how strange it is to be anything at all

Columbian Ground Squirrel Urocitellus columbianus

A member of the marmot family found in western Canada and United States. Social encounters sometimes are initiated with kissing behavior and the most common activity above ground is standing at attention. Residing in mountainous terrain and high plains in northern latitudes, they hibernate for 8 to 9 months of the year in burrows, which may be used for many years.

I had a big fanfic in a previous fandom where one of the big reveals was the involvement of a kind of infamous villain, whose presence was built up to and foreshadowed through the whole fic until his reveal without ever mentioning his name, so that the name drop would be a gut punch. It worked especially well because of who the villain was and his presence in that fandom space specifically (it's very complicated) and if it was an original story this reveal wouldn't work at all the way it was written in the fic. Because if you don't have a predisposition to think about that character and his relationship to the hero in a very specific way, then just seeing their name won't do much to you; the reveal and the recontextualisation it pushes upon you hinges on your previous knowledge of the source material.

I think it's an interesting tool fanfic authors are given. One of my favorite fanfic of all time is partially a re-imagining of its source material's canon, and something it does is introduce antagonists much earlier in the story or deepen npcs' stories. It then works to evoke a tragic irony that again wouldn't work if you didn't know the source material, and it's something the author obviously has a lot of fun with.

Qinheng-jun takes the shitty middle road. Protects this person from death but doesn't let them go free.

His brother raises his sons. We can assume they are constantly told, don't be like your father. If you are ever in this situation, take the righteous path.

It happens to Lan Wangji. He doesn't take the righteous path. He goes far further than his father. Prevents the murderer from being captured, injures his relatives himself to defend them. He is horribly punished for it, it's the worst thing that has ever happened to Lan Xichen and Lan Qiren, and it doesn't even work, Wangji's beloved still dies. Clear object lesson for Lan Xichen. This is the only, the greatest mistake Wangji has ever made. Lan Xichen can never, will never, make it himself.

Of course he would be thinking about it, after Wangxian bring their suspicions to him. Of course that's what's behind his conversation with Wei Wuxian about Lan Wangji and their parents. Of course he has to be trying to psych himself up about it, from the return of the Cloud Recesses pass to the final confrontation in the temple.

Even Wangji is reminding him that he knows what he has to do. And yet he doesn't want to, he doesn't want to, he'll take any other option, please-

This sick bleach shirt I made. Something to showcase my undying love for prehistoric cave art.

oh wow the glass-tower office buildings we constructed when we thought air conditioning and central heating would never have downsides...have downsides?

and we're still building them?

while the Victorian house museum where I work, with thick walls and small windows and big wooden shutters stays ~10 degrees above (winter) or below (summer) the outside temperature for days on end with no help at all?

uh. okay then

“In Time”

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.