#supportive shade leads by 5 votes

[dandelionsresilience]

Dandelion News - January 22-28

Like these weekly compilations? Tip me at $kaybarr1735 or check out my Dandelion Doodles!

1. Sunfish that got sick after aquarium closed has recovered — thanks to human cutouts

“A solitary sunfish […] appeared unwell days after the facility closed last month for renovations. As a last-ditch measure to save the popular fish, its keepers hung their uniforms and set up human cutouts outside the tank. The next morning, the sunfish ate for the first time in about a week and has been steadily recovering[….]”

2. Costco stands by DEI policies, accuses conservative lobbyists of 'broader agenda'

“[Each of the board of directors and 98% of shareholders voted to reject a measure against DEI.] Costco's board wrote that “our commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion is appropriate and necessary[….]””

3. Nearly $37 Million Will Support Habitat Restoration in Coastal Louisiana

“The project will restore nearly 380 acres of marsh and construct more than 7,000 feet of terraces in St. Bernard Parish. […] Coastal wetlands help protect communities [… from] wind, waves, and flooding[… and] support a statewide seafood industry valued at nearly $1 billion per year.”

4. Cooling green roofs seemed like an impossible dream for Brazil's favelas. Not true!

“[… A Brazilian nonprofit] teaches favela residents how to build their own green roofs as a way to beat the heat without overloading electrical grids[…,] dampen noise pollution, improve building energy efficiency, prevent flooding by reducing storm water runoff and ease anxiety.”

5. Bacteria found to eat forever chemicals -- and even some of their toxic byproducts

“"Many previous studies have only reported the degradation of PFAS, but not the formation of metabolites. We not only accounted for PFAS byproducts but found some of them continued to be further degraded by the bacteria," says the study's first author[….]”

6. A father and daughter’s to turn oil data into life-saving water

“The aquifer [discovered through oil-owned seismic data], it turned out, was vast enough to provide water for 2 million people for more than a century.”

7. Trump’s funding pause won’t impact federal student loans, Pell Grants

“[… T]he temporary pause will not impact “assistance received directly by individuals,” including federal direct student loans and Pell Grants, which are government subsidies that help low-income students pay for college.”

8. In Uganda, a women-led reforestation initiative fights flooding, erosion

“[… T]he Kasese municipality has established nurseries to provide free tree seedlings, particularly to women, to support reforestation efforts. [… They] plant Ficus trees near their homesteads to provide shade and help control erosion, and Dracaena trees on their fields to retain soil moisture.”

9. [A Texas school board] votes yes to provide low-cost housing to staff at no cost to the district

“The program will include 300 homes[…] only a short commute to campuses. […] Rent will be determined on a sliding scale based on their salaries, with those making less receiving a larger discount. The proposed community would include amenities, like childcare facilities[….]”

10. Heat pumps keep widening their lead on gas furnaces

“Americans bought 37% more air-source heat pumps than the next-most-popular heating appliance, gas furnaces, during the first 11 months of the year. That smashes 2023’s record-setting lead of 21%.”

January 15-21 news here | (all credit for images and written material can be found at the source linked; I don’t claim credit for anything but curating.)

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Lauren Brennecke at St. Louis Public Radio:

The Francis Howell School District board on Thursday introduced seven controversial measures, including one that would prohibit classroom discussion on gender identity and another that would require a district committee’s approval of all books and classroom materials. The board’s decision came despite the objections of more than 100 students, parents, teachers and others who held a rally before its meeting to decry the proposals. “A society grows great when elders plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in,” said Nathaniel Basset, a Francis Howell parent who opposes the board's plans. “But the actions taken by the majority of this board are those of arsonists burning down forests to eliminate what they don't understand and fill up the world with emptiness inside of them. The proposed policies … spell the death of curiosity.”

Another proposal would allow any resident or employee in the district to ask that a book be removed from school libraries and classrooms. The book wouldn’t return to shelves until it received approval from a nine-person review committee that would include the school’s principal, teachers, a school board member and four laypeople. District employees also questioned whether school board members are qualified to make decisions on banning books. Jeff Bargielski, lead library media specialist for the district, said the book bans would create learning barriers for students.

“Some of the students face heavy, complicated issues at home,” Bargielski said. “As such, our age-appropriate book collections should sometimes address those complicated issues.” School board Treasurer Jane Puszkar said the board’s 5-2 conservative majority aims to protect students from “brain propaganda.” “We are removing the politics contained that disparage … conservative leaders and exalt those who are liberal,” Puszkar said. “Children are very impressionable at that age.” Board members had planned to include a measure barring teachers from discussing partisan, political or social issues but decided Wednesday to wait until teachers union representatives could review it.

[...] But students and parents still want school board President Adam Bertrand and Vice President Randy Cook to withdraw all of the proposals. Chelsea Freels, a 2023 graduate of Clayton High School, said she hopes her LGBTQ peers in Francis Howell schools can continue to have supportive conversations with teachers. “A threat to queer students in one place is a threat to queer students in every place,” Freels said. “We need to support each other. If we don't support each other, what are we doing?” Carolie Owens and Steven Blair, board members who are not members of the conservative majority, used the start of the meeting to ask fellow board members to introduce the policies at a later date. Four other board members declined, voting to move forward with a first reading of the proposals. Final votes could come in July.

The right-wing majority on the Francis Howell School District board have introduced several lighting-rod proposals, such as a "Don't Say Gay or Trans" rule and book-banning proposal that require a district committee’s approval of all books and classroom materials.

[ainosgarden]

HONG KONG LADY REPRESENTS!!!!! i submitted Xia Meng and i'll be damned if she doesn't make the first round!!! here are more great facts and hot pics of my favorite vintage lady:

her name literally means Summer Dream in chinese! It was a name inspired by shakespeare's a midsummer night's dream and fits her perfectly

she's about 170cm (5 ft 7) in height which was unusually tall for actresses in hk at that time. apparently some actors jokingly complained about her being too tall when she first joined the studio, but soon they were all busy wearing raised shoes so they could still act opposite her

look at her!! she's literally like a model!! perfect legs!!

it is said that in the early 60's in shanghai, people would queue up for three days and nights to see a film starring her

when she played the male lead (cross-gender acting gotta be a must-have in vintage hot lady resume) in the Yue opera (yes she can sing traditional chinese opera) movie Bride Hunter, she played a male character who then disguised as a woman as part of the plot. the gender switcheroo was apparently so gripping and convincing that many yue opera fans begged her to switch career

i couldn't find pics from Bride Hunter with a decent quality so have some pretty Xia Meng in traditional opera looks instead

you can find so many different shades of pretty in her

cute and angelic

the photo on the right is often in the "Audrey Hepburn of the East" collection and i do see what they mean. it's the brows isn't it...

a natural sense of grace and elegance

sexy and alluring

her striking beauty made her the muse of countless creative figures, inspiring novels (most of Jin Yong's femme fatales are based on her), poems, songs. but almost everyone close to her always said that her talent and wisdom were more impressive than her beauty, which really says a lot about her intellectual hotness (she's introverted and nerdy! her favorite pastime was reading and tea drinking!)

although Xia Meng was not born in hong kong (her family emigrated from shanghai during the chinese civil war), she considered hk her home and made it her mission to learn cantonese and immerse herself in cantonese culture. she's one of the very few actors/actresses of her era to be adored in both hk and the PRC, uniting a generation of audiences that were otherwise completely divided by politics (personal anecdote: my chinese mother and my hk auntie disagreed on almost everything when they first met, but then bonded immediately after realizing they both had a Xia Meng phase as teenagers trying to copy her looks)

she was a foundational figure in hk cinema history, both as an actress and later as a producer. some of the most renowned figures in the hk movie industry nowadays such as Ann Hui and Andy Lau owe their success to her early support

so PLS VOTE FOR THIS LEGEND

(SO I CAN CALL MY MOM AND TELL HER SHE MADE IT INTO THE NEXT ROUND)

Propaganda

Yvette Mimieux (Dark of the Sun; Joy in the Morning; Where the Boys Are)—She is so enchanting on screen... that ethereal presence paired with her dark, sparkling eyes gives her an almost dream-like quality...

Xia Meng, also known as Hsia Moog or Miranda Yang (Sunrise, Bride Hunter)—For those who are familiar with Hong Kong's early cinema, Xia Meng is THE leading woman of an era, the earliest "silver-screen goddess", "The Great Beauty" and "Audrey Hepburn of the East". Xia Meng starred in 38 films in her 17-year career, and famously had rarely any flops, from her first film at the age of 18 to her last at the age of 35. She was a rare all-round actress in Mandarin-language films, acting, singing, and dancing with an enchanting ease in films of diverse genres, from contemporary drama to period operas. She was regarded as the "crown princess" among the "Three Princesses of the Great Wall", the iconic leading stars of the Great Wall Movie Enterprises, which was Hong Kong's leading left-wing studio in the 1950s-60s. At the time, Hong Kong cinema had only just taken off, but Xia Meng's influence had already spread out to China, Singapore, etc. Overseas Chinese-language magazines and newspapers often featured her on their covers. The famous HK wuxia novelist Jin Yong had such a huge crush on her that he made up a whole fake identity as a nobody-screenwriter to join the Great Wall studio just so he can write scripts for her. He famously said, "No one has really seen how beautiful Xi Shi (one of the renowned Four Beauties of ancient China) is, I think she should be just like Xia Meng to live up to her name." In 1980, she returned to the HK film industry by forming the Bluebird Movie Enterprises. As a producer with a heart for the community, she wanted to make a film on the Vietnam War and the many Vietnam War refugees migrating to Hong Kong. She approached director Ann Hui and produced the debut film Boat People (1982), a globally successful movie and landmark feature for Hong Kong New Wave, which won several awards including the best picture and best director in the second Hong Kong Film Award. Years later, Ann Hui looked back on her collaboration with Xia Meng, "I'm very grateful to her for allowing me to make what is probably the best film I've ever made in my life."

This is round 1 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut]

Yvette Mimieux:

Xia Meng:

[megaera-of-pigeon]

✨March Manwhore Madness✨ Official Commentary—Day 5

Goooooood Morning, Nikkiblrs! This is your host, Megaera, coming at you live for your morning update. Yesterday’s polls finished as anticipated in last night’s update, with Gray Raven and Qin Yi advancing on in the competition, while Wenren Dian and Chloris ending their Manwhore Journey here. Interesting things ahead for our winners, as Qin Yi will move on to the quarter finals matched against reigning Manwhore, Caprico, whom he placed second to in the previous competition. Can he bring a different energy to the contest this time and secure his win? And Gray Raven will be paired off with an equally strong competitor, Zhu Yuxian. Two devilish smirks should make for one interesting round!

Up next in the Shining League, we have a very fun match that’s expected to be quite close—if only because the two gentleman on the voting block today are ones that the greater nikkiblr likely has no strong opinions about either way, if they remember who they are at all. That’s right, it’s the battle of the background men! We have Bass, a semi-famous musician in Miraland who has popped up as an occasional opponent in the main lore storyline as well as a few event stories. You may also recognize him as a sometimes customer of Nikki’s nail salon. Against him we have Shawn, a quarrelsome young man who has accomplished such things as trying to steal Momo from Nikki, and having a low rarity reflection (art featured in the competition!). He’s known for being rude and manipulative, although the maintains devoted to his girlfriend. Neither one is your typical Manwhore candidate—which should make deciding between them all the more difficult! We spoke with the individual in charge of setting the contestant list, and their reasoning for including such underdistinguished side characters in the running was summed up as “Bruh, I just couldn’t think of enough men from shining Nikki to fill the brackets”. Hard hitting stuff. Currently, both men are keeping even pace with each other. Will Nikkiblr pick a clear favorite, or will the matter come down to a handful of votes like it did on Day 2?

Over in the Love League, we have another interesting match up. Today is the day that brings Shade—the people’s general of Dawn Front, the beloved amnesiac assassin, the tragic winter soldier of our dress up game lore—onto the voting block. Shade tends to perform overwhelmingly well whenever it comes to a vote, and we’re expecting a strong showing for him today. But all is not decided yet! Competing against him is the infamous designer of the Apple Apparel Group, Joe Brownie! Joe supporters have been campaigning for him before the Playoffs perhaps the hardest out of any candidate, citing several instances in canon that would qualify him for the Manwhore title and pointing out the areas in which Shade falls short as a true Manwhore. Because we’re not picking our favorite man, here—we’re picking our favorite manwhore. Shade has established an early lead, but if Joe supporters rally in force, there just might be an upset as the day goes on.

[tolbachik-art]

Hi again!

This one has also been a long time coming, I started work on this painting almost 4 months ago! I got sidetracked with making mission patches for my friend’s YT series, doing a gift for a friend, getting sick (and still being sick!), and my laptop screen breaking. Needless to say, I am happy to be back to doing art after so long! Again, my pace of art will be dramatically lower due to my lack of energy these days. Sorry again about all that! Full quality available at my Patreon & Ko-Fi!

Patreon/Youtube/Tumblr/Redbubble/Deviantart/Ko-fi

Below the cut is a bit of backstory & an image ID.

In 1977, the Global Union of Soviet States/Глобальный Союз Советских Государств (GUSS/GSSG) launched one of it’s most ambitious programs yet; the Tsiolkovsky Program, under the Galaktika Program. Consisting of 4 probes, they were launched 3 weeks  apart each during the summer of 1977. They took advantage of the alignment of Gas Giants in order to perform a series of flybys, helping to chart the once unknown depths of the Solar System. They carried very few instruments; a few cameras (including a “citizen science” camera that allowed for the public to vote on targets of interest), a magnetometer, a cosmic ray scanner, and an ultraviolet spectrometer. This was mainly to cut costs so they could afford to include an atmospheric probe on each satellite, allowing for an almost complete understanding of the atmospheres of the outer planets.

Launching 4 successive probes in a row with a highly technical flight path helped the GSSG retain it’s image as a technological powerhouse, but of course, no mission can go without issues.

Tsiolkovsky 1′s atmospheric probe failed to decouple from the satellite, leading it to have to cut Pluto from it’s lineup due to a lack of fuel for adjustments to compensate for the extra weight. The rest of Tsiolkovsky 2 went without a hitch, allowing the public to see the images of the Gas Giants & their moons up close for the first time.

Tsiolkovsky 2 was hijacked by terrorists (sponsored by the Western Alliance), and it’s fuel was used to crash itself into Titan, causing radioactive debris to rain over a large section of its surface, potentially contaminating or killing any lifeforms there. No data was returned during this time, except a little bit of data from it’s atmospheric probe, which was released. Tsiolkovsky 3 was just able to pick up it’s signal, allowing for some of the data to be salvaged.

The rest of the Tsiolkovsky probes went without a hitch, with 1, 3, and 4 providing excellent mapping of the Uranian and Neptunian systems, and 3 and 4 also making a fairly decent map of the Plutonian system. Despite the setbacks the program experienced, it was still hailed as one of the most important programs ever launched. All 3 surviving probes contained several “indestructible” (by 1977 standards) disks, containing the sum of all humankind’s knowledge, with the hope that someday intelligent beings from other stars could learn about our society.

Image ID begins here:

5 major outer Solar System bodies are lined up in a row, with Jupiter at the left and Pluto at the right. They are all angled to a slight degree, and make an arch. Everything has a slight 3D & grainy effect. Jupiter is first, and it has intricate bands from its poles to its equator. The poles being mostly brown and having a few spots, and the middle bands being varying shades of red, orange, and white. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is also visible, sitting just below a large orange band, near the right limb of the planet. It also has a blue hue at its north and south poles. 

Next, Saturn is a bit less intricate in its bands, but it has vibrant rings that make up for that fact. Saturn has varying shades of yellowish-orange on it, with very few patterns. The northern and southern poles, like Jupiter, have a blue hue to them. Saturn also has a few black shadow bands below its equator, which are caused by its rings. There are 2 major sets of rings, with a gap between the two of them. They are shades of brown, with some slight scuffing on parts of them.

Next, Uranus is a light blue planet with very little detail. There are some white clouds near the edge of the planet, which is because of temperature differences since Uranus orbits on its side. It also has a pair of rings, but they are much fainter, and orbit around the terminator of the planet.

On to Neptune, it has much more detail than Uranus, and is a deeper shade of blue than Uranus. It has about as much detail as Saturn, with very little variation in the bands, which are mostly shades of blue. It has two Great Dark Spots, one of which is much smaller than the main one, which is again on the right limb near the edge of the planet. It has no visible rings.

Last but not least, Pluto sits at the very edge of the screen. It has a much more detailed surface than the Gas Giants, because it is composed of rock and ice. It is also much smaller. It has varying shades of brown on its surface, with features such as Tombaugh Regio visible, which is a white-ish shaped heart region. Other features are visible, such as craters and canyons. On the terminator, there are some slightly visible outlines of craters and canyons as well.

In the forefront, there is a large probe with a gold hexagonal body, a white antenna, and brown bottom. It is angled the same way as the planets. The brown bottom is the atmospheric probe, which is connected to the main satellite with a few grey connector pieces and a few small orange dots. The main satellite body has a grey body which connects down into the atmospheric probe, while the rest of it is a gold foil. On the top left is a magnetometer, which is a long grey metal rod with a grey metal disk on top. On the bottom right is an RTG, which provides the probe with energy. Its a grey rectangle with dark grey rectangular fins jutting out from it, with a flat top. It has a round bottom, connecting itself to the main probe. On the front of the probe is a flag bolted into it, which is red with a gold stripe on the left of it. In the middle is a stylized hammer and sickle, with a star just above it. Down and to the right of that are some instruments. There is a circle with a grey rim and a line going down the middle of it, two mini cameras above it, and a metal strip with another mini camera and other instruments below it. On top is the antenna, which is mainly just white with a few grey pieces supporting it from the main body of the probe. On the very top of the antenna another support piece can just barely be seen.

Below everything a red bar with a white top, with gold text on it reading “Tsiolkovsky 1977-2002″. Next to that is a blue logo with a white rim around it, with a galaxy and red text over it, reading “Galaktika”.

Image ID ends here.

[fadebolt]

Personal room rankings:

1 - Outer Expanse: RUIN14 2 - Glacial Wasteland: C09 3 - Silent Construct: H01 4 - Submerged Superstruct: CORE 5 - Glacial Wasteland: EDGE03 6 - Metropolis: ShelterTrain1 7 - Outskirts: B14 8 - Shaded Citadel: OVERHEAD 9 - Sky Islands: B10 10 - Garbage Wastes: TOWER14

Extra comment: This one was a difficult choice, as I don't feel like any of the options really stands out from the rest. I suppose RUIN14 is the most interesting one of the bunch, but honestly, you could very easily convince me that an another room would be way more deserving of a vote (which is not RUIN14's fault, I just really like the stuff that rooms like C09 and H01 are doing).

One thing I find somewhat interesting here, is how the most common choices were actually the most simple rooms (with the exception of that aforementioned OE room). As you might have observed, the support that smaller and more simplistic rooms receive on these polls is rather inconsistent. That's very much a given, considering the nature of the polls, but I do find it interesting how on this one, they were very much favored, whereas the CORE of Silent Construct and E05 of Primordial Underground didn't really succeed in avoiding elimination (despite them also being small and simple, but cool and special, just like ShelterTrain1 and CORE from Submerged). It's a fun thing to think about, for sure.

Oh, and since this one has the final GW room, which is also a room from the past version, I'm thinking it's about time to tackle its last bonus, which is….

TOWER03! Now, the issue here is that I've recently examined some region art pieces, and something strange has come to my attention. The region art of Waterfront Facility looks an awful lot like Garbage Wastes, and so I went ahead did some room examinations……

This part of F01, a room from Waterfront Facility, which is an entirely different region than the one that the previous screenshot is from. So yeah, I'm sorry, but I just can't unsee it anymore. WF and past GW were copying each other's homeworks, and they often didn't even bother to change up some things, to cover up the fact that they copied each other. I do get that the rooms near the GW gate are meant to intentionally resemble, well, GW. A lot of other regions have rooms near gates that are also designed to resemble the region that the gate connects to (you can even see WF doing this for the second time, near the gate leading to Struts). But you aren't supposed to be this blunt and excessive about it, especially when you factor in that my example (F01, in this case) resembles a bunch of GW rooms that are also near karma gates themselves. And just take a moment to contrast it with how Shoreline has designed its GW resembling rooms, and how much easier it is to tell that they're from a different region. Even just having a different shade of color for the background, water and rubble, will already do quite a lot to set two areas of the map apart, and make them both recognizable as their own unique thing (I do appreciate the background plants being blue in one, and green in the other, but that's simply not enough).

Anyways, this isn't TOWER03's fault at all, but this is pretty much the last opportunity for me to make this huge tangent under these polls, so I took it (cus there's just no way a TOWER14 is winning a poll in the third round). The room itself is mostly unremarkable. It has sort of set itself apart from other nearby rooms, by having the water and the Leeches as a much more important part of it, but the place didn't really do anything interesting with that concept. This region does have a ton of eccentric and dangerous rooms, so it is certainly a nice change of pace to have a room that's a little more on the 'chill' side, if you will. But you'll need a lot more if you want to stand out in the showdown, and win, so I'm simply handing this an average score of 5/10.

Pick Your Favorite Rain World Room, Day 263.2 R3

This is not single elimination! Every room with at least 10.0% vote will move on to the next round.

There is a hidden slugcat in one of the rooms (they can be in any color). If u can see it comment or reblog with where they are and if u are first, u get a cookie!

Credit for game screenshots goes to: Rain World Interactive Map, Rain World Wiki and me

Congratulations for day 262 winners!

[theparanormalperiodical]

The Real Story Behind Suspiria (2018) And The 5 Other Paranormal Places You Need To Know About

It’s the classic Hollywood story:

Girl moves to a different country to pursue her dreams of stardom.

Girl auditions for dance academy.

Girl is selected as the new host for the head witch of a coven.

Oh and there’s some Nazis in there as well!

Okay, so maybe it doesn’t fit in the Netflix Rom-Com section…

But regardless - it is all based on a series of true stories. 

It was only last year that a remake of the 1977 art classic - Suspiria (2018) - hit Amazon Prime and a handful of theatres. And joined at its hip was a flurry of top-rated reviews that swooned over its artistic rehashing of the horror genre.

Well, I say top-rated...

For a horror movie it faced a standing ovation, but it was still on the receiving end of many a ‘meh’. 

Nevertheless, fit with an intricate plot and fleshed out with garish gore, this is undoubtedly one of the best horror films of this decade. 

(It it here that I realise that we are about to enter a new decade and I feel like lying face down on the floor and having an existential crisis.)

And it turns out that it’s twisted plot is actually set against a very real backdrop.

Yet despite the intricate set of stories providing the foundation to this tale, Suspiria rarely wears the ‘based on a true story’ label.

Sure, one of the writer’s own stories is often discussed when it comes to this film, but the reality actually goes much deeper and much further than this.

For the last week I’ve been attempting to keep us with the winding story, but it is little discussed, well, anywhere. 

Nevertheless, I’ve brought together everything I could uncover, and present to you this complete guide to the real story behind Suspiria!

Today’s post will cover the essay that served as the main inspiration, the tale it is directly based on, and the paranormal phenomena of magic triangles that support it, too.

Let’s get spooky.

First, Let’s Recap The Plot Of Suspiria

It’s the 1970s. We are in Germany, near the tripoint-border of Switzerland and France.

The main chick from 50 Shades of Grey rocks up to, like, the hottest dance academy to try her hand at being America’s next drag superstar the next big thing. 

Problem is, the academy is run by 3 matrons who worship the Three Mothers - a group of witches determined to bring tears, sighs and darkness to the world!

(mwahahaha)

When someone does call them out for being witches, they get tortured and killed.

Oh, and it all happens through the medium of dance!

No, seriously. 

All the big moments of the plot coincide with dance numbers.

It’s like the prom scene in films about high schools, or maybe the big game!

Anyway - this new kid gets voted as the host for the freshly elected head witch of the coven. And accurately, the other witch who wanted to be elected isn’t happy.

When one of the dancers gets kidnapped, a fellow student investigates, and finds clues in her journal which leads her to the witches’ inner sanctum.

This is where the witchy stuff goes down.

They #roadtrip it to the inner sanctum, and find the kidnapped student who is being used in a ritual.

And this all happens at the same time as the prom big dance! 

The ritual ends up being done incorrectly, and the new kid is possessed by the Jeremy Hunt of the witches.

The possessed new kid then avenges anyone who didn't vote for them. 

This witchy-posessy-death-fest ensues and features as a part of the big dance. 

Witchy control of the dance academy ensues. 

TL;DR - just watch an episode of Dance Moms.

Suspiria Is Originally Based Off The Essay Suspiria De Profundis

The film might be traced back to many paranormal phenomena, but the basis for the film starts here in 1845.

Thomas De Quincey, the author behind Suspiria De Profundis, wrote a collection of short essays which centre on psychological fantasy. 

It is even believed that he wrote these essays based on his own visual experience of Opium; this clearly births the artsy-fartsy nature of the film.

However, it was a screenwriter’s use of these essays to create the original 1970s Suspiria which tied all the strings this post will talk about together.

The inspiration from the essay centres on the three witches known as The Three Mothers. 

And even though this seems a small literature-based link to the film, Argento expands the focus on the Three Mothers to other paranormal phenomena that mirror this.

And this paranormal phenomena includes The Magical Triangle - a region in Europe where occult communities come together and paranormal events are amplified.

However, it turns out that there is not just one magic triangle.

There are five. 

But before we take a roadtrip round all these triangles, we have to discuss the story that directly influenced the film.

Nicologidi’s True Story That Inspired Suspiria

So, we know that Argento’s knowledge of paranormal phenomena directly influenced the film...

But it’s the other screenwriter - Nicolodi - which has a story which directly mirrors the events of the film.

Well, to an extent, that is. 

Nicolodi’s Grandmother went to a Piano school in the area Argento is so obsessed with, and the Grandmother claimed that at this school they practiced black magic.

Clearly this is a simple tale not dissimilar to the other films toting ‘based on a true story’.

However, it’s how Argento expanded this to include other paranormal phenomenon that rightly bestows upon it this classic - and often misused - tagline. 

Argento’s Magical Triangle

“There’s very little to joke about. It’s something that exists…”

Argento clearly based Suspiria on real paranormal phenomenon. 

And it starts here, with The Magical Triangle

It is claimed that the area where France, Germany and Switzerland meet has a history closely linked to the occult.

Whether it’s cursed cathedrals or the collection of occult communities, this triangle was one of the core pieces of inspiration for the flick.

And one of the factors contributing to the occult-focus of this triangle is the teachings of Rudolph Steiner.

(note - this is not steiner in this gif)

Steiner - a social reformer and occultist - created a anthrosophic community in this area. This includes the Waldorf School which was rumoured to have practiced both paganism and satanism, mirroring Nicolodi’s story and the film itself.

Unfortunately, I can find very little information on this triangle itself.

But the other magic triangles I have discovered have received their own fair share of attention.

The 4 Other Magical Triangles You Need To Know About

There are 2 other magic triangles in Europe, alone.

And both actually come together and meet in Turin - a city which is considered a hub of supernatural activity.

The first triangle of these triangles is the Black Magic Triangle:

This includes San Francisco, London, and Turin, and its history dates back to the Roman Era.

Said magic is believed to come from the energetic currents that flow through the cities, with Turin staking its claim as the most magical - and this is because Turin is supposedly suspended between good and evil.

The white magic triangle involves Turin, Lyon and Prague - and all I can find on it is this:

It is claimed that ‘those who know’ go to this area to pay homage to the ‘grand old man’ - make of that what you will..

This magical and mysterious area is further inferred by Turin’s position on the 45th parallel.

“Turin is the place where my nightmares are best.” - Argento.

Yes - that quote is from Argento, confirming the influence of multiple magical triangles in the creation of Suspiria!

And why wouldn’t his nightmares be best here?

This Italian city has witnessed its own history of paranormal events and phenomena, and is even believed to house the hidden gate to hell.

Take the Piazzo Statuto:

Not only has it seen a bloody battle back in the 18th century, it’s angel statue represents the dichotomy between the good and evil Turin allegedly contains.

The angel can also look like the devil, and even bears the mark of a 5 pointed star.

Turin also is claimed to have once housed alchemical labs underground with rumours of metal being converted to gold, a myth relating to the legend of the Philosopher’s stone which has its own paranormal associations.

Ghosts have also been said to roam the streets, such as that of Christine Marie who pushed past lovers into the river to drown.

#brutal

The final paranormal phenomena of Turin I want to discuss is that of Palazzo Trucchi di Levaldigi.

Fit with a hell-inspired door-knocker, this is yet another reminder on the mish mash of magic triangles spread across the world.

Indeed this building is the city’s tarot manufacturer. And the building number? It’s 15.

The tarot card with the no. 15 is the card of the Devil.

The 40,000 satanists rumoured to be lurking the streets of Turin and performing rituals in basements confirms its mysterious existence further.

Our next magical triangle is probably the most famous mystery in existence:

The Bermuda Triangle.

This triangle deserves it’s own post given the sheer volume of evidence, debunking and discussion given to its name. Nevertheless, it further reinforces the reality behind Suspiria.

Also known as the Devil’s Triangle, this is an area from which travellers who sail or fly through often go missing.

The recorded occurrences began in 1950 with the loss of Flight 19.

Whether it’s the claims of UFOs, or the lost city of Atlantis’ technology, this triangle be a spooky one. 

Our final triangle is a little less international, and resides in the state of Massachusetts in the US of A:

It’s the Bridgewater Triangle.

Named by paranormal investigator Loren Coleman, this 200 square mile triangle has been a home to many a creature in its time.

From a huge black dog back in 1976, to tall, winged creatures, and even Bigfoot, this is a hub for paranormal sightings.

Weirder occurrences such as mutilated cattle have also been discovered, confirming that Suspiria’s story goes much deeper - and further - than we would like…

The True Story Behind The Three Witches

The last piece of paranormal phenomena we have to discuss is that of the Three Witches. And no, Suspiria isn’t the first piece of pop culture to make note of witches coming in threes.

Sure, Shakespeare beat Thomas to the chase with the Weird Sisters in Macbeth, but three is actually a very spiritual number. 

Clearly the most obvious claim to this is the Holy Trinity: God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost. 

But mirroring this is the stages of the moon; the concept of Mind, Body and Spirit; and Mother, Maiden, and Crone.

The last trinity points to pagan beliefs regarding the seasons, but also relies closely on their perspective of witches, particularly in British folk religions. Witches were often believed to come in threes, and contained a mother, a maiden, and a crone.

And thus, as triangles have 3 corners and 3 sides, we see how a link is forged between the 3 witches in Suspiria, and the magical triangles already explained in this post.

This is especially true given the importance of a triangle as a symbol in paganism.

Whether its derived from paranormal theory, or sought from the tales of terror lurking around the world, Suspiria isn’t just based on 19th century literature. 

Indeed, it has pointed us to a paranormal phenomenon - that of magic triangles - little discussed among us mere mortals.

So - what’s your verdict?

Do you think Turin is haunted by the clash between good and evil?

And who else wants to roadtrip round the triangles with me?

[markoftheasphodel]

The New Dawn of the Golden Deer

A retrospective on the Verdant Wind route and its home characters is substantially more difficult for me, personally, to construct because it lacks the overt resonance with earlier games that allowed for Azure Moon’s descent in through FE1/3/5/8, etc. But here goes nothin’...

Part of it is the not unfair sense that the Golden Deer are the catch-all house of Garreg Mach compared to the thematic cohesion of the Blue Lions. The five nobles all bear a King Lear-themed naming scheme that’s slightly obscured in the localization, but it doesn’t appear to mean much of anything. The three commoners are distinctly “common” without the complicated ties to nobility that their Blue Lion counterparts all bear. While Dimitri was a known quantity to most of the Lions before they all enrolled at the Academy, Claude is very much an unknown to his fellow Alliance nobles. That’s part of the point.

If we take Claude’s big motivational speech to his House at face value (and there are reasons we should and yet shouldn’t), the actual through line of the Deer is separate people coming together as one, so we’ll roll with that as a starting point. How do they manage it? Well, the Deer are for the most part A++ in terms of character development-- not the revelation of sad and traumatic backstories, but development beyond where we first find them. 

Hilda, in the face of actual responsibility, grows out of her cocoon of deliberate idleness to be Claude’s right-hand-woman, her ability to delegate and to get others to do work turned into strengths. Lorenz grudgingly adapts his persona of the perfect noble to be more in-keeping with what people actually want and need in a leader (and what a lady wants in a nobleman!), without surrendering his actual core identity. Marianne faces up to the literal Beast of her family history and moves past it, finding value in herself and her life. Ignatz, also hobbled by guilt and low self-worth initially, matures into a thoughtful and capable young man with contributions of value to the Deer war councils. Lysithea perhaps leans harder on the “backstory revelation” than upon onscreen development and Leonie and Raphael are arguably the least developed of the Deer. I’d vote for poor Raphael as the worst-written of the lot, as the decency and humanity we see in his supports and Paralogue is still buried under “muscles” and “food” even in Endgame. 

And then we have Claude, a Fire Emblem protagonist unlike any other to date. Whereas Dimitri is unquestionably in the mold of previous FE princelings, Claude has more in common with a different lineage of character, the Snarky Sniper who often serves as a peer rival or frenemy of the Lord. Said “archetype” dates back to Archanea’s Jeorge, who also stands as the progenitor to a line of characters one might call “Wandering Nobles”-- Lewyn, Elffin, Joshua, etc. Claude, with his deliberate obscurity about who and what he is recalls Jeorge on both counts, and his pride in his stratagems can’t help but recall Innes, the Strategician Prince/peer rival of Ephraim’s from FE8. Innes, though, was quite straightforward in his goals even if his methods could be shady (spy networks, etc). Claude’s means and his end goals are both veiled; from the start we learn we can take nothing at face value including his smile. You can probably count on your fingers the number of times Claude reveals the unguarded and unvarnished truth to anyone.

Fortunately, Claude is able to harness his practiced charm to get and keep the other Deer on-board with his leadership even if he doesn’t trust them with the actual secrets of his full identity or his ultimate goal. I’ve been in FE fandom long enough to see several waves of fans clamoring for a “cool” lord like Joshua, and well... Claude has arrived. And he is, indeed, quite the charmer as well as quite the schemer. I must say I love him, even if his current status as a memelord misses the point (Claude, ever conscious as to his image he projects, would not do many of the things meme!Claude gets up to, sorry).

Claude breaks new protagonist ground even as his character “type” traces back to the dawn of Fire Emblem. Lorenz provides a superb example of the rival/foil to the protagonist-- as Innes to Ephraim, except both Claude and Lorenz fully acknowledge the game. Hilda gives us a noblewoman deft at wielding “soft power” and a reluctant adjutant to Claude who succeeds beyond her own expectations. Marianne steps beyond the shadow of her backstory to show genuine growth. The same goes for Ignatz, though he perhaps treads too hard on the “soft archer boy” trail already defined by Ashe. Lysithea takes the image of the pale-haired, sweets-eating gremlin/loli and gives it some heft, Leonie hits against barriers of class and gender expectation while making a surprisingly shaded portrait of an apprentice in thrall to a flawed master, and Raphael... was done dirty by the developers.

That’s the Golden Deer for you. What does it all mean, beyond the ideal of a bunch of disparate characters coming together under one banner to bring about a new dawn for the continent? Well... I’m not really sure, not least because the Deer don’t entirely understand the scheme Claude’s roped them into! Verdant Wind provides a great counterpoint to Azure Moon in that, thanks to Claude’s own zeal for getting to the bottom of things, we learn things that Dimitri and his route simply weren’t interested in. It’s an engaging crew of characters on a mad adventure that includes magical ICBMs, an underground city with a classic Star Wars/TRON aesthetic, and a final smackdown with the reanimated corpses of legendary heroes.

In the end, though, it didn’t have the sheer emotional resonance for me of the Dimitri and his Blue Lions-- perhaps because its parts are insufficiently tethered to the hoary “archetypes” of FE in a way that Azure Moon handled brilliantly. Or, perhaps because Claude’s reliance on Byleth instead of Lorenz and/or Hilda as his main partner in crime was dragged down by the fact Byleth isn’t really a character. On Azure Moon, Byleth’s presence isn’t enough to eclipse that Dimitri’s posse deeply love and deeply fear for their prince; it’s really the story of the redemption of the Holy Kingdom of Faerghus, whereas in Verdant Wind Claude makes a chessboard of all Fódlan and the nations beyond, a breadth of scope that does indeed evoke Genealogy of the Holy War even if the Deer themselves don’t summon many spectres of Jugdral.

In the end, neither really works in a vacuum. Azure Moon is deeply, viscerally felt and fails to ask, much less answer, many basic questions. Verdant Wind holds the entire spectacle at arms’ length while digging for answers that lead to more questions that lead to some very strange places. As two halves of the same coin, they make an interesting pair. But they are not, of course, merely two halves, as we now have another house to join and two more routes to consider...

[endangered-justice-seeker]

'I Work 3 Jobs And Donate Blood Plasma to Pay the Bills.' This Is What It’s Like to Be a Teacher in America

Hope Brown can make $60 donating plasma from her blood cells twice in one week, and a little more if she sells some of her clothes at a consignment store. It’s usually just enough to cover an electric bill or a car payment. This financial juggling is now a part of her everyday life—something she never expected almost two decades ago when she earned a master’s degree in secondary education and became a high school history teacher. Brown often works from 5 a.m. to 4 p.m. at her school in Versailles, Ky., then goes to a second job manning the metal detectors and wrangling rowdy guests at Lexington’s Rupp Arena. With her husband, she also runs a historical tour company for extra money.

“I truly love teaching,” says the 52-year-old. “But we are not paid for the work that we do.”

That has become the rallying cry of many of America’s public-school teachers, who have staged walkouts and marches on six state capitols this year. From Arizona to Oklahoma, in states blue, red and purple, teachers have risen up to demand increases in salaries, benefits and funding for public education. Their outrage has struck a chord, reviving a national debate over the role and value of teachers and the future of public education.

For many teachers, this year’s uprising is decades in the making. The country’s roughly 3.2 million full-time public-school teachers (kindergarten through high school) are experiencing some of the worst wage stagnation of any profession, earning less on average, in inflation-­adjusted dollars, than they did in 1990, according to Department of Education (DOE) data.

Meanwhile, the pay gap between teachers and other comparably educated professionals is now the largest on record. In 1994, public-school teachers in the U.S. earned 1.8% less per week than comparable workers, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), a left-leaning think tank. By last year, they made 18.7% less. The situation is particularly grim in states such as Oklahoma, where teachers’ inflation-adjusted salaries actually decreased by about $8,000 in the last decade, to an average of $45,245 in 2016, according to DOE data. In Arizona, teachers’ average inflation-adjusted annual wages are down $5,000.

The decline in education funding is not limited to salaries. Twenty-nine states were still spending less per student in 2015, adjusted for inflation, than they did before the Great Recession, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, leaving many public schools dilapidated, overcrowded and reliant on outdated textbooks and threadbare supplies.

To many teachers, these trends are a result of a decades-long and bipartisan war on public education, born of frustration with teachers’ unions, a desire to standardize curricula and a professed commitment to fiscal austerity. This has led to a widespread expansion of charter schools, which are publicly funded but privately operated, and actions such as a move in the Wisconsin legislature in 2011 to strip teachers’ pensions and roll back collective bargaining rights. This year, Colorado lawmakers voted to raise teachers’ retirement age and cut benefits.

As states tightened the reins on teacher benefits, many also enacted new benchmarks for student achievement, with corresponding standardized tests, curricula changes and evaluations of teacher performance. The loss of control over their classrooms combined with the direct hit to their pocketbooks was too much for many teachers to bear.

The wave began in West Virginia, where in February and March some 20,000 teachers walked out across the state. Educators there—who made an average of $45,701 in 2016, according to the DOE­—refused to enter their classrooms until the state met their demands to fully fund insurance benefits and increase salaries. Instead, they marched on the capitol, passed out bag lunches for low-income students who normally rely on free school meals and watched as public support flooded their way. After nine school days, lawmakers caved and approved a 5% wage increase. Weeks later, the specter of a similar strike led Oklahoma lawmakers to pass the state’s first major tax increase in nearly 30 years to fund raises for teachers who still walked out for more funding. Teachers in Kentucky and Arizona—both GOP-leaning states—followed their lead.

But teachers faced opposition at times from state and federal leaders. In April, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos criticized striking teachers, suggesting they were failing to serve their students and urging them to “keep adult disagreements” out of the classroom.

And when school was out for the summer, the teachers’ momentum was blunted. In June, the Supreme Court ruled that public­-sector unions can’t mandate fees from nonmembers—a decision that experts estimate could cost influential teachers’ unions money and clout. And in August, the Arizona supreme court blocked a ballot initiative that would have added $690 million annually to state education funding.

Teachers are out to regain the upper hand. Some have already gone on strike in Washington State, and others are threatening to do so in Los Angeles and Virginia. And they promise to turn out in force for November’s midterm elections, where hundreds of teachers are running for office on platforms that promise more support for public schools. They have also sought to remind the public that they are on the front lines of America’s frayed social safety net, dealing with children affected by the opioid crisis, living in poverty and fearful of the next school shooting.

Read more about what it’s like to survive on a teacher’s salary

Recent polling suggests teachers have the public on their side. Nearly 60% of people in a Ipsos/USA Today survey released Sept. 12 think teachers are underpaid, while a majority of both Republicans and Democrats believe they have the right to strike.

“We have to organize even harder and even broader,” says Los Angeles teacher Rosa Jimenez. “People are fired up.”

When Elaine Hutchison’s mother started teaching in Oklahoma in 1970, she made about $7,000 a year. In 2018 dollars, that’s roughly $45,000—nearly the same salary Hutchison, Oklahoma’s 2013 Teacher of the Year, now makes after a quarter-century on the job. Hutchison, 48, is a fourth-generation educator whose daughter also plans to become a teacher. She says she never got into teaching for the money, but, “I do want to be paid what I’m worth.”

Since the first U.S. public-school system was established in Massachusetts in 1647, many localities have struggled to pay teachers and searched for people willing to do the job for less. In the mid-1800s, California superintendent of public instruction John Swett lamented that the work of teachers was not “as well-paid as the brain labor of the lawyer, the physician, the clergyman, the editor.”

“They ought not to be expected to break mental bread to the children of others and feed their own with stones,” Swett wrote in 1865, foreshadowing arguments still made by teachers today.

Teaching has long been dominated by women, and experts say the roots of its relatively low pay lie in sexism. “The ‘hidden subsidy of public education’ is the fact that teachers for many years were necessarily working at suppressed wage levels because they really had no options other than teaching,” says Susan Moore Johnson, a professor of education at Harvard and an expert in teacher policy.

In 1960, teaching was more lucrative than other comparable careers for women, according to the EPI, but that was because of limited opportunity, not high pay. As women were admitted to other professions in wider numbers, choosing teaching carried a cost. For example registered nurses—another career historically dominated by women—make far more than teachers today, earning an average annual wage of $73,550 in 2017, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Nursing shortages in some parts of the U.S. have led to signing bonuses, free housing, tuition reimbursement and other perks, while teacher shortages have contributed to some states increasing class sizes, shortening school weeks and enacting emergency certification for people who aren’t trained as educators.

Nationwide, the estimated average public-school teacher’s salary is now $58,950, according to the National Center for Education Statistics—a respectable income in many locales, but actual wages vary widely by state, and often do not track with costs of living. When compared to professions with similar education levels, teacher pay tends to pale. In 2016, for instance, the average teacher’s starting salary was $38,617—20% lower than that of other professions requiring a college degree.

The public response to the teachers’ protests shows signs of a shift in the perception of the profession. Even in conservative states, many voters backed tax increases to support public education, and called on lawmakers to stop cutting school budgets. State funding for public schools fell off a cliff 10 years ago, when recession-­wracked states slashed education budgets and cut taxes. The uprising in West Virginia seemed to mark a turning point in public support for refilling the coffers.

But like most stories, the fight over teacher pay has many shades of gray. Generous retirement and health-benefits packages negotiated by teachers’ unions in flusher times are a drain on many states. Those who believe most teachers are fairly paid point to those benefits, along with their summer break, to make their case.

Teachers, however, say those apparent perks often disappear upon inspection. Many regularly work over the summer, planning curricula, taking continuing education and professional development courses, and running summer programs at their schools, making it a year-round job. Indeed, teachers—about 40% of whom are not covered by Social Security because of states’ reliance on pension plans—must stay in the same state to collect their pensions. Studies have shown that the majority of new teachers don’t stay in the same district long enough to qualify for pensions. Even for those who do stand to gain, it can be hard to find reassurance in distant retirement benefits when salaries haven’t kept pace with the cost of living.

“Utility companies do not care that you had a great day with one of your students. They don’t care that you’re coaching the soccer team. They want you to pay for the services that they provide you,” says NaShonda Cooke, a teacher and single mother of two in Raleigh, N.C. “I can’t tell you how many letters I got this summer that said final notice.” Cooke, who makes about $69,000, often skips doctor’s appointments to save the co-pay and worries about paying for her eldest daughter’s college education. “It’s not about wanting a pay raise or extra income,” she says. “It’s just about wanting a livable wage.”

Stagnant wages are one reason teachers believe school districts across the country are facing hiring crises. This year in Oklahoma, a record number of teachers were given emergency teaching certifications, despite no traditional training. In Arizona, school districts began recruiting overseas to fill their shortfall. Last year, U.S. public schools hired 2,800 foreign teachers on special visas, up from 1,500 in 2012, according to federal data.

The pipeline, meanwhile, is drying up. Between 2008 and 2016, the number of new educators completing preparatory programs fell by 23%, according to the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education. And once ­teachers make it to the classroom, attrition is high: at least 17% leave the profession within the first five years, a 2015 study found.

Hutchison says her daughter has plans to continue the family teaching tradition, but it’s becoming a harder path for a middle-­class kid. Hutchison’s sibling—an attorney, engineer and physical therapist—all earned graduate degrees, but now she makes half of what they do. “My younger brother who’s an engineer—his bonus is more than my salary,” she says.

As the new school year gets under way, many are picking up where the spring protests left off. In L.A., teachers voted in August to authorize a strike if negotiations continue to stall over issues including teacher pay and class sizes. In Washington, teachers in several districts are already on strike, calling for pay raises to come out of newly allocated education funding. In Virginia, teachers are floating the possibility of a statewide walkout.

Brown, the Kentucky teacher, says the fight needs to happen now or never. If budget cuts and school privatization efforts continue, she warns, teaching will cease to be a viable career for educated, engaged and ambitious people. She talks about what she does not as a job but as a calling. “I’m not necessarily a religious person, but I do believe I was put here to be a teacher,” she says. “I just want to be able to financially do that.”

But to Brown, it’s not only about what she and her fellow teachers are worth, because they’re not in the classroom alone. If the public is on their side, they say, it’s ultimately because of the kids.

—With reporting by Haley Sweetland Edwards/New York

EVERY CANDIDATE running for office should be forced to address this issue. And we need to stop have these sorry ass folks moderating candidate debates who refuse to ask about this and other education issues. Why don’t they? Their kids are in private school with well paid teachers.

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Down the stretch they come! No, it’s not the Kentucky Derby — today, Kentuckians will vote for governor in their party primaries. Incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin will likely win renomination in the Republican contest despite being incredibly unpopular. But Democrats have a competitive three-way race between state House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins, state Attorney General Andy Beshear and former state auditor Adam Edelen. Beshear appears to be in the lead, but it’s unclear how big that lead really is and whether a Democrat can even still win a general election in a state that is now so deeply red.

Until Kentucky’s 2015 gubernatorial race, Democrats held most major statewide offices, and the GOP had won the governorship only once in the past 44 years. But Bevin won handily in 2015, and in 2016 Republicans captured the state house for the first time since the 1920s, giving them full control of state government.1 Thus, state politics now more closely align with Kentucky’s preferences in national races — the GOP presidential nominee has won Kentucky by at least 15 percentage points going back to 2000, and in 2016, President Trump won the state by 30 points.

All the same, Bevin (assuming he wins tonight) may still face a tough re-election fight next November. And that’s because he’s currently the most unpopular governor in the country, based on Morning Consult’s approval data for the first quarter of 2019.2 As you can see in the chart below, Bevin’s disapproval rating has been above 50 percent since the second quarter of 2018, which might have to do with his repeated run-ins with teachers, public sector unions and even his own party.

In April 2018, for example, Bevin vetoed legislation that raised taxes to expand public education spending only to have the Republican-controlled legislature override his veto while teachers rallied outside of the state capitol. He’s also made controversial comments, like when he said school closures allowing teachers to rally at the capitol may have caused children to be “sexually assaulted” or “physically harmed” because they couldn’t attend school.

Bevin’s approval numbers are even worse when you consider just how Republican-leaning Kentucky is. He had the worst approval rating of any governor relative to his state’s partisan lean,3 according to my colleague Nathaniel Rakich’s “Popularity Above Replacement Governor” rankings.

The latest ‘Popularity Above Replacement Governor’ scores

Governors’ net approval ratings for the first three months of 2019 relative to the partisan leans* of their states

Governor State Name Party Net Approval state Partisan Lean PARG KY Matt Bevin R -19 R+23 -42 RI Gina Raimondo D -11 D+26 -37 HI David Ige D +11 D+36 -25 WV Jim Justice R +14 R+30 -16 CT Ned Lamont D -4 D+11 -15 SD Kristi Noem R +18 R+31 -13 NY Andrew Cuomo D +9 D+22 -13 OR Kate Brown D -3 D+9 -12 CA Gavin Newsom D +12 D+24 -12 OK Kevin Stitt R +26 R+34 -8 UT Gary Herbert R +25 R+31 -6 NJ Phil Murphy D +8 D+13 -5 WY Mark Gordon R +43 R+47 -4 AK Mike Dunleavy R +12 R+15 -3 IL JB Pritzker D +11 D+13 -2 NE Pete Ricketts R +22 R+24 -2 IA Kim Reynolds R +6 R+6 0 ID Brad Little R +36 R+35 +1 NM Michelle Lujan Grisham D +8 D+7 +1 ND Doug Burgum R +34 R+33 +1 WA Jay Inslee D +15 D+12 +3 VA Ralph Northam D +5 EVEN +5 MO Mike Parson R +26 R+19 +7 IN Eric Holcomb R +27 R+18 +9 AR Asa Hutchinson R +34 R+24 +10 AZ Doug Ducey R +20 R+9 +11 OH Mike DeWine R +18 R+7 +11 DE John Carney D +26 D+14 +12 TN Bill Lee R +40 R+28 +12 MS Phil Bryant R +27 R+15 +12 GA Brian Kemp R +25 R+12 +13 ME Janet Mills D +20 D+5 +15 AL Kay Ivey R +44 R+27 +17 TX Greg Abbott R +34 R+17 +17 SC Henry McMaster R +34 R+17 +17 CO Jared Polis D +18 D+1 +17 MN Tim Walz D +21 D+2 +19 MI Gretchen Whitmer D +20 D+1 +19 NV Steve Sisolak D +19 R+1 +20 WI Tony Evers D +20 R+1 +21 PA Tom Wolf D +21 R+1 +22 NC Roy Cooper D +22 R+5 +27 FL Ron DeSantis R +34 R+5 +29 LA John Bel Edwards D +15 R+17 +32 NH Chris Sununu R +41 R+2 +39 MT Steve Bullock D +26 R+18 +44 KS Laura Kelly D +24 R+23 +47 VT Phil Scott R +32 D+24 +56 MD Larry Hogan R +57 D+23 +80 MA Charlie Baker R +59 D+29 +88

A Democratic governor with a net approval of +2 in an R+7 state has a PARG of +9 (2+7 = 9). If the same state had a Republican governor with the same approval rating, the PARG would be -5 (2-7= -5).

Shaded rows denote governors whose seats are up in 2019 or 2020, excluding those governors who are not seeking reelection.

* Partisan lean is the average difference between how a state votes and how the country votes overall, with 2016 presidential election results weighted at 50 percent, 2012 presidential election results weighted at 25 percent and results from elections for the state legislature weighted at 25 percent. The partisan leans here were calculated before the 2018 elections; we haven’t calculated FiveThirtyEight partisan leans that incorporate the midterm results yet.

Sources: Morning Consult, media reports

A big part of Bevin’s problem is that he’s struggling with his base. Morning Consult found in that poll that just 50 percent of Republicans approved of him while 37 percent disapproved. Compare that to the 86 percent of Kentucky Republicans who approved of Trump, and it’s understandable that Bevin is now trying to tie himself to the president, hoping to boost his numbers.

One bit of positive news for Bevin is that he avoided a high-profile primary challenge when U.S. Rep. James Comer — who Bevin beat by just 83 votes for the GOP nomination in 2015 — decided not to run. However, Bevin didn’t escape a primary challenger altogether. State Rep. Robert Goforth is running against him and even loaned his campaign $750,000 (as of early May, Bevin had raised a little over $1 million). But Goforth doesn’t seem to pose a serious risk to Bevin, at least not according to the scant polling we have: A survey from earlier in May from the GOP pollster Cygnal found Bevin leading Goforth 56 percent to 18 percent. Still, 32 percent of likely GOP primary voters said they had an unfavorable view of Bevin in that poll, so Goforth’s share of the primary vote on Tuesday could be an indicator of how strong or weak Bevin is among the Republican faithful.

But today’s main event is the Democratic race. The front-runner is Andy Beshear, the first-term attorney general and political scion whose father Steve preceded Bevin as governor. The younger Beshear squeaked out a narrow 0.2-point victory in 2015, with Bevin winning by 9 points at the top of the ballot. Since they took office, the two have been at loggerheads over many issues, including education, health care and pensions. These fights are one of Beshear’s main selling points in the Democratic primary, but Adam Edelen is running to Beshear’s left, hoping his support for abortion rights, decriminalizing marijuana and renewable energy will attract Democratic voters. And on Saturday, the state’s largest newspaper, the Courier-Journal, endorsed Edelen.

Edelen, the former state auditor, has also been on the offensive, attacking Beshear for his connection to a former aide who was convicted of bribery (however, there is no evidence Beshear knew about these activities). Edelen’s upstart campaign has also been aided by an influx of cash from his wealthy running mate, Gill Holland, and Better Future PAC, an outside group backing Edelen (primarily funded by Holland’s mother-in-law).

Meanwhile, state House Minority Leader Rocky Adkins is running to the right of Beshear and Edelen on social issues, claiming that his anti-abortion views and support for coal are more likely to appeal to the rural parts of the state where Democrats have been decimated in recent years.

Beshear currently seems to be ahead, but the only data we have are competing internal polls. Additionally, the two most recent surveys are from mid-April, so it’s hard to know if things have changed substantially in the past month. For what it’s worth, Edelen’s campaign found Beshear in first with 43 percent of the vote, Edelen in second with 23 percent and Adkins in third with 22 percent. Meanwhile, Beshear’s internal poll put him at 44 percent compared to 17 percent for Adkins and 16 percent for Edelen. So Beshear appears to be the polling front-runner, but a win by Edelen or Adkins shouldn’t be ruled out; internal polls are notoriously unreliable, the polling we do have is old and three-way races can be incredibly fluid.

Looking ahead to the general election in November, election handicappers view Kentucky as a toss-up or leaning in the GOP’s direction. Still, it’s possible a Democrat could take back the governor’s mansion. It’s early, but the pollster Mason-Dixon found Beshear up 48 percent to 40 percent in a Bevin-Beshear matchup in December. So if Bevin remains as unpopular as he is now, there could be an opening. Then again, the Bluegrass State’s politics are pretty darn red.

[airconditioningheatingplano]

Plano, Texas Travel Guide

Plano is a great place to live, work and play. From its friendly neighborhoods and beautiful homes to its excellent school system, Plano has it all.

Plano is an affluent city with a population of about 271,000.

Plano is an affluent city with a population of about 271,000. The city has been ranked as one of the best places to live in America by multiple publications and websites. Plano's motto is "A great place to call home."

Plano was voted one of the Top 5 Best Places to Live in the United States by Money magazine in 2006 and 2008.

Plano is a great place to live. It's one of the safest cities in America and has been voted one of the Top 5 Best Places to Live in the United States by Money magazine three times, most recently in 2006 and 2008.

Plano was also named America's Top 100 Places to Live by CNN/Money Magazine, which cited its "excellent schools" as well as its "easy access to Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport." The city offers plenty for families with children including an extensive park system (including some great playgrounds), an excellent recreation center with pools and ice skating rinks where you can skate year round! You'll also find many festivals throughout the year celebrating everything from arts and crafts to music festivals featuring local bands like The Polyphonic Spree! If you're looking for something more adventurous than just hanging out at home then try kayaking down Coleto Creek Park where you can take your own boat or rent one there instead! Or maybe go hiking along White Rock Trail which leads through forested areas before ending up at beautiful Lake Highlands Park with picnic tables overlooking waterfalls where people come to visit after work during summer months because it gets so crowded!

Plano was also named one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People by America's Promise Alliance (APA) in 2003, 2004, and 2005.

Plano was also named one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People by America's Promise Alliance (APA) in 2003, 2004, and 2005. The APA is a national organization that promotes youth development and achievement in communities across the country.

In addition to its focus on education, Plano also supports many other programs for children and families including:

With its well-manicured parks and excellent educational system, Plano offers families a wonderful place to live and play.

Plano has a lot of parks and recreation facilities, including the largest municipal park in Texas. The city also boasts an excellent school system, which consistently ranks among the best in the state. Plano is a great place for families with children who are looking for an affordable and safe place to raise their kids.

Plano offers a great city life experience.

Plano offers a great city life experience. The city has a population of nearly 300,000 people, but it still has the feel of a small town. Residents can enjoy all that Dallas has to offer while still being able to maintain their own identity and culture within Plano's borders.

Plano is also known for its excellent schools, making it an ideal place for families with children who want to raise them in an environment with plenty of opportunities for learning and play. Many families choose to live in one of Plano's many neighborhoods with strong school systems such as Preston Ridge Elementary School or Richardson ISD (which includes Richardson High School).

Finally, there are many parks throughout the city where you can go exercising or just relax on a bench under some shade trees!

AC Repair Services are available in Plano, TX

AC Repair in Plano TX needs to be done by a company that is licensed and professional. Plano AC Repair is your guaranteed source for all of your air conditioning needs. We are going to make sure you get the best AC service in town!

On The Spot Air Conditioning & Heating Plano is a full-service HVAC repair and installation company. Client satisfaction is one of their primary objectives, which makes them an invaluable resource for anyone in the Plano area seeking home comfort. Whether you need air conditioning services or a new heating system, On The Spot can help.

On The Spot Air Conditioning & Heating Plano

2761 N Hillbrier Cir, Plano, TX 75075, United States

(972) 645-3631

[mythauragame]

Hey all! Welcome to our December development update. Here is what lies under the cut.

What’s new

NPCs on Mythaura

New Monsters and New Item Patreon Illustrations

FAQ

Community spotlight

This month, we have been working on basic back end set up. Login and register systems are currently being built and tested. We’ve had some continuous trouble with our current server, so we’ve found it best for development to move to a new server. We’re currently in the process of shifting everything over - there may be some downtime on the Beast Demo, we will give everyone a heads up on our social media channels when that time comes!

On the topic of the Demo - we are planning some new and exciting usability features for Demo V3. • Link generation for sharing After creating a Beast, a link will be generated. The link will be a url to your creation. You can also import a link from another creation. • Lock and unlock options Options can be locked and unlocked by clicking the lock symbol. This will ensure your option will not change even when clicking randomize. • Shift Special order Shift Special options by moving the arrows. This will change the layering order of Specials without having to choose options again, making it easier to customize.

• Loading animation A simple loading animation to appear before the Beasts image is generated. Some other additions would be an "Age" option which changes the Beasts base to the Young Base or the Grown Base. And the categorization of the Base area and Special Markings area so it's a little easier to tell options apart.

The young bases for the three starter Beasts - Dragon, Griffin and Unicorn have been completed. We are planning to have all Young bases and their 125 colors and the current catalog of Special Markings available for the next Demo V3 update.

The Hybrid bases are being worked on and will be ready for the next demo update - here are the sketches for the young Quetzal, Hippogriff and Kirin!

We’ll have news very soon about when Demo V3 will drop. For now, I can share that work has started on the next Hybrid Beasts. Here is a quick sneak peak.

Every shop you visit in Mythaura is run by a shopkeep. These shopkeepers have their own unique personalities, quests and dialogue. They will interact with you, the player, through dialogue boxes. Some moments will give you different options to respond to the NPC and the NPCs portrait will change to different expressions depending on their mood and dialogue. For example; if a player hands in a completed quest, the NPC portrait will change to a pleased expression. Each character will play a large role within the story and game play.

This month our amazing Tier 3+ supporters on Patreon voted in a poll to choose the first NPC players will interact with on site out of three options. Acting as a tutorial guide, they will welcome the player into the world, introduce them to the currency, explain factions, walk players through creating their first Beast and finally leading them into the full game. This is an early look at the Mythaura “Welcome” NPC!

“A cheerful elderly Quetzal. He is a travelling merchant who sells interesting items he found while on the road. His bird is his best bud.”

Next month, patrons will decide on the Quetzal Traveller’s coloring, define their personality, their shop and their name. We’ll have more to share on the NPC system and other characters that will feature in Mythaura soon!

Tier 4 and 5 Patreon rewards have the opportunity to work with the artists to create their own Monsters and Items that will appear in-game. Here are the illustrations that have been created this month. Many thanks to our incredibly creative supporters! Monsters: Lunar Bone Thief - Created with Fizzywits Vitterfolk - Created with Malis (Work in progress! The Vitterfolk’s final illustration will be completed soon)

Items: Crystallion - Created with Aku Reine Plushie - Created with TwinFishes Coelacanth - Created with Frillshark Pahoehoe Flower -  Created with Mezzo

FAQ

So many pet games have been ruined by multi accounts, botters & scammers. I'd like to know what your policies will be on these since I am wary of investing in another site that doesn't have the staff or motivation to keep a clean playing field for all. - Anonymous

Those are completely valid concerns. As with any multiplayer online game, there will inevitability be those who will exploit it in some way or another. We will take our security and code of conduct very seriously, any player found violating that will be restricted or banned.

How many times can you create a beast from scratch? Only when you first join or are there other ways to do so? (Through an item for example) - Anonymous

You will create your first Beast upon joining Mythaura - a Dragon, Griffin or Unicorn. You’ll be able to choose any of the 125 colors on the wheel to customize their Base, Bottom and Top areas on their bodies. At the moment, this will be the only time you will be able to create a Beast from scratch. We are definitely not ruling out any other options! At this point it’s too early to say for sure.

Will there be a way to keep beasts as their 'baby' forms? - katjoyy

Yes! I realize that some people might prefer the young Beast artworks to their grown versions. There will be a method in the game to keep them from growing up - whether through consumable items or another means.

I know there is crowd funding, but will you be using Kickstarter at any point? I am more familiar with them, as I feel many are, and would rather fund through there (Dappervolk Funded within Hours.. or minuets??) I'd love to know, thanks! - bobbybi

Our first priority before planning the final crowdfunding push is delivering on an alpha and beta. We are 100% focused on building Mythaura the best it can be now and our Patreon is helping out a great deal to reach that goal.  

I love Mythaura so much already, I can't explain it in words! I can't wait to see it reach it's max potential. I just wanted to know if there would be a feeding or age mechanic that would cause your creature to pass on eventually. I only ask, because I dislike the game mechanic cause death is no fun. - Anonymous

Thank you so much! Your support means the world  ❤ There will be no death mechanic. We expect players to put a lot of time and effort into customizing their Beasts and it would feel like a waste to have them pass on eventually. Rest easy knowing that your Beasts will be immortal.

In the future, would you be open to beast/monster/item suggestions from users? - Anonymous

We are always open to suggestions! I am actively listening on all our social media channels. I take any and all suggestions to heart and note them down. But if you’re super eager to have your ideas made into reality, Tier 4 and 5 Patreon rewards can have their suggestions made into actual items in-game. 

Okay so, you're making a Virtual Pet game. What do you have planned that will set you apart from other games like Flight Rising and even Neopets? I see the graphics are looking good, but do you have something else new that you intend to bring to the table with this? - formerlybees

As a long time fan and player of virtual pet games, I can say that we have a number of new ideas we are planning to bring into the genre. Some ideas inspired by other virtual pet games and some inspired by other MMOs. We have some incredibly ambitious ideas planned out that I wish I could tell you about, but we need to see if we can actually build them and get it all working! 

Hi, I'm very curious as to what you look for in a portfolio for artists/writers? I'm very new to submitting portfolios and unfortunately art school doesn't really teach you this sort of thing. Thanks in advance! - rexcaliburr

For Mythaura specifically - Artists that show pieces with 2D cel-shaded style similar to our own and demonstrate cohesive anatomy for animal-like creatures. Just a couple of their best polished pieces will deliver the best first impression!  For writers, a small section of writing that best showcases your creative flair and perhaps links to your previous works if any. 

For artists, I recommend checking out the Dear Art Director tumblr. It’s helped me out a lot personally when I was freelancing.

Any update on best boy reine's final art work? - twinfishieslove

No update as of yet! You’ll have to gaze upon his glorious mugshot for now.

(In all seriousness, the Beast bases come first and are rather time consuming!)

Hey grif! Which, personally, if your favourite species - dragondrawsdragons

Hmm, good question. I’m rather partial to my namesake. Who can’t not love a half bird of prey, half lion?! I’ll give an honorable mention to Hippogriffs, albatross ponies are fun too. 

Our community feature for this month is showcasing the artistic talents of the Mythaura Discord community. Check it out!

I wish I could fit more in! I am so impressed by the art I get to see there almost everyday. It’s an absolute treat.

Every month we will be showcasing some community creations. If you’d like to share your Mythaura inspired artworks, make sure to tag them with  #mythaura on both Tumblr and Twitter. We’d love to see them.

If you would like to chat with other members of the community and members of the Mythaura team - Click here to join us on the official Mythaura Discord!

That’s it for this month. To finish, I’ll leave you with this super adorable sketch of a Beast family drawn by the very talented Luci!

Have a happy new year!

❤ Grif

[narrowtriangle33-blog]

Quotes that accurately describe White Trump Voters.

"It’s not just that he’s white. White people sneer at, mock, ostracize, and generally hate on other white people all the time. It’s that he DELIVERS RACISM and THAT is the priority to his base. This is what gets me when writers and thinkers wring their hands in befuddlement, like Nichols is doing, about how Trump’s base can “vote against their own interests.” They’re not! They’re prioritizing the babies in cages, the “shithole countries” remarks, the deadly Charlottesville clashes with literal fucking Nazis, etc OVER health care, transitioning the economy away from fossil fuels, education, assistance to the poor, and whatever other liberal agenda items one would think would be natural, rational fits for the Cleti everywhere.

These people are absolutely voting in their own interests, and getting exactly what they wanted out of the Trump admin. He has been a tremendous success in their eyes because he has delivered racism since Day 1, and that’s what they want out of politics."

"This, They will never -ever- admit it, outside of trolling on the net, but Trump has done more to support their views and find great joy in it then any GOP member before.

He’s all but given up on the dog whistles, once he found out that the media will simply ‘tut-tut’ and that delights his base. Even when he does something that will fuck them over, they overlook it because he continues to advance their agenda with huge leaps. Most of the never-Trumpers discovered early on that going against him can lead to getting primaried and Mitch is content to let Trump do whatever the fuck he wants with limited disagreement, because he’s busy installing GOP goal friendly judges everywhere.

The DNC’s response has been to avoid rocking the boat as much as they can by offering up Joe with a bone thrown to black people with a possable black woman VIP. (If that even happens), but the chances are high that Trump will get another four years to continue to do as he likes. And what will the Dems do? Protest and throw shade and offer limited resistance that won’t slow down Trump for a second.

People don’t like to even entertain the idea that Trump will win, but without a huge number of people turning out against them, what else can they expect will happen?"

"My father HATED John Wayne with a burning passion that I remember from age 3-4! He loved Westerns but he would spend the entire movie foaming at the mouth at all the racist tropes and outright historical lies of each one of them! Honestly, although he loved thoughtful rap, I think he idolized Chuck D for simply uttering his infamous lyric!

Now that I’ve reached a certain age, I find I love Westerns too - but not John Wayne, Clint Eastwood or any old ones. I like the newer ones that speak to what deplorables white cowboys were: The Revenant, Bone Tomahawk, Hostiles and the like. They’re still white-centered and white-washed but any modern thinking person can see that the cowboy image should stand for nothing but a savagely cruel, thieving, raping murderer (and we’ve been consistently lied to)."

"Does Trump accept responsibility and look out for his team? Not in the least. In this category, he exhibits one of the most unmanly of behaviors: He’s a blamer. Nothing is ever his fault."

"This is nothing but rose-colored bullshit. Anyone who’s ever spent more than 5 minutes working in corporate life knows for the most part this isn’t how white men behave. Those offices are full of extremely mediocre men who are very confident and have nothing to back it up with other than their bluster, egos, and the generational wealth that allows them a leg up over others. That generational wealth allows them to go to the diploma mills that open doors for them. Admitting mistakes or even admitting just not knowing something in that environment comes off as weakness to them. They spend most of their energy trying to project the image of confidence and control, which is why they’re quick to rage when things don’t go their way. A good example is the douche bag running Quibi that gave that horrendus interview a couple of weeks ago. He was asked a couple of questions about why his company was failing while other streaming services are thriving, and where they might have went wrong in their business model. He didn’t accept responsibility for shit. He went into his hurt little feelings and attacked the interviewer, and tried to make the questions seem like they weren’t valid.

On steroids this white American exceptionalist world view is called patriotism. It manifests in the idea that we as a country can do things counter intuitive the rest of the world just because we’re the USA. More mass shootings by far than any other country? USA! Other countries have cheap/free education through college? So what, USA! Biden even displayed this during one of the debates when Warren pointed out the same disparity in our healthcare compared to every other developed nation. Guess how he responded.

I feel like I started rambling a little but what I’m trying to get at is that whiteness, toxic masculinity, and patriotism are so intertwined that its beyond the author of that Trump think piece."

"Funnily enough as the article and subject matter were in regard to racism in the US I didn’t feel a burning need to mention Indigenous Australians but to answer your question they are pretty much in the same boat as black Americans. Did anything I say imply otherwise or were you just fishing for an argument?

"Stupid as it is, “You’re a manly-man, right? So why is your manly-man leader such a cowardly little pussy?”

That’s not what he projects and that’s not what they see. They see him using aggressive and accusatory tones and language all the time and it makes him look tough."

They fall for the “Emporor Has No Clothes” routine because they never look at him critically. They buy the bullshit on the surface, and don’t see that his words never match his actions. He said on tv several times that if anyone in the country wants a Covid test, they can get tested. Ask them how many people they know whose jobs don’t require it, have actually been tested. He down played the death toll of this disaster every step of the way. Remember when we were supposed to be in church for Easter? As long as he lies with confidence, they’ll follow him to hell."

"I’m definitely tired, and frustrated, and everything else. I keep holding my nose and voting, and that only adds to the exhaustion and frustration because very little if anything seems to change, and in some ways we keep repeating the mistakes of the past. I’d never advocate for doing nothing, but trying to engage and challenge the average Republican-voting dipshit to think critically, and not keep supporting people and policies that perpetuate and exacerbate the problems this country has??? No thanks. If you’re not black, I so encourage you to take up that mantle, but for me as a black dude in this country I can’t. Talk about shooting the messenger. Plus, to keep it a buck, this is mostly white people’s mess, if not all. They need to fix it.

Honestly I feel like racism festers because most white people just look the other way. The racism of their peers/friends/relatives doesn’t impact them personally so they’re probably just people to be avoided. Why rock the boat when you can just avoid an uncomfortable topic? Joe might forward you Fox News and OANN stories, and racist FB memes, but he’s fun at Bills games. Well what if Joe is also a cop, or in a management position over minorities? You can bet money he takes those views you overlooked with him to his job. The PoC he interacts with won’t have the benefit of seeing him at Bills games, or might not even have the benefit of being seen as equals."

"People get so caught up in the blatant, mustache-twirling racism that they don’t see the subtle pervasive way it spreads like a cancer. For every Trump there are dozens Joes, and along with the Joes are the real problem: The people who ignore the Joes. The Joes and Karens go on to commit all kinds of microaggressions that Poc pretty much have to tolerate, and in Joe’s and Karen’s minds that’s just the way the world works. I deserved to get followed around Joe’s store. I came in wearing a hoodie and Adidas so I couldn’t be up to any good. Karen felt threatened when I walked into the building she lives in, so she felt justified to call the police, never mind the fact that I live there too. This is how deep this shit runs. It’s not just politics. Racism isn’t just baked into politics. It’s part of the flour the US was baked with.

So I appreciate you if you’re willing to call these fools out. I’m glad somebody is because I’m not wasting my breath. They won’t hear me anyway."

"I mean if Tom Nichols was in front of me and read this steaming pile of shit to me I would’ve slapped him silly and said the reason that people that look like you excuse all of his fuck ups, failings and mistakes is because well HE LOOKS LIKE YOU!!!! The question that none of these mouth breathing chud monkeys seem to want to answer or are incapable of answering is would you excuse any black, Hispanic or Asian man that had his resume? We know the fucking answer.

When this bloated piece of unseasoned chicken shut down the government in January of 2019 hurting his all white, poorly educated base the most a quote from a voter in Florida was burned into my head forever. She said upon not getting her government subsidized check (I mean they have no issues with the government helping them, it is those pesky brown people that are lazy and entitled) “He is not hurting the people he is supposed to be hurting.” Let that sink in. A voting US Citizen thought it was the job of the sitting *president to hurt people. That says it all. Their allegiance isn’t based in anything other than anger and hatred of those that they deem less than them. Fuck him and them and may they both rot in hell."

"“He is not hurting the people he is supposed to be hurting.”

That spontaneous, bewildered, stream of consciousness utterance by someone who doesn’t think critically but has an indwelt recognition of like-mindedness IS the Trump voter exemplified! A racist who found themselves too poor, too old and without the power to demand or protect the status quo and just wants to stick it to their perceived enemies while retaining ‘something’ for themselves.

That sentiment has fueled every waking thought, worry and action of an American white since the founding of this country.

So, it’s not just every Confederate flag waver, every neo-Nazi and every flyover state’er; it’s every aggrieved American white who had to accept the changing world around them; there’s no reasoning with them nor changing their minds.

My fear is that I’m becoming inhumane like them because I was soooo happy when he cut her Meals on Wheels and didn’t cut her Social Security check."

"I think you nailed this right on the head. All through the article, he keeps pointing out what we already know except for one thing. After all, why would white people elect someone who is so far outside of what they claim to be/stand for? He’s not conservative in any real way. Yet conservatives stand behind him. He’s not a Christian in any practical sense by his actions. Yet Christians say he’s sent by God. He’s not a good businessman, father, or even person. Yet here we are. The only answer that makes sense in any real way is that he is proof that to many people, any white man can do the same or better than even the best black man, woman, or POC in general. There’s always a backlash to progress both real and imagined. Trump is it."

"Also, a lot of the characteristics Nichols thinks represent the opposite of idealized masculinity are actually representative of masculinity as it is performed in this country. From my experience with men who lean into their masculinity, it is about performing dominance by antagonizing people, all in the service of making shallow, insecure men feel better about themselves.  Trump is a domineering asshole, which is what too many men think being a man is all about."

"It is fascinating how unbelievably brainless racists are. Many of the commenters and you Damon have pointed out the stupidity of racism. I mean this seriously, racists have absolutely abandoned intellect, progress, humanity or desire for real greatness that could manifest through equality, in order to hold onto the despicable delusion of superiority based solely on a human having more melanin than another. The sheer simplicity of the trick doesn’t even seem like it should work; but alas, all roads merge at Slave Rd. The dimwitted aptitude it takes for a person to actually believe stealing humans, beating, burning, assaulting, selling their children on auction blocks, splitting families (and more brutalities)...... all for greed born out of sheer laziness, and again stupidity is mindblowing. You literally must turn your brain off to be a racist, and you see it now. Millions of white people, with switch STILL off, courtesy of their forefathers, have continued down this same disastrous, nose-spite-ing road. There’s a lot of white people walking around with black kerchief’s, hiding the draining blood and a ragged hole where their nose once occupied, holding a tight grasp of their hate. Their greed. Trump finally allows them to remove that blood soaked kerchief with pride for all the world see their disfigurement. It’s stunning that there is pride where instead, their should be pure shame for then and for now."

[pinkbrown565]

Free Vst Plugins Memes

Free Vst Plugins Downloads

Free Vst Plugins For Windows 10

Free Vst Plugins Mastering

TAL-NoiseMaker has been an improved and updated version of the TAL-Elek7ro. To celebrate some of the best free VST plugins for 2020, we have began to compile a mix of the best VST Effects, Drum VSTs, Synth VSTs, Vocal Plugins, and Bass VSTs. Simply scroll down for some of. Download free VST plugins, free synth VST, autotune VST, Drum sound VST, choir VST, Orchestra VST, and much more free VST plugins. Great place to download free VST plugins for music production, updated each week with new VST plugins. VST 4 FREE - Free Audio Plug-ins and Archives. Free VST downloads: TN-5 (Yamaha CS-5 emulation by TN Audio) - Transcendental 2000 (Powertran Transcendent replica by TN Audio) - Syncla-X (Synclavier. Type of plugin: VSTi. Best free vocal compressor vst. What it does: This virtual analog synth was inspired by the Clavia Nord.

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VST plugins are virtual instruments and effects that you can use in productions. They can recreate classic synth designs, or represent completely new ways of making sound. VST plugins are easy to use; download them, install, and your DAW will pick them up and let you use them in the workstation. From classic instruments to experimental indie gems, there’s a huge world of both paid and free VST plugins to choose from. Native has spent decades creating and developing some of the world’s leading VST plugins with REAKTOR, KONTAKT, KOMPLETE KONTROL, and loads more.

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VST plugins can be used in a wide variety of ways to create synth sounds for songwriting and production. Almost any instrument can be turned into a VST plugin, and more often than not, when you need a certain kind of sound there’s a VST plugin for it. There are several varieties of VST plugins for synth sounds that are worth noting. Polyphonic VST plugins create more than one note at a time, so are great for building complex melodies, chords, and harmonies, while monophonic VST plugins play one note at a time and are commonly used for basslines. Some VST plugins strictly model themselves on reproducing sounds you would expect from analogue instruments, but others go way beyond that. Wavetable VST plugins like MASSIVE and MASSIVE X tend to focus on helping producers create something unusual and completely different to traditional instruments, and can be more useful for experimental productions than other VST plugins.

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3: Launch KOMPLETE KONTROL. Important: Run it in standalone mode before using it in your DAW. This allows it to scan and organize all your sounds.

HomeFree DownloadTop 15 Free VST Plugins Of 2018 (UPDATED)

What Is A VST Plugin?

On the off chance that you’ve never utilized VST plugins, here’s a brief presentation. The acronym VST stands for Virtual Studio Technology. It is an uncommon sort of programming interface which permits the client to stack outsider sound impacts and virtual instruments as plugins inside a VST perfect DAW program (Digital Audio Workstation). The innovation was initially presented by Steinberg in 1996 and has had an immense effect in transit we make music today.

Free Vst Plugins Mastering

Along these lines, a VST Plugin is essentially a virtual impact or a virtual instrument planned for use in a host project which bolsters Virtual Studio Technology. It permits us to extend our product studio with plugins, the same way we would utilize equipment impacts and instruments in a genuine studio. There are actually a great many VSTs out there accessible for nothing download and use, and additionally a few entirely capable freeware host applications which can be utilized to make music with virtual instruments and impacts.

The rundown (Free Vst Plugins) is sorted out into three segments : Top 5 freeware impacts, Top 5 freeware instruments and Top 5 freeware utilities and MIDI devices in VST module group. Much obliged to you ahead of time and make some incredible music.

Top 15 Free Vst Plugins

CamelCrusher is a free “shading” multi-impact module. It offers two typically diverse mutilation sounds which can be mixed together to make a wide assortment of tones and surfaces. Awesome for guitars, drums and bounty more! There’s additionally a warm, smooth simple style low-pass channel with cans of reverberation. Allot a MIDI controller and begin tweaking! This module is not accessible any longer after the offer of Camel Audio to Apple.

Xfer Records OTT is a free & best vst plugin re-production of a prevalent forceful multiband upwards/downwards compressor set-up utilized by numerous dubstep and electro makers.

Voxengo SPAN is a constant “quick Fourier change” sound range analyzer module for expert music and sound creation applications. Generally it was gotten from Voxengo GlissEQ dynamic parametric equalizer and repeats its range examination usefulness.

Rough Rider is a present day compressor with a touch of “vintage” style nibble and an interestingly warm stable. Ideal for adding pressure impacts to your drum buss, it likewise sounds incredible with synth bass, clean guitar, and support vocals. Certainly not a generally useful compressor, Rough Rider is taking care of business when used to add pump to cadenced.

Ambience is a reverb that opponents the nature of the best business reverbs.On Mac, the AU module is 32/64 bit, yet the VST (Mac and Windows) is just 32 bit.

Tapestop re-makes the time-extended sound that happens when you press the stop button.

LoudMax is a Look-Ahead Brickwall Loudness Maximizer Plugin with a clean straightforward sound. It is intended to hold the first character of the music however much as could reasonably be expected even at high pressure levels.

UNMIX DRUMS is the world’s first audio plugin that allows attenuating or boosting drums in mixed music, in real-time.Using advanced source signal separation (a.k.a. De-mixing, unmixing, sound extraction, sound isolation) technology under the hood, UNMIX DRUMS provides frequency dependent drum level control that ranges from up to +18dB of boost to virtually complete removal. – while always. Unmix drums vst free download. Who has unmix drums? Hmu if you wanna trade something. This thread is archived. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. 1 point 3 years ago. Help Reddit App Reddit coins Reddit premium Reddit gifts. Zynaptiq - Audio software based on artificial intelligence technology. To download the latest version of UNMIX DRUMS, which will run as a fully functional, 30-day free trial if. UNMIX::DRUMS is the world’s first audio plugin that allows attenuating or boosting drums in mixed music, in real-time. Using advanced source signal separation (a.k.a. De-mixing, unmixing, sound extraction, sound isolation) technology under the hood, UNMIX::DRUMS provides frequency dependent drum level control that ranges from up to +18dB of boost to virtually complete removal. – while.

Also Read : Free Piano VST Plugins

TAL-Bitcrusher is a typical bitcrusher with some helpful increases. There is a low-and highshelf EQ and a commotion cross modulator included. It is helpful on drums—particularly caps—and for mutilated leads.

TAL Reverb-II is the most mainstream TAL-Reverb. After some client criticisms needed to discharge TAL-Reverb-II once more. It joins the retro sound of TAL-Reverb-I with extra components. Form 1.61 has some little enhancements in the interior tweak calculation.

This expert sound AU and VST module executes a great strategy of changing a monophonic track into roomy stereophonic track by method for mid/side coding system.

Bode-style recurrence shifter + simple reverberation imitating = skull liquefying tumult. Ideal for name, Dr. Who and the majority of your hallucinogenic needs. Sonic results range from unobtrusive chorusing and twofold following to barberpole staging and flanging to unlimited glissandos and runaway reverberations.

PSP VintageMeter gives proficient VU and PPM metering for mono and stereo tracks. All parameters like reconciliation times and reference levels are broadly customizable to make this free module appropriate for any application.

Stereo Tool highlights ultra exact control of info addition and individual search for gold and right channels. A stage inverter is accessible on every channel. Worldwide stereo container and stereo width settings are additionally actualized to finish the administration of the stereo sign. Stereo Tool additionally offers precise visual criticism mirroring the sign substance. A vector scope show, PPM meters for both sources of info and yields, and a stage connection meter for all time screen the sign.

Also read: Best Synth VST Plugins

BitterSweet v3 is a free programming preparing apparatus for overseeing sound homeless people. Turning the enormous wheel catch on the sweet side, diminishes the homeless people sufficiency. On the sharp side the homeless people plentifulness is amplified. Mixed v3 is worked around our most recent 64-bit adaptation 3 system enhancing the handling

Fracture is a FREE cushion impact VST Plugin intended for making mechanical ancient rarities and theoretical musical breakdowns. Break includes a cradle impact, a multimode channel, three LFOs and a postponement. The request of the impacts in the preparing chain can likewise be reconfigured. This module is intended for including glitchy enunciations and conceptual surfaces to your undertakings. Use it on anything from drums and percussion to synth lines and sound impacts. Crack’s natural interface and different elements make it easy to give your ventures an exceptional specialized edge.

That’s all guys these are Our choice of the 15 best Free VST plugins of 2018. Comment down below What Kinds Of Vst Plugins You Guys Are Using !

[theliberaltony]

via Politics – FiveThirtyEight

Welcome to Pollapalooza, our weekly polling roundup.

Poll of the week

The 2018 election saw some remarkable performances by Democrats — including, prominently, in the red state of Texas, where Democrat Beto O’Rourke came close to defeating Republican Sen. Ted Cruz. But in Florida, which is usually considered a swing state, Republicans Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis won the Senate and gubernatorial races (albeit by razor-thin margins), respectively, even as the national political environment favored Democrats by almost 9 percentage points. This gave rise to a narrative among political observers that Florida may now be further out of Democrats’ reach than Texas is. But this … has never made a lot of sense to me, and a new poll has given my side of the argument some ammunition.

This week, Quinnipiac University released a survey of Florida voters that included six possible 2020 general-election matchups between President Trump and different Democratic candidates. It found Trump trailing his Democratic opponent in each case, with margins ranging from 1 to 9 percentage points. As luck would have it, Quinnipiac three weeks ago asked Texas voters about those six general-election matchups. In that poll, five of the six Democrats trailed Trump — only former Vice President Joe Biden beat him (by 4 points).

Now, to be clear, I’m not asking you to put a lot of stock in those individual matchup results — as my colleague Perry Bacon Jr. wrote in this space last week, polls of general-election matchups at this point in the election cycle aren’t terribly predictive of the eventual results. However, we can compare the results of the Texas and Florida polls with a recent national Quinnipiac survey that asked about five of the matchups to get a sense of how much more Republican each state is than the nation as a whole.

And as you can see in the table below, if we compare Quinnipiac’s Florida poll to the pollster’s national survey, it implies that the Sunshine State is about 4 points more Republican-leaning than the nation. Meanwhile, the Texas poll suggests that the Lone Star State is about 10 points more Republican-leaning than the country. So according to Quinnipiac at least (and to be fair, it’s just one pollster’s read on the landscape), Florida is still left of Texas in the national partisan pecking order.

Florida is still bluer than Texas

How five presidential candidates performed against Trump in hypothetical general-election matchups in Florida and Texas vs. nationally

Trump vs. National (June 6-10) Florida (June 12-17) Florida Difference Biden D+13 D+9 R+4 Sanders D+9 D+6 R+3 Warren D+7 D+4 R+3 Harris D+8 D+1 R+7 Buttigieg D+5 D+1 R+4 Average R+4 Trump vs. National (June 6-10) Texas (May 29-June 4) texas Difference Biden D+13 D+4 R+9 Sanders D+9 R+3 R+12 Warren D+7 R+1 R+8 Harris D+8 R+4 R+12 Buttigieg D+5 R+2 R+7 Average R+10

Source: Quinnipiac University

I think the reason people have rushed to re-shade Florida from purple to red has to do with misplaced perceptions. Florida went blue in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections and red in 2016, leading many to think of it as a bellwether state. But in each of those years, the Democratic presidential candidate did worse in Florida than they did in the national popular vote, so the state was actually a bit red relative to the country as a whole. The results in 2018 were consistent with that.

It’s not that I don’t agree that Florida is a Republican-leaning state — I do think it is light red. But I fear that people are overcompensating for (wrongly) considering it perfectly purple before 2018 by now considering it stubbornly Republican. And while Texas appears to be drifting toward the middle, for now at least, both polling and election results suggest that it is still redder than Florida.

Other polling bites

For all the ink spilled about the rules for qualifying for the Democratic presidential debates, a Politico/Morning Consult poll reveals that most Democrats are tuning out the griping. Sixty-one percent of voters who plan to participate in the Democratic primaries said they haven’t heard much, if anything, about some candidates’ criticisms of the debate rules. Instead, many seem content to trust the Democratic National Committee — 54 percent said the DNC is doing a “very” or “somewhat” fair job at running the debates, 33 percent didn’t know or had no opinion, and 13 percent thought the process was being handled “somewhat” or “very” unfairly.

Most Democratic presidential candidates — and most Americans — support “Medicare for All,” but there’s a lot of ambiguity in what that term means. According to a poll conducted by Global Strategy Group, 60 percent think it refers to a “plan that lets anyone buy Medicare instead of their current private insurance, if they want to,” while 40 percent believe it “makes everyone get rid of their current private insurance and switch over to Medicare.”

In reaction to the May 31 shooting in Virginia Beach, Gov. Ralph Northam called a special session of the Virginia legislature to enact gun control legislation. And a new Public Policy Polling survey sponsored by a pro-gun control group found that among Virginians in four key Republican-held legislative districts, 62 percent of respondents supported a ban on semi-automatic assault rifles, and 63 percent favored a ban on high-capacity magazines (one of which was used in the Virginia Beach shooting).

In hopes of eating into Biden’s polling lead, some campaign rivals have tried to attack Biden over his support for the 1994 crime bill that many now argue contributed to the problem of mass incarceration in the U.S. However, a HuffPost/YouGov survey reveals why that might not work: Many Democrats simply don’t seem to know much about the law. Forty-one percent said they are “not very” or “not at all” familiar with the crime bill, and 58 percent said they were not sure which 2020 candidates supported it.

Chances are the “song of the summer” has already been released, so Ipsos is asking Americans what they think it will be. Out of 13 options, Lil Nas X and Billy Ray Cyrus’s “Old Town Road” came in first place, with 20 percent of respondents naming it; in second was “ME!” by Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie, garnering 10 percent of the vote.

Across the pond, YouGov asked members of the United Kingdom’s Conservative Party what they would be willing to risk in order to realize the country’s exit from the European Union. Respondents said they were willing to endure significant damage to the U.K. economy (61 percent to 29 percent) and even the destruction of the Conservative Party itself (54 percent to 36 percent). However, there was a line that Tories were unwilling to cross. Respondents said 51 percent to 39 percent that they were not willing to achieve Brexit if it meant electing Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister.

Trump approval

According to FiveThirtyEight’s presidential approval tracker, 42.5 percent of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president, while 53.1 percent disapprove (a net approval rating of -10.6 points). At this time last week, 42.3 percent approved and 52.9 percent disapproved (for a net approval rating of -10.6 points). One month ago, Trump had an approval rating of 41.8 percent and a disapproval rating of 53.3 percent, for a net approval rating of -11.5 points.

Generic ballot

In our average of polls of the generic congressional ballot, Democrats currently lead by 6.2 percentage points (46.0 percent to 39.8 percent). A week ago, Democrats led Republicans by 6.2 points (46.1 percent to 39.9 percent). At this time last month, voters preferred Democrats by 5.0 points (45.4 percent to 40.4 percent).

Check out all the polls we’ve been collecting ahead of the 2020 elections.

[orbemnews]

The Enterprise Case for Boardroom Range The DealBook e-newsletter delves right into a single subject or theme each weekend, offering reporting and evaluation that provides a greater understanding of a giant situation within the information. If you happen to don’t already obtain the day by day e-newsletter, enroll right here. When Goldman Sachs introduced that it could assist corporations go public provided that that they had at the very least one numerous board member — that means that the financial institution wouldn’t work with I.P.O. hopefuls whose administrators had been all white males — it was met with a mixture of help and skepticism. Within the 12 months since, with much less fanfare, the financial institution has additionally constructed up a enterprise to assist recruit administrators for these boards, which has expanded to cowl public corporations as effectively. “It turned very clear to us early on that board variety is one thing that’s vital — and must be — to all of our purchasers,” mentioned Ilana Wolfe, Goldman’s head of company board engagement. For its half, JPMorgan Chase has had a board advisory service since 2016. It’s not targeted completely on variety, however that has been a precedence since its early days. Of the 42 board members the service has positioned, 30 are ladies and 5 are individuals of shade. Large banks getting concerned in serving to boards diversify suggests that there’s a enterprise case for it. Or, put extra bluntly, there are future charges to be made. For the banks, there’s the twin attraction of serving to society normally, by way of larger equality, and their enterprise particularly, by assembly a requirement from purchasers and forging relationships with administrators who could also be a supply of future income. Once I referred to as Ursula Burns, the previous Xerox chief government and director on many boards, she urged me to not make this “a financial institution story.” For good purpose: advocacy teams have been pushing for larger board variety lengthy earlier than banks took a severe curiosity. To formalize this work, Ms. Burns, the primary Black girl to run a Fortune 500 firm, helped begin the Board Range Motion Alliance final 12 months to deal with the “glacial” progress of hiring racially and ethnically numerous board members. Certainly, ladies account for round 1 / 4 of administrators at S&P 500 corporations and roughly the identical share of board members self-identify as a race or ethnicity apart from white, in accordance with the Convention Board. Solely 5 % of the three,000 largest listed corporations in the USA have a board with an equal gender steadiness, per the group Girls on Boards. Progress on these measures has been gradual, regardless of some analysis that exhibits extra numerous boards are linked with higher monetary efficiency. Stress for change is now coming from all sides. A renewed deal with variety from the Biden administration, expressed in a number of government orders, places a highlight on fairness and inclusion that will filter down into boardrooms. The swearing-in of Vice President Kamala Harris, the primary girl and the primary individual of shade to carry the nation’s second-highest workplace, was additionally a landmark second. Mr. Biden’s decide for chairman of the Securities and Alternate Fee, Gary Gensler, is predicted to push for firm disclosure of variety knowledge. Enterprise & Economic system Up to date  Jan. 22, 2021, 7:23 p.m. ET Final 12 months, California handed a legislation mandating a minimal degree gender variety on company boards. Beginning this 12 months, State Avenue will vote towards sure board nominees at corporations that don’t disclose variety knowledge, and BlackRock could do the identical. Nasdaq is searching for regulatory permission to require numerous boards and associated disclosures at corporations that record on its trade, or face expulsion. (When asset managers and exchanges converse up about variety, it follows that banks would take discover.) “The outdated guard has moved out,” mentioned Rebecca Thornton, who leads JPMorgan’s director advisory service. “Many stood in an ivory tower with a bias that ‘this board is barely CEOs and we aren’t going to commerce on high quality to get variety.’ Those that are advanced sufficient to disregard the title and take the assembly see the worth of getting that numerous voice within the room.” However boards are additionally aware of getting the recruiting course of proper, lest they offer ammunition to critics of quotas and different mandates. This week, Arthur Levitt Jr., the previous S.E.C. chairman through the Clinton administration, referred to as Nasdaq’s proposals “political at their core,” questioned the hyperlink between director variety and monetary efficiency, and mentioned new guidelines wouldn’t break hiring habits that “rely upon casual social networks the place mates suggest one another.” That’s the place teams like Ms. Burns’s Board Range Motion Alliance, the Government Management Council, Latino Company Administrators Affiliation and Girls Company Administrators come into play, increasing networks past the standard suspects. “Discovering certified numerous administrators just isn’t unduly troublesome. In a rustic with over 330 million individuals, there are many certified candidates,” wrote John Rogers and Mellody Hobson of Ariel Investments in a letter to the S.E.C. supporting Nasdaq’s variety proposal. Ms. Burns additionally defined the fallacy of the so-called pipeline drawback at DealBook’s On-line Summit in November: Gloria Boyland, a former FedEx government, joined the board of the economic expertise firm Vontier final 12 months, with the assistance of JPMorgan. (FedEx is a crucial shopper of the financial institution.) Conversations with representatives from JPMorgan, earlier than that they had a board opening to pitch her, gave the financial institution’s staff a greater understanding of her, she mentioned. That was notably vital as a result of her job at FedEx was in operations and repair help, a much less simply categorized position than, say, a finance position. (She retired from FedEx final 12 months.) “The dialog was actually round understanding my expertise, and what I’d carry to a board,” she mentioned, quite than instantly scouting for a particular alternative. Ms. Boyland, who’s Black, was already a director of Chesapeake Power on the time she joined Vontier, a place she obtained via her community. Karen Francis, Vontier’s chair, obtained to know JPMorgan’s recruiting service via of its annual conferences for administrators. She later referred to as them when she was constructing a brand new board after Vontier was spun off from its former dad or mum. She didn’t essentially require that administrators have previous board expertise, so long as they “had a extremely good comprehension of what the board does,” she mentioned. “What I’d say to chairs who don’t need to carry on first-time individuals could be: ‘Effectively, aren’t you skilled sufficient which you can practice that individual?” Ms. Francis mentioned. Her first precedence was discovering somebody with audit committee chair expertise, and she or he discovered Andrew Miller, a white man, to fill the submit. Later, Ms. Thornton of JPMorgan recommended Ms. Boyland as a candidate for a director position, who Ms. Francis mentioned was an excellent match for the board’s wants. Banks, in fact, aren’t the one means for corporations to faucet numerous expertise swimming pools, however maybe by placing their appreciable assets behind selling boardroom variety, they are going to encourage others to do the identical. What do you suppose? Is there a greater approach to recruit administrators? What’s the enterprise case for boardroom variety? Tell us: dealbook@nytimes.com. Supply hyperlink #Boardroom #Business #Case #diversity