#i made this in approximately 30 seconds and did not think about it for any longer than that

[jianghushenanigans]

cinnamon rolls, lotus tower edition

(here's to Fang Duobing's canonically high kill count)

[vakarians-babe]

After a historic 6 week strike, the Temple University Graduate Students Association - the first graduate worker union in Pennsylvania - has WON.

When we went out on January 31st, I don’t think any of us thought that we would end up here. This was a long and arduous process that could never have been accomplished without everyone involved—and I do mean everyone.

Numerous news outlets have been reporting throughout the whole strike, but I’d like to run through what, exactly, it is we’ve done.

After well over a year of negotiations (we went to the table in January of 2022 after the administration delayed responding to our RFIs for months) and more than a year without a contract (it expired on February 15, 2022), we were stuck with an administrative team whose position was, resolutely, “we are happy with the contract as it is.” Their belief was that teaching and research assistants, who facilitate—at a conservative estimate—approximately one-third of all instructional work here on campus were “not a core function of the university.” Pay was structured around a tier-based system that generated inequity as part of its structure which ultimately manifested as race and gender based wage gaps, and that pay averaged out between 19k and 20k for the majority of our bargaining unit. We had only five days of parental leave in the event of childbirth. To cover a single dependent on the dependent healthcare plan required an individual to spend approximately 30% of their paycheck. There had been no substantive raises or adjustments for the cost of living since our first contract as a union.

During the strike, Temple university cut our healthcare and revoked tuition remission, attempting to break us through punitive bills and threats. They quite literally threatened peoples’ lives in addition to their livelihoods. International students were threatened for daring to exercise the rights they have as visa holders to engage in protected concerted activity. They attempted to break our will and our organization.

They failed. We didn’t.

On Monday, voting on a second tentative agreement closed. The contract negotiations team and the executive board unanimously endorsed that TA. It passed at an overwhelming 98% vote among our members. That TA, which will now become our contract, did the following:

Eliminated the tier system completely

Brought our pay up to 24k at the beginning of our contract, reaching pay of 27k by its end in 2026

Introduced 25% dependent healthcare coverage which, in addition to the pay raises, lowers the burden of single dependent care to just about 18% of one’s paycheck instead of 30%

Increased parental leave to 21 days

While this contract is not the most perfect contract, it is one of the largest single contract wins in recent history. It signifies an incredible amount of organizing power and it opens the door for future negotiations that will make TUGSA even stronger.

But more importantly, this strike and this contract are incontrovertible proof that graduate worker unions can win. They are proof that we can do it, and that administrations cannot expect to silence us through retaliation. We are stronger than them.

The fight doesn’t end here. The union of graduate workers, faculty, postdocs and more at Rutgers University has passed their strike authorization vote. The graduate workers at Duke University are fighting for their right to be recognized as employees, and that fight will soon be passed up through the nation to challenge rulings made at the National Labor Relations Board. Graduate workers at other universities in Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia area are moving to unionize. TUGSA continues to organize—our next contract negotiations will begin in less than two and a half years. Now is the time to support graduate workers. We cannot backslide. We have to fight for each other, because when we fight, we win.

[ok-boomerang]

if those two don't kill each other, Sokka might lend a hand

a zutara drabble

HAPPIEST OF BIRTHDAYS TO MY DEAREST @hneyteacup. I wrote a birthday drabble inspired by one of your faves, SPUFFY. I however have never seen Buffy and in fact I just found out the fate of Spuffy approximately 30 seconds ago lol, BUT STILL, this drabble is inspired by them, for you 💕 HBD!!!! ILY!

--

The others might buy Zuko’s little transformation, but not Katara.

She knows exactly how sympathetic he can make his sorry life seem, all in the pursuit of Fire Nation supremacy.

So that’s why she’s been interrogating Zuko in his room for the past 15 minutes. She’s made him promise he won’t fire bend at her, and she did not feel a tinge of regret when he frowned and said he would never, sounding almost hurt.

Even so, Katara stands at the ready in front of him, hands sheathed in water just in case Zuko decides to break her rule.

“So you’re telling me you saw the soldiers that were following us back in Fire Fountain City. And yet you can’t describe them?” she asks, voice dripping with disdain.

Zuko groans and rolls his eyes, almost as if this was nothing more than an annoying hassle for him rather than the serious interrogation it was. He waits a beat, staring angrily at the floor, before he lifts his head to meet her eyes.

“Well, they were human,” he says, voice annoyingly sweet. “Two legs. Two arms.”

Katara scowls.

“They were wearing helmets,” Zuko says in exasperation. “Am I supposed to be able to recognize soldiers by the way they walk?”

“Maybe!”

At this point, Sokka enters with a steaming cup of tea. He takes one look between the two—the scowl on the prince’s face and the murderous intent on Katara’s, and mutters, “Not sure you know what you’re doing, sis.”

At this, Katara transfers her glare to her brother, though he only rolls his eyes too.

Katara huffs and takes the tea that Sokka brought, silently dismissing him. Sokka sends what seems to be an apologetic look (traitor!) to Zuko before wordlessly exiting.

“It’s about time,” says Zuko when Katara hands him the mug of tea. “Hope he got it warm enough, since you’re forbidding me from bending.”

Katara ignores him. “How did you even get here?” she snaps, hoping that asking this question for the umpteenth time will expose how he’d been following them for weeks (which was likely!) or how he’d kidnapped some of their friends to get their location (even more likely!).

“I told you; I stole a war balloon and followed you from Caldera.” He takes a sip of his tea and sighs. “I’m done. Let me talk to Aang.”

“Not yet! I’m not done!”

Zuko purses his lips but doesn’t argue any longer.

“How did you break into the North Pole?” Katara finally asks.

Really? Zuko’s expression seems to ask.

For some reason, he smirks at her. “Hmm, I’m not sure.”

“Tell me.”

“I’m trying to remember,” he says, putting down his tea to make a show of tapping his chin. “It was very traumatic.”

“How long are you going to pull this crap?”

“How long are you going to keep me prisoner in my own room?”

Katara sniffs. “I’m not leaving you alone until you tell me something worthwhile.” Until he proves to her that allowing him to stay here will have some sort of benefit.

“Fine,” Zuko says, lying back and stretching out on his bed. One arm holds his head up as he watches Katara over his nose. “We can stay here all day and all night, with you—what did you call it?—interrogating me.” He smirks again, the crooked expression on his face downright infuriating.

Katara abruptly changes tactics, crossing her arms and stepping toward him, the water falling from her hands in large splashes that she ignores. “You know what, I don’t think you want me to leave you alone,” she says slowly, her lip curling in satisfaction. “I’m the only one who will talk to you, anyway.”

Zuko’s smirk falls, and Katara feels a little flame of triumph in her chest roar to life.

“Right, I don’t want you to leave me alone,” he parrots, the bite back in his voice. “I definitely want to be constantly reminded how much you hate me.”

Katara does not feel another twinge of regret. She does not push anything away.

Instead, she falls to her knees with a mocking gasp.

“Does his highness require better accommodations?” she says, her voice warbling. “Better amenities?”

“Katara—” Zuko says, unamused.

“An innocent victim to burn, perhaps?”

“Katara, please—” Zuko says, voice more serious. But she keeps going.

“Do you require a maiden before you cooperate?” she taunts, crawling toward him and exposing her neck. “What about me? Will I do?”

At this point, Zuko is exhaling smoke, but he’s not bending. She wonders how far she can goad him. She crawls closer until she’s at the edge of his bed and mockingly reaching toward him.

“Please, your highness, what must we do to please you?!” she all but shrieks, vaguely feeling like she would make a great actress as Zuko slowly shakes his head, as if to say What did I do to deserve this?

Well, she can think of a lot of things!

Just when she thinks of naming all those things to Zuko, she suddenly hears the swish of a cloak behind her and the sound of wood hitting the ground. Her and Zuko both turn toward the noise, to see Aang, a confused smile on his face, his ears a little pink, and his glider in his hand.

“Um—Katara—I think I’ll talk to Zuko now,” says Aang slowly, eying her strangely. She’s about to ask what’s up with him before she realizes her arms are sprawled beseechingly toward Zuko, her body half on his bed and half on the ground.

“Right, yes!” she says, getting up daintily and wiping her tunic with her hands as if what she’d been doing was perfectly normal. “I’ll just be—”

Inexplicably, she looks back to Zuko, who is also watching her, bemused.

“Bye!” she squeaks to the room with a hurried wave.

She’s talking to Aang, of course. Not Zuko.

Definitely not Zuko.

[boopiddyboop]

ATEEZ Scorpio Analysis

Hello and welcome to quite possibly the silliest post I’ve made to date! I’ve spoken at length about Ateez and the relationship with their Scorpio placements, but for whatever reason, I wish to rank them and find the chiefest Scorpio amongst them. So without further ado, let’s get into it!

Disclaimer: As per usual, traditional astrology and rulership applies. This post especially is just for fun. If you think I’m wrong, feel free to argue in the askbox.

Pre-Game:

So first, I’ll explain the how of the game. We’re going to be measuring the dominance of the three major components the rulership of Scorpio: Planet (Mars), Element (Water), and Modality (Fixed). We’ll be using the very convenient Dominants tab from the Natal Charts available on astro-seek to get our base numbers and weight them accordingly. I did my best to find a “fair” way to account for everything, but there’s a reason they say “lies, damn lies, and statistics”.

Here’s what the table I’m working with looks like, using Ateez’s group natal chart as an example:

I’ve generated one for each of the members, but they're not included with this post so as to not clog up the view. The website itself explains each column and how they come up with the numbers, but in short, significance is given to each planet based on where it is, if it’s being ruled by a sign of rulership/exaltation/etc, whether its in a house of corresponding rulership…  we will be ignoring aspects for this, as some of the birth times we have are approximations, which can lead to incorrect aspect degrees.. 

For scoring, planets will be weighted at 40% of the total, with element and modality each being worth 30%. 

As a refresher for those who don’t keep this information in their brains, here are the Scorpio placements between members:

Hongjoong: Sun and Venus

Yunho: Mars and Rising

San and Mingi: Mars

Wooyoung: Mercury

Jongho: Mercury and Venus

Yeosang and Seonghwa have none, but they have quite a bit of Mars and Water influence, so don’t write them off just yet!

**I am operating this under the assumption that Jongho is a Taurus Rising. I’ll address it more at the end, but ultimately, there wasn’t a huge difference between my top 3 guesses and his final score, so I just ran this with the one.

Round 1: Planets

Who has the most outright Mars influence? Well, this one should come as no shocker:

Yunho and Seonghwa are very close point total wise, but for Yunho, his Scorpio Mars in the first house is his strongest placement by a margin of 4 points (his Taurus Venus coming in second at 10 points), Despite all of his Aries Mars influence clocking 13 points, Seonghwa’s Aries Sun and Cancer Moon are also weighty factors in his totals at 12 points apiece, bumping his point total up, but his percentage down.. San’s Scorpio Mars is actually tied for influence with his Leo Mercury, since it’s ruling his ascendant.

Mingi’s Scorpio Mars is tied for second in his dominant planets with his Leo Sun, but both are overshadowed by his Cancer moon by a mere point. Wooyoung actually has all of 9 points, but as it turns out, his Venus in Libra in the first weighs in at a whopping 18 points (the most points of any member, causing his Mars to only rank 3rd in his dominant planets. Hongjoong’s Jupiter in Pisces is actually doing a lot of the heavy lifting in his influence, but his Scorpio Sun and Mars in Virgo help keep him from falling into last. Finally, Yeosang is bringing up the rear with 6 points being carried by his Aries Ascendant placement

All in all, every member of Ateez has Mars as no less than their 3rd place influencing planet, which is honestly quite impressive. 

Round 2: Elements

Water placements! We’re looking at Scorpio, Pisces, and Cancer. No crazy weighing this time, we’re just checking to see who has the most water in their chart.

Most of these rankings are being carried by the plethora of Cancer Moons (Mingi, Seonghwa, and Yeosang), with Hongjoong getting a chance to shine by virtue of his Scorpio Sun/Venus and Pisces Jupiter. Almost everyone actually has water as their top element or is tied for top, with San and Wooyoung being Earth/Water and Air/Water

... except Seonghwa, who despite getting second place, is strictly fire dominant.

(And now I’m laughing because a whole bunch of water dominants debuted with a pirate concept 😂)

Round 3: Modality

Easy peasy, we’re looking for fixed signs in the natal placements + ascendant. For a refresher, these are Taurus, Leo, Scorpio, and Aquarius.

San’s Leo and Taurus placements clench the win for San in this category, with 5 placements out of 8 being fixed, compared to Yunho and Mingi’s four, though all 3 are fixed dominant. Meanwhile, this is where Seonghwa finally gets penalized for all of his Aries/Cancer energy, as his only fixed placement is his Aquarius Venus. Hongjoong and Jongho both have predominantly Mutable placements, while Wooyoung, Yeosang, and Seonghwa have significant Cardinal energy. 

A note on Signature Signs:

If you take the natal 7 plus ascendant and calculate the most modalities and elements (not the same way as the Round 2), some people will end up with a signature sign. Of the Ateez members, 5/6 out of 8 (Jongho being a maybe) actually manage to snag one: 

Hongjoong has a Pisces Signature (3 Water + 4 Mutable) 

Seonghwa and Yeosang both have Aries Signatures (4 Fire+5 Cardinal and 3 Fire+5 Cardinal respectively).

Yunho has a Scorpio Signature (3 Water+4 Fixed), 

San has a Taurus Signature (3 Earth + 5 Fixed)

Jongho (w/ an assumed Taurus Rising,) is a Gemini Signature (3 Air + 3 Mutable). 

Mingi and Wooyoung both have ties in their elements, with a 3/3 split on Earth/Water for Mingi, and 2/2/2/2 for Wooyoung across all elements. 

I couldn’t figure out how to weigh Yunho's bonus Scorpio Signature into this contest, but in the end it didn’t matter…Because the grand Scorpio of Ateez is still Yunho

Final Scores:

Yunho was the only member to get Top 3 in all 3 rounds of scoring, and really his Mars strength from round 1 could not be surpassed. In my attempt to make this fair, I tried different ways of weighing this (33% even, 50/30/20, etc.) and Yunho comes out on top every time. But once again, Scorpio Rising ruled by a Scorpio in Mars- was there ever any doubt? 

By this weighting, Mingi and San tie, but if you switch to 50/30/20 Mingi squeaks out above San, while 50/25/25 has San edge out Mingi. Ultimately I’m fine with the weighting I landed at, as I think it’s pretty clear that these 3 are leagues ahead of the rest. Hongjoong and Seonghwa will actually tie in 50/30/20, but for the most part Hongjoong sits above Seonghwa. Meanwhile Wooyoung never clears last place, with Jongho and Yeosang sitting somewhere above him.

Final Tidbits: 

-Now, as previously stated, a Taurus Rising for Jongho is just a guess, but with the exception of a Scorpio Rising (which I ranked at 5/12 for likelihood), the top 3 rising options sit at about the same place in the chart, so I went ahead and kept Jongho on here. I have all 4 on my master document that I will post at the end

-If you run Ateez’s group natal chart against all the members, it often will rank even higher than Yunho, depending on the weighting.

-I’ve included my own Scorpio ranking in the master document. Do with that as you will. 

If you’ve made it to the end of this, I greatly appreciate you and your time. Hope you’re having a wonderful Scorpio Season!

[panecitotulipan]

Eating schedules

Miguel O'Hara/reader

Notes:

I am posting little chunks of a story in disorder. The chronological order list here. It will make sense and join dots once it starts to fill, everytime a new chapter comes out I'll actualize that list (works like in Beyond two souls but is a random y/n fic you found on Tumblr).

You may find fluff, touched starved physical interaction, angst, mentions of anxiety and bad health habits in these writings. I also think is important to point out that there will be no NSFW in any part of the story.

English is not my mother language, sorry if a few things sound off. But don't worry about spanish dialogues, i know those are well written.

The reader knows spanish, i have to admit i thought about they as a mexican person.

Gender neutral narrative, so anyone can be comfortable.

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Gif credit

"You may be useful" the Dorito shaped man said. When he offered you to form part of this, declining wasn't an option, who the hell would say no to travel between universes and work with advanced technology? Definitely not a nerd like you.

Casually chatting with the VR avatar girl and exploring the functioning of the machines was undoubtedly helpful to keep yourself busy when there were no missions assigned.

Once in a while the naps on the extravagant and irregular walls of the control room were comfortable, even though the 'boss' waked you up every time yelling in some kind of frustration tone, he was usually upset at everything and everyone.

As you didn't enjoy going out of this laid, the only times other spider people could see you was while buying food at the cafeteria, rather for you or the boss. Since he spent a lot of time in the same spot as you, the constant interaction was not avoidable at all. Even while your talks, everywhere but the floor was a better place to be standing on, which the 2099 unsurprisingly found annoying. A certain memory came to mind: he cut off your spiderweb, made you fly for a second, and then had lunch with you. All that in a period of 30 minutes approximately, hilarious to put it that way. By that time, you must have spent about' a couple of weeks of joining the society.

┄━═━┄

The 2099 was checking anomalies data in that floating and dramatic platform with the funny AI lady. When he called for you.

–Ah, yeah? I'm right here.– You said as you left yourself fall from the ceiling, already with a thin web that would hold you safely once you reached a level a bit higher than 2099's face.

–I know you're here, you're always here. If you're not on the walls you are hidden in a corner of the ceiling. It's certainly annoying.– O'Hara commented with throaty and toneless voice, then he relocated the conversation. –Did you upload the data i asked?–

–First of all. Why do you have so much problem with me being around in this room? I'm literally not bothering anyone, you yourself said I'm hidden.– You cleared your throat and then continued calmly. –And second, yeah I did, just after you ordered me to.– Supposing that was all, another thread of web came out from your free hand, pretending to swing away. But a tight grip surrounded your wrist, stopping you.

–Can't you stay still for a second? Are you a monkey or something?– The boss sounded a bit angry now.

He made a rough movement, snapping the web and provoking your fall. Hopefully O'Hara did it knowing you wouldn't actually get hurt, hopefully. Falling on your feet was not a big deal. Still very rude though.

Turning around on your toes in his direction, mockery was the chosen answer to deal with the situation.

–Not a monkey, I'm pretty sure I am quite literally more spider like.– Now you were messing with him. It wasn't your fault if he had a bad day, you didn't have to handle his cranky behavior every time he was stressed, which was frequent since tones of spider people joined the last two weeks, they have easily triplicated the number.

The 2099 rolled his eyes and tried to ignore you by talking to the AI. After taking a deep breath, his hand brushed his hair back to place.

–¿Ya comiste hoy?– You randomly asked in an annoyed sigh, getting the Dorito's eyes attention. –I've only seen you drink coffee since yesterday.– It was funny because you have proved that the boss got in a little better mood after having something decent to eat.

–No…no lo sé.– He returned his attention at the multiple screens, somehow avoiding your gaze.

–¿Recuerdas cuándo fue la última vez que comiste?– (Do you remember when was the last time you ate?)

–No.– O'Hara responded dryly. This man lacked self preservation when it came to basic health care routines. What a bonehead.

You left silently, and returned after about 15 minutes with two meals, each one on a hand. You were practical, not that much of a talker.

–Pedí algo nuevo, creo que te puede gustar.– (I bought something new, i think you may like it.) You said while raising his food container.

The 2099 didn't even look at you when a glowing thread stuck to the plastic on your raised hand.

–Hey!– You instantly grabbed the web and let your own container fall, hopefully nothing happened to your food. Most of the time you forgot how strong this man actually was, so when he occured to pull the freaking strand you were violently lifted from the ground as well.

The little flying trip to the platform ended abruptly by crashing towards the Dorito's chest. You grabbed his shoulder, trying to put yourself together.

–Dude, what the hell!– You exclaimed with a taut voice. –Say "gracias" at least.–

–Gracias.– O'Hara said with an ironic smirk. Asshole.

An annoyed growl escaped your mouth, and you let go of his shoulder. After jumping back off the platform you checked the fallen food container, still eatable. So lunch time finally started, not leaving the room at all.

The thought of insisting that O'Hara shouldn't eat while working invaded your mind. That was a bad habit too.

–Ahmm, boss. I'll say it once more, you shouldn't eat while working.– You talked in a ringing tone.

–I need to keep on–

–You'll do better if you recover your energy properly. Don't want to imagine you fainting in the middle of a fight due to malnutrition.– He slightly frowned when you interrupted him. Funny.

–If I go with you and have lunch. Will you shut up and let me do my work?–

–Pretty much so…eh, 60% of possibility.– Your hands moved in the air simulating a balance.

–I guess it is better than nothing.– He mumbled. –Find me a chair on the previous room or something, I'm reaching you.–

You smirked in success.

–Sure thing, Dorito.–

He hated that name, but you left before a possible answer. You grabbed a chair and sat on an edge of the table, careful of not throwing any near artifact. After a minute he appeared and started eating, despite of his efforts to not look starved, this man was eating too fast. When he finished his meal you weren't done with yours, so you offered the rest.

–I am not asking if you want. Come más.– (Eat more.) The boss didn't say anything, and with an vague air of shyness he took your plate and ate what was left.

–You honestly sound like a grandma sometimes.– There was his severe voice again.

–Good. Grandmas are the best.– You proudly declared with a grin on your face.

His smirk was slight and discreet, but noticeable enough to catch your eyes. O'Hara seemed to realize the eyeing, even if he didn't say a word. A moment of silence surrounded you both.

As soon as you caught yourself staring, clearing your throat was your immediate reaction.

–I'm glad you gave yourself a quick break. I will insist once in a while for you to take proper eating schedules.–

–As long as you're not too annoying, it's fine.– 2099 took a deep breath, and rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. –You don't have to... pero gracias.– The lasts words were pronounced in a mumble barely perceptible to the ear, but perceptible enough to your ear.

–No hay de qué, jefe.– (It is nothing, boss.)

[vegan-lore-blog]

"Mr. Ingram"

Todd, age 15, had gotten in trouble at school today. He tended to act as though he didn't care, but.. he was terrified to go home. To face his father again.

He was always a disappointment in his father's eyes. A waste of time, energy and money. His little sister was Ms. Perfect, and what was he? Nothing. And he knew he was going to get an earful the second his father heard him walk through the front door.

Not ready to go home, or even bother trying, Todd decided to pay his girlfriend a surprise visit. Walking along the sidewalk, he spotted his lovely rainbow-haired rollerblader girl, Ramona.

Using some of the energy from a newfound power he'd developed approximately a month ago, he gave himself a speed boost and caught up with Ramona.

"Hey.."

He said with a soft smirk before Ramona stopped and looked at him with a smile.

"Hey, Pretty Boy."

"Don't call me that."

Todd replied to her almost immediately before going to hold her hand.

"so... What are you avoiding this time?"

Ramona half-joked, skating by his side at a slower pace.

"My father,"

Todd admitted softly.

"I got into a fight today.. think I hospitalized that kid, um.. Jason. Jason Kim, I think. He'll have to pay the school again so I don't get expelled.."

Ramona's mouth fell open before she shut it quickly, knowing that probably wasn't the reaction Todd wanted.

"Um.. sorry. That um.."

She attempted, but she had no input. Todd let out a quiet, half-hearted chuckle, shaking his head.

"It's not your fault. I just.. don't think I'm ready to hear from my dad again... He always makes me feel like some fucking screw-up. You don't think of me like that.. right?"

Todd asked, giving Ramona one of the softest looks she'd ever seen from this angsty teen. Ramona couldn't help but frown and look away.

"I think... You're too young to be any definitive thing yet. I think you've got your whole life ahead of you, and I think for right now, you're who you need to be."

She replied, attempting to diffuse the situation and comfort her boyfriend, even if she couldn't give him a complete answer. Todd nodded slowly and looked down at his feet. Ramona felt like the first person he'd ever cared about this much.. He was glad to be dating her. It was like... A premium subscription to friendship, at least to him.

"..Thanks, Ramona."

He muttered. He walked her the rest of the way home and decided to just wander for a while. He knew he'd be found eventually, but he'd use his freedom while he had it.

Sometime around 5:30 in the evening, Todd had taken a seat on a bench at the park, just.. thinking. His head hurt.. it hurt every time he used his power, but... He could handle it. His father didn't know anything.

As he sat there with a contemplative stare, he felt himself jump slightly at the familiar sound of an engine. The engine of the car his father had bought years ago. His father never drove it anymore. It was rare for the infamous Mr. Ingram to focus on anything other than work or occasionally family, so Todd considered himself lucky he'd at least have a ten minute drive without his father's input..

But he couldn't stop thinking about the terror he felt as he slowly stood up, almost without thinking, making his way into the back seat. No matter how rebellious he thought himself to be, he could never directly disobey his father for long. He deliberately decided not to buckle his seatbelt, maybe in some hopes that it might mean escape. Though it never did.

When his father's driver pulled into the driveway, Todd felt an overwhelming wave of dread wash over him. With his hands trembling, he left the car and slowly trudged towards the front door. A maid opened the door for him, and he walked inside. His head was down, his shoulders slumped, and he felt a lump in his throat, like he was choking on his own anxiety.

"Todd."

His father called from upstairs, causing Todd to flinch.

"...Yes, Father?"

Mr. Ingram made his way down the stairs, standing in front of Todd, glaring down at his own child as though he were a roach on a fresh plate of pancakes.

"I heard you got into a fight today. Are you really so eager to disappoint me that you go out of your way to cause trouble?"

Mr. Ingram's tone was accusatory, as always.

"Father, it's not like that, I just--"

"Shut your mouth when I speak to you."

He interrupted,

"You'll speak when you're told, and when You're not, I expect nothing but silence. Am I understood?"

He asked. Todd shrunk away and nodded.

"Good. I want you to know, Todd, that I'm growing very impatient with you. You need to shape up. Your younger sister is so much better than you. So much more responsible. She isn't a burden to the family, unlike you."

This same thing again. The comparison to his younger sister. Todd hated this conversation. It always shook him. Made him feel weak.

"I really do wish I'd had a daughter the first time around. Then I wouldn't have had to waste so much time trying to cure a boy of his stupidity. You're lucky I care about your mother, or I'd have thrown you out when you were born. Now get out of my sight. Go to your room and stay there until you're called for. I don't want to waste another breath on you."

Todd nodded softly, going to make his way to his room. He was just glad he was too old to be hit much anymore. Though that never stopped his father from getting creative with his punishment.

As he got to his room, Todd shut the door and locked it, feeling tears start to stream down his face. He had to be quiet. He didn't want to be heard crying, as that would just cause his father to belittle him further.

Why couldn't he ever be good enough? Why couldn't his father ever be proud of him? He wished he could just disappear sometimes...

[acrazybayernfan]

After speaking about gambling in the tags of a post I saw a few people interact with it and what they said made me realized that many people don’t know what’s going on with betting in sport which is totally normal because it’s not something a lot of people talks about. So here some information about the subject: approximatively 50% of the European population bets on sport, a little bit less in Assia (around 35%) and 20% in America (Africa and America Latina have very low percentage) so it’s quite an important phenomenon. The number of bets has increased massively over the last years thanks to online bet. Gambling isn’t bad in itself as long as it remains in certain limits, gambling must stay a divertissement, something you do for fun, with extra money. It can’t be considered as a way to get money to live. It must also remain something occasional because betting can easily turn into an obsession which will generate dependence just like drugs, mental issues (self-isolation) and of course important financial problems (x). A considerable amount of people when they lose a bet goes on Insta or Twitter or any other social medias to send insults, threats, even death threats to the players whom they consider to be responsible for their lost (x especially the second part). A lot of the hateful messages that sportsmen and women (and as usual it worse for women) received are due to betting. When this sort of attitudes happen I think that it’s already a sign that the persons doing that are too much involved in gambling and their friends and family should encouraged them to see a specialist. Those are what I call the exterior bad consequences of betting, the consequences that doesn’t affect the sport but the persons around it.

            But there are also internal consequences, the most dangerous and important one being fixed matches. The number of fixed matches has dramatically increased over the last years in many sports not only football. Most of the fixed matches are matches from the inferior divisions because it’s easier to bribe a player who earn 1 000 € each month than one who earns 100 000 €, logical. In football the main targets are goalkeepers, defenders and referees (sometime coaches) because they’re considered to be the ones who have the most influence on the game. Fixed matches are extremely lucrative, to the point that a few criminal syndicates who did arm trafficking switched to the organization of fixed matches because it’s more lucrative and less dangerous (and very useful for money laundering). If a syndicate bribe a goalkeeper for 10 000 € with the instruction to let his team lose by a margin of two goals (2-0, 4-2…), for an exact goal difference the odds are usually around 3, so if they bet 30 000 € on a defeat of this team with a two goals margin they will earn 50 000 € (30 000 x 3 – 10 000). But if for the same bribing sum this game is between the second of the championship and the last, the odds of the defeat will be high (let say 3), the odds of the goal margin will be higher because it’s less expected (let say 5), plus they can give the instructions that one goal has to be scored in the first half and one in the second half (the odds of this being let say of 7). So, for a combo of the defeat plus the two goals margin plus a goal scored in each half the odds are of 15, for the same bet of 30 000 € they will earn 450 000 € (minus the 10 000 € for the goalkeeper they gain 440 000 €). As you see it’s quite easy to earn a lot with match fixing (it’s even easier in tennis). People always assumed that match fixing are due to sportive reasons (winning a tittle, not being relegated...) but nowadays the majority of fixed matches are due to gambling because in football sport is not as important as money.  

Here are a few links about the most famous cases of match fixing due to gambling :

The Bochum scandal : x and then x

Charlton and the Malaysian saboteurs : x

Atalanta- Pistoiese 2000 (with a certain Maximiliano Allegri) : x

Norwich- Derby County and Singapore : x and x

The China scandal : x

The Turkish scandal : x and x

Operation VETO : x

Word Cup 2006 : x and linked to that x

[bluejayblueskies]

Hi, I hope I'm not too late to ask some Weird Writer Questions cause they sound fun! Number 24, 19, 13, and 17 (that last one for whisky would be cool but all your WIPS are lovely so pick whichever you want!) hope you have a nice day Jay!!

weird questions for writers!

(you're absolutely not too late--thank you for messaging! i hope you have a nice day as well 🥰)

24. How much prep work do you put into your stories? What does that look like for you? Do you enjoy this part or do you just want to get on with it?

for prep work, i used to (pre-tma and a little bit into the beginning of writing for tma) jump right into multichapter stories with a vague premise and no clue of the actual plot or ending, but i found it's easier to actually complete multichapter stuff if i have an outline and an idea of where i want the story to go, lol who knew? so my prep work now consists of, at minimum, a rough outline of the entire story arc from beginning to end, but usually a chapter-by-chapter outline of major story beats, approximate scenes, etc.. for whisky, i jumped in with a rough story arc and then made the chapter-by-chapter outline around chapter three when i started to get bogged down in 'what scene should i do next?' details. i usually don't do any prep at all for one-shots, since they're typically 1-2 scenes, but for longer ones i may throw together a quick bullet list of where i want the story to go

and i do not like outlining alkdsgjsag. it's probably my least favorite part of the writing process. (i'm currently for example avoiding fixing my whisky outline, which i need to change the last chapter for slightly due to a piece of lore i added contradicting my current ending.) i think it's because outlining requires the most decision-making about my story and the most critical thinking about, 'okay, what do i actually want to say and when do i want to say it.' i'm always much happier when i have the outline because it's so much better to write with one, but the process of making it? detestable lol.

(more below the cut because i got predictably long-winded with this)

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

this answer got very long, so buckle in and bear with me lol:

i started writing very young (perhaps second or first grade?) partly because my father is a copywriter and thus encouraged it and partly because i read so many books as a child. my elementary school had this anthology that you could submit to starting in third grade, and i remember writing short stories for it (that always ended up being too long--turns out i had chronic 'can't shut up' disease even at the tender age of 8).

getting into middle school, i started to write longer things. it's hard for me to remember exact dates, but i know i finished my first novel-length story around ... 7th grade? it is Extremely Bad by virtue of being written by somebody who had only experienced the world for ~12 years, but it's also probably one of the most out-there things i've ever written in terms of plot so i still give it a solid 5/10. (i can elaborate on it if people are interested! an in-depth discussion of it is just a bit beyond the scope of this particular question lol).

(i also wrote several stories that could best be described as uh. RPF between me & my best friends and their middle school crushes. including a whole entire trilogy with novella-length stories. but we're not going to talk about those XD)

i started and did not finish uhhh probably 20-30 other original stories between the years of 2011 - 2017, most of which are also not very good but that taught me a lot about creating characters, worldbuilding, writing styles and SPAG, and other things that helped me develop as a writer. there are a few that i do genuinely want to pick back up someday, but it's hard to get motivated to write original stuff and is much easier to simply write an AU and stick my blorbos in as characters. i think 2017 is the last time i can really truly say i actively worked on original stuff, since i fell into writing mostly fic after i graduated high school.

i wrote fic in high school too--mostly supernatural, sherlock, and doctor who stuff, because i was very much into superwholock--and most of it is still on my ao3. occasionally, people will jumpscare me by commenting on one of my old spn fics because i genuinely forget that people still might read them lol. i started my fic publishing journey on quotev though, and a little bit on wattpad and ff.net, before moving to ao3 in 2015 and never looking back. my stance on my old writing is that even though i've generally moved on with my life and cringe a bit when i look at it, i did write it once upon a time and liked it then, so i won't take it down and/or disown it. i'm sure in 10 years i'll look back on the stuff i wrote now and cringe too. so it goes.

i took a break from writing for ~ 3 years when i went to college, with the exception of the one (1) voltron fic i wrote that i am still quite proud of. (a multichapter fic i finished without making anything remotely close to an outline! wow!). tma will always be so incredibly dear to me because it reignited my desire to write (like. with a blowtorch. i have written over 610k words since summer 2020 when i started listening to tma, which 12-year-old me would have gone nuts over), and so far, i'm still going strong!

i think i have much better writing habits than i had when i was younger. i try to make an effort to do it every day, even when i'm tired or not really feeling it, even if the words are absolute garbage, even if it's nothing related to my current projects, rather than just riding the tide of motivation. i'm hoping that that means i won't be giving it up anytime soon (i certainly have many more plans for malevolent fics in the future including at least one more involved multichapter fic riffing off episode 20 👀) and i'm also hoping that i can jump back into original stuff with a fresh perspective and new ideas. who knows!

13. What is a subject matter that is incredibly difficult for you write about? What is easy?

the subject matter i have the most difficulty with is, funnily enough, romance arcs. i understand point A (characters meet and become friends) and i understand point B (characters are dating) but the stuff that comes in between??? it's a black box for me alskdjga. something happens there, but i (aro) could not tell you what it is. as such, i always feel like any romance arc i attempt in a multichapter fic has terrible pacing, where the characters are falling in love too quickly, deciding to declare their feelings too abruptly, etc.. i'm struggling with this a lot right now in ten thousand flowers in spring, and i'm glad people are leaving positive comments on the most recent chapter because i feel like the romantic pacing is all over the place but i genuinely do not know how to fix it. whisky doesn't suffer from the same issues for some reason. i think because both arthur and john are arospec, so i'm not technically writing a romance? john is very much in romantic love with arthur, but arthur is not--though as in canon, john is Arthur's Person Who He Cares About So Much. idk, i think their canon relationship is so intricate and complicated that i'm just going *shrug* about the whole thing and not worrying about it.

in terms of what's easy, i have a really easy time with fantasy--and, if that's too broad to be considered subject matter, then specifically the worldbuilding involved with fantasy. so i guess that would be fantastical environments? basically, i like a lot that there's no rules other than the ones that i create for myself, so i can do whatever the hell i want and it's correct because that's just how it is in this world! (see, again, ten thousand flowers in spring). of course, i still do research and think about what i want my world to look like, because going 'that's just how it is!' isn't a replacement for that and i don't want to be a lazy writer, but the flexibility is soooo nice. (i, for example, am not looking forward to researching how gangs actually work for whisky and will thus likely just. make some stuff up and hand-wave it away as being 'yeah that's just how the memphis gangs work, don't worry about it,' though i will also make an effort to learn the general structure of stuff.)

17. Talk to me about the minutiae of your current WIP. Tell me about the lore, the history, the detail, the things that won’t make it in the text.

hghhh the forbidden whisky lore 👀 there's a lot i can't say for fear of spoilers, but there is some stuff that probably won't make it into the story that isn't spoilery!

John was born on December 26, 1981 and is as of the most current whisky chapter 41 years old

Arthur was born on April 2, 1986 and is of the most current whisky chapter 37 years old

Arthur began touring around 2004 when he was 18 years old (he was recruited straight out of college/sixth form). However, he didn't begin composing professionally until 2005 and likely didn't get major movie gigs until closer to 2008. He was classically trained on the piano from a young age, though never on a university level, and his compositional and performance style has both popular and classical influences.

Arthur was born in the UK, recruited from the UK, and moved to LA as part of his contract. He met Bella in LA (so in this AU, Bella is American), and Faroe was born on November 13, 2006.

John started his pre-club career in 2002 at age 20, and quit that job and purchased the club around September 2016 at age 34.

Arthur wasn't lying in chapter one when he said that he comes to the club because he likes the wallpaper :) and John was not lying in chapter two when he said the club doesn't have wallpaper :) [this bit will make it into the fic, but i wanted to include it here anyway]

i also have a diagram of john's club that i keep forgetting to include in the end notes:

[ID: A sketched diagram of John's club. It is a square building with a front door on the bottom right side and a door to the basement on the upper right side. Along the left from bottom to top are John's office, the kitchen/food storage area, and the bathrooms. The backstage area lines the entire back wall, and in front of it is the stage, with doors on either side to access the backstage, a grand piano on the stage, and curtains separating the stage from the backstage. There are tables scattered across the main floor, and a wall with archway cutouts separates the main floor from the kitchen and John's office. Along the front wall is the bar, with seating in an L shape that leaves hallway space for John to access his office. The seat closest to John's office is labeled 'Arthur's seat.' A coat closet is in the bottom right corner. /End ID]

is this acoustically sound? don't ask me, i haven't finished that class yet alsdkjgsag. john has acoustic panels in the back to adjust the absorption of the room, i've made it canon XD

in terms of history, i genuinely don't remember where i got the idea for whisky from--i think i was just rotating piano player arthur in my mind one day, went 'hey what about famous arthur?', then went 'well what is john doing?', remembered how much i love small music clubs, and the rest is history. the entire second half of this fic (approx. ch. 8 onward) as well as john's backstory was not part of the initial concept at all, and i very much fleshed it out as i went while writing the first ~3 chapters. i think it's all fully fleshed out now though (excepting the little bit from the last chapter that i have to fix) and i am very excited for chapter 9 in particular :3

there is a scene that i really want to write that won't make it into the main story because it a) will only work from arthur's pov, and i want to keep whisky strictly john's pov, and b) because arthur is a smart dude and even though the scene would be very cool, it would 100% clue arthur in on some crucial things too early on. so alas, it will probably remain as an unrelated oneshot should i choose to write it in the future. (though it's also a scene that works better if the audience doesn't know what's going on either,,,,, but that could spoil them for things too soon as well because you all are also smart cookies, so,,,, much to consider)

aaaand for fun, here's an excerpt from the next chapter:

Buy him flowers, Lilly had said. Right, okay—which fucking ones? Does it matter? John feels like it matters, but he doesn’t have the first clue as to why or what the right choice would be. Is it weird to buy somebody flowers when they’re standing right next to you? That feels like something you get beforehand and then bring as a gift. Should he have planned ahead? Why is his heart beating so fucking loud in his ears?

[mindrole]

You dislike Kazue and George Enomoto. But what's your opinion on Noa?

ok ok ok im so happy i got this ask...

i LOVE noa... in fact my dislike for her parents really does stem from that.

i think she is a super fascinating character.

she was born into a cult and homeschooled very strictly, with no other children to play with, even haruki was too sickly to mess around with her and by the time he was capable of conscious thought she already started to resent him. there weren't any other little girls in particular— there is no mention of her being involved with the affairs of followers.

in this sheltered life she's lived, she's made it to her 30s, but no matter how much of the outside world she could have learned about from books and magazines and tv she WAS born into an insane framework. i mention the earlier point about girls because the only women in her life that she had any meaningful relationship with were kazue and rai... just her mother and someone who was like a big sister or more accurately an auntie to her. her mother is her mother, and rai eventually got married which was a big event in noa's life... it's natural she thought "ok, then my role is to grow up and be like them." for all the shit i give kazue i do not think for one second she raised noa to think like that at all. i don't think it was on purpose that noa arrived at that conclusion, but she knew nothing else. she had two people she could try to approximate to and then fiction (stuff like princess sparrow).

since her life is centered on following hatsutori, the second step is "if i'm going to be like them, i have to marry someone, and hatsutori-sama is the greatest man i know." it's natural.

she was really set up to fail the second her parents brought her into the world. life is not so simple that you could raise a child so sheltered around so few people.

now i said rai's marriage was a huge event for noa, it must have been when she truly began to romanticize love and marriage and the end goal of having children for real. but what happens when rai is lacking in confidence in the marriage? even noa could pick up on it. maybe at first she could simply wave it away as an issue with rai's husband... but when their marriage started fracturing over haruki being experimented on, it absolutely disturbed noa's narrow world view. i cannot imagine being a tween watching something you once idolized spiral out of control and eventually look to push your parents to suicide. (sidenote: it really is so tragic that minoru likens his love for rai like a onesided love. i think rai really did love him. just...not as much as he did. i think she too was poisoned by the expectation to have a family, except it was paradoxically intertwined with a wish for another chance to have a family at all after losing her own so suddenly... something both she and minoru shared since they both ended up with no family at a relatively young age... but this manifested in entirely different ways as time passed)

and then later on she thought she "lost" hatsutori, and was being raised by the person she assumed had been responsible... then she mercy killed rai (personally, even if noa felt hatred, i do believe it was a multifaceted action from her that is absolutely a mercy kill on some level) its a crazy situation!! nothing noa or noriyuki could have done would have pleased the other!! its truly lose lose...

i am using this word VERY CAREFULLY and hope i can convey what i mean correctly, but i think that noa was groomed into a future prospective wife first and mother second by her environment. the only way it would have been prevented is if she was taken out of it at a young age... i don't blame kazue and george's upbringing in this context. not at all. i do blame them though, for involving her at all. i think that everyone in empyrean is a victim to some extent... even hatsutori! doesn't mean i have to feel bad for the enomotos (aside from noa) tho. i've said that before.

so with her parents gone and the man she thought she would marry also gone, i think she felt a loss of purpose... she was getting older, which is unfortunately considered to be a negative due to misogynistic expectations set on women (especially from a childbearing standpoint). she is both saddled with being noriyuki's successor and with the burden (which is a pressure unfortunately placed on her by herself that, while unfounded, is very real to her) that she has to bear some kind of successor. because her mother had her... rai had haruki... isn't that what she's supposed to do?

i think noriyuki did the best he could do.. he shielded noa from a lot of horrors in the wake of what happened in 1999 but it was too little too late... it really is the silent protector meme. it is better for noa to think noriyuki went rogue than for her to know that hatsutori threw a tantrum over theodore taking his pet nerd boy from under his nose and killed everyone, or that theodore came back at all, or that he... well you get it

but yeah, when you put all of that together i think noa's sudden impulse to try to rope haruki into having kids with her as a last ditch effort. i can only call her behavior in that moment downright manic. i usually do warn people about that scene when they start the series because it's a shock, but i can't condemn her at all for it. even from the base game it becomes obvious fast that she's a product of her surroundings.

i wonder how much burden she felt lifted from her shoulders when it seemed like beta was showing results, when jabuchi successfully became a host, its sad both were such shortlived reliefs. i wish we got to see noa and jabuchi interacting!!! she absolutely asked him about the outside world while pretending not to care!!! 😭😭😭

i think there is definitely a lot of nuance here and there are sensitive and complicated themes... i just hope i communicated my thoughts in a respectful way... i am not the most articulated person definitely feels over reals

sorry for the late response..!! im currently on a trip. i wasn't gonna respond for a bit but i found time since i'm laying here awake unable to sleep after taking my allergy spray wrong LOL

[televinita]

Library Sale: The Results

I'm actually really glad I only got here for the bag sale, because I genuinely don't know how many of these books I would have bought if I were paying for them individually, but I kinda love like 90% of them now. Which is bad from a "has too many books" perspective but GREAT from my current perspective of being overwhelmed w/ excitement about them.

Anyway, these are the results of me whipping through a room full of books in approximately 40 minutes with no time to second-guess any pulls. This is the closest I will ever come to one of those manic timed shopping sprees that were popular in the nineties.

Part I: Books For A Me!

1. What Happened to Lani Garver - Carol Plum-Ucci (2002): this book made a huge impact on me as a teen, and it held up ten years later. This is a slightly undersized paperback, which I don't love given what it does to the font size and line spacing, but I was excited to find it at all, let alone in new condition!

2. The Body of Christopher Creed - Carol Plum-Ucci (2000): I haven't read this one, but it got more acclaim than the above. I don't think I'll like it as much, but I've long been curious, and my library doesn't have it anymore.

3. Sky on Fire - Emmy Laybourne (2013): I saw post-apocalyptic/survival YA thriller and went YEAH!, but turns out this is actually a sequel to Monument 14, which I've heard of (and was apparently quite popular?), but never actually investigated. There appear to be a LOT of books and I don't know if I'm that interested in "5 kids remain inside the store. one is pregnant. the rest have a blood type that will turn them into bloodthirsty killers if exposed to the air." So this will probably move to the rehome pile. But it is cool that this is the UK edition.

4. The Dirt Diary - Anna Staniszewski (2014): Also definitely a read-and-release, but I'm weirdly drawn to books where the daughter of a housecleaner ends up helping clean her richer classmates' houses and discovers SECRETS.

the contrast between these covers is hilarious 2 me

5. Sabre, The Horse From the Sea - Kathleen Herald (1948; this edition 1963): VINTAGE HORSE BOOK *SNAP* MINE. Alas, having gotten it home, I see it's a bit spotty on the sides, so that won't do. Will have to be a read and release.

(edit: oh damn, this is apparently a pen name for horse book authoring queen K.M. Peyton, AND it's apparently her first novel!)

(oh double damn, Bookfinder has it priced starting at $30 with no ebook so apparently it's gone scarce over the years even for a common paperback edition; booo)

6. The Secret of the Andes - Ann Nolan Clark (1952; this edition 1974): I'm a simple girl; I see a little vintage Scholastic paperback, I buy it. Did not even realize it's a Newbery winner! I probably won't keep it...but I do adore this cover, and it's so small...

7. Brother of the Wolves - Jean Thompson (1978): I am also a simple girl in the way I will see a Weekly Reader edition of a book with animals or Native Americans (or both!) on the cover and buy it.

8. Wren - Marie Killilea (1954; this edition 1968): a children's adaptation of an evidently popular midcentury memoir called Karen (written by the mother of the titular Karen, who had cerebral palsy) that I must admit I don't know. I just saw a girl hugging an Irish Setter on the cover of a vintage paperback - especially since the summary promises to focus on the kid and their pets - and said "gimme." Probably read & release.

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9-10. A pair of Doctor Who Target novelizations: The Day of the Doctor (Steven Moffat) and Twice Upon a Time (Paul Cornell)

I actually just stumbled upon an old post reminding me why I wanted DotD so bad (I should probably actually watch the whole special at some point, maybe). I wasn't sure if I wanted to actually read the one w/ the Twelfth Doctor or if that was going in my resale bag, but who am I kidding...I cling to any non-Eleven Doctor Who stuff I find in the wild like my life depends on it.

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11. House Warmings: For Those Who Make A House a Home - Patricia Hauck Sprinkle (1992): Total gift book, literally intended as a housewarming gift, I don't need it at all but it was SO PRETTY! It's a slim volume with a puffy cover, featuring little anecdotes (and a definite Christian slant) from the author's life about the houses they lived in and, well, making them...homes. The color illustrations on nearly every page are just so beautifully cozy 90s-ish. See also, the artist's website -- Gail Roth.

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12. A Zoo Man's Notebook - Lee S. Crandall, "in collaboration with William Bridges" (1969): Nonfiction; I literally didn't even flip through this, I just saw "William Bridges" (an early Bronx Zoo director, which I know because I already had one of the many books he wrote about it) and ran. It's packed full of anecdotes and interesting facts about the animals there. Books about zoos were really popular in the latter half of the twentieth century, I've noticed, but seem to have fallen out of fashion. Still, stories about animals never go out of style. Speaking of which...

13. Some Of My Best Friends Are Animals - Terry Murphy ("Director of the Dublin Zoo") (1979): so obviously I was not gonna not take it with that information...another book full of anecdotes and photos. It's surprisingly heavy for not being that thick even using glossy photo paper, which is a pain, but I might keep it anyway.

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14. Horseplay At White Meadows - Marlene Chase (2013): a cozy mystery of the type that drives me nuts, because they have beautiful sleek hardcovers on very solid bindings, with ribbon bookmarks!, and all in all just look like damn works of art, all for writing that is as basic as can be while still being competent at storytelling. They're really ideal for like, 13-year-olds who want to read Grown Up Books and grandmas who want simple, clean reads (I don't think this is even a murder mystery, it's just someone furtively trying to drive a rival out of business with nefarious "accidents"). But between the cover photo and the fact that there are horses and it's set on a dude ranch, though, I can't give this one up right away.

oops, after all that raving I forgot to take a photo so (weirdly huge) Amazon pic theft it is

15. The Artist's Library: A Field Guide (2014): the only ex-library discard in the batch, I won't keep this long-term but it's a small, sturdy little hardcover and I wanted to look through it. Near as I can tell, it's about celebrating the beauty of public libraries and ways to be creatively inspired while working on projects in a library.

Part II: Books To Rehome

(either to sell to Half Price Books, or I might just put them in Little Free Libraries; depends how long it takes me to collect a full bag and my mood that day)

Last time I just did a cover photo of the pending culls, but this time they're honestly all interesting enough that I wanna talk about 'em, so:

16-18. The Gryphon/Alexandria/The Morning Star - Nick Bantock (2001-2003): the second trilogy, also books 4-6, in the Griffin & Sabine series with removable letters and postcards. Absolutely beautiful books and literal works of art; I already have the full set but it was absolutely KILLING me that these were still there with 25 minutes to go (you fools!), despite one of them having been left flat with cover facing up, so I seized them. I feel like they should have value (I see on the HPB website they have a couple copies priced at $10, so not a lot but standard at least), but I also love them so much that I sort of just want to put them in an LFL so that someone else can have pure treasure.

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19. Pagan Spring (Max Tudor Mystery #3) - G.M. Malliet: I know this doesn't have actual value because it's a random semi-cozy English Village mystery from 2013, but I couldn't help picking it up because it's so pretty! (my motto of the day, apparently) Deckle edges and the endpages are illustrated with a map. Gonna be hard to give up. What if I didn't give it up yet.

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20. Unleashed - Lisa Wogan (2007): this is a smallish photo essay/coffee table book introducing specific dogs by name and the outdoor activity/sport they excel at, from backpacking to windsurfing. It's so cute and I know I would have fallen in love with these dogs and imagined they were mine if I'd read this book as a kid. That's why when I'm done, I'm going to put it in the Little Free Library outside a local elementary school. Kids still like physical books right? At least ones about dogs?

21. The Grace of Dogs - Andrew Root: I saw a dog and put it in the bag. Turns out this is written by a theologian and focuses on what you might expect; sounds boring and I'm happy to send it on.

22. Rescuing Sprite - Mark Levin: I actively disliked this book, but I figure, cute dog on cover might entice someone.

[ayyynne]

Time to Galápago-go

Most adventures to the Galápagos Islands begin in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. I spent one full day on a city tour before I left the mainland. We visited two chocolate factories - both complete with samples. Multiple cathedrals and churches. We visited the Virgin of El Panecillo statue, on top to the hill of El Panceillo, with an incredible overlook of the city below. I stood with one foot in each hemisphere at the equator line. The new one. Not the old one. There are two. 

The old “middle of the world” monument is a larger structure, but it’s in the wrong spot. The new line has a smaller monument and sign, and it is part of the Intiñan Site Museummuseum. The new line is verified by GPS. My city adventure ended back at the hotel, in time for a briefing and meet and greet with my new friends for the week.

Part 1: Planes, Trucks, Boats, and Money. 

Up and early to head to the airport (a 30+ minute drive from the heart of Quito) to catch our 9:00 flight. While flying is generally stressful to start with, flying to the Galápagos adds a second layer of stress. There’s a separate security bag check, and they’ll put these blue zip ties on your bag. You need to obtain your transit control card (TCT), with $20 cash. Both of these methods help to a) maintain and track tourism to the islands and b) ensure there is nothing being brought to the islands that can harm the delicate ecosystem.

Our flight, and many of the flights to the islands have a layover. Or I guess it’s not really a layover, more like a stop. You don’t leave the plane. Some people get off, and some more get on. It’s a great time to stretch your legs and use the bathroom while the plane is parked. 45 minutes later we’re back in the air. 

I was surprised to learn there are actually TWO commercial airports in the Galápagos (shows just how much research I did). Aeropuerto Seymour de Baltra, on technically located on Isla Baltra, but adjacent to Santa Cruz. The airport is about 30 miles outside of town, and requires a public bus, to a short boat ride from Baltra to Santa Cruz, and then a longer bus/car/truck ride. 

The other island airport, Aeropuerto de San Cristobal, located on San Cristobal is smaller and much closer to town. Less than a mile from the main commercial area, only about a ten minute walk. But if you have bags, it’s a cheap taxi ride. 

Inter-island travel can be done by plane, or by boats. Plural. A water taxi to a bigger boat to another water taxi to your destination's harbor.  bags are just kind of get tossed on top, or on the back of the water taxis and you just hope they don’t hit a large wake or make a sudden sharp turn because only gravity is holding them down. 

Over the course of the trip, I was on eleven different boats. I sat in the bed of three pick-up trucks (all outfitted with little benches and handles), a couple of open buses, and a handful of vans. I think I used a seatbelt once? Maybe twice? It’s not like there is a whole lot of traffic, or any highway driving, especially on Isabela where the roads are made of sand. 

Use the ATM. The Galápagos are largely cash-based. While there were more places on Santa Cruz and San Cristobal that accepted credit and debit, there was often an upcharge. Make sure you have cash. There are a decent number of ATMs on Santa Cruz and a couple on Cristobal. There’s approximately one on Isabela and as our guide told us, it’s semi-frequently empty. Ecuador uses the US Dollar as their national currency, so us Americans don’t need to worry about conversion math. Interestingly, they use a lot of dollar coins. I think I had more dollar coins in my waller during my week in Ecuador than I have ever had my hands on in my 25+ years. The only place I really see the coins in the US is a change from a vending machine. I even received a JFK half-dollar coin on the trip. I guess Americans just prefer paper.

[400legends]

Evolving Strategies (Day 162 continued)

"They can fly!" The Captain put her paws on her head. "How could I forget that?"

We'd just seen the Los Avan soldiers navigate Esmae's spike trap, and while one of them died and another was injured, the other 3 simply flew over the patch of barbed vines.

"I gotta rethink my plan, you know?" The Cosmic Peanut said this to no one in particular, but I replied. "I do know. It is an unsustainable strategy to allow these soldiers to destroy every door between us and them. If the Doctor is correct, we will face two more waves of enemy combatants, which means we need to keep some of the doors functional." My fingers flew across the handheld as I opened door after door.

Requiem shifted to the side as Esmae joined us behind Requiem's illusory wall. The central hallway of the space station was ready for the soldiers - as ready as we could make it with the 30 minutes we had before contact. Turret #2 stood primed to engage the enemy, and Quant's conjured Brasswatchers looked ready to fire on any intruders. Too bad their holographic rifles would only shoot holographic bullets.

"We should have visual contact in 5 seconds," I announced.

"The door to the AI Core is open?" asked the captain.

"As I stated, I have opened all the doors between us and the--"

"Catch you later!" The Cosmic Peanut grinned and hunched to sprint from our hiding spot.

"Peanut, what do you think you're doing?" Sara laid a hand on the captain's shoulder.

"I'm gonna hide and shoot 'em in the back."

"They can see you." Sara pointed at the far doorway, where 4 Los Avan soldiers crouched behind a shimmering energy barrier.

"And I can see them!" Esmae pulled out a bow, nocked an arrow, and sent it zooming at the soldiers.

Turret #2 fired several rounds and took return fire.

"I can give you approximately 6 seconds, Captain." I hit the command to close that one door.

"Taking it!" She took off with a burst of energy and made it about three-quarters of the way before she stopped to catch her breath.

Requiem stepped into the central hallway and yelled, "Don't stop now!" She mimed pushing the captain forward, and I don't know if that was magic or not, but the Cosmic Peanut seemed to fly to the safety of the side door.

Esmae rushed after the captain, bow still in hand. She got almost even with Turret #2, when a flare of flame showed at the door, and it flew open from the force of a shaped charge.

"That is not good," Iota muttered.

Esmae froze in place. She was too far to take cover behind the turret, too far to leap for the safety of the side hallway.

At least the captain was now hidden from view, just at the halfway point of the central hallway. But I hoped that she would not get her chance to shoot anyone on the back because that would mean that the soldiers had gotten entirely too close to our position.

"I welcome the chance to fire at these agents of hate." Dr. Quant shouldered a plasma rifle and fired at the now-visible soldiers. One of them flinched as the bullet hit.

"Are you good at everything?" Requiem sounded just the slightest bit exasperated as she aimed her own rifle and fired.

"I wasn't sure if I remembered how, to be honest."

"This is a good plan," Sara said as she stepped past Requiem's wall, fired. "Draw attention from Esmae." She hit one of the soldiers, nodded, and then stepped back behind the illusion.

The Los Avon soldiers were not distracted; they poured fire at Esmae, who crumpled to the floor under the barrage. She did not move.

Calculating the distance required to send the healing word spell to Esmae, I dashed out of cover, swirled the magic overhead, and sent it hurtling toward Esmae. She stirred as she absorbed the small healing.

Quant triggered the conjured Brasswatchers to mimic gunfire, and the enemy soldiers ducked for cover.

Requiem stepped beside me and raised the staff of healing. A bright green light bathed the injured Maeshari, and she rolled onto her stomach.

As Requiem and I hurried back to safety, I heard one of the Los Avans say, "It's just an illusion! Ignore those soldiers. Don't be afraid of fracking conjured bullets."

Esmae summoned a black dragon wormling to stand beside the turret. It screamed out a challenge, and the soldiers fired as it advanced on them, giving Esmae time to reach the safety of the side hallway.

"What are they saying that we can't hear?" I muttered and began to search for their comms channel.

Two alerts grabbed my attention. First, Turret #2 flashed critical failure, and second, the Los Avan ship was leaving the airlock. I swiped them away, intent on hacking the soldiers' comms.

Around me, Sara, Iota, and Requiem fired at the soldiers, keeping them pinned at the far door. From the corner of my eye, I saw Quant move past and out into the open space of the central hallway.

"I'm in!" I said triumphantly and tapped my ear.

"Get me in close, boys," a voice growled. "Get me in close, and I can mess them up. Mess them up good."

"The commander," I sputtered out the words. "Aim for their commander!"

[mubal4]

Pine Trail Run 50K - Race Wrap

 This race happened over a week ago and it has taken me this long to sit down and get this out. Needless to say there is much happening and some days get away from me and writing takes a back seat. Part of the process but we keep moving forward. Sort of like this race 😊, see what I did there!! As always to start, BIG THANKS to the folks at the Pine Strawberry Fuel Reduction, Inc. for putting on the race, and all the volunteers, spectators, and other runners. It really was a great day and great location. All the money for the race goes right back into fixing, maintaining, and managing the trail system. The location was pretty epic as you can tell by the pictures, but they don’t really do it justice. The start/finish was at the Pine Trailhead in Pine, AZ. This is a small mountain town at the base of the Mogollon Rim about 15 miles northwest of Payson, AZ. We had been to Payson before but not yet to Pine over the years, so we were excited about spending some time in this new location. I say we because all 3 ladies in my life made the trek up and were at the finish line, the first time in a few years since that has happened so I was thrilled to see them. It wasn’t simple task considering the approximate 2 hour drive each way, but they made it up about an hour before finish which was fantastic.

 A couple side notes throughout this story so please stick with me. I headed up Friday night and stayed in Payson. I wanted to get up there then, rather than getting up at 2am for the 5am pre-race meeting so I got a hotel in Payson and was able to get my registration all taken care of Friday night. I decided to grab some dinner in Pine prior to driving back down to Payson and stumbled upon this awesome wood fire pizza joint called Old Country Inn. The pizza was fantastic, bar tender was a sweetheart, and they had Church Music on tap! Sufficient to say I was fueled up and ready to go by the time I got back to the hotel 😊. The 330am alarm came fast but I still have yet to figure out getting any type of restful sleep the night before a race. Usually, I can grab 2-3 good hours but the rest of the time my mind is visualizing the race and thinking about when and where shit may not be ideal!

  We had originally signed up for the race 2 years ago but with the onset of Covid it was canceled a couple weeks prior. They decided not to hold it last year as well, so the 2020 edition was the inaugural 50k. They’ve put on a 9 miler and 5k the last several years, but this was the 1st time for the 50k. You can read about the race details and Mogollon Rim in some the of the links embedded but essentially the course was this – the first 1/3 of the race we start gradually heading toward the face of the Rim and then after about 10 miles ascend approximately 2200’ in two miles battling a bunch of switchbacks as we get higher in altitude. We started at bout 5000’ elevation and at the top we were around 7500 or so and then back down. The second 1/3 of the race is running on the top of the Rim mostly on jeep trails and forest roads, before drastically dropping down in through Pine Canyon (incredible views) but not before another 1200’ climb, more gradual over about 2 miles about 4 miles out from the finish. This was arguably, the toughest 50k race I have done. The total climbing was just above 6,000 feet and the grade going up the face was about 30% or so but it was more of the downhills that crushed my knees and quads. Going into it, and I knew this, I didn’t invest the right amount of time going up and down in training. The volume was there but going out the last couple of weekends before the race and putting in those big vert days, were good, but maybe too little to late? I write that but then feel that we did get through it and finish, Sunday and Monday of this past week my body felt really good, except for a niggle behind my right knee so maybe I did enough but at about mile 25 I wasn’t feeling none too good 😊.

 The race started with a bit of a climb out the gate and that was followed by smooth single-track trails and rolling little ups and downs. There were points when clearing the pine trees, we were facing east, and the views were breathtaking. Yeah, it may have been the toughest 50k I’ve experienced but it may also be said that it was one of the most beautiful sceneries too. This went on for a few miles and then we started climbing more intensely. I was running with this one real good dude, and we were chatting, and a younger couple; all clicking off miles together and enjoying the cool morning temps. We hit a downhill and I began moving ahead of the group as we were approaching the first aid station at mile 8.6. That mile marker game and when according to my watch but that is not uncommon, so I just continued to keep moving. This was the first time I began to notice I wasn’t feeling all the right. My stomach wasn’t as it usually is, and I felt a bit nauseous. Again, these are not uncommon but not this early in a race and usually not together. I acknowledged it and brushed it aside. I then hear my watch click off mile 10 and still no aid station so now with no water and my “not so fresh feeling” becoming more apparent I was hoping I would be getting close to that aid station. At that time, I heard some cheering and new I was close. As I ventured into the aid I grabbed some snacks, ginger ale, and refilled my water bottles and then I was off. After getting some food, salt, and the ginger ale I seemed to be feeling better but the fact that the aid station was 2 miles further than what had been outlined in the race info; that was sticking in my head a bit.

 Those thoughts soon departed as we began our trek to aid station #2 at the top of the Rim. The two aids were only about 5.5 miles apart from one another but within those miles we were going to be climbing approximately 3500’ and there was 2200’ of it that I found out was just brutal. Leaving the aid station, it was mostly some short climbs, following but a flat, maybe a downhill or two, and then another climb with the climbs becoming more and more significant the further we went. As we got to what was essentially the bottom of the eastern face of the rim the reprieve of flats and slight downhills ended, and the true climb started. As it did, I was moving past another running who seemed to be feeling it and said, “man, tough climbing on this course, hope it lightens up soon.” Before I could stop myself, I said, “unfortunately I think we got much more to go, and it is going to get worse before it gets better.” This is where the couple dozen switchbacks began, and the climb got incredibly intense. In the race details on their website, I recall reading, “this climb may be the hardest climb you’ve experienced in an ultra-race.” Folks, this wasn’t not terribly far from the truth. There may have been one other, maybe two ascents that were more difficult and those two were in the Colorado Rockies!!! It felt that each turn, up another switchback, got steeper and steeper. As we got closer to the top, or what I thought was the top, I was passed by two dudes with trekking poles. They were moving quite well, and I remember thinking 1) these were very bright individuals and 2) I knew I should have done more vert training. That said, I did end up passing the one trekking pole dudes later in the race but for the life of me can’t remember, unless he veered off course!

 Things began to level out and eventually we reached a forest service road and took a right. We were now about 1.5 from the second aid station and the timing was perfect because I was out of water and could use some salty snacks. My stomach was feeling better, and I wasn’t nauseous because now I was acknowledging the burn that was the fire in my quads from the climb. These are typical feelings during an ultra, like the weather in PA, if you don’t like it, just wait it will change. Well, in these races, if something doesn’t feel right, don’t worry, something else will take its place soon 😊. We, I say we but at this point it was just me running solo. Pole trekking dude #1 was long gone and those that I was with prior were still working their way up the Rim. I started coming upon this open field which was cool if you think about it. Open field on the top of this rim in AZ and about 500 yards to the right was the edge looking over land as far as the eye could see. This field was where the aid was supposed to be. Yep, supposed to be. I came up on two guys in a service vehicle and the one asked me for a bottle of water. “That would be great, thanks. Is this where the aid station is supposed to be.” The guy, likely knowing what we were all just battling and realizing there is no aid station here for relief, probably felt very bad said, “ahhh, they are late.” Me, “oh – okay then. Thanks for the water.” The next aid station was about 4.5 miles away, or at least I thought, and I had 16 ounces of water. We were on top of the rim, on a flat jeep road so I felt that it was a good time to just hike for a while. A couple of minutes later two pick ups come towards me, moving at a good rate considering where we were, came to an abrupt stop and the driver side door flung open and before I knew it this cowboy was filling my water bottle. These folks were the volunteers for the aid station and messages got crossed, I guess. Whatever the case, I chugged two bottles of water and filled another for the next few miles until the next aid station.

 Now I was hiking, not running, trying to digest the situation. I was feeling better, hydrated, moving. I made a right turn and came upon a group of campers cheering me on. That was pretty cool. In the middle of nowhere, on top of this mountain, just getting the snot knocked out of me from that climb; I felt inspired, so I started running again. The road began to descend, and it was very smooth, and the miles were clicking off. I ran into what seemed to be a grassy camping area and there was a woman with a notepad asking for my bib number. “321 mam.” “Mike, right?” Yes, mam.” “Great, you are doing awesome. The aid station is about 1.5 up that way along the road. You are in 8th right now.” “Thank you very much and Happy Mother’s Day.” “Ahh – thank you. You got this.” I recall that exchange verbatim because it was weird where she was, and it was incredibly surprising that I was where I was. It felt to me that it was slow going and I had texted Robin that exact message a couple of hours ago. I was just about 20 miles in, and it seemed like this race was taking forever (thank you brutal climb up the Mogollan Rim 😉). After climbing through some barbed wire and running along “Highway” 87, I came upon aid station #3. I chugged more water and downed a can of ginger ale. Another runner was there, and we were talking, with his family too, about what we just did and what was left to do. Essentially everything we climbed, now we were about to go down, just on a different side of the Rim. I grabbed a bunch of snacks and began hiking out of the aid station. The other dude shoved off a minute earlier and we were both cheered on by other folks waiting for their runners to come in. Over the next few minutes, I hiked and downed my snacks of trail mix and fruit snacks. Laugh if you must but these treats got me to the finish line my friends.

 Once I let the food digest a bit and the trail began to go slightly downhill, I picked up to a run again. This part of the trail was refreshing from the jeep road and flowed nicely, not too much of a decline, so the pace was really nice. I skated around some technical parts and after about 20 minutes or so came to the top of Pine Canyon Trail. This was the nasty downhill with many switchbacks, crazy technicality, and knee/quad busting fun began. What’s also nuts is that we were on the side of the rim and if we were to slip or catch a toe, it could be a long fall down 😊. Fortunately, all was right, and I took my time gradually getting into the canyon and much of the miles to the final aid station, which was about 3.5 miles from the finish and just water, were easy miles. Gradual downhill, pine covered trails so there was some shade, and I was feeling okay at this point. My knees were what was on my mind now because they had taken a beating on the downhill. I had been joined by the same dude I had been running with earlier and we had some good conversation about family, life, and running. Although the temps were not even at 80*, with no real cover now, the sun was getting hot and the trail dusty. At this point we came to the last aid and we both sat down for a minute. Filled our water bottles, gingerly stood up, and then we were on our way. Oddly enough, as we approached the trailhead leading back to the finish, about a mile, there was a table with a case of water. I stopped, thinking we had a couple more miles left, and doused myself with a bottle of water. My companion went on and seconds later I was moving too. Shortly thereafter, I can hear cow bells and cheers as he made his way to the finish line. Moving at a good pace now, meandering my way down the trail to the tent, a high five from one of the dads supporting his sons and others from some more spectators; I hear the voice of my youngest daughter, Alaina, “looking good dad, great work……try not to fall.” I giggled at that and fortunately didn’t fall.

All three of my girls were standing at the finish line and it was awesome to see them. We hung around a bit, sharing congrats with those I spent time on the trail with, then cleaned myself up.

 We finished up the day in Pine, AZ with a visit to THAT Brewery, where I enjoyed some tasty IPA’s, an Elk Burger, and great conversations with my family. Reminiscing about the race and what might be next, my body a bit achy but my mind very clear and restful. We had a good two hours drive home, through some of the mountains you see in these pictures. It was a great Saturday. Our youngest, Alaina, driving now took the wheel as I sat shotgun on the way home. I enjoyed the green mountains driving back down to Phoenix, listening to my daughter sing her songs. Although the music of today’s youth isn’t ideal for me, it does sound pretty amazing coming from her. Thanks to Robin, Isabella, and Alaina for all their continued support as we do these wild and wacky adventures.

[nachoscheesy]

Tumblr Revival

Tl;dr

Tumblr has a large interconnected community of artists and content creators, and should focus on its strengths and what it does right. Instead of trying to compete for space against Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Tumblr should focus on empowering its community and giving that community the tools to develop the site's unparalleled uniqueness.

Tumblr is the crossroads of the internet, with a monthly user traffic of 300 million it is the perfect space for artists, content creators, and small businesses to grow their following without having to fight for a seat at the table against companies with huge budgets.

Hi, I go by Nacho here on tumblr, and I'm sure as many of us on tumblr have noticed, the (hell)site is kinda going downhill. Tumblr was bought by Automattic in fall of 2019, and I am sure they have the best intentions to help tumblr stay afloat. However, I think it's time the community took a more deliberate approach to how tumblr is handled, and hopefully Automattic and @staff will hear us out. I think I have a solid solution to tumblrs money issues, that will help both the site and empower its online communities.

First and foremost, I am not involved with Tumblr or Automattic. I am just a simple blog trying to help out a place that I've been on since 2010, and I would hate to see it die here around 2023.

So, let's get to the root of the problem on tumblr right now. That being money, tumblr is currently costing more money that it produces, as we've seen with its 97% drop in value from 1.1 billion dollar sale to being sold at around 3 million dollars.

So the first thing that must be improved before anything else can be improved on tumblr is how much money they're bringing in a month. I don't think folks on tumblr hate monetization as much as we all collectively say we do, I think the issue is that most advertisers are completely disconnected from the groups they are trying to advertise to on here. Tumblr comprises roughly 65% millennials and 30% gen-z, the two generations that advertisers seem to have the hardest time advertising to for a myriad of reasons. The main one being that they don't fully understand what we want, and sometimes just don't listen to what we are saying.

Lets look at how tumblr makes its money, Tumblr has four main revenue sources,

Ads by sponsored posts

Display ads through video posts

Sponsored Day ads or banner ads

“Premium Themes”

I'll go into depth on all of these and how tumblr could make potential changes to improve their revenue anywhere from three to six months after it implements some or ideally all of these changes.

First tumblr ads and sponsored posts, these changes are going to be contingent on tumblr allowing its users to share, like, and comment on ads much like all other media sites currently allow. Or at least giving advertisers the ability to turn that on or off as a function.

The average tumblr post gets reblogged 14 times, that number increases significantly if the ad is engaging and actually caters to the communities wants and needs. My reasoning for giving users the ability to reblog ads is to increase user engagement while maintaining their current ad vetting process and all of the nonsensical ads that are run on tumblr 90% of the time.

The other reason for allowing tumblr users to share and comment on ads, or have it be an option for advertisers to turn on or off as they'd like, is that the appeal of tumblr is the ability to propagate and obsess over the most niche things (i.e OSHA.)

All the while allowing content that gets shared all over the internet bubble up to the top through the collective hand of the tumblr community. Along with this tumblr has no way for small users to share their own products or services, every single major site has a way for users to advertise their pages or products through the site.

Tumblr is a content machine that creates imagery and memes that get shared all the time across the internet, so the ability to share and curate its own ads is paramount to improving advertising and user engagement on tumblr.

My proposal here is for tumblr to expand its advertising capabilities to all users, while charging a flat rate fee to advertise on tumblr, with additional charges for popular tags or trending tags. Tumblr currently has no self service advertising system much like Facebook does for example. Where facebook charges a daily rate on cost-per-click(CPC) or cost-per-thousand(CPM)

Charging a flat rate fee at a rate of a day, week, month, or quarterly basis with variances in prices based on the lease term and what the advertisers would want to have their ads show up on certain tags. This would open up the doors for small businesses that don't want to advertise on places like facebook, twitter, or google with their complicated CPM and CPC models. Also bringing in more small locally owned businesses with the added value of less competition for ad space on tumblr.

This would also take some of the weight from tumblrs own advertising staff from having to explain a convoluted system to potential advertisers. Creating a simplified model with the the advent of tumblrs own infrastructure able to get a single post to a large variety of users. Where the current ad model uses a “shotgun” method to hit as many people as possible, the tumblr model could encourage advertisers to curate a more personalized and intimate experience that tumblr users would love.

Why not just advertise elsewhere? Tumblr still in fact gets over 300 million views a month as of June 2021 (Statosta), and the added benefit for users to be able to like, share, and interact with ads would allow ads that the community enjoys to be talked about more. Giving advertisers more honest feedback about their ads while increasing their SEO’s.

Also small businesses that can't compete with the vetting processes that are used on other sites, would have a better chance of developing their business and increasing their clientele on tumblr whose core demographics are approximately 60% millennial and 35% gen-z. This core demographic does in fact care about being able to shop at local stores, or even a store across the US that is trying to drum up its own online sales.

These ads could be placed inline on the tumblr dash while moving other sponsored ads to the right of the site on desktop, but making them alternate on mobile between user ads and sponsored ads.

Second, the display ads should be changed to allow tumblr users to share and further interact with ads to generate more user engagement, incentivizing more businesses and companies to build their brand status on tumblr. Tumblr has a good model for creating short diaries or daily vlogs for companies that wish to show off their products on social media. This includes smaller businesses and vlogers that want to post videos or tutorials of themselves on their blog.

Tumblr is a good site for user engagement with a pool of creative potential for anyone wanting to gauge the desire for a particular subject or piece of media, maybe even an upcoming show. Having the ability to share and comment on sponsored ads would also help advertisers by allowing them to get more bang for their buck with a considerable uptick on how users engage with that content.

Third, tumblrs sponsor day ads and banner ads are inexpensive and should be highlighted as a selling point over their competitors. Tumblr 24-hour banner ads are considerably more affordable for businesses when compared to places like twitter with their 200k price point. For the same amount of money on tumblr a business could have their company at the top of the dashboard or app for 8 whole days. Much longer and much better than the competition.

Keeping this price fixed, with a change in the price CPC is still a much more lucrative and attractive selling point than any of the competition on the internet today. I know this might not be exactly what tumblr wants to hear when it is hemorrhaging money right now, but let's look at the cost for these 24 hour daily ads and banner ads. If tumblr hypes up the price point on these ads they could see a significant rise in advertisers considering the lack of competition on tumblr and past success stories of companies who did advertise on tumblr.

At the same time larger advertisers should be encouraged to make engaging ads and blogs on tumblr that will make people want to actually go to their blogs, that then link to an external site or page. Not ads that instantly try to force you to go to some other site, by rewarding or offering special discounts for people who find a special code or something off of the actual blog. Or even for giving the same code to everyone who reblogs a certain post made by the advertiser.

Seems too good to be true? Look at “Asos” back in 2015 when they held a shirt design competition on their tumblr blog. Where they had 900 submissions, four of which were picked, and were sold out of the user generated shirts in 10 hours.

This is not the only case however, but FX ran their own campaign for the show “Man Seeking Woman” where they saw a 2.8% increase in user engagement, 86% increase in their tumblr followers, and they actually saved money through advertising on tumblr.

All this leads me to believe that tumblr actually was and continues to be the best place for brands, small businesses, and artists to develop themselves through genuine user engagement.

Finally, the “premium themes” that are available on tumblr that allow for unparalleled customizations that you hardly find elsewhere on the internet anymore. Tumblrs ability to take a variety of media sources, as well as having an unparalleled level of customization, user interconnectivity, and a vibrant artistic scene shows that it is ripe with potential.

Tumblr could still use its post+ feature, but in the same way that Discord uses its subscription service. For cosmetic changes that can be added modularly to the site or individual blogs for an additional monthly fee. In conjunction with partnering with community artists to bring small cosmetic additions to individual blogs, while paying the content creator and tumblr taking a small portion of the profits over a certain amount.

To be completely honest this is probably the hardest portion of this entire pitch to make changes to in a shorter period of time, considering all the testing and “under the hood” changes that must be made. However, I think that implementing this as well as the other changes I have proposed will bring back more foot traffic to tumblr as well as increase its revenue and profitability.

In closing, I am simply working with whatever information I was able to find online and a good amount of time invested on my part to do this. I think tumblr has a ton of potential still to return as a force for good for the communities that exist and want a change from what the internet has become. Time and time again when any company or public entity dies it was because it did not change and refused to adapt and innovate, oftentimes not at the hands of the people working everyday to keep the site running. Instead at the hands of people who dont see the value in what has fallen in their laps.

If you agree and think this is something that can be done, please reblog this post and follow me for more updates. If I don't hear back or this does not gain any traction by the end of the year, then tumblr can go to its inevitable end. I will be here sinking with the ship.

@support @engineering @music @wip @changes @photomatt

[fluent-in-lesbianism]

Hey, I know you work with CPS, and I was hoping you could help with something. I work in administration at a state-funded company that rehabilitates wards of the state. I recently found out that one of our staff hit a child, then followed them to their bedroom and closed the door. They were alone for approximately 30 minutes, and the client showed another staff the handprint left on his leg (from the slap). That happened last month, and then a couple days ago, it allegedly happened again (I was not there, I'm in the office) but another client reported it to the manager.

I was furious, because he wasn't punished, our VP said "kids exaggerate all the time" and wrote it off. Since I'm a mandated reporter and NO ONE ELSE wanted to do anything, I filed a report last night. Someone from CPS/the state showed up this morning and the office has been a shitshow since. They're being secretive and won't make eye contact. I think they know it was me, and my boss had been talking to lawyers all day - she's very into firing people.

Do you know what generally happens after someone makes a report, and what businesses end up doing, if they're involved? If you don't know, that's totally fine! I've just never been in this situation before and would appreciate any info!

Every state's policies regarding out-of-home investigations and mandated reporters are different. My state might handle cases similar to yours differently than where you are.

How-fucking-ever:

This is a case all day long, no matter which state you're in, due to the fact that this is a facility caring for children.

The perpetrator should've been put on suspension, a police report made by your bosses, and a CPS report called in the second ANYONE on staff heard about it or saw the marks. Everyone working at your facility is considered a mandated reporter. It doesn't matter if they're unlicensed, sub-contracted, or just a volunteer. If you work with or around children in any capacity, you're a mandated reporter. Full stop. No exceptions.

So your VP should've filed the CPS report. The staff member the child showed the handprint to should've filed the CPS report. The manager should've filed the CPS report. The fact that it sounds like it went through multiple staff members before it even reached you, is ridiculously outside of federal policy. You did exactly what you were supposed to do, anon. You did good!

But, anyway. Once a report is filed with CPS, a caseworker will make contact with the victim, interview the perpetrator, follow-up with the reporter (aka you), interview any witnesses to the events, view the camera footage, make contact with the police, send the child off for a forensic interview, speak to the higher ups about why it took so long for a report to be made, etc. Once there is enough evidence to support the allegation, the employee should be fired since they no longer qualify for their position (You're not allowed to work with kids if you have Indicated CPS history as the perpetrator).

What will NOT happen is your boss knowing you filed the report (unless you tell them). Mandated reporter identities are treated the same as anonymous reports when it comes to keeping it from the families/staff. The only reason we ask for your name, title, and agency is to provide proof for a judge or state reviewer that you fulfilled the mandated reporter requirements. A CPS worker revealing the identity of a reporter (except when court ordered) is actually punishable by immediate termination, jail time, and like a bajillion dollar fine. So if your bosses try to lie and say they know you made the report, don't confirm anything. They don't know, and they never will. Not even their lawyers have access to that information.

And since you are a mandated reporter, you're actually protected by law from any retaliatory actions (termination, write ups, inappropriate remarks, intimidation, etc.). If at any point in time you feel like your bosses, or any staff member, retaliated against you because you allegedly filed the report, then you can file a complaint with the EEOC and get 👏🏻your 👏🏻money 👏🏻

[kuiperblog]

The first 1% is always the hardest

Usually, the hardest part of acquiring a new skill is starting it for the first time.

When you’re at an intermediate level of progression, you can usually just increase your skill level by incrementing up the difficulty linearly.  If you’re a novice weightlifter and your best overhead press is 125 lbs, try adding 5 lbs to the bar and see if you can overhead press 130 lbs. (If not, keep lifting 125 lbs every few days until that becomes “easy,” then challenge yourself with 130 lbs again.)  If you can do 10 push-ups, you will probably reach the point where you can do 11 push-ups, and 12 push-ups, and 15 push-ups, and 25 push-ups, and so on.  The hardest part of lifting is day 1, when you might be performing certain motions for the first time in your life, and challenging your body to work muscles that you didn’t even realize existed.

I imagine the same is true of other fitness regimens: once you’re able to run a 9 minute mile, you probably have what it takes to run a 8:30 mile, or a 8 minute mile, if you keep at it.  Eventually you’ll hit a plateau and the limits of human performance, but the first day in the gym is always the hardest.

This is sort of how the trajectory of my writing career went.  And having talked to artist friends, and musicians, it seems like all of them followed a similar trend: they found a thing, they stuck with it, and over time found themselves advancing along that path bit by bit.  It became a hobby or a routine such that over time, by  by investing a bit more time, or a bit more effort, or challenging themselves a tiny bit more, they got better at it.  And over years, the compounding returns of that meant that the girl who got a drawing tablet at age 14 found that by the time she was 22 years old, she had enough artistic skill to make enough money from her art to make a living.

I think that in a lot of cases, people were able to start down that path of gradual self-improvement in part because they were able to somehow bypass the hardest part of it -- they blazed right through the initial difficulty without even realizing it.  They couldn’t even really answer the question of “When did you start drawing,” because they’ve always been drawing since the days that they were just doodling with pencil in paper at school. Maybe they just really enjoyed playing outdoors as a kid, and played soccer because it was fun, and made the seamless transition to being a high school athlete. In my case, I spent a lot of time writing long-winded forum posts explaining the finer points of topics I was passionate about (which, at age 13, was mostly Pokemon and Final Fantasy), and somehow by my 20′s I had enough of a penchant for explaining things that I was able to parley that into a writing career (so I can get paid for my long-winded explanations of Pokemon-related topics).

The early days of learning to write kind of sucked and were difficult.  (For starters, remember how unintuitive that QWERTY keyboard was the first time that you learned to type? Remember how painful it was to hunt-and-peck your way through sentences at an effective rate of <10 words per minute?)  But my desire to talk about Pokemon on message boards overwhelmed any difficulty or “suckiness” involved with learning to express my ideas through text, and so the suckiness of those early days wasn’t really much of an obstacle.

More and more, I’ve come to believe that the most important part of learning a new skill is finding a way to get over that initial difficulty hump -- of finding a way to survive the first day, and then the first week, and then the first month, and eventually reach a point where inertia carries you forward on a gradual upward slope of self-improvement where you’re not even consciously thinking too hard about improvement; you just randomly muse to yourself one day, “Oh yeah, this barbell I’m picking up weighs about 100 lbs more than the barbell I was lifting a year ago. Fancy that.” The longer you keep at it, the easier it is to stick with it.

In many corners of the internet, there’s an oft-repeated adage that “Watching anime won’t teach you to speak or understand Japanese.”  And sure, that’s obviously true on some level. If someone is thinking they’re going to spend a thousand hours watching subtitled anime, and then one day flip off the subtitles and be able to follow everything without missing a beat, they’re probably a bit delusional. If you want to actually achieve anything approaching Japanese fluency, you’re probably going to have to take a Japanese learning course, and engaged in spaced repetition to pick up and retain vocabulary, and all of the other stuff that goes into learning any language.

But I think that watching anime does provide you with one big advantage: it goes a long way toward helping you cross that “day 1″ hump. Because the first day is always the hardest. Going from 0 to 1 is harder than increasing your vocabulary by a few new words every week.  Before you can get the compounding returns from incrementally improving at a skill, you have to have a starting principle.  And I think that watching anime is actually quite good for that, because only knowing “weeaboo Japanese” will give you 20-30% of the vocabulary that’s included in your first couple Japanese lessons.

I’m speaking from personal experience: it’s incredibly heartening to go through a lesson and encounter words that I’m already familiar with.  Even if my fluency in “weeaboo Japanese” only covers 10% of what’s introduced in a given lesson, having a head start gives me an intangible confidence boost which makes it easier for me to focus on and retain the other 90%.

I don’t want to understate the importance of that intangible confidence boost: a lot of language acquisition is getting comfortable with a language, and repeating something so much that you do it without even thinking about it. For example, in English, sometimes sometimes someone might ask you “how’s it going?” and you might answer “fine” before your brain has even consciously registered the meaning of what you were hearing, or saying. And I’m enough of a weeb that I can hear i tenki desu ne and immediately reflexively respond with sou desu ne, before my brain has even consciously registered the question being asked (sometimes taking several seconds to mentally backtrack and realize, “Oh right, the “i tenki” part means “nice weather.”).  But years and years of listening and pattern recognition have taught me that when someone ends a sentence in desu ne? with the sort of inflection that says “I’m asking you a rhetorical question,” the proper response is probably sou desu ne, and my brain produces that response just as reflexively as it spits out “I’m doing fine, how about you?” any time someone asks “How’s it going?”)

One thing I’ve come to notice is that every lesson begins with some of some amount of review, giving you that spaced repetition, and providing context for the new words and concepts that the lesson is about to introduce, and generally provide a foundation for the new material.  Day 1 is, by necessity, the exception -- how can you “review” material that you’ve never covered before?  But for me, the day 1 lessons on how to say nihongo and arigato and watashi and anata were already “review” of topics that I picked up through years of being a weeb.

Besides that, there’s the fact that the structural elements of Japanese are something that my brain was naturally able to grok in a way that is intuitive to me after spending years listening to spoken Japanese even though most of it is contextual. (Like, I’m not sure when this happened, but at a certain point I think my brain just kind of learned, when listening to Japanese sentences, to approximate which parts were the verb and where certain clauses landed in the sentence, if only because when watching anime with subtitles you become consciously aware of when a character’s name appears in the dialog.) I’m not really consciously thinking about it, which kind of feels like the “natural” way to learn a language.  (After all, it’s not as if native English speakers, as toddlers, consciously think to themselves, “Ah, it seems as though English typically follows a subject-verb-object grammar structure.” Kids just listen to adults speaking English and form sentences that way without really having to be formally taught.)

It’s highly likely that at some point in my internet career that I have at one point been the cynical message board poster telling someone that, contrary to their fantasies, watching anime isn’t going to help them learn Japanese in any real or material way, and if I’ve ever suggested that, it’s time for me to eat crow.  Because while the advantage that “weeaboo-level Japanese” gives you might be small, and only help you on the first few days of Japanese class, those are the most important days, because the first 1% is always the hardest.

My familiarity with “weeaboo-level Japanese” has only given me one disadvantage, and that is that years of memes have poisoned my brain to the point where the first I was prompted with “say ‘excuse me’ in Japanese,” my brain (and mouth) immediately spat out “sorrymasen,” and I wish I could say it only happened once, but it wasn’t until around day 3 that I managed to fully train this habit out of myself.