#The new addition is stupid and looks like an algorithm and I hate it

[backpackingspace]

HEY WHATS THIS NEW THING THAT KEEPS POPPING UP AND HOW DO I TURN IT OFF?!!!!

Its when you search something and it pops related communities? In the middle of posts? It looks algorithmy and I hate it please please someone tell me how to turn it off

[pinelife3]

What’s this Pizzagate in the heart of nature?

The big tech story in Australia last month was Facebook’s decision to restrict people and organisations in Australia from sharing or viewing news content on Facebook. This was in response to the Morrison government’s proposed Media Bargaining legislation which is basically a Murdoch-serving law to try to get tech companies to pay media organisations for news content hosted/linked/displayed on their sites and, most galling of all, share details of their algorithms with Australian media orgs. The idea that Facebook would have to notify NewsCorp every time they want to tweak their algorithm is patently insane. So I admire Facebook’s petty, dramatic manoeuvre: “if the way we share news on the site is such a problem then fine, no more news for you”. After all the fuss, the Australian government agreed to amend the Media Bargaining legislation - evidently with terms more agreeable to Facebook, meaning news has been restored to Facebook down under. 

One of the key responses I saw expressed in relation to Facebook’s initial news eradication was concern that disinformation would be able to spread more easily on the site - and that people wouldn’t be able to rebut disinformation with factual news articles.

So far as I can tell, the proliferation of disinformation online wouldn’t matter if people didn’t believe it. And most especially, if people didn’t want to believe it. After all, the web is full of persuasive writing and people who want to convince you of things - for whatever reason, conspiracy theories just seem to be very alluring. So rather than trying to protect people from their own stupidity by hiding disinformation... maybe we could look at why people are so credulous in the first place. Deep state? Jet fuel can’t melt steel beams? CIA Contra cocaine trafficking? The great replacement? Pizzagate? 

I’m going to class conspiracy theorists into three categories of my own making:

I believe: well meaning, uninformed people who have been fooled or duped. The fraudulent 1998 Lancet paper by Andrew Wakefield which started the vaccines cause autism conspiracy was actually written to support a class action lawsuit. Wakefield knew the results in his paper were not true: in addition to his conflicts of interest, he had falsified data. The paper was eventually debunked and retracted but the conspiracy had its roots and has continued to grow. I think a lot of the people who believe that vaccines are dangerous are parents who are just worried about their kids - and also want to protect other kids from a threat they believe to be real. Why is one debunked article more persuasive to people than a million proving the efficacy of vaccines? It is literally beyond reason.

It suits me to believe: people motivated by self-interest who adopt a conspiracy theory to support their larger world view. Their self-interest could be anything from their own ego to gun rights. The conspiracies around the Sandy Hook Primary School shooting are interesting because you can see a clear motivation for people to subscribe to that theory rather than the truth. If you’re a keen gun-owner, arguining that the shooting was a hoax to generate anti-gun sentiment and thereby allow the Democrats to pass harsher gun restrictions is neat and comforting. No one could argue that the events of Sandy Hook weren’t inhumanly terrible  - so the only option is to argue that they didn’t happen at all. Plus, in this worldview, no kids are getting hurt so you can sleep easy knowing you have seven semi-automatic weapons in the house.

I need to believe: the world is disorganised, scary, unknowable. Ocean deep, sky vast, dark impenetrable - and meanwhile our skin is so thin and delicate. So. Wouldn’t it be comforting to think that there’s a race of reptilian overlords that control the planet by whipping their tails against a complicated system of levers and pullies? That would explain a lot of the chaos in our world. Or maybe the problem is an elite coterie of Satan-worshipping cannibalistic pedophiles? If only we could defeat those accursed pedophiles then life would be peaceful. Luckily, Q and a septuagenarian reality TV host are here to save us. 

Across these categories, there are two unifying features: 

Rejection of widely accepted truth 

Investment in the conspiracy

As a comparison with the conspiracists above, here’s my take on a conspiracy: I think it’s quite probable that Epstein didn’t kill himself. I think that some powerful, shadowy entity took him out to protect itself. But I’m not obsessed by this idea. It would not surprise or upset me if this was officially confirmed - similarly crazy shit happens all the time. I haven’t devoted my life to revealing this truth. I guess I fit into the “I Believe” category: all official information says that Epstein took his own life but my scepticism of the unusual circumstances around his death and Epstein’s powerful connections leads me to doubt the official information. The difference is I don’t do anything about it. I don’t really care if I’m right or not - I’m not that invested in the conspiracy.

And that’s why it seems ludicrous to me that Facebook should be tasked with combatting the conspiracy theories spiralling across our culture. Simply being exposed to bad information does not radicalise you, does not conjure an investment in the conspiracy. If a normal person reads something creatively wrong or misleading they discard it from their mind. If it hits a chord with them, they may adopt that opinion themselves - see: astrology, Armie Hammer as cannibal, tarot cards, essential oils as serious medical treatment, etc. But the evolution from agreeing with a thought to militaristically insisting that the rest of society also agree with it is an abnormal progression. That strange impulse runs deeper in people than their Facebook timeline.

Most people have fears for the planet or believe there are major issues plaguing humanity - and we never do anything about it because it would be mildly inconvenient or because it’s too hard to care about every issue under late capitalism: 

"But sorting my recycling is boring”

“Yeah yeah fast fashion is problematic but H&M is just so affordable" 

"Of course I hate R.Kelly! But ‘Ignition (Remix)’ is my jam” 

“At least they have suicide nets in the Foxconn factories now”

“I only buy free range chicken thighs because I care about animal welfare”

“I retweeted that thing about anti-Black racism. Yay racism solved!”

There are probably lots of people who believe in conspiracy theories but are ultimately apathetic about doing anything: they can’t be bothered talking about vaccines and politics all the time, can’t be bothered going to a protest, can’t summon the interest to care much. So what’s interesting then is that across the three categories of conspiracy theory belief (I believe > It suits me to believe > I need to believe), what a person believes in, and perhaps even the reason for the belief, doesn’t create any impetus to enact real world change. On both the left and the right, the impulse to do something about an issue is rare. Do you think conspiracy theorists, like the left, have a problem with performative activism? 

Imagine that you agree that Sandy Hook was a false flag, that ‘they’ hired crisis actors to publicly grieve as if their pretend children had been murdered... do you then get in your car and drive overnight to Sandy Hook and start harassing those crisis actors at the pretend funerals? What do you call someone like that? The hero of their own story.

Just wait!

In their worldview, QAnon are unironically trying to save us from pedophile cannibals. Given what conspiracists believe to be true, they are acting in good faith and doing the right thing. If you believed this shit, you’d be upset too. The fact that they’re doing something about it is kind of admirable: they don’t want our babies to get autism from the measles vaccine, they don’t want a deep state to manipulate our democratic governments. It’s existential for all of us - we just don’t agree on the threat. 

Can you imagine how electric the riot at the Capitol Building must have felt for the people who led it. Brave, romantic, a grand gesture: it was like their Storming of Tuileries. Remember this day forever! 

Modern conspiracists are actually similar to the sans-culottes in terms of being avid consumers of propaganda and inflammatory reporting. Disinformation and stirring rhetoric are not new - but shouldn’t people today be less clueless than 18th century peasants?

Why are there are so many people who believe things which are untrue? They exist on this planet with us but interpret it so differently. These questions really are existential: an ancient, echoing maw pointing to the heart of human nature. The struggle for a more perfect world, whispers about where the danger comes from at night, arguments about how to protect ourselves. 

Has there ever been a society where people didn’t have differing views on how best to shape the world? It’s the central conflict of human existence: epic, older than language - and now we want Facebook to fix it?

[shadowdragonlost-blog]

Spyro Reignited Wishes; then Skylanders Academy Predictions (Then More Game Stuff)

I decided to do something really stupid, and try and post about three different things in one post because I guess a really long read is something that nobody has complained about yet. I am sorry in advance for the nightmarish amount of text you will see, and tell me not to do this in the future if you’d prefer one thing at a time. I will probably avoid doing this again in the future. I am sorry in advance, and I tried to mark the transitions from one topic to another heavily so you could just skip to what you want.

1. ———-With the Reignited Trilogy coming closer to being just around the corner; everyone who isn’t an original series Nazi — an original series fan that believes that just porting the original series to the PS4 is the only thing that can be done with this series that isn’t punishable by murder — is really exited to get their hands on the Spyro that predates all other Spyros. With that exitement however, many people have come to hope for and even beg Toys for Bob for any reveals on any of the new features they could’ve added, and hope that the Reignited Trilogy is getting all of the love that the N’Sane, and from what we’ve seen so far; from being in development for over two years longer than the N’Sane Trilogy because it was actually being developed at the same time if not early than the N’Sane Trilogy started to having revamped cutscenes and a reactive development team that gives what the fans ask for through hard work, the Reignited Trilogy seems to be receiving more love than the N’Sane Trilogy.

This love that is being given to the Original Spyro has given many of us a list of things that we may have come to hope for or expect (or hate the idea of if you are an Original Spyro Nazi). My list of wishes are as follows:

•Playable Cynder and/or Ember: First thing, because Crash had an extra playable character added for after the game was beaten, this is then followed by the Original Series having had done this before in later installments, and is made more likely through being probably THE MOST REQUESTED THING OF THE REIGNITED TRILOGY BY FANS OF THE LEGEND SERIES. So yeah, may actually be a thing.

•The addition of deleted content: Crash obtained his stormy ascent, and Spyro likely had many worlds that were removed due to either difficulty or time constraints, and as much as all files on the original series were lost by Insomniac, it’s original developers could definitely tell them about deleted content and abandoned ideas.

•A Crash Easter Egg?: Spyro and Crash were best friends after all, so having him show up in an Easter Egg or level could be pretty fun.

•Keeping the Adaptive Difficulty Algorithms: This one is more so one of my hopes for this Trilogy. The Original Spyro Trilogy was technologically ahead of its time in way more ways than one (outside of being two years late to the 3D Platforminng Genre), one of these wonders of technology that this game boasted was how its enemy AI would actually adapt to how good you were at the game, making it absolutely brutal for the pros of the series, and extremely easy for those who struggled with it more often, so every player would actually witness different levels of difficulty for each boss and enemy.

Even though Crash Bandicoot is difficult to start with and understand the full extent of its physics, all of its characters and bosses followed set paths, and for someone who is experienced at playig Crash Bandicoot, and has memorized the boss-paths; it is actually really easy to do a zero-deaths run of any level, boss, or even the entire game after having had played it before. Each of the Original Trilogy Spyro games would actually become more difficult the better you bacame at the game; requiring a more in-depth knowledge of characters and levels by a long-shot if you plan on beating the game without a single death, each of the enemies starting to react within periods of time that aren’t possible for some random player to just pick up and play against. So as much as people talk about how hard Crash is for them, they’re forgetting that the original Spyro trilogy was only easy for them because they sadly (and bluntly) weren’t probably that exceptional at playing it, and also probably because it does begin at an average difficulty level that was designed for anyone to just be able to play; so a lot of people probably didn’t have the difficulty raise too much for them. But yeah; I want the Reignited trilogy to show off one of its technological marvels that people today probably wouldn’t even try to develop or implement in the greatest of AAA games.

<TRANSITION>

2. —————As one of the many people who enjoyed Skylanders Academy, and really payed way too much to the lore of it and similarities it showed to the stories of other Spyros, I have a few predictions for season three that I can pretty much guarantee and would maybe even be willing to bet money on with the confidence and evidence that I have for these. With the Third season being released a month after the Reignited Trilogy, the fall of 2018 will be the season of Spyro. But keep in mind that I have avoided leaks, so any of this could’ve been leaked or disproven without my knowledge.

•A Bloodlines Episode: As much as that episode will not be called Bloodlines, their will most-definitely be an episode where Malefor and Cynder will be having some father daughter time (in the middle of Cynder being pissed); while Eon reveals the truth about Spyro and his history to the rest of the Skylanders; all while Kaos tries to have some father-son moments with Strykore. This episode will entail why Malefor hates purple dragons so much, and him telling that story to Cynder (which will 100% reveal that Cynder’s mother was a purple dragon; who probably died protecting the core of light from all of the dark-form purple dragons, or became corrupted as well. I can guarantee this because of Cynder’s color, her retaining her dark purple scales even though Malefor never corrupted her with Aether in this series, he’s just a black dragon who cares deeply for his biological daughter; so with him being black; Cynder’s mother would have to be purple. So that is definitely a reveal to look for). Though this reveal of Cynder’s mother will likely then be followed-up by a Dark Spyro visit (just because individual episodes tend to have themes that they stick to, and Spyro is convinced that Malefor knows how to find his family, and will definitely show back up to find out).

Stealth Elf and the other Skylanders will probably end the episode determined to find a way to either bring the purple dragons back so they could save Spyro (knowing how he’ll be looking for them), or they will either abandon Eon and his cause for having had lied, or forgive him and prepare to fight Strykore and Kaos to the bitter end. This may also include Eon revealing his relations to Kaos, but if so then this episode may be the forst or second one of season three.

Kaos will likely fail in trying to have his father spend time with him, and will hold that deep in his heart to be triggered later; pushing him to turn against his father when it is needed of him most; either making him worse than his father was, or and antagonistically-neutral character at the end of season three (which may be the last season)

•Saving Spyro: This one is the more complicated part of predicting season three, and that is because there are several ways in which it could play-out; each with similar or different saviors.

Cynder saves Spyro: The case behind Cynder being the one who saves Spyro can be seen heavily from all of the similarities that their relationship in Skylanders Academy has compared to the relationship that The Legend Trilogy Spyro and Cynder have with each other. But there is a twist in that, in every similarity in this relationship, the roles have been reversed between them. So Spyro’s because you have left me nothing to fight for scene can become Cynder’s; since he was the only thing that really gave her reason to be a Skylander. There is also the fact that she is likely a half-breed purple dragon, meaning that she would actually have light to give/bring to him in his darkness. Making her the most-ideal character to save him if the stick to their legend series references and self-established lore of how light works in their own series. Their is only one other character who could fit this role as well as Cynder could, and that is before considering how Cynder is the only character who has lived on both the sides of bad and good, and she learned and accepted how she could be a Skylander in spite of being groomed to be evil. She of all characters knows that anyone could be saved, and if they really want to sell the reflections of the Legend Series; they would have her stop at nothing to save him, this may force her to face both the Skylanders and Strykore though. Hell; she may even join with Kaos for a time just to try and get close enough to be able to reach Spyro.

Cynder saves Spyro when he visits Malefor: So dark Spyro will eventually visit Malefor in season three if not the other way around. Cynder will be in Malefor’s custody when that happens; meaning that she will definitely play a large role in the endgame. So how this will go will be; Spyro likely gets violent, one way or another it becomes a duel between him and Cynder in which she either loses or refuses to fight, does either the inversion of the Legend series Dark Cynder Spyro fight from DotD, or she uses her light to purify him knowing that she’s a half purple dragon now, or a mixture of both. This will either leave Cynder in a weakened or ill state forcing Spyro to apologize and find some way to bring her to the core of light, or she’ll be fine and the story will continue.

Cynder saves Spyro when he his fighting at the core of light: Similar to the last one, just theyre all at the core of light and Spyro and Cynder end up alone in the battle one way or another, repeat all thr stuff from the last one and bam, Spyro is himself again.

Cynder and Stealth Elf save Spyro at the core of light battle: Since Stealth Elf is Spyro’s best friend in this series, just pair up her value of Spyro and desperation to likely save him with the stuff from earlier revolvin Cynder and you’ll have a saved Spyro with two of the most important if not the two current most important people to him there by his side for him to apologize to and finish the final battle.

Stealth Elf saves Spyro: Stealth Elf is Spyro’s closest friend, so with that being a main theme; Stealth Elf alone is a candidate to save him, not as ideal as Cynder and Eon, but she can. She might use water from the core of light, but otherwise the power of friendship is all I can really say.

Stealth Elf at the core of light: Just read the one before, and You’ll know why this is the only location that Stealth Elf alone will be able to save Spyro, because the core of light is the only place where she can restore his light, her not being one of the three beings that just has pure light within them.

Spyro’s Skylander team saves him: Because of the themes of family within this show, the team that traveled with Spyro throughout Skylanders Academy is really the most expectable group for the show to use for anyone who doesn’t Overdose on researching and studying the lore of series like I do. They are a great candidate provided Skylanders Academy wants to just plot-armor the word “family�� over all of the lore and character forshadowing that the developers did throughout the first and second seasons. It will still fit the themes of Skylanders Academy though.

Spyro’s Skylander team saves him at the core of light: This is the only area where the team detailed earlier could save Spyro in a lore-friendly way without the help of Cynder or Eon.

Eon saves Spyro: A lot like why Cynder will probably save Spyro, Spyro’s internal struggles are 100% Eon’s responsibility, and he is one of the three characters that we have seen who is a being that contains pure light (Spyro, Cynder from her mom, and Eon); so he would be a great light-giving candidate, but there would be a price to that. Master Eon (as we saw in season one) cannot expose himself to darkness on a great scale, and cannot expend his light without falling deathly ill. So if we wanted an Ignitus in Skylanders Academy who wanted to do right by Spyro even if just once, Eon would likely sacrifice himself to restore Spyro.

Eon is killed: This doesn’t need an explanation, Eon either dies from sacrificing himself, or he is killed by Strykore or Spyro.

What I believe will happen: Knowing the themes of family and friendship; while also keeping all of the Legend Series themes and concepts that are apparent and repeating in Skylanders Academy. Spyro’s team will likely try to save him, but will either fail or give up thinking that he may be too far gone. So they will likely start to relentfully view him as an enemy. Then will come the involvement of either Cynder or Eon to save him; I can almost guarantee Cynder will be the one to save him, because Eon likely shouldn’t die, and also because Cynder is the only character in the series outside of Spyro who has walked on both the dark and the light, and possesses a very unique knowledge of how one can choose to be evil, and can be saved from that, so she will likely either give him her light (some or all, either could happen), after having to either face him with the Skylanders, or face the Skylanders to be able to get him to open up to her enough in his dark form. But yeah; she’ll definitely be saving him; I want to go out on a limb and say that she’ll have to abandon her father and the Skylanders in the process; while also facing Kaos. Of course this series may not go that far, but I’m going to say that will happen, because that will enable Spyro and Cynder to save all of Skylands with Stealth Elf and the rest of the team helping as needed if they aren’t incapacitated, but it will also reflect a very specific condition that I will explain right below this.

•A large part of Skylanders Academy was how it had its own twist on the Legend of the Purple Dragon, in the Legend Series, Malefor and Spyro were Eternal (meaning cannot die at all), and in Skylanders Academy spyro had invulnerable scales, and both Spyros are said to have many more powers. But there is one confirmed power of the Legend Series Spyro that is known by fans as Convexity, and by the game files as Aether. It is one of the many powers that Spyro possesses in the Legend series that makes him as rediculously powerful as he was at the age of fourteen in Dawn of the Dragon (that and being unable to die), but his Aether powers had one twist to them; they were able to be accessed through a balance between dark and light; his dark form being a result of losing himself to the darkness of his heart and emotions and being overcome by dark Aether (along with his critically untreated depression that he only had a hold over with Cynder), but there was no real side-effect of being overcome by light and light-related emotions, unless if love overcoming him with light is what roided his heart into repairing the planet. It was also this power that he used to purify Cynder and restore her at the end of A New Beginning. Meaning that Cynder in Skylanders Academy could maybe even unlock this power; if not use it to save Spyro.

If Skylanders Academy was to use a twist on that power to defeat Strykore, then they would be bringing a lot of their lore full-circle, most of Spyro’s lore in Skylanders Academy being a modified version of the Legend Series Spyro’s lore after all, but the only question is; what would they change about Spyro’s Convexity/Aether powers before revealing them in Skylanders Academy? Cause if they kept them how they are now; then Spyro himself would never be able to use them outside of a few set circumstances; with Aether powers requiring a balance between darkness and light where Spyro is always either a being of 100% pure light or 100% darkness he would never be able to use them unless if he was able to becoming a being of both dark and light. Though with Aether being the one superpower that by its own nature should be able to accomplish anything; it will likely be required to save the Skylands. But there is one gem of a character who fits the requirements for Aether as they were in the Legend Series, and that gem is Cynder; with her mom being a Purple Dragon and her father being the ruler of the underworld; she would be a being of perfect balance between darkness and light by birth and nature. That would make her the perfect candidate to save the Skylands or even Spyro with her Aether powers. She could even try to restore Spyro with her light, which would then place either both of them at 75% dark 25% light, or she will abandon all of her light to save him; leaving Spyro at the perfect balance needed to save the Skylands, but then he would have to clutch a Cynder as she either falls to darkness, or fights desperately to remain herself; then Eon could show up and sacrifice his light to both restore Cynder to her perfect balance and bring Spyro back to 100% percent, or he could leave spyro and cynder at perfect balances and stay at a 50% light 50% neutral state, and then the series will likely end with Spyro either rejoining the Skylanders with Cynder, bringing Cynder with him to save the purple dragons if not going alone, or leave the Skylanders and become a guardian figure of perfect balance between darkness and light either along or with Cynder who shares the same description. Who knows; I’m just babbling on about what’s possible with the lore of the series.

<TRANSITION>

3. ——————GAME STUFF: I said I would like input on game names and stuff, so here I am asking. The game that you’ve all been seeing some random map sketches from is the second game on my development list, but it hasn’t been named yet. The inspiration for the games initial idea was actually my frustration with the pokemon series... I was frustrated with all of the limits that the game series placed on everything, from levels to training to even relationship development; so I started to create a Bestiary that had creature stats and growths plotted out heavily, and I have been trying to design personality types and creature interaction concepts. With creatures ranging from single-stage to five-stage creatures with each one being able to train their stats infinitely in their final stage. I wanted all of the evolutions to be locked-out be relationship level requirements at certain stages, and I wanted there to be main character creatures that would be with you throughout the entire game. So I started designing a creature game that will do all of that. I’ve gotten most of the story concepts down and rough story guidelines for individual characters and main-character creatures, but the back-of-game-case-summary will be a little like this: “Join Xavier on his journey through an alternate world with his otherworldy dragonling Fry as he befriends creatures, slays fiends, and tries to discover his purpose in discovering Fry and traveling to Alterium” or something like that. But yeah, it will feature befriending characters and creatures (no capturing); Xavier and all of the player-characters will actually participate in combat with their creatures; even though they will be significantly weaker than their creatures, and you all should expect concept art for this once I’m confident enough to start posting it. So please send me any name ideas that you come up with for this game, and I will ask for approval on any that I may come up with.

All of you have a wonderful night, and tell me what you think about any or everything I may have said here. You should even feel free to comment as you see fit.

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/social-concerns/silence-of-the-demagogues2/

Silence Of The Demagogues

I admit it.  The older I get the more stupid I become.  It has nothing to do with an aging brain and everything to do with having experienced enough to know life is complex.  Designed to interlock right down to the mud of matter, the quantum level, if one part of the universe shivers, then, in a galaxy far, far away, another shivers, also.   Given the fluidity of the universe, let there be no demagogues with fingers pointed to the sky claiming absolute truth.   In this life, there are no simple answers.  Take the human one of making our internet secure.  Facebook, set on its heels by the Cambridge Analytical scandal, (Click)  is attempting to do its part.  It plans to double to 20,000 the number of security personnel it will hire to monitor the website looking for scammers, bogus news reports and inappropriate behavior. Good luck with that.  Facebook has  2.2 billion users and in the short time its plan has been in effect, it has discovered “21 million examples of ‘adult nudity and sexual violation,’ 3.4 million of graphic violence,  2.5 million of hate speech and 1.9 million of terrorist propaganda related to ISIS, al Qaeda or their affiliates.” (“Facebook’s Fix-It Team, by Michal Lev-Ram, Fortune, June 1, 2018, p. 106)  And that’s the tip of the iceberg. But let us suppose Facebook could accomplish its objective.  Would we want it to do so? Do we desire to have all our news feed comments read? Including quips to our friends?  Personal messages?  How secure must we be before we mourn the loss of our privacy?  Our freedom of speech?  And who shall decide what’s acceptable or offensive speech?  Should it be Mark Zuckerberg and his like, dorm room and garage lodged programmers?  Are they whom we chose as arbiters of human behavior?   No doubt Zuckerberg squirms under the burden his algorithms have thrust upon him. For a start, with 20,000 new monitors at work, how are we to believe him when he says, “We take user privacy very seriously and build our systems with privacy in mind.” (Ibid pg. 108)    The company is at cross-purpose with itself.  Surely, Zuckerberg realizes this.  But consider the additional thorny problem.  Are we prepared for an algorithm to set standards – to say a person who has committed one murder may use Facebook, but more than one murder is a tad too much? (Ibid pg. 109.) Surely it’s easy to see that when a person sets about to fix one conundrum, another is likely to appear, one that may be greater than the first.  I don’t say we should be to do nothing. But life is a dance, not a landing pad.  Demagogues of any stripe, with their intractable ideologies, should kindly shut up.  We need broader tolerances, not narrower ones. We need greater humility in our tasks. And we sure as hell need to show compassion for one another as we struggle to make sense of what it means to be alive. (Originally published 6/22/18)  

[julieslake001-blog]

Spring Cleaning? Take These 10 Simple Steps to Dust off Your Finances

Now that the weather is warming up, it's time for spring cleaning! Open your windows, breathe the fresh air and go to town.

Ready? Dust your bookshelves, vacuum your carpets, clean your closets, wipe your countertops, wash your windows and throw out your old magazines. C'mon, it'll feel great. Steel yourself and wipe the inside of that filthy microwave.

If you're really committed, maybe you'll scrub the mildew out of your shower and dust the blades of your ceiling fans. But hey, let's not get carried away.

You know what else needs straightening up? Your finances.

Painless Ways to Spring Clean Your Finances

Because you're already in spring-cleaning mode, what better time to tidy up your bank account? Spring has sprung, so here are 10 quick and (mostly) easy ways to spruce up your bottom line.

1. Check Your Credit

Did you know you could have an error hiding in your credit report? It happens all the time, and it could hurt your credit score.

Take a few minutes to check your score on a free website like Credit Sesame. It'll show you a credit report card and offer personalized recommendations to improve your score.

And with all these big security breaches in the news these days (Hi, Equifax!), you could be vulnerable to identity theft. Credit Sesame will monitor your credit and send you an alert if someone tries to apply for credit in your name.

2. Use It or Lose It

Many rewards, such as credit card points and frequent flyer miles, have expiration dates. Go through your various customer loyalty programs and tally up your rewards. Make sure to use them before they vanish in a puff of smoke. Poof!

Don't have a rewards credit card? Get one.

Here's an option we like: It's the Chase Freedom Unlimited card. Its claim to fame? You'll earn an unlimited 1.5% cash back on all your purchases. Plus, if you spend $500 in your first three months of opening the card (hi, groceries), you'll pocket a $150 bonus.

There's no annual fee, and the cash-back rewards don't expire. We checked Credible's annual rewards calculator, and it estimates $417 in annual rewards based on our spending habits.* (You can enter your unique spending habits and see what you'd earn, too.)

Get signed up - and 0% intro APR for 15 months - here.

3. Invest for the Future

If you're not investing yet, you're missing out on a smart way to make money. It used to feel restricted to a few wealthy elites, but not anymore! You, too, can join the investor class. These apps offer easy ways to get started:

Acorns: Here's a super easy way to save and invest your money. This smartphone app connects to your bank account, credit and/or debit cards to save your digital change. It can automatically round up your purchases to the nearest dollar and invest the difference into ETFs.

Fundrise: Want to try real-estate investing without playing landlord? Through the Fundrise Starter Portfolio, your money will be split into two portfolios that buy private real estate all over the U.S. You can get started with a minimum investment of just $500.

Stash: Another micro-investing app. This app lets you start investing with as little as $5. It lets you choose where to put your money - but it leaves the complicated investment terms out of it. Plus, you'll get a bonus $5 to get started!

4. Start an Emergency Fund

Stop looking through your couch cushions for change when you're short on money. Instead, start an emergency fund with Digit.

This innovative app saves your money without you lifting a finger. Just link it to your checking account, and its algorithms will determine small (and safe!) amounts of money to withdraw into a separate, FDIC-insured savings account.

It's free to use for the first 100 days, then it's $2.99 per month afterward. Using this set-it-and-forget-it strategy, one Penny Hoarder saved $4,300 without noticing - read his Digit review.

5. Review Your Retirement Savings

Take a look at your 401(k) account. Do you have the right mix of stocks and bonds for your age?

Adjust your assets if they've gotten out of whack. And if you aren't maxing out your 401(k) plan, now could be a good time to bump up your contributions by at least 1%.

Blooom, an SEC-registered investment advisory firm, will optimize and monitor your 401(k) for you.

It gives you an initial 401(k) checkup for free, and you'll get to know your account a little more intimately. Find out if you're paying too many hidden fees, have the appropriate amount invested in stocks versus bonds, that kind of fun stuff.

After that, the tool is $10 a month to use to continue to monitor your retirement account. Let Blooom know your target retirement age, and it can help you get there by investing more and less aggressively.

If you don't have access to a 401(k) plan, open an IRA and set up an automatic transfer every payday - or stick your tax refund in there.

6. Throw Old Paperwork Away

I mean, we're still spring cleaning, here. Besides getting rid of old magazines, newspapers and junk, this is a good time to toss out paperwork you don't need anymore.

We're talking about old receipts, bank statements, used checks and utility bills. And don't forget instruction manuals for appliances and gizmos you no longer own.

What to keep? Tax forms. The IRS recommends that you keep tax records for at least three  years. Me, I never throw that stuff away.

7. Stop Paying Too Much for Insurance

Shop around to see if you're getting the best rates on home and auto coverage - especially if you haven't done it in a while. You might be surprised by what you find. Here are some good places to start:

The Zebra: This online car insurance search engine compares your options from 200 providers in less than 60 seconds. When you're ready to consider your options and select a quote, you can also get a phone call from The Zebra for additional support.

PolicyGenius: This online platform is an easy way to compare and buy life insurance policies. Instant quotes from top insurers can help you make a quick decision.

Lemonade: Through this online insurance company, homeowners insurance starts at $25 a month and renters policies start at $5 a month. Instead of profiting extra when it doesn't pay out claims, the company keeps 20% of your premium while 80% goes into a pool for paying claims and for charity. It's available in California, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Texas.

8. Arm Yourself to Make Smarter Financial Decisions

Adulting is hard. Making good financial decisions is hard. It doesn't come naturally to many of us.

Get some high-tech help.

Trim is a bot that basically serves as your free financial advisor. It does everything from monitoring your spending habits to negotiating your internet and cable bills down. It allows you to set custom reminders to let you know when it's payday or when a payment is due.

MoneyLion is an all-in-one app for managing your personal finances. It connects with all of your bank, credit card, student loan and other financial accounts. Based on your income and spending patterns, it offers personalized advice to help you save money, reduce your debt and improve your credit.

9. Refinance Those Accursed Student Loans

Why not tidy up your student loan situation while you're at it?

Studies show that 8 million Americans could get a lower interest rate on their student loans by refinancing, and most might not even know it.

Through consolidation, you'd replace all of your loans with a single new loan from a private lender and have just one monthly payment.

Check out Even Financial, which searches top online lenders to match you with a personalized loan offer. It can help you borrow up to $100,000 (no collateral needed) with rates starting at 4.99% and terms from 24 to 84 months.

10. Make an Insurance Inventory

If you have homeowners or renters insurance, you should make an inventory of your most valuable possessions. Since you're already cleaning out the house, it's a good time to do this.

Sound complicated? Keep it simple. Use your phone to snap photos of everything that you'd make an insurance claim for if it got damaged or stolen.

Or just walk through your home and shoot video. (“Look at mah stuff!”) Point out your possessions and talk up their value. You might feel stupid - I did - but if the worst ever happens, you'll be so glad you did this.

Spring Has Sprung

Well, that's it for spring cleaning for today. We'll leave you with a quote from Martha Stewart: “There are few rites of spring more satisfying than the annual clean.” Doesn't that just sound like Martha Stewart?

Let us know when you're finished dusting the blades of those ceiling fans.

*Annual Rewards amounts will change based on the amounts you enter. The monthly spending category names and definitions may vary among issuers, and categories may not align one-to-one.

The information for the Chase Freedom Unlimited card has been collected independently by The Penny Hoarder. Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. The Penny Hoarder is a partner of Credible.

Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder. He hates cleaning, but he loves it when it's finished.

This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.

[gelodelacruz]

Swipe Right

I have been using tinder for quite some time now and it still baffles me how this algorithm fishes out “your one true love”; that is, if you both decide to swipe right (oh yay, it is a fucking match). The real deal happens when you start talking or in some cases wait for the other person to say “Hi” back which normally takes a few days, abnormally, maybe NEVER. I get excited when I get matched but things go down the drain quickly when the small talks don’t flourish to anything close to “let’s get coffee on Friday” or “Netflix and Chill?”. You see, just like the simple essence of falling in love, things start with a good conversation, a hearty laugh here and there, and the intangible chemistry between you and your match - without those, your match must have been by accident ( profiles saying that “when I super like you, that’s just my hand accidentally swiping up, not me” like SRSLY? ) and will probably be just another addition to your growing “oh yay I matched with these scumbags but most of them are too busy to even hollah back” list.  Frustrating, I know.  Recently, I got matched with someone who’s exactly my type - Creative, into Ukuleles and super funny. We talked a lot and seemed to have that “intangible chemistry”. We even added each other on facebook because ( I’M TALKING TO YOU TINDER PEOPLE) Tinder will not budge when you’re not using WIFI. How convenient. UGH. 

We ended up picking facebook messenger as our new platform of choice; catch-ups, messaging defaults, and quirky conversations were made and then this: Tinder match: “Hey, I saw this photo of you and your friends” Me: Oh really, where? HAHAHA (I always put a lot of HAHAs and LOLs, IDK why) Tinder match: “Here. The guy in glasses look cute. Hehe” [ For visual reference, here’s the photo ] 

Me: “But there are 2 of us wearing glasses -_- (At this point, I thought ako na ang nanalo). I hope you’re referring to me  (EXPECTATIONS LEAD TO DISAPPOINTMENTS GIAN, REMEMBER THAT)” Tinder match: “Peace sign + Giddy emoji” THAT ASS. And my tinder match wasn’t even hiding it that the focus shifted from me ( yeah, le tinder match was checking out me profile ) to my very good friend. At some point, my friend’s name pops out in our conversations and ze tinder match makes it sound like a joke just so maybe I won’t feel bad. I’ll be honest here, since this is my personal page - my initial reaction was “ARE YOU SERIOUSLY CHECKING OUT MY PROFILE TO DIG UP OTHER BOYS?” But the patient, very calm me (Thanks, Yoga classes) stayed cool and chill about it. But really, if anyone is reading this, WHO DOES THAT???? For a brief time, my hopes were high; that in this cluttered TINDER app I would encounter someone who seems so perfect, well at least, seemed like a perfect fit for me. The initial excitement of getting to know someone new was overwhelming - and I guess I choked a little. Same old GIAN, trying to think of a flowery, romantic future with a Tinder match he just started talking to. HAY, DI NA AKO NATUTO - na all things in haste turn to waste (GDC, 2017 HAHA). After that I started having little doubts about my batting average; hindi naman ako bakekong pangit (super ugly) but I’m not super hunk material either. Sabi pa niya, “your creativity got me”, LUH, nag emanate sa screen? lumabas sa phone yung creativity ko? SMH That’s the catch with swiping right, it comes with a risk, a limited-time offer, and sometimes, a full bag of disappointments. Sometimes, the people you thought were goddamn fine were just masked by fancy and complicated algorithms that’ll be too bad para iswipe left mo sila. Looking back at it, I still find it funny but digging deeper, I still kinda hate myself for thinking, moving, and investing emotions way too fast - I need to enroll myself in an advanced tempering your emotions class. sigh. 

I’m still talking to that Tinder match (How stupid can I get, right? HAYYYY) but moving forward, no expectations will be set. Go lang ako sa flow mga bes. PERO YUNG TOTOO tinder match, from a scale of zero to a dog spotting a squirrel, gaano ka ka-distracted? EYES ON ME, BITCH. hahahaha  Me to Tinder match: “Mention my friend’s name one more time…” LOL