@Uraael@blahaj.zone
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

Uraael

@Uraael@blahaj.zone

I am Uraael.

Pronounced "Yu-RAYL" it's the name of my Soul which exists outside our dimensons of space and time, waiting for me in the car.

Note: what you see in the name box is whatever amuses me that day. Just call me Uraael.

Quiet Scottish Geek. Veteran Defender of Social Justice, Privacy and Human Freedoms. Gentle soul undergoing Kintsugi. Country boy at heart.

I am romantically entwined with @MariaTheMartian, my Twin Flame. ๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿ”ฅ. We used to joke that our Love could melt servers...and then Firefish actually died. Um, sorry about that.

FEDIVERSITY:
Proud #Sharkey user since Nov '23
Proud #Firefish user since Feb '23
Proud #Fediverse user since Sep '22.

#Hashtags #Geek #SciFi #Scotland #Politics #Computing #Linux #Software #Music #Writing #PCGaming #Emulation #MentalHealth #AFinerWorld #Humanism #SocialJustice #TransRights #Feminism #AntiFascism #RacialEquality #LGBTQIA+ #MFM #Art #ShinyThings #FreePalestine #HaveANiceDay #OponionsLikeOpinionsButMoreLayered

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Uraael, to Morrowind
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

Morrowind is a genuine treasure. One of the high achievements of human creativity. If it were a painting it'd be in a public Gallery.

I'll be talking about this soon as I'm into my first proper playthrough in a few years. But here's a great primer on exactly what makes this unique creation so very special.

https://www.denofgeek.com/games/why-morrowind-is-still-the-best-fantasy-world-in-gaming/

Uraael, (edited )
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@yora Gameplay is not the greatest, no, but mods do help significantly. I've got one that eliminates the rng roll combat. Cliff Racers are far less PTSD inducing when you can reliably hit the damn things. There are others that modify stealth, and so on.

Totally agreed on the world. Skyrim's locales could exist in our world. But you'd never find a collosal crab shell to build a wee mall in.

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@katievm @yora Many, stability being prime among them. The shader support is amazing as well.

sinituulia, to random
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe avatar

Thinking about the Extremely Subtle And Understated Symbolism For Fertility painting again (Cookmaid with Still Life of Vegetables and Fruit, c.1620โ€“5, Sir Nathaniel Bacon)
All the lovingly and painstakingly crafted cabbages. The lovely bosom-forward lass holding that pumpkin? All the erect carrots? The shape of the wreath? So subtle! Incredible. ๐Ÿ˜†

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@sinituulia Those cabbages...it's like one of those "when you see it..." images. It's absolutely unmistakable once your mind adjusts. One of them even goes unusually pink.

And yes, yon maid does have an exceptionally bountiful cleavage for the time. All that frothing over the female form; painters were really quite a horny bunch, weren't they?

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@sinituulia Clouds too. They're flat and lifeless. We do have a tiny couple clasping hands (scandal!) and the suggestion of a Stork, though.

Uraael, (edited ) to random
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

Head swimming with X-Men 97 thoughts.

Next week, when the last episode of the season airs I think I'm going to have to splurge tens of thousands of words on how incredible and wonderful and impossible this show has been. It's not just the greatest piece of X-media since the comics, it's one of the best shows I've watched in many years, with only Andor coming close in recent memory.

My family, who have not watched this yet, are simply not prepared for it. I defnitely wasn't: it hit me "like a hay-bailer with a jet engine attached" (lol @ rare writing mis-step). It is on another level over and above its forebear. Its timing could not have been better, and that's as much by fate as by design.

But sadly I think we've had our 'Endgame' moment in that this experience will be almost impossible to duplicate. Many of the shocks and surprises we've seen worked (I'll speak for myself here) because they were so unexpected. While the original series played loose with the source comic timeline (With Dark Phoenix in season 4 there should have been many events before we saw The Phalanx Covenant in season 5, for instance), this new series has gone berserk with it, to tremendous effect. It actually led me to ponder if Time itself was being manipulated by someone in-universe but there's been little evidence so far, though Bishop's disappearance being kept visible suggests this might be a simmering plot point for season 2....

Or perhaps it'll completely surprise me again. I'd be delighted to be wrong.

Uraael, to random
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

It is absolutely fascinating to see how the events portrayed by the X-Men 97 series are being received by fans, some siding with a man currently committing Genocide. It's even more grimly fascinating in light of events in Israel the show's writers could not possibly have predicted.

That a cartoon produced for children/young adults is delivering a powerful polemic on such complex topics as Genocide and Bigotry is simply astonishing. That it is being made by Disney is actually incredible.

RE: https://blahaj.zone/notes/9t2f9zf9tuvs00cb

Uraael, to random
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

Wake up, babe. The new K.I.T.T just dropped!

RE: https://fediscience.org/users/helenczerski/statuses/112407289831821704

Uraael, to random
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜๐Ÿ˜

Assuming they're going to end on a big bang next week to set up the thirst for Season 2, how on Earth do they put a cap on what has been an incredible first/sixth season of X-Men?

I. Cannot. Wait. to find out. โ€‹:blobcat_approach:โ€‹

jacklaridian, to random
@jacklaridian@horrorhub.club avatar

The internet will never convince me 'MARVELS' was a bad movie. Higher, further, faster baby. ๐Ÿ˜Ž

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@jacklaridian Exactly this. I enjoyed it and the internet can go be wrong somewhere away from me.

jacklaridian, to random
@jacklaridian@horrorhub.club avatar

Giancarlo Esposito has been cast in the #MCU in a mystery role.

Giancarlo Esposito confirmed that the role is not Professor X but is "better than you can imagine.", and will be revealed โ€œsooner rather than laterโ€.

Let the speculation begin. ๐Ÿ˜Ž

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@jacklaridian Marvel has too many characters for guessing games, lol. Arrg

Better than you imagine...๐Ÿค”

The Beyonder?

nixCraft, to random
@nixCraft@mastodon.social avatar

I can't believe a paid OS needs a tool like this. Here's a GUI tool called OFGB (Oh Frick Go Back) to remove all the ads in Windows 11. It's understandable if a free OS or app needs ad support, but this is just crazy https://github.com/xM4ddy/OFGB

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@sb @nixCraft There's no concept of "enough" in Capitalism. It's always "More More More".

Techaltar, to random
@Techaltar@mas.to avatar

My working theory is that people tend to think the "good" version of Windows is the N-1 one from today's

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@diogot @Techaltar No.

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@Techaltar Gotta agree with him about that Start Menu. The W11 one is possibly the worst one since Windows began.

Legend, to random
@Legend@mastodon.scot avatar

Probably but late to party but John Swinney confirmed he's running in ๐Ÿด๓ ง๓ ข๓ ณ๓ ฃ๓ ด๓ ฟ

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@Legend That's good news.

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@Legend While ir's not ideal (and that's my opinion of the SNP in a nutshell) there are ways to look at this favourably. My first thought is that Swinney is keen to avoid their party's current strife looking like a Tory leadership contest. So far this is proceeding with conversation rather than public, polarised backstabbing. And did Swinney say the literal words Dont Stand Against Me or is that a tabloid interp of what I think his actual message is here: the SNP needs to come together, not factionalise under different candidates.

Cutting membership out isn't great but I'm hoping he's going to address that issue furtjer down the line. He's no Trump.

sinituulia, to random
@sinituulia@eldritch.cafe avatar

I would also like, on this day of low executive function, tell you about fun machine sound music that makes the brain go beep boop! I have most of the discography on a playlist I've titled Serotonin because it's just very good soundscape to mindlessly getting shit done.

"Neurodivergent music to scratch the itch in your brain.
Inspired by 90s techno, Frank Klepacki, Perturbator, and Mega Drive, among other things."

https://gridwalker.bandcamp.com/

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@sinituulia Feels like I'm currently learning exactly how ND my brain actually is.

because that's where the synthetic cymbal crash belongs

THIS right here. I was chatting to myself the other day about how I can't get with Live performances of my beloved tracks sometimes because I have the studio versions in my head and Live can never match the timings or tones exactly as they were done in that recording. My brain being ND is exactly why I think/feel this way. ๐Ÿ˜

Your OP point about low executive function is me too, I'm learning, leading me to go talk it over with a GP for the first time in my life. I may finally be admitting to myself I have ADHD. Fun times!

PS: I LOVE the type of music you've linked to. To repay you, here's a soundtrack I've loved since the Amiga/Atari ST days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6J7Pl2SAFk

Uraael, (edited ) to XMen
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

It's so weird seeing people pleased to see Charles Xavier back saying his immortal line.

In the comics, just as Magneto has been on the side of the angels for the last twenty plus years, ol' chuck X has been a moderately unrepentant asshole, soundly shunned by his one-time "Son", Scott Summers and even given lessons in morality by Emma Frost, the White Queen! And lately he figured he could save Mutantkind from eternal dominion by shooting child Moira McTaggert in her past. He was prevented from doing so (thank you, Rachel Summers) but only after he pulled the trigger.

The Onslaught storyline in the early 90s was among the first to really take the shine off his character, Onslaught's revelations re: Xavier's secret 'love' of his underage student, Jean Grey, serving to shatter trust and cast him in a much darker light. Subsequent stories, such as revelations he knew all along Scott had another brother, simply pushed him further away from his original portrayal os a moral guiding light for the X-Men, undoubtedly leading to their wholesale departure from him in the Utopia era, Cyclops' ascendance as the mutant driving force ("Cyclops Was Right") and Magneto's welcome into the fold as a more or less permanent state of affairs. There was a fair amount of revisitiation of earlier decisions too; looking at how he talks a very noble game but in practice he oversteps moral boundaries almost as a matter of course, wiping the minds of entire towns to protect the X-Men's identities, leaving people to believe him dead (as he just did in the cartoon...!) and more besides.

He's also a fairly crappy father to his son, David a.k.a Legion. I have one of those so it's less easy to forgive him that. Even in the Krakoan era (Krakoa is for ALL Mutants) where the likes of Apocalypse and Mr Sinister were made members of the governing council, he mistook David's peaceful reconciliatory overtures as David seeking revenge, and -get this- struck back first. Even when he's Winning at Life he's still a jerk (Thank you for that immortal insult, Kitty Pride).

And going purely by the cartoon let's not gloss over his arrogant presumption in calling for "his" X-Men when his Will handed them wholesale to Magneto, and he's subjected them all to the pain and grief of his loss for MONTHS.

Xavier? EX-saviour, more like.

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@theothersparrow It's one of my biggest frustrations with portrayals of the X-Men, certain aspects frozen in amber despite decades of further development.

I like your thoughts about his Integrationism, his vaunted "Dream". An interesting point to consider given an episode that just out loud admitted "Magneto was right".

Definitely a line of thought to consider further, thank you for that. (Hit me up later if you fancy chatting about it).

Uraael, to Marvel
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

Make Mine Marvel!

danjac, to random
@danjac@masto.ai avatar

Sunak: we are going to pass a bill to have everyone over 6' rounded up and shot

Starmer: this is an un-British and draconian policy. Under Labour we will have everyone over 6' 1" rounded up and shot

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@danjac It is almost admirable how hard he works at being completely ineffectual.

Almost.

reginasbread, to random
@reginasbread@homo.promo avatar

a week of confusion. have a good Monday!

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@reginasbread how very dare you

Uraael, to random
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

To me, My X-Men '97! (NO SPOILERS JUST ABSTRACT GUSHING)

My goodness this show is an absolute treasure! Another stellar episode delivering action, thrills, emotion, surprises...

I don't want it to end. This is BETTER than the parent show, and that was epochal.

Only two more weeks and I can share this with my 'we'll binge it' family!

Uraael, (edited ) to paganism
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

Wishing everyone in the Fedi a very happy Beltane! โ˜บ๏ธ๐Ÿ”ฅ๐Ÿ”ฅโ˜บ๏ธ

Let's give the Summer a proper pagan welcome.

I've been to a Fire Festival in Edinburgh before and it was great fun. ๐Ÿ˜

https://beltane.org/about-beltane/

#Beltane #Paganism #Scotland #Edinburgh

blogdiva, to design
@blogdiva@mastodon.social avatar

so, some douche bought a bunch of Teslas and seems to be running a 3rd party car service using Lyft/Uber.

WTF IS WRONG WITH THEIR DOORS?!?! i have never in my life have had a problem opening a car door until i tried to open the door of a Tesla.

that fascist apartheid fuckwad is a real ableist PoS, isn't he?

Uraael,
@Uraael@blahaj.zone avatar

@jonobie @blogdiva Techbros build Inhuman solutions.

Techbros would enthusiastically build Skynet and Terminators.

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