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Institutions in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are joining forces to strengthen research data management expertises. Happy to be part of the endeavour with #INPGreifswald 🙂 #FDM.MV #DKMV @NFDI
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Institutions in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern are joining forces to strengthen research data management expertises. Happy to be part of the endeavour with #INPGreifswald 🙂 #FDM.MV #DKMV @NFDI
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On 5th October 2023 the first #Patents4Science workshop took place at #WGL head quarter in Berlin. With many interesting presentations and discussions on #LOD, #FAIR and the challenges of exploiting patent knowledge in science. All slides are now available online: https://www.forschungsdaten.org/index.php/1st_Project_Workshop_in_Patents4Science.
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CW: Scientists in the Social Sciences - Long List to Scroll!
Scientists in the Social Sciences
• Published (not necessarily in field)
Please Message for Additions, Deletions or Edits
Anthropology
Battles, Heather @anthroetc
Baynes-Rock, Marcus @hyenachow
Biittner, Katie @biittnerk
Bjork-James, Carwil @Carwil
Blair, James JA @jjablair
Callahan, Brian Robert @bcallah
Cajilig, Pamela @anthropam
Campbell, Baird @bairdcampbell
Chrisomalis, Stephen @schrisomalis
Corsín Jiménez, Alberto @acorsin
Coward, Fiona @FionaCoward
Davis, Sara LM @saralmdavis
Duque, Anamaria Tamayo @atama001
Eisenberg, Andrew J @eisenberg_andy
Göpfert, Mirco @goepfe
Joyce, Rosemary A @rajoyce
Kebbe, Victor Hugo @factolvictor
King, Barbara J @bjkingape
Kowal, Emma @emmakowal
Lanclos, Donna @DonnaLanclos
Matter, Scott @scottmatter
Mattioli, Fabio @fabiomattioli
Menzies, Charles/hagwil hayetsk @cmenzies
Merli, Claudia @claudiamerli
Munro, Catherine @CatherineMunro
Nafus, Dawn @dawnnafus
Pauwelussen, Annet @annetpauwelussen
Schmitt, Eddie @edwin_schmitt
Sponheimer, Matt @spon
Von Hellermann, Pauline @pvonhellermannn
Waters, Holly @Manigarm
Wells, Joshua J @josh
Whitehouse, Andrew @anthrobirder
Wilenius, Heikki @hw
Young-Leslie, Heather E @HyL• Biological Anthropology
Battles, Heather @anthroetcFedi.Directory Anthropology
find.sciences.social Anthropology
GitHub AnthropologistsArchaeology
Auchter, William @archaeothoughts
Biittner, Katie @biittnerk
Brusgaard, Nathalie O @brusgaard
Coto-Sarmiento, Maria @mcotsar
Dibble, Flint W @FlintDibble
Dietrich, Oliver @oliverdietrich
Dzwiza, Kirsten D @antikemagie
Garland, Nicky @nicky_garland
Gilmour, Rebecca @RebeccaGilmour
Haddow, Scott D @scotthaddow
Harris, Barnabas @Barney
Harris, Claire @Dr_ClaireH
Hoffmann, Birgitta @birgittahoffmann
Larsson, Åsa Maria @Archasa
Maguire, Rena @StillJustRena
Mills, Coralie @Dendrochronicle
Moilanen, Ulla @umoilanen
Nolan, Kevin C @KCNolanINDelCo
Notroff, Jens @jens2go
Plomp, Esther @toothFAIRy
Rundkvist, Martin @mrundkvist
Shilobod, Nika @NikaShilobod
Smith, Geoffrey M @geoffreymsmith
Wells, Joshua J @josh
Wragg Sykes, Rebecca @LeMoustier
Yates, Donna @DrdonnayatesFedi.Directory Archaeology
find.sciences.social Archaeology
GitHub Archaeologists⚱
Trunk ArchaeologyCartography
Bacinger, Tomislav @tomo
Bell, Sarah @sarahbell
Cyr, Andrew J @SFBoilermaker
Everhart, Avery @averose
Fink, Christoph @christoph
Garniaux, Jérémy @jeremy
Ledermann, Florian @floledermann
Liu, Brandon @bdon
Longour, Lucas @llongour
McConchie, Alan @alan
Monteath, Timothy W @twm
Tyrrell, Andrew @SouthArrowMapsFedi.Directory Geospatial and Geographic Information Systems
GitHub CartographersEconomics
Abreu, Maria @mariaaabreu
Dittrich, Dennis Alexis Valin @davdittrich
Fikkers, Derek Jan @Fikkers
Finger, Robert @robertfinger
Gaudeul, Alexia @agaudeul
Leppert, Gerald @gerald_leppert
Schulze, Christoph @qrisfind.sciences.social Economics
GitHub RePEc-registered Economists
Trunk EconomicsExploration - Antarctic
Choy, Emily S @EmilySChoy
Waldman, Ariel @arielwaldmanGeoarchivist
Gowan, Evan J @DrEvanGowanGeography
Abreu, Maria @mariaaabreu
Ali, Javed @javedali
Berg, Kathryn N @pokateo
Bitner, David @bitnerd
Bourg, Amandine @eco_amandine
Comby, Emeline @emelinecomby
Cramer, Wolfgang @wolfgangcramer
Dorn, Michael L @mdorn
Everhart, Avery @averose
Fink, Christoph @christoph
Frisch, Morten @mortenfrisch
Glückler, Ramesh @rglueckler
Gold, Catriona @catrionagold
Hartz, Friederike @frhartz
Head, Lesley @lesleyhead
Lockwood, Ben R @benlockwood
Lovelace, Robin @robinlovelace
Mason, Joe @MoreorLoess
McConchie, Alan @alan
Monteath, Timothy W @twm
Mould, Oli @olimould
Neal, Zachary P @zpneal
Neff, Christophe @cneff
Ostermann, Frank O @f_ostermann
Seifried, Rebecca M @rmseifried
Slep, Melisa T @mtslep
Sommer, Christian @sommer
Soutar, Iain @isoutar
Sultana, Farhana @farhanasultana
Sweeney, Kevin @kjsgeo
Temenos, Cristina @CTemenos
Väisänen, Tuomas @waeiski
Verdeil, Eric @erverd• Biogeography
Mast, Joy Nystrom @jnmastFedi.Directory Geography
find.sciences.social Geography
GitHub GeographersLaw Science
Abrams, Franklin @NovoEidos
Bernal, Nadia @NadiaBernaz
Fobbe, Seán @seanfobbe
Yates, Donna @DrdonnayatesLinguistics
Bender, Emily M @emilymbender
Chrisomalis, Stephen @schrisomalis
De Cock, Barbara @barbaradecock
Desagulier, Guillaume @gdlinguist
Dingemanse, Mark @dingemansemark
Elmerot, Irene @elmerot
Fisher, Simon E @ProfSimonFisher
Fountain, Amy V @amyfou
Gonzalez-Marquez, Monica @aeryn_thrace
Hartmann, Stefan @stefanhartmann
Matthew Honnibal @honnibal
McNeill, Joshua @joshisanonymous
Jacobs, Cassandra @BayesForDays
Krawczyk, Paweł @kravietz
Le Foll, Elen @ElenLeFoll
McCulloch, Gretchen @gretchenmcc
Miller, Tristan @Logological
Müller, Stefan @stefanmuelller
Needle, Jeremy M @JeremyNeedle
Põldvere, Nele @[email protected]
Pryslopska, Anna @anna_pryslopska
Rounti, Vasiliki Lydia @vilyrou
Scheffler, Tatjana @tschfflr
Steiner, Petra @PetraSteiner
Truan, Naomi @BerLinguistin
Warner, Natasha @nwarner
Zauner, Hans @HansZaunerFedi.Directory Linguistics
Fedi.Directory Discourse Analysis
GitHub Mastodonlinguists | Etherpad
Trunk LinguisticsMetascience
Acland, Erinn L @erinnacland
Bastian, Hilda @hildabast
Field, Sarahanne M @smirandafield
Gonzalez-Marquez, Monica @aeryn_thraceNaturalists
Ahmed, Javed @curiocritters
Cardona, Albert @albertcardona
De Vivo, Mattia @mdv
Fossen, Matthew @mattfossen
Friesen, Chris @friesen5000
Kreussling, Chris @xris
Park, Neville @nev
Purrington, Colin @colinpurrington
Raman, TR Shankar @mizoraman
Scriven, David @David_Epithet
Sullivan, Jon J @joncounts
Woodmore, Larena @larena
Wright, Bryan @catselbowOpen Science
Barba, Lorena A @labarba
Crawford, Steven M @crawfordsm
Fijten, Rianne @riannefijten
Fleischmann, Martin @martinfleis
Fressengeas, Nicolas @fresseng
Hernandez, Rigoberto @EveryWhereChem
Larsson, Åsa Maria @Archasa
Macgregor, George @g3om4c
Marcum, Christopher Steven @csmarcum
Monnin, Jenn @msjennmo
Mounce, Ross @rmounce
Müller, Stefan @stefanmuelller
Odell, Jere D @jaireeo
Plomp, Esther @toothFAIRy
Porter, Andrew P @Retropz
Schubotz, Moritz @schubotz
Suber, Peter @petersuber
Wein, Samuel @samweingamgeeFedi.Directory Open Access
Fedi.Directory Open Science
find.sciences.social Open Science
GitHub Open SciencePhilosophy of Science
Bergstrom, Carl T @ct_bergstrom
Brusse, Carl @carlbrusse
Byrd, Nick @ByrdNick
Carvalho, Eros Moreira de @eroscarvalho
Chiu, Lynn @drlynnchiu
Ferry-Danini, Juliette @ferrydanini
Fisher, Sarah A @sarahafisher
Gerson, Elihu M @emgerson
Leonelli, Sabina @sabinaleonelli
Molinari, Julia @serenissimaj
Mollo, Dimitri Coelho @dcm
Pearce, Gareth R @GarethRPearce
Pence, Charles H @pence
Podschwadek, Frodo @fpo
Rubin, Hannah @hannahrubin
Wenmackers, Sylvia @SylviaFysica
Williams, Damien Patrick @Wolven
Wu, Wayne @attninaction
Zhao, Kino @kinozhaoFedi.Directory Philosophy
find.sciences.social History and Philosophy of Science
GitHub History and Philosophy of SciencePolitical Science
Arzheimer, Kai @kaiarzheimer
Bradley, Fiona @fionabradley
Crawley, Sam @SamCrawley
Dupont, Claire @Cladupont
Fuentes George, Kemi @KFuentesGeorge
Heiss, Andrew @andrew
Jackson, Michael @black_intellect
Kamran, Annelies Z @akamran
Kelly-Bisson, Christy Ó @GarlicBreath
Leppert, Gerald @gerald_leppert
Levine, Peter @peterlevine
Stiles, Elizabeth A @Elizabeth3
Tungohan, Ethel @Tungohanfind.sciences.social Political Scientists
GitHub Political ScientistsPsychology
Acland, Erinn L @erinnacland
Bellec, Pierre @pierre_bellec
Bishop, Dorothy @deevybee
Bortolotti, Lisa @lisabortolotti
de Jonge-Hoekstra, Lisette @Lisette_dJH
Derringer, Jaime Lane @geneforanarchy
Field, Sarahanne M @smirandafield
Greene, Jeffrey A @jeffgreene
Grothe, Christine @christinegrothe
Horner, Aidan J @aidanhorner
Johansson, Magnus @pgmj
Karmarkar, Uma R @uma_karma
Kellie, Dax J @daxkellie
Kominsky, Jonathan F @jfkominsky
König, Laura M @lauramkoenig
Marschall, Amy @dramypsyd
McAleer, Philip @mcaleerp
McIntyre, Erica @EricaMcIntyre
Michie, Susan @SusanMichie
Mundy, Ian R @randomslope
Nityananda, Vivek @viveknityananda
Reimers, Stain @steer_rhinos
Reinbergs, Erik @ereinbergs
Rubin, Mark @MarkRubin
Sætrevik, Bjørn @satrevik
Snyder, Hannah R @Hannah_R_Snyder
Sørlie, Henrik @hsorlie
Steltenpohl, Crystal N @cnsyoung
Szala, Anna @anna
Towse, John Nicholas @johnntowse
Vaag, Jonas Rennemo @JRVaag
Van Damme, Stefaan @StefaanVanDamme
Ward, Emma Kate @emma_cogdev
Wood, Virginia S @LowlyAdjunctFedi.Directory Psychology
find.sciences.social Psychology
GitHub Psychologists
GitHub Health PsychologistsSafety Science
Cramer, Christopher J @CRO_CramerScience CommunicatIon - Broad
Buttfield-Addison, Mars @TheMartianLife
Heinderyckx, Francois @fheinderyckx
Smeets, Ionica @ionica
Suber, Peter @petersuberScience CommunicatIon - Academic
Sylvia IV, JJ @jjsylviaScience CommunicatIon - Editor
Abrahams, Marc @MarcAbrahams
Burke, Katie L @kburke
Christiansen, Jen @ChristiansenJen
Connor, Anne N @AnneENConnor
Cordova, Gonzalo @gcordova
Glazier, Amelia @ameliaglazier
Heinderyckx, Francois @fheinderyckx
Hodgkinson, Matt @mattjhodgkinson
Kotok, Alan @technewslit
Knapp, Alex @thealexknapp
Manafy, Michelle @michellemanafy
Matheson, Stephen F @sfmatheson
Maya-Mrschtik, Michaela @mimrma
Meijer, Roy @RoyMeijer
Musser, George @gmusser
O'Moore-Klopf, Katharine @KOKEdit
Schnell, Christian @NeuroSchnell
Vizcarra, Natasha @vizcarran
Weisberger, Mindy @lamindaScience CommunicatIon - Illustrator
Kiely, Jules @Palaeojules
Vuillème, Martin @MartinVuilleme
Wolfson, Eliza @eliza_coliScience CommunicatIon - Presenter
Bohon, Wendy @DrWendyRocks
Chiu, Lynn @drlynnchiu
Cockett, Rowan @rowan
Deppe, Stephanie JH @spacescisteph
Fiesler, Casey @cfiesler
Greenfieldboyce, Nell @nellgreenfieldboyce
Hossenfelder, Sabine @skdh
King, Barbara J @bjkingape
Kirshenbaum, Sheril @Sheril
Krishna, Swapna @skrishna
Lepo, Kelly @kellylepo
McAnulty, Sarah @SarahMackAttack
McIntyre, Mary @MaryMcIntyreAstro
Muñoz-Mateos, Juan Carlos @astro_jcm
Nazarovets, Serhii @serhii
O'Donoghue, James @Physicsj
O’Neill, Ian J @astroengine
Rohn, Jennifer L @JennyRohn
Varmazis, Maria @mariaScience CommunicatIon - Writer
Angler, Martin W @martinangler
Barber, Carolyn @cbarbermd
Bartlett, Richard J @astronomywriter
Bastian, Hilda @hildabast
Becker, Adam @freelanceastro
Branswell, Helen @HelenBranswell
Cain, Fraser @fraser
Campbell, Kristina @bykriscampbell
Connor, Anne N @AnneENConnor
Fiesler, Casey @cfiesler
Fischer, Daniel @cosmos4u
Fischer, Lars @Fischblog
Greenfieldboyce, Nell @nellgreenfieldboyce
Gross, Michael @proseandpassion
Harris, Margaret @DrMLHarris
Hossenfelder, Sabine @skdh
Kalinić, Jelena @zrnopameti
King, Barbara J @bjkingape
Kirshenbaum, Sheril @Sheril
Krishna, Swapna @skrishna
Komin, Niko @kokemikal
Kotok, Alan @technewslit
Kupferschmidt, Kai @kakape
Markolin, Philipp @protagonist_future
Matheson, Stephen F @sfmatheson
Moore, Jennifer @unchartedworlds
Musser, George @gmusser
Newitz, Annalee @annaleen
Ouellette, Jennifer @JenLucPiquant
Partridge, Matthew @MCeeP
Plait, Philip Cary @badastro
Rose, Ian @ianrosewrites
Silberman, Steve @stevesilberman
Smeets, Ionica @ionica
Smith, Adam Stuart @AdamStuartSmith
Suber, Peter @petersuber
Tan, Fayth Hui @fungalpals
Vizcarra, Natasha @vizcarran
Weinberger, Hannah @Trailanderror
Weisberger, Mindy @laminda
Winkless, Laurie @LaurieWinkless
Zimmer, Carl @Carl_ZimmerFedi.Directory Science Communication
find.sciences.social Communication and Media Studies
GitHub Communication and Media Studies
TrueSciPhi Professional Science WritersScience History
Ballenger, Jesse F @jfballenger
Hedreen, Rebecca @ [email protected]
Klüppelberg, Achim @Achim
Manias, Chris @ChrisManias
Onaga, Lisa @lonaga
Pence, Charles H @pence
Ward, Jacob @jacobwardfind.sciences.social History and Philosophy of Science Academic List
GitHub Historians of ScienceScience & Technology Studies
Dittrich, Jan @simulo
Dunbar-Hester, Christina @inquiline
Gray, Jonathan WY @jwyg
Keegan, Brian C @bkeegan
Laser, Stefan @stefanlaser
Lippert, Ingmar @i_nglifind.sciences.social Science and Technology Studies STS
GitHub Science and Technology StudiesSocial Science
Barros García, José Manuel @Barros_heritage
Benfell, David @Benfell
Rohlfing, Ingo @ingorohlfingSociology
Anderson, Christopher @Chanders
Anthis, Jacy Reese @jacyanthis
Borrell, Luisa N @lborrell
Brankovic, Jelena @jelena3121
Chen, Jane @janechen
Cohen, Philip N @philipncohen
Erz, Hendrik @hendrikerz
Gerson, Elihu M @emgerson
Gjika, Anna @GjikaPhD
Heilman, Monica @writingmonicker
Igra, Mark @markigra
Johannessen, Lars EF @LarsJohannessen
Kraus, Nicole M Butkovich @drnicolekraus
Krawczyk, Stanisław @stanislawkrawczyk
Lawson Jacobs, Naomi @naomilawsonjacobs
Locock, Louise @ProfLouiseL
Mackay, Ried E @mackayried
Maharja, Carya @CaryaMaharja
Mallon, Annetta @annettamallon
Marcum, Christopher Steven @csmarcum
Martell, Luke @lukemartell
Martinson, Brian C @bcmFietser
Oliver, Pamela Elaine @pamelaoliver
Perry, Anja @Datendealerin
Porter, Nathaniel D @ndporter
Rosen, Sue M @MedSociOnWheels
Stillerman, Joel @jstillerman
Stoyko, Peter @peter
Szaguhn, Markus @szaguhn
Truan, Naomi @BerLinguistin
Wayne, Nancy L @nancylwayne
Williams, Dana M @dmw
Wrigley-Field, Elizabeth @wrigleyfieldfind.sciences.social Sociology
GitHub SociologistsUrban Studies
Fleischmann, Martin @martinfleis
Frisch, Morten @mortenfrisch
Verdeil, Eric @erverdFedi.Directory Social Science
More extensive lists on Mastodon can be found exploring the following
Fedi.Directory - Science & Humanities
find.sciences.social - Find Academics on Mastodon
GitHub - Academics on Mastodon Lists
TrueSciPhi - Curated science, philosophy, and mathematics lists covering podcasts, Mastodon, and Bluesky
Trunk - allows you to mass-follow a bunch of people(Click to access Formal & Natural (Applied, Life & Physical) Sciences)
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White House fires commission expected to review Trump construction projects – The Washington Post
President Donald Trump holds up a model of an arch while delivering remarks at a fundraising dinner for the new White House ballroom on Oct. 15. (Demetrius Freeman / The Washington Post)From article…WP Exclusive
White House fires arts commission expected to review Trump construction projects
The move comes as President Donald Trump pursues efforts to build a White House ballroom and a triumphal arch in Washington.
Updated, October 28, 2025 at 7:44 p.m. EDT, today at 7:44 p.m. EDT
By Dan Diamond
The White House on Tuesday fired all six members of the Commission of Fine Arts, an independent federal agency that had expected to review some of President Donald Trump’s construction projects, including his planned triumphal arch and White House ballroom.
“On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as a member of the Commission of Fine Arts is terminated, effective immediately,” reads an email reviewed by The Washington Post that was sent to one of the commissioners by a staffer in the White House presidential personnel office.
The commission, which was established by Congress more than a century ago and traditionally includes a mix of architects and urban planners, is charged with providing advice to the president, Congress and local government officials on design matters related to construction projects in the capital region. Its focus includes government buildings, monuments and memorials. White House officials have traditionally sought the agency’s approval.
President Joe Biden appointed the six sitting commissioners to four-year terms, several of which would have extended through 2028. Their termination comes as the White House gears up for several Trump construction projects, including his planned $300 million White House ballroom, and seeks to install allies on key review boards.
A White House official confirmed that the Commission of Fine Arts members had been terminated.
“We are preparing to appoint a new slate of members to the commission that are more aligned with President Trump’s ‘America First’ policies,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters.
Bruce Becker, an architect who was appointed to the commission last year and was terminated Tuesday, praised its work in an interview Tuesday night. The agency “plays an important role in shaping the way the public experiences our nation’s capital and the historic buildings it contains, which serve as symbols of our democracy,” Becker said.
The White House in July also fired Biden appointees from the National Capital Planning Commission, another urban-planning agency that is required to review external construction projects at the White House. Trump allies now make up a majority of the 12-member board, including its chairman, Trump staff secretary Will Scharf.
The White House has said it will soon send Trump’s ballroom plans to the National Capital Planning Commission, which will decide whether to approve the new building. White House officials previously declined to comment on whether they planned to also send the plans to the Commission of Fine Arts, and whether approval from that agency was necessary for the ballroom project to move forward. An official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss ongoing construction said that “all necessary agencies and entities who need to review the project” were in the process of being consulted.
What the new ballroom means for the White House
Above above video from WP: The new White House ballroom marks one of the biggest changes to the presidential residence in decades — raising questions about tradition, legacy and power. (Video: Jonelle La Foucade/The Washington Post)
The Commission of Fine Arts has traditionally reviewed and voted on major projects at the White House, such as approving a tennis pavilion project overseen by first lady Melania Trump in 2019. But President Trump may sidestep its review of his ballroom, citing historical precedent and his desire to rush its construction, architectural experts said. During a 1947 battle with President Harry S. Truman, who sought to add a balcony to the White House, CFA’s then-chairman said the panel could serve only in an “advisory” role to the president. Truman ultimately proceeded with his plans, setting an example that Trump appears ready to follow.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: White House fires commission expected to review Trump construction projects – The Washington Post
#2025 #America #Ballroom #CommissionOfFineArts #DonaldTrump #Education #EstablishedByCongress #Fired #Health #History #Libraries #Library #LibraryOfCongress #Opinion #Politics #Resistance #Science #TheWashingtonPost #Trump #TrumpAdministration #UnitedStates #WhiteHouse
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I’ve been working on a Ph. D. in German Language since what feels like forever—more accurately, since February of 2017. As the proverb goes, “Good things come to those who wait,” so last month, the revised version of my thesis has finally been published by Language Science Press’ Advances in Historical Linguistics series.
Carsten Becker. 2024. Genusresolution bei mittelhochdeutsch beide: Eine Analyse im Rahmen der Lexical-Functional Grammar (Advances in Historical Linguistics 1). Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10451456 (🔓). [Worldcat]
LangSci was my first shot at submitting my thesis to a publisher at the suggestion of both a colleague-friend and my supervisor, so I’m beyond happy this worked out and my baby found a home in this newly formed series. It now even happens to be its initial volume, and I hope to fill those shoes adequately, what with setting the tone, first impressions etc. etc. May many other interesting books follow!
Since my thesis is published now in fulfillment of the one remaining requirement for the degree Dr. phil., today, I was able to pick up my diploma from University of Marburg’s Department of German Studies and Arts at long last, after having passed my defense already in September 2022 (that’s common procedure in Germany, unknown to most). Working on my thesis cost me lots of dedication and some nerves over the years, a few thousand hours of mostly my spare time certainly, and it’s like an era of my life has come to an end. Even though it’s certainly an achievement, being done still feels a little unreal. After all, you’re never really done while riding the academic rollercoaster.
What’s the book about?
The book’s title translates to English as “Gender resolution of Middle High German beide [‘both’]: A Lexical-functional Grammar based analysis.” For the purpose of this blog post, I will only scratch the surface of what the main title entails. I suppose that alone needs enough unpacking, so let’s look at some backgrounds first.
German infamously inflects the definite articles of nouns for case, number, and gender: der, die, das, den, dem, des. But it doesn’t stop there—oh nein! It also declines its attributive adjectives for those categories. Adjective declension extends to other kinds of noun modifiers as well, for instance, determining quantifiers like beide ‘both’. In today’s German, the nominative and accusative cases feature only one plural marker in the adjective declension’s strong (ST) paradigm for all of its three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. This marker is -e, exemplified in (1) by the adjective gut ‘good’.
- gut-e Männer
good-NOM.PL.ST men[M]
‘good men’ - gut-e Frauen
good-NOM.PL.ST women[F]
‘good women’ - gut-e Kinder
good-NOM.PL.ST children[N]
‘good children’
- gut-e Männer
That hasn’t always been the case, however. In Old High German (c. 750–1050 CE; Braune & Heidermanns 2023; Schmid 2023)—Old English’s West Germanic cousin from the hilly and mountainous regions in central Europe that underwent the accordingly-named High German Consonant Shift—all three genders were distinguished in the plural, as (2) illustrates: -e /e/ for masculines, -o /o/ for feminines, and -iu /iu̯/ for neuters.
- guot-e man
good-NOM.PL.M.ST men[M]
‘good men’ - guot-o frouwūn
good-NOM.PL.F.ST ladies[F]
‘good ladies’ - guot-iu wīb
good-NOM.PL.N.ST women[N]
‘good women’
- guot-e man
A few centuries later, in the Upper German subgroup of Middle High German (MHG, c. 1050–1350 CE; Paul et al. 2007; Klein et al. 2009, 2018), there still used to be a distinction between masculine–feminine -e /ə/ and neuter -iu /yː/. That is, in agreement morphology, references to grammatically masculine or feminine referents in MHG are usually marked by the masculine–feminine form, so it’s guote ‘good’ which occurs in (3a–b) in relation to both man ‘men’ and vrouwen ‘ladies’. (Note that when I stick to the term MHG for brevity in the following, I’m referring only to Upper German of that period.)
- guot-e man
good-NOM.PL.M+F.ST men[M]
‘good men’ - guot-e vrouwen
good-NOM.PL.M+F.ST ladies[F]
‘good ladies’ - guot-iu wīp
good-NOM.PL.N.ST women[N]
‘good women’
- guot-e man
Tangentially, but not so tangentially, the word wīb, wīp ‘woman’ in (2c) and (3c) is a notable lexical exception to the principle of correspondence between the conceptually associated social gender of a person-noun and grammatical gender: it denotes a female person in its semantics, but formally, that is, in terms of morphology, it’s neuter instead of feminine, like the famous Mädchen ‘girl’ (but also see wife!). Thus, you’ll usually find guotiu ‘good’ in this context. Anaphoric reference by pronouns, however, quickly switches to feminine in accordance with the (adult-)female semantics very typically. That is, you’ll normally find si ‘she’ in reference to wīp ‘woman’ rather than eʒ ‘it’.
The prologue of the Nibelungenlied provides a prominent example along those lines. See how in (4) even the adjective sc[h]œne ‘beautiful’ displays the feminine form in spite of being an attribute of neuter wīp ‘woman’. This is formally ungrammatical and as far as I can tell not the most typical usage—neuter schœneʒ would be expected—but it nicely highlights how semantics can have a strong effect on gender agreement even in written texts.
- Ez wuohs in Búrgónden ein vil édel magedîn, daz in allen landen niht schœners mohte sîn, Kriemhilt geheizen: si wart ein scœne [sic] wîp.
it grew in Burgundy a much noble girl[N] that in all lands not of.more.beauty could be Kriemhilt[F] named 3SG.F.NOM became a beautiful-ACC.SG.F.ST woman[N]
‘In Burgundy, a young noblewoman was growing up [such] that nothing more fair could be found in any of the lands, Kriemhild by name: she became a beautiful woman’ (Nibelungenlied 2:1–3; de Boor & Wisniewski 1988: 3, after manuscripts A and B)
Now let’s get to the heart of my survey: What about mixed-gender reference to a man and a woman simultaneously? Since -e marks both masculine and feminine reference in MHG in the strong nominative and accusative plural, you might expect e-forms in combined cases as well. And if you’ve ever studied a Romance language you may remember the rule that as soon as one man joins an all-female group, the whole group will be treated as grammatically masculine. Well—not so here! In cases of mixed-gender animate reference, we can frequently observe neuter forms instead as a kind of fall-back strategy based on semantics rather than morphology.
An example of this phenomenon from my data is given in (5). Observe the neuter form beidev ‘both’, ultimately relating to Ulrich and Elsbeth, a heterosexual couple. (Funny spellings are due to quoting from historical sources verbatim. Note that the letters u and v were still used interchangeably at the time, as were i and j. The letter ſ is a historical variant of s.)
- vlrich vnd frow Elzbet […] diſen prief / den ſi beidev habent gebeten ze ſchriben
Ulrich[M] and Mrs. Elsbeth[F] […] this charter that 3PL.NOM both-NOM.PL.N.ST have asked to write
‘Ulrich and Mrs. Elsbeth […] this charter that they both have asked to write’ (Wilhelm et al. 1932–2004: 4,176:26–27; No. 2843, Salzburg, 1297; photo)
Neuter is also what appeared in my data for inanimates, very regularly independent of any combinations of grammatical gender, as in (6a) with masculine Hof ‘farm’ and feminine Mule ‘mill’, and in (6b) with all-masculine zehenden ‘tithe’ and Garten ‘garden’.
- den Hof […] vnd di Mule / di er paidev […] hot
DEF.ACC.SG.M farm[M] […] and DEF.ACC.SG.F mill[F] REL.ACC.PL he both-ACC.PL.N.ST […] has
‘the farm […] and the mill that he both has […]’ (Wilhelm et al. 1932–2004: 3,254:35–37; No. 2011, Seitenstetten, Amstetten district, 1294; photo) - vnſerne zehenden […] vnde ainen Garten […] div wier baidiv fvr reht aigen her haigen braht
our-ACC.SG.M.ST tithe[M] […] and a-ACC.SG.M.ST garden[M] […] REL.ACC.PL.N we both-ACC.PL.N.ST for rightful property here have brought
‘our tithe […] and a garden […] that we [i.e. three brothers] both have brought here [i.e. as subject matter of the hearing] as rightful property’ (Wilhelm et al. 1932–2004: 2,472:10–14; No. 1201 A/B; Heiligkreuztal abbey, Biberach district, 1290)
- den Hof […] vnd di Mule / di er paidev […] hot
In a few cases, combined reference even to two men triggered neuter agreement, even though the referents’ grammatical properties as animate masculines are compatible. Of course, there are also cases where the formally expected masculine–feminine form actually does appear for mixed-gender groups, though this is a minority pattern in my data. All in all, the observed distribution of agreement markers makes one wonder in which morphosyntactic contexts, how often, and why these patterns occur, unexpected at first sight as they may be.
Ein junchērre unde ein vrouwelīn, diu tanzent beidiu. A courtly young man and woman, who are both dancing (Heidelberg, Univ. Lib., Cod. Pal. germ. 848, fol. 70v; photo: Heidelberg University Library)The phenomenon of languages using certain strategies to resolve a clash of grammatical features in mixed-gender groups is called—you guessed it—gender resolution. As the examples above show, MHG beide ‘both’ is notorious for displaying it in its declension form when its reference is to two distinct entities, especially when it refers to persons of incongruous (semantic) gender. This even goes for combined references containing morphologically ungendered personal pronouns like ich ‘I’ or du ‘you (SG)’, since they as well often implicitly encode information about the referenced person’s gender at the semantic level in context. For combinations of two inanimate nouns, there’s apparently a tendency for semantics to cause neuter across the board.
Moreover, referents of beide ‘both’ don’t need to be formally introduced into discourse by a coordination construction as we’ve seen in (5) and (6). For instance, in (7), the names Agnes and Lukas are syntactically part of different constituents.
- das vur Agnes mit h[er]n Lukas hant […] het gegeben ze coͧffenne ir hûz in kurdewenre gaſſen […] vn[de] hant bedi v[er]iehen […]
that Mrs. Agnes[F] with Mr. Lukas[M] hand […] has given to buying her house in Cordwainers’ Alley […] and have both-NOM.PL.N.ST testified
‘that Mrs. Agnes with Mr. Lukas’ authority […] put up her house in Cordwainers’ Alley for sale […] and [they] have both testified, […]’ (Wilhelm et al. 1932–2004: 5,156:11–16; No. N 202, Strasbourg, 1281)
How exactly both referents of beide are introduced into the grammatical context doesn’t matter so much because the quantifier very often modifies a pronoun like si ‘they (PL)’, which refers back to the pair collectively, or may itself act as a pronoun, like e.g. still in modern German Sie beide mögen Schokolade ‘Both of them like chocolate’ or Beide sind glücklich ‘Both are happy’.
Language scholars have been aware of how the neuter serves as a resolution gender in the older stages of Germanic languages at large—not just in German, and it’s still attested for modern Icelandic and Faroese—at least since the 19th century. It’s also one of these things that, surprisingly, nobody’s yet had a thorough look at (i.e. morphosyntactically analyzed the crap out of) for MHG. That is, at least not regarding actual manuscripts especially of mundane, non-literary prose texts instead of only late 19th/early 20th century scholarly editions with regularized spelling and potentially even regularized grammar of the famous chivalric romances in verse. And this is the little knowledge gap that I mainly tried to address with my thesis.
Ein vil unbereiteʒ bilde von zwēn rītern bī der tjoste unde zwēn spilman mit ir ziuc. An unfinished drawing of two jousting knights and two gleemen with their instruments (Heidelberg, Univ. Lib., Cod. Pal. germ. 848, fol. 196r; photo: Heidelberg University Library)Interestingly, you can apparently still find neuter with mixed-gender reference even in older contemporary German, although in individuating rather than aggregating contexts, since grammatical gender is only distinguished in the singular anymore. An example from the novel Stiller by the Swiss writer Max Frisch (1911–1991) that I happened to come across a while ago is given in (8a). Here, the neuter form jedes ‘each’ refers to Anatol Stiller and Sibylle, his affair.
- Stumm saßen sie auf der Erde, […] jedes mit einem Halm zwischen den sorgenvoll-verbissenen Lippen
mute sat 3PL.NOM on the ground […] each-NOM.PL.N.ST with a stem.of.grass between the sorrowful_sullen lips
‘Mutely they were sitting on the ground, […] each with a stem of grass between their sorrowfully sullen lips’ (Frisch 1954: 332–333)
While jedes looks like a typo from the point of view of modern Standard German since masculine jeder would be the expected resolution form for animates, it’s warranted historically, as evidenced by neuter æintwederez ‘either one’ in (9) relating to Ulrich and Margret. Also compare e.g. neuter unsereins ‘one like me’ (more literally, ‘one-of-ours’).
- der ſelbe vlrich / oder fraw Margret […] ſi leben peidev ſamte / oder ir æintwederez
the same Ulrich[M] or Mrs. Margret[F] […] 3PL.NOM live both-NOM.PL.N.ST altogether or 3PL.GEN either-NOM.SG.N.ST
‘the selfsame Ulrich or Mrs. Margret [… if] they are both living altogether or either one of them’ (Wilhelm et al. 1932–2004: 4,352:3–9; No. 3141 A/B, Brixen, 1298)
Reading suggestions
If these not quite so brief remarks piqued your interest—maybe also as a conlanger—and you want to look deeper into grammatical gender and associated resolution phenomena, the following three monographs might be starting points.
- Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. 2016. How gender shapes the world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198723752.001.0001 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Corbett, Greville. 1991. Gender (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139166119 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Wechsler, Stephen & Larisa Zlatić. 2003. The many faces of agreement (Stanford Monographs in Linguistics). Stanford: CSLI Publications. [Worldcat]
Aikhenvald and Corbett mostly approach the topic from the perspective of linguistic typology, Aikhenvald additionally has a sociolinguistic angle based on her fieldwork. Wechsler & Zlatić deal with the morphosyntactic side by example of Serbo-Croatian (i.e. Bosnian–Croatian–Montenegrin–Serbian). This last book is probably the least geared toward casual readers of the three, but chapter 8 is concerned with modeling gender resolution in terms of a theory-driven explanation of empirical data that may be worth a look and also informed my own research.
With a special focus on how grammatical gender manifests in German, as well as the semantic, social, cultural, and political complexities involved, these three references might also make interesting reading (in German):
- Klein, Andreas. 2022. Wohin mit Epikoina? Überlegungen zur Grammatik und Pragmatik geschlechtsindefiniter Personenbezeichnungen. In Gabriele Diewald & Damaris Nübling (eds.), Genus – Sexus – Gender (Linguistik – Impulse & Tendenzen 95), 135–189. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110746396-005 (🔓). [Worldcat]
- Köpcke, Klaus-Michael & David A. Zubin. 2017. Genusvariation: Was offenbart sie über die innere Dynamik des Systems? In Marek Konopka & Angelika Wöllstein (eds.), Grammatische Variation: Empirische Zugänge und theoretische Modellierung (Institut für Deutsche Sprache Jahrbuch 2016), 203–228. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110518214-013 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Kotthoff, Helga & Damaris Nübling. 2018. Genderlinguistik: Eine Einführung in Sprache, Gespräch und Geschlecht (Narr Studienbücher). Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto. [Worldcat]
Köpcke and Zubin have also published on German gender in English, for instance, Zubin & Köpcke (2009) (🔒) and Köpcke, Panther & Zubin (2010) (🔒).
Besides gender resolution, number resolution is of course also a thing, and I’ve been wondering if any languages, natural or invented, have formalized politeness resolution. German hasn’t despite the prominent T–V distinction, so mixing informal/intimate du and formal/distant Sie in address always leads to awkward phrasing.
tl;dr
In texts from the Upper German dialect group of Middle High German (c. 1050–1350 CE), neuter plural forms instead of masculine–feminine ones can often be found in agreement forms referencing mixed-gender groups of men and women collectively. This is striking because it seems unmotivated on purely morphological grounds. Neuter agreement forms can also be found more generally in combined reference to things regardless of their individual grammatical gender. I surveyed faithful transcriptions of medieval manuscripts from two source collections with regard to the detailed grammatical contexts involved in triggering neuter gender agreement in combined reference by example of beide ‘both’. My aim was to gain a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon than what the main reference works on Middle High German and a previous study from the 1970s provide.
References
- de Boor, Helmut & Roswitha Wisniewski (Hrsg.). 1988. Das Nibelungenlied. After Karl Bartsch’s edition. 22nd edn. (Deutsche Klassiker des Mittelalters). Mannheim: Brockhaus.
- Braune, Wilhelm & Frank Heidermanns. 2023. Althochdeutsche Grammatik. Vol. 1: Phonologie und Morphologie. 17th edn. (Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte, A. Hauptreihe 5). Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783111210537 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Frisch, Max. 1954. Stiller. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. [Worldcat]
- Heidelberg, University Library, Cod. Pal. germ. 848. [Heidelberg Univ. Lib.; HSC]
- Klein, Thomas, Hans-Joachim Solms, & Klaus-Peter Wegera. 2009. Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik. Vol. 3: Wortbildung. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI: 10.1515/9783110971835 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Klein, Thomas, Hans-Joachim Solms & Klaus-Peter Wegera. 2018. Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik. Vol. 2: Flexionsmorphologie. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110523522 (🔒). [Worldcat 1, 2]
- Paul, Hermann, Thomas Klein, Hans-Joachim Solms, Klaus-Peter Wegera, Ingeborg Schröbler & Hans-Peter Prell. 2007. Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik. 25th edn. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI: 10.1515/9783110942354 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Schmid, Hans U. 2023. Althochdeutsche Grammatik. Vol. 2: Grundzüge einer deskriptiven Syntax. 2nd edn. (Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte, A. Hauptreihe 5). Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110782493 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Wilhelm, Friedrich, Richard Newald, Helmut de Boor, Diether Haacke & Bettina Kirschstein (eds.). 1932–2004. Corpus der altdeutschen Originalurkunden bis zum Jahr 1300. Berlin: Erich Schmidt. http://tcdh01.uni-trier.de/cgi-bin/iCorpus/CorpusIndex.tcl (2023-09-23). [Worldcat]
https://ayeri.de/archives/7835
#CorpusDerAltdeutschenOriginalurkunden #gender #genderResolution #historicalLinguistics #Kaiserchronik #MiddleHighGerman #morphosyntax #natlang #publishing #thesis #writing
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I’ve been working on a Ph. D. in German Language since what feels like forever—more accurately, since February of 2017. As the proverb goes, “Good things come to those who wait,” so last month, the revised version of my thesis has finally been published by Language Science Press’ Advances in Historical Linguistics series.
Carsten Becker. 2024. Genusresolution bei mittelhochdeutsch beide: Eine Analyse im Rahmen der Lexical-Functional Grammar (Advances in Historical Linguistics 1). Berlin: Language Science Press. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.10451456 (🔓). [Worldcat]
LangSci was my first shot at submitting my thesis to a publisher at the suggestion of both a colleague-friend and my supervisor, so I’m beyond happy this worked out and my baby found a home in this newly formed series. It now even happens to be its initial volume, and I hope to fill those shoes adequately, what with setting the tone, first impressions etc. etc. May many other interesting books follow!
Since my thesis is published now in fulfillment of the one remaining requirement for the degree Dr. phil., today, I was able to pick up my diploma from University of Marburg’s Department of German Studies and Arts at long last, after having passed my defense already in September 2022 (that’s common procedure in Germany, unknown to most). Working on my thesis cost me lots of dedication and some nerves over the years, a few thousand hours of mostly my spare time certainly, and it’s like an era of my life has come to an end. Even though it’s certainly an achievement, being done still feels a little unreal. After all, you’re never really done while riding the academic rollercoaster.
What’s the book about?
The book’s title translates to English as “Gender resolution of Middle High German beide [‘both’]: A Lexical-functional Grammar based analysis.” For the purpose of this blog post, I will only scratch the surface of what the main title entails. I suppose that alone needs enough unpacking, so let’s look at some backgrounds first.
German infamously inflects the definite articles of nouns for case, number, and gender: der, die, das, den, dem, des. But it doesn’t stop there—oh nein! It also declines its attributive adjectives for those categories. Adjective declension extends to other kinds of noun modifiers as well, for instance, determining quantifiers like beide ‘both’. In today’s German, the nominative and accusative cases feature only one plural marker in the adjective declension’s strong (ST) paradigm for all of its three grammatical genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. This marker is -e, exemplified in (1) by the adjective gut ‘good’.
- gut-e Männer
good-NOM.PL.ST men[M]
‘good men’ - gut-e Frauen
good-NOM.PL.ST women[F]
‘good women’ - gut-e Kinder
good-NOM.PL.ST children[N]
‘good children’
- gut-e Männer
That hasn’t always been the case, however. In Old High German (c. 750–1050 CE; Braune & Heidermanns 2023; Schmid 2023)—Old English’s West Germanic cousin from the hilly and mountainous regions in central Europe that underwent the accordingly-named High German Consonant Shift—all three genders were distinguished in the plural, as (2) illustrates: -e /e/ for masculines, -o /o/ for feminines, and -iu /iu̯/ for neuters.
- guot-e man
good-NOM.PL.M.ST men[M]
‘good men’ - guot-o frouwūn
good-NOM.PL.F.ST ladies[F]
‘good ladies’ - guot-iu wīb
good-NOM.PL.N.ST women[N]
‘good women’
- guot-e man
A few centuries later, in the Upper German subgroup of Middle High German (MHG, c. 1050–1350 CE; Paul et al. 2007; Klein et al. 2009, 2018), there still used to be a distinction between masculine–feminine -e /ə/ and neuter -iu /yː/. That is, in agreement morphology, references to grammatically masculine or feminine referents in MHG are usually marked by the masculine–feminine form, so it’s guote ‘good’ which occurs in (3a–b) in relation to both man ‘men’ and vrouwen ‘ladies’. (Note that when I stick to the term MHG for brevity in the following, I’m referring only to Upper German of that period.)
- guot-e man
good-NOM.PL.M+F.ST men[M]
‘good men’ - guot-e vrouwen
good-NOM.PL.M+F.ST ladies[F]
‘good ladies’ - guot-iu wīp
good-NOM.PL.N.ST women[N]
‘good women’
- guot-e man
Tangentially, but not so tangentially, the word wīb, wīp ‘woman’ in (2c) and (3c) is a notable lexical exception to the principle of correspondence between the conceptually associated social gender of a person-noun and grammatical gender: it denotes a female person in its semantics, but formally, that is, in terms of morphology, it’s neuter instead of feminine, like the famous Mädchen ‘girl’ (but also see wife!). Thus, you’ll usually find guotiu ‘good’ in this context. Anaphoric reference by pronouns, however, quickly switches to feminine in accordance with the (adult-)female semantics very typically. That is, you’ll normally find si ‘she’ in reference to wīp ‘woman’ rather than eʒ ‘it’.
The prologue of the Nibelungenlied provides a prominent example along those lines. See how in (4) even the adjective sc[h]œne ‘beautiful’ displays the feminine form in spite of being an attribute of neuter wīp ‘woman’. This is formally ungrammatical and as far as I can tell not the most typical usage—neuter schœneʒ would be expected—but it nicely highlights how semantics can have a strong effect on gender agreement even in written texts.
- Ez wuohs in Búrgónden ein vil édel magedîn, daz in allen landen niht schœners mohte sîn, Kriemhilt geheizen: si wart ein scœne [sic] wîp.
it grew in Burgundy a much noble girl[N] that in all lands not of.more.beauty could be Kriemhilt[F] named 3SG.F.NOM became a beautiful-ACC.SG.F.ST woman[N]
‘In Burgundy, a young noblewoman was growing up [such] that nothing more fair could be found in any of the lands, Kriemhild by name: she became a beautiful woman’ (Nibelungenlied 2:1–3; de Boor & Wisniewski 1988: 3, after manuscripts A and B)
Now let’s get to the heart of my survey: What about mixed-gender reference to a man and a woman simultaneously? Since -e marks both masculine and feminine reference in MHG in the strong nominative and accusative plural, you might expect e-forms in combined cases as well. And if you’ve ever studied a Romance language you may remember the rule that as soon as one man joins an all-female group, the whole group will be treated as grammatically masculine. Well—not so here! In cases of mixed-gender animate reference, we can frequently observe neuter forms instead as a kind of fall-back strategy based on semantics rather than morphology.
An example of this phenomenon from my data is given in (5). Observe the neuter form beidev ‘both’, ultimately relating to Ulrich and Elsbeth, a heterosexual couple. (Funny spellings are due to quoting from historical sources verbatim. Note that the letters u and v were still used interchangeably at the time, as were i and j. The letter ſ is a historical variant of s.)
- vlrich vnd frow Elzbet […] diſen prief / den ſi beidev habent gebeten ze ſchriben
Ulrich[M] and Mrs. Elsbeth[F] […] this charter that 3PL.NOM both-NOM.PL.N.ST have asked to write
‘Ulrich and Mrs. Elsbeth […] this charter that they both have asked to write’ (Wilhelm et al. 1932–2004: 4,176:26–27; No. 2843, Salzburg, 1297; photo)
Neuter is also what appeared in my data for inanimates, very regularly independent of any combinations of grammatical gender, as in (6a) with masculine Hof ‘farm’ and feminine Mule ‘mill’, and in (6b) with all-masculine zehenden ‘tithe’ and Garten ‘garden’.
- den Hof […] vnd di Mule / di er paidev […] hot
DEF.ACC.SG.M farm[M] […] and DEF.ACC.SG.F mill[F] REL.ACC.PL he both-ACC.PL.N.ST […] has
‘the farm […] and the mill that he both has […]’ (Wilhelm et al. 1932–2004: 3,254:35–37; No. 2011, Seitenstetten, Amstetten district, 1294; photo) - vnſerne zehenden […] vnde ainen Garten […] div wier baidiv fvr reht aigen her haigen braht
our-ACC.SG.M.ST tithe[M] […] and a-ACC.SG.M.ST garden[M] […] REL.ACC.PL.N we both-ACC.PL.N.ST for rightful property here have brought
‘our tithe […] and a garden […] that we [i.e. three brothers] both have brought here [i.e. as subject matter of the hearing] as rightful property’ (Wilhelm et al. 1932–2004: 2,472:10–14; No. 1201 A/B; Heiligkreuztal abbey, Biberach district, 1290)
- den Hof […] vnd di Mule / di er paidev […] hot
In a few cases, combined reference even to two men triggered neuter agreement, even though the referents’ grammatical properties as animate masculines are compatible. Of course, there are also cases where the formally expected masculine–feminine form actually does appear for mixed-gender groups, though this is a minority pattern in my data. All in all, the observed distribution of agreement markers makes one wonder in which morphosyntactic contexts, how often, and why these patterns occur, unexpected at first sight as they may be.
Ein junchērre unde ein vrouwelīn, diu tanzent beidiu. A courtly young man and woman, who are both dancing (Heidelberg, Univ. Lib., Cod. Pal. germ. 848, fol. 70v; photo: Heidelberg University Library)The phenomenon of languages using certain strategies to resolve a clash of grammatical features in mixed-gender groups is called—you guessed it—gender resolution. As the examples above show, MHG beide ‘both’ is notorious for displaying it in its declension form when its reference is to two distinct entities, especially when it refers to persons of incongruous (semantic) gender. This even goes for combined references containing morphologically ungendered personal pronouns like ich ‘I’ or du ‘you (SG)’, since they as well often implicitly encode information about the referenced person’s gender at the semantic level in context. For combinations of two inanimate nouns, there’s apparently a tendency for semantics to cause neuter across the board.
Moreover, referents of beide ‘both’ don’t need to be formally introduced into discourse by a coordination construction as we’ve seen in (5) and (6). For instance, in (7), the names Agnes and Lukas are syntactically part of different constituents.
- das vur Agnes mit h[er]n Lukas hant […] het gegeben ze coͧffenne ir hûz in kurdewenre gaſſen […] vn[de] hant bedi v[er]iehen […]
that Mrs. Agnes[F] with Mr. Lukas[M] hand […] has given to buying her house in Cordwainers’ Alley […] and have both-NOM.PL.N.ST testified
‘that Mrs. Agnes with Mr. Lukas’ authority […] put up her house in Cordwainers’ Alley for sale […] and [they] have both testified, […]’ (Wilhelm et al. 1932–2004: 5,156:11–16; No. N 202, Strasbourg, 1281)
How exactly both referents of beide are introduced into the grammatical context doesn’t matter so much because the quantifier very often modifies a pronoun like si ‘they (PL)’, which refers back to the pair collectively, or may itself act as a pronoun, like e.g. still in modern German Sie beide mögen Schokolade ‘Both of them like chocolate’ or Beide sind glücklich ‘Both are happy’.
Language scholars have been aware of how the neuter serves as a resolution gender in the older stages of Germanic languages at large—not just in German, and it’s still attested for modern Icelandic and Faroese—at least since the 19th century. It’s also one of these things that, surprisingly, nobody’s yet had a thorough look at (i.e. morphosyntactically analyzed the crap out of) for MHG. That is, at least not regarding actual manuscripts especially of mundane, non-literary prose texts instead of only late 19th/early 20th century scholarly editions with regularized spelling and potentially even regularized grammar of the famous chivalric romances in verse. And this is the little knowledge gap that I mainly tried to address with my thesis.
Ein vil unbereiteʒ bilde von zwēn rītern bī der tjoste unde zwēn spilman mit ir ziuc. An unfinished drawing of two jousting knights and two gleemen with their instruments (Heidelberg, Univ. Lib., Cod. Pal. germ. 848, fol. 196r; photo: Heidelberg University Library)Interestingly, you can apparently still find neuter with mixed-gender reference even in older contemporary German, although in individuating rather than aggregating contexts, since grammatical gender is only distinguished in the singular anymore. An example from the novel Stiller by the Swiss writer Max Frisch (1911–1991) that I happened to come across a while ago is given in (8a). Here, the neuter form jedes ‘each’ refers to Anatol Stiller and Sibylle, his affair.
- Stumm saßen sie auf der Erde, […] jedes mit einem Halm zwischen den sorgenvoll-verbissenen Lippen
mute sat 3PL.NOM on the ground […] each-NOM.PL.N.ST with a stem.of.grass between the sorrowful_sullen lips
‘Mutely they were sitting on the ground, […] each with a stem of grass between their sorrowfully sullen lips’ (Frisch 1954: 332–333)
While jedes looks like a typo from the point of view of modern Standard German since masculine jeder would be the expected resolution form for animates, it’s warranted historically, as evidenced by neuter æintwederez ‘either one’ in (9) relating to Ulrich and Margret. Also compare e.g. neuter unsereins ‘one like me’ (more literally, ‘one-of-ours’).
- der ſelbe vlrich / oder fraw Margret […] ſi leben peidev ſamte / oder ir æintwederez
the same Ulrich[M] or Mrs. Margret[F] […] 3PL.NOM live both-NOM.PL.N.ST altogether or 3PL.GEN either-NOM.SG.N.ST
‘the selfsame Ulrich or Mrs. Margret [… if] they are both living altogether or either one of them’ (Wilhelm et al. 1932–2004: 4,352:3–9; No. 3141 A/B, Brixen, 1298)
Reading suggestions
If these not quite so brief remarks piqued your interest—maybe also as a conlanger—and you want to look deeper into grammatical gender and associated resolution phenomena, the following three monographs might be starting points.
- Aikhenvald, Alexandra Y. 2016. How gender shapes the world. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198723752.001.0001 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Corbett, Greville. 1991. Gender (Cambridge Textbooks in Linguistics). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9781139166119 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Wechsler, Stephen & Larisa Zlatić. 2003. The many faces of agreement (Stanford Monographs in Linguistics). Stanford: CSLI Publications. [Worldcat]
Aikhenvald and Corbett mostly approach the topic from the perspective of linguistic typology, Aikhenvald additionally has a sociolinguistic angle based on her fieldwork. Wechsler & Zlatić deal with the morphosyntactic side by example of Serbo-Croatian (i.e. Bosnian–Croatian–Montenegrin–Serbian). This last book is probably the least geared toward casual readers of the three, but chapter 8 is concerned with modeling gender resolution in terms of a theory-driven explanation of empirical data that may be worth a look and also informed my own research.
With a special focus on how grammatical gender manifests in German, as well as the semantic, social, cultural, and political complexities involved, these three references might also make interesting reading (in German):
- Klein, Andreas. 2022. Wohin mit Epikoina? Überlegungen zur Grammatik und Pragmatik geschlechtsindefiniter Personenbezeichnungen. In Gabriele Diewald & Damaris Nübling (eds.), Genus – Sexus – Gender (Linguistik – Impulse & Tendenzen 95), 135–189. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110746396-005 (🔓). [Worldcat]
- Köpcke, Klaus-Michael & David A. Zubin. 2017. Genusvariation: Was offenbart sie über die innere Dynamik des Systems? In Marek Konopka & Angelika Wöllstein (eds.), Grammatische Variation: Empirische Zugänge und theoretische Modellierung (Institut für Deutsche Sprache Jahrbuch 2016), 203–228. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110518214-013 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Kotthoff, Helga & Damaris Nübling. 2018. Genderlinguistik: Eine Einführung in Sprache, Gespräch und Geschlecht (Narr Studienbücher). Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto. [Worldcat]
Köpcke and Zubin have also published on German gender in English, for instance, Zubin & Köpcke (2009) (🔒) and Köpcke, Panther & Zubin (2010) (🔒).
Besides gender resolution, number resolution is of course also a thing, and I’ve been wondering if any languages, natural or invented, have formalized politeness resolution. German hasn’t despite the prominent T–V distinction, so mixing informal/intimate du and formal/distant Sie in address always leads to awkward phrasing.
tl;dr
In texts from the Upper German dialect group of Middle High German (c. 1050–1350 CE), neuter plural forms instead of masculine–feminine ones can often be found in agreement forms referencing mixed-gender groups of men and women collectively. This is striking because it seems unmotivated on purely morphological grounds. Neuter agreement forms can also be found more generally in combined reference to things regardless of their individual grammatical gender. I surveyed faithful transcriptions of medieval manuscripts from two source collections with regard to the detailed grammatical contexts involved in triggering neuter gender agreement in combined reference by example of beide ‘both’. My aim was to gain a more nuanced understanding of the phenomenon than what the main reference works on Middle High German and a previous study from the 1970s provide.
References
- de Boor, Helmut & Roswitha Wisniewski (Hrsg.). 1988. Das Nibelungenlied. After Karl Bartsch’s edition. 22nd edn. (Deutsche Klassiker des Mittelalters). Mannheim: Brockhaus.
- Braune, Wilhelm & Frank Heidermanns. 2023. Althochdeutsche Grammatik. Vol. 1: Phonologie und Morphologie. 17th edn. (Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte, A. Hauptreihe 5). Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783111210537 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Frisch, Max. 1954. Stiller. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp. [Worldcat]
- Heidelberg, University Library, Cod. Pal. germ. 848. [Heidelberg Univ. Lib.; HSC]
- Klein, Thomas, Hans-Joachim Solms, & Klaus-Peter Wegera. 2009. Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik. Vol. 3: Wortbildung. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI: 10.1515/9783110971835 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Klein, Thomas, Hans-Joachim Solms & Klaus-Peter Wegera. 2018. Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik. Vol. 2: Flexionsmorphologie. Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110523522 (🔒). [Worldcat 1, 2]
- Paul, Hermann, Thomas Klein, Hans-Joachim Solms, Klaus-Peter Wegera, Ingeborg Schröbler & Hans-Peter Prell. 2007. Mittelhochdeutsche Grammatik. 25th edn. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI: 10.1515/9783110942354 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Schmid, Hans U. 2023. Althochdeutsche Grammatik. Vol. 2: Grundzüge einer deskriptiven Syntax. 2nd edn. (Sammlung kurzer Grammatiken germanischer Dialekte, A. Hauptreihe 5). Berlin: De Gruyter. DOI: 10.1515/9783110782493 (🔒). [Worldcat]
- Wilhelm, Friedrich, Richard Newald, Helmut de Boor, Diether Haacke & Bettina Kirschstein (eds.). 1932–2004. Corpus der altdeutschen Originalurkunden bis zum Jahr 1300. Berlin: Erich Schmidt. http://tcdh01.uni-trier.de/cgi-bin/iCorpus/CorpusIndex.tcl (2023-09-23). [Worldcat]
https://ayeri.de/archives/7835
#CorpusDerAltdeutschenOriginalurkunden #gender #genderResolution #historicalLinguistics #Kaiserchronik #MiddleHighGerman #morphosyntax #natlang #publishing #thesis #writing
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Lazy Caturday Reads: “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Happy Valentine’s Day!!
This morning, Steven Beschloss posted the following discussion question for his readers at his Substack “America America”: Is Love More Powerful Than Hate?
I had in mind to write about villainy. It’s a fact of our public life that the Trump regime is thick with this dark force and overloaded with people who revel in it. The villains come easily to mind: Pam Bondi, Kristi Noem, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Pete Hegseth, Russel Vought, Greg Bovino (to name a few) and of course their ringleader, Donald Trump. They have motivated countless others to join their hateful cause to reject the Constitution and demolish democracy in America.
But on this day—Valentine’s Day—I want to turn this over and look at the flip side. Because behind this discussion of villains and villainy is my belief that their dark force can be defeated with the force of light and love. I don’t mean the biblical advice to “love your enemies,” although that may be a mindset that others more merciful than I can conjure.
I’m thinking more about the guidance found in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. on the topic of love. Let me share four shining examples:
- “Love is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos.”
- “Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.”
- “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.”
- “I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems.”
There are days that these insights—these deeply held convictions—may seem inadequate to confront the horrors we witness committed by men and women who have lost their moral compass, assuming that they once possessed one. But I’d like to suggest that the more powerful our revulsion toward the regime’s acts of villainy, the more we are influenced by the inverse.
I returned to yesterday’s essay, “Pam Bondi’s Utter Contempt for Justice,” to test this notion. If you read it and thought that I am horrified by her villainous behavior this week, you would be right. But let’s look at the basis for my horror in three sentences from the first several paragraphs: “It’s hard to imagine someone more overtly hostile to justice and more utterly incapable of basic human compassion…This person is responsible for serving the people…But when asked for the most basic show of humanity, she couldn’t bring herself to do it.” Behind the obvious criticism of her hateful action is love: For justice, for basic human compassion, for serving the people, for humanity.
My point is that in our articulation of the horrors, we can find the light that can inspire us to stay in the fight and overcome this dark chapter. “Love is the greatest force in the universe. It is the heartbeat of the moral cosmos,” King wrote. In other words, love is more powerful than hate and, as King also insisted, “the only answer to mankind’s problems.”
Bad Bunny sent a similar message with his Super Bowl performance. Is it true? Can love conquer hate? Food for thought on Valentine’s Day.
Now for the news, which is again filled with hate and fear.
Trump appears to be planning some sort of attack on Iran.
Reuthers: Exclusive: US military preparing for potentially weeks-long Iran.
The U.S. military is preparing for the possibility of sustained, weeks-long operations against Iran if President Donald Trump orders an attack, two U.S. officials told Reuters, in what could become a far more serious conflict than previously seen between the countries.
The disclosure by the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the planning, raises the stakes for the diplomacy underway between the United States and Iran.
U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner will hold negotiations with Iran on Tuesday in Geneva, with representatives from Oman acting as mediators. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned on Saturday that while Trump’s preference was to reach a deal with Tehran, “that’s very hard to do.”
Meanwhile, Trump has amassed military forces in the region, raising fears of new military action. U.S. officials said on Friday the Pentagon was sending an additional aircraft carrier to the Middle East, adding thousands more troops along with fighter aircraft, guided-missile destroyers and other firepower capable of waging attacks and defending against them.
Trump, speaking to U.S. troops on Friday at a base in North Carolina, openly floated the possibility of regime change in Iran, saying it “seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.” He declined to share who he wanted to take over Iran, but said “there are people.”
“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” Trump said.
Trump has long voiced skepticism about sending ground troops into Iran, saying last year “the last thing you want to do is ground forces,” and the kinds of U.S. firepower arrayed in the Middle East so far suggest options for strikes primarily by air and naval forces.
The New York Times: Trump Says Regime Change Would Be the ‘Best Thing’ for Iran.
President Trump said on Friday that regime change in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen,” as he continued to threaten military action against the country.
“For 47 years, they’ve been talking and talking and talking,” he told reporters after visiting troops at Fort Bragg. “In the meantime, we’ve lost a lot of lives while they talk.”
In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has called for new leadership in Iran, and The New York Times reported in January that he was mulling whether regime change would be a viable military option.
But his latest comments are, perhaps, Mr. Trump’s most overt endorsement of regime change, even as U.S. officials concede that ousting Ayatollah Ali Khamenei would be much more complex than the operation that captured Nicolás Maduro, then the leader of Venezuela.
Still, officials have said that Mr. Trump had not made a final decision and was considering a range of military options.
The Trump administration has been steadily building up its military capabilities in the Middle East as Mr. Trump considers whether to strike the country again. Mr. Trump threatened last month to attack Iran if its government did not agree to a deal to curb its nuclear program….
But senior U.S. officials remain skeptical that the Iranians will agree to a deal that satisfies Mr. Trump, who has shown a growing impatience with the negotiations. This month, Omani officials mediated talks between Iran and a U.S. delegation that included Steve Witkoff,
A bit more on possible attack plans:
Mr. Trump has been weighing a range of military actions, including targeting Iran’s nuclear program and its ability to launch ballistic missiles. He is also considering sending American commandos to go after Iranian military targets, among other moves, the officials said.
To prepare, the Pentagon has been building up an “armada,” as Mr. Trump calls it, in the region. It includes the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, eight guided missile destroyers that can shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles, land-based ballistic missile defense systems and submarines that can launch Tomahawk cruise missiles at targets in Iran.
And on Thursday, the crew of a second aircraft carrier, the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford, was told it would leave the Caribbean, where the ship joined the U.S. operation last month to seize Mr. Maduro, and deploy to the Middle East as part of Mr. Trump’s pressure campaign.
Yesterday, Trump posted a photo of a U.S. aircraft carrier on Truth Social, perhaps as a foreshadowing of his plans for Iran.
The Caribbean boat strikes are back.
NBC News: U.S. strikes alleged drug boat in Caribbean, killing three.
The U.S. Southern Command said it struck a vessel allegedly transporting drugs in the Caribbean on Friday, killing three people.
“Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Designated Terrorist Organizations,” Southern Command said in a post on X, adding that “intelligence confirmed the vessel was transiting along known narco-trafficking routes in the Caribbean and was engaged in narco-trafficking operations.”
“Three narco-terrorists were killed during this action. No U.S. military forces were harmed,” the post said.
The U.S. has not provided evidence supporting its allegations about the boat, passengers, cargo or the number of people killed.
This latest strike comes after the U.S. on Monday struck a vessel also alleged to be transporting drugs in the eastern Pacific, killing two people and leaving one survivor.
A few days ago, there was a disturbing incident in Texas in which DHS used a powerful laser weapon with out notifying other parts of the government. It caused the FAA to close the air space over El Paso, Texas for a time. I have been curious about how this happened.
The New York Times, Feb. 11: Border Officials Are Said to Have Caused El Paso Closure by Firing Anti-Drone Laser.
The abrupt closure of El Paso’s airspace late Tuesday was precipitated when Customs and Border Protection officials deployed an anti-drone laser on loan from the Department of Defense without giving aviation officials enough time to assess the risks to commercial aircraft, according to multiple people briefed on the situation.
The episode led the Federal Aviation Administration to abruptly declare that the nearby airspace would be shut down for 10 days, an extraordinary pause that was quickly lifted Wednesday morning at the direction of the White House.
Top administration officials quickly claimed that the closure was in response to a sudden incursion of drones from Mexican drug cartels that required a military response, with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy declaring in a social media post that “the threat has been neutralized.”
But that assertion was undercut by multiple people familiar with the situation, who said that the F.A.A.’s extreme move came after immigration officials earlier this week used an anti-drone laser shared by the Pentagon without coordination with the F.A.A. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
C.B.P. officials thought they were firing on a cartel drone, the people said, but it turned out to be a party balloon. Defense Department officials were present during the incident, one person said….
The military has been developing high-energy laser technology to intercept and destroy drones, which the Trump administration has said are being used by Mexican cartels to track Border Patrol agents and smuggle drugs into the United States.
The airspace closure provoked a significant backlash from local officials and sharp questions by lawmakers on Capitol Hill, including some Republicans, who expressed skepticism about the administration’s version of the events.
This country is being run by morons.
NBC News: CBP shot down party balloons with anti-drone tech before FAA closed El Paso airspace, sources say.
The sudden closure of El Paso’s airspace Wednesday came sometime after U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials used an anti-drone laser that was provided by the military to shoot down objects that were later identified as party balloons, four people familiar with the matter said.
The testing of U.S. military-owned laser technology was taking place in the proximity of the airport. The FAA responded by issuing a “temporary flight restriction notice,” which was to shut down the airspace for 10 days. It prevented flights, including helicopters used for medical transport, below 18,000 feet. The airport is a major hub for the region, with more than 50 flights scheduled every day.
The airspace was reopened several hours later Wednesday morning. The decision prompted confusion and finger-pointing inside the Trump administration over who was to blame….
One of the people familiar with the testing said the Defense Department has a working relationship with Homeland Security, where CBP is headquartered, that allows its personnel to use certain military equipment for its objectives, testing, evaluation and use along the southern border.
Recently, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth authorized the use of the weapon for CBP, the people said. Spokespeople for CBP referred questions to the White House, which did not elaborate beyond initial statements.
It figures Hegseth would be involved in this mess.
From military expert Mark Hertling at The Bulwark: The El Paso Balloon Incident Could Have Been a Disaster.
AFTER PROLONGED CONFUSION, we may have some clarity on what caused the emergency restriction on the airspace around El Paso International Airport: Someone used a sophisticated anti-air laser against what they thought was a drone launched from Mexico, but turned out to be a party balloon. Understandably, the first suspects were the Army units at Fort Bliss, which abuts El Paso and the airport. But it wasn’t the Army that fired the weapon.
According to the New York Times, Customs and Border Protection personnel fired an experimental anti-drone laser on loan from the Department of Defense at what they thought was a cartel drone—without sufficient coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration. That prompted the FAA to shut down the airspace around the airport up to 18,000 feet in an extraordinary emergency move.
But focusing on the harmlessness of the target obscures the deeper issue: Why was this weapon employed without the discipline that governs every legitimate use of force in the military?
Fort Bliss sits on the edge of El Paso. While it’s a large post, and it has a very isolated desert training area, it borders a large city with hospitals, businesses, highways, civilian neighborhoods, and a relatively large international airport.
The post is home to the 1st Armored Division, an organization I once commanded. Like every major installation in the Army, Fort Bliss operates under detailed standing operating procedures governing weapons employment—whether on a live-fire range, during air-defense exercises, or in any activity that could affect surrounding airspace or population centers.
Those procedures are not bureaucratic red tape. They are necessary safety barriers. They exist precisely because military commanders understand various immutable facts: weapons are dangerous, coordination for any training event is critical, citizens live nearby, and mistakes do not stay contained.
It’s therefore unsurprising—though deeply concerning—that reports indicate the Fort Bliss commander and the command and staff of Northern Command were as alarmed as the FAA by the balloon shoot-down. That’s because they know any uncoordinated weapons use is not merely unsafe; it is unacceptable.
Please go read the rest at The Bulwark, if you’re interested. Personally, I find this incident deeply disturbing. There are simply too many incompetent–even stupid–people running our government. Eventually there is going to be a serious disaster.
More disturbing Trump Administration/DHS news–this time involving the Social Security Administration:
Wired: Social Security Workers Are Being Told to Hand Over Appointment Details to ICE.
Workers at the Social Security Administration have been told to share information about in-person appointments with agents of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, WIRED has learned.
“If ICE comes in and asks if someone has an upcoming appointment, we will let them know the date and time,” an employee with direct knowledge of the directive says. They spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
While the majority of appointments with SSA take place over the phone, some appointments still happen in person. This applies to people who are deaf or hard of hearing and need a sign language interpreter, or if someone needs to change their direct deposit information. Noncitizens are also required to appear in person to review continued eligibility of benefits.
Social Security numbers are issued to US citizens but also to foreign students and people legally allowed to live and work in the country. In some cases, when a child or dependent is a citizen and the family member responsible for them is not, that person might need to accompany the child or dependent to an office visit.
The order to share information, which was recently communicated verbally to workers at certain SSA offices, marks a new era of collaboration between SSA and the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency….
The SSA has been sharing data with ICE for much of President Donald Trump’s second term. In April, WIRED reported that the Trump administration had been pooling sensitive data from across the government, including from the the SSA, DHS, and the Internal Revenue Service. By November, WIRED learned that the SSA had made the arrangements official and had updated a public notice that said the agency was sharing “citizenship and immigration information” with DHS. “It was shockingly clear that there was interest in getting access to immigration data by [the] Trump administration,” a former SSA official tells WIRED. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity due to concerns of retaliation.
This is from the Professional Development Academy: ‘Suicide is only one option’: Social Security staff newly assigned to phone duties raise concerns over training.
The Social Security Administration has instructed employees newly assigned to answering phones to tell callers expressing suicidal thoughts that suicide is “one option,” raising concerns from employees and experts in the field who called the approach unorthodox.
SSA recently began shifting new swaths of its workforce to phone answering duty, including those who normally receive and process retirement and disability claims, manage the agency’s technology and work in the agency’s finances unit. Those employees received brief, three-hour training before they began answering calls.
As part of that training, they were warned some callers may express suicidal ideation and presented with examples using a theoretical employee named Fiona.
“It’s important for Fiona to keep the caller engaged and to remind her that suicide is only one option,” the animated trainer told employees in the video, a copy of which was obtained by Government Executive, “and that there is no urgency to make any decisions.”
Employees at the training, which occurred on Jan. 26 for benefits authorizers and post-entitlement technical experts, were taken aback by the comment and asked their supervisors for clarity. One employee at the training said there was “disbelief that it was just said” among those in the room.
Caitlin Thompson, a clinical psychologist who spent eight years at the Veterans Affairs Department as a clinical care coordinator on the Veterans Crisis Line and later as the department’s national director of suicide prevention, said SSA’s approach did not follow commonly accepted best practices.
“It’s not a normal thing to say,” Thompson said. “No. That’s not the thing you say to somebody who might be suicidal.”
Instead, SSA would be better suited telling employees to ask callers if they feel safe in the immediate term and if they say no, to tell the caller that they will work with their supervisor to get them in touch with a crisis line.
Read more at the link.
I’ll end with this update on Trump’s ballroom obsession.
The Washington Post (gift link): New images of White House ballroom show clearest look yet at Trump project.
New renderings shared Friday offer the clearest look yet at President Donald Trump’s proposed White House ballroom addition — a project advancing even as it is challenged in court and questioned on Capitol Hill.
Shalom Baranes Associates, the firm handling the project, shared the renderings with the National Capital Planning Commission, a committee charged by Congress with overseeing major federal construction projects in the region. The renderings include various angles of the ballroom building, an approximately 90,000-square-foot addition that would also include offices for White House staff. The White House has dubbed the project its “East Wing Modernization.”
The images reveal at least one significant change from earlier designs: the removal of a large triangular pediment above the ballroom’s southern portico. Rodney Cook Jr. — a Trump appointee who chairs the Commission of Fine Arts, another federal panel reviewing the project — had warned in January that the pediment was “immense” and pressed the architects about whether it could be reduced.
Despite the revisions, the proposed addition would remain the same height as the White House at its highest point — a priority for Trump and a major concern for outside architects and historical preservationists. Critics have warned the project could overshadow the iconic main mansion and alter long-protected sightliness around the complex. The new renderings indicate the building could block views of the White House residence from certain viewpoints, such as locations on 15th Street NW, according to the designs shared Friday.
Bruce Redman Becker, an architect who was appointed to the Commission of Fine Arts by former president Joe Biden and removed by Trump last year, said the renderings show “a poorly proportioned pseudo-neoclassical structure that is completely out of scale with the White House.” He also said that the images shown in the renderings did not comply with decades-old guidelines developed by the National Park Service for construction projects at the White House and its neighboring park, which call for new additions to be compatible with the historic structure.
“The design team clearly ignored these guidelines, and should be asked to revise and resubmit plans that follow the guidelines,” Becker said.
You can use the gift link to read more and see the renderings.
That’s it for me today. What are your thoughts on all this? What else is on your mind?
#AntiDroneLaser #BorderPatrol #CaribbeanBoatStrikes #catArt #caturday #DepartmentOfHomelandSecurity #DonaldTrump #ElPasoAirSpace #IranAttackPlans #Jr #LoveAndHate #MartinLutherKing #partyBalloon #PeteHegseth #SocialSecurityAdministration #TrumpSBallroom #ValentineSDayCats -
“Preposterously Large and a Potential Rival to the Castle rock”: the thread about Argyle House
Brutalist buildings are the Marmite of architecture – passionately loved or loathed. It’s easy to assume that the term comes from their brutal appearance (adj. savage; violent; unpleasant or harsh) and not the French béton brut for raw concrete. One such specimen was much in the news in Edinburgh yesterday when it was announced that plans had been lodged for the demolition and replacement of Argyle House in the West Port area of the city. But while other news sources make much click capital out of it having briefly appeared in some Netflix police show or another, here at Threadinburgh I prefer instead to go down the rabbit hole of the hows, whys and whats of this much-critiqued building of the moment.
“Argyle House vs. New Barracks. A shot taken to deliberately contrast the ‘ugly’ Argyle House (I disagree), with what is frankly the ugliest part of Edinburgh Castle – the New Barracks from the 1790s. A soulless block, totally out of scale and unsuited to its context, with few relieving features. Yes – I’m talking about the category A listed barracks” (quotation from the learned Tom Parnell). CC-by-SA 2.0, Tom Parnell via FlickrArgyle House takes its name from its developer; Argyle Securities Ltd. This was an Edinburgh-based property development company that had been formed in 1960 to take advantage of the wave of prominent civic redevelopment schemes sweeping the nation in that decade. Its chairman and managing director was Meyer (Mike) Oppenheim, a prominent local businessman, philanthropist and managing director of theJames Grant & Co. (West) chain of furniture stores.
Meyer – known as Mike – Oppenheim and his wife Violet (Vi). Photo via Meyer Oppenheim Trust (meyeroppenheim.org)Meyer had done very well for himself in life and he and his family lived at the historic Whitehouse in Barnton, that quiet and leafy quarter of the city to where the real money retreats behind tall hedges and well manicured lawns and driveways.
The Whitehouse in Barnton, the Oppenheim family home in Edinburgh. The core of the building is 17th century and it was subsequently sold to the businessman David Murray and then a well known author of wizarding novels.In October 1960 it was publicly announced that Oppenheim had acquired the Royal Lyceum Theatre from Howard & Wyndham. This coincided with a plan first mooted in 1956 to replace the adjacent Synod Hall on Castle Terrace, whose occupants included Poole’s Synod cinema, with a new opera and concert hall for the city.
Sketch design by Alan Reiach for the 1956 Opera and Festival Centre on Castle Terrace and Lothian Road. The buidling with the domed roof is the Usher Hall, which was to be retained. Oppenheim had acquired the Lyceum, to its left, for speculative redelopment.Oppenheim wasn’t really that interested in running a theatre – instead he came up with his own, rival million-pound plan to transform the block into a “magnificent centre… for the Edinburgh Festival“. This would replace both the Synod Hall and Lyceum with a multi-purpose performance, entertainment and commercial venue replete with restaurants and a hotel.
Oppenheim’s rival scheme, by Rowand Anderson, Kininmonth & Paul, for the Castle Terrace plot, Evening News, September 15th 1961The Town Council approved his scheme in 1962 with a promise to lease it back off of Oppenheim once it was complete. But as a businessman known for sticking scrupulously to budget and deadlines, he soon tired of rising costs and delays from the meddling of officialdom and walked away from the whole thing. Instead he gifted the Lyceum to the city in 1964. The city tried to take up the opera house scheme on its own and had the Synod Hall demolished in 1966, but each of its multiple subsequent attempts faltered and instead an ugly gap was left on the Castle Terrace site for almost 40 years.
Before that scheme had collapsed, in 1961 Argyle Securities acquired the long-established Edinburgh firm of garage proprietors, Rolls-Royce body builders, car hirers and undertakers John Croall & Son for £300,000, substantially outbidding a number of other offers that had wished to take it over as a going concern. Like the Lyceum, Oppenheim wasn’t actually interested in owning a garage for the purpose of running it, he was much more interested in the plot of land on the corner of Castle Terrace where Croall’s had their main works.
Croall’s Motor Garage on Castle Terrace, the ornamental entrance to a very substantial works. Photo from 1915, via Edinphoto.org.uk with credit to The Museum of EdinburghIn 1953 Edinburgh had adopted its City Development Plan which had re-zoned much of the decrepit old housing of the West Port and High Riggs area for commercial purposes. This made what was then almost worthless residential land potentially very valuable to commercial developers; it was protected from rebuilding the housing and could be easily acquired on the cheap. Meyer Oppenheim was once such developer of the moment. Times were good – Argyle Securities had quickly gained a reputation for completing projects on time, on budget and for a handsome profit. It floated on the stock exchange in 1962 with a market capitalisation of £400,000 at which time it owned a portfolio worth some £843,000. Argyle added to the Croall’s site by buying up adjacent condemned residential properties between the West Port and King’s Stables Road Lane and formed a grand new redevelopment scheme. This would become the eponymous Argyle House and was approved by the Corporation Planning Committee in September 1966.
The site of Argyle House in 1952, showing Croall’s garage, and then in 1969. Ordnance Survey 1:1250 maps. Move the slider to compareThe architects were Michael Laird & Partners and the principal contractors were James Laidlaw & Sons of Rutherglen, probably best known for the enigmatic St. Peter’s Seminary at Cardross. Curiously, Laidlaw’s Edinburgh office at 24 Manor Place was shared with Argyle Securities. But this was no coincidence – Oppenheim had bought the firm in 1964 as he sought to vertically integrate his operations.
Artist’s impression of the Argyle House scheme, as published in December 1966.To mark the commencement of work, Laidlaws took out a half page spread in the Scotsman extolling the worthiness of their new construction.
Argyle House. A new building for the New Town will be worthy of the fine architectural traditions in this unique area
To finance the £1,500,000 development, loans were provided by Standard Life Assurance who also bought the site and leased it back to the developer for 175 years. At this time Croall’s business operations were sold to new owners and relocated to Corstorphine. Demolition commenced in 1966 with construction starting the following year. Argyle already had occupants lined up, a sixty-three year lease having been agreed with the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works for the entire building. This would allow the centralisation of existing government departments in the city including the headquarters of the Department of Health and Social Security and the Department of Employment and Department of the Environment in Scotland and offices of HM Stationery Office.
The lower storeys of Argyle House begin to emerge from the ground. The development dug down some 50 feet from street level, leaving the lower four storeys below ground level, resulting in some office floors suffering from a lack of natural light. In the background stands the Chalmers Territorial Free Church, which would soon be demolished. Scotsman, August 31st 1967.A two-storey L-plan block on Castle Terrace and Lady Lawson Street would contain public facilities such as enquiry counters, a job centre, and meeting rooms for the DHSS. This lower section, which the untrained eye can mistake for a separate building entirely, was faced in Blaxter stone with the pair of public entrances dominated by massive abstract concrete reliefs by George Garson: “bound to cause discussion and some bewilderment… if they have a message it is that the ways of authority are mysterious and that the symbolism of government through sculpture is a happily dead art“.
To enter Argyle House’s public-facing block, one first had to walk beneath either of George Garson’s huge, abstract concrete reliefs. CC-by-SA 2.0, Tom Parnell via FlickrRising up behind this were the two J-shaped office towers which extended down to eleven-storeys at their deepest point and were connected by a central service core. Their construction made use of the Bison prefabricated large panel system (LPS) which promised reduced costs and quick, easy construction but resulted in a highly repetitive and monotonous “impersonal egg-box”external appearance of the 4.5 ton wall slab panels.
The montonous wall of “impersonal egg-boxes” rising up behind the low-level public building on Castle Terrace. CC-by-SA 2.0, Tom Parnell via FlickrArgyle House was completed on schedule and on budget, as was the Oppenheim way, and was officially opened by John Silkin MP, Minister of Public Buildings and Works, on July 22nd 1969. At this time, with a floor plan totalling over 250,000 square feet of office space, it was both Edinburgh and Scotland’s largest commercial office and could house between 1,400 and 1,700 civil servants. At 320,000 square feet, the equally visually controversial New St. Andrew’s House at the St. James Centre took the city’s number one spot the following year (although it would not be occupied until 1974).
Aerial photo showing Argyle House (bottom left) in 1982 and the still-vacant plot of the Synod Hall above it. Edinburgh and Scottish Collection, Edinburgh City Libraries.Colin McWilliam, the Scotsman’s architecture critic (“he admired modernism, but his taste was catholic and his judgement sound“) was quite taken with the end result and tried valiantly to compare the building’s scale and architectural effect with Playfair’s Georgian Royal Terrace on the Calton Hill. He summarised it as:
A huge three-dimensional balance-sheet set up specifically to show the maximum profit to investors.
He gushed over the “pencil-slim margins in limestone-concrete” and “backwards splay of the dark flint facing below each window“. His main complaint was that too much had been crammed in to too small a site, resulting in a building that was “preposterously large and a potential rival to the Castle rock“.
Argyle House, showing the central service core that connects the two main office wings. This shows the slim, bare concrete verticals and the panels dashed in dark flints that Colin McWilliam so appreciate. CC-by-SA 2.0, Tom Parnell via FlickrMcWilliam hoped that subsequent development would show a similar “high level of care in layout and detail” so that they would “not be a denial of Edinburgh’s own character” and result in the “hell of over-intensive commercial use, of which London already [held] so many examples“. Given much of the output of the Edinburgh architecture scene since, his hopes were probably in vain.
Argyle House in the early 1970s, before the office tower block of West Port House was built diagonally opposite. This new office is already suffering from the monotonously grey appearance of so many contemporary public buildings. The red sandstone building on the right is the Edinburgh College of Art, the blue hoarding marks were until recently the Chalmers Territorial Free Church stood © Edinburgh College of Art via Trove.Scot, DP 579486Postscript. Architectural champions of Argyle House, Malcolm Fraser and the Fraser/Livingstone practice have proposed how a low-intensity intervention could make the existing building fit for the next 60 years of its life with a much reduced cost and environmental impact.
After Argyle House, Oppenheim’s next big scheme was through another company he controlled, the Scottish Homes Investment Company, buying over the rights to develop the private enterprise “new town” of Dalgety Bay, across the Forth in Fife. Laidlaw would make its mark on the city by constructing the Royal Commonwealth Pool in time for the 1970 Games. Meyer Oppenheim retired in 1971 at the age of 66, having grown the value of Argyle’s investments five-fold, its market capitalisation three-fold and its profits twelve-fold in a little over a decade. Standard Life Assurance, his long-term financial backer, bought over much of his shareholding and he retired to an active life of philanthropy. As well as the Lyceum and the vista of Argyle House, one of his lasting gifts to the city was founding and endowing the Water of Leith Walkway Trust in 1976. He passed away in 1982 at the age of 77, a year after the first section of what would become a fifteen mile walkway was opened to the public.
Tablets commemorating – left – the opening of the first section of the Water of Leith Walkway in 1981 and – right – Meyer Oppenheim. CC-by-3.0, Gyula Péter via WikimediaNote to readers: unfortunately in April 2026, a third-party plug-in more than exceeded its authority and broke many of the image links on this site. No images were lost but I will have to restore them page-by-page, which may take some time. In the meantime please bear with me while I go about rectifying this issue.
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#Lochend #Logan #Restalrig #StMargaret -
#ConnieWillis on #trump #JDVance and the whole #uspol mess. #liberated from FB
Cheeseheads and Tariffs and Third Terms, Oh, My!
March 31, 2025
By Connie WillisI was talking to a friend this weekend and predicted that SignalGate would continue to be the main subject of political talk till Wednesday, when Trump’s tariffs will be imposed, and the stock market and it would drop to second as the effects of Trump’s tariffs would become the main topic. It seems I was off by two days:
--The stock market swung wildly today over worries about the tariffs. Foreign markets were all down, and the American market ended the worst quarter in two and a half years.
--Goldman Sachs raised their forecast for inflation and lowered it for US economic growth. They are predicting that the tariffs will result in higher prices and lower incomes. They raised the possibility of a recession from 20% to 35%.
--J.P. Morgan called it "the fastest momentum reversal in forty years."
--The CBO forecasts DOGE and AI will be massive failures; sees US debt exploding as production collapses. Reuters: "The CBO sees US deficits rising over 30 years, economic growth slowing."
--New York Times: "US faces significant risks from debt, analyst says, as Trump pursues tax agenda."
--Everyone is upset about this. One Republican mayor said, "It’s impossible to prepare." This is partly because Trump keeps announcing tariffs with no warning. With the automobile tariffs, nobody at the White House, in Congress, or in the auto industry knew it was coming. Politico is reporting that White House officials are "apoplectic" about the tariffs.
--On Fox, Larry Kudlow was saying, "Markets crash, bad inflation report, tariff confusion." Meanwhile, Sandra Smith tried to downplay the drop in the stock market. Smith: "Since Inauguration Day it’s only down 5.5%." Economic expert: "That’s a lot." Smith: "5.5% is a lot?" Expert: "Yes."
--The conservative English paper, the Telegraph: "Trump is levying the biggest tax rise in global history."
--According to the Wall Street Journal, this weekend Trump warned US automakers not to raise prices in response to tariffs. (Even though their expenses are going to go up.) Then yesterday he said, "I could care less if auto makers raise prices." (Really inspires confidence, doesn’t it?)
--Trump says he wants the tariffs to completely replace the income tax. To do that, they would have to be 100% or more. The Telegraph said, "It will crush the American economy."
--When Trump was asked if the tariffs would be permanent, Trump declared, "Absolutely, they’re permanent, sure. The world has been ripping off the United States for the last 40 years and more. And all we’re doing is being fair, and frankly, I’m being very generous." (Every word in that statement is a lie, including "and" and "the.")
--Trump was also asked if he was worried about stagflation, and he said, "I haven’t heard that term in years. I don’t know anything about it...this country is going to boom. We’re going to have boomtown. We’re going to boom."
--Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said the tariffs are "to force other nations to show Trump respect."
--GOP Senator James Lankford: "It’s like a kitchen remodel or a bathroom remodel. There’s a bit of a mess at the beginning. It’s going to be noisy for a little while."
--Peter Navarro: "Trust in Trump."
--US allies South Korea and Japan have united with China to fight the tariffs.
--Trump is doing deals with Vietnam for new hotels and golf courses in exchange for waiving tariffs. (Can you say CORRUPTION?)
In SignalGate news:
--We keep finding out new stuff. According to the Wall Street Journal, two officials say Mike Waltz "has created and hosted multiple other national security conversations on Signal with cabinet members." (And no doubt told Signal to erase the record of the chats.)
--Top GOP leaders are reportedly angry at JD Vance because during the chat he tried to block an order of the President’s and showed concerns about Trump’s decision. (Blind obedience, JD, blind obedience.)
--Jeffrey Goldberg said he thinks JD Vance’s comments showed that he believes Trump doesn’t even know what he’s doing.
--The Signal chat occurred when Hegseth and Waltz were meeting at the Palm Steakhouse, a ritzy restaurant in D.C.
--Jeffrey Goldberg, in response to Waltz’s "sucked in" explanation: "This isn’t the Matrix. Phone numbers don’t just get sucked into the phones. I don’t know what he’s talking about there. My phone number was in his phone because my phone number was in his phone. He’s telling everyone that he’s never met me or spoken to me. That’s simply not true."
--Karoline Leavitt told the press corps that the Signal chat is now "case closed." She said that they had conducted an investigation, determined what had happened, and fixed the problem so it would not happen again, but gave absolutely no details--or proof.
--There’s a theory that Jeffrey Goldberg’s name being on the Signal chat was an inside job and that it happened as the result of resistance activity inside the Pentagon, and they’re basing it partly on the leak a week before of Musk’s meeting to view war plans against China. They said the meeting was revealed at the moment when it would do the worst damage--when Musk was already there and so were the reporters and they couldn’t just quietly call it off. Ditto having the worst (in their eyes) journalist on the Signal chat. They say Hegseth is absolutely hated at the Pentagon and career military (or civilians) are trying to get rid of him.
Trump is talking again about running for a third term:
--Trump said there are "methods" that will allow him to run for a third term. A lot of people want me to do it...I’m not joking."
--Lincoln Project: "He’s not joking about the thrid term."
--Also Trump: "I have had more people ask me to have a third term which in a way is a fourth term because the other election was totally rigged."
--Ryan Wiggins: "Trump is trying to change the conversation from tariffs, the economy, and the Hegseth scandal. Any conversation about him running for a 3rd term is still 2 years away. He is trying to distract and get the media off of the headlines currently
--Steve Schmidt, standing outside Elvis Presley’s birthplace in Tupelo: "There’s only one King in America and this is his castle."
In deportation news:
--Trump lied to El Salvador. He told them he was sending them only men and then sent women.
--The ACLU filed the sworn affidavit from a Venezuelan woman on the migrant flight to El Salvador who says she heard ICE officials on the plane talking about the court order to turn the plane around. (This proves the DOJ lied in court when they claimed they had no knowledge of the order.)
--One of the men deported to El Salvador was Neri Albarado, a baker. His tattoo was an autism awareness tattoo. (Like the yellow ribbon ones only in rainbow colors.)
--Another of the men sent to that hellhole of an El Salvador prison was Andry, a gay makeup artist. The only reason the government is giving (according to official records) for deporting him is that he had a tattoo of a crown with the word "Mom" below.
--The tattoos are apparently the only evidence ICE has against any of these guys that they’re in a gang. People online are pointing out by that standard, Pete Hegseth should be immediately sent to El Salvador. He has white-supremacist and Crusader tattoos all over his body. (Interesting side note--the only mention of tattoos in the Bible is the one that says anyone who has tattoos should be put to death.)
--The prison is a nightmare. Prisoners spend 23 and a half hours a day in cells with 70 other people. They eat, bathe, and go to the bathroom in front of everyone else. They sleep on bunks 4 levels high with no sheets, no mattresses, and no pillows.
--When immigration czar Tom Homan was asked about the prison conditions, he proudly said, "We got a lot of tools in the toolbox. The El Salvador prison is one, we got Gitmo, we got other countries. I wake up every day like a kid in a candy shop getting ready to go to work." (I dare you to find a worse statement by ANY of the Nazis.)
--But even worse was the hosts on Fox discussing how undocumented immigrants should be stripped of due process: Lawrence Jones: So you have a constitutional right that is actually, they are afforded to illegals in this country? We should revisit that." Brian Kilmeade: "It’s not practical to think that we can do due process on 8 million people." Rachel Campos-Duffy: "That’s right." They also said of due process, "They don’t deserve it." (Note: the right to due process is not just enshrined in the Constitution. It is enshrined in the Magna Carta. They’re talking about getting rid of rights that people have had since 1215!)
--In good news, a federal judge ruled that a Columbia student who took part in protests against Israel’s treatment of Gaza cannot be detained as she fights orders for deportation. Yay!
--Stephen Miller, justifying the horrible treatment of immigrants: "We were invaded and occupied. Entire neighborhoods were conquered. Entire towns were subjugated. Our treasury was in the plundered (sic.) Our democracy was torn apart piece by piece."
--Mrs. Betty Bowers, who is usually hilarious--but not today: "I learned this week that you can put our troops’ lives in danger, compromise our national security, and violate the Espionage Act and the government will do nothing. But if you write an editorial for your school newspaper that Trump doesn’t like, you will be abducted on the street and disappeared."
--Holocaust survivor Elie Weisel: "There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."
In Grand Vizier news:
--Musk is campaigning in Wisconsin and chose to wear the cheesehead hat people wear at football games at one campaign event. He said in his campaign speech, "I feel like it is one of those things that may not seem like it will affect the entire destiny of humanity, but I think it will. It will decide the future of American and Western civilization." (Not sure the cheesehead hat was the right thing to wear while saying that.)
--In another appearance in Wisconsin, Musk appeared standing in front of a gigantic American flag, just like that scene in the movie PATTON. (Delusions of grandeur much?)
--The first of his million-dollar checks that he said were going to anybody who signed a paper promising to vote (which is illegal) went to, oddly enough, the head of the College Republicans. (That kind of thing happened during the presidential election, too. When are the MAGAs going to wake up and realize this is a scam and he has no intention of giving them anything?
--They are completely defunding NPR, PBS, and Sesame Street.
--They have shut down the measurement lab that’s critical for manufacturing advanced chips and medical devices. Nobel Prize-winning physicist Sheldon Glashow: "I cannot believe that the government would be stupid enough to slash this kind of work."
--They cancelled tens of billions in HHS grants on infectious diseases, vaccines, and mental health issues. The offices got the stop-work notices Monday night. THEY CUT THE ENTIRE HHS STAFF IN LUBBOCK, TEXAS, GROUND ZERO FOR THE MEASLES EPIDEMIC.
--DOGE teenaged senior adviser "Big Balls" Coristine provided support to a cybercrime gang which trafficked in stolen data and cyberstalked an FBI agent.
--There was an article today saying that Elon drawing fire and working as a "heat shield" for Trump is no longer working and that Trump’s approval ratings are starting to suffer from what Musk and DOGE are doing.
--Vicki M: "We are getting to the point in this debacle where Trump and those around him are losing control of the narrative, which means they have no clue on how this will all play out. That is why they are jamming this scheme down our throats, because they think they are running out of time."
In Greenland news:
--The most telling thing JD Vance said in his reasons for why we have to have Greenland was "We cannot just ignore the President’s desires." markdtooley: "Citizens of a republic don’t concern themselves with the ‘desires’ of the current elected chief...he should be more concerned with ours."
--Eric Swalwell: "What the hell is JD Vance doing in Greenland? They don’t want him there. We don’t need him there. Why didn’t he go to Greensboro or Green Bay to see how much Trump’s tariff tax talk is costing people?"
--Jesse Watters on Fox, about taking Greenland: "We don’t need friends. If we have to burn a few bridges with Denmark to take Greenland, we’re big boys. We dropped A-bombs on Japan, and now they’re our ally." (So now we’re dropping A-bombs on Greenland????)
--from the Borowitz Report: "The government of Greenland revealed on Monday that it had arrested JD Vance last week after he attempted to abscond with all the island’s rare earth minerals hidden inside his parka. As he walked up the stairs to Air Force 2, metric tons of lithium, niobium, hafnium, and zircon came tumbling from his bulky outer garment...Elon Musk said that instead of replacing Vance, he would eliminate his position."
--Anthony Scaramucci says that JD Vance is being systematically sidelined because everything he does fails.
In RFK, Jr. news:
--RFK, Jr. pushed out the top vaccine scientist, Peter Marks. He was told to resign or be fired.
--RFK, Jr. has completely dismantled the department working to eliminate opioid addiction, including prevention, treatment, and recovery services, and the distribution of Nalaxone to keep people from OD’ing.
--He is laying off all workers from the Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/Aids Policy.
--There are now 483 cases of measles. The CDC buried a report stressing the importance of vaccinations.
--RFK, Jr. told the press that he has sent huge shipments of Vitamin A to Texas to help with the measles outbreak, but doctors in Texas said that they had refused shipment of the vitamins because they didn’t want them.
--The Wall Street Journal: "Our worst fears about Mr. Kennedy are coming true."
In other news:
--Mike Lee has submitted a proposal to the US Senate to get rid of the Fed.
--In Israel, two of Netanyahu’s aides were arrested as part of an investigation into Netanyahu’s involvement with Qatar. According to the Washington Post, there are increasing allegations that Netanyahu’s inner circle was involved in the transfer of money from Qatar, a key backer of Hamas.
--Trump and Lindsey Graham allegedly won another golf tournament at one of Trump’s golf courses. (They were partners.) 9-time Wimbledon winner Martina Navratilova: "Playing golf again? Donnie doesn’t play tennis because 1) he is not very good, and 2) it’s much harder to cheat in tennis than in golf."
In good news:
--2 million people demonstrated against Orban in Turkey.
--Protests are planned for all over the country--and Canada and Europe--for Saturday, April 5.
--Alex Jones is getting a divorce. (Not only will that take more of his money away from him, but embittered spouses often reveal all kinds of stuff.)
--Marine LePen was convicted of embezzling and therefore cannot run for office ever again in France. Yay!
Best rally chant of the day: "We don’t want your Nazi cars. Let’s send Elon Musk to Mars."
Best advice of the day, from Hillary Clinton on Kristi Noem: "Don’t vote for anyone you wouldn’t trust with your dog."
Best line of the day, from m. correll: "Too hard, too fast, too extreme, too illegal...this regime will not last much longer and neither will Trump. He’s fading fast and JD Vance is pissing off some of the GOP." -
Grave Infestation – Carnage Gathers Review
By Steel Druhm
With so much classic heavy metal clogging up my review queue lately, I’ve been neglecting the baser caveman side of my reptilian brain. Canada’s Grave Infestation are back to fix that with their sophomore platter, Carnage Gathers. When they last slimed my doorstep in 2022 with the gruesome Autopsy and early Death worship on Persecution of the Living, they left a mucilaginous impression on my thick skull. Their grizzled and nasty take on old school death was exactly the kind of filth I love to wallow in. Not much has changed on Carnage Gathers, which is another putrid scuzzbucket full of grotesque sounds, primitive riffs, and an IQ below that of rudimentary tool users. It revels in the early days of the genre while fetishizing the lo-fi sound of Hellhammer. It’s all about ear abuse and carnal debasement, and I refuse to be threatened by a good time in the rot pit. Prepare to embrace the sump.
This is not a varied and complex work of art. It’s a tug of war between extremities as the band tries to crush your chestal cavity with ghastly doom segments and then shake your brain stem with bursts of speed and punky d-beats. The whiplash is intended to induce nausea, and it often does. Opener “Living Inhumation” has the bona fides to have appeared on Death’s Leprosy or Autopsy’s Severed Survival and fit right in like a bowel leech. It’s scabby, poo-encrusted offal of a high caliber loaded with jangled, discordant riffs and abysmal vocals. The guitar tone is absolute sewage, and everything is dank and reeking. The only downside is the length. At nearly 6 minutes, it overextends its welcome by the end. This is an unfortunately common trend here, with multiple songs of good construction outliving their trust funds of attention. I love many things about “Ritualized Autopsy,” especially the slimy riffs that ooze everywhere and make you feel unclean. I also appreciate its relentless, unstoppable assault. At points, the guitar work even reminds me of Destruction’s immortal debut EP, Sentence of Death, which is a very good thing. But it too plods on too long, losing some of its visceral impact.
Every track has things going on that I love. Grave Infestation have that sound I’m hopelessly drawn to, and the way they layer nerve-flaying fretboard abuse, bone-breaking grooves, stupid chuggs, and atmospheric noodling gets me every time. Lay some vomitous vocals and pounding drums over that shit and Steel comes to your yard for the gutshake. However, the band doesn’t know when enough is enough, and quality cuts with righteous moments like “Black Widow” and “Drenched in Blood” refuse to stop when they should. There are some absolute ball breaking though, like primal closer “Murder Spree” which just fucks up your shit with insane, panic-inducing riffs that won’t leave you alone. It’s like they took the best moments from Possessed’s timeless classic Seven Churches and sutured them roughly to early Autopsy demos. What more could you want? At 39:56 minutes, Carnage Gathers doesn’t feel too long, though certain tracks do. The production is perfectly mucky and raw, and the guitar sound is exactly the kind of abrasive my rusty metal heart wants.
I’m a big fan of the guitar work from Graham Christofferson and “BC.” It’s their horrific string mutilation that makes the material throb, and they have a knack for skin-removing riffs and twisted flourishes. They create the soundtrack to a madman’s nightmare while paying homage to classic early death albums we all know and love. At times, their riffs sound like those on Bathory’s The Return, which makes me unreasonably giddy. Graham Christofferson’s vocals are a match made in Hell – horrid, repulsive, and full of gut-busting throat exertions. He reminds me of Chris Reifert (Autopsy) at times and, at others, Jeff Beccera (Possessed), but he’s always disgusting. The entire band is solid, but the lack of editing is a nagging defect.
I desperately wanted to give Carnage Gathers a higher rating because I dig so much of what Grave Infestation does. They play exactly the kind of death metal I love, and their commitment to appalling excess speaks to my crude ape brain. If they trimmed the blubber off the best cuts, this would rise in the ranking considerably. As it stands, Carnage Gathers is a quality death metal album sure to please the sick and deranged. It could have been MOAR though!
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Invictus Productions
Websites: graveinfestation.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/graveinfestation | instagram.com/graveinfestation
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025Kenstrosity
Formed from members of Canadian antifascist crust/sludge metal outfit Ahna and known death filthifiers Ceremonial Bloodbath, Grave Infestation helped pull me out of a skull pit intent on suffocating me under a mountain of bullshit and dumped me right back into a different skull pit entirely—this one teeming with rot and cadaveric bouquets. I suppose I should be thankful, as this is the kind of thing that fills my pores with what some might consider the scent of WICTORY. So, without further ado, I dive deeper into the corpse pile that is Grave Infestation’s sophomore record, Carnage Gathers.
Death metal is a known quantity. We all know it when we hear it, and can describe it without much conflict or confusion. Such is the case for Grave Infestation. Carnage Gathers represents death metal at its most rank, channeling equal parts Asphyx and Incantation, with a membrane of slick Autopsy sleaze surrounding its diseased skin. It’s a combination that works wonders for those who search tirelessly for the nastiest of the nasty, and in that respect, Grave Infestation don’t disappoint. Buzzing and boisterous riffs abound, slammed into the earth below by the crushing heft of doom-laden chugs and yanked back upright by a relentless barrage of squealing solos. Cheering on these deadly antics, a vomitous wretch, brutally projected from afar, echoes its sickening cry across Carnage Gathers’ necrotic scenery. Drawing the line just shy of the caverns from whence Tomb Mold’s early work spawned, Carnage Gathers boasts a sound that exudes old school death at its prime.
Of course, that means that I’m drawn to Carnage Gathers almost by instinct, an animal magnetism against which mental fortitude and willpower crumbles at the slightest breeze. Choice cuts “Inuman Remains,” “Black Widow,” and “Drenched in Blood” take full advantage of my weakness here. Bridging the gap between Incantation’s sheer heft with the vicious onslaught of Autopsy’s violent ways, these songs juggle riffs and grooves engaging enough to motivate the necks of even the staunchest death dissident. “Black Widow,” in particular, marks Grave Infestation’s high water mark, boasting a punky d-beat swagger in conjunction with screeching dive bombs that make an instant memory. Songs like these show that Grave Infestation not only understand the kind of songwriting that made death metal an international underground phenomenon but also identify and implement subtle ways to invigorate that well-worn, comfortable style for a modern audience.
However, Carnage Gathers demonstrates understanding and implementation inconsistently. Pulling from many of its doomier segments, Grave Infestation’s writing outside of their ravenous tears and mid-paced stomps leaves a lot on the table. “Ritualized Autopsy,” “The Anthropophagus,” and “Murder Spree,” among a couple others, routinely inject slower passages characterized by generic chugs and repetitive solos, thereby undermining Carnage Gathers’ strongest material with filler. Considering several tracks reach past five minutes with the inclusion of these insubstantial sections of languid doom death, it seems a clear weak point in Grave Infestation’s repertoire. The undeniable fact that their ripping, death-focused outbursts regularly demolish everything in their path each time they rear their ugly heads only further illuminates the flat, featureless nature of their doom-laden dalliances.
As I surface from the Carnage that Gathers to breathe deep of stale, putrid air, I rest easy knowing that despite its flaws, Carnage Gathers isn’t half bad. Its best moments are a ten-ton anvil of repugnant fun, and the doomed detours that fail to resonate in any meaningful way also don’t derail the experience entirely. Instead, these flawed moments serve as an opportunity for growth. Grave Infestation are still young and have a ton of potential. It wouldn’t take much for them to further refine and empower their sound, launching the quality of their output into higher echelons. For the moment, though, Carnage Gathers is a simple, fun platter of filth, and that’s fine with me.
Rating: Mixed
#25 #2025 #30 #Ahna #Asphyx #Autopsy #CanadianMetal #CarnageGathers #CeremonialBloodbath #Death #DeathDoom #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #Feb25 #GraveInfestation #Hellhammer #Incantation #InvictusProductions #Leprosy #Obituary #PersecutionOfTheLiving #Possessed #Review #Reviews #ScreamBloodyGore #TombMold
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Grave Infestation – Carnage Gathers Review
By Steel Druhm
With so much classic heavy metal clogging up my review queue lately, I’ve been neglecting the baser caveman side of my reptilian brain. Canada’s Grave Infestation are back to fix that with their sophomore platter, Carnage Gathers. When they last slimed my doorstep in 2022 with the gruesome Autopsy and early Death worship on Persecution of the Living, they left a mucilaginous impression on my thick skull. Their grizzled and nasty take on old school death was exactly the kind of filth I love to wallow in. Not much has changed on Carnage Gathers, which is another putrid scuzzbucket full of grotesque sounds, primitive riffs, and an IQ below that of rudimentary tool users. It revels in the early days of the genre while fetishizing the lo-fi sound of Hellhammer. It’s all about ear abuse and carnal debasement, and I refuse to be threatened by a good time in the rot pit. Prepare to embrace the sump.
This is not a varied and complex work of art. It’s a tug of war between extremities as the band tries to crush your chestal cavity with ghastly doom segments and then shake your brain stem with bursts of speed and punky d-beats. The whiplash is intended to induce nausea, and it often does. Opener “Living Inhumation” has the bona fides to have appeared on Death’s Leprosy or Autopsy’s Severed Survival and fit right in like a bowel leech. It’s scabby, poo-encrusted offal of a high caliber loaded with jangled, discordant riffs and abysmal vocals. The guitar tone is absolute sewage, and everything is dank and reeking. The only downside is the length. At nearly 6 minutes, it overextends its welcome by the end. This is an unfortunately common trend here, with multiple songs of good construction outliving their trust funds of attention. I love many things about “Ritualized Autopsy,” especially the slimy riffs that ooze everywhere and make you feel unclean. I also appreciate its relentless, unstoppable assault. At points, the guitar work even reminds me of Destruction’s immortal debut EP, Sentence of Death, which is a very good thing. But it too plods on too long, losing some of its visceral impact.
Every track has things going on that I love. Grave Infestation have that sound I’m hopelessly drawn to, and the way they layer nerve-flaying fretboard abuse, bone-breaking grooves, stupid chuggs, and atmospheric noodling gets me every time. Lay some vomitous vocals and pounding drums over that shit and Steel comes to your yard for the gutshake. However, the band doesn’t know when enough is enough, and quality cuts with righteous moments like “Black Widow” and “Drenched in Blood” refuse to stop when they should. There are some absolute ball breaking though, like primal closer “Murder Spree” which just fucks up your shit with insane, panic-inducing riffs that won’t leave you alone. It’s like they took the best moments from Possessed’s timeless classic Seven Churches and sutured them roughly to early Autopsy demos. What more could you want? At 39:56 minutes, Carnage Gathers doesn’t feel too long, though certain tracks do. The production is perfectly mucky and raw, and the guitar sound is exactly the kind of abrasive my rusty metal heart wants.
I’m a big fan of the guitar work from Graham Christofferson and “BC.” It’s their horrific string mutilation that makes the material throb, and they have a knack for skin-removing riffs and twisted flourishes. They create the soundtrack to a madman’s nightmare while paying homage to classic early death albums we all know and love. At times, their riffs sound like those on Bathory’s The Return, which makes me unreasonably giddy. Graham Christofferson’s vocals are a match made in Hell – horrid, repulsive, and full of gut-busting throat exertions. He reminds me of Chris Reifert (Autopsy) at times and, at others, Jeff Beccera (Possessed), but he’s always disgusting. The entire band is solid, but the lack of editing is a nagging defect.
I desperately wanted to give Carnage Gathers a higher rating because I dig so much of what Grave Infestation does. They play exactly the kind of death metal I love, and their commitment to appalling excess speaks to my crude ape brain. If they trimmed the blubber off the best cuts, this would rise in the ranking considerably. As it stands, Carnage Gathers is a quality death metal album sure to please the sick and deranged. It could have been MOAR though!
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Invictus Productions
Websites: graveinfestation.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/graveinfestation | instagram.com/graveinfestation
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025Kenstrosity
Formed from members of Canadian antifascist crust/sludge metal outfit Ahna and known death filthifiers Ceremonial Bloodbath, Grave Infestation helped pull me out of a skull pit intent on suffocating me under a mountain of bullshit and dumped me right back into a different skull pit entirely—this one teeming with rot and cadaveric bouquets. I suppose I should be thankful, as this is the kind of thing that fills my pores with what some might consider the scent of WICTORY. So, without further ado, I dive deeper into the corpse pile that is Grave Infestation’s sophomore record, Carnage Gathers.
Death metal is a known quantity. We all know it when we hear it, and can describe it without much conflict or confusion. Such is the case for Grave Infestation. Carnage Gathers represents death metal at its most rank, channeling equal parts Asphyx and Incantation, with a membrane of slick Autopsy sleaze surrounding its diseased skin. It’s a combination that works wonders for those who search tirelessly for the nastiest of the nasty, and in that respect, Grave Infestation don’t disappoint. Buzzing and boisterous riffs abound, slammed into the earth below by the crushing heft of doom-laden chugs and yanked back upright by a relentless barrage of squealing solos. Cheering on these deadly antics, a vomitous wretch, brutally projected from afar, echoes its sickening cry across Carnage Gathers’ necrotic scenery. Drawing the line just shy of the caverns from whence Tomb Mold’s early work spawned, Carnage Gathers boasts a sound that exudes old school death at its prime.
Of course, that means that I’m drawn to Carnage Gathers almost by instinct, an animal magnetism against which mental fortitude and willpower crumbles at the slightest breeze. Choice cuts “Inuman Remains,” “Black Widow,” and “Drenched in Blood” take full advantage of my weakness here. Bridging the gap between Incantation’s sheer heft with the vicious onslaught of Autopsy’s violent ways, these songs juggle riffs and grooves engaging enough to motivate the necks of even the staunchest death dissident. “Black Widow,” in particular, marks Grave Infestation’s high water mark, boasting a punky d-beat swagger in conjunction with screeching dive bombs that make an instant memory. Songs like these show that Grave Infestation not only understand the kind of songwriting that made death metal an international underground phenomenon but also identify and implement subtle ways to invigorate that well-worn, comfortable style for a modern audience.
However, Carnage Gathers demonstrates understanding and implementation inconsistently. Pulling from many of its doomier segments, Grave Infestation’s writing outside of their ravenous tears and mid-paced stomps leaves a lot on the table. “Ritualized Autopsy,” “The Anthropophagus,” and “Murder Spree,” among a couple others, routinely inject slower passages characterized by generic chugs and repetitive solos, thereby undermining Carnage Gathers’ strongest material with filler. Considering several tracks reach past five minutes with the inclusion of these insubstantial sections of languid doom death, it seems a clear weak point in Grave Infestation’s repertoire. The undeniable fact that their ripping, death-focused outbursts regularly demolish everything in their path each time they rear their ugly heads only further illuminates the flat, featureless nature of their doom-laden dalliances.
As I surface from the Carnage that Gathers to breathe deep of stale, putrid air, I rest easy knowing that despite its flaws, Carnage Gathers isn’t half bad. Its best moments are a ten-ton anvil of repugnant fun, and the doomed detours that fail to resonate in any meaningful way also don’t derail the experience entirely. Instead, these flawed moments serve as an opportunity for growth. Grave Infestation are still young and have a ton of potential. It wouldn’t take much for them to further refine and empower their sound, launching the quality of their output into higher echelons. For the moment, though, Carnage Gathers is a simple, fun platter of filth, and that’s fine with me.
Rating: Mixed
#25 #2025 #30 #Ahna #Asphyx #Autopsy #CanadianMetal #CarnageGathers #CeremonialBloodbath #Death #DeathDoom #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #Feb25 #GraveInfestation #Hellhammer #Incantation #InvictusProductions #Leprosy #Obituary #PersecutionOfTheLiving #Possessed #Review #Reviews #ScreamBloodyGore #TombMold
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Grave Infestation – Carnage Gathers Review
By Steel Druhm
With so much classic heavy metal clogging up my review queue lately, I’ve been neglecting the baser caveman side of my reptilian brain. Canada’s Grave Infestation are back to fix that with their sophomore platter, Carnage Gathers. When they last slimed my doorstep in 2022 with the gruesome Autopsy and early Death worship on Persecution of the Living, they left a mucilaginous impression on my thick skull. Their grizzled and nasty take on old school death was exactly the kind of filth I love to wallow in. Not much has changed on Carnage Gathers, which is another putrid scuzzbucket full of grotesque sounds, primitive riffs, and an IQ below that of rudimentary tool users. It revels in the early days of the genre while fetishizing the lo-fi sound of Hellhammer. It’s all about ear abuse and carnal debasement, and I refuse to be threatened by a good time in the rot pit. Prepare to embrace the sump.
This is not a varied and complex work of art. It’s a tug of war between extremities as the band tries to crush your chestal cavity with ghastly doom segments and then shake your brain stem with bursts of speed and punky d-beats. The whiplash is intended to induce nausea, and it often does. Opener “Living Inhumation” has the bona fides to have appeared on Death’s Leprosy or Autopsy’s Severed Survival and fit right in like a bowel leech. It’s scabby, poo-encrusted offal of a high caliber loaded with jangled, discordant riffs and abysmal vocals. The guitar tone is absolute sewage, and everything is dank and reeking. The only downside is the length. At nearly 6 minutes, it overextends its welcome by the end. This is an unfortunately common trend here, with multiple songs of good construction outliving their trust funds of attention. I love many things about “Ritualized Autopsy,” especially the slimy riffs that ooze everywhere and make you feel unclean. I also appreciate its relentless, unstoppable assault. At points, the guitar work even reminds me of Destruction’s immortal debut EP, Sentence of Death, which is a very good thing. But it too plods on too long, losing some of its visceral impact.
Every track has things going on that I love. Grave Infestation have that sound I’m hopelessly drawn to, and the way they layer nerve-flaying fretboard abuse, bone-breaking grooves, stupid chuggs, and atmospheric noodling gets me every time. Lay some vomitous vocals and pounding drums over that shit and Steel comes to your yard for the gutshake. However, the band doesn’t know when enough is enough, and quality cuts with righteous moments like “Black Widow” and “Drenched in Blood” refuse to stop when they should. There are some absolute ball breaking though, like primal closer “Murder Spree” which just fucks up your shit with insane, panic-inducing riffs that won’t leave you alone. It’s like they took the best moments from Possessed’s timeless classic Seven Churches and sutured them roughly to early Autopsy demos. What more could you want? At 39:56 minutes, Carnage Gathers doesn’t feel too long, though certain tracks do. The production is perfectly mucky and raw, and the guitar sound is exactly the kind of abrasive my rusty metal heart wants.
I’m a big fan of the guitar work from Graham Christofferson and “BC.” It’s their horrific string mutilation that makes the material throb, and they have a knack for skin-removing riffs and twisted flourishes. They create the soundtrack to a madman’s nightmare while paying homage to classic early death albums we all know and love. At times, their riffs sound like those on Bathory’s The Return, which makes me unreasonably giddy. Graham Christofferson’s vocals are a match made in Hell – horrid, repulsive, and full of gut-busting throat exertions. He reminds me of Chris Reifert (Autopsy) at times and, at others, Jeff Beccera (Possessed), but he’s always disgusting. The entire band is solid, but the lack of editing is a nagging defect.
I desperately wanted to give Carnage Gathers a higher rating because I dig so much of what Grave Infestation does. They play exactly the kind of death metal I love, and their commitment to appalling excess speaks to my crude ape brain. If they trimmed the blubber off the best cuts, this would rise in the ranking considerably. As it stands, Carnage Gathers is a quality death metal album sure to please the sick and deranged. It could have been MOAR though!
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Invictus Productions
Websites: graveinfestation.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/graveinfestation | instagram.com/graveinfestation
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025Kenstrosity
Formed from members of Canadian antifascist crust/sludge metal outfit Ahna and known death filthifiers Ceremonial Bloodbath, Grave Infestation helped pull me out of a skull pit intent on suffocating me under a mountain of bullshit and dumped me right back into a different skull pit entirely—this one teeming with rot and cadaveric bouquets. I suppose I should be thankful, as this is the kind of thing that fills my pores with what some might consider the scent of WICTORY. So, without further ado, I dive deeper into the corpse pile that is Grave Infestation’s sophomore record, Carnage Gathers.
Death metal is a known quantity. We all know it when we hear it, and can describe it without much conflict or confusion. Such is the case for Grave Infestation. Carnage Gathers represents death metal at its most rank, channeling equal parts Asphyx and Incantation, with a membrane of slick Autopsy sleaze surrounding its diseased skin. It’s a combination that works wonders for those who search tirelessly for the nastiest of the nasty, and in that respect, Grave Infestation don’t disappoint. Buzzing and boisterous riffs abound, slammed into the earth below by the crushing heft of doom-laden chugs and yanked back upright by a relentless barrage of squealing solos. Cheering on these deadly antics, a vomitous wretch, brutally projected from afar, echoes its sickening cry across Carnage Gathers’ necrotic scenery. Drawing the line just shy of the caverns from whence Tomb Mold’s early work spawned, Carnage Gathers boasts a sound that exudes old school death at its prime.
Of course, that means that I’m drawn to Carnage Gathers almost by instinct, an animal magnetism against which mental fortitude and willpower crumbles at the slightest breeze. Choice cuts “Inuman Remains,” “Black Widow,” and “Drenched in Blood” take full advantage of my weakness here. Bridging the gap between Incantation’s sheer heft with the vicious onslaught of Autopsy’s violent ways, these songs juggle riffs and grooves engaging enough to motivate the necks of even the staunchest death dissident. “Black Widow,” in particular, marks Grave Infestation’s high water mark, boasting a punky d-beat swagger in conjunction with screeching dive bombs that make an instant memory. Songs like these show that Grave Infestation not only understand the kind of songwriting that made death metal an international underground phenomenon but also identify and implement subtle ways to invigorate that well-worn, comfortable style for a modern audience.
However, Carnage Gathers demonstrates understanding and implementation inconsistently. Pulling from many of its doomier segments, Grave Infestation’s writing outside of their ravenous tears and mid-paced stomps leaves a lot on the table. “Ritualized Autopsy,” “The Anthropophagus,” and “Murder Spree,” among a couple others, routinely inject slower passages characterized by generic chugs and repetitive solos, thereby undermining Carnage Gathers’ strongest material with filler. Considering several tracks reach past five minutes with the inclusion of these insubstantial sections of languid doom death, it seems a clear weak point in Grave Infestation’s repertoire. The undeniable fact that their ripping, death-focused outbursts regularly demolish everything in their path each time they rear their ugly heads only further illuminates the flat, featureless nature of their doom-laden dalliances.
As I surface from the Carnage that Gathers to breathe deep of stale, putrid air, I rest easy knowing that despite its flaws, Carnage Gathers isn’t half bad. Its best moments are a ten-ton anvil of repugnant fun, and the doomed detours that fail to resonate in any meaningful way also don’t derail the experience entirely. Instead, these flawed moments serve as an opportunity for growth. Grave Infestation are still young and have a ton of potential. It wouldn’t take much for them to further refine and empower their sound, launching the quality of their output into higher echelons. For the moment, though, Carnage Gathers is a simple, fun platter of filth, and that’s fine with me.
Rating: Mixed
#25 #2025 #30 #Ahna #Asphyx #Autopsy #CanadianMetal #CarnageGathers #CeremonialBloodbath #Death #DeathDoom #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #Feb25 #GraveInfestation #Hellhammer #Incantation #InvictusProductions #Leprosy #Obituary #PersecutionOfTheLiving #Possessed #Review #Reviews #ScreamBloodyGore #TombMold
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Grave Infestation – Carnage Gathers Review
By Steel Druhm
With so much classic heavy metal clogging up my review queue lately, I’ve been neglecting the baser caveman side of my reptilian brain. Canada’s Grave Infestation are back to fix that with their sophomore platter, Carnage Gathers. When they last slimed my doorstep in 2022 with the gruesome Autopsy and early Death worship on Persecution of the Living, they left a mucilaginous impression on my thick skull. Their grizzled and nasty take on old school death was exactly the kind of filth I love to wallow in. Not much has changed on Carnage Gathers, which is another putrid scuzzbucket full of grotesque sounds, primitive riffs, and an IQ below that of rudimentary tool users. It revels in the early days of the genre while fetishizing the lo-fi sound of Hellhammer. It’s all about ear abuse and carnal debasement, and I refuse to be threatened by a good time in the rot pit. Prepare to embrace the sump.
This is not a varied and complex work of art. It’s a tug of war between extremities as the band tries to crush your chestal cavity with ghastly doom segments and then shake your brain stem with bursts of speed and punky d-beats. The whiplash is intended to induce nausea, and it often does. Opener “Living Inhumation” has the bona fides to have appeared on Death’s Leprosy or Autopsy’s Severed Survival and fit right in like a bowel leech. It’s scabby, poo-encrusted offal of a high caliber loaded with jangled, discordant riffs and abysmal vocals. The guitar tone is absolute sewage, and everything is dank and reeking. The only downside is the length. At nearly 6 minutes, it overextends its welcome by the end. This is an unfortunately common trend here, with multiple songs of good construction outliving their trust funds of attention. I love many things about “Ritualized Autopsy,” especially the slimy riffs that ooze everywhere and make you feel unclean. I also appreciate its relentless, unstoppable assault. At points, the guitar work even reminds me of Destruction’s immortal debut EP, Sentence of Death, which is a very good thing. But it too plods on too long, losing some of its visceral impact.
Every track has things going on that I love. Grave Infestation have that sound I’m hopelessly drawn to, and the way they layer nerve-flaying fretboard abuse, bone-breaking grooves, stupid chuggs, and atmospheric noodling gets me every time. Lay some vomitous vocals and pounding drums over that shit and Steel comes to your yard for the gutshake. However, the band doesn’t know when enough is enough, and quality cuts with righteous moments like “Black Widow” and “Drenched in Blood” refuse to stop when they should. There are some absolute ball breaking though, like primal closer “Murder Spree” which just fucks up your shit with insane, panic-inducing riffs that won’t leave you alone. It’s like they took the best moments from Possessed’s timeless classic Seven Churches and sutured them roughly to early Autopsy demos. What more could you want? At 39:56 minutes, Carnage Gathers doesn’t feel too long, though certain tracks do. The production is perfectly mucky and raw, and the guitar sound is exactly the kind of abrasive my rusty metal heart wants.
I’m a big fan of the guitar work from Graham Christofferson and “BC.” It’s their horrific string mutilation that makes the material throb, and they have a knack for skin-removing riffs and twisted flourishes. They create the soundtrack to a madman’s nightmare while paying homage to classic early death albums we all know and love. At times, their riffs sound like those on Bathory’s The Return, which makes me unreasonably giddy. Graham Christofferson’s vocals are a match made in Hell – horrid, repulsive, and full of gut-busting throat exertions. He reminds me of Chris Reifert (Autopsy) at times and, at others, Jeff Beccera (Possessed), but he’s always disgusting. The entire band is solid, but the lack of editing is a nagging defect.
I desperately wanted to give Carnage Gathers a higher rating because I dig so much of what Grave Infestation does. They play exactly the kind of death metal I love, and their commitment to appalling excess speaks to my crude ape brain. If they trimmed the blubber off the best cuts, this would rise in the ranking considerably. As it stands, Carnage Gathers is a quality death metal album sure to please the sick and deranged. It could have been MOAR though!
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Invictus Productions
Websites: graveinfestation.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/graveinfestation | instagram.com/graveinfestation
Releases Worldwide: February 28th, 2025Kenstrosity
Formed from members of Canadian antifascist crust/sludge metal outfit Ahna and known death filthifiers Ceremonial Bloodbath, Grave Infestation helped pull me out of a skull pit intent on suffocating me under a mountain of bullshit and dumped me right back into a different skull pit entirely—this one teeming with rot and cadaveric bouquets. I suppose I should be thankful, as this is the kind of thing that fills my pores with what some might consider the scent of WICTORY. So, without further ado, I dive deeper into the corpse pile that is Grave Infestation’s sophomore record, Carnage Gathers.
Death metal is a known quantity. We all know it when we hear it, and can describe it without much conflict or confusion. Such is the case for Grave Infestation. Carnage Gathers represents death metal at its most rank, channeling equal parts Asphyx and Incantation, with a membrane of slick Autopsy sleaze surrounding its diseased skin. It’s a combination that works wonders for those who search tirelessly for the nastiest of the nasty, and in that respect, Grave Infestation don’t disappoint. Buzzing and boisterous riffs abound, slammed into the earth below by the crushing heft of doom-laden chugs and yanked back upright by a relentless barrage of squealing solos. Cheering on these deadly antics, a vomitous wretch, brutally projected from afar, echoes its sickening cry across Carnage Gathers’ necrotic scenery. Drawing the line just shy of the caverns from whence Tomb Mold’s early work spawned, Carnage Gathers boasts a sound that exudes old school death at its prime.
Of course, that means that I’m drawn to Carnage Gathers almost by instinct, an animal magnetism against which mental fortitude and willpower crumbles at the slightest breeze. Choice cuts “Inuman Remains,” “Black Widow,” and “Drenched in Blood” take full advantage of my weakness here. Bridging the gap between Incantation’s sheer heft with the vicious onslaught of Autopsy’s violent ways, these songs juggle riffs and grooves engaging enough to motivate the necks of even the staunchest death dissident. “Black Widow,” in particular, marks Grave Infestation’s high water mark, boasting a punky d-beat swagger in conjunction with screeching dive bombs that make an instant memory. Songs like these show that Grave Infestation not only understand the kind of songwriting that made death metal an international underground phenomenon but also identify and implement subtle ways to invigorate that well-worn, comfortable style for a modern audience.
However, Carnage Gathers demonstrates understanding and implementation inconsistently. Pulling from many of its doomier segments, Grave Infestation’s writing outside of their ravenous tears and mid-paced stomps leaves a lot on the table. “Ritualized Autopsy,” “The Anthropophagus,” and “Murder Spree,” among a couple others, routinely inject slower passages characterized by generic chugs and repetitive solos, thereby undermining Carnage Gathers’ strongest material with filler. Considering several tracks reach past five minutes with the inclusion of these insubstantial sections of languid doom death, it seems a clear weak point in Grave Infestation’s repertoire. The undeniable fact that their ripping, death-focused outbursts regularly demolish everything in their path each time they rear their ugly heads only further illuminates the flat, featureless nature of their doom-laden dalliances.
As I surface from the Carnage that Gathers to breathe deep of stale, putrid air, I rest easy knowing that despite its flaws, Carnage Gathers isn’t half bad. Its best moments are a ten-ton anvil of repugnant fun, and the doomed detours that fail to resonate in any meaningful way also don’t derail the experience entirely. Instead, these flawed moments serve as an opportunity for growth. Grave Infestation are still young and have a ton of potential. It wouldn’t take much for them to further refine and empower their sound, launching the quality of their output into higher echelons. For the moment, though, Carnage Gathers is a simple, fun platter of filth, and that’s fine with me.
Rating: Mixed
#25 #2025 #30 #Ahna #Asphyx #Autopsy #CanadianMetal #CarnageGathers #CeremonialBloodbath #Death #DeathDoom #DeathMetal #DoomMetal #Feb25 #GraveInfestation #Hellhammer #Incantation #InvictusProductions #Leprosy #Obituary #PersecutionOfTheLiving #Possessed #Review #Reviews #ScreamBloodyGore #TombMold
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Brocade Odyssey episodes recap and review
Set in the Tang Dynasty, Ji Ying Ying’s (Seven Tan) family fell from grace when her father was wrongly accused of the crime of insulting the emperor. She grew up to be a scrappy young lady who runs a dyeing workshop.
One day, she meets Yang Jing Yuan (Zheng Yecheng) who seems very interested in her. He has an ulterior motive, which is to get the “Shu red” brocade technique that her father was famous for.
Eventually, her childhood friend Zhao Xiu Yuan and the prince of Nanzhao Kingdom will come to covet Ji’s dyeing skills and her family’s secret dyeing recipe, the very same one that got her father killed.
- Episodes 1-3
- Episodes 4-6
- Episodes 7-10
- Episodes 13 and 14
- Episode 15
- Episode 16
- Episode 17
- Episode 19
- Episode 20
- Episode 21
- Episode 22
- Episode 23
- Episode 24
- Episode 25
- Episode 26
- Episodes 27-28
- Episode 29
- Episode 30
- Episode 31
- Episode 32
- Episode 33
- Episodes 37-38
- Episodes 39-40
- The review
- Final rating: 7.5
Episodes 1-3
Ji Ying Ying was once from a wealthy official’s family. Her father was the “brocade officer”, an official in charge of the lucrative trade. At a time when silk and the art of Shu brocade was highly prized, the position was a very important one.
However, one day, Ying Ying’s father was framed by enemies and literally killed in front of her eyes.
Since then, she’s had a big fear of the colour red, which is really inconvenient if you’re in the dyeing business.
Episodes 1-3 is about how Ying Ying went from being that frightened child being chased out of her luxurious home to building a business despite her family’s fall from grace. She grows up to be a scrappy young woman who is a very cunning and capable businesswoman.
We see her struggling with the brocade or silk tycoons who push small dyers like her around. While she wins one battle after another, she is always bringing her family closer and closer to possible ruin, because the more she wins, the angrier the tycoons get.
One formidable one is Mrs Hua, who is a merchant who monopolizes the trade and controls the river where they wash the silk.
Zheng Yecheng is Yang Jin Lan, a scion of the powerful Yang family who returned to his hometown after years gallavanting around as a swordsman with an official title.
He is the only one willing and brave enough to take on the position of Brocade Officer because the previous officers have been dying mysteriously.
So far, so stereotypical and cookie-cutter. And honestly, when I first watched the first episode, I was rather worried that nothing would make it rise above this predictable plot.
Fortunately, the leads are Tan Song Yun and Zheng Yecheng. While Yecheng’s role is pretty similar to the ones he played before – the aloof official – Song Yun glimmers and sparkles as Ying Ying and she’s the reason why I keep watching.
Frankly, I would not have been interested in watching it, because under a more inexperienced actor or a bland one, this would have been a really boring drama.
I mean, to be honest, in the first two episodes, I was pretty bored to the point where I was actually doing housework while watching it. I missed chunks of it and had to rewatch the whole thing again and again, which is kind hilarious, because I actually watched episodes one to four a few times just to make sure that I got all the points. Hey Youku, I think I just contributed to your heat index.
The other interesting I can say about Brocade Odyssey is how they did an AI switcheroo on Zhang Huowei’s face. (He plays Zhao Xiu Yan, Ying Ying’s childhood sweetheart, but I’ll call him Robo Zhao from now cos he’s about as unreal as one.)
Actually, the AI swap was done pretty well (though at some angles it still looked like Zhang Haowei), except when they really focus on his face, and then you realise that his mouth doesn’t quite look natural. Of all things to change, I think that was the most difficult to manage. When he talks, it feels as if I am watching an anime character. That said, I wonder if this will set a precedent for the future – what to do with scandalous, troublesome actors.
Anyway, I hope Robo Zhao’s role is a tiny one, because if he is going to be really prominent for 40 episodes it’s going to be a darn weird, uncanny valley experience.
Despite its bland, cookie-cutter plot, I really appreciate Brocade Odyssey’s more relaxed, happy vibe.
After a quarter filled with really intense dramas with sad endings, one after another, it’s great to relax a little. (Unless the writers get “creative” with the ending, and if they do that I’d be taking a plane to China to “be creative” with the writers.)
So, Brocade Odyssey aired at a timely moment, and I think this is what saves it from being ignored. If it had aired during the competitive period when Love Game in Eastern Fantasy aired, it would probably be drowned out.
At first I thought Youku made a mistake airing this right after Pearl Girl, because do we really need another scrappy young woman building a business during the Tang Dynasty?
Well, maybe we do, especially how dark and depressing it became. Maybe it’s kind of smart to air something similiar, but happier!
Episodes 4-6
By episode three, things really pick up and get more interesting. Remember what I said about mad tycoons in the previous episode recaps? Well, Mrs. Hua deals a big blow to Ying Ying. These three episodes focus on their feud coming to a head, with Ying Ying at her lowest point. She realizes that her plotting and scheming have landed her beloved brother in a terrible position—humiliated and forced to work for people who abuse him.
Mrs. Hua forces Ying Ying to do the unthinkable to save her brother: betray her loyal merchant comrades when they need her most. Losing their support for her business, and more importantly, their friendship, is utterly devastating for her.
However, while Mrs. Hua proves to be formidable, she has a powerful backer behind her—the twice-widowed Madam Niu Wuniang, who is equally intimidating.
Robo Zhao, Ying Ying’s beau, comforts her. I still wish he’d go away, but apparently, he has a prominent role and will eventually turn into a possessive antagonist. Well, his unreal AI face will suit that role perfectly.
Meanwhile, we discover that our Brocade Officer, Mr. Yang, has daddy issues. Honestly, if I had a penny for every hero without daddy issues, I’d be very poor indeed. Yang continues to help our heroine, but one can’t help but wonder what his true motives are for becoming a brocade officer. Surely, it’s not just to spite his father and outshine his sibling, as we’re led to believe? I suspect he has a bigger mission.
As you can see, Brocade Odyssey maintains its light-hearted vibes. Even though there are tense moments, the show never ventures into complete darkness.
I believe dramas of all kinds have their place. A drama doesn’t have to be deep, dark, or depressing to be worth watching or considered quality. Brocade Odyssey fulfills a need we all have when it comes to dramas: to be happily entertained, and it does this well.
That said, while Seven Tan and Zheng Ye Cheng deliver charismatic performances, I do worry because I can almost predict every twist and turn of this drama—and so far, I’ve been right. (Honestly, my brain zoned out a few times, and I fast-forwarded through parts of episode 6 out of impatience. Hah!)
While it has been quite predictable for me, there’s comfort in familiarity, common tropes, and well-told stories.
What do you think of it so far? Are you… kinda yawning and wishing for bloodshed and mayhem like me? LOL.
Episodes 7-10
Personally, I found episodes 7-10 rather boring—not because nothing was happening, but because everything felt predictable to me. (Oh look, Ying Ying is overcoming impossible odds yet again.)
But don’t worry—there’s light at the end of the tunnel, I promise!
This time, Ying Ying suffers a significant setback. She’s imprisoned and accidentally causes someone’s death, which reawakens her trauma. She confides in her good friend, admitting she never imagined she’d attract enemies as ruthless as Niu Wuniang.
To make matters worse, she loses Robo Zhao to Wuniang. This raises the question: Did he really have no choice, or was he simply revealing his true nature? I believe it’s the latter. He could have fought for Ying Ying, but he didn’t. I suspect the fear of losing his power and status outweighed his fear of losing her.
He tells her that without power, he can’t protect her. While there may be some truth to that, he also deludes himself into thinking that even after marrying her enemy, he can win her back. In his mind, it doesn’t matter what unscrupulous actions he takes to gain power, as long as he can reclaim her. He proves this by crossing her ultimate red line: claiming the Shu Red Silk for himself and stealing it from the Ji family.
Ying Ying is clever enough to recognize that he’s being threatened and coerced into marrying Wuniang—he admits as much. However, the reason she turns away from him isn’t because she’s deceived by Wuniang’s schemes, but because she sees a terrible quality in him: his willingness to do anything for power, even if it means betraying those he claims to love.
So, the “Evil One” marries Ying Ying’s beau. Look how happy they are! A match made in hell, I guess. ;D
I felt a tiny smidgen of sympathy for Wuniang. With a father like hers, it’s no wonder she resorted to such ruthless tactics to survive and rise above being used as a pawn. In her twisted mind, she believes that by being as ruthless as he is, she’ll finally earn his favor and be seen as his equal. Oh look, more daddy issues!
Meanwhile, Yang Jinglang moves in quickly the moment his right-hand man mutters, “Now is your chance.”
Behold, the human male in courtship mode
https://youtu.be/RktnGuzX0Wc?si=kyem5NOR5HzsQSMd
Now, Zheng Yecheng is trained in Peking opera, which includes some martial arts training. It’s a treat to watch him perform a full-on sword dance. (I really wish Zheng Yecheng would star in a true-blue wuxia drama someday—he’d be a natural fit. But even the little we see here is impressive.)
He performs the sword dance while reciting one of Li Bai’s famous poems. It’s obvious what he’s doing, though I doubt Ying Ying fully understood. Let me simplify it for you with this image:
Episodes 11-12
Well, so much for the sword dance. Ying Ying probably thinks all men are trash and unreliable now, but Jilang makes a valid point: underdogs can’t defeat the powerful out in the open.
This leads Ying Ying to a lightbulb moment—she realizes that Yang Jinglan is the “Future Friend” from her childhood. Of course, we all saw this coming earlier, and I groaned a little when they rolled out the childhood connection tropeTM. That said, this is one instance where it feels like a nice fit.
It seems (to me, at least) that Yang has always liked her, but Robo Zhao (back when he wasn’t so robotic) was always her first choice and constant presence. Perhaps Yang took on this mission for her, with his master serving as a powerful incentive to finally act.
I appreciate how smart Ying Ying is to team up with him and demand an equal partnership rather than playing the damsel in distress. She vows to dye the true Shu Red Silk and decides to undergo some extreme exposure therapy. (PS: Kids, don’t try this at home, especially while standing on slippery rocks near big red boulders.)
I loved the moment with her father, though. Maybe it wasn’t real, but I choose to believe it was his spirit connecting with her, offering comfort so she could overcome her fear.
While episodes 7-10 were pleasant but slow, I assure you things pick up after episode 11. Stay tuned for my next update!
Episodes 13 and 14
“I know I’m a man who is afraid to die, but I am even more afraid of my wife not being able to rest in peace!”
I am so moved by Mr. Huo. He truly loved her. Wipes away tear. Like Wuniang, I assumed he’d save his own skin, but there he was, putting himself in harm’s way just to avenge his wife.
PS: I appreciate how the love for one’s significant other is portrayed in this episode. Mr. Huo is willing to risk his life for his wife, Jilang is willing to scheme and sacrifice to ensure her safety and make her dreams come true, and then there’s Robo Zhao, who thinks becoming a devil and seizing power is the best way to win a lady’s heart. Eh.
Back to the chaos. General Niu proves to be even more ruthless than we thought. (Though I have to wonder why Jilang and Ying Ying brought their most important witness into the belly of the beast. I would’ve wrapped that guy in armor to keep him alive.)
But thank goodness for the magical metal fish deus ex machina badge that saves the day! Whee.
Of course, that’s not the end of it. He sends assassins after Ying Ying… or does he? Turns out it’s all part of Jilang’s sly plan to put the general on edge.
I finally understand what Brocade Odyssey is all about. It’s a Big Boss game disguised as a drama. Each arc introduces an even worse Big Bad. Bwahaha!
Except you don’t gain any magical power points with each level. (Sad face.)
I’m looking forward to their eventual elimination because we know an even scarier Big Bad lies ahead. But perhaps it’s all worth it, as Ying Ying finally achieves her lifelong dream of reinstating the Shu Red Silk under her family name—specifically, under her own name.
Meanwhile, a new power enters the scene… what does this guy want?
Random thoughts:
- I adore Sang. Once a small-town bully, he’s now come into his own, demanding justice for the downtrodden. May he win his loved one in the end. (And, uh, stay alive.)
- I’m still not sorry for Wuniang, even if there are intriguing moments between her and her maid that suggest she might have a kinder side. Sure, they could give her a redemption arc where she realizes the error of her ways, but I still want her to suffer. I’m heartless that way.
- General Niu needs to suffer ten times more than her, though. Life won’t be fair otherwise.
- Robo Zhao shows he’s even capable of turning against his own family for power.
- It’s always a joy to watch 大师兄 (Senior Brother, aka Tang Lian) from Blood of Youth! I like the actor every time he appears on screen. I do wonder who his true master is in this drama—probably someone royal, for sure.
Brocade Odyssey is such an interesting drama. Interesting in that sometimes I can’t wait for the next episode and am tempted to buy express episodes (until I remember I’ve never had much luck with Youku—I won’t be able to watch express episodes despite paying for them, damn it). And sometimes, I’m so bored that writing a discussion post feels like squeezing water out of a rock. This is one of those times. Sigh.
Episode 15
Ying Ying is literally chasing after the mysterious Bai Sheng, whom we know is up to no good. Clearly, he wants the Shu brocade technique for himself, and Ying Ying is his target.
To be honest, I zoned out for most of this episode. The pace was too slow, and nothing much happened.
Episode 16
Pin’er, in a bout of rebellion, decides to go on an adventure with Ying Ying to Gubei Village, where people… worship a brocade? Of course, the Yu Brocade Master, who was frightened off by Niu Wuniang, happens to be there too. The brocade holds special meaning for him because his son wanted to recreate this village’s brocade pattern but tragically passed away before he could.
Meanwhile, Jinglan is off doing more exciting things, like shooting apples off a general’s head. (Kidding… but not really.) He’s actually trying to recruit said general to his side to deal with General Niu.
Episode 17
Poor Sang gets friendzoned so hard by Pin’er that he can barely walk upright afterward. Fortunately, my fear that Sang would revert to his ne’er-do-well ways was unfounded, as he takes his responsibilities seriously and helps Ying Ying with the auction.
Meanwhile, our dear Jinglan is understandably angry that Ying Ying went off on an adventure and is now heavily involved in business with a shady man. He makes his intentions pretty obvious to Ying Ying, who isn’t as clueless anymore (I think) but isn’t willing to go there.
Are the ladies in this drama just unable to recognize a good catch right in front of them unless the guy is dying in their arms or something? Okay, I take that back—writers, don’t you dare go there. But honestly, as much as we kinda like this modern “boss girl, I don’t want to marry, career first” approach to female characterization, I just don’t feel it in this drama. I get that women back then couldn’t do business if they were married most of the time, but this drama isn’t really about realism. So, why couldn’t our women have it all?
There are so many men chasing after Ying Ying at this point that I have to chuckle. There’s Bai Sheng, the mysterious merchant who is probably some kind of kingpin and definitely not a good guy.
Then, of course, there’s Robo Zhao, who is still after her despite being married.
And finally, there’s Jinglan—who, as we all know, wins her heart in the end. He’s the only one who made her wishes come true and did the best thing she could ever ask for: clearing her father’s name.
They share a romantic moment, but as is typical in CDramas, she isn’t ready to take things further with him yet. He’s sweet enough to say he’ll wait for her. (YOU’RE GONNA REGRET IT, GIRL. THEY ALWAYS DO.)
It’s clear that Ying Ying likes him but feels it’s not the right time because she’s just starting to build her business and wants to focus on it. Understandable. Very career woman of her.
Episode 19
Jinglan succeeds in his mission to nab a key witness: the logistics officer who not only orchestrated the brocade swap decades ago but also killed Ying Ying’s father.
People, you don’t have a great track record of keeping your key witnesses alive. You’ve gotta do better this time. Spoiler alert: they don’t.
Meanwhile, Robo Zhao gives Ying Ying a big speech at their usual bridge, claiming he turned his life into hell because of her. For a few seconds, I actually felt a smidgen of pity for him—but it turns out he’s still an asshole. Not just an asshole, but a delusional and deceptive one.
He genuinely believes it’s her fault that he ended up humiliated. When she stomps off at his pathetic excuses, he commits the worst act yet: he abducts her, forcibly marries her, and is presumably about to rape her when Jinglan barges in and gives Robo Zhao the beating of his life.
But I don’t think this is the last we’ll see of him.
The way he married her was so cowardly. He didn’t even have the guts to do it openly or proudly, with her mother’s consent, because he knew what he was doing was absolutely despicable and unhinged. Even this final act of his so-called “love” was done in a cowardly, dishonorable, and covert manner.
I think Ying Ying was crying not just because of what she was being put through, but also out of disbelief at what he had become. It was the absolute death of whatever affection she ever had for him, and grief over the loss of who he once was and what he had turned into.
I thought Seven Tan acted this scene brilliantly, conveying her grief through her eyes alone.
Episode 20
How I feel about everybody this episode:
Ugh, Jinglan’s noble idiot era has begun. Madame Ji gave him “the talk,” and he’s gone off on some dangerous mission. Again.
While Ying Ying is no longer clueless about Jinglan, her mom throws a wrench into their budding romance. I seriously want to strangle that woman now because she’s always making the wrong decisions for her daughter. She doesn’t know her daughter well enough (or doesn’t want to) and ends up making society-acceptable decisions that Ying Ying would hate.
As a result, Jinglan is convinced not to pursue Ying Ying—just when she finally declares her intention to accept his advances.
I’m glad, though, that Ying Ying isn’t buying his “we’re just allies” talk or accepting this noble idiocy from him. She promises to wait for him.
Lord, I already want this “break” to be over. It’s so tedious. I’m not looking forward to the next few episodes because it feels like they’re going to drag this out. How many episodes will they be apart? It better not be more than two, because my patience is running thin.
Meanwhile, Wuniang is living her worst nightmare—under the control of yet another husband and chained up! She married Robo Zhao thinking he’d be her ticket to freedom, believing he’d be easy to control. Instead, he’s turned the tables on her and wrested control with the full blessing of her father.
Do I feel sorry for her? Nah, this is exactly what she deserves. It’s one of the worst punishments she could get, especially after gloating at his beaten-up face after his “wedding.” They deserve each other.
Unfortunately, she’s clever enough to use his mom to convince Robo Zhao to marry Ying Ying. Again. Lord.
I don’t know what she’s up to, but honestly, whatever.
Spoilers for Episode 21
Yes, dammit, they’re dragging this out. Ying Ying’s aunt visits. Can I be honest? I really don’t care about this aunt. We’re getting drama with relatives? Really? I know Chinese New Year is coming, but you don’t have to remind me of my yearly trauma this early! Wake me up when it’s over
As I’ve said before, the problem with Brocade Odyssey is its uneven pacing. This drama needs to balance the conspiracy parts with the business parts. The business moments are pretty boring, while the conspiracy parts are exciting enough to make you wish you could watch the next episode immediately. But the pacing is all over the place. As you can see from my thoughts on the previous episodes, when it slows down, it really slows down.
Episode 21
Poor schmuck—I knew Ji Yaoting would be rejected hard by Yu. I sense a pattern here.
All the men in this drama want their beloved women to be themselves, but the women are commitment-phobic and value their independence. I think the drama is driving this point a little too hard. Having three women do the same thing feels repetitive, lol.
Aunt is trouble, all right. Now Ying Ying has to get involved with that shady foreign merchant who works for Bai Sheng because of it.
Jinglan’s secret mission in Nanzhao is interesting, especially compared to the business-Zhao and Bai-is-up-to-no-good plot back home.
Episode 22
Niu Wuniang is going batty because her plans have landed her in deep trouble, but I still have no sympathy. That said, why is Wuniang so attached to her maid? I wish there was some backstory because it’s driving me crazy.
I knew Aunt would be trouble, but that much trouble? Really? Poor Mum is now in prison, accused of murder, and Ying Ying has to beg for help from everyone important. It must’ve been hard for her, pride-wise, to do this. And if that’s not bad enough, Yaoting is publicly tortured.
Honestly, this whole plot is still boring me, despite the murder and mayhem, because I can see everything coming from a mile away.
Episode 23
It’s safe to say that Bai Sheng is the mysterious Prince Bai of Nanzhao. It also looks like General Niu has been secretly dealing with Nanzhao, likely with Prince Bai.
I’m not convinced that marrying into the Yang family was Ying Ying’s only way out of this situation. Maybe I’m not paying enough attention, but can someone explain exactly why this was her only option?
Since it was Madam Yang’s idea, perhaps she was motivated to secure the only maker of the Shu Red color for her family. Ying Ying, desperate after everyone else refused to help, agreed—even if the possibility of real help was slim.
Episode 24
First, Zheng Yecheng’s fight scenes are top-notch, as usual. His escape from Nanzhao is beautifully filmed.
They’ve really put effort into the fight scenes. Can we just stick Zheng Yecheng in a wuxia drama already? Like, now?
Anyway, Jinglan returns just in time to snatch the bride. Again. He proposes that Ying Ying switch grooms, she accepts, and then he faints dead away. (I was touched that his dad and family were so worried for him. Despite his aloofness, they do care for him a little.)
Later, Jinglan wakes up and… wait, did he just offer a divorce “when the time is right”? Jinglan, she didn’t even ask for it!
So, they have another wedding, and this time, instead of being a concubine, Ying Ying becomes Jinglan’s rightful wife. (Chinese New Year’s Eve dinners in the Yang family are going to be so awkward. 😅🤣.)
Just as things seem to settle, General Niu gatecrashes the wedding to arrest Jinglan. Ying Ying can never have an ordinary wedding, it seems.
This is where Jinglan finally reveals his backer: the Crown Prince himself! (Knew it had to be royalty.)
To be honest, I had high expectations for this episode, so I’m deflated that we’re back to the “we’re only allies” square one, relationship-wise. Heck, even Ying Ying looked disappointed, haha. I mean, come on—at least a forehead kiss?
Episode 25
Oh, finally, our main couple is over their “does he/she love me” routine and has actually said it. Okay, in their reserved, shy way, but they said it nonetheless.
I thought the murder case was solved rather… conveniently. Honestly, it could’ve been easily disproven! If the true murderer hadn’t confessed due to the trickery, then what? Eh. But by that point, I was so fed up with the whole case that I just wanted it over so our couple could move on to the real important stuff: their relationship.
I wanted to say that Jinglan and Ying Ying did everything backward as a couple, but actually, when you think about it, marriages back then often happened this way. Most couples didn’t know each other before getting married and only started “dating” after marriage.
So, our couple had a very typical Chinese marriage. (Well, if you exclude the bride-stealing and lack of ceremony, that is.)
I’m glad to say I wasn’t bored during these two episodes. Even though nothing substantial happened plot-wise, many significant things unfolded between our couple. For one, they’re finally getting to know each other as husband and wife and have become more than just allies.
That little scene in front of her house was endearing. Ying Ying never got to have a proper ceremony and was essentially married in haste and secrecy, without even her mother’s knowledge. So, it was sweet that Jinglan gave her that moment, including getting the Crown Prince to provide betrothal gifts! With the Crown Prince blessing their marriage, who dares gossip about them or call the marriage a farce now?
We also learn that Jinglan is the Crown Prince’s junior brother—they shared the same master, the former Brocade Master who was murdered. His backer isn’t just some aloof dignitary but someone he shares a close bond with. That’s a good thing.
Episode 26
Of course, it took our couple about 1.5 episodes to get to the confession scene, where he finally admits that he likes her as more than an ally. Jinglan, you sure took your sweet time, lol.
I like that Ying Ying was prodding him toward that moment. Thanks to the talk she had with her mom in the previous episode, she realized that all her suspicions about his feelings were confirmed.
Jinglan made things very confusing for her (no thanks to Mum’s interference, though she at least apologized for it). It kinda makes his reluctance to admit they were more than allies on their wedding day somewhat understandable. I think he’s just not used to being in love and didn’t want to scare her off by saying, “I really want you to stay,” when he wasn’t sure how she felt about him. (Hey, maybe she’s like Yuniang and her other friend, both wanting to be single, independent women, right?)
I thought the confession scene was kind of cute because he acted like a shy teenager. And while some of us might want them to be a bit more demonstrative (ahem), I found it beautiful that right after she kissed him on the cheek, he took her to see his late mother’s memorial. That was a meaningful gesture.
Both were finally cementing their affection for each other and their commitment to stay together as husband and wife. All that divorce nonsense can be chucked out the window. (I hope, though, since this is only Episode 26, meaning there are 14 more episodes to go. Who knows what’s going to happen before the end?)
Okay, confession time: I was dreading the kissing scene because Seven Tan is… not known for her kissing scenes. I winced my way through her kissing scene in The Sword and the Brocade, but she did okay here. At least she smiled? Lol.
Also, don’t you get shivers when Jinglan addresses her as 夫人 (furen, dear wife)?
Let’s hope noble idiocy doesn’t raise its stupid head again.
Anyway, in these episodes, we also get a glimpse of how horrific her life would’ve been if she had married into the Yang family as a concubine. For one, everything she worked for would’ve been taken by the Yang family. Her fate would’ve been very grim indeed, and for an independent woman like Ying Ying, she probably would’ve withered away.
So, yes, we’re all glad she ended up marrying Jinglan!
The Yang uncle is 100% going to cause trouble for Bloom Society, for sure.
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Episodes 27-28
I’ll be honest—I’m totally bored of Second Uncle’s shenanigans, Wuniang’s scheming, Bai Sheng’s antics, and Robo Zhao’s moping. All of them are just making life difficult for Ying Ying, and of course, we know she’ll prevail eventually. I’m at least pleased to find out that the Yang matriarch is on Ying Ying’s side. But honestly, I could barely pay attention to what was happening on screen because it all felt so predictable and pedestrian.
The one highlight of these episodes is Jinglan’s dad attempting to mend bridges with his son, asking, “Shouldn’t I be given a second chance?” This is probably the most earnest speech from a CDrama dad ever. I almost wanted Jinglan to give in right then and there, but while he’s clearly moved, he isn’t going to make it easy for his father—though he has softened a bit. It’s sweet that Ying Ying is trying to be the bridge between them.
Episode 29
I’m super moved that Jinglan gave Ta Xue a beautiful memorial and grave, but… how in the world did he drag his body all the way to this mountainous area? Didn’t the horse die somewhere far away in enemy territory? Okay, maybe the grave is empty, or perhaps he sent people to retrieve the body later. But this little detail bugs me immensely, lol.
“My life feels like it’s fallen into the abyss again.” I felt a smidgen of pity for Wuniang as she recounted being beaten by her previous husband. It’s sad, in a way—she’s been abused all her life by the men around her. Having only known abuse, she believes the only way to rise above it is to become as cruel as her abusers.
Episode 30
Okay, but isn’t the whole “traveling into the West and encountering great dangers on the road” plotline so similar to The Story of Pearl Girl? I couldn’t help but think that throughout the episode.
Also, I couldn’t help but shake my head at the whole adventure. It felt very… unnecessary, almost? Like, what did you think would happen, Ying Ying? Yuning did warn you. This isn’t a walk in Hengdian Studios, lol. And I have to say, Cheng Dalan died in such a horrible way—omg.
But at least our favorite older brother got to spend some alone time with Yuning, even if it was with bandits, haha.
Episode 31
General Niu receives some doublespeak and hidden messages from his superior, basically warning him that he’s overstepping his boundaries. The commissioner doesn’t know the full extent of his nonsense, so he might not be as merciful if he finds out!
Robo Zhao’s prayer for Ying Ying’s safety left me speechless. I mean, you’ve done everything to destroy her life and put her in harm’s way, even colluding with the enemy… and now you’re praying for her safety? Maybe, I don’t know, stop doing all that? Make it make sense. LOL.
Yuning and Older Brother Ji (I actually can’t remember his name now, lol) spend some alone time with the bandits, but fortunately, Jinglan and the gang save them. At least Yuning realizes she wants to be with him now. I knew it’d take a near-death experience to get them together, lol.
Prince Bai finally reveals himself.
PS: That field of flowers green screen is so fake, omg, lol.
Episode 32
The start of Noble Idiocy #2, as Prince Bai frames Jinglan for attempting to “assassinate” him.
Okay, Robo Zhao, what’s up with your Sadako hairstyle? It’s creeping me out. I suppose it’s meant to show that you’re sad and falling apart, but I’m like, yeah, you totally deserve it. Slow claps.
Strangely enough, I think he looks better this way, LOL.
Niu Wuniang is also praying, but alas, her prayers aren’t answered. Her beloved companion and maid (or something more, heheh) is killed off-screen, and Wuniang loses it.
Ying Ying returns only to find that Madam Yang is in a coma. We know where this is going—hah! Second Uncle is predictably responsible for this.
Episode 33
Wuniang has completely lost it, hallucinating her maid Yu Yuan. It would’ve been a fun story if it was actually the ghost of her maid influencing Wuniang to exact vengeance on her behalf, lol. Sadly, Wuniang meets her predictable end; of course, being the person she is, she frames Robo Zhao on her way out. Well done, Wuniang.
Yeah, I have zero sympathy for either of them, though I did feel a little aggrieved that her dad didn’t even flicker an eyelid over her death except to rail at her for being a useless daughter. His last gesture—imprisoning Zhao (and probably planning to kill him soon)—is mostly to look good to the public: “Don’t let people say I never cared for her as a father.” It’ll be a great day when he’s unalived.
I am NOT looking forward to Jinglan’s second noble idiocy arc, as you can see. I 100% understand why Jinglan did what he did—to protect Ying Ying from being punished alongside him if things go south. Still, I wish they hadn’t done this a SECOND TIME because it feels repetitive.
I’ll come right out and say it: Brocade Odyssey needed to be at least 40% shorter. At this point in the story, it feels like they’re going around in circles.
Episodes 37-38
The pace finally picks up again!
These two episodes are all about Jinglan suffering in prison and Ying Ying scheming to get everyone out. Poor Jinglan is drugged, beaten, and tortured nearly to death by Bai, who’s obviously taking out his jealousy on him. Bleh.
Anyway, thanks to help from Robo Zhao (of all people), Jinglan finally escapes and reunites with the “rebel” refugee forces from Yizhou.
I found it sweet that Jinglan’s dad is supporting him at the camp, especially after they receive the bad news about Zhuge.
大师兄*, dang it, you died again! (PS: Blood of Youth reference here 😉).
*Senior brother
Zhuge dies tragically, and Jinglan rescues his body. As Jinglan grieves, he imagines Zhuge talking to him like he did before. I’ll miss his sarcastic sense of humor. 😢 Sigh, despite not liking Zhuge’s death, it was at least meaningful and made sense.
Episodes 39-40
Robo Zhao begins his redemption arc and becomes the sacrificial lamb that allows everyone to return to Yizhou. I’m not sure how I feel about him being redeemed (because, honestly, I wanted him flayed alive for all his stupid schemes and the way he treated Wuniang and her maid), but since he manages to outwit Bai, I’ll give him a big 👍.
Later, Prince Bai dies trying to save Ying Ying. Okay, bye.
Honestly, if he were truly ruthless, he would’ve let Ying Ying die. So maybe he’s just a marshmallow inside? RIP—love brain killed him. ⚰️
Ying Ying cries over him. Wait, what? Girl, why? Someone explain this to me, lol.
This is no Xiang Liu x Xiao Yao (Lost You Forever), and I’m not feeling it. You can’t expect the audience to empathize with a man who brutally tortured and poisoned Jinglan, the beloved Absolute Green Flag. These scenes feel wasted on us. And Ying Ying, knowing that her beloved was literally hacked to death in a dastardly game of Go and probably went through hell in prison… I can’t compute how she could have that kind of reaction.
And can assassins just go around killing a Nanzhao prince like that? I’m confused. 😅😆
Back in Yizhou, Older Brother Ji, Yuning, and Jinglan trap Niu and try to take him down. But General Niu is a tough bugger—much respect for being such an effective big bad.
Poor Yuning. She fought so well. Her death wasn’t meaningless, but poor Older Brother Ji, you deserved forever with her. 😢
(BTW, I found it odd that we saw so much of Ying Ying grieving over Bai but hardly anything about her bestie. Feels weird. 😅)
At least Ji helped take down the big bad.
All is finally peaceful. What’s sweet is that Jinglan has finally thawed his relationship with his father and stepmother. He’s even joking with them! Imagine that.
Jinglan and Ying Ying marry for the second time. Yay! Dang it, can’t we see the ceremony?? We didn’t get it the last time.
Ying Ying becomes Lady Very Important and heads off to see the emperor.
Everyone lives happily ever after.
The review
Darlings, I’ve never worked so hard to finish a drama before, LOL. If I weren’t doing these recaps, I probably would’ve dropped it when the Nanzhao arc started—out of irritation—and just fast-forwarded to the happy moments in the last episode. It just felt like they were prolonging an already repetitive story.
The thing about Brocade Odyssey is that it’s not bad; there are some parts that are really, really good—namely, the chemistry between Seven Tan and Zheng Yecheng, even if it’s not explosive. I also appreciate how coherent the story is. These days, sadly, all you can hope for in costume idol dramas is that they make sense until the very end, and Brocade Odyssey does make sense until the end.
The problem is that the plot is very bland and predictable. It’s a comfort watch for sure, but not one that will leave a lasting impression.
One criticism I have is that for a drama about silk and brocades, the color grading didn’t do the fabrics any justice. Everything looked muted. I expected a drama about silk and beautiful embroidery, especially around the color red, to be eye-popping, with every frame filled with gorgeous patterns. But we barely see that. We don’t see how silk is harvested from silkworms or how brocade patterns are woven, though at least we get a glimpse of the complexities of dyeing silk.
The art of making brocades is just a mask this drama wears to make it appear deeper than it is. In the end, it’s still a typical costume idol romance drama about a heroine and her many suitors and the drama that comes with it.
If anything, I think the drama suffers from being “old-fashioned.” As I watched it, I kept thinking this drama would’ve been a hit in the early 2010s. Back then, tropes like delusional and possessive second leads (or third leads!) were common, and all this would’ve felt fresh.
But now, audiences want more than repetitive stories about second and third leads causing drama for the One True Pair. They want, I don’t know, some substance?
That said, Seven Tan and Zheng Yecheng get top marks for putting in the effort with their acting. I have no fault with them, except that I think Zheng Yecheng’s character lacked depth beyond being the Absolute Green Flag suitor with no flaws at all.
Final rating: 7.5
#BrocadeOdyssey #CDrama #cdramaReview #CDramas #China #ChineseDrama #CostumedDrama #episodeRecaps #Recaps
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Weekly Update from the Open Journal of Astrophysics – 11/01/2025
Welcome to the first update of 2025 from the It’s Saturday morning once again so here’s another quick update of activity at the Open Journal of Astrophysics. For the new year we have started Volume 8. Since the last update of 2024 we have published four new papers which brings the total so far published by OJAp up to 239.
In chronological order of publication, the four papers published this week, with their overlays, are as follows. You can click on the images of the overlays to make them larger should you wish to do so.
First one up is “Weak-Lensing Shear-Selected Galaxy Clusters from the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru Strategic Program: I. Cluster Catalog, Selection Function and Mass–Observable Relation” by Kai-Feng Chen (MIT, USA), I-Non Chiu (National Cheng University, Taiwan), Masamune Oguri (Chiba University, Japan), Yen-Ting Lin (IAAAS, Taiwan), Hironao Miyatake (Nagoya, Japan), Satoshi Miyazaki (Nat. Astr. Obs. Japan), Surhud More (IUCAA, India), Takashi Hamana (Nat. Astr. Obs. Japan), Markus M. Rau Carnegie Mellon University, USA), Tomomi Sunayama (Steward Obs., USA), Sunao Sugiyama (U. Penn, USA), Masahiro Takada (U. Tokyo, Japan).
This paper, which was published on Monday 6th January 2025 is in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics, discusses steps towards towards the extraction of cosmogical constraints from a sample of galaxy clusters selected via weak gravitational lensing
Here is a screen grab of the overlay, which includes the abstract:
You can find the officially accepted version of the paper on the arXiv here.
The second paper to announce, published on 7th January 2025 and also in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics, is “Cosmology on point: modelling spectroscopic tracer one-point statistics” by Beth McCarthy Gould (Newcastle U., UK), Lina Castiblanco (Bielefeld, Germany), Cora Uhlemann (Bielefeld, Germany), and Oliver Friedrich (LMU, Germany).
The accepted version of this paper can be found on the arXiv here.
The third paper, published on 9th January 2025, also in the folder Cosmology and NonGalactic Astrophysics, is “Probing Environmental Dependence of High-Redshift Galaxy Properties with the Marked Correlation Function” by Emy Mons and Charles Jose (Cochin University of Science and Technology, India). This paper uses the marked two-point correlation function to measure the environmental dependence of galaxy clustering at high redshift.
Here is the overlay:
The final version accepted on arXiv is here.
Last of this quartet, also published on 9th January 2025, but in the folder Astrophysics of Galaxies is “The infrared luminosity of retired and post-starburst galaxies: A cautionary tale for star formation rate measurements” by Vivienne Wild (St Andrews, UK), Natalia Vale Asari (Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Brazil), Kate Rowlands (STScI, Sara L. Ellison (U. Victoria, Canada), Ho-Hin Leung (St Andrews), Christy Tremonti (U. Wisconsin-Madison, USA).
The paper proposes an extension of the semi-analytic formalism to weak lensing and thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich (tSZ) fields directly on the full-sky, with an emphasis on higher-order correlations. The overlay is here:
You can find the official accepted version on the arXiv here.
That’s all for this week. I’ll do another update next Saturday.
#arXiv240611966v2 #arXiv240908672v2 #arXiv240918182v2 #arXiv241212573v2 #cosmicShear #CosmologyAndNonGalacticAstrophysics #DiamondOpenAccess #galaxyClustering #galaxyClusters #markedTwoPointCorrelationFunction #onePointStatistics #starFormation #starburstGalaxies #Subarau #TheOpenJournalOfAstrophysics #weakGravitationalLensing
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@markus I'm sorry for be the bearer of bad news friend, but here 😭: https://community.fly.io/t/sunsetting-litefs-cloud/20829?u=ab1
On the plus side, #litefs is still being developed. Just not as a service anymore and more as utility. 🫠
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Wann hört das mit der Korruption in der #CDU und #CSU endlich auf?
Markus Grill (@m_grill)
Exklusiv: Die Tochter des ehem. CSU-Politikers Gerold #Tandler hat einen der größten Maskendeals mit deutschen Ministerien eingefädelt. Sie hat dafür wohl mehr als 30 Mio Euro Provision bekommen. #Emix #Spahn #Hohlmeier #FFP2. Recherche von #NDRWDRSZ https://www.tagesschau.de/investigativ/ndr-wdr/maskengeschaefte-provisionen-105.html
https://nitter.pussthecat.org/m_grill/status/1390705448492355586#m
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Lieber @[email protected]:
Die Amtswürde vom Ex-Geheimdienstchef Markus Seiler, der jetzt als rechte Hand bei @[email protected] operiert, ist - vereinfacht gesagt - diskutabel. 😌
#CryptoAG #StopNDB #NDGnein #parlCH
https://twitter.com/vecirex/status/793853945944895488 -
I’m about 40ft away from the stage where Pat Mastelotto and Markus Reuter are just milling around, helping the roadies set up their gear.
In an hour, they’ll be onstage with Tony Levin (and their instruments), and become Stick Men, and i will squee my ass off. 😆🤗
#PretentiousMusic #Awesomeness -
Markus Vordermeier aka Hamlet (1970-2024).
https://retropolis.com.br/2024/04/21/markus-vordermeier-aka-hamlet-1970-2024/
#MundoRetro #Alemanha #Encontros #Falecimento #Hamlet #MSX #MSXorg #Stuttgart
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I'm looking at you, Friedrich #Merz, Markus #Söder & das ganze Team von #CDU, #CSU und #FDP!
Wenn wir mit dem Ausbau von #Solar- und #Windenergie einfach nur so weiter gemacht hätten, wie in den besten Jahren, dann könnte uns die #Gaskrise vermutlich fast am Arsch vorbeigehen. Stattdessen blockiert die Union bis zum heutigen Tage jede einzelne Windenergieanlage.#Lindner #Solarenergie #Windkraft #WKA #WEA #PV #AKW #Atomausstieg #Strom #Energiewende #Rösler #Altmeier #Bareiß #Krieg
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Die Ringe der Macht | Markus Eisele | Sparkscon 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jm5u_D5j8kM
#Recording #DeveloperTools #Sparkscon -
I’m a reader and have a…substantial…TBR pile. Did you ever finish a book and NOT start another one for a while because you are still thinking about that book? For me that book was The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak. Omg and wow.
What was yours?
#readingcommunity #reading #books #bookstodon #TheBookThief -
I’m a reader and have a…substantial…TBR pile. Did you ever finish a book and NOT start another one for a while because you are still thinking about that book? For me that book was The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak. Omg and wow.
What was yours?
#readingcommunity #reading #books #bookstodon #TheBookThief -
I’m a reader and have a…substantial…TBR pile. Did you ever finish a book and NOT start another one for a while because you are still thinking about that book? For me that book was The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak. Omg and wow.
What was yours?
#readingcommunity #reading #books #bookstodon #TheBookThief -
I’m a reader and have a…substantial…TBR pile. Did you ever finish a book and NOT start another one for a while because you are still thinking about that book? For me that book was The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak. Omg and wow.
What was yours?
#readingcommunity #reading #books #bookstodon #TheBookThief -
Markus #Söder hat die Idee, welche die #Autoindustrie rettet.
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Und dennoch erdreistet sich #Söder zu behaupten, Bayern sei "Superchampion" in allen Bereichen 🤦🏻♂️
