#8th gen accord

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Lula ousts head of Brazil’s army in wake of insurrection

President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva ousted the head of Brazil’s army on Saturday, moving against the most senior military officer to be held accountable after the Jan. 8 insurrection, when right-wing rioters rampaged through this nation’s halls of power.

The order to fire Gen. Júlio Cesar de Arruda was delivered by Lula’s defense minister, José Múcio, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order to speak candidly.

The removal of Arruda came six days after The Washington Post reported that he had sought to protect rioters and supporters of defeated former president Jair Bolsonaro who were sheltering at a camp in front of army headquarters after storming and ransacking the presidential palace, the supreme court and congress.

In addressing Arruda’s firing on Saturday evening, Múcio suggested Arruda’s conduct on the night of Jan. 8 was one reason for Arruda’s dismissal.

“After these last episodes, the issue with the camps, the issue of January 8th, relations with the command of the Army suffered a fracture in the level of trust. And we needed to stop that right at the beginning,” Múcio told reporters in Brasília while standing next to Arruda’s replacement, Gen. Tomás Miguel Ribeiro Paiva.

Continue reading.

[thundergrace]

Gen Z on November 8th:

Republicans, immediately:

18-year-olds are mature enough to buy guns, have babies, take out predatory student loans, and join the military, according to Republicans. But are they mature enough to fill in circles on a sheet of paper? Hmm 🤔

"the future of our nation", it's literally their future

[sp0resm0ldandfungus]

Pinned post/Roleplay introduction

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“I wouldn't say the experience was totally wasted. According to these new readings, I think we have an excellent chance of actually catching a ghost and holding it indefinitely.” - E.S.

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[CHARACTER INTRODUCTION: Dr. Egon Spengler, PHD.]

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Source material: Ghostbusters (1984), Ghostbusters II (1989)

Character portrayed by: Harold Ramis (1984, 1989) [RIP]

Mid/late 20s (not specified, 26 years minimum)

He/they/xe pronouns, Non-Binary Transgender male, Bisexual

Asperger’s and ADHD (Special interest: Paranormal Science)

Uses university level vocabulary that no one understands.

One of the original ghostbusters located in New York City, NY. (Saved New York City a multitude of Times, not to brag)

Average “🤓☝️” and “:|” User

Columbia University graduate

(Not affiliated with Sony Pictures Entertainment, The Ghostbusters Trademark, or Harold ramis/his family! This account is strictly for entertainment purposes only)

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“Could be erased memories stored in the collective unconscious. I wouldn't rule out clairvoyance or telepathic contact, either.” - E.S.

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[MOD/ADMIN INTRODUCTION: Seymour/Tex/caspian]

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15 years old (CREEPS DNI!!)

80s lover

He/him and or film/reel pronouns, transgender male, pansexual

Moderator of: @theblogsheldon, @hotsoftdrink

Main Account/blog: @randlecommasteve

Musical theatre nut

Average :3 and ^^ user

NSFW DNI :3

// is out of character!

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“Let's say this Twinkie represents the normal amount of psychokinetic energy in the New York area. According this morning's sample, it would be a Twinkie thirty-five feet long weighing approximately six hundred pounds.” - E.S.

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[HEADCANONS: SOME USED, SOME NOT]

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Has Asperger’s syndrome and ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder)

Also Has Tritanopia (a condition where a person cannot distinguish between blue and yellow colors)

Uses a few tone tags (/sarc, /srs, and /gen mainly)

Formats posts with the “chat” text specifically

Ray’s unlicensed therapist

Immaculate hearing

Stims (Fidgeting with body parts or objects, picking at skin or clothes, nail biting)

Stephen King Fan (his favorite book is “Christine”)

Louis’ Cousin (older by 2 years)

Used to do theatre in high school (played hamlet once)

Skipped 2 grades in school (7th and 8th)

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“Try to understand. This is a high voltage laser containment system. Simply turning it off would be like dropping a bomb on the city.” - E.S.

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Thank you for reading in full!

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//Have a good day everyone!!! :DD

[illicit-astrology]

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Last updated on 09.05.2024

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: Jon Haidt and Zach Rausch

Published: May 15, 2023

When parents are asked to identify their top fears about the safety of their children, what do you think tops the list? According to a survey last year by Safehome.org, it’s not cars, strangers, or any other physical threat; it’s “internet/social media.” That’s not just for parents of teenagers and pre-teens, whose lives seem to revolve around their phones. It’s even true for parents of younger kids, ages 7-9 because every parent sees it coming and few know what to do about it. Parents don’t want their children to disappear into phones, as so many of their friends' children have; some resolve to wait until 8th grade, or later. Then their child hits them with the main argument that makes parents buckle: “But everyone else has a phone, so I’m being left out.”

For parents who resisted, or who plan to resist, a new report may encourage many more parents to join you: Sapien Labs, which runs an ongoing global survey of mental health with nearly a million participants so far, released a “Rapid Report” today on a question they added in January asking young adults (those between ages 18 and 24): “At what age did you get your own smartphone or tablet (e.g. iPad) with Internet access that you could carry with you?”  When they plot the age of first smartphone on the X axis against their extensive set of questions about mental health on the Y axis, they find a consistent pattern: the younger the age of getting the first smartphone, the worse the mental health that the young adult reports today. This is true in all the regions studied (the survey is offered in English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Arabic, Hindi, and Swahili), and the relationships are consistently stronger for women.

We believe these findings have important implications for parents, heads of K-12 schools, and legislators currently considering bills to raise minimum ages or require age verification for some kinds of sites (especially social media and pornography). We’ll address those implications at the end of this post. But first: what did Sapien Labs do, and what did they find?

1. The Sapien Labs Study

Sapien Labs is a non-profit research foundation with the goal of understanding how the rapidly changing social and technological environment is changing human brains and minds. Their main research project has been the Global Mind Project, an ongoing program that tracks mental well-being around the world using a comprehensive assessment of mental health along with questions about demographics and various cultural, technological, and lifestyle factors. They have issued a variety of reports on the state of mental health around the world. Among their most important findings is that in all the regions they’ve studied, mental health is worst for the youngest generations.

It didn’t used to be this way. There is a well-known finding in happiness research that, across nearly all nations, happiness or well-being forms a U-shaped curve across the lifespan (See Rauch, 2018). Young adults and people in their 60s and 70s are happier than those in middle age. But that may be changing, especially for women, as Gen Z (born in and after 1996) enters young adulthood. You can see the sudden collapse of young adult mental health in some of our previous posts on this Substack. For example, Figure 1 shows that up until 2011, young Canadian women were the most likely to report having excellent or very good mental health. By 2015 they were the least likely, and the decline in their self-reported mental health accelerated after that, while it changed very little for older women. (The same pattern holds for Canadian men, but to a lesser degree.)

[ Figure 1. Percent of Canadian women reporting excellent or very good mental health, by age group. Canadian Community Health Survey (2003-2019). Graphed by Zach Rausch. ]

Why would this be? What changed in the early 2010s that could have rapidly reduced the mental health of teens around the world, with a bigger impact on girls? At the After Babel Substack, we have argued that the sudden switch of teen social life from flip phones (which are designed for communication) to smartphones (which enabled continuous access to social media and much higher levels of phone addiction), is the major cause, though not the only one. There are unique factors at work in each country, but we know of no alternative that can explain the synchronized, gendered, and global decline in teen mental health. 

At Sapien Labs, they decided to test the smartphone hypothesis by adding a question about the age at which people got their first smartphone (or tablet). Is it just a coincidence that the first global generation to grow up on smartphones became the first global generation to have lower well-being than the one before them? 

Sapien Labs uses a comprehensive assessment of mental well-being that asks participants about 47 elements of mental, social, and emotional functioning on a life impact scale. These 47 elements are aggregated into a single score called the Mental Health Quotient (MHQ), which gives extra weight to patterns that indicate severe problems. It also uses subsets of these 47 elements to create scores along six domains: Mood & Outlook, Social Self, Adaptability & Resilience, Drive & Motivation, Cognition, and Mind-Body Connection. 

(You can take the MHQ yourself and you can request access to the full dataset. For scoring and validation of the MHQ, see Newson, Pastukh, & Thiagarajan, 2022, and see this blog post that offers a clear explanation of how the MHQ is scored, and why.) 

Figure 2 shows the most basic result in the report: they simply plotted the responses from the nearly 28,000 participants who answered the “first phone” question, from all countries combined. 

[ Figure 2. As age of first smartphone goes up, so does the mental health reported by young adults, assessed by the MHQ. Data from SapienLabs.org. ]

MHQ scores are calculated from responses to the 47 questions and converted to a scale that runs from -100 to 200, as shown here: 

As you can see, the respondents who got their first smartphone before they were 10 years old are doing worse, on average, than those who didn’t get one until they were in their teens. The most mentally healthy respondents are those who did not get a phone until their late teens.1 You can also see that the slope is steeper for young women than for young men. The Gen Z women who got their first smartphone before they were 9 years old are in negative territory, on average.

The power and unique contribution of the Sapien Labs dataset come from two features of their work: First, they use a far more detailed measure of mental health than is used in most other large surveys. The second important feature is their international coverage. So, let’s zoom in and explore the six domain scores that make up the MHQ, first for the global sample, and then for the region and culture we know best: the Anglosphere.

2. Domains of Functioning

As you’ll see if you read the full report, the next step after examining the overall MHQ scores is to examine scores on the six domains of mental functioning:

Mood & Outlook: Includes items about optimism, calmness, anxiety, mood swings, sadness, and anger. 

Social Self: Includes items about self-worth, relationships with others, empathy, cooperation, aggression toward others 

Adaptability & Resilience: includes items about adaptability to change, ability to learn, and emotional resilience.  

Drive & Motivation: Includes items about motivation, curiosity, enthusiasm, and addictions.

Cognition: Includes items about memory, decision-making and risk-taking, focus, and concentration, unwanted thoughts, hallucinations

Mind-Body Connection: Includes items about sleep quality, energy level, appetite, and physical health issues. 

Figure 3 shows that for young women, all six domain scores show the same basic pattern as the MHQ: a consistent rise. You can also see that a few of the domains seem to rise more slowly or level off somewhat after the age of 13 or 14: Drive and motivation, Mind-body connection, and Cognition. However, the other three dimensions continue to rise all the way to age 18. The domain that rises fastest, meaning that it is most highly correlated with age of first smartphone, is the “social self” domain. 

[ Figure 3: The 6 domains of well-being, for young women, as a function of when they got their first smartphone. From SapienLabs.org. ]

Figure 4 shows the same analysis for young men. The pattern is similar, with two important exceptions. First, the slopes are substantially lower, meaning that the mental health and well-being of young men are not as strongly related to the age at which they got their first smartphone as it is for their sisters, although it is still related. (All of the significance tests and effect sizes can be found in supplementary materials posted in this Google Drive link.2) The second difference is that all of the lines are higher for boys, meaning that boys are doing better than girls at all ages (at least, according to their self-reports). The one exception is that the line for Adaptability & Resilience reaches the same level for both sexes by age 18. Given the steeper slopes of all six lines for girls, this means that sex differences in adult mental health are larger among those who got a smartphone earlier.

[ Figure 4: The 6 domains of well-being, for young men, as a function of when they got their first smartphone. From SapienLabs.org. ]

One major issue in analyzing an international dataset is that there are just so many differences between countries, regions, and religions that there are many opportunities for confounding variables to lead us astray. For example, in the Sapien Labs dataset, in the less wealthy countries such as India, few young adults had received a smartphone before the age of 10, which means that the data points on the left sides of the graphs contain almost no Indians, whereas the data points on the right side (no phone until 17 or 18) contain many Indians and fewer from the USA. If Indians are mentally healthier than Americans (for other reasons), this could cause the lines to slope even if smartphones had no effect on mental health. It is important, therefore, to look at individual countries and regions. (The Sapien Labs report does this in its appendix, where you can see that the trends hold for each of the world regions). 

The region that we (Jon and Zach) know best and have written on extensively is the Anglosphere (the English-speaking countries of The United States, Canada, The United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and sometimes Ireland). We, therefore, decided to examine what Sapien Labs had found about those countries and compare it to what we have found. 

3. Zooming in on the Anglosphere

At the After Babel Substack, we have been documenting the patterns of rising mental illness among teens around the world, and, like Sapien Labs, we have found that the sudden decline of teenage mental health is an international phenomenon. Our research so far indicates that the increases in mental illness in the 2010s were slightly larger in the Anglosphere than in any other region we’ve examined. Figure 4 shows the large and sudden rise in self-harm rates among teens, particularly girls, in four of these nations (you can see much more in Zach’s initial report on the Anglosphere).

[ Figure 5. Since 2010, rates of self-harm episodes have increased for teens in the  Anglosphere countries. For data on Australia and for all sources, see Rausch and Haidt (2023). ]

In every Anglosphere country, the mental health of teens declined sharply around the same time (~2012) and in the same way (depression, anxiety, and self-harm, with bigger increases for girls). We have also found that the five Nordic nations show similar trends, particularly when examining changing rates of depression and anxiety (though not always for self harm). 

The Sapien Labs study began in 2019 so it cannot show us trends since 2010, but it can show us how young adults are doing today, and it can link variations in mental health today to variations in age of first smartphone. We wanted to get more familiar with the data and examine these links for ourselves, so we downloaded the full dataset as it was available on their Brainbase site on May 13, 2023, which was just about 2 weeks later than the dataset used in the Sapien Lab report. Our dataset contains 1,798 more participants, for a total of 29,767. The number of participants from the six anglosphere countries was much smaller: 1,465 (823 females, 584 males). By country: 682 in the USA, 297 in the UK, 224 in Canada, 239 in Australia, 10 in New Zealand, and 13 in Ireland.

We cleaned and organized our dataset in the same way as the team at Sapien Labs, with a small modification to account for our much smaller sample size. To reduce the jerkiness of the graph lines when we drop down to lower numbers of respondents for each point, we grouped participants into 2-year buckets (or three years, for our youngest bucket, 5-83). Figure 5 shows that the MHQ scores of Anglosphere boys and girls show patterns very similar to those reported in Figure 1 by Sapien Labs for the full 28,000-person international sample: The later the age of smartphone acquisition, the better the mental health. At least, that is true for the girls, all the way up to 18. For Anglosphere boys, there is a leveling off after the 11-12 mark. Delays beyond age 12 do not seem to be related to further increases in MHQ scores.4 

[ Figure 6. Anglosphere countries only: As age of first smartphone goes up, so does the mental health reported by young adults, especially for women. Data from SapienLabs.org, graphed by Zach Rausch. ]

We also plotted the six MHQ domain scores and found similar results. For females, all six dimensions of mental well-being improve as the age of smartphone acquisition increases.5 The effects are particularly strong for the “social self” and “mood and outlook”, which correspond well to the rise of internalizing disorders (depression and anxiety), which Zach has shown is rising within every Anglosphere nation. 

[ Figure 7. Anglosphere countries only: female MHQ dimension scores. Well-being on all 6 dimensions increases as age of smartphone acquisition increases.  ]

The trends for boys are similar to girls, though the effects are smaller and there is more fluctuation.6 Figure 8 shows that at the youngest ages, increasing age corresponds with improvements in each of the six dimensions. However, for boys, improvements tend to level off after age 12.

[ Figure 8. Anglosphere countries only: male MHQ dimension scores. Changes are smaller and more varied compared to females.  ]

4. Limitations

It’s important to note that the report from Sapien Labs is one of their “rapid reports” made possible by their fast-growing number of participants and the easy access they offer to their data. They added the question about age of first smartphone in January and they are publishing a report, with data from nearly 28,000 participants, in May. We believe that this ability to move quickly is a public service during a global pandemic of teen mental illness. While their rapid report is not a standard academic publication and has not been through peer review (which often takes a year or more), the open access to the data has allowed us to investigate and confirm the trends they are reporting. We hope and expect that other researchers will download the dataset and offer critiques of the data, the analyses, and the conclusions drawn. This sort of “post-publication peer review” is becoming increasingly common as the problems with the existing peer review system become more widely known.

One issue to keep in mind with the Sapien Labs dataset is that the participants in each country are not a random or representative sample of the people in that country. Such studies would be extremely expensive to run, and now that so few people agree to phone solicitations or even answer their phones, it is unclear how representative such surveys can be. Those who agree to be interviewed, or who are motivated by money to participate, are not representative of the broader population. For this Sapien Labs report, participants came to the site on their own, or from online advertisements paid for by Sapien Labs, for the purpose of getting a detailed report on their wellbeing. So, the means reported for any country should not be treated like direct measures of the true means. However, samples such as these are still very useful for examining differences within the sample, such as those between men and women, or between those who got a smartphone early and those who got one late. And the much larger size of the Sapien Labs dataset, compared to Gallup and other survey organizations, allows for many additional analyses. 

A second factor to keep in mind is that like all surveys, what we get is correlational data that is open to alternative interpretations. The graphs in the report are likely to suggest to most readers that getting a smartphone early causes later mental health problems. But with correlational data we must always consider the possibility that the causal arrow could run in reverse. In this case: having low well-being as a young adult could cause people to believe that they got a smartphone earlier than they did, but this seems unlikely. We must also always consider that there could be “third variables” that cause both of the first two variables to rise. In this case, one plausible confounding third variable is permissive parenting. Perhaps permissive parents (in each country) simultaneously do two things: they give their kids smartphones at very young ages, and they also give them few boundaries and little structure, which then interferes with development and produces struggling young adults. While this hypothesis is plausible and should be investigated, it is not clear how it would explain the fact that, in all the regions studied, it is the girls who show a tighter connection between early phone acquisition and later mental health problems, just as it is the girls who show a tighter connection between heavy social media use and concurrent mental health problems. Nor would it explain why mental health dropped so rapidly in the early 2010s (especially for girls) if permissive parenting (or some other variable about family life) was the real culprit.

And finally, we note that no one study is definitive, and more research is needed. We have been able to find a few other studies that examined the age at which children got their first smartphones (We have created a new appendix [8.14] in our collaborative review doc on Social Media and Mental Health). So far they are mostly smaller studies that have produced mixed results. If you know of any others, please add them to the doc or put a link to them in the comments below. We want to get this right.

5. Implications

We cannot be certain that the correlations shown in the data are evidence of causality, but we think it is appropriate for those who care for children to act on the preponderance of the evidence (which is the standard in a civil trial) rather than waiting for evidence beyond a reasonable doubt (which is the standard used in a criminal trial. See proposition 2 in this post.) There is increasing evidence that smartphones have a variety of detrimental effects on child development including reductions of sleep, focus, and time with friends in person, along with increases in addictive behaviors, so it makes sense that the cumulative effect of getting one’s first phone in elementary school would be larger than for those who don’t get a phone until high school. This is an important point made in the Sapien Labs report: The relationships they find suggest that there is a cumulative effect of having had a smartphone (and its many apps) over many years of childhood; they do not represent the effects of having used a phone a lot in recent days or weeks (which is the focus of most of the published research).

We think the implications for action are strongest for policies related to children and younger teens––those still in elementary and middle school (that is, age 14 and below) In most of the graphs in this post, including those for the Anglosphere, the slopes of the lines are steepest for those ages, and the links are visible for boys as well as girls (though smaller for boys). This concern to protect children before and during early puberty is consistent with a study published last year which found that in a large longitudinal study of British adolescents, the peak years for evidence of links between social media use and lower satisfaction with life were 11-13 for girls (which corresponds to the early part of puberty), while for boys (who begin puberty a bit later) it was 14-15.

On the other hand, the implications for action related to older teens and especially boys are less clear, at least within the United States and other Anglosphere nations. The lines for boys are somewhat flat in those ages, and the increases for girls generally slow down too. Furthermore, the arguments for why high school students need a smartphone (rather than an alternative, such as a flip-phone) are stronger than the arguments for why elementary and middle school students need one. 

We, therefore, believe that the Sapien Labs findings should motivate us to think carefully about whether and when to give children their own smart devices, especially before high school. It is not the Internet per se that is harmful; so much of the internet is fantastically educational, useful, and entertaining. The most relevant questions, we think, are: 1) At what age do you want to give a child continuous access to the internet and social media, even when away from home, even when sitting in class? 2) At what age do you want to give social media companies, and other companies, continuous access to a child’s attention? And 3) does a child really need a smartphone when other kinds of phones (such as “flip phones” or Light Phones) work just as well for general communication (phone calls and texting)?

Implications for Parents

The group Wait Until 8th was founded to solve the collective action problem that parents and teens are in: Even if most parents wanted to wait until high school to give their children smartphones and social media, as long as most kids have those things by 6th grade, there will be enormous pressure on their children, and hence on the parents, to relent. Unless the parents can coordinate. So Wait Until 8th asks parents to sign a pledge, when their children are in elementary school, that they will wait until 8th grade to give them a smartphone. The pledge only takes effect once ten families in that child’s grade have signed the pledge so that the child will have a community of peers and will not feel so isolated before 8th grade.

We think this is a great idea, we just suggest that the pledge should be: Wait Until 9th. Or Wait Until High School. Children are usually 12 or 13 at the start of 8th grade; that is still within the period of early puberty. Plus, if 8th graders have smartphones, that means that smartphones will be everywhere in middle schools, increasing the desire of 7th graders to get them. To solve collective action problems, we think it’s best to focus on setting good norms within collectives (such as schools): make elementary schools and middle schools be smartphone free. 

Parents understandably want to be able to reach their children when they are away from home, and a flip phone or other “dumbphone” is a very reasonable first phone that allows parents and children to reach each other. We suggest that parents not give smartphones as first phones. Let children learn to master a simpler kind of phone, one that cannot be loaded with addictive apps. Wait Until 8th offers an excellent list of the many smartphone alternatives.

Implications for Schools

Many of the teachers and heads of schools that Jon talks to are bitter about the effects of smartphones on their students and their school culture. They complain about the constant drama unfolding on social media during the school day. They complain about the distraction and the increased difficulty of getting students’ attention during class, since many students sneak looks at their frequently-buzzing phones, especially those sitting in the back rows. Many schools say that they ban phones, but what they often seem to mean is “the rule is that you can’t take out your phone during class.” That means that some students (the ones most suffering from phone addiction) will learn to do it stealthily, and many of the rest will just pull out their phones as soon as class is over, thereby missing out on face-to-face interactions with the students right next to them. 

We suggest that schools consider going phone free, meaning that students can use their phones to arrive and depart from school, but once they enter, their phones (smart or dumb) would be placed in a phone locker, or in a lockable pouch. We think the case for doing this in elementary schools and middle schools is strongest. In a few weeks, Jon will write a substack post laying out the empirical evidence that smartphones distract students and disrupt education, even when they are kept in students’ pockets.

We also suggest that school districts collaborate with social scientists to do experiments on entire schools, rather than on individual students. What if a state or district identified 20 middle schools that were willing to cooperate, and then randomly assigned half of them to go phone free?  There is no research of this kind that we can find, yet such a simple study would give us results within a single year that could potentially yield findings that improve both mental health and educational outcomes. 

Implications for Legislatures

If there is a cumulative effect of smartphone ownership in childhood, and if the effect is due in part to heavy use of certain kinds of apps (such as social media) rather than other kinds of apps (such as watching movies, or using Wikipedia), then it becomes even more vital that we develop ways of age-gating certain apps and content. At present, US law sets a minimum age of 13 at which children can sign contracts with companies to give away their data (when they check a box on the terms of service). But the law was written such that the companies are not required to verify ages. As long as a child says that she is 13 or older, she’s in and can create a social media account. 

This must change. If the minimum age were enforced, it would help parents solve their collective action problem, at least with regard to Instagram, Tiktok, and other social media sites for underage users. It is precisely Congress’s failure to enforce the age 13 rule that puts parents in the trap. Many states are now introducing legislation to remedy this omission. And there is one federal bill that does a particularly good job of focusing on age limits and age verification: The Protecting Kids on Social Media Act, introduced by Senators Schatz (D-HI), Cotton (R-AR), Murphy (D-CT), and Britt (R-AL). The act would “set a minimum age of 13 to use social media apps and would require parental consent for 13 through 17 year-olds.  The bill would also prevent social media companies from feeding content using algorithms to users under the age of 18.” The bill also requires social media companies to develop rigorous age verification methods. (There are already many in existence, and many more would appear if the bill gets passed.) We also think the Kids Online Safety Act of 2022, introduced by senators Blumenthal (D-CT) and Blackburn (R-TN) would do a lot to make social media less damaging to children, and easier for parents to control. The fact that so many bills are bipartisan, at both the state and federal level, is a very encouraging sign in our polarized time. Legislators often report seeing the problems in their own children.

In conclusion: there is a great deal that can be done, individually and collectively, to address one of the top fears that parents express, about the safety and health of their children. The Sapien Labs data offers us new insight into the nature of the problem, and it alerts us that the problem may be global. It also guides us to the ages at which reform efforts are most likely to work.

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POSTSCRIPTS (added on May 18, 2023)

1—We welcome additional and deeper analyses of the Sapien Labs data, and will post links here to such reports whether they support or contradict our analyses in this post.

2—One issue we should have discussed in the text is the inclusion of tablets, along with smartphones, in the Sapien Labs’ questionnaire. If their findings differ from those of other labs which asked only about age of first smartphone, then we won’t know whether part of the difference is the inclusion of tablets. We hope that future studies will ask about the two devices separately to figure out which devices are associated with harm at which ages (if any).

3—Some commentary online has made the important point that it’s not the phone itself which is harmful; it is the particular apps that the child uses, a child with a particular personality, in the context of a particular family that does (or does not) exercise oversight and apply restrictions. We agree. The original iPhone introduced by Steve Jobs was three devices: a phone, an iPod, and a web browser. Great! Three tools. Probably not harmful. It’s the addition of the app store that turned the smartphone into a portal to everything. If early acquisition of a smartphone is shown to be reliably associated with developmental problems, it would likely be because it enables continuous 18-hour-per-day access to hundreds of activities.

[cocktailjjrs]

TR 269

Just me rambling 

I have been trying to gather my thoughts all this while. The whole - OG Timeline, first through sixth/seventh Altered future. None of it was making sense to me for a long time. 

There is a part of OG Timeline (as of ch 269) that is common for all the timelines - that is:

The births of all the existing TR members 

Papa and Mama Sano’s death (assuming Mama sano dies when mikey is 5-7 yrs old)

Izana leaving for Institution (1994)

Emma coming to stay with Sano’s at 3yrs old  (1994)

Maybe - Shinichiro coming to visit Izana  (1994-5)

Mikey and Baji in Sano dojo; Sanzu and the two being friends 

Waka and Benkei having their own gangs

Formation of Black Dragons (1995)

Mrs Shiba dying and Taiju starting to Abuse his siblings (1996-7)

Kakucho and Izana meeting after his parents death (1998 approx)

Akane dying (1998-9)

Izana getting into Juvie (1999) and meeting S62 gen

1st gen Black Dragons disbanding (1999)

That’s it. 

Then we have Sanzu getting his scar in 1999 (approx); which according to Ch 269 was a result of Shinichiro timeleaping; because in OG Timeline it never happened, rather Mikey was the one who was left in vegetative state.

So that means the events that cascaded down never happened were:

Toman was never formed as it founding members never met

Kisaki never had his sight on Mikey to make him into a puppet; as someone else was number one then, maybe Izana who had taken over 8th gen BD

9th gen BD were never defeated as there was no Toman

Shinichiro did not die, Kazutora was not arrested

Takemitchi never served under kiyomasa; in turn he never met Mikey or Draken or any of the toman members. Maybe he never ran away after graduation. Meaning, he was not pushed on the tracks and he never time travelled 

Chifuyu never met Baji (as he was never held back) and Takemitchi 

Senju never formed Brahman 

But other things, which were not directly related to Shinichiro travelling time, did happen:

Draken meeting Mitsuya or Mitsuya meeting Hakkai or Baji and Kazutora meeting

Kisaki and Hinata meeting in cram school

Hina being saved by Takemitchi from bullies, the whole love triangle remains (only this time, Takemitchi may not have been out of the picture like the first time)

Izana finding out not being related to the Sano’s

Koko being famous as Money Monger

10th gen Black Dragon’s existed but were different than what we saw. Or Taiju was not their Leader

Soooo, 

The conflict Takemitchi had with Kisaki would have been going on side by side without it having to do anything with Mikey or Toman; but then Takemitchi would have only one chance to be with Hinata. Maybe, Kisaki would have used some other gang, to fulfill his plan. 

But Mikey got involved in all this because Shinichiro travelled back in time, stopping Mikey from going into vegetative state; that led to formation of Toman. 

I was confused how did only that connect Mikey to Takemitchi. The link is Izana and Kisaki. 

Izana already had a grudge against Mikey, the formation of Toman only added fuel to fire - which burned the 9th gen BD. Then Kazutora accidently killed Shinichiro - which was a shock to Izana, who almost lost his will to live - Kisaki meet him then, before he met mikey. I am assuming he found out about Izana the same he found out about Mikey. And then Kisaki went to Mikey and toman as they were the strongest then (if that makes sense); in turn connecting him with Takemitchi. 

Somehow, Kisaki knew about Time travelling. Making me think, Izana knew about it too - ofc through Shinichiro.

So now we have a number of people who knew about time travelling from the begining:

Wakasa (Shinichiro)

Kisaki (Shinichiro and later Takemitchi)

Izana  (Shinichiro)

Sanzu  (Shinichiro) and probably Baji too

Takeomi (Shinichiro) and probably Benkei too

Now: Mikey (Shinichiro & Takemitchi)

Draken (Takemitchi)

Chifuyu (Takemitchi)

Naoto (Takemitchi)

Hinata (Takemitchi)

Maybe Akkun (Takemitchi)

Did i miss someone? 

Someone from first five is probably Shinichiro’s trigger. Other than that remaining individuals are Emma and Grandpa Sano - who both would have high desire to save Mikey, but i doubt they knew about Timetravel. (It would be just cruel if the trigger for Shinichiro was Emma, knowing what happens to her down the line; plus she was way too young.)

Did any of this make even a bit of sense?

[satomimotorsport]

8th Gen Honda Accord "zero 2" 📸 by @prixswrld

[rose-riot-johnson]

Alongside Himiko Toga (My Hero Academia), Rumi Usagiyama (aka, Mirko), and Kurama (Human name, Shuichi Minamino) (Yu Hakusho) for the 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th place (in a 4 way) tie according to the poll I originally posted:

Raphael, from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Any Version)

Raphael is definitely one of those characters I have been thinking about writing about for a long time, since after I started on writing and posting fanfics atleast a couple years ago🐢So today I plan to make writing about him a reality🐢 Since every1 does have their own preferences about which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series they like best, I will let the reader decide to their imagination which version of Raphael (and/or anything pertaining to any version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series, regardless if it's movie and/or show and/or cartoon version) is in this fic (this gif of Raph is just something I picked out😅)🐢 I just figured it would be more fun for the reader to imagine which version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series they think of while reading this fanfic with Raphael in it🐢🐢🐢🐢

Seeing Raphael's Caring Side ((Adult) Raphael (aka, Raph) (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Any Version)) x Female Reader)

Genres: Head Cannon(?), Comfort, Fluff (Warning ⚠️: One of the paragraphs and/or parts of this fanfic mentions harassment)

*When Raphael (Leonardo, Donatello, and Michaelangelo) first meet you, he will be surprised that you're not frightened of him (nor the other turtles). However, Raphael did end up taking a liking to you in first sight. The thing is he doesn't want the other turtles to find out. You can't blame him, because there's a chance the other turtles could tease him about you, if they find out right away.

*After a couple months passed by, Raphael decided to confess that he has a crush on you. To his surprise, it turned out you take a liking to him as well. He madesure that none of the other turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, and Michaelangelo), to find out obviously. Or so he thought. Leonardo, Donatello, and Michaelangelo, madesure to watch Raph's every move due to the fact that they have their suspicions that Raph wanted to confess to you.

*Raph maybe a tough guy during his training, missions (especially with the other turtles), working out, and other stuff he does (depending on the series the reader enjoys watching and/or to the reader's imagination), he's also secretly a big softie when it comes to you and he makesure no one else (Leonardo, Donatello, and Michaelangelo included). While he's an affectionate guy, because he's low-key a hugger, a cuddler, and a kisser when it comes to his relationships, he's also okay regardless if you feel like hugging, kissing, and cuddling, or not. He prefers not to overstep your boundaries and he's willing to accept you for who you are.

*If he notices anyone harrass you, including stalkers, he will makesure to they wish they never did and teach them not to harrass you anymore. It gets under his skin when he finds out in anyway, if anyone was to harrass you, no matter how they harrass you. He wants what it's best for you, especially when it comes to your safety and self-esteem. He will even makesure to find anyway possible to make them stop harassing you, even if he has to do so without you knowing it.

*When you're having a bad day and/or depressed and/or sad and/or having any other problems that can be solved through comfort, well then Raphael is definitely is definitely someone who will comfort you the best as he is able to. Being a softie isn't the only thing that he shows to you, however he also will comfort you, regardless if its work or at home or family issues, he will still do his best to comfort you and try to cheer you up. You're his pride and joy, so he wants to make you happy, while also making sure that you are happy, as well.

*Everytime you decide on spending atleast one night with Raphael, he always looks forward to it. He does look forward to seeing you generally and he enjoys hanging out with you, however it's not often you spend the night with him, which is one of these occasions that gets him really, low-key, excited. So, he always surprises you with something everytime you do show up to spend atleast one night with him, which everytime he surprises you with something, you actually appreciate what he does for you and you actually find it romantic that he does different surprises everytime you spend atleast one night at his place.

The End

I will admit, working on this fanfic with Raphael, was (and is) definitely fun working on🐢😃👍 So, no matter which version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series you enjoy best, I still hope you enjoy this fanfic of Raphael🐢 Despite of the gif I used of Raphael (2003 version) in this post for this fanfic, it's still up to the reader's imagination which version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Raphael alike due to every fan of any of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series having different preferences which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series they like and/or having a favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series (show, cartoon, and movie versions alike)🐢🐢🐢🐢😁👍

*Note: When I was little, my first time seeing anything of any Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series was watching the 80's version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series episode where it pertains the Turtles having to chase a bunny, if I remember correctly🐰🐢🐢🐢🐢

[sapphyreopal5]

Do you think Jared Padalecki is some some shape or form part of the LGBT but in denial? I do remember him talking about loving freely. Also I promise this is a legit ask, im not joking lol

Hello Anon, thank you for the ask. I see you are asking a tinhatters related question, which I am not one of them. I'm sure you've seen one of my tarot reading related posts where I said I don't believe Jensen is of the straight orientation and therefore am going to guess this is related to why you're asking me this in particular. With this being said, I believe at best Jared is "bicurious" and is to me not a huge stretch to say slightly bisexual but definitely leans more towards women. He has a bromance with both Milo and Jensen (probably Jensen more because he does more con panels with him and worked with him longer type of deal).

I've said this to multiple people via private messages and maybe in a post or 2 I have reason to believe at least some of the SPN former cast read the blogs, Jared being one of them. I've said this before to others via PM more or less that I believe that J2 have been more or less "feeding" people with certain statements that some say imply they are secretly lovers. I recently read a post from someone who said they came across one of Jared's former teachers who years ago apparently said "he's married to her [Gen]?" with her eyebrows raised when seeing photos of them together, and laughed apparently when seeing Jensen and him together but kept her mouth shut. Can't seem to find this post at the moment but I saw it not too long ago.

Looking at Jared's younger photos and even hearing his voice in some older clips where he was in high school, I get the impression that he may have started puberty more or less on the later side of the normal range if not slightly later (say between 15 and 16 is what my guides say). According to Kidshealth.org, boys often start puberty between the ages of 9 and 15. I believe that when boys start puberty a little later based on what my educational background and science says, this puts guys at higher risk of bullying and perhaps when they show less sexual interest in school they are assumed to be gay, even if they have had girlfriends prior to really hitting puberty like he did. He was said to have dated while he was class President in 8th grade dating the class Secretary. As someone on Reddit said "Mr. President dated Ms. Secretary. How scandalous." Priceless LOL. Apparently the OP who posted these photos on multiple subreddits had a crush on him back then while in 6th grade, oh the things that you can find on Reddit at times....

I understand Jared has some prom photos floating around like on Reddit of him with a girl who might be the same girl as he was seen with in a couple photos where they were what looks like a basketball court (high school girlfriend I am assuming), and also one in middle school with a middle school girlfriend. Some might say he was "pressured" to marry Gen and was "pressured" to hide his sexual orientation being raised Catholic and whatnot. I've also seen multiple movies and TV shows where he kisses women and can tell he does not mind and even enjoys kissing women. He has somewhat open sexual energy in my opinion which makes him more comfortable with things like a "surprise kiss" from Milo which seems more and also walked up to Jensen and air kissed him to which Jensen said "bro get away from me" in 2006.

My impression overall is that if Jared were to be LGBT, it would be technically bi but leans towards women a lot more if not is merely "bicurious" if this makes sense. Certainly not gay by a long shot ha ha. With the said like that Sandy gave for a post talking about no longer being a beard for someone, I do not think she would publicly acknowledge being a beard and believe this should not be taken as a literal confirmation she was "Jared's beard". I'm not going to talk about the disrespect the tinhatters have for the wives because I think everyone is going to be subject to criticism and questioning at times, it's just part of life (but not gonna lie, some of them definitely don't respect either Danneel or Gen at all despite their claims they just want them to be happy). I have my criticisms of everyone and praises for some ha ha. However, I will say it is also is disrespectful of both Jensen and Jared saying they're unfaithful, dishonest men living double lives but I don't feel like getting started here.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 12.29

1170 – Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury, is assassinated inside Canterbury Cathedral by followers of King Henry II; he subsequently becomes a saint and martyr in the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church. 1503 – The Battle of Garigliano was fought between a Spanish army under Gonzalo Fernández de Córdoba and a French army commanded by Ludovico II, Marquess of Saluzzo. 1607 – According to John Smith, Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan leader Wahunsenacawh, successfully pleads for his life after tribal leaders attempt to execute him. 1778 – American Revolutionary War: Three thousand British soldiers under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Archibald Campbell capture Savannah, Georgia. 1812 – USS Constitution, under the command of Captain William Bainbridge, captures HMS Java off the coast of Brazil after a three-hour battle. 1835 – The Treaty of New Echota is signed, ceding all the lands of the Cherokee east of the Mississippi River to the United States. 1845 – The United States annexes the Republic of Texas and admits it as the 28th state. 1860 – The launch of HMS Warrior, with her combination of screw propeller, iron hull and iron armour, renders all previous warships obsolete. 1874 – The military coup of Gen. Martinez Campos in Sagunto ends the failed First Spanish Republic and the monarchy is restored as Prince Alfonso is proclaimed King of Spain. 1876 – The Ashtabula River railroad disaster occurs, leaving 64 injured and 92 dead at Ashtabula, Ohio. 1890 – On Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, 300 Lakota are killed by the United States 7th Cavalry Regiment. 1911 – Mongolia gains independence from the Qing dynasty, enthroning 8th Jebtsundamba Khutughtu as Khagan of Mongolia. 1913 – Cecil B. DeMille starts filming Hollywood's first feature film, The Squaw Man. 1930 – Sir Muhammad Iqbal's presidential address in Allahabad introduces the two-nation theory and outlines a vision for the creation of Pakistan. 1934 – Japan renounces the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 and the London Naval Treaty of 1930. 1937 – The Irish Free State is replaced by a new state called Ireland with the adoption of a new constitution. 1940 – In the Second Great Fire of London, the Luftwaffe fire-bombs London, England, killing almost 200 civilians during World War II. 1972 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (a Lockheed L-1011 TriStar) crashes in the Florida Everglades on approach to Miami International Airport, Florida, killing 101 of the 176 people on board. 1975 – A bomb explodes at LaGuardia Airport in New York City, killing 11 people and injuring more than 75. 1989 – Czech writer, philosopher and dissident Václav Havel is elected the first post-communist President of Czechoslovakia. 1989 – The Nikkei 225 for the Tokyo Stock Exchange hits its all-time intra-day high of 38,957.44 and closing high at 38,915.87, serving as the apex of the Japanese asset price bubble. 1992 – Fernando Collor de Mello, president of Brazil, tries to resign amidst corruption charges, but is then impeached. 1994 – Turkish Airlines Flight 278 (a Boeing 737-400) crashes on approach to Van Ferit Melen Airport in Van, Turkey, killing 57 of the 76 people on board. 1996 – Guatemala and leaders of Guatemalan National Revolutionary Unity sign a peace accord ending a 36-year civil war. 1998 – Leaders of the Khmer Rouge apologize for the Cambodian genocide that claimed over one million lives. 2003 – The last known speaker of Akkala Sami dies, rendering the language extinct. 2006 – The UK settles its Anglo-American loan, post-WWII loan debt. 2013 – A suicide bomb attack at the Volgograd-1 railway station in the southern Russian city of Volgograd kills at least 18 people and wounds 40 others. 2013 – Seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher suffers a massive head injury while skiing in the French Alps. 2020 – A large explosion at the airport in the southern Yemeni city of Aden kills at least 22 people and wounds 50.

[outsidereveries]

Could you do a reading on Boys Planet Lineup? Thanks!

uploaded some predictions on twitter but just to say that i decided to do my math.

disclaimer: i know nothing about boys planet except that (slang word for male organ in bulgarian) is participating. my readings might be inaccurate because of changing energies and misinterpretation.

first, i will write about “math research” and what might be realistic and later i will talk about my tarot answers.

according to 8th episode, assuming korean vote will value more than the global, surely will debut sung hanbin, zhang hao, han yujin, seok matthew, kim jiwoong, kim gyuvin and kum junhyeon. less likely might be kim taerae, keita, jay and haruto while park gunwook is LITTERALY IN THE MIDDLE. so allegedly 7 could debut at 100% while 2 are questionable who.

according to ninth episode:

- keita got 6th place

- ricky got 7th place

- park hanbin got 14th place, which means he dropped 1 place since 8th episode, but he is kinda stable for now

- lee jeonghyeon got 15th place, which he got 9 places higher since the same episode and he might be at risky placement next week

- kim gyuvin got 16TH PLACE which .. might mean he could drop out in 11th episode

- yoo seungeon got 17th place (he’s stable for now but he might also drop out too)

- cha woongki got 18th place (he was 26th in 8th episode) which could mean he could survive, however he’s at risky placement

mathematically, almost every member seem to have questionable results if they’ll be in the final or not. there are 100% members that will be in the final but it’s kinda certain they won’t debut (hoetaek, pentagon’s leader and i am not saying his stage name on purpose and yoon jungwoo) as well as members who will be eliminated (seo won, chen kuanjui, takuto, cha woongki, ollie and hiroto). the rest of them are questionable to either debut (kim taerae, keita, park gunwook, kum junhyeon, jay, ricky and haruto) or make it into finals (yoo seungeon, wang zihao, na kamden, lee seunghwan, zhang shuaibo, lee jeonghyeon).

with some of the revealed placements of the ninth episode gyuvin, jeonghyeon and woongki have risky placements. possibly seungeon too.

according to my cards however, there’s some rigging and shuffling.

they’re saying to me that (asked multiple times so i got lazy to note all cards) there are certain members that will debut:

* sung hanbin

* han yujin (however, he might rank at lower place than third: i saw seven)

* kim jiwoong

* kim taerae

* zhang shuaibo (bahiyyih card?)

there are members who are questionable of their placements in general:

* park gunwook (my cards confirmed he’s in the middle between debut and 10th place for real)

* ricky (questionable for debut)

* seo won (questionable for final)

* chen kuanjui (questionable for final)

* takuto (questionable for final)

* cha woongki (questionable for final)

there are also members who are certain they won’t debut:

* zhang hao (i am shocked /gen, /srs)

* seok matthew (his place will be rigged, i saw #10 for some reason)

* kim gyuvin (the drop in the placements between 8th and 9th episode…)

* keita (his place could also be rigged and probably might be because he’s in ciipher, i felt it with bora when she was in gp999)

* kum junhyeon (also will be rigged)

* lee hoetaek (into finals, probably won’t debut, assuming that he had higher placements in earlier episodes..)

* jay (into finals, questionable for debut)

* yoon jungwoo (into finals, won’t debut)

* haruto (into finals imo, won’t debut though)

* yoo seungeon (if he makes into the finals, he won’t debut)

* wang zihao (might not make it to the final; assuming he’s in global category, he probably won’t knowing mnet and korean entertainment industry and their preferences)

* na kamden (might not make it to the finals, same as wang zihao)

* lee seunghwan (might not make it in finals)

* lee jeonghyeon (assuming the ninth episode, questionable for final, if he makes it, won’t debut)

* ollie (not making in the finals, i assume)

* hiroto (same as ollie)

that’s it. sorry if i wrote their names wrong.

[milkboydotnet]

Tiamzons, Catbalogan 10 were held captive, tortured and cowardly killed by the AFP in US-directed operations

Marco Valbuena | Chief Information Officer | Communist Party of the Philippines

April 20, 2023

The entire leadership and membership of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns in the strongest terms the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the brutal torture and cowardly killing of Party leaders Benito Tiamzon (Ka Laan) and Wilma Austria-Tiamzon (Ka Bagong-tao), together with eight other revolutionaries after they were captured in Samar province on August 21, 2022.

At the time of their murder, Ka Benito, 71, was the Chairman of the CPP Executive Committee, while Ka Wilma, 70, was the CPP’s Secretary General. They were travelling with Ka Divino (Joel Arceo), a subregional secretary in Eastern Visayas, along with Ka Yen, Ka Jaja, Ka Matt, Ka Ash, Ka Delfin, Ka Lupe, Ka Butig (Catbalogan 10), who all belonged to the guerrilla force of the central headquarters.

In a report, the Political Bureau said the Tiamzons were travelling on two separate vans along the national highway eastwards towards Catbalogan City. They were flagged down between 12:00 noon and 1:00 in the afternoon, after which all communications with the group were lost. They were unarmed.

It explained that it took several weeks to establish the veracity of the reports which the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) released around that time. It also had to conduct months of investigation to piece together the details of the capture and subsequent massacre of the Tiamzons.

According to the information gathered by the Central Committee, the Tiamzons suffered severe beating in the hands of their captors. Internal reports cited witnesses who saw how the faces and bodies of the victims were smashed, apparently beaten with hard objects.

The CPP PolitBureau disputed the report of the AFP suggesting that the Tiamzons were killed after their supposed boat exploded while engaging in a firefight with forces of the Joint Task Force Storm, the 8th Infantry Division and the Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trident—a unit trained and commanded by the US military—during the early morning hours of August 22, 2022 off the coast of Catbalogan.

The claimed mid-sea firefight and explosion were all a drama hatched by the AFP and its US military advisers, to hide all evidence of the ignominy of their fascist crime. In truth, the already lifeless bodies of the Tiamzons and their group were dumped on a motorboat filled with explosives, and tugged from Catbalogan midway towards Taranganan island before it was detonated. Only eight bodies were subsequently retrieved by the military.

The murder of the Tiamzons follow the pattern of the wilful killings perpetrated by the AFP against captured revolutionaries. The same cruel and cowardly methods were used in the killing of Jorge Madlos (Ka Oris), Menardo Villanueva (Ka Bok), Antonio Cabantan (Ka Manlimbasog), Julius Giron (Ka Nars) and a number of others.

The Party demands justice for the August 21 massacre of the Tiamzons et al. Their capture, torture and killing were directed by the top officers of the AFP. The CPP holds the following directly responsible for the dastardly crime:

Ferdinand Marcos Jr, commander-in-chief of the AFP, Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bacarro, then chief-of-staff of the AFP, Lt. Gen. Edgardo de Leon, then head of the JTF-Storm and the 8th Infantry Division, and Brig. Gen. Marceliano Teofilo, head of the Intelligence Service ng AFP, as well as the US military advisers behind the Task Force Trident.

The CPP demands justice for the Tiamzons and the Catbalogan 10, and calls for their indictment in all relevant courts.

[wongyuuu]

Boys Planet | Final

I really wasn't going to post anything at all today, not reblogs or anything. But right now, I just need to detach a little from everything else, so I'll talk about boys planet as it feels like a safe topic. I didn't really watch the final, as I was at work, so I just checked the trainees that debuted. Didn't watch any performances or anything else. So I'll just mention the chosen 9 and call it a day.

#1 Zhang Hao - the fact that he debuted was no surprise at all. The actual surprise was the fact that he placed first. I didn't think that anyone could take SHanbin's spot as a center, but I guess I was wrong. It's also surprising that a Chinese trainee, out of all nationalities on the show, placed first. I'm happy for him.

#2 Sung Han Bin - like Hao, he wasn't a surprise. He's a good addition to the group, he's just overall very good. I wouldn't call him an ace or an all-rounder, but he is very good.

#3 Matthew - I thought that he would place 9th tbh, considering the editing mnet did on him, considering how he placed 9th on the last voting. I suppose he has a really big Korean fanbase. Good for him. I like him, he's fine.

#4 Ricky - the biggest plot twist of this whole show, should we call him the dark horse of the season? I liked him, from the start caught my attention, on demo stage, and I was voting for him at first and then I stopped for whatever reason. He's good too.

#5 Gunwook - when Jiwoong was called at 8th place, I was certain that he wasn't going to make it. I really wanted for him to debut, but I didn't think that he had enough fans to carry him through. I'm happy that I was wrong. He was my number one, from day one. He did a fantastic job, on all stages, he's powerful. It will be fun to watch him

#6 Taerae - the main vocalist is here. I'm happy he debuted, the Korean fans really carried him on the show, as I don't think he is actually that popular outside of SK. Master Seokhoon looked emotional when he was called, I would too if my son was there (not really his son, but they do look alike)

#7 Gyuvin - the only one that doesn't really do anything for me, to be honest. But I'm willing to change my mind about him. He's a good dancer, at least

#8 Jiwoong - you know, I have always said that I don't care in which position my favorite ends up, as long as they make it into the group. And I maintain that same thought. He placed lower than expected but still made it, so that's all that really matters.

#9 Yujin - what I said about Jiwoong works here, but I would just like to say that I'm surprised he dropped so much (especially considering how the fans at the site were screaming for him). With that said, and although I do love him, he still has lots to improve, especially on the vocal side of things. He's still very young, so learning comes almost naturally to him. I hope that now that the show is over, he can be more confident and comfortable.

And now for those who didn't make it.

I have always known that Hui wasn't going to make, he just wouldn't. He would stay in the show until the end but would inevitably not make it. Let's start with the fact Koreans seem to fucking hate pentagon, it's like they after them to make sure that they don't do well. Cube fucked up, not the members okay? And he's "too old" for the idol life, according to a lot of people. I don't really care about his age. My only concern was if he was going to be able to keep up with a 5th gen choreography as he wasn't the best dancer (said so himself). I hope he can go back to pentagon (also hope they tell cube to go fuck themselves) or that he can start a solo career.

The biggest surprise for me was Keita not making it to the group. I never thought that Korean fans would vote for him because, apparently, being tall is more important than being talented. But I really thought that international fans would do the heavy lifting for him, but I suppose he was a filler votes for many people until the third elimination. I don't know what is going to happen to him now. Rain has absolutely no idea what to do so a group can grow. Keita not making it is my biggest regret from this show. He was truly an all-rounder, an ace really ( I would dare to say that he was the only ace in the show).

So yeah, this is. Zero Base One was born, ZB1 (what a shit name).

Although I do say this every time I survival ends, let's not do things again (but I'm sure I'll see you next mnet pulls something like this)

[ao3feed-crimeboys]

TommyInnit's Totally Terrible (and American) High School Experience

by etoilya

"Tommy, seriously? Ignoring me again?" Tubbo said while sitting next to Tommy at the only empty seats left.

"Sorry, king. I'm just thinking about how I'm gonna rule this place." Confidence will always be Tommy's savior, fake or not.

"Well, I was saying that we're in different tour groups." What? That should be illegal. They should know to never split Tommy and Tubbo.

"What?! Why?"

"If you were listening to me you'd know," Tubbo responded, smug as always.

"Just drop it and tell me, Tubso." Tommy's the best at apologies.

Tubbo scoffed. "It's because I'm on the 'advanced' pathway, according to the school."

"But I'm the smartest person in the world! How could they do this to me?" Tommy elegantly retorted.

"I told you to do your homework. I can't cover all of your classes."

OR

Tommy's an 8th grader going into high school with his only friend, Tubbo. His tour guides, juniors Wilbur and Technoblade, actually laugh at his jokes, making Tommy the happiest 13 year old ever. Despite the great start, Tommy's (American) high school experience isn't as easy as he thought.

Words: 1959, Chapters: 1/?, Language: English

Fandoms: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF, Dream SMP

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: Gen

Characters: TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Wilbur Soot, Technoblade (Video Blogging RPF), Phil Watson | Philza, Toby Smith | Tubbo, Ranboo (Video Blogging RPF)

Relationships: Wilbur Soot & Technoblade & TommyInnit & Phil Watson, Wilbur Soot & TommyInnit, Wilbur Soot & Technoblade, Technoblade & TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), TommyInnit & Phil Watson (Video Blogging RPF)

Additional Tags: Sleepy Bois Inc as Family, Older Siblings Wilbur Soot and Technoblade, Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Angst, TommyInnit-centric (Video Blogging RPF), This is my first fic so be forgiving

[vaiyamagic]

Gonna try a drawing challenge. Hopefully I’ll keep up with it.

I tried to make the prompts a little different that the usual ones you find.

Prompts typed out under the cut:

1.       Draw yourself as a trainer with your fav Pokémon

2.       Draw your team

3.       Top starter of each type (if already on your team, draw your 2nd fav)

4.       Fav 1st & 2nd gen

5.       Fav 3rd & 4th gen

6.       Fav 5th & 6th gen

7.       Fav 7th & 8th gen

8.       Fav Pikachu clone (drawn next to Pikachu)

9.     �� Fav Normal (single type) pokemon (because Normal type needs some love)

10.   Fav object Pokémon (like aegislash or klefkey)

11.   Fav gimmick Pokémon

12.   1st (non-plot) shiny you ever caught and first shiny that you failed to catch (if you haven’t caught one or failed to catch one yet, draw the two you hope to catch)

13.   Top 3 most hated Pokémon

14.   Fav fossil Pokémon

15.   Fav Legendary AND Mythical

16.   Cutest and ugliest Pokémon (according to you)

17.   Pokémon you used to dislike, but now like

18.   Your fav NPC meets your fav character from the anime

19.   Fav and least fav rival

20.   Fav and least fav professor

21.   Fav “evil” Team/villain

22.   Fav gym leader and Elite 4 member

23.   If you were a gym leader, what type would you be?

24.   If you could pick a gym theme that WASN’T based on type, what would the theme be? (like, by color or a full team of cats)

25.   If you weren’t a trainer in the Pokémon world, what job would you have?

26.   If you could change the shiny color of any shiny, what would you change it to?

27.   Pick a Pokémon you think had/has potential but fell short and give it an evolution/mega.

28.   Pick a Pokémon and give it a regional variant.

29.   What’s your fav Pokémon theory? (Whether it’s been debunked or not)

30.   What are your hopes for the future of Pokémon?

31.   It’s Halloween! Your fav ghost pokemon are asking for your soul candy!

[tahyirasavanna]

The American Workforce Will Be Forced To Deal with declining educational standards

According to research, millennials (Gen Y) are the most educated generation in American history. Approximately 38 percent of millennials have a bachelor’s degree or higher, compared with 32 percent of Generation X and 15 percent of baby boomers when they were the same age. Cellphones need to be removed from K-8 gradesThere’s no reason why ELA students in 8th response to an educator is “imma jus…