#weekly ap streams

[yaoifuldnp]

i will forever be fond of like early 2017- sept 2018 phandom like the most insane time ive ever had online the shit loads of conspiracy theories (two flats, sleepless night, phil has a wife, the weird insect incident that started the room sharing debate) and just bat shit amounts of content (dinof, ap, dnpg, live streams, 6 month tour, truth bombs), winding up anti accounts bc they wholeheartedly didnt think dnp could be together

[vilnmelling]

do you have any more richie tidbits :D

Trust me, I have a LOT to say about Richard Lipschitz. As he's my current hyperfixation character, I have made it my mission to find out everything there is to know about him, and of course also to make as many headcanons as possible about him. Now LET'S GO, ALL SORTS OF RICHIE STUFF!

Canon/half canon facts and trivia (AKA things said/done either in NPMD, in track commentaries or in streams)

As he says a couple of times in NPMD, he has overactive sweat glands, meaning he sweats more than the average person, and that he doesn't smell very good.

He also has asthma, as Bury the Bully confirms.

Shapiro asks the nerds if they're sure they didn't see Richie in their AP calculus class, so we can assume Richie's good at math.

Richie's quite skilled with a camera, and he knows how to photoshop (whether or not he's good at it is up for debate *glances at Ruth's playbill headshot*).

His favorite anime is Attack on Titan.

He would absolutely dye his hair blue.

He cosplays, and if he could afford to, he would make ELABORATE cosplays.

Richie's bedroom: his walls are absolutely decked out in anime posters, he has tons and tons of plushes, and he has a glass case of Funko Pops. Then he also has his anime love pillows, of course.

He did some Twitch streaming in 2020.

Once, he tried to organize a Pokemon Go meet-up, but no one showed up.

He's not as brave as he would like to be.

He doesn't seem to be a big fan of parties.

Out of the nerds, he was the one who felt the worst about what they did to Max.

My personal observations and headcanons

Richie's a shorts guy, all year around. He only has one or two pairs of long pants in his closet. It doesn't matter how cold it gets during the winter; he still wears shorts. He would've worn shorts to Homecoming. He'd be one questionable decision away from wearing shorts at his own wedding.

He and Trevor are identical twins, and Trevor is eleven minutes older. Even though Trevor's barely interested in anime and Richie's hardly at all interested in musicals, they watch them together. It's a weekly thing that they sit down in the living room, argue for five minutes about whether to watch an anime or a musical ("We watched Newsies last time." "Bullshit, that was like a month ago, we've watched anime the last two times at least!" "And what pray tell may those animes be, Trevor?"), then settle on one but talk over it the entire time. One of them always gets annoyed at the other for not keeping up with the storyline, but if you think they're gonna stop talking over them, you're wrong.

Daniel's their younger brother by five years. Neither of them know about Daniel's abilities nor about the fact that he's part of a magical fighting ring. (Their uncle, Gary, takes Daniel in secret, and they've told the rest of the family that Gary's taking Daniel to some sports practice. Trevor and Richie have ongoing bets about where Daniel keeps getting loads and loads of money from, and they constantly make deals with him to earn some money for themselves (doing Daniel's chores, watching stupid superhero movies with him, etc..))

His full name is Richard Jonathan _____ Lipschitz. Jonathan as a middle name is a family name for all the men in the Matthews-Goldstein-Lipschitz-McNeil family, and then they all have their own second middle name.

Trevor and Richie's birthday is somewhere in June. Richie was just so fucking clearly born in June.

When they were kids (8-12), they would make shitty movies and movie trailers on iMovie on their iPad. Most often, Richie would film and Trevor would play all the roles. Sometimes they'd involve Daniel and their cousins from their father's side of the family, then they'd force all the adults to watch their movies. Their greatest hit films include 'The Children in the Drawers', 'The Green Plant', 'The Murderer in the Barn' and 'The Boy Who Went to the Bathroom and Disappeared' (definitely not named after the shitty iMovie trailers and movies my sister, cousins and I made when we were kids).

Richie and Ruth met for the first time on a playground the summer before their first year of school. They played together for an hour or two before Ruth had to go home, and parted as typical six-year-old strangers who played pirates on a playground once. When they started school a month and a half later, they ended up in the same class, and they immediately recognized each other, and since then they've been besties. (Ruth met Pete at tap class, and that was how Pete completed the trio).

Based on a whole fuck ton of things in both the proshot and the digital ticket, I have no choice but to think Richie's down bad for Ruth, and that she's equally whipped. Richie's 110% oblivious to how he's feeling. He's not in denial or anything, he just has no idea. I'm talking, "Seeing her smile makes my stomach do cartwheels, but that doesn't mean anything." "That dress she wore once made me speechless, but that's just because she's such a good friend." "Yes, I could imagine myself kissing her, but that doesn't have to mean anything." He gives her an almost Paul-level heart-eyes look, she's fucking constantly looking at him, he fully checks her out in the digital ticket (involving nodding and hand gestures), she giggles at every lame joke he makes like it's the funniest thing she's heard, how angry he is that Pete wouldn't want to be with her, she beelines for him after "arguing" with Steph, he hypes her up when Max compliments her skeleton bit, and they're pretty much incapable of standing more than three millimeters away from each other. I mean, come on.

Analyses are on the way!

I've spent a lot of my time delving into story analysis, and I'm about to make an analysis video focusing mainly on Max and Richie (Richie's death, in particular). The script is done, I just have to film and edit it, but then it'll be up on Youtube!

Another analysis video idea I have is to make a video purely dedicated to breaking down each of the main characters and unearthing their internal conflicts, goals, desires, fears and misbeliefs. I've already got a pretty good idea of Richie's motivations and fears, so I'm quite excited about this one...

And there ya go, a bunch of Richie stuff!

[siegecraft]

Defining spaces, work-play separation, and avoiding TTRPG burnout.

I’ve seen a lot of folks in indie TTRPGs talk about overlapping issues and experiences around feeling burned out, not being able to keep up with new games, playing games starting to feel—or actually being��always for work rather than for fun.

I have begun to think of this issue as a game is never just a game. Not in the sense that it can’t be, but that many people working in TTRPGs in some capacity don’t allow it to be. Play has become the secondary function, because the game's primary function is no longer play, but something else. Be that a playtest, an Actual Play (AP) recording, a charity stream, content creation fodder (a review, a blog post, a video essay), a self-imposed obligation to stay on top of industry trends, etc. Because it is for work rather than play, the game is no longer play.

My firmly held litany against that is twofold:

1. Name the purpose of the game.

A playtest or AP can be fun, but you can't trick yourself into believing that that instance of play is for the sake of it. There’s a book I love called The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker. One of the key takeaways is to be deeply intentional, for yourself and for the people joining you, in defining why you have gathered together. What does this do?

It frees you from the mismatched expectations that inevitably emerge when intentions are not set. The rules and expectations for a playtest are not the same as they are for play’s sake, so get everyone on the same page.

It allows you to fully take advantage of this instance of play for its primary function. Letting go of the notion that you’re “just” playing a game lets you set expectations different from those in a space where you’re playing for play’s sake.

Whenever I playtest, be that for one hour or an intended campaign, I am extremely candid with my playtesters about what I need from them. That the expectations of the space are different than when we play together for fun.

I ran a six-hour playtest of The Prince of Nothing Good a few weekends ago. If I was just running a game for fun, I would consider that a nightmare of a game length! I would never do that to my players!

But everyone had a blast with this playtest. Because we had set aside the entire day for that purpose, and said we’d play until it was done. Everyone came in with the goal of helping me iron out some kinks in the game, and was excited to do it. And that wouldn’t have been possible without defining why we were gathering at that moment, and what we were doing to make mode of gathering work for us (dedicated time, many short breaks, blanket permission to get up from the table to meet movement/food/bio needs, I bought everyone lunch).   

2. Protect your time to play for the sake of play.

I believe the quickest way to kill your enjoyment of something is by making every instance of partaking in it work.

I’m aware there are Actual Play professionals who only play games as part of their jobs and not in their personal lives. That’s great for them, if they’ve figured out how to enjoy it (or earn enough money doing so that it doesn’t matter if they do), but the overwhelming majority of people in the game industry are simply not earning “only doing it for work” money. And until you are—and for most people in games, that will be never—you need to allow yourself time to just play games.

I’ve run a weekly home game since I got into TTRPGs, and I consider that space is sacred. Some of the players help me playtest outside of that game, but that weekly meeting is just for play, not work. Dedicating time for play to just be play makes it possible for it to be other things, too.  

I’ve never experienced anything consider close to the TTRPG burnout, exhaustion, and frustration that I’ve heard many people talk about. I’ve done it to myself with other things! I used to read and evaluate theatre scripts for work. I’ve read literally hundreds of plays. And there was a whole chunk of time where I was still doing that and I absolutely dreaded reading plays. A friend invited me to a play reading group during the pandemic and I had to decline because reading plays was synonymous with evaluating them for what was honestly not enough money to do it.

So I just stopped. I don’t read scripts for pay anymore, and I stopped reading them for fun too, because I was at a place of deficit where even doing it “just” for fun was not appealing. I’m only now getting to a place where I am interested in reading theatrical work again. It is much harder to get back to a place of enjoyment than it is to never depart in the first place.

[on-noon]

Meteor Powers I don’t remember the day the meteor fell. I wasn’t paying attention to the news when people began reporting powers. I had a race to practice for. And classes. I needed to study to raise my math grade, I remember I didn’t do well that year.

I began paying attention when the one guy– I can’t remember his name now– flew over New York City, the first demonstrable proof of powers. I discussed it at the state swim meet, what we would do if we had powers. I guess everyone else I was talking with now has a real life answer, more mundane than what we pictured then, but real.

The Wednesday after my swim meet, I found out Jenna from my church could now levitate objects. I watched as she floated a chair through the room. I still just thought of the powers as something entertaining to follow, but that didn’t affect me, like most news.

That is, until, Ylide, my brother gained the ability to turn invisible. He made a game out of trying to get as close to me as he could before turning visible to shock me. I got really good at listening for his breathing.

At that point, I felt like any random day would be when I gained my powers, but went on with my life. After all, only one of my friends changed her life plans due to her newfound powers.

It wasn’t until the summer when I was at a summer camp that I realized I was late to getting powers. They asked our powers, or what power we would like, as a get-to-know-you question (this was before asking about peoples powers was rude). I think I said that being able to snap sparks would be cool. Only two other people in the group of twelve didn’t have powers yet.

After coming home from that camp, I found some forums for other people who still didn’t have powers. I didn’t post anything, mostly just amused myself with how desperate some of them came off. I hadn’t tried anything more extreme than thinking to find my power at that point.

I first started trying to find my power semi-seriously once the new school year started. I asked my friends how they had found their powers, and tried to copy their situations. At least, the easy ones to copy. I don’t think it was until after winter break, when I should have been studying for finals, that I made my spreadsheet. I began to track which powers I had already tried for, and failed.

The posts on the forum became more interesting at this point, with more creative methods for testing for powers, along with a steady stream of “I found my power!!!” posts that sometimes were quite fun to read. I think that’s where my interest in power origin stories began.

The forums also had increasingly more mentions of the businesses that were popping up to help the 2% of us who hadn’t found powers yet. I was busy though, and still had a spreadsheet full of powers to try, so I didn’t really pursue that.

Once AP test finished though, and I still hadn’t found my power, I began to look into them seriously as something I might want to try. Before I signed up, one of the two power-finding businesses in town had already closed, so I went with the other. Their website mostly talked about daily sessions, but they also offered weekly classes, I joined the Thursday one. It was fun. There was a group of around twenty of us, and the instructor would put us in some odd scenarios to test for one weird power or another. We also would answer some questions trying to get us to realize if we had used our power without noticing it.

I was there when Sophie first messed with friction, her surprise was so fun to see. Alex and Mohammad both discovered their powers outside of the sessions, and Kayla discovered hers through the talking. Some of the other people dropped out or switched to daily lessons. Eventually they discontinued our group, allowing us to switch to Saturday weekly, or daily lessons. I stopped going.

I haven’t really put much effort into finding my power in the two and a half years since, even as the amount of people without discovered powers has shrunk and shrunk. It’s around one in a hundred thousand now, according to the latest study. I study power acquisition now, or am a research assistant at least. We’ve been looking at time of power acquisition correlated with a few different factors, the one I’ve found most interesting is strength. The people who gained powers earliest had average to above average power strength. But as time went on, at first the average power level dropped of people discovering their powers, but then the average evened out, but the extremes– abnormally weak or abnormally strong powers– became more and more common.

I’m scared. If my power comes in weak, I’ll be fine. I’ve lived without a power until now, I can live with a weak one. But if it’s strong– Strong powers can mess things up. They derail lives. I like my current life.

A meteor strikes the Earth, and everyone seems to get superpowers… everyone except you. You’ll do anything to figure out what yours are, but the world has changed and your options are desperate.

[fahrni]

Saturday Morning Coffee

Good morning from Charlottesville, Virginia! ☕️

We got a little winter wonderland last Sunday night and into Monday. Overnight we got a tiny bit more. Not enough to cripple Charlottesville or the surrounding area, just enough to make it really dangerous to use the roads on Monday and Tuesday. ❄️

The remainder of the week has remained below freezing and next week is expected to be the same. 🥶

My coffee is piping hot and I’m ready to share some links. I hope you enjoy them.

Oh, I almost forgot! I now have a store for Stream.

By Jessie Yeung and Rebekah Riess • CNN

Deadly Los Angeles wildfires: New evacuation orders as biggest blaze stretches east

Being a native Californian I understand what these poor folks are going through. This sort of thing has become all too familiar to people in Norther and Southern California. There is a Fire Season in California for heavens sake and each year brings some kind of fresh hell to the state.

Oh, and those poor people have more of this to look forward to due to climate change. Joy.

If you think the response to the fires was botched, think again. These fires spread quickly due to Santa Anna winds blowing up to 98MPH. It’s believed that caused the fire to spread quickly and now there are fire fighters working around the clock on four different fronts.

Here’s hoping they get them under control soon! ❤️

Nick Schäferhoff • WordPress.com

So, you are considering creating a personal website. Congratulations! In my opinion, that’s one of the smartest decisions you can make.

Now, more than ever, is a great time to create a weblog. Social media companies like Facebook and X have become more hateful than ever. It’s time to own your content and stop feeding the corporate marketing machines with your stories.

I recommend Micro.blog for blogging and Mastodon for your social timeline. Micro.blog also has a social timeline that is compatible with Mastodon and Bluesky. It’s well worth the $5/month. I haven’t used Micro.one but it’s a less expensive version on Micro.blog at a super cheap $1/month.

This blog is hosted by Micro.blog so it’s extremely easy for me to recommend.

Bobby Borisov • Linuxiac

In a remarkable two-year effort, the maintainers of the popular Fish Shell have officially released a beta of Fish 4.0—this time written almost entirely in Rust instead of C++.

I find this fascinating. I always tell folks that rewrites are typically the death of a thing. This team may be an exception to that rule.

I’ll be keeping an eye on this project to see how folks feel about the new shell.

Slashdot

Automattic is cutting its weekly contributions to WordPress.org from 3,988 hours to 45 hours, escalating tensions with rival WP Engine amid their ongoing legal dispute. The dramatic reduction comes after a federal court granted WP Engine an injunction over Automattic’s handling of a disputed plugin.

This is a wild turn of events I’d imagine is designed to get WP Engine to contribute more to the WordPress project because they’ll need to if they’d like to see new features added.

I don’t want anything to do with the politics behind this. Wordpress is a great piece of software and I hope it continues to be. Not updating as frequently may be a good thing. It’ll allow the community to take a deep breath and not worry about future changes causing additional bugs. It will also allow folks to stabilize and fix whatever bugs they’re aware of since that looks like a primary focus going forward. I hope it works. 🤞🏼

Jens Gustedt

With this post I will concentrate on the here and now: how to use C’s future lifesaving defer feature with existing tools and compilers.

Defer is one of those keywords/features I really appreciate about Swift. It’s really nice to have a compiler enforced way to guarantee your code can cleanup, even if something goes wonky. 👍🏼

Ryan Christoffel • 9To5Mac

AMD introduced a powerful new laptop chip today, the Ryzen AI Max. The company compared its new chip to Apple’s M4 line in several benchmarks, but there’s a very important detail it left out.

Heh, I didn’t realize AMD didn’t compare their new chip to Apple’s M4 Max. Hey, AMD still has a generally useful chip and I’m sure laptop makers are ready for it.

Richard Lander • .NET Blog

We maintain multiple Content Delivery Network (CDN) instances for delivering .NET builds. Some end in azureedge.net. These domains are hosted by edg.io, which will soon cease operations due to bankruptcy. We are required to migrate to a new CDN and will be using new domains going forward.

One would think Microsoft, with its deep pockets, would spend a little cash to keep this bankrupt company afloat while they properly transition their services to their own data center. It’s also odd to me that Microsoft would use a third-party for this service being its important infrastructure. Weird.

I would’ve loved to have been a fly on the wall of those meetings.

Nick Ripley

Recently I diagnosed and fixed two frame pointer unwinding crashes in Go. The root causes were two flavors of the same problem: buggy assembly code clobbered a frame pointer. By “clobbered” I mean wrote over the value without saving & restoring it. One bug clobbered the frame pointer register. The other bug clobbered a frame pointer saved on the stack. This post explains the bugs, talks a bit about ABIs and calling conventions, and makes some recommendations for how to avoid the bugs.

Oh my goodness I love reading tech articles like this. Go is one of many new classes of memory safe languages. But the memory safety is only as good as the language team’s tooling.

This article explains how one person just made Go a bit more safe for all of us.

Jacob Bartlett

In 2017, Chris buggered off to mess around with AI. Tim Cook’s MBA buddies began to wriggle their tendrils into Swift and guide it towards its next life stage.

Swift has 217 keywords? Good grief. I don’t use many of those, I’m certain of it. I’m not very bright and I’m very slow to learn new stuff. I’m champing at the bit to fully embrace SwiftUI and async/await support in Swift 6.0. Ive found async/await to be particularly difficult to grok. The current networking code in Stream is working just fine so I have plenty of time to adjust to async/await as long as Apple doesn’t deprecate their old support. Fingers crossed. 🤞🏼

Liam Reilly • CNN

The Washington Post on Tuesday laid off roughly 100 employees across its business division, the latest indication of the newspaper’s financial woes after subscribers and staffers revolted over owner Jeff Bezos’s decision to block an endorsement of Vice President Kamala Harris.

I’m hoping Kara Swisher and a group of investors purchase WaPo from Bezos. I don’t. Think it’s for sale but I believe Kara could turn it around and make it into the countries best source of investigative reporting, political or otherwise. I think it would also become a lot braver in its coverage of political corruption in DC.

Politics

I’m trying something a bit different this week. I’m grouping all my political links and opinions here at the bottom so folks can skip it altogether if they’re sick of reading about it.

I’ve had some folks reach out to say they like Saturday Morning Coffee, except for the politics. I understand. I’m sick of it to, but I can’t ignore what’s happened and is about to happen in our country.

So, please feel free to skip this part. It’s about politics! ❤️

Anna Merlan • Mother Jones

As Big Tech scrambles to placate Donald Trump before he reassumes office, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that his company would replace their fact-checkers with user-generated Community Notes, beginning in the United States and then rolling out globally.

I’ve said time and again that Zuck is a sociopath, maybe psychopath? At minimum he’s a narcissist, right? (I’m not a psychologist, but I play one on Saturday mornings.)

This sudden capitulation to Trump is pure cowardice. Marmalade Messiah threatened Zuck and he folded like a cheap suit.

Facebook is now compliant with the destruction of Democracy. Shameful.

Jeff Tiedrich

those are hurricane-force winds. it’s a hurricane made out of fucking fire. one ember can travel miles, land somewhere else, and start a whole new fire — and that’s exactly what’s happening right now all over the Los Angeles area.

It’s really pathetic that Orange Man and Space Karen have tried to turn an absolute tragedy into a political chess piece.

The fire is tragic whether started intentionally or not. It’s not because of DEI or some government conspiracy. It’s tragic. Plain and simple.

Manton Reece

Tim Cook gives $1 million to Trump’s inauguration committee. I think this event will be a turning point in how we view the Apple CEO.

I didn’t expect Tim Cook to kiss Trump’s big ass. But here we are. Shameful.

M.G. Siegler

$1M Knee Pads

That is a great summary of what tech CEO’s have been doing. Buying $1M knee pads to kiss Trump’s ass.

I hope democracy can survive the next four years, Trump doesn’t declare himself benevolent dictator, and leaves office after his lame duck term. Here’s hoping.

[chesterleprince]

Lilith's Levain

//

specific and vague,

analytically, I’m literally ace.

Acidic, ablaze,

biffing with this sickening rage.

The mystic acclaimed,

the critic's cynic appraise,

lucific, listless Lorraine,

Lilith's Lillim Levain.

Lillin living Liege.

The Gryphons? Tiffish estates.

Skiffing with finicky apes,

mimicking, visually bayt/bait.

Vampiric, the spirit rewakes.

Kill the martyr, honestly,

filled with horror, sodomy.

Built the harbour, modestly,

drilled my armour, consciously.

You're the devil and I'm honest,

feel your pressure on my solace.

See your message on my body,

hear you breathless as I'm falling.

Heed the calling siren, lycan.

Often feed, cautiously,

god please.

Robbing me, horridly sorry,

say you saw me, I changed my calling.

Keep me in secrecy,

leave me ingeniously.

The reaper is seeking me,

reak of the demon's key.

Beaten, but never being beat,

eat me, feel the meanness deep.

Strip me of my cheapest needs,

lift me up with beaming streams.

Weekly feel my weakness feast.

Breathing steep,

sleeping beat.

Beast is creeping on the greenest streets,

reaping me,

Fiendishly seizing my keenest keeps.

Recently seen the meak believe.

Feed me leaves.

Sweet her seed, seamless cheek is freed.

Achieve or not achieve.

To be or not to be.

[slpublicity]

SCREAMBOX March Streaming Line-Up Includes FOLLOWERS, BEING HUMAN, EXIT HUMANITY, ALIEN FROM THE ABYSS

SCREAMBOX has revealed the new films that are joining the horror streaming service in March, including Followers, Being Human, Exit Humanity, and Alien from the Abyss.

Inspired by the success of Alien and The Abyss, Alien from the Abyss has invaded SCREAMBOX. Newly restored in 4K by Severin Films, Charles Napier (The Silent of the Lambs) stars in the 1989 Italian knock-off.

Like You're Next for the influencer generation, SCREAMBOX Exclusive Followers streams on March 12. The home invasion thriller finds a social media influencer in the crosshairs of a relentless dark web cult.

A werewolf, a vampire, and a ghost attempt to coexist in the British supernatural comedy series Being Human. The first season hits SCREAMBOX on March 22, with the remaining four seasons dropping weekly through April 19.

Zombie period piece Exit Humanity bites into SCREAMBOX on March 22. Hailed as "not a movie, but a piece of cinema" by Fangoria, it features genre legends Dee Wallace (Cujo), Bill Moseley (The Devil's Rejects), and Stephen McHattie (Watchmen).

A treasure trove of cheesy creature features stomp onto SCREAMBOX on March 29: Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus, Mega Shark vs. Mecha Shark, 6-Headed Shark Attack, Megaboa, and Mega Ape.

Other March highlights include: the ninth season of Bloody Disgusting's snack-sized horror showcase Bloody Bites; the Toxic Avenger-esque splatterfest Septic Man; post-apocalyptic thriller Night Cries; throwback slasher Pillow Party Massacre; psychological nightmare The Parker Sessions; and campy indie horrors Amityville Death Toilet and Amityville Thanksgiving.

Start screaming now with SCREAMBOX on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Prime Video, Roku, YouTube TV, Samsung, Comcast, Cox, and Screambox.com.

[icodesk]

10 Best Performing Cryptocurrencies of the Week

10 best-performing cryptocurrencies that have caught the attention of traders and investors

In the world of cryptocurrencies, the market is a continuous rollercoaster where values surge and dip, making it essential for investors to stay informed about the latest trends. This week, we witnessed noteworthy performances from various digital assets, each carving its path amidst the volatility. Let’s delve into the top 10 best-performing cryptocurrencies that have caught the attention of traders and investors.

Terra Classic (LUNC)

Current Price: $0.0001154

Weekly Upsurge: 54.64%

24-Hour Trade Volume: $107,522,526

Terra Classic aims to revolutionize the financial ecosystem by providing a stable, programmable currency. Built on the Terra blockchain, it leverages stability mechanisms to minimize price volatility, making it an attractive option for users looking for a reliable medium of exchange.

Celestia (TIA)

Current Price: $6.98

Weekly Upsurge: 24.22%

24-Hour Trade Volume: $186,236,743

Celestia is a decentralized platform focusing on peer-to-peer content sharing and streaming. By utilizing blockchain technology, it ensures transparent and fair compensation for content creators, reshaping the entertainment industry’s dynamics.

IOTA (IOTA)

Current Price: $0.2267

Weekly Upsurge: 24.17%

24-Hour Trade Volume: $177,517,349

IOTA stands out with its unique approach to the blockchain. It employs a directed acyclic graph (DAG) structure called the Tangle, eliminating the need for miners and transaction fees. IOTA aims to facilitate secure and feeless transactions, particularly suitable for the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem.

Injective (INJ)

Current Price: $18.50

Weekly Upsurge: 18.45%

24-Hour Trade Volume: $146,028,906

Injective Protocol is a decentralized finance (DeFi) project that enables users to create and trade financial derivatives. It operates on a layer-2 protocol, offering fast and low-cost transactions. Injective aims to democratize access to financial markets.

THORChain (RUNE)

Current Price: $6.55

Weekly Upsurge: 17.36%

24-Hour Trade Volume: $365,065,584

THORChain is a decentralized liquidity protocol that facilitates cross-chain decentralized exchanges. Its goal is to enable users to swap assets across different blockchain networks seamlessly, fostering interoperability within the crypto space.

Oasis Network (ROSE)

Current Price: $0.08635

Weekly Upsurge: 17.35%

24-Hour Trade Volume: $24,063,545

Oasis Network is a privacy-focused blockchain platform designed for decentralized applications (dApps). It incorporates privacy-preserving smart contracts, enhancing data security and confidentiality for users and developers.

ApeCoin (APE)

Current Price: $1.61

Weekly Upsurge: 10.93%

24-Hour Trade Volume: $52,909,768

ApeCoin is an emerging project in the decentralized finance sector, focusing on yield farming and community governance. It leverages decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) to enable token holders to participate in decision-making processes.

Stacks (STX)

Current Price: $0.7086

Weekly Upsurge: 10.52%

24-Hour Trade Volume: $69,114,552

Stacks introduces a unique approach by enabling smart contracts on the Bitcoin blockchain. By bringing smart contract functionality to Bitcoin, Stacks aims to expand the capabilities of the world’s first cryptocurrency while maintaining security and decentralization.

Dogecoin (DOGE)

Current Price: $0.08393

Weekly Upsurge: 8.03%

24-Hour Trade Volume: $696,599,204

Originally created as a meme, Dogecoin has evolved into a widely traded cryptocurrency. Known for its Shiba Inu dog logo, Dogecoin has gained popularity for its active community and philanthropic efforts. Despite its lighthearted origin, Dogecoin has become a serious player in the crypto space.

Axie Infinity (AXS)

Current Price: $6.47

Weekly Upsurge: 7.39%

24-Hour Trade Volume: $77,522,926

Axie Infinity represents the intersection of blockchain gaming and decentralized finance. It is a play-to-earn gaming ecosystem where players can collect, breed, and battle fantasy creatures called Axies. The in-game assets are tradable, allowing players to earn real value from their gaming endeavors.

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[jjmaybanksbaby]

she used to love rafe | rafe x reader

it’s always paradise until it isn’t anymore

a/n: apparently im in the mood to write some rafe angst so put on your best sad music playlist and watch our pretty boy get his heart broken it’s therapeutic i promise

——————————————————————————

Rafe Cameron and [y/n] had been subtly fighting about midsummers for the past week. Rafe had skipped the last one of their weekly thursday night dinners because of a suit fitting. Sure, it was just one night but [y/n] couldn’t get past the fact that he could have literally scheduled it for any other time on any other day of the week.

With Rafe Cameron, she was either ready to have fifty of his babies or be the reason he was six feet under. There really was no in between - at all.

The night they had gotten together for the first time had been nothing shy of passionate. It was Halloween and the tension between them had been building since [y/n] called Rafe out for being an ass in front of their entire ap chemistry class.

One of the dudes from Rafe’s lacrosse team was throwing his annual Halloween party. Pretty much everyone from the Kook Academy spent their 31st there.

[Y/n] had somehow let her best friends talk her into going as the sluttiest version of the Disney princess. And since it was senior year, they were going all out. [Y/n]’s costume considered only of a light blue bra and a tiny light blue tutu to go with it. And of course, a crown perched on top of her gorgeous blonde hair.

She looked kickass and turned plenty of heads at the party. When Rafe laid eyes on her, he couldn’t keep the look at amusement off his face. When their eyes locked, both of them refused to look away. That was the moment they both realized that the playful flirting was gonna turn into something more.

Presently, it was Saturday, one week before Midsummers. [y/n] had been reading through the Georgetown University orientation packet, where she was headed that fall, when Rafe walked into her room. She glanced up at him and then back down without a word. A mild dose of the silent treatment was what she did when she was pissed off but not going to say it; Rafe was quite familiar with it.

Rafe flopped onto [y/n]’s bed right on top of the things she had been reading.

“So you aren’t gonna fucking talk to me?” He asked, already knowing the answer to his own question. Rafe hated when she did this to him. It wasn’t the lack of attention that bothered him. No, he really couldn’t pinpoint why he couldn’t stand it, he just couldn’t.

“I’m not not talking to you Rafe.” [y/n] replied, trying to wedge the packet out from under him.

“Pick another day to throw a tantrum cause we need to talk about Midsummers.” Rafe said, not caring to keep the anger out of his tone.

[Y/n] look down at him, eyebrows raised to her forehead. “Do you wanna try that again?”

Rafe said up, “I said ‘We have to talk about Midsummer.’ What is your problem with that?”

“If you came over here to fight with me, go home Rafe. I have things to do. I don’t need your shit today.”

“Fuck, are you like on your period today baby? Rose just wanted me to tell you that the girls are wearing pastels this year and since you’re walking in with my family-”

“No,” [y/n] said, cutting Rafe off.

“What?”

“I’m not walking in with your family Rafe.”

“Yes, you are. What are you talking about? Of course you. You’re my girlfriend.”

“And you’re my boyfriend. Why don’t you walk in with my family?”

“Cause that’s not how it work, you know that.”

“That’s sexist as fuck. I’m not doing it.”

“You know Rose is going to be pissed at me now.”

“Okay and that’s not my problem Rafe.”

“What is going on with you today [y/n]? If this about missing Thursday, I already told you Ward made the appointment. I couldn’t change it. What do you want from me?”

“Nothing. Oh my god. And no, its not. Fuck Cameron.”

“So why are you being pissing?” Rafe asked, his voice getting louder with annoyance.

“Literally nothing. I’m good.” [y/n] wasn’t sure she could even put into words what was making her upset at that point. Deep down, she knew she needed to dump Rafe. This back and forth and slight toxicity had started to lose it’s appeal.

Mostly he’s been good to her. [Y/n] really didn’t want thing with him to be over but they were outgrowing each other. Plus they were headed to two different sides of the country in August; doing long-distance for an already doomed relationship would be silly.

[Y/n] pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Rafe was still talking but she’s tuned him out to be alone with her thoughts. She knew she couldn’t go to Midsummers with him. Things ended here, tonight.

“Right baby?” Rafe asked, breaking her trance.

“I can’t do this anymore,” [y/n] said, the words she’d been terrified to say finally tumbling out of her mouth. Rafe’s whole face sank; that was her answer. He’d been feeling the exact same way.

Rafe reached out and placed his hand on [y/n] arm. He ran his thumb over her skin, sending shivers up her spine.

“I love you but I’m not in love with you anymore.” She admitted outloud for the first time. “I’m sorry Rafe.”

Rafe looked up at her. “Yeah, me too [y/n].”

She felt the prick of tears behind her eyes but she really didn’t want to cry in front of him. Neither of them could seem to find the right words so silence hung between them. It was heavy in a way that it had never been before. Neither of them dared to move or spread first because when they did it made the moment real. It meant it was really over.

[Y/n] lifted her eyes and they instantly locked with Rafe’s. She didn’t even think about it as she climbed into his lap and wrapped her arms around him. He pulled her closer into her chest and gently rested his chin on the top of her head. [Y/n] let the tears start to stream down her face.

The same boy that was breaking her heart was the only person she wanted to be comforted by.

“I’m gonna go,” Rafe said and [y/n] knew that was the end. She slide away from Rafe and studied his face one more time. He looked down into her eyes and closed the distance between their lips. [Y/n] closed her eyes tight as he kissed her goodbye but his lips were gone from her’s too soon.

Rafe left the room without another word and [y/n] felt a knot form deep in her stomach as he walked away from her. It hurt so badly, worse than she had expected. Rafe Cameron was the first boy she had loved. And now he was her first heartbreak too.

[patriotsnet]

Why Is The Media Against Republicans

New Post has been published on https://www.patriotsnet.com/why-is-the-media-against-republicans/

Why Is The Media Against Republicans

Mcconnell And Co Are Playing As Dirty A Game As Possible In Their Quest To Fill Ginsburgs Seat Before The Election But You Wont Find That Story In Most News Coverage

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US Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell at a press conference at the US Capitol on September 22, 2020. McConnell said in a statement that the Senate would take up President Donald Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

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The argument against confirming Donald Trump’s nominee to the Supreme Court before the inauguration is a Republican argument. They invented it, they enacted it, and they own it. That’s because it was Republicans, not Democrats, who changed the number of Supreme Court justices from nine to eight for 10 months in 2016, when a Democratic president was in the White House. It was Republicans who argued that no Supreme Court nominee should even be considered by the Senate in an election year. And it was Republicans who promised to block the confirmation of Hillary Clinton’s Supreme Court nominees in the event that she became president while Republicans retained control of the Senate.

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And that argument is simply untenable. We do not have a legitimate third branch of government if only one party gets to choose its members.

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Vaccine Advocacy From Hannity And Mcconnell Gets The Media Off Republicans’ Backs But Won’t Shift Public Sentiment

Sean Hannity, Mitch McConnell and Tucker Carlson

Amid a rising media furor over the steady stream of vaccine disparagement from GOP politicians and Fox News talking heads, a number of prominent Republicans spoke up in favor of vaccines early this week.

On Tuesday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters, “shots need to get in everybody’s arm as rapidly as possible” and asked that people “ignore all of these other voices that are giving demonstrably bad advice.” House Minority Whip Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, got the vaccine after months of delay and then publicly said, “there shouldn’t be any hesitancy over whether or not it’s safe and effective.” And Fox News host Sean Hannity, in a widely shared video, declared, it “absolutely makes sense for many Americans to get vaccinated.” This was treated in the press as an unequivocal endorsement, even though the use of the word “many” was clearly meant to let the Fox News viewers feel like he’s talking about other people getting vaccinated. 

Is this an exciting pivot among the GOP elites?  Are they abandoning the sociopathic strategy of sabotaging President Joe Biden’s anti-pandemic plan by encouraging their own followers to get sick? Are the millions of Republicans who keep telling pollsters they will never get that Democrat shot going to change their minds now? 

Ha ha ha, no.

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— Matthew Gertz July 20, 2021

The Technology 202: New Report Calls Conservative Claims Of Social Media Censorship ‘a Form Of Disinformation’

with Aaron Schaffer

A new report concludes that social networks aren’t systematically biased against conservatives, directly contradicting Republican claims that social media companies are censoring them. 

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Recent moves by Twitter and Facebook to suspend former president Donald Trump’s accounts in the wake of the violence at the Capitol are inflaming conservatives’ attacks on Silicon Valley. But New York University researchers today released a report stating claims of anti-conservative bias are “a form of disinformation: a falsehood with no reliable evidence to support it.” 

The report found there is no trustworthy large-scale data to support these claims, and even anecdotal examples that tech companies are biased against conservatives “crumble under close examination.” The report’s authors said, for instance, the companies’ suspensions of Trump were “reasonable” given his repeated violation of their terms of service — and if anything, the companies took a hands-off approach for a long time given Trump’s position.

The report also noted several data sets underscore the prominent place conservative influencers enjoy on social media. For instance, CrowdTangle data shows that right-leaning pages dominate the list of sources providing the most engaged-with posts containing links on Facebook. Conservative commentator Dan Bongino, for instance, far out-performed most major news organizations in the run-up to the 2020 election. 

In The Past The Gop Would Be Rallying Their Voters Against This Bill Their Failure To Do So Now Is Ominous

Mitch ?McConnell, Ted Cruz, Tucker Carlson and Ben Shapiro

With surprising haste for the U.S. Senate, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, just after passing a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill. And Democrats could not be more excited, as the blueprint covers a whole host of long-standing priorities, from fighting climate change to creating universal prekindergarten. The blueprint was largely written by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who released a statement calling it “the most consequential piece of legislation for working people, the elderly, the children, the sick and the poor since FDR and the New Deal of the 1930s.”

Sanders isn’t putting that much spin on the ball.

While the bill fallls short of what is really needed to deal with climate change, it is still tremendously consequential legislation that will do a great deal not just to ameliorate economic inequalities, but, in doing so, likely reduce significant gender and racial inequality. It’s also a big political win for President Joe Biden. In other words, it is everything that Republicans hate. Worse for them, it’s packed full of benefits that boost the middle class, not just the working poor. Traditionally, such programs are much harder to claw back once Republicans gain power — as they’ve discovered in previous failed attempts to dismantle Social Security and Obamacare. 

Want more Amanda Marcotte on politics? Subscribe to her newsletter Standing Room Only.

But that’s not really happening here. 

The Actual Reason Why Republicans And Their Media Are Discouraging People From Getting Vaccinated

Independent Media Institute

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a CNN Medical Analyst, said last week, “A surprising amount of death will occur soon…” But why, when the deadly Delta variant is sweeping the world, are Republicans and their media warning people not to get vaccinated?

there’s always a reason

Dr. Anthony Fauci told Jake Tapper on CNN last Sunday, “I don’t have a really good reason why this is happening.”

But even if he can’t think of a reason why Republicans would trash talk vaccination and people would believe them, it’s definitely there.

Which is why it’s important to ask a couple of simple questions that all point to the actual reason why Republicans and their media are discouraging people from getting vaccinated:

1. Why did Trump get vaccinated in secret after Joe Biden won the election and his January 6th coup attempt failed?

2. Why are Fox “News” personalities discouraging people from getting vaccinated while refusing to say if they and the people they work with have been protected by vaccination?

3. Why was one of the biggest applause lines at CPAC: “They were hoping — the government was hoping — that they could sort of sucker 90% of the population into getting vaccinated and it isn’t happening!”

4. Why are Republican legislators in states around the country pushing laws that would “ban” private businesses from asking to see proof of vaccination status ?

Death is their electoral strategy.

Is there any other possible explanation?

So, what’s left?

Destroying Trust In The Media Science And Government Has Left America Vulnerable To Disaster

For America to minimize the damage from the current pandemic, the media must inform, science must innovate, and our government must administer like never before. Yet decades of politically-motivated attacks discrediting all three institutions, taken to a new level by President Trump, leave the American public in a vulnerable position.

jonmladd

Trump has consistently vilified the national media. When campaigning, he the media “absolute scum” and “totally dishonest people.” As president, he has news organizations “fake news” and “the enemy of the people” over and over. The examples are endless. Predictably, he has blamed the coronavirus crisis on the media, saying “We were very prepared. The only thing we weren’t prepared for was the media.”

Science has been another Trump target. He has gutted scientific expertise and administrative capacity in the executive branch, most notably failing to fill hundreds of vacancies in the Centers for Disease Control itself and disbanding the National Security Council’s taskforce on pandemics. During the coronavirus crisis, he has routinely disagreed with scientific experts, including, in the AP’s words, his “musing about injecting disinfectants into people .” This follows his earlier public advocacy for hydroxychloroquine as a COVID-19 treatment, also against leading scientists’ advice. Coupled with his flip-flopping on when to lift stay-at-home orders, the president has created confusion and endangered people.

Media Bias Against Conservatives Is Real And Part Of The Reason No One Trusts The News Now

Members of the media were shocked as he was supposedly revealed as incredibly anti-woman presidential candidate, perhaps even the most ever nominated by a major political party in the modern era. He had admitted that he reduced women to objects and the Democrats pounced, seeking to make him lose him the support of women and, in turn, the presidency.

I’m not talking about the media coverage of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and the “Access Hollywood” tape, but his predecessor, Mitt Romney.

His sin? Saying that he had “binders full of women” that he was looking at appointing to key positions were he elected president. Sure, it was an awkward way of stating a fairly innocuous fact about how elected executives begin their transition efforts — with resumes of candidates for every position under the sun —- well before an election is held. Yet, the media and commentators came for Mitt Romney and they did so with guns blazing, as he was portrayed as an anti-woman extremist… for making a concerted effort to hire women to serve in his administration as governor of Massachusetts.

There Is No Liberal Media Bias In Which News Stories Political Journalists Choose To Cover

1Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL 32306, USA.

2University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903, USA.

3Brigham Young University-Idaho, Rexburg, ID 83460, USA.

?*Corresponding author. Email: hans.hassellfsu.edu ; jh5akvirginia.edu

?† These authors contributed equally to this work.

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‘it’s Time To End This Forever War’ Biden Says Forces To Leave Afghanistan By 9/11

The enormous national anger generated by those attacks was also channeled by the administration toward the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, which was conceived to prevent any recurrence of attacks on such a massive scale. Arguments over that legislation consumed Congress through much of 2002 and became the fodder for campaign ads in that year’s midterms.

The same anger was also directed toward a resolution to use force, if needed, in dealing with security threats from the regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq. That authorization passed Congress with bipartisan majorities in the fall of 2002, driven by administration claims that Saddam had “weapons of mass destruction.” It became law weeks before the midterm elections.

Once those elections were over, the Republicans in control of both chambers finally agreed to create an independent commission to seek answers about 9/11. Bush signed the legislation on Nov. 27, 2002.

The beginning was hobbled when the first chairman, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, and vice chairman, former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell of Maine, decided not to continue. But a new chairman, former New Jersey Gov. Thomas Kean, and vice chairman, former Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana, filled the breach and performed to generally laudatory reviews.

Long memories

Top House Republican Opposes Bipartisan Commission To Investigate Capitol Riot

But McCarthy replied by opposing Katko’s product, and more than 80% of the other House Republicans did too. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., initially said he was keeping an open mind but then announced that he too was opposed. This makes it highly unlikely that 10 of McConnell’s GOP colleagues will be willing to add their votes to the Democrats’ and defeat a filibuster of the bill.

Republicans have argued that two Senate committees are already looking at the events of Jan. 6, as House panels have done as well. The Justice Department is pursuing cases against hundreds of individuals who were involved. Former President Donald Trump and others have said any commission ought to also be tasked to look at street protests and violence that took place in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd.

But with all that on the table, several Republicans have alluded to their concern about a new commission “dragging on” into 2022, the year of the next midterm elections. “A lot of our members … want to be moving forward,” said Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., the No. 2 Senate Republican toMcConnell. “Anything that gets us rehashing to 2020 elections is, I think, a day lost.”

Resistance even after 9/11

The Taliban were toppled but bin Laden escaped, and U.S. forces have been engaged there ever since. The troop numbers have declined in recent years, and President Biden has indicated that all combat troops will be out by this year’s anniversary of the 2001 attacks.

Opiniontrump And His Voters Are Drawn Together By A Shared Sense Of Defiance

Americans in general have begun to catch on: 66 percent of Americans believe that the media has a hard time separating fact from opinion and, according to a recent Gallup poll, 62 percent of the country believes that the press is biased one way or the other in their reporting.

So when CNN, NBC News, Fox News, or another outlet break a hard news story, there is a good chance that a large swathe of the public won’t view it as legitimate news.

And politicians, right and left, are taking advantage of this.

The entire ordeal is part of an ever-growing list of examples in which the media seemed to be biased, whether consciously or not, against Republicans.

Before Donald Trump, there was New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who in 2014 accused the media of “dividing us” because they asked him about some protesters who had chanted “NYPD is the KKK” and . He also accused the media of McCarthyism when they dug into the personal life of an aide of his, who reportedly had a relationship with a convicted murderer. The mayor also publicly and privately accused Bloomberg News of being biased against him, since it is owned by his predecessor. However, de Blasio is not terribly popular within his own party, so Democrats in New York did not buy what he was selling.

The Media Has Entered The Republicans Pounce Stage Of Critical Race Theory

Now that polls show a majority of Americans oppose Critical Race Theory, the Democratic Party and their scribes in the legacy media have launched a rearguard action against parents — by casting them as the aggressors. As is true every time the Left misfires or overreaches, the media ignore the offense and focus on the popular backlash in a tactic popularly known as “Republicans pounce.”

Media coverage proves that CRT has entered the “Republicans pounce” stage. Witness the words of one Politico writer, who said on Thursday, “he right is hoping to capitalize on the grassroots angst over critical race theory and excite its base voters in next year’s midterms.” Chris Hayes, who has the unenviable position of competing directly with Tucker Carlson on MSNBC, agreed Thursday night that all the Republican Party’s “rhetorical fire has moved away from the deficit and on to some random, school superintendent in Maine after his district dared to denounce white supremacy after the murder of George Floyd.”

But why are grassroots Americans so filled with “angst”? Because they are intellectually deficient and, of course, racist, according to Vox.com.

“Conservatives have launched a growing disinformation campaign around the academic concept” of CRT. “It’s an attempt to push back against progress,” wrote Vox.com reporter Fabiola Cineas. The problem is that “Republicans … want to ban anti-racist teachings and trainings in classrooms and workplaces across the country.”

Trump Continues To Push Election Falsehoods Here’s Why That Matters

Republican opposition to the commission

Rice was featured in one of the very few congressional commissions ever to receive this level of attention. Most are created and live out their mission with little notice. Indeed, Congress has created nearly 150 commissions of various kinds in just the last 30 years, roughly five a year.

Some have a highly specific purpose, such as a commemoration. Others are more administrative, such as the five-member commission overseeing the disbursement of business loans during the early months of pandemic lockdown in 2020. Others have been wide-ranging and controversial, such as the one created to investigate synthetic opioid trafficking.

In the initial weeks after the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol, the idea of an independent commission to probe the origins of the attack and the failures that let it happen seemed a no-brainer. It had broad support both in Congress and in public opinion polls. It still enjoys the latter, as about two-thirds of Americans indicate that they think an independent commission is needed. The idea has fared well — particularly when described as being “9/11 Commission style.”

Opiniona Guide For Frustrated Conservatives In The Age Of Trump

Conscious bias or not, such practices do not engender trust in the media amongst conservatives. They only reinforce the belief that the media seeks to defend their ideological allies on the left and persecute those on the right while claiming to be objective.

This idea that the media is made up of unselfconsciously liberal elites who don’t even recognize the biases they have against conservative policies and conservatives in general goes back decades, to when newsrooms were more or less homogenous in nearly every way. At first, conservatives fought back by founding their own magazines; after Watergate and in the midst of the Reagan administration and liberals’ contempt for him, organizations like the Media Research Center began cataloguing the myriad examples of biased coverage, both large and small.

And there was a lot to catalogue, from opinion pages heavily weighted in favor of liberals to reportage and analysis that looks a lot more like the opinion of the writers than unbiased coverage.

Despite Cries Of Censorship Conservatives Dominate Social Media

GOP-friendly voices far outweigh liberals in driving conversations on hot topics leading up to the election, a POLITICO analysis shows.

The Twitter app on a mobile phone | Matt Rourke/AP Photo

10/27/2020 01:38 PM EDT

Link Copied

Republicans have turned alleged liberal bias in Silicon Valley into a major closing theme of the election cycle, hauling tech CEOs in for virtual grillings on Capitol Hill while President Donald Trump threatens legal punishment for companies that censor his supporters.

But a POLITICO analysis of millions of social media posts shows that conservatives still rule online.

Right-wing social media influencers, conservative media outlets and other GOP supporters dominate online discussions around two of the election’s hottest issues, the Black Lives Matter movement and voter fraud, according to the review of Facebook posts, Instagram feeds, Twitter messages and conversations on two popular message boards. And their lead isn’t close.

As racial protests engulfed the nation after George Floyd’s death, users shared the most-viral right-wing social media content more than 10 times as often as the most popular liberal posts, frequently associating the Black Lives Matter movement with violence and accusing Democrats like Joe Biden of supporting riots.

Politifact Va: No Republicans Didn’t Vote To Defund The Police

Rep. Bobby Scott speaks at a 2015 criminal justice forum.

Speaker: Bobby ScottStatement: “Every Republican in Congress voted to defund the police when they voted against the American Rescue Plan.”Date: July 12Setting: Twitter

In last fall’s campaigns, Republicans thundered often inaccurate charges that Democrats wanted to defund police departments.

U.S. Rep. Bobby Scott, D-Va., is flipping the script and saying that all congressional Republicans voted to defund police this year when they opposed a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan.

“Every Republican in Congress voted to defund police when they voted against the American Rescue Plan,” Scott tweeted on July 12.

Scott represents Virginia’s 3rd congressional district, stretching from Norfolk and parts of Chesapeake north through Newport News and west through Franklin.

His claim, echoing a Democratic talking point, melts under scrutiny. Here’s why.

The Facts

The term “defunding police” arose after the 2020 killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Many advocates say it does not mean abolishing police, but rather reallocating some of the money and the duties that have traditionally been handled by police departments.

Scott’s explanation

Barbera sent an NBC article noting that communities in at least 10 congressional districts represented by Republicans who opposed the bill are using some of its relief funds to help their police departments.

Our ruling

We rate Scott’s statement False.

Opinion:no The Media Isnt Fair It Gives Republicans A Pass

The right-wing media, willfully ignoring the press investigations into Tara Reade’s accusations, insist that former vice president Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has not been treated similarly to accused conservative men . They have a point, but not the one they were trying to make.

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Let’s start with the big picture: Right-wing groups persistently engage in conduct for which Republicans are not held to account. The latter are allowed to remain silent after instances of conduct with a strong stench of white nationalism, but pay no penalty for their quietude. Right-wing demonstrators at Michigan’s statehouse this week — angrily shouting, not social distancing, misogynistic in their message, some carrying Confederate garb — were not engaged in peaceful protest. This was a mob endangering the health of police officers and others seeking to intimidate democratic government. Some protesters compared Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer to Adolf Hitler and displayed Nazi symbols. Newsweek reported:

The media has adopted the approach that a pattern of sexual harassment claims over decades is not relevant because Trump has denied them, yet they want investigated the single assault claim against Biden. Biden responded in an interview and in a lengthy ; the media insists these things have to be investigated further. They do not ask Trump’s campaign why the president does not respond to questions. They do not ask Republicans about Carroll, Zervos or others.

Social Media: Is It Really Biased Against Us Republicans

Wednesday promises to be another stressful day for Facebook, Google and Twitter.

Their chief executives will be grilled by senators about whether social media companies abuse their power.

For Republicans, this is the opportunity they’ve been waiting for.

Two weeks ago, Twitter prevented people posting links to a critical New York Post investigation into Joe Biden.

It then apologised for failing to explain its reasoning before ditching a rule it had used to justify the action.

For many Republicans, this was the final straw – incontrovertible evidence that social media is biased against conservatives.

The accusation is that Silicon Valley is at its core liberal and a bad arbiter of what’s acceptable on its platforms.

In this case, Republicans like Senator Ted Cruz believed Twitter would have acted differently if the story had been about President Donald Trump.

Sobering Report Shows Hardening Attitudes Against Media

NEW YORK — The distrust many Americans feel toward the news media, caught up like much of the nation’s problems in the partisan divide, only seems to be getting worse.

That was the conclusion of a “sobering” study of attitudes toward the press conducted by Knight Foundation and Gallup and released Tuesday.

Nearly half of all Americans describe the news media as “very biased,” the survey found.

“That’s a bad thing for democracy,” said John Sands, director of learning and impact at the Knight Foundation. “Our concern is that when half of Americans have some sort of doubt about the veracity of the news they consume, it’s going to be impossible for our democracy to function.”

The study was conducted before the coronavirus lockdown and nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd.

Eight percent of respondents — the preponderance of them politically conservative — think that news media that they distrust are trying to ruin the country.

– Deal gives Atlanta company control of Anchorage TV news

The study found that 71% of Republicans have a “very” or “somewhat” unfavorable opinion of the news media, while 22% of Democrats feel the same way. Switch it around, and 54% of Democrats have a very favorable view of the media, and only 13% of Republicans feel the same way.

That divide has been documented before but only seems to be deepening, particularly among conservatives, Sands said.

In The Age Of Trump Media Bias Comes Into The Spotlight

Almost 20 years ago, after my first book, “,” came out, I made a lot of speeches, some of them to conservative organizations. The book was about liberal bias in the mainstream media. I had been a journalist at CBS News for 28 years and, so, it was a behind-the-scenes exposé about how the sausage was made, about how bias made its way into the news. 

I said that despite what many conservatives think, there was no conspiracy to slant the news in a liberal direction. I said that there were no secret meetings, no secret handshakes and salutes, that anchors such as CBS’s Dan Rather never went into a room with top lieutenants, locked the door, lowered the blinds, dimmed the lights and said, “OK, how are we going to screw those Republicans today?” 

It didn’t work that way, I said. Instead, bias was the result of groupthink. Put too many like-minded liberals in a newsroom and you’re going to get a liberal slant on the news.    

Liberal journalists, I said, live in a comfortable liberal bubble and don’t even necessarily believe their views are liberal. Instead, they believe they are moderate, mainstream and mainly reasonable views — unlike, of course, conservative views which, to them, are none of those things.

But what I wrote and spoke about then — mainly about how there was no conspiracy to inject bias into news stories — seems no longer to be true today. 

Pandering, it seems, is good for business.

Bias shows itself not only in what’s reported, but also in what’s ignored. 

Florida Republicans Move Against Social Media Companies

TALLAHASSEE — Concerned that social media companies were conspiring against conservatives, Florida Republicans sent a measure Thursday to Gov. Ron DeSantis that would punish online platforms that lawmakers assert discriminate against conservative thought.

The governor had urged lawmakers to deliver the legislation to his desk as part of a broader effort to regulate Big Tech companies — in how they collect and use information they harvest from consumers and in how social media platforms treat their users.

Republicans in Florida and elsewhere have accused the companies of censoring conservative thought on social media platforms by removing posts they consider inflammatory or using algorithms to reduce the visibility of posts that go against the grain of mainstream ideas.

With the ubiquity of social media, the sites have become modern-day public squares — where people share in the most trivial of matters but also in ideas and information that often are unvetted.

In recent years, social media companies have acted more aggressively in controlling the information posted on their platforms. In some cases, the companies have moved to delete posts over what they see as questionable veracity or their potential to stoke violence.

DeSantis is a strong ally of the former president, and the Republican governor is supporting hefty financial penalties against social media platforms that suspend the accounts of political candidates.

America Hates The Republicans And They Dont Know Why

@jonathanchait

Americans harbor certain deep-rooted impressions of the two parties, which have held for generations. Democrats are compassionate and generous, but spendthrift, dovish, and indulgent of crime and prone to subsidize poor people who don’t want to work. Republicans are strong on defense and crime, but too friendly to business and the rich. What is striking about the Republican government is how little effort it has made to push against, or even steer around, the unflattering elements of its brand. President Trump and his legislative partners have leaned into every ingrained prejudice the voters hold against them. They have acted as if none of their liabilities even exist.

That is not the approach Democrats have taken in office. Bill Clinton famously fashioned himself as a “New Democrat,” angering his base on crime and welfare and declaring the era of big government over. Barack Obama did not position himself quite so overtly against his party’s brand — which had recovered in part because of Clinton’s success — but he did take care to avoid confirming political stereotypes. Obama frequently invoked the importance of parenting and personal responsibility. He did not slash the defense budget, and took pains to woo Republican support for criminal-justice reform. Obama tried repeatedly to get Republicans to compromise on a deal to reduce the budget deficit. Whatever the merits of these policies, they reflect a grasp of the party’s innate liabilities.

Placing Some News Sources On The Political Spectrum

Here are a few examples of major news sources and their so-called “bias” based on ratings from AllSides  and the reported level of trust from partisan audiences from the Pew Research Center survey.

Note that much of these ratings are based on surveys of personal perceptions. Consider that these may be impacted by the hostile media effect, wherein “partisans perceive media coverage as unfairly biased against their side” . A three-decade retrospective on the hostile media effect. Mass Communication and Society, 18, 701-729. ).

The Capitol Siege: The Arrested And Their Stories

It would only be logical for that memory to inform the imagination of any Republican contemplating a similar independent commission to probe what happened on Jan. 6. The commission would likely look at various right-wing groups that were involved, including the Oath Keepers and the Proud Boys, some members of which have already been charged. The commission might also delve into the social media presence and influence of various white supremacists.

Moreover, just as the 9/11 Commission was expected to interview the current and preceding presidents, so might a new commission pursue testimony from Trump and some of his advisers, both official and otherwise, regarding their roles in the protest that wound up chasing members of Congress from both chambers into safe holding rooms underground.

House Minority Leader McCarthy was asked last week whether he would testify if a commission were created and called on him to discuss his conversations with Trump on Jan. 6.

“Sure,” McCarthy replied. “Next question.”

All this may soon be moot. If Senate Democrats are unable to secure 60 votes to overcome an expected filibuster of the House-passed bill, the measure will die and the questions to be asked will fall to existing congressional committees, federal prosecutors and the media. To some degree, all can at least claim to have the same goals and intentions as an independent commission might have.

The difference is the level of acceptance their findings are likely to have with the public.

[luimnigh]

May! Did pretty well this month. Okay, made no progress in reading the book I was reading, but apart from that I watch quite a bit of stuff.

Five movies, and four partial watches.

Two series, continued my weekly watch from past months, and added two new weekly watches.

And two games polished off.

I spent today babysitting my nephew, so let's just say I'm already getting a good start with June.

Movies:

Face/Off: It had come up on Flickle a few days before, and I ended up on it after scrolling some streaming sites for a while. Been a couple years since I've seen it. Delightfully bonkers.

Rise of the Planet of the Apes: There's some elements of this film that I feel have aged badly already, some elements that are unrealistic now that I know more about the realities of animal testing and care, but the global pandemic in the end hits different now.

Jumanji: The Next Level: Fine enough sequel, I liked it quite well. Nothing spectacular to it.

Casino Royale (2006): I watched this instead of Eurovision. Which means, unlike the rest of Europe, I watched Britain br good at something.

Deadpool 2: Good to catch this one before the sequel arrived. Took me a few years to realise this was an adaptation of the "Deadpool in love with Death" story without making Deadpool want to bone bones. Still think both these writers and the Avengers writers are cowards on that mark.

Rush (Partial): Caught the last hour one night, basically starting with Niki Lauda's crash. Good movie.

Maiden Voyage: Ocean Hijack (Partial): Caught the first hour of this film late one night. Terrible action movie, Die Hard on a Cruise Ship which makes it an inferior Speed 2: Cruise Control.

The Imitation Game (Partial): Parents were watching it. Caught the last half hour. Spent the entire time annoyed with Turing's characterisation.

The Road Dance (Partial): Caught the last hour. Depressing drama set in the Scottish Outer Hebrides during WWI, about the aftermath of a sexual assault. Mark Gatiss is in it.

Series:

Tales of the Empire: Good to see Barriss again, though I certainly didn't wait as long as many others I know.

Cyberpunk Edgerunners: A lovely little tragedy. Very much epitomises the idea of a tragedy where so many things could have happened to change the ending, and yet you know that the ending was always inevitable. Also I've been thinking about playing the game, so this helped give me some understanding of the setting.

Dungeon Meshi (Partial): I feel like this show is gonna need a second season to wrap up. The situation is still only escalating.

Doctor Who (Partial): You know, I haven't watched weekly Doctor Who since Capaldi? I stopped watching after Hell Bent. I really do need to watch the seasons I missed. Anyway, I think Ruby might be Susan.

Jet Lag: The Game: Season 10 (Partial): Yeah, already way better than Hide And Seek.

Games:

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations: The final game in the trilogy, and a nice send-off. Some interesting twists and turns, and a nice look into both Mia and Edgeworth's heads. And thankfully, there was no character as annoying as the clown this time.

Saints Row (2022) DLC: Stepping back into Santo Illeso was like stepping back into a comfortable pair of slippers. Problem is, the company that makes those slippers has been shut down, so once those slippers are worn out, I'll never be able to get new slippers. A damn shame.

Looking back, I spent most of last year in a depressive funk. There were some high moments, but after about March I just stopped doing the stuff I enjoy. I didn't read books, I didn't watch movies, the last videogame I played to completion was in May, I only went to the Cinema twice...

I just took the quick dopamine hit from stuff like youtube videos and social media scrolling.

I gotta fix that. I gotta get back to the things I enjoy.

So my New Year's Resolution, probably the first time I've ever seriously done one, is to enjoy more art.

I'm gonna record every movie and series watched, every book read, every game played- and I'm gonna finish a bunch of those I started and never ended.

No goal, just more.

[aion-rsa]

Fear Street Part 1: 1994 Review: Netflix Slasher is a Scream

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Three horror films with an arc that spans centuries, released on Netflix weekly: You get a lot of bang for your buck in Fear Street. With each installment existing in a slightly different sub-genre, referencing a whole range of other movies and franchises, the whole thing plays out like a super-packed horror digest. So while its parts might feel derivative, the experience as a whole does not.

Based on the Fear Street books by R.L. Stine, his novels for older teens, Fear Street is gross, gory, and nostalgic enough for adult viewers but also fun and frisky enough to be teen-friendly. Leigh Janiak, whose debut was the eerie horror Honeymoon, heads up all three, bringing a strong Stranger Things vibe—indeed several Stranger Things cast members pop up in Fear Street, including Maya Hawke and Sadie Sink. The director’s clearly a massive horror nerd so this works as a straight up slasher as well as a clever and slightly meta bit of experimental storytelling. On paper it should be a massive hit.

Fear Street Part 1: 1994 is a post-modern slasher which begins as an overt homage to Scream. It’s late night at the mall and a put-upon shop worker is closing up when she’s suddenly attacked by a knife-wielding killer in a black robe and a scary halloween mask, who has apparently already massacred several other mall workers. Who could be doing this and why? Fortunately, it’s not actually as simple as that…

This is just the opener, a setup to show us that murder and mayhem is business as usual for Shadyside, a town which seems to be cursed. Slayings are commonplace and Shadyside’s extended history is littered with normal people suddenly turning into mass killers. Quite the opposite of affluent neighboring town Sunnyvale, where everyone is a jock or a cheerleader and nothing bad ever happens.

Shadysider Deena (Kiana Madeira), our hero, is heart broken after her girlfriend Sam (Olivia Scott Welch) moved to Sunnyvale and started dating douchey football star Peter (Jeremy Ford). But Deena’s nice, if nerdy, brother Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.) knows the town has way bigger problems than romance after the mall massacre. Josh thinks there’s a pattern, and it all leads back to a woman named Sarah Fier who was executed in 1666. 

Shadyside is a town full of outsiders—these kids are the poor and the marginalized, and even those who do succeed, do it in spite of their surroundings. Deena’s best mates are fast-talking overachiever Kate (Julia Rehwald), who deals drugs on the side, and good-hearted goofball Simon (Fred Hechinger) who is responsible for supporting his family. The soundtrack, meanwhile, bangs with ‘90s indie hits from Garbage, Radiohead, The Pixies, and more. This lot are a likeable bunch of weirdos so we’re rooting for them hard through the formulaic stalk ‘n slash first act until things veer into more interesting supernatural territory. 

Fear Street ’94 isn’t just another ’90s slasher, it almost aspires to be ALL ’90s slashers at once, throwing extra rules, antagonists, and bits of mythology at the audience thick and fast. But unlike in actual slashers from the ‘90s, there’s way more diversity here and horny teen tropes are twisted in a genuinely funny, playful, modern way. Meanwhile the shadow of Shadyside is pervasive in the subtext.

Parents in Shadyside are strangely absent, the well-meaning but incompetent cop won’t accept what’s in front of his eyes, and the hospital staff are beleaguered or corrupt. No one escapes Shadyside, everyone is doomed, we’re told, but these are scrappy kids who refuse to give up. There’s real peril here, some gloriously gruesome kills, and enough heart to keep you hooked, even though you might feel like you’ve seen it all before.

Fear Street ‘94 works fine as a standalone, but the joy of this series is going to be discovering how all three films are interlinked. Fear Street ‘94 ends with a tease of what we might see in the sequel, Fear Street Part 2: 1978, which is also sort of a prequel and will take us back to Camp Nightwing where a previous massacre occurred. 

Fear Street ’94 isn’t actually scary, so it’s not one for hardcore horror purists who might find themselves craving the original ‘90s teen slashers the movie is aping. Yes, these things have been done before, and yes, perhaps done better, but that’s sort of the point. Scream will be 25 years old this year—that’s long enough ago to count as being retro. Fear Street ‘94 is a loving tribute to a particular era, which manages to avoid cynicism in part due to a talented young cast it’s a pleasure to spend time with. And even better, we only have to wait a week to see what happens next. 

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Fear Street Part 1: 1994 is available to stream on Netflix from July 2.

The post Fear Street Part 1: 1994 Review: Netflix Slasher is a Scream appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3AcpTCZ

[salmenzo]

Weekly Update - Tuesday, February 16, 2021

Commitment - Conviction - Consideration

“Perseverance is not a long race; it is many short races one after another.”

Walter Elliot

Good Morning,

I hope that you enjoyed the long weekend.  As I continue to say, I am hopeful this winter comes to an end soon.  I miss running in the morning, and I think most of us have seen enough snow and can stand a little warm weather.  In the meantime, we will continue to persevere.

Student Activities and Updates

Lyman Hall Culinary Arts now has a Facebook page.  The page is filled with tips, tricks, and information on fitness, food, fun, and finance. They’d love for everyone to join them on it! Please consider sharing this page with your followers. Thank you for your continuous support of our program!

Link: https://www.facebook.com/Lyman-Hall-Culinary-Arts-and-Hospitality-Management-104907028229218 

Follow High School Sports from Home

Both Sheehan and Lyman Hall have live stream capabilities for athletic events in the gymnasium via NFHS Network (subscription rates apply).  

Sheehan Gym NFHS Live Stream 

Lyman Hall Gym NFHS Live Stream

Live stream options for other SCC member school sites will be communicated once that information is compiled by the league.

Both Sheehan and Lyman Hall are working with Northford Ice Pavilion to establish live stream capabilities for hockey games.  Virtual swim meets will also be filmed. If the meet is not live streamed, footage will be available to watch after the meet.

Sheehan High School Dramatic Arts Society

This is just a reminder that the Sheehan High School Dramatic Arts Society drama production 10 Ways to Survive Life in a Quarantine will be streaming on February 19 & 20, 2021 beginning at 7:00 PM. A streaming ticket for this event is $20.00 and will allow you to have your family watch the show. Streaming tickets can be purchased from our website: http://bit.ly/SheehanDrama. Each ticket has its own unique streaming code. 

If you're spending a long time at home, it can be a challenge to keep yourself occupied. Luckily, 10 Ways to Survive Life in a Quarantine is full of handy solutions, from putting on a musical with your dog, to becoming an announcer for a made-up sport, to falling in love with an inanimate object. Hey, we promised handy solutions - we never said they wouldn't be strange. Whether or not you're inspired to take up origami and squirrel observation, this play is sure to bring a laugh to anyone who finds themselves unexpectedly indoors.

Sheehan’s production stars:  

Arianna Kaplan ‘21, Emma Connors ‘21, Ryan Villano ‘22, Vincent Atienza ‘22, Heather Gaydowen ‘22, Jacob Shook ‘22, Julie Rochniak ‘22. Marissa Capozzo ‘22, Travis Karosi ‘23, Emily Conte ‘23, Hailey dela Chevrotiere ‘23, Julian Bingham ‘23, Ava Kaplan ‘23, Ava Lewellyn ‘23, 

Ronan Liu ‘24, Jesse Heinrich ‘24, Trinity Duffey ‘24, and our hosts for the event Shane Kaplan ‘21 and Shannon McKenna ‘22. 

Commitment - Conviction - Consideration

Here are this week’s shot outs!  Thank you again to everyone for their commitment and hard work.

Chrisy Rich, Dag Health Teacher, has truly embraced our request to first and foremost address student mental health. She begins each class with a mindfulness activity which allows her to check-in on students and more importantly provides students time to learn and practice a powerful life skill. A variety of mindfulness strategies are utilized so students can figure out what is most effective for them. She even encourages students to participate in a fun activity with their parents/guardians to reinforce the importance of connectedness not just in school but at home. 

If I could stand on the roof tops and sing the praises of Lauren Young, our dynamically dedicated School Nurse, I would! 

Lauren has been a ROCK STAR this year, not only continuing her regular responsibilities, but buzzing around the school with her stand up cart, now desk, with her portable phone attached to her at all times and keeping a calm smile on her face always! She's amazing with our students AND staff and she is the QUEEN of contact tracing (even on the weekends!)  and is constantly following up with parents whether it's related to an active case or just that she notices a student was out and she's checking in! She even has a bulletin board that she updates for the season with inspirational tips for students! 

Lauren is soooo deserving of a shout out! I am so grateful everyday that she's on MY team! 

Gina Cabrera-paraprofessional

Ms. Cabrera goes above and beyond to connect with our students and families.  She calls and texts parents before, during and after school. She drops materials off to families and will certainly do whatever it takes to keep our students engaged and connected.  Rock Hill is so lucky to have her on our team!

Chris Vece-instrumental teacher

Mr. Vece is amazingly talented and has worked so hard with his team to develop an instrumental program that meets our needs during this pandemic. Students can be seen carrying their keyboards up to Mr. Vece's room with a bounce in their step ready for a fun time.  Additionally, Mr. Vece has been an all-hands-on-deck staff member helping out in a myriad of ways.  He is certainly a valued community member.

Danielle Marcellino-third grade VDL teacher

Mrs. Marcellino has taken virtual learning to new levels.  Whether she is operating from her multiple screens, creating interactive presentations with technology, or differentiating work for each of her learners, Mrs. Marcellino is an outstanding educator who has embraced the world of virtual learning.  Her students love to go to school through their computers and we are so appreciative of all of her time and effort.  

I wanted to let you know that I have been discussing with my son about his experiences with his advanced math curriculum at Sheehan and more specifically his current AP Calculus professor Kevin Ainsworth.  In the environment we are in now it is more important than ever to have engagement between teachers and students.  Keeping the interest and being available for assistance is so critical.

Kevin Ainsworth has been all of this and more as he has engaged with students, I know from my own example witnessing my son's math interactions, and taking the extra time to ensure that they understand the material.  This is more challenging now with distance learning and certainly can require more time and patience but I can say from what I have seen Kevin Ainsworth has been exceptional.

My son is a very good math student but there are times when he needs a better understanding of a specific concept.  As a college bound engineering major that is trying to transfer his AP Calculus I & II credits he needs to have this understanding to support his engineering curriculum next year.  Kevin Ainsworth has always been there there for him and as a parent I couldn't be any more happier to have him help build my son's core skills.  I am confident that he will succeed going forward and Kevin Ainsworth has played a large role.  My son has even been tutoring students in Wallingford that are struggling with distance learning and has been working with Wendy Eaton-Soto in this effort.  I wouldn't be surprised if Kevin's efforts have rubbed off on him.

I just wanted to send you this note to let you know how impressed we are with the type of teachers you have on your team.  Your leadership during these fluid times is paying off for students like mine that are willing to push to ensure that their learning isn't reduced, and teachers like Kevin Ainsworth are certainly making this happen.

Make it a great week!

Sal

Dr. Salvatore F. Menzo

Superintendent

Email - smenzo@wallingfordschools.org

Twitter - @SalMenzo

Wallingford Public School District

 Wallingford Public School System Mission

To inspire through innovative and engaging experiences that lead all learners to pursue and discover their personal best.

 THE INFORMATION IN THIS TRANSMISSION IS PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL AND INTENDED ONLY FOR THE RECIPIENT LISTED ABOVE.  If you have received this transmission in error, please NOTIFY ME IMMEDIATELY BY E-MAIL AND DELETE THE ORIGINAL MESSAGE. Responses provided by this E-Mail are SIMILAR to ordinary telephone or face-to-face conversations.

[maks-lawrence]

『 FINN HAYTON ❙ CIS MALE』 ⟿ looks like MAKSIM ‘MAKS’ LAWRENCE is here for HIS JUNIOR year as a BUSINESS student. HE is 21 years old & known to be LOYAL, FEARLESS, BRUSQUE & WITHDRAWN. They’re living in OFF CAMPUS HOUSING, so if you’re there, watch out for them. ⬳ 

brace urself its a long one!!!

April 19th, 1999. Winter’s fingertips just barely clinging to the rural towns outside of the city of Kharkiv, a priest opens the church doors to a biblical sight: pink and sleeping, swaddled in worn but clean linens, a baby in a basket. The baby is a boy. He is deemed healthy but still unclaimed, the area is poor, there is tension on the border, another child can be a child too many.

An orphanage in Kharkiv becomes his home. He is given the name Maksim (meaning the greatest, it feels like a joke) and he learns quickly that people are not always kind, that he must look out for himself, and that affection never comes without a price. He becomes half feral like all the children in the home become, mean to survive, with nothing to call their own.

There were two instances of near adoptions, first when he was a baby, barely a year old, but the paperwork never went through. The one he just barely remembers, when he was four and a lovely couple from the UK came to peruse the orphanage, delighted in the tale of how he’d been found. He was returned six months later, the mother in tears at the unmanageability of the child, shocked at how he’d bite and scream in Russian. Maks only recalls the smothering smell of her perfume when she’d hug him too tightly, and the endless stream of English words he did not understand.

He graduated to a boys home at seven, where he grew the closest with the other boys. There was comfort in friendship like that, like the kind of kinship and protection that’d be felt in a pack of dogs. The fundamental understanding of the home was once a child passed the threshold of thirteen they would not be leaving it, just graduating from institution to institution until they were legally old enough to release on their own.

He was ten when the first volunteers from America came to the home with their hundred watt Chiclet smiles, attitudes always upbeat. They annoyed him at first, taking photos of the boys, asking questions in broken Russian, making them practice their English. He didn’t know it at the time, but they were creating profiles for each of the boys, adoption portfolios for families in America. There was one video of a surly faced young Maksim, introducing himself with a thick accent, his eyes darting to the right of the frame. He appears shrunken in it, shoulders caving in and head ducked.

The Lawrence family saw this video and contacted the volunteers. The adoption process is long and expensive, but the Lawrence’s were determined. Within six months and just shy of his eleventh birthday, Maksim was on a plane for the first time, heading towards his new home.

The transition was difficult, Maks was not an easy child for the older couple to handle. He would fight and yell when people came too close to him, a strange child in a strange place. His English was poor, but the words he did know where all spoken angrily, the way an animal growls when backed into a corner.

He could see the love and kindness the older couple were offering him, but Maks felt like he had to continually test it. Explosive, his episodes were violent or cruel, their only intention to hurt. He had to know if they were strong enough to handle him at his worst, or if they’d give up, and he’d be sent back to the Ukraine again. He believed the things that all the children in the boy’s home believed— he was not something worthy of anything, and that’s why he had nothing.

Slowly, thing became better. He got along with the other children more than he did the adults, the comradery of the boys home made it easier for him to find common ground in them. He was in therapy for years, learning how to let go of the damage his childhood had brought, and embracing this brighter one. He proved to be a good student, though stubborn, and was able to catch up to others his age by his freshman year of high school, participating like a regular student.

He’d always had an interest in how things worked, and this manifested in quiet tinkering in the family garage. He’d teach himself how to repair the broken family lawnmower over an afternoon with a few YouTube videos before progressing to bigger engines and machines. He was able to make a small business out of it, earning enough cash in one summer with his small repair service to buy his first car. He threw himself into modding and improvements to the engine, funnelling far too much of his money into making the little blue 2012 Mazda RX-8 an absolute menace on the roads.

He couldn’t apologize to the Lawrence’s for the way he’d been as a child, just like he can’t quite thank them for what they did for him. He loves them, and expresses it in his own quiet ways. He’s still withdrawn, he struggles to reveal what he’s feeling, but he’s the closest with the other Lawrence kids. They share stories of treacherous pasts— a similar understanding that binds them together.

By the time college rolled around, Maks applied to Radcliffe dutifully. It seemed the best choice— close to home and without any real idea of what his future would hold, the best thing to do at the moment. Spending the first year in dorms, he realized that the close quarters and the packed in students were not for him. He moved into an apartment off campus, and though he struggles to make rent every month, has been much happier ever since.

Maks often defaults to being cold when things get tough, and being cruel when they get tense. He races on the outskirts of campus, and gets into fights weekly. He’s always in trouble in some way, usually bruised or battered a little.

He’s a little hard to get there, but he’s a good friend. He cares a lot about people, though he struggles to show it. He’s a little gruff and can be sort of blunt, but he’s an alright guy. That being said, he does stand his ground and will do a hit if provoked :(

some more fun head canons (because I haven’t typed enough):

can outdrink nearly anyone (vodka on the rocks all night long baybie)

almost always has torn up knuckles and a don’t ask, don’t tell system of how he got them

funnels nearly all his money into modded his car and rent so as a result, he’s always broke :)

prefers cigarettes to vaping in the pretentious way that people prefer vinyl

his sexuality is one big question mark and don’t ask him about it he angee

likes to listen music that’s basically just one electronic thrash sesh— its unlistenable but he’s destroying his eardrums with it!!

he dresses very non-descript, can’t afford labels and wears a black bomber jacket basically year round: think cartoon character and you’ve got the right idea

still sees a therapist semi-regularly, begrudgingly going in on sessions to keep his mum happy

cuts his own hair (disgostin I know)

he’s good at racing and fighting because in the moment he doesn’t give a shit; hit it until it breaks. he feels shitty about it after but it’s something he’s never quite been able to explain; it feels good to just go ape shit every once in awhile!

if u made it this far, congrats i honestly commend u, and of course pls hit me up 4 plots etc etc thenk yew