#1-20 before and 50-100 post reveal

[fluffypotatey]

Bestie I think we done forgot two very important questions:

A) How many young noble girls flirted with Roland before they knew she wasn't a boy?

And

B) How many flirted with Roland after they knew she was a girl?

wanna make a poll out of this?

[ateliersss]

Favorites (1/2)

Pairing: Simon Riley x Fem!Reader Summary: Falling in love with someone as stunning and selfless as you as a man like him with an unstable life and an emotionaly distant personality was foolish, hopeless, because how could you ever feel the same? Cross-posted on AO3: here Warnings: English isn't my first language Word Count: 1,346

The Blue Angel club was bustling with both, regulars and newcomers, as always on a Saturday night.

The air was filled with hushed chatter, here and there the high-pitched laughter of one of the girls. The room was dimly lit except for the stage, drawing all the attention of the audience to the platform in the middle of the club and to the woman dancing on the pole.

Music accompanied you as you perform your newest creation in a black leather bodysuit with the very short skirt sewn to it barely covering your ass. Here and then, you swirled around the pole and revealed the flesh poorly hidden underneath the fabric.

The men, some drunk and some still sober, were watching and enjoying you. Those who sat or stood closest to the platform threw dollars at your feet as they watched you turn and spin around the pole.

Out of the corner of your eye you could see the 10, 20, 50 and even a few 100 dollar bills. You knew you were the best and you were getting the confirmation according to it. You put passion in your dance to show the world that you were worth their time and money, and with the way this night was going it was nothing but the truth.

The crowd cheered for almost every movement or step you made, every shake of your body a spectacle that was pulling everyone into your spell.

Your moves were so sensual, so sexual, as you bent down with one hand on the pole above your head while the other dragged up the back of your thigh as you slowly straightened your body again. You reached your ass and brushed the skirt up, revealing the full globes of your bottom and the black string of the bodysuit teasingly to the audience.

Expecting nothing else as a reaction, the crowd erupted into loud whistles and cheers as the money started to pile and even slipped down the platform. Some of the patrons were even standing up from their seats to get a better view, drooling at the sight of you.

There was only one man who was, like always, quietly watching you with no visible emotion in his eyes.

Simon Riley had returned to the club tonight to see you again, like he always did when he returned from a long leave. He watched silently and calmly, unlike the rest of the audience around him, as you went through your performance.

There were times when he couldn't help but think of how beautiful you were, how much he wanted to just have you for himself, but that was just a silly dream. He knew you were off limits, as you were a stripper and he was nothing more than a customer of your service.

As soon as you ended your show, you started your short journey over to Simon's seat, like always.

On your way, you were asked four times for a private dance, but you declined each of their requests. You had never entered the private rooms with a man who wasn't Simon.

When you finally reached him, he greeted you with that deep voice of his, laced with a heavy accent even though he only said your name.

"Hey baby." You cooed at him with a bright smile before you plopped down on his lap and wrapped your arms around his neck. "And? Did you like my new routine?"

Simon's eyes remained glued to yours. "You were good." He answered, simply and plainly.

Already used to his bluntness and lack of heartfelt emotion, you accepted the words with a big smile. "Aww, baby, thank you."

Simon looked down to you as you sat comfortably on his lap like you had always belonged there. It almost made him want to pull you even closer to him and kiss you, hold you in his arms, feel your skin against his.

That specific thought only lasted for a split second before he returned to reality.

You were a gorgeous woman, a wonderful woman, and he was just... Simon... nothing. Even if he was clearly your favorite, it was a silly dream, a stupid fantasy.

"Ready to go to our room?" He asked as if this was simply another transaction, business and nothing more.

"Sure." You jumped up and took his hand to lead him through the slightly crowded space.

As Simon's imposing figure followed you like an intimidating shadow, he couldn’t help the feeling of how right his hand felt in your much smaller, much softer one. He mused about how it would be if it was just the two of you, together, like a real couple.

He pushed those desires away, just like he did with the thought from earlier.

Inside the room you always used, you asked the question he already had heard a dozen of times.

"The usual dance or special treatment?"

"The usual." He nodded.

"Of course, baby." You validated and pulled him to the black leather armchair standing in the middle of the room, watching him sit down.

You felt some kind of relief, knowing that he was doing alright and didn't need special treatment at the moment.

You place yourself between his spread thighs, your hands on your hips. "How do you want me, baby? Do you want me to keep the outfit on..." You played with the hem of your skirt, grinning mischievously at your next words. "Or do you want me to take everything off?"

"Keep it on." He replied in his usual monotone voice as he stared at you.

You leant down and used both of your hands to cup his cheeks.

"And what if I let you take it off?" You suggested with a smirk.

Your touch was warm, nice and comforting, but then again it reminded him of how alone he truly was. He had no one to love, nobody to hold, only a life of solitude and heartbreak.

He thought about how much he wanted you, wanted you so much it hurt.

But he couldn’t do anything about it. You were so bright and beautiful like the moon and stars in the night sky while he was merely a human stuck on earth, not being able to ever reach you.

That thought unironically was always on his mind as it was the cruel truth. He couldn't push it out, it just stayed there.

"No." Simon finally said, "Just keep it on."

He could swear he saw your smile waver a little and hurt flash in your eyes, but as soon as those things happened they were gone in a blink.

He was sure he must be wrong. Of course he was, because in the next second you had that sensual look on your face, moving your body to the music that suddenly filled the room.

Simon leant back in his seat and watched you dance between his spread legs, his eyes glued to you.

"You know you can touch me, baby, right?" You said softly, your hands already taking both of his to place one on the back of your thigh and the other on your hip.

It was a lie as the club had strict policies: never touch the girls!

But you didn't give a fuck, not when it came to Simon.

As soon as his hands touched that soft, flawless skin of yours, the desire to never let you go filled his mind. A selfish part of him, wanting to be the only one to touch you like this, to have you like this, whispered into his ear and reminded him that he, in fact, was the only one to touch and have you like this

You were proud on telling him that no man before him had been special enough for you to take them to a private room.

There will also be no man after him.

He wished this moment could last forever, but your dance soon came to an end.

He thanked you for your time, paid you and left the club, letting you return to work.

continue here with the second part.

[2manykinks]

The List of Kinks

(Updated 4/15/23)

This Tumblr may be more or less defunct, but I realize I never actually introduced my entire list of kinks yet -- and I still have plans to give each one a post before I consider this Tumblr officially 100% "mission accomplished" -- but now you can pin posts. Seems like a good thing to pin.

So here are all the ones I've already introduced, plus a few more for good measure. I'll update this post as I get around to revealing my full catalog, finally. Orange are topics I don't think I've ever made an actual post specifically calling out, yet.

#1 - Bare Feet

#2 - Bare Soles

#3 - Light Soles on a Tanned Stud

#4 - Wetsuits

#5 - Smoothskin Wetsuits

#6 - Surfers

#7 - Bodyboarders

#8 - Dive Studs

#9 - Barefoot Celebrities

#10 - Guys Barefoot in Blue Jeans

#11 - Guys Barefoot in Rubber

#12 - Businessmen Barefoot / Wearing the Wrong Shoes

#13 - Martial Artists / Martial Arts Uniforms

#14 - Men Wearing Hakama

#15 - Judoka / BJJ Men

#16 - Aikidoka / Iaidoka

#17 - Men With Weapons / Holsters or Sheaths

#18 - Cowboys

#19 - Superheroes and Villains

#20 - Spies and Secret Agents

#21 - Military Men

#22 - Mounties and their Red Serge Uniforms

#23 - Redheads / Gingers

#24 - Dive Masks

#25 - Sucking Snorkels / Regulators

#26 - Rubber Gloves

#27 - Leather/Racing/Sports Gloves

#28 - Neoprene/Webbed/Dive Gloves

#29 - Boxing Gloves / MMA-style gloves

#30 - Men Wearing Tabi / Split-Toed Shoes

#31 - Men Wearing Flippers/Fins

#32 - Other footwear not listed (luge shoes, US Marine boots, Neoprene booties)

#33 - Men Wearing Sandals / Flip-Flops

#34 - Men wearing Tall Leather / Rubber Boots

#35 - Open-Heel Flippers

#36 - Gasmasks

#37 - [Redacted; removed from kink list.]

#38 - Neoprene

#39 - Rubber / Latex

#40 - Spandex / Lycra

#41 - Other Materials (Puffer Jackets / Silk / Nasty Pig or Slick It Up gear/ PVC or Vinyl)

#42 - Leather

#43 - Using your feet to dish out punishment

#44 - Non-nudity (but close) / #deshabille

#45 - Dominant Men

#46 - Men Saluting

#47 - Riding (Equestrian) Boots / Pants / Outfits

#48 - Unconscious / Sleepy / KO'd Men

#49 - The Forbidden Fetish ... (strictly fantasy)

#50 - Defeated / Helpless Men

#51 - Bound Men / Bondage

#52 - Wrestlers / Wrestling Singlets

#53 - Men in Pain

#54 - Ball busting / Groin Kicks

#55 - Humiliation

#56 - Assume the Position: Bicep Flex / Double Bicep Flex

#57 - Assume the Position: Kowtowed / Sprawled / Ass Up

#58 - Assume the Position: the "Ken Pose" / L-Sit

#59 - Other Hot Foot Positions: Sole Steeple, Crossed Ankles

#60 - Assume the Position: On Balls of Feet

#61 - Assume the Position: Chokes / Chokeholds

#62 - Breath Control / Glove or Hand Over Mouth (GOM/HOM)

#63 - Armbars / Armlocks

#64 - Headscissors / Triangles

#65 - Leg locks / Ankle Locks / Foot Pain

#66 - Dazed / Dizzied Men

#67 - Jobbers

#70 - Skinsuits / Luge Gear / Cycling Suits / Gymnast Gear

#73 - Swimming Gear (silicone swim caps or swimwear) / Swimmers

#74 - Chaps (any material)

#75 - Rubber Uniforms (any)

#76 - White Gloves (again, any but especially boxing or military or rubber)

#77 - Military Uniforms (other than camouflage gear)

#78 - Cammies

#81 - Capes / Superhero Capes

#83 - Yellow Rubber/Latex/Neoprene/Gear

#84 - White Rubber/Leather/Lycra/Neoprene

#85 - Men in Red Rubber / Neoprene / Leather / Red Gloves

#86 - Men in Baby Blue / Aqua Blue / Royal Blue / Electric Blue (anything)

#87 - Bears / Hairy Studs / Otters

#88 - Bears in Tight Rubber / Neoprene

#90 - Wet Men

#92 - Berets

#95 - Knights and Paladins / Armor / Ren Faire clothing

#98 - Photos Taken For Me / Sent To Me (involving items on this list)

#99 - Photos I've Taken of Kinks #1 - #97

#100 - Hypnosis / Mind Control / Drones

[jcmarchi]

Discord Lays Off 170 Employees Due To Overhiring

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/discord-lays-off-170-employees-due-to-overhiring/

Discord Lays Off 170 Employees Due To Overhiring

Community chat application company, Discord, has laid off 170 employees, or 17 percent of its staff, according to a new report from The Verge. Discord CEO Jason Citron cites overhiring, which has led to the company becoming “less efficient” in how it operates. The layoffs affected people across various departments. 

The Verge obtained an internal memo from Citron sent to employees announcing the layoffs, which have already happened. That memo explained why the layoffs were happening, when affected employees would receive the email telling them they no longer have a job, and follow-up meetings for those who remain at Discord. 

“We grew quickly and expanded our workforce even faster, increasing by 5x since 2020,” Citron writes in the memo. “As a result, we took on more projects and became less efficient in how we operated. Today, we are increasingly clear on the need to sharpen our focus and improve the way we work together to bring more agility to our organization. 

“This is largely what drove the decision to reduce the size of our workforce. While difficult, I am confident this will put us in the best position to continue building a strong and profitable business that delivers amazing products for our users and supports our mission for years to come.” 

You can read the full internal memo at The Verge here. The Verge writes that Discord raised about $1 billion in funding in total, with more than $700 million “in cash on its balance sheet and the goal to become profitable this year,” according to the publication’s sources. 

These Discord layoffs follow a heartbreaking trend in these first couple of weeks of 2024. Just this week, we learned video game engine creator Unity is planning to lay off 1800 employees (25 percent of its workforce) by the end of March, and that streaming company Twitch is laying off 500 people (35 percent of its staff). 

This string of layoffs this week follows a terrible 2023 for the people who make games and those in game-adjacent industries. 

n January of last year, Microsoft laid off 10,000 employees amidst its ongoing $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which it completed in October. 

Striking Distance Studios, the team behind 2022’s The Callisto Protocol, laid off more than 30 employees in August of 2023. That same month, Mass Effect and Dragon Age developer BioWare laid off 50 employees, including long-time studio veterans. The following month, in September, Immortals of Aveum developer Ascendant Studios laid off roughly 45% of its staff, and Fortnite developer Epic Games laid off 830 employees. 

In October of last year, The Last of Us developer Naughty Dog laid off at least 25 employees, and Telltale Games also underwent layoffs, although an actual number of affected employees has not yet been revealed. Dreams developer Media Molecule laid off 20 employees in late October.

In November, Amazon Games laid off 180 staff members, Ubisoft laid off more than 100 employees, Bungie laid off roughly 100 developers, and 505 Games’ parent company, Digital Bros, laid off 30% of its staff. 

In December, Embracer Group closed its reformed TimeSplitters studio, Free Radical Design, and earlier in the year, Embracer closed Saints Row developer Volition Games, a studio with more than 30 years of development history. A few weeks before the winter holidays, Dungeons & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering owner Hasbro laid off 1,100 employees. 

The games industry will surely feel the effects of such horrific layoffs for years to come. The hearts of the Game Informer staff are with everyone who’s been affected by layoffs or closures.

[Source: The Verge]

[cheesybadgers]

(GO TO PART 1 AND PART 3)

PART 2

60. In chapter 23, it’s finally revealed that Javier now works for a charity on the Texas-Mexico border. This idea has been in my head for over a year, as can be seen from the below notes I made to myself in February/March 2023:

Strangely, I then read Infinite Country by Patricia Engel (referred to above at point 50) in early May 2023, which contains the following passage:

So, that made me even more determined to go down this path with Javier ❤️

I won’t list all of the different charities/not-for-profits/NGOs I researched, but there are some mentioned here plus Border Angels and Al Otro Lado. Not all of them are Texas-based, but they do operate somewhere along or near the US-Mexican border, so I used a mix of them as inspiration.

61. Horacio’s route to getting a visa and green card in chapter 23 was largely based on the real-world EB5 visa. Although, I may have taken slight liberties for the purposes of the story (it was hard to see any other real life route for Horacio to actually be granted a long term visa/green card to be honest…which is apt for other themes of this chapter), so it’s not 100% accurate to real life lol.

62. There are several references in chapter 23 to America’s sodomy laws that were still in place in some states, including Texas, by 1997 (when chapter 23 is set), but it wasn’t until the landmark Supreme Court case of Lawrence vs Texas in 2003 that it was ruled sodomy laws in Texas and various other states were unconstitutional.

For further reading on the queer rights movement (and the violence and harassment queer Texans faced) that paved the way for Lawrence vs Texas, I highly recommend Before Lawrence v. Texas: The Making of a Queer Social Movement by Wesley G Phelps

63. If you wondered what a lariat was in chapter 23, it’s the rope cowboys use to lasso (‘lasso’ is actually the verb, whereas the rope itself is called a ‘lariat’, which comes from the Spanish word la reata, meaning to catch or fasten).

There’s also a reference to a quirt, which is a short leather whip used by cowboys to encourage their horse to go faster.

64. As for the sex scene in chapter 23…eagle-eyed readers may have spotted the foreshadowing for this in chapter 20 😉 A long while before I even wrote chapter 20, I’d had Horacio wearing a harness in my head (these are things that live in my brain rent free, apparently lol), largely influenced by this Tumblr post mixed with this one and this one and the gay leather movement. Speaking of which…the references to Drummer relate to a real gay leather magazine that exists in the US.

I made up the part about the harness instructions and a cowboy/rodeo special, however, there is a website with scans of old issues…and lo and behold, there was a cowboy special (WARNING FOR HIGHLY NSFT/W CONTENT).

There’s also a fascinating interview here with ‘Cowboy Frank’ who created the above archive of gay magazines as a tribute to his late husband.

65. Keeping on the theme of gay cowboys…gay rodeo is a real thing in Texas. You can read more about it here, here, here, here and there are some photographs here too.

I also have Slapping Leather: Queer Cowfolx at the Gay Rodeo by Elyssa Ford and Rebecca Scofield and Rodeo as Refuge, Rodeo as Rebellion: Gender, Race, and Identity in the American Rodeo by Elyssa Ford to read at some point (unfortunately, I didn’t get chance to read them before posting chapter 23), which look really interesting.

I couldn’t in a million years see Horacio (or Javier for that matter) taking part lol, but I wanted to at least mention its existence in chapter 23.

66. I’ve mentioned Día de Muertos above already, but here’s more about what the different items on an ofrenda represent and also a breakdown of what happens on each day of the festival.

67. La Virgen de Guadalupe, La Llorona and La Malinche are all referenced in chapter 23.

I initially got the inspiration to include the Guadalupe prayer card from these promo images of Javier. But it wasn't until I started doing more research, I discovered her links to La Llorona and La Malinche. Their identities throughout Mexican history change depending on who is telling the story (which is why Chucho lists various different names) and La Virgen de Guadalupe in particular symbolises the shift Mexico underwent after the Spanish colonisers arrived (from the religion of the Aztecs to Catholicism).

This is a strong theme in Borderlands/La Frontera: The New Mestiza by Gloria Anzaldúa and this book was a big inspiration for the conversation between Javier and Chucho about their Mexican roots.

I also found an interesting article dissecting the trio as different archetypes of women (in fact, it quotes Gloria Anzaldúa as well).

Some other related pieces about La Virgen de Guadalupe and how she relates to Mexican/Chicano identity:

Tonantzin Tlalli Coatlicue & Our Lady of Guadalupe

Commentary: The representations of La Virgen de Guadalupe show her power over identity

Celebrating Guadalupe, Sacred Icon of the People

I may have gone a bit overboard with this part of my research lol, but it was so fascinating to me, I just kept falling down different rabbit holes. And I’ve always liked the idea of Javier being caught between two worlds – in the show, and in the OHDH universe. So, this all served chapter 23 well with Javier returning to Laredo and trying to connect the different parts of his identity.

68. Operation Gatekeeper and Operation Hold the Line are referenced in chapter 23. These were two anti-immigration initiatives in the early ‘90s which involved the militarisation of the US-Mexican border with an increase in Border Patrol staff, the introduction of checkpoints and the building of physical walls.

69. Javier references new immigration legislation in chapter 23. ‘IIRIRA’ is the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act 1996, which came into effect on 1st April 1997.

It was yet more harsh anti-immigration measures that widened the remit for people to be removed, deported and banned from the US. Here’s an article about the problems the legislation caused.

Ironically, whilst America was doing everything it could to keep people from crossing the border, the passing of NAFTA in 1994 actually made drug trafficking across the border easier and exacerbated cartel-related violence in Mexico.

Whilst on the subject of US immigration, there is also a reference to the ‘INS’ in chapter 23, which was the predecessor to ‘ICE’ (ICE was formed in 2003, so it would still have been INS in 1997).

70. Towards the end of chapter 23, when Javier and Horacio are snuggled under a mesquite tree and talk about a story they read in The New Yorker, it was, of course, Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx, which was first published in TNY as a short story on 6th October 1997.

I had to fit a reference to it in this fic somewhere lol. Although, for as much as that story influenced OHDH in places, I like to think Javier’s and Horacio’s ending is the antithesis to the ending of Brokeback Mountain ❤️

71. At the end of chapter 23, various artists are mentioned as appearing on their bookshelves. I’ve picked out either titles of significance or reasons for why they’re referenced:

Our Lady of the Assassins (La Virgen de los sicarios) by Fernando Vallejo (A gay Medellín-born author writing semi-autobiographically about a gay man living in Medellín during the worst years of violence…I don’t think I need to explain further why this is on the list lol)

Maurice by E.M. Forster and also the film adaptation (A gay romance with a relatively happy ending for a change)

City of Night by John Rechy (Follows a gay Texan man’s journey and sexual encounters across America)

Gloria E. Anzaldúa (See point 67 above)

Alejo Durán (Colombian Vallenato musician – and cowboy)

Long, Long Time by Linda Ronstadt (If you’ve seen The Last of Us, you’ll know why I chose this. If you haven’t seen it, please make a point of watching season 1, episode 3 as it’s one of the most beautiful queer love stories I’ve ever witnessed 😭)

Drag by K.D. Lang (A covers album by a lesbian musician of songs centred around smoking…again, I don’t think I need to explain any further lol)

Para Siempre by Vicente Fernández (A Mexican ranchera singer…just look at the lyrics for Para Siempre and sigh longingly)

Preface to Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman (Specifically for this quote, because I stumbled across it by accident and it fit so many themes of the fic:

“Past and present and future are not disjoined but joined. The greatest poet forms the consistence of what is to be from what has been and is. He drags the dead out of their coffins and stands them again on their feet….he says to the past, Rise and walk before me that I may realize you. He learns the lesson….he places himself where the future becomes present.”)

Pedro Almodóvar (A Spanish gay film director I’ve mentioned above somewhere before…and also coincidentally worked with Pedro Pascal in Strange Way of Life)

The Living End written and directed by Gregg Araki (Just a couple of gay HIV Positive guys on a road trip)

72. The end scene of them dancing together was largely inspired by two things:

This gorgeous, gorgeous piece of artwork (artist at the link).

And this scene in Fellow Travelers.

I had originally intended to end chapter 23 like the artwork, but after watching Fellow Travelers in December 2023, I had to write my own nod to possibly one of the most intimate scenes I’ve ever seen committed to camera. I swear it re-wired my brain chemistry.

And it’s funny, because I hadn’t actually read or even heard of Fellow Travelers by Thomas Mallon when starting OHDH, but there are so many delightful parallels (e.g. Tim and his cross necklace/religious guilt and the Dom/sub undertones, all of their dancing, the switching in power dynamics during sex as a way to show vulnerability…I just couldn’t help but imagine Horacio/Javier in all the Hawk/Tim sex scenes).

73. A few other books/articles I read for chapter 23 research that I haven’t mentioned already:

Farm Boys: Lives of Gay Men from the Rural Midwest by Will Fellows

The Distance Between Us by Reyna Grande

Retablos: Stories From a Life Lived Along the Border by Octavio Solis

Where We Come From by Oscar Cásares

Brownsville: Stories by Oscar Cásares

Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration by Douglas S. Massey, Jorge Durand and Nolan J. Malone

In the Valley of Mirrors by Antonio Ruiz-Camacho

Out West, the Gay Cowboy Roams Free by Evan Moffitt (New York Times article transcribed on my Tumblr)

[karahalloway]

I posted 1,327 times in 2022

That's 456 more posts than 2021!

115 posts created (9%)

1,212 posts reblogged (91%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@angelasscribbles

@aussiegurl1234

@harleybeaumont

@the-soot-sprite

@petiteboheme

I tagged 128 of my posts in 2022

#drake walker - 71 posts

#the royal romance - 69 posts

#drake x mc - 54 posts

#harper gale - 52 posts

#trr fanfic - 48 posts

#less than noble intentions - 35 posts

#choices fic writers creations - 31 posts

#kara halloway - 26 posts

#sleepless in new york - 20 posts

#uncommon attraction - 19 posts

Longest Tag: 51 characters

#denim shirt and biker jacket…what else do you need?

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

WHOOOO!!!

Just got a message from Tumblr support informing that my account has been restored and I am officially un-shadowbanned! (Apparently it was glitch at their end that was causing the problem... 😒)

But... it got sorted much quicker than last time, and I’ve got my account working properly again, so...

...PAAARTAY!

See the full post

65 notes - Posted February 16, 2022

#4

100 Followers!😧

OMG guys... 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

Thank you so, so, so much!

It seems like only yesterday that I hit the 50 followers milestone, and now to have 100 lovely people who thought that the stuff I post on my account is worthy of their attention is just...

See the full post

68 notes - Posted March 7, 2022

#3

TRR Round Robin - Part 9: Danger Zone

In the universe that The Royal Romance/Heir fan fiction inhabits, the people are represented by two not necessarily separate yet equally important groups: The Writers, who come up with these fantastical stories, and The Readers, who eagerly consume them. One writer, @sirbeepsalot, was struck with inspiration and came up with the idea of a round-robin story based on The Royal Romance/Heir.

This is that story.

What’s happened so far?

Liam and Olivia were plotting a plan which Leo interrupted; Queen Madeleine and King Liam are hiding at Drake’s cabin with Max, but Drake has disappeared with his motorbike bike while Max texted someone, who turned out to be Bertrand. Riley Brooks, Royal Communication Director, played her part for the King, by giving a press release with fake news of Queen’s miscarriage, but has unknowingly revealed the whereabouts of the King and Queen to Eirik. Leo shot Anton dead and fled away from the crime scene with his lover, Olivia, and the secret contents of the box. Barthelemy has extracted the whereabouts of the King and Queen’s location from Bertrand at the point of a gun. Leo and Olivia realise that Liam and Madeleine are not at Valtoria and Drake has found a note.

Catch up here.

Book: The Royal Romance/Heir

Pairings: Liam x Madeleine, Riley x Drake (sorry... not sorry! I’m an unabashed Drake stan so... 🙃)

Rating: Mature

Warnings: Swearing, kidnapping, torture

Word count: 1,000. On. The. Dot.

I am participating in @wackydrabbles with this post. The week 135 prompt is “Why did I let you talk me into this?” and will appear in bold below. 

See the full post

68 notes - Posted February 24, 2022

#2

Sleepless in New York: Chapter 4 - Showtime, Baby!

Series: TRR

Pairing: Drake Walker x OC (Harper Gale)

Rights belong to Pixelberry, most characters and some dialogue belong to them.

Synopsis: This is a short-story series written from Drake’s POV that explores an AU where Drake meets Harper (my OC from (Un)Common Attraction) by himself before the boys come to the bar on the last night of Christian’s bachelor party.

Masterlist: Sleepless in New York

Chapter Summary: The sparks fly (in more ways than one!) as Drake faces off against Harper...

Word Count: 6,700

Rating/Warnings: M (swearing, sexual tension, Drake going all out - change of panties advisable 😆)

Chapter theme song:

Also available on Wattpad

Chapter 4 - Showtime, Baby!

See the full post

75 notes - Posted January 17, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

(Un)Common Attraction: Dive into the Deep End Comic

The amazingly talented @blueberryarts18 has done it again! 🤗 She created a jaw-dropping comic that brings to life a pivotal moment from (Un)Common Attraction - Harper and Drake’s first kiss! 

I literally have no words... 😭 Every time she sent me a WIP of this comic, I squeed, loving watching the scenes come to life with more and more detail, until she sent me through the final, finished work and I was honestly rendered speechless...! It is a thousand times better than I had imagined it in my head - the colours, the facial expressions, the emotion in each panel... It’s seriously as if she looked in my head and saw what I saw when I wrote the scene... 🤯

Extract of accompanying scene below the cut.

Extract from Chapter 21: Dive into the Deep End

Warnings: Swearing, minor smutty moment, major angst

"Now there's a million-dollar view if ever I saw one," I remark, taking in the beautiful vista.

"Worth the climb, isn't it?" murmurs Drake, leaning against the wall.

"Definitely! You get a workout and a view! What more can you ask for?"

Drake glances at me briefly before looking back out over the water. "We should start heading back before they send out a search party."

"Back the way we came, I'm guessing?"

"Or you could jump."

I stare at him in disbelief. "You're joking... That's a 30 foot drop at least!"

"Don't chicken out on me now, Gale," he replies with a cocky grin, edging backwards.

In the next instant, he becomes a blur of motion as he dashes forward and leaping into the air, throws himself off the cliff. I gasp as he twists into a forward flip before straightening out and diving expertly into the water below.

"Holy shit..." I breathe as I watch him resurface a couple of seconds later to let out a loud whoop of exultation.

"You comin' or not?" he calls, treading water as he looks up at me.

I gulp nervously as I stare down at him.

While I really did not want to jump, the alternative was to try and make my way back down the way we had come... And unfortunately, without Drake's help, that option would most likely result in a sprained ankle, if not something worse.

So, despite every instinct in my body screaming at me not to do it, I back up as far as I can go. Closing my eyes, I heave several deep breaths to try and calm my thundering heart. Then, pushing my self-preservation instincts aside, I rush forward and throw myself over the edge.

My mouth opens to emit a terrified shriek as I flail my arms and legs in a vain attempt to slow myself down, before I remember that I need to straighten up to avoid seriously hurting myself when I hit the water.

Lifting my arms above my head, I press my legs together and point my toes just before I cut through the cool water like a knife. With my lungs crying out for air, I kick back up, taking a ragged breath as I break through the surface.

"Oh. My. God!" I exclaim breathlessly, every inch of me tingling from the sudden rush of adrenaline. "That... That was..."

"Pretty intense, huh?" grins Drake. "Though in all the excitement, you seem to have dropped something."

I gasp in horror as he holds up my bikini top with one finger.

"Give that back!" I cry, lunging towards him.

How the hell did I manage to end up basically naked with both Christian and Drake just days apart?!

"Or what?" he taunts with a wicked grin, swivelling easily out of the way.

"I'll...I'll..." I flounder. "Oh, I don't know! But if you don't give it back, this instant, I swear you'll regret it, Walker!"

"I'll take my chances."

See the full post

76 notes - Posted May 14, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[feelingofcontent]

DNP Rewatch: TAKE A PSYCHOLOGY TEST WITH ME!

Date video was published: 09/14/2017 (X)

DNP Main Channel Rewatch: 358

Phil loves a personality quiz.

0:00 - the corgi shirt!

0:04 - well that’s good; the slime video was so messy

0:11 - I love that about Phil’s content; always something different!

0:20 - it’s been a while since Phil had done a “play along” type video

0:30 - I had never heard of this test before this Phil video

0:42 - I’ve watched this video too recently to do this myself; I already know what the “results” of most of the questions are

1:08 - I don’t know about Phil’s “narration voice” 😂

1:13 - “my mind just went to Captain America” wonder why that could be... also, there was no way he could say “Dan” for this at this point in time (especially if he hadn’t looked up what the test says the answers mean before this video, although I would guess he had)

1:24 - love Phil getting angry at the quiz immediately

1:40 - “irrelevant mammoth tangent” I love Phil so much. he’s so excited about this

2:17 - I like hearing what Phil says for the questions that require not just a one-word answer

2:22 - no male-Siri-voice at this point

2:47 - oooo, the “dream house” question is particularly interesting now! this would have been shortly before/around the time they decided to buy a house

2:57 - “a swanky penthouse with enough room for a dog to run around” I have to imagine the forever home is some sort of penthouse; they mention that as being a “dream” way too much

3:26 - I like that he chose to depict this in editing

3:47 - metal is a strange thing to think of for a cup

4:10 - he’s sticking to the “central park” theme here

4:36 - Phil always seems slightly afraid of being judged/revealing too much when he does “personality” type quizzes on camera

4:43 - giggly Phil at Captain America being “the most important person in your life”

4:50 - “it makes my heart melt” loud Phil!

5:10 - lots of “thinking Phil” in this. also starting to share a bit more about his anxieties than he had in the past

5:43 - “passive” with his problems seems pretty accurate from what we know about Phil

5:53 - Phil with the advice! that is pretty rare

6:00 - Final Fantasy as a reward for dealing with a problem

6:07 - ambitious-Phil also seems pretty accurate

6:28 - this one is less accurate

6:33 - 100% with Phil on this. if someone shows up at my house without telling me...NOPE

6:46 - lol at the editing with the popcorn, Eliza Pancakes, and the Undertale flower

6:47 - I am surprised he didn’t have food in his picture, but I wonder it it’s because DNP would usually eat on the couch and not at their dining table, so he doesn’t associate having food on the actual table day-to-day

7:09 - going off the rails a a bit here because of that “Captain America” answer 😂

7:21 - it is hilarious if you were reading his answers here as if he had chosen Dan for the first question, and then he throws the metal cup in the trash

7:35 - “a dirty puddle” the back half of these results are something else

7:41 - annotation call-out of his own mis-speak

7:54 - he did not comment much on that one

8:08 - he is about to leave for holiday after filming this!

This is another more “filler” type of video from Phil in 2017, but I still find him entertaining as usual. I also love his comment in the description: “p.s don't take your results too seriously! It's probably all wrong.”

Phil posted this while DNP were on holiday in the Mediterranean again from September 10 to September 18. They posted quite a bit for a holiday, including fish feeding, coloring, snorkeling adventures, the Dan in the donut pool photo, Phil showing a lot of leg, Phil’s “dive” that Tom Daley commented on, a soft selfie from Phil, and an intense one from Dan. They also were posting very consistent gaming videos around this time.

[thoughts-on-bangtan]

Three Asks

It’s been a while since we answered some asks so today and maybe tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, we’ll collect some and answer them since we’ve gotten while a few in the last two or three weeks.

In today’s post I picked out the three most recent asks we’ve received, two of which are ones I’d usually just delete because answering is pointless but one of them showcased a popular pattern so we decided to reply just this once. So this time around the questions are about Namjoon and Seokjin, next time we’ll do ones about Tae and Jimin (and vmin), and so on.

Ask 1 - Did Namjoon have to bring up the criticism he received in 2015/16 in the Juju Chang interview?

Ask 2 and 3 - questions from either diet solos (someone who isn’t quite a solo stan just yet but exhibits the same thought patterns as solos do) or full on solo stans.

From anon: So you must have seen their interview alongside the President right on a news show? Most of it was fine and I liked how involved they were especially JK, but a point Namjoon made is what I'm kinda dicey about. He addressed that they were called out for WoH lyrics but the thing is I'm not sure if it needed to be brought up. Especially in American media and the way they contextualize things..

Obviously he meant that they grew from it but not sure if that was the way to put it I guess?

I will admit, there aren’t many times when asks that get sent to us annoy me, but this one in conjunction with the absolute nonsense that took place about this on twt just made my blood boil. Let’s look at the question and answer so we have full context when it comes to the interview and then, after that, we’ll look at the greater context of why Namjoon saying what he did is significant and a big deal.

Juju Chang: You guys are an all male band and, let’s face it, Korea, historically, has been a very male dominated culture and yet here at the UN one of the core values in Sustainable Development is educating women and having gender equality. You have a lot of female fans. What would you say to them about gender equality and working towards that?

Namjoon: Personally, I received a lot fo criticism regarding misogyny in 2015 and 2016, which led me to get my lyrics reviewed by a women’s studies professor. That experience, in turn, was an opportunity for me to self-reflect and question whether I’d been insensitive toward gender equality. I want to do the best I can to take interest in the topic, learn and make improvements. That’s my perspective now. 

Namjoon used a personal story as framework to showcase that even someone like him, a man in a position of power/influence from a country which, as the interviewer explained, is very male dominated can learn, grow and, in the long run, contribute to change. It takes tremendous bravery to do something like this, to not only admit that you made such a mistake, but also to take it and grow from it, take the time to reflect and strive to better yourself to never repeat it again. And also talk about doing so not only during an international broadcast but also while your own president sits right there next to you.

Perhaps there are a relatively big number of countries in the west where equality is much closer to being a reality, where it is a core value to respect woman, one that you are raised with, but here the context was specifically BTS and their background, their country and their culture. From K-ARMY we know that things have taken a turn for the worse in Korea when it comes to women’s rights and the behavior of men toward them, how feminism is treated essentially as a dirty word and you will get hunted down for using it or for behaving in a feminist manner. Namjoon himself was placed on some list made by misogynists labeling him as a dirty, dirty feminist. The same men who even went after the military to get them to stop using a hand gesture which could, if you really want to, be used to make fun of a man for a small d*ck. In polls men in their 20s and 30s have voted being against feminism and I don’t mean just like 10 or 20% of voters, but rather 50-70%, even some presidential candidates have apparently been revealed as anti-feminists.

Circling back to Namjoon, having this context, do you now get why it was a big thing for him to say this, why it makes him a role model and why it was important to do so? Besides this isn’t just about the WoH lyrics which, to be frank, were never an actual issue but instead were made into one (the line I know that usually get’s brought up most is “The girls are equations, and us guys are solutions” which, if you think about it, actually means that boys and girls are equal since 2+5=7, the equation and the solution are the same, and also the song is satire about hormonal boys and their behavior which people have decided to ignore for the sake of sitting on their high horses instead). Namjoon wasn’t even the only member credited for the lyrics yet he took the blame upon himself, used this to better himself even though we know 2015 was an extremely dark time for him. But he is the leader, he took responsibility and he grew from it. He stands as example of how change is possible even in a country that is male dominated and misogynistic.

From anon: Reading your post about My universe I can’t but be heavy hearted. 

It’s such a beautiful song but Jin not having almost any lines ruined the experience for me. He deserves so much more than being a mere backup vocal. Same goes to Jimin but I’m not as effected as Jin, since we’ve all seen a pattern there. 

We know the boys decide collectively decide LD and how it fits their personalities and voices but I can’t but feel icky about Dynamite, not today, BS&T and now MY. 

I truly hope this doesn’t continue and BH decides to respect Jin more as an artist. He’s one of the biggest reasons the group is where it is now.

Though I can’t say with 100% certainty that this comes from someone that has consumed too much solo stan “content”, it does very much feel like it and the only reason why I’m even answering this is that I’d like to highlight something, a pattern we've seen a million times over for years now in regard to line distribution but that is even more glaring and flawed in this case, after we’ve seen how My Universe was recorded:

“We know the boys collectively decide” and yet “and BH decides to respect Jin more”, with this you’re basically saying that you know all the members, including Seokjin, are involved BUT since giving him and the others slack for it would make you look bad, you instead throw blame at BH, which in this case had no say in the line distribution. That choice was Christ Martin’s to make. If you already complain about line distribution, at least have the guts to direct your hate at the people you just said yourself make the choice--the members. Solos already belittle Seokjin’s efforts as it is, and constantly demand an acting debut of him which basically, to me, just comes across as them wanting him to act because they don’t value his singing and music, so would it be really that farfetched for them to also hate on him for, what, not speaking up and demanding more to satisfy you?

Seokjin was so happy and excited while recording My Universe, while meeting Chris Martin, someone he’s admired and been a fan of for so long. He gave his best while recording and sounded absolutely marvelously, and yet instead of celebrating him, his voice, and what we do hear of him, you just focus on the negatives.

BH isn’t perfect by any means, don’t even try to come into our asks calling me a company stan or whatever because I’m far from it, but in this case they had nothing to do with it. Coldplay and Chris Martin did. We saw all the members record the chorus, and we heard it, we saw and heard Seokjin sing absolutely beautifully and get praise for it, and we saw how happy this collab has made him. Why can’t you just let this be a happy time, why must you immediately search for things to be negative about?

Would I have liked so hear more of his voice on My Universe? Obviously, I even said as much in my post about the song. I love Seokjin and his voice a lot, he is my bias wrecker for a reason. But the song has already happened, been recorded, mastered, and released. What will a negativity parade change? What? Absolutely nothing except for make him feel bad because you can’t just say “Seokjin did amazingly, I love his voice”, no, you have to go around yelling “OMG he is being cut from the song because BH hates him”. What does that do for him? Like really, tell me, because I don’t get it.

And if my opinion isn’t valid enough for you, it is, after all, just an opinion, take Seokjin’s opinion about the collab instead:

Or asks such as this one:

From anon: I honestly can’t wait for Seokjin to go solo one day. Go where he’s appreciated for his talents and musicality, not cuz he’s just a “hyung” or “comic relief” or “WWH”.

Where, tell me, has he ever expressed an interest in going solo? No, I’m serious, where, because all I know is that he is happy with his members, with what he does, that he enjoys making music and getting more involved than he used to. Just the other day during the interview with Juju Chang he spoke about how he misses the old times where he could go for soju and food with Yoongi to spend some time together.

And just a few years before that Yoongi said that Seokjin has been good from the beginning, and there are tons of other examples of the members praising Seokjin in terms of his voice and musicality. When he was going through burnout last year, Bang PD encouraged him to channel his thoughts and feelings into music, recommended him a producer he thought work well with him, and Seokjin said it really did help him. And we got Abyss as result from it all, a gorgeous and raw song. 

Yes, he gets praise for being a good hyung, because guess what, he is a good hyung. Maybe for you that’s not good enough, but he’s proud of it, has always taken the fact that he’s the eldest seriously even when goofing around with his members. How is that a bad thing?

Seokjin loves his members and they love him. Seokjin loves ARMY and we love him back tenfold. Just because solos hate the members and aren’t satisfied with Seokjin, how is that my issue or even his? If you’re a genuine fan of his, support his hard work, support all his contributions to BTS’ music, their performances, their dancing, and everything else. Because he is part of BTS regardless if you like it or not, and as far as we are aware, he doesn’t plan on changing that any time soon, or at all. 

[verdantspringcourtyard]

Return of Mara Event

False God 3.0 has arrived! This event coincides with Asura's release and continues the event story from Taishakuten's event. It is another False God and War of Heian-kyo type event, lasts for around 1-2 weeks. Unlike those 2 events, this one has 3 maps the entire server must work through. Also, each map will have very clear paths that we need to take in order to reach the special bosses. When the timer for the 3rd map ends, the final battle between Asura and Taishakuten will begin.

Event Page

At the of top the screen there will be an ever-present timer slowly counting down to when the map will change, and to the right of it are 3 other buttons. The first one, from left to right, has a sake bottle icon. This is where you can collect 30 event AP, or 90 event AP and 6 Peppers if you purchase the event s-jade pack, at noon and 6PM every day. The second button is for chat, and the third button is for viewing shared posts that will have compass links to specific tiles. As TW, JP and GL do not have the share post function, they will only have the first 2 buttons.

On the bottom left there are 5 buttons. The first button, from left to right, is for viewing Special Buffs. Next is the button that'll bring up the Quest tab. Then the middle button is for rereading the event story, next to that is the button for the Spiritual Body page and lastly is the button for the exchange shop.

On the right side of the screen, there will be a treasure box and an eye. After using up 500 AP you can claim rewards from the treasure box for any cleared tiles. The eye reveals the tile types for challengable tiles.

Battlefield of the Abyss

The overall goal is for the entire server to work together to clear the 3 event maps by defeat the special boss for each. There are 3-day timers for each map and all 3 consists of 3 major activities. Some map tiles will have unlockable buffs for set groups of shikigami, equippable buff effects, treasure boxes and Asura's Shards. The latter is needed to strengthen bonus stats and to challenge the special bosses.

Types of map tiles:

Donation: Use 15 event AP to help clear the tile. There’s no limit to how much event AP you can use on these tiles in a day. *Recommended for beginners who can't do dispatch*

Dispatch: Select up to 10 of your shikigami to be 'sent' on a ~24 dispatch quest to clear the tile. Cost 15 event AP per shikigami to do, ie sending a full team of 10 shikigami costs 150 event AP. N rarity and 2-3* shikigami cannot be used.

Bosses: Defeat the boss to clear the tile. You have 4 minutes to do as much damage as possible and your damage determines how much event currency you get. Cost 15 event AP to do, is solo only and can be done on auto.

Buffs: Clear the tile to unlock a buff for a set group of shikigami or an equippable bonus effect for your shikigami.

Treasure: Clear the tile to unlock some bonus rewards. Please ignore treasure tiles until after the special boss/es are been defeated.

Shards: Tiles with shards on them must be cleared in order to challenge the special boss or bosses of the map.

Blue Tiles: The path or paths that the leaders will follow.

Flames: Lots of players are challenging this tile.

If you're ever unsure of what to do, can either focus on clearing shard tiles, blue tiles or tiles that have flames.

Leaders

On the map is a chibi Asura who will follow a set path to the special bosses and will help clear all the tiles on said path. He can be fed Peppers to restore his AP and continue clearing tiles, feeding him also grants some event currency. Once the special boss has been defeated he'll just stay in the same spot and do nothing until the map changes.

On map 2 a chibi SP Shuten will join Asura and on map 3 a chibi SP Onikiri will also join him. They function the same as Asura, ie they'll follow their own paths and can be fed. Can change leaders at any time, but can only feed and see their set path/s for your currently selected one.

Their skills;

Asura: Deals 100% damage to a tile.

SP Shuten: Deal 60% damage to a tile and 20% splash damage to 2 adjacent tiles.

SP Onikiri: Deal 50% damage to a tile and the tile behind it.

Special Bosses

In order to challenge a special boss, the entire server must create a path to them and collect all of Asura's Shards on the map. Creating a path should be extremely easy because everyone just needs to follow Asura, or the other leaders on map 2-3, and attack the same tiles as him.

On maps 2-3, once 1 of the bosses has been defeated a timer will start. The server must defeat the remaining boss/es before this timer ends otherwise the HP for the defeated boss/es be recovered.

Once the boss/es have been defeated, some hourly event currency will begin to be generated. Map 1 is 10000 per hour, map 2 is 15000 per hour and map 3 is 20000 per hour. The event currency is sent out when the timer for the current map ends. The total amount received will be increased by how much Demonic Power you have obtained from the current map. For experienced players, the boss and dispatch tiles will give the most Demonic Power, so if you want a lot of event currency you should help clear those types of tiles. Donation tiles also give a lot of event currency, but please leave them for beginner players who struggle with bosses or don't have enough shiki to do dispatch.

Spiritual Body

Clear certain map tiles to collect Asura's Shards to gain bonus stats for your shikigami, every 5 shards will grant a bonus stat. Once all shards have been collected, the special boss/es for the map will become challengable.

In the menu for this, you can view what bonus stats have been unlocked and equip unlocked bonus effects. There are a total of 6 slots to equip effects in, however, slots are only unlocked after every 10 shards collected. There are a total of 18 bonus effects to unlock, some may require multiple slots in order to be equipped.

Final Battle

This starts on the 10th day of the event and lasts for 2-3 days. The entire server must work together to destroy the 6 barriers giving Taishakuten a 90% damage reduction then help Asura defeat him.

The 6 barriers are 6 bosses, each is solo only, there's no time limit, can be done on auto and costs 5 AP to challenge. All 6 can only be challenged a max of 500 times. Unlike the rest of the bosses in this event these don't have shared HP, these are standard event bosses with ~1mil HP. Each boss needs to be defeated a certain number of times for the barrier HP to be reduced. Bosses drop random 5-6* souls, EXP souls and EXP pamphlets.

When all 6 barriers have been destroyed, everyone will be able to challenge Taishakuten without that massive damage reduction. He doesn't have any phases, but he does have the same skills that he had in his event. Costs 6 AP to challenge him, solo only and can be done on auto.

While the battle with Taishakuten is ongoing there'll be some total accumulated damage rewards and a 6* soul exchange box. The soul box is just the one in Senhime's and Taishakuten's event, need 60 of an item that drops from the battle and you'll have a choice out of 3 random souls. Total accumulated damage needed to get all the rewards is 10bil, rewards are; 200000 gold, animated icon frame, loading screen illust, 100 gold orochi scales, 400 AP, 100 jade and a 4* white daruma.

There is also a leader board, but it is just for showing off the best teams to use.

Special Buffs

Once a buff for a group has been unlocked, said group will gain a 20% damage dealt and damage reduction buff. Here are notable shikigami from each group.

Quests

There are 3 types of quests: story, achievement and wanted. Story quests are completed by the server and is just stuff need to do in order to progress the event. The achievement quests are a mix of server-wide and individual quests, the quests are "fight a boss tile x amount of times", "unlock x amount of buffs for the server", etc. The wanted quests are 3 random quests that refresh once every ~12 hours that you can do.

Exchange Shop

The exchange shop has 2 tabs. The first tab is for the normal shop items, the second tab is for the event packs.

The most notable items are; 120 event AP (restocks daily), 2 loading screen illusts, an animated event frame (same as final battle frame from Taishakuten's event), new Suzuka skin, a black daruma, black daruma shards, EXP Pamphlets, skin tickets, SP skin tickets, mochi, 3 blue summon tickets, a total of 600 jade, lots of AP and gold.

There are 4 event packs that contain the usual stuff; guaranteed 6* souls, shiki shards, jade and AP, daruma shards and realm cards. Each can be bought a max of 500 times. The packs are like the ones in the KnY collab event. For non-CN players or people who didn't participate, each of the packs have a very low chance to give a special item such as; ~128 jade, ~66 AP, ~3 blue summon tickets, ~100 gold orochi scales, 5* white daruma, a black daruma. A little animation will play if you get a special item.

Cost to buy all 120 of the event AP is 480 jade. There is also an s-jade pack that gives you 60 additional daily event AP and 6 Pepper every day at noon and 6PM. So if you want to buy that pack, do so on the first day of the event.

Recommended Teams

Just to reiterate - if you're ever unsure of what to do, can either focus on clearing shard tiles, blue tiles or tiles that have flames.

And don't forget to adjust your soul sets and equip appropriate bonus effects for your shiki throughout the event.

Battlefield of the Abyss

The following teams are just some general ones.

Alternative for Sen is Oitsuki and for Enmu it's Aoandon or Shoyou. If you choose to use Takiyasha in the Ryoumen team, can equip her with 3 sets of boss souls.

For additional teams when a boss has 0 minions, can refer to older event guides with recommendations for similar bosses.

Final Battle

For the barrier bosses, can use your standard event farming team or the same teams shown in the above section. Or you use a team like this one: https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1964y1d7Aq/

Taishakuten always uses his annoying skill that will control your shiki with the highest ATK on his 2nd turn and never again. The only way to prevent him from controlling your shiki is by equipping Seimei with his shield. It needs to be used on Seimei's 2nd turn which should happen by default on auto.

The house imp buff in the 1st team is specifically for Senhime's deep freeze. So if you don't have her skill 2 maxed you can either do something about that by feeding her some black daruma, try swapping out SP Kiyo for SR Kiyo equipped with snow spirit or try using a different buff.

The latter 2 teams were only used during the last ~10% of the fight. The Taishakuten buff can be swapped for the seductress buff.

[ener-chi]

Technique For Astral Traveling

Hey guys!

So I've finally decided to post my technique for astral traveling. I've been keeping it to myself mostly as a protective measure, but I've decided that I'm safe revealing it; besides, I think a lot of people could benefit from it.

Before I begin it is very important to distinguish; this is astral TRAVELING, not astral PROJECTING. Knowing the difference is a very big part in actually doing it. Astral projection is when your soul/spirit, while connected by a thread, leaves your body. Your entire being/consciousness is flying through and exploring the astral world and other planes. This is what most people think of when they think of astral traveling, and I did too when I started out; as a result, I got super frustrated when I couldn't do it.

Astral traveling is not the same. When you are astral traveling, your soul/spirit remains in your physical body. Your consciousness, or rather part of it, is what is going up and joining your astral self, which then can travel the astral plane. Again, this is important. You aren't going to leave your body completely. A part of your consciousness and awareness will be in your physical body; this is normal.

Alright. Now that we understand the difference, we can begin.

Step 1: Relax and Lie Down

I usually like to do some light stretching and whatever else I like to do to relax before beginning. Always make sure that your body is relaxed and your mind is calm; if you are tense or wound up, it could become a block for you.

I recommend lying down while you astral travel, as I find it easier to relax and I don't have to devote as much energy to stay sitting up. The only downside is that sometimes you might find yourself dozing off! But try both, and then do what works best for you.

Step 2: Enter a Meditative State

However you like to do this is up to you. Deep breathing is a must. I like to use meditation beads, or do a little bit of energy work before hand.

Step 3: Count and Climb

Okay, so now we begin. You're going to want to count down. I recommend picking 50 or 60 if this is your first time doing this. For the purpose of this tutorial, I'll just say 50. So you are going to slowly count down, from 50, in increments of 10.

At the same time, you are going to imagine a ladder hanging above your body, that climbs up so high that you cannot see the end of it. Imagine yourself sitting up and forward out of your body, and grabbing the first rung of this ladder.

Now this is where the counting comes in. You are going to count down from 50, imagining that you are climbing up this ladder, one rung at a time, per number. When you hit an increment of 10 (40, 30, 20, etc) you are going to imagine that you climb up to a ledge. Imagine yourself hoisting yourself up onto the ledge. The ladder continues rising above you.

Continue doing this until you get to 10.

Step 4: The Door, and Establishing Sensation

Once you get to 10, imagine that the ladder ends, and before you is a staircase, with a ledge at 5 and 0. As you get to 5, you look up and you see a faint light, that grows brighter as you climb, eventually reaching the top of the staircase.

At this point, you are going to want to open up your mind/intuition. Don't picture anything in your mind, don't try and force something that you want to look, just open your mind, push out any thoughts, and then go with the first thing that pops into your head, even if it seems odd or weird.

With your mind open, observe the hall in front of you. There should be a hall that is about 10 feet long, with light along the walls. At the end of the hall is a large door, or 2 doors.

How this looks can and will be different every single time. I've come up cobblestone steps to find torches lining the walls and a weathered, iron-reinforced oak door. I've come up marble steps to find lightbulbs lining the walls and finding glass doors. It's going to be different, and that is completely okay.

Once you've taken in as much as you can about this hallway/door, you're going to stop and stretch. At this point, and this might be a weird concept/sensation, but part of your consciousness should be in this body/form that is standing in this hallway. Hold on to that feeling as best as you can, as you do some stretches to solidify the feeling.

Rub your hands together very quickly, feeling the sensation of rubbing, and then the heat from the rub as you pull your hands apart. Shake them out. Stomp your feet on the ground, and then slowly stomp in a circle. Jump up and down a couple of times.

And then breathe. Breathe in deeply, holding, then releasing. Repeat 3 times. Repeat again, this time on the inhale raising your hands up in front of you all the way up above your head, then bringing them down on the sides of your body on the exhale. Repeat 3 times. Repeat again, this time on the inhale raising your hands up along the sides of your body to the top of your head, then bringing them down the front of your body on the exhale.

At this point, you should be feeling very "present" inside your current body. This is your astral form. You can also take note of what you are wearing/what you look like, as I've found that this also changes every time that I go.

Step 5: Enter Into Your Astral Space

At this point, you are ready. Approach the door, and open it. As you do, again, clear your mind and open your intuition; this is how you see in the astral plane. This I've found is actually the hardest part of astral travelling, is the first step. But go with the first thing that pops into your head, even if it seems strange or it's not what you would think it is.

Imagine like a large courtyard, with walls surrounding the perimeter. This is your astral space. Allow your intuition to fill it in, as to what it looks like. Step into your astral space, and let your astral travels begin.

Step 6: Leaving The Astral

When you are ready to leave, you are essentially going to do everything in reverse. Leave your astral space through the door you came in. You will find yourself back in the hallway. Take some deep breaths, relaxing. Then, climb down the steps, and then descend down the ladder, stopping at the ledges when you come to them. When you finally reach the bottom, lie back down in your body, move your fingers and toes, and then your hands, and then open your eyes.

It's very important that when you leave the astral, you reverse everything that you did to get there. If you don't, you run the risk of not completely leaving the astral and endangering yourself.

Tips, Tricks, and Observations

The biggest and best tip I can give you is to try everything; no one thing is going to work for everyone. Try different things, get out of your comfort zone, and do what works best for you. This is how you learn and grow.

If you are having a hard time seeing in the astral plane, then you need to spend some time working on your visualization. Also, working on developing your clairvoyance is huge.

You might feel like you are just using your imagination, and that's okay. One of the biggest blocks I had to astral travelling is that I expected it to be some very huge, big thing, that would like dramatically separate my consciousness from my body. Again, this isn't astral projection, and once I released this thought, it became easier.

Going off of the last one, at first you might find yourself struggling to discern what is real and what is your imagination. If you are having doubts about something you are seeing/experiencing, continue with it, even if you have a doubt. Eventually, you will experience something that you can absolutely 100% say was independent from you, and then from there discernment will become easier.

So for me, when I am astral traveling, I am seeing myself in 3rd person, like I am seeing myself from an outside perspective moving around and interacting. I'm actually not certain as to what the most common perspective is, so try both 2nd and 3rd person and do what works best for you.

When I am ascending the ladder, I actually rotate between going up a ladder and going up a flight of stairs. It keeps things fresh and present and prevents you from falling into a habit.

Going to the astral plane takes up a lot of energy, so when you first get into it, even if you are excited and bursting at the seams, limit yourself to once a day. If you are not careful and conservative you will fry your energy and then you won't be able to go at all until you recover.

I think that’s it for now!! I will edit this post if i think of more tips, and i’ll reblog it with fixes if i need to. But i hope that you guys find success with this technique. It works really well for me, and i think you’ll find that it will work well for you, too.

Blessings!

[ladyc0312]

A Jikook Guide to Run! BTS: 1-20

Hi all! Welcome to part one of my overview of all jikook moments in Run! BTS and Run BEHIND. 

My biggest takeaway from these early episodes is that BH didn't quite know how to make a good variety show yet. Some of the set-ups are awkward and the guys are clearly still getting used to being on camera in this format. The jikook moments aren’t as frequent or obvious. As we go on, expect less “they look at each other in a maybe meaningful way” and more “then he sat down in his lap...” That said, this set of episodes includes both the priest skit and the cops skit, so if you’re into role-play, this was your era of Run!

Episode Guide under the cut, to avoid both spoilers and taking up half your dash...

UPDATED PER THE SUGGESTIONS OF SOME LOVELY COMMENTERS. THANK YOU ALL! New content in bold. 

FYI: When you don’t see “BEHIND” descriptions or photos, it means there were no notable jikook moments. I’ve given each ep a general rating and a special Jikook-ery rating, both out of 5. YMMV!

Ep 1  (n/a)

The one that’s just a commercial for the V app

Ep 2 “The Greatest Man” (Ep: 3 / KM: 1)

The one with the most homoerotic series of challenges I’ve ever seen to prove who’s the “best” man

6:28 - Jimin TWICE randomly announces during musical chairs that JK will win 

Not ikook-specific, but FYI, Jungkook REALLY likes being tickled. If you want a vague idea of what the beginnings of an OT7 orgy might look like, the scene at 2:09 is for you! And if you’re curious what each member looks like putting on lipstick and holding their mouths open, check out 4:24. 

Ep 3  “Theme Park” (Ep: 1 / KM: 1)

The one at Six Flags that’s not worth watching unless you enjoy shaky camera footage of people screaming on roller coasters

5:44 - When Jimin is proud of himself for having ridden a coaster, JK goes to say something to him but keeps glancing at the camera self-consciously.  

6:19 - With the camera further away, JK and JM talk with each other while waiting on line

7:06 - JK fast-walks to get to JM and then leans on JM’s shoulder to check the post-ride pictures

Ep 4  “30 Second Gate” (Ep: 1 / KM: 0.5)

The one where they do fairly boring challenges in a pool

5:26 - There’s a super brief instant of JK looking over at Jimin while shyly tugging on his shirt collar. Prob not even worth being noted as a moment, but JK looks so adorable that I’m including it anyway

Ep 5  “100 Seconds Sports Day” (Ep: 1 / KM: 1)

The one with a rather repetitive relay game

5:56 - JM playfully throws a milk carton at JK when JK fails to complete his task

7:53 - JK does some “teleporting” where he goes from being behind Suga in one shot to next to JM in the following one. He stays next to JM the whole rest of the time they’re mixing the drink. 

Ep 6 “Sketch: Confession” (Ep: 2 / KM: 4)

The priest sketch that launched a thousand AUs...

3:30 - Jungkook comes in to “confess his sins” to Jimin, who is playing a priest and calls him “darling.” JK confesses to using Jin’s razor while also claiming to be the eldest in BTS. Jimin tells him that he’s so handsome, it must be that he’s blessed by God and can be forgiven for most things. Jimin tells JK to give him a hug to get forgiveness for his sins. As they hug, both are smiling and the onscreen text tells us how happy Jimin is and puts a little heart next to his face during the hug. Jimin strokes JK’s cheek after and it seems to make JK a little shy. Jimin calls out “bye, darling” as he leaves, then calls him “cutie” for the camera.  For comparison’s sake, Jimin hits V on the forehead and makes J-Hope do 50 push-ups to earn forgiveness. He hugs J-Hope at the end of it and the difference between how that hug feels versus the one with JK is clear as day.

Ep 6pt2 “Sketch: Confession” (Ep: 2 / KM: 0 )

None (neither appear in this episode)

Ep 7 “Paintball” (Ep: 1 / KM: 1)

The one that reminds you paintball is more fun to play than to watch

I’ll be honest, guys, between the masked helmets they’re wearing and the constant cutting around, I cannot follow the paintball games in this episode at all. I’m going to go out on a limb and say nothing particularly shippy happens during them. 

9:54 - JK picks up Jimin from behind and bounces him around for a while (we don’t know how long because the camera cuts before he’s done). It will be revealed in ep. 10 that this is part of JK’s secret mission, which is to get Jimin to say “please stop.” However, despite Jimin not looking thrilled at all the bouncing around, he doesn’t tell JK to stop.

Ep 8 “Treasure Hunt” (Ep: 2 / KM: 2)

The one where they run or ride ATVs to find flags in the woods

1:15 - Jimin says out of nowhere that he thinks JK is going to be running and tells him to be careful not to bump into anyone (I think - the subs are a little weird on this one).

13:09 - JK tries to take one of JM’s meal ticket flags. JM refuses and claims JK called him “trash.” JK (kind of?) denies this and throws his one flag on the ground in frustration. J-Hope grabs it and JK sulks a bit because he’s left with nothing. 

13:33 - Jimin reverses course and gives JK one of his flags. JK is delighted. RM asks why (apparently he, Jimin, and V had a deal to share their flags?) and Jimin just responds that Jungkook is very cute (which the on-screen texts puts a heart next to).  Jimin ends up giving a flag to V, too, but he makes him beg like a dog first. 

14:16 - Jimin calls JK over and gives him a brief hug / pat on the back

Ep 9 “Bungee Jump” (Ep: 1 / KM: 0.5)

The one where it is what it says on the tin

11:25 - Some jikookers have reported hearing JK say an un-captioned “pretty” here (sounds like yebbeo or yeebeun in Korean). I’ll be totally honest that I can’t really make it out, but I will put this note here in case others with better ears than mine want to check it out!

13:59 - JM has his arm around JK at the start of the shot here

Ep 10 “Spy for Silmido Island” (Ep: 2 / KM: 2)

The one where everyone eats a meal as they learn how JK has been doing secret missions the last three episodes

6:16 - JK explains that he failed his mission to get Jimin to say, “please stop.” We see flashbacks of JK trying - in addition to the above picking JM up, JK also pulled on his hair and gave him a shoulder rub (there is no explanation for why he thought that would be something JM would tell him to stop), and spraying him with a water bottle.  The main jikook takeaway from this and the confession episode seems to be that JM will let JK get away with anything because he think he’s cute. 

7:00 - We see that JM inadvertently made JK fail his mission to feed the camera man because, when JK held out food, JM got JK to feed him instead

Ep 11 "Back to School" (Ep: 3 / KM: 1)

The one where Suga dresses as a girl and gets hit on by the rest of the band

21:28 - Despite Jimin doing nothing but smiling in the sketch, JK says he's the day's MVP and is weirdly sincere about it

24:05 - YMMV on jeon-lous, but he does indeed do the tongue thing here when JM is flirting with girl-Yoongi

Ep 12 "Cops" (Ep: 4 / KM: 4)

The police sketch that launched ten thousand AUs...

6:46 - "Detective" Jungkook pulls "criminal" Jimin away by his collar 8:41 - After Jimin acts cute and says he's bored, JK comes over and slaps his upper thigh before throwing Jimin over his shoulder and slapping his butt. When JK puts him down, Jimin just looks at him with a dazed smile for a moment before they continue on with the sketch.

9:30 - Jimin tries to flirt his way out of of JK’s interrogation, which JK says is for “setting fire to ARMY’s hearts with his smiling eyes.”

10:25 - After a brief interuption by “Captain” Suga, the interrogation starts having flirty vibes again, with JK smirking and making eye contact while Jimin acts bashful and speaks in a whispery voice. 

11:00 - JK holds a fake gun on JM as he starts his “Lie” dance, during which he directs finger hearts towards JK. The camera focuses on JM and, by the time it shows JK again, he’s lowered the gun and put his other hand over his heart. The on-screen text says “Detective Jeon’s heart is attacked.”

12:55 - JM and JK switch roles so JM is the detective. He hits JK over the head with a book. JK has basically no visible reaction, but JM has clearly flustered himself. 

Note: To explain my reasoning for these originally not being here - if you look at the other skits in this ep, they are all accusing each other of doing things to ARMY’s hearts and being weirdly flirty with each other. Like, this police station has some serious sexual harassment issues all around! That said, the vibes are unique with jikook and, upon rewatch, I came to agree with y’all that the above should’ve been included. 19:30 - Alternate version of the sketch where Jimin and JK have a dance battle that ends in both of them being put in the jail cell and told to dance.

BEHIND  0:58 - Jimin flirt-ily calls out "I'm bored; play with me, Detective" (presumably to JK since they're scene partners).  Note: Adults saying they "played" with each other is a common way to describe hanging out in Korean and doesn't necessarily have the sexual connotations it does in English. 

4:08 - Jimin stares at JK as he does squats

Ep 13 "The Spy Who Returned Part 1" (Ep: 4 / KM: 2)

The ones where they play games at an indoor water park

1:00 - Jimin does an exaggerated running motion and JK slaps him to make him stop, which JM finds funny

1:43 - JM has his arm around JK 

6:00 - JK jokingly(?) tells JM his wet hair looks cool

11:12 - JM calls JK their team's ace and they whisper about who he should call out from the other team 

Ep 14 "The Spy Who Returned Part 2" (Ep: 3 / KM: 2)

16:04 - JM jokingly hits JK for getting the answer super wrong and then they go down the waterslide together. (Note: I've seen some jikook-ers claim JK messed up on purpose so the game wouldn't end and he'd get to ride with Jimin, but I'm not sure there's actual evidence to support that theory.)

The moment that led to the picture below isn’t in the ep or the BEHIND, but I raised the episode’s KM score a full point for it

Ep 15 "The Spy Who Returned Part 3" (Ep: 3 / KM: 2)

TW for this ep: 5:14 - during the confessions game, Jin tells Jimin that whenever Jimin asks if he put on weight, Jin wants to say he looks like a pig. Jimin claims to not be upset after, but looks like he's going to cry and seems off for a while. Then, at 10:45, Jin reiterates that Jimin "got fat." Everyone laughs except JK, who widens his eyes and then starts chewing on his finger.  

6:37 - Despite being on the same team as JK, Jimin joins J-Hope's complaints about JK coming to their room uninvited, saying that JK often brushes his teeth in their room. He accuses JK of buying the exact same toothbrush as Jimin’s and complains that they can’t tell them a part. JK says it wasn't him and then there's a weird cut to sometime later when Jimin is sitting back down again...  Just prior to this, Jimin is looking unhappy as Hobi tells a story about JK seeing him naked, but it’s hard to tell if he’s reacting to that or feeling upset about Jin’s weight comments from the previous round. 

16:02 - Jimin defends Jungkook against accusations that he's the spy

BEHIND 4:30 - Jimin sits on Jungkook's lap and, when he leans over to try to get Jin to give him food, JK puts his hand on JM's hip to steady him

Ep 16 "Snowpark Winter Olympics" (Ep: 4 / KM: 1)

The one where everyone plays winter games 

4:35 - When JM and JK are the finalists for the sledding round, JM thanks the viewers for their support. JK asks "what does that make me?" and yells/sings badly, which makes JM laugh. I don’t quite get it, tbh, but they seem to be enjoying themselves

14:50 - JK helps JM get his sled in place

BEHIND 3:02 - JK smiles as he gets pushed towards JM on the ice 

Ep 17 "Arcade Olympics Part 1" (Ep: 2 / JK: 2)

The ones where we are reminded that playing arcade games is more fun than watching people play them

All of this and next episode, whenever they all reshuffle positions, Jimin and Jungkook end up standing next to each other. This happens pretty frequently in Run BTS generally, but it was particularly noticeable in this ep since it's not like they're on the same team or anything...

4:16 - When Jimin does a dramatic DDR finish, JK calls attention to it. JM turns to him and they lock eyes for a second

15:00 - JK cheers Jimin's name when it looks like he's going to win the basketball game 

BEHIND

3:36 - JK & JM play a 4D game together Also, JK has an interesting mark on his neck on his right side that does not appear to be there in the episode itself...

Ep 18 "Arcade Olympics Part 2" (Ep: 2 / JK: 1)

3:30 - JK tries (unsuccessfully) to coach Jimin on the driving game

3:45 - JK stands up for Jimin and says he's getting the hang of the game

14:36 - JM & JK laugh together at RM's failure

19:58 - It's not super clear, but it sounds like JK calls JM "Jiminie" at the end of his sentence

Ep 19 "Strike" (Ep: 2 / JK: 1)

The one where BTS go bowling together and end up bowing down to JK

4:47 - JK shares that he and Jimin used to bowl together

---

If there’s anything I’ve missed or that anyone has different interpretations of, I’d love to hear it. 

More episodes coming soon! 

[technobladetimestamps]

Nov 16 Stream Timestamps

Timestamps from Technoblade’s “THE REVOLUTION (dream SMP)”

Link to my youtube comment with all of the timestamps x

Timestamps with hyperlinks below

02:13  “This is a surprise tool which will help us later” / thumbnail isn’t foreshadowing / video thumbnails have to be big / stream thumbnails can be detailed 05:17  “The traitor is actually Jschlatt” / firework crafting 09:50  “The ratio is impeccable” 13:23  “Dream’s in the game! My audience retention rate” / vc with Tubbo & Quackity / traitor Jschlatt theory / “Are you high?” “A little” 14:47  “You’re a bit of a wildcard” “I am the most consistent character on the entire server” / “What’s this about getting into power” / “We’ll burn this bridge when we get to it” 15:54  “You really are such an English major” / “You’re an idiom” / malaphor / “I’m actually speaking twice as much English as you guys” 18:07  “I think Thunder is overcompensating in the chat” / “Where can you see me” “In my heart” (Karl & Quackity) / Karl not leaving vc 20:33  vc with Niki / “Did Tubbo just leave me? I spaced out for 2 seconds” / “You can’t call everyone the traitor” “I can & will” 22:45  “You know it’s an event when Skeppy’s here” / “You know it’s a big deal when Georgenotfound wakes up” / “Everyone leaves me” 23:31  explaining the traitor thing to Niki / “Maybe I’m a sleeper agent” / had to kill Tubbo 25:03  nothing happened with that creeper / Fundy interrogating Niki / “Why did I train her for MCC” 25:54  “Even YOU’RE leaving me” / sad music / “I’m sitting here with 203k viewers & it’s not enough for any of these streamers to bear talking to me for more than 60 seconds” / Skeppy joins vc to immediately leave 28:50  Karl has a gift for Techno / Karl is just here for the animatic 32:21  “At least the chat won’t leave me” / pays for his music 35:01  “I’m going to destroy the government so bad” / “I hate all of the farming updates on skyblock” 37:45  joining a vc / “I just got stood up in like 4...conversations in rapid succession” / “My new years resolution was to make friends & it’s november & I’ve made zero headway” / Eret switches sides 41:53  Ender chest setup / worried about hotbar management / potions > shields   43:13  vc with allies / “Karl you are literally the biggest third wheel I have ever seen” 45:03  angering the dogs / trident combo 47:13  “D!ck with one ball” (Tubbo) 50:25  “Let’s hope Wil overslept like [George]” 53:09  recruiting Eret / “If you fight on our side we’ll make you the King of Burger King” / “He’ll be an executive citizen” / “I’m surrounded by idiots” 54:58  putting Schlatt on the allies list / “Schlatt is an alcoholic high on protein power” (Fundy) 56:47  can’t trust Eret / “I hate it when you’re right” (Tubbo) / Wilbur joins vc 59:50  having a moment with Hubert / “Not even the mobs like me” / sad music / “I just gained 8k subscribers the sadness is gone” / cow pit exp farm 1:02:57  vc with Niki / “I’m going to join the other vc AHHHHH” 1:05:02  “Once everyone meets up...I have something prepared” / “Technoblade when are you not ready?” “When I joined the server” 1:09:38  “Who do you take me for? Of course I’ve read the Art of War. It’s written by Mozart” / battle planning 1:12:18  “This is the betrayal...happening very slowly” 1:13:35  Pan1 / “This revolution is so doomed” 1:15:29  Dream attack / Quackity dies 1:18:07  “Agree Retweet” / “Violence is the only universal language” / “i have a supply” / “Why do you talk in upwards inflections constantly?” 1:19:57  Techno not getting to talk / “He took it all by force didn’t he” / “Fear into Ear” 1:23:50  Techno telling everyone he has a stash twice / distributing blue / mushroom the fox 1:26:49  Tommy talking over Techno again / “Stop going off on your tangents” “We have food at home” 1:29:30  vault reveal / Tubbo stealing emeralds / secret chest 1:32:40  “Shut up bro you are green as shit” (Tommy) / “Everyone give me back my stuff you don’t deserve it” 1:34:41  no netherite swords / “Who’s the traitor” “Promise we won’t be mad” 1:36:31  battle / Technoblade trident maneuvering / giving rocket launchers to Tubbo & Tommy 1:40:27  killing Karl / Dream bringing out the end crystals / fighting invis Dream / purpled switches sides 1:43:57  Dream wants to talk / 309k / group photos 1:46:08  vc with Dream / “But only if my enemy insists” / in the van with Schlatt / “What are you doing in my drug van? It better not be drugs” / Tommy preparing to shoot Schlatt 1:54:42  “We won” / “We killed an old man with heart problems! It only took 20 of us!” / President Innit / subscribe to Technoblade sign 1:55:57  Dream & Techno talk in chat / Tommy speech / “It was meant to be” / “I don’t think anyone is bowing to Tommyinnit” / “Karl don’t be weird” / Skeppy has a disc 1:59:06  Techno being apprehensive on mute / Tommy makes Wilbur President / “I’ll be the president” “I’m gonna veto that” / “Techno...you’ve taught me that government is not the way to go” / Wilbur makes Tubbo president 2:03:20  “I’m not sure I like where this is going x2” / “I’m not sure this is a good ending” / “Team chaos” “Perhaps” 2:06:20  Techno shoots Tubbo / Philza joins / “You think Schlatt was the cause of your problems? No. It was government” / speech gets interrupted / “The government ends here, I’ll kill it myself!” 2:09:23  Phil kills Wilbur / techno yelling for silence / “Tommy you just did a coup...& instilled yourself as president” 2:12:11  “If you want to be a hero THAN DIE LIKE ONE” / wither spawning / killing his former allies 2:15:09  post fight talks / “There will be no new government today. It will be over my dead body” / “Techno was not the traitor” 2:18:50  “I need to increase the crater that is L’Manberg so that no country can rise in its place” / “Mom says it’s my turn on the flame bow” 2:23:51  “What I’m doing right now is small scale. This is the work of an individual. This is nothing compared to the cruelty governments all around the world [inflict]...systematically” / “Llamas are the primary victims of war” / “I just wanna be apart of the explosion” (George) 2:27:06  Techno joins vc / connor joins the server / “I hope you’re proud of yourself Techno” “I kinda am” / Jack Manifold (Thunder) being broke / netherite armor 2:32:30  “Beach episode” / Techno accidentally joins the L’Manberg vc 2:35:16  the base is compromised / “There’s no way Technoblade would put a clock there if it didn’t mean anything” / got robbed 2:37:37  “If you’re going to ask me how I got all these emerald & arrows that’s a story for another day” / explaining the bedrock / “I can give everyone stuff & it’ll be such a flex” 2:40:24  Greek mythology 2:41:45  The Golden Apple / “They didn’t use discord back then they used skype, so can’t invite Eris” / “Zeus the god of feminism” 2:46:02  Eret recruiting Techno to kill George / joining vc / “Let’s stop him before he gets land” / Awesamdude proposing a fight 2:49:08  “No one can kill me I’m invincible” (logs out) / Dream literally names the turtle potions Sam thinks he hasn’t heard of / “I’m at soup” / “It’s not smack talk he just has that many items” 2:53:06  “Stab him Dream, I’ll shout encouraging words” / Techno fighting Bad & Ant 2:56:23  Dream wins / “I think there was this Dream guy attacking you with some sort of weapon” 3:00:11  turtle potions / Dream hyping up Techno about fighting BBH / Badlands negotiating with George 3:04:34  vc with Philza 3:07:00  spider farm afk’ing / lagging Quackity’s computer 3:09:06  smp earth / Phil only logged on to back Techno up 3:10:32  killing George / “I’m gonna drop his armor off don’t jump me” / not fighting Dream 3:13:00  vc with Karl & Phil / Karl definitely not starting a government / “Chat that was the boring part, don’t leave” / 320k / “Why do we keep scheduling these on Monday?” 3:16:18  “I don’t even want to think about how famous Tommy will be in the future” / “I get a tad bitter” / covid is good for youtubers but obviously bad / “I’m so good at socially distancing” 3:19:51  “Aren’t you tired of being nice Philza? Don’t you just wanna go crazy” / “You should be wary of the old in a profession where people die young” / vc with Eret 3:21:47  “What if you built a slightly larger throne next to it?” /  “How are they paranoid of a mole but the guy with a track record of being a traitor gets no questions asked” 3:25:47  “I’m gonna place a block at the bottom & kill you instantly” / reverse mlg /  emerald rich even with Tubbo’s theft 3:27:57  “I’ll allow it” / upstairs chests robbed / Eret disconnects with the book 3:32:04  armor sabotage bc he thought it’d be 1v5 / crystals are mutually assured destruction / Wilbur afraid of tnt getting blown up early 3:34:11  the diary was actually Eret’s / “He’s gonna tell everyone who I have a crush on. Nooo” / reading the 100 page book / “Can I not win here?” “No” 3:40:14  “This stream has released more serotonin in my brain than the last 6 months combined” / revolution was overcrowded / could improve the crater 2:43:09  “Awkward ten minute period where I’m just sitting there watching them set up a new government but I can’t kill them yet” / Carl is missing 3:44:34  “The one time Technoblade is gonna roleplay & they talk over him” / “CARL” / “As long as Sapnap isn’t the one that took him there’ll still be hope” 3:46:10  “Once you start using end crystals it’s the only pvp that matters & end crystal pvp is so lame” / Webtoons 3:49:10  “What’s going to happen to you & WIlbur now?” “I don’t know, I think I’m chill with Wilbur” / “The only thing that changed is my voice. Zero personal growth” / lines from the first speech that got interrupted / “King George is trending booo” 3:52:00  1 million twitter followers / “O god it’s been four hours...I am not built for this” / did a 13 hour stream once / sub growth goals 3:56:30  “What the heck is Phil watching”

[greatworldwar2]

• Light Tank Mk VII Tetrarch

The Light Tank Mk VII (A17), also known as the Tetrarch, was a British light tank produced by Vickers-Armstrongs in the late 1930s and deployed during the Second World War.

The prototype of the Light Tank Mk VII (A17), nicknamed 'Purdah', was first developed in 1937 by Vickers-Armstrongs as a private venture, and was intended to be sold either to the British Army or to foreign militaries. It was to be the latest in a series of light tanks produced by the company. The tank was designed to overcome the shortcomings of insufficient armament in earlier light tanks that were fitted only with machine guns. Vickers-Armstrong installed on the Mk VIIs a 2-pounder 40-millimetre (1.6 in) main gun paired with a 7.92-millimetre (0.312 in) Besa machine gun, and mounted the two guns in a two-man turret. The prototype weighed approximately 16,800 pounds (7,600 kg) and was powered by a 165-horsepower (123 kW) Meadows engine. Suspension was on eight road wheels, four per side, with no separate driver or idler wheels and it was capable of a 40 miles per hour (64 km/h) top speed. The Mk VII design relied on an unusual steering method and a mechanical system incorporated into earlier Vickers models. The front wheels could be steered to allow for gentle turns by bending the tracks. For sharper turns, the system returned to the conventional method of braking one track to turn the tank; the dual system of turning was designed to lessen mechanical strain on the MkVII and reduce its power wastage. The War Office examined the design and put the prototype through a series of trials during May and June 1938; the model was tested as a possible "light cruiser" since War Office light tank needs were already met by its predecessor, the Mark VI. The War Office then took the view that the tank was not acceptable as a light cruiser because the Nuffield A13 offered better speed and obstacle crossing performance. Despite this, it was decided that it was essential for some Tetrarchs to be produced, and it was suggested that they be brought in at the end of the light tank program.

Accordingly, the War Office gave the Tetrarch the official General Staff specification number A17, and, in November 1938, accepted it for limited production after requesting a few minor changes which included the fitting of an external fuel tank to increase the tank's range. The number to be produced was subject to fluctuation as the War Office vacillated in their demand; in July 1938, it requested that 70 of the tanks be produced, then increased the request to 120 after a three-day conference in November. Production began in 1940, the request number further increased to 220 after Metropolitan Cammell Carriage and Wagon, a company part owned by Vickers-Armstrong that would be producing the tanks, indicated it had already ordered armour plating for that many tanks. Production of the tank was delayed by a number of factors. The War Office put their order on hold in a post-Battle of France decision to focus military production on infantry and cruiser tanks, due to the poor performance of British light tanks during that battle. Due to the shortage of more suitable tanks, light tanks that were not designed for use against German armour, were nevertheless deployed against them; the resulting high casualties led the War Office to re-evaluate the suitability of the light tank design. Further delays were caused by the bombing raids of the Luftwaffe during May 1941 against the factories where the tanks were assembled. The cumulative effect of these delays resulted in the production of only a small number of Mk VIIs; estimates place the final total produced to be between 100 and 177. The name 'Tetrarch' was given to the Mk VII, on September 22nd, 1941, on the orders of the War Office. The last of the tanks were built in the first quarter of 1942 and delivered at the end of the year.

The War Office and the Army were concluding, at this point, that light tanks were a liability and too vulnerable for use in further combat, and the Tetrarch was considered to be obsolete. This decision may have marked the end for the Tetrarch in active service; several of the tanks destined to be deployed to the Eighth Army in the Middle East for the North African Campaign were left in Britain when their cooling systems were determined to be unable to cope with the intense North African heat. The demise of Tetrarch was prevented by a decision made by the War Office in mid-1941, as it was considering the equipment to be used by Britain's fledgling airborne forces, formed in June 1940 under the orders of the Prime Minister, Winston Churchill. When selecting the equipment for the airborne forces, officials at the War Office concluded that gliders would be an integral component; gliders would transport troops and heavy equipment, which, by 1941, was to include artillery and some form of tank. By May 1941, the feasibility of a 5.5 metric tons (5.4 long tons) tank to be carried for 350 miles (560 km) in a glider was accepted, although the aircraft would have to be specifically designed for the task. In a conference held on January 16th, 1941, it was decided that the General Aircraft Hamilcar, currently under development, would be used to transport a single Tetrarch tank or two Universal Carriers. The Tetrarch was chosen because it was an obsolete design, and was therefore available to be used by the airborne forces.

Beginning in January 1944, training exercises were conducted carrying the Tetrarchs and their crews inside Hamilcar gliders. These exercises were successful; during the training by 'C' Squadron of the Glider Pilot Regiment, which specialised in flying the Hamilcars, over 2,800 lifts were made with an average of 50 lifts per crew. When the Tetrarch was re-designated as an airborne tank, several changes were made to its design. A number of tanks had their 2 pounder guns replaced with a 76.2-millimetre (3.00 in) infantry support howitzer; these tanks were then designated as Tetrarch 1 CS (Close Support). Additionally, Littlejohn adaptors were added to those Tetrarchs which still possessed their 2 pounders to increase their muzzle velocity and armour penetration. The Tetrarch experienced several setbacks throughout its development and deployment with the Army and airborne forces. One of the major problems was the limited number of these tanks that existed after production ended in 1942, which particularly affected the airborne forces. The transport of 20 of the tanks to the USSR under the Lend-Lease Act depleted the number available for use by airborne forces, as did the loss of several more during the invasion of Madagascar. This lack of sufficient replacement reserves, combined with a War Office report that some 287 airborne tanks would be required for the 1st Airborne Division and an unnamed airborne division to be formed in India, led to the Tetrarch's eventual replacement by the US M22 Locust.

A number of design faults of the Tetrarch were revealed through its operational use. Its size limited the possible crew to three, a driver in the hull and a gunner and commander in the turret, resulting in too few crew members to operate the Tetrarch effectively. The gunner or commander, in addition to his own duties, had to act as loader for the 2 pounder, which caused delays in combat. A report on the tank written in January 1941 stated that as the commander had to both fight and control the tank, controlling a troop of Tetrarchs during combat would be almost impossible. Problems were also found with the Littlejohn adaptor fitted to the 2-pounder to increase its range and penetration power; after they had been fitted the adapters could not be removed, and could only fire specially designed armour-piercing rounds, which took time to manufacture. The War Office also considered the Tetrarch's cooling system faulty, making the tank unsuitable for service in hotter climates, such as the Middle East and North Africa. The first Tetrarchs were delivered to the Army in November 1940, and were initially deployed with the 1st Armoured Division (which was being refitted after losing the majority of its previous tanks during the Battle of France) and the newly formed 6th Armoured Division. However, the faults discovered with the Tetrarch cooling system precluded them from being integrated into units in North Africa Campaign. Shortly after, all light tanks were discarded from the establishments of British armoured divisions as not suitable for further service. The Tetrarchs remained in Britain, and would probably have been used as training vehicles before being retired from service, but in June 1941 the German invasion of the USSR, Operation Barbarossa began, and the USSR became an ally of Britain. As part of the lend-lease program, the British government began supplying war materials to the USSR, which in early 1942, included a shipment of 20 Tetrarchs, as well as a number of Valentine and Matilda Mk I Infantry tanks. The Soviet military utilised a greater number of light tanks than the British, and so could use the Tetrarchs. When the tanks arrived in the USSR, however, it was apparent that the design problems with the cooling system were also present in cold conditions; additionally, the cold weather had a deleterious effect on the tank's suspension and tracks. Additional testing of the Tetrarchs was conducted by the Soviet military and the design was admired for its controllability, manoeuvrability, and speed, as well its ability to run on low-quality fuel, unlike contemporary Soviet designs. The thinness of the Tetrarch's armour was found to be a problem and one which could not be solved, as the weight of extra armour plating caused an unacceptable reduction in the tank's speed.

Despite these drawbacks in the Tetrarch's design, Soviet authorities believed it to be comparable to the T-70 light tank in use at the time, and decided that it was suitable to be used in combat. in September 1943 two were assigned to the 132nd Separated Tank Battalion, which was attached to the 5th Guards Tank Brigade; both tanks were destroyed in combat. Several were also used for propaganda purposes, appearing in photographs of Soviet troops who were fighting in the Caucasus region. In mid-1941, the Royal Armoured Corps in Britain created three tank squadrons for special overseas operations, known as 'A', 'B' and 'C' Special Service Squadrons. Both 'A' and 'B' Squadrons were equipped with Valentine Infantry tanks and Mark VIc light tanks, but 'C' Squadron was equipped with twelve Tetrarchs transferred from the 2nd Armoured Brigade, 1st Armoured Division. All three squadrons were transported to Inverary in Scotland for intensive training that focused on embarkation and disembarkation from ships and landing craft to prepare them for action in potential amphibious operations. Operation Ironclad, was the invasion of Madagascar, the third largest island in the world and then under Vichy French control. The 29th Brigade formed the core of the invasion force due to its training in amphibious operations, and under its command was 'B' Special Service Squadron, created by amalgamating six Valentines from 'B' Squadron and six Tetrarchs from 'C' Squadron into a single unit. The squadron was formed into four troops, one Headquarters troop of three Valentines and one Tetrarch, one of four Valentines, and two formed from the remaining five Tetrarchs. The invasion force assembled off the west coast of the northern tip of Madagascar on May 4th, near Antsirane and the bay of Diego Suarez. The French line was eventually broken by 29th Brigade, aided by an amphibious assault by Royal Marines; the remaining tanks of 'B' Squadron, two Valentines and three Tetrarchs. The squadron played no further part in the battle, as the Vichy French authorities negotiated a formal surrender the following day, although French troops would continue to engage the British occupying force in guerrilla warfare until late November. 'C' Squadron suffered heavy casualties during the invasion; only one Valentine and three Tetrarchs out of twelve tanks were functional by May 7th, and the squadron had suffered seven killed and six wounded. It remained in Madagascar until early 1943, when it was shipped to India and took part in the Burma Campaign as part of 29th Brigade.

Because of a lack of equipment training facilities in mid-1940, when the British airborne establishment was formed, the War Office was able to accept only 500 volunteers for training as airborne troops. Progress in setting up proper training facilities and acquiring suitable transport aircraft was so slow that the first British airborne operation, Operation Colossus, was conducted by a retrained Commando unit. The 1st Airborne Division, and on January 19th, 1942 the War Office decided that a light tank unit would be one of the support units attached to the division. This unit, designated the Light Tank Squadron, was to be formed of nineteen light tanks and would operate to the fore of the division, using their tanks' speed to capture objectives and then holding them until relieved by other units. The unit immediately began training, but was not attached to the 1st Airborne Division for long; during mid-1943, the division was transported to the Middle East so it could participate in the Allied invasion of Sicily. The squadron was transferred to the 6th Airborne Division, which had been raised in April 1943, and 'C' Squadron remained with it for the rest of the conflict. The squadron continued to train as an air-portable unit, and participated in a number of exercises to prepare for its new duties, including reconnaissance of enemy positions and counter-attacking enemy infantry and armour. In December 1943, the War Office decided to expand the squadron into a regiment equipped with a combination of light tanks and conventional reconnaissance vehicles such as scout cars, and on April 1st, 1944, it was re-designated as the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment. In May 1944, after participating in a further series of exercises and manoeuvres, 'A' Squadron moved from their training area to a transit camp at Tarrant Rushton airfield, while the rest of the regiment moved to RAF Brize Norton airfield the next day; from these two airfields, the regiment would be transported from to participate in the British airborne landings in Normandy. It was tasked with protecting the eastern flank of the Allied seaborne landings, securing strategically important areas east of Caen, capturing several important bridges over the Caen Canal and River Dives, and destroying a coastal artillery battery. Insufficient transport aircraft were available to land all three of the division's brigades simultaneously; one would have to be landed in a second lift later. The Tetrarchs of 'A' Squadron were to play an integral part in this reconnaissance role due to their speed, but the squadron's strength of twenty tanks was severely depleted by the time it landed in Normandy. The squadron's strength was further weakened when two gliders collided with each other in the landing zone, destroying themselves and the Tetrarchs they carried; a third Hamilcar hit another Tetrarch as it was being unloaded and flipped the tank upside down, rendering it unusable, although the crew escaped without injury. The surviving tanks were then rendered temporarily immobile when parachute rigging lines became tangled in their suspensions, forcing their crews to cut the lines away with welding torches.

The squadron retrieved all of the remaining Tetrarchs and advanced to the south of the landing zone to link up with the rest of the regiment; there, they received orders to support the 8th Parachute Battalion in the Bois de Bavent area and conduct reconnaissance duties. The division was reinforced by British troops who were advancing from the invasion beaches and it began to push through Normandy, while the squadron continued its reconnaissance duties. Instead, when the division required armoured support, it summoned it from armoured units outside the division, and the Tetrarchs were used to support infantry patrols and provide fire support. By August, in the division's preparation for the planned breakout from the Normandy bridgehead, the majority of Tetrarchs in 'A' Squadron were replaced with Cromwell fast cruiser tanks; only three Tetrarchs remained, assigned to the Headquarters troop of 'A' Squadron. Operation Tonga was the last that Tetrarchs saw of active combat. During the first week of October 1944, the 6th Airborne Armoured Reconnaissance Regiment underwent an extensive reorganization, in which it was completely restructured, and all the remaining Tetrarchs were retired.

They were replaced with the M22 Locust, a purpose-built airborne light tank of American design; eight Locusts were used by the regiment in March 1945 during Operation Varsity, the airborne operation to cross the river Rhine. A report issued by the Director (Air) of the War Office in January 1946 confirmed that the Tetrarch design was considered obsolete, and any light tanks used in post-war airborne formations would be entirely new in design. A small number of Tetrarchs remained in service with the 3rd Hussars until 1949; a Hamilcar glider flight was stationed at RAF Fairford, and a troop of Tetrarchs was kept by the regiment for training exercises with the gliders. However, glider training by the regiment was stopped in 1950 and the Tetrarchs withdrawn from service. Surviving Tetrarch are on display at Bovington and Kubinka.

[pass-the-bechdel]

The Good Place season one full review

How many episodes pass the Bechdel test?

100% (thirteen of thirteen).

What is the average percentage per episode of female characters with names and lines?

49.58%

How many episodes have a cast that is at least 40% female?

Twelve of the thirteen; seven of those are 50%+, and two of those are over 60%

How many episodes have a cast that is less than 20% female?

Zero.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Twenty-four. Eight who appeared in more than one episode, four who appeared in at least half the episodes, and three who appeared in every episode.

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Twenty-two. Eleven who appeared in more than one episode, three who appeared in at least half the episodes, and two who appeared in every episode.

Positive Content Status:

Solid; the nature of the show is such that they really need to be making a concerted effort to reflect positive, progressive morality, and as such faults in the content would also almost certainly be considered faults in the show itself (average rating of 3).

General Season Quality:

Magnificent! It’s a wonderful ride, whether it’s your first time through or not. Just delightful.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) under the cut:

So, let’s talk about plot twists. In the current entertainment landscape, it seems like everyone is intent upon ‘subverting expectations’, and the good old-fashioned plot twist is very much swept up in that, since a subversion is almost always going to play as a ‘twist’ by definition. The unfortunate thing about this current landscape is that it’s rife with ‘subversive twists’ which are really just bad storytelling; they’re only there because of some pathological fear of predictability, or worse, because the creative minds just want to feel cleverer than their audiences by delivering content that no-one saw coming, serving their own egos at the expense of coherent narratives. If your ‘twist’ is about your own (supposed) intelligence, if you’re baiting the audience by playing into a common trope and then laughing at them for thinking you meant it, if you’re changing the story out of nowhere just for shock value without bothering to build toward the twist because you’re too afraid that someone might figure it out before the reveal...that’s not a real twist. It’s not even a real subversion, it’s just a bad-faith gimmick. It’s not there for the story at all, it’s there to make the writer feel special, because apparently feeling special for delivering quality storytelling isn’t good enough anymore. A proper, genuine plot twist should:

1. make sense in the context of the narrative (it should not be tonally dissonant or jump the tracks into a different genre)

2. make sense with the content of the narrative (it may recontextualise previous events or character choices, but it does not contradict or ignore them in order to function)

3. be foreshadowed (if it comes out of nowhere, that’s not a twist, it’s a random event. It’s a deus ex machina. There’s no story in it if it isn’t built into the fabric of the narrative)

4. ultimately further the storytelling (if it has no consequences for plot or character, it’s a shock-value gimmick, not a real twist).

The above points do not guarantee that a twist will be good storytelling and not just a subversive contrivance for the fuck of it, but they should at least ensure some logical cohesion and protect the integrity of the plot instead of sacrificing it in the name of empty surprise. That covered, it’s easy to see how – even (or perhaps, especially) in this twist-saturated tv landscape we currently inhabit – the big twist for season one of The Good Place still manages to be – in technical parlance – dope. The writing protects the twist not by being ‘too clever’; it simply offers a decoy issue to drive the plot. Eleanor is a Good Place fraud; that’s the first twist in the plot, and it compels the entire season forward. Other twists - Jason’s reveal, Eleanor’s confession, the introduction of the ‘real’ Eleanor - set the stage for this being A Show That Has Twists, but in a way that makes so much contextual sense that it doesn’t set us up to be looking for the next one (a common problem for those shows that rely on ‘cleverer than the audience’ twists - they’ve set themselves up as mysteries for the audience to unravel, and then they kill their own storytelling as they twist in knots trying to keep ahead of millions of intelligent viewers). The Good Place actually tells us outright that something is wrong with this supposed ‘happy afterlife’, it just fools us into thinking that we already know what’s wrong, so that we don’t see the signs of the truth for what they are. Crucially, however, it doesn’t matter if you figure it out before Eleanor does. You can have your suspicions (or have had the show spoiled for you in advance), and you can still appreciate and enjoy it as it unfolds, you can pick up the clues and have a good time with them, and that’s something that all of those gimmicky-subversion plots out there are missing. Their ‘twists’ are not proper functioning pieces of the narrative, and so the story doesn’t work if you already know the reveal; there’s no juicy build-up to enjoy, or worse, you expose your own illogical contrivances or outright plot holes that were created in the course of writing a crappy twist just to feel relevant. The Good Place works because - like any good story - it isn’t about the twist. It’s about the journey.

An important part of what makes the twist work also is that it interweaves the sins of Tahani and Chidi with the discissions of morality without drawing too much attention to them; if all four humans had simply been frauds, it would have been narratively empty, especially if the reveals were coming late in the piece. Jason’s works because it comes out early, and because the Jianyu cover is interesting and distinctly different both to Eleanor’s ploy and to the behaviour of the rest of the neighbourhood, but if the others had turned in the same way it would have been too contrived, too easy, and it would toss out the personalities we had gotten used to (which would violate Good Twist point #2). Since the show DOES pull that trick with Michael (which works because he’s the architect of the whole situation, not a pawn within it), it’s essential that they’re more subtle with Tahani and Chidi’s reasons for being where they are, and in playing it as they do they also reinforce the show’s central deliberations on morality. It’s an inspired framework for approaching what are traditionally considered ‘heady’ themes (and y’all know I’m into it), and every decision about how to approach and balance character behaviour is coming from a position of ethical consideration, weighing not only the acts themselves, but how they compare to the moral theory of various different and conflicting philosophies. It just goes to show that you don’t have to make something ponderous and inaccessible in order to have a cerebral conversation through television - you can do it just fine with afterlife comedy.

As I noted above the cut, the nature of the show automatically lends itself to careful consideration of any feminist and/or progressive content, and as such it should keep a pretty clean bill throughout, or risk cracking its own concept. I do wish they would come out stronger on the queer side of things (as I said in the episode posts, they really aren’t vague about the idea that Eleanor is attracted to women, but her saying words about hot women is still not delivering a lot on the representation front, especially when she is known to do more than say words when it comes to dudes, and the only other queer content we get is the fact that Gunnar and Antonio are soulmates, and that doesn’t technically mean they’re romantically or sexually involved (especially since they’re fakes anyway, but that’s a whole ‘nother thing)). In the mean time though, we have a female lead, 100% on the Bechdel and an essentially balanced number of male and female characters abounding, plus some really nice variety in racial backgrounds (and great names to go along with those - it’s a bit of a peeve of mine usually when show’s include multicultural characters but land everyone with Anglicised or ‘white-friendly’ names. Let the Bambadjans of the world keep their names). We’ve taken a clear stance on even ‘benign’ sexism (i.e. the stuff that’s just men saying inappropriate things - ‘just a suggestion! just a joke! just trying to get a reaction out of you, why are you so sensitive?’ - it’s all literal demon behaviour here), and I won’t pretend that I’m expecting them to get into the real nitty-gritty, but that’s ok. I’m happy to have something which is making a point of not being problematic, because such refuges have real value. So, maybe there won’t be a lot for me to tease apart as the show progresses, but that’s not a bad thing. At the moment, we have green lights across the board, and that’s a hard thing to find. I’m going with it, and we’ll see where we end up. 

[irispublishersagriculture]

Iris Publishers - World Journal of Agriculture and Soil Science (WJASS)

Exploring Indicators of Food Choice for Chimpanzees at Taï National Park, Côte d’Ivoire: Aroma and Antioxidants

Authored by Chahan Yeretzian

Taï National Park in the southwest of Côte d’Ivoire is the largest remaining tropical rain forest in West Africa and covers 555,000 ha. While it is recognized as a “Biodiversity Hotspot”, with a rich natural flora and fauna, it is also one of the last remaining habitats of many endangered species. The Taï Forest reserve was created in 1926 and promoted to National Park status in 1972. It was recognized as a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 1978 and added to the list of Natural World Heritage Sites in 1982. Among the many endangered species living in the Taï National park, one species of particularly concern is the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus Blumenbach 1779), a member of the great ape family. Chimpanzees have already disappeared from four African countries, and are nearing extinction in many others, such as the Côte d’Ivoire where a survey reveals a sharp decline of 90 % (from 8 000-12 000 individuals in 1990 to 800-1200 in 2007) [1]. In the Taï National Park, the situation is currently stable with an estimated chimpanzee population of 480 individuals [2].

Primates living in such natural habitats face various constraints for their nutritional needs. Chimpanzees are regarded ripe fruit specialists [3]. Eating predominantly ripe fruits, chimpanzees obtain a higher dietary quality compared to other frugivorous monkeys, whereas during fruit scarcity also other plant parts are consumed [3]. Besides plant food, also vertebrates and invertebrates are part of their diet [4]. Chimpanzees are able to manage environmental constraints, such as e.g. seasonality of food availability. By adapting their feeding behaviour [5,6], they are able to take nutritional advantage of the temporal abundance of ripe fruits to reach a high supply of carbohydrate in their diet [4-7]. Similarly, they consume the fruit flesh (pulpa) of Sacoglottis gabonensis (Baill.) Urb. (Malpighiales: Humiriaceae) as well as the hard seed by using tools [8], again taking full advantage of the nutritional content of the fresh fruits.

Yet, they still have to deal with structural and chemical aspects of the available plants and fruits. As argued by Janzen [8], flora is not just green, but is colored by compounds such as morphine, caffeine, tannin or terpene. Particularly for fruits, chemical components and physical characteristics are often designed either to repulse or attract animals (or humans), with the objective to favour dispersion of the species. Impact of secondary plant metabolites and fruit colour on food choice are well documented in birds and mammals [9-13]. While colour is qualified as an honest signal of food quality and macronutrient rewards for birds [14,15], it might not be enough for a decisive answer on the maturity stage of the fruit. Therefore, primates were observed to use, in addition to colour, different sensory cues, such as the firmness (haptic) by biting and the smell (volatile aroma compounds) by sniffing the fruits, in order to judge the level of ripeness of a fruit. Hence, the aroma of fruits may be an important indicator of food quality, proving useful information to the animals about availability and presence of beneficial nutrients. Especially for nocturnal monkeys olfactory guided foraging plays an important role at narrow range as visual cues cannot be exploited [16].

 In this study, it was observed that chimpanzees from the Taï National Park smell on the fruits of the tree Sacoglottis gabonensis (Baill.) Urb., before deciding whether to eat or reject the fruit (N’Guessan, personal observation). Hence, in this study, we aim at examining the aroma composition of S. gabonensis fruits at different ripeness stages, in order to elucidate aroma compounds that may drive the selection of presumably ripe fruits by the apes. In addition, the antioxidant content of the fruits was measured to assess whether fruits, preferentially selected by the apes, were also characterized by a high antioxidant content.

 Methods

Study site and fruit collection

The study was conducted at the Taï National Park in the southwest of Côte d’Ivoire with the aim of identifying clues for food choices of the apes. Researchers have conducted studies on chimpanzees’ communities, fully habituated to the presence of human observers since 1984. It is known that Chimpanzees never consume Sacoglotis fruits in trees. After selection and collection of fruits on the ground, they put several fruits in their mouth, mash and eject the stone.

 During a field trip in September 2013 (by three authors of this paper: N’Guessan, Ahoua & Yeretzian), Sacoglottis gabonensis fruits have been collected in the natural habitat of the chimpanzees. Fruits were collected at the ground below the trees and the ripeness stages were judged by their texture, colour and smell. Fruits were separated in three lots of ripeness: unripe, ripe and overripe fruits. They were immediately processed by separating the flesh from the stone and immersing the flesh in liquid nitrogen (each in a small and labelled plastic bag) for storage in the Côte d’Ivoire. Later, for transport from the Côte d’Ivoire to Switzerland, fruits were transferred into dry ice.

 Aroma profile of Sacoglottis gabonensis fruits measured with HS GC-MS

After arrival in Switzerland, the fruits were stored at -20 °C. For sample preparation, fruits were directly taken out of the freezer, cut into small pieces and immersed in liquid nitrogen for two minutes. Approximately twenty g of fruit was then homogenized in a ball mill (MM400, Retsch, Haan, Germany). Five g of fruit slurry was put into a headspace vial and stored in the fridge for less than 60 minutes until analysis by headspace gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (HS-GC/MS). GC/MS analyses was performed on a 7890/5975N instrument (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, USA) equipped with a DB-WAX column (30m × 0.25mm ID, Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, USA) in electron impact ionization mode. For the headspace equipment (Gerstel, Mühlheim an der Ruhr, Germany) a 2.5 mL headspace syringe with a syringe temperature of 55 °C was used with a flush time of 60 s. The incubation time of the sample was 10 min at 50°C while agitating at 250 rpm. The injection volume was 1 mL injected with an injection speed of 200.00 μL/s, a split of 5:1 and a helium flow of 1 mL/min. The GC run started at 35 °C for 5 min and was then heating with a ramp of 20°C/min to 240°C with a 5 min hold. For data analysis, the software MSD Chemstation (Version G1701 EA E.02.00.493, Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, USA.) and a mass spectral library (NIST08, National Institute of Standards and Technology 2008) were used. Compounds were identified by comparison of MS spectra and retention times with the mentioned database. The volatile concentration in the headspace of the three ripeness stages was statistically analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis rank sum test, followed by a post-hoc test. For further differentiation between the samples, we performed a principal component analysis (PCA) on the HS GC/MS data, using the software package R (http://cran.rproject. org/, Tinn-R editor version 2.4.1.5, http://sourceforge.net/ projects/tinn-r/). Odour descriptors were taken from Flavornet by Terry Acree & Heinrich Arn (http://www.flavornet.org, © Datu Inc., 2004) and from The Good Scents Company™ (http://www. thegoodscentscompany.com).

 Antioxidant capacity of Sacoglottis gabonensis fruits

For the antioxidant measurements, 500 mg of fruit slurry (see preparation for headspace analyses) were extracted three times with 10 mL of 70% aceton / 30% water phase. The extraction process included 10 minutes treatment in the ultrasonic bath and 2 min of mixing in a vortex. After evaporation, the residue was solved in 25 mL of water and filtered before analysis using 0.45 μm PET filters (Machery-Nagel, Düren, Germany). The Folin Ciocalteu (FC) reagent assay is measured on a FIAlab-3200 instrument (FIAlab Instruments Inc., U.S.A.) applying a FIA method [17]. The sample (diluted fruit extract) or antioxidant standard (gallic acid) were injected (injection loop 100 μl) into the flow stream (flow rate 30 μl/sec) of the FC reagent (0.2 M concentration). After mixing with sodium hydroxide (0.25 M concentration, flow rate 30 μL/ sec), to raise the solution pH for higher reactivity, dispersion in the reaction coil (1m tubing length) led to a mixing of the components and the reaction product (blue colored metal complexes) was measured photometrically (λ = 765 nm, slit 10 nm). A calibration curve was produced by analysis of gallic acid (GA) standards (gallic acid monohydrate, purity > 99 %, Sigma-Aldrich, SZBB0130V) at 765 nm. A stock solution was prepared by dissolving 50 mg GA in 100 mL degassed water and diluting with degassed water to provide working standard solutions of 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 ppm. For comparison with other studies, all results were related to the antioxidant activity of gallic acid and presented as gallic acid equivalent (GAE).

 Results and Discussion

Aroma profiles of Sacoglottis gabonensis fruits

Chimpanzees were observed to actively sniff on S. gabonensis fruits prior to eating. Therefore, there have to be volatile cues emitted from the intact fruit that help the apes to judge e.g. its sensory quality and/or ripeness stage. Our analysis was performed on fruit slurry to increase intensities, which possibly takes also into account volatiles that might not be released and perceived from intact fruits (intact exocarp). Further, the protocol used here for sampling and storage of the fruit did only allow analyses of smashed fruits. However, among the detected substances were also typical fruit flavours, which would also be perceived through the intact exocarp.

 Analyzing unripe, ripe and overripe fruits 22 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were identified in the headspace of the smashed fruit flesh and chosen for characterization of the fruit aroma and for comparison of three maturity stages (Table 1). Only the absolute values of the HS-GC/MS headspace signal intensities from the 22 compounds can be presented here since quantification of headspace volatiles is difficult due to unknown partition coefficients of the volatiles between fruit matrix and headspace. Taking this into account, we applied the highest significance level (p<0.001; 99.9 %) for the decision on flavour differences between the three ripeness stages. In terms of hypothesis testing (Ho: there is no difference between the aroma at different ripeness levels) we strongly reduce the risk for Type I error. Regarding odour evaluation, we use descriptions made by humans. To the best of our knowledge, no such information is available for great apes.

Table 1: Compounds detected with HS-GC/MS in fruits of S. gabonensis at different ripeness stages and their flavor descriptors are presented. Given are mean values of absolute headspace intensities and their standard deviation (SD). Statistical analysis was done with Kruskal Wallis rank sum test. Statistical differences are denoted by small letters after analysis with a post hoc test (p<0.001). The sources for the flavour description are taken from AFlavornet by Terry Acree & Heinrich Arn (http://www.flavornet.org, © Datu Inc., 2004) and BThe Good Scents Company™. (http://www. thegoodscentscompany.com). ***flavour with high odour strength, ** flavor with medium odour strength, description taken from BThe Good Scents Company™.

To read more about this article: https://irispublishers.com/wjass/fulltext/exploring-indicators-of-food-choice-for-chimpanzees.ID.000588.php

Indexing List of Iris Publishers: https://medium.com/@irispublishers/what-is-the-indexing-list-of-iris-publishers-4ace353e4eee

Iris publishers google scholar citations: https://scholar.google.co.in/scholar?hl=en&as_sdt=0%2C5&q=irispublishers&btnG= 

[certainheartrunaway]

Current Ham Radio News

How to Connect a Modern Radio to a Legacy Tube Amp

Antenna

PVC Antenna Launcher by K8BLO

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PVC Antenna Launcher – Download: Read more

An Intro and Antennas – Nuts and Volts Magazine

February 04, 2015

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 An Intro and Antennas – Nuts and Volts Magazine by H. Ward Silver Read Full Article:     Read more

Q52 Relay-switched 20-17-15-12-10 meter Yagi

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     See Q52     20 17 15 12 10 5-band Remote Switched 2el Yagi Coverage band in 2 segments whole band whole band whole band >1.1MH... Read more

LOOP RX 160/80/40

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SPE 2K-FA Amplifier – ARRL Review

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2 KW Solid State Fully Automatic Linear Amplifier The smallest in its class. Built-in Power supply and Automatic Antenna Tuner. Dimension: L 38, H 18.... Read more

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The Palstar SP30H ultimate communications speaker is a custom engineered speaker designed to match the sonic characteristics of the human voice. The... Read more

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Elecraft KX3 Transceiver Ultra-Compact Home/Portable/Mobile Station The revolutionary Elecraft KX3 puts the world in the palm of your hand! Despite it... Read more

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NooElec NESDR Nano 2 – 25MHz-1750MHz

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ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, to Keynote QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo

February 24, 2021

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ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, will keynote the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo March 13 – 14 weekend. Minster’s talk — part of an 80+ speak... Read more

23cm band in the spotlight with regulators

February 24, 2021

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During the week 15 – 19 February, the preparatory work for WRC-23 agenda item 9.1b continued in ITU‑R Working Party 4C (WP4C)... Read more

How to Connect a Modern Radio to a Legacy Tube Amp

February 24, 2021

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German radio hams tackling RF noise pollution

February 21, 2021

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DARC reports 35 Electrical Noise Area Monitoring Systems (ENAMS) have been delivered and another 20 locations are sought as part of the effort to moni... Read more

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February 24, 2021 at 10:09AM

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Current ham radio news                                  

                 Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dave (K4SV), who shares the following video: Click here to view on YouTube.

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February 24, 2021 at 10:09AM

           via RSS Feed            https://swling.com/blog/2021/02/video-how-the-philips-factory-made-vacuum-tubes/          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Current ham radio news                                  

During the week 15 – 19 February, the preparatory work for WRC-23 agenda item 9.1b continued in ITU‑R Working Party 4C (WP4C). The WRC agenda item has initiated technical studies on coexistence between the radio navigation satellite service (RNSS) and the amateur services in the 23cm band. As usual, the IARU participated in the meeting and delivered key information on amateur activities in this important microwave band. This information is vital to ensure the amateur services are realistically represented in the studies as they move forward.

It remains vital that national amateur communities present their views on the importance of this band to their national regulators in a consolidated and consistent manner.

To assist with this the IARU-R1 is developing supporting material that member societies can refer to when addressing the topic with their national regulator.

The work on this topic will continue throughout the year and beyond both in ITU‑R and in the regional telecommunications organisations and the IARU is committed to ensure every organisation understands the amateur position on this important microwave band.

ITU‑R WP4C Meeting Report here

Antenna

Ensure Better UHF Coaxial Feed Lines

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By DX Engineering’s Blog HF users really don’t have many coax issues. As long as power levels aren’t breached, just about any feed line will work with... Read more

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RQ-84 – The classic “Quad” full-size has ten elements for 10m, eight – 15 m, six – 20 m, and four full-size elements on 40m band

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Antenna 1/2-wave, 5-Band HF Cobweb Antenna – MFJ-1835 Time Lapse Video

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1/2-wave, 5-Band HF Cobweb Antenna Restricted space spoiling your operating fun? MFJ-1835 puts your call back on the map! This fiveband (20, 17, 15, 1... Read more

The New Hy-Gain BOLP-1013 Band Optimised Log Periodic Array by G0KSC

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Building The QRP-Labs QCX 50W CW HF Amplifier Kit

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Icom IC-7300 Morse Code and Display Overview [ Video ]

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   Icom revealed their first Software Defined Radio (SDR) HF transceiver, the IC-7300, on Saturday, August 22nd 2015, at the Tokyo Ham Fair... Read more

Jim W6LG Talks About Grounding, Bonding, Earthing, Shielding and Protecting

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What are grounding, bonding, earthing, shielding and protecting in the amateur radio station? This is Part 1 of a series of videos. Should you run a g... Read more

Eliminate Interference with the MFJ-1026 Noise Canceller

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Wipe out noise and interference before it gets into your receiver with a 60 dB null! Eliminate all types of noise — severe power line noise from... Read more

Ham radio & 3D printing – A very portable table stand for the Icom IC-705.

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ES-4 Radio / Antenna Selector Switch between 3 radios and 5 antennas

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ES-4 COMES AS A CONTROL UNIT AND A BASE (SWITCHING) UNIT   THE BASE UNIT RECEIVES 12V POWER AND HAS ALL THE HEAVY COAXIAL CABLES CONNECTED TO IT. THER... Read more

Elecraft K4 – Price list!

May 17, 2019

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Elecraft K4  STANDARD FEATURES Size:  4.5”H x 13.5”W, 10” D Weight:  Approx. 10 lbs Supply Voltage:  12-15 VDC Current:  ~2 A RX, ~18-23 A TX Frequenc... Read more

Icom IC-9100 Review [ Video ]

April 10, 2015

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 George Thomas, W5JDX, of Ham Nation and AmateurLogic.tv provides an in depth review of the Icom  IC-9100       Read more

50 Ohm PROFESSIONAL COAXIAL CABLES

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COAXIAL CABLES Cables for transmission and reception for both professional and amateur 50 Ohms. The low loss and low SWR factor (SRL) make them unique... Read more

News

ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, to Keynote QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo

February 24, 2021

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ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, will keynote the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo March 13 – 14 weekend. Minster’s talk — part of an 80+ speak... Read more

23cm band in the spotlight with regulators

February 24, 2021

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During the week 15 – 19 February, the preparatory work for WRC-23 agenda item 9.1b continued in ITU‑R Working Party 4C (WP4C)... Read more

How to Connect a Modern Radio to a Legacy Tube Amp

February 24, 2021

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How to Connect a Modern Radio to a Legacy Tube Amp Read more

A Filament Slingshots Towards Earth | Solar Storm Forecast 02.22.2021

February 23, 2021

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNxuOtBMN2s Read more

German radio hams tackling RF noise pollution

February 21, 2021

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DARC reports 35 Electrical Noise Area Monitoring Systems (ENAMS) have been delivered and another 20 locations are sought as part of the effort to moni... Read more

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February 24, 2021 at 10:09AM

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Current ham radio news                                  

ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, will keynote the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo March 13 – 14 weekend. Minster’s talk — part of an 80+ speaker lineup — will begin at 2000 UTC (3 PM EST) on March 13. His appearance will highlight ARRL’s featured role at the Expo, which also will include “Ask The ARRL Lab.” ARRL is a QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo Partner.

Minster, who assumed the ARRL Headquarters leadership position last September, has launched major projects and assembled teams to foster innovation and individual skill development in radio technology and communications. In his keynote, Minster will share his enthusiasm for advancing amateur radio and highlight current ARRL initiatives to engage and inspire the current generation of hams. His presentation topics will include:

ARRL’s digital transformation, which promises to bring new value to ARRL members. An all-in digital approach will improve the way members access and engage with content, programs, and systems.

The ARRL Learning Center, a hub for members to discover the many facets of amateur radio and develop practical knowledge and skills.

Increasing video content, opening opportunities for amateur radio content creators and member-volunteers to learn, stay informed, and keep connected.

Improving training and tools to engage radio clubs, emergency communication volunteers, and students.

The ARRL Expo booth will feature “Ask the ARRL Lab,” where Lab staffers will answer questions live. Attendees can come into the booth lounge (featuring the Expo’s latest virtual meet-up and video technology), sit down at a virtual table, and ask ARRL Lab technical wizards for tips about projects or suggestions to address various station installations and problems. Attendees can also learn about Product Review equipment testing by the Lab, see a presentation on how the Lab can help hams with RFI problems, and tour W1AW — the Hiram Percy Maxim Memorial Station — virtually. ARRL booth staff will also point attendees to helpful resources from across membership benefits, services, and programs.

Representing the ARRL Lab will be Lab Manager Ed Hare, W1RFI; Test Engineer Bob Allison, WB1GCM; Senior Laboratory Engineer Zack Lau, W1VT; RFI Engineer Paul Cianciolo, W1VLF, and W1AW Station Manager Joe Carcia, NJ1Q. Between all of them, they have over 100 years of experience at ARRL Headquarters,

QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo Chairman Eric Guth, 4Z1UG, also announced four live group kit-building workshops. Workshop instructors will guide participants through building a variety of kits, which will be available for purchase and delivered prior to the Expo so attendees can build them at home. Attendees unable to participate during the live sessions can order and build kits by watching the workshop videos during the on-demand period that follows the Expo through April 12.

Workshop kits prices range from $15 to $30. Early-bird discount tickets and links to purchase kits can be found at the QSO Today Expo website. These workshops will include:

Building the NS-40 QRP Transmitter, a 14-component, 5 W transmitter for 7.030 MHz (with instructors David Cripe, NM0S, and Virginia Smith, NV5F).

The Learn-to-Solder Workshop will introduce the basic tools and techniques of building electronic kits. Participants will build a 20-meter transmitter kit (with instructors Rex Harper, W1REX, and Stephen Houser, N1SH).

Building the Cric-Key, a simple CW keyer with paddle, suitable for home and field use (with instructor Joe Eisenberg, K0NEB).

The Mini-Sudden Receiver, a pocket-and-mint-tin friendly direct-conversion 20-meter receiver (with instructors Rex Harper, W1REX, and Stephen Houser, N1SH).    

SOURCE:ARRL

Antenna

4 element 70Mhz 4m Yagi LFA-R

October 06, 2015

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Description A 4 element 70MHz High Gain Yagi – The unique LFA-R from InnovAntennas! The LFA-R from InnovAntennas does away with the traditional... Read more

New! Vertical Loop Yagi ( 6 to 40m ) – Ultra Beam

March 05, 2015

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Vertical Loop Yagi See More : Link Read more

80m or 160m Reduced Half Sloper Antenna by W8AMZ

January 28, 2015

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160m Reduced ½ Sloper Do You Have     Limited Space?  Do You Dream Of   Operating 160m?                                           NO PROBLEM!  Do you... Read more

Alex PY1AHD demonstrates how easy and FAST it is to set up his AlexLoop

May 10, 2015

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Alex, PY1AHD, demonstrates how easy and FAST it is to set up his AlexLoop     Read more

2-Element- DK7ZB – Quad Antenna for 5 Bands

January 08, 2015

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“The Quad Antenna  uses a single, central-fed frame with a feeder-line. Therefore you must use an ATU for operating this antenna. Excellent woul... Read more

Review

SunSDR MB1 by Expert Electronics – Review and walk through

May 03, 2018

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Here is a quick tour of the SunSDR MB1 by Expert Electronics. It’s an operator’s point of view and a simple walk through this great HF rad... Read more

IC-7610 Technical Report (Volume 1)

February 27, 2018

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W6LG Talks To David G4AKC Who Is Pedestrian Mobile In The UK

November 26, 2018

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December 02, 2019

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Retevis RT6 Dual Band Analog HT Unboxing

July 14, 2020

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Retevis RT6 Review of the Dual Band Analog HT. Unboxing the radio and taking a look at the menus. Read more

Equipment

SO-239 antenna ballmount for mobile Station

November 25, 2014

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Inrad HF Triplexer

December 11, 2014

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ICOM IC-R8600 [ VIDEO ] – Hands on !

April 04, 2017

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ICOM IC-R8600 Features Ultra-wide frequency coverage (10kHz-3GHz) with RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indication) function Fast moving, real-time spec... Read more

XPA125B 125W Solid State Linear Amplifier

July 05, 2018

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 Xiegu XPA125B is a small and lightweight 125 watt HF and 50 MHz solid state linear power amplifier perfect for your QRP radio or low power SDR... Read more

RPi3 image for SDRplay

November 19, 2018

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News

ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, to Keynote QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo

February 24, 2021

No comments

ARRL CEO David Minster, NA2AA, will keynote the QSO Today Virtual Ham Expo March 13 – 14 weekend. Minster’s talk — part of an 80+ speak... Read more

23cm band in the spotlight with regulators

February 24, 2021

No comments

During the week 15 – 19 February, the preparatory work for WRC-23 agenda item 9.1b continued in ITU‑R Working Party 4C (WP4C)... Read more

How to Connect a Modern Radio to a Legacy Tube Amp

February 24, 2021

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How to Connect a Modern Radio to a Legacy Tube Amp Read more

A Filament Slingshots Towards Earth | Solar Storm Forecast 02.22.2021

February 23, 2021

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNxuOtBMN2s Read more

German radio hams tackling RF noise pollution

February 21, 2021

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DARC reports 35 Electrical Noise Area Monitoring Systems (ENAMS) have been delivered and another 20 locations are sought as part of the effort to moni... Read more

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February 24, 2021 at 10:09AM

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                 Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Kevin, who writes: I often see people on the side of the road at intersections holding signs, “homeless, can you help”, that sort of thing. Like a lot of people I used to ignore them. A few years ago I decided that I wanted to help so I looked […]

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February 24, 2021 at 10:09AM

           via RSS Feed            https://swling.com/blog/2021/02/kevins-care-packages-for-the-homeless-include-a-simple-radio/          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Current ham radio news                                  

We have never truly been happy with any of the header images since the new website was launched last year. Every few weeks we’d change them and again we have changed them today.  Finally, we have settled upon an idea and perhaps the reader may like to help – especially when it comes to the […]

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February 24, 2021 at 05:09PM

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Current ham radio news                                  

Rolf DL7VEE reports the following: There is no hope for a CE0X operation at this time; either from San Felix or San Ambrosio due to restrictions from the military. Dino, CE3PG President of Radio Club de Chile says he talked to Chilean Army officers who said no way – even regardless of Covid situation. He […]

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February 24, 2021 at 05:09PM

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Current ham radio news                                  

                 ARRL -

ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) and American Red Cross volunteers joined forces in Texas under the ARRL/Red Cross memorandum of understanding in responding to the situation resulting from unseasonably frigid weather. Kevin McCoy, KF5FUZ, said the Red Cross formally requested an ARES activation in Texas to address the effects of the natural disaster, which included a lack of drinkin...

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February 24, 2021 at 05:09PM

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Current ham radio news                                  

ARRL Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) and American Red Cross volunteers joined forces in Texas under the ARRL/Red Cross memorandum of understanding in responding to the situation resulting from unseasonably frigid weather. Kevin McCoy, KF5FUZ, said the Red Cross formally requested an ARES activation in Texas to address the effects of the natural disaster, which included a lack of drinkin...

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February 24, 2021 at 05:09PM

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                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Current ham radio news                                  

                 ARRL -

The amateur radio communications team of the Florida Baptist Disaster Relief has created a multi-site radio communications exercise dubbed “Whirlwind Boom,” designed to bring together volunteers and local agencies across northern Florida and throughout the southeastern US. The 2-hour drill is set for Friday, March 19. Invitations have gone out to Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) groups, ...

via Current ham radio news

https://ift.tt/2Pao3zC

February 24, 2021 at 08:09PM

           via RSS Feed            http://www.arrl.org/news/view/whirlwind-boom-emergency-communications-exercise-set-in-northern-florida          

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Current ham radio news                                  

The amateur radio communications team of the Florida Baptist Disaster Relief has created a multi-site radio communications exercise dubbed “Whirlwind Boom,” designed to bring together volunteers and local agencies across northern Florida and throughout the southeastern US. The 2-hour drill is set for Friday, March 19. Invitations have gone out to Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES®) groups, ...

via Current ham radio news

https://ift.tt/2Pao3zC

February 24, 2021 at 08:09PM

           via RSS Feed            http://www.arrl.org/news/view/whirlwind-boom-emergency-communications-exercise-set-in-northern-florida          

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