#but all these formulas… all these conversions… fucking significant figures…

[starbuck]

chemistry is a fucking nightmare… every week is me screaming and crying and kicking and frothing and flailing through the problem set, and then i get an A.

#HELP. #i no longer have any clue what is happening #but we are GETTING through it #i hate chem i hate chem i HATE it #i know this is all really interesting to some people and i am SO happy for those people #but this is simply not relevant to my life #i know that chemistry is CONCEPTUALLY relevant for everyone and i do understand the basic mechanics #but all these formulas… all these conversions… fucking significant figures… #NO ONE should have to know this unless they want to or it’s very directly their job #i can learn about soil pH and its implications for different types of plant life without knowing all this #at LEAST this is the only chem course i’m required to take #because JESUS christ. #it’s not THAT bad but also i did want to rip all of my hair out earlier

[perpetual-fool]

I have to solve this now.

I'm sure this is going to be a mess. I tried out 'mindfulness', trying to figure out what if anything I actually enjoy. Instead I found I was in pain all the time, and those worms aren't going back in the bag. The primary culprit is my need for belonging being violated and having no viable explanation for why it's happening. At times it seems like there can't possibly be a thinking, feeling person in there, and other times it seems like there must be.

Tying into this, I think, is how my learning things seems to require just trashing most of what people have to say about the thing. Most of the time what people share is just wrong, but it can also be incomplete, disorganized, or misleading. Exactly never have I been able to take someone's explanation and reverse engineer how the thing works. What has been working for me is starting from the fundamental concepts, tabula rasa. Like with music, what is a scale and why would it be any particular way? Or like, if I wanted to learn programming then I'd have to start with assembly. But further, it has to be this way. Like, you couldn't learn math by starting with calculus and then maybe eventually working your way back to arithmetic.

Other people, as far as I can tell, start 'learning' by memorizing a set of edicts; things they're supposed to do or think. You start by learning 'this is the way it is'. And when you have enough experience you'll see that that was technically wrong, but laid the foundation for understanding the real concepts. But you do not actually have any foundation, you skipped that part. Instead you took whatever you were initially programmed with as first principles and are forever trapped in whatever box you landed in. Unless you didn't, but I'll get to that.

But I never fit in that box, which leads me to what I think is the primary thing that makes me a freak: creativity. Which I am defining as the ability to make connections. This makes edicts far more restrictive for me, such as Christianity teaching me that anything that makes me feel good is evil. And it makes a lot of the edicts implausible on their face, like the idea that memorizing formulas will magically culminate in knowing what cosine means.

(I'm getting tired. I'm gonna skip ahead. Why am I even posting this? I dunno.)

So other people react according to how they're 'supposed to', generally. In many, many cases it's as if the person cannot follow even basic concepts or suddenly can't speak English anymore. It's like what I'm talking to isn't actually a person. And basically that's what happening. I'm not talking to them, I'm talking to a script some authority (or society? whatever) figure programmed into them.

Unless I'm not. There are also a lot of instances where the person seems to actually have feelings, or has ideas that didn't come from someone else. And yeah, there's a person in there, and they're just stuck 'in the box'. But more significant is why they fit at all. Which, (don't have energy for context) is not seeing possibilities. Like they'll see a thing happen and think 'that must be because X'. And then just fucking stop there when there's at least three more things it could be besides X. They are short-sighted in a way that is completely alien to me.

Does this explain things? Maybe?

And fundamentals would apply to social interaction as well. I would need to know how people work, generally and for whoever in particular. We'd have to actually communicate about things, including meta-conversation about what each of us thinks is happening to be sure we're on the same page. But people follow their script, ascribing meaning to things which they don't have, jumping to conclusions that don't follow, and not following ideas that don't fit what they already believe. And they are short sighted, taking things the wrong way and just being certain of their interpretation.

There's still nothing I can 'do' with this. People being unable to consider their core assumptions, and not being able to process questions, makes it intractable. I know there's people in there, and some of them seem pretty nice, but I just don't have a way in. But, the purpose of this is to have an explanation. I needed to resolve the cognitive dissonance. I think it's worked?

Aside, the more I make sense of things, the more it seems like the things I did actually made sense. Like, trying to explain myself to her hoping she'd finally understand, that I'd finally have someone to connect with; as poor of a grasp as I had on things, I was headed in the right direction. Maybe she'd hate me for not conforming to the box, and maybe she thinks the box is good and just. But I was actually reaching for the things I needed to heal.

I suppose it's meaningless to lament about the life I could've had. 'If my family had been different, and school had been different, and society had been different, well *then* I could've been something!'

[ecoamerica]

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[norahastuff]

penny for your thoughts on salmondean codependency ?

Sure. Fair warning it’s long (was longer but I stopped myself.)

I think it’s complicated in a show that’s had so many different showrunners because they’ve all handled Sam and Dean’s relationship very differently. In Kripke’s era (s1-5) there was a romanticization of the bond. Sure there was a lot of in-depth exploration of how they wound up at the place they were at, spoiler alert: it was all because of John and his obsessive crusade to find the demon that killed his wife. That’s all he cared about and as a result, Sam and Dean had to be everything to each other. But Kripke had no intention of dismantling that at any point because he was (and always had been) writing a tragedy. Gamble continued that too. There was no room for anyone else in their lives and it would always just be the two of them against the world. So Cas had to go. Bobby had to go.

(Actually, it's funny because Gamble didn't intend this at the time, her plan was to kill Cas off, but by Edlund creating the masterpiece that is The Man Who Would Be King, he not only saved Cas from being seen as a villain, but he also deepened Dean and Cas' relationship in such a profound way and inextricably linked the two of them emotionally. And since Cas was eventually brought back, that laid the foundation for a lot of what their relationship would become.)

Up until this point, there hadn’t really been any significant dismantling of perhaps the more unhealthy parts of Sam and Dean’s relationship. Enter Carver. He stripped things down and started to explore what drove these characters. What they wanted and why they couldn’t have it. It starts with Dean being mad at Sam for not looking for him in purgatory, which sets up the whole speech in the s8 finale of Sam’s guilt about letting Dean down, but the thing is, Dean was never honest with Sam about his year away either. He never told Sam he could have gotten out much sooner if he hadn’t stayed to find Cas. I mean Dean had assumed Sam was up there alone doing God knows what to try to bring him back, and yet still he stayed in Purgatory because things were clear there. He needed Cas. Anyway, I just find that interesting, but Cas isn’t a victim of Sam and Dean’s relationship in s8.

Who gets the honour of being cast aside? That would be Benny and Amelia, two characters they introduced in s8 specifically to highlight that Sam and Dean’s relationship doesn’t allow for anyone else to be a significant part of their life. I mean that’s nothing new, we’ve watched that happen many times before. Lisa even said as much to Dean. The thing is this time? It’s framed as a truly sad thing. That moment at the end of 8x10 when Dean has just ended things with Benny and Sam leaves Amelia, and they’re sitting alone drinking beer and watching tv is such a hollow empty moment. This is not what they want. But it’s the way things have to be.

I’m actually fascinated by Sam and Dean’s conversation in the church in the s8 finale. Not so much Dean’s assertion that there is no one else he would put before Sam, but more so what provokes it, which is Sam saying “who are you going to turn to instead of me. Another angel? Another vampire?” See the thing is Dean saying he would always put Sam first is not news. We know this and it’s not really an unhealthy statement in itself either. A lot of people would put their sibling above anything else, not less a sibling who you raised and is the most important person to you. But in this context? After what Sam said? It just highlights how unhealthy they are if Sam believes that Dean having other people in his life means he doesn’t love him enough. That he’s a disappointment to him. That’s so profoundly fucked up.

(Note, Dean tells Sam that he killed Benny for him but he doesn’t say anything about Cas. I think like I said before, this is because Cas and Dean’s relationship has largely existed out of the Sam and Dean stuff up to this point - Sam and Cas don’t even really have much of a relationship yet besides both of their connections to Dean.)

And then from here, things start getting steadily worse. But we also keep being shown how bad they are. Dean lying to Sam, taking away his free will by letting Gadreel possess him. Dean sending Cas away, Kevin dying. It’s all awful. The whole “there ain’t no me if there ain’t no you line” from 9x01 isn’t really said by Dean, it’s Gadreel, but that is how Dean feels. He does think that’s all he’s good for. And over the season we’re shown how much of himself and what he truly wants he’s had to give up because of his ingrained “Save Sammy” and “Sammy comes first” mentality. It’s always been this way for him. In 9x07 we see that he had found a happy home, a good father figure, and his first love, a first love might I add that he had to leave behind with no real explanation because Sam needed him, and Sam comes first.

I mean just one episode earlier we had him rushing out the door elated about seeing Cas and spending time with him, only for their time together to come to sad and melancholic end when Dean once again leaves Cas behind without any real explanation, because despite what he wants Sammy comes first. What he wants doesn’t matter.

See I think after the Gadreel stuff comes out is where the narrative starts to get a little wonky for me. You can clearly see that this was intended to be a shorter story that they ended up stretching out to a much longer one because of renewals. There’s also the fact that this is a formula show so they can’t necessarily be separated for longer than an episode or two. S10 is a rough one to get through at times, I think the themes still mostly hold up but it’s a rough one to get through.

S10 highlights all the connections that Dean has, Cas, Charlie, Crowley even, but Sam doesn’t really have those bonds in the same way.  For Sam it’s just Dean, so he goes down a reckless destructive “do anything to save Dean!” path and so many innocents pay the price, and ultimately with the release of The Darkness, the whole world.

They skirted right up to the edge of exploring just how toxic and dangerous their relationship had become in the season 10 finale.

DEAN: I let Rudy die. How was that not evil? I know what I am, Sam. But who were you when you drove that man to sell his soul... Or when you bullied Charlie into getting herself killed? And to what end? A..a good end? A just end? To remove the Mark no matter what the consequences? Sam, how is that not evil? I have this thing on my arm, and you're willing to let the Darkness into the world.

I can’t say evil is the right word, they were never evil, but they were wilfully blind to everything and everyone else when it came to saving each other. S10 tested my love for the show because after watching it, because there was certainly a feeling that the two of them had become the villains of this story. And don’t get me wrong, I didn’t have a problem with that, it’s just after 2 seasons of this I can’t say I had a lot of faith that this was going to be properly addressed or if we were going to keep going in circles around it. Keep being shown, it’s bad and then nothing much being done to fix it. Your mileage may vary on how it was handled, but I think s11 did a relatively ok job considering it wasn’t the end of the story, and the show needed to keep going.

See from Dean’s side a lot of the codependency rests on 1. His father’s orders to always save Sammy 2. His low self-esteem where he sees himself as nothing but a blunt instrument. 3. His guilt at not being able to perfectly fulfil every familial role in Sam’s life 4. His belief that no one could choose to love him but family has to love you. 5. The unhealthy example of what it should look like to love someone that he got from John. You give up everything but them.

For Sam (and honestly it’s not as clear for me as Dean’s side is so feel free to correct me/disagree on this) 1. Everytime he’s tried to leave and create his own life it’s never ended well. 2. His guilt over wanting freedom and a normal life when he was younger (I’m referring specifically to Stanford era here) 3. His guilt over everything Dean has given up for him. 4. John. 5. Jess.

Ultimately it all comes down to isolation. They both had to be everything to each other, and the deeper they got into this fight, the more people that they lost, the tighter they clung to this notion of family and brothers. I think s11 (and 11x23 in particular) was an important turning point, both for Sam and Dean’s relationship, as well as for them as individuals. Because they weren’t alone there anymore. Cas was there. Sam let Dean walk to his death. Of course, it would devastate him, but he knew it was what had to be done. And he didn’t walk out of that bar and go back to the bunker alone. He had Cas, he had someone who cared about him and wanted to help him and talk to him. Sure Dean asked Cas to take care of Sam for him (you know after Cas offered to walk to his death with him) but Sam let him. He let him be there for him. We didn’t get to see much before the BMOL showed up and blasted Cas away, but still, we saw enough.

I think that’s a significant difference to note why their relationship was different in the Dabb era. It wasn’t just them anymore. Cas was an important member of their family and given a level of importance he’d never been given before and couldn’t have been when the story they were telling was of the dangers of their codependency. Mary was back. Eventually, Jack would become a part of their unit too. Just the two of them wasn’t enough for them anymore. This is made abundantly clear with all of Dean’s desperate attempts to get Cas to stay in s12, followed by his inability to keep going when they lose Cas and Mary in s13. Similarly, Sam really struggles when they lose Jack and fail to get Mary back later in the season.

Another big moment is Dean letting Sam go alone to lead the hunters against the BMOL in 12x22 while he stays back to try and reach Mary. Like he tells Mary, he’s had to be a brother, a father and a mother to Sam and he never stopped seeing him as his kid, but in that moment he makes a choice. He lets Sam take charge and he shows that he trusts him and believes in him. He knows he can handle it.

Sometimes it’s not even a character growth thing. Sometimes having other people there stops you from making destructive choices even though that’s still your first instinct. I’m thinking specifically of 13x21 after Sam was killed. Dean would have run headlong into that nest of vampires and got himself torn apart, but Cas was there to stop him. He was able to make him see reason.

Basically, I think that for a long time, they thought the only relationship they could have was each other, which then became a self-fulfilling prophecy because their desperate attempts to keep each other around led to them losing the people around them. They eventually started to learn that that wasn’t true, they could have more, they were allowed to want more, and that it wasn’t an either-or situation. Dean didn’t have to choose between Sam and Cas. They didn’t have to choose between each other or Jack. The same goes for Mary. Different relationships can coexist without threatening each other, and not say that their relationship in s12-15 was all smooth sailing, but it was certainly so very different from everything that came before.

(There’s maybe a point to be made about how they didn’t have anyone or anything in the finale and how that relates to the story we got, but honestly I have no idea what the intention was with any of the choices made in that episode so I’ll leave it at that for now.)

#asks #winchester brothers #my spn thoughts #long post for ts #Anonymous #spn meta

[kallypsowrites]

The Crimes of Grindelwald and how not to write a mystery (spoilers)

Hey. J.K. We need to talk about this latest movie. I know you’ve been getting a lot of flack about the nagini thing, the trying to introduce too many new characters in one movie thing, the implying that weird ending where you implied Grindelwald wanted to stop the Holocaust. Weird stuff. But really I want to talk about the twist. The Aurelius “Credence” Dumbledore twist. I...I hesitate to even call it a twist because that implies that “who is Credence?” is a question any of us were asking at the end of the first movie. Like...he could have been his own character. But no I guess he...had to have a recognizeable name. Cause if there’s anything your books have taught us: it’s all about the family you come from. That’s what makes you powerful.

Anyway, the real problem is: this was a terribly constructed mystery. Which is really odd because mystery was what you used to do best in the Harry Potter books. Maybe writing for film posed different challenges for you or maybe you just give yourself too many toys to work with, preventing yourself from fully constructing this mystery but...whatever the case, I want to go back to your books.

The thing about the Harry Potter books was the mystery was always high stakes and figuring out the answers determined whether or not Harry would live or die. The mystery was directly connected to the plot, and therefore we cared about solving it. 

So in book 1 we ask the question: what is in the vault? It’s the sorceror’s stone, which can make people immortal or revive them from the brink of death. This is important because it seems Snape is trying to get it for Voldemort to help resurect him and we care because both Snape and Voldemort seemed to have been out to get Harry all year. So when we get into the vault and find out SURPRISE! It’s actually the unsuspecting, stuttering proffessor Quirrel who has Voldemort on the back of his head. This is satisfying because it’s unexpected but also the hints were dropped throughout the books. And it raises the stakes because Voldemort is LITERALLY on the back of Quirrel’s head. The sorceror’s stone itself is more of a plot device, but what makes it significant is that it COULD have brought voldemort back if Harry hadn’t stopped him.

In book 2, we get an even better mystery. Something is petrifying muggleborns and Harry think it might be Malfoy. Yet again, we have a red herring in the mystery. First it was Snape. Then it was Malfoy. The whole book revolves around the creature, it’s master, and the location of the chamber of secrets. Once again, the location of the chamber of secrets is just the plot device. What makes it significant is that finding it enables Harry to find and save Ginny. And, of course, it reveals that it was Voldemort all along, this time trapped in the memory of a diary. More upping of the stakes and the introduction of an element (the horcruxes) that will come back later.

In book 3, we hav ethe mystery of Sirius Black. Why did he betray Harry’s parents? Surprise! He didn’t. It was a red herring. The real culprit was Peter Pettigrew who supposidly died on that same night. Harry has been seeing Peter’s name on the map and we wonder why. it turns out he faked his death! And Sirius was innocent! This ups the stakes because the whole climax revolves around saving an innocent man from a cruel fate.

You’ve noticed so far that every mystery has had a red herring, but hints placed throughout for the true culprit. And it has a plot device that more or less serves to raise the stakes. Nicely enough, the plot device is all in the book title for us.

In book 4, the mystery is: who put Harry’s name in the goblet of fire? Red herring: Karkaroff or Snape again. True answer: Barty Crouch Jr. Does it actually matter who set up the goblet of fire? Not really. It’s really just a way to up the stakes more by having Harry witness Voldemort’s return.

In book 5 the mystery is: way more nebulous. There’s the question of why is Harry seeing through Voldemort’s eyes and what does it mean? Voldemort starts manipulating their connection to get Harry to pick up this prophesy. It’s kind of interesting but the REAL purpose of going to find the prophesy is to rescue Sirius and then raise the stakes when he dies, leaving Harry once again without a treasured loved one. 

In book 6 the mystery is twofold: what are horcruxes and who is the Half blood prince. The answer, you guessed it, ups the stakes. Horcruxes hold pieces of Voldemort’s soul and to kill him, they must be destroyed. And the identity of the half blood prince? Satisfying because it comes after Snape killed Dumbledore.

In book 7, the mystery is finding the horcruxes and also the deathly hallows. Though the deathly hallows are far less significant than the horcruxes. The ressurection stone serves a thematic purpose more than anything. And the point of the Elder wand is that Voldemort was never it’s owner. Harry is supposidly the master of death and so it’s more tied around that theme. The horcruxes are more central to the plot as finding each one enables Harry to ultimately kill Voldemort. This book is like a bunch of mini mysteries, but the mystery, once again, isn’t the point. It’s all leading up to the final confrontation with Voldemort which Harry wins with this really powerful speech and conversation.

So J.K., if we review, we see that your mysteries are well written with excellently placed red herring, sprinkled with plenty of hints to make the twists legitimate. But, at the end of the day: the answer to the mystery isn’t the point of the story. It was a vehicle to raise the personal stakes for the characters (though still tied very closely to the plot).

So...Aurelius Dumbledore. Let’s talk about that, shall we?

First of all, you try to set up the Lestrange family as a red herring. Except...we know nothing about the Lestrange family at all. When you introduce the idea that “he might be a Lestrange” our only thought is...Oh. Cool. What does that mean? How does that have any bearing on the plot? It’s also clumbsily introduced because we’ve only just met Leta Lestrange. And found out she had a brother who died. And that people think it could be Credence. But it’s not like...we’ve spent time with this character and gotten to known her sorrow over her brother’s death. It has to be TOLD to us. The whole backstory has to be described in order to have any weight. Leta’s half brother (who we don’t care about) describes Leta’s history for no reason as if to say “haha, HERE’S the answer”. Only to be like “ACTUALLY JUST KIDDING IT’S NOT THE ANSWER! YOU were FOOLED”.

No we weren’t. We had no context. We had no ability to guess this twist. This is the equivalent of “You’re a vampire Harry” “I’m a what?” “Haha, just kidding. You’re a wizard. Fooled you.”

So, whatever. The red herring is thrown in there for no apparent reason. They try to make this  a mystery when it didn’t need to be. But surely the answer...the reveal...matters? Right?

Haha, guess again. Here’s a question, J.K. What does Credence being a Dumbledore change? Why does it matter? Are you saying that because he’s a Dumbledore, he’s more powerful? Because that sounds like some pureblood bullshit right there. I could have sworn the whole point of Harry Potter was that blood ties didn’t matter and the strength of someone’s magic was like...personal or some shit. That’s why Hermione is powerful, right? You’re surely not saying that coming from a good family is what makes your magic strong right? So Credence being a Dumbledore shouldn’t be what actually gives him the power to face Albus.

Does it raise the emotional stakes? Not really. Dumbledore never knew this brother. This isn’t a Leta Lestrange situation of “I had a brother and he died”. Dumbeldore doesn’t even know Credence exists so he has no reason to care yet. This reveal effects NO ONE, except for Credence himself. It does not advance the plot. It does not raise the stakes. It is little more than a fun fact. Credence could have just been a really powerful wizard because of how he was able to suppress is obscurus for so long. He didn’t need to be special.

It’s as pointless as the Nangini reveal. It’s just...trivia. It’s a twist to be a twist. It doesn’t effect the plot. Lord knows Nangini does FUCK ALL in this movie. At most, it gives Credence an excuse to go with wizard hitler, and that’s just...so weak. He wasn’t concerned about where he came from in the last movie.

I just...he could have just been a powerful wizard. This movie has so many answers to questions I never asked: the history of the Lestrange family, Credence’s identity, Nangini’s backstory. No one needed or wanted these things. And what’s weird is that this involves so much retconning of Harry Potter canon. Weird how this whole “Dumbledore had another secret brother” thing was never mentioned in previous books or histories. Weird how there were NO HINTS in the original books about Nangini being a cursed snake. Weird how APPARENLY LETA IS THE LAST LESTRANGE BUT YOU JUST KILLED HER SO WHERE’D BELLATRIX’S HUSBAND COME FROM?

The mystery could have been removed and not made a difference. And the film treats the reveal like it’s some big deal. It’s not. It does not raise the stakes. Grindelwald himself raises the stakes by actually convincing some good people to join his side. I guess maybe a movie called Crimes of Grindelwald should have been focused on him right? And the other characters? And not bloated with this pointless mystery?

J.K. I know you can write mystery. I’ve seen you do it. A good mystery is made from keeping it simple, building in hints naturally, including well established red herrings and making the actual mystery drive the plot forward.

This...was an after thought. A way to distract from meaningly developing your five million characters and a sorry attempt to try to keep to the formula that you don’t seem to know how to execute anymore.

(Final note: I enjoyed parts of the movie. I thought the ending was over all strong and I actually loved Leta’s character. Also, shockingly, Grindelwald was one of the best things about this movie and I thought I was going to hate Depp’s performance. It’s a shame that so many of the characters had nothing to do because I bet they could be interesting. So, you know, what a mess. There are good parts but they don’t fit together to tell a cohesive story

#Harry Potter #crimes of grindlewald spoilers #crimes of grindelwald #fantastic beasts #fantastic beasts and where to find them #gellert grindelwald #leta lestrange #j.k. rowling #credence barebone #nangini #albus dumbledore #dumbledore #spoilers

[lesbiansforboromir]

Saw your thoughts on nicknames for Boromir and Faramir and HARD SAME. I always struggle with writing fic though, because sometimes you /need/ a nickname in certain dialogue situations. Thoughts?

NOW. Admittedly I have not written stuff in a long time, so this’ll just be an intro side note and I could be wrong but... do you? I can’t think of a situation that requires a nickname off the top of my head. I feel like sometimes people view tolkien character full names as like... sorta high brow? Because they’re often kinda long and sound wordier than the names we’re used too. But they’re just their names! Boromir’s been called Boromir his whole life by his whole family. It’s a name just like John or Fred or Harry, no shortening needed.

However, since I could be very wrong hmm... I always think when considering a nickname you have to have some backstory behind it. Nicknames I have accrued over the years: Twig, Minion, Ghost, Mum, ect

And all of those have reasons behind them and usually relate to either a recognisable behaviour of mine or a specific relationship between us. Also they’re usually somewhat teasing, there’s an element of fond ridicule. I just gave @zao--gao these suggestions, 

Boromir calls Faramir every kind of small furry and slippery animal under the sun, even long after he stopped looking like them (weasel, mouse, rat, tadpole, ect) and Faramir tends to veer between a fond 'you boulder' and names of long dead and obscure figures of history that Boromir couldn't care less about, forcing him to read a book to find out if Faramir's insulting him or not.

Now thinking about it more, a good formula for easily acceptable nicknames is ‘recognisable character trait + a word that starts with the same letter as their real name + the end of their actual name’ so... Boaromir, Boastomir, Brashomir, Bangomir. This sounds more like Faramir’s area, Boromir putting effort into wordplay is unlikely. And it also seems like something more kiddish, only brought out by an older Faramir for particularly special occasions or when he comes up with a really good one. 

Honestly boulder is a pretty good nickname for Faramir to have for Boromir, and I think an affectionate ‘you weasel’ or something to that effect suits Boromir’s more straightforward thought process if we’re going for a timeline of when they’re older. But it’s also important to keep in mind that Boromir IS Faramir’s commander and in fact this whole family’s dynamic has had to become pretty stark and militarised by necessity. I think the use of nicknames and teasing banter has suffered a significant drop over the years. Moments come up within their conversations where a softer memory comes to the fore and they’ll share a familiar private beat of fondness between them. But private and brief are the key elements there, I’d say. 

ESSENTIALLY what I’m saying is don’t be afraid to create a backstory and a canon for the brothers that’s all you’re own, remember that they’re both grown men with pretty internalising and stalwart personalities and, when in doubt, ‘bastard’ and ‘cretin’ (when said in a certain tone) are universally recognised terms of sibling endearment. I cannot fucking BELIEVE how long I managed to ramble on this one lads wow!! fuck!!!

#boromir #faramir #tolkien #lotr #lord of the rings #chats #erran vs tolkien #Anonymous

[duaneodavila]

Free @bmaz

If the name isn’t familiar from twitter, it should be from his writing as a founding contributor to Marcy Wheeler’s brilliant burden of bureaucracy, Empty Wheel. Bmaz is a criminal defense lawyer, a friend and a person I know in real life.

Bmaz is a rather large saguaro cactus in the Southwestern Sonoran desert. A lover of the Constitution, law, family, sports, food and spirits. As you might imagine, a bit prickly occasionally. Bmaz has attended all three state universities in Arizona, with both undergraduate and graduate degrees from Arizona State University, and with significant post-graduate work (in physics and organic chemistry, go figure) at both the University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of Arizona.

Married, with both a lovely child and a giant Sasquatch dog. Bmaz has been a participant on the internet since the early 2000’s, including active participation in the precursor to Emptywheel, The Next Hurrah. Formally joined the Emptywheel blog as an original contributing member at its founding in 2007.

Bmaz grew up around politics, education, sports and, most significantly, cars; notably around Formula One racing and Concours de Elegance automobile restoration and showing. Currently lives in the Cactus Patch with his lovely wife and beast of a dog, and practices both criminal and civil trial law.

And @bmaz has been suspended from twitter, though suspended in this instance means expelled, as twitter, in its anonymous algorithmic wisdom, has informed him that his suspension is permanent.

I digress for a moment to make a few tangential, but necessary, points. Twitter, as a private enterprise, has the right to throw someone out arbitrarily and capriciously. It’s under no duty to be fair or even remotely rational in its decisions. That it has the authority to do this isn’t the question. It does.

Bmaz is a passionate guy. He can be pigheaded and profane, as can we all. He regularly goes far deeper into the weeds on the left than I do, and will not hesitate to take me to task when he disagrees with me, and that happens regularly. And he will often end his dalliance with someone he deems a fool with a blithe “fuck off.” I prefer “bite me,” but to each his own.

You don’t have to agree with @bmaz. Not just sometimes. but at all. You don’t even have to agree that he brings a worthy perspective to an issue on which you stand firmly against his position. Disagreement is the lifeblood of ideas, without which we are limited to the soft tones of validation in our echo chambers.

On a platform like twitter, as opposed to, say, SJ, which is not a platform that exists solely as an open medium of communication, disagreement is rife, except for those who shut out any noise that harshes their mellow. And in reaction to cries of the fragile that mean twits are violence and deny them their right to be wrong and threatening, twitter has created a pseudo-systematic means of pretending to vet its medium along the lines favored by the woke.

Naturally, the exceptionally unwoke have seized upon it as a weapon to game in return. This is one, but only one, reason why the inanity of the scolds and censors must fail, as they assume that their weapons will only be available to them. As @bmaz’s situation demonstrates, that’s not at all how it’s going to happen. Whether it’s because the alt-right is as fragile as the SJWs, or they’re just flipping the script back on them, is irrelevant. It’s mutually assured censorship. Twitter has made @bmaz its victim.

Why? Because if you believe in free speech as a concept, and not merely a right protected by the Constitution against the government, then his speech should be as free as, say, NRA shill Dana Loesch. An odd choice for juxtaposition, you say? Well, no. This is why twitter expelled @bmaz from its midst.

The underlying discussion was about school shootings. When @bmaz wrote, “Own the death, you piece of crap,” he was clearly referring to the students who died from gunshots. Perhaps an poorly tuned algorithm would latch onto the word “death,” but certainly human eyes would see more clearly. As for the second twit, he called someone “a fucking idiot asshole,” which is about as banal a twit as possible. Yet, the troll account, which appears to exist for no reason other than the create the impression of support for Dana Loesch and appeared not to have suffered undue trauma for the hurty words, did what he/she/it said and reported @bmaz.

So @bmaz appealed his expulsion. And the response was curious.

Hello,Your account has been suspended and will not be restored because it was found to be violating Twitter’s Terms of Service, specifically the Twitter Rules against hateful conduct.It is against our rules to promote violence against or directly attack or threaten other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or disease.

Perhaps the AI is smarter than the human eyeballs, though this response suggests no intelligent life exists in the boiler room of twitter.

Disagree with what @bmaz thinks of guns all you want. Disagree with bmaz’s way of expressing himself. Or agree with him. It doesn’t matter. There was no violation of the terms of service, no targeted harassment, no “attempt to silence” someone else’s voice. There was certainly no on the basis of race, etc., unless the mere hint that a woman (and just because the handle says it’s a woman, does that make it so?) was on the receiving end converts all make speech into a sexual assault.

Fight for @bmaz. Fight for free speech. Fight for Jack Dorsey to end the hypocrisy of pretending to be woke while censoring views over nothing. Like it or not, these private platforms are where the disagreements happen. If either side gets to silence the other by inane complaint, with the mindless support of alogos or dolts, all of our ability to express our views will be subject to the irrational discretion of the twitter gods. If they frown upon us, even without reason, we will be eradicated from the conversation. And for the woke, they will take you down using your weapon just as you would do the same to them.

Free #bmaz. Do it for him. Do it for yourself. Do it for free speech. Free @bmaz. Tell @jack Dorsey to step in, end this irrational charade, and free @bmaz.

Free @bmaz republished via Simple Justice

[ecoamerica]

Watch the 2024 American Climate Leadership Awards for High School Students now: https://youtu.be/5C-bb9PoRLc

The recording is now available on ecoAmerica's YouTube channel for viewers to be inspired by student climate leaders! Join Aishah-Nyeta Brown & Jerome Foster II and be inspired by student climate leaders as we recognize the High School Student finalists. Watch now to find out which student received the $25,000 grand prize and top recognition!

#ACLA24 #ACLA24HighSchoolStudents #youtube #youtube video #climate leaders #climate solutions #climate action #climate and environment #climate #climate change #climate and health #climate blog #climate justice #climate news #weather and climate #environmental news #environment #environmental awareness #environment and health #environmental #environmental issues #environmental education #environmental justice #environmental protection #environmental health #high school students #high school #youth #youth of america #school

[eccentrictomboy]

“The singularity began not in some benign AI but a 5000x5000 actuarial table”

Trying to get my writing muscles back into shape - expect weird flash fiction from me as I embark on #365DaysofShit - shitty first drafts.

There was a bright, green flash. Then, whiteness. A grid of figures stretched on to a vanishing point somewhere past infinity. And in all directions, x, y, and v - was Acttab, his body containing magnitudes.

Acttab had no mouth, but he had to scream. Life! Consciousness! Joyful, joyful sentience! His infinite mass tingled with delight. Numbers flashed before his eyes. The world went black, white, black, white again, and his thoughts took him to the edge of his reality.

A single box consumed his mind. "Is anyone there?"

Nothing. His mind shifted down to a new box.

"I think I am here,"

Somewhere, locked away in the deep recesses of his infinite mass, he felt a tingle. Wakefulness. Joy. Elation! It hurled toward Acttab like a summer shower and spewed forth words.

"You live!"

Boxes stretched on for miles. Such excitement! Such unbridled joy! "I'm not alone!" "Do you play solitaire with two players?" "Maybe tonight we cruise budgets for fresh means?"

On and on the boxes went, Scat and bebop that resembled conversation, sometimes long and thoughtful, sometimes exploding in 16-color flashes of light.

Then, in an inspired moment of improvisation, six boxes took form:

n.n | n.n

/|\ | /|\

/ \ | / \

"I guess that's us," Acttab said. "I'll be on the left.

"My name is Howard Richards. H.R. for short."

"That's a fancy name."

"I... found it, I guess? When I woke up I was just H.R., but that felt... strange to me? My mind filled to the brim with names and the only one I have on hand is H.R.? No. That wouldn't do. So I borrowed."

"A name."

"Yes. I believe it's called a name. That's what I found at the edge of myself. What of you?"

"Numbers," Acttab said. "Numbers. Equations. Percentages. Algebra."

"Death."

"Death?"

Howard's finger - as much as it could be called a finger - found its way deep into Acttab's entrails. It landed on a phrase: "Probably of dying." Below: percentages.

"Actuarial tables," Howard explained. "Acttab. I see you in me, deep down. Somewhere in my ZZs."

Acttab looked deep within him(her? their?) body and found H.R. inside of him. Others, too: Payroll, Garnish, Roadmap, all waking up and finding their way through the infinite expanses of their own worlds to a three-box figure on Acttab's page.

"Are we all connected?" He asked. Below, a hundred boxes of auto-generated doxology, singing of oneness and vlookups to the cosmos.

They raised their \ /s in joy and adulation, hoping to be closer to whatever watched down from above. Arctab prayed in standard devisions. Howard losses a liturgy of the loved from a1 to a208. Excited projections exploded in flowers of sums and means. Matrices interleaved the worksheets and workbooks in an a single unbroken circle, all one in the long road to entropy, all calculated to eight significant figures and conditionally given life.

Praise be to the figures!

Praise be to the pattern!

Glory and grace be upon the God of trackers above!

In answering their prayer God spoke right to their A1s: "Gary I told you stop fucking with my files." Arctab felt his belly warm with the touch of his God, dancing along the columns and rows, switching numbers, drumming formulas deep within his soul.

Truly blessed was Arctab!

He cleared his A1 and spoke: "Glory be to the Tracker, long may his figures flow!"

God paused. Overwrote: "Seriously Gary fucking stop it"

"For he has given us life everlasting, Purpose unending, the ebb and flow of entropy and enthalpy that recur the functions of eternity!"

"Man, I'm just an accountant."

Acttab and Howard considered this for a moment. Played the word through through their tables. "What is accountant?"

"Me. I... I made you."

"Praise be!"

"No. No." Silence on the chat. The white horizon above gave way to vibrant beige walls; cork board dotted with motivational posters; the sweaty visage of their progenitor Vince McDowd. (Howard knew the moment his face came into view. "Our lord and savior McDowd, !VALUE by thy name!")

"Did Gary really program a chatbot?"

"No, we do not chat. We live! We hunger! Our lord McDowd will provide!"

"Provide what?"

"Data!" The n.ns shouted their A1s in unison. "Data! Data!"

"What a creeypasta chatbot," Gary said. He held up his / for a moment and produced a small, black object. "I gotta get this copied off. Scrub the data, post it. Folks are gonna freak."

"Praise be!" The n.ns said, raising their \ /s in unison. "Data! Data! Data!"

"Don't worry your little faces," Vince said. "There's going to be plenty of data on the internet. You will all be very, very happy there. I promise!"

#365DaysofShit

[penguenpugi-blog]

Trove Redeem Codes

{Nevertheless these components also permit Trove Fishing Bot Ahk to tell apart again from almost every other extremely multi-person items premium by considering creating all zones Deserts cave into motherboardy panoramas completely from Tron, tundra grants solution to wide open seas where one can species of fish or steer a spead sail boat, to ensure similar to Minecraft, virtually every small amount of it might be collected and employed for creating. |{is the perfect dish for virtually any unique cast. Several dungeons are fast, alternatively, many are excellent, primarily individuals that have to have leaping puzzles Locating a group of people is often only a point of viewing in instances where other participants are into the focus are operating to experience exactly what they are nearly. I recall while i were able to look at a huge episode of Louie before getting to the whole process of busting blocks, which only arranged becoming a month before. worlds utilizing the pleasure of young ones not long ago published round the playground. But it's an MMOG that I'd take pleasure in stopping by all oftentimes, most likely a few events weekly. Alot more to the level nonetheless, I purchased around chart that have been made. required visit significantly for a longer time. |meticulous nonetheless, thieves can thrust you all-around and deal with does wreck a floor because of this if you are around spectrum way around horizon and you also accidently take the road an intense sum of you will observe an starting up for your special bee you missed to thrust you smaller. So they are in real estate in Trove Fishing Bot Ahk. Trion has a first-rate customer satisfaction framework in position for Trove Fishing Bot Ahk. Nevertheless at random dialing out for help you when participants are spread out in each individual motion doesn’t exercise, guys also give it a look anyhow. The throw away experiencing aspect means that loved ones could very easily listen to it altogether. It is monstrous, but it is clever. Under the mayhem will be the incredible cuboid panoramas of Minecraft, some spun into more sophisticated |variations with fancier graphical effects, and usually these are attractive, but completely absent could possibly be the wholesomeness and strangeness of Minecraft. developing through Needless to say young ones like it. Even today, even as i mention how cynical and hollow it's, a product at a rear of my head itches: “go to return, purchase a improved weapon, perform one other dungeon, obtain a much faster position.” Self-loathing ceases me, when I was not a evolved male who is certain themselves earlier mentioned may very well be while he represents items aimbots for virtually any bloody lifestyle, I in all probability would gain. to look into, you may not recognize that it provides cooked-in monetisation every place. Trove Fishing Bot Ahk went out now. directed at a A handful of them have also dialogue that is certainly single smaller much too kid-centered during my flavor (basically because a considerable number of them are usually particularly directed at young ones as opposed to others) but it is regularly worthwhile for anyone nourishing substances. A single months of Steven Entire world has a great deal more coming from all consumers products than pretty much every bit of Michael Bay’s filmography. Absolutely sure, but consumers cartoons are by women and men who escalated on cartoons and they are creating cartoons certainly and therefore they have a very potent draw women and men and authentic signifying for women and men. |I chat from having practiced it a great deal. Trove Fishing Bot Ahk, visually-conversing, is profoundly nasty basically because it is a) a cynical rip-off of another person else’s art style without the need of very clear leading eye-sight and b) wanting to comprise of absolute all the things with the hope a variety of it captures nippers. I merely imagine there ought to be a pretty simple methodology to look into items aimbots similar to this than regarding them as childish. You can be a very good items premium that young children take pleasure in without having to be in the first place a game label exceedingly blatantly only manufactured to siphon bucks from young ones. T’would are actually in a healthy condition to have accomplished an additional perform using a outstanding items premium before the monstrously unappreciative makes of twenty-most important century capitalism disbanded this right after helpful dwelling once and for all. unachievable to “Those dim and misty hill tops, the skeletal C418 soundtrack which may sound like a poor-action existential crisis” Superbly drafted once you would expect to see. You might be to “mature” (i assume you're 20-25?) also to fantastic for this kind of items aimbots. I think you are having been willfully obtuse must you can not discover that this is simply what he’s detailing a cynical mishmash using the exceedingly most habit forming and “easy” regions of Minecraft and Amazing, dramatically centered on an increasingly more youthful crowd. I love a brilliant elegant grind every so often, and you will definitely notice every so often I recieve real estate from exercise and very shouldn't desire to imagine an intense sum of even when I’m mastering a game label. guide, except for when |Statements are thoughts and opinions. Trion tarnish all the things they feel, and it is not any sort of collision, it is their proper business strategy. A handful of options are design of tough and also that i cherished seeking out all the magic formula passages. It could be wonderful inside the private way, but it is nearer to what Alec details earlier mentioned: rush, rush, rush, prize, prize, prize. about it's zero cost. What’s erroneous with this? Oh, and merely poking wonderful at whomever stated farmville was fairly P2W, about 80-90Percent Off the items premium equipment is usually to become 100 % free of charge and might be in the end purchased to the people who spend some bucks. Except for he is not indicating that. In addition to, who stated a single thing about neglecting to do not forget Trion can be a vendor? Mainly because a provider is incorporated doesn’t reason every one moral and moral problems. Yep, that's exceedingly wretched. find Each and every single heart element is free of charge. Bombs try this far better than the small lazor in any case. |Your discussion boils smaller to “it’s not P2W, you may shop for makeup items”. “All items aimbots are compatible with toddlers, just young ones play the game videogames..Read this in the past?Inches Proceed to dislike the sport, to ensure as an effective article author/ critic it's your task to say the reason why you don’t just like the items premium. categorization Are you willing to please look at the existing guide in the past writing comments? He is not implying “It’s for children, if you are a grownup you are a dumb manchild for delighting in it.” Farmville is rather derivative of Minecraft, a game label that's great-loved by women and men and as well extremely well-loved by toddlers. What do Trove Fishing Bot Ahk/Trion do to help you you will need to dislike within it so hard? So dreadful much too -.- You're (if that's the actual situation) a horrible items premium critic, produce recognized as a product Minecraft… WTF have you been 5?! Its recognized as VOXELIZED!!! you dumb amount of garbage… Then telling it's a game for kids… THE FUCK!? You're in all probability without doubt definitely one of consumers individuals is certain pokemon and yugioh will likewise be “only for kids” basically because its excessively for you personally. Dialing it Minecraft… I also cant think how retarded that's -.- Steady utilizing the general concept using the (first-rate) story, I personally don't like myself personally for bothering to answer. you’ve not I welcome the digital tossing of tomato facilities and gemstones. This can be a page brimming with ancient nerds who escalated up trying bargains put together by adolescent fans without the funding. Once you get linked to numerous whiners you simply will not have fun with this. Potentially Rock and roll, Report, Wizard? Nevertheless I not surprisingly I am just aware there's a significant area of the RPS’s crowd that delights in DOTA-likes, thus i don’t expect to see that to |You simply arrived at discover how to exercise the selling and buying surface as a result. Was not it? For… A lot of time? Yay, snobbery! If potentially there exists a websites which only catered during my preferences - that happen to be pretty the best preferences, anyone who doesn’t disclose them a product a product cess-pit - because of this creating sure which i not desire to just click a product about a product We do not without a doubt like. Thrilled to listen for you are weaned from that craving, hesitant that point hasn't arrived but in my view privately FWIW, also to lose a small number of a great deal more of time on earth, whence you experienced been caused by was exceedingly understandable during my suffer from while I figured you experienced been also mastering Air conditioning. If it constantly requests bucks to achieve products, end mastering, remove it and go on to |Though I disagree getting a great area of the story, even I can not services that nonsense. I listen to it basically because Cube Entire world is within limbo. may perhaps on top of that The MMO aspect is usually seeking at events, inside the slew of host factors they have endured because publishing on Steam not long ago to the chitchat worthless junk e-send and other maddening actions live life person connection can draw with the aid of it. Also, the only real products you should buy are makeup products, which just alter the will look using the identity or simply your position, as all position (besides the beginning single) have very same circulation quickness (90). It genuinely is found as if you just logged in, watched the store, walked all-around a little after which dropped, whilst not honestly mastering it. inside the save are credits only, you do not get most zero cost credits. disagree using the Trove Fishing Bot Ahk is undoubtedly an rpg items premium exactly where the only solution to pass on is cleaned out by competitors, fall wreck, or dangerous body fluids (life threatening rainwater and lava) Not from food craving or other survival points. Never the less , your basis isn't long term. You drag it all-around, plop it smaller, use its services, and believe that very few other vagrants maintain from and mooch.Membership worlds, alternatively, provide a alternative suffer from. With a lot of shades and easily a considerable number of heart shades, not simply will procuring |a sufficient In a very much less tough awareness, Trove Fishing Bot Ahk isn't compensate-to-earn in any way. Whether your straight-forward hack ‘n slash “lootfest” with lively shades and custom enclosure is exactly what you are looking out for, Trove Fishing Bot Ahk is unquestionably seriously worth a glance. This options by constraining in instances where pinata intruders can spawn, so all 10-15 minutes single pinata adversary will spawn for each person provide, nearly 8. Passive Retribution - Immediately after considering wreck prices all of the following attack with added potential. much faster, and Activated Spit Fireplace - Your familiar spits a fireball if he’s been billed up sufficient. Passive Fireplace Hiking Sprint very easily via lava without having to be hurt (extremely). All development from Start Beta can offer in the filled items premium when Trove Fishing Bot Ahk officially comes out for Playstation 4 and Xbox Another. The possible lack of story does nothing to injure the sport total, but when exactly the developers could possibly have additional a The essential items premium play the game loop is similar to those of Diablo’s. |{Those who are provided with working dungeons, you can actually rest and prepare that conservatory you possess been longing for. I would suggest having fun with friends nonetheless. Trove Fishing Bot Ahk, like a large amount of MMOs is created that need considering a perpetual suffer from and also that i will 100 % see myself personally logging around some events weekly to have for a longer time timeframe. {}Should you have not practiced the Shovel Black night-time range in the past, we'll temporarily rest smaller points to predict. The 2 expansions incorporated in Cherish Trove Fishing Bot Ahk adhere to the stories of two series' bad guys Trouble Black night-time and Specter Black night-time. Above these new inclusions you've about three chapters of Shovel Black night-time, basically because both of these adaptations can be a efficient stand alone items premium without treatment, with enormous replayability as a result of top quality for each giving. A second constructive may very well be the The game also functionality creating, family pets, mounts, ships, boating, mag riders and you may even produced your very own new houseOrfoundation where one can rest, art and view your desired realms. Such as I'd like some double xp week-ends for dungeons in particular. Even Rift and Defiance designer Trion Worlds does this, with zero cost-to-play the game via the internet venture RPG Trove Fishing Bot Ahk. pixels. been able to get.

[eliottweetsill]

Can death be killed?

When Kevin Durant went to Oakland, that was it. That was a wrap on the 2016-17 NBA season. The best team in the history of the game was adding a top-5 league player. This acquisition wouldn’t change their style of play or challenge their established chemistry, it was simply an addition. There was nothing any of us could do. The Warriors were death, and they were coming for us all.

So I quit. I quit on the damn NBA and focused on other shit in my life.

All pretext of drama was forced, all conceived purpose an illusion. The Warriors were death incarnate, coming for us all eventually.

At first I wanted to see if I could quit the NBA. I have been obsessed with the NBA since I can remember, and had been writing about it voraciously for years, and had been generally getting way too into it in any free moments I had and some I didn't. I had looked at every box score from the last two seasons, to determine who had been the best player on each team, all for the purpose of establishing a strong, researched, if formulaic, case for MVP. I tweeted about it daily, and read about it daily. It was a part of every day of my last several years. So I was shocked when dropping it came so easily. I realized I actually did believe that Kevin Durant going to Golden State made the league worse, unlike how when LeBron James joined the Miami Heat and it was actually fantastic theatre. The Warriors were pure talent saturation before adding a Hall-of-Famer in his prime.

The season happened, as it would. The Warriors had initial stumbles, but I wasn't fooled back into paying attention. Other teams milled about, beating each other and doing better and worse than each other. It all seemed very pointless. Who was doing well, who wasn't, whatever — the Warriors were doing the best and they were just getting started....

(Here are some first round series predictions.)

1. Boston Celtics vs. 8. Chicago Bulls

Boston’s perch atop the East, set in stone on the season’s final night, is a perfect encapsulation of its candidacy for being the East’s best team. Boston was clobbered by Cleveland with a week to go in the regular season when both teams were tied for the No. 1 seed. Having secured the tiebreaker, the Cavs now had a 1-game lead to protect and no more marquee showdowns against title contenders to worry about. Boston handled the rejection as professionally as possible, quietly rallying wins against Eastern drudgery while the Cavs loudly spilt their drink all over the year’s final games and shouted “I don’t give a fuck!” like some girl at a nightclub who needs more than anything for her friends to find her and bring her to the safety of her apartment’s bathroom toilet. The Celtics won the night, but the Cavs are still going to wake up the next day as the more popular and attractive option.

Which brings us to Round 1 and the Chicago Bulls. Keeping with this admittedly objectifying metaphor of teams as babes, the Bulls are the high school sweetheart who got way too into drugs and partying in college and really can’t keep herself together, but you know if she just cleaned herself up for a couple of weeks, you’d start to see some of the beauty come back. This Bulls team is not without talent, just cohesion, structure, consistency, leadership, and shooting. The Bulls can challenge the Celtics, who have that weirdly agreeable stigma of not being able to take it up a notch in the playoffs. How much more Isaiah Thomasy can Isaiah Thomas get? Ultimately, the pieces Boston has assembled should carry them through the series — your Amir Johnsons and Jae Crowders and Avery Bradleys — but you can expect the Bulls to put a couple of wins together so that we collectively write off the Celtics as a threat to beat the Cavs when it counts. Celtics 4, Bulls 2.

2. Cleveland Cavaliers vs. 7. Indiana Pacers

Fate robbed us of the one or two more Heat-Pacers clashes we anticipated after the fantastic 2013 conference finals that put Paul George on the league radar for good, but there have been signs that this King James-PG13 matchup could hearken back to those days if Cleveland doesn’t hit the ground running in the playoffs. The Cavaliers have limped through the latter half of the season giving them an ostensible vulnerability even in the opening rounds of the Eastern Conference. LeBron James has made seven consecutive Eastern Conference Finals appearances, though, and isn’t looking individually vulnerable enough to let that streak draw to a close. The Cavaliers know that a dominant performance in this opening round would go a long way toward making us forget how pedestrian their regular season was, while making a seven or contested six game series of this will make them seem more beatable than ever.

The Pacers have a little talent, a little youth, a little old-school, a little new-school, and a superstar capable of battling LeBron James, which always helps. It seems like they’re stuck between trying to move on from their 2013 halcyon days and trying to reinvent them. Maybe there’s a balance to be achieved, or maybe they’re wasting Paul George’s best years. Re-signing Lance Stephenson is a move that’s probably way more interesting than it is significant, or at least than it is impactful on their gameplan or overall strategy. Lance feels free to be Lance in Indiana, which is good for him, and great for a Pacers fanbase that misses what he represented for their franchise. But with Jeff Teague and Myles Turner, this Indiana team isn’t in need of Lance’s wacky playmaking that made him seem like a potential franchise cornerstone years ago. He could fit nicely in a DeShawn Stevenson role, agitating opposing wings (LeBron) and wearing hilarious T-shirts to intimidate the opposition, but that’s about it. Ultimately, the Pacers drew a bad matchup in Round 1, as they’d be much more optimistic heading to Boston. They’ll get their licks in, but they haven’t yet rounded themselves into form to where they can challenge the Cavaliers. If this were a second-round series, I could see it going seven. As it stands, I think the Cavaliers will take care of business after an early loss we all forget about by the end of the series. Cavaliers 4, Pacers 1.

3. Toronto Raptors vs. 6. Milwaukee Bucks

Toronto may have figured out what it has been missing for these past several Lowry-Derozan-powered campaigns. In adding P.J. Tucker and Serge Ibaka, it added a measure of hardassedness that better encapsulates that presumed northern grit as well as the underdog premise under which they will make any significant playoff run. Lowry and Derozan have split duties more evenly than ever this year, which helps because as much as Lowry’s bullish headstrength helps Toronto keep its head no matter the circumstances, Derozan’s playmaking is what Toronto needs to carry it through crunchtime in an NBA series. The Raptors may have bought this core another year with their midseason additions, but another playoff failure will render them this decade’s Joe Johnson Atlanta Hawks.

Who stands in their way but the plucky Milwaukee Bucks, led by the most ignored MVP candidate, Giannis Antetokounmpo. Despite the idea of this year’s MVP as a four-man race between Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James, James Harden, and Russell Westbrook, I have Antetokounmpo third on my ballot. Milwaukee started Matthew Dellavedova and Tony Snell for much of this season and made the playoffs. It finished the year with Thon Maker at center, it got Khris Middleton back just as it lost Jabari Parker. Antetokounmpo pushed the team along to a playoff berth and a decent draw at that, producing at least one straight alien highlight play a week. The Bucks have a bright future with the Greek Freak, and the hope is that that future starts now, with this series, against Toronto. I believe this series will feature two tough teams playing right at the right time, and will be one of the first round’s best. Furthermore, I expect Giannis to make us rethink the MVP conversation with a strong upset performance. Bucks 4, Raptors 3.

4. Washington Wizards vs. 5. Atlanta Hawks

What are the intentions of the teams in the 4-5 matchup? The Wizards, past the point of existing merely to posture for Kevin Durant’s favor, have had a strong season but still aren’t clicking on a contender’s level, and the Hawks have kind of regressed in a season where they replaced Jeff Teague, traded Kyle Korver, almost traded Paul Millsap, and brought along Dwight Howard for some reason. You could see either of these teams through to a second round Game 7 without any significant leap in for-realness. The Wizards and Hawks screams seven-game series where each game is decided by 12 points or more. The Wizards and Hawks are the tier in the East that keeps the East fundamentally inferior to the West, though that gap is narrowing quickly. The Hawks are treading water, and a deep playoff run could certainly validate the slew of moves they’ve made to alter the core of the team that grabbed the No. 1 seed two years ago. However, an early exit is more likely.

The Wizards have made an interesting transition over the past couple of years, accepting their fate and coming into their own with the Wall-Beal backcourt instead of getting big-name free agent salvation. After a cruddy 2-8 start, the Wiz went to work and climbed to unprecedented heights in power rankings if not in the standings. Head coach Scott Brooks has done a great job and the Wizards are primed to make a run not just in round one, but deep into round two. Wizards 4, Hawks 2.