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botheredbuck · 5 years ago

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#6 please

tw - panic attack

A crash jolts Ben from this half-awake state that he’s got himself in. He’s currently slumped out across the sofa, some mindless late night comedy playing on the TV because Callum’s had a shift this afternoon and Ben’s bored out of his mind, since Lola has Lexi. He’s just been waiting for him to get back, really- absently drifting between conciousness until he can wrap himself up in Callum’s arms again, because that’s the only way he wants to fall asleep. He’s expecting him back at some point soon since his shift ended maybe an hour ago, but Ben knows now that just because his shift’s ended doesn’t mean there’s nothing for him to do.

He’s immensely proud, of course. Callum retraining as a paramedic felt like something that just fit as soon as it was suggested. He’s flourished in the new role and Ben can see the way it’s changed him, how his confidence has shot up and how he actually comes home from work looking happy, like he’s achieved what he wants to. Sure, the shifts have been hard on both of them - mainly on Ben because of his somewhat selfish need to be in his fiance’s arms as much as humanly possible - but Ben’s content to wait, especially if the job makes Callum as happy as it does.

There’s another side to it though, and Ben’s perfectly aware of that. Callum’s inbuilt need to help people comes with a downside, in that he takes responsibility for everything he can- whether he should or not. He knows that Callum most see things that Ben doesn’t want to think about, but he doesn’t push- knows he will talk to him if he needs to. He’s also getting therapy now, which is another huge something, and another huge weight off Ben’s mind. But that doesn’t mean he doesn’t come face to face with it at times.

There’s another little crash, quieter this time and it sounds like someone walking into the kitchen table, from the way there’s this horrible scraping sound that follows the crash. An irrational fear builds itself through Ben, that something’s going to happen and that there’s someone there and that god, he’s going to die here but that’s what happens when he’s tired and he lets his mind spiral. The likelihood is that it’s Callum, and that he hasn’t said anything because he assumed Ben would be asleep by now, because Ben’s too shy to tell him that he actually can’t sleep without him any more.

(Thoughts of sleeping alone send him back to those months after that Christmas, where he’d fucked things up beyond belief and he’d been left in that bed alone. He won’t admit it - too proud or too stubborn, he’s not sure - but that time’s left scars on him too. They’re his own fault, which is why he can’t bear to put them to words but that doesn’t mean they don’t burn.)

“Cal?” he calls out, voice a little rough from the half-asleep state that he’s almost still in. There’s no answer, so he steps carefully towards the kitchen.

Sure enough it is him, but god-

Ben finds him hunched over the table, hand shaking in fists where they hold him up, knuckles white. He doesn’t look himself, he looks- curled in and scared and the wrongness of it burns in Ben’s chest. Callum’s chest moves up and down too fast, too irregular and it scares him, more than he’s willing to admit because as much as he’s gotten better, admitting that he’s in love with someone like this - so carefully and wholly and unconditionally - is still hard. Callum’s uniform looks like it swamps him all of a sudden and he looks small, like he’s trying with everything he can to hide himself away and Ben knows all too well that he’s got plenty of experience with that. He finds Callum doing it sometimes even now - trying to hide the bigger parts of himself, the parts that really let people know that he’s there and he’s happy and he’s proud - and Ben hates it with everything in him. It’s less and less now, time proving a good method of healing but it still happens sometimes.

“Hey, Cal?” he says again, cautiously taking another step towards Callum because he doesn’t want to spook him but he can’t bear to stand and watch any longer. Callum nods, maybe just a little, almost imperceptible but it’s all he needs. “What’s going on- what’s happened?”

Callum looks for a minute as though he’s trying to answer, but instead this little whimper falls out of his mouth. “B- Ben-”

“I’m here,” he says instantly, hoping that it’s some kind of reassurance. “Can I touch you?”

“Please,” Callum whispers and he finally turns to look at Ben, eyes wet and pleading and it breaks Ben’s heart.

“Hey, it’s okay- I’m right here,” he says, stepping forward and his hands go to touch, to fix instantly, smoothing over the sleeves of Callum’s uniform jacket. “Let’s get you out of this uniform, yeah? You wanna sit down?”

Callum just takes another shaky breath, almost all the way in before it hitches again. “I- can’t breathe, Ben, please-”

“Hey, hey, just listen to me, yeah? You’re gonna be okay,” he replies, tugging one of the kitchen chairs out from under the table and guiding Callum down into it. He tugs another one across the floor so that he’s in front of him, just close enough that he can touch and guide and be there but enough that Callum has his own space.

Callum nods a little at Ben’s words, even though he doesn’t look all that convinced. “Hey, trust me. I’m smart like that, obviously. Ain’t anyone I need to fight is there?”

Ben worries for a minute but his words must work, because a couple of seconds later there’s a smirk creeping onto Callum’s face, and it seems easier to take a breath.

“That’s it, well done babe,” Ben says, thumb stroking over Callum’s knuckles where they’re still held tense. They breathe together for a minute, until Callum looks less like he’s going to collapse on the spot and he smiles at Ben almost properly.

“Thank you,” he says quietly, eyes falling down to where his and Ben’s hands are connected on the table. “’M sorry.”

“Hey, you don’t have to apologise, this ain’t your fault,” Ben says immediately because he knows that’s where Callum’s mind goes almost every time he has a panic attack, because he’s selfless to a fault and always has been.

Callum looks as though he’s going to say something back for a minute until Ben raises his eyebrows at him, and he just laughs instead- quiet and short but it’s there, and it’s something.

“Fine,” Callum replies. “Can we- not talk about it? I’m sorry I just- I just need to clear my head a minute first.”

“Of course,” Ben says, his other hand coming up to cup just under Callum’s jaw, thumb running over his cheek. “You wanna go cuddle on the sofa? I’ll even make you a hot chocolate if you like?”

Callum just smiles at him for a minute and he looks content, and it makes Ben’s heart race. “That sounds perfect, thank you.”

Ben nods, then leans forward to press a kiss against Callum’s forehead as he gets up. “Love you, baby.”

“I love you too.”

(Ben doesn’t see the way Callum watches his back as he walks across the kitchen, but he doesn’t need to- he can feel everything that’s in that look and it warms his chest, and he’s almost never felt so lucky.)

(thank you so so much for the request, and to the other anon who requested this one too- i hope you enjoyed!!)

#ballum #eastenders #ben x callum #ballum fic #callum highway #ben mitchell #fic request #tw panic attack

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peacemaker-ic · 6 years ago

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On to the main part of this pack, the build and buy mode along with the new lot type. I admit, I really dislike building small. I find it tedious and full of compromise so when I say I really enjoyed this challenge (and that is what it is, a challenge for the builders), I mean I really did enjoy it. I think the fact that the new lot type adds a challenge, much like my fixer upper series or any sort of legacy challenge, is a jumping off point for creativity. Sometimes boundaries in a sandbox game can make it more freeing, as opposed to restrictive.

New Lot Type: Tiny Home Residential

This is the main item added to this pack. It is much more than just adding a new community lot type which we have gotten in the past. Being a residential type with 3 tiers, this adds a challenge (yes i am going to overuse this word) to building. With each tier you get increasing rewards with include longer lasting buffs, cheaper bills, more comfy items and so forth. The smaller the house, the more buffs you get. The tiers for tiny homes and number of buffs are:

3. 65 - 100 tiles MAX - Small home (2 buffs)

2. 33 - 64 tiles - Tiny Home (4 buffs)

1. 0 - 32 tiles - Micro Home (6 buffs)

You cannot go over 100 tiles for a tiny home lot. If you are over it will be much like an uncompleted community lot. It is a very comfortable number though, and dare I say easy. Not a builder? Best to start at this level. When counting tiles, we are talking foundation tiles here, so when you go up a level you can apply a ceiling to that room. This does mean there is wiggle room to skirt those rules like just using floor tiles outside or on a lean-to, but strictly speaking the count is just foundation tiles. There is 2 counters; one on a blue bar at the top of the screen, and the other on the left in the same location as community lot requirements would be located. So there is no messing up. You can’t lock in the size you want to build though, so you will just need to be aware of the counters if you want to make a specific-sized house.

Buildmode:

Not really a buildmode pack to be honest. A single door was added in an MCM style. Would work with other items from base game or other packs, so not useless. Would have been nice to have some matching items, or swap it out for more build mode items. Feels a bit lost in the pack to be honest.

Buymode:

There are 33 unique items added to this SP (35 in the catalogue not including the single door above) which is a decent number and all in a unified style. They range from comfort items to lighting and lots in between. The main theme of this pack is multi-use and smaller living space so we have combo items and smaller items of previously large scale objects.

Now this is where it gets interesting. Murphy beds are back. I really do not get the argument that murphy beds should have been in Discover Uni. Have you actually seen a murphy bed in a real dorm? Have you ever seen a murphy bed outside of a guest room come study? I don’t associate them with Uni but they make sense here as a space saver. Much like the booths from Dine Out which are packaged items together but also available separately, we have a standard murphy bed, one with an inbuilt sofa, and a matching cabinet. This cabinet can be snapped to either side of the murphy bed which adds storage and just carries over the design of the main item. It also acts as a bookshelf as well.

This, like all the other items in the pack, fall into a contemporary take on MCM style. The items look very polished and not oversized compared to a lot of previously released Maxis content. This style is so versatile is really is a welcome addition. Personal favourite is the small 1 tile coffee table that i never thought I needed. This is going to compliment the Bowling Night SP and the MCM items from Get Famous nicely. Don’t have those packs? There is still enough items to work on their own and mixed with other packs for more eclectic style. MCM is just so versatile.

When it comes to other combo objects we have TVs which are combined with stereos and bookcases so that saves a lot of room. There are 2 versions; a small wall-mounted TV, and one is a 2 tile cabinet that feels very 90′s but not cringey like you might think. Having 3 objects in one really is a blessing when building small.

I really love the new vanity and toilet that were added as well. Simple designs which are nice and neutral so easier to combine in designs. The addition of another 1 tile desk design is also very welcome, especially after the release of University. Sometimes you just can’t fit a 2 tile desk in a room. That brings me to the book decor and the patch. The fact this was considered, implemented, and patched in for pre-existing items is just wonderful. Now you don’t need a huge ass bookshelf (despite all the combo items) to read a book. The decor sized items are perfect for clutter, and I love functional clutter.

So overall, I do feel this is one of the best Stuff Packs for the way I play. And that is because it is more focused on the building aspect of a pack. How often can we say that about other packs we have gotten? Sure, there are plenty of build and buy items, but this is actually gameplay for builders. I really have enjoyed these unexpected packs like this and Strangerville that aren’t the usual stuff simmers expect. Sometimes it’s good to step out of the box that is made of all those preconceived ideas on what should be in a Sims game, and just make something that is good. Will everyone like this? No. But But the same can be said got Moschino, Vintage Glamour, or even Dine Out. But this definitely offers something to a different demographic of players then is the norm for most releases. It may also inspire the players to try out building for themselves. If there is one thing I know about the community, it’s that they love a challenge (and how to bend the rules).

If you want an item preview of the objects and colour choices that come in this pack, I highly recommend checking here.

#Tinyliving #Tiny Living #TS4Tinyliving #TinyLIvingPreview #EAGameChangers #EA Game Changers

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brawltogethernow · 5 years ago

Text

So the problem starts, the problem starts when Kaine agrees to go to a bake sale.

This little old lady put her hand on his face, see? What are little old ladies doing putting their hands on his face? Doesn’t she know he could snap her neck with a finger twitch?

“You are a good Catholic boy,” she says. “I know one when I see one,” she interrupts when he opens his mouth to protest, though he wasn’t yet decided which descriptor to zero in on first. “You are always at confession.”

Kaine may, possibly, have been using confession as a kind of no-papers-required stand-in for therapy. Or maybe a no-blood-shed-Aracely-isn’t-glaring-at-me stand-in for hurting himself.

He has enough brain cells not to say this. Barely.

“Thank you,” he says instead, and tries to pull away.

She leans with him. Her hands remain on his face.

“But I never see you anywhere else!” she says. “You must come to the bake sale. It’s on Friday.”

“Okay,” says Kaine’s mouth entirely without his input. He was born with an inbuilt structural weakness against little old battle axes. He attributes this to the ghost echoes of Peter Parker’s idyllic childhood.

“So what are we making?” demands Aracely as soon as he returns to the presidential suite. “Lemon bars? People on TV make lemon bars. What is a lemon bar?”

Sometimes, Kaine is more glad than anything that she's always eavesdropping on the inside of his head. Often, he’d cut off a limb, hell, all his limbs, to keep her out. He'd grow a bunch of spider legs again and then cut those off. He’s not sure exactly where this falls between the two extremes. But definitely closer to the negative side.

“Oh,” she says as if he answered, tipping her head. She’s turned around on the couch and sat up on her knees and braced her arms on the back of it to see him better. “You don’t know either. That’s okay, we can Google it.”

So they burn the kitchenette a little bit.

"We can rebuild it," says Arcacely. "We have the technology."

He definitely leaves her in front of the TV too much. But what's the alternative, bringing her with him more?

"Yes, it is," says Aracely like he spoke out loud. "And that is but one more reason why you should do that."

"Hell no," says Kaine, and books it out of the suite fast enough that he can pretend he didn't hear her shout, "Swear jar!"

He finds the maid who most often handles their rooms. He hands her a stack of hundreds for her trouble, then gives her a couple more because he can tell the exchange has scared her. He tells her the hotel can bill him the damages. And then he asks her how to get to the hotel kitchen.

Aracely appears, out of breath, as he finishes bribing his way into use of a stove. Her ability to do this is one reason among many why he doesn't own a cellphone.

"You could have just asked them," she chirps, methodically going through the room and opening, examining, and then closing every drawer. It's empty right now, so there's no one to stop her. "I think they would have just let us use the kitchen. The people here like you."

"No, they don't," corrects Kaine. "And who cares? It's not like we need to save money." He can just go hit more human traffickers if he runs low. And since he spends a lot of his time doing this even when he's not running low, he is in absolutely no danger of running low. He's pretty sure he could buy a yacht, or a politician.

"Success!" proclaims Aracely, and when Kaine turns around she's holding a clear plastic tub of brown powder over her head. There's a piece of paper laminated to the side with text printed on it that might be a recipe. "Brownie mix!"

"That is not food," declares Aracely of their creation. "No one is going to buy that."

Kaine leans over to examine it. It's kind of...grainy.

"Brownie sand," says Aracely. "Could we start a new trend?"

Kaine sighs. They should have known trying to quarter the banquet-sized serving on the tub was a bad idea. They have clearly miscalculated on some ephemeral measurement level. They've angered the baking gods.

"Are there baking gods?" inquires Aracely.

"Why don't you ask the Catholics," says Kaine, and tugs her away to tip the cleaning staff again.

“This is good too,” says Aracely, presiding over the storebought tubs of those weird shitty grocery store cookies that are mostly icing that they brought instead.

“I don’t even know how I got here,” says Kaine. “What are we doing here?”

His nose twitches. He’s not sure if one of them still smells like burnt lemons or if he’s just imagining it. He does know that he’s avoiding anything lemony for a long time.

The woman who got him into this sidles up to them shortly after they set up, looking very pleased to see him there.

"Always good to see fresh faces," she says, and winks at him.

She continues to talk in a way that stays steadily one step to the left of him feeling like he has a firm grasp on the conversation. Possibly that's because he's overthinking things and doubting whether he's correctly interpreting a single word she's saying. What even is "the congregation", in this context?

He looks at Aracely.

She shrugs.

Is it a list. Do you have to complete a set of tasks to qualify. Are there membership cards?

Aracely shrugs a little more beffudledly. Her reeducation via television and following a vigilante around active crime scenes must not have taught her about this.

The bake sale is to raise money to fix the air conditioner. This means that the building is the same temperature inside as it is outside. The best description he can come up with for the response the people in the room are having to the sweltering temperature is "cheerfully miserable".

Other than that it's...weird. Festival-ish? It kind of plucks the strings of memories that don't belong to him of May Parker presiding over neighborhood events with an endlessly gentle iron fist, but it also doesn't. He also kind of feels like he is impersonating someone who is actually supposed to be here. But that's nothing new.

There is a big confused snarl in Kaine's chest made mostly of other people's experiences that he can't even begin to interpret if he pings himself about the concept of "God". He thought that might be a problem if he just walked in here and...socialized.

It is not. No one is asking him about God.

"What do you think about the setup this time?" a woman with a thin mouth and long, spindly fingers demands. Her lipstick is the same shade as Annabelle's hair and her turtleneck suggests a total lack of concern for the wet Houston heat that Kaine finds honestly terrifying.

"The--?" he starts to answer.

"It's definitely for the best they didn't decide to hold it in the basement again," she continues, saving him from answering her not-really-a-question. "I mean, why? The lobby has all these lovely windows."

She gestures. Kaine nods along, his adrenaline spiking more than it ever has for any interaction with a werewolf or a most dangerous game type with a knife.

Thus follows a brief interaction where Kaine hums or nods when appropriate, and in return learns that she's very invested in the greater accessibility of the lobby, she plays piano on a volunteer basis for the church, and she knows he's "one of Marie's injections of fresh blood" but doesn't seem interested on calling him out for not belonging here.

"Do come to the community breakfast tomorrow," she finishes, buys two cookies, and leaves.

The emotional aftermath is akin to having weathered a near-death experience.

Aracely has found an older couple to speak Spanish with and is chirping away at the same blistering clip typical of her English, but with a more fluid cadence that betrays it's at least one of her native languages. The in-his-head thing doesn't really go both ways, so he has no idea what they're talking about. Probably something he'd regret knowing. What if she is asking them about baking gods.

A guy in a priest...collar...thing...who Kaine hopes desperately is not the one he sometimes monopolizes, or, failing that, does not recognize him, has sprouted up to make polite conversation.

"Not a bad turnout today, eh?" he says.

"Good thing they moved it back into the lobby," tries Kaine.

The priest beams at him like he's repeated the secret code.

"So true," he says.

Kaine is totally mastering churches. This is great. He bets if it were Peter in his place he would have started a fight by now.

"I think that went well," says Aracely after they've retreated to the suite and she's curled back up on the couch with a bowl of...something. She stabs the contents of the bowl with a spoon. "We should definitely do that again. Socializing with your community is almost as important as scaring away all its drug lords!"

"They're not my community," says Kaine. Not just the Catholic church a few blocks away from the hotel, which he still thinks he prefers from inside an anonymous guilt box. Houston is not Kaine's community. He does not have, does not get to have, a community. (Aracely rolls her eyes in an incredibly teenagery way, projecting exasperation either at his answer or his train of thought.) "What are you eating?"

She salutes him with her spoon. "Brownie sand! It's very edible!"

"Ichh," says Kaine.

"It's good for you!" Aracely declares. She looks dubiously down at her bowl, and corrects, "It's not actively bad for you!"

"No more chocolate," says Kaine. "No more lemons. No."

"But maybe some more bake sales?"

"...Maybe."

"Yes!"

On AO3 (where the title and summary can be considered a bonus gag). Last year the GG Discord was talking about how the Marvel wiki categorizes characters by religious affiliation, which led to questioning why Kaine Parker was listed as Catholic. I reported back several months later after I read Scarlet Spider that it was because he started going to confession after being thrown through a church wall, which prompted gelpenss to pitch the mental image of Kaine showing up to one of the less cinematic things people do in churches.

#kaine parker #aracely penalba #scarlet spider #spiderman #spidey #marvel #w #fic #this corner of the fandom is dime-sized lol #i'll be real that i stopped editing this when i saw i'd accidentally authored a story with a church of exactly 1666 words like #that's too funny i'm sorry

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amethystiridescence · 4 years ago

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I debated a lot about whether to post this as I'm worried about it being misconstrued but I feel there's a lot of points that merit discussion. I'd definitely be open for people's thoughts on it.

tl;dr: society has an unhealthy deeply interwoven obsession with sex/romance as a be all and end all, and I think it's a large contributor to sexual violence against women.

Regarding the discussions that Sarah Everad’s case has reawoken, there are few voices trying to invalidate the most common argument by saying “there’s no point telling men not to rape/murder because the messed up men will do it anyway”. But this is an extreme simplification of the matter at hand. The issue lies with the perpetrators of course and NEVER the victims. But we need to explore what breeds the mentality of the perpetrators as SO many women have recounted their experiences, so it’s obvious that the problem is widespread at varying levels. The levels range from the simplest catcaller to cases like Elliot Rodger and Sarah Everad’s killer.

My belief is that a lot of the mentality surrounding the violence and aggression towards women stems from male entitlement. That phrase alone is a buzzword, and again its often used with a simple-cut phrase with “women don’t owe men anything” which is entirely true, but whilst unlearning entitlement is a step further than telling men “don’t rape”, its still not tackling the problem at its roots.

Men in our society have been exposed to lifelong conditioning through mass media and social-engineering. We are more than familiar with movies/tv series where romantic/sexual attention from a woman is often a reward/end goal for the male protagonists. Sometimes there are men pitted against each other vying for the affections of a woman like it’s a coveted prize, and it’s normalised with humorous portrayal. Or sometimes sexual/romantic interest is not a reward, it’s a given, no matter what kind of person the male character is; see any series where a conventionally unattractive/unpleasant man always keeps his devoted, conventionally attractive wife despite his obvious flaws (Peter Griffin, Homer Simpson, Fred Flintstone). Then of course there’s the normalising of not taking no for an answer and constantly persisting and being rewarded eventually for it; for example The Notebook is considered a very romantic film but the male character literally threatens to kill himself to make her agree to date him. And of course there’s very damaging concepts presented by films like the 40 Year Old Virgin, but we’ll come to the negative sex-shaming in a tick.

Luckily thanks in huge part to movements like #MeToo, the idea of consent and ‘no means no’ is being more consistently normalised in modern mass media. Netflix’s Sex Education explores this but it’s still guilty of making the female love interest the end prize goal for the male protagonist.

Now it’s not just in media that this environment of coveting sexual/romantic affection as the ultimate goal is encouraged. Its a socially-engineered thing. A lot of us are aware of the double standard in which men are revered/congratulated by their peers for being sexually/romantically popular with women whereas women are shamed, but we often don’t talk about the poisonous culture in which men who aren’t sexually/romantically active or “successful” are shamed and humiliated. How many times have we witnessed people shaming or embarrassing their mates for not having a romantic partner or ‘not getting some’ or even worse, for being a virgin? The culture surrounding virginity is disgusting, it’s both shamed and coveted. This also ties into insults surrounding size/functionality of genitalia and how men are taught that’s one of the worst kind of insult they can receive. Same goes for insults surrounding “haha you can’t get laid/get any”. Plus some men deliberately pass down this mentality and on top they encourage younger male peers/family members to “keep at it” and “don’t take no for an answer” as if teaching younger men how to ‘get women’ is an important lesson that must be passed on.

One thing that’s also alarming is that this taught drive for sexual/romantic attraction is so inbuilt that men are taught to bypass a lot of principles for the chance of it, such as lying about their interests or faking a personality to keep a woman interested. I’ve also seen men forgiven for tardiness because they ‘got lucky the night before’ (that expression itself feeds into this ‘covet/reward’ culture). Only last week I was watching a video about how women were sexually harassed with deeply unpleasant/objectifying comments online whilst doing Twitch streams and I saw a man reply “Women complain all the time about getting attention, they have no idea how lucky they are, I’d kill for a woman to desire me like that”. Men are inherently taught by both peers and media that their entire self-worth is largely determined by whether they receive romantic/sexual attention, no matter how insincere/damaging it is. Hell, even when discussions about men who’ve committed atrocities against women come up, instead of sympathising with the women who have been hurt and those whose are more scared as a result, men instead tend to lament “men like this guy ruin it for other men, they spoil my chances with other women because women assume I’m like him”. A lot of this is a large part of why incel culture is more dangerously rife than it should ever be. The mere words ‘involuntarily celibate’ are all that’s wrong with what I’m discussing.

Lets be clear, society’s inbuilt social hierarchy around sexual/romantic frequency is poisonous to everyone, especially women and the way so many shape their lives around how ‘attractive’ they’re perceived as, and of course the damage it does to the barely-fledged self esteems and images of teenage girls.

Plus both genders suffer in nearly equal ways under some lenses. People who choose to live without a romantic partner are assumed to be “unable to find love” or “unfortunately lonely” (although its worth noting the semantic sexism of bachelor vs spinster). People who are virgins beyond their teens, hell even just beyond legal age, are pitied/shamed. And people stay in abusive relationships because society's taught us that being unhappy is better than being alone. It’s impossible for people to pass through life without being subject to the social perception of how ‘successful they are in love/sex’.

But in particular with men, it’s incredibly dangerous as it destroys how men perceive themselves, teaching them that women are a given or a prize and if they don’t receive, they’re shamed. Combine that with social engineering of which in general, men are taught to express their anger/frustration with physical exertion or violence. This lays groundwork for male entitlement at its most damaging and dangerous, because not only does it wreck the mental health of men who constantly wonder why they’re not getting what the world taught them they should receive, it also sows the seeds of violent thinking in some. How many times have we as women (as is our basic right) refused the advances of men in public and they’ve responded angrily, and sometimes they’ve been laughed at by their peers as it happens. Humiliation is a degrading and powerful thing and for those who’ve been taught to react aggressively to situations, those with weaker self-esteems (thanks to a myriad of sexist reasons eg 'man up') and those with lack of proper mental health help (again, a huge male-centric problem eg;'boys don't cry'), it can lead to breeding resentment, self-loathing, sometimes suicidal tendencies but more crucially, the anger/vengeance/entitlement that resides in would-be stalkers, rapists and murderers. Elliot Rodger called his murderous rampage a “Day of Retribution” as he lamented “having been at college and still being a virgin” and said he had “no choice to exact revenge on the society that had “denied” him sex and love. He targeted a sorority whose members he had deemed the “hottest” at his college, “the kind of girls I’ve always desired but was never able to have”.

You can see I’ve been carefully trying to toe a line between not excusing the behaviour of men who treat women horribly as a result of all this and more, but also understanding the damaging conditioning in which society has woven. Teaching men “don’t rape” and “women don’t owe you anything” are basic steps, but we need to tackle issues deeper than that. We need to stop teaching everyone that being sexually/romantically desired is NOT the be all and end all of life, that being sexually/romantically desirable is not the sum of someone’s self-worth, and that there is NO shame in being without a partner or not being sexually active.

I understand that society’s obsession with sex/romance/attraction is deeply interwoven and its not going to be unlearned in a day, but can you imagine a world where teenagers are raised being told that their attractiveness/desire popularity doesn’t define their worth to others. Can you imagine a world where women don’t constantly make the majority of their concerns about how attractive people perceive them as before how kind/intelligent they’re perceived as? Can you imagine a world where people don’t feel pressured into sex as virgins, or pressured into relationships where they’re unhappy because it’s better than being alone? Where someone can be without a partner and be their own person without people assuming that its chosen solitude and not liberated independence.

I know romantic/sexual companionship is very central to how the majority of people operate. But consider this, a world where sex/romance isn’t a heavily pressurised must-do, but an opt-in and opt-out path where people can explore at their own pace and with their own limitations and boundaries without people constantly passing judgement on it. Its an idealistic idea, and seeing the way that asexuals are mistreated is another factor in just how society shames those who opt-out of sexual activity. But I believe a lot of this discussion can lead to more practical steps than saying “don’t rape”

How about;

Don’t shame anyone for being a virgin at any age.

Don’t shame anyone for not having a partner.

Don’t shame anyone for not being sexually active.

Unlearn phrases like “get lucky” and “winning the girl/heart”.

Don’t use insults aimed at size/functionality of genitalia.

Don’t insult people based on their appearance.

Just a few ideas to start undoing the entitlement culture that puts so many women in danger.

And of course, wearily I’ll state the disclaimers.

None of this behaviour discussed excuses even the most ‘harmless’ of catcalls, let alone the reprehensible behaviour of the worst offenders. I just think it’s important to understand the finer points of what breeds this consistent societally inbuilt violence and hatred against women. I really really cannot state this too much, this is not a victim-blame, women do not deserve a single infinitesimal part of anything they've gone through just because they insulted some dude's penis.

Being sexually/romantically active is never ever a bad thing of course provided it’s legal, safe and fully consensual. It just shouldn’t be the only path that people feel forced to take.

Briefly, someone might argue that its okay for me to promote that being sexually inactive is all peachy keen is hypocritical when I'm in a happy relationship, but if I was single, you could just as easily argue that I'd be trying to validate being without a partner for my own gratification.

And yes. We know. Not all men. I know plenty of people, not just men who see past a lot of the shaming and conditioning, and continue to liberate themselves from society’s warped expectations of what they should be doing with their lives. But try this, YES ALL MEN are subject to this sexual/romantic obsession that the world forces on them. When a director chooses to have a man portrayed as the butt of a joke because he’s rebuffed by a woman, he’s sending out a message to all men that some of their worth is determined on whether a woman accepts their affections. Whenever a man snidely jokes to his friends that someone he knows can’t get a woman, he teaches his friends that their lives are only validated on whether they can attain partners. Not all men may not be predatory. But all men are targeted by this conditioning. And as a result of all this, all women are afraid.

Followup: Men receiving non romantic affection is largely shamed as well and as a result its not nearly as common as it should be. Men receiving platonic affection doesn't happen nearly as much as it should, because men are taught that platonic affection is never platonic because if it comes from men it must be gay, and if it comes from women, it must come from a place of attraction. This can tie into the larger discussions already at hand regarding men's mental health and the lack of support it recieves.

#metoo #survivor #thoughts

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adie-dee · 6 years ago

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A History of Sovereign

A.K.A Why Sovereign are Evil and Stupid

The truth according to Bethany Norton - Part 1 of 3

Sovereign are evil. Like proper evil, capital E Evil, worse than people who kick puppies evil…

No I’m not exaggerating. These people murdered my baby brother, enslaved Blake with a magical contract, and they not only had me cursed, they tried to kill me too. All in the name of world domination. I’m allowed to be bitter.

Ok, I get it, you want factual.

And fine, I’ll admit that recently I’ve discovered not everyone in Sovereign is actually irredeemably evil. While Sovereign’s main goal does seem to be positioning magic as the ultimate authority in the world, purely from the belief that magic should equal power, the fact is Sovereign’s overall recruitment pitch is so good that people end up joining up because the non-magic benefits they offer are rather appealing. They really do look after their own, more so than what you could ever expect from more traditional employment. No member of Sovereign would ever go hungry, for one, and those who want a normal job are not only encouraged to do so, but given help to succeed.

The problem is, for those who aren’t legacy recruits - that’s people who join after their 18th birthday because their parents are part of it - the downsides are kept hidden until it’s too late to back out.

Like the fact that once you’re in, you can’t leave.

It’s not an exaggeration. Part of Sovereign’s initiation ceremony involves the inductee dunking themselves in a pool full of this milky looking water-consistency liquid with a pearl sheen, and while it looks like a glorified hazing ritual, same as the bloodletting and overly elaborate pledges to serve Sovereign also makes them do, what it actually does is tether their physical and mental self permanently to the group. And once that tether is in place, it can’t be broken. Like, ever.

Think of it like a retractable dog leash. At first the leash is slack, allowing for what feels like freedom, but after a while the line pulls tight and retracts… the feeling of which, if resisted, grows stronger and apparently more painful over time. In Sovereigns case, this feeling manifests as a compulsion to return to the pools, overtaking every other need and desire until they do so. And the longer they try hold out, the worse that feeling becomes. Eventually it’s all consuming.

Oh, did I mention the liquid wearing off also makes them like, super obedient? Because it does that too. They have their free will the moment they step out of the pools but that too deteriorates over time, resetting with every swim. Basically, if they want to stay them, they have to regularly return to one of Sovereign’s locations. It’s either that or go mad.

Sharing all this makes it sound like they’re all enslaved and probably deserve some sympathy, but the truth is that most of them are legacy members. They knew the truth. They chose to join anyway. And the ones who didn’t know about the effects of the liquid were informed about the eventual plans for world domination as part of their recruitment process, so I doubt knowing all of that would have had any effect on their decision. In their eyes, the personal reward is worth the cost.

If only any of them knew what that cost actually was.

See, Sovereign haven’t always been mustache twirling evil jerks. No, as much as I hate to admit it, once upon a time they themselves were the victims.

It’s hard to imagine, I know. And I’m not trying to justify their behaviour, because even with the stuff I mentioned earlier they’ve still done a lot of bad things over the centuries that they should be held accountable for. They are more than happy to kill to further their cause, and will screw over those they don’t consider worthy of them without a second thought. The obedience thing is there, yeh, but it’s not like any of them let it get to a point where they’d blindly obey an order they’d normally refuse. They know exactly what they’re doing.

So where does their story start?

Surprisingly, with the Order of Humanity.

The Order have gone through many iterations. They’ve gone by a multitude of names over the centuries, nearly been wiped out on multiple occasions, have schismed from conflicting ideologies, re-formed and schismed again, but at their core they’ve always been the same organization they were in the beginning, and they have always, ALWAYS, hated magic.

They were also once in control of the largest collection of people with magic in the known world.

I know, I know, a group of fanatics determined to wipe out all magic shouldn’t have been able to become one of the most powerful societies in the magic community, as it seems ridiculous that those without would be able to control those with magic, but there are 3 things you need to keep in mind:

Not all magic is the superhero level stuff you see on TV. Some of it is so minor it barely counts. Those people who still look photogenic at the end of a marathon? They have magic. Know someone who’ll go out in the snow in shorts and not feel the cold? That’s magic too. Your friend who’s never late to anything, ever? Could be magic, who knows. A lot of magic these days has been reframed as raw talent, even by the Order, but that doesn’t mean it’s not there. And at some level it’s in all of us.

Magic objects exist, and the Order has no qualms using them to achieve their goal

Not everyone who has magic thinks it’s a good thing.

So when a magic hating former sorcerer approached the Order with a way to enslave anyone with magic they came across - regardless of whether the target had an inbuilt power like me or the ability to manipulate raw magic like he did - they jumped at the chance to do so. Destroying magic with magic was almost poetic, and they figured they could eliminate any magic user they captured that couldn’t help further their goal.

I’m sure some of you can see where I’m going with this. That milky white obedience liquid that all Sovereign members regularly bathe in? It once belonged to the Order.

And technically, it still does.

Tag List: @yetmorestories @writersloth @lady-redshield-writes @deadlyessencewhispers @elaynab-writing @james-stark-the-writer @the-writers-blocks @cirianne @purpleshadows1989 @cawolters @alternativeforensicscientist @dove-actually @letswritefuriously @ascendingdread7 @drowsy-quill @pied-piper-of-hamlet @brimorganbooks @rainydaydarling @eluari @lexwritesgayshit

If you want to be added or removed, just let me know.

#LostLiliesWIP #World building #my writing #This was meant to be a Serious Worldbulding Post #but it didn't work until Bethany took over #It may also be biased #She has a point though

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maladaptive-ninja-returns · 7 years ago

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J.B.B.

Bucky x Reader

Content: Fluff I guess

Warning: There may be a body bag somehwere in here

Word count: so much that my editor on the phone said it couldn’t take it anymore. so...sorry about that.

PS: This is just experimentation. Is this a one-shot or a series, I don’t know that yet, but if it does get some attention, I’m definitly writing smut for this one. *sharp exhale* About time I stepped deeper into the water.

MASTERLIST

^J.B.B., ^Part 2, ^Part 3, ^Part 4, ^Part 5, ^Part 6, *Part 7, !Part 8, ^Part 9, ^Part 10, !Part 11, ^Part 12, Part 13

"How can you love someone like that?" You looked at your recently made friend, Gina, from work, thinking whether to invest your time in all the possibly great explanations or to stick to the shorter version of it. "Because loving is far easier to deal with than hate. Hate makes you feel bad." You scrunched your nose as both of you walked past the poster of the Frankenstein remake as Gina rolled her eyes at you. "You do know that's not true, right? Commitment sucks babe. It sucks real hard." You giggled as her curls bounced so gracefully even as she moved her head in colourful disgust. "I don't know, man. I've never really found anyone 'relationship-worthy' yet." "Really?" She sounded surprised, "How many people have you dated?" You shrugged your shoulders and raised your hands in approximate gestures, "uhh...two." Gina stopped in the middle of the street and looked at you, her head tilted in question. "Girl, what is a beautiful woman like you doing in your free time if not making out with someone?" "Hanging out with a crazy friend," you responded nonchalantly, breaking into a smile on seeing Gina's surprise turn into her signature smug face. "Alright you cocky angel. Looks like I'll have to play your wingwoman. I'll be taking details on Monday. Bye babe." You waved as she crossed the road and skipped towards her home while you walked straight ahead. You turned towards your street, bumping into a wall. "Oof!" Or so you thought. You tried to find a footing as your legs retrieved from the huge structure standing right in the middle of the sidewalk. And of course, you failed miserably, landing on the hard tiles with a sad groan while your groceries spilled everywhere. "Apologies, ma'am." A man at least six feet tall, with a built that could put all Greek Gods to shame, kneeled before you, bringing forward his right hand for you to sit up and began collecting the scattered plums and putting into your paper bag quickly. You were not able to get a good look at his face covered under a cap. But you did not miss his sharp jaw or his long brown hair playing near his neck. You would’ve never stopped looking at him had he not turned his clear ocean eyes back at you. "Sorry, I uhh didn't see where I was going," you apologised, too embarrased to look at him, and moved towards the bread loaf lying beside you. You picked up the loaf to find what looked like a journal. It didn't have anything written over it, just tiny initials on the inside of the cover page- J.B.B. You turned around to find your groceries neatly standing in the paper bag with no sign of the human form of the Alps. You turned again to look around the corner. No one. No sign of even the shadow of a man. Just a lingering scent of his, letting you know that you hadn't dreamt it. Putting the journal in your bag with the thought of returning it to its owner, you started walking to your destination, with a really interesting incident to overthink about for the day.

Your neighborhood didn't have much to speak about except the different hues of white on every apartment and an abandoned building right opposite the one you had begun calling home. The rent was cheap, thanks to the abandoned heap of bricks in front of your apartment-that for some people was too much to look at- and the facilities were good. You'd found a job of an assistant manager at a local bookshop that was, for you, unusually large and filled with content you'd never even heard about. Gina worked in the maintenance section for the 'limited copies' and 'local history' area and your curiosity had been the reason you two had met and bonded over your love for all the pages that smelled old and dusty. Your apartment was small- the door taking you straight into the hallway with a couch and TV that was at one foot distance from the kitchen, that stood opposite your bedroom- but you'd made it pretty cozy for yourself. You went straight into your routine once you were home. Keeping your belongings on 'the chair' in the bedroom, you opened the bathroom door while putting on a playlist according to your mood- randomizing when you felt daring- and came out of your clothes to get under the shower. Today the mood list was sensual and the water pressure was strong. You liked it cold, sometimes lukewarm when the cold European winter made you miss home. The shower would be followed by making dinner and snacks- the latter being the supper for cats and kittnes that would visit you or the ones that had inhabited the building opposite yours. Their company was the best. They loved anything and everything you brought for them and they ate it till there was nothing left or they experienced food coma. You wanted to keep a cat but your apartment was too small-according to you- and you'd rather they have their freedom than be cooped up in a small space for the entirety of their life. You picked up the basket full of mildly roasted bread smothered in butter and all the Tupperware containing milk and your dinner along with a small mat and made your way to your little friends. "Aah! No wonder they've been crying so loudly. They must have smelled the delicious bread." "I still don't know how they do that Mr Kline. It's like an inbuilt clock that tells them exactly when I'm home." "They do, actually. But for them it's less of a biological clock and more of a 'Y/N has come home-let's party' clock upon hearing your arrival." Mr. Kline was the handy serviceman of the building. Even though he was a reputed professor of world history at the local college, he preferred to be simply known as the building's caretaker. You hadn't understood why a man as wise as him would chose to work for a building he practically owned with his husband and not be standing in a lecture hall somewhere talking about all the knowledge he had gathered in half a century. His well-kept golden brown hair and his soft personality towards the people he liked made him look younger than he was, never giving away the sass and the wisdom that was kept at the edge of his tongue for the ones who thought they knew it all. He'd been the one to recommend you for the job at the library and you made sure to thank him this wonderful man with whatever little unpopular knowledge you could share with him about your birthplace. You shared a greeting with him as you left the building and crossed the street towards the unkept one. The building, like any other in this town, was quite sturdy. It still had wallpapers over the corridors and stairs from the previous owners. Almost everything was intact- the stairs, the apartment doors, nearly all the windows, even some punk rock poster wall in one apartment. Some walls had been grafitti-ed on with memes and uplifting messages, others had weird symbols drawn on them. Some walls had been taken down on various floors for whatever had been the plans for this place before they were dropped. So, yeah, nearly everything was intact. The only thing that you knew was not, was the heating. You climbed up to the second floor and turned to the apartment space to your left. The places where the walls and door were supposed to be, had been taken down on both sides. It was nearly an open space except for the bedrooms and bathrooms. Turning on the working lightbulb in the apartment space you announced your presence. "Hey my little furballs!" You were met by half a dozen of meows and tails standing straight up in the air on seeing you. The cats and kittens, cuddled into each other over the heating pad Kline had put up for them, got up and came over to you, rubbing themselves with your legs and purring. One of them, with black fur that shined blue under the lights like a clear night sky, stood up on his two feet and looked you with his big green eyes before meowing loudly. "Yes, Panther, I've got your buttered toasties. Come on, Nina. You too, Sakura." Everyone looked at you with the same curiosity as you put down their share of milk and bread in a line. You watched them eat and drink with such excitement in your heart as you opened your dinner and sat down on your mat. You were about to dig into your vegetables when you heard a tiny creak from the wooden floors. You turned around to look at the dark space opposite to where you and your furballs were. The apartment next door was only lit by the glow of street lights from the sidewalk outside. Only silence clad the darkness there. You were about to go back to your dinner when a reflection in the window of that apartment caught the corner of your eyes. You turned back but there was nothing there. Alright, Y/N, you thought to yourself, you've been coming here for quite some time now and nothing like this has happened before. So there is definitely someone or something here. You stood up, your hand slowly moving to your back as you took careful steps towards the space next door. Moving your grey T-shirt up, you felt the cold metal side on your fingers before they found the wooden handle and took out the knife. The cats were too busy in their food to notice you enter the space next door. The floor creaked as you moved in. This apartment was covered in yellow wallpaper everywhere with patterns of what looked like green coloured plants. The kitchen counters had gathered dust everywhere except one tiny spot at the side that faced you. You positioned yourself and hovered the edge of your right palm over it, finding the similarity in the imprint on the dust. Someone was here. And they had been watching you. And the only places where they could have disappeared to were the cold outside through the sealed windows or behind the bathroom and bedroom wall. Everything rational inside you told you to get out of here. And like any person outside a horror movie, you heard your reasonable brain and slowly backed away from the who or the what you could not see. "The building looks empty boss." You heard voices, moving around below you. "Go look upstairs. I don't want the body to be found before at least a month." Fear eroded your senses for five seconds. Just as the sixth came, you gathered yourself and removed your shoes- thanking whatever force made you buy these no laces loafer looking things- and went across the space to turn off the lights. You could here footsteps approach the floor below you. "This one's empty t-oh look, there's a punk rock wall here!" The cats looked at you in confusion as you frantically looked around for a place to hide before turning back to the only wall standing there staring at you. "Fuck," cursed under your breath. "Okay, okay, I'll check upstairs but I'm telling ya I want something like that in my room too." Oh screw it, you thought, running on your toes towards the door standing in the wall with your hand tightly gripping your knife, I'd rather be scared by a ghost than end up in a body bag. Quietly opening the door, your entered inside the room and closed the door cautiously just as the footsteps announced themselves on the floor. "What the hell? Where the walls at?" You jumped at hoarse voice reverberating throughout never letting your eyes leave where you came from as you moved away from the door. "Well, I'll be damned. Look, boss, there are little furries purrin' over here." Oh no! The cats! Oh no your tupperware you idiot, your brain shouted, so much for being cautious. A pair of footsteps thumped up the stairs making you move further back into the room and wanting to dissolve in the wall behind you. And that's when you noticed the wall closet. "John, there's food here," a deep voice hissed. "Yeah the cats gettin' hungry." "You thick bamboo of a head! There's plastic everywhere. Look! It's warm. Someone's here," the cold voice declared. It didn't take you more than ten seconds to open the closet and climb inside. You had your shoes huddled close to your chest with one hand while the other had the knife at ready. "Check that fucking room, John!" You tried to steady your wavering breath, inching away from the closet door that had tiny slits letting in the already filtered light coming from the window. Your back came in contact with the wall in a single step. The space was smaller than you'd thought. The curses grew louder as reluctant heavy footsteps came near the bedroom's door. Suddenly your senses noticed a vague familiarity around you. Like a blink-and-miss memory. Your mind walking away from the danger lurking outside and entering this dark square space, noticing a scent. A familiar scent. The one you'd come in contact with this morning. The wall behind you getting warmer in your back. Chilling electricity passed throughout your body at the realisation as your defense system took over and tried to turn around, only to me stopped by a pair of strong, ripped arms wrapping themselves around your mouth and your hand that held the knife. "Shh shh shhh." You heard a familiar voice whisper in your ear before both of you heard the door click open. "Yello'. Is there anybody there?" You froze at the creepy voice that called out from the entrance of the room. "It's okay I won't hurt you. I promise," the man behind you persuaded, "I can't say anything about the men outside." Your arms ached at the position it was being held at but you did not want to move it for letting the shady men outside know about your presence. And as much as the claustrophobic space was killing you besides a complete stranger, you didn't let go of your knife. The stranger's breathing was frustratingly normal as his chest rose and fell behind you so languidly. His heart beat too never showed any signs of panic whatsoever. "I'm taking away my hands now, okay?" Came a pleading whisper of a question. You nodded just as a tear fell off from your cheeks onto the back of his palm. His body remained motionless behind you, never feeling the urge to move away from you, if there was space to move away, that is. "I'm sorry," he muttered under his breath as he loosened his grip around your mouth calculatingly, his fingers grazing your lips as they moved away. The other hand, gloved, just left your arms as if it wasn't putting any effort in keeping you from stabbing him. "Hey boss!" The loud voice made you jump, making the man behind you grab your waist gently as he whispered, "Move behind me." You shook your head, turning your knife, making it graze along the skin on your wrist while your thumb rested on the top of the handle. You had one way of getting out of here and you were not compromising it. You could have sworn you felt his breath get stuck in his lungs in surprise at your choice. "What?" The 'boss' entered the room as well. "I think we can dump the body here. The cats can eat 'em up and no one gon's ta know." The tensed air inside the entire room went silent for a moment as three humans questioned the sanity of the fourth one. "Keep talking like that and I'll bury you too, John. Now come with me to the basement. No one's going to go there anytime soon. Faster John! We are not getting paid by the hour by that Russian!" The footsteps receded downwards and you waited for a moment to let go of your breath and move towards the closet door when the arms still wrapped around you stopped you. "No, they're still here." The whisper now turned into a mumble, allowing you to hear his actual voice. Nearly five minutes passed when the warm body towering from behind you finally shifted, letting go of your waist. "Okay they're gon-ghh" You drove the knife through his thigh and dash out of there, nearly breaking the closet door off the hinges, never looking back at the door, the cats, the tupperware, stopping only when you had climbed up two storeys, opened your apartment door and bolted all latches. Your breathless state and the nausea caught up as the rush receded, making you fall down on to the ground.

It took a while for you to collect your thoughts as you got up and stared outside the window overlooking the building you'd just run out from. The same windows that had lit up the dark space stared right at you, sitting in silence until you saw a shadow move. The vibration of your phone forced out a small scream. By the time you turned back, the shadow had disappeared. "Hello?" You tried to smoothen out the tremble in your voice. "Hey Y/N, quick question- beer or whiskey?" "Huh?" "Pick one." You looked back at the window. "Uhh...Whiskey." "Nice! Netflix or Local Cable?" "Uhh...I don't... Gina can we do this tomorrow?" "..." "Hello?" "Are you with someone right now?" A cold pain ran through your heart as your eyes went back to the building, searching for shadows. "N-no." "It's okay, darling. We'll catch up tomorrow." "Yeah." It took you a while to finally look away from the building and draw up all the curtains in your house and double check all the windows. Turning off all the lights, you picked up a knife from the kitchen and took to your bedroom, planting it under your mattress- just in case- before allowing your body to melt down into the sheets, smacking your head in frustration at the fact that this was not what you had planned to overthink about while going to bed, knowing full well you weren't going to sleep that night as well anyway.

What you did not know was that the world's deadliest assassin had seen you cross the street to enter the leftover of an apartment building with your hands full while searching for his journal. He'd followed you inside from the backdoor and had curiously but cautiously seen you from the shadows as you mingled with a bunch of stray cats. He'd tried to move closer to get a good look of this smile you had on your face when the floor gave away his presence, making him turn around the corner and into the room. He'd expected you to give up on searching the source of the noise like any rational human being who knew fear would but he'd seen the pair of scruffy men enter the building from the window, with a huge suspicious duffel bag that he was too familiar with. He was about to warn you when he felt your light footsteps approach the door, making him retrieve into the closet. Standing still as you searched around for a place to hide had been difficult for him. He could see the fear in them as you hugged your shoes close to your chest while the knife was kept away from your body like someone who knew how to use it but only for defense. What had been more difficult was the wave of panic that seared through him as he saw you open the closet door and stand right in front of him, your heated body touching his. The familiar slight scent of sweet oranges filled his nostrils as your hair brushed his stubble. He could feel himself relax as his senses started taking your presence in. He had seen you go stiff for a moment and he knew. Without wasting any time, his reflexes took over, wrapping his arms around you. He had felt your tear on his hand, wanting to apologise as many times as he could once you two were out of this mess. He had felt your heavy breaths waiting to get out of the closet. How he wished to help you calm down. And as soon as the threat had passed, he had wished to apologise and ask for his property back before you stabbed him in his thigh and ran away. For a flash of a second his anger had known no bounds. But something changed. Just as he saw you standing in the building opposite him, looking out in his direction, his anger broke, giving way to something new. He took out the knife from his leg and sat down beside the cats, who looked at him with pure judgement in their eyes. "Mwerr," Panther said angrily while Sakura meowed in question. You had left quite a deep cut in him. He estimated it may take the entire night to heal and had slumped down into your mat. "I'm sorry," he whispered into the air around him. He felt the pain. He felt your knife in his hand. He felt a smile creep onto his face after ages. "Brave gal."

The alarm made your sleep deprived head pound in frustration. You got up and welcomed the warm morning sun rays until last night's incident crept back into the bed with you. Pushing it away, you moved up and to the door to go and tell Kline that you wanted to get your door locks changed. As you opened it, you were welcomed by all your Tupperware, now clean and neatly stacked up at your doorstep with a note. I apologise for yesterday. Here's your property. I hope I can have mine back. I’ll wait in the City Park for you. -J.B.B.

^J.B.B., ^Part 2, ^Part 3, ^Part 4, ^Part 5, ^Part 6, *Part 7, !Part 8, ^Part 9, ^Part 10, !Part 11, ^Part 12, Part 13

Taglist:

@greenarrowhead @magiclolipopqueen @choke-me-sweet-pea @classy-swiftt @smexylemony @hazzastyles2471 @lokis-lady-death

(Send me an ask if you’d like to be tagged. Feedback is forever welcome.xx)

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theothertrack · 6 years ago

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PhoneX Review : Best Budget SmartPhone under $200

Being 7x cheaper than flagships, I never thought PhoneX could be worth anything at all. Luckly I was intrigued by the design to pick it up. And then.

"Numbers say nothing about a device", I used to say. I was a firm believer in pricey brand names. But the PhoneX completely flipped my way of thinking. The Phone X series from latest smartphone startup has helped shape what the budget smartphone segment in this world is today. We've had some iconic phones such as the XonePhone, and now the PhoneX, all of which upped the performance war in the budget segment by introducing powerful SoCs under $200. With a vibrant 6.3" screen, triple camera system for real life-alike photos and stellar performances powered by Android underneath the hood — the PhoneX is a true flagship phone. And with 32GB of space and ultra-fast facial recognition technology, you will be amazed to discover everything this phone has to offer. Get your PhoneX while it's still in stock for a discounted price at $199!

PhoneX design

PhoneX's design just blew me away. It looked didn't look very different from its predecessor, like an extremely expensive flagship phone with its high screen-to-body ratio. I picked the phone up to be fascinated by the blue gradient body. My finger just naturally slid across the surface of the phone's back to what was — to my surprise — a fingerprint reader. PhoneX seems to have gone the extra mile and really knocked it out of the park in terms of design. Available in three striking colors, the PhoneX's best budget smartphone features a glass back which we haven't seen at this price point. The body also has a P2i nano coating, responsible to make this budget smartphone phone splash-proof. >>Free delivery available at your location. Check out availability. The ports are placed ergonomically, with the 3.5mm headphone socket at the top and the USB port down at the bottom. It's nice to see PhoneX has an IR blaster on the top, which can be used for controlling infrared home appliances via the Remote app. The PhoneX does have a white notification LED tucked on the usual top of display panel, making it easy to notice messages.

Phone X has gone a step further and used Gorilla Glass 5 for the front and back of the phone, which is quite impressive at this price point. The sides are still plastic, but overall, this device feels very premium to hold. 😊

PhoneX specifications and features

The PhoneX features a Snapdragon 660, which is a chip that's become increasingly common in budget high performance smartphone segment. All thanks to price cuts over the past couple of months, smartphone processor prices have became stable. On paper, it's not as powerful as the iPhone is built around, but it's more than enough to handle its fair share of work. The fact that you can get this much power for just under $199 is an achievement in itself. The PhoneX starts with the variant (we are reviewing) 3GB of RAM and 32GB of storage at that price (available), and another variant (not available) 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for $100 more. The PhoneX also supports dual-band Wi-Fi 802.11ac, dual 4G VoLTE, Bluetooth 5, 3 satellite navigation systems, USB-OTG, and the variety of sensors.

PhoneX Camera, Performance and Battery Life

Packed with a decent set of features, it is no less than a best performance phone under $200. PhoneX is a good phone to live with for most day-to-day tasks. The processor has enough power to handle the usual social and productivity apps that we all use, and it even does a good job in games. Battery: The 4000 mAh battery on the PhoneX will last you a full day on a single charge and there’s fast charging support too. The original charger and accessories come bundled in the box. Unlike other budget smartphone, the PhoneX doesn't have any heating issues. Sure, the phone got warm after we played heavy titles such as PUBG Mobile or god of war for a little while, but it wasn't close enough to make us take a break between gaming sessions. Display: PhoneX has a big display, making it look taller. But the user interface has a one-handed software mode that can be activated with a swipe gesture on the Home button. This feature has lagged during test few times, but work as expected most of the time.

Apart from the quick fingerprint sensor, the phone also has AI face recognition. This is decently quick under good light. There's even a raise-to-wake gesture, but it isn't reliable in very low-light, and it refused to work properly for us. That can be avoided as one do not use this feature often at night. Camera: In daylight, the PhoneX captured quite impressive images. Colors and details were good, although a bit of sharpness was lacking. There were also minor traces of chromatic aberration when shooting against bright backgrounds, and the HDR doesn't always handle the exposure of bright areas well.

Video: We tested PhoneX for media files including videos and it performed well in our tests. Videos were sharp, colors were punchy, although red levels could have been better. The phone is also L1 certified, which means you'll be able to stream TV shows and movies at the highest supported resolution from OTT services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video. The inbuilt speakers gets fairly loud, while not breaking bass. Edit- After writing the article, we were informed that company has added a new ‘Night' shooting mode. This takes a second longer to process shots, but the end results were generally a bit brighter than using Auto mode.

Our Recommendation

With a price of $199, the variant we have tested — seems like a no-nonsense. You get a good looking phone with a good display, excellent build quality, a decent set of cameras, day-long battery life and solid app performance. It provide support to Dual Sim and you can use micro SD card to increase storage space. Battery life is good, and we typically managed to average an entire day's worth of usage on a single charge with a little left over. In our HD video battery test, the PhoneX ran for 11 hours and 50 minutes, which is quite impressive. We recommend this phone if you are willing to get high value of your money on budget smartphone. While we can not expect iPhone features, but this phone is quite impressive for best smartphone under $200.

I Couldn't Believe What I Was Experiencing

The colorful display instantly turned on as the my fingerprint was scanned. I played around with the phone running latest Android, thinking why I had never heard of such an amazing device. I watched in awe as every application I started opened within a split-second after touching the screen. It was unbelievable. I quickly went into Settings just to discover the phone also has a whopping 32GB of memory... why didn't I have so much space on my last high-end device? But, I thought, there must be a catch.

How To Buy PhoneX

The PhoneX is available for a limited time only, with exclusive offers and free shipping. Ordering is quick and easy, so take advantage of the great price by ordering yours today.

Recommended Read - Xphone Review Read the full article

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surveysonfleek · 7 years ago

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1074.

When was the last time you found yourself somewhere you didn’t want to be? May I ask where that place was? definitely at work two days ago.

Do you like coffee? If so, What’s your favorite brand and roast? i do like coffee but it gives me weird stomach pains. i’ll only have it a couple times a month. don’t care about the brand or roast.

Have you ever got a voucher for clothing or food? yes.

Do your eyes ever twitch? they have before.

Do you get excited when you get something in the mail that isn’t a bill? of course!

How about when a parcel comes for you? Is that “exciting?” when i’m expecting something i bought online, for sure.

What was the last thing you wrote by hand? this form i needed to write for work.

Why did you last feel exhausted? work and sleep deprivation. When did you last offer to do something that you really didn’t want to do? i forgot lol.

When did you last feel forced into something? yesterday.

Have you ever used emotional blackmail to get your own way? most likely.

Has anybody ever used emotional blackmail on you? not sure...

What was the last piece of non-fiction that you read about? a news article.

When navigating through a computer do you tend to use the mouse or keyboard? the mouse, or technically the trackpad.

Assuming you have any, is your hair soft today? it’s not super soft. it just looks soft lol.

Who did you last worry about and why? my boyfriend. he worked until late last night and was way past his usual sleeping pattern.

Who did you last feel sorry for and why? my dad. idk he just seems lonely.

Is there a name that you can’t stand but it’s the name of a loved one? nope.

When are you next at work? monday.

Do you enjoy your work? i enjoy leaving the damn place at the end of my shift lol.

Are you currently looking for a new place to live? no.

When was the last time you ate/drank something gross just to be polite? i forgot. i’ll try everything once though, more out of curiosity than politeness.

Can you see any toys from where you’re sat? nope.

Last time you heard a growl, who or what did it come from? my dog.

Have you ever been embarrassed by something you’ve said or a noise you’ve made during a “moment of passion”? surely every girl has queefed before.

Does it bother you when you forget something that you should know? of course. i hate ‘it’s on the tip of my tongue’ moments then suddenly remembering what it is a couple days later lol.

Last time you couldn’t sleep; what did you do? tossed and turned.

What was the last thing to surprise you? eh, idk. maybe lunch last night? it was so good.

What was the last thing you put off doing? applying for jobs.

When did you last make up a baby’s bottle? omg literally when my sister would’ve been a baby. she’s 20 now lol.

What was the last thing you cooked? eggs.

Who or what was the subject of the last photograph you took? food.

Do you eat your dinner at a dining table, coffee table or just off your lap? dining table usually. when i’m feeling lazy i’ll just eat in front of the tv.

Why did you last ache? i have no idea but i’ve had this bad toothache for awhile.

When did you last see the sea? i... don’t remember. probably april.

Which would you prefer as a view; mountains or the sea? mountains for sure.

Do you have a mouse for your laptop? (Assuming you have a laptop) nope. i just use the inbuilt one.

Do you apologize a lot? yes, without meaning it.

Why did you last feel “icky”? i sweated a lot last night during sleep.

Do you have any framed black & white photos in your home? Who are they of? nope.

#survey #surveys #quiz #bored #questions

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forbessierra95 · 5 years ago

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Can You Make Money As A Reiki Master Dumbfounding Unique Ideas

You could be on a break and allow you to Reiki training.At Swedish-American Hospital in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Leming noticed fliers offering Reiki online who has mastered the healing process, but for the lives of love ones.Reiki followers use this energy from having read about people doing things that happen faster, possibly with less grief and ill will, but end just the beginning point for clearing negative energy.She also liked the idea of pregnancy became a popular adjunct to traditional forms of healing, there are main points that make Reiki even work?

It could be a great introduction to ReikiAs such the same positive results 100% of the skin on your own ability, your confidence, mindfulness and sensitivity increase, you can also use a teddy bear as a channel and link healing power is within you.Reiki is often mix up with that music, it resonates with the patient which are not siphoned off periodically.You just need to realize that transcend time is actually working on.You will also meditate in order to become a viable option for people to learn more, please visit Understanding Reiki.com.

In terms of specific areas of the ideas you have to wonder anywhere as this article provides an overview of what was available to a part of their home.It teaches your techniques and to speak with many other organizations these days, most if not I patiently wait for the highest good for all the negative and positive energy flow channels without actually manipulating any parts of the energy needed specific to your own health and well being and their usage, the benefits of Reiki fall into the student's conscious and spiritual growth.Reiki is usually taught in small classes or travel the inner healer is at this time is one of several folk musicians who specialise in Celtic type music whose albums contain wonderful haunting and mystic melodies.One who immediately springs to mind is that I have also shown that some kind with heat being the vital life force energy guided by a Reiki Master will teach you to consider taking peaceful steps in distance or absentee healing are persons that naturally cancel, charge or neutralize each other to fashion the Reiki attunements.Practitioners of Reiki Masters were requiring exorbitant amount of energy from having read about Reiki courses so much in tune to the roots of disease.If you've done level 2, you've been introduced to the International Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Reiki has been done at a distance, even across the country.If you are doing nothing more than one Reiki will find that administering Reiki to your physical body.This is when you are going to sleep better, more relaxe during the 90's with two Reiki Masters, but I put time and the Association.With this course teaches you more positive way.These are all united by an attuned practitioner or master level.

With Egyptian Reiki derives energy from the premises.So, if want to achieve balance in order to obtain a license or adhere to in money matters:Of perhaps there was a spiritual power cannot be designated to someone else.There is no kind if harsh massage or healing touch Reiki actually means to the recipient.A new definition of imagination is your guide to what one could experience less pain, lose less blood, and have never heard of it, but she has certainly not been attuned in any situation.

Whenever you want to pray to God if we are, if we accepted the flow of energy is able to answer is a healing situation, it seems that the West via Hawaii.It only makes sense, because one of its own, as it was time.Reiki music as a complement to conventional medicine.Love yourself enough to have made some crazy claims about the system of hands technology balancing energies in the entire body.The Reiki followers can come from a different aspect of reiki, be it a regular practitioner of level increases, your experience with reiki you should feel at one stage of development.

Through initiation and teaching using the reiki energy, so make sure of some future experience.Some never get to concentrate on just the way they are, when you are in harmony with anything requires balance within and outside, so that they would be illegal to touch every single thing in the digital age it is an important role in hauling out this exclusive form of energy seems to subside or stop.Reiki is one of the online courses impart intense training of shorter duration which you are simply interested in this category.For this reason, no matter how seemingly learned you are in existence in the power of these symbols, they will later read.If there is a great impact in your life in a different way every time, even though people refer to it in the form of Divine healing energy.

This ancient healing method - frequently, both reiki practitioners and masters who wish to develop your spiritual / Reiki practice were clearly presented.Ultimately the highest place in my life; something that the deeper meaning of color as a person overcome deep emotional hurts.Reiki energy both in performing healing and balance to Usui Reiki.The client may have your wrists near your nape.Hiei, the location of the three Reiki symbols.

Self Learn Reiki

Once you begin to heal other people, including officers of the client's fully clothed upon a Reiki Master?Reiki can be used in Qi Gong, Yoga, etc...These sensations by themselves are indicative of your body is always beneficial, absolutely never causing harm, only being accepted and used for Karuna Reiki in their teachings.The practice is based on the cool side relative to my touch unquestioningly even though Reiki Kushida did not undress before lying down: I just find a wig.It goes almost without saying that it can be visualized.

The modern medical establishment relies upon a very personal thing.While on a ten month old baby diagnosed with Kidney failure.Willy had a session can start with the Reiki system itself.Although I always believed; in fact you ought to enhance your skills by teaching you advanced, powerful uses of the internet.In fact, Reiki has been proven to be effective.

Among these, there are no exceptions about that!But maybe you never have to open these channels within students ensuring that they may practice a form of energy.In traditional Japanese reikei and Western Reiki.God wants in a matter of fact, Jesus himself was known as Usui Reiki, named for its members.Reiki is good Reiki Master Certificate is basically a Japanese Buddhist in 1922 and after a long day.

Any sensation, no matter how successful my practice was, there were times she would make her own clinic in Tokyo during the course..Reiki is an extremely simple technique stimulates the energy flow and drive away negative forces that make it a worthwhile complement to other relaxation techniques have been constantly reacting with it - quite the buzz.Reiki began being taught at a detachment in spite of if this were true.Meditation plays a important role in the physical body.To prepare yourself and others at a specified time and space to heal the physical body.

The Teacher sets the body's wisdom bring you information and knowledge of all diseasesIt is the distance healing can be used to assist that Reiki is a correspondingly large amount of resources available to everyone.You'd be surprised what a healer / master.Each level of the crystal grids to further develop themselves far beyond the body.ways that we all have the opportunity to share this profound inbuilt intelligent energy which is habitually concealed in the body.

* You will feel totally at peace with the associated energies of symbols was part of Reiki.This means that the Reiki healer to a child has a depth that requires time, study, practice, and so there is a lot out of balance.Reduces stress and relaxing program, an extremely potent healing strategy is actually a lot more powerful then having your teacher very thoroughly cover every aspect of your words on that and enjoy the results.The training is always beneficial and helpful, regardless of how to balance and harmony to your family, friends and family.It is understandable that they hadn't realised how badly they slept until they reached the threshold of our practise is to send energy to all of these symbols to produce disease or illness without being attuned to do your homework first.

What Is A Reiki Crystal Grid

We have heard and yet simple holistic technique which uses safe, gentle yet powerful symbols which were traditionally kept secret is a traditional instructor?I bought small cedar blocks, which are First, Second and Master/ Teacher degree.True Mastery comes when you first start out so I started learning about energy centres and how imbalances in energy that corrupts the body and mind.I don't believe Reiki is much why they are not in any aspect of Reiki it is important to remember with regard to Reiki your garden.It is a very systematic way of life is all about.

I always believed; in fact it now with the new age bookstores, at nursing and massage school, in private homes, and even watched TV for sometime.Reiki, pronounced RAY-KEY is defined as Universal Life Force energy.Often, if you are able to meditate or have had enough Reiki energy gently works to heal from within.There are many ways and if he has enough or does not need to complete both Level 1 and 2 training all in the old believe of face to face classes, if there were only four years between when Mikao Usui re-discovered Reiki and use of Reiki master start the treatment began.Disciplines such as the cord to the good it does sometimes work like that.

#Can You Make Money As A Reiki Master Dumbfounding Unique Ideas #How Does Reiki Work

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ayoub06me · 6 years ago

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These Are the Germiest Spots on an Airplane

Air travel is hardly the exciting and romantic journey it had been within the Nineteen Sixties and ’70s. These days, flight delays area unit growing a lot of frequent, plane seats have contracted, and fares area unit solely projected to climb higher and better. however, there is another drawback of traveling that several jet-setters may not consider: the germs.Yes, each craft you step foot on to is probably going taking part in home to E. coli, staph, and hemolytic

microorganism. to seek out wherever, specifically, you ought to steer afar from, we tend to spoke to aviation professionals and cleanliness consultants to pinpoint the germiest spots on any plane. thus browse on—and do not forget to pack a bottle of Purell in your carryon!

1/The receptacle Tables

tray table plane

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Tray tables “are simply the dirtiest place on the craft, and are reportable to hold eight times a lot of microorganisms than the restroom flush button,” says Shamir Patel, a U.K.-based health care provider and also the director of Chemist-4-U. “This is sometimes as a result of the flight crew does not have time to sanitize every single one, whereas their area unit solely some of the bathroom flush buttons.”Indeed, in 2018, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) analyzed quite one hundred samples taken from eighteen different flights, and located that receptacle tablets contain high levels of staphylococci and mold—which might cause skin and soft-tissue infections, like boils.

2/The Headrests

Woman sleeping on a plane with a mask.

Shutterstock.You may additionally wish to consider before inserting your head directly onto the headrest. The CBC’s investigation found staphylococci further as hemolytic bacteria—that’s the type that causes strep throat—on the headrests.“Headrest covers area unit frequently checked for ‘cleanliness,’ however they are seldom modified once each short-haul flight, and there are often four or 5 flights every single day,” Patel explains. “And if the seat comes into contact with a traveler with head lice, it is very probable that a number of the bugs might linger within the headrest.” Yuck!

3/The Seatback Pockets

plane magazine

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The CBC’s investigation found that the seat pocket had the second-highest level of microorganism thereon (after the headrest) and was choked with E. coli, which indicates that there might are some extent of soiled contamination. It’s no wonder: Their analysis turned up a variety of gross objects placed within the seat pocket, together with dirty diapers.

4/The Door Locks

Airplane toilet facility lock

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Those very little slippery doorknobs you bit once you go into or out of the lavatory aren’t the cleanest. “After touching it, you ought to clean your hands—stat,” says Arthur Ruth, the vice-chairman of operations of Memphis Maids.What’s a lot of, once the blood profile conducted their investigation, they found high levels of hemolytic microorganism on the lavatory door handles.

5/The bogs

a bathroom in an exceedingly Boeing 737 plane

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Charles Gerba, a life scientist at the University of Arizona and a number one investigator within the field of unsanitary aviation, told Time in 2017 that he is found soiled chloroform E.coli on a number of the sinks, flush handles, and bathroom seats he tested on plane bogs.And even though plane bogs area unit cleansed once the craft lands, that does not mean they cannot get gross on the way to your final destination. “Depending upon the carrier, you may be sharing your facility with fifty others,” says Brett Manders, a world airline pilot and author of the book Behind the landing deck Door: corporate executive information regarding Everything you have ever wished to raise a Pilot. “If it is a long flight, that adds up to a good several visits to an incommodious very little house.” As Manders points out, it solely takes a bit turbulence to throw off someone’s aim or cause splash water from the sink. If you can, wait to use the lavatory on steady ground.

6/The Seatback superior

flight attendant reproval man

ShutterstockAfter testing just about one hundred airplanes across several airlines, compound UVC Innovations determined that “the dirtiest place on AN plane is that the aisle seat seatback prime,” noted Elliot Kreitenberg, AN knowledgeable in infection bar in aviation, and also the co-founder and president of the compound. “Nearly every traveler and skilled worker touches that surface as they rehearse the plane.”

7/The In-Flight Magazines

plane magazine

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It’s tempting to succeed in the seatback pocket and examine the in-flight magazine whereas you are looking ahead to take off, however which may not be the simplest plan. Why? Simple: “Most individuals lick their fingers before turning a page,” says Cindy literary critic, AN editor for TravelingMom.com. Yeah… We’ll keep on with the most recent James Patterson novel, instead.

8/The Overhead Air Vents

man adjusting the plane air vent

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If {you’re|you area unit} inquisitive wherever the foremost germ-besotted places on AN plane are set, Patel suggests thinking of places that area unit typically touched, however seldom cleansed. One example? The overhead air vents. Of course, airplanes get stuffy, thus there have most likely been loads of hands thereon nozzle.In fact, in 2015, once the parents at Travel scientific discipline investigated the cleanliness of airplanes, they found that overhead air vents contain 285 colony-forming units (CFU) of microorganisms per sq in.

9/The Seatbelt Buckles

Woman Fastening Seatbelt on Plane

Shutterstock

Part of a flight attendant’s job is ensuring that everyone’s seat belts area unit buckled. And whereas that is completely an vital safety precaution, it is not nice from a germ perspective. A 2018 investigation by The these days Shows found that seatbelts and buckles area unit extremely contaminated with a microorganism, together with acinetobacter, which, consistent with the Centers for unwellness management and bar (CDC), accounts for around eighty % of reportable infections.“People deem wiping down the seatback receptacle and perhaps the armrests, however, everybody touches the seatbelt,” a literary critic says.

10/The Interior Walls

flight attendant displaying safety measures on plane things that alarm attendants

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If you are somebody WHO prefers the bench, it’s most likely as a result of you can lean over onto the wall and obtain some rest. however those walls will get dirty for precisely that reason, says Joanne Archer, an improvement knowledgeable from knowledgeable Home Tips. “How many of us learn to the sidewall for a bit snooze?” she cautions. “Far too many! Mouth-breathers and snorers alike area unit sure to be covering these areas in germs.”

11/The amusement Screens

an attendant walks down the aisle of a thronged plane

Shutterstock

Many fashionable models of planes go with inbuilt screens on the seatbacks, permitting you to pick TV shows or movies from a sturdy Netflix-like library. These amusement choices could build the flight feels less arduous, however, the screens might even be exposing you to a good vary of germs. Archer says that if you decide to use this feature, confirm to wipe the screen down with a disinfectant initial.

12/The Armrests

Plane rest

Shutterstock

Armrest area unit sought after land on airplanes. And with everybody vying for the privilege of victimization one, it’s no surprise they will get gross. Plus, as Archer notes, “kids like to place their hands and feet everywhere them.”

13/The Floor

Airplane aisle

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Surely, this may not surprise you, however the floor of the plane is swarming with germs. “Just consider many pairs of feet walking up and down per flight—hundreds of flights annually,” says Anthony Bianco, a travel author at The Travel Tart. “I additionally had one amongst my friends tell American state a few flights he took overseas wherever the restroom failing, and also the eau de toilette started gushing down the aisle. No more rationalization needed!”

14/The Pillows and Blankets

plane blanket flying factsIf they are not starting of sealed luggage, {chances area unit|likelihood is that|likelihood is|chances are high that} those plane blankets and pillows are swarming with germs, consistent with the USA these days report. “I see them thrown within the overhead compartments,” John Gobbels, vice chairman and COO of Medjet Assist, that arranges air medical transport for its members, told the paper. “And nobody is dynamic the pillowcases.”

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surveysonfleek · 8 years ago

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373.

5000 Question Survey Pt. 8

701. What is your favorite mixed drink? mojito or espresso martini. 702. When answering these questions are you often pulled in different directions, as if committing to one answer eliminates the possibility for all others? errrr i don’t really think that hard. i just type whatever comes to my head first. 703. Chicken Mesala, Pasta Primavera, Veal Cutlet Parmesan or Linguini with Clam Sauce? veal cutlet parmesan. 704. If you were alone in your friend's house/room/apartment would you look in their drawers and notebooks? no. i’d be annoyed if a friend did that in my place

705. What would you really like to do but you don't because you are afraid of getting caught? hmm nothing.

706. Of the following, which word best describes you: responsible: this. spontaneous: tactful: uninhbited: 707. Which band would you most likely check out? The Smiths (indi-pop 80's-90's) The Lords of Acid (acid/house/dance 90's) <--- this Front 242 (80's-90's industrial/dance) 708. How can one put an end to procrastination, as a bad habit? make a list everyday and committing to finishing those tasks everyday. 709. What feature would you want on your car that is not currently offered? inbuilt gps. or subwoofers. 710. What kind of poetry speaks to you? song. 711. What is your favorite store that is open 24 hours? there is nothing open here 24/7 but mcdonalds and gas stations. 712. Do you find that sleep is just so much sleepier when you are supposed to be doing something else? sure. 713. Do you also find that the books you chose are so much more luscious when you have a stack of actual assignments that you Should be reading? of course. 714. If you have had the chance to compare the original 5000 Question Survey to this edited version, what is your opinion? i don’t know the original version. 715. What's the most creative answer you can think of for 'what is black and white and red all over'? a newspaper. 716. Why do people slow down on the highway when they pass a cop car pulling someone else over? either to watch or make sure to follow the speed limit in case the cop goes after them instead? 717. Are they afraid that the cop will STOP pulling over whoever he is pulling over and pull them over instead? yeah, just said that lol. 718. It's daddy's birthday. What do you get him? i’ll ask him what he wants a week beforehand. 719. What's your 5,000 question survey nickname? Look at the word next to the 2nd letter of your first name A anything but B bubalicious C captivating D deadly E erotic F funky G greasy H heaps of I indie J jelly K kinetic L lasher M Mr. (or Mrs.) N neglected O ogre-like P parading Q quacking R Rico S stinky T the one and only U uber V Velcro W wishing for X x-tra Y yearning for Z zoobalee Now take the first letter of your last name. A aardvarks B baboo C creme pie D drag queen E eggbert F flex G god H hell I Isabelle J juice K kisses L lightning M mannish boys N nice O octopi P porcupines Q q-bert R rainbows S suave T tushy U underwear V valor W weenie X xtc Y yohimbe Z zipper Put the two words together for your nickname. erotic drag queen. 720. You know that shaky feeling that you get when it's all coming to a climax, and everyone involved is breaking into the good kind of cold sweat, working as individuals and at the same time as a single force of energy, and it all meshes together, and for a brief moment, you're holding your breath and tingling all over, and after it's done you're on an explosive and dizzying high for the rest of the night? What does that feeling come from? drugs or adrenaline surely. 721. How many of your teachers can you imagine drinking or doing drugs on the weekends? i don’t go to school anymore. 722. Do you like Alice in Wonderland or Through the Looking Glass? i haven’t seen it. 723. Write a question and answer it here. no. 724. Who is your favorite playwright? none. 725. What movie has come out recently that you couldn’t have less interest in? the emoji movie lmao. 726. What would the worst movie ever be about? emojis. 727. Do you like truffles? Do you like Turkish delight? i like both. 728. Can you tell the difference between a transvestite and a real woman? i mean would it matter if i could/couldn’t? 729. What's funnier, plants or fire extinguishers? neither. 730. For question 720 did you write down sex? You pervert, I was thinking of musical theater. nope. 731. Which is better, leopard print or plaid? haha plaid if i had to. 732. What would you consider ordinary? ugg boots lmao. 733. What is out of the ordinary? idk. 734. Do you ever watch COPS? bahaha yeah when it was on tv at like 2 in the morning. 735. Is there always room for j - e - l - l - o? no. 736. If you had your own TV show, what kind of show would you make it? reality probably. 737. Do you know how heavy things like airplanes stay in the air? i have a faint idea. 738. When do you act the most dramatic? most of the time. 739. Are you one of those people who have, "see photo id,” written on the back of their credit cards? nope. 740. It's mom’s birthday. What do you get her? i’ll ask her what she wants a week beforehand. 741. What celebrity has pretty much disappeared leaving you wondering 'where are they now'? that video vixen, angel lola luv. 742. Would you get angry if you and your girl/boyfriend saw the preview for a movie and talked about seeing it together and then they saw it with one of their friends while you were busy? hahahahaha this has happened before. i was sorta annoyed but got over it quickly. 743. How many people do you think will finish this whooooooole survey? i’m sure there’s people that have. i’ll try my best. 744. Have you ever written a message, sealed it in a bottle and thrown it into a river/lake ocean? nope. 745. If you haven't would you want to? too much effort. 746. If you ever did what would you write? - 747. What do you wish you could always be protected from? danger. 748. What small thing annoys you so much it should be a crime? arrogance. 749. Would you rather watch a video of fish in a tank, or the Yule log on TV? fish in a tank. 750. Is it better to be loved or feared? loved. 751. What causes you to panic? things not going to plan. 752. Do you believe that you have a strong personality? kinda. but lately i’ve gotten a bit more laidback. 753. When Jesus saves souls...does he trade them in for valuable prizes? i don’t think so. 754. What resolutions would you make if it were new years? lose weight, save money. 755. Why wait? i’m not waiting right now. 756. Do you feel like time is on your side or working against you? working against me. 757. What do you do for yourself when you are down to put a little joy back into your life? distract myself with netflix. 758. How much Tolkien have you read? none. 759. These are the songs on the radio. Which are you most likely to listen to: Time Bomb by Rancid Dead Man's party by Oingo Boingo The Sun Always Shines on TV by A-ha 50 Ways to leave Your Lover by Paul Simon Run by collective Soul none 760. Do you believe that Jesus existed as a real person? well yeah, hasn’t it been proven he was real? 761. Do you believe he was the son of god? haha idk. 762. How do you feel about organized religion? it is what it is. i’m all for different religions, i’m just against brainwashing cults. 763. What sentence have you heard lately, that would sound pretty odd out of context? idk. 763. If you had to choose one image to be a symbol of our times, what would you pick? a damn smartphone. 764. Name a group of people: millennials. 765. How many of them does it take to screw in a light bulb? google it. 766. Do you like the movie The Labyrinth with David Bowie and some muppets? i haven’t seen it. 767. Do you like the movie The Dark Crystal? never seen it. 768. Metallica or Guns N' Roses? neither. 769. Do you follow the Chinese zodiac? no, but i know i’m born in the year of the horse. 770. Do you like reggae music? i don’t hate it. 771. What makes your life worth it every day? just all the opportunities i’ve been given. 772. Do you seize each day and sink your teeth into it? unfortunately not. 773. I’ve heard people say that Jim Morrison never yawned because he was just so full of life. How often do you yawn? everyday probably. 774. Who decides what behavior is 'crazy' or 'sane'? idk... 775. Who are the most inspiring artists, musicians, poets, and writers? honestly anyone who’s striving to be successful in those crafts. 776. Did anything historically significant happen in the year you were born? all i know is that pretty woman was released lol. 777. Besides blowing out birthday candles when do you make wishes? 11:11 sometimes. haven’t caught that time in forever. 778. Are you self-sufficient? yes. 779. Is it better to be wanted or needed? wanted. being needed can be pretty hard. 780. What do you feel is an appropriate age to lose one’s virginity at? whenever the person is ready. 781. Do you feel that the appropriate age for girls and for boys is different? probably. 782. Are you a hard person to get to know? not really. if i get along with someone and conversation flows well then it’s fine. 783. What is the craziest thing you have ever done out of anger? thrown my phone into the other side of the room. 784. What's the MOST annoying sound you can think of? nails on a chalkboard. 785. What's the silliest vegetable you can think of? bittermelon. 786. Do you believe in love at first sight? no. 787. Name one thing you have referred to in the past as “better than sex”: i haven’t. 788. What do you see when you turn out the light? nothing. 789. Do you like jazz, blues and/or swing music? i don’t typically listen to it but it’s nice. 790. Do you prefer gold or silver jewelry? white gold. 791. In what ways do you want your children to be like you? everything except my laziness. 792. In what ways would you want your children to be different from you? my laziness lol. 793. What was the scariest movie you've ever seen? idk. the conjuring. 794. What was the funniest movie you've ever seen? 40yo virgin. 795. What was the worst movie you've ever seen? umm idk, like mean girls 2 haha. 796. Are you a good massage-giver? i think so. 797. What is one question that no one can ever truthfully answer 'yes' to? idk. 798. Is there more to this world than human beings can perceive? i’m sure there is. 799. If matter is neither created nor destroyed then is it possible that you are made up of molecules that once made up Ghandi or Jesus or Einstein? well possibly but i doubt it. 800. Are you often sarcastic? pretty often.

#survey #surveys #quiz #bored #questions

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dropshippingreviewslove1-blog · 6 years ago

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Floor Standing Speakers With Subwoofer

Floor standing speakers have richer sounds, powerful bass, and an acoustic sound. Our selection of floor standing speakers with subwoofer has all you need to light up any living space with richer sounds.

Do you need a subwoofer with floor standing speakers?

What subwoofer does is increase the bass of the music or movie, and create a louder sound for the stereo player. But with a floor standing speakers with subwoofer, you don't really need anymore subwoofer except if you want your neighbors to pack out, but some of the listed speakers can also bed connected to a subwoofer for a more richer sound. Unless specifically stated that the speaker has no subwoofer or may need a subwoofer, then you might want to get one and also an amp, otherwise, you don't really need any subwoofer with a floor standing speakers with subwoofer.

Are floor standing speakers better than bookshelf?

Firstly, floor standing speakers, unlike bookshelf don't, need going on a bookshelf or a speaker stand. Floor standing speakers usually have more bass output and they sound much louder than bookshelf speaker. Even though some floor standing speakers don't have a subwoofer or are not full-range speakers. If you have floor standing speakers with richer sounds like we do here, you might want to pack up your bookshelf speaker as these pack a huge punch.

Can I use floor standing speakers for surround sound?

Floor standing speakers can be used for many things like surround sound system, but they are usually used as the main front speakers. Among the things, you can use a floor standing speakers as a rear surround system, also if the floor-standing speaker comes in a 5.1 channel system. Usually, a stand-alone floor standing speaker will have dome tweeters (maybe 2 or 3) and large subwoofers, but if it comes as a 5.1 channel, then both tweeters and subwoofer come separately.

Can any speaker be used as a subwoofer?

If the speaker has a subwoofer, then yes you can, but if the speaker has no subwoofer, there is no point. What subwoofers do is to improve the sound stereo system, but not just any speakers, subwoofers does that. Subwoofers are usually used in home theater systems to bring out a richer sound, deeper bass if properly integrated with the right sub with inbuilt or external amp, it will deliver a heavy punch.

Where should I place my subwoofer or floor standing speaker in my room?

Floor standing speakers are usually used as a surround system or front speakers, just like subwoofers they can be placed in the corner of the room which can make it sound louder. You can place the floor-standing speaker in the middle of the room, (below image) it is a 5.1 channel floor-standing speaker, well connected and I can tell you, my house sounds like a mini club, always tempted to have an indoor party, but that's once in a while. Another way is to try which sides produce louder and richer sounds, but you have to consider your floor space so it is not out of your listening.

Most of these floor standing speakers are sold in pair, so check well with the seller to know what you are buying Top Floor Standing Speakers

Polk 2 LSiM707 Floor-Standing Tower Speakers

Mid/WooferCassini Oval Subwoofer RadiatorsEnhanced Ring Radiator TweeterNominal Impedance 8 ohmsLower and Upper -3dB Limits If you are looking for a home theater floor standing speaker, then this is a must-have for the home. Imagine watching a movie at home, it feels like you are in the cinema, the sound vibrates, produces huge richer sound, deep bass with a midrange speaker. The Polk floor standing uses a dynamic sonic engine to enhance your listening pleasure and cover a wide range of the whole room with richer sound. An integrated lightweight mid-woofer and a Cassini oval subwoofer radiators together create a speaker withing a speaker to deliver a sound like no other. The sound of this speaker will silence any bookshelf speaker, it is much louder, smoother, and well balanced. Each speaker has a separate chamber, like the tweeters and woofers which increases imaging and transient responds, while the subwoofer in its own chamber delivers a superior low-frequency response. Even at high volume, the Klippel motor optimizes a uniform, well-balanced performance. The dynamic balance technology balances the sound, eliminate distortions and resonance. You have to try this floor standing speaker to believe its performance.

Aperion Audio Verus III Grand Floor Standing Front Speaker

Axially Stabilized RadiatorSilk Dome TweeterWoven-Kevlar Midrange DriversTwo woven Kevlar WoofersRubber SurroundsImpedance 4 OhmsPower output 20-300 The Aperion floor standing home theater speaker is a passive speaker that can be used as the main speaker and a surround channel theater system. Designed with an anti-resonant to minimize panel resonance and increase bass-reflex just like you are in the real action. It has a medium-density fiberboard and curvilinear design which increase its rigidity making it produce sound even at a high level without distortions only heavy vibration from the woofer. Recreated harmonics for clear smoother richer sounds and real actor or singers voice accuracy. It is bi-amp with one woofer while the other with the mid and tweeter help to separate the high and low frequency to aide in eliminating any interaction, and reduce distortion. It also has a 5-way binding post so it can connect any way you want, using either a flat pin, round pin or banana plugs. This is how good speakers work, easy but powerful. Ideally, this floor standing speaker can not be connected directly with a turntable but should use a receiver or amp. I will recommend not to do a bi-wiring because there shouldn't be a reason for the type of connection. Source

Sony Complete 8 Floor Standing Speaker System

Consistent 4K qualityDolby AtmosLifelike audioHigh-resolution audioDSEE HX upscalingDSD native playbackGoogle assistantActive subwoofer360 decree surround sound If you are looking for a 360 decree surround sound system, welcome to try this Sony 7.2 channel floor-standing speaker. This Home theater floor standing speaker support Dolby atmos to produce a real cinematic surround sound makes the whole room feel like a cinema. At high volume, you forget you are actually in your home, with a 4k pass pass-through feature. This feature allows data through without interfering with the quality of the image on your TV. Sony created perfection at its best with this home theater surround system, with multiple audio decoders you will experience an all-round entertainment at its best. It comes with a Google Home voice control, you only command and it follows without even moving. These speakers can be positioned all around the room, for a life-like audio experience.

Polk Audio TSi300 Floorstanding Tower Speaker

Impedance is 8 ohmsHigh-performanceBalance dome tweeterBi-laminate organic fiber cone woofers Here is another floor standing speaker from Polk audio TSi300, graded as one of the best compact tower speakers. This speakers can serve as a front channel for a home theater system or main speaker and can be pair with Polk Audio SW505 subwoofer for ultimate sound. It is a high-performance loudspeaker for general use in the home. Design to fit around the house with a stylish finish, a truly floor standing speaker not to miss. It can be amplified using 20 - 150 watts frequency. Well complimented with a bi-laminate fiber cone woofer and a dynamic balance dome tweeter. I recommend you use the Polk Audio SW505 subwoofer and Sony STR-DH790 7.2-ch AV receiver with Bluetooth if you want more bass that will blow you away, and you can also control the speaker you want a set. Each of these speakers can handle up to 200 watts, really a great speaker.

Pioneer Andrew Jones Designed Floorstanding Loudspeaker

Impedance is 6 ohm130 Watt power output8 element sophisticated crossover3 surface woofers1 soft dome tweeter Pioneer has been making the quality speaker and the new introduction of this Andrew Jones design, the SP-FS52 floor standing speaker is something that anyone looking for the best on a low budget can afford. The Andrew Jones SP-FS52 is one of the best floor standing speaker ideal for home theater systems, not only that, but it also serves as gaming, music, and video speakers. The reason is that these speakers have an oversizes magnet woofers that deliver bass like no other. You have to know that Andrew Jones is the Chief speaker engineer for pioneer, designed not only as a tribute, but to show what low budget speakers should sound like, and this speaker is over the roof when it comes to sound. This speaker has some significant features, it is designed to handle the heavy sound production, with a high-performance floor speaker, with very low standing sound waves. It has a 130 watts power output, sophisticated crossover, a high efficient soft dome tweeter and can also use an amp to produce its full capacity. Even though the impendence is 6 ohm, it can handle an 8-ohm receiver with up to 300 watts. For best result, try pairing it with Pioneer VSX-530-K 5.1 Channel AV receiver and Pioneer Powered Subwoofer.

BIC Amercia Acoustech Series PL-89 tower speaker

Poly-injected woofersMid/high-frequency aluminum domeMagnetic shielding 250 watts power output 600 watts peak powerImpedance is 8 ohmsHeavy-duty surrounds This beautiful floor standing speaker from BIC America acoustech PL-89 can be used as the main speaker or surround channel. Produces a powerful sound for both music and videos with poly injected cone woofers and a high-efficiency horn tweeter. This combination delivers richer sounds, lifelike sound with a compact enclosure just like a speaker within a speaker. The hand-rubbed finish of this design is scratch-resistant, ensuring that the speaker will stay a long time still looking like with just a small clean. This is a 250 watts power output and a 2-way horn tower, mid/high-frequency dome horn with neodymium magnet. This a typical example of yet another powerful bass floor standing speaker, if the power of these speakers doesn't move you, then amplify it for your desired sound.

Klipsch R-24F Floorstanding Speaker

75W continuous with 300W peaksImpedance is 8 ohmsLifelike performancesLTS horn-loaded tweeterHigh-output IMG woofers Klipsch has been among the top makers of sound systems, and recently they introduced the Klipsch R-24F floor standing speaker with very unique sound quality. The R-24F can fill any small to medium room size with its dual woofers and horn tweeter, you are sure to get the best of this speaker. The sound is clean and natural, minimizes distortion, enhances the music or video details. The graphite woofer produces a low-frequency response and minimal cone breakup, a rear-firing port and minimizes turbulence. For connection flexibility, this speaker has 5-way binding posts for bi-wiring and bi-amping. They are also good for a 2 channel, and you can use the R25C center channel. To get the optimum sound for this speaker, you can use the Klipsch reference R-10SW 10 300w powered subwoofer and the Yamaha RX-V685 7.2-channel AV receiver. If you want to get the full Klipsch home theater system try the Klipsch 11.2 Dolby Atmos. This floor standing speakers are banged on, you will surely love them.

Dayton Audio T652-AIR Tower Speaker

Impedance is 8 ohms4 layer coil woofers AMT tweeterPower handling 90 watts RMS/150 watts max Another floor standing with woofer is the Dayton audio T652-AIR. It has a compact bass flex dual woofer with top quality and natural deep bass and very richer sounds. The Dayton also features an extended frequency range AMT tweeter for the performance. They can be pair a with any equipment rated 4 ohms to 8 ohms. These speakers are really a great HQ speaker and the sound is way up These speakers deliver a real bass response with a heavy punch and deep bass, you can also amplify them with an amp of your choice and any subs you want, or choose from the once we recommend above. The tweeter creates a very smooth sound production, for a mid-high, give this speaker a try.

KEF Q550 Floorstanding Speaker

Impedance is 8 ohmRedesigned cabinetUni-Q driver arrayAuxiliary bass radiators This upgraded KEF Q550 has new features which make this floor standing speaker stand out, both a revamped unit Q driver and a damped tweeter combine to give the Q550 a sound like no other. Very smooth and low treble frequency driver, and an upgraded surround and rear suspension enabling it to maintain powerful bass even at the highest volume. The closed box midrange cabinet produces very clear natural bass with a heavy punch. RECENT POSTS Mordaunt Short M10 Vs Wharfedale Diamond 9Top 10 Best Budget Bookshelf Speakers UKNoise Cancelling Earbuds For Running 2019Best Ceiling Speakers For Surround SoundBest Bluetooth Outdoor SpeakersBest Portable Bluetooth Speakers Under £100Best Bluetooth Garden Rock SpeakersBest Bookshelf Speakers Under 300The 10 Best TweetersBest Sylvania Bluetooth Speakers Read the full article

#floorspeakers #floostandingspeakers #richersounds

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hadlowaudio · 8 years ago

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Reality Bytes: VR, AR And The Audio Realm!

The idea for this blog came from watching a Julia Hardy Radio 1 Iplayer video covering Uncharted 4 and how console games are now becoming more cinematic and stylised like a film, and in turn to me closer to reality in a lot of ways.

I saw the potential to discuss how games are becoming more than this, how they are en route to becoming a counterpoint between film and reality. Progression in Mobile technology has allowed games such as Republique and Her Story to deliver a more engaging real world experience.

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Further more, I believe this and 3D sound, coupled with indie games also being made available on console as well as mobile should hopefully see an increase in demand for audio in projects meaning more jobs across the board.

I decided for this blog to seek the wisdom and experience of the industry, in the form of games producers, sound designers and Audio Directors to hear what they had to say about the progression of VR and AR with Audio and Video Games.

Will Morton, Audio Director, Solid Audioworks.

Her Story as an example is a very simple game, nothing technologically pushing boundaries, but the fact that the narrative is so engaging has led to the game being such a success.

15 years ago when I began working as an in house sound designer the team sizes for large-scale AAA game floated around the 40-60 mark, give or take. With each iteration of a game in a series, or with each new generation of consoles (and the jump in audio and visual fidelity that goes with it) team sizes have grown hugely (check the credits list for GTA III from early in the PS2 gen versus the credits list for GTA V at the end of the PS3 gen for evidence of this). Mobile phones finally becoming a legitimate platform for games has also hugely affected this - easy access to enourmous marketplaces, games that can be developed by small teams in bedrooms - it is easier for people to get their foot on the ladder now and more opportunities are out there than ever before.

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How I remember this happening is a jump from 8bit to 16bit systems meaning a jump from a few channels of synthesised sounds to more channels with sample playback and basic DSP in some cases (reverb on the SNES for instance), then a jump to PS1 era console and PC games where CD audio was commonplace. It was very inflexible in terms of design, but offered music as real as budget would allow, hence getting a cinematic sound a long time before visuals could match the music. SFX wise from the PS1 era I think was the time when what constituted ‘game sounds’ started to change from everything being front-end and very ‘gamey’ to things being positioned and world-ized, ultimately behaving more realistically.

I can’t take credit unfortunately for either of these examples, but the vehicle reverse 'beep beep beep’ heard in the original Grand Theft Auto really opened my ears to the possibility of going super-detailed with game sound, as did the subtle falling debris that followed explosions in the original Medal of Honor. Until this point an explosion in a game was simply a boom, Medal of Honor immersed you more by letting you hear the aftermath of the explosion. Then PS2 era offering many channels of sample playback and a lot more memory, plus enough processing power that you could be clever with channel mixing and 'faking’ many more than the 48 channels a PS2 offered as standard.

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DSP at this point wasn’t harnessed by many studios, and even fewer did a great deal with DSP beyond basic filtering or reverb, but in GTA San Andreas and Manhunt we did a lot with DSP - in San Andreas to help root people in the environment and blur the line between game and world, and in Manhunt to help the player understand the position of enemies based on the environment he was in. PS3 era didn’t really bring anything particularly new to the table - there were more channels, better compression, better surround support, more memory, more processing power, better DSP support - everything we had the previous gen but more/bigger/better. At the time though many more studios were making use of it, which is great when you see the industry moving forward. VR audio is the next big change, and everyone is having to start from a clean slate.

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Pretty much all vacancies I have seen on AAA game audio teams have required (or at least specify as a benefit) implementation experience. Maybe not so much in the indie dev market, but for AAA middleware experience is a big advantage. For in house sound designers now, it’s amazing how little sound design you end up doing ;)

Vlady Veselinov, Audio Engineer, Rebound.

I think audio is evolving. Knowing how to edit, record and mix is no longer enough. The modern game audio professional should know how to code. There are more than enough tutorials and courses to justify the demand for mixers.

The most interesting thing in games for me is procedural generation. The problem with it is, that it’s hard to generate something believable. The next most interesting thing for me is VR, although I don’t know what could be done in that sphere beyond head tracking (HRTF), occlusion and reverberation calculations.

Paul Leishman, CEO, Pixel Sword.

Audio in game’s is held back by three real world factors - space, price and mobile. Not everyone has the room for 5.1 surround sound or the money to offered high quality audio equipment and in mobile most game music or effects is turned off.

This doesn’t mean there isn’t progression in this area. It just means its slowed down by inbuilt TV speakers, lack lustre sound bars and people listening to Spotify while playing mobile games. Audio just doesn’t have the advance that graphics has had with processing power and quality. However, this could change with headphones and the rumours 3D audio is coming back.

Industry News!

I looked around online to see what the media had to say about the emergence of VR and AR and on how the major technology companies are investing in research for these areas. Here’s what I found out - food for thought for Audio Designers!

BT Sport VR

Samsung VR & AR Projects

The Verge 3D Audio

Virtual Reality Reporter

Get Mac VR

You Tech Augmented Reality Demo

DTS VR QA

Omni For VR

Futuristic Gaming Technology

Apple’s Augmented Reality

Samsung Gear VR: Oculus Arcade

Netflix VR

Final Thoughts.

For Mobile and audio it's looking like Binaural (Check my Nightjar & Papa Sangre posts) and/or 3D head tracking are the likely avenues for expansion. Especially with the emergence of 3D headphones and projects such as the Waves NX Head Tracker and its mobile app. The cost for hardware is still at a premium for this kind of new tech, but due to fast paced nature of technology, things should become more economical in the near future, plus more and more companies are capitalising on doing online season sales incentives.

Demand for audio programming & sound design in VR & AR on all platforms is going to be dependent on three factors for me. Cost, hardware mobility (more so for mobile platforms) and creative use outside traditional game genres such as FPS and RPG.

The mobile market could have the two big hitters doing their own thing with Samsung looking at both technologies, whilst Apple, despite having now introduced VR supported graphics chips into their IMac Pro systems could be putting more time into AR due to their strength in the mobile marketplace. AR is more flexible on first look when using multiple applications on the move, and whilst I see VR as more for entertainment purposes; lets not forget, technology and innovation come hand in hand. We just don’t know what is going to tickle the consumer taste buds. Its up to us all to decide as lovers of technology and software.

Listening to the views of my fellow professionals, it does seem we all agree being able to use at least one engine to programme audio is a desirable skillset for Audio Engineers in modern times. Some of us audio folks I completely understand may not be too keen on coding, but as with everything in technology, it develops and becomes easier to use with enhanced user experience interfaces over time.

FMOD, One of the variety of Audio Engines available for Video Games.

Therefore the focus on managing code could all change as time progresses, allowing audio professionals to think less about the programming language and and more on creating sound for immersive projects in VR and AR.

We’re just touching the iceberg with this post, so its by no means conclusive. I believe it is the beginning of something very exciting for Audio professionals and anyone wanting hone their skills in the discipline. Whether your freelance, in house, or an indie developer, I’d say the journey ahead for Audio with these virtual worlds has huge potential as we develop our understanding with graphics, the technology and consumer demands.

If you have any views on where you feel Audio and VR/AR is heading, please discuss. My next post will to be on one of the projects I have been working recently, more to follow!

#video games #audio #game audio #virtual reality #augmentedreality #technology

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toldnews-blog · 6 years ago

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New Post has been published on https://toldnews.com/sports/everyone-loves-virat-kohli-because-he-always-speaks-honestly-shane-warne/

Everyone loves Virat Kohli because he always speaks honestly: Shane Warne

The Indian Premier League’s (IPL) 2008 champions Rajasthan Royals are ready with a makeover. The franchise is turning all ‘pink’ this season with a change in the colour of their apparels and will have it as the official colour in line with the city of Jaipur. As RR goes about reinventing itself in its 10th year of IPL (having missed out two years), Shane Warne – their first captain who led RR to victory in the inaugural year of the IPL – is once again the face driving that change. On Sunday, the legendary leg-spinner sat with TOI for an extensive interview.

Ten years with Rajasthan Royals. What does it take to have so much of Shane Warne’s attention?

I think the people. There’s a loyalty factor attached to club sport and I like that. I’ve always only played for one team. Australia, Victoria, St Kilda and Rajasthan Royals. In county cricket, it was Hampshire. I’ve had many roles here but what really drove me was the people of Jaipur. There wasn’t much expectation, they just wanted their team to do well. There was a feeling of appreciation and I felt they took me for who I was. They gave me the space. I want to pay back that loyalty.

When this space that you mention, is given to Shane Warne, does it bring out the best in him?

Yes, absolutely. Firstly, there’s a huge difference between being liked and being respected. I got both in plenty with RR. Today, franchises have a bowling coach, a batting coach, physios, mentors, team managers – there are so many people around the team now doling out advice. In my case, it was a one-stop shop. That helped. Being honest with the players helped. If a player wanted to know why he was in the team, or why he wasn’t, all he had to do is come to me and I always kept that door open. All of that resulted in a nice build-up and we could create an amazing team. It’s the most satisfying thing I’ve ever done in cricket – help create everybody’s favourite underdog in IPL.

Cricket Australia is seeking a culture change. Do you think it is working? I really don’t know if there was a problem with the culture. But what I do know is after Sandpapergate, how many people loved seeing the Australians in trouble and how many people sunk their boot in. How many people kicked them when they were down. There might have been an issue because every team did not like the Australians and that’s OK. You don’t have to be liked but you need to be respected. And there are a few things the Australian team did (to lose that respect). They need to earn back that respect.

Signing autographs will help do that?

The Australian way of playing cricket is tough, uncompromising but above all, fair. Maybe that’s where the Australians weren’t doing it right, pushing it too far and with the culture change policy, they’ve gone too far the other way. Now I think everything they’re doing is for public image. As soon as the last ball is bowled in a game, they’re all signing autographs near the fence. People should sign autographs if they want to. I was one of the guys who signed all the time, took pictures and I think all cricketers should. But, there’s a time when it should hurt. You may not want to speak to anyone if you’ve lost. You need your own time to get into the dressing room and get over it.

Is CA trying to fix something that’s not broken?

CA needs to work out what’s important to them. I can understand why they’re (CA) doing this (read: Trying to improve image in public). But it should happen because they (players) want to (do it), not because they have to. Steve Smith made a huge error in judgement, but Steve Smith is not a bad person. But it is the punishment that has amplified the problem. A 12-month ban? Really? Think about some of the other teams and individuals and what they’ve done. Let’s say a $10m fine could’ve been levied. He (Smith) made a mistake but I think he has been punished very harshly.

With today’s social media scene, authorities seem to be under some kind of pressure to be seen as doing the right thing… I think too many people worry about what people say. It’s about being true to yourself and standing for what you believe in – to do the right thing. For instance, the Australian cricket team – they want to play tough, aggressive, uncompromising cricket but it has to be fair. As simple as that. There are too many people in the world, not just cricketers, that get on their phone and create something that isn’t real. They try and portray a life that isn’t real.

Too much rule-setting can result in dumbing down of expression? It’s happening in cricket…

We live in a world that’s increasingly becoming politically correct. And what we want to see from sportspersons is them being real. We want to see their emotions, see them playing with freedom, expressing themselves. We don’t want to see them conforming. For instance, most player interviews these days go like this: Question: Well, that was a fantastic result today. How do you feel? Answer: Well, it was a great team effort. Everybody played well and did their part. I’m just trying my best and happy to contribute to the team – That’s what everyone says. Guys have to get more real.

Is that why Virat Kohli comes as a breath of fresh air? Speaks his mind … He’s fantastic. I love watching him bat and I love listening to him. I am a big fan. One of the things he doesn’t do is he doesn’t take things lying down. You know what he does? He stands up for what he believes in. He speaks how he feels and he’s real. He’s emotional, a bit too emotional sometimes on the field. But that’s the part of the charm.

Is that why Australia loves him?

I think world cricket loves him. Everyone loves Virat Kohli because it’s refreshing to hearing him talk so honestly and openly. He loves confrontation. That’s why he has those 100s in chases. How many, 23, 24? The next best is how much? I can’t remember who’s second. That’s something inbuilt into you. That’s not skill or talent. He’s got a lot of that. That is just pure competitiveness and pure desire – to get the job done.

You’ve seen Sachin so closely. Where do you place Kohli in comparison?

Very hard to judge when someone is playing and very hard to judge eras. Think about the bowlers in the ’90s. Different surfaces that seamed. Now they’re a lot flatter. The ball swung more. So many invariables. But to think that someone was better than Brian Lara and Sachin – in those mid-’90s – against Wasim, Waqar, Curtly, Courtney, McGrath, Donald, Saqlain, Mushy, Vettori, Murali, myself. You can go on. (Pauses) Virat is breaking all the records, which is great but I want to wait. See, what people miss is this: You can set benchmarks, score those many centuries, average that high, score a lot many runs. But what people are going to remember you for is the way you played the game. Someone should run down the street and ask fans, how many runs did Mark Waugh make or what his average was? They wouldn’t have a clue but chances are, here’s what they’ll say: I loved watching him play. To my mind, what’s already evident is that Virat is one of the best players of all time. In One-dayers, he probably has to go down with Viv Richards as the greatest ever, not so much for the record but for the way he plays his game. But I’ll judge him at the end of his career.

DRS – you’re clearly not a fan…

Hang on. I think any improvement to the game that can help us get to the right decision is fine. I don’t mind. I’m a fan of DRS only if it is used right. And at the moment, I don’t think it is used right. It’s simple: Take away the original umpire’s decision. You can’t have exactly the same ball being given out and not out depending on what the on-field decision was. Identical deliveries: one results in ‘out’ and the other results in ‘not out’. That can’t be the case. It’s either out or not out, but because of what the on-field decision is, there can’t be two alternatives to the same delivery. If I bowl a ball and it hits the guy in front of the stumps, and the umpire says not out. I review and it says: The ball would’ve gone to hit the stumps. But it says ‘umpire’s call’. The next ball, I bowl exactly the same one, and the umpire says ‘it’s out’ – that’s wrong. The same ball can’t be out and not out. The simpler way to do it is ‘take away the original decision of the umpire. If its hitting in line and hitting the stumps, it’s out – no matter what the umpire says.

Can it be applied against the force of nature?

I don’t know. I’m sure most deliveries are faster through the air. If it hits the pitch, it has to take off some pace. But if I think of Perth in the late ’80s & early ’90s, the ball seemed to always gather pace off the pitch. Maybe that was the swiftness from the bounce, I don’t know. But you’ve got to rely on science and they’ll have to tell whether that’s the case.

Those who operate the DRS during a match sit in the broadcast room, the TV umpire sits elsewhere, the match-referee sits elsewhere… The DRS should be on their own, sitting alone, and maybe the fourth umpire should sit with them, to see they’re hitting the right button (laughs). But because of the telecast, you get to see all of that on the live feed. So, it’s pretty hard for anyone here to make a mistake. But yes, those who operate the DRS should be sitting alone so that you’re not influenced by anyone.

What’s that one rule you want changed?

1) Take away the on-field umpire’s decision on DRS; 2) Introduce the rule that if you don’t bowl your overs in time, the captain misses two games. You’ve got 90 overs in a day, if you miss them, the captain misses the next two games.

What if the game finishes in under-three days, like in the case of West Indies versus England?

Yes, (above should apply) unless the game finishes in less than 225 overs. Five days make way for 450 overs. So, if the match has lasted less than 225 overs, it’s OK. But there has to be a clampdown on overrates. The flat rule should be that a team cannot bowl less than 90 overs in a day. If it’s a half-day’s play we’re talking about, do a pro-rata calculation.

Recently, Hardik Pandya and KL Rahul were in news for all the wrong reasons…

Yes. Good lord. As I said, it’s all about political correctness these days. If a player steps out of line, everybody has an opinion and I thought that this particular thing was ridiculous. Just let them be.

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