Wanted to say since Round 3 is starting soon, after its over and the semi-finals are starting, I'll start taking submissions for the loser's bracket! But only after Round 3 is finished, we're still a little off that

Daily update post:

I wrote yesterday about a Hezbollah drone which crashed in Israel without setting off the sirens, and missed by a small margin a kindergarten. Now we know about a second Hezbollah drone, which was found in someone's backyard in northern Israel, and which also didn't trigger any alarm systems. The fact that no warning systems were set off twice that we know of, is a real cause for concern, and is being looked into. As this second drone didn't explode after crashing, Israel will be able to study it, which is the main silver lining.

I have written repeatedly about UNRWA's complicity in Palestinian terrorism in general, and Hamas' in particular. We're getting even more data on this. Previous numbers talked about how many UNRWA members had ties to any Palestinian terrorist organization, now the figures on ties to Hamas specifically are being shared: at least 440 UNRWA workers in Gaza were active Hamas terrorists, at least 2,000 are registered Hamas operatives, and at least 7,000 have a first degree relative who's a Hamas member, making a total of at least 9,440 UNRWA employees in Gaza closely tied to Hamas out of a total of 12,000 Gaza UNRWA workers. And since we're talking about this UN agency again, remember when I recently wrote about the social worker employed by UNRWA, who was captured in CCTV footage kidnapping the body of a murdered Israeli man to Gaza, with the help of a fellow Hamas terrorist? Well, we now know who the man, whose lifeless body Faisal Ali Mussalem Naami was kidnapping, is. It's 21 years old Yonatan Samerano.

He was attending the Nova music festival on Oct 7. It seems he and two friends tried to escape the slaughter there by fleeing to the nearby kibbutz Re'im, where all three were murdered by Hamas terrorists at the community gate. Then Naami showed up DRIVING A UN VEHICLE (that's right, with UN LICENSE PLATES, as confirmed by Ayelet Samerano) and used this car to kidnap Yonatan's body. In the interview I heard with Ayelet Samerano, Yonatan's mom, she said she's going to be demanding answers from the UN secretary general, and that the family is considering filing a lawsuit. Meanwhile, because Jewish lives really are nothing, I'll remind you that UNRWA has been nominated by a Norwegian member of parliament for a Nobel Peace Prize. If you think this is the bad judgment of one politician, Norway is also one of the few western countries NOT temporarily suspending funding of UNRWA until further investigation, and have even said they might increase it. There's only one bit of good news, and that's the fact the US is saying its suspension of UNRWA fudning is going to be permanent.

The reality of Hamas' brutal sex crimes isn't news at this point to anyone with a bit of decency regarding Israeli civilians' fate on Oct 7, but a new report delving into more details than ever on those sex crimes has now been sent to the UN. I expect it to have zero impact given the UN's track record, but it's still important that this report was compiled and submitted by ARCCI, the Israeli association of organizations aiding rape and sexual assault victims.

There's a whole saga with Brazil's president, Lula. Sit tight. It started with Lula saying that what Israel is doing right now in Gaza has never happened before in history, and if it did, it was only when Hitler decided to genocide the Jews (this is absolutely untrue on any measurable level. The war in Gaza is not the bloodiest one ever, doesn't have the highest rate of killed civilians when the global one is a 9:1 ratio of killed civilians compared to killed militants while in the Gaza war there's a 4.5 times lower rate at 2:1, and certainly doesn't include an intentional attempt to kill all Palestinians on an intense industrial level with tens of thousands often being killed daily as the Nazis did to the Jews and which made the Holocaust stand out even in comparison to other cases of genocide). So to make it clear, what Lula did was antisemitic, both in falsely demonizing the Jewish state, and in minimizing the Holocaust by presenting it as comparable to a drastically less extreme event (in fact, the internationally accepted IHRA definition of antisemitism has included false comparisons of Israel to the Nazis for years now). In response, Israel has declared Lula a persona non-grata (unwanted personality) here until he retracts these antisemitic comments. This didn't make Lula reconsider his antisemitic comments, instead he recalled the Brazilian ambassador to Israel. This is maybe connected to Lula's warm ties with the Islamist regime in Iran (including allowing Iranian ships to dock in Brazil), which officially denies the Holocaust.

Here is a vid 21 years old Maya Regev, who was injured, and then kidnapped together with her younger brother Itay by Hamas on Oct 7, from the Nova music festival. Despite her complicated leg injury, she didn't get any medical help during here time in captivity, which compounded her state. She was released in the hostage deal more than 2 months ago, and had undergone several surgeries due to the state of her leg. In this footage, shared yesterday, Maya is seen walking on crutches for the first time since her abduction, more than 4 months ago.

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

young mom or professor !!

It was a busy afternoon at the Styles residence. Hair and makeup teams were running around, style teams were laying out last-minute options in case he or Y/n wished to change their outfit ideas for the night, and obviously, his most important team was hard at work to get him ready.

"Stay still, Daddy!" Collette, his second daughter said, looking up at him with a pout.

"Sorry, sorry. I'll try my best," Harry said, nodding for her to continue painting his nails. He peered down at her, eyeing the careful work she was doing. "You're quite good at this, you know."

Collette didn't look up from his hand, but Harry saw her smile, one that was nearly identical to her mother's if it wasn't for the dimples in her cheeks. "Thank you."

Before he could respond, Harry's chin was being tilted up by Simone. "This should make the bags under your eyes go away," she said, placing gel masks just under his eyes.

Harry tried not to frown at the implication that he had bags under his eyes to begin with. He never thought his daughters would be so brutally honest, but they never minced their words, especially when it came to his appearance.

So instead of opening that can of worms, he asked who was helping their mum get ready.

"The twins, but I think it's more pretend," Simone said, combing his eyebrows in place with a little brush.

"I see," he mumbled. "Well, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to help me look pretty."

In truth, Simone was so excited about Harry going to the Grammys, she wanted to be a part of it in some way, shape, or form. She wouldn't be able to go, as that would stir up a media frenzy. For the first time, though, Harry had considered risking it all just so he could have a Daddy-daughter date tonight. Ultimately, he decided that it was better to keep that secret a secret, though he did have to promise to get Olivia Rodrigo's autograph and bring it home by the end of the night to make up for Simone not going. How he was going to manage that, he had no idea.

Still, it was a big night, for many reasons. Not only was Harry nominated for some of the night's biggest awards, Y/n was also joining him, marking their first public appearance. Ever.

His wife had been nervous, and rightfully so, but Harry wanted her to be there, wanted to spend this night with the people he loved, and there was no one else he loved more than Y/n. Except for his children, obviously.

So Y/n was in a different room getting her hair and makeup done, preparing for a night no one would soon forget while Harry was letting his two oldest children pamper him before he had to get dressed.

"Do you know what your mum is wearing? She refuses to tell me," Harry said. Simone seemed to be done with his face for the time being and was helping Collette paint his nails.

"We're not going to tell you, either!" Collette said.

Harry frowned playfully. "And that is why Julian is my favorite. He would've told me."

The girls giggled before continuing on. When it came time for Harry to start getting dressed in his red carpet outfit—a fun jumpsuit that passed voting from all six of his children (mostly four because Geneva and Natalia couldn't talk yet, but they seemed as excited as they could be)—Simone and Collette watched with wide eyes. The hair and makeup teams, who were all under strict NDAs, were incredibly kind to Harry's daughters and even styled their hair and put a little blush and lip gloss on them. Harry could only be glad that they got to have a small part of this whole experience.

He was ready in no time, and suddenly it was time to go. Harry waited patiently and anxiously downstairs as the time to walk on the red carpet drew nearer. He was nervous about tonight for so many reasons, but all he could think about was what revealing such a well-kept secret would mean for his family.

Had they really thought this through? Did Y/n want to come tonight or was she humoring Harry? Would she be more comfortable watching from a dressing room? Or even here at home? What if something happened to GiGi or Natalia or Maeve—

"Harry?"

All his thoughts came to a halt as his wife appeared in front of him, brows furrowed with concern.

And as he blinked, taking her in for the first time since she disappeared to get ready, the only thought he was capable of thinking was he was pretty sure he'd just fallen in love all over again.

Y/n had secretly gone to a handful of events for years, they'd gone to dates at fancy restaurants, and had attended weddings that required dressing up. But all of those times Y/n had dressed to blend into the background so as not to raise suspicion. Tonight, however...

Tonight Y/n was meant to stand out, was meant to be noticed. She was in a dress of gauzy, white fabric that gathered in ruffles all the way down until the gown hit the floor. The fabric was light enough to see just a hint of skin, but not enough to reveal much, though Harry could identify every curve and dip her body made. She was ethereal, an angel in white, almost like—

"It almost looks like a wedding dress, huh?" Y/n mused, twisting so the gown swished back and forth on the floor. "Don't know if I would've worn this to our wedding, though."

Harry and Y/n never had a big white wedding. They'd snuck out to a courthouse one afternoon while One Direction was touring, with Niall and Louis as their witnesses while Liam distracted everyone at the hotel. It was small and rushed, and the judge definitely thought the couple was much too young to be getting married. They didn't even have rings, as a wedding band on Harry's finger would be completely unacceptable. But none of that mattered as they both recited the vows they prepared and sealed their union with a kiss.

Her jokes did the trick, and Harry's brain began functioning normally once more. He grinned and took her hand so she could spin and show him the whole thing. "The judge definitely would've raised his eyebrows."

Years went by and they never had a vow renewal. Since Harry had bought out his contract with One Direction's management, he'd wanted to have a proper wedding, but there was just never any time. And now that they were six kids in, free time was a pipe dream, though they were the kind of busy he would never be sorry for.

Tonight, though, in this dress, Y/n looked like she could walk down an aisle, and Harry was nearly tempted to run upstairs and grab the velvet box he'd had since he was seventeen years old.

"If you're not ready, I completely understand," he said.

"I'm nervous about tonight," Y/n admitted, and with one look at her face, Harry could see the anxiety written all over it.

They could keep the secret going, he could brave this night with Kid and Jeffrey and it would be great. He would miss Y/n and the rest of his family, but he would manage as he always did.

Y/n shook her head, and Harry's shoulders sagged just the tiniest bit with relief. "I want to be with you tonight. This is a big deal."

"It's nothing—"

"Don't do that," Y/n chided, holding Harry's face in her hands. "Don't minimize what a great achievement just being nominated is."

Y/n knew Harry like no one else. She knew he would try to downplay tonight if it made her worry about him less, but this was his big night. Win or lose, she was immensely proud of him, he had to know that.

"I'm coming, you just have to promise to hold my hand the entire night," she said.

Harry grinned. "What if I win and have to make a big speech?"

She wrapped her hands around his neck, her fingers tangling in the soft strands of his hair. "Then and only then can you let go. Oh, and for your performance. But that's it."

"I think I can make that work."

Harry leaned in, his nose brushing against Y/n's teasingly until she pressed her lips against his. They were hardly brushing when the sound of footsteps hurtled down the stairs.

"Mommy! Simone says she gets to stay up all night to watch the show and I don't!"

"You're not old enough, Collette!"

"Neither are you!"

"Daddy, don't go," Julian cried, tugging on Harry's pant leg. He gave Y/n a look as they pulled apart to attend to their children. Sweeping Jules into his arms, he gave his only son a kiss on the cheek, which was already sticky with shed tears.

"Don't cry, Julian," he said softly, pushing the boy's thick hair from his face. "We won't be gone long. I promise."

Julian continued to cry, nuzzling his nose into the crook of Harry's neck, and Harry whispered softly into his ear until his son's little heart stopped beating so wildly in his chest. Jules hiccuped as Harry walked over to see that the argument between Maeve and Collette had been settled, and they were now admiring Y/n in her dress.

"I wish I could take you with me, Jules, but I don't think you'd like it very much," Harry said. He tried to set his son down, but his little legs clung to Harry's waist even tighter. "It'll be loud with lots of bright lights and not a chicken nugget in sight. I think it's best you stay home, don't you think?"

Julian nodded, but he was still clinging to Harry, who shot a look of desperation to his wife. Harry loved all of his children dearly, but they were on a tight schedule.

Y/n understood and took Julian into her arms, not at all worried about the couture dress she was wearing. She took him back upstairs where the babysitter was with Geneva and Natalia and Maeve. When she came back down a couple minutes later, Julian was gone.

"Poor thing tired himself out," she explained. Then, to her two oldest children, she said, "The second the last acceptance speech is done, up to bed. Understood?"

Simone and Collette nodded, then rushed forward to hug Y/n and Harry before ushering them out of the house, telling them to say hi to Auntie Lizzo.

As promised, Harry took Y/n's hand as they walked to the car that would take them to the theater that was hosting the Grammys. She looked at him appreciatively, resting her head on his shoulder as the car pulled away from their house.

"I'm proud of you," she said out of the blue. "If I don't get the chance to say it when you win, when you win," she repeated when Harry tried to object. "I just want you to know how proud I am of you, and not just as an artist, but as a dad and a husband too. You're one in a million, H, and I'm so happy I get to be a small part of that."

Harry was speechless. There was nothing to say that would express how much he appreciated Y/n, so he settled for a kiss. His hand was steady as he cradled the back of her head, his lips immediately finding the familiar place around her bottom lip. He suddenly wished Y/n's dress didn't have so much fabric so he could have better access to her, but he settled for trailing his hands up and down her arms and kissing all along her jaw and neck and chest until she eventually pulled him up again.

"This is one way to settle nerves," she joked, thumb grazing his jaw.

"Let me know if your nerves need any more settling throughout the night. We can sneak away during commercial breaks."

Y/n shook her head at the look Harry gave her, the same one that landed her pregnant six times. "I'll keep that in mind."

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**.*.*.*.*.*.*.**.*.*.*.*.*.*.**.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Harry took a bow at the end of his performance, then straightened. His eyes trailed the room back to where his table was, finding Y/n's gaze instantly. Her hands were clasped together tightly, covering the bright smile on her face.

Looking at her, his heart settled. He'd gotten lost in the heat of the performance, but she always managed to bring him back down to earth.

*.*.*.*.*.*.*.**.*.*.*.*.*.*.**.*.*.*.*.*.*.**.*.*.*.*.*.*.*

Before he could think about it, he pressed his fingers to his mouth, then gestured out, blowing a kiss to his wife. Not caring who was watching, Y/n reached up and grabbed the kiss out of the air and placed it on her chest, her eyes crinkling even further as she continued to smile from ear to ear.

"So, Harry, talk to us a little about how it feels to win Album of the Year."

Harry gave his answer, talking about how surprised he was to win and what it meant to him that his music meant so much to people. Y/n thought it was cute how he stumbled over his words, trying to piece together how he felt.

"And how do you plan to celebrate? Can we expect to see you at any after parties tonight?"

"Uh, no. It's back home to the little ones for me," he said, the answer rolling off his tongue before it was too late.

"Little ones?"

"My, um, my cats. I have a few cats that are practically my children. I'll be celebrating with them tonight."

"There's no way in hell anyone is gonna believe that," Y/n muttered to Jeff, who was holding his head in his hands, not unlike Harry had when he won earlier.

"Well, Harry, we wish you all the best!"

"Thank you, I appreciate that," he said before shuffling away from the press room.

"what if the king adopts siffrin" "NO what if Bonnie and nille adopt him" "wait what if ofile adopts them" WELL WHAT ABOUT EUPHRASIE ADOPTING SIFFRIN.

Hear me out.

Housemaiden Euphrasie finds a dark haired teen with nothing more than the clothes on his back, a shitty dagger in hand, and a handful of Vaugardian and Porterian phrases under their belt. She hears their accent, sees those metal pins, *knows* that light hair far too similar to her own and decides. This child should be protected.

So she gives him a place to stay, among her fellow housepeople at the House of Change in Dormont.

And Siffrin grows up there. He visits the Observatory with her, studies that eternally locked door, takes a few classes and learns about the Change God. He clings to her when there's too many people in the cafeteria or when that one new scientist girl starts flirting with """Euphie""". Siffrin reads so many manuscripts of plays, takes classes to learn other languages and acting courses to occupy time and maybe sometimes he visits other cities to explore other Houses (with Euphrasie, ofc). He can help her see who wished for Vaugarde to be saved, and run away faster than anyone and escape the House when the King arrives. And later he can stumble on that study-all girl, rumored to be blessed by the Change God (how strange!) after helping her growing party defeat a particularly large sadness. Then he can see Euphrasie and panic when she starts to speak nonsense, saying something is broken, failing, rotting, and realize that Vaugarde's intent, as pure as it was, has trapped him in time. And then he can cry when he "shoves" her and apologize and she can just hug him and promise them that its ok!!!! Its all over, its all ok, and she's more than happy to bless them on his new journey.

And Euphrasie!! She cares for Siffrin almost like her own child. He has a family, somewhere, but until they can be reunited... she can be a guardian. She can play favorites just a little when she's nominated and accepts the position of Head Housemaiden (she pretends not to see Siffrin cry with pride). She can teach him, and try to bury the past under the changing future with them. She can tell him about the wishes, and they can wish for a savior from the King together. She can cry and hope that Siffrin escaped, or that Mirabelle was able to save him with her blessing. She can see the broken, rotting, failing wish and Siffrin with tired eyes and an exhaustion in his bones, and know that their past- even just a little- has caught up and it has ruined them. She can see the haze of something familiar take over her and wake up to a viscious shade still in the sky, coming from... Siffrin? She only gets a glimpse, though, before she's out like a light and waking up to overhearing Siffrin talk with his party about continuing to travel. She can heal herself as as much as she wants to hold them close again... they deserve to explore the world with a new family. So when she blesses them, she asks they never forget her and the promise to come back and write letters and they whisper "I love you" before parting ways.

So yeah, Euphrasie adopts siffrin

Time to talk about James Garfield! He's nearly forgotten today because his presidency was cut so short, but he might be one of the biggest over-achievers ever to reach the White House, and I'm overdue to tell you about his life story.

James Garfield, like Lincoln, came from a dirt poor background. Pretty sure he was the last president to be born in a log cabin. His father was a farmer who died when he was three years old, leaving him in the care of a mother and older brother who doted on him. They recognized that he was smart and wanted him to make something of himself, but young James had read a few too many books that romanticized life at sea, so at sixteen he ran away from home to get the closest possible version of that experience that he could manage--working on a boat in the Erie Canal. He came back home within a few months because he nearly drowned, and by then, his mother and brother had scraped up enough money for him to go to school.

After high school, he went to a prep school where he worked as a janitor to pay for his tuition. At least, for the first year. By his second year, the school decided to hire him to teach six classes! And later added two more because he was so popular! While he was still attending the school as a student, mind you! He went to college, became the principal of his old prep school, studied for the bar and became a lawyer, got involved in state politics, and then left to go serve in the Civil War, where he became the youngest-ever major general. Then his friends asked him to run for the US House of Representatives, and even though he refused to leave the army to go campaign, he won the election. Then he did leave the army to join the House, where he served eight terms.

Which brings us to the 1880 presidential election. Which was an absolutely wild and crazy political battle within the Republican Party. The big issue was civil service reform. Up to this point, all federal employees were appointed by the ruling president's party--it was called the spoils system, because "to the victor go the spoils." The president (or whoever he gave hiring power to) could appoint whoever he wanted to any government position, regardless of whether or not the person had any relevant experience. By the 1870s, this system had become a cesspool of corruption and cronyism, but the Republicans were split on the need for reform. On one side, you had the Stalwarts, who wanted to continue with business as usual. On the other side were the Half-Breeds, who wanted to replace the spoils system with a merit-based system where employees would have to meet certain education or experience requirements to get the job, which they could then stay in regardless of which party was in power.

Anyway, when it came time to choose the presidential candidate, the battle got ugly. On one side, you had Senator Roscoe Conkling of New York, a political boss who maintained his power through the spoils system, who was there to nominate Ulysses S. Grant to a third term. On the other side, you had James G. Blaine (the Magnetic Man from Maine), a Half-Breed who'd been Conkling's archnemesis ever since he called him out on the Senate floor as a seedy, ruthless villain.

James Garfield had no interest in being president; he'd seen too many of his friends (including James Blaine) get their principles warped by their obsession with the presidency, and he wanted to stay well away from all that. He was there to nominate John Sherman (younger brother of a certain famous Civil War general). Sherman, for his part, knew that Garfield was the more popular politician from Ohio, and hoped to neutralize him as a potential competitor by asking him to give the nominating speech.

So anyhow, at the nominating convention, Conkling gives this rousing speech in support of Grant that has the crowd going wild. There’s no way Garfield's going to be able to follow that. So what he does is look at the crowd and calmly talk to them about how there may be a lot of noise and emotion here today, but this isn't where the election is going to be won. Votes are going to be cast by ordinary Americans living on their homes and farms with their families, and they need to know that there's someone who can serve their interests in the White House. The crowd is spellbound. Garfield then asks them, "What do we want?" To Garfield's horror, one guy yells out, "We want Garfield!"

Garfield made it clear he was there to nominate Sherman, and finished his speech. Then the voting began. Round after round after round of voting, with no one candidate getting enough votes to win the nomination. Garfield got one vote in the third round. In the thirty-fourth round, he suddenly got seventeen votes, as delegates desperate to escape the gridlock decided to throw some votes behind a different name. Garfield stood to protest, saying that no one had the right to vote for him since he hadn't consented to be nominated, but the president of the convention, who secretly liked Garfield more than any of the other candidates, told him to sit down.

By the thirty-sixth vote, Garfield won the nomination. He reluctantly accepted.

When Garfield won the presidential election, it was the first time since the Civil War that a president had been elected who had support in both the North and South. Garfield was seen as a man of the people, living proof of the American dream that any man, no matter how lowly, could one day rise to become president. As Garfield rode in the carriage toward the White House for his inauguration, a man in the crowd yelled out, "Low bridge!" as a reference to Garfield's now-legendary past as a canal worker; Garfield grinned, took off his hat, and ducked.

Once he became president, Garfield became embroiled in the war over civil service reform. Since it hadn't been reformed, he had a constant stream of office-seekers coming to beg for appointments to federal positions, and a lot of federal positions that needed to be filled. His archnemesis was Roscoe Conkling; Garfield was determined to enact civil service reform, and Conkling wanted to do all in his power to prevent it. Conkling forced Stalwart members of Garfield's Cabinet to resign, and he went to war with Garfield over the filling of federal positions.

And that's an interesting story, but the more important part of the battle was with another person entirely, who Garfield had never met. Charles Guiteau was a madman with a checkered past, who'd been involved in strange sex cults and in running various scams--mostly running out on rent payments. During Garfield's election, he gave one speech in support of Garfield to a tiny crowd, and Guiteau, in his delusion, thought that under the spoils system, this entitled him to a reward. He wanted to be a foreign ambassador, and he came to the White House every day seeking a meeting with someone who could give him the job. He was mostly stopped by Garfield's secretary, and his attempts to get help from the vice president and various Cabinet members also failed.

At last, Guiteau became frustrated, and decided that the only thing to do was kill Garfield. God wanted to maintain the spoils system, he thought, and the only way to do that was to get the reform-minded Garfield out of the way so the spoils system advocate Chester Arthur could be president. Guiteau tracked the president to a couple of spots in Washington, but always found a reason not to take a shot.

But on July 2, 1881, when Garfield was at a Washington train station, Guiteau shot him in the back. The bullet went past Garfield's spine and lodged in his pancreas. Robert Lincoln--who happened to be traveling with Garfield--secured the services of the doctor who had treated his father. The wound was examined--the doctor poking unsterilized fingers into the bullet hole--and Garfield was transferred back to the White House for treatment.

If the bullet had been left alone, Garfield would most likely have made a full recovery--nothing about the wound was fatal. Unfortunately, he was president of the United States, and doctors were determined to give him intense medical care--which meant that he died through medical malpractice. The head doctor thought these new-fangled ideas about "germs" and "sterile procedure" were conspiracy theories, and certainly not worth the extra work of sterilizing everything. The wound was repeatedly probed with fingers and unsterilized instruments, which led to a massive infection that spread through Garfield's whole body.

Alexander Graham Bell invented a medical detector to locate the bullet; it would have worked, but Garfield's doctors--convinced they knew the path the bullet had taken--only allowed Bell to scan the right side of Garfield's body--and the bullet was on the left.

Garfield was unable to keep down solid food. He dropped from 210 lbs to 130 lbs. Massive pockets of pus formed throughout his body. He was literally rotting from the inside. Yet by all accounts, Garfield remained cheerful and kind to everyone who cared for him.

Garfield was a healthy fifty-year-old man, and he rallied a few times, but he wasn't able to overcome the infection. The heat and humidity of Washington only made it worse. An air-conditioning device was invented and installed to keep the room cool, but at the beginning of September, the decision was made to transfer Garfield to a house at the New Jersey seaside, in the hopes that the cool sea breezes could aid his recovery.

Garfield left Washington on September 6. A special train line was constructed that took him right up to the door of the house; when the train got stuck on the final hill, a crowd of hundreds that had gathered in support of the president worked together to push it to the top. Garfield's final few days were spent in the pleasant seaside atmosphere, but it was of no use. Garfield died on September 19, 1881. The country plunged into mourning--this president with so much promise, this man of the people, was dead, only six months into his presidency.

That short term means that Garfield is mostly skipped over in American history classes today, but he absolutely should not be. His rise from poverty to the White House is inspiring, and his death is tragic. There is so much to his story, and it's a shame that it gets shuffled aside in the grand sweep of American history.

Unwanted Marriage | Chapter 9 - Close to danger

Series Masterlist

They couldn't meet Sharon's eyes as they walked out of Tony's office carrying their stuff. "Chief Editor, what happened? Suddenly our team lost two people, now we have two left!" Tony wasn't deterred by her outburst and replied. "Those two have resigned voluntarily, no one forced them. Group 2 also has 2 people but is still performing better than Group 1. Now the newcomers are getting better, if you don't put more thought into your own work, you will lose your position as well!" As much as she liked to act arrogant, she couldn't do it in front of Tony.

"Sharon, looks like you have been well rested?" You asked as you were on the way to Tony's office. "Y/N Y/L/N, I really don't know what is so great about you that so many people have been smitten by you. Even the Chief Editor has been taken care of by you, well done."

"I also want to know, but I guess it is not possible for you. After all, the wrinkles at the end of your eyes are very obvious."

"Chief Editor, this is what you wanted." You said as you placed the file on his desk. "These are the collection of the newly nominated best actress, Becky Cooper's information and interviews from recent years. You are interested in interviewing Becky Cooper?"

"I did think about it, but her actions and personality aren't so great. So I am still thinking about it... How about this, the 30th anniversary dinner of Stark News will be held in 2 days time. There will surely be celebrities and businessmen attending the dinner. We will decide on the interview topic after the dinner."

"Okay, then I will get back to work for now."

"Wait! Please let Sharon know that she is in charge of the decorations and seating arrangement at the venue. The incident you had in the company is already settled but I should still inform Mrs Romanoff right?"

"I understand."

And so, Sharon had to rush everything in just two days and make sure that everything was settled before the anniversary dinner. She ran around making sure that she got the venue right and met with several vendors to ensure that they will be delivering on the right time.

"My old classmate had helped to find the venue, I will need some overtime to settle on the arrangement. Please hurry, make sure that nothing will go wrong during the event. And please, can you get Y/N to come in." Tony told Sharon. That meant that her work went to waste and she has to call all the vendors again to cancel.

"Don't you find this interesting?" Tony just called you in to have some fun in making Sharon run around for nothing.

"Natasha, tonight is the company's 30th anniversary dinner, I won't be able to come home for dinner." You told her over the phone. "Okay."

Weird, why was she so quick to say yes today?

You carpooled with Wanda and arrived at the hotel and there were plenty of people inside. There were plenty of treats and drinks to go around and Wanda immediately gravitated to the tarts places around the table. You stayed around her and grabbed a drink for yourself.

As you looked around you saw Natasha in the corner with Clint. "Ay! Go look after her!" She gave you a small nudge towards her. "How come you are here today? Why didn't you say anything?"

"To surprise you, you don't like it?" You pouted. "Although Tony Stark is the youngest of the Stark family, he still has many connections. If I show up, I will be giving the Stark Family some face.

Of course Sharon's eyes would be on you all the time to make sure that she would be able to extort you if you did something wrong. "This shameless bitch, Natasha Romanoff is already married and yet she still stays so close to her!"

"Ms Romanoff! What an honour!" Tony Stark came around to welcome her. "Who do you think I'm here for?"

"Mr Stark, Wanda and I are going to have a talk with Becky Cooper."

"Why did I tell her I wanted to interview Becky Cooper...?"

While Becky didn't openly reject your advancement, she couldn't even act as if she was slightly interested in talking. She kept giving one word answer without giving much elaboration. "Thank you Miss Cooper, I hope there will be time in the future to work together." She turned away before waving. "Yes, I saw an acquaintance of mine so excuse me."

"Y/N, why do I feel like Miss Cooper looks down on us?" She asked. "Stop guessing, I just came here to see if she's willing to collaborate, but she doesn't seem to need an interview from us."

"If the editor wants to interview her, I think we need to put in some real effort." Wanda commented as she looked at Miss Cooper talking to some guys and laughing.

"That's the girl you've been complaining about? The one who's showing off at your company?" A guy standing next to Sharon asked. "How about I take care of this for you as well?"

"No, don't think I don't know you, you're going to kill someone."

"Don't worry, it won't happen. Take this." He hands her a glass of wine. "Later, you just have to serve her this drink. Then have someone send her to my room." He smirked while looking at you.

"Hey Chase, better remember my words. For this event, I do not want any trouble."

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Sharon looked around and only approached you when Wanda was pulled away by her friends. "Y/N, you were trying to have a talk with Becky Cooper?" She asked. "How did you know?"

"I talked to Becky, we're old acquaintances. Don't worry, I have already spoken with her, and she agreed to speak with you later."

"Why are you so kind?"

"I was wrong before, but that wasn't my intention, I misunderstood you. This is an apology to show my sincerity, Becky is waiting for you upstairs. If you don't believe me, I'll accompany you."

"Okay, then I will trouble you."

"Take this, if you don't do what they do in these kinds of events. No one would want to talk to you." She passed you the glass and you were unable to reject it.

And so, you and Sharon went up to the rooms. "Becky, I have brought my colleague over, open the door." She knocked on the door but there was no reply. "Maybe she's drunk, luckily I brought along her room card with me."

"If she's drunk, I should make an appointment with her next time." You turned to leave but she held you back by the elbow. "Don't rush to leave, I have purposely helped to arrange for this meeting, don't waste this opportunity!" Sharon unlocked the door with her card stepped in. "Y/N, why don't you come in?"

Your senses were tingling and you recognised there was something wrong. The room was dark and didn't seem like a celebrity would be in there. Trusting your instinct, you ran away and closed the door on Sharon before she could stop you.

As you were running you thought that you heard a man's voice, further cementing that it couldn't have been Becky Cooper inside. When you stepped out from the elevator, Wanda just happened to pass by. "Y/N where were you? I just turned around and you were gone!"

"What happened?" Natasha asked when she saw you out of breath. You should have known that Wanda would have gone to Natasha when she couldn't find you.

"Hurry, let's go back." You have a bad feeling in your gut and dragged Wanda to follow you. Natasha also ordered Clint to follow along just in case anything bad happens.

As you arrived on the 16th floor, you heard a terrifying scream for help. "Let go of me! Don't touch me, help! Someone, please come!"

"Stop it!" You shouted and froze at the horror you saw in front of you. You kinda felt bad for leaving Sharon in the room alone with that mysterious guy. Ambulance had to come and bring Sharon to the hospital.

As you were a witness, you had to accompany them to the hospital and record your testimony. "Natasha, what do we do this time?" You asked as Sharon was being wheeled into the emergency room.

"Well, that depends on her own luck. If you have time to think about others, why don't you think about calming me down?"

"Are you angry? What happened?" You saw how sharp her eyebrows were this time and she was refusing to look at you. "You know how she hates you to guts but you still believed her words. Do you have any idea how dangerous it was this time?" She manoeuvred the wheelchair alone and pushed herself away from you all the way until the carpark.

"Natasha, don't be angry, I swear to you, I will not joke about my safety in future..." You begged her not to be angry with you anymore. "The same thing happened last time, what can you do if I'm not around to protect you?"

"Natasha..." This was the first time you initiated the affection, you bent down to kiss her neck. "I believe you will always be by my side to protect me."

Series Masterlist

@natsxwife @franfineashell @dvrkhcld @reginassweetheart @marvelogic @autorasexy

Obey Me! Brothers Chaotic Pumpkin Carving:

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Welcome! This is the chaotic competion I think I mentioned in the last pumpkin carving one! The characters may not be how you imagine! I apologize for any poor jokes, bad spelling, and terrible grammar. Without further ado, please enjoy the content. ♡

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After carving pumpkins as a family with Mc the brothers want to do a competition, whoever carves the best pumpkin wins! Mc was nominated judge of the competition, Mc was still allowed to carve another pumpkin, they just couldn't be in the contest. The brothers were all bickering over who would win before they had even bought the new pumpkins. Can't carve the old ones. Unbeknownst to the brothers Mc had decided to say that they all won from the start, all hell would break lose if Mc chose one pumpkin. What made matters worse on Mc is that Mammon said- "whoever wins gets a kiss from Mc!". Its okay, Mc just had to decide between giving them all forehead kisses or cheek kisses.

What designs do the brothers go for:

(These designs have to be more intricate than the previous ones, they want to win the contest and they want Mc's kiss!)

Lucifer went with an intricate spooky design, a bat or a coffin, maybe even a spooky castle. Lucifer takes his time carving his pumpkin, he needs to be able to take pride in this pumpkin. And get the kiss from Mc. Mammon did some type of bird, a crow or a raven. He may even add some Grimm next to it if he has the extra time and wants to carve more. Mammon is pretty quick with carving his pumpkin, he's not the fastest out of all of his brothers at it but he is one of the faster ones. That doesn't mean Mammon Doesn't want the kiss. Leviathan went with an intricate Ruri-Chan design, instead of it just being her face like last time, it was her full body, she was doing some cool pose. Levi took his time, wanting it to be a perfect for Ruri-Chan! And for Mc! He needs that kiss. Satan does an intricate carving of a cat, unlike last time this cat has much more detail and is a cat's full body. Satan's design was probably something like a cat sitting while facing forward, the cat probably has stuff around it thats Halloween themed. It could be a variety of ideas from gravestones to ghosts, anything idea Satan can think of he considers. The cat may even be wearing some type of hat, like a witches hat, if theres a witches hat then Satan will add a broom. The point is he gets all spadazy with his cat carving this time, this means Satan has to take his time. He just really wanted to impress Mc man. Asmodeus does an even more interact drawing of himself than the one he did before. This time its more than just his face, its his body as well, or at least more of it than before. He has to focus on his face, its one of his main features! Asmo takes his time, putting in lots and lots of details. The pumpkin should be as perfect as he is! He's so excited to win Mc's kiss. Beelzebub does a design of food, most likely he carves a cheeseburger. Its really well carved out and its rather detailed for a cheesebuger. Beel doesnt take his time really but he doesn't rush either, he just lets it play out. He just hopes he doesn't eat his pumpkin before Mc can judge, he really wants that kiss. Belphegor was asleep most of the time again, but his was still somehow cool. How he gets stuff done when hes always sleeping? It's one of the Devildom's many mysteries. Belphie carves an intricate skull, it's somehow detailed and the details don't even seem lazily done! Belphie is also somehow the first done even though his is as cool as everyone else's. He may be lazy but he'll put in effort for a kiss from Mc.

How the competition goes:

They did the carving in HoL's kicthen, and although its larger than a normal kitchen, with so many people it feels like a normal kitchen. Mc tried to seprate the brother to keep them from fighting again, but there wasn't much space between each brother so Mc knew chaos was bound to happen. Mc tried to get some rules set in the begining but the brothers were to impatient. The contest begins with no rules, already promising choas. Mc's only little ray of hope is that for fairness more carving tool kits were bought, meaning each brother had their own tools to carve with. Even though they shouldn't fight over tools, and they all had different designs this time, arguing still ensues as soon as the contest starts.

At first its just banter between some of the brothers, friendly competitive remarks that made them grin and seemingly have a good time. This friendly banter was quick to end, full on chaos began to ensue when Satan accidently flicked pumpkin parts everywhere, most of the brothers complained but none reacted as dramatically and angrily as Asmo did. Asmo got so upset over it that he reached over with one of his carving knives and cut a chunk of Satan's pumpkin in retaliation, since there were no rules to the competition this was technically allowed. Satan fairly became enraged by Asmo's actions. Satan did his on accident and it didn't sabotage the others pumpkin! Mc was quick to calm Satan down by comparing it to art at art museums, Mc explains that Satan can use it as part of his pumpkins design instead of looking at it as if it ruined his pumpkin. Satan is a good sport and takes the high road, continuing to work on his pumpkin without ruining anyone else's out of anger. Asmo continues to whine about being dirty, but after Mc cleans the pumpkin pieces off of him he calms down a bit.

Tension in the kitchen is already high, and only two of the brothers have fought so far. Things go for fine for about the next 30 minutes of pumpkin carving, but the calm ends as quickly as it comes. For no reason at all, Mammon, Asmo, and Levi start arguing. One thing leads to another and Asmo does his dirty trick of cutting into someones elses pumpkin again, this time Mammon's pumpkin falls victim to Asmo's crimes. Mamon unlike Satan retaliates against Asmo's attack, Mammon carves a chunk out of Asmo's pumpkin just as Asmo had done to his. Asmo screams dramatically, acting like it physically wounded him, he grabs his carving tool and jabs at Mammon's and Levi's pumpkins. Levi stops arguing with them, instead he clutches his pumpkin and starts hissing in his demon form when either of them act like their going to attack his pumpkin. Mammon and Asmo end up in a small fist fight before Mc and Lucifer can calm everything down again. Due to the small fight Mc tells all the brothers to take a break and calm down, the brothers go on a 15 minute break and come back a little calmer than before.

When the brothers come back and the contest continues everything goes suprisingly well for awhile. The brothers all focus on carving their pumpkins, they barely even bicker, just an almost uneasy calm silence. Some brothers even begin to finish their pumpkins, they look really well done, Mc is actually impressed. This calm silent moment is soon disturbed by a monstrous growl, one the brothers and Mc know well, as the monstrous growl is actually Beel's stomach rumbling. Everyone continues what their doing until a high pitched 'Beel don't you dare!' Rings out, everyone turns to see Beel trying to eat Asmo's pumpkin, Asmo manages to keep Beel away from his pumpkin long enough for Mc to feed Beel a small snack. Asmo refuses to be next to Beel and Beel gets moved to being next to Levi. All seems well and everyone goes back to finishing their pumpkins. The ones that haven't finished their pumpkins work hard, putting a lot of work and fine details into their pumpkins.

Beel was still working on his carving of a hambuger, which probably wasn't helping his hunger, but he looked very focused on making his carving look good. Beel carves a peice out of his pumpkin and then leans over and casually bites a peice out of Levi's Ruri-Chan Pumpkin. It would have gone unnoticed and stayed casual if Levi didn't loose his mind. Within a few minutes everyones pumpkin were ruined and the entire kitchen was destroyed. Levi went into a rage when Beel ate a peice of his pumpkin, Levi seemed to yell once before he just straight up summoned Lotan. Water rushing into the kitchen and all the chaos the summoning causes ruins everyone's pumpkins and leaves the kitchen in a very poor state. Everyone was now soaked head to toe in water, standing outside of the kitchen as they had to leave the kitchen so they wouldn't drown. Its silent for a moment, but not a good silent, its like a ticking time bomb. Its almost as if everyone needs a moment to process what just happened, as soon as they process it the imaginary bomb explodes. Right before the brothers can actually process anything Mc laughs and says something about how everyone wins since all the pumpkins are destroyed. Mc plants a kiss on each of the brothers cheeks/foreheads before Mc wanders off to their room, leaving the brothers to deal with the aftermath of the chaotic competition.

Once reality hit, everyone got in trouble from Lucifer, even Mc who was just the judge and didnt do anything. Everyone had to put money into repairing the kitchen and punishments were handed out "accordindly" Lucifer also made a rule that any other pumpkin carving competitions had to be held in HoL's garden. He'd rather have the garden destroyed than the house.

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Thats all for now babes! Hope you enjoyed!! ♡ This is not proofread. Feel free to comment or reblog any thoughts or any add ons you have! Happy Halloween!! I have more Halloween content in mind so there might be more after this! I hope you're nightmares come true, and the spooks scare you're skeleton right outa you! ‹𝟹 Stay tuned for more! Stay Safe! & Stay Spooky!

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⟡˙⋆Masterlist⋆˙⟡

On February 15, 2001, George Harrison took part in two web chats (with Yahoo and MSN).

George: “May God bless you all. Don't forget to say all you prayers tonight. Be good little souls. Lots of Love! George. :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)”

The full chat transcripts under the "read more" cut.

Yahoo! Chat Transcript
 George Harrison 02/15/01 ChatYahoo_Lisa: Welcome to Yahoo! Chat ChatYahoo_Lisa: We are here with George Harrison george_harrison_live: Hello! george_harrison_live: It's nice to be here! george_harrison_live: It's my first time on a computer... I'm pretty illiterate :) yahoomusic asks: What made you decide to re-issue All Things Must Pass now? george_harrison_live: It's the 30th anniversary and I'm in the process of remastering my entire catalog george_harrison_live: Which I want to get back into the stores george_harrison_live: So we started with that one george_harrison_live: and hopefully during the year george_harrison_live: We'll be able to come with the next batch and so on george_harrison_live: So that everything I have ever done will be available. morvyon asks: George, are you planning a new studio album? george_harrison_live: Yeah. george_harrison_live: I hope to put out a new studio album george_harrison_live: Possibly in November george_harrison_live: and I have at the moment many songs in various states of completion george_harrison_live: Possibly 35 songs that I have been working on over the years. yahoomusic asks: Do you surf the internet much? What types of things do you do online? george_harrison_live: No, I never surf george_harrison_live: I don't know the password. willowy_blonde asks: Hi, my boyfriend wants to know, he's a musician what's your fave electric guitar and do you still have "Rocky" your '61 fender strat? george_harrison_live: Hello willowy blonde! george_harrison_live: I still have Rocky! george_harrison_live: and he can be seen at Cyril's rare guitar shop on allthingsmustpass.com timbarwick asks: Will you be releasing Living in the Material World in a remastered/extra tracks version? george_harrison_live: Well, as I said before george_harrison_live: That will be the next one to be remastered george_harrison_live: I have to get into my tape library to find out if there are any alternate versions of anything. silbeat asks: Hi George! Glad to hear from you again! Are you planning to do any live performances? If so, where would you like to play? (Please include Argentina!!!). With love from Argentina. Sole, Mara, Silvi, Vale, Gilda, Ale, Sami and Graciela. george_harrison_live: Hello Argentina! :) george_harrison_live: At the moment I have no plans for live performances george_harrison_live: If I do later, I will certainly come to Argentina rbortega2001 asks: What did you think of Bob Dylan getting nominated for an Oscar? george_harrison_live: I think he should win it! george_harrison_live: I think he should win ALL the Oscars george_harrison_live: all the Tonys george_harrison_live: all the Grammys pcpalmiere asks: How has The Rutles influenced your career? george_harrison_live: I got all my ideas from The Rutles! george_harrison_live: particularly the 12-string Rickenbacker and slide guitar styles I got from Stig O'Hara. george_harrison_live: I met him once and he is a super chap. oldmanalex asks: Hello from Russia, George! Russian fans invite you to play in Moscow! Can you tell, will the Traveling Wilburys reform? Are there any plans to record something with Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Jeff Lynne? george_harrison_live: Thank you Russian fans! george_harrison_live: I'll be there after Argentina! nattyrobbo asks: Hi George! I'm Natalie, an 18 y.o. girl from Australia, and I'm a HUGE fan. Any hints for a budding guitarist??? george_harrison_live: Yes. george_harrison_live: Buy a ukulele! mike_n_tex asks: George, do you ever see a reunion tour with you and Paul and Ringo? george_harrison_live: Stranger things have happened. flatcat65 asks: George, Which version of My Sweet Lord do you like best, your original or the new version? george_harrison_live: I like the new version better. george_harrison_live: Because it's new! george_harrison_live: and I like Sam Brown singing it. ChatYahoo_Lisa: Why did you re-visit it? george_harrison_live: At the time, the song was so popular and also so controversial that the most important thing about it for me was that it george_harrison_live: in it's small way george_harrison_live: conjured up a touch of spirituality george_harrison_live: something we are very short of... ChristopherClause asks: Hi George! Christopher here! Thank you for being such an inspiration! What was it like working with Phil Spector? Although I can hear his influence, your "influence" and leadership in the production is clear. God bless you, George! george_harrison_live: Phil Spector was prob the greatest producer from the 60s and it was good to work with him because I needed some assistance in the control box. george_harrison_live: Phil is very funny george_harrison_live: loveable george_harrison_live: we love him :) mebissy asks: I have several teenage friends who've just discovered All Things Must Pass. They were wondering about radio airplay. I explained that this was a re-mastered, etc. album - a re-release essentially. They, however (as do I) feel the music is just as cool as it was when you first released the work. Wouldn't it be great if a single was selected and the whole cycle could start again? george_harrison_live: It's nice to know that teenagers find All Things Must Pass *cool* george_harrison_live: As far as a single goes, george_harrison_live: I suppose that's really up to Capitol Records george_harrison_live: I have no objection! melissay1 asks: Hi, Mr. Harrison, how do you feel about the Beatles 1 album being top of the charts? george_harrison_live: It's very nice george_harrison_live: It's also nice that young children seem to be hearing it for the first time george_harrison_live: and I think as an alternative form of music for today george_harrison_live: it has its place alongside all this other stuff. captainwombat_2000 asks: Out of curiosity, why the garden gnomes on All Things Must Pass? george_harrison_live: Originally, when we took the photo george_harrison_live: I had these old Bavarian gnomes george_harrison_live: which I thought I would put there george_harrison_live: like kinda... John, Paul, George and Ringo george_harrison_live: gnomes are very popular in Europe george_harrison_live: and these gnomes were made in about 1860 george_harrison_live: so, while building the website george_harrison_live: the gnomes just seemed to get into it and we just couldn't stop them! gearfabasitwere asks: Is Indian music still a big infuence on your music? george_harrison_live: Yes! ChatYahoo_Lisa: anything particular? george_harrison_live: Check out U. Srinivas a South Indian electric mandolin player george_harrison_live: eat your heart out Van Halen! moosefalva101 asks: Following the incident at your house on Dec. 1999 has your outlook on life changed at all? george_harrison_live: Yes and no george_harrison_live: Adi Shankara an Indian historical, spiritual, groovy-type person once said george_harrison_live: "Life is fragile, like a raindrop on a lotus leaf." george_harrison_live: and you better believe it! Nicole_Paul asks: I am curious about your website and the way the cover photo is altered by adding roads and urban development to the picture. Does that symbolize anything? george_harrison_live: Yes. george_harrison_live: It symbolizes that our world is being concreted over. Haven't you noticed? bluejeanbaby42001 asks: George, you have quite a reputation as a gardener...What are some of your "pride & joy" plants? Love, Dianne george_harrison_live: Well, for the cooler climates (as in England) george_harrison_live: The current trend is definitely toward Miscanthus george_harrison_live: You'll find many lovely varieties george_harrison_live: try the Zebrensis and also the Malepartis george_harrison_live: However, george_harrison_live: if you're gardening in the tropics george_harrison_live: I think you'll find a lovely little ginger called Kahili :P a_t_m98 asks: Mr. Harrison.. what is the opening chord you used for "A Hard Days Night"? george_harrison_live: It is F with a G on top (on the 12-string) george_harrison_live: But you'll have to ask Paul about the bass note to get the proper story. hari_girl asks: What do you think of Eminem's grammy nomination? george_harrison_live: What's Eminem? george_harrison_live: Aren't they choclates or something? beatles_lvr asks: You started the "band aid" movement; who would you help today? Love you George!! george_harrison_live: Bob Geldof! Moyette asks: What did you record with Bill Wyman last month? george_harrison_live: :) An old Ketty Lester song called "Love Letters" sharonconcannon2000 asks: Why was "I Live For You" left out of the original mix? (I think it's lovely, thank you for putting out at last!) george_harrison_live: I didn't think that we had got a good enough take on it. george_harrison_live: Except for Pete Drake, the pedal steel guitar player. george_harrison_live: At that time, I had so many other tracks as well, george_harrison_live: so we just left it off. george_harrison_live: It did need patching up george_harrison_live: in the drum department. pcpalmiere asks: How close are you to releasing that boxed set of unreleased songs and demos you talked about in Billboard some time back? george_harrison_live: Well, hopefully during this year I should at least get out a new album and all the other boxes of unreleased demos could possibly follow in 18 months. I'm trying to get everything that has ever been done out there. It'll just take a little time. nikolaidisgm asks: George, what do you miss most about John Lennon? george_harrison_live: John Lennon. michaelcalcina asks: George: In the Anthology book, you talk about the unwound G string. What is that? I play guitar and I'm not sure what you're talking about. george_harrison_live: It's one of those little things that goes up your butt so that people can't see your pantylines. george_harrison_live: No, It's actually a 3rd string that doesn't have a winding around it. spongeweed70508 asks: Does Paul still piss you off (tell us the truth) george_harrison_live: Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass -- You know his faults -- Then let his foibles pass. george_harrison_live: Old Victorian Proverb. george_harrison_live: I'm sure there's enough about me that pisses him off, but I think we have now grown old enough to realize george_harrison_live: that we're both pretty damn cute! incantataa asks: Mr. Harrison, I was wondering if you might tell us a bit about your ideas on love. Romantic love, that is. I recall you having written some of the Beatles' most beatiful love songs. It would be interesting to hear how your religious attitudes have impacted your beliefs concerning romanticism. george_harrison_live: Well, the lover that we miss is actually God. george_harrison_live: The beauty that you see within each other is actually God. george_harrison_live: So, Krishna was the greatest romanticist. He had girlfriends on every corner! george_harrison_live: I can't seperate the two -- a beautiful girl is the divine mother, a beautiful man is the manifestation of potential. fabzzy asks: You're joking in a most Pythonistic manner tonight George.., it's great to hear you online!!! george_harrison_live: PISS OFF!! george_harrison_live: You nosy bastard! i_arcos asks: Is it true that you recorded "Homeward Bound" with P. Simon? george_harrison_live: I recorded that with Paul Simon on Saturday Night Live back in 1853. tnntxx asks: George, given the drug experimentation of the 60's, how do you feel about the legalitzation of pot? george_harrison_live: Well, I saw someone on TV last night pulling out huge loads of pot out of various fields in California. My feeling is... george_harrison_live: as long as you can go into a store and buy george_harrison_live: whiskey george_harrison_live: bourbon george_harrison_live: and all the rest of it george_harrison_live: then, a little grass is nothing. george_harrison_live: the authorities are just causing the price to be high -- 'scuse the pun. ckeavenyuk asks: Have you any tips to budding songwiters? Do you, as John apparantly advised you stick at it until you have finished it. george_harrison_live: Try and write some melodies. And some words that mean something. george_harrison_live: It is true that if you are on a roll, then it's best to finish it in one go. george_harrison_live: That's what Johnny said. kdtash asks: Any chance that the Dark Horse material, esp. Shankar Family and Friends will be released on CD? george_harrison_live: Well, along with my own catalog of records george_harrison_live: the other Dark Horse records george_harrison_live: hopefully will be finding a new home george_harrison_live: and coming out on CDs (remastered) sometime in the future. mp0071999 asks: Hey George will you be ever be back on Yahoo? george_harrison_live: Possibly. It's pretty painless for me. kyntire2001 asks: Happy Birthday (a little early). During your recent Internet video promoting All Things Must Pass, you pointed to an engraving on the back of your guitar. What did the engraving say? george_harrison_live: It's a Maclaren strat and it had a metal chassis number plate on the back. george_harrison_live: Thank you all! george_harrison_live: May God bless you all. george_harrison_live: Don't forget to say all your prayers tonight. george_harrison_live: Be good little souls. george_harrison_live: Lots of Love! george_harrison_live: George. george_harrison_live: :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) ChatYahoo_Lisa: Thank you sooo much for joining us....pretty please come back soon! george_harrison_live: Check out allthingsmustpass.com. george_harrison_live: for further entertainment! ChatYahoo_Lisa: Bye everyone!

MSN chat transcript - George Harrison, February 15, 2001

DishDiva : Welcome to MSN Live! Today we are pleased to welcome George Harrison to MSN. DishDiva : Please join me in welcoming Mr. George Harrison to MSN Live! DishDiva : Today we will be talking with George Harrison about the re-release of "All Things Must Pass." DishDiva : George, welcome to MSN Live! George_Harrison_Live : Hello, good evening! George_Harrison_Live : How's your father! How's your uncle? DishDiva : George, the Internet was not a part of your promotion last time around for "All Things Must Pass." What part does the Internet play in promotion for "ALL Things Must Pass" now? George_Harrison_Live : I suppose the fact that it is just like this and everyone is listening.It eliminates the time of someone printing up a Newspaper. DishDiva : SR says: Is it true that you were really asked to join the beatles because you knew all the chords to "Twenty Flight Rock"? George_Harrison_Live : No! Paul knew "Twenty Flight Rock" but I did too. DishDiva : Spockmiester55 Asks: What is the difference between the old and new release if any? George_Harrison_Live : The new release is remastered and is much much better to the record that existed up until now and it has five bonus tracks on it. It also has new packaging. DishDiva : Sherwood Asks: Will your other past releases receive the deluxe treatment as "Pass" did? George_Harrison_Live : It depends really. They will all be remastered. Whether the artwork will change, I don't know. It depends what we feel at the time and what the record company feels at the time. DishDiva : alina says: Do you remember how you felt making "All Things Must Pass"? DishDiva : jerryfender Asks: Don't you miss the old packaging with albums vs CD's? All Things Must Pass was great because even the box was huge! George_Harrison_Live : Twelve inch square artwork gets you more scope and greater impact.Those days the album cover used to be part of the overall package. It seems to become less important because it is smaller and not so many people are interested in the artwork. DishDiva : doodah says: Where were you spiritually then when you wrote the lyrics for "My Sweet Lord", and where are you now spritually, have you grown? George_Harrison_Live : Somebody said a very famous Indian saint said "if there is a God, we must see him. And if there is a soul we must perceive it." In the West they still argue if God really exists. Basically, I am in the same place. The song really came from Swami Vivekananda. DishDiva : iluvgeorge says: Will you be touring? George_Harrison_Live : At the moment, no. DishDiva : lidbaby says: Any musicians you like right now? George_Harrison_Live : Hoagy Carmichael. There are many, many, many musicians. DishDiva : babe says: Is most of what's been written about you pure rubbish? Is there any one book that's more accurate than any other? George_Harrison_Live : The one that is the most accurate is "The Beatles" by the Beatles. When a book is written by someone who doesn't like you, it may not be very good. DishDiva : WildingTangent Asks: Are you still writing and recording songs? How would your style of music these days? George_Harrison_Live : I am still doing that, yes. Hopefully, there will be one coming out at the end of the year. DishDiva : tedsblues Asks: Re: recording...analog or digital? George_Harrison_Live : I have always recorded analog except when I was in a live concert. Generally, I record on analog but I hear that digital these days are getting better. The bandwidth is getting better. DishDiva : arainyfriday Asks: Looking back, how do you view your book "I, Me, Mine"? If it were to be re-released, would you make changes based on perspective you have gained over the years? George_Harrison_Live : It was ok for the time. I thought it was well made. It was an excuse to have a nice leather book like the Bible.
 DishDiva : liam0241 Asks: What was the inspiration for the song 'Run of the Mill' George_Harrison_Live : There was an expression that came from Yorkshire where they made fabric. Run of the mill just means average. I was using that phrase more or less, because, the Beatles were just splitting up. I don't know if they had that expression in America. DishDiva : sasha says: Hi Mr. Harrison. My dad and I like your site. Did you do it? George_Harrison_Live : I am not a technician. But I sat with people from Radical Media. They came to my house and set up the computers. The technicians did it and I kept thinking of ideas.I didn't have a concept of what a website was and I still don't understand the concept. I wanted to see little people poking each other with sticks much like Monty Python. DishDiva : You can check out George Harrison's website at http://www.allthingsmustpass.com DishDiva : rico Asks: What do you wish you could do, that you have'nt done already? George_Harrison_Live : Dematerialize my body. DishDiva : OKRichH says: I consider this a great priviledge to chat with you. Was the recording of "All Things Must Pass" a fulfilling outlet for you? George_Harrison_Live : Yeah, at the time it was very fulfilling- a chance to do a record of my own material. DishDiva : Brit says: What's the most popular misconception about you that people have? George_Harrison_Live : That I am serious. Pisces are depicted as two fish going in opposite directions. Many people do not see the humorous side. It is just as big! DishDiva : Beat says: Are you interested in all in the different sounds that electronics can add to guitar sounds, or are you more of a 'back to basics' advocate? George_Harrison_Live : More of back to basics. I really like the sounds they had in the 50's. Now you just buy something and plug it in. You can sound like Jimi Hendrix or whoever and everyone sounds the same. DishDiva : jediprincess00 Asks: what would you like to say to the younger generation that looks up to you? George_Harrison_Live : Try to realize what the purpose of being in a body is. There is only one purpose really and that is what you have to try to not forget. Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going? DishDiva : George, it has been a pleasur having you as our guest tonight! George_Harrison_Live : Lots of love and kevlar to everyone! George_Harrison_Live : It has been nice talking to you. Please enjoy the website! Ask_Questions_Live : The preceding is ( c ) 2001 MSN Live Thanks to our guest, hosts and to everyone that came to today's chat! Please remember that due to the number of questions received, it was not possible for our guest to answer each one individually. Thanks for coming to MSNLive! DishDiva : Again, you can check out George Harrison's website at http://www.allthingsmustpass.com DishDiva : You can also pick up the re-release, including, "My Sweet Lord" online at http://eshop.msn.com DishDiva : The transcript of tonight's very special event will be available later at http://chat.msn.com/msnlive

Rebels Rewatch: "The Occupation"

We return one final time to Lothal for the beginning of the end.

Live reaction version.

God, Ezra looks and sounds so stressed. He's nearly at his breaking point when it comes to waiting for the Alliance to help Lothal, hell, even just for news on Lothal. He probably feels like the Alliance has abandoned his people and even if he nominally understands that everywhere is suffering and there are so many other worlds that need help it still hurts that he can't do anything for his planet and people.

Is it a little bit selfish of him? Maybe. But also the Alliance wasn't taking the TIE Defender project nearly as seriously as they should have, if nothing else they should have been replanning the Lothal attack for that ASAP.

A lovely undercurrent this episode is just how concerned for/over Ezra Sabine is, and this is the first instance, her gaze lingering after him when he turns in his seat glumly.

Pretty Yavin is pretty.

Mon offering Ezra the chance to go back to Lothal is pretty much the best solution she could have given him. It's relevant and important to the Alliance, since it involves the TIE Defenders, and it gives Ezra the opportunity to help his people he's been so desperately after. It even works out that the Alliance won't be able to extract them because Ezra is perfectly willing to stay behind Imperial lines there. Which I think Mon knew. She only sounds a little mildly disappointed that the WHOLE Ghost crew is going, likely because Hera's proven to be such a good squad leader and pilot and it would suck to lose contact with her.

But she accepts their decision anyway.

Love that we bring so many characters back for the final season. Hi Vizago!

Rex and Zeb needed to interact more, especially if we get hilarious exchanges like this.

A moment of appreciation for their disguises

And oof that is a visual gutpunch. Ruined Lothal looks almost hellish. Red replaces blue and amber, fires and smoke burn constantly.

The last time we saw Lothal, the mining crawlers hadn't begun stripping the surface of the planet yet, so this gives us a sense of just how much the Empire was ramping up its production. I don't even think they limited it to the factories in Capital City, probably built more facilities in cities all over the planet just to accommodate the workload.

In any case, it's no wonder the Loth-wolves decided to reemerge. This kind of ecological devastation is absolutely certain to arouse the wrath of ancient nature planet-guardians.

And they've built orbital construction stations too, ngl, I'm pretty sure that was deliberate in order to visually remind us of the first time we saw Geonosis. Perhaps to invoke the same sense of borrowed time? Because with how thoroughly they're sucking the planet dry, even if Palpatine hadn't pulled the TIE Defender funding, Lothal would not have been able to sustain that level of production for long. The planet would have become a broken, polluted, empty husk.

:(((((((

Once again Star Wars leaning heavily on the Nature vs. Careless Industrialization theme. (Like half the Visions shorts feature it to some degree, I'm not surprised.)

Right so even though they didn't find Rebels on Vizago's ship, they arrested him anyway because of the pufferpigs and gang-pressed him to work on a mining crawler.

Rebels said government stifling of private industry is unjust. Again. Lol.

Jhothal does not have the countless "occupied territory" holobanners, but it does have video propaganda service announcements playing constantly.

"The Empire wouldn't do anything to Old Jho. The people wouldn't stand for it." Ohhh honey you would be surprised just how much tyranny the average person is capable of tolerating. Also that's probably why they have an enforced curfew now.

We now begin the portion of the episode that I affectionately call the Sabezra Bar Date. XD

Aaaaaand another visual gutpunch. I had to go back and check but even the lighting and paint have been changed to a standard, washed out Imperial gray. Also note that there are no civilians (at least until Jai reveals he's there). This is no longer a functioning small business serving the local community, it's a state-run facility servicing members of the state.

It's sickening.

There is so much arm-touching this episode I was spoiled.

No but seriously, has Sabine ever been this physically touchy with him? She's already hyper-aware of how upset he is about Lothal, perhaps the constant comfortable touching is a way to comfort and reassure him?

-snrk- Still hilarious how they brought back Baron Valen Rudor. For once the Rebels do not ruin his day personally.

"We don't get many civilians in here anymore." Hey. Hey maybe it's because you're a bar and there's a curfew enforced so civilians can't get to the place. Just a thought.

RIP Jho, godspeed.

Head empty, no thoughts, just Kanera. And maybe a little bit the "You could always see me."/Sabine Sees Ezra parallels.

Love this subtle moment so much. Sabine noticing immediately how Ezra's hands curling into tight fists on the counter, gently touching his arm to calm him, get his attention before he does something rash.

Even when they turn to go she puts her hand back around his wrist, holding onto him, anchoring him. <333333

IIIIIIIIII thought there was a curfew in effect are they just going to let the kids... leave?

(Perhaps "going home" is one of the few valid reasons to be out after curfew?)

Jai did, ah... not age well.

FHKASJFHAKS EVEN IN CIVILIAN CLOTHES EZRA GETS PICKED ON BY TROOPERS JEEZ.

Love how even when given the opportunity to divide forces a different way Ezra and Sabine just naturally gravitate to the same team. <3

Also love that the Lothal rebels adapted Sabine's starbird as their callsign. Not to be all Other Fandom Parallels but it makes me think of how the other Districts started marking things with the mockingjay in Hunger Games.

The little wall-bounce parkour and twirl Ezra does taking out that one probe. <3

The despair in Ezra's voice here. Taylor makes it sound like Ezra's about to cry,

Sabine immediately reaching out to him. <3

Again with the touching, this time with bonus talking him out of his negative self-spiral, repeating his own words of hope back to him.

Badass family shot. <3

That Extra little twirl Ezra does as he bats down one last blaster bolt. <3

The beginning of Ryder's misgivings about their chances. Honestly, it definitely feels like the Alliance has mostly given up on Lothal and considers it a lost cause, because even with the proof that the Defender is going to absolutely wreck havoc on them in space combat they still need to be talked into attacking the factories by Hera.

So yeah, understanding Saw and Ezra's frustrations with the bureaucracy of it.

"We've done it before. We can do it again." Help I am thinking back to how Ezra remotivated himself in "Path of the Jedi". "Yeah... again. Been alone before, survived, I can survive this." *sobs*

Apparently Sabine's pep talk worked. :)

Ahhhhh I love this episode so much! The music is great, the animation has lovely subtle soft moments, the action setpieces have so many nice little unique bits (Zeb dragging that probe along the wall was great) and even if seeing Lothal in such bad shape hurts it emphasizes how badly the Spectres are needed.

Ezra did need to return home because, as it turns out, he and Kanan are the only two ones who can actually save Lothal.

Up next, romantic wolf rides! I mean what?

Shout out to my ex.

You and your band, Little Mix, perform your new debut song ‘Shout out to my ex’ at the Brits after seeing your ex boyfriend there. 

Main Masterlist 

Sam fender master list

2019 had been an absolute roller coaster to say the least, there had been many ups and downs in 12 months. Your band, Little mix had went on a world tour after releasing your most critically acclaimed album to date, performing in some of the most prestigious venues available before ending it in the utilita area in your beloved hometown of Newcastle. The success of your album had resulted in not only being nominated for 2 Brit awrds but also being asked to perform at the awards as well. This was definitely the better parts of your year. 

The less favourable moments of your year had been the very public and humiliating break up with your ex, Sam. You had been together since you were 19 and after a very rocky few months and a cheating scandal, on his part, published by The Sun you had decided to call it quits with your lover. 

At first you weren't sure how to live your adult life without him, after all it was something you had never had to do before but with your girls you began to put the pieces of your heart that Sam had broke back together. 

The first step and arguably the hardest had been moving from you shared flat in Whitley Bay that the pair of you had bought at 21 after Little Mix had won the X-Factor and Sam had signed his first record deal and into a brand new apartment with your best friend and fellow band member, Jade, in Manchester. 

 Next, was you deleting all off pictures of him you had. Weather they were on one of your social medias or just our camera roll. After that, you blocked him and cut off all contact with him and his family. You knew deep down that you would have ran back to him in a heartbeat if he ask and you couldn’t do that. You need to heal and you can’t heal while touching the same flame that has already burnt you. 

As luck would have it, however, your tactics of avoidance might not be able to continue for much longer and in a few short hours you and your band would be performing at the brits with yours and Perrie’s exs in the crowd.  The most fitting part would be the song you would be performing, A shout out to my ex. 

You had written the song when Perrie had went through her break up about a year earlier than you but as your own relationship fell apart you found your self relating to the lyrics more than ever.

You thought that you would be more nervous about the potential of bumping into your ex and having to perform in front of him but you weren't really fazed by it all. Cameras flashed and interviewers pulled you and the girls over to answer questions but you had yet to bump into Sam. 

The feeling of getting ready to go out and perform in front of a large crowd was one no matter how many time you had done it you hated. It always wore off as soon as the music started to blast out of the speakers and that was still the case now. the opening melody made its way into your ears as you scanned the crowd, catching that blue pair of eyes you had spent many nights staring into discussing your future. Never did you quite imagine it ending like this though.   

Jade and Perrie had sung their parts now it was your turn. At this point all five off you had disappeared into crowd, dancing around the tables filled with familiar faces in the music industry.  For some reason the table with your ex and his band had been alluring and you ended up directly in front off Sam’s seat as your verse began. 

“Oh, I deleted all your pics,” You sang staring Sam in his eyes, reaching out to put your hand under his chin to force him to keep looking at you. It didnt take long for you to have his full attention, “Then blocked your number from my phone, mm.” 

Putting your hand back down by your side as you leaned closer into Sam's face as if you were going in to kiss him, “ Yeah, yeah, you took all you could get But you ain't gettin' this love no more.” Sam’s face was an absolute picture as you swerved your head around his after finishing your lyric, leaving him high and dry. He had fully expected you to kiss him at some point but had been left disappointed. 

His band mate and best friend Drew, however, had found a lot of amusement in your tormenting of Sam. As you walked away you heard him shout, “Go on lass.”  

The song had finished faster than you would have like and so did the rest off the awards. The band had won the two they were nominated for and Sam had also won the one he was up for before performing Dead boys, a song about male suicide in remembrance of your late friend who had lost his battle with depression some years back in your early twenties.   

Little did you know at the time that your little stunt to wind up your ex would not only become viral overnight but also be responsible for elevating yours and Sam’s careers. It would first result in an appearances on Loose Women and The Jonathan Ross Show where you would admit to having consumed a bit of liquid courage before stepping on stage. 

So in all it wasn't a bad end to to a roller coaster of year but nothing could have prepared you or anyone for that matter for the absolute train wreck that 2020 would be.  

Dear Vector Prime, what would have happened if Dinobot 2 had survived and joined the Maximals on their journey back to Cybertron?

Dear Sempiternal Saurian,

In one reality, Optimus Primal was able to successfully rescue the cloned Dinobot from the Nemesis and carry him to safety, moments before Rhinox’s shuttle obliterated the ship’s bridge and foiled Megatron’s final gambit to win the Beast Wars. Initially, the jubilant Maximals believed that their old friend had somehow returned to life, but were dismayed to find that this was not quite the case. While this “new” Dinobot had indeed inherited some jumbled memories of his genetic template, he also bore the scars—both literal and metaphorical—of serving Megatron throughout the last third of the Beast Wars. Worse yet, he still carried the spark of Protoform X, itself a failed attempt to mimic Starscream’s immortal spark. Suffice it to say, the second Dinobot was a traumatized, empty shell—a living weapon bereft of purpose, forced to work alongside the same ‘bots he’d been conditioned to hate, and perpetually at war with himself as competing instincts vied for dominance. The Maximals quickly learned to give their nominal ally a wide berth, and none of them were particularly enthused when he declared that he would join them on their voyage home, in the hopes that he could find some kind of new purpose on Cybertron.

As in many of the timelines you know, Megatron slipped his bonds during their voyage back to Cybertron, conquered the planet with an army of mass-produced Vehicon warriors, and infected his captors with a paralyzing transformation virus. Thanks to his Transmetal 2 body, Dinobot resisted the virus, but was forcibly devolved back into a simulacrum of his genetic predecessor. Soon enough, Optimus Primal found him, Rattrap, Blackarachnia, and Cheetor; guided by Primal’s supernatural visions, the five ‘bots fled into the depths of Cybertron, and eventually encountered the mysterious Oracle. Dinobot emerged from the computer with a new, technorganic beast mode: a crimson Guanlong with steel-grey plumage, his teeth and claws could easily penetrate Vehicon armor. As he had never truly “known” Cybertron before the Vehicon apocalypse, Dinobot fought not for any kind of higher ideal, or to rescue the populace of Cybertron, but merely to survive; when the Maximals learned that Megatron had engineered the entire disaster and taken control of the planet, Dinobot decided that he hated Megatron more than he hated the Maximals and grudgingly stuck by their fledgling resistance movement, defiantly wearing a modified Predacon insignia for no other reason than to incense his creator.

Already torn between so many states of being, it should come as no surprise that Dinobot struggled to master the art of transformation. Because of this setback, however, the Rattrap of this timeline—who’d already taken a very real dislike to the “cut-rate knockoff”, and could now look down his nose at someone even worse at transformation than himself—never faced the same kind of crisis of conscience that many of his alternate selves struggled with, and learned how to transform by himself. When Dinobot found that “emotional still point” and unlocked his robot mode, he was a mighty warrior indeed: not only could his optics project a wall of telekinetic force to cover his allies and send enemies flying, but his mighty two-handed claymore could also open tectonic fissures and create localized earthquakes. Tormented by his own demons as he was, however, those moments of emotional lucidity were fleeting at best, and Dinobot spent most of his time trapped in beast mode: in his worst moments, the other Maximals had to physically restrain him as his old Transmetal instincts overwhelmed him and he reverted to a feral state of being. Even while trapped in beast mode, Dinobot proved an ambitious and cunning warrior, and he and Cheetor repeatedly butted heads over the position of leader while the Maximal leader was indisposed.

In this timeline, Dinobot’s warrior instincts and animalistic thirst for vengeance helped push Optimus Primal, already convinced that his mission was to revert Cybertron to its primordial organic state, further and further down the road of extremism. Thanks to his influence, by the time that Tankor’s true consciousness reasserted itself and made a play for power, Optimus had already discovered the Plasma Energy Chamber and used it to send an ultimatum to Megatron: leave the planet now, or perish. This time around, it was Megatron who had to go on the defensive; despite these minor changes in the timeline, the end result was largely the same—the clash between the Key to Vector Sigma and the Plasma Energy Chamber resulted in near-deaths for both Optimus Primal and Megatron. The other Maximals realized that their comrade had played a major role in Primal’s death and turned their back on him. While the other Maximals eventually revived Optimus and dealt with the strange Savage/Noble creature, a grief-stricken Dinobot, convinced that he had permanently killed the first being who had ever treated him kindly, buried his higher functions beneath his animal instincts and turned feral, indiscriminately roaming the empty tunnels and savaging any wayward Vehicons who deviated from their patrol routes.

Finally, after many cycles of exile, Optimus Primal—who had dedicated all his time to meditating in front of the Oracle and casting his own sensory net across the planet in the hopes of finding their most troubled comrade—finally reached Dinobot’s sleeping mind and pierced his layers of mental armor. In this shared dreamscape, a jumbled nightmare world of Transmetallized bones and a burning valley—Dinobot admitted that he had no idea who he was. Was he a warrior or a monster? A beast or a robot? A Maximal, a Predacon, a Decepticon? Would he forever toil in the shadow of his progenitor, desperately trying to live a life he’d never known? Or was he nothing but a freak of nature who concealed his monstrous nature beneath the veneer of an honorable warrior?

Inspired by his own recent voyage through the Matrix, Optimus offered his own opinion: just as the Matrix had chosen them to bring nature and technology together into a single, harmonious whole, so too was Dinobot more than the sum total of his origins. He was not the original Dinobot, nor was he Rampage; he was himself, a loyal ally and just as much a part of the Oracle’s grand plan as the rest of the Maximals.

It would take time before the Predacon warrior learned to channel Primal’s sense of balance into his own fighting style as he rigorously trained in private—aided by Primal’s occasional remote coaching sessions—and longer still before he worked up the courage to rejoin the Maximals. When he did, however, he returned not as Dinobot, but as his own ‘bot—he was now Preditron, a courageous and honorable warrior who combined his bestial instincts with the experience of two lifetimes lived. Preditron fought bravely alongside the Maximals in subsequent campaigns, stood by as they welcomed Botanica and Silverbolt into the fold, and made a courageous stand in the final battle against the Vehicon hordes.

Many centuries in the future, long after the Great Transformation that saw Cybertron reformatted into a technorganic utopia, young technorganic Cybertronians still whisper tales of the reclusive Last Predacon, whose immortal spark burns forever. When all else fails, it is said that the Last Predacon will emerge from his secluded jungle home to take young Cybertronians who struggle to master transformation under his wing, and teach them to find the balance within, as he once did himself.

Assorted Doctor Iceberg Headcanons and Trivia Part 1.

Hi, this is my mega-list of headcanons, theories and general trivia for Iceberg part one! These are based on a mix pseudo-memories (IRL/DA shit dw abt it), dreams and general headcanons.

Below the cut are the long winded list for easy view. Idm inspiration but please don't steal them since as said most of it is based on memories that are very real to me thank you! /gen.

i. Iceberg's full name is Joshua-Ellis Tyler Gills, his name "deadname" being Ellis, but he still enjoyed being called it so he decided to add it apart of his newer name of Joshua, thus it becoming hyphenated. His middle name was something he gave too himself as he is a massive fan of Tyler. The Creator.

ii. He grew up in a small town in Florida, USA. But was born somewhere else during a trip his mother and father was on. He was born in a hospital in Chicago.

iii. Iceberg always had poor eyesight, this was made worse when his anomaly kept freezing his tears which would often stab him in the eyes- this rendered Iceberg to having poorer vision and only really being able to cry in showers, and learn how to bottle everything up. Do Not Cry. Thankfully the prescription he has no allows him to see, but due to factors his vision is considerably a lot worse than for example: Doctor Glass and/or Kondraki, etc.

iv. During his time in the military he was sent on the field a good few times, and Iceberg was great and experienced with both a gun and knowledge in explosives to the point where his behavior grew concerning, enjoying blowing shit up a little too much and very much excited when the enemy stepped on an explosive device he modified. This grew to a level where he was forced to stay the military base instead, which his efforts were put to use. He helped researched on a cryogenics stasis chamber, designing it and overall helped on the engineering of it. But one thing led to another, an argument broke out and Ice was pushed inside the untested chamber. And there he was frozen in time. Who knows how many days if not weeks passed by before the stasis chamber started to malfunction, waking Ice up and exploding. Of course, Iceberg survived, but wasn't left without being injured with burn scars and frostbite and of course earning his anomaly.

v. Iceberg's anomaly itself wasn't an instantaneous affair; rather it slowly became more and more apparent after the incident. It was first just that Iceberg feeling cold and stiff, those who touched his body felt coldness of someone whose been outside on a winters day with little to no protection. Over time this anomaly advanced further his once nominal body temperature of 37 would drop significantly to -7, where it remains today.

vi. To expand on his anomaly Iceberg cannot control it meaning yeah nah he doesn't have "Elsa powers" or anything like that - the most that can happy is when he's really sad and low it can seem like he's getting colder. While he can drink water he has to have it lukewarm, if not he sticks to coffee, varied flavors of soda and sadly has to have lukewarm showers to prevent burning and freezing. Ice does not enjoy it he wants to eat and drink normally like he used to but alas his anomaly is a massive hindrance.

vii. Speaking of Sodas: Iceberg's favorite soda is Pepsi Cola, Coke-Cola and Monster Energy drinks. He used to be a fan of sprite but now it just tastes too bubbly.

viii. Would it surprise anyone when I say Iceberg is a bit of a gamer? No? Okay! He is mostly a fan of the Grand Theft Auto series enjoying San Andreas, IV and V the most though. He has played a few of the Call of Duty, Assassins Creed, and RDR games. And you know what? He also enjoys the Sims and Animal Crossing but its a guilty pleasure since he is a manly man and can't be caught playing such!

ix. Now is there any mental soup stuff with Iceberg? Yes! Due to his childhood (explained more in part 2) which he honestly cannot remember Ice dissociates, has C-PTSD, schizophrenia (Hebephrenic type)*. As well as being hypersexual due to trauma.

x. Finally for part 1 of this so it isn't too long. Um. A list of theme songs, or songs that I think generally vibe with Iceberg but I don't consider themes. Some he probably listens to himself. (listen to it here! hyperlink to spotify) please be aware some songs describe sex, drugs/alcohol, suicide, some may contain swears and the like).

i’m not the same anon, but i don’t think the people even get to elect the next councillor, they only get to nominate someone and the council decides in the end. so they could just keep electing horrible people every time, and no one could really stop them. i also went back to reread the scene where they threaten to exile dex, and apparently disobeying a direct order from the council is an exile-able offense? so a councillor can tell you to do literally anything, no matter how horrible, and if you say no, you have to go to exile, the place meant for the very worst criminals? how many people are in exile right now, just because they decided to stand up for themselves? and they don’t seem to have very many laws either. so you could be doing something that’s perfectly fine, but if seven or more very specific people decide they don’t like it, good luck.

and when sophie asked grady about her punishment for reading dimitar’s mind, he said not exile just because dimitar doesn’t like it, so probably community service instead? so like. a year of community service, where you can still have a life outside of it, and a lifetime in exile are basically the same to the council? so your entire life and thousands of years of boredom and misery could just depend on how well a councillor’s day went? or just. if you’re friends with them or not or if they automatically don’t like you just because you’re like. talentless or in a bad match or whatever? someone please get them a functioning legal system asap

Oh yeah, you make an excellent point! Okay so we can see in Everblaze on page 328 that, like you said, the people only submit nominations. The populus subits nominations for people they want to be the next councillor, and from there "the council will ultimately decide."

They all decide unanimously who to vote in for the next one by rearranging a system of mirrors in their castles, and when they align it sends out a huge beam of light "bright enough to be seen anywhere in the Lost Cities" (431) when they've reached a consensus. So gotta suspend your disbelief on that one for the logistics

Conclusion: councillors have way too much power and the people are actually represented like not at all. Bad government. Let's try that one again

Your observations about Exile are interesting as well, and it made me think. I bet to the elves, something like disobeying a direct order from the council is the worst of the worst. Because they're living with this false idea of how their system works. They're elves; they're supposed to be better than all that, without all those problems humans and other species have.

If someone disobeys a direct order, then they would be seen as the one in the wrong because the council is supposed to be a great system! They wouldn't give a direct order that was bad or questionable, so if you're questioning it, then you're questioning the goodness of the elven world and are therefore bad.

And in a world with hardly any crime, I bet they've got poor sense of extremes. They don't need more than one prison, they don't have enough prisoners for that. Everyone goes to the same place because minor and extreme offenses are pretty much the same to them. Disobeying a direct order (an order that's presumed good) makes you bad, and you're bad so you're a criminal, and you're a criminal so you go to prison, and their prison is Exile.

Does that make it good? Not in the slightest. I just bet that plays a factor in how it all works out. But the elven legal system is definitely...something. Thanks for bringing it up more in depth!

How to Use Gender-Neutral 3rd Person Pronouns in Japanese:

Note: I am not a native Japanese speaker, and I only have a conversational level in Japanese, as opposed to a fluent level. As such, please don't take anything I say as gospel.

Japanese pronouns are an open class of words in Japanese, rather than a closed class of words like they are in English. While that doesn't mean one can do anything one wants with pronouns in Japanese, it does mean one can mess around with them quite a lot. Pronouns are much less restrictive in Japanese than they are in English. One reason for this is that they don't decline. For example, 私 watashi covers I, me, my and mine, and how its case is decided is dependent on the particle that follows it.

私は watashi wa / 私が watashi ga = I (nominative) 私を watashi wo = me (accusative) 私に watashi ni = me (dative) 私と watashi to / 私から watashi kara = me (ablative) 私の watashi no = my / mine (genitive)

Another reason pronouns are more of an open class in Japanese is because they can often be dropped. In fact, Japanese sentences can often sound downright wrong if you don't omit certain pronouns.

* 「私の名前はニックです。」 ^ "Watashi no namae wa Nikku desu." (awkward) * 「名前はニックです。」 ^ "Namae wa Nikku desu." (natural) (= "My name is Nic.")

* 「私のネコは私が大好きです。」 ^ "Watashi no neko wa watashi ga daisuki desu." (awkward) * 「ネコは私が大好きです。」 ^ "Neko wa watashi ga daisuki desu." (natural) (= "My cat loves me.")

* 「あなたのネコはかわいいです。」 ^ "Anata no neko wa kawaii desu." (awkward and borderline rude)[1] * 「ネコはかわいいです。」 ^ "Neko wa kawaii desu." (natural) (= "Your cat is cute.")

* 「あの人はここに来てもいい。」 ^ "Ano hito wa koko ni kitemo ii desu." (awkward sometimes)[2] * 「ここに来てもいい。」 ^ "Koko ni kitemo ii desu." (natural) (= "He/She can come here.")

[1] Calling someone あなた anata in polite speech is usually considered very disrespectful. It's recommended to instead use a person's name with a polite honorific, with さん -san being the safest option.

[2] This is only awkward if the topic has already been established. For example, it would be awkward if the sentence followed something like this:

* 「あの人はあそこにいる。」 ^ "Ano hito wa asoko ni iru." (= "He/She is over there.")

Once the topic has been established, it's usually good to drop the topic upon repetition until a new topic is introduced. For instance:

* 「この人は友達です。アダムと言います。アメリカから来て、３０歳です。趣味はカラオケと料理です。１年くらい存じています。大事なカンパニーのメンバーだと思います。」 ^ "Kono hito wa tomodachi desu. Adamu to iimasu. Amerika kara kite, sanjuu-sai desu. Shumi wa karaoke to ryouri desu. Ichi-nen kurai sonjite imasu. Daiji na kanpanii no menbaa da to omoimasu." (= "This person is my friend. He is called Adam. He comes from America, and he is 30 years old. His hobbies are karaoke and cooking. He and I have been acquainted for about 1 year. I think he will be an important member of the company.")

Because pronouns are open class in Japanese, they're very flexible. It's quite easy to mix and match pronouns in Japanese. This is one reason why a lot of Japanese media has casts who use different 1st person pronouns. For example, in the Japanese version of Paper Mario, マリオストーリー Mario Story, every Partner who joins Mario uses a different 1st person pronoun:

Kurio (Goombario): オイラ oira Kameki (Kooper): オレッチ orecchi Pinkie (Bombette): あたい atai Paretta (Parakarry): わたし watashi Resaresa (Bow): あたくし atakushi Akarin (Watt): あたち atachi Opuku (Sushie): あたしゃ atasha Pokopie (Lakilester): オレ ore

This helps flesh them out and gives them all distinctive characteristics.

Now, let's talk about 3rd person pronouns in Japanese. In Japanese, the two binary pronouns are 彼 kare (he) and 彼女 kanojo (she). They're not actually used that often, but they're still good to know, especially since many English-written guides for learning Japanese make liberal use of these two pronouns.

* 「彼は男ですから、「僕」や「俺」などの一人称代名詞を使うことが好きです。」 ^ "Kare wa otoko desu kara, "boku" ya "ore" nado no ichi-nin shou daimeishi wo tsukau koto ga suki desu." (= "He is a man, and so likes using first-person pronouns like "boku" and "ore."")

* 「彼女は女ですから、「あたし」や「あたい」などの一人称代名詞を使うことが好きです。」 ^ "Kanojo wa onna desu kara, "atashi" ya "atai" nado no ichi-nin shou daimeishi wo tsukau koto ga suki desu." (= "She is a woman, and so likes using first-person pronouns like "atashi" and "atai."")

(Note that 彼 kare and 彼女 kanojo can also mean boyfriend and girlfriend respectively, though ボーイフレンド booifurendo, ガールフレンド gaarufurendo and パートナー paatonaa, all borrowed from English, are more commonly used these days.)

Here's the problem: 彼 kare and 彼女 kanojo form their plurals by adding ら -ra to the pronoun. You would use 彼ら kare-ra when referring to more than one person if the people are all male or there is at least one male in the group, and you would use 彼女ら kanojo-ra only if all the people being referred to are female. So, Japanese has a similar dilemma to French and Spanish, because they is gendered.

Except, in Japanese, there are a ton of gender-neutral pronouns you can use to refer to a single person. Some linguists even argue that Japanese doesn't technically have pronouns, as pronouns in Japanese work a lot more like glorified nouns.

To get an idea of the gender-neutral pronouns in Japanese, it's good to have some knowledge of how the こそあど言葉 ko-so-a-do words work. To be brief, こ ko, そ so, あ a and ど do are special morphemes that indicate position. Simply put, こ ko refers to something close to the speaker, そ so refers to something close to the listener, あ a refers to something close to neither or to something extract, and ど do refers to something interrogative.

Through this system, こ ko, そ so and あ a can be used to create various 3rd person pronouns, while do ど can be used to create various interrogative pronouns, like who and what. I won't talk about the interrogative pronouns here, because I feel that will clog up the post, but I will absolutely be talking about all the equivalents Japanese has for the singular they.

1: kochira, sochira, achira (こちら,そちら,あちら):

This is one of the safer ways to refer to people. These words literally translate to this way, that way and that way over there, relating to direction. They're more vague ways of referring to direction than ここ koko, そこ soko and あそこ asoko, which indicate an exact direction but can't be used as pronouns.

They are used to:

1) indicate a direction

* 「こちらにあると思う。」 ^ "Kochira ni aru to omou." (= "I think it's here.")

* 「ええ、本当に？そちらに置いたから。」 ^ "Ee, hontou ni? Sochira ni oita kara." (= "Huh, really? Because I put it there.")

* 「そう言えば、あちらにあるかもしれない。」 ^ "Sou ieba, achira ni aru ka mo shirenai." (= "Now that you mention it, it might be over there.")

2) refer to people in the 1st person (こちら kochira) or the 2nd person (そちら sochira)

* 「そちらとパーティーに行けて、とても嬉しかったです。」 ^ "Sochira to paatii ni ikete, totemo ureshikatta desu." (= "I was very happy to be able to go to the party with you.")

* 「こちらこそ。」 ^ "Kochira koso." (= "Me too.")

3) refer to people in the 3rd person

* 「こちらは内のクラスを混ざる。」 ^ "Kochira wa uchi no kurasu wo mazaru." (= "He/She/They is going to join our class.")

* 「そちらは私の親友だもん。」 ^ "Sochira wa watashi no shin'yuu da mon." (= "He/She/They is my best friend, of course.")

* 「私とあちらが仲よくない。」 ^ "Watashi to achira ga naka yokunai." (= "He/She/They and I don't get along.")

When used as 3rd person pronouns, こちら kochira and そちら sochira can typically only be used to refer to someone who is present, while あちら achira can be used to refer to someone who is either present or absent.

These words cannot be made plural, although they can be interpreted as plural depending on context.

2: koitsu, soitsu, aitsu (こいつ,そいつ,あいつ):

This is not a safe way to refer to someone if you don't know what you're doing. It literally translates to this guy, that guy and that guy over there, with the guy being gender-neutral the same way you guys is in English. It's often used by men rather than women, as it's considered quite "un-ladylike," though women can use it. It's used to refer objects, or to people who are of equal or inferior social standing to the speaker, such as friends or children. It can have a rude or hostile edge to it in some contexts.

They are used to:

1) indicate an object

* 「こいつがほしい！」 ^ "Koitsu ga hoshii!" (= "I want this one!")

* 「そいつを貰う！」 ^ "Soitsu wo morau!" (= "I'll take that one!")

* 「それじゃ、私はあいつを買わなきゃ！」 ^ "Sore ja, watashi wa aitsu wo kawanakya!" (= "Then I've just gotta buy that one over there!")

2) indicate a person or animal:

* 「こいつは友達だ。」 ^ "Koitsu wa tomodachi da." (= "He/She/They is a friend.")

* 「そいつ、歌うのは上手だな。」 ^ "Soitsu, utau no wa jouzu da na." (= "He/She/They is good at singing.")

* 「さっき、公園にあいつを会った。」 ^ "Sakki, kouen ni aitsu wo atta." (= "I met him/her/them in the park earlier.")

To make any of these pronouns plural, simply add ら -ra to their end, or add たち -tachi to their end.

3: kono yatsu, sono yatsu, ano yatsu (この奴,その奴,あの奴):

This means the same thing and work exactly the same way as こいつ koitsu, そいつ soitsu and あいつ aitsu. In fact, こいつ koitsu, そいつ soitsu and あいつ aitsu come from この奴 kono yatsu, その奴 sono yatsu and あの奴 ano yatsu. Before that, though, they entered a "transitional phase" and became こやつ koyatsu, そやつ soyatsu and あやつ ayatsu. Those are archaic now, but このやつ kono yatsu, そのやつ sono yatsu and あのやつ ano yatsu are occasionally used instead of こいつ koitsu, そいつ soitsu or あいつ aitsu, usually for emphasis.

They are used to:

1) indicate an object

* 「この奴が最高のゲームだ。」 ^ "Kono yatsu ga saikou no geemu da." (= "This one is the best game.")

* 「その奴のエンジンは壊れたと思う。」 ^ "Sono yatsu no enjin wa kowareta to omou." (= "I think that one's engine is broken.")

* 「私、あの奴が聞こえる。」 ^ "Watashi, ano yatsu ga kikoeru." (= "I can hear that one over there.")

2) indicate a person or animal:

* 「このやつは悔しすぎる！」 ^ "Kono yatsu wa kuyashisugiru!" (= "He/She/They is too frustrating!")

* 「みんなはそのやつが好きだ。」 ^ "Minna wa sono yatsu ga suki da." (= "Everyone likes him/her/them.")

* 「あのやつ、本当に最低だな。」 ^ "Ano yatsu, hontou ni saitei da na." (= "He/She/They is really the worst.")

Like こいつ koitsu, そいつ soitsu and あいつ aitsu, simply add ら -ra to make the pronouns plural, or add たち -tachi.

4: kono kata, sono kata, ano kata (この方,その方,あの方):

This is the absolute most polite way you can refer to someone. This is generally how you'd refer to a superior, such as your boss, or, in some cases, someone you really admire. It's made by combining この kono, その sono or あの ano with 方 kata, a respectful word for person.

* 「この方は私の上司です。」 ^ "Kono kata wa watashi no joushi desu." (= "He/She/They is my boss.")

* 「私、その方に「すばらしい料理人です」と伝えた。」 ^ "Watashi, sono kata ni, "subarasbii ryouri-nin desu" to tsutaeta." (= "I told him/her/them, "You're an amazing cook."")

* 「私はついにあの方を会えた！」 ^ "Watashi wa tsui ni ano kata wo aeta!" (= "I was finally able to meet him/her/them!")

To make these pronouns plural, add 々 -gata to the end of the word. You can also make these words plural by adding たち -tachi to the end of the word, though this is slightly less polite.

5: kono hito, sono hito, ano hito (この人,その人,あの人):

This is a safe way to refer to someone, because it can be both polite and informal. Thus, you're unlikely to offend anyone by using this. It's made by combining この kono, その sono or あの ano with 人 hito, which is the standard word for person.

* 「この人の一番好きな動物はネコだもん。」 ^ "Kono hito no ichi-ban suki na doubutsu wa neko da mon." (= "His/Her/Their favorite animal is cats, of course.")

* 「その人はコンピュータゲームが大好きだ。」 ^ "Sono hito wa konpyuuta geemu ga daisuki da." (= "He/She/They loves video games.")

* 「昨日、あの人と話した。」 ^ "Kinou, ano hito to hanashita." (= "I spoke with him/her/them yesterday.")

There two says to make these pronouns plural. The first is to add 々 -bito to the end of the word, and the second is to add たち -tachi to the end of the word. Both are pretty safe.

6: kono ko, sono ko, ano ko (この子,その子,あの子):

This, in a way, is the "feminine" equivalent of こいつ koitsu, そいつ soitsu and あいつ aitsu. It's used to refer to people your own age or younger, so it's informal. Generally, guys won't use this for other guys, but they will use it for girls, and girls will call guys and other girls this. It's made by combining この kono, その sono or あの ano with 子 ko, which means child or kid.

* 「この子は何をしてるの？」 ^ "Kono ko wa nani wo shite'ru no?" (= "What's he/she/they doing?")

* 「その子の新しいラジオは高い。」 ^ "Sono ko no atarashii rajio ga takai." (= "His/Her/Their new radio is expensive.")

* 「私、あの子にプレゼントをあげた。」 ^ "Watashi, ano ko ni purezento wo ageta." (= "I gave him/her/them a present.")

To make these pronouns plural, add たち -tachi to the end of the word.

7: kono gaki, sono gaki, ano gaki (このガキ,そのガキ,あのガキ):

You shouldn't use this to refer to someone unless they're your age or younger, and you're either very close to them or want to insult them. It's made by combining この kono, その sono or あの ano with ガキ gaki, which literally means brat.

* 「このガキはいい仲間 だ けど…」 ^ "Kono gaki wa ii nakama da kedo..." (= "He/She/They is a good friend, but...")

* 「兄さんはそのガキが好きじゃない。」 ^ "Nii san wa sono gaki ga suki ja nai." (= "My brother doesn't like him/her/them.")

* 「あのガキの先生厳しいな！」 ^ "Ano gaki no sensei wa kibishii na!" (= "His/Her/Their teacher is so strict!")

To make these plural, add either ら -ra or たち -tachi to the end of the word.

8: kono yarou, sono yarou, ano yarou (このヤロウ,そのヤロウ,あのヤロウ):

This one is a big no-no unless you're very close with a person your age or younger, or if you want to offend the hell out of someone. It's made by combining この kono, その sono or あの ano with ヤロウ yarou, which literally translates to bastard or, if you're generous, rascal.

* 「このヤロウはビールを盗んだ！」 ^ "Kono yarou wa biiru wo nusunda!" (= "He/She/They stole the beer!")

* 「私、そのヤロウの声が別に好きじゃない。」 ^ "Watashi, sono yarou no koe ga betsu ni suki ja nai." (= "I don't really like his/her/their voice.")

* 「あのヤロウが全然分かれない！」 ^ "Ano yarou ga zenzen wakarenai!" (= "I can't understand him/her/them at all!")

If you want to make the words plural, add ら -ra or たち -tachi to their ends.

9: kore, sore, are (これ,それ,あれ):

This is basically the equivalent of calling someone it. I know some people prefer that, so I thought I'd include these words, which actually translate to this one, that one and that one over there, because Japanese doesn't have a direct word for it. As usual, you probably shouldn't use this for someone, especially if they're older than you, unless they specifically request it or you want to insult them.

They are used to:

1) indicate an object

* 「これは私のリンゴだ。」 ^ "Kore wa watashi no ringo da." (= "This one is my apple.")

* 「私、それを買いたい。」 ^ "Watashi, sore wo kaitai." (= "I want to buy that one.")

* 「あれがネコのボールだ。」 ^ "Are ga neko no booru da." (= "That one over there is the cat's ball.")

2) indicate a person or animal:

* 「私、これに行きたい。」 ^ "Watashi, kore ni ikitai." (= "I want to go with it.")

* 「それは面白い人だ。」 ^ "Sore wa omoshiroi hito da." (= "It is an interesting person.")

* 「あれは音楽が上手だ。」 ^ "Are wa ongaku ga jouzu da." (= "It is good at music.")

As far as I know, these words can't be made plural, but they can be plural in meaning sometimes, depending on context.

How to politely request to be referred to a certain way in Japanese:

To wrap up this post, here's how to politely request to be referred to with a particular pronoun in Japanese. I included the Japanese equivalents for he, she, they and it.

1)

* 「私の優先の人称代名詞は「彼」です。 ^ "Watashi no yuusen no ninshou daimeishi wa "kare" desu." (= "My preferred personal pronoun is "he."")

* 「私の優先の人称代名詞は「彼女」です。」 ^ "Watashi no yuusen no ninshou daimeishi wa "kanojo" desu." (= "My preferred personal pronoun is "she."")

* 「私の優先の人称代名詞は「あの人」です。」 ^ "Watashi no yuusen no ninshou daimeishi wa "ano hito" desu." (= "My preferred personal pronoun is "they."")

* 「私の優先の人称代名詞は「あれ」です。」 ^ "Watashi no yuusen no ninshou daimeishi wa "are" desu." (= "My preferred personal pronoun is "it."")

2)

* 「私は「彼」と呼ぶことが好きです。」 ^ "Watashi wa "kare" to yobu koto ga suki desu." (= "I like to be called "he."")

* 「私は「彼女」と呼ぶことが好きです。」 ^ "Watashi wa "kanojo" to yobu koto ga suki desu." (= "I like to be called "she."")

* 「私は「あの人」と呼ぶことが好きです。」 ^ "Watashi wa "ano hito" to yobu koto ga suki desu." (= "I like to be called "they."")

* 「私は「あれ」と呼ぶことが好きです。」 ^ "Watashi wa "are" to yobu koto ga suki desu." (= "I like to be called "it."")

3)

* 「私に「彼」と呼んでください。」 ^ "Watashi ni "kare" to yonde kudasai." (= "Please call me "he."")

* 「私に「彼女」と呼んでください。」 ^ "Watashi ni "kanojo" to yonde kudasai." (= "Please call me "she."")

* 「私に「あの人」と呼んでください。」 ^ "Watashi ni "ano hito" to yonde kudasai." (= "Please call me "they."")

* 「私に「あれ」と呼んでください。」 ^ "Watashi ni "are" to yonde kudasai." (= "Please call me "it."")

4)

* 「私に「彼」と呼んでくださったら、とてもありがたいです。」 ^ "Watashi ni "kare" to yonde kudasattara, totemo arigatai desu." (= "If you could call me "he," I would be very grateful.")

* 「私に「彼女」と呼んでくださったら、とてもありがたいです。」 ^ "Watashi ni "kanojo" to yonde kudasattara, totemo arigatai desu." (= "If you could call me "she," I would be very grateful.")

* 「私に「あの人」と呼んでくださったら、とてもありがたいです。」 ^ "Watashi ni "ano hito" to yonde kudasattara, totemo arigatai desu." (= "If you could call me "they," I would be very grateful.")

* 「私に「あれ」と呼んでくださったら、とてもありがたいです。」 ^ "Watashi ni "are" to yonde kudasattara, totemo arigatai desu." (= "If you could call me "it," I would be very grateful.")

The ko-so-a-do chart for pronouns:

That’s all I’ve got for now. Thanks for reading. :)

The end of the world

The end of the world will come to us like a ship. Not a fast ship, an old ship, an ungainly ship. We are still so used to the swiftness of space that we hardly conceive of that kind of delay.

-From a book called On the New Continent, by the engineer O.T.A.I., quoted in a recent issue of Proceedings of the A.G.S. Volume 7

Proceedings of the A.G.S. stands for the Association for Geomorphology and Speculative Archeological Investigation, and has been in operation since the early 1950's. While nominally a scientific group, the association's founders were primarily concerned with the exploration of alternative possibilities for how humans might live. In this, at least, they have made an impression on Earth -- and on Mars.

The "geomorphology" part of the association's name means that the group considers it vital to preserve the geophysical and biological diversity of a planet when altering its surface for human habitation. So far this has meant building geodesic domes for many of the Earth's unique species, and establishing outposts and colonies in the "pockets" that had been left since the collapse of the biosphere, so that they might be revived there, where they might have a chance to thrive. The geomorphologists were able to do a great deal of this work even before the human colonizing effort was underway -- the association's membership included many of the first space-farers -- and now it is their legacy that we live on.

So far, the Association's attempts to bring a new species to its namesake continent had been less than successful. The association's founder, B.T. Iverson, a geologist and anthropologist by training, had discovered the world of New Creations almost single-handedly some years before. His was one of the first geomorphology teams to land on the newly resurfaced continent. Iverson had discovered a new species of life in the crater, a micro-organism with unique and wondrous characteristics.

Iverson and his team had been studying the New Creations long before it had been given its name, but they finally chose that word as the name for the world in a letter they wrote to the board of directors of the association. Iverson was a prolific letter-writer; he sent at least four such missives on New Creations before the final, "real" one was published in 1959. This final missive was the first, but the letters had come gradually. B.T. Iverson had decided to write about his world, the new planet. In the space of a single month, for instance, he wrote three letters:

AUGUST 11, 1954

1. To the President of the Association:

"We are not in space, we are not in a laboratory, not a laboratory on Mars, not a scientific base, not in any sense an exploratory research installation of the kind you have created. Nor are we anywhere close to such a place. In fact, there is no place on Earth which can be meaningfully called 'New Creations.'"

2. To the board of directors:

"A moment ago I realized that I am going to have to write you a very long letter. Since I do so very frequently, however, I have, for this occasion, selected a somewhat shorter letter to convey to you my very urgent conviction that the work you are engaged in should not be continued. This may not be of importance to you because you are not scientists but I feel you should be informed as to why I am writing to you about New Creations. To begin with, I think you will realize that in my letter I have a purpose that is, at best, only somewhat speculative; however, I have been led to this purpose by reason of the peculiar situation of New Creations. In spite of the best efforts of the most eminent geomorphologists there is a very substantial difference in appearance, behavior and habits of life between the organisms found in New Creations and those of the Earth."

3. To Professor M. P. S. E. E. V.

"It is difficult for me to understand why the geomorphologists are so reluctant to accept my explanation. I do not propose to write more now than to say that I consider it of the first importance that no further investigation into the biology of the New Creations should be undertaken until my opinion has been given some form of consideration. I am not able to state at this time precisely in what way it will influence my views on the question whether I will send you a formal letter of request that the Association send a representative to New Creations with a view to making a detailed study. At the present time I do not feel that it is an urgent necessity for me to communicate further with you.

"In other words, I consider that the situation with which you are now confronted is far more important than any study I could send to the A.G.S.

"The fact that there are no scientists in New Creations is of very great importance in this connection. The work of my team, of a certain group, was the first on this planet. I have seen a certain number of individuals but their habits and behavior are somewhat different from those of Earth organisms and this is very important. There is an immediate need to make a definite study and, although I cannot presently do more than this, I expect to try to meet the Association at the earliest opportunity in this connection. Of course I have my own interests to think of; but I am sure that this is also true of you. We have never felt so close to each other, or felt so uncertain of the outcome of any action we take, as in this present situation."

"P.S. I have already decided to send a representative to New Creations."

SEPTEMBER 8, 1954

4. To Professor A. G. W. P.

"I was very much pleased when your letter arrived. It was very characteristic of you to think of the Association immediately when I sent you the first of my 'New Creations' letters. I was, however, considerably alarmed when I saw your letter. In the first place, it was extremely difficult for me to understand how you were using the word 'pockets,' in what sense you were using it. I think I understand now, but it may be you have another meaning in mind. I think you did use the word in the sense that your letter indicated. I certainly understand now that your use of the word is a very definite reference to the peculiar nature of my earth-dwelling relatives. However, I must be careful not to take any action that might further confuse the situation. I do not think that I am particularly qualified to speak for this group or even to express an opinion on their character. I am just one among several groups, if I am not mistaken. They have all had considerable scientific training in geomorphology and some have had very considerable experience on Earth. But that is only a small part of my problem, and I must remember that the most important thing for me is to understand exactly the significance of their biology, their origin, their habitat and their relationships. This is the problem I must address myself to. I feel I am making progress, but only slowly, since my own nature precludes direct contact with these creatures until I have had much more experience with them.

B.T. Iverson, letter to the Association for Geomorph

QuCheanya post 5:

Some changes to syntax. I've more precisely defined what order everything goes in in noun and verb phrases:

I am waffling a bit on whether to allow multiple -fye modifiers. This language is pretty weak in terms of noun compounding, so it might be a good idea, but I want to try sticking to genitive phrases and postpositional phrases and see if that can pull enough weight to not need a lot of noun modifiers. We'll see how it works out. I've been officially challenged by a coworker to describe the plot of Primer in this language, I am already thinking up how I will translate "stock market".

Here are the specifics of the order of components of the verb phrase:

The noun complements of copulas are in the nominative case in this language:

At one point in the past, I had an Essive case, which was specifically for noun complements of copulas, and then I decided I had too many cases and threw it out. I think it's ok to have two nominatives and let word order decide which is the subject and which is the complement.

Topic-reflexive pronoun is now required in most cases, which is why it showed up in those early tense examples. This allows us to topicalize the noun complement of a copula and still indicate that it is the complement and not the subject, as you will see below:

Sentence-final particles are the same as before, but with this addition:

And here are examples of the three uses of tyua:

And here are examples of complement clauses:

So you can see that the topic-reflexive pronoun is useful for being able to topicalize any noun in the sentence without ever having it be ambiguous what role the topic plays in the sentence. It is also another strategy to help solve the gay fanfiction problem - if there are two third-person nouns in the sentence, and one of them is the topic, that one will always be referred to using the topic-reflexive pronoun, rather than the regular third-person pronoun.

Note that in the original example 3, there are actually two ri pronouns that are elided - one that is the subject of fyoanyo and one that is the subject of ceyai. In this version of the sentence, the subjects of those two verbs are no longer the same and can't be elided.

Some examples of relative clauses using qqhoafye:

There are cases where pronouns other than ri can wound up being repeated, because of the way this language nests clauses. For example, if you wanted to say "I was talking to the boy I gave the flowers to" and topicalize the flowers, that would wind up as:

Pfecyuaqeya noi [[noi risua tse pfaire cä] qqhoafye] yelire quyu

that is:

flower-PST-TOP.PL 1S.NOM [[1S.NOM RFL.ACC.PL REL.DAT give PRF] CMP-ADJ] boy-DAT talk

but I think since the two nois are in different clauses, there would be an audible change in intonation between them, and not eliding them is the right answer. I guess it's sort of what happens when you have two thats in a row in English, it feels a bit weird to elide one of them, even though it's technically possible. Of course, if you topicalized "I", you could elide both pronouns because they would become ri. Possibly I may make it a rule that you can only elide one ri, or maybe that you can only elide a ri that is the nominative subject of the outer clause. Interested if anyone has any opinions on this.

Anyway, that's all for updates to syntax.