#toughen up mens conference

[byneddiedingo]

The Hucksters (Jack Conway, 1947) Cast: Clark Gable, Deborah Kerr, Sydney Greenstreet, Adolphe Menjou, Ava Gardner, Keenan Wynn, Edward Arnold, Aubrey Mather, Richard Gaines. Screenplay: Luther Davis, Edward Chodorov, George Wells, based on a novel by Frederic Wakeman. Cinematography: Harold Rosson. Art direction: Cedric Gibbons, Urie McCleary. Film editing: Frank Sullivan. Music: Lennie Hayton. The Hucksters was made in the era depicted in Mad Men, when men who had served in World War II were returning to their civilian jobs. In the advertising business, that included men like Don Draper in the TV series and Victor Norman  in the movie, men whose wartime experience had toughened them and given them a fresh angle on the business of selling to the postwar clientele. If Mad Men seems to us to have a more reliable point of view than The Hucksters on that business, it's partly because hindsight is keener than the contemporary view, but also because popular entertainment is less tight-assed now. Frederic Wakeman's novel was a bestseller in part because it was frank about the sex lives of its characters, which movies in the Production Code era couldn't be. So Clark Gable's Victor Norman is turned into a more buttoned-up character than Jon Hamm's Don Draper, but censorship especially worked to a disadvantage for Deborah Kerr, in her first American film. Kerr is forced to be chaste and prim -- characteristics that would type her in the movies until 1953, when Fred Zinnemann finally allowed her to have a sex life in From Here to Eternity. Kerr's character may agree to go away for a weekend with Vic, but only after she's assured that they will have separate rooms at opposite ends of the hotel. And when she discovers that they instead have adjoining rooms with a connecting door, she bolts. The effect on the movie is to sap any chemistry that MGM might have hoped Gable and Kerr would have. In contrast, Gable and Ava Gardner, as one of Vic's old girlfriends, strike fire immediately, which makes the ending of the movie, in which Gable's and Kerr's characters wind up together, feel phony. The Hucksters, coming a year after her breakthrough performance in Robert Siodmak's The Killers, helped make Gardner a star. Kerr had to muddle through in costume parts in movies like Quo Vadis (Mervyn LeRoy, 1951) and The Prisoner of Zenda (Richard Thorpe, 1952) before finally getting a chance to be sexy. There is some zippy dialogue in the movie, and the hits on the advertising business are often funny, but the only real reason to see The Hucksters today is to watch some skillful old character actors like Adolphe Menjou and Sydney Greenstreet do their thing. Greenstreet plays an imperious soap manufacturer sponsor with non-negotiable ideas about what his commercials should be, and likes to intimidate his advertising clients by doing things like hocking a loogie on the conference table to get their attention. If the film had stuck with the ad biz and not strayed off into tiresomely predictable romance, it might have been a classic, or at least a lot better.

[thefalse9]

EPL Preview 2022: Brentford

Last Years Finish: 13th

Predicted Finish: 16th

Odds To Win The EPL: 750-1 via Oddschecker

Prospects:

Second-season syndrome? Brentford has arguably already been through as their campaign last season was a tale of two halves. After storming through the opening weeks of their Premier League debut they slumped alarmingly to the extent that, had it not been for the transformative impact of Christian Eriksen, relegation would have been assured. And while that means they have experience of pulling themselves up by the bootstraps when opponents find them out, the signs are they may need to draw upon it if they want to survive this season.

The obvious snag is that Eriksen, who chose Manchester United ahead of another spell in west London, is no longer around. Brentford needs a different route to safety, freshening up in the right areas while retaining most of the formula that has served them so admirably. They will be boosted if Ivan Toney, one of the league’s most impressive talismans, is still around after the transfer window closes, but the reality is he will need help. The versatile Keane Lewis-Potter has arrived from Hull and, at 21, excites with his potential and ability to contribute goals from out wide; assuredly competing with Yoane Wissa and Bryan Mbeumo, two similarly lavish talents who will hope to find more consistent end product this time.

That said, there is a sense that a string-puller behind those front men would make all the difference. Still, Thomas Frank has at least been able to toughen up the rest of the squad; Ben Mee brings proven ability and experience in central defense, and the highly-rated Scotland international, Aaron Hickey could solve a full-back problem. Meanwhile, Thomas Strakosha is a high-quality alternative in goal. Few recruit more cannily than Brentford and they will need to show it again if their campaign is to be free and clear of relegation.

Transfer Coup :

The aforementioned Hickey was linked with a number of clubs, including Arsenal, before arriving on a four-year contract from Bologna. He turned 20 in June but made almost 50 appearances in Serie A since signing from Hearts in 2020 in a high-profile deal made more notable by the fact he rejected a rival offer from Bayern Munich. Last season Hickey scored five goals, adding to the sense that he is a modern, dynamic attacking full-back who will fit the Bees’ style well. He can operate on either flank and may find himself deployed on the right, where options were few and far between last season.

The Manager :

There are few Premier League managers as charming as Frank, a generous character whose press conferences can stretch on forever. That is not to say he is a consistent source of material: the 48-year-old perfected the “we’re just a bus stop in Hounslow” early last season and is famed for his “No dickheads” policy but tends to steer clear of real controversy. Although not a spring chicken there is a sense he may yet climb higher and his name has been mentioned vaguely in connection with vacancies elsewhere. But the urbane Frank appears content with his lot and Brentford is certainly delighted with him. It has been a happy fit since he stepped up to replace Dean Smith in 2018, and the sense of "forward momentum" has rarely let up.

Outcome :

Here's the problem. While we can like Thomas Frank as much as any manager in the Premiership, the gulf in talent is too wide. Nobody recruits as astutely as Brentford, but nobody gets pillaged and raided as regularly as Brentford either. If they are able to keep Toney, develop Lewis-Potter, and get the expected return from Strakosha and Mee, they'll stave off relegation, but not much further. There's a lot to excite with this team, but they're still a transcendent player away. Sadly for Brentford, the one they had (Eriksen), now suits up for Manchester United.

[sjw-publishings]

Retrospective Division

Josh and Henry walked hand in hand down the hallway, directly to the office in which they resided. The young men were in charge of small LGBTQ business in the building...only to be kicked out due to being too ‘liberal’, making room for tenants who were closer to his ‘Retrospective Vision’.

So much so, that the taller one had to voice it out.

“I’m...I’m going to send an email to the higher ups!” Josh spoke.

Josh Ming was the older of the two, only slightly older though at the age of 23. Fresh out of college and directly ready to start business with his newlywed husband.

Dressed in a pair of of white loafers with matching pair of beige khaki shorts, he wore a light blue buttoned polo underneath his pink checkered sweater vest with rainbow flag pin over his right breast...

Was that the final straw for the clearly conservative owner to kick them out after just a few months? If it was...

He scratched the back of his head, left palm messing with his wavy raven locks before briefly adjusting his rectangular half-frame specs. Something was real off...and he really wanted to get to the bottom of it.

This sudden rising passion of energy within him was also different, tightening his grip on his boyfriend, he would usually remain quiet and reserved, ignoring the such attitude towards them...but being kicked out? That really ticked him off.

“Honey, I like that attitude!”

Meanwhile, Henry was quite astonished by drive his husband was showing. Sure they both took turns in the bed and was Jeffery incredible when he was top, but he had never seen this side of him until today...

The 22 year old caucasian smiled, loving every bit of the drive from the other male, considering he was usually the one taking charge vocally.

Placing his right hand on his waist, swishing his hips in those pink bermudas while strutting in his own pair of slip-on, navy blue formal shoes that he recently got.

They had the right to dress liberally and freely, he would never sass directly-he and his boyfriend’s clothing says it all! With a matching light blue buttoned down-minus the sweater and throw in a white cardigan for variety.

Swooshing his blond curly locks, his sky blue eyes narrowed in admiration towards his partner, freckles rising with his cheekbones.

“Heh...must’ve gotten it from you~”

“Awww.”

In a matter of seconds, they reached the entrance to their office. They were told to pack up and go in the middle of the night, and with the full moon shining directly at them from a open window behind.

They immediately released the grip from the other as they walked in without question.

Not even realising that they won’t be holding the other this way when they come out.

————————————————————

As they entered, the room stayed mostly the same for now, with the only major difference, is that their desks are apart, parallel to one another.

Just like their formerly interlocked hands.

“Of course! the owner doesn’t support us working side by side directly!”

Josh noted, rolling his eyes as his tone got snappy. Folding his arms, not realising his lisp fading slightly with the remark.

“No worries hun, that just means I’d get a better look at you~”

He turned to his boyfriend, who looked lovingly at him at the side. At Eye level, re-assuring the other that everything will be alright. He blinked, did Henry just get taller all of a sudden? He definitely did not notice it earlier...must be the new shoes he was wearing.

“Right back at ya love~”

“Ooooh now there’s that attitude I love!”

PINCH!

“Oof!”

With that, Henry gave a tight pinch to his behind, smirking as he walked to his desk. Of course, it was far harder than usual, that tease. His husband liked to do that especially when he was happy, which was great when he was happy despite those remarks from the owner!

But something about the pinch...really set him off.

Playing it off, not noticing his larger steps as he strode to his side of the room. Legs stretching wide apart, feet grounded to the floor as he stood like a 1930s cartoon, except with more realistic proportions.

PLONK!

Landing butt first on his chair, he winced once again, he sat with more force than intended. Probably due to the aggression towards the owner, but wasn’t there supposed to be a cushion he and his husband brought from home on his-

Sleek Office chair, the modern kind without the comfort. Just pure professionalism like the way the owner demanded. Did that arse remove his-

Meanwhile Henry from across looked comfortable in his...’Chairman’s chair’. Like he was a higher up overseeing him, with a smug grin, but it was just cause he found him cute right?

“Sit up straight hun...wouldn’t want the owner to think otherwise.”

“Got it...! Thanks for reminding me!”

“No problem love...”

He responded quickly...though kind of irritated, he knew it was the owner’s policy too, about a ‘straight back leads a straight life’. He often made visits to everyone of his tenants or so he claims...especially them.

How ridiculous of a ‘motivational message’, though Jeff did like to keep his back straight for proper posture and presentation, not cause he was...

Anyways...what is with the fact that his fiancé is on a grand chair while he was stuck lookin’ like a subordinate. Sure Henry was slightly older...and taller than him, but the difference between them was huge.

He shouldn’t let that get to him...but its kind of pissing him off, specially with that smug grin on the older male’s face.

Mustering up all his professionalism, he spoke to the other male about their situation, holding in as much anger as he could.

“Say...how else do you think the owner expects us to behave?”

“Don’t know, probably...like him...”

Older days...yeah that sounds about right. Blinking, Josh watched as numerous LGBTQ posters and photos he framed up on his side taken down in an instant, replaced with framed photographs, mainly black and white of men and women in retro-esque attire.

But the main thing were the fact was there were only happy heterosexual couples in the wedding pictures that he took...where wuz’ all the gay ones huh?

Meanwhile, Henry’s side had the pictures reshaped into various expensive degrees and award certificates apparently. Josh wasn’t sure when his senior was such a stick in the arse and show off his life, but apparently its the reality they live in now.

Mixed with the wood panelling, their office walls split into two. With his fiancé’s side having a more polished grey shine to it...and his having wallpaper of grey rocks right behind him.

He was pissed, all his hard work gone to waste when the boss removed all his...stuff, doing renovations...Sure he kinda liked the new decor, always felt sturdy where he wuz at. But still it was his stuff!

Though then again, he also did help take some of those conference photos for the boss when he had met with several of his big league associates, a proof of skill he could use when advertising his talent to the boomers...

Whatevah! He was still goin’ to be typin’!

As he had started up his trendy PearPC, he blinked as the load in bar showed up. Tapping his fingers impatiently, not realising the shiny light weight frames becoming heavier and grounded as the quality of the pixels dropped tremendously with every second.

“Something is not right! And I’m gettin’ to the bottom of dis!”

“Whatever you say, hun...”

Rolling his eyes at his lover’s statement, the older male was not as passionate as he was when it comes to delivering the truth. Not fighting as hard as he was, whateva’!

He was doin’ it HIMSELF!

Rubbing his palms, as his ‘doorframe’ retro PC lit up, being an older model did not hinder his goal as he opened up the word processor and began typing away!

He was always a fast typer, especially when his grandpapy trained him when he was younger. Though that did not sound right? They didn’t have computers back in the day and age!

As Josh blinked, the digital letters seemed almost printed out the more he starred into them. As he continued typing on his keyboard, he didn’t notice the swiftness of his fingers as he crunched on the keys effortlessly, neither did he mind the metallic clicking sound with every syllable.

Precisely, rubbing his eyes, the glossy flow shifted into simple paper. Grinning to himself, retro it is! Right in front of em’, a policy that the boss really stood firm in his heart.

“Not that I mind, Chief.”

Muttering to himself, Joshon was raised by a highly conservative grandfather who drilled him in the importance of staying true to their values.

Not noticing with that remark, his rainbow flag pin stretched like taffy around his neck, solidifying into a black monotone neck tie as the collar of his Polo tee stiffened.

And folded down.

Sweater vest splitting into two, the sleeves merging with the polo as the vest thinned out. A long row of buttons trailed down the merged too, colour bleaching white into a straight, iron-pressed dress shirt.

Even though he was sorta queer, there was no way he’ll be outrightly pissing his grand-papy off! Folding his arms determinedly, as the pinkness of the remaining vest fabric faded to black, looping into straps with a big criss-cross over on his back.

SNAP! Wearing his suspenders with grey pride.

It didn’t really matter to him in the face of a scoop. Especially when it comes to whatever the owner of the establishment is doing, he was determined to write it like the reporter he was.

You can say, it was going to be the scoop of the century!

“Did you say something?”

Gohen got up from his throne, dressed in a thick black suit, with faint white checkered patterns all over, with the typical office dress shirt and matching tie he always wore.

Sauntering over to the reporter’s side of the room, possessively. The hispanic-caucasian stared at the pan-asian male...though its less so love and more so-

“What are you doing?”

But oh man, does he piss Joshon off.

Yeah they’ve been engaged, but the way he breathes down his neck makes the reporter sick. Arms toughening with strong toned biceps, as a healthy dusting of hair lined his forearms.

The roughness the two exhibited even in bed was less out of love and more so...pent up frustration, especially lately. No matter how the conversation went, its just conflict after conflict.

“I’m just typing away the new article, lovah!”

His lover’s been clinging onto em’ again. Examinin him like a piece of meat, even though they just get engaged recently...though it was more so the lawyer’s idea rather than Joshon’s.

Tied down to another guy like that, even that was too gay for his liking.

“Why don’tcha just-TALK TO ME?”

“I AM TALKIN’ TO YA!”

He was so ANGRY with his lover, getting up, hands pressing against the other...and with a-

PUSH!

The impact left a huge blow to their relationship.

Flinging both men back to their side of the room, onto each of their seats. Rings morphing into simple tie pins as they stuck onto their new ties. Nothing special or out of the ordinary, and definitely nothing to personal with the other male.

They just anger each other.

First came the realisation of the older male, who tugged relentlessly below, surging through age and maturity as his weathered face took on a caramel tan.

Hair styling into natural curls, shortening into a dark brown, embracing his new identity of a conservative single man in his fifties. Letting loose any notion of being attracted to anyone but his future-

“Hermosa!”

The hispanic BOOM-ER’ed his manhood, letting loose all his reservations and kindness as a dark glare rested on the male. Deep eye bags alongside a faint beard.

Dusting himself, the middle aged man made sure he appeared presentable, despite still in a hazy afterglow.

Shaking himself out of his trance, the older man glared at the younger male.

“Get out my office.”

Walls fell down between the two, a complete division of interests as the attorney faded from his sight.

“Well who needs ya?”

Still thirsting for release, his face contorted at any thought of attraction to the older man. What wuz he? Queer? That kind of shit gets ya kicked outta office!

Which was why he liked it ere’!

“PANSY!”

A young handsome guy free to be chasing the ladies! Hair slicked to the side, as his skin embraced that peachy caucasian tan of his new ethnicity.

“QUEER!”

The tense fights he had with his competitor and rival next door. He wouldn’t trade it for the world. Grinning arrogantly at the triumphs he had over the man, especially when he told Gomez about the queer vibe he got from those chicks.

And both ladies turned about to be lesbians!

Imagine how much the owner of the establishment would be proud of him, how his grandpapy would be proud of him.

His arrogant sneer framed by his squared jaw, licking his lips as his signature five o clock shadow lined his masculinity. Narrowing his much larger eyes, blowing a large-

“GOT DA SCOOP RIGHT ERE!”

And so the incredibly heterosexual reporter proclaimed, kicking back as his hard member came and came like the single retro business owner he was.

Slumping back in the afterglow, immersing in his heterosexuality like he always did past midnight as he-

Knock!

Jolted up, zipped his trousers, and crossed his arms as his boomer rival barged in.

“Matt! Will ya keep it down?!”

“Shaddup Diego! As if you and your crusty balls didn’t jerk off for the third time this evenin’!”

Of course, they initiated their famous, tense, stare down at the other. The caucasian reporter remaining in his position as the hispanic lawyer made his way to the seat in front of him.

The two of them fought ever since they met. With Gomez being being really disapproving towards Johnson as a result.

The Chief’s colleague vouched for their grandson Johnson to be a part of the many businesses in the building, claiming he will be a value asset to his ‘conservative vision’.

Of course, Reporter Johnson was a prodigy. Being raised in the art of the press by his Grand-pappy, the ins and outs on the ‘black N white days’ without too much influence from the modern world.

It was no surprise that the chief, the owner of dis ere’ place, gave him an office of his own.

Even bypassing Attorney Gomez’s approval, who, besides being the prime defence lawyer against any allegations towards the property owner, was also the one who made the deciding vote on whether someone was able to rent an office in the Chief’s estate.

Of course, the idea of a man, over a decade younger, having this much influence in the building had ticked the hispanic boomer to his very core. And ever since then, it became a non-stop cycle of one upping the other.

“Listen Matty, you know how it goes as much as I do. We’re men and still single, we need women.”

Though despite their numerous arguments, over the years, they may never admit it...but when it comes to getting partners, they were both unfortunate enough to remain single this long.

In their late thirties and fifties respectively, flirting with ladies and getting rejected like some 50s comedy routine.

“Never understood how did some guys get married immediately after college...bunch of queers.”

“Agreed, especially for a hot rich lawyer such as myself, being single is definitely out of the equation.”

“Hey! Hey! You think the ladies care about an old man in a suit when a hot stud like me is around?”

“Not when you are far from tactical with your words! Besides, you should see how the women look at me when I walk down the hallway.”

“Oh yeah? Well Chicks can’t resist spankin’ my arse with every step!”

And so the argument continues, like almost every time they met. Like a married couple, except they were straight and talking about women women women.

And for some odd reason, because of this fact, despite their glaring differences in almost about everything. They knew they had each other’s back when it comes to this.

“Anyways...the owner said he’s found two ladies working in an office below us...and that they are not only interested in us...but-”

Taking out the photographs from the brown folder, in them were two gorgeous women that these straight men could not peel their eyes off. Like an alluring magnet of compatibility, that kind that they were unable to resist.

The left one definitely screamed the ‘mamacita’ that Diego desired. As he placed his matured palm over that photograph, red tints could be seen over his cheeks as he subconsciously licked his lips.

Of course, Matt’s hard on throbbed at the sight of the right chick. Like a lesbian who turned straight in front of his lens, the kind of Gal he would spend his life with, and for some reason he knew she would too.

“You in?”

Lawyer Diego Gomez folded his arms, but barely hid the incredible pheromones of attraction towards his lady. Sandwiching his manhood and rubbing it, desperately needing her immediately, closing his single case once and for all.

Reporter Matt Johnson mirrored the older male, and not wanting to admit it, is thirsting for that retro babe like the scoop of the century. He really desired for her...but he ain’t gonna show weakness in front of his rival! He was taking charge, hungry eyes blending in with a determined expression.

“You be my wingman this time Gomez, and you’ve got a deal.”

[crash-cinematic-universe]

Skeleton Party

pairing: Peter Maximoff/witch!reader

summary/request:  Heyo! Just saw Ur recent post and was wondering what was happening with the super powerful witch so that saves singlehandedly Xavier's School and Peter works at it and she's badass and then sees Peter and runs to him and is like omg r U ok bby? And everyone's like how do you have such a powerful so and can she be super famous and is like a really popular super hero and everything? Thanks! Love ya! ♥️♥️♥️ - @oxbunnehxo 

warnings: a lot of dying

notes: its done. it has a dumb fucking ending but i think it’s kinda funny so uh that’s that. 

taglist: @creator-appreciator​ @simonsbluee

           Usually, having Peter appear in your classroom was lovely, because he usually came with a smile on his face and open arms. This time was different, though. Peter’s smile was replaced by a worried frown, his eyes darting around and his voice low. He’s panicking, a rare sight in Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. His hair is messy and his hands are shaking.

          “Peter? Are you alright?” You ask, concern lacing your words. He is absolutely not alright-- you can tell the moment he begins speaking. 

          “Uh, someone is c-coming,” His voice is rushed and uneven and he sounds as if he’s going to cry.

          “Who?” You’re quick to grab his forearms in order to calm him down. He seems settled but still panicked.

          “The, uh,” He stutters. “The entire U.S. military.” The silence that consumed the room was deafening, the cold claws of shock holding your mouth shut. Hundreds of questions raced through your head at once, but one stuck out in specific.

          “Why?” Your breath gets heavier and your heart rate increases as your mind races through thousands of thoughts. Peter can only shake his head as he sits on your desk.

          “Because this just happens to be one of the largest, most condensed mutant hotspots in America-- the government isn’t exactly thrilled by our existence.” He chuckles dryly, obviously trying to calm his nerves. It doesn’t work. 

          “We’re gonna be okay, right? I mean, I’m sure Charles, Logan, Hank and Erik will handle this.” You’re not sure whether you're trying to convince Peter or yourself with your words. Peter’s eyes refuse to meet yours. “Right, Peter?”

          “Uhm, actually…” He trails off. “Charles and Hank left last night for some big conference in LA, Logan has been MIA for the past week and Erik left me in charge of the mansion until he gets back from his revenge mission.” Your heart practically stops and your stomach drops to your feet. Dread fills your body as you process the information you were just gifted.

          “So… you’re in charge of an entire mansion full of mutant children… that’s about to be attacked by the entire U.S. military.” You state flatly. Peter nods, panicked tears brimming his eyes.

          “I don’t know what to do.” He whispered. You managed to toughen up, formulating a plan in your head.

          “It’s okay, uhm, we’re gonna be okay. Just-- uh-- get Ororo and round up all the kids. Tell Jean and Scott to try and help the younger kids. I’ll scope out the attackers and see what I can do.” Peter nods, a gust of wind blowing your hair back as Peter runs out of the room. He quickly returns, though, and hugs you tightly.

          “Thank you,” He’s gone as quickly as he arrived, speeding down the hallway. You wipe your palms on your jeans, a nervous sweat coating your hands. Stress is pumping through your veins as you sprint through the hallways to the highest balcony you can find. On the horizon you can see a large mass of people, two tanks on the flank of the group. Toughen up. You need to toughen up. They need you-- everyone needs you. You huff before whipping around and making your way to the common room. Peter is beside you within seconds, the panic in his eyes swirling around like waves in a storm. 

          “Ok, Jean and Scott are with the kids in the library, Ororo and Kurt are on their way-- how are our odds?” As much as you wanted to, you couldn’t exactly tell Peter that it wasn’t looking good.

          “Uh, they’ve been better,” You laughed uncomfortably. He grabbed your hand before speaking.

          “I guess we’ll just have to, uh, do our best,” You fought the urge to point out the fact that ‘our best’ probably won’t be enough. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

__

          Okay, yeah, this is definitely the worst-case scenario. The few X-Men present at the scene were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer force of their attackers. It was a quick overtaking, a few mutation-suppressing blasts sent most of your defense flying. It was chaotic and stressful and you soon found yourself reaching a limit. Someone grabbed you from behind, their arms looping under yours before they pulled you backwards. You screamed and kicked your legs, but it was no use. 

          One glance in the eyes of the young children watching you get dragged away ignited something inside of you. Your fists clenched, a bright green glow appearing in the palms of your hands. A white-hot rage pumped through your veins, a feeling that you didn’t recognize gripping your bones as a blast of energy exploded out of you. 

          For a moment, everything was still. The grip on your arms loosened before disappearing completely, a thud sounding behind you. Horrified, you turned around and gazed upon the sea of skeletons you created. The blast seemingly stripped each soldier of their… body. The skin, the muscle, the organs-- they were all gone. Disintegrated. You didn’t really care, though, you just spin around to check on your peers. Thankfully, they were all left unscathed. 

          “Hey, uh, are you okay?” Storm looks at you with a vague, scared gaze. She nods slowly. 

          “I’m fine, how did you…?” She trails off. Peter is by your side within seconds, an amused tone in his voice.

          “How the fuck did you do that?” Peter gushed. “Could you always do that? Like, you can just dissolve people? That’s cool as hell!” 

          “Woah, Peter, slow down,” You laugh. The mood changed quickly, the image of the hundreds of corpses behind you fading away. It was gruesome. “I, uh, I think I could always do that. I guess I just needed the correct circumstances to trigger it.” You didn’t turn around to face the consequences of your actions, you just basked in the benefits. 

          “We need to clean up the bodies,” Storm adds. You nod slowly. 

          “Yeah, uh, they’re probably going to send more people because of all this,” The reality of the situation sets in slowly. “We’re not safe here anymore. I-- I ruined it, didn’t I? I made it all worse, didn’t I? I did! I’m just proving their point that mutants are violent monsters,” 

          “Hey, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Peter reassures. “Sure, yeah, we’re kinda royally fucked, but you did what you needed to do. They attacked us first, ya know,”

          “I guess you’re right…” You sighed. Peter smiled before turning you around.

          “Now, we have some corpses to collect!”

[newstfionline]

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

FBI Data Show An Unprecedented Spike In Murders Nationwide In 2020 (NPR) The number of murders in the United States jumped by nearly 30% in 2020 compared to the previous year in the largest single-year increase ever recorded in the country, according to official FBI statistics released Monday. The data show 21,570 homicides in the U.S. in 2020, which is a staggering 4,901 more than in 2019. The tally makes clear—in concrete terms—just how violent last year was. The overall violent crime rate, which includes murder, assault, robbery and rape, inched up around 5%, while property crimes continued their long-running decline and dropped 8% from 2019. But the spike in murders jumps out in the FBI report because of the sheer scale of the change. Jeff Asher, a data consultant who studies crime rates, said the increase is the largest since national records began being kept in 1960s. The homicide rate thus far in 2021 is up 10% from last year.

Haitians returning to a homeland that’s far from welcoming (AP) Deported from the United States, Pierre Charles landed a week ago in Port-au-Prince, a capital more dangerous and dystopian than the one he’d left four years before. Unable to reach his family, he left the airport alone, on foot. At least 2,853 Haitians deported from Texas have landed here in the last week with $15-$100 in cash handouts and a “good luck out there” from migration officials—many setting foot in the country for the first time in years, even decades. More than a city, Port-au-Prince it is an archipelago of gang-controlled islands in a sea of despair. Some neighborhoods are abandoned. Others are barricaded behind fires, destroyed cars and piles of garbage, occupied by heavily armed men. On Saturday, a local newspaper reported 10 kidnappings in the previous 24 hours including a journalist, a singer’s mother and a couple driving with their toddler, who was left behind in the car. Even before the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse a in July, the government was weak—the Palace of Justice inactive, congress disbanded by Moïse and the legislative building pocked by bullets. Now, although there is a prime minister, it is absent. Most of the population of Port-au-Prince has no access to basic public services, no drinking water, electricity or garbage collection. The deportees join thousands of fellow Haitians who have been displaced from their homes, pushed out by violence to take up residence in crowded schools, churches, sports centers and makeshift camps among ruins. Many of these people are out of reach even for humanitarian organizations.

Some Bolsonaro supporters have called for a military takeover of Brazil. Why do they wave the American flag? (Washington Post) On the day when Brazilians celebrated the nation’s independence, when thousands of protesters this month called on President Jair Bolsonaro to lead a military takeover of the country, a middle-aged man set out onto the streets of Brazil’s largest city, cloaked in the flag. The American flag. Wilson Gomes, 56, strutted down streets thronged by thousands of Bolsonaro supporters, the Stars and Stripes draped across his right shoulder, demanding radical change in Latin America’s largest nation. The time had come to do away with the Brazilian supreme court, which he said had been corrupted by a kleptocratic left and was unfairly targeting Bolsonaro and his supporters. The only way to save the constitution, he said, was to suspend it. At far-right rallies all over the country, where many have called for supreme court judges and opposition lawmakers to be removed, the American flag is now a staple. Supporters wear cowboy hats and belt buckles emblazoned with Texas longhorns. In a country that has more traditionally viewed the United States and its intentions with suspicion, the sudden appropriation of American symbols has exposed a political paradox at the heart of the Bolsonarista movement. A group that many here believe wants to subvert, if not overthrow, Brazilian democracy has chosen as one of its banners the flag of the world’s oldest democracy. “The Brazilian right and American have an agenda in common,” said Sèrgio Sant’Ana, president of the right-wing Conservative Liberal Institute.

Macron says Europeans need to stop being naive and assert independence from the United States (Washington Post) French President Emmanuel Macron urged Europeans to "come out of their naivete" on the world stage and assert their independence from the United States, sending one of the strongest signals to date that the diplomatic crisis prompted by a disrupted submarine deal could have long-lasting repercussions on transatlantic relations. Speaking alongside the Greek prime minister Tuesday at a news conference to unveil a major Franco-Greek defense deal, Macron said the Europeans should make themselves “respected.” “For a bit over 10 years now, the United States has been very focused on itself and has strategic interests that are being reoriented towards China and the Pacific,” he said. “It’s in their right to do so,” he continued, but “we would be naive, or rather we would make a terrible mistake, to not want to draw the consequences.” Macron’s latest remarks come as he appears to position himself as the next leader of Europe, an unofficial role so far largely attributed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

China energy crunch triggers shutdowns, pleas for more coal (Reuters) China faces mounting pressure to ramp up coal imports and ensure supplies to keep lights on, factories open and water flowing as a severe power crunch roils the northeastern industrial heartland. With electricity shortages sparked by coal shortages crippling large sections of industry, the governor of Jilin province, one of the hardest hit in the world's no.2 economy, called for a surge in coal imports, while a power company association said supply was being expanded "at any cost". News organisations and social media carried reports and posts saying the lack of power in the northeast had shut down traffic lights, residential elevators and 3G mobile phone coverage as well as triggering factory shutdowns. A utility in Jilin even warned power shortages could disrupt water supplies at any time, before apologising for causing alarm. The power crunch has taken hold as a shortage of coal supplies, toughening greenhouse gas emissions standards and strong demand from industry have pushed coal prices to peaks. Goldman Sachs estimated that as much as 44% of China's industrial activity has been hit by power shortages.

American siblings trapped in China under three-year ‘exit ban’ finally return home (Washington Post) China allowed two U.S. citizens, siblings Victor and Cynthia Liu, who were prevented from leaving the country for more than three years, to return to the United States on Sunday. Cynthia and Victor Liu are the daughter and son of Liu Changming, a businessman wanted on fraud charges in China. The siblings went to China in June 2018 to visit relatives but were barred from leaving, while their mother, Sandra Han, who made the trip with them, was detained. Their lawyers and the U.S. authorities described the move as an attempt to pressure Liu Changming into returning to China to faces charges—despite the siblings saying they had not had contact with their father in years. Victor and Cynthia Liu’s lawyer Marc Ginsberg told the New York Times that he believed a Sept. 9 phone call between President Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping had “helped to break a logjam” and contributed to the siblings’ release. He added that the siblings would have no comment for the news media.

Japan to lift all coronavirus emergency steps nationwide (AP) Japan’s government says the coronavirus state of emergency will end Thursday so the economy can be reactivated as infections slow. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced Tuesday that virus restrictions will be eased gradually. With the lifting, Japan will be entirely free of emergency requirements for the first time in more than six months.

Taliban issue no-shave order to barbers in Afghan province (AP) The Taliban on Monday banned barbershops in a southern Afghanistan province from shaving or trimming beards, claiming their edict is in line with Shariah, or Islamic, law. The order in Helmand province was issued by the provincial Taliban government’s vice and virtue department to barbers in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital. During their previous rule of Afghanistan, the Taliban adhered to a harsh interpretation of Islam. Since overrunning Kabul on Aug. 15 and again taking control of the country, the world has been watching to see whether they will re-create their strict governance of the late 1990s. During the Taliban’s previous rule, the conservative Islamists demanded that men grow beards. Since being ousted from power following the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, shaved or cleanly trimmed beards have become popular in the country.

Violence in Nigeria (Foreign Policy) At least 34 people were killed in northern Nigeria following an attack on the village of Madamai in northern Kaduna state, state security commissioner Samuel Aruwan said on Monday, blaming unidentified assailants for the attack. The assault, which Aruwan said took place on Sunday, came the same day that 22 Nigerian security personnel were killed in an attack on an army base in Sokota state, also in the country’s north. In recent weeks, Nigerian states have introduced restrictions on residents in an attempt to stem the violence, attributed to so-called bandits as well as the Islamic State’s West African offshoot.

A Crypto-Trading Hamster Performs Better Than Warren Buffett And The S&P 500 (NPR) What if we told you there was a hamster who has been trading cryptocurrencies since June—and recently was doing better than Warren Buffett and the S&P 500? Meet Mr. Goxx, a hamster who works out of what is possibly the most high-tech hamster cage in existence. It’s designed so that when Mr. Goxx runs on the hamster wheel, he can select among dozens of cryptocurrencies. Then, deciding between two tunnels, he chooses whether to buy or sell. According to the Twitch account for the hamster, his decision is sent over to a real trading platform—and yes, real money is involved. Look, we’re not telling you to follow in this hamster’s financial decisions or that this process is scientific in any way. But what we can tell you is his portfolio is up nearly 20% since he started trading in June, according to his Twitter account. And as of Sept. 12, Mr. Goxx was performing better than Bitcoin, the Nasdaq 100, Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and the S&P 500.

[didanawisgi]

A ‘Masculinity Crisis’? China Says the Boys Are Not All Right

The Education Ministry plans to beef up gym classes after a top official said female teachers and pop culture had made boys “weak, inferior and timid.”

Government officials in China believe that boys are getting more effeminate and want to toughen them up.

In the latest attempt to tackle what academics and news outlets call a “masculinity crisis,” the Education Ministry has proposed emphasizing the “spirit of yang,” or male attributes, by hiring more sports instructors and redesigning physical education classes in elementary and secondary schools.

The plan, a response to a top official’s call to “prevent the feminization of male youths,” was released last week. It included no timeline and few other details, but it prompted an outcry online and is still stirring fierce debate on social media. One hashtag has been viewed 1.5 billion times on Weibo, a popular microblogging platform.

Some social media users expressed support for the proposal, with one writing, “It’s hard to imagine such effeminate boys can defend their country when an outside invasion looms.” But others saw evidence of sexual discrimination and the perpetuation of gender stereotypes.

In recent years, as the country has sought to bolster its military and reckon with pampered children, mostly boys, born under its one-child policy, a more stringent idea of masculinity has emerged. Television censors have blurred the pierced ears of male pop stars. Well-groomed actors have been publicly derided as “little fresh meat,” and parents have enrolled boys in boot camps, hoping they will become “real men.”

The Education Ministry’s plan is in response to a proposal made in May by Si Zefu, a top delegate of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Standing Committee. Called a “Proposal to Prevent the Feminization of Male Youths,” Mr. Si’s proposal said that “many, many more” men should be hired as physical education teachers to exert a “masculine influence” in schools.

In a statement, Mr. Si said the prevalence of female teachers in kindergartens and elementary schools and the popularity of “pretty boys” in pop culture had made boys “weak, inferior and timid.” He also lamented that boys no longer wanted to become war heroes, warning that such a trend could endanger the Chinese people....”

[ask-de-writer]

GONE TO SEA : World of Sea : Science Fiction : Part 16

GONE TO SEA

by

De Writer (Glen Ten-Eyck)

WORK IN PROGRESS (Word count unknown at this time)

copyright 2018

Writing started 2005

All rights reserved.

Reproduction in any form, physical, electronic or digital is prohibited without the express consent of the author.

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Copyright fair use rules for Tumblr users

Users of Tumblr.com are specifically granted the following rights.  They may reblog the story provided that all author and copyright information remains intact.  They may use the characters or original characters in my settings for fan fiction, fan art works, cosplay, or fan musical compositions. All sorts of fan art, cosplay, music or fiction is actively encouraged.

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Molly was beside him in an instant, a stout forged steel spanner in her hand.  She slapped his hand away from the counter where he was attempting to reach past the sanitary shields protecting the donuts and twists.

She and Donal, one of her crew, pushed him away from the booth with muscles toughened by months of climbing around the station's understructure inspecting for and repairing problems.  Her eyes harder than the steel of her wrench, Molly stated, “Mister Hored! You know that what you just said is totally false!  Our flour is made from natural local sources.  The kids who developed it tried to give you the whole process.  What did you call it, to their faces?  

“I'll tell you.  You refused it outright and called it worthless kiddie crap!  You also demanded that they never bother you again.  They have not.”

Mister Hored stopped struggling as he realized that he was now surrounded by hostile and armed maintenance crew.  He curled a lip and replied with confidence, “I run this station's Commissary!  My Contract gives me the sole right to sell any sort of food or other goods.”

Molly pulled a small tablet computer from a hard protective pouch on her belt and clicked it on.  In a few selections, she produced Public Services Under Contract: Commissary.  She made a few more selections. The screen showed the title page of Mister Hored's contract.  Across it was a search box with the word exclusive highlighted.  Just under the word was the legend, Search key not found.

Molly held the computer out for him to see.  Smiling like a Strong's shark, she commented, “You have already lost two lawsuits for trying to restrict other people from selling things in competition with you and this is why.  You do not have the exclusive right to sell or distribute anything.

“The school has paid the station rent for our Bake Sale space.  What we are selling, aside from station supplied vitamin C, thymine and lysine, is wholly from native sources.  The nutritional content of our goods has been determined and certified by the Bio-safety and Nutrition lab.  Now go back to your store and sell what is yours to sell.”

Her men escorted Mister Hored away.

Shortly, Mister Torres came and joined the cheerful mob of shoppers.  He bought a few things to munch while he watched demonstrations.  He paid cash for several of the baking kits.  He retreated, examining the labels carefully.

Pele looked up from her desk where some students were handing in parchment documents for examination.  Mister Torres looked over Pele's shoulder and remarked, “Are those papers already graded?  It looks like they are already marked.”

Tham Wing looked up from the conference and replied, “Of course they are.  We assemble committees that had nothing to do with the subject of the paper in question.  Then, we go over it and mark it for presentation and clarity.  We also mark any grammar errors that we find.  After that we conference with the author to make sure that things are as good as we can make them and hand them in.  Pele is our final judge.  Not only is the author graded, so are we for our conference work.”

Pele smiled at Tham and said, “Good explanation, Tham.  Now, Mister Torres, I would guess that you are not here to admire our grading system.  Is there a problem?”

Mister Torres pulled a somewhat comic frown, making it clear what he thought of what he was about to say.  “Not really.  Mister Hored as filed a complaint that you gave him the flour process over a month ago and that you should not be selling it.  Did you do it?”

Pele got a sour look and replied, “We tried.  He refused it flatly, sight unseen.  Here, take a look.”  She pulled her tablet computer from a drawer of her desk and activated it.

As she was entering the search, Pele explained, “Three of my students found the possibility in some station reports that they were looking over for something else.  They worked out the process and presented it for a project.  They wanted to donate their find to the Commissary for the good of the station and went to give the whole process to Mister Hored.  They took their phones along and recorded the interview.”

Mister Torres watched the recorded meeting in silence and simply shook his head.  Then he took out his phone and linked to the interview before saying, “That was just about the rudest thing that I have heard since we got here, and I have been having to listen to Marcus Angerson.  More to the point, it absolutely destroys his claim that you gave him the process.  I will have a word with him about making false claims.”

Tham looked thoughtful and asked, “Wheat takes up an awful lot of the agronomy space, doesn't it?”

At Mister Torres' nod, Tham forged ahead, “Our flour is actually better for people than wheat flour is.  You could have wheat production scaled way back.  We could replace the wheat with our flour products.  That would free up agronomy space for other vital crops.

“We also get four major sugars as a side effect of the processing.  We obtain fructose, glucose, sucrose and dextrose.  A minor alteration of the main process yields a pretty pure starch that can be made to mimic potato or corn starch.”

Pele nodded and said, “Good idea, Tham.  We have all those kids that have already graduated high school, thanks to the early testing.  We could put them onto split days, making up flour and such for half of the day and being staff the rest.”

Mister Torres pursed his lips and said thoughtfully, “Pele, would you please send my office your complete menu with preparation methods and the nutritional analysis for all of your foodstuffs?”

Pele shrugged, “Fairly big job but we will be happy to do it.  I am pretty sure that everything is already covered by our station patents.  We will be happy to talk licensing or other means of profitable sharing.”

Sniffing the air and grinning, Mister Torres said, “We may need to set you up a grocery store or restaurant of some kind.  Your galley smells great!”

Tham suggested, “Why don't you come over and sample some of our regular lunch?  You missed our breakfast but there may be some leftovers.” The two retreated in the direction of the galley.  Pele, busy with her desk work, didn't notice when the thoughtful Mister Torres left the dock with a fair-sized batch of papers and a bag added to his load.

Shortly after he was gone, Molly and some of the children from the bake sale came down the dock stairs.  They were carrying loads.  One came over to Pele's desk and dropped off a heavy box of the station credit coins and a long written list of the day's sales.  Pele checked the total and nearly fainted.

She began carefully counting up the multitude of coins and totaling the personal checks.  When she looked up, the whole school was packed tight around her desk.  They wore jubilant expressions.  Pele wrote everything up as a deposit slip for the school's account and shook her head in disbelief.

“You guys sold everything?  Even the cooking tool kits?”

A proud Banja put an arm around Sancha and declared, “And the cooking oils that we were using.  All that we had left were our own tools, ovens and stoves.  We even got an order for a custom made dining set. They want a table with a crushed shell inlaid top and matching chairs.  We had an offer on the booth itself but we turned that down. We just might need it again.”

Up in the station's Executive Council suites, Mister Torres was facing his colleagues on the Council.

TO BE CONTINUED

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[d33-alex]

Jordan Peterson and Conservatism's Rebirth

The psychologist and YouTube star has brought the concepts of order and tradition back to our intellectual discourse.

Jordan Peterson doesn’t seem to think of himself as a conservative. Yet there he is, standing in the space once inhabited by conservative thinkers such as G.K. Chesterton, C.S. Lewis, Russell Kirk, William F. Buckley Jr. and Irving Kristol. Addressing a public that seems incapable of discussing anything but freedom, Mr. Peterson presents himself unmistakably as a philosophical advocate of order. His bestselling book, “12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos,” makes sense of ideas like the “hierarchy of place, position and authority,” as well as people’s most basic attachments to “tribe, religion, hearth, home and country” and “the flag of the nation.” The startling success of his elevated arguments for the importance of order has made him the most significant conservative thinker to appear in the English-speaking world in a generation.

Mr. Peterson, 56, is a University of Toronto professor and a clinical psychologist. Over the past two years he has rocketed to fame, especially online and in contentious TV interviews. To his detractors, he might as well be Donald Trump. He has been criticized for the supposed banality of his theories, for his rambling and provocative rhetoric, and for his association with online self-help products. He has suffered, too, the familiar accusations of sexism and racism.

From what I have seen, these charges are baseless. But even if Mr. Peterson is imperfect, that shouldn’t distract from the important argument he has advanced—or from its implications for a possible revival in conservative thought. The place to begin, as his publishing house will no doubt be pleased to hear, is with “12 Rules for Life,” which is a worthy and worthwhile introduction to his philosophy.

Departing from the prevailing Marxist and liberal doctrines, Mr. Peterson relentlessly maintains that the hierarchical structure of society is hard-wired into human nature and therefore inevitable: “The dominance hierarchy, however social or cultural it might appear, has been around for some half a billion years. It’s permanent.” Moreover, young men and women (but especially men) tend to be healthy and productive only when they have found their place working their way up a hierarchy they respect. When they fail to do so, they become rudderless and sick, worthless to those around them, sometimes aimlessly violent.

In viewing political and social hierarchies as inevitable, Mr. Peterson may seem to be defending whoever happens to be powerful. But he’s doing nothing of the kind. He rejects the Marxist claim that traditional hierarchies are only about the self-interested pursuit of power. Human beings like having power, Mr. Peterson acknowledges. Yet the desire for it also drives them to develop the kinds of abilities their societies value. In a well-ordered society, high status often is a reward conferred for doing things that actually need to be done and done well: defending the state, producing things people need, enlarging the sphere of knowledge.

Mr. Peterson does not deny the Marxist charge that society oppresses individuals. “Culture is an oppressive structure,” he writes. “It’s always been that way. It’s a fundamental, universal existential reality.” But he breaks with prevailing political thought when he argues that the suffering involved in conforming to tradition may be worth it. When a father disciplines his son, he interferes with the boy’s freedom, painfully forcing him into accepted patterns of behavior and thought. “But if the father does not take such action,” Mr. Peterson says, “he merely lets his son remain Peter Pan, the eternal Boy, King of the Lost Boys, Ruler of the non-existent Neverland.”

Similarly, Mr. Peterson insists it is “necessary and desirable for religions to have a dogmatic element.” This provides a stable worldview that allows a young person to become “a properly disciplined person” and “a well-forged tool.”

Yet this is not, for Mr. Peterson, the highest human aspiration. It is merely the first necessary step along a path toward maturity, toward an ever more refined uniqueness and individuality. The individuality he describes emerges over decades from an original personality forged through painful discipline. The alternative, he writes, is to remain “an adult two-year old” who goes to pieces in the face of any adversity and for whom “softness and harmlessness become the only consciously acceptable virtues.”

Like other conservative thinkers before him, Mr. Peterson’s interest in tradition flows from an appreciation of the weakness of the individual’s capacity for reason. We all think we understand a great deal, he tells his readers, but this is an illusion. What we perceive instead is a “radical, functional, unconscious simplification of the world—and it’s almost impossible for us not to mistake it for the world itself.”

Given the unreliability of our own thinking, Mr. Peterson recommends beginning with tried and tested ideas: “It is reasonable to do what other people have always done, unless we have a very good reason not to.” Maturity demands that we set out to “rediscover the values of our culture—veiled from us by our ignorance, hidden in the dusty treasure-trove of the past—rescue them, and integrate them into our own lives.”

In Western countries, that effort at rediscovery leads to one place. “The Bible,” Mr. Peterson writes, “is, for better or worse, the foundational document of Western civilization.” It is the ultimate source of our understanding of good and evil. Its appearance uprooted the ancient view that the powerful had the right simply to take ownership of the weak, a change that was “nothing short of a miracle.” The Bible challenged, and eventually defeated, a world in which the murder of human beings for entertainment, infanticide, slavery and prostitution were simply the way things had to be.

As many readers have pointed out, Nietzsche’s critique of Enlightenment philosophy—he once called Kant “that catastrophic spider”—is everywhere in Mr. Peterson’s thought, even in his writing style. It is felt in his calls to “step forward to take your place in the dominance hierarchy,” and to “dare to be dangerous.” It is felt in risqué pronouncements such as this: “Men have to toughen up. Men demand it, and women want it.”

A famous passage from Nietzsche describes the destruction of the belief in God as the greatest cataclysm mankind has ever faced: “What were we doing when we unchained this earth from its sun? Whither is it moving now? Whither are we moving? Away from all suns? Are we not plunging continually? Backward, sideward, forward, in all directions? Is there still any up or down? Are we not straying as through an infinite nothing?”

Mr. Peterson chronicles the misery of individuals now drifting through this “infinite nothing.” But he rejects Nietzsche’s atheism, along with the conclusion that we can make our own values. In telling readers to return to the Bible, Mr. Peterson seeks to rechain the earth to its sun. That seems impossible. Yet a vast audience has demonstrated a willingness, at least, to try.

For Mr. Peterson, the death of God was followed inevitably by a quick descent into hell. During the “terrible twentieth century,” as he calls it, “we discovered something worse, much worse, than the aristocracy and corrupt religious beliefs that communism and fascism sought so rationally to supplant.” The Holocaust and the gulag, he argues, are sufficient to define evil for us, and “the good is whatever stops such things from happening.”

That is perfectly good Old Testament-style reasoning. Mr. Peterson adds Christian tropes such as the need for an “act of faith,” an “irrational commitment to the essential goodness” of things, a recognition that although “life is suffering,” sacrificing ourselves, as if on the cross, is pleasing to God.

Mr. Peterson’s intellectual framework has its weaknesses. He invokes recent social science (and its jargon) with a confidence that is at times naive. His often brilliant “12 Rules for Life” is littered with Heideggerian rubbish about “the betterment of Being,” in places where a thinker of Mr. Peterson’s abilities should have seen the need for a more disciplined effort to understand God. He lacks Nietzsche’s alertness to the ways in which the great religious traditions contradict one another, leading their adherents toward very different lives. Thus while Mr. Peterson is quite a good reader of the Bible, it is at times maddening to watch him import alien ideas into scripture—for instance, that the chaos preceding the creation was “female”—so as to fill out a supposed archetypal symmetry.

Nonetheless, what Mr. Peterson has achieved is impressive. In his writings and public appearances, he has made a formidable case that order—and not just freedom—is a fundamental human need, one now foolishly neglected. He is compelling in arguing that the order today’s deconstructed society so desperately lacks can be reintroduced, even now, through a renewed engagement with the Bible and inherited religious tradition.

Before Mr. Peterson, there was no solid evidence that a broad public would ever again be interested in an argument for political order. For more than a generation, Western political discourse has been roughly divided into two camps. Marxists are sharply aware of the status hierarchies that make up society, but they are ideologically committed to overthrowing them. Liberals (both the progressive and classical varieties) tend to be altogether oblivious to the hierarchical and tribal character of political life. They know they’re supposed to praise “civil society,” but the Enlightenment concepts they use to think about the individual and the state prevent them from recognizing the basic structures of the political order, what purposes they serve, and how they must be maintained.

In short, modern political discourse is noteworthy for the gaping hollow where there ought to be conservatives—institutions and public figures with something important to teach about political order and how to build it up for everyone’s benefit. Into this opening Mr. Peterson has ventured.

Perhaps without fully intending to do so, he has given the dynamic duo of Marxism and liberalism a hard shove, while shining a light on the devastation these utopian theories are wreaking in Western countries. He has demarcated a large area in which only conservative political and social thought can help. His efforts have provided reason to believe that a significant demand for conservative ideas still lives under the frozen wastes of our intellectual landscape.

If so, then Mr. Peterson’s appearance may be the harbinger of a broader rebirth. His book is a natural complement to important recent works such as Ryszard Legutko’s “The Demon in Democracy,” Patrick Deneen’s “Why Liberalism Failed” and Amy Chua’s “Political Tribes.” Representing divergent political perspectives, these works nevertheless share Mr. Peterson’s project of getting past the Marxist and liberal frameworks and confronting our trained incapacity to see human beings and human societies for what they really are. As the long-awaited revival of conservative political thought finally gets under way, there may be much more of this to come.

  by Yoram Hazony, The Wall Street Journal, June 15, 2018  www.wsj.com/articles/jordan-peterson-and-conservatisms-rebirth-1529101961

Mr. Hazony is author of “The Virtue of Nationalism,” forthcoming Sept. 4.

[papermoonloveslucy]

LUCILLE BALL LOVES HER HECTIC TV LIFE

January 2, 1965

On Saturday, January 2, 1965, syndicated columnist Peter Dacre of the London Expressed published an article about Lucille Ball...a busy woman. As with most syndicated columns, publication dates and headlines varied by newspaper. Quotes from Lucille Ball are in bold italics. Photographs have been added for editorial enhancement. 

Peter Dacre (1925-2003) was a journalist with the Sunday Express whose work included show business features. He was a former chairman of the London Press Club.

Lucille Ball’s three-wheeled runabout was parked outside the bungalow with the red door in the Hollywood studios of Desilu Productions Inc. It was symbolic of the hectic life of its owner, a woman who is not only one of the world’s top television stars but is also president of the studio where she works — and an active wife and mother.

For 14 years the vivacious, raspy-voiced red-haired woman has been making countless millions of viewers laugh first in “I Love Lucy” (with her former husband Desi Arnaz) and now with “The Lucy Show,” which is seen in 44 countries.

Inside the bungalow the bound scripts of her shows fill a shelf and a half — the end ones being propped up by a volume of Shakespeare, a copy of “Moby Dick,” and the New Testament. 

MISS BALL herself seemed equally to be a mixture of contrasts. In blue slacks and a pin-striped shirt, she looked highly unlike the president and 51 per cent owner of a company which regularly grosses some 25 million dollars.

Talking to studio executives before I met her, however, I discovered she is no mere figurehead. Scrawled messages on yellow paper fly around the offices, and conferences take place frequently before, during, and after her appearances on the set.

All this is a remarkable achievement for someone who started in show business as one of the famous Goldwyn Girls of the early Hollywood musicals and was once a small-part actress in the studio she now controls.

What kind of woman is she? How at 52 does she combine her three careers? Miss Ball sat at a cluttered round table before her yellow memo-pad and explained: 

“I’m no business tycoon by nature. It was sort of thrust upon me. Desi and I bought the studio for $6,500,000 in 1958 and when he and I parted he said he wanted to leave the business. This faced me with the choice of continuing or saying ‘Goodbye’ to a group of people I loved working with.”

“I had no desire to retire, but it was a difficult decision. I was warned it would take a double expenditure of time and energy but I finally decided to do it — and took over my ex-husband’s shares in the company.” 

“It took me two years to find the right men to help me run the company — and they were two tough years.”

“I had conferences in curlers and in my runabout and between shots on the set.  When I arrived in the morning, every office door would open and people would pop out saying: Have you a minute?”’

HOW, as a woman boss, has she managed in a mainly masculine world? 

“Well, I was working in show business as opposed to selling buttons or refrigerators, and in show business I have been accorded some respect, so that was a big help.”

“It could have been a problem if I had thrown my weight around in areas I know nothing about.” I wondered if she felt that running a Hollywood studio had toughened her as a woman. She pondered and then asked an aide: “Do you think I've become tougher?” He thought not.

Finally she said: “If a woman has a tough fiber it comes out in these circumstances, but faced with a problem my first inclination is to cry.” 

“Sure I’ve been painted as a bossy type but I’ve never felt like that. It’s been said that I bark out orders but I bark out the recipe for a chocolate cake if I’m in a hurry.” 

Today apart from running the company and appearing in her own series Lucille Ball has a radio interview program occasionally crops up in other television shows and is planning a film.

SHE IS NOW married to comedian and radio producer Gary Morton, has two children from her marriage with Arnaz (’Little’ Lucy, 13, and Desi, 11) and two homes, one in Beverly Hills, the other 140 miles away in Palm Springs.

How does she manage to run her home and family? “I budget my time and organize our family life,” she explained. 

“I used to have a conflict between my career and my home life. When children are small you miss so much of their growing-up — so many wonderful moments. Now they are grown up they don’t need me so much.” 

“But I am a proper mother and housewife. I plan the menus and the housework. I leave notes in profusion — in the car, in the kitchen, or on my dressing-table mirror. You know the sort of thing:” 

“’Check dental appointment’: ‘See music practice is done ‘Do homework’ ‘Don’t forget baseball practice’ and ‘Tell the kids to eat early because I’ll be late — then they can watch TV’.”

“Oh yes, we have troubles like any other family. The other night Lucy spoke to me rudely and I sent her to her room until she apologized.”

“A little later, while I was on the phone, she came down and stood in the doorway with her birdcage in one hand and a suitcase in the other. I just kept on talking and after a while she went away.”

“I watched her go slowly down the path, slowly along the road, and slowly round the corner. After half an hour she came back and burst into the room. ‘Aren’t you ever going to try to stop me?’ She cried.”

WILL Lucille Ball ever be able to stop herself and break away from her remorseless routine? 

She did not hesitate over her answer. “At the moment, I haven’t decided whether I will continue ‘The Lucy Show’ but I can’t visualize retiring. I’ll never get out of this. The pace doesn’t bother me, I'm well organized.” 

That, I reflected, was as good a summing-up of Lucille Ball as you will ever get.

[strangehoot]

New Post has been published on Strange Hoot - How To’s, Reviews, Comparisons, Top 10s, & Tech Guide

New Post has been published on https://strangehoot.com/how-to-disable-microsoft-team/

How to Disable Microsoft Team- Disable MS Team in Desktop

How to disable Microsoft Teams is a simple task to perform. The only thing is, you need to know why you want to disable tit and how to enable it again whenever you need it. 

After Microsoft has taken over Skype, the Teams app is one of their products to conduct virtual meetings and conferences. All the features provided by the Teams app are important and very useful when you are operating remotely. Video calling, screen sharing, giving control of your machine and group meetings are some of essential features to it.

Microsoft Teams connect people located in different parts of the World working together and make the projects successful. In Virtual space, the meeting app has captured the market and created a large number of customer base. The most important part is that it comes with your suite of Microsoft communication platforms along with Outlook, OneDrive, Outlook Office and Streams. 

Let use see how today the world is operating and how we have shifted to Online communication portals.

As we all are aware of the situations and hardships caused by the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19, our daily routines have changed from the physical presence to a virtual presence due to prevention methods like social distancing and self isolation. This has made it nearly impossible to attend school, college or office. The impact of this pandemic has been seen in almost every aspect or sector around the world. 

COVID 19 has caught us off guard, hence, we  have to keep in mind that until it is safe to gather in physical spaces, it is necessary that virtual spaces need to be created in order to sustain us and continue our daily tasks in turn adapting to the so-called new “normal”. The current situation has worked as a catalyst for many sectors to opt for platforms and technology that were never used by then before.

This pandemic has shown that Digital Networking Platforms can immensely help us toughen up our real world ties if we are able to use them in the correct way. According to analysis, private group conversations and video meetings have produced a more productive interaction among individuals as compared to engaging in public platforms or social media interactions. Their objective is to  provide us with a safer and accessible experience of our daily lives.There is a significant rise in virtual reality platforms. We also have to keep in mind that this shift from physical presence to virtual presence needs to be handled very tactfully as we need to be thoughtful of danger. We need to make sure that the barriers of VR do not affect those who can’t afford it.  

Why and how online meetings are useful? 

Online meetings can be termed as virtual meetings which generally do not have national or international boundaries. Online meetings come with its fair share of pros and cons. It has been seen that there are more advantages vs disadvantages. 

Here are a few advantages:

Ability for communication: for the ongoing situation, it is necessary for all sectors to communicate virtually which opens up opportunities and breaks down the barriers to communicate with people from different countries. It has proved to enhance the communication and created a productive relationship between distantly placed individuals.

Easy Accessibility: many times in person meetings, conferences or rather physical presence increase the cost of the stakeholders. Online meets have been more accessible and convenient than any other medium as one can access it at their fingertips.

Less time consuming: as it is said in the business world that “time is money”, virtual meetings have saved the precious time and also provided a productive and enhanced experience at work, especially for business men/women.

Flexibility: online meetings as we know can be organised at any time and in any location with an internet connection of course. 

Willingness to attend: the attendees do not have to attend the meetings physically which means that it requires less time commitment, which allows them to drop in and out of meetings as per their will. 

Information sharing: when meetings are held in physical presence, one gets presented with a hard copy of relevant papers but, due to these virtual meets one can access the paperwork digitally.

Tools / apps used for online meeting 

As the virtual meets are a necessity, various platforms are used to organise meetings for schools,colleges, workplaces. It can be very useful when these platforms provide extensive features for minimal cost. Here is a list of few platforms that are used:

Zoom: a platform where video conferencing may be done at HD quality to upto 1000 participants at once along with features like screen sharing, content sharing and other built-in features.

Google meet: a video conferencing platform which comes with Google G suite where one can join meetings directly from the Google calendar or even an email invite. The participant number can range from 250 to 10000 at one go.

Microsoft Teams: a collaboration and video conferencing app which is a part of the Microsoft Office 365 suite which allows an individual to take notes, share screen, record meetings and many more.

Skype: it has been created to serve as a meeting platform that is specifically for the business community which allows to have 250 participants at once. It also allows the organiser to see when participants are online making them available to talk.

About Microsoft Teams 

Microsoft Teams is  an extremely easy-to-use platform that can provide a smoother  work space with remote users or within large business projects. Production services and other business elements that can benefit from this platform. Microsoft Teams  is inclusive with Microsoft 365 and Office 365 for free.

The features that make Microsoft Teams standout the most are :Teams: Teams is made up of channels which is a link to the conversation between the board teammates, colleagues of the same department or the group of project members.

Chats: A place where one can share their opinion, send stickers, GIFs and emojis on a group chat or personal chat

Meetings: Meetings can be organised instantly from either a group chat or it can be scheduled with the teams of 2 or 10,000 who can meet at one place.

Collaboration: It is extremely easy to share, edit and find files using known apps like PowerPoint Excel et cetera in the Teams app.

Screen sharing: Another feature of Microsoft Teams is that the participant of a particular meeting can share the screen for an enhanced experience of the meeting.

The together mode: It is a feature where the participants can digitally sit in a shed background giving a feeling that they are in the same room with the other participants.

File sharing : The files that are co-authored can be securely stored, accessed, shared in files section from anywhere.

Availability: Microsoft Teams is available in around 53 languages to connect across many operating systems like Windows, Mac, iOS, Android.

How to Disable Microsoft Teams – different ways [step-by-step guide]

There are situations where you need to temporarily disable some apps in order to work with other apps. For example: Adobe Suite requires a lot of memory space when you are working on graphic designing. What you can do is to disable some apps and release the memory for using other app(s). Here, we will see the step-by-step instructions on how to disable Microsoft Teams app in Mac and Windows platforms.

Mac OS

To disable Microsoft Teams from auto-launch:

Open Teams app.

From the top right corner, your profile icon is available.

Select settings by clicking that icon.

Uncheck the box – Auto-start application.

Whenever you start / boot your machine, the Teams app will not start automatically.

To disable from system preferences on Mac

Choose the System Preferences → Security & Privacy option from the Apple icon.

Choose the Camera option from the left hand column.

Uncheck the Microsoft Teams checkbox.

If you see this check box in any other options on the left, deselect the checkbox and the Teams app will be non-functional.

Windows Operating System

Microsoft teams can also be stopped on launching with Task Manager.

Open task manager. Hold the CTRL + ALT + ESC keys.

From the startup tab, look for the Microsoft Teams app.

Under the status column, it shows Enabled. 

Choose Microsoft Teams and click the Disable button to disable Microsoft Teams.

Your Teams app is successfully disabled.

Teams is the most popular and useful

There is enhancement in  communication as well as  productivity due to the availability of conversations, chats, online meetings, and sharing of files which is available on one single platform. 

Teams also help prioritise one’s time in a more efficient way due to availability of its meeting scheduling feature. There is an increased sense of transparency on  Teams due to the channels that can be created within teams  where people get notified when you want them to read a certain addition in the chat. It makes the digital workplace effortless due to the cloud where one can upload unlimited files that can be accessed at any time. MS teams is a solution where an individual can access their information from any device. MS teams allow team members to get up to the speed and engage in teamwork irrespective of where they are located.

Read: How to Use the Together Mode of Microsoft Team

[lydiahopemoore]

Initial research

To understand my target market and what user’s I'll be focussing on I wanted to first search around Reddit. Reddit is a popular social sharing website that collects current news, stories, pics, memes and videos through specific communities (subreddits) that the user decides on what they want to see. Every post and comment that is made, people get to upvote or downvote it so the best content rises to the top. Every user creates an obscure username to make Reddit an anonymous platform. Therefore I wanted to use Reddit to find subreddits and posts that relate to my topic to get a general understanding of how people feel. I have collected a bunch of comments from posts which I will not mention their username nor I will use this information for presentations or the final video. ^ = upvotes. This is an effective way to know how many people agree/relate to a comment.

Female gamers! How do you handle sexual harassment?

“I don't reveal my gender when I'm playing online games and I only tend to play with a group of known friends.” 101 ^

“I mostly don't let people know I'm female until I know they aren't assholes.” 38 ^

“Two ways.

mute, report then block.

I don't play with the general public. Only with people I know and with people they know.” 17 ^

“I don't play with the general public. Only with people I know and with people they know.” 29 ^

“Honestly, in my personal experience so take it with a grain of salt, its not so much a gendered thing as it is an asshole thing.” 51 ^

“I don’t play games where I interact with people I don’t know anymore. Before that I’d usually ignore it and remind myself that my existence will never be as pathetic as theirs is in that moment.” 9 ^

“My voice is super girly so I cant hide the fact that I'm a girl. I normally record the audio or mute the offender. It happens a lot on Counter Strike and Rainbow Six” 14 ^

“The female gaming population there is pretty high, and the number of idiots is relatively low. Mostly I just tell people to fuck off if there’s an issue beyond specific skill and block/report them. 7 ^

That being said, my guild leader for one game mode is a massive misogynist and I just call him out constantly.” 7 ^

 “Mostly by not playing online games anymore” 4 ^

“mute/block them , i dont need to argue with sad lonely losers” 5 ^

“Iv never come across anything like it at all. In any game I’ve played” 8 ^

Gamers of Reddit, How do you feel about women who play video games and is the gaming community in all games really that toxic against female gamers?

“Female gamer here. It can be pretty toxic, but most times it's just amusing. As long as you know how to handle yourself in various situations it's fine.” 11 ^

 “I don't care who plays games. What pisses me off is how oblivious people are to leaving an OPEN MIC on with a tv going and your family shouting in the background.” 9 ^

 “I've been gaming for years but with games like Overwatch, PUBG, and Fortnite now including public voice chat, I've become shy and somewhat intimidated by the voice chat feature because I know as soon as I use it with a team, I'll either get mocked because I sound like a 12 year old kid or because I'm a girl. Though when I have used it, my team just assumes I'm a kid.” 6 ^

 “You know what? The opinion of "gamers" on women playing games doesn't fucking matter. Not to mention the fact that you have juxtaposed "gamers" and women, suggesting women cannot be gamers. Women play games. Women are gamers. Get the hell over it.” 4 ^

 “Not toxic at all, for me. Most people don't seem to care that I'm female, and it's never really affected my gaming experience. That being said, I hear a lot from other female gamers and it seems to be an issue for some.” 4 ^

 “The community is just as toxic to females as it is to males.” 3 ^

 “I don't think the gaming community is toxic toward female players. Not as a whole. There are lots if individuals who are toxic, though.” 2 ^

Female Gamers, what do you hate the most when people find out your gender in a game?

“No a female gamer but I hate how as soon as a female speaks in-game it turns into sexist trash talk that goes way over the top or pandering, both make me cringe hard. I feel bad for squeakers too cause not all of them are toxic or even bad at the game but they get hammered so hard.” 9 ^

 “When people randomly add me because I was pretty good or got a little aggressive on coms and they find it sexy. I do really enjoy getting free stuff in certain games though.” 9 ^

GirlGamers let’s talk about sexual harassment and abuse and what we can do to help improve our community. 

“It’s really hard to go into a game and even TALK, let alone mention I am a woman. I sound like an 11 year old boy so it masks it a bit, but when I mention i am a woman, damn. The language changes completely.” 143 ^

“I think one of the worst things about the gaming community is how guys refuse to acknowledge the sexism, and when they do it’s normally in a negative context. Or when a woman brings up sexism they’re told that they should just toughen up or ignore it. It’s not that simple, and a lot of the people who say that have never had to face people doubting their every move because of something they can’t control.” 102 ^

“I think we need to make more friendly spaces for women with an emphasis on lgbt women and women of color. There needs to be all women gaming conferences, classes, and discussion groups (much like this one).” 51 ^

“I think we would need to bring awareness to the issue with a viral movement. If we picked a day to stop hiding from voice chats and post any and all harassing situations that day with some trendy viral hashtag maybe it would get media attention and further shed light on the issue.”  23 ^

Why are there more male gamers than female gamers? Is this statistic even true?

“A: Oh! This is what I studied! I can finally contribute!

Q: Why are there more male gamers than female gamers? Is this statistic even true?

A: It's actually not true! The split between men and women in gaming is almost a perfect 50/50. If you include mobile gaming (which I do, but that's an entirely different debate) then women actually make up the majority of gamers!

Q: So what things in our societies push more men and fewer women to pick up video games?

A: There are a lot of compounding factors that come into play here. For starters, when video games were first becoming a thing, it was a primarily male interest. Only a small percentage of gamers in the 70s and 80s were women. As such, it was mostly marketed towards boys and men. When more people started taking an interest in gaming, many men felt that their hobby was being encroached upon by an "other". In this case, that other was women. So on top of being marketed mostly for men, the community itself was (and still very much is) incredibly hostile towards women. That's another factor that pushed women away.

When we look at the situation today, it still seems like more men are playing than women. This isn't because that's actually the case; it's because the anti-women toxicity present in the community never faded (and in some cases it's merely festered and grown more vile). As such, women that play video games are much less likely than men to make it known that they're active gamers.

So, to answer your second question, male gamers are the main societal factor that pushed more men and fewer women to publicize their gaming habits. In this regard, the gaming community is very similar to the tabletop gaming community and the comic book community.

Q: Are the numbers significantly different in various cultures across the world, where their society may be different?

A: Surprisingly, it's a similar situation pretty much everywhere: women play games, men treat them like garbage for doing so, and then women keep quiet about their gaming habits and rarely participate in official tournaments.

Overall, it's not that women are less likely to play games, it's that the community is so toxic towards women that very few are willing to out themselves, so to speak, as women while playing.

The entire history of women in gaming (both as gamers and as developers) is an incredibly interesting topic that's worth reading up on, but it can mostly be boiled down to "holy shit, calling the gaming community a hive of misogyny is probably a huge understatement.".”121 ^

I need to vent about female gamers in the gaming community for a second.

“I am a female gamer. No. I am a gamer who happens to be a female. I play everything from Animal Crossing, to Skyrim to LIMBO to CoD. I love gaming and it relieves stress and helps me relax. Gaming is a large part of my identity and I am not ashamed of it. Studies have shown that 48-52% of gamers are women, which is HALF. So why do we get so much shit for it? Women gamers, especially in communities like League of Legends and Magic the Gathering are shit upon. The view towards female gamers is ridiculous, and I am so sick of it. Women gamers are constantly underrepresented in both the games we play and when we are we are hyper sexualized. Even as a female gamer I am often sexualized. When people see a female gamer they accuse them of being illegitimate, and only doing it for attention. Even me, a female gamer, when I see a female gamer I think that "oh she doesn't look like a gamer" or "oh she isn't a real gamer, she's doing it for attention" and this is stupid. Why do I think this when I am a female gamer? Because I have been taught my whole life that games are for men, and if I am a woman I am doing it not because I enjoy it but because I am doing it for a man.” 69 ^

“I find myself often guilty of being quick to judge other people as a "gamer." I try not to label people, but it gets so shoved down our throats all the time that it just happens. For me, I'm half afraid its because I get called out as "not a gamer" or some other such nonesense and so in my defense I start to judge other people harshly. It takes a conscious effort to change the initial thought.” 3 ^ 

“I don't know if it's because the only "social" genre I play is mmos, but the majority of other female gamers I encounter fall into two categories; shy or attention-seeking.“ 2 ^

[openheavenchurch-blog]

‘Naturally Supernatural’ by Phil Lee

-

In the month leading up to Naturally Supernatural I was at a real low. I’d been prioritising my relationship with God less and less, and started to believe the enemy’s lies that that was okay - I could always go back later so what does it matter how I live now? 

-

That led me down a path of drinking more than I knew was good for me, old habits of lust and porn-use reemerging and I’d spend all of my days filling my time with “stuff”. Nothing of substance, just distractions from dealing with my problems. When I wasn’t at work I’d just be flooding my mind with input from random YouTube videos, secular music and pointless podcasts.

-

I’m not saying those things are bad in themselves but when they are what’s keeping you from engaging with God that’s a pretty good sign you’re not using them in a healthy way. And even work itself became just about completing tasks rather than the people the work affected.

-

The last week before Naturally Supernatural I was thinking of dropping out. “It’s camping, it’s cold, it’s a lot of effort, and surely I’ve progressed past the point of needing a summer camp to boost my relationship with God”. The enemy’s last ditch attempt to keep my away from the Truth.

-

See, the devil knows that when you spend time in God’s presence your life changes. It’s like being near the sun, you can’t help but be warmed by it. And it also changes the world around you when you live in the power and authority you have as a child of God. As was pointed out at Natural Supernatural, the devil believes you can change the world more than you do! So he wants to stop you from realising your potential.

-

It still amazes me that God welcomes us back so readily when we turn and choose him over our own way of living. His mercy is mind blowing. If anyone had asked, I’d have said ‘of course God welcomes people back like that - check the prodigal son’. But I’d started to believe that yeah God might do that for everyone else, but for me? No.

- See when the enemy attacks he always tries to strip us of our security, our self-worth and our significance. He gets us looking for these things in places other than God which will inevitably let us down. But God designed us to find these things in him. 

- I’d fallen for the lie that “God doesn’t want to meet with me. He doesn’t want to manifest his power in my life.” But as was pointed out at the conference, if you want reassurance that God wants you just look at all he did to be with you in the first place. Jesus didn’t go through all that to finally have a relationship with you, have the Holy Spirit living in you and then say, “Nah I’m not really interested in giving you life to the full”.

-

God re-taught me so much truth about my identity in him at Naturally Supernatural, which is why if you’ve already talked to me you’ll have heard me say the week was life-changing. The fact is, how you define yourself is how you will live. So I had to let God redefine me. And now I can live for what lasts, with eternal significance. Again, the enemy is going to try and tell you that you can’t make a difference, but that’s because he knows just how big a difference to the world you could make if you knew the truth of who you are!

-

Looking at my life I can see that from about 9 months ago I’d become much more apathetic about my relationship with God in my day-to-day life. I’d hardly put up any consistent fight to maintain, let alone push into my relationship with God. God challenged me to my core on this. 

- The fact is that my relationship with God is the centre of my life. Everything hinges on it. He is the purpose of my life. So how can I sit there and let the enemy walk all over me? No, it’s time to get up, dust off, armour up and wage war. Wage war against the sin in my own life, wage war against the work of the enemy in the world around me, to claim territory and to change the norms of our society.

-

I now see that a key part of how the enemy has got a hold of my mind over and over again is letting me focus on myself. To miss the big picture of what God’s doing in the world - of the spiritual war going on around us. But at Naturally Supernatural my eyes were reopened to the strongholds of the enemy in our world: the desperate spiritual poverty, the rampant homelessness around our nation, the 10% of the world that still doesn’t have access to clean water, the breadth and pace of the slave trade still thriving under the surface of our society, the millions of women and children forced into a life of prostitution and the millions more men crippled by lust, pride and fatherlessness.

- And what I’ve found is that when I take my eyes off of me and instead see the big picture, my petty issues pale in comparison and it breaks the enemy’s lies about my struggles counting me out of God’s plan for the world.

-

See, God doesn’t come to make the bad good, he comes to make the dead alive. He calls his whole Church to fight for justice in this world. It’s not an optional extra to the Christian life, it is essential. As Tim Ross said, “in the last few decades Christians have become known for what we’re against, but it’s time we’re known for what we’re for.”

-

We need God to give us boldness. Boldness to fight in these areas, boldness to use the spiritual gifts he’s given us to step out and to act.  It’s what the Holy Spirit empowers us for and it’s what the Bible equips us for:

-

Joshua 1:8 “Study this Book of Instruction continually. Meditate on it day and night so you will be sure to obey everything written in it. Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”

-

When God was saying this to Joshua the “Book of Instruction” he had was the book of Deuteronomy! So with just Deuteronomy, Joshua went on to conquer the whole of the promised land. We have 66 books of the Bible. How can we live a defeated life!? What’s our excuse?

-

Now, I know a thing or two about being resistant to going for it when you think God is calling you to something. Whether that’s to go to a new country or to go pray for someone to be healed. But being in God’s presence for a week and getting my daily bread in his Word, God broke through that fear. Perfect love cast it out. And for the first time in 9 months I willingly went to pray with someone for them to be healed, and for the first time in my life I got to be a part of someone getting fully healed! And again I realised, this is what God does in you when you take your eyes off yourself and turn them to loving him and loving others.

-

If you’ve been to a Soul Survivor camp before you’ll have heard some of the awesome testimonies of God healing hearts, healing bodies and changing lives through the obedience of someone who received an instruction from him. And as Mike Pilavachi put it, “isn’t that one soul saved, that one relationship with God restored or that one person’s ability to walk again worth so many failures? So many times getting the word wrong? So go for it! And if you get it wrong, nobody died.”

- So I’m choosing to say “God, I’m willing to get it wrong and look weird, but use me to change lives. I want my life to be for you and with you.” And you know what, part of God’s purpose for the church gathering each week is for it to be a place to learn to love people in the safety of family. So I’d encourage all of you who have reservations about stepping out in praying for healing, the prophetic, or anything like that, that OH is one of the best communities for giving it a go and practicing being obedient to God’s directions.

-

I’ll end with this: I had a vision in one of the Naturally Supernatural ‘Inner Healing’  seminars. I was myself but as a child sat on top of a mountain overlooking a beautiful lake below when Jesus met me there, all smiles. But then he took me down the mountain, down a steep muddy path towards a dark valley. I was confused and worried that I wouldn’t get to be in the light again, but Jesus said he was leading me up to a different mountain. As we started up the next hill I complained that I was tired, he chuckled and said “don’t worry I’ll make sure you get there” and gave me a piggyback ride the rest of the way up (remember I was a child). We got to the top of the mountain and I looked out and saw an astonishingly breathtaking view, a good 10 times better than the last mountaintop view. After a few moments of me sat there awestruck Jesus whispered, “do you want to know a secret? I’ve got dozens of mountain tops even better than this, and each better than the last. Don’t be afraid when you start to head down from the mountaintops towards the valley, because it’s me leading you to an even better place, and I’ll make sure you get there.”

-

God touched on so many areas of my life over Naturally Supernatural. He broke through all the lies and fears I came with and reestablished his relationship with me and his purpose for my life. And that’s not to say I no longer have any struggles. But I now know that that’s not because I am a weak useless Christian. It’s because God wants to teach me to rely on his grace and power like Paul with his thorn (2 Cor 12:8-10), and because he wants to toughen me up for the fights ahead (Hebrews 12:1-13). God disciplines those he loves. And now I choose to live for him. Not as a victim but as a victor, not as a slave but as a son - perfectly loved, purposefully made, heading down the mountain on the way to an even more beautiful place.

-

Phil.

[gadgetsrevv]

England: Callum Wilson always had Three Lions career in sights – even in Conference spell | Football | Sport

Callum Wilson always knew he was going to be an England player. Even when he was running down the wing at Kettering Town smelling the burgers and chips on the touchline.

For Bournemouth striker Wilson it has been a tough old journey to the top. And even now the 27-year-old knows that, as he sits chatting at St George’s, Harry Kane is always going to be ahead of him in the queue of England strikers.

But Wilson, in fine form for the Cherries at the moment, with five goals in his last six games, is not fazed as he prepares for the Euro 2020 qualifying clashes against the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. He is just waiting for his moment.

That moment did not look remotely likely when he was sent out on loan to Conference sides Kettering and Tamworth from his first club Coventry in 2011/12. In all, the then raw but confident 19-year-old netted two goals in 20 games for the two clubs before being recalled.

But Wilson said: “I was playing on loan at Kettering and Tamworth but I said I would play for England one day.

“Everyone calls me self-confident. But if you don’t believe you can get somewhere you will never get there. That was always the aim – to play for the national team, to play in the Premier League.

“When I got here I felt I had been there before because in my head I had been there.

“I never told any of the players there – it’s a bit disrespectful when a lot of them were older and never got that opportunity.

“They would be thinking: ‘”Who’s this little whippersnapper, saying he’s going to play for England – get out of here.

“But I told family, friends, and they all said go for it. Some games you would be playing terrible, but you have to keep that belief – and here I am.”

It was a valuable learning experience: “At Conference stadiums you could smell burgers and chips when you’re running down the wing.

“I still believed. I was only on loan. It was about getting experience. It toughened me up, playing men’s football, getting a bollocking off the managers.

“In the academies if you play badly you don’t get told you’re playing bad. But in the Conference people’s livelihoods depend on results. Win bonuses make such a difference.

“If you’re making a mistake you’re getting told about it. It built that resilience up. I’m still in touch with some of them on social media.”

It was that resilience which helped Wilson overcome the devastating trauma of two cruciate ligament injuries in 2016/17, and which keep the Cherries striker – first called up just under a year ago – patient in the England set up with Tottenham star Kane at the moment coach Gareth Southgate’s first choice.

He said: “Harry is the captain, he plays well for his club week-in, week-out, so he’s doing something right.

“In the finishing sessions you watch how clinical Harry is. There is no laughing and joking, just pure concentration. Sometimes in club football, you’ll be having a bit of banter with the lads, but in a game you have to be focused. Harry is in that frame of mind. So when I’m working on my finishing now, there is no laughing and joking.

“My club performances speak for themselves. They will get you into the squad, that’s all I can do. Get here, train well, wait for my opportunity, be patient. Harry is a great player, I’m not saying I want to kick him out of the team, but with injuries, things that happen, you have to be ready to grasp the opportunity.”

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Why the Eagles must let Nick Foles go

Somewhere, perhaps in an alternate universe, is a world in which Howie Roseman didn’t trade with the Cleveland Browns for the No. 2 overall pick prior to the 2016 NFL Draft. He never sent five draft picks to the Browns: the No. 8 pick in the first round, a third-round pick (77th overall) and a fourth-round pick (100th overall) in that draft, a first-round pick in 2017 and a second-round pick in 2018, and Wentz was never drafted by the Eagles.

In this other dimension, Wentz never starred as an Eagle; not during his promising 2016 rookie season, not during his MVP-caliber 2017 campaign, one that helped clinch the NFC East and the No. 1 overall seed in the conference, ultimately ending in a Super Bowl title, and he never proved he was the team’s franchise quarterback.

But in this timeline, Carson Wentz exists as the Eagles’ franchise QB and, in this timeline, he has taken a back seat to his back-up, Nick Foles, during the past two postseasons. While both played a huge role in winning a title last year, it was Foles who was the Super Bowl MVP and has a statue built outside Lincoln Financial Field. As a result, both spent time in 2018 navigating an awkward partnership that ultimately resulted in Wentz once again missing out on the postseason as Foles led another miraculous late-season run to return to the postseason, winning a playoff game along the way.

And since we are in this timeline, this much is obvious after watching the 2018 season play out: Carson Wentz and Nick Foles should not be on the same team moving forward.

This isn’t because there is friction between the two or that they don’t like each other. Both are good men who appear to genuinely care about one another. But if the goal is to develop Wentz into being the franchise QB he’s already shown he can be, then Foles simply can’t be a part of things moving forward.

On its surface, I realize this is a ridiculous thing to say. After all, Foles is 20-6 since his rookie season with the Eagles. He matched Tom Brady throw for throw in a Super Bowl for the ages, the most offensive Super Bowl in history. He is respected by everyone in the locker room for his leadership qualities and laid-back demeanor.

Everyone loves Nick Foles. But that’s part of the reason why it’s time for both parties to move on.

A heart divided is one in conflict, and the locker room clearly loves both players. Foles is older, calmer, and because of those things, a bit more mature. Foles has also already proven he can win big games, and that engenders a lot of trust in his teammates. But Wentz is the better player and, lest it be forgotten, was insanely good in 2017. Players loved him. They loved playing with him. There were no questions about his maturity or his leadership ability, because they were winning and he was healthy. It’s easy to forget how popular he was among his teammates before the injury, but let this serve as a reminder.

However, as Wentz himself admitted earlier this week, the 2018 season was a rough one for him as he tried to work his way back into the starting lineup and re-establish himself as the quarterback of this team. It would be understandable if Wentz was looking over his shoulder at his revered teammate and put extra pressure on himself this season, things that likely resulted in some of the issues raised by the Philly Voice piece a few weeks ago.

It’s easy to say, “Wentz just needs to toughen up. We need to stop coddling him.” But it’s not about coddling and it’s not about toughening up. It’s about human nature. It’s very difficult to be an effective leader when someone as accomplished as Foles is your back-up.

The other side of the coin is that it’s unfair to ask Foles to be the back-up QB moving forward. He’s proven he can lead a team and win. He’s proven to be a true No. 1 quarterback for a playoff team. Foles’ game has matured to the point there are a number of teams that should make him their go-to guy in free agency, and he’ll likely score a big payday as a result.

If you are one of those people who would prefer to trade Wentz and keep Foles, it’s certainly a valid opinion. Foles has proven himself, and there’s no doubt the Eagles would continue to be successful with him at quarterback. They’d also likely get a haul for Wentz. But it would also be a huge risk, as Foles is never likely to achieve the ceiling that Wentz has already proven he can reach.

Would the Eagles technically be in a safer place by having both Foles and Wentz on the team? Sure, but at what cost? What would that say to Wentz? How does it help him to play with one eye on the field and the other over his shoulder?

There was a time when Joe Montana was constantly looking over his shoulder at a hard-charging Steve Young, who stood on the sidelines as his back-up for four seasons before San Francisco made the difficult decision to deal their franchise icon for the young, future Hall of Famer. They realized having two starting-caliber quarterbacks on the roster at the same time simply didn’t work for very long.

This is not to say Foles is Steve Young, because clearly he isn’t. But Foles is a starting QB and should not be second fiddle to anyone at this point.

At the end of the day, Foles is going to leave. The Eagles picked up his $20 million option, which Foles then voided by giving back $2 million. The Eagles could franchise him and work out a trade, but the more likely scenario is that Foles leaves in free agency.

Whether it’s by trade or the free agent route, Wentz is not going to have Foles back him up in 2019, and that’s for the best. It’s sad to see Nick go, and he will forever be a legend in Philadelphia. When his playing career is over, it would be phenomenal for him to be involved with the team in some official capacity. He will always be loved.

But if Carson Wentz is going to take the next step forward in his evolution as a QB, he, and the rest of the locker room, needs to know this team is his. Everyone needs to know the huddle belongs to Wentz, and he needs to enter 2019 as the Alpha, fully healthy, ready to establish himself once again as one of the five best QBs in the sport.

Source: https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2019/2/7/18213715/why-the-eagles-must-let-nick-foles-go-carson-wentz-philadelphia-trade-franchise-tag-quarterback-nfl

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How mosque terror attack nightmare unfolded in 17 horrific minutes

Amid the carnage in New Zealand, a young hero who tackled the gunman may have saved lives by wresting away his rifle.

Syed Mazharuddin said the unidentified youngster leapt into action as the terrorist fired wildly at worshippers at the Linwood Avenue Mosque in Christchurch, killing eight.

‘He saw an opportunity and pounced and took his gun,’ Mr Mazharuddin said last night. He said the hero tried to turn the gun on the killer but was unable to make it fire.

The gunman used two semi-automatic guns, two shotguns and a lever action firearm on worshippers at a New Zealand mosque on Friday and live streamed the attack online

It was last night unclear whether Brenton Tarrant, who killed 41 in an earlier attack on the Masjid Al Noor Mosque, was also the Linwood Avenue gunman.

His warped followers were able to watch the Al Noor massacre live via his head-mounted camera.

‘Nice shootin Tex’, remarked one anonymous online viewer.

The 28-year-old Australian livestreamed his atrocity for 17 minutes, letting Facebook users see his terrified victims in their final moments.

In one appalling scene, a dazed survivor manages to pull himself clear of a pile of dead bodies only for Tarrant to march up and shoot him in the head.

The self-proclaimed racist – who was given a gun licence in 2017 – switched on his Go-Pro headcam around 1.40pm local time, ten minutes after he had boasted on a lawless website known as 8chan: ‘I will attack against the invaders, and will even livestream the attack via Facebook.’

Approving users immediately responded with Nazi images and one wrote: ‘This sounds fun.’

Tarrant’s horror video begins with him driving to the Al Noor mosque with a fearsome array of weaponry arranged neatly in the passenger footwell.

Turning the camera briefly on himself, he declares: ‘Let’s get this party started.’

Tarrant’s satnav device can be heard chirping instructions as he draws closer to the mosque.

In his manifesto, Tarrant (pictured) described himself as an ‘ordinary, white man’, who was born into a working class, low income family of Scottish, Irish and English decent. He is pictured in the sickening video of his attack, left, and right in an image that a Pakistani hotel manager posted on Facebook, claiming it showed Tarrant visiting the Middle Eastern nation

Witnesses reported hearing dozens of shots at Al Noor Mosque in Christchurch on the country’s South Island. Pictured is a still from a live-stream of the shooting

The New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has vowed to toughen up the county’s gun laws after the gunman acquired five weapons – two semi-automatic guns, two shot guns and a lever action firearm – legally. Pictured is one of the weapons used in the shooting

The car stereo is playing a tune later identified as a Serbian hate anthem called ‘Remove Kebab’. As Tarrant turns into an alley by the mosque, a pedestrian steps out in front of him and the killer politely lets him cross the road.

The act of kindness contrasts horribly with what happens next.

Clad in military-style body armour, Tarrant has brought at least six weapons, including two assault rifles with red dot sights, a 12-bore semi-automatic shotgun and a short-barrelled pump-action shotgun. Brandishing a rifle, he strolls up to the mosque entrance where someone can be heard welcoming him by saying: ‘Hello brother.’

Tarrant takes aim at a figure inside then fires nine times in quick succession. Then he throws down his gun and produces a rifle with a flashing strobe light – designed to disorientate his targets – as he walks past his first victim on the floor.

Another man crawling along the corridor is shot, and Tarrant storms into the main prayer room. His rifle – emblazoned with the words ‘kebab remover’ – shudders with every shot as he peppers worshippers with bullets.

A man wearing military fatigues (pictured) was arrested outside Papanui High School on Friday 

At least one gunman opened fire at a mosque in New Zealand , shooting at worshippers and killing dozens of people. Pictured: A wounded man is helped from the scene

No one stands a chance as his gun, apparently enhanced with a ‘bump stock’ to aid rapid firing, sprays bullets into pathetic figures huddled in opposite corners.

The terrorist repeatedly runs out of ammunition and reloads. On one of his magazines, he has written ‘For Rotherham’, in reference to the child abuse scandal perpetrated by British Pakistani men.

As the wounded groan in agony, a worshipper rushes forward – either attempting escape or to tackle the gunman – but he is cut down by a hail of bullets.

Several times Tarrant stands over wounded figures, calmly reloading his gun, then shooting multiple times to execute those playing dead. The framing of the video, which shows only the gunman’s hands holding the rifle, is chillingly similar in style to video games such as Call Of Duty.

Ramzan Ali lay among the bodies, still alive. He recalled: ‘I waited and prayed, ‘Oh God, please let this guy run out of bullets.’

New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said at a press conference today that the country will strengthen its gun laws in the wake of the Christchurch massacre in which 49 people were killed at a mosque in Christchurch 

Tarrant left the room, and Mr Ali decided to flee. He said: ‘The guy sitting beside me told me, ‘No, no!’ Next thing, the shooter came back and shot this guy who told me not to get up. He shot him right in the chest. The blood was splashing on me, and I was thinking, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, this is going to happen to me now.’

‘I was just thinking, ‘If I get up, I’ll get shot,’ so I was keeping my fingers crossed.’

Mahmood Nazeer said: ‘I was just praying to God and hoping our God, please, let this guy stop. The firing went on and on.’ Anwar Alsaleh hid in a bathroom and heard the gunman shout: ‘We’re going to kill you today.’

Ahmad Al Mahmoud escaped by smashing through a glass door. He said: ‘He had a big gun. He came and started shooting everyone in the mosque, everywhere.’

How did they miss him? 

New Zealand’s intelligence agencies were last night facing serious questions over how they failed to stop the white supremacist terrorist.

Brenton Tarrant posted pictures of the murder weapons online two days before the rampage.

He published photographs of his semi-automatic rifle on Twitter, and shared photos of military-style equipment on his now-removed social media account. 

It was claimed he also posted his intentions and the location of the attacks 12 minutes prior to it.

Three people were in custody, including Tarrant, last night.

 But New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern admitted they were not on a security watch list. 

She said she would ‘absolutely’ be raising questions as to why Tarrant wasn’t known to officials.

  Khaled Al Nobani managed to flee with some children, while Shoaib Gani said: ‘I could see people getting shot around me and I was just praying, thinking about my family – them hearing the news that I’m dead. I just dropped to the floor hoping the bullet doesn’t hit me. I tried to hide under the table and then called home.

‘I thought I should talk to them one more time before I die because I could see that coming – I could see that everybody around me is dying. It was ringing, it was ringing, it was ringing, but nobody picked up.’ He added: ‘I could see women crying, children crying – children shot dead.’

Tarrant returns to his car, which was still blaring out music, this time a Waffen SS choir remix.

He is seen throwing his rifle to the ground and picking up one with a larger scope from the Subaru’s boot. Muttering ‘son of a bitch’, he runs back inside the mosque shouting: ‘We’re not going to get the badge today boys.’

At least two dozen bloodsoaked victims are strewn across the prayer room, but twisted Tarrant wants to make sure they are dead.

He starts shooting people in the head, including one man who had managed to lift himself to a sitting position. Seemingly satisfied everyone has been killed, he sprints outside and shoots a woman on the pavement.

She lies face down, begging ‘help me, help me’. Tarrant calmly leans over her and shoots her twice in the head. Then he returns to his car and drives off, over her body.

As the song Fire by British rock band The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown blasts from the speakers – the singer bellowing ‘I am the god of hellfire’ – Tarrant roars off, laughing as he resets his satnav.

Driving like a madman through the streets of Christchurch, he blasts a shotgun to ‘open’ a side window and takes pot shots at passers-by.

Addressing his Facebook watchers about the slaughter, he says he was ‘too quick … I should have stayed longer’, expresses regret for not ‘burning that f****** mosque to the ground’, and says: ‘There wasn’t even time to aim there were so many targets.’ As his video draws to a close, Tarrant’s car is held up in traffic. Through the shattered passenger window, he calmly says ‘Hi’ to the driver on his left.

Back at the Masjid Al Noor Mosque, 41 people lay dead and shell-shocked survivors were assembling on the lawn outside. One man was wailing: ‘My wife is dead.’ Idris Khairuddin, 14, said: ‘I am still shaking, and I am traumatised.’

Nour Tavis said one of his friends lost his wife during the terror attack. He added: ‘When she heard the noise she wanted to go and make sure her husband was safe. She got the bullet, her husband got away. She was gone, she was no more.’

Police later made four arrests and charged Tarrant with murder. One man, who had been armed, was later freed without charge after it emerged he was trying to help police.

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Summary of Letter From Birmingham Jail'

'After c arfully analyzing Martin Luther abilitys Letter from Birmingham clink, I have bring forth to the conclusion that this earn suits a naming chemical reaction for the rhetorical situation. Letter from Birmingham Jail is a answer to eight clergy members who originally wrote to King, criticizing his actions and the then new-fashi unrivalledd non-violent protests that took place in Birmingham, Alabama, claiming that they were unwise and un fourth dimensionly. King, as president of the Confederate Christian leaders Conference, took action to answer to this earn and gave the clergywork force, on with confederation a capable response that explains why in fact they were scathe and how his organization was real quite beneficial. on that point are many an(prenominal) reasons why this garner is a able response. But the third that stood out nigh where that his garner is leave in tone, addresses the chance for budge, and is delivered through an enchant medium. T he tone in Kings response is truly respectful. He didnt bump any of the clergymen for their beliefs barely instead use his logic to lift them wrong. In fact, King even complements the clergymen by saying, I thumb that you are men of genuine fair entrust and that your criticisms are sincerely station forth . By doing this King do his response lowering more than pro and therefore do his point more valid. Kings response likewise addresses the opportunity of change. closelipped the end of the letter King states that, one daytime the southerly go away exist that when these disinherited children of god sat slew at lunch counters, they were in naturalism standing up for what is best in the American woolgather and for the most consecrated values in our Judaeo Christian inheritance . This particular condemnation was and remains very inspirational and elate because at the time people take to that one day there will be a change make in society and once that change is made everyone will be toughened equally. The last involvement that made this letter a fitting response was that it wa... '