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marauderonthepirateship · 4 months

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HAZBIN HOTEL EP 7 AND 8 QUICKK REVIEW

contains major spoilers, let's start!

how about we start with episode 7, hmm?

i must say, before the episode were released I had a theory, that alastor could make a deal with charlie and try to get her soul to(following the theory about lilith having alastor on a leash) try to exchange charlie's soul for his own BUT it did not happen, and I cannot say it's disappointing for me

as hannibal fun and an expirienced cannibalistic-joke maker it feels like a personal win to have cannibal town being one the most comfortable places in hell with cannibals being really wholesome and polite guys

and of course the diamond of the crown - rosie

she was amazing in this episode. she definitely has the vibe of this rich auntie who visits you once a year and gives the best gifts and advices. she actually gives amazing advices, that's for sure. and i love her friendship with alastor, i bet they meet every weekend and share gossips

all of us should be proud of charlie and the way she becomes leader and takes responsibility for her people. this is THE character development

here we are slowly coming to episode 8 also known as the finale of season 1!!

it was a bright culmination of all of the season 1 and it turned out amazing

but dear readers, i'm sure all of you have already watched it (maybe even 2 or 3 times, right?), so why don't i just say a few words about my favorite moments

the scene before big battle, where everybody is just spending time with other is exactly what shows how much are this lost souls now bonded. they realise they have no idea what is there, waiting for them in tomorrow and that's what make this scene

and let me just say it: huskerdust

it is a big joy to know this actually happened

i also might say that the victory wasn't easy nor unreasonable. think about the fact that nobody knew how to defeat angels is the exact reason hazbin's crew won. indeed the more power you got the less carelessness you should have.

and i'd really enjoy to share some of my highlights of this battle if I do say so

here wee goooo:

sir pentious kissing the girl he loves than heroically dies and goes to heaven. absolutely nailed it

charlie's demon form. and shall we not forget ruzzle and duzzle in their dragon form.

that absolutely iconic show up from lucifer and him in the whole battle

niffty killing adam. i'd say this is hilarious

alastor being beaten, afraid and panicked. yes, i WAS talking about it. it was important to show he can feel real emotions and fear and loss are one of them

three vees watching battle for hotel and living their best lives(i still hate val, just to be clear)

what is really natural about the battle that they don't just celebrate victory. they mourn pentious, and charlie feels guilty, but they still go on, rebuild hotel singing one of the best songs for the whole show

i am intrigued by what the season 2 has to offer for us, my dear friends and I surely will be waiting for it

now i'm just about to thank you for reading this and wish you a pleasant day!

#hazbin hotel #huskerdust #alastor #alastor hazbin hotel #angel dust #husker hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel lucifer #hazbin charlie #hazbin hotel alastor #hazbin hotel husk #hazbin hotel lilith

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dangerous-string-tourney · 10 months

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Finalist Number 2!

Needless to say she's an absolute icon, and I've seen her described several times as "The girl ever" but can she become "The dangerous string user ever"?

IIIIIIIIIT's BRIDGET!

I've never played guilty gear so I dont know Brisket well but I defintly have a soft spot for her, and clearly so do all of you! sporting a yo-yo (the coolest type of dangerous string) she's blasted through the rounds to land at the final, but will our fighting game girl take the crown? or will she be down for the count? You decide!

#dangerous string tourney #finals #bridget #bridget guilty gear #guilty gear #gg

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presidenthades · 3 months

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All those ideas are so good! but my favorite is the cursed Targbros with an immortal life remembering what they could have been and what really was. Especially Aegon, he would probably blame himself for listening to Otto/Alicent and taking the crown and screwing up his life and his brothers'. He really believed for a moment that he was doing this to protect Jace but in the end his war killed her (aaand basically the entire family 😬) and now he can't even follow her into death. You don't have to write it down but can we talk more about that? 🥲 tell us your vision of this universe

I love talking about these things and I’m probably going to talk a little TOO much here but that’s ok 🥲

For what it’s worth, I would like to write this one day, but it would probably be a longfic and I want to focus on completing The Main Timeline before I start working on spinoffs. Modern AU is an exception because it’s a lot more lighthearted, and I can put that out one at a time as shorter fics when I need a break from heavier stuff.

^most iconic shot IMO from the Goblin Kdrama that inspired this idea. I’ll continue my rambling under the cut so I don’t spoil the show for anyone who was thinking of watching it.

Like the show, the fic would be dual timeline with cuts between the medieval Dance era and the modern era. In the modern day, the three Targbros are wandering around in their sad immortal forms. (Helaena’s role TBD, but I like the idea of her being an equivalent of the all-knowing granny in the kdrama.) Some of their memories have been locked away, but they remember enough to know they’re brothers, and their immortality has been given as a punishment. The three of them all have to do stuff that they hate. Aegon, like the kdrama grim reaper, is stuck in the bureaucracy of the afterlife sorting death paperwork. Aemond, like the goblin, has to help people *shudder*. Haven’t figured out Daeron’s job, but it probably involves being mean/violent.

Velaryon girls have been reborn into the modern world without any memories of their past lives. When they all meet, that triggers some of the Targbros’ memories to come back, and the bros freak out as they start to remember all the war crimes, treachery, etc.

Aegon’s past is very similar to the kdrama grim reaper’s backstory. He was a king who listened to bad counsel, which led to him giving the order to execute his beloved wife. Afterwards he felt so guilty that he drank himself to death/was poisoned.

Aemond, like the kdrama’s goblin, killed A LOT of people during his human life. He also caused Luce’s death in this universe’s history, which set off the Dance. He felt guilty but also doubled down on his actions (which I suspect is what Aemond will do in S2?), which led him on a downward spiral of mass violence.

Daeron (who doesn’t have an equivalent in the kdrama) came very close to finding a way to end the Dance without further violence. Joff sneaked over to meet him while he was traveling with the Hightower army to negotiate peace terms. But there was some miscommunication/betrayal (maybe caused by Hugh and Ulf), maybe some accusations of dark sorcery, which led to the army leaders having Joff burned at the stake.

Fast forward to modern day, where the girls (who are reborn as sisters because I don’t wanna keep them apart) are dealing with normal life issues like trying to pay bills, dead-end jobs, etc. Suddenly these three randos show up, acting overly familiar and having very extreme mood swings (because they’re dealing with resourcing memories). And the girls are just like… “They’re hot but they seem kinda crazy, idk. 🤨”

I haven’t really thought of the rest, sorry 😅.

#my writing #ask me anything #hotd fanfic #house of the dragon #hotd fic #hotd #house of the dragon fanfic #goblin au

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leqclerc · 8 months

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I really enjoyed your blog, until I realized that you were trying to force enmity between Charles and Carlos when it's clear that they clearly like and respect each other as teammates. You don't seem to support the team, but rather Charles or Sebastian (who, wow, has had less interaction with Charles than with Carlos, but swears they love each other), which you should make clear when entering your blog that you don't like the team but have a preferential fanaticism for Charles.

Anyway, I respect what you think, but the way you always put Carlos in the wrong and guilty of everything is totally ridiculous.

Byee ✨

It's been a while since I got one of these 🤔

You don't relate to my content and don't agree with my opinions, which is fine, to each their own. However, I have to point out that I never exactly concealed my preferences, and, with all due respect, if the url, icon, header, sidebar gif, sidebar description and pinned post on my blog aren't enough to give me away, then I really don't know how to make the message any clearer. Furthermore, I don't support Carlos and I never have, even long before Ferrari was on his radar. I have never hid that either, and the lack of solo posts about him, lack of fan edits, or other reblogged content from Carlos fans should indicate that.

As for supporting the team and how "valid" your fan experience is based on who you support, because apparently that's been a trending topic for a while now, certainly within the self-declared Tifosi circle... I've followed Ferrari in one way or another for 8 years; I've witnessed three different lineups in that time, and I've formed my opinions based on what I've seen and how I've felt in reaction to that. I am under no obligation—and this applies to everyone—to like or even support a driver just because he signed on to drive for the team for a certain period of time. Obviously the ideal situation is liking both drivers and being equally happy when either of them succeeds, but let's be honest, how often does that happen? And I'm not talking about people who follow a team regardless of the lineup, because that's a slightly different kettle of fish.

F1 as a sport places so much emphasis on the driver as a person—and this notion has only been amplified in recent years. The human aspect of F1 is equally as important and compelling as all the technical elements. Hell, the whole idea behind the Driver's Championship is to crown a champion out of the drivers on the grid. And I think for most people that championship brings more excitement and is more keenly followed than the Constructor's one. Even the whole idea of teammates functions differently here than it does in most team sports, with the inherent rivalry aspect. I'm sure many of Carlos's fans migrated from McLaren to Ferrari when their favourite driver did—if we're painting everyone with the same brush, then where is the scrutiny regarding the other side? I don't believe every Carlos fan is automatically also a devoted Charles fan, because frankly that's statistically impossible. Or is one only a "fake Tifoso/a" if they have a preference for Charles? Is there just one fixed "valid" way of being a fan?

On a lighter note, I'm glad it wasn't all bad all the time and that, at one point, you did find something you enjoyed on my blog. I hope you manage to find like-minded people who run blogs that reflect your opinions 👍🏻

#replies #anonymous #idk if the merc or red bull or [insert team name here] have the same level of drama about the validity of being a fan #or failing in your fan duties if you have a preference for one of the drivers over the other - or *gasp* dislike one of them #but it's sure been a point of contention in the ferrari sphere #other than that i'm not sure what else to say i mean. this is tumblr and a part of how the website functions is venting and shitposting #it's like that warning you get on ao3 about how if you continue it means you're basically agreeing to see such content #we're not entering a binding agreement you can backspace out of here at any time

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cadybear420 · 3 months

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Cadybear's Choices Reviews: The Masterlist + Ranking of Choices stories (Note: List is subject to frequent updates)

(Keep in mind, I'm initially posting this as purely the tierlist without links. As I start posting my reviews, I'll begin to fill it out with the links to the reviews.)

I've been compiling a Google Doc of reviews for all the Choices stories I've played and I figured, it's about time I started sharing them. So here's where I'm going to be collecting them all.

This collection of links to my reviews will be organized in a tierlist-style format. This tierlist is subject to changes.

Notes:

All reviews are subject to updated versions, ie. re-reviews, and its place in the tierlist may change as well. If I have to make a re-review for a story, it will get its own brand-new post. However, all reviews of a story will be included in the list.

Stories that are part of an anthology or are spinoffs will get separate posts. For example, ILB gets its own separate post from ILITW, HSS:CA gets its own separate review from OG HSS, Unbridled gets its own separate review from Untameable, Rivals with Benefits gets its own separate review from Roommates with Benefits. But I will still compare them to their respective predecessors in their reviews.

Stories that change their titles midway through the series but retain the storyline of the same MC will not be getting separate reviews for each title change. TRR and TRH will be reviewed together, all of TFS will be reviewed together. But this is subject to exceptions (eg. I might end up separating TRR and TRH reviews from each other)

Purple titles are stories I have played, and am able to create a substantial review for (generally due to having last played them recently).

Pink titles are stories I'm in the middle of playing or replaying. Keep in mind that some of these playthroughs may be on hiatus.

Uncolored titles are stories that I have played, but the review for it may not be very substantial or informed, as I played them a couple of years before I started collecting all my reviews together. I'm still making some form of review for it anyways because I would like to provide some context to the ranking I gave it. That, and, if I do get to playing it and re-reviewing it, I can have two reviews side-by-side to see how my opinions may or may not have changed.

Titles with a 🍇 next to them are reviews that are very long and detailed and "juicy". Like, the ones that are lengthier and/or more highly opinionated than others.

Diamond Tier: Choices’ Bests, 10 stars, YAAAAASSSS!

The books and series that clearly had the most effort and heart put into them. They’re not all perfect obviously, but they do feel like actual choice-making interactive stories, and they’re easily the most enjoyable of the bunch. These are the stories that other Choices stories should take notes from.

*Blades of Light and Shadow- Book 1 (have yet to start Book 2, and Book 3 is on its way)

Endless Summer

High School Story (OG Trilogy) 🍇

It Lives in the Woods

It Lives Beneath

The Heist: Monaco

Platinum Tier: Exceptional Quality, 9 stars, YES!

They probably didn’t have quite as much meaningful player interaction put into them and/or weren’t quite as enjoyable as any of the Diamond Tier books. But they’re still really high quality and very respectable, and even possible contenders for being moved up to Diamond Tier after I give them a replay.

A Courtesan of Rome

BloodBound

Mother of the Year

Murder at Homecoming 🍇

Perfect Match

The Crown and the Flame

*The Royal Romance- Book 1 (have yet to play the rest)

Gold Tier: Memorably Fun, 8 stars, WOOO!

They’re maybe not really the best quality stories, but they were fun to play and had elements that kind of gave them their own unique charm. Maybe it’s just an absolute wild ride of a story, or maybe it’s a guilty pleasure story. They’re memorable, maybe even iconic, and certainly worth replaying.

Across the Void

America's Most Eligible

Baby Bump 🍇

Bachelorette Party

*Dirty Little Secrets (currently playing, but it's on a good track so far)

Hero

LoveHacks

Ride or Die 🍇 (plus the original review from when I had it on Wood Tier)

The Haunting of Braidwood Manor

The Phantom Agent

Silver Tier: Enjoyable. 7 stars, Yay!

The “vanilla is still a flavor” of the app. The stories that were mostly simple and straight-forward and didn’t greatly wow me or stick with me, but were still at least fun to play and could be worth a replay. Pretty good as “cozy” stories.

*Crimes of Passion- Book 1 (have yet to play Book 2, and Book 3 is on its way)

The Freshman Series- Special Date Side Stories (have yet to play the actual main series and the holiday side stories)

Home for the Holidays

*High School Story: Class Act (if you pretend it’s not a HSS spinoff; see Bronze Tier for full review)

*Immortal Desires- Book 1 (Book 2 is on its way)

*Open Heart- Book 1 (have yet to play the rest)

Shipwrecked

The Cursed Heart- Book 1 (have yet to start Book 2)

The Freshman Series- Special Date Side Stories (have yet to play the actual main series and the holiday side stories)

The Princess Swap

With Every Heartbeat

Copper Tier: Decent, Average. 6 stars. Eh.

The “just okay” stories. Far from terrible, but not much about them that really stood out to me. Not much interest in replaying them, unless maybe I need something completely mindless to play or want to give them a second chance.

Distant Shores

Nightbound

Bronze Tier: Unsure, Mixed Feelings, It’s Complicated. 5 stars. Ehhhhh.

The stories that are mixed bags. They aren’t really terrible, as there are some things they did right, but there’s also… so much that they did wrong. A lot of these could probably use a replay for the sake of giving it a second chance and forming a more solid opinion on it.

High School Story: Class Act 🍇

Laws of Attraction

Rules of Engagement 🍇

**The Nanny Affair- Book 1 (see Stone Tier for full series review)

Wake the Dead

Wolf Bride

Stone Tier: Truly Mid, Lacking in Substance. 4 stars, Meh.

I don’t really dislike them, but there’s next to nothing they give to us. They’re just so empty and flavorless. There’s “vanilla is still a flavor”, and then there’s having no flavor at all, and these books just have little to no flavor.

Ms. Match

Roommates with Benefits

Slow Burn

**The Nanny Affair- Book 2 (and the sum whole of the trilogy tbh 🍇

Wood Tier: Boring. 3 stars. Bleh.

The absolute snorefests of the app. Not only did they give nothing, but they were terrible at holding my interest and attention. They’re so poorly paced that even if they did have something of value, I completely missed it because I was either completely zoning out and/or I felt actual mental distress trying to follow the story. At least with the Stone Tier books, I could actually pay attention to the story without feeling like my brains were going to have a nuclear meltdown.

A Very Scandalous Proposal

**Sunkissed (played 5 chapters before quitting cause it was so boring)

Rotting Flesh Tier: Annoying. 2 stars. Uuuuggghhhh.

The stories that are legitimately painful to play through. Just downright frustrating and groan-worthy. They aren’t quite the worst, but they only do very little right. And it’s even more tragic because these premises maybe could have been done right. There are ideas for decent stories here, but they’re completely neglected.

My Two First Loves 🍇

**The Nanny Affair- Book 3 (see Stone Tier for full series review)

Witness

PooPoo Tier: Literally the Worst. 1 star. AAAARRRRRGGGHHH.

The absolute dogshit stories. The biggest doodoofarts of the entire app. The complete bottom of the barrel. The stories that had me actually verbally raging and close to throwing my phone into the nearest wall. Everything about each of these is doomed from the beginning. Anything that could have been done right or even decently is done terribly. Rotting Flesh tier is merely the equivalent to prune juice; this tier however is the equivalent to bleach.

Surrender 🍇

Untameable 🍇

First Comes Love 🍇

The Billionaire's Baby 🍇

#choices stories you play #choices #choices game #choices stories we play fandom #choices stories we play #cadybear's choices reviews #cadybear's rankings

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the-grin--reaper · 7 months

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Ziel appreciation post.

In Ghostwater he deadass helped this random kid who kept bothering him like 75 times, even helping him make a whole new technique for his Path. He then gave the kid all of the magic well water he was supposed to give his patron (proceeding to lie to his patrons face later about what happened to the water), and helped fight off evil fish so the kid could have an easier time escaping. Only to then roll up and save the asses of Yerin and Mercy before dipping again.

When he shows up again, it's in the Uncrowned Tournament despite him being a spiritual cripple. He's still so good that he's viable for the Tournament despite having a horrifying spiritual injury and severe trauma. He basically cruises through the thing, apart from when he sees a Stormcaller, where he goes apeshit, before reverting back to his passive suicidalness.

In Wintersteel he curbstomps another Stormcaller. The second the guy saw that he was going up against Ziel he knew he was out and his mate already started cheering him up as if he'd already lost despite not having fought yet. Then he went apeshit again but it wasn't a Stormcaller this time and he succumbed to spiritual injury, so he lost. Only to take Eithan up on his miracle cure for said injury, and join the crew. He then proceeds to not react at Lindon and Yerin's PDA.

In Bloodline, he sticks with the gang since he owes Eithan a year of service. He's just tired the whole time man. He doesn't hesitate before entering the suppression field, he casually ignores enemy attacks and pushes over a tree, and really goes "I literally don't know anything about any of these people. Just tell me where to go" akajaka. He then let's a kid climb on his hair and sticks with the Kazan to protect them although he doesn't have to. Only to get roped into a Dreadgod battle.

He is not having a good time in Reaper. Someone names him the Master of the Training Hall and the whole sect basically treats him like he's their father or something "Master Ziel he stole my sandwich, master Ziel tell him it's my top bunk-". Lindon then comes to him saying they're going into the labyrinth and the tries to nope out but Lindon tells him he's a part of the team so he feels guilty. He later joins the exploration. He just kinda goes: "We're doing this?" and when the others go "Yeah, kinda" he goes, "and I still have time left in my contract. Welp!" and just kinda doesn't raise any more of a fuss. Also he roasts Lindon. And when the world nearly ended he said: "We have stared into the abyss and lived to tell the tale. I'm going to sleep." Iconic.

In Dreadgod Lindon sends him to this fuckoff castle. Ziel doesn't owe Lindon anything, and now Eithan is gone. He still stays. Lindon says he wants to kill the Dreadgods? Ziel goes, well, you crazy but alr. Tell me what to do. He goes to get the stuff Lindon sent him to get. Nearly dies. Finds the Herald remnant he was looking for. He doesn't release the Herald from where it is sealed because he doesn't want it to kill him, but when he senses a huge scary presence above he goes: Yo Orthos just release the guy, if he wants to see what's happening he can. We dead anyway. Only to then witness Lindon lift a whole ass castle and suppress the Herald remnant all at once. Then, when Dross shows his new halo, Ziel summons his Uncrowned crown.

In Waybound he kills the Weeping Dragon. How iconic. And he lasts second longest in willpower training. He manifests an Icon despite being a spiritual cripple not so long ago and absolutely decimates Calling Storms, although he doesn't stay dead. He's forced to write a tax code (giggle) for a planet and just waves his hand and says "hey" when Lindon finally ascends. He also acknowledges that Lindon is able to act his advancement level, just doesn't.

#he's one of my faves #top 3 100%#cradle series #ziel dawnwing of the wastelands #ziel of the wastelands

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justicemiscarried · 1 year

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SHERRY SHERRETT-ROBINSON.

Hey everyone!! Sorry for not posting much recently—school has really been kicking my ass. But I’m back today with a brand-new case of justice miscarried for you. The 1990s saw many great advances: the widespread usage of video games, the World Wide Web, mobile phones and cable television; highly individualistic and, thus, iconic youth culture; third-wave feminism; the curbing of HIV. But in Ontario, the forensic science and criminal justice systems were long overdue for a rude awakening…

:･ﾟ☆✧ SUMMARY

Sherry Sherrett-Robinson was arrested and charged with the murder of her four-month-old son, Joshua, on March 27, 1996. A little over three months earlier, Sherrett-Robinson had found her son dead in his playpen. Even though she initially disavowed any involvement in his death, the director of the Ontario Pediatric Forensic Pathology Unit at the time took the stand as the Crown’s star witness, saying that Sherrett-Robinson had smothered her son to death. Sherrett-Robinson later changed her plea, pleading guilty for infanticide. She was convicted on June 2, 1999. Straightforward, right? But maybe not… Before you read any further, ask yourself: What could possibly go wrong? What could possibly complicate such an open-and-shut case as this?

:･ﾟ☆✧ SO, WHAT WENT WRONG?

Particularly astute readers may have used the location & time of this case to correctly deduce that the “star witness” whose “medical opinion” formed the central pillar of the Crown’s case against Sherrett-Robinson was the now infamous Charles Smith. Now, if you are anything like me, the very name of Charles Smith probably causes you to recoil in disgust. That’s because the man was a FRAUD! The very fraudiest of frauds!

Although he was appointed the director of the Ontario Pediatric Forensic Pathology Unit in 1992 and was viewed as a foremost expert, Smith has no formal training in forensic pathology and no certification. Despite this, he continued to be consulted in even the most difficult criminally suspicious pediatric deaths. Below are the claims that Charles Smith made during Sherrett-Robinson’s case, followed by what actually happened:

He said there was swelling of the brain; but actually, formal review found no evidence of this.

He said there was hemorrhaging of the neck tissues; but actually, formal review found that these were caused by Smith himself during the autopsy.

He said that there was a skull fracture; but actually, the review found that this was a normal developing cranial suture.

If these things had been known, Sherrett-Robinson never would have been convicted, prosecuted, or even charged and arrested to begin with.

As a forensic biology student, I also have to note that since the time of this case several reviews have investigated topics of sudden infant deaths, infanticide, and smothering of children while they sleep, and my perusal of this literature only further cements my confidence that Charles Smith was totally out of his depth with the testimony he gave at Sherrett-Robinson’s trial. Even if all the facts upon which he’d based his testimony were true, none of them would have provided compelling evidence that Sherrett-Robinson smothered her child.

One paper found that there are no significant physical indications—like contusions, abrasions, or hemorrhaging—that could differentiate an intentional smothering from an unintentional smothering, so Smith had to go beyond what he could reasonably provide as a professional opinion if he claimed that injury interpretation lent him confidence that Sherrett-Robinson intentionally smothered her son.

Another paper showed that the number of sudden infant deaths that are actually homicides is significantly less than 10%, and that—while it is indisputable that some carers of children can intentionally harm their wards—overestimates of the true rates of homicide are based on uncontrolled, circumstantial, anecdotal, and indirect evidence. This also displays the importance of dispelling noble cause bias and adhering to the scientific method by seeking to disprove a null hypothesis, rather than by trying to prove an alternative hypothesis.

If I, a second-year student, can do a cursory search and find these things, Charles Smith surely could have surveyed the relevant literature at the time and come to the same conclusion. In fact, Charles Smith would have had a legal and ethical obligation to commit himself to continued professional development and revision of his methods. This is required for the level of competence that forensic scientists are expected to display. The trust of an expert is deferral to their authority, so an expert must both be competent and accurately represent their competence. Smith was both incompetent and inaccurately represented his competence.

Later, inquiries into Smith’s failings found that in cases such as and including Sherrett-Robinson’s, Charles Smith repeatedly refused to acknowledge the limits of his expertise or any controversy regarding his evidence, overstated his knowledge, criticized other professionals, reported his personal experience as evidence, and failed to adequately prepare for court, among other ethical issues. He also proclaimed that he had “a thing against people who hurt children,” thus falling short of the standard of neutrality required of him as an expert witness. Sherrett-Robinson, in his mind, was someone who could have hurt a child—and he was out to prove that she did.

Of course, the Court also failed Sherry Sherrett-Robinson by accepting Charles Smith’s evidence on no other basis than the fact that it was "GiVeN bY cHaRLeS sMiTh." As the trier of fact, a judge or juror has the obligation to critically examine why someone is considered an expert, what their field of expertise is, whether their findings can be expressed in a way both precise and easy to understand, and what the limitations of their investigation were. This qualification of the expert’s credentials should be repeated in every case, not just taken for granted because of the expert’s reputation precedes them. Instead, Smith's reputation for excellence allowed him to send numbers of innocent people to jail due to a general lack of oversight and accountability.

Smith’s involvement and the Court’s allowance of his involvement in this case weren’t the only ethical issues, though—let’s talk about the plea deal a little. That’s right—again, attentive readers may note that although Sherrett-Robinson was charged with murder, she pled guilty for—and was convicted of—infanticide. What’s the difference? Well, according to the Criminal Code of Canada, infanticide is when a woman causes the death of her newborn child by willful action or willful omission as a result of the effect of or lack of recovery from childbirth or lactation—and it is a much lesser offence than murder. So, before her trial began, the Crown prosecutor offered Sherrett-Robinson a deal: if she agreed to not argue against the Crown’s allegation that she had not smothered Joshua, the Crown would withdraw the murder charge against her and proceed with a charge of infanticide instead. Now, if she were found guilty of infanticide, Sherrett-Robinson’s sentence would be much lighter than if she were found guilty of murder. Intimidated by Charles Smith’s luminosity and by the weight of the crime she had been charged with—and with the advice of her lawyer, who convinced her that the likelihood of persuading the court to believe her word over Smith’s was low—Sherrett-Robinson accepted the deal. She was imprisoned for a year.

The overarching ethical issue in Sherry Sherrett-Robinson’s case can be boiled down into two words: “confirmation” and “bias,” in that order. Confirmation bias is one of the most deadly weapons against forensic science and against science in general. That's why, on a personal level, scientists strive to analyze cases from an objective perspective instead of immediately accepting the answer that seems easiest or aligns most with the answer we want. It's not hard to see that Charles Smith failed Sherry Sherrett-Robinson. But the deadliness of confirmation bias is also why, on a systemic level, protocols are supposed to be in place to mitigate confirmation bias and prevent the corruption of evidence. By failing to have such protocols in place, the law, science, and the criminal justice system all failed Sherry Sherrett-Robinson.

:･ﾟ☆✧ RESOLUTION

Six years after her conviction, Sherrett-Robinson learned about the Goudge Inquiry, or the Inquiry into pediatric forensic pathology in Ontario, which systematically reviewed and assessed the way pediatric forensic pathology was practiced and overseen in Ontario between 1981 and 2001, especially under Charles Smith. She submitted an application for her case to be formally reviewed, and the subsequent review found that the likely cause of Joshua’s death was accidental asphyxiation, not being smothered to death.

The Court also found that the Court itself failed Sherrett-Robinson by not detecting the faults in Charles Smith’s testimony and methods. Sherrett-Robinson was exonerated by the Ontario Court of Appeal on December 7, 2009, with the Court concluding that she suffered a “profoundly regrettable” miscarriage of justice “due to flaws in pathological evidence”. Smith was stripped of his medical license in 2011.

The Goudge Inquiry was a turning point for the practice of forensic pathology, and especially pediatric forensic pathology, in Ontario. It made 148 recommendations, which can be grouped into roughly 5 groups:

Recommendations 1-11 deal with professionalizing and rebuilding Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario through providing education, training, and certification for pathologists, providing adequate funding for forensic pathologists, and dealing with the shortage of forensic pathologists, among other recommendations.

Recommendations 12-60 deal with the effective organization & oversight of Forensic Pathology in Ontario by creating policies regarding the filing of concerns by hospital pathologists, establishing protocols for criminally suspicious pediatric deaths, and establishing a registry of trained forensic pathologists, among other recommendations.

Recommendations 61-67 deal with transparency and improving the public complaints process.

Recommendations 84-100 deal with effective communication between forensic scientists and the criminal justice system by ensuring that any technical knowledge is understood by laypersons, the scopes & limits of evidence and areas of controversy are clearly communicated, etc.

Recommendations 141-148 deal with pediatric forensic pathology and potential wrongful convictions, affirming that any pathology opinion that can be said to be unreasonable in light of current understanding should be reviewed.

The effects that the Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology have had on the practice of forensic pathology in Ontario have been examined, and it’s been found that the Inquiry resulted in drastic improvements to the practice of forensic pathology. This bodes an optimistic future for forensic science at a time when some may be discouraged into completely giving up hope in its reliability. Forensic pathology, and forensic science as a whole, has massive potential as a reliable and necessary field if—and only if—it scrupulously adheres to the principles of the scientific method. Forensic scientists must hold themselves to a high standard of professional behaviour to uphold the integrity of the field, and it's important to meticulously study the mistakes of other scientists and identify exactly where they went wrong to prevent ourselves from repeating those mistakes in the future (hey, that's exactly what this blog is all about!).

#forensic science #forensic pathology #forensics #science #miscarriage of justice #justice miscarried

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iviarellereads · 11 months

Text

Nona the Ninth, Chapter 14

(Curious what I'm doing here? Read this post! For detail on The Locked Tomb coverage and the index, read this one!)

(Locked Tomb icon) In which we spend a little more time with a familiar face.

The trip back is a little nicer for Nona with Crown in the van. Not the least of this is when Crown has them stop near the school, so she can walk Nona the rest of the way in. Nona feels a little guilty for Cam and Pyrrha having to go the rest of the way bound up, but doesn't let that really stop her. After all, Cam didn't use any of the code words that meant Nona really couldn't, so it's not dangerously selfish.

Nona starts to say something about Cam to Crown, but Crown says she has as much right to Nona as Cam does, she might even have been Nona's caretaker. Nona says she loves Cam, and Crown interprets this as an adult's romantic love, which makes Nona feel out of her depth. She says Cam's not Nona's type, and Nona observes that Cam isn't Crown's type, either.

Crown asks Nona how she knows Crown's type.

Nona thought it was obvious. “It’s the way you look at people.” “Tell me,” demanded Crown. There was a deep velvety spark of mischief in her eyes, and Nona thought again how lovely they were, like the flowers in the sexy shampoo advertisement. “Come on—I’ll die if I don’t know. I love being told about myself.” Nona rose quite eagerly to the challenge. “You look at Commander We Suffer like you want her to think you’re into her, but you aren’t at all, it’s just something you’re doing with your eyelashes,” she said. “But that’s no help figuring out your type because I don’t know what the commander looks like. You don’t like Pash at all, but I don’t know what she looks like either. You’re scared of Pyrrha, and you do think she’s nice-looking, but you’re confused when you think that so you don’t look at her very much. You want Camilla to cuddle you but not in a—a sexy way. I think you want Camilla to look at you like she looks at me.(1) And you’re in love with th—”(2)

Crown covers Nona's mouth and says she's heard enough, in a somewhat different voice than her usual. Nona says Crown is mad at her, and shame on Crown. Crown says Nona reminds her of someone when she makes that face,(3) and apologizes for getting frightened by her observations. She says she won't ask Nona to do that again, and offers to owe her an ice cream.

Nona declines the ice cream, but says Crown shouldn't ask things if she doesn't want the true answers. Crown agrees, but admits she does it all the time. She'd ask her sister things, and Ianthe would always say what she really thought, and be right about it.

They arrive at the school, and the Angel is out front, opening the door. Nona cries at her to wait, and runs the rest of the way. The Angel assures Nona that she was just arriving,(4) as Crown jogs to catch up to them.

The Angel and Crown sized each other up. Crown was much younger and bigger and taller and more exquisite, and when she pulled her mask down and smiled the Angel’s eyes widened, a little bit. Not in a you-are-so-attractive way either, Nona noted. The Angel was a bit shocked, like Crown looking the way she did was maybe illegal. They shook hands in perfect amity, but the Angel looked her over and said— “No guns in this building—that’s the rule, I’m afraid.”

Crown assures the Angel that she'd never want to scare the children. Nona asks Crown to please come up, but the Angel insists that nobody will focus on her lesson if they meet Crown. She does, however, ask who Crown is to Nona. Crown says she's Cam's partner, and she can't stay anyway. The Angel says it's lovely to meet her, but Nona notices that the Angel's eyebrows betray her feelings.

“I see! Lovely to meet you,” said the Angel, unaware of how her eyebrows betrayed her, like everyone else in the world to Nona seemed unaware of how their eyebrows betrayed them, by immediately saying plain as day: Camilla?? Really??? Camilla???? Which Nona thought was unfair: Crown was really very nearly pretty enough for Camilla.(5)

The Angel asks Nona to take Noodle's leash for a moment, and goes inside. Nona tells Crown that saying what she did will make Cam furious. Crown admits that might be why she did it, but it will raise Cam's status, surely, to be seen as partner to someone like Crown?

Nona thought about it. “Camilla doesn’t need raising. You could have raised my status by saying you were mine,” she added. “They would have believed it—we’re both very attractive.” Crown laughed in her lovely, husky, rippling way. “And there you go, reminding me of someone completely different.”(6)

Crown crouches to scratch Noodle again, but holds Nona's chin, to look her right in the eye. She smiles, a little sadly, and her eyes are shadowed.

“You darling, I know what you are, even if they refuse to see it,” she said softly. “All I can say, sweetheart, is I envy you more than anyone else in the universe.”(7)

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(1) Crown wants Cam to view her as… a sibling? An equal? A true friend? (2) The Captain, of course. (3) Reminds her of Harrow, of course, cross and stern and serious. (4) That's certainly a stroke of luck, the Angel being late for work just like Nona. (5) Nona sees the true self, she sees the heart. (6) Gideon, the great big natural flirt. (7) Why? Who does she think Nona is? I think this is why the Locked Tomb icon is on this chapter: the question of Nona's identity is at the core of its movement.

#the locked tomb #tlt #nona the ninth #ntn #nona the ninth spoilers #ntn spoilers #nona #coronabeth tridentarius #the angel (ntn)

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