getting texted over and over on my too-old phone being told to claim my ROOMS account, finally told them to stop sending those texts and remove me from Apptegy, and they immediately emailed it. Again.

I do not want these accounts, thank you.

Already pissed off that so many of the places I've applied to work ALSO make me sign up for an account like........ I don't need an account if I'm not an employee.

ffs

[katsona-the-katsequel]

Human Heart, Aigis' Heart

Here comes Aigis' story!

___________________________________________

I am the humanoid tactical weapon Aigis. I am an Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon developed in the Kirijo Group's lab. I am the cutting edge of modern military technology, and the culmination of many years of shadow research. Though my body is mechanical, I also possess a human-like mentality, and I am the world's most powerful Persona User. I am particularly renowned for my sturdiness, and just like the story of the Aegis Shield from Greek mythology that gave me my name, I am truly undefeatable, impenetrable, and invincible.

Yes. I was supposed to be invincible.

However, at Gekkoukan High School, where I was currently studying, I never had a chance to use this excellent weaponry in my student life.

To borrow the words of Yukari-san and other female classmates, I felt like a little blue or depressed.

"...Well, today is the 4th, so...um, Aigis-san. Please tell me how you would feel about it."

Oh, by the way, we were currently in class. Professor Toriumi was asking me to respond. I was just thinking about it, but as a cutting edge humanoid tactical weapon, my brain is capable of parallel processing, so I won't miss any questions. But...

"What's wrong? Is modern Japanese too difficult for returnees? There's no need to think about it so deeply."

The text we were currently reading was a novel called "Kokoro" written by a man named Natsume Soseki. I didn't seem to have a good enough understanding of this "Kokoro" yet. After about 32 seconds of silence, the teacher spoke to me in a manner that could be perceived as slightly over-the-top, perhaps trying to give me a clue as to the correct answer.

"He proposed to her over his best friend K, and she ended up committing suicide... I wonder what Aigis would think in that situation?"

"If it were me... I would think that my friend would have committed suicide."

"...It's not the same as it used to be. Give it a twist! Give it a twist!"

"Could it have been a murder disguised as a suicide?"

"Why?! This is Soseki! Don't turn a masterpiece of pure literature into an Edogawa Ranpo mystery!"

"In terms of motive, the young lady is the most suspicious... but we need to check the absence certificate..."

"Listen to me! Listen to what I'm saying!"

As usual, Toriumi-sensei exploded, and soon the bell rang to signal the end of school. If this were a plan for me to kidnap "Miss" from my best friend K, it would be easy... But even for someone with a mind that can summon Personas, understanding this "heart" was not as easy as it sounds.

"Well, you are human beings, but it's still hard to understand other people's feelings. Isn't it okay to worry so much about it?"

My precious friend nodded enthusiastically to Junpei's words. It was lunchtime now, and we were on the rooftop. I'd asked the two of them to come over to get their opinions on how to solve the problem I was currently facing.

"However... the reality is that 'humanness' is an essential skill for my school life. If communication with civilians is hindered for any reason, then my mission will also be hindered."

"But it seems like you're getting along well with the other kids in your class."

"No, I feel like I'm a total stranger in the so-called 'high school girls' community. I can't even fully understand how to communicate via cell phone email..."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"For example", I said, taking out my cell phone and showing them the email I received from Yukari the other day. It said, "Tell Kirijo SP I'll be late (^_^)."

“This?”

"Normally, the term SP refers to a bodyguard who provides personal protection for important people. So I told the Kirijo Group's security department that Yukari would be coming home late that day."

"Well, that's..."

"For some reason, they gave me a strange look."

"I guess."

"That night, Yukari was very disappointed when I heard that SP was an abbreviation for Senpai. But that's not all. In another email, I saw the phrase "H/K" and it took me three days to realize that it was an abbreviation for 'By the way', if it was 'H&K,' I would know that it was an abbreviation for the German gun manufacturer Heckler & Koch."

"That's something the average person wouldn't understand..."

"What is the point of using gal characters? It is unreasonable to make 'juko' read as 'ta', or 'ju' read as 'sa', and to increase the amount of information that would take only one byte to two bytes. It's inefficient."

"Now now now. That's what being a high school girl is all about. Besides, you don't need to be bound by those norms, Ai-chan is human enough... Ah, that's right."

Suddenly, Junpei stood up as if he had just thought of something.

"What's the matter?"

"From now on, if you want to ask for advice like that, I think it's best to get advice from someone in the industry."

Saying this, Junpei smiled happily. This kind of human-like smile is essential to camouflage one's appearance as a human female, and yet it was something I lacked. I wondered if I could acquire a smile like that...?

"And so, I'm your special lecturer, Takeba."

"I-I'm your assistant, Yamagishi."

“Junpei, in the end, didn’t you just want to use Aigis’s troubles as an excuse to have some fun?”

The situation was incomprehensible.

Afterwards, we met up with Yukari and Fuuka, and for some reason we ended up inside Karaoke Mandragora in Paulownia Mall.

"Well, well, well, don't worry about the small details! Going to karaoke with friends after school is a typical thing for high school girls to do, right? I think it's important to start with the formality, you know."

"Is that so? Junior high school girls go to karaoke on their way home from school... I get it. But in that case, shouldn't we invite Mitsuru-san too?"

"I-I think Kirijo-senpai is a bit different from the average high school girl..."

The details were unknown, but it was profound.

"Okay then, let's start with Ai-chan. What will you sing? Anything is fine."

"Singing, huh? It's my first experience, but I'll do my best."

"Okay then, do your best!"

...

"It was an unexpected situation."

"Well, my head's still spinning..."

"I thought my eardrums would burst..."

"Well, well, I guess that can't be helped, huh?"

It was an unfortunate accident. The moment I turned on the microphone to sing, a terrible cacophony occurred. The electromagnetic waves emitted by my engine resonated with the speakers, causing a phenomenon known as howling. It was like a sonic bomb.

The force of the blast was devastating. All the drinking glasses were destroyed, and the karaoke equipment in the next room was also damaged.

"The electromagnetic seal at the core was perfect, but no one had thought about the drive motors at each joint..."

Was this a feeling of despondent feeling? Was it impossible for me, after all, to acquire the abilities of a normal female student? As if to cut me off from such thoughts, Junpei spoke as cheerfully as ever.

"Well then, let's pull ourselves together and move on to the second high school girl staple! Let's go take a purikura photo!"

".. Purikura?"

I was a little wary of the words I had no memory of, but since it was Junpei's plan, I replied with a firm yes.

"I'll give it a go... Yes!"

"All right! Let's go to to Game Vanick!"

"So...what is a purikura?" Junpei took a big tumble.

...

"So this is Purikura... Print Club? I see."

According to Junpei, it was a device for processing photos taken of several people with stickers. Apparently, taking photos with friends and sharing the stickers was the basis of high school girls. I didn't really understand the intention behind it, but if this action was necessary for the operation, I couldn't run away. Desertion in the face of the enemy was punishable by firing squad.

"Okay, let's go."

"Okay, let's have Yukari and Fuuka together. Um, the background is this... the frame is this... OK, let's start. I'll press the button."

"Come on, Aigis, strike a pose."

"A pose, is that it?"

"That's right, smile smile."

"Eh, a smile...?"

Before I could even process what was happening, a sound similar to the clicking of a camera was heard, and shortly afterwards the stickers were dispensed from the receiving slot below.

"Uh... Wait, my smile is a bit stiff, maybe?"

"She's not laughing."

As Yukari had said, the expression on my face on the photo was what you might call expressionless. As a weapon, I didn't have the ability to change my expression depending on my emotions.

"Let's try again, shall we?"

"I think that attempt would be futile. The fact that I cannot express a smiling or crying face is due to my specifications, so there is nothing I can do about it."¹

When I said that, everyone looked at each other and then burst out laughing.

"What's the matter?"

Without answering my question. No, as if they had no time to answer, everyone continued laughing. "What are you talking about... hehehe... Ah, Ai-chan, as expected of someone who has been maintained by Ikutsuki-san... Hehe."

"Ugh, that's painful... What kind of pun was that?"

"It can't be helped. Ahahaha."

"It's weird if Ikutsuki says it, but if Aigis says it its charming.”

I understood. Although it was not my intention, it seemed that what I said was a pun, a series of similar-sounding words used to create a sentence. I was a little confused, but I was also happy that all of them enjoyed it.

"Huh? You can smile."

"Eh?"

I was surprised by Junpei's sudden remark.

"Were you laughing?"

"Yeah, I saw it too."

Fuuka agreed with Junpei. I saw.

Was I laughing?

"That's right. She has a better smile than our unsociable field leader."

At Yukari's words, that person turned away as if it didn't matter. Now that I thought about it, this person didn't show his feelings on his face very often. Still, he was doing a great job as a leader and seemed to get along well with his friends. Suddenly, I thought of one thing and spoke up.

"Am I of any help?"

"Huh? What's wrong all of a sudden?"

"I can't behave like the so-called 'high school girls'. I'm not good at karaoke or photo booths. I can't understand the human heart. But even so, is it okay for me to be here as one of your friends, as a member of SEES?"

"Of course!" Junpei answered loudly.

"Was that what was bothering you, Aigis?"

Yukari also spoke in an exasperated tone, followed by Fuuka.

"Aigis, you were worried, weren't you?"

"Worried... Yes, maybe I was." What I must do was defeat shadows together with everyone else. And to protect that person. If I couldn't act like a female student, then perhaps I was not up to the task, perhaps I was not living up to everyone's expectations. It was these thoughts that were making my processing unstable, and now it seemed that even I had finally realized this.

On the way back from Paulownia Mall, Fuuka came up to me and said,

"You know, I think that if you get anxious because you don't know what the people around you think of you, doesn't that mean you have a great heart?"

“Is that so?”

If so, I was glad, for I, who was troubled by my inability to understand the mind, was relieved to learn, paradoxically, that it was the mind that troubled me by things it found difficult to understand.

"The human heart is a mysterious thing."

"We all feel the same way."

Everyone was together... that's something that made me happy. I suddenly took my cell phone out of my pocket and looked at the photo I had taken earlier.

"We have matching ones."

When I said that, Junpei and the person walking in front of me looked a little surprised.

This time I was aware of it too. It is at times like these that humans laugh.

I am Aigis, a humanoid tactical weapon. I sometimes worry because I can't understand the human heart, but I am a lucky Anti-Shadow Suppression Weapon because there are people who care for me.

___________________________________________

¹. They're not being jerks. Aigis accidentally made a pun.

I sometimes forget Minato is there 😭

Tag List: @kerto-p

[grievedifferent]

inevitably, as everyone survives as in my main verse for post!ud josh, the friends group and relationships are definitely fractured. i can't see matt and emily continuing their relationship, and likely the same for mike and jess. strain between chris and ash, maybe a coming together over trauma bonding? —— for the lot of them, maybe attachments can be reformed, but they're different people now.

not only did the prank change them, but the supernatural consequences of their experience, the lack of belief, the conflicting stories ...

i'll go into this a lot heavier sometime soon after a brief rewatch or just reread of the wiki (this game like sticks out to me save for a few details here and there).

in my post!verse, one of josh's therapeutic "requirements" (or heavy-handed suggestions as a progress route for his therapy), is to make amends —— whether it's via letter, email, a long text, a facebook message, a call ... but preferably in person, if possible. he knows, and was told, that likely no one would forgive him — not in the moment, likely not for a long time after, if ever.

it takes josh, in some instances, years. there's a tier list i need to work out of who he feels he owes the most, if that makes sense. he damaged all of them, but he was more personal with some of them (mike and jess versus chris and ashley sam, for example). sam, chris, and ashley are last in the list. after jess and her experiences, how damaged she was physically and emotionally, she's also one of the last. matt and emily are likely the first. mike? that's also complicated. it likely goes matt, emily, mike, jess, ashley, sam, and then chris. chris last because that was his bro. sam second to the last because that was his sister's best friend, they had a close bond after they died (and before, of course). ashley is at her spot because of how intimate their encounter was —— she stabbed him. he punched her in the face. he tortured her and chris to witness his "death". he also was, quite literally, insane to sam.

this list sometimes shifts, too, based on his guilt. that's why he has a hard time reaching out. he knows he has to, he wants to sometimes, and he can't others.

[fuck-customers]

(5/25) 🐶 biggest fucking pet peeve and also a PSA: if you’re reaching out to customer service at a company and you want a phone call, CALL THE CUSTOMER SERVICE NUMBER. we have people scheduled in specific groups, and there are specialists who only handle email/text. i agreed to work in email only so i’d stop getting screamed at over the phone. when a customer asks for a phone call, we’re expected to call despite whatever group we’re scheduled for. CALL and you’ll be connected with someone who is scheduled to be on the phone, my company is really good about wait times and you’ll almost never be waiting to speak with someone. if someone requests a call via message and the agent isn’t able to take it, it can take even more time for another agent to call them which is frustrating for us and the customer. it’s infuriating because i love this job but i hate that there’s no support from the company for specialists. was told in my group meeting today that if there’s a big phone queue, we’re expected to hop in despite never being told that 2 months into this position.

Posted by admin Rodney.

[heartbeatbookclub]

I absolutely adore all of your analysis so far, they are so indepth and it feels like you’re able to explain stuff that I’m only able to vaguely think in an abstract sense when it comes to ddlc and dhdhdj so so good

I do wanna say that for you mc analysis, there’s one thing missing. I’m someone who got into ddlc cause of plus so I have hyperfixated on all the lore. While the employees imply that Monika made MC, I don’t think that’s actually true based on what we know about Monika. If she could make a whole character then why couldn’t she make herself a route? Heck in one of her act 3 convos, she can barely change the music before saying “well I just break everything anyway”.

So I believe based on other emails, that it was Ive Laster who made MC since they were the one who wanted to make ddlc a game. In the first meeting notes, we are told that Ive tends to ramble a lot. But in the next one when MC is mentioned in a meeting, they are silent. Another thing is that in one of the ddlc plus trailers, ive is the name of the MC.

It could be said that Ive based it on the stuff in the control group, but the control group was made AFTER the main vm (That’s not how a science experiment should work but ya know, I don’t think they are smart). So really the control group is based on main game first. Honestly so much of the issue of the plus lore is how it’s so convoluted to get, but reading it all on the wiki helped me alot.

Plus seemed to add a new sense of horror to the og, the horror of knowledge that one plagued Monika is now plaguing the player as we have all this information but can do nothing to help them. I think the idea of MC being made by someone else adds this new layer to him along with this new layer of horror. But that’s more just my own thoughts on it that I thought you may find interesting along with all the lore from above.

Anyway, I hope you have a good day! Your post are great and I’ll make sure to keep up with coil more!

aw, thanks anon! i often find it difficult to find the exact way to explain what i'm thinking when i do analysis like i have on this blog, so i'm glad i can at least help to put it into words for other people who have even more trouble with it than i do.

as for the rest of your statement...i think you make a compelling point. full disclaimer; a lot of my knowledge on what's presented in + outside of the full text of the side stories is secondhand, and when talking about the original game, i think it's important to keep in mind that my reference for most of this is my playthrough with my friends back in like...2017-18ish a little after the game came out...? aheh, i won't lie, though i am rather obsessive in the course of scouring information i remember via the wiki/elsewhere to verify i'm not just making it up, putting off my replay of the og game has not been helpful for me.

i think it's very much up in the air as to how much influence that Monika actually has over the game, which is something i talked about in my analysis of Natsuki in the Side Stories. in my opinion, what + demonstrates more than anything is that in whatever she DID do in the main game, she mostly worked with material that was already there to make things easier on her. one of the things i based that claim on was the reference of the Protagonist in the Side Stories, but it's not a necessary claim, and in fact, i think you do make a good point in how it's unlikely that she'd be able to do this (at the very least, by herself) based on what's been shown of her ability in the game.

i think, in regards to your comment on the reference to MC in the Side Stories, it's important to consider the wider conceit of DDLC--i have a deeper analysis i'm tinkering around with on terms of it as an exploration of fiction vs the concept within the "universe", but that's another story--namely, all of the girls aren't (or at least, are heavily implied not to be) just static fictional characters following a pre-written script, they're genuine artificial intelligence!

this is part of what i meant when i said that the Side Stories demonstrate the raw character of each of the girls independently of any 4th wall shenanigans--within the world of Doki Doki Literature Club, they're essentially just people living in the confines of a computer, and therefore have essential, largely immutable character traits which exist within some fundamental essence of what makes them who they are. i think there are a shitload of really, really terrifying things this opens the door to if you really think about its nature (independently of DDLC, i've personally had longform discussions with a friend about the morality and potential horrors which would exist within a similar universe concept, and it's somewhat ubiquitous in a lot of sci-fi universes), but like i said, that's a different discussion entirely!

what i'm trying to suggest here is that it's likely that Sayori's relationship to the Protagonist is something inherent to her character, so it doesn't necessarily have to be something gleaned entirely from the Side Stories.

of course, this is all post hoc reasoning with what we're given! occam's razor suggests that it's actually just likely that (given that DDLC was written and released a long while prior to the Side Stories) they didn't necessarily plan every part of this from the outset, so some things just naturally seem to fit together a little weirdly, with little details added here and there just for flavor! i think that given the nature of the entire thing (and how Dan Salvato has talked about DDLC and the statements he's given with about in universe details in the past), it's unlikely that every single element of this was planned out from the word go.

this might be a bit of a controversial opinion, but there's a lot about how + handles the lore of ddlc that i didn't really like, just because it adds a whole new layer of lore and context, which soured a lot of my impressions, because the original game really flourished in its simplicity. that said, with all that's been given in the Side Stories and the deeper layers to the actual horror which are now visible in the original game, i think it pretty well makes up for it!

awa, i didn't plan for this to become an entire essay in itself...but i do appreciate this kind of thing! i really like digging deep into what's explicitly provided in canon to get a deeper understanding of the characters and universe as it's actually been shown, so any encouragement and correspondence related to either my analysis or my opinions in general are welcome! honestly, i'm also welcome to read others' analysis like this, because i like to see when people read deep into it like i do! typically it ends up reshaping how i see the entire thing, and it sorta just makes my heart happy to get people thinking about this stuff!

i think, as a last thought, if MC is actually conscious in any way similar to the other girls (which I think is a definite possibility, given his ability to respond in contexts impacted by Monika's manipulation, even if barebones), it actually makes him a very interesting character in his simplicity. i know that Dan Salvato doesn't see him as one, but i think it'd make for an interesting study in a fanfic or something.

i hope you also have a good day anon (even though it's 2 am here as i'm writing this...) and you BETTER KEEP UP W/IT I PUT MY HEART N SOUUL INTO THAT BABY (/lh /hj i'm just glad other people are liking it, even if it's just silent kudos :))

[psychosomaticdeicide]

In storytelling, there are certain mediums for stories that logistically will not work as anything else. This isn't just about adapting a story that currently exists, but what has yet to exist in the first place. Or does exist but fits strangely in its current form.

Here's an anecdote:

The one time I managed to show up for a meeting of my local writing group, I had no idea how it worked. This was a perpetual “sign up for this slot and share for criticism!” and I could not have any thoughts on the stories that had been written and shared via email. I had to experience them as read by the writer while sitting around a table.

The man running the group that week—a small-time published author—had notes and corrections written into the document of one of the people sharing. He shared with me because I had no reference for the stories being told that week. This made it incredibly challenging for me to distinguish what I was meant to be reading (or what the original work even looked like) before the person began sharing.

This gentleman in his sixties had quite a few things technically incorrect in the writing itself, I learned as I tried to follow along with the published author's notes.

However, if I stopped reading and listened, there was nothing wrong with it. He was telling a story the way stories are told. The grammatical issues and strange turns of phrase were not present in a verbal telling of his story; they were punctuations of breaths and emphasis and just the way he spoke. He was fully in his element as he read, and I wondered briefly if that would make up for the issues of “craft” as the published author had later put it.

And to this author, who believed in craft over all else, that was not enough.

I found that the gentleman's storytelling style didn't match the medium that we were "meant" to be using. The group is specified in its name to be a “writers’ group” and not a “storytellers’ group.” This means that the medium is a large part of the evaluation of the work—all of it is meant to be read as text.

As we know, a novel is different from an interactive visual novel, which may have some differences compared to text-only interactive fiction, which is different from most types of video games and their various storytelling methods, which is different from the stories a grandmother tells her grandchildren about the country she came from.

And then, of course, there are stories with timelines moving in parallel and epistolary novels and countless structures within these mediums to choose from.

But given the choice to expand your horizons and create a story in another medium, what would make the most sense?

For half my life, I’ve focused solely on linear narratives to be read rather than told, edited to neurotic degrees of what I considered “perfection” (or oftentimes, "Good enough!” and posted blindly with my eyes half-covered) at whatever time I had decided the story was complete. Now, given the tools of Twine and RPG Maker, I have more options than just a standard narrative.

At the same time, I find myself apprehensive about taking a step forward in using either of these for a project. Theoretically, I know how these stories are told. I've gone through several stories (and demos) made with Twine. I've seen environmental storytelling built through settings, item descriptions, and in-universe texts in various RPG Maker games.

In the novel Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir, we get to explore Gideon's world because she's reminiscing in the final moments before her attempt to leave all she has ever known. And then, the plot kicks in.

In the interactive fiction piece Hornets by Kitty Horrorshow, we explore the remnants of an insect-based apocalypse in the shoes of the person who caused it. We are given comparisons of what this world was like before the destruction while bearing witness to all that came after.

In the RPG Maker game Symbiosis by Spicaze, you first read the description of a situation that feels familiar, and have it changed in such a way that a stock character from a fairytale becomes a compelling protagonist. She is a witch, she lives alone in the woods, but she has a child she cares deeply for and someone has broken into her home. The beginning of the game, however, has you in the shoes of another character. It sets up stakes very nicely while exposing the things this witch doesn't want outsiders to see.

[saratravel]

So let's talk about yesterday. It's a loooong story so sit tight.

The day before as I was resting up from finishing up Vilnius sightseeing, I started looking ahead to the next days. I was to pick up a car at 8 but my hotel breakfast started at 8 and I wasn't going to pass up a free meal so I accepted that I'll get to the car around 9.

Pick up car (was going to take public transit but decided it was easier to grab a Bolt), hit up an ATM, go see castles on the way to Kaunas, see an art collection/sightsee in Kaunas to kill time until 3pm check in. Since it's a Sunday, the place I'm renting from isn't in office, but I am told everything is set up for me. This was the part that was worrying me, plus figuring out what to do with me car. There's street parking, I'm told, but the American in me is iffy about public street parking.

I fret. I fret a lot. I sleep only two hours. But there's no way out than through it, so I start my day with my breakfast and head on out. At 8, I paid the remainder of my hotel charge with my card and pay for my Bolt to the car rental.

At the car rental, I pull out my card to pay. No big deal, I've used it twice before. The guy behind the counter looks at the receipt printed in Lithuanian:

"It says the payment is over the limit?"

I freeze "....what? I have not been told about a limit."

We try again, same thing. My phone starts buzzing, informing me of the blocked charges. Usually, either by text or email, I'm able to respond somehow to say no there are valid and try again. There is no such option this time.

The cashier suggests trying to break the sum in two. The first one goes through- great! The second is blocked "the payment is over limit." So we're thinking there may be a daily limit. A daily limit I have never been informed of.

"And it's the middle of the night in the US..." says the cashier.

"I was given a 24hr number, let me go yell at someone."

I call. Robo-call answer, please give your card number to look up.... Sorry, I can't find it, let me connect you to a representative.

I wait 5 minutes. A tired call center representative picks up. "Can you give me your number...." As robotic as the robo-call machine, he says every 30 seconds, "Please wait one moment....."

Until 5 minutes later, finally, "our systems have not been working. I can try to look up your account via social security number as well...."

I explain my situation. I'm in Europe, I'm trying to rent a car.... "I would be happy to help you, but our system is down. Please call again in 1-2 hours after we have re-set the system."

"But I'm stuck here."

"I would be happy to help you, but-"

I begrudgingly thank him and hang up. I ask the cashier if it's possible to pay for the other half with a card number. It's a little embarrassing calling up Mommy to help when you're a 30 year old woman, but I know she would be happy to do all she can. But, it's about 2am where my family is, and midnight where my husband is. No one answers their phones. At a loss, I contact my friend in Norway, where it is about 8 am, to at least have someone to talk through the situation.

At this point, the worst that would really happen is I sit in a car rental waiting area until the Visa servers work. I have about 10 euros cash on me, plenty for meals here. I had eaten a big breakfast, so I wasn't hungry anyway and still had a few back-up snacks. It's a safe area, and I'm right by the airport, so I could probably find a physical exchange booth for the rest of my US cash. It is an inconvenience, but nothing is risking personal harm. I remind myself of this as I continue to problem solve.

Then, my Norwegian friend sends a life raft. He offers to front the other half. I nearly begin to cry. We have been close friends for a decade and both of us have treated the other to airfare (I had gathered money from our friend group to come visit us in America in 2015 and he and another in that group surprised me with tickets to Reykjavik in 2018). I wish I could fully put into words how much I cherish him as a friend. He demands 400 hugs as payment when we meet in Helsinki. I think I can do that (and also pay him back the money, of course).

Once the car is paid, they hand me a key and. I am on my way. It's castle day, so let's drive to the castles and call my bank again. It also happens to be Father's Day in Lithuania so the castle and outer lake area is packed. I find street parking and sacrifice 2,50 euros for an hour of parking. I use some of the time to call Visa back, as it had been about two hours since the first call. The woman who answers explains again that the servers are down but they are definately working on it. Cards have been declined and no one can access accounts, I'm so sorry for the inconvenience.

I explain my situation again.

"Oh, that is not good."

"No.... no, it's not."

"Please call back in 1-2 hours."

".....Okay, thank you."

I get out of my car and start walking to the castle. The original plan was to go inside, maybe take a tour. There are two castles in the area- one on an island and one in a peninsula. I go to the island one and try to clear my mind to enjoy the view. There are boat rentals, souvenir shops, and some interesting peddlers selling knick-knacks such as wooden bird call whistles. It's much easier to walk past when you have no money, though, so I press forward.

Along with the father's day crowd, it's also just very crowded with tourist groups. I take some pictures of the outside and inside (before the ticket booth) and give a quick walk around the outside. Then, I have an idea. A bit of a crazy one, but it may just work.

My itinerary was to do castles and Kaunas sightseeing. The next day was the big driving trip to The Hill of Crosses, roughly 2hr from Kaunas and 2hr to my next accommodations in Kleipeda. It's way out there, but this is one sight I really did not want to miss. Since the car is paid for and has a full tank of gas, and the Hill of Crosses is free to see, I would likely not need to use my card for hours. It's a 2.5 hour drive from where I was.... that should give Visa plenty of time to sort their shit out.

And this is the nice thing about solo travel. I don't need to confirm this plan with anyone else. I don't need to worry about another person's needs. Don't need to do restroom stops or food runs for anyone but me. And I grew up running up and down I35 in Texas for hours, so I'm more than ready for a spontaneous trip. I can assess myself, balance my resources, and do what I need to do for no one else but me. I hop back in my car and set off....

That's all for this post, it all resolved in the end and I have cash and can use my card again! But I need to start my day so I'll post more about the drive and The Hill of Crosses later.

[ourceliumnetwork]

So.

So...

Either my dad finally really read the last thing I sent along, or he and mom are pissy because I'm only cutting off contact with the pair of them, and not my little sister. Regardless I finally have lost access to the old email address(es) as well as the family spotify subscription and I'm going to go ahead and assume the netflix access is gone as well. It only took him...2.5 weeks. Huh. Consistent.

Other than the consistent timing between when I state a boundary and when they test the boundary, the timing is....conspicuously suspicious.

You see, today is my little sister's birthday. And I sent her a happy birthday message. I have not sent any relevant messages to other family members yet this year, except for her and our cousin who shares the birthday, because i'm consistently bad at remembering birthdays except for like. a few. I'm doing steps to remember better but I'm just bad at it. I accidentally missed my aunt's birthday, but i deliberately skipped my mom's, and I wasn't going to do anything for dad's. I also hadn't done an iota for mother *or* father's day.

So maybe it was a little petty and strategic on my part to wish my sister Happy Birthday - but I sent it via normal text message. I had no reason to believe it would get back to my parents that I'd done it. And I doubt she realized that letting them know I was still in contact with *her* would piss them off enough to start the chain of removing me from the group family stuff. Like the email server.

The last time the two of them "checked" my boundary to make sure it was solid, I'd just unfriended them both on Facebook - not even blocking yet, just unfriending, and then all of the sudden messages from them very shortly thereafter. About 6 hours, actually.

Which is about how long it was between my sister acknowledging my message to her and when I started seeing my access getting removed from stuff.

Their patterns of behavior are unbelievably consistent, and frankly i'd be impressed if it wasn't always to my detriment.

Idk, I'm...hurt? I'm hurt. I mean I expected this to happen, which is why I spent a whole day going through all of my emails and accounts to double check what was assigned to which email address and changing it all as best I could. There were a couple things I couldn't figure out how to swap but like. At this point, there are other ways to get into contact with me, and frankly I just...can't care? not about that anyway.

It's more like...if this is what you were going to do, why didn't you do it right after I told you to fuck off? Why wait around? it's been posited that they likely thought they were holding some sort of power over me by being able to remove my access to those things but like...i already had alternatives? I already planned for this. I am 30 years old, and have access to all my own shit now (or access to other peoples' shit that they're willing to share with me), i don't actually like...need their help with those things?

Besides the fact that if I needed Help I would wait until the very last possible minute to ask for that help, because no one fucking helped me when i would ask before.

I don't know. I forgot I was doing this and stepped away and also started working on my resume so i can pay the like. 2 bills i have and get gas and maybe be able to buy myself nice things? idk.

i'm mad. i'm sad. i'm smad. i'm done. idk.

[pissvortex]

A statement from the mother of the student arrested twice by CMPD:

(text: Watching narratives on the student protests on college campuses has been interesting.

Hearing that the campuses are run by outside agitators. Hearing that the protestors are being paid. Hearing that the protestors are somehow being led.

My son was arrested at UNC Charlotte on Tuesday, May 7th at 6:40am for protesting. He was the one person arrested. He was peaceful. He did not resist arrest and calmly went with the arresting officers.

UNC Charlotte repeatedly told the press in statements that it wasn’t clear if my son was a student since he did not give his name when he was arrested. This is an obvious lie on behalf of the university, as they suspended him and banned him from campus while he was in jail, via an email- so they definitely knew his name and status.

He was bailed out of jail by fellow protestors using a bail fund that the students had all contributed to. George Soros, unfortunately, did not provide any money for the bail fund, and it was a bunch of 18 year olds who managed it.

He returned to campus in order to go to his dorm room, his cell phone was dead and he did not have his laptop, so he had not seen the email from the university which suspended him and banned his access to campus. He was arrested for second degree trespassing at 6:40pm (same day,Tuesday, May 7th). Again, he was polite and did not resist arrest. Despite the narrative that campus police and the university have told to the press, he was no where near any protest when he was arrested for a second time.

He spent the night in jail, he was seen by the bail judge at around 11:30am the next morning, and his release took until nearly 4pm to process. During his bail hearing, the public defender pointed out that he was in jail for a crime that, if he received the maximum penalty, would only warrant a fine.

The protests were non-violent. Any argument that they are antisemitic, is heavily belied by the fact that Jewish Voice for Peace is one of the main organizing groups.

In the 1980s, university students protested apartheid South Africa and demanded that universities divest from South Africa. This is the SAME request that is being made today.

News articles are heavily weighted in favor of what the university says. How many students are the reporters speaking to? Yesterday, there were twenty students downtown in front of the Mecklenburg jail all day, waiting for my son to be released. No local reporter bothered to speak with them.

My son’s name is James Benjamen Farrell. I am proud of his moral strength in standing up for what he believes in. Both of his parents are navy veterans. His father, who is his namesake, died on active duty. We are patriots in my house, and we are also believers in the need to do good in this world.

My son spent his childhood hearing me quote the following passage to him when discussing how we must live in this world and how we must care for each other: Matthew 22:34-40 (NRSVUE) 34 When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, 35 and one of them, an expert in the law, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Love God. Love your neighbor.

End the slaughter of the Palestinian people. Stop using US money to pay for Israeli bombs.

My son was arrested on a university campus, where he is a student, yesterday. Across this country, many students have been arrested for protesting the horrific destruction of Palestine and the senseless killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians.

There are no universities left in Palestine. Israel has destroyed them all.

I am proud of my son. A part of me certainly wishes that he was less willing to be thrown to the lions, but I am very proud of his moral strength and insistence on using his position of privilege to be a voice for others.

I am incredibly proud of my son.

I am ashamed of UNC Charlotte, the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police, and every single reporter who uncritically simply quoted UNC Charlotte.

Feel free to share this post. It is public, and I believe that the best thing we can do is amplify youth voices and do our best to correct any incorrect narratives that we hear or see.)

UNC Charlotte Encampment crackdowns

Please check my twitter threads and the unccencampment instagram for updates as the University administration and local newspapers are completely ignoring the reporting from the campus news and spreading absurd lies in order to justify police crackdown

[theretirementstory]

27/10/2024. Greetings from Bar-sur-Aube, have you enjoyed your extra hour in bed? I took advantage of my hour by reading longer on Saturday night before I settled down to sleep.

It’s a lovely morning, currently 14c but we can expect 21c.

I was in Paris on Monday for the result of my PET scan, it wasn’t good news but you just have to take it on the chin. My treatment has been stopped but I am at home doing what I enjoy most. Fortunately we have had some lovely sunny days so I have been in the garden laying more cardboard and bark.

My journey to Troyes on Wednesday took me via Baroville (home to Barfontarc Champagne) then we picked up a couple of people in Urville (home to Drappier Champagne). I love all these champagne houses in little villages so close to my home.

STOP PRESS: This morning I have received a text from the hospital in Paris confirming an appointment for me with “Imagerie” on Tuesday. News to me, I have not received any phone call or “convocation” by post or email. That means that tomorrow I will need to book a taxi 😩, such short notice! I emailed the doctor at Troyes who has not been advised of this appointment but he suspects that it is for the biopsy with a gynaecologist.

This may not seem funny to you, but consider the fact that my French is somewhere between beginner and intermediate, that in France they don’t expect anyone to be gesticulating from an upstairs window and holding a conversation with someone so many metres away that the conversation is quite a few decibels above “talking”. Well that was me on Thursday! I was up, breakfasted then just catching up with bits and pieces before going to “do my ablutions” shock horror there was no water! I checked my letter box, no notice confirming cutting the water, it was like a ghost town on the estate no sign of any of my neighbours. Well I decided to dress 🤫 and as I opened the shutters I saw a guy across the road in the workshop yard, he was standing outside a van used by the water company. After he finished his phone call, I began gesticulating and shouting Monsieur. He eventually noticed me and when I said the water was cut off he said it was probably the workmen up or down the road (I had already surmised that much). Anyway, I nodded shouted “Merci beaucoup” and prepared to go to the shop. As I got further along my road a group of people were having a “chinwag” , I excused myself to ask if their water was off too, they said it was and pointed in the direction of the workmen. As I was walking up the road, the guy I had “hollered” to drove past me and stopped at the workman, he was having a chat with them and the next minute I saw a guy with what I would call “a key” it was on a long pole and he was scurrying down to another dug up area to ( and here I assumed) turn the water back into the estate. Sure enough when I got home about 30 minutes later, the water was restored. My question here is, had these French people just accepted that the water was off without questioning why we had not been advised? Did they really want to leave it to “the Englishwoman who can shout like a fish wife?”

I have seen Anie and Monique this week, both came bearing windfall apples and I guess I will have to get them sorted up and either frozen or cooked. As always Anie brought me some flowers from her garden, she knows I really appreciate these, it’s such a lovely thing to do.

Pauline has texted me, telling me she has been for interviews, she is keeping her fingers crossed that she is successful. She told me that the spots on her legs, she thought were bites, are actually scabies! 😱

I have had an estate agent here this week to give me an up to date valuation on my house. Not that I am considering moving home but because if anything happens to me it helps my executors. With that thought in mind to, I am considering selling my car, which I am unable to drive (while platelets are so low) it seems pointless it just sitting in the garage.

As you can see I am looking to get my affairs in order. There is no time like the present!

As well as laying more cardboard and bark, I have been working on my jigsaw, there is not much more to do and I was going to give myself up to it today, but maybe I have plenty of other things to do, preparing for Tuesday.

My grandchildren have been making pumpkin lanterns, my granddaughter has made one with a cats face and my grandson (I suspect with Mummy’s help) has made the usual ghoulish face.

The music part of the blog features a favourite singer of mine, it’s Gerry Rafferty with “Right Down The Line” from 1978. The second song is by Stevie Nicks, with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers, it’s “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” from 1981.

So, as we move towards the last days of October, I am hoping for more autumn sunshine (which we have at the moment), hopefully a less hectic schedule (I don’t like these 04:30 wake ups) and time to see friends. My American friend is coming back to her home in town so we are looking forward to catching up.

No updates on family this week, suffice it to say they are well, although both “The Solicitor” and “The Recovery Coordinator” have both had the lurgy. “The Photographer” has moved house once again, hopefully this will be a longer arrangement. Plus “The Jetsetter” hit the wilds of Co. Durham and had to endure an interrogation in a Farm Shop 😂😂.

The photos this week are from Fontaine, the little white dots are actually the paragliders. The second photo is of, what is stated as a boys school, in the 12th arrondissement in Paris.

Have a good week until next week 👋.

[automatismoateo]

I'm currently no contact with my mom. She sent me a postcard with a bible verse today. What snappy bible verse should I reply with? via /r/atheism

I'm currently no contact with my mom. She sent me a postcard with a bible verse today. What snappy bible verse should I reply with? I'm currently no contact with my mom because she has repeatedly caused me harm. I've very specifically told her what she's doing that hurts me, asked her to stop, and told her what I want her to do instead. She has continued doing the same thing for years now--intentionally excluding me and my family from family events because we are no contact with her boyfriend (who physically hurt my 2yo child several years ago)--rather than dividing up the events so we can participate part of the time and him the other part. This July, which also happens to be the 2-year anniversary of the death of my infant daughter, and the one-year anniversary of the suicide of one of my best friends, she did it again. She planned a big family event without us, which she hid from us and didn't invite us to. During a week she knew we would be out of town--on a vacation that WE invited HER and several other immediate family members to join us on. I found out when my cousin called to tell me she was excited to see me at my mom's party. I told my mom via text how much it hurt me to be left out in this way, and asked her why she lied and hid it from us. I was too mad to talk to her. She dismissed me and my feelings by writing, I quote": "I think this has more to do with the terrible pain and sadness you are feeling because of the losses you have suffered." I blocked her and have gone no contact. This feels like an automatic minimum 6 months break for me. I am loving my break from interacting with her. She often acts fairly normal, but there are these deeply passive aggressive things she does that mean I don't trust her at all. My therapists (I have two, one I've seen for many years, another who specializes in grief to help with all the loss and trauma I've been through recently) both suggested separately that she is possibly some form of a covert / passive aggressive narcissist. She continues trying to contact me via group messages, emails, and letters she leaves at our house. She sent me a postcard today with a bible verse. "See! I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness, and streams in the wasteland." (Isaiah) What snappy bible verse should I reply with? Bonus points for anythung referencing listening to your daughter, not being a narcissist, listening when someone says you cause harm, etc. Postcard: https://imgur.com/a/uFhbXMJ Any and all ideas, as well as advice and suggestions for how to deal with her, are welcome. Submitted August 24, 2024 at 09:14PM by rainbowtwist (From Reddit https://ift.tt/r7YQyGz)

[mirandamckenni1]

Lies you're told about therapy. Is therapy a privilege? Is it selfish? Is it too expensive? Is it just for serious mental illnesses? Are you 'bad' enough to go to therapy? Does it even work? Let's talk about it. CRISIS SUPPORT in the UK: Contact 111 or your GP and ask for an emergency appointment. Call 116 123 to talk to Samaritans, or email: jo@samaritans.org for a reply within 24 hours Text "SHOUT" to 85258 to contact the Shout Crisis Text Line, or text "YM" if you're under 19 OTHER PLACES TO TURN TO FOR FREE SUPPORT: There are TONS, but I’m just listing here the three that people in my life have personally used and recommended. If you have others, please mention them in the comments for people to find :) https://ift.tt/Dl7NByk https://ift.tt/kNSHQ7v CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) https://ift.tt/JygztRL WHERE I FOUND A THERAPIST: https://ift.tt/NKEMU6P List of UK professional bodies: https://ift.tt/s57Uizp BOOK The part I read out was from page 160 from Therapy is Magic by Jo Love /// SUPPORT /// JOIN THE GUMPTION CLUB: https://ift.tt/ylBLk9X Being in the club means you get: a free weekly podcast, access to a secret facebook group, a free poetry collection and play written by me, access to livestreams AND you get to access to all my videos before anyone else sees them! CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP - for those lovely people who don't want to use Patreon and aren't bothered about the patreon perks, but who'd like to buy me a drink as a thank you for the free videos... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpqf-UHCeCSd0BqoxxrDv8g/join Nab yourself a POSITIVE PANIC PATCH: https://ift.tt/LWIhXlY ORDER my poetry collection, BARGAIN BIN ROM-COM! https://ift.tt/1V0mCaL // COME AND HANG WITH ME IN BETWEEN UPLOADS // Listen to my podcast, NO BOOKS ON A DEAD PLANET: https://ift.tt/a2IUEmA IF NEWSLETTERS ARE YOUR THING, sign up to get a little letter in your inbox from me once in a while! As a thank you for signing up, you’ll get a FREE downloadable list of my best books of all time: https://ift.tt/LsQ17iO INSTAGRAM: https://ift.tt/Zl8umwP TWITTER: https://twitter.com/leenanorms I use Octopus Energy which are a clean green sustainable energy company - if you're in the UK and are curious, here are the two videos I talk about them in: https://youtu.be/O0TR7RvVRlI and https://youtu.be/IEqf94lb44U And here's my referral link if you'd like to get £50 off (I get £50 off too, woo!) https://ift.tt/VsjoRgz All music used is licensed through Epidemic Sound - I've been using them for years and hand-on-heart it's really fab. You get unlimited use of their music per month for a pretty bargain fee. Here's my referral link (if you sign up through it I get a free month): https://ift.tt/bCsYz0w If you're a company that makes plastic-free products, pays their tax and doesn't exploit people, I'd love to hear from you if you'd like to sponsor the channel: leenanorms@gmail.com via YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I7qhc0HexM

[alex51324]

Full text of the article:

Canvassers for Elon Musk‘s America PAC say that they were flown to Michigan and told they had to meet unattainable quotas or risk paying for their own accommodations and travel home. Then they were unceremoniously fired after some of them spoke to the press.

The workers — many of whom are Black — told Wired that Blitz Canvassing, a subcontractor for Musk’s PAC, had them sign non-disclosure agreements and transported them to Michigan neighborhoods in the back of a U-Haul without seats or seatbelts. After Wired ran an initial story about their working conditions, the magazine reported that the subcontractor fired more than a dozen canvassers, leaving some without full compensation or transportation home.

One door-knocker told the magazine they did not know what they were signing up for. “I knew nothing of the job, or much of the job description, other than going door to door and asking the voters who are they voting for,” the unidentified worker said. “Then, after I signed over an NDA, is when I found out we are for Republicans and with Trump.”

The worker also said they were not aware of the billionaire’s involvement until they “overheard my supervisor and a few others mention Elon Musk.”

According to Wired, Trump’s campaign is relying on Musk and his PAC to lead its door-to-door efforts in the battleground state, but it appears that the X owner’s operation is slapdash at best. Canvassers said they were initially taking Ubers to neighborhoods where they spoke to voters, but later they were unsafely transported in the rear of a U-Haul van without seats or seatbelts. Organizers told the canvassers to use a glitchy app to record their progress, even though the app is known for inaccurately flagging fake door knocks.

“Our subcontractors never should have driven their canvassers in a U-Haul van and those involved were immediately reprimanded,” Tim Pollard of Blitz Canvassing told Wired.

More than a dozen workers were fired after the magazine’s story on the canvassing mishaps broke, Wired reported, leaving some in Michigan without their full pay or transportation home. According to emails obtained by the publication, canvassers were promised $2,000 per week in compensation and a return plane ticket. They were also told they would earn $1.50 per door knocked, text messages showed, and that rate would increase to $2 per door if they reached more than 1,000 doors per week — an unachievable number.

“I have this eerie feeling that I need to get the hell up out of there,” Florida resident Tyra Muldrow, a 20-year-old Black woman, told the publication. Muldrow, who had to find her own way home, said she and other canvassers were told they were fired because some of them had spoken to the media.

Muldrow said the group of canvassers she worked with was made up of Black people from out of state. Muldrow provided videos to Wired that showed cramped accommodations and disagreements between workers.

Muldrow found out she and others were fired through a GroupMe chat from her cousin, Ebony Jones, who recruited her for the job. “Everyone is fired,” Jones wrote in the chat. According to Muldrow, Jones then started asking workers spoke to the media.

At least four canvassers, including Muldrow, said they were not compensated for their work before they were terminated. Muldrow showed Wired that she initially received only $69 via Cash App “for Gotv” — a reference to get out the vote efforts.

“Following the incident, some of the canvassers and contractors involved left the program, some decided to stay, all have been paid,” Pollard told Wired, although the publication was not able to confirm the veracity of his statement.

Muldrow did eventually receive $2,000 on Cash App with the note, “For Michigan Gotv 742 doors paid in full.”

Shortly after that payment, Jones texted her, “Please let wired know that you’ve been paid asap.”

[sam-dugesian]

I can easily solve the Dodleston Messages

here's a rundown of events for context

Now the main reason for either side arguing their case

is the fact that at the time there was no internet

so none of the messages

could have been sent or received remotely

this means that whoever was involved

had to have full access to the house where this took place

this both puts the residents under scrutiny

but if what they said is to be taken as fact

makes it rather difficult for that to be the case

but what if i told you

that at the time the messages were appearing

there was in fact a version of the internet

one where messages could indeed be sent and received

in much the same fashion as is reported to have taken place

let me tell you about the Micronet

an early forerunner to the internet

that wouldn't you know it

is only accessible via the exact specifications

that the computer in the story was set up to use

and though not available to people's homes at the time

was available to almost any school at the time

you know

school being the place where

they had acquired the computer in the story

so is it so far fetched to believe that

they unwittingly hooked up the machine to the micronet

by simply mimicking the way

that the computer had been set up in the school previously

this unintentionally connecting their home computer

via the region's local micronet server

to another set up in the same school where they got theirs

and not being that technically literate

since the micronet was was fairly unknown at the time

were actually connecting to each other

via the early email system they used

which by the way

operates by uploading and downloading text files

rather than the dedicated networks we use now

i mean you'd need to have the original computer's id code

but if you were using that computer at school

prior to it being replaced later

you would have known what the code is

simply because it's visible on screen

when the machine starts up

that would then allow you to transfer files

directly from your machine at the school

to the machine at their home

without them even having to log into the online service

it also means that the files they store on their drive

could be accessed via the school

allowing the individual there to listen in as well

often within local networks at the time

if someone wanted to remain anonymous

they would use their birthday AS a username

i know it's not very good security

but people were largely unaware of that stuff back then

2109 could simply be a person

that was born on the 21st of November

or someone for which that date held significance

well for a start

Feargal Sharkey released a very popular song on that date

and wouldn't you know it

but said individual

was somewhat of a local celebrity

within the Micronet scene at the time

so it's not unlikely to assume

someone on the micronet

would use that date at the time

as their username

considering the first report of the messages

in the local newspaper

appears at the 29th of December that year

this is kinda likely don't you think?

Feargal Sharkey had just released his follow up song

to his greatest hit ever

on December 23rd

which of course is

EXACTLY A WEEK BEFORE

not to mention Feargal appeared on TV

singing his chart topping song

just 2 days after on Dec 25th

in fact one thing i never see mentioned in this

is how 2109's writing style

seems to follow the exact same cryptic writing style

and general rhythm

as the lyrics of basically any Feargal Sharkey song

and i'm not suggesting it's the artist themselves

but it could quite clearly be an avid fan

and certainly the date of November 21st

would have been very much in the public consciousness

at least a week prior to the news article's release

which in all fairness

is probably when the article itself was written

now wouldn't it be the greatest coincidence

if also within a few days prior to that

a historical research group

had passed through the area

one with a lot of knowledge of the local area

and the kind of language used at the time

well...

"

Dodleston, Methodist Chapel (Primitive). Built in 1867.

The registers of the Chapel have been indexed by the Dodleston Family History Group and are available on microfiche at the Cheshire Record Office.

Formed in 1985, this is a small research group of some 12 to 15 members who meet at roughly monthly intervals in each other's homes during the winter months and have visits to local places of interest during the summer.

"

so now we have the perfect set up here

some professional historians making public documents

of the history of the town this is set in

a few days before a feargal sharkey fan

goes into the local school

types in the old index of the computer that used to be there

into the new computer

with his custom song lyrics

someone answers asking what's going on

and the little snot has a devilish scheme hatch in their mind

i think this explanation is fairly clear cut