First Chapter/Previous Chapter
The birds chirped loudly outside and woke Tamara from her sleep. At first, she tried to ignore them and hugged her goose feather pillow hard, but it was pointless. She opened one of her eyes, and her pupil immediately contracted so much that it became paper thin.
While awake, she was in no position to get up; her body was far too cold. Tamara extended her arms and spread herself out on the bed, slowly absorbing the heat from the sunbeams that poured through her window.
As she lay there, she used this time to think.
“Why was it taking longer?” Tamara mumbled half in her head and half through her lips. When she was young, she was adamant that it took half the time; Tamara would ask her mother when she got up.
Slowly but surely, she absorbed more and more heat so that with each passing minute, she became more alert until, finally, she felt uncomfortable, and her skin flushed. It was time to get up.
Tamara slid out of bed and propped herself up; she swayed from side to side like a sapling in a breeze, her eye half open and made her way to a chest of draws. She pulled off her white nighty, shivered slightly in the chilly air, and then rummaged around for a tunic.
“The green one?” she asked herself; she shook her head, “Not today.” In the end, she settled on a crimson top and crawled into it.
Apart from a few hair accessories, this was it. Apart from Samuel, no one for miles wore more than one article of clothing. Besides the drawers was a small table with a chair arranged on the top were several items, a hairbrush with several bronze hairpins, and a collection of small stones; her favourite was a clear, shiny green one all fat at one end which ended in a sharp point at the other. A stack of papers with several writing supplies was at one end of the table.
There were also several figurines carved from wood. They were all gifts from Samuel, but the one she loved most was a terrible attempt at a Lamia; this was the first present she had received from him.
She picked up her hairbrush; she had no mirror. In fact, Tamara had no idea what a mirror was, but she did not need one and began to brush—every time she woke up, her hair appeared as though she had been struck by lightning.
Tamara ran her fingers through her hair, ensuring that she had removed all knots and that her hair was smooth. The hairbrush was placed back on the table, and a few pins were picked up. She took her hair and carefully wrapped her hair into a bun. When she was done, she gave it a few pats to ensure it was satisfactory.
Leaving the table, Tamara took a few moments to make sure she had not forgotten anything. Her room was pretty sparse, just the bed, the table and cupboard, with a small chest underneath the window; it contained several things she no longer needed but did not have the heart to throw away. Lying by its side was the same leather pouch she had used yesterday, but she would not need it today.
She turned around and left the room, gently closing the door behind her. To her left was another window, and to her right a hallway with one other room beside hers. She listened in as she passed the door but could hear no signs of life.
“Mum must be downstairs,” she thought.
At the end of the hall was a set of stairs; a faint but broad mark was visible leading down to the bottom, made by Tamara’s and her mother’s tails. Tamara added to the stairs wear, and as she reached the bottom, Tamara heard, “Finally up?”
The warm, smiling face of her mother, Pancha, was the source. Pancha was a Lamia with the same golden scales and hair. Her face was similar, except that her eyes were hazel instead of emerald green. Her hair came down to her shoulders with two plaits on one side. She wore a purple tunic with the same diamond pattern on the chest.
They both stood in the kitchen. Pancha was in front of a large metal stove beneath a window. The reason was twofold: firstly, they did not have plumbing or a boiler, so all hot water came from the stove, and secondly, it was warm. Tamara sat at the table in the centre of the room and began drumming her fingers on the wood.
“Would you like a drink?” Pancha asked.
Tamara nodded and replied, “Yeah.”
Pancha returned to the stove and filled a clay cup with hot water.
“What flavour, mint, orange, apple?” Tamara stopped for a few moments as she considered her options.
“Umm, apple, please” she answered.
Her mother carefully placed the cup in front of Tamara; there was a fine haze of steam drifting from the water, and floating inside were several slivers of apple peel. She blew on it and took a small sip; the flavour was subtle, and if she had not seen the peel, she would have thought it was plain water.
Pancha sat down opposite her daughter with a similar cup in her hand, except this one was brewing orange peel. This daily ritual was designed to add the last bit of heat that the sun did not provide, and as far as Tamara knew, every Lamia and Cicindeli in the village did it.
Outside the window, a new sound was overcoming that of the birds; it was the unmistakable sound of chatter of people.
“What do we have to do today?” Tamara asked Pancha. “Well, first, we will meet up with Odalinde and Handus in the market.”
“Why not the town hall?” Tamara interrupted.
“Because it’s too warm today,” she replied, “then we will wander about town and ask if anyone has any problems, and after that, we have the last few hours to ourselves.”
Pancha was the representative of her race just as Odalinde was for the Boreray and Handus was for the Cicindeli. They made most of the executive decisions for the village. The last major one was two years ago when Handus called for everyone not to kill Samuel on sight. Tamara was expected to take over from her mother when she was older, just as Pancha had done for Granddad Eesa.
The last few drops of water were gulped down, and the cups were given a quick wash in the sink. The stove was put out, and a small puff of soot dirtied Tamara’s face; she wiped herself down with a washcloth.
They left the kitchen by another door, which led into another hallway. To the left was the sitting room where Tamara and Pancha would spend their evenings and entertain guests. Straight ahead was one final door; beside it was a coat rack with three hooks; the two closest to the door had thick, heavy coats; the third remained vacant.
As Pancha tried to close the front door behind her, the hinge tended to jam a bit; Tamara walked into the middle of the street. Right in front of her house was the home of Mrs Caltha, Mr Davin and one of Tamara’s best friends, Becanda. The house was two stories tall, made from solid wood, usually oak or mahogany, and covered in a waterproof paste to stop the rot from setting in.
In the distance, Tamara could hear a steadily growing noise; this was the market where people met and conducted their business. Tamara felt a tap on her shoulder; she turned to see her mother smiling at her and holding out her hand. Tamara took it, and the two of them headed toward the crowd.
A few streets later, they entered the market, which was packed with Lamias, Cicindeli, and Boreray. People moved from stall to stall, picking up items they needed and chatting with their friends, which was to say, everyone. They ducked and weaved through the crowd, trying their best to avoid the dozens of people who wanted to spark up conversation.
Ahead was a series of benches arranged in a circle; several people were sitting on them talking, but no sign of Handus or Odalinde.
“Mmm, those lazy snails aren’t here yet,” stated Tamara.
Pancha turned to her daughter and said, “Don’t talk about other people like that; it’s very bad.” After which, she smiled and let out a slight snigger.
Pancha and Tamara sat down on a free bench and took the time to enjoy the peace, if not the quiet. People walking past would stop to say hello, ask how they were doing and now that they knew they weren’t late, they could indulge them. Pancha was busy talking with a turquoise Cicindeli woman called Lupita, so Tamara decided to take a little walk.
“Don’t go far!” Pancha called out.
“Yeah, I know” she replied.
At the centre of the bench circle was a giant sundial. It was scarred, carved from granite, and had been here long before Tamara was born. She ran her fingers over the stone despite the warmth of the sun beating down upon it; it was cold to the touch. It was indeed a magnificent thing, beautiful and providing a valuable service, which was a shame because hardly anyone ever noticed it, let alone used it.
Tamara remembered the story her mother had told her: around seventy years ago, there was a Cicindeli man named Lamuel. According to the tale, he was an inquisitive soul, always asking questions and hardly ever satisfied by the answers he got.
One day, he asked, “Why do we only have names for three times of the day morning, midday and night time?” “What about all the bits in between?”
After which, he divided the day into fourteen bits and built this sundial to display them.
However, despite this monumental effort, the only thing anyone had ever said about it was that it was a pretty statue.
As Tamara remembered the story, she also remembered the moral her mother had taught her, “Don’t put effort into pointless things.”
Tamara felt that the story taught two different lessons: people don’t like change, and they never notice a good thing when they have it.
The shadow cast by the gnomon pointed at the second marking on the stone, but there were no symbols, letters or numbers. Until Samuel showed up, they did not exist.
She did not know how long she had been staring at the shadow when someone behind her said, “Seen anything good?” Tamara turned around to see the smiling face of Handus.
Handus was the representative of the Cicindeli. He was a tall, well-built man with deep crimson hair, and the chitin on his arms and leg was the same. Today, Handus was wearing a deep purple tunic; on the chest were five circles stacked on each other.
Just behind him was another Cicindeli, a young man with the same crimson hair wearing a butter yellow tunic with the same pattern on his chest as Handus; his name was Tide, and he was Handus’s son.
“Good morning, Mr Handus,” Tamara said with a smile. “I was just thinking about Lamuel and why he made this,” she added, pointing to the sundial.
“Yes,” replied Handus; he paused for a moment, deep in thought and then continued, “I never knew Lamuel; he was before my time, and I won’t even pretend to understand him, but if I believe there is anyone in this village that can, it would be you.”
“What do you mean?” Tamara asked, a little confused.
“From the stories I have heard, you and Lamuel are a lot alike. You constantly ask what no one else even thinks of, and you always, always try to find your own answers,” Handus clarified.
Tamara was quiet for a few moments until she had a big, broad smile and said: “thank you, Mr Handus.”
Handus nodded and walked over to Pancha while Tide followed behind. She liked Handus; he always knew what to say and was incredibly wise, almost as wise as Samuel.
Now that she had been distracted, she could no longer focus on the sundial, so she headed towards her mother.
“Do you know what is taking Odalinde so long?” Pancha asked Handus.
“Well, if I know her, she will be fussing over Ezra and Wacey,” he said with a chuckle.
Tamara sat down beside Pancha; as she did so, Tide looked at her; he gave her a warm smile and said: “hello, Tamara.”
Tide was fourteen years old, fairly tall for his age, and carried himself with a quiet dignity; when she was younger, Tamara had found this annoying, but gradually, over time, she had come to respect it; it also did not hurt that he was easy on the eyes.
She smiled back and replied, “Hello, did you have a good morning?”
The four of them talked for several minutes, discussing mundane matters, when they were called from behind, “Sorry that we’re a little late. Wacey refused to put her dress on.”
The group turned around to see the flustered face of Odalinde. Protruding from the sides of her head were a pair of cement-coloured horns curling around once in a graceful spiral. Her hair was a gentle gold, only slightly curled and tied into a short ponytail, which was unusual for a Boreray.
Covering her chest was a thick blanket of fluffy golden wool that grew in such a way that it almost resembled a swim top. This wool also appeared on her forearms and lower legs, ending in cloven hooves.
Unlike the Lamias and Cicindeli, Boreray did not wear tunics; instead, whether male or female, they wore a skirt that came down to their knees. Today, Odalinde was sporting a white number, and on its hem were two triangles arranged parallel to one another.
Behind her trailed two others, a girl named Wacey and a boy called Ezra. They were twins and Odalinde’s children. They had the same wool as their mother and a pair of tiny horns on their heads. They had started growing when they turned six and, in the past year, had steadily gotten bigger.
They wore matching dresses, a deep shade of amber with a green symbol on their hems. “I don’t want to wear this dress; I want to wear the green one!” Wacey exclaimed, stamping her hooved foot on the floor.
“Well, tough, and don’t you even think about taking it off, or you won’t get any juice!” Odalinde replied sternly. Wacey said no more but had a deep scowl on her face.
“Well, if that’s all sorted, perhaps we can get started?” Pancha said, smiling at Odalinde.
“Yes, well, let’s begin,” Odalinde replied, clearing her throat.
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TLTR: This, is a story of survival.

Sundays used to be my "ME" day.
It was the one day of the week that I refused to do anything. I made no commitments to anyone. If I felt like doing something, I'd do it... and if I felt like spending the day laying in bed counting the cob webs on the ceiling (sounds oddly reminiscent of my last date), then that's exactly what I would do. I had no guilt and no regrets.
At some point in my adulthood I lost my "ME" day.
Relinquished to family illnesses to take on the relentless role of primary caregiver until death. And when it's over, you spend another few years creating sufficient chaos in your life to ensure you never have time to be still... all while desperately trying to find yourself again.
Well, by the end of 2023, I finally found my fat sorry ass.... and I didn't like her.
Long story short, 2024 kicked off the first chapter of my next captivating saga - the narrative for which is yet to unfold. But, if there is anything I'm certain of, it will have drama, conflict, mishaps and adventures.
On the tails of ringing in the New Year came a new elixir called 'Mounjaro', and with it, a recommitment to positive lifestyle practices. Things like... cooking my meals at home, more mindful eating, getting more than four hours of sleep, being a little kinder to myself, and giving myself license to hope. I'd like to say exercise too, but cut me some slack... I'm still a Work In Progress. I'll get there... eventually.
As I've shared in my previous post DOWN THE SKINCARE RABBIT HOLE, skincare has become one of my newest excellent adventures. I am more lubricated head to toe now than a Mack truck. With this new found interest in skincare I've found a quiet solace at the start and end of each day, pampering myself with all the potions that have transformed my bathroom counter into what is now a mini chemistry lab.
The road back...
Lurking in the back of my mind has been this desire to officially reclaim my Sunday "ME" day. I haven't quite managed it yet, but I feel like I'm almost there. One of the hallmarks of my past life was the Sunday bath - a symbolic way of closing off the week with a almost-too-hot-to-tolerate soak in the tub to cleanse the week away.
I have a shower every morning, but I haven't had a bath in years and years and years. Partly because I didn't have time but mostly because I got too fat. The logistics of getting in or out of a bathtub for someone who is morbidly obese is next level anxiety. Add to the mix a sore knee, sore foot, sore hip and that newly acquired menopausally rotund mid-section and it's all just a disaster waiting to happen. My entire existence these past few years has been almost solely focused on remaining upright and on my feet at all times - because if I went down, there was no guarantee I could get back up again.
So I've been waiting....
Having dropped 47 lbs since starting Mounjaro, I am finally now back in historical bath time territory. I was going to save this moment for some time in June but since it was Sunday, and I have a new bathtub I've never had the pleasure of soaking in yet, I decided today was the day for a bath!
It seemed like a great idea at the time.
I got into the tub with relative ease and dropped in at low tide. One thing I'm not 100% sure of is if the overflow drain is actually attached. The last thing I wanted to end my day with is finding out the hard way that the overflow isn't plumbed in and then having to deal with the inevitable insurance claim from the suite below.
Anyhoo.... there I am with my Budda Body FINALLY taking a bath! Another Non-Scale Victory in the making!! How exciting!! Just don't make any waves!
Then a moment of panic....
WHERE IS ALL THE WATER? It was just here!! The tub was filling up nicely and then out of nowhere half of it just disappeared on me!
Did the bathtub spring a leak????
Did my foot hit the drain and unplug it????
My heart is racing... my eyes scanning for clues.... my ears tuned for the sound of trickling water.... And then I see it... my body had created a dam - a water tight dam! And when my weight shifted, all that water that was in front of me, had suddenly flow through to the back of me.
RELIEF!
There's no leak! I'm just still really fucking fat!
But at least that's not an insurance claim. And so we sit. And soak. And marvel at how much better my legs look under water than above water. Today is a good day. I'm finally having a bath!!! But as with everything in life... all good things must come to an end. Once I reached pruned status and the water had cooled, I realized it was time to leave this sanctuary of liquid velvet.
HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM.
Suddenly I realized that while I wasn't too fat to get into the tub... I may still be too fat to get out of the tub. It's hard for me to put into words just how things unfolded from there. But if you can imagine a walrus stuck in a bathtub, panicking while it tries to roll itself out and over the edge - because that sore knee and sore foot and sore hip that I mentioned earlier were having none of it. Panicked Mad Walrus Stuck in Bathtub would be a suitable headline to describe the chaos that ensued.
BUT I MADE IT! I SURVIVED!!!
I will live to see another day and I didn't even have to call Search & Rescue to come and get me. I did sprain my finger though. I am probably the only person you will ever know that sprained their finger trying to get out of a bathtub. Needless to say... my next bath is scheduled for sometime in 2025.
Not all Non-Scale Victories are a success.

THE SYMBOLIC
I
Freudian Preludes
Love Triangles
One might wonder whether anything in psychoanalysis could better illustrate what Lacan calls the “symbolic order” - an order characterized by language and structure - than love triangles. Freud devotes several papers to discussing the kinds of love triangles in which specific groups of neurotic men and women, whom he refers to as obsessives (or obsessional) and hysterics (or hysterical), all too often find themselves entangled. We shall see to what degree what we learn from this subsections of the population is applicable to human beings more generally.
Obsessives in Love
There are certain men, Freud tells us in “On the Universal Tendency to Debasement in the Sphere of Love,” who are incapable of falling in love with a woman unless she is already involved with another man. A woman is uninteresting to such men in the absence of this formal, structural, symbolic condition - a condition that obviously harks back to the Oedipal triangle where, right from the outset, boys had a rival for their mothers’ affections in the form of their fathers (and/or siblings). Freud indicates that such men need to feel jealous of and have “gratifying impulses of rivalry and hostility” toward the other man, the man who was already involved with the woman before he came on the scene.
Men who love in this way often end up having a whole series of triangular attachments proving that it is not the particular women they fall for who are important but rather the structural situation itself: a situation including a woman who is already “taken” and the man who “possesses” her. Should the woman in question leave her boyfriend, fiance, or husband, the triangle collapses and the woman is no longer of any interest to our lover, who can no longer fancy himself an interloper or invader of the other man’s territory. It is only the continued impossibility of the situation - the enduring hopelessness of ever possessing the other man’s woman - that keeps him interested; as soon as the obstacle to possession disappears, so too does his love for her.
This is an obsessive configuration insofar as the obsessive’s desire is always from something impossible: to attain an unattainable status (e.g., perfection, omniscience, or immortality), to complete and uncompletable project, or to possess what he cannot possess. In saying that the obsessive is characterized by an impossible desire, Lacan goes so far as to add that his desire is for impossibility itself. A relationship with a woman is not in and of itself appealing or gratifying enough to our obsessive: it must be mediated by a living, breathing, third party who renders his quest unrealizable, allowing him to go on dreaming “the impossible dream” (as the Broadway musical Man of La Mancha put it).
This third party may be no older than our lover, even if older men are the most enjoyable targets of his rage and shenanigans. The obsessive is most intrigued when the Other man is clearly designated, in socially recognizable linguistic terms of the historical era and culture, as having an official status as a boyfriend, lover, partner, fiance, husband, or whatever the other terms of the time and place may be (for example, mignon, favori, “favorite,” or even “servant”). Yet even when the third party simply is someone who occasionally hangs around the woman (actually or virtually), having some sort of nebulous, vague, undefined relationship with her, our obsessive can often imagine that he is far more substantial than he appears to be or than he lets on - that is, that he is a genuine father-like rival.
Although it may appear outwardly that our lover is captivated by another man’s woman, it is the Other man himself who is of libidinal centrality to him - for it is the obsessive’s competition with this Other man that gets his juices flowing, so to speak, that gets him angry or stirred up, feeling, by turns, inferior or superior to him. Consciously he believes that it is the Other man’s woman who fascinates him; unconsciously it is the battle with the Other man that fascinates him.
The ostensible goal here seems to be to defeat this man (and get his girl), just as one wished, but failed, to defeat one’s own father back in the day. Perhaps at age three to five, the young would-be father slayer felt he knew what he would do with the prize of such a glorious victory (he would be with her always, cuddle with her, and take his father’s place in the conjugal bed with her); but at age 20, 30, or 40, he no longer wants her once he wins her, should he ever - whether accidentally or inadvertently - win her.
It should be kept in mind that, although such obsessive love triangles are currently most common among men, they can also be found among women, many of whom are hardly strangers to obsession.
Let us turn now to hysterics and their triangles.
Hysterics in Love
There are certain women, Freud tells us, who are especially attuned to any expression by their beloved of even the slightest interest in another woman (the prime example he gives is that of the witty hysteric in The Interpretation of Dreams). Should he seem to appreciate, esteem, or compliment a woman he knows from work or some other context and express this in even the most tepid of terms, a chain reaction is set off: our lover becomes jealous - sometimes insanely so - and insistently inquires about this woman, seeking to discern what her beloved could possibly see in her. (Just as certain women are no strangers to obsession, certain men are no strangers to hysteria, and one can thus find such acute attunement to expressions of the partner’s interest in another in both men and women, in heterosexual and homosexual couples alike.)
The question that spurs the female hysteric on is, according to Lacan, “How can another woman be loved?” - in other words, how can this man, who professes to love me, find something to love in another? He claims to be well satisfied with me and yet along comes someone who is nothing like me and he finds plenty to praise in her! This proves that I am no longer the be-all and end-all of his existence - I must find a way to reclaim my rightful place.
“How can another woman be loved?” might be more colloquially formulated as, “What’s she got that I ain’t got?” Perhaps if I study her carefully and get to know all about her, I can fathom her secret, plumbing simultaneously the secret cause of this unsuspected desire in my beloved.
It is not terribly difficult to discern a parallel here with the little girl’s question: “Why does Daddy love Mommy more than me?” (after all, he shares his bed with her, not me, and he talks with her about my misbehavior but not with me about hers). What does he see in her? What can she give him that I can’t? One of the classic answers is a baby, explaining at least in part little girls’ interest in baby dolls, which they imagine to be babies they have had with Daddy.
Just as a little girl may observe her mother to learn how a woman must walk, talk, dress - in short, be - in order to attract Daddy, the hysteric becomes fascinated with the infamous “other woman” to learn what she must do and how she must act to captivate her beloved. Her fascination with this other woman at times goes so far as to easily surpass her interest in her beloved.
Women who can charm her man (and perhaps enchant other men as well) sometimes become so intriguing to the hysteric that the man himself becomes secondary - no more than a vehicle, vertex on a triangle, or traffic sign that points her desire in a certain direction. She begins to emulate there alluring women. Without thinking about it in most cases, she finds herself becoming like them in certain ways, even in ways that are of no interest whatsoever to her partner. She may well become fixated, for example, on clothing, hairstyles, and body shapes that are not attractive to him and that even turn him off.
Women’s preoccupation in recent decades with a look that has been fostered in the media by fashion designers and photographers for the most part - skeleton-like thinness - has rarely, if even, been appreciated by the kind of men who are actually excited by women. A vast swath of the current female population seems to have come to believe that, since such undernourished women were finding their ways to the covers of magazines, men must find such boniness glamorous and attractive, failing to realize that the fashion industry has long been dominated by men who are not especially attracted to women (and who are often even disgusted by the mature female figure, especially insofar as it differs from a prepubescent boyish figure). Men who are sexually attracted to women, like the husband of the witty hysteric in Freud’s early example, generally prefer fuller, more feminine forms to boyish figures.
Try as a man might to convince a hysterical partner that, although he finds certain women in their entourage vaguely interesting in one way or another, he is not turned on by their thinness, she may nevertheless latch onto their shape as something to imitate - after all, can he be trusted when he says he does not find that appealing? Perhaps he is just saying that to mollify me. Isn’t that the most obvious, visible difference between them and me? Perhaps he does not know his own mind and will find himself inexplicably drawn to me if I become thin like them. In any case, it is not the specific qualities or personality traits of the other woman that are so important to her; what is crucial is her structural position as someone who finds a way to elicit a desire in a partner whose desire may well be experienced by the hysteric as flagging if not altogether dead.
Now what happens if the hysteric’s love triangle collapses? Recall that the obsessive who inadvertently succeeds in break up the Other man’s relationship - or who witnesses the splitting up of the couple through no doing of his own - suddenly has no more use for the woman of his purported dreams than a fish for a bicycle. Unless there is a chance of her getting back together with her partner, in which case the regular intervention of the former partner can fuel the obsessive’s continued interest. What happens if the hysteric’s partner loses all interest in the other woman? Will the hysteric feel triumphant at having bested her rival? Perhaps momentarily, but it is likely that she will seek to discern an interest in yet another woman on her partner’s part, failing which she may go so far as to introduce a new woman to her partner in the hope of eliciting a desire in him that she may then explore.
For when there is no desire in her partner to excavate, she feels that he is dead - and then she might as well be too. Desire is, as Spinoza tells us, the essence of humankind, and we must ever be looking for something or engaged in a quest of some kind. Just as the obsessive must always have a rival rendering his desire impossible, the hysteric must always locate a desire in her partner for something outside of or beyond herself, suggesting that he is dissatisfied or suffers from a lack of satisfaction. If he wants something it must be, as Socrates would have it, because he feels that he does not have and longs for it. It is not enough if she detects a desire in him for something he does not have in a realm that does not involve her - work, sports, hobbies, or the like - for he will still be dead as concerns herself. If he does not have, or no longer has or expresses, a desire for something that involves or otherwise concerns her - as is very often the case, especially when the relationship has gone beyond the initial stages of infatuation - she may attempt to incite one in him.
It should not be thought that her goal, in detecting or eliciting such a desire in her beloved, is to satisfy him - to help him obtain, for example, whatever or whomever he wants - for once satisfied his desire would disappear and she would need to begin the whole process anew. He must continue to be wanting - feeling deprived of something - for it is his wanting that gives her a project and place in his life.
She may consciously believe that his wanting troubles and frustrates her greatly, and that she would like nothing more than to be able to give him precisely what he wants (were such a thing even possible, but more on that later). Yet were she to do so, there would be nothing left to be desired, for him or for her. And a life without desire is to be avoided at all costs, for it is tantamount to nonexistence, death.
Hence, should she like nothing more than to give him what he wants (and it is not always clear that she does), she must frustrate this tendency in herself; she must resist her own temptation. She must frustrate her own want and leave unsatisfied her own desire. This is, in part, what leads Lacan to view the hysteric as characterized by impossible desire.
Note that the parallelism between obsession and hysteria is not absolute: whereas the obsessive is ostensibly interested in another man’s woman, but is actually engrossed in rivaling with and undermining the Other man himself, the hysteric ostensibly seeks to divine the reasons for her own man’s interest in another woman, but is actually more interested in unearthing the secret of femininity through this other woman so that she can become like her, thereby becoming the very essence of Woman. The obsessive wishes to defeat and replace the Other man, the hysteric to study, imitate, and become like the other woman - at times to the point of virtually falling in love with she whom the hysteric believes holds the secret of her own femininity.
Moreover, the obsessive does not select as his rival a man who seems to catch the fancy of the obsessive’s pre-existing girlfriend or wife (his choice of a partner would then have been possible, not impossible), whereas the hysteric’s quest involves the very woman who seems to catch the fancy of her pre-existing boyfriend or husband (or even father, as in the case of Dora, where Dora becomes fascinated with Frau K. who is the mistress of Dora’s father).
The Oedipal connection seems clear enough in both cases: in his rivalry with his father for his mother’s affections, the boy undoubtedly attempts to grasp what his father has that he does not have that makes his mother prefer his father to him (the ability to earn money, physical strength, social status, a larger penis, a sense of humor, or whatever the case may be, assuming she does prefer his father to him) and may well strive to become a man like his father, if not more of a man than his father. The girl, in her rivalry with her mother for her father’s affections, similarly attempts to grasp what her mother has that she does not have that makes her father prefer her mother to her.
Although an obsessive may at times adopt a couple he encounters (to serve as parents, as it were) with whom he has no prior connection, and insert himself into it, in the majority of cases the man in the couple is already known to him - either as a friend, boss, or colleague. Indeed, he might never have paid a moment’s notice to the woman in the couple had he not been in some way taken with the man.
This friend, boss, or colleague morphs into a father-like rival for the obsessive, just as the other woman noticed by the hysteric’s male partner becomes a mother - or sister-like rival for the hysteric. The obsessive is perhaps more likely to compete directly with his rival and the hysteric more likely to emulate or model herself on her rival, but their situations are similar in many respects. In both cases, while the desires of which they are aware revolve around someone of the opposite sex, the desires of which they are unaware revolve around someone of the same sex. And in neither case is much satisfaction found - or, rather, satisfaction is far more likely to be found in the rivalry with the person of the same sex than with the person of the opposite sex.

Could anyone help me in providing study material for the following syllabus. Thank you.

1. Drawing Techniques

2.1 Drawing sheet: Types, composition and its essential component
2.2 Suitable scales, site plans, preliminary drawings, working drawings, as built drawing
2.3 Theory of projection drawing: perspective, orthographic and axonometric projection; first and third angle projection
2.4 Drafting tools, equipment and software
2.5 Drafting conventions and symbols
2.6 Topographic, electrical, plumbing and structural drawings
2.7 Techniques of free hand drawing

Let me share my 3000h of modded wisdom with you, my fellow vanilla comrades. My attempt here is to provide you with as many as possible improvements to the base game while keeping the style, balance, and content as vanilla as possible. As they say, when it works the best is when you don't realize it is there. I guarantee you that after playing for a while with these, you will no longer be able to tell what's from the base game and what's not.
You don't know how to mod? Maybe this very basic guide will help. Please, note that many mods come with options to tune up your experience. It is recommended you give them a look.
You can find the steam collection here. Be aware that some of these mods require the DLCs. You don't have the DLCs? Just don't use the mod.
Dependencies:

• Harmony + Huglibs. Required by so many mods, you may as well be done with it and always have them.
• Vanilla Expanded Framework. While not as radically necessary as the previous ones, it's still a dependency fairly common. And this one actually does cool things on its own, like loading new modded factions without having to start a new game.
• XML Extensions. You won't be able to access the options of some mods without this.

Performance

• Dub performance analyzer. Enable the optimizations and override options, you can ignore everything else. If you want to disable alerts, use rocketman.
• Rocketman. By default, it should be good enough. This mod also allows to disable alerts you may don't care about, like, dunno, tattered apparel or unhappy nudity. It is recommended to run adaptive move occasionally (in stat cache settings).
• Performance Optimizer. More hacker magic. If you don't like the UI changes, you can disable them in the options. This mod does more performance stuff aside from that, so use it anyway!
• Performance Fish. You will have to install this mod manually, since it's not available in the workshop. You will also need to install its dependencies, Fishery and Prepatcher. Please, be aware that at the present there's an issue in which linking storages crashes the game. However, this can be prevented by disabling "TryFindBestBetterStoreCellFor" in the options.

Minor changes

• Optimization Meats. Unless you really want dozens of different meat types for some weird role-play reason, this mod will reduce the bloat on your kitchens.
• Better Animal Tab
• Better Info Card
• Conduit Deconstruct. A button to exclusively dismantle power conduits.
• Disable Automatically Select Travel Supplies
• Improved Need Indicator
• Map Preview. You can reroll as well!
• Prepare Landing. You can search world tiles matching your conditions. Goes great with Map Preview.
• Medical Tab. An easy way to overview your colony health.
• More Harvest Designators! e.g. harvest only fully growth plants.
• ModDiff. Great improvement of the mod mismatch screen.
• Pharmacist Temporary Update. Instead of always using the best medicine, now your pawns can use the appropriate medicine for the situation. No longer will they spent glitterworld meds on scratches!
• Smart Turret Covering. Fixes an issue with turret covers.
• PawnTargetFix. So that the autotarget prioritizes the closest enemy.
• Poisoned Food Stack Fix (Fix). Fixes an issue with meal stacks.
• Priority Treatment Ressurected. Doctors will finally prioritize keeping your pawns alive over taking a nap. Disable the option that prevents injured pawns from performing surgery, it has issues.
• QualityBuilder. You can set up a target level for furniture, and your pawns will reconstruct it until it's achieved. If I remember correctly, it's enabled by default for all new furniture? You can turn that off in options.
• RPG Style Inventory Revamped. Much better looking inventory.
• Replace Stuff. Allows to directly replace buildings, without having to deconstruct first.
• Research Tree. A better research tree.
• RimHUD. The best mod of the whole list, it will save you A TON of clicks.
• RimSaves. Overhaul of the save menu.
• Show Known Techprints on the trade screen.
• Show mechanoid weapons on the info screen.
• Smarter Construction. No more babysitting pawns when building walls.
• Stack gap. By default, pawns constantly refill storages. With this mod, you can configure it so that storages are refiled only when they're empty.
• Just Put It Over There. Traders will deliver the merchandise, instead of dropping it on the ground.
• Trade Ships Drop Spot. Mark the spot in which orbital traders will deliver the merchandise, instead on whenever they feel like it. Doesn't work inside animal pens.
• Trading Options. Configure how frequent you want the traders to be.
• WVC. More work modes for the mechanitor.
• Save Settings. Allows you to save and load storage, production, and clothes settings. Works cross-save!
• No Max Bills. Removes the bill cap on workbenches.
• Better ground-penetrating scanner
• Colored deep resources
• Common Sense. Feel free to configure however you like it. I prefer it like this.
• Dubs Mint Menus. Improvements to a bunch of menus.
• Better Pawn Control. Improved management policies.
• Animals Logic. A lot of useful animal-related improvements. Disable the meat option if you're using Optimization Meats.
• Non uno Pinata. Pawns don't drop items when downed. Configurable.
• Bulk Smelting will save you precious time.
• Stonecutting Extended. The same as the previous mod, but for stones.
• Electric Stonecutting Table. To speed up the stonecutting even more.
• Faster Smoothing, a must for all mountain/underground out there.
• Do Your F****** Research. You can order pawns to research.
• Go the Fork to Sleep. You can order pawns to sleep.
• Meal Radius. Configure how far pawns will search for a table to eat.
• Home radius. Configure the size of the automatic home area.
• Smarter Visitors. Visitors will leave if things get dangerous.
• Custom Guilt Duration. Executions in vanilla are a pain because the guilty status goes away too fast. Now you can configure it.
• Dress Patients. Allows dressing of downed pawns.
• Way Better Romance
• Hunters Use Melee
• Injured Carry. Allows to rescue not downed pawns, no longer you have to wait for the bleeding to down them.
• Not My Fault. The player is no longer responsible for unrelated deaths on the map.
• Deep Storage + Simple Storage. Improves stockpile management.
• Pick Up And Haul. Improved hauling.
• While You're Up. Complement for the previous mod. Keep in mind that these two mods will trivialize part of the challenge by freeing a lot of time from your colonists. Just, dunno, turn up the difficulty a notch or something.
• Trading Spot. Marks where you want traders to stop on your map. It's a must if you use a desired path mod (I don't know if they have been updated to 1.5 yet).
• Vanilla Base Generation Expanded. Improved NPC base generation.
• Cut plants before building
• Psychic Harmonizer Lag Fix
• Fellow Ideology players, you're welcome.
  • Style Change Anytime
  • Persistent Precepts

Major changes

• Dubs Bad Hygiene. Plumbing!
• Vanilla Temperature Expanded. Lot of useful temperature-related buildings, as well as proxy heat, a very cool mechanic. Some buildings are redundant with the previous mod, just don't research the ones that you don't want.
• Death Rattle + Biosculpter Patch + Life Support. Changes the behavior of mortal wounds so they're not instakills.
• Dynamic Flooding. Inundations!
• Some Things Float. I recommend disabling the chance of pawns loosing their footing.
• Layered Wall Destruction. Walls aren't just destroyed, they become debris. Note that there's an issue in which the debris will spawn home areas.
• Yayo's Combat. Combat overhaul. You can disable the ammunition system if it's not your thing.
• Character Editor. Allows you to edit and save/load pawns.
• RunAndGun. Allows to use guns while moving, with penalties to accuracy. Don't enable the dual wield or search and destroy modules, they won't work.
• EPOE Forked. Fills in the gaps of surgery content in the base game. I recommend disabling the additional workstations and enabling direct crafting only. Less micromanagement, more fun.

Balance

• Beautiful Jade
• Almostthere1.5. Caravans no longer go to sleep two hours away from their destination.
• Stepping Stones. A more reasonable research path.
• Dubs Break Mod makes it so that severe mental breaks require severe negative thoughts.
• Fists Aren't Made of Steel. Reduces the unarmed melee damage, making prison breaks and tantrums much less frustrating.
• No Burn Metal. Sets the flammability of metal buildings, and others, to zero.
• Prisoners Fear Turrets
• Realistic Rooms Rewritten. Allows to tweak how pawns perceive room sizes.
• Ugh You Got Me. Social fights stop when pawns are sufficiently hurt or in pain. Doesn't affect masochists or psychopaths.
• Better Pyromania. Way less frustrating.
• Mortar Accuracy. Improves mortar mechanics.
• Graze up. Grazing rebalanced.
• Better Camp Loot
• Snap Out! Wardens can try to calm down pawns on mental breaks. "Try" is the keyword here.
• Peer Pressure. Opinions matter when converting someone.
• Better Gene Inheritance
• Vanilla Genes Rebalanced
• Gene Trader. Getting xenogenes it's hard, this should easy the burden a bit.

Content

• Sparkling Worlds. A bit of everything.
• Vanilla Traits Expanded. More traits.
• Vanilla Backstories Expanded. More backstories.
• Vanilla Chemfuel Expanded. Rimefeller but with less bloat.
• Vegetable Garden. More farmable plants.
• Vanilla Persona Weapons Expanded + More Persona Traits. More persona weapon variety.
• More Ideological Words + More Religious Origins. More ideology variety
• Events
  • Factional War
  • Raid Extension
  • Go Explore!
  • Vanilla Events Expanded
• Buildings
  • Blooming hedges
  • Panels & Frames
  • Simply More Bridges
  • Thrones plus
  • Tribal Crib
  • Utility Columns
  • Medieval deathrest coffin
  • Metallic Batteries. You can ignore the error, it'll work anyway.
  • Reinforced Walls
  • ReSplice: Core
• Gear
  • Crowns and Regalia
  • Fallout New Vegas - Elite Riot Gear
  • Maid Outfits :3
  • Wheelchairs

Atmospheric changes

• Interaction Bubbles + SpeakUp. Better social interactions.
• Enemy Self Preservation. Enemies severely hurt may try to flee.
• No One Left Behind. Fleeing enemies try to rescue their downed allies.
• Memorable Auroras. They now have a meaningful -if still small- impact.
• Sand Castles. The snowmen of the beaches. Or the deserts.
• Sandstorms
• Graying Hair. So that hair goes gray gradually with age.
• Childrens Drawings
• ReGrowth. Overhaul of biomes and much more!
• My Little Planet. If you're tired of supercontinents, but still want a smaller board, set planet coverage to 100%, and use the new planet size slider instead.
• Geological Landforms. New map shapes.
• Biome Transitions. More organic border biomes.
• Death Acidifiest. Vanilla death acidifier is lame, this is much cooler.
• Graphics
  • Yayo's Animation
  • Trait and Backstory Icons
  • Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Icons and Symbols
  • Vanilla Ideology Expanded - Relics and Artifacts
  • Vanilla Races Expanded - Custom Icons
  • Bionic icons
  • Spectacular Skullspike. They're rotable now!
  • Muzzle Flash
  • More Mini-Horns
  • Better Explosions
  • Better Vanilla Masking
  • Graphic Chair Overhaul 2
  • Not Overhead Meal
  • Graphics Settings+
  • Show Hair With Hats or Hide All Hats. This one takes a while to set up to your preferences, but oh it's so worth it.
  • Cuter Biotech Cat/Dog Ear Replacer. If you don't like the meat-colored animal ears from Biotech, this is for you!
  • Blood Animations
  • Gunplay. Trails can break some mods. If that happens, disable trails in options.
• Retextures
  • Parka Retexture
  • Retextured Apparel
  • Retextured Sculptures
  • Vanilla Beards Retextured
  • Vanilla Hair Retextured
  • Vanilla Pawns Retextured
  • Marbled Marble
  • Essentials: Stone (the stat changes won't work)
  • Vanilla Textures Expanded - Variations
  • Vanilla Textures Expanded
  • I Hate Daylilies
  • Biotech Mechanoid Retexture
  • Tastier Vanilla Clothes
  • Van's Steel
  • Glowing Healroot
  • More Vanilla Textures
• Audio
  • Ambient Rim
  • Realistic Human Sounds. Not very vanilla, but certainly very funny.
  • Actually Vanilla Music Expansion
  • P-Music
• Hairs
  • Erin's Hairstyles
  • Hard Times
  • Rimsenal Hair + Retextured
  • Roo's Hairstyles
  • Roo's Royalty Hairstyles
  • The Vanity Project
  • Won hair_men + Retextured
  • Won hair_women + Retextured

Bonus: comics! And the occasional animation. I noticed newbies aren't aware of these, so I linked the profiles of all the artists I could remember. Sorry if I missed someone. u/daleksdeservevictory, u/AzulCrescent, u/AetherealVanguard, u/ATTF , u/Aelanna , srgrafo, u/Fonzawa, u/Ivancmedia, u/zyll3, u/meto30, u/AeolysScribbles, u/cavalier753, u/GABESTFY, u/VectorData, u/arxian, u/Nguyenanh2132, u/sorrowful_dance, u/meto30, u/-desdinova-, u/truffli

Me and Lila always carved dozens of jack o’ lanterns every October, so they’d absolutely saturate our lawn on Halloween night. It was our thing. But looking back on it, now that I’ve lost her, I just feel bad for the pumpkins. I almost relate to them, somehow. The way they were carved up, had everything of substance inside of them torn out, and left as hollow, rotting shells with forced smiles.
Needless to say, I didn’t cope with her death well. I didn’t want to cope with it. I wanted the world to drown in the black sludge of my grief. I loathed the people I saw going about their lives, unaware that the world had already ended the moment Lila died. The Earth shouldn’t keep spinning. Life shouldn’t go on. Not without her.
Even my relatives bringing me along on a trip to Kauai only made it worse. The most gorgeous place on Earth, and it made me sick with hatred. Nothing that beautiful deserved to exist if Lila wasn’t ever going to get to see it. It wasn’t fair.
I thought I’d never enjoy or care about anything again. Then I discovered media preservation.
It started with taking some of Lila’s old VHS tapes to a video repair place to fix some issues with the footage before it’s digitized. The job fascinated me. In a universe based on entropy, where everything inevitably fades away and is forgotten… restoring something lost is like snatching it from the jaws of death, right? Like flipping the bird to the universe and its so-called ‘natural order’. People die, but information doesn’t have to.
Now, it doesn’t matter how small — be it some god-awful plug-and-play licensed game, or a cereal commercial from 80’s — it’s my mission to recover it in as high a quality as I’m able, and make sure it’s freely available online for as long as possible.
A couple weeks ago, I came across a big haul. Four boxes of old VHS tapes offered up on E-Bay for dirt cheap. Most of the tapes were just recordings of Cheers episodes already preserved in higher qualities, but one Maxell E-240 caught my interest.
First of all, I’d never seen one so melted. Sure, sometimes they were left in an attic too long, and the colors and audio start to degrade. But this one looked like it had survived a house fire. It was covered in soot and the smell of smoke, and had the overall shape of a chocolate bar left out in the sun a little too long.
Second was the label, which read in neat sharpie: ᴇᴘɪꜱᴏᴅᴇ 4,679,329 ᴍᴀʀ 8 2035.
The casing was so disfigured, I had to bust it apart just pull out the tapes and respool them in a fresh cassette. I tried to iron out the creases in the tape as best I could, but I had no illusions about it accomplishing much — the mylar surface had been irreparably warped in places by whatever fire had half-melted the thing.
Imagine my despair at the sight of that dreaded ‘ɴᴏ ꜱɪɢɴᴀʟ’. I could clearly see the tape wasn’t blank, yet no amount of adjusting the tracking or trying different TVs or VCRs accomplished anything. Just as I was about to give up, though, the thing just suddenly started playing properly at the exact instant the clock struck 3 AM, as if it had only now decided to work. My all-nighter had paid off.
I didn’t dwell on the fact that this ‘miracle fix’ had been impossible. If I’d had any sense, I’d have torn the horrid thing out of my VCR and buried it beneath holy ground. Instead, fool I was, I sat down and watched.
At first, the thing seemed unwatchable. The audio was so distorted that the show’s theme song emerged as a low, crackling, staticky wail that made my head throb, and the logo was completely indistinguishable through the flickering and interference. I thought it was a lost cause for a moment. But then a figure appeared and cleared away the static, like Moses parting the Red Sea.
It was the sight of the show’s host that hooked me. He was just… perfect. Perfect in every way. I knew it just looking at him. Infinitely handsome and likable and charismatic, and he always said the exact perfect thing. The only issue is, I don’t remember a single thing about him now, in the same way you can’t remember a dream that seemed so clear to you while you were experiencing it. He just appears in my memory as this abstract blur in a sharp suit. Yet at the time, I was awestruck, even before he said a single word.
I can’t even remember a word he said. It was like he was speaking another language, one I felt as opposed to heard. I’ll try and transcribe it as best I can into words, but know that it’s only a pathetic imitation.
“... for another night of laughs, prizes, and fun for the whole family, with your host, #####!” I noticed that the audio and visual distortion seemed to suddenly intensify the instant he said his name, rendering it completely illegible. Idiot I was, I figured that was a coincidence. “Tonight is a night of celebration, folks, because thanks to the support of loyal viewers like you, we have just been approved for, get this: two hundred thousand more seasons!”
The “live studio audience” went wild with applause. I put that in scare quotes because, as far as I could tell, besides the host, the studio seemed completely empty. As if he was standing on a plain white stage that extended outwards into infinite darkness on all sides.
“For those just joining us, the game here is simple…” He explained that this was some sort of a trivia show. Every time a guest got an answer wrong, it brought them a little closer to some sort of unspecified ‘punishment’. And if they got it right? He smirked. “Well, they get to delay the inevitable.”
I wondered what he meant by ‘inevitable’. I didn’t have to wonder long.
The host gestured to a curtain that hadn’t been there moments ago, which raised to reveal a middle-aged man. You know the type — bushy mustache, gray hair, round-rimmed glasses. Kind of guy you’d have doing your plumbing. He couldn’t look any more out of place stood up and restrained in that — what the hell is that?
I recognized that metal coffin-looking thing from a medieval torture museum I went to once. The iron maiden. The lid hung open, countless long, needle-like blades poking inwards, threaten to poke a million new holes in him if it was shut.
His situation was not lost on him. “Where… where am I? What the hell is this!?”
“Oh, lucky guess!” The host ‘joked’. More canned laughter. “I know you always loved watching those trivia shows, Malcolm? Weren’t you always sitting there, grinding your teeth, seething that it wasn’t fair? That you should be the one up on stage, winning big?”
The man paused. Even he seemed mesmerized by the unreal perfection of the host before him. “I… this is a… game show?”
“All you have to do is answer a few questions! Think you can handle that, Malcolm?” He pulled out a cue card without waiting for an answer. “And our first question! What were you doing the night of February 18th, 1998?”
The man seemed baffled. “Just… sat on my couch watching the NFL, I think? I’m not sure how I’m supposed to remember —“
He let out a startled squeal as a horrid buzzer sounded. On cue, the lid slid a third of the way closed, making him flinch. “Oooh, I’m afraid that’s the wrong answer, Frank! But you know what? I’ll give you one more chance. What were you —“
“Following a girl home!” The man cried out. “F-from the bar. There, are you happy?”
“Cor-rect!” The canned audience began cheering! “Such honesty! Now, our second question: just what were you carrying while you followed her?”
He hesitated for a little too long. And then the buzzer sounded again, and the lid slid so near to closing that its blades began poking uncomfortably against his skin. He tried to press himself against the back of the maiden as well as his restraints would allow. “Jesus! Okay! A knife, a knife!”
“Awww, if only you’d said that just a second earlier!” Another big question. “Our third question: why, Malcolm? Why did you do it?”
That set Malcolm off. He started thrashing, clawing, screaming. “Let me out of this thing, you maniac! You can’t do this to me! Do you know who I am? Is this some sort of sick joke? My lawyers will have your head for this, you—“
And then the buzzer. All of a sudden, the lid slammed shut full-force, and the man was utterly silenced save for an unnatural, drawn-out wheeze. “Another wrong answer, Malcolm! I’m afraid I was looking for: ‘because if I can’t have her, no one can’!”
I admit it. I laughed. Out of shock more than anything. How was this allowed on TV? I took it as some sort of dark comedy show, and it was kind of satisfying to see that freaky character get his comeuppance. Still, there was something unnerving to me, seeing the man’s eyes through the openings in the maiden. Wide and red and terrified. They just looked a little… too real.
But the maiden disappeared as quickly as it came, before I could dwell on it too much. “Oh, envy! Definitely one of my favorite sins.” More laughter. “Stay tuned, folks! We’ve still got a night of fun and games in store for you! But first… how’s about a word from our sponsors?”
Cut to a corporate logo which I again couldn't recognize.
“This segment was made possible by Buer Health, which has recently announced a brilliant new initiative to protect our citizens from skin cancer by removing their skin completely.”
The camera cut to a massive industrial building, resembling a solid concrete cube around 50 meters in width and height. Its surface bore arcane symbols etched using carvings of wailing, tormented faces. The host would occasionally be rendered inaudible by a deafening metallic scraping from within, though he didn’t seem to notice. The only protrusion from the building’s cubic shape was a single smokestack, belching a scarlet red smoke into the atmosphere. A queue of gaunt figures waited at the entrance, herded and coerced by their grim overseers, and there were no words to describe the procession of scarlet ghouls limping out the building’s other end.
“Owing to the nonlinearity of time, the brand new Grand Skinpeeling Machine has spontaneously appeared several years before construction deadlines, and indeed, before it was even conceived of by anyone in our timeline. People have rushed all the way from Malebolge just to try this miracle of technology out on opening day, and so far, the reviews have been stellar!”
He shoved his microphone in the face of a shambling thing that could only scarcely be called a human. Tatters of flesh clung to its exposed musculature, blowing in the wind. Its eyes were the only hint of color in that sea of bloody red, and they were wide, white and terrified. The thing screamed and wailed for as long as it could before the last tendons connecting its jaw to its face snapped, and it was left to choke and gurgle.
“An amazing wail! The results speak for themselves, folks. The Grand Skinpeeling Machine is a hit!”
So far, I was still laughing along and having a good time. The sight of the next ‘guest’, however, started making me nervous.
It was an old lady.
She couldn’t be a day younger than sixty, the sort of sweet elderly woman who in a just world would be cooking chocolate chip cookies for her grandchildren in a comfy cottage somewhere. But here she was, tied to a metal chair, eyes wide, shaking like a leaf. Unlike the last contestant, she seemed to know exactly what was happening.
“In exchange for our loving endorsement, they’ve agreed to loan us one of their star employees. Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands together for: the Liqisma!”
Something slunk from the darkness far behind her — or perhaps it’d be more apt to say that the darkness birthed it whole-cloth. It was like a living shadow, and it took my eyes a moment to register what I was even seeing.
How do I even begin describing this creature? I could say it looked almost human, or at least like something that may have been human long ago. Or I could start with its skin, which was all black and shiny as latex and seemingly smooth on first glance, but if you looked closer you’d realize it was covered in a million tiny reptilian scales, almost like a shark. Its head was a bald man’s, utterly devoid of any distinguishing features, like the basic stock template for a human being. It was notable only for a complete lack of pupils and irises, its eyes a pure white.
Its body defied basic biology in so many key ways, I had to stare it at for what felt like an eternity just to wrap my mind around its physiology. It was at least five or six meters long, by my estimate, composed of multiple human torsos stacked one on top of the other like segments of a centipede, each melding with the ones around it at the waist and shoulders. Each torso sported a pair of short, stubby arms that propelled it with terrifying grace. It ended with a pair of human legs, perpetually bent on their knees, beneath a ‘tail’ that looked more like its coccyx was poking free from its body.
The old last could clearly hear it, and kept futilely trying to turn her head around enough to get a peek at what stood behind her. I mouthed uselessly, don’t. You don’t want to know.
“Glad you could join us again, Miss Wethersby! Judging by our ratings last week, you seemed to have been a fan favorite!”
Her voice was so soft, I could barely hear it below the static. “Oh, God. Please, why won’t you people let me go? I’ve told you, I’ve never done anything, never hurt anybody. There must be some sort of—”
He waved a hand over her, and it seemed to forcefully snap her mouth shut. “Please, Miss Wethersby, save your breath for our questions!” Another cue card. “Your first question, my friend: where did you and your husband buy your first home?”
She had to think about it for a long time. Eventually, she cried out, “Alabama! Tuscaloosa, Alabama!”
“Ding ding ding! Why, you’re already doing better than our first contestant! Next question: what breed of dog was your childhood pet?”
She had a pained look on her face as she thought. Eventually, a timer started ticking down. It wasn’t visible, so it wasn’t clear how much time she had left exactly, but the sound it made got more shrill and high-pitched with every second. “Miss Wethersby, need I remind you that we have a time limit on this show?”
A tear ran down her cheek. “I… I keep telling you people, I don’t know. I have dementia, I can’t remember, please—”
That buzzer again. “I’m afraid that was the wrong answer! Liqisma?” The old lady shuddered at the sounds of hundreds of feet drawing a little closer to her. “Now, your first grandchild. What did he look like? What color were his eyes? His hair?”
She was crying harder now, like it hurt her that she couldn’t remember something so dear to her. “I told you I can’t remember! Why are you doing this to me!?”
“If you don’t remember them, why would they remember you?” The host mocked as the buzzer sounded, and the beast drew a little closer. “Really, do you believe they still even think about you? Or do you think they’re glad that the old bag of bones isn’t there sucking up their inheritance?”
This went on for… God, it could have been an hour. I was glued to the screen all the while, frozen with terror, praying for this nightmare to just end, for her to make it out okay somehow. He poured over every little detail of the life she lived and the people she loved, delighting in how little of it she could still recall.
And the thing grew closer, and closer… until she finally felt multiple pairs of hands resting upon her shoulders. The thing was looming over her now, and a long, black tongue a few feet in length emerged from its mouth and ran trails of dark saliva over the back of her head. She looked broken down, eyes raw from crying, and I could tell by the dampness of her dress that she’d wet herself.
“Now, Miss Wethersby, our time here has been fun, but I do believe it is time for our final question. Tell me, what is the name… of your only son?”
She couldn’t even answer anymore. She just stared ahead, like her mind was a million miles away. He cackled as the buzzer sounded one final time, and threw his cue cards aside. “Thank you for playing, Miss Wethersby. Better luck next time.”
I would say the thing unhinged its jaw like a snake, but that’d be an understatement. The way the thing’s face malformed and wrinkled and stretched as it opened its maw, it no longer looked even remotely human. Its jaws must have parted at least thirty centimeters apart, revealing a second, pharyngeal pair of jaws that lashed out and gripped the woman’s skull, pulling her headlong into that darkness.
I could hear bones crunching and snapping as its throat constricted down around her body, peristaltic muscles compacting her into a meat slurry, bit by bit. Yet she just wouldn’t die. Even as her skull and upper body were already crushed and compacted, organs and muscles pressed into mulch, she still kicked her legs, twitched her fingers, let out a gurgling that must have been some attempt at screaming. She was squirming even as the beast snapped its jaw shut around the last of her, condemning her to whatever torments awaited her inside the creature.
And all the while, that horrible laughter. “Don’t worry, folks! She’ll be back next week! And the next. And the next…”
Needless to say, I wasn’t having fun anymore. In fact, I had to turn away and fight the urge to throw up. I stood, about to turn the TV off and —
“Ah, ah, ah! Don’t touch that dial, now!” I froze. There was something chilling about the way he said that, staring right into the screen as if reacting to what I was doing. I hated that grin on his face. “The real show is just beginning.”
And with the barely restrained excitement of a child on Christmas morning, he yanked back another curtain, and I recognized everything.
I recognized that crappy bootleg knockoff Always Sunny in Philadelphia jacket that was so gaudy and terrible it instantly became her favorite thing in her wardrobe. I recognized those subtle hints of slight acne she disguised as fake freckles. I recognized the way her gray eyes would remind me of those overcast mornings at the beach at Hilton Head and pointing out all the cannonball jellyfish washed up on the sands. I recognized that tattoo of the name ʀᴏᴄᴋʏ, how I’d held her all night long as she cried into my shirt after her childhood cat had died.
It was Lila.
I shuddered, gasped, fell from my seat as if I’d been punched in the stomach and the air had been knocked out of me. I couldn’t breathe. This couldn’t be real. I was dreaming right now. I must be. I just had to wake up.
But I couldn’t wake up. Nothing I could do dispelled the sight of her curled up in that… that thing. That bronze statue of a bull, horns jutting on either side of a head that roaring silently up at the heavens, all while the love of my life was locked in its hollowed out belly, visible only through a pane of glass. I could hear her cry out in shock at where she’d found herself, and every whimper felt like it drove a knife through my chest.
The host soaked in the moment. It was ecstasy for him, the suffering of it all. He stared dead into the camera like he was looking right at me as she called, “What is this? Where am I?”
“Why, I have good news, my dear Lila! You’re exactly where every American dreams of being: you’re on TV.” He pointed to the camera. “And we have a very special guest in the audience tonight. Your very own beloved Jackson!”
I shuddered, hearing my own name ooze from his fetid lips. His façade of perfection was slipping, and there was something so profoundly ugly beneath it. Her eyes snapped to the camera, confused, despairing. “Jackson? Baby? What — what’s happening? What is this?”
I don’t know, I thought, gripping the sides of the TV so hard my knuckles turned white, but I’m going to get you out of there, baby. I’m going to find whoever did this and I’m going to bury them all so far beneath that studio that they’ll never-
“I’m afraid Jackson hasn’t joined us quite yet, my dear. But if you truly love him, surely you’ll give him a show to remember, won’t you?” He taunted her. “All I want, after all, is to ask you a few questions! In fact, I’ll offer you a special deal: get even a single answer right, and I’ll let you go free! But get one wrong and, well…”
On cue, a fire was lit beneath her. Small, smoldering for now, but she whimpered as she noticed the heat. We both realized in that instant what this was. By now, I was screaming things I can’t repeat here, and slamming my hands against the TV screen as if I could reach through and save her.
She bit her lip and acquiesced. Not like she had any room to argue. The host grinned and readied a cue card. “Your first question: where are you, Lila?”
“I… I don’t know. How am I supposed to know?”
“You do know, Lila. You know exactly where you are.” He smirked at her. “Here’s a free hint: what’s the last thing you remember, before you woke up here?
She thought about it… and choked back a sob, visibly shaking as the realization slowly settled in. “But… but why? I… I…”
The horrible wail of the buzzer cut her off. “Oooh, too bad! I’m afraid you’ve run out of time!”
Seemingly as if on its own, the fire doubled in size. Sparks licked the belly of the bronze bull, and began to ever-so-slowly heat the surface. She pawed around in the tight confines, searching for any reprieve from the scalding heat all around her as the metal grew hot like it’d been left out in the sun on a summer’s day. “Please! Oh, God, let me out of this thing! It hurts! It hurts!”
The host seemed to breathe in her pain as if stealing a moment’s indulgence. “Now that there is no doubt about where you are, my dear, let us proceed to the second question.” He switched to his next card. “Did you believe in God, in the end?”
“O-of course!” She pled her case as if she was being tried in court. “My entire life… every day I gave to the poor, helped the sick, did whatever I could to honor Hi-“
“I’m afraid you misunderstood my question. I asked, did you believe in him at the end? The very moment your pitiful little life was snuffed out?”
“I always believed! I’d never forsake Him!”
“Yes, yes, I know. You lived a good and holy life, didn’t you?” He cackled. “But what of the very end? You and your little husband were so excited to deliver your first little baby boy. But o, tragedy! It all went wrong, didn’t it? Your precious little boy didn’t make it through childbirth… and you followed closely behind.”
“That whole business with the botched pregnancy, it was… what do you call it? Ah, yes. A ‘test of faith’. And I’m afraid you failed. In your final moments, you watched the light fade from your child’s eyes, and you assumed — wisely, in my humble opinion — that no ‘kind’ and ‘loving’ God would allow something like that to happen.” He laughed. “Funny how after a lifetime of dutiful service, all it takes is one little mistake at the end… to bring you here. To us.”
I’d never seen such depths of despair in a person’s eyes. Such emptiness. Like with every word, he’d been scooping out another piece of her until she was hollow. And then that buzzer roared again, more shrill than ever, and I could barely see her little window through the smoke and flames. The belly of the bull was turning orange in places, and I could hear her flesh start to sizzle like meat on a grill. There are no words for the noises she made. No words at all.
“And our last, final question,” he continued. “What were your last words to your poor, beloved Jackson?”
“I love you!” I called out the answer. Bloody fingerprints stained the TV screen from my slamming my hands against it, as I screamed the answer over and over. “I love you, I love you, I love you!” At some point, I forgot that there was ever a question. I was just screaming it at her as if hoping that she could hear it, that it could bring her a modicum of comfort in that place.
The buzzer sounded again. I couldn't bring myself to look. All I could hear was the roaring of the bull, and the steam rising from its bronze nostrils.
The curtain fell. Silence drowned the sound. The host dropped all pretense that he hadn’t been speaking directly to me. “Now, Jackson. You just might be one of my new favorite audience members this show had ever had. I know this must have been hard for you. But if you’ll just stay tuned, I have one more show I know you’re certain to love!”
I didn’t bother to touch the remote. After all, nothing could be worse than what I’d just seen, right?
Wrong. Horror wracked me as the curtain rose, and I saw the man chained to a chair. I pulled away like a caveman witnessing fire, cringing and stuttering, face wet with sweat. It was the sort of fear that worked its way into your bones like a bad chill, that left you shaking, teeth chattering.
It was me.
An older me, sure. But not by much. Ten years, maybe. A gaunt and hollow version of me, one twisted by ten years of depression and hard drugs. But it was unmistakable.
His eyes widened as he recognized the host. “Oh — oh God, God please no! It can’t be — oh Christ, let me out of this chair, you —“
“Come, now! We wouldn’t want to use the lord’s name in vain, would we? I mean, that would be a sin!” The host laid a hand on the other me’s shoulder. “It may have been a few years since you watched our program, but I’m sure you remember the rules, don’t you, old friend?”
The other me was wordless, on the verge of hyperventilating, just as I was. The host was giddy with delight. “Now! Our first and only question is one I’m sure our viewer will be very interested in: what sins, exactly, do you think landed you here?”
The other me tried to speak, but the words caught in his throat. I could see it in his eyes. The years of self-destruction, the bitter hopelessness, the whirlpool of nihilism and vice and decay. The suffocating depths of a man. The darkness. How could he put it into words?
The sound of the buzzer was like a pig’s squeal. “Mmm, I’m afraid that our viewer is going to have to figure that out for himself! In the meantime, your punishment? Well, we wouldn’t want to spoil anything…”
The curtains slowly began to fall just as a couple other of those black, grotesque monstrosities emerged from the darkness. The curtain covered them all before I could get a good look at their obscene, twisted, asymmetrical figures. All I could hear was the crunching, the sound of skin tearing like paper, the screaming that went on for longer and louder than a human throat or vocal chords could endure.
The image and audio were beginning to distort, glitch, burn away. The tapes were physically melting as they played. My VCR was starting to overheat, sparks pouring from its front panel. The host voice jumped around in tone, his voice fading into the static blur as the tapes bubbled and boiled and distorted. “But, my friends, I’m afraid that concludes tonight’s episode of our show! So, with a final farewell to our dear, beloved viewer, Jackson…”
Just before the image melted away, the camera seemed to jump forward until his face filled the screen, his eyes piercing into mine as he cackled in that singsong voice.
“See you sooooon~”

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This is what I will do on the day Democracy dies.

This comprehensive strategy is designed with the specific purpose of protecting groups most at risk during such political transitions—political activists, minority communities, LGBTQ+ individuals, and other groups that frequently find themselves targeted by regimes and movements hostile to democratic norms. (i.e. MAGA)
The intent of this strategy is to offer a dual-phased approach that prepares for both pre-election and post-election scenarios. By doing so, we aim to ensure that the rights and safety of at-risk populations are maintained regardless of political developments. The strategy encompasses a series of actions focused on enhancing data privacy, establishing covert safe havens, and creating paper organizations to provide both legal and social cover. Each element has been carefully crafted to blend into the community seamlessly, thereby minimizing the risk of detection and retaliation by potential adversaries, including groups like MAGA, known for their hostility towards certain demographics and ideologies.
The details outlined here are not merely precautionary; they are essential in a time when political unpredictability can lead to sudden and severe consequences for those standing on the front lines of advocacy and social change. This introduction sets the stage for a strategy that is both protective and adaptive, ensuring that all measures are grounded in a deep understanding of the risks involved and the absolute necessity for discretion and thoroughness.

Background Context

Political Climate Overview

The global political landscape is currently characterized by increasing instability and a troubling shift toward authoritarian governance. This trend manifests distinctly in various regions, contributing to a world where democratic principles are routinely challenged and often undermined.

• Increasing Volatility: Across the globe, nations are experiencing heightened political instability which, in many cases, precipitates the rise of authoritarian rule. This instability often stems from economic distress, social unrest, or perceived governmental inefficiencies, which authoritarian figures exploit to consolidate power.
  
• Shifts Toward Authoritarianism: Recent years have seen several governments adopt practices that are starkly authoritarian. Examples abound where states have suppressed free speech through censorship, manipulated electoral processes to maintain power, and systematically weakened the independence of the judiciary. These actions not only compromise the checks and balances essential to democratic governance but also threaten the fundamental rights and freedoms of their citizens.
  
• Hostility Towards Democratic Norms: A significant rise in movements and ideologies that oppose democratic norms has been noted, often under the banners of nationalism or populism. These movements exploit fears and prejudices, rallying support through divisive and sometimes xenophobic rhetoric, posing a direct threat to the pluralistic fabric of societies.
  

Vulnerable Groups

In this increasingly authoritarian environment, certain groups find themselves particularly vulnerable to persecution and discrimination. Their exposure to risk is exacerbated by their visibility and their perceived opposition to authoritarian values and practices.

• Political Activists: Typically the first in the line of fire, political activists face significant dangers under authoritarian shifts. Their efforts to organize opposition, promote democratic values, and protect human rights often make them targets for harassment, arbitrary detention, and worse, as they are viewed as direct threats to authoritarian interests.
  
• Minority Communities: Ethnic, racial, and religious minorities frequently endure increased discrimination and violence when authoritarian regimes rise to power. Such regimes often scapegoat these communities, enacting policies that strip them of their rights and freedoms, and in some cases, actively encourage acts of violence and persecution against them.
  
• LGBTQ+ Individuals: LGBTQ+ communities are exceedingly vulnerable under more conservative or outright authoritarian regimes. They may face draconian legislation, social ostracism, and violence. These measures not only threaten their personal safety but also seek to erase their presence from public life.
  
• Other At-Risk Populations: Refugees, immigrants, and individuals with dissenting ideological views are also at significant risk. They may confront stricter immigration controls, risk of expulsion, and exclusion from political participation. Under authoritarian regimes, these groups often experience a harsh curtailing of their freedoms and a denial of their right to partake in society.
  

The Threat of Project_2025

A specific example of these growing threats is the emergence of initiatives like Project_2025, which symbolize the strategic and organized efforts by authoritarian groups to reshape societies according to their ideologies. Project_2025 is often cited as a blueprint for systemic change intended to dismantle current democratic frameworks and replace them with systems that suppress dissent and centralize power. This project is not merely a theoretical risk but a concrete plan that could lead to significant repression of any form of resistance or criticism.
This background context sets the stage for understanding the critical need for a robust strategy to protect vulnerable groups and preserve democratic norms. The following sections will delve into the specifics of pre-election and post-election strategies designed to counter these threats and safeguard the fundamental rights and freedoms of those at risk.

Pre-Election Strategy: Part 1 - Data Privacy and Social Media Scrubbing

Objective

The primary objective of this part of the strategy is to safeguard personal data to protect individuals from potential threats in a politically unstable environment. By minimizing the digital footprint, the strategy aims to prevent hostile entities from using online activities and histories against individuals, especially those active in movements or communities that could be targeted in a regime shift.

Importance of Data Privacy

In the context of potential authoritarian shifts, personal data on digital platforms can be weaponized against individuals. This includes identifying personal networks, political stances, and other sensitive information that could lead to harassment or worse. Protecting this data is not just about privacy; it's about maintaining personal safety and freedom in the face of growing surveillance and repression.

Actions

Timing and Planning

• When to Begin:
  
  • Initiate the data scrubbing process six months prior to critical political events, like elections or significant legislative changes, to ensure that the data is irrecoverable by the time these events occur.
• How to Plan:
  
  • Set up a phased plan that includes initial assessments, periodic reviews, and final checks. This plan should cover all platforms where personal data might be stored, from social media to cloud storage services.

Content Removal

• Types of Content to Remove:
  
  • Political Statements: Remove posts or likes that clearly align with specific political ideologies or opposition movements. For example, deleting tweets supporting political protests or Facebook posts criticizing government policies.
  • Group Affiliations: Withdraw from public or semi-public social media groups that are directly associated with activist movements or politically sensitive causes. For instance, leaving a Facebook group dedicated to organizing protest events.
  • Personal Beliefs: Scrub any content that expresses strong ideological beliefs that could be targeted under a new regime, such as blog posts advocating for controversial reforms or Instagram posts supporting marginalized communities.
• Reasons for Removal:
  
  • Removing such content significantly reduces the risk of being targeted based on historical data. This proactive step is crucial for individuals who could be directly impacted by policy changes, ensuring that their online presence does not inadvertently expose them to risks.

Privacy Education

• Educational Initiatives:
  • Workshops and Seminars: Conduct these sessions focusing on teaching effective methods for securing online profiles and handling personal data. For example, a seminar could demonstrate how to use Facebook’s privacy settings to hide past posts and tighten profile visibility.
  • Online Resources: Develop comprehensive guides that detail steps for data auditing on popular platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google. These guides would offer instructions on reviewing and deleting old posts, checking app permissions, and understanding privacy policies.
  • Community Outreach: Collaborate with local libraries, schools, and community centers to spread awareness about the importance of data privacy. This might include setting up informational booths, distributing flyers, or hosting Q&A sessions with privacy experts.

Examples

• Example of Effective Content Removal: Jane Doe, an activist, reviewed her Twitter account and removed tweets that could be controversial. She deleted tweets advocating for large-scale protests and any direct criticisms of political figures known for their harsh retaliation against dissenters.
  
• Community Education Example: A community center hosts a monthly workshop where participants are taught how to scrub their digital footprints effectively. These workshops provide hands-on training on privacy settings for major social networks and strategies for minimizing personal data exposure online.
  

This refined approach to data privacy ensures that individuals are not only aware of the risks but are also equipped with the tools and knowledge to protect themselves effectively. By systematically reducing their digital footprint, individuals can navigate politically turbulent times with greater security and confidence.

Pre-Election Strategy: Part 2 - Establishment of Covert Safe Havens in Plain Sight

Objective

The primary purpose of creating covert safe havens is to provide secure and discrete support networks for vulnerable individuals in anticipation of potential political instability. These havens are designed to integrate seamlessly into everyday community settings, offering legitimate public functions while maintaining a dual capability to protect and assist those in need. This approach ensures that these safe havens can operate without attracting undue attention, blending naturally into their environments while fulfilling their protective roles. By carefully selecting and managing these dual-functionality locations, this strategy not only provides vital support and protection for vulnerable individuals but also ensures that these safe havens remain sustainable and integrated within their communities. This seamless integration into everyday life is key to maintaining the operation's discretion and effectiveness, safeguarding those at risk while minimizing the chance of detection.

Actions

Selection of Locations

Choosing the right locations is critical to the effectiveness and discretion of these safe havens. The criteria for selecting these locations include:

• Community Integration:
  
  • Locations should be well-integrated within the community, serving as familiar and accepted places that naturally attract a diverse range of clientele. This integration helps the safe haven to appear ordinary and unremarkable, reducing the likelihood of scrutiny.
• Visibility and Accessibility:
  
  • While the locations should be visible enough to be considered a normal part of the community, they must also feature private spaces such as basements, cellars, or back rooms. These areas should be easily accessible to those in need without drawing attention from the general public.
• Economic Viability:
  
  • It is essential that these locations can sustain a legitimate business model. This not only supports the community financially but also underpins the covert operations, ensuring they can continue without financial strain or suspicion.

Dual-Functionality

These locations must adeptly balance their public and covert functionalities:

• Public Business Functions:
  
  • Types of Businesses: The strategy focuses on establishments like coffee shops, bars, community farms, maker spaces, and recreational venues like RV parks or camping grounds. These businesses are generally well-received and frequented by the public, providing a solid cover for the covert activities.
  • Community Services: Each business should offer valuable services such as food production, educational workshops, or leisure activities. These services contribute positively to the community, enhancing the business's credibility and integration.
• Covert Support Functions:
  
  • Plausible Dual Use Areas: Utilize existing structures that naturally offer privacy, like root cellars on farms or basements in urban buildings. These spaces should be typical of the property and require minimal adjustment to serve as safe areas, thus avoiding any construction that might appear suspicious or clandestine.
  • Transport Services: Implement transportation services that align with the business model. For example, a delivery service from a farm or a mobile workshop from a construction site can double as a method for safely moving individuals in need. This strategy includes using common roles like Uber drivers for transportation, where the individual being transported is actually posing as the uber driver for a white family, blending into a service role, reducing visibility and suspicion from MAGA.

Implementation Examples

• Farm Example:
  
  • Location: A community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm that is well-known for its fresh produce and community engagement through regular farm festivals and events.
  • Dual Functionality: The farm features a large barn or a root cellar typically used for storing seasonal equipment and produce. This can also provide temporary shelter, offering a safe and private space for at-risk individuals. The regular turnover of visitors and workers for legitimate agricultural purposes ensures that any additional traffic blends in without arousing suspicion. Furthermore, depending on the last two minutes of hate, MAGA may overlook minorities or immigrants if they are in a non-lucrative looking service role, such as produce picker.
• Maker Space in Urban Area:
  
  • Location: Situated in a bustling mixed-use neighborhood, this maker space is a hub for creativity and innovation, offering classes in carpentry, electronics, and more.
  • Dual Functionality: Besides the public workshop area, there's a secure back area designed for project storage. This space can also function as a discreet meeting point or temporary safe area for individuals who require shelter or a momentary escape from external threats. Furthermore, a maker space is a place full of tools, skilled craftspeople, and materials that can be repurposed for other uses, such as [ REDACTED ].

Pre-Election Strategy: Part 3 - Formation of Paper Organizations

Objective

The primary goal of forming paper organizations is to establish entities that provide legal and social fronts for covert operations, safeguarding vulnerable groups. These organizations serve to legitimize and camouflage the broader protective activities under the guise of engaging in widely accepted or non-controversial community functions. By strategically leveraging these types of organizations, the strategy ensures that protective measures are embedded within non-controversial, community-valued services. This careful planning helps maintain the sustainability of the operations, reduces the risk of exposure, and enhances the long-term viability of protecting vulnerable populations amidst political turbulence.

Actions

Types of Organizations

Select organizations that are universally accepted and less likely to attract negative attention from antagonistic groups such as MAGA:

• Sports Clubs and Teams:
  
  • Focus on sports that are popular and carry positive, community-building connotations. These organizations can organize local leagues, tournaments, and training sessions, serving as a natural gathering point for the community and a cover for larger mobilization efforts.
• Garden Clubs:
  
  • Establish co-ops or community gardens that involve activities related to food production, which are generally viewed positively and align with subsistence and sustainability goals. These can also serve as educational centers for farming techniques, appealing to a broad segment of the community.
• Kennel Clubs
  
  • Set up organizations centered around animal care, such as dog training clubs or equestrian schools. These activities appeal to animal lovers and are unlikely to draw suspicion from conservative groups. They also provide opportunities for fundraising and community involvement.

Operational Setup

• Compliance with Local Laws:
  
  • All organizations must operate within the legal framework, ensuring they do not attract scrutiny that could lead to uncovering their covert purposes.
• Maintenance and Oversight:
  
  • Regularly review and maintain operational protocols to keep the organizations effective and compliant. This includes keeping financial records clean and transparent to avoid audits that could expose the dual functions.
• Integration with Safe Havens:
  
  • Use these organizations as legal fronts or logistical hubs for the covert safe havens, facilitating communication and resource distribution discreetly. They can serve as rallying points for community support without directly exposing the linked covert operations.

Implementation Examples

• Community Sports Club:
  
  • Setup: A local soccer club that hosts regular matches and youth training camps. It is deeply integrated into the community, providing a robust platform for events that can serve broader agendas.
  • Dual Functionality: Leverage the club’s events for discreetly organizing meetings and transporting supplies under the guise of sports activities, utilizing equipment transport as a cover for moving sensitive materials.
• Garden Club:
  
  • Setup: A cooperative that offers memberships for local produce and hosts regular workshops on sustainable farming practices.
  • Dual Functionality: Use the co-op’s storage facilities and workshops as discreet points for gathering and distributing resources, you can grow food for poor people under the pretense of agricultural activities.
• Dog Training Club:
  
  • Setup: Organize a club that offers dog obedience classes and therapy animal training, which can attract a wide array of participants.
  • Dual Functionality: Utilize the club’s regular gatherings and the innocuous nature of its activities to conduct meetings and organize volunteer networks for covert operations, masked by the club’s community-focused events. This can be a double edged sword, but you can tell a lot about a person by how they treat animals. Furthermore, trained dogs have their uses.

Section 3: Post-Election Strategy - Pivoting Operations

Objective

• Activate and utilize the full scope of prepared safe havens and paper organizations in response to the election outcomes.
• Protect individuals from potential crackdowns or aggressive measures by newly empowered government authorities targeting vulnerable groups.

Overall Strategic Actions

1. Activate Covert Safe Havens and Paper Organizations:

- Evaluate the political environment post-election and determine the level of threat to vulnerable communities. - Activate contingency plans in prepared safe havens and paper organizations to provide immediate support and protection. 

1. Utilize Established Networks and Resources:

- Employ pre-arranged logistics and support systems to distribute resources, provide shelter, and facilitate the safe movement of individuals at risk. 

1. Community Integration Strategies:

- Deepen involvement in local community activities that are non-political and broadly supported to avoid backlash. - Increase participation in community service projects that enhance local development and provide essential services, reinforcing the organization's value to the community and obscuring its protective roles. 

Examples of Pivoting Operations Using Small Businesses

1. Carpet Cleaning Services:

- Use service vans for discreet transportation of individuals and supplies, leveraging routine operations as cover. - Legend has it that Cleopatra was smuggled into court rolled up in a carpet. 

1. Landscaping and Gardening Services:

- Employ landscaping crews to offer jobs and shelter in modified storage units, providing a plausible reason for the movement and congregation of workers. - MAGA has no respect for minorities, but they like mowed lawns. Transporting people of color in the guise of lawn care workers will usually be ignored. 

1. Mobile Pet Grooming Services:

- Utilize pet grooming vans to distribute resources discreetly and move individuals between safe locations under the guise of service calls. - Pet first aid equipment can also be used on two legged mammals. 

1. Food Trucks:

- Operate food trucks to serve dual purposes—providing food to vulnerable populations and acting as mobile meeting points for logistics coordination. - Food trucks can have electronic messaging services, connected to GPS, and deliver data just by driving by. 

1. House Painting Businesses:

- Leverage access to residential areas and use vans for safely relocating individuals under the guise of transporting workers and supplies. - Cans of paint can be used to store all sorts of things. 

1. Residential Cleaning Services:

- Use cleaning teams for discreet distribution of supplies and temporary housing solutions, under the guise of deep-cleaning or house-sitting services. 

1. Plumbing and Electrical Services:

- Dispatch tradespeople to carry necessities and check on at-risk individuals without drawing attention, using routine service calls as cover. - Plumbers carrying large pipe shaped constructions are less suspicious. 

1. Bicycle Repair Shops:

- Implement mobile bicycle repair services for flexible and discreet transport of supplies and aid. - Bicycle frame tubes can have dual uses. 

1. Fitness and Personal Training Services:

- Use private training sessions to provide physical and mental support discreetly, checking on individuals’ well-being under the guise of health and wellness coaching. - A fitness bootcamp fun run can be an actual bootcamp. 

1. Local Bakery or Pizzeria Delivery Services: - Use delivery operations to routinely check on community members under the routine delivery of food, covering a broad area without suspicion. - Bakers are up early every day without drawing suspicion.

Monitoring and Adaptation

• Continuously Monitor the Political and Social Environment:
  • Regular assessments to adapt operations effectively, ensuring ongoing safety and effectiveness.
  • Ready to expand the scope of operations or alter methods based on emerging needs and threats.

Legal Navigation

• Strategically Navigate Laws:

  - Ensure all activities remain compliant yet structured to conceal their true purposes, adapting to any new legal challenges post-election. MAGA does not have respect for Rule-Of-Law, but low level MAGAts will usually follow the law if it is the course of lease resistance.

  Examples of Pivoting Operations For employees in a large Businesses

1. Data Privacy Enhancements

• Employee Action: IT staff increase encryption and security measures, adding features like data obfuscation and deliberate vulnerabilities that make data tracking and user identification more difficult for unauthorized entities.
• Discretionary Element: These changes are publicly promoted as new advanced security measures to protect customer data from increasing global cyber threats.

2. Supply Chain Redistribution

• Employee Action: Supply chain managers discreetly inform resistance networks about locations and times of important emergency supplies shipments under the guise of optimizing logistics for efficiency.
• Discretionary Element: Publicly, these changes are announced as strategic adjustments to better meet the dynamic needs of markets and reduce operational costs.

3. Corporate Philanthropy Redirection

• Employee Action: Executives redirect corporate philanthropy funds to support 'capitalist' endeavors that indirectly benefit resistance efforts, such as investing in businesses owned by at-risk community members.
• Discretionary Element: These investments are framed as exploring new market opportunities and potential high-growth areas, appealing to shareholder interests.

4. Product Development with Hidden Features

• Employee Action: Product managers design products that incorporate raw materials which can be easily repurposed or integrated with features that allow resistance networks to piggyback communications.
• Discretionary Element: These products are marketed as innovative and versatile, with the added functionalities promoted as providing extra value to consumers.

5. Legal Department Advocacy Against Harmful Laws

• Employee Action: Company lawyers actively challenge laws from Project_2025 that might impose severe surveillance measures detrimental to business operations, like mandatory data sharing with government bodies.
• Hypothetical Law: "All telecommunications companies are required to install government monitoring software." (I mean, they already have it, but bear with me here, this is an example)
• Discretionary Element: Legal challenges are framed as protecting the company's competitive edge and customer trust.

6. Marketing Campaigns with Subtle Messages

• Employee Action: Marketing teams develop campaigns that subtly endorse themes of resilience and unity, using coded language that resonates with resistance supporters.
• Hypothetical Campaign: Launch a national campaign for a telecommunications product under the slogan "Stay Connected, Stay Strong," which subtly encourages unity and resilience. I'm not in marketing, so I really don't know how to not sound like 1984.
• Discretionary Element: Campaigns are officially aimed at boosting brand loyalty and market presence during turbulent times.

7. Community Engagement for Resource Distribution

• Employee Action: Community relations staff organize local events that double as distribution points for essential supplies to at-risk populations, such as geriatric health fairs or local business expos.
• Discretionary Element: These events are positioned as part of corporate efforts to engage with potential customers, masking their dual purpose.

8. Internal Training on Privacy and Security

• Employee Action: Implement training programs that ostensibly enhance employee awareness about privacy and security but also educate them on how to discreetly handle sensitive information about at-risk colleagues.
• Discretionary Element: Training is marketed internally as essential upskilling in response to global increases in data breaches and cyber threats.

9. R&D for Dual-Use Technologies

• Employee Action: R&D staff focus on developing technologies that can be used both commercially and to aid resistance efforts, such as drones designed for commercial delivery that can also be used for discreet surveillance or off the books deliveries. Police radios that can be used to track the police.
• Discretionary Element: The dual-use nature of these technologies is touted as a cost-effective solution to multiple market needs.

10. Strategic Public Relations

• Employee Action: PR teams craft narratives around corporate actions that align with resistance goals, framing them as innovative responses to market demands or regulatory changes. (i.e. We think different! We're the rebels from StarWars. ) (Note: It's a trap!)
• Discretionary Element: These narratives emphasize the corporation's adaptability and forward-thinking, which is attractive to investors and customers alike, while subtly supporting resistance efforts.

In the face of rising authoritarianism and potential threats, it's understandable to feel overwhelmed by the detailed strategies and safety measures we've outlined. However, it's important not to let panic set in. The purpose of these strategies is not to alarm you but to prepare and empower you and your community.
For many of us, blending seamlessly into our surroundings comes naturally and doesn’t require drastic changes to our daily lives. For those who cannot hide—the most visible and vulnerable among us—it becomes not only an option but a responsibility for their allies to step up and implement these strategies. This dual approach ensures that while some continue their lives with minimal disruption, others work behind the scenes to maintain safety nets and support systems. This collective effort is what builds a robust resistance movement capable of withstanding pressures and protecting its members from harm. It's not just about individual safety; it's about community resilience.
By taking proactive steps now, we ensure that everyone has the support they need to face whatever may come. This strategy is about being ready, not scared. It’s about building a network of support that can operate effectively under pressure while maintaining a facade of conformity to protect all its members.
Let’s focus on being prepared and connected, on understanding our roles, and on supporting each other. With careful planning and solidarity, we can navigate these challenges without fear, safeguarding our rights and freedoms in the process. Remember, the goal here is to keep the light of democracy burning, no matter how dark the times may seem.
sorry if my formatting is all over the place. This is jumble of my notes. I figure perfect is the enemy of good, and some of you have some anxiety over this. The rest of you...should....But It's going to be OK, because we have feet and hands and arms, and we can MAKE it OK.

$AMC NFA
PART THREE - WHERE HAS ALL THE MONEY GONE!
USA FED REVERSE REPO - In short, once RRP reaches zero in May or June, there may no longer be abundant reserves in the banking sector, which increases the probability of an accident somewhere in the plumbing of the financial system.Feb 24, 2024
CHINA 🇨🇳- Stock market 📈- Throw in Hong Kong's exchange, which primarily lists Chinese companies, and since 2021, China's stock markets have lost about $7 trillion in value.Feb 6, 2024 *** $7 TRILLION!!!!!!!!!!!!!😳
CHINA 🇨🇳-Real Estate 🏡- EVERGANDE - Once China's biggest developer, Evergrande has reported more than US$300 billion ($456 billion) in liabilities and its troubles have become a symbol of a years-long property crisis that has dealt a massive blow to the country's economy.Jan 29, 2024 (other estimates put it over $528 billion) - goofy math being used now to soften numbers, if you find $81 billion as the loss number, dig deeper - it’s bullshit
I LIKE AMC 💎 ( look for Part 4 )

Preparation and Getting Started
You may have gathered up your Tellbones, but there’s a lot of other work that comes with spirit communication that can save you from significant headache or worse. It can also really shine a light on possibilities and make things significantly easier!
First of all, communication and all the problems that come with it goes in both directions. Sometimes you have a question for the Wights around you, and sometimes they have a question for you. Sometimes you don’t understand them, and sometimes they’re clueless about what your mumbles mean. There are gaps here, and translation can be difficult.
You’ve got to pay attention, and do your best to understand and be clear. Pay attention to the context of the conversation. A yes in one situation is a “oh, hell no!” in another situation. For example, if you’re asking if you should stay in your current home, then that dynamic moving Fire bone probably doesn’t really mean yes. Stable Earth, do not move, seems like a more accurate “yes, stay here” message.
If you phrase your questions correctly and clearly, that will help you get consistently understandable messages. Another tip is to focus your questions so that a yes is always best represented by the Fire bone, so that you know exactly what the Bones mean when, and so do the spirits you’re talking with.
Keep in mind that your questions are not necessarily appropriate to any Wight of any kind. You don’t go ask monks about marriage problems (well, you shouldn’t, anyway) because they’re often the least qualified to have anything helpful to say. Their knowledge is limited. Likewise, you might not wanna go drop F-bombs on the various Archangels. There are different registers we speak in – how we talk at work isn’t necessarily the same as how we talk to our friends, and the same applies to spirits.
On the contrary side of that, just because a Wight isn't a money-goddoesn't mean you can't ask them. Just be aware that they're going to give you advice or information filtered through their lens. This is not unusual or unexpected - if you have a friend who is amazing at fixing cars (or applying acrylic nails, or who reads every smutty romance that was ever published, or...), it doesn't mean you can't ask them about investments, or car problems, or what to read next. It just means your answer will be in their opinion view. The woman fixing you car might recommend a spy novel to read, and the guy doing your nails might have some handy tips on simple car repair. Aphrodite knows how to handle conflict too, you know.
Respect your boundaries. If some spirit says you need to move to Guatemala and start a multi-level marketing scheme there, that doesn’t mean you should do it. If they say donate all your worldly good to the homeless and become a monk – do you even want to do that? Because if no, respect your own boundaries. You wouldn’t flat out obey these commandments just because a human said so, and you shouldn’t do the same when a Wight does it either. We’ll get more into all of these kinds of situations, and more, but there’s a start to it. Speaking of starts, how do you start a conversation with spirit? It’s really a lot simpler than you think, but just to be clear, let’s go over some of the details you might want to think about.
Making the Call
Mindset goes a long way to setting up a conversation. If you’ve ever had to explain yourself before a judge, you know exactly what I mean when I say that your mindset will make or break the conversation. Same goes if you’ve ever tried to ask someone out on a date when you didn’t know if they liked you like that or not. Your mouth gets dry when you’re nervous, you flub your words, and your mind goes into overdrive analyzing what you’ve said in the worst possible light. You end up missing their response.
Start the conversation calmly. Don’t worry about demonic possession or looking foolish. Set aside your expectations about what you have to be like and how they should respond. These are not new ideas – this is how we to talk to other people, and well, aren’t Wights included in those other people too? Damn right they are.
In that same vein – drop your expectations. Odds are good you won’t attract the attention of Metatron or Asmodeus. Are you conscious of every cell in your little toe? Only at very specific, excruciating moments, I can imagine. Don’t expect who will respond to you, or what they look like, or who could or could not answer you – those excruciating moments do happen sometimes, and after all, you could be the throbbing toenail of the High and Holy Lord God Almighty this one time.
Which actually leads gracefully (almost as if I’d planned it, yeah?) into the next topic – if you want to talk to someone, you have to get their attention. If you sit there muttering to yourself in the corner, I suppose that could get attention, but it’s not going to be the kind you want. Resonance is key here. If you want to talk to the spirit of your house about some plumbing problems you’ve been having, it’s probably best to be in your house, near the plumbing mains, surrounded by symbols of water and plumbing. Holding your conversation out in the woods at midnight under a full moon (a fool moon?) – kudos for aesthetics, but negative marks for common sense.
There is a VERY simple method that has been used nigh universally to get attention at the beginning of a conversation. Make a noise. Sing or yell, ring a bell. Clap 3 times or 4 snaps in Z-formation – whatever works for you. A lot of Asian traditions use clapping, which I like to combine with some simple energy offerings. Rub your hands together until you can feel the energy flowing, and then make your claps, firmly and purposefully. It’s amazing how effective this simple exercise can be.
A simple call is not a bad either. It doesn’t need to be one of those complicated, drawn-out, thee-andthou-filled invocations. It can really be as simple as “Fred, Wight of Floor Coverings, I want to talk to you! I have questions about carpets!” You can get a lot more formal, of course, but that depends on you, your Wight friend, and the aesthetic you share – it’s definitely not required by most Wights.
How do you know what their names are, though? Is it really Fred? Well, you have multiple options here. For one, you can just use generic terms, in much the same way a lot of people just say “my totem is Wolf ” - they mean the Wight of Wolves, probably. If you don’t know his name is Fred, just call him the Wight of Floor Covering. Or Floorcovering. “O Benevolent Floorcovering, I beseech thee for thy aid in selecting a good purple shag”. Like you do. Or whatever.
You can always give the Wight a name, and ask if they like it. Those guys who named Asmodeus and Tzadkiel and all them had to come up with names somehow too, right? Those are essentially the previous method with “El” tacked on. They do the same in Shinto a lot, just adding “Kami”. In this case, you might have Marqhadel (Carpet-god) or Otatamigami (Honorable Kami of Floor Mats).
As an example, I am very close to the Wight of Spiders. I was born premature when a Black Widow bit my mother, who then went into shock and then labor. Alas, it was not radioactive. Spiders have always been a significant presence in my life, and I do have some of their powers – I am convinced that my language ability is one of the things I got from Her. Now, one of the things I haven’t mentioned – my language geekery extends so far that I have even created my own language (a conlang, it’s called, from constructed language). In that language (taalen, mentioned elsewhere here), I call Her Ammuaya, which means “Webmother”, which She likes.
I also call Her Araine, an Old English (via French) word for spider – I even have that in a tattoo of Her. It can be that simple, and since it’s your relationship, you can call each other whatever you like. Maybe you have nicknames for your friends - this really doesn’t have to be any different. It’s about you, them, your relationship, and okay, probably a little bit of your aesthetic. I have a friend who dresses Lucifer in pink, and another who has a way with words that turns the most innocuous hum drum object into the darkest and spookiest mystery in the world. Whatever you do, if they like it, you’re on the way to a strong connection.
Resonance is also one of the ways of getting seen. If you’re looking to interact with an Angel in the Christian tradition, it’s probably a good idea to have a cross on you and be pure in all the ways that Leviticus suggests (just kidding! That’s unpossible). Depending on the denomination, they all have differing ideas about how it should be done. For instance, if you’re Catholic, maybe go to confession first, for example, because that resonates with the tradition that this specific Wight participates in. If you want to get the attention of the Wight of Foxes, then perhaps having foxes live nearby would be a good idea. This is the same as how if you want friends that are “fill in the blank” at school, you have to do certain things that would get their attention. You have to resonate with their interests to be seen and get their attention.
Some of that resonance is traditionally done via various ritual methods – a red cloth on the altar with a sword for Mars, for example. There are other ways to develop that resonance too. Choose an incense (if you swing that way) that the Wight would like. Anoint yourself, or the altar, or some symbolic object with magical oils or other substances - Ash Wednesday might be a good day for talking to Angels. Make your own oils and incense, using appropriate herbs and stones. Amethyst is a good stone for addiction, for example (amethyst literally means not-drunk, after all) – keep some around if you want to talk to the spirits you’re addicted to and make a change. You can create charms and talismans to make talking to some Wight easier too. This is a famous way to do it, and the grimoires are filled with them. I’ve got some to share eventually as well.
Knock Knock, Who’s There?
In traditions outside of the Western world, there’s a habit that I think is a Really Good Idea™. Here in the West we tend not to check the identity of who we’re communicating with. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve witnessed “The Goddess told me” with no backup at all, or proclamation from on high about how “Odin said”, or “your Ancestors want you to”, or you name it. I appreciate the effort, but there’s got to be a sense of validation and skeptical appreciation.
Validating who you’re talking to is a very common step in a lot of other traditions. It’s probably safe to assume that if you’re at a shrine, you’re probably talking to the Wight enshrined there, or one of their assistants at the very least. That is how it generally works in Asian traditions, where if you want a conversation with Ol’ So-and-So, you go to their altar or shrine. In African traditions, there’s a greater concern with identity, and more of an effort to identify who you’re speaking to.
Until you have developed a relationship to the point where you’ve got an altar or shrine or spirit home of some sort, or you can recognize their voice, it’s probably not a bad idea to check. Bone fides are not a bad thing – we do it all the time in material conversations. Business cards, “Hi Dad, I’m hungry” (and all the jokes), “I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name”, and so on. Why wouldn’t you ask someone you’re talking to what their name is? And especially if you think they’re likely to help you or teach you something?
It’s specifically one of the most important and most useful first steps you can take to establish a relationship. Getting a “phone number” for your chosen Wight(s) is also a great idea, and one that has a rich tradition and history. Sigils and seals of Angels and Demons in all those grimoires are classic phone numbers. Statuary. Traditional prayers and orations – it may not be your tradition to call on anyone with all the Christian magical prayers, but they’re sort of the “zip code” for some Wights, and it’s to your advantage if you use them as tradition dictates.
Really, when you think about it, talking to the Wights around you really isn’t all that different from all the other people you talk to on a daily basis. Just extend the same courtesy. Introduce yourself. Be polite. Say please and thank you. Ask their name. It’s obvious when you think about it like this, isn’t it? (Of course – Or Not! It’s your relationship, so do what the two of you agree too.) Start out with tradition, but if Forneus says “Dude, just call my name. I don’t need all that other stuff ”, then that may be an option.
Depending on your tradition, you may want to keep “all that other stuff ” anyway, but at least you know there are other ways to do things. Ultimately, doing a validation is pretty simple, really. Use your Tellbones! Start with the most likely and expected Wights first. If you go in expecting to talk to Fred, Wight of Floor Coverings, and you’ve called his name and rung the bell, odds are decent that you’ll get him. Ask the bones if you’re in touch with Fred, and throw.
After the expected Wight, check if you’re talking to your Ancestors or local Landwights. Your Ancestors have vested interests in you, and they tend to be around all the time. They’re part of you, after all. And the Landwights are always under your feet, so they tend to be common as well. They also tend to masquerade as other beings a lot, since they’re so rarely recognized for who they are. Most of the ghosts out there are Landwights trying to get your attention.
Continue asking about the obvious as long as you have obvious possibilities you can think of. Eventually, you may have to resort to asking about broad categories and then narrow down from there. It’s like 20 Questions, actually.

• Is it who I think it is (Fred)?
  • Nope
• How about my Ancestors?
  • No
• Landwights?
  • No
• How about Wights of Construction?
  • Yes
• Oh! Cool! So is it THE Wight of Construction?
  • No
• How about the Wight of Interior Design?
  • Yes!

And there you go - now you know who you’re speaking to.
Well, mostly.
Remember, there are as many liars and shysters in the Spiritworld as there are anywhere else. It’s a good idea to validate that you really do have the right person. The easy way? Ask again: Really? The Wight of Interior Design? Yes. Or even ask three times, as the whole three times spoken thing is pretty powerful globally. That’s doesn’t mean it is absolutely true just because they said yes 3 times in a row - they could be lying still. It’s a good stopgap for the moment though. When you were a kid, when you asked repeatedly, didn’t the older sibling eventually give up and say “Sheesh! Fine! Yes! I have chocolate and you can’t have any because!”
Annoying can be useful sometimes, but there are other techniques we’ll get into later to help ensure that you can validate that a Wight is who they claim to be, without being that kid.

Has anyone else noticed how many important goods are missing? Where's copper? Where's aluminium? Why have spices and gems suddenly vanished? I get spices aren't as important as in the age of exploration, but they're still a pretty huge deal. Why aren't my nouveau-riche demanding gemstones to show off their wealth? Where's my plumbing? One of the biggest innovations in this era was the realisation that proper waste management is massively important. If you talk about Victorian engineering you're either discussing trains or sewers. Where's the books? Literacy is increasing but they have nothing to read. I should have an entire side industry using the waste products from my meat and fish industries to create soap or glue.
Where's entertainment? The theatre, playing cards (Nintendo was founded in this era as a playing cards company), instruments (a lot of middle class home would have a piano, they were a major form of entertainment), casinos (with gambling laws) and so forth. Where's the newspaper? They're referenced but they never appear. Stop putting it in services.
Where are the clocks? Clocks were insanely important, factories needed them for timing shifts, the military needed them to plan battles, the rich had them as status symbols, businesses used them for meetings. They were one of the most important precision instruments of the era.
Pharmaceuticals, this is when real pharmaceuticals started appearing: the first penicillin treatment, aspirin, quinine, morphine, ephedrine, chloroform, chloral hydrate, adrenaline, amphetamine, ether, nitrous oxide, barbiturates, insulin, arsephenamine. These transformed medicine and they just aren't in the game, but the pharmaceutical industry definitely existed in this era (I'm not saying every drug should be there, may just one or two classes, perhaps just pharmaceuticals and then antibiotics later).
I get a lot of things are handwaved away as services, but they shouldn't be because these were big deals. Services should be for actual services: brokerages, insurance, tailors, wheelwrights, advertisers, netmenders, carpenters, waste disposal, servants, it shouldn't be such a catchall for major sectors of the economy, like pottery (pottery such a major industry there's an entire city in the UK that was built on just pottery). We should have household good manufacturies, because they were extremely important, people got rich of those, but we only have clothes and furniture.

Hello friends! I've been recently working with the lovely O'Doyle Rules library, a triplestore-based RETE algorithm engine in Clojure, and I keep thinking that this type of declarative and reactive "facts & rules" approach would be very fitting and effective for implementing compilers¹.
For those who haven't come across this paradigm before, here's how I understand this kind of inference/rule engines to work:

1. There is a triplestore database that holds simple² [id, attr, val] facts. For example, the s-expression (* foo 0) could be represented with a collection of individual facts like:

​

[:id/1 :node/type :type/fn-call] [:id/1 :fn-call/f :id/2] [:id/1 :fn-call/args [:id/3 :id/4]] [:id/2 :node/type :type/ident] [:id/2 :ident/val "*"] [:id/3 :node/type :type/ident], [:id/3 :ident/val "foo"] [:id/4 :node/type :type/const] [:id/4 :const/val "0"] 

1. There are simple² rules that explicitly declare what kind of fact patterns across the database they're dependent on, and what should happen whenever there's a full match. For example, a simple rule that aims to optimize away multiplications that contain zeros could be written like:
   "Optimize multiplications with zeros" [:what [node-id :node/type :fn-call] [node-id :fn-call/f fn-id] [node-id :fn-call/args argslist] [fn-id :ident/val "*"] [zero-const-id :const/val "0"] :when (list-contains? argslist zero-const-id) :then (insert-fact! [node-id :replace-with "0"])]
   

NOTE: whenever we use a symbol in any column, we're binding that column's value to that symbol in the context of the rule. Whenever we use the same symbol across columns or facts, that's essentially an implicit "join" or unification across them. The :when and :then blocks can use arbitrary (Clojure) code to filter the incoming facts and generate new facts, respectively.
This can be read as: Whenever there's any AST node such that:

1. it has an attribute :fn-call/f, which points to another node that has an identifier value of "*",
2. it has an attribute :fn-call/args, which points to a list of other node IDs
3. that list contains the ID of any node that we know is a constant with a :const/val of "0",

then that AST node should be replaced with "0".

1. The engine analyzes all of the rules and their dependencies and compiles them into a graph that efficiently caches facts and semi-complete matches over time, so that a rule only fires when there is at least one full set of matching facts. Once executed, the rule may introduce more facts into the database which may then recursively trigger other rules etc, until a fixed point is reached and the execution is over (presumably with a final rule that will only match when there's a "compilation finished" fact inserted in the database and will write the finished compiled code to disk).

The main benefit that I see with this approach is that the compiler's behaviour can be built up with bite-sized chunks of logic/functionality, experimented with, and extended over time by simply swapping or adding rules into the existing (unordered) set, without having to worry too much about where the new functionality needs to be carefully spliced inside a complex codebase, or about manually plumbing (and debugging) the control flow of execution through all the rules.
Of course, I'm aware that this approach may have its own shortcomings (like performance, but let's not worry about that just yet). For example, rules clearly interact implicitly with other rules by virtue of being dependent on facts they may introduce, or by introducing facts of their own that may trigger other rules dowstream (which may in turn recursively trigger the original rule), and therefore a lot of potentially hidden complexity can arise that way. However, due to the explicit dependencies of rules on fact patterns and the explicit and traceable insertion of facts in the database, I can imagine developer tools that would be able to illuminate, statically check/verify (e.g. "there's a match conflict between rules X and Y", or "rule Z depends on attributes that are never inserted in the database and will therefore never fire"), and help navigate the potential interactions between them.
Does anyone have any thoughts or criticisms on this idea?
Is anyone aware of compilers that have already been implemented in a similar fashion?
¹ Disclaimer: not that I have implemented any (yet).
² As opposed to complex, à la Rich Hickey's talk "Simple Made Easy", i.e. "strands hanging loose in parallel, vs strands being woven/braided together".