A lot of denial about this for some reason, but it’s borne out in essentially every study on the matter.

Factors found to facilitate infidelity

Number of sex partners: Greater number of sex partners before marriage predicts infidelity

As might be expected, attitudes toward infidelity specifically, permissive attitudes toward sex more generally and a greater willingness to have casual sex and to engage in sex without closeness, commitment or love (i.e., a more unrestricted sociosexual orientation) are also reliably related to infidelity (pg.71)

https://imgur.com/vCvZmQR.jpg
Fincham, F. D., & May, R. W. (2017). Infidelity in romantic relationships. Current opinion in psychology, 13, 70–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2016.03.008
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A truism in psychology is that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. This is no less true in the realm of sexual behavior. Indeed, one of the strongest predictors of marital infidelity is one’s number of prior sex partners (pg.6)

https://imgur.com/8X4gten.jpg
Haselton, M. G., Buss, D. M., Oubaid, V., & Angleitner, A. (2005). Sex, Lies, and Strategic Interference: The Psychology of Deception Between the Sexes. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 31(1), 3–23. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167204271303
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Men apparently assess and evaluate levels of sexual activity by a woman prior to long-term commitment—behavior that would have been observable or known through social reputation in the small-group lifestyles of our ancestors. Past behavior is a good predictor of future behavior, and having a large number of sex partners prior to marriage is a statistical predictor of infidelity after marriage (pg.92)

https://imgur.com/rM3iFCE.jpg
Buss, D. M., & Schmitt, D. P. (2019). Mate preferences and their behavioral manifestations. Annual Review of Psychology, 70, 77–110. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-psych-010418-103408
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it would appear that the premaritally experienced females were more inclined to accept coitus with males other than their husbands after marriage. (pg.427)

https://imgur.com/BnXe7I0.jpg
Kinsey, A. C., Pomeroy, W. B., Martin, C. E., & Gebhard, P. H. (1953). Sexual behavior in the human female. Saunders. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1954-05526-000
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the odds ratio of 1.13 for lifetime sexual partners obtained with the face-to-face mode of interview indicates that the probability of infidelity increased by 13% for every additional lifetime sexual partner (pg.150)

https://imgur.com/ZhxoqNv.jpg
Whisman, M. A., & Snyder, D. K. (2007). Sexual infidelity in a national survey of American women: Differences in prevalence and correlates as a function of method of assessment. Journal of Family Psychology, 21(2), 147–154. https://doi.org/10.1037/0893-3200.21.2.147
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Generally speaking, respondents who report extensive premarital sexual experience report extensive extramarital activity. Measures of the locus of first intercourse and number of premarital partners show positive associations with (1) rating one's marriage as less happy than average, (2) the number of different extramarital partners, and (3) the intention to participate in mate-swapping activities (pg.221-222)

https://imgur.com/gtTOhE9.jpg
Athanasiou, R., & Sarkin, R. (1974). Premarital sexual behavior and postmarital adjustment. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 3(3), 207–225. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01541486
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promiscuity is in fact a good predictor of infidelity. Indeed, promiscuity among females accounted for almost twice as much variance in infidelity (r² = .45) as it did for males (r² = .25). (pg.177)

https://imgur.com/2vklWn1.jpg
Hughes, S. M., & Gallup, G. G., Jr. (2003). Sex differences in morphological predictors of sexual behavior: Shoulder to hip and waist to hip ratios. Evolution and Human Behavior, 24(3), 173–178. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1090-5138(02)00149-6
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Participants who had experienced sexual intimacy with a greater number of partners also reported greater extradyadic sex and extradyadic kissing inclination. (pg.344)

McAlister, A. R., Pachana, N., & Jackson, C. J. (2005). Predictors of young dating adults' inclination to engage in extradyadic sexual activities: A multi-perspective study. British Journal of Psychology, 96(3), 331–350. https://doi.org/10.1348/000712605X47936
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Sexual promiscuity was significantly positively correlated with emotional promiscuity [r(356) = .261, p < .001], as well with sexual infidelity [r(323) = .595, p < .001] and emotional infidelity [r(323) = .676, p < .001] (pg.390)

https://imgur.com/qEPttQz.jpg
Pinto, R., & Arantes, J. (2017). The Relationship between Sexual and Emotional Promiscuity and Infidelity. Athens Journal of Social Sciences, 4(4), 385–398. https://doi.org/10.30958/ajss.4-4-3
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Each additional sex partner between age 18 and the first union increased the net odds of infidelity by 1% (pg.56)

https://imgur.com/poSLp4U.jpg
Treas, J., & Giesen, D. (2000). Sexual Infidelity Among Married and Cohabiting Americans. Journal of Marriage and Family, 62(1), 48–60. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-3737.2000.00048.x
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A preliminary ANOVA analysis revealed that individuals reporting a past history of infidelity tended to have a greater number of past sexual partners than those without a history of infidelity (controlling for age; M = 3.78 versus 1.24), F(1,376) = 52.16, p < .001, d = .81. (pg.351)

https://imgur.com/HGwCCNb.jpg
Barta, W. D., & Kiene, S. M. (2005). Motivations for infidelity in heterosexual dating couples: The roles of gender, personality differences, and sociosexual orientation. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 22(3), 339–360. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407505052440
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Subjects reporting sex with men other than their husbands while they were married (who were 23% of the ever-married subjects) were significantly younger at first intercourse [17.7 versus 20.0 years, t(279) = 5.6, p < 0.011 and reported significantly more sexual partners [24.5 versus 3.9, t(280) = 6.5, p < 0.011 than did ever-married women who reported no extramarital affairs. (pg.150)

https://imgur.com/RTnooIN.jpg
Essock-Vitale, S. M., & McGuire, M. T. (1985). Women's lives viewed from an evolutionary perspective: I. Sexual histories, reproductive success, and demographic characteristics of a random sample of American women. Ethology & Sociobiology, 6(3), 137–154. https://doi.org/10.1016/0162-3095(85)90027-5
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A central purpose of this research was to identify correlates of betrayal. In addition to attitudes toward betrayal, a number of other factors were found to be associated with acts of betrayal. As predicted, such factors as sexual permissiveness, an avoidant romantic style, number of romantic relationships, and early onset of sexual intercourse were all correlated with a higher incidence of betrayal behaviors. These factors are likely to promote sexual activity with a larger number of partners, which, in turn, increases the chance that betrayal will occur. (pg.247)

https://imgur.com/R84WjSe.jpg
Feldman, S. S., & Cauffman, E. (1999). Your cheatin' heart: Attitudes, behaviors, and correlates of sexual betrayal in late adolescents. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 9(3), 227–252. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327795jra0903_1
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Multivariate model fitting to infidelity and number of sexual partners (log transformed) confirmed that a Cholesky model containing parameters for additive genetic factors and the unique environment, but without shared environmental factors, provided the best explanation of the observed correlation between the two variables. The resulting genetic correlation between the two traits was .47, so nearly half the genes impacting on infidelity also affect number of sexual partners. (pg.652-653)

https://imgur.com/0GNvYK0.jpg
Cherkas, L., Oelsner, E., Mak, Y., Valdes, A., & Spector, T. (2004). Genetic Influences on Female Infidelity and Number of Sexual Partners in Humans: A Linkage and Association Study of the Role of the Vasopressin Receptor Gene (AVPR1A). Twin Research, 7(6), 649-658. https://doi.org/10.1375/twin.7.6.649
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The residents of Promiscuous America are predictable in many ways. They’re less likely to be married and more likely to be divorced. They’re several times as likely as their less adventurous peers to have cheated on a spouse.

https://imgur.com/TEIEAV0.jpg
Wolfinger, N. H. (2018, April 18). Promiscuous America: Smart, secular, and somewhat less happy. Institute for Family Studies. Retrieved December 13, 2021, from https://ifstudies.org/blog/promiscuous-america-smart-secular-and-somewhat-less-happy (https://archive.md/F2Kf7)
Nicholas Wolfinger is Professor of Family and Consumer Studies and Adjunct Professor of Sociology at the University of Utah.
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As it relates to sexual history later in life, promiscuity is linked to a higher likelihood of cheating in long-term, serious relationships. Vrangalova thinks the reason may be that many promiscuous people aren't really built for monogamy.

https://imgur.com/nYZe2IF.jpg
Kubota, T. (2015, October 20). What the number of sexual partners says about you. Men's Journal. Retrieved December 3, 2021, from https://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/what-the-number-of-sexual-partners-says-about-you-20151020/ (https://archive.md/7wOAo)
Dr. Zhana Vrangalova is a NYC-based sex educator and adjunct professor of human sexuality at New York University.
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When compared with their peers who report fewer partners, those who self-report 20 or more in their lifetime are:

Three times as likely to have cheated while married (pg.89)

https://imgur.com/rxkpWM4.jpg
Regnerus M. (2017). Cheap sex : the transformation of men marriage and monogamy. Oxford University Press.
Mark Regnerus is Professor of Sociology at the University of Texas at Austin
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Contrary to the myth, partners who’ve had many partners have a harder, not easier, time remaining monogamous. They are significantly more at risk of straying than those with little or no prior sexual experience.

https://imgur.com/aBjwcQB.jpg
Staik, A. (2019, March 28). 10 Predictors of Infidelity and Gender Differences: Why Do Partners Cheat?. Psych Central. Retrieved on July 15, 2020, from https://blogs.psychcentral.com/relationships/2014/08/a-look-at-infidelity-why-do-partners-cheat/ (https://archive.is/bPRPy)
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An indicator of whether or not the respondent has had previous sex partners is included and identifies the number of male sex partners the woman had previous to her relationship with her current primary partner… A history of numerous sex partners indicates a pattern or habit of sexual behavior that we expect will negatively influence sexual exclusivity in the current relationship. (pg.37)
Having previous sexual partners greatly increased the likelihood that a woman would have a secondary sex partner. In particular, a woman with 4 or more male sex partners prior to her primary relationship was about 8.5 times more likely to have a secondary sex partnerthan a woman with no previous sex partners… Having previous sex partners also increased the likelihood that dating and married women would have secondary sex partners. In particular, married women with 4 or more previous partners were 20 times more likely to have secondary sex partners than married women with no previous sex partners (pg.41)

https://imgur.com/naqmXdN.jpg
Forste, R., & Tanfer, K. (1996). Sexual exclusivity among dating, cohabiting, and married women. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58(1), 33–47. https://doi.org/10.2307/353375
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Regarding other sexual behaviors, we examined whether number of prior sex partners and viewing pornography predicted ESI. As has been found in prior research (Feldman & Cauffman, 1999; Treas & Giesen, 2000), having had more prior sex partners predicted future ESI (pg.12)

https://imgur.com/hqXh1t8.jpg
Maddox Shaw, A. M., Rhoades, G. K., Allen, E. S., Stanley, S. M., & Markman, H. J. (2013). Predictors of Extradyadic Sexual Involvement in Unmarried Opposite-Sex Relationships. Journal of Sex Research, 50(6), 598–610. https://doi.org/10.1080/00224499.2012.666816
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For people who reported four or fewer lifetime sexual partners, the rate of infidelity in the current marriage dropped to 11%, while for those who had five or more sexual partners the number was nearly double (21%)

McQuivey, J. L. (2019, October 14). The road to infidelity passes through multiple sexual partners. Institute for Family Studies. https://ifstudies.org/blog/the-road-to-infidelity-passes-through-multiple-sexual-partners

All of these theories are based on Dr. Thomas Ling being the creator of the websites. I highly recommend watching this Barely Sociable video before reading this as it explains things I won’t go into.
These journal entries found on the Wayback machine will be referenced: Trip Journal. Many time’s in these entries he shows a huge interest in technology and even refers to himself as “Mr. Tech addict” (Day 2). He is also show’s a great knowledge of technology which explains all the websites. Of course the websites can still be alive and just hidden.
TIMELINE: 1997-11-14 mortis.com 1998-10-06 Dentalfillins.com 1998-12-18 Exerceo.com 2004-03-14 Cthulhu.net 2004-06-09 Karenling.com 2005-10-10 Eternalknight.com 2006-07-09 Lingsborough.com 2010-03-30 Joshualing.org 2011-10-28 03:23 Dentalfillins.com stopped 2011-10-28 03:23 Eternalkight.com stopped 2011-10-28 03:24 Exerceo.com stopped 2011-11-28 Thomaslingdds.com 2014-10-03 Jefferyling.org
Mortis.com: Most likely a movie site for pirated movies. He mentions pirated movies in his trip journal “I've also found some movies released here that are not in the States yet, Troy and Spiderman2 being examples. Unfortunately, they are region 3 and will not work. Bummer. I can, however, buy them on vcd but really do not see the point of it. Haven't found any pirated stuff yet.” (Day 4).
There’s not much to find with the limited information but I did find some possible name reasons: -February 14th, 1997 (9 months before the website was created) a movie called Rigor Mortis was released. It makes sense that if this was a movie downloading site then the name “mortis” could have come from this. The movie was in Spanish so unless Ling spoke Spanish this movie is unlikely. -In 1996 a wrestler by the name Chris Kanyon was renamed Mortis. Like the Rigor Mortis theory, Ling could have named the website after Mortis. I don’t know if he would be able to download a broadcast but maybe that’s possible. -It’s very possible that Ling was a fan of horror because of the Cthulhu site he would make in 2004. This could explain Rigor Mortis as it is a horror movie and Chris Kanyon was one of the darker wrestlers that a horror fan would like.
Dentalfillins.com: As seen in day 3 of his journal entries, Thomas Ling, is a dentist and this site seemed to be for job purposes only.
Exerceo.com: This website is still accessible but only shows a few links, the most notable being Quilts. This shows the beginnings of a website for his wife to show off her creations. Quilts.files seems like the set up for the actual website.
In 2011-10-28 both of these websites have a file called robots.txt, these files show the same commands and are programmed within a minute of each other. The file shows: User-agent: ia_archiver User-agent: * Disallow: / I don’t know much about coding but I assume this is when Ling got fed up with all the poking around and decided to end these two websites, at least to the public eye.
Cthulhu.net: This website would show the eerie words: dead but dreaming… This seems shady but when you look at the name of the website it makes sense. Cthulhu was first mentioned in H.P Lovecraft's “The Call of Cthulhu”. A quote from this short story is: “Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn: "In his house at R'lyeh, dead Cthulhu waits dreaming" The “dead but dreaming…” message is likely referencing this.
Karenling.com: Like the quilting website I think this was just a website for his wife. Day 4 of Lings Trip Journal mentions that “Karen, unfortunately, remained wide awake so she got online, read, wrote, and surfed til it was time for breakfast.” This shows Karen's familiarity with the internet and the “wrote” part could be referring to something she was writing on this website even if it was just private notes.
Eternalknight.com: I don’t have much to say about this one. The name has the same vibe as mortis.com and cthulhu.net. Like dentalfillins.com and exerceo.com, this website has the same robot.txt file dated the same day.
Lingsborough.com, joshualing.org, jefferyling.org: Family websites.
Thomaslingdds.com: This website is active and brings you to the page of Dr. Thomas W. Ling, a cosmetic and restorative dentist. He has really good reviews so please don’t harass him as I don’t believe he did anything wrong. After finding this name I found this page which mentions that Ling graduated from the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry in 1992. I looked up the school and found him on page 8 of this list of graduates in 1992. The listed name is Thomas Wai-Hung Ling who when looked up is a real estate broker in San Francisco, California and is only 18 km away from the dentist office. I remember somebody saying one of the websites linked to mortis.com was a lawyer which could explain the broker thing. The page about Dr. Thomas W. Ling mentions that he went to Saint Ignatius College Preparatory and Saint Brigid's but doesn't say what for, so maybe something to do with real estate.
Others: A lot of these theories come from rumours sprung from 4chan. There is no way to know what is true or not without proof. -The FBI got involved: I doubt this happened unless they got involved because of the pirating. -Chess piece: Most likely a placeholder
In conclusion I don’t think mortis.com was anything more than a movie site for friends and family. Ling seems like a family guy who created websites due to his love of technology and to help his family. I think some websites were blocked from the Wayback Machine because he didn’t want all the attention. Tell me what you think!

Bonne lecture.
Deux heures après le carnage, la pluie ainsi que l’immense nuage de fumée blanche et de poussière se dissipe enfin. Les Sittiu se regroupent près de Boubastis derrière l’allée de sphinx. Le scribe vocifère continuellement des insultes tout en appelant en vain un remplaçant au protecteur royal de peur que les Sittiu en profitent pour fomenter une sédition. Chose qui n’arrivera pas. Les ouvriers sont trop occupés à se serrer les coudes, chacun cherche son collègue en espérant que la mort ne soit pas venu le cueillir. Les femmes apportent sans cesse des soins ou de l’eau aux blessés. Les lésions sont assez importantes allant de la simple égratignure jusqu’à la mutilation ou des éclats de roche enfoncés dans la peau. Raphaël hurle à la mort après s’être réveillé à cause de la douleur, sa jambe saigne peu et des morceaux de chair pendouillent encore après sa mutilation, heureusement pour lui la prêtresse Ubaste arrive en administrant du lait de pavot pour l’assommer. Les gardes Égyptiens sécurisent les lieux sous le commandement d’un lieutenant arrivé en barque volante depuis le nome des deux divinités, la région voisine. Le lieutenant à l’armure scintillante se recouvre de suie et de poussière dès qu’il s’approche du scribe.
— Messire allez-vous bien? demande le lieutenant d’une voix sec. — Je veux un protecteur royal tout de suite! Par Thot, je jure que c’est la dernière fois que je travaille en Basse-Égypte. Ce trou perdu ne me mérite pas. Le lieutenant donne des ordres afin que les soldats encerclent les ouvriers pour les surveiller. Une partie avec quelques Sittiu, dont Geburah, retourne dans le chaos du chantier pour dénicher des survivants. Près du lieu où se trouvait la tente, Shedet surgit des décombres. Il se hisse sur un bloc de plusieurs tonnes, les cris des Sittiu perçus au loin lui donne le sourire malgré la douleur. « Par tous les dieux ça a marché! Je m’en tire seulement avec des écorchures. Ah, celle du bras droit me fait mal ». En se frottant le visage un liquide noire se répand sur sa main, la texture est semblable à de l’huile à la couleur ténébreuse très opaque. « Répugnant! Qu’est ce qui suinte cette matière? il lève la tête, la baisse, cherche partout jusqu’à ce qu’une autre goutte tombe à ses pieds. Cela provient de… de mon oeil gauche? Pourquoi mon oeil mort pleure ce liquide? ». Shedet retire la bague de son orbite et découvre que la pierre émet ce liquide étrange, une seule goutte s’en échappe. « Par Amon, cette chose commence à me faire peur, non je dois être en état de choque et le manque de visibilité me joue des tours ». Un Sittiu commençant à geindre le fit sursauter:
— A l’aide! Pitié aidez-moi! su ffoque-t-il Le déchu ignore ces appels, cette voix il la reconnait c’est celle de Absalon, un sculpteur qui lui a maintes fois écrasé les mains et pieds. Rien ne lui donne envie d’aider ce pauvre bougre. « De toute manière Geburah ou un garde finira par l’aider. Je dois à tout prix rejoindre les autres sinon je risque le fouet ». La marche à travers les décombres lui fait ressentir une grande satisfaction même si il sait très bien que le chantier reprendra au plus tard le surlendemain, en tout cas cela lui donnera un jour de repos. A moins que le coupable ne soit démasqué, la punition et le châtiment seront moins enviable que la mort car en s’attaquant à un monument c’est au royaume que l’on porte atteinte. Sur le chemin Shedet aperçoit les décombres de la tente ayant été pulvérisé par un échafaudage et une statue dont la tête observe le ciel. Le protecteur royal gît en miette à quelques pas sous une pile de bloc sans possibilité de bouger. Shedet tâte le papyrus qu’il cache dans sa sacoche, l’envie de le déplier n’est que trop forte mais posséder un tel objet dans sa condition lui vaudrait la mutilation comme châtiment. « Par Thot, je tiens enfin un papyrus! Il ne me manque qu’un calame mais ma plume d’ibis fera l’affaire ». Dans l’esprit de Shedet un désir renaît subitement alors qu’il marche en direction des ouvriers, son rêve de devenir scribe reprend forme. « Jamais je n’eus l’occasion de posséder ces papyrus électronique trop coûteux pour un Égyptien de mon rang, quelle ironie… ». Les cris de Geburah appelant ses camarades le font sursauter, il décide de rejoindre les rescapés alors que sa jambe droite laisse couler une fine trainée de sang. Une heure plus tard tout le monde sans exception est regroupé, Shedet se mêle à la foule de peur qu’on l’accuse même si il sera impossible de prouver sa culpabilité. Geburah revient en portant l’un de ses camarades agonisant qu’il donne à une de leur guérisseuse Sittiu. Le blessé à le bras fracturé mais cela n’inquiète personne. Tous sont encore sous le choque et chacun connait la chanson, prédire la suite des évènements lorsqu’on réside à Bast n’est pas difficile. Au contraire de Shedet entouré de Sittiu suintant la transpiration et le sang il conserve précieusement son papyrus en faisant mine d’avoir été blessé à la main. Sa coiffe le dissimule dans la foule. « Je me demande si nous allons encore travailler. Les ouvriers ne m’ont pas l’air si désespéré, j’ai l’impression que ce genre d’incident n’est pas hors du commun ici ». Le nomarque Miysis arrive avec son escorte afin de constater l’étendu du drame. Sortant de son palanquin porté par des machines anthropomorphe à tête de chat il se dévoile à Shedet. Un homme à l’apparence jeune, très coquet à la coiffe ornée d’une petite tête de chat doré typique des nobles égyptiens. Son blason familiale est un chat de profile. Habillé d’une toge scintillante et éblouissante au soleil il fait beaucoup de bruit de cliquetis à chacun de ses pas en se rapprochant de l’estrade. Munit d’un éventail à plume d’autruche blanche, il se lamente en posant ses mains sur les tempes:
— Par Bastet! Par tous les dieux! Quel drame! C’est encore pire que l’accident du tombeau. Par tous les dieux, même l’éléphant est mort! L’odeur est insoutenable, ajoute-t-il en se couvrant le nez tandis que sa servante Sittiu le parfume.
— Messire presque tout le monde est présent, dit Geburah en s’agenouillant près de lui. Le nomarque le frappe à la tête avec son éventail laissant une marque saignante sur le front du Sittiu.
— Contremaître Geburah, sais-tu ce que tu viens de faire? — Messire un incendie s’est déclaré et a effrayé l’éléphant… — Je ne veux pas le savoir, interrompt calmement Miysis sentant une migraine l’assaillir. Par
Bastet! Il a fallu se produise le jour même de ma fête d’anniversaire… — La girouette… enfin je veux dire le prince Hor! Il va venir? — Evidemment! surenchérit le nomarque d’un deuxième coup d’éventail. Misère, il va encore me
casser les pieds celui-là.
Le nomarque s’adresse à la foule après s’être essuyé le front.
— Ecoutez attentivement bande d’incapable. Laissez le chantier tel quel, demain vous nettoierez les dégâts mais je veux que les travaux reprennent dans deux jours grand maximum, sinon je vous ferais tous fouetter, sauf les femmes, Bastet m’en voudrai. Alors qu’il s’apprêtait à rejoindre son palanquin le maître scribe se déchaîne devant Miysis sans que Shedet, entouré de Sittiu soignant leurs compatriotes, ne puisse comprendre le moindre mot. Les deux nobles retournent au palais.
— Vous avez entendu le nomarque! dit Geburah, soignez les blessés, quelques un doivent m’accompagner chercher Jade la porteuse d’eau. Je n’arrive pas à la retrouver parmi vous. Ensuite reposez-vous demain sera une très longue journée. Tous s’exécutent alors que Shedet s’enfuit dans son oasis munit de son trésor. De retour dans son modeste oasis, Shedet est capable de voir la fumée transparente s’élevant encore de la zone accidentée du chantier. Les lieux pullulent encore de Sittiu mais cela ne le regarde pas. Certes il n’aura pas sa poignée de riz cependant son patrimoine s’est grandement enrichi. « Enfin j’en ai un! Un papyrus qui m’aidera à parfaire mon écriture. Munit de sa plume d’ibis, une prière de Thot et une datte amer en pleine bouche, Shedet s’exerce sur cet outil hors de prix. Le principe est simple, en théorie, le scribe doit poser les deux bâtons métalliques sur ses genoux et rester droit, une feuille holographique de couleur bleu ou jaune se dévoile. Ensuite avec un objet fin, un calame de préférence, le scribe doit inscrire les caractères en faisant attention à ce que la pointe touche uniquement la feuille holographique sans aller trop profondément ou pas assez sinon rien ne s’inscrit. Shedet sait écrire mais seulement sur un support physique tel que le papyrus végétal moins cher mais dont aucun scribe ne se sert pour les archives. Si la méthode est extrêmement difficile, énervant déjà le déchu après cinq minutes infructueuses, cela est seulement dû au fait que les scribes de Haute-Égypte ne souhaite pas que n’importe qui dans le royaume puisse gravir les échelons. Une heure et demie défile avec le soleil a disparu, Shedet est exaspéré « je ne suis arrivé à écrire qu’un seul mot! Et le plus simple! Il va me falloir beaucoup plus de temps pour y arriver. Mes doigts me brûlent à cause de toutes ces mésaventure et cette saleté de bague, tu me gênes! pense-t-il en la retirant de son orbite ». N’ayant plus rien à manger et son ventre gargouille aussi férocement que le crocodile se battant une nouvelle fois avec un ibis dérobant ses oeufs. Shedet prend une décision « toi la bague tu n’es que source de tracas, jamais je ne m’étais autant attaché sans raison à un objet. Enfin sauf au turban de Amonet mais son odeur était si particulière. Je n’ai pas envie de dormir alors il est temps de rendre visite à ce fameux marchand bossu ». Cachant son trésor dans un renfoncement creusé auparavant à l’aide d’un morceau de burin, Shedet se rend à Boubastis dans l’espoir de manger et d’acquérir un objet de valeur en échange de la bague. Les rues animées de la ville déconcerte encore Shedet malgré le tragique du chantier. Il fait très attention à ne pas se faire repérer par la population et notamment les jeunes adeptes de Geburah se saoulant à la bière artisanal. L’odeur est insupportable pour le déchu car elle est bien différente du breuvage crée dans son nome. Néanmoins cela ne l’empêche d’en voler un bocal et d’engloutir le contenu avant de jeter le récipient dans une ruelle. Arrivé au quartier Savannah cerné par les commerces, Shedet se rend chez Solal le forgeron ou receleur pour les plus intimes. Des gens comme lui il y en a plein à Boubastis mais cet homme a été l’un des premiers à voir Shedet discrètement pour l’informer d’une éventuelle coopération. En passant le seuil de son atelier, il fait face à cet homme trapus au dos détruit il y a plus de vingt ans par le travail harassant de la pyramide. Solal fait entrer le déchu aussi vite que possible dans son arrière-boutique.
— J’espère que tu as quelque chose à vendre, dit-il de sa voix enrhumé, je prends énormément de risque juste à te parler. — J’ai autant le droit que n’importe qui d’acheter des choses, même en tant que déchu… — Oui mais mon peuple est trop fier…ou crétin, pour comprendre l’intérêt mutuel d’une telle relation. La rumeur de ces coopérations existe mais personne ne fut capable de le prouver. Les affaires vont assez bien et je ne souhaite pas m’attirer le mauvais oeil. L’arrière-boutique est d’apparence miteuse, puant la rouille et l’urine de chat. De vieux livres jonchent la table néanmoins Shedet à l’impression que cela n’est qu’une sorte d’antivol. — Bah alors! Qu’as-tu à me vendre? Shedet allait ouvrir la bouche pour lui parler de la bague mais impossible de sortir le moindre mot, ni même de la chercher dans son orbite. Il ne fait que suffoquer comme un noyé. « Je suis paralysé, tout d’un coup l’idée de la vendre me parait ignoble comme si je vendais ma propre famille ». Le vendeur souffle d’exaspération, replace les livres posés sur sa grande table poussiéreuse au centre de la pièce. Il descend de son tabouret puis retire le rideau. — Je le savais tu n’as rien et tu crois que je vais te faire la charité. Fiche le camp ou j’appel les gardes en prétextant que tu t’es introduit chez moi. En passant devant lui, Solal change aussitôt d’avis, en voyant ses plaies et son corps l’attitude du quincaillier change, Shedet sent son regard le parcourir. — Attends un peu, dit Solal en l’empoignant par le coude. Oui tu es maigre et je serai prêt à jurer sur le Tout-Puissant que tu as développé tes sens, marmonne-t-il. Tu seras parfait pour cette tâche. — Laquelle? — Un sale radin, une pourriture, un furoncle de la pire espèce me doit de l’argent! Ne t’en fais pas c’est un Sittiu, enfin j’ai des doutes. Depuis qu’il travaille chez le nomarque en tant que serveur, môsieur ignore mes appels. L’occasion de me venger maintenant est arrivé. — Tes histoires ne m’intéressent pas vieil homme, qu’est ce que je gagnerai à t’aider? — Ce sac de graine de tournesol, dit-il en le hissant de toute ses forces sur la table, apporte moi une l’opale et surtout une broche. Si tu réussis tu pourras me considérer comme un allié durable. « D’après lui sa cible travaille chez le nomarque, il doit forcément cacher des objets de plus grande valeur que cette stupide opale ». Shedet accepte et tandis que Solal lui indique l’adresse il en profite pour récupérer discrètement une poignée de graine de tournesol. Lorsque la nuit tombe les Sittiu reste dehors notamment les enfants jouant entre eux ou s’amusant à chasser les chats. La maison de sa cible se situe dans le grand quartier Shirazi, là où les maisons de Sittiu sont les mieux réalisés c’est à dire en brique de pierre. Toutefois en flirtant avec les beaux logis Shedet trouve sa cible, une maison laide, à peine peinte et d’une sobriété presque déprimante contrairement à celles de ses voisins criante de couleurs et de plantes. « C’est la cible de Solal tel qu’il me l’a décrit. Ici tous travaillent pour le nomarque et d’après les rumeurs seuls les Sittiu les plus beaux sont à son service. J’espère vraiment que Miysis ne fricote pas avec ces femmes ». L’ambiance est calme, les chats se promènent sur les murets et toits tandis que de l’autre côté de Boubastis le palais est en ébullition, la fête bat son plein. Aussi discret qu’un chat, le déchu pénètre dans la maison laide. L’entrée, contrairement aux autres demeures voisines, est faite d’un simple tissu balloté par le vent. Le sol est de terre qui, encore mouillé par la pluie, dégage une odeur répugnante. L’intérieur est constitué d’une seule pièce, un salon communiquant avec une chambre à l’opposé du déchu et de minuscule toilettes. Évidemment tout est rustique, comme si l’ensemble provenait d’un dépotoir. La seule envie qu’éprouve Shedet est de s’en aller. « Tout est moche, puant la moisissure et négligé comme si une bataille avait eu lieu. Même mon oasis est meilleure, comment un homme aussi bien entretenu peut vivre dans ce taudis? Solal s’est foutu de moi, sa dette il ne l’aura pas de sitôt avec un tel radin. Impossible que ce chien travaille pour le nomarque ». Le déchu sort afin de rejoindre son chez-soi, déçut et seul dans ce quartier. Quelques pas à l’extérieur et Shedet sursaute après qu’un chat roux cracha envers un autre mâle. Les félins s’éloignèrent laissant pantois Shedet qui observe avec attention la demeure du Sittiu. « Etrange. De l’intérieur la maison semble moins haute, enfin surtout au niveau du plafond et de la chambre ». Il s’approche, mesure de tête la structure puis entre à nouveau. « J’ai toujours ce sentiment que le mur en face semble plus proche, non je me trompe. En revanche; lorsqu’il s’approche de la chambre l’odeur infecte de plante pourri est exacerbée. Par tous les dieux! Qui serait assez fou pour dormir avec une telle odeur auprès de soi ». L’oeil du déchu brûle et son nez a presque perdu sa faculté d’odorat, néanmoins il s’approche car son instinct le somme de regarder de plus près. La chambre à coucher est étroite, pas plus grande que les toilettes. Le plafond est normal mais le sol parait plus haut pourtant seule une paillasse, dont la paille ne semble pas avoir été changé depuis longtemps, y est posée. Une petite fenêtre ronde grosse comme une tête et barricadée par deux morceaux de bois en croix permet de voir le palais. Soudain un feu d’artifice explose, la pièce s’illumine et Shedet en est à la fois effrayé et aveuglé. « Par Thot, ce nomarque n’a pas lésiné sur les moyens, d’après ce qu’il avait dit c’est son anniversaire qu’il fête. Pas de temps à perdre, si on me voit en tant que cambrioleur je risque la mort. Ce n’est pas pour rien que les Sittiu ont dans leur code d’honneur: jamais tu ne voleras ton prochain ». Combattant l’odeur grâce à un tissu dérobé dans la cuisine, Shedet retourne avec parcimonie la paillasse, il ne lui faut pas longtemps pour découvrir, en tâtant de sa main, qu’une dalle très lourde a été disposé. Une plaque en béton, le même que celui du chantier. L’odeur lui donne la nausée et sans lumière difficile de bien travailler. S’enfuyant dans le salon il inspire un grand coup. « Ce Sittiu est bien un radin, le plus gros radin que j’ai vu dans ma petite vie. Tout ce qui est présent dans sa demeure, ou devrais-je dire taudis, a été volé ou récolté sûrement à la poubelle d’après l’odeur. Cela signifie donc que si Solal a raison sa cachette doit contenir un trésor fabuleux ». Shedet observe discrètement l’extérieur depuis le petit balcon. Les chats envahissent les rues et les flashs incessants des feux d’artifices colorés suivis des explosions s’intensifient depuis quelques minutes. Le déchu reprend son courage et profite des flashs pour ses recherches. A l’aide d’une barre en fer servant de robinet de fortune, Shedet soulève la dalle du mieux qu’il le peut avec sa main brisée. Il parvient à la faire coulisser de quelques centimètres, l’odeur pestilentiel est bien plus forte, elle semble se coller à lui. La lumière des feux d’artifices lui permet de voir brièvement à travers la fente, la couleur de l’or s’y réfléchit. « Je vois des trésors! Je reconnais l’or et l’argent contenu dans une boîte avec nombre de bijoux; il pousse la dalle avec la barre juste assez pour y passer sa main droite et dérober les objets. Solal n’avait pas menti! pense-t-il avec un large sourire. Ce type n’a pas peur de perdre ses mains si il se fait prendre. Voila la broche de Solal, elle correspond à sa description: ovale, doré et contenant une pierre d’opale en son centre, je ne lui donnerai que ça ». Shedet évacue les lieux après l’avoir rangé tel qu’il se souvient en entrant. Il porte avec ses deux bras son butin dans le coffre en bois artisanal surement crée par le locataire au vue de sa simplicité. Le déchu sort de la ville et la contourne par l’Est en direction de son oasis. L’odeur ne le lâche pas et dès le moment où il dépose le coffre sur sa corniche, le déchu se précipite dans l’eau. « Ce sale chien! Son odeur va me rendre malade ». A Boubastis Shedet avait dérobé il y a quelques jour une brique de savon au parfum de jasmin, l’acte lui a valut de gros ennuis surtout par le fait que la marchande était une amie de Geburah. Cependant en tant qu’Égyptien la propreté du corps est un aspect de sa vie qu’il ne néglige jamais. La nuit est à paroxysme et le déchu regagne l’atelier de Solal uniquement munit de la broche et d’une perle. Dès son entrée Solal s’arrête dans son travail, il aiguisait un burin en attendant l’arrivé du déchu. — Alors tu l’as? Personne ne t’a suivit? — Oui je l’ai et à part des chats il n’y avait personne, c’était beaucoup trop calme d’ailleurs. Il jette la broche sur la table qui achève sa chute sur le sol, Solal lui lance un regard désapprobateur avant de se jeter sur le bijou. Pendant ce temps Shedet cache une perle provenant du coffre sous un récipient. « Si je me fais prendre lui aussi tombera ». — Bon je peux le prendre ce sac de grain? demande Shedet sur un ton impatient. — Oui oui vas-y, dit Solal sans quitter du regard la broche coincée entre ses doigts crochus. Le déchu emporte le sac mais en sortant il découvre un calame, une tige en carbone taillée en biseau, sûrement une commande d’un scribe de rang inférieur. « Je prends un extra au vu des risques et surtout cette horrible odeur ». En se retournant Shedet voit Solal le regard toujours vissés sur la broche pendant que des larmes lui coulent des yeux.

For some reason, something has been hitting me differently, and more intensely, today.
We live in a society dependent on the idea that one's resources and income are reflective of one's worthiness and capacity. In other words, the more hard you work, the more talented you are, and the more you dare to dream, the more money you'll accumulate. The best workers are thought to be promoted to the highest positions within a company, and only the smartest and most daring are going to dare to take the risks associated with starting a business.
Yet, numerous studies, a mountain of research, accounts of investigative journalism, study after study, article after article, and countless personal experiences have shown, that is not the case. Never mind all of that; it's been covered by people far better researched than I.
What has really struck me lately, however, isn't the level of inequality in our society, it's the ableism inherent to that way of thinking. Even if it's established that meritocracy is a myth, the idea that the people at the top are inherently more capable and the poor are inherently less is the same as saying, "Able-bodied, healthy people deserve better lives than people who have disabilities, are less gifted, or who weren't as blessed genetically."
What a horrifying, eugenicist way of thinking. I doubt most see it like this (some definitely do), such as , but that's the underlying message of how success is defined in this society.
What, then, can we teach able-bodied people? What better, healthier, kinder ways can we show them? Many of us practice it out of sheer necessity. As climate change continues to push more disasters and pandemics, we're in a unique position to show people how they can get by with diminished capacity because of things like COVID.
I think we're in a unique position to teach people how to adapt and thrive despite setbacks. I want to amplify this conversation more to encourage more folks to start thinking about how we can shape this new world.
What opportunities are inherent in this dangerous future we face? How can we seize the times and improve things for ourselves, each other, and everyone else? How can we tear down this toxic ethic and build something better? What would spread a better, kinder ethic?

11th: Millie

A good Total Drama character to me at least has to balance two main attributes to be good, these are 1. To have an interesting story and 2. Be entertaining. Now some characters can get away with just filling that second part but all the truly great Total Drama characters from the series tick both of those boxes, they either have a well done character arc or relationship or even a fun gimmick that doesn’t get stale. But more importantly they remain entertaining whether it be by making the audience laugh, sympathize or enjoy hating them they are above all entertaining. Now I've seen many characters that fail both these tenets and some that manage to do 2 but not 1 however I think Millie is the first character in the series who kind of accomplishes point 1 yet kind of fails point 2.
Millie is the season's requisite smart character and holds the fun distinction of being the very first member of the new cast we get introduced to in the first episode. She is shown to be the bog standard nerd character being very smart and not great socially but she does have a bit of a twist to it that being her reason for joining the TD. See unlike everyone else who’s there to try and win some money or as the theme song goes, wants to be famous Millie is on Total Drama as part of her own scientific study, that being a look into how and why modern teenagers are so stupid. Yes she decides to take part in a highly dangerous and highly athletic reality show competition just to study the competitors' psychologies and find out what makes them tick, something she could’ve done just by watching the show from home but I guess she really wanted to be thorough. She’s placed on the Ferocious Trout and doesn’t really make all that much of an impact over the first few episodes, mostly just sticking to the background and commenting on people's actions and how it will do well for her eventual book. She does start having a bit of a plot when she begins to bond with fellow team member Priya, with the two being nice and both having struggled with making friends. They soon form a tight knit alliance and while Pryia just sees Millie as a friend to look out for, Millie in turn is fascinated by Pryia’s background and how her parents upbringing shaped her. She wants to put all of the personal things Pryia tells her into her book but naturally doesn’t tell her knowing she’d be offending and betrayed. Millie continues on in the game almost entirely due to a combination of being under most characters' notice and Pryia carrying her through each of the challenges as much as she can with Millie basically holding her back the whole time. But the duo does well making it past the merge and having a clear shot at the finals, and all looks good until Bowie pulls his trump card revealing Millie’s journal to Pryia and breaking their fellowship. This all comes to a head in the finale where Millie desperately tries to win back Pryia’s friendship by helping her through the challenge for a change. It works but costs her a place in the finale leaving her at 3rd place overall.
Now as that very long recap paragraph illustrates Millie does have quite a bit of story during the season, her friendship with Pryia is outside of Wayne and Raj the strongest friendship going during the season and serves as a classic finalist and friend combo ala Gwen/Leshawna, Beth/Lindsay, and Cameron/Zoey/Mike. She also has her own character arc of growing past her sense of superiority over everyone else and her lack of empathy towards most of the other competitors and their issues, and it all happens because she learns that friendship is worth more than any academic reward. Now that all sounds pretty good doesn’t it, a perfectly fine character arc on paper and has some nice moments peppered throughout. The problem is that in spite of all this Millie is such a bland ass white bread borderline unlikable character for most of the season. Yeah I never really clicked with Millie as a character despite the show's best efforts to get me too, I think it just comes down to the fact that she just isn’t all that entertaining and simultaneously isn’t all that likable. She starts the show immediately looking down on everyone else and planning to basically smear them all in her book as a bunch of fame hungry morons all in the pursuit of making herself look smart. That’s already a tough sell in the sympathy department given the generall smugness of that whole outlook and how she doesn’t really care about any of the characters actual issues or the fact that her book would probably cause a lot of problems for them if it was published. On top of this she’s kind of a load as a competitor not really doing great in any of the challenges with Pryia having to carry her all the way to the final 3. The worst part is despite her being intelligent she doesn’t even use that to help in any of the challenges, she doesn’t come up with any good plans or clever solutions just complains and holds others(Mainly Priya) back, say what you want about WT Cody being carried but at least he reminded people that he was smart and could pull through on challenges when he needed to. Millie isn’t all bad though, I do dislike her attitude and outlook but it doesn’t make her a villain or anything just someone I never found myself rooting for and while the character development is good it comes a little too late for my liking.
But ultimately what sinks Millie for me and what got her this relatively low spot is that I just don’t find her all that entertaining. She isn’t funny for starters(Outside of her deciding to opt out of the eating challenge which was pretty good), and hey that isn’t a deal breaker not everyone needs to be a comic relief but she doesn’t supplement that with anything. No interesting character hooks or quirks, no fun gags, no real crazy skills or moments for most of the seasons she’s kind of just there existing to support Priya and give the occasional observation. Seriously all she does is see something then it cuts to the confessional and she goes “well that’s going in my book”, seriously that right there is 60% of her screen time and it's just kind of boring. She is nice in general I guess but that’s it she just doesn’t have the kind of presence or hook to warrant reaching 3rd place. Think of all the other 3rd place characters in the series(Heather, Courtney, Cody, Zoey, Gwen and Sugar) now compare them to Millie and you just see how much she falls short in terms of character or story. She outlasts so many other vastly more interesting characters and to me that was too much for someone who’s basically a side character in Pryia’s story with not much going on alone.
Speaking of Pryia, Millie’s season-long friendship with her is the main thing that kept her from sinking down the list because it is pretty good. They both come from similar friendless backgrounds and quickly bond over it and at least in theory being a pretty perfect brains and brawn duo(Although ultimately Pryia is the one who provides both). It's fun seeing Pryia trying to train Millie to do better and just be overjoyed about finally having a friend, while for Millie this friendship is what drives her to give up the whole book thing and actually try and be a good friend. It is a little sullied by Mille kind of taking advantage of Pryia’s kindness and desire for friendship not even arguing when Pryia gifted her a challenge win and spending a good chunk of her time banking on Pryia carrying her further in the game just so she can go smear her family in a book. But it does end on a nice note and contributes to Millie’s half decent character development so it gets a thumbs up in my book, although that is mostly due to Pryia but I’m getting ahead of myself here.
Millie to me is a character who just kind of irked me but ultimately I can’t bring myself to really hate. She has a decent story arc and a somewhat interesting character set up with an okay character arc conclusion. But it comes at the cost of her being a pretty bland character with not much that really sticks out who also has quite a few unlikable traits to boot. Overall I do wonder what they’ll do with her in season 2 since she placed so high but didn’t win which usually bodes well for characters, I do hope they do something a tad more interesting with her character because there is something there but only time will tell.
​
\"Writing a bunch, about Total Drama? What kind of loser would wanna do that am I right\"

Rankings

16^th: Caleb
15^th: Nichelle
14^th: Axel
13^th: Ripper
12^th: Scary Girl
11^th: Millie

The point of the paper was to examine how hierarchies of prestige are constructed in subtle ways (“symbolically maintained inequality”) by students attending what are probably the two most famous universities in the country, and it yielded some interesting quotes about what they think of us. Here's an article on the study and here's the study itself.
Here's the relevant parts:

In this study, we use qualitative interviews with 56 undergraduates at Harvard and Stanford Universities to explore how students construct a status hierarchy among elite campuses. Students come to campus with a working knowledge of prestige differences between top institutions but then are influenced by others to refine their perceptions.
...
The Overly Academic Campus—Where Fun Goes to Die
Harvard and Stanford students believed that a small number of schools offered a more purely academic, or intellectual, climate than what they could find at their own university. As we saw above, some students pointed to MIT and the California Institute of Technology (Cal Tech) as campuses for students with the most impressive raw talent. However, the University of Chicago was the campus that students most frequently mentioned as representing a pure experience in intellectualism. Harvard’s Kevin summed it up when he said, “Harvard kids are scared of the Chicago kids because the Chicago kids actually really are intellectuals and they really love learning (laughs).” By contrast, he said, “the Harvard kids are great at maximizing outcomes, . . . really good at playing the system, . . . building a more complete package.” Other students also pointed to Chicago’s intellectual preeminence. Edward, a Latino student at Harvard whose family is in the second lowest class quintile, remembered his campus visit when he was a prospective student: “The people I saw at U Chicago came out as very, very intellectual. . . . Within five minutes, someone was trying to talk to me about Kant and, sort of, philosophy.”
If Chicago scored points as an academically superior campus, many interviewees simultaneously lowered its status for not offering a social experience that could benefit them. Stanford’s Bailey recalled that when she was filling out applications, “University of Chicago: everyone was like, ‘that’s the place where fun goes to die,’ . . . so I didn’t even apply there.” Bailey’s interest in Chicago was piqued once she started classes at Stanford, saying, “Based on what my professors had mentioned, I think University of Chicago students, I think they have a really good humanities program, and I think . . . it would actually be a very good place intellectually.” Nevertheless, while she now “admire[s] the education there, I don’t think necessarily I would be happy with the social climate.” Just as with McCabe’s (2016) discussion of “balance” between academic and social life, students in our study sought to be successful both academically and socially.
The University of Chicago was an interesting institution that Harvard and Stanford interviewees used to sort out status differences. On one hand, participants understood that the University of Chicago offered a more classically rigorous curriculum than their own schools did. On the other hand, it was not good enough to attend. According to Stanford’s Sara, an upper-middle-class Asian American graduating senior, Chicago is hardly a peer to the very top schools. “I wouldn’t say it was—not to be arrogant or anything—but I don’t think people generally perceive it at the same level.”
...
The message here is that being uber-intellectual is noteworthy, but being at Harvard or Stanford is better—at least according to students attending Harvard or Stanford.
...
Engaging in stereotypes was not a barrier for our interviewees, who acknowledged that much of what they knew about Duke and other schools could be based on faulty information. In fact, the accuracy of the information did not seem central to the boundary work. What mattered was that students could demarcate their school relative to others in the horizontal stratification system of elite higher education. Taken together, Princeton and Duke represented the wrong side of the boundary in different ways than the University of Pennsylvania (which in its preprofessionalism was neither stodgy nor fratty), MIT (too “technical”), or Chicago or Yale (overly intellectual). Harvard and Stanford students used all of these schools to identify the sweet spot their university occupied: a well-rounded college experience that added to their sense of being elite.

Of course, we're just as guilty as the Harvard and Stanford students of much of the above, and I wouldn't be surprised if UChicago students would say the same things if some sociologists decided to ask us the same questions ("Harvard/Stanford are too easy, Northwestern is too sporty/fratty, Yale/Princeton are too elitist/old-money, Penn is too preprofessional," etc.). Anyway, I just thought some people would find this interesting and/or funny.

I never EVER have noticed the water tasting like it does now. Not even after heavy rains, etc…
My wife and I moved to Decatur 2 years ago after I lived there for almost 30 years. We went to my moms for Memorial Day and the water LITERALLY tasted like mildew. I couldn’t drink it.
I see posts on here all the time saying “it happens” but… no… it doesn’t… or at least hasn’t that I can recall.
What is going on?

I live in the NE corner of Indiana. I know there is a store in Toledo that presses, but wondering if anyone knows of a good one near Fort Wayne or Indy, as I work around Indy often. Thank you.

I am moving to the South Side of Fort Wayne soon and need to have a decent internet connection for work. What are the best options?

Does anyone know of any quality butchers in Fort Wayne, IN? Preferably northwest fort wayne (illinois road area)

Hello! I’m (25 M) in Fort Wayne for a short period of time potentially longer and was curious if there’s a good spot/events to make friends (preferably 20s or early 30s)? I’m gay so not sure if that plays any affect in a small mid western town - otherwise I like all outdoor stuff and really open to new experiences
Thanks!

Fort Wort is one of the most popular cities in the Cops series. A group of us are working on preserving the show and we have found almost all episodes (out of 1000+), except for a handful, one of which is from Fort Worth.
It appears that the missing DFW episode was banned sometime after it aired. Perhaps it was too graphic or an officer did something controversial.
The episode aired on April 17, 1993. The correct episode number should be S05E31 (production code CP-533), but please note that you cannot trust episode numbers on YouTube or various torrents -- they are very often wrong (and I've already searched through YouTube and thousands of torrents). The only way to know for certain that you're looking at the correct episode is to look at the call descriptions and the officer names, which should be:

1. (10:32 PM Burglary in Progress) Roll Call – Officer C.C. Ryder listens to the Sgt. of the North Sector.
2. (8:32 PM Disturbance Call) Sgt. Tim Ellis.
3. (11:49 PM Shots Fired) Officer Matt Smith.

Does anyone here know someone who might have recorded the episode to a VHS tape? I would really appreciate any help.
PS: I am also searching for a higher quality recording of S05E25 (production code CP-529), which aired on February 27, 1993, and starts with 3:51 PM Man with a Gun Call.
PPS: You can read more about the archival project, as well as all missing episodes here.

His dissertation, Islamic Intersections: Religion and Politics in Kashmir in the Long Twentieth-Century, focuses on the previously unexamined lives and thoughts of poets, educators, ulema (Muslim scholars), activists, rebels, and revolutionaries in Kashmir. Yaseen is the Joukowsky Prize winner for the social sciences.
As described by his nominators, Yaseen’s dissertation presents a groundbreaking rethinking of one of the most hotly contested territories today, the Kashmir Valley, a mountainous region at the juncture of India, Pakistan, and China. This area has been historically described as everything from an idyllic paradise to an insurgent space of Muslim militancy.
Yaseen encourages readers to consider the area in an entirely new way by moving beyond colonial and postcolonial historiographies and employs the framework of an Islamic discursive tradition to study Muslim social and political movements. In doing so, he proposes the concept of an ‘intellectual history from the below’ that moves beyond foundational figures and movements and thinks through the potentials of poetry, biography, and religious newspapers as sources for a complex and nuanced rendering of contentious histories.
What is particularly notable about Yaseen’s dissertation is the fieldwork and skills required to obtain the research. His dissertation incorporates an extraordinarily large amount of historiographical and theoretical literature. He visited libraries and personal archives in various countries and analyzed documents written in Kashmiri, Urdu-Hindi, Persian, and Arabic.
He visited archives in New Delhi and London, uncovering local Kashmiri voices on land, language, and religion, among other political questions, through an examination of previously unknown or ignored vernacular sources, including loose-leaf poetic verses, memoirs, local periodicals as well as informal court records of Kashmir held by private individuals or associations.
“The type of archival sifting he has undertaken is invaluable, not just for discussing Kashmir but for the way we correlate between ideas and sociohistorical developments in modern South Asian history in general,” says Shahzad Bashir, Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Humanities.
Based on his dissertation research, Yaseen has published an article “Poetry as history: Maulana Muhammad Anwar Shopiani and the Ahl-i Hadith movement in Kashmir,” in the prestigious Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
Yaseen is considering his next steps for publishing his research. “Transforming the dissertation into the book is the next big step. It involves a different kind of intellectual labor than writing a dissertation. I look forward to working through my ideas and writing over the coming years,” he says.

https://graduateschool.brown.edu/news/2023-05-26/joukowsky-2023-yaseen

Ignace Tonené Algonquin chief (1840/41–1916)
Ignace Tonené (Nias) (1840 or 1841 – March 15, 1916), also known by his Ojibwe name Maiagizis ('right/correct sun') was a Teme-Augama Anishnabai chief, fur trader, and gold prospector in Upper Canada. He was a prominent employee of the Hudson's Bay Company.
Quick Facts Born, Died ... Ignace Tonené Tonené with a rifle, standing on a porch Tonené in 1909 Born 1840 or 1841 Near Lake Temagami, Upper Canada Died March 15, 1916 (age 74–76) Near Lake Abitibi, Quebec Burial place Near Mount Kanasuta, Quebec Nationality Temagami First Nation, Canadian Other names Nias, Maiagizis Occupation(s) First Nations chief, fur trader, gold prospector Employer Hudson's Bay Company Known for Teme-Augama Anishnabai leadership Title Chief Spouses Angèle
(m. 1860; died 1869) Elisabeth Pikossekat
(m. 1871) Children 7 Family White Bear (Wabimakwa) (grandfather) Close Tonené was the elected deputy chief before being the lead chief and later the life chief of his community. In his role as deputy, he negotiated with the Canadian federal government and the Ontario provincial government, advocating for his community to receive annual financial support from both. His attempts to secure land reserves for his community were thwarted by the Ontario premier Oliver Mowat.
Tonené's prospecting triggered a 1906 gold rush and the creation of Kerr Addison Mines Ltd., although one of his claims was stolen from him by white Canadian prospectors.
Early life Maiagizis was most commonly known by his English name Ignace Tonené, often shortened to Nias. He was born in 1840 or 1841 near Lake Temagami in the Temagami First Nation in Upper Canada. He was the eldest son of François Kabimigwune and Marian, and grandson of Temagami chief White Bear (Wabimakwa). His brother was Frank White Bear (died 1930).
Career and community leadership Tonené worked for the Hudson's Bay Company from 1857, delivering mail between its trading posts at Lake Timiskaming and Lake Temagami. He also worked at Fort Témiscamingue where he likely learned French.
Temagami leadership Around 1868 Tonené was elected as deputy chief (anike ogima) taking over the role from his father. In 1877 Tonené filed a land claim concerning the Temagami region with the Parry Sound federal Indian Agent. In 1878 Tonené took over as head chief. He oversaw the adoption of potato farming and cattle raising. As chief, Tonené was noted for his principles, advocating the community that debts must be paid, including to the Hudson's Bay Company. Unlike other First Nations surrounding Lake Huron, Tonené's community was not a party to the Robinson Treaties. The treaties were two 1850 formal agreements between Ojibwa chiefs and the Crown in which chiefs relinquished land in exchange for immediate and ongoing financial payments. Tonené advocated for redress and support for his people. Tonené was concerned about the impact of lumberjacks and their impact on the natural resources. He advocated to federal Indian agent Charles Skene for the provision of an annuity payment and the creation of reserve.
During a speech in January 1879, Tonené warned his community: "The white men were coming closer and closer every year and the deer and furs were becoming scarcer and scarcer ... so that in a few years more Indians could not live by hunting alone." He continued to press the government for federal financial support and the creation of a reserve through a series of meetings and letters written in Anishinaabe, which resulted in an acknowledgment from Indian agent Deputy Superintendent Lawrence Vankoughnet in 1880 that approximately 2,800 square miles of Temagami land were indeed unceded. Initially Canadian Prime Minister John A. Macdonald deferred the matter to the Ontario Premier, but in 1883 the Department of Indian Affairs agreed to an annual payment to the nation. The prices were comparable to the amounts received by other First Nations who were parties to Robinson Huron Treaty. In 1884 Tonené convened a tribal council on Bear Island to discuss the potential location for the reserve; the community agreed it should be about 100 square miles surrounding Cross Lake and at the south end of Lake Temagami. The federal government agreed to the proposal, but the Ontario Premier Oliver Mowat, who had a reputation for hostility towards to Indigenous treaty rights, blocked the land transfer, primarily concerned about the value of the red and white pine lumber at the location.: 38 It was not until 1943 that lands were finally set aside for the Temagami, and the official creation of the Bear Island Reserve not occur until 1971.
In 1888, after Oliver Mowat's refusal to create the reserve, and as his chiefdom ended, Tonené moved his family to land between Lake Opasatica and Lake Dasserat near Abitibi, Quebec. In 1889 he travelled to Bear Island to meet Indian agent Thomas Walton and ask for seeds and farming equipment for his community. Tonené hunted and trapped to feed his family, and in 1903 starting prospecting, motivated by the recent silver discovery at Cobalt, Ontario. His successful finds of gold instigated the Larder Lake gold rush of 1906, according to the Canadian Mining Journal. The gold that he discovered at McGarry later became the Kerr-Addison mine, and he staked at least one claim there which was subsequently stolen from him by white settlers.: 43 The Tonene Old Indian Mining Company issued a prospectus just prior to the start of World War I, but sources do not indicate if Tonené benefited from the company.
Tonené was succeeded as head chief by John Paul, though Tonené continued to hunt and trap in Abitibi country. Following the 1893 death of John Paul, Tonené once again became head chief, and from 1910 he was the honorary or life chief and the primary advisor to the new head chief, his younger brother Frank White Bear.
Personal life In 1860 Tonené married Angèle, the daughter of former Temagami band chief Nebenegwune. They had two sons and two daughters and she died in childbirth in 1869. In 1871 Tonené married Elisabeth Pikossekat of Timiskaming band and they had three daughters.
Both of Tonené's sons died before adulthood, although his five daughters all lived into adulthood, married and had children.
Death and legacy Tonené died on March 15, 1916, near Lake Abitibi, Quebec. He was buried close to Mount Kanasuta, Quebec, near the Quebec–Ontario border. The location of his burial was later turned into a gravel pit and then a community dump.: 43
In 2016 Tournene Lake, south of Bear Lake and north of Larder Lake, was officially renamed Chief Tonene Lake.

For our schedule and links to other discussions, see the Money and Banking 2023 master post.
This week, we're discussing The vision of Hyman P. Minsky, an intellectual biography of Hyman Minsky by Perry Mehrling from 1999. Among other things, this reading emphasizes Minsky's financial instability hypothesis and its connection to the "survival constraint": the idea that each economic actor needs to ensure that its cash inflows meet its cash commitments at any given time. We discussed the time patterns of cash flows and cash commitments in Lecture 4. Lining up your cash flows and meeting your survival constraint is the essence of liquidity.

• Hyman Minsky Reading
• Study Questions

In the Lecture 1, Mehrling says he thinks of this article as the "missing chapters" at the end of his first book, The Money Interest and the Public Interest. In that book, he provides similar intellectual biographies for Allyn Young, Alvin Hansen, and Ed Shaw.
Perry Mehrling says:

There are five sections in this reading, and it is pretty dense reading because I was trying to fit an entire intellectual biography into the length of a journal article. For present purposes, the most important section is the third, titled "Vision", because we are trying to build some intuition about the monetary system. Second in importance is the fourth section "Minsky and the World" which shows how Minsky used his vision to engage with the concrete problems of his own time, an account that may serve as a challenge for present day students of the money view to engage the concrete problems of the present time.

The five sections of the reading are as follows:

1. Life

Minsky had to decide between focusing on research or focusing on his political agenda of using full employment to fight poverty. He ended up choosing research. In his research agenda, he emphasized the role of the central bank as a lender of last resort.

Minsky’s emphasis on the support functions of the central bank as lender of last resort lost out to the dominant emphasis on the control functions of the central bank as manager of the money supply.
Page 134

Mehrling cites Economic Policy for a Free Society by Henry Simons in reference to the influence that Simons had over Minsky's thinking.

Henry Simons was the source of Minsky’s lifelong interest in finance, as well as the idea that the fundamental flaw of modern capitalism stemmed from its banking and financial structure (Simons, 1948).
Page 132

2. Character

Production, consumption, and trade, are nothing more than flows of money in and out and between different economic units.
Page 138

Minsky emphasized the centrality of money. He de-emphasized the role of goods and the real side of the economy. In terms of sources and uses, the sale of a good is just a receipt of money. The purchase of a good is just an expenditure of money.

The most real thing is money, but money is nothing more than a form of debt, which is to say a commitment to pay money at some time in the future. The whole system is therefore fundamentally circular and self-referential. There is nothing underneath, as it were, holding it up.
Page 138

If the thing you're trying to understand is the monetary system, then money is the most "real" thing. If the system is self-referencial, then a financial crisis is what happens when those self-references come under strain.

3. Vision

Minsky’s worldview concerned not all economies, but only capitalist economies, by which he meant economies that are characterized by private ownership of the means of production. And it concerned not all capitalist economies, but only the ones that have developed a sophisticated system of finance to facilitate the ownership, creation, and refinance of capital assets. In these economies, so he seems to have thought, financial processes take on a life of their own, so that their logic effectively becomes the logic of finance. In Minsky’s own early words: “Capitalism is essentially a financial system, and the peculiar behavioral attributes of a capitalist economy center around the impact of finance upon system behavior” (Minsky, 1967a, p.33, my emphasis). This is the core insight that underlies all of Minsky’s work, and distinguishes his work from that of other economists. According to Minsky, we need to understand finance not because it is an important part of our modern economy, but because it is the very heart and motive force of that economy.
Page 139

For Minsky, the object of study was "financial capitalism," which was the label he applied to the economic system we currently live under.

All in all, Minsky’s is a sophisticated vision of modern capitalism. Probably most people who think this way become investment bankers, from which social position it becomes difficult to see clearly the downside of the logic of finance. For an investment banker, problems may arise, but the solution is always more finance or, more precisely, refinance and restructuring of existing commitments in order to make room for new commitments. Not so for Minsky, who never forgot the lessons of Lange and Simons that the logic of finance tends to produce inequality and instability, effects which history shows tend to undermine democratic political forms.
Page 142

It's not clear to me how generalizable Minsky's insights are beyond our present system of financial capitalism. Where do we draw the boundaries around financial capitalism? What counts as financial capitalism and what doesn't?

4. Minsky and the world

Inflation was difficult for Minsky to understand because of the thoroughgoing nominalism of his thought.
Page 146

Economists tend to start at the real side and then fit money into their thinking. Minsky seemed to start with money and work backwards. In either case, the price level and inflation lie at the interface between the monetary side and the real side.

Minsky seems to have started from the idea that, because government faces no survival constraint, imbalance between its cash commitments and cash flows shows up not as a tendency to crisis, but as a tendency to depreciation of future cash flows relative to present cash flows. This tendency takes the form of price inflation domestically and currency depreciation internationally. In effect, socialization of a private imbalance between cash commitments and cash flows (in order to avoid crisis) does not change the fact of imbalance, but only the mechanism through which adjustment takes place.
Page 146

Is it true that the government faces no survival constraint? What about from the central bank? Can the central bank choose not to roll over the government's funding?
Perhaps the central bank and the government jointly face no survival constraint when acting together—at least with respect to the particular money they issue. They can always pay debts denominated in their own money. But the same cash-flow imbalance that would otherwise put pressure on the survival constraint shows up in other prices of money besides par.

5. Minsky and the economists

What made the dollar money? Following Sayers, Minsky eventually came to the view that it is the ability of a unit to force a net cash flow in its favor that gives its liabilities liquidity (Minsky, 1986a). It was the ability of the Fed to make dollars scarce, not so much by reducing the outstanding stock of dollars as by forcing an incoming flow of dollars, that sustained the reserve currency position of the dollar in the dark years of 1979–1982 (Minsky, 1986b). In Minsky’s view, the key channel through which Volcker’s monetarism bolstered the dollar came through the effect of high interest rates on bolstering capital inflows from short-term dollar-denominated foreign debtors.
Page 151

If you can force cashflows in your direction, then you can always meet your cash commitments. If everyone knows this, then everyone knows that your liabilities are liquid. The question is whether this logic still make sense if your liabilities are the ultimate cash and there's no cash above you in the hierarchy.

To be sure, Minsky always emphasized the ‘endogeneity’ of money, and the origin of money in business finance. Furthermore, as early as 1972b, he emphasized that the central bank does not (and should not try to) control the quantity of money, but only the conditions of refinance.
Page 149

We have seen that credit expands and contracts as a part of the normal funcitoning of the economy. Controlling the quantity of money means choking off credit at a particular layer of the hierarchy. Which layer that is depends on what you include in your monetary aggregate.
Here are the Study Questions for this reading:

Minsky viewed the money market as the place where the balance between cash commitments and cash flows could be seen most clearly. People who have maturing commitments in excess of their current cash flows face the need to refinance in order to satisfy the “survival constraint”, and that demand for refinance shows up in the short term money rate of interest.
1) What is a cash commitment? What is meant by the “two-edged quality” of a cash commitment? What distinguishes robust from speculative from Ponzi finance?
2) Henry Simons “good financial society” is certainly a system of robust finance, since there is no private debt at all. Sketch the balance sheet relationships (business, household, government) that would exist in such a world. In terms of our dichotomy between government bank and bankers bank, is this an extreme version of the government bank system?
3) The Financial Instability Hypothesis suggests that there is a tendency for robust finance to give way to speculative and then Ponzi finance. Why? Why do people make cash commitments in the first place? Why do cash commitments that finance a profitable investment wind up relaxing future survival constraints?
4) Minsky views the lender of last resort function as central to monetary policy. How does lender of last resort work (balance sheets please)? Why does it work to forestall an incipient crisis?
5) Minsky viewed the US in the 1970s as an “ailing bank”. Persistent negative cash flows at the international level led to persistent depreciation of the dollar and rising domestic inflation. What parts of this analysis carry over to the present day, and what parts do not?

In 2015, Mehrling published a shorter biography of Minsky on his blog that further emphasizes the role of Joseph Schumpeter:

• Minsky’s Financial Instability Hypothesis and Modern Economics

For more on Minsky, I recommend the book Minsky by Dan Neilson (u/soon-parted).
Please post responses to the study questions, or any other questions and comments below. We will have a one-hour live discussion of this lecture on Wednesday May 31st at 2:00pm EDT.