Blessed art Thou, o Lord, teach me Thy statutes

1. Promise everything.

2. Piss off everyone.

3. Deliver nothing.

I rewatched the first two films yesterday, and something that stands out to me is that it's really averse to presenting Auradon as having done anything actually bad. Sure, they built a prison island, but all the people there deserved to be there, and sure, a bunch of the people there now haven't done anything wrong, but the new king will solve that. And sure, he didn't bring everyone over, but the people who didn't get brought over are evil and dangerous and deserve to stay there. And when you factor in potential racial readings of the films - what with it being the United States of Auradon and Mal calling the Isle of the Lost her "hood" in the opening narration of the first film - it goes from awkward writing to having unpleasant political implications. It reminds me of Lindsay Ellis' Pocahontas video, where she notes that '90s neo-Westerns were sympathetic to Native Americans, but still had a good white protagonist so white audiences didn't have to feel guilty or complicit in historic atrocities.

Link to the article

Secondly, I remember Fr. Stephen DeYoung arguing (although I don't remember where) that St. Paul always intended to convert the emperor to Christianity, and with him the empire - then again, considering the central role sacred kingship has historically had in Orthodox Christianity, Fr. DeYoung has a pretty clear motive in making that motive.

I saw this when running newpipe. But wait, it gets deeper. I clicked on the details buttons and it said as of today, we have 83 days left until Google rolls out this new requirement for apps inside and outside of the google play store. If any developer disagrees with their new terms and fees, they will be blocked!

I'll share some of the info below:

Looks like they're trying to nuke the remaining privacy and freedoms we have left on the internet.

What to do?

-Get your developer friends to not comply to their new guides

- Sign the open letter on the site and take action by checking out the full resources list on their website as well!

To summarize, this is all daunting especially when you feel all alone with unfair and inhumane regulations comming out faster than improvements but we got this working together!

Share the link with your friends, family and anyone who will listen!

To spend their days working with their hands, in quiet prayer, and in daily song.

Lately were sung

Toads and serpents make their nests

Where the palmers did throng

Weep, weep, o Walsingham, whose days are nights

Blessings turned to blasphemies, holy deeds to despites

Sin is where Our Lady sat, Heaven is turned to Hell

Satan sits where Our Lord did sway, Walsingham, o, farewell

1. The court holds Google responsible for statements made by its AI, considering them Google's statements (search engines have limited liability for results in their engine as they're the words of other sites/companies/people), meaning when their AI lies/hallucinates they're liable for the defamation/harm resulting from those statements.

2. Google's defense that customers are generally aware of the lack of reliability and are responsible for fact checking was dismissed. As the court pointed out, that would "significantly diminish" AI Search's stated purpose and it can't be distinguished from Google's business practices/statements as a search tool.

3. Studies have found about 91% of Google's everyday AI responses are accurate, leaving millions of searches per HOUR with potential liability for falsehoods. 56% of correct responses weren't supported by the sources the AI listed. Both of which mean Google is now liable for a LOT more AI "errors."

4. Google was held liable for 80% of court costs in this case and this precedent is expected to reverberate around the world. This is a massive shift from the 3rd-party search provider role Google has previously played and it comes right as they've tied ALL searches to their AI search.

Monarchs historically grew out of warlords, and having a unified war-leader makes you better conquering other people and/or preventing being conquered. Relatedly, the main point of most historical aristocrats (European knights, Indian rajputs, Japanese samurai, Ancient Near Eastern chariot aristocrats, etc.) was to use their free time to get good at difficult, expensive forms of warfare (mostly mounted warfare) to make them militarily competitive with other nations with aristocrats and good at crushing peasant revolts. This is also part of why aristocracy began declining in the modern era, since gunpowder weapons democratised violence.

Like I already saw someone say in the notes, part of the appeal of the monarch is a right-wing version of the Tumblr revolution fantasy; the idea of someone who can enact all the policies you like and doesn't have to deal with compromise or democratic process.

For monarchy supporters in Britain (and presumably in Scandinavia, the Low Countries and Spain), with monarchs who hold little or no political power, the standard arguments are that the monarch is an important symbol for the nation to rally around and a major part of tradition.