Make what you can't not make.

"Specialina has rare squirrel blood passed down from the time a secret ancestor married a squirrel god. This gives her super powers to climb trees and find nuts!" 👍👍👍 Inheritable traits are a thing after all.

"Because Specialina has rare squirrel blood, she is entitled to rule over the rodent kingdom, and if she is kept from her rightful throne bestowed by her ancestry, the vile rat people will continue to corrupt the land." ⚠️⚠️⚠️ Oops, no one is entitled to rule over others, especially through genetics. And think about why a certain group of people is your designated "evil" race.

Rather than research the ways subversive women really acted, what they really said, what they actually cared about, the very specific ways in which women used to be treated, dismissed, infantilised etc, we get books and TV shows in which modern words, modern concerns and modern ways of being “a strong woman” are awkwardly squeezed into eras in which they make no sense.

Marianne Dashwood, living a plot perfect for a tragic death by illness to preserve the beauty of her first attachment and disappointment? Nope, she lives and loves with her whole heart again. Maria Rushworth, the fallen woman who cheated on her husband does not die for her crimes or even fall into poverty or prostitution, her father and Aunt Norris will provide for her. She is punished, but she's protected. Lydia Bennet? Her two sisters will provide for her for the rest of her life. Her husband's debt will not destroy her. Miss Bates? There is an entire community around her no matter what happens and her newly rich niece will provide. No woman is even left as a governess, Miss Taylor is Mrs. Weston, Jane Fairfax becomes Mrs. Churchill instead. Mrs. Smith is pulled out of her indigent state by Anne and Wentworth.

The only woman Jane Austen allows to suffer a terrible fate is off-page and dead long before the novel begins: Eliza Brandon. Eliza Williams, her mother's affair baby, is ruined by Willoughby. Colonel Brandon could easily have washed his hands of her and her affair child, but he doesn't. Eliza Williams is going to be okay. Her child will be okay.

Antagonist women never fall into poverty or die for their crimes, most of them are even in loving marriages. Fanny Dashwood is cruel to her mother and sisters-in-law, one could imagine her falling low in karmic retribution, but no, she's fine. Lady Susan, the delightful anti-heroine, marries a baronet at the end of her novel. No punishment looms on the horizon for her promiscuity and deception. Caroline Bingley has a loving family that will never turn her away and an independent fortune. Mary Crawford has a loving sister. Isabella Thorpe may have lost the big prize, but she has her mother. Never is a woman thrown to abuse or poverty, even when they have attacked other women. The only punishment would come from their own conscience or regret for the goodness they have thrown away.

love everyone contributing to the absolute hoard of dice for emily to roll

+ bonus: some delighted emily faces

I forget where I read it, but I'm pretty sure that at some point there were millions of elves on Middle-earth, and by the end of the third age, it's down to a few thousand, aka a very small portion. These are the elves that got told way back in the first age, "Hey, just so you guys know, you're totally welcome to come back and live in heaven now without any worries" and responded, "No thanks, we're good!" and then proceeded to not only hold to that but survived the next 7.000 years of bullshit including but not limited to:

Multiple continents sinking into the sea

orcs

dragons

balrogs

multiple wars with Sauron, a literal divine being

The rise and fall of several human empires

more orcs

wargs

a bunch of their territory being overtaken and burned to the ground

And all of their loved ones either dying or sailing, even though we know that grief can and will kill an elf

Like, you can't tell me that third age elves start showing up in the undying lands, where everyone has spent the last few thousand years basking in the magical equivilant of free therapy and probably have as many defence measures as a suburban coldesac, and aren't viewed as the most feral, twitchy, paranoid mother fuckers; held together by suspicion, stubornness, and at least 25 contingencies for every situation they've collectively encountered during their time in Middle-earth.

My favorite examples of feral, hyper-vigilant behavior include:

Elrond: Security clearance; sure, Turgon may have threatened to kill anyone who tried to leave his hidden city, but he also took an entire army out of and back to the city at once, and then also didn't realize that his own nephew snitched on where the city was. His security protocols sucked. Meanwhile, Elrond had hundreds of strangers coming in and out of Rivendell for over 3,000 years, at one point completely surrounded by enemies and full of nothing but a bunch of refugees, and Sauron still never found it. You can't tell me that he didn't have at least 25 security checkpoints on the way into his city(sorry, house-that means it's private property, right?), even if you didn't know they were there.

Galadriel: Paranoia; This woman was magically keeping track of everyone she knew and even did it often enought that she knew what to look for of those she couldn't directly track (gandalf) and looking into their minds and testing them. All while having Sauron constantly clawing at the walls of her mind, at least for a few years

Thranduil: Spite; it was basically only his sheer audacity holding his nuclear bunker- cough cough- sorry, I meant vast underground halls together, while his next-door neighbor was some cursed ruins, a dragon-infested dwarf kingdom, and evil, man-eating, car-sized spiders on his front lawn.

Haldir: he blindfolded the fellowship when they tried to enter his city (super secret hideout), need I say more?

Multiple examples of groups of elves jumping out of trees fully armed and ambushing anyone who wanders into their territory. And while the characters seem surprised to be ambushed, they don't seem surprised that elves ambush people in general, leading me to believe this is normal behavior.

Gandalf. Who has been to Rivendell a shitton of times, probably. Gandalf struggled to fimd his way in.

And in LotR, Elrond clearly controls Bruinen in a way to deter intruders

The siege of Rivendell by Witch-King's armies during wars with Angmar lasted 50 years. Rivendell is a house, not a fortress, and it lasted half a century.

This is highly likely to further exacerbate our water shortages and power outtages. The petition is organised by Syam Nath and our demands are to:

call on the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to suspend approval of large-scale AI data centres until comprehensive environmental, water resource, and infrastructure assessments have been completed, independently reviewed, and made available for public consultation.

The link: https://c.org/DBqKPGTcGx

I really hope that as a country we can actually organise protests and show up. I don't know how much a petition can weigh in on a decision like this and I don't know how willing people are to take the time out of their day to fight against this. This is all we have at the moment.

And a similar 10 year update from April 2026: Ten years after the Panama Papers, enablers and tax cheats are still being brought to justice - ICIJ

And here is an article on the specific ramifications on U.S. tax law and enforcement: Panama Papers 10th Anniversary: U.S. Tax Implications, IRS Results & Compliance Lessons For American Taxpayers - Tax Authorities - United States

And a BREAKING UPDATE: The trial of Yorgen Fenech, the man accused of masterminding the assassination of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia (put respect on her name) began on July 1, 2026 and is ongoing - you can go watch coverage of it.

The Degiorgio brothers pleaded guilty to carrying out the bombing and are serving 40-year prison sentences. The two suppliers of the bomb also received life sentences.

Others involved (middlemen, etc) have received a variety of reduced aentences and pardons based on their participation and testimony to take down Yorgen Fenech.

The former prime minister of Malta, Vincent Muscat, resigned and trials are ongoing.

The city is currently building affordable housing down the street. These units are for people who have been homeless, and are putting their lives back together. They aren't *just* off the street - say that's level one of rebuilding. These units are for people around level four. They have found jobs, they are working to have normal lives again. This man is fighting against this with every breath in his body, lobbying the councillors, reps, endlessly screaming at the BIA (Business Improvement Association) meetings, canvassing other businesses on the street - he won't stop yelling about how this is just going to be a crack den. It isn't. It's supported housing that works with the city and programs. Everyone else knows this. But this cis white man, every time no one agrees with him, screams louder. He doesn’t want homeless people to be visible, and he does NOT want them to be helped to get homes.

The people who are gonna move into the building thus far are lucky that the majority of us in the neighbourhood are not like this man. But it's just luck. There are lots of neighbourhoods full of people like this man.

Once in a BIA meeting someone asked him if he'd be happier if the community fridge was moved two blocks down. He said emphatically yes.

Way to admit you just don't want to look at people you deem less than you. Oh and this guy also keeps arguing that the landlords in the neighborhood should have more say in decisions, that their opinions should outweigh mere residents'.

Keep using your brain and trying that hard thing no matter how foggy. Feel stupid! It's ok! I promise you are not stupid. I promise your brain will appreciate it. And that with time it will be valuable that you tried.

It's so easy to lose a whole week to brain fog. But your brain and body don't just stop existing that week (though it can feel that way). It's so important to try to incorporate puzzles anyway. Cook a meal from a scratch, do a jigsaw, the wordle, sudoku, use your other hand, learn a new card game, watch a brand new show, do simple math equations, write words backwards, learn a new language (or even just random phrases from a few), play a podcast, read a fun article or magazine, try a new creative project. Something! To help you feel better longer and keep your brains synapses synapsing.

Find a way to push yourself into it. Ask a friend to do it with you, set a timer, build it into your routine, have a bunch of fun games on your phone, puzzles by the bed, set your google to open straight to wordle.

TO CLARIFY: neuroplasticity is magic. And CONTRARY to prior belief it does not just stop after like 25. The brain can recover in exceptional ways so if you feel behind, or feel like you lost so much of what you knew due to a deep spell of illness or depression or injury; it's never too late. Never too late to nuture your brain to a better state of health.

The real Sultan was a bit of a local celebrity, by all accounts, and in his retirement was taken around local horse shows as part of parades or opening ceremonies or what have you. So, when the art was designed, the locals and the artist both named it after him.

By the end of the collieries, the ponies came up to surface once a week. It’s worth noting, though, that for most of mining history, they were better treated than the human workers on multiple metrics; better fed, but also not sent into dangerous shafts in case of collapse. Mine owners were very open about it - ponies were expensive, but people were replaceable