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gayregis · 5 years ago

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Hey! I love your opinions on the books :) I’m having trouble grasping some of the characterization of the book characters, so maybe you’d understand better xD. What would you say the main characters’ flaws are?

omg i love this... ok for context these “flaws” do not necessarily equate to “qualities that are bad to have, make them bad people, and need to be fixed” but rather “qualities that are their character flaws in the narrative and contribute to the story”:

main characters, like the main 4 characters:

geralt: geralt is defined by insecurity, self-doubt, and self-loathing which stems from him being abandoned by his biological mother when he was a child and becoming a witcher, which is a reviled profession and caste and makes others shun him and dislike his company. he is also affected by being a witcher because he is morally opposed to killing, but his job is to kill, so he carries a lot of inner guilt and more self-loathing from this. this cocktail of nsecurity manifests mostly in him leaving people who care about him a lot and need his presence, and also in him shunning the company of others who want and need to be with him (leaving and shunning are different in my opinion... in leaving, he’s already been with them for some time, in shunning, they are trying to join him). examples of this are things like leaving yennefer in a shard of ice, leaving ciri in the sword of destiny, and not wanting to accept dandelion, milva, regis, and cahir’s company in baptism of fire. he basically thinks that he can only bring misfortune and death to others, so by being around them, he puts them in danger... he’s self-isolating...

yennefer: yennefer is also defined by insecurity, but to her, she herself isn’t the source of peril - others are. because she suffered such horrible child abuse and really had no one to sincerely trust and form extremely close relationships with as she aged (sorcerers and sorceresses are infamous for their cattiness ... as we see with someone like sabrina, i feel like her life on thanedd island was more like a bad high school experience rather than a good one. thus, yennefer is hesitant to truly let people into her life, because she doesn’t want to be hurt. she has “a heart of ice” - of course, not really - it can be “melted,” so to speak, but she’s “frozen” it to protect herself. she as a sorceress also experiences some antagonization (and she can’t even often find comradery in her colleagues unlike geralt who can go back to his brothers at kaer morhen), so she’s kind of stuck. i would say both geralt and yennefer also suffer from a little immaturity, especially regarding their relationship, because they’ve just simply never really had a relationship like theirs before and so it’s difficult to understand how to make it work past the honeymoon stage.

dandelion: dandelion’s flaws are that he has no flaws ... or so that he’d like to think. it’s important to separate character flaws from generally looked down upon qualities when it comes to dandelion. he’s filled with qualities that are less than desirable in a person, but are comical to the reader: he’s a glutton, he’s lecherous, he’s arrogant, he’s liable to spend all of his money on beers and new clothes than paying rent (if he had... a place he rented). as geralt says in a little sacrifice, he’s a whoreson, a cynic, a lecher, and a liar. a more neutral way to summarize dandelion is that he seeks to maximize pleasure and minimize pain, he’s a hedonist. which isn’t of course necessarily a bad thing. earthly pleasures, those of food, alcohol, sex, dancing, entertainment, music, art, literature... it’s extremely human. and to avoid violence, killing, and death is only smart when you’re not skilled in those aspects. so, his love of pleasure is not really a flaw... more of just a neutral trait. his arrogance and raptness to make fun is one main character flaw, in the sense that he’s liable to go too far when he makes jokes. he gets into trouble mainly by teasing people so much until they get aggressive and want to strangle the life out of him. he gets torque to attack him and geralt in the edge of the world for precisely this reason, and he gets the foresters in four pines before a little sacrifice to attack him and geralt for this reason, too. this is classed as arrogance because he’s so self-absorbed that he doesn’t recognize the other person fantasizing about cutting his head off. he’s impulsive as well, which gets him into trouble with things like opening the amphora of the djinn. his other character flaw is flightiness, noncommitaliality, the inability to stay grounded or loyal. he develops over the course of the series in regards to this, as every main character does in regard to their character flaws. but the other way he gets into trouble is by cheating on his partners, cucking the partners of his partners, not upholding promises (not paying bills) ... he really just does what he wants and what he wants seems to change every day (asides from singing and writing poetry). this flaw gets him into trouble with mainly the women he cheats on or the men angered by him cucking them... as with vespula in eternal flame, and the duke and duchess of toussaint...

ciri: ciri has a few character flaws which develop with her over time. the first character flaw for ciri is arrogance. she immediately demonstrates this to geralt in the sword of destiny when she states that she is a princess and that she’ll have him beheaded... she believes that she deserves the very best and that no one could take her down, and this comes into play later when she joins the rats and bonhart starts on their trail. in her time with the rats, she actually does allude to her rank as a princess when she demands a jeweled brooch off of a girl, saying that they, as the wife and daughter of a baron, have no right to deny her what she wants. the second character flaw is vengeance, which i suppose is related to her arrogance. she becomes obsessed with getting vengeance for being abandoned by not only her parents, but her morals and virtues which she had ascribed so much to. when those leave her, she seeks illogical vengeance by cutting down innocents. then, she wants vengeance for mistle and the rats, as well as the way she was treated. this vengeance isn’t wrong, but it begins to consume her. by the end of the series, she learns how to control her thirst for vengeance and she gets her retribution.

hansa members because i like analyzing them too:

milva: milva suffers from insecurities related to her circumstance - from being a peasant woman. this mainly shows itself during her talk with geralt in baptism of fire, when she is torn up about being pregnant and tells geralt that even though he had thought different, it turns out that she’s no good for anything, “a typical bloody woman.” she has a lot of issues compiled from how she was raised and treated in her society which present themselves in insecurity, which she desperately tries to make up for through showing off her great skill. she feels like she has to compensate for being a woman and for not being educated, that she has to earn her place amongst the company or others, when it’s simply not the case sometimes in which she is loved just for being herself. milva is also quick to anger and impulsive, but these are not really flaws for her, they’re more neutral in relation to her character, they don’t really hurt her or others at all throughout the books...

regis: arrogance. i know i already said arrogance for dandelion and for ciri, but regis also has arrogance, and all of their types arrogance express themselves differently. dandelion suffers from arrogance in the way that he lacks self-awareness, that others might not love him as much as he thinks they do. ciri suffers from arrogance in that she feels the universe owes her. regis suffers from arrogance in that he thinks he’s always right. regis does demonstrate modesty and humility in the books, because of course he does, he’s been working on this same character flaw for 4 centuries, so i hope he’s improved on it somewhat. but he is still affected by the same character flaw which got him killed a century ago, which is that he believes he’s right and no one can take him down. in baptism of fire, tower of the swallow, and lady of the lake, he gives geralt some pretty stupid advice on various occassions, but he’s completely assured as to his own accuracy, so that he never actually intends to lead him astray, but just doesn’t think maybe he could be wrong. he advises geralt to pass through ygsith, which, if they did so, would have been incredibly dangerous. he advises geralt to go speak to the druids, who don’t help them at all and actually hurt them instead. and he dismisses ciri’s horse tracks on the sansretour pass, thinking that they’re unremarkable. in all of these times, he was wrong, but he never entertained that idea. his arrogance also demonstrates itself during conversation as he tends to speak like “a sage instructing small children” and interrupt people before they finish asking their questions, with the answers to their questions as well as the answers to their next questions. he’s always-omniscient. which he really isn’t, because he can’t possibly be. but he adopts the manner of acting like it, and that’s a flaw because it’s dangerous. his arrogance also leads him to impulsitivity and violence, especially when combined with when he is drunk. during the assault on castle stygga, he says that he thinks he could lay waste to the entire castle. he dies due to his arrogance - he could have chosen any other way of strategy to kill vilgefortz, but he chose to immediately rush him after swiping his face with his claws in flight. he should have bewared, but he thought he could kill him immediately because he was so assured of his powers.

cahir: cahir is an idealist and loyal to the point of detriment. he believed in imperialist doctrine for a great portion of his life, or rather was persuaded into at least following what imperialist doctrine wished for him to become, to please his family and the expectations set for him. he believes that he was doing the right thing, that he would bring honor to his family, even when he was sent to do something like kidnap a little girl. even though he thought the order was strange, he wanted the honor for his family, because he is loyal to them, more than anything. his idealism and loyalty also affect him once he joins the company. the fact that geralt told him to fuck off but he followed the company from a distance anyways, for miles, demonstrates his loyalty and his propensity to follow. he was guided by his ideals of setting things right with ciri. and he was guided by these ideals, unable to recognize the dangers surrounding him, right into stygga and towards bonhart’s blade.

angouleme: angouleme is a teenager. enough said... she is impulsive, violent... she gets the least screentime of all of the hansa so her true colors didn’t really get to show themselves as she didn’t get a lot of deep character development, but from my own ideas about her, i feel that she suffers from low self esteem due to the circumstances of her birth and is prone to distractions in the form of detriments. she agrees with the practices of crime and banditry because she was never told that she could ever aspire to anything better. she’s careless, she is quick with her knife, tongue, and powder, because she struggles to focus on the situation that is her entire life. she doesn’t want to face the hand that life has dealt her, so she makes the best of it by surviving and having fun when she can. i feel like her low self esteem affects her in that she doesn’t believe others can truly want to love and protect her, so that she is always looking out for herself and doesn’t accept goodwill for its face value.

#ask #anon #the witcher #geralt #yennefer #dandelion #ciri #milva #regis #cahir #angouleme

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zorya-wellness · 4 years ago

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Are Tarot Cards Witchcraft, Magic or Evil? Understanding How Does A Tarot Reading Work

Tarot cards seem to be surrounded by the atmosphere of mysticism and often in relation to the “dark” occult practices.

Some claim that trying to find out the future is bad luck or sinful and will certainly bring only misfortunes.

The myth that Tarot (or Runes) are the elements of Witchcraft or “dark” Magic is being shaped by the movie industry, video games and books of a particular genre.

My partner recently was playing this video game called Cyberpunk and mentioned that Tarot cards were part of his quest series. A woman that was “reading cards” in the game looked all mysterious and had those dark “witchy” vibes.

As a result of the game popularity, there is even Cyberpunk Tarot deck now available for sale which has only 22 cards and naturally, has nothing to do with Tarot.

The reason I bring this up is because when we look at the scenes where Tarot cards are used, we see evil witches that gather to perform some kind of a Satanic Ritual or curse someone and, of course, they have a Tarot cards deck, a crystal ball and Runes handy.

In this Blog post I will try to look at Tarot cards from all the different angles.

We will look at Tarot from the view of occultism, psychology and religion. Let’s break it all down.

What the Tarot Cards Really Are?

A simple explanation is that Tarot is a tool for divination. But, of course, Tarot is much more than that.

Tarot is a tool for analysis of a situation, person or action.

Tarot is a work with the subconscious layers and shadow sides, uncovering deepest desires, fears and intentions.

It doesn’t matter what you believe in, the essence of Tarot is taking the energy from a person you are reading cards for to create the best future for them.

Tarot reader is merely a guide. You can call Tarot a weak energy vampire that takes a bit of your energy to transform it into information and give you an answer.

The correct work with Tarot is based on the reader’s ability to help you choose the path that is right and best for you given all current circumstances.

Is Tarot A Form of Black Magic or Witchcraft?

What Is the Difference Between A Ritual Work Divination?

Tarot reading works by the means of receiving information from the Source through the cards and uncoding this information to a client.

It has absolutely nothing to do with ceremonial Magic or any kind of Ritual work.

A ritual is done to shape the reality the way you want to see it. You are influencing an event or a person. And in this post, we only cover the nature of the Ritual working briefly, just so that you understand what is behind the words “Ritual” and “Witchcraft.”

Tarot does not intervene or influence a person, forcing them to do something they may not want to do. It completely allows for the Free Will to be the only natural way of human experiences.

Tarot gives you the information you otherwise may miss or not see, sometimes quite willingly, to make the right choice. This is why sometimes clients say things like: “Well, this is what I expected” or “I have known this all along.” This is because the answers are within us and a Tarot Reader is only guiding you to see them.

Can Tarot Be Used for Ritual or Magical Work?

I hope you can see that this is a completely different question.

Tarot can and is sometimes used as the Ritual tool. It can be a part of spell casing, for good and for bad. When Tarot is used for evil intentions, it is not because Tarot itself is evil but because people misuse it for their nasty intentions.

And the problem is in people, not the cards.

If Tarot Is Not Magic, Where Do Tarot Readers Get the Information From?

There is different information circulating around with regards to “Where Tarot Readers get their answers from?”

Some believe that the source is Akashic Records which is considered to be a universal information “storage”, so to speak, that has a record of all the thoughts, emotions, words and also events.

But those who claim the existence of such records seem to deny the existence of divination. For example, Vadim Zeland, the creator of Transurfing of Reality, states that divination does not exist because there is way too many “paths” and “variations” of future events to be able to predict them.

However, here comes my long-standing point about the different between divination and fortune telling and I briefly touched on this in my Blog Post “What Questions Tarot Can and Cannot Answer”. And this is where people like Vadim Zeland, who by the way created his own “Tarot” despite claiming its limited use, are wrong.

RELATED POSTS: What TAROT CARDS CAN and CANNOT TELL. Questions to ask during a Tarot reading

Tarot does not tell you what you are going to have for lunch tomorrow or give you a straight yes/no answer.

Tarot reviews those possible paths and variations of events and helps you make the RIGHT CHOICE.

Tarot helps you to go to your subconscious mind and from there pull the information about yourself to help you understand what internal challenges are preventing you from growing and becoming, from letting go of the past and from working on your future.

"The Good” In Tarot Cards. Tarot as A Tool for Psychoanalysis.

If you think about it, people do many different things on a daily basis to learn more about themselves. They go to see a psychologist to resolve their personal matters and figure out the roots of their anxiety, fears and phobias.

People try to understand the meaning of their dreams and see the signs of communication from Spirit Guides and Angels.

Modern psychologists use cards, not only Tarot, during their sessions as the tool for a deep analysis and consulting.

Tarot can help a person uncover and understand some moments they were not able to connect with before mentally. These include hidden thoughts, desires and intentions.

Unlike Tarot readers, psychologists use cards for the most part to work on the ISSUES OF THE PAST, deeply analyzing it before making any prognosis or goals for the future.

How do psychologists view Tarot?

In this case, psychologists don’t even think about the “mysterious” aspects of Tarot or their connection to esotericism, paganism or occult, it is simply a tool for them to do their job better.

First and foremost, Tarot is used for symbolisms, associations and imagery.

This system helps a psychologist to connect the dots and figure out what is happening at the subconscious level of their patient. Tarot become a diagnostic method that at some situations becomes quite sufficient for a basic diagnostic.

Finally, Let’s Think TOGETHER. Are Tarot Cards A Sin?

Naturally, the answer to this question depends on your religion and what it says in the scriptures with regards to divination of any kind. But I trust that by the time you are reading this, you can make the right judgement yourself.

For the most part, Sin is a concept of JCI religions. And here we also have two categories of people to address.

If you strictly follow ALL the rules of your religion and live by them, then you shouldn’t seek an answer to this question in the Blog post of a Tarot reader, a witch or anyone who deals with magical and ritual workings.

You should address this question an official representative of your religion who is qualified to answer.

If you follow a religion, using it as a moral compass or it is a cultural part of your life, then the word “Sin” takes on a totally different meaning.

In this case, you need to assess what your religion means for you and what other rules, commandments or dogmas you have broken throughout your life. And if during those times you have at all considered the sinful nature of these acts.

For example, when you saw men cheating on their wives, a person drinking alcohol, lying or being jealous of your new IPhone, did you, even in your head, call them sinners?

Most people don’t think that printing a spiritual development book on their work printer is a sin, and yet it breaks the rules of the 6th Commandment.

Therefore, a factual sin is not a part of a religious-ethical category that is for the most part not used as a guide for our day-to-day actions.

It is rather a culturally created concepts of morals, about right or wrong, that shape the tendencies, and also change and evolve together with humanity.

Another example I want to mention is something you probably would not have even ever considered. And this is my beloved practice of Yoga.

Many of those who practice Yoga, being under the influence of the practices and travels, said they turned to Buddhism or Hinduism (both have Yoga as a part of their religion) for their spiritual and personal growth. And this is not normally being labelled as something sinful, even though looking at it factually, it is a change of Religion.

But quite conveniently, normally such person is described as a healthy and spiritual human being that enjoys travelling, sings Mantra, dresses up exotically, even doesn’t eat meat! What an example to all. A modern, soulful, educated and highly spiritual being. He is not a sinner, well, a hipster at the most.

I believe this will also answer the question “Is Tarot Evil?” because evil and sin go hand in hand with each other.

What is “good” and what is “bad” came from religious and philosophical teachings that are also subject to change based on the shifts, changes and revisions we are going through every day.

Should I not be afraid of Tarot then?

In my opinion, when going for a Tarot reading, you should be afraid not of committing a sin, but of your intentions and actions.

If you are asking a question about your own life, without getting a third party involved, (such as “What is happening in my best friend’s relationship with her boyfriend?) if your questions and life morals don’t contradict each other, then there is no need to be afraid of the consequences of the reading because there are none.

Let it be a reason for you to think what your life position is. What morals and principals do you follow?

If you take time to consider everything said above in this Blog post, you will understand that working on your future using Tarot is neither a sin or an evil. A Tarot reading will not bring you bad luck or misfortunes because it’s not on its own a magical tool.

Tarot is your guide to the better choices, better life and happier future. Use it wisely, use it to help others and don’t forget to always thank the Source.

#tarot basics #tarot blog #tarot witch #tarot cards #tarot lesson #tarot tips #tarot

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rachelkaser · 4 years ago

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Stay Golden Sunday: A Little Romance

Dorothy and Blanche are surprised to learn Rose’s new boyfriend is a little person, but Rose is the one really struggling with it.

Picture It...

Sophia is packing for a trip, stuffing clam sauce into her suitcase. She’s supposed to visit her son Phil for her grandson’s college graduation, but doesn’t trust his family to feed her. Rose enters, dressed to the nines for a date, and offers to drive Sophia to the airport. Blanche and Dorothy want to know who her new squeeze is, and she says he’s a psychiatrist at her grief center named Jonathan Newman. She’s strangely evasive when the other Girls ask when they can meet him.

BLANCHE: Dorothy, I’ve just discovered a great new way to meet more men. SOPHIA: More men? You’re gonna need a turnstile in your bedroom.

Some time later, Rose is furious with Blanche, who invited Dr. Newman to dinner at their house without discussing it with Rose first. Blanche says Rose kept putting it off, which Rose denies before stomping out with a scowl. While setting the table on the lanai, Blanche tells Dorothy that how Dr. Newman analyzed her dreams and deemed them “sexual.” What a surprise. There’s a ring of the bell, and Blanche initially mistakes the person on the doorstep for one of the neighborhood kids.

The bell rings again, and Dorothy answers this time. Now the caller gets to introduce himself: Dr. Jonathan Newman. Dorothy’s initially disconcerted to see he’s a little person, but quickly composes herself. Blanche, however, thoroughly embarrasses herself by accusing Rose of hiring a little person to “teach her a lesson.” (Apparently not one in sensitivity.) Dorothy takes Blanche away to collect herself, and Blanche is determined to be a good hostess from then, but flubs it when offering Jonathan shrimp. Jonathan, for his part, says he looks forward to teasing Blanche.

DOROTHY: Why don’t we just start dinner? JONATHAN: Oh good, what are we having? DOROTHY: . . . short ribs.

Later that night, Jonathan entertains the Girls with anecdotes after dinner, and impresses them with his positive attitude. Blanche inadvertently makes another bad joke, and Jonathan teases her about it. He tells her not to be self-conscious in front of him, as he’s perfectly content with who he is. He goes into the kitchen with Rose to fix coffee, and Blanche and Dorothy express their approval.

Sophia unexpectedly returns home: Phil’s son failed, so there was no graduation to attend. Jonathan enters and the Girls introduce him. Sophia says, “I hope this doesn’t sound rude,” which leads to Blanche, Rose, and Dorothy preemptively cringing in horror. But she just says that she’s very tired, so won’t be up for socializing, and asks Jonathan to excuse her. Jonathan departs, asking Rose if they can have dinner the next night. Rose drops the bomb: She thinks Jonathan is going to propose marriage to her.

They ask how she feels about that, and Rose admits that she’s embarrassed about his height, and she’s not sure she can get past it. Blanche tells a story about being in a relationship with a man she was forbidden to date as a young lady in the South. Dorothy assumes Blanche’s date was Black, but no: He was from New Jersey. Rose, meanwhile, still doesn’t know what she’s going to do. She goes to her room, and the other Girls leave her alone. Rose falls asleep.

Cue the dream sequence. It’s Rose’s wedding day, and Blanche and Dorothy go to fetch her from her room. Rose is still not sure about whether she should marry Jonathan. Blanche and Dorothy profess they’ve never noticed Jonathan’s size, while Sophia enters in a priest’s outfit, as she’ll be performing the ceremony. Then someone else arrives (from Rose’s closet, apparently): Rose’s late father. Rose is surprised to see he’s a little person, and Daddy Lindstrom says this is because he’s making a point about love. He tells Rose to follow her heart, as no one can predict the future.

ROSE: Wherever we go, people stare at him. DREAM!BLANCHE: Maybe they’re staring at you, honey. ROSE: At me? DREAM!BLANCHE: Oh, only a good friend would tell you this, Rose, but that color you dye your hair? Honey, that hasn’t existed since they discontinued the Ford Falcon.

Blanche suddenly announces that there’s someone at the wedding who can: Psychic Jeane Dixon, making a cameo appearance. She proceeds to spout some predictions about the future that, as of 2021, are not likely to come true before being hustled offscreen. Jonathan enters, and says that he and Rose can face any problem together. Rose makes up her mind and agrees to marry him. The other Girls come in to wake her up, and she tells them she’s decided to keep seeing Jonathan.

The next night, Rose and Jonathan have dinner at a French restaurant, and Jonathan tells her they need to talk about a problem with their relationship. He says that, while he cares about her, he doesn’t think their relationship can go on without acceptance. Rose protests that she doesn’t care about his height. Jonathan, on the other hand, meant something else: He can’t see Rose anymore because she’s not Jewish. Rose flips out, shouting at Jonathan in view of the restaurant, until he cracks a joke that has them both laughing. She apologizes and says she’s going to miss Jonathan, and he’ll miss her too. A waiter then comes over and asks precisely the wrong question:

WAITER: How was the shrimp? ROSE: Unfortunately, I’ll never know. You see, he’s Jewish and we can’t see each other anymore.

“May I take your height-- HAT?”

Let it be known that, when it comes to episodes of the show that cover minority issues, LGBTQ topics, or people with disabilities, I will do my darnedest to find reviews or analyses of them from people who fall within those categories. For example, there’s a lot of material from the gay and lesbian fandom regarding the episodes that showcase gay and lesbian characters, and I’ll link to and quote their work in the respective recaps rather than attempt to insert my own opinions for the most part.

This is because I realize that, as a non-disabled, heterosexual, cisgender, white woman; I am not in a good position to review any of these issues. My voice on these topics counts for very little.

That being said, I scoured the internet looking for a review or analysis of this episode by a little person, and I couldn’t find one. If you know of any analyses made by anyone with better knowledge on the topic than I have, please send them to me in a DM and I will happily revise this recap.

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So yeah, this episode pretty much revolves around Dr. Jonathan Newman being a little person. It’s the sole source of conflict from Rose’s side in their relationship, and it was at the root of most of the jokes. To the episode’s credit, most of it is at the expense of Blanche and Rose, rather than Jonathan himself. If this were made in a perfect world, his height wouldn’t come into play at all, but the episode tries its hardest to mitigate any accusations of ill intent by making him such a lovely character.

Jonathan is surprisingly gracious and good-humored about the Girls’ less than sensitive remarks, teasing Blanche to help put her at ease. While Rose’s concerns about their relationship are portrayed seriously, the episode makes it very clear that she’s the one with the problem, and not Jonathan. I would have liked to have his religion foreshadowed a bit earlier but at least it adds a little depth to his character. Even Sophia, whose whole B-plot this week is basically just “Phil’s family is weird” is polite to him.

DOROTHY: Ma, why are you taking all this food to Phil’s? SOPHIA: Because the only time your brother’s wife goes into the kitchen, it’s to get a cold beer. DOROTHY: Ma, she has no time to cook. She works all day. SOPHIA: Welding. My son married a welder. Too bad she didn’t weld his zipper shut. They got ten kids they can’t afford.

In fact, he’s almost too good. It’s as though, even at the time, the writers wanted to counterbalance the reliance on his height in the jokes by making him one of the most perfect men ever. He’s interesting, funny, positive, well-educated (he mentions going to Harvard), and most importantly, he assuages everyone’s fears about making any comments about his height. It’s as if the writers are giving themselves permission to make the jokes by making the character around whom they are based as wonderful as possible.

That’s not to say the episode handles it subject matter in a completely inoffensive manner. The most tasteless joke of the episode, I think, is the “How was the shrimp?” line, but a close second is probably this one from Sophia, when she comes to check on Rose after her dream and sees Rose clutching her pillow:

SOPHIA: What’s going on? BLANCHE: Oh, Rose has decided to keep on seeing Jonathan. SOPHIA: Fine. *beat* We’re all adults here. Let the man out of the pillowcase. We don’t mind if he sleeps over.

You know what’s really weird? This is not the first time Rose has referenced dating a little person. Remember that pin I put up a few episodes ago? Let’s take it down and address Rose talking about Eddie. While Sophia is the only person to refer to Jonathan by an offensive slur, they use it liberally in this clip, so consider it a trigger warning:

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It’s beyond weird to me that they have this whole joke about Rose dating a little person that they play completely for laughs, only to take it seriously a few episodes later. That’s a very specific scenario to repeat -- especially since Rose says she didn’t reject Eddie because of his size at all, but because she couldn’t date anyone in show biz. So what changed, huh, Rose?

There is one thing about this episode that bugs me irrespective of Dr. Newman’s height: Rose thinks Jonathan is going to propose to her even though they aren’t yet seriously dating and (if her last line of the episode is any indication) haven’t even slept together. This is something that I find weird about these ladies’ relationships. Kate got married after only six months of dating, Blanche was prepared to marry Harry after only one week, and now Rose thinks her beau of three weeks with whom she’s only been on five dates wants to marry her.

I mean, were the 80s really that different? Did people really go to the altar so fast that this seems plausible to anyone? I’m genuinely asking because, for all I know, this was common at the time.

I love how weird the dream sequence is in this episode. It made sense, in the way that some dreams seem to follow some kind of recognizable sequence, but there are really weird parts too. The fact that Sophia and Mr. Lindstrom enter the room through Rose’s closet, Blanche and Dorothy speak in chirpy voices, and there’s a weird celebrity cameo. It definitely feels dreamlike to say at the end of the scene, “WTF was Jeane Dixon doing there?”

By the way, it’s too bad none of Dixon’s predictions will come true. It would have been very interesting to see Brooke Shields and Lady Diana in a Broadway musical comedy.

Episode rating: 🍰🍰🍰🍰 (four cheesecake slices out of five)

Favorite part of the episode:

You really can’t beat Blanche’s awkwardness.

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#golden girls #sophia petrillo #rose nylund #dorothy zbornak #blanche devereaux #stay golden #picture it #stay golden sunday #s01e13

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echoheart0324 · 6 years ago

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*chugs drink and slams hand on table* I never thought I’d go to such a crazy extent, but I got sick of hearing people talk about Blaine in a negative light, so I guess I’m gonna have to pour my whole soul into this, and this might as well be my final big post before I disappear into the void.

I kinda got tired of people saying we know nothing about Blaine, which is kinda true to some extent. However, if you dig around for details and tiny actions, there might be small hints pointing at what might’ve happened. AKA I got a bit carried away about Blaine, since y’all keep pointing out his actions are shady and evil, so I’ll do the exact opposite and attempt to fill in the gaps (or widen them, I dunno. I’ve just been craving to analyze something for ages.).

Anyways this is gonna be kinda long (and a bit repetitive, cuz this is speculation mixed in with my rambling, featuring analysis at it’s finest) and really up to how you interpret his words/actions/how you exactly look at these translations, so all of this is just a very thin stretch (ready to snap or break at a moment’s notice). Who knows, I might be off the mark completely and he may be a villain after all (in which then you can all stab me if you want), but I wanted to at least provide this before my (possible) hiatus day:

()()()

Possible Backstory/Background/Personality Traits/Whatever Else Falls into this Category:

By the look of it, Blaine is well-educated and loves his studies (most likely in the science department if the Dream Eaters are anything to go by, along with his love for books). The name Brain also means ‘noble/son of the judge’ possibly hinting at a high and wealthy status as well. His speech patterns are laid-back and casual, which kinda contradicts his name meaning, but he can also be quite serious and observant (as seen with his explanation about the Player character linking to Strelitzia somehow, his comparison of Skuld to Lady Ava, thoughtfully choosing the Spirits as their first task to help them out in the long run, and figuring out Ephemera as the leader type) if he desires to. His impatience (with Lauriam's arrival and the meeting dragging on) could prove that he's not used to waiting around for things either, though it’s minor and nothing too overboard.

Now this is where the lines start blurring, since the details are kinda all over the place. When Ephemera, Skuld, and Ven are all talking about having friends, Blaine interrupts with, "Friends. Cool." I'm still not sure what the intention was, but he had a smile on his face when saying this, but he never brings up the topic of “friends” ever again. He also reacted quite positively to Ephemera’s teasing aimed at Skuld (while Ven didn’t react at all), which could indicate this type of friendship is familiar to him, but his smile quickly turned into a frown when the topic of lying popped into play. It's a reach for sure, but I don't think Blaine had a good relationship with his friends in the very end. To prove this, Blaine's trust issue with Ava stems off of his morals of honesty, which his friends might've lacked based off his reaction and harsh choice of words. He also seems to avoid a lot of contact with the other leaders, instead focusing on his books and purposely isolating himself as the outsider.

Y'know...maybe Blaine can recognize the leader-spirit in Ephemera because he used to be a leader of something himself (especially judging by how he picked out their first task by himself). Maybe a leader of a party/his friend group? A handful of his personality traits seems suited to such position, such as how blunt he can be, his honesty, his observative behavior, his support (”I trust you’ll lead us down the right path.” -to Ephemera), and quick-decision making backed up with reasonable evidence. Adding onto this, his blunt speech and his quick decision-making might indicate that he's used to serious discussions, and after watching the custcenes a few times, Blaine never seems to argue back at the others’ decisions. He disagrees with the others often, yes, but a heated argument never occurs, since Blaine either decides to go along and accept that he’s not gonna get his way (though unhappy) or the others outnumber him/he gets what he wants. Not once have we seen him angry (I mean maybe we have? It’s kinda really hard to tell with the lack of eyes. He just sorta opens his mouth when he’s upset, but the same sprite is also used when he’s surprised, so??? Let my boy get more original expressive sprites please???). Whatever led to the downfall of his group, might be linked to this (or Blaine’s just a really nice guy. Or both. Both work too), so a heavy verbal argument may have been the key.

This could be why Blaine seems to be pushing Ephemera to the position of their leader, since Blaine regrets (to a certain degree) whatever he couldn't accomplish and wants to guide him on the right path to prevent a similar downfall or the same mistakes he made.

Though it's odd that Blaine was alright with PvP, since it's "just a competition", so I assume there's a competitive nature to him as well, and he received no relative trauma to Keyblade wielders clashing with each other. He also seems to respects privacy to a certain degree (based on his "let's not pry" about Lauriam) and some of his members may have turned to him for comfort, if his friendly brother-like behavior is anything to go by. (No seriously, who says, “You guys are going on a scavenger hunt,” if they’re an incredibly serious person??? Pfft...)

Quick Summary: Anyways, to throw this out there and sum it up, I believe Blaine may have once been a leader of a (hard)core party. His teasing nature shows that he did once have close friends to bond with, but things went downhill, based on his more serious side of his personality and fair distance from the others. The downfall of his leadership/party probably doesn't relate to Keyblade wielders turning their blade against each other, but maybe something more verbally and misunderstandings stacking on top of each other (with lying being involved somehow), where they say things they can't take back. Though based on his position of becoming a Dandelion, I’m assuming the party disbanded early on, since most people became Lux-thirsty once the war came around. Due to his lack of reaction to PvP, I assume he never saw Keyblade wielders fight for Lux in Daybreak Town often, so he must’ve just spending his days inside and reading/running experiments.

()()()

So why are Blaine’s eyes hidden from view on his sprite, but present clearly on his official artwork? After pondering for a bit, I decided to dig in a little deeper to see what I can find. Some sources I found stated that gray eyes could symbolize in for “leadership”, so that could squeeze in for above. On the other hand, the covering of his eyes could symbolize a secret he’s hiding from the other leaders. Note that Blaine has spoken nothing of his personal life, unlike the others. Ven says he’s always been a loner, Lauriam talks about his sister and his relationship with her, Skuld states she and Ephemera were once in the same party. Why is this such a big deal exactly??? There seems to be a connection to having a point where each leader seemed to be alone:

Ephemera: Was the one who left (both Skuld and Player).

Skuld: Was the one who got left behind (by Ephemera).

Ven: Was always alone, so left since the beginning.

Blaine: ???

Lauriam: ??? (I don’t want to jump to conclusions just yet, but I’m going to say...maybe he was the one got left behind...?)

Strelitzia: Had friends, but they constantly left and kept being replaced. Based off of what Elrena says, it seems like she sorta isolated herself, so maybe was the one who left?

Also, Skuld and Strelitzia both seem to have friends who are alive, at least by canon confirmation. After all, Skuld talked about her Dandelion friends a few times, right before she left the Player in KH X. Meanwhile, Strelitzia says things about her friends during her introduction.

Anyways, if this is anything to go by Blaine could fall into one of these categories (the one who left or the one who was left), but it’s kinda difficult to tell since Ven throws things off. Either that, or nothing bad ever happened to his friends, so maybe he never had a lonely period in his life.

()()()

*puts up glasses* So what was all the background dump about? Well, honestly, I just wanted to ramble about Blaine, but *shoves that aside* we’re also here to discuss his innocence and why I think Blaine wouldn’t have the heart to kill Strelitzia:

(Er...skip this “point”, or at least just read what I highlighted in bold and move on. This isn’t even a point, I just got pissed off of the lack of evidence and love for my boy.) Blaine being “just plain old suspicious” is an excuse way too tired out for everyone’s sake. This is why I tried to fill in some gaps with the background details above as well to at least provide some insight into his actions/words. None of his character traits can be seen as evil exactly. Honestly, he portrays a type of kid that’s tired out and wants nothing more but to mind his own personal matters. The gaps I filled in seem like stretches, I understand that, but we all thought the same for Lauriam as well when he was first ushered on stage. Blaine’s been one of our main suspects for ages and his introduction was barely even brushed upon by the fandom when the story update launched. (On a personal note, I think I stumbled upon maybe 3 or 4 pieces of fanart of him on launch day??? I got interested in him to some extent, but my love for him that y’all see today, just came crashing down naturally over time) I saw more people bashing him, cuz “fucking damn it, it’s another dude, but he’s a cowboy” was all that stretched on for miles. Either that or “is that Ienzo cosplaying Ardyn???”. Those were dark times...very dark times indeed. *cough* Back on track, anyways Blaine’s been quite the unnoticed character compared to the other leaders (especially when compared to the other three that came after him), so why make him the killer when he never hit off for the JP and NA fanbase? Nomura heavily values his twists, especially with KHUX, so there’d be nothing of interest if the murderer was just a generic evil-looking cowboy that’s not even that popular with the fans in the first place. Blaine’s also a lot less developed than the other leaders, since he was unfortunately shoved to the side for the sake of filler right after he joined the cast. To a casual (yet devoted, based on how far they shoved aside filler hell) player, Blaine’s just a random kiddo that has no development, motives, and personality (unless you’re highly bored and decide to go on a analysis spree like I am right now). In all honesty, Nomura seems to be pushing us to believe Blaine did it, since he refuses to give Blaine the development he so desperately needs, to give him the ominous and sketchy vibes to make him an easy culprit.

I’m aware that the latest story update shows Blaine as a smart-ass, seeing how he was able to connect Strelitzia and “the person she’s interested in”’s supposed fate so easily. This puts the spotlight of suspicion on him, correct? Well, I’ve read my fair share of speculation posts for the past few days and everyone just naturally assumes it’s Gula that did the dirty work. I already posted an ask earlier on this topic and I’m not in the proper position to argue such a point all day, but I also don’t think Blaine could possibly be Gula either, or that Gula committed the murder himself.

*plops onto chair* So while I clean off Blaine’s plate, I’ll clean off Gula’s too...so I realize that y’all naturally assume it’s him due to the rather convenient timing and his ominous quote after defeating him in battle. If you do believe in this theory, may I ask you: “Then why didn’t Gula attack Skuld and/or Player (evidence is provided below)? Also, how would you explain the sudden change in sprite?” If you pause right before Gula steps outta the shadows to fully reveal himself, we have his blacked-out silhouette, which heavily differs from ‘Darkness’ + the sprite we saw at the warehouse when Strelitzia was killed. I also doubt that Gula would change outta his robes at that exact moment, minutes before Strelitzia’s arrival (since we now have confirmation that their talk occurred before Strelitzia came along a little bit later), especially since we see him again in the same outfit at the war (when everyone’s getting prepared to fight). Lord Gula also questioned if they came inside the warehouse to search for Ava, since they’re skipping out on collecting Lux, clearly aware of the Dandelions. *cough*

Anyways, as I was saying about Blaine, I believe he’s genuinely trying to help Lauriam find Strelitzia. His morals stand that he despises lying with a whole passion, still holding up as he doesn’t seem to hesitate to speak his thoughts to the others, so I doubt he’d lie to cover up his tracks.

Though, on the other side, there’s one thing that’s holding me back to say he’s innocent completely:

To contradict myself, there was someone that pointed out that Blaine called the Foretellers’ Chambers, the Master’s room instead, having a similar tone to ‘Darkness’ calling the Master of the Masters, just ‘Master’. I dunno either...I just hope he’s innocent, but that’s just wistful thinking at this point.

In all honesty, I was going to go into full depth into how Blaine could be innocent, but the lack of information surrounding Blaine makes things a lot more difficult than it should be, and I kinda grew tired of trying to piece together things for hours. Maybe one day I’ll make a Part 2, but I just wanted to dish this out there, before KHUX updates and does the opposite of what I just said.

Feel free to add on, I’m just tired and rambling at this point!

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adaveijola · 6 years ago

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deprivation is inspiration

As an English Education major, who spends most of her time reading and writing and who will one day spend most of her time critiquing other people’s writing, I have to wonder: what is it that makes a great writer? Is it a gene that must be inherited or is it something that can be acquired through hard work and endless hours of practice? It’s a classic nature vs. nurture question. Here, I would like to propose that being a great writer is essentially a mixture of two things: deprivation and determination.

Let’s begin with the first one, deprivation, since it is the less obvious one of the two. In a fascinating interview, William Maxwell mentions that Pete Lemay had told him that what makes a good writer is deprivation. “Deprived of love, deprived of home, deprived of companionship,” Maxwell and the interviewer list off. As can be seen from their examples, deprivation comes in many forms, both physical and emotional. J. K. Rowling shares a similar sentiment in her famous commencement address at Harvard in 2008. She explains that she lived in poverty for many years after graduating from university and then goes on to say, “I was set free [by poverty] because my greatest fear had been realized, and I was still alive…and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.” Now, I have no doubt that as college students, many of us are more familiar with deprivation than we would like to be. We might be deprived of sleep, deprived of money, deprived of healthy and nutritious food and if you too happen to be an international student living halfway across the world from everyone you know, like me, you might be deprived of family and friends. Deprivation is a great source of inspiration because it forces us to face our humanity. When all else is stripped away, our true nature breaks through. And that is where literary masterpieces come from.

But there is no denying that effort plays a big part in how good or bad a piece of writing is. If I spend a long time rereading and polishing my work, it will turn out significantly better than something I threw together the night before and never once read from beginning to end. Not only that but we have to appreciate the tiny little particles that make up the story, that is, sentences. I am taking a class this semester that has encouraged me to hone my sentence writing skills. We take sentences, we change the order of the words and the clauses, we read them aloud, we think about what they sound like rhythmically. It has opened my eyes to a world I had never realized was there before. It is the same thing that happened when I took nuclear and particle physics last year and learned the process of how positive and negative particles are attracted to each other. Similarly, this year, I have learned the important role sentences play in putting together an impressive piece of writing. It is all in the nitty-gritty things we don’t notice unless we look a little closer. And those microscopic things are often even more fascinating than the macroscopic view we get at first glance. Mastering the art of the small details takes time and practice but it is crucial to being a good writer.

I’m not saying you have to go out and give all your money away and make yourself poor to become a good writer or that you have to analyze every sentence of your favorite book to learn to write such sentences yourself. What I’m saying is next time you’re writing, don’t push away all the things in your life that make you feel uncomfortable or inferior or sad but instead harness them as your source of inspiration. And don’t overlook the minute details. You know that one part in your essay where you wanted to use one word but couldn’t remember it so you used the closest synonym you could think of? Yeah, go and look up the word you wanted to use in the first place. Trust me, it makes a world of difference.

#jk rowling #william maxwell #reflection

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marc0524blr-blog · 6 years ago

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Marc Barradas

Professor Anderson

MCS 001

03/15/19

Divergent

The idea that you belong to something is the goal that many young adults strive for. With many different classes/livelihoods growing up, teens try to do their best to fit in and be a part of the in-group. In the movie, Divergent, takes place in the future and the protagonist named Beatrice Prior is put through the tests as she tries to figure out who she really is since she does not feel comfortable living in her faction. Factions are basically the communities where each person are born, and each faction has a different role in society. The five factions in the movie are Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Erudite (the intelligent), Amity (the kind), and Erudite (the intelligent). Each young adult reaches an age where they can either stay at their faction or switch to their matched one. With the use of Antonio Gramsci’s “Hegemony, Intellectuals, and the State”, Raymond Williams’s “Ideology,” in Marxism and Literature, and Noam Chomsky’s “A Propaganda Model,” we can further analyze these theories that are prevalent throughout the movie.

One of the main theories seen throughout the movie is hegemony. Hegemony is the consent secured by the diffusion and popularization of the ruling class. In the movie, the five different factions are said to be the reason in keeping the peace in the society. However, there is a sixth attribute that a person can get after taking the test. This attribute is called Divergent, which means that the person has multiple factions that they could be in since they are the most diverse out of most people living in this society. However, this attribute is not allowed in this futuristic society due to having some sort of unfair advantages, so these Divergent’s either stay in hiding or they are killed off by the leaders. This is paralleled to Antonio Gramsci’s “Hegemony, Intellectuals, and the State,” because he says, “A class is dominant in two ways, i.e. ‘leading’ and ‘dominant’. It leads the classes which are its allies and dominates those which are its enemies.” (Gramsci, 75). Being Divergent in that time period is made to seem wrong and are considered the enemies of society. After Beatrice took her test and ended up getting Divergent, the person conducting the test told her to keep it a secret because if someone were to find out, then she will be killed. This is a great example of hegemony as the process of the ruling class, which are their faction leaders, has the power to decimate this attribute, but they are never questioned due to the power they hold in society. It shows that the ruling class has more stability in the economy, which allows them to control what the people in the population can or can not be.

The next theory that is shown throughout the movie is with the use of ideology. According to Raymond Williams’s, “Ideology,” in Marxism and Literature, it is “a system of beliefs characteristic of a particular class or group.” (Williams, 55). Ideology in this movie parallels to Raymond Williams definition as it’s used in order to make certain objects and products, in this case, factions seem more desirable based on what the faction leaders are saying. The faction in the movie that is showed as the best group is Erudite, which are the intelligent ones. By choosing this faction, it can seem as if they’ve increased their self-worth and importance in society. The leaders of each faction in the movie make it seem as if Erudite is the highest group in the faction because they have the brains. As the movie continues, we see the people identifying as Erudite’s looking sophisticated and having the best technological advances, while the people in the other factions are left to make their own things. The leader of the faction Erudite, Jeanine Matthews, is the antagonist in the movie. She became the leader of the faction just because she has the highest IQ in society. As the plot unfolds, we as audiences learn that Jeanine is trying to get rid of the faction Abnegation, by having an alliance with Dauntless. She plans on doing this by spreading lies about Abnegation to spread bad information towards the faction. Since Abnegation is known as being selfless, Jeanine is trying to lie to society so the population can doubt whether Abnegation really is selfless, or just a faction that is greedy and hoards the goods for themselves. This parallels the theory of ideology because this is carried out by targeting audiences and marginalized if they do not conform to what is being observed in the media. In this case, citizens from other factions are marginalized and the treaty within the factions are jeopardized if they don’t listen to what Jeanine and the Erudite are saying. Although each faction contributes something unique to the society, the media portrays a false consciousness to the audience where it makes them feel like outsiders.

The last theory used in the movie is the propaganda model. Just like in today’s media, the leaders of the faction control the information that can be released to the population. Faction leaders are like the owners of the news outlet, they control the information being released to the masses. According to the video of Noam Chomsky’s Manufacturing Consent, he claims that big corporations have two targets with the use of propaganda. The first being the political class, which is about twenty percent of the population and they’re the ones that are relatively educated, articulate, and play a role in decision making in economic, political, and social life. The other eighty percent of the population is to merely follow orders, but they’re the one who usually pays the cost. This parallels the movie in a way that the faction leaders are the political class making the rules, while the rest of the population are the members of the society following the ruling class. Also, there are five media filters being used to control the information coming out. The first filter, which is ownership is basically what controls the information going out to the public. In the movie, the faction leaders are ultimately the ones with power who control what information their population can know. The second filter is advertising money, which basically means the money a business puts into advertisements in return of getting their products out to the mass. However, instead of using money in the movie, faction leaders use a sense of security as a source of money by gaining their citizens’ trust, then giving them security. The third filter is complicity, which is the influence the media gets from the government so they can seem credible and newsworthy. In the movie, only the leaders are the one who holds important information, which means citizens in a population only believe their respective leaders for their source of news. The fourth filter is flak, which is the discrediting of sources, trashing stories, and directing the conversation. This is probably the most important filter that is paralleled in the movie because of something called being factionless. These factionless citizens are basically the discredited citizens that no one cares about and are forced to live out on the streets. The last filter is a common enemy and some examples of common enemies are communism, terrorism. or even immigrants. This is similar to the movie because the antagonist, Jeanine, is trying to make the Abnegation faction as a common enemy. Since she is considered a ruling class, her citizens follow her rules and base their decisions on whatever she commands.

Divergent is a movie that shows the coming about of a young adult as she makes her toughest decision. As the protagonist, Beatrice, realizes that she belongs to many different factions, she has a tough decision whether or not she wants to stay somewhere she’s known all her life or explore the unknown. Throughout the movie, we can see how it parallels many different theories, but it especially parallels Antonio Gramsci’s “Hegemony, Intellectuals, and the State”, Raymond Williams’s “Ideology,” in Marxism and Literature, and Noam Chomsky’s “A Propaganda Model.” With many different theories hidden throughout the movie, we as audiences were able to decipher the messages and see the theories coming into play in each scenario.

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pilferingtheheavens-blog · 7 years ago

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Determine the quantity of cash you can spend on a readily offered online calculator.

As soon as you have a particular location in mind, it is necessary to find an excellent realty Top Keller Williams agent that is educated about the area you wish to reside in and someone that you can trust. Most property buyers use a property Top Keller Williams agent that was described them by a relative, buddy or collogue. They can supply you with useful details about the area, and inform you of what similar properties have actually cost. Working with a realty Keller Williams Realty partner will make the procedure a lot easier for first time Keller Williams Real Estate residence buyers. Feel free to get more here on Youtube

You should ensure that you have the least possible down payment for your mortgage company. If you do not have a substantial down payment, you will pay private mortgage insurance (PMI).

Now that you've selected a relied on real estate Keller Williams Realty partner, start trying to find KW Realty houses. Make a list of what you must have. When taking a look at Keller Williams Realty Agents Berlin MI 48134 residences, take images and videos, this way you can remember the specifics about each and every KW Realty house you visit. It's a good concept to drive through the location at various times of the day to check out the length of time it takes to commute to your workplace. If you have kids in school, make a consultation with a school administrator. Throughout this procedure you'll probably view a variety of different Keller Williams Realty Agents Berlin MI 48134 homes, so do not get discouraged.

Work with a professional inspectors to check the house that you are planning to buy. It is best to hire a professional, but the advantage over having someone you know examine the Keller Williams Realty residence is that you can hold a bad inspection against an expert inspector, while there is little you can do to a relative.

As soon as you've looked at many different choices, and you find a Keller Williams Realty residence that you like, it's time to make an offer. When you discover the Berlin Township Michigan property that's right for you, and when you've agreed on the cost and terms, you're almost done. Constantly ask to have a KW Realty house assessment in addition to an engineer's report, if required, and make certain you view the report as soon as possible. This will highlight any engineering problems in the Keller Williams Realty Agents Berlin MI 48134 house and offer a detailed engineering analysis, together with any possible engineering design defects.

If you're buying realty, it's best to seek advice from a professional realty Top Keller Williams agent. These specialists will have resources that might not be straight readily available to you. Lots of brokers will utilize unique software to sort through the MLS and other listing services.

When you have an accepted offer, it's important to begin Berlin Township Michigan property examinations. Typically, deals are contingent on the Keller Williams Realty Listings for residence evaluation. Berlin Township Michigan home inspections are done to check for signs of structural damage or specific things, which require to be fixed. Normally, your property Keller Williams Realty partner will assist you arrange these evaluations. By having a Keller Williams Realty Agents Berlin MI 48134 home inspection contingency in your agreement, this secures you as the buyer to renegotiate your deal based upon the findings in the assessment report.

Research study property properties well prior to purchasing one. There are a couple of critical points which you need to be considered prior to writing a deal for rental property. Is this property in strong condition and is it going to remain that way with minimal upkeep? The second crucial function to consider when buying is the location. Area is certainly highly essential when it concerns acquiring rental property.The third is the typical income of the property's location. This differs from physical location given that high rents is much better than those with low ones.

What is the greatest realty company in U.S.A.?

Keller Williams Realty, Inc. is the world's largest realty franchise by representative count, with greater than greater than 150,000 associates as well as over 800 market centers around the world are affiliated with Keller Williams.

Progressing, there is a great deal of documentation that is involved in purchasing a Keller Williams Realty Agents Berlin MI 48134 property. At this time, your banks will schedule a title business to manage all of the paper work throughout this process, and to verify that the seller of the property is the lawful and rightful owner of the Keller Williams Realty INC residence that you're buying. This becomes part of the due diligence procedure in the closing process. Keep in mind the closing process can differ with time and can be anywhere in between 30, 60 or 90 days.

Remain in consistent contact with others in realty investment business.There is constantly a property readily available somewhere, but not every piece of property is correct for every financier. Keeping your ear to the ground is a terrific way to get a diamond in the rough that others have not yet understand of.

Now, it's time for the actual closing. A day prior to signing all the paper work, it's vital to do a walk through, to guarantee that whatever in the Keller Real Estate home remains in working order. At the time of closing, you'll be needed to sign all of the paperwork, which will be needed to finish the purchase of this property. Once all documentation is signed, and adjustments are made, you're now a Keller Real Estate residenceowner and ready to move into your new Berlin MI house.

#Home #homes #house #houses #property #properties #realty #realestate #kellerwilliams #kw #kwrealty #michigan #mi #berlin

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claytonissleib · 4 years ago

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Clayton Issleib Simple Tricks To Use When Investing In Real Estate

Clayton Issleib Most excellent service provider. Investing in real estate can be extremely profitable if you know what you're doing. It is important to make smart and calculated moves so that you don't make mistakes or get in over your head if things change. So, this article is going to prepare you with some helpful advice concerning real estate investing.

Before making an investment in real estate, analyze the current market and do your research. Look at between 50 and 100 properties in the area you're interested in, and keep a spreadsheet full of notes. Things to list include current pricing, projected rent earnings, and repair budgets. This will help you sift through the deals to sort good from bad.

Before you jump into real-estate investment, educate yourself. The important part is to gather all the advice and tips that work well in the business. Read every source you can get your hands on; you can't be too informed.

Build a strong team that is going to work with you during the whole process. This means that you will need to get a realtor, accountant and lawyer that will help safeguard you in case anything goes wrong in the process. These people will also give you great advice while you invest.

When negotiating a deal it is best th you do a lot more listening as opposed to talking. Simply by letting the other person speak, they can end up harming themselves when trying to negotiate a price. Also, when you listen carefully, you will be able to pinpoint the time when you can grab the exact price you are looking for.

Be wary of any prospective tenant who tries to negotiate the rent. While he or she may just be a savvy businessperson, they could also be in a financial bind. Ask a few more questions and be careful about signing a contract with them. You may find yourself constantly fighting to get your monthly payment on time.

Have multiple exit strategies for a property. A lot of things can affect the value of real estate, so you're best having a short term, mid-term, and long term strategy in place. That way you can take action based off of how the market is faring. Having no short term solution can cost you a ton of money if things go awry quickly.

Clayton Issleib Proficient tips provider If you are buying an investment property, be sure to hire a good handyman. This will help you to fix any issues that come up during your ownership. Your handyman can help to correct the issues that you face.

A fixer-upper may be cheap, but think about how much you have to renovate to bring it up in value. If the property only needs cosmetic upgrades, it may be a good investment. However, major structural problems can very costly to fix. In the long-run, it may not give you a good return on your investment.

Stay away from deals that are too good to be true, especially with investors that you cannot trust or do not have a good reputation. It is important to stick with those who have a good reputation because getting ripped off in this business can cost you a lot of money.

Don't dig around your property when you're dealing with real estate and trying to do a home improvement until you call someone to see if there are lines buried around the property. It may be illegal to dig at all, and it pays to find this out up front.

Beware of buying single-family homes in a neighborhood that is full of rental property. Typically, a rental neighborhood is not a desirable location for buyers who want to raise a family. The value of single-family homes in this type of neighborhood will not likely go up very much because of their location.

Clayton Issleib Best service provider. Practice patience, especially at the beginning. You might find that your first transaction takes some time. You may not see anything you are interested in or you may not be able to agree on the terms of a sale. Don't get nervous and put your money into something you don't need. That's using your funds poorly. Wait until the perfect opportunity comes along.

Know what you should be looking for in a property based on current trends in the market. For example, if you're going to rent out the properties you buy, then it's best to have units that are for single people, which is a current trend. Another example is to ensure any home you buy has three or more bedrooms because it will be easier for you to sell or rent to families.

If you want to buy a lot of properties and hold them, be sure to choose a specific area to invest in. This will allow you to avoid major expenses in gas or time as you travel to your properties. This will also help you to gain more knowledge about the area.

Know that you need a good team to get involved in real estate investing. At a minimum, you need a Realtor, accountant and a lawyer you can all trust. You might even need an investor or a party of fellow investors. Reach out through your personal connections to find individuals who will not let you down.

Make sure that you have of your finances in order so that you can jump on opportunities where time is crucial. You could lose out on the deal of lifetime if you wait until you find a property and THEN try to get loans and financing in order. Having the ability to act quickly often is the difference between a deal of a lifetime and an opportunity lost.

Get your funding in check prior to scouting homes. You are wasting time if you don't know where the finances will come from. In fact, the delay after you've found the perfect home can be the difference between you getting the home and not! The best properties will always have a line of interested investors.

Clayton Issleib Best service provider. After knowing the information about real estate investing you know now, you are better equipped to really get going. It's important that you understand everything about the market and the properties you're interested in so that this becomes a successful venture. It's time to build that real estate portfolio now.

#Clayton Issleib

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graysons-lobotomy · 5 years ago

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“The Universal Advices and The Urge to Be Kind; An Interpretation”

Understand that life is not kind and it is unfair and it is unjust and it allows anything.

Be very kind.

Seek to understand The Source, The Creator, and The Creation Mechanisms.

These are, as listed, the composers, the staff, and the notes and chords of The Natural Way.

The Natural Way is The Song of All Things.

It could also be, as listed and if preferred, the paint, pallets and brushes, the artist, and the painting.

Do your best not to confuse the song for the artist or it’s notes; likewise the painting for the painter or it’s paints and brushes.

Learn as much as you can about all things.

Be kind.

When you are unkind promptly be kind again.

Seek forgiveness.

Be as kind as you can be.

Focus on what is morally right more than what is wrong, and what is factually correct more than what is incorrect in the deeds, speech, and perceptions of yourself and others.

Do so especially when the dark seems to outweigh the light, when involved in conversation and/or cooperation with the mentally ill, mentally disabled, severely unintelligent, criminally inclined, or otherwise disturbed; and in dealing with yourself if you happen to fall into any of those categories.

Be kind.

Be honest with yourself about yourself.

Be honest with yourself and others about all things.

Be kind.

Take “there is a time and place for everything.” as an objective truth.

Do more good than bad.

Be kind.

Resist obsession.

Recognize perfect thinking and perfection of action for being arbitrary and fundamentally illusionary.

Be kind.

Be cool.

Take it easy.

Have compassion, patience, and empathy.

Be kind.

Do things that are purposeless.

Have fun.

Have a sense of humor.

Do not ever resist or look poorly upon true laughter from yourself or others.

Seek to find something funny in all horrors and tragedies however big and impactful or small and inconsequential. It makes the world a brighter place.

Laugh and laugh hard.

Be kind.

Teach children to know what is morally right and factually correct, when they are very young, and to detect and respond to wrongness and misinformation. Seek to help anyone that does not understand these things, at any age.

Be very authentic.

Act according to your understanding.

Seek to increase and improve your understanding.

Seek to improve yourself in every aspect.

Be kind.

Be a natural person.

Be imperfect.

Be incorrect.

Be humble.

If you must pretend, or if you pretend for fun, pretend on the surface.

Never pretend on the inside.

Be kind.

Do not harm others in any way except in self defense.

If you find yourself to be harming someone or something, unintentionally or with purpose, in a state of offense, stop immediately.

Be kind.

Do what is right.

Be proud of what you have accomplished if it is good.

Do not be proud of being born different than others in any way; for so is everyone born different from all others in many ways.

Do not be proud of your bad deeds.

Do not compare yourself to others.

Always seek to be better today than you were yesterday.

Be kind.

Be honest and responsible for your mistakes and bad deeds, to yourself and others.

Be creative and allow for the possibility that your mistakes will have a positive affect.

See the creativity in destruction and the destruction in creativity.

Do not feel guilty, ashamed, or embarrassed.

Be a better person at anytime.

Be kind.

Work smart. Be efficient.

Also work very hard, until you think you cannot work any harder, and then work harder still.

Relax thoroughly and do it often.

Be kind.

Think critically, even in your dreams.

Listen.

Listen to others.

Listen to your body.

Listen to your conscience.

Listen to The Song of All Things.

Listen to things that you don’t want to hear.

Feel that same list.

Feel things.

Feel things you don’t want to feel.

Be kind.

Raise your tolerance the three pains: Physical, Mental, and Spiritual pain.

Never intentionally damage the organs and senses that allow you to experience and perceive these pains in any way.

Do things that hurt.

Don’t hurt yourself.

Never harm yourself in a way that you cannot heal yourself from.

You cannot escape.

You can free yourself and you may find release and you may be released.

Seek this and enjoy it.

Be kind.

Be realistic.

Overcome phobias.

Meditate on your biggest and realest fears. Realize that they are very possible.

Same is true for your wildest and most wholesome of desires.

Be kind.

Always be ready for anything. Be ready and prepared to experience great amounts of suffering.

Be ready for your life to change for the better.

Be kind.

Realize that you can imagine anything.

Be ready to die at any moment.

Be kind.

Resist wrongful death, needless harm, and chaos with every bit of strength that you have.

Be kind.

Do not be overly rigid, systematic, or orderly.

Practice and train every day.

Be kind.

Never stop analyzing the reality of the situation you are in.

Explore perspectives.

Change your mind as often as necessary.

Experience poverty.

Be abundant and prosperous.

Be angry, dysphoric, confused, and viscerally afraid.

Be content, euphoric, understanding, and confident.

Pay attention to the mind and how it influences the body and vis versa.

Be kind.

Hold that which fills your soul to be sacred.

Do not allow yourself to be filled falsely with materials or badness.

Be willing to sacrifice all other things at any time.

Be kind.

Never expect notice.

Good and bad things,

big and small, occur without warning.

Always be cognizant of warnings that do exist they are of great use.

Be kind.

Try doing new things regularly.

Focus more on what you are good at.

Take time to do nothing.

Attempt to stop thinking.

Be kind.

Have friends when you are young and when you are old.

Choose them wisely.

Be kind to them.

Understand and Know that there are many things that are not and cannot be known or understood.

Understand and Know that there are things that are known and understood.

Understand and Know that there are many thing not yet known or understood, and that some unknowns can and will be known and understood at some point.

Never assume about which of these three categories it is that things fall into.

Wait and see.

Be kind.

Visualize what you are going to do and make it good.

Do not hesitate.

Be kind.

Ask many questions.

Expect few answers.

Educate yourself.

Be kind.

Accept help.

Accept love.

Depend on no one.

In emotion, task, or finance.

Your responsibility to dependent people is to help them be independent.

Likewise when you are dependent understand that responsibility is the same, towards you, for those around you.

Be kind.

Know that, ultimately, you will not succeed.

Know that you will not be finished.

Know that you will make progress.

Realize that you affect your environment and others on a constant basis by existing.

Make an effort to leave things better than you found them.

Be kind.

Take care of animals.

Be friends with animals.

Never pass by a living creature in need of help if you are able to help.

Be kind to all living things.

Be aware of dangers and act cautiously.

Be reasonable.

Be kind.

Compromise with others.

Compromise with yourself when you feel torn.

You cannot compromise with The Source, The Creator, The Creation Mechanisms, or The Natural way.

Be true and you may be shown favor.

To be deceitful is to condemn yourself.

Be kind.

Take risks.

Be in control of your mind and actions.

Give control of your spirit to The Song and

Discard the illusion that you control anything else.

Be spontaneous.

Also be very skeptical of your impulses and evaluate probable outcomes. Make good decisions.

Be kind.

Seek to learn from others.

Practice and train regularly.

Discipline yourself and accept discipline from teachers.

Be kind.

Forgive.

Forgive harder for those who are more unforgivable.

Don’t stay where you are unwanted.

Do not assume that you are wanted or unwanted, wait to be told.

Don’t abandon people.

Don’t rush in.

Always assume people mean at least to some degree the things that they say.

Allow people to change their opinions, conclusions, and behaviors.

Don’t hang around with people that mistreat you repeatedly.

Don’t be mellow dramatic or over sensitive.

Be kind.

Don’t force anything.

Be gentle by default.

Increase exertion of power gradually and stop when appropriate.

Do not break things.

Fix things that are broken.

Be kind.

Understand that being positive is always and absolutely better than being negative.

Treat your body, mind, and, soul with great care.

Push your personal limits to become strong.

Be alone sometimes.

Drink as much water as you can.

Sleep, eat, and exercise as regularly and as naturally as you possibly can.

Attempt to be truly well and to maintain wellness.

Seek to help others become well.

Seek to understand that which may enter the body. Foods, medicines, poisons, venoms, intoxicants, all physical objects, sound, light, gases, electricity, and all waves and particles.

Never give or take too much or too little.

Be helpful.

Be kind to yourself.

Seek to understand invisible forces:

The Song, Love, Fear, Hate, Anger, History, and Death.

Seek to understand religious structures, social hierarchies, governments, laws, rules, bylaws, and all sorts of authority.

Do not go about important things in life as if you are playing a game. When you do this you will ultimately lose.

Never be unreasonably aggressive.

Never be passive-aggressive.

Be assertive.

Defend yourself when necessary.

Be quick and effective.

Change what you can.

Know what you cannot and accept it.

Have faith and have hope and act like it.

If you have no faith and no hope, get some before you do anything else.

Be kind some more.

Be present at all times even when looking towards the future or into the past.

Know what you are doing.

Be happy as much as you can.

Love wastefully.

In all other regards be non-wasteful.

Trust others.

Do not trust anyone blindly.

Be kind.

Know when you have very few options and when you have reached the end. Always choose to stay alive as long as the action required to ensure your chance of survival will not unreasonably endanger the lives of others.

Be ready to die at any moment.

Be calm.

Be kind forever.

-Mr. Hassle

#poetry #mantrum #destiny #travel #education #learning

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sciforce · 5 years ago

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AI at the Classroom: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

In recent decades we have seen technology changing our world in any sense: what was considered to be Sci-Fi ten years ago is around us now. But when you ask people which sphere remains outdated, you can hear a lot of complaints about the classroom. Despite new whiteboards and projectors, the schoolrooms of today are strikingly similar to those of 50 years ago. Students sit in a room together, listen to the same explanation and complete the same lessons with little variations no matter their learning styles or mastery. Some students are left behind, while others are bored and unmotivated.

AI is believed to be exactly the remedy to change this. The explosion in cheap computing power, development in algorithms, and the increase of available data are making possible new, sophisticated tools to teach children in a more personalized way. Yet, the school resists. In this post, we’ll try to explore the benefits and the risks of introducing AI in the classroom

AI: The Good

1. Personalized and Customized Learning: It is probably the most famous argument for Artificial Intelligence, since AI can let children choose everything: the learning pace, the curriculum, the form of education, and the educator. By using predictive computing, AI can learn students’ habits and propose the most efficient study schedule for them. On the other hand, AI can give teachers a better understanding of how their students learn and allows them to collect insights about every student they teach, develop an individualized approach, and handle even the toughest kids easier.

2. Adaptive Group Formation: No class is truly homogeneous: there are always more and less academically inclined kids. By analyzing learner information, AI can generate groups whose motivation or skills are particularly suited to a certain task, or groups that balance one learner’s weaknesses with another learner’s strengths.

3. 24/7 response: Every person has a biorhythm and the brain function of larks and night owls differ. But at a traditional classroom, all students are equal before morning hours. Moreover, they cannot contact teachers whenever we need an answer to a question or suddenly “feel like studying”. AI doesn’t need to take breaks, it doesn’t get annoyed because someone called at 1 am, so everyone can contact a virtual tutor whenever he needs academic assistance. Virtual humans like avatars, digital assistants or chatbots are cost efficient and can work all day round, seven days a week in repetitive and time-consuming tasks no human enjoys doing.

4. Virtual Reality Learning: Speaking about the virtual world, VR-assisted learning allows for educational support in authentic environments and extends the boundaries of the classroom. Students can visit places we’ve never been to, do something we’ve never done and get closer to things they learn about — space and nature, complex projects and concepts.

5. Learning for all: The challenge of education is tough for every child, but it gets even more severe for kids with special needs or children of emigrants. They have to cope with the learning process, the environment they learn in, their community and the lifestyle. AI programs that augment the educational experience for the disabled are already in development by companies like Facebook and are aimed at granting learners with special needs a greater sense of autonomy. At the same time, AI-driven machine translation projects try to bridge the language gap for many second language students that is a possibility to foreign students to understand their teacher in real time.

6. New methods of teaching: If other points concern class management and organization, this concerns real innovations in pedagogy. Game learning with the help of bots, Intelligent Tutoring Systems that challenge and support learners using different algorithms, intelligent moderation and real-time problem solving are just a few examples of new concept of the learning process that can disrupt the traditional classroom.

7.Assistance to teachers. AI can help teachers be more effective and efficient in their work in several ways. For example, they can outsource grading to specialized apps sparing a large portion of their time. Besides, AI can improve the course and the relevant textbooks by analysing patterns in which a large number of students submit wrong answers to the same questions and attracting teachers’ attention to such areas of improvement.

8. Increasing tech experience for students. These days, technology is needed in every professional activity and the importance of acquiring STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) skills grows. So, it’s better that children start learning to use it as early as possible. The use of artificial intelligence shows the power of tech and coding and might encourage schoolchildren to proceed with learning STEM.

Source: https://medium.com/ai-revolution/when-will-the-first-machine-become-superintelligent-ae5a6f128503#.g8ydf092h

AI: the Bad

Obviously, all developments come at a certain cost and usually entail falls in other areas. Bringing Artificial Intelligence to classroom may not be always beneficial for schools and learners and their families.

1. Cost: The challenge that schools face immediately is the high cost of the new technology. When combining the cost of installation, maintenance and repair, as well as the cost of power consumed by new robot teachers, it becomes clear that AI is expensive.

2. Lack of personal bond: It may be true that smart machines have more information and this information is more trustful and recent than that of human teachers. However, educators are not just keepers of knowledge, they give children personal guidance, influence their worldview and lead them by example. Substituting personal interaction with machine-based education can lead to educational oversights that hurt learners more than help.

3. Children’s ability to learn from a virtual assistant is still unclear. The biggest open question is whether students will be motivated enough to study when teachers are not there to supervise.The teacher is a central figure during the formative years, and sometimes it’s the wish to impress a teacher that makes a kid eager to master the subject. Sometimes, on the contrary, it is the teacher who embodies the power and makes a reluctant child learn. How will children react to the absence of such a person in their life?

4. The attention span and the ability to multitask reduces. New technology shortens human attention span, as research suggests. We use so much help from machines that our own abilities shrink. By introducing more machines at school, there is a great risk that children will become so used to relying on AI that their abilities to multitask or to focus will get even smaller.

AI: The Ugly

Artificial Intelligence is quite often depicted as an evil power able to ruin the Earth and wipe away mankind. Though it is an artistic exaggeration, AI can lead to societal shifts, including those at the classroom, that are quite harmful and even dangerous.

1. Unemployment: At present, teaching is one of the biggest professional branches. Therefore, if we replace teachers with machines, it will create less of a demand for human educators and, consequently, it will lead to high unemployment and protests. Just remember the times of the industrial revolution when people were replaced by machines with same functions there were strikes and wars.

2. Addiction: We know that our reliance on machines can lead to technology addiction. A school is traditionally a place where children dump their mobile phones and get to open a traditional book. With tech implemented in every classroom, kids can become too used to having their devices always ready for them. As a result, we can end up with a bunch of socially-unadapted technology-addicted adults in several decades.

3. AI-based power: The sad truth is that the power belongs to those who have means to control our minds. Even without thinking of possible biases fed to learners by the officially distributed software, there is always a risk that someone hacks the code and gains the power of spreading violent, inappropriate information and propaganda.

4. Widening of the rich-poor gap: At the early stages of AI conquering the classroom, bots and other AI learning tools will require a student to have a tablet or a laptop. Of course, nowadays not every child has these gadgets, so having AI will become a privilege of the rich. However, it is believed that with the development of new technologies, robots and AI will become more common, while having a human tutor will be a luxury.

5. Mind control: This time, quite literal. Chinese high schools are currently busy introducing technology that either scans students’ faces every 30 seconds or read their brainwaves, looking to see if students are paying attention or losing interest. Besides from being stressful and innervating to the children and probably disrupting their joy of learning, AI-powered tools also run the risk of creating classroom-based, mini-surveillance states.

So what is the future of AI at school?

Despite having great benefits for schools and success in other spheres and industries, AI hasn’t made huge inroads into schools yet. That is partially due to how conservative the field is compared to other areas and due to the limited resources. However, the biggest obstacle might be the concern over the influence AI might have on children.

In this sense, introducing AI at school can be compared with the decades-long debates over the GMO: recent studies might have proved it safe, but the prejudice remains on agenda. Yet, it is a cheaper option, and it is often the price (and laziness) that underlies our choices and pushes us forward. So, once AI outbeats a human teacher in cost-efficiency, we all will welcome robots at our schools — for better or for worse.

#education #artificial intelligence #data science #future #classroom

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sighlights-blog · 8 years ago

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Investing: What You Need To Know To Succeed

You are probably wondering how people are able to make investments and secure their financial future? Would you enjoy being someone that doesn't need to worry about money when you retire? If you answered yes, the following article is for you. Before investing in any form of real estate, make sure you analyze the market and go out and do some research. Look at between 50 and 100 properties in the area you're interested in, and keep a spreadsheet full of notes. The things you should be looking at are the current prices, repair budgets, and expected rent. This will help you sift through the deals to sort good from bad. You need to become educated in real estate prior to investing. Doing your research and educating yourself is an important part of investing in real estate. You can read books, watch DVD programs, sign up for workshops and take classes to learn all about real estate. Understand that time is money. It may be enjoyable to fix up interesting properties; however, you must consider the value of your time. Or is it better suited to looking for the next great opportunity? Whatever you can outsource, do it. It's worth it to free some time for focusing on other important aspects of the business. Once you have a property and it needs improvements, do not dig unless you have called the proper authorities about what lines are buried within. This prevents any fines or even serious harm if you accidentally damage a line. Avoid purchasing properties in bad neighborhoods. Focus on the area of the home you are interested in. Do your research. Homes in bad neighborhoods are often low-priced. They can prove hard sells, and you risk crime in the meantime. You may want to expand your options and invest in business properties rather than residential units. Properties that are businesses can help you get rentals in the long term, and you can make a lot off of them. Possibilities include a business complex or a strip mall, which offers many opportunities in investing. Learn to get along with others. Rather than looking at other investors or buyers as your competitors, work with them. When you do this, you can start sharing resources and your client lists while pooling the collection of properties you all have to offer. When you help each other, a large group of satisfied clients can be built. This helps your reputation. Be careful not to waste all your time on one deal alone. If you do, you aren't getting a deal on the property at all. What it really means is that you don't have other potential deals going on from a lack of getting out there and marketing your investment interests and money. You might encounter some of the people you know trying to tell you that you should stay away from investing in real estate. You will have to tune their criticism out and educate yourself so you can make smart choices with your money. The exception are people with more money than you and better ideas on how to use it. If you are interested in putting your money in a rental unit, you should check out every tenant in the property. Those you can't trust are likely sources of damage to your investment. Although knowing more about the background of a tenant doesn't guarantee they will be responsible, it helps you select wisely. There are quite a few things to do when it comes to investing, and this article should have helped you with this. When you memorize the advice here and make wise choices, you can invest with confidence and success. Share what you have learned with the people in your life.

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ashlynnbwrd-110-108-blog · 8 years ago

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Blog post 8

Scrutton, Roger A. “Outdoor adventure education for children in Scotland: quantifying the benefits.” Journal of Adventure Education and Outdoor Learning, vol. 15, no. 2, 2014, pp. 123–137., doi:10.1080/14729679.2013.867813.

This source is an academic journal that talks about an experiment constructed by Michael Gove and Ian Pearson. During this academic journal, they present their findings on the benefits of outdoor learning and what this outdoor learning has done for students in different areas and how that affects students in each area differently. There are key points that are presented in this journal and those are stated after the experiment has been constructed as a result. Due to the fact that these are presented once the information has been collected it shows that these are results. There were information samples collected from multiple places therefore these results are more reliable considering they gather information from multiple areas.

This source will be extremely helpful in my podcast because not only are they just stated facts that support my claim but they are facts that have evidence to back them up. These facts that are drawn from these experiments are in favor of what I am proposing; more outdoor study spaces due to the fact that they are beneficial. This source provides reliable information and claims and we know these are reliable as they are real results that can be reviewed in this academic journal as the finding to the experiments are stated. The variety of students tested and areas add to the reliability of everything concluded and thus create a source that overall can be trusted. The entire life of these experiment conductors has to deal with experimenting and finding the results of learning outside the classroom. Their goal is to find the outcomes, good or bad, and that is what sets this source apart. It is not biased.

“Http://Ljournal.ru/Wp-Content/Uploads/2016/08/d-2016-154.Pdf.” 2016, doi:10.18411/d-2016-154.

This source is another academic journal that does intensive research on the outcomes of outdoor learning. This article has an abstract way of looking at the outdoor education spaces and then those effects that this has on students. This article goes deep into analyzing the outdoor education effects and then takes the findings and compares them to other studies and other information that can be used to widen the claim. This program creates a scoring system to use with the study that has been conducted but also uses this scoring system on places that do not offer outdoor study spaces to get evidence from everywhere and create a more accurate. The most important concepts of learning are analyzed in both outdoor and indoor leaning environments and this is where the most important evidence comes from.

This article has very helpful information that I can use in my podcast to present the benefits of outdoor study spaces and what they can do. This information that I will take will be mostly facts and statistics because having these in my podcast will help me to show the true benefits. With these statistics and numbers from this academic journal will do a lot for the credibility of my podcast. Real statistics and numbers can create a picture of really how helpful what I present with the outdoor study spaces will be. This article is extremely reliable as these are doctors and scientists conducting these very intrusive tests and then deeply researching and inquiring about them.

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gefiltefishwhereareweonthis · 8 years ago

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Could you please give more details about current situation in Poland? What's making you so disappointed in it?

Where do I start…..(chuckles ironically)

TLDR version:

1)The whole country is ruled by a small, xenophobic, traumatized old man, who has no touch with reality, the current state of affairs in Europe as well as the world.

2)The government has no respect for the democratic institutions. (They blocked the Constitutional Tribunal, they pass their bills using illegal and shifty ways)

3)The are highly incompetent and have no respect for the former government and they want to turn everything upside down out of spite instead of building on the structure that we already have.

4)They took over some media and spread their populist bullshit through them.

5) Half of the people eligible to vote do not think that it is a great privilege of a functioning democratic system to actually go and cast their ballot. Instead, they are very “MEH” about it. The current government justifies their actions by saying that the people elected them, while actually they won only with around 5,7 mln votes, which is very little, knowing that there is around 30 mln of people eligible to vote in Poland.

ps. The Ruling party’s name is ‘PiS’, Prawo i Sprawiedliwość (Law and Justice) which is very ironic, because as you might have noticed, they respect neither while pissing all over us with a stupid smirk on their faces.

You’ll find a more detailed answer under the cut:

Basically, the whole country is run from the backseat by a regular MP, Kaczyński, who does not occupy any official position in the government, apart from being the leader of the ruling party. He just issues orders to his minions (let me tell you that our PM is a spineless piece of a woman, she is basically our own Paul Ryan), making him not responsible for any of the shit that is going down right now. Even the president is his puppet as he privately consults everything with him and signs every parliamentary project that lands on his desk. Sounds familiar?

Now, the thing with Kaczyński - he is the source of the whole evil. To understand what’s going on, we need to look at him holistically. So first, he lost his twin brother in a plane crash in 2010, along with his sister in law. Most probably, because he himself pressured to some extent his brother, who at the time was the president, to land despite the bad weather conditions - why did the president had any say in whether the plane should land or not, is beyond me. So, due to the huge amount of incompetence of the people on board, they crashed and Kaczyński lost his close family, which must have been a very traumatic experience. Now, to his great success, he built his political potential around the idea that it was the government’s fault that the plane crashed (he was in the opposition back then). I don’t know if it was because he was in denial about the whole thing, but it looked as though he was on his personal vendetta to avenge his brother’s death. People listened to him, because he is the same xenophobic, intolerant short-sighted little old man, the same kind as his electorate - people from poor regions, who feel neglected and not taken care of, who are xenophobic and homophobic and “patriotic” but in the stupidest way possible, by blindly believing that Poland’s history is great and we were screwed over by so many countries that we should not trust anyone anymore and we have only enemies. So Kaczynski fed right into that with his narrative and his party won the parliamentary elections two years ago. And thus, the shitshow of “screw the democratic values” began.

Right now:

The Constitutional Tribunal - the organ in the government that checks whether the bill passed are constitutional is blocked. They do not analyze the submitted bills and documents regarding to their importance, for example a bill that is potentially unconstitutional has no priority over other matters. Right now, bills and documents are examined as they were submitted chronologically, and there are already many cases covered in dust waiting for their turn in the Constitutional Tribunal whose constitutionality is to be examined, so by the time the budget bill gets looked into (which was illegally pushed under the table and then approved last year in December) Poland may cease to exists…Nah kidding. Or am I?

This government is ridden with incompetent people who have no fucking idea what they are doing. Take our Foreign Affairs Minister, going around making up the names of the countries that don’t exist. He was fired from every diplomatic position he occupied under the former government, that is very telling, don’t you think? And he is not the only incompetent one.

Our Education Minister changed the educational system and right now we are going back to what was before, and hold on to something this is gonna be good, IN THE COMMUNIST TIMES. There used to be 8 grades primary school and then 4 year high school. Right now, we have (still) 6 grades primary schools, 3 years middle schools, and 4 years high schools, which is a good solution, as it allows very small children with different educational needs not to be thrown in into the same building with adolescents with skyrocketing hormones. Now, we adapted this system like a 18 years ago, and since then a lot of school buildings, with a certain student age group in mind have been built. For example, Idk, things like classroom equipment or smaller toilet bowls, so that a 6 year old girl could go to the toilet herself and not fall into the toilet bowl because it’s too big for her, you know? Not to mention the teachers who are going to lose their jobs or… the costs or adapting the classrooms or.. gah. They are turning everything upside down, but not in a good faith and after long and lucrative consultations with parents and teachers. No. They are turning everything upside down out of spite. Because Polish educational system sucks and it is a disaster.

It is not. Our teachers are among the most qualified teachers in the world, we have well equipped schools and classrooms (thanks the EU for your money) and it would be better, and saner, to ameliorate what we’ve already have. But no. You see the extent of this myopic approach?

They took over the media (some part of it is state owned so they grabbed at it and they won’t let go), and spread their populist propaganda, but they are already going down. Only 52 percent of the respondents, according to the latest poll, trust the state owned media. Other than that, we have private media, too, and thanks god, because they are the only source of reliable information and the bedrock of some kind of journalistic integrity. Let me just say, that most of the journalists that worked in the state owned media under the former centrist government, but were not in line with the current ruling party’s agenda were fired.

The ruling party is a populist shit of a party. They basically bought their voters by giving them an extra monthly allowance, on the condition that you have more than one kid and do not reach a certain level of revenue for a household. And let me just mention, that those people from poor regions have a lot of kids, so there you go. See how a simple tool can get you votes. Now, why it was so easy? There are a few reasons for that. And here they are:

1) The transformation, in 1989, panned out in so many different ways. There were some people who were able to deal with the changes, and adapt to the new reality, but they were plenty of people who weren’t. In the communist times, almost everybody had a job - people with qualifications, people without qualifications. EVERYBODY got paid and had a sufficient amount of money to make a living. Then, the communist system collapsed, rightly so, and the free market economy overtook Poland. So suddenly, your qualifications and job formation mattered, but more importantly, suddenly it mattered even more, who you knew and what were your connections, as people were scrambling to gather their bearings in the new system that was not truly set in stone yet. Some people, due to their connections with the government, gained a lot on the privatization that was due to happen under the new economic conditions, which was a common occurrence in the communist times too. People without the connections, or not previously involved with the politics during the communist times and later, and there were many people like these, just tiring to survive from day to day, without any second thought about the system that oppressed them, because they actually lived quite well, were left to their own devices and ended up being left out. (I think Vaclav Havel describes it very well in his book ‘To the castle and back’. Unfortunately, I left it at home, but if you are interested, read it, it’s very good and gives you an insight into the mechanisms ruling a postcomunist country). Suddenly, people were poor and the new government who was still under transition was not able to take care of everything at once as we were left in a huge debt created by the communist government. Now all that created the motion that people in the government are thieves and that motion still perpetuates to this day. And the ruling party, picked it up and made it a part of their narrative during the elections. They wanted to reach that certain group of people, those who feel neglected and are distrustful, and they were very successful with that.

2) The previous government started to get sloppy during their second term. They didn’t want to look to the matters that actually mattered to people, like domestic social policy, ie. subsidies for parents who are trying to get pregnant through the in-vitro method, or subsidies for single mothers or coming up with a financial solution that would allow raising retirement pensions. Only later in their second term, they started to panic and took care of some of the elements of social policy to ameliorate the lives of people, but it was already too late. People were already convinced that the government again, did not do anything for them, and they should get other guys a chance.

3) People actually don’t go and vote. The voters turnout for the parliamentary elections is around 50%, for presidential elections around 60%, which is really ironic, because what matters more is what the ruling party is, not who is the president, as in our “democracy” the president has a figurative role. Here is what happened in the latest parliamentary elections: around 19 mln people voted, the ruling party gained around 37 % of all the votes, which transfers into 5.7 mln people. Yes. 5.7 mln people decided about the future of the 38 mln country, because the other half eligible to vote could not get their asses off the couch on a Sunday afternoon and go cast a ballot, because “There is nobody I would vote for” or “They’re all thieves anyway”. That is all to say that we are still a very young democracy, whose people have yet to built a strong sense of responsibility for this country, because for so many years, they simply didn’t have to take any. That is a real problem still, and it keeps screwing us over. The government now justifies their actions by saying that “people voted for us, we won, people trusted us so we do what people want us to do” what a bucket of bullshit. But they know it, and yet, they are lying into everybody’s faces.

I could go on and on about the current political situation. I haven’t even mentioned the role of the Catholic Church in all of this, or our current relations with the EU, or the Ministry of Justice… The list of their sins is long.

But here is my version of what is making me so disappointed in the current political situation in my country. And please bear in mind, that I probably have a very limited knowledge about the full state of affairs in the government. After all, I am just an ordinary citizen.

#Anonymous

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jewpacabruhs · 8 years ago

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so out of boredom i wanted to go in depth about something from a certain ep. in ‘the death of eric cartman’, from season 10, kyle calls cartman a “fat, racist, self-centered, intolerant, manipulating sociopath”. as we all know, it’s pretty easy to label someone a certain way, when in actuality stuff tends to go so much deeper than a couple of summarizing words. so i wanted to analyze each of those six titles that seem to follow cartman around.

1) fat. yes, hes overweight; there’s no denying that. it shouldn’t be included in this list of negatives, but kids are shallow.

2) racist. while there’s no denying he’s blatantly racist, i don’t think cartman understands the depth of racism at his age, and therefore it’s not genuine. none of the kids, except for token and nichole and maybe kyle, do. i myself was pretty racist until around thirteen or fourteen, because i’d been raised like that and i didn’t know any better. despite being jewish (granted, i didn’t experience any anti-semitism until i started to embrace my religion recently), i found harmful stereotypes about non-white people to be funny & often said them in jest, until i started educating myself and realized how harmful doing that was. unfortunately a lot of people don’t outgrow the racism they learn as children. point is, i think cartman doesn’t understand the magnitude of racism and it’s harmful effect on poc. then again, he doesn't care about any one but himself, and things that don’t directly involve him don’t concern him, so you can’t expect him to. but considering his recent pc arc, maybe he’ll mature a little. unfortunately, as of now, i think he just views making racist remarks as another thing that gets him attention. he’ll take any attention he can get, and negative attention is easiest to get. how to get negative attention? make everyone hate you. how to do that? display hatred towards everyone else.

3) self-centered. he’s most definitely self-centered. i think cartman got a very extreme case of only child-syndrome (general selfishness, bossiness, etc. i myself was an only child until twelve, and i was a goddamn pain to be friends with, i’ll tell you that) that was magnified by abuse and neglect from his mother. he’s developed a me-against-the-world complex. not to mention he’s very intelligent, and he knows it, which led to some intense narcissism (or perhaps that’s a front to hide his insecurity, because there’s been a couple of instances where cartman’s grandiose facade cracked and we got a glimpse of the vulnerable kid underneath). that intelligence, regardless of how little he demonstrates it on a daily basis, also alienates him from the rest of south park, who are airheads. and while i can’t deny he’s undeniably clever, and that’s a positive for him, his self image of his psychical body is all false bravado; he’s convinced himself he’s strong, attractive, and manly, when in reality he’s chubby, weak, fairly repulsive (albeit charming), and a little more on the feminine side, if we’re generalizing - he’s emotional, sassy, manipulative, and on a more psychological level, he cross-dresses, plays with dolls, and is, canonically, attracted to boys. he doesn’t like himself, even if he pretends he does. now, personally, i believe all humans are self-centered - at the end of the day, do we genuinely care about each other people’s trivial problems? then again, i’m a raging nihilist. regardless, cartman’s put up a facade of who he thinks he should be, who he wants to be. his use of derogatory language towards others (not the personal attacks, like calling kyle a filthy jew or token a black piece of shit or whatever, but the general ones, like “hey, f*gs” or “whats up, dickwads”, yanno), it’s all to make himself feel better about himself. to try to put himself on a pedestal, so he’s untouchable, and he does this by demeaning others. his use of the f word in particular, and i’m not talking about fuck, is likely internalized homophobia.

4) intolerant. ties back into racism - he’s intolerant because he thinks it’s cool. he thinks bigotry is badass, and he’s obsessed with his own image, similarly to stan, only stan actually has morals and a decent sense of wrong vs right. stan will do anything to make himself look good, but only in socially acceptable ways. cartman, on the other hand, has no concept of what’s socially acceptable, and merely does things to the beat of his own drum; whatever he thinks is right, in his own eyes, he believes wholeheartedly, and he practices what he, and he alone, preaches. he thinks that, by spouting hateful bullshit, he, again, is putting himself up on a pedestal, which is exactly where he wants to be (and likely thinks he belongs). have you ever met/talked to a bigot who wasn’t a raging narcissist? i haven’t. cartman also clearly doesn’t know how to be nice, as shown in casa bonita; hate is all he knows. it’s his defense mechanism, likely because, subconsciously, he’s afraid to let people get close. he doesn’t want emotional intimacy with anyone because he doesn’t want to be genuinely vulnerable (partly because he likely considers vulnerability as “faggy” or “girly”, and his ego won’t allow that, and partly because he doesn’t want the walls he’s built up to be torn down - no bey reference intended, i swear). the only people he’s ever really opened up to have been his mom and butters, and with his mom he usually wants something and he’s exaggerating. butters, i think he trusts to some degree, because he knows butters is a dweeb and he’s naive enough to not entirely understand the difference between cartman’s true(?) nature and his facade, considering his erratic moods. still, even then, butters has shared cartman’s secrets time and time again, which probably proved to cartman that he really cant trust anyone. anyway, like i said, i don’t think the intolerance is genuine, i think he thinks it’s cool and he likes how controversial his remarks are, because, like i said, to cartman, any attention is good attention.

5) manipulative. he’s definitely manipulative, that’s undeniable. but i don’t think manipulation’s inherently bad, honestly; if you’re smooth enough to be able to talk yourself into getting your way all the time, good for you. if your morals are so shaky that you’re able to walk on other people to achieve personal success, you’re probably gonna move up quicker in the world, and i can respect that. cartman’s realized this at a young age, and he utilizes his charm. albeit, he often uses his power for evil, but still.

6) sociopath. this is the one i wanna talk about thoroughly. people don’t seem to understand the psychological meaning of 'psychopath’ or 'sociopath’, or any other psychological diagnosis. i’m not an expert, but i’ve researched psychology extensively, so i’d like to think i’m somewhat of a reputable source when it comes to this sort of stuff. and while i hate to try and stick a label on a fictional fourth grader, it’s pretty fascinating to try. however, you should still take everything i say with a grain of salt. anyway, so, admittedly, on the surface you would think cartman was a sociopath. he lacks empathy and manipulates as necessary without guilt, and while i think he definitely displays antisocial and narcissistic traits, i don’t think hes a sociopath. if anything, he displays some symptoms of high-functioning aspergers (ironic, considering that one episode). as someone on the autistic spectrum, i hardly want him as an example of an autistic person. but he sort of reminds me of someone i studied extensively while researching criminal psychology - one jeffrey dahmer (the real one, not the south park parody version of him). dahmer was officially diagnosed with bpd and schizotypal pd, among others, but a few of the many psychologists he spoke to following his arrest diagnosed him with aspergers. dahmer’s personality would go from awkward, reserved, and gentlemanly, to cocky, aggressive, and cruel. this could’ve been the bpd & aspergers/szpd (which is, more or less, aspergers & schizophrenia smushed together) coinciding. a little personal input: i myself have been diagnosed with a lot of different shit by several different therapists, but my lack of empathy and aloof attitude have been persistent symptoms in each of the diagnoses. if i compare myself to a friend of mine who has bpd, we’re pretty damn different. but if mashed together, we’d roughly make a dahmer-like personality, i think - and possibly a cartman-like personality. see, cartman’s behavior is very sporadic and unexpected. his default tone of speech (which says a lot about a person) seems to be a sarcastic but detached sort of drawl, which reflects his laid-back and idgaf-esque manner. he’s easily agitated, in which case his voice raises, often in a matter of seconds, before he’s returned to his relatively calm usual demeanor. the anger usually doesn’t last, unless it’s a heated argument. when angered, he can be driven to severely injuring people, without a second thought, because he lacks empathy. he blindly follows trends if they make him look cool, although i don’t think he really has a concept of what’s cool, nor does he care, i think he just tries to blend in to some degree to avoid ridicule, and because he wants people to like him. he’s assertive and straight-forward, doesn’t care if he hurts feelings, and doesn’t concern himself with people’s problems or opinions, although i think he cares about what people think about him a lot more than he cares to admit. that’s another thing that’s interesting; how he’s hated by everyone, despite his need for validation, and his brain twists things so he thinks people like him instead of just tolerate him. it’s crazy. anyway, i dunno, not making diagnoses, just bringing up symptoms and possibilities. and that’s all. gnite.

#cartman #analysis #mine #txt

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