costume appreciation: kira nerys + holosuite 💥

"It's time to face reality, Doctor. You're a man who dreams of being a hero, because you know deep down that you're not."

Pretty crazy thing to say to the man who saved your life with the sheer power of his love, devotion and forgiveness but okay-

Susanna Thompson (Lenara Kahn) and Terry Farrell (Jadzia Dax) on the set of the defiant filming “Rejoined” (4x06)

i did not have sk turning into a dictatorship in my 2025 bingo

small update

so the annulment was agreed upon by both parties unanimously (out of the 190 members present) in a record time of 18 seconds which i hope shows that even the ruling party knows this shit is unacceptable

and the opposition has drafted? submitted? an impeachment during korean daytime but now the ruling party is saying they're going to stay out of it + in order for the impeachment to pass they need at least 8 votes from the ruling party

so like...okay! you know he's an unstable nutjob but you're not going to actually back it up i guess

HAPPY PRESIDENTIAL ARREST DAY TO EVERYONE IN SOUTH KOREA

update: he still hasn't been convicted OR impeached

sending my korean mutuals ides of march energy

HAPPY IMPEACHMENT DAY TO EVERYONE IN SOUTH KOREA

so many smiles 🥰

hanahaki is all well and good but i think it's strange that in these settings, hanahaki is the only soul-sickness that exists. what about repressed rage? a lack of love entirely, rather than just reciprocated love? burnout? relentless ennui? what other things could trigger such a sickness? and, in place of flowers sprouting from the lungs, what other semi-magical symptoms could these sicknesses take on?

harry potter rp blog runner is mad at people headcanoning odo as transfem. which means we should do it even more

The funniest story arc in Trek is always gonna be the DS9 one where Keiko drops every conceivable hint that she wants to add Kira to her marriage while Kira and Miles do everything in their power not to fuck each other. Incredible television.

I still maintain the B story should have been Keiko and Julian setting up a green space for mental health purposes somewhere on the promenade with absolutely no sexual tension whatsoever. The final scene should have been all four of them having dinner together with Keiko and Julian being all openly buddy buddy (because they have nothing to hide) and Miles and Kira being all awkward but the other two don't notice.

Halloween-themed DS9 for some reason… that’s about as festive as Odo would get for a Starfleet costume party

Just recently watched Rocks and Shoals. A certified Banger.

genuinely wild to me when I go to someone's house and we watch TV or listen to music or something and there are ads. I haven't seen an ad in my home since 2005. what do you mean you haven't set up multiple layers of digital infrastructure to banish corporate messaging to oblivion before it manifests? listen, this is important. this is the 21st century version of carving sigils on the wall to deny entry to demons or wearing bells to ward off the Unseelie. come on give me your router admin password and I'll show you how to cast a protective spell of Get Thee Tae Fuck, Capital

Share the knowledge

Okay, here we go! I'm gonna try and put this in order from least to most technical knowledge required. I'm not responsible if you accidentally create SkyNet etc.

Level 1: browser extensions

This one is basically impossible to get wrong, or at least to get wrong badly enough that it causes any problems.

Get Firefox, or a Firefox fork like Waterfox. If you use a fork, make sure it's one that will let you use add-ons. On a PC, pretty much any Firefox fork will take add-ons, but on mobile devices, many don't. Iceraven is one that does.

Get the add-ons uBlock Origin, YouTube Sponsorblock (if you use YouTube), and FBCleaner (if you use Facebook).

uBlock Origin comes with a built-in list of filters to block ads and trackers, but you can add your own filters to block any specific element of a website you don't like. You know those goddamn floating frames on fandom.com sites that block half the screen? Now you can zap 'em.

Sponsorblock uses crowdsourced timestamps to automatically skip sponsor spots and self-promotion in YouTube videos. Never listen to anyone say "hit like and subscribe" or "Raid Shadow Legends" again.

FBCleaner hides all content from your feed except posts from people, groups, and pages you've actually chosen to follow.

Level 2: leaving enshittified services

The software that's become standard over the years in a lot of fields is steadily selling more of your data, showing you more ads, and pushing you to buy more expensive subscriptions. Time to tell them to get fucked.

Dump Adobe apps for Affinity or Krita. Drop Microsoft for LibreOffice. Change your default search engine from Google to DuckDuckGo or Qwant. Use OpenStreetMaps instead of Google or Apple Maps.

Level 3: network-level DNS fuckery

DNS, or Domain Name Service, is the thing that tells your computer where www.website.com is actually located. By hacking your network's DNS you can force it to tell your devices that ad-hosting domains don't exist at all. Some of the steps on this one can get pretty technical, but because you're doing all the difficult stuff on a dedicated device, you can't really fuck up anything that seriously.

Get yourself a Raspberry Pi (a cheap older one like a model 3B will work just fine for this purpose), and follow a guide like this one to get it set up running AdGuard Home. AdGuard, like uBlock, has built-in filter lists, but you can also add your own if there are specific domains you want to block.

Once it's up and running, you'll need to change the DNS settings on your router to point to your AdGuard service. This is different for every router but will always start with logging into the admin panel with a password printed on a little sticker somewhere on the router.

With that done, every time a device on your home network looks for ads.website.com, it'll get back a message that says "sorry, can't find it", so it won't be able to load any ads.

Level 4: Android-specific DNS fuckery

Because AdGuard runs on your home network, it can't block ads on your phone when you're away from home - and what's worse, your phone will sometimes remember the addresses it got when you were out and about, and ads will get past your AdGuard wall even when you're home.

To avoid this, get AdAway for DNS-based ad-blocking directly on your phone. The easy, but less seamless, way of using AdAway is the "local VPN mode", which doesn't require you to do any mucking about with your phone's operating system.

Level 5: automated media piracy

The best way to stop seeing ads on all your streaming services is to stop using streaming services. There are loads of ways to do this, but the best ones involve setting up what's called an "arr stack" (Google that for setup guides) along with nzbget and a usenet account. Most of the time you'll want to set this stuff up on a dedicated device - an old laptop gathering dust in the closet is a great option, or you can grab something used from a charity shop or a local electronics recycler.

The great thing about usenet is that unlike with torrents, you don't have to do any sharing from your computer, so you're in a lot less legal jeopardy - legally speaking, distributing pirated content is waaayyy more serious than accessing it. I pay about £3 a month for a secure, high-bandwidth usenet service.

Once you start getting your own collection of media on your own computer, use the open-source media library manager Jellyfin to browse and play things from basically any device.

Oh, and don't be a dick. Pirate all you want from big corporations, but please pay independent small-time creators for their work.

Level 6: fucking with Android

Android phones are a lot more locked-down than they used to be, but depending on the device you own you can still do a lot of messing around under the hood. Note that if you get something wrong while doing this, there is always the possibility that it will turn your device into a paperweight.

Before you buy a device, check where it sits on the Bootloader Unlock Wall of Shame. Once you've bought it, check the xda-developer forums for guides on how to unlock it and "root" it (gain admin access) with Magisk.

Once Magisk is installed, you can add modules to do all sorts of cool stuff, including using AdAway in "root mode" which makes it basically invisible.

You can also install YouTube ReVanced, which will do all the ad- and sponsor blocking stuff we took care of in your Windows browser a few paragraphs ago. Be careful: there are a lot of fake sites out there pretending they're associated with the ReVanced project which might be injecting malware into their downloads. This Reddit post has the official instructions and links.

Also, try out the modded version of Facebook from APKmoddone, which will block most of the same shit as the FBcleaner add-on from earlier. There's always a possibility that modified apps like this are doing something dodgy, but I've never had any issues with this one personally.

Level 7: fucking with Windows

This one is scary because it can seriously fuck up your shit if something goes wrong, but some really cool people have actually made it very simple to strip all the bloat, ads, and spyware out of Windows. The tool I use is ReviOS. Start reading at https://www.revi.cc/docs. Basically, you'll need to download a tool called AME Wizard and the ReviOS "playbook" that tells AME what to do. Read the documentation before you do any of this.

Level 8: switching to Linux

I'm not going to pretend this is an option for everyone. Half the software I use on a weekly basis isn't available on Linux. But if you can switch? Do it. These days, Ubuntu - one of the most popular flavours of Linux - is built with people switching from Windows in mind, and a lot of things will be pretty intuitive. It also has great documentation and a huge community you can go to for help if you're confused about stuff.

And that, friends, is a comprehensive approach to banishing the demons of capitalism from your home!

in the early seasons of Star Trek: The Next Generation, holodeck programs were mostly created by the computer on the fly in response to vague requests from users, and those programs notoriously sucked. the computer gave Picard several terrible versions of his Dixon Hill program before hitting on a passable one. Moriarty came to life. Geordi's warp consultant was missing an entire husband.

DS9 and Voyager, on the other hand, established holoprogram writing as an art form, with professionals like Dr Bashir's friend Felix apparently devoting huge amounts of their lives to the craft and amateurs like Tom Paris taking pride in the massive projects they took on in their spare time. those programs were engaging narratives with intricate stories and something real to say about the world.

anyway it's kinda wild to think Star Trek predicted exactly how and why AI art would suck 30 years before it existed.

nuh uh fellas i come pop my head in here to find not one of you posting terry in the captain’s chair at trekonderoga this weekend? lord alive what has broken in this space

fellas. im serious. you gotta get it together out here

Doctor Twink cannot be bothered to pretend enjoying third wheeling the gay worms

Honestly do think this was a deliberate choice cause it was the 90s and men often didn't even try to prétend not to fetishize lesbians. This is Sid/the writers/the director going: lesbians are so normal theyre boring; lesbianism isnt a fetish its about the deep connection between two women; I'm not into this at all cause its not for me. And honestly, respect.

Garak checking on Julian to give him permission if they let Cardassians go...this fucking episode, man

THIS! THIS MOMENT IS SO UNDERRATED.

Season 1 Garak would not have done this. He would have stepped forward without hesitation, maybe looking back afterwards in a slightly smug/mock sympathetic "better luck next time" kind of way.

Not this Garak.

This Garak's first impulse is to turn and (wordlessly) ask Bashir if it's ok for him to go. And Bashir says "yes, gtfo while you have the chance". And even then Garak hesitates before stepping forward.

Garak never loses his loyalty to Cardassia but he develops another one to Bashir (specifically to him, not the Federation), and at some point in the last five years his loyalty to Bashir has superseded his loyalty to Cardassia. It's up to fic writers and headcannoners to decide when exactly this happens, when Garak realises, or if he ever admits it to anyone (including himself), but this moment shows very clearly that it did happen.

Additionally, Bashir is fully accepting of his loyalty to Cardassia and even wants him to take advantage of this opportunity to leave.

This is why fics that claim that Garak's first loyalty will always be to Cardassia* or that Bashir would be upset about his loyalty always rub me up the wrong way. There is still plenty of conflict/angst potential in this subject without ignoring this moment.

*It's different if a character is saying this because that's the impression they have of him, this is specifically about the narrative itself framing him this way.

I would argue it’s earlier than most suspect. My inclination is the change in tide began around season two, specifically the episode “Profits & Loss”

Why?

Because Garak’s entire subplot for the episode is spelled out in his conversation with Bashir. They open together arguing over the morality of a piece of Cardassian literature, with Garak voicing agreement that the main character did right in killing their brother (on circumstantial evidence) for the good of the state. Julian throws back that loyalty to ourselves and those we care about is what defines us not what we do for the state. Garak critiques Julian wouldn’t survive Cardassia with his sentimentality. It’s a very them argument.

But at the end of the episode, Garak chooses to go counter to the state even if it ultimately gains him nothing (in fact, he’s told to his face his service would not help him). While he does claim his change in attitude is due to his love of Cardassia, and I do believe him in that respect, he’s not so idealistic as to believe the renegades he lets go (and I cannot stress enough he aids their escape when he could have just walked away and done nothing) will change his world within even their lifetimes. But, it is a move by someone who understands what motivates a character like Quark to help a former lover out.

Almost as if he’d begun to take what Julian says to heart and is beginning to configure the doc’s sense of sentimentality to fit within his own worldview.

@lost-fish-in-a-big-pond You mentioned how "that Bashir would be upset about his loyalty to Cardassia" rubs you the wrong way, so I would like to add my two cents on why it rubs me the wrong way as well. I think Julian would find it highly romantic to be Garak's second love after Cardassia in a "If you love me half as much as you love your homeland, then I am a very loved man" way.

I think Julian also believes he doesn't deserve to have someone's full love since he is not a natural being (ref: Doctor Bashir I Presume?) so, to come in second place with Garak after Cardassia, is about as much as he can hope for. Only, as you also said, Garak's loyalty to Julian has time to grow and be reciprocated, such as when Julian risked his life and career by going to Tain, the most feared man on Cardassia. As much as Garak loves Cardassia, he knows it won't love him back as much, but with Julian, he can feel the reciprocated love and it can become very addicting; Cardassia may always be his first love, but I think the reciprocation with Julian may become his Great Love.