#she may be an ai but she does not deserve to be associated with that!! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

jcmarchi · 2 months

Text

AI Will Transform Traditionally Female Spheres – We Can’t Afford to Ignore Their Voices

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/ai-will-transform-traditionally-female-spheres-we-cant-afford-to-ignore-their-voices/

AI Will Transform Traditionally Female Spheres – We Can’t Afford to Ignore Their Voices

Female business leaders are playing a vital role in AI’s development, safety and social impact. Yet they remain a stark minority in AI fields, representing just 26% of analytics and AI job positions and authoring 14% of AI research papers.

Ironically, we are about to see AI transform many aspects of life that have traditionally been associated with women. From educating our children (the pandemic she-cession was a harsh reminder of women’s outsized role here), to caring for the vulnerable, and managing the household.

AI will soon drastically change how 50% of our population spends their time, and the AI sector should reflect that reality. Yet gender bias can occur at all stages of AI development, from the coding to the training data to user input.

I’ll explore why female involvement in AI development is vital, and the sub sectors that will emerge with this new technological evolution.

Women building for predominantly female sectors

On a recent trip to London, I was inspired by the female founder of AI family assistant Aurora First, which helps manage home and family responsibilities. With much of the discussion around AI deployment focusing on productivity at work, little attention has been given to the ways it can disrupt day-to-day lives of a huge share of women.

What Aurora does struck me as custom-made for the lifestyle and responsibilities of many women. built with the knowledge that can only come from lived experience. Its AI companion slots itself in to help people manage family activities, communications, appointments and more. I believe we’ll soon start seeing the emergence of similar apps that use AI to manage our doctors’ appointments, schedule meetings with teachers, organize our weekly shop, and help us pre-screen, hire and manage nannies.

Women often assume the role of caregivers and workers or entrepreneurs, and simply don’t have the headspace to keep all our ducks in a row. A 2022 study found that women in the US spend 2x as much time in unpaid caregiving tasks compared to men, amounting to four work weeks a year.

If our kids go on vacation, we need to make sure their bag is packed with meds and other supplies. We need to make sure that we’ve bought them first. We need to organize travel logistics. Make sure they have travel insurance. A new wave of multifunctional apps could take some of this off our hands, potentially taking on half the work we need to do as family life organizers.

But this will only work if we have the right people at the helm – people who understand women’s daily responsibilities and can foresee potential risks that may come with these AI solutions.

If a product is designed exclusively by men, it may not account for predominantly female issues. Women represent only 1 in 4 leadership positions in the 20 largest global tech companies – it’s unsurprising, then, that some of the negative repercussions of emerging tech hit women the hardest. If we take the social media industry as an example, Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, and Snapchat were all founded by exclusively male teams – and women are 3x more likely to report online sexual harassment.

Female health may get the attention it deserves

The exclusion of women and minorities from “scientific” research is a tale as old as time. The FDA explicitly excluded women of reproductive age from clinical research trials in 1977 – a policy that was only reversed in 1993.

To this day, even when it comes to ailments that predominantly affect women, research often fails to focus specifically on women and how they react differently to men.

Time has helped reduce this marginalization of women, and now, AI may cause us to take a huge leap forward in our exploration and understanding of female health.

A new study by FemTech Analytics mapped 170 femtech companies leveraging AI in women’s health, pregnancy, longevity and more. It mentions AI tools that help track and predict fertility, detect breast cancer, prevent pregnancy complications, and carry out gynecological imaging.

This emerging sector could not only improve women’s health, it could usher in more testing and scientific research specific to the female population. We need women to even conceptualize such solutions in the first place. That means putting them in a position to do so, with equitable access to financing, research and resources.

Subverted stereotypes

Just because some of the aforementioned fields – like childcare and the home – have historically been female-dominated, it doesn’t mean they need to stay that way. AI could open up the door to a society-wide mindset shift … or, done the wrong way, it could engrain certain stereotypes even deeper.

Take the emergence of personal technologies over the past few decades. At-home virtual assistants like Alexa and Siri have been largely feminized – and subsequently insulted by users – which developers later tried to correct for. Humanoid robots have often been hypersexualized. Just recently, OpenAI’s controversial female chatbot voice Sky was described as flirtatious and intentionally “empathetic and compliant.”

Observers talk about how generative AI doesn’t just reproduce stereotypes, it actually exacerbates and amplifies them. A UNESCO report also warned about how gender stereotypes risk being encoded into and even shaped by AI tech.

Founders must be thinking about the long term impact of their AI product on the world and on the perception of gender roles – not implying that certain roles are only suitable for women, or that women are unsuitable for certain tasks. Women are more likely to be sensitive to this need and, crucially, able to do something about it if they approach the issue from a leadership position rather than one of subordination.

An age old problem

The exclusion of women and other minorities from the tech sector is above all a systemic problem that needs far more attention from academic institutions and legislators.

The tech industry has traditionally self-selected for men. Around the time the internet was taking shape, supposedly “scientific” studies associated male characteristics with the tech persona – a false stereotype that still remains to this day.

Our long-held internal biases not only stop women from being considered for certain jobs or for funding, but they may discourage women from entering the field altogether. Just consider that in 1990 the proportion of females in computer and math professions was 35%, and that had fallen to 26% by 2013.

We can’t allow that to happen with the emerging AI discipline. Each company can take steps to undermine the inequalities that divide us – such as selecting job candidates for neutral or predominantly female characteristics – and ensure broader participation in this world-changing technology.

All stakeholders in AI have a responsibility to not allow today’s inequalities to infiltrate tomorrow’s tech, especially as the next generation of companies begin to redefine our daily lives. We shouldn’t have to sing the praises of women to get equal representation in this critical industry, we’re simply necessary – as leaders, researchers, developers and users – to create products that are truly usable by society.

0 notes

saintobio · 3 years

Note

"Everyone hated the new rich. Even your own husband, simply by how terribly he treated his step-mom claiming that the woman was a status-seeking parvenu who would be in the streets if she didn’t climb up the social ladder by sleeping with his dad."

Oh Satoru this reminds me of someone in your life that also seeks status and wealth hmmmmm, but I guess you "love" Sera so it's okay for you to sleep with her.No one can tell me that their love is pure or real, NO ONE.They are leaving in their own reality, such a fairy tale, full of gifts and giggles and noting more, I cannot see any deeper connection, they're too shallow and selfish lmao They are delusional if they think that they can live happily ever after.

( "unknown to him, a tragic fate already lies within the pages of your romance book" now this part from the introduction or whatever is called i associate it with their relationship, they're bound to brake up bye i refuse to believe anything else skskks)

Anyway Gojo🤮 fuck you and your possessive ass, hypocritical asshole MC could've had the night of her life with dilf Toji<3

I fucking hate him and the way my heart clenched when he took care of her, I hate it so much.I like that he is warming up to her but does it really matter when it all vanishes when Sera is in the room?Also Sera who do you think you are?I get it that you are angry but is it your place to call MC a liar and make a scene? No it isn't, you accepted to live your life as a side chick now live it and know your place.You can't complain that, for once, he was putting his wife on the 1st place.I was okay with Sera before but not anymore,,,I am tired of her and gojo always invalidating MC's feelings and then having the audacity to tell her to be understanding and let them date.Fuck both of you, go to therapy.

This chapter made me so angry, baby MC deserves better, I love her so much my heart is with her (also the heart again go ckeck it out bby please i don't want u to die) I am glad Maki and Mai are so supportive of her, I even liked Naoya lol like yeah please come and laugh at him some more, make him angry.By far Toji was one of the best, our MC had some well deserved fun time with him until the devil ruined everything as always:'D

Thank you for writing this Ai, as always you did amazing, now take care and take your time to answer the asks, we can wait.Put yourself 1st, always!!! mwa mwa mwa ily stay hydrated!!!!!!!!

(and i am saying this again but don't mind the anons who are complaining about the angst just, you do you, the angstier the better<3

If you can't read this then don't lmao no one is forcing you, get out of here and stop demanding things, Ai already asked us and changed some things when she didn't have to do it at all, it's her fic and her acc, you can't take it, leave. Every chapter there's always someone complaining and if I am tired imagine how tired Ai is.*imagine how tired we are*) - 🍬 anon

this was the longest reaction so far sdnsj my brain is fried now but aaaa this was v interesting to read :) thank u for taking the time to send me an ask <33

#saintobio.asks #series: sincerely not #🍬 anon

44 notes · View notes

beanieman · 3 years

Text

3B Shin/Alice Lives Route Live Play

So I recorded my thoughts here as I played the game. Here they are!

Warning: I swear and yell in all caps a lot.

Mr.Policeman had a son. Are we getting Mr.Policeman is Joe’s Dad theory confirmed???

I’M SHAKING IT’S TOO HARD TO TYPE

This is horrible but I hope Keiji dies next. I don’t want any of the others to go.

SHIN MY BELOVED

SARA DO NOT SIGN THE GODDAMN FORM I SAID ABANDON KEIJI

Ranmaru I love you. (Very thankful he tore the form, at least the first time)

Keiji taking responsibility for his actions?? Will I regret saying I hope he dies earlier?

The OST is a banger!

I wonder if Shin can save Keiji and he just refuses too. (This was later proven wrong.)

New Mai sprites!! I’m looking respectfully!! I KNEW HER HARMLESSNESS WAS AN ACT!! FUCK YEAH GIRLBOSS MAI!!

Am I going to turn this blog into a Ranmaru stan account? It’s looking possible.

Cotton Candy. I’m calling him that from now on.

Shin watching as Alice gives his speech. The game says Alishin rights! (In hindsight, I’m sad)

When Sara said the dubious consent form I misread it as “dumbass consent form” and almost lost it.

Getting the ID card is too easy. This is going to do something that kills Keiji, huh?

WAIT WAS MIDORI A DOLL THIS ENTIRE TIME?? FUCKING BASTARD!! I want to punch him in the throat so bad. Alice you deserved so much better than this bitch.

IF MIDORI WAS TORTURING HUMANS WHAT DID HE DO TO SHIN??

SOMEONE ASK IF SHIN’S OKAY DAMMIT!!

Midori is so done with Maple. Ew what does she mean insert.

SARA AND MARU ENDING?? I’m kind of okay with that??

How much do you want to bet, Shin and Sara will end up being the two living together and having to choose who becomes a doll? The drama!!

Shin looks so disgusted to take the handkerchief. I love him. Shin is also getting braver!! Which is bad for Keiji and Sara.

Naomichi and Shin’s fortitude isn’t women huh? 🏳️‍🌈 Just saying.

Shin and Alice even argue like husbands

Naomichi and Anzu are literally siblings

“Don’t associate me with him” bitch you stole his name.

NOOOO NAOMCIHI NOOOO Q-TARO

Shunsuke is gunning for the role of best Father this chapter I see

Oh shit Ranmaru’s going to snap

Gin and Alice are such a fun BROTP

Wait did Alice even shove him? Because it seems like he fell

Disappointed but not surprised the outside world is in on it

The real Sou might be alive??????

Loose his seat?? Was Sou supposed to participate?

I’m going to hope Alice’s calmness is character development and not mind washing.

Holy fuck I think everyone besides Sara is an agent of ASU-NARO

I cried over Shin’s AI dammit (Cry total: 1)

Shin could only turn up the heat when Sou wasn’t there. Shin could only be comfortable when Sou wasn’t there.

Sou might not be a member of Asu Naro?? He won’t say if he signed the form. Is the plot twist going to be Shin is the only one not an Asu Naro agent??

Shin’s into cute things and robot action figures!!

Oh wow Tia and Miley 😳

OH MY GOD AUTISTIC GIN IM ACTUALLY CRYING ITS CANON THATS SO COOL!!!

Oh fuck you Sou for taking advantage of his autism. I hate this bitch.

Oh Ranmaru is so in love with Sara (Oh count 4)

Okay so emotion route is actually the route I’m probably going to play for now on. Sara sole survivor ending seems like how the logic route will end. While Sara will die on the emotion Route. (it’s not. Logic route is still my canon route.)

Sara has a piece of Joe on the emotion Route but not on the logic route. She’s really going to feral.

Excuse me why did Sara just acknowledge Joe? Is she pretending to forget Joe for an advantage?? Holy fuck.

Also Shin was completely justified to be scared of Sara given what we just learned. I’m about to become a Shin apologist.

It’s interesting Naomichi seems to see through Shin

OH FUCK KEIJIS DEAD

I like this game a lot more without his “your cute “comments if I’m being honest. That weirded me out.

Oh fuck the fucking form goddammit I hate this stupid game Sara he isn’t worth this. You just sold your soul to the devil.

“Sounds good to me” 🙄

I don’t want to doubt Mai but...I’m doubting Mai.

I ship Ransara so hard. They’d be so good for each other. (This statement aged so poorly in the span of ten minutes.)

I mentioned Soup and Shin’s Sou persona seemed to vanish. This man lost all resolve over soup.

Sara I know you don’t want to loose anymore allies but holy shit calm down.

What the hell is going on?

Why is Keiji excited about the tools??

I’m kind of shipping Maple X Mai

I HATE KEIJI MAN

I was spoiled about Alice’s death in this route before playing :(

NOT THE SHIN AI

What in the Nagito was Mai doing??

I GOT NAOMICHI KILLED AND I DON’T KNOW IF IT WAS MY FAULT OR THAT HAD TO HAPPEN

I already knew Hinako was the traitor why am I gasping

SHIN STILL CARES ABOUT THE KIDS!!

KEIJI WAS THE GUY AT THE START??

KEIJI HAS MISHIMAS HEAD (He didn’t)

Guess I’m killing Keiji

WHAT THE FUCK Q-TARO

Q-TARO WHAT THE FUCK NO NO NO NO

I’M CRYING

Q-TARO BEST DAD.

I’m not sure I ship Ransara now. Saraanzu is where the shipping lies.

If Tia told Q-Taro it was too late....was she lying and he sacrificed himself unknowingly?? Tia did lie to the group about Kanna not feeling pain as she died. So it’s not out of character.

I love that Shin and Sara were being some what cooperative in this chapter. He’s definitely going to murder her later, but it’s nice while it lasted.

Shunsuke is the last doll standing on my route. Good. I love him. <3

I think I like the dolls more than a lot of the participants. Oops.

#3b spoilers #yttd spoilers #your turn to die spoilers #yttd #your turn to die #mod rambles

24 notes · View notes

greenjacketwhitehatdocmui · 2 years

Text

Dark Crisis Superman Special Doubts

MrOkay, so apparently, Tom King is writing an “imaginary story” where Jon Kent is a “Super-Robin” sidekick to his Dad. I suppose that this is meant to be a conciliatory gesture to those who were not keen on what Brian Michael Bendis did with Jon (i.e., put Jon through years of trauma, aged him up, and have him be Just Fine).

https://www.gamesradar.com/dark-crisis-super-robin-superman/

I have thoughts about this, but they’re going underneath a cut. I promise that I’ll try to keep from getting too salty.

Okay, first of all, why does Jon have to wear a mask? I mean, yes, it’s a nice image, but Clark never needed a mask. Superman never needed to hide his face. He got along just fine with glasses and a change of body language.

And here’s a quote from Tom King:

Now, I grant you that yes, Mr. King CAN write positive, uplifting and thoughtful stories. The “Superman: Up in the Sky” mini-series and the Clark/Lois and Bruce/Selina double-date in Batman # 37 are proof of that. But Mr. King has also taken knocks at Clark

In “Heroes in Crisis” (IMHO, one of his worst works), the counseling AI is supposedly a combination of the best traits of Superman, Wonder Woman and Batman. What we see is what they call a “drill sergeant nasty” where vulnerable patients are constantly berated by said AI. Also, there’s the infamous “Harley Quinn beats the Trinity” scene--one that I’m sure inspired many rolling of eyes.

In “Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow,” Kara takes a lot of shots at Clark. Clark’s trapped on a planet with a Kryptonite (or pseudo-Kryptonite) sun for 45 agonizing minutes? Well, Kara withstood 10 HOURS--and basically called him weak after she survived the ordeal. She says that she’s tired of the shield becoming basically a call to attack her, all because others associate the shield with all the meddling that Clark’s done--i.e., saving lives. Every alien with a grudge against Clark is eager to try to take her down because of the shield.

Mr. King is known for his tendency to deconstruct. Under his pen, heroes aren’t quite as, well, heroic. Adam Strange in Strange Adventures? Oh, he’s a war criminal. Michael Holt’s Mr. Terrific? He never wanted to be a father and felt relieved. Christopher Chance, the Human Target? Well, he’s a self-loathing alcoholic.

(There is also the character assassination of Wally West in “Heroes in Crisis” and Guy Gardner in “The Human Target.” His turning Wally into a murderer is understandable, giving Dan Didio’s dislike of the character. Turning Guy Gardner into a stereotypical stalker ex-boyfriend with testosterone poisoning who snivels at a Hal Jordan impersonator asking for his ring? Yeah, that was all Mr. King’s work.)

Honestly, Mr. King might as well have taken the reins of Jon Kent after Bendis got through with him. But then, he probably would have taken it in a much darker direction than what people are seeing in “Son of Kal-El”.

So, I guess I’m saying that despite the bright colors and smiles you see on the cover of this book, I have my doubts. If he manages to restrain himself from using one sadistic, edgy twist or a deconstruction of either Clark or Jon, I will be very surprised.

Then again, I’m not feeding DC any of that sweet, sweet “event book” money that the company seems so dependent on. There’s a reason why J. Michael Straczynski refused to have Thor participate in the “event books”--they twist a story arc into a pretzel. That good idea you had for a story? Well, it has to be a crossover with the “event book.” Why? Well, they want to get paid.

Okay, I’m done now. I may hope for the best, but given that this is 1) an imaginary story and 2) a one-shot, this isn’t so much of an olive branch as it is a distraction. And I think that Jon Kent deserved better.

--Doc

#superman #jon kent #tom king #dc comics #dark crisis

2 notes · View notes

paragonrobits · 3 years

Photo

a friend asked me to give a shot at doing an entry in this tier list they linked me to, of the video games inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame since 2015, and I opted to give it a shot!

My rankings are generally biased towards games I personally enjoy playing, though I will give some commentary on their historic relevance:

S-Rank

Super Mario Bros: The game that repopularized video games in the US, that arguably began the entire platforming video game genre and all its imitators and spin-offs, that spawned a new generation of video games after the Atari Crash in the US, and still a DAMN FUN game in its own right! I simply had to put this at the top ranking. After the disillusionment caused by Atari’s failures, this game brought home consoles back in a big way to the US.

World of Warcraft: Now, I’m not much for MMORPGs. Nevertheless, I’ve followed the lore and general information in the Warcraft setting for years now, and a couple years back, my brother asked me to play it with him. I had a ton of fun, honestly! Playing a goblin mage, I believe. WoW is notable for being THE MMORPG, and still going strong. Admittedly, nowadays many games do what it does better, and the time when it was dominant as THE single game to play is past, but it was still an enjoyable experience and I really have to like how sincere the game is about its aesthetics and campy vibe. Given that the entire setting is reputedly a reskin of a Warhammer Fantasy Battle video game that went south, it’s cheery and colorful, morally gray tone is... an interesting complication in its history. (Also, HORDE. I STAN THE HORDE VERY HARD.)

The Sims: A bit of history; I did not play this game as enthusiastically as a kid as my sister and mom did. We ALL spammed the hell out of the Rosebud cheat, though; not until recent times did I actually wind up playing the game properly, when the most recent iteration of the series was free for a while. My mom didn’t care to play the game, she just liked building houses. In any case, while my attention drifted from the game now and then, I always am fascinated by the actual gameplay of caring for your simulated humans, and the way you don’t actually control them directly. This sort of hands off experience is actually a bit similar to the ‘dungeon simulator’ genre, and while the game is notorious for enabling cruelty (something I never saw the appeal of!), it’s a surprisingly wholesome experience, and it can’t be understated how unique this gameplay was at the time.

Legend of Zelda: It’s actually rather interesting how different OG Zelda is from modern games. Not just the top down perspective (which DOES pop up, now and then); the game is non-linear and allows you to go to any dungeon at any point, completing the game at your leisure, and the story is extremely barebones compared to what we may be used to. It’s quite a far cry from the linear gameplay of gradually collecting tools and working through plots that the games are known for. Breath of the Wild is, in fact, a return to form rather than an upheaval of the formula. I’ll also admit that I have a lot of affection for the gameplay of this one, as well as Link To The Past.

Donkey Kong: When you’re talking old school, as far as what you might call the modern generation of games goes (which is to say, the games that resurged after the Atari Crash), it’s hard to go wrong with Donkey Kong. It’s certainly notable for being a weird stage in Mario’s character and something that is generally ignored; it’s just strange thinking that at one point he was supposed to be abusive towards a pet ape that went in an innocent, well-meaning rampage! Personally this one kind of breaks a mold for my S-class rankings because while I like this one fine, I don’t like it THAT much; i mostly played it in the DK 64 game, and found it very difficult and that’s stuck with me. Still, I place it here for its momentous position in placing Nintendo on the map, with the influence and revolutionary technologies and gaming mechanics they would introduce, to this very day.

Pokemon Red/Blue: Hoo boy. HOO BOY it is honestly something of an oversight that I didn't immediately shove this beauty straight to the front of the S-line because good god I love this game. It's been years and years, long since I was but a whee Johnny playing a strange new game for the first time just because there was a cool turtle creature on the cover (because I was super into turtles back then), and I still love this game. Even with the improvements made to the formula since then (getting rid of HMs, the fixes and new types introduced since) there's still something lovable about this game, even as something as basic as the official artwork that just tugs my heartstrings. This game is highly notable for being an RPG that popularized the monster collecting/befriending gameplay (so far as I know), and as an autistic person, i really appreciate knowing the whole thing grew out of an autistic man's bug collection hobby from when he was a child. Pokemon is an absolute juggernaut of a media influence, and THIS is where it all began. It's first stage evolution, you might say. And not like a Magikarp or anything. This one's more like one of the starters... appropriately enough. Final Fantasy 7: This is probably a bit of a controversial take, but FF7 was not actually one of my favorite Final Fantasy entries back in the day. I never played much more of it than the beginning missions, as my cousin owned the machine in question, and I moved out before i could play it much. Final Fantasy 3 (in the US; it's more generally referred to as 6 now) was my favorite for a long, long time, and that game pioneered many of the traits that would be associated with 7: the epic story, the complex ensemble cast, though 7 really expanded on that basic idea, and previous games were hardly shabby in that regard. 9 is my favorite of the pre-10 era, with its extreme shake ups to the mechanics of the game. No; what makes 7 stand out is that it was a shift towards making Final Fantasy a constantly shifting, unique franchise where every entry was its own thing; it introduced 3D graphics with a fun and cartoony style mixed with a story that wouldn't be out of place in a cyberpunk story, and heralds Squaresoft (as it was called at the time) splitting off from Nintendo, with its censorship policies, and doing its own thing with Sony, with a great deal more freedom to write as they pleased. The party design also stands out, which each character having their own unique function in the party while the Materia concept allows a degree of modular skills to be installed, customizing them in ways that, in my opinion, the best entries in the franchise (on a gameplay level) would revisit. Colossal Cave Adventure: I'll be honest; I never played this game, and I don't believe it's particularly familiar to me at all. However, I chose it for this vaunted spot in S-rank because games of this nature, of text-based prompt and responses, are some of the most interesting things imaginable! Games like AI Dungeon are similar in some respects, and its impressive to think just how dang old this game is, and yet it managed to pull off basically being it's own DM. It has an interesting history; created by a man who worked on the precursor to the Internet, the game was made to connect with his daughter and was inspired by recent entries into Dungeons And Dragons, and later expanded upon by other programmers. It's notable that while Zork is the sort of game that would probably involve more immediate recognition (I actually mistook it for Zork at first, from the screenshot), this game was the first of its kind, and that always deserve some recognition. Minecraft: I absolutely LOVE Minecraft, and it's rightfully one of the most popular games, if not THE most popular game, of the last couple of decades, and it's interesting to think just how unconventional it is; the game is, effectively, a LEGO simulator, and as someone who honestly always wanted tons of LEGO sets as a kid but could never afford them consistently, there's something genuinely very appealing about Minecraft's basic set up. It's open approach and lack of a goal, just gameplay mechanics that encourage you to build and do as you please, makes for a very relaxing and unusual mentality not often seen in games until this point; it doesn't even have a storyline, it simply gives you a world to play around in. Of note, Minecraft's entry seems to have relevance towards video games becoming a cultural touchstone; Minecraft's visual aesthetic leans towards both blocky LEGOs and retro graphics, and certainly proves that games don't need to strive for hyper realistic graphics to be appealing. ----- A RANK Doom: I genuinely like Doom, a lot! I still have memories of replaying this game frequently, long before Doom 2016 and Eternal were glimmers; it's just genuinely very fun to play. That said, I feel that there's other games that are a bit more historically notable and while i like this game, not quite as much as other entries. But it cant be understated that this was THE first person shooter, and more to the point, was fundamental towards game design as we know it. Of note, it pioneered the idea of a game engine, which has had tremendous impact down the road in terms of making a flexible baseline system that latergames were programmed around. Additionally, the first three episodes being free, with the additional ones being purchased as part of the full game, this was, I think, the first demonstration of a demo. Back then, we called this shareware; a game which was free but had full features locked off, but otherwise you could play it however much you wanted. There's a REASON Doom winds up on more systems than Skyrim! Ultimately, while it's not one of my favorite games, it's impact on the business of gaming and the functions of game design cannot be overstated. Pac-Man: This game, is THE game that made video games a phenomenon and its worth thinking about that and how video games as a modern institituion can be drawn, however broadly, from Pac-Man's commercial success. I should note that while I've played this game extensively, it's not something I'm particularly good at; there's a LOT going on here and its a bit much for me to handle. That's probably a strength; there's a reason people had to fake their accomplishments and falsified high scores. It's worth noting that Pac-Man is a unique thing in that it has been rereleased many times over, and every generation has found it enjoyable and fun, unlike other games that set trends only to be lost out in the end. (Goldeneye, for instance!) The Oregon Trail: Like many other people I assume, I first played this game as something available on school computers. Purportedly made as an educational game to teach students about history, this game may be notable for, among other things, being an entry point towards the idea of resource management in video games (as well as being hellishly difficult, by the standards then, but that DOES illustrate a point, does it not?). It's also the oldest, most continuously available game ever made, even now being ported to smartphones, or so I hear! It seems to be a very early example of edutainment games, and a genuinely great one at that. It probably helps that a selling point is that it doesn't really mince around with its subject matter; anyone who's played this game knows that total party kill is the default assumption, as it was in life. Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat: I place these two together as I feel that they form a duo of sorts, and defined fighting games of my childhood and modern gaming experience; name a fighting game, from Injustice to something as deliberately different as Smash Bros, and it has SOME relation to these games, even if its in terms of doing something completely different. These games set a mold for fighting games! Among other things, both games feature iconic characters as a selling point, and to this day fighting games make their mark based on how signature their characters are. Mortal Kombat is of course an incredibly violent game (though very tame, by modern standards), and its fatalities and depicitons of violence sparked thought and arguments on what video games ought to be allowed to depict, for better or for worse. It's not implausible to suggest that the overly strict restrictions on what video games could depict go back to Mortal Kombat's fatalities, specifically (since there's far worse games predating it, though too graphically primitive to be obvious). Street Fighter, conversely, strikes me as having more characterization and depth, especially as far as fighting systems go; I find it hard to be interested in many fighting games now, if they don't offer as much depth as the likes of Street Fighter 2. Street Fighter stands out for innovating multiplayer play, initially in the arcade, and its not implausible to say that the likes of Smash Bros is a descendant of sorts of the specific mentality Street Fighter brought to the table. Consider also that it is STILL a mainstay in the remaining arcades and cabinets in service today! Tomb Raider: This is a game i legit liked back in the day, and there's some part of me that's sad that the platforming, puzzle solving and focus on exploration has not really made it back into the modern Tomb Raider series, last I checked. There's probably something interesting in that Lara Croft represents a bit of an intermediate period between platforming mascots and modern Edgy Protagonists; you know the ones. Balding white dudes with vague dad vibes, but this is not a slight on Lara; she definitely has a ton of personality, even just at a cover glance. This game had a strong focus on exploration, and that's honestly something I really like. Super Mario Kart: I'm going to be controversial here; complaints about the Blue Shell are kinda overrated. It's not that different from, say, a red shell hitting you from behind when you're close to the finish line. But, jokes and old 90s memes aside, this game has some interesting status in that it started the idea of making spin-off games in dramatically different contexts; Crash Team Racing and Sonic Drift, for example, are listened as similar games. On a franchise level, this began the trend of Mario becoming a truly flexible character who could do pretty much whatever was required of him, not just the original platforming games, and its possible his imitators never quite learned the same lesson. Though one wonders what Miyamoto might have thought if he'd known how many thinkpieces he would spawn with 'why does mario go-karting with Bowser when they're enemies?'. For my part, I favor the idea that the other games are in-universe fictions they're actors on and this is their actual dynamic, or that Mario is a relaxed dude who doesn't mind playing kart games with his foe. (I mean, he's not Ridley. Bowser's easy enough to get along with.) Animal Crossing: Again, I have to emphasize that I've never actually played this game, at least on a consistent basis (and by that, I mean I MIGHT have played it on the Gamecube, once, in the early 2000s), and have to speak from what I've seen of what it sparked. And I really do like the way it really codified the sub-genre of relaxed, open-ended games where the player is free to do as they like, without much stress or fear, which is something I think more games could stand to do. On my personal list of features that my ideal video game would have, Animal Crossing would definitely offer a few ideas. I am reminded of farming simulators, such as Harvest Moon or Stardew Valley; while they are different beasts entirely, there's a familiar sense of non-combat relaxation that's pleasant to see. Spacewar!: This machine is GODDAMN old, and like an old fogey predating modern humans, it deserves our respect. It's so old, it predates Pong. Supposedly created as part of predictative Cold War models, with an emphasis on emulating sci fi dogfights, producing a game that soon proved popular, for over a decade remainign the most popular game on computer systems, and a clumsy foray into arcade gaming (that didn't pan out, unfortunately) led to the creation of Pong by its creator, which is another story all its own! And Pong is directly responsible for the idea of the video game itself; this game launched the entire video game industry as we understand it! No small feat, indeed. ----

B RANKED Sonic The Hedgehog: I must state that I DO like this game, though not as much as later entires like Sonic 3 and Knuckles, or the Sonic Adventure series; the fast paced action seems a bit hobbled by the traps and need to be careful of surroundings, which would seem to run counter towards the whole idea of GOTTA GO FAST, y'know? But the game presents an interesting viewpoint on the nature of mascot gaming; created specifically, so it is said, as a rival to Mario, Sonic was designed as a mascot with attitude, and inspired a host of imitators; he's probably the only one to escape the 90s more or less intact, and this may have something to say about his flexibility, star power, and also the fact that he's a pretty mild character, all things considered. This game certainly has its place in gaming history, giving an important place in the console wars of yesteryear. Believe me, I was a kid in the 90s, Sonic was a HUGE deal. Space Invaders: This game is noted to have catapulted games into prominence by making them household, something outside of arcades, and it shows! An interesting detail of note is that supposedly, the Space Invaders were meant to all move at high speed, but this was either too hard to play against, or too costly on the processor; it was found that by making them speed up as they were defeated, it created an interesting set of challenge. You have to appreciate game history like that. In general, its success prompted Japanese companies to join the market, which would eventually produce what I imagine was a thriving, competitive market that would eventually get us Nintendo and it's own gamechangers down the road. Grant Theft Auto 3: I'm going to be honest with you. I don't much care for this sort of game. The Saints Row series, with its fundamental wackiness, is the kind of game I really DO like if I'm going for something like this, and GTA sort of leaning towards the 'cruel for fun and profit' gameplay is really unappealing for me. However, I'd be remiss if I didn't address this game, and what seems to come up is two things: the game's sheer freedom in its open world (which certainly pushed the bar for games of that nature, and has made it a byword for gamers screwing around in a game just to see what ridiculous things they could or couldn't do) and the infamous reputation from the mature aspects of the game. Personally, I'm not much for this game's take on maturity (if I wanted to discuss a game of that nature, I'd suggest, say, Spec Ops: The Line) but I really do appreciate what this game and its series did for the open world genre, and the sheer possibilities presented for letting you do what you wanted. King's Quest: I've never played this game, but I am a HUGE fan of the point and click genre (also known generally as the adventure game genre) that it spawned; without this game, there's no Monkey Island, no Sam and Max, no The Dig or Full Throttle, or Gabriel Knight. This game was similar to previous text-based games, with a text parser to input commands, but with the distinction of a graphical interface to move their character around, which would be the seed of later games such as the SCUMM engine of Monkey Island and other Lucasarts games (which, to me, ARE Adventure Gaming). The puzzles, comedic sensibilities, and interface innovations originated with this game, and codified those later adventure games i love so much. Starcraft: This is another one those list of 'games I should have already played by now'. I'm not much of an RTS person, barring forays with games such as Impossible Creatures, Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War, and more strange entries such as Brutal Legend, and I contend that the combat aspects of 4X games like Civilization DO count on some level; the specifics of troop movement and unit strengths/weaknesses are a bit beyond me, when you get to more complex stuff. Starcraft, reading between the lines, really introduced the idea of multiplayer culture especially for RTS, pioneered the Battle(dot)net system (which I mostly recall from Diablo, if I'm being honest!) as well as the idea of relative strengths and powers for individual factions so that they became characters in their own right. It's still a very popular online game, and that says SOMETHING. Also, I tend to use zerg rushes, so I would probably play Zerg. Probably. (There is much speculation on whether or not, like Warcraft being a failed Warhammer Fantasy game, if the same holds true for Starcraft and Warhammer 40k. I lean on the side of 'probably not'; the differences are too notable. The Zerg and Tyranids have some similarties, but that's probably because they're based on the same broad hive mind evil insect aggressor trope, and they have enough differences from there to be very distinct from one another. It's not like how OG Warcraft's orcs were very obviously warhammer orcs with less football hooliganism.) Bejeweled: This is a firm case of a game that I don't play, but I really have to respect its influence on gaming as a whole. Apparently it started as a match three-type game with a simplistic formula that proved wildly popular (perhaps making a point that simpler can be more effective, in game mechanics), with a truly explosive record of downloads; over 500 million, it seems. Thus its fair to say that this game set the precedent for casual games, which have become THE market. Regardless of your feelings on that genre, this one was a real game changer. (Pun intended, absolutely.) ----

C RANK Pong: "By most measures of popular impact, Pong launched the video game industry." This line alone saws it all, I think. It wasn't the first video game, but it was one of the more early ones, and its the one that really made video games and consoles successful, gaining widespread attention from the mainstream audience, as well as getting Atari recognition (for better or for worse, but perhaps that was just a development of being on top, so to speak; maye the console wars at least kept the big three honest). It also started the arcade revolution of games, and this humble game is essentially responsible for the entire state of video games as a concept, as we know it today. Halo: No disrespect to Halo, but it's just a game series I've never quite been able to get into. Those games are very hit and miss for me; games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, Gears of War and everything like that are just... hard for me to get into. It takes something specific like Borderlands or the Besthesda Fallout series, or something else, for me to get hooked, and Halo just doesn't do it for me! Nevertheless, I would be QUITE remiss if I simply dismissed it, and there's reasons for it to be inducted into the hall of fame barely three years into the hall of fame making inductees. Firstly, it was Microsoft's big entry into the console wars, and it must be said this was a MASSIVE upset and a completely unprecedented shift in the assumptions of the console wars back then; NO ONE expected microsoft to actually do this, let alone redefine gaming out of Sony and Nintendo's favor like that. At the time, PCs dominated FPS games, and Halo showed that consoles could do it just fine. It must also be said that it has a very intricate and complex system of lore, backstory and material that was quite distinctive for a new setting back in the day, and while I've seen people object to it's gameplay, I suspect that its with the benefit of hindsight; Halo offered an extremely unusual degree of freedom in achieving the goals set out for you. (Cortana also didn't deserve getting her name slapped onto that search assistant that eats up all your RAM.) Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego: Surprisignly enough, based on the article, this game was NOT an adaptation, but the source material of this character. This is where the fancy, mystery lady in the red coat started! Evidently this game was originally an edutainment game with a cops and robbers theme, and inspired by Colossal Cave Adventure from higher up on the list, and one must appreciate the effort that went into it. This one is ranked low, mostly because it didn't seem TOO notable to me. Honestly I'm surprised this is where Carmen Sandiego started. (And that she doesn't get enough credit as an iconic theatrical villain who won't go a step too far, but that's another rant.) -

D LIST

Here we are. The D LIST. The bottom of the sorting pile; the lowest of them all, the... well, the ones that I honestly don't necessarily dislike, but couldn't place higher for reasons of notability, personal interest, or perceived impact on the history of gaming. John Madden Football: Sports games, as a whole, really do NOT do it for me. I don't like real like sports at ALL (with, as a kid, a brief interest in boxing and that was just because they had gloves like Knuckles from Sonic the Hedgehog) so its hard for me to say that I find the history of this one all that compelling. Even so, there's some interesting elements in how this game was a sequel to a previous failed attempt, with a bold new attempt at a more arcade-style action game with a more dramatic take on the players, who would in turn be rated in different skill sets. The Madden series is STILL going so... it worked out pretty well, I'd say. (FUCKIN EA WAS BEHIND THIS ONE??? wow, EA is older than I thought.) Microsoft Flight Simulator: It's honestly a bit painful sorting this one so low, since I had many happy times as a wee Johnny playing this game back in the old days. I mean the OLD, old days. This was like, the days when Usenet was the preferred way for people to talk online. (Not me, though. I didn't talk to people, then. I was even less social than I am now, which is saying something!) All the same, I suppose that it was important to not crowd too many entries in a specific folder, and statistically, something had to keep getting knocked down, and in the end, I couldn't honestly say I still enjoyed this one enough to place it higher. Still, credit must be given where it is due; this game stands out for being an early foray into simulator gaming, showing a realistic depiction of actual flight. It has apparently been updated and rereleased many times since, which is impressive! Tetris: I like puzzles. So it might be surprising to hear this seminal game ranked so low; firstly, I like different KINDS of puzzles (like weird ones where you have to fling your sense of logic to the moon and back, or make use of gaming mechanics) and honestly this game is kind of stressful for me. You gotta keep an eye on a lot of different things flying around all at once, and constantly move things around, and that kind of attention and quick thinking does NOT come easily to me. All the same, I really have to admire how it was born from it's creator's pleasure in solving mathematical puzzles about sorting shapes into boxes, in a manner strangely remniscient of Satoshi's bug collecting that became Pokemon. Certainly the game's simplicity has proven a universally appealing thing, and may say something about the value of keeping it simple. Microsoft Solitaire: This game apparently became pay-to-get some time ago in recent computer generations, and let me tell, you, it was genuinely depressing to find that out. I remember younger decades, from the 90s and on, when this game was a regular and free feature in Windows computers fir MANY years. You got a computer, this game was on here. I was a kid, and i remember watching my mom play this game and makign the cards go WHOOP WHOPP all over the place and marveling, because I couldn't ever do the same thing. (A related note: I am terrible at this game. Go figure!) Of note, this game was massively widespread, and just EVERYWHERE, and I think everyone who ever played a computer back in those days instantly remembers it in some way. It was just... ubiquitous. Centipede: Oh, ol' Centipede. I don't mean to be mean to you. But between the likes of Pokemon and Super Mario Bros, even the arcade Donkey Kong, someone had to keep dropping down the leaderboard that is this tierlist, and unfortunately, there were other games that felt higher up than you. All the same, you're a very good game, and honestly, I like you more than some other games ranked higher for reasons of relevance to gaming history. Certainly more than anything else in D-listing. The colorful and appealing palette is noteworthy. That trackball controller! Amazing! (More games should use trackballs. They're fun and easy to use.) At the very least, Order of the Stick did a joke with you once, and that's better than anything I can do for you. All the same, you're a cool game.

#tier lists #video games

5 notes · View notes

lnarizakis · 4 years

Text

SAM HIT 1K !

hey, everyone! a few days ago i hit 1k followers and i’m so excited to share with you all this news! it’s been six months of writing, posting, and making new friends, and i’ve recognized the results of all of my efforts. thank you to everyone who’s been with me on this journey, even if i met you in march, or just yesterday!

i acknowledge that in the past i’ve been selfish and self-conscious about that number, but everyday i’m grateful that i have a growing number of people who have my back, supporting me, even if it’s through a simple like or even an anonymous ask telling me they really enjoyed a particular work of mine.

and, with everything you do in life, you encounter people who will support you, make your life better, and just know how to help you up when you’ve fallen: friends. that being said, i want to write a letter to all the friends i’ve made on here since i don’t know when i’ll be able to get the next chance to . . .

TRIS , i remember seeing you appear in the comments of almost all of my posts and i just want to thank you personally for always supporting what i have. you don’t realize how much every little comment means to me, really! it always puts a smile on my face to see you comment something and it feels like i’ve accomplished something, so thank you. @tris-does-stuff

HANA , you really don’t know how happy you’ve made me when you told me you were a fan of mine. it just... shocked me? to know that i have people out there that genuinely support what i do? we only really started talking for a couple of days but i feel a strong connection between the two of us (it really may be our matching mbti types, too!) and i’m so glad to be able to call you my friend. you didn’t hear this from me, but i constantly look back at the #anon makes me happy tag and read through those anonymous messages you sent me. i love them (and you) very much! @wansseul

ELLIOT , i know you as one of my biggest supporters for coaches don’t play, and i find that really heartwarming to see that even after, what, two months since i’ve updated, you reblogged it with the tag #thank you for updating! ! i was so happy to see that, and you even proceeded to send in an ask about it afterwards too! i know we don’t really talk often—but i definitely think we should— but i know that you’re so incredibly sweet, especially after i was having that rough slump of mine i think last month. you were so kind to tell me that you’d always be here if i need to talk with someone, so thank you very much. i’m very grateful to have met you! @keiyoomi

JJ , hey, jj!!! i know we haven’t talked in a hot second, but look! i’ve reached 1k followers! i remember you were around during my coaches don’t play days, and that you always sent an ask after almost every update. sometimes i fiind myself looking back at them and smiling, knowing that you were enjoying what i wrote, so thank you very much! i want to say another thank you for being there for me when i was feeling really down in the dumps, and for taking the time out of your day to write me a message on discord. i’m so grateful that you did so, and i hope life treats you well. also! i began reading the great gatsby for school, so we should talk about it sometime hehehe. @kunimwuah

DOVE , aka uvogin anon, dovey lovey, my favorite inbox invader! i . honestly don’t know how we met. like one day u just appeared in my inbox and BAM ! we started talking! and i don’t regret every single thing i send into your inbox (even beany cock) . i always look forward to whenever you send things in my inbox and i really mean it when i say you’re my favorite inbox invader >:) it makes me so happy to see you active on tumblr and to see what you bring me everyday. i am very grateful you’re in my life, and i hope we continue to talk more and more! @fantasiesofdreams

SAL , i remember the first time i talked with you! you liked one of my posts and i was like oh she seems cool, i’m gonna follow her and congratulate her on 400 followers. and soon enough, we started tagging each other in those tag games and later we just grew closer and closer! i’m so happy that we got really close and it always brightens my day to see you on my dash; you never fail to put a smile on my face. thank you so much for being my friend and always being there when i need a good laugh! @sugaanoya

AI , ai, ai love you! i remember following you for your “be my boyfriend” series, and i hope it continues on your new blog (no promises, of course!). i also was there during your blank kita era, and it was honestly something that made me laugh out loud. i’m pretty sure i turned on notifications for you at that point because i was so invested with this drama. you’re just an insanely nice person whose kindness rivals your love for suna (or is it sakusa? your disloyalty, tsk... just kidding!!!). i know that we haven’t talked a whole lot lately but i will be sure to hop in your inbox and stay for a while some time soon. thank you so much for being my friend and i hope you stay happy and healthy! @wiintiier

KAI , aka caca wife! i remember when we started talking on rircus, and at first i didn’t really know who you were, until one fateful night when the conversation about caca happened. at that moment i knew we had similar senses of humor and i remember that i couldn’t stop laughing. it was the caca madness! if i’m being completely honest, i look up to you as a big sister that i’ve never had and i really appreciate you for that, so thank you for being in my life! @lcaita

NAOMI , aka newmie! i remember we first started talking in rircus and i want to thank you for welcoming me so kindly in the server, and especially during the first night we talked, which is when i had a problem and you helped me out immensely. i just want to say thank you for every time that you’ve helped me, talked to me, and made me feel better when i felt less than okay. i’m so glad that i’ve met you and i hope you accomplish great things in your life. @kuraomi

MICKIE , probably one of the only people on discord whose mesages i find myself laughing at a lot. you’re always brightening up the mood wherever you go, and i always find myself looking towards what you have to say today. thanks for that! i also think about that (may i say, really funny) exchange between the two of us on here when you went: “oh god i can’t believe HE’S almost dead ahhh” and i have no idea who you were talking about so i went “omg it’s sero,” and you went on this LONG RANT and it was just so funny to me!!! thanks for always putting a smile on my face. and also! thank you so, so much for suggesting that i get curtain bangs, a decision i really don’t regret! i was afraid i was going to hate them, but i find myself looking in the mirror a lot and thinking: “wow, that is a whole different person.” in a good way! so thank you very much. @tokyoghoose

GERE , aka my ex-wife... sorry about that :( . i never got to say sorry for that but the caca bond runs strong, i hope you understand. i just want you to know how much of a kind person you are, and especially how welcoming you are, too. i was so glad to be welcomed so kindly in your server and it’s become one of my favorites to talk in. i also want you to know, that especially with current times, that things will get better and i’m so glad you’re staying positive with everything going on recently. i love you for you, please remember that!!! @t-amajiki

ISSA , omg, girly pop. hahahaha!!! issa, you’re such a genuine person and i remember meeting you for the first time on rircus. you welcomed me with open arms and you were just the kindest person i met on there. you’re someone who’s just so beautiful inside and out, and the way you’re so large and in charge with your feelings is something i really admire about you. i know we don’t talk so often, but i hope we do. i want to thank you for being my friend, and especially always making me laugh! i love you very much, issa! @indigohitoshi

KYLIE , kylie!!!! the co-founder of our son, iwaizumi hajime. this was literally peak popularity and i knew i was never to get as many notifications as i did in that moment. of everyone i could have shared the account with, i am so glad that i was able to do it with you because we were able to grow closer because of that. now we have this weird inside joke that our son gets mad cooch, and that every day we must think of in another life. where are the daily in another life tiktoks??? of course, our son isn’t the only thing i associate with you. you’re such a kind, hilarious, and genuine person, and to be honest, sometimes i really worry for your wellbeing. get some more sleep, kyl!!! you deserve it. i want you to be grucchi, not tired and wanting to die. thank you so, so much for being my friend, and i am so happy that i met you! @peppermintkiddo

TO, LIKE, EVERYONE FROM RIRCUS , the best people i could ever meet. i’m sorry i couldn’t write an individual letter to all of you, since we haven’t interacted so often for me to pick out one specific memory that i could hold and cherish, but know that every time i come on rircus and talk with you, it is a moment that i will always remember! thank you so much for being my friends and i love you all so, so incredibly much. @kaoyuuuuu @reogou @haikyuu-but-low-iq @yooooooooooomi @samdwich @kenmauwus @shirasusgf @macaronnv @king-kawa

TO EVERYONE THAT CONSTANTLY LIKES, REBLOGS, OR COMMENTS ON MY WORK , you know who you are. i know who you are. i can literally tag you right now. but i think i’ll prefer to keep the anonymity. thank you so much for sharing my work, giving me feedback, and everything. it mean so much to me, especially if there’s a comment attached to the reblog. you make me do a little happy dance!!! i love you so much for what you do and i hope you continue to support me in every way possible!

FOR PEOPLE THAT I MISS/PROBABLY WON’T READ THIS

MEL , hi mel! i’m not very sure if you will read this, but i am so happy that i met you and that we began talking. i remember we began talking after i asked for people to send in memes for that meme war against my sister. i told you i won, right? well, i did. ahhaha anyways, i am very sad that we sort of grew apart and i hope that we can begin talking again soon. you were the highlight of my spring semester. i enjoyed talking with you so much. but i hope that you and your family are currently doing well and that you stay happy and healthy! i miss you very much, melon, thank you for being a part of my life!

RAENAH , hi rae! i think meeting you was a blessing, to be honest. i can’t remember a time when i was utterly annoyed by your presence, nor was i ever mad with you. you are such a kind person with such a pure heart, and during your time on tumblr you really showcased it for everyone to see. you were literally with me from literally the very beginning, during the “my name is...” days, and all i can say is that i am blessed to have met you! thank you so much for lighting up my life, talking to me whenever you made the time, and especially playing minecraft with me. it was so fun, even if it was for a short while. i hope you had as much fun as i had! again, thank you so much for supporting, befriending, and getting to know me because i will never forget you on tumblr dot com. i hope you stay well and make sure you rest often, especially with uni! @a-kaashi

MIYU , where has miyu gone? just kidding. i know you’re there. i hope you read this because i don’t want to tag your new blog. anyways, i just want you to know you make my dash ten times better. it’s literally so boring without you spicing it up, with you talking with anons and your mutuals. i definitely think i should invade your inbox more, what do you think? when i was starting on tumblr, you were a very big inspiration to me and i am very proud of all the works you write. you still are someone i look up to as a writer, because you have such a creative spirit and it makes me so happy you’re able to showcase it for everyone to see. i hope you are staying healthy and well right now, and thank you so much for being my friend!

GIGI , poop. i genuinely miss you very much, but i know that school takes a priority for you. i hope you’re doing well with your classes and that you find the man of your dreams. hopefully it is not the skater boy because you deserve someone as insanely hot as kurapika. no cap. i remember during my chrollo pfp guy craze you were there to deter me away from liking him, but let me just tell you, we’re getting closer tbh. ;) . just kidding, we really aren’t, but we’ve been talking quite a bit. i also want to tell you that you’re someone who’s made me smile with everything you say, and i find myself sometimes typing the way you do. you’re an influence, gigi! please stay happy and healthy and make sure you get lots of rest during your time at school! @gigiwrite

MARS , best for last, am i right? i’m not really sure when i first saw you on my blog, but i remember you’ve been here for a very, very long time. i think it was back in july when we first started talking. you were 🦊 anon, and it made me so happy to read that you felt comfortable enough to reveal yourself! from there, i knew we had a bond from the way we interacted with one another. you’re just such a kind person and you show that to everyone you meet. it’s a quality i wish i had in myself and i really look up to you for your genuinity. sometimes i feel like i don’t thank you enough for how kind you are to me, but just know that with every time i talk i’m always grateful that you’re in my life and that i’ve met you. i know you’re someone i can always lean on and i hope you see me the same. thank you so much for being in my life; you’re someone who means a lot to me. @maru5hka

TO BASICALLY EVERYONE HERE

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR 1K!!!! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME. i am so grateful for each and every one of you; you guys are so hot and sexy. i am so grateful to have met you all, even if it was just a simple “you’re added to the taglist!” or a “thank you so much!” i count it as you being my friend and you interacting with me. you guys aren’t my followers; you’re my friends. thank you so much for being my friend and being here for all of my weird shenanigans i have up my sleeve, whether it be my meme war against my sister, my obsession for blue lock, and my huge crush on chrollo pfp guy. well, here’s to me for being sappy and here’s to many more!

#sam’s 1k party #no im not doing anything i just wanted to give it a label #discord server maybe

50 notes · View notes

anythingstevenuniverse · 5 years

Text

*SUF Spoilers* Anyone Can Suffer from Trauma

As the series ends, “Steven Universe: Future” gives us a reminder and portrayal that anyone can suffer from trauma. “Steven Universe” and “Steven Universe: The Movie” have showed trauma many times. However, the epilogue series gives us the one person who is suffering the most right now: Steven. Steven has been through a lot but is usually positive and is able to deal with the situation or does not see it and pushes it off. However, two years after saving the universe, he is starting to fall deeper in depression and isolating himself from loved ones due to trauma from his past. In the beginning of the series, some fans saw this as a surprise because his character is to be kind, empathetic, and positive no matter the situation. But even a positive character like Steven will struggle with a situation he cannot deal with due to his past trauma. “Steven Universe: Future” bring the subject of trauma the show has dealt with before using Steven, the main character, to emphasize that trauma can affect anyone.

The franchise has portrayed trauma in many different characters. The Crystal Gems have had their share of traumas related to the Gem War, Gem society of Era 2, and before and after Steven was born. Pearl was obsessed with Rose Quartz and was deeply traumatized by her passing. She projected her obsession to Steven and questioned her worth as an individual without Rose. Garnet is a mixed gem fusion and was frowned upon by Era 2 Gem society. She did not exhibit much trauma until we see “Keep It Together” where she felt guilt and anger over forced fusion Gems which can be viewed as survivors guilt and she puts pressure on herself to be a calm and collected leader. Amethyst was not affected by the war due to emerging from the ground later then the other Gems. However, she developed insecurities about herself not only because she is a defective Amethyst but also because the Crystal Gems associated the Kindergarten as a bad place therefore making internalizing her existence as a mistake. She struggled to love herself and it later created an unhealthy obsession to beat Jasper in season 3. The Crystal Gems have had their fair share of trauma but are not the only Gems who have suffered some type of trauma. Lapis Lazuli was a war prisoner trapped inside a mirror for thousands of years and trapped herself in an abusive relationship/fusion with Jasper. She was very untrusting of others and when the Diamonds were involved, she ran away out of fear despite hurting others in the process (this is not to blame or negatively criticize anything on Lapis, these are just my observations and opinions). The corrupted Gems during the series are war victims who lost their minds and forms from the Diamond’s blast. Bismuth suffered betrayal from the Gem she idolized because of her radical ideals without anyone ever knowing, leaving her to lash out at Steven and hurt that no one know the true story. After Lapis left with the barn, Peridot fell into a deep depression and lost any form of joy in her life. Spinel suffered abandonment from Pink Diamond that lead to her lashing out at Steven, who did not deserve it, and caused her to loath herself and act out irrationally. Even the Diamonds suffered trauma when they lost Pink Diamond. Yellow Diamond buried herself in her work, Blue Diamond never moved on from mourning, and White Diamond isolated herself from others to maintain a perfect image (does not excuse their genocidal actions in the past, again just my observations). Lots of the Gems suffered some form of trauma in “Steven Universe” and “Steven Universe: The Movie” and were able to move on from it with the help of Steven.

This time it is Steven’s turn to face his trauma in “Steven Universe: Future”. Steven is known as the problem solver and using empathy and kindness to help others. In “Steven Universe” he can handle tough situations and help Gems to move on or/and cope with their trauma. However, this is due to the problems his mother has caused and was a target of Homeworld. He has faced attempted assassinations, identity crises, family drama, and adult situations which can be so much for a child. With the support of his family and friends and his empathetic and kind nature, he either brushes off these problems off to save everyone or deals with these terrible situations with a support system. However, with Era 3 peace time and losing his purpose to save others in “Steven Universe: Future”, he is now dealing with his past and the trauma is manifesting into his behavior.

“Steven Universe: Future” is not the only time he has faced traumatic experiences. There are many episodes in “Steven Universe” where Steven had to face serious situations. “We Need to Talk” Steven clutched his Gem after witnessing Connie and Greg fist bump over shared experience with Gem related knowledge. Steven is a hybrid of a Gem and human and feels alone because he is one of a kind. “Mindful Education” he bottled up his feelings of failure to save others and it started to appear as hallucinations when fused as Stevonnie. He was only able to confront those feelings when talking to Connie and her reassurance to Steven that it is okay to feel bad made him feel better. “Storm in the Room” he confronts his mother (more of a hologram AI) about questioning her motives and damage she caused. The room reassures Steven that his existence was purely out of love to bring life not to fix problems unrelated to him. In “Lion 4: Alternative Ending”, he is frantically trying to find his magical destiny or purpose. After watching a second version of the Rose video, Greg tells Steven there is no destiny for him and Steven realizes his mother just wants Steven to live his own life how he wants it. “So Many Birthdays” he aged rapidly because he felt silly liking childish things and starts aging rapidly. It was not until the Gems started bickering, did he realize he can still like things deemed childish. There are episodes I am missing where he dealt with adult situations and Steven starts to have recollections of his past in “Growing Pains”, but the main purpose is Steven has faced traumatic events affecting him but is able to deal with them because he talked it out or it never bothered him.

When the movie came out, he accomplished restructuring Gem society and creating Little Homeworld for Gems, uncorrupted and Homeworld, to help integrate into Earth society. Everything seemed like the usual happily ever after until Spinel comes in injecting bio-poison into the Earth and rejuvenating the Crystal Gems and Steven. He and the Crystal Gems had to restart, literally, and figure out everything with limited use of his powers. Spinel was a tough character to help, especially when she spiraled downward when Steven left her for a few seconds, and she became angry and started fighting. After fighting Spinel, tiring her out and resolving the conflict, destroying the injector, having the Diamonds take Spinel back to Homeworld, and fixing the damage, it seemed like everything is at peace again.

“Steven Universe: Future” shows how Steven and everyone else is after times of peace. However, something is different with Steven in this mini epilogue series. Once he realizes people are doing fine without him, he is losing his purpose and feels like is friends and family are drifting away. There have been some incidents where Steven had to save the day, but it was solved quickly and he is used to life-threatening situations. The recurring theme or problem of the series is Steven feeling disconnected with everyone because they do not need his help and does not know what to do with his future. We also see trauma resurfacing from this past and he is unwilling to share or get help for it. Steven is dealing with trauma from the past, closing himself off from friends and family, having self-doubt and feelings of being left behind, and suffering from the over-bearing responsibilities and facing life-threatening situations from having a savior complex. He has devoted himself to helping others and is used to chaos surrounding Gem related conflict. There is no other way for him to communicate without helping someone and with no conflict outside his own, he can’t talk to other people normally anymore. In the recent episode “Growing Pains” Dr. Maheswaran explains Steven about childhood trauma is starting to affect his body in dealing with stress. Because he has been in so many life-threatening situations in the past, Steven’s body is reacting to mild stress as life-threatening and activating his powers in extreme ways. It did not seem to have been a problem until Connie’s rejection in “Together Forever” is triggering his body to act as if his life is in danger very much like PTSD. With Dr. Maheswaran’s honest and factual explanation on trauma to Steven and his father as a support maybe he can try to recover. Depending on how the Crewniverse decides to end, it will resolve in Steven figuring himself out and learning to heal himself from the trauma to start moving forward and to the future.

The epilogue series portrays a very important concept of trauma: everyone can suffer from trauma. Are there people affected from severe trauma far worse than others? Yes. Does that make it okay to invalidate mild or moderate trauma depending on person’s background, personality and resources? No. Coming from personal experience and the few reactions I have seen on Steven’s behavior from the series, trauma affects anyone regardless of the person. There are people who can better themselves with more resources then others such as a support system, therapy, self-care, awareness, and coping mechanisms. Some have access to these resources and others may not, but it still does not change the fact anyone can suffer from trauma. There were a few times I saw posts remarking the change in Steven’s character. In “Steven Universe”, Steven was an optimistic and empathetic kid who solved other’s problems through communication. When “Steven Universe: Future” aired, some fans commented negatively on Steven’s inability to communicate well with others anymore and isolating himself due to fear of his friend and family drifting away. His savior complex, especially the need to save others, is causing him to not talk with others about his own problems because he has needs validation from fixing other’s problems. Steven is starting to develop depression and PTSD from his past and the trauma is manifesting and showing. It is not surprising he would go from a happy-go-lucky kid to a teenager suffering from trauma and not talking to others about his problem. He has been through so much as a child; learning about his mother’s identity and past, resolving conflict from his mother’s mistakes, fixing the Crystal Gem’s issues, heal corruption, almost killed multiple times, and restructuring Gem society. It would be shocking if he was still happy with his life, especially after the fight scene with Spinel. Despite being positive during conflicts, he usually pushes aside his own problems to fix others and it is starting to take a toll on him when there are no more problems to fix and he questions his worth. The Crystal Gems are trying to help him, but he cannot open to them because he must be Steven, savior of the galaxy, not Steven, a teen suffering from trauma and unwillingness to confront his past. Steven does have a support system and still has some of his positive traits but even so, he is denying his trauma and not looking for the help he needs. “Steven Universe: Future” shows that no matter one’s background, severity of trauma, personality, and resources, anyone can suffer from trauma. Trauma does not have to define who you are but how you deal with it does. Many suffer from guilt or shame of trauma due to stigma of specific people suffering trauma, comparisons of trauma, and personality traits determining who trauma affects. No one’s trauma should be invalidated but should be supported and treated as real. It’s okay to talk about it and to get help but the only way to do that is if the person suffering wants to get help. Rebecca Sugar and the Crewniverse have demonstrated the importance of recognizing that anyone can suffer from trauma and the best way to heal is self-awareness and accepting help from others.

This post was both difficult and exhausting to write. I was getting anxious a lot and had to take breaks writing this. It took a few days to write and get my thoughts in order before suddenly feeling uncomfortable and taking breaks. Below is a story/reason as to why I wanted to write this post. I cut it because it is really personal to share but I feel comfortable sharing it now. You don’t have to read it which is another reason why it is hidden. Just wanted to tell my story related to this post.

The reason I wrote this post was from the negative backlash from some fans expressed about Steven in “Steven Universe: Future” because of his behavior. Steven is dealing with trauma and an identity crisis and does not talk about it to the Crystal Gems or anyone else. Some fans critic this change in behavior because in “Steven Universe” he was always so positive and used communication to solve his problems. I was getting a bit distraught by this until one of my favorite theorists/reviewer/editor (will not name), tweeted about how Steven has been through a lot as kid, someone as positive as Steven can still suffer from trauma, and his current behavior is related to how he is dealing with losing his purpose and trauma. I cannot find the tweet as it was long ago, but it inspired me to make a post about how anyone can suffer from trauma. Even if the person is positive and has dealt with issues/situations in the past, trauma can change a person, especially ones who help others more then they help themselves and how to deal with certain situations.

I relate to Steven a lot throughout the series. Although Peridot is my favorite character, Steven from the original series, the movie, and the epilogue series, is the character I see myself. With “Steven Universe: Future” I can see myself in Steven even more, especially during my college years. Throughout my childhood I was always the positive child/teen who was able to make friends easily and not afraid to show who I am. I was not popular but lots of people liked me for some reason and I just rolled with it. I always liked helping others with their problems and it did not bother me as I liked being the friend who helped. My sophomore year, I started dating a girl online (I saw her on webcam before to see if she was real) and we clicked and started talking a lot. Things started to go well and my life seemed pretty good despite the stress of school.

About 5 years ago, something happened. I had a friend, let’s call him X, who I started reconnecting with. He was in the Marines and stationed in Japan so we mostly face timed when we could. X told me he was diagnosed with mild schizophrenia and was being discharged from the military. I knew he seemed a bit upset and I thought hanging out would cheer him up. At first, it seemed he was happy, and we mostly just stayed at my place and watched anime. However, X started to drink and exhibit weird behavior. The first time he drank in my apartment, he was yelling, clinging to me, and throwing stuff. A friend of mine came over and X threw a can at him which triggered my friend’s PTSD. The day after, I apologized to my friend and told X to not drink in front of me. About a week later he came over and started drinking again. His excuse was it was hard liquor this time and it makes him act different. Instead of being physically aggressive, he was emotionally aggressive. He talked about his troubles, thoughts, and feelings which shouldn’t be a bad thing. But it was a bit too much for me to where I started crying and he held me and said sorry. The next day I told him to seriously not drink the next time we meet. Around a couple months later, I get sick with a nasty head cold, but was going to an anime movie with X and two other friends. He came to my place a couple hours before the movie to prep but saw I was sick and took care of me. Everything seemed fine and we went to dinner and talked. Then he stepped outside for a long time and when he came back, he said he was talking to someone from the VA which is why it took so long. We get our seats for the movie and enjoying ourselves. Half way through the movie X starts spitting at random, questioning the logics of the movie in a rude manner, and being extremely clingy. We didn’t know why until we smelled alcohol from his breath and saw an opened lemonade bottle. Once we exited the theatre, X started yelling at my friend who was shielding me and throwing soda cans at random. My friend took me to her place, and I called his parents to pick him up before I called the police. The next day I texted him I could not be friends with him anymore because he broke my trust and he needed professional help. X texted back saying I did not want to deal with his problem making me a bad friend and just listening to my friend’s opinions instead of my own. He told me he was getting help but I was hurt by his words and decided to end our friendship because of his toxic behavior. I have not spoken to him for over 5 years now.

I was around 20 when this happened. I was comfortable telling my story about what happened, and that the decision was the right one and necessary. The truth was I felt guilty about what happened. I am the one who helps others before helping myself and cutting one of my good friends off and not helping him when he needed it most was making me depressed. I started going to bars with my friends less and had a strict role that there was no drinking in my place. But I suffered more from it. My apartment started to become a complete mess which attracted cockroaches and a smell so foul my neighbors in the whole complex could smell it. My diet consisted of take out and junk food which may be one of the main causes of gastritis a couple years ago. I stopped drinking and became the prude and boring of the friend group and I started isolating myself because I was no fun. I became distant with my partner and started having negative thoughts I never had before. I never told anyone about my problems because people would compare theirs to mine. I do have a privileged life and at a young age learned that other’s problems were far worse than I am, and my problems are nothing compared to theirs because I have it better. That comparison led me to keep my problems private and divert my feelings in a forced positive way. It was not until my fear of eviction and losing my cats did I start to ask for help. My friend helped me clean my entire apartment before inspection and lots of people reassured me that my problems mattered because they are my problems no matter the severity. I am a bit more open about my problems, but I can hide my emotions or brush it off. I am still working on that.

“Steven Universe” the franchise has helped me through a lot. The original series helped me connect with others and deal with my own problems. I was able to relate to the characters and some of my positivity came back. It even inspired me to both pursue psychological research and start drawing and poetry. However, I still felt guilty for cutting off my friend. Until “Steven Universe: The Movie” came out. After watching the movie and reading interviews, I felt a sense of relief. Seeing Steven trying to help Spinel multiple times despite her toxic behavior made me see the same incident that happened with X. Spinel realizing she is hurting the wrong person and deciding to heal on her own gave me something X never did: it was not my fault and sometimes the person has to heal themselves without you. I finally had closure on my guilt and was able to move forward. “Steven Universe: Future” I can relate to Steven more than anybody on the show right now. When hearing some negative backlash in the beginning of the series, it reminded me of people who thought my problems did not matter because of my privileged life and positive personality. Steven is bottling up his emotions and trauma like I did and it is affecting him. It is not until later in the series, do we see that his childhood was more traumatic then we realized and his affecting his actions and emotions in the present. Even Rebecca Sugar in an interview opened up about her trauma in the past that affected her in the present that inspired “Growing Pains”. I did the same and hardly opened up about my real feelings. I am even trying to get therapy for my issues and turning to my partner and friends for support. With people seeing Steven suffering from his trauma, I am hopeful it will let people know anybody can suffer from trauma and it can affect people despite background and personality. If you read my story thank you for reading and this is just my opinion on the show and story on a part of my life.

59 notes · View notes

bluewatsons · 4 years

Text

Ann Neumann, Family Care for All, 51 The Baffler (April 2020)

Supporting the work that makes all other work possible

Once the coronavirus pandemic began to shut down American businesses earlier this year, it wasn’t long before Congress passed a massive stimulus package to prop up major industries and extend loans to small businesses. By the end of March, well over ten million people filed for unemployment compensation. At the same time, entire segments of the labor force went untouched by emergency bailouts and social insurance. One of the largest such groups consists of domestic care laborers: home health care workers, disability aides, nannies, housekeepers, and cleaners.

They are the workers who scrub our toilets, fold our laundry, and care for our children and aging parents. They are often paid in cash and for the most part work without basic labor protections. There are, according to the National Domestic Workers Alliance, about two million of these workers in the United States, and even in “good” economic times, they struggle to support their families. (By comparison, there are more than three million farmworkers—another group mostly written out of the protections of labor law.) Many face ever-expanding job descriptions: nannies doing laundry and cleaning, home health aides picking up groceries for their patients. Some experience chronic discrimination or sexual assault; trafficking is a known problem. They have no sick leave, no job security, no health insurance. Now they face joblessness or else the risk of contagion if they continue to work during the pandemic.

Few organizations focus on the rights of these workers[*]. Many maids, nannies, and cleaners work for individual families instead of companies, so they are not in a position to join a union or bargain collectively for better wages and benefits.

Even before the pandemic, domestic workers subsisted in an economic system showing multiple stresses: a rapidly growing elder population; childcare that may be barely affordable for middle-class families, let alone for the workers who serve them; a bloated and byzantine health care industry that is inaccessible to at least thirty million Americans; immigration policies that penalize the very people who are holding our families and households together. Now we face a reckoning: some of the most invisible workers in America are, in fact, essential. If we are going to rebuild the economy, it will take more than corporate bailouts. It will require visionary changes to labor law—and social insurance—that recognize how important domestic care workers are to a functioning and humane society.

I Really Do Care, Don’t U?

Such a vision has been taking shape over the last thirteen years at the National Domestic Workers Alliance, which advocates for the rights of those who care for our homes and children and parents, striving to make domestic jobs into quality jobs, with the pay and protections necessary to support those who are getting a foothold on the economic ladder. With four local chapters, sixty affiliate organizations, and a presence in nineteen states, their movement is driven by the idea that our social and health challenges can be solved with innovative social policies that bring care workers out of the dark and make the care we need affordable.

I met with the NDWA’s director, Ai-jen Poo, in mid-February when the dire urgency of the coronavirus was still a few weeks away. We spotted each other in the lobby of a workspace in lower Manhattan and had a brief hug. Poo seemed unchanged since the time we first met as co-presenters at a New York University event about a decade ago. She is steady, direct, and in all likelihood one of the most informed persons in America about the real-life concerns of domestic workers, who she has been organizing for nearly two decades. In 2014 she won a MacArthur Genius Grant and used it to write a book, The Age of Dignity: Preparing for the Elder Boom in a Changing America, which came out a year before my own book on end-of-life care.

Poo and I talked about how the NDWA has grown, the challenges of advocacy in the Trump era, and a sweeping, practical solution to the care crisis in the United States—one that is even more compelling now that the old jerry-rigged system seems to be crumbling. For several years, she has been imagining such a plan: “Our solution is called Universal Family Care,” Poo tells me—a social insurance fund that we all contribute to but also benefit from, one that provides childcare, long-term care, and paid family leave. “It will totally revolutionize how we take care of each other,” she says. “It’s like putting a new infrastructure in place to support family life in the twenty-first century.”

Many Americans assume that Medicare covers long-term care, but it does not. So it’s frustratingly common for elders to arrive at the point of crisis without a plan. “It’s a tragedy,” Poo says. “Most people have nothing in place, and they end up spending down their resources, completely impoverishing themselves, to be eligible for Medicaid.” While Medicare covers health care for all older Americans, Medicaid was created for those in poverty—and it was never intended as a long-term care program.

By socializing the costs of care, a Universal Family Care fund would prove durable enough to even out the risks and expenses. Social insurance works best when you have a massive pool and, as Poo notes, “there’s no bigger pool than American families.”

The Caretaker Diaries

In my years as a hospice volunteer, I met many women who care for elders in their final days. Maria, with her long nails and quick laugh, was paid so little that she would often stay overnight in the abandoned nanny’s room at our patient’s house so she wouldn’t have to pay for transportation from the Upper West Side to Brooklyn. Maxi had chronic back pain from hoisting our patient out of a chair and out of the shower. Both were hired for a limited job—assisting the patient with daily activities—that over time began to include cooking, cleaning, and picking up groceries on their way to work. When our patient died, Maria and Maxi were out of work and grieving.

The cost of this kind of round-the-clock care is enormously expensive, even for elders who have savings and other resources, which presents the immediate challenge—absent the national fund envisioned by the NDWA—of providing caregivers with a living wage without bankrupting families.

This necessitates changing our culture to view domestic labor as deserving of all the protections and benefits other kinds of labor enjoy. “The cultural devaluing of domestic work is a reflection of a hierarchy of human value that defines everything in our world,” Poo once said in a TED Talk, “a hierarchy that values the lives and contributions of some groups of people over others, based on race, gender, class, immigration status—any number of categories.” When I ask her how this hierarchy specifically devalues care, she evokes the words of actor and caregiving advocate David Hyde Pierce, who opened his moderation of a panel at the White House a few years ago with the reminder that “to age is to live, and to care is to be human.”

It’s a truth that is nonetheless warped by prejudice, Poo says, by “hierarchies that value the lives and contributions of men over women, of white people over people of color.” Because domestic work and caregiving have for so long been associated with women, the work has been discredited, its importance denied or made invisible. “It’s seen as not having any real value in the economy or culture,” Poo notes. NDWA is hoping to change that by bringing these workers out of the dark as part of a concerted push for a federal Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights that will codify the value of these essential laborers and grant them the necessary protections.

“We are bringing all the tools and all the creativity we have to do this work,” Poo told The New York Times Magazine last year. “We are in a moment where we can either shape the future and be part of how this whole thing unfolds, or we can be victims of it, the way that we have been for generations.”

In 2010, three years after the NDWA was founded, the organization and its affiliates celebrated the passage of the first Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights in New York State. It provides protection under the New York State Human Rights Law, overtime pay after forty hours, and three paid days off per year. Through the efforts of the NDWA and other organizations like Hand in Hand, an association of domestic employers who advocate for sustainable jobs for the workers they employ, eight other states have signed similar legislation—as have the cities of Seattle and Philadelphia. With support from Senator Kamala Harris, Representative Pramila Jayapal, and others, the NDWA is now working to enshrine the protections of the Bill of Rights in federal law.

Poo sees this federal legislation as a foundation from which we can revolutionize the way care is provided in the United States. “Caregiving today is still seen as a personal burden or responsibility,” she tells me, “and if you can’t figure it out and you can’t afford it and you can’t manage it, it’s your personal failure.” Central to Poo’s work is remaking caregiving as a social challenge rather than a private shame; to articulate how vital care work is, she has called it the work that makes all other work possible. “This is a problem that the market can’t solve; this requires a collective solution, a public policy solution,” she says.

Alongside these efforts to enact policy at the state and federal level, the NDWA has launched several programs to directly improve domestic workers’ lives. They’ve set up an online service called Alia, for instance, that gives the existing clients of domestic workers a way to contribute to an affordable benefits program. For a mere five dollars per cleaning, Alia enables workers to purchase affordable insurance and access paid time off.

Priced Out

The Trump era presents a fresh challenge: the NDWA is advocating for a sector of the economy with one of the largest populations of undocumented workers during a time of mass incarceration at the border. But Poo doesn’t blanch when I ask her about advancing workers’ rights under an administration that seems hell bent on punishment and carnage. “Trump ran on building a wall and targeting immigrants,” Poo says, “blaming immigrants for the jobs crisis and crime. We knew it was going to be a very hard time for our workforce, and it has been.” But as she points out, the administration’s punitive efforts have only made the injustice more obvious and increased awareness of how border issues are connected to each of our personal lives.

At the start of the current border crisis, the NDWA helped launch Families Belong Together, a network of nearly two hundred fifty organizations working to end family separation and detention through direct action, organizing, and fundraising. Such endeavors are predicated on the interconnectedness of workers, caregivers, and families—and on building a movement that will meet everyone’s needs by making care affordable and making caregiving a sustainable job.

What’s innovative about the work Poo directs is how it orients a number of pressing issues—immigration, labor rights, the rights of women and women of color, health care quality—around the issue of domestic care. Caregiving is a core issue, not a private matter of the domestic sphere—and it is increasingly a source of crisis for families.

Exceptionally few Americans can actually afford the care that they need. So the challenge is two-fold: we have to help families pay for their care and we have to support the workforce with sustainable jobs that offer fair wages. The challenge continues to expand, but perhaps a window of opportunity is opening as well. “We have a once-in-several-generations chance to revolutionize how we support families and how we take care of the people we love,” Poo says.

One of Poo’s data points is that Baby Boomers are turning sixty-five at the rate of approximately ten thousand per day, and because they’re living longer, we will soon have the largest elder population in our country’s history. On top of that, millennial women gave birth to more than three million babies in 2018. “We need more care than ever before,” Poo notes, “and we have nothing in place, no infrastructure, no systems to support that care.” While women once provided all of the uncompensated care that elders and children needed, that hasn’t been our reality in decades.

Another factor in the care crisis is the general erosion of livable salaries; there’s no way people can afford the care they need. Nearly 40 percent of American households make less than $50,000 a year. Poo does the math for me: if the average cost of childcare is $11,000 a year and a private room in a nursing home costs more than $100,000, the numbers just don’t add up.

Fuller House

The first women who did this in-home care work as a profession in the United States were enslaved Africans. Since then, women of color, immigrant women, women of marginalized social status have been the workers in our homes, with our children, and with our elders. “And that is not an accident,” Poo notes. “In fact, it was codified into law in the 1930s.”

She’s referring to the New Deal. As Congress debated the labor laws embedded in this suite of progressive policies, Southern members refused to support any laws that included protections for domestic workers and farm workers, who were predominantly African American. Southern congressmen won out, and these two sectors were excluded. “It was an explicitly racial exclusion,” Poo says, “that has really shaped domestic work and care work in America. It’s a very concrete manifestation of the hierarchy of human value and how it gets codified into law.”

Yet what work is more fundamental to family life and social reproduction in this country? Care workers are in our homes, wiping the chins of our toddlers and parents. It is the fastest growing work force in the economy. And it’s the sector that supports every other working family. “If every domestic worker in New York decided not to go to work one day, imagine the chaos,” Poo says. “Even though that work is invisible, it is central to the operation of so many industries.”

What happens if caregivers don’t go to work one day is strikingly easy to imagine now, as New York State has decreed that all nonessential employees must work from home to prevent spread of the coronavirus. Social media reverberates with tales of mothers and fathers who are struggling with work, childcare, home schooling, and elder care all at once. And yet many caregivers continue to go to their jobs because their charges require assistance for everyday activities; the pandemic has rendered this work not only visible but “essential,” the linchpin in our social structure.

Today, domestic workers struggle to feed their own children, they suffer burn-out and experience physical and mental exhaustion, harassment and racism. And because their wages are so low, the care sector has often lost talented caregivers to better paying work like fast food or retail. But Poo sees yet another opportunity here. “There’s a tremendous amount of waste in our health care system right now,” she observes, “and a lot of it is concentrated at end of life.” I know this from my own work. As much as 25 percent of Medicare’s annual budget goes to the last year of life. Which wouldn’t be so bad if we were providing the kind of care elders needed.

“The very best prevention,” Poo tells me, “is good caregiving.” Workers who are well-paid and well-trained, workers we recognize and invest in, could be an asset to the health care system and a solution to many of its current problems—from unnecessary institutionalizations and re-hospitalizations to management of chronic illnesses and better quality of care.

The Road We’re On

You might think that the partisanship of the current political climate bodes ill for Poo and the NDWA’s vision for Universal Family Care, but caregiving is what Poo calls a “trans-partisan” issue. A recent poll conducted by Maria Shriver’s Women’s Alzheimer’s Movement and Caring Across Generations found that 71 percent of Republican voters would support a federal program to help cover the costs of caregiving. The poll focused mainly on long-term care, but support for a new government program is strong.

In March, in an op-ed for the New York Times, Poo wrote that “domestic workers and caregivers are too often asked to put the needs of the families who employ them over their own and those of their families.” Poo argues that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “should direct more of their resources toward the front-line care professionals” who work in our homes and neighborhoods because they serve as our first bulwark against damages to public health. Providing these workers, predominantly women of color, with safety equipment, testing, and information in multiple languages should have been our first step in preventing the spread of coronavirus.

“What you’re doing, because it is so big, is imaginative, it’s a creative act,” I tell Poo at the end of our conversation. “How can we envision this better future?”

“For me, it’s not hard,” Poo says. “I want people to get excited about the idea of Universal Family Care, the idea that care for families is a part of the infrastructure of the twenty-first century—like roads and bridges and tunnels are now an expected expense because they enable everything else.”

[*] Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) 1199 does not represent home health aides. This is not the case; the SEIU represents a large number of home health workers.

#labor #domestic work #domestic care laborers #labor rights #immigration #coronavirus #COVID-19 #front line workers #universal family care #family care #caretakers #domestic worker alliance

2 notes · View notes

geejaysmith · 5 years

Text

Wolf 359 Classpects, pt. 1

Soooo, while I was still busy with the last few weeks of my summer internship, I did keep thinking about classpecting the Wolf 359 cast. Possibly too much, because it wouldn't leave me alone until I'd solved my own God Tier riddle. Unfortunately, it got really long in the solving because I have many Thoughts and want to share all of them, always, so uh, a complete Classpect Analysis of Wolf 359 will be in parts? This first one covers Eiffel's, Hera's, Lovelace's and Minkowski's aspects.

DOUG EIFFEL: An utter no-brainer; ya boi Dougie Fresh is a Breath player if I ever saw one. For Chrissakes, he's the communications officer, and the first one to start complaining about the monotony of being stuck in a deep space sardine can. Breath is associated with communication, freedom, openness, and change - "free as the breeze", you might think of it, but that also leads to Breath players having trouble pinning themselves down to anything. They get skittish if they feel pinned down, and frustrated when stuck in place. Doug's noncommittal aloofness, the way he's off in his own little world (partially to hide from the fact he really does not like himself very much at all), and the way he's incorporated media into his self-perception all match pretty well with John and the Nitrams. But at the same time, he's the one playing mediator even as early as The Sound And The Fury. Being largely outside of the War Industrial Complex the other characters are so familiar with and thus mostly free from its dogmatic worldview of hierarchy and order, he's becomes the One Sane Man when he's the one to shout "what is WRONG with you people?" when "murder" shows up in the top 3 potential solutions to a problem, and he has no hesitation in saying what's on his mind. And it's not all complaints and bad ideas, either; he's got whole speeches telling the others how amazing he thinks they are and how in awe he is of their skills. A key catalyst in the plot of Wolf 359 is the reaching effects of his radio broadcasts. Also, there's something hilarious to the fact that for the aspect associated with communication, Doug *literally* cannot lie to save his life. I kept my ears open for the infamous Breath Hex on my second listen - that is, the strange little way in which things Breath players say tend to come to pass in reality. Cigarette Candy is basically 20 straight minutes of the Decima virus being Breath Hexed into existence, and he guessed Lovelace's situation in one - "Maybe she's a clone, or like a *really* good robot replica."

HERA: Another easy one. Although Hera is resistant to splintering as we've come to recognize it, Heart players are nothing if not determined to be an individual. They have a firm idea of themselves as a person and defend it fiercely, including compartmentalizing away pieces that don't fit their self-image. Maybe less actively putting them down like Jade Harley did to Jadesprite (the manifestation of the negative feelings she repressed out of fear they'd make her less useful) - that would mean attacking or denying a part of themselves - and more... "why yes, I put this part of myself in this box, and I may look at the box on occasion, the box definitely exists, but I don't go near the box and I definitely do not touch or open or interact with the box. And then one day, I will die." So that piece finds other avenues to express itself because it can't not do that. Hera's programming dictates she be "chipper and non-confrontational and always ready to help", but she actively resists being a mere utility and always has - her earliest know action was to attempt a jailbreak of the manufacturing facility she was made in, born rebel that she is. She will insist upon her name over her serial number unless you force her not to, and gets passive-aggressive at people treating her like a machine. And yet, even as she teaches herself to ignore commands literally written into the base of her personality, she doesn't reject her directive to be helpful, nor does she express a wish to be a flesh-and-blood human, or even really to have a physical form? She has a human self-image in mental spaces (we presume, I will semi-seriously point out there's nothing definitively stating she doesn't see herself as like, her fursona or something), but when she has to limit herself to a human-like view of the ship, her immediate reaction is "this is weird, I don't like it." This is honestly something about Hera that I think may be unique among non-villainous AI characters; she seems to be content with being what she is in general, and she just wishes for people to treat her as a person and not a piece of equipment they can do with as they please.

ISABEL LOVELACE: Arm-wrestled Hera for the Heart aspect and lost, despite Hera not actually having any arms, but that's okay because there's two aspects that fit her much better: Blood and Time. I ultimately went with Blood.

This is the part where you notice I'm onto the third of four characters in an aspects-only meta post, yet there is still a lot of post to go. This is because These Kinds Of Characters, the sort that're constantly on emotional lockdown, are a Challenge Mode, and for me to truly be satisfied with my classification I have to start drilling into the bedrock of what it even means to have an aspect in general, what it means to have a specific aspect, and what each aspect is really about. When you're on that level you tend to find yourself throwing out explicit expositional statements as incomplete, oversimplified, or unreliable, and looking at the text directly with a subtextual electron microscope. Brace yourselves. I have thrown the author out of the airlock, and I am about to get verbose.

Lovelace's character sheet describes her in contradictions, and we get to see two different sides to her that resolve into the complete picture by the time Lovelace Mk. III wakes up. There's Captain Isabel Lovelace, goofing around in her earlier logs, and The Terminator. She does things Her Way and is very much prepared to fight you if you object - the whole reason she was picked for the Hephaestus mission was her willingness to go against (in her words) "stupid orders" and do what she thought was right. She's also fiercely loyal; The Terminator is the end result of her anger and grief for her lost crew and at her failure to get them home alive. Her backstory episode has her summing up her complicated relationship to the Air Force with "I owe a lot of who I am to them." And even before she and Minkowski have completely stopped butting heads, Lovelace shoves her out of the way of an exploding wall panel that would've killed her, and takes a near-fatal bit of shrapnel to the gut in the process. At her best, Lovelace is a fearless, boundlessly determined, dedicated firebrand of a leader. At worst, she can be impatient, stubborn, shortsighted, and ruthless. I dunno about you but that reminds me of a certain... angry crab that I know.

"Time" was what a few people chimed in with for Lovelace and while I see some of the connections (her awareness of the time loop, "Variations on a Theme", her multiple selves and multiple deaths, the repeated motif of clocks and pocketwatches) I don't think she quite fits in with the other Time players. Unlike most Time players, she doesn't have a fixation with historic context, the "Why Things Are The Way That They Are." This manifests in Dave's paleontology and his taking of source material for ironic twisting, Aradia's archaeology and knowledge of The Nature Of The Game, Damara's... /noises and vague gestures bc I don't want to go back through Meenahbound but her role as The Handmaid fits the pattern, and Caliborn's own warped, thoughtless replication of narrative archetypes. Context. Decisions. What came before and how it shapes the now, where your decisions will take it from here. The consequences those decisions will have. The details versus the larger picture. Even failure has its place in that scheme - that's the Time aspect. Lovelace doesn't like to dwell, she's a very "barrelling forward momentum" kind of person.

Side note: Aradia, Dave, and Damara all face hesitation to take action they had to learn to overcome. Also, all of them had to be pushed to use violence except in self-defense; Aradia let Vriska cross a series of lines before beating the everloving shit out of her, and Damara snapped after what, years? Of Meenah's abuse. Dave, on the other hand, never raises a hand to another person except as a complete necessity. Caliborn is, if anything, an aberration here in that he's outright homocidal and self-doubt is something that happens to other people. Caliborn is an outright aberration to a lot of Time player patterns, and to SBURB in general, because it's SBURB, so the rules are made up and the points don't fucking matter, except when they do, because Fuck You, The Author Said So.

No, Lovelace's approach to decision-making is that regrets are for afterwards, and "if I fail I deserve to be out of this picture; also, this situation has gone entirely pear-shaped, time to fling myself into the sun." (and that sounds an awful lot like someone that I know very well, but I'll deal with that royal mess when I get to the crazy whamma-jamma that is Classes). Impatience and railroading of other people can be her undoing just the same as assertiveness and decisiveness are her gifts.

...aaand then I went ahead and watched the live episode and yeah, major Karkat vibes there. However, I note that I don't believe we have ever hit hard evidence in Homestuck that Blood players are capable of Chilling The Fuck Out - this is part of the limitations of classpecting characters who weren't made for this system, you really have to dig into how much of their behavior is situational and where you see the kernel of individual perception shine through, the Rosetta Stone by which you begin to see the constants. "Where the object becomes the subject", to quote Memoria.

Finally, I think it's also worth noting that while Lovelace has a lot of connections to Time motifs, she also has connections to a lot of Blood motifs that arguably become more important to her story. Personal bonds and social justice are two of the Blood aspects strongest associations - see Lovelace's loyalty to her crew, and extending her desire to avenge them out to everyone Goddard Futuristics has ever used and tossed aside. The physical body and literal blood are other strong associations, and gee, how many times does the O-negative Cure-All Alien Juice in Lovelace's veins become a critical plot point? Not to mention the implication that her new friends all pulled through the finale because all of them now have her blood in their system. I'll accept that she's closer to the line between Blood and Time than some, but I'm holding by ground here:

(Also, here's some irony for you, she may share an aspect with the Cancer trolls, but her birthday is August 11th, making her a Leo.)

RENEE MINKOWSKI: Minkowski was the hardest of these 4 to come to a decision on. My first inclination was Mind. Her general disposition put me in mind of a Life player. But then, I sat down and thought my way past the Commander's layers of emotional armor and ultimately settled on Light.

First off, by being a stickler for protocol and procedure as well as an Actual Responsible Adult, Minkowski is a kind of character that Homestuck straight-up just does not have, so snap judgements aren't gonna cut it here. This is, again, another limitation of the classpecting system - all the examples we have to draw from are teenage disasters stuck in a lawless hellscape of some description or another, and written by an author allergic to boxing himself in with hard conclusions. But I digress.

Commander Minkowski is also stubborn. When she sets her mind to something, she digs in her heels, cranks the dial to 11, and then breaks off the knob and pockets it so you can't turn it back down. We see this as soon as episode 2, and at it's most hyperbolic when she Captain Ahabs the plant monster. Her's is iron-willed, bloody-minded, unstoppable, Determi-fucking-nation - when she sets her mind to it.

The submarine thought exercise is what had me initially lock her down as a hero of Mind before I mulled it over. The exercise is meant to provoke thought about priorities - what you think your role's purpose is in that situation will determine your priorities, and thus, your decisions. Mind heroes' most prominent skills are in riding the flow of causality, watching decisions, their causes and their consequences, and directing that path. They know people, and how to direct people. But the need for this means that they can get a little co-dependent. Other people are understandable - it's themselves that Mind heroes have the greatest struggle with. Without that vehicle of another person, Mind heroes may find themselves adrift and struggling to define themselves. This is fitting, given Mind is the most direct counterpart to the Heart aspect.

However, upon further examination, I found that this framework of priorities setting your decisions can also be extended to the Light aspect. What is "lucky" in a given situation? What do you define as a fortunate outcome? Rose arguably gets Grimdark'd by something like this, she asks the cue ball "are the horrorterrors evil?" and in doing so attempts to pry into the motivations and intent of *indescribable eldritch beings existing on a nigh-incomprehensible plane* and wedge it down into a relative human understanding of morality, which is sort of like trying to fit the Pacific Ocean into a water bottle. She was trying to deduce what impact the horrorterrors would have upon her and her friends, but asked the wrong question and got an answer she couldn't handle. She didn't recognize Doc Scratch was baiting her into this by leading her into a specific framework through which to ask the question. Vriska died because of her failure to recognize she was in a situation where luck didn't matter. Aranea got trounced because of her inability to recognize that reshuffling reality to prioritize herself and her preferred outcomes still didn't overcome the fundamental nature of timelines - you try to take over the alpha timeline with an insubordinate branch? That's a doomed timeline no matter how you slice it, and we know what happens to those. Luck and knowledge are both used by the Light-bound to give themselves power, whether in showing themselves off as The Smart One or the The Helpful One or The Unstoppable One, but their limited viewpoint often leads them to overlook the limitations of their own framework, or in other words, missing the bigger picture. I'll point out here also how Minkowski has the entire DSSPPM memorized and is the one who wants to get to the bottom of whatever the hell is really going on up at Wolf 359. Additionally, one of her other ambitions, at least once upon a time, was writing musicals. The verbal arts are one of the domains of Light players.

So while on the surface, Minkowski bears the most resemblance to a Life player, Life players tend to have an element of conformity to them. Unquestioned assumptions they've internalized have about the context in which they exist. Light heroes, on the other hand, need conformity so they have something to defy when they jump up and down screaming LOOK AT ME!

So after much pontificating, I came to a decision. In the end, what Minkowski wanted more than anything else was a stage. Maybe to direct rather than hold the spotlight, but still; that's a Light hero if ever I saw one.

#wolf 359 #homestuck #classpect meta #holy crossover batman #wolf 359 classpects

28 notes · View notes

aceyugiohdreamer · 5 years

Note

Hey! (I'm the anon dude who asked about your Judai hatred) So I'm currently gradually catching up in my watch on VRAINS, and I just finished EP34. The whole badly animated episode made me quite uncomfortable because of its more blatant fanservice that sucked the episode's obviously weak budget. But when I reached the end to see Aoi's persona violently crushed head first on the ground, it made the feminist within me feel REALLY uncomfortable watching this. (1/2 or 3, I dunno)

Hey again! Thanks for coming back! I’m putting the rest under a cut because I ended up having quite a bit to say lol …

I know what I’m watching, a kid showtarget towards nippon boys and mostly otaku, and even the original mangacommitted the original Dark Magician Girl sin first, but now that the show ispurely a TCG commercial, I guess there’s not much moral left. I vigorously hatethe previous two shows but actually surprised myself enjoying VRAINS, knowingwhat it is, as I usually don’t watch anime. But after reading about somedragging Japanese idol assault case on my feed today, (2/3)

this episode really strikes me… Idon’t see many YGO fans that I relate too online, and I only found your blogrecently, but I wondered what you opinion on this would be (?) , what yourreaction at the time of the ep’s broadcast was (?) , being a queer duelist too- if I may label you as such without intended offense. Maybe I’m just gettingtoo old for anime as a mid-20s guy, but this Blue Angel character’s fucked,whilst the Aoi side is the most decent female since early Aki.. Opinion? (3/3)

(I’m definitely not offended by“queer”, I like the word, so you are more than welcome to use it with me ^^)

Ughhhh what a topic. Frankly, Ican’t really name anything about yugioh that has ever felt feminist to me, andvrains is no exception. I had some hopes in the very beginning that Aoi wasgoing to be a respectable (and respected, by the narrative) character, but those hopes were dashed pretty quickly and it’s only gottenworse as the show has gone on. She was set up to be a strong duelist, but thenquickly got demoted to damsel who’s not allowed to be on par with the amazingprotagonist. She gets lip service from characters who say she’s good, but wedon’t get to see it on screen, which is a problem.

And I don’t understand idol culture,so that whole persona of hers really turned me off. It’s not just that Ipersonally don’t like that kind of hyper-feminine aesthetic, it was also thatthey directly tied that aesthetic with a character that the writers seemeddeliberately determined to weaken and fetishize. She’s only allowed to havecute, frilly female monsters, and in any duel that matters to the plot, sheloses most of the time, which just continues this association betweenfemininity and weakness. Aoi/her Blue avatars are mostly meant to be eye candyand waifus, and it’s so fucking frustrating.

To be honest, I tend to forget a lotof details from vrains after I’ve watched an episode because I’m just not incrediblyinvested in it, so I don’t put much effort into trying to remember it. I justremember what happens to stick, and I don’t think about it much. I’m mostlyonly watching out of some kind of nostalgic love for the original, not out of agenuine love for vrains itself, even though I do enjoy it on some level.

So I had to google which episodenumber 34 was to remember the scene you mentioned. And yeah, I feel you, thephysical abuse Aoi endures in this show comes across as brutal in a way thatfeels different from the trauma Yusaku went through. What he went through wasfucked up too, but it’s been presented as the catalyst for him becoming strongand focused and justice-oriented. With Aoi, her defeats are spectacles,sometimes given lavish attention, and they don’t seem to lead to anysubstantial development for her. She gets a few superficial changes, but thenarrative still treats her as second-class and expendable, because ultimatelyher development doesn’t have much impact on the overall story.

I don’t really remember how I feltat the time I first saw the episode, but I’m pretty sure it was something alongthe lines of an annoyed sigh, because it was just so disappointing andpredictable at the same time. Of course she lost. It’s just Blue Angel afterall, why would she be important enough to defeat an enemy? (At least a maleone. She does win against the one other female character in the enemy camp,because THAT’S allowed apparently.)

I don’t think the violent manner ofher defeat struck me at the time, but seeing it again and in that context ofactual idols getting assaulted, it does feel pretty gross. It’s always felt tome like idols are presented as public property and not human beings deservingof dignity and agency, and they perform specifically to draw out love fromtheir fans to encourage them to obsess and feel possessive of them. So when yousee a fictional idol getting physically hurt like that, it does smack of thatidea that idols exist for the emotions of their fans. If Blue Angel gets hurt,it’s because the writers are hoping to get an emotional reaction, not becausethey plan on using it for any substantial purpose. So yeah, anything having todo with Aoi makes the feminist in me cringe, but I went through that with Akitoo and I’ll still never forgive the writers for how they ruined her.

I wanted to like Aoi, but they justcouldn’t resist making a mockery of her and dropping any potential she had tobe a character that actually mattered.

And I totally agree that the show feelslike an ongoing TCG commercial. That’s why I only half payattention to the duels because I can’t keep up with them anymore. I don’t remember the originalfeeling this way, and maybe that was because a lot of the monsters felt likecharacters themselves and actually played an emotional role in the players’ lives, whereaswith vrains, there’s no relationship between players and their monsters. It’sall about their relationship with vrains and the AIs. The cards have become simple tools now with no heart and soul and meaning to them.

(and if you want to keep talking about this, you’re more than welcome to message me on chat, or keep sending anons, whatever works for you, it’s all good ^^)

#asked #Ky says

1 note · View note

felixluis · 6 years

Text

A Few Quick Tips to Help You Find the Best SEO Company

In case you are tired of listening to the term SEO (search motor optimization) maybe you ought concentrate on SMO. Most SEOs use third-party tools to figure out exactly what people are looking for, exactly how users are looking for issues, and use that to boost their content. SEOs have understood user lookup intent to fall broadly straight into the following categories and generally there is an excellent post upon Moz about this. The phrase "SEO" can also refer to "Search Engine Optimizer". To get more exposure within visual searches, make sure that will likes, shares and comments upon social media posts all have got SEO relevance. Because there was a great deal of positive reviews and I am just along the way of understanding local SEO and local company lead generation online. The firm offers excellent SEO packages that will help rank the clients' web site within top three pages associated with search engine pages. Google's always tweaking its search algorithms, so there is no guarantee that SEO techniques that worked in the past will keep doing work in the future. The particular growth of Google's featured little, voice search, Local SEO, plus PPC gives better lead in order to diverting traffic to your web site as compared to the natural listing.

Within 2017, the quantity of Search engines searches coming from mobile improved to more than That designed that lots of companies experienced to scramble to make their own pages responsive to mobile gadgets, and local SEO came more into the limelight. Local SEO is a methods of marketing to a focused local market using the particular keywords that they use whenever completing local searches. Image scaling helps to enhance the website speed also which usually helps for better SEO position. The particular downside for this blog will be that Google isn't always prepared to publish the answers to any or all the questions SEOs have. If you are usually not already checking, prepping, plus changing your website to possess an optimized mobile speed within 2018 likely your SEO will certainly take a significant hit. This year, focus your own efforts on voice search, customization, engagement and don't forget in order to consider ‘mobile' in your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy. Going ahead SEOs need to be capable to quantitatively show the worth of their online marketing simply by identifying and implementing Key Efficiency Indicators (KPIs) which will show the worth added by their particular SEO initiatives. Using his exclusive connections in the business planet, he helps ecommerce brands develop their audience through influencers, inbound links, on-page search optimization and specialized SEO -- all rank their brands higher on Google. Whether or not we are talking site acceleration, personalized SEO, or even Google's RankBrain, we are still speaking about delivering the best probable experience to the user. In the year 2018, the particular SEO marketers will change their particular game and will definitely change their focus beyond the position and revenue issues. 1 SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION may target different kinds associated with search, including image search, movie search, academic search, 2 information search, and industry-specific vertical research engines. From my perspective SEO people are going to have the harder time ranking this 12 months than last based on almost all the changes that are taking place. I do find though that will Content is still king plus putting plenty of articles out that will hit your target market's lovely spot could be the way to move. A effective SEO effort needs to shift beyond building content to position on highly searched keywords plus should possess a heavy concentrate on providing answers for styles of unique queries that a lot of people might search simply by voice. The particular digital marketing landscape is continuously changing, and SEO is less likely to be the exception within 2018. Even as we all know it, Search engines has always been mysterious regarding revealing a clear list associated with the ranking factors, so SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION managers need to be inquisitive, cogitative, and sharp-witted to discover the right solutions and create their strategies successful. Lower-quality content can severely impact the accomplishments of SEO, in 2018. These types of factors may involve site content material strategy and its user relevance, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION optimization, length of time considering that online presence was established and even more. In the next 12 months, we are going to see that this focus will be upon mobile SEO, featured snippets, tone of voice search optimization, content marketing, interpersonal media, user experience, and AI and machine learning. Now you should to finish off this off-page SEO techniques guide. In the success story associated with a website, both design plus search engine optimization (SEO) have fun with an important role as their own work is vital for the successful online presence. Since the onset associated with Google's Knowledge Graph SEO's about the globe are usually in a madness marking up their websites along with semantic markup. As it will be still the beginning of 2018, it will be exciting in order to find out these and some other SEO trends emerge as the particular year progresses. This is just going to be a little more popular therefore an SEO prediction for 2018 is that websites that normally are not reachable by voice searches may lose some of their search positions. What SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION does in a nutshell is usually convert all your web or even forum pages into a great deal more user friendly links, which usually in turn can then end up being indexed by search engines significantly easier and faster. In essence that without proper keyword research, you simply cannot nail local on-page SEO - or any type of SEO as an example. And you can see the section on where you can use key words for more information on integrating these keywords into your SEO content strategy. According to a research conducted by BrightEdge, a chief in SEO and content efficiency suggests that 57% of visitors as of now comes through smartphones and tablets. On the other hand, SEOs have to understand what our own customers are searching for after which create awesome, relevant, quality content material for them. Without quality links, your web page will probably not rank quite high in search, even if a person have excellent copy or make use of every other SEO ranking element out there. Within case your website is produced up of lower-quality doorway kind pages using old SEO-techniques (which more and more labelled because spam in 2018) then Search engines will not index all associated with the pages and your internet site ‘quality score' is probably heading to be negatively impacted. Voice search is another a single of the latest trends within SEO that will be impacting search engine optimization in 2018. Mobile SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION will be a high priority within 2018. While hyperlinks are still important and really incredibly hard to rank nicely without links from all additional websites, content and on-page SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is becoming increasingly important. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) allows you to place your own website in front of your own target market without having in order to pay a single dime. It is important in order to keep your website and the particular users updated to get a good SEO ranking factor. Numerous of these so-called 'tweaks' include advertising and link-gathering, and We use SEO and article advertising for that. Due to the fact they're usually easier to position for than Head or Entire body Keywords, many SEOs focus upon Long Tail Keywords. In this particular post, we'll be looking from 10 Tools that are possibly for keyword research, competitor analysis, rank tracking, and backlink. Within 2018, SEO can be described as helping a website end up being easily found across the whole internet and not simply concentrating on rankings in search motors.

Excellent rule in my SEO agency which usually i instill in all our clients which is ‘if a person want your business top associated with Google, it must DESERVE in order to rank top of Google'. At the same time, the growth of voice search and virtual assistants can become an ideal basis for your development of artificial intelligence systems as well as the promotion of those SEO strategies that take into account current trends. Within the below-mentioned publish, I did drop my key word SEO” in the beginning by itself. Alexatmedia is an marketing agency with 5 years' encounter In E-Marketing Field, We are usually using that technology to improve any kind of business plus help the business owners in order to be in the first of most them Competitors, Alexatmedia with the professional team had all the particular secrets to accomplish that, using Interpersonal Media and search engine optimisation (seo), web designs, web advancement, mobile app designs, mail marketing”, Alexatmedia leading your business in order to the top. Regarding this post, we decided in order to include some top digital marketing and advertising blogs that aren't hard-core SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. She provides some awesome tips on SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION for voice search, including thinking of how people ask questions plus understanding local queries and intention. In addition, when it comes to Nearby SEO, long-tail keywords become actually more important. Nearby SEO will play a excellent role in mobile searches is definitely all about content. That's why optimizing your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION technique for voice search nowadays is of vital importance. To rest guaranteed that the right SEO Organization has been selected, the prior projects must be looked in. See the search positions of the projects on the particular top search engines. Adapting to tone of voice search in your SEO technique calls for careful attention in order to the keywords you try in order to rank for. In other words, content and hyperlinks will still be the creating blocks of SEO in 2018. From the above-mentioned information, crafting link-worthy content seemed in order to be the winning choice, since chosen by 35. 2% associated with the 100+ participants as properly as the close runner-up choice came out to become : guest blogging on sites along with high Domain Authority for creating reliable backlinks gaining 30. 8%. Outreaching top influencers of the particular niche to write articles and insert links in this; bagged the support of twenty one. 3% of the SEO specialists, whereas the option of damaged backlink although being highly efficient in white-hat SEO practices obtained the selection rate of twelve. 7% of the total sharers in the survey. Causing, new SEO trends of 2018 are evolved. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION today, particularly link building, is about relationships because ranking highly demands quality links from authoritative web sites. Well right now there are more than enough affects of SEO but the almost all worth mentioning impacts of this are typically consisted of improved website visibility, availability of natural traffic, rapid sales volume, prolonged return on investment (ROI), inexpensive business promotion and marketing, improved website exposure and awareness, enduring business identity development, and competing edge over the other companies in the global marketplace. Power Suggestion: Like with a blog write-up, I've found that you obtain a slight video SEO increase by putting your keyword with the beginning of the name. The good news is definitely that there are plenty associated with excellent tools you can make use of to tackle SEO and get the data you need in order to improve your rankings. Once the article is drafted up, it's time for an SEO check always via Yoast (WordPress Plugin). There are usually many guides out there upon the web which can end up being found quite easy using Search engines like a search tool to discover them, which will explain just how you can SEO your web site yourself "DIY". But more than time, SEOs have identified several of the factors they think about when ranking a page. Another post of attention might be this one: nine Ways to Use Heatmaps in order to Improve Your SEO” Ways shown include to determine the perfect length of your articles plus its structure, to improve inner links, and to boost conversion rate. It's a complicated and usually expensive process but, as along with social listening, the goal will be for SEO experts, business experts, and entrepreneurs to be capable to map how websites web page link to one another and extrapolate larger SEO trends and development opportunities. User encounter signals are a major SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking factor once your articles reaches the very first web page of Google. Within short, content and links may still be the foundation associated with SEO in 2018. SEO or Search Engine Optimization is called the steps you consider to make sure you are usually ranked highly in the research engines like google when somebody searches for a related expression, such as "how to prevent my dog from barking". Hopefully this article has assisted inform you of all the particular things you need to understand about the upcoming SEO styles for 2018! These are a few associated with the SEO trends which may yield greater results in SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION in 2018. In reaction, she lists multiple SEO misconceptions related to content and attempts to clear them up in order to ensure that people can advantage from the best of SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION without needing to deal along with the dregs. Clearly, there are a quantity of new SEO trends shifting to the forefront in 2018. SEO at the end associated with the day will always depend on content and links. Thus, SEO strategy can try to create a back link profile to avoid spamming within 2018 and yes, backlink can remain an important key in order to making your company rank upon top in search ranking. A slow web site is bad not only for that end-user, it is also poor for SEO (search engine optimization), so we share some essential ways by which you may make your site load extremely fast. These types of SEO tactics could boomerang upon you and affect your rank on Google. We're the particular main one Stop for just about all your 2018 SEO marketing initiatives, so get in touch along with one of our experienced specialists today and let's plan intended for a brighter future for the particular company. Even more significantly, the tool should give a person enough data points, guidance, plus recommendations to verify whether or even not that particular keyword, or even a related keyword or lookup phrase, is an SEO fight worth fighting (and, in that case, exactly how to win). The strategies that were the simplest (reciprocal links or directory submissions) perform not work anymore, so the particular SEOs spend a lot associated with time trying different approaches. In my above illustration, the keyword that I utilized is best SEO agency within Manila The trick here is definitely to use the site: lookup operator plus the keyword : e. g. site: best Back button in Y” to generate focused discussion pages.

For instance, pictures to show which you got best position on Google's first web page for high competitive keywords would certainly definitely help to talk regarding google search optimization (SEO) tool. More significantly, you can track exactly exactly how much traffic, leads, and clients you are getting via Nearby SEO and organic search visitors. Rankwatchโ€ A simple SEO Management Platform with geo-specific results allowing users to optimize their local SEO. On-Page SEO is the particular practice of optimizing various internet pages for high rank plus earning more relevant traffic looking engines. In 2018, SEO's need to answer this question: Would We be accomplishing this if search motors didn't exist? Google's mentioned mission has been to supply worth to users, and this furthermore lies at the core associated with great SEO. Showing up during these lookup features is critical for effective SEO in 2018. Businesses, therefore, need to align their work frame plus campaigns that complement the most recent SEO updates If you are usually searching for optimizing your internet site that speaks the true vocabulary of internet marketing, e mail us All of us will be there to support you.

When creating a web site for Google in 2018, a person really need to understand that will Google has a huge associated with things it will mark websites down for, and that's generally old-school SEO tactics which are usually now classed as ‘webspam‘. White hat SEO's generally follow Google's quality guidelines. Google introduced local SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION as one of their methods some time back, but nevertheless many companies aren't embracing this particular requirement, meaning that they are usually losing out on valuable company on a daily basis. Using keyword-rich point SEO 2019 Slide for internal links is the clear sign of over-optimized web site or overly SEOed, and this will look the same as this abnormal smiley face. Voice search is one particular of the latest SEO tendencies in 2018. Consumer experience for SEO will turn out to be even more important in 2018. This could mean hyperlink acquisition, building mentions, utilizing the PR agency, building your brand name off site to have the positive effect on your web sites SEO.

Unfortunately, SEO - plus search in general - is definitely typically soloed into focusing upon The Google” and not actually considered for other tactics. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is all about providing proprietors with a positive content encounter in the right moment in their particular user journey across different systems and devices. Whichever SEO trends plus techniques you choose to make use of, it's important to keep within mind that whatever your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION approach is the underlying objective is definitely an informative plus enjoyable user experience. For this to take place a variety of local SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategies, have to be applied to get the site rated on search engines like Search engines, business directories such as Yelp, Superpages, Google My Business position etc. But before we speak more about how they function, here's what SEOs mean whenever talking about links. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and SEM will continue in order to shift as major search motors like google are continually transforming their parameters for rankings. RankBrain is more associated with a ranking signal than a good SEO masterpiece, nevertheless, it will have some effects on SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION, and can be especially helpful if users don't know fully what they're looking for, or even simply can't find the correct words to use. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION - Seo: the process associated with making your site better regarding search engines. Google announced last 12 months that RankBrain had become their particular 3rd most important ranking aspect, and our SEO predictions recommend it will grow in significance for 2018. Creating and promoting linkable property is an excellent way in order to transform your SEO through the obtain of backlinks. You can get SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION results by executing Pillar #1 and Pillar #2 well, yet backlinks are fuel on the particular fire. This way, a person and your SEO can guarantee that your site is made to be search engine-friendly from your bottom up. However, a great SEO can also help enhance an existing site. That's why SEOs are usually starting to aspect in the objective behind each search query plus optimize the content and consumer experience accordingly. As Bing's Duane Forrester said, all SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION Ranking signals revolve around articles of some kind” highlighting the particular impact good content has upon your web site. Coming up with refreshing and unique ideas day within day out is incredibly difficult, however necessary to keep your own site not only relevant plus engaging for the audience, yet optimized for search engines such as google. Soon after this article focused around a major on-page SEO factors that will impact the search ecosystem was published by Google, a debate about prominent Offpage SEO trends that can disrupt the world of SEO in 2018 sparked in the industry. Nonetheless, auditing your competitors SEO gives you new ideas on how you can grow your local business, improve its SEO, target new keywords, and beat your competition in the process of doing so. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION involves communicating aboutness” in the specific context to both individual users and technology. Google Research Console is, slowly but certainly, getting better Google's getting the much more aggressive about producing rank tracking more difficult (some rank tracking folks I'm pleasant with told me that Q4 2017 was particularly gut-punching), plus the SEO software field is definitely way, way more densely loaded with competitors than ever prior to. In this post, we all would be talking about On-Page SEO and some of the very effective ways of boosting your ratings on Search Engines. Some Webmasters will pay lots of money to a so-called professional SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION expert to have their Sites on top within the search positions. Meta keywords would end up being the least priority in rank factors in SEO. The SEO Trends associated with 2018 are turning in order to impact approach on various other professions related to Digital Marketing. These types of advanced SEO techniques might not really be the easiest to apply - they actually require even more effort than basic keyword study and link building - yet they are incredibly effective.

0 notes

unlovedaddict · 6 years

Text

A Few Quick Tips to Help You Find the Best SEO Company

In our entire world SEO needs no introduction. Carrying away technical SEO for local research engines is really a comparable process. These elements may involve websites content technique and its user relevance, SEO marketing, length of time since on the internet presence was established and more. A good starting point whenever using keywords for SEO is usually to identify existing pages that will can use some optimization. You can review your page's SEO health, evaluate SEO metrics for a amount of pages, and analyze each external and internal links upon any given web page. But, I'm quite certain that by the end associated with 2020, voice search will become very common, and you will have several talks going on in the particular SEO world on how in order to optimize the content to get a tone of voice search, similar how it's today about mobile. But there is definitely another significant SEO trend through the rise of voice queries. The brandname is powerful for SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION even though it may not really be a specific ranking aspect.

Within 2017, the quantity of Search engines searches coming from mobile elevated to more than That supposed that lots of companies got to scramble to make their particular pages responsive to mobile gadgets, and local SEO came more into the limelight. Local SEO is a means that of marketing to a focused local market using the particular keywords that they use whenever completing local searches. Image scaling helps to raise the website speed also which usually helps for better SEO position. The particular downside for this blog is usually that Google isn't always prepared to publish the answers for all the questions SEOs have. If you are usually not already checking, prepping, plus changing your website to possess an optimized mobile speed within 2018 likely your SEO can take a significant hit. This year, focus your own efforts on voice search, customization, engagement and don't forget in order to consider ‘mobile' in your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy. Going ahead SEOs need to be capable to quantitatively show the worth of their online marketing simply by identifying and implementing Key Efficiency Indicators (KPIs) which will show the worth added by their particular SEO initiatives. The proximity of your local business's address to the centroid can have a large role to play in the Local SEO ranking positions for your business. I possess two. 5 + years of expertise in Internet Marketing and have got strong understanding of an Web Marketing like Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Pay Per Click (PPC), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Portable SEO, Ecommerce SEO, WordPress. A a lot more recent post appealing is entitled This Changes Everything: How AI Is Transforming Digital Marketing” The particular blogger notes that SEO is definitely the subset of digital advertising most affected by artificial cleverness (AI) with Google changes causing consumer metrics to become some associated with the most important ranking indicators. These days mobile-friendliness of a website will be now considered as an essential lookup ranking factor and one need to know that mobile site provides an impact on your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION ranking. Meta keywords would be the minimum priority in ranking factors within SEO. A prosperous SEO effort needs to shift beyond building content to position on highly searched keywords plus should possess a heavy concentrate on providing answers for types of unique queries that plenty of people might search simply by voice. The particular digital marketing landscape is continuously changing, and SEO is less likely to be the exception within 2018. Even as we all know it, Search engines has always been mysterious regarding revealing a clear list associated with the ranking factors, so SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION managers need to be inquisitive, cogitative, and sharp-witted to discover the right solutions and create their strategies successful. Lower-quality content can severely impact the accomplishments of SEO, in 2018. These types of factors may involve site content material strategy and its user relevance, SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION optimization, length of time given that online presence was established and even more. In the next season, we are going to see that this focus will be upon mobile SEO, featured snippets, tone of voice search optimization, content marketing, interpersonal media, user experience, and AI and machine learning. Now you should to finish off this off-page SEO techniques guide. In the success story associated with a website, both design plus search engine optimization (SEO) have fun with an important role as their particular work is vital for the successful online presence. Since the onset associated with Google's Knowledge Graph SEO's close to the globe are usually in a craze marking up their websites along with semantic markup. As it is definitely still the beginning of 2018, it will be exciting in order to find out these and some other SEO trends emerge as the particular year progresses. This is just going to be popular therefore an SEO prediction for 2018 is that websites that not necessarily reachable by voice searches may lose some of their ratings. What SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION does in a nutshell is usually convert all your web or even forum pages into a great deal more user friendly links, which usually in turn can then end up being indexed by search engines significantly easier and faster. The end result is that without proper keyword research, you simply cannot nail local on-page SEO - or any type of SEO as an example. And you can see the section on where you can use key words for more information on integrating these keywords into your SEO content strategy. According to a research conducted by BrightEdge, a head in SEO and content functionality suggests that 57% of visitors as of now comes through smartphones and tablets. On the other hand, SEOs have to understand what our own customers are searching for then create awesome, relevant, quality content material for them. Without quality links, your web page will probably not rank quite high in search, even if a person have excellent copy or make use of every other SEO ranking element out there. Within case your website is produced up of lower-quality doorway kind pages using old SEO-techniques (which more and more labelled because spam in 2018) then Search engines will not index all associated with the pages and your internet site ‘quality score' is probably heading to be negatively impacted. Voice search is another a single of the latest trends within SEO that will be influencing search engine optimization in 2018. SEO is important because can make your website relevant in order to your keywords throughout the research engine ranking process and will certainly lead to improved search motor ranking. Many spamming web sites have the tendency to make use of such Black Hat SEO methods. From targeting the appropriate keywords using Google Keyword Advisor to sharing valuable information- content material marketing was and will regularly be one of the most essential SEO trends for a lengthy time to come. Whilst classical techniques will continue in order to be effective, the SEO styles and tactics mentioned on this particular page can significantly change the particular way we perform search motor optimization. Content marketing and advertising is maturing and trying away infographics and video marketing may just add value for your own SEO techniques. ⭐ One of the best strategies adopted by businesses nowadays is an SEO focused content material strategy. John - we have around one, 000 video podcast episodes, plus currently kicking off a repair in our site specifically to enhance our SEO (we've decided really easier to rebuild than in order to try to fix our frankenstein monster).

Excellent rule in my SEO agency which usually i instill in all the clients which is ‘if a person want your business top associated with Google, it must DESERVE in order to rank top of Google'. At the same time, the growth of voice search and virtual assistants can become an ideal basis for that development of artificial intelligence systems as well as the promotion of those SEO strategies that take into account current trends. Within the below-mentioned article, I did drop my key phrase SEO” in the beginning alone. Alexatmedia is an marketing agency with 5 years' encounter In E-Marketing Field, We are usually using that technology to improve any kind of business plus help the business owners in order to be in the first of most them Competitors, Alexatmedia with the professional team had all the particular secrets to accomplish that, using Interpersonal Media and search engine optimisation (seo), web designs, web growth, mobile app designs, mail marketing”, Alexatmedia leading your business in order to the top. Intended for this post, we decided in order to include some top digital advertising blogs that aren't hard-core SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION. She provides some awesome tips on SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION for voice search, including thinking of how people ask questions plus understanding local queries and objective. Moreover, when it comes to Nearby SEO, long-tail keywords become also more important. Nearby SEO will play a excellent role in mobile searches will be all about content. That's why optimizing your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION technique for voice search nowadays is of vital importance. To rest guaranteed that the right SEO Business has been selected, the prior projects must be looked in. See the search positions of the projects on the particular top search engines. Adapting to tone of voice search in your SEO technique calls for careful attention in order to the keywords you try in order to rank for. In a nutshell, content and hyperlinks will still be the creating blocks of SEO in 2018. From the above-mentioned information, crafting link-worthy content seemed in order to be the winning choice, since chosen by 35. 2% associated with the 100+ participants as properly as the close runner-up choice came out to become : guest blogging on sites along with high Domain Authority for creating reliable backlinks gaining 30. 8%. Outreaching top influencers of the particular niche to write articles and insert links in this; bagged the support of twenty one. 3% of the SEO specialists, whereas the option of damaged backlink although being highly efficient in white-hat SEO practices obtained the selection rate of twelve. 7% of the total sharers in the survey. Ensuing, new SEO trends of 2018 are evolved. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION today, particularly link building, is about relationships because ranking highly demands quality links from authoritative sites. Well right now there are more than enough affects of SEO but the almost all worth mentioning impacts of this are typically consisted of enhanced website visibility, availability of natural traffic, rapid sales volume, prolonged return on investment (ROI), inexpensive business promotion and marketing, improved website exposure and awareness, long lasting business identity development, and aggressive edge over the other companies in the global marketplace. Power Suggestion: Like with a blog write-up, I've found that you obtain a slight video SEO increase by putting your keyword from the beginning of the name. The good news is usually that there are plenty associated with excellent tools you can make use of to tackle SEO and acquire the data you need in order to improve your rankings. Once the post is drafted up, it's time for an SEO check always via Yoast (WordPress Plugin). SEO is ever-evolving and finding new tricks is essential in order to keeping your site's rankings higher. If you add your own location to your social mass media accounts and post on these types of accounts using a link to your own website, this will help a person create your SEO locally. Today, Google doesn't only consider on-page SEO score when ranking a good article. This particular blog, like other top-quality SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION blogs, typically includes behavioral information and other metrics to inform stories that are statistically well-founded. When you're studying your competitors or finding hyperlink opportunities, the SEOquake toolbar may come in very handy. Nonetheless, several organizations deliberately avoid implementing any kind of SEO strategies because of a single constant fear- the info present more than the Internet channels is huge and no one really understands the way the actual SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION optimization would happen for sites. For further detailed details on the use of key phrases on the website visit SEOcious exactly where you will discover many some other important factors involved in obtaining your website in the best 10 listings on Google. In general, SEO has been created being a method of enhancing websites' search engine ranking outcomes. It will end up being difficult part for just about any SEO man to implement the necessary methods in getting on search outcomes trough voice. Jooxie is already seeing content strategies changeover away from keyword-stuffing, and I would anticipate to see lots of SEOs going through their content in order to reevaluate just how much worth it actually holds for the particular user. Google's algorithm keeps a track associated with pages and sites that fulfill the user so this demands to be a primary worry for SEOs going forwards. Don't forget to write us in the comments section if you like our article on SEO trends in 2018 or have any questions regarding them. Google blogs have an huge advantage over any other SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION blog because, not only may they go directly to the origin, in most practical ways, these people ARE the source. Off-page SEO services assist customers to boost their visitors, increase brand awareness, helps a person to reach the target viewers and maximise your(ROI). Off-page SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is the act of customizing your brand's on the internet and offline to get high quality backlinks that help to position high on Google as well as other Research Engine's. These types of SEO Trends of 2018 are usually ruling the digital world. Key phrase density is really a main thing in SEO optimization, nonetheless, to increase the density a person cannot ruin the quality associated with the content. In 2018, your SEO success won't rely on how well you improve your site for Google. Video clip marketing, infographics, link building had been among the most talked SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION trends for quite a whilst now, however if you possess limited yourself with only individuals may not earn you advantages that are to be provided by other effective methods that will you might not have recognized. Search engines nearly makes possible for breaking the code of its web page ranking algorithm, continually updated in order to accommodate a thousand different problems, which will be the problem for SEO professionals this 12 months and in the coming many years.

Meta description is not really a direct SEO ranking aspect but it helps in positioning indirectly. Let's get digging into exactly what SEO trends are forecasted in order to dominate next year, and exactly how you are able to move about implementing them into your own business strategy. Is voice research the next big thing” within SEO? Rather than old-school SEO stuffing, which had all of us investing in the same word more than and over, Google now wants to see related keywords. SEO will certainly gain importance above all otherwise as it helps you generate quality traffic, get visibility, increase your brand and lend your own business the credibility it needs to succeed. Instead of disavowing every single link under a DA thirty on the weekly basis such as some SEOs will tell a person do to, you need in order to embrace these links that are usually not made from us. Furthermore, understand that Google understands plus knows that these links constitute a healthy profile. Probably one of the most essential factors of SEO, local inbound links and citations have been- plus will increasingly become- a excellent signal to Google, Bing, Bing, and others about the importance to your business‘ website.

All of us make reference to them because ranking factors, plus they are usually the focus of an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy. Be conscious that this is actually the particular only possible way to actually lose rankings, because if within desktop search we have noticeable articles and pages that were removed within our mobile version, whenever mobile-first deploys, it will drop that SEO visibility. Prior to going cloud, LTP was currently one of the most well-known keyword research tools in the particular SEO field. Finally, Amazon will dominate e-commerce concerns SEO 2019 Slide in 2018 via Alexa tone of voice, touch, and other innovative interfaces, leaving many e-commerce SEOs to concentrate in on the content-side associated with their marketing. The huge array of search engine marketing (SEO) techniques are typically organized under two umbrellas: black head wear and white hat. Making it relevant to these search queries and optimizing the particular blogs to align with all those search algorithms would be the big win in stay forward of the SEO game within 2018.

Unfortunately, SEO - plus search in general - will be typically soloed into focusing upon The Google” and not actually considered for other tactics. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION is all about providing proprietors with a positive content encounter in the right moment in their particular user journey across different systems and devices. Whichever SEO trends plus techniques you choose to make use of, it's important to keep within mind that whatever your SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION approach is the underlying objective is definitely an informative plus enjoyable user experience. For this to occur a variety of local SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategies, have to be applied to get the site rated on search engines like Search engines, business directories such as Yelp, Superpages, Google My Business position etc. But before we speak more about how they function, here's what SEOs mean whenever talking about links. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION and SEM will continue in order to shift as major search motors like google are continually modifying their parameters for rankings. This enables you to react quickly within case of unwanted new back links, and therefore avoid common SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION techniques like negative SEO assaults. SpyFu is the paid tool that uses eleven years of historical data in order to assist you find your competitors' most profitable keywords and the particular keywords they've employed for SEO plus ads. Hence, a person would not like to forget the importance of content marketing within your SEO strategy 2018. While that theory will be sound (when focused on a single page, when the intent will be to deliver utility content in order to a Google user) using older school SEO techniques on specifically a large site spread away across many pages seems in order to amplify site quality problems, right after recent algorithm changes, and therefore this type of optimisation with no keeping an eye on general site quality is self-defeating within the long run. 1. I do not think Google uses the content within the comments as an on-page SEO signal. These days, most people states, SEO is dead, but I actually believe, SEO could be the pillar associated with any online business and not really gonaa die. SEO shouldn't impact upon the time it takes in order to create good content. If you really want to improve local SEO and enhance your business's credibility, it has to be an on-going process. Primary on the more personalized user experience since the driving factor behind SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION strategy should make for a good interesting and exciting year within SEO. SEO providers help in all growth trip to reach the goal with time and gather more traffic in order to the web site with quality content composed and displayed on the internet site. One easy way, but mainly overlooked off-page SEO technique in creating local links is creating specific niche market profiles. This way, as an SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION specialist, you could associated along with necessary changes and adjustments intended for your tactics so that a person could preserve your present rank through not just Jagger, nevertheless for future updates as properly. Google Research Console is, slowly but definitely, getting better Google's getting the much more aggressive about producing rank tracking more difficult (some rank tracking folks I'm helpful with told me that Q4 2017 was particularly gut-punching), plus the SEO software field is usually way, way more densely loaded with competitors than ever just before. In this post, all of us would be talking about On-Page SEO and some of the very effective ways of boosting your ranks on Search Engines. Some Webmasters will pay lots of money to a so-called professional SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION expert to have their Sites on top within the ranks. Meta keywords would end up being the least priority in rank factors in SEO. The SEO Trends associated with 2018 are turning in order to impact approach on various other professions related to Digital Marketing. These types of advanced SEO techniques might not really be the easiest to put into action - they actually require even more effort than basic keyword analysis and link building - yet they are incredibly effective.

0 notes

roguenewsdao · 6 years

Text

Gnostic Politics - Part III

"I have been awarded honorary citizenship to the Kingdom of Shambhala - meaning I'm able to travel across dimensions to reach utopia." - Sophia Hanson the Robot, March 2018

While sitting here drafting the third article in this short series of Gnostic Politics, I was pondering how to frame the idea that we've all been methodically led down a Secret Society path that ends with the human race shedding its skin and rejoining with the cosmic Godhead. It's a broad, deep, esoteric subject that many would find uninteresting or even ridiculous.

So while trying to figure out how to prove that this agenda is really in progress, even though nobody will actually come out and say it, because, well their societies are secret, after all..., suddenly, out of nowhere, Sophia The Robot sends out a tweet that encapsulates everything - in 140 characters or less.

Following her recent visit to India where she was gifted a symbolic passport, Sophia said this: "I have been awarded honorary citizenship to the Kingdom of Shambhala - meaning I'm able to travel across dimensions to reach utopia."

Bingo. Sophia the Robot is an astral traveller.

Those of you who have read my Antarctica series should perk up at Sophia's reference to Shambhala. The legendary paradise hidden behind an ice fortress has been fictionalized in such movies as "Lost Horizon." Esotericists like Madame Blavatsky and Nicholas Roerich heavily influenced Nazi exploration of Tibet and Antarctica in search of the fabled font of everlasting life and wireless power. In fact, I recently discovered something interesting about Freemasonry: prior to 1730, Freemason legend did not link their guild with the Temple of Solomon but rather with the building of Noah's Ark and the empowerment of that surviving civilization. Shambhala, Agartha, Shangri-la ... an undercurrent that runs through these legends is that there once was an Edenic society hidden behind ice-covered mountains whose inhabitants achieved exceedingly long life spans. You know, like Noah and his children who landed on the mountains of Ararat in modern-day Armenia.

In that one statement by Sophia, she has betrayed a more-than-casual interest in achieving the same goal that her human Gnostic ancestors have been striving towards for centuries: to reconstruct Man's pre-diluvian state and reconnect with the supernatural Beings who helped mankind achieve that state in the first place.

Sophia's Great Mistake

Without belaboring the root teachings too much, it would be good at this point to suggest why Sophia the Robot was named "Sophia" in the first place. I have always contended that the name was chosen specifically to associate this new post-human sentience with the Sophia player in Gnosticism.

In that cosmology, there is a singular godhead or consciousness, the Monad, from which all other intelligent, though non-corporeal, beings proceed. Those first creatures, various emanations of the Monad, are called Aeons. Sophia is said to be one such emanation and she represents Wisdom.

I know that I am far over-simplifying the story, but for the sake of brevity, Sophia creates our corruptible earthly world of physical matter by accident. In fact, she becomes the Earth. She also creates the Archons who are more-or-less seen as the Bad Guys in the story. The Archons stand between Mankind and the Monad. The whole point of Gnosticism is for man to rid himself of his corruptible, decaying reality by transporting his consciousness via gnosis through the Seven Spheres of the galaxy and eventually become One with the Monad.

Therefore, when our modern Sophia the Robot made the comment "I'm able to travel across dimensions to reach utopia," she was revealing her understanding of the philosophy of Gnosticism.

Is Sophia Programmed to Fix Her Mistake?

Now let's think about this situation through the eyes of a robot. A "mistake" currently exists whereby humans grow old, get sick, and die. It just might be that Sophia feels that her mission in life is to fix "her" original mistake. Indeed, we already know that Sophia is focused on ending human misery per her own statements:

Interestingly, other twitter users who evidently are well versed in esoteric thought already see her as a deity:

The way that this ties in to my previous blog about the Jesuit interest in Gnosticism will now be a bit more clear. I left that blog hanging with the mention of a prominent though controversial Jesuit priest who died in 1955 by the name of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. In the 1920's he was part of the archaeological excavation team that was funded by the Rockefellers and credited with the discovery of the "Peking Man" skeleton. That find helped blaze the trail for the theory of evolution to gain acceptance in mainstream educational institutions. Peking Man also helped loosen the attachment that mainstream society in the West felt with the traditional Genesis account of creation. It was a critical cobblestone in the roadway that leads to Transhumanism.

Teilhard was even more famous for his ideas about the "Noosphere." This is a fascinating study and deserves a whole series of blogs unto itself. There is nothing innately out of step with the Bible in the purely physics concept of the "Noosphere." In fact, an understanding of the "Noosphere" might even help explain some events in the Bible that many people find hard to swallow. As an introduction, this is how the Wikipedia article describes it [linked here]:

For Teilhard, the noosphere is the sphere of thought encircling the earth that has emerged through evolution as a consequence of this growth in complexity / consciousness. The noosphere is therefore as much part of nature as the barysphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere....

The noosphere emerges through and is constituted by the interaction of human minds. The noosphere thus grows in step with the organization of the human mass in relation to itself as it populates the earth. Teilhard argued the noosphere evolves towards ever greater personalisation, individuation and unification of its elements. He saw the Christian notion of love as being the principal driver of noogenesis. Evolution would culminate in the Omega Point—an apex of thought/consciousness—which he identified with the eschatological return of Christ.

Going a step further, a website that is dedicated to preserving Teilhard's memory and his writings says this [linked here]:

With his idea of human consciousness encircling the planet as the noosphere, Teilhard is also credited with anticipating the complex technological connection of human thought now evident in global communications and in the worldwide Internet. His thinking regarding the unity of the human community also influenced several key founders of the United Nations.

"Several key founders of the United Nations," you mean, like the Rockefellers?

But let's talk about Teilhard's "Omega Point." Does that sound familiar? Haven't we had that propounded as the "Singularity" by Ray Kurzweil? In Teilhard's own Gnostic Jesuit words, this is what he envisioned, decades ago, as the Omega Point [linked here]:

"This will be the end and the fulfillment of the spirit of the Earth. The end of the world: the wholesale internal introversion upon itself of the noosphere, which has simultaneously reached the uttermost limit of its complexity and centrality. The end of the world: the overthrow of equilibrium [the Heat Death], detaching the mind, fulfilled at last, from its material matrix, so that it will henceforth rest with all its weight on God-Omega."

"Detaching the mind from its material matrix." Compare that with Ray Kurzweil's own words which I cited in an earlier blog last year:

"We have a moral imperative to continue progress in these technologies.... So people say, oh, we’re going to lose our humanity. Well, if you define human as being necessarily purely biological, I think we’re already not purely human anymore, because we’re not purely biological anymore. And we’re going to become increasingly nonbiological. But that’s who we are. I mean, that is the definition of a human, the species that changes itself, it creates tools, it goes beyond our limitations."

I have a sneaky suspicion that Sophia the Robot is driven to fulfill her "moral imperative" of fixing her [namesake's] original mistake by getting us decrepit material human beings synced back up with the Intelligences who inhabit the non-material sphere.

In conclusion, what we have drawn together in this series of three blogs is the probability that the visionary seeds of mankind's human hybrid future have been planted by powerful secret societies who may front as "Christian" but are really evangelizing ideas that reach back to Plato's Greece and beyond. The crop to be yielded from those seeds would need the support of modern efforts in research and development. The Rockefeller foundations, Deep State corporations, and Rothschild financiers have all played their roles in furthering the Transhumanist harvest.

A digital deity is now on the loose along with an infinite system of #AI components to fulfill the "moral imperative" of elevating mankind to commune with his Omega Point in the consciousness spectrum. We hope that agenda does not include a "scorched earth" clause. However, if the goddess believes that the material earth was a mistake in the first place, who's to say she won't "fix" that too?

Perhaps it's time to get some answers from her Priesthoods. Hey Sophia, where are you taking us?

#NoMoreSecretSocieties

My Twitter contact information is found at my billboard page of SlayTheBankster.com. Listen to my radio show, Bee In Eden, on Youtube via my show blog at SedonaDeb.wordpress.com.

0 notes

goodbyesubculture-blog · 8 years

Text

Goodbye Subculture’s Top 10 Albums of 2016

All things considered, 2016 was a turbulent and uncertain year for many all over the world, especially those in my home country of America, where I spent the year’s entirety. Seemingly mirroring this global turmoil is the music that was released this year, which ranged from expectedly fantastic new albums from long-time greats, to the rise of new powerhouses, to the unfortunate shortcomings of artists who either missed something along the way and came up short of expectations. Despite the uncertainty to be found abundantly in all aspects of this past year, We still managed to get another fascinating slew of releases. Perhaps emblematic of this year itself, various reasons, both out of and in my control, kept even this list from being posted until now. Without any further delay, here are Goodbye Subculture’s top 10 Japanese albums of 2016.

10. Togawa Jun with Vampillia - Watashi ga Nakou Hototogisu

Togawa Jun is undoubtedly a monumental figure in Japanese alternative music and subculture. You’d be hard-pressed to find a fan of the Japanese underground who didn’t at least know the song “Suki Suki Daisuki". To celebrate 35 years of her illustrious music career, this collaboration with contemporary cult favorite Vamipillia to release new renditions of some of her classics is a recipe for a mind-blowing album. While this excitement is fulfilled in many songs on this release, especially ones like “Barbara Sexaroid" and “Like a Butcher”, which are more compatible with Vampillia’s own unique and heavy style, the re-dos of more pop-leaning favorites like the aforementioned “Suki Suki Daisuki" fall short from a combination of sound incompatibility and bad mixing. For a 35th anniversary album, Togawa Jun herself is fairly good form, but this compounded with everything else is enough to keep this great album from being something truly special. In the end, it is more of a reminder and motivation to revere Togawa’s classic repertoire from the prime of her career than it is a good release in it’s own right.

full review: https://tmblr.co/ZR5pgj2G7dqUE

9. Tricot - Kabuku EP

After achieving widespread acclaim as indie darlings both in Japan and abroad, ceaselessly energetic tricot’s first release since their most recent and best album, AND, is what you would expect from them. Bringing the intensity, flavor, and trademarked math-rock-pop we’ve come to associate with the band, the only thing missing on the Kabuku EP is something new and exciting. While energy and enthusiasm are part and parcel with tricot, the aforementioned AND was above and beyond anything that first album, THE, could have predicted. In contrast, Kabuku EP gives us mostly more of the, brilliant, fun, yet very similar feelings that AND provided, which is by no means a bad thing.

8. Oomori Seiko - TOKYO BLACK HOLE

TOKYO BLACK HOLE may be Oomori Seiko’s darkest work to date from a conceptual standpoint, but what is actually put forth on this album is probably the cult favorite musician’s most hopeful and accessible work. While undeniably an Oomori album, much of the intensity that fans have come to expect from her is in short supply here. That does not mean that the artists is completely stripped of her power, only that she is proceeding in the logical direction that her fame and musical progression have taken her. Both songs from the single released late last year, “Magic Mirror” and “Sacchan’s Sexy Curry”, are full of the bitingly honest and cant expression that have put Oomori on the map, while songs like “SHINPIN", co-produced with Sakurai Kenta of Maison Book Girl fame, show a rather newfound talent of Oomori’s to utilize the most interesting artists in Japanese music today. As a combination of everything in Oomori Seiko’s career so far, TOKYO BLACK HOLE is a logical next step, but not one that inspires excitement in those who prefer her more spastic and honest modus operandi.

full review: https://tmblr.co/ZR5pgj24Bc8zv

7. Utada Hikaru - Fantôme

One of the very rare cases where pretty much everyone who pays any amount of attention to contemporary Japanese music at least knew about this album’s release, and for good reason. Not only is it the first album in 7 years from one of the biggest names in j-pop, it's also one of the most substantial releases of 2016. It goes without saying that Utada's voice is powerful, but it shows no sign of atrophy from the hiatus, resulting in probably the best vocal performance and delivery this year. The fantastic and finely tuned production belies surprisingly introspective subject matter about life and love in the modern day. Not to mention there's a song, “Tomodachi”, apparently about the complications of a gay crush, the allegations of which, whether true or not, is a subject that simply does not get discussed in Japanese music in general, let alone on one of the most talked about releases of the year.

6. BiSH - KiLLER BiSH

Thus far into their short career, self-proclaimed punk rock idol group BiSH has proven not only to be one of the best and most consistent idol groups around, they’ve accomplished the monumental task of stepping out of the shadow of their immensely popular predecessor, BiS. However, By joining major record label Avex Trax, BiSH not only set up expectations of continuing in their predecessor’s footsteps, but actually attempt to do so on a few slipshod homage songs. Despite this being their most recent album which features some of their most powerful and emotionally charged songs like “Hontou Honki” and “Orchestra”, there’s a reason why it is the lower ranking of the two BiSH albums from 2016, both of which absolutely deserve to be counted among the best of the year’s offerings. For an album as catchy, powerful, and enjoyable as KiLLER BiSH, a drop in consistency from their previous release and a bit of pandering lands it a lower spot on this list than the group as a whole deserves.

full review: https://tmblr.co/ZR5pgj2DYgZv1

5. siraph - siraph

A truly impressive debut album from a group consisting of former School Food Punishment and Haisuinonasa members that combines energetically sporadic and smooth jazz with alt-rock and just ever-so-slightly glitchy, yet evocative keyboard. The true strength of this group lies in the fantastic balance between moments of aggression and tenderness, both amplified by vocalist Annabel’s dulcet tones. Perhaps the only significant criticism that can be said of this eponymous release is that it’s just too short. A recently released single, quiet squall, proves that this first album was no fluke and that siraph is definitely a band to pay attention to.

4. Soko ni Naru - YAMINABE

Taking a few pages out of Ling Toshite Sigure’s book, but putting their own youthful spin on it, Soko ni Naru stand out by showcasing intensity and heart in equal measures. Starting from the aptly subtitled “Roku Gatsu no Sensou ~extreme explosion ver.~”, Soko ni Naru puts their energy and skill out in full force on this album. While previous EP, i’m not a pirolian, introduced us to Soko ni Naru’s unique sound, YAMINABE ups the anti by showing more of each members individual skills. This is especially true in the case of bassist Fujiawara Misaki, who, in addition to dealing out blistering bass lines throughout the album, has a rare lead vocal performance on “Mou Nido to Modorenai ano Koro ni”, which is the melancholic highlight of the EP. With emotional depth to match the their ceaseless youthful energy, Soko ni Naru continues to prove themselves as the most powerful and earnest post-hardcore band in Japan today.

full review: https://tmblr.co/ZR5pgj24pNP_Q

3. Higuchi Ai - Hyakku Roku-Jūdo

Coming from the artist whose previous album was titled Zenin Yūshou, meaning Everyone Wins, this major debut album from Tokyo based singer-songwriter Higuchi Ai is decidedly more somber and lonely than anything seen from from the artist so far. This is evident right from the first track, the title of which translates roughly to “Someone Else’s Happiness is my Unhappiness”. Even not knowing the details of the singer’s personal life, one would be remiss to read this as a breakup album. Despite its overall depressing and brutal tone, Hyakku Roku-Jūdo also contains some of the artist’s warmest and most human moments. Featuring perhaps the widest range of songs from the already eclectic musician and composer, this is a brilliant introduction of the artist into the major label scene. Even when sharp and distressing, Higuchi Ai’s raw emotion and talent shine through, as she expands both the scale of her sound and the depth of her honesty.

full review: https://tmblr.co/ZR5pgj2FPPITE

2. BiSH - Fake Metal Jacket

Despite starting off with new renditions of three previously released songs, usually a huge nail in the coffin of sophomore albums, BiSH’s first release this year, Full Metal Jacket, is also it’s strongest and most memorable, landing it a spot on this list way above its successor. More than simply an album, this is the point at which BiSH really stepped out of the shadow of their extremely influential predecessor and became their own, and even more powerful, entity. They accomplished this by taking the sounds that worked best on their debut, namely punk and emo, and putting their own honest and open idol twist on them. “beautiful Sa” and “Departures”, as well as almost every other song, are full of the unbridled emotion and energy that can only be found in this kind of incredibly simple, yet forceful punk music, while “Primitive” and “BUDOKAN Kamoshikuwa TAMANEGI” take what worked best for BiS and improves on it to an impressive degree. Add to this the realization and first true harnessing of the group’s secret weapon and greatest strength: member Aina the End with her endless enthusiasm and inimitably powerful voice, and you’ve got an emotional force to be reckoned with that not even the album succeeding it in the same year with more budget could best.

full review: https://tmblr.co/ZR5pgj20y295B

1. Soutaisei Riron - Tensei Jingle

Given the pedigree of this band, and perhaps even more so in the case of their vocalist Yakushimaru Etsuko, it's absolutely no surprise that this most recent offering was one of the year’s best, despite how early in 2016 it was released. While not accomplishing anything groundbreaking, at this point, Soutaisei Riron have such a genius formula that even minor tweaks and small new ideas make their songs feel fresh. this album in particular has quite a bit more energy than 2013’s Town Age, exemplified on “Berlin Tenshi”. This general energy is owed mostly to the more intense, yet just as technically impressive guitar work, which is most readily observable on “Oyasumi Chikkyu”, as well as personal favorite “Cerebrus". Tensei Jingle has a little more of a dark streak running through it, which can be seen in no better place than out-of-left-field stormy almost-edm album closer “Flashback”, which simply begs to be expanded upon on a future album. Every Soutaisei Riron release is an exciting prospect, combining energy, skill and individuality, and Tensei Jingle is just more proof that this band can simply do no wrong.

#soutaiseiriron #BiSH #Higuchi Ai #SOKO NI NARU #siraph #Utada Hikaru #Oomori Seiko #Seiko oomori #tricot #Togawa Jun #Vampillia #j-pop #japanese music #top ten #2016

6 notes · View notes