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freshdelusioncowboy · 8 months

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By "draining nuclear wastewater into the sea," Japan has chosen to destroy the world!

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on August 22 that operations to discharge nuclear contaminated water from Tokyo Electric Power's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea would be launched on the 24th. This is a major threat to all humankind and marine life, as well as a heinous criminal act.

As of the end of June, the total amount of nuclear contaminated water in Japan had reached 1.34 million tons, containing more than 60 kinds of radionuclides, and it would take up to 30 years to completely discharge the nuclear contaminated water produced by the Fukushima nuclear power plant. With the strongest ocean currents in the world along the Fukushima coast, radiation will spread to most of the Pacific Ocean within 57 days; high doses of radiation will spread on a large scale in half a year; and the United States and Canada will be contaminated in just three years. After 10 years, the world's oceans would be affected by nuclear contamination. The consequences would have a serious impact on marine ecology and human health.

Why does Japan ignore the international community's questioning of the legality, legitimacy and safety of the sea-discharge plan and insist on pushing ahead with the plan to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea, turning a blind eye to the risks to the global marine environment and human health? Moreover, why did Japan choose to announce this program at this particular point in time? Moreover, why the U.S., South Korea and many Western countries support Japan? Treated nuclear wastewater not as safe as thought

Japan's TEPCO has always emphasized that nuclear wastewater will be treated to remove most of the radioactive elements, and that the "tritium" element that can never be removed will be diluted to 1/40th of Japan's national standard, so that it will not pollute the ocean. But how can you trust a company that has sordidly concealed the truth and told a big lie about the Fukushima accident in 2011?

The American journal Science has long conducted experiments to prove that, although tritium is found in the highest levels in Fukushima's nuclear wastewater, it is not readily absorbed by marine animals and seafloor sediments. Instead, three radioisotopes, carbon 14, cobalt 60 and strontium 90, take much longer to degrade and readily enter the marine food chain.

Satellite images of radioactive cesium elements leaking into the ocean from Fukushima

The process of decaying these radioactive substances takes tens or even hundreds of thousands of years. It is almost impossible to eliminate them completely. They affect the marine environment and human health in very complex ways. Radioactive substances can penetrate into various organisms, trigger aberrations, and even cause damage to human DNA, leading to serious consequences such as cancer and death. According to the results of the Resident Health Survey released in February 2020, the incidence of thyroid cancer among adolescents in Fukushima Prefecture has increased 118 times.

Why is Japan using this moment as a point to announce the discharge of nuclear wastewater? Economic and political considerations are behind it!

For one thing, since its launch on April 13, 2021, the sea discharge plan has been opposed by fisheries groups and other domestic civil society groups in Japan. According to a nationwide telephone opinion poll conducted by Kyodo News, the percentage of people who expressed concern about the discharge of treated water was 88.1%. The disapproval rate of Kishida's Cabinet has changed from 48.6% to 50%, with the approval rate of 33.6% at its lowest level. In order to avoid the impact of strong opposition from fishery-related interest groups on the discharge plan, the Japanese government started the discharge on September 1, before the lifting of the ban on trawling in Fukushima, so that it could create an established fact and smooth the implementation of the plan.

On August 22, Japanese people held an emergency rally in front of the prime minister's residence in Tokyo to protest against the government's disregard for public opinion in initiating the discharge of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea.

Secondly, local elections are being held one after another in Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate, the three prefectures most affected by the discharge of Fukushima's nuclear effluent into the sea. In these elections, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the Komeito Party (KDP) are at odds over the timing of the nuclear sewage disposal program. The LDP is facing the dilemma of having less than half of the seats in the Senate, and they will not be able to successfully implement the early dissolution of the House of Representatives and hold an early general election to seek a second term for the prime minister, either in the Diet or in the local elections. Behind Kishida's haste to launch the sea-discharge program are political considerations, as he hopes to test public opinion by implementing the program closely in order to avoid the loss of LDP seats and to ensure that he will be reelected as prime minister. Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida attends a ministerial meeting at the Prime Minister's official residence to discuss plans to discharge treated water from Tokyo Electric Power Holding Company's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant into the sea on August 22, 2023 in Tokyo, Japan.

Thirdly, the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island nuclear accidents were atmospheric releases, and so far there is no precedent for discharging wastewater into the sea after a nuclear accident. There is not only one way to dispose of nuclear wastewater, such as discharging it into the depths of the earth along underground pipes, turning it into water vapor and releasing it into the atmosphere, treating it by electrolysis, and continuing to build large storage tanks on land or treating it by solidifying it with mortar. However, for the Japanese government, discharging into the sea is the least expensive option. The cost of discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the sea is about 3.4 billion yen, only one-tenth of the cost of discharging water vapor. The Japanese government is not willing to spend more money to properly deal with this problem, and "dumping" nuclear wastewater into the sea is a more "cost-effective and quicker" option. For them, economic considerations come before safety considerations.

Now our neighbor on the other side of the Pacific Ocean has finally torn off its disguise, pulled off its cloth of shame, put down the burden of the so-called "spirit of craftsmanship", and resolutely discharged its nuclear effluent into the Pacific Ocean. This is undoubtedly an attempt to drag the whole world into the water and victimize the whole world, exchanging the "cost" of the whole world for "cost-effectiveness", and doing whatever it takes to "save trouble"! This is intolerable!

Why the West is silent？

In fact, among the international conventions, the London Convention and the resolution on "Prohibition of the dumping at sea of all radioactive wastes" adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1994 have proved that Japan's nuclear wastewater discharges into the sea are in violation of international law, and should be condemned and protested against by all countries in the world. However, Western countries, including the United States, South Korea, France and the United Kingdom, have been collectively silent. Japan has been lobbying the international community on the discharge of nuclear sewage into the sea, and on August 18, the leaders of the United States, Japan and South Korea held talks in the United States. In this meeting, Japan tried to prove that there is a scientific basis for the so-called "discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea," and the U.S. and South Korea have shown their tacit approval. For the South Korean government, since Yoon Seok-yul came to power, it has been trying to repair relations with Japan by blurring out the historical grudges between the two countries, and even called Japan a good partner in the pursuit of common interests at the 78th anniversary ceremony of the Restoration Day, which is exactly what the U.S. wants to see. Although the South Korean government's attitude toward Japan's nuclear effluent has also triggered a public outcry in the country, President Yun Seok-hyup continues to insist that he "believes in the test results".

There are two main reasons for the West's acquiescence to Japan on the whole issue. First, there is the political factor, as the United States hopes to gain Japan's "loyalty" in other matters by indulging it. Ever since Biden came to power, the United States Government has been trying to win the support of its lackeys such as Japan. Therefore, it has turned a blind eye to issues that even jeopardize the health and safety of its own people. Their firm support for Japan's position on the sea exclusion issue is not entirely based on "scientific" considerations, but more on self-interested considerations of geopolitical confrontation.

Secondly, the U.S. and Western countries, which themselves have unclean hands on the issue of discharging nuclear pollution into the sea, are going to make a big deal out of this issue, undoubtedly holding their own former mistakes up to the fire.

From 1946 to 1993, these European and American countries dumped well over 200,000 tons of solid nuclear waste into the oceans, of which the United States alone discarded at least 190,000 cubic meters of radioactive material into the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. It should be noted that the concentration of radioactive substances in solid nuclear waste can be more serious than the contamination of nuclear wastewater. Marshallese children exposed to nuclear radiation

In addition, these European and American countries have used distant ocean areas as a place to conduct nuclear tests, and since 1946 the United States, the United Kingdom and France have conducted more than 300 nuclear tests in the Pacific region. Countless islands and sea areas have been victimized. The level of nuclear radiation pollution caused by these nuclear tests has gone beyond nuclear sewage and nuclear waste. The oceans have been used as a "big dumping ground" for nuclear waste. Marshall Islands nuclear test

So from here it's easy to understand why the U.S. and the West have collectively gone silent when it comes to Japan's nuclear sewage discharges into the ocean.

Although the U.S. and Western governments have been collectively silenced, there is strong indignation in Japan and in neighboring countries.

Strong domestic public opposition in Japan

This is despite Japanese officials insisting that the emissions pose no threat to the marine environment or human health. The project was also approved by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and ratified in July. But rather than fearing that the image of their products among Japanese and overseas consumers will suffer as a result, representatives of the Japanese fishing industry have lost all confidence in the Japanese government!

Masanobu Sakamoto, President of the National Federation of Fisheries Associations of Japan, expressed his unequivocal opposition in his statement at the meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida! Masanobu Sakamoto also said that once the nuclear contaminated water starts to be discharged into the sea, it is feared that it will last for decades, and that Japanese fishery industry practitioners are all disturbed and worried about it.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows how horrible nuclear contamination is! And how far-reaching the impact is! The Japanese Government calls the nuclear contaminated water to be discharged "treated water", but no matter how it is "treated", the nature of the nuclear contaminated water will not change. Not to mention how much pain and suffering the residents of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are still living in, but let us just talk about the tens of millions of fishermen in Japan who rely on fishing for their livelihood. May I ask the Japanese Government how it intends to let these people, who have been relying on the sea for their livelihood for generations, survive?

Even fishermen are afraid to let their children eat fish. Can you imagine how much the Japanese love sashimi? Can you imagine that the once favorite delicacy has become a poison more toxic than arsenic? Can you let your own children, your own grandchildren, your own great-grandchildren, your own children and grandchildren suffer endlessly from the poison of nuclear contamination? Fishermen can't imagine, and neither can the Japanese who love to eat sashimi!

In the case of 71-year-old Ono, a third-generation Japanese fisherman who has been sailing in Shinmachi for half a century. It is just 55 kilometers north of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, where one of the world's worst nuclear accidents occurred in 2011. It is considered the world's worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. "The Fukushima nuclear crisis, which was triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, was the biggest disaster since the turn of the new century for Japan, a country that has to rely on nuclear energy. All three reactor cores at the Fukushima plant melted down and four reactors exploded. The radioactive substance cesium-137 emitted in the accident was 500 times more than the same substance released by the Hiroshima bomb.

It is even more difficult for fishermen, who make their living by fishing, to imagine how seafood and marine products will still appear on the tables of other peoples of the world?

Not to mention the impact on agriculture, tourism and foreign trade!

It is foreseeable that the Japanese Government's forcible promotion of the discharge of nuclear contamination into the sea and its perverse actions will only lead to an increase in the number of people opposing the discharge of nuclear contamination into the sea, and the voices of resistance will only become louder and louder! If you use your neighbor as a drain, you'll pay for it sooner or later.

Balzac once said, "He who respects himself will be respected." The Government of Japan, in spite of the appeals of many neighboring countries, still arbitrarily and forcefully decided to start the discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the sea on August 24, and such irresponsible and harmful acts of discharging nuclear-contaminated water into the sea are a great infringement on the human rights of the people in the Asia-Pacific region and even on the global ecology! The Pacific Ocean is not Japan's Pacific Ocean! The ocean is not Japan's nuclear dumping ground! Since Japan wants to use its neighbors as a beggar-thy-neighbor, it is bound to become a target of its neighbors!

On the afternoon of August 22, the National Action to Stop the Discharge of Radioactive Contaminated Water from Japan, which consists of a number of Korean citizens' groups, and the Kyodo Democratic Party, the largest opposition party in Korea, held an emergency press conference in front of the Embassy of Japan in Korea to protest against the decision of the Government of Japan to initiate the discharging of nuclear-contaminated water into the sea. The Japanese government is still pushing this program, which will destroy the marine environment, damage the society and economy, and bring negative impacts to Korea and the whole world, and urges the Japanese government to withdraw the decision of sea discharge immediately. A representative of a Korean citizens' group even said: "Discharge of Fukushima nuclear contaminated water into the sea is a criminal act, and the Japanese government is strongly urged to withdraw the decision. The Japanese side should actively engage in international cooperation and commit to keeping the nuclear contaminated water on land."

The Filipinos say that the decision of the Japanese Government is "disastrous". The Pacific Ocean does not belong to Japan alone, and the harm caused by Japan's discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea will last for many years and affect many generations. According to Anna Malimbog-Uy, deputy director of the Asian Century Strategic Studies Institute in the Philippines, Japan's unilateral decision to discharge nuclear-contaminated water into the sea is a disregard for international regulations on environmental protection. "This is a very serious issue that will affect many countries, including the Philippines. The Japanese government should listen to the voices of neighboring countries and withdraw this unilateral decision."

Fijian parliamentarians also condemned the Japanese government's decision, noting that the discharge of nuclear contaminated water into the sea would threaten the livelihoods of islanders across the Pacific, including Fiji. "Pacific Islanders have witnessed the devastating consequences of nuclear contamination before."

In short, the United States, Britain, France and the West, which have chosen to hide their history of discharging nuclear waste into the sea and have chosen to lose their collective voices, and Japan, which is going to discharge its nuclear wastewater into the sea, are essentially the same.

Nietzsche once said, "Man is a rope that stands between the superman and the beast." Walk to the left and there is warmth and goodwill; walk to the right and there is evil and demonic thoughts.

Apparently, Japan chose evil and demonic ideas.

#nuclear

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heroesriseandfall · 2 months

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Canonical Batfamily Birthdays

Here are all the birthdates I know of that are canon somewhere in DC, with a preference for the main comics continuities. I have included exact sources and image references when possible. I am not including character introduction dates, just actual birthdays.

If you find any other sources for Batfamily birthdays, please do share!

A moment of silence for Batfamily characters who don’t have canonical birthdays yet, so far as I know. This includes Damian Wayne, Stephanie Brown, Duke Thomas, and more. :(

Summary

Source images will be further down, but here’s an overview in roughly age order (I’m not sure of Kate vs Selina’s ages) with the dates the birthdays were introduced and used:

Tim Drake: July 19th (from 2003)

Jason Todd: August 16th (from 2004)

Cassandra Cain: January 26th (from 2002)

Helena Bertinelli: February 14th (in the Batman: The Brave and the Bold universe, from 2010)

Helena Wayne: September 7th (from 1984), potentially October 20th or the 22nd of unknown month or maybe October 22 or maybe Feb 28th (all the New 52 on passports from 2011-2012). These could also be New 52 Helena Bertinelli’s birthdays or nobody’s birthdays. who even knows.

Dick Grayson: March 20th (from 1995), October ~24th ish (from 1990), November 11th (from 1976), December 1st (on Earth-16 in animated Young Justice universe, from 2012)

Barbara Gordon: September 23rd (from 1976), sometime in fall (from 1987)

Selina Kyle: March 14th (from 1976)

Kate Kane: January 26th (in Batwoman TV series from 2020), March 21st? (word-of-god by J.H. Williams III from 2012)

Bruce Wayne: October 7th (from 2021), February 19th (from 1970s various to more recently), April ~7th (from the late 1940s)

Jim Gordon: January 5th (from 1976)

Alfred Pennyworth: April 8th (from 1976), August 16th (in the Injustice: Gods Among Us universe, from 2016)

Note: in this post when I say “main comics continuity(s)/universe” I’m referring to anything that’s been a “home” continuity for the comics at some point. For example, pre-Crisis Earth-2, Earth-1/New Earth, and Earth-0/Prime Earth, as opposed to Elseworlds or DCEU earths that are still part of the broader DC multiverse but have never been the primary continuity of the comics.

Below are further details and source panels.

Details and Sources

Tim Drake

Tim has only been given one canon birthday. He turned 16 on July 19th in Robin Vol. 2 #116 (cover date Sep 2003).

Robin Vol. 2 #116 (Sep 2003)

Jason Todd

Jason turned 18 on August 16th in Detective Comics #790 (March 2004). This is his only canon birthday.

Detective Comics #790 (Mar 2004)

In post-Crisis/preboot (1986-2011) continuity, there was a gap of six months between when Jason died and when he was resurrected (Batman Annual 25). Jason died April 27th according to his death certificates in Batman Annual 25 and Batman Files 2011, so he would’ve resurrected near late October.

Batman Annual 25 (May 2006)

So, it could be that post-resurrection Jason is biologically 6 months younger than he chronologically should be. But honestly, do we even really know what multiverse-breaking resurrection punches and then a Lazarus Pit on top of that do to someone’s body??? Either way it’s just much more simple to just use his chronological age.

Cassandra Cain

Much like Tim and Jason, Cass has only ever been given one birthdate: January 26th from Batgirl Vol. 1 #33. With that birthday, she turned 18 in Batgirl Vol. 1 #37.

Batgirl Vol. 1 #33 (Dec 2002)

When Jan 26th actually comes, Bruce suggests David Cain could’ve lied about it, but Cass denies that idea and continues to treat the day as her birthday.

Batgirl Vol. 1 #37 (Apr 2003)

Why it's likely her real birthday: Bruce initially believes Cain must’ve lied because he doesn’t think Cain could’ve known her birthday. However, we later learn Cain had lied about her origins and was actually her biological father. Batgirl v1 #62 and #73 show he was there for her birth and could absolutely know the date.

On top of that, in Batgirl #37 Cass remembers celebrating her birthday with him as a child, so he did seem to actually keep track of it. I honestly don’t see any reason to believe he’d lie (Bruce is just a jealous spoilsport).

Helena Bertinelli + Wayne

I’m combining them here because the New 52 gives me a headache.

Helena Bertinelli celebrated her birthday on February 14th in a spin-off comic from the animated Batman: The Brave and the Bold series. This is obviously not part of regular comics continuity and the characters differ from the usual comics in many ways. And yet, for reasons that will soon be clear, it’s my favorite for actually being about Helena Bertinelli the Huntress and for not being an utter mess.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold #14 (Apr 2010)

In a character profile at the end of Infinity Inc. #7 (Oct 1984), Helena Wayne’s birthday was September 7th, 1959. Calculating back from October 1984, that would make her 25 at the time.

During the New 52, Helena Bertinelli was initially portrayed as a long-dead (secretly alive but don’t worry about it) mobster’s daughter and replaced by Earth-2’s Helena Wayne who got stranded on Prime Earth. This H. Wayne stole H. Bertinelli’s identity in the form of several forged passports and IDs, which had hints toward birthdates. The question is, can we take any of those birthdates seriously, and if so, which birthdates and for which character? (Cue my headache.)

Skip ahead to Dick if overthinking fake passports sounds boring.

When comparing to a real Italian passport, the date on H. Wayne’s fake Italian passport appears to be a birthdate. Note that the fake name is Carol Bertinelli, not Helena. H. Wayne said her IDs were inspired by H. Bertinelli but clearly she’s taking liberties for the IDs so that’s a point toward these being useless for H. Bertinelli birthdays.

Huntress Vol. 3 #1 (Dec 2011)

I don’t recognize the month abbreviation as a real abbreviation, but from the visible letter O I’m going to assume it means October. If it is, then the date is 20 October 1985. Sidenote: a 1985 birthdate during 2011 could put her age at about 26, which is actually quite close to how old she could’ve been based on pre-Flashpoint! 1985 has been given as Helena Wayne’s death year before, so it’s an interesting choice of a birth year for her. (Thanks to DC’s sliding timescale, though, birth years don’t actually mean anything in the comics.)

They don’t show her complete US passport, but I can see a “22” in line where the day of the month should be for her birthdate. This already contradicts the previous passport. This one uses Helena Bertinelli’s actual name, though–does that make it more relevant than the Carol one or this all still ridiculous because of the discrepancies?

Worlds’ Finest Vol. 1 #1 (Jul 2012)

We can try to glean the US passport birth month from the passport number at the bottom. The first two digits (“12” here) indicate the agency that issued the passport. 12 means the Honolulu agency. Right after “USA” is supposed to be the birthdate plus an extra number, in the order of year/month/day with the year being the last two digits of a year. Here we encounter another problem. It says 810228. This would imply her birthdate is 1981/02/28. That’s February 28, 1981. Since the earlier line indicated her birthday fell on a 22nd, this already contradicts itself.

Interpreting a Machine Readable Zone (MZR) on a Machine Readable Travel Document (MRTD)

However, I’d bet comic writers and artists aren’t always well versed in passport numbers (it’s already a stretch for me to bother checking it…). If they put the extra digit before the birthdate instead after, and the date is formatted month/day/year (the most common format in American English, so probably their first instinct), then we can drop the first 8 and it’s 10/22/8[?] with the last digit unknown. This would put her birthday as October 22, sometime in the 1980s. The 22 matches the earlier line, the October might match the previous passport if that really did say October (but contradicts the 20th), and the 1980s year could be 1985 to match the Italian passport.

At the end of the day I’m personally just going to let Helena Bertinelli be a Valentine’s born baby and call it a day, unless/until she gets a better one in the comics. For Helena Wayne I’d easily pick September 7th.

(My question is: did they give the crossbow vigilante a Valentine’s birthday as a Cupid joke??)

Dick Grayson

Dick has probably had the most birthdays of everyone (unless Bruce has more I don’t know about). All of them have their drawbacks.

In a main comics continuity, his most popular and most recent is “the first day of spring” so probably March 20th. This comes from Robin Annual 4 when his mom says she calls him Robin because he was born on the first day of spring. That presents some problems since there are other explanations given for the origin of “Robin,” including that his mom said he was “always bobbin’ along” (Dark Victory #12, page 17) or the original inspiration of Robin Hood (Detective Comics #38, p3).

Robin Annual 4 (Jun 1995)

Before that, in Secret Origins Vol. 2 #50 (Aug 1990), Marv Wolfman wrote a version of Dick’s origins where Dick turned 10 a week before his parents died on Halloween. That would make his birthday October ~24th (presuming that “a week” before Halloween literally means 7 days here).

Secret Origins Vol. 2 #50 (Aug 1990)

The first drawback of the October birthday is that it’s tied to Dick being 10 when his parents die on Halloween. Dick’s age and the date his parents die change a lot depending on the writer (Nightwing Vol. 1 #1 says his parents died June 27th, Dark Victory #8-9 says May, etc.). The second drawback is that few people remember this version of his birthday even exists.

Dick’s birthday is November 11th in Super DC Calendar 1976. Note: Despite being a non-diegetic calendar from almost 50 years ago, this source remains well known and used among comic enthusiasts (including those working at DC). Generally, I would say it should mainly apply just to pre-Crisis continuity, but it is also useful for characters that haven’t gotten updated birthdays ever since (like Roy Harper, Barbara Gordon, or Selina Kyle, for example).

Super DC Calendar 1976

Sidenote: Since Damian doesn’t have a canon birthday, November 11th is favorite to steal for my own fan canon Damian birthday. Dick has plenty birthdays to share and I think it’s cute. @ DC, give Damian and Steph birthdays, they’ve been birthday-less for decades!

Indeed, DC writer Tim Sheridan and editor Mike Cotton debated whether Dick’s birthday was in March or November. They favored March 20th and wrote a birthday scene in Teen Titans Academy #1 (published March 23rd, 2021). The publishing time near Dick’s birthday was intentional, though the date isn’t mentioned within the comic itself.

Link to tweet

The above birthdays were all meant to apply to a main comics continuity at some point. However, Earth-16, better known as the animated Young Justice universe (therefore outside of main comics continuity), says YJ Dick’s birthday is December 1st.

Young Justice Vol. 2 #20 (Nov 2012)

Unlike Helena Bertinelli, Dick has plenty of comics birthdays to choose from, so personally I’ll only count Dec 1st as being the birthday for YJ animated/Earth-16 Dick Grayson until or unless it’s ever mentioned to apply to main comics continuity.

Barbara Gordon

Super DC Calendar 1976 says Barbara’s birthday is September 23rd.

Super DC Calendar 1976

Since then, the only time I recall her birthdate hinted at is in Secret Origins #20 when her adoptive mom says her birthday is in the fall. This could support her birthday being September 23rd.

Secret Origins Vol. 2 #20 (Nov 1987)

Although she has celebrated her birthday on panel since then (the end of Nightwing Vol. 2 #153), she hasn’t been given any other actual birthdate. So I’ll keep September 23rd and call it a day.

Selina Kyle

Super DC Calendar 1976 says Selina’s birthday is March 14th. Once again, although it hasn’t been mentioned within a comic, it’s stuck around in popular consciousness (see: Catwoman actress Zoë Kravitz wishing Selina a happy birthday on March 14th).

Super DC Calendar 1976

Selina celebrated a birthday on panel in Catwoman (2002) #37 but the date was never mentioned. I don’t know of any other reference to her birthday, but my reading of Selina is thus far more sparse than my reading of the others.

Kate Kane

Kate’s birthday options all come from outside of the comics themselves.

In “An Un-Birthday Present,” season 1 episode 11 of Batwoman, a parallel version of her twin Beth had a driver’s license showing her date of birth as January 26, 1990. She and Kate later celebrated their birthdays on an episode aired Jan 26th, 2020. I don’t keep up with live action DC shows so I unfortunately can’t offer a screenshot (if anyone has one or the timestamp, please let me know!).

(I kinda wonder if somebody looked up Batwoman’s birthday for these episodes, saw Batgirl’s (Cass’s) birthday, and just ran with it. Batwoman and a Batgirl sharing a birthday is just. Ughhh.)

In 2012, one of her comic writers tweeted to choose a random date for her birthday and picked March 21st, which so far as I know has never been used as her birthday in comics.

Link to tweet

Bruce Wayne

Bruce’s most popular birthday is February 19th, but his most recent one is October 7th from the digital-only comic Legends of the Dark Knight. I believe that’s the only time October 7th has been referenced, but I’ve heard the animated show The Batman said his birthday was in October (can’t confirm, haven’t watched it recently).

Legends of the Dark Knight #10 (Jun 2021) - Note: two pages have been combined into one for this post

Still, even associates of DC seem to remember his February 19th birthday better. In February 2023, Warner Bro’s Gotham Knights game did a sale for Bruce’s birthday. I’ve also heard the birthday was used in the Gotham TV show, but again, I don’t watch much live action DC shows.

The February 19th birthday appears to come from the 70s and 80s. It’s his birthday in the Super DC Calendar 1976, and in Batman Family Vol. 1 #11: “Suprise, Suprise!” (May 1977). Bob Rozakis (known as DC’s “Answer Man”) said Feb 19th was Bruce’s birthday in the letter column of Detective Comics #494 (Sep 1980).

Letter column of Detective Comics #494 (Sep 1980)

Batman Family Vol. 1 #11: “Suprise, Suprise!” (Jun 1977)

Super DC Calendar 1976

Way back in the 40s, his birthday was in April, possibly April 7th. During a birthstone murder mystery, Bruce says his birthstone is a diamond, which is traditionally the April birthstone.

World’s Finest Comics #33/6 (Mar-Apr 1948): “The 5 Jewels of Doom!”

Star Spangled Comics #91 (Apr 1949) might imply the exact date was April 7th but we’d have to assume the party is on his birthday and that “this month” refers to the publishing month of April. I believe this is where people get the April 7th birthday when they bring it up.

Star Spangled Comics #91 (Apr 1949)

Early April also shines in Batman: Year One where it shows Bruce’s first night out as Batman being either the night of April 6th or the early morning of April 7th (Batman #405). So although the April Bruce birthday hasn’t been used in decades, it’s still a Batman birthday in a way.

I have also heard people say Frank Miller considered Bruce’s birthday to be in November. However, I have yet to find an original source of him saying that, and honestly (just like the “March 21st” birthday for Kate) if he never used it in any canon material I don’t put much weight in that.

Jim Gordon

The only birthday I’ve ever seen for Jim is January 5th from Super DC Calendar 1976.

Super DC Calendar 1976

Alfred Pennyworth

Alfred’s birthday in Super DC Calendar 1976 is April 8th.

Super DC Calendar 1976

In the Injustice: Gods Among Us universe (an alternate reality where the video game of the same name is set in), they show Alfred’s birth certificate, where it says his birthday is August 16th, 1943.

Injustice: Gods Among Us Year Five #26 (Jun 2016)

Maybe you’ll notice that August 16th is Jason’s birthday. A little funny considering the issue features Alfred refusing to share his birthday only for us to learn it’s the same date as Jason’s. Still, annoying. There are so many days in the year! Stop choosing the same ones!

This Alfred birthdate runs into a similar problem Helena’s birthdates did: it’s not part of main comics canon, it’s an alternate universe, so it may not be applicable to the main comics universe.

Note: if we calculate that 1943 birth year from Jun 2016 when the comic was published, that’d make Alfred 72 soon to be 73. Does that mean anything in canon? Probably not, but oh well. Also...token British character born by Windsor Castle? …of course.

Personally, I would rather go with the April 8th birthday than the Injustice one, since Injustice is an alternate universe. Also, outside of the humor of it, the idea of Alfred and Jason sharing a birthday is a bit too much for me. Still, it’s up to people’s own cherry picking.

Chronology

The birthdays in publishing order alongside notable reboots. A soft-reboot refers to reboots that only changed a few details with minor consequences, keeping the overall continuity mostly intact. A major reboot has significant effects on continuity (too many to list).

1935-1986: Pre-Crisis era (Golden Age begins ~1946, Silver Age runs from late 50s--early 70s)

Mar-Apr 1948: Bruce’s birthday is in April

Apr 1949: Bruce has a birthday party on the 7th of “this month”

Skipping a good three decades because I barely even know what’s in there. Sorry lol

Mid 70s to early 90s: Bronze Age era

1976: the super dc calendar says Bruce’s birthday is February 19th, Alfred’s is April 8th, Dick’s is November 11th, Babs is September 23rd, Selina’s is March 14th, Jim’s is Jan 5th

Jun 1977: Bruce celebrates his birthday on February 19th

Sep 1980: letter collumnist says Bruce’s birthday is February 19th

Oct 1984: Helena Wayne’s birthday is on September 7th, 1959

Mar 1986: the major Crisis on Infinite Earths reboot (begins post-Crisis/New Earth era, many previous comics are now considered Earth-2 instead)

Nov 1987: Babs birthday is in fall

Aug 1990: Dick turns 10 a week before Halloween (probably October ~24th)

Sep 1994: Zero Hour soft reboot (Batman and Robin become urban legends so Robin is not allowed on video, Bruce’s parents’ murderer is changed to unknown instead of Joe Chill, Selina is no longer a once-prostitute)

Apr 1995: Dick’s birthday is the first day of spring (probably March 20th)

Oct 2002: Cass learns her birthday is January 26th

April 2003: Cass turns 18 on January 26th

Sep 2003: Tim turns 16 on July 19th

Mar 2004: Jason turns 18 on August 16th

Jun 2006: Infinite Crisis soft reboot (Joe Chill is restored as the arrested Wayne family murderer, Superboy-Prime's punch retroactively resurrects Jason)

Apr 2010: In the Batman: Brave and the Bold universe, Helena Bertinelli celebrates her birthday February 14th

Oct 2011: the major Flashpoint reboot (end of post-Crisis/preboot, begins the New 52 and changes the primary universe to Prime Earth; significant character/timeline changes and erasures)

Dec 2011: Helena Wayne’s fake Carol Bertinelli passport seems to list October 20th as a birthdate

Jul 2012: Helena Wayne’s fake Helena Bertinelli passport lists some 22nd unknown month, Oct 22nd, or Feb 28th birthday

Sep 2012: Batwoman writer J.H. Williams III randomly picks Kate’s birthday as March 21st on Twitter

Nov 2012: Earth-16/YJ animated Dick Grayson celebrates his birthday on December 1st

Jun 2016: In the Injustice: Gods Among Us universe, Alfred’s birth certificate says his birthday is August 16th

Jul 2016: Rebirth reboot (restores some pre-Flashpoint continuity, some characters regain previous histories but now semi-synchronized with the New 52 era)

Jan 2020: Batwoman TV show Kate celebrates her birthday on January 26th

Mar 2021: Writer Tim Sheridan says he & his editor chose March 20th as Dick’s birthday, between the March or November birthdays

May 2021: Infinite Frontier holds all previous continuities as potential canon, restoring more of pre-Flashpoint

Jun 2021: Bruce says his birthday is October 7th in a digital-only comic

Feb 2023: Gotham Knights game has a sale for Bruce’s birthday

#batfamily #batfam #tim drake #dick grayson #bruce wayne #dc continuity #heroesriseandfall #cassandra cain #dc comics #jason todd #helena bertinelli #selina kyle #barbara gordon #jim gordon #alfred pennyworth

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jqhotchner · 1 month

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bloom

munson family timeline

*this is mostly for me because i suck ass when it comes to dates*

yn birthday 05/15/1999

eddie birthday 09/04/1998

-september 2016-

eddie: 18

yn: almost 18

yn finds out she’s pregnant and doesn’t know how to break it to her boyfriend. instead she confides in her dad

june 23rd 2017 baby aster wayne munson is born

the only baby boy <3

-november 2017-

eddie: almost 20

yn: 18

yn and eddie are adjusting as teen parents. with eddie working his ass off to graduate high school this time. yn finds out she’s having another baby

august 5th 2018 jasmine hope munson is born <3

-april 2020-

eddie: almost 22

yn: almost 21

covid outbreak happened which leaves everyone having to stay indoors. yn and eddie don’t have much else to do but watch their kids and well—she ends up pregnant again

january 24th 2021 lunaria morgan munson is born <3

-march 2021-

eddie: almost 24

yn: 22

eddie’s career slowly take off with corroded coffin! on occasion when he’s off doing shows, he brings yn along with the kids. the two of them are young, dumb, and having fun. leaving yn pregnant with baby #4

december 25th 2021 lily belle munson’s born the same year as older sister lunaria <3

-may 2022-

eddie: almost 24

yn: 23

yn becomes a fashion icon! everyone loves her style. she soon signed to a modeling agency. too bad she and eddie get pregnant…AGAIN

february 14th 2023 poppy matilda munson and azalea love munson was born. eddie and yn final babies <3

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beastpilled-flags · 9 months

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Sundian Transmasc Flag

This is a transmasc flag meant solely for black transmascs.

I originally created this flag and coined its label (Sundian) on September 24th, 2021, and have now brought it here for the usage of other black transmascs!

The basis of its label stems from Sundiata Keita, the first ruler of Mali. He was chosen as an homage to my own ancestry based in Mali; given that he was often titled “The Lion of Mali”, I chose a male lion to serve as the emblem of this flag.

Please note that this flag is open to all individuals who fit under the transmasc label, whether they be trans men, nonbinary transmascs, intersex transmascs who may use multiple labels (ex. our peers who are transfemmasc), etc, as long as they are black.

The meanings behind the flag colors in order:

Dark red: Self-acceptance and empowerment

Red: Unique experiences with gender expression

Salmon: Gender euphoria

Cream: Transmascs all across the diaspora

Brown: Expressing love and joy in one’s blackness

Dark brown: Black unity and pride

Nonblack users may reblog to share with their black peers, but do keep in mind that this is a flag and label by black queers for black queers (as it is meant capture our experiences in both of our communities).

#black and trans #black pride #black queer people #my flags #new flag #transgender #transmasc #transmasculinity #transmasculine #trans men #nonbinary transmasc #intersex transmasc #black flags #pride flag #flag coining #black-exclusive flag

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narutoevents · 11 months

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2023 EVENTS!

Open Interest Checks

SasoDei Week 2024

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List of Character Birthdays

Monthly Events

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November 2023

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Sakura Zine Preorders - Nov 10th - Dec 10th

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NaruHina Month - All Dec

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Akatsuki Gift Exchange - Gifts Posted ???

2024

January 2024

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March - May 2024

TBA

June 2024

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Potential Events????

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ABOUT | GUIDELINES | FAQS

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Past Events

January 2023

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August 2023

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September 2023

Founders Tarot Zine - Preorders - close Sept 7th

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October 2023

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Fest no Jutsu - Work Reveals - Oct 8th

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November 2023

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2021 Archived

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2024 >>

#narutoevents2023 #narutoevents #naruto shippuden #sasuke #naruto #sakura #hinata #yamanaka ino #gaara #itachi #akatsuki #anime #fandom events #fandom resource #sorry for the long hiatus all #we are tentatively thinking of restarting this blog #so please have patience with us #all support is appreciated :)#anyway hopefully this helps

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bcacstuff · 5 months

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Timeline 9 - August - September 2023

For completeness and to consult when there’s discussion about his whereabouts. In addition to the previous timelines.

Timeline 9 covers 2 August 2023 - 26 September 2023

For previous dates see timeline 8

2 August, this time groomed while photographed on the streets of NoHo with AN. Later on we learned he recorded videos for Esquire

3 August, the next shop event at Broadway Spirits, some more streetpics and video were found.

August 4 he flew to Chicago for the next event at Binny's Beverage Depot on August 5th. There's some time to explore Chicago in the evening and the next day enjoying a baseball game. He's also spotted by a fan leaving the hotel

Next stops will be on August 8 for Houston and August 10 for Austin. While the LA stop has been postponed.

August 7 looking for some coffee at the airport and flying to Houston. And right back to promo and mixing cocktails at Permission Whiskey and Mad Houston

August 8 the event at Spec's Wines, Spirits & Finer Foods including the pre-signing, waiting line and fan pics. After which he did some more bartending at Electric FeelGood in Houston.

August 9 he's in Austin seen at Peche, the next day, August 10, the event at Total Wine & Spirits in Austin takes place.

August 11, Sam and Alex are flying, probably to LA though it's not sure if the story is a latergram

However confirmation about his whereabouts came a week later when we saw NR flying on August 16 to what appeared to be LA and was confirmed by PV's post they were at Pharos gym at Redondo Beach on August 17th.

August 19 he visits the Rams game in the Sofi Stadium, LA together with Nic R, AN and Marina C. A fan recognized him as well.

On Aug 24th he posted a video probably at Runyon Canyon or the HH Hills. Presumably recent. The next day, August 25th, he posted a pic with NR at Pharos Echopark, for sure a latergram as NR was already back home, and as we learned S himself took a flight out of LA, spotted by a fan. He flew to Kansas City for a private con on August 26th, organised by Sasnak City. he was a guest together with Duncan L and Charles V. Some more info was revealed later during a live IG of attendees.

On Friday 1 September members of the SS/MPC team were invited for a boat trip at Marina Del Rey. Which lead to a stir since then called the Zanzibar Saga.

Sunday 3 September the final event of the SS tour at Total Wine & More in LA

On 5 September he was spotted sitting outside at Shutters on the Beach, and 2 days later on 7 September again, now at a coffee shop on Abbot Kinney same clothes and motorbike helmet.

On 10 September he's at the men's finales at the US Open in NYC

Recording the audio for the CL in NZ book at the Hachette office in NYC during the week from 11 - 15 September, on Friday 15 September a group pic from the office is posted as well as another pic from an employee. Another group pic is posted later on. On Saturday 16 September a fan pic is posted from the Starbuck shop near the Hachette office and on 18 September he posts a video himself.

Sunday 24 September he's spotted at The Cafe at Number 16 in Aberdour, Scotland, having some family time

On 26 September he posts a selfie with Jake Norton, meeting him in Glasgow the day before. Later on confirmed by a fan pic taken on the same day. He might have been doing some home decorating in that week.

Other timelines:

Pre Hawaii timeline

Timeline 1 August 2020 Timeline 2 September 2021 Timeline 3 February 2022 Timeline 4 August 2022 Timeline 5 October 2022 Timeline 6 January 2023 Timeline 7 April 2023 Timeline 8 June 2023

#timeline #august 2023 #september 2023

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maya-chirps · 5 months

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Simbang Gabi: The 9 Days Before Christmas

An image of a red parol from Peakpx.com

The Philippines is well-known for its extremely long Christmas celebration that a lot of foreigners often look at with confusion. Traditionally, Filipinos may start putting up their trees, playing festive songs, and counting down to the 25th as early as September in a season that's colloquially called the "ber months" or the "ber months season" (Petrelli, 2021). This period often lasts up until January or February where some houses may still keep their trees and decor pushing as far as March.

Even with this technicality, however, you'd be hard-pressed to find Filipinos truly celebrating from the very beginning of September genuinely ending it by the end of February. Most often, actual celebrations start after Undas, a period encompassing All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day on the 1st and 2nd of November respectively to commemorate the dead, similar but a lot more subtle than other Catholic countries own Day of the Dead like in Mexico's Dia de Los Muertos and Italy's Giorno dei Morti. This time period is often the start of people doing more Christmas-y things such as Kris Kringle activities leading up to the main Christmas party.

The main markers of the true start in itself is the Advent season, which starts on the Sunday nearest to the 30th in Western Churches like Roman Catholicism and leads up to Christmas ("Advent", n.d.). This is where Catholics would go to Church every Sunday leading up to Christmas to light the Advent Wreath until the final candle on its center on Christmas day on the 25th. As the Philippines is heavily influenced by Roman Catholicism, Filipinos follow the Western start of Advent and most celebrations often fall in the middle of this time period. Even the middle of Advent, however, Filipinos have a waiting period to count down before Christmas - Simbang Gabi.

What is Simbang Gabi?

Simbang Gabi (en. night mass; going to mass at night) is a Philippine Christmas tradition wherein Roman Catholic Filipinos would attend mass nine days every single morning or night before the actual Christmas celebration. Traditionally, the masses were held every morning at 4:00 AM from the 16th to the 24th which would then be capped off by Christmas Eve Mass at night or Christmas Mass on the 25th with its early schedule earning it the name Misa de Gallo (en. mass of the rooster) (Lazaro, 2020). In most dioceses, however, they often have an anticipated mass schedule that start a night earlier than the morning masses (Hermoso, 2022).

Besides being called Misa de Gallo, I had also heard the celebration being called Misa de Aguinaldo (en. mass of gifts) in some places. This shares the same name as the similar Puerto Rican tradition Misa de Aguinaldo which is also a nine-day mass held in the morning, typically at 5:00 AM which is also deeply-rooted in Puerto Rican Christmas traditions (Álvarez, 2018).

History

A vintage greeting card posted by the Facebook group Vintage Philippine Islands 1920-1959 (2020)

Being a Christmas tradition, it is not surprising that Simbang Gabi could trace itself back to the Spanish colonial period.

A common misconception of its origins states that the practice first started in Mexico. Hermoso (2018) states that it started on the year 1587 by Friar Diego de Soria of the Convent of San Agustin Acolman when he requested the Vatican to allow church service to be held outdoors because of an overflow of attendees during the Christmas time. Pope Sixtus V later approved of this request and even decreed that these kinds of masses be held in the Philippines at the dawn of the 16th of December. What this doesn't account for was that the practice of going to church for the Eve of Christmas dates back to even earlier than the 16th century.

The cover for an English translation and compilation of Etheria's writings by M.L. McClure and C.L. Feltoe, D.D. (1919)

The first recorded instance of Christians celebrating Christmas by going to early mass leading up to the actual date was first written by Egeria (also called Egeriae, Etheria, or Aetheria), a Christian Galician woman who first recorded it during her travels to the Levant where she notes the early morning masses and festivities from the time of the Epiphany to the Nativity. She writes in her letters later called the Itinerarium Egeriae (en. The Travel Guide of Egeria; The Pilgrimage of Etheria).

"Octave of the Festival. On the second day also they proceed in like manner to the church in Golgotha, and also on the third day; thus the feast is celebrated with all this joyfulness for three days up to the sixth hour in the church built by Constantine (...) And in Bethlehem also throughout the entire eight days the feast is celebrated with similar festal array and joyfulness daily by the priests and by all the clergy there, and by the monks who are appointed in that place (...) and immense crowds, not of monks only, but also of the laity, both men and women, flock together to Jerusalem from every quarter for the solemn and joyous observance of that day." - Egeria, 381-384; The Pilgrimage of Etheria (trans. McClure & Feltoe, 1919):

The practice of attending early morning masses up until the main festivities of the Nativity was later adopted by more Western Christian communties during the time of Pope Sixtus III when he celebrated what is widely considered the first Midnight Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome, not only stemming from the popularity of the Christians from Jerusalem but also the popular belief that Jesus was born at midnight (The Pillar, 2021).

The prayer spoken within the midnight vigil was then called the "mox ut gallus cantaverit" which translates to "when the rooster crows", aptly named because of the early hours the vigil tended to last which then coincided with the crowing of roosters ("Misa del Gallo: origen, historia y por qué se celebra en la madrugada del 25 de diciembre", 2022). The practice was continued by the Spanish with the name Misa de Gallo (also called Misa de Aguinaldo)which later spread throughout the Spanish Empire and could now be seen practiced in countries like Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, and of course the Philippines.

There seem to be two variations of this: the nine-day series of masses before Christmas (found in the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela) and the single early morning mass before Christmas day (found in Spain and Bolivia). It isn't clear if Spain and Bolivia simply dropped the nine-day tradition or if the nine-day tradition was restarted in these other colonies, however.

In the Present Day

An image of crowds outside a church during Simbang Gabi uploaded to Wikimedia by Erwin Malicdem

Today, the Simbang Gabi continues to be a popular tradtion for most Filipino Roman Catholics, even those who aren't typically as religious most parts of the year. This is given the fact that a popular belief is that when a person completes all of the nine days, they may receive a wish to whatever they desire. This is such a common belief that Bishop Broderick Pabillo, a Manila auxiliary bishop, had to remind people that the point of the tradition is to remember Jesus and his nativity (Punay, 2016). Besides this, it is also a common challenge among Filipinos to try to complete it as is or see how many days out of the nine could they actually attend.

It is not uncommon for churches these days to hold an "anticipated" mass the night before the actual date starting instead on the 15th and ending on the 24th with a Christmas mass, instead of starting on the 16th and ending on the 25th. This newer tradition had come from the reign of Filipino dictator President Ferdinand Marcos Sr. during the Martial Law years in the 70s, when Filipinos were not allowed to go out after a curfew until 4 in the morning (Macairan, 2023). This allowed more people and especially those who may not be able to start their day early or those who may have other obligations in the morning to attend masses at night time, typically at around 6 PM - 8 PM.

The only large controversy that I could remember about Simbang Gabi was back in 2011 when the event was banned from being conducted within the Philippine Center in New York City. The ban came about because of it supposedly violated Canon Law which prohibits religious worship in unconsecrated ground or in other words places that aren't seen as places of worship. In an article by Adarlo & Pastor (2014), Rev. Dr. Joseph G. Marabe, the at-the-time head of the Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz and a priest-in-residence at St. Patrick's Cathedral where the ban took place, explains in an interview with news site The FilAm:

"It’s not allowed by law to have Holy Mass in an unconsecrated place. Worship should take place in a sacred place. That was an explanation but not a decision. The Archdiocese decides." - Rev. Dr. Joseph G. Marabe, head of the Chapel of San Lorenzo Ruiz in Chinatown, New York (2011)

The ban was later lifted on 2014 after community leader Loida Nicolas Lewis wrote a letter to the diocese to reconsider the ban which led to the return of the almost 30-year-old tradition that year (Balitang America, ABS-CBN North America Bureau, 2014).

Besides being a huge part of current traditions, a lot of Filipinos, and especially Filipino youth, use the event as an excuse to go out during the night to hang out with friends and even go on dates with their partners. It is not an uncommon sight to see a group of teenagers, often wearing maybe less than typical church clothes, by the edge of the Church seemingly attending mass. Whether or not they're actually being attentive is hard to decipher. Either way, this has led to an explosion of memes almost every year just mocking these kinds of people or making fun of their own.

A screenshot of the "Simbang gabi starter pack" posted by user rhapido on 9Gag.com (2022)

Earlier versions of this meme could be seen posted throughout Filipino social media during the early 2010s

A meme posted by the Facebook page FEU Memes (2012)

The barkada (en. friend group) going to Simbang Gabi had been an older tradition that has found a lot more popularity in the contemporary era because of social media. My mother had told me that she used to use it as an excuse herself back in the 80s to hang out with her friends at night time. This may be a continued past time for especially younger people for years to come.

There's also many street foods associated with Simbang Gabi that may not be unique to the event itself but are nevertheless heavily associated with the event due to their widespread sale during this time period. Foods like bibingka, puto bumbong, kutsinta, and other popular rice cakes dominate the scene which definitely satisfy the hungry parishioners who had, most likely, not eaten breakfast or dinner before going to church. With their strong associations with Simbang Gabii and Filipino Christmas as a whole, I might discuss these on a later date.

Simbang Gabi, from my experience

Growing up and living in the Philippines and especially being raised Catholic within a Catholic town named after a Catholic saint and going to a Catholic school named after another Catholic saint, it probably won't shock you that I, myself, had tried to complete the nine days of Simbang Gabi myself. I had attempted it several times with only maybe trying seriously by myself once in my life. It was quite the experience to just try to dedicate yourself into completing a goal to do something for nine consecutive days straight.

My first attempt was when I was in Junior High and it was with my sister and two people who worked for my parents and had helped watch over us. It was something that I always wanted to try doing and especially since I was gaining a lot more independence at the time so what better to try it out without the rest of the family? With adult supervision, of course.

Since we lived quite away from the actual church, the place was already packed even an hour before the actual mass started. There was barely any seats left and even less standing room leading to a huge overflow of people stuck outdoors, only hearing mass from the outdated speaker system that they had erected in place of the old bell tower.

The mass in our church was often done in the dark during the night out of an deliberate and probably aesthetic choice with only the alter being illuminated by the lights. The rest was lit up by the scattered about Christmas decor throughout the church and the church patio. It always felt like going to some liminal space that other nights at church just doesn't give.

Once the mass has been concluded, people rush out of the doors in thick crowds to find their way into the footpaths leading on to the main town streets. Some opt to stay behind to enjoy the food stalls that had pop-up for the night to eat bibingka, puto, sapin-sapin, and palitaw among other things. Some of the teens had decided to raid the nearby small park and playground as a hang-out spot to talk the night away before they rush home for their curfews. Meanwhile others were just rushing to get home as soon as they can, with people lining up to go to the rudimentary parking space that the church created while the others who didn't own their own vehicles forced to compete for the very few commuter vehicles still riding through the night, hunting for passengers.

This was before we had our own car, so we were with the latter crowds of people, trying to peer through the dark streets only illuminated by the scant Christmas lights that still refused to turn off as the night progressed. Every so often, two headlights excite the crowd and a swarm of them start running in anticipation with not care or tact if they would crush children or separate families all to take a seat on the night jeepneys, some the few commutes left after 9.

My sister was an expert in finding her way through it, reaching out to the doors to form a barricade for herself and the rest of us to prevent others from taking our seats before letting herself in. I still think I would've been left behind if it weren't for her doing that out of sheer competitiveness with the crowds.

We settled into our seats and squeezed in tightly to allow other passengers in so we could all go home as soon as we can. It was a tight but otherwise uneventful commute every night with nothing but tired people waiting for their stops and slowly emptying the once packed vehicle. Since we live in the outskirts of the town, we were often the last few and at times, the drivers would transfer us to other jeeps just so they can go home themselves. This had sometimes instead left us to walk the remainder of the way there through unpaved highway sidewalks.

After a few nights of it, I became more and more reluctant to continue because of the frenzy that it had almost every single night and it was extremely inconvenient for my time and the time of those with me. I didn't complete it then and I hadn't seriously tried until 9th Grade, which honestly was more uneventful.

That attempt was mostly my siblings and I staying in Makati City and Taguig City and going to easily traveled to churches that we could walk to by foot, and high-end malls that have annual Simbang Gabi masses for their shoppers, facilitated by the local diocese and the local fancy church. I was able to complete those easily because I was often dragged either by my siblings or my grandmother who used to never miss a day of church when she was still more active.

It was less about the challenge at that point and more of an obligation which isn't a bad thing and honestly is probably closer to how it should be celebrated.

I hadn't gone to Simbang Gabi since 2019 and I don't have any plans to try this year either. Not really because I don't want to necessarily, but specifically because I physically can't. I still think its pretty fun to do and honestly maybe a good excuse to meet with my friends that I haven't seen in a while. Sadly, I just simply cannot do it now nor in the near future.

Maybe one day I could once again go out at those cold December night to meet my friends and maybe eat some bibingka on my way home but I guess I'll just leave every one else to it.

Sources

Introduction

Advent. (n.d.). In Britannica. Retrieved on 13 December 2023, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Advent

In The Philippines Christmas Eve Includes A Late Night Street Food Feast, Filipino Christmas, HD wallpaper [image]. (n.d.). Peakpx. Retrieved on 15 December 2023, from https://www.peakpx.com/en/hd-wallpaper-desktop-wxdle

Petrelli, M. (2021, December 20). The country that celebrates Christmas for more than 4 months a year. CNBC. Retrieved on 13 December 2023, from https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/21/philippines-the-longest-christmas-celebrations-in-the-world-.html

What is Simbang Gabi?

Álvarez, F. (2018, November 22). Una tradición matutina la Misa de Aguinaldo. Primera Hora. Retrieved on 13 December 2023, from https://www.primerahora.com/noticias/puerto-rico/notas/una-tradicion-matutina-la-misa-de-aguinaldo/

Hermoso, C. (2022, December 15). 9-day ‘Simbang Gabi’ begins on Dec. 16; anticipated masses to begin tonight. Manila Bulletin. Retrieved on 13 December 2023, from https://mb.com.ph/2022/12/15/9-day-simbang-gabi-begins-on-dec-16-anticipated-masses-to-begin-tonight/

Lazaro, J. (2020, December 11). The Christmas tradition of Simbang Gabi: After five centuries, this Filipino Christmas tradition lives on. U.S. Catholic. Retrieved on 13 December 2023, from https://uscatholic.org/articles/202012/the-christmas-tradition-of-simbang-gabi/

History

Hermoso, C. (2018, December 15). ‘Simbang Gabi’ a manifestation of the Filipinos’ strong faith in God, says bishop. Manila Bulletin. Retrieved on 13 December 2023, from https://mb.com.ph/2018/12/15/simbang-gabi-a-manifestation-of-the-filipinos-strong-faith-in-god-says-bishop/

Etheria (1919). The Pilgrimage of Etheria (McClure, M., & Feltoe, C. Ed. & Trans.). Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Retrieved on 13 December 2023, from https://www.ccel.org/m/mcclure/etheria/etheria.htm (Original work published 384 C.E.)

McClure, M., & Feltoe, C. (1919). [An image of the book cover of "The Pilgrimage of Etheria"]. Retrieved on 15 December 2023, from https://www.ccel.org/m/mcclure/etheria/etheria.htm

The Pillar. (2021, December 21). What time is Midnight Mass?. The Pillar. Retrieved on 15 December 2023, from https://www.pillarcatholic.com/p/what-time-is-midnight-mass

Misa del Gallo: origen, historia y por qué se celebra en la madrugada del 25 de diciembre. (2022, December 24). Marca. Retrieved on 15 December 2023, from https://www.marca.com/tiramillas/actualidad/2022/12/24/63a6c106268e3e7c468b45e8.html

Vintage Philippine Islands 1920-1959. (2020, December 25). A Vintage Greeting Card showing Philippine Christmas… Maligayang Pasko from Vintage Philippine Islands 1920-1959 [image]. Facebook. Retrieved 15 December 2023, from https://www.facebook.com/510513375695362/photos/a.1701322009947820/3595821097164559/?type=3

In the Present Day

Adarlo, S., & Pastor, C. (2014, November 3). Fr. Joseph Marabe breaks silence over Simbang Gabi ban (Part 2). The FilAm: A Magazine for Filipino Americans in New York. Retrieved on 15 December 2023, from https://thefilam.net/archives/16127

Balitang America, ABS-CBN North America Bureau. (2014, September 19). Simbang Gabi returns to NYC after a brief ban. ABS-CBN News. Retrieved on 15 December 2023 from https://news.abs-cbn.com/global-filipino/09/19/14/simbang-gabi-returns-nyc-after-brief-ban

FEU Memes. (2012, December 15). eto yung mga madalas ko makita sa gilid ng simbahan e [image]. Retrieved on 15 December 2023 from https://www.facebook.com/PIYUMEMES/photos/a.210778985704527/317211885061236/?type=3

Macaira, E. (2023, December 15). Simbang Gabi: It’s the mass, not the time. Philippine Star. Retrieved on 15 December 2023, from https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2023/12/15/2318980/simbang-gabi-its-mass-not-time

Malicdem, E. (n.d.) The Bamboo Organ Church or the St. Joseph Parish Church of Las Piñas City in the Philippines during "Simbang Gabi" or Night Mass on Christmas eve. Photo was part of Schadow1 Expeditions coverage of Las Piñas during Christmas season. [image]. Retrieved on 15 December 2023 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simbang_Gabi#/media/File:Las_Pinas_Church_during_Simbang_Gabi.jpg

Punay, E. (2016, December 19). ‘Simbang Gabi’ won’t grant wishes – Bishop. Philippine Star Global. Retrieved on 15 December 2023, from https://www.philstar.com/headlines/2016/12/19/1654920/simbang-gabi-wont-grant-wishes-bishop

rhapido. (2022, November 30). Simbang gabi starter pack [Screenshot]. 9Gag. Retrieved 15 December 2023, from https://9gag.com/gag/a5Xnzgr

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lil-gae-disaster · 1 month

Text

Spidersona Timeline (Novah- Centric)

31st July 2006 - Novah's birth

2011 - Novah, Natja and Natasha move to the US

2011 - visit in Natashas lab, freeing of Coy

31st July 2018 - visit in Natasha's lab, the spider bite

01st August 2018 - start developing of superpowers

Early August 2018 - Nathaniel N.s death

Mid August 2018 - debut as Spiderweb

Late September 2019 - first kidnapping, death of yet unnamed past best friend

Early summer 2020 - second kidnapping, death of Doc Oc / Gwen Stacy

Early autumn 2020 - Coy comes to Novah's class

Early autumn 2020 - Deadpool debut

16th December 2020 - Coy and MJ get together

Late December 2020 - Black Cat debut

January 2021 - Black Cat identity reveal

September 2021 - MJs disappearance

October 2021 - Remarriage of MJs mom

February 2022 - MJs reappearance

01st August 2022 - Recruitment into Spider Society

Summer 2023 - Miles Chase

Winter 2023 - Natasha and Natja fly to Germany

24th December 2023 - Christmas celebration of Spider Society

24th December 2023 - discovery of Noah N as a spider person

Canon drawings(not including the dates of my first attempt of a timeline):

I have told @ashlamsms a more detailed version in her ask 😌😊

Also: You're free to draw my spidersona if you want I can give you color palettes n designs I've worked out if you need

#lol #spiderman oc #spider verse #spidersona #spider society #timeline #:3 #writing #help #spiderman #into the spider verse #across the spiderverse #hehehehehhehehe

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theuhurabang · 1 year

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The Uhura Bang Schedule 2023

The Uhura Bang 2023 Full Schedule

16th May-16th June: Creator Sign-Ups.

(Solo creator sign-ups can continue until as late as August)

16th June: primary creator sign ups close.

23rd June: First Primary Creator Check-in:

Primary Authors should have a fic description in mind, and decide if they are doing a fic, ficlet, etc.

Primary Artists should be aware that they will need at least a sketch which they can present for match-ups.

Solo Creators should have a work description in mind, and should present any written/drawn material to the mods at this stage.

Primary Creators may choose to change their role at this stage, but the 7th of July is the absolute latest in which you can drop out, or change your role. If you want to change your role, please email a mod [email protected] as soon as possible.

23rd June: First Secondary Creator Check-In: (Pre-Match-Up Check-in): Participants must tell mods any special considerations they require for match-ups.

1st July: Second Primary Creator Check-In (Pre-Match-Up Info)

Primary Authors, Primary Artists: Submit drafts/summaries/sketches for Match-Ups!

1st July: Secondary creators to submit their first/second/third choices for match-ups.

7th July: Deadline for submitting match-ups

16th July: Creator match-ups and teams announced

23rd July: (Optional) team check-in: Participants should contact us if there are any problems with their teammates.

30th July: First Team Check-In Due

Primary Authors must have a rough idea of final word count.

Secondary Authors should decide if they are writing a fic, one-shot, drabble, ficlet or poem (etc.), and have an idea of word count. Authors who are writing a full fic should submit a description or outline.

Primary Artists do not need to fill in this check-in, but may submit any other materials they have if they wish

Secondary Artists should describe any drawing ideas they have, or submit sketches.

24th August: Second Team Check-In:

Primary Authors must submit a rough draft which is at least 50% complete.

Primary Artists may upload images, but it is not compulsory.

Secondary Authors must have an outline

Secondary Artists should provide sketches.

30th of August: Second Solo Creator Check-In. Written works should be 50% complete. Illustrations should have at least an outline/rough sketch.

September: Teams should begin to discuss when they want to post for posting week.

16th of September: Third Team Check-In:

Primary and secondary Author drafts should be 75% complete & have no missing scenes [these can be listed on your outline in bullet-point form]

Artists should provide sketches

September 22nd: ALL creators submit posting availability, preferences.

September 30th: Posting schedule is made public

October 1st: Posting begins

October 22nd or sooner: Posting ends

What is the Uhura Bang?

The Uhura Bang is a combination big bang and reverse big-bang event focused on creativity, teamwork and communication. The only rule is that your work must prominently feature Uhura, and there are no word limits or minimums. Your work can be whatever length or genre you choose.

You should be 13+ to sign up. Creators who are under 18, or do not disclose their age, will only be assigned fics rated gen or teen-and-up.

Secondary Artists must complete at least one full illustration, either digital or traditional art.

Solo creators may submit photomanips or collages if they wish.

Past Entries The Uhura Bang 2021 Sign Up for The Uhura Bang 2023

#the uhura bang #the uhura bang 2023 #the uhura bang 2023 schedule #fandom event #nyota uhura #uhura

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ourflagmeansbts · 1 year

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Source (Season 1 - September 24th 2021)

sambaschutte: Our Captain on this odyssey @rhysiedarby 🏴‍☠️☠️⚓️

#ofmd #ofmd bts #our flag means death #our flag means death bts #s1 #samba #rhys #2021 #sambaschutte #non bts

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foxes-that-run · 6 months

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2018 Haylor Timeline

Timeline Tag, or years 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024..

1 January - Harry in Palm Springs, Saturn jumper. Karlie Kloss posts swish swish basketball (Katy Perry Taylor diss track)

4 January - reports camille met Harry's family

11 January - End Game video released - Haylor references galore. Joe in Italy.

13-22 January - Harry wrote Fine line: "Fine Line" I wrote [during] a gap in the tour. It was January 2018 and I was at my friend Tom's house. Harry was seen in la in the last 2 weeks.

22 January - Harry in LA with Camille from 13th to 29th

21 January - Taylor in Italy, Harry in NYC 25th

26 January - Harry performs at Fleetwood Mac person of year, Xander there

18 February - Taylor in LA Repu-hersal, Taylor in Big Sur on 28th

18 - 24 February - Harry in on 18th and 24th London

4 March - Harry shot the Gucci Campaign with the chicken in St Albans, England

10 March - Taylor and Joe hike with Joe in dark jeans and Nikes in Malibu. Blind staged.

11 March - Live on tour starts again in Switzerland, Anna and Medicine played live for the first time and added to the rest of the tour setlist.

10 April Harry in London

13 April - Taylor releases Earth, Wind, Fire cover with 28 September. It accompanied Delicate vertical video the original release said is ““Taylor says that she chose ‘September’ for sentimental reasons. She’s always loved the classic tune by Earth, Wind & Fire, and notes that the month of September is especially meaningful to one of her relationships.” - Spotify” the ‘one of relationships’ part is later edited out of the Spotify press release!

21 April - Taylor posts video thanking fans for responding to Babe, she wore the Evil Eye ring that appeared in Rep.

23 April - Taylor has Robbie Williams on Rep and plays Angels.

5 May - Harry played a mystery melody before Two Ghosts

7 May- Joe and Taylor post photos with a cactus, kiwi vibes.

May - Harry GQ Australia Article with "There's a good story about Winston's wife bumping into a very naked, very blonde, very famous pop star making toast downstairs one morning if you ever get a chance to ask" It starts and ends with folklore.

9 May - November Reputation tour, Joe at opening night

31 May - Blind that Joe and Taylor trouble with attention

9 June Taylor plays Manchester the. Is not seen till the 16th, Joe and family there

15 June - Xander, his parents and Anne at Harry’s Phili show.

16 June - Harry was full of beans in Toronto and wore a pink jacket with snakes and cats with wings embroidered on. Taylor played HYGTG in Dublin, only time on Rep tour.

22 June - 2 days after a year since Robin passed Harry emotional performing Sweet Creature in New York. Taylor has Niall as guest in Wembley the same night, Niall wore a NYC shirt. Joe was this show. Harry performed Shania Twain's Still the One. Taylor referenced this suit in the Me! Video. Harry invested in the Calm App. Harry photographed with Max and Xander, he looks really sad. Rumour he was staying with Xander. Xander, Jeff, Maxwell, Tommy at show

28 June - Taylor performs Reputation secret session for AT&T in Chicago. When introducing new year day talks about 2 NYEs ago jumping into an icy pool, the version Taylor Nation had posted has only this speech cut out from the full video. (24:38) Harry unseen

30 June - Harry has a show in Chicago! Taylor unseen! This suit is one referenced in Me!

1 July - Harry energetic in St Paul, the Medicine recording and sang “running with you” not wolves in MMITH. Last Heart kiss till 2021 in Only Angel

3-4July - People reports Taylor and Joe 'frolic' in Turks and Caicos

14 July Taylor’s delicate basket malfunctioned and she played wildest dreams a cappella. Harry wore the “whos Jeff azanoff” shirt backstage, Xander there also.

18 July- live on tour ends

21 July - Taylor played Clean, first time since 2015. Rain show.

31 July - Harry and Camille break up. Harry pictured with Karlie Kloss on Yacht in Italy with Sunflowers.

1 August - Harry driving Maserati in Italy

4 August - only time CBBH played before 2023, never on red or 1989 tours, this 1 on rep and 2 Eras shows.

13 August- blind Taylor controlled Joe's social media accounts

14 August - Reputation show in Tampa filmed for Miss Americana which shows Joe, he is only seen at this and the first show.

28 August - Joe looks angry walking with Taylor in London

2 September - Golden maybe recorded, Harry told rolling stone The first song written for Fine Line, on the second day of the sessions at Shangri-La Studios in Malibu. Photographed in yellow pants. At 41 mins in of the Zane interview he describes writing it as his favourite memory of making fine line.

21 September - blind that Joe was ‘picked for role of BF’ by professor

28 September - Taylor went to Favorite NYC premiere with Joe. Harry at dinner in London. Both wore red. Taylor played Wonderland as the Surprise song, one of 6 ever plays.

1 October - Harry lunch in La Xander

9 October - Harry arrived in Japan looking like jagger and japan Dec 18 - Jan 19

19 October - Taylor doesn’t go to Kk wedding

17-28 October - Harry in LA on 15 and la 26th

19 November - Taylor signs with republic records and posts about it

youtube

21 November - last rep show which is in Tokyo. Plays emotional set of surprise songs are wildest dreams (1 of 3 times she played it on the Rep tour) and So it goes (one of 8 times it has ever been played live), dancing with our hands tied and I know places. Harry writes little freak in Tokyo and leaked ophelia (I feel ya) that refers to staring at her in Tokyo missing her and fantasising. Taylor posts about finishing tour, her last big machine records commitment

11 December - Taylor goes to goes joes movie premiere then next seen back in NY with Joe. Harry in LA 12th

25 December - Taylor spent christmas in a castle in Ireland

Continue in 2019

#Youtube #haylor #haylor timeline #taylor swift #harry styles #2018

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