personal slice of the internet

So, companies are tracking you no matter what you do, but this specifically is something I care about deeply.

Essentially, when you share a link, sometimes it has extra data that tracks where it comes from and goes.

Opening Spotify, clicking the first item, and using the share button, I get something like open.spotify.com/track/4P0f1HTaA2UwtLJGryNgJZ?si=DBvbfihOSweU1KHj9Mib8w

That ?si=...........…. is the tracker. It tells Spotify who clicks on the link and ties it to you, meaning Spotify knows who your friends are even if you never follow them.

Similarly, if on Amazon or EBay in the browser, I get something like www.ebay.com/itm/146493392451?_skw=lenovo&itmmeta=............&hash=item................&itmprp=enc..............

And, similarly, everything after the question mark is tracking you. I had to blank it out because it was so long!

There is an exception for a few things (I.E. the v=..... on YouTube, but not the si=..... on YouTube)

The general rule is delete everything after the ? and if it breaks, add something back.

Ghost Dad: WE LITERALLY CHANGED OUR VOWS BECAUSE WE DIDN'T LIKE "TILL DEATH DO US PART"

i have a file or folder on my pc that i want to share with other people. let's call it gayshit.mp3

unfortunately gayshit.mp3 is 750mb and im not paying for discord nitro so i need another way to send it

i put it into qbittorrent and it makes a torrent file. this is essentially a very small file that points to gayshit.mp3 so other computers can find it. kinda like a treasure map

i send this tiny file to my friend, who loads it into qbittorrent. their computer takes a moment to find mine over the vast expanse of cyberspace and then (as long as my pc is running and the file is still where it should be), it gets copied from my hard drive to theirs

this is the cool part: if somebody else loads that tiny file, they can download it from both of us. if i'm offline but my friend is on, the third person can still get it. this also means that if two people have separate halves of the file, they can download the other half from each other. as long as some combination of people have the pieces between them, they can all have the whole thing.

crucially this does not require a server!!! you can just upload the file to a few people and as long as they keep it, it's still accessible. as long as somebody, somewhere is still connected, it's available forever. the only way it goes away is if everybody disconnects from it.

Pack of Beakers

Goth Beaker

The Beaker snitching and pointing out the photographer

The Beaker that’s about to unload on the photographer

The terminator strut before the ass whooping and you know he’s moving at speed because of the blur

‘DISCLAIMER! This is just my own PERSONAL OPINIONS on the OG show (and will be pretty much only talking about the original show and stuff). If you don’t agree on these thoughts that’s totally fine, maybe I need to fix my own perspective on things/get older and more experienced in life and my thoughts will change.

Iroh? Why is he written like that?!?!?

Iroh in the white lotus makes. no. sense! So Zuko is around 8/11 when Luten died, so iroh has at most 5 years to do several things (go on a personal journey because of dead son, reform from his genocidal upbringing, join the white lotus, and become grand lotus cause it doesn’t make sense if he does that later all, and come back home) before Zuko gets banished. Which at first glance, at most 5 years, seems like all of that could happen. But hat makes me kinda question the credibility of the white lotus. I know in canon they were made to be cultural exchange/ balance keepers, but now we’re in war for 100 years so we have different priorities that the show shows us! Why did they not take more of an advantage of having THE EX HEIR OF THE FASCIST NATION in your group. He should be your most valuable and protected spy. Ozai can’t really kill him (it might start an uprising), others won’t be majorly questioning him (only people who can question/disrespect him are his own family), and he can’t be ignored for meetings(iroh has actually been to war and is rather respected), so the old man can be a great spy. But then he leaves to join his nephew (if he wasn’t already a spy he certainly won’t be now!) After this I would think they might demote him! We all lose our best chance of saving the world cause he has to babysit? If I was jeong jeong I would beat his ass! And if we choose an older age for Zuko tone when Luten dies, 2 years, then it doesn’t seem like we have enough time to do any of that! It’s just a bit confusing for myself.

Another timeline confusion thing is about iroh and the last dragons. Now, I don’t have any problem with iroh meeting the ‘Fire is life’ dragons before he goes on his fascist ‘pilgrimage’. Him learning that fact only to use that knowledge incorrectly isn’t that bad. The thing is…it isnt really portrayed like that. It kinda seems like it’s supposed to be about how iroh was knowledgeable and wise and had goodness before the show started. And that just feels weird for me. Like we already have Zuko who is all about a character who had a good heart, why do we need another one when we can have a different type of guy (one who disregarded wisdom and used knowledge for evil only to regret it all)? Like I’m sure kids can understand or at least use learn this (cause this show’s TARGET DEMO IS CHILDREN WHICH SHOULD BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT). This is just how it came across for me.

Also it doesn’t feel like he’s fully redeemed himself. which is cool,  I understand that he has a ways to go to be better. But for some reason he doesn’t feel guilty, outside that scene on the boat.  And this, again, wouldn’t be that big of an issue of me, if the series (and some of the fandom) just didn’t ignore that he should be guilty. And he doesn’t have to be a ‘forever sad dog’ but it would feel better to know that he isnt just forever mourning his own son that he uses Zuko as a pseudo son coping mechanism. It just feels like he cares more about how he killed his son (understandable) than about all the lives he’s extinguished. And I know that it shouldn’t matter and that the audience shouldn’t think that hard on it. But I think that hard. And maybe this is just an issue I have because of my personality, but to know that all the redeemed, truly redeemed characters that were shown, both of them had ‘changed more because of someone in their life and less because of the humane reasons’. 

I will also add this very small pet peeve (that isnt that big enough to have its own section tbh so you can skip I guess…you can actually skip all of this if you want) i have. I wish there was more remorse in Zuko, as well, being shone in the show. If we’re going to the route of not really showing iroh have remorse cause we has bigger fish to fry, why can’t we do that with Zuko? Just like how iroh’s redemption seems more so Luten based, zuko’s is very iroh’s disappointment based. Like, I would hand wave iroh if we got to see more of a ‘I changed for others I don’t know all that well’ for Zuko . (AGAIN not to say that the whole redemption is bad or whatever.  I like that iroh is very protective and uses kid gloves on Zuko cause of his trauma. I like how, because iroh has shielded him so well, Zuko has a very easy decision to make at the end of book 2.) I just think it might have made a bigger impact on me (and make me feel like Zuko wasn’t gonna get assassinated after Aang left) if he bonded more with his subjects and saw how bad the war was for them (cause war is bad for everyone). Maybe (and this is definitely pushing it) some scenes where Zuko humanizes the earth kingdom more (like we have Zuko alone and his date and song, but maybe also seeing more of the effects outside of burned girls and meat shield sons? I know this is asking a lot, but I would like for him to see more of the absolute destruction war has caused on lives and culture.) And maybe this might get the guy to have more allies in the palace since he now has fire nation citizens who like him and dont think he’s a royal brat with a training accident scar who hasn’t been here in 3 years and joined the side of the enemy and has most likely been appointed by a foreign power rule over them. (yes I know the comics go over this a bit, but I didn’t read anything further then ‘the search’, which has its own problems, but like it’s just a thought ok?)

Romance here suckssssss (for everyone!)

No fan should be acting happy when the show does romance. They suck at the canon stuff and they suck at zutara. Which, this is a problem a lot of non romance focused media does. The canon ship is either a nothing burger or it’s a horror story that people pretend is romance, like if it’s gonna be toxic at least say it with your full chest! (Yes I’m still upset about Voltron, no we don’t have time to get into it) But the OG show is…weird about it in a unique way that has only been overshadowing by vld (again no time).

Like the fact that the show runners have publicly shamed zutara fans for not wanting kataang to be canon EVEN THOUGH THEY FUMBLED THE KATAANG! (For context look up ‘Avatar Book 4 SDCC’ to know what I’m talking about. And yes the did use fanart for this). They didn’t put enough effort into Katara and Aang yet still act like they should be proud! Cause what was season 3? Why is Katara getting kissed when she doesn’t want to, yet Aang never apologizes? Not even a little scene of that, just straight up brush it under the rug! Like they had little romantic development for them, and when they did Katara’s feelings never seemed to be more than wavering at best! Not to say there was nothing (the footloose party was good) but it didn’t have that much buildup and was more ‘I know they’ll probably end up together so whatever’

AND DON’T THINK I DONT SEE YOU ZUTARA! Yeah, I know that there a draft of the “Southern Raiders” episode that says that some wanted it be canon, but like that is a bad thing!!! (For context look up ‘zutara script’ or ‘southern raiders zutara script’ you’ll find it from some helpful zutara shippers.) Like, zutara is my only notp ( this is totally my own issue and not a fault of anyone else, hell it used to be my otp at one point!) so i should be gloating. BUT I CANT CAUSE I FEEL BAD! you guys deserved better! We have a Zuko who is still trying to unlearn genocide and is leading his colonizing country onto a better path, and you have Katara who is trying to revitalize her culture and homeland. Like even if they got together at the end, they would still have to address some of those issues, and after seeing how they handle a ship they love (kataang) I really don’t trust them. You also have to make sure that they get more time together in shipping scenes which they really just had like the cave scene in season 2, the episode in season three, and Katara healing Zuko in the finale (NO we don’t count the scene in the pirate episode, that shit felt like it was the colonizer x native version of ceo x y/n, CONTEXT MATTERS IN ROMANCE!). Like the script was for an episode that was aired late game! LATE GAME! where the fuck the build up? We don’t even have time to chill with them if that was a possibility for canon zutara! BOTH SHIPS DESERVE A SERIES LONG ROMANTIC BUILD UP THAT ENDS WITH THE MOST FEET KICKING, FANGIRL SQUEALING, SCENE EVER! STOP THE VIOLENCE STOP THE WAR that because of the live action is starting back up again. (Not so fun fact tho: I started ironically shipping zukaang cause I felt annoyed at both sides of this shipping war, only to later realize I actually liked zukaang a lot, even in reference to canon. Which is fairly normal since a lot of ‘bad romance but still add romance’ shows do same sex bonds well. Yes I am showing a vulnerable side of myself but like…blocking people online is free so whatever). I will kinda praise them on Suki x Sokka (not with Yue, I felt like that needed more Yue pov or more time to develop more than a teenage crush, but that is more a pet peeve so ignore if you wish!). Most of it is was ‘unlearn misogyny’ and ‘unlearn treated current partners a certain way because of past ones’, then we just have casual relationship (which I VERY MUCH LOVE), so it was fine/good… 

Ah yes the Azula thing we all know about it

We all have heard the talking points so I’ll be quick about it. The show made  a character that is communicated to the audience to be wise, caring, and generally intelligent (iroh) to say that Azula needs to go down in a harsh unsympathetic tone, like it’s a punch line (I mean it kinda was since Zuko set it up with the whole ‘I know you’re gonna say that she’s my sister and that we should get along’). Like that was a child (Zuko is 16, and Azula is his younger sister). It’s just a bit odd that in the finale no one questions Iroh’s take on a young girl. (Granted I like the whole of Azula’s breakdown from Ozai ‘giving’ her the fire nation to her crying chained up scene. I find her last scene so good and heartbreaking and empathy fueling. And that it makes sense that Zuko doesn’t reach out, especially after living with ‘my brother in a fascist’ iroh. Also he doesn’t have to forgive everyone in his life.) I don’t mind iroh projecting his Ozai feelings on Azula (like he leaves her to get worse after he ‘worst coping mechanisms’ his way put with Zuko and then doesn’t blame himself-STOPPING TANGENT THIS ISNT IN IROH’S SECTION!). But I agree that it was weird to have so much conviction about it, like maybe have a bit more sympathy to the child soldier? Worst part, is that the fall was a slow car crash that had people look away (i can’t get into ‘the search’ version of ursa), like iroh willingly left the younger child with the guy he has already realized is a genocidal dictator and if willing to burn his children. Which is a good character decision, but weird to have speak to your children audience. Like tell them some children are too far gone (personally I think, in real life, that everyone has the option to change and that not everyone does but ok Zuko reach your hand out for the moon killer and not your little sister that is crying and throwing up fire chained to the floor and abandoned.)

But what about jet? WHAT ABOUT HAMMA?

So…why are the colonizers (Zuko but more so Iroh) given redemption but not the radicalized colonized (Jet and Hamma)? Like, sure they took their anger out on people who weren’t the main sources of their trauma (Jet’s plan included civilian casualties and Hamma was imprisoning random Fire citizens who may or may not have been in the military) And, I don’t think that the people of a nation should all be punished for the actions taken by a nation. But it kinda feels like the show is very…white person ‘slaves shouldn’t kill slave owners’. Like they think no violence is the answer, when some violence maybe the only way to rise up against our oppressors. And yeah, Aang fights off Ozai, BUT IM NOT TALKING ABOUT THAT! THAT IS DIFFERENT! I’m talking about how any violence that isnt a cool fight scene or tactical war strategy is shown as not great. And I can understand showing people profiting off war for personal gain, or that some things can be solved by non violent means, but it doesn’t feel those things apply to them. Like, they have good reasons to strike back. But why are these two shown as never going after the big encampments? Only civilian areas? Why isn’t it stated if Hamma went after the southern raiders or her jailers after she left? Why does she stay in the fire nation after all this time and getting all this revenge on supposed randos? Why is jet not going after big hitters? I know it might be because they want to show how his rage in consuming him, or that he is thinking only in short terms and not in the big wider ideas, but still. These two were written by an actual humans, why write TWO characters that are generally the same (someone who was genuinely hurt by the fire nation, now taking revenge on fire nation civilians, and then given no real sympathy)? I just think that it’s weird that it’s written like that  (cause AGAIN this show’s TARGET DEMO IS CHILDREN WHICH SHOULD BE TAKEN INTO ACCOUNT FOR OUR DISCUSSIONS!)

Let’s end this with some interesting knowledge about the show so that it’s not all negative!

Ages is avatar!

We have 3 canon ages (ages that have been started in show). Aang is 12/112 as stated by himself. Yue is 16 as stated by her father. Zuko is 16 as stated by Iroh in season 1 and has been banished for 3 years (so around 13 year old). Every other ‘child’ character is implied to be around that age range with exception to Pipsqueak and maybe The Duke (Pip is apart of the freedom fighters, who are all children, but stays behind with the adults during black sun. So idk where he falls there, so maybe he is in between ages, like 17/18? The Duke seems younger or just possibly smaller than Aang. So maybe the oldest age he would be is 12?). Sokka is stated to be older than Katara. Azula, Tylee, and Mai are implied to be around the same age since they went to school together. Toph is generally implied to no younger than Aang but not older than katara. Azula can’t be too young since Mai has actively dated Zuko.

The old Nickelodeon website IMPLIED (aka stated but I take non main media things with grains of salt) their ages to be that Azula/Katara are 14 (Azula said to be 2 years younger than Zuko and Katara plain stated as 14), while Sokka is 15.

I just wanted to mention this because the mere fact that I have seen 2 separate accounts posting incorrect ages was kinda weird to see. Like did you not watch season 1 my guys? It was clearly stated Zuko was 16 and not 17/18. And yes this was before the live action and whatever ages they gave them. If it live action changed the ages and they were talking about that I wouldn’t care.