#you are not defined by arbitrary ratings. you are not defined by arbitrary ratings.

[tophat-69]

it's the good, defining itself

Following the events of the series finale, Viktor saves Jayce by sending him back in time and across realities to the night everything changed, and unwittingly revives himself as well. Viktor is determined to undo his past mistakes even if that means leaving Jayce behind. That idea is complicated by their souls now being intertwined. And fate isn’t done with them yet.

Read it on AO3

Length: 92.4k words (complete)

Rating: Explicit

Relationships: Jayce Talis/Viktor, background Silco/Vander

Tags: Post-Canon Fix-It, Soulmates, Dream Sharing, Time Travel/Alternate Universe, Zaun Revolution, Angst with a Happy Ending, Mental Health Issues

Warnings: Sexually Explicit Content, Canon-Typical Violence, Canon Disability, Discussion of Mortality, Canon Suicidal Ideation

Author's Note: I wrote this by putting out a chapter a day for 22 days as I went from the holiday break, to the flu, to pneumonia. I'm still not entirely sure how that happened and I'm pretty sure it was a fever dream. That could, however, still be the pneumonia talking.

Read if you want Viktor being adopted into the Zaun crew by force, ending up mentoring Powder and Ekko, while also fighting for Zaun's independence and figuring out that maybe yes Jayce is in love with him despite the whole destroying-the-world thing.

Excerpt Below Cut

It’s a strange thing to consider, how a body can be shredded to its base components and reduced back to the stardust from whence they all came. How a soul can be disassembled, thoughts and dreams and ambition boiled down to a single spark. 

How time and space are human constructs, imposed by simple mortals to make sense of the endless dream they’re all merely players within.

It’s stranger still that Jayce Talis recognizes the feeling of his atomization well enough to identify it the moment it begins. He was expecting it when he took Viktor’s hand, but not the peace that came with it this time. Standing in the belly of the Hex Gates, it had been terrifying to find himself unraveling. Now he finds it almost romantic how their edges fray and clear the arbitrary boundaries between them.

Jayce would have been content with scattering into oblivion. He’d accepted that his end was near, and to reach it with a man he long ago discovered was the other half of his soul… that was better than he could have dreamed. 

Jayce knows that they’re both thinking it, can feel Viktor alighting on the same bleak humor as Jayce does, attuned and enmeshed as they bleed into each other. This is another precipice that they are perched at the edge of, this time together. It is the beautiful and ironic bookend to two doomed lives that they each separately contemplated ending, just to be pulled back by the other.

There are no divides between them. He can feel Viktor’s resignation to his failure, his relief at finding a peaceful end to a life of pain, his dreamer’s idealism that twisted with the power that consumed him, his guilt at the losses that he caused, his fear of oblivion, and above it all the boundless affection that thrums between them, matched and merging with Jayce’s own devotion. But as warm as it feels suffusing them both as their souls ebb with their consciousness, it’s the last of those emotions that is so dangerous. 

Jayce, who couldn’t let his partner go regardless of the cost and the promises broken, recognizes that a moment too late. 

He can feel when a sharp frisson of intent sizzles suddenly through the blurred boundary between them.

Viktor has always been focused and directed, fierce and driven, so unhesitating that even his most rational choices seem impulsive. But there is intention in everything that Viktor does. He is a man of science that alights on epiphanies in brilliant flashes of genius, and a man of action who’s always raced against time.

For not the first time, Jayce finds himself fatefully a step behind.

Viktor, don’t…

Viktor’s intangible hand thrusts through the misty dissolving cage of Jayce’s ribs, grasping the spark of Jayce’s soul the way he once seemed to cup the whole world in his palm. For Jayce. Always for Jayce.

Viktor’s eyes burn golden, now a mere impression in the yawning expanse of space, twin stars. A single pulse of determination fuses Jayce back into consciousness even as his body fades away. 

Viktor’s voice is an ethereal whisper in Jayce’s thoughts as light blazes through the darkness of space like a supernova. 

Live, Jayce. 

Read the Rest on AO3

[reachartwork]

to counter out that negative review, I wanna say I looooove chum. every update I find myself wishing there was more of it, which is selfish because the rate that you put out updates is already extremely high

thank you! that means a lot to me. if you want to counter the negative review, good reviews on Royal Road are worth their weight in gold but i try not to define my self worth by the arbitrary rankings of the Isekai Power Fantasy LitRPG website while writing what is effectively a long form slice of life superhero novel series. i'm glad you like it so much though!

[bonefall]

the whole thing with the author defending (?) tom the wife beater is so repulsive, and then you read it again and i don’t think bumble is mentioned ONCE. she scrounges for sympathy with turtle tail, but the other one? the fat, useless, other one? forget her! (this is negative towards the authors, i adore the better bones stuff, esp how bumble is treated. vote bumble :) )

I really cannot get over it... to angrily write out a whole screed on how the strongest punishment is regret and not consequence, compare the sentiment of a reader that "Tom didn't deserve heaven" to his physical abuse of Turtle Tail, and then not even mention his other crimes of kidnapping and torture.

Even in death, Bumble isn't important enough to mention. As the books continue, they even continue to only mention her death as an unfortunate accident, or evidence of why kittypets can't join Clans. Even though she was MURDERED.

I think the statement is a good exercise in the difference between a post advocating rehabilitative justice, and abuse apologia just dressed up as it.

There IS a point to be made about how the idea of a Hell/Prison just makes bad people worse. We often have a desire to punish, because we FEEL better getting catharsis seeing A Bad Guy suffer like they hurt others. But that alone doesn't really fix or address a problem.

For example, it's really common to feel that kind of revulsion at a drug addict who robs a convenience store for money. Does it actually reduce addiction rates, or undo the trauma of the assaulted cashier, or help prevent it from ever happening again to throw the robber in a broken prison where they come out, 7 years later, with no rehabilitation?

The answer is no. It didn't help anyone. 7 years pass and he's still addicted to substances, possibly even worse, because prison just made his life shittier. As a leftist we can recognize that compassion is usually the answer.

(Unless, of course... someone needs to be removed from a position of power or actively prevented from attacking others. Violence is the answer sometimes.)

But the thing is, the author didn't SAY that. What they did was compare the impulse for catharsis, to TOM'S DESIRE TO BEAT HIS WIFE.

NO, those are NOT the same thing. Your desire for comeuppance towards a wifebeater character getting a redemption reward for "saving his child" after a long life of cruelty without consequences, is NOT THE SAME as Tom the Wifebeater inflicting pain and suffering on people out of spite.

She had to phrase it in the worst possible way for this argument to even LOOK like it made sense. "She broke HIS rule of Don't Be Mean To Tom" vs "He broke YOUR rule of Don't Be Mean To Turtle Tail." And "Now he's being taught how to be lovely"

Physical abuse, emotional abuse, and kidnapping are not "being mean" and it's both sick and insightful that she'd call it that

Domestic abuse is not a "failure to be lovely," it's the act of harming your family or partner to control them.

Tom the Wifebeater is a character who was not written with a scrap of nuance. He is not a real person. All they did with him was consistently show how much pleasure hurting people gives him, then say him dying for his biokid absolved everything

So in this series where you establish there are Born Evil Truly Malicious people (ONE EYE IS IN THE SAME BOOK), but then turn around to cry that Tom the Wifebeater can be made lovely off-screen...

You end up saying that domestic abuse isn't in your arbitrary "evil" category.

And that's so fucking fitting for the arc of Clear Sky's "redemption," where the same book ends off on Thunder saying that his abusive, woman-killing dad wasn't so bad all along because he's not like One Eye.

The answer's just that simple. They don't think male abuse is all that terrible because it's the same as an impulse; explicitly not malice. So it doesn't make you "evil," and only "evil" people deserve the Dark Forest.

(Dont question the Dark Forest as a concept or how starclan defines evil though :x dont worry about it :x)

[purplekoop]

I realize it's been quiet on the War Bots front for a while now. There's not too much reason, mostly just lacking interest in the subgenre it's based on and being on a decline in ideas for refining the cast. Aside from a couple minor tweaks in my notes, like a new alt weapon here or an edit to some word choice for a mechanic there, I've mostly been distracted by work, art events, or other projects.

Recently though, I've had renewed interest in both its primary inspirations (6v6 experiment plus a sudden random Bloon phase coming back), which naturally led to thinking about the bots some more. Naturally, the google doc of all the ability outlines is back open, and these recent edits have me feeling more confident in the cast.

These are largely too minor to be of much interest, but some of the more notable highlights are:

Navea's minigun no longer has to rev up to start firing. Pressing the fire button will cause shots to start firing instantly, but at a slow rate. The gun will then spin up over the first couple seconds of sustained fire and reach that expected high minigun DPS. Pre-revving will let you build up that faster speed without needing to fire, but still invokes a movement penalty and makes noise. The main reason behind this change (and some other wording adjustments) is to maintain the flow between her swapping between her gauntlets to block and her gun to attack, where she still has to build up to that high DPS but isn't totally inactive right after swapping.

Harmony's main defensive ability, Guardian Field, and her passive Feedback that interacts with it, are getting simplified. Previously, the field was a reserve of health that absorbs half the damage that you and nearby allies would've taken, while her passive would be a self-heal from dealing damage with her weapons, using any excess to recharge the Field's health. If you're confused how that would work, that's why it's getting changed. For how complicated the logistics of it are, it's just a fancy way of saying "50% damage reduction to you and your teammates but it's tied to a resource meter", which while in theory less polarizing than some vaguely similar abilities (see Mauga's Cardiac Overdrive) still didn't sound particularly engaging to fight against. The new idea is that the health is instead gradually given to allies as temporary bonus health that rapidly decays outside of her field's range, with the field's health pool being drained equal to the amount of health you give away. This is also much more in line with how its alt variants work, still feels thematically appropriate for Harmony, and is just more intuitive to understand and explain.

This is strictly a categorization change, but Nekross's role is being changed from Utility to Damage. With how open-ended "Utility" as a role is, Nekross felt kind of arbitrary to take the fourth and final spot in the role compared to Xenir, Sorsier, and Otto. Those three are thoroughly defined by enabling their team, while Nekross is a much more self-centered character who ironically needs enabling from their team to function properly as a stealthy assassin. This also just feels like a clash in mindset: the other Utility bots naturally encourage using their utility for the entire team, while Nekross doing stuff like using their stealth and extra intel to make callouts or using Possessions to take their most useful utility feels much less intuitive to a casual mindset. I still do like Nekross's kit, and their potential for advanced team plays, so their kit won't be changing. This is just an updated classification, since they do match reasonably well with the other characters who specialize in efficient single-target damage who are already in the Damage role. Admittedly "Damage" feels like an oversimplified name for a fairly defined niche, but "Assassin" or "Duelist" don't feel like they comprehensively fit Wilderoad, Calber, Poppett, and Nekross. "Control" might also need a rename, since the name isn't especially intuitive to convey the core concept of AOE coverage as opposed to "crowd control" in the sense of knockbacks or slows or stuns, something the role isn't as defined by. Not sure of a better name though.

The big news though is that I have ideas to complete the cast of 20 with the fourth members of each role. Moving Nekross to Damage/Duelist/Assassin/Whatever-I-Call-It did help in freeing a Utility slot for a concept I've had that much better fits the role. I've teased the fourth Tank previously, and have an idea for the fourth Support I've already had written out but had shelved due to still considering Hyvera as a War Bots character instead of her eventual casting into DWS. I do have full kit ideas for the new fourth Utility and Control bots, but don't have them written out yet. I'm not entirely sold on these two, especially the last Control bot being a bit of a flimsy fit to the role, but I think they may just be the best two final additions to the roster.

Hectic holiday plans still have a death grip on my free time and energy to make art, so don't expect to see these final four new faces until the new year. In the meantime, I'll be working on my little google doc as usual.

[justforbooks]

The Sound of Utopia by Michel Krielaars

A revelatory account of the composers and performers whose lives were determined by the whims of a dictator

The fact that Joseph Stalin loved music and believed it mattered was both a blessing and a curse for the men and women who made it. If your work found favour you were treated as a secular god with all the trimmings – palatial apartment, good food and freedom to roam as far as the decadent West (assuming you came back when called).

But for those who offended Stalin’s arbitrary and shifting tastes it was another matter. The Father of Nations regularly took time out from his busy killing schedule to vet each new classical music record that came across his desk, noting on the sleeve whether it was “good”, “average” or “rubbish”. A bad rating could earn you a stint in the gulag or, if there were aggravating circumstances (homosexuality, say), a bullet in the back of the head. It has been calculated that 68 composers were sent to Siberia during Stalin’s 30-year reign of terror. Hundreds of other musical artists, from virtuoso composers to popular songbirds via second violinists, were consigned to oblivion when the paper trails concerning them were deliberately destroyed.

In this revelatory book, the Dutch journalist Michel Krielaars goes in search of the musicians who thrived and failed (or both) under Stalin. Although they themselves are long dead, their children and grandchildren are eager to talk, not so much to put the record straight as to build it from scratch. These elderly keepers of the flame arrive for their rendezvous with Krielaars carrying dog-eared letters, smudgy newspaper cuttings and hissy old vinyl recordings that bear witness to long-silenced genius. Krielaars, who worked as a newspaper correspondent in Moscow between 2007 and 2012, speaks Russian and knows the culture’s tender spots, especially now that Putin is reviving the Soviet playbook of violence and silence.

Any account of music under Stalin must begin with Sergei Prokofiev. Having seen out the chaotic aftermath of the revolution by settling in the west, the prolific composer and pianist allowed himself to be talked into returning to the Soviet Union in 1936. He hadn’t achieved quite the international stardom that he thought his due – the Americans preferred Stravinsky’s extravagant modernist style – and Stalin was desperate to lure the maestro home to show the world that the communist utopia was a paradise for innovative artists. Prokofiev got a hero’s welcome, a stream of commissions, a luxurious four-room flat and permission to import a particularly flashy Ford car.

Initially the composer upheld his part of the bargain, writing in Pravda of his eagerness to move towards a musical “new simplicity” away from the cosmopolitan polyphony of his earlier work. In 1939 he even went so far as to write the repulsive Zdravitsa (Hail to Stalin) to celebrate the dictator’s 60th birthday. It wasn’t enough, though, to keep Prokofiev safe, and in 1948 he was accused of “formalism”, which was defined as producing “confused, neuropathological combinations that turn music into cacophony”. He died four years later, on the same day as his dictator.

Much of the anxiety faced by Prokofiev and thousands of others arose from never knowing where you stood. Words warped and changed their meaning, fixed principles turned out to be written on water and the knock on the door could come at any moment. Prokofiev’s longtime frenemy Shostakovich was condemned in 1948 for the dreaded “formalism”, yet by the end of that year he was honoured with the title Folk Artist of the Russian Socialist Federal Soviet Republic. Three Stalin Prizes for his film music followed.

The stories concerning less familiar names are even more poignant. When Vsevolod Zaderatsky died within months of Prokofiev and Stalin, no one noticed. He had blotted his copy book very early on with a brief stint teaching piano to the little Tsarevich Alexei. Formally identified as a counter-revolutionary in 1926, all Zaderatsky’s manuscripts were destroyed. After serving a couple of jail terms he gritted his teeth and wrote an opera called Blood and Coal. But it wasn’t enough, and by 1937 Zaderatsky was hauled up for producing “propaganda for fascist music” (playing Strauss, in other words). Sent to the gulag, he composed music in his head, wrote it on scraps of waste paper, and then, on his release, worked the best of these up into 24 Preludes and Fugues for Piano. None were published or heard in his lifetime, although you can catch a rare recent performance on YouTube.

Zaderatsky came from Ukraine, that cultural and artistic powerhouse which produced so many of the musicians who appear in The Sound of Utopia. In addition to Prokofiev, there is Sviatoslav Richter, Heinrich Neuhaus and Klavdiya Shulzhenko, AKA “the Russian Vera Lynn”’ who warbled her way through compositions such as the Brick Factory Song’ and Mine Shaft No 3. In these circumstances it is only fitting that Michel Krielaars ends his book by warning that Russian music is once again being weaponised against Ukraine by a political dictator with a tin ear. In 2022, a few days after the invasion, a Moscow concert featuring work by the Ukrainian Valentin Silvestrov was disrupted when Russian police stormed on to the stage and shouted at everyone to go home. Silvestrov is now living in exile.

Daily inspiration. Discover more photos at Just for Books…?

[sabineelectricheart]

Gukhwappang in Manila

Summary: Lost in Manila, V comes across a dainty bakery tucked at a side street.

Rating: K+ - Intended for general audience 5 years and older. Content should be free of any coarse language, violence, and adult themes.

Words: 2000

Notes: I don’t speak Korean, nor have I ever been to the Philippines, and I guess that’s really obvious.

V would petulantly refuse to admit it, but he was lost again.

Damn this city. Manila was built like an overcrowded, ill-defined maze. Every road branched in two, and every path led to a stopped end. The canals were like sea serpents, trashing around the city with no clear purpose, eating each other's tails and spiralling into a bottlenecked centre, never quite leading to either one of the bays. There was always another twist in the road, constantly another bridge to nowhere. It was as though the city curled in on itself and slowly tightened its grip, leaving you with no escape.

He liked the country well enough, and enjoyed the opportunity to come and photograph around, but Manila felt like a city of death swallowing you whole and never spitting anything out. Once you made your way in, there was no possibility of escape. There was not even navigation by stars, as the city trapped herself in with thick sheets of smog.

God, how he hated it.

Things were not like that back in Seoul. Even in Tokyo, the biggest city he had ever been in, one could always depend on the railways to show the way. Hectic and dirty as they may be, in either the buildings were not so close together, beating against the other, sounds mixing until there was no true source, just an everlasting din. The roads did not coil in on themselves, twisting and turning until the whole system was warped on itself.

It is always possible to find room to breathe in Seoul. Even if the air was cold, even if it smelled of smoke, even when the skyline was grey. All the good it made him, though.

Here, V could not breathe, in a more literal sense. It was too dark and damp. He was learning the way this strange city worked, with its ever-turning streets and its arbitrary districts, but no matter how much he studied the maps, it never seemed right. Seoul had been so different; and even as he shunned it and could not comprehend it, now, it curled in his heart, still. Its ice lining his arteries, its chill seeping into his veins.

It turned him around, tearing at the mental map inside his brain. If Korea could not have him, the Philippines could not keep him, either. No-one could have him, not while the weight of his sin is still upon his shoulder, not while he had not yet redeemed himself.

V was lost in the streets again, and perhaps it would be best to just admit it, when he smelled it.

Home.

The teal-haired man turned over his shoulder. A bakery sat on the corner.

He stared at it for a moment, his annoyed frown creasing even more, something familiar but lost itching at the back of his mind. He took a step forward, he breathed in; and slowly, fragments of life danced before him. Little things he had hidden in the dark recesses of his mind.

A large kitchen, overlooking a yard with a thin branch of ash tree sitting above the door, and a hot, black stove, within. Jihyun, little, barely big enough to see over the tops of tables, being shooed away from its glowing warmth. A woman with blue hair like his, bundled in thick, winter shawls, who would kiss his fingers and warn him they would be burned if he came too close. A woman with blue hair braided thick, strands curling as they fell loose on pale and gaunt cheeks, smiling as she handed him a treat, a little bit of crisp, warm filled pastry.

His mother was always in the throes of ups and downs of sanity when he was young, but whenever she had her wits to herself and his father was away, she would bake those flower-shaped treats and let him eat as many as he could.

V blinked, and the past was gone, but he breathed in, and the smell of them was still there, unmarred by ash, floating out the bakery doors.

He could not stop himself from going inside.

The shop was small, it had only two glass cases and a few racks to display their goods, and along the walls, items with their prices were written in Korean and Tagalog, and languages he did not recognize. The walls were painted a pale cream colour, and the lights were soft, somehow emulating a sunny glow. All the world seemed hushed, like it held its breath for him.

V peered at the array of baked goods and recognized Russian delicacies, next to recipes from Korea and Thailand. Beside them were cakes topped with orange and passion fruit, then breads from China. There were dumpling cakes, and cookies he recognized from Japanese festivals.

Their corner of the world was collected here, in this bakery, and while each baked good was wildly different than the last, they all sat here the same. They were all baked under the same roof, and their enticing aroma mixed and mingled, masking the smell of the salty waterways with something warmer and more immediate, sweet and strong, like a blanket around your shoulders.

V was searching for his youth when a woman stepped out from the kitchens. He did not notice her presence, at first. He was too wrapped up within memories he had almost forgotten, too tied within little details about a life he had once had and lost too soon.

Then, she placed a pan on top of the nearest case, and the sound of metal bumping against glass brought him back to the present.

His head jerked upward, and his eyes landed on her.

She is no older than him, with an apron tied around her waist, flour dusted in her hair, and, in her hands, the pastry that he was searching for: a batch of gukhwappang, golden and crisp, baked to perfection.

"안녕하세요 반갑습니다. 도와드릴까요?" She spoke in broken Korean, smiling through her errors.

It was the warmest grin V had seen in all of Manila. She stumbled over the words, and V had not heard his own language in so long, it almost felt foreign on his ears.

"I’m so sorry." She said, switching to a more proficient English. "My Korean is not the best."

"No, it’s no problem." He insisted, following her lead and avoiding embarrassment with his subpar Tagalog. He stuffed his hands in his pockets, biting his tongue nervously. "Your Korean is fine."

She hummed, rearranging one of the display racks. She must have done it a thousand times before because while her hands worked, her focus was on him.

V blinked.

"Can I have one of those?"

He inclined his head toward the small confectionary jumping around on the pan, the ones she is moving from the metal tray to a basket, his gukhwappang. His homeland. His life, somehow nestled inside of Manila.

"They remind me of..."

V could not finish, all his past collecting in his throat, all that emotion choking his voice.

She smiled indulgently at him. "Of course."

The woman picks up a pair of metal claws and takes about a hundred grams-worth of confectionary, wrapping it in a bit of brown paper.

"I know what you mean." She mused, her voice low with commiseration. "There’s lot of migrants who live around here, who end up in our doorstep. Pinoy who emigrated for so long they feel lost in their home. It helps to be reminded of the good times."

V wondered if maybe it should not. He did not belong to Seoul anymore, so perhaps he did not deserve to share what little it had to give that was truly good. How could he take its love, if he hated it, the same? However, she held out the paper bag to him, a soft understanding written in the lines of her face, and he took it, anyway.

It was smaller in his hands than he remembered, but when he cracked it open to smell the sweet inside, it was the same feeling as before, faint, in a way that felt like a dream, or a memory almost gone.

For a moment, they were there, again. His mother and his father, Jumin, Rika and the boy he had once been. They were sitting in his home in Seoul, and there were no fires burning too bright, there was just gukhwappang, and just warmth, and the sound of soft conversation lulling in the darkening night.

"We bake them fresh every Wednesday." Her voice pulled him out of his thoughts before they could sour. "There are not as many Korean émigrés on this side of Manila, so we make these less often, but if you come every Wednesday, we'll have a batch like this one."

She tilted her head to the side, where a basket was filled to the brim with them, all flawlessly baked, with a crisp, buttered crust and a soft, sweet inside.

V was close to buying another bag, but he made sure not to walk with too much money on him, lest he is robbed and he has to call asking for Jumin’s help again, and he had yet to pay for a cab back to his hotel.

So, he just held the one he had, nodding as he passed the woman the foreign bills that he owed. His fingers brushed hers, briefly enough to go entirely undetected, but he noticed, and a smile tugged at his lips.

He would come back somehow; he already knew it.

"Wednesday." V repeated.

She smiled.  "Until then."

He took a step backward but did not move further. For a moment, he just held her gaze. Then his brow furrowed.

"What street is this?" He asked.

She laughed, and her smile caught the light, framing she in a soft but perpetual glow.

"I got lost this morning. I’m not even sure we’re still in Manila proper." The man explained, as the warmth in her chest subsided.

"If I give you the name, you’d never find us again. No-one around here uses the names of side streets, really. But we're on the easternmost side of Pedro Gil Street. Get down on Paco station at the LRT-1, then take the right until you see the Pasig River, then turn right on the petrol station, then the second left on the roundabout."

V blinked.

She chuckled again, shaking her head from side to side. "Here."

She patted her apron until she found a pen, then wrote the directions on a spare napkin, her handwriting a messy scrawl that he would study over for weeks to come.

She passed him the napkin with a grin. "Do not lose this, or else you'll never find the shop again."

"I’ll be careful, but I think I can find my way here by smell alone." He said, but he tucked it in the pocket of his jacket, anyway. "Thank you."

"Don’t mention it." She beamed.

V turned to leave, once again, but before he got far, he returned. She was still fiddling with the display rack, her eyes on him. He rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand.

"Do you know how to get to San Andrés?" He asks, embarrassment colouring his voice.

She smiled, the flutter of a scoff leaving her lips. Her eyes flicked to the clock on the wall, and after a moment of deliberation, she untied her apron, hanging it on a nail in the wall. She snagged two rolls from the rack and walked over to him.

"I'll walk you back." She offers.

V got the door, and together they walked through the streets of Manila, little bits of East Asia in her hand, taking pieces of the bread and savouring its flavour on their tongues.

He is still not ready to come back home, and it is likely that this is still a long way coming, but, for now, he finds some happiness and comfort in these strange lands.

*_*_*_*_*

Mystic Messenger Masterlist

[l0nely-edgel0rd-g0d]

Inherently we are being who wish and seek the understanding and knowledge of exactly who we are and what kind of world we live in. But in order to subsist in the world this chaotic, we create arbitrary labels in orders in which to rate measure and define ourselves. When the ultimate truth is it's adherence to these rigid labels that in fact are your own inhibitation. Once you rid yourself of your rigid thinking and become fluid like water but not everyone understands the concept of water so think about it as a different fluid maybe some of you want to be gasoline maybe some of you want to be Mercury maybe some of you want to be I don't know what else is oh jelly technically jelly is a liquid at room temperature now it looks solid but if you leave it outside it's container eventually would seek its own level be like jelly

[blogswithnick]

How to Align Sales and Marketing with AI-Powered Scoring

In B2B organizations, there’s a classic tension: marketing complains that sales doesn’t follow up on leads, while sales says marketing sends over low-quality contacts. This misalignment doesn’t just create friction—it costs time, budget, and growth opportunities.

Enter AI-powered lead scoring. By leveraging advanced data analytics and machine learning, companies can create a unified, objective approach to qualifying leads. The result? Better collaboration, higher conversions, and a smoother pipeline.

In this article, we’ll break down:

Why sales and marketing alignment is crucial

The pitfalls of traditional lead scoring

How AI-powered scoring bridges the gap

Steps to implement it successfully

Tools to get started

Why Sales and Marketing Alignment Matters

When sales and marketing work in silos, organizations face:

Wasted budget: Marketing invests in campaigns that don’t produce actionable leads.

Missed opportunities: Hot prospects get ignored or contacted too late.

Lower revenue: Poor handoffs and miscommunication lead to lost deals.

Aligned teams generate 209% more revenue from marketing efforts and see 36% higher customer retention, according to research from MarketingProfs.

The Problem with Traditional Lead Scoring

Most lead scoring models are rule-based. They assign arbitrary points for actions like:

+5 for opening an email

+10 for visiting the pricing page

+15 for job title

While simple, these models:

Don’t adapt to changing buyer behaviors

Overlook important data sources (e.g., intent signals)

Are often built in isolation by marketing, with minimal sales input

Lack accuracy, resulting in sales wasting time on weak leads

How AI-Powered Scoring Bridges the Gap

AI-powered lead scoring uses machine learning to analyze historical data (win/loss records, engagement patterns, firmographics, and more). The model continuously learns which factors correlate most with successful deals.

Here’s how it aligns teams:

1. Creates a Shared Definition of a "Good Lead"

AI scoring models are trained on real conversion data, not assumptions. Both sales and marketing agree on what makes a lead qualified because it’s grounded in objective outcomes.

2. Prioritizes Based on Predictive Signals

AI looks beyond obvious actions. It can detect subtle signals—like content engagement trends, website navigation patterns, or social media interactions—that indicate readiness to buy.

3. Provides Transparent Insights

Advanced scoring platforms show why a lead was scored a certain way. This transparency builds trust between marketing (who generate the leads) and sales (who work them).

Steps to Align Sales and Marketing with AI Scoring

Step 1: Build a Cross-Functional Team

Include both sales and marketing leaders in defining objectives, data sources, and success metrics.

Step 2: Audit and Clean Data

AI models depend on data quality. Make sure your CRM, marketing automation, and website analytics are up-to-date and integrated.

Step 3: Define a Shared ICP

Use data to build a detailed Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) that both teams endorse. Include firmographics, technographics, behavioral patterns, and intent signals.

Step 4: Implement and Train

Deploy AI-powered scoring tools, and train both teams on how to interpret scores and use them to prioritize outreach.

Step 5: Create Feedback Loops

Regularly review conversion rates, lead quality, and score accuracy together. Use these insights to refine your model and ICP.

Tools to Get Started

Final Thoughts

AI-powered lead scoring isn’t just a new tech trend—it’s a strategic bridge that finally connects sales and marketing in a meaningful, data-driven way.

By aligning teams around a shared, continuously improving definition of lead quality, you create more efficient handoffs, higher conversion rates, and faster revenue growth.

Want to see how AI-powered scoring can unify your teams and supercharge your pipeline? Check out ScorsAI to start transforming your sales and marketing alignment today.

[zelda-larsson]

Rethinking Performance Reviews. The Power of Behavior-Based Evaluation

In many organizations, performance reviews remain one of the most universally dreaded rituals—awkward conversations filled with vague feedback and arbitrary ratings. But a growing number of companies are discovering that shifting the focus from abstract traits to observable behaviors transforms these sessions from painful formalities into meaningful growth opportunities.

Eric Hannelius, a leader and a business owner, explains: "Traditional reviews often fail because they measure impressions rather than actions. When we evaluate specific behaviors instead of personality traits, the conversation becomes objective, constructive, and actually useful for development."

The Problem with Conventional Approaches.

Most traditional review systems suffer from the same fundamental flaw—they attempt to quantify the unquantifiable. Rating someone as a "3.2 out of 5 on leadership" tells us little about what they actually do well or where they need to improve. These subjective judgments often reflect unconscious biases more than actual performance, leaving employees frustrated and managers struggling to justify their assessments.

The behavior-based model cuts through this ambiguity by anchoring evaluations in concrete examples. Rather than debating whether someone "shows initiative," the discussion focuses on specific instances—perhaps how they identified a process inefficiency and proposed a solution last quarter, or how they handled a client escalation last month.

How Behavior-Based Reviews Work.

These systems succeed because they mirror how humans naturally think and communicate. We understand ourselves and others through stories and examples, not numerical scores. A well-structured behavior-based review might explore:

How an employee handled a particular challenge

The way they collaborated on a recent project

Specific instances where they demonstrated (or struggled with) core competencies

Eric Hannelius notes: "The magic happens when we stop asking 'Are you a good communicator?' and start asking 'Can you walk me through how you prepared the team for that difficult client meeting?' Suddenly, we're having a real conversation about skills that can be developed."

Creating Lasting Change.

The benefits extend beyond fairer evaluations. When employees receive clear, behavior-specific feedback, they gain actionable insights rather than vague directives. Instead of being told to "be more proactive," they might learn that their colleagues appreciate when they surface potential risks early in projects—giving them a concrete pattern to continue.

Managers also benefit from this approach. With a framework focused on observable behaviors, they spend less time justifying ratings and more time coaching. The discussions become forward-looking rather than retrospective, shifting from "Here's what you did wrong" to "Here's how we can build on what works."

Implementing Effective Systems.

Transitioning to behavior-based reviews requires thoughtful design. Successful organizations typically:

Clearly define expected behaviors tied to company values and role requirements

Train managers in giving behavior-specific feedback

Create simple documentation tools that prompt for examples

Schedule regular check-ins to maintain continuity

Eric Hannelius emphasizes: "The best systems aren't complicated. They're consistent. What matters is creating a rhythm where feedback becomes an ongoing dialogue rather than an annual event."

The Human Impact.

Perhaps the most significant advantage of behavior-based reviews is how they change workplace dynamics. When evaluations focus on actions rather than attributes, employees feel seen for their actual contributions rather than someone's perception of their potential. The process becomes less about judgment and more about growth—transforming a source of anxiety into an engine for professional development.

As Eric Hannelius puts it: "At their core, performance reviews should help people understand how to succeed. When we base them on real behaviors rather than abstract ratings, we give everyone that chance."

In an era where talent development separates thriving organizations from struggling ones, behavior-based performance reviews offer a path to more meaningful feedback, stronger manager-employee relationships, and ultimately, better business results. The companies making this shift are discovering that when you measure what matters—actual workplace behaviors—everyone wins.

[tccicomputercoaching]

Mobile UI/UX Design: Creating Intuitive Apps

The new generation, which would have its palm pressed against the flat mobile screen, empowers the ever-important concept of apps. Be it ordering food or managing finances-both become mere shadows of life without the app in between. But what makes one app fun to use while another frustrating? Something to do with superb Mobile UI/UX Design.

At TCCI - Tririd Computer Coaching Institute, we understand the need for knowing how to create intuitive apps for anyone who desires to excel in today's digital world. As one of the top computer training institutes in Ahmedabad, we're here to break down the whole Mobile UI/UX Design basics and show you why this is a hot skill.

Decoding UI/UX: More Than Just Pretty Interfaces

Before we create those super intuitive apps, let's put these two terms straight:

UI (User Interface): What the user sees and interacts with. It has the look and feel of clicking buttons, choosing icons, hearing the precise words from a name, with colors and other elements combined except for sounds. It's also called an exterior "skin" to the app.

UX (User Experience): The user feels interacting with the program. It defines the whole journey: opening an app, performing a task, or exits from an app. Easy to do? Efficient? Fun? Think of it as the "bones" and "flow" of the app, hybridizing function, usability, and desire.

In mobile design, UI and UX are intertwined, for any gorgeous UI with poor UX is a little frustration, while excellent UX needs UI design to keep users hooked.

Why Intuitive Mobile UI/UX Design is Paramount

In the crowded app market, intuitiveness is your competitive edge. Apps that are easy to understand and use right from the first interaction lead to:

Higher User Adoption & Retention: Users stick with apps that effortlessly help them achieve their goals.

Increased Engagement: A smooth experience encourages users to spend more time within the app.

Stronger Brand Loyalty: A positive experience builds trust and fosters a loyal user base.

Better Conversion Rates: Whether it's a purchase, a sign-up, or a content view, intuitive design guides users seamlessly to desired actions.

Reduced Support Costs: Fewer frustrated users mean fewer support queries.

Core Principles for Crafting Intuitive Mobile Apps

Creating an intuitive app isn't accidental; it's the result of applying thoughtful design principles:

Simplicity & Clarity:

Less is More: Less is More: Less must never be more; it is a design maxim for never allowing anything extra clutter to enter the screen. Define elements that must be on each screen and the functions required from these.

Clear Labeling: Label buttons and channels clearly, i.e., succinctly, and use understandable language common to all users.

Content Must Be Common Knowledge: The content must be entirely visible instantly.

Consistency:

Visual Consistency: The app should follow the same color pattern, typography, and icon style throughout.

Behavioral Consistency: Buttons have to be working in the same way at all times, with usual touch gestures performing the actions they usually perform.

Platform Consistency: Whenever possible, follow conventions of platform adoption (iOS Human Interface Guidelines, Android Material Design).

Feedback & Responsiveness:

Instant Feedback: Immediate interaction feedback from the interface should be offered to the user, for example, change of button color or loading spinner would be good cues.

System Status: Explain background operations or system changes to users, e.g., "Downloading...".

Error Messages: Give the users the error message they can act on, not arbitrary numerical errors.

Accessibility:

Inclusive Design: Design for all users, including those with disabilities. Consider color contrast, font sizes, alternative texts for images, and compatibility for screen readers.

Target Size: Touch targets (buttons, links) should be sufficiently large to allow easy tapping.

Effective Navigation:

Obvious Path: Users should always know where they are and how to get to where they want to go.

Minimizing Taps: Minimize the steps users must take to finish a task.

Clear Navigation Patterns: Use the patterns everyone is familiar with, i.e., tab bars, navigation drawers, or breadcrumbs.

Gestural Interactions (Sobriety Included):

Intuitive Gestures: Make use of intuitive gestures (swipe, pinch-to-zoom) to improve usability but do not overuse hidden ones.

Visual Cues: Give visual hints that a gesture can be performed.

User Research & Testing:

Know Your Users: Research on their needs, behaviors, and pain points.

Test Early & Often: Usability testing throughout the design process can result in locating and fixing issues before the launch.

The Career Advantage of Mobile UI/UX Skills

The bigger a business's mobile presence grows, the more demand there will be for Mobile UI/UX designers who have skills. Somehow, learning these principles could lead to fascinating careers such as:

UI Designer

UX Designer

Product Designer

Mobile App Designer

Design Researcher

These roles mainly ensure technology is not only functional but also functions to meet human needs truly.

Master Mobile UI/UX Design in Ahmedabad with TCCI

Are you tempted to create seamless digital experiences? TCCI-Tririd Computer Coaching Institute offers a full circle UI/UX design course in Ahmedabad for mobile designers. Our programmes offer:

Hands-On Training: Build your portfolio through real-world projects.

Industry-Relevant Curriculum: The latest tools and methodologies are taught (Figma, Adobe XD, Sketch).

Expert Guidance: Learn from seasoned designers.

Career Orientation: Prepare for a career as a mobile app designer.

Whether you're looking for foundational computer classes in Ahmedabad to kickstart your tech journey or specialized mobile app design training, TCCI is your go-to destination..

Ready to Shape the Future of Mobile?

The future of mobile is in designing intuitive and delightful user experiences. Commence your journey toward becoming a proficient Mobile UI/UX designer now.

Contact us

Location: Bopal & Iskcon-Ambli in Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Call now on +91 9825618292

Visit Our Website: http://tccicomputercoaching.com/

[agreed-upon-solutions]

At this rate, it's going to be us, the ones who have been saying for years it's ridiculous to talk about this common ground not existing. Of course it does, no one has bothered to measure it.

First you need to define common ground. We use supermajority agreement, one of our slogans is "Twothirds is enough!" We've written a whole manifesto about why.

Then you need to determine the most important issues. We maintain a list of every topic from Wikidata, >157,000 items, which are ranked pairwise.

Then you need to research them all, and write down any positions you find with supermajority agreement. We manually researched the top 500, here's the TSV of every poll we could find with bipartisan twothirds support.

What do people agree on? Off the top of the list:

* 98% agree police officers with multiple abuse of power incidents should not be allowed to serve.

* 98% believe we should teach high schoolers about STDs, an observation that casually demolishes the "no sex ed in schools" talking point.

* Most popular among Republicans, 97% want a federal digital privacy bill of rights.

People are pro- regulation of AI, people are pro-environment, people *really* want Citizen's United repealed. There's tons of stuff, there's over 300 entries on that list. All of it has source links to professional polling data.

We don't need a "bold charismatic leader" to articulate an entirely arbitrary set of principles, we need a grounding tether to popular will. We're never going to solve this problem until it actually matters what citizens think. Twothirds is enough!

Let's imagine that you're trying to fix American politics by making a George Washington gambit, or perhaps a Dwight Eisenhower gambit.

Your goal here is to transcend our dysfunctionally-polarized moment by taking the two big political parties and smashing their heads together until they stop moving. You are trying to unite a supermajority of Americans behind a sane, stable, viable-consensus Middle Way - maybe through third-party shenanigans, maybe by hijacking and parasitizing the Republicans or the Democrats, whatever can be made to work.

Let's further assume - arguendo - that you have some good reason to think that you might be able to achieve this, given the right setup and the right resources. We don't need to have the argument over whether it's just a stupid idea from the get-go, that's not the point. (We also don't need to argue over what the sane stable viable-consensus Middle Way would actually be, in terms of policy prescriptions, branding, etc. Fill in your own favorite answer.)

You'll need a figurehead. A presidential candidate. Someone who can, in his person, stand in for the idea of "we're better than all this and we're actually going to set things to rights." Someone who won't immediately be treated as just another shill for the existing left/right.

A real American hero, ideally. Someone who seems like a good, trustworthy leader to as many voters as possible?

...any nominees?

Seriously. I mean it. Anyone at all? I'm coming up pretty short, and that fact scares me.

We tell jokes about God-Empress Taylor Swift (RIP @kontextmaschine), but of course that would actually be a bad idea for our project. She's popular, she might conceivably have the charisma and the intellect and the cultural-manipulation chops, but it doesn't matter; there's no escaping the fact that she's a pop star rather than anything else, and too many people would see her as inescapably frivolous. If she won, it wouldn't do the thing. Same goes for anyone else in the "celebrity performer" category.

War heroes are often good for this kind of role. Do we have any generally-accepted war heroes these days?

A scientist or high-culture artist might do. Are there any who are famous enough, and also not closely tied to an existing political faction?

I'd suggest "civil rights hero / activist leader" except that there are obviously none of those who aren't closely tied to existing political factions.

The best I can come up with on short notice is, like, Chelsey Sullenberger. Which is not super great.

(Admittedly I don't know enough about sports to say whether there's a sufficiently beloved-and-respectable athlete floating around. That would also be sort of an inherently weak choice, not much better than a celebrity performer and maybe even worse, but I can imagine really good spin doctors making it viable.)

[freevoidman]

The "demons becoming nice is exceptionally rare" argument annoys the hell out of me because it's SUCH a stupid, undefinable claim where you look like a dumbass for trying to argue against it.

Like sure, okay, it's 'exceptionally rare.' How are we defining 'rare' here. How are we defining 'exceptionally'? These are both abstractions, give me a hard number to go off of here. And even then, whatever hard number or percentage you could give me, you'd still be talking nonsense, because those numbers and percentages are pulled out of thin air. We don't know the total populations of demons in the underworld, we have no clue how many of them could be nice.

Seriously, try this argument with me:

Let's say that the total population of demons in the underworld matches the total number of humans on earth in the current year (which WE DON'T KNOW but let's play the population game I guess). As of right now, in March 2025, that number is estimated to be 8,231,613,070. Let's say of this total population, only .1% of demons can be 'nice,' and .1% is a very small percent, right? That sounds like it fits the 'exceptionally rare' category for me, because anyone can say anything is rare enough in relativity! Should knock it down a fair bit right?

You'd get 8,231,613 demons that could be nice.

That number is smaller, don't get me wrong, but if you tell me 8.2 million demons is a small amount, I'd look at you like you're dumb. That's more than most countries' populations. The largest American football stadium has a capacity that can hold 107,600 people. You would need to build 77 of those same stadiums to hold all those demons.

But all of this? All of this is arbitrary, Because no one knows the full population of the underworld, no one has an exact percentage for the rate of 'becoming nice' because we have no clue how often it occurs outside of the limited scope of 5 games, and even if we did being kind isn't entirely a quantifiable thing and it just becomes the most circulatory argument in the world.

Not to bring up other series into this, but My Hero Academia establishes the amount of people born into the world without a super power is rare--not impossible, but rare--and getting less and less common with each new generation, as super powers are dominantly genetic and take precedence over not getting a power. You want to know how many people in the world of MHA are born without a power?

20%. And this is considered 'rare.' People without a super power are absolutely a minority in MHA, I'm not arguing against that, but they still would total nearly 1.5 billion people at the time of MHA's first volume's release if we go off real world population numbers. That is NOT a small quantity of people BUT being born without a power is still 'rare' by that standard.

I don't know it just pisses me off. I hate that fandom is making me do fucking statistics to prove a point that was already stupid at a glance, but everyone is clinging to it like it's gospel.

[resoluteb2b]

Leads are the lifeline of any business. Conversions are what B2B businesses survive on. You can generate as many leads as possible, but if they do not convert to customers, then all your efforts are wasted. And that is why having efficient lead management in place is crucial.

Lead management is all about providing your customers with impressive content at every stage of their purchase lifecycle. And that is what we are going to discuss today.

Why lead management is crucial for conversion

Spending on lead management is very important for a business to sustain itself. It is unfair to expect your sales and marketing teams to convert all leads into customers with minimal effort. For best results, avoid an arbitrary approach. Instead, devise proper marketing strategies and an implementation plan.

Once you have captured leads, it is time to nurture them and maximize efforts for conversion.

Lead management measures to improve conversions

1.  Target ideal audience

The very first phase is to identify your target audience. Use your marketing strategies to reach people who have little to no chance of becoming leads is a waste of money. Also, if you have not understood who your target audience is and why they need what they need, then your lead management strategy will be imperfect. Rather, identify your ideal customer base and design an approach that specifically caters to them. This significantly increases the chances of warmer leads.

2. Segment leads

Once the target audience becomes the lead, the next step is to identify high-priority leads in terms of sales readiness. High-quality accounts can also mean better returns in terms of revenue and brand perception.

Now, it is usually seen that the definition of “same” varies for sales and marketing departments. Not finalizing criteria well ahead of time can lead to discrepancies later. Let your sales and marketing teams decide on segmentation criteria and how to proceed with each section.

Also, look at leads’ potential value. In the long run, quality trumps quantity. Having selected leads with high chances of conversion is way better than a large number of leads with varying chances of conversion.

3. Nurture leads to conversion

Getting a prospect on board depends on building strong and lasting relationships. Simply pitching them your product or services is not enough. Curate a strategy so that you build a long-standing bond with the lead. This does not mean that you have to unnecessarily lengthen the process of lead nurturing. Take it step by step and progress steadily.

You can align their purchase life cycle with their interests by offering them customized content. This way, you can offer the right content at the right stage; in a way that gently nudges them towards conversion.

4. Optimize leads

The transfer of leads from marketing to sales is a crucial step in lead management. If they are passed early or too late, your business is always at risk of losing a prospective client. The best approach is to bring together your sales and marketing teams to join forces and design a strategy to reap the most benefits from the leads.

The joint task force can craft a service-level agreement (SLA), which will define the lead routing process along with the follow-up procedure and timeframe. The SLA will give freedom to the sales team to send leads back to the marketing team when needed.

5. Review and enhance strategy

In the final stage, keep reviewing the ideal consumer base and their needs and pain points. The market is dynamic, and so is the audience. Hence, you will need to keep updating your marketing strategy to align with changing market trends and the needs of prospects. Look for different ways to make changes that will improve the conversion rate.

You can conduct frequent surveys or send out questionnaires to gauge the changing mood of your audience. Analyze the results thoroughly before making a change in your lead management strategy.

Without leads, most companies will have minimal sales and little growth. For maximum conversion, you must have an efficient lead management strategy in place. Such a strategy will help you determine a prospect’s position in its sales lifecycle. You can then curate relevant content for leads as per their position.

[lindsaystravelblogs7]

And now for something completely different......

(A known bug in Tumblr seems to be preventing my first two posts appearing in the correct sequence. So sorry, but read my second post first and you may choose not to return to this one.)

I have blogged across many tens of thousands of Aussie Outback kilometres, about as many Arctic and Antarctic nautical miles, and thousands more throughout Europe and Asia, even the Americas, but this time, we are off to the mysterious Subcontinent. 

A strange name – why the Subcontinent?  ‘India’ is a lot easier to type and anyway, how do we define a continent, a subcontinent, and the rest of the earth that apparently doesn’t rate a definition?  Third world? – definitely not.  Developing country – maybe, but probably pretty offensive to those who are already thriving there.  And how do we define First, Second and Third World countries anyway – apart from selecting them for arbitrary lists?  And who decides if and when any particular country reaches the threshold to be promoted (God forbid, demoted) to the next category?

A couple of utterly stupid ‘official’ definitions from the Internet place India in the Third World, but I doubt if anyone would seriously categorise them that way today.  We now see the categorisation in economic, rather than political, terms - but for a laugh, these are still two official definitions on the internet.

"First World: Countries aligned with the Western Bloc (i.e., NATO and allies), led by the United States.  Second World: Countries aligned with the Eastern Bloc (i.e., Warsaw Pact, China, and allies), led by the Soviet Union.  Third World: The Non-Aligned Movement, led by India and Yugoslavia, and other neutral countries."

OR (according to another more verbose authority)

“First, second, and third world countries were originally defined during the Cold War based on their political and economic alignment with the United States and the Soviet Union: 

First world

Countries that supported the United States and NATO, and favored capitalism and democracy. These countries are now considered developed and industrialized, with stable governments and economies. 

Second world

Countries that supported the Soviet Union and communism. These countries are rarely heard of today, but the term is still used to describe former communist countries that are between poverty and prosperity. 

Third world

Countries that were neutral and supported neither capitalism nor communism. These countries are now generally referred to as "developing nations" and are considered to be less developed than the major world powers. 

The term "Third World" is considered outdated and may be offensive because the Soviet Union no longer exists. Many modern academics prefer to use terms such as "developing countries" and "low and lower-middle-income countries" instead.”

And just for a laugh, how is this for the definition of ‘Subcontinent’?  We often refer to the Indian Subcontinent, but my research came up with this list of four subcontinents:

Indian Subcontinent comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.

Asia Pacific Subcontinent comprisingCentral and South Asia, Northeastern Asia, Southeastern Asia, Australia, and Oceania. 

European Subcontinent comprising Northern Europe, Southern Europe, Eastern Europe, and Western Europe.  (How did they miss Central Europe?)

Middle East/African Subcontinent comprising the Middle East, Northern Africa, and Southern Africa (Presumably excluding Middle Africa?)

Note that this definition includes Australia as but a small part of the Asia Pacific Subcontinent.  And another reference I saw included the Americas as comprising two subcontinents – North America and South America!

I may (or may not) offer further comment on this topic once our adventures proceed, but as at now, I can’t get my head around India being a Third World country – even an Emerging Economy seems a little deprecatory for India.  And is it just a small part of the Indian Subcontinent?  Some of these references are pretty laughable to a pleb like me, but obviously, there are a lot more clever/more-clever taxonomists out there than I imagined (or not!).

OK, OK, that was just a lot of waffle to set the scene, but absurd international nomenclature aside, what do we hope to do?

We fly via Singapore to Guwati (spelt – and probably pronounced – many different ways) in northeast India/Assam for a cruise on the fabled Brahmaputra River.  We then fly (bugger! – we wanted to go by train, but so many people advised against it that we eventually chickened out) to Kochi (Cochin) in Kerala in southwest India for more adventure, including a few days on a Kerala Backwaters cruise, before taking the scenic rail route to Trivandrum, and flying home again via Singapore.

A few months ago, India was not even on our travel radar, but Heather is always looking for new and interesting places to go and things to do and stumbled on this destination when looking at our next subsequent trip – sixty-one days by train from Singapore to London.  She has been watching for a possible rail trip north from India for a few years and although that is still below the radar, the Brahmaputra cruise emerged, and we needed to tack something on to that to make the cost more justifiable and the flights less painful and here we are, off doing something almost alien to us – in a hot climate among the teeming billions, instead of the frigid isolation of the polar regions. 

We had been watching a series on TV entitled Great Canal Journeys in which Prunella Scales (Faulty Towers) and husband Timothy West explore canals, initially in the UK by narrowboat, but later in much grander places in grander boats, and two that were featured really captivated us – cruising on the Brahmaputra and the Kerala Backwaters.  It is a very touching series, particularly the later episodes where Prunella is falling prey to real-life dementia, and Timothy is nursing her emotionally by continuing their waterway adventures together.  We hope we are not quite yet at that stage of life, but you have to do these things when you can and that has been our unfailing motto for the past eight or ten years.  Who knows? – one or other, or both of us – may not be here tomorrow to continue our adventures together so we have determined to do what we can until we can’t!

I hope you enjoy this short adventure with us,  We have two more overseas excursions later this year but have reserved 2026 for domestic travel in our mobile cubbyhouse.

[babyawacs]

@zdfinfo .@israel @israel @haaretzcom as secular independent iclassify the #jewish quest for the #12losttribes  as the psychological/religuous quest for belongig an intrinsic me ntal program incontrary to abscence of any reliable basis especially as outgroup emotionally estranged tothe location where self i dentity of culture and religion as only defining reliable stability factor is causing also what contradicts assimilation arbitrary disispation intothe currentlocation while scientifically of genome proovability allafter 5generations is arbitrary anything canbe from anywhere roundabout all heritage quests after 150years as arbitrary asif n onaffiliation  the  #keypoint results from this light or synthetic aperture is how you want to run your safe place youmade with miracles of america a singularity in timeframes formany reasons (digression_ including which effects cause social progress within that system like socioeconomics success asonlymeasure and specific values leading to a high turnover rate of subculture interactionsmeltingpot_ ) #keypoint 

@zdfinfo .@israel @israel @haaretzcom as secular independent iclassify the #jewish quest for the #12losttribes as the psychological/religuous quest for belongig an intrinsic mental program incontrary to abscence of any reliable basis especially as outgroup emotionally estranged tothe location where self identity of culture and religion as only defining reliable stability factor is causing also…