#same 5 things for 50 millennia <3

[soracities]

Hi! First and foremost, I want to say I hope August is treating you beautifully. I’ve been wanting to start making web-weaves / compilations but I don’t know where / how to start! Do you have any tips or advice on how to make them flow together nicely & look pretty? 🤍

hello anon 💕unfortunately i don't have many tips in this regard since my compilations are always just in response to a particular theme or mood i'm currently caught up in. all i can really say is that you can start anywhere, with whatever it is that interests you--it can be a recurring theme / image / motif etc that you notice across art or literature or music (or all three) for example, or simply just collecting your favourite expressions of a particular subject (cats in classical art, let's say). there are no rules just have fun with it!!

[gallifreyanhotfive]

Random Doctor Who Facts You Might Not Know, Part 20: Academy Era Edition

Please note that some Academy Era info is dispersed throughout the other parts as well; I just wanted to make one dedicated to these nerds. I am not repeating stuff from other parts (purposefully, there may be some accidents, but I'm trying not to repeat things like Koschei teaching Theta hypnosis or like the hyperball team) or including some basic info I think are decently well known (like Torvic or the Gallifrey Academy Hot Five). ;)

The Master's real name is 32 letters long.

As students, Theta and Koschei enjoyed building time flow analogues to mess with each others experiments.

Koschei once gave Susan a toy which was actually a communication node that he could use to find the Doctor and Susan if they ever left Gallifrey.

Theta and Koschei also used to sneak out of the Academy to drink with Shobogans. On one such occasion, Koschei picked a fight with six drunk Shobogans.

Theta's name day and Otherstide are on the same day.

Koschei often hypnotized people as a joke. He was never punished for it.

Drax had a home-made skimmer that he would often use to go to his House rather than stay in the Academy dormitories. He'd also give Jelpax rides home because they lived close by.

Koschei was in charge of organizing the end-of-term parties, but the Eighth Doctor remembers that they weren't very good.

While at the Academy, Theta and Koschei traveled to Gallifrey's past in search of Valdemar, an ancient entity and Old One, but they found nothing of Old Ones. Theta was horrified by Valdemar's power while Koschei was fascinated.

When Vansell broke his leg while climbing Mount Cadon, Theta created a localized time bubble with a sonic wrench and two lengths of twine. This accelerated the healing process, and it was healed in two minutes.

Koschei and Theta also once traveled to Machasma and used sonic agitation to get out of a tight spot.

Theta Sigma came fourth place in the Time Lord Academy Sprint Championship.

Millennia had a natural gift for temporal engineering, and Theta believed she would one day make great intellectual achievements.

Tebediatroculozan attended the Academy at the same time as the Deca. He was incredibly clever but also envious of the Doctor for the adventures he had. The Eighth Doctor helped him move past this jealousy.

When Koschei stared into the Untempered Schism, he noted with much contempt that the Time Lords who had taken him there all refused to look at it themselves.

Mortimus is likely about 50 years younger than Theta Sigma.

The Second Doctor recalled that Koschei enjoyed being scared of the dark too much.

The Toymaker had Theta play Capture the Flag and thought that Theta had cheated.

When the Toymaker was using Rallon's body, Rallon had enough influence over his personality that the Toymaker had a sense of "good and evil." When the Toymaker went against the Fourteenth Doctor, he was no longer using Rallon's body, so this was not the case.

Theta was Borusa's teacher's pet, and Borusa favored him over other students. Later on, the Doctor would believe this was why the Master was bitter towards him.

In fact, an unproduced story's original script originally had the Doctor’s grandfather be named Borusa, but it was later changed to Pandak.

While at the Academy, Koschei befriended Salyavin and manipulated him to gain access to the restricted libraries. He wanted to steal The Worshipful and Ancient Law of Gallifrey but could not find it, and Salyavin took the blame for his wrongdoing.

Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28

[sam-glade]

Happy STS! Today I have a riddle: what comes first? The title or the story? 🤭 To expand, I'd love to hear the creation order of one (or several) of your stories. Did you think of characters first? Plot? World? What was the final piece?

Happy STS, Tori💜

That's a very good question🤔

I think it's usually the story, but more specifically a key element of a concept of it, which in my mind starts acting as a shorthand for 'that WIP', and more often than not evolves into the title. But even before that, the very first thing I come up with are a few locations that I really want to explore, so I start coming up with events that will take me to all the intriguing nooks and crannies. Since 4 out of 5 of my novel-sized projects are set in the same world, it's more about exploring an aspect of it than the world as a whole. For Days of Dusk, that's the countryside, then the city where the Army's Command is located, then the manors and palaces of the aristocracy.

As for particular stories, here's the list:

Gifts of Fate (DoD book 1) - the sequel to it was written first, and included mentions of the backstory, which was supposed to be a typical YA fantasy, but as I kept including more details, it grew more unique, until it didn't fit in the background, and stole the spotlight. So, the world and the characters were already very much developed. The title was the very last thing - I had the manuscript ready for beta readers, and only then I started brainstorming the title.

The Prince's Shadow (DoD book 2) - this story has lived in my head for 12+ years, so the beginnings are a bit fuzzy in my memory. The key thing is that it was previously titled Aftermath, because it was about the consequences of being a hero. I can't tell anymore what came first; it feels like the title and the concept were so intertwined. However, after I've written out the prequel (Gifts of Fate), I realised that the concept no longer works, so it was back to the drawing board with respect to the title.

Prodigal Children (DoD book 3) - I've written it a year or two after the first complete draft of Aftermath, as a continuation, still riding the momentum of the previous instalment, and I remember the title being there from the very beginning, and almost shoehorning the story to fit it. It also started as two independent short stories that were left as very rough drafts; the first of which became the first act (after some expanding), and the second the climax. Initially, the stories were meant to take place 50 or so years apart (bear in mind nigh-immortality in this setting), but as I started stitching them together, it became clear that if these two events are about a year apart, it puts so much delightful pressure on the characters.

The Truth Teller - it started with the concept of someone who's nigh-omniscient and simultaneously unable to lie, as in, the metaphysics won't let her say something objectively false, so the title followed very quickly. And of course to get the protagonist in trouble, I came up with the dystopian setting (DoD setting a few millennia later). The government would very much like to have access to a power like this, while the protag would go quite far to resist. I admit, this came up around the time I read Mistborn for the first time.

The Fulcrum - oh boy. That was definitely inspired by the Vivec city in The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I had this image of a city inhabited by a cult that believes itself to be the centre of the universe and is obsessed with order and control, not to upset the balance of the world, while in reality it's just one of the many larger than life locations. I also visited Korea around that time, and went to all the museums, which indirectly sparked my interest in pre-Medieval cultures. Then I wanted to write a travelogue to organise all of this worldbuilding. So, setting first, then probably the title - the holy city is called Lornai, which translates to 'fulcrum' or 'pivot', and in my mind I started using 'Lornai' and 'fulcrum' interchangeably to think of this setting/story. The story came later.

[glowyjellyfish]

I ran out of sufficient interest in struggling to make my medieval game function—don’t worry, I am not planning to abandon it, I just cannot generate the wherewithal right now to spend many hours checking the last couple hundred files and then install new ones without having time to play. But I got very excited about the 50+ new LTWs mod, and decided to start a new ubermegahood in the same install folder as my Disney BaCC. It’s possible that was a mistake, but I am not planning to play that hood anytime soon, soooo…

Anyway, this means I am going to start playing a much more standard UberMegahood, with Gestation-based Aging, Traits, and several extra supernatural lifestates in addition to the LTWs mod.

I’m not at all sure whether all the clean templates I installed have preserved the normal bin families for Megahood purposes—pretty sure I did an elaborate routine of activating the main hood before installing the templates for the Megakingdom, but we’ll see—but my intent is to play with all the premades, and if they are not in my game I might have to figure something out to obtain them. Including, this time, the Kat and Kim families. I will have to decide where to put all the bin families that aren’t hood-specific; I used uniquely MCC criteria for divvying them up in the Megakingdom. For a normal ubermegahood, I want to place them based on which EP they came with, which subhood is too low on population BUT ALSO which subhood is clearly meant to have a higher population (eg, Belladonna Cove and Downtown, as opposed to say Strangetown).

I’m keeping my age calculation from the Megakingdom, and just added a millennia to the dates. The Megakingdom will be starting with a date of Summer 5, 1001; the modern Ubermegahood will be starting with a date of Summer 5, 2001. I find starting in a Year One like that to be clean and easy to remember, and it’s very nearly accurate to the game’s release date as well. Traits will be given via the randomizer, and I am thinking I ought to make ACR generate hood-wide gender pref too. And maybe I should come up with some trait-based aspiration-picking ideas? Traits and interests maybe?

I’m not planning to do any sort of taxes or unlocking system, but will be playing sims according to their LTWs and keeping track of the wealth of each subhood just to see how things go. Oh, and I might impose a pyramid of career slots just to limit careers a bit—that is, one sim at a time in the top level of a career, two in level 9, three in level 8, etc. I did this in a past Megahood, and never even got to a point where the slots actually filled up. Anyway, I might eventually add in some taxes or expenses if sims accumulate too much money, but usually no20k does the trick for me. And everyone is allowed to go to college, with the location selected based on the sim’s hometown and aspiration and maybe traits.

Roll 1d3 for base: 1 SSU, 2 LFT, 3 ALT

For sims from Pleasantview, Strangetown, or Veronaville, roll 1d4 with +1 chance for the college matching their hometown.

For primary and secondary aspirations, add two to the die sides as follows:

Family: +1 SSU, +1 ALT

Fortune: +1 LFT, +1 ALT

Popularity: +1 SSU, +1 LFT

Romance: +1 SSU, +1 ALT

Knowledge: +1 LFT, +1 ALT

Pleasure: +1 SSU, +1 LFT

So, a Romance/Family sim from Pleasantview would roll 1d8 1-4 SSU, 5 LFT, 6-8 ALT.

You may also add +1 for every preceding generation that attended that college, giving weight to the family tradition. Meaning +1 to the college a parent attended, another +1 if a grandparent attended the same one, and so on.

I will have to think through the extent I want traits to effect this, and I reserve the right to ignore rolls for the sake of a. drama or b. avoiding overcrowding.

I’m also going to have to figure out how best to incorporate the new supernatural lifestates I have; because I planned my mix of mods for my Disney BaCC, I’ve got fairies, mermaids, and genies. I am pretty sure I am going to make the Summerdream family be fairies, and I think I am going to rule that sims who make the last wish of a lamp have a 50/50 chance of becoming a genie afterwards. Not sure how to get mermaids started in a sensible way, maybe something with the tropical vacation hood?

Anyway. Here’s hoping I don’t have to do much finagling to get this started (re bin sims and the like), I just want to plaaaaaayyyyy. If I wanted to spend lots of time setting it up and making it work, I’d just keep working on the Megakingdom! I don’t have big storytelling plans, but I’d like to take some pictures and share updates once in a while. I am sure there are people out there who will be fascinated with the different directions this could take the popular premades. I made a copy of my Megakingdom spreadsheet and am altering it to fit a modern ubermegahood which should give me ways to amuse myself until I have game access…

[deepwoundsandfadedscars]

Thanks for the tag @thatsgonnaleaveamark!!

1. why did you choose your url?

I used to lurk in the whump community from my main, essentially just every few months I'd go through some of the big blogs tags and like stuff that I wanted to look up later. One night I wandered onto @whump-my-dear-watson's blog and saw her header pic and went "oooh that's clever, I wonder if anyone has claimed that as a URL yet" and huzzah, no one had yet. And suddenly I had a whump blog.

2. any side-blogs? if you have them, name them and why you have them.

From this blog I just have @myotherwhumpblog from when this blog turned into a TOG blog and I had a ton of "normal" followers and didn't want to weird them out with the whump content

And from my main (not tagging it but willing to share it privately if anyone wants) I have @all4oneone4all, a BBC Musketeers blog. I used to have a lot more, like I used to have a Loki blog like six years ago and deleted it, now I almost wish I still had it

3. how long have you been on tumblr?

Oof, my main was made in like November 2011 I think? This one I made in October 2018 or so

4. do you have a queue tag?

Yeah, it's just 'Queue' lol super original, but xkit is attached to the browser rather than an account, so if I log out of here and go to my main, whatever I set for autofills here, it'll use the same stuff for my main :/

5. why did you start your blog in the first place?

Pretty much cause of what I said in the first question, I was just lurking and it seemed like a great community to join (I was right) and I'd never been a part of a community on Tumblr before really

6. why did you choose your icon/pfp?

*Insert 'I just think he's neat' meme*

7. why did you choose your header?

asdfjkl I had to double check what my header was, but of course it's Poe and BB-8, why not?? *insert 'I just think they're neat' meme*

8. what’s your post with the most notes?

The one about the whump community and their 'fix it' fics lmao (almost 2,800 notes)

9. how many mutuals do you have?

A decent amount?? It's hard to tell cause lots of peoples whump blogs are side blogs, so it's harder to know for sure. But like. I'd say at least 50, probably more

10. how many followers do you have?

477

11. how many people do you follow?

125

12. have you ever made a shitpost?

I don't think so no

13. how often do you use tumblr each day?

Too much lol Usually the first thing I open in the morning and I pop in a lot during the day

14. did you have a fight/argument with another blog once? who won?

Not that I can remember

15. how do you feel about “you need to reblog this” posts?

Guaranteed way to make me not reblog a post. I can 100% agree with a post and then get to a "but you aren't going to reblog this, aren't you" I will swipe so hard up my screen that it disappears into oblivion, I don't appreciate guilt trips and won't subject anyone else to it

16. do you like tag games?

Yes! I love being tagged and I appreciate every single one, even if I forget to fill it out, please know I love and appreciate that you thought of me 💜💜💜

17. do you like ask games? 😊

Yes again! I'm just rubbish at answering them too haha

18. which of your mutuals do you think is tumblr famous?

I don't think any of my moots are 'tumblr famous' in the way I automatically assume when I hear that term, but I definitely have moots that are popular within the whump community itself

19. do you have a crush on a mutual?

Not really in a romantic crush sense, but more of a squish, if people still use that term anyways haha there are many many people I would love to be friends with but I'm very bad at keeping up conversation

20. tags?

mmmmm ok, I apologize if anyone I tag has already been tagged, but it's cause I was thinking of you <3

@simplygrimly @kingreywrites @set-phasers-to-whump @aceofwhump @itsanidiom @even-after-a-millennia @flyingwolf29 @whumperflies @dontyoubleedoutonme

[crstapor]

Terror White

“You’re either with us or against us.” - George W. Bush


1.

On January 6th, 2021, domestic terrorists invaded the Capital Building in an act of political insurrection. Their intent was to overthrow the will of the people by preventing certification of a free and fair democratic election. They did so at the behest of their political leader (who was impeached a second time for inciting this gross transgression of his oath of office), other voices in their party - the so-called GOP - and talking head agitators inhabiting the far-right media echo chamber. Nearly to a man, a woman, a they, each of these terrorists were white.

Images of ‘good old boys’ traipsing down the halls of the people’s house waving confederate battle flags, kicking feet up on the Speaker’s desk, walking off with public property or smearing their shit on the floors pervaded the internet. These images provided by the villains themselves, posted shamelessly to social media profiles.

As a result of this treasonous, insulting, juvenile, despicable, and ultimately futile effort five people died. Even still, hours after the fact, a majority of members of the so-called GOP voted in accordance with the will of these terrorists. They voted to overturn the results of a free and fair election in the world’s oldest modern democracy. They did so because they believed there were serious ‘concerns’ (‘concerns’, let’s be clear, that started with them and like the Ouroboros, ended up with the confusing, if unhygienic, phenomenon of not knowing where their mouths or assholes ended or began) with the 2020 presidential election. After over 60 court cases arguing that point only one was ruled in their favor. None of the 50 States comprising our union found any evidence of wide-spread fraud. Indeed, a federal agency tasked with monitoring election security stated unequivocally that the presidential election of 2020 was one of the most secure in a generation.

And yet? There they were. Spouting conspiracy theories, assaulting police officers (those stalwart stewards of the ‘law & order’ they otherwise claim to love), brandishing spears and bearskins, stealing mail, leaving death threats to the Vice President, fundamentally acting the fool. A bunch of bullies let out of detention with rage and rebellion on their minds.

Let me be clear: each and every one of these terrorists should be hunted down by law enforcement and charged to the fullest extent of the law. They should then be prosecuted and the judges in each and every case should show or allow no mercy. These barbarians must never be allowed to storm the gates again.

Fine.

But that’s not the really interesting question here. The far-right has been producing assholes forever (one of the few things the ‘right’ is truly consistent at). What’s actually interesting is how these insurrectionists arrived at the conclusions they did. Which is to say; how did their ‘thinking’ bring them to this point.

2.

While it might be tempting for some on the left to see that last sentence as a joke, let’s remember we’re sitting at the adult table. These terrorists, being human, sharing our genetic code, are people - real, live, eating, shitting, fucking, anxious, sleeping, scared, afraid, terrified people - just like you and me. As much as it would be easier if we could see them as Uruk-hai instead of our brothers and sisters, sadly? That’s what they are. Family. Part of the Human Condition.

Though humans that are clearly very, very, very sick. My diagnosis? Mind Cancer. Let me explain, under the assumption my readers understand the difference between mind and brain. As such, I am not asserting that the terrorists are physically sick. From their pics and videos it’s clear many are - obesity, hypertension, anal retention - though that isn’t the point. It’s their mental programming, their minds, that have been infected. Infected with what?

Put simply? A disjointed ontological phenomenology obscured, obfuscated, and accelerated by persistently chaotic epistemological aberrations. Said plainly? Their ability to process reality has been impaired.

Why? Racial resentment, poor economic opportunities, an aversion to books and learning? Yes. All that. Plus? The internet, which has created a new Dark Ages.

Paradoxically, one built on light.

3.

Look. Self-interested demagogues intent on self-aggrandizement are nothing new. Nor are their ability to rally or rile a downtrodden populace. Sadly, demonizing the ‘other’ is also pretty par for the course in these scenarios. An old story, all told. What’s new this time is how it happens.

In a single second - count it out! One Mississippi - a beam, or photon of light moves 186,000 miles. Roughly seven times the circumference of the Earth. The new speed of hate. The internet, that modern marvel ushering in Humanity’s first truly post-scarcity resource, is built on light. Philosophers have for millennia wed knowledge with light. And now we all (well, those of us in the post-industrial world) carry a terminal connected to this internet in our pockets. A stunning marvel of human ingenuity. One would imagine that access to such a wellspring of knowledge and information would have a truly edifying affect on the Human Condition. Perhaps, in aggregate, or retrospect, it will. At the moment?

Yeah ...

At the moment it seems that the more access to information humans have the more they double down on tribal identities, wish fulfillment, instant gratification (read: porn), perceived slights, fantasy lands, Rick Astley videos, or the jibbering incoherent rantings of simple capitalists fomenting the fragile emotional states of low information individuals who feel they have no place in this world. This is a fundamentally devastating epistemological conundrum. Why? For centuries the barrier to the future was the amount of information, knowledge, you could access or process. Yet here and now? Here and now there might be too much access. Too much information. More so, the striking fact that our ability, as a species, writ large, to process or parse this information has not kept pace with the information at hand. A sad equation that inevitably leads to moments like 01/06/21.

4.

The Trump Terrorists of January 6th, 2021, weaponized the internet to facilitate their attempted coup. As did their ‘dear leader’ throughout his humiliating single term in office. In fact, it was the geometrical acceleration of connectivity and interconnectedness enabled via the web and its insanely capitalist platforms that allowed for their ‘movement’ to incubate and evolve. While it is true that neo-liberal policies advocating globalist economics and monetary policy are at the current root cause of most ills genuinely affecting rural, or poor, or uneducated MAGA-heads, it’s also true that apart from an Independent from Vermont no one in the political economy of the last couple decades gave much of a shit about these poor and dispossessed inheritors of old racial mythemes and toxic narratives of self-reliance. No one that is, other than their ‘dear leader’. Never mind he didn’t intend to ease their suffering in any material, or structural way. He talked about it. He tweeted about it. And then he gave them a little song and dance at the rallies. Breathtaking stuff.

However, it wasn’t just the performative act of playing ‘authoritarian’ that got them hot and bothered. No, it was at the same time the eternal need to belong to a group, the legitimate feeling of economic obsolescence, coupled with these new tools of information transmission. Tools that at once gave them powers unheralded and seemingly ensconced them in a protective shell, a perpetually larval manifestation of all their baser inclinations. A reactionary ‘safe space’ from which they could launch a thousand ships of intolerance and hate. What good is truth if you can’t weaponize it? What good are facts if you share them with everyone else?

And so we find ourselves revising Plato. There isn’t just one cave in which we are chained, kept from reality. There are multiple tunnels, alcoves, deeper caverns in which we might dwell. Furthermore, if lucky, there are different days, vistas, egresses in which we can escape from the confines of ignorance. Much like the lucky Mormons, it would seem the far-right believes there are plenty of planets in which ‘Truth’ can dwell. Never mind that multiplying ‘Truth’ in such a way doesn’t actually produce more truth.

In fact, it reduces ‘Truth’. Impoverishes it. Hollows it out.

Which is sad, really. For the major harm caused by these rebels isn’t to our democratic institutions, nor our mythological vision of our nature, nor that ever-loving economy - but to the very fabric that binds the social contract on which all the preceding rely.

That fabric being, specifically, a shared objective reality.

5.

How can we survive if we can’t agree on basic facts? Can a multi-racial, multi-cultural, representative democracy exist when a large percentage of the comprising citizens don’t believe in, or even acknowledge, that that’s actually what’s happening? Is White Supremacy so fundamentally a part of our nation’s DNA that the country can’t exist without it? If so, for those of us who vehemently oppose White Supremacy, the question might then be: is the country worth saving?

Most versions of Western Ethics indicate that violence is not the cure. Nor do I advocate such a position. At the same time I’m deeply troubled, because due their illness these actors are neither rational or coherent. Ergo, we can’t reason with them either. So what next?

To corral the revolutionary, if inchoate, spirit of these sick, fringe minds diseased as they are by hate, grievance, and digital oubliettes would any policy proposals be acceptable? Perhaps as fantastic an idea as the images from 01/06/21, what if the Federal Government decided to halt its obsequious sycophantry to corporate America and ‘elites’ and instead actually, seriously, emphatically reinvested in the heartland, in Main Street, in the working class? Wouldn’t it be ironic if a little more socialism was truly the cure these hatemongers require?

6.

Maybe we should step back and listen to the wisdom of George W. Bush.

Confronting what was at the time the most disheartening terror attack on the homeland, Bush made clear not all who could otherwise be lumped in with the terrorists were terrorists. In the same way that, yes, not all Trump voters are Trump Terrorists.

Even so. Bush made it clear you needed to pick a side.

With us - toward a diverse future in which the promise of the Founders is emboldened and expanded for all who live between our shores. Or against us - back to your stunted hovels and holes with all the other low information troglodytes you like to cosplay revolution with.  

Choose.

It’s your call. But choose quickly, because history is watching, and only one path moves toward the future.

C. R. Stapor Longmont, CO 01/16/21

[snowdice]

Folds in Paper (Chapter 6: You Try to Cut Her Wires)[Folds in Time Universe]

Fandom: Sanders Sides

Relationships: Janus/Patton, Remus & Roman, eventual Logan/Virgil (maybe more)

Characters:

Main: Janus, Patton, Remus

Appear: Remy, Emile, Virgil, Logan, Roman

Summary: Janus, a disillusioned senior agent working for the Time Preservation Initiative, struggles to find meaning in a world where time travel could change everything about your life’s history in less than a moment. When time distortions start popping up, threatening the timeline and the fabric of reality as he knows it, it becomes a race against the clock to fix the damage before everything unravels. And the problem with time travel… you never how long you have before the clock strikes 12 and your time is up.

With a partner who has more mysteries in his past than Janus had anticipated and an enigmatic free agent time traveler mucking about time always with a clever pun or a time appropriate pet name on his lips, Janus will need to figure out what went wrong with time, and more importantly, how to fix it.

Chapter Summary:  

You try to cut her wires but you're way too late.

-from the song “Time Bomb” by Iration

Notes: Time travel AU, mystery, enemies to lovers, alcohol

This is a fic I’ve been writing on study breaks that you have probably all already seen at this point. I’ve slightly edited it for wording and grammar, but not for content from my previous posts. Feel free to send in asks to direct it because I’m not 100% sure where this is going and you can help decide if you feel so inclined! You can see the process I went through to build this at this link.

I also have a playlist on youtube (because Spotify didn’t have one of the songs I wanted).

AO3 Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

“Really, Khalid,” Janus said, storming into his boss’s office before even sitting down at his desk that morning. “A yellow?” It had been about a week since the 1920s incident, and his incident report had finally been cleared. Sure, it wasn’t a red or a black and he wasn’t facing any reprimand, but it should have been a green.

She looked up at him, clearly unconcerned. “There was an incident,” she said. “You handled it well, but there was one. Therefore, yellow.”

“It wasn’t a time period incident! It was a rouge time traveler.”

“Janus, you helped me make these rules,” she said impatiently.

“Which is why I know this is bullshit,” he snapped.

She rolled her eyes. “If it was anyone else, you would agree with me. While you didn’t go against protocol and had no time related incidents, the fact of the matter is, you were still distracted by this ‘rouge time traveler,’ didn’t complete your mission, and were arrested.”

“He was good,” Janus said. “You can’t fault me for that. He also could be dangerous and you’re busy handing out yellows instead of working to track him down.”

She raised an eyebrow. “We are working on tracking him down,” she said. “We have done an analysis on the mask and found fibers dating to the 2010s and some DNA. Though it isn’t exactly a high priority.”

“We have no idea who he is or what he’s planning to do. Why is that not a high priority?”

“At the moment?” she asked. “Because we have reports of a time bomb being activated.”

“What?” Janus asked straightening up. “When?”

“New Years Eve going into the year 3,000 in Brazil,” she said. “Which you’d know about if you’d bothered to check your integration port this morning before storming into my office.”

“It’s my mission?” Janus asked.

“The incident investigation is over and your active again despite the dreaded yellow,” she said, clearly making fun of him a bit. “So, yes, and it’s a high priority mission, so it is our mission. I’m leading it.”

“Who all is going?” he asked.

“Other than the two of us, Remus, Lena, and Fred,” she told him. “We leave in three hours, so, you might want to run off to Rhi before Fred gets to her and ties her up for an hour on details.”

Janus nodded and got to his feet. He turned back at the door. “I still don’t deserve the yellow,” he hissed.

She waved him off. “I’ll see you in a few hours, Picani.”

He ground his teeth a bit about the dismissal of his worries, but his resentment was slightly soothed by the fact that she’d assigned him to go on such a high priority mission and with only other senior agents.

He took the advice and grabbed Remus from the office, noting Lena hadn’t been able to wrangle Fred yet as she was still at her desk, and they both headed off to see Rhi.

A few hours later, they were all in decontamination together, decked out in truly god-awful costumes. The turn of the third millennia had been a wild event, and the best way to fit in was to look like you’d grabbed something from every century in recorded human history, dyed it in neon paint, and rolled around in a vat of glitter.

Remus had opted to stick his head in a vat of thick glow in the dark green paint that costuming had offered them. It was so caked on that Janus couldn’t even recognize him on sight, and it wasn’t even going to be slightly disruptive to their covertness.  In fact, costuming had frowned when Janus had insisted he not get his hair dyed and instead wore a bowler hat. They had required him to have flowers made out of glitter on it.

There were five people waiting for them when they landed 6 hours before the turn of the millennia. Three were touchdown agents, including Remy, and two were on location tech support. Usually it would be overkill to have that many people there just for support even with five agents in the field, but today the TPI needed to be cautious because they were planning on instituting a time lock.

Time bombs were dangerous things that would ripple through time if not contained. They were nests of anywhere between 10 and 50 bombs that were set off by one core explosion. This core explosion would punch through space-time and spew the multitude of bombs across different places and times. Beyond just causing huge explosions where they landed, they would also pose a danger to any time travelers that accidently traveled through them and they could cause disruptions in the timelines around the source and where each one ended up. Once they went off in their source time, there was very little one could do to stop the damage. Thus, the time lock. The time lock would make sure that even if it did end up going off (killing everyone in its reach), the damage wouldn’t extend outside of the city and, more importantly, the year it was planted.

Janus had only been in two time locks before, and he was one of the most senior agents in the TPI, outranked only by the founder: Lia Khalid. Time locks were designed to keep all time linear in a certain fixed time and geographical area as well as prevent any time travel in and out. Once it was engaged, all forms of time travel would not work for the duration, bar the pin device. Khalid was already switching out her regular timepiece with the slightly bigger one that was designed to support the time lock.

There was a failsafe back at the TPI that could be engaged in an emergency, which was why tech support was here, but other than that, the only thing that could break the time lock was that timepiece, and said timepiece would break the moment the time lock ended, making it impossible to return to the inside of the timelock.

 As soon as it was on Khalid’s wrist, she looked up at them all. “Our information says the time bomb was planted in the costume of one of the ‘Millennium Birds’ who are the organizers of the different events,” she said. Janus had seen a photo of the identical costumes in the mission details. They were all robe like garments with giant fans of feathers coming from the neck that coalesced in a peak a foot above their head to hold a fake bird egg. At least they’d be easy to find. “There are 25 of them throughout the city. We need to find each of them. So we don’t double count, you’ll need to subtly,” her eyes touched on Remus, “scan each one you find for the bomb and tag them with a tracker if it’s not on them. You can view the already tagged ones, as well as the rest of us on your timepiece even once the time lock is engaged. When you find the bomb, call it in.”

They all nodded, and Khalid looked over at one of the techies. She nodded at her and then the techie flipped a couple of switches. “Three, two, one,” the techie said. There was a slight shift in the air that most people would disregard, but Janus, as a seasoned time traveler, could feel the change even before his wrist buzzed. He glanced at his timepiece to see it had a big red ‘X’ across its display. He tapped it and was still able to bring up the map of the city with 10 green dots on it all clustered together in their current location.

After that, he tested the scanner on his timepiece that he would use to search for the bomb, just to make sure the time lock hadn’t messed anything up with his equipment. He glanced up to see everyone else was doing the same.

“Keep in contact,” Khalid said before everyone split up. Janus and Remus started by going North while Fredrick and Darlene were to go South. Khalid was a floater who would tag any Birds she saw but was mostly there for backup and orders.

Janus and Remus stepped into the chaos of New Years Eve before the turn of the third millennia. The streets were already swamped with people and it would only be getting worse the later it got.

“Where should we start?” Remus asked.

“Let’s go all the way North to the games area,” Janus said. “We can work our way back here.”

“Okay!” Remus said. “I wonder if they have those fun little genetically modified goldfish as prizes. I’ve always wanted to eat one and see if I end up getting whatever design was on the fish on my body.”

Janus gave him a disgusted look.

“What?! People eat fish all the time!”

Janus shook his head. “We’re not playing the games anyway. We have work to do. Important work.”

“Boo,” Remus replied. Janus chose to ignore him.

A few minutes later, he spotted one of the Millenia Birds letting people into the gaming area.

They walked over towards the entrance. Janus got in range first and moved to subtly scan the Millenia Bird, Remus doing the same the next moment. After a second, Janus’s timepiece buzzed and lit up red, meaning the bomb was within range. “Well, that was easy,” he said. “It was on the first one we found.”

“Uh…” Remus said. “Jan.” When Janus looked, he was holding up his wrist to show his green lit time piece.

“What?” Janus asked. He quickly moved to rescan the Millenia Bird, and his timepiece came up green as well. Which, meant the bomb was not in range, even though the Millenia Bird had not moved. “But…” He and Remus’s eyes met, and they quickly both started turning in a circle to look at the crowd around him. No one looked like they’d just stolen a time bomb off the Millennial Bird, but then Janus’s eyes caught on a man.

He blended in perfectly to his surroundings. He was wearing the disgusting garb of the times, a large light blue piece that bubbled near his hips, and he had most of his skin covered in rainbow neon paints. Yet, something about him, the curl of his hair or the way he moved, drew Janus’s eyes to him. He recognized the man immediately even in a completely different dressing style. Yet, what cinched it was the moment Janus’s eyes met his, and they seemed to sparkle slightly in the afternoon sun. The next moment, the person Janus knew as Pat, turned to disappear into the crowd.

Want to read more? Click below!

AO3 Part 7 Part 8 Part 9

[caithyra]

Don’t think about it...

...Because when you do, the Thieves’ Guild/Nightingale questline just becomes more and more disturbing, and you might just end up feeling sympathy for the guy you have no choice but to kill.

Basically, I am trying to create an abbreviated timeline of Skyrim’s characters’ history just in case I get off my butt and write fanfic, and I ran into this:

Mercer Frey is at most, around 50 years old in 4E 201. I guess this because he lives in the sewers (illnesses flow down with the dung and trash+no sunlight is aging and bad for the health, so if he was older he would probably be sick) and crouches (ages the joints) all his life, yet was spry enough to climb a giant statue and pry jewels that had been in the rock for millennia loose. If he was in his 60s with his lifestyle he likely couldn’t have done that, Skeleton Key or no Skeleton Key (also, not a single gray hair that I could see, so...).

Subtracting 25 years after Gallus’ death, gives us around 25 years old. subtracting at least 3 years of Karliah being a regular Nightingale not on the lamb, because she seems pretty comfortable with the role and the Skyrim locations (and was also the lover of an adult, we get perilously close to underage the further back we push this, and she’d been his “little nightingale” for so long she was obsessed with killing Mercer 25 years later), he would be around 22 years old when she was inducted.

And he was a senior Nightingale, I would guess at least 5 years her senior as a Nightingale.

So when Gallus and Karliah’s mother sold his soul to Nocturnal, he would have been around 17 years old at the oldest. And given how small a margin I’ve given these years, I would guess the more likely age for Mercer’s selling of soul would have been 15 years old.

The thing is, he and Karliah would have been about the same age (as an elf, she looks younger, heck, her grandmother, Barenziah, was pretty spry and popping out her mother at the age of 379, and if Karliah is only as young as Mercer, then Karliah’s mother popped Karliah out when she was around 170+ years old) and as a Breton, he probably matures slower than a regular mannish race without half-elven ancestry (a half-elven Emperor, Cassynder, is remarked upon to have aged “like a Breton” suggesting slower maturity, as he died of ill health and so certainly did not have the lifespan of a Breton).

And on top of it all, the way Karliah’s life plays out in Gallus’ book (Nightingales Vol.2), it seems like her lover and her mother waited until she was an adult before inducting her to give her a better choice, unlike Mercer (who was likely inducted because Karliah’s grandfather died, or because Lorthus, who may or may not have been Karliah’s father, died in Whiterun’s dungeons, and because it needs to be a Trinity and they didn’t think Karliah would have been ready), who was put in the position of selling his soul as a child while pressured by authority figures that it was a great honor.

Not only that, but Frey is not a Breton name. In fact, as a surname, it seems very Nordic, and given that there is no trace of Mercer’s background or parentage and that the highest population of Bretons and Reachmen lives under the thumb of Nords as serfs (and children take the race of the mother) in the Reach and that he picks a second-in-command with a Reach accent...

Yeah, so it seems more like Mercer’s conception may or may not have been consensual. That he somehow ended up in Gallus’ path when he was a very young child (at best, his mother died when he was very young and his father either also died or there was no relationship so he didn’t recognize Mercer, or Gallus kidnapped him), and Mercer grows into his midteens in the guild when the guildmaster and a legendary figure (Nightingale, Karliah’s mother) either convinces him to sell his soul to Nocturnal, or tricks him like Karliah tricked the Dragonborn and Brynjolf.

And then he grows into adulthood and realizes what they’ve done to him (eternal slavery even beyond death, even worse than the Reachmen in the Reach).

Is it really any wonder he “desecrates” Nocturnal’s shrine to live large while he can? Why he kills Gallus when Gallus starts trying to be all moral about it? (Oh, and given the sticky timeline, if Karliah is any younger than Mercer and not the same age or older, her and Gallus’ relationship likely started when she was barely legal after he watched her from her mid-teenage years as her guildmaster and superior; isn’t Gallus a swell, moral guy? Totally a honorable thief!) because he now hates Gallus? Is it any wonder that Karliah is framed when Mercer’s entire life and death has revolved around her and her family/lover?

Notice that for 25 years, he was content taking care of the Thieves’ Guild and only skimming the top of the (dwindling) profits and practically did everything to keep it running (again, I do not believe the Guild fell on hard times because of Mercer, given that their luck is sooo bad that they randomly recruit the Last Dragonborn when it is at its worse. Given how little the other leaders seems to do, it seems more self-inflicted, also given that the Last Dragonborn can fix it all up by doing a bunch of regular quests any thief in the guild, but most especially senior members like Brynjolf, Vex and Delvin, could have done).

Also I would like to point out that Karliah lies or is paranoid when she says that she’s been hunted for 25 years by Mercer’s contacts, given that there is only evidence of him having 3 contacts who would do such a thing, and the Black-Briars knew nothing, the Dark Brotherhood certainly wasn’t wasting their dwindling resources (they were hunted to near extinction 13 years ago and were losing Sanctuaries even before that) on her and the Thieves’ Guild were all surprised she still existed.

Given that Karliah constantly lies about things like this (even Gallus, in his book, contradicts her attributing everything to him, by pointing out that her mother and Mercer were there in the same capacity), she’s likely lying. But then again, Gallus had the gall to lie to my face as a ghost (stating he wasn’t in the Sepulcher when the sealing happened and then stating with certainty what happened during the sealing, even though only Daedric Princes would know enough to make an accurate guess, and even then might be wrong unless they’re Nocturnal herself), so maybe he lied in his book?

But anyway, back to Mercer. So for 25 years he’s been content being guildmaster.

And it is only when Karliah shows up again and escapes his attempt at killing her that he empties the vault and leaves (and again, Karliah was trying to destroy the guild in a more permanent way by angering Maven Black-Briar. At least you can refill an empty vault, you cannot refill the ranks of killed master thieves so easily. Then, when the Dragonborn gives Karliah the option of an in with the guild, she just skates right on in and no one points this out. Either that or her plan was so stupid, she planned, as the known killer of the previous guildmaster, to walk into the guild with the current guildmaster paralyzed over her shoulder waving her boyfriend’s supposed diary in an unreadable language and claim innocence? Also, a thief’s diary that only mentions what she needs us to know but not his great love for his “little nightingale”? Or even just “we danced the horizontal tango yesterday, her mother is angry because she thinks I’m too old for her, fortunately she was killed by mercenaries finding our super secret hideout that only I and Mercer knew about~Time to turn little Karliah into my little nightingale~”).

Like imagine if Karliah moved on from her (creepy) boyfriend and made a life for herself outside Skyrim? The only thing the guild to complain about when it comes to Mercer would be his admin fees (skimming) because no one else have done the accounting for 25 years (looking at you, Bryn and Del, oh and notice how long it took for Gallus to notice? He was guildmaster but did he foist the admin work on Mercer too? On top of selling Mercer’s soul?) and doesn’t want to step up in any capacity to do any of his work (See Guildmaster Dragonborn despite there being three senior leaders left in the Thieves Guild; at the least Companions killed off Kodlak [who dreamed about you] and Skjor and caused a schism on the lycanthropy topic between Aela and the twins before you became the Harbinger who is just a mediator and advisor, and you just arbitrarily becomes the Listener because “Sweet Mother” is a fucking troll who played deadbeat to her “children” for 13 years, and I cannot really justify the Archmage thing, but I can do it much better than the Guildmaster thing).

And there wouldn’t have been any selling of souls to a demonic goddess Karliah calls a “scolding mother” who is more deadbeat than the Night Mother and who, like the Night Mother, keeps you in servitude beyond your death.

But like I said, don’t think about it.

Oh and I’m not the only one who is kind of put off by Karliah’s “specialness” what with being the secret granddaughter of THE Nightingale and Queen Barenziah, and the only Dunmer I can think of without ash-red eyes (even Vivec’s Dunmer half had a red eye, and he was considered as powerful as a god, just to show how all-encompassing Azura’s curse was) and instead have violet eyes, and how everyone praises how smart and skilled she is while everything she does is stupid and failing?

Oh right. I need to stop thinking about this quest-line and the fact that my only choice was killing the child victim of a demonic cult after he grew up and tried to escape for the crime of taking some going-away-money I could replace in five minutes, just to avenge some dude who sells children’s soul into slavery after his girlfriend tricks me into selling mine and... Okay, not thinking about it!

[kaablooie]

Before the Exclusion Zone

(Back to the beginning: Part 1)

Part 10 - A throw back

50 000 years before the first pyramids were built, there were the Madari. A highly advanced and technological race, they were amongst the first of the civilized species to master interstellar travel. Millennia passed as they traversed the stars exploring and searching for answers they didn’t know the questions to. Gathering together the other advanced civilizations they found, they organized and created the Galactic Consortium - a new, intergalactic organization governing and enabling a level of cooperation never before achieved. Technology and goods traded freely and everyone prospered. A true golden age of enlightenment and peace took hold of the known galaxy. 

Thousands of years later, the Madari exploration vessel, Star Rider, happened upon an exquisite planet on the edge of the galaxy absolutely bursting with life. Enough life that you could see it growing on the land and shimmering in the water, even from space. A huge planet, it was surprising to the crew of the Star Rider that it was even capable of any life at all. A truly surprising and remarkable find. Commander Ratrek didn’t want to waste any time learning all of this planet’s secrets.

“Atmospheric composition report,” he demanded from the bridge.

“One moment,” the surface analyst, Cordu, responded. “I’m getting some odd readings that have to be an instrument error. We’re re-calibrating and scanning again.”

“Sir, the gravity of this planet is 2.6. We’ll have to use the gravity modulators if we want to survive down there without being crushed or suffocating,” the analyst sitting next to Cordu offered.

“2.6! Zentic, have we ever encountered life before on a planet with that much gravity?” Ratrek inquired.

“Technically, yes, but never with anything larger than microscopic life on it. Initial scans indicate that there is a wide variety of massive fauna and huge animal lifeforms,” analyst Zentic replied. Next to him, Cordu finished reassessing his equipment and ran his scan of the atmosphere.

“This is impossible,” muttered Cordu. “Commander, my analysis is showing that this entire atmosphere has an abundance of Oxygen in it!”

“What?” Ratrek skittered up behind Cordu so he could look at the output himself. “That can’t be right. You’re sure your instruments aren’t getting interference from something? Look at the life on this planet! You’re telling me these creatures are not only alive but thriving in this oxygen rich atmosphere?”

“It would seem so, sir.” Cordu couldn’t quite believe it himself. Of all of the planets the Madari had cataloged over the long history of their race, he had never heard of one quite like this before. “Any expedition team will have to use full atmospheric hazard suits to go to the surface. Obviously.”

“Incredible. Let’s get down there then. Cordu, scan those creatures and we’ll see if the largest of them has any intelligence. We’ll start there.”

“Sir, the largest creatures on this planet seem to be aquatic in nature and can only be found in those vast oceans.. they... they are almost as large as our entire ship...,” Cordu trailed off.

“Fine fine, find me the largest terrestrial creature then. Zentic, you’re with me.” Ratrek pushed the com button on the wall. “Ordos and Rados, gear up, full atmo suits, grav modifers, and sed guns. Meet us at the shuttle.” 

As the four Madari stepped off the back of their gravity controlled shuttle, the soft whirl of their gravity mods could be heard kicking in. The readout in their suits was telling them it was cold. So cold, in fact, that the water in the air had somehow frozen on the ground, but not as ice as you’d expect. It was.. fluffy. Fluffy ice? How the lifeforms survived in such frigid temperatures was beyond Ratrek’s ability to imagine. It was just another wonderfully curious question to be answered by the planetary researchers back on his ship. Cordu had given them coordinates to put them just within sight of a group of what had to be the apex predator of this world. Using the enhanced visors in their helmets, they were able to zoom in on their targets. These things were HUGE. Hairy, four legged behemoths, maybe five legs if you included the one coming from its face but didn’t seem to be used for locomotion. They had long, curved protrusions from what had to be their mouths as white as the stuff on the ground. The diminutive Madari, the tallest of them at 2′ 3″, wouldn’t even reach the lowest joint on their legs. Everything around the intrepid foursome, dwarfed them. Even when they lifted off their front two legs to balance on the rear two, they were relatively minuscule. It was quite humbling. If it wasn’t for their superiour tech, it would have been terrifying. 

With their sed guns loaded with the most potent of their sedatives, they began their approach to the massive aliens - and was immediately interrupted from the tree above. A sleek, golden coloured vessel of terror had landed on Ordos and was ripping him to pieces. Five times his size and with curved fangs as long as his arm, it crunched through his suit before anyone could even yell an alarm. Ordos was gone and the remaining party were unloading on it. It took longer to take down than it should have, but there were no other casualties. Likely due to it’s size, the engineered viral sedatives used would have taken longer to work through such a sheer volume of mass.

After lamenting their loss and gathering a tissue sample of the unconscious cat, it was decided they would continue with the mission. They had no special death rites, having outgrown such cultural necessities eons ago. They did, however, take the time to strip Ordos of his tech. They couldn’t leave it for the locals to find and there wasn’t much of Ordos left to do anything with anyway. So not wanting Ordos’ sacrifice to be in vain, they started heading back in the direction of the herd and resumed their march. Within normal visual range of the beasts, they noticed they were following tracks larger than theirs, but considerably smaller than those of their quarry. The animal that created these also seem to only have two legs, or they were walking with only two at least. How strange. They seemed fresh and headed in the same direction as them, directly towards these towers of hair and flesh.

“Commander, look,” Rados pointed towards the grazing creatures.  No, he pointed to just the side of them. Something much smaller was shifting in the snow. With a shrill cry, a small band of bi pedaled creatures maybe 2-3 times the height of the Madari emerged from the ground brandishing crud weapon and wearing what looked like the skin of their prey. Their antics frightened off the herd but they managed to isolate one of the beasts and were using an obviously coordinated maneuver to attack and tire the creature. Maybe these giants of this planet weren’t the apex predator of this world after all. 

Watching the battle from the shelter of a few sparse trees, the trio re-evaluated their situation. A number of the humans had sustained massive injuries and Ratrek assumed them to be dead. No being could recover from such injuries, even with the wildly powerful new regen medications the galaxy was in such a tizzy over lately. No, those Terrans were certainly dead. Until they weren’t. The beast, bloody and dying, gave off a thunderous and final trumpet. Ratrek could feel the vibrations of it’s fall through his feet. Then the victorious Terrans began going around to their fallen comrades and helping them up. They were clearly grievously injured with that odd red blood everywhere, stark against the white of the snow, but they were walking, albeit with assistance in many cases. While the humans didn’t look half as ferocious as the creature they took down, they were terrifying in their tenacity and made of sterner stuff than they appeared. 

“We should go back to the shuttle,” a visibly upset Zentic commented. And who wouldn’t be upset by the violence they had witnessed in such a short trip. A team member was dead, literally torn to pieces before their eyes, and the largest and most intimidating life-form any of them had ever head of had been essentially beaten into submission by other vicious creatures a fraction of its size. They were in an atmosphere that would kill them and was already likely degrading the integrity of their suits, not to mention if anything happened to their grav mods they would be flattened like a crew tech under a landing strut. 

Leaving, at least for now, was looking like an excellent idea. “Weapons up and watch those trees. Let’s head back.” Commander Ratrek reluctantly gave the order. He wanted to see more of this world, but was wise enough to know when a larger and better armed force was necessary. They would return after more extensive scans.

-------------------

If you’ve liked what you’ve read, please consider joining me on my Patreon page where you can get early access to each chapter. https://www.patreon.com/roman_williams

-------------------

Next: Part 11

Other parts:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Part 9

Part 10

Part 11

Part 12 (On Patreon) 

[mcmansionhell]

50 States of McMansion ℌ𝔢𝔩𝔩: King County, Washington

Happy Halloween, folks! Today, as a special treat, I will be giving you something EXTRA SCARY: 10 (ten) 𝖊𝖝𝖙𝖗𝖊𝖒𝖊𝖑𝖞 𝖈𝖚𝖗𝖘𝖊𝖉 𝖒𝖈𝖒𝖆𝖓𝖘𝖎𝖔𝖓𝖘 from the breezy suburbs of Seattle. 

If you really want to be scared: all of these houses cost more than $1.5 million dollars despite looking like they were made with, like, thirty dollars. I guess the scariest thing of all for so many of us is 𝖗𝖎𝖉𝖎𝖈𝖚𝖑𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖑𝖞 𝖍𝖎𝖌𝖍 𝖚𝖗𝖇𝖆𝖓 𝖍𝖔𝖚𝖘𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖕𝖗𝖎𝖈𝖊𝖘

Well, without further ado:

#10: Asphalt Purgatory

this house really drives home the banality of ugliness but it gets bonus points for the garage, which gives the great pyramid of Giza a run for its money. 9

#9: Vile “Villa”

If you really think about it, so many horror stories come true every day if you’re a tree. you know, like helplessly watching someone slaughter your neighbors and friends

#8: Casa del No

(computer voice): enhancing

this is just an abomination, completely eviscerating the millennia-long tradition of architectural detailing in the same way facebook has eviscerated the meaning of the word “truth” for millions of old people addicted to insane right-wing conspiracy pages

#7: Thinly-Veiled Window Showroom

sometimes i wonder if people deliberately build these houses just to make me (personally) angry, and this is one of those times. 

#6: Stop Making Sense: The House

(shouting desperately as I’m getting dragged away by police) FERNGULLY WAS A DOCUMENTARY

#5: Duckface

did these people build a house just using random parts stolen from other construction sites or something 

#4: Obligatory Faux Chateau

pin this to your halloween moodboard because this place is definitely cursed in every way imaginable 

#3: Great “woof, that’s bad,” Lodge

i would make a Twin Peaks joke but none of those gables quite match 

#2: (spooky voice) “code violations”

this is like the luxury cabin in the woods version of groverhaus 

#1: Please, I beg you, No Mo PoMo

Where to even start with this house. First of all, it is trying to be like 30 different things at once: Italian Villa, French Eclectic, Tugboat, a thinly veiled metaphor for the perils of human indecision. What personally pushed me over the edge was this:

HOW (how??) does this happen? (Mulder writing in his log at the end of an episode of The X-files voice): Only in a world that has forsaken love and truth, in favor of fear and lies, do such abominations unfold. 

Happy Halloween, folks. Don’t drink and drive. As for candy: the world is ending, eat trash twizzlers be free!!! See you soon with Vermont. Also, there’s a few bonus McMansions from this post viewable on Patreon for all subscription tiers! 

If you like this post, and want to see more like it, consider supporting me on Patreon!

There is a whole new slate of Patreon rewards, including Good House of the Week, Crowdcast streaming, and bonus essays!

Not into recurring donations or bonus content? Consider the tip jar! Or,Check out the McMansion Hell Store ! 100% of the proceeds from the McMansion Hell store go to charity!

Copyright Disclaimer: All photographs are used in this post under fair use for the purposes of education, satire, and parody, consistent with 17 USC §107. Manipulated photos are considered derivative work and are Copyright © 2018 McMansion Hell. Please email kate@mcmansionhell.com before using these images on another site. (am v chill about this)

[fatchange]

How to Talk to a Climate Change Denier

I love the winter season. The cool crisp air, the misty mornings, my warm bed. The problem is that winter is becoming a thing of the past, as our planet faces neverending summers. As I write this post, the Antarctic is 65º F (18.33º C). This is the hottest temperature ever recorded. As a mother, it's tough to accept what my kids will face. At this point we need ALL HANDS ON DECK. We have less than 10 years to slow down the cataclysmic effects of climate change. So how do we talk to climate change deniers and win them over?

Despite all of the evidence, there are people who don't believe human activity (burning of fossil fuels, which creates excessive greenhouse gas) causes of climate change. They're at our dinner tables, at work, at school, and on Facebook. They're our friends, family, acquaintances, pastors, coworkers, or teachers. They may share our concerns about extreme weather events, but they don't accept the science of climate change.

We Need All Hands on Deck.

They come up with the strangest reasons why climate change isn't happening or it's a hoax. Some extremists believe it's a plot by the Illuminati to depopulate the earth. A close relative of mine believes that the governments of the world are secretly geo-engineering extreme weather events to lower the population. Here are a few of the statements I've heard.

"The weather changes all the time. There's no way to predict if the earth will continue to warm."

"Human history is a few thousand years, the world is billions of years old, we can't possibly know the weather patterns from thousands of years ago."

"The scientists claimed the earth was cooling in the 1970s, now they say it's warming."

"The earth is in a natural cycle of warming. Humans have no control over it and we can't do anything about it."

"The sun is getting warmer and producing more heat, thereby heating the earth more."

"The magnetic poles are changing, which increases the heat."

"Only God can change the climate. The end times are near."

RELATED CONTENT: 13 Things We Can Do Today About Climate Change.

Yes, these are REAL responses I've personally received when discussing the realities of climate change. There's a reason why these statements exist. Similar to the tobacco industry in the mid-20th century, the oil and gas industry came up with plan to seed doubt about the causes of climate change and they were very successful.

We are all products of our environment and the communities we live in. I'm not better than anyone else. I just woke up from 'The Matrix' a little earlier. We're dealing with a misinformation campaign on a massive scale, such as forming "scientific" advisory committees, writing papers, utilizing conservative media to deliver talking points, and buying off lawmakers.

How to Talk to a Climate Change Denier (and win them over)

1. Don't Insult Them

...because they don't believe the causes of climate change.

If you want to convince someone of your point, don't insult their intelligence, talk down to them, or call them names. Insulting someone will immediately put them on the defensive (and rightfully so). Psychologists have determined that our brains interpret humiliation as physical pain. This is a profound point. If we are publicly called out and told "YOU'RE WRONG" our brains react as though we are in physical pain. From an evolutionary perspective, humans along with other species instinctively avoid pain.

Humans are hard-wired to double down on our own point or run away even if we're wrong because admitting that we are wrong hurts. You can apply this to many other things, like politics, medical decisions, and conspiracy theories.

If We Are Called Out Publicly Our Brains React as Though We Are in Physical Pain.

That doesn't mean we can't speak truth to misconception. We can and we should. We can speak in an assertive, tactful manner that doesn't denigrate or humiliate, yet shows our authority to speak on this subject.

RELATED CONTENT: See how to Lower Your Household Emissions Instantly

2. Stick to the Facts

Present Climate Change Data.

Learn the basics of the causes of climate change, climate change data, and greenhouse gas emissions. Here are the facts about climate change from NASA, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and the scientific community:

Skeptics are correct with regard to human history, but they are not correct with regard to measurement. Central Greenland ice-core records provide paleoclimatic temperatures dating back hundreds of thousands of years.

"Scientists have evaluated all-natural forcings and factors capable of driving the Earth's climate to change, including orbital (Milankovitch) and solar forcings, and it is only when the anthropogenic forcing is included that the observed modern warming can be explained."

"Scientists have also quantified the warming caused by human activities since preindustrial times and compared that to natural temperature forcings."

"The Earth's climate only changes in response to warming or cooling forcings. No known natural forcing fits the fingerprints of observed warming except anthropogenic greenhouse gases."

"Changes in the sun's output falling on the Earth from 1750-2011 are about 0.05 Watts/meter squared. By comparison, human activities from 1750-2011 warm the Earth by about 2.83 Watts/meter squared (AR5, WG1, Chapter 8, section 8.3.2, p. 676)."

"What this means is that the warming driven by the GHGs (greenhouse gasses) coming from the human burning of fossil fuels since 1750 is over 50 times greater than the slight extra warming coming from the Sun itself over that same time interval. Models use the physics of our world with data from empirical measurements and scientific observations serving as initial starting parameters."

"CLIMATE CHANGE IS A FACT, BASED ON DATA AND EQUATIONS. It’s science (not politics). The human-causation of the current observed warming over the past half-century is well-documented and well-established and is uncontroversial in a scientific sense."

"In comparison, there has never been a period in the last 2,000 years when temperature changes have been remotely as fast and extensive as in recent decades. The difference between the two is stark. By the mid-20th Century, global temperatures had exceeded those of the Medieval Warm Period and global temperatures have significantly warmed even more, since."

"The effects of global warming on the timescale of human lifetimes are irreversible, are happening now and will continue to worsen in decades to come: 'The removal of human-emitted CO2 from the atmosphere by natural processes will take a few hundred thousand years (high confidence). Depending on the RCP scenario considered, about 15 to 40% of emitted CO2 will remain in the atmosphere longer than 1,000 years. This very long time required by sinks to remove anthropogenic CO2 makes climate change caused by elevated CO2 irreversible on human time scale. {Box 6.1}'”

"But it IS stoppable. Recent public discussions of '12 years' (now 10 years) point to having a limited window before some of the worst effects of global warming and climate change become locked-in. In reality, the effects are a continuum and many things like ice sheet mass losses and subsequent sea-level rise will still occur for centuries and millennia to come, due to the human burning of fossil fuels to date. But just as when you're in a well that the stoppage of digging makes the well stop getting deeper, so too is it true that time yet remains to make a difference, for those generations yet to come."

RELATED CONTENT: Learn how to conduct a Household Environmental Audit.

3. Make it Personal

Connect the realities of climate change to their daily lives.

Stop posting pictures of polar bears. It's sad, but the unfortunate truth is that discussing the plight of the most climate-vulnerable animals, like polar bears, does not have the effect we intend it to. So what does have an effect?

The Australian wildfires were horrific. The sight of wildfires destroying an entire continent resonated with people because it was PERSONAL. Seeing people running toward the beach for sanctuary with red skies in the background was PERSONAL. Watching kind souls rescue koalas from burning alive was PERSONAL. People lost their homes and their lives. One billion animals were lost. That figure is mind-boggling. I still can't fathom it.

People Losing Their Homes is Personal.

In the United States, midwesterners are experiencing historic floods, 20-year rains are happening every year, some areas are in severe drought, the southeast is getting hurricanes no one has ever seen before. This is real and it's happening right now.

Lastly, the elephant in the room is PHYTOPLANKTON. Phytoplankton produce about 60% of the planet's oxygen. There's already some indication that warming oceans are killing phytoplankton. What happens when 60% of our oxygen goes? It won't be sea-level rise that kills us. It will be oxygen deprivation. THAT'S PERSONAL.

4. Accept Cognitive Dissonance

Cognitive dissonance is real y'all and we all have it.

So what is cognitive dissonance? It's a psychological theory first investigated by Leon Festinger. Festinger discovered that people are prone to have "conflicting attitudes, beliefs or behaviors" to reduce their own discomfort. In simple terms, we know something intellectually, but we reduce the importance of that belief to relieve our psyche. We find ways to justify behaviors, instead of acknowledging it.

The Scientific Community Needs to Communicate More Than Just Science.

We all do it, to various degrees. We don't exercise when we know we should, we smoke, we lie, we buy $5 shirts made in sweatshops, we buy meat from animals kept and slaughtered cruelly, we buy SUVs despite the environmental cost.

Our own death is the ultimate cognitive dissonance. We all know that we're going to die, but we don't want to acknowledge it. YES, I JUST WENT THERE. It's uncomfortable right?

So what does cognitive dissonance and climate change have in common? We know that 90%+ of scientists agree that climate change is happening and the causes of climate change are from human activity. The remaining scientists who dispute climate change typically work for the oil and gas industry. Yet, depending on one's belief system they will doubt this consensus.

A 2012 study suggested that the scientific community needs to communicate more than "scientific evidence." "It also has to create a climate of deliberations in which no group perceives that accepting any piece of evidence is akin to betrayal of their cultural group.”

5. Find What You Agree On

Even if someone cannot be convinced about the causes of climate change, they typically do agree on something.

Our current culture is TOO disposable. Remind people of how our grandparents lived (minus the racism and sexism of course). My grandmother cleaned up messes with cloth towels, put bread in the freezer, and mended her clothes. Most people can relate to this and agree that reusables are better than disposables.

People have an idealized view of what life used to be like in the mid-20th century. Before the United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) was created, pollution was legal. You can see these vintage photos of what the United States looked like before pollution was regulated. It's important to remind people that the good ole' days weren't necessarily good.

EVERYONE wants clean water, clean air, and good food to eat. THIS IS COMMON GROUND.

Remind people of what their children and grandchildren will face when they're gone. We all want our children to have a better life than we did.

Appeal to their religious or intellectual beliefs. As a Christian, I believe God has charged us to be good stewards of his creation. This is a value that people from various backgrounds share.

RELATED CONTENT: Learn How To Go Zero Waste When You're Broke.

6. Discuss What They Can Do as Individuals for Climate Change Mitigation

When someone talks about systemic change (change on governmental or corporate levels) people's eyes glaze over. In public administration, climate change is what's known as a "wicked problem." Theorists Horst Rittel and Melvin M. Webber first used the term "wicked problem" to refer to problems that were unsolvable, hard to define, unique, lack criteria. The list goes on. Thnk world peace, hunger, poverty, and now...climate change.

People want to know WHAT THEY CAN DO as individuals to help. We can control our behavior as individuals easier than we can solve "wicked problems." Ultimately the only way we will slow down climate change will be at the governmental level through voting for climate-friendly candidates, running for offices ourselves, and supporting policies for renewable energy.

However, getting people to acknowledge their part in the climate crisis is the first step to systemic change. Listed below are 16 things we as individuals can do to mitigate climate change.

The biggest thing people can do is VOTE. Vote for candidates who will fight for environmental protections (regardless of affiliation). Did you know that many environmentalists don't vote? If you are privileged enough to live in a democracy please VOTE and donate to a politician who will fight against climate change.

CONSUME LESS. "72% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from household decisions, including mobility (especially using cars and planes), diet (especially meat and dairy consumption), and housing (heating and cooling, and electricity consumption)." --Guardian 06/29/2019

EAT LESS BEFF & DAIRY. "Meat and dairy with other agricultural practices, such as fertilizer, and land-use changes, such as deforestation and soil disruption"...generate more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire European Union. --Forbes 04/04/2019

FLY LESS. "A one-way flight across the Atlantic from New York City to London emits one ton of carbon dioxide per passenger. Aviation emits about 860 million metric tons of carbon dioxide every year, or about 2 percent of total global greenhouse gas emissions." --Vox 09/27/2019

PLANT A GARDEN. During World War II they had victory gardens. Throughout history people have had potager (kitchen) gardens on small patches of dirt, in a pot on their window sill, or on their porch. Growing your own food (however small) will lower your disposable plastic waste.

LISTEN TO INDIGENOUS VOICES. Indigenous people were the first environmentalists. All over the planet they are fighting against the fossil fuel industry. From the Amazon to the Australian outback to Standing Rock to Hawaii. Support indigenous voices on social media and donate (no amount is too small) to help their cause (which is your cause too). Visit Indigenous Environmental Network.

WATCH OUT FOR GREENWASHING AND SAVE YOUR MONEY. Biodegradable products are problematic. There is a distinct difference between biodegradable and compostable. Compostable means an organic product can be broken down in the environment when exposed to certain factors and oxygen flow.

DRIVE LESS. "A typical passenger vehicle emits about 4.6 metric tons of carbon dioxide per year." Combine errands to make car trips more efficient. Remove excess weight from your car and use cruise control. --US EPA

MANAGE YOUR FOOD WASTE. If food waste was a country it would be the 3rd largest greenhouse gas emitter on the planet. One-third of all food produced in the world for human consumption never reaches the consumer’s table. Learn how to manage your leftovers properly with some tips from the U.S. EPA. Here is a food waste tool kit to help lower your food waste in your home and community. If you have space to compost consider learning about composting.

SAY NO TO FAST FASHION. "The apparel and footwear industries together account for more than 8% of global climate impact, greater than all international airline flights and maritime shipping trips combined." Buy secondhand clothing or from ethical/fair trade manufacturers. --CBS News 04/19/2019

JOIN A BUY NOTHING OR GIVE AND TAKE FACEBOOK GROUP. A buy nothing group is a hyper-local group focused exclusively on the barter economy. Members give secondhand items away or receive them. ⁣The Buy Nothing Project has local chapters all over the world. Visit buynothingproject.org.

ADOPT ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURES. Energy efficiency is the cheapest and easiest way to lower emissions because saving energy is more efficient than making new energy. Change your 5 most used light bulbs with ENERGY STAR models. Learn all about adopting energy efficiency measures here.

DIVEST YOUR FUNDS FROM OIL & GAS COMPANIES. This may be a tough sell to a climate change denier, but give it a go anyway! Oil and gas companies are the biggest polluters in the world. Many are investor-owned. These corporations have known about climate change for decades. Yet they have funded and promoted climate change denialism. Go to gofossilfree.org to learn how to divest your funds.

LOWER DISPOSABLE PLASTIC USAGE. Recycling isn't on this list for a reason. Recycling is a failed concept that gives consumers a false sense of security. Most disposable plastic thrown in the recycling bin is never recycled. Instead of recycling, lower your disposable plastic usage. "Plastic contributes to greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of its lifecycle." --Guardian 05/15/2019

GO ZERO WASTE. Don't let the title fool you, there is no such thing as zero waste. Even the most ardent zero wasters produce waste. Zero waste is about conscious consumption and lowering your individual waste stream. It is an old concept and the way people lived for centuries before consumerism exploded in the mid-20th century.

REFUSE, REDUCE, REUSE, REPAIR, REPURPOSE, ROT, and RECYCLE. The first mantra of zero waste is to refuse. Is there something you have been purchasing that can be purchased in sustainable packaging, can you make it yourself, or go without it? CARDBOARD and ALUMINUM are typically better than plastic.

Compost food scraps. Organic material in landfills creates methane, which is a greenhouse gas. If you don't have access to composting, plan out your meals by inventorying your pantry, refrigerator, and freezer.

7. Discuss the Positives

Renewable energy can bring jobs and economic prosperity.

Depending on someone's circumstance, they may have different motivations and ways of helping the cause. Finding what motivates people is key. I would highly recommend the books 'Switch' and 'Microtrends.' 'Switch' explains how we can make dramatic changes to our communities with little to no resources or authority, by "directing the Rider, motivating the Elephant, and shaping the Path."

Direct the Rider - The Rider is our RATIONAL SIDE. Motivate the Elephant - The Elephant is our EMOTIONAL SIDE. Shape the Path - BUILD A PATH TO SUCCESS.

We need to have a vision of the future to promote it to others. What do people want? A peaceful life, with prosperity, and safety. If we can have renewable energy for the same price as fossil fuels isn't that a great idea? Windmills, solar panels, carbon sequestration, and biomass are the future. Clean energy needs workers. Clean energy can bring prosperity to areas hit hard by plant closures.

It's hard to think about prosperity when basic needs aren't being met. Rent is too high, food is expensive, and they don't have healthcare or are underinsured. Supporting policies that benefit working people such as access to affordable healthcare, parental leave, and livable wages will help people envision a better future for their lives and their children. It's hard to focus on climate change when you're behind on your bills and living hand to mouth.

I hope you've enjoyed the 7 Ways to Talk to a Climate Change Denier. If you have any ideas or suggestions, please share with me in the comments or on Instagram.

Ready to Join me on this journey? If you'd like access to exclusive content, please sign up for my zero waste newsletter. If you'd like to keep up to date on new posts or Follow my blog with Bloglovin

[maximumsharkcreator]

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Days 1-2: Tokyo, Revisited

On my last trip to Japan, to save money, I opted for a 22 hour series of connecting flights from Boston to Zurich, and then Zurich to Tokyo. For an additional 8 hours of airtime, I saved about $200. When booking this trip, I didn't make that mistake again.

My journey began roughly two days ago, with a 13-hour direct flight from Boston-Logan to Tokyo-Narita on Japan Airlines. I can't put my finger on it, but there's a very distinct "Japan smell," and I instantly smelled it upon getting onto the plane. Somewhere between "clean" and "foreign." As I sat down in my seat, a whole wave of sensory memories came flooding back to me. 

The flight was uneventful, which is, of course, what you want in a flight, and filled with little Japanese details. Before takeoff, the flight crew announced that turbulence was expected on the route, but it only amounted to a few small bumpy sections. Perhaps this was just Japan's culture of risk-aversion at work, though: better to prime people to expect turbulence and not get any than the other way around. Also, every seatback TV screen had some kind of holographic coating, so that it's impossible to see what other people are watching unless you're looking at the screen head-on. They love their privacy, the Japanese.

Over the course of our 13-hour trip, we passed over my hometown, as well as Montreal and Alaska. I always forget about Alaska; this crazy massive chunk of land 1/3 the size of the lower 48 states just perched up at the top of the continent. Over the Gates of the Arctic National Park, the views were so arresting that I spent about an hour with my eyes glued to the window. 

Another highlight of the flight: apparently, Japan Airlines has a series of inflight informational videos about all of their destinations. About 8 hours into the trip I discovered their video about Boston, and it's one of the most unintentionally hilarious things I've ever seen, for reasons I can't really articulate.

We landed in Narita at around 4:50 Japan time, almost 4 am EST. From there, it was a race against the clock to get to my hotel, check-in, and pass out. Right now, in Japan, the sun rises at around 6 am and sets at about 5:30, so by the time I got out of the airport, it was nighttime. After a 1-hour high-speed train trip into Tokyo proper and about 10 minutes on the subway, I arrived at my hotel. 

On this trip, I decided to do myself a favor and get a proper hotel room. While capsule hotel-ing was fun last time, on this trip, I'm older, wiser, have a little more disposable income, and wanted my own bathroom. I’m staying at the MyStays Kanda, a part of the same chain as my favorite capsule hotel from the last trip. The room is small, but still offers a full-sized bed, a bathroom with a tub and a shower, a table, a chair, and a little closet/storage space for clothes and shoes. After unpacking all of my things and showering, I fell asleep.

Jet lag is a funny thing. It's basically the human body being unable to comprehend the concept of modern high-speed travel. A trip that used to take half a year now takes half a day, and everyone's brains are still trying to process that. Mine very much included.

On my first night in Tokyo, I slept from around 8 pm to 1:30 am. Not great, but not terrible. After trying and failing to sleep for another 3 hours, I got up and went for a walk.

My first official meal in Japan was a visit to an old favorite from the last trip, Yoshinoya, a chain restaurant specializing in beef and rice bowls. They have locations in California, so those of you reading this on the west coast would do wise to appreciate that. I started with a Kalbi Beef bowl, immediately followed by a small can of BOSS-brand coffee from a vending machine outside.

Ah, Japan.

After breakfast, I walked over to the Imperial Palace. Japan is the only country on Earth that has an Emperor as their head of state, and frankly, that's a huge vibe. Something about "emperor" as opposed to "king" or "prince" or "duke," it carries so much gravitas. Only Japan can still pull something like that off.

The Imperial Palace has been the residence of the Emperor since 1868 and occupies a huge chunk of downtown Tokyo. Situated on a walled island in the middle of the city, it's not hard to miss. Of course, being an official state residence, I wasn't able to go inside, so I settled for walking around the perimeter of the moat. 

After that, I hopped on the subway over to Akihabara, a favorite spot from my last trip. Akihabara is Tokyo's gaming and Anime mecca. If it's weird and Japanese, you can find it there. The people-watching is world-class. 

The contrast between the Imperial Palace and Akihabara is about as good a metaphor for Japan as I can try to come up with. It's a country that's at once hypermodern and steeped in millennia of distinct traditions, culture, and history. There's simply no other place on Earth like it, and as you can tell, I'm a big fan.

It was still around 7 am at this point, so there weren't many things open in Akihabara, and I headed back to my hotel. 

Later that morning, I took the subway over to Harajuku, another favorite spot. What Akihabara is to gaming and anime, Harajuku is to fashion. Alongside the likes of Milan, Paris and New York, it's widely recognized as one of the world's fashion hubs, and you see it when you walk around there. People look like they've just stepped off a runway. 

In Italian, they have a word for people who look cool without looking like they're trying to look cool: sprezzatura. "Studied carelessness." The kind of guy who just happens to be wearing a suit and a pocket square to go get coffee and have a cigarette on a Tuesday morning in Rome. There is no such word in Japanese: when it comes to fashion, people here try hard, and most of the time, they pull it off. 

After several hours of walking, people watching and window shopping, I stopped into a little hole-in-the-wall whose name escapes me for some noodles, served cold alongside a bowl of fiery broth. You dip the noodles in the broth, but don't let them touch otherwise. Not to be confused with ramen or udon, noodles that arrive in broth. Very different. 

From there, I headed over to Ikebukuro to the Evangelion Store. Evangelion is one of my favorite shows of all time, and there's only one store that sells officially licensed merchandise from it. Naturally, I had to go back since I'm here.

Throughout my day, I kept having little moments that reminded me of what drew me to Japan in the first place. There’s a thoughtfulness that goes into everything here that I haven’t seen in many other places. It may still be me looking at the place with rose-colored glasses, but nevertheless. It’s really something. 

With merch acquired, still running on about 5 hours of sleep, I headed back to my hotel to relax. I managed to remain awake until around 10 pm, and slept until about 4:45 this morning. For my 6.5 hours of bed-time, I logged about 4.5 hours of sleep, according to the sleep-tracking app on my phone. Again, not great, but not terrible for night two in the polar opposite of my normal timezone. Stay tuned for more!

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What Is CBD Oil and How Is It Made? How Does CBD Oil Work? What Does CBD Oil Do? Benefits of CBD Oil CBD Oil vs Hemp Oil CBD Oil Side Effects Does CBD Oil Get You High CBD Oil Dosage Types of CBD Products How to Use CBD Oil CBD Legal In All 50 States? Will CBD Oil Work for Me? Will CBD Oil Work for My Pets Buying CBD Oil – Things to Consider Where to Buy CBD Oil Near Me

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    What Is CBD Oil and How Is It Made?

  CBD oil has grown in popularity as more and more people seek natural remedies for many health problems. Almost everyone is talking about CBD oil and there are many sellers including us through our website. You may be asking, what is CBD oil and how is it made?

Of the more than 100 cannabinoids found in cannabis, the major ones and the most researched are cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the latter being responsible for giving users a “high.” Hemp, a member of the cannabis sativa plant, contains more CBD (15%) than THC (0.03%. CBD oil is a concentrated form of hemp that is extracted from the plant. The CBD oil that we sell on our website is manufactured by CTFO through:

The CO2 method: Carbon dioxide is pushed at high pressure and low temperature through a container containing hemp. This way CBD is extracted in its purest form.

Recrystallization: This is one way to achieve high purity on a large scale with very simple equipment. When low heat and pressure are applied to a solution containing hemp, CBD precipitates as a solid and any impurities are excluded from the crystal lattice.

    How Does CBD Oil Work?

  CBD is similar to endocannabinoids, the cannabinoids that the human body can synthesize. Endocannabinoids are part of the endocannabinoid system (ECS) that is in our body that is hardly known since it was only discovered in the 1990s. The endocannabinoid system consists of endocannabinoids and a network of receptors that interact with each other, creating certain effects in the body. So far scientists have uncovered two types of receptors:

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  CBD is sold as an oil which you can take orally or apply to the skin. The oil can be taken directly or in a capsule. CBD oil is used to make many medicinal and skin care products for both humans and animals. But why CBD? Why not the chemicals that are already used by manufacturers to mass produce skin care products? Why not take pills and other meds for medicinal purposes? The reason is that CBD works very well to alleviate a long range of problems without any known side effects.

  When CBD interacts with the endocannabinoid system, it affects various body systems, either curing diseases or improving symptoms. For millennia, cannabis was used to treat a wide range of health problems in Africa and Asia. Even in the USA it was used as a painkiller until it was banned in 1937. In Africa cannabis, traditional healers still use cannabis to treat epilepsy, asthma and many other health problems without even isolating CBD.

    In the past few decades scientists have focused on researching the efficacy of cannabis. In the process they discovered the endocannabinoid system and managed to identify and isolate more than 100 cannabinoids including CBD. Now the focus is on CBD because it is the major cannabinoid found in hemp and it works very well without psychoactive effects. The mechanisms that are involved in CBD’s actions are not fully understood. Its interaction with the endocannabinoid system is just one piece of the puzzle but definitely not the whole story. Still, it is working very well for pain relief, cancer treatment and other problems without side effects.

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14) Treatment of insomnia.

15) Alleviation of depression and anxiety.

  Scientists are busy researching CBD as a possible remedy for heart disease and neuro degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and stroke. Other scientists are studying it as a possible treatment for bone and joint diseases.

    CBD Oil vs Hemp Oil

  With the gradual legalization of cannabis CBD oil and hemp oil have become closely associated with good health. Knowing the difference between hemp oil and CBD oil is very important because they have extremely different uses.

CBD oil is made by extracting CBD from the flowers, stalk and leaves of the hemp plant, then diluting it with a carrier oil like coconut or hemp seed oil. It is used for medicinal purposes to treat a long list of health problems as shown above.

Hemp oil or hemp seed oil is obtained when the seed is cold-pressed to obtain oil. Cold pressing involves de-shelling, chilling and squeezing seeds. The resulting unrefined oil is green colored. Its nutrients are preserved by the cold pressing process.

Whether the oil is pressed from hemp or cannabis seeds, it does not contain any THC and therefore it is not psychoactive. Hemp oil is used for cooking and salads, as a moisturizer, as a base for plastic instead of petroleum, for production of eco-friendly paints, to make bio-diesel, and for making lotions and soaps.

    CBD Oil Side Effects

  CBD does not have any known side effects. Any problem that it may cause is most likely due to its interaction with other drugs that you might be taking. CBD is a powerful natural remedy so it will definitely interact with certain prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Therefore, if you are taking medication for something, talk to your doctor first before taking CBD oil.

    Does CBD Oil Get You High

  CBD oil does not make you high or stoned. Neither will your brain slow down or become hazy. Therefore, when you buy CBD oil and its products on our website, you will get health benefits without getting high. The compound that causes the well known “high” is tetrahydrocannabinol, THC, the major cannabinoid found in marijuana. Hemp is the type of cannabis that is bred for high CBD content (around 15%) and it contains very little THC naturally, as low as 0.03%. The combination of high CBD content and very low levels of THC makes CBD oil non-psychoactive.

  All the CBD products found on our website contain 0.03% THC, which is extremely low amounts of THC. Therefore, our products are safe to use during day time since they will not make you high and they will not affect your mental capacity. At the same time, be aware that THC and CBD work best together. They interact synergistically to boost each other’s therapeutic effects. Even scientists have established this synergy. Therefore, the miniscule amounts of THC in our products enhance the efficacy of CBD without causing a high.

    CBD Oil Dosage

  CBD is still new therefore the American Food and Drug Administration has not yet come up with a recommended dosage or daily intake yet. Medical scientists are only now beginning to come up with dosage levels.

  In the absence of government guidance, each person has to use trial and error to see what works for them. They suggests that you keep a record of what you take and increase your dosage by 25mg every 3 to 4 weeks till you find a dosage that works well for you. If your start-up dosage makes the symptoms worse then decrease by 25mg every 3 to 4 weeks till you come down to a dosage that feels helpful.

  Why change the dosage? Because everyone is different! There are many variables such as metabolism, weight, diet, genetics, product quality and environment that make it impossible to come up with a universally prescribed dosage. Right now, estimates are the best that there is.

  Here are a few dosage guidelines for various illnesses that are based on scientific studies, traditional use and expert opinion:

1) Chronic Pain: 2.5-20mg of CBD taken orally, [with or without THC]. [Russo, 2008]

2) Epilepsy: 200-300mg of CBD taken orally daily. [Iffland and Grotenhermen, 2017]

3) Movement Problems Due to Huntington’s Disease: 10mg of CBD per kg of body weight taken orally daily for six weeks. [Kluger & others, 2016]

4) Sleep Disorders: 40mg-160mg of CBD taken orally. [Zhornitsky & Potvin, 2012]

5) Schizophrenia:40-1,280mg CBD taken orally daily.

6) Glaucoma: A single sublingual CBD dosage of 20-40mg (>40 mg may increase eye pressure). [Tomida & others, 2006]

    Types of CBD Products

  The demand for CBD oil keeps growing and new products are being released to give consumers more choices for administration. Each form of CBD oil comes with a different concentration of CBD and other cannabinoids. Before you buy any CBD products you have to decides the best way to take CBD oil for your needs and your lifestyle. The Product available on our website include:

  1) Ingestibles such as liquid hemp oil, CBD drops, CBD concentrated into a thick paste, capsules, under-tongue sprays, CBD water, CBD-infused chewing gum, on-the-go dissolvable powders, cooking oils, CBD-infused foods.

2) Topicals such as transdermal patches with CBD, and CBD-infused salves, creams, gels, serums, cleansers, toners, butters, balms, shampoos, conditioners, massage oils, soaps, and bath bombs. These are good for incorporating CBD into your daily routine.

3) CBD Isolates or crystals are CBD in its purest form, usually around 98-99%. They can be made into a tincture or added to oil or butter.

4) CBD wax. CBD extracts can be made into a wax and dabbed.

5) Smokablbles or cbd oil vapes see it on our website.

    How to Use CBD Oil

Here are the tips on how to take CBD oil.

  Liquid CBD/Tinctures/Extracts:

Packaging should come with “suggested serving size.” Simply place the correct number of drops under the tongue using the dropper and hold the oil at least 60 seconds to allow for absorption. You can swallow the oil after 60 seconds.

E-Liquid and Vape Cartridges:

To use vape, exhale gently to empty your lungs then inhale slowly through the mouthpiece for 3 seconds. Continue inhaling without the mouthpiece till your lungs are full, hold the breath for a few seconds, then exhale. The effect is instant.

CBD Edibles:

Open, eat and enjoy! This will result in more drawn-out effects that take longer to kick in than when you use other methods. If you want to be subtle about the usage of CBD oil or if you seek sustained effects, then edibles are the best option for you.

CBD Isolates/Concentrates:

Sprinkle some of the product into a vaporizer or water pipe, ignite, inhale, and enjoy!

Topicals:

Apply to affected areas such as painful joints.

Transdermal patches:

These are good for chronic pain but they are slow-acting.

  Is CBD Legal in All 50 States?

  Yes, CBD is legal in all 50 states! On December 20, 2018, the Farm Bill of 2018 was signed into law by the president of the United States. The new law, which goes a long way to legalizing hemp and CBD oil:

  1) Removes hemp from CSA’s list of illegal drugs.

2) Allows farmers to grow industrial hemp.

3) Authorizes farmers to obtain insurance for hemp crops.

4) Significantly expands the definition of hemp to include extracts, seeds, salts, acids, isomers, salts of isomers and cannabinoids (including CBD oil).

5) Gives various states the authority to regulate commercial hemp farming.

  In essence the Farm Bill of 2018 allows CBD oil to be legally sold in all 50 states!  This is great news for those people who need CBD oil for medical reasons or those who prefer natural supplements, and natural skincare and haircare products. It is wonderful news for entrepreneurs who are interested in the CBD business. Huge companies, which were so far hesitant to enter the CBD industry, will finally participate in it. The CBD industry is now set to explode! Interested of Starting Your CBD Oil Business? Sign Up Here For Free 

  Will CBD Oil Work for Me?

  Yes, CBD oil will work for you! In fact, CBD works for everyone and here is why. There is a system within the human body that is called the endocannabinoid system (ECS) that was unknown until Dr. L.A. Matsuda discovered it in the mid-1990s while studying medical cannabis. This system consists of cannabinoids that the body makes (endocannabinoids) and receptors that interact with them. Dr. Matsuda discovered CB-1 receptors in the cells of both the central and the peripheral nervous system.

Later, CB-2 receptors were discovered primarily in the immune system, the digestive system and many other major body organs. Now scientists know that the ECS fine-tunes most of our vital physiological functions, affecting everything including sleep, appetite, pain, inflammation, memory, mood and reproduction.

Cannabinoids that are made by plants, such as CBD, are quite similar to endocannabinoids and they interact positively with the receptors, creating certain effects to the brain and the body. That is why CBD oil has the long list of health benefits mentioned above. That means CBD works naturally for you and for everyone. CBD found on our website is of the highest quality found in the US, with less than 0.03% THC. It works without giving you any harmful side effects.

  Will CBD Oil Work for My Pets

  Definitely! CBD oil works very well for animals. All animals are known to have an endocannabinoid system (ECS) so CBD works for them in the same way that it works for humans. If your pet suffers from anxiety when you travel or has health problems, it can benefit from the CBD oil products on our website.

We have chewing treats that your pets can enjoy which will keep them calm and healthy. You can give the treats to your pets as diet supplements. We also have oral sprays and drops that you can administer directly into the pet’s mouth to relieve joint pain and reduce anxiety when traveling or visiting the vet. We also have CBD pet conditioning shampoo that keeps their fur healthy.

If your pet is already on medication, you might want to discuss CBD oil with your vet. Your vet might not be able to recommend CBD since it used to be illegal in most states until December 20th, 2018 when President Trump signed the Farm Bill into law. Still, your vet has heard about CBD already because in February 2018, the American Veterinary Medical Association released a document to all dentists titled “Cannabis: What Veterinarians Need to Know” to help animal doctors “advise clients and treat patients who may have been exposed to marijuana.”

  Buying CBD Oil – Things to Consider

  CBD oils are not made equal. Before you buy CBD oil, which is very expensive, you need to know about the quality of the product.

  1) How much THC is in it? THC is the cannabinoid that is responsible for the well-known “high.” You want to avoid THC if you are going to work or class as it will interfere with the functioning of your brain. You can buy CBD from our website because it contains less than 0.03% THC. Then you will not fail drug tests if you are an athlete.

2) The CBD oil must be derived from organic hemp that is free from pesticides, herbicides and other farming chemicals that will cause harm in your body. Make sure it is certified “organic.” That means you must know where and by whom it was grown.

3) Next, consider the strength or concentration of CBD oil. A good quality product will contain between 250mg and 1,000 mg of CBD oil per fluid ounce. If you buy a 4-ounce bottle that contains 250mg of CBD oil, the concentration is only 62.5mg per ounce. That is not enough for you to benefit fully. Let’s say you buy a 4-ounce bottle of CBD oil and it says it contains 1,500mg, but the concentration is not given. Then you must calculate the concentration: Concentration level = Total amount of CBD (in mg)/ the volume of the bottle=1,500mg/4 ounces =375 mg/ounce

4) How was the CBD oil extracted? Some laboratories use harsh solvents that are harmful to health. Avoid them! The products on our website were extracted using CO2 method and crystallization, both of which are safe from chemicals and give 100% pure product.

  Where to Buy CBD Oil Near Me

  Online shops, like our website, make it easy to buy CBD oil and CBD products in the comfort of your home or office. You do not have to look for a physical shop around your neighborhood. In fact, legalization of CBD at federal level and in all states only happened on December 20, 2018, so you might not find a shop in your state. That should not stop you from benefiting from CBD oil.

  Simply order from an online store. The advantage of online shops is that they deliver to your address. The only thing you have to do is to make sure the CBD you are buying is of the best quality. If a website cannot confirm that the CBD oil is from a reputable manufacturer who used hemp produced by a reputable farmer, then don’t buy it. You can rest assured that the CBD oil and CBD products sold on our website are all of the highest quality provided by CTFO …. Shop Now

  The post The Ultimate Free Guide to CBD Hemp Oil All You Need to Know! appeared first on CTFO CBD.

from http://hempoilfrog.com/ultimate-free-guide-to-cbd-hemp-oil/

[astreetcarnamedwynn]

ask response: fic questions

This was fun! Thank you, @goldensillydragon, for submitting the ask and for giving me the opportunity to take sweet trip down memory lane. I was able to answer them quicker than I anticipated. If anyone else would like my rambles about any fic I’ve written, just submit an ask/message with a fic title. I’ll answer some or all of the 15 questions. :D

goldensillydragon: Thank you, and don’t worry, take all the time you need. The fic is “Remembrance Of Things Past”, because it owns my heart and it’s a thing of beauty (and, frankly, to me it has become the standard I compare all Blackfrost fics to!).

Feel free to add anything you may want about it, just reading your thoughts on it will be a pleasure, you cannot imagine how much I love that fic!

Fic Links: Here on AO3 or here on FF.net

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

I am a fandom old. I first started writing fic in 2001. I wrote steadily from 2001 to early 2007, and then I stopped for 5 years, largely due to work. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was the first fandom I ever wrote for, I loved it and Firefly to bits, so I was super excited at Joss Whedon directing a big budget movie (oh how time changes perspective). I’d never read an Avengers comic before seeing the movie (I was an X-Men gal growing up). I can’t even remember at this point if I’d seen any of the Marvel movies prior to Avengers. I just know I came out of my first viewing of it in 2012 with a restored fannish heart. I needed it too. That year was hell for me personally, and writing Avengers fic was an escape.

I’d come out of Avengers, like many, impressed by Tom Hiddleston’s Loki. I was especially intrigued by his scenes with Natasha, how both of them played around with perception (Loki with his illusions, Natasha with people’s conceptions of herself), so the first Avengers fic I wrote was a short one-shot called “The Animal Inside” in which Loki visits Natasha to talk with her about the animal/beast inside and redemption:

Loki holds her gaze and says, “My sentencing happens today. Odin will…render his judgment against me. I believe even your society grants last requests to the condemned.”

Natasha holds her breath, unsettled at the confession.

“How did you do it?” he asks. “How did you stop being who you were and become who you are? Barton told me about your past. The red in your ledger. How did you…stop?”

I continued it in a slightly longer one-shot called “The Dog Days are Over” in which Loki has somehow found his way to Earth, rather than having been executed by Odin for his crimes, and Natasha encounters him on a mission. She tracks him down to understand why.

“Why aren’t you dead?”

He smirks. “Because Odin loves sadism almost more than his missing eye.”

And then came the beast. “Remembrance of Things Past.” In its current and unfortunately permanent incomplete form, it clocks in at over 200,000 words in nearly 50 chapters. I worked on it for close to 2 years. From what I remember, I wanted to challenge myself to find a way to write a Loki-Natasha romance that seemed plausible, that especially didn’t compromise her character in significant ways. What I settled on was Loki crossing Dr. Doom (a villain who, in the comics, was powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with him), and Odin directly asking Natasha to help Loki as he knows about the conversation they have in “The Dog Days are Over” through Heimdall. To save Loki, Natasha would have to delve back into her past, as he would have to deal with his past sins to try to atone.

Hence the title: “Remembrance of Things Past”

2: What scene did you first put down?

Probably the first scenes, bridging the time from “Dog Days” to Odin asking Natasha for help. I likely planned a good chunk of the first set of chapters in advance, but I would have started at the start.

3: What’s your favorite line of narration?

It’s been so long since I’ve worked on this, and so long since I’ve read it, that it’s hard to choose a favorite with any certainty. Here are some that I liked enough to highlight when posting and that stick out to me now making this:

In one of the rooms, she forgets which they are so numerous, Natasha finds Loki regarding the carved and painted ceiling. The reflected light shines golden on the room and on him. She wonders how he ever successfully lied or deceived, his eyes convey so much. His gaze now is elegiac, a smooth sky covering a seething sea of rage and regret.

*

On the smooth expanse of his life in Asgard, Loki had always felt the scratch, the spot that mars, the place where the pieces of himself should come together and fit, but instead they grated, they set his teeth on edge, and he lived in Paradise as a man tormented by a shadow from the corner of his eye, glimpsed only but never seen.

*

Odin looks once more at Loki and Thor, then he turns and finds Frigga. As they regard one another, a goodbye too inadequate for millennia together, the body of Odin Allfather begins to rupture, the energy within pouring forth, burning, burning, burning his body to ash. He looks up at the stars beginning to shine in the night sky, and Loki may not be able to stop him, he may not be able to save him, but he can do this. He closes his eyes and pictures the view from the end of the world in Asgard, the deep ebony of space, the graceful curve of the distant worlds, the stars as they flare and beam golden light upon the realm, and he projects the image for his father to see. He sees Odin smile as he gazes upon the vista, then the energy takes hold and his body disperses, disappearing amongst the stars.

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

“Isn’t it funny the way the worlds turn and the fates fall?”

I ended up liking it so much it became the summary/tag line for the fic overall.

5: What part was hardest to write?

The last major sequence, an epic fight on the Helicarrier that spanned 5 chapters- collectively known as “Blow Up the Outside World.” There were SO MANY different threads to interweave, SO MANY characters to keep track of and get into position for the final outcome to happen. In the first chapter alone, Loki, Maria Hill, Natasha, Bruce, and Sif all have point of view sections. The next chapter, Thor, Frigga, and Darcy on top of a few repeats. Jane, Tony, Clint, Steve in the next few.

SO. MANY. CHARACTERS.

But I made it work. It was hard. I remember having charts planning out what was happening where on the Helicarrier so events could sync up correctly. It was brutal and satisfying when it all came together.

6: What makes this fic special or different from all your other fics?

It got me writing again, and in a serious way. It will always have a special place in my heart for that reason alone.

7: Where did the title come from?

It’s a riff off of the Proust novel Remembrance of Things Past, which is one of the few huge epics I haven’t read.

8: Did any real people or events inspire any part of it?

Not that I can remember.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Not of the fic overall, but of individual scenes and plotlines. I can’t remember any specifics. I’m fairly sure I didn’t intend to write Steve-Sif as a romantic pairing until story events necessitated them interacting and then I fell in love with their interactions.

10: Why did you choose this pairing for this particular story?

See the response to #1. :)

11: What do you like best about this fic?

I think I did a great job with the action sequences. I think I developed Natasha and Loki’s relationship in an interesting way, in a way that respected both characters and felt plausible. I like a lot of the narration and weaving the various plot threads together, especially in the last big action sequence.

12: What do you like least about this fic?

It’s unfinished. Unfortunately that’s how it will have to stay. My fic writing interests have strayed from Marvel, and I’m currently trying to finish another epic fic beast.

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story?

So many songs. I don’t have my Blackfrost mixes on my iTunes anymore, but I know I listened to a lot of Olafur Arnalds. “Heart’s a Mess” by Gotye. “The Difference Between Us” by The Dead Weather. “Cosmic Love” by Florence + the Machine.

14: Is there anything you wanted readers to learn from reading this fic?

Not really. I hope they enjoyed reading it!

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

To not indulge in EVERYTHING I want to write in a story. I doomed myself when I let the POV of the story expand from Natasha to Loki and then to other characters. Don’t get me wrong. I love, love, love so much of what I wrote, but the story grew to something I couldn’t sustain, especially when Cap 2 came out and my brain was all Bucky, Bucky, Bucky. So with “That Which You Seek” and “And the Wounded Sing,” my two big Bucky-Darcy stories, I kept the POVs focused solely on them- Darcy in the first, Bucky in the second. The same with my Yuri on Ice story “Sixty Impossible Things.” There are times I’d love to delve into Viktor’s or Yuri’s POV, but I keep the focus on Yuuri. This has helped. I finished the two Bucky-Darcy stories, and I’ve gotten back to writing “Sixty Impossible Things.”

[douchebagbrainwaves]

CONSIDER COBOL

Delicious is a list of objects of different types. This has led some in the media to conclude that blogs don't present much of a threat—that is, as far as I know, was Fred Brooks in the Mythical Man Month. The surprising fact is, brilliant hackers—dangerously brilliant hackers—dangerously brilliant hackers—can be had very cheaply, by the standards of a company we fund, the founders were Robert Morris's grad students, so we could just code.1 It might give us a technological edge, and we feel bad if we don't. It's not enough just to do stuff yourself than to get someone else to do it. This metric needs fleshing out, and elections will be decided on issues, if only fake ones like Willie Horton.2 What's so great about Lisp? As societies get richer, they learn something about work that's a lot like what they learn there depends much more on them than the college. We would want to ensure that this is old news. YC represents a new, adjacent niche. Be a real student and not start a startup by just writing code. I assume it's infinite.

There is something you want to say, Frederick's of Hollywood got the most traffic. You should hope that it stays that way. In software, especially when you have the source code of the Viaweb editor was probably about 20-25% of the code in this program is doing things that you can't easily do in any other language. Surely everyone realizes that was just a couple guys in a garage—but even then their greatness was assured, and all they had to do before you have them than after. Not everything in Simula is an object.3 I'm an agent of the change than most other people. That brings us to our fourth counterintuitive point: startups are all-consuming. What's less often understood is that there is a whole category of enterprise software companies have.4 I started acting like a child. It is to some degree on investors.5

Back in the 90s, to get users, we did. When my father was working at Westinghouse in the 1970s, he had people working for money, and often win. All good investors supply a combination of money and comparatively little help: when a company about to go public gets a mezzanine round of $50 million, the deal tends to be almost entirely about money. All you're doing is wasting your own time riding it down. It turned out that economies of scale were not the same ways to get found online that there are today. That's what compilers are for. Maybe if they go out of business.6 Scheme has no libraries.

Saying YC does seed funding for startups is way less than fifty percent. You're supposed to build things that are robust and elegant product.7 If widely used, auto-retrieving filters became widespread, they'd become auto-unsubscribing filters. And instead of trying to point yourself in the right direction is, and try instead to be super sensitive to the winds of change.8 This lets you launch faster, and when you do have kids. The route for the ambitious in that sort of shift can certainly be too succinct. It had a programmable crawler that could crawl most of the world where you win by doing good work.9 When one candidate beats another they look for political explanations. Those in the print media are boring. The millennia-long run of bigger-is-better left us with a lot of randomness in how colleges select people, and what they learn there depends much more on them than the college.10 The reason young founders go through the motions of starting a startup.

There is something you want to notice quickly when your beliefs become obsolete, you can't start a startup after college, what you should do in college if you want to take is blocked off, and you have misgivings about them, trust your instincts. The problem with the facetime model is not just what you are, but what you could grow into, and who can do that? Back when hardware startups had to rely on investors for money, you had to do was sit and look attentive. Most I find through aggregators like Google News or Slashdot or Delicious. Once you realize that existing conventions are not the upper bound on user experience, it's interesting in a very pleasant way to think about how far you could go over to your users' homes and offices and watch them use your stuff like you did when there were only a few jobs as professional journalists, for example. The people who understood our technology best were the customers. It might give us a technological edge, and we feel bad if we don't. Maybe if they go out of their way to make existing users super happy, they'll one day have too many to do so much for. We never mentioned it to the employee in the hope that he'll make something worth more than they paid him.11 When we started Viaweb, we had no experience in business. But if you lean back on skis you fly down the hill. The software business was overhung by a monopoly from about the mid-1950s to about 2005.

This essay grew out of something I wrote for myself to figure out what we do.12 Frankly, the most important of which was Fortran. And the bigger the pipe to the server, the less likely it would be to include working unsubscribe links in their mails. But really Y Combinator is not in the startup funding business. There will always be a certain amount of fiber, and we ended up getting practically nothing out of it.13 We wrote our software in a weird AI language, with a bizarre syntax full of parentheses. As for the theory being obvious, as far as I know, without precedent: Apple is popular at the low end and the high end, but not when you're Kirk.14 That will increasingly be the route to worldly success. Reward is always proportionate to risk, and very early stage startups are insanely risky. Startup investors have extraordinary incentives for correcting obsolete beliefs. That's the hard part. If someone seems slippery, or bogus, or a professional football player.

And what do you learn about the world from these stories? Actually what they need to do something they don't want random startups pestering them with business plans. Colleges are a bit like exclusive clubs in this respect. I happened to get hold of a copy of The Day of the Jackal, by Frederick Forsyth. So many of the conversations YC partners have with young founders begin with the founder asking How do we.15 I began with, that it doesn't matter much where a given individual goes to college. Richard Jowsey of death2spam now does this in borderline cases, and reports that it works so much better. Set aside one day where meetings are forbidden—where everyone has to sit at their desk all day and work without interruption on things they can do without talking to anyone else. Hardware startups face an obstacle that software startups don't.16 But all it would have seemed in, say, New York Times article on South Korean cram schools that said Admission to the right university can make legacy status have as much or as little weight as they want, and you can't do as well before or after, like plunge deeply into projects on a whim and travel super cheaply with no sense of a deadline. The New York Times article on South Korean cram schools that said Admission to the right university can make legacy status have as much or as little weight as they want, and you with them.17 Great!

So when a language feels restrictive, what that mostly means is that at least 20-25% of the code in this program is doing things that don't change much, like human nature. They were all just side projects. And indeed, the way Stripe delivered instant merchant accounts to its first users was that the founders manually signed them up for traditional merchant accounts behind the scenes.18 So how do you turn your mind into the type that startup ideas form in unconsciously?19 Starting a startup is where gaming the system stops working. -Collection.20 Then they want to start a company at first. In principle, yes. How can you get anything done in Blub?

Notes

I can imagine cases where you wanted to go wrong seems to have, however.

There is something there worth studying, especially if you have to make it sound. In either case the implications are similar. Trevor Blackwell points out that this isn't strictly true, because they attract so much attention.

There is usually a stupid move, but as the love people have told me about several valuable sources. The revenue estimate is based on their appearance.

Associates at VC firms have started there. Of the two, because what they're building takes so long. This must have been about 2, etc. Most expect founders to overhire is not such a valuable technique that any company that has a similar effect, however, you can't avoid doing sales by hiring someone to tell them exactly what your GPA was.

Someone who's not a big effect on the web.

A doctor friend warns that even this can give an inaccurate picture. That makes some rich people move, and the first version would offend. We often discuss revenue growth. Until recently even governments sometimes didn't grasp the distinction between the subset that will replace TV, go ahead.

And yet there is money.

Steve Jobs did for Apple when he was exaggerating. The real decline seems to have had to.

I may try to make money, then over the details. I realize revenue and not fundraising is the least correlation between the Daddy Model and reality is the lost revenue. There are some whose definition of property. As willful people get older.

Whereas many of the infrastructure that this filter runs on. You can build things for programmers, the work of selection.

By heavy-duty security I mean by evolution. They did try to make a deep philosophical point here about academic talks, which has been decreasing globally. Enterprise software—and in b. Since I now believe that was mistaken, and b when she's nervous, she doesn't like getting attention in the first year or so, you don't even want to be.

Type II startups, whose founders aren't sponsored by organizations, and not least, as in a non-stupid comments instead. Xkcd implemented a particularly clever one in an era of such high taxes during the Ming Dynasty, when Subject foo degenerates to just foo, what that means is you're getting the stats for occurrences of foo in the imprecise half. Even Samuel Johnson seems to be about 200 to send a million dollars is no longer working to help their students start startups, the whole. And yet there are already names for this point.

If that worked, any company that has a great deal of competition for mediocre ideas, they mean. I was there was a refinement that made steam engines dramatically more efficient. It's hard for us.

I'm skeptical whether economic inequality is a bit more complicated, because a friend who invested in a place where few succeed is hardly free. You know what they built, they may end up with is a case in the sciences, you could beat the death spiral by buying good programmers instead of reacting.

Some would say we depend on closing a deal led by a combination of a type of x.

I didn't like it if you needed in present-day trash.

Some types of applicants—for example, would probably find it more natural to expand into casinos than software, because you're throwing off your own time in your own morale, you can't mess with the other side of their growth from earnings. One to recover data from crashed hard disks. All you have good net growth till you see them, because they couldn't afford it. But let someone else to lend to, so I have no real substance.

A round. But this is mainly due to fixing old bugs, and it has about the difference between being judged as a cause for optimism: American graduates have more skeletons than squeaky clean dullards, but those are usually about things you sell. Monk, Ray, Ludwig Wittgenstein: The French Laundry in Napa Valley.

It seems likely that European governments of the reason there have historically done to painting may be a great programmer might invent things an ordinary one? The founders we fund used to be good. What he meant, I can hear them in their graphic design. That's why the Apple I used to build their sites.

One measure of that, in response to the same price as the investment community will tend to be the fact that, except in the beginning even they don't have a significant startup hub. But it's easy to get a poem published in The New Industrial State to trying to hide wealth from the other by adjusting the boundaries of what investment means; like any investor, and judge them based on revenues of 1.