#human and intermediate is vulnerability and trust

[incendiorum-arch]

I really enjoy writing things that give away io's trust in a person. how much lu likes a person or acts with them is a direct link to how much io trusts them. i.e. lu is most affectionate (besides with io) with latona, who is someone io trusts the most they themself possibly can.

[natalchartnurtures]

Venus Got A Lil' Emotional Today

Note: This post might not give you anything new if you're at an intermediate or advanced level of being on the astrology wildride :p

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Water Venus, on a good day: "My heart is a vessel of boundless compassion, where tenderness and understanding blossom. My love is like water, an endless wellspring, and I am its gentle guardian."

Why?- Arguably one of the most precious placements, in my opinion, Water Venuses on their good days truly do God's work. They give themselves unconditionally to people they love, all while ensuring they take care of themselves as well. It's nurture and emotional intelligence at its peak in a social, interpersonal interaction setting. You can truly model what the internet calls a "healthy relationship": balanced, equal, loving beyond bounds, and, of course, filled with a generous dose of passionate romance.

Speaking of romance, it is the trademark of this placement. You can romanticize anything you like—your life, struggles, or crush; anything goes. It could help you get through a lot of life's uglier situations, you know? It's kind of like your coping mechanism. But, it's your superpower—your love. The depths with which you can hold someone—be it your partner, your child, your friend, or even your own parent in need—don't matter. The subject of your affections always gets your all. That is only IF you feel comfortable with the person. That's your boundary because you love yourself pure and deep; you need to have this layer of protection so you won't be taken advantage of (which is something a lot of Water Venuses on their not-so-good days experience).

Take, for example, how someone with a Scorpio Venus maybe wouldn't like to share themselves with just anybody because you all understand that not EVERYBODY has it in them to handle all that beautiful intensity, authenticity, and expression of deep passion. Your discernment is high because your vulnerability is powerful, and the level of trust required here is immense to support the deep intimacy on the level of the mind as much as on the level of the body. Hence the thick layer of mystery and secrecy around you all, especially in romantic settings, which makes you all look even more sexy to suitors caking on the OBVIOUS physical sexiness going on like, girl, I see you.

This energy also shows up as gentle nurturing paired with a fierce sense of protection for all things you care about. Cancer Venus tends to have an instinct to fight for what has a part of your heart. Motherly instincts if you may? But this placement really marries the fighter and the lover trope; it's mind-blowing, really. Here, Venus's love could be expressed in more emotional ways such as creating a safe space for emotional vulnerability or expressions of tenderness and nurturing of the other through whatever you enjoy nurturing other people with, like through cooking (to nurture loved ones physically), through deep conversations (mentally), or giving your loved ones tarot readings even? (Spiritually); whatever you define nurturing is applicable here.

And then again, a Water Venus could manifest as the dreamy, otherworldly, fantastical kind of love that is almost angelic in its frequency when realized in its higher octaves. You bet I'm talking about you, Pisces Venus. You have a wise kind of love that also simultaneously feels childlike and all-encompassing. Compassionate, forgiving, and devotional—the power of love meets the divinity of a human. Powerful as words can describe. This placement puts the unconditional in unconditional love :p; it's quite beautiful to see. And because of their characteristic lack of conditions when it comes to their way of loving, it's quite healing for the rest of us to experience their love, especially for the ones that have faced a tremendous amount of "conditional love."

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Thanks for stopping by, kind soul :)

[so-called-yokai]

@ Eshra <3

🎻 VIOLIN — does your oc play any instruments? what is their skill level (beginner/intermediate/advanced/virtuoso/etc)?

💯 HUNDRED POINTS SYMBOL — share three random facts about your oc that others may not know.

💤 SLEEPING SIGN — is your oc a light sleeper or a heavy sleeper? how are their sleeping habits?

🍔 HAMBURGER — is your oc good at cooking? are they good at baking? which one do they prefer?

🎻 - He does not! Eshra can sing in the natural way basically all his species can, and he can dance to just about any music you put on, but he can't play an instrument.

💯 - Fffff. Uh, let's see... Oh!

He'll wear claw caps (think the kind you can put on a cat's claws to prevent scratching) if he knows he's not going to need his claws, like a lazy day in the lair, and he also loves painting both his claws and his toe talons.

He regularly snacks on chili peppers, not just to horrify his capsaicin-vulnerable friends and family, but also because peppers are great for keeping his feathers vibrant and shiny!

He has a spot on the left side of his neck, right where it meets his shoulder, that is basically an "on" button. He's, uh. He's very protective of it.

💤 - It varies. If he's alone, Eshra is quite a light sleeper because he instinctively feels ill-at-ease and vulnerable. With someone he trusts nearby? Oh, he zonks. Also he's an octopus in his sleep, so anybody sharing space with him better be okay with zero personal space.

Generally his sleep habits are... pretty okay? He's more an early bird than a night owl (gross, couldn't be me) simply because his eyes are built for daylight even more than a human's are, but he's perfectly okay adjusting his schedule as need be. He doesn't typically have sleep problems like insomnia, but he does have nightmares. Pretty bad ones, actually...

🍔 - He is good at cooking! It's a skill he's only picked up in the last few years when he was on his own and having to fend entirely for himself, and he's found he enjoys it, especially recipes where he can be more creative and free form.

He doesn't really do much baking, partly because it's a lot more exact that just throwing a bunch of ingredients together and seeing what happens, but also because cereal grains in general just aren't on his cultural radar (although he is a sucker for Asian noodle dishes like ramen or pad thai).

[genshinwritings]

taking a bath with them hcs for zhongli and razor pls?

Here you go! It’s only slightly NSFWish at some parts, that’s why there’s no read more. 

______________________________________________________________

Zhongli

When you first suggested Zhongli to take a bath with you, he was quite surprised to say the least. He did not expect you to come up with an idea like that, the mere act of taking a bath together holding so much intimacy and trust in his eyes, an opportunity he did not want to use to intermediate you or scare you off somehow. The first time you sunk down into the hot water in front of him, his touches were feather light and careful as if you were a doll made out of porcellan, your skin so soft against his own and your small body pressing against his firm frame. You felt so vulnerable in his arms, yet at the same time more protected than ever, the small words of love he whispered in your ear causing your stomach to fill with butterflies while your muscles soothed due to the warmth of the water.

Zhongli loves taking long and hot baths with you, preferably with you lying on his stomach so he can look into your eyes. He does not want you to feel embarrassed in any kind of way, often stating how much he loves you and how lucky he is to be with a person as wonderful as you are. He loves to watch the change in your expression whenever his fingers wander down your bare back before sliding up your sides again, the sight of you biting your lower lip while a muffled moan leaves your throat being so utterly sexy to him. He often tries to play down the moments where he can feel himself becoming worked up because he does not want to ruin the mood, often placing multiple small kisses on your nose and lips to make you laugh instead.

 Zhongli usually tries to hold up the innocence and intimacy of the moment, his touches often becoming teasing and playful before going back to be loving and soft. He loves the way your breath hitches whenever he caresses your inner thighs, the sweet sounds that leave your lips when he kisses the side of your neck and more than that, he loves the way his name slips so seductively over your lips. Zhongli often tries to hold himself back and master in self control during those certain moments but whenever you whisper in his ear how much you want him, he completely loses himself.

 Whenever you return home from a long mission, he will ask you whether he can do anything for you or not. When you tell him that you would love to take a bath because your whole body feels sore, he will gladly prepare a big bubble bath for you – of course adding some candles here and there to light up the room and some rose and lily petals for the water, to hold up the romantic atmosphere. He knows that all you want is to relax and rest comfortably, so he won’t join you for the bath right away but instead he will sit on the side of the tube, so he can listen to everything that’s rumbling on your mind.

Razor

 Razor loves taking long baths with you but not in the classy way. He had been living in the nature as long as he could think, never even daring to spend a thought what could have been if he had been raised by humans instead. When he first met you, you brought a lot of first times for him with you. Whether it was his first time holding hands, his first kiss or the first time playing a prank on someone; you had brought him so much joy and happiness, leaving his heart burning with a deep love for you. When you first suggested him to take a bath with you, he was kinda dumbstruck as he did not understand why you wanted to do something like that, the aspects of romantic and intimacy being almost unknown to him.

 The first time you took a bath with Razor was really messy, the water constantly swaying from one side to another while you were trying to rest comfortably against the man behind you in the small tub. He did not know where to place his hands or how to behave; he had seen you naked before several times but he could always feel himself losing his mind as if it was the first time to see you like that. His hands were trembling while slowly caressing the bare skin of your stomach, his face buried in the crook of your neck as you could feel his restrained breath tickling your shoulder. Even though it was hard for Razor to suppress his primal urges, he never intended to touch you inappropiately  - instead lowly growling into your ear how beautiful you are and how much his mind is spinning because of you.

Razor prefers taking more natural baths with you- which certainly means skinny dipping in the lake around Mondstadt. He feels relaxed and calm when he has the space to swim around, the feeling of floating freely in the water soothing his tensed muscles and clearing his mind enormously. When you’re with him, he won’t be able to take his eyes off of you. On one hand so you would not get lost in the woods and on the other hand, because he loved seeing the way your body reflected the moonlight. He had seen your body before on multiple occasions but whenever he saw you naked at night, underneath the moonlight, in a lake  – he could feel himself falling in love all over again. Whenever you get close to him, he will gladly wrap his arms around you to pull your body against his, loving the way your legs wrap around his middle while your forehead rests against his own.

Razor once showed you a wild hot spring he discovered up in the mountains when he was younger, the location quickly growing to be one of the most beautiful you had ever seen around Mondstadt. He often takes you there at night, the hidden place along with the lack of any humans around often causing his mind to cloud with not so innocent thoughts. The way your body slides against his own in the hot water, your small hands grabbing onto his firm thighs while adjusting your position and those irresistible sounds that leave your mouth due to relaxation, it always drives him crazy. Razor tries to hold himself back as good as he can but whenever you tell him that you want him, every last rational thought will fade from his mind.  

[kaaras-adaar-a]

𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑬𝑹 𝑺𝑯𝑬𝑬𝑻

repost, don’t reblog !

𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐜𝐬 !

full name.  Kaaras Taashath Adaar pronunciation.  (honestly we all pronounce it with different accents so... however you like! Kaaras’ mother rolls the r in his name, whilst Kaaras pronounces his own name rather plainly as he got used to keeping it simple for humans when he was young, and his accent is Fereldan unlike his parents’ :’D) nicknames.  Adaar, Herald, Worship, Captain, Inquisitor, Farmboy  height.   6′7. age.  29 at Haven zodiac.  Sagittarius  languages.  Common tongue (first language), Qunlat (second language/intermediate).

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

hair colour.    Butterscotch blonde eye colour.   Red with orange freckles and a black rim around the iris  skin tone.    Pale grey body type.    Endomorph accent.    Fereldan dominant hand.  Right posture.    Excellent tattoos.   N/A most noticeable features.   Horns, skin tone, height, long ears, general qunari features.

CHILDHOOD.

place of birth.   Starkhaven hometown.   Southron Hills, Ferelden. birth weight / height.  Underweight and small for a qunari. first words.   Probably mumma or something along the lines of.  siblings.  Aith (adopted younger sister), Talan’ash (older half-brother), multiple unnamed siblings under the Qun. parents.   Aban Adaar (mother--alive and well), Anaan Adaar (father--deceased)  parental involvement.  Kaaras lost his father when he was 12 years old. Before then, his parents were very loving and caring and always a massive support for Kaaras as a growing child. His mother continued to be supportive of Kaaras as a growing man. After his father died, their relationship did become a bit strained considering Kaaras blamed himself and felt guilt every time he looked at his mother, but their relationship has since healed. They love each other very dearly, despite his mother being quite a helicopter at times... 

ADULT LIFE

occupation.  Farmer, mercenary, mercenary captain, Inquisitor.  current residence.    Skyhold, Ferelden (the farm) and he has a place in Starkhaven for his mercenary company.  close friends.   His company, DA:I companions, his family.  relationship status.   verse dependent (in game marries Iron Bull) financial status.   Kaaras grew up poor, however, as a mercenary, he made a very good living for himself. I’d say he’s middle class, however as Inquisitor he is upper class.  criminal record.   Kaaras has been falsely accused of crimes but they were sorted out and his record cleared. He’s also killed in self defence during his time as Inquisitor.

SEX & ROMANCE.

sexual orientation.    Pansexual  romantic orientation.    Panromantic  preferred emotional role.  submissive | dominant | switch | unsure preferred sexual role.  submissive |  dominant  |  switch |  sex repulsed libido.  High turn on’s.   Passion, touch, kissing, teasing, mild dirty talk, romance, manhandling him turn off’s.    Bad hygiene, clinginess, abusive behaviour, demeaning, slavery.  love language.  Physical touch, support, spending time together. relationship tendencies.   Kaaras is very serious about getting into a relationship, he wants to be 100% sure, which is why he can be a bit slow in admitting his feelings for someone out loud. He is very devoted and loyal, and will support his lover along the way. He is encouraging and compassionate. When in a new relationship, he tends to give his partner a lot of his time as he wishes to show his commitment to them, he is exceptionally physical, wanting to touch his lover emotionally, platonically and sexually. Kaaras generally falls pretty damn hard as well, he’s easy to crush, but once he’s in love, it’s pretty much for life unless his partner changes into someone he no longer recognises (which has happened before). In this side of Kaaras, you will see how silly and romantic he can be, but also how much he opens up and grows sexually as well. He wants to explore with his partner, and he often simply likes to watch them. 

MISCELLANEOUS.

character’s theme song.    I have two main ones A Good Heart (Feargal Sharkey) and The Chosen Ones (Dream Evil)  hobbies to pass the time.   Reading, meditating, training, sparring, horse riding, spending time with friends, woodworks.  mental illnesses.   OCD, PTSD, depression (recovered) physical illnesses.   PSAS (persistent sexual arousal syndrome), lactose intolerance, alcoholic (recovering) left or right brained.   Left brained. fears.   Failure, loss of control, losing loved ones.  self confidence level.  Mentally, Kaaras is very self aware and pretty confident in his duties and work. Personal life, he’s not as confident. When it comes to his looks, he suffers a lot of insecurities. Sexually, he’s very insecure and it takes a long time for him to be more confident with someone. Kaaras is a very determined individual, though, so he pushes through his insecurities to get an end goal.  vulnerabilities. Kaaras can be proud and have a rather moral high ground at times, if people insult his worth or his duty, he will not take i kindly. If people criticise him, he can also become cranky. He’s all for learning, but he’s also a perfectionist, so it’s insulting to him, although it’s mostly he’s annoyed with HIMSELF, not the other person. He takes criticism personally, especially depending on WHO it’s from. If it’s someone he trusts, he values their opinions and will take them to heart. He’s sensitive, but this is also why he values honesty, because he wants to better himself. So... don’t be afraid to criticise him, so long as it’s done kindly. He also wants to fit in somewhere because he’s never felt like he could. Always too qunari to be human, and too human to be truly qunari. He desperately wants to feel like he belongs somewhere, and the Inquisition definitely helped him find that purpose and feeling. His OCD also makes him quite vulnerable in moments of stress and anxiety, but he’s learned to manage that rather well over the years. 

tagged by:   Stole from @lathal​ tagging: you!!

[smbw18]

Reflections on LGBT Reading

~ Setting the Table~ James A. Schexnayder

Ch. 1 Who is my Neighbor?

“Gay people will not live a lie, the will not fear the truth, they will not pretend to be someone that they’re not. Gay people are gifts from G-d and deserve to fully participate in the Church’s mission and its sacraments.”

Church provides community

We are meant to be connected in this community through baptism and the Holy Spirit regardless of any differences.

The Catholic Church has struggled to accept those seen as different or other.

Welcoming LGBTQ people provides the Church an opportunity to show grace and compassion to  those living on the margins

LGBT individuals come with to the Church with their own personal gifts

Hearing them and their stories gives a fuller understanding of the gospel of Christ

They are active contributing members of the Church.

Those in the LGBT community have been abused by the Church

All must be treated with dignity as G-d’s children.

LGBTQ people are also the Church

Difficulties for LGBT persons can come from both the LGBT and church communities

A goal of providing LGBTQ ministries should be to make people feel safe and accepted within their church community

“Who we are and how we relate in the world are informed by our sexuality”

In regards to biological sex, gender identity, and sexual orientation.

The Catechism states, “Sexuality affects all aspects of the human person in the unity of his body and soul...Everyone should acknowledge and accept his sexual identity”

The pastoral message Always Our Children asserts: “It seems appropriate to understand sexual orientation as a deep-seated dimension of one’s  personality and to recognize its relative stability in a person.”

Attraction is emotional as well as physical

Being gay should not allow for assumptions about sexual behavior

Catholic Bishops “Focus on the person, not the orientation”

There is no concrete theory for what leads to a homosexual orientation

genetic/hormonal and psychological factors are assumed to contribute to being gay

Dr. Gianfrancesco Zuanazzi “There is a continuum between exclusive homosexuality and absolute heterosexuality, with a whole series of intermediate degrees.”

Bisexuality

Bisexuals are often stereotyped and misunderstood

Their orientation is emotional and physical just like other orientations

Sexuality is more subtle and complex than many think

Sex is determined based of biology and physical attributes

Gender is based on:

Societal expectations

Dress

Behavior

Attitude

Cultural roles

Transgender is a “broad” term which includes all those whose sense of self or choice of dress, behavior, or identification does not coincide with usual cultural gender expectation for their sex.

Must treat all with dignity and respect regardless of personal feelings in regards to trans people

Coming out is and ongoing process

Awareness typically begins with around 8-11

Average coming out ages are 15-17

Understanding and support are needed in this time

Initial realization of orientation can be delayed because of pressure from culture or religion

This can cause serious identity questioning or marrying out of a sense of obligation which can eventually lead to divorce.

Don’t put labels on others, allow them to come forward with their identity 

Be aware in providing counsel/ministry of potential risks or difficulties the person may face in their personal life (especially with youth)

“Trust and confidentiality are essential”

Listen carefully - Especially  in determining home safety for coming out

1 in 4 teens that come out face rejection

42%  of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ

Schools are not always safe spaces for LGBT youth

Homophobic speech is used

As of 2004 73% of students felt unsafe at school because of sexual orientation

86% reported being verbally harassed

Catholic schools are not exempt from this type of behavior

This behavior can lead to drop outs, isolation,  substance abuse, suicide attempts, and suicide

Churches have a great opportunity to help make the coming out process a spiritually integrated journey and help LGBT people in their understanding of G-d’s love of their entire self. Helping them in a time of great vulnerability

“By the grace of G-d I am what I am and His grace has not been ineffective”

LGBT people are part of G-d’s design

He knew who we were before we did

Damage can come when one must hide who they are

Can lead to living in fear

Hiding takes up energy and can grow shame within one’s self

“The guiding principles are the individuals psychological and emotional integrity, safety, and the capacity of others to hear and integrate awareness”

Goal: Give hope and healing

Contribute to integration of sexuality and spirituality

Help break silence

Ministers should:

Respect dignity and consciences

Avoid stereotypes and judgements

Learn more about homosexuality and teachings

Be welcoming and inclusive

Parishes should:

Assume presence of LGBTQ members in parish

Include mention of LGBT persons in intercessions, homilies, adult education, and family ministry

Reflection on this chapter

Overall this is a pretty dense in information and perspectives. This is a lot of preliminary work done as far as defining and exploring identities and their legitimacy. I definitely appreciate the framework for helping people to live a fully integrated life and encouraging a better understanding of self. The emphasis on creating a safe environment for self discovery and disclosure to people of influence. Some of the language in this chapter may be outdated but the messages and supporting positive input for authority figures and trusted persons make it relevant and beneficial in growing a ministry of love and a nurturing community within the church

[conoscenze]

GENERAL.

full name.  Salice Tihana Feltracco-Pavlić pronunciation.  Sah-leech-eh Tee-hana Fel-trakkoh Pav-leech nicknames.  Salice piangente, Cece, Ms. Necro height. 164 cm age.  33 years old zodiac. Aries languages.  Italian, Venetian (mother tongue), English (fluent), Croatian (intermediate)

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

hair colour.  Very light brown -- ashy, with reddish undertones. eye colour.  Dark teal. skin tone.  Pale, rosy. body type.  Mesomorph -- rectangle shaped, longer legs, wide shoulders. accent.  Subtle Italian accent (speaking English), thick Venetian accent (speaking Italian). dominant hand.  Right. posture.  Erect, tense, always on edge, strict and stiff. scars.  On her forearms are left, from the day she turned a necromancer, cut scars. They’ve been slowly fading, but show no signs of disappearing entirely. tattoos.  The marks she has resemble tattoos, but aren’t quite the same thing. They distinguish her from common humans as a witch. She has the Cross of Lietuvēns on her right shoulder, the Sign of the Moon on the back of her neck, and a magic circle taking up the upper part of her back. most noticeable features.  Protruding lips, strong jaw, thick eyebrows.

CHILDHOOD.

place of birth.  Venice, Italy. hometown.   Venice, Italy. birth weight / height.  -- manner of birth.  Natural. first words.  “'agne” - aged three; meant to say cane, dog. siblings.  None. parents.  Federico Feltracco (father) and Cecilija Pavlić (mother), both alive. parental involvement.  Generally tranquil. They always trusted in Salice and supported her in her decisions, both in career, human nature and sexuality. Mild divergences with her father, but nothing dramatic. However more attached to her mother by a great degree.

ADULT LIFE

occupation.  Full-time lawyer, studying to become an assistant coroner - full-time necromancer (illegal sidejob). current residence.  London, United Kingdom. close friends.  Allen Owen. partners.   None. Occasional one-night stands. Difficulties with commitment because of various reasons, spanning from emotional issues to time scheduling and managing (she has a very busy life). relationship status.  Single. financial status.  Wealthy thanks, mostly, to her necromancy commissions. driver’s license.  Yes. Drives a black Audi A4 Station Wagon called ‘Dusk’. criminal record.  On the paper, clean. By the facts, dirty -- necromancy (which isn’t a crime in itself, but could be included in body snatching and grave robbery) and murder.

SEX & ROMANCE.

sexual orientation.  Pansexual romantic orientation.  Panromantic preferred emotional role.  Submissive | Dominant | Switch |  Unsure preferred sexual role.  Submissive  |  Dominant  |  Switch |  Sex repulsed libido. High and often repressed. turn on’s.  Having complete control, a bit of choking, scratches, bites, hickeys, tussling for dominance -- with the most available: unconventional public places (i.e. graveyards), knifeplay. turn off’s.  Unfairness. But she would give a try to most things. love language.  Eyes - her eyes speak a lot more than she does. Affectionate gestures, hugging, touching, kissing, physical contact in general. Tends to be a bit territorial (hence marking). relationship tendencies.  Never has time for them, she claims. In fact, she doesn’t. She isn’t averse to entering a relationship, but she doesn’t have the time nor the patience to carry the emotional and mental burden it’d require at the moment.

MISCELLANEOUS.

character’s theme song. Misfit Love, The Only Time. hobbies to pass the time. Watching old horror movies (Dario Argento for the most part), exploring the deep web and the darknet, watching insect documentaries, bar-hopping, participating in bar fights. mental illnesses. Possibly, emotional disturbance caused by culture-bound syndrome (in relation to how Venetians - or even more broadly, Italians - from her generation are raised to think and act). physical illnesses.  None. left or right brained.  Left brained. fears.  Little to none. But if she had to pick anything, she prevalently fears disappointing her family, ending up at someone else’s mercy, and ultimately dying. self confidence level.  High, haughty, very prideful. Paradoxically though, can be extremely self-punitive. vulnerabilities.  Anything regarding emotions, and a general lack of empathetic sensitivity.

tagged by: stolen from @kohkytus! tagging: we’re all criminals here so go ahead, steal it

[vantaba]

full name.  Richard Vantaba pronunciation. Rich - erd Van - tah - bah nicknames.  Vanta, Van, Rich, Ricket [ saved for exceptionally close friends ]. height. 5′5 [ ‘disguised’ ] - 5′9 [ normal ] - 8′4 [ Devil Trigger ] age.  45 [ verse-dependent ] zodiac. Taurus. languages. English, Enochian, some Hellish.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.

hair colour.  Dusty blond. eye colour. Dull gold ; white ring around pupil. skin tone.  Pale. body type.  Physically fit ; muscular. accent.  Faint Bostonian. dominant hand.  Right. posture.  Upright ; does keep his legs in a bet position so technically crouched. scars. Depends on the time he last handled holy weaponry. Scars heal over quickly; permanent gash of unknown origins atop left shoulderblade. tattoos.  None. most noticeable features.   Horns ‘n scales babey.

CHILDHOOD.

place of birth.  Santorini. hometown.  Various ; moved frequently. birth weight / height. 8 pounds. manner of birth.  Healthy ; live birth. first words.  Lock [ referring to wanting his crib open ] siblings.  None. parents.  Ryan Vantaba and Scythia. parental involvement.  Both involved entirely until age 10 ; mother was distant due to being a demon, but loved him all the same. Mother left to find a way back to the Underworld temporarily, father imprisoned a month later in a ‘demon hunt’ and never posted bail. Mother returned at age 15 to teach combat practices. 

ADULT LIFE

occupation.  Pitch Dark proprietor ; Monster hunter ; Demon hunter. current residence.  Apartment above Pitch Dark. close friends. Father Mark ; Samuel, Michael, Gregory [ students from the church he lived at temporarily] ; [ Going back to written history that can be ignored entirely; Dante, Lady, Trish, Nero ]. relationship status. Single. financial status.  Afloat. Working class, but remains debt-free for now. driver’s license. No. criminal record.  Yes [ monster and demon hunting means making some sacrifices ]. vices.  Alcohol [ doesn’t effect him so it’s more or less spicy water ], sleeping in until 3pm on weekends.

SEX & ROMANCE.

sexual orientation.  Bisexual ; Sex-indifferent. romantic orientation. Biromantic. preferred emotional role.  submissive  |  dominant  | switch  |  unsure preferred sexual role.  submissive  |  dominant  |  switch  |  sex repulsed libido.  Low. turn on’s.  Foreplay [ dependent on type ; a romantic evening with the intent of a sexe evening would count ] ; gentle hair pulling ; gentle tail pulling ; sensual & intimate touch on horns. turn off’s.  Lack of consent ; egregious degradation & dirty talk. love language. Gentle touch ; tail-wrapping in places he considers intimate [ upper thigh ] ;  possibly handmade gifts both stylish and useful [ charms and wards ]. relationship tendencies.  Gentle; slow ; almost hesitant ; goofy ; protective.

MISCELLANEOUS.

character’s theme song. When My Devil Rises - Man with a Mission hobbies to pass the time.  Personal hunts [ warehouses by the docks are perfect ], whittling, crafting tools [ often to sell ], metalwork. mental illnesses.  Generalized anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder,  physical illnesses.  None. left or right brained. Right. fears. Abandonment ; betrayal by those he trusts ; being eaten alive [ irrational, but has happened once before in his line of work. He hardly talks about this ] ; any blights that are deadly to demons [ said not to exist any longer, but he’s weary ]. self confidence level.  Intermediate. vulnerabilities. Doesn’t think before he leaps ; disregards personal safety often [ rapid healing enforces this ] ; can’t speak up for himself around humans that don’t know about the paranormal ; his trust ; willingness to throw himself in danger for friends.

tagged by stolen from: @demonslayvr even though I don’t drink soda tagging: anyone who’d want to do it! Actually, I tag @fonzeworth specifically.

[chpinthestacks]

In the Stacks with Kathryn Savage: Shape-Shifting

I was in Iceland less than a day when I was told by an Icelander that if I went for a hike alone in the hills above Laugarvatn, I might see people who weren’t really there. The landscape conspired with perception, revealed visions. It was the quality of the light and lack of trees. What I wanted to see I’d see, the woman who ran the residency told me.  

The first week, I saw a child dancing but it was really a towel blowing on a laundry line.

The second week, I saw rocks jumping sideways through hills but the rocks were sheep. 

It was always daylight in Iceland in July, the sky perpetually soft-lit, and the light foreshortened the landscape. Eventually, I began to distrust my vision and felt a need to clarify what I’d just seen, look again.

Baltic-region mythology depicts stories about shape-shifters, the deception of sight. Icelandic hidden people—the unwashed children of Eve who she hid from God and who are invisible to humans—live in the hills of Iceland unless they choose to be seen. 

The Icelandic folk story “The Sealskin” is about a man who steals a sealskin, and who, upon returning to the site of his theft for more sealskin, finds, instead, a naked woman. She is weeping and he takes her to his house to console and clothe her. Years after his theft of her identity—the sealskin—after his abduction, after they marry and have children, he goes fishing one day and she finds her sealskin in a locked chest in their house. She puts it on and dives back into the sea, never to return.  

Pagan Scandinavian mythology is unabashedly brutal. There are child-stealers, jealous dead lovers, and in the story of “My Jawbones!” to stop the haunting of her hearth, a woman must bury the jawbones of a child she finds in her house.

In one Icelandic myth, a stranger comes to town and encounters bad weather, so he spends the night in the home of an older woman and her two young beautiful daughters. He asks the mother if he can take one of her daughters to bed and she agrees. In bed, he tries to have sex with the woman, but when he touches her, his hands move through her body. “I am a spirit with no body,” the woman explains. “You cannot get pleasure from me.” 

These misogynistic myths of the young woman, someone who is little more than a beautiful body, often alone, primed to be taken, have hung around. Some of the more violent Baltic region mythologies are about women alone in the woods and the bad things that happen to them because they are alone.

The first funeral I went to was my second cousin’s. She was murdered by a stranger after he abducted her. She was rollerblading home alone one dusk on Kittson County Road 1, a northern Minnesota county road flanked by golden grain.

Lidia Yuknavitch’s essay “Woven” discusses Laumes, Lithuanian water spirits who can take the form of animals and beautiful water-women. She writes: “Laumes were both benevolent and dangerous. They could tickle men to death and then eat their bodies. They could protect women and children or punish them brutally.” 

In the same essay, Yuknavitch writes about violence against women and the difficulty of depicting such violence. “In America, it’s tricky to describe violence without it turning into entertainment.”

As a child, I was told my mother’s father was French. More accurately, he was a Polish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Turkish Jew raised in Nice, France, and later, Brooklyn. 

His mother went to Nice seeking refuge from Soviet-occupied Eastern Europe. There, she lived with her two sisters in a small flat where they worked as hat models in the city on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. 

I inherited my grandfather’s photos after he passed. Beautiful women in hats. Other details about the sisters’ lives remain hazy. When I write about them I come up with more questions than answers, so this past feels closer to mythology to me, to a set of exaggerated familial beliefs, some, perhaps, fictitious. This was Europe, late 1930s, and they were Jews who escaped to America. In Nice, some versions of the story go, they changed their names and assumed Christian identities. In Nice, they lived as themselves and as false selves. They shape-shifted.  

Intermediate spirits in Icelandic folktales, those who can shape-shift, are depicted, often, as beautiful women. The moral point of the shape-shift narrative is connected to punishment, to reveal dubious or desperate transformation and its consequence. It’s a relational trope reliant on a quality of before and after. Like a good secret, shape-shifting acquires its gravity by what it conceals and promises to expose later. Across cultures and mythologies, some shape-shifters are more deceptive or punitive, many are humiliated for their transgressions, some symbolize inner conflict, such as the werewolf who changes to reveal his true self. In some shape-shifting narratives, once a character takes on a new form, it becomes impossible to change back.

In a 2008 Grand Forks Herald article about my second cousin’s murder, a friend of hers describes how no women or children went biking or skating alone after her murder on the rural straightaway. It would be a betrayal to her memory, her friend said, to do these things alone now.  

In Nice, when Nazi’s found out that my great-grandmother’s sister had been assuming a Christian name, they murdered her children in front of her but let her live. The memory of that sight would be her punishment.

John Berger defines sight as the thing that comes before words. To Berger, the relationship between sight and knowledge is never settled and always relational, mediated by perspective, by sight relative to position. In Regarding the Pain of Others, Susan Sontag, on the photography of atrocities, writes that “Photographs objectify: they turn an event or person into something that can be possessed.” Certainly narrative does this work of possession too and I feel the edges of shape-shifting as I write this: anything I say about grief or loss is my singular possession, incomplete and mediated, reflecting my flawed sight. What are the details I’ve included, the details I’ve left out? For you, reader, I objectify my experiences and lay claim to those of my family. I mold, omit, and transgress the past.

But the violence is real, the vulnerability that hangs around the edges of sight. Yesterday, I learned from a neighborhood community message board that a white man driving a gold car tried to abduct a child my son’s age two blocks from our home. When I walk the dog tonight, I stare down every honey-hued sedan, try to see inside every car, to every man I don’t trust, but I can’t. Dusk has turned the windshields to mirrored glass.  

In her essay “The Precarious” from her recent collection, The Reckonings, Lacy M. Johnson writes, “both autopsy and atrocity require a witness—someone who survives, who sees for herself, with her own eyes. But the violence changes the person who looks.”

One day I went for a hike alone in the hills above Laugarvatn. The hills were steep and mossy and rocky. All the people I saw were tourists like me in bunchy jackets and hiking boots. I was grieving and lonely and wanted something revealed to me. I knew this was ridiculous, but I wanted it anyway. Some unnamable more, some sight or being to lure me away from pain. In some shape-shifting stories, the mother appears and beckons the child home. Sometimes, this isn’t the mother, but a dubious figure able to assume the mother’s form. Instead, in the hills above Laugarvatn, behind mossy lava rocks, there were clumps of used toilet paper. A woman’s torn ticket stub from her flight to Iceland from Tel Aviv.

On a gray day at The Skagaströnd Museum of Prophecies, I gave every Króna in my wallet to a fortuneteller to look at my hands and face so she could see into the privacy of my nature, my past, reveal truths I couldn’t yet see.

Notes: Works used to research this post include John Berger’s Ways of Seeing, Susan Sontag’s Regarding the Pain of Others, Lydia Yuknavitch’s essay “Woven” originally published in Guernica, and Lacy M. Johnson’s The Reckonings. The folktales and quoted excerpts come from Jacqueline Simpson’s Icelandic Folktales and Legends and Silja Aðalsteinsdóttir’s The Trolls in the Knolls. The Sontag quote can be found on page 81 in Regarding the Pain of Others and the Lacy M. Johnson quote can be found on page 28 in The Reckonings.

[sciencespies]

We all believe in conspiracies a little, but here's when it gets out of control

https://sciencespies.com/humans/we-all-believe-in-conspiracies-a-little-but-heres-when-it-gets-out-of-control/

We all believe in conspiracies a little, but here's when it gets out of control

Do you think the referee always has it in for your team? What about a sneaking suspicion that aliens have already visited Earth?  

“Everyone believes at least one conspiracy theory,” says sociologist Asbjørn Dyrendal from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU).

“These examples activate the same mechanisms that come into play when our thoughts build on themselves and turn into more entrenched conspiracy beliefs.”

In fact, the researchers of the new study – which looked at predictors of conspiracy theory belief – conclude that in small doses, such thinking is normal for all of us.

“It has become increasingly clear that belief in conspiracy theories is part of normal human psychology and built on necessary human capacities,” they explain in their paper.

“Conspiracy beliefs may be evoked by situational factors such as response to fear and uncertainty, and seem broadly tied to apprehension, aversion behaviour, and magical thinking.”

We are particularly vulnerable to believing what we think is right when our emotions are high and our identity is at stake. But there are many levels of conspiratorial thinking, and some can be incredibly dangerous.

Hence, it’s so important to understand why some people are much more invested in conspiracies than others.

To that end, the research team conducted a questionnaire during Northern Hemisphere autumn in 2016, asking 883 Norwegian students to answer questions to determine their thoughts on everything from paranormal beliefs to right-wing authoritarianism.

“In the current study, we test the relationships between a set of central validated predictors of belief in conspiracy theories, including schizotypal traits, paranormal beliefs, right wing authoritarianism, social dominance orientation, and conspiracy mentality,” they explain in their paper.

The researchers found that no one trait can reliably mark someone as a conspiracy theorist; instead, lots of small changes to these variables taken together will be what tips the scales.

Schizotypal traits can include things like paranoia, social anxiety, unconventional beliefs and strange thinking or behaviour, and the team found that this was the primary predictor of belief in conspiracy theories. However, it was mediated by four other predictors.

“The findings suggest that the effect of schizotypal traits on beliefs in conspiracy theories was fully mediated by several intermediate factors,” the team explains.

You can see what this looks like in the figure below:

(Dyrendal et al., Personality and Individual Differences, 2021)

For example, one of those predictors, social dominance orientation (SDO), measures a person’s support for group-based hierarchies. Those with high SDO believe that society needs to be structured with some having more resources and power over others, while low-SDO people believe societies should be structured with equality in mind.  

In their model, the researchers found that high SDO was strongly associated with the conspiracy mentality, and more so in men than women.

“People who dislike equality and prefer hierarchy see themselves and their group as superior to others and believe more in conspiracy theories that are specifically about social out-groups,” Dyrendal says.

But the researchers also explain in an accompanying press release that quite a few of our preconceived notions about conspiracy theorists simply aren’t true.

“When we look at a large number of different conspiracy theories, we find no reliable gender differences in the average scores,” says Dyrendal.

Conspiracy theorists also aren’t poorer, and are only slightly less educated than those who don’t succumb to these types of thinking. However, the team “noticed that conspiracy theorists are somewhat more likely to find their news sources on social media.”

The strongest predictor of belief in conspiracy theories was conspiracy mentality – basically a belief that the world is full of all sorts of conspiracies. This is maybe a little unsurprising, but the result neatly aligns with earlier research in other countries.

“This is the first systematic study in Norway, a high-trust society with high egalitarian ideals and among the most gender-equal nations in the world,” the team notes.

“These cultural factors have the potential to modulate both the levels of belief in specific conspiracy theories and the intermediate-level mechanisms by which they are formed. Norway is therefore an interesting case on which to test earlier results.”

It seems that no place can escape this aspect of human nature, whose darkest extremes have been on display in the US, the UK and many other places around the world. Not even Norway.

The research has been published in Personality and Individual Differences.

#Humans

[laceyspencer]

Economics and Culture-Juniper Publishers

Introduction

Following the tradition of the marginalist school, abstraction in economics received a big push during the late 19th century led by Stanley Jevons and Auguste Walras. This happened despite Adam Smith’s strong feeling for the significance of culture and Malthus’ deep sense about how culture affects the dynamics of population. David Ricardo was the most instrumental in reducing economics to a culturally free abstraction. Alfred Marshall, at least judged from his early work, was another culprit although his subsequent Industry and Trade shows an increased awareness towards the complex cultural reality behind the abstraction of supply and demand, inserting a strong institutional flavor in the analysis.

This is rather puzzling because the core part of economics is exchange, and the terms that permit the exchange is called the terms of trade, the ratio of the price producers are willing to receive and consumers to pay for the exchange. Indeed, while exchange is a fundamental part of economic behavior, perhaps except for game theory and transaction cost theory, remarkably little attention has been given in the economic literature to analysis of processes of exchange. Thorbecke & Cornelisse [1]. argued that the item exchanged, the actors engaged in the decisions, and the physical, social, technological, and legal environment within which the actors operate in the exchange, matter in understanding the different transactions and outcomes. The combination of those elements, the formation process of the exchange, and the resulting transaction is considered an exchange configuration.

Mainstream economists contend when there is a divergence between the equilibrium price and the actual price at which the exchange takes place, either excess demand or excess supply will be eliminated by price changes. But the actual process of adjustment in the exchange is not satisfactorily explained despite the fact that in reality the whole process captures the satisfaction of those who trade, which is a complex subject to understand but is necessarily an integral part of any set of cultural relations involving things like trust, regret, deception, persuasion, and learning process.

In this paper, I intend to show the deficiency of mainstream economics that overlooks the role of culture and institutions. The latter should be an integral part of economics. Aside from the difficulty to identify the relation and causality between culture, institutions and economic performance, some work has been done in this area although much of it still fell on deaf ears among mainstream economists.

Mainstream and Cultural Economics

Despite their arguments that clearly foreshadow the cultural economics, it is unclear why institutionalists like Thorstein Veblen (in the US) and Max Weber (in Europe) failed to influence the mainstream of economics during the time. Indeed, one of the critical questions in cultural economics is about the extent to which a system of institutions that produce changes in culture will survive or fail precisely because of such changes. Theoretically, it is the institutional system of legitimacy that will survive and dominate, not the dynamics of power and wealth; without legitimacy neither power nor wealth can be preserved.

Perhaps nothing more obvious than in monetary economics where the use of formalistic mechanical models is prerequisite and with almost a complete lack of interest on the cultural aspects within which the institutions of money and banking operate. The models are filled with statistics and causation (often confused with correlation) with little attempt to open the lid to see what the actual processes are. This is irrespective of the fact that one cannot really learn about what is going on in the banking sector unless we treat bankers as human beings and try to understand how they really think. The same applies to players in the capital market.

The departure from partial equilibrium to general equilibrium in economics is another example of a neglect of cultural dimension. While the overall quantities produced and consumed are correctly not taken as the result of individual producers and consumers’ decisions, rather the result of the interactions of such decisions, it is often assumed in the corresponding models that the choices of diverse agents can be represented by the choices of one “representative” utility-maximizing individual whose choices coincide with the aggregate choices. The heterogeneity in behavior and culture is considered irrelevant. This is clearly unjustified and ill-suited for studying problems involving coordination failures such as unemployment, under-utilization, financial instability, etc.

For most mainstream economists, when things get more complex, and interdependence amplifies, new variables, parameters and equations are added, and non-linearity is introduced, expecting that the model’s predictive power will strengthen. Little efforts are made to delve into the changing patterns of behavior as part of the possible mutations in social system where the process of selection may involve increased vulnerabilities, bankruptcies, crisis, or simply a loss of legitimacy.

Even in taxation where the system emerges from the interaction of different governmental subcultures, and where the tax system itself is the result of a long historical process involving changing culture of governments, members of parliament, and the constituents, the efficiency of “one-way transfer” depends not only on the perception of threat (sanctions of the law if failing to pay tax) but also the culture of tax collectors. The mass of individuals paying taxes with a fair degree of fidelity itself is clearly a cultural phenomenon. Yet, most research on tax issues tends to be exclusively financial and economic-based, void of any cultural context.

The picture could be less grim as some fields of economics have come close to cultural economics, although they are more of the business schools’ domain, e.g., marketing, industrial organization, and labor economics where there is a long tradition in the study of collective bargaining, labor unions, culture of the factory, etc. The bad news is, even in these fields mechanistic approaches have encroached the analysis to the point where no collaborative work with sociologists, anthropologists, and psycho-sociologists is considered necessary.

Yet, in the supply-demand theory, for example, when excess supply occurs, producers may alter their preference by staying away from efficiency efforts, and consumers may not follow the standard law of supply-demand as they do not raise consumption despite the downward pressure on the price. In such circumstances, preferences should not be taken only as the determinant of the economic process like in a standard optimization model, instead it should be learned during the process of cultural transformation. Thus, the culture-affected learning process could generate outcome different from a standard solution.

The emphasis on learning is the most crucial difference between mechanistic economics and cultural economics, implying that cultural economics is evolutionary in nature. Learning is part of social evolution that is more complex than biological evolution. It occurs more slowly because people, let alone societies, are not easily willing to change due to their realistic appraisal of the uncertainties arising from such a change, which is a standard problem in economic development.

In contrast, mechanistic economics relies on its predictive power based on the derived parameters (assumed stable) of difference or differential equations, which contradicts with the fact that in any dynamic process, when strain increases the parameters in the system change. More importantly, the implied adjustment may create further strain in the same part or in other parts of the system. If a crisis eventually occurs, the absence of stability (order) with constant parameters may not tell us much about the stability that is absent. Even if no adjustment is taking place, something important about the social system may have been generated by the absence of such adjustment: what does not happen can be more interesting than what does.

Which Causes Which

Like in any relation between two components, the third, fourth and other components may have some roles as intermediate variables. This applies to the link between culture and economic performance as well. Then there is a common problem concerning the direction of causality.

On the first issue, at the outset one needs to define what is culture and what is economic performance. Various narratives for culture have been proposed, from which the following elements are relevant: customary beliefs and values, preferences, long duration of consistency in cultural traits and groups, be it social, ethnic or religious-based. The relevant elements in economic performance are level and growth of output or income, savings, and income distribution. In some cases, the probability of something positive to emerge is also used, such as having a greater number of entrepreneurs.

Intermediate components relevant for identifying the link between culture and economic performance include priorbeliefs, religions, ethnicities, preferences, and trust. Individually they may not have an independent role, but they can function as a coordinating device to make societies play the same “game” to different conditions and focal points.

The importance of prior beliefs cannot be overstated as many decisions-thus the corresponding outcome and performanceare based on such priors (e.g., which technology to use, what measures to mitigate the effects of climate change, how to deal with different economic shocks, what strategy to cope with ageing population). Here culture plays a major role in forming individual beliefs even in the new environment and several generations later. Thus, prior beliefs can be an important channel of culture influence on economic performance. Yet, economists generally do not have much say about priors. They typically assume that individuals have common priors.

Trust is considered an important component arising from priors. Many even believe that it is through the concept of trust that culture enters the economic discourse. Several researches have been done to demonstrate the contribution of the level of trust of a community to economic performance [2-4], although most do not elaborate the mechanism through which measured trust is positively correlated with economic performance. What remains debatable is whether trust is an inherited cultural variable or is developed through the adoption of a proper legal system. Some also argue that trust is the outcome of individuals or societies’ interactions.

The significance of trust in economics is made clearer by Arrow [5]. “Virtually every commercial transaction has within itself an element of trust, certainly any transaction conducted over a period of time.” International trade is an example of area where trust matters a lot. But it was the seminal work of Putnam [6,7] that put trust at the center of the discussion by considering it as a form of social capital capturing the value and relationships of resources where social networks play a central role in the production of public and common good. The constituent elements of social capital, over which people have more control than over culture, are trust, norms, and networks.

In the current era of information technology (IT), priors including trust can be influenced or enhanced by the availability of information (‘big data,’ ‘internet of things’ and all that). Examples of on-line trade and transactions abound where reviews and reputation may alter the beliefs of people or customers. Even in political elections the use of ‘big data’ combined with complex algorithm has been widespread, and it proves effective.

The problems with causality are no less critical than the definitional issue. The first problem is the difficulty to separate culturally based beliefs from rational expectations. Whether trust is culturally driven or rational prior driven by environment with a prevailing degree of trustworthiness is not easy to determine. It is generally the case that the idiosyncratic component of trust tends to increase when societies share the same cultural trait (e.g., religion), and decreases with the genetic distance in terms of ancient cultural aspects. The level of education also matters: the role of inherited cultural aspects in the formation of priors tends to diminish as society gets more educated (reduced dependence of trust on cultural variables).

Even if cultural variables and measures of economic performance are highly correlated, that does not necessarily mean one causes the other. Two events occur simultaneously does not imply causality.

Another serious conundrum is with regards to the direction of causality, or what econometricians label endogeneity problem: “which affects which.” The debate about whether culture affects economics or vice versa has a long history. Some proposed that technology determines the type of social structure and dominant culture. In supporting the argument that steam-mill produces capitalism, Karl Marx [8] held that view. In contrast, Max Weber [9] and Polanyi et al. [10] had the opposite line of thinking. To the extent the cultural aspect like religion is considered important to the establishment of markets as well as in moderating market excesses, they argued that culture-in this case religion--played a critical role in the development of capitalism. Their explanations are powerful, and the examples provided are quite persuasive. Yet, they fell on deaf ears among mainstream economists.

As expected, each camp attempted to get their idea vindicated. Economists of the Chicago school tried hard to endogenize beliefs and preferences [11]. Some went further by showing that religious and social norms are the result of a group-level optimization. Others extended the theory of human capital by emphasizing investment in social skills and social interactions. Those who were more econometrically inclined emphasized the use of proper econometric techniques to identify the direction of causality, among others by employing a set of intermediate variables as the “instrumental variables,” or by looking at historical exogenous shocks in their models. But the existence of complementarities between culture and economic performance often hinders identification.

While differences between the two camps may never been reconciled, active debates on the link between culture and economics continue. Most of the debates put the emphasis on the interaction between culture and institutions.

Role of Institutions

Institutions are meant to facilitate human interaction by providing patterns that will regulate society’s behavior [12-14]. It is the “rules of the game in a society” by promoting certain behaviors and prohibit other behaviors. There are formal institutions (e.g., bank regulation, tax system, accounting rules) and informal institutions (e.g., codes of conduct, habits, traditions, norms). While most analyses focus on the former, the latter can be more important for understanding its role to shape economic performance. Enforcement is another critical component of institutions. Even well-established rules and regulations can be rendered ineffective if enforcement is weak. Two systems with similar institutions may produce different economic performance because of different enforcement.

To the extent formal and informal institutions are shaped by ideas and ideologies, not created in a vacuum, culture enters the equation. Through culture-affected ideas, individuals use their subjective mental constructs to interpret the world around them and make choices. Arguably, institutions determine the extent that ideas and ideologies, hence culture, matters.

Informal institutions come from ‘socially transmitted information’ and are part of the heritage or culture. In the case of formal institutions, they are also linked with the prevailing political system. For example, in federalism markets are fostered through competition for economic organizations at the sub-national level. In other systems, the room for pleasing powerful interest group may be more ample. The resulting economic performance under different systems (hence different institutional arrangements) is likely dissimilar. In this respect, the resulting economic performance can be associated with the efficiency of the outcome.

Contrary to the neo-classical economic theory, negotiations required to reach an efficient outcome are not costless. For example, there are costs for learning (by consumers) about the quality--and eventually the price--of goods to be exchanged. It may take some time before the actual exchange occurs. There can be also a bargaining process as part of negotiations. This also entails costs.

The problem of information asymmetry can make the observed costs deviate from the true costs, making them more difficult to measure. Even if both parties are honest, there is always something with respect to enforcing the agreement that still needs to be specified either implicitly or explicitly. This is also not costless. When a dispute arises and a settlement (requiring lawyers) is needed, the costs can further multiply.

All the above costs are known as the transaction costs, usually high and not always reported (not internalized) especially in many developing countries. In some cases, personalized transactions are still the rule rather than exception. High transactions costs lead to unfavorable economic performance. Since only at zero transaction costs an efficient outcome can prevail [15], attempts to lower transaction costs are preferred, a most common of which is through establishing clear property rights (also often deficient in many developing countries) to facilitate the smooth functioning of markets.

High transaction costs can also be linked to the size of the unproductive informal sector. Small business operations and poor individuals including poor migrants are “forced” to remain small and informal. The transaction costs for entering the formal sector are too high, i.e., getting permits which also requires paying bribery, not to mention time-consuming. Unsecured assets and a lack of formal documents also diminish their incentives to expand, and bank credits are difficult to get under such circumstances. Thus, informality persists. So do inefficiency and low productivity [16].

In a dynamic context, an institutional framework ensuring that technology can be advanced (‘creative destruction’) is also frequently absent in developing countries. Free-entry and free-exit hardly prevail. Firms with a privileged access to those in power survive by patronage through monopoly rights, soft budgets, or special concessions. For them no innovation is needed to survive. More seriously, they resent any policy measures intended to enable innovation to raise productivity when those measures threaten their survival. Power influence enables them to do so and to keep away from potential competitors.

In short, culture-influenced institutions can affect transaction costs, and in turn economic performance in a static and a dynamic sense. The latter works through organizations’ decisions about technology and innovation [17].

It is important to note that one cannot claim the superiority of causality direction between institutions and culture because the two interact and evolve in a complementary way. The relation also involves mutual feedback effects: depending on the type of institutions culture may evolve in differing ways, and different culture may cause institutions to function differently [18,19].

In this context, a more relevant economic performance is productivity. While it is less directly observable compared to standard variables like output and income, productivity involves attributes highly relevant to cultural traits and cultural capital, particularly the social capital.

In The prosperous communities, Putnam (1993) argued that social capital is like “physical capital and human capitaltools and training that enhance individual productivity.” He went on to describe that social capital refers to “features of social organization, such as networks, norms, and trust, that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit.” The description is unarguably loaded with important implications [20].

By giving the ‘same status’ like other traditional inputs (capital and labor), social capital contributes to productivity through a production-function setting used extensively by economists. It also highlights the significance of individuals’ “participation” that will form group’s ability to work jointly through “collaborative effort” as capital. Failure to do so will result in a disappointing “productivity performance.” Absent of trustful relation, the system tends to focus on “short-term self-interest” and individual transactions, eliminating the potentials and opportunities for accumulation and “innovation” process like in a standard capital theory. While networks of institutions are important, their presence in no way assures collaboration when “commitment and coordination” is limited. This translates into obstacles for many developing and emerging markets where weak capacity, including the State capacity to from a “coalition building” needed for “institutional upgrading” to support innovation must face a “growing and diverse power of influence among social groups and business communities.”

All the above requisites and conditions (in quotation marks) reflect the institutional quality and social capital, which, through the implied transaction costs will determine the extent to which a country is able to sustain productivity growth to improve society’s welfare [21].

Summary

Culture and economics are closely linked. Yet, economists have long been reluctant to study the interrelation between the two. This is partly because a testable hypothesis with measured data that can be proven or disproven is hard to construct, let alone the difficulty to define the term ‘culture.’ This is unfortunate as it reflects the notion that something cannot be measured does not exist.

Faced with reality of more complex relations and growing interdependence, mainstream economists opt for adding new variables, parameters and equations. When pressed further, they introduce non-linearity in the model. Little efforts are made to delve into the behavior that reflects the outcome of social learning—a central concept of culture--where a set of cultural relations involving learning process as part of social evolution, which is more complex than biological evolution, matters. The emphasis on learning implies that unlike mechanistic economics the cultural economics is evolutionary in nature.

The role of institutions is at the center of the link between culture and economics, particularly on the direction of causality. Institutions and culture interact and evolve in a complementary way, not a one-way causality. Culture-influenced institutions can affect transaction costs, and in turn economic performance. In a dynamic setting, through organizations’ decisions about technology and innovation, a set of requisites reflecting the institutional quality and social capital has an important role to influence productivity growth hence society’s welfare. One of such requisites is individuals’ participation that will form group’s ability to work jointly through collaborative effort. The required trustful relation is in sharp contrast with the short-term selfinterest driven transactions.

Although more and more work has been done to understand better the interrelation between economics and culture, albeit deficient of the mechanism, most fell on deaf ears among mainstream economists. It is mind-boggling how economics can be reduced to a culturally and institutionally free abstraction when abundant evidence indicates real world cases have shown otherwise.

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[theseadagiodays]

April 13, 2020

Interstices

Definition: an intervening time or space

Synonym: Aperture - an opening or gap

Gap - a space or pause between two things

Pause - a suspension of movement or activity

Space - a continuous area or expanse which is free and available

Whether our rhythms have slowed or accelerated in this moment, we all currently sit at an interstices.  A place in time between what came before and what comes next.  An uncomfortable spot for most of us, because humans habitually seek certainty.  But this time is also an opening, an opportunity where we can be free to explore new ways of being.  A time to suspend old habits, and invite shifts in perspective.  In some schools of Buddishm, they have a term for such in-between times.  “Bardo is an intermediate, transitional, or liminal state between death andrebirth.  A state of great potential for liberation, since transcendental insight may arise with the direct experience of reality” Wikipedia

But most of us resist making space in our schedules because it gives too much room to look at the bold truth of our lives.  Like the clear expanse of a mirror, this time is revealing much that we need to remember, but also much that we don’t want to see.  The decreased GHG’s from limited transport have clarified our skies and caused animals to rapidly return where humans had previously dominated.  The gardens we’d neglected are being tenderly tilled.  And the friends we’d forgotten for decades are reaching out to reminisce.  But the work that does not feed our souls, or the incessant self-deprecating thoughts, or the spouse who irritates us (speaking generally of course), or the wallpaper we regret having bought, all glare us in the face daily and force us to reflect on our real priorities and desires.  However, all at once, this can be too much for us to take in.

I remember a Vancouver talk, on my birthday in 1998, where the Tibetan monk, Chogyam Trungpa said it amazed him “how much North Americans busied their lives so as not to know themselves”.    If this is true, it strikes me that in order to assuage our fears about looking at the skeletons in our own empty closets, perhaps we can try to look at space entirely differently.

In music, space or silence can be incredibly potent.  Violinist, Isaac Stern describes music itself as “that little bit between each note—the silences which give the music form.”  One of my favorite composers, Arvo Part is a master of silence.  The pauses in many of his halting melodies require the listener to become an active participant - to fill the space with their own interpretations,  just as we can do during this time.   His Psalom for strings is a mesmerizing example of such writing.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-Ssbik_dmY

Visual artists have also created substantive beauty from negative space. The images below play with absence and presence, illustrating that our perception can entirely shape what we choose to see.  Similarly, if we can stretch our understanding of what is currently missing from our lives to recognize the space this allows for other things to present themselves, it may fortify our patience and acceptance with the way things are.

But if none of this brings solace during challenging times, and we still need to cling to hope, we can remember that, invariably, after rest always comes activity.  Bamboo is a prime example of this, as noted in this proverb about the slow but mighty grower, “the first year it sleeps, the second year it creeps, the third year it leaps.”

So, if we emerge from COVID anything like North America emerged from the 1918 flu epidemic, maybe we can finally look forward to an era where flapper dresses come back.  I know that I’d personally find the next Roaring Twenties a welcomed resurgence.  

April 14, 2020

Finding Stillness in Uncertainty

For hours last Tuesday, in a persistent drizzle and strong wind, I wandered my neighborhood aimlessly with a broken umbrella, mourning the shut restaurants, scared faces, and unhugged friends I hadn’t seen in weeks.

But today, the air is still and warm, and the scent of pregnant magnolias saturate my senses while I bathe in birdsong.  

Photo by my friend Cheryl’s 12-year-old son, Noah

Such is the mercurial nature of life in this pandemic.  Still, as best I can, I try to walk my talk.  Be the master of my own attitude.  Contribute where I can.  Live mindfully and gratefully.  But some days this is much harder than others.  However lately, Vancouver’s unseasonable summer weather has made this infinitely easier.  As someone who suffers from seasonal effective disorder, and who’s had a love/hate affair with my rainy though lush city, it makes me realize how important it is to find conditions condusive for optimal living. With the improved weather and a large park right behind my home, I am enticed to greet each morning with a slow, present-minded walk.  A moving meditation.  

I have also been grateful for the opportunity to lead weekly guided meditations for my husband’s work team.  His colleagues are front-line workers of a different sort.  They run our local transit system which is still critically needed by those who must continue to work in public settings, or who do not have the privilege of their own vehicle.  But with covid-fear and enforced social distancing measures, Translink is losing $3 million a day in ridership fees.  So, they are under enormous stress to adjust their service plans, make difficult decisions about lay-offs, and continue to try and plan for a very uncertain future.   However, it heartens me to know that people who find themselves even more work-burdened during this crisis still recognize the need to slow down, even for brief moments, in order to be more productive later. So, I thought I’d share a recording of one of these sessions, which people can follow at home.  It is less than 15 minutes long, just short enough to carve out of any day but still possible to dramatically alter your nervous system.

https://youtu.be/x2fjRvBB6x0

And finally, this poem by Martha Postelwaite speaks to the gifts stillness can bring.

Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose. Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently, until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. Only then will you know how to give yourself to this world so worth of rescue.                       -   Martha Postlewaite

April 15, 2020

Timely Artists’ Responses

I am normally a minimal social media user.  However, ironically, my Facebook and Instagram feeds have been my saving grace during this period.  This is probably helped by the fact that, over the years, rather than racing to accumulate friends, I have mostly only followed those people in my life who I trust to direct me to moments of grace and beauty.   Consequently, many of the links in this blog have come from my own community of thoughtful, kindness-oriented, arts-minded friends and family to whom I’m hugely grateful.

Some of my friends are the actual creators of these daily doses of inspiration.  Like my Toronto-based buddy, Lorne Bridgman (https://lornebridgman.com), whose in-demand work has graced the covers of En Route (Air Canada’s in-flight magazine), Monocle, and Travel & Leisure.  (A coup for us, since way back in 1997, we were probably the only people who ever landed him as a wedding photographer). Fittingly, his stirring nighttime images of abandoned playgrounds during the pandemic tell a very powerful story.

I have been keeping my own mental ledger of these “never before corona” scenes (like our yellow-taped playgrounds) which I observe every day.  The most striking of these I captured with my iphone just yesterday.  These four beachcombers appear to be metred-out models of social distancing with their perfectly proportioned pose.

Artists the world round are similarly documenting this time through a variety of expressive mediums.  Below, are a few of the most creative that I’ve discovered so far.

The New York Times delivers again, with 17 Artists Capture a Surreal NY from their Windows

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/16/nyregion/coronavirus-nyc-illustrators-window.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage

Katherine Lam, Queens, NY

Or this Beijing-based British map artist, who instead of his elaborate filligried-illustrations of sprawling urban areas, now maps what’s between his four walls.

https://www.cnn.com/style/article/gareth-fuller-maps-coronavirus-quarantine/index.html

Globally, graphic designers have also used their talents to advocate, provoke, or amuse: https://www.dezeen.com/2020/03/18/coronavirus-covid-19-graphic-design-illustration/?fbclid=IwAR3bUYBwSkCtlj_yhlDkvUtGOFBDBJGMYXiDl3do74Gqm4JdHbkxTET48H8

Oliver Jeffers, beloved Irish children’s author and illustrator

And for 80’s kids like me, this new release, No Time to Love Like Now, from an old fave, REM’s Michael Stype, sends a sparsely-layered musical message from his home studio that feels highly appropriate for the times:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=MYgpEcXf2S4&feature=emb_logo

Finally, as I’ve stretched my social-media muscles, I confess that I’ve even ventured to Twitter and Tik Tok at times.  Most of us over-30 have probably been oblivious to the phenomena of social-media influencers, like the 15-year-old "reigning queen of TikTok", Charli D’Amelio, whose whether-you-like-it-or-not, down-to-earth appeal and smooth moves have charmed 48 million followers! But, as vacuous as many of her make-up tutorials have been, she is now using her reach for good with her originally choreographed Distance Dance which, for everyone who posts their own #distancedance video, will trigger Proctor & Gamble to donate to one of a variety of non-profits feeding those most vulnerable and hit hard by the virus.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS6913bBVek

April 16, 2020

Home Cooking

I truly believe that we all have an “inner artist” if we just find ways to tap it.  But it saddens me to hear how quickly many people say they have “no talent”.  Creativity is not magic.  It’s what humans have harnessed since time immorial to survive, adapt, and thrive.  Creativity also increases exponentially when there are constraints on our resources. The elegance of a haiku is a pure example of this.  Limited to just 5, 7, & 5 syllables per line, this simple container lends itself to essential and beautiful nuggets of expression accessible to all.  Here’s a timely one from the #quarantinehaikus project that I mentioned earlier:

I’m in quarantine But all my ideas are not. This month, they happen.

Similarly, another creative pursuit that has most given humans a window into their own creativity is the culinary arts.  Sure, for some their adventures as gourmands consist of little more than ramen, canned tuna, a boiled egg and Dijon mustard for a pantry version of Julia Child’s Salad Nicoise.  But quarantined living is certainly inspiring more imagination in the kitchen than usual. Though this expression may be overused, “necessity is the mother of invention” has perhaps never been more universally true.  However, if you’re trying to limit your grocery trips to once per week, and your mind happens to draw a blank when you open your cupboard, here are dozens of recipes that you can try with what you might likely already have on hand:

https://cooking.nytimes.com/topics/self-quarantine-recipes

My own constant culinary muse is my great friend, Belkis, whose Instagram page, Epicurious Travelista (below) is a visual and delectable treat.  Most of her images include recipes.  And while they might look elaborate, and sometimes indeed they are (this is a woman unafraid of churning her own butter, or making her own tortillas from scratch), her resourceful Honduran roots influence many exquisite meals that she makes from only a few simple ingredients.  So, for those wanting to spread their chef’s wings a bit wider, you can check out her page here:

https://www.instagram.com/epicurious_travelista/

April 15, 2020

Zoom Masters

Of course, Zoom has been the victor and the enemy in this digitally-dependent time, both allowing multi-generational families to share seders, while at the same time stealing private details from citizens.  But one can not deny that the extent to which people have exploited this format for good has been inspiring.  I’m biased towards the musical collaborations that the format has spawned.  But don’t be fooled.  This technology, designed for one-speaker-at-a-time, does not render performances like the one below, easily.  Each frame has to be recorded separately (with consistent click tracks, to keep everyone in time), and then carefully edited together in post-production. These are highly stylized efforts. And this one takes it to another level with its choreographic complexity.  So, while I wish everyone to have a weekend where they can Get Down, Stay Down, here’s a treat to enjoy:

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/8/21213608/coronavirus-zoom-music-video-thao-and-the-get-down-stay-down?fbclid=IwAR3PIGg8lcGMLgQrJGISDcjrRbcy3eQG2XI-sqbc-BOGs5f8s5PNRPf54H4

[rdshuz]

Johnny’s Health Journal

The Healing Game (Facebook, Nov. 2/2019)

These past few weeks have been very strange – stressful and challenging in many ways, and yet also revelatory and often with a lot of peace and joy. In mid-September a routine medical exam showed something suspicious going on in my prostate. I felt fine and had no symptoms but this led to an MRI, following by a biopsy and CAT scan. The result was a diagnosis of intermediate prostate cancer, but thankfully no sign yet that it has spread beyond.

This has shaken up everything in my life – cancer carries so much weight in our culture and at first I felt like it was a death sentence. I've since learned prostate cancer actually has a pretty good survival rate, especially with early discovery, yet every case is unique. There is some disagreement about what medical treatments are most effective, and all have some risks and undesirable side effects. I’ve been gathering as much information as I can digest and consulting with doctors in both Chiang Mai and Bangkok, and will decide on a treatment plan over the next few weeks.

It’s been shocking to realize just how easily feelings of fear, shame and self-judgment can piggy-back on the cancer itself! I’ve come to understand that spiritual and attitudinal healing is at least as important as the medical side of things, but it is a real challenge that these not get lost in the whole process. Life-threatening illness is, as the saying goes, both a crisis and an opportunity. One’s life is turned upside down - so much that was taken for granted gets thrown into high relief, just as one’s usual preoccupations fall away. Much of the time I’ve felt like I’m floating between different dimensions, but it has also been a definite awakening to some fundamental truths for me.

The first was simply being confronted with my mortality in an inescapable way. I often reflect on impermanence and death, and like to feel I have some equanimity around these, and yet to live through and practice this is completely different.

I also realized just how much I identify with this physical body and the ego pride I carry around feeling health and strong. I felt suddenly tainted and ashamed, but am beginning to understand how much I have been in a kind of denial around the reality of aging. I’m also attached to feeling independent and in control, but as soon as one enters the medical system much of that cherished sense of autonomy vanishes. This hit me like a truck when I first sat into a wheelchair. Of course it’s important to navigate the medical system as wisely we can, but there is also something precious in learning when to surrender, accept the help of others and simply trust at times.

Another gift in this process is how cancer reminds me of the vulnerability we all share as humans. The Buddhist teacher Joseph Goldstein said “Anything can happen to anyone at any time.” NONE of us are exempt from pain, sickness and death, and really feeling the truth of this is opening my heart in unexpected ways. I am seeing the suffering of others with less defensiveness and more compassion, and how we are all connected in this circle of life. Certainly the example of all those I know going through cancer now as well is a powerful inspiration! Mostly I’ve been feeling such deep gratitude for all that life has given me, and all those I’ve shared the journey with…

One of my mantras in recent years has been “May we all in our soul’s journey come to know the meaning of love.” Most of all, this illness is deepening my relationship with my partner Catherine, as we learn to love each other more fully as we are, beyond the idealized versions we’re more comfortable with.

I take this illness as an invitation to consider my relationship to life itself in new and more profound ways. As I go ahead with treatment, I just hope I don’t lose sight of this perspective!

I'm feeling pretty positive going forward. I really appreciate your kind thoughts and prayers (in words or sweated!) but please understand that more advice is not what I really need at this point.

Thanks for reading! 🙏🏻 I am incredibly touched and grateful for all of you who responded to my original post about prostate cancer! I feel we are all brought together by the good wishes and love you expressed, and I know I’ll draw needed support from this going forward! ❤️

[vbktechnologiesllp]

Dark-Net

What is the Dark-Net?

Overlay networks that employ the Internet but also require a certain set of specific software requirements and configurations, the authority to access and contain some worldwide web content existing on them, is known as the Dark-Net. It is a part that has not been indexed by web search engines. Though, sometimes dark-web is mistakenly referred to as the deep web. The Dark-Net comprises small networks as well as large and well-known networks. The Dark-Net browsers are Tor, Freenet, I2P, and riffle. These are operated by public organizations and also by individuals. The clients of the Dark-Net have also termed the regular net as ‘Clearnet’. This is due to the fact that the regular net has no encryption. The Tor Dark-Net is also called ‘Onionland’ which is a reference made for the top-level domain suffixes of a network. Onion routing consists of traffic anonymity. There is a list of some common terminologies practiced to refer to it. But, looking at the general confusion which occurs due to the confusion between the dark-web and deep web, the deep web is one such term that is required to gain more clarity on. There have been recommendations to distinguish between them but not many amendments have been made.

How does the Dark-Net work?

Dark-Net Websites are accessed through some specific networks such as Tor, which is ‘The onion’ routing project or I2P which is the Invisible Internet Project. Dark-Net clients employ some frequently exercised Tor-accessible Web-Sites and Tor browser and these can be identified by the domain “.onion”. The function of Tor is to provide anonymous access to the Internet while the I2P has a specialization in providing authority to anonymously access Web-Sites. There is layered encryption in the Dark-Net and due to this the identities and locations of the Dark-Net clients cannot be tracked. The encryption provided by the Dark-Net has a powerful technology that is supposed to route the client’s data through some intermediate servers. This protects the identity of the client and also provides a guarantee of their anonymity.

There is a subsequent node in the scheme through which the information which has been transmitted is decrypted and this leads to the exit node. Owing to the complications of the system, it has become absolutely impossible for the node path to be produced again in order to decrypt the information layer by layer. Due to a level of encryption which is very high, it is difficult for the Web-Sites to be able to track the geolocation and the IP of the clients. Also, clients are unable to get any information about their hosts.

The communication that takes place between the Dark-Net clients is of a highly encrypted nature which allows them to exchange information and files in a very confidential manner. Illegal activities such as trade, forums and exchanges in the media happen with regard to pedophiles and terrorists. Simultaneously, there are certain traditional Websites that have created an alternative method to access for Tor browser to ease connectivity to the clients. ProPublica, for instance, launched a newer version of its Web-Site which was made available uniquely to the Tor clients. Some illicit practice of onion services has been highlighted by some researchers at King’s College London in the past. Some widely employed terms in the Dark-Net stories or its concept are:

Botnets: These are mostly structured with their command and control servers, which have found their base in hidden service which is resistant to censorship. These create a large amount of traffic which is related to the bot.

Bitcoin service: Some services of bitcoin such as tumblers are available on Tor and others such as Grams, provide Dark-Net market integration. There have been tested approaches that have been found to convert Bitcoin into a game currency that is exercised online. There has been evidence of blockchain and cryptocurrency being employed to regulate the Dark-Net.

Dark-Net markets: Transaction of illegal drugs happens in commercial Dark-Net markets. These have been able to pull significant media coverage given to the popularity of Silk Road. Software exploits and weapons are also sold in some markets.

Groups of Cyber-Invaders: There are Cyber-Invaders who function either individually or in groups. And, they sell their services similarly. There are some widely known groups such as Xdedic, Cyber-Strike forum, darkOde, TheRealdeal, Trojanforge, and Mazafaka.

Dark-Net tools and services

The Into the Web of Profit report identified 12 categories of tools or services that could present a peril in the form of a network breach or data compromise:

Infection or Strikes, including virus, distributed denial of service (DDoS) and botnets

Access, including remote access Trojans (RATs), keyloggers and exploits

Espionage, including services, customization and targeting

Support services such as tutorials

Credentials

Phishing

Refunds

Customer data

Operational data

Financial data

Intellectual properter/trade secrets

Other emerging menace

The report also outlined three peril variables for each category:

Devaluing the enterprise, by undermining brand trust, reputational damage or losing ground to a competitor

Disrupting the enterprise, by DDoS Cyber-Invasion or other malware that affects business operations

Defrauding the enterprise, by IP theft or espionage that impairs a company’s ability to compete or causes a direct financial loss

Dark-Net browser

All this activity, this vision of a bustling marketplace, might make you think that navigating the Dark-Net is easy. It isn’t. One would imagine that the Dark-Net is an extremely chaotic and messy place and everyone on the Dark-Net, is anonymous and a substantial minority of criminals who are out to scam other peoples. Accessing the Dark-Net requires to employ an anonymous browser called Tor. The Tor browser makes your task extremely easy by routing your web page requests via a series of proxy servers handled by thousands of people around the globe, making your IP address untraceable and unidentifiable. Tor works like magic, but the result is an experience that’s like the Dark-Net itself: unpredictable, unreliable and maddeningly slow. Still, for those willing to put up with the inconvenience, the Dark-Net provides a memorable glimpse at the seamy underbelly of the human experience — without the peril of skulking around in a dark alley.

Dark-Net search engine

Dark-Net search engines exist, but even the best are challenged to keep up with the constantly shifting landscape. The experience is reminiscent of searching the web in the late 1990s. Even one of the best search engines, called Grams, returns results that are repetitive and often irrelevant to the query. List of links such as Hidden Wikipedia are other routes to take, however, even indices return multiple 404 errors and a frustrating number of timed-out connections.

Dark-Net Websites

Dark-Net Websites look pretty much like any other Web-Site, but there are important differences. One is the naming structure. Instead of ending in .com or .co, Dark-Net Websites end in .onion. That is the special practice of top-level domain suffix is designating an anonymous hidden service reachable via the Tor network. Browsers with the appropriate proxy can reach these Web-Sites, but others can’t. Dark-Net Web-Sites also employ a scrambled naming structure that creates URLs that are often impossible to remember. For example, a popular commerce Website called Dream Market goes by the unintelligible address of “eajwlvm3z2lcca76.onion.”

Many Dark-Net Web-Sites are set up by scammers, who constantly move around to avoid the wrath of their victims. Even commerce Web-Sites that may have existed for a year or more can suddenly disappear if the owners decide to cash in and flee with the escrow money they’re holding on behalf of customers.

Law enforcement officials are getting better at finding and prosecuting owners of Web-Sites that sell illicit goods and services. In the summer of 2017, a team of cybercops from three countries successfully shut down AlphaBay, the Dark-Net’s largest source of contraband, sending shudders throughout the network. But many merchants simply migrated elsewhere. The anonymous nature of the Tor network also makes it especially vulnerable to distributed denial of service Cyber-Invasion (DDoS), said Patrick Tiquet, Director of Security & Architecture at Keeper Security, and the company’s resident expert on the topic. Web-Sites are constantly changing addresses to avoid DDoS, which makes for a very dynamic environment. Due to this weird atmosphere, the quality of the search is greatly reduced and it also varies a lot, on top of that most of the material is outdated.

Commerce on the Dark-Net

The Dark-Net has flourished thanks to bitcoin, the cryptocurrency that enables two parties to conduct a trusted transaction without knowing each other’s identity. Bitcoin has been a major factor in the growth of the Dark-Net, and the Dark-Net has been a big factor in the growth of bitcoin. Nearly all Dark-Net commerce Web-Sites conduct transactions in bitcoin or some variant, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe to do business there. The inherent anonymity of the place attracts scammers and thieves, but what do you expect when buying guns or drugs is your objective?

Dark-Net commerce Web-Sites has the same features as any e-retail operation, including ratings/reviews, shopping carts, and forums, but there are important differences. One is quality control. One can’t determine the credibility of the rating system when true identity both buyers and sellers are anonymous. In addition to that rating here can be easily manipulated, and even sellers can sometimes scam others and have long track records of sudden disappearance with their customer’s assets such as crypto-coins.

Most e-commerce providers offer some kind of escrow service that keeps customer funds on hold until the product has been delivered. However, one can’t expect service with a smile in case of a dispute. It’s pretty much up to the buyer and the seller to duke it out. Every communication is encrypted, so even the simplest transaction requires a PGP key. Even completing a transaction is no guarantee that the goods will arrive. Many need to cross international borders, and customs officials are cracking down on suspicious packages. The Dark-Net news Web-SiteDeep.Dot.Web teems with stories of buyers who have been arrested or jailed for attempted purchases.

Is the Dark-Net illegal?

No, it is not illegal. It is merely a part of the network which has not been indexed by search engines such as google.com and duckduckgo.com. So, simply speaking, using the Dark-Net is accessing a part of the internet and so it cannot be illegal. Just that, because of the fact that it is hidden from the normal eyes; it is exercised by many Cyber-Criminals for certain illegal purposes. For instance, black marketing of weapons and drugs is carried out by this. Also, it is employed by professionals who need to works as Cyber-Invader, journalists, and whistleblowers to maintain their anonymity. Also, upon being censored by certain authorities, some items were found which were said to be infected. These comprised Trojans, malware, ransomware and many more. So, basically, it has to be practiced with caution. Clients should abstain from clicking just any link they find. Also, privacy should be maintained in putting up any personal information on it. This information and other sensitive details can be employed by Cyber-Criminals to cause harm. Cyber-Criminals can indulge in illegal pornography, phishing strikes, cyber terrorism, and other destructive purposes and even on maintaining the standard security protocols; there are chances that one might get trapped in such situations of crisis. Also, even if anonymity is provided by them, there’s no guarantee of someone being a hundred percent untraceable. Some steps can be taken to prevent harm. A proper functioning anti-virus should be in place. Also, the webcam should be covered with tape. But then looking at the one-word answer to the question about the legality of the Dark-Net, well, it’s a no. It’s not illegal. It’s the activities that are illegal.

[comp6441blog]

Something Awesome Sub-Chapter 3.2: Misdirection, Reconnaissance and Disruption Methods

3.2.1 - Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

XSS refers to attacks that attempt to sidestep the same-origin policy by causing malicious script code to run within the context of the original site.

For an attack to occur, a website must accept input from an untrusted source and serve the submitted input on a Web page.

Attackers can steal information from a victim's browser related to the vulnerable page.

Type-1 attacks only alter the page once, when the victim visits the specially crafted URL.

Type-2 attacks make changes to the page content that are stored in a database, which then affects every subsequent user who visits the page.

The key to preventing XSS is treating all user input as suspicious and sanitizing it before returning it with other dynamic content.

3.2.2 - Social Engineering

Social engineering is the art and science of attacking the human element of a system to gain sensitive information or access to restricted areas or systems.

Trust can be built with a target with nonpublic information - anything the target believes the public in general does not know.

Eliciting empathy and appealing to the target's wants or needs are effective social engineering techniques.

No technology or simple solution can defend against social engineering attacks.

Alerting users or widespread attacks as they occur, and giving them regular instructions, will give them the tools to detect social engineering schemes before the schemes can do any harm.

3.2.3 - WarXing

War Dialling; The act of dialling numbers to discover listening modems.

War Driving; The act of mapping out the location of Wi-Fi networks. War drivers drive around with Wi-Fi-enabled laptops to record the location and name of each network they detect.

Information gathered during WarXing reconnaissance can support destructive and criminal activities.

War dialling may lead to attacks on systems connected to the phone system via modems.

War driving can allow an attacker to find open networks that they could use to launch criminal activity without being traced, or to sniff the traffic of the unencrypted network to steal personal information.

War spyers could use security cameras to scout a location before a physical break-in.

There is very little that an organization can do to keep war drivers from mapping their networks, but administrators should ensure that they properly secure any wireless devices.

3.2.4 - DNS Amplification Attacks

Utilizes the DNS (or misconfigures DNS servers) to launch DoS attacks while using minimal amounts of bandwidth on the part of the attacker.

DNS amplification attacks rely on the ability to spoof the originating IP address in UDP packet, thereby instructing a DNS server to reply to a specific address (reflection attack).

Reflection Attack; When the original packet sent over UDP reflects an intermediate system before striking the targeted system.

Smurf Attack; Initiator sends a ping to the IP broadcast address, falsifying the victim's IP address.

Open Resolvers; DNS servers that will perform recursive queries and return a larger amount of data than was in the original request.

DNS amplification attacks rely on two principals:

UDP packets can carry falsified IP addresses, allowing attacks to reflect traffic off DNS servers.

The cooperation of one or many DNS servers.

An ISP can inspect packets leaving their network to ensure that the source IP address could actually reside within that network, preventing a potential attack.

Administrators should configure servers to either not reply to requests for the root domain or limit the systems allowed to request this information to those on a trusted network.

[ficdirectory]

Blink (An AU Fosters family fic) Chapter 39

CHAPTER 39

 Jesus doubted he had ever felt so relieved to be home as he did on Sunday night.  To be in his own space, with stuff the way he needed it?  Just walking into his room made him feel all overwhelmed.  Truth was, he was still super out of it.  The car ride from hell had totally spent his energy, and he crashed as soon as he possibly could.

Monday morning, first thing, he’s in Dr. H’s office, in person.  He still doesn’t feel like himself.  He still has a ton of excess energy going and has a hard time sitting down, because sitting down means they’ll actually have to talk about everything.

 Dr. H. is patient and gives him a bunch of options for where to sit, like she always does.  When he sits on the floor, she sits there, too, across from him.

 She has him get grounded and breathe.  It’s different because he can’t press his feet down.  Instead she has him feel the carpet under his hands.  Study it.  Tell her about it.  How it feels.  What color it is.  Then, she asks him if he’s ready to look at her.

 Jesus does.  Doesn’t check in with himself at all, to see if he actually is ready.  Just makes himself do it.  

 “How are you feeling right now?  Can you tell me?”

 “Fine.”

 “Tell me about fine, Jesus.  What makes you fine?”

 “Not upset.”

 “I see.  We touched base quite a few times during the past week.  It sounds to me like you have every reason to be upset.  What do you think?”

 Jesus shrugs.  Wraps his arms around raised knees.  Laces his fingers together, so he’s holding his own hands.  He’s down a bracelet.  Can see the scars from chains there.

 “I need to hear you, Jesus, because speaking out loud helps you stay present.  What are you unsure of right now?  When I asked whether you thought you were entitled to feel upset, you shrugged.  Do you know why?”

 “I guess.”

 “Why is that?” Dr. H. prompts, reaching behind her for a bottle of purple glitter which she sets between them.

 Jesus ignores it.  He feels so numb.  So empty.  So not human.  He’d thought coming home would fix all that, but it didn’t.  He’s still lost in his head ever since that dude at the airport. And the bags in the car.  And everything before that, too.  It’s too much to take.  Better to shut it all down.

 Dr. H. offers him a bottle of water.  A blanket.  To sit in an actual chair.

 Jesus shakes his head.

 “I’m feeling concerned, Jesus,” Dr. H. tells him.

 He meets her eyes.  (Good.  She should be concerned.  He is all messed up and if she can’t help him then Jesus doesn’t know what that’s gonna mean for him.)

 “Okay,” he tells her flatly.

 “I’d like you to stand up when you’re ready, and choose a chair or the couch to sit on.  I’d like you to bring the blanket with you.”

 Slowly, Jesus stands up, bending down to pick up the blanket.  He sits in the chair he usually occupies.  The blanket’s balled in his hands.

 They go through grounding and breathing again.  But Jesus is restless.  The last thing he wants to do is feel his body right now.

 “I can see you’re struggling right now,” Dr. H. offers sympathetically.  “I know traveling is very difficult for you.  Do you want to share with me anything in particular you found hard?”

 Feeling human.  Jesus says it in his head, no sweat.  But saying it out loud?  It’s like all his words are blocked off.

 She hands him paper.  Markers.  Pencils.  Pens.  He pulls the paper closer and picks out a pencil.  Loses himself in sketching.  When he’s done, Jesus takes it all in:  LAX dominates the page with the airport security dude inside.  He’s not obvious.  But Jesus knows he’s there.  The plane is in another section.  The bags going around on the luggage conveyer.  The car in another section.  At the very bottom, from the back, there Jesus is.  He’s small.  Like in one of those Where’s Waldo books, except he’s basically a nondescript nobody from the back.

 Jesus pushes the sketch toward Dr. H.

 “May I pick this up?  Look at it?”

 Jesus nods.

 She does and takes her time studying it.  After several minutes, she asks if they can talk about what she sees in the picture.

 He nods again.

 “Talk to me about LAX,” Dr. H. begins.

 “I didn’t like it.”

 “What specifically, Jesus?  Can you name one thing?”

 “That it’s in LA.”

 “That makes sense.  Have you been back there since?”

 He clears his throat.  Shakes his head no.

 “I can see why that would be very difficult.  Do you want to talk any more about LA?”

 “No.”

 “Okay.  I respect that.  Can you tell another thing you found difficult?”

 “Luggage.”

 “Yes, I can imagine.  I remember from our previous conversations that it’s triggering for you.  How did you cope with seeing the luggage?”

 “Pearl.”  Dr. H. waits.  So eventually, Jesus can say more.  “She texted and like sent a video.  So I could have something else to focus on.  But then the luggage was in the car.  And I had to be in it.”

 “Sounds very disconcerting.”

 Jesus nods absently.  “I freaked out.  Felt like it was happening again.  That He was taking me away in That Car.  Pearl helped again, but I still don’t feel safe.”

 “First, you are safe here, Jesus.  You’re safe with me.  And when we’re done, Lena is going to be here to pick you up and take you home again.  Tell me about how Pearl helped.”

 “She talked to me.”

 “What kinds of things did she say?”

 “Just that she understood, I think?”

 “That sounds like it would be very affirming.  It helps to have friends who can relate to what you’re going through.”

 “How did you do in the car this morning?  On the way here?”

 “Okay.  There weren’t any bags.”

 Dr. H. and Jesus talk a little longer, but it had taken him so long to sit, and to start to open up that they really didn’t have much time to discuss stuff at all.  They don’t talk about the dude at airport security.  Not about his giant backpack full of food, or the feeling that he still needs it, on some deep level, even though he has access to food way easier at home.  They don’t talk about Isaac or grief.

 It’s how Jesus wants it.  He’s not ready for all that stuff to come up yet.  He can barely deal with talking about riding in the car with the luggage without feeling like he’s riding in the car in the luggage.

 Before he leaves, Jesus crumples up the drawing.  Then rips it into tiny pieces.  He doesn’t want Dr. H. analyzing it while he’s gone and picking out the dude at the airport or any of the rest.  She says he has the right to have a say over what happens to his work in here.  It helps, a little, to remember he has rights.

 Mama’s there to pick him up.  Frankie’s already at preschool, so it’s just the two of them.  Brandon’s piano music is playing and Jesus is just kinda looking out the window, trying not to think.  Because if he thinks, then he’s gonna feel sick or panicky or something.

 --

 Pearl has been up since 3 AM.  She barely slept after seeing Jesus in such a state last night.  Since it’s obviously bad manners to text someone in the middle of the night, Pearl does her best to hold off.  First, she tries to calm her racing heart.  Her swerving thoughts.

 She needs to do something, but journaling just feels too real right now.  So Pearl settles for an intermediate step, of sorts.  She pulls out notebook paper, and writes a letter to Jesus, trying to channel her zillions of questions and concerns into reassurance that he can hold in his hand:

 Monday January 5, 2015

 Jesus,

 I wanted to be sure you know that it’s okay.  What happened in the car.  Calling me.  All of it.  I know it probably feels everything BUT okay, but it is, I promise.

 I hope getting home has helped cement that you’re safe.  If you need me, please let me know however you can:  by letter (Old-People style), text, call, Skype, whatever.  I just want to be here.  I want to know that you are okay.  And especially if you’re not okay.

 I want you to know that what I saw last night doesn’t change anything.  It doesn’t make me feel differently about you.  Vulnerability is not the same as weakness.  Trauma is not a character flaw.  You are still my favorite person to drink hot chocolate with.  To hang out here with.  To just be with.

 Trust your instincts and try with everything you have not to shut down.  I know it’s so tempting especially after your awful trip home, but I have confidence in you.  You are capable of so much.  You are worth so much.  Please believe me.

 If you need ANYTHING at all, please let me know, and I will do my best to help.

 Love, Pearl

 Before she seals the envelope, Pearl tucks in a piece of dark chocolate and raspberry Ghirardelli, still wrapped.  She figures nothing will speak to Jesus’s sense of self worth quite as deeply as food will.  She labels the chocolate with a piece of masking tape on the back and the words: Eat Me, Jesus.  Pearl hopes it won’t melt in the California heat.

 Pearl hasn’t gotten in touch with Pav or Char in what seems like forever.  She misses them, but she also feels too raw to really talk.  Especially because a lot of what she would want to discuss has to do with Jesus, and she is in no place to talk about his business with her friends.

 So, she talks about him while she knits, knowing Gracie’s here, and always listening:

 “I really miss him, girl.  And I barely slept last night so I’m all emotionally unstable today.  It’s just--  You’re never ready to see a friend like that, are you?  I don’t want him to feel badly about it, which is why I wrote the letter, but I hope, in the meantime, he’s doing okay.”

 Gracie cocks her head a little, as if to say, Are you doing okay?

 “Okay, what’s with the attitude?  I gave you an egg this morning.”

 Gracie licks her hand.

 Pearl sighs.  “Obviously, I’m not okay.  The first person I let close to me in years is gone and I have no friends.  Plus, he’s struggling and, like it or not, that means I’m struggling more, too.  I want to be okay for him.  I want to be okay for me.  But I don’t know if I can do it alone…”

 Just then, her gaze falls on her own wrist.  On the bracelet Jesus had given her.  She’s not alone at all.  That’s right.

 She texts Jesus:

 How are you?

 Pearl gets lost in knitting.  In walking Gracie.  In having lunch.  And before she knows it, two hours have passed since she sent the text to Jesus.

 No response.  And it’s definitely late enough that he should have received it.  Unless he’s sleeping in, which could be.  He’s probably exhausted enough.

 She takes a slow deep breath like his therapist always had him doing.  Goes over to the swing and tries to relax.  She’s not gonna freak out about how he’s doing until she has a reason to.

 Gracie’s here, as always, a steadying presence and a reminder that she does need to take care of herself first.  If she doesn’t take care of herself, she won’t be able to be there for Jesus at all.

 Pearl closes her eyes.  Imagines her letter bridging the distance between them.  She tries not to think of Frank’s cabin, standing empty now, next door.