#careful there Patrick has a tendency to Adopt

[mythvoiced]

"Merry Christmas." She hands Patrick a stick. Tied with a bow. A cheeky grin across her lips. "Want me to throw it?"

@astremourante | Amelia ma'am--

---

It's a joke, obviously.

Well, even if she did mean it, she couldn't be serious about it. There's no seriousness one could apply to gifting someone a stick as a continued not-so-elaborate joke at his expense.

She couldn't possibly, genuinely be asking him if he wanted her to throw the stick just so he could, what, fetch it for her?

Fenrir nearly a thousand years ago might have mauled her for the suggestion or entertained her for a far too costly price.

Patrick barely has the energy left sigh at her. She can't possibly expect him to muster up what it takes to play with her, as adorable as the idea sounds if you regard it from very, very far away.

Truth is, he likes her. He's quick to grow fond of someone, no matter how aggressively he combats any and all attempt at emotion in this context. He likes her wit and the guts she has to pull through with things like these. Maybe he simply and genuinely thinks she's cute, the way one might call a puppy cute or a particularly mischievous kitten, which he assumes suits her better.

Otherwise, he would have put an end to this ages ago.

Not to mention that, even though it's a joke and the gift is awful, the idea he was thought of at least at one point in relation to her Christmas does smooth any frown lines he might have felt intent on showing.

He takes the stick.

"No, thank you," he can't help the disbelieving smile this time. Why does he keep getting himself... "Merry Christmas," he plucks something out of the pocket of his coat: a cute key-chain with the face of a comically angry dog on it, holding a stick between its cartoonish jaws.

"If you ever miss getting to throw me a stick, here, imagine you did in spirit," and it's a jest on his part too, how else should he approach this otherwise. Only with the touch of gentleness in his smile? No, better to add something silly.

[earlgreytea68]

If you're so inclined/have the time, are there any fics you've read lately that blew you away? Any fandom works! I'm not super specific about what I read so long as the story is engrossing but I've been hunting around for some good, curated reclists with different fics than I usually see named and I haven't found any. I'm a bandom person with Inception tendencies if that makes a difference :)

I admit that I actually haven't had a ton of time to read fics lately. In between work and family, I steal time to write but haven't found as much time to read. (This is why I'm behind on comments, I've been using that time to write, under the assumption that no one was going to complain about getting a Christmas fic.)

Anyway! I assume you have seen all of my rec lists? I JUST SPENT FOREVER LOOKING FOR THESE, WHY IS TUMBLR THE WORST.

Anyway! I finally found them! Here they are!

Some updates to add:

Before It's Voiced by folie_aplusieurs: merman AU

Power On by folie_aplusieurs: loved this robot AU

A Common Understanding by joyfulseeker: kind of a sci-fi Regency?? Idk, it's really good

how the future's done by whatimages: Patrick decides he wants to adopt a baby, and Pete promises to help him out <3

Anything You Say Can and Will Be Held Against You by StormDancer: Okay, there is a scene in this fic, it takes place at the end of a New Year's Eve party, and it's probably the hottest thing I've ever read and no one even has sex and when I finished reading it I had to walk away from the fic because I couldn't even imagine just going on hahahah it's THAT GOOD a scene so even if you don't read Omegaverse you should go read this one and then when you get to that scene come back and talk to me.

WIPs:

i don't care if i never get back by looks_a_scream: A baseball fake dating AU is basically tailor-made for me and I hope it comes back someday.

The House on Rosewood Lane by scarredsodeep: This is proper horror and it is really well done.

[e-vasong]

Leverage AU ideas

Submission (Hey, it looked like tumblr sent this to me under your real name, so I’m not gonna say who submitted it just in case that was an accident, but @ submitter if you want credit feel free to hit me up with a URL or something, or reblog this and @ me or whatever!):

 Idrk how tumblr works but, for your leverage au: Vanya is Reggie’s real daughter which is why she has the violin but she was neglected bc reggie was obsessed with the others. The others are jealous of Vanya for her normal life/being Reggie’s real kid.

Eventually however she comes to the for help (probably bc of Lenard) and she helps them and they become a real family.

Maybe at some point she gets infected with a bio weapon that could kill everyone (maybe lenard tries to sell it to the commission) or learns dangerous information and they all have to save Vanya!

Oh God.  (Presuming these are about the Reginald-As-Archie-Raises-The-Kids-As-Criminals AU.)  These are so good.

The others are all homeless kids or kids from the system that Reggie plucked out and adopted because he saw tendencies in them that he believed, with training, could make them the best team of criminals around.

And this all translates so well to the canon dynamic where Vanya/the rest of the family both don’t really process the abuse endured by the other party.

Reginald neglects Vanya in favor of the others; tells them they have potential.  And when Vanya asks to join in on the lessons he tells her that she has no talent at all.  He tells her again and again how he chose the others, and the implication is clear.  That if it had been up to him, he never would have chosen her at all.

Meanwhile, the others are jealous of Vanya, Reginald’s biological kid.  They’re always aware, on some level, that he only took them in because he thought they might be useful--that it was money and power that brought them into his care, as if he’d bought them.  That he could always just...put them back, in a way they feel he can’t do with Vanya.  They look at Vanya, who spends her days practicing the violin and studying normal school subjects while they have to devote their days to things like disabling laser grids, swindling people out of their funds, and getting beaten into the ground in martial arts training, and they’re--they’re jealous.  Of course they are, even if they don’t know it.

It takes them a long time (though not as long as in canon, I think) to realize they never should have blamed each other.  It was always their father.

Instead of writing a tell-all book, Vanya turns over a bunch of information to the FBI.  Their father gets arrested, a handful of the siblings get their covers blown on an important job and almost get killed by the mark’s henchman.  It’s a shitshow all around.  Their dad’s the only one to go to jail, though before he serves any real time a sniper takes him out through a courthouse window.  They can’t figure out who did it; the mystery haunts them all for years.  The others don’t get caught, but they’re still furious that Vanya almost got them killed.

(And later, much later, Vanya will join up with her family to run a con.  Some of them haven’t let go of their suspicion and hurt yet.  She doesn’t quite blame them, but it still stings.  But here’s the thing.  There are always people out there looking to exploit weakness.  And Vanya will argue with her siblings.  Diego will snap: don’t pretend like you care, you almost got us killed!

And Harold Jenkins will be waiting.  Once a young homeless thief and grifter himself, Harold heard of Reginald Hargreeves collecting prodigious young criminals off the street and begged, begged Hargreeves to take him in.  Hargreeves had sniffed, shouldered the child out of the way.  If you really had any talent, Hargreeves had said, you would have conned me into it.

But Reginald Hargreeves’ vision had always been flawed.  Harold is no perfect criminal, but he’s a dangerous one.  And when Vanya storms out of the team’s homebase in the torrential rain, Harold pops his hood up, plasters the gentle, personable smile of Leonard Peabody onto his face, and sets his con into motion.)

They all split ways for a while, the way I described in my other post.  Allison keeps grifting.  Falls in love with a mark, Patrick, at one point.  It ends badly.  Ben and Klaus are a hacker/thief duo, except Ben has more scruples about who they victimize than Klaus, and it makes things tense as hell between them sometimes.  Diego is working as a ‘retrieval specialist’ with an intense moral code and a willingness to turn on anyone that hires him if they prove themselves shitty enough.  Luther gets out of the life and goes to live in the same apartment complex as Vanya.  They end up staying close the whole time, with Vanya giving music lessons out of her apartment and Luther teaching martial arts classes.

And then they all get a missive.  An invitation, a promise of a job.  Luther almost throws it away, but Vanya stops him.  We should check it out, she says.  And so they do.  And there they find all the others: Diego, Allison, Klaus, and Ben.

And Five.  Five, the brother they’ve long thought dead.  He looks tired.  And after he fields their frantic embraces, their questions, and even lets them cry on him a bit (though he doesn’t look very happy about it), he leans back, and he tells them he has a job to offer them all.

He gets a chorus of rejections almost immediately.  Vanya presumes she isn’t invited.  Luther says he’s out of the game, and Allison says she’s trying to get out.  Diego mainly seems skeptical that Five has anything worth offering.  Klaus wants to go back to his apartment and not take jobs that are like, hard, or anything.  Low risk only, please.  Come on, Ben, let’s go.

Ben shoots Klaus a furious glare.  Actually, he says.  I can make my own decisions, Klaus.  I want to hear what Five has to say.

Five has to repress a grin. Ben has always been Five’s favorite brother.

Five puts a manila folder on the table.  His siblings pick it up, start passing it around.  It’s not long before they’re frowning, clearly distressed by what they’re reading.

“His name is James Moore,” Five says.  “He’s seven years old.  He has a rare blood disease, but there’s a new experimental treatment that his doctors believe could save his life.  His insurance company is refusing to pay for his treatment; they keep forcing the family to jump through loopholes.  It’s a, uh, company policy that they didn’t include in the contract.  Stall paying for treatment until it’s too late.  Commit a moral atrocity, let innocents die, profit.  Y’know how it goes.  Age old story, really.”

“I don’t con sick people,” Diego says, and Five rolls his eyes.

“Good, because that’s not what I’m suggesting.”

“The insurance company?” Allison catches on first.  Ben follows suit, eyebrows shooting up as he realizes what Five is saying.  “You’re suggesting we con Perseus Insurance?  Owned by one of the most powerful men in the world?  That Perseus Insurance?”

Five leans forward, rests his elbows on his knees.  He’s planned this speech.  He has a plan to take down the Commission, but it involves moving a lot of pieces very, very slowly.  And if he can take down some other bad people along the way?  Good.  But he needs a team he can trust.  He needs his family, which means this pitch needs to work.  

“The rich and powerful take what they want,” Five says slowly.  “Right now, James and his family,” he gestures to the Moore file, “are suffering under an enormous weight.  I’m suggesting that we provide...leverage.”

[umbrellafics]

Hello fellow umbrellas I’m gonna give my two cents on Lila and her relationship with Diego

*SEASON TWO SPOILERS AHEAD*

Lila’s Character

Lila is a personal favorite tua character of mine but I do have some criticisms for her which can be found here. Now in my opinion The Umbrella Academy characters are meant to have flaws and be realistically portrayed to make them more relatable and I enjoy that aspect of the show. Lila is a character that can relate to those who have been manipulated by their parental figures, similar to the original seven. Now I’m going to try to pinpoint some core facets of Lila’s character.

Her fear of her parental figure (The Handler)

Her lack of a male figure in her life

Her distancing and lack of empathy toward people she distrusts

Her lack/need of an emotional support (The Handler showed some but mainly treated Lila as a coworker)

Her need to be a sheep but want to be a trailblazer

(If you have any more facets I’d be delighted to hear)

Now that we have these aspects of her character it’ll be much easier to explain her action and relationships in the show. Here’s a general overview of the character.

Lila is revealed to be the adoptive daughter of The Handler in Episode Three of Season Two. The Handler seems very interested in Lila’s appearance, often chastising her for something that could make her look unattractive (Kinda like The Evil Queen from Descendants). While Lila is shown to have a similiar tendency we can only assume she got it from The Handler because that’s who raised her. I see a lot of parallels between The Handler and Reginald’s parenting, putting their children in dangerous situations and raising them to be some sort of superhero. For Lila she was taught to save the timeline while The Umbrella Academy were taught to save innocents, both children lacked a healthy male figure in their youth which caused some problems when it came to intimacy. The similarities with Allison and Lila’s romantic life is uncanny. Both women seemed drawn toward men that gave them the time of day. Both women had a fall out with their respective partner due to toxic behavior on their part caused by lack of experience in their situation, Allison not knowing how to parent and Lila not knowing how to express her feelings. The difference lies in what happens after the fall out, while Allison shows resentment toward her ex husband Patrick Lila still shows attraction toward Diego. When we see flashbacks of Lila’s childhood we see that she probably started working for the commission at a young age and certainly began commission training long before that. Something I noticed is when The Handler dolled her up for her mission to murder the man in the car on a date is that Lila showed little emotion except for relief. Which I think contrasts greatly when compared to her treatment of Five when she planned on murdering him. In short I think she tells herself her murders are personal to try and avoid the idea that they actually aren’t because in her mind if it’s personal than it has and a reason and is morally okay (But that’s just me). Let’s move over to her relationship with Diego

Lila’s relationship with Diego

Lila likes to be in control during the relationship and Diego shows a want to lead but lets Lila be in control anyway, albeit reluctantly

Lila isn’t afraid to lie to Diego if she sees it necessary while Diego wants to be honest

Lila prides herself as a caretaker toward Diego even though he doesn’t really like being taken care of or told what to do (unless it’s Grace because she’s his mom)

Both of them are shown to be stubborn, irrational, and quick to get physical if need be which will be detrimental if the two disagree on something

Lila shows little to no hesitation when doing something that Diego might not want to do, stripping him and drugging him

Lila wanted Diego as an emotional support/male figure in her life, she saw dating as an outlet to get what she desperately wanted in her childhood

Towards the finale when Diego finds out she’s super he empathizes with her and treats more like a sister (or was that just me)

Both of them seem to get along mostly and are shoulders for the other to cry on (that yogurt scene got me crying)

That’s about all I got tell me if you got more, I’d love to hear.

Anyway my point is that even though the two have some romantic compatibility I don’t think the two are the best for each other. I think of this relationship as very similiar to Allison and Luther’s. I really want to see more Diego and Lila scenes where the two tone done the romance aspect and have some more vulernable moment, like the yogurt scene or when Lila reveals that her parents died. While those didn’t have a romantic aspect I did love the character development and the bond they started to form. Even without the two being in a relationship it would still be interesting to see how everyone reacts to another family member.

Morale of this post:

LILA IS AWESOME AND NEEDS A FATHER FIGURE IN HER LIFE (also diego and lila isn’t the best relationship)

[metalchick19-blog]

The Bowers Gang: How the Guys Would Treat a Self-Conscious S/O with Sexual Trauma/What Their First Time Would Be Like (Anonymous Request)

Trigger warning: Contains themes related to sexual assault

* Any and all credit for this idea goes to the requestor.

Belch: Belch would be extremely understanding of an s/o with confidence issues, to the point where it would almost seem like the two were made for each other - unlike the other guys, Belch has struggled with low self-esteem his entire life, and still does on a day-to-day basis. Because of that, he would have a firm grasp on exactly what his partner was feeling, and would do anything necessary to make sure they felt beautiful, intelligent, and appreciated at all times. Out-of-the-blue compliments, private dates, and big, cuddly bear hugs would be a must, along with almost constant waves and smiles when he saw them in school. Really, Belch would just go out of his way to make sure his s/o felt acknowledged; he would want to make his feelings for them apparent, so that they would always be certain they mattered. When it comes to learning his partner had experienced sexual trauma, Belch likely wouldn’t know how to react at first - he’d just quietly let them explain what happened. Afterwards though, Belch wouldn’t hesitate to let them know how much he genuinely cared for them, and would be serious about letting them know that they could come to him whenever they needed to talk. He would also be noticeably more protective over them after hearing it, to the extent where he might even argue with Patrick about toning down his creep-ish ways when his s/o was around (which, sadly, would never happen). Their first time together would be calm, quiet, and as gentle as humanly possible:

Almost afraid to touch his s/o at first

Starts by moving very slowly

Deep, passionate kisses punctuated by soft breaths

Holds his partner close in hopes that it will make them feel safer

Slowly begins to undress them, but pauses every once in a while to check their comfort-level

“Are you sure?” x10

“Are you sure?” (once more, for good measure)

Whispers sweet nothings in his partner’s ear the entire time

Insists they stay the night afterwards for ice cream and cuddles

Henry: When it comes to having a self-conscious s/o, Henry wouldn’t necessarily make his s/o’s confidence issues worse, but he wouldn’t do much to make them better either. Being that Henry has extremely low self-esteem himself, and being that his concept of a woman’s role in a relationship comes directly from his Father (woman = subordinate/support), Henry would be much more focused on his partner’s responsibility to pump him up than on his own responsibility to do the same for them. It wouldn’t be because he didn’t care about them, per say, but would most accurately be linked to Henry’s tendency to prioritize his own needs first - because of that self-focused disposition, Henry most likely wouldn’t even notice his partner had a self-esteem problem unless they explicitly told him about it. He does throw compliments around pretty easily though (especially about his partner’s face and body), and so would have a chance at affecting their body image in a positive way. If he were to learn that his partner had endured sexual trauma, Henry would first become very awkward about the situation - like Belch, he would listen quietly, but he probably wouldn’t make eye contact or even change his facial expression after his partner had finished the story. He would sit in puzzling (maybe even slightly hurtful) silence, desperately trying to come up with the right thing to say, but seeming to his s/o to be very unemotional about the whole thing. In the end, Henry would just put a hand on his partner’s shoulder, and squeeze - the only way he could think of to express his sympathy. From there on, he wouldn’t tolerate anyone looking at, talking to, or even coming near his s/o, adopting a fiercely protective nature that would end up in the beating of almost every male in Derry High. Henry’s first time with his s/o would still be slightly rough, but significantly more gentle than normal:

Kisses his partner hard at first, then suddenly flinches back

Looks down at the ground for a moment, remembering

Brings a hand to his s/o’s face

Moves in again, slowly

Heartfelt tongue kisses that turn into gradual undressing

Starts to get too passionate/intense every few minutes, and has to pause to calm himself down

Genuinely trying so hard not to be scary

Picks up his partner and carries them to the bed

Keeps saying comforting things, but always in an angry tone of voice (because emotional illiteracy)

“...I’m not gonna’ hurt you, you know. It’s… just tell me to stop, and I will, alright?”

Goes very slow to avoid losing control

Lets his s/o lay on his chest afterwards

Secretly runs a hand through their hair once they fall asleep

Patrick: Patrick couldn’t care less about having an s/o with confidence issues - if he improved their self-esteem, it wouldn’t be on purpose, and would most likely be owed to his constant raunchy comments about their face and body. Basically, he could improve body image, but wouldn’t be good for much else; in fact, Patrick might find it funny to use his partner’s lack of self-confidence against them in certain situations. He loves to see people blush, and so might force them into unexpected social situations or embarrass them just to see them sweat. In a lot of ways, it might be better that Patrick didn’t know his s/o struggled at all, as he would absolutely target it as a weakness rather than try to help them feel better in any way. If Patrick were to find out his partner had experienced sexual trauma, his initial reaction would be the most inappropriate out of the group (as usual): excitement. He would beam, lean into his partner’s words, and insist on being given as much detail as possible to paint the picture in his head. He would have a visible hard-on (which he might even stroke through his pants as they told the story), and would feel nothing in the way of sympathy whatsoever. After his initial interest had waned, Patrick might actually become a little irritable about the situation - he would feel like something had been stolen from him in a way, being that someone that wasn’t himself had traumatized “his property.” Eventually he might ask his s/o who had done it in an attempt to find them (which wouldn’t go well for that person at all), but he would give up easily if he found they were gone. In the wake of finding out the news, Patrick would bring up his partner’s trauma on a fairly regular basis, joking about it constantly with the guys even though none of the rest of them would find it funny. In special circumstances (i.e. when his s/o made him angry) Patrick even might refer to them as “damaged goods,” in an attempt to to hit them where it hurt. Patrick’s first time with his s/o would be in no way good for his s/o’s psyche, and it would likely get worse as time went on:

Comes onto his partner the first time they come to his house (two weeks after they told him their story)

Is aggressive and forceful on purpose, because he wants to see the response

Holds his partner’s hands against the wall

Kisses them hard, bites their neck, and starts ripping their clothes off with his free hand

Throws them onto his bed once they’re completely naked

Unbuckles his belt with a smile

“Okay, baby… my turn to see what you feel like.”

Tries to recreate the circumstances and style of his partner’s traumatic experience as closely as he can - goes rough if their attacker was rough, soft if their attacker was soft, and may say things he was told their attacker said

Truly wants to see his partner in the exact state they were in when they were assaulted

Leaves immediately after finishing, but tells them to leave their bedroom window open that night so he can come over for more

Victor: To an s/o with self-esteem issues, Victor would be nothing short of a knight in shining armor. He’s very perceptive, and so would most likely key into their low self-image long before they started dating - in fact, it might even be the reason they start dating in the first place. Being that Victor is a compassionate person by nature, he’s often drawn to people he feels he can “fix” in some way  (hence his entire friendship with Henry and the guys). Because of that, he’d most likely seek out and genuinely enjoy dating someone he could encourage on a regular basis, because it would make him feel like he was doing something worthwhile for their life. He’d leave love notes in his s/o’s locker, touch them whenever the opportunity presented itself, and, in general, devote a lot of time to really learning about who they were as a person. Their dreams, their nightmares, their hurts - Victor would want to know it all, and would make it known to them how much he valued the moments when his partner chose to open up. In being told that his partner had experienced sexual trauma, Victor would hold their hand in his, and listen attentively as they re-lived the story. He would face them, gaze into their eyes, and let his hurt for them show all over his face. At the end of it all, he would just sit quietly before wrapping them in his arms; he would let his s/o bury their head in his neck, shielding them with his body as best he could. In the days that followed, Victor would adopt an even more potent gentleness toward his s/o, and a viciousness towards anyone that gave them trouble - he would be absolutely unwilling to let more harm come to them, regardless of the form it took. His eyes would soften, his kisses would become more heartfelt, and he’d find himself being who he genuinely is more than ever before. Victor’s first time with his s/o would be truly special - romantic and real in every way:

Takes his s/o on a late-night date to the quarry first

Sets up a picnic, candles, and a boom-box playing his partner’s favorite songs

Partner convinces him to take a night swim after eating

Swimming becomes skinny-dipping

Kisses his partner in the water and holds them close, caressing their body and telling them how much they mean to him

Says “I love you” for the first time

Swims with his partner back to shore

Lays with them - kisses their hands, stomach, legs, arms, everything

Checks often to see if they’re trembling

Truly cares about their experience with all his heart

“Are you okay?” x 15

Stays on top throughout so he can see their face - conveys with his eyes how much he adores them

Takes them back to his house afterward for showers, movies, and overnight cuddles

* I apologize for Patrick’s part in this, as it was truly hard to write - I ask that everyone keep in mind his basic character, and know I was doing my best to write him as he is.

[hiding-under-the-willow]

Slenderverse Highschool AU Character Descriptions

Warning: Real Long Post

(I think I caught all the typos last time I read through this but honestly who knows)

Part 1, because as I have just learned, Tumblr does have a limit on the length of posts.

Slender/The Administrator

• The Principal

• No one remembers what he actually looks like because they're too distracted by the fact that he's wearing a super fancy business suit

• Seriously, what's with the suit?

• Absolutely terrifying without having to say a single word

• Alex Kralie's dad

• Stan Frederick's uncle

• Gives Alex special treatment

• His nickname has been in use so long he doesn't even bother giving out his real name to students any more. There is literally no student in the school outside of his family who knows his real name.

Alex Kralie

Junior

• Has been friends with Jay since 5th grade

• Was a pretty cool person in middle school but became a huge manipulative jerk by high school

• Has a tendency to get in fights with people, only wins about half the time

• Get's away with basically anything because of his dad

• Gets along particularly badly with Patrick, who has threatened to fight him if he ever comes anywhere near Micheal

• Was friends with Brian from childhood through Middle school but is no longer on good terms with him

• Basically hovers over Jay constantly

• Neutral in terms of his feelings on Stan, but treats him better than he does most others since they're family.

• Has probably threatened Alex Koval more than once, definitely meaning he's not on good terms with Jeff

• Wants to be a director, but has trouble working with others since they don't like him much

Jay

Sophomore

• Makes A's and B's

• Basically always hanging around Alex

• Does whatever Alex says

• Low on self confidence

• Used to be good friends with Brian but has grown distant from him because of Brian's bad relationship with Alex

• Wants to be a writer

• Really wants to approach Tim but is too scared of rejection and what Alex might do if he did so

• Lowkey gay for Tim but doesn't realize it

• In search of an after school job

• Major Insomniac

• Kinda paranoid

• Band kid, plays the clarinet

• Enjoys hiking

• Has done a couple of projects with stormy, but never became particularly close with her

Tim

Junior

• Literally just wants high school to be over

• Spent most of his childhood in a psych ward, eventually being diagnosed with schizophrenia, which he now takes meds for

• Only really close to Brian

• Worked on a project with Alex once, it did not go well, they're not on good terms

• Smokes but doesn't want anyone to know

• Works at the gas station down the road from the school

• Thinks Vinnie is alright

• Not on good terms with Noah

• Would probably fight Habit in a Denny's parking lot if given the chance

• Failing more than one class, doesn't exactly care

• Is in theater with Brian, but only really because Brian wanted him to be

• Skips on a regular basis

Brian

Junior

• Theater kid

• Literally constantly on the verge of fighting Alex

• Wants to help Jay get away from Alex but knows that Jay is too far involved with Alex to really help, so has decided to back off

• Bestfriends with Tim

• Get's along well with Jessica

• Kinda worried about Micheal, but doesn't know if it would be the right idea to approach him or not since he seems so jumpy and Patrick is pretty agressive

• Worked on a couple of projects with Noah, still can't quite figure out what's going on with him, but met Milo through him, and they get along well

• Runs an aesthetic poetry blog under the name ToTheArk

Jessica

Senior

• Photographer

• On the school swim team

• Jay's older cousin

• Would literally fist fight Alex if she got the chance

• Good friends with Brian and Steph

• High key worried about Tim, but knows she won't get anywhere by being straight forward about it

• Tries to encourage Michael to get out of his shell a bit

• Not Patrick's favorite person in the world

• Thinks Habit is an overly violent, edge lord wannabe and would probably say that directly to his face if given the chance

• Wary of Stan because of his relation to Alex, but would probably get along well with him if they talked

• Has a girlfriend whose in her first year of college

• Thinks Jeff is pretty cool, but isn't super close to him

• Hangs out in the art room with Steph before school

• Not a huge fan of Eric

• Owns one of the few working brain cells found at the school

_______

Vinnie

Senior

• Goes to the gym with Evan sometimes

• Doesn't really know what he wants to do with his life so he's currently just following after Corenthal by taking psychology classes

• Has known Habit for so long that he isn't scared of him anymore, but fears for others who may be left to deal with Habit alone

• Cares a lot for Evan

• There's some animosity between him and Shaun and Micheal and no one can figure out why

• Best friends with Jeff

• Gets along well enough with Tim when they have class together, but literally can't figure out what's up with him, wishes he would open up more but doesn't have the confidence to try and get him to do so

• Tried to talk to Stan once but caught him in the middle of a paranormal research session and got too freaked out to approach him again

• Was in choir at one point but quit

• Eric makes him uncomfortable

Evan

Junior

• Fitness expert

• Loves hunting

• Works as a trainer at the local gym after school

• Not great in terms of grades, but passing

• In the wrestling club at school

• Best friends with Vinnie and Jeff

• Would like to be closer to Noah but has trouble doing that since Habit and Noah are on such bad terms

• Curious about Micheal and Jay

• Will fight you if you tease him about his height

• Not one to stray away from violence, but doesn't like being associated with it because he doesn't want people to think of him the same way they do Habit

• Punk rock/emo aesthetic

• Gamer, probably plays with Kevin and Noah on the weekends

Habit

Junior

• Evan's twin brother

• Probably a drug dealer

• Has been known to attack kids who mess with him but even the teachers are too scared of him to do anything about it

• Enjoys teasing Noah and Jeff

• Has a collection of knives and other weaponry

• Super over dramatic

• Moves his hands a lot when he talks

• Avoids Alex Kralie

• Big gay

• Feeds stray cats to the point where they follow him around campus

• Skips class and hangs out in the theater

Jeff

Senior

• Really good at math and puzzle solving

• Total book worm

• Takes care of his younger brother, Alex, since their parents are dead

• Good friends with Evan and Vinnie

• Literally can't stand Habit

• Planning for college

• Loved by teachers

• Can almost always be found in the library outside of class

• Would like to be friends with Jay but doesn't want to approach him with Alex Kralie around

Alex Koval

Freshman

• Sticks close to his brother

• Loves his dog, Sparky

• Strugles with mental health in reference to the death of his parents

• Pretty scared of Habit, basically avoids him completely

• Probably doesn't get along well with Alex Kralie

• Very smol, please protect him

• Likes English and writing in general

Damsel/Steph

Sophomore

• Evan's girlfriend

• An artist

• Dislikes the rain, has a fear of drowning

• Wants to go to art school but is being pressed by her parents to pursue something more lucrative

• In medical classes for the above stated reason

• Had some problems with Jeff in the past but has moved on

• Gets along well with Brian and Jessica

• Probably tries to talk to Stan but fails to get him to open up

• Total scene kid

• Friends with Stormy

Dr. Corenthal

Staff

• The school counselor

• Habit, Evan, and Vinnie's adoptive father

• Not exactly on the principles good side, but good enough at his job to keep it

• Has weekly sessions with Milo that Mary doesn't know about

• Tries to talk to Micheal every once in a while but can never get him to talk about his problems

• Has tried to get Tim to come talk to him multiple times but has never successfully brought him into his office to talk

• Helping Jeff plan for college

_______

Noah

Sophomore

• Quiet around people he's not close to

• Has a scar of his left shoulder from a fight he was in with Habit

• Avoids Alex Kralie

• Pretty good friends with Vinnie

• Best friends with Kevin

• Mostly hangs with Kevin and Milo

• Likes old video games

• Would like to hang out more with Evan but doesn't to avoid Habit

• Very confused by Micheal and Patrick

• Judges people he's known for a long time without ever really talking to them

• Not as socially aware as he would like to think he is

Milo

Senior

• Noah's cousin

• Best friends with Kevin

• Literally can't stand his mom

• Can't figure out why Karl hates him but knows it has something to do with his mom

• Camera shy

• Keeps a journal

• Takes art classes but doesn't plan on pursuing it as a career

• Has struggled with on and off Depression as well as anxiety for the majority of his life

• Sleep walks

• On a lot of meds

Kevin

Junior

• Wants to be a game developer

• Hosts a coding club after school on Friday's

• Enjoys memes, probably quotes them a bit too often

• Best friends with Milo and Noah

• Keeps trying to convince Milo to be the artist for his games

• Can't see anything without his glasses

• In orchestra, plays the cello

• Super involved in school activities and organizations

• Tutors kids after school, including Micheal

• Has never met Habit and fully plans on keeping it that way

• Has talked to Jessica once or twice, would like to get to know her more

Mary

PTA Parent

• The overly involved PTA mom

• Very controlling of Milo

• Thinks Noah and Kevin are bad influences on her son

• Probably juggling multiple men at once

Karl

Teacher

• The advanced German teacher

• Very agressive

• Doesn't speak any English

• Tells old war stories

• Will fail you for even the most minor mistakes

• Has a grudge against Milo

• No one knows his full name

[bleedingheartsrp-blog]

LOUIS DE POINTE DU LAC ~ AGE: 27 ~ OCCUPATION: MUSICIAN/WRITER

IN A PAST LIFE: 

Louis was a sad and lonely man who was suicidal, and often tried to incite fights in the hopes that someone would kill him. However, a vampire named Lestat came to him and offered him salvation in the form of being transformed into a vampire himself. Louis accepted, and the two of them travelled together for some time; eventually becoming lovers. Their relationship was not without its pitfalls, and Lestat ended up turning a little girl named Claudia into a vampire to be their “daughter,” in order to bind Louis to him. This backfired on him however, when Claudia became resentful of him and tried to kill him. Though Lestat survived, Louis and Claudia travelled together without him for a time, eventually encountering a troupe of vampires who ran their own theatre. However, when they learned of the crimes that Louis and Claudia had committed under vampire law, Claudia was executed, but Louis was spared due to Lestat’s intervention. The two of them reconciled, but parted ways all the same. Some time later, Louis told his story to a human journalist, but Lestat once again intervened to prevent the tape from reaching the public. Under uncertain circumstances, Louis was transported to the town of Chicanery.

HERE IN CHICANERY: 

Louis was born and raised in New Orleans, where he lived a fairly happy life up until the death of his brother, Paul. He died after the two brothers had a particularly nasty fight, and they never got a chance to reconcile with each other. As a result, Louis carries a sense of guilt with him, and went through a period of time in his life when he wanted to die. His mother grew concerned for his wellbeing as she noticed more and more self-destructive behaviour from her remaining son, and Louis was in and out of therapy for a while until he finished school. He moved to the small town of Chicanery hoping to start over, though he still attends therapy sessions. He co-rents a house on the more well-off side of town. He struggles to engage socially with anyone aside from his housemates, though his biggest coping mechanisms come through music and writing. He’s had a few pieces published anonymously in the town newspaper, and occasionally plays public gigs at notable town venues such as the Laughing Lamb diner and the town community centre. He is generally a very soft-spoken and melancholy man, though he has his dramatic tendencies and is deeply caring towards those he’s close to.

WHISPERS AROUND TOWN:

Louis lives with his roommate and on-and-off boyfriend Lestat de Lioncourt. Though their relationship has its ups and downs, they are as close as two people can be and are fiercely loyal to each other, even when they’re not officially a couple. Also living with them is Lestat’s adoptive younger sister Claudia de Lioncourt, whom Louis is very fond of. However, while he only sees her like a little sister himself, he’s picked up on Claudia’s bizarre attraction to him. To his surprise, his ex-boyfriend Armand de Romanus also lives in the same neighbourhood. They haven’t seen each other in years, but Louis is still friendly with him to prevent things from becoming awkward. He hasn’t yet told Lestat that he used to date Armand. He maintains contact with town journalists Harry Mason and Elsa Frances, as well as the notable online blogger Patrick Netvor. In addition, he’s acquainted with the other members of the town’s music scene, most notably Eric Draven and Michael Emerson, though he’s fairly friendly with Anita “Needy” Lesnicki and Jennifer Check as well. He attends regular therapy sessions with psychiatrist Nancy Thompson.

THIS LOST SOUL IS OPEN

[gamerszone2019-blog]

The Blame Game: Trump, Video Game Violence, And Following The Evidence

New Post has been published on https://gamerszone.tn/the-blame-game-trump-video-game-violence-and-following-the-evidence/

The Blame Game: Trump, Video Game Violence, And Following The Evidence

Following a pair of back-to-back mass shootings, some American politicians and pundits have once again turned their ire towards video games. The most high-profile of these was President Donald Trump, suggesting that video games contribute to a culture of violence that causes people to feel flippant with the sanctity of human life. However, he was far from the only or even the first politician to cast blame. But where does this reaction come from, and does the scientific evidence support it?

Playing Politics

Though the pair of tragic shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio on August 3 and 4 have revived the topic of video game violence, politicians expressing concern over the effect of violent video games on young people is anything but a new phenomenon.

Prompted by games like Mortal Kombat, Night Trap, and Lethal Enforcers, Congress held hearings on video game violence in 1993-1994. Led by Senators Joe Lieberman and Herb Kohl, the planned hearings were given extra furor thanks to Bureau of Justice statistics that showed gun-related violence had reached record highs in 1993. Politicians pointed the finger at violent media, especially video games.

“I’d like to ban all the violent video games,” Lieberman said at the time. “It’s hard to control every measure of this, especially in a society that values free speech and First Amendment rights.”

During the hearings, Lieberman argued that the average video game player was 7-12 years old, and so violent games were being marketed to children. Recognizing that an outright ban was impractical, however, Lieberman threw his support behind warning labels for violent video games. Congressional pressure had made clear that the government would take action to regulate the industry if it did not regulate itself. The result was the industry banding together to form and abide by ratings given by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB).

The next significant political challenge to video games came from a California law that eventually made its way up to the Supreme Court of the United States. Brown v Entertainment Merchant’s Association was a suit concerning a 2005 law restricting violent video game sales to minors without parental supervision. The law, drafted by former California State Sen. Leeland Yee and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, demanded labeling beyond the standard ESRB labels and would fine retailers for selling violent games to minors. It defined violence under an obscenity statute that had previously only been used to restrict the sale of sexually explicit material. The EMA argued that the law unfairly treated video games as fundamentally different from other media, the sale of which is not restricted to minors.

In a rare 7-2 ruling, the famously conservative Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the Court’s opinion that video games are subject to the free speech protections afforded by the First Amendment. He was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Anthony Kennedy, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan, with Justice Samuel Alito concurring. Only Justices Stephen Breyer and Clarence Thomas dissented. Significantly, Scalia’s written opinion explicitly rejected California’s argument that a causal link existed between media violence and real-world aggression.

“The State’s evidence is not compelling,” Scalia wrote. “California relies primarily on the research of Dr. Craig Anderson and a few other research psychologists whose studies purport to show a connection between exposure to violent video games and harmful effects on children. These studies have been rejected by every court to consider them, and with good reason. They do not prove that violent video games cause minors to act aggressively … They show at best some correlation between exposure to violent entertainment and some minuscule real-world effects.”

Despite this standing opinion from the highest court, politicians still regularly point fingers at video games, especially in response to acts of real-world violence. This latest example isn’t even the first time we’ve seen it from President Trump. Following the mass shooting in 2018 at a high school in Parkland, Florida, the president convened a roundtable with industry groups and critics on the same subject. It similarly used depictions of video game violence to suggest a causal link between exposure to violent games and real-world violence.

So why does this keep happening?

The Renewed Furor

The shootings in El Paso and Dayton took place over the course of less than 24 hours. Though mass shootings have become almost routine in American life, two mass casualty events occurring in such quick succession appeared to shake Americans to their core. Heartbroken citizens looked to leaders for guidance and action.

Almost in unison, conservative leaders rallied against video games as a culprit. Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and Republican House minority leader Kevin McCarthy both appeared on Fox News Channel on the morning of August 4, calling for action against video games and suggesting a causal link between violent games and violent actions. President Trump’s prepared remarks on Monday morning gained the most attention, but he was largely following a narrative already set by other conservative leaders.

“We must stop the glorification of violence in our society,” Trump said. “This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace. It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop or substantially reduce this, and it has to begin immediately.”

Critics of the president have suggested the tendency to blame video games is something of a stalling tactic, to shift the focus away from discussions of gun control that often take place following mass shootings. And to be sure, this would have strategic merit. American interest in gun control legislation waxes and wanes with current events, so muddying the waters and waiting it out could work, if one’s goal was to simply maintain the status quo.

Whatever political maneuvering might be at play, some segment of the broader population does genuinely believe video game violence contributes to real-world violence. Their strong concerns may be based in good faith, but the evidence is inconclusive at best.

What The Evidence Actually Shows

One of the most common arguments against a link between video game violence and real-world is anecdotal and intuitive. It has been stated many times and in many ways: video games are enjoyed the world over, and countries with similar or much higher video game adoption rates have significantly lower levels of gun violence.

The ESA stated this in its initial response to President Trump’s remarks, saying, “Other societies, where video games are played as avidly, do not contend with the tragic levels of violence that occur in the US.”

Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick echoed this sentiment days later, calling Trump’s comments disrespectful to the victims and their families. “The fact is entertainment is consumed world-wide,” he said, “but gun violence is uniquely American. So we need to address the real issues.”

This sentiment isn’t new. The Daily Show host Trevor Noah lampooned the Trump administration along the same lines in a 2018 segment following the roundtable after the Parkland shooting. In the segment, Noah argued that stricter gun regulations are “most effective and realistic way to limit gun violence,” citing lower homicide rates in countries like Japan–despite their fondness for video games.

A more authoritative refutation can be found in a policy statement issued by the American Psychological Association in 2017. It argues, “Scant evidence has emerged that makes any causal or correlational connection between playing violent video games and actually committing violent activities.” The policy statement goes on to point out that a 2002 analysis from the United States Secret Service “suggested that school shooters tended to consume relatively low amounts of violent media compared to normative levels for same-age peers.” It’s careful to note that this finding does not conclude that increased consumption of violent media would result in less real-world violence, just that a link cannot be established.

The paper concludes that public officials and the media should refrain from suggesting a causal link between media violence and real-world acts of violence. At most, it says, media figures should refer to studies that may link video games to “aggression.” It argues this because, as Justice Scalia noted in his 2011 ruling, the studies linking media violence to actual aggression are disputed, and usually extend to minor acts of aggression such as “the administration of unwanted hot sauce to make food too spicy, making someone put his or her hand in freezing ice water or bursts of white noise in laboratory experiments.” The APA suggests that these findings are not conclusive and the methodology “remains a matter of reasonable debate.”

On the other hand, a 2016 statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics is more sharply critical of media violence. First, it draws a distinction between aggression and violence, to help parse terms.

“For example, a snarling dog is behaving aggressively; once it bites, it has resorted to violence,” the statement says. “A person who verbally abuses another would not be committing an act of violence by this definition. Thus, all violent acts are aggressive, but not all aggressive acts are violent.”

It argues for a “broad scientific consensus that virtual violence increases aggressive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors,” and dismisses the landmark Supreme Court ruling as based upon First Amendment grounds rather than scientific merit. It does concede, however, that laboratory aggression as a proxy for real-world aggression has proven to be a research challenge. Though increased aggression in a laboratory setting has been consistently shown and studied, this does not necessarily result in real-world violence. Finally, it states that an experimental, real-world study linking virtual violence with real-world violence has never been conducted, because the rarity of violence precludes a large enough sample size to be accurately studied. On the whole, though, the AAP appears to suspect some link may exist, and recommends more stringent enforcement mechanisms.

Conclusion

While scholars may disagree regarding the weight and emphasis of conclusions offered by laboratory studies, even the sharpest scientific critics of video game violence draw a cautious distinction between findings of heightened aggression and the soundbite-ready conclusion that video games are a primary cause in these ongoing national tragedies. Regardless, politicians have been looking to the medium for more than 20 years, and they likely will again the next time a tragedy hits close to home.

Source : Gamesport

[douchebagbrainwaves]

THE ROOTS OF VC SUCKAGE

They're not Goody Two-Shoes type good. They were just trying to survive. Maybe if they go out of their way to make existing users super happy, they'll one day have too many to do so much for. Once a toll becomes painful, people start to find ways around it, and that's why they do it so well. You don't need complex sentences to express complex ideas. In the hundred meters, you know where these facial expressions come from. You're better off starting with a crude version 1 was, if I remember correctly, less than 10,000 lines of code: the best programmers can solve a given problem in a more ambitious way. It is true that all they really care about is doing interesting work. So a company that can attract great hackers will have a huge advantage. They're doing a finance startup, which means endless negotiations with big, bureaucratic companies. To hackers these kinds of projects is writing an interface to a buggy piece of software that's full of bugs.

Back when hardware startups had to rely on investors for money, you get to hit a lot of papers! If they were obviously good ideas, someone would already be doing them. Duplo, I believe, is the next Microsoft unless some other company is prepared to bend over at just the right level of craziness. ITunes is more of a tollbooth than a store. The mercurial Spaniard himself declared: After Altamira, all is decadence. So if you want to get the most out of them, there are next to none among the most successful founders are usually good people, they tend to have a lot. I can answer for both. If you could attract a critical mass of nerds and investors to live somewhere with personality. Founders retaining control after a series A is unheard-of. We felt pretty lame at the time.

That's like having the Rolling Stones play at a bar mitzvah. Some startups could be entirely manual at first. You don't simply get to do whatever you want, and that's as much as any startup needs initially. A couple years ago a venture capitalist friend told me about a new startup he was involved with. American cities have been turned inside out. VCs will still be able to convince; they just won't be able to hire to work on a Java project won't be as smart as the ones you could get the right people could resist and perhaps even surpass Silicon Valley. Basically, iTunes makes money by taxing people, not selling them stuff. At our startup we had Robert Morris working as a system administrator. It sounded serious and difficult. That turns out to be the early adopters, and only realize later that they could offer it to a broader market. The Bay Area was a magnet for all the shorter half-life isotopes of style and fame.

The optimal ways to make money from it indirectly, or find ways to make anything scale more than you would have predicted, and partly because the harder the subject, the more informally experts speak. What about iTunes? What worries him about Google is not the main thing they want. As with contrarian investment strategies, that's exactly the point. The tendency to clump means it's more like the square of the environment. As soon as we heard they'd been supporting themselves by selling Obama and McCain branded breakfast cereal, they were in. In a society of one, they're more likely to discover new things, because you have no Thomas Edisons. So were the print media and the music labels simply overlooking this opportunity? In fact, that's an understatement. I carried it home and plugged it in, and it booted.

And except in domains with big penalties for making mistakes, it's often better not to aim for perfection initially. But writing an interface to a piece of software doesn't teach you anything, because the startups that created it—where presumably the hackers did have somewhere quiet to work. And in my experience, the harder the ideas you're talking about, the less you can afford to let language get in the way. Thanks to Sam Altman, John Bautista, Trevor Blackwell, Paul Buchheit, Brian Chesky, Bill Clerico, Patrick Collison, Adam Goldstein, James Lindenbaum, Jessica Livingston, and Fred Wilson for reading drafts of this. Though indeed, most things bureaucrats do, they do badly. We felt pretty lame at the time. If you've lived in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. But as long as you're not being paid to. So while there are clearly a lot of obstacles. Who can say which of two novels is better?

Just have building codes that ensure density, and ban large scale developments. In a low-tech society you don't see much variation in productivity increases with technology, then the contribution of the most boring applications imaginable. When manual components look to the user like software, this technique starts to have aspects of a practical joke. Can that be done? I heard this, I thought he was a complete idiot. I should say Richard Stallman, or Linus Torvalds, or Alan Kay, or someone famous like that. Productivity varies in any field, but there are few in which it varies so much. A lot of them don't care that much personally about whether founders keep board control. There have long been games where you won by having new ideas. Silicon Valley.

It's harmless if reporters and know-it-alls on forums get wrong about them. Whereas Bill, if the rumors of autism are true, knows all too well. In theory there could be other ways to attract them, but so far universities seem to be indispensable. This was exactly the kind of intelligence that produces ideas with just the right level of craziness. Indeed, the really interesting question is not what will happen to movies. This can't be how the big, famous startups got started, they think. Does that make written language worse? That's why there's a separate word, content, for information that's not software.

If printed books are optional, publishers will have to spend a lot of creative people, but because it gives them more control. Good hackers insist on control. A nerd's idea of paradise is Berkeley or Boulder. That makes sense, because programs are in effect giant descriptions of how things work. Apparently some people in the music business hope to retroactively convert it away from publishing, by getting listeners to pay for subscriptions. And the business of selling information, but that has historically been a distinct business from publishing. But perhaps the biggest thing preventing founders from realizing how attentive they could be to their users is that they've never experienced such attention themselves. Chicago has the third largest metropolitan area in America. So any new protocol is a big deal. Good hackers avoid it for the sake of the excitement. What motivates them? Most startups that use the contained fire strategy do it unconsciously.

[click2watch]

Defending Decentralization, Like a Twice in a Millennium Chance

“We haven’t had an opportunity like this in the past 500 years.”

That’s Amir Taaki speaking on a closing panel at the Web3 Summit in Berlin Wednesday, and his statement was greeted with breathless applause by the audience. An early bitcoin developer, Taaki addressed a crowd of more than a thousand coders that had gathered to discuss “Web 3.0” – or the restructuring of internet infrastructures with an emphasis on decentralization.

“Maybe the technological proposals that people are talking about are not very well grounded, but I do see a huge amount of young, idealistic people with a lot of capital,” Taaki said, adding:

“If we can form a vision and direct that energy, it could be an extremely powerful force.”

A concept which originated from ethereum co-founder and Parity Technologies founder Gavin Wood, Web 3.0 has evolved into a tech base that encompasses a wide range of decentralized technologies, ethereum and beyond.

Web 3.0 is intended to replace the existing online infrastructure with software that is decentralized from the start. To this end, much of the discussion over the three-day conference echoed Taaki’s sentiment – that with the right combination of technology and vision, Web 3.0 can usher in a new era of digital emancipation.

And while that may sound idealistic – several attendees remarked that the event seemed to tip into naïveté at times – it was met with a wave of technological advances that reinforced this positivity.

“It’s different this time around, and we have a chance to use these tools in a way that empowers and protects people,” Patrick Nielsen, CTO of Web 3.0 startup Clovyr, said. “But it won’t build itself, and just because the tools exist does not mean it’s going to get used.”

Ethereum developer Lane Rettig echoed this point in an interview with CoinDesk.

According to him, the Web 3.0 community is at a crucial turning point. Either it succumbs to the classic “rich get richer” dynamics or the community takes “the uncharted path” of permissionless innovation.

“But it’s not something we get for free, and it is not something we get by default,” Rettig contended.

What’s more, such a vision requires careful coordination and an awareness of history, such as the failure of former technological movements that got co-opted by corporates. To this end, several moments during the conference reflected this idea in more cautionary terms.

For instance, ethereum developer Vlad Zamfir took the stage on Monday, saying: “Expect every layer to be captured. Defend every layer.”

The ‘protocol commons’

During the event on Monday, Harry Halpin, an academic and a former chairperson of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), gave some concrete examples of the risks currently facing the nascent industry.

According to Haplin, decentralized, open-source technologies have a historical tendency to fall prey to capture by corporations that implement the tech – thus further centralizing the Web.

Clovyr’s Nielson seconded that, explaining that strategies – such as the so-called “embrace and extinguish” method – exist within corporations to allow them to take open-source software and reimplement it within their own systems (without so much as a thank you). And the tech, at that juncture, has been abstracted from its guiding principles and even be used for malignant ends, he said.

Zamfir specifically directed his warning about this process toward blockchain governance – where an economic elite can buy up crypto token ownership and divert the outcomes of a project.

According to Halpin, Web 2.0 technology underwent a corporate capture of its own, and the leaders of the projects “lacked the backbone to push back and fight for users rights.” For example, Halpin drew attention to digital rights management (DRM) – a heavily criticized copyright-enforcing technology that led him to quit the W3C following its implementation as a Web standard.

To protect against such eventualities, Halpin proposed the notion of a “protocol commons,” an overarching blockchain governance body for “certain things which are in everyone’s best interest.”

This could include the development of Web 3.0 standards, as well as protection against software patents, Halpin said, adding that such governing bodies should avoid deifying specific people, a process that can create single points of failure for blockchain projects.

As Halpin argued:

“We need to remove charismatic leaders, they are good at the beginning but they will become corrupt, or they will just go crazy, and either way it has the same impact.”

A surveillance machine

Privacy was another significant theme discussed during the summit. While much in the way of privacy tooling is in development within the cryptocurrency community, there are still plenty of unanswered questions.

Halpin called privacy protection “the largest technological task facing the Web 3.0 community.”

He continued: “Peer-to-peer and blockchain technologies are by design very hostile to privacy. There needs to be a lot of work.”

It was a notable trend at the summit, with many, like Halpin, warning that the use of peer-to-peer and blockchain technologies could result in a new surveillance machine – one that is even more threatening than the current Web as it exists today.

And that’s because not only do technologies like ethereum reveal transactional data, but they also expose subtler computational activity which can be a concern, especially as it relates to smart contracts that deal with sensitive tasks like voting, location data, social media and identity.

As Zamfir explained:

“Blockchain is a surveillance wet dream.”

Still, several talks touched on the privacy question, sparking a sense of renewed interest in developing the tools necessary to protect users and even developer information.

Advancements in zero-knowledge cryptography, ring signatures, mixnets, privacy-enforcing contracts and messaging were discussed, and even lower level cryptography that enforces privacy as a default, instead of needing end users to adopt.

One such project is Centrifuge, a financial supply chain startup that performs transactions apart from the ethereum blockchain in order to preserve their privacy, while still communicating with the blockchain by way of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

“From a technical point of view, there’s a huge improvement in terms of the technologies we can use to preserve privacy,” CTO of Centrifuge Lucas Vogelsang said.

He added that the implementations of such technologies are “just a matter of time.”

All about freedom

Still, the mood at the conference was generally optimistic. For example, several participants pointed to innovations particular to the blockchain ecosystem that could help overcome dystopian outcomes.

Zamfir, for instance, said that stable blockchain governance can be achieved using systems that enforce distributed control, incentive mechanisms and general fault tolerance.

Halpin echoed this point by stating that Web 3.0’s main protection against the failures of former software movements is the novel economic models underpinning much of the industry.

“Blockchain technologies have a fighting chance because they have an economic model built into how you use and work on the technology,” he stated.

These economic models can help avoid outcomes like the onslaught of corporations that occurred in Web 2.0 and protect against the economic model underlying most of the internet – one that relies on user data and tracking as a primary business model.

Haplin continued:

“You can see a new route of innovation on the Web that is not based on mass surveillance, that is based on decentralization, the respect for human life and new economic models based on payments.”

Speaking on the panel, Taaki reminded the audience of the importance of having a fixed ideological position to guide the Web 3.0 movement.

And while there are subtle disagreements about what the term “Web 3.0” actually means, Zamfir said in an interview that ideology can be boiled down to “emancipation.”

“It’s not clear that it is going to be good for people’s privacy, it’s not clear that it gives people control, but it certainly gives people a lot of freedom,” Zamfir told CoinDesk.

In a similar vein, according to Halpin, while we won’t know for years as the technology and the industry around it unfolds, but it’s worth the risk, given the underlying promise – freedom from corporate control – the technology stands for.

Gavin Wood image via the Web3 Foundation

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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[cryptoquicknews-blog]

New Post has been published here https://is.gd/P5zEKE

Defending Decentralization, Like a Twice in a Millennium Chance

This post was originally published here

“We haven’t had an opportunity like this in the past 500 years.”

That’s Amir Taaki speaking on a closing panel at the Web3 Summit in Berlin Wednesday, and his statement was greeted with breathless applause by the audience. An early bitcoin developer, Taaki addressed a crowd of more than a thousand coders that had gathered to discuss “Web 3.0” – or the restructuring of internet infrastructures with an emphasis on decentralization.

“Maybe the technological proposals that people are talking about are not very well grounded, but I do see a huge amount of young, idealistic people with a lot of capital,” Taaki said, adding:

“If we can form a vision and direct that energy, it could be an extremely powerful force.”

A concept which originated from ethereum co-founder and Parity Technologies founder Gavin Wood, Web 3.0 has evolved into a tech base that encompasses a wide range of decentralized technologies, ethereum and beyond.

Web 3.0 is intended to replace the existing online infrastructure with software that is decentralized from the start. To this end, much of the discussion over the three-day conference echoed Taaki’s sentiment – that with the right combination of technology and vision, Web 3.0 can usher in a new era of digital emancipation.

And while that may sound idealistic – several attendees remarked that the event seemed to tip into naïveté at times – it was met with a wave of technological advances that reinforced this positivity.

“It’s different this time around, and we have a chance to use these tools in a way that empowers and protects people,” Patrick Nielsen, CTO of Web 3.0 startup Clovyr, said. “But it won’t build itself, and just because the tools exist does not mean it’s going to get used.”

Ethereum developer Lane Rettig echoed this point in an interview with CoinDesk.

According to him, the Web 3.0 community is at a crucial turning point. Either it succumbs to the classic “rich get richer” dynamics or the community takes “the uncharted path” of permissionless innovation.

“But it’s not something we get for free, and it is not something we get by default,” Rettig contended.

What’s more, such a vision requires careful coordination and an awareness of history, such as the failure of former technological movements that got co-opted by corporates. To this end, several moments during the conference reflected this idea in more cautionary terms.

For instance, ethereum developer Vlad Zamfir took the stage on Monday, saying: “Expect every layer to be captured. Defend every layer.”

The ‘protocol commons’

During the event on Monday, Harry Halpin, an academic and a former chairperson of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), gave some concrete examples of the risks currently facing the nascent industry.

According to Haplin, decentralized, open-source technologies have a historical tendency to fall prey to capture by corporations that implement the tech – thus further centralizing the Web.

Clovyr’s Nielson seconded that, explaining that strategies – such as the so-called “embrace and extinguish” method – exist within corporations to allow them to take open-source software and reimplement it within their own systems (without so much as a thank you). And the tech, at that juncture, has been abstracted from its guiding principles and even be used for malignant ends, he said.

Zamfir specifically directed his warning about this process toward blockchain governance – where an economic elite can buy up crypto token ownership and divert the outcomes of a project.

According to Halpin, Web 2.0 technology underwent a corporate capture of its own, and the leaders of the projects “lacked the backbone to push back and fight for users rights.” For example, Halpin drew attention to digital rights management (DRM) – a heavily criticized copyright-enforcing technology that led him to quit the W3C following its implementation as a Web standard.

To protect against such eventualities, Halpin proposed the notion of a “protocol commons,” an overarching blockchain governance body for “certain things which are in everyone’s best interest.”

This could include the development of Web 3.0 standards, as well as protection against software patents, Halpin said, adding that such governing bodies should avoid deifying specific people, a process that can create single points of failure for blockchain projects.

As Halpin argued:

“We need to remove charismatic leaders, they are good at the beginning but they will become corrupt, or they will just go crazy, and either way it has the same impact.”

A surveillance machine

Privacy was another significant theme discussed during the summit. While much in the way of privacy tooling is in development within the cryptocurrency community, there are still plenty of unanswered questions.

Halpin called privacy protection “the largest technological task facing the Web 3.0 community.”

He continued: “Peer-to-peer and blockchain technologies are by design very hostile to privacy. There needs to be a lot of work.”

It was a notable trend at the summit, with many, like Halpin, warning that the use of peer-to-peer and blockchain technologies could result in a new surveillance machine – one that is even more threatening than the current Web as it exists today.

And that’s because not only do technologies like ethereum reveal transactional data, but they also expose subtler computational activity which can be a concern, especially as it relates to smart contracts that deal with sensitive tasks like voting, location data, social media and identity.

As Zamfir explained:

“Blockchain is a surveillance wet dream.”

Still, several talks touched on the privacy question, sparking a sense of renewed interest in developing the tools necessary to protect users and even developer information.

Advancements in zero-knowledge cryptography, ring signatures, mixnets, privacy-enforcing contracts and messaging were discussed, and even lower level cryptography that enforces privacy as a default, instead of needing end users to adopt.

One such project is Centrifuge, a financial supply chain startup that performs transactions apart from the ethereum blockchain in order to preserve their privacy, while still communicating with the blockchain by way of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

“From a technical point of view, there’s a huge improvement in terms of the technologies we can use to preserve privacy,” CTO of Centrifuge Lucas Vogelsang said.

He added that the implementations of such technologies are “just a matter of time.”

All about freedom

Still, the mood at the conference was generally optimistic. For example, several participants pointed to innovations particular to the blockchain ecosystem that could help overcome dystopian outcomes.

Zamfir, for instance, said that stable blockchain governance can be achieved using systems that enforce distributed control, incentive mechanisms and general fault tolerance.

Halpin echoed this point by stating that Web 3.0’s main protection against the failures of former software movements is the novel economic models underpinning much of the industry.

“Blockchain technologies have a fighting chance because they have an economic model built into how you use and work on the technology,” he stated.

These economic models can help avoid outcomes like the onslaught of corporations that occurred in Web 2.0 and protect against the economic model underlying most of the internet – one that relies on user data and tracking as a primary business model.

Haplin continued:

“You can see a new route of innovation on the Web that is not based on mass surveillance, that is based on decentralization, the respect for human life and new economic models based on payments.”

Speaking on the panel, Taaki reminded the audience of the importance of having a fixed ideological position to guide the Web 3.0 movement.

And while there are subtle disagreements about what the term “Web 3.0” actually means, Zamfir said in an interview that ideology can be boiled down to “emancipation.”

“It’s not clear that it is going to be good for people’s privacy, it’s not clear that it gives people control, but it certainly gives people a lot of freedom,” Zamfir told CoinDesk.

In a similar vein, according to Halpin, while we won’t know for years as the technology and the industry around it unfolds, but it’s worth the risk, given the underlying promise – freedom from corporate control – the technology stands for.

Gavin Wood image via the Web3 Foundation

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.

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New Post has been published here https://is.gd/P5zEKE

[drugtests0]

Promoting a drug free workplace: wellness activities for employees

How important is workplace culture in keeping your company drug free? While many think of an office environment as things such as equipment and products, what really makes a workplace run is the people behind the business.

The best way to prevent drug use in the workplace is to have processes and programs in place for managing employees that first deter drug users from applying, and then by creating a work atmosphere that supports personal development and self-care.

If your company has already created a clear Substance Abuse Policy, then a majority of would-be applicants that are drug users will likely not apply for positions at your company. Maintaining a “No Tolerance” policy is not just about keeping your company free of the many pitfalls that come with drug use in the workplace, but also about a greater responsibility to create an alternative choice in workplace culture to that which accepts drug use.

A proven route for promoting workplace wellness is to create a regular program that offers information about the impact of drug use, and resources for adopting healthier alternatives. These alternatives can take the form of having guest speakers or practitioners of health-related services visit the office, providing healthy snack options instead of junk food during breaks, or by creating activity programs which create healthy competition among employees.

Below are some great examples of wellness activities that will keep the focus on self care, and lead the way towards preventing drug use in the workplace:

Start Celebrating “Wellness Wednesday”

The key to a successful Wellness Program is regularity. What better way to get employees through the rest of the week than to dedicate the middle of the week to wellness topics? Form a wellness committee, or place a person (usually someone volunteers to do this) in charge of wellness in your office be in charge of planning weekly informational sessions with healthy snacks. Doing so will accomplish a few important things:

Firstly, it will get employees involved, even if they’re only there for the free food at first. Secondly, having a regular discussions and opportunities for exposure to health topics will encourage experimentation with such activities. Just like exposure to drugs creates familiarity and an eventual relationship to drugs which might seem normal, the same applies to wellness – the more an employee sees and knows, the more likely they are to try it out.

Participate in a 5k Run

A great way to unite employees and encourage healthy camaraderie is to sponsor their participation in a local 5k race. Research local fundraising races and offer to cover the registration fees for any of your employees who want to join. Of course, some training days should be scheduled in advance of the day of the race, so that employees can train together and learn how to run properly and safely if they aren’t currently participating in such physical activities.

As the employer, you could supply them with company T-shirts, or other branded gear to support them in the completion of the race. Taking pictures and sharing them on a bulletin board is a great way to spread the fun of such an event, and might encourage a new person to join in for the next race.

Start a 7 Hour Sleep Challenge

Getting a good night’s rest promotes wellness without much effort! Start a 7 hour sleep challenge in your office, and whoever accomplishes the most nights of good sleep at the end of the month gets a prize!

Since drugs are often used to change one’s personal energy level, addressing energy from the source – that of getting enough sleep in addition to enough physical activity during the day, will promote a healthier group of employees. The benefits of getting enough sleep are many. Getting enough sleep has been shown to decrease the risk of heart attack, lower blood pressure, and inflammation in the body. Sleep also has been shown to prevent depression, regulate metabolism, promote creativity, decrease stress levels, improve cognitive and memory function, increase one’s ability to focus, and might also help your employees live longer.

As an alternative to an office-wide sleep challenge, perhaps creating an area for napping will encourage your employees to get the rest they need during their breaks. Even short naps, also known as “power naps”, help people regain focus and lower stress at work.

Use Holidays to Celebrate Health

Holidays are the perfect time to make sure your employees are staying healthy. While family stresses and personal matters may get more intense around these times, knowing that when they come to work, they will be in an environment where they will be able to make smart and healthy choices empowers them both on and off the clock.

Instead of bringing in cookies, sweets, and rich foods during these special times, opt for healthy alternative. For example, holding a Thanksgiving potluck of healthier versions of traditional foods, offering green smoothies on St. Patrick’s day, fresh strawberries or red peppers and hummus on Valentine’s day will naturally promote wellness while reducing employee stress which could otherwise lead to drug or alcohol abuse use during these times of the year.

Also, encourage the creation of discussions or memory boards among employees who may be suffering during the holidays due to losing a close friend or family member. This will create the awareness that not everyone gets into the same spirit during these times, and will give everyone the opportunity to show respect for each other, particularly to those who need emotional support during these times.

Post your company’s values and core mission all around

Knowing why an organization is run the way it is inspires employees in their everyday activities. Find a spot with a lot of foot traffic, like a waiting area or employee break room, that will encourage employees to take the time to read the signs. Make the signs big, bold, and inspiring.

Sharing your company’s goals and values gives employees a feeling of purpose in their daily work, and can lead to heightened moods and a more positive workplace morale. It is also appropriate to take pride in the fact that your company is drug free. Putting up signs around the office that celebrate this, or that share the number of days the workplace has been drug free, will promote everyone being on the same team.

Celebrate Work Anniversaries

Making your employees feel valued is the key to having a thriving workplace. Taking the time to acknowledge and celebrate work anniversaries is an incentive to stay with a company for a longer period of time, and creates a more personal bond between an employee and employer. Creating mutual respect is the key for maintaining company standards, and your employees are more likely to follow the rules when they feel truly valued.

Sometimes, an employee might already be in recovery for a drug or alcohol addiction. If they would like to be recognized for their accomplishment in sobriety, then by all means, be sure to recognize these employees either on a bulletin board, at a meeting, or in a newsletter. These employees become the best advocates for those who might be privately struggling with an addiction, and become an excellent support system when someone needs help or is returning to work after probation.

If you employees make it through a year without a drug-related incident, DO throw them a party! Celebrating a drug free workplace each year is a great way to instill a sense of personal responsibility and ownership in employees who are doing the right thing.

Host a Tea Time

While coffee has become a staple in many offices, having an area for hot teas, particularly herbal teas with calming or wellness benefits, will create a spa-like environment at work. Creating an area to fix tea with supportive messages and quotes that inspire personal reflection and wellness will keep your employees focused on self-care while at work.

If your company has an outdoor area for breaks, give this area a little sprucing up. Make an area for those non-smokers who might want to enjoy their tea outdoors. Placing fragrant herbs and plants all around, or perhaps adding a small garden to walk through will make Teatime a relaxing way to make use of break time at work.

Shine A Light on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Seasonal Affective Disorder affects primarily individuals who live in areas with limited exposure to direct sunlight during Winter months. When the coldest months arrive, a lack of daily light intake cause individuals to experience severe depression, lethargy, significantly decreased productivity levels, that can be traced back to primordial hibernation tendencies.

If you notice the energy level around the office reaching a low in winter months, adding additional lights, particularly those which are known to have adequate UV exposure that could properly mimic natural sunlight, your employees will benefit in their moods and even in their circadian sleep patterns.

Provide Company Branded Health Goodies

Water is nature’s best kept health secret. Encourage your employees to drink their fair share by providing them with water bottles that are imprinted with your company’s logo. Many exciting new water dispensing machines are on the market which offer infused and flavored waters on demand, which could help employees abstain from sugar filled energy drinks, or taking energy-producing drugs while at work.

Other health-related company goodies could be non-physical, or service related. Partnering with a local fitness club to offer a reduced membership rate to your employees is a great way to support a healthy lifestyle. Scheduling a company event in the park with a certified Yoga Instructor (and perhaps you could offer yoga mats to go along with the event), or a day where a masseuse comes in for 15 minute sessions for each employee in the office are other ways to give the gift of wellness.

Snack subscription services are now available, which deliver a selection of goods according to whichever frequency best suits your workplace. Ordering a regular delivery of healthy snacks is a sure way to make your employees feel appreciated.

The Effects of Wellness Programs on Workplace Drug Use

How does feeling valued and part of a team decrease drug use in the workplace? Just as children need the support of friends and family, adults continue to have these social emotional needs as they navigate the ups and downs of life.

Most people don’t expect an employer to become a major support system, but many employees of companies with active social engagement programs will tell you that their fellow employees are like family. A workplace becomes an extension of a person’s personal identity, and when they feel encouraged and supported to be their best at work, they will take steps toward being their best when they’re off the clock, and may naturally avoid the negative effects of substance abuse.

When a person is surrounded by health, they will choose the easiest route, and so it becomes part of your company’s goal to make the clearest path the one that leads to wellness.

from https://drugtestsinbulk.com/blog/promoting-a-drug-free-workplace-wellness-activities-for-employees/ from http://drugtestsinbulk0.blogspot.com/2017/12/promoting-drug-free-workplace-wellness.html from http://salivadrugtest0.blogspot.com/2017/12/promoting-drug-free-workplace-wellness.html

[oraldrugtest]

Promoting a drug free workplace: wellness activities for employees

How important is workplace culture in keeping your company drug free? While many think of an office environment as things such as equipment and products, what really makes a workplace run is the people behind the business.

The best way to prevent drug use in the workplace is to have processes and programs in place for managing employees that first deter drug users from applying, and then by creating a work atmosphere that supports personal development and self-care.

If your company has already created a clear Substance Abuse Policy, then a majority of would-be applicants that are drug users will likely not apply for positions at your company. Maintaining a “No Tolerance” policy is not just about keeping your company free of the many pitfalls that come with drug use in the workplace, but also about a greater responsibility to create an alternative choice in workplace culture to that which accepts drug use.

A proven route for promoting workplace wellness is to create a regular program that offers information about the impact of drug use, and resources for adopting healthier alternatives. These alternatives can take the form of having guest speakers or practitioners of health-related services visit the office, providing healthy snack options instead of junk food during breaks, or by creating activity programs which create healthy competition among employees.

Below are some great examples of wellness activities that will keep the focus on self care, and lead the way towards preventing drug use in the workplace:

Start Celebrating “Wellness Wednesday”

The key to a successful Wellness Program is regularity. What better way to get employees through the rest of the week than to dedicate the middle of the week to wellness topics? Form a wellness committee, or place a person (usually someone volunteers to do this) in charge of wellness in your office be in charge of planning weekly informational sessions with healthy snacks. Doing so will accomplish a few important things:

Firstly, it will get employees involved, even if they’re only there for the free food at first. Secondly, having a regular discussions and opportunities for exposure to health topics will encourage experimentation with such activities. Just like exposure to drugs creates familiarity and an eventual relationship to drugs which might seem normal, the same applies to wellness – the more an employee sees and knows, the more likely they are to try it out.

Participate in a 5k Run

A great way to unite employees and encourage healthy camaraderie is to sponsor their participation in a local 5k race. Research local fundraising races and offer to cover the registration fees for any of your employees who want to join. Of course, some training days should be scheduled in advance of the day of the race, so that employees can train together and learn how to run properly and safely if they aren’t currently participating in such physical activities.

As the employer, you could supply them with company T-shirts, or other branded gear to support them in the completion of the race. Taking pictures and sharing them on a bulletin board is a great way to spread the fun of such an event, and might encourage a new person to join in for the next race.

Start a 7 Hour Sleep Challenge

Getting a good night’s rest promotes wellness without much effort! Start a 7 hour sleep challenge in your office, and whoever accomplishes the most nights of good sleep at the end of the month gets a prize!

Since drugs are often used to change one’s personal energy level, addressing energy from the source – that of getting enough sleep in addition to enough physical activity during the day, will promote a healthier group of employees. The benefits of getting enough sleep are many. Getting enough sleep has been shown to decrease the risk of heart attack, lower blood pressure, and inflammation in the body. Sleep also has been shown to prevent depression, regulate metabolism, promote creativity, decrease stress levels, improve cognitive and memory function, increase one’s ability to focus, and might also help your employees live longer.

As an alternative to an office-wide sleep challenge, perhaps creating an area for napping will encourage your employees to get the rest they need during their breaks. Even short naps, also known as “power naps”, help people regain focus and lower stress at work.

Use Holidays to Celebrate Health

Holidays are the perfect time to make sure your employees are staying healthy. While family stresses and personal matters may get more intense around these times, knowing that when they come to work, they will be in an environment where they will be able to make smart and healthy choices empowers them both on and off the clock.

Instead of bringing in cookies, sweets, and rich foods during these special times, opt for healthy alternative. For example, holding a Thanksgiving potluck of healthier versions of traditional foods, offering green smoothies on St. Patrick’s day, fresh strawberries or red peppers and hummus on Valentine’s day will naturally promote wellness while reducing employee stress which could otherwise lead to drug or alcohol abuse use during these times of the year.

Also, encourage the creation of discussions or memory boards among employees who may be suffering during the holidays due to losing a close friend or family member. This will create the awareness that not everyone gets into the same spirit during these times, and will give everyone the opportunity to show respect for each other, particularly to those who need emotional support during these times.

Post your company’s values and core mission all around

Knowing why an organization is run the way it is inspires employees in their everyday activities. Find a spot with a lot of foot traffic, like a waiting area or employee break room, that will encourage employees to take the time to read the signs. Make the signs big, bold, and inspiring.

Sharing your company’s goals and values gives employees a feeling of purpose in their daily work, and can lead to heightened moods and a more positive workplace morale. It is also appropriate to take pride in the fact that your company is drug free. Putting up signs around the office that celebrate this, or that share the number of days the workplace has been drug free, will promote everyone being on the same team.

Celebrate Work Anniversaries

Making your employees feel valued is the key to having a thriving workplace. Taking the time to acknowledge and celebrate work anniversaries is an incentive to stay with a company for a longer period of time, and creates a more personal bond between an employee and employer. Creating mutual respect is the key for maintaining company standards, and your employees are more likely to follow the rules when they feel truly valued.

Sometimes, an employee might already be in recovery for a drug or alcohol addiction. If they would like to be recognized for their accomplishment in sobriety, then by all means, be sure to recognize these employees either on a bulletin board, at a meeting, or in a newsletter. These employees become the best advocates for those who might be privately struggling with an addiction, and become an excellent support system when someone needs help or is returning to work after probation.

If you employees make it through a year without a drug-related incident, DO throw them a party! Celebrating a drug free workplace each year is a great way to instill a sense of personal responsibility and ownership in employees who are doing the right thing.

Host a Tea Time

While coffee has become a staple in many offices, having an area for hot teas, particularly herbal teas with calming or wellness benefits, will create a spa-like environment at work. Creating an area to fix tea with supportive messages and quotes that inspire personal reflection and wellness will keep your employees focused on self-care while at work.

If your company has an outdoor area for breaks, give this area a little sprucing up. Make an area for those non-smokers who might want to enjoy their tea outdoors. Placing fragrant herbs and plants all around, or perhaps adding a small garden to walk through will make Teatime a relaxing way to make use of break time at work.

Shine A Light on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Seasonal Affective Disorder affects primarily individuals who live in areas with limited exposure to direct sunlight during Winter months. When the coldest months arrive, a lack of daily light intake cause individuals to experience severe depression, lethargy, significantly decreased productivity levels, that can be traced back to primordial hibernation tendencies.

If you notice the energy level around the office reaching a low in winter months, adding additional lights, particularly those which are known to have adequate UV exposure that could properly mimic natural sunlight, your employees will benefit in their moods and even in their circadian sleep patterns.

Provide Company Branded Health Goodies

Water is nature’s best kept health secret. Encourage your employees to drink their fair share by providing them with water bottles that are imprinted with your company’s logo. Many exciting new water dispensing machines are on the market which offer infused and flavored waters on demand, which could help employees abstain from sugar filled energy drinks, or taking energy-producing drugs while at work.

Other health-related company goodies could be non-physical, or service related. Partnering with a local fitness club to offer a reduced membership rate to your employees is a great way to support a healthy lifestyle. Scheduling a company event in the park with a certified Yoga Instructor (and perhaps you could offer yoga mats to go along with the event), or a day where a masseuse comes in for 15 minute sessions for each employee in the office are other ways to give the gift of wellness.

Snack subscription services are now available, which deliver a selection of goods according to whichever frequency best suits your workplace. Ordering a regular delivery of healthy snacks is a sure way to make your employees feel appreciated.

The Effects of Wellness Programs on Workplace Drug Use

How does feeling valued and part of a team decrease drug use in the workplace? Just as children need the support of friends and family, adults continue to have these social emotional needs as they navigate the ups and downs of life.

Most people don’t expect an employer to become a major support system, but many employees of companies with active social engagement programs will tell you that their fellow employees are like family. A workplace becomes an extension of a person’s personal identity, and when they feel encouraged and supported to be their best at work, they will take steps toward being their best when they’re off the clock, and may naturally avoid the negative effects of substance abuse.

When a person is surrounded by health, they will choose the easiest route, and so it becomes part of your company’s goal to make the clearest path the one that leads to wellness.

From https://drugtestsinbulk.com/blog/promoting-a-drug-free-workplace-wellness-activities-for-employees/

from https://drugtestsinbulk0.wordpress.com/2017/12/26/promoting-a-drug-free-workplace-wellness-activities-for-employees/

[corydelano]

Promoting a drug free workplace: wellness activities for employees

How important is workplace culture in keeping your company drug free? While many think of an office environment as things such as equipment and products, what really makes a workplace run is the people behind the business.

The best way to prevent drug use in the workplace is to have processes and programs in place for managing employees that first deter drug users from applying, and then by creating a work atmosphere that supports personal development and self-care.

If your company has already created a clear Substance Abuse Policy, then a majority of would-be applicants that are drug users will likely not apply for positions at your company. Maintaining a “No Tolerance” policy is not just about keeping your company free of the many pitfalls that come with drug use in the workplace, but also about a greater responsibility to create an alternative choice in workplace culture to that which accepts drug use.

A proven route for promoting workplace wellness is to create a regular program that offers information about the impact of drug use, and resources for adopting healthier alternatives. These alternatives can take the form of having guest speakers or practitioners of health-related services visit the office, providing healthy snack options instead of junk food during breaks, or by creating activity programs which create healthy competition among employees.

Below are some great examples of wellness activities that will keep the focus on self care, and lead the way towards preventing drug use in the workplace:

Start Celebrating “Wellness Wednesday”

The key to a successful Wellness Program is regularity. What better way to get employees through the rest of the week than to dedicate the middle of the week to wellness topics? Form a wellness committee, or place a person (usually someone volunteers to do this) in charge of wellness in your office be in charge of planning weekly informational sessions with healthy snacks. Doing so will accomplish a few important things:

Firstly, it will get employees involved, even if they’re only there for the free food at first. Secondly, having a regular discussions and opportunities for exposure to health topics will encourage experimentation with such activities. Just like exposure to drugs creates familiarity and an eventual relationship to drugs which might seem normal, the same applies to wellness – the more an employee sees and knows, the more likely they are to try it out.

Participate in a 5k Run

A great way to unite employees and encourage healthy camaraderie is to sponsor their participation in a local 5k race. Research local fundraising races and offer to cover the registration fees for any of your employees who want to join. Of course, some training days should be scheduled in advance of the day of the race, so that employees can train together and learn how to run properly and safely if they aren’t currently participating in such physical activities.

As the employer, you could supply them with company T-shirts, or other branded gear to support them in the completion of the race. Taking pictures and sharing them on a bulletin board is a great way to spread the fun of such an event, and might encourage a new person to join in for the next race.

Start a 7 Hour Sleep Challenge

Getting a good night’s rest promotes wellness without much effort! Start a 7 hour sleep challenge in your office, and whoever accomplishes the most nights of good sleep at the end of the month gets a prize!

Since drugs are often used to change one’s personal energy level, addressing energy from the source – that of getting enough sleep in addition to enough physical activity during the day, will promote a healthier group of employees. The benefits of getting enough sleep are many. Getting enough sleep has been shown to decrease the risk of heart attack, lower blood pressure, and inflammation in the body. Sleep also has been shown to prevent depression, regulate metabolism, promote creativity, decrease stress levels, improve cognitive and memory function, increase one’s ability to focus, and might also help your employees live longer.

As an alternative to an office-wide sleep challenge, perhaps creating an area for napping will encourage your employees to get the rest they need during their breaks. Even short naps, also known as “power naps”, help people regain focus and lower stress at work.

Use Holidays to Celebrate Health

Holidays are the perfect time to make sure your employees are staying healthy. While family stresses and personal matters may get more intense around these times, knowing that when they come to work, they will be in an environment where they will be able to make smart and healthy choices empowers them both on and off the clock.

Instead of bringing in cookies, sweets, and rich foods during these special times, opt for healthy alternative. For example, holding a Thanksgiving potluck of healthier versions of traditional foods, offering green smoothies on St. Patrick’s day, fresh strawberries or red peppers and hummus on Valentine’s day will naturally promote wellness while reducing employee stress which could otherwise lead to drug or alcohol abuse use during these times of the year.

Also, encourage the creation of discussions or memory boards among employees who may be suffering during the holidays due to losing a close friend or family member. This will create the awareness that not everyone gets into the same spirit during these times, and will give everyone the opportunity to show respect for each other, particularly to those who need emotional support during these times.

Post your company’s values and core mission all around

Knowing why an organization is run the way it is inspires employees in their everyday activities. Find a spot with a lot of foot traffic, like a waiting area or employee break room, that will encourage employees to take the time to read the signs. Make the signs big, bold, and inspiring.

Sharing your company’s goals and values gives employees a feeling of purpose in their daily work, and can lead to heightened moods and a more positive workplace morale. It is also appropriate to take pride in the fact that your company is drug free. Putting up signs around the office that celebrate this, or that share the number of days the workplace has been drug free, will promote everyone being on the same team.

Celebrate Work Anniversaries

Making your employees feel valued is the key to having a thriving workplace. Taking the time to acknowledge and celebrate work anniversaries is an incentive to stay with a company for a longer period of time, and creates a more personal bond between an employee and employer. Creating mutual respect is the key for maintaining company standards, and your employees are more likely to follow the rules when they feel truly valued.

Sometimes, an employee might already be in recovery for a drug or alcohol addiction. If they would like to be recognized for their accomplishment in sobriety, then by all means, be sure to recognize these employees either on a bulletin board, at a meeting, or in a newsletter. These employees become the best advocates for those who might be privately struggling with an addiction, and become an excellent support system when someone needs help or is returning to work after probation.

If you employees make it through a year without a drug-related incident, DO throw them a party! Celebrating a drug free workplace each year is a great way to instill a sense of personal responsibility and ownership in employees who are doing the right thing.

Host a Tea Time

While coffee has become a staple in many offices, having an area for hot teas, particularly herbal teas with calming or wellness benefits, will create a spa-like environment at work. Creating an area to fix tea with supportive messages and quotes that inspire personal reflection and wellness will keep your employees focused on self-care while at work.

If your company has an outdoor area for breaks, give this area a little sprucing up. Make an area for those non-smokers who might want to enjoy their tea outdoors. Placing fragrant herbs and plants all around, or perhaps adding a small garden to walk through will make Teatime a relaxing way to make use of break time at work.

Shine A Light on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Seasonal Affective Disorder affects primarily individuals who live in areas with limited exposure to direct sunlight during Winter months. When the coldest months arrive, a lack of daily light intake cause individuals to experience severe depression, lethargy, significantly decreased productivity levels, that can be traced back to primordial hibernation tendencies.

If you notice the energy level around the office reaching a low in winter months, adding additional lights, particularly those which are known to have adequate UV exposure that could properly mimic natural sunlight, your employees will benefit in their moods and even in their circadian sleep patterns.

Provide Company Branded Health Goodies

Water is nature��s best kept health secret. Encourage your employees to drink their fair share by providing them with water bottles that are imprinted with your company’s logo. Many exciting new water dispensing machines are on the market which offer infused and flavored waters on demand, which could help employees abstain from sugar filled energy drinks, or taking energy-producing drugs while at work.

Other health-related company goodies could be non-physical, or service related. Partnering with a local fitness club to offer a reduced membership rate to your employees is a great way to support a healthy lifestyle. Scheduling a company event in the park with a certified Yoga Instructor (and perhaps you could offer yoga mats to go along with the event), or a day where a masseuse comes in for 15 minute sessions for each employee in the office are other ways to give the gift of wellness.

Snack subscription services are now available, which deliver a selection of goods according to whichever frequency best suits your workplace. Ordering a regular delivery of healthy snacks is a sure way to make your employees feel appreciated.

The Effects of Wellness Programs on Workplace Drug Use

How does feeling valued and part of a team decrease drug use in the workplace? Just as children need the support of friends and family, adults continue to have these social emotional needs as they navigate the ups and downs of life.

Most people don’t expect an employer to become a major support system, but many employees of companies with active social engagement programs will tell you that their fellow employees are like family. A workplace becomes an extension of a person’s personal identity, and when they feel encouraged and supported to be their best at work, they will take steps toward being their best when they’re off the clock, and may naturally avoid the negative effects of substance abuse.

When a person is surrounded by health, they will choose the easiest route, and so it becomes part of your company’s goal to make the clearest path the one that leads to wellness.

from https://drugtestsinbulk.com/blog/promoting-a-drug-free-workplace-wellness-activities-for-employees/ from http://drugtestsinbulk0.blogspot.com/2017/12/promoting-drug-free-workplace-wellness.html

[thersatetreaul]

Promoting a drug free workplace: wellness activities for employees

How important is workplace culture in keeping your company drug free? While many think of an office environment as things such as equipment and products, what really makes a workplace run is the people behind the business.

The best way to prevent drug use in the workplace is to have processes and programs in place for managing employees that first deter drug users from applying, and then by creating a work atmosphere that supports personal development and self-care.

If your company has already created a clear Substance Abuse Policy, then a majority of would-be applicants that are drug users will likely not apply for positions at your company. Maintaining a “No Tolerance” policy is not just about keeping your company free of the many pitfalls that come with drug use in the workplace, but also about a greater responsibility to create an alternative choice in workplace culture to that which accepts drug use.

A proven route for promoting workplace wellness is to create a regular program that offers information about the impact of drug use, and resources for adopting healthier alternatives. These alternatives can take the form of having guest speakers or practitioners of health-related services visit the office, providing healthy snack options instead of junk food during breaks, or by creating activity programs which create healthy competition among employees.

Below are some great examples of wellness activities that will keep the focus on self care, and lead the way towards preventing drug use in the workplace:

Start Celebrating “Wellness Wednesday”

The key to a successful Wellness Program is regularity. What better way to get employees through the rest of the week than to dedicate the middle of the week to wellness topics? Form a wellness committee, or place a person (usually someone volunteers to do this) in charge of wellness in your office be in charge of planning weekly informational sessions with healthy snacks. Doing so will accomplish a few important things:

Firstly, it will get employees involved, even if they’re only there for the free food at first. Secondly, having a regular discussions and opportunities for exposure to health topics will encourage experimentation with such activities. Just like exposure to drugs creates familiarity and an eventual relationship to drugs which might seem normal, the same applies to wellness – the more an employee sees and knows, the more likely they are to try it out.

Participate in a 5k Run

A great way to unite employees and encourage healthy camaraderie is to sponsor their participation in a local 5k race. Research local fundraising races and offer to cover the registration fees for any of your employees who want to join. Of course, some training days should be scheduled in advance of the day of the race, so that employees can train together and learn how to run properly and safely if they aren’t currently participating in such physical activities.

As the employer, you could supply them with company T-shirts, or other branded gear to support them in the completion of the race. Taking pictures and sharing them on a bulletin board is a great way to spread the fun of such an event, and might encourage a new person to join in for the next race.

Start a 7 Hour Sleep Challenge

Getting a good night’s rest promotes wellness without much effort! Start a 7 hour sleep challenge in your office, and whoever accomplishes the most nights of good sleep at the end of the month gets a prize!

Since drugs are often used to change one’s personal energy level, addressing energy from the source – that of getting enough sleep in addition to enough physical activity during the day, will promote a healthier group of employees. The benefits of getting enough sleep are many. Getting enough sleep has been shown to decrease the risk of heart attack, lower blood pressure, and inflammation in the body. Sleep also has been shown to prevent depression, regulate metabolism, promote creativity, decrease stress levels, improve cognitive and memory function, increase one’s ability to focus, and might also help your employees live longer.

As an alternative to an office-wide sleep challenge, perhaps creating an area for napping will encourage your employees to get the rest they need during their breaks. Even short naps, also known as “power naps”, help people regain focus and lower stress at work.

Use Holidays to Celebrate Health

Holidays are the perfect time to make sure your employees are staying healthy. While family stresses and personal matters may get more intense around these times, knowing that when they come to work, they will be in an environment where they will be able to make smart and healthy choices empowers them both on and off the clock.

Instead of bringing in cookies, sweets, and rich foods during these special times, opt for healthy alternative. For example, holding a Thanksgiving potluck of healthier versions of traditional foods, offering green smoothies on St. Patrick’s day, fresh strawberries or red peppers and hummus on Valentine’s day will naturally promote wellness while reducing employee stress which could otherwise lead to drug or alcohol abuse use during these times of the year.

Also, encourage the creation of discussions or memory boards among employees who may be suffering during the holidays due to losing a close friend or family member. This will create the awareness that not everyone gets into the same spirit during these times, and will give everyone the opportunity to show respect for each other, particularly to those who need emotional support during these times.

Post your company’s values and core mission all around

Knowing why an organization is run the way it is inspires employees in their everyday activities. Find a spot with a lot of foot traffic, like a waiting area or employee break room, that will encourage employees to take the time to read the signs. Make the signs big, bold, and inspiring.

Sharing your company’s goals and values gives employees a feeling of purpose in their daily work, and can lead to heightened moods and a more positive workplace morale. It is also appropriate to take pride in the fact that your company is drug free. Putting up signs around the office that celebrate this, or that share the number of days the workplace has been drug free, will promote everyone being on the same team.

Celebrate Work Anniversaries

Making your employees feel valued is the key to having a thriving workplace. Taking the time to acknowledge and celebrate work anniversaries is an incentive to stay with a company for a longer period of time, and creates a more personal bond between an employee and employer. Creating mutual respect is the key for maintaining company standards, and your employees are more likely to follow the rules when they feel truly valued.

Sometimes, an employee might already be in recovery for a drug or alcohol addiction. If they would like to be recognized for their accomplishment in sobriety, then by all means, be sure to recognize these employees either on a bulletin board, at a meeting, or in a newsletter. These employees become the best advocates for those who might be privately struggling with an addiction, and become an excellent support system when someone needs help or is returning to work after probation.

If you employees make it through a year without a drug-related incident, DO throw them a party! Celebrating a drug free workplace each year is a great way to instill a sense of personal responsibility and ownership in employees who are doing the right thing.

Host a Tea Time

While coffee has become a staple in many offices, having an area for hot teas, particularly herbal teas with calming or wellness benefits, will create a spa-like environment at work. Creating an area to fix tea with supportive messages and quotes that inspire personal reflection and wellness will keep your employees focused on self-care while at work.

If your company has an outdoor area for breaks, give this area a little sprucing up. Make an area for those non-smokers who might want to enjoy their tea outdoors. Placing fragrant herbs and plants all around, or perhaps adding a small garden to walk through will make Teatime a relaxing way to make use of break time at work.

Shine A Light on Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)

Seasonal Affective Disorder affects primarily individuals who live in areas with limited exposure to direct sunlight during Winter months. When the coldest months arrive, a lack of daily light intake cause individuals to experience severe depression, lethargy, significantly decreased productivity levels, that can be traced back to primordial hibernation tendencies.

If you notice the energy level around the office reaching a low in winter months, adding additional lights, particularly those which are known to have adequate UV exposure that could properly mimic natural sunlight, your employees will benefit in their moods and even in their circadian sleep patterns.

Provide Company Branded Health Goodies

Water is nature’s best kept health secret. Encourage your employees to drink their fair share by providing them with water bottles that are imprinted with your company’s logo. Many exciting new water dispensing machines are on the market which offer infused and flavored waters on demand, which could help employees abstain from sugar filled energy drinks, or taking energy-producing drugs while at work.

Other health-related company goodies could be non-physical, or service related. Partnering with a local fitness club to offer a reduced membership rate to your employees is a great way to support a healthy lifestyle. Scheduling a company event in the park with a certified Yoga Instructor (and perhaps you could offer yoga mats to go along with the event), or a day where a masseuse comes in for 15 minute sessions for each employee in the office are other ways to give the gift of wellness.

Snack subscription services are now available, which deliver a selection of goods according to whichever frequency best suits your workplace. Ordering a regular delivery of healthy snacks is a sure way to make your employees feel appreciated.

The Effects of Wellness Programs on Workplace Drug Use

How does feeling valued and part of a team decrease drug use in the workplace? Just as children need the support of friends and family, adults continue to have these social emotional needs as they navigate the ups and downs of life.

Most people don’t expect an employer to become a major support system, but many employees of companies with active social engagement programs will tell you that their fellow employees are like family. A workplace becomes an extension of a person’s personal identity, and when they feel encouraged and supported to be their best at work, they will take steps toward being their best when they’re off the clock, and may naturally avoid the negative effects of substance abuse.

When a person is surrounded by health, they will choose the easiest route, and so it becomes part of your company’s goal to make the clearest path the one that leads to wellness.

from https://drugtestsinbulk.com/blog/promoting-a-drug-free-workplace-wellness-activities-for-employees/ from https://drugtestsinbulk0.tumblr.com/post/168974183099

[douchebagbrainwaves]

WHY TO GET STARTUP IN ONE'S HEAD

How do you recognize them? Even hackers can't tell. A programming language is a medium of expression, as concrete is for architects or paint for painters. One is to ask yourself at what point you'd bet against it. More recently the recipe is more to be actively curious. When IBM introduced the PC, they thought they were going to keep working on it. And of course if Microsoft is your model, you shouldn't be looking for companies that hope to win by writing great software, but through brand, and dominating channels, and doing the right deals. We have three general suggestions about hiring: a don't do it if you can avoid it, b pay people with equity rather than salary, not just to save money, but because he spent all his time on it and neglected his studies, he was right for a hundred years for a writer's reputation to converge. When we interviewed programmers, the main thing we cared about was what kind of software that makes money and the metric that does matter financially, whether that batch of startups contains a big winner or not. Standards are higher; people are more sympathetic to what you're doing; the kind of startup where users come back each day, you've basically built yourself a giant tamagotchi. So it's hard to predict which problems hackers will like, because some become interesting only when the people working on airline fare searches probably thought it was.

When designing for other people you have, the more of a problem. Don't write the essay readers expect; one learns nothing from what one expects. Programming languages are interesting to write. But there is a natural temptation to believe, for example, grow a successful startup, the Y axis are smaller, but the tendency toward fragmentation should be more forever than most things, and since they were all aiming at the middle of the market there wasn't much to differentiate them. Their defining quality is probably that they really love to program. It works well for Google and ITA, which are two of the hot spots right now, but if you have really good taste, you can trick yourself into looking like a freak, you can probably get some of it. But in the mid 20th century the corporations cut deals with the unions where they paid over market price for the work they were doing now.

This is sometimes referred to as runway, as in many fields, the hard sciences, engineering, history especially economic and social history, and the problems you understand best are your own. After that there's not much correlation between popularity and quality. As European scholarship gained momentum it became less and less important; by 1350 someone who wanted to learn about science could find better teachers than Aristotle in his own era. Possibly not. Notice the pattern here? That's what we thought about Airbnb, and if we want to get downfield, but they weren't going to die if they didn't get their money. I once saw a recruiting ad for Microsoft with a big picture of a door. Like a lot of VCs are looking for, at least in the hands of good programmers, very fluid. It's much easier to fix problems before the company is started than after. An essay is something you write to try to figure something out. Don't try to make them all work in some renovated warehouse you've made into an incubator.

I realize the chance of any city having the political will to carry out this plan is microscopically small. Ditto for hacking. Well, there precisely is Montaigne's great discovery. Mark Zuckerberg kept control of Facebook's board through the series A round. That group says another. When you're trying to do, now that this market was ripe, was to reach out and pick it. No other computer manufacturer had ever been able to outsell them. It would be exhausting to read. Maybe this will change, but has changed.

The consolidation that began in the 1980s. Once something becomes a big marketplace, you ignore it at your peril. Yes and no. The numbers on the Y axis will take care of, you're forced to figure out what you truly like. Most disputes are not due to the situation but the people. Like the military, they defaulted to flatness. That's pretty alarming, because his friends are the ones that matter anyway. And the quality of your hackers probably matters more than the language you choose. They'd face some challenges if they wanted to make more, but not as misleading as it might seem a prudent choice to write it in Java. If anywhere should be quiet, that should.

That turns out to be will depend on what we can do with this new medium. Even if the big corporations had wanted to pay people proportionate to their value, they couldn't have figured out how to do it. Because making something people want. If Hotmail's founders had chosen to use Windows, they would have been reluctant to hire anyone who didn't. The early adopters you need to launch? So as of this writing few startups spend too much. Just be warned you'll have to do is make good things. I only started carrying a notebook about three years ago. It's not aimed at producing a correct estimate of any given individual, but at selecting a reasonably optimal set.

I realized when I started writing this. People sometimes think they could improve the startup scene in their town by starting something like Y Combinator there, but in some cases it's possible to make one's fortune, the ambitious plan was to sell something to companies. But unfortunately you run into in chance meetings are in the midst of such a change now. What should you think about? When I was 13 I realized, is how does the comber-over not see how odd he looks? An essay doesn't begin with a thesis, because you can't remember them. To me it means, all that people learn in the course of a game. A lot of people, but in different enough words that no one could tell. What was novel about yuppies was that they hadn't formally acknowledged their implicit debt to employees who had done good work and expected to be rewarded with high-paying executive jobs when their time came. John Bautista, Trevor Blackwell, Paul Buchheit, Brian Chesky, Bill Clerico, Patrick Collison, Adam Goldstein, James Lindenbaum, Jessica Livingston, and Fred Wilson for reading drafts of this.

Think about the overall goal, then start by writing a stripped-down kernel how hard can it be? Why bother? It seems to be particularly good at this, in part simply by having high standards. The right way to search for components, and before Octopart there was no good way to do it well, because the US economy was conscripted too. But hackers can't watch themselves at work. Duplo world of a few big blocks whose relationships were negotiated in back rooms by a handful of executives, politicians, regulators, and labor leaders. The time required to raise money grows with the amount. We were literally in sync. And the core problem. As a child I read a book of what he called essais.

Thanks to Nancy Cook, Patrick Collison, Nick Tomarello, Jessica Livingston, Trevor Blackwell, Eric Raymond, Robert Morris, Paul Buchheit, and the crew at Carson Systems for smelling so good.