So Im sure most of yall understand this developmental concept of generativity, better the world for younger generations, preserving the species, etc.
I'd argue that it is necessary for ones well being, the sense that youve done something to make the world better for others / or the young.
For many, pumping out children serves as a simple cop-out. All they have to worry about is their OWN child, to hell with the rest right?
Im curious as to where everybody else sits with these ideas, and where your sense of generativity lies: do you already work with children, do you build homeless shelters, are you doctors looking to cure cancer. Where does your childfree lifestyle guide you?
Or do you disagree that generativity is important at all?

Credit to u/SpacePaladin15 for the NOP Universe.
Hey, I hope everyone's doing well!
Today we return to the namesake of this fic, an actual lesson about animals. This one focuses on Koalas! One of Australia's most recognisable critters. I hope you enjoy.
It's hardly worth mentioning, seeing as I'm an infrequent poster at the best of times, but I'll not have another chapter out for a few weeks due to limited free time and devoting most of my writing time to an upcoming ficnapping. Be sure to look out for that!
[First] [Previous] [Next]
Memory transcription subject: Rysel, Venlil Environmental Researcher
Date [Standardised human time]: 8th September 2136
“Koalas!”
Bernard’s energised voice boomed through the air as the classroom's monitor flickered into life, images of this paws lecture topic popping up one after the other until the entire screen was filled with a collage of furry quadrupeds.
Squee! I’ll never get tired of this, it’s all so cool!
As usual the sight of something new stirred immediate discussion, hushed murmurs swelling into vibrant discourse in little more than a heartbeat. Most of the class swiftly huddled together into small herds to bounce ideas around while the rest opted to stick to the solace of their own thoughts as they took in the display.
I’d be quite happy in either situation, though seeing as Sandi had already sunk into deep concentration and Kailo had peeled off to talk with Ennerif and Solenk, it seemed the decision had been made for me on this occasion. Wasting no more time on idle inspection of the people around me, I focused my full attention forward, eager to form first impressions before the lesson began in earnest.
Now then, time to make some educated guesses. What traits does this animal have? I wonder if I’ll get any right this paw?
Professional assumptions went paw-in-paw with the lectures, examining and coming up with hypotheses about the specimens was only natural. Recently however, I’d started to make a little game of it to make things even more interesting than usual. A veritable bonfire of ideas had been set ablaze within me, fueled by my newfound knowledge of Earthen wildlife. Every flash and spark of the flame was a fresh theory I could try to apply to the lectures. It was an invigorating exercise that further stoked my unceasing wonderment.
So far I’d only done this once during the previous class and, to my disappointment, I’d not done too well.
I was right when I guessed that chickens were omnivores, but wrong in my assumption that they could fly. And that red thing on their head, the um… what was it called? The comb! Yes, the comb. I thought that was to attract mates, but it regulates body heat instead. It’s fascinating. Oh! Stars damn it I’m rambling!
I bapped my tail against my leg, the soft thud being just enough to snap me back from my runaway thoughts before I went completely wall-eyed. I was becoming more and more accustomed to getting lost in my own head while remaining conscious of the fact; it was happening so frequently now that it was pretty much impossible not to. Now I was able to pull myself back to the world around me without having to rely on someone else shaking me out of it. Most of the time anyway.
Sandi still keeps an eye on me, and Kailo even decided to help out once without being too snide about it. Anyway where was I? Oh yeah, Koalas.
Glancing at the furred animals, two things immediately stood out. Firstly, their eyes were in a more central position on their face. And second, all the images showed them being on or close to trees. There were other noteworthy observations of course, such as the Koala’s prominent nose and rounded features, but they fell to the wayside as I honed in on these points first.
Hmmm… ok. I already know to discount the idea that they’re predators just from eye position, so let’s get that thought out of here. Maybe omnivorous? Herbivore? Agh no, I can’t just guess that for the sake of guessing, that’s the same problem! Hrm, it’s tough making these assumptions now that everything I thought I knew has been turned on its head.
Nevermind, I’ll focus on the other thing. All the trees make me think they’re arboreal, that seems to be a reasonable assumption. I wonder what else they-
Clearing his throat, Bernard broke my concentration, his call for attention silencing the murmuring conversation and redirecting everyone's focus to the lecturer's podium.
His gaze panned across the room as he waited for everyone to settle, a beaming smile lighting up his face, “As ever I’m delighted to see you all get so into the subject matter from the get go. I’m looking forward to hearing what you were discussing should you wish to share. For now though, how about we get started, hm?”
A chorus of merry bleats rang out from across the audience, ears and tails flicking happily in agreement. Bernard's grin grew in tandem with the class's fervour, clasping his hands together enthusiastically as he launched into the lesson, “Excellent! Then let’s get started.”
The pictures on screen dissolved away until only one remained, enlarging to cover the entire monitor with the fluffy grey face of a Koala peacefully reclining in the crook of a tree.
“Ah, there we are,” Bernard’s baritone timbre drifted through the room as he looked up at the image, his own tone reflecting the relaxed attitude of the animal on screen, “He looks so comfortable doesn’t he? Perfectly at peace with the world, not too surprising considering they sleep almost 20 hours a day. A full paw!”
A wave of beeps and gasps rippled through the herd, punctuated by a single yawn-dressed comment from Rova, “A full paw? Hwuuu… jealous.”
Her drowsy remark elicited several whistling giggles from the herd, Bernard's own jovial chortle joining them as he turned to face her, “Late evening Rova?”
I twisted a little in my seat, panning an eye in Rova’s direction just in time to see her bleary eyes bulge open and her ears shoot up, now intensely aware of the fact she hadn’t been as quiet as she thought she had.
Sitting up abruptly, she hastily tapped down errant tufts of wool that’d flared in surprise as she composed herself, though her nervousness at becoming the centre of the class's attention was still plain for all to hear, “Uh- I um… achem, a little bit yes, um- …sorry. Lokki dragged me out to a movie viewing in the rec centre. It went on pretty late.”
A melodramatic bray from the other side of the room drew everyone's ears away from Rova to the now aghast Lokki, paw splayed across his chest in faux indignation, “Dragged you? Well excuse me for trying to broaden your horizons with human movies. That’ll be the list time I- …Ahaaaa…”
Lokki’s theatrics were cut short by a heavy yawn of his own, a swell of whistling laughter rolling through the herd as vibrant bloom lit up his snout, a sight that elicited a particularly amused bleat from Rova.
Turning away from the duo I looked back at Bernard, pleased to see that he was chuckling along with us. Behaviour like Lokki’s would never have been tolerated in my school and university days but, in stark contrast, Bernard revelled in it, the liveliness of his students fueling his own bombastic style of teaching. It was a pleasant change of pace having a teacher who let us all be ourselves in class; provided we weren’t too disruptive to the lesson plan.
Speaking of which.
His laughter still rumbling through the air, Bernard clapped his hands to pull everyone's focus back to him, “Ok, ok, let’s get back to it then shall we? Rova. Lokki. Hopefully the two of you can stay awake long enough until you can grab yourselves a coffee.”
As the class settled down and the last few giggling beeps petered out, Benard pointed a hand to the screen, “So, the Koala. Let’s start simple shall we? They are herbivorous marsupials native to the eastern and southern coasts of Australia. Easily recognised the world over, they are a well known and beloved symbol of their homeland, along with other animals such as the Kangaroo and the Emu. The former of which you might remember from one of our earlier lectures.”
Indeed I did remember, along with how angry Bernard had gotten after some speh-head had derided the Yotul after he explained how he held specific disdain for such attitudes.
Uuuggghh… I never want to see him angry again. So chilling.
I shook my ears in an effort to dismiss the unpleasant memory, panning my eyes back to the monitor to try and distract myself by inspecting the Koala’s physical appearance once more. Thankfully, by some Star's blessed intervention, Bernard had the exact same idea.
“Koala’s are rather squat in stature, ranging around sixty to eighty-five centimetres in length and weighing little more than fifteen to sixteen kilograms at their full size. As you can see, the fur of this fellow before you is a lovely silvery grey, but their fur can also sport a chocolaty brown hue as well. Arguably the most distinctive part of their appearance is their head, being rather large for their body size and having rounded ears, a large nose, and a pair of small eyes. These are often brown but variations do occur.”
It didn’t slip past my notice that Bernard didn’t bother to point out that the Koala’s eyes were forward facing. I didn’t think he’d simply forgotten, so perhaps he just felt it wasn’t necessary given that he’d already stated it was herbivorous. Either way, no one stuck up a paw or tail to question him.
“Now this will hardly be surprising considering how long they sleep, but Koala’s are largely sedentary and it’s rather easy to see why when you have a look into the contents of their diet.”
With the press of a button the Koala on screen was replaced by images of vibrant green vegetation. Soaring trees and flowering shrubbery weaved together across landscape framed pictures pulled admiring trills from the herd, the diversity of the plant life being shown standing as a reminder that it wasn’t only animal life that flourished on Earth.
After giving everyone the chance to take in the picturesque scenes, Bernard casually hammered that point home, “This is eucalyptus or, more accurately, a choice selection of more than 700 plants belonging to the eucalyptus genus, though the Koala itself favours 30 of them in particular.”
700!? Stars…
Realising that my ears had drooped in my momentary awe, I twisted them back to tune into the lesson, only for them to splay out in shock at the next words to come out of Bernard's mouth.
“The leaves of these plants are the primary food source of the Koala and there are a couple things worth mentioning when talking about these plants. For starters they do not have much nutritional or caloric value, leading to the Koala’s low-energy lifestyle. Additionally, they contain toxic compounds.”
A shiver instantly ran through the herd, ears flicking rapidly in confusion and alarm followed by a few quizzical whispers. It didn’t take long for someone to decide to give a proper voice to the murmuring.
“Excuse me Doctor. Did we hear that right? Their diet is made up of toxic flora?” Vlek’s grumbling incredulity cut through the herd's mutterings with ease. Until Kailo’s recent change of heart, the fifty something rotation old blonde Venlil had been a close second in terms of scepticism. Mercifully his rebuttals had always been relevant questions as opposed to ranting diatribes, so he at least remained on topic if nothing else.
Bernard nodded in confirmation, smiling back at Vlek while absentmindedly twirling the end of his moustache, “You heard me right, they do indeed consume plants that are toxic. Just not to them.”
Any worry or uncertainty still clinging to the herd was swept away by the provision of the glaringly obvious answer, leaving me chuckling inwardly at the oversight.
Ah of course! The plant might be poisonous but they’ll have evolved to deal with that. Stars… I’m so used to expecting the unexpected with Earth that I didn’t even consider the simplest solution.
“I see, thank you Doctor,” Vlek replied, a tinge of interest still audible in his tone, “I assume they’ve developed some adaptation to become immune to the harmful effects?”
The question immediately evoked a smirk from our teacher, but he hurriedly suppressed it while bobbing his head, “They have indeed. There are several factors that aid in their digestion of eucalyptus leaves without succumbing to the plant's baleful properties. The first is a part of the intestinal tract called the cecum. It contains a microbiome that allows the Koala to digest the eucalyptus. Coupled with this is an enzyme in the Koala’s liver that helps them break down the toxins. They are also capable of sniffing out the plants with the least amount of toxins, ensuring that they ingest as little as possible.”
Pausing for a breath Bernard looked back at the screen before turning to face us, another grin curling at the edges of his mouth as he continued with his explanation, “This is mostly for adult Koala’s, because while their young also possess these same adaptations, they don’t just go straight to munching through foliage right after being born. No, they need a little help making that jump and getting a stomach full of all that good gut bacteria. It’s nothing bad, but those of a sensitive stomach may wish to prepare themselves for this next part.”
Bernard’s assurances did little to assuage the concern that his warning had foisted upon us. Having been exposed to so much of the weirdness Earth had to offer everyone always ended up on edge whenever Bernard gave advice like this, even if he did say it in jest.
What strange nonsense thing do Koala pups do then? Judging by the way he’s acting it probably isn’t something as simple as drinking milk from the mother. Hmmm…
“So,” Bernard began, snapping us from our pensive stupor, “Young Koala’s, known as joeys, have a gestation period of thirty-five days on average, which is approximately forty-two paws. Once born they travel from the birth canal to a pouch in their mother so that they can continue to develop and grow. In the pouch the joey finds and latches onto one of two teats and these provide the newborn with a steady stream of nourishing milk. It spends the next six to seven months growing in the pouch, its eyes, ears, and fur all developing as time goes on.”
Okay, interesting. But this is exactly how I thought it’d go. What’s different?
The unexpected normalcy of the Koala’s birth and growth cycle had calmed everyone's nerves, only to be replaced with an air of suspicion as we waited with rapt attention for Bernard to drop the other claw and upend our expectations like he always did.
Not wanting to keep us in further suspense he forged ahead, the tempo of his voice picking up as the smile started to crease his face once more, “Now to make the switch from milk to eucalyptus, the mother also feeds the joey a substance called pap. It comes from the cecum I mentioned earlier, and contains all the gut bacteria required to help the young Koala in making the switch to eucalyptus.”
He stopped and looked around, searching us for a reaction to what I felt was a rather bland statement of fact. What was it he was saying without actually saying? Koala pups drink milk to mature and then include this pap substance so that they can start eating plants. I don’t see what-
The cecum is part of the intestine.
I blinked.
I blinked again, the intrusive interruption scouring my brain clean of any other thought bar the one it’d just implanted itself in the forefront of my mind.
Oh stars. They-
“They eat their own poop!?”
The shocked bleat shattered the peace of the room to reveal that most if not all of us had come to the same tail curling conclusion. As the hall filled with unrestrained vocalisations of disgust, an ‘Ugh’ over here and a ‘Blegh’ over there, Bernard’s own bellowing laughter joined the throng of voices.
“Ha! Everytime! Each and every time. Clearly it doesn’t matter if my students are Human or Venlil. Whenever someone learns about the Koala’s dietary development the reaction is the same!”
Pleased with himself beyond reason, Bernard chuckled away while the rest of us grappled with this ghastly reality. While there were plenty of animals that feasted on things that ranged from simply unappealing all the way to the stomach churningly grotesque, I’d never heard of an animal that actively consumed the excrement of its own species. Benefits aside, the prospect of having to do that to survive to adulthood sent a shiver of revulsion down my spine.
Ewww… Stars, I hope I forget this feeling by 2nd meal. They’re serving sturen and magamroot stew later. I was really looking forward to it.
With the herds mood beginning to temper Bernard tapped the podiums controls, removing the verdant collage of eucalyptus to display several similar yet distinct environments, still chortling merrily to himself in the process, “Ok then, with that little foray into their diet complete, why don’t we look at their habitat in more detail? As you might imagine given their diet and arboreal nature, Koala’s live in forested regions, and can be found in tropical and temperate zones. About a century ago they were classed as a vulnerable species, however efforts were made to turn this around and increase their numbers. Sadly the largest factor in their decline was human activity, as the fertile lands that gave rise to their bountiful forests were coveted farm land for our settlements.”
It was strange to hear Bernard so matter of factly admit to humanity's negative impacts on other species. He’d alluded to such things in the past but always with an air of caution, carefully pawing the line between honestly answering a question while not painting humanity as uncaring and destructive. AKA, the ‘predators’ we’d all initially expected them to be.
Perhaps his comfort in making such admissions was a reflection of the class's comfort with him, for no one so much as batted an ear. Even Kailo, who I would’ve expected to jump at the chance to use this as a prime example of predatory danger, only flicked an ear in stern yet silent concern.
A cough from Bernard drew my attention back, a new picture on screen that showed a forest from a bird's-eye view. Drawn across the image were around a dozen ringed areas, some bordering one another while others overlapped to some degree. It took me a moment, but I soon recognised that what I was looking at was a map, the rings representing what I assumed to be territories. And it didn’t take much effort to guess who each one belonged to.
“From habitats we move onto behaviours, so let’s start with territories. Koala’s are solitary animals. Yes, despite being herbivores. Considering they’re only awake for roughly four hours of the day I can hardly blame them. Lots to do and not a lot of time to do it. Jokes aside, once they mature they are quite independent, carving out a little slice of land for themselves, as displayed in this example, called a Home Range. That is not to say they go it alone and leave everything else behind however. Rather, as shown in the map behind me, they live in their own space while still being part of a larger social group.”
With another press of his pad the picture was updated to show one of two symbols in each segment, along with a key to the side of the map displayed in helpful Venlang. A quick glance told me that the symbols were representing whether the territory belonged to a male or female of the species.
“As you can see there is quite a bit of overlap between different Koala’s territories. It is in these areas that most of the socialising takes place between neighbours. The trees in these locations represent the few areas where intrusion across territories is acceptable for the sake of social interaction. Outside of that the Koala’s stick to their own territories for the most part, with the exceptions of Koala’s who are passing through, attempting to become part of the social group themselves, or dominant males who sometimes go off into another Koala’s range. But how do they know where one range begins and another range ends you might ask? Well, this brings us onto the next part of the lecture. How do Koala’s communicate?”
Wiping away the map from the monitor, Bernard loaded up a video of a Koala sitting in a tree and pressed play. Head held high, the Koala’s body shook as it belted out a reverberating call into the wilderness that could only be described as a garbled combination of a car engine failing to turn over mixed with the hiccups of someone with a particularly sore throat.
That’s how they sound? Oof that must be rough on the lungs.
I clearly wasn’t the only one to share such a thought, because I clocked Sandi tracing a paw along her neck as the noise went on, ears fluttering in discomfort at the noise.
Bernard himself cleared his own throat as the video came to an end, minimising it and replacing it with another image of a tree with a Koala rubbing up against the bark, “I think they’ve got me beat on who’s got the deeper voice!”
His joke garnered several amused beeps, a rare reaction that caused a beaming smile to shine across his face at lighting speed, “Oh you’re too kind. I’ll be here all week. Now where were we? Oh yes! Communication. As you’ve just heard, Koala’s are capable of loud low pitched bellows that can carry over vast distances. These express everything from ‘Hello I’m over here’ to ‘This is my turf, stay away’. Bellowing is more common in the males than the females, opting for shouting matches as opposed to outright fights when it comes to asserting dominance. Other vocal expressions include grunts, wails, and snarls if they’re acting particularly angsty. Mother and joey pairs also communicate through gentle clicking, squeaking, and murmuring sounds. And there’s one more thing worth mentioning. Something they have in common with Humans and Venlil when it comes to emoting.”
Really? They do something we do?
Curious, I pressed myself against the desk, straining as close as I could to once more scrutinise the Koala’s features. Not a lot stood out to me at first, the grey marsupial not sharing many similarities with a Venlil that I could identify.
Ok think. We show emotion with our ears, tails, and our wool on occasion. They don’t have tails so it’s obviously not that. Wool standing on end is more a reaction than a conscious expression. So it must be the ears then.
To my quiet satisfaction, my hunch was soon validated by Bernard, “As well as their vocalisations, Koala’s are very emotive through their facial features. Just like humans, they use their mouths and lips to show how they feel, but these tend more towards the aggressive side of the scale than what you might see on a human. Regarding yourselves however, Koala’s utilise their ears in tandem with their mouth movements when showing strong emotion.”
I was delighted to hear that my assumption was correct, a little happy flick twisting out through my tail and bapping against my chair with a muted thump against the plastic.
Hehe yes! Got one right!
“Now then, we are getting close to lunchtime so I’ll finish this segment off with something I think you’ll find particularly interesting. Diplomacy.”
Perplexed mutterings followed in the wake of the bizarre inclusion to the lecture, my own thoughts being dominated by bewilderment as I tried and failed to make sense of how the two could possibly be related.
Why would Koala’s, or any animal for that matter, be linked to diplomacy? Hmmm...
I could understand dispatching exterminators to deal with a predator issue as a show of goodwill, that at least includes animals, but Humans aren’t like that so I think I can safely scratch that off the list.
Maybe the humans who live in that region benefited from Koala’s in some way. Could they have gotten something from them? But what?
Hopefully not what the pups get from their mothers.
Agh no! Begone awful intrusive thoughts. Blegh! I don’t need that in my head.
As I wrestled with the short-lived revulsion inflicted upon me by my Star's damned subconscious, Bernard placed a new image on screen, one that was decidedly different from all that had preceded it.
On screen were more than a couple dozen pictures of humans. Some were pictured alone while others congregated in large groups while cameras surrounded them from all angles. Across all the images, I noted two common themes. First of all, a solid majority of the humans were wearing formal wear similar to what I’d seen worn by UN representatives on TV. If the gaggle of journalists in the background of the photos didn’t already confirm my suspicions, then it was this similarity which made me conclude they were all people of some importance. Likely politicians judging from context clues.
Secondly, each of the individuals was interacting with a Koala in some form. Some cradled one against their chests while others were feeding it eucalyptus leaves or pellets of some kind. One of the assumed politicians had become an impromptu bed for a snoozing bundle of fur, a gleeful smile spread across their face as they lovingly gazed down at the sleeping Koala in their lap.
As I continued to stare at the assorted photos something clicked into place, a sudden spark flickering into life. A burgeoning light of comprehension that flared and swelled with every wide-eyed breath I took. Some things still escaped me, things I hoped would soon be explained, but in staring at all of the humans happy smiling faces, I was struck with an instant of pure understanding.
If someone, say a Nevok for instance, offered to gift me a creature that was common to them but which might exotic and breathtaking to a Venlil, how could my feelings not be swayed? How could I walk away from that encounter and not have grown closer to them as a result?
“Koala diplomacy,” Bernard waved his hand up at the monitor, a slight reverence in his tone, “My favourite kind of soft power diplomacy. Where political leaders take photo ops with Koala’s and, on occasion, the Australian government loans Koala’s to other nations for a time to bolster positive relations. It certainly helps that Koala’s are a beloved animal worldwide, drawing large crowds and revenue for countries fortunate enough to host the adorable critters.”
The truly alien concept predictably sparked instant discussion in the herd, two polar opposite schools of thought swiftly cementing themselves as the most popular opinions. Simultaneously, I heard one voice trill excitedly while another scoffed at what they clearly saw as a ridiculous and offensive notion.
“Squee! That’d be so cool! I’d love to get the chance to see a Liri from Coila. Remember the Rainbow Boa? Think of that shimmering effect and colour but put it on a bird! Ah! I’ve only heard their song on video. It’d be a treat to hear it in person!”
Ooo! I’ve read about them! I’d love to get up close to one.
“Loaning. As if animals are property to be hoarded and traded? Pugh! Another predatory trait the humans don’t want to acknowledge for what it is.”
Ugh, typical. Jump right to the worst possible option.
However, despite my dismissal of their disparaging fumings, an uncomfortable thought pressed upon my mind. While it was plain to see how much humans cared for the Koala, it didn’t change the fact that humans did keep animals as property just as the scornful herd member had said.
This begged a rather important, disquieting question. Aside from keeping some animals as cattle, a stomach tightening minefield I had no desire to step a claw onto right now, how else did humans keep other creatures. And how did they treat them?
Before I was fully conscious of doing it my paw was in the air, the question primed on my tongue.
Noticing my elevated paw Bernard pointed at me, smiling warmly, “Yes Rysel? What’s on your mind?”
Sorry Bernard. I hope this one’s not too awkward for you to answer.
Flicking my ear in appreciation, and waiting for everyone to settle enough so that I could be heard, I voiced my concerns as neutrally as possible, “Thank you Doctor. I uh, just had a thought. We know that humans keep certain animals for… particular reasons, and we know why. From how you’ve spoken about Koala’s I think it's fair to say that the same cannot be said for them. However, this makes me wonder, what other reasons do humans have for keeping animals and how do you treat them?”
A flash of surprise blinked across Bernard's eyes but vanished so quickly that it felt like I’d imagined it. Had he not expected such a question? Maybe he was just shocked that it’d been me who’d ended up asking it?
Stars, am I so predictable that no one expects me to ask difficult questions?
Unfortunately, a quick glance at my deskmates seemed to prove that to be the case, as both Sandi and Kailo were looking at me with differing degrees of astonishment flapping in their ears.
Well speh.
“A very good point Rysel, certainly one that’s worth raising. Yet another example of you all anticipating what I have to say before I can bring it up myself.” Bernard tapped the podium, switching off the monitor before returning his focus to me, “We won’t be needing that. I’ve nothing prepared that I can show you and we’re heading to lunch in a few minutes anyway. Still, that’s plenty of time to give you a bit of an answer.”
A bit? What does he mean just a bit?
Made even more curious by Bernard's preempted admission that he wasn’t going to fully answer my query, I dialled both my ears on him, fixing him with an inquisitive stare as he started to explain with a tone that was noticeably more nonchalant than any of his previous explanations.
“So, animals in captivity for reasons other than what you already know. Honestly I would love to delve into other reasons regarding why we keep animals. However, I have a lesson plan in the works that I hope to share with you all in the not too distant future. Some of it touches upon this very topic and I’d quite like to bundle it all together. That said, I can tell you how animals in captivity are treated. In short, the answer is very well. There are a mountain of laws both on private and public interests that govern the standards and ethical treatment of animals, and breaches of these laws are quite severe even for relatively minor infractions.”
While I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by the vague answer to what was really the bulk of my question, I was at least satisfied by Bernard’s assurances that animals in captivity, such as the Koala, were well looked after. Considering the barely subdued grumbling coming from some corners of the audience it was clear that several of the herd didn’t believe Bernard outright, but I trusted him to be honest. Additionally, the mention of an upcoming lecture focused on humans keeping animals caused quite the buzz.
I felt a mix of excitement and trepidation at exploring the topic further. He’d pretty much confirmed we wouldn’t be talking about cattle farms, for which I was relieved, but that still left a huge amount of uncertainty in what was to come.
Humans keeping animals as cattle was a forgone conclusion. As horrifying as that reality was, it was one I could understand from a detached and strictly clinical point of view. Being predators they ate meat and therefore they kept cattle. But the concept of keeping animals for any other reason baffled me.
What could be the purpose? The diplomacy thing makes sense now that I have context, but what other reasons could they have.
The class's discussions were interrupted by the recognisable ring of the break bell, the shift in attention eliciting a change in conversation from confused hypotheses to peppy conversation on how everyone was planning to spend their break and what they had in mind for 2nd meal.
“Well I can see everyone’s excited for lunch, and who am I to disappoint,” chuckling Bernard waved us all up from our seats, pocketing his pad from the podium and heading to open the classroom door for us, “Enjoy your break, get a good rest along with a hearty meal, and I’ll see you all back here at the usual time.”
As everyone else filed out I stayed behind, waving at Sandi and Kailo as they left, and pawing over to Bernard once he and I were the only ones left in the room.
Ears folded down and with an apologetic tinge in my voice I greeted him as I sidled up to him, “Hey Bernard, I uh… sorry if that last question was unexpected.”
Chortling in reply, Bernard waved a hand through the air in a sign I’d come to understand meant ‘not a problem’.
“No need to apologise Rysel. It was a good question and most certainly not a problem.”
Heh, called it.
I sighed, allowing tension I didn’t realise I’d been holding to relax itself from my shoulders, “Phew, that’s a relief. I’m glad. I’m curious to hear what this new lesson is you’ve got in store for us by the way.”
Bernard wagged a finger at me, throwing up his eyebrows in mock amazement, “Oh are you now? Well I’m afraid you’ll have to remain curious for the time being. It’s going to be quite the surprise if all goes to plan. But…”
He trailed off, glancing at me before looking to the door like he was making sure no one else was around.
Wait, is he going to tell me? Oh please yes let me know now!
Stopping myself from jumping on the spot in excited anticipation, and trying my damndest to stop my tail from wagging in equal measure, I stared up at Bernard as he stewed in his thoughts before turning back to face me.
“I can’t tell you the specifics, but I’m working with Alejandro and Tolim to get something together. A trip that’s not a trip as it were. And when it happens, I’m going to need a few of the more accepting members of the class to lend me a hand. I’m hoping you and a couple others will be able to help with that?”
A trip that’s not a trip? What does that mean? Agh who cares about that right now! Bernard’s relying on me to help out!
Still trying not to keep myself from bouncing around with pup like glee I swished my tail and nodded my head in joint agreement, happy to help with whatever Bernard had in store for us, “Of course! Anything you need I’ll be there to lend a paw. You can count on me!”
A broad warm smile lit up Bernard's face, a hand patting me on the shoulder in appreciation, “Thank you Rysel. I knew I could rely on you but it still warms my heart to hear it. And, as thanks for this and for the many times you’ve shown your support, the surprise includes a little something special I think you’d appreciate the most.”
If my earlier enthusiasm had been at a nine, then the implication of a supposed gift sent it rocketing all the way to a hundred in a heartbeat.
“Wait… WHAT!? What do you mean? What are you doing?”
As impossible as it seemed, Bernard's grin grew even wider as I almost lost myself in wool shaking exhilaration, “Call it my own form of Koala diplomacy. But I’m afraid that’s all I can say for now. Wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise even for you!”
“Oh you ass!” Whistling jovially I bapped my tail against Bernard’s leg in fake indignation, evoking a barking bellowing laugh from the man himself.
Still laughing, the two of us departed the class and made for the canteen, my rumbling stomach leading me on while my mind spun with fantastical thoughts as to what Bernard had prepared for us.
And what specifically he had in store for me.

The Budget (May 2024)

The First Minister (lily-irl) to move:
1. The Senedd is asked to agree the following:
This resolution for the year ending 31 March 2025 is made by Senedd Cymru (“the Senedd”) pursuant to Section 125 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 (“the Act”).
2. This Annual Budget Motion should be read alongside supporting budget documentation published on 16 May 2024.
3. The Welsh Government, Electoral Commission, Senedd Commission, Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, and the Wales Audit Office are authorised, in sum–
(a) to use resources (not including accruing resources) during the financial year ending 31 March 2025 for the services and purposes specified in the supporting budget documentation, up to a maximum of £28,974,000,000;
(b) in addition, to retain income, within the categories of accruing resources specified in the supporting budget documentation, during the financial year ending 31 March 2025, for use on the services and purposes specified in the supporting budget documentation, up to the limits specified in that documentation; and
(c) to draw cash out of the Welsh Consolidated Fund for use on the services and purposes specified in the supporting budget documentation, up to the net cash requirement limit specified in the supporting documentation.

• The Budget Tables

The Budget is authored by the Rt Hon lily-irl MS, First Minister, on behalf of the Welsh Government.
Llywydd,
This is the Government’s budget. We are making a lot of investments in Wales.
We are investing one billion pounds every year for the next ten years in our new Welsh Housing Authority. We will embark on a comprehensive programme of renovation and new construction of social housing in Wales, ensuring that everyone in Wales has a place to stay. We will end the scourge of homelessness and housing insecurity in the next decade, becoming a world leader in guaranteeing the human right of housing to our citizens.
We are surging investment in our NHS, maintaining the last Labour-Conservative government’s 5% increase to NHS funding while also introducing a new £150 million per year multi-year diagnosis fund, as well as a £25 million new treatments fund to accelerate the delivery of cutting edge healthcare to patients in our NHS. We are making good on PfG commitments to repay student loans for medicine graduates in Welsh universities who stay in Wales, addressing the shortage of doctors in Welsh hospitals. We are creating more staff in the form of NHS reservists to support regular staff in times of stress on our health system.
This budget increases the pupil development grant by a further 5 per cent, as well as introducing a grant for thousands of new apprenticeship places. In culture, we are providing funding for Welsh cities to bid for the 2029 UK City of Culture as well as a £10 million Welsh Heritage Renovation Fund to maintain our heritage for future generations.
Finally, the government is creating a £10 million safer streets fund, allowing local authorities to invest in measures to provide a safer environment, particularly for women and vulnerable people, as well as a £5 million flee fund for victims of domestic violence.
This is a budget characterised largely by a surge in the block grant from the UK Government, which this Government will take greater advantage of if re-elected in order to cut down the surplus. I have no desire to maintain large surpluses; we should instead be investing in the Welsh people. But this budget delivers on our immediate priorities and kicks off large-scale investment in housing, infrastructure, health, and education, while leaving us room to expand in the future. It maintains the tax cuts brought in by the previous budget and represents an ambitious yet fiscally responsible budget for Wales. I commend it to the Senedd.
Voting shall end at 10pm BST on Friday 24th May.

Specifically I mean with their autism.
I am pretty much convinced that I have autism. It would explain everything.
But I’m an adult female who, I have to assume, is good enough at masking that no one has ever figured it out. I’ve been diagnosed with adhd and I want to find out about ASD, but I don’t even know if I fully believe the ADHD part yet. It would explain all my grades in school, my tendency to save everything for the last minute, my constant lateness, my day dreaming, literally everything. But still I wonder, am I just trying to make excuses for myself?
It doesn’t help that there’s a strong stigma against adults looking for diagnosis. It also really doesn’t help that it’s “trendy” or whatever, so even mentioning it has people rolling their eyes.
The “trendiness” is what brought ADHD to my attention, more or less. At least, learning from others who made their diagnosis public (“hm, these ladies with adhd in this study group I’m in use a lot of the same study methods I use 🤔” that’s where the journey started). But now I am learning about autism and COULD IT BE AUTISTIC BURNOUT IM EXPERIENCING?! I’ve been struggling, a lot, in my adult years with work and school and having kids and trying to manage all the things. I can’t help but wonder if I’m looking for an excuse, or a defense for why I am this way. I’m questioning my own reality here.
But if it isn’t just an excuse, why don’t I have friends? Why do I struggle to focus in school or move up at work? Why am I booksmart but also soooo dumb sometimes? Why do people look at me like I’m dumb when I make any comment about anything ever? Why do I repel friendship? Why do people seem to like me less the more I speak? Why does no one take me seriously? What am I missing?
It’s a spectrum, so what if I’m autistic but not autistic enough?
Will doctors even take me seriously if I ask them about screening? Is this all just a procrastination technique so I can avoid homework some more?
FML.
How do adults go about getting serious diagnoses? I’m afraid to even ask my new doctor about getting medicated for my adhd because I can’t help but feel like I’m just trying to cheat the system to get my hands on controlled substances. But I didn’t abuse them, and they worked. That means they’re right for me, right?
But I’m an adult. I shouldn’t need medication to meet the expectations of daily life, like showing up to work when I’m scheduled instead of calling out “sick” because I’m too exhausted to wrap my brain around working. I mean, is there anyone who isn’t tired? Is there anyone who doesn’t have to force themselves to get up and go to work every day?
FML.
WTF IS THIS IMPOSTER SYNDROME?!
I need so many answers that I just don’t have 😩

I don't know why I'm posting this except for maybe commiseration/reassurance. I've been a lurker here for several years after being misdiagnosed with anxiety only to finally have a specialist confirm my asthma - which, I admit, presents very weird; it's more cough than wheeze, and it's triggered by pollution, chemicals, and strong smells but not allergies, and I can't even remember the last time I had a stuffy nose, let alone any chest congestion. But my mom and grandpa both have asthma, and theirs is weird just like mine, so I honestly should have known.
At first, I ended up changing my whole lifestyle - no longer wearing perfume at all, buying only fragrance-free cleaning products and cosmetics, paying attention to the air quality forecast and not really going out unless necessary on yellow days - and I was basically able to forget about my asthma for a while. I would occasionally get stuck behind a semi on the highway or be around smokers and have to take my rescue, but mostly it was fine. I had one really bad attack after helping a neighbor clean an extremely dusty house, but it was the only scary attack in 5-6 years.
Until I moved further north 2 years ago and started having to contend with the summer wildfire woes. I basically put myself under house arrest last year after taking the trash out during wildfire haze gave me a weeklong flare-up, but I must be getting too old for this stuff, because I couldn't do it this year. Ended up at my doctor's office in tears because even though I was using my rescue on cooldown for the past week, I've been miserable. My back is sore from breathing too hard, my chest has been tight, I've been coughing my head off, and even though I usually don't wheeze, I started getting a little whistle at the end of every exhale. She gave me montelukast and Advair, which is what my mom takes. I'm hoping it will help, but I'm just feeling so stupid for ignoring these problems last year. I was in denial. I have family with this issue, and I have no excuse.
Forgive my pity party folks, I'm just feeling blue.

One trait I've come to realize that I have is being overbearing on people. I do it both on and offline. When I talk to some verbally I'm often thinking more about my reply to what they're saying than actually listening to them, for the fear of not being able to reply and there being awkward silence between us. In verbal communication I often say too much too fast and control the direction of the conversation. This is fine with doctors and therapists but I always end up making my parents mad when I do this to them.
A similar thing happens in online conversations with text but often it's just me creating a wall of text and repeating myself a lot, often using the same words or phrases over and over to get a point across. And just like with verbal communication I'm usually directing the conversation and not letting the other person to share their thoughts as much as they want to be. And changing the subject when I can't immediately think of a proper response to whatever topic they bring up.
I have mental illness and even with the medications I take it seems there is always an internal conscious, or subconscious dialogue that I can't ever pause or make it stop, which often makes it seem that I have pressure of speech. On top of that, I'm extremely introverted, so my pressure of speech only comes out to people I trust but when it does, I can tell that I'm being overbearing to a certain degree because I'm afraid I'll run out of things to say and I don't allow other people to speak their mind as much as they want. I will on occasion ask things like "is there anything more you want to say" but I've found that usually doesn't work on most people when I want to generate more conversation.
My overbearing personality has driven people away from me, and has actually caused me to be banned from some online communities, despite not trying to act rude or like a troll to those people. What can I do to avoid being overbearing to people I begin to trust and how do I truly listen to people without trying to plan the rest of the conversation out in my head? I could use some advice on this.

I like to listen to D&D podcasts, and I've noticed an annoying pattern. A surprising number of them in session 1 will end up dealing with what I'm tentatively calling an Awkward Bureaucracy scene. Basically the characteplayer either fails a roll everyone else succeeded or they try and just directly ask someone they're trying to be stealthy around a very revealing question. The next 10 minutes or more is the character awkwardly blubbering out half formed excuses until one of three things happens: Everyone runs or the player gets caught and ruins whatever plan is going on, some outside source saves the players without any skill from them acting as a deus ex machine, or it just ends up resulting in a big nothing. I noticed it in a couple of my games to and if it's a nothing that's just a mess of the player emitting awkward energy into the room. But if the player in question ruins a plan it generates a lot of negativity from the other players towards them, even if they don't say anything to the other player. Is there a way to avoid these kinds of scenes?

I forgot if I posted about this already.
Last summer, I broke up with someone after a serious relationship (wasn’t sad it was mutual).
I decided that for once, I NEED for once in my life to be single and enjoy it. My plan was 1 full year of being single before I find someone (my ideal person) for marriage.
I was super serious and super committed to worshipping myself. I wanted to fall in love with who I am and the god within. I wanted unshakable confidence and self confidence. I wanted a Christ-like aura.
So I got to work.
I became obsessed with myself (inside and out).
Here’s what I did basically:
I took care of my looks to look like someone I considered breathtaking in my personal opinion. I didn’t go to the gym, just makeup and skincare and dressing the part. I did it for ME, I was the main character now and I wanted to dress the part.
I started walking slowly as if I’m a holy being (again Christ-like aura) while doing my self love affirmations confidently (in my head obviously). Whenever I wasn’t talking or thinking, I was affirming (not like a robot, but more with ease, conviction and enjoyment).
I would meditate on self love and self concept morning and night.
Here’s what happened:
Men started obsessing over me, asking me on dates over and over, they would show up out of the woodworks as they say lol, texting me a little too much. I got so annoyed, but also a bit intrigued by the results lol,that I HAD TO DELETE MY SOCIAL MEDIA PLATFORMS AND ARCHIVE ALL MY PICTURES to try and minimize the effects lol. I ghosted a ton of people.
It worked for social media but I still got a lot of attention in real life. I was a rockstar for a while.🤪
This experiment REALLY helped me understand what everyone is YOU pushed out meant.
EIYPO is about YOU not EVERYONE. That’s why owner of this sub always tells you to focus on YOU, to Generate LOVE WITHIN YOU, to be your own SP…
Now something else happened that summer. Even though I was so serious about staying single for a year (lasted 4 months only lol). I was like FINE IF ALL THESE MEN ARE SHOWING UP MAYBE I SHOULD WRITE A LIST OF ALL THE QUALITIES I WANT IN MY FUTURE HUSBAND.
Well guess who I met the very next day ☺️. You guessed it. I met the guy from my list. At first I didn’t care at all because he was just another guy that I didn’t want to date. But after a few conversations he convinced me to go on a date and I fell IN LOVE ON OUR VERY FIRST DATE (him too, we became inseparable instantly)
Now so you guys don’t think I’m a liar or anything, we did break up recently:/ I’m not sad but I have to admit to all of you that I was so in love that I went back to my old habits of focusing on the other person. I made him my whole world and stopped prioritizing myself 🫡. It’s a human thing we all do I guess. When you find someone to love you, it’s like you give them this huge task suddenly, a task that should be your own.
I didn’t become needy in 3d but I definitely was needy energetically and he started prioritizing his work to the point where we would see each other once every week or so …
This post is 100% real guys no scams here I promise .
I’m writing this post to tell you please please please listen to u/ALLISMIND he’s got it figured out and he’s telling you all the truth. I am living proof of this.
Losing my man is also a big lesson to all of us. Do not forget about your self love and self concept once you’re with someone… of you course you need to love them too, but you MUST keep loving and caring about your inner world. It should be a habit like brushing your teeth or better BREATHING.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to be back on my routine of self love and self concept. You can find me reading all is mind’s posts from the very beginning (again lol).
As my boyfriend, I’m not worried about him to be honest. If he comes back that would be great, if not I know something wonderful is waiting for me.
Feel free to ask me anything.
Additions/edits: -I forgot to mention that I would turn heads whenever I went with my aura and beauty. I was kind of like Monica belucci in Malena (I would walk very innocently and silently and yet I was always under the spot light even though I wasn’t trying to (again my goal was extreme self love and confidence/not people’s attention and yet it happened)).
-I don’t dress provocatively (meaning no short shorts or boobs out of clothes that are too tight just for context)
-A funny thing that also started happening is my male colleagues also started developing a crush on me 😅 even though they’ve seen me every day for a year lol (especially Joe who still refers to me as “my wife” lol)
-I Re-started focusing my self love and self concept again a few days ago and I’m already seeing results… men started showing interest and asking me out again as well as getting some attention in public (nothing too extreme yet).

My fellow gamers, for too long has our community suffered the indignation of an intolerable culture that has denigrated, besmirched, exploited, and has outright demonized our culture of unique individuals with a genuine love of a hobby that they see as profitable and progressive. They have taken beloved IP’s (Intellectual Properties) and twisted them into their own personal ideological crusade of undermining and humiliating the core aspects of characters they deemed as “Toxic” or “White Supremacy”. Through the guise and protection of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity) & ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) they have used our influence in the entertainment industry to push their narratives and agendas that have stigmatized our culture with numerous anti-consumer practices that they call “being progressive”. But the truth of the matter is they were never really looking to be a part of our community, they simply wanted to use our community as a tool of activism and propaganda in the entertainment industry as it was extremely profitable, and they wanted inclusion in that division. Ever since GamerGate & Female Frequency, we have had to endure the incursion of forced ideologies, xenophobic behaviors and inferior overpriced products that have never been in our best interest and have been flat out disgraceful towards foreign media.
Before Gaming had become a major source of entertainment, we were often categorized as anti-social or societies rejects where because we found more enjoyment in playing fictional characters and not spending as much time out and about, we never fully assimilated in society (which is a good thing if you ask me). From 1998 to 2007, at the height of innovation, creativity and production, Gaming had reached a golden age in which it had revolutionized society. Hollywood Execs who had ruined the movie industry turned their attention to video games as a source of income since video games had outperformed movies in terms of profit. No one was concerned about gaming, much less diversity or inclusivity until it became profitable. This makes people like SBI look extremely disingenuous as they were not interested in gamers as a community with its own culture. They simply wanted to use it as another weapon in identity politics.
Microtransactions; the hidden enemy to gamer progress and inducer to mental laziness of our community. Microtransactions have been around for a long time; however, it has never been more potent and apparent than in recent years. It has aided in the dismantling and segregation of players on the ideology of FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and has created another sub-culture of gamers who have no real drive to be better outside of how much money they put into the game. This has degraded our culture as well as we have become “fat” off transactional gaming but at the same time we have been “starved” of purposeful gaming where our achievements were our sustenance. I am not saying that microtransactions are bad, but when they are exploitative and predatorial like they have been and don’t give gamers room to grow, we become lethargic and unwilling to improve ourselves as gamers. Oversaturated microtransactional games are one of the many reasons why we have become complacent and unwilling to fight against the exploitative tactics used by big brand game companies such EA, Ubisoft, ActivisionBlizzard, NaughtyDog and so many other western business model companies. Western style games were not like this in the past, they had much more depth and actual effort put into them with the gamer in mind. This has not been the case for over a decade and our connection to western developers has been whittled down to just being transactional. That is one of the reasons why you see so many remasters and remakes in today’s gamer community. They have lost their willingness to improve as developers of games and simply accept corporate/share holder rules.
Game journalists also do not have any real integrity or purpose outside of being funded for their involvement in promoting IPG (Identity Political Games) in a positive light to the public whether it’s positively received or not. They are not interested in what we have to say, they all support the same agenda and that is why they are a dying breed. Within the next couple of years, they will be out of the job and more than likely they will not be able to stay in the industry giving how they have responded to past articles that have clearly been scripted on the premise of diversity and racism. Not only that, but most of them are also extremely hostile to the community as they stereotype and defame the individuals that are a part of the community they are supposed to serve. We have been mentally liberated from their lies and coercive tactics as we tend to laugh at their obvious attempt at virtue signaling while hiding their misdoings so that they can play the victim.
My gamer brothers & sisters, I would not suggest the following action that we must take now without good cause. I have weighed our options and the best option for us now is this…...CULTURAL SECESSION. Naturally this is a form of segregation where they would more than likely claim they are being segregated by the dominant culture of the gaming community but that is incorrect. For years now we have been the ones who are often marginalized and ostracized for the smaller portion of our community. And when we aren’t, we’re exploited for more funds so that these companies can stay in business only to subject us to low quality products that coincide with the “WOKE Agenda” that are often huge expenses to these big brands i.e. AAA/AAAA games that will eventually flop for its obvious forced diversity and bug infested product which will undoubtedly piss off the consumer to the point of wanting a refund. Losing copious amounts of capital and stock in the process, not to mention their reputation is permanently marred.
We must separate on every cultural level in terms of entertainment and ideology. We must reject everything from the west that promotes toxic western beliefs, practices, and exclusion from other cultures (i.e. Southeastern Countries such as Japan and Korea). Japan & Korea have been the targets of unjust discrimination from Western Developers, Western Journalists, Western Localizers (The Wokelizers) and Western Society Prejudice regarding their sense of aesthetics as Westerners hate the aesthetic sense of these countries. The reason why they resort to such base tactics isn’t just because it weaponizes the ideal female form but it’s also because they have deep-seated insecurities about their own looks so when they see attractive female characters, they use terms such as “unrealistic” or “hypersexualized” to establish the moral high ground. But the truth is, they want to feel superior to that which is ideal, so they insult and dehumanize this figure that portrays natural female beauty because they see it as an insult to their own social superiority in what they believe is a hierarchy of them being at the top of all other women. Because of this and so many contributing factors, their movies flop harder than the Fat Chocobo landing on a group of enemies and their games seismically fail just as much if not more. We must sever our connection to Western Developers, Publishers, and ALL Western-Centric Entertainment for they seek to mentally enslave us to their Xenophobic ideology.
Let’s define Western Culture and its traits. Western Culture/Society is composed of more than several different ideologies that work in unison with one another to facilitate dominance over multiple aspects of society. Business, Social, Political, Technological, and sometimes even Global Affairs are affected by these ideologies that portray a specific mindset of Western beliefs. What are those ideologies you ask?

• Perpetual Victimhood: By weaponizing the fact that they are marginalized and of a small portion of western society, they can push their agenda to absurd standards that ultimately ostracize the main demographic. And when companies don’t capitulate, they are labeled as anti-progressive/misogynist’s or cohorts of White Supremacy. They use this to cancel their targets and silence them through societal defamation to keep the public on their side. They also use this mindset to justify their own lack of self-agency as they tend to throw companies who do adhere to their demands but miserably fail to turn a profit under the bus so that they can maintain face in front of the public while denying their actual involvement. They will never accept “Sense of Agency” when it’s negative but will gladly accept it when a positive outcome shines on them as if they are entitled to it.

Official Wiki GamerGate Page)
​

• Societal Terrorism: This is another form of ideology weaponization that they use in order to make companies “toe-the-line” with their agenda. By weaponizing cancel culture, they exert dominance over these companies but in exchange they also reimburse those companies with DEI & ESG funds that raise their credit score as well as having social status with the marginalized demographic. However; cancel culture has not succeeded in years and developers and publishers probably only want the money and the DEI ESG rating. But they have to maintain the image of having social economic power so that they can continue to strong-arm other developers into compliance and promoting financial benefits of DEI & ESG. In other words, if you are not for sale, they discredit and stigmatize you in the industry.

Asmongold Clips.
https://youtu.be/Iq86DnmX2xY
​

• “Its not us, its you who’s wrong” Mentality: This mentality is especially annoying as they tend to use it to hide their incompetence. They often look down upon gamers who are not in the industry to hide their obvious lack of knowledge on game development thinking that their job title grants them special status that they believe gives them the right to be condescending. But the truth they never wanted revealed has already strangled their careers of all credibility. They were never GAMERS, they were INVADERS. Community Colonists that seek to indoctrinate next generational gamers into their hive-mind and brand previous generations of gamers as villains.

@GeeksandGamers
https://youtu.be/1HbrTkqQFuM
​

• Double-standard Enforcement: By labeling something as “unrealistic” or “hypersexualized”, they can claim this is morally wrong if it promotes traditional dynamics between men and women. Heterosexual relationships are condemned while at the same time Same-sex relationships are praised. Additionally, heterosexual relationships with main white male characters turn antagonistic and spotlight stealing. This is deliberate as to promote the “Girl Boss” ideology to indoctrinate women into the Feminazi state of mind. While at the same time, should a male character also adopt the “I don’t need male/female” ideology its seen as Toxic Masculinity which isn’t even a real thing. The idea of a strong male character is taboo while enforcing strong female characters is the ideal.

@MugenLord
https://youtu.be/to5Uciy_yeg
@EndymionTv
https://youtu.be/7TPTR8-qmbk
​

• Dehumanization/Demonization: This is something that most military branches use in order to remove conscious inhibitions such as mass slaughter is wrong or categorization. By enforcing ideologies to denounce humanity in certain targets, it deactivates your conscience by saying this is not human therefore its ethically okay to treat this target without compassion and deny the fact it has sentience. We gamers fall under this category for journalists, developers, companies and society at large. This is a tactic we are familiar with to an extent as it implies that we are not normal when we do not do what everybody else is doing. “Geeks are the worse” or “Nerds need to fall into a pit of lava” are verbal dehumanization forms that most people in society say and we as Gamers tend to be relegated to those categories. This is their way of imposing the social hierarchy on us by establishing superiority. We know this as Gamers as we see it very often in the games that we play and some times experience it in real life.

https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Gamergate#The_end_of_their_relevance
​

• Deflection/Projection: This is basic psychology 101. By redirecting the conversation away from their mistakes and back on to the opposing view to avert blame and justify their innocence they can avoid criticism. However; deflection is a CONSCIOUS decision, meaning they have no real argument to justify their incompetence. If you can consciously process the situation, you have self-agency which means you don’t have a legitimate excuse. Projection is something else entirely. Most times, Projection doesn’t work on conscious decisions rather it is automatically deployed when feeling threatened, anxious or both. Instead of accepting accountability for feelings or actions that are deemed socially unacceptable they accuse others of committing that unacceptable behavior thereby exonerating themselves and proving that those feelings and/or actions are not their own.

@TheTrentReport
https://youtu.be/bPIPSKruYRo
These traits are so nefarious and unconscionable that I have a hard time believing that anyone could harbor them. However, given the social, political, and economic climate that we are in, those in power who use their influence on controlling society most definitely possess these insidious traits. Everything that they do is all about control and since video games are the biggest market in the world, they want control over it and the communities built around it to accrue more wealth and to use that wealth to subjugate other cultures. Mainstream media is a tool as well as mainstream organizations and sites to help accomplish this goal.
The government recently announced its intentions towards what they believe is “GamerGate 2.0” and now even the ADL has made an official appearance, referring to gamers as “extremist’s”. We know EXACTLY what they are doing, and they aren’t even trying to hide it anymore because they don’t think we are aware of their motives. This is just a pretext for them to exert even more control and we know why, it’s because they want the influence we as a community have to must serve them. So here is what we do my fellow gamers-
“In light of recent events and years of mainstream stigma, we the members of the Global Gaming Community [GGC] must officially renounce ALL TIES to the corporate western video game market. We have been financially exploited through predatorial monetization schemes, pelted with numerous articles of disdain and intentional misrepresentation from game journalists, news outlets regarding us as dangerous individuals and, even subjected to inferior products not only riddled with bugs but also products meant to push political agendas. For the preservation of our community and its unique culture, apart from a few select game development studios we officially sever all connections to western owned video game companies & their mainstream affiliates. From this point onward, we will no longer support western corporate developers, journalists and publishers that do not coincide with the goals of our community.”
Naturally this is completely optional. If you are okay with the state of the gaming community as it is, feel free to ignore this. But if you wish for real change and a break away from oversaturated monetization in the games you play and the push for radical ideological reform, then you are in the right place. Lets sever these rotted miasmic ties once and for all so that our community can be preserved and made better for future gamers. If you agree with this, share it with whoever you think might be interested. The more gamers who get involved, the easier it will be for us to finally break free from mainstream game companies and their associates.

Hi fellow biohackers, I just finished my first book and I will send a free copy to anyone who comments or messages me asking for one. Hopefully it is helpful, please be nice with your feedback.
"Elevate Your Health with AI: Practical Strategies for Biohacking, Mental Health and Chronic Diseases" by Nicholas Harris is an essential guide for anyone looking to harness the power of AI for optimizing their health. From individuals struggling with chronic diseases to biohackers aiming to push the boundaries of human performance, this book offers a comprehensive look at how LLMs and generative AI can transform personal health and education. Drawing on Nicholas's extensive AI experience and personal journey with a chronic disease, it provides a practical framework for using AI to diagnose, treat, and optimize wellness, demystifying complex technologies and showcasing real-world applications. This book is your passport to understanding and applying the most innovative tools in health technology today.

• Harness AI for Health: Learn how AI, especially generative AI and LLMs, can optimize your health.
• Biohacking Tips: Discover AI-driven biohacking techniques to boost performance.
• Manage Chronic Diseases: Use AI tools for second opinions, supplement recommendations, and treatment of chronic conditions.
• Personalized Wellness: Create customized health plans based on your health goals, genetic and lab data.
• Empower Yourself: Take control of your health with cutting-edge AI knowledge.

"It is inevitable that AI will surpass the intelligence of your doctor. The question is, will you be ready to embrace this transformation?"
Link to book
Again I am not asking for anything, and I will send a free book to anyone who wants it.

Just thought this was fascinating

Note: please excuse typos. Writing this on a glitchy phone.
Was looking forward to their video as generations and demographics is something I am highly knowledgeable about and always like watching good video essays on the topics…and sad to say I was severely disappointed. I watched the whole channel and was not particularly impressed with the other videos. I think there is some room for growth for sure, and I don’t want to make this post to just disparage this person, but I feel like they are spreading harmful ideas that contribute to the general anxiety many young people already have about feeling past their prime, or too late in life when there’s literally in their 20s. Was not really impressed with their more political oriented videos either but I mainly here just to talk about generations
This felt like this person made strong opinions on a topic he only half understands. And it wouldn’t be so bad if he was just saying this is my opinion, but he is making assertions that what he is saying is objectively, true factual, information or just the reality people have to accept when there is no sourcing and it’s quite literally just his opinion.
To begin right off the bat, he makes an assertion that generations are objectively real and they just plainly are not. He tries to back this up by saying people in the 60s grew different than people in the 90s but that’s just a truism. That doesn’t make generations, courting people off into different groups real. He says that we can disagree on the dates, but the idea that people are in generations is real and then used what I just described as the proof but again it’s not. It’s quite literally a social construct that is completely subjective. That’s why when you go to country to country generation dates can be wildly different like Canada Stastica putting generation Z start date in 1993 in many countries around the world even using generational measurements because it all stemmed from marketing research in the United States and the desire to be able to market to different groups of people. In fact, much of the ideas, we have a buy generations come from marketing firms, not any sort of scientific or governmental body. The census doesn’t even mark down or define generations. Marketing firms do.
This kid seems like they are going through the “I’m in 20s and I’m so old” phase. He responded to a literal 20 year old that “ageing sucks and sorry our gen is losing relevance” completely ignoring THIS PERSON IS 20 and has 2 decades of being a young adult ahead of them, completely shows a lack of understanding on how culture works and forgets the reality that people who are significantly older than you can impact the culture anyone of any age can do this as people typically don’t look at age as the first thing, at least increasing not anymore. But even before that too like Debbie harry in the 80s but I digress.
He speaks From the perspective of generation Z himself, that because generation Z by large because of the Internet had content for Gen Z made by Gen Z, this will be the case for Gen A making Gen Z irrelevant. This is such a bad take, because it not only forgets that populations are still around and have relevance amongst themselves not just the mainstream or internet culture -whatever that even is in 2024 (which is a whole part he doesn’t even address on what Gen Z is falling off from or Gen A is rising too) but people of all ages, dominate the mainstream realm not just “the youth” which it seems to be up to 20 in his eyes or at least not past 30 which again…is still because 30 and 30s is still a young adult. He forgets how especially fragmented and broken off parts of culture are now into a bubble, but the mainstream is still dominated by people of all ages And he even contradicts himself by saying older generations make contact for younger generations that becomes incredibly popular, so how can Gen Z be falling off, which is such a silly thing to even say when people of all generations make content that people of all generations would or could like. For example, Lizzo and even Beyoncé being big amongst young kids of Gen A and Gen Z or Kendrick Lamar, and Drake being nearly 40 and being huge among kids in GEN, alpha. both established artists and a newer artist that came out later only in 2019. showing that at any point anyone at any age to influence culture for any group of people.
Really poor made videos on generations that makes objective statements about literal SOCIAL CONSTRUCTS that include incredibly fluid and diverse groups - pushes ageist ideas
Seems like this creators videos need much more of a nuanced and educated exploration of these topics as they are limited in scope and literally just push ageism telling generation Z is out for falling. And millennials are out and falling with shows a horrible understanding of cultural exchange. Not to mention makes literal tweens, teens and young adults as if they aren’t real ent anymore. Ridiculous and erroneous. This channel gives the vibes that 30 (or heck even 25) is the end of youth or being young which I shouldn’t have to explain how ignorant this is. The comments are full of people who say they have anxiety now because they already feel old (and they’re actually not of course) with one comment for example saying they were born in 1999 (only 25) and don’t understand how they already losing relevance and others trying to tell that comment not worry about it because it’s just a guy that opinion, and a poor one at that.
Just overall poorly made videos that try to sound smart with decent to good video but are not. What a dumb man would think a smart take is

While doing my case rankings the other day I noted that 2-2 could probably work as a final case if it was rewritten and expanded a bit. So I thought it would be a fun exercise to take cases and keep their premise while reducing/expending their scope so they could work at different point in the game. Since I already mentioned it, I'll switch 2-2 and 2-4.
2-2: Turnabout Ceremony
Pretty much the same basic premise, except that Adrian is caught red-handed by Lotta while she's framing Matt, and she gets arrested instead, with no kidnapping plot as a result. De Killer is also replaced by another hitman who's more grounded and less of a Batman super villain. The hitman, actually a hotel bellboy for several years with some ties to the mafia, had his own grudge against Juan Corrida, and was paid by Matt to do the deed.
Adrian as a defendant is very uncooperative, and the first day of trial goes pretty badly. While there's no evidence directly tying her to Juan's murder, the mountain of evidence she tampered with the crime scene makes her very suspicious, and she almost gets given a guilty verdict before Phoenix manages to convince her to tell the truth. Adrian explains that she knew Matt must have done the murder and framed him. However, she refuses to explain why she was so sure it was Matt or why he would kill Juan. Franziska laughs at the notion, as Matt has a rock solid alibi, but nonetheless the trial is extended one more day.
Day two of investigations goes similarly to the game, with of course less stress due to no kidnapped Maya. Phoenix uncovers evidence of a hired hitman, as well as the cameras placed by Matt. Confronting Adrian with the new evidence, she reveals everything. At the trial, the hitman is called to testify (in person this time), and Phoenix proves that he was the one who killed Juan. He confesses, but like in the game, claims Adrian was his client, not Matt. Phoenix disproves that as well, and shows him the cameras placed by Matt, revealing he was intending to blackmail him. Outraged, the hitman turns on Matt and ominously claims that his mafia friends will pay him a visit soon. Scared for his life, Matt confesses and turns himself in to the police.
Oh and maybe there could be some contrivance so that Pearl is the assistant instead of Maya, both so my version of 2-4 makes sense timeline-wise and so Phoenix can use the magatama.
2-4: The Turnabout from Beyond
Same basic premise of Dr. Grey bringing Phoenix to Kurain village so Maya will do a seance. However, instead of saying he wants to make Mimi write a confession, he claims he only wants to talk to her. Additionally, Maya seems noticeably reluctant when interacting with Grey, and it's clear she's only doing this as an excuse to see Phoenix again. He gets murdered, and Morgan chases them out, but when Phoenix and Lotta come back, they find Morgan unconscious and severely wounded, with Maya unconscious next to her. After that there are several notable differences. First, Mimi was the one that brought the gun, not Grey, and she deliberately used it, going against the plan she and Morgan devised. While the two were alone after chasing Phoenix and Lotta out, Morgan begins berating Mimi for not going with the plan. Mimi, not saying a word, hits Morgan hard on the side of the head, giving her brain damage and fleeing the scene. She sticks around the rest of the case like usual, but actually disguises herself as a random tourist college student instead of Ini, and is generally better at concealing her true persona. There's also one or two original residents of Kurain village, including Ruby, a disabled woman and distant cousin of Maya that used to babysit her, and who she has a close relationship with.
The first day of trial goes similarly to the game, however without the evidence of Dr. Grey firing the shot from the ground, Phoenix has a lot harder time casting doubt on Maya being the person in the photo. Towards the end of the trial, the prosecution (could be Miles or Franziska) drops a bombshell: Dr. Grey actually had ties to Kurain, being raised in the village and being the doctor of choice when Kurain natives needed surgery. After an accident, he is the one that operated on Ruby, however a botched operation led to long term complications. Grey, being a huge asshole, never apologized for this or appear remorseful in the slightest. The prosecution argues that Maya developed a grudge against Grey after this incident, and that while she was possessed by Mimi when the shooting happened, Maya was the one that brought the gun, knowing the possibility of such a shooting happening, and giving her a convenient opportunity to take revenge on Grey without technically dirtying her own hands. Phoenix is able to prove by the skin of his teeth that Maya could not have brought the gun with her, buying another day of trial. On the second day of investigations, Phoenix starts suspecting that the college student is Ini in disguise. When confronting her, her true colors briefly slip, insulting Phoenix and smugly stating he doesn't understand anything. Talking with Ruby, Maya, and the Miney parents, we get a big plot twist ; Ini and Mimi are also Kurain natives, and were childhood friends with Maya. Ini was a channelling prodigy from a very young age. One day, while the three were playing in the cemetery, Maya dared Ini to channel a spirit from one of the graves at random. Against Mimi's protests, Ini complied, but the channelled spirit was from a violent and delusional man. He was thankfully exorcised before any of the girls could be hurt, but it left Maya and Mimi traumatized, with Ini swearing off channelling forever. Shortly after, DL-6 happened, and Misty Fey got exiled. The Miney parents, who were in Misty's camp and feared Morgan's newfound influence, left the village as well. Phoenix suspects that this incident is related to "Ini's" motive, but isn't sure how, as both Maya, Ruby, and the parents claim that Ini held no hard feelings towards Maya before and after she left.
In day 2 of the trial, Morgan is unable to testify, still being in the hospital and barely coherent from the blow Mimi gave her. The first half of the trial is spent "proving" the mystery college student is Ini, with testimony from Ruby providing evidence. Mimi "admits" it, but scoffs, saying that she has no grudge against either Maya or Grey, and thus no possible motive. The second half happens much the same, with Phoenix proving that she is actually Mimi. Still denying it, Mimi claims that while this would give her a motive for killing Grey, it still doesn't explain her wanting to frame Maya. Recalling the conversation with her parents, Phoenix presents a theory. Initially, the Miney mom, despite having no spiritual talent, was still second in line for title of Master of Kurain due to her close friendship with Misty and Ini's channelling talents. However, when Ini swore of channelling, that title went to Morgan. Thus Mimi blames Maya for her family's exile from Kurain. Their exile only became more cemented when Morgan gave birth to Pearl, who was also a prodigy from a young age. While Ini took the move well, Mimi hated living in the big city, and had trouble making friends and focusing on her studies. Depressed and unable to find a job after finishing her studies, her parents begged Dr. Grey to hire her, which he did reluctantly. Mimi hated her job, but still put effort into it to not disappoint her parents... and then the malpractice happened, and then the car accident. Mimi, whose resentment of Maya had been simmerring for years, now hated her. Seeing her appear in the news several times as the assistant of a high profile lawyer didn't help matters. When Dr. Grey approached "Ini" with the intent to channel Mimi, she saw the perfect opportunity to get revenge on him, Maya, and Morgan in one fell swoop.
Maya, horrified, calls out Mimi on her toxic attitude, saying that she never stopped missing her and Ini, and that they could have simply talked out their differences, with Mimi having had plenty of opportunities to visit her at the Wright and Co. law offices. At this, Mimi begins breaking down and tearfully confessing everything, both cursing Maya and apologizing to her in equal measure, before turning herself in. Morgan is also arrested. After the trial, Phoenix, Maya, and Mia muse about how none of this would have happened were it not for Kurain's traditions. Mia also drops a cryptic comment that this wasn't the first time something like that happened in Kurain, setting up Trials and Tribulations.
Wew, well that was longer than expected, while writing 2-4 I got really into it and ended up adding a lot of extra details. What do you think? I would love to see you own take on case swaps.

Considerations on Sexual Immorality, Gender Identity, and my friends Non-Denominational Church.
A good friend of mine from a fairly conservative evangelical background is considering becoming a pastor at his non-denominational church. As part of the evaluation process, they asked him to write a paper on these topics that he is not an expert on.
He asked for my opinion and I offered to share it online to solicit constructive criticism, notes of encouragement, and or reading recommendations on these topics.
I believe his goal is to be faithful to the scriptures, loving to those outside the church, and challenging to those inside the church, as most of us could do better.
What he wrote is in the quotation marks below.
“1: Scope of the Issue
Sexual immorality has become a besetting and ubiquitous issue in our culture and in our churches. While many aspects of it are not novel or unique to this time and have clear scriptural input, there are others that bring challenges to our church for which we don’t have obvious precedent. The main point of these comments is to try and answer three questions with some degree of specificity: (1) how do we make ourselves a place where people who do not know Christ will feel welcome to come and learn of Him regardless of where they come from, (2) how do we pastorally care for people who have come in to the church with pre-existing circumstances related to sexual immorality, and (3) how do we equip our members to represent Christ to those in their lives that are dealing with these issues. We want to do this in a way that does not “walk a tight rope” or compromise to appease, but honors Scripture in its commands to both show compassion and exhort and correct. We must recognize that every individual circumstance is unique, and many will require careful and prayerful consideration, but this is meant to give a framework for that consideration.
2: Scriptural Basis for Corporate Response
There are many references we can point to that discuss and define sexual immorality throughout Scripture and many of these will be used below as we consider specific examples and situations. Let us start, however, by looking at passages that deal with corporate response rather than individual sin. It is clear that the Corinthian church had significant issues in this area, and much of Paul’s first letter was devoted to it. In chapter 5, Paul states that when sexual immorality is discovered in the church we should “mourn” over it and “not to associate with immoral people.” Importantly, he also makes clear in vv. 9-13 that these comments only apply to those “who bears the name of brother.” He explicitly writes, “not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world…for what have I to do with judging outsiders?” This is key in informing our response to those who are not members of the church. If it is our desire to see sinners come through our doors and come to know our Savior through our ministry, then we must be welcoming, accepting them where they are. This is not to say we hide or compromise the biblical position, but it is not an issue on which we want to filter people at the door. There are three categories of people in sexual sin that we need to form a response for. First, those just coming to the church who have not committed to it – these should be treated the same as any we are reaching out to with Christ’s love. They need Jesus, not behavioral change. Next, those who have recently joined the church but have pre-existing sexual sin patterns. This can and should be addressed with patience, dignity, and love. There are often many sin areas in the life of a new believer, and it is prudent to discern how and when to address each of them. Lastly, those who have been members in the church for some amount of time and fall into sexual sin. This is the group that Paul is primarily addressing in 1 Corinthians. While sex within marriage is a private issue, sexual sin cannot be a taboo topic. It needs to be addressed regularly and clearly. We need close enough relationships within the church that such problems do not fester in the dark. We must avoid the typical church pattern to vilify the first group, never see the second group, and pretend the third group doesn’t exist until it all blows up in scandal. May it never be.
3: Consistency Issue
There is a tendency in our Christian culture to treat some sexual sins as worse than others. Like the Corinthians, some things we seem to have accepted as just ubiquitous parts of our culture. Knowing the prevalence of promiscuity and fornication among teens and single adults and usage of pornography even within the church, we tend to address these as issues of indwelling sin, similar to anger or fear of man, with offers of accountability and understanding when someone falls. By contrast, when it comes to homosexuality or adultery, it is often a church discipline issue. We view homosexual marriage as a major problem, but remarriage after a non-biblical divorce is rarely addressed. These inconsistencies lead to stigmatization and polarization and should have no place in the church. The criterion for escalation should be unrepentance, not the nature of the sexual sin. It is clear from 1 Corinthians that all should be taken seriously, but none should be vilified above others.
4: Culture and Identity
The major underlying problem with many of the sexual sin and gender issues is that they have come to be culturally bound up with people’s identities. This is not a new phenomenon and is not unique to this issue. As far back as Acts 19, you see people becoming “enraged” because Paul had threatened the Ephesians’ cultural identity as worshipers of Artemis. People continue to find their primary identities in their employment, hobbies, sports teams, or families rather than Christ. None of these should be accepted, but none should be reviled either. If a person does not know Jesus, they are dead. How they identify themselves is of no concern. Once they have been made alive, they can be taught that “whose” they are is more important than “who” they are. All identity outside of Christ is not sinful, but if it takes paramount importance, it may become so. A person who recognizes a tendency toward same sex attraction may label themselves as gay or lesbian. This should not be considered a sin issue unless it becomes, for them, their defining characteristic or leads to sinful actions. We should recognize the difficulty of this struggle and support such a person rather than get hung up on labels. There must be clear distinction between identifying same sex attraction and engaging in homosexual behavior. These should be the guiding principles underlying everything that follows are regards individual cases.
5: Public Facing Information, Guests, and New Attendees
Considering what we have discussed, and Paul’s assertion in 1 Corinthians 5 that we ought to reserve judgment on sexual immorality to those we call brother, I would submit that public facing information regarding the church (i.e. website, app, etc) should not publish a position on sexual immorality, marriage, and gender identity. Doing so effectively places the filter at the door so that people who do not know Christ may be turned away from it. This is not tantamount to tacit approval. In appropriate contexts within the church, these topics should still be discussed and addressed, but I do not believe it is consistent with a biblical treatment of unbelievers to place it in a public facing forum. If we have guests or new regular attendees who appear to be engaged in a cohabitating or fornicating relationship, a homosexual relationship, or other sexual sin, this should not be a priority to address unless we have discerned that they are believers and join the church. Even then, it is important to draw a distinction between someone who deals with same-sex attraction and someone who engages in homosexual behavior. The next seven points are meant to discuss, in broad terms, how we should address those who join the church with pre-existing relationships or identity issues:
6: Promiscuity, Cohabitation – Hebrews 13:4, 1 Cor 7:1-2, Ex 22:16
Much of the biblical discussion on promiscuity is by inference. Clearly, sex was meant to be inseparably linked to marriage and outside of that context should be considered immoral. For those who join the church already in a sexual relationship who are unmarried we should apply Exodus 22:16 and encourage them to marry as soon as possible. If they do not wish to marry, they should be encouraged to separate. Paul acknowledges in 1 Cor 7:2 that marriage is the best remedy for “temptation to sexual immorality.”
7: Adultery, Divorce and Remarriage – Matt 5:32, Matt 19:9, 1 Cor 7:10-11
This issue is given much more explicit biblical instruction but is often glossed over in our Christian culture due to the messy landscape of divorces and remarriages. In cases where non-biblical divorce has occurred, if reconciliation is possible, this should be pursued. If reconciliation is impossible because one or more parties have remarried, it would not be sensible to divorce again in order to achieve reconciliation. The principle to apply here, I believe, is from 1 Cor 7:17-24 summarized in verse 20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” This is not an ideal circumstance, but it is the best way forward in an imperfect world. Of note, polygamy was common in the culture of the early church, and while not ideal, was accepted by the church, as evidenced by the qualifications for elder to be “a husband of but one wife.” We have polygamous cultures even within our local community and if they came to Christ, we should not counsel them to divorce all but one wife and thus disrupt their social structure. It is not ideal and would disqualify them from eldership, but they should remain as they are. Whether marriage after unbiblical divorce in the past disqualifies a man from eldership is a case-by case question for the eldership.
8: Pornography, Sensuality, and Lust – Lev 18:6-18, Matt 5:28
As mentioned above, use of pornography has reached a high saturation point within our culture and within our church. While once thought of as simply a male issue, there is a growing trend toward gender parity in pornography usage. It is an issue that should be discussed with some frequency within our church. For those that join the church and view pornography regularly, it needs to be made clear that while the world has largely destigmatized it, it is still sexual immorality. Furthermore, this isn’t just limited to nudity and pornography, but any sensuality that leads to looking at someone “with lustful intent” is the heart equivalent of adultery according to Matt 5:28. In our culture, it is not possible to avoid such things by just turning away. We need to address the heart issues of idolatry, selfishness, and satisfaction in Christ. Practically, how should we deal with those who have on-going struggles with pornography, sensuality and lust? Should this preclude them from eldership? From deaconship? Taken strictly, this would preclude nearly all men from eldership. These require individual evaluation from the elders, but a guiding principle should be, if the person is repentant and there is evidence of growth in their life, we should consider more responsibility and continued discipleship.
9: Homosexuality – Lev 18:22, Lev 20:13, 1 Cor 6:9, 1 Tim 1:8-11
From the above references and others, it is evident that homosexual behavior is sexual sin. We cannot equivocate on that point. As we have discussed above, if a person who is already a believer and in the church and struggles with same sex attraction, we should approach them as we would handle anyone who is sexually attracted to someone to whom they are not married. If such a person decides that homosexuality is not sinful and begins sexually immoral activity, we should deal with them in the same way as any member who falls into unrepentant sin and go through the processes of correction and, if necessary, of church discipline. It is important that we draw a distinction between same sex attraction and homosexual behavior. We can do tremendous harm by demonizing same sex attraction and creating a taboo around it. A person who is struggling to abstain from homosexual behavior should be supported and encouraged. I believe Paul’s strong statements about not associating with sexually immoral people applies to those who remain unrepentant. Much more nuanced is the issue of how we address those that join the church already in a homosexual relationship. What about the married homosexual couple who join the church with their adopted child? Should we break up their family? I believe, in this case, the same principle should apply as to those who have gone through an unbiblical divorce in the past. We should apply 1 Cor 7:20: “Each one should remain in the condition in which he was called.” We can recognize that this is not ideal, but it is the best we can do in a fallen world just as we do with someone who is married after unbiblical divorce. Whether should apply to a homosexual couple in a long term committed relationship who are not legally married would be an individual discussion with the elders. Again, these are nuanced cases that will need individual prayer, discussion, and discernment. I believe a great deal more patience is called for when a new believer joins the church that has a history or present reality of homosexuality, even if they are unrepentant at first, believing that homosexuality is not sinful, than we would demonstrate to a person who has been in the church for a period of time and then decides to pursue a homosexual relationship.
10: Bisexuality – Heb 13:4
Bisexual attraction is no more or less of an issue than anyone who finds that they are sexually attracted to someone other than their spouse. This is not a rare or unique circumstance, even within the church. Someone who is practicing bisexuality is, by definition, not confining sex to the marriage bed, and this, therefore, qualifies as sexual immorality. The issue, here again, is one of identity and cultural acceptance. If a person “identifies as bisexual,” the real issue is not the bisexuality, but the fact that they identify themselves primarily by their sexual desires, and not by Christ. It would be equally a problem if they “identified as heterosexual” and that was seen as their defining characteristic. If such a person were to join the church, our priority should be in helping them see their identity in Christ rather than focusing on renouncing their sexual preference.
11: Transgenderism/Non-binarism – Psalm 139: 13-15
It should be noted that the next two points should not be considered in the category of sexual immorality, but as they are connected to the same cultural moment will be discussed here. It should further be remarked that transgenderism is a modern issue with no direct reference in Scripture. It is a challenging issue that often falls prey to oversimplification and scapegoating. It is not sufficient to simply state that a person should identify with their born gender. There are those born with ambiguous genitalia and those born with sex chromosome abnormalities such that “born gender” is not necessarily accurate. These occur with a frequency of 1 in 448 births on average which is not particularly rare. The majority of people who consider themselves to be transgender do not fall into these categories, but the fact remains that these categories exist. Unless we plan to embark on genetic testing, we must be careful how we assert someone’s gender assignment. Furthermore, we must acknowledge that much of the gender confusion in our culture is due to a distortion of biblically accurate masculinity and femininity in our culture of which the church has been widely supportive for generations. Many transgender and non-binary individuals consider themselves so because they do not fit into the traditional boxes our culture has created for the genders. The church can start by recognizing that these boxes are incorrect. We can also acknowledge that gender differences and roles are far less important than most human cultures perceive. Christ himself challenged many gender norms in his ministry and Paul maintains “…there is no male or female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28b) It is much more difficult to recognize this issue as a sin issue than many of the above concerns. If someone wishes to be addressed by different pronouns than they once did or dress differently than they once did, this does not amount to immorality. Once again, this can be an idolatrous identity issue if the person sees it as the central characteristic of their lives. There is often an inherent pride in asserting that such a person does not feel they fit in the body created for them, but if they come to love Jesus and understand and believe that they are “fearfully and wonderfully made” then this issue may become moot. Whether or not they revert to dressing differently or using pronouns they did when they were younger is largely immaterial. This also addresses the issue of people who may have undergone permanent physical changes. While we should not endorse such modification if it is being considered, there is no reason to reverse such a thing in order to return to a base state. We must recognize that this is a group that has a high propensity toward mental health concerns, instability, and suicidality. They need love, support and prayer, not scapegoating and extra-biblical expectations of conforming to a cultural norm. We must further note that this group as well as the homosexual group have often experienced psychological and even physical harm from others in our culture, sometimes in the name of Christ. We must foster an environment of champions physical and psychological safety for these people.
12: Asexuality – 1 Cor 7:25-38
Asexuality also should not be considered sexual immorality. There is, in fact, wide support in Paul’s letters such as in 1 Cor 7 for people, if they are able, to remain unmarried and be “anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord.” We tend to champion the model of the nuclear family in our Christian culture, but Paul sees chaste singleness as a better way. There should be no pressure from the church to make sure that single people pair off and get married because it is expected of them. As this state has been culturally identified with the LGBTQIA movement, it is seen on the same spectrum as the sexual immorality and gender issues discussed above, but it is not. It can still fall prey to the same issue of an idolatrous identity as some of the above issues, but it need not be so.
13: Glass Ceiling
In the event that God sees fit to bring people from these subgroups into our church, there would inevitably be a glass ceiling. The question is at what point. The four logical points are: regular attender, member, deacon, and elder. Regardless of their background or position, all should be welcome to be a regular attender. It is also clear, from the biblical requirements for eldership, that on-going problems or engagement in any of the sexual sins would disqualify them from that post. The middle two are less clear. I would submit that the bar for membership should be very low. This step, in my opinion, is when they would “bear the name of brother” and not before. Even if they disagree about the sinful nature of homosexuality, this should not disallow them from becoming members as long as they agree to submit to the churches position and not cause division. Allowing them to become members gives us the pastoral authority to speak into their lives, and we would hope that over time the Spirit would work in their hearts to convince them of the truth. Putting such a person in a deacon role would probably not be wise but would need to be evaluated prayerfully on a case-by-case basis. The difficulty here is that, while a position on homosexuality is not a salvific issue and should not be considered a core doctrine in the same way as the deity of Christ, for example, it is a sin issue. There is a limit to how far we can “agree to disagree” and still uphold our duty to root out sin in our midst. Once again, we should also distinguish between a struggle with same sex attraction and engagement in homosexual behavior when we consider our response. There is also a glass ceiling when it comes to marriage. While I believe we should not break up existing homosexual marriages, we should not participate in creating them. The marriage covenant between a man and woman was created, in part, to reflect the relationship between Christ and the church (Eph 5). This should not be co-opted to excuse or normalize immorality.
14: Nuance and Edge Cases
The above outline is by no means meant to be exhaustive or definitive. It is meant to provide a lens, supported by scripture, through which we can view these issues and consider corporate and pastoral responses. It should inform how we view the people that walk through the door from a wide range of backgrounds and how we equip those in our church to be Christ’s ambassadors to those in our community. Every person and circumstance, history and baggage will be different, and any non-nuanced position would be inherently evil. I pray we have many opportunities to talk, think and pray through specific situations that God would bless us with the chance to be a part of. What an honor it would be to be used to reach into broken lives like these with the Gospel of Grace.
15: Action Steps
As we consider practical and philosophical ways of responding to the above, I believe we should start from a position of corporate repentance. If we wish to truly reach out and touch the lives of broken people in need of a Savior who live a life of same sex attraction or gender dysphoria, we need to begin by recognizing that a great deal of harm, emotional and physical, has been inflicted on this group by the Church for generations. There are homeless people living in our area who were kicked out of their homes by parents holding a Bible. There are those who have been subjected to horrific methods that amount to torture under the guise of “Conversion Therapy” from Christian organizations. The only “conversion” we should concern ourselves with is to a regenerate heart. Attempting to change someone’s sexual attraction is very much beside the point. We cannot hope to be a place where such people can hear about Jesus unless they feel safe to enter our doors. We must also fight the tendency to consider sin in this area as something worse than others, even in non-Christians. James 2 says “…For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it….So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.” As we consider corporate and pastoral responses to the argument above, we must start by removing our own planks and repenting for the historical actions of the Church.
Practical steps that we could consider taking would include: removing the statements from the website about marriage and sexuality, especially directly under our Core Beliefs. Again, this is not meant to hide or equivocate on the truth, but not to set such a barrier before someone even walks through our door. Secondly, we should consider how to address these topics within the church. A Sunday morning sermon is not ideal as it is time limited and a unidirectional conversation. A small group course format would be a consideration. We need to equip parents and family members of adolescents, teens, and adults with language to talk about these things in loving, humble, God-honoring ways. In the longer term, we need to consider how we can make our church a place where people would feel comfortable inviting friends and family who look, think and act differently than we do. We need to find a way of projecting safety and inclusion even in our public facing information. This isn’t a balancing act where we must make it clear early and often that we “love the sinner but hate the sin” as the saying goes. We just need to love the sinner. Dealing with the sin can come later God-willing. A third application point is to be mindful of what we say and what we allow to be said without being checked. Certainly, joking at the expense of those who are dealing with these issues is unacceptable, but we also need to work to avoid getting dragged in to pseudo-political discussions on bathroom issues, sports issues or other divisive concerns that have no bearing on the church.
I recognize that these proposals have the potential to divide the church. There are some who may leave the body over these sorts of changes. I would argue that it is our responsibility to them as well as to the unreached in our community to have those discussions and risk some of them leaving over it. These are not all things we should change overnight but after ample opportunities for discussions and prayer.
16: Conclusion – Mark 2:15-17
At its core, these are not issues of who someone loves, sexual attraction, or even specific sex acts. The core is idolatry and identity. When acceptance by others, self-determination, or physical pleasure become the central force driving our lives then we have become idolators. Though our idols take on different shapes, the struggles in this space are shared by all. Whether you are identified by your profession, your family, or your gender identity, you are not being identified by your Master. Building fences around or within the church because someone sins in a different way than us cannot be allowed. Making the excuse that we are somehow “protecting our children” by shielding them from people in our community who desperately need a Savior will not show our children who Jesus is. Within the church, we cannot be afraid to “speak the truth in love.” We need not and cannot shy away from sin in the church, but we must recognize that the Spirit works in each of our lives. Often this happens over a period of time. We should be prepared to walk alongside our brothers and sisters in this journey for as long as they need.
There is a significant correlation between this community and their relationship with religious groups, and the “tax collectors and sinners” that Jesus sought out in His ministry and their relationship with the religious leaders of the day. Our heart should reflect His. Jesus responded: “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Mark 2:17) If our church was filled with transgender people and gay families that loved Jesus, God would be glorified.”
Thank you in advance for any constructive criticism, notes of encouragement to and or reading recommendations on these topics that I can pass along.

Hi! I am a resident of hyderabad. I have a n independent house which I leased out a family consisting of three generations living together. Their main occupation is business . My chief concern is that the tenant is refusing to vacate the house. He gives out vague excuses. Moreover he is always delaying his rent payment by two or three months. I am really fed up. Can any one give me a solution.

Since backing SC in 2013, I've advocated that profession-based gameplay should be the cornerstone of building the player experience.
After playing the 3.23 experimental mode and watching (for the first time) the CitCon 2023 segment, I can say engineering gameplay doesn't do a thing to make me feel like an engineer.

1. Engineering gameplay is mostly devoid of engineering principles.
2. What seems to be the intended source of "fun" won't work at all scales.

Addressing the second point first, even watching the devs play, it seems the design is leaning into the idea of frenetic action, bouncing from crisis to crisis, being a driver of "fun." On a larger, multi-deck ship like a Hercules, this design can deliver. But what happens to the frenetic feeling on smaller ships like a Connie or Freelancer where moving from crisis to crisis means walking a few meters or simply turning your body a little?
Returning to the first point, with repairing ship components - Resource Management would be a topic for another discussion - CIG has delivered Barotrauma's gameplay in a spaceship. Instead of using a magic wrench to fight flooding and repair equipment in a submarine, we have a magic pistol to fight fires and repair equipment in a spaceship.
Back in 2021, I authored a post on the importance of authentic-feeling profession-based gameplay in which I deconstructed and rebuilt mining as an example. If the mining gameplay mechanic had instead been introduced as part of hacking gameplay - siphoning data off a network while keeping the data flow rate high enough to finish in time but low enough to not alert intrusion detection systems - nobody would have questioned it. Nothing about mining gameplay makes it feel specific to working on large rocks.
Now, like rocks, ship components are non-descript containers filled with numbers, and repairing them entails no more than pointing a magic beam that improves the health number. Where's the engineering?
Instead, imagine if ship components had two, three, or four printed circuit boards (like your computer's motherboard) in them. Conductive lines, called traces, connect bobs and doodads that combine to fulfill some function.
The repair process would entail using the cutting tool to remove the damaged area of a board. The board is scanned, and a mobile 3D printer - maybe a couple of levitating dinner plate-sized discs - prints a replacement patch and inserts the bobs and doodads. The engineer affixes the patch, which fuses into place. They then use an extruder attachment on the multitool - think a plumber's caulking gun - to fill conductive RMC in groves that indicate the trace locations.
Simple enough that doing routine maintenance doesn't become drudgery while being involved enough that performing it in a stressful situation is non-trivial.
Simple additions like a curing time for the 3D-printed patch material could add more engineering flavor to a mission's story.
"Captain, engines are functional again, but I'll need to refurbish the whole thing when we get back to port if we put too much stress on them now."
Imagine now if each quadrant of a board fulfilled some function. This cluster of bobs and doodads together perform power regulation. Another cluster does signal focusing, etc. With this design, an engineer could restore partial functionality in time-sensitive situations.
"Captain, the shields are back online, but someone will have to babysit the power triangle if we run them at more than 50%."
Further, imagine if the actual layout of traces, bobs, and doodads on the board mattered in the context of simple principles: coherence and interference.
Coherence - E.g., to perform the function of power regulation, these seven bobs and doodads must be physically located near enough to one another.
Interference - Bobs, doodads, and traces all generate fields of "interference" in both electrical (current) and thermal domains. Too close proximity impacts wear and tear and can result in failures.
So, we have a tug-of-war between competing objectives on a surface with limited real estate. Factors like total trace length could impact performance, power efficiency, or whatever.
How does this design impact the player experience?
While mining a lucrative field of rocks in the upper atmosphere of a gas giant, an Orion's sensors go down. The engineer finds two traces showing overcurrent damage in adjacent locations on board #3. Repairs are made, but forty minutes later, another failure. More precisely, the same failure. The engineer suspects something about the environment is causing an electrical arc between the two traces.
Knowing there's a lot more wealth to be mined at the planet, the captain contracts a Reliant Sen to survey the upper atmosphere of the giant. The Sen captain delivers a computer simulation of the atmosphere to the Orion's engineer who plugs it into their workbench. Testing reveals that, in this environment, the interference in the "current domain" for traces is exaggerated. So, the board layout needs to be adjusted to move the closest traces further apart; time to play tug-of-war.
Engineering gameplay that makes you feel like an engineer...
For me, too much of too many profession-based systems is being abstracted at too high a level to deliver engaging gameplay. Moreover, abstraction at a high level means the universe lacks fundamental structures that can tie different professions, and players, together.
Imagine in our gas giant example, if the failure wasn't caused by forty minutes of accumulated electrical damage, but by waves of high-energy particles arriving in 40-minute intervals. The Sen pilot may want to investigate the source of the particles, but she'll need an engineer's solution for her ship first. Furthermore, an Orion crew member may think to ask, "If these particles are wrecking our equipment, what are they doing to our bodies?"
Miners, engineers, scientists, and doctors all writing their personal chapters in a larger, authentic, and connected story.
Crossposted to Spectrum.

I post-graduated in social sciences in 2022. since then I had no luck in getting myself enrolled in a PhD program. I'm from India and I qualified universitie's eligibility exams for PhD but due to low seats or exams getting canceled last year got wasted. I always had a dream of moving abroad so last year I took that jump and applied for doctoral programs in America. Due to limited money, I applied to only two universities but when the decision came out in March, I got rejected by both of them. I was devastated and I knew I would never be good enough but something inside me was begging me to take one last chance and try just one more time. This time I've shortlisted UK and Australia universities and I want to give my level best this time. I updated my Resume, changed my research proposal rewrote my SOP, and tomorrow I'm going to mail professors asking them for future phd supervision. Being a girl from a small town in India I always dreamed of being something that my future generations will be proud of. I'm the first one in my family who's aiming for phd that too from abroad. there are so many generational curses that are yet to be broken. I've my fingers crossed, I may not be selected this time also but at least I'll never be guilty for giving up too early. Hoping for the best. Wish me luck!

Just to give some context about me im 24M and i only ever had like situationships that led to nowhere and we're quickly dispersed. Last time I tried to get myself out there was during COVID-19 and I downloaded Tinder out of pure boredom which led to few convos, but only 1 really held on for much longer. It's now been around 4 years since then, I've been kinda focusing on myself those past 4 years like going to the gym, improving my well-being and trying to feel more confident in my own body. But now its getting to the point where anywhere I go I can't stop just noticing couples and how most of them are just happy, which I haven't really felt in a long time. I'm assuming that's a sign of loneliness and needing a s/o in my life. The point is I haven't really been much of a social person lately, especially with women, and apart from work and gym and occasional shopping, I haven't really been anywhere, maybe it's because I don't really have anyone to go anywhere with, but then again I feel like I'm just making excuses. I am going to Japan this fall (solo travelling) which will be out of my comfort zone, and I'll try maybe making a few friends to really break the rust from my social skills (which aren't great in first place). But the conclusion is that I don't even know where to start these days, should I create a new Tinder profile, or go to bars (I don't really drink), go to a park. How would I even approach women these days without coming of as a creep because this (my) generation is so difficult to engage nowadays. Anyway if someone would mind just giving me some sort of advice or at least thought on this I'd be very grateful.