Hypothetical Rewrite: Ochaco Uraraka

Okay so here's on I know a lot of people were waiting for because a common criticism people had with MHA was its depiction of female characters which makes it worse do to the fact that the creator has shown that he could do so much with these characters but never lets them do anything plot relevant. And Uraraka is easily patient zero of this, because they are so many things that she's been shown to able to do in the main series that make her lack of relevancy worse especially with the fact with her and Ida being established as Midoriya's best friends and they get sideline in favor of Bakugo and Todoroki as the series progresses toward the finally. I will say this in advance that I will admit I have no idea how I can integrate Ida do to him and Kubo (The name for Midoriya that I'm using for the hypothetical rewrite and coming up with a character arc for him is hard) If you have any idea's let me know.

Back on topic in rewrite like I brought up in my part for All Might she's going to teach Airi something that will help her improve herself and truly become the greatest hero she can be. Her lesson; Love, now when I say that I don't mean love in a romantic sense (though that will happen) I also mean the ability to love yourself; making sure you put your well-being and happiness in high regards. I mean this is a lesson abuse victims should definitely learn a hell of a lot more than making nice with their abuser.

I want her to become the first real friend that Airi makes and become the one that encourages her to improve her mental state which in turn makes her quirk more powerful and make Airi a lot braver. Don't worry she's not going to be relegated to Manic Pixie Dream Girl status as she'll still have her reason for becoming a pro for the money and I thought with this level of relevancy that she should be someone that advocates for Japan's work ethics culture to change due to the fact of overwork/underpay is extremely rampant in the country to the point that population decline is an issue because of its work ethic (I know weebs are going to accuse me of xenophobia because I'm criticizing how capitalism is effecting Japan since it also applies to the anime and manga industry but they're objectively the last people you should talk to about when it comes to what it's like in Japan)

She also going to become the first person One for All's power amplification is going to work on due to their friendship and how it's going to work in her case is going to extend her reach in a way that will make it almost look like telekinesis and give her more time before she develops nausea. As for her fighting style while she is going to specialize in rescues more so, she will have learned aikido and systema just in case she'd have to fight back against any villains that could bring harm to others.

Now on the costume I honestly don't mind it too much especially because it has a massive resemblance to an astronaut but I thought that if we're trying to make the protagonist a shounen action hero that we need a partner that's on other side of the coin should be a magical girl protagonist. So the costume I'm thinking more a retro sci-fi aesthetic much like what the female characters in the Jetsons would wear with a cowl that goes over her head covering up her hair and that same cowl having a visor for extra protection and keep her from being nauseous; it also has an AR set that analyzes building structures, medical analysis, keeps in contact with allies, and up to date on villain activities.

The attire also has a pair of wrist and ankle bands that release air pressure that help her use her quirk to fly the same device is also on her belt. Her belt also is equipped with metal canisters that contain medicine, bandages, and a means of arresting villains as well as the canisters can be used to knock out an opponent using her quirk.

Name: Mochizuki Koroya

Hero: Starlight

Quirk: Zero Gravity

· Negates the gravity of any physical thing

[Part 2]

Finally onto September! I finally did a reading challenge, and completed it! I went with Sapphic September (hosted by manicfemme). I had a lot of fun with this one, it was a real joy. This covers books 59-74 of 2022, if my math serves me well).

Favourite Romantic Subgenre - Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker with Wendy Xu

This is about romance, but it’s also about witches and magic! It’s different to what I thought the book was about, but I loved it nonetheless, and the artwork was gorgeous. I can’t wait to read more from this author (and if there’s more in this series, I want to read them too!) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Recently Purchased/Recieved - The Henna Wars by Abida Jaigirdar

I don’t buy new books very often so this was the most recent I had. I really enjoyed it. I did go into it thinking it was going to be a cute romance, which it is, but it also covers some heavy topics as a warning. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lesbian Rep - Love, Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson

I don’t know if it actually specified that Frankie is a lesbian in this book but, if not, it’s very heavily coded. I was so excited about this as, growing up, Jacqueline Wilson was my favourite author and reading this book as a child would have changed so much for me and meant a lot. It had some problems, such as the generic misogyny I expect from Wilson’s books, but I enjoyed it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Indie or Small Press Author - Ida by Alison Evans

This is like a small parallel world kind of book someone keeps appearing as different versions of herself. It was good but I felt like the story was missing something, I’m still not really sure what. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lantix Author - Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Córdova

This was a fun little story about magic! I’m not sure if I’m going to continue the series yet, as I felt like some of it was a bit difficult to get into. I really loved the family bonds and the story though, it was really wholesome. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

5 Star Prediction - Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron

It wasn’t quite five stars for me but I absolutely adored it. It was a tale of fighting oppression and the roots of power. I loved the characters and, although I knew the plot twists were coming, I didn’t enjoy them any less. I just wasn’t as invested in the romance as I hoped to be, I wanted there to be some more time focused on them. I still loved it and highly recommend it. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Sporty Sapphics - Cheer Up! Love and PomPoms by Crystal Frasier, with Val Wise and Oscar Jupiter

This was extremely cute, about a trans girl that falls in love with an odd girl. They are in the cheer group at their school, and although there was some transphobia, it wasn’t the main focus of the graphic novel and it ended up just being really wholesome and uplifting. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Trope You Don’t Typically Like/Read - Failure to Communicate by Kaia Sønderby

Despite my love of science fiction, I very rarely read or watch it due to a lot of misogyny and other kinds of -isms being riddled into the trope over the years. This wasn’t like that, though, just for the relateability alone to the autism rep, this was a delight. I gave it less stars though because I found it so hard to get into, but I think you should absolutely read it if you can. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Spooky Sapphics - Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

This ended up being one of my favourite books of the year (if not, of all time). It’s about these evil mermaids that killed an entire ship load of scientists and the sister of one of the scientists goes out onto a second ship to learn more about them and what killed her sister. It was absolutely incredible and I already had a pretty thick fear of the ocean, this only solidified it. So, so good and really well researched as well. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Single Sapphics (No Romance Plot) - House of Hollow by Krystal Sutherland

Another book I absolutely loved. This was like a dark fairytale retelling and even though it was extremely obvious what the plot twists were going to be, it again did not hinder my enjoyment of the book overall. I loved the atmosphere and the characters and the writing style! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Quick Read (Novella, Graphic Novel, Short Story) - Princess Princess Ever After by K O’Neil

I think this is the same person who wrote the Tea Dragon trilogy that I loved so much, although I didn’t realise that until after I finished this! I enjoyed it although I wasn’t so keen on the art style but I think it was originally an online comic. I thought it was pretty cute and wholesome. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Dual or Multi POV - Hani and Ishu’s Guide to Fake Dating by Adiba Jaigirdar

Another book by this author this month, this one was amazing! I think my favourite of the two. I love a fake dating romance and I also love enemies to lovers, this contained them both. The characters were lovable and it had some wholesome moments but it also had some hard topics like racism and homophobia. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

New or New to You Author - Before You Say I Do by Clare Lydon

I didn’t enjoy this as much as I wanted to. I’m not sure what about this I didn’t gel with. I liked the writing styles but I wasn’t very invested in their characters or the romance. I also think they made some bad decisions and didn’t really face any consequences for them. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Booktok Made You Buy It - One Last Stop by Casey McQuiston

I’m not really a fan of Booktok so I just went with book media in general and a lot of people I follow really liked this. Turns out, so did I! It took a while for me to get into but, once I did, it quickly became one of my favourites of the year. There was so much I enjoyed about it. I also read her book, Red, White and Royal Blue, so I already knew I’d love her writing! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

2022 Release - Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake

I wasn’t sure I would like this as I heard mixed reviews and, also, one of the love interests is a parent to a child which normally turns me off romance (although I do think it’s nice that queer people have access to that kind of romance book, I know there isn’t that many of them). It wasn’t a huge focus, though, so I kept my enjoyment and I really enjoyed the characters and there wasn’t too much angst and drama. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Ice Queen Character or Romance - A Curse of Illusions by Vivian Sader

I ended up not finishing this but I still added it because I read quite a lot of it before I gave up on it. I’m not even sure if it fits the prompt but it was the closest I had as I’m not really sure what a ice queen character or romance is, and it sounds interesting so I need to find some fun books relating to it. ⭐️⭐️

𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄  :  𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐊𝐄  ,  𝐎𝐂𝐓𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐀.

    name  :   octavia  blake.      age  :   eighteen      siblings  :    bellamy  blake      parents  :   aurora  blake  (  deceased  )  ,  unknown  father   hades  ,  god  of  the  underworld      status  :   year  round  camper  ,   self  appointed  CTF  champion.      appointed  cabin  :   cabin  twelve

abilities  ,

       ADHD  :    like  most  demigods  ,  octavia  possesses  supernatural  reflexes  and  senses  that  she  uses  to  analise  a  target  or  enemy.

       DYSLEXIA  :    octavia’s  brain  was  hardwired  to  read  ancient  greek  instead  of  modern  languages.  this  was  also  partly  due  to  her  mother’s  and  brother’s  obsessions  with  anciety  greek  myths  and stories. 

     NECROMANCY  :     as  a  daughter  of  hades  ,  octavia  is  able  to  control  the  dead.   this  means :              being  able  to  summon  as  well  as  banish  the  dead.              destroy  skeleton  warriors               communicate  telepathically  with  ghosts                command  the  dead  to  follow  her  orders                  release  souls                 turn  people  into  ghosts                  sense  death                   physically  touch  ghosts                  summon  ghosts  from  the  dead

    GEOKINESIS  :    as  a  daughter  of  hades  ,  octavia  has  control  over  the  earth  and  stones.   this  is  less  powerful  than  her  father’s  control  ,  but  something  she  is  still new  to.

UMBRAKINESIS  :   octavia  ,  like  her  father  ,  has  control  over  darkness  and  shadows.   significantly  less  control  than  hades  has  ,  but  she  is  able  to  make  a  room  pitch  black  and  make  shadow  creep  in  to  disoreintate  her  enemy.  

DARK  INFERNAL  PYROKINESIS  :   this  is  a  weak  power  for  octavia  and  one  that  9  times  out  of  10  ,  doesn’t  work.   but  when  it  does  ,  she  can  produce  black  hellfire  which  is  said  to  be  ten  times  more  destructive  than  actual  flames. 

PHOBINKINESIS  :   although  her  father  has  devine  power  over  fear  ,  octavia  has  some  grasp  upon  it  as  well.   she  uses  this  mainly  to  intimidate  those  around  her  ,  or  to  heighten  her rival’s  phobia’s  (  which  she  does  a  lot  just  for  a  laugh  ).

SHAPESHIFTING  :   hades  hardly  utilizes  this  ability  and  because  of  that  ,  nor  does  octavia.   why  shapeshift  when  you’re  the  god  of  death  ?   why  pretend  to  be  something  else  when  you  possess  such  divine  power  from  your  father  ?   (  in  actuality  ,  octavia  isn’t  even  sure  she  can  shapeshift  ,  but  she’ll  say  she  can  to  look  cool  )

talents  ,

      since  arriving  at  camp  half  blood  ,  octavia  has  been  rather  active  upon  the  training  grounds.  her  weapon  of  choice  is  the  sword  ,  but  has  been  caught  training  with  a  bow  and  arrow.   she’s  known  to  get  a  little  carried  away  when  sparring  with  another  demigod  ,  often  not  yeilding  even  when  her  rival  is  begging  her  to.   this  has  been brought  to  chiron’s  attention  several  times. 

      octavia  is  also  quite  the  cross  country  star.   she’s  an  active  girl,  always  had  been  since  a  young  age.  not  only  is  running  something  that  calms  her  ,  but  it  was  something  she  decided  to  keep  up  in  order  to  stay  ahead  of  those  that  wanted  her  dead. 

      due  to  being  hidden  since  a  baby  ,   the  brunette  is  also  good  at  hiding  if  she  needs  to.   although  the  though  demenour  ,  octavia  blake  was  still  a  child  -  young  and  afraid.   if  hiding  was  what  was  going  to  keep  her  safe  ,  you  best  bet  she  was  going  to  do  it.

biography ,

        octavia  was  born  to  aurora  blake  on  a  cold  evening  on  the  living  room  floor  of  her  apartment.   she  recalls  bellamy  telling  her  that  the  news  played  in  the  background  ,   a  report  of  a  natural  disaster  being  read  to  the  millions  of  viewers.   however  ,  he  wasn’t  paying  attention,   as  moments  after  she  was  born  ,  he  was  soothing  her  cries.   a  bond  that  could  never  be  broken  between  siblings. 

       however  ,  aurora  never  treated  octavia  in  the  same  manner  she  treated  bellamy.   every  knock  on  the  door  ,  the  young  blake  was  forced  to  hide  away  from  the  visitor.  forced  to  watch  through  closet  doors  as  friends  came  and  went  ,  all  passing  through  without  knowing  of  her  existence.  when  questioned  ,  aurora  would  explode  into  fits  of  anger  ,  telling  octavia  that  it  was  for  her  own  good.    she  never  uderstood  why  she  wasn’t  allowed  to  go  to  public  school  ,  or  make  friends  ,  rendering  her  mother  a  villian  in  her  story.

     she  was  young  when  bellamy  left.   she  wouldn’t  be  able  to  recall  how  young  exactly  ,  but  she  could  recall  the  lonliness  that  set  in  without  him  around.   it  was  dark  without  her  big  brother  to  keep  her  safe   and  to  hold  her  hand  when  she  had  nightmares.   she  found  herself  staying  awake  to  recite  stories  he  used  to  tell  her  in  order  to  feel  somewhat  close  to  him.  what  she  does  remember  is  seeing  something  that  night  that  would  stick  with  her  -  a  feathered  lady  with  talons  for  toes.  her  wings  outstretched  as  she  crashed  through  her  window.   her  instincts  told  her  to  hide  ,  and  she  did.   breath  slowing  so  to  not  give  away  her  position.    the  creature  soon  departed  and  as  soon  as  her  mother  returned  from  work,  octavia  told  her  what  had  happened.    she  had  half  expected  her  not  to  believe  such  a  story  ,   but  instead  ,  aurora  was  packing  their  belongings  and  rushing  octavia  to  her  car.   that  night  ,   the  night  she  lost  bellamy  ,  she  was  whisked  away  from  the  only  place  she  had  felt  safe.  

       for  the  next  few  years  ,  octavia  and  aurora  would  come  and  go  from  place  to  place.  and  each  place  ,  trouble  followed.  while  only  speaking  to  bellamy  a  few  times  a  day  through  her  mother’s   phone  ,    creatures  octavia  had  only  heard  from  the  stories  bellamy  had  told  her  before  bed  kept  showing  up  ,  atempting  to  kill them.    and  for  years  ,  they  evaded  them  . . .  until  one  winters  night.   snow  was  thick  upon  the  ground  ,  aurora  had  gone  off  the  road  ,  leading  octavia  somewhere  unknown.   the  young  girl  was  scared  ,  but  if  they  did  not  stick  together  ,  they’d  both  die.    aurora  babbled  about  a  camp  that  would  keep  her  safe  ,  a  camp  that  were  for  people  like  her  ,  but  it  confused  her  even  more.    and  although  she  wished  for  bellamy  to  be  with  them  ,  even  the  thought  of  him  brought  this  violent  annoyance  to  the  front  of  her  brain  -  he  abandoned  them.     it  was  then  ,   while  fighting  the  incoming  storm  ,  octavia  was  forced  to  run  away  from  her  mother.    harpies  tore  aurora  to  shreds  right  in  front  of  her  eyes.  bleary  eyed  and  absolutely  terrified  ,  she  ran  and  ran  ,  unsure  of  what  direction  to  go.    i  want  to  go  home.    i  want  to  go  home.    take  me  home.    it  played  like  a  mantra  in  her  mind. 

       the  cold  soon  got  to  octavia  ,  leaving  her  shivering  and  begging  for  warmth.    it  was  there  she  curled  up  in  the  snow  and  awaited  death  ,  for  that  was  all  that  she  would  accept.   when  she  awoke  ,  she  was  surrounded  by  faces  she  didn’t  know  and  smells  she’d  never  smelt.   an  older  man  smiled  down  at  her  ,  and  it  took  her  a  moment  to  realise  his  body  was  not  that  of  a  man  ,  but  as  a  horse.   barely  turned  thirteen  ,  octavia  found  a  new  home  at  camp - half  blood   and  reunited  with  her  big  brother .   she  was  quickly  claimed  by  hades  and  placed  into  cabin  twelve.   five  years  down  the  line  ,   she’s  still struggling  with  the  death  of  her  mother  ,  the  fear  of  the  harpies  and  her  temper.   she  avidly  wanders  into  the  underworld  for  a  chat  with  her  father  though  and  the  pair  are  quite  close.   bellamy  keeps  her  centered  ,   he  is  her  light  in  a  dark  day  -  he  keeps  the  urges  away  ,   the  counterweight  on  a  tipping scale  that  kept  her  balanced.

common  phrases ,

        ‘  what  the  fuck !  ‘  (  this  can  be  in  the  form  of  a  sentence  or  a  statement  of  iritation  )  

         ‘  are  you  taunting  me?  do  you  want  to  see  your  dead  grandmother  edna?  ‘  (  more  common  than  you’d  think  ) 

            ‘   excuse  me  !  do  you  know  who  my  dad  is  ?  ‘  (  yeah  ,  she’s  that  person  )

            ‘   bellamy  blake  is  a  ray  of  fucking  sunshine.  take  it  back  or  i’ll  beat  you  to  hell.  ‘ 

connections ,

        children  of  hades

         bellamy  blake  ,  child  of  ares  -  big  brother

         echo  azgeda  ,  daughter  of  athena  -  rival  through  loyalty  to  bellamy

         cerburus   -  her  big  fluffyball  in  hell

TogaChako - Good Girl and Bad Girl

Toga Himiko and Uraraka Ochako embody the classic good girl slash bad girl dynamic. It’s a classic dynamic in which one girl will represent what is the traditionally held notions of what a “good girl is” ie/ pure, nice, friendly and the other girl will embody the opposite of that a “bad girl” impure, mean, slutty. Inevitably, these two girls will fight. However, the crux of the good girl bad girl dynamic is that while the girls are total opposites on the outside, inside they’re the same, cuz they’re both girls after all. 

Uraraka and Toga are written to be compared, they’re character foils, because the conclusion we’re supposed to come to isn’t one of them is good, one of them is bad, one of them is selfless, one is selfsh. Rather, they’re written so we see it’s the difference in circumstances that made them who they were. Toga became bad because bad things happened to her. Uraraka is good, because she was born into a good life. What makes a bad girl bad and what makes a good girl good? More under the cut. 

1. Good Girl

Describe Uraraka Ochako. She’s a normal girl. She’s spunky. She puts other people first. She became a hero to help her parents make money, and feels bad because her motivations aren’t as selfless as say her close friend Izuku Midoriya’s. (But that’s wrong because she literally is being selfless, her reason for becoming a hero has entirely to do with benefitting someone else and not herself). She’s supportive, and friendly. She’s always cheerful and never lets herself get too down. 

Uraraka represents the standard of a good girl in hero society. She’s always ready to help her friends, but ultimately she’s kind of passive. She works hard but is not too ambiitous. She’s selfless and always thinks of other people before herself. She has all of these good qualities. 

However, I would argue Uraraka is a lot more complex then this. On the surface she seems to be just a good, nice girl who wants to help others, but her internal mechanisms are complex. While yes I agree Uraraka doesn’t have much of an arc so far due to lack of focus, there’s a difference between not having an arc and not being a complex character. 

A simple character - what you see is what you get.  A complex character - Has internal mechanisms that show the surface isn’t as simple as you thought. 

A simple arc - character moves through the plot without changing who they are. A complex arc - character struggles in a way that fores them to change. 

Uraraka’s inner mechanisms are complex in that there’s more too her in what we see at the surface, it’s just she hasn’t been challenged in any way. The plot doesn’t address her flaw and try to force her to change. 

With that in mind let’s get into Uraraka’s character. Uraraka is defined to her goodness. Uraraka pushes herself to always be good to others. The reason being is that Uraraka is a very sensitive girl who is attune to the feelings of other people. 

Uraraka gets serious for just a second, and people remark that she doesn’t seem like her normal self. 

Uraraka then immediately backs up and gets embarrassed. She goes out of her way to beat herself up and denigrate herself in front of others, insisting her motivations are much more selfish than people like Ida and Deku. 

Uraraka then tells Deku and Iida that she’s not becoming a hero for her own sake, but for someone else’s. Her entire motivation is to help both of her parents live easier lives, because she feels like she’s been a burden on them and pursuing her own dreams would be too selfish. 

Uraraka is very secretive of her own feelings. She’s almost afraid to come off as selfish which is why she doesn’t share what her real goal is. Also, when she starts to get a little motivated to accomplish something for herself, everybody around her remarks how different this is from the fun-loving Uraraka they all know. Also, one last detail Uraraka never even talks about herself, and her friends don’t really think to ask, because Uraraka just so naturally makes things about others and not herself. 

It’s already been elaborated why the reason Uraraka grew so perceptive. Uraraka’s parents were struggling to make ends meet and she grew up in poverty, and even if she has good parents that try really hard not to let the effect of this struggle show in front of her, Uraraka saw it anyway because kids are always watching their parents. 

Uraraka learned to be sensitive to her parents needs, to never demand too much for her parents, her behaviors all became centered around not becoming a burden to others. 

Uraraka thinks it’s only natural to put others first and help others before helping herself. That other people’s happiness is more important than her own. Because she’s someone naturally empathic. Because she’s someone naturally able to see the pain and struggle other people go through, because she grew up seeing it. However, the problem with this behavior is it makes Uraraka essentially a support to everyone else. 

Uraraka is constantly putting others up on a pedestal and using that as an excuse to lower herself further and further. As cute as her admiration for Deku is, it’s also a bit unhealthy - as she uses it as an excuse to beat herself up. She sees Deku as this amazing person, whose always struggling to help everyone, whose always saving everyone for completely selfless reasons and she always suffers in the comparison.

I think part of Uraraka wants to stand out like Deku does, and has the same desire to go all out to save people, but Uraraka is so used to being secondary in her own life she can’t bring herself to. 

Uraraka can’t even cry in front of others. I think, the most telling behavior she has in the entire series is the moment where she breaks down on the phone describing everything she did wrong because this is how Uraraka sees herself. She’s so extremely critical of herself, and constantly apologizing for herself, while at the same time hiding what she really feels from others.

Uraraka has all these self esteem issues that she basically just shelves so she can play the good, nice girl, that gets along well and is friends with everyone. 

Uraraka assigns the role of group placater and peacemaker for herself because it’s something she’s so naturally good at and she’s always thinking of others, but because of that, Uraraka herself suffers. Uraraka only knows how to help people by belittling herself and her own role in things. 

Uraraka’s greatest fear is being selfish. She doesn’t want to look like a bad girl. That’s the connection between Toga and Uraraka, because what Uraraka is afraid of ultimately is living her life the way Toga does. 

2. Bad Girl

Toga is everything that Uraraka is afraid of being, and lives the life that Uraraka is afraid of living. Uraraka is someone so afraid of being selfish, and getting distracted that she is not even allowed to have a crush on a boy. Whereas, Toga lives her life chasing what she loves. Everything Uraraka represses about herself, Toga expresses. That’s the difference between the two of them. 

When Uraraka first encounters Toga, her willingness to chase what she loves looks from Uraraka’s perspective to be entirely monstrous. Uraraka sees Toga as a selfish monster, because in part she is afraid of appearing that way. 

Toga Himiko the bad girl. 

However that’s far from the whole picture of Toga. When we see her away from Uraraka’s perspective she’s entirely different. She’s someone empathic, capable of being kind to others, and thinking about others feelings. 

Toga’s just as capable of reading other people and addressing their feelings as Uraraka is. However, there’s still a key difference in their behavior. Uraraka acts to avoid conflict. When she intervenes, what she usually does is act in a way that avoids stepping on toes, and touts the “we should all get along and be friends’ line. Whereas, Toga is someone who directly addresses the conflict and the hurt feelings of others. 

For Uraraka the most important thing is getting along with others. For Toga the most important thing is being true to her own emotions. Which is why she’s able to directly address the problem with Twice, she didn’t tell him to bear with it, she told him she knew he was in pain but that the two of them could take down the mafia together. 

Even Himiko’s most selfish monster moments aren’t really that monstrous. Himiko’s reason for stalking both Uraraka and Deku is not because she’s weird and creepy, but because she wants to be a normal kid just like them. 

Himiko’s reason for sucking the blood of high school girls and taking on their appearances isn’t because she’s preadtory, it’s because she’s been a runaway with no home for two years and she’s terrified of getting caught. 

Himiko who is framed as a selfish monster, is actually quite the normal girl. She’s a normal girl reacting to the pressures of the society around her. The kicker is that Himiko isn’t someone who just decided to flip and turn out this way, she is only the way she is because she tried to live like Uraraka did at first.

Himiko tried to push everything down and live like a normal girl. She tried to lie about herself so she’d be a good, nice, harmless girl. She only became so selfish, because she tried to live selflessly first. She only prioritizes herself, because she was used to putting herself down before this. We see her classmates react to her, they all describe Himiko was the kind of girl that Uraraka is right now. 

However, behaviors in Uraraka that are self-defeating and unhealthy, are absolutely ruinous in Himiko. Himiko has no sense of self, because she spent so long trying to be what others wanted her to be. Himiko is who she is, in reaction to the pressures of everyone around her. 

When Himiko tries to figure herself out, she always gets the same response. Why do you have be so selfish? Why can’t you just act normal? Which completely ignores the fact that she TRIED and that’s what got her here. 

The main difference between Uraraka and Toga is not one of them being good, and the other being bad. Toga’s been through way harsher life circumstances. Uraraka has parents that affirm her identity, and Toga’s parents deny her over and over again. 

The point of the good girl bad girl dynamic is that they’re both girls in the end. Yes, Uraraka’s never reacted as badly as Himiko has. However, Uraraka’s also never been pushed so far. In fact someone as empathic as Uraraka can be oblivious to the suffering of others. 

Uraraka doesn’t see what Himiko is going through, because she hasn’t suffered the way Himiko has. 

It’s like. When you have a good sibling and a bad sibling. The good sibling always behaves because they conform to the pressure their parents put on them. The bad sibling acts out in response to that pressure, and because of that their parents have to discipline them and they end up soaking up most of the parent’s attention. In that situation the good sibling can come to ressent the bad sibling for acting out and needing attention in the first place. 

Reasonable child and unreasonable child. There exist these black and white categories to define children into where one looks good and one looks bad, that actually totally fail to address the child’s behavior because people are complex and therefore don’t fit into black and white categories. But, Uraraka is still working with that black and white logic when it comes to heroes and villains. Even though she’s usually so good at sussing out the complex nuance of other people’s feelings. 

This is what’s happening here in this chapter. You can apply the dynamic between the two of them to the conflict at large. Toga is selfish for acting out and causing problems for others, because she wants her own personal grievances to be addressed. Uraraka is sefless because all she cares about right now is helping the most amount of people. Uraraka is willing to repress herself, and put others needs before her own, because what’s most important is everybody gets along.

However, Uraraka insinuates, the same way that Himiko’s parents once insinuated that Himiko’s acting out just makes her selfish. 

We’ve seen this conflict before. Himiko literally went into the conflict to ask this question. Do problem children like her count as “everyone”. However, no matter what happens this arc, no matter what critcisisms the villains levvy against the heroes we get the same hollow repettition of “Heroes save everyone”. Which is why Himiko looks just about to snap here.

Uraraka who is used to brushing conflicts aside and avoiding them for the sake of “everyone gettling along” sees the girl who can’t get along with “everyone” and calls her selfish. To Himiko, this is the same words she’s been hearing her entire life. “Why are you making a fuss? Why can’t you just be normal.” 

From one perspective, yes Uraraka is the one fighting seflessly because she’s just trying to save as many people as she can and Himiko is getting in the way of things. However, Himiko is someone who grasps the bigger picture. Himiko addresses the problem directly rather than sweeping it under the rug, there are people who aren’t saved by the hero system. Those people are just as in need of saving as what heroes deem to be innocent people. You can’t claim to save everyone and then ignore the suffering of people you deem as “bad”. Himiko seems like she’s acting selfishly, but then again she’s acting for the sake of people like Jin who died because heroes insisted that his life was less important. 

Uraraka is at the same time very perceptive to the suffering of others, and also very oblivious, and it has much more to do with personal hangups than anything else. She doesn’t want to see Himiko as someone similiar to her, because Uraraka is someone so deathly afraid of coming off as selfish. To the point that she treats people with genuine grievances against society as selfish childrens making demands for atttention. 

Uraraka is the one who can’t face herself, and therefore the answer she gives Himiko is to the effect of “Shut up and deal with it.” It’s a very personal thing for Uraraka once you realize that Uraraka has also been shutting herself up all this time, pushing herself down, always letting people walk all over. Uraraka is capable of putting herself aside for the sake of others, so as a result she sees people who can’t put themselves aside as selfish. 

“I can do it, so why can’t you? Why can’t you be normal?” 

I hammer down so hard on this point because there’s a difference between placating and conflict resolution. 

Placating comes from a place of “I want the conflict to go away” or “I want the hurt feelings to go away.” Placating is just saying whatever you think the person you’re talking to wants to hear in order to please them. It’s behavior that’s based entirely around avoiding conflict. Uraraka placates, she sweeps it under the rug, she swallows her grievances for the point of everyone happily getting along together. 

This placating also applies to the hero system at large. It’s not really designed to save everyone, so much as make the vast majority of people feel safe at the cost of the minority. 

When there is a problem does Hero society directly address the issue? Or do they sweep it under the rug for the appearance of everyone getting along?

I think the fact that every time a villain brings up a problem this arc, the heroes just shout “Heros save everyone” and “Heroes never give up” is evidence of the latter. That’s why, when Uraraka says it, when Hawks says it, “Heroes save everyone” just comes off as hollow because in the very same breath they both make it clear that Toga and Twice are not part of the everyone who gets saved. 

What Happened to Michel Ney?

So maybe you don't want to read the book, let's talk about this crazy situation in Napoleonic history. I've gotten a few inquries through the years on here that occasionally bring up P.S. Ney and the possibility that it could have been Marshal Ney. So let's delve a bit.

This whole event is like, to quote Churchill, a mystery wrapped inside a riddle, wrapped inside an engima.

Let's not get too bogged down in the life of Michel Ney. Most will have a working knowledge of the man. He was the last man out of Russia. He lead out the rear guard from Russia, encountering hellish conditions, Cossack attacks and every other type of FUBAR event that he could. He helped with Napoleon's first abdication and then famously said he would bring Napoleon back in an iron cage when he escaped from Elba (spoiler alert: he didn't). He fought at Waterloo, though by this time his relationship with Napoleon had grown colder. He practically went nuts on the Waterloo battlefield, fighting until the bloody end and until his sword had broken in two. Still he carried on, one of the last to leave the battlefield.

He was later arrested, tried for treason, found guilty and shot.

Other things to know in order to piece Michel Ney with P.S. Ney, would be that Ney was gruff in manner, but kind-hearted. Had a "plain way" of speaking. Shied away from notoriety, money and promotions. Married to Aglae (whom he called Louise) with whom he shared four sons. It is known he spoke both French and German and apparently a bit of English as well. He played the flute.

Trial of Ney:

Ney's trial was a bit of a mess and to abbreviate it down, let's say that he cooperated, gave answers in his interrogations, and his lawyers tried to argue that he (Ney) was protected by Article 2 of a treaty that was drawn up after Waterloo and when that didn't work, argued that Ney wasn't beholden to French law, because he really wasn't French but German, because of the part of France he hailed from. This did not sit well with Ney, who shouted out at the trial that was French and would die French. He also gave a different and incorrect(?) birthdate at the start and in a strange twist told his lawyers to stand down in the middle of the trial.

Ney was found guilty, something Ney seemed to know was going to be the conclusion, and his death was voted on in the House of Peers. Strangely, most of the men who voted on it, then immediately went to Richelieu and let it be known that even though they voted for his death, they didn't want to see the sentence carried out. This leads to people from Richelieu and maybe even Wellington seeing if the sentence could be commuted. The King had no interest in doing so.

During his trial, Ney was jailed first at the Concergerie and then the Luxembourg, back to the Conceergerie, back to the Luxembourg where he had a huge security detail surrounding him at all times. The government had heard word of the various plots out there hoping to rescue Ney and became paranoid to keep him jailed.

Execution:

Instructions were sent on how the execution was to take place, and in a change of plans, Ney would be executed outside the Luxembourg and not in a military ground where executions usually took place. The deceased was to be shot, then lie there for those to see for a quarter of an hour at least. Ney met his fate calmly when the news was read to him and was driven out a few feet to the firing squad. Here eyewitness accounts vary on what was said and how he died. He was to be blindfolded and put on his knees, something he declined to do. Instead, he faced the squad, upright, hand on his heart, proclaiming his innocence and saying to "aim high". Shots were fired, Ney dropped face first and a pool of blood was on the ground under him.

Ney was dead. Or was he?

P.S. Ney Reporting:

In the United States, a man who roughly fit the description of Michel Ney appeared in the Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia area as a school teacher. He had reddish hair, balding. He was a plain spoken man but kind hearted and imposing. He said he was a French refugee and had served under Napoleon. He wasn't prone to drinking, but when he did and took too much, he let it slip that he was indeed the one and only Marshal Ney who had not died, but escaped. Who helped him? He didn't really say but did mention to a few people Wellington. Others heard the Freemasons, who Ney was a member of, did the work.

Peter Stuart Ney never spoke of his father but did often speak of his mother who he said was Scottish. He said his wife and children were in France and he hoped to return to them one day. He claimed his wife was close to Josephine and Hortense (this is true). He said he had four sons, never spoke of daughters. Others said he said he had two daughters and a son. What they all agreed on was that this P.S. Ney was the best teacher they ever had. He was kind, fair, tough but just. He was the best swordsmen they had ever seen. He was an accomplished horsemen, a good marksmen.

He taught language: English, Latin, Greek. Was reluctant to speak French but could. Also spoke a bit of Polish and Hebrew (?). Some said he had a Scottish brogue, others said a German brogue, others said it just sounded foreign.

He also played the flute. But was also a poet and artist. Drew a wonderful portrait of Napoleon. He was a fierce Bonapartist. When he heard of Napoleon's death, he fainted and later slit his throat in a suicide attempt. It failed and he was doctored. Later when he found out Reichstadt had died and wouldn't be placed on the throne, he despaired and said he'd never return to France or his family now.

He had a portrait of Napoleon and Napoleon's grave on St. Helena in his classroom.

A few who knew him thought he wasn't Marshal Ney, some thought maybe a relation. Some later changed their mind, yes, he was Marshal Ney, some never doubted.

Stories abounded that Ney was spotted by French refugees who served in the Grand Army and would see P.S. Ney and immediately say "It's Marshal Ney!"

P.S. Ney had war wounds. Some of the very same wounds that Ney had had. A wound in the thigh, a wound in the shoulder, the foot. A scar on his face that he said he got at Waterloo.

P.S. Ney never returned to France, died in Virigina of typhus fever but made the deathbed confession that he was indeed Marshal Ney. He escaped. He was given a bladder full of red fluid to hold under his shirt and when he fell he was to crush that bladder so he would look like he had been shot. The firing squad was made up of his old commrades an they recognized his order "Aim high" because Ney in battle would say the opposite, aim low. When they shot, he collapsed and the bullets went over him. Barely. It was a risk, but one that paid off. He sunk into a coma but his last words were akin to "Bessieres is dead. Let me die"

Oddities of the execution:

Ney was shot point-blank range with heavy bullets. According to the official reports, 10 bullets hit Ney, one hit the wall behind him, and the blank. Three hit his head, one is arm, the rest into his chest. The power of the gunblasts should have thrown him backwards, not forwards onto his stomach. There should have been blood spray on the wall, but only one official report says Ney's blood was on the wall and only one says he fell back. Eyewitness accounts say he fell forward and that the only blood was from under him. Ballistic experts haven't been able to answer the question of why on this.

Ney's body was taken to the Maternity Hospital where it was claimed by his brother-in-law and secretary. According to some reports, as many as 500 people saw his body while at the hospital. However, there doesn't seem to be any accounts or mentions by people in power or memoirs that they went to view Ney's body. Not that this proves there was none. Only a few eyewitness accounts do claim to have seen him, one being Ida St. Elme, and there it is mentioned that Ney had his vest buttoned to his throat and there were bullet holes, but no evidence of them hitting the chest. One said that the body was lain in a dark room that made it hard to discern features. Another said he looked peaceful and slumber and no obvious damage had been done from the bullets. Yet...he was shot three times in the head with heavy ammunition and no damage?

He was buried the following morning and no one attended in the family except for his brother in law and secretary again. His wife never once came to see the body or claim it. He was placed in a lead coffin and then an oak coffin, a practice usually only done for royalty. Or could it be because there would be no body and the weight of the lead would hide it? His grave became a bit of a place to leave anti-royalist propaganda and they government decided to move Ney to a vault that would be nameless so people couldn't find it. This was done. Later Ney would be removed from that vault and placed back at the gravesite. At this time, his coffins were opened and his grandson said there was a body with three bullet holes in the forehead proving Ney did die and was there. Later, during the reign of Napoleon III, it was a common telling that Ney escaped his execution that Napoleon III had the grave opened and there eyewitnesses said there was no body in the coffins. However, as big as a revelation this would be, the papers are mysteriously quiet on this new discovery at the time.

There are no records of who made up the firing squad. To this day, we don't know who the people were or having any of their testimonies.

Ney's wife never would visit the grave and would later remarry but the marriage would be on the quiet side and only immediate family seems to have known she re-married. When she dies, she is not laid in the Ney grave, but in a church crypt with her sisters.

On the other hand, the Ney family never stopped trying to clear their father's name and worked at it, lost their money and Ney's sons were all under survellience due to their hostilities to the new government. One even challenged Wellington to a duel. All odd behavior if Ney wasn't dead. Or did they not know?

P.S Ney did seem to have the general look and enough in common with Michel Ney to pass as him. The wounds match up, except the the facial wound. Michel Ney wasn't documented of having a facial wound, not to say that he couldn't have gotten one at Waterloo. Ida St Elme claimed to see him on the field of battle with a bloodied face. On the other hand, there was no mention of a wound when he was on trial. P.S. Ney could speak the multiple languages, and though we know Michel Ney spoke more than French, there is no proof he ever spoke Greek or Hebrew. He could have picked up some Polish being stationed with the Army. He could have had an understanding of Latin from his studies and maybe he did learn Hebrew and Greek after. P.S.Ney was also very good at maths, Michel Ney has no documentation that he was a mathematician. P.S Ney was a poet and artist, no documentation Michel Ney was, except for the flute playing. However, all of Ney's sons were quite artistic. Could have Michel Ney become more artistic when he no longer was in the military? Maybe. P.S. Ney seemed to know some intimate details of the life of M. Ney, namely he called his wife Louise and not Agale. He also said she was dark eyed with black hair which seemed true. Could he have seen a picture of her? Michel Ney also also a very quiet man about his personal life, maybe he was these things and it just went undocumented. Michel Ney was with Bessieres when he was killed in battle, right next to him. P.S. Ney's last words harkened back to Bessieres being dead. If P.S. Ney wasn't Michel Ney it seems he certainly believed rightly or wrongly he was.

P.S. Ney didn't get everything right. Namely his mother whom he said was Isabel Stuart, who is not the mother of Michel Ney.

Conclusion:

I don't know. Though I am not convinced P.S. Ney was Michel Ney, I'm not convinced that Ney's execution was completely legit either. There is definitely weirdness abounding here.

If you want to delve into this more I strongly recommend Empire's Eagles by Thomas Crockner. I just gave the briefest of the evidence, but the book goes more into depth in other evidence that both points to things not being right and reasons they are also right.

It was about time for change.

That’s been Ida’s main thought she had since her son Dante had come into her life. She had to change things so he could grow up to be a hopefully well adjusted member of mudokon society.

Except change is difficult.

Especially when you yourself aren’t exactly a well adjusted member of mudokon society.

That was Ida’s biggest difficulty since becoming a mother. Taking care of her child’s needs was easy enough — but as she had thought more about what she wanted for him — the more it became apparent she shouldn’t force him to grow up to be a hermit like she was.

Dante would need the opportunity to make his own friends as he grew.

Ida had been sending forward letters and requests to the leaders of Sanctuary for about a week now to get everything squared away for a move. She only had to send in the final one now — and honestly she had been putting it off due to her own hesitations in regards to the move.

If it hadn’t been for Theo — bless his big warm heart — finally asking her about how she felt? Well, she finally sent that last letter off with Fido.

For the next few days she went back and forth from home to their next home in Sanctuary, getting a plot squared away that would be suitably ‘alone’ enough for Ida’s tastes, yet still fairly close to the town as a whole.

Ida helped a lot in whatever construction had been done, she wasn’t one to laze about as others were doing something that benefits her, after all. In construction her new home was likely similar to everything else in the town — but built for a woman of her proportions.

She also was a little picky about the layout — very keen on it being close to how she had constructed her last home. But otherwise it all went smoothly.

The next week after construction was completed? Ida vanished for a few days time — before returning during the early morning as the sun began to rise with her herding song. Her herd of meep was dutifully following after her, all the way to their new pen while she was lugging a cart with the first load of her things.

She took a days rest between each load of her belongings until her old abode had been emptied completely of everything and replaced in the new home at Sanctuary.

Once it was all finished, it almost looked as if she just had picked up her house in its entirety and moved it. Every knick-knack, bone, jar, and knitted blanket sat exactly as they did in her Paramonian home.

The morning following after the last few things had been brought over, Ida stepped outside with Dante in her arms. The mudling was sound asleep in his mother’s arms yet she still spoke softly to him, “I hope you’ll love it here Dante.”

She responded to herself in an equally soft yet higher pitched voice, “I do, Mom.” And Ida smiled to herself.

Viper Canyon - Chapter Six

‘...She met eyes with her reflection in the mirror. 

“Yes. I’m fine.”’

September 1852

With every new morning, the same sun shone brilliantly above Viper Canyon; a testament to all who called the humble settlement their home that although much was uncertain in their lives, they could always depend on one thing – that each day was a new one, no matter how challenging the last, and every daybreak held infinite promise and possibility.

The early morning sun slipped through the windowpanes of Winnie and Beatrice’s cozy loft, where the two sisters were still sleeping soundly. 

In her sleep, the eldest Hawkins daughter stirred gently, her eyelashes fluttering slightly as her murky dream shifted and changed until she was reliving moments that had passed not long before.

“This is where we’ll live,” Peter said proudly, surveying the vast plot of land in front of them. “And one day, when we have our own children and grandchildren…they’ll live here too, in the house we built.” 

It was hard for Winnie to see the dazzling future that Peter had planned for them, but she shook away her doubts as her fiancé took her by the hand. 

“What do you think?”

“Hm…well, it’s close to my parents and not far from town…the river is only a short walk from here, too. I think you’ve picked a fine place for us, Peter.” 

He grinned broadly at her, something that had come to cause her heart to skip a beat. She returned the smile as they turned to the desert before them. Peter put his arm around Winnie, pulling her close. 

“I’m glad you like it. I’m really glad, Winnie.”

“I know the house still has to be built before the wedding, but I can hardly wait that long. It’s foolish to say it but I feel like I’ve been dreaming all this time. To think that I’ll be marrying you…I’ve got to be the luckiest man this side of the Mississippi.” 

She was touched by his affectionate words. Her cheeks were flushed pink as Peter turned to her, face dangerously close. She looked back and forth between his eyes, heart beginning to race.

Winnie had never been kissed before. The feeling was strange and foreign, yet somehow still comforting and warm. She could feel the gentle brush of Peter’s breath on her cheeks as her heart pounded madly in her chest.

Just like that, he pulled away. His ears were bright red and he avoided her eyes, still holding her. 

“I – er…sorry, Winnie. I don’t know what came over me.” 

She laughed. “That’s all right. I didn’t mind.”

Winnie awoke to the phantom feeling of Peter’s kiss lingering on her lips. She blinked the sleep from her eyes with a small sigh before throwing back the covers and getting out of her warm bed. 

Beatrice was still in deep sleep as Winnie made her way to the wash basin, scrubbing her tiredness from her cheeks with lukewarm water. It wouldn’t do to be half-asleep, especially with all she had yet to do that day.

Dressed and put together, Winnie descended the stairs into the kitchen, where Mamma was already finishing breakfast. 

“Good morning,” Mamma said cheerfully, greeting her daughter with a smile. Wrinkles pulled at her fair skin. “You’re right on time. I’ve just finished the porridge. You’ll have a nice hot breakfast before work.”

Winnie’s belly was full of Mamma’s cooking as she made her way to the barn. Papa had already taken his horse that morning, but Winnie’s handsome colt was still in his stall, eager to be taken out. 

“Morning,” she murmured to him, giving his broad neck an affectionate stroke. He nipped at her hair. “It’s time to go to work.” 

With learned hands, Winnie outfitted her horse with his bridle and saddle, mounting him and taking off down the dirt road.

Winnie arrived at the schoolhouse before any of the students. After loosely tying up her colt at the hitching post, she unlocked the front doors, stepping into the quiet building. 

The interior smelled faintly of woodsmoke and chalk. She started a fire in the stove before taking a seat at her desk, looking out at the empty classroom. It still felt foreign to be looking at rows of desks instead of sitting at one herself – but there was no time to think about that. She had to get her lesson plans together before her pupils arrived and the school day began.

Just as she finished writing down her plans for the day, her students poured into the room from the front door. They grinned at Winnie as she stood up, brushing off her skirt. 

“Good morning, class,” she called happily. 

“Morning, Miss Hawkins!”

As her small group of students settled themselves at their desks, Winnie took a moment to gather her thoughts. 

All had come from the California territory months prior. A terrible fire had ravaged a small settlement there, burning it in its entirety and claiming many lives and livelihoods. A few families who had survived the tragedy came to live in Viper Canyon, where the land was cheap and aplenty and there was much business to be had due to the miners slowly finding gold in the outlying area. 

Many of Winnie’s students had lost homes in the fire, to speak nothing of their family members that had died in the disaster. Although she was happy to finally see children in town, she regretted the circumstances terribly and tried her best to be a charitable and kind teacher – her students had far better things to worry about than a harsh schoolmistress.

Winnie grabbed her scant roster from her desk. “All right. Now that we’re all settled, it’s time for attendance. Andrew Campbell?” 

“Present,” the boy responded sweetly. 

He was a mostly shy soul who rarely spoke up in class, but was a bright and diligent student nonetheless. He was the middle child of the Campbells, a couple who had recently opened a tailor’s on Main Street. Winnie had heard that the tiniest Campbell, only a few years old, had passed in the great fire. Her heart ached when she looked at the children who were surely missing their baby sibling.

“Bonnie Sampson?” 

“Present.” 

Although Winnie would never admit it out loud, Bonnie was one of her favorite pupils. She was the only child of a doctor and her mother had passed from complications after being caught in the fire. Despite this, she was a fiery and spirited girl who eagerly pursued knowledge with an unquenchable thirst. Winnie would sorely miss her when she finished her schooling that spring.

“Cora Campbell?” 

“Present!” 

Cora was the youngest child of the Campbells and their only girl. Although she was regularly a distraction to her classmates due to her talkative and friendly nature, Winnie could hardly find it in herself to scold the sweet girl who usually meant well and was always profoundly sorry for disrupting lessons.

“Ida Evans?” 

“Present,” she answered softly. 

Ida was one of the twins whose parents had lost their cattle ranch to the terrible fire. Her parents urged Winnie that she would eventually come out of her shell, but she had yet to see the girl playing with her classmates or laughing during lunchtime. Winnie found herself often worrying after the welfare of Ida despite her nearly perfect marks.

“Leonard Campbell?” 

“Present.” 

Leonard was the Campbell’s eldest. He seemed like a completely ordinary child to Winnie, who was happy to have him in her class. He was often the voice of reason and the younger students looked up to him as an authority figure – she thought the role suited him quite well.

“Isaac Evans?” 

“Hmph.” 

The last student on her roster was her most problematic. Isaac was Ida’s twin brother, and despite their uncanny resemblance, he in no other way reminded Winnie of his sister. He was constantly causing trouble, whether it be from creating messes or starting fights. It was a rare occurrence when Winnie could go an entire day without having to scold Isaac or avoid some kind of disaster that he had caused.

“Isaac, when I take attendance please answer ‘present.’” 

The boy frowned silently, looking out the window and ignoring her. The rest of the class tried to not look in his direction but the desire was palpable. Winnie decided it was best to pick her battles and if Isaac wanted to pout, she would let him do so. 

“Well, I trust we all had time to finish our homework last night? Bring your slates up to me, please. If you had any questions we’ll discuss them in a moment.”

The school day passed by without incident until noon. At lunch, Winnie caught Bonnie as the girl made her way outside to sit in the shade of the tree where all of the students enjoyed their midday meal. 

“Bonnie, do you have a moment? I wanted to ask you something.” 

Bonnie looked surprised. “Of course. What is it, Miss Hawkins?”

“Don’t worry. You aren’t in any trouble. I was only wondering if you’d taken the time to think about what I asked you last week, about what you think you’ll do once you’re finished with school.” 

She looked uneasy. “Well, I have thought about it a little. I was going to ask you for your advice about it after school today, actually. Do you have the time now?” 

Winnie was flattered. “Certainly. Though I’m sure you’ll succeed in anything you choose to do after graduation,” she added with a smile. 

Bonnie was a little embarrassed by the flattery. “Thank you. You see, my father is a doctor, so I grew up knowing quite a bit about medicine – well, more than the average girl, I’d say. I just thought…maybe I could do something like that and follow in his footsteps. He always seems very fulfilled with his choice to study medicine.”

“That’s a fantastic idea, Bonnie! You have the perfect temperament to be a doctor or a nurse. And you’ve been such a model student – I’ll write you a glowing recommendation to any school you’d like, just say the word.” 

Bonnie smiled weakly. “That’s very kind of you, Miss Hawkins, and I’m very grateful to you for offering. I’ll have to let you know once I’ve fully made up my mind about it all.” 

Without another word, Bonnie walked over to join her classmates beneath the tree.

Winnie pondered over the conversation for a moment. She had no more than a few seconds to think over what Bonnie had said before there was horrible shrieking from where the students were eating their lunch. 

“Miss Hawkins!” Cora screamed. “Miss Hawkins! Isaac poured his milk all over me!” 

With a deep breath, Winnie collected herself, marching over to her pupils. She should have known better than to hope that Isaac would behave that day – or any day, for that matter.

The school day ended after Isaac received a harsh tongue lashing from Winnie and Cora’s hair had been thoroughly rinsed at the classroom’s wash basin. She always felt horribly guilty after and was unable to meet his eyes despite not raising a hand against the child. The thought had more than once occurred to her that he may derive some sort of smug pleasure from making Winnie miserable after punishing him – but each time she quickly pushed it away, wanting to never think such an awful thing of her pupil. 

The students had gone for the day, leaving behind only silence and a moment of peace for Winnie. She took a few minutes to clean up the place, wiping down the blackboard and sweeping the dust out of the front door before taking her horse back home.

Winnie found her sister quietly painting on the porch when she returned home. 

Beatrice had gained a sort of calm about her in the months that had passed since she found out about her sister’s engagement. She was more often than not found doing something silently, often painting, and had started doing her chores and helping out around the house unprovoked and without complaint. Her family wondered what had brought on such a change in her, but decided to not question what was for the better. It was no secret that she had also grown to be quite beautiful, following in the footsteps of her mother, but had shown little to no interest in settling down. It would seem that Beatrice was happy to paint the rest of her days away all alone.

“That’s lovely,” Winnie told her sister. 

Beatrice looked at her, expression unreadable. She studied Winnie’s face carefully before bringing her brush back to the canvas. 

“Thank you.”

Inside, Mamma was dicing potatoes in the kitchen. 

“You’re home. How was school today?” 

Winnie stretched, feeling exhaustion from a long day in her muscles. “It was fine. Isaac still enjoys tormenting poor little Cora, though. Would you believe that he poured his entire milk bottle on her head today at lunch? If he would just mind his manners, teaching them all would be much easier.” 

Mamma laughed. “Oh, I shouldn’t laugh, but that’s terribly funny. Cora can be so dramatic at times. Anyway, I’m sure the poor boy doesn’t mean to be wicked. He’s been through an awful lot after losing his ranch and having to move here, you know.”

“I know, and that’s why I go easy on him. But it doesn’t feel like I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt when I have to shout at him in front of his classmates. It must be horribly embarrassing for him – I know it is for me.” 

“Give him some time. He’s only eight or nine years old, isn’t he? There aren’t many well mannered children at that age. Watcher knows I had my hands full raising you and Beatrice when you were that small. Be a dear and help me with dinner, won’t you?” 

Winnie wanted nothing more than to kick off her boots and put her feet up by the fire with a good book. Sometimes she hated that she was such a devoted daughter. 

She rolled up her sleeves. “Of course, Mamma.”

Winnie felt Mamma’s eyes on her as she cut up the beef for the stew. 

“What is it?” She asked. 

Mamma waved her hand as if dismissing a thought from the air. “Nothing. I was just thinking that at this time, you should’ve been cooking meals for your husband instead of for us…you would’ve made a terrific wife, darling. I’m sure of it.”

A wave of emotion passed over Winnie like a cold front. She said nothing in response to Mamma. 

“I’m sorry. I know you don’t like for me to talk about it, but it breaks my heart that Peter left like that.” 

Winnie put down the knife with a bit too much force, causing Mamma to jump in surprise. 

“Excuse me.”

She escaped upstairs in the loft with her chest aching. Memories she wished to forget came relentlessly flooding back all at once, overwhelming her senses.

“I can’t believe you!” Winnie shouted. “You’re really going to leave your family behind for those people?” 

“'Those people' are my family!” Peter snapped back. 

Winnie’s face twisted in anger. “They disowned your mother for marrying your father. She lost everything because of them, and now you’re ready to abandon your entire life here for their money?”

“You don’t understand – if I don’t go back east then that entire fortune will be lost. I’m the only one who can go there and save it! My grandfather put me in his will for a reason. I think this is his way of making amends. If I go back to the city and inherit – “ 

“Do you hear yourself, Peter? ‘Making amends?’ You never even met your grandfather! You told me that when you were born he didn’t care at all, he didn’t even write a letter to your mother. And you want to go there and save the fortune of some awful man who put your family through so much grief?”

Peter was silent.

“And…” Winnie said quietly. “What about me? And the wedding?” 

Peter watched her with grief in his eyes. 

“What about you and the wedding?” 

She sniffed, hating that she was crying in front of him. “I thought you…loved me. That we had grown to care for each other. Am I truly not enough to keep you here?”

Peter wrapped Winnie in a shallow embrace. 

“No. I’m sorry.” 

She sobbed into his chest, feeling bitter sadness deep in her heart.

Winnie gritted her teeth as more molten tears threatened to spill from her eyes. 

“Winnie? Are you okay?” Mamma called from downstairs. 

She wiped her face with the back of her sleeves and tried to compose herself. She met eyes with her reflection in the mirror. 

“Yes. I’m fine.”

To Be Continued

Previous Chapter | Viper Canyon Index | Chapter Seven

(Tumblr really didn’t want me to upload this chapter!!)

USJ Traitor...?

The “traitor theory” is a popular discussion topic by My Hero Academia fans, and there are so many different opinions out there. From Present Mic to Denki Kaminari, Ochaco Uraraka to Principal Nezu, almost every significant MHA character has been accused. I created this account to take a look at traitor theory, but right now I’m not planning to accuse anyone. The first thing that needs to be addressed to create a traitor theory is this:

When did the traitor decide to join the villains?

Popular opinion and assumption points to the traitor being a part of the villains’ side for the entire series, from the entrance exam and beyond, assuming that they’re a student. This could be so, in which case the traitor would almost certainly have joined the villains completely voluntarily. They would also be a great actor with a powerful quirk to get in and stay in to U.A. high and defend themselves from any attack.

However, what if this wasn’t the case?

Taking a look at one of the first instances of villain contact in the series, the USJ (Unforseen Simulation Joint) Attack arc could be the key to finding out when the traitor was recruited. But before that, we need to consider the catalyst for the USJ attack: the security breach.

Pardon the screenshot, I was unable to find and copy the individual manga page, but here are the facts, with the visual to accompany them:

-The security breach was for the purpose of the villains acquiring Class 1-A’s schedule, or at least All Might’s teaching schedule, as it’s said later that this is how they were able to attempt their attack.

-Shigaraki is shown earlier in the chapter standing outside the school with the press, who are trying to get in and interview All Might. He is also the only one who could have “decayed” the security barrier, so we know that he was definitely a significant part of this mission.

-The press rush was intended as a diversion by the League of Villains (They will be referred to as the L.O.V. from here on out) and was intended to make sure that everyone was distracted so that intelligence could be gained about U.A.’s training.

There are exactly 3 ways that Shigaraki could have come by the information using his diversion.

1. Shigaraki strolled into the school and looked at the schedule. This is extremely unlikely, that he would manage to get in ahead of the press so successfully, and in addition, he doesn’t exactly look like your average enthusiastic reporter, or teacher, and definitely not a student. We can pretty much eliminate this possibility, which means that he definitely had some kind of help. The question of “what kind of help” will determine whether or not there was a traitor during the USJ attack.

2. The next, and much more likely possibility, is that Kurogiri warped in or warped Shigaraki in. They would be able to get in without pretty much anyone seeing, but the problem is destination: How do they know where they’re going? Where exactly is this information, and how do they know where to find it? Recent manga developments actually make this theory possible: (incoming spoilers) Kurogiri was revealed in chapter 253 as Oboro Shirakumo, a former friend of Aizawa and Present Mic who had also attended U.A. in the past. With that kind of backstory, it’s possible that he might still know his way around, isn’t it?

3. The final possibility is that the traitor was the one who brought the information to Shigaraki, he/she just needed the diversion to break into the place where it was being kept. This doesn’t point to anyone in particular, although it seems to take some suspicion away from the popular theory that Hagakure is the traitor, since she could carry out a stealth mission at pretty much any time.

What does all of this mean?

If Door #2 (or #1, but who are we kidding) is the truth of the matter, then that makes the possibility of the USJ traitor that much less likely. The traitor would have done absolutely nothing during the attack, and considering how confident the L.O.V. was that their attack would succeed and that they could kill All Might, they wouldn’t HAVE any need for a traitor, so they wouldn’t have recruited one. You could argue that they had recruited a traitor for later missions and that it turned out that they were just not needed, but there’s a much larger problem with there being a USJ traitor then: What about the quirks?

This is the big advantage that the U.A. kids have during the USJ battle. The villains don’t know their quirks, so they have the opportunity to both surprise them and use the terrain to their advantage. If the L.O.V. had a traitor, wouldn’t they ask them what they were up against, just to make sure they had this in the bag? But they clearly don’t know about everyone’s individual quirks, or they wouldn’t have committed errors such as warping Tsuyu to the shipwreck zone or keeping Ida in the front of the training facility, right near the door, where he would have the opportunity to run and get help from the pros. If the traitor did exist at this time, what are they doing?! Why would they not give the villains the information about their classmates’ quirks?

If the traitor was present during the security breach and, by extension, the USJ arc, then several things would have to be true.

-The traitor would have to have very limited contact with Shigaraki or All for One, and passing a schedule or information to them would have to be a one-time thing, too risky to attempt more than once or a window of time too small to exchange all the necessary information. This would explain the villains not knowing about class 1-A’s quirks, although it still seems like an oversight not to write that down or anything.

-The traitor must either have a very powerful quirk, possibly kept partially secret, or be considered expendable by the villains. There’s no way that the L.O.V. would have told all of those villains they were working with at the time of the attack who their traitor was, it would look ridiculously obvious, so they must have been in either considerable danger or never been in any danger at all due to their quirk. 

-The villains would have to be planning multiple attacks on U.A., or they wouldn’t need a traitor, would they? 

Considering that Shigaraki’s grand plan was the USJ attack and that he intended for Nomu to kill All Might, he didn’t seem to be planning multiple attacks, or at least not on the hero school. The plan seems more like “Kill All Might, watch what happens, go from there”. And assuming that Kurogiri can warp himself into the school, the traitor is not needed in any way. Based on the planning and the intricate plot that makes this series what it is, I think we can assume that if the traitor isn’t necessary, the traitor doesn’t exist.

So the U.A. traitor wasn’t there from the beginning, wasn’t part of the security breach, and wasn’t included in the USJ attack. As well as canceling out any decidedly non-traitorous activities that the double agent might have attempted during the USJ arc, this changes a lot of the ultimate traitor theory that one can collect. The biggest question that this assumption leads to is of course: If the U.A. traitor hasn’t been betraying the heroes from the beginning, when were they recruited?

This is my personal belief: The traitor was recruited just after the sports festival. The villains were watching with the rest of the world, and they would have the opportunity to observe the person with the qualities they wanted in their traitor. If I am correct, there was something like a two-day pause in between the sports festival and the first internship arc, when Midoriya was training under Gran Torino, etc. Since the plot of this series is so nonstop, this might be the only pause in which the traitor could have even been converted to the other side. I’ll look at the sports festival arc again soon, and maybe write an analysis of the most likely suspects that would catch Shigaraki’s eye.

This is my traitor timing theory, and I don’t know who will agree with me, but I hope this post makes you think. I am planning to post something about who I think the traitor actually could be soon, since I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing various battle and training arcs. Comment if you disagree, or if you have an idea for another aspect of traitor theory I should look at!

I appreciate the response. Yeah, among other adjustments, had the plot been handled a little differently, I feel like Sam’s relationship with her parents could have evolved into something like that of Danny and Jazz and their parents. And don’t get me wrong; I still like Sam, too.

(In reference to this post and follow-up ask.)

Good to hear from you again 😊

I think there were a lot of things across the board that could have been tweaked or edited to improve the integrity of the series.  If I had to boil down the problem with DP to a single point I’d probably say it’s that the most interesting parts of the show are the characters/world/implications but the writers (or some of them anyway - I suspect there might have been some conflict between Hartman, the lead writers and the execs’) wanted certain plots, aesops and gags, and chose to brute-force them in regardless of whether they actually worked with what was already there.  Basically, it lacks consistency and internal logic.

For Sam in particular I think there are a few things that could have been handled better:

First one’s more a general complaint at the show and might light a fire under my notes but heck lets go there anyway but the writing has kind of a sexist bent that really doesn’t fit the characters or need to be there. Considering how much Danny and Jack are shown to love and respect Maddie and Jazz there’s no way they’d call their involvement in Genius Magazine “the swimsuit edition”.  Paulina might be traditionally feminine but “She surrendered her individuality for a boy! I’m so proud of her!” is not a line that any human girl in the history of human girls would say unironically.  There’s also a few too many jokes that basically boil down to “male character is emasculated/ vulnerable/ likes feminine-coded things, hyuk hyuk hyuk”.

I’m bringing this up not just because they’re gross cheap gags but because for Sam specifically, this pervasive low-key contempt for women and femininity in the writing, especially the tendency to portray almost every non-sympathetic girl her age as one-note, brainless boy-crazy cliches that she can’t connect with, really does not help her character.  I would have loved to see more genuine interaction between Sam and the other girls, even if it most of it was Kim Possible-Bonnie Rockwaller style antagonistic rapport.  We could have seen her develop some kind of tenuous connection with one of the A-listers, or even just have a secondary-female-character to be cordial towards - kind of like Mikey is for Danny and Tucker.  Hold up, outside of Valerie, Star and Paulina are there any named secondary girls at Casper High?  Sam doesn’t seem to have a single female friend in the show and considering how vocally judgemental she is, it can almost read like she’s rejecting them outright for being girls, which really undercuts attempts to make her seem feminist. (I mentioned it in a past tag but this feels like an early-2000s-male-writer mistake of equating Female Empowerment™ with the ability to tear down other women and belittle traditional femininity - which isn’t so much Feminism as it is Internalised Misogyny.)  Even just mixing up the pairings to put her with Star instead of Kwan in Lucky in Love would have helped.

I’d have also liked to see more awareness of and consistency in the conflict between her activism and her wealth.  It kind of undercuts the significance of her activism when you realise that she’s wealthy enough to make these choices with little cost to herself; it’s much easier to go vegan or buy renewable/ recyclable /sustainable /fair-trade when price isn’t an issue, especially if you also have serving staff to offset the time cost.  Once you notice this it makes her activism feel more tokenistic, and also like she doesn’t really understand her own privilege when she tries to push her agendas onto the school/ her classmates without considering why they mightn’t be able to do so as easily.  It’s also weird because the source of her family’s wealth is a cellophane-toothpick-wrapper (i.e. something that basically produces litter) but she still seems very comfortable enjoying the material benefits despite her pro-eco anti-consumerism sentiments.  It’s bizarre that she’s more concerned with the social consequence of ‘fake friends’ than the ethics of capitalism.  It can come off a bit “do as I say, not as I do”. 

It would have been nice for the show to give more screen time to reinforcing that Sam is aware of that conflict and is making an active effort to hold to her principles even at the cost of personal comfort; maybe showing some unease at the source of her wealth, trying to live below her means and only spend up on ethical/ eco-friendly/ sustainable products, op-shopping or hand-making her goth accessories, going out of her way to re-use or re-purpose things even if buying a new one would be ‘better’, actually showing or referencing her doing substantial hands-on activities (e.g. going off-screen or taking the boys to do tree-planting, litter pickups, soup kitchens, animal-shelter work etc).  Just something to help make it clearer that she genuinely cares and isn’t just doing the low-mess lip-service activities because she enjoys indulging in the image of Wokeness™.

These things would have helped regardless of how her family was written but let’s hop back on topic and talk about them.  I don’t have any prescriptive preference but let’s spitball a few different options and how they could have played:

#1 Sam’s parents don’t respect her interests and want her to fit a mold

In this case I’d make it that they don’t really pay attention or show much caring for who Sam really is as a person; their image of and interactions with her are more of a fantasised version of the ‘perfect’ daughter they want, they make very little effort to encourage her actual interests and are perhaps restrictive about what they let her do in the few moments when they do bother paying close attention (you might compare to some versions of Tim Drake’s Parents from DC Comics).  Classist, overly image-conscious, snobby and superficial.  

This would be the most sympathetic portrayal of her character without changing it very far from how it is in DP canon - helping contextualise why Sam is so fiercely defensive of her autonomy, why she pushes so hard when trying to get her opinions across and why she’s so judgemental of rich people and disdainful towards classic femininity - even possibly explaining her more hypocritical/ manipulative/ entitled traits as learned behaviours.  It would also give her more legitimate reason to be less empathetic towards others - after all even if they have struggles and family troubles it’s still better than what she’s dealing with (Danny’s parents may not be attentive but hey, at least they love him for himself, right?)

For this version I’d probably put her arc around growing past the “suffering olympics” model of viewing other people’s pain, but also in her finding family in Danny/Tucker/her Grandmother’s circle of connections, learning how to have healthy power-balance and communication in her relationships with others (aka: getting over her hypocrisy and realising that assertiveness is about communicating that “I matter, and so do you”) and pulling away from her parents’ influence - maybe even living with Ida a lot of the time.

#2 Sam’s parents are well-intentioned but overbearing

For this one, Sam’s parents would genuinely want the best for her… only they have an overly old-fashioned and restrictive view of what “the best” is and are a bit set-in-their-ways.  They’d probably view “hippies” and “goth” stuff as “dangerously rebellious hooligan-activities” and likely to be somewhat patronising about Sam’s passion for it being “just a phase”.   They’d be worried about her hanging around “the Fenton Kid” and “the Foley Kid” both because Danny’s parents are kind of irresponsible screwballs about safety but also because they put a lot of value in image due to their belief in social connections being the way to get ahead.  Them pushing Sam towards classic femininity and specific activities would be less about disrespecting her identity and more about their overly narrow view of “success” and worrying that she’s going to end up losing valuable opportunities and “wasting her life” if she keeps on down her current path.

This would still give Sam more sympathetic context for her views on femininity and pushiness about self-expression. 

Personally I think the arc I’d like to see here is one themed around responsible/considerate assertiveness and valuing alternative perspectives.  Sam coming to realise her own hypocrisy - that she can’t push her views onto others while complaining about her parents doing the same - developing more sympathy for Danny as she realises that he’s in a similar position with Jack’s insistence that he’ll inherent Fentonworks and his parents’ narrow-mindedness about ghosts, interacting with other girls and seeing their perspective, learning how to assert her opinion while making allowances for others’ (maybe an alternative version where she connects with Star in Lucky in Love and, after Aragon’s defeat in Beauty Marked, Sam still says she personally thinks it’s dumb but then steps down and lets Star win because she understands that Star values it), and getting her Grandma’s help in convincing her parents to widen their perspective while still responding to their concerns.

(This one has the overall kindest message and I think I like it best).

#3 Sam’s parents are trying and Sam’s actually the problem 

This one is the one that’s the least sympathetic to Sam.  Her parents still don’t get the Goth/Activist thing and they have some concerns about safety but they understand that it makes her happy and they’re okay with it so long as she’s not getting into trouble or mixing up with anyone that could hurt her.  Them pushing her towards more feminine/optimistic things is less pushing and more trying to encourage some hobbies that offer a bit more common ground.  They might have reservations, and they might not always have time, but they would like to be part of their daughter’s life… except for the problem that Sam has wrapped herself up in a teen-drama persecution complex and got it into her head that they “won’t accept her” are “pushing her to be someone else” and “don’t understand” so there’s no point even trying to explain or connect.  In this one Ida isn’t taking sides on purpose but she ends up accidentally enabling Sam a little because Sam reminds her of her younger days and she likes spoiling her granddaughter (and doesn’t much care for her daughter-in-law).

In this case Sam’s flaws would be framed much more as flaws born of her making superficial snap judgements, thinking she knows better and being too proud to admit she’s wrong.  There would definitely be moments of her coming across as an entitled, privileged holier-than-thou brat who invents problems because she likes feeling sorry for herself, especially early in her arc.

This version of the story would go the hardest on Sam with the general lesson being “you need to respect that other people are people who have their own problems, feelings and needs that are as real and valid as yours”.  She’d still have good qualities and Danny and Tucker would still obviously like and value her but there’d also be times of strain where they don’t want to hurt her feelings but are clearly getting worn out with the nonsense.  At its worst, maybe a “you’re like mustard. Great in small quantities, but a lot of you is…a lot” type confrontation.

I’d also give the secondary cast the most fleshing out, agency and sympathetic-ness here, and have beats where Sam has to realise that they’re lot more complex than her 2D stereotyped view of them and are dealing with actual serious problems to which hers are largely non-issues by comparison.  I’d probably play Dash and Paulina similar to in the fic Alibi (go read it, it’s good) - Dash being gay and performing aggression because toxic masculinity, insecurity, and being terrified of anyone outside the A-listers finding out (still not okay that he’s a bully but at least more understandable), while Paulina is hiding high emotional perceptiveness behind her pretty face and deliberately bearding for him to keep bigoted parents/ teachers off his back.  I’d also probably have a subplot in an alternate Life Lessons where Sam follows Valerie around because jealous/possessive and, like Danny, ends up realising that she’s working two jobs to help her Dad with their financial problems.  Basically she’d be getting hit with the Reality Stick a lot.

There’d also be more instances of Sam getting directly called out by the other girls. Fleshing them out as people and showing that their dislike is less superficiality and more because she unfairly judges and antagonises them all the time.  Giving them more agency in Beauty Marked and have them be direct about “we know you’re just here to be smug about how much ‘Better’ you are but have you considered that we’re doing this for ourselves and actually enjoy it?”.  Having Paulina be less “tee hee I am indeed a Witch” in Parental Bonding and more “Ugh fine, fine, I don’t really like him that much but you were being so obviously Jealous and Judge-y and I figured if I played a little you might actually step up.  But fine, if you’re sure.  Here’s your necklace back, I’ll let your dorky ‘friend’ down tomorrow.  But pro-tip?  You like someone you gotta go for it - otherwise don’t complain when your boy-toy gets taken by someone who actually means it.”  (Still petty, but emotionally intelligent pettiness, which… not really much better, but at least more interesting.)  A lot more of Sam realising that she’s not a particularly good feminist and that she’s no more entitled to Danny’s affections than anyone else.

To be honest, while I could say the most about this version and there’s a lot of potential drama there it’s the one I like the least because it means canonising my least favourite proto-abusive bad-faith narcissistic reading of Sam, casting her as an almost-villain and essentially punishing her over and over until she character develops into a decent human being.  Sure it’s an important message about how you treat others but it’s not a very nice or kind story and while there might be the odd fic that makes it cathartic I can’t say I’m a huge fan.

Again, if I had to pick, I’d probably go with something like #2. 

But there we go.  Another thrilling instalment in the “overly long posts about Sam Manson” saga.  

Hope you enjoyed it and thanks for stopping by!

Why magnetism in certain materials is different in atomically thin layers and their bulk forms

Researchers led by MIT Department of Physics Professor Pablo Jarillo-Herrero last year showed that rotating layers of hexagonally structured graphene at a particular "magic angle" could change the material's electronic properties from an insulating state to a superconducting state. Now researchers in the same group and their collaborators have demonstrated that in a different ultra-thin material that also features a honeycomb-shaped atomic structure—chromium trichloride (CrCl3)—they can alter the material's magnetic properties by shifting the stacking order of layers. The researchers peeled away two-dimensional (2-D) layers of chromium trichloride using tape in the same way researchers peel away graphene from graphite. Then they studied the 2-D chromium trichloride's magnetic properties using electron tunneling. They found that the magnetism is different in 2-D and 3-D crystals due to different stacking arrangements between atoms in adjacent layers. At high temperatures, each chromium atom in chromium trichloride has a magnetic moment that fluctuates like a tiny compass needle. Experiments show that as the temperature drops below 14 kelvins (-434.47 degrees Fahrenheit), deep in the cryogenic temperature range, these magnetic moments freeze into an ordered pattern, pointing in opposite directions in alternating layers (antiferromagnetism). The magnetic direction of all the layers of chromium trichloride can be aligned by applying a magnetic field. But the researchers found that in its 2-D form, this alignment needs a magnetic force 10 times stronger than in the 3-D crystal. The results were recently published online in Nature Physics. "What we're seeing is that it's 10 times harder to align the layers in the thin limit compared to the bulk, which we measure using electron tunneling in a magnetic field," says MIT physics graduate student Dahlia R. Klein, a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow and one of the paper's lead authors. Physicists call the energy required to align the magnetic direction of opposing layers the interlayer exchange interaction. "Another way to think of it is that the interlayer exchange interaction is how much the adjacent layers want to be anti-aligned," fellow lead author and MIT postdoc David MacNeill suggests. The researchers attribute this change in energy to the slightly different physical arrangement of the atoms in 2-D chromium chloride. "The chromium atoms form a honeycomb structure in each layer, so it's basically stacking the honeycombs in different ways," Klein says. "The big thing is we're proving that the magnetic and stacking orders are very strongly linked in these materials." "Our work highlights how the magnetic properties of 2-D magnets can differ very substantially from their 3-D counterparts," says senior author Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics. "This means that we have now a new generation of highly tunable magnetic materials, with important implications for both new fundamental physics experiments and potential applications in spintronics and quantum information technologies." Layers are very weakly coupled in these materials, known as van der Waals magnets, which is what makes it easy to remove a layer from the 3-D crystal with adhesive tape. "Just like with graphene, the bonds within the layers are very strong, but there are only very weak interactions between adjacent layers, so you can isolate few-layer samples using tape," Klein says. MacNeill and Klein grew the chromium chloride samples, built and tested nanoelectronic devices, and analyzed their results. The researchers also found that as chromium trichloride is cooled from room temperature to cryogenic temperatures, 3-D crystals of the material undergo a structural transition that the 2-D crystals do not. This structural difference accounts for the higher energy required to align the magnetism in the 2-D crystals. The researchers measured the stacking order of 2-D layers through the use of Raman spectroscopy and developed a mathematical model to explain the energy involved in changing the magnetic direction. Co-author and Harvard University postdoc Daniel T. Larson says he analyzed a plot of Raman data that showed variations in peak location with the rotation of the chromium trichloride sample, determining that the variation was caused by the stacking pattern of the layers. "Capitalizing on this connection, Dahlia and David have been able to use Raman spectroscopy to learn details about the crystal structure of their devices that would be very difficult to measure otherwise," Larson explains. "I think this technique will be a very useful addition to the toolbox for studying ultra-thin structures and devices." Department of Materials Science and Engineering graduate student Qian Song carried out the Raman spectroscopy experiments in the lab of MIT assistant professor of physics Riccardo Comin. Both also are co-authors of the paper. "This research really highlights the importance of stacking order on understanding how these van der Waals magnets behave in the thin limit," Klein says. MacNeill adds, "The question of why the 2-D crystals have different magnetic properties had been puzzling us for a long time. We were very excited to finally understand why this is happening, and it's because of the structural transition." This work builds on two years of prior research into 2-D magnets in which Jarillo-Herrero's group collaborated with researchers at the University of Washington, led by Professor Xiaodong Xu, who holds joint appointments in the departments of Materials Science and Engineering, Physics, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, and others. Their work, which was published in a Nature letter in June 2017, showed for the first time that a different material with a similar crystal structure—chromium triiodide (CrI3)—also behaved differently in the 2-D form than in the bulk, with few-layer samples showing antiferromagnetism unlike the ferromagnetic 3-D crystals. Jarillo-Herrero's group went on to show in a May 2018 Science paper that chromium triiodide exhibited a sharp change in electrical resistance in response to an applied magnetic field at low temperature. This work demonstrated that electron tunneling is a useful probe for studying magnetism of 2-D crystals. Klein and MacNeill were also the first authors of this paper. University of Washington Professor Xiaodong Xu says of the latest findings, "The work presents a very clever approach, namely the combined tunneling measurements with polarization resolved Raman spectroscopy. The former is sensitive to the interlayer antiferromagnetism, while the latter is a sensitive probe of crystal symmetry. This approach gives a new method to allow others in the community to uncover the magnetic properties of layered magnets." "This work is in concert with several other recently published works," Xu says. "Together, these works uncover the unique opportunity provided by layered van der Waals magnets, namely engineering magnetic order via controlling stacking order. It is useful for arbitrary creation of new magnetic states, as well as for potential application in reconfigurable magnetic devices." Provided by: Massachusetts Institute of Technology More information: Dahlia R. Klein et al. Enhancement of interlayer exchange in an ultrathin two-dimensional magnet. Nature Physics (2019). DOI: 10.1038/s41567-019-0651-0 Bevin Huang et al. Layer-dependent ferromagnetism in a van der Waals crystal down to the monolayer limit. Nature (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nature22391 D. R. Klein et al. Probing magnetism in 2-D van der Waals crystalline insulators via electron tunneling. Science (2018). DOI: 10.1126/science.aar3617 Image: MIT physics graduate student Dahlia Klein (left) and postdoc David MacNeill showed that magnetic order and stacking order are very strongly linked in two-dimensional magnets such as chromium chloride and chromium iodide, giving engineers a tool to vary the material’s magnetic properties. Credit: Denis Paiste/Materials Research Laboratory Read the full article

My Hero Academia chapter 1 to 7 review

When the anime adaptation was announced, I decided to check out the manga in order to avoid the infamous “The manga is better!” line. When I first read the first volume, I dropped MHA. By the time the tournament arc was coming to a close in the anime, I had almost forgotten why I despised the first volume. So, I started to read about the Internship arc due to the temptation of the heroes losing. I also decided to attempt a revaluation of the first volume in order to see why exactly did it suck.

Colour me surprised! Something tickled my fancy!

I consider All Might to be an interesting character. In chapter 1 he came off as cynical jerk when he told Deku he couldn’t be a hero since not 20 seconds before he did he had said that he lies to himself on a regular basis. Once he starts training Izuku for UA’s entrance exam, we see that he’s really just a bitter old man, who doesn’t like the new generation of heroes due to their obsession with fame & money. All Might is an interesting spin of the classical goody two shoes hero, who most have seen in some incarnation. Despite being capable enough to lower the crime rate marginally, he can’t change other pro heroes to view their jobs as honors like him, instead of jobs or a means to an end.

Another positive would be the weaknesses our mentor-student duo have. All Might can use his quirk for only 3 hours a day due to a severe injury. Meanwhile, Deku can’t control his new quirk because he used to be quirkless. The assigned limitations are more than welcome as One for All is a very overpowered quirk. Of course, when Deku learned how to activated One for All only in his finger from a metaphor about an egg in a microwave, a shift to the other spectrum of my review is needed.

What grinds my gears:

At the center of MHA’s downsides is Deku quite literally. The narrative superglues itself to Deku to the point that only characters who happen to be around Deku will get screen time. For an example lets use All Might, Ida and Bakugo. The greatest similarity they share is that they didn’t acknowledge Deku at first. After Deku tried to save someone their opinion of Deku changed for the better. Despite the significant affect Deku’s act of kindness had on these characters, none of these characters got the screen time they needed in order to reestablish themselves as better people. I’ll exemplify them in the order of least blatant to most blatant. 1st°: All Might doesn’t know what to do. -Deku tries to save Bakugo- -All Might starts acting more like a hero- -All Might tells Deku he can become a hero & starts training him- Instead of focusing on what the encounter with the Sludge villain meant for All Might, as he intended to make Deku his successor due to this battle alone, we are stuck with Deku or future!Deku (I will never understand this.) narrating the events that took place after the Sludge villain was defeated. Aforementioned narration is 100% insight free for all characters except Deku, which doesn’t help solidify Deku as a worthy successor when All Might was searching for 5 years with no results to speak of. 2nd°: Bakugo is controlled by the Sludge villain. -Deku saves him- -Bakugo doesn’t bully Deku like he used to (he’s more bark than bite)- Will he get more screen time? Will we see what he thinks of Deku after he saved him? Why did he mellow down a bit? How did he score so many point in the entrance exam? Why is he so good at fighting? What kind of training did he do before the entrance exam? Why is he the deuteragonist if all of my previous questions were not answered? 3rd°: Ida ran away from the giant robot -Deku rescues Uraraka from the robot- -Ida starts to question if he would do the same thing Deku did- -before Ida can finish his sentence we cut to Deku- This one was so in your face that right there was when I noticed how narrow MHA’s narrative really is. 

What’s the deal with Deku?

The issue I have with Deku is not his personality, but how the narrative treats him. Like I mentioned before Deku hogs the spotlight from other character as if he is the most interesting character to have graced us. When in actuality he is the bare bones protagonist type, whose purpose is to emphasize the complexity of the characters around him. Deku like 95% of protagonists is restricted in the personality traits he has (there’s something about him being a nerd, but when plot stuff is going on he turns into a virtuous hero with no flaws (I think the nerd aspect of his “personality” was added in for pandering)). The worst part is that MHA does use Deku for initiating character development...until the spotlight comes back to Deku & I’m left in the dark about what these characters went through or are still going through in their next scene. What I mean is that it’s teasing me about potentially amazing character writing & then it doesn’t deliver on any of it.

The main reason, which caused me to drop MHA in the first place, was the great obsession MHA has with quirks. I swear that even All for One (the man whose bread & butter is stealing quirks) talks less about quirks than Deku or any other random character in MHA. You could say MHA was addicted to the concept of quirks. I’m not joking here. This addiction was so intense that MHA was no longer about a quirkless boy, who wants to be a hero in a world where the quirkless are looked down upon. It became about a kid with an OP superpower trying to not kill himself with it, while going to the most prestigious hero school in Japan. I don’t understand why they did this. The first page says “Not all men are born equal.”. So, wasn’t MHA trying to prove this first line wrong? Everybody in MHA thinks that quirkless people can’t be heroes, no matter how nice or horrid they are as people (All Might, Midoriya’s mom, Midoriya’s junior high teachers, Bakugo). I know that Deku got his superpower through worthiness unlike everybody else, who got theirs by chance, but what were the chances that All Might’s quirk was transferable? What were the odds that All Might would meet Deku? What were the odds of Deku being the one to walk pass the Sludge villain while going home? What were the chances that All Might didn’t find somebody else to be his apprentice before he met Deku? By this logic Deku also got his quirk through luck. Not to mention that the whole “Deku is worthy” shtick isn’t done that well like I said in 1st°. Furthermore, Deku having a quirk contradicts the moral MHA started out with. “You can be a hero without a quirk.” changed to “You can be a hero if you have a quirk.”. When I first read MHA, I expected it to have a theme of discrimination like the X-men and that was MHA’s main theme. After you-know-what happened the quirkless were unceremoniously shoved into the background. A quirkless hero? No, it doesn’t exsist. Surely our righteous protagonist wouldn’t simply accept One for All without questioning if it’s the right thing to do due to the horrible experiences he had while quirkless? He accepts it. No questions were asked. Maybe we’ll see more quirkless people since every 5th person in the world is quirkless? Check the MHA wiki for the list of quirkless characters. If I’m being frank, this shift in moral is simply rotten to the core. Until I read MHA I thought I knew hypocrisy, but MHA is a level I believed to be an exaggeration.

This post is still valid.(link)

Another major factor in my initial disatisfaction with Vol. 1 was & still is Aizawa’s character. Unlike my annoyance with Deku, my problem with Aizawa lies entirely in his personality. When introduced, Aizawa scolds his students for socializing, taking 8 seconds to shut up & promises to expel the student who places last in a physical test because one of the kids displayed excitement. These actions make him come off as nitpicky to an unfair extent. To top of my great first impression of him, he wants to allow quirk usage in PE, when he himself doesn’t have a quirk which can come in handy in a physical exam. Besides the travesty this ingenious idea represents to the quirkless, it also effects those whose quirks can’t be utilized in a physical exam & don’t even get me started on the property damage. In contrast to All Might Aizawa has a more darwinistic mentality, which is reflected in the quirk evaluation test. To specify, he doesn’t care if the kids are only doing it for fame & money or if they have the traits of a true hero like All Might does. Aizawa is primarily interested in the results to the point where he deems those who fall beneath an unspecified quota to be idealistic half-asses. If you’ve seen either GTO or Assassination Classroom, you may remember that Aizawa’s teaching style is the kind these shows tried to shun & disapproved of in general. Onizuka & Koro-sensei are the antithesis to Aizawa mainly because they genuinely cares about their students. They know that how the kids grow up is more important for them than a test & want them to become better human beings, which both go to great lengths to accomplish. The concept of their students failing them doesn’t exist while Aizawa will fail & scrutinize his students only if they don’t meet his expectations.

Why didn’t Aizawa expel Deku? Remember the only Deku has screen time curse I ranted on and on about? They did it with Aizawa. No insight was given for us to see the person that he is. No defining reason was given on why he expelled 154 students. However, Aizawa is a different case from All Might, Ida & Bakugo in this regard. The primary difference between them is the foundation for their character development. The 3 stooges I mentioned have one a.k.a. experiencing Deku’s heroic deed, but Aizawa doesn’t. Aizawa didn’t experience Deku’s heroism like the three of them & by all means Deku should have been expelled. The only answer I have is that Deku’s plot armor is so strong that it can force Aizawa to break character or Horikoshi wrote himself into a corner with Aizawa.

The gibberish of My Hero Academia This is the part where I express my inter Cinema Sins-wannabe by listing the other things MHA did wrong or didn’t do at all like an explanation. I’m not going to detail why I consider them faults as I can stand them more or less unlike the issues I covered above. However, if you’d like me to expand upon anyone of them, send me the number & I’ll tell you what I meant (The same goes for all other parts of this review). The list is mostly in chronological order.

#1 Why aren’t there any superhero teams? #2 Why aren’t there any quirkless people in Izuku’s junior high? #3 Why is everybody a jerk to Deku? #4 Why didn’t Izuku’s mom lie to him? #5 Why was the Sludge villain waiting for someone to walk by? #6 How did All Might put the Sludge villain in a bottle? #7 Why didn’t All Might lie to Deku? #8 Why did All Might trust Deku with his secret? #9 How is All Might even alive right now? #10 Why did All Might chase the Sludge villain for 3 whole hours? #11 Why is heroism so dependent on quirks? #12 Why couldn’t Mt Lady shrink a bit in order to fight the Sludge villain? #13 Isn’t the firefighting hero the one with an advantageous quirk? #14 How is Deku able to make eye-contact with Bakugo? #15 How did Deku get pass Death Arms? #16 Why didn’t any of the other heroes intervene before Deku was 3 seconds away from certain death? #17 Did All Might kill the Sludge villain? #18 Why is One for All so OP? #19 Why was nothing explained about the Sludge villain or his quirk? #20 Why are they praising Bakugo? #21 Isn’t putting your life in danger due to adrenaline/shock the same as laughing uncontrollably due to adrenaline/shock? #22 Why did they spoil the ending? #23 Why aren’t there any quirkless heroes? #24 Why aren’t any other hero schools besides UA mentioned? #25 How is Midoriya not dead? #26 Why did Bakugo tell Deku to shut up if he started their conversation? #27 How is Deku distracting Ida? #28 Why is MHA willing to risk getting a lawsuit from Nintendo, but doesn’t kill of any of the characters who have screen time? #29 Why is video game logic being used in a school for heroics? #30 Why does this exam sound like something Shigaraki & Stain would design? #31 Why didn’t All Might give Deku his quirk earlier? #32 Why didn’t Uraraka float away from the robot? #33 Who controls the robots? #34 How did Midoriya not faint from his injuries? #35 How was Midoriya still able to think clearly through the pain of his broken limbs? #36 Why didn’t Uraraka look up how to not vomit before the practical exam? #37 Why was Deku able to properly heal from his injuries? #38 Why is everybody so obsessed with quirks? #39 Why is Izuku still training if he knows he didn’t get into UA? #40 Why did Uraraka get less rescue points than Izuku? #41 Why is Deku always paired up with Bakugo (in the story)? #42 If you need to be muscular, so One for All doesn’t kill you, how is All Might still using it? #43 Why did Aizawa have a PE uniform with him? #44 How is UA still in business if they allow teachers to expel students for the most pettiest reasons? #45 Why didn’t Aizawa get fired if he expelled 154 students? #46 Why did class 1B get less powerful students? #47 Why couldn’t All Might find out who was Deku’s homeroom teacher earlier? #48 How does Deku accomplish anything with All Might as his mentor? #49 Why is Aizawa questioning how Deku got into UA? #50 How are Aizawa’s bandages floating? #51 How are quirks activated in general? #52 How can a teacher afford a scarf made out of nanofiber? #53 Why did Deku hang out with Bakugo when they were kids? #54 How did Hagakure & Jiro get into UA? #55 Why did Deku need to use his quirk during Aizawa’s exam? #56 How did Uraraka not know that Deku was an insult? #57 Why are they teaching them normal school subjects?

All in all, I can now finally use this: #Volume1IsHell What? I made reviews for less.

Automatic Power Factor Correction Panel

VisionTekniks Engineering & Automation.

W/O: Plot No: 208/10, Phase-2, Sector-3, Lane-4, IDA Cherlapally, Hyderabad- 500051

PH: 040-32210246, Mob: 9392424883, E-Mail: [email protected]

__________________________________________________________________________________

Automatic Power Factor Correction Panel

Optimum step size selection guidelines in APFC panels:

Major part in the design of APFC panels is the selection of step size of capacitor banks and number of steps. The right selection of step size and number of steps plays a significant role in the performance as well as cost of the APFC panel. This article focuses on the need and ways of good step size (maximum and minimum sizes) selection and number of steps.

1. Maximum step size selection:

The maximum capacitor rating in an APFC panel depends up on the following:

i. Maximum amount of load variation that happens in the industry at a time: Large load variations demand bigger capacitor steps so that target power factor is achieved in short time, by less number of switching operations.  

ii. Current and voltage transient withstand capabilities of the system:

Current transients: Switching of big capacitors (usually above 100 kVAr) introduces large magnitude of inrush current (current transients) for a small duration. This results in high thermal and electrical stress on capacitors, short circuit protection devices and mainly, the switching device. This may lead to their nuisance tripping and premature failures.

  Voltage transients: Switching of big capacitors may cause transient over voltages, which might result in failure of sensitive electronic devices.  

Thus, the maximum size of the capacitor step is a trade-off between the points i and ii. Practically acceptable maximum possible rating in any APFC panel shall be 100 kVAr. If this 100 kVAr rating capacitor is switched using power contactor, the peak inrush current may reach as high as 75 kA. Hence, the capacitors should be switched using either capacitor duty contactors or thyristor switching module.

However, thyristor switching module or capacitor duty contactor for 100 kVAr rating is not readily available. Hence, the best way to switch a 100 kVAr bank is by connecting two 50 kVAr TSM / contactor in parallel, each with a separate physical 50 kVAr capacitor banks. The control supply to both the 50 kVAr TSM/contactors shall be common (one relay output of the controller), so that both of the devices are triggered at the same time. To achieve this, the common output of the APFC relay should be programmed as 100 kVAr. Hence, physically they are two separate 50 kVAr banks, whereas electrically they behave as a single 100 kVAr bank.  

2. Minimum step size selection:

The minimum capacitor rating depends on how precise the power factor needs to be maintained. This minimum kVAr rating depends upon the minimum current sensitivity (typically around 2.5%) of the APFC controller. However the change in PF due to these minimum selected kVAr rating would be usually in the 3rd or 4th decimal places (depending on panel size or kVAr requirement), whereas the electricity board is concerned only with the first two digits of PF (like 0.99).  

Typically many industries want the desired target PF to be unity (exactly 1.00), in order to get incentives from some EBs. But practically, the optimum target PF has to be 0.96 to 0.99. These are healthy levels of power factor as it will have safety margin that avoids the leading power factor as well as any dangerous harmonic amplification (due to more capacitance in the system).

Hence, as a rule of thumb, the minimum kVAr rating in an APFC panel can be chosen to be 5-10% of overall rating of APFC panel. For smaller rating APFC panels (up to 100 kVAr), the smallest step can be 5 kVAr and for bigger rating APFC panels (above 600 kVAr and up to 1000 kVAr) the minimum rating can be 25 kVAr.

3. Number of steps / branches in APFC panels:

Once the minimum and maximum kVAr rating of the APFC panel is selected, the number of branches can be decided upon based of the following:

i.                     Technology of APFC controllers: Latest APFC controllers like etaCON L Series employ self optimized intelligent switching where the controller calculates the exact kVAr requirement and switches ON / OFF the appropriate capacitors irrespective of the capacitors already in circuit. Traditional controllers employing linear or circular switching require more number of smaller steps (like 1:2:2:…) for effective power factor correction. Whereas the latest controllers like etaCON can have a mix of large and small steps reducing the number of steps in capacitor bank as well as the cost of associated switchgear.

 ii. Size & cost of APFC panel: More the number of steps more will be the cost of APFC panel, due to more number of switchgear, bigger size of panel and others.

An APFC panel should have:

a. Maximum number of electrical steps (combination of physical steps) to ensure more accurate and flexible power factor correction

b. Minimum number of physical steps to reduce the size and cost of the panel

                               Summary:

1)  APFC panels with more number of steps (more than 12) does not always mean better step resolution.

2)  With the latest APFC controller technology, fewer steps are sufficient to achieve better step resolution and control of power factor

3)  Hence, usually a combination of large, small and very small ratings is used in steps of capacitor banks, as given below:

4)  Large rating capacitors (100 kVAr maximum) are required to PF compensation of base load and coarse power factor compensation  

5)  Medium rating capacitors are meant for variable part of the reactive power compensation.

6) Small rating capacitors (usually 5 to 10% of total kVAr or 25 kVAr for panels above 500 kVAr) are meant for fine tuning of the power factor.

 Power Factor Improving:

  Please check if required kVAr of capacitors are installed.

 Check the type of capacitor installed is suitable for application or the capacitors are de rated.

  Check if the capacitors are permanently ‘ON’. The Capacitor are not switched off

When the load is not working, under such condition the average power factor is found to be lower side.

Check whether all the capacitors are operated in APFC depending upon the load operation.

Check whether the APFC installed in the installation is working or not. Check the CT connection is taken from the main incomer side of transformer, after the fix compensation of transformer.

 Check if the load demand in the system is increased.

Check if power transformer compensation is provided.

 Thumb Rule if HP is known.

The compensation for motor should be calculated taking the details from the rating plate of motor Or

the capacitor should be rated for 1/3 of HP

 Kvar Required For Transformer Compensation:

Transformer                                          Required Kva

<= 315 kVA  T.C                             =    5% of  KVA

315kVA To 1000 kVA                    =    6% of  KVA

>= 1000 kVA                                  =   8% of  KVA

Shared realities: The truth in individual perceptions and emotions

The engines of 21st century society are fueled by data.  And yet, never were emotions so important. Funny, cute and provocative videos are being ‘shared’ and ‘liked’, while Silicon Valley calls out loud to be critical on fake news. Do they understand that them saying this is paradoxical? I bet they do. So why do so many politicians and industry representatives stick to trying to convince the people with facts and information?  And why are they surprised when they don't get the support they hope for?

 “We need to inform citizens!” “More scientific research data will convince them!” Most attempts of the industry in controversial cases are a one direction transmission of information. In the age of social media, communication is interactive. Due to the high influx of miscellaneous information, people decide for themselves which information they want to consume. Their decision is often not based on the need for factual information, but rather on like-ability. Their motivation is emotionally and socially driven. And here is where it all goes wrong. Emotions of citizens are not being taken serious and are not recognized as the filter which determines what data and arguments are actually heard and considered. Instead, the industry provides facts and logic with insufficient personal relevance or attraction to actually reach the people. Mutual frustration arises when the 'rational camp’ notes that despite intensive efforts, citizens stand firm. Concerned citizens are still angry because they feel unheard and not being taken seriously.

The tension between logic and emotions is intrinsic to human beings. Truth can be found in both of them. However, in our efficiency and goal oriented driven society, priority is given to the first, logic. Senior management is prone to approach the world with a rational mindset. ‘Rational’ may be understood both in a philosophic and in an economic way. That is: processing (sensory) input in order to deliberately compare and evaluate the output with already existing mental information, in order to make sense and or maximize the outcome of a certain event.

Since antiquity, philosophers have been asking fundamental questions concerning the universality of things and how they appear to us. These scholars and many others attempted to provide a structure to the world in such a way that it is measurable and verifiable. Observing an object with a rational mindset, we describe its features.  ‘Sandstone’ will be seen by a geologist as clastic sedimentary rock with a certain grain size, porosity and permeability. When in comparison ‘an ordinary guy’ visits Arches National park, he sees a breathtaking landscape. He sees the sun reflecting on the stone formation lightening up in red-orange and praises its divine beauty. He pictures himself on a spirited horse galloping towards adventure... This description adds no value to the sandstone from a rational point of view. Nevertheless, the subjective experience is as real for the person in question as the microstructure of deformation bands in the porous sandstones are for the geologist. Hence, in order to excite people about sandstone, the odds-on favorite is the Hollywood-like reflection rather than the scientific disquisition.

Depending on the message you want to get across, you present the information in a particular way, the so-called ‘frame’. That frame is defined by the way a target audience gives meaning to what it perceives. Things are only meaningful in relation to other things. A film experiment executed by the Russian director Kuleshov at the beginning of the last century, showed that when a shot of a man’s face with a neutral expression is combined with a shot of plate of soup, a girl in a coffin, and an attractive woman, the public would interpret the expression of the actor every time differently related to the image they saw before. Also the cultural context wherein the message is received, colors the perception of the content of this message. A heroic photo of a Head of State may be received by some people with a feeling of pride, by some people with fear and by others with a smirk. In the Netherlands the President connects with the heart of the public by being photographed biking to his work… Once an audience established a certain image, it is hard to change it. Trying to convince people of a different reality with couching arguments in complex, abstract and uninteresting language (in the eyes of the target audience) is an approach that is very unlikely to be effective. In movies with an unexpected end, such as ‘The Others’ and ‘Shutter Island’, skilled film directors leave clues in the plot for the public in order to mentally rewind and replay afterwards. It is the personal experience that convinces.

People prone to a rational way of communicating should try to understand that information is a combination of content and presentation. The form and frame of a message are more important than its content in terms of achieving transmission and reception. The elements in this frame don't even need to relate to the content as long as it arouses the right supportive emotions: getting a present in decorative wrapping paper is more exciting than getting the same present in a white plastic poly bag. Rational truth is not the issue here. The factuality of the answer is of secondary importance, a realistic insight can be drawn from partial or even incorrect data. It is the truth of the individual perception and subjective experience that needs to be explored in order to build a common ground for sharing realities…

Ida Rust Ponta Delgada, Azores, Sept. 11, 2017

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declined 0.20%, ending yesterday's session at $136.83 with a total trading volume of 2.70 million shares. The stock has gained 7.28% in the past month, 6.84% in the previous three months, and 5.67% on an YTD basis. The Company's shares are trading 7.21% above their 50-day moving average and 5.25% above their 200-day moving average. Moreover, shares of Home Depot, which operates as a home improvement retailer, have an RSI of 67.55. On November 15th, 2016, Home Depot reported sales of $23.2 billion for Q3 2016, a 6.1% increase from Q3 2015. Comparable store sales for Q3 2016 were up by 5.5%, and comp sales for US stores were up by 5.9%. The complimentary report on HD can be downloaded at: http://stock-callers.com/registration/?symbol=HD Lumber Liquidators On Wednesday, Toano, Virginia headquartered Lumber Liquidators Holdings Inc.'s stock rose 0.59%, to close the day at $17.03. A total volume of 817,442 shares was traded. The Company's shares have advanced 0.06% in the last month. The stock is trading 9.32% above its 200-day moving average. Additionally, shares of Lumber Liquidators, which together with its subsidiaries, operates as a multi-channel specialty retailer of hardwood flooring, and hardwood flooring enhancements and accessories, have an RSI of 44.20.

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In addition, Backer has faith in the Turner Ladies. The last capital campaign run by Turner Hall was a two-phase fundraiser conducted between 2004 and 2010, and the Turner Ladies were able to commit more than $100,000. That campaign brought in $1.2 million. It was used to make upgrades to the restrooms, fire suppression and an ADA-accessible entrance. Restoration work on the murals in the Ratskeller was also recently finished. When you think of how long the organization has been here and how it has evolved along with society and the needs, we cant be derelict in not continuing to improve the property, Backer said. Backer said the parking lot, sewer and kitchen were the top projects on Turner Halls to-do-list. Other projects will be deferred to a later date. In the future, the Board of Directors intends to order in brickwork on the State Street side of the building and possibly create a gazebo in the park. It could be used for music in the park or other gatherings. The board also hopes to remove the bump on the north side of the building. This extension was created for storage but does not fit in with the historic approach favored by the board.

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