#everyone's entitled to their opinion but the general 'popular' opinion is liking summer and not liking winter

[bl33ditout]

"waaaaaah winter bad summer good" JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP OH MY GOD WE GET IT

[for-the-freaks-and-geeks-ptii]

all odd numbers, go

1. selfie

That’ll be its own post

3. do you miss anyone?

Old friends. On occasion.

5. is there anyone who can always make you smile?

My sisters and my closest friends. My best friends I’ve had since I was like 5

7. what was your life like last year?

The same but colder. It was fucking freezing in Cali last year.

9. who did you last see in person?

My sisters. I picked em up from school today.

11. are you listening to music right now?

Childish Gambino’s new album

13. how do you feel right now?

Kinda hungry. Kinda horny.

15. personality description

I’m calm, funny, warm, and caring. I’d put someone else’s needs before my own a thousand times.

17. opinion on insecurities.

Everyone is of course entitled to have them. I hope that everyone with an insecurity works on it. Bit by bit. You should never feel ashamed to be the way the are or look the way you look.

19. have you ever been to New York?

No. I’m a west coast man.

21. age and birthday?

April 27. Just passed recently actually

23. fear(s)

Heights. Only thing in my life I’m uneasy around. Came from a childhood trauma but I’m better about it these days

25. role model

My grandfather. Best man I knew. I love each day trying to be as good as he was. Hopefully better.

27. things i hate

Bullies. Arrogance. Entitlement. Capitalism. Pickles. You’ll call me an old man for this but TikTok. I think social media is inherently harmful for teenagers but TikTok trends actually have hurt and killed people. Kids should be safe. Always.

29. favourite film(s)

I’m a big movie guy so that’s a long list. Just assume that if you have a favorite movie I’ve also seen it and love it. Godzilla minus one? Incredible. Tarantino movies? Love em but I know there’s problems with a few of em. Horror movies? The genre of horror is so good and survivor girls are my favorite. The big short? Baby Driver? Barbie? Spider-Verse? Too many to think of

31. 3 random facts

About me or in general? Uuuh…I know Japanese, Spanish and English. I’ve met Emma Stone (briefly) cause they filmed part of the amazing spider-man 2 at my high school over the summer and I was there one day to turn in something or other. I’m a virgin.

33. something you want to learn

Archery. Looks fun

35. favourite subject

In school? English. I’ve never had anything lower than an A in English. My ability to retain written information is top notch.

37. favourite actor/actress

Keanu Reeves. He’s really down to earth and kind despite his overwhelming popularity. I like humility.

39. favourite sport(s)

I’m not a sports guy.

41. relationship status

Single cause intimacy scares me

43. favourite song ever

That’s impossible to answer. Music fits your mood and moods change constantly

45. how you found out about your idol

My what?

47. turn ons

Brutal honesty. Short hair. Intelligence. Mettle. Wit.

49. where i want to be right now

A nice little beach area just south of Santa Barbara. Either with family or friends or a significant other if I ever got one of those

51. starsign

Taurus?

53. 5 things that make me happy

Friends, food, travel, family and video games

55. tumblr friends

I’ve made several. Many were lost in the purge. Myself included. They’re cute dorky horny types.

57. favourite animal(s)

Dogs. They’ve all liked me and I them. Never met an animal that was hostile towards me. I make peace with most creatures very quickly

59. why i joined tumblr

I was in high school and found out you could post porn on it and post about nerdy stuff. Plus no one I knew irl followed me so I ran rampant. Met lots of other nerdy horny people. Freaks and geeks

Thanks for asking 💜

[douglashonorscollege]

Burn the House Down

essay by Olivia McDougall ⌂

IT WAS 2006 in the heart of New York City. The New York Knicks failed to make the play-offs for the third consecutive year. President George W. Bush’s approval rating had hit at an all-time low. Panic! at the Disco released “I Write Sins Not Tragedies” and Justin Timberlake performed “SexyBack” on the MTV Video Music Awards—hosted by Jack Black—at Radio City Music Hall. For the American people, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times… and three young kids were out pursuing their dream in the streets of Manhattan.

Adam, Ryan, and Jack Metzger were trying their hand at busking in Central Park and Washington Square. The youngest at nine years old, Jack led vocals while his older brothers backed him with instrumentals. The boys played covers of songs old and new, anything to get enough money for new instruments with which to experiment. The brothers spent many years on street corners serenading strangers, earning their 10,000 hours. In the following years, when YouTube started gaining traction, the boys put up videos of their covers: more and more inventive spins on pop songs. Jack and Ryan also started trying their hand at writing, directing, and acting in their own little sketches for video content. At that time, the boys had very few followers, but nonetheless continued to play, to save up, to buy more equipment, to make more music.

As they grew, the boys were exposed to their parents’ old records and the sounds of a very different generation influenced their style. The Beach Boys; the Beatles; Peter, Paul, and Mary among many others inspired them, but more contemporary artists like Kanye West also came into play. Later, while eldest brother Adam pursued his degree at Columbia University, the younger two brothers took note of sampling—the music trend of artists taking sound clips and reusing them in their songs. Jack mentioned to his brotherhow cool it would be if someone sampled Spongebob Squarepants on a track.

“Well, why don’t we do it?” was Ryan’s reply.

In spring of 2013, the brothers, naming themselves AJR after their own initials, released a video of their first single “I’m Ready.” The song sampled the popular Spongebob catchphrase, and became a classic, upbeat, dance-floor pop song. The brothers sent the link to their video to several celebrities over Twitter, until famous singer-songwriter Sia noticed them and passed it along to her manager. The song was then commercially released that summer and began to see regular radio play, and the band was labeled as the next up and comers in the music scene.

After “I’m Ready,” AJR released a five song EP of the same name. Their first song continued to grow, receiving millions of views on YouTube and going platinum in Canada and Australia. The brothers continued to create music (and go to school; the eldest was only in his early twenties at this time), releasing another single and EP titled Infinity in 2014. The majority of the band’s music was pop songs, easy to listen to with familiar rhythms and lyrics of love and youth. Remarkably, the boys chose to mix and record all their own music in their NYC apartment living room, instead of paying for studio time. Paying homage to their workspace and independence, the band released their first album Living Room in 2015. Except for some bouncier, odd-duck tracks like “Big Idea” and “Thirsty,” most of the songs fit the same earlier patterns of the pop genre. However, in 2016, the band experienced the shift that would change their music career forever.

Before the What Everyone’s Thinking EP came out, AJR had little recognition beyond their break-out hit. However, the tracks on the latest EP sounded entirely evolved from the brother’s previous style. The lyrics were brimmed with honesty, abandoning the emptiness of many other pop tunes. The boys sang about missing out on their friends while pursuing their dreams, about being unsure about what love means, about not trying so hard to be cool, about being human. Their style of composition had also matured. The band would release videos on how they made their songs, revealing that they took whatever strange sound they could make and mix it however they could to make it new and interesting. They had people who were not musicians or artists, such as their ever supportive father, come in and sing to add a new dimension to their songs. They used something they called “spokestep,” a technique of recording a someone singing, then cutting it up over a beat in editing. They continued to utilize sampling, taking bits of anything from Fountains of Wayne to yodeling competitions. The EP was well-received with hundreds of messages from fans who deeply related to the music. This was all the push the brothers needed to keep writing freely, and not what they thought would sell.

On June 9th, 2017, the three brothers dropped the album that would unknowingly launch their music career to a unimaginable level. Several songs on the album made it to regular radio play, giving the band more recognition and growing their dedicated fan base. The Click clearly communicated AJR’s desire to get real in their music, with songs about the detached feelings of growing up or distaste toward the typical party scene. One of their most successful songs, “Sober Up,” featured Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo and paved the way for more collaborations with artists such as Steve Aoki and Lil Yachty. The band had been on tours before, playing small venues where the opener drew more fans than they, but now they began to sell out everywhere. The kids who had been playing to no one on street corners now began to sing for thousands.

Shortly after their album The Click debuted, AJR announced that they had been asked to create the theme for Supersize Me 2: Holy Chicken, a documentary attempting to expose the fast food industry’s lax safety regulations. The band had been asked to write for other people before, but never for a movie. The theme song, “Burn the House Down,” would live to surpass its original purpose and become the honest encapsulation of the political attitudes of its time. “Burn the House Down” expresses the band’s indecision to either “keep things light” or to get involved in important issues. The song, with compelling lyrics such as “Or should I march with every stranger from Twitter to get shit done? / Used to hang my head low / Now I hear it loud / Every stranger from Twitter is gonna burn this down” further cemented the band’s dedication to revolution and their abandonment of passivity. The song called out deception plaguing the media cycle and public affairs, and the need to burn it all down in order to expose the truth.

*   *   *

The election of Donald Trump in 2016 acted as a catalyst for various protest movements around the country. Marches have occurred on the White House doorstep since the signing of the Constitution, but the Trump administration triggered a marked influx. Beyond Washington, protests like the Women’s March and National Pride March were seen nation-wide. People from all over rallied together to advocate for science and evidenced-based policies, for immigrant’s rights and racial justice, for transparency over Russian involvement in elections, and even for the publication of Trump’s tax returns. People, especially those liberal-leaning, felt that their voices weren’t being heard and that the President was not reflective of their values. Change in politics is gradual and incremental, but it felt like everyday a new injustice was being thrown at the American people. Families were being separated at the border, more evidence that Russia swayed the 2016 election came to light, allegations of sexual abuse from the President were revealed, racism, sexism, and hate seem to run rampant and unchecked, and overall many people felt disheartened and disgusted with the state of the nation. So, with the power of social media, users of popular sites such as Facebook and Twitter planned protests. The marches drew thousands of people together, uniting many for a common cause. Today’s youth, often labeled as lazy and entitled, came together in the March for Our Lives, an empowering result from one of many tragic school shootings. High-schoolers fed up with feeling unsafe on their campuses advocated for stricter gun control laws and led the biggest youth rally since the Vietnam War, to the tune of hundreds of thousands of people. Americans refused to take anything sitting down and demonstrated their needs loudly to those in charge.

The effectiveness of these protests is a tricky one to determine, as many perceived different goals for the marches. Some believe getting people out on the streets and building a community of like-minded people is a strong start, but others think success is nothing less than immediate change and tangible evidence that they have been heard. Further, some argue that current protests lack the solid political backing that are required to enact true change, and that the marches will never be as powerful as they mean to be without that factor. However, even though many of the things modern protests have demanded have yet to come to fruition, it does not necessarily mean the marches have been for naught. Many of the marches throughout history that today are viewed as world-shattering did not see the change they were fighting for immediately. Politics take time, and the justice and change in policies the people demand to see might still be a long time coming. However, it is necessary to take up the fight, for the people to demonstrate that enough is enough.

Protest songs in the past like “Fortunate Son” by Credence Clearwater Revival or “The Times They are A-Changin” by Bob Dylan rallied people for their cause, stoking the flames of change in hearts across the nation. Music was a way for artists to contribute to the fight, giving a voice to those silenced and reflecting the opinions of the oppressed or wronged. Protest songs today have the same effect, uniting thousands to sing in one voice and empowering movements. “Burn the House Down” provides a battlecry for a whole new generation of people. It is a warning of accountability for those in the corrupt establishment; the harbingers will burn it down.

Works Cited “Burn the House Down” Music Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnyLfqpyi94 AJR Zach Sang Interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQnXGsKwaIU&t=1725 Recent Marches Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rallies_and_protest_marches_in_Washington,_D.C.#2018 Supersize Me 2 Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Size_Me_2:_Holy_Chicken! Article on political protests, bustle.com: https://www.bustle.com/p/do-political-protests-actually-change-anything-29952 2006 NYC Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:2006_in_New_York_City AJR Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AJR_(band) One of AJR’s “How We Made THE CLICK” Vidoes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YWj3DAo6xM  ∎

More on Olivia ~ Minerva’s Owl Homepage

[vermiculus-incipiens]

OOC INFORMATION:

What’s your name? ashlie

Preferred pronouns: she/her

Timezone: est

IC INFORMATION:

Character Name: Sirius Orion Black III

What’s a hobby or pastime that your character enjoys? Throughout Sirius’s teen years the thought of participating in school activities fell to the wayside. No matter how much his best friend may love the sport, the idea of Sirius in a little Quidditch uniform or chumming around with Old Sluggy went entirely against the bad boy image he had worked so hard to  curate for himself over his time in the castle. Besides, rebellion was a full time job in itself and when paired with his duties as a Marauder first and foremost… Well it was fair to say Sirius had thought up a whole slew of reasons he never participated in organized activities outside of his simple refusal to do anything that may link him to Slytherin house and by extension other members of the House of Black. He had however, transfigured himself a sketch pad during a detention with McGonagall his third year and art had become an outlet he never thought he would obtain. It was like a diary– his deepest thoughts and fears laid out in that book, including the things he was too afraid to even tell James. Sure, sometimes his forms would be lined with mindless doodles. Or notes past along during Order meetings held unfriendly caricatures of Alastor Moody and were hidden between his three people, followed by giggles as if they were nothing more than school-boys again. But lately that same sketchpad from his younger years became dark and full of images of the fears that plagued Sirius’s nightmares. He considers mischief making his main hobby, a final attempt to cling to what was and what could have been in a world not plagued by war. Practical jokes had never been his style, despite Sirius’s well known reputation as a prankster in his youth; his sense of humor had always been too dark for the simplicity of turning off his friends alarm or swapping Slytherins robes to rep the wonderful red and gold before a quidditch match. His idea of a prank had always toed the line of bullying and had been encouraged or at the very least pushed aside until he had managed to take things too far. He needs to be held back even still; as times continue to grow darker the fact that no one ever held Sirius accountable for his so called pranks and need to explore is only a hindrance to himself and everyone he loves.

Do you have any preferred ships or anti-ships? sirius/chemistry.

What do you think your character’s Boggart would be? If their greatest fear isn’t something that could easily take a solid form, what is it? Why? There is a difference between what Sirius expects to see when confronted with a Boggart and the form the creature actually takes and it is something that had changed more than once since the spider he came across at the age of seven in one of the rooms of Grimmauld Place. As a young adult, Sirius is not afraid of anything in this world more than what he would be if it were not for Gryffindor house. For the first time in his life he understood the difference between a house and a home. He made friends, felt cared for, and was free to be himself entirely without fear of extreme retributions. He always expects to see a version of himself just like the rest of the Most Noble and Ancient but deep down Sirius knows he had lost his family before he had been blown off the tree. He had found his true family in three boys who shared his dormitory. Still, after leaving home he was stuck up every night, waiting for that fear and pain of what was he going to do next? But Sirius already knew what he was doing from here and his family served no purpose in his life anymore. No part of him could ever be what they wanted to be, and his fears changed from what if he was one of them to what if he was still himself but never escaped his mother’s clutches. He would still see himself in the Boggart, but younger, that same fear in his eyes that haunted him every year at the end of term when he knew he had to return home to 12 Grimmauld Place.

What’s your character’s biggest pet peeve? Sirius claims his largest pet peeve is conformity, only because he cannot think of a more respectable way to say he can’t stand a kiss ass. After years of desperately trying to appease a mother who would never find him good enough, watching other people do the same grates on his nerves in  a way he hasn’t fully figured out just yet. If he could break free of his mother’s hold why couldn’t Regulus? Why couldn’t Peter simply express an opinion of his own? Sure Sirius could be ruthless in how he turns down the other Marauders lesser ideas, but he couldn’t be anything like his parents were, he was their friend.

What would you consider to be an eccentricity of your character? Sirius struggles to recall a time his blood status was not the focal point of his identity and the harder he pushed away, the stronger it clung to him. From the day he was born he was never Sirius– but the Black family heir. The one who would inherit the family fortune, carry on the name of the most noble and ancient. As he grew older he became the rebel, the disgrace to the 28 who was only headed for trouble and needed to be set straight. His own housemates saw him as nothing more than a overly-privileged pureblooded brat who wanted to play like he was one of them for a while. He had truly thought he escaped the stereotypes of a member of the Sacred 28 when he’d been disowned, forced to be a burden on his best friend and start an entirely new life, but even still he heard it. That Black kid got what was coming to him, nothing but a spoiled brat who didn’t know how good he had it until it was gone. His sense of entitlement is obvious to those who were raised differently than him, although maybe more difficult to spot by his fellow purebloods. Sirius has always been impulsive, when the stress and anxiety gets too much to bear he lashes out, acts up and can forget it isn’t always his own safety he is putting at risk. After that day at the willow- he’s refused to call it a prank since it happened- he has tried to put more thoughts into his actions but quite often even still, his racing thoughts take over. His entitlement doesn’t make him a bad person, it just takes a lot more effort to get Sirius to allow a person to see past the barriers he has put around himself. He wants the people around him to see a blank expression, an uncaring bad-boy, or the one with charming grin who was always quick to make you laugh because if he doesn’t care he can’t be hurt again. It takes a lot to get past those coping mechanisms.

What is/was your character’s favorite subject in school? Why? Defense Against the Dark Arts initially grabbed Sirius’s interest for the same reason he did anything else, he knew it would frustrate his mother.  As time passed Sirius realized he enjoyed the dark arts part of the class a little more than he felt comfortable admitting to anyone, even if he only enjoyed it through a lens of how to combat darker magic.

What time of day is your character’s favorite? What time of year? Sirius has always been an early riser, even as he grew older and clung to the idea of adolescent rebellion, waking before the sunrise was a habit he never seemed to shake. It still felt like his only moments of peace at times. It had always given him that same feeling he would get as the seasons changed from summer to fall; a cool breeze and leaves crunching below his feet bringing him back to fresh starts and finally reconnecting with his friends and found family. September first has yet to lose place as Sirius’s favorite day of the year, he’s determined to find a way to ensure the Marauders keep that day sacred, no matter what may come of them in the years to come. Just reliving the memories and knowing a new generation is making their own has always been able to pull him out of his own depressions, even if only for a few short hours.

What’s your character’s Patronus? If they can’t conjure one, what would it be if they could? Why? It’s become increasingly more difficult to pull the New Foundland ( only slightly altered from his own animagus form ) to front nowadays. Some days he can’t seem to manage it at all, a failure so strikingly different from the feeling of accomplishment when he had mastered the charm so young. He had expected the mixed breed he had grown so used to transfiguring into to blast from his wand so the purebred canine had felt like a slap in the face, especially since Sirius succeeded for the first time so soon after leaving home, but so much of himself was there, even if it hurt to admit it. Despite the popularity he held throughout his teen years and the confidence he displayed to anyone outside his closest circle, Sirius knew he was known to many as James Potter’s best friend. Man’s best friend- it was a title he oddly felt proud of, even if he would love to be seen more for his accomplishments than his dependency of his three best friends. For as cuddly and loving as Sirius is once he trusts you, he is also prone to lash out when threatened as well. Many have claimed his bark is worse than his bite and Sirius’s words can absolutely be cruel, but at the end of the day he will follow his instincts and attack if you threaten him or the people he loves.

What is your character’s biggest vice (bad habit or immoral craving)? Before things got where they are now, everyone had already begun to simply assume Sirius, the life of every party, would show up already with a buzz. Sometimes one of his friends will be laughing alongside him, matching glazed looks in their eyes; although as time passed the occurrences where Sirius was alone in his drunken state came more and more often. Orion had given him his first drink at fourteen as a reward for behaving through an important dinner and since then Sirius has held quite the taste for top shelf Scotches. He doesn’t often drink beer and he never drinks anything cheap, one of the few traits left over from a life he once lived.

Is your character an introvert or extrovert? How well do they handle social situations? Many tend to mistake introversion with shyness, and that is something Sirius has always been far from. He is one to thrive in a social setting, charming and witty, he has always held the ability to make others swoon in his presence. Sirius lights up a room simply by walking into it and the only downside is how hyper aware he is of the impact he has on those around him. At the end of the day however, he needs time to recharge. A night in with the Marauders will always hold priority over a boys night out at the club and large social settings get tiring after a few hours of making nice with people he can barely pretend to remember the names of. Being on all the time gets tiring, and at the end of the day like any introvert he needs time alone to reflect or more recently, wallow in self-pity.

What is your character’s diet like? What’s his or her favorite food? Food security has never been an issue in Sirius’s mind, even after leaving his childhood home, he never went hungry or even without a well balanced and well cooked meal. Now that he is no longer living under adult supervision however, home cooked meals have been replaced by a takeaway more nights than not, although certain meals have special meaning to him still. Chinese takeaway containers a reminder of the first few nights in his first apartment, or the roast he would eat every Christmas he had spent at Hogwarts his first few years in the castle.

How do you think your character’s psychological issues have manifested and changed your character up to this point?   Sirius’s first night at Hogwarts was confusing for him. These children were nothing like the dirty muggles from his bedtime stories, or the ignorant fools from the cautionary tales of his childhood. His mind was racing, trying to take in all this conflicting information while simultaneously seeking out ‘proper’ friends like he was told. It had been too much as he continued to wipe the sweat off his hands inside his pocket, breaths shallow as he tried to keep himself from being sick. He just wanted to sincerely have the courage he was pretending to possess and maybe he could calm down enough to figure out where to go from here. He was nothing more than some scared, pathetic little child who desperately needed to be brave enough to get through the day and put these puzzle pieces together. For a while having been sorted into Gryffindor was the worst thing that could ever happen to him. After his sorting he had immediately hidden under the covers of his bed, writing an apology letter to his parents. He completely blocked out his other roommates, was snippy and rude, even to the boy who had been so nice to him on the train, the one who would later become his brother in everything but blood. Everything Sirius had ever known was questioned when he was sorted into Gryffindor and while he had slowly been losing the affection of his family a bit more his entire life, truly separating himself like this was the scariest thing he had ever encountered. Something that kept him up at night for years was how terrified he was of losing the only family he ever knew. He needed to gain courage because of the house, he had never felt brave and had to work harder than anyone to fit in in the tower ‘where dwell the brave at heart’. He continued to try to blend in with the Blacks, even as he started growing his friendship with James, Remus, and Peter. He had been the heir to one of the oldest and most prominent families in Britain and no matter how much more appealing letting himself be a child with his friends seemed, he was not mature enough to know pulling away from his family’s teachings was an option. He had begun by toying with rebellion and facing the consequences whenever he had no choice but to come home, finding comfort and endearment in three boys he spent his free time attached to at the hip. Still, the transfer year after year from Gryffindor Tower to Grimmauld Place left Sirius uncertain, not only with the behaviors he was taught were proper, but over his family and their own individual morality when compared to how he was treated by others outside the elitist and abusive behaviors of the members of the Sacred 28. Walburga was unafraid of using an unforgivable on her eldest and indifference on his behalf eventually became determination to turn him into another clone of every Black before him. He had learned young the true meaning of the privileges of being born pure. It had never made them better than others, simply made it easier to get by doing whatever they wanted without facing the consequences those who didn’t have generations of connections would have to deal with. In turn that meant Sirius began to brush off his fears early, plaster a smile on his face and hope the people around him also cared little enough to pretend to believe it. The mischief maker never seen without a smile on his face doesn’t need the same resources as those openly weeping. Eventually Sirius learned to use that adreleline from causing caos to get him through the day to day. He became dependent on the pranks and adventures he had during his school days to keep his mind off of the realities of a family who hated him and whispers of a war where he knew he would end up fighting his own blood. After spending seven years as a close-knit gang of teenage boys, coming up with nicknames and wreaking havoc on Hogwarts’ ground and staff- Sirius had not been ready to give it up. The rush of the Marauders made him feel something for the first time and the Order seemed to be a bigger and better version of this, but this time with a purpose. Coming in Sirius got a kick out of the meetings, knowing how his mother would disapprove and putting his money where his mouth is to prove to every person who ever told him he would never be anything more than another privileged pureblood. When the realities of war started to hit it made Sirius wonder if he had ever truly been as progressive as he liked to think he was. He slowly began to realise the danger that the people he cares about are in, and just how wrong what is happening is and he’s starting to really fight for a cause rather than trying to cause as much trouble as he can while he’s young and alive. But it’s still all centered around himself and his own world. Sirius wants to fight for his friends’ safety. Get this war over with so he does not have to deal with any more loss. He cannot handle more loss, it would ruin him. Losing Regulus had pushed him over the edge in a way Sirius had refused to accept was a possibility when he signed on to join the Order. He knew he would be fighting the people he grew up alongside. Every duel he made sure to take in every feature he could piece behind the death eater masks, knowing if he had to come face to face with his brother he wouldn’t have the strength to follow through with it. But Reg dying so quickly, so young for a cause Sirius had warned him against so many times had destroyed him. The guilt eats him alive, if only he had sucked it up and stayed home. What if he hadn’t given him the choice and forced him to run away with him when Sirius escaped to the Potters. Things had started to become real, he would continue to lose the people he always thought as untouchable.

Give us a headcanon for your character. Anything is acceptable. Sirius hadn’t run off to the Potters on his own free will. Fights with his mother and father had only grown more intense that summer after a year of goofing around at school and thinking he could get away with behaving like a clown all year and not face the repercussions when he finally returned home. He had not been told the exacts words saying to leave 12 Grimmauld Place, but yelling he was no longer welcome in their family and the rush to blast Sirius’s name off the family tree had pretty heavily implied as such. James and his parents were the only people he ever told he was kicked out, that first night when he finally arrived on their front door. After that night it was only that he simply left home when anyone asked, even Remus and Peter while having more of the story than anyone else, do not have the entirety that Sirius explained that first night. The words run away didn’t leave his lips until after his graduation from Hogwarts when he needed to prove to the Order that his last name did not make him untrustworthy.

[fircbcrn-blog]

      ♕ —  henlo once again all, it is i charmi ur local muse machine, this is my precious and pure son jia ‘emrys’ xinya and below the cut you can learn some fun lil facts about him, a link to his stats page can be found here and i will sort a plot page out for him at some point soon but for now i’ll put a few plot bunnies at the end of this and brainstorm !! if you want to plot pls like this or reach out to me and i shall message u quickfire, without further ado :  

so rhys is like this edgy biker boy but with a heart of gold who is rlly a super big softie, he just looks like an intimidating biker boi with his style.

he falls in love with everything but i don’t mean like he’ll fuck anything with a pulse kind of love or oh wow u were nice to me and now i adore u and want to run off into the sunset, i mean he’s just in love with the world around him i mean it’s a shitty fuckin place sometimes but he sees the small beauties in it, the miracles of nature and human behavior that isn’t learned but just inherent to us and he thinks its fuckin magical so sue him

 very wise and mature and down to earth as a person, despite being super popular because he just comes across as very cool and easygoing and in general easy to get along with plus he’s a total heart throb in the modelling world. 

pretty artsy for a living, very much a creative soul. he paints and sketches and can mould things and he does actually commission it and earn a decent amount from it but his main career and income comes from the modelling definitely. bc ya know business for artists in general just isn’t amazing even for the richer few. 

super in touch with the world and at peace with himself, like he is an immovable force nothing you say or do to him will upset him bc he’s just like lol that’s ur opinion and perspective ig and ur entitled to it so go off but imma do me thanks. 

pansexual iCoN although he does lean more towards homoromantic, he will love anyone pretty down who he can see something good in and he can see good in basically anything other than actual dictators obviously.

guru of life advice, people often come to him because he offers a sense of stability and security without getting his own emotions attached just from his presence alone and the atmosphere he surrounds himself with. 

exudes charisma and magnetism we stAn, fully sits around with fancy expensive wine and his art in his super cosy yet modern and majorly artistic big ass penthouse suite apartment studio and walks around in open blazers shirtless with his long hair all pushed back and wet like the queer bohemian pixie that he is uNF. 

he definitely has an approachable just creative and exciting persona without making you feel like you have to be wild to be alive with him. he’s also very spiritual

boi does yoga every morning and meditates every night without fail, very aware of mindfulness and does the exercises for it a lot, very aware of his health and keeps like excessively on top of it. he’s buddhist so he believes in the chakras, is interested in white magic and crystal healing too though, definitely practices feng shui, don’t fuck with his feng shui

he is a dancer however he doesn’t do dance as a full time gig bc he’s worried it would eat away at his time and take away from his other passions but ye he be a busy boi

he gets a reputation from the media for being a ‘playboy’ bc he’s deemed a heart throb fUNNILY enough he is the furthest thing from that, but everyone finds him attractive and tries to get him into scandals. he deffo does have flings like the average amount as anyone else but HERES THE THING...

rhys is an idiot and he has a thing for guys who think they’re gods gift who are all don’t go falling in love with me and part of me thinks he likes it for the thrill a lOT as well bc he’s too laidback for that trap so he’s all yeah as if bud u would have to change ur act a loT for that to be possible and they get shooketh like HOLD UP WAIT A SECOND-

he does not have their shit if they do the whole im such a hardass and i don’t do commitment but they want him to fall for them rlly he’s like okay good for u see u in like a week when u wanna fuck again until then i’ll be busy with my perfectly substantial life which i don’t need u in anyway dude

big bitch u aint special energy bc no one is and everybody got other priorities to put first depending on what they choose so like lemme know when u wanna get ur act together if not we can chill 

but he a good boi he just floats around the place with his shirtless blazer self all here have a sprinkling of wisdom beyond my years and compassion mi casa su casa bby make urself at home in my crafty creative den. 

( @hijinae​ ) is like a sister figure to him bc they perfectly match in persona’s and energies and she is very close to his familia it hasn’t happened yet but eventually they will be adoptive siblings when rhys’ parents legally take custody of jinae after her father’s passing. SIBLING POWER DUO I TELL U NOW they’re literally like siblings who are each other’s missing halves and best friends.  had they have been biological they would probably have been twins

PLOT IDEAS: 

so here’s a few loose ideas to throw around until i have more time to sort a plot page out for him purely bc as much as i’m invested in him and oozing with muse i have a lot of pACking to do still since i’m moving out and back home for the summer this weekend : 

but of course some of his much loved flings especially his fave messy boy toys bring em to me 

modelling rivals potentially who don’t actually want to be rivals at all but the media simply makes them out that way

dance buddies 

running buddies 

maybe some people who can help him manage his art business prospects and side of things

best friends bc who don’t love that

childhood friends

friends from china yES pls

modelling partners u know like kylie and her besties type shit always posing with each other on instagram and going to shows together or promoting together

ex’s bc that’s fun and spicy 

childhood love 

childhood best friend

frenemies 

friends he’s made internationally bc of music or dance or even modelling and got close with 

sibling like bond 

good influence and bad influence

people interested in spirituality or buddhism and maybe looking to him as a guide on it all 

honestly anything else u can think of even maybe a past unrequited love, his first ever boyfriend or girlfriend or just experience with either (also open to non-binary muses ofc) just hit me with it all and i will happily work with it

[moomingitz]

so why do you think Sonic X was the exception to being screwed over when it originally aired?

First thing I need to get out of way before I go any further. This really only just applies to when it comes to the states and other parts of the more Western world. Sonic was always more popular and more successful in the states and more western regions than the franchise ever was in it’s home country. The franchise still does have fans over in Japan, but apparently it’s more on a dedicated cult fan base kind of status. On top of the animation industry in Japan already being really cut throat and over saturated, and apparently “furry” things in general weren’t as popular with the average Japanese audiance back then(unless you were Disney), Sonic X didn’t exactly do that well in terms of ratings in Japan. After all, the show’s success overseas is the reason why a third season was ordered, despite how it was originally supposed to end at two seasons.

And I think it sucks, because I actually liked seeing a take on Sonic that wasn’t meant to appeal or even pander to a more Western audience for once- especially when the more Western side of the Sonic fandom tends to be more insufferably entitled. I still feel like Sonic X is one of the most genuine and least cynical Sonic adaptations even now.(As long as you’re watching the original Japanese dub, at least. And Chris and Cosmo are good characters, fight me!)

Now that I got that out of the way, I have three major assumptions on why, I at least, think Sonic X was lucky to not be fucked over by a TV network when it was localized outside of Japan, unlike the other Sonic TV series. Again, this is just based on my personal observation, here.

- In terms of modern Sonic, it was during the peak of not only it’s popularity, but good enough public opinion of at least the video games outside of the fandom itself. This was after Sonic Adventure 2 and before Sonic Heroes was released, and based on what I was seeing at the time, it was right before the Sonic fandom started to fully become a miserable fuckheap. There was still the whole thing between Western and Japanese Sonic continuity purists, and shippers butting heads here and there, but things were going to start getting pretty ugly soon. And yes, there were still the gaming “journalists” who had that whole, “SONIC SUCKS NOW HE’S 3D, BRING HIM BACK TO HIS ROOTS”, viewpoint, but again, it still was nowhere as bad as it would eventually become when Sonic 06 came around. Saying you unironically liked Sonic was not something you were going to be immediately shamed into hiding at that point.

Sonic X was basically made at the right time. The Sonic franchise had not only a now established fan base that was at the time sustainable enough, unlike when the former DIC cartoons originally aired, but it helped that it was loosely based off of Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, games that were still fresh in people’s minds.

- It was licensed by 4Kids Entertainment and their subsidiaries when it was localized outside of Japan.(At least in most regions it appeared so.) Say what you want about the now defunct 4Kids’ dubbing and localization practices, especially when it came to censorship, but they usually knew how to market things, or they knew when they had something lucrative on their hands. Even if I do think the English dub of Sonic X is not good and I would not recommend watching it, especially watching it now, it’s still one of the anime series that got better treatment from the company’s infamous edits and censorship- even if certain deaths(Molly and Cosmo) were flat out censored. The fact that none of the episodes from Sonic X were outright cut from airing when it was localized says a good deal about it. Keep in mind, episodes being cut from airing on TV, due to content that not even censorship could take care of, was the norm back then with airing anime on mainstream TV.(Unless a series aired on Adult Swim. But even Adult Swim wasn’t fully immune to having to edit or censor things in certain cases.)

Not only did 4Kids Entertainment usually knew what they were doing when it came to advertising or marketing their dubs or series they localized, but they had something that I think was the most important part of Sonic X’s longevity.

- 4Kids Entertainment not only aired the shows they brought over on more local channels, but they also would have their own special programming blocks to air on Saturday mornings. I think these really helped the show’s ratings in at least the states for two major reasons.

Having Sonic X, and their other shows, air on more local channels, unlike a major cable network, made it much more accessible for their target audience to watch, because even back then not everyone could afford cable or satellite. If you had the right TV, and the right self-made shit kicker metal clothes hanger antenna, you would still be able to watch Sonic X on Saturday mornings, when things were still analog back in the early 2000′s. That’s how I was able to watch re-runs of Pokemon and The Simpsons during my pre-teen and early teen years, without having to fight over using the main family TV.

The most important part I see in all of this, however: 4Kids having their own block to air their shows during Saturday mornings appeared to have given them more control over which time slots to give their shows. As someone who watched Sonic X when it first aired over here in the states, it always had a good release schedule, it didn’t have a super early god awful time slot(I remember it tended to air 9AM-10AM), and whatever hiatuses it would have were the typical spring and summer ones. It had a consistent airing schedule, it’s time slot was never fucked around with to my knowledge, and I knew when and where it was going to air.

Past Sonic TV series, and Sonic Boom, have not been lucky when it came to that. Sonic SatAm was apparently given a bad time slot during it’s initial airing, and it had the misfortune of having to compete with then brand new Power Rangers and the network itself apparently wanted the show dead- not to mention the Sonic franchise and the fandom itself was still in it’s infancy at the time. AoSTH was apparently produced to be aired in syndication, so it’s not like where and when the show would air was that consistent over the years anyway. Sonic Underground originally aired on a channel I’ve never even heard of back then. And oh, Sonic Boom. Poor, poor Sonic Boom was done real dirty by both Cartoon and Sega. If the other Sonic TV series weren’t made to air in syndication, then they had the misfortune of being at the mercy of a major television network who may have at the most viewed them as the red headed step-child who was shoved into the back of the living room and ignored.

For better or for worse, 4Kids Entertainment at least appeared to be the only ones who were smart enough to realize they had something lucrative on their hands when they got the rights to Sonic X. Sonic X even aired in constant, endless re-runs long after season 3 finished it’s initial airing out here in the states. The endless re-runs continued even after 4Kids had lost the license to the show. Hell, the re-runs went on up until right before Sonic Boom premiered in late 2014, over a decade after Sonic X first aired in the states. And that only happened because Sonic X was one of the very last hold-outs of what we consider a traditional morning cartoon airing on more local TV stations! The Sonic X re-runs only stopped because Saturday cartoon airings on more local stations had finally breathed it’s last breath.—–

Of course, all of this is based on speculation. Speculation based on what I’ve observed and remember back then, but speculation none the less. I’m also speaking from the perspective as someone who grew up in the US, and the show’s airing history at least out here, so I’m sure it was a different story in other countries or regions.

[enviroblog-spring21]

Blog X: Rhode Island's Marshland Must Be Saved from the Current Real Estate Boom.

As mentioned in previous posts, especially last week, the primary leitmotif of our socio-environmental system is humanity’s unprecedented population growth and our rapid urbanization–– where more and more people live in expansive and enlarging metropolitan areas than at any point in human history. As the population of our species increases vertically and laterally across space and time, it does so at the expense of landscapes fortunate enough to remain unexploited, albeit not necessarily free from anthropogenic impacts. For our purposes here, I intend to emphasize the importance of biodiversity that we cherish and rely upon every day in the Ocean State–– additionally, I will point out some of the human dynamics of our socio-environmental system that are problematic and threaten to erode or destroy the unique environment we are blessed to inhabit.

The ninth chapter of Living in the Environment focuses on the importance of biodiversity as it applies to wild animal species across different habitats, and the problems anthropogenic influences present to the survival, functions, and maintenance of biodiversity in ecosystems. Oftentimes I find that initiatives to save particular species (even keystone species) do not emphasize the important roles they play in the ecosystems they inhabit. For example, the book mentions the endangered orangutan’s role in dispersing seeds in their waste that would not propagate without them. The tenth chapter of Living in the Environment delineates the parasitic relationship between humans and ecosystems that threaten the natural patrimony which all species of the Earth rely upon. Sustaining and saving the biodiversity of ecosystems is imperative to maintaining the economic value and support they provide through, for example, reducing soil erosion, providing for recreation, and nutrient cycling–– all of which, unfortunately, is hidden due to the absence of full-cost pricing. The authors estimate that the economic value of the various services forest ecosystems provide are worth least $125 trillion per year, one and a half times higher than the world’s total GDP in 2018. Despite the mammoth economic benefits humans derive from forest ecosystems, they are the first to be sacrificed in blind pursuits of economic growth–– evident in the expansion of agriculture and the construction of highways and housing. The various pressures humans impose onto species and ecosystems erode their biodiversity with near impunity. The United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity’s fifth “Global Biodiversity Outlook” and the New York Times article entitled “A Crossroads from Humanity: Earth’s Biodiversity Is Still Collapsing” underscore the magnitude of anthropogenic erasure of biodiversity and the latent effects it will have on our species.

What I found most striking about the United Nations report is its insistence that we must depart from business as usual, and that doing so entails reducing our consumption in order to ensure that justice for the generations that will inevitably inherit the natural patrimony we have taken for granted and are tasked to restore. The Rhode Island town I reside in, Jamestown, is a state-champion in sentimentalizing nature, evident in the conservation and restoration efforts of our natural landscapes. Unfortunately conservation and restoration efforts are on the bottom-rung of actions to reduce loss of biodiversity, yet it is arguably all that one needs to not feel guilty or anxious about the climate crisis.

Biodiversity researchers use the abbreviation HIPPCO (Habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation; Invasive species; Population growth and increasing use of resources; Pollution; Climate change; and Overexploitation) to summarize the most pervasive anthropogenic threats to species biodiversity. Unfortunately, Rhode Island harbors critical levels of such threats to biodiversity, especially habitat degradation, pollution, invasive species, and of course, climate change.

I want to focus on The H in HIPPCO is quite extensive–– standing for habitat destruction, degradation, and fragmentation. Out of the three threats to biodiversity within habitats, I view habitat fragmentation as most consequential for Rhode Island’s species biodiversity. Just down the road from me in Jamestown, RI, the town maintains a public golf course. I have no idea why. Much as the rest of the state does, Jamestown prides itself on its natural patrimony. Eco-friendly stickers seemingly adorn the bumpers of every other car on the island, indicative of Jamestown’s oxymoronic dynamic with Conanicut Island. Next to the golf course lies a delightful bird sanctuary that I stroll in from time to time. Being that the island is at most only a mile wide, it only takes me a little over ten minutes to make it to the opposite end of the sanctuary, where it touches Jamestown’s Marsh Meadows Wildlife Refuge. Marshlands are special ecosystems, perpetually at the transition between sea and land, as a result they accommodate species not found in any other ecosystem. Much of the natural capital from commercial fisheries derives from the ecosystem services of salt marshes and estuaries for nursery and spawning grounds. The Marsh Meadows are marshlands within an estuary. Marshlands also provide indispensable ecosystem services to society as a whole by intrinsically filtering pollutants, producing oxygen, recycling nutrients, and removing sediment. The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Protection estimates that over half of the state’s salt marshes have been lost, and today only under 4,000 acres remain–– most of which are impacted by human activity, unfortunately Marsh Meadows is an exception. Pollutants like pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers naturally runoff into the marsh from the nearby golf course. The North Road Bridge partially fragments the ecosystem’s western flank, while the highway to the Newport Bridge completely blocks the marsh from draining out into the cove by my house. You can still tell that the area was once marshland though. A freshwater pond popular with Canadian Geese and the occasional egret is present next to the building occupied by the Rhode Island Turnpike and Bridge Authority. The lands next to the building routinely flood since the faux ecosystem of maple oak and pine trees that the RITBA planted there simply does not belong. The force which causes the most habitat fragmentation, degradation and pollution, however, is the public golf course. While it does not exactly fragment the landscape like a road or a bridge it is so cumbersome that in my opinion the marshlands hardly have any room to breathe. Not all the course sits on top of the marshlands, and the parts that do obviously are not suitable for golf, however, the chemical pollution from lawn treatment is enough justification for me to call for the dismantling of the course. Even if its size is reduced to give the marshlands more breathing room, the incursion of pollution is still too great a cost to the natural capital and ecosystem services that marshlands provide us. The town of Jamestown ought to put its money where its mouth is if it wants to retain its brand of a crunchy eco-friendly town.

While Marsh Meadows is not under an immediate threat of total habitat destruction, as it is a protected area, substantial amounts of unprotected marshland also exist on the island around Mackerel and Sheffield Coves. The two coves are only feet away from each other, separated only by a small land bridge. Mackerel Cove is a popular beach with tourists and locals alike as it offers picturesque views of the Atlantic Ocean. Sheffield Cove is more of a local secret, it has a rocky shoreline and a decent amount of marshland with adjoining private properties far enough away that they do not appear to render any significant incursions within the ecosystem. Mackerel Cove is a different story. Last summer a huge McMansion was built on the last remaining marshland the cove has. Even more worryingly, the dunes created to protect the beach seemingly also incurred destruction, as the fences protecting them from getting trampled by beachgoers, pets, and cars have been inundated by storms. This is a grave mistake and indicative of the town’s environmental negligence. The Netherlands, which has been battling the seas for over a millennia, routinely uses plants and maintains dunes to keep back the tides of the sea. Closer to home, East Providence recently rebuilt their dunes to protect their shorelines from flooding and sea level rise, and Jamestown squanders the ones they already built. The town’s environmental negligence, however, may not be intentional. Jamestown has incredibly low municipal taxes and a NIMBY sentiment so strong that even pre-pandemic business tax revenue is scarce. If one dares to build a multi-family or mixed use building, they face the ire of the opposition who have nothing better to do than peddle in racist and classist dog whistles. At the cove near my house a volunteer effort was coordinated to restore a good portion of its natural habitat, dunes, and even some marshland, but we cannot rely on volunteers to do all the work that needs to be done. Jamestown ultimately needs to combat its NIMBY sentiment, allow growth in its small urban core, and raise taxes (which mostly everyone here can afford) in order to deal with its coming environmental woes.

In conclusion, when it comes to a species approach or an ecosystem approach to combating terrestrial biodiversity loss and extinction, I tend to fall heavily in the ecosystem approach. I must point out though, that the two approaches go hand and hand and need each other to achieve their common goal of preserving, protecting, and restoring biodiversity. Without the wolves of Yellowstone National Park, for example, the ecosystem would fall out of balance as it was prior to their reintroduction. If wolves again ceased to exist in Yellowstone, the animal populations they kept in check would erode much of the park’s natural capital once again, beavers would not have materials to build their dams, and riverbanks would erode. Therefore, in a sense, animals are their ecosystems and ecosystems are the animals within them. I believe that I tend to fall under the ecosystem approach, however, due to my love for geography and environmental planning. Plus, New England is such a tamed ecosystem (as in, if I walk outside a wild animal likely won’t kill me.) Maybe I simply do not notice the ways in which animals in my neck of the woods affect the ecosystem I live in because of an evolutionary complex that allows me not to expend as much energy thinking about them. I’ve always been able to scan my ecosystem in the various geographies I inhabit here, I’ve never had to scan it for animals that could kill me. If bears and wolves made their return here, however, as they allegedly have in north and west of Providence, that would probably be better for the ecosystem, hence the intertwined nature of both approaches to restoring biodiversity.

WC: 1,760

Question: Would tax credits for increasing the biodiversity of one’s yard (as is proposed in Rhode Island) be effective in increasing biodiversity in general?

[maritzaerwin]

Does Time Tracking Really Boost Workplace Productivity?

We’re living in a time of endless distractions. Our attention is constantly divided amongst many different things. Even if we fight it, the majority of us still compulsively checks our phone messages and notifications, no matter if we’re hanging out with friends or at work.

We’re especially prone, understandably, to distractions at work. Discussing work with teammates, checking emails, or reading customer comments and reviews are of significance.

However, these tasks are the number one priority, yet we tend to spend a lot of time on them. Even though they’re all work-related, we can consider them being significant disturbances since they take your mind away from much more critical tasks and lead you to procrastination.

Not only do we achieve less due to problems with focusing, but we also get more and more overworked and burned out. Why is this the case? Well, expectations towards employees aren’t getting any lower. If you spend time procrastinating, you’ll have to work extra hours to meet deadlines.

What can you do as a team leads to maintain the balance between productivity and the well-being of your teammates? One of the most popular methods that are generally recommended to managers is to implement time tracking.

Time Tracking – What Impact Might it Have on a Company?

One way of combating employee procrastination is to keep track of the team’s progress by recording the time they devote to completing their project tasks. The most common method of time tracking is to use time tracking software – the most popular tools being Toggl, Clockify, and Timely.

Read more about different tools and their features in our article “12 Time Tracking Software To Improve Team Productivity” to find out more.

Let’s take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of scrupulous time and progress tracking.

Advantages of time tracking

i) Time on the Mind

Having thoughts on how one spends their time at work has an impact on overall progress and productivity. It can cut time spent on chatting with colleagues, having coffee and snacks, and checking social media.

It will result in less time spent procrastinating and more work to achieve goals faster.

ii) Having a Source of Knowledge for Team Leads

Data gathered through time tracking is an excellent source of information for the team leads on how to manage their team better.

It can be the case that a seemingly fast and easy task may take several hours to complete for inexperienced employees – so it is better to delegate it to another. It’s good to analyze this data and draw conclusions while distributing the tasks.

iii) Increasing Transparency

Sharing a workspace with your employees where everyone can see what everyone is working on, and for how long is a great way to increase transparency. In your company – if your aim is for ensuring transparency across team members, the use of project management tools is essential.

There are many project management tools out there, which also include time tracking, like, e.g., Asana or Monday. You can choose whatever suits your needs best.

It ensures that everyone is on the same page, and it also helps with a fair distribution of tasks.

iv) Increase in Business Profitability

By monitoring the time spent vs revenue gained, you’ll easily be able to compare your KPIs and see whether the amount of time and money invested in a project offers a return.

This data can be precious, especially for scale-ups, which cannot afford to incur any additional costs or losses.

Disadvantages of time tracking

a) It Requires Discipline and Consistency

The biggest con is the need for time tracking itself. It’s a real bother for employees to remember to enter the amount of time spent working on a task. Speaking from my own experience – it’s not as obvious to do so as it may seem. As a result, some people may ignore it and not enter any of their hours.

Some will think “ah, screw it, let’s just say I worked on this 3 hours” even though it was 5 in total – our perception of time can very much differ depending on many variables. One is the perception of a task’s complexity or whether it’s exciting for the employee or not. In such a case, the data that you receive may not be reliable.

b) Low Morale Among Employees

The thought of being controlled for many employees results in a negative ripple effect. As much as it may have a positive impact on efficiency, it may also cause general dissatisfaction among teammates. The key to success is to listen to your employees’ opinions because any savings that you make through an increase in productivity most likely will be incomparable with the losses you’ll incur if your employees decide to quit.

Cutting out on small pleasures like chatting with work colleagues or grabbing a cup of coffee together, and rushing/cutting down lunch breaks can impose unnecessary stress on the employees. If you want to take care of your teams’ wellbeing – think twice about how you approach the time tracking introduction.

Is it really about time?

Adam Grant, a professor of management and psychology at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a book author, wrote an article for the New York Times entitled Productivity Isn’t About Time Management. It’s About Attention Management. The title sums up the author’s reluctance towards the idea of time management and measuring one’s progress through time spent on working towards something. 

We’re living in a period where everyone and everything that surrounds us is fighting for our attention span.

Research on the topic of human focus shows that an average person is productive only for 2 hours and 53 minutes per 8 hours spent at work . The majority of us feel a constant urge to check email inbox, social media, news sites, have a snack or coffee break, while working.

You know those sayings,

“Procrastination is the thief of time”.

“Procrastination is the enemy of success”.

Today, procrastination has become the number one enemy in today’s world. We’re trying to fight it off, but sometimes it’s not only a waste of time. Taking a breather is essential to avoid getting burnt out. These small things help us to unwind and also strengthen the bonds between teammates – which results in better teamwork.

Try to Focus More on the Reasons Than the Time

People right now are so caught up in the idea of increasing one’s productivity that they lose focus on the reason why they are doing something.

How will completing this task help me or others? Does completing this task brings me closer to my goal? Should I be doing this or should I focus on something which will help me achieve my goals faster?

When you shift your mind from focusing on time efficiency to concentrating more on reasons and prioritizing your tasks, you’ll soon notice that you’re moving towards your goals competently.

Check out this article Why Time Management Does Not Work? to understand the most common myths surrounding time management and productivity effectiveness.

Switching to attention management is challenging, but it’s harder to instruct your teammates on how to adapt to this mindset. It’s not easy to change, mainly if teams are used to time tracking from previous structures and companies. Tracking progress won’t be as simple as it is in the case of time tracking as the data won’t be as quickly gatherable and accessible.

What Can Companies Offer to Boost Employee Productivity?

As mentioned above, there are at least a few ways of boosting your employees’ productivity. You can keep a finger on the pulse and monitor the progress in the project management tool but, at the same time, give your employees a bit of freedom to reset their minds. Encourage people to unwind and chat at the “water cooler” (focused on non-work related topics).

The key to success is to be a talented and observant team lead. Many managers do not understand that their responsibilities involve reaching KPI or sales goals and also to take care of their teams’ wellbeing. It’s the manager’s role to encourage someone to give more if they notice a lack of attention or energy or to tell when a team member is reaching breaking point. It’s a very accountable role.  

As a manager or team leader, look for the signs that you may be missing, to prevent employee burnout. No matter how exciting a project is or how engaged and willing team members are, there can always be a breaking point if the workload isn’t managed appropriately.

Cases of obvious signs of exhaustion or fatigue as well as mood swings need to be nipped in the bud. Communicate with your team and ensure that you understand there can be issues outside of work that affect one’s mood. Giving employees a few days off or a much-needed vacation can recharge their batteries and safeguard productivity in the long term.

What can such a team lead do to make sure their team does not lose the will to work? One of the things is to introduce benefits like the opportunity to take a power nap at work or having a shorter workweek. They become more and more widespread. As an example, one of the top remote companies, Basecamp, allows its employees to work for 4 days per week during the summer months.

According to Basecamp’s Head of People Operations, Andrea LaRowe, it’s not humanly possible to give 100% all the time. They decided it’s better to shorten their working time and complete less. The only condition is delivering and maintaining tasks at the same high level as the work done during any other time of the year. Basecamp has done this for more than 10 years, and it has proven to be an excellent benefit for both employees and executive-tier.

What about remote work? We’re living in a time where companies, especially startups and scale-ups, compete with each other in creating and implementing new work trends and benefits. We’re quite accustomed to remote work, which has already proven to be quite handy, especially recently, during the recent coronavirus outbreak.

The research on telecommuting has shown that the employees who work from other places than the office tend to achieve better results compared to those who work onsite. As much as 77% of respondents stated they are more productive while working remotely, while 30% say they accomplish more in less time.

Remote work can also help to deal with career burnout. How? By giving employees more flexibility to decide how they work. Letting employees work from home and structuring the workloads that suit them will provide satisfied remote team members who are more willing to bring efforts to their projects.

However, with new benefits comes new challenges. Not all companies are ready to face them right away. Some business executives believe that incorporating such benefits will have a positive impact on their employees, and instead of a negative impact on their business development and revenue. If you want to learn more about how to incorporate remote work into your company and maintain its culture, check out the article Remote Work vs Company’s Culture  How Can We Make It Work?

Conclusion

As an employer or team leader, you need to think about what will be the best solution for your team to increase productivity – this refers to time tracking. Before deciding whether to incorporate time tracking in your company, it’s essential to carefully consider and examine the cons, since they can make the whole undertaking not worth the hustle.

If your team is not disciplined enough or if you as a team lead won’t be able to communicate appropriately, why and what you require from them – then all the data and the whole point of time tracking will be just useless. If you decide that time tracking is not for your company, there are other methods of encouraging your employees to complete more.

It’s worth thinking about incorporating certain benefits to take care of your employees’ wellbeing. A happy employee achieves more than an employee who feels controlled all the time. Don’t be afraid to leap of faith and use an example of remote-first companies or companies that implement a 4-day workweek. Experiment and always remember to listen to your employees’ opinions!

The post Does Time Tracking Really Boost Workplace Productivity? appeared first on CareerMetis.com.

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[riichardwilson]

Data suggests there’s still no corporate or brand bias in Google results

Haven’t written for Search Engine Land in a while as I’ve been head down in-house, but in late December John Mueller asked on Twitter what the SEO Company community thinks of this Twitter comment that claims that the first two pages of Google’s search results are devoid of blogs and overoptimized and I wanted to take a few minutes to look at the data.

You may have an opinion that yes, Google is clearly biased toward big brands, or no, Google is just trying to give the users what they’re looking for and no one’s looking for someone’s dumb blog. But we don’t need opinions here because this is a claim about what sites show up in search, and we have a lot of data on that from SEMRush and other sites that rank the web according to how much organic traffic they likely get.

Nonprofit dominates results

So, there are a lot of big brands in the SEMRush top 100. But the number one site is a nonprofit that asked me for a donation earlier this month: Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a well-known brand but not corporate at all. They’re owned by Wikimedia Foundation, which is the only top ten website that is nonprofit, and it gets almost four times the search traffic (according to SEMRush traffic estimates) of the #2 website on the list, Amazon.

It may seem to some people based on certain searches that they do that brands and corporate websites are showing up instead of blogs and personal websites, but can you really say that Google sends traffic to mostly corporate websites when a nonprofit gets almost 4x the search traffic of Amazon, and 32x the search traffic of the top brand in the world according to Interbrand’s brand value score, Apple?

I would say no, that doesn’t make much sense. If Google had an inherent corporate bias or a brand bias, nonprofit Wikipedia would have less search traffic than for-profit brands that spend a lot of money on branding like Apple and Amazon. Certain queries may be frustrating, but the data suggests there’s no inherent bias.

Personal blogs rank better than ever

Maybe personal blogs are a different story? Does Google serve for-profit corporate domains more than platforms that allow average people to post their thoughts? Let’s check the data.

First, it’s important to note that it’s not 2005 anymore, and in the age of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter many people use social networks and corporate sites that thrive on user-generated content like TripAdvisor and Yelp to post their thoughts. So you may find regular people’s thoughts in search without necessarily finding it on someone’s blog. Of the top ten SEMRush sites listed above, all but Merriam-Webster derive traffic from user-generated content. They’re not blogs, and they may be hosted on a site owned by a large corporate entity, but Google is bringing visibility to the thoughts of regular users, making the corporate sites vs personal blogs dichotomy a little less clear.

That said, if we do look at only personal blogs we still see that Google sends a lot of traffic to them.

To prove this, we can’t really look at the increase in traffic for all of the most popular platforms, as many of the most popular platforms host their user sites on subdomains, and it’s difficult to use the SEMRush top 30,000 sites to show growth across thousands of subdomains, and just showing traffic to root domains like tumblr.com doesn’t necessarily show that the individual subdomains are getting a lot of search traffic.

But if we consider the top blogging platform now according to SEMRush – Medium, which does host individual blogs on the medium.com root domain, we can see that not only is it one of the top 300 sites in the world according to organic traffic, but that organic search traffic has been growing steadily in the last 5 years:

So the claim that Google doesn’t just show someone’s blog in search results anymore is an opinion, and not one that’s founded in reality. Medium currently has blogs ranking for 231k top three keywords, including “rare pokemon cards,” “wirecutter,” “copy and paste symbols,” “milkweed” and thousands of other competitive non-brand keywords. If you’re a user who doesn’t think that blogs show up in Google search results, you’re not searching any of these 231k keywords where they clearly do.

Personal influencer blogs rank better than monster travel sites in search

If you do want to see results where there doesn’t seem to be corporate bias, try planning a trip to Italy. My wife and I are planning on going there this summer, and we’ve been using Google to research where to go and what to do. As I’m searching it strikes me how many travel influencer personal blogs show up in the results, and not TripAdvisor, Expedia or other huge travel companies.

To illustrate this I’ve taken four of the highest volume queries for someone planning a two week trip to Italy and sorted all of the sites that appeared in the top ten for any search by the site’s Domain Authority. I also highlighted results in the top three in yellow. Seeing this it should be obvious that there’s no clear relationship between a site’s overall authority and top three rankings in this niche, as smaller sites with relevant content—personal influencer blogs like gretastravels.com and ourescapeclause.com are ranking even better for these high-volume keywords than travel behemoths TripAdvisor and Expedia.

This is clearly just one example of a niche where, contrary to increasingly popular belief, it’s still common to get personal blogs in search results; but the data above suggests it’s not an isolated incident.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion about what kind of sites Google ranks, but as the adage goes, “In God we trust, all others bring data.” Every query is different, but I’m not seeing a lot in the data I have that would indicate that on a large scale Google results are biased toward for-profit websites or unfairly manipulated by people who know SEO Company.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Bryson Meunier is the SEO Company Director at Vivid Seats, is an SEO Company veteran with more than 14 years experience both agency and in-house, and is a thought leader in permission marketing agency as a columnist and a frequent speaker on SEO Company and mobile marketing agency.

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/data-suggests-theres-still-no-corporate-or-brand-bias-in-google-results/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/612498578494078976

[laurelkrugerr]

Data suggests there’s still no corporate or brand bias in Google results

Haven’t written for Search Engine Land in a while as I’ve been head down in-house, but in late December John Mueller asked on Twitter what the SEO Company community thinks of this Twitter comment that claims that the first two pages of Google’s search results are devoid of blogs and overoptimized and I wanted to take a few minutes to look at the data.

You may have an opinion that yes, Google is clearly biased toward big brands, or no, Google is just trying to give the users what they’re looking for and no one’s looking for someone’s dumb blog. But we don’t need opinions here because this is a claim about what sites show up in search, and we have a lot of data on that from SEMRush and other sites that rank the web according to how much organic traffic they likely get.

Nonprofit dominates results

So, there are a lot of big brands in the SEMRush top 100. But the number one site is a nonprofit that asked me for a donation earlier this month: Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a well-known brand but not corporate at all. They’re owned by Wikimedia Foundation, which is the only top ten website that is nonprofit, and it gets almost four times the search traffic (according to SEMRush traffic estimates) of the #2 website on the list, Amazon.

It may seem to some people based on certain searches that they do that brands and corporate websites are showing up instead of blogs and personal websites, but can you really say that Google sends traffic to mostly corporate websites when a nonprofit gets almost 4x the search traffic of Amazon, and 32x the search traffic of the top brand in the world according to Interbrand’s brand value score, Apple?

I would say no, that doesn’t make much sense. If Google had an inherent corporate bias or a brand bias, nonprofit Wikipedia would have less search traffic than for-profit brands that spend a lot of money on branding like Apple and Amazon. Certain queries may be frustrating, but the data suggests there’s no inherent bias.

Personal blogs rank better than ever

Maybe personal blogs are a different story? Does Google serve for-profit corporate domains more than platforms that allow average people to post their thoughts? Let’s check the data.

First, it’s important to note that it’s not 2005 anymore, and in the age of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter many people use social networks and corporate sites that thrive on user-generated content like TripAdvisor and Yelp to post their thoughts. So you may find regular people’s thoughts in search without necessarily finding it on someone’s blog. Of the top ten SEMRush sites listed above, all but Merriam-Webster derive traffic from user-generated content. They’re not blogs, and they may be hosted on a site owned by a large corporate entity, but Google is bringing visibility to the thoughts of regular users, making the corporate sites vs personal blogs dichotomy a little less clear.

That said, if we do look at only personal blogs we still see that Google sends a lot of traffic to them.

To prove this, we can’t really look at the increase in traffic for all of the most popular platforms, as many of the most popular platforms host their user sites on subdomains, and it’s difficult to use the SEMRush top 30,000 sites to show growth across thousands of subdomains, and just showing traffic to root domains like tumblr.com doesn’t necessarily show that the individual subdomains are getting a lot of search traffic.

But if we consider the top blogging platform now according to SEMRush – Medium, which does host individual blogs on the medium.com root domain, we can see that not only is it one of the top 300 sites in the world according to organic traffic, but that organic search traffic has been growing steadily in the last 5 years:

So the claim that Google doesn’t just show someone’s blog in search results anymore is an opinion, and not one that’s founded in reality. Medium currently has blogs ranking for 231k top three keywords, including “rare pokemon cards,” “wirecutter,” “copy and paste symbols,” “milkweed” and thousands of other competitive non-brand keywords. If you’re a user who doesn’t think that blogs show up in Google search results, you’re not searching any of these 231k keywords where they clearly do.

Personal influencer blogs rank better than monster travel sites in search

If you do want to see results where there doesn’t seem to be corporate bias, try planning a trip to Italy. My wife and I are planning on going there this summer, and we’ve been using Google to research where to go and what to do. As I’m searching it strikes me how many travel influencer personal blogs show up in the results, and not TripAdvisor, Expedia or other huge travel companies.

To illustrate this I’ve taken four of the highest volume queries for someone planning a two week trip to Italy and sorted all of the sites that appeared in the top ten for any search by the site’s Domain Authority. I also highlighted results in the top three in yellow. Seeing this it should be obvious that there’s no clear relationship between a site’s overall authority and top three rankings in this niche, as smaller sites with relevant content—personal influencer blogs like gretastravels.com and ourescapeclause.com are ranking even better for these high-volume keywords than travel behemoths TripAdvisor and Expedia.

This is clearly just one example of a niche where, contrary to increasingly popular belief, it’s still common to get personal blogs in search results; but the data above suggests it’s not an isolated incident.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion about what kind of sites Google ranks, but as the adage goes, “In God we trust, all others bring data.” Every query is different, but I’m not seeing a lot in the data I have that would indicate that on a large scale Google results are biased toward for-profit websites or unfairly manipulated by people who know SEO Company.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Bryson Meunier is the SEO Company Director at Vivid Seats, is an SEO Company veteran with more than 14 years experience both agency and in-house, and is a thought leader in permission marketing agency as a columnist and a frequent speaker on SEO Company and mobile marketing agency.

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/data-suggests-theres-still-no-corporate-or-brand-bias-in-google-results/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/03/data-suggests-theres-still-no-corporate.html

[scpie]

Data suggests there’s still no corporate or brand bias in Google results

Haven’t written for Search Engine Land in a while as I’ve been head down in-house, but in late December John Mueller asked on Twitter what the SEO Company community thinks of this Twitter comment that claims that the first two pages of Google’s search results are devoid of blogs and overoptimized and I wanted to take a few minutes to look at the data.

You may have an opinion that yes, Google is clearly biased toward big brands, or no, Google is just trying to give the users what they’re looking for and no one’s looking for someone’s dumb blog. But we don’t need opinions here because this is a claim about what sites show up in search, and we have a lot of data on that from SEMRush and other sites that rank the web according to how much organic traffic they likely get.

Nonprofit dominates results

So, there are a lot of big brands in the SEMRush top 100. But the number one site is a nonprofit that asked me for a donation earlier this month: Wikipedia. Wikipedia is a well-known brand but not corporate at all. They’re owned by Wikimedia Foundation, which is the only top ten website that is nonprofit, and it gets almost four times the search traffic (according to SEMRush traffic estimates) of the #2 website on the list, Amazon.

It may seem to some people based on certain searches that they do that brands and corporate websites are showing up instead of blogs and personal websites, but can you really say that Google sends traffic to mostly corporate websites when a nonprofit gets almost 4x the search traffic of Amazon, and 32x the search traffic of the top brand in the world according to Interbrand’s brand value score, Apple?

I would say no, that doesn’t make much sense. If Google had an inherent corporate bias or a brand bias, nonprofit Wikipedia would have less search traffic than for-profit brands that spend a lot of money on branding like Apple and Amazon. Certain queries may be frustrating, but the data suggests there’s no inherent bias.

Personal blogs rank better than ever

Maybe personal blogs are a different story? Does Google serve for-profit corporate domains more than platforms that allow average people to post their thoughts? Let’s check the data.

First, it’s important to note that it’s not 2005 anymore, and in the age of Facebook, Instagram and Twitter many people use social networks and corporate sites that thrive on user-generated content like TripAdvisor and Yelp to post their thoughts. So you may find regular people’s thoughts in search without necessarily finding it on someone’s blog. Of the top ten SEMRush sites listed above, all but Merriam-Webster derive traffic from user-generated content. They’re not blogs, and they may be hosted on a site owned by a large corporate entity, but Google is bringing visibility to the thoughts of regular users, making the corporate sites vs personal blogs dichotomy a little less clear.

That said, if we do look at only personal blogs we still see that Google sends a lot of traffic to them.

To prove this, we can’t really look at the increase in traffic for all of the most popular platforms, as many of the most popular platforms host their user sites on subdomains, and it’s difficult to use the SEMRush top 30,000 sites to show growth across thousands of subdomains, and just showing traffic to root domains like tumblr.com doesn’t necessarily show that the individual subdomains are getting a lot of search traffic.

But if we consider the top blogging platform now according to SEMRush – Medium, which does host individual blogs on the medium.com root domain, we can see that not only is it one of the top 300 sites in the world according to organic traffic, but that organic search traffic has been growing steadily in the last 5 years:

So the claim that Google doesn’t just show someone’s blog in search results anymore is an opinion, and not one that’s founded in reality. Medium currently has blogs ranking for 231k top three keywords, including “rare pokemon cards,” “wirecutter,” “copy and paste symbols,” “milkweed” and thousands of other competitive non-brand keywords. If you’re a user who doesn’t think that blogs show up in Google search results, you’re not searching any of these 231k keywords where they clearly do.

Personal influencer blogs rank better than monster travel sites in search

If you do want to see results where there doesn’t seem to be corporate bias, try planning a trip to Italy. My wife and I are planning on going there this summer, and we’ve been using Google to research where to go and what to do. As I’m searching it strikes me how many travel influencer personal blogs show up in the results, and not TripAdvisor, Expedia or other huge travel companies.

To illustrate this I’ve taken four of the highest volume queries for someone planning a two week trip to Italy and sorted all of the sites that appeared in the top ten for any search by the site’s Domain Authority. I also highlighted results in the top three in yellow. Seeing this it should be obvious that there’s no clear relationship between a site’s overall authority and top three rankings in this niche, as smaller sites with relevant content—personal influencer blogs like gretastravels.com and ourescapeclause.com are ranking even better for these high-volume keywords than travel behemoths TripAdvisor and Expedia.

This is clearly just one example of a niche where, contrary to increasingly popular belief, it’s still common to get personal blogs in search results; but the data above suggests it’s not an isolated incident.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion about what kind of sites Google ranks, but as the adage goes, “In God we trust, all others bring data.” Every query is different, but I’m not seeing a lot in the data I have that would indicate that on a large scale Google results are biased toward for-profit websites or unfairly manipulated by people who know SEO Company.

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily Search Engine Land. Staff authors are listed here.

About The Author

Bryson Meunier is the SEO Company Director at Vivid Seats, is an SEO Company veteran with more than 14 years experience both agency and in-house, and is a thought leader in permission marketing agency as a columnist and a frequent speaker on SEO Company and mobile marketing agency.

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/data-suggests-theres-still-no-corporate-or-brand-bias-in-google-results/

[toomanysurveys9]

Do you read && like ‘and and?’ Do you HATE IT? no. i just read it as “and” because that’s what they mean i’m assuming. they just think it looks cute or something. i don’t hate it. i don’t really have any strong opinion about it. Why does everybody seek popularity? What’s wrong with being original? not everyone does. i never was one to seek popularity. i just minded my own business and did my own thing. and i still do that. there is a lot more originality in the world than media and whatnot would have you believe, i think. Do you prefer hearing the blunt truth, or do you like sugarcoating? the blunt truth. it might suck a minute but it’s way better than someone sugarcoating shit. Do you care what strangers think about you? sometimes. but not usually. Are you a girl that just wants to have fun? just a little fun. for the most part, i’m more than okay just hanging at home.

Do you think heaven is a place on earth? i mean. i don’t believe heaven is in the sky or anywhere else like that, so maybe. my heaven is any ways. Are you a perfectionist, or only human, born to make mistakes? more born to make mistakes, but beat myself up every time i do. Do you use any acne medication? nope. Do you know when it’s just a little crush vs. true love? yup. How often do you crack under pressure? probably more than your average person. i feel like i’m always cracked these days. Have you picked out flower petals, saying, ‘He loves me, he loves me not? when i was younger, just messing around. Do you like to pace? no, but i do it anyways sometimes. Are you a small town girl, or from the big city? small city. How important is sexual attractiveness of a partner to you? looks always matter to an extent, but there are definitely other things that are more important. Do you ever look in the mirror and are surprised by how good you look? no. i look in the mirror and are surprised by how gross i look. all the time. Do you ever look in the mirror and feel revolted? every day of my life. What is the worst career? Why do you hate it? fast food. i just hated every aspect about it when i did it in high school. Do you have a hard time talking to people? sometimes. most of the time, really. How important is friendship to you? Why? in theory, very important. in real life, i have no friends because they’re too busy and i’ve just distanced myself from everyone except wyatt and eliana. which i’m sure is 100% healthy, and i’ll be totally fine. ha. Is anybody in your family schizophrenic? If so, what is their life like? my great-uncle is. he lives in a group home, and his strong psych medications, and his illness in general, have definitely taken its toll on his mind, and quality of health. he also has some sort of cancer now that has spread to his bones and just about everywhere else, so that doesn’t help. they’re not doing chemo. they are giving him morphine and have a hospice nurse visiting once a week or so, and just trying to keep him comfortable. there have been a few times we didn’t know if he would make it another day, but he has been pulling through. he’s a fighter. it’s going to be devastating when we do lose him. especially from my mom. he’s her favorite uncle. she’s his favorite human, in addition to my grandpa (his brother). i’m not sure how she is going to handle it. but i don’t think it will be good. What’s something somebody can do to make you hate them instantly? be abusive to someone i love, or to any animal or kid. How organized is your mind? How do you know it’s organized/disorganized? not very lately. so much on my mind. Why do you hate drama, if you do? because it’s literally pointless. it does nothing but make life more stressful and difficult for those in the middle of it. and nine times out of ten, someone gets hurt. Do you like it when you find yourself in a conflict? i hate conflict. so much. How impulsive are you? not very. another thing jacob hates about me sometimes. What kinds of questions do you not like being asked? about the future. everything is a mess most of the time and i don’t really have any good answers. Why do you follow the religion that you do? i don’t have a religion i follow. Do you feel superior to others because you’re that religion? no. What’s the greatest thing about science? the medical advances, for sure. i just wish it was more affordable. like my mom’s insulin. it’s crazy. I recently saw an anti-Obama sticker that said 'Sorry Yet?’ What the hell has he possibly done that would make people sorry? -insert eye roll-

Or do you just hate him without even knowing why you do? ^^^

Are you likely to crack under peer pressure? this was already asked. and answered. Are you emotional or very stolid? definitely emotional. i react to things way too easily sometimes and it sometimes complicates my life. && whyy do people typee like thiss? do you like looking stupidd? =] i don’t know that anyone does really anymore. i think it’s mostly passed. Does it annoy you when people dumb themselves down to be cool? yeah. How late do you go to bed during summer nights? the time i go to bed doesn’t change based on the different seasons. What’s a song you like from the genre you hate? i don’t know. Do your siblings look like you? there are similarities, yes. Why do girls like six-packs? What’s wrong with a soft pillowy tummy? not all girls are into six-packs. sure, guys that are more fit can be attractive, but i definitely don’t see anything wrong with soft tummies either. but everyone has their own preferences and that’s okay. just like it’s okay for guys to have their own preferences about how they prefer whoever they like look. that’s life. List 3 things that peeve you off. entitled teenagers (and people in general), people overstepping their boundaries with my kids (acting as parent when i am there and more than capable), and being made to feel like all i am good for, or all people want from me, is sex (jacob only interacts with me really when he is trying to get me to have sex with him, and it’s always at horrible times, and then he gets super shitty when i don’t want to or can’t).

[tipsoctopus]

The USA women's national team are heroines not villains - opinion

By any and every metric the Women’s World Cup of 2019 has been a resounding success.

Fans have flocked in a friendly fashion to the stadia to watch mostly entertaining games with barely a dour draw in sight. The standard of football on display has been excellent even if Danny the absolute lad thinks that a corner should have been taken better and mocks it on Twitter (and no Danny, you won’t get a link here: you’ve had quite enough attention for one lifetime and besides, your homework is due).

The promotion of the sport too has been prosperous and this is important for a game now far beyond its infancy that is seeking another level entirely of acceptance and interest. Television viewing figures have been enormously high in the UK and the same phenomena has occurred in Holland and Italy also. In France the hosts have become thoroughly smitten with the tournament and, with record audiences tuning in for every match and a million tickets sold across the competition, major sponsors such as Coca Cola have been left happy also. Sadly this matters.

So it can safely be said that by any and every metric the Women’s World Cup of 2019 has been a resounding success.

Watch Womens World Cup Live Streams With StreamFootball.tv Below

Yet, all the same, there has been a bugbear that has persisted throughout, for this particular writer at least and that is a widespread insistence of making comparisons between the men’s game and the women’s equivalent. Actually no, that’s not quite right. Comparisons are understandable and indeed inevitable. It’s the type of comparisons being made that annoys. People are getting it all wrong.

For years this has been the case. Throughout the last Women’s World Cup in Canada and two years’ later at the Euros as England reached the semi-final in each, it was posited time and again that the women’s game was quite patently purer – thus better – than the male version. There was very little evidence of diving. There was scant time-wasting or feigning of injury. Instead, the games were played out in a Corinthian spirit with a welcome absence of ego, entitlement or attitude.

All of which is true by the way, and all of which should be celebrated and embraced. But when I saw these virtues being endlessly trumpeted again this summer I began to feel a little uneasy. It all began to feel a little…pious. A touch ‘Mary Poppins’.

How refreshing is Women’s football? No egos, diving about & cheating, no abusing each other or officials. Just heads down and playing the game!! Don’t change!! Men watch and learn!!

— Robert K Hirst (@RobertKHirst1) June 27, 2019

Give me the women's game anytime. Proper football. No diving, play acting or general time-wasting. The ladies show us how it should be done

— Colin Payn (@ColinPayn) June 27, 2019

Still though I didn’t realise why it bothered me. After all, where’s the harm in acknowledging a sport’s plus points? And why not take a dig at the men’s game in the process? It’s big and ugly enough to take it.

But then the USWNT were pitted against England in the latter’s third consecutive semi-final in a major competition and it all fell into place. Aficionados of the women’s game should not solely rejoice in the differences between the two disciplines. To do so is counter-productive when the end-game is to one day equal it in scale and popularity. It should rejoice too in its similarities.

Alas, the very opposite has played out.

By virtue of being ultra-professional the USA players – who let’s not forget have won three World Cups and four Olympic golds in the modern era – were damned by the British press and public alike for being ‘arrogant’. “We are the team the French public want to win,” declared Phil Neville intimating at the USWNT’s unpopularity while the Daily Mail – who else? – ran with a provocative two-page splash included in the tweet below.

Greetings from London, where I am injecting this into my veins. pic.twitter.com/ULthPGTfEC

— Dieter Kurtenbach (@dkurtenbach) July 1, 2019

The American’s crimes? Well, there was their celebrating of all thirteen goals against Thailand. Elsewhere U.S. veteran Ali Kreiger twice declared that the Americans “are the first and second best teams in the world.”  And then later came Alex Morgan’s tea-sipping goal celebration.

More so, well, it’s their demeanour isn’t it: ultra-confident and strutting around like….like….the professional footballers they actually are.

Because here’s the thing: everything that the USWNT have been lambasted for these past couple of weeks – from their ‘attitude’ to their cast-iron belief in themselves to their celebration of themselves – these are exactly the traits we associate with elite winners within the men’s game. Only there they are ‘legends’, the surly, cocky Ronaldo and the rest of them; they are almost expected to act in such a way; in fact they are lauded for it.

Thogden challenged himself to DM 100 footballers on Instagram. Find out who replied in the video below…

Alex Morgan summed up the skewed logic and open hypocrisy perfectly when she said this week – “I feel that there is some sort of double standard for females in sports, to feel like we have to be humble in our successes and have to celebrate, but not too much or in a limited fashion. You see men celebrating all over the world in big tournaments, grabbing their sacks or whatever it is. And when I look at sipping a cup of tea, I am a little taken aback by the criticism.”

Regardless, the USWNT will go into this weekend’s final as villains and that’s fine I suppose because every sport needs a villain. Everyone likes someone to boo.

It’s just a shame that the team that has elevated the women’s game closest to the mainstream – and all while retaining the proud, unique identity of what make’s women’s football so special – has been so unfairly chosen for this role.

from FootballFanCast.com https://ift.tt/30gQZGf via IFTTT from Blogger https://ift.tt/2YEzOOz via IFTTT

[cryptobrief]

But what isn’t an opinion is the fact that the Chinese government had nothing to do with these ratings, despite the popular perception that it does.

The government doesn’t sponsor the rankings, it doesn’t endorse them and it sure as hell doesn’t make them. You have to understand this in order to rationalize the congratulatory and reinforced cognitive bias that TRON, NEO and EOS bagholders must feel when these ratings come out.

The latest iteration of CCID’s “Global Public Blockchain Technology Assessment Index” ranks EOS as the number one project, followed by TRON, Ethereum and BitShares. Bitcoin comes in at number 15.

“Hallelujah! The Chinese government says my bags are as good as gold! Justin Sun really is the messiah!” To the moon. Epic lambo time. Real millionaire hours. The sentiment and response to these rankings is generally something along these lines (think I’m making this up? Just check Twitter).

Why the Chinese government’s apparent stamp of approval is a plus to these people is lost on me — this is the same country that has banned over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency exchanges and has a generally hardline stance against cryptocurrencies. But not to worry because, again, the ratings aren’t really coming from the Chinese government but from an independent ratings agency affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Still, whether a government or private entity, the source of the information doesn’t change the underlying point: these ratings (and the projects they tout) are a worthless assessment of the crypto industry’s frontrunning assets.

Not Government Vetted at All

This isn’t the first time that CCID has released cryptocurrency ratings and, by extension, it’s not the first time that these have been erroneously attributed to the Chinese government. Perhaps the name CCID looks stately and official to some readers, but Primitive co-founder Dovey Wan told me that this is the unofficial English name for the institute. In Mandarin, the company’s name (“赛迪,” which translates to “SadiiWang”) has no reference to China in it.

The misconception might also stem from the fact that when the first ratings were introduced in the summer of 2018, Chinese media framed the ratings as coming from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In a South China Morning Post article entitled “China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to publish ratings for blockchain projects — including bitcoin,” for example, journalist Amanda Lee writes that the CCID operates “under” the industry while also calling it a “government-backed institute.”

Saying that the CCID is “under” or “backed by” China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is not inaccurate, it is a misinterpretation and misrepresentation. Reporting that this support means that all of the institute's research is straight from the government’s mouth would be akin to saying that scientific research funded by U.S. government grants are the product of the U.S. Office of Science.

“The part about being state-owned is overplayed by the western audience; they don't have any government structure in place dictating what they do or don't do on a day-to-day basis,” Ben Yorke, an American blockchain and technology blogger living in China, told me. “In China there are over 150,000 SOEs [state-owned-enterprise] that can claim 'the backing' of the government.”

On Twitter, Yorke opined how western audiences reacted to the ratings (yet again) because, as he told me over our DM conversation, “the majority of people with experience in China would ignore a list like this.”

Yorke contacted the curator of the list and explained that “the guy I spoke with on the phone straight up said that the rankings are their independent thing … [they] aren't endorsed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which is what we'd be looking for if the rankings were more official.”

One glance at CCID’s Baidu Baike page (what amounts to China’s wiki) and it’s clear that the company is an independent media and IT consultant firm.

No Equal Footing

Even if the rankings were “more official,” it’d be hard to take them any more seriously. But since they aren’t official, we’ll focus on why we should take them less seriously.

For one, “CCID's services are opt-in. They don't rank everyone, which seriously throws into question the integrity of the ratings system,” Yorke told me. He knows this because he asked the team at VeChain, a Chinese blockchain project which he has close ties to, why it wasn’t included and it said that it decided not to take part.

This opt-in model also raises questions about the rank of many companies in the top 10. How, for example, could a project that has never been on the rankings before suddenly make an appearance in the top five? I think it probably started playing ball. And given the open prevalence of bribery in many Chinese business practices, it’s possible to speculate that some form of pay to play was part of the process.

“It’s hard to verify, but this is China — paying for favors is pretty run of the mill here. I would be shocked if they didn't have deals in place with some of the projects on the list,” Yorke told me when I asked if my assumption was fair.

At any rate, given the opt-in nature of these ratings, it should come as no surprise, then, to see that six out of the top 10 projects are predominantly Chinese — a Chinese company showing some indications of favoritism toward its compatriots.

And this is getting to the crux of it. If these ratings were evaluating the robustness, security, decentralization and value of a public chain — tenets that many in the community would uphold as positives for what would give a blockchain its underlying value — there’s no reason why bitcoin should be 15th behind a slew of dubious competitors.

Why Are These Rankings Dubious?

Critics would point out that TRON has been accused of plagiarizing its white paper while its founder, Justin Sun, is notorious for throwing money around to hype the project (including during a botched Twitter giveaway); EOS ran a year-long ICO that netted $1 billion in contributions but, to date, can be seen as little more than a “glorified cloud server” (which is hardly decentralized); NEO, like TRON and EOS, isn’t decentralized either and relies on the NEO foundation largely for project development; and Steem’s token supply was subject to a staggering 80 percent pre-mine (!).

As for the rest, the list is populated by projects that most people outside of the shitcoin speculator milieu have never heard of, like NULS, Ontology and GX Chain. The bottom line: these projects are judged on criteria (like “creativity”) that have little to do with what many cypherpunks and cryptographers would deem valuable when examining the value of a public chain.

While “Basic-tech” [sic] and “Applicability” are also among these criteria, there’s no rationale given behind what makes most of these projects superior or even relevant in the category of public blockchains. How, for example, can you praise the underlying technology of some of these projects as being the best in the blockchain industry when centralized ones like EOS, TRON and NEO can hardly be considered blockchains at all?

All in all, we can hardly trust these ratings to be objective or even professionally curated. It’s the same problem that people have with Weiss Ratings’ own cryptocurrency grades. In its latest iteration, Weiss gave EOS, XRP and Bitcoin the top three spots, respectively. The discrepancy (besides EOS) between the two lists alone should be enough to dismiss these lists as ill-informed and, really, a reckless strategy for evaluating investments. Why would we listen to people who have no experience in cryptography telling us which cryptocurrency is the best investment?

Unfortunately, the practice of rating investments is deeply embedded in the current financial system, so it was more or less inevitable for this to seep into the crypto industry as well. Suffice it to say, the hazards are all the same and the writing has long been on the wall for the dangers that this practice represents. Case in point: the triple-A-rated securities and debt instruments that were ranked by credit ratings agencies played a big role in the Great Recession and the 2008-2009 subprime mortgage crisis.

Satoshi built Bitcoin to escape these structures, not to replicate them. So if you want my two sats, don’t pay these ratings any mind and if they affirm your crypto biases, it might be constructive to look elsewhere to evaluate your investments. Because these rankings are not coming from the Chinese government (and it wouldn’t matter even if they did) and they sure aren’t coming from legacy institutions who didn’t care about bitcoin until it hit $20,000.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

[cryptswahili]

Op Ed: CCID’s Crypto Rankings Are Pointless (and They’re Not Official)

But what isn’t an opinion is the fact that the Chinese government had nothing to do with these ratings, despite the popular perception that it does.

The government doesn’t sponsor the rankings, it doesn’t endorse them and it sure as hell doesn’t make them. You have to understand this in order to rationalize the congratulatory and reinforced cognitive bias that TRON, NEO and EOS bagholders must feel when these ratings come out.

The latest iteration of CCID’s “Global Public Blockchain Technology Assessment Index” ranks EOS as the number one project, followed by TRON, Ethereum and BitShares. Bitcoin comes in at number 15.

“Hallelujah! The Chinese government says my bags are as good as gold! Justin Sun really is the messiah!” To the moon. Epic lambo time. Real millionaire hours. The sentiment and response to these rankings is generally something along these lines (think I’m making this up? Just check Twitter).

Why the Chinese government’s apparent stamp of approval is a plus to these people is lost on me — this is the same country that has banned over-the-counter (OTC) cryptocurrency exchanges and has a generally hardline stance against cryptocurrencies. But not to worry because, again, the ratings aren’t really coming from the Chinese government but from an independent ratings agency affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Still, whether a government or private entity, the source of the information doesn’t change the underlying point: these ratings (and the projects they tout) are a worthless assessment of the crypto industry’s frontrunning assets.

Not Government Vetted at All

This isn’t the first time that CCID has released cryptocurrency ratings and, by extension, it’s not the first time that these have been erroneously attributed to the Chinese government. Perhaps the name CCID looks stately and official to some readers, but Primitive co-founder Dovey Wan told me that this is the unofficial English name for the institute. In Mandarin, the company’s name (“赛迪,” which translates to “SadiiWang”) has no reference to China in it.

The misconception might also stem from the fact that when the first ratings were introduced in the summer of 2018, Chinese media framed the ratings as coming from China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. In a South China Morning Post article entitled “China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology to publish ratings for blockchain projects — including bitcoin,” for example, journalist Amanda Lee writes that the CCID operates “under” the industry while also calling it a “government-backed institute.”

Saying that the CCID is “under” or “backed by” China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is not inaccurate, it is a misinterpretation and misrepresentation. Reporting that this support means that all of the institute's research is straight from the government’s mouth would be akin to saying that scientific research funded by U.S. government grants are the product of the U.S. Office of Science.

“The part about being state-owned is overplayed by the western audience; they don't have any government structure in place dictating what they do or don't do on a day-to-day basis,” Ben Yorke, an American blockchain and technology blogger living in China, told me. “In China there are over 150,000 SOEs [state-owned-enterprise] that can claim 'the backing' of the government.”

On Twitter, Yorke opined how western audiences reacted to the ratings (yet again) because, as he told me over our DM conversation, “the majority of people with experience in China would ignore a list like this.”

Yorke contacted the curator of the list and explained that “the guy I spoke with on the phone straight up said that the rankings are their independent thing … [they] aren't endorsed by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which is what we'd be looking for if the rankings were more official.”

One glance at CCID’s Baidu Baike page (what amounts to China’s wiki) and it’s clear that the company is an independent media and IT consultant firm.

No Equal Footing

Even if the rankings were “more official,” it’d be hard to take them any more seriously. But since they aren’t official, we’ll focus on why we should take them less seriously.

For one, “CCID's services are opt-in. They don't rank everyone, which seriously throws into question the integrity of the ratings system,” Yorke told me. He knows this because he asked the team at VeChain, a Chinese blockchain project which he has close ties to, why it wasn’t included and it said that it decided not to take part.

This opt-in model also raises questions about the rank of many companies in the top 10. How, for example, could a project that has never been on the rankings before suddenly make an appearance in the top five? I think it probably started playing ball. And given the open prevalence of bribery in many Chinese business practices, it’s possible to speculate that some form of pay to play was part of the process.

“It’s hard to verify, but this is China — paying for favors is pretty run of the mill here. I would be shocked if they didn't have deals in place with some of the projects on the list,” Yorke told me when I asked if my assumption was fair.

At any rate, given the opt-in nature of these ratings, it should come as no surprise, then, to see that six out of the top 10 projects are predominantly Chinese — a Chinese company showing some indications of favoritism toward its compatriots.

And this is getting to the crux of it. If these ratings were evaluating the robustness, security, decentralization and value of a public chain — tenets that many in the community would uphold as positives for what would give a blockchain its underlying value — there’s no reason why bitcoin should be 15th behind a slew of dubious competitors.

Why Are These Rankings Dubious?

Critics would point out that TRON has been accused of plagiarizing its white paper while its founder, Justin Sun, is notorious for throwing money around to hype the project (including during a botched Twitter giveaway); EOS ran a year-long ICO that netted $1 billion in contributions but, to date, can be seen as little more than a “glorified cloud server” (which is hardly decentralized); NEO, like TRON and EOS, isn’t decentralized either and relies on the NEO foundation largely for project development; and Steem’s token supply was subject to a staggering 80 percent pre-mine (!).

As for the rest, the list is populated by projects that most people outside of the shitcoin speculator milieu have never heard of, like NULS, Ontology and GX Chain. The bottom line: these projects are judged on criteria (like “creativity”) that have little to do with what many cypherpunks and cryptographers would deem valuable when examining the value of a public chain.

While “Basic-tech” [sic] and “Applicability” are also among these criteria, there’s no rationale given behind what makes most of these projects superior or even relevant in the category of public blockchains. How, for example, can you praise the underlying technology of some of these projects as being the best in the blockchain industry when centralized ones like EOS, TRON and NEO can hardly be considered blockchains at all?

All in all, we can hardly trust these ratings to be objective or even professionally curated. It’s the same problem that people have with Weiss Ratings’ own cryptocurrency grades. In its latest iteration, Weiss gave EOS, XRP and Bitcoin the top three spots, respectively. The discrepancy (besides EOS) between the two lists alone should be enough to dismiss these lists as ill-informed and, really, a reckless strategy for evaluating investments. Why would we listen to people who have no experience in cryptography telling us which cryptocurrency is the best investment?

Unfortunately, the practice of rating investments is deeply embedded in the current financial system, so it was more or less inevitable for this to seep into the crypto industry as well. Suffice it to say, the hazards are all the same and the writing has long been on the wall for the dangers that this practice represents. Case in point: the triple-A-rated securities and debt instruments that were ranked by credit ratings agencies played a big role in the Great Recession and the 2008-2009 subprime mortgage crisis.

Satoshi built Bitcoin to escape these structures, not to replicate them. So if you want my two sats, don’t pay these ratings any mind and if they affirm your crypto biases, it might be constructive to look elsewhere to evaluate your investments. Because these rankings are not coming from the Chinese government (and it wouldn’t matter even if they did) and they sure aren’t coming from legacy institutions who didn’t care about bitcoin until it hit $20,000.

This article originally appeared on Bitcoin Magazine.

[Telegram Channel | Original Article ]

[mrsteveecook]

boss asked someone to take her family off her health insurance, how to encourage someone you’re rejecting, and more

It’s five answers to five questions. Here we go…

1. My boss begged my coworker to take her husband and baby off her health insurance

So I recently started a new job in a very small office right before the New Year. As I was being hired, they were doing their budget for 2019. My boss, who is not my favorite person in the world, forgot to budget for my benefits. According to a coworker, he had asked (more like begged) her to take her husband and her baby off of the company’s insurance so that the budget wouldn’t be so screwed up. Everyone in the office knows about this. He had talked about it during a staff meeting and then someone told me after I came on. Everyone in the office has varying degrees of how they feel about this ranging from complete outrage to just kinda “Eh, that’s a normal Tuesday.”

What are your thoughts? My coworker has started talking about going to the board about this, among his various other issues.

It was wildly inappropriate, and it calls into question your boss’s basic competence on two fronts: (1) forgetting to budget for benefits (anyone who manages a personnel budget knows personnel costs aren’t just salaries) and (2) trying to make this your coworker’s family’s problem, when the stakes are as high as health insurance. (I assume he knew or figured that her husband could get his own insurance through his job, but it’s still incredibly obnoxious.)

2. How to encourage someone you’re rejecting

I work for a nonprofit that hosts a summer internship for a well known university. My job, among other things, is to ride herd on the process of selecting the intern. My opinion on who to select is solicited, but I am not the decision maker. The internship is very popular and very competitive, so as we do every year, we had a number of excellent candidates to choose from. Unfortunately, we had a less than great experience with last year’s intern, so the decision makers this year were not in a mood to take chances.

It came down to a final three: two older, high achieving students with great references and on-point experience and a first year student who blew everyone away in the interviews, but had little to no experience. Because the decision makers were feeling risk adverse this year, they went with one of the older student. I totally understand and accept this.

By the same token, everyone agrees the first year had the highest ceiling of them all. If she’d had just a little of the track record of the other two, she might have pulled it off! Two of the three decision makers came to me afterwards and asked that I reach out to the first year and encourage her to apply again, especially if she picks up some relevant experience, course work, etc., along the way. Obviously no promises can be made, but if she did so, it would not surprise me in the least if she was the selection next year.

One thing I have learned about myself is I have a tendency to lay it on a little thick when I am trying to console someone, and that sounds insincere to some. I do not want to let this first year down easy, I want to let her know she missed out by a whisker, encourage her to pursue relevant volunteer work or coursework, and strongly encourage her to apply next year … again, without making any promises. Can you suggest an approach or useful language to do so?

I think you’re maybe getting overly invested in exactly the right away to reject this candidate. It’s great to let her know that she was a strong candidate and you’d love it if she applied again next year, but don’t think of this in terms of consoling her or cushioning the blow. That’s not really the appropriate role for you to take as the employer. (It might not even be a blow. This could be her third choice, for all we know.)

Instead, just be direct! Something like: “We all agreed you were a really strong candidate, and we’d love to see you apply again next year, especially if you’re able to do some related volunteer work or coursework between now and then.” And since you said that you tend to lay it on a little thick, limit yourself to three sentences in this message.

3. Company is hounding me after I downloaded their white paper

I’m a software developer with plenty of technical experience, but I’m trying to get better at industry experience, if that makes sense. I read advice to go to conferences, join the relevant professional organization, that sort of thing. So far so good.

I’ve also started downloading and reading white papers. They’re interesting! I like hearing what kinds of products other people are making! But I ran into a problem. One company wanted my email address before letting me read it. I gave them my work email, and didn’t think anything of it.

And then their sales rep Jane emailed me. I said I didn’t make purchasing decisions. Then their sales rep John emailed me. And Jane found our phone number and called the office manager asking for me. And found the name of one of the other project managers and called asking for him. And John emailed me again asking why I hadn’t responded. And Jane called again asking if a decision was made yet.

I’m not sure what to do. Was it dumb to give out my work email like that? Do I owe Office Manager and Project Manager an apology? How do I keep this from happening again?

Yeah, sometimes a white paper is just a white paper, and other times it is a gateway into aggressive sales hell.

But you weren’t naive in giving out your email address. This company is just particularly rude and pushy. Email John and Jane and tell them that you want your company taken off their contact list and not to attempt to contact you or your colleagues again. (Seriously, this is fine to say. They hear this all day long.)

You don’t really owe apologies here; sales people get ahold of potential leads and sometimes hassle them. Your colleagues probably know this. But you can tell them that you’re trying to get the company off this sales list.

4. My coworker reacts badly when I won’t come in on my days off

I’m a relatively new grad school grad working at my first real job ever. I’m running into an issue with a coworker where we are the same level in title but she feels as if she has seniority over me due to her having been there before me. We work in a professional field where accreditation is legally required and she acquired hers after I did, despite graduating way before I did, and as a result had to actually have me as her “supervisor” for a very short time for professional ethics purposes.

Recently, she’s been slacking a lot and her supervisor had a talk with me about potentially firing her due to her slacking off. But she will just skip off work and then expect me to cover for her. It’s gotten to the point where she texts me on my clearly designated off days to ask me to come back into work to cover for her. She’s gotten so used to me covering her duties that she feels entitled and reacts badly when I tell her that I’ve indicated that this is my off day and I will not be coming back to the office just to do her job. But as a green employee, I’m just always very insecure about doing stuff like this. So how do I draw boundaries with coworkers like this?

“Sorry, I’m off today and can’t come in!” You can drop the “sorry” if you’d like.

You also don’t need to respond at all. It’s your day off. Mute her texts and go about your day.

If you want to, you can tell her, “Hey, just so you know, I’m generally never going to be able to come in on my days off because I always make plans for those days ahead of time.”

This is all 100% okay to do. You shouldn’t feel awkward about this; it’s very, very normal to want to preserve your days off, and it’s especially normal not to want to do major favors for someone who’s rude to you when you say no. Plus, it really sounds like your manager would support you and not her if it ever came to her attention.

5. My boss saw me guzzling chocolate in my car

After a particularly long day, I stopped at the convenience shop by work and got myself a well deserved candy bar. While waiting to merge back into traffic, I proceeded to shove it in my mouth, barely avoiding eating the wrapper. To my horror, my boss was the car waving me into the lane and witnessed me unhinge my jaw like a snake in order to get as much chocolate in my mouth as quickly as possible.

My question is, can I take FMLA due to dying of embarrassment or should I just email my resignation right now?

Just ghost the job entirely and let her think what she witnessed was part of your jubilance on your bacchanalian flight to freedom.

You may also like:

I lost an offer over salary, and I’m regretting holding firm during negotiations

my boss discourages us from using our health insurance

my job offer was pulled after I said the insurance wouldn’t meet my needs

boss asked someone to take her family off her health insurance, how to encourage someone you’re rejecting, and more was originally published by Alison Green on Ask a Manager.

from Ask a Manager http://bit.ly/2MSlsoC