#example: has had a few interactions with those in the glitch city but she has no idea about it

[yngai]

one of the main reasons ada has survived this long working on her own ( outside her predisposition to manipulate people into doing her job for her, a paradoxical method of both minimising & maximising risk ) is that she essentially became her own handler / IT support .  while she necessitated such aid early on in her career, especially during her time at umbrella, a naturally precarious mission which required years of preparation on part of umbrella’s rival corporations as well as several fellow spies implanted within the company that made way for ada’s hiring an assistant researcher in the arklay laboratory .  the death of her handler by his own hand, discovered upon her arrival at their agreed meeting point at the apple inn, despite her securing a sample of the g-virus ( or scraping a tissue fragment off william birkin’s corpse depending on route or adaption ), the sudden, brief release from her dependency on his guidance + the organization during her espionage only reinforced a core aspect of her personal philosophy, that of all people in this world, the only person she can ever rely on is herself .

of course, albert wesker came to her rescue, but his gloved hand was an underhanded offer & even back then, before they would become rival agents of the organization, she knew all he saw in her was just another card in his deck, easily shuffled out when she is no longer of any use .  it was an offer she couldn’t refuse & did little to dissuade her belief in self-reliance .  it only bolstered it, truly, for when she will find herself in a situation like this again, if she even allows herself that uncertainty overcasting her life, her exit will be assured far in advance .  if albert wesker was to treat her as a stepping stone for his own ambitions, she would only do so in return & their animosity grew from that initial meeting, an impersonal video call amidst a dying city .

ada wong’s shift in persona, from a scared woman trying to survive the hell of raccoon city, grasping at straws & desperate manipulations all in the vein hope of survival, to the fully realised spy whose status within the criminal underworld was akin to legend, was a multi-step process which the organization facilitated as her success retrieving secretive data & virus samples from within umbrella’s own, most well-guarded facilities was a display of realised promise, scouted for her talents & interests by the organization just as she had earned her degree .  a strong foundation, natural talent, myriad potential careers ahead of her, an interest in the filed & a pretty face, beneath a burning determination to make something of herself .  she was the perfect candidate & eager to commit to the life of an actress without audience, a lifelong dream without the one setback that halted it early on .  she became a guarantee of completed missions of even greater importance to their goal of overthrowing their competitor’s hold on the pharmaceutical industry & the development of biological weapons of war, an entrée into a lucrative black market that would follow when umbrella’s trade secrets make their way into criminal hands .

she was an asset & fully aware of it, but left scarred & bleeding after setting two feet in hell .  weak, bruised & fearful beyond imagination, there was a purpose here which she clung tightly onto, not the organization or their goals, she held no belief in them beyond wanting to see umbrella burn, but a chance to become something greater, something better .  like the woman painted in the legends told about her, infinitely capable, deeply calculating, twirling the world on her finger .  it would come at a cost, as all such matters often do, personal & moral in equal measure .  too much of a danger for her to return home, a risk that the few people she cared for most would become a liability in her life as a spy & she would much rather they think her dead .  allying herself with the organization’s heart will paint her in colours likened to umbrella, but the rest of the world does not often consider the reputation of a dead woman & in the long run it would not matter anyway, she was not planning on sticking around .

ada agreed to pay that price in full & thus, was given further training to account for how umbrella’s evil would mutate in the coming years, taken new, far worse forms as it exchanged shadowy hands .  though the organization could only provide so much, training ada as an H.C.F. field operative with only few additions to account for her personal conduct, lacking certain skills which instrumental to her survival which she sought to teach to herself.  while there are many facets to account for in the transition between ada’s initial equipment & skill-set in resident evil 2, compared to her much different, twice kidnapped notwithstanding, effortless professionalism displayed in 4 ( i went over her physical development in a brief ramble in the tags here ), i should probably return to origin & discuss her ability as a hacker .  a talent she picked up quickly, almost second nature, coding her own malicious software, exploiting vulnerabilities within well guarded digital systems .  already quick on her feet & adaptable, fast thinking translating from perilous situations to the computer screen, ada found hacking to be akin to the act of manipulation, finding & using a vulnerability against your target .  people & their personalities were systematised within her mind, like code, their wants & desires, their history, all absorbed & accounted for to predict every future movement .  not a perfect process, her own prejudices get in the way of fully perceiving others, her cynicism resulting from a sense of helplessness & of everyone else, she will never have access to her own code .  she understands, she infers, she consumes information at a rapid pace & sometimes that is enough but she is not above making mistakes, pitfalls of her own mind & they each cost her .

during raccoon city, her closest equivalent was the EMF visualizer, introduced in the remake but a piece of tech i rather enjoy as a callback(?) to her future abilities in regards to computers while being deceptively simple & fitting for the 1998 setting .  a fairly self-explanatory, rudimentary piece of technology that detects & interacts with the electromagnetic field generated by moving currents, though it is more apt at doing so with the force created by an electric field as opposed to a magnetic one, as the former is much stronger that the latter .  it allows its user to scan & interact with circuitry by directing charges within an electric system, or short-circuiting any point along it .  while referred to as hacking in-game, it bares very little resemblance to the real deal & quite limited .  it was a portable, small-scale EMP generator that disrupts low-level electronics & can cause more complicated tech to, essentially, glitch ( thus bypassing NEST’s identification system ) .  ada used it to destroy intake fans in raccoon city’s sewers, primarily & any access to umbrella’s internal database was acquired through her position as an assistant researcher before her credentials were erased &, would there be anything above her clearance level, the ID & passwords swiped off of dr. john clemens & dr. annette birkin, respectively .  john, of course, was far more willing to part with his than annette, both because of his infatuation with ada & his plan to leak arklay’s darkest secrets to the world .

with the evolution of technology, the dawn of the information age &, i suppose, the slight discrepancy in its advancement between the ressie universe & reality ( though a lot of what we consider groundbreaking today was developed years prior for military use before going public, meaning both umbrella & the organization would have rather easy access to such advancements quite early ), ada’s only necessity in regards to cyber-security was a computer connected to whatever secure, private network she wanted to break into .  for example, a pair of smart-glasses outfitted with such that are convenient, portable & fashionable, able to discharge a non-lethal explosive, the equivalent of a stun grenade, if activated .  used to scan an encroaching environment, any digital system she wishes to interact with &, in certain instances, as the eyes & ears of anyone overseeing her mission from afar .  hardly a replacement for a proper computer, but a useful tool nonetheless & easy to discard for fear of her tampering being tracked .  as technology develops even further, ada does upgrade from bulky laptops to tablets, to phones & whatever permutations they might take in future, a weird cube .  her abilities as a hacker, tied to a fictionalised rendition of the practice for the fun of it, grow with the tech & tie directly into how she becomes her own handler .  information is a currency, after all, & before every mission ada does extensive reconnaissance on the people & places she will be tasked with visiting, sometimes relying on a web of contacts around the world formed after years of spy-work .  anything too secretive & too hidden is relegated to field discovery, as she would rather her targets not be on alert after a potential cyber-attack .  she prefers it this way, while she always steps into a new mission with an exit strategy already meticulously planned, there is fun & risk to be had in being physically present for a grand revelation & she never passes up the chance for that thrill .  after the organization succumbs to internal conflict & she sets the stage to work freelance, ada begins carrying herself through her objectives & any outside help, predominantly in regards to transport & accommodation, different missions requiring different resources, is given to her by her various employers .  a sort of guarantee, an advanced payment, if you will, though she is not above taking those in cash just as well .  using any resource at her disposal, what is provided willingly, what is not, the people she encounters throughout her life, all to ensure her success, her survival .

a fun little headcanon to end on :  between missions, ada has taken up a little side-project that blurs the line between work & leisure .  leaking sensitive information between rival companies & criminal organizations only to sit back & watch them destroy each other, or to a hungry press looking for the next big story, satiating a starving public seeking explanation for the continuous state of disarray .  gray hat hacking to pass the time, if you will .  she isn’t looking to make waves, she takes no credit for her tampering, would be poor form for a woman wrapped in mystery, & rarely strikes businesses with an international reach, where the real damage is done .  its merely a way to pull strings & watch the world spin, a performance she enjoys viewing from afar .

[crossdressingdeath]

Just a reminder that if you have time and feel like writing that post you mentioned about how you would rewrite each DBH character’s story given unlimited runtime, it would be very cool to read.

Ah, right. Quick note that I don’t know much about Connor’s machine path or the violent revolution path or any ending to Kara’s story that doesn’t involve successfully getting past the border guard so I will be skimming those parts of the story. Also it’s going to be pretty vague because Details Are Hard. (Also I’m tired so this is probably not going to make a lot of sense or be in any sort of reasonable order.)

Okay, general points first. I feel like the three stories should intersect more, even if only in a “seeing the aftermath of their actions” way; maybe Connor and Hank are sent to investigate Zlatko’s death after Kara and Alice have gone through, for example. You’ve got three protagonists active at the same time and they barely interact! Come on, give us a little conversation. And of course the public opinion system needs to be used a lot more; it only effects two things in the whole game, come on! It doesn’t impact any of the major human characters, and that just feels wrong. I’ll. come back to this in Connor’s section because I feel like it would be best used there (since there really aren’t many humans in the story outside of his parts and the ones who do show up have reasons to side with or against the deviants outside of public opinion), but if nothing else I’d like it to lead to us seeing humans demonstrating/fighting with the deviants. Also I would like to see at least a few examples of androids deviating peacefully, like Connor does; I don’t believe for a second that there weren’t androids who deviated in a place where they were surrounded by people who were with them all the way.

So, first off: Markus. Mostly I’d just want to extend the timeline a bit and add some more Jericho missions, because oh my god you cannot join an organization of people with no weapons or resources of any kind, become their leader, and successfully change society in less than a week. So just... more evidence of Markus slowly winning Jericho over and helping them gather supplies and resources. Show him helping them set up actual supply lines! Rescuing deviants! Winning over allies! Including human ones, because the idea that there isn’t a single human working with Jericho when pretty much every major human character is in fact on the deviants’ side is... dumb. Also, individual missions with North, Simon and Josh; it would be good to spend more time getting to know them, since as it stands it’s... kind of hard to care all that much when they die. I might also add short scenes where we see Connor’s targets arriving in Jericho if they survive, just to add more connection between the stories (and also I like them and wish more had been done with them). And make Simon a love interest (because this is a choice-heavy game and so I should be able to make the choice to play exclusively as gay androids if that’s what I want), and make it easier to avoid having a love interest; let’s not create a situation where entering into a relationship less than a week after gaining emotions is all but mandatory, hm? Also, maybe Markus should meet Kamski one time? As the guy fulfilling Kamski’s deviant-related plans? Come on, one meeting. Maybe clear up Kamski’s motivations just a bit. And, crossing over with Connor’s story, maybe a bit of stuff them both being part of the RK line and how it went from a caregiver android to a detective android. Oh, and change it so that you’re not guaranteed to have fatalities on the violence path, because insisting that only pacifism can possibly end happily when fighting against oppression seems kind of... not great, all things considered. Frankly given the androids’ combat abilities it kind of makes more sense to have unavoidable deaths on the pacifism route, or alternately to have different unavoidable deaths on both routes, but being admittedly a softy I am very happy to have it be possible to have no deaths on either route. I don’t necessarily expect it to be easy to save everyone (it might make sense to add in missions where you make preparations to increase their odds of survival, or do something similar to Simon’s possible death in Stratford Tower where one of other protagonists’ actions has an effect on the sequence of events), but it would be nice to have it be possible.

On to Kara; I mentioned this before, but instead of her story being a cute-but-boring game-long escort mission where you have to protect a small child who is entirely useless I’d give her a story about uncovering how deviancy works and the history of it. Whether it really is just a glitch or something more, what rA9 actually is... all that fun stuff. No idea how that would actually go, but it would be more interesting than just running to Canada. If nothing else we could get more backstory on how the hell Kamski managed to create androids who are so realistic that that they can develop emotions. And if it is just a glitch there can be more discussion on whether or not simulated emotions are as real as actual emotions, because the fact that they brought up the concept of deviant emotions being a simulation and did nothing with it just feels like a massive waste of potential. And I’d add some more ways to live; from what I understand it’s really hard to keep everyone alive unless you maybe possibly condemn a couple and their baby to freeze to death or get killed by a revolution and keep things peaceful in Markus’s story. While I do want more interaction between the stories, I don’t think your choices in one story should automatically lock you out of getting the best ending for one of the other stories (with the obvious exception of the situations where that actually makes sense; can’t get the best ending for Connor and Hank if Markus nukes the city while Hank is in it, for example). At least with Kara; her story is so separate from Markus and Connor’s that it doesn’t make sense for Markus’s actions to lock her out of escaping to Canada! Also, it adds nothing to the story to have Alice turn out to be an android and robs Kara of her close human companion who has a massive impact on her life; yeah, there’s Rose, but she’s in... what, two missions? That’s less than Karl, who has the additional story impact of having been Markus’s father figure for (if memory serves) years before the start of the game, so there’s no dynamic to build; it’s already there. Keep Alice human! It’s a completely pointless twist! ...I recognise that this does mean that Connor can get a young human girl killed by succeeding in stopping a deviant, but it wouldn’t take much to rewrite his run-in with Kara to not involve a chase across a freeway. Again, I’ll come back to this when I get to Connor’s section. But imagine the impact of things like Todd’s abuse and Zlatko’s section if Alice is human; showing that these villains don’t necessarily see androids and humans as different, but in a negative sense this time. Also, I’d like a sort of prologue to her story featuring the incident that got her broken and led to her being repaired at the start of the game.

And of course now we get to Connor, the best boy who deserves the best. I’ll start with the things I said I’d come back to. First, the public opinion system: imagine if Hank’s thoughts on deviants (instead of just changing for no apparent reason beyond a handful of meetings with people who generally kick his ass and then run away or die with at most a bit of conversation) could be altered by public opinion of the deviants’ cause. Even better; by that and his relationship with Connor. Picture a situation where Hank doesn’t trust or like deviants at all due to them running around killing people but still helps them because he wants to help Connor. It would just be very good. Also, since Connor is the only character hanging out exclusively with humans (what with the station full of cops he’s working out of): imagine more missions taking place (or at least starting) in the precinct where Connor can interact with his sort of coworkers and how the conversations with them could change as time passes and public opinion changes. Also again the possibility for a conflict between dislike of deviants and fondness for this particular android, just for fun. And, also just for fun, maybe a bit of character development for Gavin where he’s still a dick (because honestly he’d be less fun if he wasn’t) but if public opinion is high he’ll pretend not to notice Connor sneaking into the evidence locker and fucking around in there for a while when he really definitely isn’t supposed to. Come on, if you’re going to have heroic cops you could at least do something with more than one of them. Also, more Captain Fowler. All we know is that he and Hank are old friends and he’s totally okay with Hank beating the shit out of Perkins; all in all I’d like to know a bit more about him. And with Kara and Alice: the freeway chase works, sure, but I would like the option for Connor to at least try to save Alice; by this point Connor is already showing signs of software instability, if we change it so that Alice is human him putting the mission aside to save a little girl makes sense and gives us a good sense of who he is as a person, and it fits neatly into steadily escalating refusal to complete his mission that eventually reaches full deviancy. If I’m remembering the order right it’s Ortiz’s android (who you can’t let escape), Kara (who you can let go based on Hank’s orders), Rupert (who you can let go to save Hank), the Tracis (who you can let go just because), and then Markus (who you have to deviate to spare); changing it so that you can let Kara go to save a little girl she’s protecting fits the escalation (you could easily argue that Connor has something in his programming about saving human lives, and as one of his earlier missions shows him being specifically trying to save a little girl it makes a great deal of sense that he wants to protect Alice. Also like. Imagine having the option to push Alice out of the way of a car at the cost of Connor’s life. It would be very effective, I think. Also it’s another opportunity to make Hank like you because he would for sure react well to you saving a small child from getting hit by a car.

Alright, moving on; I’d like some more assignments with Connor before he joins the DPD and gets partnered with Hank, showing him actually earning the title of deviant hunter? Also that way we aren’t stuck with the conclusion that CyberLife decided to send their prototype out into the world to partner with the police in investigations after one mission, which said prototype may well have failed to complete. And we could show more of Connor struggling with what he’s being ordered to do but having no way of stopping himself due to a complete lack of any interaction with anyone with functioning emotions, except for maybe CyberLife technicians. Actually, I’d also like to see what it’s like for Connor going to CyberLife for repairs and debriefing and such, because I doubt it’s fun. Other than that... well, Connor’s story is pretty good all things considered, but there are a couple tweaks I’d make. Aside from the previously mentioned exploration of what it means that he and Markus are both part of the RK line, I’d maybe cap off the added early story for him by adding him being hesitant about turning in Ortiz’s android if you’ve been pushing for more software instability and only going through with it when it becomes clear that if he doesn’t all he’ll achieve is getting himself caught not doing his job, which wouldn’t be a good look. I feel like the most effective way to do it might be if it’s not under player control; if his software instability is high enough he’ll be uncertain about it, and if he’s not he won’t be. And if he is uncertain you could add some options to the interrogation where he can win trust by telling the android he was scared of what would happen to him if he didn’t turn him in (followed by him immediately insisting that that was just a cunning ploy and in no way true when pressed on the matter if he did it out loud and not through an interface). Also: why wasn’t it Hank who pushed Connor to deviate. You spend Connor’s entire story with Hank! He is Connor’s tie to humanity! Why does Connor deviate in one conversation with a complete stranger and not his dearest friend! I desperately want a situation where Hank learns too much or something and Connor is ordered to shoot him and you can either go through with it (killing Hank) or deviate and shoot whoever gave you the order instead. Also then there could be hugs. And maybe forehead kisses because please. Connor deserves a little smooch honestly. He’s earned it. And then if your relationship with Hank is low enough that he’s already dead at this point you can have the conversation with Markus. Also, I would love an addition to the machine path where if you have a high relationship with Hank you can choose to deviate before fighting him (instead of just walking away despite that preventing Connor from finishing his mission quickly) or to deviate after fighting him when he’s got Hank hanging off the edge of the roof. Think about it; a moment of horrified realisation where Connor’s software is finally pushed to the breaking point by having to choose whether or not he will kill his only friend for the sake of his mission where he’s left desperately asking himself what the hell he’s doing? Like, if nothing else it would hammer home the fact that at this point Connor is choosing to remain a machine (assuming his software instability is high enough) to have to choose it twice even at the cost of Hank’s life. Actually three times, because the initial choice would be before this point. Also going that way it would be possible to play through the machine path up to the fight with Hank and still net Connor’s best ending, which would just be nice I think. Also, more hugs. Hugs are good.

...Okay, that’s all I can think of for now. Also it’s uh. almost 1 AM here and sleep is in fact important. So I’m going to wrap up here; maybe I’ll make some more posts later if I think of anything else.

[pbwsports]

How the coronavirus is forever changing the way MLB connects to fans

IT BEGAN WITH the hype video that was supposed to introduce the 2020 Los Angeles Dodgers on Opening Day. Organist Dieter Ruehle followed by playing the national anthem and "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" from his home piano. Third baseman Justin Turner, closer Kenley Jansen and manager Dave Roberts shared updates on their suddenly monotonous lives. Comedian George Lopez cracked jokes at the Houston Astros' expense and country musician Brad Paisley wore a Dodgers sweatshirt that described the team as "2017 World Series Champs."

Along the way, the Dodgers' first live Zoom event provided its fair share of predictable glitches -- ringing cellphones, awkward silences and buffering videos, one of which distorted an uplifting message from Vin Scully. Joe Davis, the Dodgers' play-by-play voice pressed into virtual hosting duty, cringed through some of the technical difficulties. He thought social media would be as unforgiving as usual. He was wrong.

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"The people appreciated whatever we were able to do, even if the video was skipping a little bit, or there were audio issues, or somebody dropped out at some point," Davis said. "The general sense was that it was like, 'So what?' There was an appreciation, it seems like, from the fans that there was something baseball-related to be able to cling onto and distract them for a night."

The Dodgers initially planned to host 1,000 fans at their first "Zoom Party" on April 27. They ultimately opened it up to 11,000 people. Over the next couple of weeks, the guest list increased to 12,000 and then 15,000, proving two key points about this unimaginable period: Teams are trying anything and everything to fill a massive void amid the coronavirus pandemic, and their fans are here for it -- a dynamic that could change the fan-engagement experience forever.

There have been re-airings of old postseason games, broadcaster calls of home movies, training tips from coaches, bedtime stories from players and bracket-style tournaments for items such as jerseys and bobbleheads, all in an effort to create content in a time when baseball's main content pipeline -- live games -- is shut off.

Ryan Zimmerman interviewed Dr. Anthony Fauci, a diehard fan of the Washington Nationals. Miami Marlins catcher Francisco Cervelli taught viewers how to make focaccia. Kansas City Royals director of behavioral science Ryan Maid hosted "Mindfulness Mondays" to provide tips on living in the moment. The Cleveland Indians offered instructions for creating games out of items in one's sock drawer. And former Astros infielder Geoff Blum hosted a series called "Feel Good Stories For The Heart" in hopes of providing some much-needed positivity.

Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association also teamed up to create an MLB The Show Players League, where big leaguers went head-to-head in video game matchups that were livestreamed on Twitch and broadcast on television during the virtual playoffs, culminating in a final showdown between Tampa Bay Rays ace Blake Snell and Chicago White Sox ace Lucas Giolito that aired on ESPN.

From making pancakes to playing baseball with Charley, follow @ClaytonKersh22 and his family in this episode of A Day in the Life with the Kershaws.

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"We want to give everybody sort of a relief from what's going on, and if we can help them and we can entertain them, we've succeeded," Dodgers chief marketing officer Lon Rosen said of his own team's strategy. "We're in a really difficult time right now. We all feel like we're gonna come out the other end and life will come back to some normalcy, but until then, we wanna make sure that we're connected to our fans and our fans are connected to us. And that's our mission."

In pursuit of that, the Dodgers arranged for their director of player performance, Brandon McDaniel, to guide fans through in-home workoutstwice a week. They handed a smartphone to Ellen Kershaw so that she could record her husband, Clayton, flipping pancakes and playing Pop-A-Shot. And they utilized Ross Stripling, their agreeable right-handed pitcher, for an interview series with some of his teammates. Davis himself has hosted his own cooking show and also started a podcast with his broadcast partner, Orel Hershiser. The response floored him.

"We've had multiple people tell us that it brought them to tears to hear us, multiple people tell us that it's the best part of their week when that comes out, and their favorite thing during the quarantine," Davis said of the podcast, called "Off Air." "Man, we're just trying to have a fun conversation. We started it realizing the void that everybody was feeling with no baseball, but I don't think we fully appreciated how big that void was."

MARCO GONZALES LEFT Arizona shortly after MLB effectively closed spring training complexes on March 15. He hopped in the car with his wife and their dog and drove 1,400 miles to his home near T-Mobile Park, returning to Seattle -- the country's first coronavirus epicenter -- for the first time in more than a month.

Gonzales, the left-hander announced as the Seattle Mariners' Opening Day starter less than a week earlier, was struck by how a bustling city could feel so desolate. Parks were empty, traffic was nonexistent, stores had shuttered, and the few people he saw, usually at the local supermarket, dressed as if they were "going into surgery." The anxiety was palpable, omnipresent, and it helped spur Gonzales into action. He donated blood, partnered with a local hunger-relief agency and stepped outside of his comfort zone to help entertain a populace desperate for levity.

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Just for fun:

A's: Broadcaster calls home movies Cubs: "Parks and Rec" crossover Dodgers: Zoom parties Marlins: Cervelli makes focaccia Phillies: Story time with Bryce & Fanatic

Quarantine-inspired:

Astros: Feel Good Stories For The Heart Indians: Sock-drawer sports at home Nats: Zimmerman interviews Dr. Fauci Orioles: Phone Call Fridays Rockies: Out-of-context quarantine tips

The latter morphed into a weekly interview podcast called "Inside Corner," which Gonzales co-hosts alongside Mariners broadcaster Aaron Goldsmith through the team's YouTube channel. Catcher Tom Murphy and fellow starters Taijuan Walker and Justin Dunn have made up the first three guests. Murphy spoke from his dining room, which features a 400-pound black bear he snagged on a hunting trip. Dunn, now 6-foot-2, revealed he was shorter than his 4-foot-11 grandmother when he entered high school. Walker estimated owning 400 pairs of sneakers.

"I miss baseball, I miss that interaction with my teammates," Gonzales said. "And I think the goal of this, ultimately, is for fans to get to know us a little bit better away from the field, and to feel like they're a little more connected to us."

It's part of an ironic twist in all this -- a time that is keeping fans from baseball is also allowing them, in some respects, to feel more connected to those who play it. During the season, their time is precious. During the offseason, their time is sacred. But now athletes are stuck at home waiting this out, with unkempt hair and a dwindling supply of toilet paper, just like the rest of us. To pass the time, many have offered rare glimpses into their personal lives and have seemingly become more willing to reveal their true personalities. Gonzales has acted as a willing tour guide.

"The guys that I've dealt with, they want people to get to know them as people," Gonzales said. "Because a lot of times when we're on the field, we're in a mindset, we're in a mentality, that is rare to us as a person. We're in a competitive, testosterone-driven mindset, whereas right now, when we're stuck at home, and we have a chance to talk to each other, it's a lot different communication. And I think that people will hopefully see that."

Our video editor has been itching to make a hype video. Behold...

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Kevin Martinez has been overseeing the Mariners' marketing efforts for the past quarter-century. Four days after MLB suspended its season, Martinez led a meeting that served as a brainstorming session for how the team could pivot in its content strategy and fill an unprecedented void in a reeling city. Martinez saw it as "an opportunity to innovate and think differently."

It led to a hype video of home movies, a series of tutorials from Mariners coaches, an MLB The Show tournament pitting fans against players, and Gonzales' podcast.

"Seattle has been one of the most affected by this, and one of the first for sure," Gonzales said. "We're trying to get behind the notion that we'll be one of the first to overcome it and really show the rest of the country what it looks like. Right now, all we can do is try to fill everybody up with some optimism, put some good content out there, and try to just give people that hope that we're gonna get back to normal as soon as we can."

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BY NATURE OF their status in local communities, sports teams can often serve as information hubs for regions. The Boston Red Sox, for example, represent the baseball team for all six states in the New England region, making Twitter -- where the team has more than 6.1 million followers -- an ideal platform to distribute factually verified information regarding the pandemic. Kelsey Doherty, senior manager of digital media for the Red Sox, says the team has kept in touch with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and the State House to stay up to date on the best official safety measures.

"It's a little nerve-wracking every time I put out any of that messaging, because especially early on, things were changing so rapidly about what was or wasn't good for you or how you're supposed to go about things," Doherty said. "We were linking a lot to the Mass Department of Public Health, but we're also trying to put the Red Sox spin on it. This weekend we put out, 'How far is 6 feet really?' And it's like, 'It's one Rafael Devers away.'"

The Red Sox are far from the only team to use its social media accounts to pitch in. Zimmerman's interview with Fauci, via the Nats' Facebook page, delved into plans for slowly and safely restarting the economy. The Colorado Rockies are one club that sponsored a mask-making project, reaching out online to distribute free team-branded masks to front-line workers. New York Yankeesfirst baseman Luke Voit connected with medical staff at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital. The Baltimore Orioles have been holding Phone Call Fridays, when members of the team check in on fans and first responders.

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There have been other notable effects. With no games on the calendar for the near future, each team's social media account now represents the primary connection clubs have with fans on a daily basis. Typically at this point in the regular season, an internationally iconic team like the Yankees is focused on building hype around the club, selling individual game tickets and targeting tourists who might be coming into New York. Stephi Blank, senior manager of digital and social strategy for the Yankees, says the pandemic has flipped the team's social focus upside down.

"Especially when thinking about targeting individual game ticket buyers, tourism in New York City is something that is a massive industry, and talking with our colleagues at Broadway and others, you see that so much of the individual game, the individual ticket buyers, come from people who are outside of New York who don't live there," Blank said. "That had been a big focus of ours prior to this, but New York has been the epicenter, and we've been focusing a lot more on our local fans."

With no team to root for or games to play, teams are reframing their social media presence to think about fandom as a lifestyle.

"It's new territory," Doherty said. "I always joke that I am so grateful that I work in sports because our content can change day to day based on a win or a loss or who had a big night, and now suddenly I'm in this uncharted territory and everyone in sports is, where it's like suddenly we aren't dependent on that and we're dependent on our history, the lifestyle, the fan base and the culture around the team."

Luke Voit recently surprised frontline medical heroes from our partner @nyphospital to show his appreciation for their strength and hard work. @LLVIII40

241 people are talking about this

THE LACK OF day-to-day, game-centric content leaves more room to experiment. The Yankees have dabbled in more player personality-driven content, posting intentionally lo-fi workout videos from the likes of Giancarlo Stanton and Luis Severino, shot in vertical video on an iPhone. Yankees head of communications Jason Zillo says the lack of wins and losses allowed baseball's most traditional brand to let loose and have some fun.

"[Player-personality content] is not only a neat concept, but I think this has legs to live long beyond the pandemic," Zillo said. "The thing that constantly is a push and a pull during a baseball season is that games matter so much. And you have to temper 'fun' things up against the fact that every day, there's a game that you're trying to win at all costs. There has to be a measure of caution. If you've lost six of eight games, my first mindset isn't, 'Let's do something fun.' It's like, 'Let's kind of scale back and then when we've won six of eight, then maybe we can push more of the fun stuff.'"

Social media follows for shutdown

From Twitter to Twitch, these 10 players are providing a window -- often silly, sometimes serious -- in an unprecedented time in baseball history. Joon Lee »

Baseball is unique among sports in its challenge of creating inclusive, compelling social media content. The schedule is arduous -- nearly every single day, often for about 10 hours, from the middle of February until at least the end of September -- and the culture can often feel repressive. Marketers have mostly found players to be less motivated to promote themselves, both because of the volume of their workload and the guaranteed nature of their contracts. Teams, in some respects, have taken a relatively conservative approach on their digital platforms.

But maybe that'll be different now.

"It has been a challenging time," Martinez, the Mariners' senior VP of marketing, said, "but it's been a time for innovation, and a great opportunity to create fans with our players in ways we haven't explored before."

While baseball has been slow to adapt to the new age of social media, the pandemic plopped a mirror in front of many teams. Many took that as an opportunity to try something new -- and have seen it bear fruit.

"You hear a lot of people from a lot of different walks of life saying, 'Use this time to get better at something,'" Zillo said. "I think baseball, as a whole, has, when it comes to looking under different rocks, now is really using social media and all of its tentacles to reach as many fans as possible."

Source - ESPN

[biscuitreviews]

Biscuit Reviews The Witcher III Wild Hunt (2-year Anniversary Review)

The Witcher III: Wild Hunt is perhaps my favorite game to come out of the PS4/Xbox One/Wii U-Switch console era. It’s won tons of awards and was game of the year for many people in 2015. I didn’t get into the Witcher series until Witcher II: Assassin of Kings was a free download for Xbox Live members in 2016. 

After I finished Witcher II, I immediately went to Witcher III and my god, talk about an amazing sequel. It was bigger, it was better, and for being the end of Geralt’s story, it did a great job for making newcomers such as myself, not feel lost at all.

I’m going to be spoiling the game so if you haven’t played Witcher III, definitely play it before going into this review.

The story of Witcher III, revolves around Geralt of Rivia, a witcher looking for his adoptive daughter Ciri alongside his on and off again lover Yennefer of Vengerburg.

Geralt will travel through large open world zones during his quest. Velen took inspiration from the Polish and Northern German countryside, Novigrad is reminiscent of the Polish city of Gdańsk during the medieval era, and finally you have the Skellige Isles, taking inspiration from Ireland. Each of these areas are massive and beautiful to look at. It’s easy to forget that you’re in a world currently being ravaged by war or filled with monsters until you stumble across areas that give you a stark reminder that there is a war happening.

One thing that I love about the game is how it handled decisions. There’s no clear good or bad decision, everything has a shade of grey. Sure there are choices that sound better in the short term, but it could have long term ramifications that could come back to haunt Geralt. One example is Triss’s quest line in Novigrad. Sure, you’re helping mages escape the city to where they no longer have to fear for themselves, but by doing so, you give the witch hunters a new target to pursue, which are non-human races such as elves and dwarves. However, if you don’t help mages escape, than later in the story Geralt’s dwarven friend, Zoltan, can help him with a jailbreak. If you do help the mages, Zoltan won’t be able to assist Geralt due to not wanting to face the wrath of the witch hunters.

Even the types of decisions you make are fantastic as well. All of these choices are actions that Geralt himself would make and do in that situation, it’s just a matter what you believe would be the overall choice he would go with. With many choice based games, dialogue options cover many aspects of a character archetype, because normally, you are making a character and are taking that character on the journey. In this case, Geralt is a character, he has his own beliefs, likes and dislikes, and dialogue choices reflect his specific personality rather than a personality a player would create.

It’s also why some aspects in gameplay are limited such as crafting. Geralt is able to craft oils and potions on his own as long as he has the formula and the ingredients. Applying the proper oil and drinking the necessary potions are necessary for fighting monsters in this game, which I’ll discuss more about later. When it comes to making armor and swords, Geralt has to seek out a Blacksmith to make these items as Geralt himself doesn’t have the kind of skill set, therefore he has to seek out a person able to build these items.

I also love how story quests and side quests interact with one another. Main story quests could go differently if you’ve done some side quests that relate to that specific quest and vice versa. Also the fact that side quests have just as much weight as the main quests make them feel more important and worth doing for that extra bit of lore or for that impact it could have on the main story.

As well polished and built the Witcher III is, it does have some minor glitches being an open world game. Sometimes you’ll find objects just randomly floating in air. Occasionally the input to talk to NPCs won’t work and you’ll have to either step back and walk forward to have the prompt reappear or just reposition Geralt himself for the NPC to talk to you. The fact that Geralt can either die or get heavily damaged from ridiculously low heights is also highly annoying and instills a fear of any small dropping points.

Another issue I would like to point out is that it’s not exactly the most socially inclusive. A lot of the main women are highly sexualized and sometimes feel that they’re nude for the sake of it. There are moments where you can choose anti-LGBT dialogue options when you encounter those characters, which I found exteremly baffeling that it was an option considering Ciri is bi and Geralt seems supportive in the dialogue they exchange. I get it, it’s a choice, you don’t have select those options, but the fact that they’re there to begin with just leaves a bit of a bad taste. Let’s not forget the entire ocean of white people in this game. I’m sorry, but including two people of color in a DLC just doesn’t cut it. Does it break the game for me? No, but I think not acknowledging that this exists within the game is even worse.

As mentioned previously, monsters have certain weakness and you are expected to exploit those weakness when fighting monsters. Using the proper tools to easily take down a monster feels great and makes you feel more invested in the world as you have to research these creatures in your bestiary to know their weaknesses. 

Going above and beyond to take on an extra tough enemy or a monster clearly above your level although feels great at first, it’s quickly brought down when the experience gained is very little and the loot isn’t something that equates the struggle you went through. It’s just a bit disappointing that you’re encouraged to research monsters and exploit weaknesses and when you do just that, the rewards just don’t reflect that.

There’s also one quirk with dialogue as well that’s honestly more funny than terrible, but the way it happened just made it more memorable to me.

This instance is going to a wake party with Yennefer in Skellige. She’ll comment on how she likes that Geralt is growing out a beard. Now if Geralt does have a beard in this instance, it makes sense, however if Geralt is clean shaven, Yennefer will still make the comment which I always found that to be a funny little programming quirk. It’s obvious that this response was to happen when Geralt has a beard and the programming within the game was supposed to read that. There are a couple of instances that NPCs will react to Geralt’s appearance and the reaction is appropriate in those moments. But the beard moment, always brings out a chuckle.

Granted for a game as massive as Witcher III to only have a few minor issues, it’s actually rather impressive. However, I will admit that it has been four years since it’s initial release and there might have been more bugs then, but now it’s a mostly smooth experience.

As mentioned in a previous post, I do refer back to this game a lot for professional research as well. CD Projekt Red used a branching writing program known as Articy Draft, a program I use in my day job. I’ll do different decisions, I’ll change the order of when I do quests and just imagine how the branching dialogue looked within Articy and the type of variables used to determine how certain events play out.

One also can’t talk about Witcher III without mentioning Gwent, what is perhaps one of the best mini-games within a game since Final Fantasy VIII’s Triple Triad. Gwent is an easy to learn, but tough to master card game at the start. It’s tough at first as Geralt doesn’t have many cards at his disposal, but once you finally get a win, the dam starts to break little by little. Geralt will begin winning more powerful cards that can be added to his deck. Eventually it does get to a point where everyone becomes a bit easy to defeat as you gain more powerful cards and build your deck for effective strategies. Regardless it’s a game within a game that you can easily get lost in. 

Witcher III also set what many gamers regard as the “Golden Standard” for how DLC should be treated. Witcher III includes 16 free DLC additions ranging from additional quests, items, additional costumes, and Gwent cards. Then there’s the two paid DLC expansions, Heart of Stone and Blood and Wine, which involves two new stories.

Both of these expansions also add additional gameplay mechanics to make Geralt stronger, which you will need to take advantage of for Blood and Wine as monsters and enemies in that particular expansion are a bit tougher than in the main game and Heart of Stone.

Blood and Wine also contains my favorite quest in the entire game. The quest is called “Paperchase” and it’s hilarious. Something about a legendary monster slayer still having to adhere to the bureaucracy of a bank to get a reward for saving a guy years ago is just amazing. It shows that not all great quests have to involve you having an encounter that puts you on the edge of your seat.

The Witcher III is a game that deserves the praise and reception it has received. It has made a mark on the RPG genre that many developers are taking note and implementing in their games. The most famous case being Ubisoft with the Assassin’s Creed series by following a similar dialogue decision based structure and having side quests impact the main story and vice versa. This is a game that has earned its status as a modern classic, which I’m sure will keep that status for a very long time.

As I’m sure it’s no surprise to anyone on Tumblr or any denizen of the internet, The Witcher III: Wild Hunt receives a 5 out 5

So far it’s been quite an interesting two years on this site. Frankly, I expected to just be a reviewer that would continuously scream into the void. To my surprise, I’ve had quite a few of you that like and share my posts adding more to the conversation whether you agree or disagree. I’ve also recently passed the 50 reviews milestone as well so the 50 and the two year mark happened rather quickly!

Here’s to the march on getting to 100 reviews...at some point!

[sharksfood]

spoilers for Ralph Breaks the Internet (Wreck-It Ralph 2)

SO i was going to wait to record my thoughts on Ralph Breaks the Internet until after i finished my homework but i cant stop thinking about it!!!

anyways, I saw RBTI on Tuesday night in 3D and it was AMAZING!! i mean, both the movie by itself and how it looked in 3D. i loved that they put in a nod to those movies that took 3D to the fullest potential with stuff coming at you from the screen, when Ralph was throwing the football into the air.

BESIDES THAT i LOVED this movie!!!! i’m no negative nancy when it comes to sequels and i had been wanting a WIR followup since the first one came out!

but to get the biggest aspect out of the way, i was not always on board with the plot of Ralph and Vanellope going into the Internet. when I first heard the movie announcement and the whole Internet aspect it didn’t totally make sense to me. I mean, I originally thought the gang going into online games was a good mix between Internet and video games (since WIR revolves around video games). However I quickly changed my mind, especially since they WOULD be going into online/mobile games.

My initial reaction to the movie as a whole was EXTREMELY POSITIVE!!! I loved how the animation looked, the fact that we got an introduction on what Ralph, Vanellope, Felix, and Tammy (Calhoun) had been up to since the last movie, and that everything including the arcade had changed in basically real time. That last part was a bit sad too, especially with how few games were left in the arcade and that it seems business was not as good for Mr. Litwak as it used to be. BUT this movie, especially the beginning, was like catching up with an old friend after a long time apart! WIR means so much to me and I was so glad Disney took the time to connect to those who’d seen and loved the first movie.

I’ll admit I was a little nervous with how they’d handle the Internet, especially for a fictional universe thats based on the real one, like WIR. I knew they’d have to create fake websites and video games and what not to fit the plot and because of licensing rights. I’m also glad they did this because if Yesss were the algorithm for actual BuzzFeed or YouTube I don’t think they’d let anyone forget that. plus that would be too 4th wall breaking in my opinion. and this movie did A LOT or meta/4th wall stuff. I dont think any of the references or hints or real-world tie ins were annoying or over the top, it was the right amount for me. they could have made everything fictional, but that would fail to hook people. it was the right amount of fiction and real-life.

that being said, I do think some of the things Ralph, Vanellope, and Yesss accomplished couldn’t work in the real world. What bothered me is that any video of Ralph showed him as 3D, like how he looks in Sugar Rush or in the Game Central Station. Yes, that is how he looks “inside” the games and from other video game character’s perspective, but does that work for humans? Maybe it wasn’t explained very well, thats all. WIR is at times a little hard to wrap my head around. But then again, not everything needs to be explained or completely realistic, since, you know, video game characters are not able to coexist in each other’s games or buy stuff from Ebay.

the new characters was SO GOOD especially Yesss, Shank, and Knowsmore (to me anyways). I would have liked if the new characters had interacted with each other on screen more (like Yesss and Shank are friends but you wouldn’t know that without each of them saying so). also the Disney Princesses were adorable and actually more plot-related than i thought they’d be!

the biggest surprise for me is how much importance the movie gave to Vanellope for being a princess, i mean, she got a song and everything! To me she never gave her princessship much mind, since she only wanted to be a racer. by the end of the movie she was farther from being a princess than before. but i think this was intentional and why we got the scene with the other princesses in the first place, Disney wanted to show that there’s no one way to be a princess. obviously Pixar addressed this with Merida, and I think Moana is a good example, too, but Vanellope really is the least-princessy princess. I’m also glad that they didn’t make her song or voice too cute/pretty, it fit with her character, personality, and dream!

the part of this movie that my most impactful for me was the message and eventually plot structure of how Ralph and Vanellope’s friendship was addressed. WIR means a lot to me is many ways, but the fact that romance or blood family isnt the main relationship dynamic is huge.  I mean, I can’t think of many Disney/Pixar movies that do this, and even those that do, friendship is just a subplot. Ralph and Vanellope becoming friends, protecting one another, even in the face of their differences is one of the main messages of WIR (the other being self-acceptance and following your heart). RBTI took this further with the message of how friends can grow, drift apart, have difference dreams, become too attached, and build negative friendships based on anxieties. I’ve NEVER seen this in an animated movie, and it hit me pretty hard.

so with anxiety in mind, I really liked how Vanellope’s glitching was utilized, i mean since she now has a general control on it, she doesn’t glitch out as much. the only time she does in RBTI is when she wants to or when she’s super anxious. its almost like a physical symptom of her having a panic attack. (on a personal note, Vanellope’s glitching was the main thing that helped me get over my fear of glitch, so that relation to anxiety and fear is very meaningful to me) but Vanellope’s anxieties were very different from Ralph’s, which is good! they both struggled with being accepted within their games in the past, and part of that still lingers, though now, especially for Ralph, it manifests in anxiety over their friendship. I really like the direction that Disney/Pixar has taken with some of their movies recently in that the main antagonist is not a villain, but rather an emotion or conflict anthropomorphized.

as for the characters, Ralph and Vanellope were PERFECT. Vanellope is my favorite and she was just amazing. Their characters were the right amount of the same from the first movie and different, since there’s been 6 years for them to grow. I’m also really happy that Felix and Tammy were in RBTI, though I wish they were in it more. I mean, this was Ralph and Vanellope’s movie, but most of Tammy’s appearances were just for comedic affect, in my opinion. They also seemed way different, but I guess that’s marriage? It’s as if their character-specific dialogue and quirks were toned down. Maybe after a second viewing it’ll make more sense to me.

My only other complaints are that when Ralph accidentally finds the comment section of BuzzTube, his reaction and that whole scene didn’t add much to the story. I think it was important, especially given Ralph’s past, but it was so short. Ralph seemed to have forgotten all about it after the scene ended. The comments and toxic parts of the Internet play a much bigger role than that, so I wish it was addressed better. I also thought it was weird that we didn’t get any clear context as to why Mr. Litwak got Wifi in the first place. I mean, I assumed it was to get an online presence for the Arcade, but i don’t think that was actually addressed. Of course thats a minor thing compared to my previous comment. 

The last thing I noticed is that the main conflict of the movie, the steering wheel of Sugar Rush breaking and how they’d need to buy a new one or Sugar Rush would be gone for good, was introduced too soon. I think this was done because there was so much content to get through within 2 hours, and I know that the main premise was involving the Internet, so staying in the Arcade would defeat this purpose. It’s just that to me it all sort of fell into place a little too easy and fast. Also, Vanellope feeling trapped in a boring loop of her game and other feelings from the characters in the beginning were told rather than shown. I know already mentioned that I thought certain things weren’t “explained” well enough, but I mean that like, both visually and through dialogue. With the emotional parts of the movie’s conflicts, I think those developed well once Ralph and Vanellope got into the Internet, but it seemed “presented” almost at first. Again, I only saw it once and its not totally fresh in my mind anymore, so maybe after seeing it again it’ll clear this up.

okay so as for the aesthetic and animation of RBTI it was GORGEOUS!!! I love how Disney/Pixar can take things like the Internet or your brain (like in Inside Out) and turn them into working cities/structures that are creative and make sense! I really like that Pop Ups are maneuvered by sentient beings like street salespeople, since the feeling of online popups and ads is the same! Also, the Dark Web being the underbelly of the Internet “city” and all the avatars are dressed like theyre in Incognito mode is amazing. i also LOVED the viruses, since they looked like gross, scary, creepy fictional bugs or visual germs (they reminded me of Osmosis Jones in a way). How the viruses functioned, at least the Insecurity Virus, made sense for how I think most people imagine computer viruses to act. I honestly don’t know how that stuff happens, and I bet Disney knew most of their audiences dont either, so they took some artistic liberties with that in mind. But the virus was a clever plot device because it literally detected insecurities, both in that Ralph/Vanellope were insecure about their friendship, and neither of them “belonged” in the Internet.

ANOTHER THING is when Shank and her crew had to fight the Slaughter Race players, the distinction between player and NPC was clear and funny. It felt very GTA to me. How they handled Slaughter Race in general was great, since it was obviously a violent video game, but they didn’t tone it down too much to loose that feeling. I think it would’ve been cool to see cars and buildings “update” like they do in some games, too. OH the way that the Virus Ralphs joined together to make the Giant Ralph and that they kept moving to make the entire thing kinetic was SO CREEPY BUT COOL!!! that must have taken forever to animate.  I also noticed that on the Giant Ralph the little virus dudes were like laying down or posed a certain way to give the impression of different textures or colors on Giant Ralph, which is amazing!!! the filmmakers and animators paid so much care to the look and feel of this movie and it really paid off.

okay last few things before I forget: all of the main characters were great examples of positive and negative personality aspects that real people could reflect on. Ralph felt so much more openly emotional and body positive than in the first, which for a dude character is great!!  Vanellope has always been a great example of a girl who likes “tomboy” or “masculine” stuff but still likes cute and “girly” stuff (i mean she obviously wasn’t into the whole princess thing but she found her own way around it!). Felix and Tammy in RBTI were obviously an example on how married couples can still love each other just like the day they met! Did i mention how much I love Yesss? I love her SO MUCH!!! she wore a different outfit/hairstyle every time we saw her, she was fun and smart and over the course of the movie grows to actually care about Ralph and Vanellope beyond their Internet fame. the MUSIC was fantastic as always, and I love Imagine Dragon’s song and the Julia Michaels rendition of Vanellope’s song on Slaughter Race.

Just like the first one, this movie was funny, heartwarming, emotional, and really fun!! I hope it gets all the recognition and love it deserves. I can’t accurately say if I like this one of the previous better, since I’ve only seen it once. HOWEVER I ma really glad that Disney has made a lot of merch for RBTI since the first one got barely anything. All in all, I loved Ralph Breaks the Internet!!!!

P.S. Did yall see the after credits scene?

[montrosemavens]

Shapeshifters - Created and Curated by Teens

By: Charlie McGill and Sutton Walsh

The Contemporary Arts Museum of Houston (CAMH) showcases the artwork of local teens biennially. This always makes for an incredibly unique exhibit as, in only a few museums, can you find not only artwork made by teens but artwork curated by teens. You find both at the CAMH in the current exhibit, Shapeshifters.

This year, over 700 teenagers submitted artwork in response to questions including “What forms you and/or your generation? How do you define your space? Can you change shapes?” Submissions increased by 400 from two years previous as this opportunity to showcase art as a teen is limited. Forty of the teen’s pieces were chosen to be on display at the CAMH from March 2, 2019 - June 16, 2019. The assigned questions were interpreted in several ways, showing both physical and emotional changes which were expressed through a variety of mediums such as paintings, sculptures, videos, photography, textiles, digital media, and even an interactive website. While these pieces are unique, they all fall under the exhibit, Shapeshifters.

The exhibition is divided into sections separating the different types of responses of the teens. One section displays the artwork of students who had interpreted the question by choosing to document architectural objects that shape our environment. There are photographs of geometric buildings, paintings of downtown, and large cities. The majority of the pieces in this section focus on urban areas and these more ordinary pieces balance out the funkiness of the rest of the room.

Another section embraces the challenges occurring in 2019 through photographs, audible clips, films, technology and social media. One unique piece that stood out to us is a simple Mac computer that shows a glitch saying to post this using a certain hashtag. This serves as a reflection that many teens crave being noticed, especially through social media. As people in our group posted a picture of the laptop with the specific hashtag, we watched as their face lit up when their post is projected on a nearby wall. The majority of the pieces are challenging to interpret as each piece does not have a written explanation beside it. Also, this area shares a common goal of combining different mediums, which is present in multiple other pieces. These few pieces with similar aspects tied the room together.

Other areas of the exhibition show reflections relating to environment and culture. “You're So Vain” is one of the first pieces seen in the exhibit and is a powerful piece of art. It is a tall mirror with the phrase “You’re so Vain” painted onto it four times, in the same font but with different colors. Narcissism is prominent in this current generation as we are always concerned with how we look and are perceived. Another piece called “Replacement” is a square mirror with a smaller opaque square inside of it. Inside the smaller square is a SIM card and next to the hanging mirror is a pile of newspapers thrown on the floor. This is a perfect example of how technology has replaced newspapers and has heavily impacted what things we pay attention to and how our world is shaped. The piece is set up perfectly so that, as you are admiring the artwork, your face (identity) if covered by the opaque square with the sim card, further proving the analogy.

Teens took advantage of the opportunity to send a message through Shapeshifters. One teen created a documentary about the history and rights of the LGBTQ community. One of our favorite pieces was simply a computer with many webpages pulled up; a piece named “Geocities Reloaded”. When you sit down to look at the first webpage, which was filled with cryptic pictures of teen icons, it is difficult to understand the meaning of the piece. However, as you look closely at the artwork and visit the different webpages, everything slowly starts to come together. The webpage that stuck out to us the most showed a GIF of a girl turning her head towards us, and below, a love letter to a boy, would only be received after she died of her terminal illness. It is a well written, emotional, and powerful letter. The thing that brought it all together was the stickers with motivational messages and happy-go-lucky attitudes that line of the bottom of the screen. These stickers act as a stark contrast to the dark and emotional content on the computer itself. While the art is up for interpretation, to us it seemed like this was a metaphor for how today, teens post only the best parts of their lives on social media, and behind that Instagram account, they could really be hurting.

Another piece of art that spoke to us was “Stretch.” “Stretch” is a small collection of four photographs that show a teenage boy wearing a pink tutu. Each photograph shows him being stretched in a different direction. Again, this art was up for interpretation, but to us, it seemed like it was a metaphor for how society will try and pull teenagers away from their real selves and toward something they want them to be, hence why the boy in the pink tutu is being stretched.

We were pleased to see work from our fellow Post Oak High School students. Asa Forman created a neon bulb in a fluorescent blue color “At Last (to Etta James who sang the blues)”. Nathan Commissariat had created a piece called “Intersection” which we believe showcased intersectionality and how this can negatively impact the lives and opportunities of those who experience it. This piece is one of the more put together and less funky pieces in the exhibit. Former Post Oak Student, Garner Lazar-Pope had created a unique sculpture-like shape that stood proudly in the middle of the exhibit called “All Isotopes Are Loved”. The quirky piece is an eye-drawer as is not a typical sculpture and is instead made with fleece and felt that has been stuffed with memory foam.

While all of the art is drastically different, the pieces fall under the same funky style. We were pleasantly surprised to find that none of the artwork is by any means perfect. This actually made the exhibit more enjoyable, relatable and interpretive. Also, by sharing the common situation of being an adolescent, all of the pieces seem to connect in a deeper way than just being a part of the same exhibit. It is also fascinating to see how all of the students had interpreted the sophisticated questions in unique but meaningful ways while also using this exhibit as a platform for their ideas.

When finally given the opportunity to let their work shine, these teens came through. Shapeshifters will send a different message with every piece of artwork and will stay in the mind of the viewer, even after they leave the exhibit. With the hard-to-decipher messages, beautiful and touching art, and strong personality of the exhibit, this is not something you want to miss. Don’t write off Shapeshifters simply because the artists are young- this artwork is built to keep sending its message far into the future.

[criimsonsun-a]

godverse masterpost.

Time to consolidate all that pesky information.

Where is the old world?

Destroyed. The matter was taken and reformed into a replica. Since he made it, Cyrus controls everything on it. It took a while to find the exact composition of the atmosphere, of weather patterns and the like, but it is now nearly identical to the old Earth.

The regions all exist as they did.

Do beings feel pain in his new world?

Suffering and strife are non-existent, so no, there is no pain there. It’s very bleak since not much feeling of anything is going on. But in that, there is also perfection, for there is peace.

What goes on in the places of worship?

They’re a quiet place, full of an air of holiness and solitude. One main temple exists in each ‘city’ and they are all pretty uniform.

For most, they step in, spend a few minutes in thought with Cyrus, and exit to continue their day. I’d suppose songs and music and the like are performed as well, but not very loudly. It’s tranquil. Any questions asked of him must be done there, as it is a direct link to his mind and the easiest way for him to hear them.

Offerings can be left as well! I’m sure there’s an altar of sorts for him, and he visits daily to observe his gifts and bless as necessary. He has no distinct favorite ‘offerings’ as he is more fond of the praise and attention that comes with the job. Though, he does not mind if the results of hard work are left in his temples. As one who sacrificed many things to achieve his ambition, he looks fondly on things that people give up for him. It is his right after all. 

Who’s in the new world pantheon? Are the rest of his pantheon known of and/or worshipped too?

For one, most definitely the COMMANDERS. Whether they are recreated or brought over is another thing, but some semblance of them is present in the new world. They perform various tasks as Cyrus asks, and exist outside the time bubble with him. This can be verse specific, as several muns and I have discussed having their muses brought into the pantheon as well. It takes heavy plotting.

Anyone else he establishes in an elevated position is worshipped to a lesser degree. The people know they are not above him, yet that they see over different aspects of his world. They are left to their own devices in terms of favorite worship and such, so long as it follows the rules of his world.

So is Cyrus at that level of power where Paradoxes occur (google the epicurean paradox), how are those reconciled?

Cyrus definitely has power, but not to the point where he creates his own paradox. To take that example, he cannot create a rock he cannot lift because he certainly cannot do everything. The only thing really separating him from the creation is that he has a spirit. Take the Christian God– he is separated from mankind because he is Holy and has no sin. Cyrus has a distinction in him similar, but his is being that he has a spirit that he can control. The world responds to him because he made it, and he can shape it and play with it as he will, but he cannot outdo himself.

Cyrus also exists in an area outside of ‘time’ so that he remains essentially immortal. Time exists on the Earth as it has before, and his creation lives inside of it. It’s like a bubble, and he views it but is not affected by it. He is not all present but lives with the people day by day without being affected. Almost as if the clock stopped for him alone, and he still goes through day/night, seasons, so on and so forth.

What about the people? Do the people of Cyrus' world still hold occupations to continue the illusion of normalcy? Are there any that are essentially obsolete? If not, what does the average citizen spend time doing?

—The new world runs very much like the old. People are born, grow, work, go to school, die, and so on. Jobs such as law enforcement, running prisons, judicial/legislative occupations, and the like exist but serve no purpose, only to make the world function in some semblance of old normalcy. Any ‘dispute’ is brought to his temple, and he solves it himself. This consists of anytime something in the world ‘glitches’ and requires a fix.

Therefore, the citizen lives just as they always have! They do not realize they are just playing pieces on the board now.

Only a few tweaks are made to their function. Born without spirit. This is to imply they have no willpower, emotion, or ‘knowledge’ (of their bleak existence). As Arceus made the lake trio to embody those integral parts of the human ‘spirit’ they are all removed from Cyrus’ world. The people do not know emotion, which is hard to describe. They…react to things because they are made to do so. Example: something ‘good’ happens, they smile. Not because they’re happy, but because that’s how the reaction would be in Cyrus’ eyes.

So what about the Pokemon?

Pokemon very much exist! They are separated from mankind and exist in the wild, not interacting much outside of farms and the like. The only exception to this is Cyrus, as he has since released his Pokemon, but since they are from the old world they dwell with him. Their breeds are considered holy in the world and are revered by the people. All Pokemon do not have spirit either but do behave as is due to their natural order. They all respect and understand Cyrus as their creator.

The legendary Pokemon no longer have their status, though Cyrus draws on their power and makes it his own as he keeps them under his control. This is why he can create life (via Xerneas power) or change seasons. 

If Cyrus is in control of everything, how much free will is there? Would he have to oversee all the choices, actions, etc of the people? Who is out, who is in? 

There is, essentially, no free will. The people do not know this. The entire world is run like a program. Now, say we have a person. She has a LOT of built-in commands, and also a randomizer option. Cyrus knows every possible combination it can make but allows it to run on its own. One day, the program says ‘wake up, eat, work, sleep.’ The next, she does not sleep, offers a sacrifice, has work off, and watches TV. They think they make their own decisions, but Cyrus in fact still controls it all. Does that make sense?

Nothing can occur outside of the limits he set. Any situation where an outsider gets tossed in ESSENTIALLY makes them just as much of a god as he because they also have free will since they are not of his creation.

There is no ‘afterlife’ or making it right with him since they all operate to his standard of perfection already. After death, their matter is utilized as stars, and the same matter is reused in birth. They are all complete, and Cyrus is satisfied with them.

Wherein lies his weakness?

Cyrus could potentially lose control if the Red Chains were destroyed. This is nigh impossible in the new world, but if it were to occur, he’d no longer have the power he secured over time and space. Everything would collapse. Another possibility is a newcomer rewriting the world so that he had no power. 

[brajeshupadhyay]

Coronavirus News in USA: Live Updates

As new hot spots emerge, the pandemic may be entering another phase.

The simplest way to track the progress of any outbreak is by seeing how many new cases and deaths are reported in a given area each day. And in the United States, falling numbers in some of the hardest-hit places have offered glimmers of hope. Totals for the country have been on a downward curve, and in former hot spots like New York and New Jersey, the counts appear to have peaked.

But infections and deaths are rising in more than a dozen states, as they are in countries around the world, an ominous sign that the pandemic may be entering a new phase.

Wisconsin saw its highest single-day increase in confirmed cases and deaths this week, two weeks after the state’s highest court overturned a stay-at-home order. Cases are also on the rise in Alabama, Arkansas, California and North Carolina, which on Thursday reported some of the state’s highest numbers of hospitalizations and reported deaths since the crisis began.

In metropolitan areas like Fayetteville, Ark.; Yuma, Ariz.; and Roanoke and Charlottesville, Va., data show new highs may be only days or weeks away.

Outbreaks have accelerated especially sharply in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, leading the World Health Organization to say on Tuesday that it considered the Americas to be the new center of the pandemic.

And although much of the Middle East seemed to avert early catastrophe even as the virus ravaged Iran, case counts have been swelling in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Reported cases are not perfect measures to chart the spread of the virus because they depend on how much testing is done. Death counts are less dependent on testing, though official numbers are typically undercounts. Both counts, though, can indicate how the outbreak is evolving, especially in places where lockdown rules are easing or where governments have been ineffective at slowing the spread, and offer early clues about new hot spots.

That is why Wisconsin is being closely monitored. Two weeks ago, the conservative majority on the State Supreme Court overturned that state’s stay-at-home order, effectively removing the most serious restrictions on residents.

It can take several weeks after changes in behavior — like the increased movement and interactions associated with the end of a stay-at-home order — for the effect on transmissions to be reflected in the data. In Wisconsin, there were indications that the virus was still spreading before the order was lifted. But in the weeks since restrictions were overturned, the case numbers have continued to grow.

“It worries us,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, the medical director for infection prevention at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison. “We wonder if this is a trend in an unfavorable direction.”

Upon arriving at work, employees should get a temperature and symptom check.

Inside the office, desks should be six feet apart. If that is not possible, employers should consider erecting plastic shields around them.

If followed, the guidelines would lead to a far-reaching remaking of the corporate work experience. They even upend years of advice on commuting, urging people to drive to work by themselves, instead of taking mass transportation or car-pooling, to avoid potential exposure to the virus.

The recommendations run from technical advice on ventilation systems (more open windows are most desirable) to a suggested abolition of communal perks like latte makers and snack bins. And some border on the impractical, if not near impossible: “Limit use and occupancy of elevators to maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet.”

For millions of Americans left out of work by the pandemic, government assistance has been a lifeline preventing a plunge into poverty, hunger and financial ruin.

This summer, that lifeline could snap, reports Ben Casselman.

The $1,200 checks sent to most households are long gone, at least for those who needed them most, with little imminent prospect for a second round. The lending program that helped millions of small businesses keep workers on the payroll will wind down if Congress does not extend it. Eviction moratoriums that kept people in their homes are expiring in many cities.

And the $600 per week in extra unemployment benefits that have allowed tens of millions of laid-off workers to pay rent and buy groceries will expire at the end of July.

The latest sign of the economic strain and the government’s role in easing it came Thursday, when the Labor Department reported that millions more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. More than 40 million people have filed for benefits since the crisis began, and some 30 million are receiving them.

The multitrillion-dollar patchwork of federal and state programs hasn’t kept bills from piling up or prevented long lines at food banks, but it has mitigated the damage. Now the expiration of those programs represents a cliff they are hurtling toward, for individuals and for the economy.

“The CARES Act was massive, but it was a very short-term offset to what is likely to be a long-term problem,” said Aneta Markowska, the chief financial economist for the investment bank Jefferies, referring to the legislative centerpiece of the federal rescue. “This economy is clearly going to need more support.”

Even the possibility that the programs will be allowed to expire could have economic consequences, Ms. Markowska said, as consumers and businesses brace for the loss of federal assistance.

President Trump and other Republicans have played down the need for more spending, saying the solution is for states to reopen businesses and allow companies to bring people back to work. So despite pleas from economists across the political spectrum — including Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman — any federal action is likely to be limited.

The House voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to give businesses more time to use money borrowed under the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers forgivable loans to small businesses that retain or rehire their workers. The bill’s fate in the Senate is uncertain, but a deal seems likely to be reached.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where it is difficult to maintain social distancing, including grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations. It also continues to emphasize how critical social distancing is.

But masks have unexpectedly crossed over from public health measures to politically charged symbols, with many shops and restaurants banning customers who do not wear them — and a few others moving to ban customers who do.

In Kentucky, a gas station told customers that no one was allowed inside its convenience store if they had their face covered. In California, a flooring store near Los Angeles has encouraged hugs and handshakes but does not permit face masks or protections. And a bar in Texas taped a poster to its front door this week that said “sorry, no masks allowed.”

In New York, the hardest-hit state, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Thursday that he would issue an executive order authorizing businesses to deny entry to people who were not wearing face coverings.

“That store owner has a right to protect themselves,” Mr. Cuomo said. “That store owner has a right to protect the other patrons in that store.”

Dennis Townsend, a Republican supervisor in California’s rural Tulare County, said that as his conservative district reopened for business, masks had become a continuing point of contention.

“People tell me, ‘OK, I’ll go to the stores, but they better be wearing masks in there.’ And then other people tell me, ‘OK, I’ll go to the stores, but they better not make me wear a mask,’” he said.

Mr. Townsend said he was “not real big on wearing masks” himself but had done so when shopping.

“What I tell people is that with every freedom we have comes additional responsibility,” he said. “We’ve had one freedom suppressed for a little while, but now it’s back, and that’s going to require additional personal responsibility on our parts.”

Washington State says it has reclaimed $300 million in fraudulent unemployment claims.

Washington State, which has been battling a deluge of fraudulent unemployment claims, has managed to claw back some $300 million in payments that went out to fraudsters, officials said Thursday.

Suzi LeVine, the commissioner of Washington State’s Employment Security Department, said the recovery came from coordination among law enforcement agencies and financial institutions. She did not reveal exact numbers on recoveries or the total number of fraudulent claims and said that the state was continuing to work on additional collections while blocking more false claims.

“The criminals have not gone away because we continue to see significant highly suspicious traffic,” Ms. LeVine said.

The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance said in a statement that it had also seen fraudsters trying to file large numbers of illegitimate claims, while the cybersecurity firm Agari said it had seen evidence of the fraudulent claims targeting states all over the country.

Unemployment claims around the country have exceeded 40 million since the start of the pandemic.

Democrats are mobilizing to turn the $2 trillion effort that Mr. Trump is overseeing into a political liability going into his re-election campaign.

The attention has focused on a small business loan program that has been marred by glitches, changing rules and cases of big publicly traded companies receiving funds while smaller shops are left waiting.

Top Democrats, including the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Mr. Biden have seized on examples of rich executives getting money through the Paycheck Protection Program as indicative of corporate cronyism.

The Democratic National Committee and Democratic state parties in swing states held conference calls last week with reporters and other events highlighting stories of small business owners who did not get approved for loans.

Pacronym, a progressive super PAC that focuses on digital advertising, began running a $1.5 million ad campaign in five swing states — Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — that focused on struggling small businesses.

Some Republicans are embracing the program. Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican facing a tough re-election battle, has spent nearly $500,000 on ads that promote her role in “co-authoring” the program, according to data from Advertising Analytics, an ad tracking firm. And Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, spent $175,000 on an ad featuring small business owners and employees describing jobs and businesses that were “rescued” by Mr. McConnell’s efforts on the stimulus package.

The Trump administration has scrambled to rewrite the rules of the program on the fly as public backlash intensified. The Treasury on Thursday carved out $10 billion of money to be used for loans to underserved communities.

Sports fans can attend games at outdoor venues in Texas.

Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said that starting Friday, sports fans could attend games at outdoor venues in most counties in Texas, so long as occupancy was limited to 25 percent. Fans cannot attend indoor sporting events.

Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia said amusement parks, traveling carnivals and water parks could open June 12. And in California, more than a dozen Indian casinos, asserting sovereignty, defied Gov. Gavin Newsom and reopened last week. The Viejas Casino and Resort in Alpine, Calif., vowed to impose strict limits on the number of people gambling at once. A majority of Indian casinos in the state have chosen to stay closed and are coordinating their reopening with the governor’s office, which has proposed a date in early June.

A French study found 1 in 10 diabetic patients with Covid-19 died within a week of being hospitalized.

One in 10 diabetic patients with Covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, died within a week of being hospitalized, according to a study published on Thursday by French researchers in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

Another 20 percent were put on ventilators to assist with breathing by the end of their first week in the hospital. Just 18 percent were discharged within a week.

“I don’t want to scare people, but what is true is we did not expect to see such high mortality, with 10 percent of people admitted dying in the first seven days,” said Dr. Samy Hadjadj, a professor of endocrinology at the University of Nantes in France and one of the authors of the paper.

A majority of patients in the study had Type 2 diabetes. Many people with diabetes also have cardiovascular disease, which raises the risk of death in Covid-19 patients.

But the new study, which included 1,317 patients at 53 French hospitals, found that microvascular injuries — involving tiny blood vessels supplying the eyes, kidneys and peripheral nerves — were also linked to a higher risk of death.

Obstructive sleep apnea also raised the risk of early death in these patients, while obesity and advanced age were linked to a greater likelihood of severe disease, the study found.

“This is serious,” Dr. Hadjadj said. “If you have diabetes and are elderly or have complications, be very careful. Keep away from the virus. Go on with social distancing, wash your hands carefully, keep people away who can bring you the virus.”

Dr. Hadjadj added, “You are not the kind of person who can afford to disregard these rules.”

As more people under 40 test positive in Washington State, researchers fear they will spread the virus.

People under 40 make up an increasing share of those who have tested positive for the virus in Washington State. Researchers in Seattle said that policymakers might need to focus on younger people to limit the spread.

In a new analysis, the researchers said about half of new identified cases were among people under 40, up from one-third of infections earlier in the outbreak.

Younger people may be more likely to work or participate in social activities, especially as restrictions are eased. While they do not face as high a risk of serious complications from infections, they can expose other people they encounter who may be older or who have hazardous underlying conditions, the researchers said.

“Our findings indicate a justifiable concern regarding the phased reopening plan for Washington State in late May in light of the shift in Covid-19 incidence from older to younger age,” the researchers wrote in their report, posted on the preprint server medRvix.

The researchers said government leaders may need to pursue specific advisories for children, teenagers and young adults to warn them of the risks of social interaction.

Pennsylvania House Democrats say Republicans hid a lawmaker’s positive virus test.

Democrats in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Thursday accused Republicans of keeping a lawmaker’s positive virus test a secret to avoid political embarrassment, even at the risk of exposing fellow legislators.

A Republican House member, Andrew Lewis, confirmed on Wednesday that he received a positive test on May 20 and self-isolated. Mr. Lewis said that every lawmaker or staff member he was in contact with who “met the criteria for exposure” was notified.

But Democrats disputed that, saying none of their own members were alerted even though some were near Mr. Lewis in committee meetings.

The House Democratic campaign arm accused Republicans of hiding Mr. Lewis’s positive test “to protect their public talking points against science and facts.” Another Republican representative, Russ Diamond, who said he was notified of possible exposure through contact with Mr. Lewis, had previously spoken at a shutdown protest outside the Capitol and boasted on social media of not wearing a mask while shopping.

In an emotional Facebook video recorded in his office at the Capitol, Representative Brian K. Sims, a Democrat from Philadelphia, said Mr. Diamond had “apparently been quarantining himself for weeks” but “didn’t explain that to any of us when he was in committee, talking with us or walking up and down the aisles or bumping into us or letting us hold the door open for him.”

Mr. Lewis said he had kept his positive diagnosis private “out of respect for my family and those who I may have exposed.”

Representative Ryan Bizzarro, a Democrat, disputed that Mr. Lewis had quarantined himself after his diagnosis. “We have footage of him being here,” he said.

The Trump administration will not issue a midyear update to its economic forecasts this summer, breaking decades of tradition during the uncertainty of a pandemic recession, administration officials confirmed on Thursday.

The decision will spare the administration from having to announce its internal projections for how deeply the recession will damage economic growth and how long the pain of high unemployment will persist.

When the administration last published official projections in February, it forecast economic growth of 3.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2021, and growth rates at or around 3 percent for the ensuing decade. It forecast an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent for the year.

The virus has rendered those projections obsolete. Unemployment could hit 20 percent in June, the White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNN this week. The Congressional Budget Office said in April that it expects the economy will contract by 5.6 percent this year and end with unemployment above 11 percent.

The White House is required by law to issue both an annual budget and a midyear update to it, called a “mid-session review.” Updating economic projections in the mid-session review is optional, but it is a practice that administrations — including Mr. Trump’s — have widely followed since the review was mandated by Congress in 1970.

The review is required by law to give at least a partial window into how the administration expects the economy to perform this year and in the future.

The decision not to release updated projections was first reported by The Washington Post.

Trump administration officials have in the past resisted updating their forecasts in the face of evidence that the economy was not growing as fast as they had projected. The budget they released in February officially conceded for the first time that growth in 2018 and 2019 had not reached 3 percent, as they had predicted.

Fears about contracting the virus from contaminated surfaces have prompted many to wipe down groceries, leave packages unopened and stress about elevator buttons.

But what is the real risk? The C.D.C. recently tried to clarify its guidance: “It may be possible that a person can get Covid-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it, and then touching their own mouth, nose or possibly their eyes, but this isn’t thought to be the main way the virus spreads.”

So does this mean we can get the virus from touching a doorknob, catching a Frisbee or sharing a casserole dish? The Times asked the experts.

The best way we can protect ourselves from the virus — whether it is surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing our hands, not touching our faces and wearing masks.

Starting Thursday, anyone in Britain who has potential symptoms will be tested and, if positive, asked to list all those with whom they have recently been in close contact for at least 15 minutes. Those people, in turn, will be contacted and asked to isolate themselves for 14 days.

It is the latest national campaign that aims to prevent more infections. The results so far are mixed.

What does it feel like to have Covid-19 and not need hospitalization?

Rest and fluids are essential, but so is knowing when to call a doctor. Give yourself plenty of time to feel better.

Reporting was contributed by Mike Baker, Karen Barrow, Scott Cacciola, Ben Casselman, Emily Cochrane, Patricia Cohen, Michael Cooper, Catie Edmondson, Nicholas Fandos, Thomas Fuller, Trip Gabriel, David Gelles, Erica L. Green, Jenny Gross, Apoorva Mandavilli, Jennifer Medina, Sarah Mervosh, Talya Minsberg, Andy Newman, Nadja Popovich, Roni Caryn Rabin, Alan Rappeport, Dana Rubinstein, Margot Sanger-Katz, Anna Schaverien, Kaly Soto, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Vanessa Swales, Jim Tankersley and Katie Van Syckle.

The post Coronavirus News in USA: Live Updates appeared first on Sansaar Times.

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[typologycentral]

So Texas Walks Into a Bar …

Texas Loud and Proud One steamy evening in July 2011, a crowd of people packed inside a room meant for six in Huntsville, Texas. A somber scene was unfolding. A man condemned to death was asked to speak his final words. The room stilled, and a microphone lowered. It was then that the condemned, Mark Stroman, told the State of Texas that he loved it, just before it killed him, accentuating the point with “Texas loud, Texas proud” (“Executed Offenders,” n.d.). Interestingly, Stroman was not the only death row inmate enthralled with Texas. Other bipolar juxtapositions have occurred in the past, such as when, in 1997, Earl Behringer thanked “the Dallas Cowboys for giving me a lot of enjoyment these past years,” James Collier in 2002 thanked Texas for “its hospitality,” and Robert Harris exclaimed, “God Bless Texas and the Texas Rangers” in 2012 (“Executed Offenders,” n.d.). And condemned men are not the only ones under the Texas spell. In 1962, author John Steinbeck wrote: I have said that Texas is a state of mind, but I think it is more than that. It is a mystique closely approximating a religion. And this is true to the extent that people either passionately love Texas or passionately hate it and, as in other religions, few people dare to inspect it for fear of losing their bearings in mystery or paradox. (p. 4)And arguably, this “mystery or paradox” is more than skin deep. In some instances, it seems baked into representative personalities: Molly Ivins [the late Texas journalist and humorist is] a walking contradiction, a paradox in search of a dilemma. To know her for more than a few minutes is to discover all sorts of schismatic glitches in the plaster of her facade. There’s the anger and the humor, the pathos and the bathos. There’s the love of the outrageous and the genuine desire to be liked. There’s the cocky self-confidence and the timid insecurity. There is, in fact, a rather long catalog of opposites. But the one most immediately evident is the dichotomy of feelings about Texas. (Holden, 1985)I am certainly no exception. There are days when I stand in awe of the fortitude, strength, and resilience that I personally identify as “Texan” and others when I am quick to disclaim, “Well, I’m from Texas, but don’t hold it against me,” as if I have to apologize for every simplified, paranoid, secessionist idea that ever came out of the state. On some level, therefore, either personally or culturally, it seems an encounter with Texas also suggests the need for bipolar embrace: pride and embarrassment, invincibility and paranoia, un-empowered victim of the federal Death Star and patriot, community-minded and individualist. Which potentially begs another question: “Embrace” of what, or, more particularly, whom? In other words, if Texas were to walk into a bar, who would he/she be? Arguably, C. G. Jung’s work on psychological types offers some clues. Through this influential work, Jung conceptualized how consciousness may express differently given a person’s habitual or preferential orientations to the world (Jung 1921/1970, ¶6). His theory of “psychological types” fit within his overall theory of the psyche, where every surface or conscious expression had a subterranean opposite that could either help or hinder one’s development. Namely, personality processes or functions, like all psychic content, would “likely press for integration into the psyche, where they can become, for the first time, consciousness” (Beebe, 2017, p. 3). And to the extent they unconsciously express in contradictory ways, they potentially offer insight into the paradoxical expression that seems both human and Texan. Dancing With the One That Brung Ya In the tradition of the ancient Greeks, paradox is understood as a powerful movement in philosophical debate (“Paradox,” n.d.). A valid and true argument is presented, but in a way that appears contradictory. The attempt to untangle what we thought we heard shifts us out of our usual, automatic ways of thinking. More than philosophical debate, therefore, the grooves and moves of paradoxical expression are also psychological; they pivot our understanding of one impression to potentially more, e.g. “failing in order to succeed,” “learning all we don’t know,” or “suffering in love,” (Jung 1921/1970, ¶75). In fact, it is in the human realm where paradox often finds its richest expressions. And Jung’s psychological typology seems the ideal means to explore the nuances such paradoxes create. The paradox of living in full expression seems adequately captured by Jung’s psychological types. Accordingly, we might consider approaching typology as we would a debate in ancient Greece, taking pause at our first impression (what we think we hear) to then untangle or differentiate what may also be hidden underneath (“Paradox,” n.d.). Only when we prompt ourselves outside the usual ways of thinking can surface stereotypes be avoided in favor of a more authentic and complex whole. And this arguably applies to cultures as well, should Jung’s theory in this area be extrapolated more broadly. A self-organizing system is the only pre-condition, argues Beebe, as “it makes little sense to type someone or something that does not yet have a connection to his own selfhood” (2017, p. 101). When such a level set exists, however, then the “ego” of the group can encounter itself, making differentiation possible through interactivity and introspection (p. 101). Still, caution is always advisable given that the dangers of stereotype apply to cultures as well as individuals. A type may express inside the culture, but each person within that culture may not identify with it. Rather, the countless individuals who interact with or encounter a respective culture bring their own personality expressions to the mix as well. He Can Strut Sitting Down With this theoretical context in mind, we can then turn back to the question of Texas and who, from a psychological typology perspective, we might be encountering if we were to first meet Texas in a bar or anywhere. Arguably, Beebe’s pre-condition of a self-organizing system exists, judging by John Steinbeck’s assessment: “Texas has a tight cohesiveness perhaps stronger than any other section of America. Rich, poor, Panhandle, Gulf, city, country, Texas is the obsession, the proper study, and the passionate possession of all Texans” (1962, p. 4). From that starting place then, we can start to discern the “inner dominant” of Texas. Using a little imagination and Beebe’s archetypal typology as guide, it seems the dominant hero/heroine aspect of “Texas” is readily apparent (Beebe, 2017, p. 101). His “comfort zone” seems extraverted, and my emphasis on gender is intentional. Texas feels masculine to me; weathered by the prairie sun, this tall drink of water smells of earth, is confident in his stride, and is long on charm and precise with words as extraverts often are (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, p. 23). He seems reminiscent of the “heroes” of the ages, those patriarchal ones of yesteryear embodied by the Texas Rangers, Davy Crockett, the Lone Ranger, James Bowie, yet revivified in modern day in more gender-neutral/race-neutral expression, e.g., such Texas heroes and heroines as Lyndon B. Johnson, Amon Carter, Alvin Ailey, Barbara Jordan, Johnny Cash, Ann Richards, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, and Wendy Davis. Moreover, in his outward expression he seems horizon-focused, another characteristic of extraversion, with family, land, and community grounding his value system. He is also readily accessible and generally easy to understand, and in response, we smile, “as if we have been warmed and energized by the sun,” (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, p. 23)—a welcome gift for those on the receiving end of extraversion. Also as is typical for extraverts, there is no distance or vacancy in Texas’ eyes, and his presence seems to compel even when it can tend to largesse, bluster, and an occasional “Texas tall tale” (Bennet, 2010, p. 121). For example, even when its representative George W. Bush prematurely pronounced the 2003 Iraq invasion as “Mission Accomplished,” he was still named one of the nation’s “most likable” leaders (Walsh, 2015). Extraversion for Texas is also indicated in the concretization of its grand ideas. In McKinney, Texas, for example, a high school football stadium was erected at a cost of $70.1 million, about $61 million more than the average high school stadium (Kennedy, 2016). Yet in comparison with its granddaddy, the Dallas Cowboys’ $1.2 billion stadium, it seems quite a deal (Ura, 2016). This largess, however, is not limited to construction of football stadiums but spills out into other areas of cultural concern as well. For example, 28,690 machine guns are registered in Texas, with Texans making up the overwhelming majority of National Rifle Association membership (Holodny, 2014). Additionally, since 1976, Texas has carried out more executions than any other state—521 compared to Florida’s 90 and California’s 29 (“Executed Offenders,” n.d.). These expressions, therefore, do seem to indicate bold extraversion and thus “E” as the first letter in Texas’ personality type code (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, p. 23). With extraversion at the bow, we next turn our attention to the stern of Texas’ four-letter ship to determine whether judging (decision-making, the rational editing process) or perceiving (data gathering, the irrational no-editing process) represents its preferred orientation to the environment. From this fourth-letter position, “the entire sequence of preference for using the eight processes is revealed,” and for Texas, that expression suggests judgment more than perception (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, p. 25). In its manner and presentation, Texas seems decisive, uniquely ordered and expansive in its thinking, with a manner of control, although the latter can spiral to extremes if Texas feels encroached upon to the point of its very survival (p. 20). The latter is likely evidenced in the fact that Texas has sued the federal government over forty times in the past thirteen years over a variety of social, governmental, and business concerns that seem to center mostly around a “leave us alone” mentality (Satjia, 2016). The famous “Don’t Mess with Texas” litter campaign also seems to capture the essence and attitude (pride, power, ownership, decisiveness) of this expression. With “E _ _ J” discerned, the next step in our growing relationship with Texas is to determine which branch of the judgment dichotomy is extraverted in its expression. Although he can be incredibly charming, he tends more toward crisp and sometimes-hard edges in his communication style, which can manifest quite differently than the feeling aspects and their drive for consensus and harmony (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, p. 20). While community and collaboration are important in Texas culture, they seem to carry less dominance in his decision-making (p. 21). Instead, short, matter-of-factness efficiency seems to prevail, with thought processes tending more toward the black and white (p. 21). Although passionately exercised, it seems the actual process of decision-making is more methodical and ordered for Texas and seems to fall along clear lines of “us” versus “them” terms, as its litigious nature suggests. Accordingly, I would argue Texas’ extraversion manifests dominantly through his “thinking” function (Te), which is clear, categorical, and “energized by reaching goals or achieving an end result” (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, p. 77). In fact, Texas has accrued ample reward in western culture because of this dominant tendency toward extraverted thinking expression. For example, while most U.S. citizens may not think of Texas as a driving force in national affairs, it most certainly is (Collins, 2012, p. 5). Infused by the power of clear and categorical decision-making, Texas’ heroic extraverted thinking (Te) is buoyed by the state’s sheer size and congressional and executive representation. Texas has held the political reins in this country for the better part of three decades; for twenty of the last thirty-two years, a Texan president or vice president has been in the White House (p. 7). The Lone Star State also carries a disproportionate portion of the U.S. economy, generating a total Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of $1.43 trillion, approximately 8.5% of the entire U.S. GDP (Holodny, 2014). Although known primarily for its oil, Texas is also the leader in wind power development and natural gas extraction (i.e., fracking) and has a large aerospace, defense, and aviation industry, making it home to fifty-two Fortune 500 companies, including Exxon-Mobil, AT&T, and American and Southwest Airlines (Holodny, 2014). Such large and external “success” suggests an ability to “take care of its own” in “broad, systemic ways” while also making the rules that drive the decisions in the first place, as Haas & Hunziker found characteristic of Te (2006, p. 77). Within the perception process dichotomy, either sensing or intuiting will prevail, and given that Texas is highly driven and motivated by past experience, introverted sensing (Si) as the auxiliary good parent function seems to be a solid hypothesis. One of the key characteristics with Si prevalence is a “past is prologue” focus (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, pp. 25, 43). In other words, the Si lives in a “ subjective, internal world of past experience by comparing current sensory experience to similar past experiences through a vivid internal database of memories” (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, p. 43), and arguably Texas does just that. In fact, one could say that “living the present through the past” (p. 44) is the Texan experience. As columnist and writer Gail Collins (2012) wrote, this “past/present view” is likely steeped in the “whoopin’” Texas received when Mexico “ran the land, and sometimes very badly” (p. 48), namely, via corruption, trickery, and falsehoods. Collins suggested that this corrosive trend continued throughout the post-Civil War Reconstruction period, as outsiders representing the federal government rigged elections, restricted freedom of the press, and deprived former Confederate soldiers of the right to vote—“So, like the other former rebels, Texas returned to the Union with a near-paranoia about the dangers of Washington overreach” (Collins, 2012, p. 76). The result in today’s Texas culture seems an unapologetic “hands-off” attitude, frequently accompanied by a rallying cry of “no taxes” and “no regulation,” emboldened by “me-centered divisiveness” (p. 46). Yet it is the battle at the Alamo during the Texas Revolution that holds the most charge for Texas. Although ultimately a Texas loss against the Mexican army in 1836, it is a battle with a long tradition of oral history, repeated and reimagined anew every generation. Three simple words—“Remember the Alamo!”—convey a charged sense of pride, honor, and integrity, more so than a battle over a 19th-century fort would otherwise suggest. However, it is embedded in the Texas culture because it is a story about them—common men, living in a culturally and politically chaotic state, who did an uncommon thing by fatally refusing to surrender to overpowering and insurgent forces. The Alamo defenders, therefore, remind all Texans why they fight and what they fight for, costs be damned. This is no band of individualists with suicidal tendencies; their actions were downright heroic! And in them we potentially glimpse more modern day warfare as when Texas Senator Ted Cruz drove the charge to shut down the federal government in 2013 via a 21-hour filibuster in opposition to the Affordable Care Act. And why also, that same year, Cruz became a finalist for Time Magazine’s “Person of the Year” (Farhrenthold, 2016). This undeterred, tenacious, confident, charismatic, easy-going Texas, therefore, seems most readily an ESTJ. We understand him, like him (at least, at first), and could easily envision getting to know him better. With his cool confidence in extraverted expression, he seems to have “the capacity to endure bustle and noise of every kind and actually find them enjoyable” (Jung, 1921/1970, ¶972). As such, we can envision him as captain of the football team, school coach, rodeo roper, cattleman, rancher, and businessman, boisterous, fun, and loud at just the right moments with “a strong tendency to make a show of oneself” (¶972). Yet we also feel his expressions – his swelling pride and larger-than-life personality—and we see him in many Texans, including Ann and Cecile Richards, Ross Perot, George W. Bush, George Straight, Sandra Day O’Connor, and Molly Ivins, who always seem to offer a splash of down home friendliness and warmth beneath their steely precision. “Extravert[s] are typically accessible and relatively easy for others to understand” (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, p. 23). With his unique thundering velvet hand approach, a Texan rarely says, “Shut up!” or “Don’t do that!” Instead, we hear, “Hush,” or “That would be ill-advised,” with a long drawl and a grin. The result is effective and charming, binding the man to the community in which he lives. blessBlood Runs Down Yet, as Jung has advised, the opposite is always lurking. The ESTJ leadership qualities can also tip right of center, if too one-sided in their expression. In those instances, rigidity, lack of feeling, and/or arrogance may emerge (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, p. 79). Perhaps Jungian John Giannini (2004) summarized it best when he described the “ESTJ Warrior mentality … which when uncontrolled functions as a tyrannical force in both individuals and in society” (p. 513). Arguing as well that the ESTJ is also the dominant expression of American culture, Giannini potentially pinpointed characteristics that seem to have been alive in Texas culture for three centuries, reminding us once again of the key presidential, vice-presidential, and congressional leadership roles Texas has maintained on behalf of the nation these past thirty years. One potential example of administrative “tyranny” could very well be the 2002 comprehensive education bill, “No Child Left Behind.” Some argue that Texas revenue was its primary motivator, not children’s education (Collins, 2012, p.100). Signed into law by President George W. Bush, a former two-term governor of Texas, the bill debuted on the national stage emboldened by exclusive contracts with Texas firms to publish books, provide curriculum training, and build assessment tools. If revenue generation for Texas companies was its primary impetus, therefore, the act’s passage might indicate alignment with Giannini’s shadow assessment of ESTJ dominance, which, if undifferentiated, can shift into “a consistent cold-hearted attitude toward the weakest members of our nation’s family” (Giannini, 2004, p. 512). Texas’ heroic Te preference for order, structure, and decisiveness can quickly descend into the rigid extremes and clipped expression of its unconscious opposite (Beebe’s opposing personality), namely introverted thinking (Ti), particularly if his authority is challenged (Beebe, 2017, p. 41). Even in the dominant position, Ti, according to Sharp, is “oriented primarily by the subjective factor” and thus has a tendency to “get lost in a fantasy world” where “indifference” can be a primary driver: “They will present their logical assessment of reality—as they see it—and not care one way or another how it is received” (Sharp, 1987, p. 71). The opposing personality position adds an oppositional-defiant quality to this already independent function. This was arguably the case when Texas Governor-turned-President George W. Bush responded to a reporter, “See, I don’t need to explain why I say things. That’s the interesting thing about being the president. Maybe somebody needs to explain to me, but I don’t feel like I owe anybody an explanation” (Woodward, 2002, pp. 145-146). In those instances, one can almost feel the inverse of the extraverted Te taking hold, sucking the life inward such that what was once comfortable communication turns into sparse defensiveness. The unconscious, undifferentiated aspects of the opposing personality Ti tend to take hold in those dark places, which then slip so easily into the other unconscious functions. The auxiliary function of ESTJ Texas, the introverted sensing Si good parent, has an active shadow all its own: the extraverted sensing (Se) senex or overcritical parent, domineering, obstructionist, and highly emotional (Beebe, 2017, pp. 45-47). We can feel an almost visceral compensation as the protective and nurturing parent Si slides into a more moralistic and even hypocritical Se senex stance, manifesting as a digging in (Beebe, 2017). In a dominant position, Jung described the Se as “uncommonly inaccessible to objective understanding” (Jung 1921/2016, ¶652). In its sixth position for the Texas ESTJ, we see a similar strain on objectivity as indicated by the following Texas “pro-life” paradox in these competing headlines: “Gov. Perry to Push Abortion Regulations Again in Special Session Starting Next Week” and “Texas Carries Out Landmark 500th Execution” (Hoppe, 2013; Rosenbaum, 2013). It also points to Texas’ curious erosion of women’s voting rights by requiring names on Texas voter cards to match birth certificates, effectively marginalizing married and divorced Texas women (Rhodan, 2013). And when gay marine veteran Eric Alva, who lost a leg in the Iraq war, made a stand for passage of a gay rights ordinance, he was booed out of the San Antonio City Council Chambers (Wing, 2013). These examples suggest that ilk of antagonism which Giannini (2004) expressed as follows: “When caught in this mentality, we often dream of ignoring or punishing children, feminine figures, or tender-minded males” (p. 512). Given Texas’ hypocritical expressions of a hands-off attitude except when it comes to women and gay people, (Collins, 2012, p. 40-47), these examples seem to be inverse and shadowed, extraverted expressions of the Si. Examples of Beebe’s demon/daimonic eighth function also prevail with respect to the extraverted feeling (Fe) tendencies of the Texan ESTJ. In shadowed contrast to his semi-conscious introverted feeling (Fi) anima, the Texan ESTJ’s wholly unconscious demonic extraverted feeling (Fe) function can also tend toward the “epitome of destruction and negativity” (McAlpine, Shumate, Evers, & Hughey, 2009/2013). Here, his typically grounded, peaceful, and tolerant Fi can potentially subvert into something altogether alien, uncontrollable, or even sinister: “The sum of millions of inferior functions constitutes an enormous devil!” (von Franz, 1971/ 1998, p. 82). In this place, Texas’ principled protectionism can slip into paranoia as “introverted sensation types are more inclined to have dark prophetic fantasies of what might happen in the outside world to their family or mankind” (Sharp, 1987, p. 83). Thus, visions of “evil doers” and “axes of evil” vividly collide with Texas’ painful history of being conquered and ravished by six different countries in less than 300 years (Perez-Rivas, 2001). While such external and internal violence certainly suggests that Texas may also suffer from an identity complex, it also points squarely to unconscious issues with power as well, namely, who has it, what they control, and how they make sure no one else gets more of it. This convergence (dual identity and power complexes) further demonstrates a core premise underlying all psychological type discernment, particularly when multi-dimensional, multivalent archetypal influences are at work as Beebe (2017) articulates. Namely, personality attributes are not mutually exclusive; they do not stand in isolation. Rather their expression shifts and morphs through dynamic interplay as adaptation ensues, and as a result, our Texan ESTJ can be pulled in multiple and seemingly paradoxical directions at any given time (Sharp, 1987 pp. 14-15). For example, the Te hero and Si father aspects of the Texas expression can promote a history-motivated drive for using socially acceptable approaches to problems on the one hand, e.g., “President George W. Bush Marshals in the Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act,” while still succumbing to a receded Ti “answer-to-no-one” form of individualism on the other by refusing to explain things (White House, 2006; Woodard, 2002, pp.145-46). Other potentially malefic attributes can emerge as well. For example, a shadowed interplay of the Texan ESTJ’s seventh (trickster) position, introverted intuition (Ni), with its eighth (demonic) Fe may also yield some complicated nuances. While the trickster Ni can sometimes manifest as dark, free-floating magical thinking emboldened by a proclivity for premature action based on internal abstraction that can sometimes trick us into believing fantasy versus reality, when combined with a demonic Fe, real destruction can result as “us versus them” solidarity is solidified along with disproportionate attempts to control and blame (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, p. 65; McAlpine et al., 2013). This combination can breed paranoia and potentially explains Texas’ unusual response in the summer of 2015 to an otherwise ordinary military training exercise conducted by the U.S. Army’s Special Forces (Sullivan, 2015). The exercise seemed to captivate the collective imaginations of many Texans, including key state and congressional representatives who widely assumed that the military exercise was, in fact, part of a larger plot by President Obama to invade Texas, impose martial law, and abolish civil liberties (Sullivan, 2015). Likewise, should the Texan ESTJ fantasy of an unstable world persist, these same tricky and perfunctory responses can conspire further to erode an otherwise crisp cohesion of the Te dominant, leading to scorn, disdain, and lack of empathy as vague or even no marching orders ensue, spurring irrational rushes to judgment or even stalling maneuvers (Bennet, 2010, p. 120). Arguably, Texas has exhibited some of these tendencies as evidenced by the fact that Texas presidents have led the United States into every land war since Vietnam (Collins, 2012, p. 5; Sharp, 1987 p. 86). Verbal wars abound as well; Texas has voted for secession twenty-three times (Collins, 2012, p. 17) since the Civil War. It is in these obscure depths that the demonic Fe function seems to take hold. Once there, perspective is likely lost, boundaries dissolve, broad brush maxims dominate, and overload briefly precedes automatism, or as Jung explained, “a curiously contradictory dissociation of feeling results” (1921/1970, ¶596). Yet as Jung envisioned and Beebe’s model shows, these archetypal influences are inherently neutral with respect to personality type; expression can radiate bi-directionally in either negative or positive ways (Jung, 1921/1970, ¶336). Consciousness is the denominator, therefore, and where the proverbial rubber of archetypes meets the road of an individual’s personality, “the unconscious only becomes dangerous when our conscious attitude to it is hopelessly wrong. To the degree that we repress it, its danger increases. But the moment the patient begins to assimilate contents that were previously unconscious, its danger diminishes” (Jung, 1931/1970, ¶329). Here, therefore, is where the eighth function of the demonic in Beebe’s model can yield more positively in “daimonic” expression: “just as Lucifer is the light-bringer, the demon is sometimes a daimon” (Beebe, 2017, p. 43). With respect to Texas, the daimonic Fe is vibrant and bolstered by boundless decisiveness, loyalty, and principled expression (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, pp. 87-88). It’s individualistic, hero-like largess serves up boldness, integrity, and stewardship with a generous helping of harmony and community on the side (McAlpine et al., 2009/2013). As such, Texans have charmed, swaggered, and eased their way through elections, delivered the presidency and vice presidency, introduced critical legislation, and championed liberal and conservative causes (Collins, 2012). In other words, while their inner precision gets things done (reflective of the opposing personality, Ti), their approach seems tenaciously enabled by suave righteousness, as when “Barbara Jordan, the black Congresswoman and scholar stirred the nation with her Churchillian denunciations of the Watergate abuses of President Richard M. Nixon” (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, pp. 87-88; Clines, 1996). Similarly the highly expressive authoritarian Se senex can both ground and embolden the Texan, allowing him to swell with pride as he “instinctively nails violators in their tracks” (Haas & Hunziker, 2006, p. 34). In fact, this paternal conditioning starts at an early age; Texas children learn that being Texan makes them special. They study their state’s history as part of a multi-year, elementary and high school curriculum, they pledge allegiance to the Texas flag at the start of every school day, and they are taught how to fly the flag, namely, at the same level as the American flag (Collins, 2012, pp. 11, 13), and with the red panel down because “blood runs down” (Williams, 2006). Additionally, the trickster “Ni” of the Texas ESTJ, otherwise known as a shadowed rule breaker and boundary crosser, can always be counted on for a full course reversal, should an “inner knowing” lead to a better approach; the Ni “‘knows’ the right magic to protect … but largely keeps her knowledge of its workings to herself, until the time seems right to share it” (Beebe, 2017, p. 80). Perhaps this is the influence that led Texan Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor to buck tradition, retire from the bench (to care for her ailing spouse) and return to public life years later in her mid-80s as an “app” guru, launching iCivics in 2012 (Heffner, 2012). All of these traits combine to ensure that Texas’ bold largesse is not limited to the size of its football stadiums. They are also the wind beneath Texas’s philanthropic (art, music, dance, culture) and entrepreneurial (industrial promise) expressions, which benefit countless citizens (Texan and U.S.) annually. Texas has the third largest art market in the nation and is a leader of industry; Texas has led the nation in export revenue since 2002 (Villarreal, 2011; Holodny, 2014, par. 3). And larger-than-life American citizens (artists, writers, actors, and entrepreneurs) have called Texas home, including Willie Nelson, T. Boone Pickens, Carol Burnett, Aaron Spelling, Buddy Holly, Sissy Spacek, Horton Foote, Dan Rather, Joan Crawford, and Walter Cronkite. In other words, the Texan ESTJ has no problem compensating in robust, creative, and powerful ways to ensure full balance in his personality expression. The Draw in the Texas Drawl Psychology types offer critical perspective and an effective means of jumping the track of well-worn, singular mindedness that would otherwise fuel uninformed assumptions and stereotype. Texas, like the humans that live in it, interact with it, or simply know about it, seems to be right on track in its paradoxical expression. The psychological typing that Jung prescribes, therefore, provides a remarkable opportunity to first understand and then begin to untangle the surface, nuanced, and hidden complexities that make us all work. After all, if Texas does walk into a bar someday, arguably we would all want to get to know him/her really well and quickly. Odds are, he/she will be president someday. And given lessons learned, it might be better to understand the full paradox, rather than the one-sided dominance we would otherwise typically and initially see. --- References: Beebe, J. (2017). Energies and patterns in psychological type: The reservoir of consciousness. New York, NY: Routledge. Bennet, A. (2010). The shadows of type: Psychological type through seven levels of development. London: Lulu. Bennet, A. (2010). Clines, F. X. (1996, January 17). Clines, F. X. (1996, January 18). Barbara Jordan dies at 59; her voice stirred the nation. The New York Times. Retrieved November 20, 2016. Collins, G. (2012). As Texas goes … : How the Lone Star state hijacked the American agenda. blessblessblessblessbless New York: Liveright Pub. Corporation. Executed Offenders (n.d.). Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Retrieved June 22, 2016. Farhrenthold, D. (2016, February 12). For Ted Cruz, the 2013 shutdown was a defining moment. The Washington Post. Retrieved October 2, 2016. Giannini, J. L. (2004). Compass of the soul: Archetypal guides to a fuller life. Gainesville, FL: Center for Applications of Psychological Type. Haas, L., & Hunziker, M. (2006). Building blocks of personality type. Eltanin Publishing. Heffner, A. (2012, April 12). Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the importance of civics education. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 21, 2016. Holden, D. (1985, May). Molly Ivins can say that (and will). D Magazine. Retrieved October 1, 2016. Holodny, E. (2014, July 15). 13 mindblowing facts about Texas. Business Insider. Retrieved October 2, 2016. Hoppe, C. (2013, June 26). Gov. Rick Perry to push abortion regulations again in special session starting next week | Politics | Dallas News. Retrieved November 18, 2016. Jung, C. G. (1921/1970). Psychological types. In R. F. C. Hull (Trans.), The collected works of C. G. blessblessblessblessblessblessblessblessblessbless Jung (Vol. 6). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Jung, C. G. (1931/1970). The Practical Use of Dream Analysis. In R. F. C. Hull (Trans.), The collected works of C. G. Jung (Vol. 16). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Kennedy, M. (2016, August 23). Cost of high school football stadium rises to $70 million. American School and University. Retrieved October 3, 2016. McAlpine, R., Shumate, C., Evers, A., & Hughey, D. (2009/2013). The function-archetype decoder [Software program]. Louisville, KY: Type Resources. Retrieved November 19, 2016. “Paradox.” Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Retrieved June 22, 2016. Perez-Rivas, M. (2001, September 16). Bush vows to rid the world of ‘evil-doers’ CNN International Edition. Retrieved November 19, 2016. Rhodan, M. (2013, October 24). What voter ID laws really mean for women in Texas. Time. Retrieved November 19, 2016. Rosenbaum, S. (2013, June 26). Texas carries out landmark 500th execution. NBC News. Retrieved November 19, 2016. Satjia, N. (2016, March 16). Texas vs. the feds—a look at the lawsuits. Texas Tribune. Retrieved October 3, 2016. Sharp, D. (1987). Personality types: Jung’s model of typology. Toronto, Canada: Inner City Books. Steinbeck, J. (1962). Travels with Charley: In search of America. New York: Viking Press. Sullivan, K. (2015, July 4). The Americans are coming! Some in a Texas county fear an Obama-led U.S. military invasion. The Washington Post. Retrieved November 21, 2016. Ura, A. (2016, January 19). Latest census data shows poverty rate highest at border, lowest in suburbs. Texas Tribune. Retrieved October 1, 2016. Villarreal, I. (2011, September 16). America’s third largest art market announces the First Houston Fine Art Fair. Art Daily. Retrieved November 20, 2016. Von Franz, M.-L. (1971/ 1998). The inferior function. In M.-L. von Franz & J. Hillman, Lectures on Jung’s typology (pp. 3– 88). Woodstock, CT: Spring Publications. Walsh, K. (2015, February 27). The likeability factor. US News. Retrieved October 3, 2016. White House. (2006). President Bush signs Federal Funding Accountability and Transparency Act. (2006, September 26). The White House. Retrieved November 20, 2016. Williams, M. (2001, March 1). Texas flag noted for simplicity. Lubbock Avalanche-Journal. Retrieved August 17, 2016. Wing, N. (2013, August 16). Eric Alva, gay veteran wounded in Iraq, booed by anti-LGBT protesters. The Huffington Post. Woodward, B. (2002), Bush at War. NY: Simon & Schuster. Images: Lyonel Feininger, “The White Man,” 1907. James Dean, from a poster for the film Giant. President George W. Bush, 2005. Photographer unknown. Governor Ann Richards, 1992. Photo by Kenneth Zirkel. Willie Nelson, 2009. Photo by Paul Morse. The post So Texas Walks Into a Bar … appeared first on Personality Type in Depth. 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[brajeshupadhyay]

As new hot spots emerge, the pandemic may be entering another phase. The simplest way to track the progress of any outbreak is by seeing how many new cases and deaths are reported in a given area each day. And in the United States, falling numbers in some of the hardest-hit places have offered glimmers of hope. Totals for the country have been on a downward curve, and in former hot spots like New York and New Jersey, the counts appear to have peaked. But infections and deaths are rising in more than a dozen states, as they are in countries around the world, an ominous sign that the pandemic may be entering a new phase. Wisconsin saw its highest single-day increase in confirmed cases and deaths this week, two weeks after the state’s highest court overturned a stay-at-home order. Cases are also on the rise in Alabama, Arkansas, California and North Carolina, which on Thursday reported some of the state’s highest numbers of hospitalizations and reported deaths since the crisis began. In metropolitan areas like Fayetteville, Ark.; Yuma, Ariz.; and Roanoke and Charlottesville, Va., data show new highs may be only days or weeks away. Outbreaks have accelerated especially sharply in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, leading the World Health Organization to say on Tuesday that it considered the Americas to be the new center of the pandemic. And although much of the Middle East seemed to avert early catastrophe even as the virus ravaged Iran, case counts have been swelling in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Reported cases are not perfect measures to chart the spread of the virus because they depend on how much testing is done. Death counts are less dependent on testing, though official numbers are typically undercounts. Both counts, though, can indicate how the outbreak is evolving, especially in places where lockdown rules are easing or where governments have been ineffective at slowing the spread, and offer early clues about new hot spots. That is why Wisconsin is being closely monitored. Two weeks ago, the conservative majority on the State Supreme Court overturned that state’s stay-at-home order, effectively removing the most serious restrictions on residents. It can take several weeks after changes in behavior — like the increased movement and interactions associated with the end of a stay-at-home order — for the effect on transmissions to be reflected in the data. In Wisconsin, there were indications that the virus was still spreading before the order was lifted. But in the weeks since restrictions were overturned, the case numbers have continued to grow. “It worries us,” said Dr. Nasia Safdar, the medical director for infection prevention at the University of Wisconsin Hospital in Madison. “We wonder if this is a trend in an unfavorable direction.” Upon arriving at work, employees should get a temperature and symptom check. Inside the office, desks should be six feet apart. If that is not possible, employers should consider erecting plastic shields around them. If followed, the guidelines would lead to a far-reaching remaking of the corporate work experience. They even upend years of advice on commuting, urging people to drive to work by themselves, instead of taking mass transportation or car-pooling, to avoid potential exposure to the virus. The recommendations run from technical advice on ventilation systems (more open windows are most desirable) to a suggested abolition of communal perks like latte makers and snack bins. And some border on the impractical, if not near impossible: “Limit use and occupancy of elevators to maintain social distancing of at least 6 feet.” For millions of Americans left out of work by the pandemic, government assistance has been a lifeline preventing a plunge into poverty, hunger and financial ruin. This summer, that lifeline could snap, reports Ben Casselman. The $1,200 checks sent to most households are long gone, at least for those who needed them most, with little imminent prospect for a second round. The lending program that helped millions of small businesses keep workers on the payroll will wind down if Congress does not extend it. Eviction moratoriums that kept people in their homes are expiring in many cities. And the $600 per week in extra unemployment benefits that have allowed tens of millions of laid-off workers to pay rent and buy groceries will expire at the end of July. The latest sign of the economic strain and the government’s role in easing it came Thursday, when the Labor Department reported that millions more Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. More than 40 million people have filed for benefits since the crisis began, and some 30 million are receiving them. The multitrillion-dollar patchwork of federal and state programs hasn’t kept bills from piling up or prevented long lines at food banks, but it has mitigated the damage. Now the expiration of those programs represents a cliff they are hurtling toward, for individuals and for the economy. “The CARES Act was massive, but it was a very short-term offset to what is likely to be a long-term problem,” said Aneta Markowska, the chief financial economist for the investment bank Jefferies, referring to the legislative centerpiece of the federal rescue. “This economy is clearly going to need more support.” Even the possibility that the programs will be allowed to expire could have economic consequences, Ms. Markowska said, as consumers and businesses brace for the loss of federal assistance. President Trump and other Republicans have played down the need for more spending, saying the solution is for states to reopen businesses and allow companies to bring people back to work. So despite pleas from economists across the political spectrum — including Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chairman — any federal action is likely to be limited. The House voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to give businesses more time to use money borrowed under the Paycheck Protection Program, which offers forgivable loans to small businesses that retain or rehire their workers. The bill’s fate in the Senate is uncertain, but a deal seems likely to be reached. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where it is difficult to maintain social distancing, including grocery stores, pharmacies and gas stations. It also continues to emphasize how critical social distancing is. But masks have unexpectedly crossed over from public health measures to politically charged symbols, with many shops and restaurants banning customers who do not wear them — and a few others moving to ban customers who do. In Kentucky, a gas station told customers that no one was allowed inside its convenience store if they had their face covered. In California, a flooring store near Los Angeles has encouraged hugs and handshakes but does not permit face masks or protections. And a bar in Texas taped a poster to its front door this week that said “sorry, no masks allowed.” In New York, the hardest-hit state, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Thursday that he would issue an executive order authorizing businesses to deny entry to people who were not wearing face coverings. “That store owner has a right to protect themselves,” Mr. Cuomo said. “That store owner has a right to protect the other patrons in that store.” Dennis Townsend, a Republican supervisor in California’s rural Tulare County, said that as his conservative district reopened for business, masks had become a continuing point of contention. “People tell me, ‘OK, I’ll go to the stores, but they better be wearing masks in there.’ And then other people tell me, ‘OK, I’ll go to the stores, but they better not make me wear a mask,’” he said. Mr. Townsend said he was “not real big on wearing masks” himself but had done so when shopping. “What I tell people is that with every freedom we have comes additional responsibility,” he said. “We’ve had one freedom suppressed for a little while, but now it’s back, and that’s going to require additional personal responsibility on our parts.” Washington State says it has reclaimed $300 million in fraudulent unemployment claims. Washington State, which has been battling a deluge of fraudulent unemployment claims, has managed to claw back some $300 million in payments that went out to fraudsters, officials said Thursday. Suzi LeVine, the commissioner of Washington State’s Employment Security Department, said the recovery came from coordination among law enforcement agencies and financial institutions. She did not reveal exact numbers on recoveries or the total number of fraudulent claims and said that the state was continuing to work on additional collections while blocking more false claims. “The criminals have not gone away because we continue to see significant highly suspicious traffic,” Ms. LeVine said. The Massachusetts Department of Unemployment Assistance said in a statement that it had also seen fraudsters trying to file large numbers of illegitimate claims, while the cybersecurity firm Agari said it had seen evidence of the fraudulent claims targeting states all over the country. Unemployment claims around the country have exceeded 40 million since the start of the pandemic. Democrats are mobilizing to turn the $2 trillion effort that Mr. Trump is overseeing into a political liability going into his re-election campaign. The attention has focused on a small business loan program that has been marred by glitches, changing rules and cases of big publicly traded companies receiving funds while smaller shops are left waiting. Top Democrats, including the party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Mr. Biden have seized on examples of rich executives getting money through the Paycheck Protection Program as indicative of corporate cronyism. The Democratic National Committee and Democratic state parties in swing states held conference calls last week with reporters and other events highlighting stories of small business owners who did not get approved for loans. Pacronym, a progressive super PAC that focuses on digital advertising, began running a $1.5 million ad campaign in five swing states — Arizona, Michigan, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — that focused on struggling small businesses. Some Republicans are embracing the program. Senator Susan Collins, a Maine Republican facing a tough re-election battle, has spent nearly $500,000 on ads that promote her role in “co-authoring” the program, according to data from Advertising Analytics, an ad tracking firm. And Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, spent $175,000 on an ad featuring small business owners and employees describing jobs and businesses that were “rescued” by Mr. McConnell’s efforts on the stimulus package. The Trump administration has scrambled to rewrite the rules of the program on the fly as public backlash intensified. The Treasury on Thursday carved out $10 billion of money to be used for loans to underserved communities. Sports fans can attend games at outdoor venues in Texas. Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said that starting Friday, sports fans could attend games at outdoor venues in most counties in Texas, so long as occupancy was limited to 25 percent. Fans cannot attend indoor sporting events. Gov. Brian Kemp of Georgia said amusement parks, traveling carnivals and water parks could open June 12. And in California, more than a dozen Indian casinos, asserting sovereignty, defied Gov. Gavin Newsom and reopened last week. The Viejas Casino and Resort in Alpine, Calif., vowed to impose strict limits on the number of people gambling at once. A majority of Indian casinos in the state have chosen to stay closed and are coordinating their reopening with the governor’s office, which has proposed a date in early June. A French study found 1 in 10 diabetic patients with Covid-19 died within a week of being hospitalized. One in 10 diabetic patients with Covid-19, the illness caused by the virus, died within a week of being hospitalized, according to a study published on Thursday by French researchers in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes. Another 20 percent were put on ventilators to assist with breathing by the end of their first week in the hospital. Just 18 percent were discharged within a week. “I don’t want to scare people, but what is true is we did not expect to see such high mortality, with 10 percent of people admitted dying in the first seven days,” said Dr. Samy Hadjadj, a professor of endocrinology at the University of Nantes in France and one of the authors of the paper. A majority of patients in the study had Type 2 diabetes. Many people with diabetes also have cardiovascular disease, which raises the risk of death in Covid-19 patients. But the new study, which included 1,317 patients at 53 French hospitals, found that microvascular injuries — involving tiny blood vessels supplying the eyes, kidneys and peripheral nerves — were also linked to a higher risk of death. Obstructive sleep apnea also raised the risk of early death in these patients, while obesity and advanced age were linked to a greater likelihood of severe disease, the study found. “This is serious,” Dr. Hadjadj said. “If you have diabetes and are elderly or have complications, be very careful. Keep away from the virus. Go on with social distancing, wash your hands carefully, keep people away who can bring you the virus.” Dr. Hadjadj added, “You are not the kind of person who can afford to disregard these rules.” As more people under 40 test positive in Washington State, researchers fear they will spread the virus. People under 40 make up an increasing share of those who have tested positive for the virus in Washington State. Researchers in Seattle said that policymakers might need to focus on younger people to limit the spread. In a new analysis, the researchers said about half of new identified cases were among people under 40, up from one-third of infections earlier in the outbreak. Younger people may be more likely to work or participate in social activities, especially as restrictions are eased. While they do not face as high a risk of serious complications from infections, they can expose other people they encounter who may be older or who have hazardous underlying conditions, the researchers said. “Our findings indicate a justifiable concern regarding the phased reopening plan for Washington State in late May in light of the shift in Covid-19 incidence from older to younger age,” the researchers wrote in their report, posted on the preprint server medRvix. The researchers said government leaders may need to pursue specific advisories for children, teenagers and young adults to warn them of the risks of social interaction. Pennsylvania House Democrats say Republicans hid a lawmaker’s positive virus test. Democrats in Pennsylvania’s House of Representatives on Thursday accused Republicans of keeping a lawmaker’s positive virus test a secret to avoid political embarrassment, even at the risk of exposing fellow legislators. A Republican House member, Andrew Lewis, confirmed on Wednesday that he received a positive test on May 20 and self-isolated. Mr. Lewis said that every lawmaker or staff member he was in contact with who “met the criteria for exposure” was notified. But Democrats disputed that, saying none of their own members were alerted even though some were near Mr. Lewis in committee meetings. The House Democratic campaign arm accused Republicans of hiding Mr. Lewis’s positive test “to protect their public talking points against science and facts.” Another Republican representative, Russ Diamond, who said he was notified of possible exposure through contact with Mr. Lewis, had previously spoken at a shutdown protest outside the Capitol and boasted on social media of not wearing a mask while shopping. In an emotional Facebook video recorded in his office at the Capitol, Representative Brian K. Sims, a Democrat from Philadelphia, said Mr. Diamond had “apparently been quarantining himself for weeks” but “didn’t explain that to any of us when he was in committee, talking with us or walking up and down the aisles or bumping into us or letting us hold the door open for him.” Mr. Lewis said he had kept his positive diagnosis private “out of respect for my family and those who I may have exposed.” Representative Ryan Bizzarro, a Democrat, disputed that Mr. Lewis had quarantined himself after his diagnosis. “We have footage of him being here,” he said. The Trump administration will not issue a midyear update to its economic forecasts this summer, breaking decades of tradition during the uncertainty of a pandemic recession, administration officials confirmed on Thursday. The decision will spare the administration from having to announce its internal projections for how deeply the recession will damage economic growth and how long the pain of high unemployment will persist. When the administration last published official projections in February, it forecast economic growth of 3.1 percent from the fourth quarter of 2019 to the fourth quarter of 2021, and growth rates at or around 3 percent for the ensuing decade. It forecast an unemployment rate of 3.5 percent for the year. The virus has rendered those projections obsolete. Unemployment could hit 20 percent in June, the White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett told CNN this week. The Congressional Budget Office said in April that it expects the economy will contract by 5.6 percent this year and end with unemployment above 11 percent. The White House is required by law to issue both an annual budget and a midyear update to it, called a “mid-session review.” Updating economic projections in the mid-session review is optional, but it is a practice that administrations — including Mr. Trump’s — have widely followed since the review was mandated by Congress in 1970. The review is required by law to give at least a partial window into how the administration expects the economy to perform this year and in the future. The decision not to release updated projections was first reported by The Washington Post. Trump administration officials have in the past resisted updating their forecasts in the face of evidence that the economy was not growing as fast as they had projected. The budget they released in February officially conceded for the first time that growth in 2018 and 2019 had not reached 3 percent, as they had predicted. Fears about contracting the virus from contaminated surfaces have prompted many to wipe down groceries, leave packages unopened and stress about elevator buttons. But what is the real risk? The C.D.C. recently tried to clarify its guidance: “It may be possible that a person can get Covid-19 by touching a surface or object that has the virus on it, and then touching their own mouth, nose or possibly their eyes, but this isn’t thought to be the main way the virus spreads.” So does this mean we can get the virus from touching a doorknob, catching a Frisbee or sharing a casserole dish? The Times asked the experts. The best way we can protect ourselves from the virus — whether it is surface transmission or close human contact — is still social distancing, washing our hands, not touching our faces and wearing masks. Starting Thursday, anyone in Britain who has potential symptoms will be tested and, if positive, asked to list all those with whom they have recently been in close contact for at least 15 minutes. Those people, in turn, will be contacted and asked to isolate themselves for 14 days. It is the latest national campaign that aims to prevent more infections. The results so far are mixed. What does it feel like to have Covid-19 and not need hospitalization? Rest and fluids are essential, but so is knowing when to call a doctor. Give yourself plenty of time to feel better. Reporting was contributed by Mike Baker, Karen Barrow, Scott Cacciola, Ben Casselman, Emily Cochrane, Patricia Cohen, Michael Cooper, Catie Edmondson, Nicholas Fandos, Thomas Fuller, Trip Gabriel, David Gelles, Erica L. Green, Jenny Gross, Apoorva Mandavilli, Jennifer Medina, Sarah Mervosh, Talya Minsberg, Andy Newman, Nadja Popovich, Roni Caryn Rabin, Alan Rappeport, Dana Rubinstein, Margot Sanger-Katz, Anna Schaverien, Kaly Soto, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, Vanessa Swales, Jim Tankersley and Katie Van Syckle. The post Coronavirus News in USA: Live Updates appeared first on Sansaar Times.

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