beep boop

a visitor on the biodome!!

There's a line in the podcast that isn't directed at or even said by her (its said by Taako) but I feel like encapsulates her perfectly:

“Sometimes there aren't good decisions. Sometimes there's just decisions.” oh BOY does Lucretia make decisions.

Wiping out her found family's memories (particularly Taako's memories of Lup and Davenport forgetting everything but his own name), abandoning Cam in Wonderland, founding a Bureau that forcibly isolated you and ensures you will be forgotten, she has made CHOICES.

That said, they're choices I can see her perspective of.

Everyone was so broken by the events of the Stolen Century and the Relic wars; Lup disappeared, Taako declared he cared about no one but the IPRE and this is after they regain their memories but Davenport was ready to leave the world to its fate the second the Hunger arrived to have their little crew back. Lucretia wanted to stop the Hunger for good and her friends were just in no state to keep going at the mission so she took matters into her own hands.

Was how she did it horrible? YES. OBJECTIVELY YES. But like I can see her perspective on why she took the mission into her own hands. Justin put it best in The Adventure Zone Zone, she is opposite to Taako. She cared about everything to the point of hurting her found family while Taako cared about no one but his found family. They aren't automatically bad people for having these outlooks and honestly when you face a threat like the Hunger for 100 years, moral greyness is to be expected.

She is not a villain but I wouldn't quite call her a hero. She is the Director, someone who made a lot of tough calls for better and for worse.

She undeniably cared about the world and her friends, I mean just look at her interactions with the Tres Horny Boys tbh. She really does care. And that care is why she made decisions that ultimately saved and hurt a lot of people.

The thing that really sold me her character was that in the end she isn't entirely forgiven. Sure a lot of the IPRE forgive her but Taako blatantly does not. The story itself recognizes that she may be a well-intentioned person but good intentions do not entitle her to forgiveness. I think I would've found her way less interesting if they all just hugged it out in the end and forgave her. The fact she isn't entirely forgiven and she goes on to make the Bureau a charitable organization where she repents for her deeds is all incredible writing.

-the first baseman had no reason to chase Baéz, if he just stepped on the bag he was automatically out

-theres two outs, so if hes out, the inning is over. even if the runner on second base gets home, the run doesnt count. its not until hes safe at first that the run scores

-theres no specific rule in baseball about running backwards from first, just that you “cannot retreat to home base” meaning so long as if you dont touch the plate, its fine

-Baéz ran backwards to kill enough to get the run to score, and then stole and extra base on the base on the bad throw

-HE TOOK THE TIME TO UMPIRE HIS OWN PLAY AND CALL SAFE

Javier Báez (the batter, a Chicago Cub, wearing blue) has just hit the ball. His job is now to run around the bases - 1st, 2nd, 3rd, back to where he started (“home”), at which point he will have scored a point. In practice, he will probably stop partway, wait for the next batter to get a hit, and try to make it home from there.

The Pittsburgh Pirates (in white) are fielding. Their job is to stop the Cubs from scoring by getting them out, by various combinations of catching the ball and tagging people or bases with it.

The scoreboard (top left) shows that one Cub has already made it to second base, so he will resume running now that Javy has a hit. It also shows that two Cubs are out. If a third Cub gets out, their turn to bat will be over, it will be the Pirates’ turn to bat, and the Cubs can’t score anymore (for now, but that’s not relevant).

The Pirate at first base (the first baseman) has the ball. All he needs to do is step on first base while holding it before Javy gets there, and Javy is out. This is probably the number one most common thing a first baseman has to do.

He does not do it.

For some reason he starts chasing Javy, presumably trying to tag him with the ball directly. This is a perfectly legitimate way of getting him out, but also completely unnecessary.

This has never happened to Javy before. Unsure what else to do, he just kind of… jogs backwards away from him.

Meanwhile, the Cub who was at second base (Contreras) has made it all the way back to home. Because the Pirates’ first baseman has helpfully walked the ball back home, he can easily toss it to the Pirate at home (the catcher) who will tag Contreras out.

The catcher doesn’t tag him in time.

The umpire signals that Contreras is safe (not out).

Javy also signals that Contreras is safe, just for fun. He’s never been nearby when a teammate makes it home before, and he’s enjoying himself.

Notice that the score has not changed, even though Contreras made it home. That’s because Javy is still technically running to first base. If he gets out before he reaches it, the Cubs’ turn to bat is over, and nothing else that’s happened since he hit the ball matters.

Javy remembers this, and heads back to first base. The catcher throws the ball to another Pirates fielder, who is frantically running to do the first baseman’s job.

He doesn’t catch it.

Javy is safe at first. Contreras scores (although the scoreboard won’t change for a second).

Javy notices how far away that ball landed, and decides he can make it to second base before anyone picks it up and tags him out.

An offscreen Pirate throws the ball to second base, where another Pirate is ready and waiting to catch it, tag Javy out, and end the Cubs’ turn to bat.

He doesn’t catch it.

Javy is safe at second. The video doesn’t show it, but he will go on to score as well.

This should have been a very easy out for the Pirates, but through two dropped catches and one truly bizarre decision from the first baseman, they snatched defeat from the jaws of victory and turned it into two points for the Cubs.

After setting up a rudimentary website for CARP, the satirical, but still real company was offered a $15 million package of medical debt for $60,000.

Oliver explained that the debt was out of statute, which means it is the kind of debt that a collector can only continue to collect, but not sue the debtor for.

RIP Medical Debt is a charity (and therefore takes donations). They buy the rights to medical debt and then forgive them. So far they’ve forgiven over 1B in medical debt.