#with added scientific analysis

[season-77]

@jessieren That’s an excellent analysis, and I wouldn’t mind if you prepared similar ones for us at least once a week, focusing on different parts of Evans' wardrobe.

Have you seen this item somewhere before?

An ode to the Moustache and the too snug navy shirt of smugness... otherwise known as:

'Just how much stuff did Evans snaffle from the Endeavour wardrobe'

I'll start by saying I may be mistaken but in my recent *cough* scientific analysis *cough* of potential photos for use on Moustache Monday and whilst perusing the posts from yesterday my spidey senses starting tingling at the incredible likeness of this snug navy shirt...

To one of our most lusted after admired items of the Endeavour wardrobe.. the too snug navy shirt of smugness

I can't be certain but they are certainly similar in colour, sheen and ummm 'fit'...

Just for completeness and further checking/analysis... here are a few more views of the snug navy shirt (definitely not just gratuitous posting)

This one doesn't even have the tache but I don't care...

And another comparator from Manor... mainly to analyse the.... ummmm... fit...

I fully accept that there are lots of navy shirts and that it may not be the same one but I think it deserves some continued analysis..

[prokopetz]

I'm not gonna claim that most Tumblr polls are anything like rigorously structured, but I've seen a lot of folks rather smugly asserting that having a "not applicable" option that ends up dominating all other responses is evidence that the person who created the poll is incompetent, and y'all: under the specific circumstances in which these polls are constructed and distributed, that outcome is evidence of good poll design, not bad poll design. Yes, even when the "not applicable" responses outnumber all other responses ten to one. There are several reasons for that:

At the time of this posting, Tumblr polls have no "see response" button. The only ways to see a poll's distribution of responses are to wait for the poll to conclude, or to respond yourself – and not only are people on social media typically curious and impatient, many of them also know that there's no way they'll remember to check back later once the poll has concluded, so in practice, their opportunity to see the results is now or never. Adding a little note to the poll insisting that people who aren't part of the targeted demographic should refrain from voting isn't necessarily going to restrain that impulse. Indeed, it may end up encouraging folks who otherwise wouldn't have picked a random result-revealing response to do so, because fuck you, don't tell me what to do.

Many respondents genuinely won't realise they're not part of the targeted demographic until after they've voted. It doesn't matter how much text you add to contextualise the poll, because they'll read the poll first, and if they read the accompanying text at all, it's only after they've responded. Heck, a lot of folks don't even bother to read the question before responding to a poll; they just start going down the options and reflexively click the first one that seems like it might apply to them, then go back and read what was actually being asked (and complain in the notes if it turns out that they misunderstood). Even a well-meaning person can only comply with instructions they've actually read; for those folks, clicking the "not applicable" option is what compliance looks like.

Even folks who do fit your poll's targeted demographic can fall prey to the imp of the perverse. Giving the most accurate response rather than the most entertaining one can be a real struggle for a lot of folks; in scientific analysis of polling data, this is known as the "mischievous responder bias". In an informal setting like Tumblr, it's reasonable to suppose that the mischievous responder effect might be exaggerated compared to polls conducted in more formal contexts, and a well-designed poll is going to take that into account. A humorous "not applicable" option provides an escape by affording folks the freedom to screw around with the knowledge that they're not polluting useful data by doing so; in practice, the "I am a toaster" option is a mischievous response filter.

What this adds up to is that a poll where 90% of the responses hit the "not applicable" button is more likely to have yielded useful data than a poll with a narrow target audience where some unknown percentage of the responses represent folks not reading the instructions, clicking random options to see the results, and/or taking the piss.

[lactoseintolerentswag]

Rise Characterizations Pt. 3!!!

Now that Leo and Raph are done, it's Donnie's turn for character analysis as a writing reference. So without further ado,

Donnie Character Notes

Language Habits:

Straight up talks like a redditor who hasn't touched enough grass (affectionate)

Oscillates between very scientific paper polished, sometimes adding a dazzle of shakespearean for dramatics, or abbreviations/a shorter version of a word with a more fun connotation (i.e. "brekkie" instead of breakfast)

Uses food as surprised exclamations or curses, "oh my peaches and cream", "banana pancakes!"

Emphasizes each syllable of a long word when he's excited or trying to make a point. Conquered becomes con-qu-ered

Either exaggerates his speech or speaks in deadpan

The science terms he uses as battle cries aren't chosen at random, but rather are related to the action/subject at hand, i.e. yelling "fibonacci" when throwing his spinning tech-bo

Will overly describe an item or a situation, and often gets caught up in these observations before processing what just happened

Will repeatedly yell "help!" when he's distressed and/or outnumbered

Refers to Mikey as "Michael"

Refers to his brothers as "brethren" or "gentlemen"

Refers to splinter as either "father", "papa", or "dad" depending on the weight of the situation

Refers to his tech as his "babies"

Answers the phone with, "You're conversing with Donatello"

Uses "gesundheit" instead of bless you

Personality:

The fixer, he supplies the family with tech and resources. He always has a trinket made for the situation at hand and/or offers his knowledge/data collected. He's always prepared to help. Even with outside resources, he likes to feel useful in solving their problems (i.e., building Todd that dog park)

The theater kid, in a similar vein to leo, Donnie has his own style of dramatics. He often uses shakespeare-like language, is mentioned to regularly recite the jupiter jim musical soundtrack, and has a music mode for his battle shell. He belongs on a stage, or at least thinks he does

Not good at lying, despite the glamour he can put on in the spotlight. This may be due to the side of himself that over explains his thoughts

An over-thinker, who really tends to over-complicate things. His first theory or idea will always be the most extreme buck-wild concept. After some filtering, he still word vomits

A dreamer/big idea guy. He does have big ideas and goals. A lot of these he's able to put into place, although some go a little haywire (see Albearto). He doesn't do things in halves, and puts everything into a project

Meticulous, someone who's very detail oriented. As mentioned before he tends to over-complicates things. This may be impacted by his love for data and collecting information (he does record Everything for a reason)

Always on the edge of violence, which is surprising. Donnie's not known as being the angry archetype of tmnt, but he can get a little violent in his fighting style and does often cite his desire to use lethal force

Low empathy, which is mainly due to his issues processing and recognizing emotions. He's been pegged as unemotional, but in canon he's rather emotional and expressionate, just lacking the skills to process such emotion (he's just like me fr)

Praise motivated, as seen with his interactions with Splinter. Also desires the praise of his brothers, who he doesn't feel understand him with all the teasing that's sent towards his direction. This also pushes him to seek validation and acceptance in other groups (i.e. the purple dragons), to feel a sense of security or belonging

Ignores his own mistakes, and will often pretend like they didn't exist or ever happen. This most likely has to do with his desire for praise, so he feels bad when he fails. If he never made a mistake, he never has to feel bad

Miscellaneous:

Fourth to unlock mystic powers

Uses "Bootyyyshaker9000" as most of his usernames and passwords, with his alt. username being "Alpha-Bootyyyshaker9000"

Has a fear of bees, spiders, and of course beach balls

Breaks the fourth wall the most

Loves the smell of pineapple, hates the texture

Has a hobby of rooting around in the junkyard and dumpster diving

Uses cheat codes in video games

Mikey's next of course :)

[gaysforbyler]

A bad and unprofessional analysis of Being Different, aka the love of my life

So obviously this score plays during the van scene. Here’s the entire video from where the score starts for reference (as if you haven’t seen it enough)

There are three main sections I’m breaking this up into. 1) the Mike Monologue, 2) The Heart, and 3) The First I love You

1) At the beginning of Mike’s self deprecative spiral (when he says “I keep telling myself that”) the music cuts from Argyle’s radio to Being Different. This part of the score sounds dramatically different than the rest. Now I don’t know any fancy technical terms, but I DO know that it sounds sad. The notes are long and simple— it’s uncomplicated. Will is putting his full attention into listening to what Mike has to say, and it makes him sad that Mike sees himself that way.

2) This section starts right at the moment Mike opens the painting. There’s an obvious shift in tone (the swell, and then the little happy beeps). And then comes the really interesting part: as soon as Will opens his mouth, another layer is added. I’m going to try to explain this as scientifically as possible— so if you listen very closely, you can hear sort of a wa WA, wa WA, wa WA. You know what that sound reminds me of? A heartbeat. A HEARTBEAT starts playing at the same time that Will explains how Mike is the heart of the party. Not only that, but in the original score (https://www.tumblr.com/gaysforbyler/765278990711898112/wawa-wa-waa-wa-wa), the heart starts beating out of rhythm. THEY’RE NERVOUS. Will was nervous to give his speech, and Mike was nervous to receive it.

Also, this section of the score is HAPPY. Will is happy to be doing this for Mike. Just isolating the soundtrack, it doesn’t feel like some big heartbreaking moment. Maybe it’s meant to be showing Mike’s POV here, but I feel like Will is just glad to be helping. Will’s love makes him happy

3) Many people know that the ending (when Will says “she’s so different from other people”) of Being Different uses the same motif as The First I love You and The First Lie, but it’s simplified down into four notes rather than eight. The First I love You plays for Mike and El, and Robin and Steve, while The First Lie plays during Jancy’s first kiss. This is Will’s first lie to Mike, and also his first confession.

What people DONT talk about is how different Will’s version is (clearly). For one, it sounds almost drowned out, like it’s playing from underwater. It’s being muffled. Will is literally covering up his feelings and trying to push them down so Mike can’t hear them. It sounds like the music crying. His love confession is sad, and raw, and distorted. That’s clearly shown through the score

[carriesthewind]

"Although hired as a consultant by Washington County in this case, Baird had a long-standing independent agenda: helping foster parents across Colorado succeed in intervening and permanently claiming the children they care for. Often working hand in hand with Tim Eirich, she has been called as an expert in, by her count, hundreds of child-welfare cases, and she sometimes evaluates visits between birth families and children without having met them. Baird would not say how many foster-parent intervenor cases she has participated in, but she can recall only a single instance in which she concluded that the intervenors should not keep the child. Thinking that particular couple would be weak adoptive parents, she told me, she simply filed no report."

"With the supply of adoptable babies dropping, foster children were becoming a “hot commodity,” he said, and he and his colleagues (among them Tim Eirich’s law partner Seth Grob) realized that attachment experts could be called into court to argue that foster children needed to remain with their foster parents in order to avoid a severed bond."

"The judge ruled in favor of Eirich’s clients, a social worker and a real-estate agent. “Court found [Baird’s] testimony credible. She has significant experience,” the judge said, adding approvingly that Baird’s analysis had “focused on primacy of attachment over cultural considerations.”"

"Was Baird’s method for evaluating these foster and birth families empirically tested? No, Baird answered: Her method is unpublished and unstandardized, and has remained “pretty much unchanged” since the 1980s. It doesn’t have those “standard validity and reliability things,” she admitted. “It’s not a scientific instrument.”

...

Had she considered or was she even aware of the cultural background of the birth family and child whom she was recommending permanently separating? (The case involved a baby girl of multiracial heritage.) Baird answered that babies have “never possessed” a cultural identity, and therefore are “not losing anything,” at their age, by being adopted. Although when such children grow up, she acknowledged, they might say to their now-adoptive parents, “Oh, I didn’t know we were related to the, you know, Pima tribe in northern California, or whatever the circumstances are.”

The Pima tribe is located in the Phoenix metropolitan area."

"We found that — leaving aside the question of whether attachment theory should even be used as an argument in these cases — Baird’s assessments of foster children’s relationships aren’t just unscientific. They barely touch the surface of a child’s life.

“I don’t know these children,” she testified in one 2017 case, adding, “I have not met anybody.” Still, she said, she “strongly” recommended that those children’s birth parents’ rights be permanently terminated and that the kids be adopted."

"She also regularly uses terms like “mirror neurons,” “neurotoxins,” “synapses,” “hormones,” and “encoded trauma in the central nervous system” to justify her conclusions about children’s family relationships. (Baird is not a neuroscientist.)"

______________________

The New Yorker article focuses on possible legislative solutions, but I think these articles point to something more pernicious and more difficult to address. Judges - in all kinds of cases - routinely give credence to professionals and "experts" who are biased, bigoted, and testify far outside their expertise (if they have any expertise at all). These professionals have credentials (like being a police officer or social worker) that are validated by institutional hierarchies. Their frequent systematized interaction with the legal system is mistaken as experience that makes their subjective beliefs more credible, when in truth they lack any objective expertise. They are considered credible and unbiased because they conform to, and validate, systems of hierarchical oppression, while the people they hurt - often poor, marginalized, and most frequently, not white - are viewed with inherent distrust.

The ProPublica article focuses primarily on Baird. I'm more concerned with the judges who believed her, who used her to justify funneling children away from their (safe and loving, but poorer and frequently browner) birth families. She was only able to do so much harm because of the the power given to her by courts, and the judges inside them.

The ProPublic article ends with the line, "This past fall, with Baird’s help, the foster parents were granted full custody of the baby girl through her 18th birthday." It names Baird as a force that led to the theft of this child. The passive voice hides the judge who made the ultimate decision.

[gftimelord]

Greetings!

I am Dr. Stanford Pines, you may call me 'Ford' or simply 'Doctor'. I suppose it is about time I explore the World Wide Web, or the 'Internet'. There is much I still have to learn and figure out since returning to this dimension.

It seems I have fallen quite out of touch for the most part during the thirty years I was gone. It's frankly very impressive and jarring to see how so much has changed so I might take some time for me to properly adjust but I digress.

I travel through plenty of dimensions with my brother Stanley quite often to further my research. Nothing we can't handle now that Cipher is out of the picture so I will continue adventuring and learning.

I am glad to be of acquaintance to you all!

Ad astra per aspera

- Dr. Stanford Pines

OOC: HAHA- Here's a Ford blog because I genuinely couldn't help myself. My main blog is @matrixbearer2024! This Stanford Pines is very similar to the timelords from the Doctor Who franchise but other than that he's still pretty much the same. I'll mostly have him set post-weirdmageddon but I'm open to shifting whichever point in time for questions or RPs, have fun everyone!

P.S. Down below are insights to his character and inventory for anyone interested or planning to interact with him!

Doc's inventory:

Modified Sonic Screwdriver

Rift Manipulation: Creates and stabilizes interdimensional rifts using doors as conduits.

Wood Manipulation: Can interact with wooden objects, allowing for unlocking, modifying, or opening them.

Lock Picking: Can unlock doors and secure mechanisms electronically.

Repair Capabilities: Repairs mechanical devices, machinery, and certain types of technology.

Environmental Scanning: Gathers environmental data, hazards, such as toxins, radiation, or other dangers, detecting anomalies, and analyzing energy signatures.

Data Analysis: Capable of analyzing data from various sources and providing real-time feedback, which can be especially useful in scientific or technical situations.

Communication Device: Interfaces with various technologies for sending and receiving signals.

Universal Translator: Translates languages in real time, enabling communication across the multiverse.

Communications Device: Functions as a communicator to contact other beings or devices across dimensions.

Energy Emission and Manipulation: Emits energy pulses to create barriers, distract enemies, or manipulate technology as well as manipulating energy sources, allowing it to overload systems or temporarily disable them.

Holographic Projection: Can create holographic displays for visualization of data, theories, or environments.

Lock Picking: Bypasses and unlocks physical and digital security systems.

Thermal Regulation: Measures and adjusts temperature in different environments.

Frequency Manipulation: Disrupts or enhances certain technologies by emitting sounds at specific frequencies.

Medical Functions: Provides advanced diagnostics and medical support, which is due to Doc’s preparedness(paranoia) for unforeseen events. (e.g. scanning for vital signs, diseases, and medical conditions; performing rudimentary medical diagnostics and suggest treatments; minor surgical procedures, such as suturing wounds; administering certain medications or injections in emergencies)

Forcefield Manipulation: Can activate and control protective barriers or shields, adding a layer of defense in dangerous situations.

Data Storage & Retrieval: Stores information and interacts with databases, making it a powerful tool for research.

Manipulation of Atoms: Using the power of the infinity die, Doc’s sonic screwdriver can manipulate the energy within atoms of entities that have a tangible, alterable form. This ability allows him to rearrange or shift the physical properties of objects or beings.

Weaponized Function: Can shoot energy blasts, though this function was originally designed as a laser for electronic tinkering.

Time Manipulation: Has limited abilities to manipulate time within a localized area, such as slowing down or speeding up the perception of time for specific objects or people.

Emergency Beacon: Can emit distress signals to call for help or alert allies in emergencies.

Multi-Purpose Tool: Serves as a general tool for tinkering, adjusting mechanisms, and solving puzzles, which aligns with Doc's analytical nature and creativity.

Repair Box

Immortality: A set of nanobots that constantly repairs and heals injuries, rendering Doc functionally immortal. While he cannot die from age or illness, fatal wounds can still kill him.

Healing Factor: Non-fatal wounds heal rapidly, which allow the Doctor to recover quickly from injuries that would otherwise incapacitate others.

Phantom Pain: He experiences phantom pain from time to time, a side effect of the repair box, which sometimes immobilizes him during particularly bad days.

Journal & Pen

Eidetic Memory: While Doc has a photographic memory, he carries a journal where he records his travels, discoveries, and reflections. This is partly an emotional release and partly a way to process the things he can never forget.

Personal Reflections: His journal also contains musings, sketches, and insights into his more philosophical thoughts, which he tends to keep private.

Zygon Force Field Device

Personal Shield: A portable device that creates a personal force field around the doctor which protects him from the worst injuries in moments of danger.

Camouflage: For a temporary time, the advanced zygon technology refracts and manipulates light to turn Doc invisible to the naked eye. This can be activated and disabled manually.

Limited Durability: Though powerful, the forcefield can only take so much damage at a time before it needs to recharge.

Advanced Medical Kit

Comprehensive: This kit contains emergency medical supplies, medications, and advanced tools for situations where the repair box might not immediately be enough. The doctor’s paranoia drives him to always be prepared.

Multiverse Map

Hand-drawn: A rough sketch and collection of dimensions he’s visited or studied, filled with notes about potential dangers and anomalies.

OOC: Does Doc carry a phone with him? Nope! Thinks it's something redundant because of his sonic being able to act as a communicator at a rudimentary level. Granted, you're not going to get stellar audio or video quality from something like that, but it works throughout the multiverse so Doc doesn't bother. If you plan on having an OC or other character meet him through this route, it could be as a transmission to his sonic!

Doc's Appearance:

Since the time he received the repair box, Doc has been biologically frozen in a state where his physical body remains in its 40s.

Doc is standing tall at 6'2", no different from most iterations of his canon counterparts.

His coat the the same as the one he already uses in post-canon gravity falls, that hasn't changed aesthetically.

The doctor sports a suit because if he's going to kick butt might as well do it in style, he also switches between neck-ties and bow-ties because bow-ties are cool.

He wears sneakers instead of his boots since those had worn down and broken sometime during his travels and sneakers are just generally easier to replace.

Underneath all his dress-up though he's covered in scars from past battles and his old tattoos that he'd never had the time to get rid of.

His glasses still have a crack in them, mostly because he couldn't be bothered to get a new pair of bifocals anyway.

Always clean shaven, yes he still shaves his face with fire that has never changed.

Key Quotes About Doc:

"You don't need to look like a monster to be one."

"HAHAHAHA- I just SNOGGED Madame de Pompadour!"

"ALLONS-Y!"

"This apple sucks I hate apples-"

"Laptop. Gimme!"

"Who da man?! ..... Oh, well I'm never saying that again."

"Immortality isn't living forever that's not what it feels like. Immortality is everybody else dying because you can't."

"Goodness is not goodness that seeks advantage. Good is good in the deepest pit without hope, without witness, without reward. Virtue is only virtue in extremis."

"Sometimes the only choices you have are bad ones, but you still have to choose."

"The day you lose someone isn't the worst. At least you've got something to do. It's all the days they stay dead."

"Pain is a gift. Without the capacity for pain we can't feel the hurt we inflict."

"There's a lot of things you need to get across this universe. Warp drive, wormhole refractors. You know the thing you need most of all? You need a hand to hold."

"Love is not an emotion. It's a promise."

"The universe is big. It’s vast and complicated and ridiculous. And sometimes, very rarely, impossible things just happen and we call them miracles."

"Some people live more in 20 years than others do in 80. It’s not the time that matters, it’s the person."

"I’m the doctor, and I save people."

"First thing’s first, but not necessarily in that order."

"You want weapons? We're in a library! Books! Best weapons in the world!"

"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint— it’s more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly… time-y wimey… stuff."

"I’m about to do something very clever and a tiny bit against the rules of the multiverse. It’s important that I’m properly dressed."

"Arrogance can trip you up.”

"Do what I do: Hold tight and pretend it’s a plan!"

"You’ll find that it’s a very small universe when I’m angry with you."

See the bowtie? I wear it and I don’t care. That’s why it’s cool."

"Big flashy things have my name written all over them. Well… not yet. Give me time and a crayon."

"Never cruel or cowardly. Never give up, never give in.”

"Rest is for the weary, sleep is for the dead.”

"You don’t want to take over the universe. You wouldn’t know what to do with it beyond shout at it."

"Never be certain of anything. It’s a sign of weakness."

"Courage isn’t just a matter of not being frightened, you know. It’s being afraid and doing what you have to do anyway."

“Why do humans never do as they’re told? Someone should replace you all with robots. No, on second thought, they shouldn’t, bad idea.”

"You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common: they don’t alter their views to fit the facts; they alter the facts to fit their views.”

[shjiyemis]

Gamzee Analysis: Loss of Self

An analysis and theoretical understanding and explanation surrounding Gamzee's "mind control" and the repercussions of it.

(Note: I put "" around mind control because I think the term can be used loosely and the way I explain it here may not be everyones definition of it.)

(To clear up any possible confusion readers may get from this: I interchange between Lil Cal, LE (AKA Lord English), and Lil Cal/LE because Lil Cal is only a vessel of a weakened Lord English.)

UUUUGHHGG..... I get frustrated sometimes about Gamzee because I think people don't fully understand my interpretation of Gamzee since I think people picture a nice sweet fellow coming out of mind control when I explain my concepts, but it's more like:

"Gamzee was tricked and agreed to something that they couldn't comprehend as a weirdo brain-damaged child (but thought it'd be a good idea) and was under a heavy influence that made them unconscious to his own existence majority of the time (in and out of control of his own body/in my mind, similar to dissociation/, not having his own thoughts majority of the time, his mind getting scrambled as time goes on.) and when hes finally out of control he's just actually fucked up and is definitely different from how he used to be."

I believe that Gamzee would have hella neutral morals after getting out of control that can translate to how he was before Lil Cal but context is very different to his thoughts and words. Gamzee's a weirdo and no one likes him ("normal ppl" idk lol) but he's also the guy that if your weird and an outcast too, you'd get along with them off the bat. Definitely not evil but also not a goody two shoes, dudes just living with psychosis and the only thing holding him back from being a worse person is that he just doesn't want to be.

Also I'm adding to the mind control concept I talked about, because I believe that is also massively different from most interpretations.

I also just feels like it makes sense for when he was cut in half and why one half smiles and the other frowns. For me I interpret it in a "Gamzee's brain was still in the process of getting scrambled and he was only half gone at that point." We can even go into it scientifically.

Right brain that is more in charge of creativity and more spiritual thoughts, the right brain. And the other is more in charge of logical thought, left brain.

I think it really depends on which side YOU feel is supposed to represent The "real Gamzee" and "controlled Gamzee" but I see it as both having those aspects but one having more of the other.

A few understandings of how you can see this specific aspect: Right side could be going "Oh no it hurts." Or "Oh no I lose" and the left side could be "I'll find another way" or "Yay I'm dead".

So now for my explanation of my personal understanding of this.

For me, I've always seen the left side being in LE's control more than the right. Not just because of the smile but because just generally, I tend to use the left side of his face for symbolism since I headcanon Gamzee with a damaged left eye from Nepeta's scratches. I tend to use it to represent LE/Lil Cal's control or a SCAR from Lil Cal's control.

I think it also just generally makes sense that his logic would be under LE's control more than his creative and holistic side, that's the side that not only keeps him in his religious delusion but is probably useful for LE and is why that side (right side) gets sucked into LE in the first place!

(Another note: I did not forget about Aranea's mind control of Gamzee but I didn't include it because this is an analysis around LE's control and its effects. It also really depends on how you think her mind control affects people as well so it feels like something that needs another post. But hers is definitely presented as a more literal mind control that we are used to seeing in media.)

Will say this again. Everything written here is purely theoretical while also using canon to back stuff up. This isn't me claiming anything I'm saying is canon nor am I targeting other Gamzee interpretations out there (I do not like using any biases in these types of things) just sharing my personal understanding of stuff because I have yet to see anyone represent what I'm seeing in Gamzee's character. I hope you enjoyed reading!

If you need more explanation on certain things I said feel free to ask in replies!

[ancientfabricspreservation]

Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com - New scientific research has revealed a piece of tartan found in a peat bog in Glen Affric around forty years ago can be dated to circa 1500-1600 AD, making it the oldest known surviving specimen of true tartan in Scotland.

The Scottish Tartans Authority commissioned Dye Analysis and Radiocarbon testing on the woolen textile to prove its age.

Scotland's Oldest Tartan On Display For The First Time!

Glen Affric tartan - Scotland's oldest-known true tartan discovered by The Scottish Tartans Authority to go on display for the first time at V&A Dundee's Tartan exhibition.

Credit: Alan Richardson Pix-AR

The first investigation was dye analysis carried out by analytical scientists from National Museums Scotland. Using high-resolution digital microscopy, four colors were visually identified for dye analysis: green, brown, and possibly red and yellow.

The dye analysis confirmed the use of indigo/woad in the green but was inconclusive for the other colors, probably due to the dyestuff degradation state. However, no artificial or semi-synthetic dyestuffs were involved in making the tartan, which pointed to a date of pre-1750s.

Further clarification on the age of the tartan involved radiocarbon testing at the SUERC Radiocarbon Laboratory in East Kilbride. The process involved washing out all the peat staining, which would have otherwise contaminated the carbon content of the textile.

The Radiocarbon testing results identified a broad date range between 1500 and 1655 AD, with the period between 1500 and 1600 AD the most probable. This makes it the oldest-known piece of true tartan found in Scotland – the Falkirk ‘tartan,’ dating from the early third century AD, is actually a simpler check pattern woven using undyed yarns.

The Glen Affric tartan, which measures around 55cm by 43cm, is now on display for the first time at V&A Dundee’s Tartan exhibition.

by TaboolaSponsored Links

The piece will be the oldest exhibit among more than 300 objects. The exhibition examines tartan’s universal and enduring appeal through iconic and everyday examples of fashion, architecture, graphic and product design, photography, furniture, glass and ceramics, film, performance, and art.

“The testing process has taken nearly six months, but the effort was well worth it, and we are thrilled with the results!

In Scotland, surviving examples of old textiles are rare as the soil is not conducive to their survival. As the piece was buried in peat, meaning it had no exposure to air and was therefore preserved.

The tartan has several colors with multiple stripes of different sizes, and so it corresponds to what people would think of as a true tartan.

“Although we can theorize about the Glen Affric tartan, it’s important that we don’t construct history around it. Although Clan Chisholm controlled that area, we cannot attribute the tartan to them as we don’t know who owned it.

“The potential presence of red, a color that Gaels considered a status symbol, is interesting because of the more rustic nature of the cloth. This piece is not something you would associate with a king or someone of high status; it is more likely to be an outdoor working garment," Peter MacDonald, Head of Research and Collections at The Scottish Tartans Authorit said.

Scotland's Oldest Tartan On Display For The First Time!

New scientific research has revealed a piece of tartan found in a peat bog in Glen Affric, Scotland around forty years ago can be dated to circa 1500-1600 AD, making it the oldest known surviving specimen of true tartan in Scotland. Credit: Credit: Alan Richardson Pix-AR

“The Glen Affric tartan is clearly a piece of national and historical significance. It is likely to date to the reign of James V, Mary Queen of Scots, or James VI/I. “There is no other known surviving piece of tartan from this period of this age. It's a remarkable discovery and deserves national attention and preservation. “It also deserves to be seen and we’re delighted that it is to be included in the Tartan exhibition at V&A Dundee,” John McLeish, Chair of The Scottish Tartans Authority, said.

“We knew The Scottish Tartans Authority had a tremendous archive of material and we initially approached them to ask if they knew of any examples of 'proto-tartans' that could be loaned to the exhibition.

I'm delighted the exhibition has encouraged further exploration into this plaid portion and very thankful for The Scottish Tartans Authority's backing and support in uncovering such a historic find.

To be able to exhibit the Glen Affric tartan is immensely important in understanding the textile traditions from which modern tartan derives, and I'm sure visitors will appreciate seeing this on public display for the very first time," James Wylie, curator at V&A Dundee said.

Tartan at V&A Dundee opens on Saturday, 1 April, until 14 January 2024.

Written by Jan Bartek - AncientPages.com Staff Writer

Source: Facebook

Source: AncientPages.com

[beardedmrbean]

A newborn baby found earlier this year in Newham, east London, is the third child abandoned by the same parents, the BBC can report.

DNA tests presented to the East London Family Court established that “Baby Elsa” is the sibling of two babies, a boy and a girl, found in very similar circumstances in 2017 and 2019.

Despite appeals by the Metropolitan Police, their parents have not been identified.

The BBC and PA Media were given special permission by the court to report the sibling link - and that the children are black.

Judge Carol Atkinson said the story was of "great public interest" as babies are very rarely abandoned in modern Britain.

An expert told the court that, in his opinion, the genetic findings provided extremely strong scientific support for the view that Baby Elsa was “a full sibling” of the other two babies.

The older children have been adopted and Baby Elsa remains in foster care.

She was found by a dog-walker in January in sub-zero temperatures - the coldest night of the year - wrapped in a towel inside a bag.

The other babies - named Harry and Roman - had also been abandoned after birth in the same area of London.

They had been wrapped in blankets. One was also inside a bag.

Family Court documents stated Baby Elsa still had her umbilical cord, and doctors estimate she had been born only an hour before.

Although she was extremely cold when found, Elsa was described as crying and responsive. The court has since heard that she is doing well.

The Family Court has heard that the children - whose names have now been changed - will all know that they are full siblings, and there are plans for them to have some form of contact as they grow up.

The reporting of the sibling link was not supported by the local authority and England's Children and Family Court Advisory and Support Service (Cafcass), which advises courts about children's best interests.

The Met Police said it was up to the court to determine whether the link between the children should be reported, but they told the court they did not wish to “inadvertently promote or encourage struggling mothers to abandon unwanted babies in public spaces”.

East London Family Court is taking part in a transparency pilot, which has been extended to cover almost half the family courts in England and Wales. This makes it easier for the BBC and other journalists to report cases.

The BBC and PA Media argued in court that it was a matter of public interest that the three children had been abandoned at birth by the same parents.

Carol Atkinson, the most senior judge in East London Family Court, agreed.

“Abandonment of a baby in this country is a very, very unusual event,” she said, adding that there was considerable public interest in such cases, for that reason.

She said the fact the three babies were full siblings was, for the same reason, “of enormous interest” in “our current society”.

She said that if she were to refuse reporting, it would affect the “public consciousness” of these matters, and restrict open justice in such cases.

The BBC and PA said further reporting was likely to assist the authorities in locating the children’s parents, and that highlighting the relationship would put the focus back on the children’s mother.

Very few babies are recorded as abandoned at birth in England and Wales. The ONS only published data until 2015, and that showed no babies were registered as abandoned for the previous three years, with just one logged as abandoned in 2011.

However academic researchers estimate the number higher, at about 16 per year - in analysis covering the period 1998-2005.

The press reported on an abandoned baby in Hackney, east London, in 2020 - and another in Birmingham in 2021. Their mothers were eventually traced, several months later. ______________

Woman campaigns to introduce baby boxes in the UK

A woman who was abandoned as a baby is campaigning to introduce baby boxes in the UK. ____________________

Having these should really be a no brainer by now

[madeitlate37]

Vita Carnis by Darian Quilloy

Why yes I am giving my favorite series Halloween week, but consider this an advertisement for why it deserves it.

Vita Carnis is a relatively new, (in terms of Analog Horror), show that has gained a large following and has even been theorized on by MatPat—before he retired.

I think I mentioned in my first post that season one of The Mandela Catalogue was my favorite when I first got into the genre. To be specific, upon my first viewing, I had trouble falling asleep and would compulsively check every potential hiding place in my room before going to bed.

Upon my first viewing of Vita Carnis, that went on for months, instead. In fact, over a year later, I still do the routine “Mimic check” despite not living alone.

Now, before I risk spoiling the series, let’s get the spoiler-free qualities out of the way:

• Hive mind threats, the neat part is that this so far only applies to one section of the threat.

• Twisted security, we have security footage, documentaries, infomercials, and personal footage plenty of variety in where the story beats are coming from.

• Competent characters, not everyone, but do expect to see people/groups who actually try to do something about their situation.

• Biology lessons, the first thing you learn about the threats is how they function on an anatomical level, adds to realism and demonstrates added care and effort.

• Mini-retelling, about once per video—at least in season one—the audience is presented with a fragment of what’s “really” happening, and even then there’s the possibility of it being inaccurate. Untrustworthy sources are a major theme of season one.

• Not safe at home, one of the threats—being as vague as possible—is pretty much the sole reason I had trouble falling asleep for so long because it is entirely based around attacking it’s victims in their home.

• Safety guides, the threats have existed for decades, and the people living in this world behave like they have. As I said with untrustworthy sources, we have conflicting reactions and handlings of it, but the major players clearly approach them with knowledge.

• On-screen payoff, there is technically a scene or two which couldn’t have been recorded, but they have such visceral content in them that you don’t entirely notice. This is also played up through the use of very good effects.

• Varied but same threats, similar to Gemini, they are very different in how they are a threat—if they are a threat at all—but come from the same thing.

Now, onto the more risky analysis:

It’s a little hard to pinpoint exactly what I love best about this series, from the consistency in quality to the scientific facts to the secret videos throughout the new season that’s coming out now.

So, I’m just going to try and begin with why I was so scared, more specifically. One threat in particular checks every box of aspects of a monster that I find scary: Uncanny valley (depending on age), silent but dangerous, solely focused on humans in a way that makes sense, etc..

The main thing that drew me into this now that I think about it, was how the foot chain was visibly affected in the world of Vita Carnis.

With every direct threat, the one I mentioned above especially, Darian has taken a lot of care to describe the science behind all of them and their dangerous mechanisms. All to demonstrate the key theme that humans, in that world, are no longer at the top of the food chain, and are in a prey position again. Something that instinctively strikes fear into humans as a species.

What makes it mire real and visceral is, as I mentioned above, the science and how the people in this world react to this. One can argue that humans are in that situation with other types of monsters like werewolves, vampires, demons, etc., but Vita Carnis has descriptive explanations for how these threats work, has safety guides for them, and despite that, still makes it clear that in that world, we still have to fear for out lives on a constant basis.

The new season that’s coming out is geared more towards learning the potential source of these threats, but the first season was all about understanding why the threats would be so unbeatable and terrifying in real life. Darian also does a great job with effects, mainly using practical effects in the first season. Granted, it doesn’t look great all the time, but it’s another example of just how much effort he puts into this series.

I mentioned that Midwest Angelica wasn’t my favorite because I was personally tired of seeing literal religious themes in stories, had a different guess as to what the threat was that killed momentum on my end, but Vita Carnis didn’t necessarily give me a chance to guess. At least not with the first few episodes, in fact, those first two episodes were a decent subversion in terms of introducing the main antagonists.

The current season is leaning more into the “cultish” and “researching” part of it, but it has kept its momentum nonetheless, at least for me.

It’s not for everybody. But on the Analog Horror subreddit praise it like crazy, and I’m holding back quite a bit because I could get into direct spoilers, but it’s just not everybody’s cup of tea, just like how Midwest Angelica wasn’t mine. You may find that the goofier/unrealistic moments effects wise ruin the immersion for you, or this second season will lose you, or maybe biology videos aren’t scary.

However, if you are like me and intrigued by these things, it is, just like Gemini and Midwest, on YouTube. Go check it out if you’re interested (but be warned that despite the first seven videos being put into one documentary, there is content cut and added)!

As for next week…

[katmaibearfan]

tw: cub injury, cub death

going to copy & paste the update on grazer's injured cub from Naomi Boak under the cut. i dont think i have any better words for this than she does right now.

Good evening everyone. Tonight we witnessed another trying moment. We also witnessed the actions and reactions of a stellar mother bear and we have lots to learn from her actions. Below are Mike Fitz's considered comments after reviewing the video of what happened this evening. Thank you so much for your kind and empathetic reactions to a very difficult moment. I will post the video of the live chat we did on Monday after this comment if you want to review our analysis of the events of last Saturday

1. I didn't see it live, but I've been able to review the footage. At ~ 224pm AKT, Grazer was on the lip of the falls.

2. On the falls low cam, I could see her apparently healthy cub on the edge of the water. Then another spring cub washes over the falls.

4. The cub that washed over the falls appeared unresponsive. I do not know if it was dead or not but I saw no indication that it was or could fight the current.

3. This was almost certainly the cub that was injured by 32 Chunk on 7/29. If you want to know more please see this program:

(added note: link didn't copy over but i may add it later if i can get it to work)

5. Grazer saw the cub wash over the falls. She left the lip and searched for it in the jacuzzi (the large plunge pool below the falls).

6. Grazer retrieved the motionless cub in the water and made attempts to bring it to shallow water.

7. Grazer was then distracted by a need to corral and/or protect her other cub who remained on the near river bank.

8. When Grazer went to her healthy cub, the motionless cub drifted downstream. Grazer seemed to show some effort to look for it, but I don't know if she made contact with it again.

9. Was the cub dead when it washed over the falls? IDK. If it was still alive it could not fight the current. We know that cub was dealing with upper body injuries the last time we saw it.

9. If the cub was dead, then why would Grazer try to help it? Perhaps Grazer wasn't ready to give up. Perhaps Grazer didn't know it was dead.

10. Perhaps she felt an ursine form of loss. There is good evidence that some mammals can grieve.

11. Given the intelligence of bears, I would not discount that possibility even if it hasn't been demonstrated scientifically. Bears are thinking, emotional animals.

13. The saga and pain for the cub appears to over too. It didn't work out the way we had hoped, but at least there's comfort in knowing the conclusion to this story.

12. I think we can admire her dedication to her offspring, her dilligence in caring for them, and her courage in protecting them.

[blueiscoool]

35 Bottles From the 18th Century Filled with Cherries Found at George Washington’s Mount Vernon

The story of a six-year-old George Washington chopping down a cherry tree may be a myth, but archeologists excavating Mount Vernon, the home of the United States’ first president, made the very real discovery of 35 glass bottles filled with cherries and berries.

The bottles were found in five storage pits in the mansion’s cellar, with 29 of them intact and containing “perfectly preserved cherries and berries, likely gooseberries or currants,” according to a news release from George Washington’s Mount Vernon on Thursday.

Crews unearthed the 18th-century bottles during the ongoing $40 million revitalization project launched last year at Mount Vernon, Virginia.

The bottles were extracted from the pits and refrigerated, and are expected to undergo scientific analysis, the release states.

The slowly drying bottles, “composed of materials and foodstuffs that are likely 250 years old,” will be sent from Mount Vernon’s archaeology lab to an off-site location for conservation, according to the release.

The latest discovery comes after the recent find of two intact European-manufactured glass bottles, also from the 18th century, filled with liquid, cherries and pits in the same cellar, according to the organization.

“Now we know those bottles were just the beginning of this blockbuster discovery,” Mount Vernon President and CEO Doug Bradburn said in a statement.

Bradburn referred to the discoveries as “an unprecedented find,” adding that “nothing of this scale and significance has ever been excavated in North America.”

“The bottles and contents are a testament to the knowledge and skill of the enslaved people who managed the food preparations from tree to table,” said Jason Boroughs, Mount Vernon principal archaeologist.

The bottles may have been forgotten when Washington left Mount Vernon to take command of the Continental Army, according to Bradburn.

“These artifacts likely haven’t seen the light of day since before the American Revolution,” he said. “It’s so appropriate that these bottles have been unearthed shortly before the 250th anniversary of the United States.”

Bradburn added that the organization’s team is hopeful the cherry pits may be viable for future germination.

Mount Vernon partnered with the US Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service to analyze the bottles’ contents.

In the early stages of analysis, researchers identified 54 cherry pits and 23 stems, suggesting the bottles were likely full of cherries at one point, according to the release.

“The cherries likely are of a tart variety, which has a more acidic composition that may have aided in preservation,” the release states.

The cherries are likely candidates for DNA extraction, which could help researchers compare them against a database to identify their exact species, according to the release.

By Ashley R. Williams.

[ladyniniane]

"For decades archaeologists have puzzled over whether the stone-lined burial chamber, which was discovered in 1999 on Bryher, contained the remains of a man or a woman.

Excavations revealed a sword in a copper alloy scabbard and a shield alongside the remains of the sole individual, objects commonly associated with men. But a brooch and a bronze mirror, adorned with what appears to be a sun disc motif and usually associated with women, were also found. The grave is unique in iron age western Europe for containing both mirror and sword.

Now a scientific study led by Historic England has determined the remains are that of a woman, a discovery that could shed light on the role of female warriors during a period in which violence between communities is thought to have been a fact of life."

(...)

“Although we can never know completely about the symbolism of objects found in graves, the combination of a sword and a mirror suggests this woman had high status within her community and may have played a commanding role in local warfare, organising or leading raids on rival groups.”

Stark added: “This could suggest that female involvement in raiding and other types of violence was more common in iron age society than we’ve previously thought, and it could have laid the foundations from which leaders like Boudicca would later emerge.”"

[somedayillbepeterpan]

FOR BONUS POLINWEEK

DAY ONE | Favourite Season 3 scene: The Butterfly ball

I have bitten more than I can chew but I am determined to get all the parts out of this analysis if only to free up my head. Now, I just hope I could get out all the stuff I want to put out for each day of Polinweek too 🤣

PART 4: THE FEATURED SONG AND DANCE - Lights by Ellie Goulding

This song is hinged on this line that Pen says on S3E8 (“But I was careless with that power. It was easy to cast aspersions in the dark.”)

And the line while Pen was talking to Genevieve in S3E7 (“I'm relieved... in a way. It has been painful carrying that secret.”) Added also the obvious parallel of the titles of Episode one: Out of the Shadows and Episode 8: Into the light. 

I also looked into what Ellie Goulding said about this song and she said it’s about her fear of the dark, a childhood trauma, where she couldn't sleep without the light on. And while that explanation about this very catchy pop song seem to be very common, when I look at how it parallels to Pen's life and how she has been in the shadows most of her young life-- overlooked, ridiculed in her own family for prioritising her mind over her "prospects", unintentionally treated more like a soundboard than a person than her best friend, and forced to bury her affection turn love to her other best friend.

LW was a light in Pen's mind. Scientifically, the brain is fully active when you write on complex subjects and LW is definitely a complex one. When Pen used LW as more than just a scandal sheet but also a critique on how their society works effectively challenging the Queen, it became a true exercise of power when Pen affected and effected public opinion (there's a line on S1 where Anthony said something along the lines of how every one is swallowing everything that LW was publishing).

[I want to highlight this dance too because it looks like bugs flying around. Jack Murphy is an absolute genius.]

It is this power that Pen gets drunk on and made her feel that it is the only thing she can use to be properly heard thereby making the controversial decisions about Colin and Eloise's situations.

The funny thing about her abuse of power is that she used it for (and unintentionally against) the two people who actually WOULD HAVE LISTENED TO HER. I know that we saw her "try" to reason to both of them but she never said the truth. Which is the opposite of what she says in LW ("But gossip I might, I always tell the truth.")

This clouding of her judgment tainted the light that writing LW brought. And unless she came into the light, that clouding would have eaten her alive and I for one am glad that she finally owned up to her mess.

PART 5: BLOCKING AND WHERE COLIN WAS WHILE PEN WAS REVEALING HERSELF AS LW.

PART 1: THE VENUE AND A FULL CIRCLE MOMENT PART 2: THE COLOURS, THE FEATHERS, AND THE NUMBER 8 PART 3: THE FLUORESCENT FEATHERINGTON DRESSES

[whitehotharlots]

Okay, fine, let’s define “wokeness” so you people will shut up about it

Wokeness is amorphous but not nebulous. Like all social phenomena, it exists only to the extent to which it is subject to formal description, and its purveyors are wont to resist any attempts at being pinned down by outsiders (I cannot, for example, think of a single philosopher associated with Postmodernism who did not reject the label--at least not at first). The difficulties with defining human phenomena are compounded greatly while the phenomenon in question is still unfolding, but that does not mean that earnest efforts toward definition cannot be undertaken. Wokeness most certainly exists. It deserves to be delineated, even if its vastness and dominance make it difficult to do so in a manner that everyone (or anyone) finds fully definitive. 

Wokeness should be understood as an immense and rapidly adopted change in the manner through which left-liberals adjudicate morality, righteousness, and even factuality. It applies not just to individual people but to nearly everything: broad social happenings, historical events, places, industries, and matters of scientific fact. It engenders contradictions at an hysterical pace, which actually strengthens the movement, due to the radicalism of its approaches.

Wokeness is best described as a form of Associationist Manicheanism. Whatever falls under its analytical purview is declared either good or bad (never both) not according to the beliefs and ideologies in question, nor to the material consequences thereof, but according to the conceptually recognized identity markers associated with whatever is being analyzed. There are good things and good people. There are bad things and bad people. Good things are good because they are good. Bad things are bad because they are bad. All other forms of adjudication--from direct empiricism, deductive and inductive logic, or even simple cause-and-effect--are subordinated within wokeness, if they are even acknowledged. 

The lack of ideological consistency and dismissal of material analysis naturally leads to a slew of obvious contradictions, which makes wokeness very difficult to pin down even as its presence becomes more and more undeniable. This provides an added bonus to the movement’s purveyors, as their wanton duplicity allows them to claim the lack of existence of something that’s happening right in front of them, an absence of belief in very the causes they champion. (”Why are you freaking out about this? It’s not even happening! And also it is happening and it’s good.”)

The wokes believe that police and prisons should be abolished, but also that we need much stricter gun control and hate speech laws. They believe it a form of severe violence--perhaps even genocide--to not understand the identities of others as they understand themselves, but also that you face a moral obligation to understand yourself as they tell you to. They believe that outsiders should be subjected to brutal criticism regarding their very existence, but also that any disagreement is a form of violence. They think that violent street crime--up to and including rape--should be dealt with via the light hand of “restorative justice,” but also that vague accusations of causing discomfort should be enough to ruin a man’s life and career. They revel in victimhood but deplore fragility, embrace vague “ways of knowing” while demanding absolute clarity and unpassable evidentiary bars of from their ideological enemies, and regard truth as a white supremacist fiction while possessing unshakable certainty in their own worldview. 

There are many, many more examples. These are just ones from the top of my head. 

These contradictions are allowed to stand. They are never acknowledged, let alone addressed. This is because the woke believe there is only one, universal mechanism for (in)validating any belief, action, or assertion: determining its conceptual association with the pre-established Good or the pre-established Bad. They don’t start by asking “is this statement true” or “is this belief harmful.” They can tell everything they need to know by running a quick identity index of the person who made the statement or professed the belief. Sometimes, in the absence of obvious markers of race, gender, or sexuality (or in the case of those markers contradicting the desired (in)validation outcome), they will revert to aesthetic symbols or nominally ideological group affiliations. So, yes, a white Democrat man outweighs a black Republicanman , who outweighs a white Republican man, who is outweighed himself by a black Republican woman, etc, etc, but most issues play out according to partisan lines.

And that’s it. Seriously, that’s it. You can regard it as a bold new era of social progress or as a civilization-destroying scourge. Your opinion does not matter. The point is, this is all a very blunt and very radical sleight of hand in regards to how beliefs, actions, and statements are adjudicated. Its purveyors readily admit to this. Nothing written in this essay is in the least bit deniable. 

Of course, my analysis won’t matter for the reasons outlined above. I am a white (bad) man (bad) who has previously expressed reservations toward left-identitarian activism (very super double bad). Three Bad designations is too much to overcome, no matter how much I profess myself to be on the left or assure my readers I support that broad social goals that wokeness disingenuously claims to be striving toward. But even if I were a black trans woman who was born without legs, this essay would still be dismissed because it would be conceptually associated with the people who criticize wokeness, who are bad. I am bad and this piece is bad. That’s all there is to it. And that means I’m wrong, wokeness isn’t a real thing, but also it is a real thing and it’s so good and perfect that criticizing it makes you bad.  

[oxygenbefore1775]

ok just one more thing about color analysis

(here is the my full post about the color analysis on other characters including Hange)

This one is specifically about Erwin. What I like about his "official" color is that it's the same as Hange's - purple, mirroring their similar fate of becoming Scouts leader. But there's difference in hue, Hange's looks balanced due to having equal ratio of red and blue whereas Erwin's is magenta and warm-toned due to addition of red. And this addition of red is where the root lies.

Beyond the shared qualities that Erwin and Hange possess and that the color purple symbolizes, such as knowledge, ingenuity, dreams and energy - the very attributes that propelled both into great commanders - the additional touch of red in Erwin's color introduces another layer of connotation to his personality, complementing the classic purple symbolism.

Red symbolizes many things but ones that are relevant to my rant are as follows:

The first and obvious one is bloodshed (cuz blood is also red believe it or not). This connotation ties in with Erwin's treatment of his soldiers and subordinates. Although he cares about them, he doesn't hesitate to sacrifice them for the sake of the mission's success which would often result in lives being lost and blood being spilt.

Going off the blood association, the color red also invokes danger - the feeling that was very evident in each of Erwin's endeavors as his plans would entail endangering the lives of other soldiers.

On the positive note, one of connotations of this color that also pertains to Erwin is passion and driving force. In Erwin's case it mirrors his dream to see what lies beyond the walls, the thing that dictated Erwin's decision.

Another thing worth mentioning is that red is commonly known as the color of revolution - a pretty low hanging fruit for me to point out, considering that Erwin went and did just that in season 3.

All in all, the added hint of red to Erwin's "official" color only underscores the aspects that distinguish him from Hange's approach to leadership. On one hand it's more bloodier and cruel when it comes to soldiers' lives but on the other hand it is more driven and inspiring (not that Hange's isn't it's just their dream doesn't really require an army of soldiers, their dream is more "scientific")