If you are even slightly familiar with the sport of tennis, you have probably heard the name Novak Djokovic. One of the biggest stars of the sport, Djokovic’s professional achievements in recent years have outstripped those of his closest rivals and marked him out as a true tennis great. He’s broken or equalled just about every record imaginable, become the public face of the sport, and… oh wait. No. This isn’t an article that’s meant to be praising Djokovic. I already wrote that one.

Nah, this is an article about how Novak Djokovic fucked up.

MAJORLY.

And here’s your go-to tutorial on how! Buckle up for the longest and wildest tennis ride I’ve ever had the honour to be on.

Background Part (1): The History

So how exactly did Djokovic go from being known for his excellent backhand to being known as the face of antivaxxer sportspersons worldwide? This story starts far before the events of the past month. In fact, it starts all the way back in the early days of the pandemic, in April 2020, when Djokovic announced that he was “opposed to vaccination”.

Now to be fair, this was months before a vaccine was actually available. And moreover, Djokovic went on to clarify his comments, stating that he would keep an open mind, but wanted “an option to choose what’s best for my body”. He added that he wouldn’t be in favour of a mandatory vaccine requirement in order to participate in competitions or travel, and then added an interesting little tidbit – he said that he was “curious about wellbeing and how we can empower our metabolism to be in the best shape to defend against imposters like COVID-19”.

Uh. Our what?

That’s right. In a brain filled with tactical tennis genius, Djokovic had somehow also started harbouring ideas that the general scientific populace with describe as being ‘bizarre’. And these weren’t a recent invention, either. For years, it had been known that Djokovic openly pandered to ‘alternative medicine’; a few years ago, he delayed a minor but necessary elbow surgery for months, stating that he was “trying to be as natural as possible… our bodies are self-healing mechanisms”. When he was eventually f

Joan Didion, an eminent and inspirational US journalist, sadly passed today, aged 87.

I have Joan's packing list (from an essay in 1977) stored close to my template. I love that it sums up the adventure of travel as well as getting to the core of what you actually need for the sort of traveling you are going to undertake. The packing list is highlighted in bold in her prose below.

"This is a list which was taped inside my closet door in Hollywood during those years when I was reporting more or less steadily. The list enabled me to pack, without thinking, for any piece I was likely to do. Notice the deliberate anonymity of costume: in a skirt, a leotard and stockings, I could pass on either side of the culture. Notice the mohair throw for trunk-line flights (i.e. no blankets) and for the motel room in which the air conditioning could not be turned off. Notice the bourbon for the same motel room. Notice the typewriter for the airport, coming home: the idea was to turn in the Hertz car, check in, find an empty bench, and start typing the day’s notes. It should be clear that this was a list made by someone who prized control, yearned after momentum, someone determined to play her role as if she had the script, heard her cues, knew the narrative. There is on this list one significant omission, one article I needed and never had: a watch. I needed a watch not during the day, when I could turn on the car radio or ask someone, but at night, in the motel. Quite often I would ask the desk for the time every half hour or so, until finally, embarrassed to ask again, I would call Los Angeles and ask my husband. In other words I had skirts, jerseys, leotards, pullover sweater, shoes, stockings, bra, nightgown, robe, slippers, cigarettes, bourbon, shampoo, toothbrush and paste, Basis soap, razor, deodorant, aspirin, prescriptions, Tampax, face cream, powder, baby oil, mohair throw, typewriter, legal pads, pens, files and a house key, but I didn’t know what time it was. This may be a parable, either of my life as a reporter during this period or of the period itself."

Let it flow anywhere, in any length and in any genre, just have fun with it. Add to what was posted last or re-add to this starting chunk of muck.

It was a dark and stormy night.

The wind howled hellishly out of the north like a bereaved banshee, roaring over the moor, funneling its fuming ferocity down the valley toward the opulent manor.

The wretched gale and driving rain tumbled bits of flotsam, flora and fauna into the frigid air, creating a clambering cacophony of twisted debris hurtling headlong into the walls of the estate as if on some suicidal mission to find a modicum of refuge.

Inside the manor Percilla pouted. Thurgood and Eason had undoubtedly canceled their visit, since her butler had informed her

earlier that the bridge had been washed out due to the storm.

The only other route was a narrow, twisted trail through the moors of which she was told no sane person would dare venture at night, much less in this weather.

And they could be such cowards at times, she thought, for she so looked forward to a rousing game of whisk.

Oh, bother. Nothing left to do but get tiddly.

She poured the sherry herself, as she had dismissed the servants early. Pressing her voluptuous lower lip to the edge of the glass, she took a long sip of the amber liquid while giving a blank stare toward the immense fireplace.

Percilla watched impassively as the flames flickered fluidly, like dozens of Dante's dancing denizens, pirouetting upwards to a silent syncopated symphony.

She sighed and placed the goblet on the table, which now was adorned with a baby's bottom of crimson on the lip of the leaded crystal.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door . . . . . . .

Hi again. Three weeks ago I posted about a project I'm working on. For those who haven't seen it yet:

>So, I am embarking on an interesting project. I intend to experience the best art and media humanity has to offer before I die. Namely this is all the highly notable and interesting books, plays, art, music, films, TV shows, and video games. I guess you could call it a bucket list. I've been indexing it chronologically and downloading it to an external hard drive.

I then solicited suggestions for highly notable/significant ancient and medieval literature that I was missing from an early draft of what the list would cover. I got over 100 responses; it was clear I was missing a lot. So, I pretty much started from scratch, doing multiple sweeps of any pre-Renaissance literature, and incorporated many of the suggestions I received, ranging from missing individual works to missing authors and cultures.

I should also note that in order to prevent this list from becoming unwieldly, I am limiting myself to 10,000 entries total, forcing myself to take a more deliberate and top-down approach. So far, I have 261 entries for the time span 4000 BC to 1400 AD: 12 Ancient-era, 121 Classical-era, and 128 Medieval-era works. 251 are literature, 10 are music. In other words, 2.61% of the list is Medieval era works or earlier, which seems quite reasonable to me and leaves plenty of room for more modern works spanning across more mediums.

I thought I would share what I have so far before I begin work on more modern stuff. Note that bolded entries are in the top 1,000 works, the cream of the crop, the most notable of all. If you're following along with me and don't want it to take a decade or longer to get through the whole completed list, just sticking to the bolded entries will give you a good taste too.

Ancient Era (4000 BC - 1001 BC)

During the recent Direct Line, when I was asked about Russian-Ukrainian relations, I said that Russians and Ukrainians were one people – a single whole. These words were not driven by some short-term considerations or prompted by the current political context. It is what I have said on numerous occasions and what I firmly believe. I therefore feel it necessary to explain my position in detail and share my assessments of today's situation.

First of all, I would like to emphasize that the wall that has emerged in recent years between Russia and Ukraine, between the parts of what is essentially the same historical and spiritual space, to my mind is our great common misfortune and tragedy. These are, first and foremost, the consequences of our own mistakes made at different periods of time. But these are also the result of deliberate efforts by those forces that have always sought to undermine our unity. The formula they apply has been known from time immemorial – divide and rule. There is nothing new here. Hence the attempts to play on the ”national question“ and sow discord among people, the overarching goal being to divide and then to pit the parts of a single people against one another.

To have a better understanding of the present and look into the future, we need to turn to history. Certainly, it is impossible to cover in this article all the developments that have taken place over more than a thousand years. But I will focus on the key, pivotal moments that are important for us to remember, both in Russia and Ukraine.

Russians, Ukrainians, and Belarusians are all descendants of Ancient Rus, which was the largest state in Europe. Slavic and other tribes across the vast territory – from Ladoga, Novgorod, and Pskov to Kiev and Chernigov – were bound together by one language (which we now refer to as Old Russian), economic ties, the rule of the princes of the Rurik dynasty, and – after the baptism of Rus – the Orthodox faith. The spiritual choice made by St. Vladimir, who was both Prince of Novgorod and Grand Prince of Kiev, still largely determines our affinity today.

The throne of Kiev held a dominant position in Ancient Rus. This had been the custom since the late 9th century. The Tale of Bygone Years captured for posterity the words of Oleg the Prophet about Kiev, ”Let it be the mother of all Russian cities.“

Later, like other European states of that time, Ancient Rus faced a decline of central rule and fragmentation. At the same time, both the nob

Recommended if you like: vampires, creepy vampire children, the inherent homoeroticism of biting other men's necks, lush prose, immortal beings searching for meaning in life, toxic relationships and their fallout

I love vampires and am working on a vampire book myself, so I figured it was time to tackle a classic – in a bizarre coincidence, I just started reading the book the evening before the news about Anne Rice's passing.

#Review

• I don't usually read books for their prose, but I have to say that the absolutely delicious descriptions of the vampires, their cravings and their experiences are a core selling point of this one.
• When I say I like vampires, these are the type of vampires I mean. No shade on modern interpretations and creative spins on vampire myths, but this – dangerous, seductive, coffin-inhabiting, morally conflicted – is my shit.
• The book also reminded me of GRRM's Fevre Dream a lot, from parts of the setting to general vibes, to the melancholy tone... not sure if the resemblance is deliberate on Martin's part, but they definitely go well together.
• Claudia as a character (a five year old turned vampire, growing up mentally but remaining in a child's body) creeps me the absolute fuck out. Have you recently seen a five year old? It would have been creepy enough if she was like 10, but 5 is basically a toddler aaaaaarghg. (That's not criticism, this is very much deliberate and it works, I just kinda hate it a bit)
• Simon Vance does a stellar job with the audiobook narration. I don't always love him, but I definitely loved him in this.
• If there's anything I'd consider a real flaw, it's the pacing in the second half. Once the story leaves New Orleans, it lacks focus for a while (maybe partly deliberate?) and feels a bit slow as a result.
• This book is such a special mix of being sensual and sexy while having no sex whatsoever. I find it fascinating on one hand, but I'm also someone who loves books that do sex well, so like... love that this exists, but also pls give me books where vampires are this sexy AND actually sexual.

#Discussion

• I need to talk about just how gay this book is. From Louis' first descriptions of Lestat, to their (albeit toxic) relationship and them raising a child together, to Louis' falling in love with Armand... The text flat out says there's men in love with men, but because vampires are essentially asexual (physical gratification only comes from killing an

WARNING: Below has spoilers for WoT (book and show, all).

Edit: I want to be clear I am enjoying the show and want to see it succeed! I also believe things get better via feedback and criticism, and it's in that spirit I made the below post.

I've hesitated on writing this post for a few weeks. I've been looking forward to 1-06, as /u/mistborn said this was his favorite script. I'm feeling some disappointment with tone (and pacing) decisions in the series so far, and I guess I was hoping for 1-6 to alleviate my concerns. Unfortunately, it made them worse. It was the first time I felt like this was trying to be GoT-lite -- and fell far short.

I figure it can't hurt to share my feedback. I know that Brandon has been very vocal about his concerns on tone and I SUPER appreciate that he's shifted the needle as much as he has. I can't imagine what we would be watching without his involvement.

First of all, where I'm coming from: I'm not a book purist and am 100% cool with adaptations necessary to make the plot work. I gave Abel a pass, I gave Perrin's wife a pass.. Rafe's AMA proved to me he's a hardcore WoT fan and he's being deliberate with the adjustments that are being made. By far my favorite moment has been when the crew sings about Manetheren. Not a book scene. But we took the time to layer in some world and character building. I'd love more of this.

So, please don't think my criticisms here are similar to the fans complaining about any and all changes. I'm trying to be thoughtful with the feedback and my goal is to give Brandon Sanderson a bit more ammo when he goes to bat against GoT-type tone adjustments (as he has said he has done).

On tone:

One thing I really appreciated about RJ's prose was it was both PG-13 light hearted and innocent.. and incredibly dark. It made the dark moments (trollocs eating humans, fades raping women) stand out as that much more dark (though I appreciated the rape was implied not explicit).

By contrast, in the show so far, we have:

• Moraine telling Siuan to eat her out in a sexual act shortly after meeting the characters.
  • I wouldn't have minded this as much if it felt like a payoff from a relationship arc. As-is it felt a bit fan-servicey to me (though which fans, I can't say).
• Nynaeve, our healer who'd heal her worst enemy, trying to kill Lan with a knife.
• We see a completely (imo) unlikeable Thom. Thom, our rock, our hope, who had the boys backs.. his first action was to steal fro

I come out of lurking after months of inactivity just to post a hot take. But lately I've been unable to think of anything but The Great Ace Attorney any time I am even tangentially reminded of this fandom, and this is an opinion I will die on this hill for: GAA1-1 is overall weaker than 1-4.

First things first, the Chronicles are the best Ace Attorney games in the entire franchise BY FAR. Holy moly, I love these games with my whole being. Everything is woven together in the perfect way, even if the first game's initial release started off on a rough patch, but it was all planned to make GAA2 an absolute masterpiece. This is most definitely Shu Takumi's magnum opus and what he will be remembered by the most going forward in this franchise's history.

That said, nothing in this world is objectively perfect. Even I have a few gripes with one or two cases out of this ten, but they're all minor nitpicks. Like, if I were to rank them against each other, there would not be very much of a gap between each entry. That's how good all these cases are. Now, my dear fellows, let us begin.

-

If we were to examine the story progression across the two games, there are some pretty clear dips in the rising action throughout the first GAA, with some notable spikes upward. However, the greatest climax doesn't come until the second game, which goes to show just how long the last few episodes of GAA2 were built up. But set that aside, we're comparing 1-1 and 1-4.

Why would 1-1 be weaker than 1-4? It has a beautifully elegant introduction to the legal system of Japan, a firm establishment of several of the most important characters across these two games, and an amazing villain to kick off the two games' biggest mysteries. Meanwhile, 1-4 is largely forgettable, with incredibly low stakes even out of any Ace Attorney game, an assault victim who you don't even get to meet yet, and the actual truth of the case is just a marital dispute with an incredibly disappointing "villain".

But oh, I raise you a counter: 1-4 was saved by two titans of comedy and wit: Herlock Sholmes and Soseki Natsume. Also, this case just has such an important role in the overall story compared to 1-1 that it really isn't something that can be replaced by another filler case, like some can be in previous AA titles.

I brought up the point about rising action above precisely because 1-4 is a victim of context, placed between two relative peaks in the plot, so it naturally feels like a deep valley in com

###Precis

Hello all, I got around to compiling a comparison of the recently released White Album 2 translation to the original Japanese text. As a bonus, I've also included the original, old English translation which I took from the original thread here, as well as the extremely high quality Chinese translation which I and many others read WA2 for the first time with. I was able to extract the English and Japanese scripts with Textractor, but I had to transcribe the Chinese by-hand, so please let me know if there are any mistakes.

I already previously made a post describing what I viewed as some considerable issues with the English WA2 translation. In that post, I mostly discussed extremely obvious, self-evident sort of issues that are clearly visible from the English script alone. Here, I'll try to unpack a bit more some of my more subtle issues, having access to direct comparisons with the original text, and specifically discuss not just translation mistakes, but the quality of the prose and English writing overall.

Fair warning, this will be an extremely long thread with several direct examples. First, the line-by-line comparison of each text, followed by some brief comments with analysis and comparison. Please do keep in mind that with the exception of the text from the game itself, everything else is strictly my personal opinion, and you are absolutely welcome to disagree. I will still always be exceptionally thankful for the staff who put tens of thousands of collective hours of fan labour to deliver these translations, and who I can confirm are even now working to improve their work.

Moreover, all of these samples only come from the initial parts of IC. Please be aware that the first part of a translation should not be taken as wholly representative of its entire quality.

Lastly, I would highly, highly appreciate other folks to also chime in with their thoughts on the quality and accuracy of these translations!~

###Spoiler Warnings Ahead for the first hour of White Album 2.

###Scene 1: Unreachable Feelings At the Airport

Revised

Been thinking about posting something on here regarding the ever discussed themes of MBotF and accompanying works. Since there was a post recently discussing the concept of Nihilism in regards to the world of Malazan, I considered this to be an adequate time to make this post. These thoughts are not intended to be taken definitively, more so as an exercise in critical thinking and or perhaps a exercise in futility. Forgive the typos etc.

So the point of this post being that it seems to me that either Erikson the author or Varandas the character are either, confused as to what constitutes anarchism, are deliberately misrepresenting it or perhaps I am the one mistaken on the matter.

My thoughts were sparked after reading Forge of Darkness and coming across this passage.

Varandas speaking.

" ‘We were convinced of the inherent madness of codified inequity. All cooperation involves some measure of surrender. And coercion. But the alternative, being anarchy, is itself no worthy virtue. It is but an excuse for selfish aggression, and all that seeks justification from taking that stance is, each and every time, cold-hearted. Anarchists live in fear and long for death, because they despair of seeing in others the very virtues they lack in themselves. In this manner, they take pleasure in sowing destruction, if only to match their inner landscape of ruin.’ He moved out to stand beside her, huge and almost formless in the close gloom of the downpour. ‘We rejected civilization, but so too we rejected anarchy for its petty belligerence and the weakness of thought it announced. By these decisions, we made ourselves lost and bereft of purpose.’ "

Page 799 of the PDF and 504 of the Batam Press edition.

First a definition of anarchism:

Anarchism is a political theory that is skeptical of the justification of authority and power. Anarchism is usually grounded in moral claims about the importance of individual liberty, often conceived as freedom from domination. Anarchists also offer a positive theory of human flourishing, based upon an ideal of equality, community, and non-coercive consensus building. Anarchism has inspired practical efforts at establishing utopian communities, radical and revolutionary political agendas, and various forms of direct action. This entry primarily describes “philosophical anarchism”: it focuses on anarchism as a theoretical idea and not as a form of poli

A conversation between Duiker and a bard in the pheonix (Whose name is "Fisher"):

>Bard: "It's said you told the tale of the Chain of Dogs once, here in this very room."
D: "Once."
B: "And that you have been trying to write it down ever since."
D: "And failing. What of it?"
B: "It may be that expositional prose isn't right for the telling of that story, Duiker."
D: "Oh?"

...

>The bard leaned back, retrieving his tankard. "It begins with you," he said. "And it ends with you. Your eyes to witness, your thoughts alone. Tell me of no one's mind, presume nothing of their workings. You and I, we tell nothing, we but _show_.

MBotF being a history of the malazan empire, I'm guessing it is in large part written by Duiker. (although a lot of TTH so far seems to be narrated by Kruppe...) So to me, this is a conversation that two artists (a historian and a bard representing the oral tradition of story-telling), are having about how best to tell a story.

They arrive at the style of prose that Erikson deliberately uses throughout the series, a character literally saying "show don't tell", which presumably makes the writing style of MBotF a character attribute of Duiker, or atleast an agreed upon style for the writers in the malazan world.

I don't understand the amount of infatuation of readers with Murakami at all. I have read about 5 books of Murakami. All of his books are the same: it's like someone keeps retelling you their dreams which don't make sense at all but with the same themes in each one. These books sure feel mystical, but they don't leave behind anything of value. I find his stories to be - for the lack of a better word - pointless. By that I don’t mean that what he writes about is pointless itself, but it feels like the story and the characters just go nowhere. They all feel so shallow and static to me.

There are lot of "meanings impossible to decipher" in his works but I just think its extremely pretentious. I love a good hidden meaning but his works often feel too intentionally obscure for the sake of being inscrutable. Its like he is being weird only for the sake of being weird. I feel his prose to be utterly artless and meaningless.

I also hate that all of his characters are one-dimensional. They feel very alien to me and it is like they are almost detached from their emotions and humanity itself. His male protagonists are all the same with extremely similar traits like loving spaghetti,classical music, jazz and being sex obsessed creeps. His female characters are always obsessed with their boobs.(Descriptions like "she had the breasts of a little girl" during a sex scene, or a character saying that he watched his sister's breasts grow, or that a woman says she'll miss her dead friend's lovely breasts, or that a 12 year little girl tells a grown man she doesn't know that she wishes her breasts were bigger). He talks about women as if they are obscure characters about whom he has no understanding about. This alone warrants him a visit with a therapist. It pretty tiring to praise men for being great writers all in the same breath admitting that they write all women the same, all the time. And not only that but they are often insulting, barely formed fantasies there only to serve his always the same male protagonists. That’s not a hallmark of a good writer to me, if you refuse to grow and make any sort of depth with writing women. The sex scenes in his books are most of the times unnecessary and give me whiplash

This interview just confirmed my beliefs. Some of the aspects of it were both hilarious and creepy.

HM: "That’s right. He’s the sort of person who a twelve-year-old girl would

I really loved all the original audio books, but Rosamund Pikes EOTW is on a whole other level. I would not think it's possible, but she makes the original narrators sound a little emotionless (or perhaps...dated?). Did you guys also think that Kate Reading's parts were more emotional than Michael Kramer's? I think Rosamund Pike's narration is more like Kate Reading, but with more...is flair the right way of describing it?

With the original, you listen to professional narrators narrating a book. There's a distant tone you come to expect from narrators, they aren't really trying for drama. It breaks immersion. With Rosamond, you are listening to an actress recreating a work as if it was real...it's very different. Also, with the original recordings, somehow I missed how good Jordan's writing really is. I mean, it's REALLY good, and I missed that entirely with the original recordings. Example: in the original recordings, I hated the dream sequences. I just got through listening to the first dream sequence, and it was like I was listening to a completely different writer describing a completely different scene. The best thing I can say is that Rosamond Piked showed me how good Jordan's prose really was.

I have a few nitpicks. She does male voices about as well as you would expect her too. If you listen to audiobooks a lot you expect that. With the original though, you get both male and female voices depending on POV, so thats something I miss. I wouldn't say Rosamund is bad at it, just par for the course. Frankly, I'd be a little scared if she somehow started sounding masculine! And she already has a pretty deep resonant voice. Also, I think MC and KR are a little better at changing their voices for each character. This would be bad if Rosamund Pike's voice wasn't a joy to listen to. But she is a joy to listen to, and I could totally accept this small nitpick as a price.

The other difference, is that she speaks very slowly and deliberately. At first, it was too slow and I played it at 1.2x. Now, I'm used to the way she speaks and I have it down to 1.0x and I think it adds to the drama. Plus, the more I get to hear her voice, the better.

Remember ep. 2, the Manetherin speech from the show? Thats a fair example of what the entire book is like (well, I am not really that far yet). If you loved that as I did, you might want to give this a try. I hope it continues to be as good as it has started.

I also wanted to say, I purchased this as a novelty. I

I picked up Titus Groan a few weeks ago after having it on my backlog for about three years.

I picked it up right after devouring a few Discworld books, so I almost got whiplash from the extreme change in pace.

It is slow, almost glacially slow. A single paragraph describing a single emotion that a character feels but for an instant can span multiple pages. Pages full of purposeful and deliberately chosen words, each full of meaning that add up to something greater than their sum. It is practically impossible for me to rush through it, it feels as if the text is forcing me to read at the sound of a beat.

That, by itself, may sound as if I'm complaining, as if the book is too dense to enjoy. But that couldn't be further from the truth. The amount of emotion and meaning that pours out of each page is astounding. I find myself feeling emotions I didn't know I had alongside characters I didn't even know existed a few pages ago.

And that's just on the level of prose. The story and world themselves are wonderfully strange and unique. The castle feels almost alive, yet its inhabitants give you the impression of eternity, as if they've always been there and always will remain.

And the characters, Peake paints a picture that almost feels grotesquely real and surreal at the same time. They feel as if they've emerged from an ancient children's tale, caricatures of themselves yet strangely rich and complex.

I find myself unable to read more than a chapter or two a day, almost as if it would be a waste to try and cram any more. I need time to let it sink and work it's magic. In spite of this, I keep thinking about it, about the world, its characters, and its surreal beauty day in and day out.

It has had such an impact on me that it pushed me to start writing, something I've been wanting to do for a long time. Not to publish, not to tell a story, but simply to give life to the fantasies that live in my mind.

I just hope I can get others to pick this up too. It's too unique not to.

Pardon any typos or grammar mistakes, English is my second language, and I'm on mobile and my phone hates me

I'm sure there is some historic or technical explanation for this. I've always thought it was strange that the NWS provides weather updates with what seems like very deliberate, but unusual, text formatting, beginning and ending with ellipses. Example:

...Isolated chances for flash flooding found across parts of the Southwest
and Four Corners region through Wednesday morning...

...Cold front to bring unsettled weather and cooler temperatures for the
Northwest today and Northern Rockies by Tuesday...

...Well above average and potentially record-breaking warmth found
throughout the central/northern Plains and Midwest...

Source

Does anybody know why portions of the weather update are published like this, with leading and trailing ellipses? The rest of the weather update is written as regular prose, in what reads like something a meteorologist would say on TV.

My guess is that these "ellipses" phrases are intended to be accurate phrases that meteorologists should repeat verbatim, and are designed like this to be inserted into a larger sentence while speaking on TV. These phrases are collected together with full paragraphs and the whole thing is published plaintext as a NWS weather update for the general public.

Anyone know the secrets to the NWS style guide?

And I had to take a 10 min break after I read the line "May I presume you can administer vaginal pulsing?"

Frank was on a weird one in this one wasn't he.

Either it's love or it isn't

“Columbia’s homicidal orgy.” - The Washington Post, 1947

Bogart is World War II Captain Rip Murdock, who attempts to unravel the mystery of why his army buddy, Sgt. Johnny Drake, upon learning of being awarded the Medal of Honor, deliberately disappears before photographers can take his picture. The investigation leads Murdock to Gulf City, Florida, where he quickly becomes entangled in a web of lies, double crosses and conspiracy involving the mob and a femme fatale that rightfully belongs in the pantheon of memorable and notorious dames that comfortably inhabit noir’s Dark City.

Director John Cromwell and cinematographer Leo Tover effectively utilize low-key lighting techniques to enhance the mood of the picture and there are moments throughout that are as visually appealing and suggestive as any noir picture that precede it. Cromwell employs shadows in various scenes, particularly with Lizabeth Scott’s character to insinuate deceit, and a sense of foreboding.

If you enjoy your noirs with a helping of hard boiled expressive prose, Dead Reckoning has it in spades, with such biting gems as:

“I hated every part of her, but I couldn’t figure her out yet. I wanted to see her the way Johnny had. I wanted to hear that song of hers with Johnny’s ears. Maybe she was alright. And maybe Christmas comes in July. But I didn’t believe it.”

“I’m the brass-knuckle- in-the teeth-to-dance-time-type.”

And to reinforce the mood even further, the film is told in flashback narration, with Humphrey Bogart, the most iconic and recognizable voice in all of cinema history, leading us through the tenebrous mystery.

And if you’re expecting Bogart to portray another rendition of the competent sleuth, i.e. Sam Spade, Philip Marlowe, you’ll be in for a surprise. Bogart’s character is completely out of his element, and the film features one of the worst beatings in all of noir. As the New York Times wrote in its 1947 review:

“Old ‘Bogey’ takes the drubbing of his cinematic life from a tough, psychopathic character who delights in ‘messing up’ his victims to the strains of sweet music, but the revenge our hero ultimately enjoys is a dilly and, correct us if we’re wrong, sets something of a new high in savage melodramatics.”

Lizabeth Scott embodies the very definition of the femme fatale, and as Nelson Bell wrote

I don't want to step on anybody's toes here, but the amount of non-dad jokes here in this subreddit really annoys me. First of all, dad jokes CAN be NSFW, it clearly says so in the sub rules. Secondly, it doesn't automatically make it a dad joke if it's from a conversation between you and your child. Most importantly, the jokes that your CHILDREN tell YOU are not dad jokes. The point of a dad joke is that it's so cheesy only a dad who's trying to be funny would make such a joke. That's it. They are stupid plays on words, lame puns and so on. There has to be a clever pun or wordplay for it to be considered a dad joke.

Again, to all the fellow dads, I apologise if I'm sounding too harsh. But I just needed to get it off my chest.

>Caiden has been on the run for ten years with his unique starship in order to keep his adversary, Threi, imprisoned. But when an old friend he’d once thought dead reappears, he is lured into a game of cat and mouse with the one person whose powers rival Threi’s: Threi’s sister Abriss.
Now with both siblings on the hunt for Caiden and his ship, Caiden must rescue his long-lost friend from their clutches and uncover the source of both his ship’s power and his own origins in order to stop Abriss’s plan to collapse the multiverse.

What I could talk about

Yes, I could talk about how the characters in Essa Hansen’s Azura Ghost are all wonderful. Or how the found family aspect is so strong yet again in this sequel. (Before anyone asks, I did read book 1…before book 2 here.) Or how the characters are the heart of the story, especially our two main protagonists. Or how the representation of different genders (and how it’s just a fact of life, not something that’s focused on) is wonderful to see. Heck, I could even mention the different settings and how they interact with the plot in really interesting ways. Or how yes, you should read this book if you read books.

But what I want to talk about

I want to talk about the writing—specifically, the descriptive nature of it. I heard this book. I felt it. Sound and touch play such crucial roles in the prose. You notice when there’s silence. There’s almost this sense of a relationship between NOISE = STRESS; SILENCE = RELAXING. That’s putting it a bit extreme and probably wouldn’t hold up to close scrutiny. But from a casual reading, I felt as though scenes with minimal to no sounds—or even just quieter ones—were the scenes wherein there was an overall sense of peace. But yeah, this book is filled with sound, and it really enhanced my reading experience. It immersed me in the scenes in such a unique way. Even some of the metaphors called to mind sound, and I wonder if that was a deliberate choice.

And touch/feeling is also another big sense present throughout. It’s just little details here and there. A comforting embrace. Pressure increasing on a character’s back. Fire warming a character’s skin. It’s noticeable throughout without being overwhelming.

There are of course vivid visual descriptions, as well as ones of smell and taste. But sound and touch went a step above in this book. No scene felt empty. Even the quiet or silent moments felt deliberately noiseless and

From this article:

https://pragyata.com/the-story-of-islamic-imperialism-in-india-part-1/

In 1982, the NCERT, under instructions from the Ministry of Education, passed guidelines to revise history textbooks radically. This was to promote social cohesion and national integration. Some like abandoning reference of ancient, medieval, and modern history as Hindu, Muslim, and British periods respectively or dropping ‘Aryan’ as a racial category are good. Surprisingly, the guidelines continue with the Aryan invasion theory.

The rest of the recommendations are with the twin purpose of decimating Hindu heritage and whitewashing Islamic destruction. There is a warning against the use of myths as history aiming at the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the entire corpus of Purana literature. These represent the crux of Indian civilization and represent the strongest points to unite the country into a single Bharatvarsha. Another recommendation is to forbid over-glorification of the country’s past. Specifically, the Gupta Age can no longer be the ‘golden period of Hinduism’, a period where Hindu spirituality, art, literature, science, and philosophy attained a peak.

For medieval history, a recommendation that Muslim rulers are not ‘foreigners’ except for ‘early invaders who did not settle here’ opens a pandora’s box of contradictions. The earliest Muslim invaders were the Arabs occupying Sindh and Multan in the early 8th century. Later, the Turks ousted them, who in the second wave occupied Afghanistan and large areas of Punjab starting 963 CE*. Mohammed Ghuri* in 1186 CE overthrew them and led the third wave of Muslim invaders occupying Haryana and parts of UP by 1194-95 CE. His generals had conquered Bihar, Bengal, and parts of Bundelkhand by the time of his assassination in 1206 CE. Finally, the Shamsi dynasty established at Delhi in 1210 CE followed by other several Muslim dynasties.

1206 or 1210 CE is the decisive time when Muslim rulers settled in Delhi and became ‘natives’ from foreigners. ‘Here’ implies only the area of India after the Partition; the present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan become thus ‘foreign’ lands from the second decade of the 8th century onwards! The Arabs and the Turks recognized Sindh, Afghanistan, the North-West Frontier Province, and the Punjab beyond the Satlaj as clearly Hind. Babur launched his invasions from foreign lands but later settled he

yeah you haven't lived until you tried it

giving it or receiving it, it doesn't matter

the point is that it's not as mechanical as other things, say writing or performing for fake internet points

the feedback is instantaneous, you're one with the other, the crowd, the room

I've heard a saying that most people are more afraid of public speaking or performance then they are of dying. and with the school system that berates you for failure? yeah, I can understand that.

shy people can relate. it's tough even to ease up with a group of friends (or friends of friends), all those stupid fears running your gears

but performance, man

once you learn how to do it, once you're not in ad-lib mode, once you realize the point is not to avoid drowning, but to own the moment, as cheesy and stupid as it may be

there's just something different about it. it elevates stuff to a whole new plane, above chitchat, above scatter brained talk about writings or films and series we have seen

you really gotta zone out to nail it. the longer, the harder it is, the more so

that's why a lot of writing sucks now, you know. paper and all these servers can hold a whole lot of info what our brains can't. academic language, superfluous prose: they all live on excess server power. writing for such a medium doesn't force your hand or your brain. the words can be complicated, the sentences long and oh boy, the references! ENDLESS!

and if you've ever had the misfortune of listening to such writing spoke aloud, you know the misery. the pundits, TV show host people and politicians sound like dead wood because they're half-man half-teleprompter. a stuntman that's there only not to fuck up delivery of alien speech.

if you fancy writing of old, like pre WW2 style, the secret was not necessary the typewriter. not the machine anyway, rather the fact that the author would dictate the book and someone else (usually a woman) would commit that into writing. a lot of that literature is so lit because you're reading talk.

want an embarrassing, painful get at liberation?

take an article that you like. try learning it so you can deliver it by heart. by speaking.

okay, an article might be hard. try a modern poem. and then try an older poem.

you only have one cheat, taken that you will try learning by speaking out loud: you can change the words, so long as they convey the same meaning - and so long it helps you remember it better.

cuz oral has a lot of tricks. memory management being chief a

The nurse asked the rabbit, “what is your blood type?”

“I am probably a type O” said the rabbit.

My grandmother puts her feet in the sink

of the bathroom at Sears

to wash them in the ritual washing for prayer,

wudu,

because she has to pray in the store or miss

the mandatory prayer time for Muslims

She does it with great poise, balancing

herself with one plump matronly arm

against the automated hot-air hand dryer,

after having removed her support knee-highs

and laid them aside, folded in thirds,

and given me her purse and her packages to hold

so she can accomplish this august ritual

and get back to the ritual of shopping for housewares

Respectable Sears matrons shake their heads and frown

as they notice what my grandmother is doing,

an affront to American porcelain,

a contamination of American Standards

by something foreign and unhygienic

requiring civic action and possible use of disinfectant spray

They fluster about and flutter their hands and I can see

a clash of civilizations brewing in the Sears bathroom

My grandmother, though she speaks no English,

catches their meaning and her look in the mirror says,

I have washed my feet over Iznik tile in Istanbul

with water from the world's ancient irrigation systems

I have washed my feet in the bathhouses of Damascus

over painted bowls imported from China

among the best families of Aleppo

And if you Americans knew anything

about civilization and cleanliness,

you'd make wider washbins, anyway

My grandmother knows one culture—the right one,

as do these matrons of the Middle West. For them,

my grandmother might as well have been squatting

in the mud over a rusty tin in vaguely tropical squalor,

Mexican or Middle Eastern, it doesn't matter which,

when she lifts her well-groomed foot and puts it over the edge.

"You can't do that," one of the women protests,

turning to me, "Tell her she can't do that."

"We wash our feet five times a day,"

my grandmother declares hotly in Arabic.

"My feet are cleaner than their sink.

Worried about their sink, are they? I

should worry about my feet!"

My grandmother nudges me, "Go on, tell them."

Standing between the door and the mirror, I can see

at multiple angles, my grandmother and the other shoppers,

all of them decent and goodhearted women, diligent

in cleanliness, grooming, and decorum

Even now my grandmother, not to be rushed,

is delicately drying her pumps with tissues from her purse

For my grandmother always wears well-turned pumps

that match her purse, I think in case someone

from one

I started this year reading "The Vanished Birds" by Simon Jimenez. I finished it yesterday and I am very impressed, so here I am sharing my review (also posted on my blog, if you by any chance want to check my other content).

*****

In a distant future, humankind has spread all around the galaxy and it’s held together by starships that travel the “Pocket”, a dimension where time dilation applies, allowing humans to reach distant planets at the price of massive gaps in their personal timelines: travellers may experience their journeys as a matter of days or months, but years will have passed between their visits. “Resource planets” are left in comparative isolation and only contacted to collect their harvests, merchant ship workers live an alienating existence due to time dilation – all to the benefit of the all-powerful Umbai corporation, impersonal and ruthless ruler of the galaxy. Things may change portentously when a strange boy appears out of nothing, displaying the formidable power to jump instantly across space.

The theme of temporal and spacial displacement is conveyed by the peculiar structure of the novel, that adopts a deliberately uneven pace as it follows the lives of different characters, all interconnected in one way or another. We get acquainted with Kaeda, the inhabitant of a rural resource planet, and Nia Imani, an enterprising ship captian; we see how their love story develops over a few sparse encounters, consuming his entire lifetime while for her it’s just a short-lived affair. We encounter Fumiko Nakajima, the genius scientist and inventor who made space colonies possible, thus ensuring a viable future for at least a part of humanity – while the less fortunate were left to their own devices on an Earth made more and more inhospitable by climate change. We meet Ahro, the aformentioned boy, whose life is torn between his desire to find affection and his potential as an valuable asset for techological advancement. We see the world through their eyes in different context, and sometimes a few days will deserve long digressions, sometimes decades will be gone at the blink of an eye.

It is a beautiful book, for so many reasons. Its worldbuilding is complex and believable at once: it takes the reader to times and worlds that feel distant and different, while at the same time working as a bitter reflection on very real themes, from environment

This book is beautiful. I know, I know – what a generic word – such a trite description. But, honestly? When I finished this book, and when I reflect on its themes, its tone, and the impressions it left upon me as a reader, its the word I keep coming back to. Star Mother is truly and simply a beautiful book. It is a compelling piece of feminist fiction on par with Circe by Madeline Miller both in terms of style and message, deeply exploring themes of love, motherhood, and devotion amid world-building that develops and reveals itself through an enigmatic plot. Highly recommend.

----

This review was originally written on Goodreads and the Libri Draconis blog. I received an ARC of this book from the publisher. All opinions are my own.

Release Date : November 1, 2021

Star Rating : 4/5

https://preview.redd.it/jm3jn7yhvr681.jpg?width=317&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6f018fef06855d24e6da8cd969444abf162ad7a5

Publisher Summary:

When a star dies, a new one must be born.

The Sun God chooses the village of Endwever to provide a mortal womb. The birthing of a star is always fatal for the mother, and Ceris Wenden, who considers herself an outsider, sacrifices herself to secure her family’s honor and take control of her legacy. But after her star child is born, Ceris does what no other star mother has: she survives. When Ceris returns to Endwever, however, it’s not nine months later—it’s seven hundred years later. Inexplicably displaced in time, Ceris is determined to seek out her descendants.

Being a woman traveling alone brings its own challenges, until Ceris encounters a mysterious—and desperate—godling. Ristriel is incorporeal, a fugitive, a trickster, and the only being who can guide Ceris safely to her destination. Now, as Ceris traverses realms both mortal and beyond, her journey truly begins.

Together, pursued across the Earth and trespassing the heavens, Ceris and Ristriel are on a path to illuminate the mysteries that bind them and discover the secrets of the celestial world.

----

Star Mother is a book about devotion; Ceris Wenden’s is a journey of continual self-sacrifice due to her unflappable devotion to self, community, and search for true love. This book asks the question: what are you willing to endure for integrity? And the example of endurance provided by the main character

The doctor says it terminal.

Alot of great jokes get posted here! However just because you have a joke, doesn't mean it's a dad joke.

THIS IS NOT ABOUT NSFW, THIS IS ABOUT LONG JOKES, BLONDE JOKES, SEXUAL JOKES, KNOCK KNOCK JOKES, POLITICAL JOKES, ETC BEING POSTED IN A DAD JOKE SUB

Try telling these sexual jokes that get posted here, to your kid and see how your spouse likes it.. if that goes well, Try telling one of your friends kid about your sex life being like Coca cola, first it was normal, than light and now zero , and see if the parents are OK with you telling their kid the "dad joke"

I'm not even referencing the NSFW, I'm saying Dad jokes are corny, and sometimes painful, not sexual

So check out r/jokes for all types of jokes

r/unclejokes for dirty jokes

r/3amjokes for real weird and alot of OC

r/cleandadjokes If your really sick of seeing not dad jokes in r/dadjokes

Punchline !

Edit: this is not a post about NSFW , This is about jokes, knock knock jokes, blonde jokes, political jokes etc being posted in a dad joke sub

Edit 2: don't touch the thermostat

Mentos

(I will see myself out)

Do your worst!

Judge deliberation has concluded, and we are now very excited to present to you the winners of the 2021 Destructive Readers Halloween Contest!

#First Place:

Postcards, by u/cyanmagentacyan

An engaging read that wove together numerous plot threads very impressively given the word count; putting the pieces together was gratifying, and backed by competent prose embellished with effective imagery. Brilliant.

#Second Place:

A Monster, by u/kataklysmos_

This piece absolutely oozed atmosphere, created in part by its unique on-the-page presentation, as well as the tightness of the numerous voices. There is an enormous amount to analyse within this piece, and the judges were very much impressed with the degree of nuance kataklysmos wove into its voice logs and text files.

#Third Place:

Proximal Thriller, by u/kittypile

A subtle piece that hit a lot of the right beats, backed by capable prose and a curious premise that worked well to develop this suburban horror story.

#Honourable Mentions

The Door, by u/Tomato_potato_, and [The Monarch of the Woods] (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yFoIch9sFDPce3NfefMJVJ3-cpAmqWqn5PiKkHrwDVg/edit) by u/OldestTaskmaster and u/monseri

We’d like to extend a massive thanks to everyone who participated in the contest. It was a genuine pleasure to read through your writing, and we were very happy with the standard of work being submitted.

If you are one of our winners, your prizes are forthcoming, and we’ll be getting into contact with those of you who we require more details from.

I'd also like to acknowledge the work and efforts our u/Grauzevn8, u/Mobile-Escape, u/boagler, and u/Nova_Once_Again: our incredible judging panel. Their deliberation was top-tier, and I felt incredibly fortunate to be working alongside such capable minds. Thank you!

As mentioned in the original thread, if you submitted a piece to the competition and are looking for feedback, the judges will give you a brief rundown of their thoughts if you ask. Shoot me a message and I'll get back to you when I ca

EDIT: Looking for some feedback so if anything more needs improvement I can begin to integrate that into my writing while I start my next attempt at a complete story. This chapter was written in a day (+ some editing a week later) following about a year of consistently writing and discarding ~500 word attempts at different first chapters at an average of maybe twice a month.

First chapter of a story I have since abandoned. Interested in critique on prose, tone, pacing, etc. Are the world and characters interesting?

WARNING: Includes some graphic violence.

Thanks in advance for any comments!

-------------------------

Isac moved silently through the dim-dark fall wood. A blanket of fallen leaves in red, brown, and gold coated the forest floor, crinkling softly underfoot. Branches of beech and hornbeam formed a dour realm of shifting shadows and bright light shafts, hiding and blinding in equal measure. His short-furred hound, Síth, loped through the undergrowth beside him, nose pressed flat to the ground as they walked. The hound's dirty brown coat made him near invisible against the earth and fallen leaves. Isac often wondered how he could smell anything under the unique stench of his own musk.

He held a supple yew flat-bow in one hand, while the other fingered the rough goose fletching of a long iron-tipped arrow. The arrow's metal tip rolled up against the side of his bow-hand, as he watched the forest shadows intently for a glimpse of game. He slowed to a stop as Síth's ears perked forward in the corner of his eye, the hound staring through the brush and sniffing ferociously. The hound took a single step forward before stopping to look up at his master.

Isac nodded. There was prey ahead. He crouched slightly in the undergrowth, taking long, deliberate steps forward, careful not to brush against shrubs or branches that would alert his quarry. He peered through the forest, waiting to catch sight of the game his hound had smelled.

An ear flicked in the brush. Isac froze with the sudden movement, tightening his hand’s grip on his bow. A deer slowly raised its neck from the grass in a small glen, so far unalarmed. He drew his arrow to his chin, the feathers of the fletching brushing against his cheek. He let the string roll off his fingers. The arrow flew at his prey, a whistle and thud marking the end of the arrow's flight through the bush.

A frantic patter of hooves followed the landing. Braying warning calls echoed through the forest as a s

How the hell am I suppose to know when it’s raining in Sweden?

Mathematical puns makes me number

We told her she can lean on us for support. Although, we are going to have to change her driver's license, her height is going down by a foot. I don't want to go too far out on a limb here but it better not be a hack job.

Ants don’t even have the concept fathers, let alone a good dad joke. Keep r/ants out of my r/dadjokes.

But no, seriously. I understand rule 7 is great to have intelligent discussion, but sometimes it feels like 1 in 10 posts here is someone getting upset about the jokes on this sub. Let the mods deal with it, they regulate the sub.

Here are a few possible artistic choices.

You will often (usually) prefer to avoid all or most of them for artistic reasons, but if you have no clear reason to avoid them, they can make the whole exercise of writing easier, and more immediately fun. All of them do have specific aesthetic effects, which are noted in their descriptions.

1) Select a plot vehicle that also carries the writing process.

1. Such plot vehicles include Swiftian Satirical Thesis Statements; Problem-Solving Techniques; Setting-Walkthroughs. See specific examples of these in this thread.
2. What I mean by “a plot vehicle that carries the writing process”, is a driving plot device, which produces action simply by being present in a setting. See the dildo in subpoint 5.
3. The main benefit of using, as a rule, easier techniques over more ambitious ones, is that it frees up your imagination. It is very cognitively expensive trying to pull convincing narrative developments out of thin air—to ask yourself ‘what should happen now?’. With a plot vehicle like those discussed here, you are able to ask ‘what is likely to happen now?’. You’re predicting where the narrative will go. This more automatic approach to generating story leaves you with more resources available for visualising action, hearing the rhythm of prose and dialogue as you write, and the other basic processes of imagination.
4. Begin the story by introducing the main character(s) and plot vehicle as quickly and perfunctorily as possible—a few paragraphs.
5. Let the plot vehicle play itself out logically and react to it with your background knowledge. Imagine a party scene in which someone arrives with an absurd prop, say a large, flexible and conspicuous-smelling dildo, and the narrative follows their procession between various groups at the party. Each small social circle can be treated as the ‘terrain’ on which the plot vehicle is being run in that section, and once you’ve decided what the terrain is, e.g. what kinds of people are in each social circle, it is easy to extrapolate their reactions to the presence of this guest with their obnoxious prop. What you are doing, in this process, is letting the plot vehicle run and reacting to it with your background knowledge.
6. Do not research. Remember that we are talking about making things easy. Let yourself react to the motion of the plot vehicl

They were cooked in Greece.

Questions on this forum are usually technical. That's not surprising given that it largely caters to beginners trying to publish in commercial fiction. That being said, I think that even the most populist of authors should consider the artistic merits of their work. As writers, we have to face the expectations of what society deems to be of cultural value as well as our own drive to create what we're passionate about and sometimes they conflict. I've been thinking about this as I contemplate my own book and the works that inspired it. As such, this post will partly be my thoughts on what I think are the current standards for artistic achievement in writing and partly a confessional on the ambivalence I feel about my own artistic interests. I am just hoping to share my thoughts on the subject and get some feedback, I apologize if at any time I am too verbose.

*Before that though I have two disclaimers.

*1: My observations and generalizations are about the popular zeitgeist and cultural gravity of a thing not its occurrence by raw numbers. I'm sure any trend I mention has a million counter-examples, I am just working off of what seems to be on the mind this forum and in the broader writing community.

*2: This post is not designed to call out, insult, or harass anyone or anything. I am not claiming to be absolutely correct or that I come from any position of authority. If at any point I do seem too strident, this was not intentional and I apologize preemptively. The sole purpose of this post is to stimulate academic discussion.

In general, it seems that there are a few modes of writing that are thought of as artistic. These aren't so much tropes as they are points on different axes. Of course, there are critically acclaimed works that fall anywhere on these spectrums but generally, I find there is a certain prestige associated with one end of each spectrum over the other. They are:

Formalism vs Realism:

Formalism means a few things in different contexts but what I mean when I talk about it here I mean the tendency of a story to experiment with and draw attention to its own form. In terms of style, this can mean complex or dense prose or prose that reflects the content of the story, like a story about insanity being told via stream of consciousness. In terms of story, I would say it also means deliberate artificiality. Characters will behave less like people and more like symbols for abstract concepts. The story may lean into melo

Said if she ever hosts a gender reveal party, when it comes time to pop the balloon she'll spray everyone with water.

Gender is fluid.

Don't you know a good pun is its own reword?

Two muffins are in an oven, one muffin looks at the other and says "is it just me, or is it hot in here?"

Then the other muffin says "AHH, TALKING MUFFIN!!!"

But let me give it a shot.

For context I'm a Refuse Driver (Garbage man) & today I was on food waste. After I'd tipped I was checking the wagon for any defects when I spotted a lone pea balanced on the lifts.

I said "hey look, an escaPEA"

No one near me but it didn't half make me laugh for a good hour or so!

Edit: I can't believe how much this has blown up. Thank you everyone I've had a blast reading through the replies 😂

I’ve made those and seen those and I’ve felt the tugs in the corners of my mouth and then a similarly downward pull a little while after, its natural position according to gravity, when the conversation can’t move past introductions and small quips.

What inspires someone to act on a post? What makes a conversation? What allows two strangers to talk to one another, seeking people in this peculiar format, as compared to the “normal” means of socialization?

Are you scrolling on r/penpals because you’re lonely? Because you like learning about other cultures? Because you were and are an avid reader and a lover of writing? Because you’re emotionally unavailable or shy or awkward and can’t handle something that involves clear identities and the very real possibility of a relationship with someone nearer to you? Some or all of the above, maybe? Or am I completely off the mark?

Here’s my reason for being on here: I love writing and reading and getting to know people and don’t have the energy to sustain that over the highly demanding format of chat. I love waxing prose and describing feelings, I love reading stories from lives far more different than mine. I love getting an email and knowing that these walls of texts were dedicated to me, as my replies are to you.

I’ve always had a penpal, since I was 12 years old. Actually, since I was 10 and telling everyone I was 12 because for some reason I thought it was the more “acceptable” age in this here Interwebs. I used to think, man I wish I was 18 or 20, because I thought everyone wanted to talk to people who were at that age. And look at me now, finally at number 22. Between you and me, I have a feeling I’ll be making penpal ads til I croak.

Til I croak implying that I kissed a stranger and turned into a frog, yes.

I’ve been picking up a few things since the new year. Not ashamed to say I picked up baking, maybe because as a certified Sheeple, I find it gratifying that when I follow orders to the T, I get delicious sweet treats in return. I’m waiting for some ingredients to come in and then you Know I’ll be gobbling up homemade donuts, eclairs, and cream puffs. You can guess which of these are my favorite.

I’ve also picked up some games that I used to be obsessed with (these games being Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, and Pokemon Leaf Green slash Let’s Go Evee, I don’t know, I’m still deliberating it), and went through an eXiStEntiAl CriSis wondering if I should have adopted games at a later date when more con

From this article:

https://pragyata.com/the-story-of-islamic-imperialism-in-india-part-1/

In 1982, the NCERT, under instructions from the Ministry of Education, passed guidelines to revise history textbooks radically. This was to promote social cohesion and national integration. Some like abandoning reference of ancient, medieval, and modern history as Hindu, Muslim, and British periods respectively or dropping ‘Aryan’ as a racial category are good. Surprisingly, the guidelines continue with the Aryan invasion theory.

The rest of the recommendations are with the twin purpose of decimating Hindu heritage and whitewashing Islamic destruction. There is a warning against the use of myths as history aiming at the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, and the entire corpus of Purana literature. These represent the crux of Indian civilization and represent the strongest points to unite the country into a single Bharatvarsha. Another recommendation is to forbid over-glorification of the country’s past. Specifically, the Gupta Age can no longer be the ‘golden period of Hinduism’, a period where Hindu spirituality, art, literature, science, and philosophy attained a peak.

For medieval history, a recommendation that Muslim rulers are not ‘foreigners’ except for ‘early invaders who did not settle here’ opens a pandora’s box of contradictions. The earliest Muslim invaders were the Arabs occupying Sindh and Multan in the early 8th century. Later, the Turks ousted them, who in the second wave occupied Afghanistan and large areas of Punjab starting 963 CE*. Mohammed Ghuri* in 1186 CE overthrew them and led the third wave of Muslim invaders occupying Haryana and parts of UP by 1194-95 CE. His generals had conquered Bihar, Bengal, and parts of Bundelkhand by the time of his assassination in 1206 CE. Finally, the Shamsi dynasty established at Delhi in 1210 CE followed by other several Muslim dynasties.

1206 or 1210 CE is the decisive time when Muslim rulers settled in Delhi and became ‘natives’ from foreigners. ‘Here’ implies only the area of India after the Partition; the present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan become thus ‘foreign’ lands from the second decade of the 8th century onwards! The Arabs and the Turks recognized Sindh, Afghanistan, the North-West Frontier Province, and the Punjab beyond the Satlaj as clearly Hind. Babur launched his invasions from foreign lands but later settled here

I'm surprised it hasn't decade.

He lost May

Now that I listen to albums, I hardly ever leave the house.