#during their over-corrective PR maneuvers

[stiwfssr]

[go-diane-winchester]

Why Jensen can't stop Misha?

When I did my post about Misha's inadequacy as a man, I was wondering whether I should do a post about Jensen and his fear of other people in his personal space.  Then an awesome creature tagged me onto a hideous heller post, which has my blood boiling.  The idiot heller posted the filth in the general tags and is therefore fair game.  Apparently the gifs below are gush worthy.

  This was a turn on for @cas-is-my-spirit-animal-bruh.  Now, if the idiot had just tagged it destiel, we wouldn't have to see it and go into gag mode.  Look at the second gif.  Jensen has his hand in front of his face.  He is trying to block Misha.  And how many times is he saying stop.  Remember the red carpet for the 300th episode party.  He was messing with Jensen's tie and Jensen physically turned away saying ''stop it''.  It also reminds me of that horrendous photo op where Misha grabbed Jensen's hands forcefully and Jensen tried to wrangle his hand out of Misha's grasp, screaming at him.  Misha loves that power because he is dominant one. 

Now, the hellers may argue that Jensen gave his go-ahead to show this clip.  Why would he do that?  There are a few suppositions.  The bibro, who directed me to this monstrosity, had this to say:

''Why would he agree to publish this sick footage? My guess: for fandom to finally see the true face of Misha and how far he is willing to go in his sickening pandering to the shippers. This is the personality of Misha and the reality of how shipping negatively influences the working environment on set. He [Jensen] probably didn’t count on minions being that nasty that they would romanticize this, because hey! their overlord can’t do no wrong!!! (sarcasm).''

A good supposition.  I have a theory as well.  Have you noticed how Jensen's words and actions are sometimes incongruous with each other.  He gets upset if you ask him anything ship-related, and yet he will snap shippy photos during his photo op.  He rolls his eyes at the mere mention of Misha but the minute Danneel says she loves Misha, Jensen obediently chimes in ''who doesn't?''.  He clashes with himself.  I think Jensen is easy to maneuver into doing things against his will.  All you have to do is give him the right motivation and he will do exactly what you want. 

What is his motivation as far as Danneel is concerned?

Simple.  That's his wife.  He is trying to help her acquire a piece of the Supernatural pie, and she chose Misha's fan base, because she thinks Jensen's fans don't like her.  And when HatersOfDanneel [an abstractly named twitter handle] attacked her, Misha conveniently came to the rescue, although he does that for no one else.  This is how you win favors, people.  This is how inmates gain a ''fresh meat's'' confidence.  Set up a fake enemy to harass your prey and then save the prey, so he will feel indebted to you.  This is what I hypothesized happened here.  Jensen went along with what Danneel wanted, because every man is afraid of a nagging wife.  He would never hear the end of it. 

What is his motivation as far as Destiel is concerned?

Jensen has a manager, a publicist and assistants.  Are all of them blind?  How are they all unaware of Jensen's discomfort.  How come hellers get away with threatening Jensen?  Do none of them see Misha's panel footage?  Why are these people so lax?  I think Misha networked with Jensen's people, and he used fear of possible PR problems if their star, Jensen, is seen as a homophobe.  If Jensen loses public favor due to accusations of bigotry, his career is going to take a nosedive.  And if that happens, all his people whom he employed, will have to deal with a very unsteady financial future in a turbulent economic climate. 

So Misha did the spin doctor spiel on them and they in turn, spun Jensen's head.  Jensen does what they say, even though he hates it, for fear of disrepute.  That is why he has no congruency in his speech and actions, because playing pretend has its limitations.  When you get angry, you forgot what you were supposed to do or say?  So that also might be why that particular piece of footage made it into the gag reel.  Jensen gave his permission because his people told him to.  Did Misha ever speak directly to Jensen?  Maybe.  And he probably used the same spiel.  ''Just tolerate it, Jensen.  Trying to correct them might make matters worse.  The LGBT will feel like you hate them.  And you don't want them to think that, do you?''  Fun fact:  Spin doctor is term used in politics and government.  Misha just happened to intern at the white house.  He must have learned something there.  Other than stealing white house property. 

I think Jensen is caught between a rock and a hard place.  I think this gif set and the photo ops, are actually more troublesome to him than he lets up.  The reason why I think so, is the 1999 cowboy photo shoot.  Jensen mentioned it at a con, and immediately Jared pulled a cringy face, and then became uncharacteristically serious, which leads me to believe Jensen spoke to Jared about this, which is why Jared is so protective of him.  He knows about Jensen's fear, especially since I think the fear is still there, lying dormant within Jensen.    I mildly considered Jensen's discomfort regarding that photo shoot to be baffling.  Jensen has done shirtless scenes in DOOL, Dark Angel and Supernatural.  What was so bad about this photo shoot? 

Then I remember the uproar Corey Feldman created in the media.  I watched a documentary called The Open Secret which, unfortunately, is no longer available on YouTube.  Apparently there is a pedo ring that targets young boys who go to work in the industry.  There is a link between agents, photographers and the elite.  The photographers basically showcase the boys to the rich magnets.  I think they do sales work, and probably get a commission.  Since the boys are merchandise, it is the photographer's job to make the merchandise look attractive.  Whilst watching the doccie, I wondered how come Jensen didn't get targeted.  He was way more beautiful than any of his peers in 1999.  And he looked younger than his peers.  He entered the industry, at 18 , 1996, without a chaperone.  He should have been fair game.  Someone pointed out that when this photo shoot took place he was around 21.  Correct. 

Then I saw the pictures taken at the photo shoot and something stood out, that gelled with what the detectives and psychologists etc, in the documentary were saying. 

That shoot lasted a long time, probably half the day.  The team took many pictures with horses and lassoing.  I think it was a shoot for a magazine.  Most of the pictures don't look bad.  So its baffling that Jensen hates all of them.  These above pictures stand out.  According to the detective, when photographers see a boy of interest, they take a few pictures that might entice the pedophiles and pederasts they are attracting.  Pedophiles and pederasts [and I am sorry to talk about this] like children and teenagers, because they are usually bigger, older and stronger than their frightened victims.  Its more about their ego.  Also, in some cases, the aggressors are taller and therefore usually looking down at victims. 

That is why photographers will make boys remove their shirts so they are topless [this is one thing Jensen mentioned hating], and then take the picture from an angle where they are looming over the subject so that the subject appears shorter or maybe smaller.  Its the pedophile/pederast's POV.  The third picture is ridiculous because the photographer made Jensen scrunch down to look shorter.  I think the photographer might have been shorter than Jensen.  Jensen's pose appears like a invitation.  He probably got the inkling, by the end of the session, that something was off with the whole shoot.  That is why, to this day, the shoot upsets him.  But other than that, I don't know if anything else happened on that day. 

Do I think something drastic happened?  No.  I don't think Jensen was attacked by a predator.  The predators didn't want Jensen even though he was a teenager, very beautiful and alone in Los Angeles.  The reason why is if you really squint, Jensen is a star child.  His father is a veteran in the industry.  Alan Ackles is a somebody.  If they touch his kid, Alan might become a problem for them.  Because they didn't want a potentially difficult angry dad situation to deal with in the future, they decided to leave Jensen alone.  However, the shoot still messed Jensen up enough that he remembers it to this day, decades later.  He even argued with a heller over it, because she wanted him to sign on of the pictures during his autos and he was upset.  Why get upset?  Its just a picture, right?  Unless there is an ugly memory attached to it.

Maybe the penny dropped for him as to how ugly the situation could have gotten.  So that gif set of Misha forcing Jensen's face into his crotch, that the hellers are gushing over, is not hot or cute.  It is disgusting.  Only a complete pervert will be aroused by the coercion of the Cockles pairing and the beatings in the destiel pairing.  Misha is vile and so are his hellers.  They get turned on by the sickest things. 

[velkynkarma]

@bosstoaster (because for some reason I can’t answer this ask???) Hell yes! I love it! So this is set at the very tail end/just after Failsafe, for reference. 
Note: There are some extremely minor spoilers for s7. Nothing plot-relevant, just names and minor background data from back on Earth, so I haven’t spoiler-tagged it. Parallel by Proxy is only canon compliant up to s4. But just as a head’s up. “Are…are you serious?” Lance asks, incredulous. “You really want me to help you with shooting?”

 Ryou blinks at him. “Sure. Why wouldn’t I be serious about that? You did offer to do some sharpshooter training sessions.” “I mean, I did,” Lance admits, “But I was…I mean, I wasn’t really being serious, I didn’t think you’d really take me up on it, I was just…uh…” He looks sheepish. “Bragging? I…guess?” Ryou doesn’t really know what to make of that. Lance does brag, a lot, usually about things he shouldn’t, but shooting is one of those few areas where Lance’s bravado isn’t all bluster. He really is as good as he says he is in that department. As both Shiro and as himself, Ryou’s witnessed Lance hit marks that only experts could handle back on Earth. That was why he’d been willing to take up Lance on the offer in the first place. His new Olkari arm is very impressive, and its ranged shooting capabilities will no doubt be useful—assuming he can learn how to use them right. Nothing he remembers from being Shiro will help; Shiro has almost always preferred close combat when possible, and his own Galra prosthetic just isn’t used at range. Lance’s knowledge will be much more applicable here. “So,” Ryou says slowly, “are you saying you can’t help me with training for this?”

“No, no no no,” Lance says hastily. “I mean, I could, I’ve done it, I helped Hunk figure out his bayard better and all that. Even Keith’s asked me for a few shooting pointers,” Lance adds, with self-satisfied pride. “I just don’t get why you would need my help?” Ryou is baffled by that. “Why wouldn’t I?” “Well, I mean, you’re, y’know…Shiro-ish?” Ryou blinks. Stares. “Shiro…ish?” “Yeah,” Lance says, gesturing hastily with his hands as he tries to explain his point. “Like, you’re not Shiro anymore—or well, I guess you weren’t ever Shiro, but like, you still thought you were and you acted like him and could do all the stuff he did, and like, he’s Shiro, so why would he need shooting lessons from me? Or, uh, why would you? This is really confusing,” he finishes, exasperated. That makes two of them. “Okay, back up a second,” Ryou says, holding up his hand in a ‘stop’ motion. “We’ll ignore the fact that I’m not Shiro for the moment. Why wouldn’t he be able to get shooting lessons from you?” Lance looks incredulous all over again. “Because he’s Shiro. Shiro can already do practically everything.” Ryou’s eyebrows both raise at that. “Can he really,” he intones. That’s certainly news to him, and as Lance had pointed out in so roundabout a way, he’d been that person until very recently. “Sure,” Lance says. “He’s got all the high scores on all the simulations back at the Garrison. Youngest pilot to ever lead a mission in space. Broke over a dozen records in just a couple years. The news about his new record for fastest orbital velocity was huge!” There’s actual excitement on his face as he chatters on. Fastest orbital velocity? Ryou thinks, idly. He doesn’t remember that. Pity. Sounds like it was fun.

 “Shiro’s like, the whole reason I even joined the Garrison to be a pilot in the first place,” Lance finishes. “I wanted to be able to do cool things like that. If I could do even a fraction of that stuff I’d be happy.” Then he looks sheepish. “Uh, but you probably know about all that stuff already, ‘cause, y’know…Shiro-ish. Now I feel kinda dumb for rambling about it. To you. This is weird.” “I only remember maybe half of it well,” Ryou says, waving that aside. “And I promise I won’t tell Shiro, if that makes you feel better. You’re fine.” 

Lance’e expression is a mix of still sheepish, and also grateful. “Thanks.”

 “I still don’t see why that means he couldn’t learn shooting from you, though,” Ryou continues. “I’m betting none of those records he broke were for marksmanship.” Certainly none of the ones he remembers were. “No,” Lance admits, “But he always seems to know what to do, and he was still top class back at the Garrison, and he’s awesome at fighting, so I figured…” You’ve got a little bit of hero worship, Ryou notes with amusement, although he’s careful not to let it show on his face. That hadn’t been uncommon with cadets, from what memories he still has from Shiro’s time back on Earth. Shiro was charismatic, and an inspiration to a lot of the younger generation; the Garrison had often used him for PR and for teaching classes of new cadets in between missions for exactly that reason. Ryou remembers standing in front of more than a few classrooms full of starry-eyed students or cadets excited at the prospect of meeting him. “Shiro is proficient with firearms,” Ryou says. “Enough to pass basic training. But it’s not a skill he’s ever really worked on improving.” Lance seems to consider this for a moment, before finally saying, “Huh.” He doesn’t seem terribly disillusioned, so Ryou figures at least a little of that old hero-worship has toned down since becoming a paladin. Probably because he’s just gotten to know Shiro as a person, and not a far-off elevated figure in news bytes and record books.
 “For that matter,” Ryou continues, “I’m not Shiro at all, so even that doesn’t apply to me. I only remember parts of Shiro’s basic training, and that’s not enough to put me in a real combat scenario. Plus, being sick wiped most of my muscle memory for things like this. Even if I had perfect recall of Shiro’s firearm training, this body doesn’t remember how to do that anymore.” 

Lance winces at that. “Oh. Right. Sorry.”

 Ryou shakes his head. “Nothing to apologize for. Point is, I need to re-learn how to shoot from square one, like I’m a fresh cadet. And out of everyone on the crew, you’re the one with the most firearm experience and the highest skill level with shooting. So I want you to start teaching me from the beginning—if you’re willing to, of course.” Lance stares at him. “I mean, of course I’m willing! But…from the beginning? Really?” “I’m dead serious,” Ryou says, very firmly. “I need to get it right the first time. There’s no room for mistakes because I assume I can do something and it turns out I can’t. I’ve been doing the same thing with Shiro, Keith and Allura learning hand to hand combat again—started with basic exercises and beginner katas. I need to approach this the same way.” “I guess that makes sense,” Lance admits. “Still must suck, though. After putting in all that work and effort before, I’d hate to get kicked down to starting over from scratch.” “It is what it is,” Ryou says neutrally, although inwardly he completely agrees. It’s frustrating to have Shiro running him through novice-level drills just to get his body used to moving properly for a fight, and then immediately watching Shiro take down a Gladiator with advanced skills he knows he used to know. He feels stupid sometimes, when Keith gives him tips on combat maneuvers and still manages to knock him on his ass during careful sparring practice, even though part of his brain still remembers being the one doing the teaching. He gets flustered when he mixes up Altean youur-jun with Earth martial arts styles, and Allura has to correct him time and time again when his arms and legs just don’t feel like cooperating. He remembers being so good at this. It’s almost more painful on his pride than his body to have to start over again. But for all that, he knows he’ll get there eventually. He has faded memories of Shiro first learning these things too, and he’d been just as frustrated back then. And really, Ryou is learning for the first time how to do all of this, just like Shiro all those years ago. His body had been conditioned for him, the last time. This time, as Shiro pointed out to him when he was learning to walk again, this will be all his victory when he gets there. He just has to work his way to that victory from the ground up. “So, the basics,” Ryou repeats. “Start from scratch and build some good habits. Then hopefully I can support the team without accidentally killing anybody.” “Yeah,” Lance says. “Friendly fire isn’t really all that friendly. Okay, let’s head to the training deck then.” He scratches his head as he stares at Ryou’s Olkari hand, and adds, “Although, I don’t think you’ll need all the basics. I guess we don’t really have to worry about proper grip or how to pull the trigger right…” 

 Ryou chuckles a little at that as he leads the way towards the training deck. “Alright, fair. All the basics, within reason. And I imagine we’ll have to still be inventive with some of it.” “Yeah, I don’t think this is what they had in mind with handgun training,” Lance says, grinning widely as he follows. Ryou snorts. “That was terrible.” “You laughed!” “I shouldn’t have. I shouldn’t encourage you. That was a moment of weakness.” Lance is still grinning at that, but moves on. “There’s other stuff we can work on, though. Stance and movement are still important. We’ll need a trick for aiming, unless you want to strap a scope to your wrist—“ “I think people might notice that.” “Probably,” Lance agrees. “And what’s the range on that thing, anyway?” “It shoots pretty far,” Ryou says. “I played around with it a little at the Olkari armory. The blasts can vary in strength, too.”

 “We should probably figure out that too, then,” Lance says. “I had to play around with my bayard a little for the same reason, since it can swap between standard and sniper rifle modes, and the shot strength can vary too. It’s not like swapping guns with different rounds at all.” He shrugs. “But if I can figure it out, you definitely can.” 

Ryou raises an eyebrow at that. Lance says it calmly, but it had edged a little too close to self-deprecating for Ryou’s tastes. “As I recall,” he says mildly, “you’re the team sharpshooter. If anyone’s an expert at this it’s you. I’m the novice by comparison. But I’m sure you’ll be an excellent teacher.” 

Lance can’t seem to help but preen a little at that. “Well,” he says, a little more confidently, “I guess Shiro did say I was the sharpshooter. Maybe you’re right.” 
Lance knows his way around the firearm drills in the training deck well, and gets them set up in the room with holographic targets. “Non-moving targets for now,” Lance says. “At least until we know what you can do and you get used to the basics. And…what can you do? I’ve never seen this thing in action.” “I guess a demonstration is in order, then,” Ryou says. He concentrates on lighting up—it’s becoming more and more second nature, with practice. It still fills him with a little thrill of excitement to watch the leaf-vein pale green patterns crawl up from his fingertips to his elbow, and to watch the pale green energy start to coalesce in his fist as the weapon charges. Even now, quintents later, it’s still exhilarating to feel and to watch.

 After a few ticks he’s pretty sure the weapon is done charging, and he releases that energy and fires a blast at the far wall, where the holographic targets are set up. He misses the target by a little less than a foot, and the blast disintegrates against the reinforced far wall of the training deck. “Wow,” Lance says. “That’s pretty cool! That thing packs a lot of power. That’s more like a small cannon blast than a rifle.” “I can reduce the amount of charge in it too,” Ryou says. “Make it a little less powerful, if needed.”

 “We’ll have to practice that,” Lance says. “But that’s also a pretty big blast. The size of your fist at least. That’s more like Hunk’s bayard. Can you reduce the size of it? Like…” He gestures, putting his right fist in his left palm, and pointing it like a gun. “Pow, pow, pow!” “I hadn’t thought of that,” Ryou admits, giving it a try. 

Firing with just one finger is difficult—it can’t gather much power by itself, so pointing at the targets in the distance and shooting creates a thin beam of pale green that barely makes an impact. It might work for distraction, but not much else. Two fingers works better. He can concentrate enough energy to make a reasonable impact in a target, assuming he ever hits one, and it will offer more accuracy and less blatant destruction in a combat situation. “Not bad!” Lance says. “Now that’s more up my alley. You’re still shooting wide, though—everything is tracking left so far. You should use your left hand to stabilize the shots. I guess you don’t have to really worry about a bad trigger pull putting your shot out of alignment, but the extra stability will help keep your shots clustered better.” “Alright,” Ryou agrees, and gives that a try too. It really does help, regardless of if he uses what Lance is already referring to as either ‘rifle’ form or ‘cannon’ form, and he’s able to at least nick the edges of the targets. “Still overestimating,” Lance muses thoughtfully, watching the shots. Ryou is impressed, actually; Lance looks confident and serious, with most of his goofiness and bravado having vanished. He knows what he’s doing and he’s doing it well, and not bothering to try and play it up for show. This, Ryou muses, is probably what Lance really is, underneath all the bluster and the confidence issues. “How do we fix that?” Ryou asks, encouraging. Lance glances back and forth between the targets and Ryou, thinking. “Stance,” he says finally, demonstrating. “Just to start. Relax your shoulders a little. Reposition your feet more like this. Keep your arms extended but not locked. You can face forward like this, or sideways like this, but either way it should be solid.” Ryou imitates, and Lance nods approvingly. “We also need to figure out aiming for this thing,” Lance says, pointing at the had. “It’s not like using an actual firearm…even if it is a literal firearm.”

 “That was also terrible, and not even original,” Ryou complains. “You did that already.”

 “Hey, who’s teaching who, here?” Lance says, arms crossed, before getting back to work. “You don’t have sights, so we’re going to have to figure out the right angle and level for a good shot, and then get your muscle memory and your brain used to it. Your shots have been a little low. Raise it just a little bit.” He adjusts Ryou’s wrist carefully, and nudges it just a hair to the right. “Okay. Try that.” Ryou does. The shot burns cleanly through the holographic target in the second ring. Lance whoops. “Nice! You hit it!” 

“Still not completely,” Ryou says, adjusting his aim just a little. He shoots again with two fingers. This time it strikes cleanly, dead center. 

Lance cheers again. “You’re already turning into a sharpshooter,” he says, grinning.

 “That was only because you did most of the targeting for me,” Ryou admits. Lance has an impressive aptitude for spacial awareness when it comes to this sort of thing. He doesn’t have Keith’s instinctive skills for knowing how to move and when in high-stakes flight with split-second timing, but Ryou is already starting to realize that Lance’s spacial skills excel on a different level. Lance can estimate distance and angle and calculate aim and trajectory impressively quickly, even when it’s not his weapon, and he appears to be doing that almost entirely by instinct. Lance shrugs. “It just takes practice. Try it again—see if you can find the angle yourself, now that you know around where your hand should be and you have a better idea of how it aims.” Ryou nods, and gives it a shot. Literally. Damn, he’s going to get as bad as Lance if this keeps up. They spend the next two vargas practicing. Lance helps Ryou master the basics of the stance and get used to estimating distance and aiming. He teaches him some breathing tricks, to help with not throwing off the shots, and Ryou learns to incorporate those quickly. Sometimes Lance demonstrates with his own bayard, summoning it to blast several of the targets in neat clusters, highlighted blue by the holographic displays. Whenever he does, he doesn’t use his sights. 

“They’re really useful, don’t get me wrong,” Lance says. “And I use them a lot in actual missions, but I think it’s really important to understand the limits and basics of your rifle without them too. If somebody’s in trouble I might not have time to actually line up a shot. I have to just take it, y’know? So I have to know how to do that and know where I’m aiming.” That’s fair, Ryou admits. And also encouraging. It means teaching himself to shoot with a prosthetic is feasible, if he can just get the muscle memory down. And after two vargas he does feel like he’s starting to get the hang of it. He can always hit the targets now, at least, although the shots still tend to cluster towards the outer edges of the rings, rather than the center. He gets closer to bull’s eyes as time progresses, and manages to nail a few even on his own. He learns to estimate the distances better and vary the power of his shots to hit things, and gets better at identifying when to use the ‘cannon’ form versus the ‘rifle’ form. Aiming and stabilizing gets more comfortable, as does finding the right angle and height to shoot from. “You’re doing great,” Lance says. “You’re already better than Keith. He can’t hit the broad side of a barn.” Ryou raises an eyebrow. “Really?”

 “He’s awful,” Lance says, almost cheerfully. “Did you know when he attacked Zarkon’s command he only hit like, once for every four shots?”

 “I didn’t,” Ryou says, although that’s not terribly surprising. Shiro had been pretty preoccupied at the time, and he never had been given an opportunity to discuss that battle after, on account of the whole ‘being teleported to the far side of the universe and being captured in his own head’ debacle. “Well, you’re doing good,” Lance says. “I think if you practice every day you’ll get the hang of basic shooting. You’re already figuring out your aim pretty well, you just need to get the muscle memory down. And when you’ve got that, I can start showing you how to hit moving targets, or to hit things while you’re moving. And some other tricks, too, for using the surrounding area to your advantage while shooting. I bet I could teach you some sniping, too—that’s always useful. Shiro keeps saying he wishes he had more people to play a support role in combat like that.”

 “Those all sound great,” Ryou says. “But for now, I think I need a break.” He’s only been standing still for a few hours and shooting, but he’s exhausted. He’s been doing very well in his failsafe recovery, putting on more weight and muscle and building up his endurance, but he still has a ways to go. He probably shouldn’t push himself too hard—not if he wants to be back in the field any time soon.

 “Oh…oh, right, of course!” Lance says. He looks like he’d forgotten Ryou had even been sick. “Sorry, I probably shouldn’t have made you practice for so long, I didn’t even think. Ugh. Teaching is hard.” “You didn’t do as badly as you think, and you didn’t force me to do anything,” Ryou says, vaguely amused. 

 “Maybe,” Lance says, as he hurries over to grab a couple of water packs from the dispenser in the corner, “But I definitely don’t want Shiro to yell at me about overworking you or anything.”

 Less hero worship there, Ryou thinks with an internal chuckle. Outwardly, he nods in thanks as he accepts his water pack, and says, “Yeah, he’s been…watchful, lately.” 

Lance sticks the straw in his water pack. “Yeah. But even with that, you’ll be a sharpshooter in no time.” 

“Thanks, Lance,” Ryou says. “I really do appreciate it.” 

 Lance grins. “No problem! We can set up more lessons like this, if you want. There’s lots of stuff I can show you, and it’ll be awesome to have another ranged person on the team.” He seems excited at the prospect of being able to teach someone anything, now that they’ve gotten over the ‘Shiro-ish’ hurdle. 

 “I won’t say no to that.” There’s precious little else Ryou can really do at the moment. He won’t be going on missions for another feeb or two at least. He still has to focus on recovery, but when the others aren’t on missions, he can practice, too. “Great! Just let me know when.” 

 “You got it.” And then, curious, he asks, “Who taught you how to shoot? If you don’t mind my asking.”

 Lance grins again. “Would you believe my sister?” “Oh?” 

“Yeah. She’s Garrison, too. I don’t know if you’d remember her. I’m not even sure if Shiro ever met her. She’s pretty good with firearms, though. Taught me everything she knew when she heard I was thinking about joining, too.” He looks a little wistful at the very end, so Ryou says, “I’m sure she’d be real proud of you, putting all your skills to use like this. You’ve done a great job supporting everyone, both with that bayard and without.” 

Lance smiles. “Thanks, Ryou.”

 They finish off their water, and Ryou rolls his shoulders, trying to work some of the stiffness out of them after a few hours of standing and aiming. “You should probably check in with the others,” Ryou says. “And I’ll probably swing by and see if Hunk will let me help with dinner at all. But I’ll definitely be back tomorrow to give this a try again.”

 “Alright,” Lance agrees. “Good luck, and let me know when you want to do more practice stuff.” He brightens. “Maybe you can even get me out of group training?” 

“Don’t push your luck, Lance,” Ryou says, amused. “But I’ll see what I can do,” he adds, at Lance’s crestfallen expression. “Yes! Great! Thanks!” Lance grins as he heads out the door.

 Ryou smiles a little, and then glances down at his Olkari fist. He’s not there yet—he’s still got a lot of practice and a lot of recovery left to go. But by the time he gets there, he’s going to be ready for anything.

[dailykhaleej]

Comcast overcharged elderly couple $600, denied refund until contacted by Ars

Enlarge / A Comcast service van in October 2014.

When Badr’s grandparents moved from one home to a different in April 2018, they’d one easy request for Comcast—they needed the cable firm to switch their Web-only plan to the brand new handle, with no modifications to the service or worth.

Badr, who helps handle his grandparents’ account, thought all the pieces had gone easily. “We asked to move the exact same service we had in place—just Internet. The customer service rep sent us a text message to confirm, and we confirmed,” he informed Ars by way of e-mail.

Badr’s grandparents’ Web service was transferred to the brand new home in Orland Park, Illinois, and the invoice remained roughly the identical at about $53 a month, not less than for some time, he informed Ars. It wasn’t until a lot later that he realized what really occurred. The Comcast rep had “matched the old bill on the monthly cost” however added a streaming TV service that his grandparents did not request and by no means used. The TV service was basically free for the primary 12 months underneath the promotional deal that the Comcast rep utilized to the account, however after the 12 months was up the invoice doubled, Badr mentioned. The overcharges continued unnoticed and finally added as much as greater than $600.

“The billing was set up on autopay,” Badr mentioned. “On the credit card statement, the Comcast charges were coming through to roughly $53 a month, as expected” until the worth improve took impact.

Mahmoud, 87, and Blanca, 73, did not even understand they’d Comcast TV service, Badr informed us. Comcast by no means despatched them a cable TV field as a result of they had been supplied with Xfinity Immediate TV, a cable streaming service that works on smartphones, computer systems, and different Web-connected units, reasonably than Comcast’s conventional TV plan. Mahmoud and Blanca have satellite tv for pc TV service and use Comcast just for broadband entry.

However the TV service had been utilized to their account, and the worth hike occurred within the invoice for April 2019, which was $99.95. The value subsequently rose to $107.92 a month. The TV-related prices included the essential streaming plan, add-on channels Starz, Showtime, and Cinemax, and costs together with a $10-per-month Broadcast TV payment.

Comcast denied refund until contacted by Ars

Badr did not discover the month-to-month worth had doubled until February 2020 when he occurred to be reviewing payments. That is when he found his grandparents had been overcharged for almost a 12 months, with the additional cash flowing to Comcast by way of computerized funds. Badr then contacted Comcast and went by way of a customer-service expertise that is acquainted to many cable customers.

He informed Ars:

We by no means licensed this—we by no means requested for something aside from to maneuver our present service with none modifications. The remaining is just about what you’d count on from Comcast. A number of cellphone calls to customer support, over one hour of cellphone calls, guarantees of an investigation, a bogus ticket quantity, and no follow-up calls. Once I adopted up with them after 1.5 weeks, I used to be informed that that is what we agreed to and there is no recourse. I reached out by way of Twitter, too, with the identical consequence. In all, my grandparents are out $600+ for nothing greater than asking to maintain their present service operating. It is a lure. It is deception, and it is unethical habits. I additionally opened a case with the Illinois lawyer common, however I do know that any such habits does not get fastened with out a number of unhealthy PR.

As Badr suspected, Comcast did not present any reduction until going through the potential of unhealthy publicity. After reviewing the payments and data Badr offered Ars, we contacted Comcast public relations in mid-March. We offered Comcast with all the small print Badr gave us; we additionally requested why TV service was added to the account and whether or not Comcast has any proof that the household requested or ever used the TV plan.

Per week later, a Comcast spokesperson offered Ars with a brief response: “Our customer care agents will be getting in touch with the customer, as they would with any customer service issue that is brought to our attention.”

At that time, Comcast nonetheless hadn’t offered any refund. However that modified in lower than every week. “Comcast reached out yesterday and agreed to refund $488,” Badr informed Ars on March 25. “They initially tried for $230, then re-read the bills and raised the amount.”

Whereas that accounts for a lot of the overcharges, Badr’s grandparents are nonetheless out a bit of cash. Badr mentioned he calculated the overcharges to be “$612.15 or $647.95 if I factor in FCC fees and taxes associated with the extras [the unwanted TV service].” Badr adopted up with Comcast once more to get an evidence for why the corporate refunded $488 however not the complete quantity. He did not get a solution, he mentioned.

Comcast misbehavior (partially) reined in by states

As Ars readers know properly, Badr and his grandparents are removed from alone in having unhealthy billing experiences with Comcast. Comcast, the biggest cable supplier in the USA, has low customer-service scores even by the requirements of cable TV, which is the lowest-rated business within the American Buyer Satisfaction Index’s scores.

In November 2018, Comcast agreed to pay $700,000 in refunds and cancel money owed for greater than 20,000 prospects to settle allegations from the Massachusetts lawyer common that it used misleading promoting to advertise long-term cable contracts. Massachusetts officers alleged that Comcast violated state shopper safety legal guidelines by “fail[ing] to adequately disclose the actual monthly price and terms of its long-term contracts for cable services, including failing to disclose to customers that the company could increase the price of certain monthly fees at any point during the long-term contracts.”

In June 2019, a King County Superior Court docket choose dominated that Comcast violated Washington state shopper safety legislation “more than 445,000 times when it charged tens of thousands of Washingtonians for its Service Protection Plan without their consent.” Comcast was ordered to refund almost 50,000 prospects and pay a $9.1 million fantastic.

In January 2020, Comcast agreed to challenge refunds in Minnesota to 15,600 prospects and cancel the money owed of one other 16,000 folks to settle allegations that it lied to prospects with a purpose to disguise the true price of service. In that case, the Minnesota lawyer common’s workplace discovered that Comcast “charged Minnesota consumers more than it promised it would for their cable services, including undisclosed ‘fees’ that the company used to bolster its profits, and that it charged for services and equipment that customers did not request.”

Energy in numbers

Buyer complaints to state attorneys common often result in settlements just like the three we simply listed. However that usually solely occurs when Comcast overcharges giant numbers of consumers in the identical method. When a billing downside impacts one or a number of folks however is not repeated throughout hundreds of accounts, prospects are normally on their very own whereas they attempt to persuade Comcast to challenge a refund. In the meantime, the Federal Communications Fee underneath Chairman Ajit Pai eradicated guidelines that required ISPs to be extra clear with prospects about hidden charges—Pai’s predecessor, Tom Wheeler, pressured Comcast to pay $2.three million in October 2016 “to resolve an investigation into whether the company wrongfully charged cable TV customers for services and equipment that those customers never authorized.”

“I went down every possible avenue with them to no avail,” Badr informed us whereas describing the Comcast customer-service response that finally led him to contact Ars. “As happy as I am at the resolution, I’m still peeved that it required this level of involvement to correct an obvious mistake.”

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[thecounterplan]

Why Kavanaugh?

by Brice Ezell

As the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation hearings drag on for far longer than the Republican Party could have expected, there is one simple question that helps clarify why, despite credible claims of sexual misconduct and possible instances of perjury, the GOP continues to pursue this Supreme Court seat for Kavanaugh:

Why this guy?

If that seems oversimple, imagine the following strategy, one any entry-level consultant could have devised for the GOP. Upon seeing the mounting allegations and problematic prior statements of Kavanaugh, the party rescinds its nomination of him, and turns back to the shortlist of nominees Trump drew up after Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement. The party then nominates someone like, say, Amy Coney Barrett, who many thought might get the seat for which Kavanaugh is now gunning. 

The confirmation process would be more contentious than Supreme Court confirmation hearings have been, given that Trump is both the sitting president and by any reasonable account an unindicted co-conspirator to some crimes that we’ll probably be hearing a lot about in the next few years. But think of the easy (and, obviously, cynical) PR maneuver this is for the GOP: not only does it pull back on nominating a problematic candidate, but it then nominates a woman, as if it had learned from the accusations against Kavanaugh and the broader calls for more women in political leadership. If anyone thought that the “I’m a liberal, and I support Kavanaugh” takes were too many (see those here and here, to name a few), just imagine the outpouring of “I’m a liberal, but we need more women on the Supreme Court, and Barrett is just that woman” articles that would erupt from the Take Machine. 

The PR coup would be unstoppable for the GOP. I doubt the process would take more than two weeks. Supposedly on-the-fence Republican senators like Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins would happily confirm someone like Barrett, and given their voting record on lower court nominees of Trump’s, the Democrats would probably offer up a vote or two to secure a clear majority for Barrett. “After all,” the “reasoned” centrists at the heart of the Democratic Party and the media elite would assure us, “at least she’s no Kavanaugh.”

All this to say: the confirmation process for Kennedy’s vacant seat should not have to be this hard for Republicans. They have a majority in the Senate, and Pence will break a tie if he needs to. The longer Kavanaugh’s hearings drag out, the more risk accumulates: maybe the Republicans shed a few “yes” votes, maybe the investigations into Kavanaugh’s past drag past the 2018 midterms, during which the Republicans are expected to lose a lot of seats in congress (see FiveThirtyEight’s continually updating numbers here and here). Even though I and many others think that Kavanaugh will ultimately be confirmed, the risk calculus for the GOP now is way higher than it needs to be. So why do all this, when a safer nominee could be put up in a much shorter timeframe, all the while still granting the GOP the Supreme Court majority it wants?

A banal if accurate answer is that the GOP doesn’t like to admit defeat, and that by backpedaling on Kavanaugh it would be conceding its opposition’s case. From the party’s perspective, this is somewhat true; beginning with the rampant obstructionism that has defined the GOP post-2010, “our way or the high way” has basically replaced the Constitution as the party’s core principle. Yet from the GOP’s perspective, giving up on Kavanaugh is not tantamount to saying all allegations against him are 100 percent correct, but rather that it doesn’t want to risk pushing the confirmation process too long and risk losing votes. If believing victims of sexual misconduct or assault was GOP policy, Trump wouldn’t be president. 

Withdrawing Kavanaugh’s nomination would be a short-term loss that, if played right by the party, could set up the long-term win that the party ultimately desires, i.e. a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. After all, the failure to dismantle Obamacare with the American Health Care Act didn’t stop the GOP from then gutting the individual mandate in its tax bill not long after that. So, what gives? Why risk so much with Kavanaugh?

The answer, it seems to me, is fairly obvious: the GOP knows that Kavanaugh offers something unique from other potential nominees. The likeliest benefit Kavanaugh offers is his ridiculous stance that presidents should be immune from criminal indictment and trial while in office, a view that no doubt sounds pretty to Trump and leading GOP officials who hope that Trump’s misdeeds don’t bring the whole party down with him. As has been widely noted, this stance of Kavanaugh’s is not only logically dubious but also massively hypocritical. As one of the prosecutors who sought to charge Bill Clinton criminally following the Lewinsky scandal, Kavanaugh not only went after that president but also drafted gratuitous and over-the-top lists of sexually explicit questions about Clinton’s relationship with Lewinsky, because, uh, “the truth.” (These are the kind of questions, by the way, that Kavanaugh finds ridiculous now that he’s being asked lighter versions of them in his confirmation hearing.) Despite believing that Clinton should have been held criminally accountable for his actions, Kavanaugh now feels differently about whether or not a president can be put in such a position, because, uh, 9/11 -- see after minute 17 here. (This is legal reasoning so poor that it’s literally a joke on Family Guy.) In this way Kavanaugh embodies the worst of American thinking after 9/11: essentially, when something horrific happens to us, we are justified in doing anything we want after the fact, even if it’s invading a country that actually didn’t do 9/11. Kavanaugh used the 9/11 Commission Report to justify warrantless surveillance of citizens, a move which makes no legal sense inasmuch as that Report is not actually a piece of legal precedent. 

Now, it could be that Kavanaugh’s fascist-leaning legal reasoning here is not a reason or the only reason why the GOP continues to doggedly pursue his nomination despite mounting obstacles. Either way, things promise to bode ill if Kavanaugh does get his court seat. Whatever real benefit the GOP sees in Kavanaugh, enough to risk failing the confirmation process, is not being told the broader public. And that is alarming.

[josephkitchen0]

Calving Success: How to Assist a Cow Giving Birth

By Heather Smith Thomas – The riskiest time in a calf’s life is being born. Several million calves in the United States and Canada are lost each year during birth or shortly after, and 45 percent of those deaths are because of dystocia (delayed or difficult birth). Almost all birth losses can be prevented, however, by being there to assist a cow giving birth if needed. A cow is pregnant for roughly nine months; average gestation is 283 days, but some cows calve a week or two ahead of schedule, or a week or two later. Cows with shorter-than-average gestation tend to have smaller calves at birth, and fewer calving problems.

You’ll know when she is about to calve when you see calving signs. In early labor the cow is restless, tail held out, getting up and down, and kicking at her belly.  Breaking of the water signals the beginning of active labor as the calf starts into the birth canal and abdominal straining begins.

How long should a cow be in labor?  It’s important when you’re cattle farming to know how long and in what circumstances to leave her laboring on her own, so you can know when to help her or seek help from your vet. Don’t intervene too soon, before the cervix is dilated, or you may injure her by pulling the calf through that narrow opening. If you pull too soon (and too steadily) a partially opened cervix may be pulled out of place, like a sleeve—pulling it cone-like ahead of the calf and restricting the diameter of the opening. A too-strong pull may tear it. Forceful pulling before the birth canal is ready may rupture the cervix or tear the vagina and vulva. The cervix opens as the calf’s head presses intermittently on it with each contraction; a hard steady pull on the calf can delay this process.

Calving Cow – Posterior Presentation

But once the calf is in proper position and the cervix nearly fully dilated, there is no point in waiting, if the calf is taking too long to come through. He is subjected to a lot of pressure from uterine and abdominal contractions and from the constricted area in the birth canal. Each time the cow strains, her abdominal contractions put pressure on the blood vessels to the uterus, resulting in diminished oxygen supply to the calf. If this goes on a long time he may be born weak, unconscious or dead. If he’s born in cold weather and has been short on oxygen, he is more at risk for chilling than a calf born quickly and easily. A calf that spends minimal time in the birth canal is lively and strong, able to get up quicker and find the udder. In either case, it’s always good to know how to tube feed a calf.

If no feet start to show after a cow is straining intensely, check her to see if the calf is being presented normally or not, or whether it’s too large to be born. It’s healthier for both the cow and calf if you can assist the cow before she is fatigued and the calf compromised by being in the birth canal too long. It’s time to check her if she’s been in early labor more than six to eight hours, or is straining hard for more than one hour with nothing showing, or if the feet show when she strains but then go back in (multiple times), or the feet of the calf look upside down, or if only one foot appears, or the progress of the calf has halted.

A good rule of thumb is to give assistance to any heifer or cow that goes beyond one hour in active labor (straining) and the calf is not yet born. Even if the feet and nose are showing after an hour of hard labor, it’s best to go ahead and pull the calf unless visible progress is seen at the end of that hour. If the calf’s tongue is sticking out, labor has probably been too long, especially if the tongue is starting to swell; this means the calf has been in the birth canal too long, subjected to steady pressure.

Checking a cow in labor.

To pull a calf, first, make sure he is in the proper position, then attach pulling chains to his legs using a half-hitch (one loop above the fetlock joint and the other around the pastern above the hoof). This spreads the pressure better than a single loop and will cause less injury to his legs. Attach handles to the chains and pull when the cow strains, resting while she rests. If you have a helper, that person can stretch the vulva as you pull, making it easier for the head to pass through. Once the head comes through, the rest of the calf should come fairly easily.

If the calf is coming backward, attach chains to the hind legs (double half-hitch) and pull slowly and gradually until the hips are coming through the vulva, then pull the calf on out as swiftly as possible so he won’t suffocate. His umbilical cord is breaking before you get him out, so he needs to come on out quickly so he can start breathing.

Pulling backward to help deliver a calf.

Assisting heifers (or a cow, if she needs help) no later than after one hour of active labor results in a more vigorous calf; he’s not weak and exhausted from being in the birth canal too long. Also, heifers that take less than an hour in labor or are helped before they go beyond that golden hour will breed back faster. The reproductive tract returns to normal more quickly (less stress and damage). Proper intervention and assistance at birth can significantly shorten the interval between birth and first heat cycle for the cow or heifer. As a rule of thumb, you can figure that each 10 minutes delivery is delayed adds about two days to that time interval, and some heifers that don’t have help when they need it do not become pregnant again that year.

If you wait too long to help, the calf will die. The heifer or cow may be exhausted by then, and unable to strain productively when you do try to help her. The lubricating fluid around the calf may be gone, if the sacs have ruptured, making assistance more difficult. If she’s already spent too long in labor, the vaginal wall may be swollen, making it harder to put your hand and arm in—and there’s less room to manipulate the calf if he’s in the wrong position. If the cervix and uterus have already started to contract and shrink, correcting a malpresentation becomes very difficult or impossible, so timely checking is crucial.

Checking the Cow or Heifer

Restrain her (in a head catch or stanchion that accommodates a cow lying down as well as standing, or tied with a halter—low enough that if she lies down the rope won’t be “hanging” her) and wash her rear end with warm water. If you don’t have a helper to hold her tail, tie it with a string around her neck, so she’s not continually swatting you in the face with it or flipping manure. Since she may defecate several times during your exam, bring extra wash water for rinsing her and your arm. Putting your hand in the birth canal will make her strain and pass more manure. It’s handy to have extra water in squeeze bottles; they are easy to use with one hand. Coat your hand/arm or OB sleeve with obstetrical lubricant.

If the water bag is in the birth canal, don’t rupture it yet, in case you find a problem you can’t correct and must call the vet. If the cow must wait for assistance it’s best if you don’t let all the fluids escape yet; they will be beneficial lubrication if the calf must be pulled. Also, if the fluids are gone, it’s like emptying a balloon; the uterus will be shrinking down more by the time the vet arrives, leaving less room to manipulate the calf. But if you decide to go ahead and correct a problem yourself or pull the calf, rupture the membranes to get the fluid-filled balloons out of your way so you can manipulate the calf easier and put chains on his legs.

Put your hand into the birth canal as far as needed to find the calf. You may discover his feet are there, but he’s large and taking too long to come through. Feel a little farther to make sure the head is coming. If the head isn’t there, or there’s nothing in the birth canal yet, reach farther in. If you come to the cervix and can put your hand through it, it’s dilated and the calf should be starting through. There must be some reason he’s not coming. Reach on into the uterus to feel the calf and which way he’s lying.

If the cervix is not fully dilated and you can only put one or two fingers through it, the cow needs more time. If it is partially open, you may be able to put your hand through and determine what’s happening with the calf and why his feet are not starting through. If the birth canal ends abruptly at the pelvic brim and is pulled into tight, spiral folds, the uterus may have turned over (torsion of the uterus) putting a twist in the birth canal. If this is the case, call your vet for assistance to correct the torsion. If all you feel is a spongy mass of placenta, coming ahead of the calf, this is an emergency and you must deliver him quickly.

Pulling a calf.

Your assessment of the situation will help you know whether to give the cow more time, call the vet to help you correct a problem, or go ahead and pull a calf that has started into the birth canal in proper position but coming too slow because he’s big. If he’s large, you must make a determination as to whether he can be safely pulled. If when the calf’s head is starting through the cow’s pelvis there is no room to force your fingers between his forehead and the pelvis, he won’t fit, and you should call the vet to do a C-section delivery.

If you can’t decipher the calf’s position, or have worked for 20 to 30 minutes trying to correct a problem and have not been able to correct it or extract the calf, call your vet, unless you can tell you are beginning to make progress. Don’t spend too long in futile efforts, or it may become too late for the calf after you finally decide you cannot get him delivered yourself. Other instances in which you should call the vet are if you feel any abnormalities such as a tear in the birth canal or uterus, abnormal aspects of the calf such as a forehead too large, fused joints—the legs not able to flex to maneuver into the birth canal—or some other problem that would hinder his birth progress.

Have you assisted a cow giving birth? What tips do you have for success? Let us know in the comments below.

Calving Success: How to Assist a Cow Giving Birth was originally posted by All About Chickens

[soulcrazy2017-blog]

Microsoft wants to monopolise games development on PC. We must fight it

New Post has been published on https://soulcrazy.org/microsoft-wants-to-monopolise-games-development-on-pc-we-must-fight-it/

Microsoft wants to monopolise games development on PC. We must fight it

With its new Accepted Windows Platform (UWP) initiative, Microsoft has constructed a closed platform-inside-a-platform into Windows 10, because the first obvious step in the direction of locking down the patron Pc ecosystem and monopolizing app distribution and commerce.

For my part, this is the maximum competitive circulate Microsoft has ever made. At the same time as the company has been convicted of violating antitrust regulation in the past, its wrongful actions were restrained to fights with individual competition and contracts with positive Laptop producers.

This isn’t like that. Right here, Microsoft is transferring in opposition to the entire Computer industry – which include customers (and game enthusiasts especially), software Microsoft wants to monopolize games development on PC. We must fight it program builders such as Epic Video games, publishers like EA and Activision, and distributors like Valve and Desirable Vintage Video games.

games

  Microsoft Office has released new Pc Home windows features completely in UWP and is correctly telling builders you could use those Windows features only in case you post to the control of our locked-down UWP environment. They’re curtailing customers’ freedom to put in full-featured Computer software, and subverting the rights of builders and publishers to keep a right away relationship with their clients.

Home windows Save and UWP I’m no longer questioning the idea of a Home windows Shop. I believe Microsoft has each proper to perform a Computer app Keep, and to curate it how they pick. This contrasts with the location the authorities took in its anti-believe prosecution, which Microsoft’s unfastened bundling of Net Explorer with Windows become anti-competitive.

My view is that bundling is a valuable exercise that advantages users, and my complaint is restrained to Microsoft structuring its working machine to benefit its personal Store Even as unfairly disadvantaging competing for app shops, in addition to developers and publishers who distribute Games immediately to their customers.

Gears of Battle: Final Edition

The correct problem Right here is that Microsoft’s brilliant new “Usual Windows Platform” is locked down, and via default, it’s not possible to download UWP apps from the websites of publishers and builders, to put in them, update them, and conduct trade in them out of doors of the Windows Store.

It’s true that if you dig a long way sufficient into Microsoft updates settings-burying UI, you may find a way to put in these apps with the aid of allowing “side-loading.” But in turning this off with the help of default, Microsoft is unfairly disadvantaging the opposition. Larger-photo, this is a typical Microsoft can revoke at any time the usage of Windows 10’s forced-replace procedure.

The solution

If UWP is to gain the assist of leading Laptop sport and alertness developers, it needs to be as open a platform as these days’ powerful win32 API, that is used by all essential Laptop Games and applications. To the Laptop atmosphere, beginning UWP way the following:

That any Pc Home windows consumer can download and deploy a UWP application from the internet, just as we can do now with win32 packages. No new trouble, no false warnings approximately venturing outdoor of Microsoft’s walled lawn, and no exchange to Windows’ default settings required.

Microsoft

That any organization can function a shop for Computer Windows Games and apps in UWP format – as Valve, Precise Antique Games, Epic Games, EA, and Ubi Tender do these days with the win32 form, and that Windows will not obstruct or impede these apps stores, relegating them to 2nd-magnificence citizenship. That customers, developers, and publishers will always be unfastened to engage in direct commerce with every different, without Microsoft forcing everybody into its formative in-app trade monopoly and taking a 30% reduce. This real openness requires that Microsoft now not comply with Google’s quick However conniving lead with the Android platform, that is technically open, But almost closed. Specifically, Android makes it possible to install third-celebration programs out of doors of the Google Play Save, that is required for Google to conform with the Linux kernel’s GNU Preferred Public License. However, Google makes it comically difficult for customers to accomplish that, through defaulting the option to off, burying it, and obfuscating it. This isn’t merely a technical trouble: it has the market impact of Google Play Keep dominating over competing stores, no matter no longer being magnificent.

Does Microsoft suppose unbiased Laptop builders and publishers, who cherish their freedom, are going to join this Microsoft has indeed followed this lead in technically exposing, But practically burying, options that let users break out from its pressure-bundled offerings. If you’ve tried to exchange your Home windows ten search engine, net browser, or film participant, or to turn off their invasive new lock-screen commercials, Windows seek bar Bing unsolicited mail, and invasive “analytics,” you know what I’m talking about. It’s an intentionally anti-patron experience: the options are there, But Precise success finding them.

The Closing risk Right here is that Microsoft usually improves UWP At the same time as neglecting and even degrading win32, through the years making it harder for developers and publishers to get away from Microsoft’s new UWP trade monopoly. In the long run, the open win32 Home windows revel in will be relegated to Organization and Developer editions of Home windows.

An Open Computer ecosystem is a Colourful One Valve’s Steam distribution provider is booming with over 100m users, and publishers like Adobe, Autodesk, Blizzard, Rebellion Games and EA are operating tremendously a success =”hide”>businesses=”tipsBox”> selling their Games and content material directly to consumers.

Microsoft’s state of affairs, However, is a humiliation. Seven months after the launch of Windows Shop along Home windows 10, the area remains without the top 1/3-birthday celebration Games and signature programs that outline the Pc revel in. In which’s Photoshop? Grand Robbery Auto V? Fifa 2016? There are some Laptop parts of what had been =”hide”>great=”tipsBox”> Mobile Video games, and a few more odd things, which include the Windows 10 port of the Android port of the Laptop version of Grand Robbery Automobile from 2004.

However, the Appropriate Pc stuff isn’t there, excluding Microsoft’s software merchandise. Does Microsoft sincerely think that impartial Laptop builders and publishers, who cherish their freedom and their direct patron relationships, are going to sign up for this cutting-edge UWP fiasco?

A boy performs Minecraft, developed by way of Swedish organization Mojang.

Minecraft is evolved by using Swedish agency Mojang. Will destiny Video games be changed now that Microsoft is ultimate its borders? Image: Alamy In my view, if Microsoft does now not commit to commencing Laptop UWP up in the manner described Here, then Pc UWP can, must, have to and will, die due to industry backlash. Game enthusiasts, builders, publishers really can’t accept as true with the Laptop UWP “platform” as long as Microsoft offers evasive, ambiguous and sneaky solutions to questions about UWP’s destiny as if it’s a PR issue. This isn’t a PR problem, it’s an existential difficulty for Microsoft, a 7339ff1fc90882f8f31ca1efdd2ac191 determinant of Microsoft’s destiny function inside the international.

Why We Combat

Because of the founding father of a major Windows recreation developer and generation dealer, this is an op-ed I was hoping I’d by no means feel compelled to write. But Epic has prided itself on imparting software program without delay to customers ever due to the fact I started out mailing floppy disks in 1991. We wouldn’t permit Microsoft near down the Pc platform overnight without a Combat, and consequently, we gained sit silently by At the same time as Microsoft embarks on a chain of tricky maneuvers aimed toward accomplishing this over a length of several years.

Nowadays has been approaching for over 18 months, and I want to present credit to Microsoft parents, specifically Phil Spencer, for usually being inclined to listen to Epic’s worries with UWP’s paradigm, and to proposed solutions. Due to the fact they listened very patiently, I was hoping and believed that Microsoft would do the proper element, However Right here we are. Microsoft’s patron launch and PR around UWP are in full swing, and this aspect of the story have to be advised.

Microsoft’s intentions need to be judged by way of Microsoft’s moves, no longer Microsoft’s phrases. Their actions communicate evidently sufficient: they’re running to show nowadays’s open Laptop surroundings into a closed, Microsoft-controlled distribution and commerce monopoly, through the years, in a sequence of steps of which we see the first actual. Except Microsoft changes direction, all of the impartial =”hide”>companies=”tipsBox”> comprising the Pc surroundings have a choice to make: to oppose this or cede manipulate of their present customer relationships and trade to Microsoft’s different control.

Microsoft has collaborated carefully with US intelligence services to allow customers’ communications to be intercepted, including supporting the Countrywide Protection Agency to avoid the organization’s very own encryption, according to pinnacle-secret documents acquired by using the Mum or Dad.

The documents furnished via Edward Snowden illustrate the scale of co-operation between Silicon Valley and the intelligence =”hide”>agencies=”tipsBox”> during the last three years. They also shed new light on the workings of the pinnacle-secret Prism software, which was disclosed via the Mum or Dad and the Washington Publish last month.

The documents display that:

• Microsoft helped the NSA to circumvent its encryption to address concerns that the Company might be not able to intercept net chats on the new Outlook.Com portal;

• The Enterprise already had pre-encryption degree get admission to e mail on Outlook.Com, such as Hotmail;

• The company labored with the FBI this 12 months to allow the NSA simpler access via Prism to its cloud garage provider SkyDrive, which now has greater than 250 million customers worldwide;

• Microsoft also labored with the FBI’s Facts Intercept Unit to “understand” capacity troubles with a function in Outlook.Com that permits users to create email aliases; What are the sustainable improvement dreams? The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are a brand new, Established set of goals, targets, and indicators that UN member states will be predicted to use to border their agendas and federal regulations over the following 15 years.

The SDGs observe and amplify on the millennium development dreams (MDGs), which were agreed through governments in 2001 and are due to expire at the end of this year.

development

Why can we want another set of desires?

There’s extensive agreement that, Even as the MDGs provided a focal point for governments – a framework around which they could develop regulations and foreign places aid programmes designed to stop poverty and improve the lives of evil humans – in addition to a rallying point for NGOs to preserve them to account, they have been too slender. The 8 MDGs – lessen poverty and starvation; obtain Widely wide-spread schooling; sell gender equality; reduce toddler and maternal deaths; combat HIV, malaria and other sicknesses; make sure environmental sustainability; broaden international partnerships – failed to do not forget the root causes of poverty and left out gender inequality in addition to the holistic nature of mean development. The desires made no point out of human rights and did not particularly deal with economic mean development. Even as the MDGs, in theory, carried out to all nations, in reality, they have been considered goals for contrary countries to acquire, with finance from rich states. Conversely, every us of a may be expected to paintings towards attaining the SDGs.