!!!!!!!!!!!! This made me cry. I visited a lot of historical sites as a kid travelling up and down the eastern seaboard with my grandparents. I grew up being told that they had probably all died and no one knew what happened to them.
Absolutely incredible and so counter to the narrative that Americans deserve to not exist. People have been fighting for their survival and learning to live together here for over 10000 years. Our history is incredible and I am so looking forward to joining my local archaelogical society and doing my part to preserve American history.
International cooperation is actually so effective that most people don’t even notice it happening, and then erroneously believe it can’t solve anything.
Fixing issues before they develop into actual disasters is such an underappreciated thing it hurts at all levels.
We don't talk about acid rain because there isn't any more acid rain because when acid rain started happening and we learned that the cause was mainly sulphur oxide and carbon monooxide from car exhausts, countries all over the world made it a law that car companies had to produce cars that produced less exhaust with better effectivenes (burning the fuel all the way to CO2 instead of the halfassed CO) and oil rafineries to remove the sulphur from the gasoline in the first place.
We don't talk about computers crashing because of the turn of the century, because thousands of programmers worked very hard to write updates and patches for Every Single Program humanity as a whole used back in 1999 and then somehow managed to failtest, distribute, and update every single device and system, be it an online or offline one before the midnight of the 1st january of 2000.
On a much smaller scale, no one ever commenta or notices cleaners and housekeepers doing their job - be it at home or at whole buildings - because they always make sure that there's nothing to notice. But don't be fooled - at any point of your life you are one week of them not doing away from swimming in trash and filth with nothing to eat and nothing clean to wear. Only then you would notice.
Now it's time to do that thing again and make sure that we don't kill our whole planetary ecosystem within the next century.
Remember when they spent years telling us to panic over the hole in the ozone layer and then suddenly just stopped talking about it and nobody ever mentioned the ozone layer
From "Derek Thompson", @DKThomp
What happened is scientists discovered chlorofluorocarbons were bad for the ozone, countries believed them, the Montreal Protocol was signed, and CFC use fell by 99.7%, leading to the stabilization of the ozone layer, perhaps the greatest example of global cooperation in history.
2nd image: Bender, the robot from Futurama, staring out into space, showing blue and purple nebulas and bright white stars. A caption reads:
When you do things right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all.
there’s a cult in japan that had deep ties with japans ruling party (a party which has held power almost continuously since 1955) including former prime minister shinzo abe.
shinzo abe was assassinated to bring attention to this cult and the power it held over the ruling party.
while the assassination was widely decried, since then the stranglehold the cult held over the ruling party and japanese politics generally has been exposed and the party has had to break ties. the cult is slowly being dismantled.
the proposal above is specifically being issued in response to forced indoctrination into this cult.
Zohran K Mamdani's NYC Mayoral Acceptance Speech - 11/4/2025
Full speech below:
Thank you, my friends. The sun may have set over our city this evening, but as Eugene Debs once said, “I can see the dawn of a better day for humanity.”
For as long as we can remember, the working people of New York have been told by the wealthy and the well-connected that power does not belong in their hands.
Fingers bruised from lifting boxes on the warehouse floor, palms calloused from delivery bike handlebars, knuckles scarred with kitchen burns: These are not hands that have been allowed to hold power. And yet, over the last 12 months, you have dared to reach for something greater.
Tonight, against all odds, we have grasped it. The future is in our hands. My friends, we have toppled a political dynasty.
I wish Andrew Cuomo only the best in private life. But let tonight be the final time I utter his name, as we turn the page on a politics that abandons the many and answers only to the few. New York, tonight you have delivered. A mandate for change. A mandate for a new kind of politics. A mandate for a city we can afford. And a mandate for a government that delivers exactly that.
On January 1st, I will be sworn in as the mayor of New York City. And that is because of you. So before I say anything else, I must say this: Thank you. Thank you to the next generation of New Yorkers who refuse to accept that the promise of a better future was a relic of the past.
You showed that when politics speaks to you without condescension, we can usher in a new era of leadership. We will fight for you, because we are you.
Or, as we say on Steinway, ana minkum wa alaikum.
Thank you to those so often forgotten by the politics of our city, who made this movement their own. I speak of Yemeni bodega owners and Mexican abuelas. Senegalese taxi drivers and Uzbek nurses. Trinidadian line cooks and Ethiopian aunties. Yes, aunties.
To every New Yorker in Kensington and Midwood and Hunts Point, know this: This city is your city, and this democracy is yours too. This campaign is about people like Wesley, an 1199 organizer I met outside of Elmhurst Hospital on Thursday night. A New Yorker who lives elsewhere, who commutes two hours each way from Pennsylvania because rent is too expensive in this city.
It’s about people like the woman I met on the Bx33 years ago who said to me, “I used to love New York, but now it’s just where I live.” And it’s about people like Richard, the taxi driver I went on a 15-day hunger strike with outside of City Hall, who still has to drive his cab seven days a week. My brother, we are in City Hall now.
This victory is for all of them. And it’s for all of you, the more than 100,000 volunteers who built this campaign into an unstoppable force. Because of you, we will make this city one that working people can love and live in again. With every door knocked, every petition signature earned, and every hard-earned conversation, you eroded the cynicism that has come to define our politics.
Now, I know that I have asked for much from you over this last year. Time and again, you have answered my calls — but I have one final request. New York City, breathe this moment in. We have held our breath for longer than we know.
We have held it in anticipation of defeat, held it because the air has been knocked out of our lungs too many times to count, held it because we cannot afford to exhale. Thanks to all of those who sacrificed so much. We are breathing in the air of a city that has been reborn.
To my campaign team, who believed when no one else did and who took an electoral project and turned it into so much more: I will never be able to express the depth of my gratitude. You can sleep now.
To my parents, mama and baba: You have made me into the man I am today. I am so proud to be your son. And to my incredible wife, Rama, hayati: There is no one I would rather have by my side in this moment, and in every moment.
To every New Yorker — whether you voted for me, for one of my opponents, or felt too disappointed by politics to vote at all — thank you for the opportunity to prove myself worthy of your trust. I will wake each morning with a singular purpose: to make this city better for you than it was the day before.
There are many who thought this day would never come, who feared that we would be condemned only to a future of less, with every election consigning us simply to more of the same.
And there are others who see politics today as too cruel for the flame of hope to still burn. New York, we have answered those fears.
Tonight we have spoken in a clear voice. Hope is alive. Hope is a decision that tens of thousands of New Yorkers made day after day, volunteer shift after volunteer shift, despite attack ad after attack ad. More than a million of us stood in our churches, in gymnasiums, in community centers, as we filled in the ledger of democracy.
And while we cast our ballots alone, we chose hope together. Hope over tyranny. Hope over big money and small ideas. Hope over despair. We won because New Yorkers allowed themselves to hope that the impossible could be made possible. And we won because we insisted that no longer would politics be something that is done to us. Now, it is something that we do.
Standing before you, I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru: “A moment comes, but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance.”
Tonight we have stepped out from the old into the new. So let us speak now, with clarity and conviction that cannot be misunderstood, about what this new age will deliver, and for whom.
This will be an age where New Yorkers expect from their leaders a bold vision of what we will achieve, rather than a list of excuses for what we are too timid to attempt. Central to that vision will be the most ambitious agenda to tackle the cost-of-living crisis that this city has seen since the days of Fiorello La Guardia: an agenda that will freeze the rents for more than two million rent-stabilized tenants, make buses fast and free, and deliver universal child care across our city.
Years from now, may our only regret be that this day took so long to come. This new age will be one of relentless improvement. We will hire thousands more teachers. We will cut waste from a bloated bureaucracy. We will work tirelessly to make lights shine again in the hallways of NYCHA developments where they have long flickered.
Safety and justice will go hand in hand as we work with police officers to reduce crime and create a Department of Community Safety that tackles the mental health crisis and homelessness crises head on. Excellence will become the expectation across government, not the exception. In this new age we make for ourselves, we will refuse to allow those who traffic in division and hate to pit us against one another.
In this moment of political darkness, New York will be the light. Here, we believe in standing up for those we love, whether you are an immigrant, a member of the trans community, one of the many Black women that Donald Trump has fired from a federal job, a single mom still waiting for the cost of groceries to go down, or anyone else with their back against the wall. Your struggle is ours, too.
And we will build a City Hall that stands steadfast alongside Jewish New Yorkers and does not waver in the fight against the scourge of antisemitism. Where the more than one million Muslims know that they belong — not just in the five boroughs of this city, but in the halls of power.
No more will New York be a city where you can traffic in Islamophobia and win an election. This new age will be defined by a competence and a compassion that have too long been placed at odds with one another. We will prove that there is no problem too large for government to solve, and no concern too small for it to care about.
For years, those in City Hall have only helped those who can help them. But on January 1st, we will usher in a city government that helps everyone.
Now, I know that many have heard our message only through the prism of misinformation. Tens of millions of dollars have been spent to redefine reality and to convince our neighbors that this new age is something that should frighten them. As has so often occurred, the billionaire class has sought to convince those making $30 an hour that their enemies are those earning $20 an hour.
They want the people to fight amongst ourselves so that we remain distracted from the work of remaking a long-broken system. We refuse to let them dictate the rules of the game anymore. They can play by the same rules as the rest of us.
Together, we will usher in a generation of change. And if we embrace this brave new course, rather than fleeing from it, we can respond to oligarchy and authoritarianism with the strength it fears, not the appeasement it craves.
After all, if anyone can show a nation betrayed by Donald Trump how to defeat him, it is the city that gave rise to him. And if there is any way to terrify a despot, it is by dismantling the very conditions that allowed him to accumulate power.
This is not only how we stop Trump; it’s how we stop the next one. So, Donald Trump, since I know you’re watching, I have four words for you: Turn the volume up.
We will hold bad landlords to account because the Donald Trumps of our city have grown far too comfortable taking advantage of their tenants. We will put an end to the culture of corruption that has allowed billionaires like Trump to evade taxation and exploit tax breaks. We will stand alongside unions and expand labor protections because we know, just as Donald Trump does, that when working people have ironclad rights, the bosses who seek to extort them become very small indeed.
New York will remain a city of immigrants: a city built by immigrants, powered by immigrants and, as of tonight, led by an immigrant.
So hear me, President Trump, when I say this: To get to any of us, you will have to get through all of us. When we enter City Hall in 58 days, expectations will be high. We will meet them. A great New Yorker once said that while you campaign in poetry, you govern in prose.
If that must be true, let the prose we write still rhyme, and let us build a shining city for all. And we must chart a new path, as bold as the one we have already traveled. After all, the conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate.
I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.
And yet, if tonight teaches us anything, it is that convention has held us back. We have bowed at the altar of caution, and we have paid a mighty price. Too many working people cannot recognize themselves in our party, and too many among us have turned to the right for answers to why they’ve been left behind.
We will leave mediocrity in our past. No longer will we have to open a history book for proof that Democrats can dare to be great.
Our greatness will be anything but abstract. It will be felt by every rent-stabilized tenant who wakes up on the first of every month knowing the amount they’re going to pay hasn’t soared since the month before. It will be felt by each grandparent who can afford to stay in the home they have worked for, and whose grandchildren live nearby because the cost of child care didn’t send them to Long Island.
It will be felt by the single mother who is safe on her commute and whose bus runs fast enough that she doesn’t have to rush school drop-off to make it to work on time. And it will be felt when New Yorkers open their newspapers in the morning and read headlines of success, not scandal.
Most of all, it will be felt by each New Yorker when the city they love finally loves them back.
Together, New York, we’re going to freeze the… [rent!] Together, New York, we’re going to make buses fast and… [free!] Together, New York, we’re going to deliver universal… [child care!]
Let the words we’ve spoken together, the dreams we’ve dreamt together, become the agenda we deliver together. New York, this power, it’s yours. This city belongs to you.
Israeli media reported that Ben Gvir entered the prison holding prominent Palestinian detainees, personally verifying that they are being forced to stay seated on the floor at all times. During his visit, he also called for the execution of Palestinian detainees. these people are held without any charges they are kidnapped from their homes in the occupied west bank their only crime is being palastinian
Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn
Outraged by the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, a wilderness survival trainer spent years undercover climbing the ranks of right-wing militias. He didn’t tell police or the FBI. He didn’t tell family or friends. The one person he told was a ProPublica reporter.
Crawling out of my hole to remind people that with this current update to Firefox (version 144) they've gone and dumped in their lot with a buncha lil AI tools, namely Perplexity as a new search engine.
So if the sound of that leaves your mouth tasting of tar, here's what you want to do:
In the url bar, type in about:config
It'll give you a big scary warning page that you might poke holes in your browser. Good. You want to do that. Click continue.
One by one, you're going to need to put each of these into the search bar in the page, not up top:
Each of these are gonna have a lil toggle icon on the right hand side that looks like a funky double-ended arrow. Click that and the value next to it should change to false. It all auto saves as you go. Some of these might already be set to false by default and that's peachy.
The next best thing you can do for yourself is to set your default search engine to udm14 or Qwant, but for now, we're just tidying the garden a lil bit.
In the interest of preserving rare documents related to Mass Effect, I'm transcribing here the Codex entries which were on the ME1 website when the game first came out. They are reproduced here as they form much of the basis by which we understand Mass Effect ; in some cases, they are phrased differently from the Codex in the actual game, with additional information, or contradictions (e.g. the given length of the Krogan Rebellions). Link here : https://web.archive.org/web/20130326112139/http://masseffect.bioware.com/me1/galacticcodex/index.html
Each Codex entry comes in two parts : the "lede" on the starting Codex page, and the entry itself. In an archiving interest, associated polls are included, though they do not represent anything more than the intended market's opinions prior to the game's release. Everything is quoted verbatim, though I have done some formatting modifications for ease of reading.
Note : since this was very much part of the promotion for ME1, the intended audience is clearly human, but it's difficult at times to see if it's an in-universe "we" or an IRL "we". The polls, however, are clearly out-of-universe.
In the decades since our first encounter with the greater galactic community, humanity has risen quickly to prominence, establishing colonies throughout the stars. However, our population growth and military strength have led to resentful speculation that an invitation to join the ranks of the Council itself is imminent. [Read More]
The Advent of Humanity on the Galactic Stage
In the year 2148, humanity discovered Prothean ruins on Mars. The remnants of Prothean technology scattered amongst these ruins allowed them to develop mass effect fields and faster-than-light travel. This led them to discover and reactivate the mass relay at the edges of Earth's solar system, giving them access to the mass relay network spanning the rest of the galaxy and bringing them into contact with the greater galactic community.
2148 AD : Humanity discovers a small cache of highly advanced alien technology hidden deep beneath the surface of Mars. Building on the remnants of this long extinct race - known as the Protheans - humanity quickly masters the science of mass effect fields, leading to the development of faster than light travel.
2149 AD : Spreading out through their own solar system, humanity discovers that Charon, Pluto's moon, is actually a massive piece of dormant Prothean technology - a mass relay - encased in ice.
Once activated, humanity discovers that the mass relay allows instantaneous travel across thousands of light years to a synchronized mass relay in another part of the galaxy.
There they discover several more dormant relays. Over the next decade humanity expands rapidly, establishing colonies and activating dormant relays to open up more and more unexplored regions of space.
2155 AD : To defend its rapidly expanding empire, humanity assembles a massive fleet and constructs an enormous military space station at the nexus of several key mass relays…even though they have yet to encounter another intelligent space-faring species.
2157 AD : Humanity makes first contact with another space-faring culture: the turians. Unfortunately, the encounter is far from peaceful. Over the next several months a brief but tense conflict known on Earth as the First Contact war ensues.
This conflict draws the attention of the Citadel Council - a multi-species government body that maintains peace and stability throughout the known galaxy. The Council intervenes before hostilities escalate further, revealing the existence of the greater galactic community to humanity and brokering a peace between them and the turians.
2165 AD : Humanity continues to expand, founding more colonies and establishing trade alliances with many of the other species who recognize the authority of the Citadel Council. In 2165 the Council makes official recognition of humanity's growing power and influence in the galactic community. Humanity is granted an embassy on the Citadel, the political and economic heart of the galaxy.
2183 AD : Commander Shepard - a promising young officer in the Human Alliance military - is assigned to the crew of the Normandy, the most advanced prototype vessel ever designed.
We fought these raptor-like aliens in the First Contact War, but have since settled into an uneasy co-existence with them. Despite their code of honour, discipline, and work ethic, the question remains whether these Council members are friends or foes. [Read codex entry]
Citadel Council Race: Turians
The turians were the last of the Citadel races to join the Council. Their features are avian, making them resemble humanoid birds or raptors. They have a reputation for skill and bravery in combat, but they are not known to be bloodthirsty. A rigid code of honor and strict discipline are the hallmarks of any turian officer. This includes humane treatment of prisoners and conquered enemies. A turian patrol unit will never willingly leave behind one of their own, no matter what the cost of saving them.
Turian society is highly regimented and very organized, and the species is known for its strict discipline and work ethic. Turians are willing to do what needs to be done, and they always follow through. They are not easily spurred to violence, but when conflict is inevitable, they only understand a concept of "total war." They do not believe in skirmishes or small scale battles; they use massive fleets and numbers to defeat an adversary so completely that they remove any threat of having to fight the same opponent more than once. They do not exterminate their enemy, but so completely devastate their military that the enemy has no choice but to become a colony of the turians.
Other species see them as "men of action," and they are generally regarded as the most progressive of the Citadel races. Since their culture is based on the structure of a military hierarchy, changes and advances accepted by the leadership are quickly adopted by the rest of society with minimal resistance.
WEB POLL : Turians are an honourable and disciplined race. Why do you think humanity warred with them immediately after first contact in the year 2157?
There was a misunderstanding that blew out of proportion - 64%
They feared our potential and saw us as competitors - 23%
They probably always attack first to probe for weaknesses - 11%
They wanted the planet Earth and our colonies for themselves - 3%
Other - read my comments - 2%
Total votes : 30656
[The website proceeds to try to set up a dilemma as to whether the turians can be trusted by connecting first to Nihlus's Codex entry - the "Friend" - then Saren's - the "Foe".]
Explore the reptilian race known as the Krogan. Part one reveals how their harsh and unforgiving homeworld has affected their evolution. Part two delves into their tragic history and waning foothold in the galaxy. The final part spotlights Urdnot Wrex, one of the last krogan Battle Masters. [Read more]
Krogan Series Part 1 - Krogan Biology
The krogan are a species of large reptilian bipeds native to the planet Tuchanka, a world known for its harsh environments, scarce resources, and overabundance of vicious predators. The krogan managed to not only survive on their unforgiving homeworld, but actually thrived in the extreme conditions. Unfortunately, as krogan society became more technologically advanced so did their weaponry.
Four thousand years ago, at the dawn of the krogan nuclear age, battles to claim the small pockets of territory capable of sustaining life escalated into full scale global war. Weapons of mass destruction were unleashed, transforming Tuchanka into a radioactive wasteland.
Due to the brutality of their surroundings, natural selection has played a significant role in the evolution of the species. Krogan reproduce and mature at an astonishing rate. Their large shoulder humps store fluids and nutrients, enabling them to survive extended periods without food or water. Their thick hides are virtually impervious to cuts, scrapes or contusions, and they are highly resistant to toxins, radiation, and extreme heat and cold.
Biotic individuals are rare, though those who do possess the talent typically have strong abilities. Their most amazing physiological features are the multiple instances of major organs; these secondary systems are capable of serving as back-ups in the event of damage to the primary biological structures. This redundancy makes them difficult to kill or incapacitate in normal combat scenarios.
WEB POLL : What do you think is the most interesting part of krogan biology?
Redundant organs - 50%
Rapid reproduction and growth rate - 21%
Thick hides impervious to many dangers - 16%
Large shoulder humps that store fluids and nutrients - 14%
Other - read my comments - 2%
Total votes : 11673
Krogan Series Part 2 - Rise and Fall of the Krogan
Roughly 2000 years ago the krogan were a primitive tribal species trapped on a world suffering through a nuclear winter of their own making. They were liberated by the salarians, who "culturally uplifted" the krogan by giving them advanced technology and relocating them to a planet not cursed with lethal levels of radiation, toxins, or deadly predators.
But the salarian intervention was not without an ulterior motive. At the time, the Citadel was engaged in a prolonged galactic war with the rachni, a race of intelligent space-faring insects. The salarians hoped the krogan would join the Citadel forces as soldiers to stand against an otherwise unstoppable foe. The plan worked to perfection: within two generations the rapidly breeding krogan had the numbers to not only drive the advancing rachni back, but pursue them to their home worlds and eradicate the entire species.
Saviors of the Galaxy
For a brief period the krogan were hailed as the saviors of the galaxy. However, without the harsh conditions of Tuchanka to keep their numbers in check, their population exploded. Overcrowded and running out of resources on their new home planet, the krogan spread out to forcibly claim other worlds...worlds already inhabited by races loyal to the Citadel.
The so-called Krogan Rebellions continued for nearly three centuries. The krogan sustained massive casualties, but their incredible birth-rate kept their population steadily increasing. Victory seemed inevitable. In desperation, the Council turned to the recently discovered Turian Empire for aid. The turians unleashed the genophage on the krogan home worlds: a terrifying bio-weapon engineered by the salarians. The genophage caused near total infant mortality in the krogan species, with only 1 birth in every 1000 producing live offspring.
The Genophage
No longer able to replenish their numbers, the krogan were forced to accept the turian terms of surrender. For their role in quelling the Krogan Rebellions the turians were rewarded with a seat on the Citadel Council. The krogan, on the other hand, still suffer from the incurable effects of the genophage. Over the last millennium krogan numbers have steadily declined, leaving them a scattered and dying people. Faced with the certainty of their extinction as a species, most krogan have become individualistic and completely self-interested. They typically serve as mercenaries for hire to the highest bidder, though many still resent and despise the Citadel races who condemned them to their tragic fate.
WEB POLL : Was use of the genophage on the krogan justified?
Yes, it was necessary to stop the krogan from taking over the galaxy - 53%
No, it was cruel and should not have been used - 42%
Some believe quarians are a cybernetic blend that can survive for a time in the cold vacuum of space. Others believe they are so used to living on their makeshift ships they never remove their survival suits. Most condemn them for unleashing a dangerous, synthetic life form on the galaxy. [Read more]
The Quarians - Galactic Nomads
A nomadic race of humanoid aliens, the quarians are generally shorter and of slighter build than humans. They dress in a scavenged assortment of materials, hiding their faces behind visors, goggles, or breathing masks. Some believe the quarians are cybernetic, a blend of machine and biology that can survive for a time in the cold vacuum of space. Others believe the quarians are simply so used to living on their substandard, makeshift ships that they never remove their survival suits.
Three hundred years ago the quarians created the geth, a species of rudimentary AIs, to serve as an efficient source of manual labor. But the geth rebelled against their quarian masters and drove them into exile. Now the quarians wander the galaxy in a flotilla of salvaged ships, secondhand vessels, and recycled technology. Other species tend to look down on the quarians, seeing them as scavengers and condemning them for unleashing a dangerous synthetic life form on the rest of the galaxy.
WEB POLL : Should the quarians be held accountable for unleashing the geth?
No, it's all in the past and what's done is done - 63%
Residing in the Terminus Systems, the geth are a humanoid race of networked AIs who overthrew their masters 300 years ago in a brutal war. They have evolved since then into numerous sub-forms, and everyone in the galaxy approaches them with extreme caution. [Read more]
Hostile Entity: the Geth
The geth are a bi-pedal, humanoid race of networked AIs that resides in the Terminus Systems. The geth were created nearly 300 years ago by the quarians as laborers and tools of war. When the geth began to question their masters, the quarians attempted to exterminate them. The geth won the resulting war. The example of the geth has led to legal, systematic repression of artificial intelligences in galactic society.
The geth can learn and grow intellectually, but they progress far more slowly than an organic being. Still, the story of the geth's creation and evolution serves as a warning to the rest of the galaxy of the potential dangers of Artificial Intelligence.
The closer geth physically are to each other, the more intelligent each one becomes. Effectively, they "share" brain power. An individual geth has only a basic intelligence on par with animal instincts, but in groups they can reason, analyze situations, and use tactics as well as any of the organic races.
Over time the geth have evolved into numerous sub-forms - from the diminutive but highly agile hoppers, to the gigantic, lumbering geth armatures. It should be stressed, however, that in all forms the geth are to be approached with extreme caution as they are universally violent creatures.
WEB POLL : The geth are out of control and feared throughout the galaxy. What will you do the first time you encounter a geth?
Debuting in the Bring Down the Sky downloable content pack, the batarians are a disreputable species infesting the Terminus Systems and menacing human colonies. [Read more]
The Batarians - A New Race in Bring Down the Sky
A race of four-eyed bipeds, the batarians are a disreputable species that chose to isolate itself from the rest of the galaxy. The Terminus Systems are infested with batarian pirate gangs and slaving rings, fueling the stereotype of the batarian thug. It should be noted that these criminals do not represent average citizens, who are forbidden to leave batarian space by their omnipresent and paranoid government.
In 2171, humans began to colonize the Skyllian Verge, a region the batarians were already actively settling. The batarians asked the Citadel Council to intervene and declare the Verge an area of "batarian interest." When the Council refused, the batarians severed diplomatic and economic relations, becoming an inward-looking rogue state. Money and weapons funneled from the batarian government to criminal organizations led to many brutal raids on human colonies in the Verge, culminating in the Skyllian Blitz of 2176.
The rest of the galaxy views the batarians as an ignorable problem. The government is still hostile to the Systems Alliance, but beneath the notice of the powerful Council races. It is not known what the average batarian thinks about their enforced isolation, as the Department of Information Control ensures that only government-approved news enters or leaves batarian space.
Williams is a reliable and dedicated officer, but her aggressive instincts and blunt speech might lead to complications should she be required to interact with civilians. [Read more]
Systems Alliance Profile: Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams
Personnel File
Name: Ashley Madeline Williams
Rank: Gunnery Chief
Military Vocational Code: B4
Current Posting: 2nd Frontier Division, Eden Prime
Date of Birth: April 14, 2158
Place of Birth: Vercingetorix Outpost, Planet Sirona, 61 Ursae Majoris System
Blood Type: B-positive
Genetic Enhancements:
In-utero vision correction (maternal predisposition for nearsightedness)
Class-B Alliance Infantry Upgrade Package
Dossier
Following family tradition, Chief Williams enlisted in the Alliance Marines directly out of high school and was assigned to the Recruit Training Depot in Macapá, Brazil.
During training, she certified proficient with the standard-issue M7 Lancer assault rifle and light and standard weight combat hardsuits. She completed certification in zero-gee combat aboard the Rakesh Sharma Orbital Platform in Earth geosynchronous orbit. For Hostile Environment Assault Training, she was assigned to Fort Charles Upham on Saturn's moon, Titan. She was awarded a commendation for her bold assault technique in a field exercise simulating an attack on turian point defense emplacements.
Drill Instructor Gunnery Chief Ellison noted her steadfast endurance and aggressive instincts, and promoted her to the role of squad leader. After observing her effective tutelage of the less skilled members of her training unit, he promoted her to platoon guide. She maintains a friendly correspondence with DI Ellison.
Chief Williams has served in a number of ground force garrisons on Alliance colony worlds and industrial outposts. She has repeatedly requested transfer to a shipboard posting, but each request has been denied without comment by her superiors.
Every year since enlistment, she has used her mandatory week of leave to visit her family on Amaterasu. In 2181, she made an exceptional request for a week-long leave of absence from her posting at the Czarnobóg Fleet Depot, citing family issues.
Personal Observations
Chief Williams' platoon has logged unanimous positive feedback on her leadership in the recent fitness review cycle. Private Nirali Bahtia praised her focus on team-building exercises and "tough but fair" discipline.
Williams is a reliable and dedicated noncommissioned officer, but her service in rear-area garrisons has prevented her from gaining actual combat experience. Her aggressive instincts and tendency to speak bluntly are suitable for a field unit, but might lead to complications if her duties require her to interact with civilians. Additionally, her political opinions may be problematic, given the focus on improving relations with the Citadel.
WEB POLL : Ashley is part of your party as you carry out Spectre missions. Do you think her inexperience, bluntness, and aggressive tendencies will pose a problem?
No, I'll think she'll be a great addition to my team. - 39%
I'm holding off judgement and will give her a chance. - 32%
No. As Commander I'll keep my troops in line. - 25%
Yes, I'm quite worried about it. - 5%
Other - here's what I think - 1%
Total votes : 18746
Systems Alliance Profile: Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams - Profile Updated
James left today. He's been reassigned to one of the new Rapid Response Bases out in the Kepler Verge. Lucky bastard. It's like the ancient west out there pirates and slavers coming out of the Terminus Systems all the time. He gets to play the cavalry, riding out in frigates any time someone's house gets burned down.
I made some speech about how he was a valuable asset to the squad and he better make us look good out there, blah blah. I suck at speeches. I was cribbing from something I read back in history class. I don't think anyone noticed.
I'm going to miss him. Don't tell anyone.
So you think James is cute, eh? Yeah, well, when you said I should "go for him" not gonna happen, kiddo. See, we have rules about "fraternization." You don't do The Deed with your fellow troops, especially if they're under you in rank. There's all sorts of problems that can happen when two people in the same unit get together.
Let's say your unit is in a tight spot. Some bug-eyed aliens are going to overrun the galaxy. They eat babies, smell bad, and don't have elbows. Nasty. You're told to guard the rear. To let everyone else escape, someone is ordered "hold this spot until we're gone." Someone has to be left behind. You think it's going to be someone you're sleeping with?
I've served with these guys for eight months now. Yeah, some of them make me feel tingly (and yeah, James was kinda scruffy-cute). I hope I never have to decide who lives and who dies. But if I have to, my decision can't be muddled up by magic-sparkly-hearts-and-stars feelings.
Anyways, I'm gonna knock off here. I've got dog watch in a few hours. Want to get a shower and a meal before then. Talk at you tomorrow.
- Ash
This message originated from an Alliance military network. It has been censored at transmission source for security purposes. Any reply may be read by military authorities.
Nihlus Kryik is one of the Citadel Council's most decorated Spectre agents. Cool under pressure, he has an uncanny ability to find an enemy's weakness and exploit it. [Continue]
Spectre Agent Nihlus Kryik
Nihlus Kryik is one of the Citadel Council's most decorated Spectre agents. Born in a small mercenary outpost outside Hierarchy space, he learned the hard way to fight for what he wanted. His father died when he was 16, and his mother forced him to join the turian military. His outsider status made life difficult; though he was always at the top of his class, his superiors and peers never truly accepted him.
As a soldier, Nihlus' skills were unquestionable. His attitude, however, often got him in trouble. On several occasions, he disobeyed direct orders to do what he thought was best. Although his instincts were usually proven right, his notoriety grew. Even when he single-handedly routed an enemy patrol, and saved his squad from ambush, his commanding officers berated him for his recklessness. His military career seemed to stall before it even began.
After being reassigned to a new squad for the third time, Nihlus was introduced to Saren Arterius, a fellow turian and a Spectre. Saren was impressed with the young soldier. He befriended Nihlus and offered to mentor him. Within a year of meeting Saren, Nihlus was asked to join the Spectres.
Free from the restrictions of military procedure, Nihlus excelled in his new role. He quickly stepped from his mentor's shadow and established himself as one of the Council's top agents. Since then, Nihlus has completed countless missions as a Spectre, each one more difficult and dangerous than the last.
Cool under pressure, Nihlus has an uncanny ability to find an enemy's weakness and exploit it. Though his methods aren't as brutal as Saren's, he will not hesitate to efficiently and thoroughly eradicate anything or anyone that stands in his way.
Saren Arterius is the longest serving turian member of the Spectres. Recently, he has become an outspoken opponent of human expansion in the galaxy, and many fear he may soon decide to take matters into his own hands.
Agent Profile - Saren Arterius
Saren Arterius is the longest serving turian member of the Spectres - the elite military operatives answering directly to the Citadel Council. For 24 years he has been an agent of the Council's will, a zealous defender of galactic stability in the unsettled border region of the Skyllian Verge.
Official records of Spectres are sealed, but it is known that Saren followed turian tradition and entered the military at the age of 15. In 2155 he was promoted to active service after only a year of training, though it is unclear whether his unit was involved in any of the battles against human forces during the First Contact War of 2157.
In 2159 he became the youngest turian ever accepted into the Spectres. Intelligent, cunning and capable, Saren quickly developed a reputation for ruthless efficiency. Although there were a number of unsettling rumors about the brutality of his methods, there was no denying his results.
In recent years Saren has become an outspoken opponent of human expansion. Like many other non-humans, he believes the Alliance has become overly aggressive in its efforts to establish the people of Earth as a dominant species in Citadel space. As a Spectre it is generally believed he will continue to follow the will of the Council in this matter, but there are some - particularly among the Alliance - who fear Saren may soon decide to take matters into his own hands.
WEB POLL : Do you think Saren is correct - are humans expanding too rapidly in the galaxy?
Urdnot Wrex is one of the last krogan Battle Masters: rare individuals who combine powerful biotic abilities with the devastating firepower of advanced weaponry... [Continue]
Krogan Series Part 3: Wrex, Krogan Battle Master
Urdnot Wrex is one of the last krogan Battle Masters: rare individuals who combine powerful biotic abilities with the devastating firepower of advanced weaponry. Born into clan Urdnot, he quickly gained fame for his prowess in battle. He became a leader of one of the smaller Urdnot tribes while still a youth - the youngest krogan to be granted the honor in 1000 years…until he was betrayed by his own people.
The betrayal opened Wrex's eyes to the truth about the krogan: most would rather die in battle than try to rebuild their society through peaceful means. Realizing the warrior culture that once valued courage, strength, and honor had been reduced to glorifying pointless violence, Wrex turned his back on the rest of the krogan.
Over the past three centuries he has served no master but himself, working as a bodyguard, mercenary, soldier of fortune, and bounty hunter; there is little in the galaxy that can still surprise him. He doesn't speak often, but when he does his words are direct and often shockingly blunt - and people tend to listen.
Despite his brutish appearance, Wrex rarely loses his temper. The mere threat of his anger is usually enough to get what he wants. When his fury is unleashed, however, it is a truly terrifying sight.
WEB POLL : Would you have Urdnot Wrex in your party?
The Mako is a light infantry fighting vehicle you'll get to use when exploring planetary environments. Equipped with laser-guided ordnance, micro- thrusters, and laser detection arrays, it's an essential tool to have in your arsenal. [Read more]
Technology : M35 Mako
For 20 years, the standard "battle taxi" of the Systems Alliance Marines was the M29 "Grizzly" Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV). While excellent in long-term planetary campaigns, the Grizzly's bulk and weight made it unsuitable for rapid deployment across the Alliance's expanding sphere of influence. To fill this increasingly important role, the M35 "Mako" IFV was designed to fit in the small cargo bays of Alliance scouting frigates. The M35's small size and low weight allow it to be easily deployed to virtually any world.
Since Alliance marines may be required to fight in a variety of planetary environments, the Mako is environmentally sealed and powered by a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell. For deployment on low-gravity planetoids, it is equipped with micro-thrusters and a small element zero core, which can be used to increase mass and provide greater traction.
The "eezo" core can also be used to reduce mass, allowing the Mako to be safely air-dropped. This allows frigates to deploy their shore parties while limiting the ship's exposure to defensive anti-aircraft artillery. When used in conjunction with thrusters, mass reduction allows the Mako to extricate itself from difficult terrain.
The Mako's hull is covered with laser detection arrays, which forewarn the crew of enemy laser-guided ordnance. Ground-penetrating radar allows detection of anti-vehicle mines and other subsurface anomalies. These will be brought to the attention of the crew by the vehicle's micro-frame computer system.
Several combat support vehicles using the Mako's basic chassis are manufactured for Alliance surface garrisons. These include a recon drone controller, a mobile air defense platform, and the M38 military ambulance nicknamed "Moby" because it is painted white during peacekeeping operations. Shipboard Marines exclusively use the tactically flexible and heavily armed base model.
Optimized for solo reconnaissance missions deep within unstable regions, and using state-of-the-art stealth technology, the Normandy is a prototype deep scout frigate. [Read more]
Technology : Normandy
Frigates are swift, flexible warships. Unlike larger vessels, they are able to land on planets. Although lightly armed, Alliance frigates usually carry a squad of marines for security and groundside duty.
The most important role filled by frigates is scouting and reconnaissance. Thanks to mass effect technology, ships and communications can travel faster than the speed of light. Sensors, however, are limited to the speed of light. If an enemy ship is a light year away, a stationary observer will only be able to see it when its light arrives in a year.
An attacker will always gain surprise against a defender; attacking ships moving faster than light will arrive long before their light speed-limited sensor data does. For defense, fleets are surrounded by spheres of scouting frigates. These vessels detect enemy ships passing by them, and transmit warnings to the main body. The Normandy is a prototype "deep scout" frigate, developed by the Systems Alliance with the assistance of the Citadel Council. It is optimized for solo reconnaissance missions deep within unstable regions, using state-of-the-art stealth technology.
For centuries, it was assumed that starship stealth was impossible. The heat generated by routine shipboard operations is easily detectable against the absolute-zero background temperature of space. The Normandy, however, is able to temporarily "store" this heat in lithium heat sinks deep within the hull. Combined with refrigeration of the exterior hull, the ship can travel undetected for hours, or drift passively for days of covert observation. This is not without risk. The stored heat must eventually be radiated, or it will build up to levels capable of cooking the crew alive.
Another component of the stealth system is the Normandys revolutionary Tantalus drive, a mass effect core twice the standard size. The Tantalus drive generates mass concentrations that the Normandy "falls into", allowing it to move without the use of heat-emitting thrusters. The heat sink and Tantalus drive systems allow the Normandy to loiter undetected in an enemy system to monitor traffic, or drop infiltration teams on enemy worlds. Should the Normandys design prove useful in field tests, it is expected that a follow-up class incorporating "lessons learned" will be produced.
New post on Ebenezer D. Bassett (first African American diplomat) and his role in the early days of what is now Cheyney University (the oldest HBCU).
Get more from AlongTheEasternSeaboard on Patreon
This is a brief introductory post focusing on his role in educating the Black youth, I am currently working on writing about his work as a diplomat but there is a strong chance that that will be a podcast or video instead of a blog post ❤️.
So I decided to read the actual study (link) - it's totally free.
TL;DR: the study is testing how well people in the 21st century can understand the specific nuances of 19th century London. This is not "reading comprehension", they are testing whether you know things like what a "Michaelmas Term" (Wikipedia) is.
This is... to put it politely, not a normal part of reading comprehension in any sort of day to day task. This study is exclusively about your ability to read and be familiar with the nuances of 19th century English Literature as a specific body.
The study structure was 20 minutes to read aloud seven paragraphs. So, while one was allowed a quick Google or a peek at the dictionary, there isn't really time to do any sort of deep dive - this is a test of whether you are already familiar with this sort of work.
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Oh, but it wasn't just 20 minutes to read it out loud: every few sentences, the facilitator would poke the subject to explain the last few sentences. Not summarize, no: they wanted a full dissection. "Dickens is setting the atmosphere by describing the fog" was considered a failure of comprehension. The only explanation they provide that counts as a "pass" is almost twice as long as the actual passage itself!
It's not even really clear if they made it clear to the subjects that they were looking for this sort of verbose summary - the facilitator just replies "O.K." regardless of how detailed their response is.
I cannot imagine I would do terribly better, given 20 minutes to read aloud 7 paragraphs, and being constantly prodded to regurgitate the material at random intervals!
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I really do NOT consider it worth reading, but here's a link to the original post for posterity's sake: https://www.tumblr.com/prettyboysdontlookatexplosions/783379386552516608?source=share
I'm sorry, this is too ripe with irony for me to keep my mouth shut.
You failed at reading comprehension while reading a study about people failing at reading comprehension.
Quick summary of my response for you: It was not about existing knowledge. They were not required to get through all 7 paragraphs. They were not required to read aloud. They were analyzing one sentence at a time; read it, analyze it, move on. Comprehension is more than a simple summary. A dissection of a text will always be longer than the original. Facilitators prompted them with questions, but did not confirm if they were correct, because it is a study, not a work session for the student.
You can hear some of the shock and horror over the massive knowledge gaps in the study's writing, but that is separate from the study itself.
All the following quotes are from the study. Yes, it made me laugh how many typos there are in it.
So. first. They chose Dickens on purpose.
In Bleak House, Dickens also mixes specific, contemporary references (from the book’s first publication in 1852–3) to his 1820s setting.
Dickens’ rhetorical style is, to say the least, unfamiliar, so entering
his world entails making imaginative leaps and consistently thinking on a higher level.
They acknowledge that modern students do not have default knowledge of 19th century references. They started by surveying what they knew about the culture, which let them account for the fact that most of them were starting from zero.
Each taped reading test began with a brief questionnaire in which subjects were asked to give authors and titles of specific nineteenth-century American and British literary works and to explain briefly what they knew about nineteenth-century American and British history and culture. The purpose of these questions was to see how much literary and/or cultural knowledge the subjects possessed. [...]
The results from the questionnaire revealed that most of these subjects could not rely on previous knowledge to help them with Bleak House
It was very much not about their preexisting knowledge. It was about cognitive processing. How well they could encounter something they didn't know, like 'Michaelmas Term' and figure out what Dickens was talking about.
They wanted to see how the students thought through the problem when they encountered something they didn't understand. That's why they were asked to think-aloud. It lets them hear as a student stumbles on an unfamiliar word, and how they work out a definition. Then, if they looked up the word, if they integrated the definition to their understanding of the sentence.
They were looking for synthesization and inference.
A principal concern for us was to test whether the subjects had
reached a level of “proficient-prose literacy,” which is defined by the U. S. Department of Education as the capability of “reading lengthy, complex, abstract prose texts as well as synthesizing information and making complex inferences”
When I read the selection, I encountered things I didn't know. For a simple example: 'blinkers' on horses. I paused, because I think of blinkers as a car thing, but I know the word blinders has to do with horses. They're similar words, and english is like this, so it was either a typo, or an alternate name for what I know as 'blinders'.
They wanted to hear that part, then how you integrate what you've worked out. They wanted to see if you could work out something in paragraph three, then update what you understood back in paragraph two. It was about how they thought.
They were looking for things like the subject who encountered Michaelmas Term and Lincoln's Inn Hall, and tried to look it up online. Then when they couldn't make sense of it, said they'd skip it. They're looking for the students that resorted to commentary because they didn't have an analysis. They're looking for how they faced the problem.
As much as I'd love to go through the whole study and respond to it, that feels both wasteful and insulting to you, which is not my intent.
You seem concerned that this is not a normal part of day to day reading comprehension. I fervently disagree. They were looking for the tactics students were using when they didn't understand something. That is a constant thing in day to day life, even on things you know decently well, even if you know the surrounding context, even on tumblr.
If you get a lease handed to you, and it is dense with legalese, reading tactics are how you decipher it. If you sign a contract for a job, you need to understand it. If a politician rattles off something that's very complex and metaphoric, with a bunch of weird vocabulary, reading tactics are how you know if they're lying to you.
If you're on this site, where we piss on the poor, if you read something and you jump from noun to noun, you can miss the intent of the post. If you read something that has an unfamiliar dogwhistle in it, and you're not actually comprehending what you're reading, you might take it as face value. Comprehension might only mean you pause and think 'that's a weird way to phrase that'. You probably don't go google that, but if you see it a couple times, you will. It will stand out to you if you were processing what you read, not just skimming across it.
I am not trying to be insulting, I'd be much ruder if I was. But OP, you did not comprehend what the study was doing, or what the write up is saying.
This is pretty good study. I wish it was a larger scale. Get them 1500 students from English education programs across the country, I want to see the data. I also want broader data sampling. It's fascinating, discouraging as hell, and we should use it to whack school boards until they change the way school gets structured, and how we teach students.
They were also testing whether these English majors—not a random sample of the population, people who chose to study English literature in college—could make literal sense of the sentences they were reading, or if they skimmed over them not expecting them to make any sense or matter if they did.
The article explains why they chose the study method they did: they wanted to test what strategies students use to understand a complex text. When people see students struggling to read, they usually assume the students can read and understand the words on the page in front of them, and are just having trouble extrapolating bigger themes and contexts and conclusions from it. This study was not making that assumption and was testing whether these students could literally understand what a sentence was talking about. And when the answer was “no, a bunch of them were not understanding the text at a sentence-by-sentence level,” letting them read silently and sit with the text is not going to show you that—and giving them time to read on their own is not going to indicate to you where exactly they’re having issues! The reason “Dickens is setting the atmosphere by describing the fog” is considered “competent” and not “proficient” is because there is a lot of concrete detail in all these long, winding sentences, and while saying “it’s full of fog” is true, the sentence is, say, literally describing a sky full of heavy clouds and people on the bridge looking down at the water and seeing only fog there as well—a “nether sky” i.e. the river below looks similar to the sky above, metaphorically unmooring the people in space. The language is doing something specific, and the study is asking whether the students think thoroughly about what the sentence is saying or if they just see “fog” again and move on.
The study method was chosen for a specific reason, and that specific reason was to test the assumption that these students are able to understand, at the sentence level, what is actually happening in the text they read and having them spell out their thought process. It is way better at pinpointing where particular comprehension disconnects happen than having them summarize the whole thing at the end.
I would LOVE to see this study sample a large number of students from different universities! This is not about shaming people, this is about figuring out how to teach students to read complex texts more effectively!
I don't see people talking about this so today is the 110th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, in where the factory owners locked working women and girls inside to "eliminate the risk of theft" (in reality it was too keep them from taking breaks), which resulted in the gruesome deaths of 123 mostly immigrant women and girls and 23 men, many of whom jumped to their deaths from the ninth floor either in a panicked attempt to escape or in order to die quickly. There were reports that some of the workers were on fire already as they jumped.
The eighth floor of the building was able to telephone the tenth floor to warn them about the fire, but the factory on the ninth floor where these women and girls labored had no such communication and such warning.
The factory owners were criminally charged with manslaughter for actions that contributed to the mass deaths but acquitted. However, this tragedy led to mass sympathy to the labor movement, and unions spurred on safety regulations that passed in New York state and eventually the entire country, and activists were able to reduce child labor in the process.
This tragedy is a reminder that has been forgotten in the 110 years since: every safety regulation-- every scrap of paperwork contributing to the hundreds of pages of red tape people like to complain about--every word of it was written in the blood of a laborer.
They were discouraged from breaks because they were actively trying to unionize, and bosses felt that keeping them from unsupervised contact would prevent them from joining the garment workers' union.
This is why unions are important. This is why today, right now, the biggest companies in America are trying to squash unionization of their laborers and why those workers are fighting so hard to unionize.
@tikkunolamorgtfo did a great write-up a few years ago about the aftermath of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire, and I highly recommend reading it (and anything else you can about the fire). It is painfully relevant still and it's incredibly important women's, Jewish, immigrants', and workers' history.
#most of the girls working there were either jewish immmigrants or southern italian immigrants #two of the more exploited immigrant groups at the turn of the century particularly in nyc but elsewhere too #the labor history element of it can't be overemphasized tbh (x)
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