Hey, I Just Published A New Essay On Medium About Autism Speaks And Why It’s So Dangerous. Go Give

When you’re ten years old, a Hogwarts professor comes to teach you how to cast a Patronus. People were worried at first -- they said ten was too young. You can’t even go to Hogwarts. But the grass around your house could be dangerous, and besides, the consequences for mistakes aren’t that bad.

Your natural Patronus is your starting Pokèmon. A lot of people have Rattata Patroni, but not all. Those with more uncommon Patroni get special attention from the Professors. Some of them are given a special spellbook they call a Pokèdex and told to find as many different Patroni as they can.

Patroni want nothing more than to protect their casters from harm. To do that, they practice against other Patroni. This is called a battle. The winning Patronus becomes stronger and better able to protect its caster.

Besides the Patroni of known casters, there are others that wander Great Britain. No one knows quite where they come from. Some say they are the Patroni of people killed in the Battle of Hogwarts. Others say they formed spontaneously from happy memories. Regardless, they roam the lands. Some casters tame them with spells -- a burst of red light, and then they will serve you loyally.

A few Patroni of immense power roam Great Britain as well. They are said to have belonged to tremendously powerful wizards. Over time, they come to be known as “legendary.”

Godric Gryffindor’s is known as Articuno. Only the bravest dare to venture to its frozen home. Ho-oh, guardian of the skies, is mastered by Helga Hufflepuff, protecting Hogwarts with the help of a Patronus. Salazar Slytherin’s is referred to as Rayquaza. It knows how to manipulate others to get its way. Rowena Ravenclaw’s is named Giratina. Its alternate dimension fascinated her, and even today the brightest students of her house are encouraged to seek out and learn from Giratina. Merlin, as a valuer of ideals, cast a Patronus known as Zekrom.

There were others, of course. For centuries, there had been thirty others. But then, shortly after the Battle of Hogwarts, a new legendary Pokèmon appeared out of the remains of Lord Voldemort.

Its name was Yveltal.

Pokemon, but with patronuses

I… have no idea how this would work I’m sorry. Anyone want to reblog this with their thoughts?

Doing a test

Reblog this if you would buy a book with an LGBTQ main character, whose sexuality was not the primary focus of the novel

If you would not, reblog this.

If you are a non-Jewish person attempting to be inclusive of Jewish holidays and traditions, but your method of doing so starts from the assumption that Judaism is exactly like Christianity but with less Jesus, and/or that Hanukkah is just like Christmas but eight days long and harder to spell, you are doing it wrong.

(Hanukkah traditions: not actually Christmas traditions with a different color scheme! Including Jewish traditions: not actually talking about Hanukkah exactly like Christmas but with the name of the holiday switched around! Judaism and Christianity are different and their holidays are different. If you actually want to include Jewish people, recognizing these differences is an important step.)

I’m fairly certain that Bernie has never tried to kill Hillary. Then again, my Latin teacher said that our only primary source for Cateline’s actions is Cicero’s speeches, which are not exactly going to be the most trustworthy in this scenario.

au where the Romans make political memes

Too Like the Lightning is now out free as an ebook for the next three days (ends midnight, March 23rd) through Tor! So if you’re curious what all this is about, (like me) picked up a physical copy but would still like to have an ebook, or for any other reason want a free ebook, check it out!

Edit: link.

(Though I will note that Title IX mostly applies in educational settings.)

Get out.

@slatestarscratchpad

My possibly-incorrect understanding of the tax bill is that it doesn’t implement all the deductions at once, which suggests that it wouldn’t add the same amount to the debt this year as it would in, say, 2024. This means that the “x dollars per year” formulation is problematic because it will vary radically depending on which year we look at.

(This seems like it could be solved by “x dollars per year starting in 20whenever, but there might be some reason why that doesn’t work.)

The news I read about the tax plan says it will add $1 trillion to the national debt. Occasionally it ends with “…over the next decade”.

Is there a reason this phrasing is preferable to “will add $100 billion per year to the national debt” or “will add $10 trillion to the national debt over the next century” or “will add $2.50 to the national debt over the next microsecond”?

If not, are headlines like “NEW TAX PLAN WILL ADD $1 TRILLION TO DEBT” completely arbitrary, since they could have made it any number by changing the (unspoken) time course?

Yes, you would be right about that.

shocking

His eyes were as blue as blue eyes.

And it’s always the same 2 blue eyes comparisons. The ocean or the sky. Like come on at least be creative.