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newproletarians · 4 years

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new proletarians

Alright, so I’m feeling a few things. I’m angry and confused at the world and my place in it, and I don’t want to lose sight of my heart. The reason that’s even on the table is that I feel—in a very real, day-to-day sense—the urge to just let it callous over with grey boogers, or whatever callouses over the hearts of Squidwards everywhere. Regular old life can do that to a devastating degree, but so can the usual suspects—things like real trauma and tragedy. I’d like to say I’ve experienced a little of both at this point in my young life, but I’m still fighting the calcification of my heart. Let’s hope that in just throwing my brain at the proverbial wall, some things stick that are worth sticking. Maybe my clarity can also be yours, reader. Maybe we can snuggle up with ourselves tonight, content that we know what the fuck is going on in the world, and smugly abstain from that which our friends could never imagine abstaining from, and which we’ve known we’ve needed to abstain from for decades. Whatever. It’s wordy. It’s a fucking blog, future me. They’re supposed to contain words. Also, maybe, if I’m writing a blog where the over 50% of the audience is myself, writing it is supposed to feel at least a little similar to masturbating.

Where to begin? Well, let’s start with this: I am a college-educated youth who attended what’s commonly referred to as the best public university in the world. I received a rolled up piece of paper symbolizing a degree on a stage with other students and professors a year and a half ago. So it’s recent. And right off the bat, in my young adulthood, I have a chip on my shoulder, having that big qualifier of “public.” I went to the world’s fanciest college... for the proletariat. What does that mean? For me, this brings to mind a lot of issues having to do with the distribution of wealth in the United States, in addition to what the hell is going on economically here and in the world—but that’s something to get into later. The more pressing issue is what the hell the role of a college-educated young person is today. DFW pretty succinctly laid out an idea of what that could be in his famous address. His point was basically that college (specifically, a liberal arts education) gives you the critical thinking skills necessary to be able to get through life under capitalism (or whatever you want to call the current regime) without going crazy. I think we can do better than that. Also, fuck it, I’m giving myself permission to be temporarily pissed off, because fuck that, dude. I know that rage isn’t always an indicator of fruitful conversation, but I gotta let some steam out somewhere. I’m sure that it’ll only lead to me being better down the line. God—I am pissed. About how we’re deciding to go about talking through issues we’re having as a society (on Twitter, but also in comments sections and in NY Times articles). I have so much anger, I’m just now realizing, and I need to process it without stupidly burning myself out on it. It’s a subject for later, and not what we’re talking about right now. Right now, we’re talking about the role of the college-educated youth today. I think we’re getting somewhere, too. I don’t think the role of the college-educated youth in today’s scenario is to correct their friends and families, nor is it to Tweet about how embarrassing, vulgar, or otherwise horrible stupid people are—however embarrassing, vulgar, or otherwise horrible they may be. The role, to me, has to do with learning this stuff. Learning about systems of power, systems of abuse (many of which hum merrily along in universities—looking at you, Searl. [My anger, you guide me, but you also lead me astray]).Staying ON POINT. The way it has to do with these things is that today’s C.E.Y. needs to notice them, understand them, then DO something about them. There are, for instance, things that we learn about privilege and prejudice in university that we may be tempted to hurl at our elders back home as insults. Our jobs, as young students, are to be sexy, fashionable, charismatic stewards of the new age. Instead of yelling at our parents about being racist, we should, say, intervene in a subtle way that guides rather than punishes. That preserves trust and connection in relationships while simultaneously doing our best to right centuries-old wrongs. But this is about so much more than that. Our role is about how we conduct ourselves as the nations intelligentsia. But that’s a question. I’m not answering it here, try as I might. I still don’t know how I feel about it. It stretches into all corners of life, this role. For instance, into several things in my life I’m mad about.

For instance, I kind of hate my closest loved ones. Oops. That’s where I’m at. Am I supposed to ignore these feelings? They’re there, they’ve been there, and if I know anything about our brains, it’s that feelings shouldn’t be ignored. That’s what dumb ass patriarchs think. The funniest/saddest part of that is that they, said dumb asses, tell themselves that suppressing their feelings is the manly thing to do. It’s honestly just the cowardly thing to do. Men are so afraid of confronting their feelings that they would rather go their entire life wearing a life three sizes too small than mention a thing about it. Anyway. They’re conditioned to feel this way by their surroundings. This—this is a great point that I would love to be a major takeaway here. The thing about being educated is that you’re aware of systems, that systems need to be changed. Fault the people who can change the systems, if anyone, but really, even they are just products of the system. The good thing is that, as a powerless mass of atomized society, we have been created by these systems knowing SOME things that are wrong with it. Now we, the crumbs of dust living in and created by the gargantuan grandfather clock of life, have the sentience necessary to band together and make switch out some gears. Picture a big hand of made of dust, fixing the clock. That’s us. That’s what the role of college educated students is today. But that’s not so much the point of this paragraph, so much is the fact that I kind of hate my closest loved ones—which feels so good to say. My best friends, for instance, are really rough individuals. One is an obvious, obnoxiously insecure, compulsive liar. He’s not super tall and weighs almost 300 pounds. It’s not nice to say this stuff, but the purpose of life isn’t to be nice about everybody all the time in your own head, or on your own anonymous blog. He alienates everyone I bring him around with his bizarre persona. His insecurity is so deep that I shit you not, almost a majority of the interactions I’ve had with him would very reasonably get a “come on,” response from anyone. He has to create little talking points to make his life feel acceptable. He’s one of those people who constantly refers conversations back to their insecurities, and how they feel so secure about them, for this reason and that reason. It’s like, Christ, man. Come on. I feel a lot more ways about this, but I’m a little scared he’ll see this some day. I’m worried he’s going to die young, because he is extremely overweight. His doctor said he’s a few months away from a heart attack/stroke unless he takes immediate action, which it seemed like he was taking initially, but it doesn’t really seem like it anymore. I don’t know. The whole situation feels extremely choked by our inability to just communicate with our fucking words. And yes, I am sounding angry, I’m not actually this angry, but consider these the bubbles from a can of soda that’s been shaken. What will be left is the only-slightly-bubbled soda. That’ll come soon. For now, there are bubbles. New paragraph.

The point that I was trying and failing to get to in the previous paragraph is that I don’t like this guy. He has a lot of great qualities, and he’s certainly not a bad person to have in one’s life—as in, he’ll never cheat on his spouse, and he’ll always go the extra mile for his friends in a certain sense. But I don’t. I wish I could just talk to him about this weird, bizarre, fucking deal breaking shit, but I just can’t. Our communication is choked. I don’t think it’s his fault, though. I think it’s to do with overlapping systems of culture that make it difficult. Maybe. Maybe that’s not the point here, and the real point is just that I feel stuck in that situation. Moving on.

(TW: sexual assault)

Another friend is a fucking bona fide sexual assaulter. He practically got #metoo’d, on a personal level. His gf broke up with him because he sexually assaulted the female half of their best-friend-couple. He fingered her while sharing a bed with her and his gf, for some confusing reason. We talked about it and he gave me this wordy, bizarre, incongruent tale of what happened. It involved a LOT of details and qualifiers. When I talked to the dude half of the couple, the guy who was (and still is) with the woman who got assaulted, he said that my friend just straight up did a ton of nonconsensual shit. He also said that when his gf told other people, more people came forward saying this guy had been creepy to other women in their friend circle. This friend absolutely has a history of gaslighting and successfully avoiding trouble by forcing his way. I need to talk to him, but again, fucking choked. I have no ability to have any kind of “real talk” with him. We do not have a venue, and the prospect of confrontation is absolutely debilitating to the average WASP-y dude. Which brings us to our next situation.

I have a great friend I met in undergrad. She is very well-liked, and while I definitely don’t agree with everything she thinks, I really value her friendship. Her boyfriend is a fucking nightmare. Not really, honestly. There are actual nightmare boyfriends. This boyfriend is more of a waking nightmare. The kind of nightmare that becomes worse because it’s so hard to call out. It just keeps going. I’ve kept CLOSE track, and every SINGLE time I’ve hung out with them as a couple, this guy crosses the line. He says condescending, mean, weird, bizarre, shit that... there’s just no better way to say it than he crosses a line that normal people don’t cross. I haven’t counted, but we’ve probably hung out close to 30 times. Every time it happens, every time I give him another chance. I got a little counseling about this situation from a friend’s mom, just in casual conversation, and her advice was to figure out what in me upset me about this guy. At that point, I realized that what Eric Andre said is true: advice is stupid. Also, that I am not going to run my life based on what this person, who I previously looked up to in a god-like way when it came to relationships, says. I am going to figure it out on my own, because it seems like everybody’s solution to relationship issues is to never talk about them, or to have some kind of inner-peace solution that makes getting abused not suck so bad (looking at you, DFW). Ugh. Okay. Moving on, again. Because yep, there’s so, so much more. Again, asking questions here, not answering them.

Also, if you’re reading this and thinking “damn, bro, your life is boring,” that’s my point. This is just normal life. These are just normal people. This is the water we’re swimming in. It’s fucking tense, man. Living in the United States is tense.

I’m running out of steam at this point, but God damn it. My brothers are dick holes. And we’re great friends. They are guys who don’t ever cause a fuss, avoid confrontation at all costs, and are nothing but rewarded for it. Sometimes I think I have something to learn from them in that regard. But is that really the life we want to live? Just don’t communicate your issues? It’s just frustrating. They act superior to others, but are categorically unable to have an honest, undiplomatic conversation. They act superior to others, and are treated as superior. It feels a little like talking to robots, talking to them, decoding what they’re saying to ascertain how they may actually be feeling in a given moment. I have no idea how they feel about me. Or anything. I don’t even think they know or care. I think they just get by, and they’re rewarded for it.

Alright, moving right along. My dad. Damn do I want to not talk to that guy. I can’t talk about anything real with him. It’s like playing ping pong where the other person can only hit the ball if it goes where his paddle already is, and his paddle’s made out of glass.

This is a sample of some real life issues I am dealing with, spoken as honestly as possible, as is evidenced by the rampant spelling and grammatical errors. College works into this as the thing that has given me recourse for dealing with this stuff. As a college educated youth, I can approach life in an informed, good way. This is life. Etc.

What am I walking away with? Well, I now know for sure that I have a lot of shit to work through. MAYBE more than one Tumblr post. Also, I guess I am proving that people still Tumbl in 2021. I am starting to really understand what the questions I have are. I think part of my issue stems from some feeling of being “out of the loop,” or having some natural, in-set outrage about not understand what’s going on, which was founded by years of being the same height as the people around me’s knees, being the youngest person in my family. Everyone around me were skyscraper people with adult conversations happening way up there. It’s a little imposter syndrome, I think, too. It comes from being the youngest, I think, too. Mixed with a natural sensitivity that I’ve noticed people like me have.

My goal is to get better at living my life. That involves understanding how I want to live, it involves understanding what my values really are, thinking through them a little, and more. I think it’s really worth it. In the meantime, I am not a work in progress. I am a fucking careful, cool, bright, talented guy who is not perfect, but is working on it. And I am going to postpone making any big decisions about my personal life until I get some clarity.

I thought I’d get more to the subject of the new proletarians, which is something I was thinking about today when listening to Harmontown and asking myself questions about what college is for if it just makes us unemployable, debt-ridden, twitter douchers. Anyway. We’ll get to it again sometime.

This was nice. Let’s do this again sometime.

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livingcorner · 3 years

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12 Beautiful Pallet Garden Ideas – Roots Nursery

Pallet gardens are all the rage. From veggies and herbs to annuals to succulents, a pallet garden is clever and beautiful! They are wonderfully space-saving so you can surround yourself with a ridiculous amount of plants and flowers. Personally, that’s my goal every year. Here are 12 pallet garden ideas in 4 categories for you to create!

Succulent Pallet Garden Ideas

This gorgeous pallet garden is filled with drought-tolerant, easy to care for plants that look amazing all year, no matter what you put them through. The stained finish just puts it over the top. I could stare at this gorgeous thing all day. (found on Pinterest, source unknown)

You're reading: 12 Beautiful Pallet Garden Ideas – Roots Nursery

I’m a sucker for succulents. I use them anywhere, anytime for any reason. They live indoors through the winter. They overwinter outdoors in pots. They go especially well in fairy gardens. If I’m at a nursery and there are succulents, you can’t stop me from buying 5.

Mainly because succulents pass the brown thumb test.

Yes, I run a nursery, but I’m terrible at growing plants indoors. I started with LOTS of houseplants. If it died, I never bought it again. This approach whittled down my winter lovelies to something manageable. Ficus. Geranium. Begonia. And lots and lots of succulents.

Here’s another gorgeous succulent pallet garden from The Urchin Collective.

Herb Pallet Garden Ideas

The greatest thing about herbs, besides making your food yummy, is that they don’t need a ton of space to grow. Of course, they’d rather be in the ground. I mean, what plant doesn’t? Fortunately, herbs can endure some crowding.

The smallest sized pot recommended for growing herbs is 6″. That’s pretty small.

These pallet herb gardens aren’t even utilizing all the space for soil. They’ve only added bottoms to each ‘shelf’ to hold everything in. All they need now is some rich organic potting soil and some sunlight. (afternoon shade preferred)

This vertical herb garden beautiful and creatively clever! Using chalkboard paint adds such a nice touch. I use this paint to label SO many things. Craft boxes, jars and so much more. Using chalk to label your plants is so fun. Change your herbs and labels as much as you want! The chalk will probably wash off with every rain if not protected, but it’s so cute, I think it’s worth rewriting!

Another gorgeous herb garden, built by Zina’s husband (slave). The labels on this one won’t wash off in the rain. And it’s just breathtaking. I mean, what craft CANT you pull off with beautiful penmanship?

Jen and her mom (from JenAroundTheWorld) did such a beautiful job building this herb pallet garden, and an excellent job explaining how they did it. I love this rendition of the herb pallet garden because it holds so much more soil for the herbs to grow in. Herbs don’t need a ton of soil, but this design gives it much more space to spread. They laid the pallet flat to plant the garden and let it sit flat for about 2 weeks to allow the soil to settle. When the roots start to put on some growth, they place the new beautiful pallet garden upright into a vertical garden.

Read more: Snakes

For all you apartment-dwelling flower lovers, there’s hope! Vertical gardens are awesome for apartments. Space-saving, full of plants, and just lovely. My all-time favorite vertical pallet garden was created by Fern over at Life On The Balcony (sadly her site is gone) Her use of color in this stunning little garden is fabulous. She really has an eye.

Above is a great example of all of the beautiful plants that go well in a pallet garden. I see lots of nasturtium and many different types of succulents. The pale green trailing plant in the middle looks like a licorice plant. (source unknown)

How to Make a Pallet Garden

Here’s a super quick video tutorial below on how to build a vertical pallet garden for herbs. Make sure to pack and water your plants in WELL before standing it up.

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Below is another simple way to put together a vertical pallet garden. This time, you take slats from an extra pallet and screw it to the bottom of each ‘level’

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Below are full instructions on how annual vertical pallet gardens are constructed at the nursery.

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One last video. If you LOVE vertical gardening, this man is brilliant at it.

Alex from Flower Street Urban Gardens has devised a wonderful gardening system that you install right on walls, fences, windowsills, your balcony. If you have a sturdy structure to hold a wire frame, this space saver can grow some plants! It’s perfect for individuals that would rather not bend to work a garden.

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Best Plants for a Pallet Garden

Pallet gardens are such great space savers, but they don’t provide much growing space. Shallow rooted plants grow best, so we’ll stick with the following.

All succulents

Most herbs like thyme, parsley, oregano, cilantro, chives, dill, mint, tarragon

Salad greens like leaf lettuce, spinach, kale and arugula

Annual flowers are my absolute favorite for any garden so we won’t forget them here. Special consideration is to be made to find short-growing flowers that will fit in a vertical garden. The best annual flowers for a pallet garden are as follows:

Alyssum

Nasturtium

Wave petunias (regular petunias grow strangely)

Marigolds (look for dwarf varieties)

Lobelia

Verbena

Ivy

Begonias

Impatiens (for shade)

Last but not least, have FUN with your plants. They provide endless possibilities to get creative and surround yourself with beauty. Hopefully, this post inspires a pallet design of your own!

Source: https://livingcorner.com.au Category: Garden

source https://livingcorner.com.au/12-beautiful-pallet-garden-ideas-roots-nursery/

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lizardswithoutlegs · 7 years

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HOOOOOWOWOAH BOY

ART ASKS

when i walk into a building i get to eat everybodys pencils and they cant say no

do it

( also thanks for asking ! )

itd bother me a lot less if everybody came to my apartment and took one of these beautiful eggs

YEAH UNFORTUNATELY IM STILL..... WORKING THROUGH THE SAME WAITLIST but im comparatively REAL CLOSE to being done with it and i should be opening up sometime later in...... the Year

Boy Have I

theres This messy thing from a while back and then also

THIS, from even FURTHER back, when i didnt realize how fucking RED all the outlines on my things were because of the monitor i was using, two for the price of one

why not both

i do Not but it you ever see me walking on the street please throw handfuls of teeth at me theyre the only things my wretched body can digest and im always hungry

OH MAN ok so, an art telephone game is based on, of course, the game telephone, where one person says a phrase and then whispers it to the next person, and so on and on until the person at the very end says whatever they heard and if its done right the final sentence is wildly different than what you started with

an ART telephone game is the same kind of concept, except one person draws out a scene or character, and then other artists draw THEIR interpretation of whats going on, and so forth until the last person can end up with something COMPLETELY different than what the first scene was

youd think thered be less room for error with drawings, but as each person ONLY sees what the person ahead of them has made, they can get PRETTY OUT THERE - im gonna be a part of pythosarts game, and theyve done a couple of em before - for example one round started with THESE as the first two drawings

and then fourteen interpretations later, ended up with these as the final two

its good its real good

I Cant Control Where Bigfoot Goes, I Can Only Take Note Of Where Hes Been

YEAH, sort of ! on the main, iguanamouth, i have a bunch of different tags for art depending on what they are but not really a catchall one, BUT i do have an art only blog where everything gets tossed over !

HONESTLY THE ADVICE i got is basically what all art advice is gonna boil down to eventually - you gotta just. do it. you gotta DO it

absolutely nobody you know who draws things well started out at the level theyre currently at, and putting down the things youre visualizing onto paper is a combination of getting the the technical aspects down as much as getting the idea in your head

and that goes with figuring out anatomy and how bodies are put together ! ive got to use references for a Million things,. especially the dragon hoards - theres absolutely nothing wrong with using references for your drawings ! and being able to create accurate representations of things without looking is something that comes more with drawing something over and over and memorizing the body shape more than just, feeling like you should KNOW how to do something

so dont beat yourself up for needing references. if youre trying to shy away from them a little bit but still cant make something look nice without em, try using several different reference photos to put together an entirely different pose ?

theres ALSO the SHRIMP METHOD, which is great for practicing and getting good at one particular thing - this probably isnt SUPER HELPFUL but good luck !

god i tried. exactly ONCE maybe fourish years ago but it wasnt art, i was trying to stream the lion king movie and i had no idea what i was doing, i didnt realize i needed to wear headphones so the sound wouldnt snowball into a feedback loop of my own voice that never ended but i kept laughing and it kept distorting worse and worse, like the audio version of saving and resaving something as a jpeg

it was just me and my friend ronni in the stream and ONE other person who never left and never said anything and i kept addressing them out loud like WHO ARE YOU and that only compounded the noise problem and eventually i gave up

anyway i havent tried since

i uhhhhh dont think i COULD, really - fear especially is something thats kind of subjective and one persons Big Terror could be neutral or even cute to another person

like for me i used to have a lot of childhood fears about the ocean, and how deep and dark and vast it was, to the point where i couldnt play a lot of water levels in video games, even ( but i had almost drowned several times when i was Very young which probably had, a little somethin to do with that )

maybe sometime ill try to explore things IM afraid of, but its hard to encompass a psychological response in an image !! could be a fun experiment, though ! !

a few PLANT ANIMAL AZKZ, HUH, DONT HAVE A WORKING Z KEY

SHIT DUDE THESE ARE... SO GOOD thats the official name EVEN IF i didnt use. a daffodil as the flower base. it doesnt matter

yes

i got A BUNCH of flower and plant themed suggestions and theyre all REALLY GOOD ( way more than these ) but straight up im taking a break from em for a while - if anybody is else is reading this though you should definitely tackle one of em

WASABI ASKS

Do Not Feed Animals The Paste

i keep going back to read this ask because you could replace wasabi with my name and its the exact same. its the same. i feel like i have to hide somewhere

this was real and this is the award they gave us

there were other awards but the judges refused to give them out. they burned them in front of the other dogs. we won

it depends on the age ! wasabis pretty much an adult, so her sheds are pretty infrequent ( usually once every 7-8 months ) BUT when she was still growing back like 6 years ago, she would do a full-body shed every other month !

wasabi accepts tokens of appreciation in the form of : fruit, green beans. No Exceptions

i would never seperate wasabi from her hands

absolutely..... not. not even a little bit h h hh a this isnt a disney animal companion, i dont even know what “kind of like a dog” means with , a lizard who cant make any vocalizations or get up on their hind legs or NOTHIN sometimes if i hold a piece of fruit on my hand and she reaches for it she gets confused on whats what and tries to bite my fingers instead

ONCE WHEN SHE was attacking her reflection in a mirror i put my hand in front of her face to break eye contact and she SUNK HER TEETH RIGHT IN THERE but immediately let go like “oh whoops”

lissten . . . wasabi is so sharp, just absolutely everywhere, and these are the sharpest. the grabbers

heres a lil battle damage from earlier today actually

this is pretty tame BUT the long long lines are from claws, and the thinner, closer together ones are from holding her and her scales scraping against the skin. so not even just the Body is completely safe ! this is not an animal youre gonna wanna get your face real close to if theyre in a walkin mood

she doesnt even MEAN to scratch the shit outta me, its just kind of a byproduct of being a big tree lizard. her tail is absolutely the worst thing to get hit by though. the WORST. lucky me she doesnt attack anything that isnt a dog or a vacuum cleaner or her own reflection

ahhh i got her when i was 16 ! and i dont know her exact age but she was somewhere between 3-6 months when i get her - SHES probably closer to 9 years, but ive had her for about 8

LENGTH THOUGH...... the last time i measured her she was just barely under four and a half feet, but that was a few months ago and its possible shes. Just Slightly larger. shes currently sleeping as i type this so i guess we will never know

duel me

too late for coats..... its all tail action now

ROCK ASKS AND ALSO ASKS ABOUT PUTTING ROCKS IN YOUR MOUTH

oh MAN i feel you . . . . . . . . . . i dont think i could actually Bear To Eat any for real but some of em. just. they. i gotta. just. bite on em a LITTLE just a little bit, a tiny bit, a nibble

when i was real young i used to tap things against my teeth to tell what kind of substance they were made of based on the feeling/hardness/density WHATEVER and i still sometimes do it when im checking stuff out and. it uhhhhh sure is interesting finding out not a lot of people did that

a handful of these delicious raw agates, just for you

please stop spying on me

i DO NOT but you may eat this piece of bornite

meet me at the airport and ill cover your bus fair

theres a lotta different ways to figure out what kind of rocks you got but when you have absolutely no clue on where to start your best bet is to search for the biggest distinctive features of it, and try to narrow it down based on the results

like for something like these pieces of chalcedony, you could try “waxy green translucent mineral”, and from the search results find a few candidates that might be what you have on hand, and then look into each one to see if you can get a definite answer

ive got a handful of rock and mineral guide books that i always pick through whenever i snag something im not sure of, and if youre REAL into it those are always something you could start keeping an eye out for

now this is a REAL superficial way to telling what something is and wont be useful for a good chunk of minerals ( as a lot of samples can look really close to something else ) and THIS is a much more in depth way of telling something apart, but its also a lot more time consuming ! so good luck. and good eating.

Just Try And Fucking Stop Me

ANIMAL ASKS THAT ARENT............ ABOUT MY LIZARD

im married to this one actually

fuck. ok. heres. a secret. a In the ask Post secret. wasabi goes through a period that lasts a month every single year where she carries eggs in her gut, and spends that month not eating and digging around in everything, trying to find the right spot to lay these eggs. and. when it happens i never know what to do with them, and i dont want to just THROW THEM AWAY so i. eat them. i eat the eggs. i fuckin eat the eggs dude

Theyre All Goddesses

unless you plan on having your lizard roam around outside whenever they want, the outside environment doesnt really matter much for most reptiles as long as you set their habitat up right ! BUT i do know that australia has bans on certain reptiles ( iguanas are one of them ) and so youre gonna have to look up whats actually available in that area

bearded dragons are native and those are always a good option, but so are a lot of geckos - its really gonna depend on what youre into ( but i dont really recommend anoles if thats an option, because theyre fast as Hell and dont like being handled )

what the fuck is a bee

oh geez im sorry ! i remember going through this with spiders a lot when i was younger to the point where looking at photos of em used to be a fuckin, TRIAL

you could try a really gradual exposure deal, where you start off with getting comfortable with just images, and slowly working your way to dealing with one in a controlled setting ( like a petstore, maybe ? not HANDLING em or anything, but just being near one in a way where its absolutely impossible for them to touch you )

the shitty thing about this kind of phobia is that even if you KNOW its irrational theres sometimes not a lot you can do about it, but if you can stand looking at photos of them you could try learning up about them, and finding out the types of species youre likely to encounter around your house, and seeing how many ( if any ) are ones you should avoid ?

i know some people that have major problems with snakes are because theyre unsure if the ones they find are poisonous or not, and it might go a long way to confirm that the reptiles you meet wont be able to harm you even if they TRIED ( which is gonna be the case with a lotta house geckos, they cant do SHIT youre a GIANT )

very VERY few lizards have venomous bites, and the worst most of em can do is give you a bloody finger if theyre large enough, and even then its usually not much worse than a cat scratch !

still though, if youre really serious about trying to get past this, dont force yourself too quick into what you think you SHOULD be, and take tiny steps outta your comfort level when you can

this probably isnt uhhh SUPER helpful hh hhah but good luck ! shit im going through this post and its like ALL reptile photos. im sorry

i feel about them, with my hands

MMM it shouldnt HURT them unless theres something Really wrong, considering its a natural procession of growth, BUT its definitely itchy as hell, to the point where reptiles trying to remove it will drag their bodies over stones or walls tryin to get it off

sometimes wasabi drags her whole hind foot over her head like a dog to get it off and it is. a Sight

ahhh honestly there arent a lotta reptiles thatre gonna do much more than TOLERATE the touch and not really, enjoy it, like a dog or cat or bird

but speaking from experience with wasabi, youll probably want to avoid most the head and stick with the top of the back near the sides - wasabi doesnt enjoy having her tail messed with much either, but shes ok with her dewlap and feet being touched

the most important thing to keep an eye out for when youre touching one is their body language, because THATS gonna be a dead giveaway for whether you need to back off or not

closing their eyes is a sign of stress, not enjoyment ! same with tilting the head back, but if thats ALL theyre doing then youre probably not gonna face any retaliation

B U T if theyve got an extended dewlap with a raised body or tail off the ground, not a good idea to interact with em ! thats a defensive posture, and you risk getting hit with a tail or even bitten if your hand gets too close

youve got more to risk with males, who are way more territorial and generally larger, but if they seem pretty chill when you approach and dont stand up and stare at you, youre probably in the clear

COCK of the ROCK

I HAVE im so jealous of anybody whos got to see one in person - actually handling one is a level beyond that which i could even comprehend

OTHER THINGS.....

no but i was bit by a pigeon once

this is the only joke i know

i fuckin WISH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ayy im into it - honestly i havent been following the band so much as just kinda, picking up whatever anybody else mentions and so my knowledge on Gorillaz Lore is pretty uhhhh h hh h scattered but im definitely interested in seeing where this goes

i remember watching the first and second season and it being pretty good - some of the episodes and jokes are hit and miss but you absolutely got me with the creature and alien design

havent seen any of the third season yet though !

i mean the fruit ones could be pretty up there

how bout. an abstract concept. who cares about physical forms wheres the dragon of melancholy

why come theres nothing to eat in my apartment but bread. im good otherwise but its all just bread

i havent watched either of em in YEARS and YEARS but i distinctly remember. these lil dancing mushrooms

oh wait FUCK

FUCK !!!!!!!!!

no... NO.... she is not allowed to eat ANYTHING from the plan shelf, try as she MIGHT

im a little mad that this sill isnt bigger because the only other one that gets sun is in my room and wasabi WIll... absolutely eat those. no doubt. a convenient and expensive salad, for my awful gremlin

god im looking at these and its all jade plants isnt it

little golden books taste the best but they can make you sick if you have too many at once. my favorite genre for snacking is sci fi fantasy but anything over 300 pages tends to get a little tough if you dont break it up with smaller chunks. non fictions always a gamble because the taste is wildly different each time but you can usually tell how ripe it is by the cover color

ayy im already a big fan of some of their stuff, ive got a couple songs from them in my music tag - im especially into i miss you and their shut up and bring it here remix

TOP FIVE THINGS

this is barely related but once i filled up a bathtub with water and then dumped about ten bags worth of mint tea into it and then just. soaked around in the tea. listen it was really nice. id try the cheese

i dont have any ships but i was on one of those model pirate boats once for a school trip. our boat was named naruto and the other one was named sasuke and the captains shouted “make them kiss” and ran them into each other. everybody on board drowned

youre trying to trick me into googling yoshi without shoes and its not going to work

me reading this message from the safety of my apartment :

nice try, but wrong again ! : )

THIS IS GOOD info, thank you

oh SHIT the other side of paradise, take a slice, life itself, and season 2 episode 3 are all my Big Faves

the way you phrased this makes me think you already have a strong opinion on it

hey uh. coming from a person who was absolutely CONVINCED that theyd be dead in the future when they were 12, a not insignificant part of that was me feeling that there was something irreversibly wrong with me for not behaving or acting in certain ways based on what was going downstairs

and obviously im still HERE but it means i can understand how devastatingly terrible it can feel when youre that young and it seems like the way you behave and feel are flawed, or dirty, and anything that can lessen that feeling and make you comfortable in your own body is huge, can save your life

not that im saying its always a LIFE OR DEATH decision !

i guess if youre viewing it as adults forcing a child into making decisions that you dont think theyre capable of understanding its easy to be hesitant about getting behind it, but nobody is forcing a child to be trans. nobody has tricked them into feeling this way. you cant just walk in and get started on treatment on an immediate whim - some programs require 2 YEARS of concrete evidence before theyll even consider it

i feel like you should try speaking to the parents of trans children before you really put down a concrete opinion on whether this is a good or bad thing, and seeing the difference ( if any ) its made in their lives

people whove detransitioned, or found they had ultimately a different identity than the one they were exploring could also be an avenue to look intto ! i have several acquaintances who, after a period of years, found they werent trans but wouldnt take back the time where they were figuring out if they were, and i know this doesnt invalidate the friends i have who ARE

ultimately this is what it boils down to for me : Its Sure Gotta Beat Being Dead

i WILL give you that ive definitely seen a lot of overreactions to seemingly innocuous topics on this website

but youve also got to keep in mind that everybody who is saying these things MEANS them, and to them theres a completely reasonable explanation to why they feel that way

im not saying you should blindly accept any criticism you get, but to instead try to get a grasp on WHY theyre responding the way they are instead of immediately dismissing it

its because i cant drive and they wont let me sit in the front on account of the smell

NICE THINGS

AHHHH I GOT.. a bunch of other really sweet messages to the point where id feel weird about putting em ALL UP BUT... IF YOU SENT ME SOMETHING i can promise i absolutely saw it and it made my day better and just, holy shit, thank you for taking time out of your life to say anything to me at all

because you didnt have to, even a little bit

youre all beautiful and im kissing you on the mouths all at once. no take backs

63 notes · View notes

beckypatterson1 · 6 years

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Your Detox Starter Guide: 7 Science-Backed Strategies

Happy New Year, everybody! Tomorrow, I’m kicking off my yearly Detox Challenge!

It’s not too late to join us!

Anyone is welcome to join the challenge event on Facebook.

Every year, a group of us get together to detoxify our bodies (and minds!) with the help of healthy, plant-based recipes.

Nothing crazy or wacky… just simple, clean foods that flush out the body and make our start to the year STRONG.

Come be healthy with us!

If you’d like to do the 2019 Vegan Detox Meal Plan we’re all doing together, you still have time to get it TODAY.

You have two options.

#1 The Detox Plan is FREE in the Meal Mentor App with membership. Start your Meal Mentor membership here and it’ll be on your phone instantly.

#2 You can also purchase a PDF copy here.

#3 Get the PDF as part of the 2019 Premium Pack

Whether or not you are joining us for this year’s 2019 Vegan Detox Challenge, I encourage you to take a few days at the beginning of this year to give your mind and body a break.

It will help you reset your brain, reprogram your body, and start the new year off strong.

Here are 7 simple science-based strategies you can use to get started.

7 Simple Strategies to Detox Your Body & Mind

1) Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate

After all the holiday festivities, you are bound to be a little dehydrated.

Whether you had a few glasses of champagne or indulged in one-too-many vegan brownies, hydration should be your number one priority right now.

Water is the way to go here.

Aim for at least half a gallon a day (more if you are really feeling the after-effects of the holiday parties).

You can throw in a few slices of fruit or squeeze a little lemon juice in there to make the whole hydration process a little more fun.

Teas which aid digestion are also a great post-holiday hydration option! I love the Ginger and Peppermint teas from Gaia Herbs.

LEVEL UP with my Detox Drink.

My super-effective Detox drink recipe is in the 2019 Vegan Detox Plan.

This little morning elixir will change your life. (That’s a promise.) I drink this faithfully every day all year long. It keeps me hydrated, regular and feeling my best.

Purchase your copy of the Detox plan here.

2) Cut out the sugar

If you do NOTHING ELSE, consider reducing or eliminating sugar from your diet for at least a week.

The impact of sugar on our bodies and our brain chemistry should not be underestimated.

Studies have found links between excessive sugar consumption and cognitive deficiencies, as well as the aging of cells, among other things.

A friend of mine lost 50 pounds in 2018 by simply cutting out sugar. She doesn’t count calories, eat vegan, or worry too much about fat and oil. (She IS dairy-free due to a severe allergy, however, and I’m sure that helped too).

A WARNING: Sugar functions much like a drug.

This means when you eliminate it from your diet, you will experience withdrawal symptoms such as headaches, nausea, fatigue, sweating, body odor, and other unpleasant symptoms.

It takes most people 2-3 days to stop feeling terrible. It is okay to rest more, take naps, go to bed early, and generally treat yourself the way you would if you had the flu. Detox time is time to take care of yourself.

You will be so glad you did this when it is over.

3) Reduce inflammatory foods

Inflammation is the body’s way of protecting itself from illness or injury.

However, there are certain foods that can also cause or increase inflammation.

Studies have shown that vegetarian diets decrease inflammation in the body.

If you follow a plant-based diet, most of the worst offenders (e.g. red meat and dairy) a will be automatically taken care of.

However, if you are not plant-based yet, a detox is a great way to get started!

During a detox, you want to avoid inflammatory ingredients like dairy, sugar, alcohol, anything with added salt, as well as any processed foods.

I would also recommend limiting your use of caffeine. However, I will leave that to your discretion.

WHAT TO EAT: dark leafy greens, beans, lentils, nutrition-dense vegetables like broccoli, and antioxidant-rich foods like blueberries.

If you just want me to show you what to do, take out the guesswork and use my 2019 Vegan Detox Plan.

All of the recipes focus on the anti-inflammatory foods you need to eat.

The 2019 Vegan Detox Plan is FREE in the Meal Mentor App with a monthly membership. Start your membership now.

You can also purchase the plan as a PDF here.

I also took care to avoid common allergens like corn, wheat, and soy in the Detox Plan, so if you have any of these allergies, you can still join us and enjoy the food!

4) Get your body moving

You don’t have to jump right into a strict gym routine on January 1st.

Start more realistically with a long walk around your neighborhood or do a light yoga video online. (Doesn’t that sound delicious? I know my body is craving yoga right now!)

Stretching by the fire, or putting your legs up at the wall for 5 minutes is perfectly enough too.

If you happen to have the energy for it, a sweaty interval training class would do wonders for your body’s ability to kickstart the detoxing process. So much junk comes out of your pores! You don’t have to do this (I’m not!)

5) Do a technology detox too!

Detoxifying your mind is just as important as detoxifying your body.

These days, our smartphones are constantly bombarding us with social media notifications and email messages.

It’s EXHAUSTING.

If you can, take a day or two off social media, or at least limit the number of times you check your email during the day.

If you do not want to take time off technology completely, decluttering your social media feeds and unfollow any account that makes you feel bad about yourself.

If you’re going to use social media during your detox, make sure to fill your Instagram feed with posts that people inspire you.

6) Take a deep breath

A few deep breaths a day could do wonders for your stress levels.

In 2016, scientists found that by adjusting your breathing rhythm you can affect your emotional state.

Taking just a couple of deep breaths per day could help stabilize your mood and reduce anxiety.

If you are willing to take it a step further, try meditating for a few minutes every day.

Meditation apps like Calm and Headspace are a great place to start!

7) Get more sleep

Last, but not least - get more sleep.

Sleep is the time when our bodies detoxify naturally - when our brains “take out the trash”.

Every single day, your brain accumulates metabolic waste.

Research suggests that getting enough sleep plays a crucial role in cleaning out the brain each night.

Sleep also plays a crucial role in memory consolidation and metabolic health.

Better sleep is absolutely crucial for your health and happiness, and an essential part of detoxing your body and mind.

If you needed an excuse to plan a lazy weekend morning, here it is!

Also try going to bed earlier. Even if you don’t fall asleep, laying there with your eyes closed will still give you some of the important benefits.

Don’t have time to Detox RIGHT NOW?

That’s okay, another group is starting on Monday, January 7th.

If that’s still too soon for you (I understand) you can still get your hands on the Detox Plan and use it when you DO have the time.

I do a detox every couple of months and love seeing everyone use the plan all year long after vacations or when they get off track (or their pants start feeling a bit too tight).

The 2019 Vegan Detox Plan is FREE in the Meal Mentor App with a monthly membership. Start your membership now. As long as you’re a member you’ll be able to access this Detox Plan.

You can also purchase the plan as a PDF here.

Whatever you decide is best for you, I do hope you’ll take these next few days to reboot your body, mind and spirit.

I’m here to support you every step of the way.

I hope you’ll join the Challenge. The more the merrier.

Let’s do this!

from Recipes Blog https://happyherbivore.com/2019/01/your-detox-starter-guide-7-science-backed-strategi/

0 notes

nemzetinet · 7 years

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Az USA iszonyatosan beijedt a két Korea közeledési terveitől

A vezető amerikai lap, a New York Times rendkívül veszélyesnek tartja azt, hogy Kim Dzsong-un észak-koreai vezető a nukleáris fegyverek és interkontinentális rakéták idei tömeggyártását beharongozó újévi beszédében új stratégiai fordulatként azonnali közvetlen párbeszéd megindítását ajánlotta fel Dél-Koreának. Az Észak-Koreával szembeni harciasságot trombitáló Trump elnök és a dél-koreai vezető közötti izzó feszültséget érzékelve Kim Dzsong-un ugyanis éket akar verni Szöul és Washington hét éve tartó szövetsége közé. Mún dél-koreai elnök már megpengette, hogy gazdaságilag és diplomáciailag nyitni szeretne Phenjan irányába, amit eddig az észak-koreai média mereven elutasított, mert Mún elnököt az USA gerinctelen lakájának ábrázolta.

((Echo TV nemzetközi lapszemléjéből, először ma 11:55-kor)

E blog egyik olvasójának nagy hála azért, hogy elküldte a kommunista Korea elnökének újévi beszéde teljes szövegét, mivel – és ilyen közülünk nem sok van – előfizetője az észak-koreai hírügynökségnek.

Egyszerűen megdöbbentő, hogy a nyugati média miként hazudhat ekkorát e beszéd tálalásában is. A fentebb ismertetett NYT-rész viszont egyfajta áttörés: mert ott láthatóan elolvasva az eredeti beszédet, a Sulzberger lap (ha nálunk lehet Vajna-tévé, akkor talán mi is megengedhetjük magunknak a „Szulberger-lap” kifejezést) iszonyatos félelmét tükrözi, hogy netán nem neokon-inspritálta atomháború lesz, hanem béke a két Korea között.

Csatolom Kim beszédét, hátha valakinek van ideje azt elolvasni. (Annak megszólítása:

„Kedves honfitársak és a néphadsereg bátor állománya

Kedves Honfitársaim!”)

Csupán egyetlen bekezdést fordítok le a szokásos kötelező rohanás és így időhiány miatt:

„Az újévi üdvözletem szól a déli és külföldi honfitársaknak is, akik az ország újraegyesítéséért dolgoznak és mindazon progresszív embereknek és más barátoknak világszerte, akik ellenzik az agressziós háborút és szilárdan szolidárisak a békét képviselő ügyünkkel”.

/Most ehhez képest olvassák el, mi van a hazai sajtóban is e beszédről…/

Kim Jong Un Makes New Year Address

Pyongyang, January 1 (KCNA) — Respected Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un made the New Year Address for 2018.

The full text of the New Year Address reads:

Dear fellow countrymen and brave service personnel of the People’s Army,

Dear compatriots,

Today, recollecting with great pleasure and pride and deep emotion the proud achievements we performed last year through our diligent and worthwhile labour and sincere efforts and by the sweat of our brow, we are all seeing in the new year 2018 with fresh hopes and expectations.

Greeting the hope-filled new year, I wish the families across the country good health, happiness, success and prosperity. I also wish that the beautiful dreams of all our people, including the hopes of our children in the new year, would come true.

Comrades,

As I look back upon last year, when I worked strenuously on the road of achieving national prosperity, gaining great strength and wisdom from the pure minds of the dauntless people who invariably trusted and followed the Party even in the face of manifold difficulties and trials, I feel my heart swelling with the pride in waging the revolution shoulder to shoulder with a great people.

On behalf of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, I extend sincere thanks and New Year greetings to all the people and service personnel who won miraculous victories to be noteworthy in the national history of 5 000 years by sharing mind and purpose with the Party and supporting its determination on the road of arduous yet glorious struggle.

My New Year greetings go also to the compatriots in the south and abroad who are fighting for the reunification of the country and to the progressive peoples and other friends across the world who opposed war of aggression and gave firm solidarity to our cause of justice.

Comrades,

The year 2017 was a year of heroic struggle and great victory, a year when we set up an indestructible milestone in the history of building a powerful socialist country with the spirit of self-reliance and self-development as the dynamic force.

Last year the moves of the United States and its vassal forces to isolate and stifle our country went to extremes, and our revolution faced the harshest-ever challenges. In the face of the prevailing situation and the worst trials on the road of advance, our Party trusted the people and the people defended the Party death-defyingly, turning adversity and misfortune to good account and achieving brilliant successes on all the fronts where a powerful socialist country is being built.

Through last year’s grandiose struggle we powerfully demonstrated at home and abroad our immutable faith and will to follow to the end the road of Juche-oriented socialism opened up by the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and the single-hearted unity of socialist Korea in which all the people are firmly united behind the Party.

An outstanding success our Party, state and people won last year was the accomplishment of the great, historic cause of perfecting the national nuclear forces.

On this platform one year ago I officially made public on behalf of the Party and government that we had entered the final stage of preparation for the test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. In the past one year we conducted several rounds of its test launch, aimed at implementing the programme, safely and transparently, thus proving before the eyes of the world its definite success.

By also conducting tests of various means of nuclear delivery and super-intense thermonuclear weapon, we attained our general orientation and strategic goal with success, and our Republic has at last come to possess a powerful and reliable war deterrent, which no force and nothing can reverse.

Our country’s nuclear forces are capable of thwarting and countering any nuclear threats from the United States, and they constitute a powerful deterrent that prevents it from starting an adventurous war.

In no way would the United States dare to ignite a war against me and our country.

The whole of its mainland is within the range of our nuclear strike and the nuclear button is on my office desk all the time; the United States needs to be clearly aware that this is not merely a threat but a reality.

We have realized the wish of the great leaders who devoted their lives to building the strongest national defence capability for reliably safeguarding our country’s sovereignty, and we have created a mighty sword for defending peace, as desired by all our people who had to tighten their belts for long years. This great victory eloquently proves the validity and vitality of the Party’s line of simultaneously conducting economic construction and building up our nuclear forces and its idea of prioritizing science, and it is a great historic achievement that has opened up bright prospects for the building of a prosperous country and inspired our service personnel and people with confidence in sure victory.

I offer my noble respects to the heroic Korean people who, despite the difficult living conditions caused by life-threatening sanctions and blockade, have firmly trusted, absolutely supported and dynamically implemented our Party’s line of simultaneously promoting the two fronts.

My warm, comradely greetings go also to our defence scientists and workers in the munitions industry who made devoted efforts all the year round, to demonstrate to the world that the plans and decisions of the Party Central Committee are a science and a truth and that they automatically mean their materialization.

Last year we also made notable headway in carrying out the five-year strategy for national economic development.

As a result of our vigorous endeavour to establish the Juche orientation in the metallurgical industry, an oxygen-blast furnace of our own style was built at the Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex to maintain regular production of pig iron by relying on anthracite, and prospects were opened up for consolidating the independent foundations of the chemical industry and attaining the five-year strategy’s goal for the output of chemical products.

Numerous light-industry factories in such sectors as textile, footwear, knitwear and foodstuff industries raised high the banner of Juche orientation and made proactive efforts to propel the modernization of several production lines by means of our own technology and our own equipment. By doing so, they provided a guarantee for making the range of consumer goods varied and improving their quality.

The machine-building industry, by upholding the banner of self-reliance and relying on science and technology, creditably attained the Party’s goal for the production of new-type tractors and trucks, and thus laid solid foundations for speeding up the Juche orientation and modernization of the national economy and the comprehensive mechanization of the rural economy. The agricultural sector, by actively introducing scientific farming methods, increased the ranks of high-yield farms and workteams and reaped an unusually rich fruit harvest in spite of unfavourable climatic conditions.

Our service personnel and people built magnificent Ryomyong Street and the large-scale livestock farming base in the Sepho area, and completed the task for the first stage of the forest restoration campaign, thereby demonstrating the might of great army-people unity and the potential of the socialist independent economy.

Amid a vigorous struggle for the creation of the Mallima speed, new model units emerged one after another, and a large number of factories and enterprises fulfilled their quotas of the yearly national economic plan ahead of schedule and made a proud achievement of surpassing their peak-year levels.

Successes were also made on the scientific and cultural fronts last year.

Scientists and technicians resolved scientific and technological problems arising in the building of a powerful socialist country and completed research projects in the cutting-edge field, thereby giving stimulus to economic development and the improvement of the people’s living standards. The socialist education system was further improved and the educational environment upgraded, while medical service conditions were bettered. An example of artistic performance activities was created to infuse the whole country with revolutionary optimism and the militant spirit, and our sportspeople won victories in different international competitions.

All the successes made last year are the triumph of the Juche-oriented revolutionary line of the Workers’ Party of Korea and a precious fruition of the heroic struggle of the service personnel and people who are firmly rallied behind the Party.

Our Party and people achieved such signal victories others could never think of achieving by their own efforts in the face of the sanctions-and-blockade moves the United States and its vassal forces perpetrated more viciously than ever before to stamp out the rights to sovereignty, existence and development of the DPRK. Herein lies the source of their dignity and their great pride and self-confidence.

I would like to extend my warm thanks once again to all the people and service personnel who victoriously advanced the cause of building a powerful socialist country, always sharing the destiny with the Party and braving all difficulties and trials on the eventful days of last year.

Comrades,

This year we will mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the glorious Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. To mark the 70th anniversary of their state with splendour is of real significance for the great people, who have raised with dignity the status of their socialist country, the greatest patriotic legacy of the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, to that of a strategic state recognized by the world.

We should make constant innovations and continued progress until we win the final victory of the revolution by carrying on the tradition of heroic struggle and collective innovation which adorned the founding and course of development of Juche Korea. A revolutionary general offensive should be launched to achieve fresh victory on all fronts of building a powerful socialist country by taking the historic victory in the building of the DPRK’s nuclear forces as a springboard for fresh progress.

“Let us launch a revolutionary general offensive to achieve fresh victory on all fronts of building a powerful socialist country!”‒this is the revolutionary slogan we should uphold. All officials, Party members and other working people should launch an all-people general offensive to frustrate the challenges of the hostile forces who are making last-ditch efforts and raise the overall strength of our Republic to a new stage of development as they brought about a great upsurge in socialist construction overcoming all difficulties through the great Chollima upswing after the war.

A breakthrough should be made in reenergizing the overall economic front this year, the third year of implementing the five-year strategy for national economic development.

The central task facing socialist economic construction this year is to enhance the independence and Juche character of the national economy and improve the people’s standard of living as required by the revolutionary counterstrategy put forward by the Second Plenary Meeting of the Seventh Central Committee of the Party.

We should concentrate all efforts on consolidating the independence and Juche character of the national economy.

The electric-power industry should maintain and reinforce the self-supporting power generation bases, and direct a great deal of efforts to developing new power sources. A dynamic campaign should be conducted to drastically increase thermal power generation, and lower the loss of electric power and increase its production as much as possible by maintaining and reinforcing imperfect generating facilitates. Provinces should build power generation bases to suit their local features and put power generation at the existing medium and small-sized power stations on a normal footing to satisfy the needs of electric power for local industry by themselves. Alternated production should be organized scrupulously throughout the country, and a vigorous struggle waged against the practices of wasting electric power to make effective use of generated electric power.

The metallurgical industry should further improve the Juche-oriented iron- and steel-making technologies, increase the iron production capacity and drastically raise the quality of metallic materials in order to satisfy the needs of the national economy for iron and steel. It is necessary to ensure a preferential, planned and timely supply of electricity, concentrated iron ore, anthracite, lignite, freight wagons, locomotives and funds for the metallurgical industry. By doing so, we can fulfil next year’s iron and steel production plans and make the industry Juche-oriented without fail.

The chemical industry should step up the establishment of the C1 chemical industry, push the projects for catalyst production base and phosphatic fertilizer factory as scheduled, and renovate and perfect the sodium carbonate production line whose starting material is glauberite.

The machine-building industry should modernize the Kumsong Tractor Factory, Sungni Motor Complex and other factories to develop and produce world-level machinery in our style.

The coal and mineral production and rail transport sectors should make concerted efforts to make the country’s self-reliant economic foundations prove their effectiveness.

Notably, the rail transport sector should make the best use of the existing transport capacity by making transport organization and control more scientific and rational, and maintain discipline and order in the railways as rigid as in the army, so as to ensure an accident-free, on-schedule rail traffic.

A turn should be brought about this year in improving the people’s standard of living.

Light-industry factories need to transform their equipment and production lines into labour- and electricity-saving ones and produce and supply more diversified and quality consumer goods with domestic raw and other materials, and provinces, cities and counties should develop the local economy in a characteristic way by relying on their own raw material resources.

The agricultural and fishing fronts should effect an upswing. We should introduce seeds of superior strains, high-yield farming methods and high-performance farm machines on an extensive scale, do farming scientifically and technologically so as to fulfil the cereals production plan without fail, and boost the production of livestock products, fruits, greenhouse vegetables and mushrooms. We should enhance our ship building and repair capacities, launch scientific fishing campaigns, and reenergize aquatic farming.

This year the service personnel and people should join efforts to complete the construction of the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist area in the shortest period of time, push ahead with major construction projects including the renovation of Samjiyon County, the construction of the Tanchon Power Station and the second-stage waterway project of South Hwanghae Province, and channel steady efforts into the construction of houses.

Building on the success we achieved in the forest restoration campaign, we should properly protect and manage the forests that have already been created, improve the technical conditions of roads, conduct river improvement on a regular basis, and protect environment in a scientific and responsible manner.

Every sector and every unit of the national economy should enlist their own technical forces and economic potential to the maximum and launch a dynamic struggle to increase production and practise economy, so as to create a greater amount of material wealth.

A shortcut to developing the self-sufficient economy is to give precedence to science and technology and make innovations in economic planning and guidance.

The scientific research sector should solve on a preferential basis the scientific and technological problems arising in establishing Juche-oriented production lines of our own style, ensuring domestic production of raw and other materials and equipment, and perfecting the structure of the self-supporting economy. Every sector and every unit of the national economy should make a contribution to achieving production growth by intensifying the dissemination of science and technology and waging a brisk technological innovation drive.

The Cabinet and other economic guidance organs should work out a realistic operational plan to carry out the national economic plan for this year and push forward the work for its implementation responsibly and persistently. Positive measures should be taken by the state to ensure that the socialist system of responsible business operation proves its worth in factories, enterprises and cooperative organizations.

Socialist culture should be developed in a comprehensive way.

It is necessary to strengthen the ranks of teachers, improve the contents and methods of education as demanded by the trend of developing modern education, apply the people-oriented character in public health service in a thoroughgoing way, and boost the production of medical equipment and appliances and different kinds of medicines.

We should conduct mass-based sporting activities briskly, create sporting techniques and tactics of our own style, and produce artistic and literary masterpieces which truthfully depict the heroic struggle and life of our service personnel and people in the Mallima era and the beautiful and sublime features proper to human beings. In this way, we can crush the bourgeois reactionary culture by dint of our revolutionary socialist art and literature.

A vigorous struggle should be waged to tighten moral discipline throughout society, establish a socialist way of life and eliminate all kinds of non-socialist practices, so as to ensure that all the people, possessed of ennobling mental and moral traits, lead a revolutionary and cultured life.

The self-reliant defence capability should be further consolidated.

In this year of the 70th anniversary of the development of the Korean People’s Revolutionary Army into a regular revolutionary armed force by the great leader Comrade Kim Il Sung, the People’s Army should perfect its features as befits the revolutionary armed forces of the Party. It should organize and conduct combat training in a highly intensive way, in a real-war atmosphere, to develop all its units in different arms, services and corps into the ranks of a-match-for-a-hundred combatants.

The Korean People’s Internal Security Forces should sharpen the edge of the sword of the class struggle and detect and frustrate the schemes by undesirable and hostile elements in time. The Worker-Peasant Red Guards and Young Red Guards should enhance their combat capability in all aspects through intensive combat and political training.

By consistently holding fast to the line of simultaneously promoting the two fronts in accordance with the strategic policy set by the Party at the Eighth Conference of Munitions Industry, the defence industry should develop and manufacture powerful strategic weapons and military hardware of our style, perfect its Juche-oriented production structure and modernize its production lines on the basis of cutting-edge science and technology.

The nuclear weapons research sector and the rocket industry should mass-produce nuclear warheads and ballistic missiles, the power and reliability of which have already been proved to the full, to give a spur to the efforts for deploying them for action.

And we should always be ready for immediate nuclear counterattack to cope with the enemy’s manoeuvres for a nuclear war.

The political and ideological might is the first and foremost strength of our state and the great propellant for opening up an avenue for building a powerful socialist country.

In order to successfully carry out the fighting tasks facing us, we should rally the whole Party more firmly on its organizational and ideological basis and establish a thoroughgoing revolutionary climate within the Party. In this way, we can constantly enhance its fighting efficiency and leadership role in the overall revolution and construction.

All Party organizations should never tolerate all shades of heterogeneous ideas and double standards of discipline that run counter to the Party’s ideology, but strengthen the single-hearted unity of the whole Party centred on its Central Committee in every way possible.

The whole Party should launch an intense struggle to establish a revolutionary climate within the Party with the main emphasis put on rooting out the abuse of Party authority, bureaucratism and other outdated methods and style of work, so as to ensure that the ties of kinship between the Party and the masses of the people are as solid as a rock.

Party organizations should intensify Party guidance to ensure that the work of their respective sectors and units is always conducted in conformity with the ideas and intentions of the Party and the requirements of its policies, and find satisfactory solutions to the problems arising in the building of a powerful socialist country by giving definite precedence to political work and motivating the people ideologically.

We should rally all the service personnel and people firmly behind the Party ideologically and volitionally so that they throw in their lot with it whatever the adversity and fight with devotion for the victory of the socialist cause.

Party and working people’s organizations and government organs should orient and subordinate all their undertakings to strengthening the single-hearted unity. The benchmark in planning and launching their work should be the people’s demands and interests. And they should go deep among the people, sharing good times and bad with them and solving their mental agony and difficulties in their lives. They should ensure that the shorter the supply of everything is, the fuller play is given to the beautiful traits of comrades and neighbours helping and caring for one another with all sincerity.

We should give free rein to the indomitable mental strength of the heroic Korean people on the present grand Mallima march.

Party and working people’s organizations should ensure that all the working people cherish patriotism in their hearts and bring about collective innovations one after another in the great campaign to create the Mallima speed with the revolutionary spirit of self-reliance and science and technology as the dynamic force. They should see to it that officials, Party members and other working people carry forward the fighting spirit displayed by the elder generations who brought about epochal changes on the grand Chollima march and all of them become Mallima pioneers who vigorously rush forward in the vanguard of the era.

Comrades,

Last year, too, our people made strenuous efforts to defend the peace of the country and hasten national reunification in keeping with the aspirations and demands of the nation. However, owing to the vicious sanctions and pressure by the United States and its vassal forces and their desperate manoeuvres to ignite a war, all aimed at checking the reinforcement of the self-defensive nuclear deterrent by our Republic, the situation on the Korean peninsula became aggravated as never before, and greater difficulties and obstacles were put on the road of the country’s reunification.

Even though the conservative “regime” in south Korea, which had resorted to fascist rule and confrontation with fellow countrymen, collapsed and the ruling circles were replaced by another thanks to the massive resistance by the enraged people of all walks of life, nothing has been changed in the relations between the north and the south. On the contrary, the south Korean authorities, siding with the United States in its hostile policy towards the DPRK against the aspirations of all the fellow countrymen for national reunification, drove the situation to a tight corner, further aggravated the mistrust and confrontation between the north and the south, and brought the bilateral relations to a fix that can be hardly resolved. We can never escape the holocaust of a nuclear war forced by the outside forces, let alone achieve national reunification, unless we put an end to this abnormal situation.

The prevailing situation demands that now the north and the south improve the relations between themselves and take decisive measures for achieving a breakthrough for independent reunification without being obsessed by bygone days. No one can present an honourable appearance in front of the nation if he or she ignores the urgent demands of the times.

This year is significant both for the north and the south as in the north the people will greet the 70th founding anniversary of their Republic as a great, auspicious event and in the south the Winter Olympic Games will take place. In order to not only celebrate these great national events in a splendid manner but also demonstrate the dignity and spirit of the nation at home and abroad, we should improve the frozen inter-Korean relations and glorify this meaningful year as an eventful one noteworthy in the history of the nation.

First of all, we should work together to ease the acute military tension between the north and the south and create a peaceful environment on the Korean peninsula.

As long as this unstable situation, which is neither wartime nor peacetime, persists, the north and the south cannot ensure the success of the scheduled events, nor can they sit face to face to have a sincere discussion over the issue of improving bilateral relations, nor will they advance straight ahead towards the goal of national reunification.

The north and the south should desist from doing anything that might aggravate the situation, and they should make concerted efforts to defuse military tension and create a peaceful environment.

The south Korean authorities should respond positively to our sincere efforts for a detente, instead of inducing the exacerbation of the situation by joining the United States in its reckless moves for a north-targeted nuclear war that threatens the destiny of the entire nation as well as peace and stability on this land. They should discontinue all the nuclear war drills they stage with outside forces, as these drills will engulf this land in flames and lead to bloodshed on our sacred territory. They should also refrain from any acts of bringing in nuclear armaments and aggressive forces from the United States.

Even though the United States is wielding the nuclear stick and going wild for another war, it will not dare to invade us because we currently have a powerful nuclear deterrent. And when the north and the south are determined, they can surely prevent the outbreak of war and ease tension on the Korean peninsula.

A climate favourable for national reconciliation and reunification should be established.

The improvement of inter-Korean relations is a pressing matter of concern not only to the authorities but to all other Koreans, and it is a crucial task to be carried out through a concerted effort by the entire nation. The north and the south should promote bilateral contact, travel, cooperation and exchange on a broad scale to remove mutual misunderstanding and distrust, and fulfil their responsibility and role as the motive force of national reunification.

We will open our doors to anyone from south Korea, including the ruling party and opposition parties, organizations and individual personages of all backgrounds, for dialogue, contact and travel, if they sincerely wish national concord and unity.

A definite end should be put to the acts that might offend the other party and incite discord and hostility between fellow countrymen. The south Korean authorities should not try, as the previous conservative “regime” did, to block contact and travel by people of different social strata and suppress the atmosphere for reunification through alliance with the north, under absurd pretexts and by invoking legal and institutional mechanisms; instead, they should direct efforts to creating conditions and environment conducive to national concord and unity.

To improve inter-Korean relations as soon as possible, the authorities of the north and the south should raise the banner of national independence higher than ever before, and fulfil their responsibility and role they have assumed for the times and the nation.

Inter-Korean relations are, to all intents and purposes, an internal matter of our nation, which the north and the south should resolve on their own responsibility. Therefore, they should acquire a steadfast stand and viewpoint that they will resolve all the issues arising in bilateral relations on the principle of By Our Nation Itself.

The south Korean authorities need to know that they will gain nothing from touring foreign countries to solicit their help on the issue of inter-Korean relations, and that such behaviour will give the outside forces, who pursue dishonest objectives, an excuse for their interference and complicate matters further. Now it is not time for the north and the south to turn their backs on each other and merely express their respective standpoints; it is time that they sit face to face with a view to holding sincere discussions over the issue of improving inter-Korean relations by our nation itself and seek a way out for its settlement in a bold manner.

As for the Winter Olympic Games to be held soon in south Korea, it will serve as a good occasion for demonstrating our nation’s prestige and we earnestly wish the Olympic Games a success. From this point of view we are willing to dispatch our delegation and adopt other necessary measures; with regard to this matter, the authorities of the north and the south may meet together soon. Since we are compatriots of the same blood as south Koreans, it is natural for us to share their pleasure over the auspicious event and help them.

We will, in the future, too, resolve all issues by the efforts of our nation itself under the unfurled banner of national independence and frustrate the schemes by anti-reunification forces within and without on the strength of national unity, thereby opening up a new history of national reunification.

Availing myself of this opportunity, I extend warm New Year greetings once again to all Korean compatriots at home and abroad, and I sincerely wish that in this significant year everything would go well both in the north and in the south.

Comrades,

The international situation we witnessed last year was clear proof that our Party and our state were absolutely correct in their strategic judgement and decision that when we are confronting the imperialist forces of aggression who are attempting to wreck global peace and security and make mankind suffer a nuclear holocaust, our only recourse is the power of justice.

As a responsible, peace-loving nuclear power, our country will neither have recourse to nuclear weapons unless hostile forces of aggression violate its sovereignty and interests nor threaten any other country or region by means of nuclear weapons. However, it will resolutely respond to acts of wrecking peace and security on the Korean peninsula.

Our Party and the government of our Republic will develop good-neighbourly and friendly relations with all the countries that respect our national sovereignty and are friendly to us, and make positive efforts to build a just and peaceful new world.

Comrades,

The year 2018 will be recorded as another year of victory for our people.

At this moment when this year’s gigantic march has begun, I am filled with confidence that our cause is ever-victorious as it is supported by the people, and I harden my resolve to make devoted efforts to live up to their expectations.

The Workers’ Party of Korea and the government of the Republic will never cease to struggle and advance until achieving the final victory of the revolutionary cause of Juche by relying on the trust and strength of the people, but surely hasten the future of a powerful socialist country where all the people lead a dignified and happy life.

Let us all march forward dynamically towards fresh victory of the revolution by displaying the unyielding mettle of heroic Korea under the leadership of the Workers’ Party of Korea. -0-

Az USA iszonyatosan beijedt a két Korea közeledési terveitől a Nemzeti.net-en jelent meg,

#Echo TV #New York #USA

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generalpeanuttiger-blog · 7 years

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Pimento Cheese.

The Modern Paleo blog post's been performing delicious chocolate testimonials just recently, which hit me as a absolutely logical yet unique strategy for a blogging site contacted Modern Paleo. Love haloumi in a salad along with fresh days, pomegranate seeds, rocket and mint, a little bit of lemon vinaigrette and also you possess an extremely tasty light meal. They have them at Pierre Marcolini and also they're made on the premises at Fouquet, one of my beloved candy as well as sweet shops in Paris. This Cajun-inspired catfish club sandwich is offered open experienced as well as topped with a luscious slaw packed with clean cilantro. There is a deal of variation throughout the neighborhood but I will claim that 2 dishes a day is NOT regular; that most PBers don't swift and that 3 dishes a time is actually very most usual. And also Androuet's store in the rue Mouffetard market is tiny but properly equipped and if a little expensive, every little thing transcends in top quality. When I actually don't have time to acquire everything well-balanced, the epitome of chilly climate winter and also fall this are going to undoubtedly be my go to breakfast in the mornings. Serve this clean, all set in 20-minutes panini along with fragrant potato chips or even a straightforward green salad for a easy and also full dish. I created this hot cake today and that was actually remarkable:-RRB-))) I brought in a total of 3 of your dishes today. We had garlic mayo on the desk, thus, to guild the lily, a little of that took place the club sandwich. Gossip possessed it that there is actually some type of health care facility, yet good friends told me that you needed to intend your injury (or giving birth) on the day that specific doctor exists. The elegance of this Latin spin on the traditional Middle Eastern falafel sandwich is its own simpleness, and also naturally, flavor. I need to have all the suggestions I could get due to the fact that the little one train is coming with town as well as there are even more pals' chilluns heading.

I have actually been actually checking out for some fridge freezer ideas as it is actually something that my partner and also I actually would like to try and also get in to the habit from performing! That concerned that, and also that was actually explained at the most ideal spread the writer recognizes for a roast meat sandwich. A friend which grew not far from me, just recently told that they you are actually meant to order an additional item of breadstuff, take out a few of the meat product, and consume a normal-sized" club sandwich - at that point have the remainder residence to earn another one. That's thus pleasant to check the blog site as well as observe a complete food for two that I can effortlessly prepare. I assume the idea from possessing meatballs in a club sandwich is actually very American - I don't presume it ever before occurred to anyone listed below in the UK up until Train came along! Not just is the service really attentive, but you typically end up starting up exciting conversations along with those sitting alongside you. That is actually typically a quick guide as well as in order to help you start the meal preparing due to the fact that all of us know the anxiousness from coming home as well as wondering exactly what the hell you are actually mosting likely to create to eat! Among highlights when keeping in Oriental resorts is the kaiseki food they provide. With these fast and also healthy and balanced options you will not think twice about missing the absolute most crucial meal from the day. I know from previous experience when our team've performed our unique sampling evenings and also certainly not had the settlement prior, there were actually consistently no-shows which implied a genuine loss for us as our experts had readied all the components of the dish. Provide along with a fruit salad from 1 cup blueberries and also 2 mugs strawberries at breakfast or breakfast. There's a brand-new ice cream shop in the rue des Martyrs called Caramella that costs looking into. Likewise adore their Smoked Gouda Cheese, literally the creamiest Gouda ever before (pair with prosciutto advantageous grilled cheese club sandwich EVER). Create this recipe for Sausage & Egg Breakfast Snaps evening and the following early morning just piece as well as go - the squares are actually just like excellent cold as they are warmed up. Oh wow ... I simply completed supper & am seeing this today and also I think I will possess entirely transformed my whole entire program based off from the label alone. Lenôtre (where I went to school) provides bread lessons at their college in Plaisir, which is a train ride out. I was grinning reading your post considering that yesterday, on Sunday, I had Swiss guests and also their in France staying progenies for a meal - and also our experts possessed Raclette ... The loved ones lifestyle in our residence prior to us left a raclette producer and also that had us some time to identify just what this was. I'm with you on the sundried tomato craze ... I just recently located some dried out all natural ones at a nearby natural food store and have been adding all of them to every dish achievable! Inspired through a youth favorite, this cocktail is actually reminiscent of a peanut butter as well as jelly sandwich. This Midwestern signature sandwich typically showcases a deep-fried pork cutlet that sprawls like the Great Plains over a comically overmatched bun. However, if a service charge has actually certainly not been actually featured in your bill, that is actually looked at well mannered to leave behind a pointer from around 10%. I placed the additional farro in the freezer and will definitely be ready to opt for future recipes. Given that I failed to leave behind whatever to the last moment as well as I got all my dish planning performed final week, I am actually believing quite unwinded though. Right here in western Massachusetts in and around springfield ma our experts phone them grinders as well.always haveGotta go and also make some meatballs ... I've blogged both club sandwiches on my own, however am actually still absolutely astounded by exactly how outrageous my hubby receives if I point out, Our company are actually possessing meatball belows for supper. http://superfit-blog.com/ am actually performing my lengthiest bike flight yet for charitable organization this Sunday (55 kilometers) and this appears like an incredible breakfast to eat in the past. Go to your regional butcher and also you may possess new bratwurst revamped for you that doesn't possess everything preservative and nitrate crap in it. I may receive many variants of breakfast bratwurst as well as others ... i.e jalapeno or walnut, as well as i mix it up occasionally and also possess them perform me some chicken or even turkey morning meal bratwurst similarly. So, I believe that some people have a level of sensitivity to the whatever is in eco-friendly tea- I recognize its own therefore helpful for you however it produces me think super unwell as well as upset after I drink this. I located that consuming this after food- like breakfast or even lunch time with a contact of non-dairy milk- like coconut or nuts dairy truly helps alleviate the queasiness.

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blushingfantasy · 7 years

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If “no makeup, makeup” is your beauty routine jam then you’re in for a real treat here. Glossier rocks my socks and it can do the same for you!

Glossier is a cosmetic brand that portrays their products as more than just cosmetics to the public eye, rather it is a lifestyle. Glossier is about being alive, living in, embracing the current and not the past nor the future. It’s about leisure, freedom and being comfortable in your own skin- after all it’s “skin first, makeup second, smile always”!

It’s about being natural, authentically you, having the ability to admire someone else’s beauty without questioning your own, women supporting other women and feeling empowered to be a female- “the future is female”. It’s all about jaw dropping confidence and smiling, being happy and radiating that energy- your peers will soon pick up on that vibe. Glossier is hitting reset on the beauty game and developing products that will not cause makeup to cover up the skin’s sins and skincare to wash away the residue of makeup. Rather, it’s saying hello to a new evolution of accentuating existing beauty rather than fixing flaws. Glossier celebrates natural beauty and one of their main focuses is being a “real girl”.

Glossier came into play after Emily Weiss created her blog “Into the Gloss”. She quickly picked up on the fact that engaged women typically have five minutes to do a full face of makeup before flying out the door. It’s most millennial’s reality nowadays, butthey still wants to appear flawless with minimal effort. Emily picked up on this information after interviewing women for her blog from celebrities like Kim Kardashian to makeup queens like Bobbi Brown and Victoria Secret Angels like Karlie Kloss. Emily Weiss would get a sneak peak into their private top shelf bathrooms and morning and night beauty routines. Soon afterwards Glossier was born.

Much of Glossier’s success, as a brand, is a direct result of their commitment to communicate with consumers on social media and being a beauty brand for the internet. The campaigns have propelled the brand’s aesthetic seamlessly- youthful female models with dewy hydrated skin, black and white block text on pale pink backgrounds, as well as corky stickers included with every package. They celebrate everything there is about being a women and do so where skincare and makeup are on the exact same end of the spectrum. Now, you do not have to choose if skincare or makeup is more vital to you; you can simply have it all! Especially with international shipping. Glossier does beauty products for real life.

Skin is in. Just dew it.

Let’s Talk Through The Products I Have From Glossier:

Milky Jelly Cleanser

This Glossier face wash claims to “rule them all”and it does! It is a cleanser that is gentle enough for use in your daily skincare regime. It dissolves away makeup from the day on dry skin and can act as a cleaner on wet skin in the am from the night before, just in case not everything was not removed. The Milky Jelly Cleanser has the exact same cleansing solvent that’s in contact lens solution, therefore it’s kind on the eye area. The formula is creamy, jelly, and created with five unique skin conditioners, which leaves your skin feeling/looking healthy and oh so soft! It’s tough on impurities in all the right ways. Benefits are soothing, purifying, and nourishing.

Priming Moisturizer

Primers are an absolute essential whether you are deciding to go in with makeup or not. It acts as an extra hydrating protection shield and who wouldn’t want that? This Glossier Priming Moisturizer brings only the best in your skin and creates a fresh, dewy, and smooth canvas. This primer plumps the skin to look full, evens the texture of the skin and generates youthful skin by minimizing the appearance of pores. The primer has anti-redness properties, which allows your skin to look clean and balanced after working this bad boy in! You can layer and build easily with this product depending on your skin type, climate, or even season. Main ingredients that make this priming moisturizer so jaw dropping are: Hyaluronic Acid, Mushroom Super Hydrator, Anti-Redness Complex,Oxygenating Agent and Antioxidant Blend. Benefits are soothing, redness reducing, oxygenating and build-able.

Mega Greens Galaxy Pack

The Megan Greens Galaxy Pack is a detoxifying face mask for when your just feeling dirty. Glossier promotes it is a “juice cleanse” for your skin, which your mom would approve of you getting in your vegetables right?

I like to think of it as a rescue for your skin, whether you haven’t gotten a sufficient amount of sleep, been drinking too many alcoholic beverages or have been wearing too much makeup and haven’t allowed your skin to be bare. This mask does all the hard work, so you don’t. It detoxifies, by protracting excess oils and impurities, leaving your skin matte and extra pristine. It also delivers an influential dose of nutrients for when your complexion needs all the help it can get from you. This mask is simple, even the ingredients are some major ones are: Leafy Green Phytonutrients, Bitter Orange Peel, Creamy White Clay, Avocado Oil & Aloe and Superfruit Antioxidant Blend. Benefits are balancing, purifying, nourishing and refining.

Moisturizing Moon Mask

The Moisturizing Moon Mask by Glossier is an absolute essential for cold winter days and will definitely be incorporated into mine without a doubt. Hydration is key and this mask understands every square inch of that statement.

This mask brightens the skin and has an insanely creamy consistency with a soothing agent. This particular mask goes deep below the exterior and clearly plumps skin with lots of hydration, which helps with smoothing out the appearance, evens out the skin, reduces fine lines and rehabilitates the skin’s elasticity. Glossier suggests pairing the Moisturizing Moon Mask with the Mega Greens Galaxy Pack for an additional moisture. This mask works for all skin types and some key ingredients are: Oxygenating Agent, Natural Emollients, Licorice Root, Lemon Extracts, Hyaluronic Acid, Honey and Aloe. Benefits are soothing, oxygenating, conditioning and hydrating.

Balm Dotcom

Everyone needs a go to lip balm that saves their cracked lips time after time.

The Glossier Balm Dotcom is a hydrating, long-lasting, multifunction lip and skin salve that’s loaded with antioxidants and natural emollients to cultivate and mend dry, irritated skin. The dense, waxy composition stays in tack to seal in moisture wherever it may go. Some key ingredients in Balm Dotcom are Castor Seed Oil, Beeswax, Cupuacu Fruit Extract, Rice Bran, and Rosemary Leaf Extracts. Benefits are soothing, moisturizing, conditioning and of course it smells incredible.

Boy Brow

The Glossier Boy Brow is positively a game changer; it’s an all-in-one brow fluffer, filler, and shaper. With this product, I can ultimately say goodbye to my numerous other products and hello to one simple brow product that does it all.

The Boy Brow thickens the brow, fills them in and grooms the brow into place to stay all day. The formula is creamy and it allows for a soft, malleable hold that doesn’t solidify or flake. The Boy Brows allows you to achieve a natural look, as opposed to a dramatic look, making it an everyday makeup essential. Some key ingredients in Boy Brow are Beeswax and Carnauba Wax, Oleic Acid, Lecithin and Atelocollagen. Benefits of Boy Brow are thickening, conditioning and flexible.

Stretch Concealer

On a everyday base I like my skin to look clear, dewy, and glowing. I want to fool everyone that I have been drinking my water and eating my vegetables.

On a more serious level, the Glossier stretch concealer allows the makeup to look like real skin that can breath without giving it away you are wearing products. This Glossier concealer has elastic micro waves that have the ability to move with your face- hint hint “stretch”. It has nourishing oils, which leaves your skin looking lit from within. This is no heavy duty concealer, in fact it is lightweight- however it will cover dark circles, redness, and minor blemishes. Some key ingredients in the stretch concealer are Beeswax & Microcrystalline Wax, Avocado & Jojoba Oil, Cocoa Butter and Adaptable Mineral Pigments. Benefits of the stretch concealer are build-able, enhancing, flexible and nourishing.

Cloud Paint

Glossier’s Cloud Paint changes the way you think and apply blush.

Blush can be amusing by using these finger paints. Simply dab it onto your cheeks and massage it in wherever you would like. The formula of the cloud paint’s are a gel-cream and would be a perfect beauty item to travel with or for on the go quick makeup look- it’s so damn convenient. It’s seamless, sheer and buildable. These cloud paints work for a variety of skin tones and provide a healthy glow by being rosy-from-within- looks like cute boys aren’t the only thing you can get flushed from. The key ingredients included in the cloud paint are Collagen, Smooth-Gel System and Blurring Powder Pigments. Some benefits of the cloud paint is easy, enhancing and plumping.

Visit Them

123 Layfayette St., Penthouse

New York, NY 110013

[email protected]

Monday-Friday 12-8pm

Saturday/Sunday 11am-7pm

Listen To:

Bellyache Remix Billie Eilish, Marian Hill

New Rules Dua Lipa

OMG Camila Cabello, Quavo

xoxo

Kaelynn Shinkaruk

Glossier. Skin First, Makeup Second, Smile Always. If "no makeup, makeup" is your beauty routine jam then you’re in for a real treat here.

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ramialkarmi · 7 years

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Researchers taught AI to write totally believable fake reviews, and the implications are terrifying

Researchers have used AI to develop software that can write extremely believable fake online reviews.

The tech is a major threat to sites like Yelp and Amazon — and the businesses that rely on them.

And it hints at a worrying future where AI is capable of writing sophisticated texts, undermining public trust and spreading fake news.

For many people, online reviews are the first port of call when looking for a restaurant and hotel.

As such, they've become the lifeblood for many businesses — a permanent record of the quality of their services and products. And these businesses are constantly on the watch for unfair or fake reviews, planted by disgruntled rivals or angry customers.

But there will soon be a major new threat to the world of online reviews: Fake reviews written automatically by artificial intelligence (AI).

Allowed to rise unchecked, they could irreparably tarnish the credibility of review sites — and the tech could have far broader (and more worrying) implications for society, trust, and fake news.

"In general, the threat is bigger. I think the threat towards society at large and really disillusioned users and to shake our belief in what is real and what is not, I think that's going to be even more fundamental," Ben Y. Zhao, a professor of computer science at the University of Chicago, told Business Insider.

Fake reviews are undetectable — and considered reliable

Researchers from the University of Chicago (including Ben Zhao) have written a paper ("Automated Crowdturfing Attacks and Defenses in Online Review Systems") that shows how AI can be used to develop sophisticated reviews that are not only undetectable using contemporary methods, but are also considered highly reliable by unwitting readers.

The paper will be presented at the ACM Conference on Computer and Communications Security later this year.

Here's one example of a synthesised review: "I love this place. I went with my brother and we had the vegetarian pasta and it was delicious. The beer was good and the service was amazing. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for a great place to go for a great breakfast and a small spot with a great deal."

There's nothing immediately strange about this review. It gives some specific recommendations and believable backstory, and while the last phrase is a little odd ("a small spot with a great deal"), it's still an entirely plausible human turn-of-phrase.

In reality, though, it was generated using a deep learning technique called recurrent neural networks (RNN), after being trained with thousands of real online reviews that are freely available online. (Scroll down to test yourself with more examples of fake reviews.)

The researchers wrote that the synthesised reviews were "effectively indistinguishable" from the real deal: "We [carried] out a user study (=600) and [showed] that not only can these fake reviews consistently avoid detection by real users, but they provide the same level of user-perceived 'usefulness' as real reviews written by humans."

That the reviews are considered not just believable but "useful" is a big deal: It shows they are fulfilling their purpose of maliciously influencing human opinions.

The reviews are also only rarely picked up by plagiarism detection software, especially when they are configured to prioritise uniqueness. They're generated character-by-character, rather than just swapping out words in existing reviews. "It remains hard to detect machine-generated reviews using a plagiarism checker without inadvertently flagging a large number of real reviews," the researchers wrote. "This shows that the RNN does not simply copy the existing reviews from the training set."

The tech isn't being used by real people — yet

There's already a burgeoning underground industry for human-written fake reviews. If you know where to look and some cash in the bank, you can pay people to write positive reviews for your business — or negative ones for your rivals.

But AI-generated reviews has the potential to "disrupt that industry," Zhao said.

While an attacker might previously have to pay significant sums for high-quality reviews (between $1 and $10 per review on Yelp), they can now generate thousands free of charge, and space them out so they don't attract suspicion — drastically increasing the threat that fake reviews pose.

Zhao said he hasn't seen any examples of AI being used to generate malicious fake reviews in the real world just yet.

But it would take someone "reasonably technically proficient" "not very long at all" to build a similar system to the one the researchers developed, requiring nothing but some normal, off-the-shelf computer hardware and a database of real reviews (which can be easily found online).

It's an existential threat to review sites, but there are potential defences

Fake reviews produced on an industrial scale pose a major threat to companies like user-submitted review site Yelp, which sells itself on the reliability and helpfulness of its reviews. If any given review on a website could be fake, who would trust any of them?

Retailers like Amazon are also at risk — though Zhao points out that it can at least check if someone has bought the product they are reviewing. (Amazon and Yelp did not immediately respond to requests for comment as to whether they've seen computer-written reviews on their platforms yet, and how they see the tech evolving.)

But the researchers did find a potential way to fight this attack. While fake reviews might look identical to a real one to a human, there are subtle differences that a computer program can detect, if it knows to look — notably the distribution of characters (letters — a, b, c, d, and so on).

The fake reviews are derived from real reviews, and there is some information lost in the process. The fake reviews prioritise fluency and believability — so less noticeable features like character distribution take a hit.

"The information loss incurred during the training would propagate to the generated text," the researchers wrote, "leading to statistically detectable difference in the underlying character distribution between the generated text and human text."

There are ways attackers can try and get round this, Zhao said, by buying more expensive computer hardware and using it to generate more sophisticated neural networks. But employing these kind of defences, at the very least, "raises the bar for attackers," making it harder for most them to slip through.

If the cost of a success attack is pushed up to the point that all but the most ardent attackers are put off, "that'll effectively be a win," he said. "That is all security does, raise the bar for attackers. You can't ever stop the truly determined and resourceful attacker."

This doesn't stop with reviews...

Reviews are in some ways an ideal place to start testing text-synthesing technology. They have a clearly defined purpose and direction, they're on a single subject, they follow a fairly standard structure, and they're short (the longer a fake review, the higher the chances of a mistake that gives the game away, Zhao said).

But that won't be where this tech ends.

"In general, the threat is bigger. I think the threat towards society at large and really disillusioned users and to shake our belief in what is real and what is not, I think that's going to be even more fundamental," Zhao said. "So we're starting with online reviews. Can you trust what so-and-so said about a restaurant or product? But it is going to progress.

"It is going to progress to greater attacks, where entire articles written on a blog may be completely autonomously generated along some theme by a robot, and then you really have to think about where does information come from, how can you verify ... that I think is going to be a much bigger challenge for all of us in the years ahead."

Business Insider has explored this theme before in features looking at the potential of developments in AI and computer generated imagery (CGI) to inflame "fake news," as well as impacting more broadly in areas ranging from information warfare to "revenge porn."

Zhao's message, he said, is "simple": "I want people to pay attention to this type of attack vector as very real an immediate threat," urging companies like Yelp and Amazon to start thinking about defences, if their engineers aren't already.

The professor hopes that "we call more attention to designing not only defences for this particular attack, but more eyeballs and minds looking at the threats of really, really good AI from a more mundane perspective.

"I think so many people are focused on the Singularity and Skynet as a very catchy danger of AI, but I think there are many more realistic and practically impactful threats from really, really good AI and this is just the tip of the iceberg."

He added: "So I'd like folks in the security community to join me and look at these kind of problems so we can actually have some hope of catching up. I think the ... speed and acceleration of advances in AI is such that if we don't start now looking at defences, we may never catch up."

Can you tell if a review is real?

Lastly, here are six reviews. A number of them were generated by the University of Chicago researchers' neural network, while the others are real reviews cited in their paper. Can you tell which ones are real and which are fake?

1. Easily my favorite Italian restaurant. I love the taster menu, everything is amazing on it. I suggest the carpaccio and the asparagus. Sadly it has become more widely known and becoming difficult to get a reservation for prime times.

2. My family and I are huge fans of this place. The staff is super nice and the food is great. The chicken is very good and the garlic sauce is perfect. Ice cream topped with fruit is delicious too. Highly recommended!

3. I come here every year during Christmas and I absolutely love the pasta! Well worth the price!

4. Excellent pizza, lasagna and some of the best scallops I've had. The dessert was also extensive and fantastic.

5. The food here is freaking amazing, the portions are giant. The cheese bagel was cooked to perfection and well prepared, fresh & delicious! The service was fast. Our favorite spot for sure! We will be back!

6. I have been a customer for about a year and a half and I have nothing but great things to say about this place. I always get the pizza, but the Italian beef was also good and I was impressed. The service was outstanding. The best service I have ever had. Highly recommended.

The answers?

1 is real, 2 is fake, 3 and 4 are real, and 5 and 6 are fake.

Here's the full paper: "Automated Crowdturfing Attacks and Defenses in Online Review Systems":

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