#that's the price of free speech and the space for everyone to exist

[bird-likes-to-fandom]

hey! hey hey! reminder that people's headcanons are not necessarily any of your business. some people are going to have headcanons that are out of character, or more likely out of your interpretation of the character, or just plain wrong sometimes. But that is none of your business! They are just some person on the internet enjoying their interests and having fun. Don't bother them, and don't even bother yourself by getting mad about it because it literally does not matter.

[mariacallous]

Since Twitter launched in 2006, the company has acted as a kind of heartbeat for social media conversation. That’s partly because it’s where media people go to talk about the media, but also because it’s been willing to open up its backend to researchers. Academics have used free access to Twitter’s API, or application programming interface, in order to access data on the kinds of conversations occurring on the platform, which helps them understand what the online world is talking about.

Twitter’s API is used by vast numbers of researchers. Since 2020, there have been more than 17,500 academic papers based on the platform’s data, giving strength to the argument that Twitter owner Elon Musk has long claimed, that the platform is the “de facto town square.”

But new charges, included in documentation seen by WIRED, suggest that most organizations that have relied on API access to conduct research will now be priced out of using Twitter.

It’s the end of a long, convoluted process. On February 2, Musk announced API access would go behind a paywall in a week. (Those producing “good” content would be exempted.) A week later, he delayed the decision to February 13. Unsurprisingly, that deadline also slipped by, as Twitter suffered a catastrophic outage. 

The company is now offering three levels of Enterprise Packages to its developer platform, according to a document sent by a Twitter rep to would-be academic customers in early March and passed on to WIRED. The cheapest, Small Package, gives access to 50 million tweets for $42,000 a month. Higher tiers give researchers or businesses access to larger volumes of tweets—100 million and 200 million tweets respectively—and cost $125,000 and $210,000 a month. WIRED confirmed the figures with other existing free API users, who have received emails saying that the new pricing plans will take effect within months.  

“I don’t know if there’s an academic on the planet who could afford $42,000 a month for Twitter,” says Jeremy Blackburn, assistant professor at Binghamton University in New York and a member of the iDRAMA Lab, which analyzes hate speech on social media—including on Twitter. 

Twitter did not respond to a request for comment.

For subscribers to the cheapest package, the number of rules through which they can filter data from the app’s Real Time PowerTrack API will be capped at 25,000, and the number of queries of the Full Archive Search API will be capped at 50,000. The number of Twitter handles they can analyze through the Account Activity API will also be limited to 5,000, and there will be a max of 20 requests per minute for the Engagement API Totals Endpoint, which allows researchers to see how well tweets are doing in terms of engagement.

While this sounds like a substantial dataset, it only accounts for around 0.3 percent of Twitter’s monthly output, meaning it is far from being a comprehensive snapshot of activity on the platform. Twitter’s free API access gave researchers access to 1 percent of all tweets.

Elissa M. Redmiles, a faculty member at the Max Planck Institute for Software Systems in Germany, says the new prices are eye-watering. “It’s probably outside of any academic budget I’ve ever heard of,” she says, adding that the price would put off any long-term analysis of user sentiment. “One month of Twitter data isn’t really going to work for the purposes people have,” she says.

Kenneth Joseph, assistant professor at the University of Buffalo and one of the authors of a recent paper analyzing a day in the life of Twitter, says the new pricing effectively kills his career. “$42,000 is not something I can pay for a single month in any reasonable way,” says. “It totally destroys any opportunity to engage in research in this space, which I’ve in many respects built a career on.” 

The pricing documents were provided to WIRED by a researcher who asked for anonymity, since they are still accessing Twitter data through an existing API agreement and worry it could be terminated if they were identified. They say the new costs were “not viable for the academic community.”

“No one can afford to pay that,” they say. “Even rich institutions can’t afford to pay half a million a year for a thimbleful of data.”

It’s not clear whom the new pricing model is targeted at. Nir Grinberg, an assistant professor in the ​Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering at Ben-Gurion University in Israel, used to work at a startup that used Twitter’s data.

“It seems like a really steep increase for a tiny amount of data. One percent of Twitter a few months ago was free. Now Twitter is offering 0.3 percent for half a million dollars [a year],” he says. “It’s just crazy. I honestly don’t know who could budget for this.”

Researchers say the damage won’t just be to academic discourse. Twitter is a vital dataset for understanding how the internet works and what conversations are being had in the notional global public square.

Joseph recognizes that there are other platforms he could research, but notes that Twitter’s potent combination of journalists, high-ranking politicians, and business decisionmakers makes it a vital area for research. “Twitter is a particularly special space for understanding elite discourse,” he says. “To rip that away from all of us trying to use the system to understand it is a tough pill to swallow.”

Blackburn, however, says researchers will continue to find a way to scrutinize what’s happening on Twitter. “We’ve been mostly cut off from Facebook for years and we’ve continued to make progress,” he says. “It’s not like science is going to be held hostage by a guy that played himself into burning $44 billion on a website that makes no money, just so he could force all its users to read his shitposts.”

[olko71]

New Post has been published on All about business online

New Post has been published on http://yaroreviews.info/2023/01/people-struggling-could-get-lower-energy-prices

People struggling could get lower energy prices

Getty Images

By Kevin Peachey

Cost of living correspondent

Discounted energy bills for millions of vulnerable people are being considered as a long-term option to tackle unaffordable prices.

Under so called social tariffs, certain groups of people on low incomes would be offered lower-cost deals.

Jonathan Brearley, boss of the energy regulator Ofgem, said they were a good option being discussed with ministers.

The regulator will also investigate suppliers forcibly switching people to prepayment meters.

It is warning firms it will take legal action if they are not taking proper due care of vulnerable customers.

On Sunday, the government said suppliers should stop forcing households onto prepayment meters.

‘Not acceptable’

Pressure has been mounting on energy suppliers to stop switching people who are struggling to pay their bills onto prepayment meters.

Citizens Advice estimates that 3.2 million people in Britain ran out of credit on their prepayment meter last year, the equivalent of one every 10 seconds.

On Sunday, Business Secretary Grant Shapps warned he would “name and shame” suppliers who were doing “nowhere near enough” for vulnerable customers.

In a speech at the Institute for Government later, Ofgem boss Jonathan Brearley will say he is “concerned” about the sharp growth in households being switched to prepayment meters, “sometimes without their even knowing about it”.

“The numbers of forced installation of prepayment meters is extremely high. It is simply not acceptable that vulnerable customers are left in the dark and cold in winter.”

What do I do if I can’t afford to pay my debts?

Who can get the latest cost-of-living payments?

Mr Brearley will announce a review that will focus “specifically on self-disconnections, remote switching and forced installations and, the checks and balances companies have around any decision to put a customer on a prepayment meter”.

“If we find that they have not taken due care in this process, we will take further legal action against them,” he will say.

Ofgem is calling for suppliers to stop forced installations of prepayment meters unless all options have been exhausted, although the regulator does not have the legal power to completely ban these actions.

Why is this allowed and what can you do?

Before smart meters existed, energy firms would have to get a warrant to enter your home and physically install a prepayment meter

Now, smart meters enable energy firms to switch customers from direct debit payments to a prepayment meter system remotely

Ofgem rules state that energy suppliers must have effective checks and balances in place when switching the mode of a smart meter

The regulator advises customers with concerns to speak to their supplier. Under Ofgem rules they must offer payment plans you can afford and you can ask for emergency credit if you use a prepay meter and can’t top up

Breathing Space, sometimes called the Debt Respite Scheme, is a free government scheme that could give you up to 60 days’ space from creditors to set up a debt solution. Step Change debt charity can help you to apply

Citizens Advice offers this guide: Stop your energy supplier moving you to prepayment

Social tariffs

In his speech. Mr Brearley will also say that cheaper social tariffs for vulnerable households should be considered as a long-term option for tackling unaffordable bills.

“We are calling for a serious assessment of a social tariff,” Mr Brearley will say. “If it can be made to work, this could tackle the root cause of this issue and the distress that many customers are in this winter.”

In theory, the cost of providing such a discount would either be paid for by suppliers – by increasing the bills of everyone else – or by the government through taxation.

If adopted, it would mark a significant shake-up in the way millions of households are charged for energy.

In other social tariff schemes, people qualify if they receive certain means-tested benefits.

For example, some people receive cheaper broadband deals. However, there has been some criticism of providers for not making customers aware of these tariffs, leading to very low take-up rates.

Social tariffs were also used in the energy sector before people were protected by a price cap – a limit on the price of each unit of energy charged to domestic customers.

Some energy companies bosses have signalled they would be open to social tariffs alongside a reformed price cap.

Bill Bullen, founder and chief executive of Utilita Energy, said however, that more schemes would not be beneficial.

“There are lots of schemes already delivering benefits. The questions is whether it’s targeted enough or high enough,” he told the BBC.

He said the Energy Bill Support Scheme (EBSS), which gave customers monthly payments towards their energy bills this winter, was a “phenomenal success”.

“Frankly I don’t think there’ll be another benefit scheme delivered more quickly, more accurately at the scale the smart meter EBSS help has been delivered – I’d be surprised. It was phenomenal,” he said.

“So we have the schemes in place, we just need to make them work better. For example, these prepay meter vouchers [which are not being delivered] – get yourself a smart meter, you’ll get your payment straight away.”

Ofgem has criticised Utilita for its systems of giving vouchers to struggling customers, which the company said was unfair.

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The government set a cap on the unit price of gas and electricity for households, which means the typical household currently pays £2,500 a year. This will rise to £3,000 a year when the cap is reset in April.

However, the universal £400 discount, which is being paid in monthly instalments over this winter is not expected to be continued.

Cost-of-living payments have provided additional support for more vulnerable households, or those with higher energy costs, since the summer.

Although there have been forecasts of typical energy bills falling below the government guarantee later this year, the cost would still be double that of last winter.

Experts have also said there is little chance of energy prices dropping back to pre-Covid levels.

Earlier in January, a coalition of nearly 100 charities wrote to Chancellor Jeremy Hunt urging him to start the process of introducing a social tariff for April 2024 when government support is scheduled to end.

“While the government was able to offer unprecedented protection for households and businesses from high energy prices, many people in poverty and with higher energy needs – for example, those relying on medical equipment like dialysis – have still struggled with affording to adequately heat and power their homes,” the letter said.

More on this story

What do I do if I can’t afford to pay my debts?

6 days ago

Who can get the latest cost-of-living payments?

10 January

British Gas stops remote switching to prepaid meters

3 days ago

Winter weather: Keeping costs down when it’s cold

19 November 2022

1:00

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Fighting fiber was the right's dumbest self-own

With the deplatforming of forums where trumpists and right-wing figures congregate, there's a lot of chatter about whether and when private entities have the right to remove speech, and what obligations come with scale.

The most important - and overlooked - area of this discourse is the role that monopoly plays, and the role that anti-monopoly enforcement could play.

In short, the fact that being removed from Twitter and the app stores and Facebook and Amazon is so devastating is best addressed by weakening those companies by spreading out our digital life onto lots of platforms.

Not by strengthening them by giving them formal duties to either carry or remove speech based on its content. These duties will justify all kinds of anticompetitive activity, because only a very profitable company can afford to fulfil them.

It also turns the same companies that failed horribly to craft and uphold moderation standards into private-sector arms of powerful state actors (like domestic surveillance agencies) who defend their right to monopolize the digital sphere as necessary for national security.

(recall that the Pentagon intervened in the DoJ's breakup of AT&T in the 1950s, successfully arguing for a stay of execution on the grounds that the Korean War could not be effectively persecuted without AT&T's help - the company stayed intact for 30 years after that)

Competition in the platforms is important, but it's not the whole story. The First Amendment was drafted for newspapers, and most contemporary communications law comes from broadcast and cable regulation. The internet is not a newspaper or a TV station, after all.

The discussion of the difference between the American revolutionary era (or the heyday of broadcast TV) and the present moment focuses on technology, but there's a much more important difference to take account of: the presence or absence of a public sphere.

The First Amendment contemplates both a diversity of speech forums (newspapers, cafes, halls) alongside of public spaces that are *truly* public, owned by the people through their governments and tightly bound by 1A as to when and whether rules about speech can be enforced.

So if the Masonic Lodge won't let you give a speech from its stage, and the cafe throws you out for arguing, and the newspaper won't let you publish an op-ed, you can stand outside of those establishments with a sign or a bullhorn, leafleting and speaking your piece.

The government can still restrict your speech on the public sidewalk or in a public park, but not according to its content - only according to "time and manner" (for example, enforcing a noise ordinance after 9PM or ticketing you for blocking traffic).

The biggest difference between a world where we are locked indoors and connect to one another via the internet and the world we left behind is that there are *no public spaces* on the internet.

If a cafe kicks you out for your speech, you can picket the public right of way out front. If Twitter kicks you out for your views, you have no constitutionally guaranteed right to stand at its digital threshold and tell everyone who enters or leaves that you got a raw deal.

Now, the state provision of digital services isn't an unmitigated good. US governments at all levels have proven themselves to be utterly surveillance-addled, in thrall to the fallacy that spying on everyone will make us all safer.

But surveillance fears aren't why we lack democratically controlled tech. For that, you can thank the same right wingers who are so exorcised about deplatforming today, who, for a decade, have been the useful idiots of telcoms monopolists in the fight over public broadband.

American cable and telco monopolists have divided up the country so that the best most of us can hope for is a duopoly, while many others are burdened with monopoly carriers, and millions live in broadband deserts with no high-speed internet at all.

The poorer you are, the more your broadband costs and the worse it is. The more rural you are, the worse your broadband is and the more it costs. Homeowners with good broadband see their assets appreciate. If your home is outside a monopolist's profit zone, its price drops.

The internet barons like it that way. When Frontier went bankrupt last year, we got to see its internal docs. Guess what? If you have no choice other than Frontier, it treats you as an "asset" because you will pay more for worse service.

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2020/04/frontiers-bankruptcy-reveals-cynical-choice-deny-profitable-fiber-millions

Frontier cares about its share price (its execs are mostly paid in stock, not cash), and share prices are rigged by influential analysts who downrank any company that makes a capitol expenditure that takes more than five years to pay off.

That's why Frontier decided to walk away from the $800,000,000 in profits it would realize on a ten-year investment in fiber for three million households who currently make do with Frontier's failing copper network, which often consists of wires draped over trees.

We've been here before. For decades, you had to live in an urban, affluent area to get electricity; your country cousins burned coal for dinner and used oil-lamps to read by. The New Deal electrified the nation, extending universal service regardless of the business-case.

Electricity became a human right, and the US government extended it across the nation (though structural racism meant that it arrived late for majority Black settlements).

Long before covid, underserved towns realized that their very existence depended on decent broadband.

The initial experiments with municipal fiber were incredible, jaw-dropping successes. Towns that invested in fiber saw a vast expansion of job opportunities, access to global information and services, and new blood from telecommuters who relocated from big cities.

The telcos fucking hated this. How can you sell flaky access to copper wires draped over shrubs for $80/month when the city is wiring people up to networks that are *1,000-100,000 times faster* at a lower price?

In a competitive market, companies would have improved service and lowered prices to compete. Luckily (for monopolists), there's a cheaper solution: buy off state legislatures so they pass laws banning municipal broadband.

These laws were promulgated to GOP-dominated statehouses across the country, passed by right wing lawmakers who told their constituents they were "keeping government out of the internet."

This is a line that their footsoldiers dutifully parroted during the Obama years, then signed up to Trump FCC Chairman Ajit Pai's order that reversed a late-term-Obama FCC order banning state laws that interfered with municipal fiber project.

Unfortunately (for the right), reality has a well-known left-wing bias. 700+ US towns and cities have municipal fiber. They are the only Americans who consistently express satisfaction with their ISPs. Most of these towns vote Republican!

https://muninetworks.org/communitymap

Woe betide the rural "red" town that lacks municipal fiber. These have been mostly abandoned by cable companies, so their cable/DSL duopoly has become a DSL monopoly, with prices rising and quality of service falling.

https://ilsr.org/monopoly-networks/

Which brings me back to the First Amendment and public sidewalks. All those people who are trying to find a way to support the "free market*" and also justify demanding that dominant platforms be ordered to carry their speech are living in a hell of their own making.

* Adam Smith popularized the term "free markets" to describe markets free from "rentiers" who collect money without adding value...such as cable monopolists. He *definitely* didn't mean "markets free from government regulation."

Because here's the thing: your ISP - and Twitter, and Facebook, and Amazon - is a private company. It is not subject to the First Amendment. It can have any rules it wants about which lawful speech it will tolerate. It can sling your ass out the door on a whim.

You know who's bound by the First Amendment? You know who can't suppress your speech based on its content? You know who has to answer public records requests about why you got booted out of its service?

Your local government.

If you had a $70/month, 100GB fiber in your rural house, you could run a kickass P2P messaging server, and while you'd be right to worry about (covert, illegal) government surveillance (use encryption, kids) on that line, you would 100% have recourse if you got booted off.

It's not an automatic home run. The First Amendment has exceptions, even beyond "time and manner," and has been substantially eroded by GW Bush and his successors, in the name of fighting terror, animal rights activists and water defenders.

But a lawsuit against your town council for nuking your Turner Diaries fanfic server is a hell of a lot more likely to succeed than griping about Twitter mods failing to grasp the "irony" in your Auschwitz jokes.

The right's war on municipal broadband was its biggest self-own of the 2010s. And while it's not true that "a conservative is a liberal who's been mugged," it might be true that "a municipal broadband activist is a conservative who's been kicked off Twitter."

And this is one of those causes (like shutting down private prisons, or opposing foreign wars of aggression) where a substantial slice of the left and the right can come together (at the most local of levels!) to really Get Shit Done.

Because the other great victims of America's monopolized broadband are people of color, poor people and working class people (often the same people). They live with digital redlining, where they pay 2X for 1/100th the speeds of their affluent neighbors a block away.

They're the ones whose kids are doing homework in Taco Bell parking lots (and getting flunked on their tests because creepy remote proctoring services penalize them for taking their tests in a beat up hatchback and not a private room).

The ones who can't videoconference with dying relatives in ICUs or doctors for telemed consults. Who can't apply for work-at-home jobs, or just play games and watch movies and upload their fun Tiktoks and Youtube videos.

The current system serves about 300 senior execs at telco monopolists, and a few thousand investors, and savagely fucks over everyone else. Even rich people in big cities usually can't buy fiber at any price.

It's time for our four decade Atlas Shrugged LARP to end. It's time for a bipartisan fiber consensus.

Image: Olaus Linn (modified) https://thenounproject.com/term/tin-can-phone/15140/

CC BY: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

[fallershipping]

Looker x Anabel Retrospective

The absolute ultimate Retrospective post as to explain why I’ve been on this OTP since 2016. Especially made in mind with the idea that some new peeps on the boat may not realize the extent of the lore between these two characters. Feel free to read this or skip this if you want, because I did pour out my heart and soul and it can be kind of a lengthy read.

Enjoy~

So Looker and Anabel have been two existing characters in Pokemon for the longest time, with both being sort of beloved for different reasons but not too often thought about as compared to other NPCs. One’s a reoccurring comedy relief detective since Platinum and the other is probably the most memorable and strongest of the Hoenn Battle Frontier from Emerald.

But when SunMoon dropped, these two characters got a new lease on life that no one really saw coming. This special appearance made them go from NPCs I never really thought too much about to placing them as my top two favorite Pokemon characters of all time.

The UB Task Force mission, as much as a glorified fetch quest as it seems to be, continues some of the darker, more adult themes brought along with SunMoon. While the main story dealt with subjects of abuse and what it means to be a truly strong person in the case of hardships, the post game surprisingly delves into the corrupt side of a seemingly good organization and idea of sacrificing one life to save another. What appears to be another run of the mill Looker mission takes a dive into the tragic backstory shared between certain characters, and all of this lore was scrapped in the ‘definitive’ USUM games.

So while a lot of people might have played this portion of the game, many could have skipped it entirely or didn’t give the dialogue too much thought.

But you’re asking, why is it special? And why have I cared so much for a potential romantic relationship between Looker and Anabel enough to draw them as much as I have?

Haha. Buckle up buckaroo.

So right off the bat, Looker and Anabel’s banter sets up what kind of relationship they have with one another. They’re formal as coworkers can be, but the more they talk to one another, the friendliness that they share quickly becomes apparent. They also tend to speak highly of each other, no matter if the person is in the room or gone out.

And he’s not wrong! Looker is well aware of just how capable Anabel is for a guy that isn’t really known for Pokemon battles himself.

After the first UB on the list is securely captured, Looker insists on a feast for everyone to enjoy in one of Alola’s famous restaurants, in which Anabel points out asking how he had known of this already having just now arrived here. Looker, flustered, says that he’s read it in a magazine and dashes out to make reservations, cuing Anabel to react to his odd antics in a more...

Affectionate way.

Look at that lil smile.

He’s an odd fellow, for sure. A lot of characters in the past called him weird or were off put by his personality, but Anabel is very patient and sort of endeared by him. He constantly returns to the gang yelling “It’s a catastrophe!” in different languages-- And Anabel doesn’t snap at him angrily for it, but calmly asks him to repeat himself in english so that she can understand him.

During the course of the post game while Looker’s away, Anabel is always talking about him in a positive manner. Despite his quirks, she finds him a league of his own even amongst the elite of the International Police.

Despite this acknowledgment of Looker’s skill and ability, she seems to be awfully dead set on keeping Looker as backup in their base of operations.

Anabel knows how dangerous UBs are. They’re not human criminals that he can easily deal with with his own fists-- they are aggravated alien monsters. Her imagining Looker facing one of them alone without any Pokemon to defend himself with probably scares her deeply.

Scares her enough for her to constantly assign him to be backup for her and the Protag, despite his protests and his expertise in fieldwork.

And yet she never fails to remind him that he is important regardless of whether he’s on the field fighting alongside her or set to backup. Almost, in a way, finding a way to flatter him. (smiling at him as reassurance or perhaps even putting up a bit of charm) She is thankful for his help on getting intel and he’s a valuable asset to the mission, but she cannot bear the thought of her friend getting hurt when she can handle the UBs with her own fully trained Pokemon team.

However, despite her confidence, Anabel grows more and more fatigued with each UB encounter. Looker’s worry rises and he tries even harder to let himself take her place in the field.

As much as she also insists on not wanting to worry him, Looker’s usual goofy and eccentric demeanor begins to change. His speech patterns start to become more serious and his sentences trail off more often, which throughout all the games, is a rather rare sight to see. His care for Anabel brings out something vulnerable and emotional out of someone self proclaimed hard-boiled.

With all the respect he gives her and all the times he commemorates her aptitude, he still fears for her greatly.

And when a familiar character appears, we understand why.

Nanu comes in to talk about the truth behind Anabel’s reappearance in the series; much like the UBs, she came from another world through Ultra Space and ended up as what Interpol dubbed as a Faller. 

Fallers are bathed in the energy from ultra wormholes. Thus, UBs are attracted to these humans, mistaking them as a way back home and going on the attack. Back then, Interpol found a particular use for Fallers by using them to direct the attention of UBs away from public areas.

Which is what happened ten years prior to the events of SunMoon. Looker, Nanu, and a third member were sent to fight a Guzzlord. However, Looker hesitated in harming it further when it realized it was just scared monster sent here against it’s will. But his lapse in judgment cost the life of the third member, a Faller woman, to fall victim to Guzzlord’s attack.

Looker and Nanu took down the Guzzlord but learned the horrible truth about their companion, who was not trained in combat-- she was designated as bait, but the catastrophic results were a failure that shadows Interpol forever. Not long after, the two agents found a woman washed up Poni’s shore recollecting nothing about herself but her name; Anabel.

This is why Looker has been growing ever so worried for Anabel’s safety and why he even asked the champion in the first place to help. The protag is indeed a Faller as well. He thought he could be able to control the situation with having a fantastic trainer who befriended Solgaleo/Lunala to keep the UB outbreak in check-- To make sure Anabel was safe. After all, the protag is able to help the mission go along beautifully and safely capture each UB.

But not without a price. Anabel was still being hurt, and Nanu had to intervene to make Looker realize that he had made a big mistake.

After all, Anabel isn’t aware that she’s a Faller herself. Why doesn’t she know yet? Wouldn’t Looker tell her? Or Nanu?

It would appear as Interpol learned something after all these years, and isn’t really using her as Bait as they did before with the first Faller. Anabel is said to have autonomy over this and chose to save the UBs from a worse fate. Unlike the first Faller, she was properly trained for the UB Task Force missions and for many other Interpol related missions as her own strong, resourceful agent. However, Interpol is still quiet about her status as a Faller and anything relating to them from the past.

And Looker, years after the incident with Guzzlord, is now met with an Anabel with a newly built Interpol life determined to help people, Pokemon, and UBs in need no matter what. She absolutely believes in her successes and her cause. And she is adamant of going on these missions. Looker grows a bond with her and is faced with this troubling realization;

To tell her the truth would mean to collapse the whole world upon her.

After all... Having rebuilt her life, seeing her so confident, so passionate about what she’s doing... He sees her succeed in something he feels all too familiar with-- Starting from the bottom and creating an identity, somehow.

Having been found in the Battle Resort, washed ashore with no memory, not even a name to go by. Looker knows her pain more than anyone else. She needs to know about what she is going through-- But the uttermost pain she will feel and the lingering eyes of Interpol’s heads has been keeping him mortified and silent.

So he does anything and everything in his power to protect her in the meantime, before she can be told the truth. And with the way the Alola mission went, that time is coming up real soon.

However, with the protag and Nanu’s help the UB Task Force finally had every UB under control. And Anabel was kept safe and sound, much to Looker’s relief. They can finally enjoy some time off and no doubt will be in for quite a long, painful, but necessary conversation when the time comes.

Not of course before Looker going off into a slight panic over the idea of Anabel going on a date.

And that was the line that made me totally think “Oh yep, yep! Looker’s got a massive crush on her!”

SO! What’s the take away from all this madness??

The fact that Looker and Anabel care deeply for one another so much, as they go far too out of their way to protect each other from harm. Not just out of necessity, but their banter clearly shows that there’s a deeper connection between the two than just a professional coworker one.

You might argue that Looker is only worrying about her this deeply because of what he went through all those years ago and is trying to prevent the same thing from happening, and yet... He’s grown to appreciate and know Anabel for who she is. She is in fact her own agent that joined Interpol on her own volition and chose to do the UB missions due to her empathy to the lost beings so far from home.

He knows when she’s unwell, he knows why she hides it away. He understands her as a person and it’s wonderful how much they show that they grew to have a bond with one another. Enough for both of them to catch on to each other’s quirks and feel comfortable.

The small giggle that she gives him, the small yet playfully affectionate jab, the way it just says “Oh there he goes again thinking about the feast at this time... Just Looker being Looker~” Because she also knows him deeply as well! This man is not one of her best allies but one of her most trusted companions in this new life of hers and it shows!! 

They’re each other’s most trusted companions and their partnership is just wonderful to see.

Of course, romance can’t happen between them yet-- Not until Anabel knows the truth about Fallers and what Interpol did long ago. But let’s be honest, even the big angst/hurt/comfort fest that would come from that conversation would be a whirlwind of emotions that would just end up with them having an even stronger relationship than they’ve ever had before.

It’s not just that they look wonderful together, complement each other, and such-- It’s all those things plus the backstory and close bond and tragedy that comes from this mission. It makes me want to see them overcome every hurdle and be happy with one another and have all the joy and happiness they deserve after all they’ve been through.

I want to see them in more situations where they can be casual with one another, fight alongside one another, and so on so forth. They just have so much potential and I really think Game Freak sees it too.

And as for a lil bonus, Looker in USUM finding out the protag is the champion but is more impressed with Anabel’s knowledge than the actual champion. Also they’re always vacationing together mutually huh hmm wowie?

--

tl;dr go ship Looker/Anabel aka Fallershipping aka Lookabel best ship 10/10

[thekrazykeke]

You’re Perfect

Fandom(s): Attack on Titan, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Batman: the Animated series, Bleach, Black Butler, DragonFable, Dragon Ball Z, Fruits Basket, Fullmetal Alchemist, Hellsing, John Wick, Naruto, Ouran Highschool, Persona 5, SkipBeat!, Suicide Squad, Telltale the Walking Dead, Tokyo Ghoul, Vampire Knight, and more!

Relationship(s): TBD.

Rating: K+ through MA.

Summary: What would you do if had the ability to ignore the boundary between reality and fiction? To be with your ideal person who only exists in anime, manga, movies, and games, etc.? With the power to go wherever you want to, would you stay in a fantastical world or return to reality?

Warning(s): Will be tagged appropriately per chapter and fandom, etc. etc. 

Taglist: Click here to be added.

Tagging: @misspooh​ @ginghampearlsnsweettea @naomithenerdgirl @wojtud-widvut-fecret​ @indigorose049​ @queenofhearts579 @fallinoutoforbit @ashthebootyholetickler​ @one-twisted-bee​ @stichpatched

Those with the strikethrough in their name, I’ll be sending the link through to your DMs, so please leave it open. I’d like to say that the listed fandoms is a cursory overview, and is prone to change. If you have something you’d like me to write about, a fandom and anime you want me to watch, don’t hesitate to tell me. I intend this to be a long running thing for all of us nerds to enjoy together. With that said, this is only the prologue and I hope to improve the chapter length and such from here onwards. 

Stay so stay tuned, hit that like button, reblog, comment, whatever you prefer. Ciao~

~

Prologue

A Normal Day Turned...?

December 11, 20XX RealityLux, Inc. 5:36 P.M.

It never stopped being so jarring.

Being outside, or even, just surrounded by people, no, by strangers, all hustling and bustling, either on their way to some type of appointment, or work, or a friend/family member’s house, or, or something... Everyone always seemed to have a set destination in mind, and they were determined to get there.

Sometimes you found yourself unwillingly swept up in the crowd, with the vibe, the urge, to actually go along with the flow, curious to see where that feeling would take you.

The outcome for occasionally submitting to these whimsical flights of fancy led to awesome destinations, such as a brand new internet cafe that you’d never heard of but quickly fell in love with because of the decor and ambiance, or the park that boasted some of the best up-and-coming local urban artists, and even the black owned businesses which sold your prefered clothing style at a reasonable price.

During days like those, it felt as if you truly had the best of luck.

Well, honestly, the past several years felt like that. 

Unluckily for you, you’d grown up into and been around long enough to witness the travesty and endless tragedies that plagued this crooked nation due to warmonger presidents like Bush. Cried with overwhelming joy when President Obama was elected, and cried again when his final term ended. 

You’d wept furious tears over the fact that Hilary had not been elected, even though she was really just more of the same, and could not sleep peacefully during the four years that President Orange was in the White House. You’d lived through terror and injustice and bigotry. Or, well, correction, people stopped pretending to care whether or not they were labeled as racists and Neo Nazis. You learned to keep your head down even more during that time, to watch out for people not just at night time, but also during the day. 

America has always been a terrible country instilled with hypocrites to the extreme but those four years had aged you well beyond your years. After Trump’s impeachment, although his Vice President tried to step up to the plate, it would seem that a higher power decided to have mercy.

Michelle Obama decided to run for President, and she won.

During her time in the White House, many things, both gradually and quickly, came to pass. Things that were long overdue, such as the rich and elitist members of society paying more on taxes, minimum wage being increased, pedophiles and rapists getting the maximum sentences, college tuition was lowered to an affordable price or free altogether, increased salary for women, etc. There just isn’t any possible way that Michelle would be able to undo the ugliness and rot that infected America for so many years.  You still hated this country, but with her in charge, you learned to hate it just a little less. 

Pop!

With a blink, you found yourself smiling on autopilot. Two of your coworkers, Jessica and Kate, were laughing and giggling as they poured themselves some bubbly champagne before going around the room.

“Aaaand youuu,” The bubbles are floating to the top, the scent of the champagne wafting upwards to your nose, “Get the rest because you clinched that deal with Bandai.” Kate praised, flashing her bleached white toothed smile in your direction. “Go, [Your Last Name]! Woo!”

“Ohh, we’re cheering now! Woo-wooo!!” Jessica joined in, raising her free hand in an enthusiastic wave. 

Raising the glass in a faint salute, “Mm, c’mon, guys.” You took a sip of your drink. “This was a team effort.” Actually it wasn’t, but it sounded better to say it that way.

“Don’t be so modest, [Your Last Name].” One of the few random guys at the party piped up. “C’mon, give us a speech!”

Before you knew it, several more people had took up the call. 

“Speech! Speech! Speech!”

Closing your eyes briefly, you inhale and then exhale. Raising your glass, you smiled a bit wider, and waited until they settled down. “It’s been an honor to work with you all for so many years. I hope to be working with you for many more years to come.Thank you.” 

Short, sweet and to the point.

It gained a few good natured groans and people wanting to hear more, but they were quickly distracted by the caterers who brought in food and more wine and champagne. That was the perfect opportunity for you to sneak off, claiming that you were going to use the bathroom, placing the flute of half drunk alcohol on the nearest table while on the way out the door. 

As soon as you were in the hallway, away from your colleagues, the (fake) smile that’s been plastered on your face all day fell off. You walked as quickly as possible with the four inch heels you’re wearing, reaching a flight of stairs and held onto the railing as hustled down them. 

There’s a smile is on your face again as you take that last step, and this time, it’s genuine, because of the man holding his hand out to you so gallantly. You took his hand with a little laugh, accepting the small bouquet that he offered with his free hand. 

“Cinderella rushing off from her ball before it’s even midnight. Classic, I love it.” He winked. You rolled your eyes and whacked him on the arm lightly. “Oh! Ow.” Feigning injury, he clutched at the ‘hurting’ part. “Violent. I guess you’re not Cinderella but that kick ass girl from Ella Enchanted.” 

“Shut up. You’re so ridiculous, Mr. Hunt.” Shaking your head, you pretended to be upset, looking away with a huff. Only to really huff with annoyance when your ear is flicked. “Eli, stop~”

“That’s right, you better call me by my first name. ‘Mr. Hunt’ is my father, as you well know, little girl.” Eli grabbed you by both your hands, tugging you ever closer. 

And closer. 

Close enough that you catch a whiff of his cologne that he’s wearing and it smells expensive, woodsy. 

Perfect.

“Eli, you found her!” 

The moment is broken. 

You jerked your hands free and smile automatically as another woman came running up to you and Eli, holding onto a wrapped, square box. “Kymbrea, hey!” You open your arms and laugh slightly as she handed off the package to Eli before wrapping her arms around you in a hug. After a few minutes, you patted her on the back to signal her to let go and she did, accepting the package back again, before holding it out to you.

“Congrats on getting that deal with Bandai. Knew you could do it. So proud of you, best friend!” Kymbrea happily proclaimed. “C’mon, open it, open it, open it.” With a needling voice, she gently cajoled you.

“Kym, hey, baby, that’s enough.” With a slight laugh, Eli tugged her out of your space. A pang went through your heart and the smile on your face felt a little brittle. Neither of them seemed to notice, thank god. “I’ll take this wild woman off your hands.” As he glanced at you, smiling as if nothing was amiss, as if he hadn’t been... Hell, you didn’t even know anymore. Maybe it’s all in your head? With an awkward nod and smile, that he accepted without issue, he wrapped his arm around her waist, leading her up the stairs, “We’ll see you later, [Your Name].”

You watched them go upstairs for a minute or two, feeling uncomfortable and embarrassed and dismissed. Swallowing the lump in your throat, hands still full with the gifts, you instead push those unnecessary feelings to the side.

Walking out the lobby to the front entrance, where the valet already has your car pulled up and ready for you, key dangling from his hand. You ignore his curious, slightly concerned stare, tossing the bouquet inside and on the backseat, the wrapped package getting only slightly better treatment. 

Snagging the car key, you hand him a tip and then go around to the driver’s side, climbed in and then closed the door after you. Adjusting the heat in the car and the mirrors, you put the key in the ignition, made sure no one was behind you before taking off. 

The further and further away you get from the rented out hotel, the less the feeling in your chest aches. It’s something you don’t take much stock in, you can’t afford to. For awhile, you drive around, only to eventually come to your favorite market.

It was getting dark, so you decided to do a quick in ‘I’m feeling sorry for myself’ and out run. So chocolate, poptarts, bottles of Lipton tea, the usual. All in all, less than fifteen minutes and then you were driving to your apartment. Seeing it from a distance still took your breath away. 

You’d done this, this was your life, after all this time, you’d achieved that which seemed unachievable. 

Living at the top, finally. It didn’t matter that it felt a little like a hollow victory.

After having a small conversation with the doorman, politely declining his help with your groceries and the two gifts you’d received. Your neighbor, some white guy you didn’t know the name of, didn’t allow you to refuse, citing reasons for why it wouldn’t be decent to let you suffer this alone, and eventually you agreed if only to get to him to stop; together, you and he caught the elevator for the top floor where your apartment is. Letting yourself in first, you told him thanks for the help, and he smiled, lingering. You handed him whatever was left in your wallet, a generous amount and still he lingered. It was starting to be uncomfortable so you slammed the door in his face, locking it shut quickly. quickly kicking off your heels and slipping on your flip flops. 

Tossing the flowers into the trash, you began to put away most of the groceries, leaving only a couple boxes of poptarts and a case of tea out. The sound of running water is loud in the apartment, but familiar. Cleaning out a mug, you pour the bottled tea inside, along with a few ice cubes, grabbing the matching saucer. 

Walking into the living room, you turned on the TV, placing the mug of tea on the coffee table side the couch. Reaching into your back pocket of your pants, you pull out your cell phone, also putting it on the coffee table after putting it on ‘read’. 

Much more comfortable.

Sitting on the couch with your feet tucked neatly in criss-cross applesauce style, leaning back against the pillow, you grabbed the PS4 controller, pressing the power button and quickly choosing the game that you’d digitally downloaded. Thankfully, it’s fully downloaded and updated, ready to play. 

For hours, you lose yourself in the combat, grunting with dissatisfaction when your on screen character is overwhelmed, or cheering with triumph when you finally beat a mini boss or passed a quest. 

Only once your fingers started to cramp and you couldn’t ignore the urge to drink the tea, did you press pause. Sipping at your tea, you flexed your fingers, pressing the button on your cellphone and it lit up, showing off your message from Kymbrea which read simply ‘U play it yet?’ and inadvertently, you gaze drifted to the package sitting by your front door, which you’d dropped carelessly. 

Feeling guilty, you huff out a sigh. 

Getting up again, lightly tossing the controller back onto the couch, you walk over the package, picking it up and returning to your original spot. Carefully peeling off the wrapper, you reveal a totally pitch black box except for the bright red logo XR on it. 

Raising an eyebrow, you opened the box and pull out a VR headset, a tiny controller, and instructions. Shaking the box, wondering if that’s it, out fluttered a piece of paper in pretty, delicate cursive, ‘I’ve already uploaded everything I knew you’d like. Happy early Christmas! xo, K.’

Shrugging, you sighed and completely decided to let what happened earlier go. Kymbrea had done nothing wrong, she is your best friend. If anything, you’re the problem. With that little (depressing) pep talk finished, you fired off a text, telling her thanks and that you were checking out her gift now. Once that’s finished, you set up the VR headset, all the cables and cords, and then put the headset on after making sure everything is up to date. 

After some labels and companies that you didn’t know about and you assumed were associated with the game popped up in front of your vision, after that, that’s when things got a bit weird. There’s a black woman, who looks terribly, terribly familiar, walking straight towards you. Before she gets too close, she stops and tilts her head in that same weird mannerism that you know, but--

/Welcome to HTC Vive, the virtual reality which caters to all your needs. Before we can move on to the first chapter of the game, we’ll have to go through the registration to make sure everything is in order. Is that okay?/

Resisting the urge to groan out loud by Kymbrea’s utter cheesiness, yet also grudgingly appreciating the gesture, you decide to fight through the embarrassment because the AI looks so familiar to you because she was created, designed, whatever the term, to look exactly like you.

Once you finish up registration, verifying that yes, you’re over 18, and yes, you’re over 21, you don’t mind violence or gore, you know to take breaks and be careful of flashing lights, etc.

/So, the initial set up is complete. Some chapters will be better established with voice recognition, but can be played without. Do you wish to install this software?/

Literally going to kill Kymbrea, just shove a pillow over her face and smother her to death. Unwittingly, you groaned in sheer torture, before saying yes, feeling your skin heat with embarrassment. 

/Understood. Voice recognition approved./ 

The AI’s voice changed to suit yours and whoa, that was kind of freaky but also pretty awesome? 

Whatever, you’d think seriously about it later. 

/We’re about to start your journey. Please make sure that you’ve done everything you needed to do beforehand because this chapter will be shorter or longer to suit your needs./

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Come on, come on. Once you answered the last minute questions, such as what you wanted to be called, your preference for your partners (male/female or otherwise), and other 18+ questions that you refused to admit got you hot under the collar, as soon as you hit the ‘Accept’ button, that’s when things really, truly honestly got weird. 

Technicolors burst across your vision. The AI lady took steps towards you and she wasn’t stopping. You were freaked the fuck out something terrible, cussing up a storm and as you reached up, about to pull the headset off, figuring this had to be some kind of mcfucking joke or jumpscare or something, and then her hand is touching yours and that shouldn’t be possible at all.You open your mouth to scream but nothing comes out, or you don’t think it does? 

You hear static and your vision turns black.

                                »»————-　　————-««

Stay tuned for the next update of You’re Perfect! You wake up in the bed of........?

[migleefulmoments]

Reality Check on TSG and Darren: Dissecting the Lies the ccers repeat.

The obsession with Mia and TSG returned as soon as Elsie was over- just as predicted. I find it so odd that a handful of women with NO intention of ever stepping foot in TSG have such an obsession with keeping tabs on negative Yelp reviews. How often they must check Yelp in order to catch every one.  hot of the press so they can blast it and rage over the problems. But even more curious is that they never actually vet the reviewers themselves for their validity. Several of the negative reviews the fandom delighted over were clearly written by people who have never been to the bar and were influenced by Abby’s theories including the one who complained about the vaginas dripping on the bar and the one who complained about Open Dyke Night and then admitted she was underage and half a world away. 

Here is TSG overall score: 

With 118 review they are at 4.5 stars so these 1-star reviews are not the norm.  Most review look something like this 

or this

Now let’s look at this recent lot that Cassie decided to bring to ccers’ attention.  

cassie1022

(Well Megan, it depends on what night you were there. They close at 1 am on Tuesday and Wednesday).

(If the door people are turning people away an hour before closing, Mia needs to know and the Yelp review will be helpful  But since the vast majority of the 118 reviews are very positive, this clearly isn’t a problem that occurs often).   

(This is the one that gets Abby’s fired up about.  I have no clue it it is true or if it this policy is posted anywhere. I will give them this one because I can’t check anywhere.  20% does seem a bit high for a bartender tip since they aren’t waiting on a table...anyone?)  

(Melinda, Melinda Melinda...I’m going to guess that by her comment that she is not 21. She gave the place 1-star because the bartender carded her. Basically that is it. She gave them a horrible review and ranted because there were frumpy old lady tourists in the bar, she insulted the drink taste and the price even thought it sounds like she wasn’t served and the bartender thought she looked young. I’m sorry but this smells wrong. But even more telling is the comment “If I am willing to buy your mediocre $20 glasses of urine then you bet I am old enough”. Notice she never says she is 21, she simply spits that she is willing to pay the price for the horrible drink and that qualifies her.  

Check out her Yelp page- she went to LONO after TSG and complained about TSG on that LONO’s review.  “BEST BAR OF THE EVENING! I came here after fleeing the depressing depths of Tramp Stamp Granny's in search of refuge. The bartender with the long red beard was incredibly nice! He was kind, considerate, and extremely welcoming. The drinks were superbly delicious!!!!! Everyone should come here”  I get the vibe she didn’t get served at TSG (Keep reading, there is another hint about her age at the bottom of this section) 

Back home in NY she gave Trader Joe 1-Star claiming she found a worm in her smoked salmon. That seems suspect since the salmon was smoked. She gave her local ice cream place 1-star and this charming review “There was a long, black hair rolled up into my ice cream, the plate that my "sweet treat" was made on was covered in ice and the remnants of previous orders, and the employees appeared to be quite overworked.  When I want ice cream, I don't want an accompanying side of pity for the workers and disdain for the tedious, migraine-inducing procedure to make a mediocre ice cream. Also, the store was sweltering and I broke out into a beading sweat while waiting in the purgatory-like line.” The only places Melinda likes are a hot dog place and a pizza joint. The pizza joint got 5-stars “By far the best pizzeria ever; my existence would be trash without Emilio's. Oozy, gooey goodness that tastes like ambrosia regardless of the toppings. While the employees are lacking in the common customer service charm that we are force fed as a society, they have a higher level of pizza IQ than the rest of us average mortals. I guess that's what happens when you spend your days cultivating the food of the gods.”. But my favorite review of all is for 5-star review for her favorite hot dog place “Very delicious, savory hot dogs. The location is prime with it being directly behind the high school, however, the large line every single day can get a bit tedious. If only they would expand and open an extra window.” Now why would an adult care that it is located near the high school? It would seem that the person who calls the location “prime with it being directly behind the high school” but also notes that it the line is large every single day is a high school student.  Of course she could be a teacher who eats hot dogs everyday and is between the ages of 22 and 30 (any older and she would not be that upset that the bartender thought she looked young) but her comments reek of teenager.) 

(I have no clue what David’s issue is.  Is this a viable complaint to leave on Yelp? It sounds like David has a personal issue with the guy working the door.)  

Now the ccers chime in: 

ajw720  While all of these are bad, how are they getting away with unitemized bills that include gratuity with no policy plainly in site? I totally understand charging gratuity and have absolutely no issue with it, but it needs to be clearly stated, because if it is not, that is tricking customers into tipping twice. Disgusting.

Can we please separate d from this horrific establishment? Not only is it utterly misogynist and offensive in nature, with theme nights where the name is considered hate speech, it is repeatedly cited as poorly run.  First a 5% upcharge on ice and now we learn they charge gratuity automatically on bills of $80 or more without clearly stating the policy. That should be written on the bill handed to the customer.  Unacceptable.  

(Can we please separate d from this horrific establishment? No, Darren is married to the owner and considers himself an owner. What did he say the other day? “It’s my bar too because we are a unit” or something like that.  

Not only is it utterly misogynist: TSG is NOT misogynistic. You dont understand the word .

and offensive in nature: TSG is NOT “offensive in nature” to most grown adults. You can find it offensive but you do not get to dictate what the rest of the world finds offensive. Your attitude is no different from the Christians who claim they won’t serve LGBTQ customers because it is against their religious beliefs in that you are both putting your morals, values and beliefs on someone else and declaring that it is offensive to all of us. If you find it offensives then don’t give them your business. Period 

with theme nights where the name is considered hate speech: The theme-night names that you find so offensive and are labeling “hate speech”, are in fact words the LGBTQ is using to empower their community. “Open Dyke Night” was named- and is hosted by- a lesbian who uses the word to empower lesbians. These theme nights you find so offensive are NOT for you. They are nights for the LGBTQ community to come to a space that is safe and enjoy the company of others in the community just like them hence Open Dyke Night is for lesbian women to come together with other lesbian women and enjoy a night of singing and celebration. 

it is repeatedly cited as poorly run.. : It is NOT “repeatedly cited as poorly run” by anyone who isn't named Abby, Cassie, Leka, and Flowers. The bar has 4.5 stars overall and a lot of 5-star reviews. This is exactly what NadiaCreek was talking about when she said “You are denying a reality that is obvious and that gets more and more evidence with every passing day. You are tricking yourself into seeing patterns that are not there, by obsessing over small details and ignoring a mound of evidence for the opposite, true conclusion. That kind of thing can and will pour over into areas of your life that do matter. Denying reality in any area of the world is a dangerous game that can and will impact the rest of your life”. THIS is so important.  

First a 5% upcharge on ice and now we learn they charge gratuity automatically on bills of $80 or more without clearly stating the policy. That should be written on the bill handed to the customer: A 5% up-charge on ice was mentioned by one person. I wouldn't be referencing that based on one person’s random comment. The 20% gratuity is again only one person complaining so I wouldn’t sink my teeth in to this one until you know a lot more)  

klaineownsmysoul

When you have a “venue operator” masquerading as an owner who knows nothing about how a business should be run and obviously couldn’t care less, what do you expect?  They couldn’t be bothered fixing the air conditioning last summer and laughed it off as a joke.  Pretty sure at this point its obvious this wasn’t some sort of “life long dream” of hers to own a bar like they’ve pushed; more like a dream to have a place where she can drink for free and have her pic taken while people kiss her ass and call her wonderful.  There is not an ounce of D in that place.  His shoelaces have more integrity than this place.

(You have no clue what the business end of TSG is and comments like how she is “masquerading as owner” are so obtuse and stupid they defy logic. She is the owner and the bar is busy. But it doesn’t matter if it is failing and barely hanging on- it isn’t any of your business-that’ss between Mia, Darren and Danny and their landlord and vendors. It’s really sad and disgusting that you want Darren’s bar to fail. CCers want to be taken seriously -Abby constantly complains that the stans won’t listen to the various cc tropes -and yet you make nonsense statements like this...this is one big reason why you aren’t taken seriously. You WANT Mia to fail and you WANT TSG to go away but that is not the same thing as it actually failing or Mia being a clueless boss. In fact, her employees have said very nice complimentary things about her being a fabulous boss and they are far more credible evaluators than the cc fans who have never been to the bar and  simply believe Abby’s fantasy tropes about the bar and Mia failing. You have no idea if she cares or doesn’t care and again, it isn’t any of your business. It’s her business to drive into the ground or make it a roaring success. Darren’s fans don’t get a say in the matter other than to either be a customer and pay for drinks or don’t give them your business. 

Patrons continue to go to the bar and I have not seen complaints about the lack of A/C except on opening night.  It is just as much Darren’s bar as Mia’s- so you believe Darren didn’t care about the A/C and laughed it off as a joke? When? Or is it that A/C was out a few days over a year ago and you are still using that as fuel for your rage about a bar that you have nothing to do with? 

“Pretty sure at this point its obvious this wasn’t some sort of “life long dream” of hers to own a bar like they’ve pushed; more like a dream to have a place where she can drink for free and have her pic taken while people kiss her ass and call her wonderful” Again comments like these are why you aren’t taken seriously.  Mia owns the bar. Whether you like it or not, she owns the bar.  You simply don’t like that she isn’t the bar manager-she pays people to do that.  The owner is the one who hires and trains staff, makes decisions about the menu and what alcohol will be offered, writes the policies and procedures,   plans the calendar and makes payroll. She pays other people to run the bar day-to-day and that pisses you all off because you can’t see her at the bar and criticize every moment that is uploaded to social media. What she does is all behind the scenes and not Instagramable. But it doesn’t mean she isn’t working. There is a thing now called the internet and it makes doing a lot of the work of running a bar doable from a wide varsity of locals.  .  

Your comment that “there is not an ounce of D in that place” leaves me shaking my head. When you guys say things like this it just proves that you don’t know anything about Darren. You spend your time looking for Blaine and you're right- the bar has nothing to do with Blaine but it has Darren written all over it. The cc fandom spends all of their time and effort looking for the Darren they want to see and it’s a lot of work. You have to reject a lot of what you see and blame it on his team for making him be the bro’ dude that you can’t stand. You have to find videos and look at them frame by frame to find the moments you believe are the ‘real’ Darren aka the one you want to see. You have to cut out those precious few seconds, slow them down,  and  turn them into gifs and THERE...THERE IS the Darren you know and love.  But while you are doing all that work you are missing the real Darren. The one who is right there in front of your face but you don’t like because he isn’t Blaine. Darren’s footprint is all over the bar- from the elegant debauchery of the decor to the sexual puns on the signs and the drink names that IS Darren Criss. The piano at the center of the room-Darren’s piano- that he uses to connect with people through music and the fact that it is a piano bar that plays covers is all Darren. Mia plays very different music when she performs and yet the bar is literally based on what Darren does best- play the piano and sing covers while those around him join in. The place is ALL Darren-you just don’t like the real Darren.)        

flowersintheattic254

You know so many things were attempted to try to make M look like a career woman, with a viable business, shared interests with D and not a beard without taste or work ethic.

I think the bar will likely last as long as the fake marriage as M isn’t interested in it when D isn’t there to hang off and when you consider when it opened and how the encage went down.

M hung around bands when she was younger due to her fathers businesses. She likes being around famous, talented people. The bar gives her the opportunity and venue to continue her groupie inclinations.

I’m absolutely glad that D has been too busy recently to be there.

The most influence he may of had was with the whiskey choice.

(I don’t know why it’s so hard for you all to understand that Mia had several jobs and now she is owns a bar. The fact that you feel entitled to criticize her for her career decisions and make comments about her taste level is pure misogyny. Darren has also had lots of jobs and you don’t criticize him and the punny sex jokes are all Darren and yet you attribute them to Mia- that’s misogyny. Mia didn’t write Me and My Dick, Darren did, he loves the puns.   As for shared interests...he married her. Their shared interest is the family and the life they are building together.

How long the bar is open is yet to be determined but given that your record for predictions regarding Darren and Mia is abysmal, I’m not going to sweat it. The idea that Mia “hung out with bands” as a kid and the piano bar gives her the opportunity to hang out with famous people-I just can’t. She hangs out with far more “famous people” and musicians just going to events with her husband then she ever will at Darren’s piano bar. 

Her “groupie inclinations” WTF is a “groupie inclination”? I don’t even know what to say to that because I have no clue what a groupie inclination is. It’s really sad that you are so happy that Darren isn’t connecting to people though music since that means so much to him. He recently was asked if he had a need to be on stage and he said no, he has never had that need but what he does "NEED” is to connect to people though music and he also has said that playing the piano while people sing along gives him that connection.  I shouldn’t be surprised that you are gleeful that Darren hasn’t had time to spend at the bar he created in honor of his beloved Marie’s Crisis, your fan-girling over Darren has never been about Darren, it’s always been about you).  

leka-1998 Too bad you can’t actually call forgetting about that place most of the time and drinking the money they force people to spend a career. She’d be truly successful. It’s really her bar and D’s just the piano man, right? So if that could stop too, that would be nice.

(You really need to stop slandering Mia, she doesn’t drink anymore than Darren. You never call out Darren’s drinking but then again, it’s just your misogyny speaking-it always comes. The bar is Mia and Darren’s. When he says he’s just the piano man, he is just taking the attention from himself and giving it to her.  Darren does this a lot with people he cares about.  But he has been very clear that the bar is his and Mia’s. I know words are hard for you guys, you get so caught up in the meaning of the word that you fail to hear the message. Anyone paying even a little attention t Tramp Stamp Granny’s would realize that is Darren’s bar through and through. Someday maybe you can all stop looking for the Darren you like, stop obsessing about what this word means or that word, stop slowing down videos and clipping the out the 3 seconds you like  and instead  you can just listen to the Darren that is right there in front of you and HEAR what he has to say.  It will be revolutionary.  Listening to other people without assumptions is the very least you can do..literally it is the least).    

[icheloncontentmarketing]

Teeth Alignment: Braces, Aligners & Invisalign: Comparison, Cost, The right age and results-Know from the best orthodontist in Delhi

Leave a Comment / Dental implant / By admin

“With the introduction of Invisalign, more adults in 26 to 55 years age bracket are opting for teeth alignment.” – Dr. Aval Luthra

A smile can win millions of hearts. Having a perfect smile is a blessing in many ways. Whether you want a perfect selfie with a friend, win over your colleagues and boss, be the heart of a party or impress your sweetheart, half the work is already done with a perfect smile.

However, not everyone is blessed with perfectly aligned teeth which constitute an ideal smile. Many people have crooked teeth or misaligned bites that take away that charm form you. These misalignments not only affect the way you look but are also potential contributors to dental health issues.

Teeth that are not properly aligned are often difficult to clean and can cause decay and bad breath. The improper arrangement can also lead to repulsion from socialization and take a toll on your self-esteem. Children, particularly in their teens are quite sensitive about the way they look and how people perceive them. Even the elders may feel hesitant to laugh openly because of their disarranged teeth.

Dental problems are extremely common and the number of cases registered every year is increasing exponentially. Nearly half of the world’s population is impacted by tooth decay and 30 percent of senior adults lose their natural teeth. Apart from decay, irregular teeth alignment is also one of the most common dental problems across the world.

Ideally, your teeth should fit in your mouth properly with no spacing issues. When you close your mouth the upper jaws should slightly overlap the lower ones with your upper and lower molars locking into each other. Teeth should not be twisted or rotated. However, if there is a deviation from these normal arrangements, your teeth are called misaligned. Dental aligners are the most popular in treating misaligned teeth.

This blog is an attempt to discuss in detail, ways to rectify the malocclusions and regain your perfect smile. Various options you have and their comparison in terms of cost and benefits would help you make the best choice for yourself.

So let us dive into this pool of information and find the best way to rearrange our teeth and sparkle that million-dollar smile.

So, let’s know more Teeth Alignment-Cost, The Right Age, Results and Much More! Feel free to skip ahead if one topic catches your eye

Let’s start from the basics: Why do teeth become Crooked or misaligned

What Type of alignment do you have?: Diagnosis and types of dental misalignment.

What is the solution?: Treatment Options to Straighten Teeth or Malocclusions.

Let’s know more: Braces-Types, cost benefits and much more

Let’s know about the latest in dental alignment: Invisalign-cost benefits and much more

The part you would want to know the most: Which is better among all: a comparative study of the available option, Braces vs Invisalign

The best results are always in the hands of the practitioner: Choose the best orthodontist for you

Let’s know about it from the most trusted orthodontist in Delhi – Dr. Aval Luthra

Let’s start from the basics: why do teeth become crooked or misaligned?

“There can be numerous reasons leading to these irregular dental alignments. Some people have the problem ever since they get their permanent teeth while others get these issues due to some accident or injury. In either case, you can reinstate the arrangement of your teeth in your mouth and get your smile back that would make you the ultimate charmer.”~Dr.Aval Luthra

The alignment of teeth is technically called occlusion and misalignment is called malocclusion. Malocclusion can exist right from the eruption of teeth or can happen at a later age. Several factors can contribute to the malocclusion of teeth. One of the most common reasons is heredity. In your parents or anyone in the near relation has disarranged teeth, you are also likely to get those. Children born with birth defects like cleft palate often have issues with the arrangement of teeth. Several other factors like frequent use of the pacifier, prolonged bottle feeding, and thumb sucking cause twisted and turned teeth eruption. The problem can also hit adults due to impacted teeth, injuries, and improper fitting of dental implants like crowns and bridges. Sometimes due to allergies and enlarged tonsils, people mouth breathe which can also lead to teeth occlusion.

The good news is that these irregular arrangements can be rectified easily. There are several

types of teeth aligners that can amazingly reset your teeth in perfect alignment and position. We will explore more about these aligners in the following sections.

What type of alignment do you have?: Diagnosis and types of dental misalignments

Wondering whether you have an occlusion or not! Dental misalignment or occlusion is a very generic term that refers to several different teeth arrangement conditions. The best way to know about their existence is to understand various types of occlusions one can have. Here is a description of each type that will help you identify your issue and take proper resort.

The first type is the overcrowding. It is the most common reason for adults to seek orthodontic treatment. The overcrowding is a condition where your teeth get crooked or overlap due to a lack of space in your mouth to accommodate all the teeth.

Overjet means your upper teeth extend ahead of your bottom teeth when you close your mouth. This can lead to speech difficulties, eating problems, and make your teeth prone to injuries

Deep bite is another popular misalignment problem in adults. Sometimes when you close your mouth, your upper teeth completely overlap the lower ones and reach the gums. This condition is called a deep bite.

Crossbite is another type of occlusion in which your upper teeth bite inside your lower teeth. This can affect your teeth on one or both sides and front and/or back teeth.

Spacing is again a problem that affects numerous people. When there is extra spacing in your front two teeth it is called diastema. This is visible as soon as you open your mouth and can make your smile look awkward.

Sometimes you find that your teeth are not developing properly. In some cases, a tooth may not erupt at all or erupt incompletely causing the conditions known as missing tooth or impacted tooth respectively. Injury or trauma can also be a reason for these conditions. And lastly the open bite. It is a condition in which your upper teeth do not overlap the lower teeth at all obstructing a complete proper bite.

What is the solution?: Treatment options to straighten teeth or malocclusion Now you know that the problem you were facing like eating difficulties, speech issues, or just irregularly appearing teeth, all were due to malocclusion of your teeth. Let us now find ways to solve these problems. There are plenty of options to choose from.

The two most popular methods are Braces and Invisalign. Braces are being used for several years for both children and adults. These are metallic fixtures that can treat many malocclusions like overbite, spacing, and others. Preferably the braces treatment begins at an early age when the teeth are still in the developing stage so that the adjustment can be made more efficiently.

The Invisalign method is more popular in adults as these are not apparently visible. These are one of those revolutionary developments in dentistry which has remarkably simplified people’s lives. These are custom-made plastic aligners that can be easily worn and removed according to your wish and push your teeth in the right position.

Several other methods can also be used based on the type of occlusion you have. If your teeth are overcrowding or appear to overbite in your mouth, your dentist may use the tooth removal method and create a space in your mouth. Missing or impacted teeth can be treated by replacing them with implants. Several other methods like veneers and jaw expanders are also used to restore the shape and structure of your mouth.

Let’s know more: Braces – Types, cost benefits, and much more With constant evolution in the field, there are different types of braces available which you can choose based on your requirements. Some of the popular types of braces used these days are:

Conventional braces and lingual braces These are the most noticeable braces in which there is a metallic bracket in the front of the tooth and a few bands behind that anchors a wire that pulls the teeth in the right place. In some cases, the brackets are cemented on the inner surfaces of the teeth facing the tongue. Such braces are called lingual braces.

TYPES OF DENTAL BRACES -> COST OF DENTAL BRACES Metal Braces -> INR 35,000 – INR 50,000 Ceramic Braces -> INR 60,000 – INR 70,000 Lingual / Incognito Braces -> INR 1.00,000 – INR 150,000

Clear Aligners These are tray-like structures custom-made for your teeth. These have to stay on your teeth for 2 to 22 hours a day and can be taken off for eating and brushing. The cost of clear aligners can be INR 60,000 onwards

Self-ligating braces These use a metal wire that passes through metal clips on the brackets and does not require bands to move the teeth in the right position. The cost of clear aligners can be INR 80,000- INR 1, 00,000.

The process of inserting braces is time-consuming but straightforward. Your dentist first place instruments in your mouth to keep it dry and hold your tongue.

Your teeth are then cleaned and an etchant is applied to prepare them for bonding. Braces are then placed on your teeth with the help of an adhesive which is firmed by curing light.

Finally, your dentist runs an archwire through the braces which would move your teeth.

The procedure is cost-effective. The pricing often depends on the present condition of teeth, overall health, and devices used. Once the braces are placed, you should brush and floss regularly to maintain hygiene. You can use a toothpick to take out the stuck food. Follow the visit schedule to your dentist and discuss any conditions like low bone density and related medication prior to the treatment.

Let’s know about the latest in dental alignment: Invisalign – Cost benefits and much more We all realize that we are living in an era of technological advancement. The same is reflected in the field of dentistry as well. Invisalign is a perfect example of this revolutionary advancement. These are a series of colorless braces that are tailored for your individual teeth. They push your teeth gently in the correct position and precisely bring them in perfect alignment.

To get Invisalign for your occlusion, your dentist will first take x-rays and imaging to determine the occlusion you have. A 3D model of your teeth is taken and sent to the lab to craft Invisalign for you. Once created your dentist will make necessary adjustments if needed and push them over your teeth. Invisalign generally takes half the time than regular braces to bring your teeth in the right position. You wear them for over 20 hours a day for at least two weeks. During this period your teeth will be pushed slightly. Now you should wear the other set which would further push your teeth. This process may take a year before you can see the final result. During this period you can easily take them off and clean to maintain hygiene. The cost of the procedure is subjective and depends on your present condition. The procedure is cost-effective but the result is priceless.

Invisalign is a popular option owing to several benefits it offers. These are clear and not visible. The positioning of the teeth is precise and more comfortable. These are easy to maintain and saves a lot of time. The cost of Invisalign starts from INR 2,00,000

The part you would want to know the most. Which is better among all: Comparative study of the available option, Braces vs Invisalign.

“The right choice between the option depends on the person’s needs both Braces and Invisalign have there own pros and cons”~Dr.Aval Luthra

Braces and Invisalign are great options to straighten your teeth. However, each has individual characteristics that make it more suitable in a particular case. Let us take a look at the comparative study which would help you find a better option for yourself.

Appearance Unlike regular braces, Invisalign is clear in appearance that makes it invisible on your teeth. For that reason, people who used to be reluctant for braces are giving Invisalign a try.

Treatment time and cost The time that both the procedure would take depends on your individual condition In general, you need to keep braces 24/7 for a period of 12 to 18 months to achieve the desired results. On the contrary, Invisalign delivers results in six to eighteen months and you can take them off while eating and brushing. Both options would cost you similar but you can find cheaper options in braces.

Follow up and Maintenance You can brush the braces and wire usually but may need to use picks to clean the stuck food particles. You would also have to visit your dentist monthly. Invisalign, on the other hand, needs to be replaced every two weeks and the dentist’s visit is needed every 4 or 6 weeks. You can clean the Invisalign easily by taking them off.

Pros and cons Braces can be used to treat more diverse and complex occlusions. But they are a bit discomforting and difficult to clean. Conversely, Invisalign is easy to clean and maintain and does not interfere with your look at all. But you need to remove them before eating and drinking.

Suitability Braces are suitable for all kinds of patients except the ones who are involved in high impact sports. But Invisalign is not fitting for people requiring bridgework, back tooth bite issues, vertical movement of teeth, or rotation of premolars.

Best results are always in the hands of the practitioner: Choose the best orthodontist for you

No matter how well you know your problem and the solution needed, the results are always determined by the skills and proficiency of your dentist.

To get your teeth perfectly aligned the most important step is to find a clinic that is well-equipped and a dentist who is certified and well trained. Ask your acquaintances for reference or check the clinic personally. You can also talk to the present patients to seek their experience with the clinic.

Dr. Aval Luthra is one of the prominent dentists with nearly eleven years of experience. He specializes in orthodontics and has successfully changed the lives of many patients. His association with several elite organizations and researches helps him stay updated with the latest developments in the field.

The Dental Arch clinic functioning under his leadership provides a comprehensive solution to all dental problems. The clinic is powered with the state of the art equipment to ensure accuracy in the procedures and excellent results. High-quality treatment, hygiene, and extremely polite staff make your relationship with us pleasant and joyful.

[berniesrevolution]

JACOBIN MAGAZINE

While the mainstream press has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years, digital media appears to be stuck in a Wild West phase. It seems that Facebook is constantly running into trouble, from reports of data being mined without our consent to moral panics about foreign agents hacking Western democracy and hate crime caused by fake news. Yet as the world’s largest social media platform faces a series of crises, the opportunity has opened up to discuss its regulation.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn made a bold move onto this terrain on August 23 in a major intervention in which he announced “a series of radical ideas to build a free and democratic media for the digital age.” In a speech in Edinburgh, he outlined his vision of democratizing both the publicly owned BBC and commercial journalism. He called for taxes on tech giants and internet service providers in order to help level the playing field between the digital monopolists and public-service media.

This call for media reform was a paradigm shift — particularly at a time when the power of firms like Facebook draws rising skepticism. Today privacy violations, the panic over Russian troll farms, and concern over social media’s impact on mental health have all dented public trust in Facebook, and indeed its previously spectacular share price growth. And if in 2010 the film The Social Network cast Zuckerberg as a flawed yet forgivable genius, his recent congressional hearing was met by memes portraying him as a grasping tycoon with a robot smile.

For years governments have seemed scared of challenging the tech giants, refusing either to tax or regulate the new platforms which presented themselves in a near-magical aura. But Corbyn’s speech represents a breakthrough in the public debate on new media. Once apparently the domain of free-spirited libertarians, Silicon Valley is fast becoming a chief concern for states and governments. As social media monopolies are increasingly politicized, other proposals like introducing democratic oversight over the biggest platforms can offer a way to take control over sites that have become public utilities in all but name.

The Internet Ideology

If Britain’s Labour Party and others are finally breaking with the glorification of Silicon Valley’s libertarian ideals, it is also worth asking why this did not happen sooner. Facebook’s promise for dissenting voices has long been its capacity to bypass traditional media. Social media is, seemingly, a gift for whoever wants to challenge the establishment bias of traditional outlets. From the Left’s perspective, it has been credited with an important role in the rise of both Corbyn in the UK and democratic socialists in the US, able to break through the veil of media silence, or attacks. Yet this has, in its own way, also fed the myth that the Internet is a non-hierarchical, decentralized space; an idea which the digital monopolists frequently hide behind.

The mystique of the new tech giants allows them to skirt around the regulation governing traditional press. A founding myth of the Internet depicts a world in which start-ups grow out of dorm rooms and garages to become global platforms, advancing the creativity and connectivity of humanity. The ideological force driving this narrative is the idea that freedom of expression online is sacred — a principle enshrined in US law. But this also means that social media is not regulated like other media. Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act ensures that providers of an “interactive computer service” will not be treated as the publisher of content held by the service. Zuckerberg invoked this very point in July when he eschewed Facebook’s responsibility for controlling posts on the platform that denied the Holocaust.

Nonetheless, recent controversies have suggested that Facebook is anything but “neutral.” In a bid to combat so-called “fake news,” Facebook hasproudly taken a lead from US intelligence agencies in removing “inauthentic” pages, groups, and accounts. Yet in a context where less than a handful of private businesses dominate social media, Facebook can take decisions that shape the world’s biggest public sphere, with zero democratic oversight. Banning a far-right conspiracy theorist like Alex Jones may draw cries of “good riddance.” But banning the Latin American network TeleSUR, pro-Palestinian pages, and pro-Kurdish content gives a new and yet familiar imperialist slant to Facebook’s pronounced humanitarian and democratizing ideals.

At the same time, recent changes to Facebook’s newsfeed — reducing content considered to be passive, rather than interactive, in a bid to sustain use of the platform — has troubled activists who have come to depend on Facebook for publishing alternative views. These changes have underscored the site’s other monopolizing practices, such as forcing mobile users to reach content outside of Facebook via an internal browser; the browser is so slow that users frequently turn back, the better to interact on the platform itself.

A Monopoly Interest

It is, then, increasingly clear that Facebook is far from a neutral space in which users’ timelines are organically shaped by their networked interactions. Facebook is a publisher; it’s just a giant monopolistic one, driven at base by market incentives. As Zeynep Tufekci puts it, at its core, the tech giant’s “business is mundane: They’re ad brokers.” Indeed, as liberals focus the debate on user privacy and data harvesting they obscure the capitalist logics driving these practices, and what the alternatives might look like when data and global connectivity are free from private control.

It is spurious to respond to legitimate criticisms of Facebook by saying we can simply opt out if we don’t like it, or, like the Adam Smith Institute claims, that what Corbyn is saying amounts to a call to waste public money on building a “knockoff” alternative. Precisely Facebook’s biggest strength (also for users) is its critical mass; we use it because “everyone” is there and because we don’t want to — and in some cases, can’t afford to – “miss out.” Facebook functions as a public utility by sharing a mass of information and connecting as many users as possible. Its critical mass makes it a natural monopoly and that alone is bound to undermine users’ freedom of choice. But far from it thereby simply serving a public interest, it is governed by a business model centered on advertising, decisive to everything we see and do on the platform. This incentive drives the addictive logic behind the algorithms which determine whether you see more kitten pratfalls, a meme about Palestine, or a post from an old friend.

Despite Silicon Valley’s humanist pretentions, fundamentally Facebook is about getting as many people using the platform as often as possible. The longer you stay, the more ads Facebook can deliver. The more Facebook can collect data on your interactions, the more targeted, and thus valuable, those ads can be. If an already saturated Western market and the costs of self-regulation (assumed to be better than overbearing, and slow, state enforcement) might affect Facebook’s share price, it remains true that every single active user in the US and Canada was worth $97 to Facebook over the last year, or $23 in Europe. If you didn’t already know, for tech giants like Facebook you are the product — and that’s how much you’re worth.

Just like a traditional publisher, Facebook is clearly shaping what its 2.2 billion active users see. But instead of paying to produce content, Facebook gets it free from its users and other publishers. And instead of real editors, it depends an army of algorithms that are fine-tuned to keep you hooked.

A Socialist Social Media

Facebook falls far short of realizing the Internet’s true potential. Its capacity for global connectivity and the power of big data — which could be used for advancing human progress in infinite ways — is mobilized for one simple purpose: profit.

But what’s the alternative? Well, Corbyn’s proposals centered on redistributing profits from the tech giants and towards public-service media are a bold start. His vision of a British Digital Corporation is wedded to the UK’s paternalist tradition of social democracy, where “independent” journalism is thought to be a public good. But Corbyn’s speech also went a little further than this, suggesting an alternative that “could develop new technology for online decision-making and audience-led commissioning of programs and even a public social media platform with real privacy and public control over the data that is making Facebook and others so rich.”

Like the BBC itself, a social-democratic alternative to Facebook will face challenges. Facebook has enormous political influence and an industrious capacity to avoid tax. Determining what market Facebook operates in and providing a definition of what a digital monopoly actually is, present big legal challenges to taxation. Moreover, when the logic of capitalist competition is applied to media, public alternatives will struggle in an aggressive market for popular attention. Alternatives to Facebook already exist, but none have achieved the critical mass to make them viable. Even if Zuckerberg’s monopoly is broken up, the capitalist incentives driving the media environment could sustain Facebook, or platforms like it, indefinitely by constantly revolutionizing the means of addiction. It seems that without tackling these incentives head-on, the effect could be to create a tiered internet, with a healthier public sphere for some while leaving the most vulnerable to suffer the most pernicious effects of an online obsession.

(Continue Reading)

[reorganisingpridesheffield]

Reorganising Pride Sheffield

How Pride can be improved

We are a group of LGBTQ+ community members from Sheffield and the surrounding area who have genuine concerns about the way that Sheffield Pride is being run and has been run in the past.

Recent events and current Pride Sheffield Committee policy have forced us to speak out for a better Pride that recognises our past victories and future needs.

Pride is for all members of the LGBTQ+ community, but with the manner that the Pride Sheffield Committee has organised and conducted themselves, we feel they do not share our beliefs.

Pride is political

We are hurt and angry about Pride Sheffield's statement on social media claiming that Pride is “a celebration, not a protest.” In addition to this falsehood, the original application further ignored Pride’s origins and meaning by stating “we will not be accepting any applications by Political Groups for this years (sic) event.’’

In a statement to Pink News, director of Pride Sheffield Committee Darren Hopkinson stated: “It’s the same group of people every time we have an issue who we have problems with. We are currently working with our lawyers to take action against those who have created all this drama for no reason.”

When Hopkinson realised the error of his statement to Pink News, he then refuted that the statement was published by Pride Sheffield at all, stating “we did not put that statement out…legal action is now being taken.”

Hopkinson eventually took responsibility for Pride Sheffield and his own words and retracted the statement.

Because of these statements made by the head of organising and others, we believe that Pride Sheffield are still attempting run events under the same ethos of ‘Pride as Party’, stripping the event of political meaning.

We need to remember that Pride is indeed a celebration, but also a protest and a political statement. Lest we forget, there are still countries around the world where our LGBTQ+ family cannot be visible in away way, on penalty of imprisonment or death.

Currently, there are no free spaces to organise community events at Pride.

Pride Sheffield needs to recognize that the struggle still exists for many by creating spaces for grassroots community organisations at the forefront of fighting for our rights, and our siblings around the world.

We want space to host free workshops to help educate the public and the community about our rights and needs.

We want spaces to honour LGBTQ+ people that have come before us, and share our history, and mourn those we have lost.

We cannot fully understand the battles and sacrifices made for us and the work yet to come without such spaces.

Police out of Pride

As an alternative to police attending pride to offer “security”, we urge the current committee to consider volunteer security to lessen police presence. Additionally, we believe that Pride Sheffield should consult with black and minority ethnic LGBTQ+ people about police presence, and listen to what they have to say.

Police don’t protect

During Pride Sheffield 2017, South Yorkshire Police allowed a hate preacher to shout homophobia into the crowd using his megaphone in Endcliffe Park. The man was yelling homophobic slurs and damning passersby to hell. Having stationed himself in the middle of the park, he was impossible to ignore.

The police refused to remove him or even ask him to leave, stating it was a matter of freedom of expression.

Section 4A of the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 states that :

(1) A person is guilty of an offence if, with intent to cause a person harassment, alarm or distress, he— (a) uses threatening or abusive words or behaviour, or disorderly behaviour, or (b) displays any writing, sign or other visible representation which is threatening or abusive, thereby causing that or another person harassment, alarm or distress.

We believe that using slurs, and speaking angrily in a crowd at passersby in a public space gave the police grounds to legally remove this person. They chose not to.

A community member, in an attempt to peacefully end the spread of hate, pulled the cable out of the megaphone. The police reacted by grabbing their wrist and twisting them away. They pulled their hand free, but not before the officer left them with bruises and lacerations.

When the crowd uproar finally forced the police to act, they didn’t ask the preacher to leave. Instead, they told him he could remain at the main entrance of the park.

South Yorkshire Police protected the ‘freedom of speech’ of a bigot over the health and safety of LGBTQ+ people and allies.

Police should not be allowed to use Pride for publicity

In 2017, police vehicles were parked in the festival site while running lights and sirens. They played with children while carrying firearms.

This is a blatant attempt to normalise an armed police presence at community events. Their presence and actions shows no concern for the needs and safety of the marginalised people that they have harmed in the past and continue to harm today. We believe armed police should never be the norm.

We believe that Pride Sheffield should consult with black and minority ethnic LGBTQ+ people about police presence, and listen to what they have to say, as they are most vulnerable to police violence.

Having the police armed and present at community events shows a callous disregard for the concerns and safety of BME people.

Recent statistic show that BME deaths in police custody are double that of white British people, despite only representing 13% of the UK’s population. Overall deaths in police custody have risen 64% in the past year alone.

Prioritise community groups

Historically, Pride march leaders are not corporate sponsors, but LGBTQ+ community members and allies who have shown great support.

However, at the Pride march in Sheffield, corporate sponsors such as Aviva, Nando’s and Sainsbury’s are usually selected as march leaders. We believe it is inappropriate to sell a position of privilege and trust to the highest bidder. Parade leaders need to be community members, not corporations.

In selecting corporations over community, Pride Sheffield is promoting ‘pinkwashing’: a marketing strategy where corporations fund acceptable, widely supported LGBTQ+ events for publicity commercial gain. Frequently this strategy is used to hide previous wrong-doings, or gloss over a lack of anti-oppressive practices the rest of the year.

A Pride parade should never be lead by a for-profit company, but instead by groups whose work challenges homophobia, transphobia, biphobia, and all forms of oppression.

Parade leaders need to be community members LGBTQ+ leaders and allies. People and organisations who have shown great support should be chosen to represent the achievements of their communities, not a faceless international corporation.

We believe leaders should be nominated based on merit, not their ability to buy their way to the front of the march.

Keep Pride Sheffield free and accessible

In addition to having a corporation lead the parade, Pride Sheffield Committee is doing charging community groups and charities to march (this is on top of having ticketed events such as “the official after-party”.)

We march for our rights, for visibility, for celebration. What should be a free right to all LGBTQ+ people, allies, and charities now has a price tag.

LGBTQ+ people are statistically shown to work in lower paying jobs. Charities and grassroots organisations don’t have spare money lying around. As a result, the fee to march would most likely exclude the people who need visibility and support the most, such as refugees, migrants, and young people.

We believe that Pride Sheffield Committee should let community members march for free, in addition to giving community groups free stalls, and reinstating the community tent.

Pride Sheffield events should never be for profit, and main events such as the parade and stalls should be free and accessible to those who deserve them most.

Events that cost money to attend should have tickets available for free or at a discount rate for students, disabled people, or those who are unwaged. 

Any proceeds made at Pride Sheffield after covering costs of events, should be provided directly to Sheffield LGBTQ+ welfare support groups, such as Lesbian Asylum Support Sheffield (LASS) and SAYiT.

We want to be involved

The Pride Sheffield Committee needs to advertise meetings widely and encourage people to run for positions on the committee who represent the breadth of BAME groups, disabled people, migrants, trans people, women and other marginalised groups. It is not enough to say “you are welcome here”, they need to show their desire for the participation of disabled people, of BME and QTPOC, by going out and meeting them in their own spaces and hearing about what would make Pride truly inclusive and special for them.

Worryingly, there seem to be no public policies or practices that typically exist for such large organisations, such as safer spaces and accountability policy documents.

Pride Sheffield should host at least 3 open meetings a year, in which any member of Sheffield’s LGBTQ+ community should be allowed to attend, hear reports on the committee’s work so far and share any ideas or concerns they have. These events should be accessible, free, and widely advertised.

We believe Pride is for all members of the LGBTQ+ community. When Pride is free from fear of policing, free from fear of exclusion, then we will truly have an event everyone can be proud of.

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For more information about police presence and abuse at the 2017 Pride Sheffield, please visit the Action for Trans Health Statement.

For more information about what constitutes hate speech/hate crime under UK law, the Sussex Police have created a guide for LGBT+ people.

[rigelmejo]

Tempted to try Skritter app again (to learn Hanzi because it’s an srs so I’d just do it until I learned “enough”) but I don’t remember if last time they even had mnemonics (and honestly that’s the benefit of a premade thing - I don’t have to do that myself lol)... I feel like last time I tried it, it’s setup was not what I wanted, especially for the price... (and yet, I wanna try and see if it works better than I thought lol). Also I am reading actually reading the Alan hoenig chinese characters book now.

Also tempted to try wanikani app for the same reason but Japanese (again I could just... skip it and continue the Nukemarine decks, and read books I own lol).

Anyway moral of the story is I’m great at wanting to distract myself. Instead of just using what I have.

Also I’ve come to terms with the fact I will just HAVE to do some study separately to build output skills that I’m not doing right now. I’ve been doing L R Method primarily FOR listening comprehension improvement - and it shows. If I want to improve speaking? I’ll need to either add shadowing or do it other times (which is more time than I want to spend per chapter right now). If I want to improve character recognition(so reading skills), I need to do separate Hanzi study or slower extensive/intensive reading where I have more time to dedicate to learning the written word. If I do intensive reading during L R Method I either - slow down the time chapters take to get through by adding that extra step, or don’t actually focus on listening which is what I was aiming to improve. L R improves listening FAST and WELL but to do the other skills i need to do more things or separate.

So I’ve realized right now I should probably just focus on L R Method and realize I’m going to need to do more intensive reading(or Hanzi study) later to help reading recognition, and more shadowing later. I am contemplating adding shadowing once my listening comprehension is better.

If I want to do L R Method through a whole book, adding all the extra steps takes longer so I’m doing those later - maybe toward the end of the book once listening comprehension is better. (For me either focus on one thing and improve noticeably and or focus on several and improve slower in each).

Also, I AM in a sweet spot where when I listen to the audiobook as I read in step 2 of L R Method - I can follow the story. So like, if I’d like to finish reading guardian in a reasonable amount of time that’s my best bet - with the benefit of listening practice and hearing pronunciation of all known/unknown words. (At least until my extensive reading speed surpassed speaking speed).

Recent positives:

1. I reminded myself any study is better than no study. (In the end I imagine... a lot of it boils down to just “did you study 2600 hours” or whatever X is needed for competent language skills in the language you studied... so if I’m doing anything it’s better than nothing).

2. In light of that, i read some manga in Japanese today. Went well. Still baffled I’m capable of following the main idea without a dictionary now. Picking up more varied daily speech ways of saying stuff. Also I remembered bilingualmanga.com exists so I’m using that to look up new word meanings. For the first time in years I am?? Interested in manga again?? (Also yes you can TELL I don’t want to do srs flashcards a la Nukemarine’s memrise courses lol anything but that even though I’d probably progress the Fastest if I just buckled down and did them...)

3. I read 1/3 of Japanese in 30 Hours. I plan to finish it this month. I stopped transcribing it - I’ll get reading practice elsewhere tbh. I just wanna make myself read through a grammar guide tbh. It’s going well. I find this book pretty logical (only odd thing is it teaches masu form first like Genki, and not regular form until lesson 40 - but since I’ve read the first third of Tae Kim’s Grammar Guide it’s a nice contrast in a way). It does describe masu as a helper verb.

4. I have the urge lately to read a lot of the books I already own. Is it the most organized way to study? Nope. But it is studying, and the low pressure of “do what I want, read what I want, work THROUGH materials” is motivating. Just read, it’ll help. I don’t have to be perfect. And I will make use of the books I’ve already bought! In that line of thinking, I am finishing Japanese in 30 Hours, I’ve started reading Reading in Japanese (a 500 page beginner book but lots of big print so let’s say ~300 pages equivalent). When I finish that, I wanna read my mnemonics Japanese kanji book. Then maybe Japanese Sentence Patterns, or my more comprehensive Reading Japanese book. Basically - I figure if I read through what I have, I will reinforce a lot, learn a lot, and at least get some use out of it. Also cause if I wasn’t studying on purpose? I’d read this kind of stuff out of interest! So I might as well read!

5. Also in light of that I’m finally buckling down and reading the Alan hoeing Chinese Characters book (I know, who am I?). I’m not going over old chapters - I could, but also not trying to be perfect... just trying to FINISH the book for once. The Word Brain said words take 5 minutes to learn - usually seeing them 5 times in ideal timing to remember (spaced repetition). Well I’m not doing flashcards. But some of these words I’ve seen plenty before. So maybe reading my stuff will finally cement them better. I’m also hoping the advice of mnemonics help, will help make the memories stick better (I AM still making a sound mnemonic for every hanzi). Realistically plenty of these Hanzi will not stick, but having a mnemonic now maybe means next time I see them in reading they’ll start being remembered easier. Plus I have like 2 other Hanzi books - so if I read Alan hoenigs book and they don’t stick, maybe they’ll stick better with the next book reinforcing. Basically - in reading I got some to stick, but want to speed up the process with some mnemonics lol. Also? Again Skritter seems appealing if only because maybe I could do 2000 Hanzi in 2-3 months with srs.... but of course the problem there is: will I DO srs or hate flashcards too much? Whereas reading a book? I can do it, if readings all I need to do.

6. Inspired to read I read 2 more mental health self help books this past week, am reading 2 more that have exercises, and it reminded me when the year started I said to myself any book would count as book read goals if I wanted to read it. So maybe I Can just read my learning books for fun, my fiction books for fun, you know? Maybe I should do that more again. At any rate, the open minded idea to read anything I want without pressure to “do it in a perfect way” made me feel much more free and motivated to do things.

7. I’m back to working out a little, on account of my stomach medicine helping with the pain a bit! Wooh! I saw a video that yeah made me feel gay like everyone else who watched ToT but also the girl had a hella cool ab routine so I am copying it I’d love to be strong like her. And surprisingly, I can actually do a modified version of it (so like stand up bicycle crunches instead of laying down, knee planks instead of regular). So I can do that ovo)/

8. I got a gift card so I bought 2 Chinese novels at about ~2 ease rating (from that rec list I posted). So they should be 小王子 reading level. I’ve tested them both by reading online snippets and I could follow them. So I’m gonna make a goal to read them extensively. (And now that I know Google translate can lookup words in pics I might underline unknown words to look up after finishing each chapter). It would be cool to finish more novels! And the more I read, the easier reading will get! It’s that pages read goal baby lol! One of the novels is 撒野 so I’m excited for that (and hear it’s gonna have a drama). The other is by Ye hua (I think that’s his name), but I didn’t get 活着, I got a different novel he’s written that I was more interested in.

[bill-the-baker]

The Free Nation of America: Section 1, Chapter 2: The Rise of the Social Justice Warrior

<<First| <Prev | Next>

In the years following Obama’s victory, substantial efforts to fix the country were made. Obama’s first term brought about the Affordable Care Act of 2010 (often referred to as Obamacare), allowing those unable to afford the high prices of private healthcare to finally gain access to the help they needed. He also repealed the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law, within the military, which silenced and threatened the safety of homosexuals in combat, attempted to settle the crippling growth of the nation’s debt, withdrew America from an unjust war in Iraq, and finally captured and killed Osama bin-Laden, the main organiser of the September 11th attacks. And this was all in the space of four years.

The next four years involved further help to LGBT individuals, the prevention of global warming and the reduction of unemployment, which passed on from the events of the Great Recession. The Obama Administration marked a time for progress and rejuvenation. Finally, it seemed that America’s problems were under control, after the disaster that was the Bush Administration, with Obama ending his eight years in office with a 60% approval rating.

Though, there was still that 40% that chose to not side with him. The political right saw him as being a burden to the future of the “right to bear arms”, especially after he made a speech advocating for the control of firearms following the Sandy Hook Shooting, which took place in December 2012, resulting in the deaths of numerous young schoolchildren. Even some loyalists were disappointed in the fact that, despite making efforts to reduce numbers during his time in office, he was unable to convince Congress to close Guantanamo Bay.

Many Conservatives and Republicans held many of these ideas against him, but were cast off and laughed at, due to the absurdity of their ideas. Fundamentalist religious groups, such as the Westboro Baptist Church, claimed he was the Antichrist, who was going to bring about the end-times, with a major part of Senator Rick Perry’s 2012 Presidential Campaign being centred on Obama declaring a “war on religion”, because gays were allowed to openly serve in the military, whilst kids can’t pray in school. Though many of these arguments simply boiled down to the colour of his skin. Nevertheless, these faceless arguments secured the fact that, for these eight years, the right had lost and the left had won.

Obama’s actions were supported heavily by numerous people across America, with his progressive nature being a strong factor as to why he was seen as a popular figure in a certain group that had gained traction in recent years. Some commentators, such as Second-Wave Feminist, Christina Hoff Sommers, state that they all stemmed as far back as the 1990s, with the start of the Third-Wave of Feminism. Some see it as a result of increased access to information. Whilst some simply suggested that they weren’t raised properly.

And, in some of their methods, the third argument actually didn’t seem very far-fetched. According to archived internet footage, there are large amounts of so-called protests that feature bizarre, confusing and outright absurd methods to get a point across. Take, for example, the Ukrainian group, FEMEN, who protested Conservative ideas and corruption by assaulting leaders, breaking into government buildings, and urinating on portraits of unpopular figures, with their breasts exposed at all times. However, there was also the other kind of protesters. Ones that definitely fit the comparison of privileged, ungrateful children, with a lot of growing up left to do. Here are a few examples of their strange actions:

The first in this large list of events all stems from the first event to truly highlight the failure of these movements in the modern day. It’s April 4th, 2013, at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada. A meeting with members of the Canadian Association for Equality (CAfE), an Egalitarian organisation, with primary focus placed on men’s issues, was interrupted by a large string of chants made by self-declared Feminists. One of which was named Chanty Binx (according to all sources I could find), who became the unofficial figurehead of a doomed movement. They yelled and chanted at the group, calling them MRAs (Men’s Rights Activists), which, in their language, is a stone’s-throw away from declaring them woman-haters. The first phase of this event concluded with a false fire alarm, evacuating everyone inside, and taking the situation to the streets.

Once Binx had begun to get an audience together, she put together a list of reassurances in that these issues are part of a patriarchal system, meaning that if they were issues to begin with, then people like her would be supporting this group. However, she also wants to be heard, as displayed by the utterance of the sentence “shut the fuck up” in-between points, and also by her belittling of the people she was speaking towards, by referring to them with such flattering names as “Mr. Ego” and “Mr. Entitled”, whilst going on to say that the reason they were doing this is because they are afraid of “Fascists”.

Whilst this next one isn’t exactly a protest as such, it was a major event that impacted the pop-culture scene in a major way. A year after the CAfE protests, Eron Gjoni, an ex-boyfriend of independent game developer, Zoe Quinn, released a post on his website detailing her past relationships with people involved in the video game industry, even during their relationship. This was then picked up by an editor for the gaming news website, Kotaku, Steve Totilo, who denied the legitimacy of these events, as well as his involvement in past relationships with Quinn. However, the formality of these news sites continued to come under fire, as it was revealed that a judge in an award ceremony, named Robin Arnott, who offered an award for Quinn’s game, Depression Quest, whilst involved in an affair with her.

News of these happenings was quickly responded to, by media critic, Anita Sarkessian, who stated that there was a large amount of sexism within the video game industry, and it was always there. She would go on to make an internet series, named “Tropes vs. Women”, which was funded by a large amount of supporters, but still allegedly lacked a notable list of facts, especially considering how she needed to look for more research, showing that she rarely actually played video games. Many people criticised her work, before the events went on to spawn death threats, causing her to flee from her house.

The news media was quick to respond, by calling out the entire culture surrounding the industry, resulting in backlash by many of those who considered themselves “gamers”, beginning the “Gamergate” crisis (it was a common act to place “gate” at the end of a word to represent a major controversy at the time, as this derived from the Watergate scandal, which lead to the resignation of former-President, Richard Nixon). A whole industry, now reduced to a stereotype, with them being ridiculed by outsiders to the events.

In 2015, an event that took place outside of North America, at Goldsmith’s University in London, England, in which Diversity Officer, Bahar Mustafa, announced on her Facebook page that she was hosting an event that specifically disallowed white male guests from attending. After accusations of racism and sexism in this event, especially after tweeting about how she wished to “kill all white men”, she responded in May of that year, with a student reading a speech, made by her, on how she, “an ethnic-minority woman, cannot be racist or sexist to white men”, stating how racism is purely based on discrimination and institutional power, something many considered ethnic minorities to lack. This would be a common argument on the justification of the actions of groups, such as the government of the Free Nation, later on.

Finally, another notable protest would take place at the University of Missouri in September-November of 2015, with this all beginning with racist threats made by white students online, before taking this out into the campus itself, with multitudes of students driving around in pickup trucks, yelling “white power”, and organising a meeting that was such a threat to the safety of black students, that they had to evacuate an entire campus.

An event this shocking and outrageous should be worthy enough to be recorded. However, it goes to show that the only evidence of the event’s existence was through a list of tweets made by a small group of students. One of these students later admitted that this entire event was false, and that this all started as a result of “a state of alarm”. In fact, one of the people who were supposed to be behind the group of Neo-Nazis, Sam Hyde, was not involved in any form of racist activity and was a well-known activist from Yale, who had previously protested against police brutality.

However, there was, as a matter of fact, a swastika smeared out of faecal matter in one of the bathrooms. This singular image, which could have been made by anyone, was all the evidence the students needed to secure the fact that racism was a serious issue on campus. What resulted would be a protest against the poor management of the university, in terms of attempts to curb these acts, by blocking a car carrying the institution’s President, Tim Wolfe, during a Homecoming parade, with the protest resulting in Wolfe ramming his car into a young student, named Jonathan Butler.

Again, this statement was all fabricated. Though there was a protest, which resulted in Butler being hit by Wolfe’s car, this was not the act of Wolfe, but rather because Butler ran up to the car whilst it was slowly advancing past the group. This is shown in the only video evidence of the event, which happens to show Butler’s deliberate movement towards the vehicle. However, this story was taken by the protesters, and was noticed by the news, with the ensuing outrage causing Wolfe to resign from the Presidency.

Since Wolfe’s resignation, the group behind the protest had become prominent figures in the university, and, with this newfound influence, state a new list of demands, with these being publicised in yet another protest, with this one in particular not being known for what took place within the event itself, but rather what took place around it, with reporters being told specifically to “get out”, displaying clear signs of the group silencing those merely suspected of dissent.

However, the protestors still wanted their voices to be heard, and this appeared to be achieved when numerous other universities organised protests in solidarity with this group, with many demanding “safe spaces” for ethnic minorities, and when they were condemned by others for doing so, white students said that they should also have their own spaces, effectively reintroducing segregation into these institutions.

In fact, once a major terrorist attack took place in Paris, France, which resulted in the deaths of 130 people, many of these protesters claimed that these people were focusing on the wrong issues, and even made a Twitter hashtag, namely #FuckParis, because blacks shouldn’t care about a country that was once their colonial masters, half a century earlier. And these actions all took place, because of a string of lies, and a swastika made of faeces.

One thing you may have noticed about these events is that they all involved the use of some form of “social media”, an invention that was popularised around the mid-2000s, which allowed for the common man to express their beliefs, anonymously and uncensored. This is how this group of people was believed to have spread to the extent they had in those years, with their only armaments being the mind and a keyboard.

From here, they began to make their personal beliefs available to the world. Beliefs on anything, from the wish of true equality, to the demands of death to all rich white men. And they gained an equal amount of supporters and detractors, over the years, bringing them to success and even stardom, as their view-counts increased by the day. These people also used the experiences they gained from these actions to get the expertise needed to work for jobs in the old media. And that’s what many of them chose to do.

Due to their popularity among the youth of the 2010s, many youth-oriented media groups, such as MTV and BuzzFeed, chose to hire these people, mostly for online programming. Their high viewership ensured that these people would have their ideas and beliefs spread to much larger audiences.

From then on, the media of both the left and the right was becoming extremely ideological. It ranged from simple, light-hearted videos, like BuzzFeed’s “36 Questions Women Have for Men”, which depicts men as all being woman-hating jocks, to countless hit-pieces on white people for having “white privilege”, and how these people need to pay for the actions of their ancestors. It even got to the point where people were so fearful of racist actions, that a sign which said “it’s okay to be white” was misconstrued as a white-supremacist message.

These ideas showed a change in politics, as many progressive ideas were passed into governments and courts across the world, with many members of the media also siding with these new ideas. However, despite this period of change, it took a much different direction than most had hoped for.

[davidsilvercloud]

Terry David “Butch/Butch Naked” Silvercloud

“Step aside!  I shall perform the necessary heroics”  Comic Book Guy/The Simpsons

“Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go.” - T. S. Eliot

13 Million photo views, to date at http://ButchNaked.com.  Thank you.  At this time I’m getting about 200,000 photo views a week these days.

Again… thanks for the visits.

TELL EVERYONE.  Free photo downloads at http://BUTCHNAKED.COM

ButchNaked.com is hosted at: http://Flickr.com/David_Silvercloud

“That’s a great title.  It jumps out at you like a rat in your underwear drawer”   Moe Sizlack/The Simpsons

My homepage is http://ButchBoard.com ButchBoard will be maintained while I'm still above ground.  I'm 73 now. I’m not your average blade of grass.

“I’ve come to hate my own creation.  Now I know how God feels.”  Homer Simpson

Now keep reading.

THE DAILY GRIND… ARE WE THERE YET?

Be Prepared... Naloxone Training and Kits, British Columbia.  Free. Free is a very good price.

http://www.naloxonetraining.com/

Wednesday 27 Dec. 2017  The days are becoming longer, again.  Hooray.  I really dislike the very short days of winter.  Grey, cool and damp with light raindrops and snow flurries.  I got a lot of painting done, taking it light on exercises... my hips are hurting so I'm taking a sit up break and doing toe touching.

The end of another year.  Time to reflect and make plans for the coming year.  I've been doing the nude selfies for 3 years, now.  It was meant to be a one year project but I've been exercising more since I began pain management and hormone replacement.  I was feeling pretty crappy back in 2012 but, finally, found some good doctors and a good family doctor who had a hunch what my problem was and, now, I'm in hormone replacement therapy.

I hurt a lot but have learned to live with my aches.  They are under control about 2/3 of the time and the rest I've had to adjust to as part of my life.  Being old sucks.

So... still not sure what the coming year will be.  I am a year behind on my painting projects.  They were supposed to have been completed a year ago.  Oh well.  The good part is I've gotten a lot better at the painting thing and have developed a style quite my own.  Woohoo... or something.

As for the naked selfies?  Who knew so many people would want to see a naked old man?  Well, I have no shame and, if you wish to see my balls, it's OK with me.  I am, however, getting close to finishing the landscape painting project... over 25 landscapes in acrylic paint.  I have a large number of oil painting not completed and a large acrylic male nude to complete.  I want to put my energy into my paintings and making more podcast style videos.  I have an excellent theory about the cause of the Speed of Light that I want to spread around. (http://ElectronSpeed.Tumblr.com)

I'm trying, as best I can, to stay in shape so I'll continue to record my naked body but will, likely, not attempt to make it a daily thing.  I'm already OCD and changing my habits is hard once I get into something.  It takes time to upload photos and videos, so I plan to keep doing it but, more likely, every several days, or weekly.  Weekly would be best, I think.  I'll work it out over the next few days.  I want to do more video stuff... it's time consuming.

Anyhow, it's the end of 2017.  Can't believe I'm still alive.

FREE SPEECH is becoming an endangered subject.  It's becoming like a Henry Ford Model T.  You can have any colour you want so long as it's black.

Universities, those cash gouging institutions of poor learning try, not only, to crank more and more idiots through a course of meaningless shit for a meaningless degree taught by teachers who know little, they have become forces against progress and learning.  If you don't have a PhD, your degree didn't teach you very much and you likely forgot most of what you learned.  

If you have a Bachelor's degree, and nothing more, you blew your cash to bribe your way into a job you are likely not qualified for, anyway.  I have zero respect for a Bachelor of Arts degree... none.  You're not qualified for anything, at all.  You, likely, would fail a good grammar exam because your command of English is so poor.  I expect you know nothing much about anything.  You, likely, have poor math skills and know nothing of history, at all.  NADA.  Our educational system is in need of a complete overhaul.

There is no reason, at all, why every grade of school should not be online, 24 hours a day... every course, every subject, available to everyone, 24 hours a day... at home.  It would be constantly updated and improved with new knowledge.  Teachers who don't know much of their subject would become obsolete, rather quickly.  The only requirement to get a degree would be to pass a set of exams set by government.  Prove your identity, do the exams, and you're in.  Anyone, anywhere, could have an education in every grade and subject.  Schools, as we know them would become obsolete.

Now, if anyone has an opinion outside of the common thought, one is a heretic likely to lose one's job and position.  Universities bar speakers with opinions not shared by the common idiots.  We live in a world with no child left behind, everyone is as qualified as everyone else and everyone is a hero.  I so hate this world I, quite truly, look forward to being dead.  Seriously... I hate this planet and wish I had never been born into it.  I'm trying, my best, to save your idiot asses from a horrific future that is coming to this sick, sick, sick, sick planet.

I don't have the answers as to how to save the planet.  I expect nature to take its course and the bulk of the planet to die off, very soon.  We have terrible leaders and a hopeless population.  A benevolent dictatorship is the only way to rule this barbaric rock of a planet.

The problem is finding leaders who are qualified to rule.  The Chinese seem to be evolving into the future power on the planet.  I expect the Chinese will take over the planet.  They are totally ruthless and have no morals of any kind.

I said it, I mean it.  Oh?  You don't like my opinion?  Well, fuck you asshole.  I've tried 'nice'.  Nice does not work.  Have you ever noticed how con artists are all buddy buddy when they meet you?  All smiles and acting like your long lost friend?  It all goes well until you don't play along then it's "fuck you".  I try to be  nice to everyone and am not likely to make friends with anyone.  I don't trust humans one little bit.  You will have to prove yourself to me and I don't wait up.

"My little Eric can be, sometimes, a bit dramatic"  Eric Cartman's Mother/South Park

“it’s time to go home.  The insurance company said you’re as well as they’re going to pay for” Doctor Hibbert/The Simpsons

THIS IS THE END OF THE DAILY GRIND.

"He who controls the stuffing, controls the Universe."  Alien Pilgrim transported through a worm hole to Earth/South Park.

IF YOU HAVEN’T BEEN HERE, BEFORE, HERE IS MORE STUFF TO READ…

"People who have never seen a movie say it's a great movie"  Apu/The Simpsons

"There is no God, Ned.  It's just an empty meaningless void"  Maude Flanders' ghost/The Simpsons

I repeat myself, a lot, because I know humans are really bad at paying attention, and understanding much of anything they read.  Quite, bluntly, I consider most humans to be walking, talking idiots.  I'm doing as best I know how to save you from your stupidity.

I’m a bit OCD and ADHD and go on, and on, like a dripping tap.  Think Sheldon Cooper, if that rings some kind of bell.  I gather it’s some kind of need I have to be, constantly, in complete control of everything.  I quite simply assume everyone around me is a complete idiot.  The humans aren’t doing a very good job of convincing me otherwise.  You must prove yourself to me.  Seriously, I mean it.  I expect to be disappointed.   Show me what you’ve got and back it up with proof.

http://DavidSilvercloud.com (Blog)    (http://David_Silvercloud.Tumblr.com)

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http://SeriousThunder.com (Art)

http://ElectronSpeed.Tumblr.com     The Electron sets the speed of light… yup.  Physics… The Speed of Light, Grand Unified Theory, Gravity, Dark Matter, Dark Energy… how the physical size of the Electron is the clock that sets the speed of light.  Gravity is motion and a product of the fact that nothing ever sits still, combined with the magnetic properties of Dark Matter/Energy.  Nothing can ever move in an absolute circle and rest is a relativity illusion.

The ENTIRE universe is based upon a simple fact... it must have TWO parts.  It can not be otherwise and is impossible to be otherwise.  This is because of what a physicist calls "spin".

If you had only one substance to make the universe with and it could be broken down to as small as it needed to be at any time... i.e. it could be so small it barely exists, at all, there will STILL be TWO different types... that is because one can choose to spin LEFT or RIGHT in space.  Even turning yourself upside down will not change that fact because there is no up, nor down, in space.

The fact that everything SOLID must have spin, either left or right, introduces opposite forces.  Things which spin the SAME way repel each other, those that spin the OPPOSITE way attract each other... clumping begins and so does a universe.  Another thing comes into being... what we term magnetism.  There MUST be opposite POLES... magnetism comes into being with spin.  Spin creates opposites, including North/South polarity.  In Atoms, any atom that isn't in balance... has an equal number of left and right spinning Electrons, will be affected by magnetism... and radio waves.

Absolute rest is not possible… ever.  For instance, the Sun and planets are moving around the Milky Way at about 230Km/S and the Milky way is moving through space about 400-600 Kilometres per second.  Nothing ever goes backwards, nothing ever travels in a circle.

The universe can not end.  Time is change and is an illusion.  Time is entirely relative to how large/small something is.  If you are an Electron of less than 1/1,000,000,000,000,000th of a metre, in size, one second is a VERY, VERY, VERY, long time.  One foot is a VERY, VERY, VERY long distance to an Electron.  Light travel just less than ONE FOOT in a billionth of a second.  Time awareness is entirely dependent on how large something is.  The Milky Way requires over 150 million light years to exist... it is HERE and THERE, at the same time... a single entity that requires over 150 million light years to cross... or how an Electron views a distance of several feet.

It is always now, everywhere, all at once, all of the time. Proof of that is that ANY object MUST be HERE and THERE at the SAME time, no matter how large… even a Galaxy.  It is always NOW on both sides… here and there, in space,  of the Galaxy… all galaxies, everywhere.  Waves can be either physical or electronic.  The duality of the universe keeps it ongoing.  DNA is the battery of life.  When the chains can no longer co-operate, life ceases in the body.  Life, itself, is a duality.  Time measurement is a relativity convenience.)  Time travel is impossible because time is not a place and nothing stays where it was.  One year from now the Solar System will have moved about seven BILLION kilometres through space and will NEVER return to where it was… ever.

Earth travels through space like a long wave… it has NEVER, ever made an actual circle, nor ellipse, in space.  The circle/ellipse is an illusion of relativity.  Nothing can ever travel in an actual circle in space… NOTHING.  Nothing can ever go backward.  Backwards motion is an illusion of relativity.  Time is a repercussion of change and has no fixed rate… things explode or move like a glacier.  At best we can only compare rates of change.  Our rate of change is called the second/minute/hour/day/month/year system.

NOTHING CAN EVER MOVE IN A TRUE CIRCLE.  THE EARTH HAS NEVER MADE A LOOP IN SPACE… EVER.  YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW.

WATCH VIDEO FOR EXPLANATION OF THE PATH OF EARTH THROUGH SPACE.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IPjohZCMwmI

Earth moves about 7 billion kilometers through space, each year… in a long wave.  Earth NEVER returns to where it was before.  Earth is NOT an island in space… one of the reasons why time travel is impossible.  If you take a trip through space, outside the Solar System, Earth will NOT be there when you return… it will be far, far away.  You will have to return to where it will BE when you arrive… remember, it’s moving very, very, very fast through space in a long wave… never a circle, or ellipse.

http://The-Shape-Of-God.Tumbler.com   Manuscript of my book… The Shape of God.

Butch, himself.  Visual Artist, Photographer, Physicist (Particle, Sub/Atomic Physics/Relativity)

Inhibitions are just so inhibiting, I avoid them.

I’m a friendly, but pretty blunt, kind of guy.  No time for beating around the bush.  I like to say what I mean and mean what I say.  I’m 73 years old.  Time is not on my side.  You don’t have to like me.  I’m a social recluse, anyway.  I share my life, in photos, video, and words, to let you into my life and hope to inspire you to be a productive and useful human.  I have old age issues but will continue to post, here, while I’m well and able.  I talk a lot… I’m told it’s part of my OCD and ADHD.  Come direct at http://ButchNaked.com  Sign in if you wish to see me naked.

If you don’t know me, the following might help you get to know what kind of person I am.  I don’t expect you to understand me.  I can be a bit OCD and ADHD.

“They’ve already got more blowjobs than we’ll ever get”  Steve Smith (American Dad), talking about college jocks.

“Now let us touch testicles and mate for life”  Alien on The Simpsons

“It never hurts to have a second set of prints on a gun”  Nelson Muntz, The Simpsons.

I’m here to teach you things.  While I appreciate other people’s opinions, I really don’t much give a crap what anyone thinks.  Until you prove your worth, I will be nice but you have to earn my respect. The moment you say a word, I’ll be figuring you out really, really fast.  You should assume that I don’t trust anyone.  I’ve not met a single trustworthy person in my entire life.  I’ve met lots of nice people who aren’t too bright… well-intentioned folk who know little about anything, people who are nice, most of the time until you say something that offends them.  Honourable people agree to disagree.

Look up the phrase “CRITICAL THINKING” then learn to practice it.  Most people leap before they look and judge before they listen to the facts.  Most don’t have enough knowledge, nor experience, to be experts in much of anything.  You don’t know what you don’t know.  I like to remind you of that, often.

The only other REALLY IMPORTANT thing to know about me is that I, totally, despise all religions, the teaching of religion, and religious institutions… I despise them as the evilest things on the planet.  If you follow a religion, you CAN NOT BE MY FRIEND.   THAT’S THAT.  You are an ignorant idiot who is an ever-present danger to yourself and everyone and everything around you.  Nothing, absolutely NOTHING, is eviler than religion.  I don’t stand for, nor sing, our National Anthem because it praises a fictitious and superstitious being called ‘God’.  Only a brain dead moron bonehead ignorant idiot would believe such a thing.

If you have a religion, I will not associate with you… period.  You are a danger to be around.  Yes, I insult religions… they are extraordinarily evil.  I said it, I mean it.  You have a right to be an idiot, but not around me.  I have a right to defend myself against the horrors of religion and I will.  Religion is evil.  People who are into religion are, either, brainwashed or extraordinarily ignorant, not very intelligent, a danger to themselves and everyone around them, and must be avoided.  I can’t say it enough times.  If you have a religion you are brainwashed or too fucking stupid to associate with.  Brainwashed, or stupid… either way you are too dangerous to be around.  Religion is the number one problem in the world.

http://The-Shape-Of-God.Tumblr.com

I keep a homepage at http://ButchBoard.com

My main video page is http://YouTube.com/ButchNews   go direct at http://ButchNews.com

You may come directly to my photostream at http://ButchNaked.com You may download and share nude photos of me… go nuts.

I have zero inhibitions about nudity and sex.  You must sign in to see me naked.  I talk, openly, about sex.  You may download and share nude photos of me… go nuts.

"Wow!  THAT had what I really like in a story... an ending."  Homer Simpson.

[violetsystems]

#personal

Life is kind of entering the dark side of the moon hidden under the shadows of the holidays.  I’m taking my mom out for Xi’an food on Thanksgiving day.  We went for Cantonese food last year on Christmas.  She is definitely the more nontraditional side of the family.  My dad is chill too.  He’s relayed to me twice how he doesn’t pay attention to the news.  When his wife turns on the tv he plugs in his new airpods and listens to Shania Twain or something.  Navigating both relationships over the holidays allows me to take comfort in the uniqueness of my situation.  Nothing in my life is very simple and then I sort of take it all in stride.  Both my parents often remark about how proud they are I turned out.  I was always a very quiet and shy kid up until I had to stand up for myself.  Even then I don’t really ever want to be a bother.  But a certain amount of respect for myself has developed over time being left out, passed over and ignored.  So the deafening silence I have for the past is more about moving on out of the shadows and towards the light.  I’ve spent the last twenty years at this point working in a progressive arts environment.  I’ve hit plenty of guardrails trying to stay in my lane.  But I know where I belong regardless.  After awhile what used to frustrate me about self control actually fuels my path forward.  Somebody made a comment about how robotic I respond to everything at work.  It was a low key sleight and I took it that way but wasn’t totally untruthful.  I don’t react much in realms where I don’t control the narrative.  I quit Facebook and Twitter awhile ago.  I don’t feel as hardwired to share everything in my life.  I do take boring pictures on IG to prove I exist.  I was walking down the street the other day and somebody motioned to me and said loudly “So he is real.”  I don’t use tinder so I don’t know what it’s like to justify my existence every ten feet on my lunch break or commute by swiping right or left.  It isn’t like I don’t share my thoughts or bare my soul every Saturday morning on Tumblr.  People have grown to appreciate that this is how I engage with people who really want to know what I’m thinking.  Everybody in real life just talks at you.  A persistent water cooler conversation that goes nowhere.  People announce things in a circle about what they’d do if they had super powers or ran for office and it goes nowhere.  Roleplaying is fun I guess.  I play World of Warcraft.  I’m a Warlock named Overbite.  Over the summer some Christians called me a witch for walking past their protest at the abortion clinic.  It helps me to get into character when I play a paladin.  Really get into the mind of the self righteous you know.  Understand their power.  Freedom of speech in America for what it’s worth doesn’t really get in my way when I realize nobody is listening to anyone but themselves.  I talk a lot openly in my kitchen to myself and my cat about all this.  I played Magic the Gathering the last two years a lot to practice my public speaking.  At least when you announce the rules on a card people have to listen.  These days people are too busy to play so I’m left with these funny games in the street.  In America it’s becoming more like Outback steakhouse.  No rules and too many people leaning to the hard right.  The left hand path is kind of secluded.  Perfect for a moonlight stroll.  As dark as that might be at four pm in the dead of winter.

For what it’s worth I’ve been watching a lot of Watchmen and listening to Nine Inch Nails by myself.  I like to read and work on my finances in a cloud based spreadsheet.  Most of what I read is online.  When it’s not the news or the history of places I barely know it’s quest text or lore on a computer screen.  I’ve been a lot more at ease in some ways.  I’ve been mostly trying to figure out the feeding schedule for my new house guest.  I forget I’ve been feeding that cat twice a day for over a year outdoors.  Surprisingly or not so she is pretty much on the same exact schedule as I am.  The electric bill is sixty percent lower than it’s ever been.  I’m assuming part of that is a more energy efficient refrigerator.  My downstairs neighbors Christmas lights don’t even make a dent in the meter.  My life is kind of peaceful and boring at home.  When I step outside the threshold it can be a different story.  In terms of guardrails I’ve become at peace withjwhere I belong.  Staying out of trouble.  I’ve been swerving around the planet safely for years.  I’ve been transparent on the internet as well.  You can try to cover your tracks as much as you want.  But I don’t believe you can hide from yourself.  A friend on here posted this tweet from Cher talking about Epstein.  It was a pretty strong opinion about creepy rich old men that I respected.  The other part of it struck me a little harder.  Something about powerful and strong men holding on to that power.  Which leads me to think about what it means to be a powerful or strong man in modern times.  For the record I’ve been made to feel just like everybody else quite the opposite.  That none of the good I do ever really matters.  That how I choose to behave online and off however in sync is not seen as power.  And I’m aware that most men have never had to defend themselves or their privileges.  I’m also aware that I identify how I identify.  There’s no need for me to beat you over the head with any of it.  I’ve been online for years and you can ask around.  I’m not saying it wasn’t hard work to be a better man.  I’m not saying anything really.  That’s not for me to prove at this point.   I have nothing to defend other than the power of the identity I live in plain sight.  In truth being open and honest does get you taken advantage of often.  But you learn to handle yourself in dangerous situations.  Some of people’s ideas of friendship and trust can be a little naive.  I’ve been there.  Part of the reason I walked away from making music and performing it was the environment around it.  I found I was locked out and walked away from it out of boredom.  People already know who I am for better or for worse in more places I’ve never visited.  Imagine if I was a piece of shit behind the scenes.  My dirty laundry would be everywhere on the internet by now.  And these days it’s pretty apparent that being a Warlock in Christian America isn’t the same as it is on a PVP server.  War mode is always on if you want it to be.  And the battles go nowhere.  The only random drops I pay attention to are the sale prices on Gore-Tex Chuck Taylors.   The real power being how I manage my finances responsibly.  And nobody here listens unless you’ve got your wallet out anyway.  I don’t have a line item for any of that in my budget.  So I stick to carving out a safe space for myself in a sustainable way and be quiet.  Men have spoken enough at this point.  I amplify the communities and voices that have shaped my thinking on things.  I signal boost and I stay under the radar at the same time.  Unless of course you’ve got Airplay sharing enabled.

Every day I log on to this community I have a conscious choice to share.  I am mindful personally about what kind of message it sends out.  I don’t really judge other people’s curation.  I can say sometimes I’m not into certain things.  I’m not particularly sensitive to a lot of imagery.  I’ve spent twenty years servicing an art school.  I’ve seen plenty of fucked up shit outside of my comfort zone.  Everything has context in a community.  And here online I think we operate with the notion that we are trying to explore the boundaries of our own identities.  We are also trying to conduct this experiment in a safe way.  A lot of people might say I’m a little too cautious.  A lot of people also probably say that I’m a little too straight behind my back.  I guess I know my audience and vice versa.  But I don’t think of this place as an audience.  I’m not out here trying to sell things for profit.  I’m trying to signal boost the things that inspire me aesthetically in a complex way.  Some things I like.  Some things I love and care about dearly.  Some people know exactly what I mean when I hint about things.  And some people are lost and not even paying that close attention.  Some people pop up in my dash and their opinion means the world to me.  The togetherness of being in a place where people understand the nuance and context is freeing.  Nobody asks too many questions.  The interactions I’ve had with people online are always genuine and terse.  I’m not trying to secretly infect myself into people’s lives.  I’m not actively trying to interfere with anyone’s life or image.  I’m also aware that people are appreciative after all this time to trust that.  That kind of responsibility and accountability is an asset in complex and troubling times.  You know you can always count on somebody to be a good person.  There’s a real kind of power there when every other man out there talks the same shit but betrays their words through their actions constantly.  I wake up every day at five am and wander into work at seven thirty.  I’m there an hour before everyone else.  I give people rulers and staplers while I check my mail and post pictures on the internet.  I’ve been attacked over the years more often than anybody will ever realize.  A lot of it was unfair and misinformed.  Years later people know exactly why.  And years later people appreciate why I keep my mouth shut and mind my own business.  I judge myself by ethics nobody ever asks about.  I don’t go with the flow often and yet somehow I’ve travelled the world silently for years by myself.  I got around on human kindness and honesty.  You can never betray that in yourself.  Especially if you are a Warlock.  I’m sure the demons would consume you if you did.  It seems like simple enough logic and mythology.  I do this and stay me however complex that seems because I care.  It’s not conditional on an outcome.  I’ll be truthful I don’t know where any of this is going.  I’m lost in the dark completely.  And yet no one on this planet can be me.  And I know how powerful that is.  It has never been easy.  But It’s worth it for me because I have love in my heart.  The people that I really share it with deeply know just how much of that there is to go around.  It’s something I protect because it’s worth fighting for.  A safe place to be free online as well as off.  Let’s keep fighting that battle first and foremost.  It’s always been the same for me and will be for the immediate future.  It may be dark but I see the light at the end of this tunnel.  Seasonal depression nothwithstanding.  <3 Tim

[awesomelizziethewriter-blog]

Essay on Philip Larkin

Larkin is often read as a mere observer of contemporary English society, a realistic reporter whose detachment from what he sees is explained as the parting of the writer's mood: for as a poet Larkin is usually described as "depressed," his writing is considered to be melancholic , and his scenes a sad summary of an England to which the principle holds him, but of which he can not give much to like. Larkin's deviation from the literal is apparent in, for example, the poem "The building", the great centrepiece "The building" can be considered a hospital, one of the large newly built or extended glass and concrete buildings that are situated on the outskirts of most of the great English cities of the province, and the poem can be described as an exact recall of a visit to a modern medical establishment.The word "hospital" never appears and whenever its associates seem to emerge the poem starts to move away . As the plot thickens and the rhythm accelerates with the third and fourth stanzas, the patients crowd the waiting room, and the narrative voice of the poem explains their helpless postures with a sympathetic irony that is clearly suggestive (there is a certain “fitness” of tone here).

The poem's figures of speech have a dramatic decorum, and because of this the literal level comes into play in an exact and satisfactory way. But the figures of speech in this poem have a second and greater function, just as colloquialism always serves Larkin more by force than by imprecision. The colloquial use of words such as "confess"; "Error" and "serious" prepare the way for this Kafkaesque terrain. This greatness of allusion is hardly incongruous, since, before the poem ends, the wards are called. The allusion of tones in the poem are so ecclesiastical or metaphysical that even on the literal level, "the building" could easily be a church.

An earlier poem by Larkin, entitled "Mr. Bleaney", locates its hero in "the bodies "before moving to the" hired box "of their current lodgings. Since "box" is in this case a colloquial metaphor, we can also assume that "bodies" is merely a common name in some place in the Midlands: but this embodiment of the name can also mean "in the body," in contrast to " hired box " which can also mean coffin. Mr. Bleaney's limited life span is more interesting and more representative than one might think. In comparison, certain types of mansion blocks built in England for more than a century were and are known as "The Buildings," a fact that gives the title "The Building" and then to the rest of the poem an easy accuracy of contemporary realism. But at this stage of meaning, literalism begins to implode into its opposite. Thus the poem, is about a pathetic and heroic aversion of the eyes from death,and the human will not to see or to name, the apprehension in short of life itself as a “wasteful , weak propitiatory flower” , and as a thing that we can't help meaning to keep that way. In spite of all its realism, the poem grows toward and into something as little of time and place as any symbol is, a noble metaphysical construction made from the “concrete and glass” of the present.

Larkin's poems seem to contain equal measures of quite opposite qualities: a strong and highly literal realism, and a more intense idealism for its lack of body. The continual transitions between the two and the disturbing conflict between them gave his verse a force and energy sometimes hidden by the moderate calm of its surface. However, the dynamic movement is always there, one term needing the other.All of his poems, however violent or ugly they may be in detail, pursue a faithfulness that will make them, in a sense, "like a heaven," but this paradise is essentially a Fallen Eden. The formal properties of Larkin's poems have strength because of the opposing force of what they form and control. Hence what an early poem called, reflecting on the fences around the prairie steers, the "electric boundaries for their wider senses." These "electric boundaries" appear in Larkin's verse as positive forms such as the edges of windows, ways one can look through or look outward, all things that at one time allow and limit vision, or negatively in the acknowledged blanks and voids of the seen.

Almost every poem by Larkin has an essential framework which is as much a matter of internal traits as of external frontiers, an issue which may begin as a formal technical device, but doesn't stop there:poetic form in any good poet unites technique to metaphysics . Larkin's poems, which are as if they were framed experiences, sometimes contain small insets that are seen again through a frame or through a barrier, intensifying their inaccessibility.

In any case, this sense of the limiting conditions ,that are the price of a certain type of intensity of vision, figures in great part in "The Whitsun Weddings". This poem has a great human frankness and Larkin himself spoke of its autobiographical origins. "The whitsun weddings" is a poem about these ceremonies first seen through a train window and then as invading the train the observer travels in, and the four central stanzas of the poem , just like his carriage, are crammed with a dense social comedy of these events. A kind of realism in contemporary manners and styles. But it is worth noting that the most intense part of this poem is not in this substantive centre, but outside of its frame: particularly at the quiet beginning where the narrator begins late on his heavenly work-free holiday , the train taking on his quiet secret blissful release as it went.

In the description of the flat and airy country south of Hull, there is another wedding as well, in the conjunction of those natural powers whose simple beauty and strength the human beings that emerge from a modern urban society can not help but lack. But the condition of attending this other wedding is the loneliness of the observer: who is allowed to have a vision of how things come together only by virtue of seeing precisely how they shine apart. This unique insight is inseparable from the understanding of human solitude, and it introduces with its sympathy the central stanzas of community and union so hopefully tempted, as it also foreshadows the sadness of death at the end of the poem. A poem like "The Whitsun Weddings," as the title suggests, has a clear literal meaning, an allusion to time and place that may be a little ironic but that is a part of its meaning.

In Larkin's poem entitled "Going Going," the narrator begins by bemoaning the fact that the English countryside is beginning to disappear at an alarming rate. He found newspaper “scare-stories” about old streets being built and developed on, but by and large these "fields and farms" remain for city dwellers ,such as Larkin himself, a place they could escape to and enjoy , by getting into the car and driving there. After all, the natural world seems to possess a resilience that humans seem to lack. Regardless of how much we mistreat the land, we can always ignore the damage we cause and pretend that everything is fine. However, the narrator doubts this. The more the population grows, the more demand there will be for new housing; parking spaces and jobs. And as population and jobs expand, businesses also expand, leaving the cities and entering the "unexplored valleys" of rural England. These companies are buying rural lands to build their premises or new housing developments. According to the narrator, all this is happening way too fast and he has the feeling that nothing will last and soon "the whole / Boiling" will be covered over, except for the "tourist parts" that have only been preserved because they have financial value.

England will become "the first slum of Europe," and the English people will become degraded and corrupted (this will then be England gone). And all this will happen through neglect and greed. This is a typically Larkinesque poem, as we can see not only in its pessimistic view of human progress, but also in the linguistic and rhetorical strategies used by the author. The new England is simply "concrete and tyres" and the people who make up this dystopian England of the future are labeled as "crooks and tarts", suggesting crime and greed and financial gain. The effect of this metonymy and synecdoche is twofold , for it evokes the salient features of both visions of England in a way that immediately evokes an image, rather than an idea that exists only in the abstract and also gives the poem an extra "bite" overlooking the “gray” area between the old and nostalgic view of England and the nightmare England of the future.

In the poem "The importance of elsewhere", Larkin clearly defines its themes: cultural identity; solitude; isolation; tradition; the feeling of being different and of belonging. Before arriving in Hull, Larkin worked in a library in Belfast, which is where the inspiration for this poem comes from . The poem explores how living away from your home country can make you feel lonely but at the same time feel welcome as people understand if you do not fit in. "Importance" suggests that something is needed and by being "elsewhere" the person understands who they really are, but they may also have some necessary time away from what is expected of them. Through many of his poems, Larkin conveys the idea that he is different from other people in terms of his points of view and the choices he has made in life , and by going elsewhere, no one questions these differences. "The salt rebuff of speech" is describing the strong Irish accent of the north, and although it may sound unpleasant, the difference actually makes the person feel even more welcome. For Larkin, it's a relief to not be like everyone else.

In the first stanza, the caesura seems to show the hesitant nature of life elsewhere and the barriers that must be faced. In the second stanza, Larkin describes Belfast using various sensory images. In the final stanza, he describes his life in his native England. Although England is his home, Larkin has no excuse to not fit in, because he knows the establishments and knows how to act, so he can not plead ignorance. If he refused to adhere to the custom, it would be much more frowned upon in England (with the final stop line showing that there is no alternative). The final line separated from the rest of the stanza by full-stops serves to emphasize Larkin's point.

"Underwrites" is a legal term meaning to assert, which suggests that Larkin is asserting that only in other places can he be confirmed of his existence and identity. Although Larkin is often seen as a poet who celebrates England and Englishness, he usually keeps a respectful distance from the countryside and from the people who inhabit it. Many of the poems that celebrate the rituals of English life, such as "to the sea" and "the show saturday," also mark the considered distance of the poet from those who take part in such annual rites, although it is a kind of separation that is considered to be more enriching than alienating (one that allows you to see these scenes more deeply). Given this preference for detachment, most of his poems about English scenes describe not only the scene or the place itself, but also its separation and the process of observing it as well. He seems to create a refuge of routine and self-protective solitude. Still, he is not indifferent to the appeal of a possible escape from the confinement which this entails. Many of his poems exalt the romance of travel and the glory of transcending everyday life. "Poetry of departures", for example, satirizes the appeal of this desire to travel by showing its attraction to the poet, yearning for action and immediacy.

Larkin writes about four cities with which he was closely associated it, but he does it with detachment (it is as if he was rejecting any idea of rootedness). In poems about Coventry; Oxford; Belfast, and Hull, he described these cities in ways which either constantly pass by them or otherwise dramatizes his isolation from them. He does not appropriate them as places that have meaning for him personally, on the contrary, he even rejects his place of birth (Coventry). In the poem "Here" the poet continues to move, instead of standing still and describing a scene. He begins his description at some distance from the city and passes through and past it.Ironically, Hull is not portrayed as attractive, nor does it look very much like home. The city contains tattoo shops; consulates; bad-tempered wives and other strange and inelegant images, although it also remains a pastoral scene. Hull was described as "not a place to take lightly". And "here", in many ways, exemplifies this quality, for it seems, at least in some sense, to be primarily addressing a kind of isolation or definition through separation. The "isolate villages where removed lives / loneliness clarifies "seem to incorporate a kind of ideal for the poet. Larkin valued this aspect of the city and, speaking of Hull as a place to live, described it as: "On the road to nowhere, as someone said. It is in the middle of this lonely country, and beyond the lonely country there is only the sea. I like it." Thus, Hull possesses the virtues of protective and beneficent isolation, and becomes a refuge within England's largest island. The title" to the sea "suggests movement rather than a static relationship with the seaside scene, and in a certain way, this poem such as the train poems, charts an idealized journey. The seaside represents a ritual that is in some sense sacred because it is temporary and repetitive and because it is unselfconscious. Unlike the women in "faith healing," who fervently await religious ecstasy, the seaside bathers are more awkward than solemn. The description of the bathers ends with that which seems to express the true religion, since holiday bathers are "helping the elderly too, as they ought." Significantly, no one sees the full importance of this action as clearly as the observant poet, a fact that may tend to elevate him above his surroundings. At the same time, the element of self-parody that Larkin attributes to the poem contributes to its unpretentiousness and charm. The speaker does not comment on his distance from the tourists, but seems content to enter the scene and still remain separate from it.

In conclusion, several of Larkin's descriptive poems, particularly those dealing with the English countryside and community rituals, show acceptance of contentment and a recognition of the significance of the fleeting moment. Because of his keen sensibility to English scenes, Larkin came to be seen as the "unofficial laureate," a title that seems in many ways to define him as a poet. The fact that he refused the honour of becoming Poet Laureate serves to emphasize the distinction of this title.The post of Laureate encompasses both the role of writing about England itself and being read and admired by its people, and Larkin has achieved both of these feats. He received notice for his poetry much later than he had expected, and for a different kind of poetry with which he began. From the dark and gloomy romantic verse, he gradually expanded his writing to include more pastoral and descriptive poetry.

Bibliography:

“Poets in their time –Essays on english poetry from Donne to Larkin” by Barbara Everett.

“Philip Markin-His life's work” by Janice Rossen.

“Whitsun weddings” by Philip Larkin.

“Going going” by Philip Larkin.

“Importance of going elsewhere” by Philip Larkin.

“The Building” by Philip Larkin.

“Mr Bleaney” by Philip Larkin.

“Here” by Philip Larkin.

“To the sea” by Philip Larkin.

[harrisjv]

ScriptVocalizer Review And Large Bonus

ScriptVocalizer Review - Are you looking for more understanding concerning ScriptVocalizer? Please review my honest evaluation concerning it prior to selecting, to review the weak points as well as staminas of it. Can it deserve your effort and time and money?

ScriptVocalizer Review & Overview

Supplier: Andrew Darius et al

Product: ScriptVocalizer

Introduce Date: 2019-Feb-05

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Canada, the UK, China and also Australia are also large markets at 1.5%, 1.2%, 1.7% and also 1.7% specifically.

43.13% of Amazon.com's web traffic is direct

23.73% of Amazon's ScriptVocalizer website traffic is with search

Amazon.com's internet sales profits in 2017 covered $177 Billion, a 30% rise from 2016

With 53% of Amazon's products being offered with third-party stores, and also with a double-digit sales profits rise YoY, Amazon.com is an excellent wager to expand your bottom line.

Right here's exactly how.

Establish Your Marketing Method

There are two methods to offer via Amazon.com:

Market straight to Amazon.com

Offer on Amazon.com yourself

Allow's break each of these down as well as take a look at a pair study so you can identify which is best for you.

1. Offer directly to Amazon.

Don't try to beat Amazon at its very own video game.

Amazon is expanding its direct directory, so swim with the tide-- not versus it.

Besides Amazon becoming your client instead of your rival, marketing straight to Amazon.com removes the work brand-new sellers are worst at, i.e. forecasting and also advertising your item become Amazon.com's duty.

EDITOR'S KEEP IN MIND

The promo of your ScriptVocalizer products remains your brand name's obligation unless you pay Amazon to do it for you.

According to James Thomson, former head of Marketing on Amazon.com,

" If you offer to Amazon.com, Amazon doesn't advertise anything unless you step up and pay large advertising and marketing bucks. Advertising your brand name stays your duty."

Also, numerous items sold by Amazon.com sell for more as well as much faster, all things being equivalent. There will certainly be a margin distinction for FBA vendors that are not completing versus Amazon.com here.

In other words, selling one-of-a-kind goods on Amazon.com presently not currently offered there is exactly how you make the most margin.

Re-read the chapter about why re-selling is the least practical technique to Amazon success to comprehend why this is.

So, let's see: selling directly to Amazon places you on the best side of the future, is much easier as well as leads to much more sales.

Bear in mind; this does not mean it is best for everyone, but it definitely is an option.

One Seller's Development with Marketing to Amazon:

2. Offer on Amazon on your own.

This isn't [always] a contradiction to the previous area.

Beginning by marketing on Amazon yourself if you find it simpler to obtain up and also going, or utilize this to match your sales to Amazon.

Marketing on Amazon.com together with marketing to Amazon maintains Amazon.com truthful and doesn't enable the whims of their formula to bring about stockouts of your items.

Selling to Amazon also enables you to jump-start sales of new ScriptVocalizer products by giving Amazon's robots the confidence they require to start bringing it in themselves.

EDITOR'S KEEP IN MIND

This method is not advised for most sellers, specifically vendors that are novice to marketing on Amazon.

Consult an Amazon expert before utilizing this approach.

A Study: Exactly How to Offer to-- and on-- Amazon.com:

A sheet steel factory in the industrial space wished to come out with a line of customer items to market on Amazon.com.

Based upon some general searches on Amazon.com for sheet steel items as well as knowing the limitations of their machinery, they developed a basic folding work bench to be utilized in stuffed garages and sheds.

It was made with the devices they currently had, equipment they were already getting and also sheet metal they already equipped.

Their initial manufacturing run was 4 devices.

Yup, 4.

The complete price of labor and materials was much less than lots of people's once a week grocery store bill.

They put up an Amazon.com listing and also marketed two devices in the first week.

Real Amazon Listing Taken Quickly After Item Went Live.

After that very first week and also with lifetime sales of only 2 devices, the sellers, that had created an account to offer directly to Amazon, supplied the item straight to Amazon.com.

The cost offered to Amazon was similar to the net quantity the ScriptVocalizer company obtained from Amazon.com when marketing through Vendor Central.

Because selling commission and shipping expenses were no longer part of the equation, the vendors could sell their product to Amazon for considerably much less than $149.95 without in fact cutting right into their margin.

Within a week of submitting the product, the firm got an order from Amazon for five systems.

Although Amazon's Order Had Not Yet Shipped They Still Promoted the Item.

Regardless of only two sales, the product transferred to the 3rd result in appropriate key phrases, in a similar placement to things with as many as 138 testimonials.

Obviously, a sale of five things to Amazon.com is tiny time, but the idea of going from item idea to the top of the rankings on Amazon.com in a few weeks is feasible.

It is highly uncommon, however it is doable.

Exactly How to Generate Income on Amazon-- List:

Determine what things make good sense for you to market on/to Amazon.com.

Examine if the ScriptVocalizer things are currently sold on Amazon.com. Examine interest as well as competitors.

Assemble the needed info to submit those items to Amazon.com. Gather pictures, feature information, and also descriptions.

Recognize the processes an Amazon order will certainly comply with.

Search for and also execute software application services that simplify these steps.

Contract out any jobs that are not currently carried out and core to your company.

Produce and also record procedures.

Send the item data to Amazon (Seller Central or Supplier Express).

Refine order.Practice makes ideal. Examination, learn as well as repeat to aid drives sales.

Technique makes perfect. Test, discover as well as iterate to assist drives sales.

What Is ScriptVocalizer?

ScriptVocalizer is a new, very first of its kind, groundbreaking app, which allows you to create full highlighted voice-overs from any text using raw and direct access to Amazon Polly pipe without spending thousands of dollars, by simply pasting your text right into ScriptVocalizer.

It's that simple. It permits also full newbies to create professional sounding narrations in simply secs.

PROS

100% Cloud Based Software Application

Readily available on both COMPUTER and Mac

Point and also click- No Technical Skills Called For

Create Unlimited Number Of Voice-Overs

Includes FREE Updates

Industrial Certificate Consisted Of!

You'll obtain:

47 natural voices, each called in this way it is very easy to remember.

24 languages so you can have maximum influence in significant countries.

We'll also offer you the capability to instantly store voice-overs right into your dropbox, google drive, amazon S3, as well as also download them to your computer.

AND ALSO - Step by step tutorials so you'll never get lost.

ScriptVocalizer Features & Advantages

Uses Advanced Deep Discovering Technologies To Synthesize Speech That Seems Like A Human Voice

Amazon.com Polly is a number one text-to-speech engine which utilizes sophisticated deep learning modern technologies to manufacture speech that seems like a human voice. Nevertheless, that Amazon.com advanced is impossible to access without a licensed app, which has raw as well as direct accessibility to Amazon Polly restricted API.

This is where ScriptVocalizer is available in.

While a few of sophisticated video clip applications might give you a voice over attribute, those narrations typically either do not seem even close just as good as the Amazon.com Polly voices or they can be utilized only within these applications, which makes them useless for anything else.

Export Your Voice-Overs To Use In Any Kind Of Video Clips App.

ScriptVocalizer is an open export voice-over system which permits you to export your voice-overs to make use of in any video clips app.

It can instantly store your created narration into your dropbox, google drive, and amazon S3, plus you can additionally download narration straight to your computer system.

ScriptVocalizer supplies lots of languages and a broad option of natural-sounding male and also female voices. ScriptVocalizer's fluid pronunciation of messages enables you to deliver premium voice outcome excellent available letters, explainer videos, video ads, affiliate video testimonials as well as any type of various other videos.

Consists Of Full Licenses

With the included industrial license, you can not just develop narrations on your own but you can use them in video clips you create for your clients, as well as even offer commentaries straight as well as keep 100% of the profits!

Visualize taking simply seconds to create those narrations for your possible customers or ending up being a freelancer as well as begin selling them on popular websites like Fiverr or Freelancer.com.

Cloud Based

ScriptVocalizer is a cloud-based device.

That means you don't have to install it, you don't have to download it, and as you simply saw, all you have actually reached do is choose a language as well as voice, paste the message, click a switch and also it's done.

Sign Up With Tens Of Hundreds Of Designers, Online Marketers, Entrepreneurs, And Businesses

We are the well-known market leader of video clip & audio software application.

Tens of countless designers, online marketers, entrepreneurs, and also services are currently utilizing our software with even more joining on a daily basis.

ScriptVocalizer software application will certainly alter the way narrations are created and also you can get your hand on this software at extremely unique discounted rate today.

Conserve money and time making high converting voice-overs in minutes making use of the simple and easy and also most innovative, actual time narration designer, ScriptVocalizer.

Final thought

"It's A Good deal. Should I Spend Today?"

Not only are you getting accessibility to ScriptVocalizer for the very best cost ever before supplied, yet also You're spending completely without risk. ScriptVocalizer include a 30-day Money Back Guarantee Policy. When you choose ScriptVocalizer, your satisfaction is ensured. If you are not completely satisfied with it for any reason within the first 30 days, you're entitled to a complete reimbursement - no question asked. You have actually got absolutely nothing to lose! What Are You Awaiting? Attempt It today and also obtain The Complying with Bonus offer Now!