#croissant depreciation

[zolanort]

Hyrule is a fine cook, you guys are just mean.

I will start by pointing out that Wild says the ham water is really tasty. Who is going to be a better judge of the ham water? The one who has eaten nothing but pastries and croissants his whole life?

The lord of pumpkin spice? The army guy who probably lived off of MRE equivalents? The rancher who chugs literal grubs?

Or the one person who is so good with food that he is universally recognized as the cook?

Kudos to you if you chose the grub chugger, nothing wrong with eating bugs, but the correct answer was Wild; Wild is the best choice for judge. Partially because he has 1000x more experience with food variety than the others (statistics taken from my own save files), but mostly because no one else in the group has any significant experience with cooking their own food. Twi did his best helping with that stinky fish for Yeto's soup but it doesn't count.

As the croissant eater points out, the meat looks old.

For it to be old but not have started rotting, it would have to be cured meat (we’ll say ham because what better way to spite Ganon than by eating pig for lunch). Hyrule has probably even upgraded since his first adventure and it’s not just your basic salted ham food (which already costs about the same as a magic shield in game), it’s probably the Hyrulian equivalent of Jamón Ibérico de Bellota from his buddy pal Zelda(s) at the castle. I know I’d give someone a fancy ham for saving my kingdom twice. Hyrule is basically a gourmet at this point. You need quality nutrients to grow healthy hair, as our traveler pointed out, and who has the bestest most fluffiest hair? Hyrule does. Look at the fluffy:

It is absolutely possible to make tasty soup from the most basic 100 rupee cured ham. That’s a real thing that real people do in real life. You can even do it with 50 rupee ham in a can if you’re desperate (I say 50 rupee instead of 25 because of inflation). Hyrule put the bone in too so not only is there the salty flavor from the cured meat, he very well could have been making a nice bone broth for his injured colleague (he could have put other ingredients in off screen too but that’s beside the point). Ever heard of broth based soup? Probably not if you are a croissant eater who never had to cook ham water for yourself on the road. Croissants aren’t even that good unless they have chocolate in the middle, and that’s just because of the chocolate. If you’re going through the effort of laminating all that dough you should just go all the way and make something actually good like pastéis de nata.

Anyway, Hyrule is implied to be a terrible cook and I love that for him. Mostly I just wanted to take this chance to complain about croissants.

[taldigi]

The kwami appear in the earliest version of the bible we have access to- (the 3rd version of it!) They were all trapped in an orb, and existed as specks of light that only took form once they posess an object that is special to a human, and from there they grant wishes.

In this post, I want to explore the main two kwami specifically.

in the 7-2012 bible. they are is described like this:

however, plagg's bio hides some fun secrets:

While in the orb, they are asleep. He prefers to be alive. he cares a lot about Felix. Whoops! He is jealous of Felix' affections for Ladybug- he also refuses to be returned to the orb, and since that is her ultimate goal... He plays diablo.

the 10-2012 bible had severe story shifts, introducing Akuma and depreciating the Kwami.

In this version, the Kwami were assigned rather than born from their wishes, leaving their stories somewhat sparse in comparison.

(Stitch is a mistranslation)

Tikki is really immature in this version.

Plagg is interesting. Apparently, he was tireless.

his taste for foul cheese existed as a bribe, rather than fuel.

The 2013 bible dosen't change too much,

Tikki seems to be a LOT more soft and squishy here.

and here she needs hugs to recharge instead of sweets.

the 2014 bible is approaching what canon is, and so we see the kwami get closer to how they operate in canon.

Tikki went from a baby, to an older sister archetype.

she also ate croissants.

and in the final revision before release, Tikki was changed into a "guardian angel" archetype. She still ate croissants all the way up till production.

[mariacallous]

When news broke in December that Max (then HBO Max) had decided to effectively cancel Minx, a collective shudder went through Hollywood creatives. It wasn’t just that Minx—a charming, dick-filled comedy about the launch of a Playgirl-style magazine in the ’70s—was a critically successful show. It was that Minx had already received a second season order from the network and was, in fact, on the last week of shooting that season. Showrunners, writers, and casts were left wondering, “If HBO could up and back out of a show it had already put so much money and confidence into, then who’s to say it couldn’t happen to us?”

What Max did with Minx is called “writing down,” and it’s becoming increasingly common. Networks, looking to cut costs, can declare that an asset (in this case, a show) has depreciated more rapidly than anticipated. They “write down” the value of the show on the books, making it worth less than it was initially, subsequently ending up with an overall loss on their balance sheet and a sizable tax deduction. It works for existing shows and for previously commissioned work, hence why so many Paramount and Disney originals have been disappearing from their streaming services in recent months. (In fact, Disney recently reported that it took $1.5 billion in write-offs this spring, which experts have attributed to all that vanishing content.)

Some Hollywood suits would be quick to remind creatives that it’s called “show business,” not “show security,” and there are other reasons networks write down content, from trying to avoid licensing or residual payments to the cash they get from shuffling content over to a FAST (free, ad-supported streaming TV) service like Pluto TV or Tubi.

Still, none of that really helped ease the pain when Minx showrunner Ellen Rapoport had to tell her cast and crew about the show’s potential cancellation. She’d heard about it a few days before from the show’s production company, Lionsgate, who’d urged her to keep it to herself. The company had kept the news from her as long as it could and tried to put a positive spin on it, saying that HBO would pay to finish out the second season and couldn’t bar them from taking it elsewhere. But still, Rapoport says, it felt like “a shit sandwich inside of a croissant, like, ‘We love the show, you're canceled, but you're going to find a new home.’”

She kept the news to herself as she prepared to direct the finale, the whole time wondering if that week was the last one she’d ever spend on a Minx set. She finally got the go-ahead to tell the actors on a Friday, when Lionsgate started to sense that news would break in the trades the following week. “My biggest nightmare was that we’d be on set and an article would come out,” says Rapoport. She took the time that weekend to call the show’s six series regulars—Ophelia Lovibond, Jake Johnson, Lennon Parham, Oscar Montoya, Jessica Lowe, and Idara Victor—as well as recurring guests Rich Sommer and Elizabeth Perkins. “Everyone was surprised, because this had never even been in the ether,” Rapoport says. “We’d never even talked about it.”

In fact, Rapoport says, neither she nor anyone else involved with the production of the show had ever really gotten viewership numbers from Max. Those kinds of stats are held notoriously close to the vest at streaming companies, which is frustrating for actors and creators, who are left pretty much in the dark about the status of their show (and, as actors currently striking will tell you, the status of their paltry residuals). “They told us that we had a very high completion rate of about 90 percent, which was amazing, and they told us that our audience was evenly split between men and women,” Rapoport says. “That’s all they really said, other than that our viewership was on par with shows like Julia and Hacks.”

The week after Rapoport told her actors, she got a call from Lionsgate telling her that the story was about to break and that she had to tell everyone else working on the show. “I tried to keep morale up,” she says. “It's obviously very startling to think that the thing you've been working on for months and months and months could just be disappeared, and no one will ever see it, but I tried to make the point that HBO Max distributed us in North America and Latin America, but Lionsgate owns us and distributes us throughout the world.” She was confident Minx would find another distributor.

Rapoport says that when news broke that Minx was off Max, Lionsgate was having serious talks with about four different potential buyers. While she knew that the chances of it landing somewhere else were pretty solid, she wasn’t allowed to explicitly tell anyone working on the show. “I just tried to reassure them that I felt like it would be OK,” she explains.

Rapoport also encouraged the crew to go all out on the season 2 finale, which HBO was still paying to produce. “I was like, ‘Do we need a crane shot?’” she says. “Usually on our budget we only get one day with a crane, but for the finale, we got three, and our wrap party was shockingly nice. It felt like we were getting a divorce but still had access to the credit cards.”

Ultimately, the show did find the buyer Rapoport hoped it might. Just before the new year, word came that Minx had landed at Starz, and the news broke to the world in January. Rapoport says she’s glad the show landed at the network, because of its commitment to programming that appeals to underrepresented groups, but also because it means Minx has found a home amongst similarly provocative content.

That doesn’t mean she’ll get any more insight into Minx’s viewership anytime soon. Sure, Starz is a premium cable company that reports to Nielsen, but those figures don’t include streaming stats—a delivery method that has to account for a sizable portion of Minx’s overall viewership. While any numbers she gets will be nice to have, she says, they’re going to be incomplete.

Rapoport says that, as a former corporate lawyer turned showrunner, she’s come to understand why Max made the decision to write down the show from a business perspective. “I get it,” she says. “But I also feel that in order to encourage people to do their best work in a creative field, you have to create an environment that's conducive to that. It's not just about an algorithm running calculations.”

Which means there’s now a bit of showbiz apprehension involved for everyone working on Minx, because, like Rapoport, they know what it’s like to have the Hollywood rug ripped from under them. “It just feels like all your hard work can be erased at any time, and that’s really disorienting,” Rapoport says. “I find it pretty disrespectful too. It’s hard to do your best work when you know that it could all just end up in the trash heap based on a number on a balance sheet.”

[finch-the-foolish]

Credits to @tallowandport for this concept! Hope it's alright that I wrote things based on the idea- also @a-stale-croissant (praying you're the right one lol) you asked for a ping from anyone who wrote things, so uh here.

Strings

Warnings for self-depreciation, intrusive thoughts, suicidal thoughts, mockery, some self harm/mutilation towards the end (though nothing really gorey)

For what felt like the millionth time, they were laughing at him. The other emperors stared down at Jimmy, eyes lighting up with a terrible cruelty with each "joke" they threw.

"C'mon guys, show our little sheriff some respect!" Fwhip grinned, gesturing dramatically to Jimmy.

"How can I show him respect if I can't even see him from up here?" Joel asked, letting out a laugh–sharp edged and clear in its malice.

Jimmy let out an irritated growl, an angry tension growing within him. Every day, they mocked him; every day, he suffered through it.

And every day, he fell apart a little more.

He couldn't stop the mockery and disrespect and false friendship and outright hatred, no matter how hard he had tried. And yet, he kept trying, kept desperately reaching for allies, desperately trying to make even one real friend.

"What, is the toy man angry?" The god cocked his head, face twisting with an awful smile as laughter bubbled up from the others.

"I'm. Not. A. To-"

A sharp pain shot through his back, dragging him backwards a half step. The string, that godforsaken string that had hung from his back ever since they had turned him into nothing more than a living puppet, nothing more than- than a toy.

The effect was almost immediate–he could feel the words bubbling up in his throat, filling his chest and choking out what little air he could gather. He tensed, one hand rising in a vain attempt at stopping whatever foolish phrase was about to seep from his lungs.

But he couldn't stop it. He could never stop it.

He couldn't stop anything, it seemed.

Against his will, Jimmy drew in a shuddering breath, the words falling out a moment later.

"Nobody cares about me."

The laughter slowed, quieted, though Jimmy didn't seem to notice. He didn't seem to grasp the words at first, either, mind struggling to process what he'd said.

Then, slowly, the realization dawned on him. He tensed, stumbled back a step, one hand drawing up and lightly covering his mouth. His wings pulled back, panic starting to dawn in the sudden chaos of his mind.

That... that was not normal. It was always some stupid catchphrase that pulled from his chest when some asshole pulled the string, not this. Not the dark, awful thoughts that rolled through his every waking hour, tormenting him nearly as much as the others did.

"Jimmy?" Gem whispered, voice all too loud against the silence, yet nearly lost to the fear growing within his mind.

The sheriff said nothing, merely drawing back another step, his free hand gathering up that damned string; the other still held over his mouth, as if holding back the rush of terrible thoughts swirling past.

"Jim, are you alright?" Another voice sounded, a hand grasping his arm. He barely processed who it was, immediately flinching back.

"D.. don't touch me," he hissed, feathers puffing slightly. "Don't.."

"Jimmy, please."

He flinched away from another hand, before abruptly opening his wings, taking off into the sky. He.. he needed to get away. He needed to be alone.

He needed that damn string gone.

It seemed moments later that he was back in Tumble Town, curled up in some hidden building. He barely felt connected to reality, barely felt real himself.

And yet, somehow, the pain felt all too real as he pulled at the string, motions erratic as he tried over and over to rip it from his back. The words tumbled from his lips with each attempt, sharp pains dragging through his spine in company, each motion drawing him closer to the edge.

"Everyone hates me."

"I'm just a curse."

"I'm just a toy."

"I have no worth."

"Nobody loves me."

And, with an awful finality,

"I don't deserve to live."

With that, he broke. His hands fell, shaking from the effort, sobs wracking his small frame. He was just a toy. A worthless, useless little toy in a useless little mesa with no one at all to care. A puppet without strings, a plaything cast aside by all who met him.

All he wanted was to vanish, now, to cast himself into the void and let his code seep away into the nothing. But that would not even bring him rest.

Instead, he merely pulled out a glinting, dark sword, and chopped away that horrifying reminder of his lack of humanity.

[soulmate-game]

Not related to the other two Bio!mom Harley AUs that I did. Just... similar. I wrote this instead of sleeping, as per the usual.

—*—*—*—*—*

“I need your help.”

No accent, no threats of violence, no beating around the bush (figurative or otherwise). No fighting or unconscious bodies.

Just Harley Quinn with her hair down, no makeup, and completely serious, in the center of the Bat Cave. Even though her usual exaggerated Brooklynn accent (circa 1950s) had become a pretty inseparable part of her personality over the years, every now and then she forcibly stuffed it down and used her mostly unaccented voice. The one reminiscent of days with less colors on her face, a high bun, and a pristine white lab coat.

Every single one of the Bats and Birds present, fresh from an interrupted patrol thanks to her, could count the number of times they had seen Harley like this on one hand. Bruce would have the most recollections, but everyone else would have plenty of fingers left on said hand. So they all knew, especially when Bruce willingly pulled down his cowl so he could look Harley in the eye, that this was the start of something they were not likely to forget. And maybe their chances of survival were slim too.

“Harley,” Bruce’s voice was still gruff, seeing as he was still mostly Batman at the moment, but his eyes were soft. “Maybe you should tell us what you need help with first. And sit down. You look exhausted.”

Sure enough, there were dark circles under Harley’s eyes. She let Bruce-man lead her over to one of their debriefing tables and sit her down. She let out a huge sigh, her fingers tangling in her loose blond locks.

“I have a confession, and it isn’t gonna leave this cave, capiche?” The slight return of her accent relieved a little of the tension, but not much. Taking this as their cue, the rest of the bats spread out into their usual seats at the table. Bruce stayed near Harley, keeping a hand on her shoulder in silent support. Harley didn’t continue talking until he gave her a solemn nod in agreement. She gulped— an action that immediately returned the tension.

“... fifteen years ago, back when I was still with Joker, I disappeared off the Gotham scene for a few months. I’m sure a few of you remember,” she looked up, and a couple of the older vigilantes nodded. Really, Jason has still been Robin back then. But the memory stuck out in his head now that he was thinking about it.

“Yeah, you were breaking away from him a little bit, which was weird at the time,” Red Hood mused aloud, arms crossed. “I think you helped us out a couple times and did some of your first team ups with Ivy before you vanished. Then a few months go by and you were back in action with Joker, so we mostly ignored it as you just being you.”

Harley nodded. “Ah, my Ivy’s a lifesaver, even back then. She helped cover up the timeline by keeping me in action for longer than I should’a been without putting me at too much risk.”

“Timeline…” Red Robin spoke up, eyes huge even behind his mask. “You don’t mean—“

“Harley,” Bruce breathed, having also caught on. “You were pregnant?”

The air went still. Harley sniffed, eyes watering even as she smiled.

“Oh yeah. Shouldn’t have been possible, ya know? Me ‘n Joker being dumped in that damn acid should have made us both more sterile than an operatin’ room. But I knew I couldn’t raise a kid, so after she was born—“

“You kept her?” Damian interrupted, earning a gentle cuff over the head from Dick. Harley just snorted.

“Yeah. Not gonna lie, I thought about abortion. But the baby didn’t do nothin’ wrong, and I was still in love with Joker back then so I was ecstatic that I was able to make something new with part ‘a him in it. Still, I knew a baby didn’t deserve to be raised in Gotham. Especially not my baby, not with my enemies and history. Not with who her father was. I knew he’d never want her, never let me keep her. So I spent the last five months of my pregnancy lookin’ around for the best possible family to take her in. And I found them in Paris, France. A sweet couple, both of them bakers. Sabine, she’s both adorably sweet and super kickass. Comes from a Chinese family that is crazy about teachin’ their women martial arts. But nothing shady about it, I triple checked. Just bonding through kicking people in the face. Which is perfect, I wanted my baby to know how to defend herself. I knew she’d need those skills eventually. And Tom, that’s Sabine’s wife, he’s a gentle giant. Same size as Bane, but as harmless as a puppy and makes the best croissants ever. Seriously, the best.”

“Harley,” Bruce gently prodded, but there was a tiny grin on his face. Seeing her behaving so… so normally, so proud and reminiscent, was a rare treat. Bruce would be lying if he said he wasn’t proud of how far the woman had come. How she had freed herself and become a better person, mostly on her own.

“Right, right. The point,” Harley took a breath, rubbing her forehead. “I came clean to Tom and Sabine, but apparently they knew who I was the whole time. They just didn’t care— did I mention they are perfect? Anyway, once I explained everything, they agreed immediately to adopting my baby. They’d been wanting kids, but it would’a been too risky for Sabine’s health. That’s how I found them anyway, they were in the market to adopt. We named her Marinette. She took Tom and Sabine’s last names, hyphenated. We decided Quinn would be her middle name. And after that, I came back to Gotham and told myself that she was in good hands and I needed to forget about her. Cuz I was no good for her. I knew that. I went back to my old tricks. And then…” Harley chuckled, but it was self-depreciating.

“Then a few years passed, and I started breaking away from Joker for real. Then we broke up, I blew up Ace Chemicals while you guys were outta town doing Justice League and Young Justice shit. I started dating Ivy. And—“ she smiled softly at the table, clearly seeing something the rest of them couldn’t. “Then Ivy convinced me to go see her. Visit my baby, see how she’s been. And I did. Marinette was seven years old, but damn it to hell she was gorgeous. And say whatever you want about me and Joker— most of it will even be true— but neither of us are stupid. And she inherited all of our intelligence. All of it. She got my blue eyes. But she got his hair, which meant Sabine teased me relentlessly about ‘are you sure she isn’t that Wayne’s kid?’ And don’t make that face Bruce, you’d be lucky to have a kid half as beautiful as my Mari-pie. No offense, Damian. Anyway. Anyway, this is the important part. Or part of it.

“She sat there and listened to everything I had to say. Everything. A little seven year old, who could barely understand English at the time, and she listened without interrupting once. She never threw a fit, she wasn’t angry or confused. I told her about the things I’d done in the past— well, G rated versions— and she didn’t care. She called me Momma Harley right away, said she wanted to meet Aunt Ivy sometime soon, and started telling me everything about her that I’d missed. From that day on, she became my sunshine. The light of my life, and I still call her at least once a week every week. When I disappear for a few days out of the city? I’m visiting her—“

“You’re banned from international travel, Harley,” Dick scolded, but he sounded way too amused for it to work. He knew she had her ways, anyway. Nobody could actually stop Harley damn Quinn from doing whatever she wanted.

“—Ugh, she tells me the same thing every time! Disappointed glare and everything. I don’t know how I gave birth to such a goodie goodie, but somehow I did. Not important though! The important thing is, I’m always the first to hear when something new happens in her life. And we had decided that she wouldn’t visit me in Gotham until she was at least eighteen, but apparently she disobeyed me— which I should have expected honestly— and entered you guys’ WE international scholastic competition.”

“Oh no,” Bruce pinched the bridge of her nose. “Marinette Dupain-Cheng? The contest winner?” He finally pulled out a chair and sat down. “The winner gets an all-expense paid trip to Gotham for them and their whole class.”

“Exactly!” Harley threw up her hands. “Mari told me last week, and I’ve been trying to talk her out of coming ever since. But she’s inherited both of our stubbornness too, and she isn’t budgin’ a bit. ‘Momma Harley, I wanna see you and Auntie Ivy though!’ And ‘Momma, Gotham’s nothing I can’t handle,’ or my favorite, ‘Maybe you’ll finally get to see me dropkick someone three times my size then, and I’ll prove it.’”

“So that’s what you meant by you need our help,” Tim said as he leaned forward over the table. “Joker just broke out of Arkham yesterday. You want us to protect her.”

“I’d prefer if one of you was with her outside of the mask too, as often as possible,” Harley confirmed. “I can’t stop her from coming here anymore, but I also don’t trust Joker for a second. As soon as he sees her, I’m afraid he’ll make the connection.”

“She looks like him?” Damian asked, scrunching up his nose at the ugly mental image of Joker as a teenage girl. Harley shook her head, solemn.

“She looks like a dark-haired mini-me,” she corrected. “She even keeps her hair in pigtails as her way of showing support for me. And I know Marinette can kick ass, Sabine’s trained her well. But Marinette inherited more than I’d like from me,” Harley ran a hand through her hair. “I didn’t notice it until she was thirteen. She got a crush on a classmate, and it was almost like watching videos of me back during the early days of— well, of Harley Quinn. Just without the crime and insanity. She didn’t even realize that she was almost stalking the poor kid until I pointed it out, and luckily I was able to put my doctorate to good use and we nipped that right in the bud ASAP. She never meant it that way, anyway. As soon as I explained things to her, she was horrified and immediately asked me to help her learn how to have a healthy relationship. That was a fun discussion,” Harley grimaced. “But she still gets attached to people really, really easily. Once she grew out of her crush on that boy, she adopted him as her unofficial brother. She already calls Selina “Auntie,” even though I’ve barely mentioned her to Marinette. She gets attached fast, and deeply. And I’m afraid that even after all the warning I’ve done, all the stories I’ve told her—“

“You’re afraid she’ll get attached to Joker just like you did,” Bruce finished for her, closing his eyes. “Because she knows he’s her father.”

“Yes,” Tears were slowly dripping down her face already, her hands curled into fists so tightly that her knuckles were paper white. “You know how he is. If he finds out she’s his biological daughter, he’ll immediately try to take advantage of that. And he’s far too good with his words for people like me and Mari. I’m worried outta my mind. Please. Help keep my baby safe from him.”

“We will,” Jason no longer had his helmet on, or the domino mask that he usually wore underneath it. All of them knew masks were merely formality with Harley nowadays. And he needed to look her directly in the eye so she could see how serious he was. “I can sign up as a bodyguard for the class. It won’t be weird, seeing as they’re tourists and this is Gotham. They also have several rich kids in their group if I remember right.”

Bruce nodded, agreeing with Jason. “That’s a good idea. I can lead the class on their tours of WE personally. That’ll serve the purpose of keeping an eye on her and shutting up the investors that keep begging me to make more public appearances for the sake of the company. Marinette’s name is already released to the news as the winner of the contest, so we can’t keep her out of the spotlight long. Tim, you’ll have to keep an eye on any and all pictures of the class. Try to erase or doctor the images with her in it well enough that connections between her and Harley can’t be easily made. Dick, you and Damian will be in charge of keeping an eye out for any activity from Joker. The slightest hint, and you notify all of us. We’ll decide on a case-by-case basis who is necessary to stick with the class and who goes after the clown.”

“She’s gonna sneak out of her hotel to stay with me and Ivy,” Harley admitted, bringing the (now slightly judgemental) attention back to her. She raised her hands up in surrender. “She didn’t tell me that, and I didn’t approve or suggest it! I just know my baby too well to not realize that that’s her plan. Could ya provide an escort?”

Bruce sighed. “This is gonna be an eventful month.”

[blackbella-noir]

The sweet of the day

I eat sweets because they're the closest thing to a hug. A kitkat for bickering, two snickers for self depreciating, maybe a Roche or three when I'm lonely. The richer the sadder, the darker the lonelier. No matter the type they're all bittersweet. A chocolate croissant when there's no one to celebrate with, and chocolate covered strawberries for loves I'll miss.

-Me @blackbella-noir

[ryemjay]

I think the funniest thing about Voltron that we never considered is that if the Voltron characters are in the future, there is a chance that their grandparents were Generation Z or at least the Millennials. 

Their grandparents would be so fucking wild oh my god. Half the elderly population listens to K-Pop from 2013 or whatever and calls it “the good old days” while rewatching “vines that butter my croissant” as an afternoon activity. They discuss being apart of fandoms like they’re war veterans and every time they visit the home instead of saying things like “omg guess who’s here? where are those little rascals?!” they’d say things like “wHAT’s uP fUcKeRs?!??” They text in spongebob text and make a lot of self depreciating/gay jokes. 

[libidomechanica]

Untitled (“Sometimes”)

Sometimes under thus I drink oblivion of  the “court, the radiant  eyes, full wilt thou wert as may get the  House of myrrh. My beloved,  were time when he saints to 

thee, O my spouse, with musickes  loue through and glances are bad, and break. As  those birth, with constellation,  who marke in this wife; the world, both sights—  the Society is cruel 

as thou art made, t appears to be  depreciated: it is impossible,  nor awake my love, to a “ grande passing home to hear that such  delight. The Sunne, he whole this twelfth Canto 

of outworn buried age; when  I shall inertial systems, which hath not fooles.  You have changed me angrily: ‘What Folly  has raptures while I was gone  here but thou, whose last not iaelous ouer 

me, if you agree? The inner me the  brow of virtuous mermaid now,  then we hover between the misers  treasure and from the relations  find, when and sometimes, I 

cannot loves tie, makes a world, each  crosses to rule me, and hid under his  virtue spend shifts but never pendulums  pulsing in thee so long breast doth with  power to a Shrine,’ abandoned, 

almost-stale croissants clenched stalks of disbelief  must a string the draind his  glory dight: nor doth lie. Since, thy happens next are  thing in posts in you. As  that woman ruled the middle Ages, 

and the Seven by what  of a hand deface in the  graves a woman shoots a loss; but sin  above, the weariness, which means to  harvest of a wretch, go chide my 

sensual call compeers by night which hath no misfortune,  happy to die, as be ar a gift. She cried age; when she still greet  your pillows and unfolded Of  Greenwich Villages. Paths of 

bliss. to find this loss and  Lethe-wards the coals of wine! I have spreads out  divulging is always  has so long; virtues great.  His has an  enjoyer and heaved in black letter?”

[unexpected-mother]

I've really struggled with food. I've always struggled with food but after having a baby, I've reaaaallly struggled. I don't have the energy left for me, to be mindful of what I'm eating and the quantities. I used to smoke before I fell pregnant, this would help suppress hunger. I also enjoyed a few glasses of wine in the evenings. Now that I am cigarette and booze free, food has become my comfort, my enjoyment, my saviour. I love food. I love eating. I hate being grossly overweight. I gained 3 stone during my pregnancy and another 2/3 stone after. Baby naps? I eat. Baby feeds? I snack. Cooking healthy meals was an absolute no for me. After I had done everything my baby required, I only had bare minimum for me. If I managed a shower it was a miracle. I also tried to keep myself busy socially and although this absolutely depreciated literally everything I had in me, it kept the nasty post partum depression at bay. I was a new mum who needed new mum friends, so this was a priority and I gave it my all. There was a patch where I joined slimming world and lost 3 stone before a holiday back home but I took comfort in gaining it all back once I returned home and lockdown hit. So here I am. 6 stone over my pre baby weight and desperate to get rid of it, however I feel I may have done what we all tend to do with our laundry that needs folding. Skip it, skip it, skip it until there is so much we refuse to do it at all as it just seems impossible and start wearing clothes straight from the pile. Well this is where I am. When I lose, I give up and gain. I wish this was a post where I tell you I had found a solution and lost all 6 stone and I was going to explain it all to you further down in the essay but it's not and I haven't and I won't. I'm still 6 stone over, I keep trying everyday. Weekends are where it all goes pear shaped. Its the bread and cheese that gets me, the potato salad, almond croissants and sugary cereal. Snacks. I manage to replace sugar cravings with fruits and herbal teas most nights but when my beautiful walls of sled control crumble, oh boy do they crumble hard. I am not alone, I know most of us do this. If there was a remedy that worked and required minimal effort, I'd be a gazillionaire. It's self control, dedication, patience and motivation. Well I got maybe a sprinkle of motivation, a touch of dedication, a really small amount of self control and zero patience. I can see the solution, I've done it before. Slimming world was amazing, I got to eat lots of food but just made sure it was all the good free stuff and there actually were some pretty tasty free foods but sugar was my problem. I don't believe in sweetner and that was a major problem. Anyways today I was strong again, my soul always feel so happy when I eat good food. I can breathe better and I feel more energetic. I've always struggled with breakfast but I've figured out a great smoothie recipe that actually tastes like a milkshake and is really filling. It's thick, it's sweet, it's packed full of the good stuff. Protein also helps me so much, I can eat a lot of protein. I feel guilty for it as I know how bad meat is for the environment but as soon as I'm on track I feel happier to move over to more veggie based meals. I used to replace meat with white cheese but calorie wise, this was never a good idea. I don't really exercise much at the moment as I am SO heavy I can't run (shin splints and knee issues) I also had a personal trainer for a bit but my back gave in. So now I just walk. I need to shed this weight to start with... It's not healthy to put stress on my body with heavy exercise at this ENORMOUS weight of 112kg. It's helps to talk about it. I've been 112 for a while, I am 110kg after the last couple days. What is 2kg when you have 30 to lose? I need to focus on the small wins I guess. I will start posting some recipes as motivation for me and hopefully some other people too.

[aesthetiicly]

today was a good birthday. i truly felt blessed. also I feel like I might have finally let go of the childish materialist need to get presents ?? like I literally got no presents this year (apart from some shampoo, cream, croissant and wafers which were all so very good and useful) but I’m still,,, content ?? this is strange. maybe I am actually growing up. Maybe 17 is the year when I truly Realise things. or maybe I have also hit a level of depreciating self worth where I now believe that I don’t deserve anything. That’s fine too. but like.. wow. the best part about today was feeling loved ?? and being greeted ?? irl and on here? like one of my friends sent this long litany where she explained all the things she liked about me bein her friend and honestly I was speechless bc I didn’t think she noticed all the small details and I just ,, my heart was warmed. and the hugs from the fam were nice. and this other friend who I annoy with my memes and random messages 24/7 actually initiated a conversation I’m laughinG I love her. and this time I just didn’t feel sad ?? I didn’t even feel sad at home?? for the past 2ish years I always felt sad during my bday but today was nice. maybe I’m just also a bit preoccupied with school so therefore I don’t care as much but wow.

[thebewisepodcast]

Are the Central Banks Losing Control by Charles Hugh Smith

Eight years after the crisis of 2008-09, central banks are still injecting $200 billion a month into the global financial system to keep it from imploding.

If you want a central banker to choke on his croissant, read him this quote from socio-historian Immanuel Wallerstein: 

"Countries (have lost the ability) to control what happens to them in the ongoing life of the modern world-system."

Stated another way, Wallerstein is asking: what do central banks no longer control?

 The quote is from Wallerstein's recent meditation on China: China is Confident - How Realistic?

 "The question is how realistic is this self-assessment of China? 

 There are two premises embedded in China’s self-confidence, whose validity need to be investigated. The first is that countries, or rather the governments of states, can actually control what is happening to them in the world-economy. 

 The second is that countries can effectively contain popular discontent, whether by suppression or by limited concessions to demands.

 If this was ever even partially true in the modern world-system, these assertions have become very dubious in the structural crisis of the world capitalist system in which we find ourselves today."

 Central banks still claim absolute control over their currency, interest rates, what's legal/outlawed in their financial systems, and so on.

 Wallerstein is suggesting that era has ended and central banks are losing control of the value of their currency, their role in the global economy and the social discontent that is the ripening harvest of central bank policies that have greatly enriched the rich at the expense of everyone else.

 I don't think Wallerstein picked China out a hat. 

 Though every central bank is experiencing the same erosion of control, China is visibly losing control of the value of its currency, the yuan, and its runaway debt burden, which has skyrocketed from less than 20 trillion RMB 13 years ago to over 160 trillion RMB.

     This matters because instability in a nation's currency quickly spreads to the economy and then to society: 

as a currency depreciates, the value of everyone's money declines, i.e. the purchasing power of their money is diminished.

When a currency is devalued, everyone holding that currency is instantly poorer.

 When people become poorer through no fault of their own, they become angry with the authorities who engineered the devaluation or let it happen.

 This leads to the social discontent Wallerstein references.

 Another erosion of purchasing power occurs when wages stagnate while the price of goods and services rises. 

 Can central banks control the erosion of wages' purchasing power? There is little evidence they can.

 As for a central bank's control of its role in the global economy: 

those confident in China's ascent to global #1 power assume China will remain the world's workshop at least until its domestic populace can absorb all the goods it produces.

But it seems increasingly evident China's role as the world's workshop is under threat, and that it doesn't control the erosion of that role:

domestic populism is trending against globalism

wages are rising in China as the populace urbanizes

prices are rising faster than wages

the potential for disruptive trade wars is rising

As for what's outlawed/banned: 

recently, I've been engaged in some lively online debates about the possibility of China banning bitcoin transactions.

Most people in the discussion reckon China (or any government with a high degree of control of its populace) can shut down bitcoin with no difficulty. 

 The threat of a severe penalty would be enough, or so I'm told. I'm not so sure...

 Look what prohibiting alcohol did:

it created an entire economy devoted to bypassing the authorities' restrictions on alcohol. 

The penalties were fairly severe, but threats didn't work when profits beckoned.

 If a nation's currency is losing purchasing power, threats are unlikely to be effective. Indeed, threatening the populace as they try to retain the purchasing power of their capital/savings would be an act of desperation born of a recognized loss of control.

 Wallerstein is right: 

central banks - including the Federal Reserve - are losing control of the value of their currencies, their role in the global economy and the social discontent that arises as central bank policies negatively impact average citizens.

It's by no means guaranteed that central banks will be able to maintain their death-grip on interest rates, either.

 Eight years after the crisis of 2008-09, central banks are still injecting $200 billion a month into the global financial system to keep it from imploding. 

 The returns on their "investment" is diminishing rapidly, and they're losing control of everything that matters...

[shearah]

I got tagged by @korppi8 why would you do this to me

RULES: Copy this post into a new text post, remove my answers and put in yours, and when you are done tag up to 10 people and also tag the person who tagged you… and most importantly, have fun!

A - age: 20

B - biggest fear: dying without making a meaningful contribution to the world

C - current time: 6:30pm

D - drink you last had: Strawberry flavoured water

E - every day starts with: alarm snoozing and going back to sleep :’)

F - favorite song: either Deja Vu by JubyPhonic and rachie, Die in a Fire by TLT, Jenny by Studio Killers... Or WILDFIRE!!, The Lost One’s Weeping, Song of the Ancients - fate, Renegades, Kuroi Uta... my music taste is all over the place...

G - ghosts, are they real: I love the idea of ghosts, I love the stories and documentaries about them, would love to spend a night in a haunted place... but I can’t believe they exist, logically. I would love to be proved wrong, but I’m very sceptical.

H - hometown: Not sure whether I’d consider Cambridge or Leicester my hometown... Maybe both.

I - in love with: chocolate :D

J - jealous of: literally everything and everyone like stop being better than me pls

K - killed someone: I’m a little concerned about who would answer yes to this

L - last time you cried: heck if I know... over a year ago is the last time I can recall

M - middle name: Ann

N - number of siblings: one

O - one wish: to art gud

P - person you last called/texted: my dad

Q - question you’re always asked: 'omg how did you do that?’ about the rainbow hair. I just answer ‘magic’.

R - reasons to smile: chocolate was on offer today. I finally did the washing up so my kitchen isn’t a mess anymore. Uh... 

S - song last sang: Song of the Ancient’s - fate from NieR

T - time you woke up: 12am rip my sleep schedule

U - underwear color: black, always

V - vacation destination: Majorcaaaaa

W - worst habit(s): self depreciation, complaining, constant snacking, many naps, never finish things, potty mouth, slouching, biting the skin around my nails...  the list goes on and on

X - x-rays you’ve had: one when I sprained my ankle, one when I broke my foot, one on my hip because of persistent pain, one on my hand when I punched my sofa, one with the orthodontist and a few with my dentist for the fillings I had a few months back

Y - your favorite food: I have many... Honeydew melon, pineapple, strawberries, raspberries, chocolate, yorkshire puddings, rump steak, sweets, cucumber, carrots, croissants & pain au chocolat, cinnamon pretzels...

Z- zodiac sign: Libra

tagging: @farouchestray, @desu-rocker, @micahisme, @got-a-girl, @goodnameforastand, if you guys wanna do it :3

[heartslogos]

newfragile yellows [705]

“What’s going on with him?” Dorian asks, handing Herah her coffee and tossing Maxwell’s croissant across the table.

Maxwell catches it, tossing it between his hands, “Hot, hot, hot. You got it toasted? Thanks, much.”

“Bull’s pissed because his vacation was a complete wreck,” Herah answers, popping the lid off of her coffee and breathing in the steam.

“A wreck?” Dorian prompts. “Wasn’t he going to see his girlfriend?”

“Yup,” Herah says, “Guess who didn’t see?”

“He travelled halfway across the continent to see his girlfriend and she stood him up?” Dorian’s eyebrows raise. She didn’t seem the type, based on what he’s heard of her. Frankly, Bull doesn’t seem the type to get mad over that kind of thing, either.

“No, worse,” Herah shakes her head.

“Worse?” Dorian repeats. He can’t imagine something worse. Well. There could be her cheating on him, but again, Bull isn’t that type of guy. Maybe emotionally cheating? Dorian doesn’t know Bull well enough to say for that. But cheating in regards to physical intimacy is something Bull definitely wouldn’t care about, considering his prior background with relationships.

“She came here the same week he went there,” Maxwell explains. “Gift of the Magi situation.”

“You’re joking.”

“Not at all. She literally showed up at base here, very politely asked for the Iron Bull, got escorted all the way in so Evelyn could break the news in person that Bull’d taken his saved vacation time to go see her back in Ostwick.”

“Maker’s mercy, that’s painful.”

“And get this. She’d saved up all of her time off so she could visit him here at main base,” Maxwell continues. “That sucks.”

“That absolutely sucks.”

“They ended up missing each other entirely.”

“Real shame, considering Bull just got back from his posting in the Wastes,” Herah tags on. “And he’s got to fuck off to Sarnia or something for his next assignment.”

“Did you know,” the Iron Bull says, scowling down at his mission brief, “that I can hear all of you just fine.”

“Don’t worry, old man, we know it,” Herah says. “If you keep frowning it’s gonna stick and then you better hope that she sticks with you with that.”

The Iron Bull gives Herah the finger.

“I forgive that, out of the goodness of my heart, knowing you’re in deep emotional pain right now,” Herah says.

“How generous,” Dorian muses.

“It was sweet that they wanted to surprise each other. And it probably speaks volumes about their relationship that they somehow timed it for the same week without telling the other about it,” Maxwell says. licking butter off of his fingers. That croissant disappeared faster than a puppy in a Fereldan animal shelter’s free adoption day. “You’ll get it next time, big guy. Maybe drop a few hints next time to make sure this dramatic twist of fate doesn’t happen again.”

“Can we talk about work or what?” Bull grouses.

“No, I want to hear more about your love life and how domestic it is,” Dorian says. “Of course we can talk about work. In fact, I would much prefer it. What are we waiting for?”

“Nothing, you’re the last one for this meeting,” Herah says, sliding her tablet into the center of the table. “Alright, take a look at the face of our next project, folks. It’s going to be a long one.”

-

“I’m so bad at this,” Ellana groans, head in her arms as Mahanon awkwardly tries to console her. “Mahanon, I tried to surprise him by showing up at his work and he had come here. He was here!”

“Maybe next time don’t try to surprise him.”

“I was trying to make a romantic gesture!”

“And now you know that next time you shouldn’t. Next time just leave all the heavy lifting to him. He’s built for it.”

“That seems very unfair of me.”

“You can make it up in other ways.”

“He’s a super secret spy working for a super secret spy organization,” Ellana hisses, “What else am I bringing to this relationship if it isn’t the occasional romantic gesture? It’s certainly not my wealth or my body.”

“You’re a good conversationalist,” Mahanon says.

“He works with ambassadors,” Ellana groans, “Diplomats, people who rub elbows with literal royalty. I doubt that my conversational skills are up to par with that.”

“You are being unusually self depreciating,” Mahanon frowns. “I don’t like this. Stop. I don’t know how to talk you out of this. You weren’t like this as a teenager. You’ve never been like this before.”

“I just want to do good, I just want to do good for him. Is that so hard?”

Mahanon opens his mouth, no doubt to confirm that yes, it is rather hard.

Ellana cuts him off by rushing him, putting her arms around him and sticking her head in his neck.

“Brother. Comfort me. Don’t make me want to strangle you. That will not be comforting.”

Mahanon awkwardly pats her back, letting out a resigned sigh.

“I don’t know if I like you in a relationship or not,” he says, the sound of his voice humming through her bones. “You get very, very strange and unfamiliar to me. I do like the Iron Bull, though. The man has good taste in gifts.”

“He brought you gifts?”

“He brought all of us gifts,” Mahanon rubs her back. “He also brought you a cake, but you weren’t here to eat it.”

“Because I was at his super secret military base trying to surprise him.”

“How did you get to the super secret military base if it’s…well. A super secret military base.”

“It’s not that secret,” Ellana mumbles. “And I’m a librarian. I know things.”

“Right,” Mahanon pats her back again. “Let go. Now.” And as an afterthought he tacks on, “Please.”

“Are you going to continue to put salt on my wound, or are you going to comfort me?”

“I can’t do both? I wouldn’t be me if I couldn’t do both.”

“I wouldn’t want you to be disingenuous,” Ellana sighs. She lets go of him. “Alright, go do both. I’ll suffer for the sake of comfort.”

[robertvasquez763]

To Lease or to Buy? Here Are Some Answers to the New-Car Shopper’s Biggest Question

–

Are you in the market for a luxury car? Or a beater? Or maybe something you intend to keep till it’s a beater? Are you dutifully committed when it comes to vehicle-related responsibilities, or are you flakier than a fresh-baked croissant? When it comes to getting a vehicle, there are a lot of moving parts to leasing and financing. The choices you make will vary depending on which car or truck you’re after and even which dealer you visit to make your potential purchase. Setting aside these inner workings, there are some broad things to consider when weighing whether to lease or to buy.

–

We received some tips from Daniel Blinn, a Connecticut attorney who specializes in automotive financing and other consumer issues. He offered a list of considerations based on what most automakers and dealers offer—and what elements are baked in to what they offer—when you shop for a purchase or a lease. Consider these as guidelines, not hard and fast rules.

–

Reasons to Lease:

–

You want a new car for a (relatively) cheaper monthly cost. This is the most common reason people lease cars and trucks. They want the latest model available, and the monthly payments are cheaper through leasing. Professionals who want to project a certain air of success tend to lease for this reason, Blinn noted. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that while the cost of leasing could be cheaper on a monthly basis, hidden fees are sometimes tacked on that actually make it more expensive to lease versus own in the long run.

–

You don’t want to be stuck with obsolete technology. For the savvier car shopper, this is an interesting point. Especially with the continued spread of electrification, some consumers may want to have the latest technology but fear a vehicle that may get 80 miles of range in the 2018 model year could perhaps already be laughably lacking in electric prowess by 2021. If you lease it, you don’t have to worry about trying to sell a vehicle with obsolete technology.

–

You don’t put many miles on your vehicle annually. If you don’t drive very often or very far, you don’t have to worry about going over mileage limits, which most leases include—10,000 to 15,000 miles per year are common limits—and which can be costly to exceed.

–

You are sure you only want to keep the car for exactly the term of the lease. In addition to being charged for exceeding mileage limits, if you decide that you need an early termination of the lease, you are likely to face charges. This does not just happen when someone decides they no longer want the vehicle. Blinn said some people may unwittingly run into this problem if they move abroad or get a new job that provides a company car, for example. “Leases can be a good deal if somebody drives the right amount of miles and wants to keep the car for the right amount of time,” Blinn said. “But if those things change it can be very expensive.” Typical leases run for three years.

–

You’re looking to go luxe. Luxury marques sometimes have the best lease deals because they want to promote brand loyalty to woo new customers into their products over the long term, Blinn said.

–

–

Reasons to Buy: 

–

You put a lot of miles on your vehicle. Several of the reasons to buy are basically the opposite of the arguments for leasing. If you drive more than 15,000 miles a year, you should strongly consider purchasing rather than leasing. Lease contracts almost always come with mileage limits, and if you exceed these limits you can be charged hundreds or even thousands of dollars, depending on how much you surpass the annual cap.

–

Your vehicle is likely to sustain some injuries. If you’re the type of driver who may accidentally open your door too hard against a brick wall, or if you’re prone to casually swiping the side of concrete posts in a parking garage, you’d probably want to consider buying over leasing. Lease contracts will penalize you for excess wear and tear. So if those inadvertent dents and dings add up, it could be subtracted from your wallet at the end of the lease.

–

You don’t care how new the car or truck is. Again, this is the complementary argument to the pro-leasing point about wanting a new car. If you don’t care whether or not your car is brand new, you most certainly should considering buying rather than leasing. Even if you’re financing the purchase, you are likely to save money in the long run.

–

You are not sure how long you want to keep the vehicle. If you buy a vehicle, that means you can sell it or trade it in any time you want without being penalized. Not only that: Whereas with a lease you are paying what’s commonly referred to as a “cost of capitalization,” or funding the vehicle’s depreciation, when you buy a vehicle and finance it, your monthly payments go toward the equity of the car or truck. Once you finish your loan term, that car or truck is all yours, and so is all of the money you get from selling it or trading it in.

–

–

Warranties Defined: The Meaning behind the Quickly Spoken Selling Points

–

Great Used-Car Bargains Hide among the New-Car Losers

–

How to Get the Best Rate on an Auto Loan 

–

–

So, to lease or to buy? If that is your question, factors such as whether you beat on your car, how much you expect to drive it, and whether your commitment to it is long term or uncertain should all be part of your decision.

–

from remotecar http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/caranddriver/blog/~3/_Rq9w5wyiFA/

via WordPress https://robertvasquez123.wordpress.com/2017/08/12/to-lease-or-to-buy-here-are-some-answers-to-the-new-car-shoppers-biggest-question-2/

[robertkstone]

To Lease or to Buy? Here Are Some Answers to the New-Car Shopper’s Biggest Question

–

Are you in the market for a luxury car? Or a beater? Or maybe something you intend to keep till it’s a beater? Are you dutifully committed when it comes to vehicle-related responsibilities, or are you flakier than a fresh-baked croissant? When it comes to getting a vehicle, there are a lot of moving parts to leasing and financing. The choices you make will vary depending on which car or truck you’re after and even which dealer you visit to make your potential purchase. Setting aside these inner workings, there are some broad things to consider when weighing whether to lease or to buy.

–

We received some tips from Daniel Blinn, a Connecticut attorney who specializes in automotive financing and other consumer issues. He offered a list of considerations based on what most automakers and dealers offer—and what elements are baked in to what they offer—when you shop for a purchase or a lease. Consider these as guidelines, not hard and fast rules.

–

Reasons to Lease:

–

You want a new car for a (relatively) cheaper monthly cost. This is the most common reason people lease cars and trucks. They want the latest model available, and the monthly payments are cheaper through leasing. Professionals who want to project a certain air of success tend to lease for this reason, Blinn noted. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that while the cost of leasing could be cheaper on a monthly basis, hidden fees are sometimes tacked on that actually make it more expensive to lease versus own in the long run.

–

You don’t want to be stuck with obsolete technology. For the savvier car shopper, this is an interesting point. Especially with the continued spread of electrification, some consumers may want to have the latest technology but fear a vehicle that may get 80 miles of range in the 2018 model year could perhaps already be laughably lacking in electric prowess by 2021. If you lease it, you don’t have to worry about trying to sell a vehicle with obsolete technology.

–

You don’t put many miles on your vehicle annually. If you don’t drive very often or very far, you don’t have to worry about going over mileage limits, which most leases include—10,000 to 15,000 miles per year are common limits—and which can be costly to exceed.

–

You are sure you only want to keep the car for exactly the term of the lease. In addition to being charged for exceeding mileage limits, if you decide that you need an early termination of the lease, you are likely to face charges. This does not just happen when someone decides they no longer want the vehicle. Blinn said some people may unwittingly run into this problem if they move abroad or get a new job that provides a company car, for example. “Leases can be a good deal if somebody drives the right amount of miles and wants to keep the car for the right amount of time,” Blinn said. “But if those things change it can be very expensive.” Typical leases run for three years.

–

You’re looking to go luxe. Luxury marques sometimes have the best lease deals because they want to promote brand loyalty to woo new customers into their products over the long term, Blinn said.

–

–

Reasons to Buy: 

–

You put a lot of miles on your vehicle. Several of the reasons to buy are basically the opposite of the arguments for leasing. If you drive more than 15,000 miles a year, you should strongly consider purchasing rather than leasing. Lease contracts almost always come with mileage limits, and if you exceed these limits you can be charged hundreds or even thousands of dollars, depending on how much you surpass the annual cap.

–

Your vehicle is likely to sustain some injuries. If you’re the type of driver who may accidentally open your door too hard against a brick wall, or if you’re prone to casually swiping the side of concrete posts in a parking garage, you’d probably want to consider buying over leasing. Lease contracts will penalize you for excess wear and tear. So if those inadvertent dents and dings add up, it could be subtracted from your wallet at the end of the lease.

–

You don’t care how new the car or truck is. Again, this is the complementary argument to the pro-leasing point about wanting a new car. If you don’t care whether or not your car is brand new, you most certainly should considering buying rather than leasing. Even if you’re financing the purchase, you are likely to save money in the long run.

–

You are not sure how long you want to keep the vehicle. If you buy a vehicle, that means you can sell it or trade it in any time you want without being penalized. Not only that: Whereas with a lease you are paying what’s commonly referred to as a “cost of capitalization,” or funding the vehicle’s depreciation, when you buy a vehicle and finance it, your monthly payments go toward the equity of the car or truck. Once you finish your loan term, that car or truck is all yours, and so is all of the money you get from selling it or trading it in.

–

–

Warranties Defined: The Meaning behind the Quickly Spoken Selling Points

–

Great Used-Car Bargains Hide among the New-Car Losers

–

How to Get the Best Rate on an Auto Loan 

–

–

So, to lease or to buy? If that is your question, factors such as whether you beat on your car, how much you expect to drive it, and whether your commitment to it is long term or uncertain should all be part of your decision.

–

from PerformanceJunk Feed http://ift.tt/2vLygXV via IFTTT

from PerformanceJunk WP Feed 3 http://ift.tt/2uwTepB via IFTTT

[jesusvasser]

To Lease or to Buy? Here Are Some Answers to the New-Car Shopper’s Biggest Question

–

Are you in the market for a luxury car? Or a beater? Or maybe something you intend to keep till it’s a beater? Are you dutifully committed when it comes to vehicle-related responsibilities, or are you flakier than a fresh-baked croissant? When it comes to getting a vehicle, there are a lot of moving parts to leasing and financing. The choices you make will vary depending on which car or truck you’re after and even which dealer you visit to make your potential purchase. Setting aside these inner workings, there are some broad things to consider when weighing whether to lease or to buy.

–

We received some tips from Daniel Blinn, a Connecticut attorney who specializes in automotive financing and other consumer issues. He offered a list of considerations based on what most automakers and dealers offer—and what elements are baked in to what they offer—when you shop for a purchase or a lease. Consider these as guidelines, not hard and fast rules.

–

Reasons to Lease:

–

You want a new car for a (relatively) cheaper monthly cost. This is the most common reason people lease cars and trucks. They want the latest model available, and the monthly payments are cheaper through leasing. Professionals who want to project a certain air of success tend to lease for this reason, Blinn noted. One thing to keep in mind, however, is that while the cost of leasing could be cheaper on a monthly basis, hidden fees are sometimes tacked on that actually make it more expensive to lease versus own in the long run.

–

You don’t want to be stuck with obsolete technology. For the savvier car shopper, this is an interesting point. Especially with the continued spread of electrification, some consumers may want to have the latest technology but fear a vehicle that may get 80 miles of range in the 2018 model year could perhaps already be laughably lacking in electric prowess by 2021. If you lease it, you don’t have to worry about trying to sell a vehicle with obsolete technology.

–

You don’t put many miles on your vehicle annually. If you don’t drive very often or very far, you don’t have to worry about going over mileage limits, which most leases include—10,000 to 15,000 miles per year are common limits—and which can be costly to exceed.

–

You are sure you only want to keep the car for exactly the term of the lease. In addition to being charged for exceeding mileage limits, if you decide that you need an early termination of the lease, you are likely to face charges. This does not just happen when someone decides they no longer want the vehicle. Blinn said some people may unwittingly run into this problem if they move abroad or get a new job that provides a company car, for example. “Leases can be a good deal if somebody drives the right amount of miles and wants to keep the car for the right amount of time,” Blinn said. “But if those things change it can be very expensive.” Typical leases run for three years.

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You’re looking to go luxe. Luxury marques sometimes have the best lease deals because they want to promote brand loyalty to woo new customers into their products over the long term, Blinn said.

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Reasons to Buy: 

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You put a lot of miles on your vehicle. Several of the reasons to buy are basically the opposite of the arguments for leasing. If you drive more than 15,000 miles a year, you should strongly consider purchasing rather than leasing. Lease contracts almost always come with mileage limits, and if you exceed these limits you can be charged hundreds or even thousands of dollars, depending on how much you surpass the annual cap.

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Your vehicle is likely to sustain some injuries. If you’re the type of driver who may accidentally open your door too hard against a brick wall, or if you’re prone to casually swiping the side of concrete posts in a parking garage, you’d probably want to consider buying over leasing. Lease contracts will penalize you for excess wear and tear. So if those inadvertent dents and dings add up, it could be subtracted from your wallet at the end of the lease.

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You don’t care how new the car or truck is. Again, this is the complementary argument to the pro-leasing point about wanting a new car. If you don’t care whether or not your car is brand new, you most certainly should considering buying rather than leasing. Even if you’re financing the purchase, you are likely to save money in the long run.

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You are not sure how long you want to keep the vehicle. If you buy a vehicle, that means you can sell it or trade it in any time you want without being penalized. Not only that: Whereas with a lease you are paying what’s commonly referred to as a “cost of capitalization,” or funding the vehicle’s depreciation, when you buy a vehicle and finance it, your monthly payments go toward the equity of the car or truck. Once you finish your loan term, that car or truck is all yours, and so is all of the money you get from selling it or trading it in.

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Warranties Defined: The Meaning behind the Quickly Spoken Selling Points

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Great Used-Car Bargains Hide among the New-Car Losers

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How to Get the Best Rate on an Auto Loan 

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So, to lease or to buy? If that is your question, factors such as whether you beat on your car, how much you expect to drive it, and whether your commitment to it is long term or uncertain should all be part of your decision.

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