#it’s related to a major heart attack he had last week

[tamayokny]

I found my family friend’s obituary and I can’t stop crying. I still can’t believe he’s gone.

#Mads makes a text post #context: family friend unexpectededly passed away early Sunday morning #it’s related to a major heart attack he had last week #he was only 51 #and he’s one of my dad’s childhood friends - knew him for about 30-odd years #still in disbelief even though I found the obituary #lol I’m just like my dad I l have started to look at obituaries daily now #anyway um #gotta figure out what to wear on Friday bc I work that day as well #and the funeral home is right down the road from work so…whirlwind of emotions that day #funeral and burial is Saturday morning and…that’s it

[bullet-clubs-bitch]

Anyway I can request a part 2 to The Secrets Out? Maybe Y/N ends up pregnant at some point and she has to relinquish her championship and during the duration of her pregnancy LuFisto continues to cause problems for the reader and her little family (consisting of Isla, Christian, and their Unborn child) and it starts causing her problems and Christian helps her in every way that he can?

The Secret's out Pt 2

An: This is already long and I didn't want to make it longer so there will be another part with the LuFisto drama and how Christian helps the reader

Summary: Y/n returns to the ring after her broken nose like she never missed a beat. But everything changes when Y/n unexpectedly becomes pregnant. How will this affect not only her relationship with Christian Cage but her career in AEW?

Word count: 3115

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of injury and vomit (I think that’s everything)

Main Masterlist Charistian Cage Masterlist Pt 1 Pt 3 Pt 4

Six weeks had gone by faster than I expected and before I knew it I would make my return just in time for forbidden door. Within those six weeks I was gone many things happened, the drama with LuFisto had pretty much been settled and I was able to bond more with Isla. Christian was home when he could and when he was home the three of us would do ‘family things’. Whether that was going to the zoo, the park or just going out for ice cream. The end of June was soon approaching which meant Isla would soon be on Summer Break. Which also meant ‘Mr. Father of the year’ would bring his spawn to work if he wanted to.

Since I had been spending the majority of 5 weeks with just Isla I wanted to make the last week of our bonding time special before I had to go back to work. She had just finished school so I thought now would be a perfect time for us to go on a little trip just the two of us to celebrate a successful school year. Isla picked on Florida and since I have a home in Ft. Lauderdale I thought it would be a perfect fit. 

Although the trip would only be 3 days since I had to arrive in Chicago on Tuesday to make my return we made the best of it. The first day we arrived we spent at the beach building sand castles, walking on the boardwalk, going shopping in the cute stores by the beach and getting ice cream. By the end of the day we were exhausted, Isla even fell asleep in the car ride home. As much as I wanted to let her sleep she needed to wash off all of the sand. As I carried her from the car to the house I couldn't help the warm feeling I had. I know she is not my biological child but within these past weeks I couldn't help but feel like she was. Earlier today when we were on the beach an old lady came up to me and said how I was a good mother for taking her daughter for a fun beach day. I didn’t even correct her, I just thanked the lady and wished her a good day. From a far glance I guess we could be related. We both had blond hair, Isla had blue eyes while mine were green but you could tell that she was Christian Cage’s daughter. 

The second and third day of the trip also went well. We did lots of shopping, spent time at the pool, went to the park, and the fair just so happened to be in town so of course we had to go. Soon enough I was on a flight to Chicago to make my appearance on Dynamite the week before forbidden door. 

****

Wednesday

Since I had gone straight from Florida to Chicago I had Isla with me. Christian was also at Dynamite so he was excited to show his daughter all around the arena. It felt a bit weird to be back mostly because of the terms I felt on. Leaving with a broken nose and drama only to be welcomed back with smiling faces that were glad to have me back. 

“Good to see ya back friend” said a familiar voice who gave me a hug from behind. When I turned around I noticed that the familiar voice was Willow Nightingale. “Oh Hi Willow!” I told her with a sigh of relief. “You gave me a heart attack” “Sorry” she apologized “Are you still on edge about what happened?” Of course she had to ask that question. The truth was although the ‘gosip’ died down it still had me feeling on edge. The photo of Isla Christian and I walking on the boardwalk of the beach by our house haunting me. I still felt like I was being watched but unsure by who. “I guess you could say that” Willow looked at me with a sympathetic look. “Ya know what It’s fine, I’m fine” that was a lie “ This is the kind of stuff you sign up for” I told her, trying my best to sound un bothered by the situation even though I knew she knew I was lying. 

“Okay, then. You know the plan for tonight?” Willow asked. “Yep, see you soon!” 

I was a bit upset since this storyline would be a bit rushed but the plan for forbidden door was for me to put my ROH women's championship on the line against Willow who currently held the NJPW Strong Women's Championship. Regardless we would put on a great performance, in the meantime I had to get ready for the show. 

***

The time had come, everything was finalized and 10 minutes from now I would make my return. 

“You ready?” Christian asked me “Hopefully, I’m a bit nervous” I told him truthfully “I’m sure you will be fine!” I gave him a smile before mouthing him a thank you for his support during my six weeks off. Just then I felt a tug on my shirt. When I looked I saw Isla holding something behind her back. “Yes” I told her “I made you something” Isla then revealed what she was hiding behind her back, it was a beaded bracelet. “You made this for me! That's so sweet! I am definitely going to wear this tonight!!” As she handed me the bracelet I couldn't help but stop in my tracks as I realized what it said. “Do you like it?” Isla asked me “Yeah…I love it” The bracelet had purple, pink and white heart beads. In the center it had three letter beads that read ‘Mom”. Christian noticed the bracelet and asked Isla what it said. “It says Mom. You are my new Mom right Y/n?” Mom, that was the first time she had ever called me something even close to that before. Unsure what to say I looked at Christian who offered a big smile. “I guess so, you can call me whatever you want okay?” “Okay!” She then gave me a big hug!

*** 

All out 2023

I have been officially back for a few months now and since then I have had 4 successful title defenses. Forbidden Door, Blood and Guts, ROH Death Before Dishonor and All In. All of the matches had gone quite well for the most part. At Death Before Dishonor I took a hard fall on my shoulder and needed to be on some medication. It was nothing a little KT Tape and Phiso couldn't fix. Tonight is All Out in Chicago and I’m currently waiting to see if I am medically cleared. Physically I felt fine but I guess one of the backstage doctors didn’t like the sight of my still bruised shoulder from All In. My opponent at All In was Athena, she was aware of the former injury to my right shoulder so like any good wrestler she used it to her advantage, targeting the shoulder in an attempt to secure the victory. Unfortunately for her it didn’t work and I retained my title. I wasn’t booked for the show tonight, which was fine but I would be accompanying Kris to the ring for her match against Ruby Soho. The outcasts are known for trouble and no way I was going to let them cheat and win. 

“I’m sure everything is going to be fine Y/n” Kris was kind enough to wait with me for the doctor even tho she had a big match tonight “I really hope so Kris, I don’t need another injury”   A few minutes went by and the doctor came out “Ms. Y/l/n” Shit, moment of truth. Kris held my hand as we awaited whatever news lied ahead.

“Your Pregnant” I felt my stomach drop. “What? That has to be some kind of mistake, there is no way I’m pregnant” I yelled at the doctor. “Well Ms. we ran a bunch of tests and your shoulder is fine but according to your blood you are pregnant. It is mandatory we run pregnancy tests through blood with every patient” I looked at Kris who was in shock just like me. “Would you like to know your options?” The doctor asked me. “What am I going to do?” I let out almost in a whisper. How irresponsible is this, the champ getting knocked up during one of the most historical reigns. I didn’t even want to think about what Christians reaction was going to be. “Well Ms. I can tell that this is a shock. I can go through methods of termination if you are interested” The doctor offered handing me a pamphlet. “Y/n, I really think you should talk to Christian before you make any decisions. This is his baby too and he deserves a right to know even if you decide not to keep it” Kris told me. She was right, Christian needed to know and I will tell him at some point. 

The PPV went well, Luchasaurus would retain the TNT championship against Darby Allin and Kris would defeat Ruby Soho to keep her TBS championship. I sat backstage with my friends watching the event trying to have a good time but I couldn't stop thinking about what that doctor told me. I didn’t want to tell Christian never mind my boss but I should have known he would find out about it sooner rather than later. “Y/n, Tony would like to see you in his office” Shit

I walked into the office terrified, how was I going to explain to my boss that his golden goose got knocked up. “Take a seat” I sat nervously 

“So, I spoke with the doctor” I said nothing. Partially because I had no idea what to say and the other part being embarrassed. “Is it true that you are pregnant?” He asked 

“Look Tony, I am really sorry. There must be some kind of mistake, I promise you I am a responsible adult. I feel fine, promise, but they told me that they ran a mandatory pregnancy test with my blood and it came back positive. I really don’t know what to do or say. Only Kris and now you know. I haven’t even told Christian yet.” 

He said nothing, he just wrote something down on a piece of paper. 

“Look, I know this is not an ideal situation for anyone. I’m not going to say anything ok. I’m sure you and I both know that the media is going to have a field day with this one. I think we should continue with the press conference as normal and if anyone asks about your ring status say you are waiting to get cleared. After that you should talk to Christian, see a doctor and we can go from there. We can always say you had to relinquish due to injury” The relationship between Tony and I had always been a bit different than others. I had been in AEW since day one and due to my extremely close relationship with the Elite I even became a producer for AEW along with doing my part to elevate the women's division in any way I can. Tony and I were actually friends so even though I knew him and he knew me he was still my boss and this conversation was uncomfortable on both ends. 

***** *Kris: You have to tell him at some point *Y/n: I know but it’s not the time *Kris: Y/n, If you don’t tell him soon I will just tell him *Y/n: Okay I will geez, not too sure how he will react to being a Father again at 50

The past few days had looked the same, Kris and I texting back and forth. Her trying to encourage me to tell Christian and me being too scared. I had been close on more than one occasion but the words wouldn't come out. I’m pretty sure Christian is starting to catch on too. 

After All Out the two of us went for dinner and when I didn’t have a drink with my meal Christian’s suspension started to grow. “So, what are we drinking tonight? I don’t feel like champagne, we could do a nice red or just grab a bunch of drinks? Vodka soda, that’s your favorite?” How was I about to explain that I would not be drinking, I mean I may or may not have a drinking problem. “Um, I think I’m not going to have a drink tonight” Christian looked at me with a shocked expression “Are you feeling alright? What happened to Y/n?” He said jokingly. I, however, was not laughing. “I’m fine, I just don’t feel like having a drink tonight.” I said a slight edge in my voice that I didn't mean to happen. “Alright then, I’m still getting a bottle of red if you change your mind” 

I knew I had to tell Christian, tomorrow was Dynamite and Tony needed answers. I went to the store and grabbed a few pregnancy tests. I knew I was pregnant but I needed to see it in order to really believe it, it’s one thing for someone to say you are pregnant but another to see a positive test in the flesh. Christian went out to grab a few things so I knew now would be a good time to get it over with. It wasn’t like I had never taken a pregnancy test before, I knew how they worked but I found myself sitting on the bathroom floor reading the instructions carefully to make sure I had done everything correctly. I peed in a cup then let the test soak in the cup for about 30 seconds before leaving it to sit for another 5 minutes to show the result. Those 5 minutes were the longest 5 minutes of my life. I looked at the test and of course it had two lines meaning I was pregnant. Of course I was in denial, so I took three more. I had bought four different kinds, the generic ones with two lines and the fancy digital ones. So far it wasn’t looking so good. Three tests had came back positive. Now I waited for the digital, *3-6 weeks pregnant*. 

This didn’t make sense? If I was at least 3 weeks pregnant that would mean that I wrestled All In pregnant? That match against Athena had been brutal, I got put through a dam table. How could a fetus survive that? I could feel my throat tighten as tears started to fall from my eyes. Just then I threw up. 

Christian’s pov

 I knew something was up the moment Y/n returned from her appointment with the doctor. Kris went with her since I wasn’t able to but I regret not going. Something must have happened because ever since the both of them had been acting weird. In an attempt to lighten whatever happened I offered dinner after the show with Y/n to cheer her up. She was hesitant with how late it would be but gave in. Everyone needs a good drink after a hard day at work so when Y/n declined a drink I was even more suspicious. “You know I have a drinking problem right? I think I should start being more careful on what I put in my body” Yeah something was definitely up. I wouldn't say Y/n had a drinking problem but in the years I’ve known her she has never once declined an offer to get a drink. The next few days had been no different. Isla had been with her Mom so it had just been Y/n and I. Everytime I tried to ask her what happened she would push me away, something that she doesn’t normally do. 

I went out to pick up a few groceries and once I returned I found Y/n sitting on the floor of the master bathroom with tear stained cheeks. I sat next to her and asked “What’s wrong?” nothing “If something happened the other day at work you can tell me you know” I waited, I knew she wanted to say something but was having trouble getting the words out. “You’re going to be mad at me” her words were so quiet it was barely a whisper. “Why would I be mad at you honey?” What would I be mad at? “Don’t yell, I’m sorry. I don’t know how this happened” Y/n had tears in her eyes as she spoke. “I won’t yell, I promise but I need to know what happened so I can help you” I told her carefully 

Just then she got up and handed me four items from the sink before returning to her spot on the floor. She was now fully crying and turned her back to me. It took me a minute to realize what I was holding in my hands. Four pregnancy tests, all different kinds but all were positive. “Are these real?” She turned to face me, mascara now ruined. “Are you mad at me?” I wasn’t mad but I was shocked, but I was also happy. “No sweetheart, I would never be mad at you. Especially over something like this” I gave her a hug to which she returned, burying her head in my chest as she continued to cry. 

I knew what this would mean, Y/n being pregnant would change everything. Although this was a shock I was so happy. We had never talked about having kids, Y/n was still in her prime and I was nearly 50. “What are we going to do?” I wanted Y/n to know that I would support her for whatever she decided. I mean she is making history with her current title reign and at the end of the day this is her body we are talking about. “This is your decision Y/n. I want you to know that I am happy about this but I understand if you don’t want to go through with this.” She looked at me with a sad smile. “Would I be crazy if I said I want to keep it? I still don’t understand how it happened in the first place but the more I think about it, I want to go on this journey with you Christian” I placed a kiss to her temple before saying “Don’t worry, I am going to be here with you for every second of it. We will do this together” 

#bullet clubs bitch #aew smut #all elite wrestling #aew #aew fanfiction #christian cage x reader #christian cage imagine #christian cage #christian wwe #christian cage smut #christian cage fanfic #christian cage aew

[dweetwise]

[Riconti] The Long Con (part 2/6)

Bitchy Felix my beloved. Rated T | 2k words | ao3 link [previous] [next]

"Oh, really?" Ace said, feigning interest. "An architect? That has to be a really demanding profession."

The man next to him cleared his throat. "Not really."

Ace forced a smile and silently cursed his luck. He'd been trying to break through this guy's facade for nearly half an hour without much progress.

"He's lying!" the woman opposite the table from Ace exclaimed loudly. "Two weeks ago, we stayed at the office for 36 hours straight to finish a project!"

"Wow." Ace whistled lowly. "Now that's what I call dedication. You had to be dead on your feet after, huh?"

A minute shrug from Mr. Antisocial. "A little."

"You drank a quadruple espresso. Black," the woman continued, then turned to Ace. "I thought he was going to give himself a heart attack—I kept screaming 'Don't you dare die before you finish that render!'"

Ace laughed good-naturedly. "Hey, have to keep your priorities straight. And for what it's worth, I'm very happy neither of you succumbed to a caffeine-related early grave."

That got a small twitch of the man's mouth. "I think Americans and the sugary milkshakes you call coffee are more at risk for that."

"Well, excuse us for not wanting to drink bean water au natural," Ace teased.

The joke only earned him another bored glance. Ace took a big gulp of his beer to fill the awkward silence.

This really wasn't going according to plan.

When Ace first walked into the beer tent that Meg had pointed him to, he'd been briefly overwhelmed by the sheer size of the space. The tent looked even bigger than it had from the outside, full of tables and benches and a bar that ran almost the entire length of the room. A good portion of the tables were already occupied and wait staff scurried about in traditional outfits, carrying huge glasses of beer to their eager customers.

Ace had made his way to the bar and ordered the first beer on the menu. The bartender—dressed in suspenders and lederhosen and one of the ugliest pairs of socks Ace had ever seen—filled his glass from a wooden barrel, and Ace had to admire the vendors’ dedication to preserving the old-timey atmosphere.

Unfortunately, tradition also seemed to dictate that the default serving size was one whole liter of beer.

Ace had struggled to even carry his damn beer without sloshing it all over his favorite shirt. In the end, he only made it to a currently closed section of the bar, but it was a good vantage point to take in the sea of people.

While observing the chatter, the unholy amounts of beer being consumed, and the most leather pants Ace had seen since the eighties, he'd spotted a small group sitting at a corner table not far away. Or more specifically, his eye had been drawn to a woman dressed in a seemingly unassuming white t-shirt and a simple silver necklace, gesturing animatedly with her purse as she talked to her friends.

But the shirt looked like an expensive material, the sunglasses pushed up into her hair were from a designer Ace recognized, and the necklace he remembered seeing in a pawn shop—selling for over a grand. The woman's entire outfit radiated the sort of casual luxury that most people wouldn't even notice.

Fortunately, Ace had spent the last thirty years practicing how to do just that. And with the majority of festival-goers sporting identical-looking traditional Bavarian garb that was impossible to appraise, the woman was by far the safest bet when it came to schmoozing up to a wealthy target.

Ace sipped on his beer and kept watching the group out of the corner of his eye. It was only three people—the woman and two men—and Ace waited to see if others would be joining them from the bar or returning from a bathroom break. Larger groups were usually harder to squeeze into and if another woman joined the trio, they were obviously two couples enjoying the festival together who would not be happy about Ace fifth-wheeling.

But after ten minutes and no sign of potentially missing friends or the group even glancing around for anyone, Ace felt confident enough to proceed with his plan. He gave himself a cursory once-over to check for beer stains on his clothes before making a small detour back to the bar, just on the odd chance that he was being watched. He pretended to study the food menu before looking around the tent like a dumb little tourist—which wasn’t entirely an act—and then made a show of noticing the group for the first time and strolling up to their table.

After that, it was the familiar spiel of, "Excuse me, is this seat taken?", followed by a sheepish smile as they turned to look at him, and then, "This is actually my first Oktoberfest and I'm a little lost."

The woman had immediately offered an excited, "No, no, sit down!", the man next to her had smiled and nodded, and Ace turned to the final member of the group who he'd only seen the back of so far—

And proceeded to nearly choke on his spit because holy shit, was that guy a model or something?

One of the most handsome men Ace had ever met frowned at him, his brows drawn together as his icy blue eyes studied Ace. His blond hair was impeccably styled with not a strand out of place and his checkered dress shirt and navy blue waistcoat hugged his broad torso perfectly. Like almost everyone else, he was also wearing lederhosen, though these were of the more form-fitting variety and Ace sorely regretted not ogling his backside while he'd been watching their table earlier.

Ace managed a friendly smile, to which the man just turned back to the table and shrugged unenthusiastically. The message was clear: Ace could stay, but he wasn't happy about it.

Not bothered by the reaction, Ace took his seat and the woman immediately started introducing them all in heavily accented English. Her name was Lauren, the man beside her was Daniel, her husband, and the hottie with a bad attitude was Felix, her business partner slash best friend.

And, really, Ace's original plan had been to simply befriend Lauren—at least as soon as she said "husband" and Ace realized that flirting would probably not go over well. Still, Lauren was sociable, already tipsy, and seemed to like Ace from the get go; it would probably only be a matter of time before she asked her charming new friend to watch her purse while the rest of them got more drinks or something.

But then Ace rolled up his sleeve and reached over the table to shake Lauren's hand, and Felix's gaze immediately snapped to Ace's exposed forearm before roving over his entire body.

Ace's skin felt hot from the obvious once-over and he almost stuttered on his own name as he greeted both Lauren and her husband. When he went to shake Felix's hand, Felix's large palm was a little sweaty and he couldn't quite meet Ace's eye anymore.

And sure, Lauren would have made an easy target. But Felix? 

Well, flirting was definitely back on the menu when it came to Felix.

…Or that's what Ace initially thought, but after countless attempts at conversation that Felix shut down immediately, he was starting to doubt his intuition.

Maybe Felix hadn't been checking him out. Maybe he just hated arm hair with a passion, or felt extreme second-hand embarrassment from Ace's shirt choice?

Ace forced down some more of his beer and desperately grasped for another conversation starter. He glanced around the tent and spotted a few rays of sunlight shining in through a transparent panel on the ceiling—surely, small talk about the weather was at least a safe topic? 

"Really nice weather for a festival," Ace said.

"I like rain," Felix said, because of course he did.

Ace would have probably excused himself at that very moment. But Felix started unbuttoning his cufflinks—the tent was getting a little warm from the sun—and Ace happened to catch a glimpse of his watch in the process.

Mechanical. Swiss made. Possibly platinum?

Oh, and probably worth at least thirty grand.

Realization slowly dawned on Ace: Felix was likely the wealthiest person in the entire room. Hell, maybe even the entire festival.

Ace straightened his back and put on his most charming grin. The pot had just been sweetened a whole lot, and Ace wasn't one to back down from a challenge.

He'd crack this man's code somehow.

═════════════ ♤ ═════════════

"—And Melbourne was really nice as well," Ace said. "Have any of you been to Australia?"

"Not yet," Lauren said.

"Once, but that was over twenty years ago," Daniel said. "I don't remember much."

Ace nodded, then smoothly leaned closer to Felix. "What about you, blondie? Any exciting travel—"

"What are you doing, dad?" a very familiar and thoroughly exasperated voice butted in.

"Meg!" Ace exclaimed, quickly putting distance between himself and Felix. 

He turned to face Meg, who was standing behind him with her arms crossed and a sour look on her face. At least she'd had the decency to pretend they were related instead of addressing him as "Hey, asshole" like she did most times.

"I was just getting to know some of the locals," Ace said. "Did you want to join us? I mean, if that's okay…?" He glanced at Lauren in question.

Lauren was already nodding enthusiastically, but Meg immediately shot the suggestion down. 

"No," Meg said pointedly. "I just wanted to talk to you. Alone."

Ace smiled at the table. "Be right back."

═════════════ ♤ ═════════════

"What the hell are you doing!?" Meg hissed once they were out of earshot.

Ace shrugged. "Getting into the festival spirit?"

"If by 'festival spirit' you mean Blondie McSnob's pants!" Meg accused. "Just nick his wallet and dip!"

"I'm playing the long con," Ace said. "He's loaded, and he likes me."

Well. Sort of. Maybe.

Meg crossed her arms again and glared. "I remember what happened last time you said that."

Ace winced. "Last time" referred to almost a year ago, when he'd seduced a target and then ended up running through the fancy garden of her estate in the middle of the night, clad in only his underwear while her husband chased him with a shotgun.

That night Meg had been the angriest Ace had ever seen her, patching up his wound from where a bullet had grazed him while screaming in his ear about, "You knew she was a mob wife and you still fucked her! You could have died, you fucking useless piece of shit!"

Ace knew it meant, "I was so scared, please don't ever do that again."

"It's not like that," Ace insisted. "He's harmless."

Meg scoffed.

"Come on, look at the guy," Ace said. "He can barely put a sentence together and he's an architect. The most dangerous thing he's done is probably yachting without a life jacket."

Meg snorted and discreetly looked back to the table. "He does kinda seem like a nerd."

"A rich nerd," Ace stressed.

"Ugh, fine," Meg groaned. "As long as you remember rule number one."

Ah, throwing Ace's own teachings back in his face: one of Meg's favorite pastimes. Rule number one, of course, being, "Never get attached to your target."

"I know what I'm doing," Ace said, then smirked. "You'd better get to work if you still plan on winning our bet, dear 'daughter'."

Meg responded with the middle finger, and then she seamlessly slipped back into the crowd.

Ace sighed and absent-mindedly fiddled with the rabbit’s foot hanging from his belt: one of the knick-knacks he’d attached to it in what the internet told him was an old Oktoberfest tradition. Hopefully one of the lucky charms would work, because god knows Ace could really use some good fortune right now.

Forcing a smile onto his face, Ace ventured back to the table.

#riconti #dbd fanfic #ace visconti #felix richter #dbd #dweetwrites #dead by daylight

[lumiereandcogsworth]

okay so I'm curious, when Maurice would travel with his inventions/art, one, did he ever bring Belle along, or was it something he only started doing once she was older and two, I know she only ever asks for a rose, but did he ever bring back any books for her?

i LOVE this question thank you!!!

i think he definitely took belle along when she was younger, absolutely. he probably didn’t start going to those markets until she was around 7 or 8, when he really started getting back into art business and someone maybe mentioned to him that he could go to these markets in bigger towns and make some side cash!! i think he would bring her especially for the longer ones, like 3-5 days, because that’s just too long to be apart and they only have each other 🥺 and she loved going to them!! i can just imagine her curious little mind pulling her in every direction. he probably loses her at some points and nearly has a heart attack because of it. i’ll have to write that sometime, lmao.

i think the first time she Doesn’t go is when she’s like maybe 15? and it’s only one night. she probably still wanted to go but maybe there was something farm related happening that they both felt it would be better if she stayed, and she was happy to do that. maurice definitely asked pére robert to check in with her though, and i’m sure he had dinner with her that night. i’m SURE they have such academic convos, gosh. need to explore that more too. anyway: after that, i think belle started going with him less. she still joins sometimes, but i think it was partly that she was getting into her own projects at home and didn’t always Want to leave at that exact time because she was really hyperfixated, or it was just like one night, not a big deal, (like what happens in the movie). AND i think maurice did gain a few friends that he would meet up with at those markets, artists from other villages, so belle would get kinda bored because it would be like those unskippable cutscenes like when your parent runs into someone they know at the grocery store. except it’s your dad talking about his passion with other people who share it😭 IT’S LIKE BEING TRAPPED AT HOME DEPOT WITH DAD. anyway you get the point. even as adventurous as belle was, it’s not like the markets were any places too new or crazy, so it got kind of boring for her.

but like i said, i still think she goes sometimes!!! just way less frequently. in one of my courting fics (probably my favorite of my courting fics???) belle had gone with maurice to a market for a WEEK. which was the longest her and adam had been apart since they had met 🥺🥺 which i think maurice did very intentionally lmao. he was (internally) like you guys are so attached at the hip… let’s remember you’re individual people please!!! and also i think he could sense they were getting near the idea of marriage so he wanted one last bit of time with belle before her life really changed 😭😭

and second!!!! yeah no definitely. i like to think that when he says that, “you ask for that every year!” i think that’s for this one specific market he’s going to that day. like maybe it’s a place she’s joined him many times and it just happens near a really beautiful rose garden, or something. so she’s always like !!! ROSE FROM THERE PLEASE!!! but i think he goes to markets a lot more frequently than just once a year. maybe like every few months? especially as belle gets older and he worries less about leaving her at home, if she doesn’t want to join him. but anyway to answer your second question, YEAH! i can totally imagine that people there, who have known maurice and his daughter for years, ask about her when she’s not with him! and they learn all about her and i am SURE she always brought an emotional support book (or two or three) when she goes with him. so the market people know belle reads!!! and yeah probably a few are conservative and think that’s odd but MAJORITY of them are free-spirited artists !! many of them also fled paris the same time as maurice!! these are his people !! so they support that and probably gift him a book to give to her (or just give it right to her if she’s there) every now and then!! it’s not every time but if he can snatch a book for her he absolutely will 🥹

i did have one additional thought but it’s more just about belle getting books in general <3

#i’m about to rewatch the movie so watch me have even more thoughts upon watching that scene lol #but anyway. THANKS! LOVE MY BELOVED LARUES! #belle #papa maurice #batb headcanons #batb 2017

[qqueenofhades]

I recently submitted my first ever article and it got accepted provided I change "some minor things" aka the entire article... Awful, 0/10, is it always like that? 💀💀💀

...okay y'all, buckle up, I'm about to tell you my worst academic horror story. Aka why academia is a terrible, awful, no good very bad idea and you should never do it. If you've been following me for a long time, you may remember parts of this, but yes.

Anyway, so in the UK university system, which is where I did my PhD, you don't have a thesis committee; you have two examiners, one internal (a member of the department in your home university, but who didn't supervise you or advise you) and one external (a senior academic from an outside university who hasn't seen your work before and wasn't involved in the process in any way). My supervisors and I had a little trouble finding an external examiner, as the guy that we first asked didn't think he was a good fit, and then we found a replacement: a senior female scholar at a fairly good university in Ireland, who shall both, for the purposes of this cautionary tale, Remain Unnamed. She had worked with my supervisor before, they were friends, and he thought that she would be a suitable replacement choice. As for my thesis, my supervisors both thought it was pretty much done and hence ready for formal submission and viva (the oral examination). So! We submitted it!

My viva was duly scheduled, I turned up on the day already nervous as hell, and then things started going, hmm, slightly downhill. It soon became apparent that my external examiner thought my thesis was about something else, subject-wise, than it actually was (aka the subject SHE worked on, not the one I did) and she kept asking questions that were only tangentially related and demanding to know why I hadn't included all this background/genealogical/family information. (Where might I find it, you ask? Oh, in her book!) My internal examiner was mostly fine and made a few comments about how I needed to beef up my critical commentary on this or that charter source, and move some things from the conclusion to the introduction. You know! NORMAL things that a NON-PSYCHOTIC PERSON would suggest after reading a 300-page doctoral thesis that was clearly on the topic that it was about! NO BIG DEAL!!!

They sent me out of the room to debate whether they were going to pass me or not, while I had a heart attack and they took forever, and finally called me back in to say that okay, they were going to approve it, But External Examiner Had Questions!!! I was just relieved that I wasn't going to suddenly fail my PhD at the last hurdle after four years of work, but to say the least, extremely shell-shocked. I went out kind of in a daze, and my supervisor pulled me into his office for a congratulatory drink of champagne and told me that he'd never had any doubts it was going to be fine and etc. He also offered to refer the thesis to the series that he edited at a major academic press, in order to be published as a monograph. I don't remember how much I said, but I don't think it was much, and he seemed a little puzzled that I was looking like I'd just been hit by a tornado. Was this the end of the saga, you ask? No, of course not!!!

Anyway, if you request corrections to a thesis, you're supposed to submit them within a very abbreviated timeframe: by the end of the week, so the candidate (me) has as much time to work on them as possible. My internal examiner submitted a sensible one-page list of suggested edits within two days. We couldn't get hold of my external examiner for ALMOST THREE WEEKS (close to a MONTH). Then she sent these absolutely batshit endless lists of barely comprehensible corrections that read like total rambling, which neither me nor either of my supervisors (so, two-and-almost three PhDs between us) could understand. My main supervisor was so horrified by how unprofessional and inexplicable this was that he literally offered to read through all them and try to turn them into something that I could actually use. I was already working on the other ones, and wrote a passive-aggressive line into my introduction throwing major academic shade about how This Thesis Is About This Subject, Not That One. The reason this line exists in the world is due to my absolutely psychotic external examiner, so.... yes.

Tl;dr: happy ending, my internal examiner was the one solely responsible for signing off on the corrections and was happy to do so, I passed and graduated, and then did more revisions on my thesis to turn it into a book. I submitted it to the academic press for another external expert to read and was absolutely braced for another total nightmare. Instead, he basically came back with "this is great and I can't think of anything!" and thus I made a few quick tweaks and it went off to be published. So boy, was I ever owed that karma.

#anonymous #ask #school stuff #academia: not even once

[ecargmura]

Pokemon Horizons Episode 14 Review: Helping Wattrel Fly

Wow, this episode caught me off guard. I was assuming this would be the case like that one Advanced Generation episode where May took care of Swablu and was about to catch it before its flock arrived and cucked her out of an amazing party Pokemon. The writers didn’t cuck anyone this time! They actually allowed Roy to catch the Wattrel he befriended!

It turns out that Wattrel’s inability to fly was due to its fear of heights, which is a bit ironic given it’s a bird. It’s like Ash’s Oshawott being afraid to swim as it closes its eyes every time it’s submerged in water. Roy encouraging Wattrel to fly and then succeeding made me feel good. He’s such a good boy.

Roy reminded me a lot of Ash in terms of his way of caring for Pokemon. Roy is in tune with nature due to his upbringing on the island, so he seems to be more in tune with Pokemons’ feelings, just like how he could tell Wattrel was troubled and wanted to help it. The fact that he’s a quick thinker made his personality shine. The way he saw Ludlow’s fishing rod and decided to make a wooden Wattrel to help demonstrate how to fly.

Wattrel was adorable! I didn’t really care much for it in the game, but the anime made it so adorable. It has so much personality. The way it gained confidence after it flew and then the way it wanted to come with Roy moved my heart. They’re going to be a good team. It’s also been a long time since I last saw someone catch the regional bird. I wonder what Liko’s first catch is going to be. I kind of want her to catch a Galarian Ponyta since the RVTs are going to Galar.

Another important plot point in this episode is Friede and Liko’s dealing with Spinel, albeit separately. Friede noticed Spinel’s Magnetons that he eventually follows into Levincia City. Friede deals with Spinel’s Pokemon who was leading him to an ambush. Spinel commands one of his Magneton and Beheeyem via headset to attack Friede and his Charizard. While Friede was at a disadvantage, he pulls out his secret weapon: Tera Orb! He terastalized his Charizard into a Dark-type in order to resist Beheeyem’s Psychic. After he wins, the foe’s Pokemon retreats, causing Spinel to gather enough data for his next plan.

While Friede is cool and can terastalize, I dislike the fact that his major flaw is not being specific about his actions. He didn’t tell Liko about the RVTs being her bodyguards hired by her mom until a few episodes later. He’s being vague in this episode. Orla asks what he was doing, and he just said “Stuff” in a way. It’s because of this flaw that causes Liko to run off on her own and get her pendant stolen; he didn’t warn her or any of the other RVTs about the potential danger they’re facing and how the system shut down was related to it. It’s frustrating and I hope this aspect of his character gets fixed when he gets spotlight.

Liko spends the episode happy. Murdock thanks her for being a friend to Dot and she tags along Roy’s plans with Wattrel. It’s when she gets fooled by a fake advertisement that she runs off on her own, not knowing the dangers she’s approaching (Thanks, Friede) and then gets hypnotized by Beheeyem after encountering a disguised Spinel. He steals her pendant very easily because of this.

Spinel easily overtakes Amethio as a villain. Not that Amethio is bad, but Spinel is much more calculating. He’s intelligent and uses crafty tactics to get the upper hand. He’s a very tough villain and it makes me wonder how the RVTs are going to catch him.

It seems that in the next episode preview, Liko seems to have lost her memories as well as Sprigatito because Sprigatito would never scratch Liko if she was closing in for a hug. The only time the cat had scratched her was during their first meeting when they didn’t know each other very well. I do wonder how she’s going to regain her memories and how she’s going to get the pendant back. I can’t wait for next week!

Speaking of which, San Diego Comic Con announced that there will be a Horizons dub! There will be a lot of returning and newcomers to the Pokemon scene. There’s a ten minute preview on Youtube!

#pokemon horizons #anipoke #liko #sprigatito #roy #fuecoco #wattrel #murdock #friede #charizard #spinel #magneton #beheeyem #umbreon #review #anime #anime review #ecargmura #arum journal #it's all friede's fault

[moonlightmerchant0]

Ninjabot!Zane AU

Sooooo...

I reposted my Ninjago x Team Fortress 2 crossover idea instead of my Miraculous rewrite ideas :)

I got a couple of hearts last time I posted this, but then I deleted it because it didn't seem good enough. I edited it and finally decided to post it again. Hope you like it!

(Loosely inspired by Zane from @xynczachrome's Garmadon's Reign AU. My brain went: Oooh evil medical assistant Zane -> Zane as Medic's assistant-> Zane in TF2 and getting adopted by Engie. Then I put way too much thought into how I would want that to work and the outline turned into a fic whoops)

Prologue

Some time during the planning and preparations for Gray Mann's robot invasion, a scientist proposed to Gray Mann that they try developing more classes of robots. Gray Mann's robot army was still in the early stages of production, so it would be prudent to do so now and build up even larger numbers of robots. It would be trickier to develop additional classes with nothing to base them on, the scientist explained, but not impossible.

Gray Mann, indeed wanting a vast robot army, decided to greenlight the Tenth Class Project. The project would be small, with minimal staff and funding, but top secret nonetheless.

The Tenth Class Project would be headed by the man who proposed it in the first place; a brilliant yet reclusive scientist, engineer, and programmer; Dr. Julien.

Dr. Julien ended up being a very well-liked man, even if he preferred to be alone. He was friendly, kind, and often gave wise advice to those who asked.

Most of the people who worked under him did their jobs, but he ended up taking on most of the work designing, building, and programming the first prototype robot. Others tried to help, but he insisted on doing the majority of the hands-on work himself.

The prototype tenth class robot, referred to by some as the 'Ninjabot', took months to develop. The designing took quite a while, with Dr. Julien wanting it to be good quality and not a hastily cobbled together mess.

The building was quicker, but the real time-consumer was the programming.

Dr. Julien insisted in programming it himself, and he spent weeks on end in the lab, alone. Sometimes, others would be brought in to help with minor issues, but the brilliant scientist allowed no one but himself to see the code. It seemed to be going well, if slowly.

But Gray Mann was becoming impatient, and demanded to know why the project was taking so long. Dr. Julien claimed that it was because the programming was incredibly difficult without a previously existing class and corresponding mercenary to base it on. This explanation, along with the fact that the project site was small and isolated, only deterred the inevitable for so long.

Eventually, Gray Mann had had enough and went to the project site himself to see what was taking so long. He had a robot invasion to undertake!

Dr. Julien tried to explain that the prototype's code was "unstable", but Gray Mann ordered him to power up the robot and display it's combat capabilities. Unfortunately, after the poor scientist had done as ordered, the prototype seemed to mistake the man it was meant to obey as a target! The prototype attacked Gray Mann and nearly knocked him out, before it was restrained and shut down.

Gray Mann was furious - both at being attacked by a robot that was supposed to obey and at the fact that all that time and money seemed to have been wasted! Paranoid as he was, he suspected Dr. Julien for either incompetency or treachery.

The Tenth Class Project was promptly scrapped. Dr. Julien was fired - unable to say anything remotely related to anything he saw while working under Gray Mann, per the contract - and the prototype was destroyed.

Gray Mann, incensed by the delay, began his robot invasion soon afterwards.

And if some former employees of Gray Mann thought that it was odd that a such brilliant, meticulous man as Dr. Julien could have made such sloppy code, no one spoke of it.

Dr. Julien moved back to his small, secluded, and snowy hometown. The people there welcomed him back, as he was known for being a good man, if lonely and eccentric. Strangely, he spoke nothing of where he had been, only that he had been fired from his job. He showed no sign of regret or shame.

And, if Dr. Julien, known recluse, seemed to no longer live alone after returning home...

If he started idly chatting to people about a son that he certainly hadn't had upon leaving (for he had never been married, nor ever interested in such a thing) and that no one ever saw...

If he often mentioned a name, when no one who knew him had ever heard of a 'Zane' before...

Well, that was no ones business but his own.

#ninjago #ninjago zane #ninjago dr julien #tf2 #team fortress 2 #mann vs machine #tf2 gray mann #Ninjabot!Zane AU

[goldenagenonsense]

Action Comics No. 2 [July 1938]

And we're back for the second exciting installment of Ant-Man - (furious whispering from the backstage) - wait, I mean Superman. Sorry, got confused after all the insect comparisons last time. Abet I could have fun with calling him a 'young grasshopper' and being pseudo-accurate; I mean, if the authors themselves compared him to one, why can't I?

No cover sharing this week, since I don't think it's related to the Superman story. Interesting image though, gives me kind of a Jame Bond feel, you know?

Flipping to the first page of the story, I am immediately slapped in the face with the art change. Or maybe it's an issue of scan quality? (double checks) okay, I think it's scan quality. Ah well, it's still readable, and that's what matters.

We return where we left off: Superman psychologically tormenting a man into spilling his secrets. As one does. 👍

Honestly, the fact that Greer has neither passed out nor ruined his pants yet is incredibly impressive, I know I would have done both, especially with my mild fear of heights. Still, like, what the FUCK, I knew JJ Jameson was onto something when he warned us about the dangers of vigilantes.

When they hit the ground at last, both the pavement and Greer break. When Superman suggests they do it all again, Greer gives up the information Supes wants - the man behind the war is Emil Norvell, a munitions magistrate. He’s got an estate in Lexington Park. With that information in hand, Superman leaves Greer behind, hopping to the top of the Washington Monument to get his bearings before taking off to Norvell’s estate.

Meanwhile, a still disheveled Greer calls Norvell to warn him of the danger approaching, calling Superman ‘the most dangerous man alive.’ Norvell mostly dismisses the danger, stating that there’s no need to worry, he’ll just take some precautions to make sure Superman doesn’t remain alive for long.

I imagine after this, Greer got himself absolutely plastered and refused to leave his house for weeks, just in case. No one believes his drunk rambling, since Superman’s still so new and relatively unknown, but one day he’ll have the last laugh. One day…

After five minutes, Superman lets himself in through the window into Norvell’s study. He tells Norvell he’s coming with him; Norvell refuses, and discretely pushes a button hidden behind him on his desk. Superman notices too late to stop him, but still demands it be handed over. Norvell instead tells his guards to let him have it.

Guards used Machine Guns! It had no effect! Superman used Quick Attack! It was super effective!

It takes no time at all for Supes to toss all dozen guards out the window, their own machine guns wrapped around their necks. He then proceeds to threaten Norvell by bending an iron bar in front of him, explaining how that could just as easily be his neck if he doesn’t agree to come with him. Norvell, valuing his life, agrees quickly.

A few minutes later, Superman and Norvell are at the port. Superman points out a large steamer ship - the Baronta - that is due to leave for San Monte the next day. If he doesn’t find Norvell aboard it when it leaves, he swears he’ll track the man down to whatever hole he hides in and tear out his heart with his bare hands. Norvell, valuing his life, agrees.

Holy death threats, Superman! I know you aren’t the same as your modern counterpart, but hearing you threaten the lives of people three times within one page is just. I would be pissing myself. What the FUCK. This just really highlights the difference in culture and overall heroics eighty years ago. A Superman like this today would be a major anti-hero.

We hop to the next day, where an odd variety of passengers are boarding the Baronta: Clark Kent and Lois Lane, the latter having been assigned to accompany him to the war zone and send back dispatches with her distinctive feminine touch; a group of toughs who possibly intend to enlist as paid mercenaries; Lola Cortez, woman of mystery, an exotic beauty who fairly radiates danger and intrigue; and Emil Norvell, who immediately confines himself to his cabin once aboard.

Gotta love how her whole description is literally just 'look at this mysterious woman, she's so ~very mysterious~ hoo hoo hoo.' Truly she's ready to star in some shipboard murder mystery event.

Soon enough, the ship heads out to sea, destined for a strange voyage. Which you would think would be the build-up to a murder mystery or something, like for serious, I swear I’ve seen this exact set-up for like a dozen of them.

That night, Norvell paces his cabin. A knock comes at the door, and when he answers it… Superman is there! He makes another lowkey threat by ‘complementing’ Norvell showing up, then leaves. Not long after, Norvell sics the nameless toughs on him, promising fabulous rewards if Superman dies. The tough promises it’ll happen.

I love how, after directly witnessing Superman tank machine gun bullets, turn machine guns and bar iron into pretzels, and then literally run them across the city in a few minutes, he still goes ‘oh yeah I can totally sic these random dudes on this caped man and make him dead!’ Villain logic! Truly a timeless classic of comic books.

Superman has decided that, instead of returning to his cabin as Clark Kent and lying low, he’ll just stand at the rail admiring the moon. He whirls at the sound of footsteps, but it’s too late - he’s surrounded by toughs. When he braces himself against the rail, his strength causes it to break, sending him flailing into the ocean below.

The thugs report back, demanding their payment. Norvell dismisses them rudely, stating that they’re too trusting, and that they should feel lucky he didn’t turn them over to the police. Again, what the fuck has to be going through this guy’s mind when he pisses off the people who just dealt with the guy who, again, bent iron into pretzels in front of you. Villain logic.

Meanwhile, Superman’s fine! He’s just casually swimming fast enough to catch up to the steamer - and then blows right past it, swimming off into the distance and leaving the ship behind. He even gives the ship a jaunty wave, not that anyone can see it.

Man, really makes you wonder how he explained himself to Lois when she couldn’t find him on the ship the next day. Then again, considering that she’s likely still giving him the cold shoulder, she probably is just relieved to have a day without him hovering around and bothering her.

Anyway. We have a time skip to the next evening, when the ship has just pulled into port. Norvell is, shockingly, ambushed by all the thugs he stiffed, almost like they’re holding a grudge for a rich guy using them to do their dirty work and then refusing to pay them. Weird, that. Fortunately for him, Superman shows up once again, this time to beat the snot out of the thugs who pushed him overboard.

Gotta love that magical disappearing bowler hat. I know it's a coloring error, but the idea of it disappearing back to a different dimension rather than facing Superman is wildly hilarious to me.

The thugs flee into the night, and Norvell asks him why he saved him. Turns out, Superman’s not being benevolent - being beaten up and/or killed by those thugs is a pleasant fate compared to what Supes has in store for him. Norvell doesn’t like the sound of that, but Superman assures nothing will happen to him - so long as he joins the San Monte army.

Norvell later paces his hotel room, desperate to think of a way out of this mess caused by ‘that inhuman creature.’ He eventually gets a brain blast - join the army, then run at the first opportunity! Sadly, this plan is ruined when he enlists and Superman happens to be there as well, wearing a uniform. He declares he just couldn’t bare to be parted with Norvell.

Supes. My dude. My main man. You have got to stop psychologically tormenting these people. Supes. Dude. Why this. I don’t even have the words.

The new recruits get sent to the front. Norvell wonders whether Superman is trying to get them both killed; Superman plays coy and doesn’t give anything away. He then states he doesn’t understand why Norvell makes weapons when it means that thousands will die. Norvell’s reply? Men are cheap, munitions are expensive!

A shell flies overhead and explodes. All the soldiers drop flat to avoid the fragments. Norvell, sweating, states that this is no sane place for a man, and that he’ll die! Superman, in full sass mode, notes how when it’s his own life at stake, his viewpoint changes.

Honestly, I’m coming around to Superman’s idea here. Why don’t we just make all the people making money off of weapons go to the front lines? Senators and other people of power included! I, for one, definitely think that it would go a long way towards maybe cutting back on our stupidly large military budget, which could be put into more valuable things like, uh, pretty much anything besides the military.

Soon enough, the troops are making camp and settling in for the night. The sentries are puzzled by a dark shadow, but ultimately dismiss it as a bird. Turns out, it was Superman, out of his uniform disguise, speeding off towards the enemy camp!

The enemy officers are discussing how impenetrable their lines are, just for Superman to peek his head in with a camera in hand, asking them to smile for the shot. He then disappears again, leaving the officers to rally the guards to fruitlessly search for him.

Not too much later, Clark Kent is in the local post office, sending a package off to… the Evening News in Cleveland, Ohio? Not the Daily Star? I suppose if he didn’t want Superman tied to Clark Kent, then he’d be careful to not have the image he took as Superman tied to the place where Clark works… but then how does he explain where he got the pic? Did he just send it anonymously? Then again, this is well before social media made information sharing easy and instantaneous, so like, it’s not like the enemies would be able to tell anyone that it was a weirdo in spandex and not a generally shy, wimpy reporter who somehow snuck his way in, got the shot, and got out.

Man, I wonder how Lois would feel if she saw that snapshot and thought Clark got it. We know she thinks he’s an absolute wet rag of a man and can’t imagine him taking a risk a day in his life, but that shot? That’s the kind of shot she would get. Or at least, later incarnations of her, wherein she’s willing to throw herself off of buildings in order to get her scoop.

Speaking of Lois! We shift our scene over to the hotel where both Lois and Lola are staying. Lois is trying to chat with Lola, but Lola is being carefully uninformative. And can I say here that I love how their color schemes are completely inverted to one another? I mean, I know old comic books had limited color palettes to print in, but still, there’s definitely enough color that the choice made here was deliberate.

Army officers enter the hotel, the owner quickly meeting them. He asks what’s wrong; they state ‘official business.’ At that moment, Lola, suddenly panicky, slips into an elevator, and hides a document in Lois’ room. Which, like, either means that door security isn’t a thing in San Monte, or Lola slipped the door key from Lois (and then returned it??), or she could have lockpicked her way in, I guess.

I know, trying to logic out a comic book bit, I’m a dumbass. You all should have known this already, I’m willing reading and liveblogging golden age comics.

The officers explain that an important document has been stolen, and that they need to search the rooms. The owner gives them permission, and soon enough, all the rooms are being methodically gone through. Lola makes sure to come off as annoyed and unaffected while talking to the officer in her room.

As to be expected, the document is found in Lois’ room. The officers place her under military arrest, despite her protests of knowing nothing about this. In what seems like no time at all, she’s put before a judge and found guilty, with the punishment for espionage being an execution at dawn.

Clark overhears the news while in disguise at the military camp, nearly at the same time Lois is being brought out for the execution. Lois, even facing death, is protesting the whole thing and proclaiming her innocence.

Superman rushes across the miles, almost faster than the eye can see. The officer in charge raises his hand to order the troops to shoot-

And once again, in the nick of time, Superman saves Lois Lane from the machinations of others. When the guards stop shooting, Superman lifts Lois into a bridal carry and leaps over the wall. The troops, baffled, tell him to stop, and that this is impossible. Superman snarks his thanks for letting him know.

Lois, meanwhile, is in shock - she’s once again been saved by Superman! Superman jokes with her about his still playing the role of gallant rescuer. She asks him what manner of being he is, and he tells her to stop asking.

Like, dude, my man. This is Lois Lane. I know that this is very, very early Lois, and that this is the 30s, but like. You have to realize that you just gave this woman a rawhide bone to chew on named ‘Superman’s mysteries,’ and by hell or high waters, she WILL get to the bottom of this.

Anyway, Superman briefly stops in order to handle a torturer mid-inquisition. How he handles it? By bodily picking up the man, hoisting him overhead, and throwing him like a javelin into the distance. The man's protests are shut down with Superman telling him to go to hell, calling him a devil; as he’s tossed, all he can do is wail piteously as he disappears into the distance.

That man is dead, you fucking know it. And like, it’s not like I personally care, but then again, I’m pretty sure this is like the dozenth death threat so far, and we’re only on issue two! Superman, what the FUCK, my dude?

Superman unties the captives’ bonds, taking their profuse thanks with grace. He wishes them luck, then gets back to getting Lois to safety - which, like, she had to have witnessed all that, right? What in the world did she think in seeing all that? What would her article even look like if she published? How is she STILL wearing her heels despite the past, like, handful of hours or whatever?

All mysteries we may or may not have answers to one day soonish.

Superman eventually sets Lois down near the Baronta, advising her to return to America. She asks when she’ll see him again; he replies that he doesn’t know - perhaps tomorrow, perhaps never.

Based on what I know of comic books, Lois Lane, and Superman comics in general, I’m leaning a bit more towards ‘probably every issue from here on out.’ But, you know, that’s just my guess.

With all that side plot out of the way, we return to our main story, the tormenting of Norvell. Only, as it turns out, exciting developments have occurred while he was away! And by exciting, I mean the anti-air guns are going, due to an enemy aviator harassing the camp. Which, what, no backup? I don’t know much about aviation between WW1 and WW2, but I feel like flying solo is not the safest decision, especially with one hand holding a fucking shotgun while the other is steering. But what do I know? Comic book logic.

Also, as an aside, I am laughing because I can’t believe the issue cover is somewhat relevant after all - there is, in fact, a plane involved in these shenanigans! Truly inspiring.

Anyway, Superman leaps to the attack! For the first time in all history, a man battles an airplane single-handed!

The plane crashes into him and, unsurprisingly, loses. The airplane falls to its doom. Meanwhile, Norvell has seen the crash and is convinced that this is what finally killed his nemesis. Which, once again, have to admire the sheer confidence this man has in the worlds’ ability to kill this inhuman fucker. Truly the model on which all future villainous delusions are based off of.

Sadly (for Norvell), Superman comes in for a landing right after, spooking the hell out of Norvell. Much like Greer before him, he’s cracked - he wants to go back to the US, he’s grown to hate war! Superman agrees - so long as Norvell stops making weapons.

Norvell presumably agrees, since he’s soon out of uniform and back on the Baronta for the return trip. He vows to himself that the most dangerous thing he’ll make from now on will be a firecracker.

Superman is pleased with his progress; only one more thing to do, and his mission in San Monte will be finished! He then proceeds to kidnap both the commander from the military he was with, and the head of the opposing army. They’re confused and scared, and demand to know what he wants from them. He tells them he’s ending the war by having them fight each other. When they try to protest, he tells them to fight - or else he’ll take care of both of them.

I think that’s another death threat, so the total count is like… an even dozen at this point. Christ, OG Superman was a feral bastard. Probably something to do with being raised in an orphanage instead of with kindly old farmers in Kansas. Man, what an Elseworlds concept to explore…

The commanders are baffled - why should they fight> They aren’t angry with each other? When Superman asks why the armies are battling, neither of them seems to have an answer, which like. I know it’s supposed to be a commentary on all war being pointless and stupid, but them not even having a flimsy excuse is another level of wild. Superman decides to give them an answer - they’ve only been fighting to promote weapons sales. So why not just shake hands and make up?

They do so (I would argue under some duress), and the war, presumably, comes to a halt. Incredible. Wonder how long that will last.

Clark Kent soon after returns to the office and reports to his editor. The editor informs him that, while he’s been gone, there’s been no Superman sightings. Maybe he’s retired? Clark disagrees, saying that he has a hunch Superman will make an appearance again - soon!

With that, the second issue ends (or at least, the Superman part of it. Anthology comics are a bit wild, but they were the norm back then, so.) What a ride. Gotta love that whole ‘fuck war and everything to do with it’ mentality that went into this story. Considering this is before WW2, I have to wonder now how things will change when that particular conflict kicks off in earnest.

As a fun little ending bit, we have an advertisement to end off the page!

Wow, it’s like steroid ads before there were plentiful steroids! Incredible. And sadly, it’s working, less because I want the physique, but more because I want to know whether there’s actually any kind of exercise routine / recommendations, or if it’s just a tease for some kind of storyline.

Anyway, that’s a wrap for that. Next time, the ongoing adventures of Superman. How many death threats will there be? Even I don’t know.

#dc comics #superman #action comics

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

"Truth crushed to the ground will rise again." April 11, 2023

Robert B. Hubbell

         The Nashville City Council voted to re-appoint Justin Jones to the Tennessee legislature after Republicans expelled Jones and Justin Pearson for demonstrating in the well of the assembly. The victory is a small but significant sign that MAGA extremism has crested because of its self-limiting flaw: A political philosophy based on hate, exclusion, and vilification of "others" will drive away people of goodwill who seek to live in peace, security, and safety—the vast majority of Americans. Although we cannot relent in our resistance to MAGA extremism, we can take hope from the fact that the disease is following the natural course of all infections. It is diminishing, slowly and incrementally, but diminishing, nonetheless.  

         Although Tennessee Republicans could have refused to seat Justin Jones when he walked triumphantly into the Tennessee assembly on Monday afternoon, they dared not compound their earlier mistake. They were chastened and defeated, embarrassed (silently) that their condescension and hateful words lecturing two Black leaders were seen across the world. Legislators who were recognizable only in small parts of Tennessee before last week are now recognized by hundreds of millions across the globe as the face of the old South—and the ugliness it stands for. Justin Jones was triumphant. The people were triumphant. Democracy was triumphant.

         We should savor the joy of Jones's victory, but we cannot deceive ourselves about the path ahead. Tennessee Republicans have learned a lesson—they cannot be explicit in exercising racial animus to achieve anti-democratic means. They will return to the shadows of backrooms and private clubs, but it is too late. They have been exposed, and the eyes of the world are upon them.

         When Justin Jones returned to the Tennessee assembly floor, he delivered an uplifting speech in which he thanked Republicans in the chamber for reminding his generation of fundamental truths:

I want to thank you all for awakening the people of this state . . . particularly the young people. For reminding us that truth crushed to the ground will rise again. That what you intend for evil can be used for good. That the abuse of this body will not happen in the comfort of silence. That the struggle for justice is fought and won in every generation.

         A national leader has emerged from a failed attack on democracy in Tennessee. Jones's speech upon his re-admittance to the assembly is here (Justin Jones 4/10/23 speech starting at the 45 second mark). Jones's speech is well worth watching in its entirety and will bolster your confidence about the future of our democracy—if it is in the hands of young leaders like Justin Jones.

Tampa Bay Times publishes a damning report saying that Florida omitted important data from report on the risk of myocarditis.

         What I am about to relate is an important story that deserves far more attention than it is getting in the popular press. The story requires moderate attention to detail—which I hope you will give it. In the end, it shows that Ron DeSantis issued reckless advice to young men to avoid taking the mRNA vaccine because of an alleged heightened risk of a heart infection (myocarditis). It turns out that the report issued by DeSantis's hand-picked Surgeon General failed to include data and findings that flatly contradicted the guidance issued by DeSantis. Now that the report has been discredited, DeSantis has done nothing to reverse his prior erroneous guidance.

         DeSantis appointed Joseph Ladapo as Florida Surgeon General. It was a curious choice during a pandemic because Ladapo was an anti-masker who wouldn't say in his confirmation hearings if he had received a Covid vaccine. Months after his confirmation, Ladapo produced a non-peer-reviewed report that listed no authors that came to the startling conclusion that the mRNA vaccine caused a significant increase in the risk of myocarditis in young men. DeSantis brandished the report as vindication for his evolving anti-vaccine stance and urged young men not to get vaccinated.

         The report was widely criticized at the time it was published because it did not provide critical information about the details of the study. In the absence of those details, it was impossible for other scientists to evaluate the validity of the report's conclusions. Although it took a while, the Tampa Bay Times obtained the underlying information and drafts of the report before its final publication.

         In short, the Tampa Bay Times discovered that the report omitted significant data that completely contradicted the finding of the study as represented by Ladapo. See Tampa Bay Times, Florida health officials removed key data from COVID vaccine report.

         The Tampa Bay Times described the significance of the omitted data as follows:

[T]he data on the risk of infection omitted from the published report shows that catching COVID presents a far greater risk for that same age group.

For Floridians ages 18 to 24, the incidence of cardiac-related deaths from infection was more than ten times higher than from the vaccine and more than five times higher for ages 25 to 39. That data was not broken down by sex.

The state epidemiologists who worked on the report also arrived at a different conclusion than Ladapo, the drafts suggest.

"The risk associated with COVID-19 infection clearly outweighs any potential risks associated with mRNA vaccination," one version states.

"The small risk associated with mRNA vaccination should be balanced against the much larger risk associated with COVID-19 infection," another version says.

         If the information in the Tampa Bay Times is correct, it suggests potential scientific fraud that would alarm any normal governor who urged his constituents not be vaccinated against a deadly disease. But DeSantis hasn't addressed the issue and won't unless he is pressed by reporters. If it is true that Florida purposefully omitted critical information that contradicted DeSantis's political narrative and medical guidance to Floridians, someone should be conducting a criminal investigation. Tell a friend.

The mass shooting in Louisville, Kentucky.        

         A mass killer assaulted and killed former co-workers in Louisville, Kentucky on Monday. Four employees were killed and eight were injured (including one Louisville police officer). See WaPo, Louisville bank shooting leaves 5 dead, 8 wounded. Like the recent shooting in Nashville, the state's governor was close friends with one of those killed in the shooting. Governor Andy Beshear held back tears as he described the death of a life-long mentor and confidant. In Tennessee, Governor Bill Lee's wife was scheduled to have dinner with a teacher on the day she was killed in the Nashville mass shooting.

         There are more than 400 million firearms in America, and they are being freed of regulation at a rapid pace. Although I am not a statistician, it seems inevitable that more guns plus less regulation will result in more gun crime and more gun deaths. And, statistically, those gun deaths will touch the lives of political leaders who spend most of their time engaged in policy debates about gun policy. But losing a friend, mentor, confidant, or child is not about policy. It is personal.

         It seems incontestable that there is some level of death in a mass killing that would coalesce the competing parties to set aside their policy differences and act to protect Americans. Let's hope that we do not need to wait for an event so horrific that overwhelms the deaths of innocents we witness on a regular basis. Republican Governor Bill Lee and Democratic Governor Andy Beshear now share an uncommon bond: they have lost close friends in mass killings. Perhaps they can find a way to start a conversation around their shared grief.

Drug companies enter the debate on mifepristone.  

         The ruling of Judge Kacsmaryk repealing FDA approval of mifepristone was a legal first. A single judge overruled the scientific conclusions of the FDA regarding the safety and effectiveness of an FDA-approved drug. The record before Judge Kacsmaryk consisted of junk science peddled by religious zealots and provided no valid basis for second-guessing the FDA's conclusions. But Kacsmaryk didn't care; he just needed a record, no matter how sloppy or outlandish or falsified upon which to base his order banning mifepristone. He is betting that it will take years to unwind his ruling and cull through the scientific garbage on which it stands.

         The ability of the single federal judge to overrule the FDA's conclusions regarding the safety and efficacy of an approved drug grabbed the attention of the pharmaceutical manufacturers. They invest billions in research, development, and marketing, all predicated on the assumption that FDA approval will mark the end of the drug approval process���not mark the start a campaign of religiously motivated litigation before a captive judge in Texas.

More than 400 representatives of drug manufacturers have signed a letter protesting Judge Kacsmayrk’s decision. The remarkable letter is here: In support of FDA's authority to regulate drugs. It deserves to be read in full, although it says in part:

On Friday, April 7, a judge with no scientific training fundamentally undermined the bipartisan authority granted by Congress to the Food & Drug Administration to approve and regulate safe, effective medicines for all Americans.

If courts can overturn drug approvals without regard for science or evidence, or for the complexity required to fully vet the safety and efficacy of new drugs, any medicine is at risk for the same outcome as mifepristone.

         Kacsmaryk's ruling is equally atrocious on questions of law. On that front, I again recommend the analysis of Mark Joseph Stern in Slate, The Lawless Ruling Against the Abortion Pill Has Already Prompted a Constitutional Crisis. More on that topic in future editions of the newsletter.

Robert B. Hubbell Newsletter

#resist #protest #Judge Kacsmaryk #FDA #Robert B. Hubbel Newsletter #Robert B. Hubbell #gun violence #corrupt judges #Tennessee three #political cartoons

[elminx]

A few notes on surviving tough Chiron times with an personal example

Since Chiron stationed retrograde yesterday, I want to talk some about the ways that its retrograde effect can show up in our lives. I'm going to use an easy and relatable experience from my own life this week as an example - remember that Chiron may show up in a similar or completely different way, depending on your own trauma.

Yesterday afternoon, my eleven-year-old cat went into the kitchen and proceeded to make the most horrible pained yowls while sitting underneath our kitchen table. She's a mouthy cat so her making noise is not unusual - but this is a very unusual noise. I thought that she was dying, or, at the least, that we were about to take a trip to the emergency vet. I called my partner, they came home, and she got up and acted excited to see him. Fucking cats.

(Sidenote: she does have a regular vet visit scheduled now as she was obviously exhibiting signs of being in pain - but she pooped the smelliest shit afterward and coughed up an eight-inch hairball in the middle of the night so I'm guessing she was in pain from that, better to be sure though)

The thing is, on December 2, 2010, my seemingly healthy five-year-old cat died at my feet. In minutes. There was no saving him. The vet said that he either had a heart attack or a brain aneurysm. In 2010, I was not the Minx that I am now. I had been repressing all of my emotions since I was a child (when I was taught to by my other who didn't want to handle having an emotional daughter). The cracks were starting to appear but I was still using disassociation as a primary means of coping with life.

Additionally, I worked as the Front End Supervisor for a major retailer and it was the middle of the Christmas season. That job wouldn't have given me time off to mourn a family member during the busy season, let alone a day or two to deal with the loss of a pet. I would have just been out of a job that my partner and I needed to pay our bills and keep ourselves afloat.

So I kept on going and I worked all the way through it - and I probably prided myself for not breaking down and being inconsolable about a very significant tragedy (he was a very special pet to me).

I'm very happy that my baby appears to be okay. We'll bring her in for a checkup (and she probably needs some teeth pulled, le sigh) but I think, given the circumstances, she is mostly fine now. But I've gained a lot of awareness in the last twelve years and once the immediate fear and reaction started to fade my immediate thought was: Minx, why did you think that you cat was going to die?

Sure, she was obviously in pain. And watching your pet in pain is really, really difficult because there's nothing that you can do about it. But she was alert and did not in any fashion act like my cat did when he was dying. That's when I realized how much pain I was still holding onto from that event.

That is what Chiron does - it highlights those old wounds that haven't been tended well enough to close over and heal. We all have them for one reason or another. Some of them which may never heal, no matter how much work we do.

Even so, Chiron teaches us that it pays to be aware of these forever (or very hard to heal) wounds. This is the basics of Chironic shadow work - not to endless return to things that will retraumatize us, but to know our own wounds well enough to know when something is triggering those wounds. To be able to separate the "then" from the "now". When you realize that what you're feeling is a reaction to something that happened in the past, you can put it down, and you can separate it from what is happening in the now.

I deeply understand that this is not easy work but if you have a strong Chiron aspect in your natal chart or you are going through a major Chiron transit, it is work that will likely be forced upon you, whether you are ready for it or not.

If this is you right now, here are some tips to help you through it:

Give yourself the space to feel your emotions and/or grieve. You can do this by yourself or with a trustest Other - whatever feels most right for you. If you need to, do this under the care of a professional therapist.

Remember that you are not your emotions. Emotions are feelings inside your body that are happening to you. You can just let them go and tell them to move the fuck on. Phrases like "I feel sad" help because you are acknowledging that your emotions are happening to you rather than over-identification of your emotions ("I AM sad").

The sign of your natal Chiron may give you some insight into how to disperse the energy/emotions that come up during a transit. Earthy Chiron natives tend to need to ground out their emotions, while watery types may need to use water to work through it, and so forth.

Use your best self-care techniques. For me, this includes nervine teas, rose quartz, and healthy whole foods. What does that mean to you?

Hydrate. Crying is dehydrating. Plus, water moves things through us - quite literally. This is especially important for people born with Chiron in a water sign.

Write it down to get it out of your head. You don't need to keep it or show it to anybody. Don't fuzz the details - write down the truth and the whole truth as you are seeing it/feeling it right now. Don't hold back. You can burn it afterward if you want to.

Chiron stations retrograde for a couple of months every year or so, so this transit is business as usual. That said, because of where it's sitting and its connection to other points in the natal chart that are very active now, we are all feeling it quite strongly this week. Its most affecting cardinal signs (Aries, Cancer, Libra, and Capricorn) and fire signs (Leo, Sag) between 10-25 degrees for any personal planet. If that's you, know you are going through a Chiron transit currently and that the universe is encouraging you to level up your emotional processing skills.

You can always look at the type of aspect that it's making, and to what planet, for greater insight into how this journey is likely to play out in your own life right now. (I do this as part of my Transit Chart readings - available through my Ko-Fi site)

For the rest of us, the Chironic energy will wane as we move away from the date of its retrograde (7/19).

#witchblr #words #mine #astrology #Chiron #Chiron in Aries #Chiron retrograde #chiron transits #healing through astrology #chiron and shadow work

[tamayokny]

thoroughly convinced that 2023 is a terrible year and that it needs to end

#mads makes a text post #death ment in tags -> #so uh #found out this morning that a family friend passed away last night #not sure on details but it has to be related to the major heart attack he had earlier in the week #he managed to pull through - had to get some stents #but he said he was doing fine when my parents ran into him and his wife yesterday #then my dad got a call from a mutual friend what happened #so my parents went to go see his widow along with mutual friends #we're all shocked and upset #i've been at home all day in disbelief #like... #can't believe this happened #first grandpa and now a man who is like an uncle to me? #2023 please stop harming me my family my friends and everyone else

[jimothysomebody]

An Entry, "I want to be here."

I once read somewhere that the Christian God tends to punish people “by that through which they sin”, one of the examples they presented was the biblical plagues unleashed upon Egypt, that it was a sort of mockery of their theology, of the animal gods they worshiped, which he used to wreak destruction on the ancient kingdom. Cruel, fitting, poetic. I suppose it would be a fitting and poetic plague upon myself to perhaps have my vanity be met with a melanoma, supposing that is in fact what this blemish on my face is which only just today appeared. After frantic googling, I've surmised that it could, well, be any number of things, many very plausible. Vitamin deficiencies, broken capillaries, related to my antidepressant, etc. etc. I've never been terribly optimistic. Cancers, including melanomas, seem to be rather common in my family. My father, his father and aunt, my mother's father and a nephew of hers, a sister of hers as well. 6 people all the last 3 generations, and those are only the family members we're in touch with. My grandfather, as I understand it, had melanomas in addition to leukemia. In it's earlier stages it's apparently very curable, with the survivability after diagnosis seeming rather promising. I'm not much of a gambling man, but the odds are rather favorable, in spite of the unfortunate circumstances.

Once again I'm pondering my mortality, though I suppose it's somewhat different this time after having doing so before. Most recently when I had covid, I was fortunate enough to have been vaccinated in April of 2021, but when I contracted covid it had already been incubating when I got my first booster last November, and I wasn't particularly optimistic that was going to change much, but after my symptoms began rapidly improving within 3 days, including the steady recovery of smell and taste within a week of a positive test, within a week of having lost them entirely, I wasn't too worried I'd end up on a ventilator, if I would have any lingering effects it would have been in small clots in any number of major organs, which to my knowledge I thankfully never experienced. Later X-Rays would also prove my theory that the only impact it had on my lungs was a very brief bout with pneumonia related to the sinus symptoms I was having, there was no pulmonary scarring, my lungs were fine.

In 2010 into early 2011 I watched my fathers health rapidly deteriorate after being diagnosed with stage 4 glioblastoma multiforme, a type of brain cancer. The doctors were surprised to see his hadn't metastasized from elsewhere but rather originated in the brain. After his heart attack, he lost a drastic amount of weight. After being diagnosed with cancer, the steroids he was put on increased his appetite, and he managed, to my surprise, managed to gain much of it back. His face changed over the course of his treatment, he seemed to rapidly age after months of chemo and radiation treatments, he lost his long red hair at a rate that he decided to just have it buzzed. I'd prefer to not go into the gruesome and haunting details I remember from that period of my life but... I'd much prefer to never deal with such a hell, nor inevitably feel the guilt of having anyone need to care for me. I don't know what fate I'd prefer but... I don't want to be any sort of cancer patient. I don't want to look like some grey, balding, toothless shadow of myself. The treatments, the unfortunate side effects of them, the dependence on others, and the endless outpouring of attention, sympathy, pity, people clinging and clutching to me in a sort of white knuckle death grip trying to anchor me to life, to their lives. Jesus I don't know how I'd cope, but I suppose I'd have little say or choice in the matter.

And, disturbingly, there may be an almost sickening sense of relief in knowing, in having an idea that while I may be lucky the first couple of times... that at 29yrs of age that this may serve as a sort of presage that I may not live a very long life. I have struggled in living, simple existence has been a chore since childhood. I don't know of many people who prior to the age of 10 that sincerely had contemplated dying, wanting to die, wishing they were dead, just falling asleep and... lights out. It's the severity of the depression I've lived with, trying to cope with the stressors and circumstances of my life. While in recent years things seemed to have calmed down, I love living, I love my friends, my family, my animals, but it feels as if some sick part of me has woken up with this and is keeping a menacing watchful eye on how the situation develops from here. Ultimately, it is my desire that it's just my pessimism in conjunction with my paranoia and hypochondria, that it's any number of innumerable benign ailments or explanations. I want to be here. I want to be. I want to. I want.

[nothinggold13]

Stranger Things 4 thoughts coming at you over a week since I finished the season:

‘Bout to be more Controversial than pineapple on pizza, but... I don’t care for Eddie. I don’t hate him or anything, but he makes me uncomfy. His personality makes me anxious. Not a fan.

I do have deep feelings over the wasted potential that was him and Chrissy, though.

You just know in another world they would have discovered the music thing in time to save her, and he would have literally played her a song himself to break her free from Vecna. (:

Moving on.

ARGLYE THOUGH. THE REAL STAR OF THIS SEASON.

WHEN HE MAKES THE GOSH DARN HEADSTONE OUT OF A PIZZA BOX??? I DON’T CARE THAT EVERYONE CALLED IT DUMB OR THAT THE MOMENT WAS MOSTLY COMEDIC: THAT ACTION SHOWED ARGYLE’S FREAKING HEART, AND I LOVE HIM TO DEATH.

THEY BURIED A MAN AND ARGYLE SAT THERE AND THOUGHT, “BUT HE DESERVES TO BE REMEMBERED.”

THE. ABSOLUTE. STAR.

MY DARLING, DEAREST BOY.

Can’t believe how dirty they did Jancy this season!!!!!!

Ok, no, I actually have hated the way they’ve handled Jancy since the literal moment they got together in season 2, but now they’re just setting them up for failure!!!!

Fully expecting them to break up next season, (though I am holding on to the one singular shred of hope that is them ACTUALLY COMMUNICATING and becoming stronger for it in the end).

And, my goodness, if they break up Jancy just to make Nancy get back together with STEVE???

There will be RIOTING.

I love Steve!!! I love his growth!!!! I love him and Nancy developing a friendship!!!!

BUT WE HAVE LONG SINCE MOVED ON FROM THEM AS A ROMANTIC COUPLE NARRATIVELY AND I WOULD RATHER STEVE DIE THAN SEE HIM DATE NANCY AGAIN.

(That might be overdramatic. I haven’t decided yet.)

Nancy and her guns???? Love.

The show is actually about Kids on Bikes, and if you could SEE how excited I was during the bike scenes----

HOPPER WITH A SWORD

HOPPER WITH A SWORD AND NANCY WITH HER GUN AT THE SAME TIME

Literally why was the last episode 10 hours long? It literally could have been split into parts.

Okay I am actually OBSESSED with the Concept of the basketball boys. Like, I realize they are highkey villains (or, at the least, antagonists), but in another context, they would literally be the heroes and I love that for them.

“Oh, my girlfriend just got murdered! Guess we better solve her murder and battle an evil cult! GO TEAM!”

Honestly iconic.

This wasn’t their universe, but the PREMISE of them is!!! Fabulous!!

“YoU’rE tHe HeArT mIkE!!!” literally no

Also the end of episode 4 (I think?) had me highkey crying actually, like, that was CINEMA

The speech about good people wanting to help!!! Paired with Lucas escaping the Basketball Boys!!! All of that happening!!!! Goodness!!!

(Don’t actually remember the episode number but I think that was 3 or 4.)

I get that Max was relating that song to Billy but are you REALLY telling me there’s not a SINGLE OTHER SONG that is powerful enough to save her from Vecna??

I’m not saying that because I don’t like the song!! I have enjoyed it very much!!!

BUT MAX HAD TO LISTEN TO IT ESSENTIALLY ON REPEAT FOREVER, AND I’M LIKE??? REALLY GIRL??? YOU HAVE NO OTHER MEANINGFUL MUSIC???

I would like to just state for the record that I am one of potentially 6 people who can’t get over Steve/Robin as a ship, so they’re still kind of killing me a little.

Them having secret conversations across the room in a crowd. Steve saying he would date her, if circumstances were different. Robin saying his name first when she was getting attacked in the Upside Down. Help.

Don’t worry, I know it will never happen, but I just...

I’m a little hung up on them.

THEY DID THE THING IN SEASON 3 WHERE THEY GET SCARED AND ACCIDENTALLY HOLD HANDS, OK??? ALL THE ST SHIPS DO THAT, PRETTY MUCH.

I will try to control myself.

OH. A really fun thing is that the only major spoiler I saw before watching was that the orderly was 001 (and was also Vecna)

Like, I literally avoided spoilers so well that I didn’t know Max died for a freakin’ minute there!!

BUT knowing about Vecna made watching the season very exciting because, like, I knew he WOULD be evil... but I didn’t know if he had always been evil.

Like... every scene I was like... “Does he care about Eleven, or is he trying to manipulate her? He genuinely seems to feel for the other kids right here-- hmmmm. Is he actually helping her escape? Oh, no, she just offered her help; he’s definitely gonna manipulate her into killing some people. WAIT, NO, HE JUST WANTS THE THING REMOVED-- OH WAIT AGAIN!!!!”

(Obviously the answer is he was evil the whole time.)

(But it was fun trying to guess whether that was the case or whether something had made him evil between the time El knew him & he became Vecna.)

Oh, ok, the other spoiler I heard but avoided any details of was Eddie’s death

And I just gotta say

That it was absolutely STUPID

“I didn’t run this time” BUDDY

The decision he made to run?? To stay in the Upside Down, but to run away and buy everyone some time? THAT WAS HIM MAKING A HEROIC STAND

Him deciding to stop running and face the bat creatures head-on?

LITERALLY SO STUPID, AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE???

He made it sound like he was being a coward for running, when in that moment, running was literally the bravest and most helpful thing he could have done. He was buying them time! He was being a hero! He wasn’t running away from his problems; he was doing a job!

And then he stopped and was like “I’m not a Real Hero unless I Get Killed instead!”

Absolute buffoon

(He did sort of grow on me in the last episode. As a whole his personality was still icky to me, but he was a lot more subdued and I could appreciate him more. “Chrissy, this is for you,” was----- yeah.)

Side note: when are we going to talk about the fact that Dustin is literally the best one????

He is the best child. He can do no wrong. Angel baby. Love that boy.

(The REAL heart of the team, let’s be honest)

OKAY AND the one scene where they’re exploring the house and Steve’s trying to be all cool and knowledgeable or whatever and Dustin’s just basically laughing off everything he says???

10/10 most realistic depiction of being a Cool Older Kid when the younger kids who look up to you start growing up

(Had a 15 year old make fun of me for having never had a boyfriend)

(I’ve known her since she was, like, 4)

Oh. Also? JOYCE AND HOPPER

LOVE

......Is that all my thoughts?

Probably not.

OH WAIT THE PART WHERE DUSTIN TELLS EDDIE’S UNCLE THAT EDDIE “FOUGHT AND DIED TO PROTECT THIS TOWN”

BUDDY

PUBLICLY, THAT WAS AN EARTHQUAKE

YOU’RE TELLING HIS UNCLE THAT EDDIE FOUGHT AN EARTHQUAKE???

Love that, 10/10, not even trying

(No it was a real sweet moment but it was just so funny to me because of the public context of the entire incident.)

To be perfectly honest, the only thing I cared enough to watch this season for was actually El & Hopper’s reunion.

All the reunions, actually, were the best part of the entire thing

But El & Hop’s made me extra DKJSJLSJDLKDSK, you know??

Except I’m literally obsessed with the fact that everybody else literally watched them pull up, saw Hopper get out of the car (ALIVE), and had to NOT REACT so that he could sneak in and surprise El

My sister and I were joking about what that must have looked like

I loved it

ANYWAY

I may have had more thoughts, but I think I’m gonna call it

Those were some of the biggest feelings I had about Season 4

(I think I may have liked it better than season 3 which is encouraging because historically I have liked the show less and less with each passing season)

So yeah

If you read all of this, here’s a thousand Cool Points

#stranger things #stranger things 4 #stranger things spoilers

[casliveblog]

Custom Toonami Block Week 165 Rundown

Spy X Family: It’s the final battle for Yor’s cruise ship arc and I kinda like how they aren’t pulling any punches, like she had to be stealthy before so they had some pacificst takedowns but the majority of these people in this final gauntlet definitely died. The whole episode is basically one long boss rush action sequence with Yor fighting all the assassins underneath the fireworks which is a pretty cool setpiece. At this point Yor’s crossroads of destiny story arc is coming to a head and she’s actually afraid because not only is she dies will she be leaving a family behind but if she even gets severely hurt they’ll have to pull her out of Loid’s house and pretend she got transferred so she’s kind of having a crisis of faith about whether to be an assassin anymore while also holding back to avoid hurting herself so she’s not really fighting her best when the samurai guy comes to kick her ass. Still she’s able to pull herself together and tell herself that she’s fighting for the people close to her so there’s less evil in the world they’ll live in (I still doubt the odds that someone that’s been an assassin for about two decades has killed exclusively evil people that absolutely deserve it but whatever she needs to tell herself). There’s also a small side story with Yuri getting sick and specifically getting the shittiest brand of herbal tea because it reminds him of Yor’s terrible tea which is pretty funny.

Inuyasha: This episode is kinda weird because we’re literally like 1-2 episodes away from the end of the original series and this one sets up a whole fuckton of plot threads that won’t get resolved until The Final Act and makes it so you kinda need a refresher before going into The Final Act so like why did they decide to end it on this specific arc, I get the feeling the show just kinda reached a breaking point where they couldn’t do any more filler for as long as it was taking for the manga to progress. Anyway, following up sort from the parasites last week, only tangentially related is a demon mountain that has a secret stone that can hide demonic aura completely and Naraku fucking steals it and decides to jump Kikyo. Like Naraku seems to be ridiculously good at hiding since the only times they find him are when he comes out to attack someone and wants to be found or when he’s laying a trap so idk why he cares about hiding himself or his Heart Baby at this point given none of the five factions that hate his guts have any clue where he is at any moment. Still it’s kinda funny how since we left Inuyasha’s Dad’s Grave Naraku’s been like ‘fuck Kikyo, gotta find Kikyo’ and we have a whole arc about how hard it is to find Kikyo and Kohaku just kinda… trips over her in the woods and Naraku uses his new stealth rock to jump her and then uses Weezing’s Smokescreen to get away when Inuyasha’s group show up even though he’s literally immortal at this point there’s no reason for him to run. The demon mountain gave Inuyasha’s group some crystals that track his stealth rock which ironically makes what Naraku’s using to hide himself the best way to find him. Still after some minor obligatory ‘Inuyasha talked to Kikyo how dare he have a strictly business conversation with his ex idk’ drama, the group starts finding zombie demon chimeras because Hakudoshi’s been experimenting doing Mahito’s soul transfiguration shit to make the perfect demon guard body for the Heart Baby which seems like a lot of work given Inuyasha’s able to just Wind Scar/ Adamant Barrage it like everything else even if they get away. Now this kinda fucking kills me, Hakudoshi sends flesh tentacles into Miroku’s robe and has a brief fight with him and instead of just… you know, stabbing through his defenseless enemy he has the tentacles roam around inside Miroku’s robe to grab the stealth rock seeking crystals and harmlessly steal them, like are they even trying to kill anyone that isn’t Inuyasha anymore? Feel like the others would be dead five times over if Naraku’s gang bothered to acknowledge them at all. But yeah that’s where we’re at, entering the final little adventure and they just dumped Naraku making a body and stealing a stealth rock for his heart, Hakudoshi doing soul chimera shit and a half dozen other plot threads in our lap that will get absolutely no payoff for five years if you were watching the original run.

Yu Yu Hakusho: It’s the last episode before the epilogue and the fight is kinda disappoint tbh, idk what it is but the Demon Tournament fights just haven’t had it, though it is kinda funny that the pinnacle of demonic power just devolves into Yomi and Yusuke putting all their energy into their fists and punching the shit out of each other, like they’re not even punches that are that strong they just have glowing fists for doing normal-ass punches. Still, the aftermath of the fight is pretty nice, Yusuke actually losing and Yomi winning because of his son, it’s a good way to show how the tables have turned and how Yusuke’s opponent is now the one fighting for his loved ones (though Yusuke still gets the friendship boost and becomes ‘definitely a new power level take our word for it it’s not Sacred Energy but it’s essentially no different’) Also the tournament is won by one of Raizen’s friends who makes a ‘no fucking with humans’ policy his campaign slogan and Yomi and Mukuro were too tired from their previous fights to beat their next opponent which like… for all the shit they pulled in the Dark Tournament arc they at least let them rest between rounds or use healing magic or some shit except for that one round where they were like ‘okay next fight’s… right now, go’ like imagine if Toguro was the semi-finale fight and then they just had to like immediately fight Chu’s team or some shit and lost like that’d be some bullshit, Yusuke’s all grown up and rigging the rules in his favor like a real adult. It’s kinda funny how much of a vacancy Kuwabara not being here leaves like I get he has no place in a demon tournament but they have to inject what he would’ve said into many parts of this episode because having Yusuke’s most important ally miss the finale is also kinda bullshit. I also kinda don’t understand the rules here like Enki puts up a ‘no fucking with humans’ rule and Koenma says he’s not gonna see Yusuke again until he dies for real but Yusuke still talks about coming back to Demon World sometime and having his Dark Tournament pals visit and like… isn’t that shit against the law now? Idk. Kurama tells Hiei to fuck off and burn his own bridges if he doesn’t wanna open up to Yukina and we get the casual reveal that the whole anime is a marketing stunt by Koenma, Botan and Ogre to sell Yusuke’s greatest hits so to speak like what an odd note to end on, like I don’t think it changes anything but it’s such a weird fucking joke to pull right before the finale.

Jujutsu Kaisen: It’s time for the Gojo smackdown hour once again and this episode had the ominous aura of those ‘we’re giving a lot of foreshadowing to a character’s backstory and relationships because they’re about to die’ episodes like you’d see in Naruto where we give Kisame a three episode flashback to make us feel something about him dying. Of course Gojo dying isn’t even remotely on the table at this point, like that’s not even what the bad guys want they just wanna throw him in the Jimmy Neutron Hyper Cube. Gojo squashes Hanami like a bug and the other two can’t make much headway until Mahito shows up with a literal trainful of mooks and makes Gojo reenact the scene from Futurama where Fry drinks a hundred coffees while opening his Domain just enough to give everyone a mild coma instead of killing them since he’s pragmatic enough to not fall for hostage tactics but still doesn’t want to actively kill anyone himself. Now this combined with the sudden hypercube and the dramatic revelation that Kenjaku is controlling Geto’s corpse is enough to make Gojo’s brain stall for long enough for the hyper cube to grab him. I think they’re embellishing a bit since I don’t think Gojo’s just gonna stand there for a full minute but we did kinda just do a lot of time dilations shit but yeah I spoiled myself on this part because I had no clue what I was watching at the end of the movie (also dunno how Kenjaku grew Geto’s arm and shit back considering Yuta did do a full Uryu vs Mayuri on him and Kenjaku implies that if Gojo hadn’t done an Obi-Wan and not killed his corrupted best friend he couldn’t have made it this far. It’s just kinda funny that Gojo has to claim that everything about Geto is the same but he can tell in his soul it’s not him when it’s like bro the guy is stitched up like the doctor from Nightmare Before Christmas no duh. Like ‘Aww, what gave me away? Was it the stitches? It was the stitches wasn’t it?’ And Gojo claims that even without him Yuta’s gonna come kick Kenjaku’s ass like in the movie and like… wow way to throw everyone else that’s actually here including the real main character under the bus. Kenjaku’s just like ‘bro that temporary movie power boost bullshit ain’t gonna fly, this is canon, bitches’.

Also side note I just kinda like how the bad guys are always just hanging out playing games when they’re discussing evil plans like idk it doesn’t make them more likeable per se like I don’t like any of these guys but it gives their evil scheming more flavor. Since I was on the record of saying I was glad JJK had bad guys that were just horrible dicks with bad motives as opposed to Attack on Titan and MHA being like ‘we deserved these terrorist attacks due to the faults in society’ I like that JJK’s villain motives are ‘bad things should be the only things’ and I stand by that, their motives are still stupid despite them showing a bit more comradierie like I don’t think it’s enough to make them sympathetic but it’s enough that it keeps them from being flat, it’s a good balance.

Zom 100: It’s been a while, hasn’t it? When we last left off, Akira finally got to his hometown and we set up the Bizarro version of his crew that has a way too on the nose “BUT EVIL” version of his backstory. The majority of the episode is populating the little higurashi-style village Akira’s parents live in with small stories and people that we’re gonna feel really bad for/want to save when everything inevitably goes to shit, this is still a zombie show after all, can’t escape the Survivors Seek Sanctuary, Engage Enemy loop entirely. Plus the little tour does set up the plot points that’ll be the town’s biggest vulnerabilities. Akira also has a nice little chat with his dad where he elaborates on the whole finding a dream thing, he basically has Senku’s backstory but Taiju’s booksmarts so becoming an astronaut didn’t exactly pan out but he doesn’t regret seeking it or where he ended up because dreams are what makes a person feel alive in the end, it’s a good little topper to the message Akira’s been pushing since the beginning, kind of a more down to earth approach to following your dreams just in case there isn’t a zombie apocalypse that breaks down society as a whole freeing you up to live a life of whimsy with scantily clad anime girls, just in case. Meanwhile Higurashi enacts his plan and his plan is… ‘fuck those guys’ with ‘those guys’ being whoever he’s currently looking at. I mentioned this last time I reviewed this show but Japan seems to be weirdly adverse to talking about its systemic issues and makes anyone that has problems with the system a cartoonishly evil entitled asshole that just wants to watch the world burn or just kinda does a ‘toughen up and get through it’ mentality, like I’d say Akira is a foil to that but he didn’t really face any of the problems of society so much as it kinda fell apart around him so it’s kinda hard to take the commentary with any edge to it other than ‘shit sucks, here’s zombies’. But yeah Akira and Higurashi do end up having their faceoff and the funny thing is their bucket lists both have the exact same amount of items on them and I read through both and Higurashi’s list isn’t THAT different from Akira’s in some spots, like a lot of them are just ‘murder murder murder’ but there are some that are just like ‘buy cool shit’ which is what Akira was doing in some of his more materialistic entries. Like something weird about Higurashi’s group is that as dark and abusive as they are, they seem to want make sure everyone gets eaten by zombies instead of actively killing anyone themselves, like one of them has a fucking gun and is just shooting it in the air, that may change but for the moment they don’t seem to want to actively murder anyone, just murder by proxy through the zombies which is still shitty but it’s a weird place to draw the line. Akira rightly tells them off that you can do what you want but you can’t just go around stopping people from doing what they want which is what makes up the bulk of United States Supreme Court cases so that’s kind of a sticky moral but it’s a little more clear when your bad guys are literally just ‘I wanna kill people and blow shit up because this dude I met in college seemed happier than me’ but yeah, it’s showdown time.

Ranking of Kings: Man we have a lot of finales today don’t we? We’re really close on like half these series but this is the only one where it’s the straight-up last episode. Anyway… FINALLY, PROGRESS, like jeez I’m kinda more mad the put one episode of story progress at the end of this series of filler but it’s just been so long since I’ve been excited about this series I don’t care. Desha finally gets into the Ranking of Kings vault and it turns out after a layer of fakeout prizes designed to weed out the greedy kings, the real-ish prize is… a wish from a demon. We just had that though like several characters in the series have had that and it doesn’t seem worth all the effort of being the top of the ranking, as powerful as it is there are clearly other avenues and it still comes with the curse of twisting a demon child and the bounceback monkey’s paw effect that always happens unless you literally have their head I guess. So Desha wishes to restore Ouken at the cost of all of his own memories and just kinda becomes a bum on the side of the road that Bojji and Kage… just kinda pass right by. Ouken gets to show off why it was good to revive him and is a fucking badass breaking into the Ranking vault and fucking KILLING A GOD by pissing himself which is way cooler than it sounds. We don’t really find out what’s going on with the Rankings vault but the shadowy observers of the vault are people that Ouken regards as ‘innocent life’ and immediately halts his rampage and even puts his life on the line to kill the god to protect them so I’m guessing they’re some sort of former kings that have been set at the task of being imprisoned in the vault for some purpose and have avoided being corrupted by it. Meanwhile Kage and Bojji have hit their destination at random RPG town and Kage reflects that Bojji is way too innocent to make it on his own and resolves to be smart enough to let him keep his innocence so he can do the streetwise stuff in his place because he doesn’t want Bojji to lose his trusting nature like he did which is a nice note to end on but another example of ‘setting up plot threads in the finale for some reason’.

Vinland Saga: Einar fucking tanks all the farmhands and gets them to run off and the rest of the episode is Thorfinn’s coma dream. I like that even though there’s explicit theological metaphor going on here it’s not like Thorfinn’s in a real death’s door situation, like this isn’t him literally falling into hell it’s just how his mind is interpreting his current struggle. He initially sees his dad but Thors is just like “I know you been fucking up, killing people and shit’ and he falls into a chasm that’s a very grim depiction of what Valhalla sounds like with everyone just murdering everyone all the time, though Askeladd shows up and tells him that’s just how the world works for people who can only use violence. It’s basically Thorfinn’s disillusionment with his warrior culture and how an afterlife where people fight all the time sounds really shitty to him at this point since he didn’t like doing it when he was alive and living in a world full of senseless wars is just as bad. He’s feeling pretty shitty about decking the farmhand last episode and feels like he’s regressing back to someone that just kills his way out of all his problems, it’s one of those progress isn’t linear moments that shows why Thorfinn would benefit from some modern psychology if he could live another thousand years or so. But yeah it’s a very neat scene where the bodies of Thorfinn’s victims become the platform for him to rise out of the pit of violence since he can’t exactly bring them back but he can always stop being shitty. Thorfinn wakes up and tells Einar he won’t ever hurt someone again and this is going to be a weird series if it’s just Thorfinn Steven Universing his way out of ancient Denmark, because that’s a very tall order. I definitely admire the message and the resolve and definitely killing people is bad but if Thorfinn’s really gonna never lay a finger on anyone again he’s gonna need the best Talk No Jutsu on the planet or just never run into a guy that just wants to murder people again because that WILL happen and I’m not ready to do Morgan’s character cycle from Walking Dead all over again, they already did it like five times in that show so I’m curious to see how the writing maintains Thorfinn’s pacifism while not looking like it’s selectively only giving him conflicts he can talk his way out of.

I don't have anything planned for next week to replace Ranking of Kings and with several other series ending within the next couple weeks I'll start thinking of new shows to watch but I'd be willing to let the rest of the month be smaller blocks for the time being until I can find some stuff I really want to watch.

#ooc #Toonami #Custom Toonami Block #Spy X Family #Inuyasha #Yu Yu Hakusho #Jujutsu Kaisen #Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead #Ranking of Kings #Vinland Saga

[sarnews]

2,000 Athletes Had Fatal Heart Attacks Since Jab Rollout – Media Blackout

Since the jab rollout the number of athletes dropping dead from heart problems has soared to unprecedented levels.

These professional athletes are supposed to be among the fittest people on the planet. So why have thousands of them in the past two and a half years suddenly collapsed with inexplicable heart conditions? 

Since early 2021, at least 1,884 cardiac arrests or other serious issues have been officially recorded among athletes. 1,310 of those athletes died suddenly. The unofficial number is likely much higher than that.

An ethical media would be highlighting these deaths on the front-pages, pulling out all the stops to investigate just what was going on. We live in a very different world now.

Good Sciencing has been maintaining a continuously growing list of the young, healthy athletes who suffered major heart-related emergencies in 2021, 2022, and the first half of 2023.

According to the publication, all of the athletes on the list share one common factor: They suffered sudden serious heart problems after receiving the toxic mRNA COVID jab.

Slaynews.com reports: As of April 2023, Good Sciencing had recorded 1,884 athlete cardiac arrests or serious issues since January 2021.

There are another 55 cases that Good Sciencing is still investigating or awaiting further information.

Good Sciencing has yet to record and investigate more recent incidents such as the four New Zealand rugby players.

These four rugby players, reported by the New Zealand Herald last week, are also an addition to Mark Crispin Miller’s list.

Since January 2022, Crispin Miller has been recording “died suddenly” cases worldwide that are reported in corporate media in a particular week, according to The Exposé.

In his latest compilation, he recorded 57 New Zealanders who were reported as unexpectedly or suddenly losing their lives between 19 and 26 June.

It’s important to note that Crispin Miller makes no attempt to investigate whether the incident is related to Covid shots.

The list merely records relevant details as stated in news reports.

For example, a man in Auckland died after suffering a medical event while in police custody.

Last Saturday, a man was taken into custody for unlawful interference with a vehicle.

“The man was transported to the Auckland District Custody Unit, however, on arrival officers became concerned for the man’s welfare as he appeared to be suffering a medical event,” police said.

Officers immediately transported the man to hospital but he passed away a short time later. “No age or cause of death reported,” Crispin Miller noted.

In another tragic incident noted by Crispin Miller, a class 12 student of a school in Kolkata, India, died after collapsing on the campus.

The girl suddenly collapsed after the assembly session around 9.30 am.

“She was then attended by the school doctor who found her pulse rate to be very low,” a police officer said.

“She was declared brought dead when taken to the nearby Belle Vue Clinic.”

A case was lodged in connection with the death and the body was sent for post-mortem.

“It’s still not known whether the girl was suffering from any illness,” the officer said.

“It seems that she died of a cardiac arrest, but the exact reason behind her death could be known only after the completion of the post-mortem.”

In Ukraine, a lawyer was killed in a “vaxxident” when he��suddenly died at the wheel.

According to local Telegram communities, an uncontrolled car rammed several parked cars in Odessa.

The deceased is a high-ranking law enforcement officer of the city R. Bershavsky.

No age or cause of death was reported.

In Russia, theatre and cinema actor Mikhail Lozhkin, died suddenly at the age of 36.

The cause of death was not noted.

In Belgium, two soccer players “died suddenly.”

Former soccer player and ex-Red Devil Cédric Roussel passed away on Saturday at the age of 45.

He collapsed on a terrace in Bergen on Saturday, first aid was of no avail.

And Stéphane Demol, the former defender, died following a heart attack.

He was aged 57.

In Germany, on 21 June a truck driver was found dead in his cab.

He had parked his vehicle in a parking lot on Tuesday evening to spend the night there.

The parked truck with the corpse in the cab had been discovered by local residents, who alerted the police.

The man apparently died during the night of a natural death, police said.

No age or cause of death was reported.

In Iceland, last Saturday morning, emergency services were notified of a discovery of a dead person.

He was found on the ground by a bicycle.

A doctor was on the scene and pronounced the person dead.

No age or cause of death was reported.

On 28 June, Paweł Kotwica, a well-known Polish sports journalist, died suddenly during the final match of the Handball Champions League in Cologne.

He fainted suddenly when his beloved team from Kielce fought for the first place with SC Magdeburg on Sunday.

Several minutes before the end of the match.

Despite immediate medical assistance, his life could not be saved. He was less than 51 years old.

Mark Crispen Miller’s series of lists titled ‘In memory of those who died suddenly’ for the week of 19 to 26 June goes on and on.

It’s tragic to see.

Meanwhile, recent studies have shown that specific communities of people have not suffered any mysterious sudden deaths or heart attacks.

America’s Amish citizens have not suffered any excess deaths from Covid or any increases in cardiac arrests.

The Amish people completely ignored CDC guidelines during the pandemic.

Therefore, they didn’t vaccinate, wear masks, engage in lockdowns, or partake in any other restrictions.

Researchers have not been able to find a single definitive case of an Amish person dying from Covid after analyzing ten of thousands of people.

They also noted that they also could find a single unvaccinated Amish person with autism or several other conditions that affect the rest of America.

#latest news

[creatiview]

China said on Saturday nearly 60,000 people with Covid-19 had died in hospital since it abandoned its zero-Covid policy last month, a huge increase from previously reported figures that follows global criticism of the country's coronavirus data. In early December, Beijing abruptly dismantled its strict three-year anti-virus regime of frequent testing, travel curbs and mass lockdowns after widespread protests in late November, and cases have surged since then across the nation of 1.4 billion. A health official said on Saturday that Covid fever and emergency hospitalisations had peaked and the number of hospitalised patients was continuing to decline. Between Dec. 8 and Jan. 12, the number of Covid-related deaths in Chinese hospitals totalled 59,938, Jiao Yahui, head of the Bureau of Medical Administration under the National Health Commission (NHC), told a media briefing. Read more: China COVID peak to last two-three months, hit rural areas next Of those fatalities, 5,503 were caused by respiratory failure due to Covid and the remainder resulted from a combination of Covid and other diseases, she said. While international health experts have predicted at least 1 million Covid-related deaths this year, China had previously reported just over 5,000 deaths since the pandemic began, one of the lowest death rates in the world. Authorities had been reporting five or fewer deaths a day over the past month - figures inconsistent with long queues seen at funeral homes and body bags seen leaving crowded hospitals. The World Health Organisation said this week that China was heavily under-reporting deaths from Covid, although it was now providing more information on its outbreak. The UN agency did not immediately comment on Saturday. China, which last reported daily Covid death figures on Monday, has repeatedly defended the veracity of its data on the disease. On Saturday, Jiao said China divides Covid-related deaths between those from respiratory failure due to coronavirus infection and those from underlying disease combined with coronavirus infection. "The standard is basically in line with those adopted by the World Health Organisation and other major countries," she said. Last month, a Chinese health expert at a government news conference said only deaths caused by pneumonia and respiratory failure after contracting Covid would be classified as Covid deaths. Heart attacks or cardiovascular disease causing the death of infected people would not get that classification. Yanzhong Huang, senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York, said the tenfold increase in deaths announced on Saturday suggests that China's Covid policy reversal "is indeed associated with" a sharp rise in severe cases and deaths, especially among older people. However, he said, it was unclear whether the new data accurately reflects actual fatalities because doctors are discouraged from reporting Covid-related deaths and the numbers include only deaths in hospitals. Also read: 90pc of people in China province infected with Covid: official "In the countryside, for example, many elderly people died at home but were not tested for Covid due to the lack of access to test kits or their unwillingness to get tested," he said. 'Declining trend' Jiao, the Chinese health official, said the number of patients needing emergency treatment was declining and the share of patients at fever clinics who tested positive for Covid-19 was steadily falling as well. The number of severe cases has also peaked, she added, though they remained at a high level, and patients are mostly elderly. Officials said China will strengthen supplies of drugs and medical equipment in rural areas and beef up training of front-line medical staff in those regions. "The number of fever clinic visitors are generally in a declining trend after peaking, both in cities and rural areas," Jiao said. A sharp rise in travel ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, when

hundreds of millions return home from cities to small towns and rural areas, has fuelled worry that it will bring a surge in cases during a celebration that begins on Jan. 21. This week, the WHO warned of risks stemming from holiday travel. China reopened its borders on Jan. 8. Despite worries about infections, air passenger volumes in China have recovered to 63% of 2019 levels since the annual travel season began on Jan. 7, the industry regulator said on Friday. The transport ministry has predicted passenger traffic volumes to jump 99.5% on the year during the festival migration, which runs until Feb. 15, or a recovery to 70.3% of 2019 levels. In the Chinese gambling hub of Macau, Friday's 46,000 daily inbound travellers were the highest number since the pandemic began, the majority from the mainland, the city government said. It expects a Spring Festival boom in tourism.